May we not safely assert, now that the ashes of the American revolutionary war are cold, that the real object was the extension of the prerogative beyond the boundary of the constitution? The experiment was to be first made at a distance, and, if successful abroad, it was to be attempted nearer home. Though this Act was repealed in the administration of Lord Rockingham in 1766, yet it had excited in the colonies a suspicion of the despotic intentions of the British cabinet which could never afterward be removed, and which the measures, that soon followed, proved not to have been causelessly entertained. Dr. Franklin most anxiously laboured to prevent the final breach which he foresaw would soon occur between the North-American colonies and the mother-country: but he laboured in vain; for, when great changes are about to take place in states, they are usually under the administration of incapacity and folly, combined with violence and tyranny; by the united operation of which, the sentiment of respect is extinguished and that of animosity inflamed. The government of the mother-country over the colonies was conducted by agents of this kind; and the effects which ensued were the usual results of similar attempts.

In the year 1773, the opposition which had been excited in the North-American colonies against Great Britain was kindled into indignant rage in the state of Massachusetts by an accidental circumstance. Some letters had been written by Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and others in Boston to persons in official situations in this country, the object of which was to represent the spirit that was prevalent in the colonies as in the highest degree inimical to the parentstate, and as requiring a more arbitrary system of government than they had hitherto experienced. When these letters were put into the possession of Dr. Franklin as agent for the colony, he was so impressed with the malignity of their contents that he felt it his duty to transmit them to his employers, in order to excite their vigilance against a system of perfidious hostility to the very existence of their liberties; and the knowlege of the circumstances contained in them impelled the House of Representatives of the province of Massachusetts to address a spirited petition to the King against the conduct of the governor and lieutenant-governor of the province, as tending to produce the most incurable animosity between the colonies and the mother-country. The subject of this petition came to be heard before a committee of the Privy-council in January 1774, Mr. Dunning and Mr. John Lee appearing as counsel for the assembly of the province of Massachusetts;, and Mr. Wed

derburn,

derburn, who was afterward Lord Loughborough, as counsel for the governor and lieutenant-governor. Mr. Wedderburn, instead of vindicating his clients, pronounced the most vehement and malignant invective against Dr. Franklin, that was ever uttered on a similar occasion against any individual. If Dr. Franklin, instead of being a man of resplendent worth and a statesman of irreproachable probity, had been a venal profligate or an Old-Bailey culprit, the advocate could not have spoken of him in more ignominious terms, or have depicted him as a person of more flagitious turpitude. He even represented Dr. Franklin as having stolen the letters, or procured them to be stolen. "I hope, my Lords," said he, "you will mark and brand the man, for the honour of this country, of Europe, and of mankind."-" He has forfeited all the respect of societies and of men. Into what companies will he hereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of virtue? Men will watch him with a jealous eye, they will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escrutoires. He will henceforth esteem it a libel to be called a man of letters, homo trium literarum;" meaning fur, or thief. While the person who uttered this tirade of unmerited obloquy has passed almost into oblivion, or is remembered with contempt, the name of Franklin is cherished with veneration by the good and the wise, in every nation in which science is cultivated and liberty is known. The editor of these memoirs has very properly inserted at p. 184. a statement respecting the above-mentioned transaction, which was addressed by Dr. Priestley in 1802 to the editor of the Monthly Magazine. Dr. Priestley, who had obtained admission into the Privy-council on this occasion by the interposition of Mr. Burke, was present when Mr. Wedderburn fulminated his invective against Dr. Franklin; and on the next morning at breakfast Dr. Franklin told Priestley that "he had never before been so sensible of the power of a good conscience; for that if he had not considered the thing for which he had been so much insulted, as one of the best actions of his life, and what he should certainly do again in the same circumstances, he could not have supported it."

• too

On the arrival of Dr. Franklin in England in 1757, he made several unsuccessful attempts to be introduced to Mr. Pitt but he was then,' says the Doctor, p. 224., great a man or too much occupied in affairs of greater mo ment.' He had, however, some indirect communication with him through his two secretaries, Mr. Potter and Mr. Wood; and he had thus an opportunity of recommending and enforcing the conquest of Canada: but, in the summer of 1774,

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Mr. Pitt,

In

Mr. Pitt, then Lord Chatham, solicited a personal interview with Doctor Franklin; and, after this, the Doctor had several conferences with that nobleman on American affairs. January, 1775, Lord Chatham communicated to Dr. F. the plan which he had formed for healing the differences in the colonies, and restoring a state of amity between them and Great Britain; and the Doctor was requested by his Lordship to consider his plan attentively, and to communicate any remarks which the perusal might suggest. On Tuesday, January 31st, 1775, Dr. Franklin went to see Lord Chatham at his seat at Hayes, in order that they might freely discuss this object. The Doctor had previously made some memorandums of topics on which he meant to enlarge in the interview with this noble peer: but, though, says he, I staid near four hours, his Lordship in the manner of, I think, all eloquent persons, was so full and diffuse in supporting every particular I questioned, that there was not time to go through half my memorandums; he is not easily interrupted, and I had such pleasure in hearing him, that I found little inclination to interrupt him.' P. 260.-Though Dr. Franklin was supposed by the public to have had a considerable share in composing the plan of Lord Chatham, the Doctor assures us that all the part which he took in it was to add the single word "Constitutions" after "Charters."

On the day following the above-mentioned interview, Lord Chatham introduced, explained, and supported his plan' in a most excellent speech in the House of Lords. Dr. Franklin, who was present during the debate, appears to have been excessively disgusted by the immediate rejection of the proposal by a large majority of that assembly; and on this occasion he expresses his indignation with rather more vehemence than is usual with him: remarking of the noble peers that, instead of exercising their claim of sovereignty over three millions of virtuous sensible people in America, they appeared to have scarce discretion enough to govern a herd

of swine.'

Dr. Franklin finally left London in March, 1775. When he arrived in America, he found the breach between the two countries likely to become irreparable, and this was but too clearly proved by the declaration of independence which took place on the fourth of July in the following year. The public mind in America had been rapidly prepared for this bold decision by the wide circulation of Thomas Paine's celebrated pamphlet intitled." Common Sense;" in furnishing suggestions for which, Dr. Franklin is conjectured to have materially contributed. We shall not enlarge on the important

part

part which he acted during the progress of the American war, as the ambassador of the Independents at the French court; nor on the essential services which he rendered to his country and to mankind in the negotiations for peace, because we have sufficiently expatiated on those topics in our late review of his "Private Correspondence."

Before we conclude, we must remark that, with the exception of that part of these memoirs which was written by Dr. Franklin himself, the biography is deficient in continuity. It is composed of disjointed materials: the workmanship is performed by different hands; and that principle of cohesive unity is wanting in the whole, which the pervading influence of a masterly mind could alone have bestowed.

ART. V.

A Letter to the Common Council and Livery of the City of London, on the Abuses existing in Newgate; showing the Necessity of an immediate Reform in the Management of that Prison. By the Hon. H. G. Bennet, M. P. 8vo. pp. 79. 38. Ridgway. 1818.

ART. VI. An Inquiry whether Crime and Misery are produced or prevented by our present System of Prison-Discipline. By Thomas Fowell Buxton. 8vo. pp. 141. 5s. Boards. Arch. 1818.

THE

"HE impolicy of our general system of prison-discipline, the inconvenient structure of many of our gaols, metropolitan as well as provincial, and the miserable state, bodily and mental, of the persons confined in them, have at various periods of the present reign been subjects of inquiry and complaint. By the exertions of some benevolent and energetic individuals, partial improvements have been at times effected; and in some instances an entirely new arrangement has been introduced, the benefits of which have been so apparent and in so great a degree have justified the projectors, that we are surprized to observe that the supporters of the old plan, the evils of which they daily witness, have not been encouraged to try the effect of a radical change. The fact is that, with one or two exceptions, our prisons are still a disgrace to a Christian nation and a civilized age. By the ignorance of those to whom the charge is intrusted, or their apathy, or their obstinacy, — by their want of temper, of patience, of zeal, or of industry, suggested and half-tried experiments have been dropped, the judicious regulations have been neglected, and all the former vices, though seen, acknowleged, and deplored, have been revived in their full extent. It is lamentable, indeed, to think

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the

that

that only where the happiness or the misery of our unfortunate though criminal fellow-creatures is at stake, the lessons of experience are not productive of their usual instruction: but, if even a temporary improvement results from the occasional interference of men whose souls are touched with the misery which they behold, we must rejoice that "they peep out once an age," though we may regret the probable inefficacy of their suggestions, as far as future generations are concerned.

No time can be more favourable than the present for reviving inquiry and for endeavouring to remedy defects on this important subject. The peaceful state of the country leaves the patriot comparatively unemployed, and deprives man, who requires some renewed stimulus, of that on which almost his existence depends. It therefore affords leisure and inclination to many to look minutely into evils, which, when in a state of hostile activity, they could only view at a distance; and the spirit of religion and benevolence, which prevails in the present times, makes men in general more disposed to exert themselves in the labours of charity, and to bestow their personal aid where formerly they gave only their approbation or their pence.

The cause has been fortunate also in its advocates. In Mr. Bennet, it has a gentleman who can produce the amplest testimonials of his zeal, activity, and perseverance, in the voluminous evidence taken before the Police-Committee over which he presided; and who has energy and ability to support in the House of Commons the measures of which his experience has proved the necessity. Mr. Buxton is not so generally known: but we have reason to believe that the circle of his private charities is very extensive; and that, in a part of the metropolis in which the severest misery was felt, he has been most actively useful. The book now before us, which he has recently published, gives also a clear and satisfactory proof of his powers and capacity, and is altogether a most interesting performance. The facts mentioned in it are not only well collected but well authenticated; being in every instance supported by the testimony either of the gaolers themselves, or of some magistrate who has the means of information. The deductions from those facts are also ably and effectively drawn: the author's appeal to the reason of the supporters of the present system is temperate yet powerful; and, by a nervous and manly style, he attracts the attention of his readers, while he fixes it by the important particulars which he relates and the forcible arguments which he uses. His book, we have no doubt, will open the eyes

of