of robbers, assassins, spectres, flames, hurricanes,-waked in great terror. Dear doctor, it would be too tedious to pursue the dreadful narration any further, every day administering new cause of uneasiness; nor did my concern forsake me in the midst of company and wine. Till I had the plate sent home, I was uneasy, lest, after I had ordered it to be made, I should be robbed of my money, and then not be able to pay for it; and when I had it once in my possession, I trembled every instant for fear of losing it for ever. When at home, I was afraid of being murdered for my substance; and when abroad, I was much terrified with the apprehension, that either my servants might possibly be dishonest, and so contrive to deprive me of it while I was absent, or else, that, by carelessness, they might set fire to my house and destroy it all at once. Every bell I heard ring I immediately imagined to be a fire-bell; and every fire-bell alarmed me with belief that my own house was in a blaze-so that I was plagued without interruption. Since I have recovered myself a little, I have made an exact calculation of the pleasure and pain I have endured; and I shall shew you the just balance, the more fully to convince you. A faithful Account of the Happiness and Misery of Matthew Pilkington, Clerk, for the space of Eleven Days, on receiving £50 from his Excellency the Lord Carteret. Happy, During the whole time of being with my By receiving the sum from Mr. T.... All the remainder. Total happiness.. To conclude all. To keep my mind as calm and as quiet as it was in the days of my poverty, I have expended £32 in plate, to be a monument of his excellency's generosity to me, and that plate I have lodged at a rich neighbour's house for its security. About £10 I have expended in fortifying my house, against the next money misfortune that may happen to me, of which, however, at present, there appears no great danger. And if, providentially, my fortune be advanced, I hope to bear it with greater resolution, and be in a better condition to preserve it. I am, Your affectionate friend and servant, POLITICAL MYSTERY UNRAVELLED. In the year 1773, an event took place, which at the time was considered as singularly mysterious, and led to consequences of great importance. We allude to the discovery and publication of letters of M. Hutchinson, governor of the province of Massachusetts, and his secretary, Mr. Oliver, to Thomas Whately, esq. M.P. and private secretary to lord Grenville. These letters represented the conduct of the people of the colony in the most odious light, and advised the adoption of rigorous measures against them. They were made public by Franklin; but how he got possession of them was the mystery, which has remained to the present day undiscovered. A pamphlet has been recently published, which at last lays open the secret source of Franklin's intelligence. The pamplet contains a biographical memoir of the late Dr. Hugh Williamson, of New York, by Dr. Hosack, of the same place. It is written with great elegance, and relates the whole of the above-mentioned transaction with singular perspicuity. "Franklin, who had recently rendered himself conspicuous by his examination before a committee of the British Privycouncil, and who at this period resided in London, as agent for the colonies of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, obtained possession, through the agency of a third person, of certain letters written by governor Hutchinson; secretary Oliver, afterwards lieutenant-governor; Charles Paxton, esq. and other servants of the crown; and sent by them from Boston to Thomas Whately, esq. M.P. and a private secretary of lord Grenville. "In these letters, the character of the people of Massachusetts was painted in the most odious colours, and their grievances and proceedings, misrepresented by falsehoods, the most glaring and unfounded. "It would seem to have been equally the object of governor Hutchinson, and his coadjutors, to furnish excuses for the ministry, already sufficiently disposed to adopt every measure of severity towards the colonists, through the prejudiced representations of Bernard and his commissioners; and to poison the minds of the opposition, who had, on most occasions, proved themselves their warm advocates. "Dr. Franklin lost no time in transmitting these letters to his constituents at Boston. The indignation and animosity which were excited, on their perusal, knew no bounds. The House of Representatives agreed on a petition, and remonstrance to his majesty, in which they charged their governor and lieutenant-governor with being betrayers of their trust, and of the people they governed; and of giving private, partial, and false information. They also declared them enemies to the colonies, and prayed for justice against them, and for their speedy removal from their places.' "The petition and the remonstrance of the people of Massachusetts were communicated to his majesty's privycouncil by Dr. Franklin in person, and after a hearing by the board, the governor and lieutenant-governor were acquitted. It was on this occasion, that Mr. Wedderburn (afterwards lord Loughborough), who was employed as counsel on the part of the governor, pronounced his famous philippic against Dr. Franklin; which has always been considered among the most finished specimens of oratory in the English language. In this speech, he charged that venerable character with having procured the letters by unfair means. The letters could not have come to Dr. Franklin (said Mr. Wedderburn) by fair means the writers did not give them to him, nor yet did the deceased correspondent (Mr. Whately), who, from our intimacy, would have told me of it; nothing then will acquit Dr. Franklin of the charge of obtaining them by fraudulent or corrupt means, for the most malignant of purposes; unless he stole them from the person who stole them. This argument is irrefragable. "I hope, my lords, you will mark and brand the man, for the honour of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Private correspondence has hitherto been held sacred in times of the greatest party rage; not only in politics but religion. 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.' "A controversy having taken place in the public prints, between Mr. William Whately (the brother of the secretary to whom the letters had been addressed, and who was now dead) and Mr. afterwards Sir John Temple, arising out of the manner in which the letters of governor Hutchinson had been procured and transmitted to Boston, and which dispute was followed by a duel between these two gentlemen, Dr. Franklin, in order to prevent any further mischief, published a letter in the newspapers, in which he assumed the entire responsibility of sending the papers to America. Alluding to this letter of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Wedderburn continued: "But he not only took away the letters from one brother, but kept himself concealed till he had nearly occasioned the murder of the other. It is impossible to read his account, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, without horror. Amid these tragical events, of one person nearly murdered, of another answerable for the issue; of a worthy governor hurt in his dearest interest; the fate of America is in suspense. Here is a man, who with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself the author of all. I can compare it only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's Revenge 66 6 Know then 'twas I I forged the letter-I disposed the picture I hated-I despised-and I destroy. 'I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful temper, attributed by poetic fiction only to the bloody African, is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American.' "The speeches of Mr. Dunning (afterwards lord Ashburton) and Mr. Lee, who appeared as council in behalf of the assembly of Massachusetts, were never reported at length; but they chiefly insisted upon the noxious parts of the letters of Hutchinson and Oliver. 66 By the preceding extracts from the speech of Mr. Wedderburn, it will be seen, that the chief subject of his vehement invective was the disclosure, by Dr. Franklin, of what was termed by the parliamentary orator, a private correspondence. But the truth is, these letters could not be considered in any wise as private, but were as public as letters could be. To use the emphatic language of Dr. Franklin himself, They were not of the nature of private letters between friends; they were written by public officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and intended to procure public measures: they were therefore handed to other public persons who might be influenced by them to produce those measures. Their tendency was to incense the mother-country against her colonies, and, by the steps recommended, to widen the breach, which they effected. The chief caution expressed with regard to privacy, was, to keep their contents from the colony agents, who, the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies of them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well founded; for the first agent who laid his hands on them thought it his duty to transmit them to his constituents.' In a letter on this subject, addressed to a friend, he also observes: On this occasion, I think fit to acquaint you, that there has lately fallen into my hands, part of a correspondence, that, I have reason to believe, laid the foundation of most, if not all, of our present grievances. I am not at liberty to tell through what channel I received it; and I have engaged that it shall not be printed, nor any copies taken of the whole, or any part of it; but I am allowed to let it be seen by some men of worth in the province, for their satisfaction only. In confidence of your preserving inviolably my engagement, I send you inclosed the original letters, to obviate every pretence of unfairness in copying, interpolation, or omission. "Thus, Dr. Franklin performed a service which his situation as a public agent required of him. But, notwithstanding the secrecy with which it had been conducted, the letters were soon after published by the assembly of Massachusetts; not, however, until after the appearance of other copies in Boston, produced by a member, who, it was reported, had just received them from England. "But it is time that I should declare to you, that this third person, from whom Dr. Franklin received these famous letters (and, permit me to add, that this is the first time the fact has been publicly disclosed), was Dr. Hugh Williamson. "I have before stated his mission in behalf of the academy of Newark, in the state of Delaware. Dr. Williamson had now arrived in London. Feeling a lively interest in the momentous question then agitated, and suspecting that a clandestine correspondence, hostile to the interest of the colonies, was carried on between Hutchinson and certain leading members of the British cabinet, he determined to ascertain the truth by a bold experiment. He had learned that governor Hutchinson's letters were deposited in an office different from that in which they ought regularly to have been placed; and having understood that there was little exactness in the transactions of the business of that office, (it is believed it was the office of a particular department of the Treasury,) he immediately repaired to it, and addressed himself to the chief clerk, not finding the prin |