. Life and times of Washington. totwelve. This petition and remonstrance being transmitted toEngland, the merits of it were discussed before HisMajestys privy council. After a hearing before thatboard, in which Dr. Franklin represented the provinceof Massachusetts, the Governor and Lieutenant-Governorwere acquitted. Mr. Wedderburne, who defended theaccused royal servants, in the course of his pleadings,inveighed against Dr. Franklin in the severest language,as the fomenter of the disputes between the two was no protection to this venerable sage, that being theagent of Massachusett
. Life and times of Washington. totwelve. This petition and remonstrance being transmitted toEngland, the merits of it were discussed before HisMajestys privy council. After a hearing before thatboard, in which Dr. Franklin represented the provinceof Massachusetts, the Governor and Lieutenant-Governorwere acquitted. Mr. Wedderburne, who defended theaccused royal servants, in the course of his pleadings,inveighed against Dr. Franklin in the severest language,as the fomenter of the disputes between the two was no protection to this venerable sage, that being theagent of Massachusetts, he conceived it his duty to informbis constituents of letters, written on public affairs, calcu-lated to overturn their chartered Constitution. The age,respectability, and high literary character of the subjectof Mr. Wedderburnes philippic, turned the attention ofthe public on the transaction. The insult offered to oneof their public agents, and especially to one who wasboth the idol and ornament of his native country, sunk. LIFE AND TIMES. 593 deep in the minds of the Americans. That a faithfulseryant, whom they loved and almost adored, should beinsulted for discharging his ofi&cial duty rankled in theirhearts. Dr. Franklin was also immediately dismissed fromthe office of Postmaster-General, which he held under theCrown. It was not only by his transmission of theseletters that he had given ofifense to the British ministry,but by his popular writings in favor of America. Twopieces of his in particular had lately attracted a largeshare of public attention, and had an extensive influenceon both sides of the Atlantic. The one be anedict from the King of Prussia, for taxing the inhabitantsof Great Britain, as descendants of emigrants from hisdominions; the other was entitled: Rules for reducinga great empire to a small one, in both of which he hadexposed the claims of the mother country, and the pro-ceedings of the British ministry, with the severity of poig-nant sa
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