Beschreibung:

FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790), Signer (Pennsylvania). Autograph letter signed ("B Franklin"), last page only, TO THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE IN MASSACHUSETTS (SAMUEL ADAMS, THOMAS CUSHING AND JAMES OTIS), London, 15 May 1771. 1 page, narrow folio, neat repairs to folds from verso, but otherwise in good condition. A PREDICTION OF INDEPENDENCE: "HISTORY SHOWS THAT BY THESE STEPS GREAT EMPIRES HAVE CRUMBLED HERETOFORE" An extremely important letter, of which the first leaf has been lost since the early nineteenth century (missing text here in italic). Franklin, senior colonial agent for Massachusetts, was deeply distrusted by Adams and his fellow Sons of Liberty, who believed him a Tory at heart, and not sufficiently radical. The spring of 1771 was a quiescent period in the turbulent relations between the American colonies and the Crown: the odious Townshend Acts had been repealed the previous year--except the tax on tea--and Adams's non-importation policy had collapsed as America resentment of British actions ebbed: "the revolutionary movement was brought to an almost complete standstill in the colonies" (John C. Miller, Sam Adams: Pioneer in Propaganda , p.227). Here, Franklin acknowledges receipt of "copies of the late oppressive persecutions in the Admiralty Court," which he promises to put to " the most advantageous use ." He is alarmed at the prospect of tax and customs agents being sent from England to enforce the law in the colonies, and ends with a prophetic analyses of the probable outcome of Britain's ill-considered policies, predicting a a rebellion and eventual independence for the former colonies. Franklin writes: " I think we may clearly see, in the system of customs to be exacted in America by Act of Parliament, the seeds sown of a total disunion of the two countries, though, as yet that event may be at a considerable distance. The course and natural progress seems to be, first, the appointment of needy men as officers, for others do not care to leave England, then, their necessities make them rapacious, their office makes them proud and insolent, their insolence and rapacity make them odious, and, being conscious that they are hated, they become malicious; their malice urges them to a continual abuse of the inhabitants in their letters to the administration, representing them as disaffected and rebellious, and (to encourage the use of severity) as weak, divided, timid and cowardly. Government believes all; thinks it necessary to support and countenence its officers; their quarrelling with the people is deemed a mark and consequence of their fidelity; they are therefore more highly rewarded, and this makes their conduct more insolent and provoking. The resentment of the people will...burst into outrages and violence upon such officers, and this naturally draws down severity and acts of further oppression...The more the people are dissatisfied, the more rigour will be thought necessary;...rights and privileges will be abolished, greater force will then be required...; the expense will become enormous; it will then be thought proper, by fresh exactions, to make the people defray it; thence the British nation and government will become odious, the subjection to it will no longer be deemed tolerable; war ensues, and the bloody struggle will end in absolute slavery to America, or ruin to Britain by the loss of her colonies; the latter most probable from America's growing strength and magnitude. " In spite of his dire prediction, Franklin urges the use of "patience and the utmost discretion in our general conduct, that that fatal period may be postponed, and that whenever this catastrophe shall happen, it may appear to all mankind, that the fault had not been ours. " He suggests Britain might consider a new plan: allowing the colonies to enforce the duties "by laws of their own, and officers of their own appointment " (taxation with representation): "this would alone destroy those seeds of disunion," he asserts