Our captain of the paquet had boasted much, before we sailed, of the swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she proved the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his no small mortification1. After many conjectures2 respecting the cause, when we were near another ship almost as dull as ours, which, however, gain'd upon us, the captain ordered all hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as possible. We were, passengers included, about forty persons. While we stood there, the ship mended her pace, and soon left her neighbour far behind, which prov'd clearly what our captain suspected, that she was loaded too much by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had been all plac'd forward; these he therefore order'd to be mov'd further aft, on which the ship recover'd her character, and proved the sailer in the fleet.
The captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen knots, which is accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had on board, as a passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who contended that it was impossible, and that no ship ever sailed so fast, and that there must have been some error in the division of the log-line, or some mistake in heaving the log. A wager3 ensu'd between the two captains, to be decided4 when there should be sufficient wind. Kennedy thereupon examin'd rigorously the log-line, and, being satisfi'd with that, he determin'd to throw the log himself. Accordingly some days after, when the wind blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of the paquet, Lutwidge, said he believ'd she then went at the rate of thirteen knots, Kennedy made the experiment, and own'd his wager lost.
The above fact I give for the sake of the following observation. It has been remark'd, as an imperfection in the art of ship-building, that it can never be known, till she is tried, whether a new ship will or will not be a good sailer; for that the model of a good-sailing ship has been exactly follow'd in a new one, which has prov'd, on the contrary, remarkably5 dull. I apprehend6 that this may partly be occasion'd by the different opinions of seamen7 respecting the modes of lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the same vessel8, laden9 by the judgment10 and orders of one captain, shall sail better or worse than when by the orders of another. Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is form'd, fitted for the sea, and sail'd by the same person. One man builds the hull11, another rigs her, a third lades and sails her. No one of these has the advantage of knowing all the ideas and experience of the others, and, therefore, can not draw just conclusions from a combination of the whole.
Even in the simple operation of sailing when at sea, I have often observ'd different judgments12 in the officers who commanded the successive watches, the wind being the same. One would have the sails trimm'd sharper or flatter than another, so that they seem'd to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of experiments might be instituted, first, to determine the most proper form of the hull for swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for the masts: then the form and quantity of sails, and their position, as the wind may be; and, lastly, the disposition13 of the lading. This is an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately14 made and combin'd would be of great use. I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish success.
We were several times chas'd in our passage, but outsail'd every thing, and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good observation, and the captain judg'd himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if we made a good run in the night, we might be off the mouth of that harbor in the morning, and by running in the night might escape the notice of the enemy's privateers, who often crus'd near the entrance of the channel. Accordingly, all the sail was set that we could possibly make, and the wind being very fresh and fair, we went right before it, and made great way. The captain, after his observation, shap'd his course, as he thought, so as to pass wide of the Scilly Isles15; but it seems there is sometimes a strong indraught setting up St. George's Channel, which deceives seamen and caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's squadron. This indraught was probably the cause of what happened to us.
We had a watchman plac'd in the bow, to whom they often called, "Look well out before there," and he as often answered, "Ay ay; " but perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time, they sometimes answering, as is said, mechanically; for he did not see a light just before us, which had been hid by the studdingsails from the man at the helm, and from the rest of the watch, but by an accidental yaw of the ship was discover'd, and occasion'd a great alarm, we being very near it, the light appearing to me as big as a cart-wheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast asleep; but Captain Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship to wear round, all sails standing16; an operation dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, and we escaped shipwreck17, for we were running right upon the rocks on which the light-house was erected18. This deliverance impressed me strongly with the utility of lighthouses, and made me resolve to encourage the building more of them in America, if I should live to return there.
In the morning it was found by the soundings, etc., that we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About nine o'clock the fog began to rise, and seem'd to be lifted up from the water like the curtain at a play-house, discovering underneath19, the town of Falmouth, the vessels20 in its harbor, and the fields that surrounded it. This was a most pleasing spectacle to those who had been so long without any other prospects21 than the uniform view of a vacant ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure as we were now free from the anxieties which the state of war occasion'd.
I set out immediately, with my son, for London, and we only stopt a little by the way to view Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, and Lord Pembroke's house and gardens, with his very curious antiquities23 at Wilton.
We arrived in London the 27th of July, 1757.
Here terminates the Autobiography24, as published by Wm.
Temple Franklin and his successors. What follows was written in the last year of Dr. Franklin's life, and was first printed (in English) in Mr. Bigelow's edition of 1868.--ED.
AS SOON as I was settled in a lodging25 Mr. Charles had provided for me, I went to visit Dr. Fothergill, to whom I was strongly recommended, and whose counsel respecting my proceedings26 I was advis'd to obtain. He was against an immediate22 complaint to government, and thought the proprietaries27 should first be personally appli'd to, who might possibly be induc'd by the interposition and persuasion28 of some private friends, to accommodate matters amicably29. I then waited on my old friend and correspondent, Mr. Peter Collinson, who told me that John Hanbury, the great Virginia merchant, had requested to be informed when I should arrive, that he might carry me to Lord Granville's, who was then President of the Council and wished to see me as soon as possible. I agreed to go with him the next morning. Accordingly Mr. Hanbury called for me and took me in his carriage to that nobleman's, who receiv'd me with great civility; and after some questions respecting the present state of affairs in America and discourse30 thereupon, he said to me: "You Americans have wrong ideas of the nature of your constitution; you contend that the king's instructions to his governors are not laws, and think yourselves at liberty to regard or disregard them at your own discretion31. But those instructions are not like the pocket instructions given to a minister going abroad, for regulating his conduct in some trifling32 point of ceremony. They are first drawn33 up by judges learned in the laws; they are then considered, debated, and perhaps amended34 in Council, after which they are signed by the king. They are then, so far as they relate to you, the law of the land, for the king is the LEGISLATOR OF THE COLONIES." I told his lordship this was new doctrine35 to me. I had always understood from our charters that our laws were to be made by our Assemblies, to be presented indeed to the king for his royal assent36, but that being once given the king could not repeal37 or alter them. And as the Assemblies could not make permanent laws without his assent, so neither could he make a law for them without theirs. He assur'd me I was totally mistaken. I did not think so, however, and his lordship's conversation having a little alarm'd me as to what might be the sentiments of the court concerning us, I wrote it down as soon as I return'd to my lodgings38. I recollected39 that about 20 years before, a clause in a bill brought into Parliament by the ministry40 had propos'd to make the king's instructions laws in the colonies, but the clause was thrown out by the Commons, for which we adored them as our friends and friends of liberty, till by their conduct towards us in 1765 it seem'd that they had refus'd that point of sovereignty to the king only that they might reserve it for themselves.
After some days, Dr. Fothergill having spoken to the proprietaries, they agreed to a meeting with me at Mr. T. Penn's house in Spring Garden. The conversation at first consisted of mutual41 declarations of disposition to reasonable accommodations, but I suppose each party had its own ideas of what should be meant by reasonable. We then went into consideration of our several points of complaint, which I enumerated42. The proprietaries justify'd their conduct as well as they could, and I the Assembly's.
We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement. However, it was concluded that I should give them the heads of our complaints in writing, and they promis'd then to consider them. I did so soon after, but they put the paper into the hands of their solicitor43, Ferdinand John Paris, who managed for them all their law business in their great suit with the neighbouring proprietary44 of Maryland, Lord Baltimore, which had subsisted45 70 years, and wrote for them all their papers and messages in their dispute with the Assembly. He was a proud, angry man, and as I had occasionally in the answers of the Assembly treated his papers with some severity, they being really weak in point of argument and haughty46 in expression, he had conceived a mortal enmity to me, which discovering itself whenever we met, I declin'd the proprietary's proposal that he and I should discuss the heads of complaint between our two selves, and refus'd treating with any one but them. They then by his advice put the paper into the hands of the Attorney and Solicitor-General for their opinion and counsel upon it, where it lay unanswered a year wanting eight days, during which time I made frequent demands of an answer from the proprietaries, but without obtaining any other than that they had not yet received the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. What it was when they did receive it I never learnt, for they did not communicate it to me, but sent a long message to the Assembly drawn and signed by Paris, reciting my paper, complaining of its want of formality, as a rudeness on my part, and giving a flimsy justification47 of their conduct, adding that they should be willing to accommodate matters if the Assembly would send out some person of candour to treat with them for that purpose, intimating thereby48 that I was not such.
The want of formality or rudeness was, probably, my not having address'd the paper to them with their assum'd titles of True and Absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, which I omitted as not thinking it necessary in a paper, the intention of which was only to reduce to a certainty by writing, what in conversation I had delivered viva voce.
But during this delay, the Assembly having prevailed with Gov'r Denny to pass an act taxing the proprietary estate in common with the estates of the people, which was the grand point in dispute, they omitted answering the message.
When this act however came over, the proprietaries, counselled by Paris, determined49 to oppose its receiving the royal assent. Accordingly they petition'd the king in Council, and a hearing was appointed in which two lawyers were employ'd by them against the act, and two by me in support of it. They alledg'd that the act was intended to load the proprietary estate in order to spare those of the people, and that if it were suffer'd to continue in force, and the proprietaries who were in odium with the people, left to their mercy in proportioning the taxes, they would inevitably50 be ruined. We reply'd that the act had no such intention, and would have no such effect. That the assessors were honest and discreet51 men under an oath to assess fairly and equitably52, and that any advantage each of them might expect in lessening53 his own tax by augmenting54 that of the proprietaries was too trifling to induce them to perjure55 themselves. This is the purport56 of what I remember as urged by both sides, except that we insisted strongly on the mischievous57 consequences that must attend a repeal, for that the money, L100,000, being printed and given to the king's use, expended58 in his service, and now spread among the people, the repeal would strike it dead in their hands to the ruin of many, and the total discouragement of future grants, and the selfishness of the proprietors59 in soliciting60 such a general catastrophe61, merely from a groundless fear of their estate being taxed too highly, was insisted on in the strongest terms. On this, Lord Mansfield, one of the counsel rose, and beckoning62 me took me into the clerk's chamber63, while the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I was really of opinion that no injury would be done the proprietary estate in the execution of the act. I said certainly. "Then," says he, "you can have little objection to enter into an engagement to assure that point." I answer'd, "None at all." He then call'd in Paris, and after some discourse, his lordship's proposition was accepted on both sides; a paper to the purpose was drawn up by the Clerk of the Council, which I sign'd with Mr. Charles, who was also an Agent of the Province for their ordinary affairs, when Lord Mansfield returned to the Council Chamber, where finally the law was allowed to pass. Some changes were however recommended and we also engaged they should be made by a subsequent law, but the Assembly did not think them necessary; for one year's tax having been levied64 by the act before the order of Council arrived, they appointed a committee to examine the proceedings of the assessors, and on this committee they put several particular friends of the proprietaries. After a full enquiry, they unanimously sign'd a report that they found the tax had been assess'd with perfect equity65.
The Assembly looked into my entering into the first part of the engagement, as an essential service to the Province, since it secured the credit of the paper money then spread over all the country. They gave me their thanks in form when I return'd. But the proprietaries were enraged66 at Governor Denny for having pass'd the act, and turn'd him out with threats of suing him for breach67 of instructions which he had given bond to observe. He, however, having done it at the instance of the General, andfor His Majesty's service, and having some powerful interest at court,despis'd the threats and they were never put in execution. . . .
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1
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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18
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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autobiography
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| n.自传 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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proprietaries
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| n.所有人( proprietary的名词复数 )；专卖药品；独家制造（及销售）的产品 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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45
subsisted
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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47
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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48
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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50
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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51
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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52
equitably
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| 公平地 | |
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53
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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54
augmenting
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| 使扩张 | |
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55
perjure
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| v.作伪证；使发假誓 | |
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56
purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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58
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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60
soliciting
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| v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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62
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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