Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
Franklin had the cougar by the tail and would not let go. He still tried to champion the notion of harmony between Britain and the Colonies and even went so far as to pen his hopes that the new Secretary of State of the Colonies Lord Hillsborough would appoint him undersecretary. It was not to be. The potential couple had a long and contentious meeting in August of 1768. Hillsborough appointed a lackey instead in John Pownall-- a stanch anti-colonialist. POWNALL, John (1720-95), of Wykeham, Lincs. | History of Parliament Online Franklin stashed his disappointment and fear in various anonymous articles as well as in a parable-- a young lion and a huge English dog travelled together on a ship. The dog often stole the lion cub's food and bullied him. One day the grown up lion smashed the big dog with a "stunning blow" that left the dog "regretting that he had not rather secured its friendship than provoked its enmity." The parable was humbled dedicated to Lord Hillsborough. Hardly a message that needed to be peeled like an onion. Everything changed very rapidly when on March 5, 1770 a Boston crowd taunted a group of Redcoats enforcing the Townsend duties with "Fire and be damned". Five colonialists died after the Redcoats opened fire in what would be called the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre — History.com This Day in History — 3/5/1770 |
Franklin still had
tomatoes on his face from all those who
spurned his attempts to keep the colonies and Mother England on friendly terms. This seemed a lot like his work with preventing a civil war in Pennsylvania over the Paxton Boys invasion of Philadelphia who were bent on murdering 140 civilized Indians as well as the Quakers who supported these families. The Quakers whose religion stressed pacifism set aside their beliefs and would meet force with
force. They took up arms against the Paxton Boys who had killed six unarmed Indians on December 14, 1763 and two weeks later murdered another fourteen Christian unarmed Indians who were hiding from the Boys in a workhouse. Religion and culture
mingled in this growing conflict as the Paxton backwoodsmen were mainly Presbyterians and German Lutherans. Franklin took the side of the Quakers and their defense of their Indian charges and wrote a pamphlet entitled "A Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County."
http://www.historycarper.com/1764/03...ate-massacres/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxton_Boys