In the Days of Poor Richard
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER XIII
THE FERMENT
On his voyage to New York, Jack wrote long letters to Margaret and toDoctor Franklin, which were deposited in the Post-Office on hisarrival, the tenth of March. He observed a great change in the spiritof the people. They were no longer content with words. The fermentwas showing itself in acts of open and violent disorder. The statue ofGeorge III, near the Battery, was treated to a volley of decayed eggs,in the evening of his arrival. This hot blood was due to the effort toprevent free speech in the colonies and the proposal to send politicalprisoners to England for trial.
Jack took the first boat to Albany and found Solomon working on theIrons farm. In his diary he tells of the delightful days of rest heenjoyed with his family. Solomon had told them of the great adventurebut Jack would have little to say of it, having no pride in thatachievement.
Soon the scout left on a mission for the Committee of Safety to distantsettlements in the great north bush.
"I'll be spendin' the hull moon in the wilderness," he said to Jack."Goin' to Virginny when I get back, an' I'll look fer ye on the waydown."
Jack set out for Philadelphia the day after Solomon left. He stoppedat Kinderhook on his way down the river and addressed its people onconditions in England. A young Tory interrupted his remarks. At thebarbecue, which followed, this young man was seized and punished by anumber of stalwart girls who removed his collar and jacket by force andcovered his head and neck with molasses and the fuzz of cat tails.Jack interceded for the Tory and stopped the proceeding.
"My friends, we must control our anger," he said. "Let us not try tosubdue tyranny by using it ourselves."
Everywhere he found the people in such a temper that Tories had to holdtheir peace or suffer punishment. At the office he learned that hismost important letters had failed to pass the hidden censorship of mailin England. He began, at once, to write a series of articles whichhastened the crisis. The first of them was a talk with Franklin, whichtold how his mail had been tampered with; that no letter had come tohis hand through the Post-Office which had not been opened withapparent indifference as to the evidence of its violation. TheDoctor's words regarding free speech in America and the proposal to trythe bolder critics for treason were read and discussed in everyhousehold from the sea to the mountains and from Maine to Florida.
"Grievances can not be redressed unless they are known and they can notbe known save through complaints and petitions," the philosopher hadsaid. "If these are taken as affronts and the messengers punished, thevent of grief is stopped up--a dangerous thing in any state. It issure to produce an explosion.
"An evil magistrate with the power to punish for words would be armedwith a terrible weapon.
"Augustus Caesar, with the avowed purpose of preserving Romans fromdefamation, made libel subject to the penalties of treason.Thenceforward every man's life hung by a thread easily severed by somelying informer.
"Soon it was resolved by all good judges of law that whoever shouldinsinuate the least doubt of Nero's preeminence in the noble art offiddling should be deemed a traitor. Grief became treason and one ladywas put to death for bewailing the fate of her murdered son. In time,silence became treason, and even a look was considered an overt act."
These words of the wise philosopher strengthened the spirit of the landfor its great ordeal.
Jack described the prejudice of the Lords who, content with theirignorance, spurned every effort to inform them of the conditions inAmerica.
"And this little tail is wagging the great dog of England, most ofwhose people believe in the justice of our complaints," he wrote.
The young man's work had set the bells ringing and they were the bellsof revolt. The arrival of General Gage at Boston in May, to be civilgovernor and commander-in-chief for the continent, and the blockade ofthe port twenty days later, compelling its population who had been fedby the sea to starve or subsist on the bounty of others, drove the mostconservative citizens into the open. Parties went out Tory hunting.Every suspected man was compelled to declare himself and ifincorrigible, was sent away. Town meetings were held even under theeyes of the King's soldiers and no tribunal was allowed to sit in anycourt-house. At Salem, a meeting was held behind locked doors with theGovernor and his Secretary shouting a proclamation through its keyhole,declaring it to be dissolved. The meeting proceeded to its end, andwhen the citizens filed out, they had invited the thirteen colonies toa General Congress in Philadelphia.
It was Solomon Binkus who conveyed the invitation to Pennsylvania andVirginia. He had gone on a second mission to Springfield and Bostonand had been in the meeting at Salem with General Ward. Another mancarried that historic call to the colonies farther south. In fiveweeks, delegates were chosen, and early in August, they were travelingon many different roads toward the Quaker City. Crowds gathered inevery town and village they passed. Solomon, who rode with theVirginia delegation, told Jack that he hadn't heard so much noise sincethe Injun war.
"They was poundin' the bells, an shootin' cannons everywhere," hedeclared. "Men, women and childern crowded 'round us an' split theirlungs yellin'. They's a streak o' sore throats all the way fromAlexandry to here."
Solomon and his young friend met John Adams on the street. Thedistinguished Massachusetts lawyer said to Jack when the greetings wereover:
"Young man, your pen has been not writing, but making history."
"Does it mean war?" Jack queried.
Mr. Adams wiped his brow with his handkerchief and said; "People in ourcircumstances have seldom grown old or died in their beds."
"We ought to be getting ready," said Jack.
"And we are doing little but eat and drink and shout and bluster," Mr.Adams answered. "We are being entertained here with meats and curdsand custards and jellies and tarts and floating islands and Madeirawine. It is for you to induce the people of Philadelphia to begin tosave. We need to learn Franklin's philosophy of thrift."
Colonel Washington was a member of the Virginia delegation. Jack wrotethat he was in uniform, blue coat and red waistcoat and breeches; thathe was a big man standing very erect and about six feet, two inches inheight; that his eyes were blue, his complexion light and ratherflorid, his face slightly pock-marked, his brown hair tinged with gray;that he had the largest hands, save those of Solomon Binkus, that hehad ever seen. His letter contains these informing words:
"I never quite realized the full meaning of the word 'dignity' until Isaw this man and heard his deep rich voice. There was a kind ofmagnificence in his manner and person when he said:
"'I will raise one thousand men toward the relief of Boston and subsistthem at my own expense.'
"That was all he said and it was the most eloquent speech made in theconvention. It won the hearts of the New Englanders. Thereafter, hewas the central figure in that Congress of trusted men. It is alsoevident that he will be the central figure on this side of the oceanwhen the storm breaks. Next day, he announced that he was, as yet,opposed to any definite move toward independence. So the delegatescontented themselves with a declaration of rights opposing importationsand especially slaves."
When the Congress adjourned October twenty-sixth to meet again on thetenth of May, there was little hope of peace among those who had had apart in its proceedings.
Jack, who knew the conditions in England, knew also that war would comesoon, and freely expressed his views.