THE ARREST.
"Have you heard what they are doing in the Assembly?" asked Benjamin
one afternoon, as he entered the office under considerable excitement,
addressing his inquiry to James.
"Doing?" answered James; "doing their business, I suppose;"--a reply
that did not indicate precisely his knowledge of the legislative
doings, since he had heard of the business before them, and was
somewhat troubled by it.
"They are certainly going to arrest you for libel, and I heard a
gentleman say, in the street, that they would show you no favour;" and
Benjamin made this revelation with considerable warmth of feeling. The
idea of his brother's arrest and imprisonment excited him in no small
degree.
On the same day the following order was passed in the General Court:--
"IN COUNCIL, Jan. 14, 1722.
"Whereas the paper, called the New England Courant, of this day's
date, contains many passages in which the Holy Scriptures are
perverted, and the Civil Government, Ministers, and People of
this Province highly reflected on,
_Ordered_, That William Tailer, Samuel Sewell, and Penn Townsend,
Esqrs., with such as the Honourable House of Representatives
shall join, be a committee to consider and report what is proper
for the Court to do thereon."
The House of Representatives concurred, and the committee reported:--
"That James Franklin, the printer and publisher thereof (the
Courant), be strictly forbidden by this Court to print or publish
the New England Courant, or any other pamphlet or paper of the
like nature, except it be first supervised by the Secretary of
this Province; and the Justices of his Majesty's Sessions of the
Peace for the County of Suffolk, at their next adjournment, be
directed to take sufficient bonds of the said Franklin for twelve
months' time."
The result was, that James was arrested and confined four weeks in the
"stone gaol," from which he was released by his voluntary pledge to
regard the honour of the Court. Benjamin was arrested, also; but was
discharged on the ground that he acted as an apprentice, and was
obliged to do the bidding of his master.
It appears that there was considerable dissatisfaction in the Province
with the British government, under which the people lived. The
Courant espoused the cause of the dissatisfied party, and, perhaps
unwisely, attacked the government and its officers, together with the
ministers of the Gospel, whose sympathies seemed to be with the
dominant party. It was a time of considerable excitement, so that a
little firebrand thrown into the community was sure to make a great
fire. But the immediate cause of his arrest was the appearance of the
following article in his paper, which was a slur upon the government
for tardiness in fitting out a ship to cruise after a pirate seen off
Block Island. The article purported to be written by a correspondent
in Newport, R. I., and read thus:--
"We are advised from Boston, that the government of the
Massachusetts are fitting out a ship to go after the pirates, to
be commanded by Captain Peter Papillon, and _'tis thought he will
sail some time this month, wind and weather permitting_."
This well-pointed censure, in connection with the many flings and
attacks that had preceded it, aroused the General Court to act in
their defence without delay.
The club under whose auspices the Courant was conducted, assembled at
the office as soon as they knew the decision of the Court, to consider
what should be done.
"It is certain," said one, "that you cannot continue to issue the
paper against the action of the Court."
"Not in his own name," suggested another. "It may still be published
in the name of another person, and thus the legislative order will be
evaded."
"How will it do to issue it in Benjamin's name?" inquired James.
"That cannot be done, for he is only an apprentice, as could be very
readily proved," was the reply.
"I can easily meet that difficulty," answered James, who was usually
ready for a shrewd evasion in such a case.
"Pray, tell us how," asked one of the number, who was disposed to
think that the days of the Courant were numbered. "By changing the
name?"
"No, I would not change the name. I will return his indenture, with
his discharge upon the back of it, and he can show it in case of
necessity. We can understand the matter between us, while he will be
his own man whenever any trouble may arise about his apprenticeship."
All agreed that this plan would work well, and it was accordingly
adopted.
"Benjamin Franklin, publisher and proprietor," said one of the club,
rising from his seat and patting Benjamin on the shoulder. "What do
you think of that, my son? Rather a young fellow to undertake such an
enterprise, but a match, I guess, for the General Court of the
Province."
Benjamin was quite unprepared to reply to the merriment of the club on
the occasion over his unexpected introduction to an office of which he
did not dream in the morning. He was now to appear before the public
in quite another relation than that of apprentice,--probably the
youngest conductor of a newspaper who ever lived, for he was only
sixteen years of age.
Henceforth the paper appeared in the name of Benjamin Franklin,
occasioning, by all the circumstances, no little excitement in the
town.
James was conveyed to prison, and during his confinement, Benjamin had
the whole management of the paper, in which he took occasion to speak
very plainly and boldly against the government. Notwithstanding the
difficulty that existed between him and his brother, his heart was
stirred with resentment against the Court for sending him to jail, and
he espoused his cause with as much sympathy and good-will, apparently,
as he could have done if no difference had disturbed their
intercourse. This was honourable in Benjamin, and showed that he
possessed a true brother's heart. For three years the paper was
published in his name, although he did not remain with James so long.
We have referred to the time of Benjamin's boyhood as a period of
public excitement and disturbance. Great alarm was frequently
occasioned, for some time before and some time after his birth, by the
depredations of the Indians. The French were hostile to Great Britain;
so they sought to stir up, and ally themselves with, the savages, in
making inroads upon the Colonies. The consequence was, "wars and
rumours of wars," with actual massacres and bloodshed. Benjamin's
ears, in his early life, were often saluted with the harrowing tales
of slaughter and conflagration, an experience that may have qualified
him, in a measure, to act the prominent part he did in achieving the
independence of his country, half a century thereafter. Rev. Dr.
Willard, who baptized him, was driven from the town of Groton by the
Indians in 1675. Later still, only three years before the birth of
Benjamin, the town of Deerfield was attacked and burned by these
savage tribes, instigated and led on by the French,--and "upwards of
forty persons were slain, and more than a hundred were made
prisoners." "When the sun was an hour high, the work was finished, and
the enemy took their departure, leaving the snow reddened with blood,
and the deserted village enveloped in flames." Only two or three years
after his birth, the famous attack upon Haverhill was made, when the
Indians massacred men, women, and children indiscriminately, a few
only escaping their terrible vengeance. The stories of such dreadful
cruelties and sufferings were fresh in Benjamin's boyhood, and their
effect upon the youthful mind was heightened by the frequent reports
of outbreaks and anticipated Indian attacks from different quarters.
Thus born and reared in troublous times, our hero was prepared to work
out his destiny in the most perilous period of American history.
A single item published in the Courant about this time, will show the
young reader that Boston and its environs of that early day did not
much resemble the same city now. The item is the following:--
"It is thought that not less than twenty bears have been killed
in about a week's time within two miles of Boston. Two have been
killed below the Castle, as they were swimming from one island to
another, and one attempted to board a boat out in the bay, but
the men defended themselves so well with the boat-hook and oars,
that they put out her eyes, and then killed her. On Tuesday last
two were killed at Dorchester, one of which weighed sixty pounds
a quarter. We hear from Providence that the bears appear to be
very thick in those parts."