The Assembly, finally finding the proprietary obstinately persisted in manacling their deputies [190] with instructions inconsistent not only with the privileges of the people but with the service of the Crown, resolved to petition the king against them, and appointed me their agent to go over to England to present and support the petition. The House had sent up a bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty thousand pounds for the king's use, (ten thousand pounds of which was subjected to the orders of the then general, Lord Loudoun,) which the governor absolutely refused to pass, in compliance with his instructions.
Footnotes
[184] The publisher, Edward Cave (1691–1754), was the founder of the Gentleman's Magazine, the earliest literary journal of the kind.
[185] "Copy money," i.e., money paid for the copy or article.
[186] Monsieur.
[187] A title formerly assumed in France by a class of men who had slight connections with the church, and were employed as teachers or engaged in some literary pursuit.
[188] Pupil.
[189] The iron rod was on the kite which Franklin flew in a thunderstorm in 1752. A hemp cord conducted the electricity to a key near his hand, and from this he received the shock which proved the truth of his theory that lightning and electricity are one and the same.