of honor."

The examination was a complete success; not even the Tories could
object to it, and to Burke it seemed like the examination of a master
by a parcel of schoolboys. A few days later the repeal was carried.

But the relief was only temporary, and Parliament soon returned to its
high-handed measures of repression. One day in the midst of the contest
Franklin was talking with a friendly member of Parliament and
inveighing against the violence of the government towards Boston. The
Englishman replied that these measures of repression did not originate
in England, and to prove his assertion placed in Franklin's hands a
packet of letters written by Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts, and
others to a member of Parliament with the intention of reaching the
ears of Lord Grenville. These letters, written by native-born
Americans, advised the quartering of troops on Boston, advocated the
making of judges and governors dependent on England for their salaries,
and were full of such sentiments as that "there must be an abridgment
of what are called English liberties." Franklin by permission sent them
to Boston, where they naturally raised a furor of indignation. A
petition was immediately sent over to have Governor Hutchinson removed
from office, but for a while government took no action. After a time
the letters got into the London newspapers with the most deplorable
result. One Thomas Whately, brother of the gentleman to whom they had
been addressed, was accused of purloining the letters and sending them
to America. This caused a duel, and a second duel was about to be
fought when Franklin published a note in the "Public Advertiser"
avowing that the letters had not passed through Mr. Whately's hands,
that he himself was responsible for sending them to Boston, and that no
blame could be attached to the action as the letters were really of a
public nature. The Tories now saw their opportunity to attack Franklin.
The petition for removing Hutchinson was taken up by the Committee for
Plantation Affairs, and Franklin was summoned to appear before them.
Wedderburn, the king's solicitor-general, was there to speak for
Hutchinson, and Franklin, having no counsel, had the proceedings
delayed for three weeks.

On the appointed day the Council met in a building called the Cockpit,
and Franklin appeared before them. The room was furnished with a long
table down the middle, at which the lords sat. At one end of the room
was a fir