rprise of the
petitioners, who had reason to suppose him well inclined, he replied
adversely. The region was so far away, he said, that it would not "lie
within the reach of the trade and commerce of this kingdom;" so far,
also, as not to admit of "the exercise of that authority and
jurisdiction ... necessary for the preservation of the colonies in due
subordination to and dependence upon the mother country." The territory
appeared, "upon the fullest evidence," to be "utterly inaccessible to
shipping," and therefore the inhabitants would "probably be led to
manufacture for themselves, ... a consequence ... to be carefully
guarded against." Also part belonged to the Indians, who ought not to be
disturbed, and settlements therein would of course lead to Indian wars
and to "fighting for every inch of the ground." Further, the occupation
of this tract "must draw and carry out a great number of people from
Great Britain," who would soon become "a kind of separate and
independent people, ... and set up for themselves," meeting their own
wants and taking no "supplies from the mother country nor from the
provinces" along the seaboard. At so great a distance from "the seat of
government, courts, magistrates, etc.," the territory would "become a
receptacle and kind of asylum for offenders," full of crime itself, and
encouraging crime elsewhere. This disorderly population would soon
"become formidable enough to oppose his majesty's authority, disturb
government, and even give law to the other or first-settled part of the
country, and thus throw everything into confusion." Such arguments were
as feeble as they were bodeful. The only point which his lordship really
scored was in reply to Franklin's theory of the protection against the
Indians which these colonies would afford to those on the seaboard.
Hillsborough well said that the new settlements themselves would stand
most in need of protection. It was only advancing, not eliminating, a
hostile frontier.

Evidently it required no very able reasoning, coming from the president
of the board, to persuade his subordinates; and this foolish report was
readily adopted. But Franklin was not so easily beaten; the privy
council furnished one more stage at which he could still make a fight.
He drew up a reply to Lord Hillsborough's paper and submitted it to that
body. It was a long and very carefully prepared document; it dealt in
facts historical and statistical, in which the report was u