of the Penns.

The Assembly, however, voted--twenty-seven to three--with Franklin
and Galloway. In the general election of the autumn, the question was
debated anew among the people and, though Franklin and Galloway were
defeated for seats in the Assembly, yet the popular verdict was strongly
in favor of a change, and the majority in the Assembly was for practical
purposes unaltered. They voted to appeal to England for the change, and
appointed Franklin to be their agent before the Crown and Ministry. He
sailed again for England and soon was involved in the opening scenes of
the Revolution. He was made agent for all the colonies and he spent
many delightful years there pursuing his studies in science, dining with
distinguished men, staying at country seats, and learning all the arts
of diplomacy for which he afterwards became so distinguished.

As for the Assembly's petition for a change to royal government,
Franklin presented it, but never pressed it. He, too, was finally
convinced that the time was inopportune. In fact, the Assembly itself
before long began to have doubts and fears and sent him word to let
the subject drop; and amid much greater events it was soon entirely
forgotten.

Chapter VIII. The Beginnings Of New Jersey

New Jersey, Scheyichbi, as the Indians called it, or Nova Caesarea,
as it was called in the Latin of its proprietary grant, had a history
rather different from that of other English colonies in America.
Geographically, it had not a few attractions. It was a good sized
dominion surrounded on all sides but one by water, almost an island
domain, secluded and independent. In fact, it was the only one of the
colonies which stood naturally separate and apart. The others were
bounded almost entirely by artificial or imaginary lines.

It offered an opportunity, one might have supposed, for some
dissatisfied religious sect of the seventeenth century to secure a
sanctuary and keep off all intruders. But at first no one of the various
denominations seems to have fancied it or chanced upon it. The Puritans
disembarked upon the bleak shores of New England well suited to the
sternness of their religion. How different American history might have
been if they had established themselves in the Jerseys! Could they,
under those milder skies, have developed witchcraft, set up blue laws,
and indulged in the killing of Quakers? After a time they learned about
the Jerseys and cast thrifty eyes upon them. The