40 THOMAS HUTCHINSON 



mised, that the governor and his lieutenant were plot- 

 ting against the liberties of Massachusetts. They 

 were soon talked about at every town meeting and on 

 every street corner. The assembly twitted Hutchin- 

 son with them, and asked for copies of these and other 

 such papers as he might see fit to communicate. He 

 replied, somewhat sarcastically, " If you desire copies 

 with a view to make them public, the originals are 

 more proper for the purpose than any copies." Mis- 

 taken as Hutchinson's policy was, his conscience 

 acquitted him of any treasonable purpose, and he must 

 naturally have preferred to have people judge him by 

 what he had really written, rather than by vague and 

 distorted rumours. His reply was taken as sufficient 

 warrant for printing the letters, and they were soon 

 in the possession of every reader in England or 

 America who could afford sixpence for a political 

 tract. On the other side of the Atlantic they aroused 

 as much excitement as on this, and William Whately 

 became concerned to know who could have stolen the 

 letters. On very slight evidence he charged a Mr. 

 Temple with the theft, and a duel ensued, in which 

 Whately was dangerously wounded. Hearing of this 

 affair, Franklin published a card, in which he avowed 

 his own share in the transaction, and in a measure 

 screened everybody else by drawing the full torrent of 

 wrath and abuse upon himself. All the ill-suppressed 

 spleen of the king's friends was at once discharged 

 upon him. 



Meanwhile in Massachusetts the excitement was 

 furious. The autumn of 1773 had arrived, and with 

 it Lord Dartmouth's tea ships, and Hutchinson was 

 brought into an attitude of hostility to the people such 



