During the course of the disputes, certain letters had been written by
Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Oliver, lieutenant-governor., and others, to the
home government, reflecting strongly on the character of the colonial
opposition, and recommending the adoption of coercive measures, and a
material change in the system of the government of the colonies. These
letters were strictly confidential, but they were purloined from
the office in which they were deposited by some person favourable to
American interests, and placed in the hands of Dr. Franklin, agent for
the province of Massachusets. Franklin thought proper to transmit these
letters to a friend in that province, with a strict injunction against
their being printed, as he had given a promise to the friend who had
furnished him with them to that effect. Their contents, however,
soon became known, and the legislative assembly obliged Franklin's
correspondent to produce them, and having resolved that the tendency of
them was to overthrow the constitution and to introduce arbitrary power
into the province, the house of assembly drew up a petition to the
king, charging the governor with betraying his trust, and slandering the
people under his government; declaring him an enemy to the colony; and
praying for the instant dismissal of both Hutchinson and Oliver, the
governor and deputy-governor of the province. Copies of this petition,
and also of the letters which gave rise to it, were soon scattered over
all the continent, from the Lawrence to the Mississippi, and from the
shores of the Atlantic to the regions of the far west; and their effects
soon became manifest.
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