with dismay. The Massachusetts House
of Assembly carried by a large majority a petition to the King, calling
for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver as betrayers of their trust
and enemies to the colony. Hutchinson, soon made aware of the
publicity given to the correspondence, demanded to see the letters that
were said to come from him. The Assembly permitted this, but accorded
the permission with a show of distrust that was in itself the crudest
affront. A small committee was appointed to take the letters to
Hutchinson and to show him the letters in their presence, the
implication being that Hutchinson was not to be trusted with the
letters except in the presence of witnesses. Hutchinson had to submit
to the insult; he had also to admit that the letters were genuine. He
gave, or was understood to give, permission that the letters might be
made public. The letters were promptly made public. Thousands of
copies were struck off and scattered broadcast all over the continent.

[Sidenote: 1772--Temple and Whately fight a duel]

England was scarcely less excited than America by the publication.
There was a general curiosity to know how the letters had been
purloined and how they had been made public. The Whately to whom the
letters had been addressed had a brother, William Whately. William
Whately seems to have been alarmed lest it might be thought that he was
in any way instrumental to the promulgation of the letters. He
diverted any suspicion from himself by accusing another man of the
theft. This other man was a Mr. John Temple, who had once had an
opportunity of examining the papers of the late Mr. Whately. Temple
immediately challenged his accuser; a duel was fought, and as far as
ordeal of battle went, Temple made good his innocence, for he wounded
William Whately. At {156} this moment Franklin came forward. He
admitted that the letters had come into his hands, and that he had
despatched them to America. He declined to say how they did come into
his hands, but he solemnly asserted the absolute innocence of both
Temple and Whately of any knowledge of or complicity in the
transaction. A storm of popular anger broke upon Franklin. He was
regarded as a criminal, spoken of as a criminal, publicly denounced as
a criminal. Wedderburn, the Solicitor-General, was his denunciator,
and he chose for the place of his attack the House of Commons, and for
the hour the occasion of the presentation of the petition