in their offices. They were both clever men: they
exercised considerable local influence, especially Montagu, in
connection with the Derwent Bank. Their advice Franklin could not easily
evade. Thus the policy of their distinguished relative survived in his
nephews. Franklin was scarcely seated, when the press professed to
discover that he was an instrument in the hands of the "Arthur
faction."

Arthur, anxious for the welfare of his relatives and friends, commended
them to the confidence of his successor. Many unsettled claims were left
to his final decision. Colonists aggrieved by the late governor, when
their appeals for redress to Franklin (not unfrequently inequitable)
were unavailing, fancied that their former antagonists still turned the
course of justice. The sanguine hopes excited by an auspicious name,
gradually gave way, and the governor was assailed with remonstrances,
which enlarged into reproaches by a rapid growth. A design was commonly
imputed to the advisers of Franklin to render him unpopular, and thus
the late ruler an object of regret; they slighted, however, the
reproaches they had been accustomed to despise.

"The lingering traces" of discord, were distressing to Franklin. In
answer to an address from Richmond, which deplored the absence, and
invoked the restoration, of social peace, he expressed his anxiety with
touching ardour:--"With my whole heart I agree with you. Let us be
divided then, if we cannot be united in political sentiments, yet knit
together as friends and neighbours in everything beside. Let us differ
where honest men may differ; and let us agree, not in undervaluing the
points of political dissent, but in respecting the motives which may
produce it; in cherishing domestic virtues, which will be found to
characterise individuals of every party, and in making the generous
sacrifice of private feelings for the general good, rather than
aggravating the importance of grievances, which must render such
forbearance impossible." These sentiments, not less charming for their
amiable spirit than happy in expression, are important as maxims of
political life, and they depict the main difficulty of the governor's
position.

To promote the harmony of parties, Franklin considerably added to the
list of magistrates: persons, discountenanced by Arthur, were placed on
a level with their late antagonists. But selection is difficult where
many are candidates. Free settlers of all sorts were equall