appointed a Vice-President, to take place on the death or absence of the President-General; for so we should be more sure of a suitable person at the head of the Colonies. On the death or absence of both, the Speaker to take place (or rather the eldest King's governor) till his Majesty's pleasure be known.

OFFICERS, HOW APPOINTED.

That all military commission officers, whether for land or sea service, to act under this general constitution, shall be nominated by the President-General; but the approbation of the Grand Council is to be obtained, before they receive their commissions. And all civil officers are to be nominated by the Grand Council, and to receive the President-General's approbation before they officiate.

It was thought it might be very prejudicial to the service, to have officers appointed unknown to the people, or unacceptable, the generality of Americans serving willingly under officers they know; and not caring to engage in the service under strangers, or such as are often appointed by governors through favor or interest. The service here meant is not the stated, settled service in standing troops; but any sudden and short service, either for defence of our Colonies, or invading the enemy's country (such as the expedition to Cape Breton in the last war; in which many substantial farmers and tradesmen engaged as common soldiers, under officers of their own country, for whom they had an esteem and affection; who would not have engaged in a standing army, or under officers from England). It was therefore thought best to give the Council the power of approving the officers, which the people will look upon as a great security of their being good men. And without some such provision as this, it was thought the expense of engaging men in the service on any emergency would be much greater, and the number who could be induced to engage much less; and that therefore it would be most for the King's service and general benefit of the nation, that the prerogative should relax a little in this particular throughout all the Colonies in America; as it had already done much more in the charters of some particular Colonies, viz. Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The civil officers will be chiefly treasurers and collectors of taxes; and the suitable persons are most likely to be known by the Council.

VACANCIES, HOW SUPPLIED.

But, in case of vacancy by death or removal of any officer, civil or military, under this constitution, the Governor of the Province

in which such vacancy happens may appoint, till the pleasure of the President-General and Grand Council can be known.

The vacancies were thought best supplied by the governors in each Province, till a new appointment can be regularly made; otherwise the service might suffer before the meeting of the President-General and Grand Council.

EACH COLONY MAY DEFEND ITSELF ON EMERGENCY, &C.

That the particular military as well as civil establishments in each Colony remain in their present state, the general constitution notwithstanding; and that on sudden emergencies any Colony may defend itself, and lay the accounts of expense thence arising before the President-General and General Council, who may allow and order payment of the same, as far as they judge such accounts just and reasonable.

Otherwise the union of the whole would weaken the parts, contrary to the design of the union. The accounts are to be judged of by the President-General and Grand Council, and allowed if found reasonable. This was thought necessary to encourage Colonies to defend themselves, as the expense would be light when borne by the whole; and also to check imprudent and lavish expense in such defences.

The Plan of Union adopted by the Albany Convention in 1754, although it failed, was the most important federal measure in the Colonies before the Revolution. The Confederacy of the United Colonies of New England, established in 1643, had been the only important previous federation. After this Confederacy ceased to exist, various plans were proposed at different times for a union of the Colonies, chiefly with reference to more efficient action against the Indians and the French. William Penn in 1697 had proposed an annual congress of all the Colonies, with power to regulate commerce. Daniel Coxe, in the preface to his Description of Carolana, published in London in 1722, outlined a plan of union which strikingly resembled the scheme submitted by Franklin to the Albany Convention. these plans were without result. The Convention at Albany, June 19, 1754, met at the prompting of the Board of Trade, which instructed the royal governors to treat with the Six Nations and concert general measures of defence, with reference to the impending French war. Seven of the Colonies, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, were represented in the convention by twenty-five delegates. Virginia was also represented, by Lieutenantgovernor Delancey of New York. America," says Bancroft, "had never an assembly so venerable for the states that were represented, or for the great and able men who composed it." All felt some union of the Colonies

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But

to be absolutely necessary. Massachusetts had definitely authorized her commissioners to "enter into articles of union and confederation for the general defence of his Majesty's subjects and interests in North America, as well in time of peace as of war." While the negotiations with the Indians were pending, a committee, consisting of Hutchinson of Massachusetts, Hopkins of Rhode Island, Smith of New York, Tasker of Maryland, and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, was deputed to prepare a constitution for a perpetual confederacy of the continent. Franklin had some time before sketched a plan of union in outline, which had been seen and approved by some of his friends in New York. This he now brought forward and perfected, at the request of the committee; and after several days' debate in the convention, it was adopted, either unanimously or with the solitary dissent of Connecticut. The plan did not entirely satisfy Franklin himself. is not altogether to my mind," he said afterwards, "but it is as I could get it." And curiously it proved acceptable in almost no quarter. It was rejected by all the Colonial Assemblies in America, and it was rejected by the Board of Trade in England, which simply submitted it to the king without comment. 'The Assemblies," said Franklin, "all thought there was too much prerogative in it, and in England it was thought to have too much of the democratic." But the plan familiarized the American people with the idea of union, doing much to prepare them for concerted action in the Revolutionary struggle twenty years later; and it constitutes a notable landmark in the history of the development of the national principle.

"It

See the full account of the Proceedings of the Congress, together with many illustrative papers, in Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. vi. See also papers in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1836. The best general account of the Convention, perhaps, is that in Frothingham's Rise of the Republic. The Plan of Union is here printed as it appears in Sparks's edition of Franklin's writings, the several Articles of Union being in Italic type, and the reasons and motives for them in Roman.

"We met the other commissioners at Albany about the middle of June. In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for the union of all the colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary for defense, and other important general purposes. As we pass'd thro' New York, I had there shown my project to Mr. James Alexander and Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and, being fortified by their approbation, I ventur'd to lay it before the Congress. It then appeared that several of the commissioners had form'd plans of the same kind. A previous question was first taken, whether a union should be established, which pass'd in the affirmative unanimously. A committee was then appointed, one member from each colony, to consider the several plans and report. Mine happen'd to be preferr'd, and, with a few amendments, was accordingly reported. The debates upon it in Congress went on daily, hand in hand with the Indian business. Many objections and difficulties were started, but at length they were all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed to, and copies ordered to be transmitted to the Board of Trade and to the assemblies of the several provinces. Its fate was singular: the assemblies did not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much preroga tive in it, and in England it was judg'd to have too much of the democratic. The Board of Trade therefore did not approve of it, nor recommend it for the approbation of his majesty; but another scheme was form'd, supposed to answer the same purpose better, whereby the governors of the provinces.

with some members of their respective councils, were to meet and order the raising of troops, building of forts, etc., and to draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense, which was afterwards to be refunded by an act of Parliament laying a tax on America. My plan, with my reasons in support of it, is to be found among my political papers that are printed. Being the winter following in Boston, I had much conversation with Governor Shirley upon both the plans. Part of what passed between us on the occasion may also be seen among those papers. The different and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes me suspect that it was really the true medium; and I am still of opinion it would have been happy for both sides the water if it had been adopted. The colonies, so united, would have been sufficiently strong to have defended themselves; there would then have been no need of troops from England; of course, the subsequent pretence for taxing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would have been avoided. But such mistakes are not new: history is full of the errors of states and princes.

'Look round the habitable world, how few

Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!'

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from prerous wisdom, but forc'd by the occasion." — - Franklin's Autobiography.

FFLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filed me with greater anxieties, than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years; a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust, to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is, that, if in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens; and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me; my error will be palliated by the