But the truth is, these letters could not be considered in anywise as private; they were as public as letters could be. To use the emphatic language of Dr. Franklin himself, "they were not of the nature of private letters between friends; they were written by public officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and intended to procure public measures: they were therefore handed to other public persons, who might be influenced by them to produce those measures. Their tendency was to incense the mother country against her colonies, and by the steps recommended, to widen the breach, which they effected. The chief caution expressed with regard to privacy was, to keep their contents from the colony agents, who, the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies of them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well founded; for the first agent who laid his hands on them, thought it his duty to transmit them to his constituents."

But it is time that I should declare to you, that this third person from whom Dr. Franklin received these famous letters, (and permit me to add, that this is the first time the fact has been publicly disclosed,) was Dr. HUGH WILLIAMSON.

I have before stated his mission in behalf of the academy. Dr. Williamson had now arrived in London. Feeling a lively interest in the momentous questions then agitated, and suspecting that a clandestine correspondence, hostile to the interest of the colonies, was carried on between Hutchinson and certain leading members of the British cabinet, he determined to ascertain the truth by a bold experiment.

He had learned that governor Hutchinson's letters were deposited in an office different from that in which they ought regularly to have been placed; and having understood that there was little exactness in the transaction of the business of that office, he immediately repaired to it, and addressed himself to the chief clerk, not finding the principal within. Assuming the demeanor of official importance, he peremptorily stated, that he had come for the last letters that had been received from governor Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver, noticing the office in which they ought regularly to have been placed. Without a question being asked, the letters

Franklin's letter to the printer of the Daily Advertiser.

were delivered. The clerk, doubtless, supposed him to be an authorized person from some other public office. Dr. Williamson immediately carried them to Dr. Franklin, and the next day left London for Holland.

By this daring measure, was detected and put beyond question, the misrepresentations and designs of Hutchinson and his associates; and, perhaps, no event in the previous history of the provinces excited more bitter indignation, or was calculated to call for opposition to the measures of Great Britain, to which these misrepresentations had given rise.

The lively interest, and the conspicuous part which Dr. Williamson took in public affairs, did not prevent him, while in England, from bestowing a portion of his attention upon scientific pursuits. Electricity, whose laws had been recently determined by the discoveries of Dr. Franklin, and by his genius introduced among the sciences, was then a study, which, like chemistry at the present day, largely engrossed the minds of philosophers. In conjunction with Dr. Ingenhouz, Mr Walsh, Mr. John Hunter, and Dr. Franklin, he frequently instituted electrical experiments, to which I have often heard him refer with juvenile feelings, at the same time professing his ardent attachment to this branch of knowledge. The only paper which bears testimony to his investigations on this subject, is that entitled, "Experiments and Observations on the Gymnotus Electricus, or Electrical Eel," which was first published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for the year 1775, and has since been reprinted in the abridgment of that work.*

Dr. Williamson had scarcely made his tour through Holland and the Low Countries, when the news of the declaration of American Independence reached him. He now concluded to return to his native land. He proceeded to France, and after a short time spent in that kingdom, during a great part of which he was confined by sickness, he sailed from Nantz in December, for Philadelphia, at which place he did not arrive before the 15th of March. The ship in which he sailed was captured off the Capes of Delaware, but he, with another passenger, escaped in an open boat

* Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, abridged by Hutton, Shaw, and Pearson, vol. xiii. page 597.

with some very important public despatches, of which Dr. Williamson was the bearer.

The American army, at the period of Dr. Williamson's return from Europe, was, in some measure, organized, and every office in the medical staff, or in the line, that he could with any propriety accept, was filled up. He resolved, therefore, to remain in private life, waiting for opportunities which he trusted would present themselves in the course of a dangerous struggle.

He repaired to Edenton, North Carolina, from which place he traded to neutral islands in the West Indies; but while he was thus engaged in trade, he determined to resume the practice of medicine: this he did with the same success as he had done formerly at Philadelphia, and in a short time acquired the confidence of the people of Edenton.

During the period of his residence there, he was invited to Newbern, for the purpose of communicating the small-pox to such as had not experienced the benefits of inoculation. These circumstances in part contributed to spread the name of Dr. Williamson, and to lay the foundation of that fame and confidence which he afterwards obtained in the state of North Carolina.

The doctor had taken an early opportunity of informing the governor of that province, that if any circumstance should occur in the course of the war, in which he could be of use to the state, he might immediately command his services. It is known that the British troops took possession of Charleston in the winter of 1779 -80, and that the assembly of North Carolina ordered a large draft to be made from their militia, of from four to six thousand men, who should join the regular troops then ordered for the relief of South Carolina. The command of the North Carolina militia was given to their late governor Caswell, with the rank of major General. The general putting Dr. Williamson in mind of a former promise, handed him a commission, by which he found himself at the head of the medical department, as physician and surgeon.

An occasion now presented itself, in the which doctor had an opportunity of displaying his firmness of character, his humanity, his professional skill, and his incorruptible adherence to the cause in which he had embarked. On the morning after the battle near Camden, on the 18th of August, 1780 which the doctor witnessed,

he fell in with general Caswell, and requested of him to give him, a flag, observing that, although a great part of the militia had behaved ill, yet many of them, as he must have observed, fought with distinguished bravery, and that a considerable number, in consequence, were wounded and made prisoners. They claimed our attention. The general advised him to send in some of the regimental surgeons, observing that his duty did not require that service from him. The doctor replied, that the regimental surgeons, such of them as he had seen, refused to go; being, as he suspected, afraid of the consequences. But, said he, if I have lived until a flag will not protect me, I have out-lived my country; and, in that case, have lived one day too long. To this observation, no reply was made―he obtained a pass, and the necessary instructions.

He remained two months with the enemy in Camden, during which time he rendered very essential services to the prisoners committed to his care. Such, too was the estimation in which the medical skill of Dr. Williamson was held by the enemy, that during the illness of one of their general officers, in which the advice of a physician became necessary, his attendance was requested in addition to that of the surgeons constituting their medical department.

Early in the spring of 1782, Dr. Williamson took his seat as a representative of Edenton, in the house of commons of North Carolina. In that assembly he fortunately met with several members, whose brothers, sons, or other connexions, he had served in the army, or while they were prisoners. Those services were not forgotten. It was to be expected that a gentleman who had seen much of the world, and whose education had been so extensive, could hardly fail, with the aid of moderate oratorical abilities, to become an influential member in a deliberative body. Such in fact he proved. Among other bills which he introduced with success, we find one for erecting a court of chancery, which had often been attempted, in vain, in that state. It may be presumed, that old members who had been accustomed to conduct the business of that house, were not gratified with being left in the minority by a gentleman who was, at that time, comparatively a stranger in their state. Yet when the election came on for members of congress, those very gentlemen added their influence to that of the friends.

whom he had acquired in the army, and he was sent to the general congress without opposition. He continued at the head of the delegation for three years, the longest time that any member was then permitted to serve.

During the three years in which he was not eligible to hold a seat in that body, he served the state occasionally in its legislature, or in some other capacity.

In the year 1786, he was one of the few members who were sent to Annapolis, to revise and amend the constitution of the United States; and who, finding that they had not sufficient powers to do any thing effectual, recommended to the several states to make another choice of delegates, and to invest them with the requisite powers. In that year Dr. Williamson published a series of Essays, deprecating paper currency, and recommending an excise to be imposed. In the year 1787, he was one of the delegates from North Carolina, in the general convention at Philadelphia, who formed and signed the present constitution of the United States.

The assembly passed a law for a general state convention, to be held at Hillsborough, in July, 1788, for the purpose of determining upon this constitution. The convention, after much debate, adjourned on the 2d of August, having refused to adopt the proposed constitution by a majority of more than two to one, viz. one hundred and eighty-four to eighty-four.

As a representative of the people in the legislature of North Carolina, and in the supreme council of the nation, he was occupied many years. No man, I believe, ever enjoyed in a larger dethe confidence of his constituents, for integrity of conduct; and the influence of his character will be readily appreciated, when we advert to the many important services he effected during the most eventful period of our political history.

gree

He was anxious to prove himself worthy of the high trust reposed in him, nor did he ever permit any private or selfish views to interfere with considerations of public interest. As chairman of numerous committees,-as the mover of important resolutions,as the framer of new propositions, and new laws,-he devoted the best energies of an active mind, and was ever prominent in the business of the house. In debate, his elocution was striking, but somewhat peculiar. The graces of oratory did not belong to Dr.