Benjamin Franklin [1766 
the nature or form of the question that was to be put, is 
a little too sweeping. In a memorandum which Franklin 
gave to a friend who wished to know by whom the several 
questions were put, he admitted that many were put by 
friends to draw out in answer the substance of what he 
had before said upon the subject. This statement of 
Franklin concerning the preceding examination belongs 
to the history of the examination. For the further 
elucidation of the matter this statement of Franklin 
himself is reprinted in full. These curious remarks first 
appeared in Walsh's ‘Life of Franklin,” which was 
published in Delaplaine’s Repository. They were tran- 
scribed from a manuscript which purports to have been 
written by Dr. Franklin in reply to a friend who de- 
sired to know by whom the several questions were put. 
These remarks are as follows: 
“I have numbered the questions,” says Dr. Franklin, ‘for 
the sake of making reference to them. 
“Qu. 1, is a question of form, asked of every one that is 
examined.—Qu. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, were asked by Mr. Hewitt, a 
member for Coventry, a friend of ours, and were designed to 
draw out the answers that follow; being the substance of 
what I had before said to him on the subject, to remove a 
common prejudice, that the Colonies paid no taxes, and that 
their governments were supported by burdening the people 
here; Qu. 4, was particularly intended to show by the answer 
that Parliament could not properly and equally lay taxes in 
America, as they could not, by reason of their distance, be 
acquainted with such circumstances as might make it neces- 
sary to spare particular parts.—Qu. 8 to 13, asked by Mr. 
Huske, another friend, to show the impracticability of dis- 
tributing the Stamps in America.—Qu. 14, 15, 16, by one of 
the late administration, an adversary.—Qu. 17 to 26, by Mr. 
Huske again. His questions about the Germans, and about 
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