wards appointed Provincial Grand Master, by the Grand Master of England in 1750. He and Franklin were now making a divergence in their public paths; the sharpness of the political contests of the time began to cut into all relations of life: while Allen’s sympathies were naturally with the Proprietaries, Franklin’s were with the people; and though they had labored side by side to induce the Proprietaries to submit their lands to general taxation for the public weal, they separated, because while one saw in the attitude of resistance a special though limited cause of complaint, the other found in it heated controversies. It gave rise to the germs of those broader views which were the basis of all Franklin’s services in behalf of his country; Allen saw only the present popular clamor against the Proprietaries; the other with a wiser apprehension saw that greater and more lasting principles were involved, out of which grew further those feelings in his mind of personal disrespect for the Penns which continued with him through life, and which would necessarily in some measure alienate those friends of his, such as Allen whose friendship for the Penn family continued unbroken, strongly cemented as it was by the marriage of his eldest daughter Anne in 1766 to John Penn, then a Councillor and afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania. Allen misconceived Franklin’s course in regard to the Stamp Act, and in his absence abroad charged him with double dealing in the matter; yet when Allen called him "that Goliath," nothing more need be added showing his opinion and perhaps fear of the ability and powers of this remarkable man.[1]
William Allen in the preliminary skirmishes of the Revolution sided with the Colonies, and he went so far as to donate shot to the Council of Safety. But his efforts to maintain peace between them and the mother country drew him away from the thought of a bloody contest, and as there could be no midway, his alienation from his country’s cause was complete. He resigned the Chief Justiceship in 1774. He retained his seat in the Assembly as late as June, 1776, but it is thought he went abroad shortly after. However, he was in
- ↑ See his letters in The Burd Papers for evidences of his later feelings against Franklin.
