Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/460

LXXV.

The commencement of 1766 was a notable one as it was the occasion of the presentation of the Sargent Medal, already noted, and as the news of the Repeal of the Stamp Act on 1 8 March had reached the city but the day before. The deep interest taken by all classes of the community in this unfortunate Act, which for the time seemed to unite all the better classes against an unjust and unmerited tax, had stirred up the feelings of the people to a pitch of excitement and indeed anxiety which was without par- allel in the history of Pennsylvania and its sister provinces. 1 Even those who afterwards held back from joining in the legit- imate consequences of this malicious proceeding which nec- essarily had led to a surrender by the government to colonial clamor, thus opening the eyes of the colonists to their strength if united, were all now of one mind with the most active and restless of those who foresaw that the connection with the home country was being strained almost to rupture. Dr. Smith had written on 18 December, 1765, to Dr. Tucker, the Dean of Gloucester, in the following decided language : With regard to the Stamp Act, or any act of Parliament to take money out of our pockets, otherwise than by our own representatives in our Colony legislatures, it will ever be looked upon so contrary to the faith of charters and the inherent rights of Englishmen, that amongst a people planted, and nursed, and educated in the high principles of liberty, it must be considered as a badge of disgrace, impeaching their loyalty, nay, their very brotherhood and affinity to Englishmen, and although a superior force may, and perhaps can, execute this among us, yet it will be with such an alienation of the affections of a loyal people, and such a stagnation of Eng- lish consumption among them, that the experiment can never be worth the risque. 2 1 The citizens of Philadelphia united in the resolve to import no British goods, and to resort to more frugal ways suitable to the self denying times, and it was in the midst of this that the aged Trustee of the College, William Plumsted, was buried at St. Peter's Church in August, 1765, by his directions "without pall or mourning dresses." t Watson Annals, ii. 269. 2 Smith i. 385. Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, had publicly charged Dr. Franklin with soliciting for himself or for a friend the post of Stamp Agent, and this led to a demand from the latter for a retraction which was ungraciously given. Bigelowv. 285-292. Sparks i. 297 and iv. 516-525.