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And could any thing be more absurd than that a nobleman accused of high treason should be entitled to be tried by the whole body of his peers if his indictment happened to be brought into the House of Lords the minute before a prorogation, but that, if the indictment arrived a minute after the prorogation, he should be at the mercy of a small junto named by the very authority which prosecuted him?
Soon after Franklin returned from England, he was instrumental in forming his literary associates into a club for mutual improvement, called the "JUNTO," which met every Friday evening.
None the less, there were other things unexplainable even to Kent; for one, this night flitting to Gaston to put the finishing touch on an edifice of fraud which had been builded shamelessly in the light of day. Kent had not the key to unlock this door of mystery; but here the master spirit of the junto was doing, not what he would, but what he could.
All the members did not organize a club, but five or six did, and these clubs flourished for many years, blessing the town and the whole colony. The Junto was not many months old, when Benjamin made another proposition. "The books we read have words and phrases in other languages, and I do not know their meaning.
Then followed my tractate upon their deposing and executing their lawful king; and other leaves against the arbitrary taxation of what I call 'the Westminster Junto. Think you that these things can be forgotten, or that my being sent here with Haine is more than a hollow compliment?
He had been much caressed and flattered by the Lords of the Junto, who sometimes went so far as to give him hopes of the crown, in reversion to his family, upon failure of the house of Hanover.
"I shall have to publish an almanac to be in fashion," remarked Franklin to his old friend Coleman. "Every printer in this country issues one, so far as I know." From this point, we shall drop the Christian name, Benjamin, and use the surname, Franklin. "A good theme to discuss in the Junto," replied Coleman. "You would publish a better one than the country ever had, if you should undertake it."
He availed himself of the national triumph over Blenheim to dissolve Parliament; and when the election of 1705, as he hoped, returned a majority in favour of the war, his efforts brought about a coalition between the moderate Tories who still clung to him and the Whig Junto, whose support was purchased by making a Whig, William Cowper, Lord Keeper, and by sending Lord Sunderland as envoy to Vienna.
In addition to these he inveighed bitterly against the abolitionists, as a junto of sectaries, sophists, enthusiasts, and fanatics. He condemned the abolition as useless, unless other nations would take it up. He brought to the recollection of the House the barbarous scenes which had taken place in St. Domingo, all of which, he said, had originated in the discussion of this question.
How like a woman! But I am afraid it can't be done. I had been trying to keep away from that point of view.... There is much to be said on both sides. There was a time when I wouldn't have gone into such a thing as this fight with the junto; but being in, I should have seen it through regardless of the public welfare ignoring that side of it. I can't do it now; you have shown me that I can't."
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