On this day 250 years ago in London, Benjamin Franklin wrote to inform Thomas Cushing, the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, of new bills introduced in Parliament to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party:

The Torrent is still violent against America. A Bill is brought in to alter the Charter, appointing the Council by the Crown, giving Power to the Governors to nominate and commission Magistrates without Consent of Council, and forbidding any Town Meeting to be held in the Province (except the annual one for chusing Town Officers) without the Permission of the Governor, and for that Business only for which such Permission shall be requested. The Manner of Appointing Jurors is likewise to be altered: And another Bill is to provide for the Security of Persons who may be concern’d in executing or enforcing Acts of Parliament there, by directing their Trials for any thing done by them to be in some neighbouring Province or in Great Britain at the Discretion of the Governor. . . . They will meet with Opposition in both Houses; but there is little Hope that they will not pass, we having very few Friends in Parliament at present.