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Rh mercies of the king. That Franklin should have suggested such a step, in order to avoid precipi- tating a conflict, shows forcibly how anxious he was to keep the peace. He remained in England nearly a year longer, though many things were done by the king's party to make his stay unpleas- ant. During the autumn and winter he had many conversations with persons near the gov- ernment, who were anxious to find out how the Americans might be conciliated without Eng- land's abandoning a single one of the wrong po- sitions that she had taken. This was an insolv- able problem, and when Franklin had become con- vinced of this he reluctantly gave it up and re- turned to America, arriving in Philadelphia on 5 May, 1775, to find that the shedding of blood had just begun. On the next day the assembly of Penn- sylvania unanimously elected him delegate to the 2d Continental congress, then about to assemble. He now became a zealous supporter of the war, and presently of the Declaration of Independence. Wlien congress, in July, decided to send one more petition to the king, he wrote a letter which David Hartley read aloud in the house of commons. " If you flatter yourselves," said Franklin, " with beat- ing us into submission, you know neither the peo- ple nor the country. The congress will await the result of their last petition." A little more than two years afterward, in December, 1777, as parlia- ment sat overwhelmed with chagrin at the tidings of Burgoyne's surrender. Hartley pulled out this let- ter again and up- braided the house with it. " You were then," said "confident of having America under your feet, and despised every proposition recommending peace and lenient measures." When this unyielding temper had driven the Americans to declare their independence of Great Britain, Franklin was one of the committee of five chosen by congress to draw up a document worthy of the occasion. To the document, as drafted by Jeffer- son, he seems to have contributed only a few ver- bal emendations. The Declaration of Independ- ence made it necessary to seek foreign alliances, and first of all with England's great rival, France. Here Franklin's world-wide fame and his long ex- perience of public life in England enabled him to play a part that would have been impossible for any other American. He had fifteen years of prac- tice as an ambassador, and was thoroughly familiar with European polities. In his old days of edi- torial work in Philadelphia, with his noble schol- arly habit of putting every moment to some good use, he had learned the Frencla language, with Italian and Spanish also, besides getting some knowledge of Latin. He was thus possessed of talismans for opening many a treasure-house, and among all the encyclopaedist philosophers of Paris it would have been hard to point to a mind more encyclopjedic than his own. Negotiations with the French court had been begun already, through the agency of Arthur Lee and Silas Deane, and in the autumn of 1776 Franklin was sent out to join with these gentlemen in securing the active aid and co- operation of France in the war. His arrival, on 21 Dec, was the occasion of great excitement in the fashionable world of Paris. By thinkers like D'Alembert and Diderot he was regarded as the em- bodiment of practical wisdom. To many he seemed to sum up in himself the excellences of the Ameri- can cause — justice, good sense, and moderation. It was Turgot that said of him, " Eripuit ccbIo f ulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis." As symbolizing the liberty for which all France was yearning, he was greeted with a popular enthusiasm such as perhaps no French man of letters except Voltaire has ever called forth. Shopkeepers rushed to their doors to catch a glimpse of him as he passed along the side- walk, while in evening salons jewelled ladies of the court vied with one another in paying him homage. As the first fruits of his negotiations, the French government agreed to furnish two million livres a year, in quarterly instalments, to aid the Ameri- can cause. Arms and ammunition were sent over, and Americans were allowed to fit out privateers in French ports, and even to bring in and sell their prizes. Further than this France was not yet ready to go. She did not wish to incur the risk of war with England until an American alliance could seem to promise her some manifest advantage. This surreptitious aid continued through the year 1777, until the surrender of Burgoyne put a new face upon things. The immediate consequence of that great event was an attempt on the part of Lord North's government to change front, and offer concessions to the Americans, which, it they had ever been duly considered, might even at this late moment have ended in some compromise be- tween England and the United States. Now, if ever, was the moment for France to interpose, and she seized it. On 6 Feb., 1778, the treaty was signed at Paris which ultimately secured the inde- pendence of the United States. For the successful management of this negotiation, one of the most important in the annals of modern diplomacy, the credit is almost solely due to Franklin. Another invaluable service was the negotiation of loans with- out which it would have been impossible for the United States to carry on the war. As the Conti- nental congress had no power to levy taxes, there were but three ways in which it could pay the ex- penses of the army : (1) By requisitions upon the state governments ; (2) by issuing its promissory notes, or so-called " paper money " ; (3) by foreign loans. The first method brought in money alto- gether too slowly ; the second served its purpose for a short time, but by 1780 the continental notes had became worthless. The war of independence would have been an ignominious failure but for foreign loans, and these were made mostly by Fi-ance and through the extraordinary sagacity and tact of Franklin. It is doubtful if any other man of that time could have succeeded in getting so much money from the French government, which found it no easy matter to pay its own debts and support an idle population of nobles and clergy upon taxes wrung from a groaning peasantry. During Franklin's stay in Paris the annual con- tribution of 2,000,000 livres was at first increased to 3,000,000, and afterward, in 1781, to 4,000,000. Besides this, which was a loan, the French govern- ment sent over 9,000,000 as a free gift, and guar- anteed the interest upon a loan of 10,000,000 to be raised in Holland. Franklin himself, just be- fore sailing for France, had gathered together all the cash he could command for the moment, be- yond what was needed for immediate necessities, and amounting to nearly £4,000, and put it into the United States treasury as a loan.