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Rh isfy Spain at the expense of the United States, and he sent a secret emissary under an assumed name to Lord Shelburne, to develop his plan for divid- ing the Mississippi valley between England and Spain. This was discovered by Jay, who counter- acted it by sending a messenger of his own to Shel- burne, who thus perceived the antagonism that had arisen between the allies. It now became manifest- ly for the advantage of England and the United States to carry on their negotiations without the intervention of France, as England preferred to make concessions to the Americans rather than to the house of Bourbon. By first detaching the United States from the alliance, she could proceed to browbeat France and Spain. There was an ob- stacle in the way of a separate negotiation. The chevalier Luzerne, the French minister at Phila- delphia, had been busy with congress, and that body had sent instructions to its commissioners at Paris to be guided in all things by the wishes of the French court. Jay and Adams, overruling Franklin, took the responsibility of disregarding these instructions ; and the provisions of the treaty, so marvellously favorable to the Americans, were arranged by a separate negotiation with England. In the arrangement of the provisions, Franklin played an important part, especially in driving the British commissioners from their position with re- gard to the compensation of loyalists. After a long struggle upon this point, Franklin observed that, if the loyalists were to be indemnified, it would be necessary also to reckon up the damage they had done in burning villages and shipping, and then strike a balance between the two ac- counts ; and he gravely suggested that a special commission might be appointed for this purpose. It was now getting late in the autumn, and Shel- burne felt it to be a political necessity to bring the negotiation to an end before the assembling of parliament. At the prospect of endless discussion, which Franklin's suggestion involved, the British commissioners gave way and accepted the Ameri- can terms. Affairs having reached this point, it remained for Franklin to lay the matter before Vergennes in such wise as to avoid a rupture of the cordial relations between America and Prance. It was a delicate matter, for, in dealing separately with the English government, the Americans laid themselves open to the charge of having com- mitted a breach of diplomatic courtesy; but Franklin managed it with entire success.

On the part of the Americans the treaty of 1783 was one of the most brilliant triumphs in the whole history of modern diplomacy. Plad the affair been managed by men of ordinary ability, the greatest results of the Revolutionary war would probably have been lost ; the new republic would have been cooped up between the Atlantic and the AUegha- nies; our westward expansion would have been im- possible without further warfare ; and the forma- tion of our Federal union would doubtless have been effectively hindered or prevented. To the grand triumph the varied talents of Franklin, Adams, and Jay alike contributed. To the latter is due the credit of detecting and baffling the sinister designs of France ; but without the tact of Frank- lin this probably could not have been accom- plished without offending France in such wise as to spoil everything.

Franklin's last diplomatic achievement was the negotiation of a treaty with Prussia, in which was inserted an article looking toward the abolition of privateering. This treaty, as Washington observed at the time^ was the most liberal that had ever been made between independent powers, and marked a new era in international morality. In September, 1785, Franklin returned to America, and in the next month was chosen president of Pennsylvania. He was re-elected in 1786 and 1787. In the sum- mer of the latter year he was a delegate to the im- mortal convention that framed the constitution of the United States. He took a comparatively small part in the debates, but some of his suggestions were very timely, as when he seconded the Connec- ticut compromise. At the close of the proceedings he made a short speech, in which he said : " I con- sent to this constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best." His last public act was the signing of a memorial addressed to congress by an anti-slavery society of which he was president. This petition, which was presented on 12 Feb., 1790. asked for the abolition of the slave-trade, and for the emancipation of slaves. The southern members of congress were very indignant, and Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, under- took to prove, with the aid of texts from Scripture, the sacredness of the institution of slavery. On 23 March, Franklin wrote an answer, which was pub- lished in the " National Gazette." It was an in- genious parody of Jackson's speech, put into the mouth of a member of the " divan of Algiers," and fortified by texts from the Koran. This character- istic article, one of the most amusing he ever pub- lished, was written within four weeks of his death. The abilities of Franklin were so vast and so various, he touched human life at so many points, that it would require an elaborate essay to characterize him properly. He was at once philosopher, statesman, diplomatist, scientific discoverer, in- ventor, philanthropist, moralist, and wit, while as a writer of English he was surpassed by few men of his time. History presents tew examples of a career starting from such humble beginnings and attaining to such great and enduring splendor. The career of a Napoleon, for example, in com- parison with Franklin's, seems vulgar and trivial. The ceaseless industry of Franklin throughout his long life was guided to an extraordinary degree by the clear liglit of reason, and inspired by a warm and enthusiastic desire for the improvement of mankind. He is in many respects the greatest of Americans, and one of the greatest men whose names are recorded in history. In accordance with his wishes, Franklin's remains were deposited be- side those of his wife and daiighter, in the yard of Christ church, at the corner of 5th aTuI Arch streets, Philadelphia, under a plain marble stone inscribed " Benjamin and Deborah Franklin." (See accompanying illustration.) In early life he had