Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/450

 438 FRANKLIN In describing the circumstance to his wife he said: "Were I a Roman Catholic, I should perhaps vow to build a chapel in grati- tude for this escape ; but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a lighthouse." He arrived in London July 27, 1757. Honors and compliments in abundance awaited him. Oxford and Edinburgh con- ferred upon him their highest academical de- grees. He made personal acquaintance with the most distinguished men of the day, but never failed to bestow his principal attention upon the object of his mission. An illness of eight weeks retarded progress, and great diffi- culties followed from many circumstances. Three years elapsed, and at length he succeeded in the principal objects of his mission, to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He sug- gested to the ministry the conquest of Cana- da, and his scheme was adopted. With Lord Kames and others in Scotland he passed six weeks of the " densest happiness," as he called it, of his life. He gave Lord Kames the fa- mous " Parable against Persecution." He made further experiments in electricity, invented a musical instrument, the armonica (musical glasses), and received from the ministry the appointment of his son to the governorship of New Jersey. At the end of five years he em- barked for home, reached Philadelphia Nov. 1, 1762, and received the official thanks of the assembly. New difficulties arising between the province and the proprietaries, he was again appointed agent to the English govern- ment, to petition that the king take Pennsyl- vania affairs into his own hands. He reached London early in December, 1764. The revo- lution was imminent. The project of taxing the colonies had been announced, and Franklin was the bearer of a remonstrance against it on the part of the provincial government of Penn- sylvania. He was indefatigable in his exer- tions to prove the unconstitutionality and im- policy of the stamp act ; and when the repeal of this obnoxious measure was attempted he underwent an examination before the house of commons (Feb. 3, 1766). His conduct made it an everlasting record of his firm and patriotic spirit, of his wise and prompt foresight, the semblance of an almost inspired sagacity. The repeal of the stamp act was an inevitable con- sequence. He subsequently travelled in Hol- land and Germany with his friend Sir John Pringle, and visited Paris, where he met with much attention. Temporary tranquillity in America after the repeal of the stamp act was followed by commotions in Boston occasioned by the equally offensive revenue act, and others subversive of colonial rights. In 1772 a mem- ber of parliament, to convince Franklin that every grievance complained of by the Amer- icans originated not with the British govern- ment, but with tories in America, gave him a number of letters written from Massachusetts by Gov. Hutchinson and Lieut. Gov. Oliver, warmly urging coercive measures against the colonies. Franklin immediately sent these let- ters to the speaker of the Massachusetts house of representatives. Their publication caused great indignation in America, and was of in- valuable service to the popular cause. The Massachusetts house petitioned the king that he would remove Hutchinson and Oliver from the government. Franklin appeared before the privy council, Jan. 29, 1774, to present their petition and advocate the removal. " He was now," says Bancroft, " thrice venerable, from genius, fame in the world of science, and age, being already nearly threescore years and ten." He was grossly reviled and shamefully insult- ed by Wedderburn, the solicitor general, who made against him a long personal harangue, amid the applauding laughter and cheering of the lords in council. Franklin bore this con- tumely with his accustomed patience and digni- fied equanimity. The petition was rejected, and the next day he was dismissed from the office of deputy postmaster general. .Mean- while he found time for further research in science, for journeys again to Paris, Scotland, and Wales, and a visit to Ireland. He had determined to await in England the result of the continental congress. In the mean time Mrs. Franklin died. His parents and 15 of his sisters and brothers had long been dead. A daughter alone was to remain to his solitude, his cherished son being about to sacrifice the ties of kindred to loyalty or political ambition. Franklin embarked for home in March, and ar- rived May 5, 1775, *16 days after the battle of Lexington. He had labored faithfully in Eng- land to prevent the final outbreak, and now repaired as faithfully to his*duties in the con- gress. As a member of the committees of safety and foreign correspondence he performed most valuable services, exerting all his influ- ence for a declaration of independence. That instrument he had the honor to assist in draft- ing, and to sign, July 4, 1776. He was sent soon after to Paris as commissioner plenipoten- tiary, together with Silas Deane and Arthur Lee. During the voyage he continued some interesting experiments which he had begun in the spring of the same year in relation to the Gulf stream. He was the first to make obser- vations of this current; and his chart of it, published 90 years ago, still forms the basis of charts now in use. On arriving in France Franklin established himself almost immediate- ly at Passy. A French writer, Lacretelle, says that " by the effect which Franklin produced, he appears to have fulfilled his mission, not with a court, but with a free people." He was not at first received officially, but soon gained influence with the ministry; and after the news of Burgoyne's disaster he concluded the treaty of Feb. 6, 1778. English emissaries came to Paris thereupon to sound Franklin on the subject of reconciliation, of which they discovered that independence was to be the sole basis. His prudence and sagacious firm- ness defeated every attempt of the British