Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/152

142 Dr. Franklin was afterwards appointed, together with John Adams and Edward Rutledge, to wait upon the commiſſioners, in order to learn the extent of their power. Theſe were found to be only to grant pardons upon ſubmiſſion. Theſe were terms which would not be accepted; and the object of the commiſſioners could not be obtained.

The momentous queſtion of independence was ſhortly after brought into view, at a time when the fleets and armies, which were ſent to enforce obedience, were truly formidable. With an army, numerous indeed, but ignorant of diſcipline, and entirely unſkilled in the art of war, without money, without a fleet, without allies, and with nothing but the love of liberty to ſupport them, the coloniſts determined to ſeparate from a country, from which they had experienced a repetition of injury and inſult. In this queſtion, Dr. Franklin was decidedly in favour of the meaſure propoſed, and had great influence in bringing over others to his ſentiments.

The public mind had been pretty fully prepared for this event, by Mr. Paine's celebrated pamphlet, Common Senſe. There is good reaſon to believe that Dr. Franklin had no inconſiderable ſhare, at leaſt, in furniſhing materials for this work.

In the convention which aſſembled at Philadelphia in 1776, for the purpoſe of eſtabliſhing a new form of government for the ſtate of Pennſylvania, Dr. Franklin was choſen preſident. The late conſtitution of this ſtate, which was the reſult of their deliberations, may be conſidered as a digeſt of his principles of government. The ſingle legiſlature, and the plural executive, ſeem to have been his favourite tenets.