Dartmouth he considered "insignificant;" nay, he was "even addicted to methodism;" which "argued a weak mind or a hipocritical heart." John Jay he thought was a man who required watching. Indeed, he scarcely mentions a man but to assert or insinuate evil of him. So credulous of evil was he, that he would send to America such tales as this: "The Highlanders are all sworn under their colors never to give quarter to an American," and had already hanged many prisoners in their belts. Nothing was too absurd for him to believe, provided it were only as wicked as it was absurd. How he revelled in the sounding malignancy of Junius. Junius was his model; the only writer in England, he thought, who was worth attending to. He even adopted the name, and obtained considerable celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic by a series of papers, signed Junius Americanus.

It is common to say that a man who is prone to assign to innocent actions corrupt motives, convicts himself of corruptibleness. This opinion does not appear to be correct, for some of the most honest of men have labored under this infirmity; John Adams and John Jay, for examples. I think it is always a sign of a limited understanding; sometimes of morbid vanity; sometimes of envy and bad temper. In Arthur Lee it seems to have resulted from limitedness, conceit, and envy. He had a very high opinion of the great Junius Americanus; he thought him capable of the greatest employments; he had not understanding enough to perceive the immeasurable superiority of Dr. Franklin's airy, unpretending sense to the ponderous, declamatory nothingness of the American Junius.

Thrown into the society of Dr. Franklin, he was alternately attracted and repelled by him. He could neither resist the charm of Franklin's wit and good nature, nor avoid coveting his place; and, consequently, his letters to Boston contain high encomiums upon the conduct and character of Franklin, as well as the most gross and scandalous insinuations respecting his motives. At the time when Franklin was at open war with Lord Hillsborough, and was refused admittance to his presence, Arthur Lee regarded him as a tool of that nobleman, and an anonymous letter to that effect was sent to the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly. If this letter was not written by Arthur Lee, it certainly expressed his opinion; for, at the same time, June, 1771, he wrote to Samuel Adams in the terms follow

ing: "I have read lately in your papers an assurance from Dr. Franklin, that all designs against the charter of the colony are laid aside. This is just what I expected from him; and, if it be truc, the Doctor is not the dupe but the instrument of Lord Hillsborough's treachery. That Lord Hillsborough gives out this assurance is certain; but notorious as he is for ill faith and fraud, his duplicity would not impose on one possessed of half Dr. Franklin's sagacity. The possession of a profitable office at will, the having a son in a high post at pleasure, the grand purpose of his residence here being to effect a change in the government of Pennsylvania, for which administration must be cultivated and courted, are circumstances which, joined with the temporizing conduct he has always held in American affairs, preclude every rational hope, that in an open contest between an oppressive administration and a free people, Dr. Franklin can be a faithful advocate for the latter; or oppose and expose the former with a spirit and integrity, which alone can, in times like these, be of any service. By temporizing I mean, consulting the inclination of ministers, and acting conformably to that, not to the interests of the province." And much more of the same purport.

Eager for place, he sent home charges against the agent for Virginia, and added that he should be happy to serve his native province in the capacity of agent. To Boston he wrote in June, 1773, when the affair of the Hutchinson Letters was in progress: "Dr. Franklin frequently assures me that he shall sail for Philadelphia in a few weeks, but I believe he will not quit us till he is gathered to his fathers." In another communication he strongly intimates a suspicion that Dr. Franklin had been "bribed to betray his trust;" or, if not bribed, that his conduct was directed with a single eye to the retention of his office. Yet, in writing an account of the outrage in the Privy Council, he said that Dr. Franklin bore the assaults of Wedderburn "with a calmness and equanimity which conscious integrity alone can inspire." He added, that the same cause which rendered him obnoxious to the ministry must endear him to his country men; and that his dismissal from an office which had been made valuable by his own wisdom and industry, was a damage to the government rather than to him.

That this tardy justice did not obliterate the impressions produced by years of misrepresentation, we have abundant proofs, but

they need not be detailed. It is painful to know that such men as Samuel Adams, John Adams, Josiah Quincy, and many kindred spirits in Boston, should have been obliged, for some years, to entertain doubts of the fidelity of a man who did more than all others together to generate the spirit, and disseminate the knowledge, which prepared the colonists to maintain their rights.

**

In November of this year came to London Josiah Quincy, a brilliant member of the Boston bar, a patriot surcharged with zeal for his country's cause. It is too probable, from the Diary of this noble young man, that part of his errand to London was to ascertain whether Dr. Franklin was indeed an American at heart. All doubts were quickly dispelled from his generous soul. His first entry is this: "Waited upon Dr. Franklin and drank tea with him. He appears to be in good health and spirits, and seems warm in our cause, and confident of success.” On the same day, he writes: "Dr. Franklin appears the stanch friend of our cause." A week later, he diarizes thus: "Dr. Franklin took me to the Club of the Friends of Liberty at the London Coffee-House," where he met Dr. Price, Alderman Oliver, Mr. Vaughan, and "eight or nine dissenting clergymen." Three days later: "Dr. Franklin is an American, heart and soul. You may trust him. He is explicit and bold. * * Two worthy Norfolk farmers sailed to settle in America, under the auspices of the great Dr. Franklin." Ten days after: "In the House of Lords, last week, when the address to the king was in debate, Lord Hillsborough said that there were then men walking in the streets of London who ought to be in Newgate or at Tyburn. The Duke of Richmond demanded explanation, saying, if that was the case, the ministry was grossly to blame for not arresting them." Lord Hillsborough replied evasively, but made it sufficiently plain that the persons to whom he referred were Dr. Franklin and Josiah Quincy. Again, January 17th, 1775: "Dined with Mrs. Stevenson, with a number of ladies and gentlemen, in celebration of Dr. Franklin's birthday, who made one of the festive company, although he this day enters the seventieth year of his age."

His last London entry, dated March 3d, 1775, is interesting in view of the succeeding catastrophe: "This being the day before my departure, I dined with Dr. Franklin, and had three hours private conversation with him. Dissuades from France or Spain. In

timate with both the Spanish and French embassadors; the latter a shrewd, great man. By no means take any step of great consequence, unless upon a sudden emergency, without advice of the Continental Congress. Explicitly, and in so many words, said, that New England alone could hold out for ages against this country, and if they were firm and united, in seven years would conquer them. Said he had the best intelligence that the manufacturers were feeling bitterly, and loudly complaining of the loss of the American trade. Let your adherence be to the non-importation and non-exportation agreement, a year from next December or to the next session of Parliament, and the day is won."

Mr. Quincy was far gone in consumption when he sailed. The doctors advised him to defer his departure, particularly Dr. Fothergill, "who would take no fee of an American." It was so desirable, however, to transmit to Boston intelligence which could not be trusted to writing, that he insisted on going, content if he could just reach his native shore, and gasp the information with which he was charged with his dying breath. The voyage was rough, wet, cold, and long. He grew worse and weaker, as the slow weeks rolled miserably by; until, in the seventh week, the agonizing truth was revealed to him that he could not live to tread again the land he loved. There was no one on board whom he could trust. To a sailor who had befriended him in his sickness, he dictated a last message to his family, apologizing to them, as it were, for undertaking the voyage: "The most weighty motive of all that determined my conduct, was the extreme urgency of about fifteen or twenty most stanch friends of America, and many of them the most learned and respectable characters in the kingdom, for my immediately proceeding to Boston. * *To commit their sentiments to writing was neither practicable nor prudent at this time. To the bosom of a friend they could intrust what might be of great advantage to my country. To me that trust was committed, and I was, immediately upon my arrival, to assemble certain persons to whom I was to communicate my trust, and, had God spared my life, it seems it would have been of great service to my country."

He could speak no more. Five days longer he lingered, and breathed his last when the shores of New England had just been descried. Few young men have been so mourned. Franklin was touched with his devotion to his country, and his frank, cordial de

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