papers. But in order that no further misunderstandings or disputes should occur on this subject, Franklin, in one of the public prints avowed that he had sent the letters to America, although he refused all along to afford any information concerning the manner in which they had come into his hands.

When the address to the king from Massachusetts was taken up for examination before the Privy Council, Franklin was in attendance as colonial agent. Dr. Priestly, who was present on the occasion,-having been introduced as a spectator by Mr. Burke,--has given an account of the remarkable scene. The address was opposed by Wedderburn, at that time solicitor-general, in a torrent of the most abusive and exaggerated language, which seemed to be heartily listened to by the members of of the Privy Council. The intemperate orator not only violently and grossly assailed the conduct and principles of the colonists in relation to the larger questions which were distracting the Americans, but went so far out of his way and grew so personal as to describe Franklin as a thief-a stealer of letters-a cordial enemy to the mother countryand a person no longer to be trusted or esteemed. "He has forfeited," said the solicitor-general, "all the respect of societies and men. Into what companies will he hereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of virtue ? Men will watch him with a jealous eye; they will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escritoires, &c." To these bitter taunts and foul accusations, in which posterity has by no means and in no measure joined, Franklin listened with an unruffled countenance, not being otherwise allowed to repel the abuse. He maintained the most perfect composure; nor did he ever, as he has declared, feel so much the benefit of having a good conscience. As a matter of course, at that period, when coming from the colonists, the address was characterized as vexatious and scandalous, and therefore was not entertained either by the council or the king.

The Stamp Act had been repealed it is true, but it was only upon the principle of expediency that the British Parliament proceeded in this instance; for the Commons,-even most of those who had most strenuously opposed the particular enactment, still insisted upon their right to tax the unrepresented colonists, so that the obnoxious and preposterous doctrine continued to be cherished and advocated. On the other hand, the opposition to the taxes and restrictions which Parliament persisted in imposing, was daily growing more stern and resolute in America, the people in several places breaking out into acts of violence.

At Boston especially was the law set at defiance, by the destruction of some ship-loads of tea which had been brought to that harbour. In return for this outrage, Parliament declared Boston no longer a port to which shipping should be allowed to repair; and the news of this strong measure was the immediate signal for an armed assertion of rights. The vast majority of the British people, as well as of both Houses of Parliament and the sovereign himself, seemed to have thought of little else than the severest methods of coercion and subjugation. At any rate, Lord Chatham was the only man of great weight, who heartily espoused the cause of the Americans, and predicted the results of the course adopted by the legislature. This renowned statesman had begun to cultivate the acquaintanceship of Franklin, holding frequent interviews with him, in order to obtain the fullest possible information relative to the sentiments of the Americans, and the merits of their cause. At length, on the 1st of January, 1775, he brought forward his celebrated scheme of reconciliation. His lordship had taken care to have the Doctor made a spectator of the proceedings and an auditor of the debate on that notable occasion.

We are told that Lord Chatham, having explained and supported his motion with his wonted magnanimity and power, was followed by Lord Sandwich, who in the course of an intemperate harangue, declared that the motion "was disgraceful to his name, and should be rejected with contempt; that he did not believe it to be the production of any British peer;" and added, turning towards Franklin, who leaned upon the bar, "I fancy 1 have in my eye the person who drew it up,one of the bitterest and most mischievous enemies that this country has ever known." Franklin, as on a former occasion when falsely and grossly treated, while the offensive and direct allusion drew upon him the eyes of the whole house, remained as if he had been unconscious of the furious attack; or, as he himself has reported, his countenance had been made of wood. He had, however, a valiant and able champion in Chatham, who said that were he the first minister of the country, he should not be ashamed to "call publicly to his assistance a person so eminently acquainted with American affairs as the gentleman alluded to, and so ungenerously reflected on; one whom all Europe holds in the highest estimation for his knowledge and wisdom-whom she ranks with her Boyles and her Newtons-who is an honour, not to the English nation only, but to human nature."

About the same period, Franklin was told at the Royal Society, that

a certain lady a well known player at chess, who proved to be a sister of Lord Howe, desired his acquaintance, and Mr. Rapier, his informant, was, if agreeable, to introduce him. Franklin readily consented, not conjecturing, he says, at the time, that any political business was to be connected with his visits; but one evening, after playing a game, the lady said :-" And what is to be done with this dispute between Great Britain and the colonies? I hope we are not to have a civil war.” "They should kiss and be friends," said the philosopher; "what can they do better?" "I have often said," replied she, "that I wished government would employ you to settle the dispute for them, I am sure nobody could do it so well; don't you think the thing is practicable?" "Undoubtedly, Madam," rejoined Franklin, " if the parties are both disposed to reconciliation, for the two countries have really no clashing interests to differ about. It is rather a matter of punctilio, which two or three reasonable people might settle in half an hour; but the ministry will never think of employing me in that good work, they choose rather to abuse me." 'Ay," said she, "they have behaved shamefully to you, and indeed, some of them are now ashamed of it, themselves." Such is an abstract of the conversation which was not altogether so accidental as Franklin at first supposed it.

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As far as American affairs were under Franklin's guidance they were approaching a tremendous crisis. Ministers were treating him with respect and with contempt alternately. He was thought too much of an American to be supposed to have English interests at heart; while the more ardent republican leaders would have thought him too much of an Englishman in his conceptions to be a true American. On the whole, there is no part or period in the life of this great man, in which he shines with greater lustre than at this time. The whole weight of his public character and well-earned fame he threw into his efforts for the public peace. The associate of Howe, and the friend and counsellor of Chatham, it is mournful to see him retiring from amongst the constellation of England's great men, to rise in another hemisphere amidst her rivals and her foes. But the ministry acted towards him with as much private meanness, as with public bad faith. While they trifled with Franklin as a diplomatist, he was harassed in the Court of Chancery by those whom he had good reason to suppose their agents, (on the subject of Hutchinson's letters), until disgusted with his situation, he resolved to seek his native shores.

It was shortly before leaving England that he sketched a little emblem

atical design of the approaching terrific struggle, representing the general prospects of Great Britain and America, after the manner of the hieroglyphics which frequently appear in the title pages of our almanacks, containing a silent prediction of the chief events of the year. This was afterwards engraved on a copper-plate, struck off upon cards, and printed on half a sheet of paper, accompanied by the following explanation of the plate-Great Britain is supposed to have been placed upon the globe, but the colonies (that is, her limbs) being severed from her, she is seen lifting up her eyes and mangled stumps to heaven. Her shield, which she is unable to wield, lies useless by her side; her lance has pierced New England, the laurel branch has fallen from the hand of Pensylvania; the English oak has lost its head, and stands a bare trunk with a few withered branches; briars and thorns are on the ground beneath it, the British ships have brooms on their topmast heads, denoting their being on sale; and Britannia herself is seen sliding off the world (no longer able to hold its balance) her fragments overspread with the label-Date obolum Belisario."

THE MORAL.

"History affords us many instances of the ruin of states by the prosecution of measures ill-suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favour of one part of the people, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of rights, protection, privileges, and advantages is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy; it being a matter of no moment to the state, whether a subject grow rich, and flourishing on the Thames or the Ohio, in Edinburgh or Dublin. These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favoured and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affection, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connexions necessarily ensues, by which the whole state is weakened and perhaps ruined for ever."

Franklin had been greatly charmed with the splendid powers of Lord Chatham, and won by his distinguished friendship; and with this celebrated statesman, as well as with Lord Howe, he had latterly held frequent and confidential intercourse. Every effort, however, through their influence or otherwise to reconcile the bitter animosities and the angry differences between Great Britain and her colonies, proved utterly unavailing. The Doctor had already forfeited the favour of the existing

ministry; and he had been superseded as postmaster-general of the colonies. It is manifest from his correspondence and his acts, that hitherto he had cherished the most ardent attachment to Britain, considering himself a subject of King George, and being most earnest to maintain the glory of the empire; above all, deploring every circumstance which threatened the discontinuance of the colonial connexion. The infatuation of the government, and the prejudices of the British people, therefore, deeply afflicted him, especially as it was his sincere and expressed conviction, that by only observing the plain and simple dictates of justice and fair treatment, Britain might continue to govern America for an indefinite period. Finding, however, that it was determined on to bring the matter to a speedy decision by the edge of the sword, the whole soul of Franklin seems to have undergone a revulsion; so that hereafter, as testified by his unwavering conduct, he is to be viewed as no longer a Briton or a friend of her snpremacy, but a thorough American, eager to cultivate an alliance with France, or whatever other nation espoused the cause of his native country, Sorely wounded in his feelings, with a sorrowful spirit, and sad foreboding in regard to the interests of humanity and the progress of civilisation, he made preparation for returning home. In March, 1775, Franklin set sail once more from the shores of England for the land of his birth and of his most patriotic affections.

Thus closed every effort, of various good and great men, to heal the direst breach that was ever made in the noble structure of the British empire. It became now nothing but an appeal to arms; and while, on the one hand, vacillation, weakness, and attempted tyranny marked throughout the councils of the mother country in this unhappy juncture, it must, on the other be remembered that successful war is ever the argument of might, not right; and that the result of the ensuing contest was as much effected by French jealousy of Great Britain, as by American resistance or prowess.

While Franklin was making preparations to leave England in the spring, and looking forward to a happy meeting with his family, from whom he had been separated ten years, he received the afflicting intelligence of the death of his wife. She was attacked with a paralytic stroke which she survived only five days. They had been married fortyfour years, and lived together in a state of uninterrupted harmony and happiness. Their correspondence during his long absence, a great part of which has been preserved, is affectionate on both sides, exhibiting