so about the liberty of America, that your posterity may have a free country to come to, where they will be received with open arms."

As the doctor made his notes with a view of publishing a reply to the Protests, we find in one place what he probably intended as a conclusion: "I say nothing to your lordships that I have not been indulged to say to the Commons. Your lordship's names are to your Protest, therefore I think I ought to put mine to the Answer. I desire that what I have said may not be imputed to the colonies. I am a private person, and do not write by their direction. I am over here to solicit, in behalf of my colony, a closer connection with the crown." Probably the publication of the examination was deemed by the doctor sufficient, as he declares that whatever he purposed to say in his Reply to the Protests was said in his examination. We can not close our notice of these hints for a reply without extracting the following nervous passage:

"My duty to the king, and justice to the country, will, I hope, justify me if I likewise protest, which I now do, with all humility, in behalf of myself, and of every American, and of our posterity, against your Declaratory Bill, that the Parliament of Great Britain has not, never had, and of right never can have, without consent given either before or after, power to make laws of sufficient force to bind the subjects in America, in any case whatever, and particularly in taxation. I can only judge of others by myself. I have some little property in America. I will free

ly spend nineteen shillings in the pound to defend my right of giving or refusing the other shilling; and, after all, if I can not defend that right, I will retire cheerfully with my little family into the boundless. woods of America, which are sure to afford freedom and subsistence to any man who can bait a hook or pull a trigger."

The notes upon the Protests appear to have been made at about this period, 1766-7. Those upon the pamphlets of Dean Tucker contain references to later events. Throughout the whole he keeps in view the refutation of certain false premises which continually appeared in English publications and speeches, such, for instance, as that the people of England were in some sort sovereigns of America; that Parliament had a right to tax unrepresented colonies; and that Great Britain had brought the provinces in her debt by money expended on them in their protection. To the allegation in Dean Tucker's "Good Humor, a Way with the Colonies," that the people of Great Britain were taxed for the defense of the Provinces, and "all was granted when you cried for help," Franklin answers:

"This is wickedly false. While the colonies were weak and poor, not a penny nor a single soldier was ever spared by Britain for their defense. But as soon as the trade with them became an object, and a fear arose that the French would seize that trade and deprive her of it, she sends troops to America unasked. And she now brings this account of the expense against us, which should be rather carried

to her own merchants and manufacturers. We joined our troops and treasure with her to help her in this war. Of this no notice is taken. To refuse to pay a just debt is knavish; not to return an obligation is ingratitude; but to demand a payment of a debt where none has been contracted, to forge a bond or an obligation in order to demand what was never due, is villainy. Every year both king and Parliament, during the war, acknowledged that we had done more than our part, and made us some return, which is equivalent to a receipt in full, and entirely sets aside this monstrous claim."

In the autumn of 1767 Dr. Franklin visited France. He had letters of introduction from the French ambassador to several eminent persons in Paris; but his published works had been his best introduction. In visiting France he visited a country in which his electrical experiments had been repeated and verified, under the sanction of the highest in the state, and in which his writings were not only familiar to the learned, but had been made, by translation, accessible to a much wider circle. He was presented at court, and made among the political circles many new acquaintances; for French politicians could not have passed unnoticed the increasing disputes between Great Britain and her colonies. With scientific men his meeting was more like a recognition than an introduction. His pecuhar sagacity and happy address confirmed and increased the impression in his favor; and the visit to Paris, while it was productive of great present pleas

ure to the philosopher and statesman, undoubtedly made his official residence in subsequent years more serviceable to his country. His quick perceptions never permitted any opportunity for acquiring useful knowledge to pass unimproved; his knowledge of human nature gave him a keen insight into character; and his facility of adaptation enabled him to improve to the utmost whatever advantage his position conferred upon him. He laughingly alludes to the appearance which he made, as transformed by a French tailor and perruquier into a man twenty

years younger; and he shows, by the pleasant description written to his friends of French men, women, and things, that he could enter with the most juvenile gayety of heart into the relaxation which his official fatigues had rendered desirable.

CHAPTER XXII.

JOHN ADAMS, in speaking of the course of Franklin, said, “His conduct has been very composed and grave, and, in the opinion of many, very reserved, yet entirely American." His position, prior to the Revolutionary war, and, indeed, during his whole residence abroad, was one of exceeding difficulty. It is to be recollected that he was in England as the agent of colonists who, claiming to be loyal subjects, on that account and in that character preferred petitions to the crown. However much his sympathies might incline him to feel with his countrymen, it was absolutely necessary that he should be "reserved," or he would have made shipwreck of his official trust. Nor are we to regard the advocates of extreme measures against government in America as the only patriots and the only friends of their country. Many hoped to the last that a rupture would be prevented, and the integrity of the British Empire preserved, while her colonies still would receive their rights. And the period has now arrived, in the subsidence of national prejudice, and the abatement of that hatred which was engendered by oppression, when we can look with charitable feelings even upon those Americans who preserved their loyalty and remained true to the British crown. It