too late. Canada had a memory of what she had suffered from the colonies, as allies and dependencies of Great Britain, too keen to make her readily coalesce with them in any movement. In the British colonies the press had preceded the taking up of arms, as well as supported it. Canada had not possessed that advantage; nor were the body of the people ripe for any change. The commissioners found the American army in full retreat from Quebec. Dr. Franklin and Mr. Carroll returned from Montreal after a very short stay, and the other commissioners came away with the army at the evacuation of the city.

The commissioners, leaving Philadelphia on the 20th of March, did not arrive in Montreal till near the end of April. It was a most arduous journey to a man of Franklin's age; and, while on his

way, he wrote from Saratoga to Josiah Quincy: "I begin to apprehend that I have undertaken a fatigue that, at my time of life, may prove too much for me; so I sit down to write to a few friends by way of farewell." And yet, while the infirmities of age thus weighed upon him that he declared himself "at the same time oppressed with years and business," we find in his letters all the stern resolution of a man upon whom age nor difficulty could operate to the defeat of courage, and whom no present cloud could blind to future hope. He arrived in Philadelphia, on his return, in June, grateful to the friends who had made his return passage less irksome by their kindness, and in some degree refreshed in mind by the renewal of intercourse with old companions. But he was admonished now, by increasing infirmity, to decline, for the first time in his life, posts to which the confidence of his fellow-citizens had elected him, and begged leave to resign his appointment to the Committee of Safety, and his election to the Assembly of Pennsylvania. He had retired from both these posts previous to his journey to Canada, and had been reappointed in his absence.

On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, seconded by John Adams, moved the resolution declaring the independence of the colonies. It was referred to a committee, who reported it in the following terms: "Resolved, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and of right ought

to be, totally dissolved." This resolution was debated in committee of the whole on Saturday the 8th, and Monday the 10th of June; but it appearing that the delegates from some of the provinces were not ripe for the measure, the debate was postponed to the 1st of July. In the mean time, a committee, consisting of Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman, and R. R. Livingston, were appointed to draw up a declaration. Richard Henry Lee, whose fervid eloquence had urged the measure, was called from Congress by the illness of one of his family, and for this reason was not appointed on the committee. The Declaration, substantially as Jefferson drafted it, was reported on the 28th of June. On the 1st of July, the original resolution was carried by nine of the thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania and South Carolina voting against it, Delaware being divided, and New York being permitted to withdraw on account of the character of the instructions of the delegates, dated twelve months before, which enjoined them to do nothing to impede reconciliation with the mother country. The votes of the members, it will be recollected, were taken by colonies, each colony having one vote. All the colonies came into the measure by the adoption of the Declaration, and all the members present on the 4th of July signed the Declaration, except John Dickinson. He retired from public life for two years, when he resumed his place in Congress, and was distinguished for his zeal, as he had ever been respected for his integrity His was a mind the scruples of which were to be