PETITION FROM CONGRESS-LORD CHATHAM.

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ican congress, which assembled that year, for the first time, in Philadelphia; and in the hope that he might still be of some service, though acting only in a private capacity, he consented to remain. In December, 1774, the petition from Congress was sent to him, with a letter in which the colonial agents in London were requested to unite in presenting it. Franklin, Bollan, and Lee, however, were the only three who acted. They took it to Lord Dartmouth, the colonial secretary, and subsequently, when, with other papers, it had been laid on the table of the house of commons, they asked to be heard in support of it, at the bar of the house. This was denied, however, and the petition was subsequently rejected by a great majority. A little before leaving England, an effort was made by several of the more zealous friends of the colonies, to devise some means of conciliation between the British government and the colonies. To this end various interviews were held between Franklin, Lord Howe, the earl of Chatham, and other eminent whigs; and Franklin, at the request of the principal persons concerned, presented his views, at much length and in various forms, of the principles on which harmony might be restored and the connexion between the two countries permanently settled to the advantage of both. This unofficial and private negotiation continued for some weeks; but though the parties engaged were very sincere, and though Lord Chatham, after several conferences with Franklin, prepared a plan of conciliation which he moved in the house of lords on the 31st of January, 1775, and supported with a powerful speech, yet the hostility of the ministers to the colonies was so strong that "all availed," says Franklin, “no more than the whistling of the winds, and the plan was rejected." During the debate, however, Franklin received ample compensation for the contumely of Wedderburn.

Lord Sandwich, one of the ministry, opposed even the reception of the plan for consideration; and having, in the course of an intemperate and most unstatesmanlike speech against it, made some bitter allusions to Franklin, who was present, Lord Chatham, in his reply, took occasion to say, that, were the settlement of this great question devolved on him as the first minister of the government, he should not hesitate to seek the aid of "a person so perfectly acquainted with American affairs as the gentleman so injuriously reflected on; one whom all Europe held in high estimation for his knowledge and wisdom, and ranked with our Boyles and Newtons; who was an honor, not to the English nation only, but to human nature."

Other whig noblemen besides the Lords Chatham and Howe, and some even of the tory lords not of the cabinet, regarded Franklin with great respect for his personal character not less than for his knowledge; while, among the men most eminent at that day for learning and philanthropy, his admirers were so numerous as abundantly to compensate him by their friendship and society for the enmity of the enemies of his country; and with this treasure of esteem and honor gathered from every nation in Europe, he left London on the 21st of March, 1775, after a continued residence there of a little more than ten years, for Philadelphia.

DEATH OF HIS WIFE.

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CHAPTER XXVI.

DEATH OF HIS WIFE CONGRESS AND PUBLIC BUSINESS MISSION TO FRANCE RESIDENCE AT PARIS

TURN TO AMERICA

RE

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED

STATES-DEATH AND CHARACTER OF FRANKLIN.

A FEW weeks before sailing from England, the sorrowful news reached Franklin of the death of his wife. For several months she had felt her health sinking, and on the 14th of December, 1774, she was seized with paralysis, which she survived only five days. This event filled Franklin with poignant grief. Her good sense and native kindness of heart, her discreet management, not only of household affairs, but of his business in his absence, with her placid and even temper, and her rational and sober yet hopeful views of life, had greatly endeared her to him, and made his home peculiarly attractive. In many respects their native qualities and traits of character were much alike, and with the solid materials for domestic felicity which both were able and ever ready to contribute, their forty-four years of wedlock passed in mutual affection and unbroken harmony, and the survivor deeply mourned his bereavement.

Franklin reached home on the evening of May 5th, 1775; and the very next day the Assembly of Pennsylvania, then in session, appointed him a delegate to the second Continental Congress, which was to convene in Philadelphia four days after. The people of America

had everywhere become exasperated beyond all further forbearance. The blood of their countrymen had been wantonly shed by British troops, at Lexington and Concord, in April, and the call to arms was now ringing through the land.

When Congress met, a few timid men still hesitated at the idea of war with so powerful a foe as Great Britain, but the great majority were ready and eager for the conflict; and though they consented that one more appeal should be made to the justice of the British government, by petitioning the king, yet they did so merely to conciliate their hesitating brethren, while, at the same time, they promptly voted to prepare for defence, and pressed the preparation with vigor.

Never before had Franklin been so loaded with public business. The Pennsylvania Assembly made him chairman of the committee of safety for that province; and Congress placed him at the head of its secret committee authorized to procure and distribute arms and other munitions of war. A new postoffice establishment, also, was necessary, and the arduous task of arranging it was committed to Franklin alone, with exclusive authority over the whole subject. The department of Indian affairs for the middle colonies was placed under his superintendence, and he served on the committees on commerce, on the organization of a war department, on the terms of treaties to be offered to foreign nations, and various others.

Several of the posts thus assigned to him involved an active and extensive correspondence, not only within the colonies, but with many persons in foreign countries, requiring great caution and an accurate knowledge of the channels of communication in Europe, to preserve the objects of Congress from becoming known to a vigilant enemy almost everywhere present. In the midst of