HIS VARIOUS LABORS.

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all this labor, moreover, feeling as all other reflecting men did, the vital importance of some general political organization less dependent than Congress then was, on the merely spontaneous action of separate colonial Assemblies, and endowed with self-sustaining power sufficient to abide the vicissitudes of the coming struggle, Franklin prepared a plan of confederacy, which, on the 21st of July, 1775, on his own motion, he laid before Congress. This plan vested the general powers of the proposed confederacy in a single legislative body or congress; and the executive and administrative functions in a council, to consist of one member from each colony, appointed by the Congress. Though the plan was not adopted, it brought the subject up, and it may be regarded as the germ of the confederation, under which the thirteen states subsequently organized themselves.

In October of the same year Congress sent Franklin, with two other members, Thomas Lynch and Benjamin Harrison, to consult and arrange with Washington, then at the camp in Cambridge, a plan for the maintenance of an army; and on his return he found himself again a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, having been elected in Philadelphia in his absence. The importance of maintaining a political correspondence with the friends of America in Europe, particularly with a view to such alliances as might become necessary, was strongly felt in Congress, and near the end of November that body organized a committee of secret correspondence. For this, Franklin's high standing and wide acquaintance in Europe peculiarly fitted him; and being placed on it, he opened the intended correspondence in a letter of the 9th of December, 1775, to Charles W. F. Dumas, a very learned man, particularly versed in the law of nations, and a Swiss by birth, with whom Franklin had become intimately acquainted in Holland.

Mr. Dumas, in a recent letter to Franklin, had expressed the warmest approval of the cause of the colonies, and assured him of the general good wishes of Europe; and as he had long resided at the Hague, in the midst of distinguished diplomatists from all quarters of the continent, Franklin gave him a sketch of the existing condition of America, its strength, resources, and prospects; suggested that Congress might find it necessary to seek assistance, or alliances, and requested him to ascertain, if he could, what would be the disposition of the principal European cabinets in regard to such applications, should they be made; urging, at the same time, the importance of circumspection, and pointing out a safe channel of communication. Mr. Dumas undertook the agency proposed, and rendered valuable service throughout the struggle for American independence.

In the spring of 1776, Congress sent Franklin, Charles Carroll, and Samuel Chase, on a mission to Canada, with power to direct the operations of the American forces in that province, and with the hope of inducing the Canadians to unite in the existing struggle for colonial rights. But the mission was fruitless; and when Franklin got back to Philadelphia, early in June, he found Congress occupied with a far more momentous subject. This was the declaration of independence. On this point public opinion was in advance of the action of Congress. This was right. It was wise and just in that body to wait for the clear expression of public sentiment, on so grave a question. But that sentiment had now become fixed, and Congress acted on it promptly. The committee, consisting of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston, appointed in June to draw a declaration, reported on the 1st of July; and after a debate of three days, the report, as drawn by Jefferson, with a few clauses modified at the suggestion