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teen constitutions as a "code that marks an epoch in the history of philosophy," to name Americans "the brave generous children of liberty," to call Franklin the Solon and Washington the Fabius of the age, and to hurry to their maps to put their fingers on Bunker Hill, on Trenton, and the line of retreat through New Jersey; they were eager to have their king send ships and troops and money to the "insurgents," but they were not disposed to invest their private savings in American scrip.

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To persuade them to part with their money, Franklin now wrote "A Comparison of Great Britain and America as to credit in 1777; 99 66 A Catechism relative to the English National Debt;" and "A Dialogue between Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Saxony, and America,” had the pieces translated into four languages, and sent to the money centers of Europe. But they did not bring forth one groat. Nor can any one who will take the pains to read them be at a loss to know why. The style is excellent; the wit is good; the illustrations are apt; the facts are true. But there is not in them a single reason which could persuade a capitalist to loan money to the rebellious subjects of King George. It was true that industry, frugality, honesty, prompt payment of former loans, ought to do much towards settling

up the credit of a nation. It was true that America had shown all these essentials. It was true that England owed one hundred and ninetyfive millions of pound sterling; that to count out so vast a sum in shilling-pieces would take a man one hundred and forty-eight years; that when counted the shillings would weigh sixtytwo millions of pounds, and fill thirty-one thousand carts. But it was also true that New York was in British hands, that the American Fabius had been badly beaten, that American independence was yet to be won, and that on independence hung the value of the American loan. Poor Richard had himself said, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and the money-lenders took him at his word.

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With these exceptions he wrote scarcely anything for months but letters and despatches, and of them he wrote as few as he could. was an old man; he hated the details of business. Moreover, he loved his ease, and was fond of society, as he found the most brilliant society in France fond of him. It ceases therefore to be strange that he spent more time in the company of his companions than in the company of the suitors and sight-seers that came to Passy.

John Adams, who joined him a few months later, drew a sketch of him in a letter to Samuel

Adams, a sketch that is good enough and true enough to be given in the writer's words: "The other you know personally, and that he loves his ease, hates to offend, and seldom gives any opinion till obliged to do it. I know also, and it is necessary that you should be informed, that he is overwhelmed with a correspondence from all quarters, most of them upon trifling subjects and in a more trifling style, with unmeaning visits from multitudes of people, chiefly from the vanity of having it to say that they have seen him. There is another thing which I am obliged to mention. There are so many private families, ladies, and gentlemen that he visits so often, and they are so fond of him, that he cannot well avoid it, and so much intercourse with Academicians, that all these things together keep his mind in a constant state of dissipation." Business might drag, contractors might grow impatient, letters might accumulate, his papers might lie around in hideous disorder. But he must have his afternoon at Moulin Joly, or his evening chat with Morellet at Auteuil. Strangers who came to see him were amazed to behold papers of the greatest importance scattered in the most careless way over the table and the floor. A few went so far as to remonstrate. They reminded him that spies surrounded him on every hand,

and suggested that half an hour a day given to the business would enable his grandson to put the papers out of the reach of prying eyes. To such his invariable answer was, that he made it a rule never to be engaged in any business that he would not gladly have generally known, and kept his papers as carelessly as before.

The independence of America had not as yet been acknowledged. Nor had the American commissioners, except as private gentlemen, been received by Vergennes. But their business was more than half suspected, and they were soon beset by every man who had anything to gain. To the room which served as an office came merchants seeking for tobacco contracts; soldiers longing for commissions in the army of the United States one grade higher than that which they held in the army of France; contractors eager to supply clothes and ammunition; sea captains begging for letters of marque, and shipbuilders offering vessels of all sizes to be used as privateers. Some came themselves, some brought letters of introduction from strangers of whom the commissioners had never so much as heard. A few wrote. sturdy beggar sent word to the commissioners, that if they would pay his gaming debts, he would pray earnestly for the success of their

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cause. So endless were the demands, and so various were the forms in which they were made, that Franklin declared he never met a great lady, nor was introduced to a man of rank, never accepted an invitation to dinner, nor opened a letter, nor heard a carriage roll into his courtyard, but he felt sure he was to be pestered for a contract or a place.

To such annoyances were soon added troubles of a very different sort. The privateers began to violate the neutrality of France. Lambert Wickes was thrice ordered from the ports of France, and twice in open defiance of the command returned. Silas Deane and William Hodge had fitted out a lugger at Dunkirk and had given it to Gustavus Conyngham to command, with strict injunctions to capture the Harwich packet plying between Holland and England. So well did he obey the commands that he was soon back in Dunkirk harbor with "The Prince of Orange" as his prize. The whole of England was instantly in commotion. The stocks fell. Insurance rose. The merchants put their goods on board of French vessels, and the English minister complained bitterly to Vergennes.

The offense of Wickes was made the subject of a long letter to the commission on their duty concerning the neutrality of France. But the

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