Late in the autumn

was unwisely appointed a substitute. of 1776, Congress determined to send Franklin, then over seventy, to take charge of the French mission. He said, "I am old and good for nothing; but, as the storekeepers say of their remnants of cloth, 'I am but a fag-end; you may have me for what you please.'

He at once began his preparations for the long and perilous voyage. It was at a season of the year when he must expect boisterous weather, and perhaps be cooped up for many weeks, battling with the elements. If he escaped their fury, he might fare worse, since it was by no means certain that he would not fall into the hands of a British man-of-war, and end his days in a prison or on the scaffold even.1

§ 18. Franklin's Mission to France, 1776-1785.

Franklin reached Paris late in December. Could he have known what was happening in America during his voyage, he would have found nothing to encourage him. After he sailed, Washington had been compelled to retreat across New Jersey, with the enemy in sharp pursuit. Congress had taken the alarm, and had abandoned Philadelphia for fear that they should all be made prisoners. It was the beginning of one of the gloomiest periods of the war. Well might Thomas Paine declare, "These are the times which try men's souls." The country was poor. Such money as was to be had was in paper, which kept steadily depreciating in value until at last it was worth less than two cents on the dollar. Even before Franklin left, powder had been at times so scarce that he seriously advised

1 Horace Walpole said that he took the voyage

at the risk of his head."

equipping men with bows and arrows. The continental army was, in fact, miserably destitute. They needed not only arms and ammunition but food and clothing. Often during the terrible winter of '76 the men suffered terribly, and the course of their march might be traced by the bloody footprints of their shoeless, frost-bitten feet in the

snow.

But in spite of poverty and disaster, Franklin had unbounded faith in the future of the new-born republic. He put all his ready money, some $15,000, into the cause of liberty, though it was very doubtful whether the loan would ever be paid back. When told bad news, he used to answer, “It will all come right in the end." Such confidence begot confidence in others, and the French people, who already knew the shrewd sayings of "Poor Richard" by heart, soon came to believe that a nation that had such a representative was indeed unconquerable. Franklin's picture was seen in all the print-shop windows of Paris. Storekeepers advertised Franklin hats, and the rich learned to warm their houses with the Franklin stove. At dinners and evening parties Franklin was besieged by importunate young men, who wanted to secure letters of introduction and recommendation to General Washington,1 and the ladies were full of

1 For cases of this kind, and where it was absolutely impossible to refuse, Dr. Franklin drew up the following as a model for such letters of recommendation, and actually employed it in some instances, to shame the persons making such indiscreet applications; and to endeavor, in some measure, to put a stop to them.-W. T. F.

"Model of a Letter of Recommendation of a person you are unac

quainted with.

"PARIS, 2 April, 1777.

"SIR: The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give him a letter of recommendation, though I know nothing of him, not even his name.

enthusiasm for the American philosopher. But notwithstanding all this social success, the question of the treaty did not make much progress. The king hesitated, as well he might; for he knew that the ink of such a document would hardly have time to dry before England would declare war against him. He was ready to grant America secret aid, but he thought it prudent to wait and see how much strength the young republic really had before openly committing himself to her assistance.

The next year Howe captured Philadelphia and established his winter-quarters there, while Washington's troops were freezing and starving in their miserable huts at Valley Forge. When the report of the British victory reached Paris, the friends of America were sorely disheartened, but Franklin said, when some one told him that General Howe had taken Philadelphia, "You are mistaken; Philadelphia has taken General Howe"; and so it proved, for after having been shut up there two-thirds of a year, the British were at last compelled to hastily evacuate the place which had been of no use to them.

Meanwhile Franklin was engaged in endeavoring to secure an exchange of prisoners, and thus release a large number of his countrymen from the filthy and horrible hulks and other places in which they were confined. Al

This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you it is not uncommon here. Sometimes, indeed, one unknown person brings another equally unknown, to recommend him; and sometimes they recommend one another! As to this gentleman, I must refer you to himself for his character and merits, with which he is certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be. I recommend him, however, to those civilities, which every stranger, of whom one knows no harm, has a right to; and I request you will do him all the good offices, and show him all the favor, that, on further acquaintance, you shall find him to deserve. I have the honor to be, etc."

though the war dragged on, and at times even Washington seemed despondent, yet Franklin did not doubt that eventually a turn must come in our favor. He had proved by statistics that the population of the colonies was increasing at such a rapid rate that, as he calculated, it would double once every twenty-five years-an estimate which has thus far been confirmed by facts. He foresaw that eventually the majority of the English people would be found not in England, but in America. He thought that a country with such a future could afford to wait. The change in the tide of affairs was nearer, however, than he supposed. Late in the fall of 1777, right on the heels of the evil tidings of the fall of Philadelphia, came the news of Burgoyne's surrender to the Americans. The defeat of the British general had an immediate effect on the policy of the French government. Franklin lost no time in renewing his proposition, for a treaty or rather for two treaties: one political, by which France and America agreed to support each other in arms against Great Britain; the other commercial, which secured equal privileges of trade to the contracting parties. The two treaties were signed at Paris on the 6th of February, 1778, and were at once sent by special messenger to America, where they were ratified by Congress. Under these treaties France agreed to send a fleet of sixteen men-of-war and four thousand men to assist the United States; and, although the French government was in an almost bankrupt condition, Franklin secured help to carry on the war, amounting in all to over five millions of dollars, of which nearly two millions was a free gift. With good reason might it be said that he and Washington were the two great powers who carried the Revolution through to a successful and final

victory: the one by his military genius, the other by his diplomacy; one with the sword, the other with the purse.

Great Britain no sooner learned of the French treaty than she declared war against France, and even went so far as to ask the United States to join her in it! Lord North, the English prime minister, was so alarmed at the prospect that he hurried two bills through Parliament, offering to recognize Congress, give up all claims to the right of taxing the colonies, and grant them representation in Parliament. The Americans were no longer styled "rebels" but "his majesty's faithful subjects." Only let them come back, and their sins, like those of the prodigal son, should all be forgiven. But it is an old saying that revolutions never go backward, and the Americans having once declared themselves independent intended to remain SO. Not satisfied with these efforts to obtain peace, England also made secret overtures to Franklin, but without effect.

Up to this period the United States had been too poor to build a navy; but with the funds provided by France, Franklin was now able to buy and arm a number of privateers which did considerable execution. In 1779 he put Captain Paul Jones in command of a small fleet, one of which Jones named the "Bonhomme Richard" ("Poor Richard"), in honor of Franklin. With these vessels Captain Jones captured many British merchantmen. In the autumn of that year he encountered two English men-of-war, one of forty guns, the other of twenty-two, or sixty-two in all, to Jones's forty. After a terrible battle the larger of the two British frigates surrendered, and the second was captured by the help of the other privateers. From this time. the English could no longer boast that Britannia ruled the

waves.