his request, a blank with the titles of acts proper to be repealed, which I took from the proceedings of the Congress, was no more than might have been done by any copying clerk. "On Wednesday, Lord Stanhope, at Lord Chatham's request, called upon me, and carried me down to the House of Lords, which was very soon full. Lord Chatham, in a most excellent speech, introduced, explained, and supported his plan. When he sat down, Lord Dartmouth rose, and very properly said, it contained matter of such weight and magnitude, as to require much consideration; and he therefore hoped the noble Earl did not expect their Lordships to decide upon it by an immediate vote, but would be willing it should lie upon the table for consideration. Lord Chatham answered readily, that he expected nothing more.

"But Lord Sandwich rose, and in a petulant, vehement speech, opposed its being received at all, and gave his opinion, that it ought to be immediately rejected, with the contempt it deserved. That he could never believe it to be the production of any British Peer. That it appeared to him rather the work of some American; and, turning his face towards me, who was leaning on the bar, said, he fancied he had in his eye the person who drew it up, one of the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had ever known. This drew the eyes of many Lords upon me; but, as I had no inducement to take it to myself, I kept my countenance as immovable as if my features had been made of wood. Then several other Lords of the administration gave their sentiments also for rejecting it, of which opinion also was strongly the wise Lord Hillsborough. But the Dukes of Richmond and Manchester, Lord Shelburne, Lord Camden, Lord Temple, Lord Lyttleton, and others, were for receiving it, some through approbation, and others for the character and dignity of the House. One Lord mentioning with applause the candid proposal of one of the ministers, Lord Dartmouth, his Lordship rose again and said, that having since heard the opinions of so many Lords against receiving it, to lie upon the table for consideration, he had altered his mind, could not accept the praise offered him for a candor of which he was now ashamed, and should therefore give his voice for rejecting the plan immediately.

"I am the more particular in this, as it is a trait of that nobleman's character, who from his office is supposed to have so great a share in American affairs, but who has in reality no will or judg

ment of his own, being, with dispositions for the best measures, easily prevailed with to join in the worst.

"Lord Chatham, in his reply to Lord Sandwich, took notice of his illiberal insinuation, that the plan was not the person's who proposed it; declared that it was entirely his own; a declaration he thought himself the more obliged to make, as many of their Lordships appeared to have so mean an opinion of it; for if it was so weak or so bad a thing, it was proper in him to take care that no other person should unjustly share in the censure it deserved. That it had been heretofore reckoned his vice, not to be apt to take advice; but he made no scruple to declare, that, if he were the first minister of this country, and had the care of settling this momentous business, he should not be ashamed of publicly calling to his assistance a person so perfectly acquainted with the whole of American affairs as the gentleman alluded to, and so injuriously reflected on; one, he was pleased to say, 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! I found it harder to stand this extravagant compliment than the preceding equally extravagant abuse; but kept as well as I could an unconcerned countenance, as not conceiving it to relate to me.

"To hear so many of these hereditary legislators declaiming so vehemently against, not the adopting merely, but even the consideration of a proposal so important in its nature, offered by a person of so weighty a character, one of the first statesmen of the age, who had taken up this country when in the lowest despondency, and conducted it to victory and glory, through a war with two of the mightiest kingdoms in Europe; to hear them censuring his plan, not only for their own misunderstandings of what was in it, but for their imaginations of what was not in it, which they would not give themselves an opportunity of rectifying by a second reading; to perceive the total ignorance of the subject in some, the prejudice and passion of others, and the willful perversion of plain truth in several of the ministers; and, upon the whole, to see it so ignominiously rejected by so great a majority, and so hastily too, in breach of all decency, and prudent regard to the character and dignity of their body, as a third part of the national legislature, gave me an exceeding mean opinion of their abilities,

and made their claim of sovereignty over three millions of virtuous, sensible people in America seem the greatest of absurdities, since they appeared to have scarce discretion enough to govern a herd of swine. Hereditary legislators! thought I. There would be more propriety, because less hazard of mischief, in having (as in some university of Germany) hereditary professors of mathematics! But this was a hasty reflection; for the elected House of Commons is no better, nor ever will be while the electors receive money for their votes, and pay money wherewith ministers may bribe their representatives when chosen."

Thus ended, for the time, Lord Chatham's endeavor to stay the blundering career of the king's advisers. He continued, however, to denounce the ministerial measures, and to defend the American people against their senseless vituperation. He told ministers, on one occasion, that the people of the large American towns were as "learned and polite, and understood the Constitution of the empire as well as the noble lords now in office," which was meant as a compliment to the Americans. When, at last, hostilities began, Lord Pitt, the eldest son of the Earl of Chatham, chanced to be serving as aid-de-camp to General Sir Guy Carleton, then commanding the British troops in Canada. The young soldier was fond and proud of his profession, which he had just entered under auspices that secured his rapid advancement. His noble mother wrote to him, urging him, if he thought with his father, to resign his commission rather than draw his sword in so unnatural a contest. To the great contentment of his parents, Lord Pitt returned to England, and resigned.

A year later, in that month when America was thrilled with the Declaration of Independence, the Earl of Chatham being very sick, and not expecting to recover, solemnly charged his physician, Dr. Addington, to bear testimony that he died with his opinions respecting America unchanged. He renewed, also, his prediction, that unless England changed her policy, France would espouse the cause of the Americans. France, he said, waited only till England was more deeply engaged "in this ruining war against herself in America, as well as to prove how far the Americans, abetted by France indirectly, may be able to make a stand, before she takes an open part by declaring war upon England."*

*Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham, 1v., 424.

CHAPTER XII.

SECRET NEGOTIATIONS WITH AGENTS OF THE MINISTRY.

MINISTERS had assumed a bold front in these debates. We could hardly believe, if Dr. Franklin had not minutely recorded the facts, that during this whole period, from October to March, agents of the ministry were secretly negotiating, or, at least, tampering with Franklin, with a view, real or pretended, to effect an amicable arrangement of the dispute with the colonies.

Lord North was troubled with a commodity of brains; and brains enough are always on the side of honor, justice, truth, and freedom. Like Launcelot Gobbo in the play, he was pulled two ways at once; his intellect inclined him to the side of the Americans; his good nature and his fondness for the king made him a reluctant instrument of oppression. There was probably no hour from 1775 to 1783, in which he would not have preferred to resign rather than continue to carry out the king's designs. But the spell of the royal closet enthralled him; the seductive, flattering appeals of the king to the soft places in his heart subdued him, and the glories of his great place had their effect upon him. He is one among the thousand examples which prove that, let a man possess all good gifts and graces, talent, knowledge, good nature, and good intentions, and all in high degree, and yet lack firmness of purpose, he is of no avail in the strife of Right against Wrong. The unflinching king, whose inferior endowments made him the natural foe of freedom, subdued to his purposes, because he was unflinching, the witty and yielding Lord North, whose intellect impelled him to defend the liberties of man. It was to Lord North's reluctance and hesitation, that the events are to be, in part, attributed, which we are now to relate.

One evening, about the beginning of November, 1774, at the rooms of the Royal Society, Mr. Raper, one of the members, told Dr. Franklin there was a great lady in London who had a particular desire to play at chess with him, as she thought she could beat him. It was Mrs. Howe, sister of Admiral Lord Howe, a name honored in America, for the gallant conduct of General Viscount Howe during the Seven Years' war. Massachusetts had erected a

monument in Westminster Abbey to that General, who fell in the attack upon Ticonderoga in 1758. At this time, both Lord Howe and General Howe voted with ministers, and expected employment from them. Dr. Franklin endeavored to evade the challenge, but Mr. Raper being urgent, he consented at length to call upon the lady and test her ability in a few games. However, feeling the awkwardness of waiting upon a lady with whom he was unacquainted, he deferred his visit from week to week. At the end of the month, being again at the Royal Society, Mr. Raper reminded him of his promise, insisted on his naming a day, and offered to accompany him to the lady's house. Franklin complied. He was struck with the excellent sense and agreeable manners of Mrs. Howe, played several games with her, and very readily accepted her invitation to a second encounter.

A day or two after this interview, David Barclay, a member of Parliament, a person of great note among the Quakers on both sides of the ocean, called upon Dr. Franklin to converse with him upon American affairs. The present measures, Mr. Barclay averred, threatened nothing less than civil war, and immense would be the merit of that man who should avert the immeasurable calamity. Dr. Franklin, he added, was the man who, from his knowledge of both countries, his great influence in America, and his known abilities, could do more than any one else to effect a reconciliation. Franklin replied, that he should be very happy to aid in so good a work, but he saw no prospect of effecting it. The Americans desired nothing so much as a just and friendly accommodation; but the ministry, so far from wishing a peaceful solution, seemed resolved upon forcing the colonists into rebellion, that they might have an excuse for wreaking a bloody vengeance upon them. Mr. Barclay thought he judged ministers too hardly; he felt sure that, at least, some of them would be exceedingly glad to be extricated from the American difficulty on any terms that should save the honor and dignity of government. He requested Dr. Franklin to reflect on the subject, and he would call again in a few days to converse further upon it. Franklin had no difficulty in promising to reflect upon a topic which had become the sole occupant of his mind. He again, however, expressed the opinion that no reflections of his could then be of any use.

Two days after, he received a note from Mr. Barclay; who said,