perhaps, wish us well, conceiving that we shall, through our own poverty, or from superior forces, be soon obliged to abandon the country, are afraid to have any dealings with us, lest they should hereafter be called to account for abetting our cause.

Our enemies take the advantage of this distress to make us look contemptible in the eyes of the Canadians, who have been provoked by the violence of our military in exacting provisions and services from them without pay, which makes them wish our departure; and, accordingly, we have daily intimations of plots hatching, and insurrections intended, for expelling us, on the first news of the arrival of the British Army.

"You will see from hence, that your commissioners themselves are in a critical and most irksome situation, pestered hourly with demands, great and small, that they cannot answer, in a place where our cause has a majority of enemies, the garrison weak, and a greater would, without money, increase our difficulties. In short, if money cannot be had to support your army here with honor, so as to be respected, instead of being hated by the people, we report it, as our firm and unanimous opinion, that it is better immediately to withdraw it. The fact before your eyes, that the powerful British nation cannot keep an army in a country where the inhabitants are become enemies, must convince you of the necessity of enabling us immediately to make this people our friends. Exclusive of a sum of money to discharge the debts already contracted, which General Arnold informs us amounts to fourteen thousand pounds, besides the account laid before Congress by Mr. Price, a further sum of hard money, not less than six thousand pounds, will be necessary to re-establish our credit in this colony. With this supply, and a little success, it may be possible to regain the affections of the people, to attach them firmly to our cause, and induce them to accept a free government, perhaps to enter into the Union; in which case the currency of our paper money, we think, follows as a certain consequence."

Two days after this letter was written, a messenger reached Montreal with the news that a British fleet with troops on board had arrived at Quebec, had landed a large force which had attacked the little disheartened American army, and put it to flight. A council of war, attended by the commissioners, at once decided that nothing remained but to withdraw the troops to St. John's; fortify, supply,

and re-enforce them there; and there endeavor to stay the southward progress of the British army. The requisite orders were issued immediately. The next morning Dr. Franklin, accompanied by Mr. John Caroll, set out on his return homeward, to expedite the necessary measures, and give Congress complete information. respecting their affairs in the north. He left his brother commissioners to superintend the retreat and the erection of the defensive works at the head of Lake Champlain.

General Schuyler assisted the travelers on their way down the lakes, entertained them again at his house, and lent them his own chariot and driver for the journey from Albany to New York. From New York, Dr. Franklin wrote back to the other commissioners: "We met yesterday two officers from Philadelphia, with a letter from the Congress to the commissioners, and a sum of hard money. I opened the letter, and sealed it again, directing them to carry it forward to you. I congratulate you on the great prize carried into Boston. Seventy-five tons of gunpowder are an excellent supply, and the thousand carbines with bayonets, another fine article. The German auxiliaries are certainly coming. It is our business to prevent their returning. I shall be glad to hear of your welfare. As to myself, I find I grow daily more feeble, and think I could hardly have got along so far, but for Mr. Carroll's friendly assistance and tender care of me. Some symptoms of the gout now appear, which makes me think my indisposition has been a smothered fit of that disorder, which my constitution wanted strength to form completely."

He reached Philadelphia early in June, having been absent about ten weeks. For the lovers of detail, I will mention that the account presented by Dr. Franklin to Congress of money expended on this journey, showed that he had advanced the sum of $1,221;* of which $560 was to be charged to General Arnold, and $124 to Mr. Charles Carroll. The beds and outfits of the party cost $164. The whole expense incurred by Dr. Franklin and his priestly comrade, was $372.

These two, the philosopher and the priest, men most dissimilar in

* Dr. Franklin himself says, that while in Canada he "advanced to General Arnold, and other servants of Congress, then in extreme necessity, £353, in gold, out of his own pocket, on the credit of Congress, which was of great service at that juncture, in procuring provisions for our army.' Sparks, x., 873.

age, vocation, belief, and experience, conceived for each other, during this toilsome journey, a warm regard which they always cherished. A few years later, Dr. Franklin embraced an opportunity of testifying his esteem for Mr. John Carroll in a signal manner.

In the quiet of his own home Dr. Franklin recovered his health, and soon renewed his labors, in Congress and elsewhere, with all his accustomed ardor. The timely arrival of powder relieved his mind from one source of anxiety. The scarcity of this article before his departure for Canada had been such, that he seriously proposed arming some of the troops with bows and arrows. "I still wish with you," he wrote to General Charles Lee, "that pikes could be introduced, and I would add bows and arrows. These were good weapons, not wisely laid aside; 1st. Because a man may shoot as truly with a bow as with a common musket. 2dly. He can discharge four arrows in the time of charging and discharging one bullet. 3dly. His object is not taken from his view by the smoke of his own side. 4thly. A flight of arrows, seen coming upon them, terrifies and disturbs the enemies' attention to their business. 5thly. An arrow striking in any part of a man puts him hors de combat till it is extracted. 6thly. Bows and arrows are more easily provided everywhere than muskets and ammunition.

"Polydore Virgil, speaking of one of our battles against the French in Edward the Third's reign, mentions the great confusion the enemy was thrown into, sagittarum* nube, from the English; and concludes, Est res profecto† dictu mirabilis, ut tantus ac potens exercitus a solis fere Anglicis sagittariis victus fuerit; adeo Anglus est sagittipotens, et id genus armorum valet. If so much execution was done by arrows when men wore some defensive armor, how much more might be done now that it is out of use."

Not against troops armed with modern muskets, Doctor. A letter from Dr. Priestley, received soon after his return from Canada, concluded with some pleasant items: "The club of honest Whigs, as you justly call them, think themselves much honored by your having been one of them, and also by your kind remembrance of them. Our zeal in the good cause is not abated; you are often the subject of our conversation. Lord Shelburne and Colonel Barré

"By the cloud of arrows."

+"It is indeed a thing wonderful to be related, that an army so great and powerful should have been vanquished almost alone by the English bowmen; truly your Englishman is mighty with the bow, and of a puissant stock.”

were pleased with your remembrance of them, and desire their best respects and good wishes in return. Your old servant, Fevre, often mentions you with affection and respect. He is, in all respects, an excellent servant. I value him much, both on his own account and yours. He seems to be very happy. Mrs. Stevenson is much as usual. She can talk about nothing but you."

CHAPTER IV.

JULY, 1776.

PHILADELPHIA had been the scene of the keenest party strife during the absence of Dr. Franklin in Canada. After a series of elections most warmly contested, in which all the old electioneering artifices were employed, the party for Independence stormed the citadel of the Assembly, and deprived Mr. Dickinson of his ancient, compact majority. Then the doom of the Proprietary Government was sealed, and it only remained to execute the sentence. Yet it died hard. When Congress had decreed the extinction of all authority derived from the king of England, the Assembly still hesitated, adjourned from day to day, knew not what to do, until the will of the people was manifested in ways so various and unequivocal, that they could not disregard it. The struggle was given up at length; the government of Pennsylvania was declared to be dissolved; and the Assembly melted away.

For four months the great and populous province of Pennsylvania was without any thing that even pretended to be a government. There was no authority vested in any one to arrest a malefactor, suppress a riot, or compel the payment of debt. Franklin assured Sir Samuel Romilly that, during that long period, public order was perfectly preserved in every part of the State, and that no man who should have attempted to take advantage of the circumstances to evade the payment of a debt, could have borne the contempt in which he would have been held.* The easy, simple manner in

* Life of Sir Samuel Romilly, Appendix.

which the people extricated themselves from a dilemma so unprecedented was still more remarkable. The process seems to have been this: The Committee of Safety recommended the people of Pennsylvania to elect delegates to a CONFERENCE The people proceeded to elect delegates-Philadelphia choosing twenty-five, of whom Franklin was one. On the eighteenth June the Conference met at Philadelphia, sat five days, including a Sunday, renounced allegiance to the king, swore obedience to Congress, and called upon the people to elect delegates-eight from Philadelphia and eight from each county-to meet in CONVENTION, and form a constitution. The elections were held accordingly, and Dr. Franklin was one of the eight chosen by Philadelphia. All this was done, and the Convention actually assembled, in thirty-one days.

The great event of the contest had taken place, meanwhile, in Congress; where still sat seven Pennsylvanians, though the body which had elected them had, in effect, ceased to exist. Of these seven, four were opposed to the Declaration of Independence, and their leader, Mr. Dickinson, stated his objections in a last speech of much force, which would have carried conviction to the minds of most men of large property and no enthusiasm. A man standing upon the bank of a river, in which a child was struggling for life, could make an argument against jumping in to save it, which the soundest logician in the world would pronounce unanswerable. But if he jumps in and saves the child, and bears it limp and dripping to its mother's arms, what does the sound logician say then? He says nothing. He rushes up to the wet hero, clasps him to his breast, tries to speak his love and admiration, but chokes, and cannot, and has to content himself with wringing his hand and garments, running a mile to the nearest brandy bottle, and doing the distance in twelve minutes. Great is prudence. Every great man is greatly prudent. But there come times in the lives of men and nations when the true prudence is to risk all for the sake of securing that which, being lost, nothing is worth having. A nation's freedom, a man's self-respect, when they are irrecoverably gone, every thing else may as well go.

Franklin's part in the Declaration of Independence was not important. A committee of five was elected by ballot to draft the declaration: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Mr. Jefferson, as we