slighting all their petitions, a separation between the two countries, and a war, must soon follow. Several attempts at negotiation were made by Franklin, also by Lord Chatham and other members of the opposition, who condemned these measures of Government, but they proved unsuccessful. At length, finding that all his efforts to bring about a reconciliation were entirely fruitless, Franklin resigned his agencies, and returned to America, after an absence of ten years.

A congress of delegates from the Assemblies of all the provinces had met at Philadelphia the preceding autumn. Their principal act had been to sign a declaration of rights, and to send a petition to the king, which was presented by Franklin while in England, and rejected. The day after his return, Franklin was himself elected delegate for Pennsylvania to the second Congress which was about to meet. Meanwhile a conflict at Lexington, in which the English troops had attacked the Americans, spread an alarm throughout the country, and roused the people everywhere to

arms.

The second Congress had now assembled: once more they sent a petition to the king for a redress of their grievances, and this being again rejected, preparations for war were actively commenced. A regular army was formed, and General Washington was made Commander-in-Chief. Before he had joined the army, the battle of Bunker's Hill, the first regular battle between the English and Americans, was fought, in which the latter were victorious. The

final separation of the colonies from England was now decided upon by Congress, and the famous Declaration of Independence was signed on the 4th of July 1776. Franklin had strongly advocated this measure, and assisted in preparing the Declaration.

The English Ministry now sent out Lord Howe, with powers to treat with the colonists Commissioners, of whom Franklin was one, were ap pointed to confer with him, but finding that his powers only extended to granting pardons on submission, they refused to treat with him on such terms, and the negotiation was abruptly terminated. Franklin took a prominent part in every transaction of the Congress, and was entrusted with many important services: one of these was a fruitless mission to Canada, to persuade the Canadians to join in the insurrection. He was also made President of a Convention for settling the constitution of Pennsylvania, but he had not long held that office, when Congress again required his services as head of a commission to the coast of France, to transact the business of the United States there, and to negotiate an alliance with that country. Though now in his seventy-first year, Franklin promptly undertook the charge, and, crossing the Atlantic for the fourth time, arrived in France in 1776, and took up his abode at Passy, a village near Paris. » Being well known in France by his discoveries and by his writings, which had been translated into French, and also by his bold defence of his

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country's rights in England, he was received with the highest marks of respect. French historians speak thus of him—“Men imagined they saw in him a sage of antiquity, come back to give austere lessons and generous examples to the moderns. They personified in him the republic of which he was the representative and the legislator. They regarded his virtues as those of his countrymen, and even judged of their physiognomy by the imposing and severe traits of his own. Happy was he who could gain admittance to see him in the house which he occupied at Passy. This venerable old man, it was said, joined to the demeanour of Phocian the spirit of Socrates. Courtiers were struck with his native dignity, and discovered in him the profound statesman. Young officers, impatient to signalize themselves in another hemisphere, came to interrogate him respecting the military condition of the Americans; and when he spoke to them with deep concern and manly frankness of the recent defeats, which had put his country in jeopardy, this only excited in them a more ardent desire to join and assist the republican soldiers." The successive defeats here spoken of, which the Americans had sustained from the English, made the French hesitate to form an alliance with the United States, which would involve them in a war with England. But Franklin's address, and, finally, the defeat and surrender of the English army under General Burgoyne, overcame their reluctance, and, in February 1778, a treaty of alliance

was signed between France and the United States. When Franklin attended the court of Versailles

at the signing of the treaty, he is described by a French writer as wearing the dress of an American farmer. "His straight unpowdered hair, his round hat, his brown cloth coat, formed a singular contrast with the laced and embroidered coats, and powdered and perfumed heads, of the courtiers of Versailles." This treaty was immediately followed by war between France and England.

The war lasted two years. During that time

Franklin remained in France as minister for the United States. A great deal of business passed through his hands. The French ports being open to American ships, he had to decide in cases of capture, and to manage the sale of prizes, to refit vessels, and buy military stores.

A French army under the Marquis de Lafayette, and a fleet, were now sent to America, and, by means of loans from the French Government, and also from Holland, which were obtained for the United States chiefly through Franklin's exertions, the war was continued with great vigour.

The repeated ill-success of the British troops, and particularly the capture of Lord Cornwallis's army at Yorktown, at last convinced the English Government of the impossibility of reducing the Americans to subjection. Parliament, therefore, consented to recognise the independence of the United States, and a treaty confirming that independence was concluded between England and the United States on the 3d of September 1783.

Finding that his health was failing, and the infirmities of age were creeping upon him, Franklin had repeatedly asked for his recall; but Congress deeming his services of great importance to his country, had delayed to comply with his request. At length, in 1785, Mr. Jefferson was sent out to succeed him, and Franklin took leave of his numerous friends, and prepared to return home after an absence of more than eight years. As his bodily infirmities were such that he could not bear the motion of a carriage, the queen's litter was lent