THE DAWN
The young man was elated by the look and sentiments which had gone with
the parting cup at Sir Benjamin's. But Franklin, whom he saw the next
day, liked not the attitude of the Baronet.
"He is one of the King's men on the Big chess board," said the old
philosopher. "All that he said to you has the sound of strategy. I
have reason to believe that they are trying to tow us into port and
Margaret is only one of many ropes. Hare's attitude is not that of an
honest man."
"Is it not true that every one who touches the King gets some of that
tar on him?" Jack queried.
"It would seem so and yet we must be fair to him. We are not to think
that the King is the only black pot on the fire. He is probably the
best of kings but I can not think of one king who would be respectable
in Boston or Philadelphia. Their expenses have been great, their taxes
robbery, so they have had to study the magic arts of seeming to be just
and righteous. They have been a lot of conjurers trained to create
illusions."
"I suppose that Britain is no worse than other kingdoms," said the
young man.
"On the whole she is the best of them. Under the surface here I find
the love of liberty and all good things. Chatham, Burke and Fox are
their voices. We are not to wonder that Lord North puts a price on
every man. His is the soul of a past in which most men have had their
price. It was the old way of removing difficulties in the management
of a state. It succeeded. A new day is at hand. Its forerunners are
here. He has not seen the signs in the sky or heard the cocks crowing.
He is still asleep. I know many men in England whom he could not buy."
Only three days before the philosopher had had a talk with North at the
urgent request of Howe, who, to his credit, was eager for
reconciliation. The King's friend and minister was contemptuous.
"I am quite indifferent to war," he had cynically declared at last.
"The confiscations it would produce will provide for many of our
friends."
It was an astonishing bit of frankness.
"I take this opportunity of assuring Your Lordship that for all the
property you seize or destroy in America, you will pay to the last
farthing," said Franklin.
This treatment was like that he had received from other members of the
government since the unfortunate publication of the Hutchinson, Rogers
and Oliver letters. They seemed to entertain the notion that he had
forfeited the respect due a gentleman.
A few days after Franklin had given air to his suspicion that the
government party would try to tow him into port three stout British
ships had broken their cables on him. An invitation not likely to be
received by one who had really forfeited the respect of gentlemen was
in his hands. The shrewd philosopher did not think twice about it. He
knew that here was the first step in a change of tactics. He could not
properly decline to accept it and so he went to dine and spend the
night with a most distinguished company at the country seat of Lord
Howe.
On his return he told his young friend of the portal and lodge in a
great triumphal arch marking the entrance to the estate of His
Lordship; of the mile long road to the big house straight as a gun
barrel and smooth as a carpet; of the immense single oaks; of the
artificial stream circling the front of the house and the beautiful
bridge leading to its entrance; of the double flight of steps under the
grand portico; of the great hall with its ceiling forty feet high,
supported by fluted Corinthian columns of red-veined alabaster; of the
rare old tapestries on a golden background in the saloon; of the
immense corridors connecting the wings of the structure. The dinner
and its guests and its setting were calculated to impress the son of
the Boston soap boiler who represented the important colonies in
America.
Some of the best people were there--Lord and Lady Cathcart, Lord and
Lady Hyde, Lord and Lady Dartmouth. Sir William Erskine, Sir Henry
Clinton, Sir James Baird, Sir Benjamin Hare and their ladies were also
present. Doctor Franklin said that the punch was calculated to promote
cheerfulness and high sentiment. As was the custom at like functions,
the ladies sat together at one end of the table. Franklin being seated
at the right of Lady Howe, who was most gracious and entertaining. The
first toast was to the venerable philosopher.
"My Ladies, Lords and gentlemen," said the host, "we must look to our
conduct in the presence of one who talked with Sir William Wyndham and
was a visitor in the house of Sir Hans Sloane before we were born;
whose tireless intellect has been a confidant of Nature, a playmate of
the Lightning and an inventor of ingenious and useful things; whose
wisdom has given to Philadelphia a public library, a work house, good
paving, excellent schools, a protection against fire as efficient as
any in the world and the best newspaper in the colonies. Good health
and long life to him and may his love of the old sod increase with his
years."
The toast was drunk with expressions of approval, and Franklin only
arose and bowed and briefly spoke his acknowledgments in a single
sentence, and then added:
"Lord Howe can assure you that public men receive more praise and more
blame than they really merit. I have heard much said for and against
Benjamin Franklin, but there could be no better testimony in his favor
than the good opinion of Lord Howe, for which I can never cease to be
grateful. For years I have been weighing the evidence, and my verdict
is that Franklin has meant well."
He said to Jack that he felt the need of being "as discreet as a
tombstone."
A member of that party has told in his memoirs how he kept the ladies
laughing with his merry jests.
"I see by _The Observer_ they are going to open cod and whale fisheries
in the great lakes of the Northwest," Lady Howe said to him.
He answered very gently: "Your Ladyship, has it never occurred to you
that it would be a sublime spectacle to stand at the foot of the great
falls of Niagara and see the whales leaping over them?"
"What do you regard as your most important discovery?" one of the
ladies inquired.
"Well, first, I naturally think of the hospitality of this house and
the beauty and charm of the Lady Howe and her friends," Franklin
answered with characteristic diplomacy. "Then there is this wine," he
added, lifting his glass. "Its importance is as great as its age and
this is old enough to command even my veneration. It reminds me of
another discovery of mine: the value of the human elbow. I was telling
the King's physician of that this morning and it seemed to amuse him.
But for the human elbow every person would need a neck longer than that
of a goose to do his eating and drinking."
"I had never thought of that," Lady Howe laughingly answered. "It
surely does have some effect on one's manners."
"And his personal appearance and the cost of his neckwear," said
Franklin. "Here is another discovery."
He took a leathern case from his pocket and removed from it a sealed
glass tube half full of a colorless liquid.
"Kindly hold that in your hand and see what happens," he said to Lady
Howe. "It contains plain water."
In half a moment the water began to boil.
"It shows how easily water boils in a vacuum," said Franklin as the
ladies were amusing themselves with this odd toy. "It enables us to
understand why a little heat produces great agitation in certain
intellects," he added.
"Doctor, we are neglecting politics," said Lord Hyde. "You lay much
stress upon thrift. Do you not agree with me that a man who has not
the judgment to practise thrift and acquire property has not the
judgment to vote?"
"Property is all right, but let's make it stay in its own stall," said
Franklin. "It should never be a qualification of the voter, because it
would lead us up to this dilemma: if I have a jackass I can vote. If
the jackass dies I can not vote. Therefore, my vote would represent
the jackass and not me."
The dinner over, Lady Howe conducted Doctor Franklin to the library,
where she asked him to sit down. There were no other persons in the
room. She sat near him and began to speak of the misfortunes of the
colony of Massachusetts Bay.
"Your Ladyship, we are all alike," he answered. "I have never seen a
man who could not bear the misfortunes of another like a Christian.
The trouble is our ministers find it too easy to bear them."
"I wish you would speak with Lord Howe frankly of these troubles. He
is just by. Will you give me leave to send for him?"
"By all means, madame, if you think best." Lord Howe joined them in a
moment. He was most polite.
"I am sensible of the fact that you have been mistreated by the
ministry," he said. "I have not approved of their conduct. I am
unconnected with those men save through personal friendships. My zeal
for the public welfare is my only excuse for asking you to open your
mind."
Lady Howe arose and offered to withdraw.
"Your Ladyship, why not honor us with your presence?" Franklin asked.
"For my part I can see no reason for making a secret of a business of
this nature. As to His Lordship's mention of my mistreatment, that
done my country is so much greater I dismiss all thought of the other.
From the King's speech I judge that no accommodation can be expected."
"The plan is now to send a commission to the colonies, as you have
urged," said His Lordship.
Then said Lady Howe: "I wish, my brother Franklin, that you were to be
sent thither. I should like that much better than General Howe's going
to command the army there."
A rather tense moment followed. Franklin broke its silence by saying
in a gentle tone:
"I think, madame, they should provide the General with more honorable
employment. I beg that your Ladyship will not misjudge me. I am not
capable of taking an office from this government while it is acting
with so much hostility toward my country."
"The ministers have the opinion that you can compose the situation if
you will," Lord Howe declared. "Many of us have unbounded faith in
your ability. I would not think of trying to influence your judgment
by a selfish motive, but certainly you may, with reason, expect any
reward which it is in the power of the government to bestow."
Then came an answer which should live in history, as one of the great
credits of human nature, and all men, especially those of English
blood, should feel a certain pride in it. The answer was:
"Your Lordship, I am not looking for rewards, but only for justice."
"Let us try to agree as to what is the justice of the matter," Howe
answered. "Will you not draft a plan on which you would be willing to
cooperate?"
"That I will be glad to do."
Persisting in his misjudgment, Howe suggested:
"As you have friends here and constituents in America to keep well
with, perhaps it would better not be in your handwriting. Send it to
Lady Howe and she will copy it and return the original."
Then said the sturdy old Yankee: "I desire, my friends, that there
shall be no secrecy about it."
Lord and Lady Howe showed signs of great disappointment as he bade them
good night and begged to be sent to his room.
"I am growing old, and have to ask for like indulgence from every
hostess," he pleaded.
Howe was not willing to leave a stone unturned. He could not dismiss
the notion from his mind that the purchase could be effected if the bid
were raised. He drew the Doctor aside and said:
"We do not expect your assistance without proper consideration. I
shall insist upon generous and ample appointments for the men you take
with you and especially for you as well as a firm promise of
_subsequent rewards_."
What crown had he in mind for the white and venerable brow of the man
who stood before him? Beneath that brow was a new type of statesman,
born of the hardships and perils and high faith of a new world, and
then and there as these two faced each other--the soul of the past and
the soul of the future--a moment was come than which there had been no
greater in human history. In America, France and England the cocks had
been crowing and now the first light of the dawn of a new day fell upon
the figure of the man who in honor and understanding towered above his
fellows. Now, for a moment, on the character of this man the
unfathomable plan of God for future ages would seem to have been
resting.
In his sixty-eight years he had discovered, among other things, the
vanity of wealth and splendor. It was no more to him than the idle
wind. These are his exact words as he stood with a gentle smile on his
face: "If you wish to use me, give me the propositions and dismiss all
thought of rewards from your mind. They would destroy the influence
you propose to use."
Howe, a good man as men went those days, had got beyond his depth. His
philosophy comprehended no such mystery. What manner of man was this
son of a soap boiler who had smiled and shaken his white head and
spoken like a kindly father to the folly of a child when these offers
of wealth and honor and power had been made to him? Did he not
understand that it was really the King who had spoken?
The old gentleman climbed the great staircase and went to his chamber,
while Lord Howe was, no doubt, communicating the result of his
interview to his other guests. There were those among them who freely
predicted that war was inevitable.
In the morning at eight o'clock Franklin rode into town with Lord Howe.
They discussed the motion of the Prime Minister under the terms of
which the colonies were to pay money into the British Treasury until
parliament should decide they had paid enough.
"It is impossible," said Franklin. "No chance is offered us to judge
the propriety of the measure or our ability to pay. These grants are
demanded under a claimed right to tax us at pleasure and compel
payments by armed force. Your Lordship, it is like the proposition of
a highwayman who presents a pistol at the window of your coach and
demands enough to satisfy his greed--no specific sum being named--or
there is the pistol."
"You are a most remarkable man, but you do not understand the
government," said His Lordship. "You will not let yourself see the
other side of the proposition. You are highly esteemed in America and
if you could but see the justice of our claim you would be as highly
esteemed here and honored and rewarded far beyond any expectation you
are likely to have."
"If any one supposes that I could prevail upon my countrymen to take
black for white or wrong for right, he does not know them or me," said
Franklin. "My people are incapable of being so imposed upon and I am
incapable of attempting it."
Next evening came the good Doctor Barclay, a friend of Franklin, and a
noted philanthropist. They played chess together, and after the game,
while they were draining glasses of Madeira, the philanthropist said:
"Here's to peace and good will between England and her colonies. The
prosperity of both depends upon it."
They drank the toast and then Barclay proposed:
"Let us use our efforts to that end. Power is a great thing to have
and the noblest gift a government can bestow is within your reach."
"Barclay, this is what I would call spitting in the soup," said
Franklin. "It's excellent soup, too. I am sure the ministry would
rather give me a seat in a cart to Tyburn than any other place
whatever. I would despise myself if I needed an inducement to serve a
great cause."
The philanthropist entered upon a wearisome argument, which lasted for
nearly an hour.
"Barclay, your opinions on this problem remind me of the iron money of
Lycurgus," observed Franklin.
The philanthropist desired to know why.
"Because of their bulk. A cart load of them is not worth a shilling."
In all parts of Britain those days one heard much ridicule of the New
England home and conscience. Now the ministry and its friends had
begun to butt their heads against the immovable wall of character which
had grown out of them and of which Lord Chatham had said:
"It has made certain of our able men look like school boys."
2
There was at that time a man of great power whose voice spoke for the
soul of England. He had studied the spirit of the New World and probed
to its foundations. He will help us to understand the new diplomacy
which had filled the ministers with astonishment.
The same week Jack was invited to breakfast with Mr. Edmund Burke and
Doctor Franklin. He was awed by the brilliancy of the massive,
trumpet-tongued orator and statesman.
He writes: "Burke has a most ungainly figure. His gait is awkward, his
gestures clumsy, his eyes are covered with large spectacles. He is
careless of his dress. His pockets bulged with papers. He spoke
rapidly and with a strong Irish brogue. Power is the thing his face
and form express. His knowledge is astounding. It is easy to talk
with Franklin, but _I_ could not talk with him. He humbled and
embarrassed me. His words shone as they fell from his lips. I can
give you but a feeble notion of them. This was his idea, but I
remember only a few of his glowing words:
"'I fancy that man, like most other inventions, was, at first, a
disappointment. There seems to have been some doubt, for a time, as to
whether the contrivance could be made to work. In fact, there is good
ground for believing that it wouldn't work.
"'It was a failure. The tendency to indolence and folly had to be
overcome. Sundry improvements were necessary. An imagination and the
love of adventure were added to the great machine. They were the
things needed. Not all the friction of hardship and peril could stop
it then. From that time, as they say in business, man was a paying
institution.
"'The lure of adventure led to the discovery of law and truth. The
best child of adventure is revelation. Man is so fashioned that if he
can see a glimmer of the truth he seeks, he will make for it no matter
what may be in his way. The promise of an exciting time solves the
problem of help. America was born of sublime faith and a great
adventure--the greatest in history--that of the three caravels. High
faith is the great need of the world. Columbus had it, and I think,
sir, that the Pilgrims had it and that the same quality of faith is in
you. In these dark years you are like the lanterns of Pharus to your
people.
"'When prodigious things are to be done, how carefully men are prepared
and chosen for their doing!'
"He said many things, but these words addressed to my venerable friend
impressed me deeply. It occurs to me that Burke has been chosen to
speak for the soul of Britain.
"When we think of the choosing of God, who but the sturdy yeomen of our
mother land could have withstood the inhospitalities of the New World
and established its spirit!
"Now their Son, Benjamin Franklin, full grown in the new school of
liberty, has been chosen of God to define the inalienable rights of
freemen. I think the stage is being set for the second great adventure
in our history. Let us have no fear of it. Our land is sown with the
new faith. It can not fail."
This conviction was the result of some rather full days in the British
capital.