trymen. His departure was hastened by the
intelligence that the ministers intended to arrest him on a charge of
fomenting rebellion in the colonies; he narrowly escaped this danger,
and on landing in America, he was elected a member of Congress.

Soon after the declaration of independence was issued, Dr. Franklin was
sent as ambassador to France, to solicit aid for the infant republic. On
his first arrival, in 1776, he was not officially received; but when the
intelligence of the English losses had given courage to the French
court, negotiations were formally commenced, and on February 7, 1778, he
had the honor of signing the first treaty between the United States and
a foreign power. He remained at the French court as ambassador until the
end of the war, when, as an American plenipotentiary, he signed the
treaty of Paris, by which Great Britain recognized the independence of
the United States. At the close of the negotiations (November, 1782), he
was anxious to be recalled; but his diplomatic services were too highly
valued to be spared, and he remained at Paris three years longer, during
which period he negotiated treaties with Sweden and with Prussia. His
residence in France was cheered by the enthusiasm with which he was
regarded by all classes, particularly persons of literature and science;
his departure from that city was lamented as a general loss to society.

Honors of every kind awaited him on his return to his native land; he
was appointed President of the State of Pennsylvania, and a member of
the Federal Convention, by which the American Constitution was framed.
But old age, and a painful disease, to which he had been long subject,
compelled him to retire into the bosom of his family. Notwithstanding
his sufferings, he preserved his affections and faculties unimpaired to
the last, and died tranquilly, April 17, 1790. The American Congress,
and the National Assembly of France, both went into mourning on
receiving the intelligence of his death.

Franklin's powers were useful rather than brilliant; his philosophical
discoveries were the result of patience and perseverance; with a warmer
imagination he would probably have been misled by speculative theory,
like so many of his contemporaries. His industry and his temperance were
the sources of his early success, and they nurtured in him that spirit
of independence which was the leading characteristic of his private and
public career.

PATRICK HENRY[3]