o
persuade his son to marry, upon the excellent ground of his own great
affection for her, not only made him comfortable but saved him from
homesickness; old and warm friends welcomed him; the pleasures of London
society again spread their charms before him. Without the regrets and
doubts which must have attended the real emigration which he had been
half inclined to make, he seemed to be reaping all the gratification
which that could have brought him. At the same time he had also the
pride of receiving from the other side of the Atlantic glowing accounts
of the esteem in which he was held by a controlling body of those who
were still his fellow citizens there. But already there had shown itself
above the horizon a cloud which rapidly rose, expanded, and obscured all
this fair sky.

Franklin came to England in the anticipation of a short stay, and with
no purpose beyond the presentation and urging of the petition for the
change of government. Somewhat less than ten months, he thought, would
suffice to finish this business. In fact, he did not get home for ten
years, and this especial errand, which had seemed all that he had to do,
soon sank into such comparative insignificance that, though not
actually forgotten, it could not secure attention. He conscientiously
made repeated efforts to keep the petition in the memory of the English
ministry, and to obtain action upon it; but his efforts were vain; that
body was absorbed by other affairs in connection with the troublesome
American colonies,--affairs which gave vastly more perplexity and called
for much more attention than were becoming in the case of provinces that
should have been submissive as well-behaved children. Franklin himself
found his own functions correspondingly enlarged. Instead of remaining
simply an agent charged with urging a petition which brought him in
conflict only with private persons, like himself subjects of the king,
he found his position rapidly change and develop until he became really
the representative of a disaffected people maintaining a cause against
the monarch and the government of the great British Empire. It was the
"Stamp Act" which effected this transformation.

Scarcely had the great war with France been brought to a close by the
treaty of 1763, bringing such enormous advantages to the old British
possessions in America, before it became apparent that among the fruits
some were mingled that were neither sweet nor nourishing. The wa