"patriots," Franklin appeared to be a laggard in the rear distance, with
disregarded arguments and protests, with words of moderation, even
counsels of submission, nay, actually with a sort of connivance in the
measure by the nomination of an official under it.

Yet the intervening space was not so great as it appeared. There was
nothing in the counsels of the reasonable and intelligent "patriots"
which was repugnant to Franklin's opinions. So soon as he saw the ground
upon which they had placed themselves, he made haste to come into
position with them. It was fortunate indeed that the transient
separation was closed again before it could lead to the calamity of his
removal from his office. For no man or even combination of men, whom it
was possible to send from the provinces, could have done them the
services which Franklin was about to render. Besides the general power
of his mind, he had peculiar fitnesses. He was widely known and very
highly esteemed in England, where he moved in many circles. Among
members of the nobility, among men high in office, among members of
Parliament, among scientific men and literary men, among men of business
and affairs, and among men who made a business of society, he was always
welcome. In that city in which dinners constituted so important an
element in life, even for the most serious purposes, he was the greatest
of diners-out; while at the coffee-houses, clubs, and in the
old-fashioned tavern circles no companion was more highly esteemed than
he. He consorted not only with friends of the colonies, but was, and for
a long time continued to be, on intimate terms of courteous intercourse
also with those who were soon to be described as their enemies. Each and
all, amid this various and extensive acquaintance, listened to him with
a respect no tithe of which could have been commanded by any other
American then living. The force of his intelligence, the scope of his
understanding, the soundness of his judgment, had already been
appreciated by men accustomed to study and to estimate the value of such
traits. His knowledge of American affairs, of the trade and business of
the provinces, of the characteristics of the people in different parts
of the country, was very great, because of his habit of shrewd
observation, of his taste for practical matters, and of his extensive
travels and connections as postmaster. Add to this that he had a
profound affection for the mother country, which was n