y
embarked on board an American frigate." Several times he must have
contemplated these pleasing prospects, for several times the small sloop
was chased by English cruisers; but she was a swift sailer and escaped
them all. Just before making port she captured two English brigs and
carried them in as prizes.

[Note 39: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 166.]

The reference to Slidell and Mason, by the way, calls to mind the
humorous but accurate manner in which Franklin described the difference
between revolution and rebellion. Soon after landing from this hazardous
voyage he wrote merrily to a lady friend: "You are too early, hussy, as
well as too saucy, in calling me a _rebel_. You should wait for the
event, which will determine whether it is a _rebellion_ or only a
_revolution_. Here the ladies are more civil; they call us _les
insurgens_, a character which usually pleases them."

The voyage, though quick, was very rough, and Franklin, confined in a
small cabin and "poorly nourished," since much of the meat was too tough
for his old teeth, had a hard time of it; so that upon coming on shore
he found himself "much fatigued and weakened," indeed, "almost
demolished." He therefore rested several days at Nantes before going to
Paris, where he arrived just before the close of the year.

The excitement which his arrival in the French capital created was
unmistakable evidence of the estimate set by Europe upon his abilities.
Some persons in England endeavored to give to his voyage the color of a
desertion from a cause of which he despaired. "The arch----, Dr.
Franklin, has lately eloped under a cloak of plenipotentiary to
Versailles," wrote Sir Grey Cooper. But Edmund Burke refused to believe
that the man whom he had seen examined before the privy council was
"going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every hour it has
continued, with so foul and dishonorable a flight." Lord Rockingham said
that the presence of Franklin in Paris much more than offset the victory
of the English on Long Island, and their capture of New York. Lord
Stormont, it is said, threatened to leave _sans prendre conge_, if the
"chief of the American rebels" were allowed to come to Paris. The adroit
de Vergennes replied that the government had already dispatched a
courier to direct Franklin to remain at Nantes; but since they knew
neither the time of his departure nor his route, the message might not
reach him. Should he thus innocently arriv