213 



unavoidable, and in averting the dreadful resort to war between 

 men of the same blood. But he did succeed in the next best 

 thing, for he brought into the clear light of God's sunshine the 

 righteousness of the struggle that was forced upon the colonies, 

 by demonstrating the impossibility of obtaining redress for 

 their wrongs from an obstinate king, from an unreasonable 

 and prejudiced parliament, from a people that because they 

 inhabited the mother country had fallen into the strange mis- 

 take of imagining themselves to be not subjects but govern- 

 ors* For, as Dr. Franklin wrote to Lord Kames, " every man 

 in England seems to consider himself as a "piece of a sovereign 

 over America ; seems to jostle himself into the throne with 

 the king and talks of our subjects in the colonies" f 



Two scenes of dramatic interest illustrate this mission — 

 both almost too familiar to students of history to need more 

 than a passing notice, both, however, too characteristic and 

 too essential to a clear understanding of the marked personal- 

 ity of the man who was their feero, to be left altogether with- 

 out mention. The first of these is that remarkable examina- 

 tion before the House of Commons, so often described, so often 

 the subject of unconcealed wonder on the part of historical 

 writers, when for hours Dr. Franklin answered the various 

 questions addressed to him both by friends and by political 

 opponents, with a readiness, a calmness, an aptness, that have 

 rarely been equaled, perhaps never excelled. While it seems 

 too much to say that his replies to the interrogatories of his 

 friends were altogether unpremeditated, the admirable prompt- 

 ness and skill with which he met the inquiries sprung upon 

 him by adversaries, afford conclusive evidence of the breadth 

 of his information upon American topics, and, not less, of the 



* Works, iii, 486, 487. 

 t lb., iv, 2, 3. 



