216 



kept as well as I could an unconcerned countenance, as not con- 

 ceiving it to relate to me." * 



And what shall I say of the importance of the services of 

 Benjamin Franklin at the court of Versailles ? 



His good American friends had contented themselves with 

 a brief enjoyment of his society at home. Little more than a 

 year after his return from London, they voted, in Congress 

 assembled, his dispatch to Europe, this time to France, show- 

 ing scant consideration for his three-score years and ten, or for 

 any natural desire he might have for a longer furlough from the 

 diplomatic service. Barely had he, as a representative of 

 Pennsylvania, affixed his name to the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence, before he was chosen to discharge his new and responsi- 

 ble functions. He reached Nantes early in December, 1776. 

 Before Christmas he was in Paris. 



He came at a critical moment. It cannot be affirmed that, 

 without the help of France, the thirteen American colonies 

 would not ultimately have achieved their great purpose. There 

 is much in a courage that will admit into its vocabulary no such 

 word as failure. Stout hearts convinced of the righteousness 

 of the cause for which they battle, possess a great reserve of 

 power. Unflinching resolve has learned the secret of enlist- 

 ing time and opportunity as allies, and when most prostrate 

 rises, with Heaven's help, to renew a strife which in the end 

 must be crowned with victory. 



But the American contest would have been longer, more 

 painful, more enduring in the injuries inflicted, had it not been 

 for the kindly intervention of France. And that intervention 

 Benjamin Franklin secured. Humanly speaking, there 

 was no one else that could have secured it. He was the 

 foremost American of his time ; in fact, he was the only 



* Works, v, 498. 



