220 



was associated with Adams and Jay in concluding the defini- 

 tive treaty. 



To the consummation of the hopes of all patriotic Americans, 

 the wise efforts of Franklin and his fellow-diplomatists had 

 contributed as truly, perhaps as substantially, as had the mar- 

 tial exploits of Washington and his companions in arms. And 

 it is as honorable to the wisdom as it is to the reverent spirit 

 of those great men, that both Franklin and Washington 

 ascribed their success to the favor of God who is the friend 

 and avenger of the oppressed. I quoted, a moment ago, the 

 somewhat boastful terms in which Dr. Franklin was pleased to 

 describe to William Strahan the triumphs of American diplo- 

 macy at European courts. I must be permitted here to repro- 

 duce these sentences by which he next proceeds to qualify 

 what might well otherwise be viewed as too arrogant a claim. 

 " But, after all, my dear friend," he says, " do not imagine that 

 I am vain enough to ascribe our success to any superiority in 

 any of those points. I am too well acquainted with all the 

 springs and levers of our machine, not to see that our human 

 means were unequal to our undertaking, and that, if it had not 

 been for the justice of our cause and the consequent interposi- 

 tion of Providence, in which we had faith, we must have been 

 ruined. If I had ever before been an atheist, I should now 

 have been convinced of the being and government of a Deity ! 

 It is He who abases the proud and favors the humble. May 

 we never forget His goodness to us, and may our future con- 

 duct manifest our gratitude." * 



It cannot but be regarded as an interesting circumstance, 

 that Dr. Franklin's last diplomatic service should have been 

 rendered in the interest of our common humanity ; that in the 

 treaty with Prussia, which it was his last official duty to sign 



* Works, ix, 53. 



