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mind were turned in the direction of France, and his heroic 

 and persistent exertions were put forth to secure, first, the 

 recognition and help of that land, and then, with that help, 

 the complete independence of the United States and their ad- 

 mission into the sisterhood of nations. Both departments of his 

 activity, both fields of labor, elicited strenuous, concentrated, 

 conscientious exercise of all his prodigious intellectual powers, 

 and both were worthy of them. Yet viewing his diplomatic ser- 

 vices as a whole, the latter part stands out prominent, as indeed 

 the consummation of a life of singular utility to the public. 



The English mission laid the foundation, broad and firm, of 

 Franklin's fame as an able negotiator ; his mission to the Con- 

 tinent reared on this abiding substructure a stately edifice 

 adorned with imposing columns and entablature in which, if 

 I may be permitted to carry out the same figure, the aged phil- 

 osopher's warm and enthusiastic attempt, in the name of 

 humanity, to mitigate the horrors of all future wars, consti- 

 tuted the graceful cornice a supreme and enduring tribute to 

 the kindly instincts of his nature, of which it may truthfully 

 be said : " Finis coronat opus.' 1 ' 1 



The richest and best fruits of man's intellectual and moral 

 growth are found in the autumn of life, when the warm and 

 mellowing rays of the sun have done their work, and nature 

 gathers to itself the combined results of the entire year. Frank- 

 lin's noble achievements as a diplomatist were accomplished 

 in his later manhood and in his old age. He was past his fifty- 

 first birthday when he sailed for England upon his first mis- 

 sion ; he lacked less than six months of being four-score years 

 old when he returned from his mission to France. The inter- 

 vening twenty-eight years had been spent abroad in the service 

 of his country, with the exception of two short intervals, the 

 one of less than two years, the other of about eighteen months. 



