xxvm FRANKLIN ON FOTHERGILL 363 



sustained with a cheerful fortitude based upon trust in 

 God. When in 1789 he came to make his will the memory 

 of his English Quaker friend was in his mind. " I 

 request," he wrote, "... my friend, Mr. Hill, may 

 also accept my silver cream-pot, formerly given to me 

 by the good Doctor Fothergill, with the motto, Keep 

 bright the Chain." The cream-pot consists of a delicate 

 silver cup in the form of an egg, standing upon three 

 claw-shaped feet, with a graceful ornamented handle. 

 Partly upon the lid and partly upon the body of the cup 

 is engraved the chain of friendship, with the motto 

 stated above. 1 



At this day we can look back with calmness upon the 

 events of this stirring time and their results. We can 

 see that the war sprang from the incompatibility between 

 the aims of an old parental nation, then in a backwater 

 of autocracy and corruption, and those of its free offspring 

 settled on the wide lands of the west. The separation 

 proved to be good for both countries. It was well for 

 the American provinces, because they were set loose 

 from bonds which had grown intolerable, and were knit 

 together under the dark cloud of war to form a great 

 nation, in which the thought and institutions of their 

 European forefathers found a new and better fulfilment. 

 It was well for Britain, that personal Hanoverian rule 

 might receive an effectual check, and that, with new 

 leaders called to the control of the state, she might learn 

 to build her colonial empire in the future on the lines of 

 liberty. For the pursuit of liberty goes on without 

 ceasing ; the history of the world, as it has been finely 

 said by Hegel, is none other than the progress of the 

 consciousness of freedom. It is sometimes stated in 

 consequence that the war was inevitable, and worth 

 while ; that Fothergill and others who laboured to avert 

 the conflict were toiling in a futile cause ; and that 

 George III., who seemed to be the dangerous enemy of 

 both countries, proved to be their substantial benefactor. 



1 The cup was made by Smith and Sharp of London in 1765. It is now 

 the prized possession of Mrs. Gummere, Haverford College, Penna. For 

 Franklin's Will, see Smyth, x. 509. 



