AS Printer and Philosopher 67 



method would have been to seize horses, wagons, and 

 drivers wherever found. Franklin persuaded Braddock, 

 instead of using force, to allow him (Franklin) to offer 

 a good hire for horses, wagons, and drivers, and proper 

 compensation for the equipment in case of loss. By this 

 appeal to the frontier farmers of Pennsylvania he se- 

 cured in two weeks all the transportation required. To 

 defend public order Franklin was perfectly ready to use 

 public force, as for instance when he raised and com- 

 manded a regiment of militia to defend the north- 

 western frontier from the Indians after Braddock's de- 

 feat, and again when it became necessary to defend Phil- 

 adelphia from a large body of frontiersmen who had 

 lynched a considerable number of friendly Indians, and 

 were bent on revolutionizing the Quaker government. 

 But his abhorrence of all war was based on the facts, 

 first, that during war the law must be silent, and secondly, 

 that military discipline, which is essential for effective 

 fighting, annihilates individual liberty. " Those," he 

 said, " who would give up essential liberty for the sake 

 of a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor 

 safety." The foundation of his firm resistance on behalf 

 of the colonies to the English Parliament was his im- 

 pregnable conviction that the love of liberty was the 

 ruling passion of the people of the colonies. In 1766 

 he said of the American people: " Every act of oppres- 

 sion will sour their tempers, lessen greatly, if not anni- 



