AS Statesman and Diplomatist 87 



while Parliament was passing its obnoxious measures, 

 and Boston harbor was a cauldron of cold tea un- 

 happily taxed, Franklin, as the recognized representa- 

 tive of all the colonies, became the very storm center 

 round which all the elements of discord and growing 

 hatred gathered in full force, and was often the target 

 for both sides to attack. In England the ministry re- 

 garded him as too much of an American, and the most 

 ardent patriots at home denounced him as too much of 

 an Englishman, another signal proof of his character- 

 istic justice and moderation. 



At last the tempest burst in all its fury upon his de- 

 voted head, and I regard that cruel hour in the Cockpit 

 in January, 1774, as the grandest and most heroic of his 

 whole public life. Scenes of great triumph and glory 

 were in store for him in the future, but that day of suf- 

 fering and humiliation for the imputed faults of all his 

 countrymen surpassed them all in grandeur. His abso- 

 lute self-command and unruffled dignity as he stood there 

 to receive, amid the jeers of the Privy Council, that 

 pitiless storm of calumny and abuse, — an attack univer- 

 sally condemned to-day, alike in England and America, 

 — is conclusive evidence of his heroism, of his conscious 

 innocence, and of the purity and nobility of his char- 

 acter. Let me repeat here a word which I spoke of him 

 in England, and which seemed to receive the approval 

 of a generous people: "Upon the canvas of history he 



