174 Carson: Franklin 



sixty thousand children have been born. From these 

 data, the mathematical head of our dear, good friend. 

 Dr. Price, will easily calculate the time and expense that 

 may be necessary to kill us all. Tell him, as he has 

 sometimes doubts and despondencies about our firm- 

 ness, that America is determined and unanimous." 



These instances illustrate his methods of influencing 

 men, and are enlivened by his characteristic humor, but 

 he was never regarded as a trifler. When Lord Chat- 

 ham consulted him about his plan of conciliation, the 

 noble earl said, " I pay you these visits, that I may 

 rectify my judgment by yours, as men do their watches 

 by a regulator." He had a serious side born of con- 

 viction and supported by determined courage. At crit- 

 ical moments he bore himself with a dignity that was 

 sublime. His creed was based upon adamantine faith 

 in the rights of the people. He had a penetrating eye, 

 and saw into the hearts of men as clearly as into the 

 truths of nature. He read motives and scrutinized sys- 

 tems of government, and analyzed statutes and measures 

 with a vision as searching and a purpose as lofty as 

 Hershel with his telescope studied the stars. He saw 

 farther into the true province and business of a free 

 government and the duties and just limits of the powers 

 of rulers than any man of his time. Lacking original 

 constructive power he never failed in detecting the 

 weaknesses or inconsistencies of a government and indi- 



