The life of Benjamin Franklin (1848) (14762116714)

Caption: The Reprisal, Capt. Wicks, chased by a British Cruiser
Artists: Drawing by William Morgan, engraving by Alexander Anderson (1775–1870)


Identifier: lifeofbenjaminfr00holl (find matches)
Title: The life of Benjamin Franklin
Year: 1848 (1840s)
Authors: Holley, O. L. (Orville Luther), 1791-1861 Anderson, Alexander, 1775-1870 Benjamin Franklin Collection (Library of Congress) DLC
Subjects: Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 Statesmen
Publisher: New York : G.F. Cooledge & Brother
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation



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its direct ob-ject amounted to nothing, yet, indirectly, the result ofit was doubtless important: for the publication of thewhole procedure, which was forthwith ordered by Con-gress, showed the American people how idle it was toexpect anything from the voluntary justice of the Britishgovernment; and that they must look, for the rescue oftheir liberties, only to their own union, courage, and re-sources, without which they could neither protect them-selves in the outset, nor receive future aid from foreignalliances. To the means of obtaining such alliances Congressnow turned its attention. The commerce of the coun-try was valuable, and with the offer of that on liberalterms, as an equivalent for the assistance needed, a mis-sion to France was determined on. The commissionersfirst appointed for this purpose, on the 26th of Septem-ber, were Franklin, Silas Dean, and Thomas Jefferson.The last, however, declined, and Arthur Lee, of Vir-ginia, was put in his place. Mr. Lee and Mr. Dean were
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MISSION TO FRANCE, 453 both in Europe, the former having been employed sev-eral years in England as a colonial agent, and the latterhaving been sent out, in the preceding March, by thecommittee of secret correspondence, with a view to dip-lomatic as well as commercial objects ; and Franklin,after a boisterous voyage in the United States sloop-of-war Reprisal, Captain Wickes, and after escaping fromthe guns of several Britsh cruisers, met them in Paris inthe latter part of December, 1776. With a fame unequalled in brilliancy by that of anyother man of those times, not only as a philosopher andsage, but as a profound political thinker and an un-daunted asserter of the rights and liberties of his coun-try, Franklins name was now familiarly known andrevered throughout all Europe. Portraits of him wereeverywhere multiplied, of all forms and dimensions, fromthe size of life down to the smallest miniatures for snuff-boxes and rings, and all, young and old, of all ranks andof both sexes, felt