ng upon the mantel, and his cheek upon his hand. He was
motionless as a statue, and had composed his features into such calm
and serene rigidity, that not the movement of a muscle could be
detected. As usual, he was dressed simply, but with great elegance. A
large flowing wig, with abundant curls, such as were used by elderly
gentlemen at that day, covered his head. His costume, which was
admirably fitted to a form as perfect as Grecian sculptor ever
chiseled, was of rich figured silk velvet. In all that room, there was
not an individual, who in physical beauty, was the peer of Franklin.
In all that room there was not another, who in intellectual greatness
could have met the trial so grandly.

It will be remembered that the Assembly of Massachusetts had
petitioned for the removal of an obnoxious governor and lieutenant
governor. Franklin, as the agent in London of that colony, had
presented the petition to the crown. He was now summoned to appear
before the privy council, to bring forward and substantiate charges
against these officers. The council had appointed a lawyer to defend
Hutchinson and Oliver. His name was Wedderburn. He had already
obtained celebrity for the savage skill with which he could browbeat a
witness, and for his wonderful command of the vocabulary of
vituperation and abuse. Before commencing the examination, he
addressed the assembly in a long speech. After eulogizing Governor
Hutchinson, as one of the best and most loyal of the officers of the
crown, who merited the gratitude of king and court, he turned upon
Franklin, and assailed him with a storm of vituperative epithets,
such as never before, and never since, has fallen upon the head of a
man. The council were in sympathy with the speaker. Often his
malignant thrusts would elicit from those lords a general shout of
derisive laughter.

Such was the treatment which one of the most illustrious and honored
of American citizens received from the privy council of king George
III., when he appeared before that council as a friendly ambassador
from his native land, seeking only conciliation and peace.

Wedderburn accused Franklin of stealing private letters, of
misrepresenting their contents, that he might excite hostility against
the loyal officers of the king. He accused him of doing this that he
might eject them from office, so as to obtain the positions for
himself and his friends. Still more, he accused him of having in an
unexampled spirit of