ages in ashes, consigning women and
children to beggary and starvation. In the prison hulks of New York,
our most illustrious men were in the endurance, as prisoners of war,
of woes unsurpassed by Algerine barbarism. Many of our common
sailors, England was compelling, by the terrors of the lash, to man
her ships, and to fight their own countrymen. Maddened by these
atrocities, Mr. Franklin wrote to his English friend, David Hartley, a
member of Parliament, a letter, which all the few friends of America
in England, read with great satisfaction, and which must have produced
a very powerful moral impression in France. It is too long to be
inserted here. In conclusion he said to his friend,

"In reviewing what I have written, I found too much warmth in
it, and was about to strike out some parts. Yet I let them
go, as it will afford you this one reflection,

"'If a man naturally cool, and rendered still cooler by old
age, is so warmed by our treatment of his country, how much
must those people in general be exasperated against us. And
why are we making inveterate enemies, by our barbarity, not
only of the present inhabitants of a great country, but of
their infinitely more numerous posterity; who will, in
future ages, detest the name of Englishman, as much as the
children in Holland now do those of Alva and Spaniard.'"

William Temple Franklin inherited the attractions of person, and the
fascination of manners, so conspicuous in his grandfather. He was a
great favorite in the social circles of the gay metropolis. Dark days
came, with tidings of discomfiture. Franklin devoted twelve hours out
of the twenty-four, to the arduous duties of his mission. Philadelphia
fell.

"Well, Doctor," said an Englishman in Paris, with the customary
courtesy of his nation, "Howe has taken Philadelphia."

"I beg your pardon," Franklin replied, "Philadelphia has taken Howe."

The result proved that Franklin's joke was almost a reality.

Burgoyne surrendered. His whole army was taken captive. Massachusetts
immediately sent John Loring Austin to convey the rapturous tidings to
Franklin. This great success would doubtless encourage France to open
action. No tongue can tell the emotions excited in the bosoms of
Franklin, Lee and Deane, as Austin entered their presence at Passy,
with the announcement, "_General Burgoyne and his whole army are
prisoners of war._"

There were no shoutings