eplace, and in a recess at one side of the chimney Franklin
stood during the whole meeting. His advocates spoke, but without much
effect, and the defense of Hutchinson was then taken up by Wedderburn.
But instead of arguing the point at issue, Wedderburn made it the
occasion for delivering, much to the delight of the Tory lords present,
a long and utterly unjustified tirade against Franklin. With thunderous
voice and violent beating of his fist on the cushion before him, he
denounced Franklin as the "prime mover of this whole contrivance
against his majesty's two governors." Although the letters had been
given to Franklin for the express purpose of having them conveyed to
America, Wedderburn accused him of base treachery; turning to the
committee he said: "I hope, my Lords, you will mark and brand the man,
for the honor of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Private
correspondence has hitherto been held sacred, in times of the greatest
party rage, not only in politics but religion." "He has forfeited all
the respect of societies and of men. Into what companies will he
hereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of
virtue? Men will watch him with a jealous eye; they will hide their
papers from him, and lock up their escritoirs. He will henceforth
esteem it a libel to be called _a man of letters_; _homo TRIUM
litterarum_ (i.e., _fur_, thief)!" "But he not only took away the
letters from one brother; but kept himself concealed till he nearly
occasioned the murder of the other. It is impossible to read his
account, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, without
horror." "Amidst these tragical events, of one person nearly murdered,
of another answerable for the issue, of a worthy governor hurt in his
dearest interests, the fate of America in suspense; here is a man, who,
with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself
the author of all. I can compare it only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's
"Revenge";--

"'Know then 'twas--I;
I forged the letter, I disposed the picture;
I hated, I despised, and I destroy.'

I ask, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed, by poetic
fiction only, to the bloody African is not surpassed by the coolness
and apathy of the wily American?"

The picture of Franklin standing unmoved under this torrent of abuse
is, I think, the most dramatic incident of his life. It was a victory
of glorious endurance; it was the crown