ed that the measure was not to be held as a precedent for the
future; and Franklin was sent to England to treat with the
proprietaries in person, and if necessary with the Crown.

V

FIRST AND SECOND MISSIONS TO ENGLAND

Franklin reached London July 27, 1757, when he was fifty-one years old.
He remained in England five years, and during that period his life was
one of manifold interests and vexations. His business with the Penns
first engaged his attention; but from those stubborn gentlemen he got
nothing but insolence and delays. After much manoeuvring the dispute
was brought before a committee of the Privy Council, where the
Pennsylvania Assembly through its representative virtually won its
case. The proprietary estates were made subject to taxation, and this
bone of contention was for a time removed. It was indeed a great
victory for the Philadelphia printer; but perhaps its chief value was
the training it gave him for the more important diplomatic negotiations
that were to come later. There was that in Franklin's nature which made
him an ideal diplomatist. Under the utmost candor and simplicity he
concealed a penetration into character and a skill in using legitimate
chicanery that rarely missed their mark. Then, too, he was persistent:
what he undertook to do he never left until it was done. Though far
from being an orator, he wielded a pen that for clearness and logical
pointedness has scarcely been surpassed, and his powers of irony and
sarcasm were worthy of Swift himself.

Among other subjects which engaged Franklin's pen at this time was a
question of vital interest, as he thought, to the empire. Under the
masterly guidance of the great Pitt, England had come out victorious in
the struggle with France, and the government was now debating whether
Canada should be retained or given back to the French. The chief
argument for surrendering the province was ominous of the future. "A
neighbor that keeps us in some awe is not always the worst of
neighbors.... If we acquire all Canada, we shall soon find North
America itself too powerful and too populous to be governed by us at a
distance." To this timid reasoning, which was attributed to William
Burke, Franklin replied in a pamphlet, discussing the whole question
with the utmost acumen, displaying the future greatness of the empire
in America, and denying that the colonies would ever revolt. Touching
this last apprehension he says: "There are so many cause