on uprising, was too strong
for him, and he was not returned. After a stormy debate, however, the
Assembly adopted the petition; and Franklin, despite the bitter
personal attacks of John Dickinson, was chosen as agent to carry the
request to England.

The petition was not allowed, and Pennsylvania remained in the hands of
the proprietaries until it became an independent state. But other
questions, far more important than the local difficulties of any one
colony, were to occupy Franklin's and the other commissioners' time.
Franklin was in England from December, 1764, until March of 1775, and
during these ten years was busily engaged in supporting the colonies in
their unequal struggle against the British Parliament. He was the
accredited representative of Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, and
Massachusetts, and before the government and the people of England
stood as the champion of the whole province. Every one knows the nature
of the acts which finally created a new empire in the West,--the Stamp
Act, the duty on tea, the Boston Port bill. Their very names still stir
the patriotic blood of America. The principle at issue was clearly
announced in the battle cry, "No taxation without representation."
Franklin was a stanch advocate of the American claims, and threw all
the weight of his personal influence and of his eloquent pen into the
work. But in one respect he seems to have been deceived: during the
first years of his mission he held Parliament responsible for all the
tyrannical measures against the colonies, and looked upon the king as
their natural protector. It was a feeling common among Americans who
wished to preserve their allegiance to the empire while protesting
against the authority of the laws. Even as late as 1771 he could write
these words about George III: "I can scarcely conceive a king of better
dispositions, of more exemplary virtues, or more truly desirous of
promoting the welfare of his subjects." When at last the bigoted
character of that sovereign was fully revealed to him, he despaired
utterly of reconciliation with the mother country.

Franklin's labors may well be portrayed in two dramatic incidents: his
examination before Parliament in 1766, and the so-called Privy Council
outrage in 1774.

After the passage of the Stamp Act, Franklin wrote to a friend: "Depend
upon it, my good neighbor, I took every step in my power to prevent the
passing of the Stamp Act. Nobody could be more concerned a