nd interested
than myself to oppose it sincerely and heartily.... We might as well
have hindered the sun's setting. That we could not do. But since it is
down, my friend, and it may be long before it rises again, let us make
as good a night of it as we can. We can still light candles. Frugality
and industry will go a great way towards indemnifying us. Idleness and
pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get
rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter." But Franklin's
philosophical habit of accepting the inevitable,--a habit which for a
time brought him the hostility of such strenuous patriots as the
Adamses,--did not prevent him from doing all in his power to further
the repeal of that act when the matter was again taken up by
Parliament. Nor did America lack friends in Parliament itself, and
these gentlemen now arranged that Franklin should give testimony before
the bar of the House.

In the examination which followed, Franklin showed the fullness of his
knowledge and the keenness of his wit better perhaps than in any other
act of his life. It is impossible to give at length the replies with
which he aided the friends of repeal and baffled its foes; but a few of
his answers may indicate the nature of all.

_Q._ "What was the temper of America towards Great Britain before the
year 1763?"

_A._ "The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government
of the Crown, and paid in their courts obedience to acts of Parliament....
They had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain; for
its laws, its customs, and manners; and even a fondness for its
fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain were
always treated with particular regard; to be an _Old England man_ was,
of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among
us."

_Q._ "What is their temper now?"

_A._ "Oh, very much altered."

_Q._ "How would the Americans receive a future tax, imposed on the same
principle as the Stamp Act?"

_A._ "Just as they do the Stamp Act; _they would not pay it_".

_Q._ "Would the colonists prefer to forego the collection of debts by
legal process rather than use stamped paper?"

_A._ "I can only judge what other people will think and how they will
act by what I feel within myself. I have a great many debts due to me
in America, and I had rather they should remain unrecoverable by any
law than submit to the Stamp Act. They will be debts