surance, and the cause of American
Independence an unalterable impulse.

Turgot did not live to enjoy the final triumph of the cause to which he
had given such remarkable expression. He died March 30th, 1781, several
months before that "crowning mercy," the capture of Cornwallis, and
nearly two years before the Provisional Articles of Peace, by which the
Colonies were recognized as free and independent States. But his
attachment to Franklin was one of the enjoyments of his latter
years.[33] Besides the verse to which so much reference has been made,
there is an interesting incident which attests the communion of ideas
between them, if not the direct influence of Turgot. Captain Cook, the
eminent navigator, who "steered Britain's oak into a world unknown," was
in distant seas on a voyage of discovery. Such an enterprise naturally
interested Franklin, and, in the spirit of a refined humanity, he sought
to save it from the chances of war. Accordingly, he issued a passport,
addressed "To all captains and commanders of armed ships, acting by
commission from the Congress of the United States of America, now in war
with Great Britain," where, after setting forth the nature of the voyage
of the English navigator, he proceeded to say,--"This is most earnestly
to recommend to every one of you, that, in case the said ship, which is
now expected to be soon in the European seas on her return, should
happen to fall into your hands, you would not consider her as an enemy,
nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor
obstruct her immediate return to England; but that you would treat the
said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness,
affording them, as common friends to mankind, all the assistance in your
power which they may happen to stand in need of."[34] This document
bears date March 10th, 1779. But Turgot had anticipated Franklin. At the
first outbreak of the war, he had submitted a memoir to the French
Government, on which it was ordered that Captain Cook should not be
treated as an enemy, but as a benefactor of all European nations.[35]
Here was a triumph of civilization, by which we have all been gainers;
for such an example is immortal in its influence.

There is yet another circumstance which should be mentioned, in order to
exhibit the identity of sympathies in these two eminent persons. Each
sought to marry Madame Helvetius: Turgot early in life, while she was
still Mademoiselle