articular of
nature and of training was the precise contrary of the provincial
civilian.

Franklin's own good will to the cause, or his ill luck, led him into an
engagement, made just before his departure, whereby he undertook to
procure horses and wagons enough for the transportation of the ordnance
and all the appurtenances of the camp. It was not a personal contract
upon his part to furnish these; he was neither to make any money, nor to
risk any; he was simply to render the gratuitous service of inducing the
Pennsylvania farmers to let out their horses, wagons, and drivers to the
general. It was a difficult task, in which the emissaries of Braddock
had utterly failed in Virginia. But Franklin conceived the opportunities
to be better in his own province, and entered on the business with vigor
and skill. Throughout the farming region he sent advertisements and
circulars, cleverly devised to elicit what he wanted, and so phrased as
to save him harmless from personal responsibility for any payment. Seven
days' pay was to be "advanced and paid in hand" by him, the remainder to
be paid by General Braddock, or by the paymaster of the army. He said,
in closing his appeal: "I have no particular interest in this affair,
as, except the satisfaction of endeavoring to do good, I shall have only
my labor for my pains."

But he was not to get off so easily; for, he says, "the owners, ...
alleging that they did not know General Braddock, or what dependence
might be had on his promise, insisted on my bond for the performance,
which I accordingly gave them." This was the more patriotic because
Franklin was by no means dazzled by the pomp and parade of the doughty
warrior, but on the contrary, reflecting on the probable character of
the campaign, he had "conceived some doubts and some fears for the
event." What happened every one knows. The losses of wagons and horses
in the slaughter amounted to the doleful sum of L20,000; "which to pay
would have ruined me," wrote Franklin. Nevertheless the demands began at
once to pour in upon him, and suits were instituted. It was a grievous
affair, and the end was by no means clear. It was easily possible that
in place of his fortune, sacrificed in the public service, he might have
only the sorry substitute of a claim against the government. But after
many troubled weeks he was at length relieved of the heaviest portion of
his burden, through General Shirley's appointment of a commission to
aud