CHAPTER V
JACK SEES LONDON AND THE GREAT PHILOSOPHER
The stir and prodigious reach of London had appalled the young man.His fancy had built and peopled it, but having found no sufficientmaterial for its task in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, had scoreda failure. It had built too small and too humbly. He was in no wayprepared for the noise, the size, the magnificence, the beauty of it.In spite of that, something in his mental inheritance had soon awakeneda sense of recognition and familiarity. He imagined that the sootyodor and the bells, and the clatter of wheels and horses' feet and thevoices--the air was full of voices--were like the echoes of a remotepast.
The thought thrilled him that somewhere in the great crowd, of which hewas now a part, were the two human beings he had come so far to see.He put on his best clothes and with the letter which had been carefullytreasured--under his pillow at night and pinned to his pocket liningthrough the day--set out in a cab for the lodgings of Doctor Franklin.Through a maze of streets where people were "thick as the brush in theforests of Tryon County" he proceeded until after a journey of somethirty minutes the cab stopped at the home of the famous American onBloomsbury Square. Doctor Franklin was in and would see him presently,so the liveried servant informed the young man after his card had beentaken to the Doctor's office. He was shown into a reception room andasked to wait, where others were waiting. An hour passed and the daywas growing dusk when all the callers save Jack had been disposed of.Then Franklin entered. Jack remembered the strong, well-knit frame andkindly gray eyes of the philosopher. His thick hair, hanging below hiscollar, was now white. He was very grand in a suit of black Manchestervelvet with white silk stockings and bright silver buckles on hisshoes. There was a gentle dignity in his face when he took the boy'shand and said with a smile:
"You are so big, Jack. You have built a six foot, two inch man out ofthat small lad I knew in Albany, and well finished, too--great thighs,heavy shoulders, a mustache, a noble brow and shall I say the eye ofMars? It's a wonder what time and meat and bread and potatoes and aircan accomplish. But perhaps industry and good reading have done somework on the job."
Jack blushed and answered. "It would be hard to fix the blame."
Franklin put his hand on the young man's shoulder and said:
"She is a lovely girl, Jack. You have excellent good taste. Icongratulate you. Her pulchritude has a background of good characterand she is alive with the spirit of the New World. I have given her nochance to forget you if that had been possible. Since I became theagent in England of yourself and sundry American provinces, I have seenher often but never without longing for the gift of youth. How is myfamily?"
"They are well. I bring you letters."
"Come up to my office and we'll give an hour to the news."
When they were seated before the grate fire in the large, pleasant roomabove stairs whose windows looked out upon the Square, the young mansaid:
"First I shall give you, sir, a letter from Major Washington. It wasentrusted to a friend of mine who came on the same ship with me. Hewas arrested at Deal but, fortunately, the letter was in my pocket."
"Arrested? Why?"
"I think, sir, the charge was that he had helped to tar and feather aBritish subject."
"Feathers and tar are poor arguments," the Doctor remarked as he brokethe seal of the letter.
It was a long letter and Franklin sat for near half an hourthoughtfully reading and rereading it. By and by he folded and put itinto his pocket, saying as he did so: "An angry man can not even trusthimself. I sent some letters to America on condition that they shouldbe read by a committee of good men and treated in absolute confidenceand returned to me. Certain members of that committee had so much gunpowder in their hearts it took fire and their prudence and myreputation have been seriously damaged, I fear. The contents of thoseletters are now probably known to you."
"Are they the Hutchinson, Rogers and Oliver letters?"
"The same."
"I think they are known to every one in America that reads. We wereindignant that these men born and raised among us should have said thata colony ought not to enjoy all the liberties of a parent state andthat we should be subjected to coercive measures. They had expressedno such opinion save in these private letters. It looked like a baseeffort to curry favor with the English government."
"Yes, they were overworking the curry comb," said Franklin. "I hadbeen protesting against an armed force in Boston. The governmentdeclared that our own best people were in favor of it. I, knowingbetter, denied the statement. To prove their claim a distinguishedbaronet put the letters in my hands. He gave me leave to send them toAmerica on condition that they should not be published. Of course theyproved nothing but the treachery of Hutchinson, Rogers and Oliver. NowI seem to be tarred by the same stick."
Jack delivered sundry letters from the family of the great man who readthem carefully.
"It's good to hear from home," he said when he had finished. "You'veheard of the three Greenlanders, off the rocks and ice where there wasnot dirt enough to raise a bushel of cabbages or light enough for halfthe year to make a shadow, who having seen the world and its splendorssaid it was interesting, but that they would prefer to live at home?"
"These days America is an unhappy land," said Jack. "We are like awildcat in captivity--a growling, quarrelsome lot."
"Well, the British use the right to govern us like a baby rattle andthey find us a poor toy. This petty island, compared with America, isbut a stepping stone in a brook. There's scarcely enough of it out ofwater to keep one's feet dry. In two generations our population willexceed that of the British Isles. But with so many lying agents overthere what chance have they to learn anything about us? They willexpect to hear you tell of people being tomahawked in Philadelphia--acity as well governed as any in England. They can not understand thatmost of us would gladly spend nineteen shillings to the pound for theright to spend the other shilling as we please."
"Can they not be made to understand us?" Jack inquired.
"The power to learn is like your hand--you must use it or it willwither and die. There are brilliant intellects here which have lostthe capacity to learn. I think that profound knowledge is not for highheads."
"I wonder just what you mean."
"Oh, the moment you lose humility, you stop learning," the Doctor wenton. "There are two doors to every intellect. One lets knowledge in,the other lets it out. We must keep both doors in use. The mind islike a purse: if you keep paying out money, you must, now and then, putsome into your purse or it will be empty. I once knew a man who was aliberal spender but never did any earning. We soon found that he hadbeen making counterfeit money. The King's intellects have often put mein mind of him. They are flush with knowledge but they never learnanything. They can tell you all you may want to know but it iscounterfeit knowledge."
"How about Lord North?"
"He has nailed up the door. The African zebra is a good studentcompared to him. It is a maxim of Walpole and North that all men areequally corrupt."
"It is a hateful notion!" Jack exclaimed.
"But not without some warrant. You may be sure that a man who hasspent his life in hospitals will have no high opinion of the health ofmankind. He and his friends are so engrossed by their cards and cockfights and horses and hounds that they have little time for such atrivial matter as the problems of America. They postpone theirconsideration and meanwhile the house is catching fire. By and bythese boys are going to get burned. They think us a lot ofsemi-savages not to be taken seriously. Our New England farmers aresupposed to be like the peasants of Europe. The fact is, our averagefarmer is a man of better intellect and character than the averagemember of Parliament."
"The King's intellects would seem to be out of order," said Jack.
"And too cynical. They think only of revenues. They remind me of thereport of the Reverend Commissary Blair who, having projected a collegein Virginia,
came to England to ask King William for help. The Queenin the King's absence ordered her Attorney-General to draw a charterwith a grant of two thousand pounds. The Attorney opposed it on theground that they were in a war and needed the money for better purposes.
"'But, Your Honor, Virginia is in great need of ministers,' said thecommissary. 'It has souls to be saved.'
"'Souls--damn your souls! Make tobacco,' said the Queen's lawyer.
"The counselors of royalty have no high opinion of souls or principles.Think of these taxes on exports needed by neighbors. The minds thatinvented them had the genius of a pickpocket."
"I see that you are not in love with England, sir," said Jack.
"My boy, you do not see straight," the Doctor answered. "I am fond ofEngland. At heart she is sound. The King is a kind of wooden leg. Hehas no feeling and no connection whatever with her heart and littlewith her intellect. The people are out of sympathy with the King. Thebest minds in England are directly opposed to the King's policy; so aremost of the people, but they are helpless. He has throttled the votingpower of the country. Jack, I have told you all this and shall tellyou more because--well, you know Plato said that he would rather be ablockhead than have all knowledge and nobody to share it. You ought toknow the truth but I have told you only for your own information."
"I am going to write letters to _The Gazette_ but I shall not quoteyou, sir, without permission," said Jack.
At this point the attendant entered and announced that Mr. Thomas Painehad called to get his manuscript.
"Bring him up," said the Doctor.
In a moment a slim, dark-eyed man of about thirty-three in shabby,ill-fitting garments entered the room.
Doctor Franklin shook his hand and gave him a bundle of manuscript andsaid:
"It is well done but I think it unsound. I would not publish it."
"Why?" Paine asked with a look of disappointment.
"Well, it is spitting against the wind and he who spits against thewind spits in his own face. It would be a dangerous book. Think howgreat a portion of mankind are weak and ignorant men and women; thinkhow many are young and inexperienced and incapable of serious thought.They need religion to support their virtue and restrain them from vice.If men are so wicked with religion what would they be without it? Laythe manuscript away and we will have a talk about it later."
"I should like to talk with you about it," the man answered with asmile and departed, the bundle under his arm.
"Now, Jack," said Franklin, as he looked at his watch, "I can give youa quarter of an hour before I must go and dress for dinner. Pleasetell me about your resources. Are you able to get married?"
Jack told him of his prospects and especially of the generosity of hisfriend Solomon Binkus and of the plight the latter was in.
"He must be a remarkable man," said Franklin. "With Preston's help hewill be coming on to London in a day or so. If necessary you and Iwill go down there. We shall not neglect him. Have you any dinnerclothes? They will be important to you."
"I thought, sir, that I should best wait until I had arrived here."
"You thought wisely. I shall introduce you to a good cloth mechanic.Go to him at once and get one suit for dinner and perhaps two for thestreet. It costs money to be a gentleman here. It's a fine art.While you are in London you'll have to get the uniform and fall in lineand go through the evolutions or you will be a 'North American savage.'You shall meet the Hares in my house as soon as your clothes are ready.Ask the tailor to hurry up. They must be finished by Wednesday noon.You had better have lodgings near me. I will attend to that for you."
The Doctor sat down and wrote on a number of cards. "These willprovide for cloth, linen, leather and hats," he said. "Let the billsbe sent to me. Then you will not be cheated. Come in to-morrow athalf after two."