2
A letter from Jack presents all this color of the journey and aversthat he reached the house of Franklin in Passy about two o'clock in theafternoon of a pleasant May day. The savant greeted his young friendwith an affectionate embrace.
"Sturdy son of my beloved country, you bring me joy and a new problem,"he said.
"What is the problem?" Jack inquired.
"That of moving Margaret across the channel. I have a double task now.I must secure the happiness of America and of Jack Irons."
He read the despatches and then the Doctor and the young man set out ina coach for the palace of Vergennes, the Prime Minister. Colonel Ironswas filled with astonishment at the tokens of veneration for thewhite-haired man which he witnessed in the streets of Paris.
"The person of the King could not have attracted more respectfulattention," he writes. "A crowd gathered about the coach when we wereleaving it and every man stood with uncovered head as we passed on ourway to the palace door. In the crowd there was much whispered praiseof '_Le grand savant_.' I did not understand this until I met, in theoffice of the Compte de Vergennes, the eloquent Senator Gabriel HonoreRiquetti de Mirabeau. What an impressive name! Yet I think hedeserves it. He has the eye of Mars and the hair of Samson and thetongue of an angel, I am told. In our talk, I assured him that inPhiladelphia Franklin came and went and was less observed than the towncrier.
"'But your people seem to adore him,' I said.
"'As if he were a god,' Mirabeau answered. 'Yes, it is true and it isright. Has he not, like Jove, hurled the lightning of heaven in hisright hand? Is he not an unpunished Prometheus? Is he not breakingthe scepter of a tyrant?'
"Going back to his home where in the kindness of his heart he had askedme to live, he endeavored, modestly, to explain the evidences of highregard which were being showered upon him.
"'It happens that my understanding and small control of a mysteriousand violent force of nature has appealed to the imagination of thesepeople,' he said, 'I am the only man who has used thunderbolts for hisplaythings. Then, too, I am speaking for a new world to an old one.Just at present I am the voice of Human Liberty. I represent thehunger of the spirit of man. It is very strong here. You have nottraveled so far in France without seeing thousands of beggars. Theyare everywhere. But you do not know that when a child comes in a poorfamily, the father and mother go to prison _pour mois de nourrice_. Itis a pity that the poor can not keep their children at home. This oldkingdom is a muttering Vesuvius, growing hotter, year by year, withdiscontent. You will presently hear its voices.'"
Ben Franklin]
There was a dinner that evening at Franklin's house, at which theMarquis de Mirabeau, M. Turgot, the Madame de Brillon, the Abbe Raynaland the Compte and Comptesse d' Haudetot, Colonel Irons and three otherAmerican gentlemen were present. The Madame de Brillon was first toarrive. She entered with a careless, jaunty air and ran to meetFranklin and caught his hand and gave him a double kiss on each cheekand one on his forehead and called him "papa."
"At table she sat between me and Doctor Franklin," Jack writes. "Shefrequently locked her hand in the Doctor's and smiled sweetly as shelooked into his eyes. I wonder what the poor, simple, hard-workingDeborah Franklin would have thought of these familiarities. Yet here,I am told, no one thinks ill of that kind of thing. The best women ofFrance seem to treat their favorites with like tokens of regard. Nowand then she spread her arms across the backs of our chairs, as if shewould have us feel that her affection was wide enough for both.
"She assured me that all the women of France were in love with _legrand savant_.
"Franklin, hearing the compliment, remarked: 'It is because they pitymy age and infirmities. First we pity, then embrace, as the great Mr.Pope has written.'
"'We think it a compliment that the greatest intellect in the world iswilling to allow itself to be, in a way, captured by the charms ofwomen,' Madame Brillon declared.
"'My beautiful friend! You are too generous,' the Doctor continuedwith a laugh. 'If the greatest man were really to come to Paris andlose his heart, I should know where to find it.'
"The Doctor speaks an imperfect and rather broken French, but thesepeople seem to find it all the more interesting on that account.Probably to them it is like the English which we have heard in Americafrom the lips of certain Frenchmen. How fortunate it is that I learnedto speak the language of France in my boyhood!
"From the silver-tongued Mirabeau I got further knowledge of Franklin,with which I, his friend and fellow countryman, should have beenacquainted, save that the sacrifices of the patriot are as common asmother's milk and cause little comment among us. The great orator wasexpected to display his talents, if there were any excuse for it,wherever he might be, so the ladies set up a demand for a toast. Hespoke of Franklin, 'The Thrifty Prodigal,' saying;
"'He saves only to give. There never was such a squanderer of his ownimmeasurable riches. For his great inventions and discoveries he hasnever received a penny. Twice he has put his personal fortune at thedisposal of his country. Once when he paid the farmers for theirhorses and wagons to transport supplies for the army of Braddock, andagain when he offered to pay for the tea which was thrown into BostonHarbor.'
"The great man turned to me and added:
"'I have learned of these things, not from him, but from others whoknow the truth, and we love him in France because we are aware that heis working for Human Liberty and not for himself or for any greedydespot in the 'west.'
"It is all so true, yet in America nothing has been said of this.
"As the dinner proceeded the Abbe Raynal asked the Doctor if it wastrue that there were signs of degeneracy in the average male American.
"'Let the facts before us be my answer," said Franklin. "There are atthis table four Frenchmen and four Americans. Let these gentlemenstand up."
"The Frenchmen were undersized, the Abbe himself being a mere shrimp ofa man. The Americans, Carmichael, Harmer, Humphries and myself, werebig men, the shortest being six feet tall. The contrast raised a laughamong the ladies. Then said Franklin in his kindest tones:
"'My dear Abbe, I am aware that manhood is not a matter of feet andinches. I only assure you that these are average Americans and thatthey are pretty well filled with brain and spirit.'
"The Abbe spoke of a certain printed story on which he had based hisjudgment.
"Franklin laughed and answered: 'I know that is a fable, because Iwrote it myself one day, long ago, when we were short of news.'"
The guests having departed, Franklin asked the young man to sit downfor a talk by the fireside. The Doctor spoke of the women of France,saying:
"'You will not understand them or me unless you remind yourself that weare in Europe and that it is the eighteenth century. Here the clocksare lagging. Time moves slowly. With the poor it stands still. Theyknow not the thing we call progress.'
"'Those who have money seem to be very busy having fun,' I said.
"'There is no morning to their day,' he went on. 'Their dawn isnoontime. Our kind of people have had longer days and have used themwisely. So we have pushed on ahead of this European caravan. Ourfathers in New England made a great discovery.'
"'What was it?' I asked.
"'That righteousness was not a joke; that Christianity was not a solemnplaything for one day in the week, but a real, practical, workingproposition for every day in the year; that the main support of thestructure is industry; that its most vital commandment is this, 'sixdays shalt thou labor'; that no amount of wealth can excuse a man fromthis duty. Every one worked. There was no idleness and thereforelittle poverty. The days were all for labor and the nights for rest.The wheels of progress were greased and moving.'
"'And our love of learning helped to push them along,' I suggested.
"'True. Our people have been mostly like you and me,' he went on. 'Welong for knowledge of the truth. We build schools and libraries andcolleges. We have pushed
on out of the eighteenth century into a newtime. There you were born. Now you have stepped a hundred yearsbackward into Europe. You are astonished, and this brings me to mypoint. Here I am with a great task on my hands. It is to enlist thesympathy and help of France. I must take things, not as I could wishthem to be, but as I find them. At this court women are all powerful.It has long been a maxim here that a diplomatist must stand well withthe ladies. Even though he is venerable, he must be gallant, and I donot use the word in a shady sense. The ladies are not so bad as youwould think them. They are playthings. To them, life is not as weknow it, filled with realities. It is a beautiful drama of richcostumes and painted scenes and ingenious words, all set in theatmosphere of romance. The players only pretend to believe each other.In the salon I am one of these players. I have to be.'
"'Mirabeau seemed to mean what he said,' was my answer.
"'Yes. He is one of those who often speak from the heart. All theseplayers love the note of sincerity when they hear it. In the salon itis out of key, but away from the ladies the men are often living andnot playing. Mirabeau, Condorcet, Turgot and others have heard thecall of Human Liberty. Often they come to this house and speak outwith a strong candor.'
"'I suppose that this great drama of despotism in France will end in atragedy whose climax will consume the stage and half the players,' Iventured to say.
"'That is a theme, Jack, on which you and I must be silent,' Franklinanswered. 'We must hold our mouths as with a bridle.'
"For a moment he sat looking sadly into the glowing coals on the grate.Franklin loved to talk, but no one could better keep his own counsel.
"'At heart I am no revolutionist,' he said presently. 'I believe inpurifying--not in breaking down. I would to God that I could haveconvinced the British of their error. Mainly I am with the prophet whosays:
"'"Stand in the old ways. View the ancient paths. Consider them welland be not among those who are given to change."'
"I sat for a moment thinking of the cruelties I had witnessed, andasking myself if it had been really worth while. Franklin interruptedmy thoughts.
"'I wish we could discover a plan which would induce and compel nationsto settle their differences without cutting each other's throats. Whenwill human wisdom be sufficient to see the advantage of this?'
"He told me the thrilling details of his success in France; how he hadwon the kingdom for an ally and secured loans and the help of a fleetand army then on the sea.
"'And you will not be surprised to learn that the British have beensounding me to see if we would be base enough to abandon our ally,' helaughed.
"In a moment he added:
"'Come, it is late and you must write a letter to the heart of Englandbefore you lie down to rest.'
"Often thereafter he spoke of Margaret as 'the heart of England.'"