The Eve of the Revolution | Page 6

Solomon, that
wisdom is above gold; for we take good care never to send back an
ounce of the latter, which we once lay our fingers upon." The
philosopher was willing enough to remain; and of the two objections
which he mentioned to Strahan, the rooted aversion of his wife to
embarking on the ocean and his love for Philadelphia, the latter for the
moment clearly gave him less difficulty than the former. "I cannot
leave this happy island and my friends in it without extreme regret," he
writes at the moment of departure. "I am going from the old world to
the new; and I fancy I feel like those who are leaving this world for the
next; grief at the parting; fear of the passage; hope for the future."
When, on the 1st of November, 1762, Franklin quietly slipped into
Philadelphia, he found that the new world had not forgotten him. For

many days his house was filled from morning till night with a
succession of friends, old and new, come to congratulate him on his
return; excellent people all, no doubt, and yet presenting, one may
suppose, a rather sharp contrast to the "virtuous and elegant minds"
from whom he had recently parted in England. The letters he wrote,
immediately following his return to America, to his friends William
Strahan and Mary Stevenson lack something of the cheerful and
contented good humor which is Franklin's most characteristic tone. His
thoughts, like those of a homesick man, are ever dwelling on his
English friends, and he still nourishes the fond hope of returning, bag
and baggage, to England for good and all. The very letter which he
begins by relating the cordiality of his reception in Philadelphia he
closes by assuring Strahan that "in two years at fartherest I hope to
settle all my affairs in such manner as that I may then conveniently
remove to England--provided," he adds as an afterthought, "we can
persuade the good woman to cross the sea. That will be the great
difficulty."
It is not known whether it was this difficulty that prevented the eminent
doctor, revered in two continents for his wisdom, from changing the
place of his residence. Dear Debby, as docile as a child in most respects,
very likely had her settled prejudices, of which the desire to remain on
dry land may have been one, and one of the most obstinate. Or it may
be that Franklin found himself too much occupied, too much involved
in affairs after his long absence, to make even a beginning in his
cherished plan; or else, as the months passed and he settled once more
to the familiar, humdrum life of the American metropolis, sober second
thought may have revealed to him what was doubtless a higher wisdom.
"Business, public and private, devours my time," he writes in March,
1764. "I must return to England for repose. With such thoughts I flatter
myself, and need some kind friend to put me often in mind THAT OLD
TREES CANNOT SAFELY BE TRANSPLANTED." Perhaps, after all,
Dear Debby was this kind friend; in which case Americans must all, to
this day, be much indebted to the good woman.
At least it was no apprehension of difficulties arising between England
and the colonies that induced Franklin to remain in America. The Peace

of Paris he regarded as "the most advantageous" of any recorded in
British annals, very fitting to mark the close of a successful war, and
well suited to usher in the long period of prosperous felicity which
should properly distinguish the reign of a virtuous prince. Never before,
in Franklin's opinion, were the relations between Britain and her
colonies more happy; and there could be, he thought, no good reason to
fear that the excellent young King would be distressed, or his
prerogative diminished, by factitious parliamentary opposition.
"You now fear for our virtuous young King, that the faction forming
will overpower him and render his reign uncomfortable [he writes to
Strahan]. On the contrary, I am of opinion that his virtue and the
consciousness of his sincere intentions to make his people happy will
give him firmness and steadiness in his measures and in the support of
the honest friends he has chosen to serve him; and when that firmness
is fully perceived, faction will dissolve and be dissipated like a morning
fog before the rising sun, leaving the rest of the day clear with a sky
serene and cloudless. Such after a few of the first years will be the
future course of his Majesty's reign, which I predict will be happy and
truly glorious. A new war I cannot yet see reason to apprehend. The
peace will I think long continue, and your nation be as happy as they
deserve to be."