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this makes their conduct still more insolent and provoking.

The resentment of the people will, at times and on particular incidents, burst into outrages and violence upon such officers; and this naturally draws down severity and acts of further oppression from hence.1 The more the people are dissatisfied, the more rigor will be thought necessary; severe punishments will be inflicted to terrify; rights and privileges will be abolished; greater force will then be required to secure execution and submission; the expense will become enormous: it will then be thought proper, by fresh exactions, to make the people defray it; thence the British nation and government will become odious;& the subjection to it will be deemed no longer tolerable; war ensues, and the bloody struggle will end in absolute slavery to America, or ruin to Britain by the loss of her colonies, the latter most probable, from America's growing strength and magnitude.

3

I do not pretend to the gift of prophecy. History shows, that, by these steps, great empires have crumbled heretofore; and the late transactions we have so much cause to complain of show that we are in the same train,5 and that, without a greater share of prudence and wisdom than we have seen both sides to be possessed of, we shall probably come to the same conclusion.

1 from hence: i.e., from London, where this letter was written.

2 execution: i.e., execution of Acts of Parliament.

8 odious: from Latin odi, to hate, to detest.

4 transactions, public acts.
5 train, sequence of events.

6.- LETTER TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

MARCH 5, 1780.

[The following interesting letter was drawn out, as its opening sentence says, by Franklin's receipt of a letter from General Washington introducing Lafayette. This young French officer early and ardently espoused the cause of American independence, and had in several campaigns been attached to Washington's military household.]

I HAVE received but lately the letter your Excellency did me the honor of writing to me in recommendation of the Marquis de Lafayette. His modesty detained it long in his own hands. We became acquainted, however, from the time of his arrival at Paris; and his zeal for the honor of our country, his activity in our affairs here, and his firm attachment to our cause and to you, impressed me with the same regard and esteem for him that your Excellency's letter would have done, had it been immediately delivered to me.

Should peace arrive after another campaign or two, and afford us a little leisure, I should be happy to see your Excellency in Europe, and to accompany you, if my age and strength would permit, in visiting some of its ancient and most famous kingdoms. You would, on this side of the sea, enjoy the great reputation you have acquired, pure and free from those little shades that the jealousy and envy of a man's countrymen and contemporaries are ever endeavoring to cast over living merit.

Here you would know, and enjoy, what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years. The

feeble voice of those groveling passions can not extend so far either in time or distance. At present I enjoy that pleasure for you; as I frequently hear the old generals of this martial country, who study the maps. of America, and mark upon them all your operations, speak with sincere approbation and great applause of your conduct, and join in giving you the character of one of the greatest captains of the age.

I must soon quit this scene, but you may live to see our country flourish, as it will amazingly and rapidly after the war is over; like a field of young Indian corn, which long fair weather and sunshine had enfeebled and discolored, and which in that weak state, by a thunder-gust of violent wind, hail, and rain, seemed to be threatened with absolute destruction; yet, the storm being past, it recovers fresh verdure, shoots up with double vigor, and delights the eye, not of its owner only, but of every observing traveler.

The best wishes that can be formed for your health, honor, and happiness, ever attend you!

[The following eloquent and merited tribute was addressed by Washington to Franklin in the last year of the Doctor's long and useful life. It gladdens the heart to know how close were the relations of esteem and affection subsisting between these two illustrious men.]

DEAR SIR:

NEW YORK, 23 September, 1789.

The affectionate congratulations on the recovery of my health, and the warm expressions of personal friendship, which were contained in your letter of the 16th instant, claim my gratitude. And the consideration, that it was

written when you were afflicted with a painful malady, greatly increases my obligation for it.

Would to God, my dear sir, that I could congratulate you upon the removal of that excruciating pain under which you labor, and that your existence might close with as much ease to yourself, as its continuance has been beneficial to our country and useful to mankind; or, if the united wishes of a free people, joined with the earnest prayers of every friend to science and humanity, could relieve the body from pains or infirmities, that you could claim an exemption on this score. But this can not be; and you have within yourself the only resource to which we can confidently apply for relief, — a philosophic mind.

If to be venerated for benevolence, if to be admired for talents, if to be esteemed for patriotism, if to be beloved for philanthropy, can gratify the human mind, you must have the pleasing consolation to know that you have not lived in vain. And I flatter myself that it will not be ranked among the least grateful occurrences of your life to be assured, that, so long as I retain my memory, you will be recollected with respect, veneration, and affection by your sincere friend,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

VI.—EDMUND BURKE.

LIFE AND WORKS.

THE influence of party prejudice has led to great divergence of opinion among English writers as to the place of Burke as a political philosopher; but there can be no doubt that his is one of the abiding names, and that he has enriched the discussion of history and the affairs of state with a magnificence and elevation of expression that place him among the highest masters of English literature. The student of Burke will not dissent when Mackintosh speaks of Shakespeare and Burke in the same breath as men far above mere talent, and will sympathize with Macaulay when, after reading Burke's works over again, he exclaims, "How admirable! The greatest man since Milton!"

Edmund Burke was born in Dublin, Jan. 12, 1729. His father, Richard Burke, was a solicitor in good practice, and was of course a Protestant, -else he could not have been a member of the Dublin bar in those days. The mother was of a Catholic family, and adhered to the church of her ancestors. The only daughter was educated in the same faith, but Edmund and his brothers were brought up in the religion of their father. Burke, however, never lost a large and generous way of thinking about the ancient

creed of his mother.

After two years of preparation under an intelligent, upright Quaker teacher, named Abraham Shackleford, -for whom Burke ever after entertained a most tender

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