secondly, Franklin received his dismissal from his situation as deputy postmaster-general for America.1 In connection with the treatment of Franklin by the Privy Council, a remarkable anecdote has been recorded. In anticipation of the anxiously looked-for day, which was destined alike to secure independence to America and to complete the humiliation of his patrician deriders, Franklin laid carefully by the "full-dress suit of Manchester velvet" which he had worn when laughed to scorn by the lords of the Council at Whitehall. on one more occasion, according to his friends, he wore it, when, four years afterward, as commissioner from the United States to the court of Versailles, he signed the famous treaties of commerce and alliance with France.2 Only This situation is said to have been barren of revenue till Franklin was appointed to it, and to have ceased to yield any receipts so soon as he was dismissed. 2 There is even reason for believing that Franklin wore the "full-dress suit of Manchester velvet" on a second and still more important occasion; namely, when, in 1782, he signed the preliminaries of the treaty by which Great Britain acknowledged the independence of America. This latter presumption, according to the late Mr. Allen, "rests on authority not slightly to be rejected. It was related to Lord Holland by Lord St. Helens, one of the plenipotentiaries employed in negotiating the treaty, and the lasting impression it made on Lord St. Helens leaves little doubt of the accuracy of his recollection. He could not speak without indignation of the triumphant air with which Franklin told them he had laid by and preserved his coat for such an occasion." |