Introduction 
been preserved within the great British Common- 
wealth. 
These statesmen were, however, obtuse and stub- 
born and their lack of intelligence was the cause of 
a struggle that lasted seven years with an unnecessary 
expenditure of life and of treasure, and that took 
away from the British Commonwealth the fairest 
and most promising of its Dominions. 
Franklin's contentions were maintained in the 
peace of Paris of 1783. He was, as said, re-asserting 
the principles of the great Charter. The American 
Republic was founded on those principles and it 
constitutes today the greatest and most powerful 
example of representative government that the world 
has known. It is appropriate today to honor the 
memory of Franklin whose service was of the greatest 
importance in framing the foundations for the Re- 
public. The wisdom of Franklin was shown, how- 
ever, not only in his service as a diplomatist and 
political leader, but in his interest in the universe 
in which he lived, and in his wise counsel that all 
men should, like himself, intelligently make the most 
out of that universe. 
In the range of his interests, Franklin was pre- 
pared to co-operate in any work that men were 
taking up that was likely to prove of service to 
humanity. His service was available for ‘‘quicquid 
agunt homines.” 
Franklin has been called the ‘‘ Apostle of Common 
Sense.”” He was one of the first Americans to think 
out the elementary problems of economics, personal 
and national. First among Americans, he realized 
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