in the back country, the "Unitas Fratrum," better known as the
Moravians.

The death struggle between English and French in America served
only to intensify a lesser conflict that was being waged between
the Assembly and the proprietors of Pennsylvania; and the
Assembly determined to send Franklin to London to seek judgment
against the proprietors and to request the King to take away from
them the government of Pennsylvania. Franklin, accompanied by his
son William, reached London in July, 1757, and from this time on
his life was to be closely linked with Europe. He returned to
America six years later and made a trip of sixteen hundred miles
inspecting postal affairs, but in 1764 he was again sent to
England to renew the petition for a royal government for
Pennsylvania, which had not yet been granted. Presently that
petition was made obsolete by the Stamp Act, and Franklin became
the representative of the American colonies against King and
Parliament.

Franklin did his best to avert the Revolution. He made many
friends in England, wrote pamphlets and articles, told comical
stories and fables where they might do some good, and constantly
strove to enlighten the ruling class of England upon conditions
and sentiment in the colonies. His examination before the House
of Commons in February, 1766, marks perhaps the zenith of his
intellectual powers. His wide knowledge, his wonderful poise, his
ready wit, his marvelous gift for clear and epigrammatic
statement, were never exhibited to better advantage and no doubt
hastened the repeal of the Stamp Act. Franklin remained in
England nine years longer, but his efforts to reconcile the