Never before had an American given Europe such an exhibition of knowledge,
powers of argument, and shrewdness, tempered with tact and good humor. In
1773 he increased his reputation as a writer and threw more light on
English colonial affairs by publishing, in London, _Rules for Reducing a
Great Empire to a Small One_, and _An Edict by the King of Prussia_.
In 1776, at the age of seventy, he became commissioner to the court of
France, where he remained until 1785. Every student of American history
knows the part he played there in popularizing the American Revolution,
until France aided us with her money and her navy. It is doubtful if any
man has ever been more popular away from home than Franklin was in France.
The French regarded him as "the personification of the rights of man." They
followed him on the streets, gave him almost frantic applause when he
appeared in public, put his portrait in nearly every house and on almost
every snuff box, and bought a Franklin stove for their houses.
He returned to Philadelphia in 1785, revered by his country. He was the
only man who had signed four of the most famous documents in American
history: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with
France, the treaty of peace with England at the close of the Revolution,
and the Constitution of the United States.
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