George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8

[54] intention of Franklin, who well knew that the re-

Chap. XLIII.} 1775. July.

quired concessions never would be made, the plan was a declaration of independence and an effective system of a self-perpetuating republic. His scheme aimed at a real, ever enduring union, and it contained the two great elements of American political life; the domestic power of the several states, and the limited sovereignty of the central government.

The proposition of Franklin was, for the time, put aside; the future confederacy was not to number fewer members than thirteen; for news now came, that Georgia ‘was no more the defaulting link in the American chain.’ On the fourth of July, it had met in provincial congress; and on the sixth had adhered to all the measures of resistance. It had also resolved neither to purchase, nor to employ, any slave imported from Africa after that day.

Lord North's proposal had already been declared inadequate; but as it was founded on joint resolves of parliament, officially recommended by Lord Dartmouth, and referred by Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, to the decision of congress, Franklin, Jefferson, John Adams, and Richard Henry Lee, were constituted a committee to report on its conditions as a basis for the desired accommodation. Meantime congress remembered the friendly interposition of Jamaica, whose peculiar situation as an island of planters forbade active assistance, but whose good wishes ministered consolation. America and Ireland also came nearer to each other. In July the merchants of Dublin applauded the earl of Effingham for ‘refusing to draw his sword against the lives ’