To the corrupt and licentious court he was the personification of the age of simplicity, which it was the fashion to admire; to the learned, he was a sage; to the common man he was the apotheosis of all the virtues; to the rabble he was little less than a god.

Great ladies sought his smiles; nobles treasured a kindly word; the shopkeeper hung his portrait on the wall; and the people drew aside in the streets that he might pass without annoyance.

Through all this adulation Franklin passed serenely, if not unconsciously.
The French ministers were not at first willing to make a treaty of alliance, but under Franklin's influence they lent money to the struggling colonies.

Congress sought to finance the war by the issue of paper currency and by borrowing rather than by taxation, and sent bill after bill to Franklin, who somehow managed to meet them by putting his pride in his pocket, and applying again and again to the French Government.

He fitted out privateers and negotiated with the British concerning prisoners.