In all the colonies there was no man better fitted for this business
than Benjamin Franklin. And so he was the man sent.

The fame of the great American had gone before him. Everybody seemed
anxious to do him honor.

He met many of the leading men of the day, and he at last succeeded in
gaining the object of his mission.

But such business moved slowly in those times. Five years passed before
he was ready to return to America.

He reached Philadelphia in November, 1762, and the colonial assembly of
Pennsylvania thanked him publicly for his great services.

But new troubles soon came up between the colonies and the government in
England. Other laws were passed, more oppressive than before.

It was proposed to tax the colonies, and to force the colonists to buy
stamped paper. This last act was called the Stamp Tax, and the American
people opposed it with all their might.

Scarcely had Franklin been at home two years when he was again sent to
England to plead the cause of his countrymen.

This time he remained abroad for more than ten years; but he was not so
successful as before.

In 1774 he appeared before the King's council to present a petition from