The New Hampshire Gazette

The Editor of the Whig has, in proper times, furnished the public with the following lesson from a real sage. Had the great principle of policy, which Franklin so early discerned, viz. that rights, were not the proper subjects or bargaining and dickering and compromise. been uniformly recognized, we should now, in all probability have made important advances in the path of redress, ultimate safety, and true glory. The signs of the times are now propitious. We have every reason to believe that our rulers and their constituents are convinced, firmly convinced, that a nation of freemen, jealous of their rights, and able to maintain them, should never accept less than complete satisfaction for wrongs, and never cease from a firm vindication of rights—This word. "right?" we use often; and we use it, because we think it is the proper designation of that which ought not to be tampered with, or subjected to all the management and false logic, of temporizers or traitors. The present Congress will not, we believe add to the number of dangerous precedents in its definition; but understanding, as they do, its meaning, they will enforce its vindication and maintenance,
The true question, as respects this country, it seems to us clear, is not whether we can make a bargain, for leave to live as a nation, but whether it is not time for us to set forth and claim, our clear and proper and undeniable station as a nation—an independent nation. Whether the Declaration of Independence, to which Britain has filed a special demurrer (to dabble a little in law terms) is not to be supported in full. The cause was once brought to an issue, and we recovered judgment.. It was sincerely to be wished the question should not have been again agitated; but, as it is, it would be the depth of baseness. to abandon a cause, once so nobly maintained, and now, with such a certain prospect of success. Egis
"LESSONS FROM A SAGE."
Extract from Dr. Franklin's secret journal, kept at Passy near Paris, during his residence there as ambassador to France.,
May 13, 1782—"It seems to me, that we have, in most instances. hurt our credit and importance, by sending all over Europe, begging alliances, and soliciting declarations of our independence. The nations, from thence, seem to think that our independence is something they have to sell, and that we do not offer enough for it." Vol. 5, page 241.
We may learn from the foregoing what this great man would say of our dispatch-boat system, for five years and a half past, if he were now alive. Our sending of messengers "all over Europe begging" for our maritime rights, we hope is at an end, or near it. When Spain had trifled with Mr. Jay for several years, Dr. Franklin wrote as follows to that gentleman: "they [the Spanish court] have taken four years to consider whether they would treat with us; give them forty, and let us mind our own business!"
So, since England refuses to render us justice, let us diligently, energetically "mind our own business," and exact from her "indemnity for the past, and security for the future."
The works of Franklin, are fountains of wisdom and spirit, from which the reader cannot but imbibe the most salutary precepts. Of his decision of character, we have, (besides many other proofs) the testimony of his letter to Mr. Strahan, the king's printer. who was a member of parliament, and took be in the incipute
Amid F.i Ou Cahan'
voting for the Boston port bill. Franklin wrote him as follows:

Philadelphia July 6, 1775.

Mr. Strahan--You are a member of that parliament and have formed part of that majority, which has condemned my native country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns, and to destroy their inhabitants. Look at your hands! they are stained with the blood of your relations and your acquaintances. You and I were long friends; you are at present my enemy, and I am yours.

B. FRANKLIN

It is thus that honorable individuals or governments think and feel and act. Models like this cannot be too closely imitated.