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itioii 
 
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 OF INDEPENDENCE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF 
 THEIR LIVES, etc. By B. J. Lossing ; with Portraits, &c. 1 vol. 
 12mo. 
 
 THE LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: 
 
 by O. L. Holley ; with illustrations. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
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 by William Cutter; with illustrations. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
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 Published by GEO. F. COOLEDGE & BROTHER, New York, 
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N K W 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 BY O. L. HOLLEY. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 GEORGE F. COOLEDGE & BROTHER, 
 
 PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, 
 323 PEARL STREET. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, 
 
 BY GEORGE F. COOLEDGE & BROTHER, 
 
 in the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for 
 the Southern District of New York. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE, 
 13 Chambers Street, N. Y. 
 
E 302, 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 FRANKLIN S own narrative of his life extends only to the 27th of 
 July, 1757, the day on which he reached London, on his first mission 
 as agent of Pennsylvania to the British court. He was then but little 
 more than fifty-one years of age, so that nearly thirty-three years, em 
 bracing the most conspicuous portion of his career, was left, with the 
 exception of occasional passages in his private correspondence, un 
 touched by his own graphic pen ; and though that sequel has been 
 ably related by Dr. Sparks, yet the two performances, valuable as they 
 are universally acknowledged to be, are both strictly narrative, embra 
 cing little but the recital of external occurrences. Well done, there 
 fore, as they are, still much of the most important portion of Franklin s 
 actual life that inner life which is made up of thoughts and feelings 
 the unseen workings of the mind, the exercise of the affections, the 
 development of character, and the progress of opinion is either left 
 out of the narration, or is so briefly noticed, that, without access to his 
 correspondence as well as his more elaborate productions, but scanty 
 means are supplied for making up a full and just estimate of the whole 
 man, the wide range of his philosophical inquiries, or of his accumula 
 tions of various knowledge, or of the number and value of his political 
 writings, or of the vast amount of public business he transacted, or of 
 the great extent and importance of his services to his country. 
 
 This is deemed to be especially true in relation to his political servi 
 ces and writings prior to the American revolution. Few, comparatively, 
 of the present generation, it is believed, are aware of the position which 
 Franklin really occupied during the twenty years preceding our revolu 
 tionary struggle or of the high rank he held as a public man, and the 
 extent to which the principles and arguments on which that struggle was 
 based, proceeded from his mind, or were unfolded and enforced by his 
 pen. Indeed, as to the community of this day, generally, it may, I sus 
 pect, be fairly said, that little more is known of Franklin than that he 
 was a remarkably ingenious tradesman, who, having a turn for philo- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 sophical experiments, particularly in electricity, discovered its identity 
 with lightning ; and was, besides, an uncommonly sagacious man in 
 regard to the prudent management of private affairs, who left behind 
 him many wise maxims for the regulation of private life. 
 
 The labors of Dr. Sparks have, it is true, shown how inadequate is 
 such an idea of Franklin ; but the rich and ample collection of his wri 
 tings, made by that gentleman, is beyond the reach of the great majority 
 of the people, especially of the younger portion of them, who, necessa 
 rily engaged in the toilsome occupations of life, have little leisure for 
 study, and but limited means for supplying themselves with books. 
 
 It is, therefore, for this portion of my countrymen that I have ven 
 tured to prepare this work. By condensing the account of some por 
 tions of Franklin s life, and by leaving to history the full recital of his 
 political and diplomatic services, I have thought room might be found, 
 within the compass of a single volume, to present a more complete, though 
 still a compendious view of Franklin s life, character, and labors of 
 what he was, as well as what he did, throughout his entire career 
 than has yet been furnished in a merely biographical form. I have 
 thus endeavored to present a full-length portrait, though it be less than 
 the size of life. In doing this, I have dwelt with more minuteness upon 
 the methods by which he improved his powers, than upon the specific 
 results attained, though these have not been overlooked more upon 
 the processes by which he qualified himself to be useful to his country 
 and mankind, than upon the particular rewards which crowned his 
 services ; and I have pursued this course, in the belief that the lessons 
 his life presents would thus be rendered more available for the benefit 
 of others, and be more durably impressed. 
 
 O. L. HOLIET. 
 August 1, 1848. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Introductory Remarks. Birth of Franklin. Occupations of his Boy- 
 
 hood. Love of Reading . . ... . PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 He becomes a Printer. First Efforts as a Writer. Collins. Mode 
 of forming his Style. Way of Life. Mental Habits ... 1 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 His Brother s Newspaper. Difficulties with the Government and 
 with his Brother. Leaves Boston for New. York .... 30 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Proceeds to Philadelphia. Incidents of his Journey . . -37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 First Appearance in Philadelphia. Employed by Keimer. Noticed 
 by Governor Keith, who urges him to open a Printing-Office. Goes 
 to his Father for Aid 42 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Reception at Home, and at his Brother s Office. His Father refuses 
 Aid, but treats him kindly. Returns to Philadelphia. Incidents 
 by the Way 52 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Connection with Collins. Governor Keith s Professions. Miss Read 61 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 His Associates and Way of Life. Keith induces him to go to Lon 
 don for Types, &c. 71 
 
 1* 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Arrives in London. Keith s Perfidy. Mr. Denham. Works at his 
 Trade. Ralph. New Associates. Sir Hans Sloane . PAGE 79 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 His Way of Life. New Lodgings. An English Nun. Art of Swim 
 ming. Becomes Clerk to Mr. Denham 92 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Leaves London. Isle of Wight. Voyage Home .... 105 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Changes in Philadelphia. Letter to his Sister Jane. Mercantile 
 Affairs. Death of Mr. Denham. Returns to his Trade. Keimer 
 and his Workmen. Jersey Paper-Money ..... 120 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Arrives at Manhood. His Opinions and Character. Commences Bu 
 siness with Meredith. The Junto 133 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Usefulness of the Junto. Its Members. Franklin s Industry. Pri 
 vate "Worship. Establishes a Newspaper. Its Character . . 145 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Public Printing. Partnership with Meredith dissolved. Two True 
 Friends. Paper-Money. Growing Reputation .... 160 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Rivals in Business. A Match-making Scheme fails. He Marries. 
 A Library established. Domestic Affairs. Religious Views. 
 Plan of Self-discipline 176 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Project for the Moral Improvement of Society. Poor Richard s Alma 
 nac. Way to Wealth 200 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 His Newspaper Essays. First Printing-Office in Charleston, South 
 Carolina. Defence of a young Clergyman. Acquires several Lan 
 guages. Visits his Relations. Loses a Child. Clerk of Assembly, 
 Postmaster, Public Printer. City Improvements .... 220 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Whitefield. Religious Views. New Partnerships. Promotion of 
 Education and Science. New Store. Military Association. The 
 Quakers PAGE 237 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Academy founded. His Writings and Philosophical Pursuits. Pub 
 lic Business. Indian Treaty. Colonial Postmaster-General. Al 
 bany Convention. Plan of Union. Western Settlement. Provin 
 cial Government Crown Point 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Aids General Braddock. Protects the Frontier. Gnadenhutten. 
 Private Sentiments and Family Ties. Military Arrangements. 
 Governor Denny. Royal Society s Medal. Proprietary Instruc 
 tions. Lord Loudon. First Mission to England .... 284 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Grievances of Pennsylvania. Remonstrance to Proprietaries. Mis 
 representations Exposed. Cause prepared for Hearing. Excur 
 sions in England. Family Connections. Canada. Visits Scotland. 
 Mr. Strahan. Marriage Proposed. Miss Stevenson and her Stud 
 ies. Political Abuse. Pennsylvania s Share of Indemnity Money 
 from Parliament 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Pamphlet on Canada. Pennsylvania Case decided. Tour in Eng 
 land and Wales. New Words. Natural History. Philosophical 
 Topics. Tour in Holland. Art of Virtue. Latent Heat. Water 
 vaporized by Electricity. Points and Knobs. Armonica. Literary 
 Honors. Return Home 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Services Acknowledged. Journey North and East. Militia Bill. 
 Conestogo Indians. Imbecility of Governor Perm. Franklin up 
 holds the Public Authority. Confutes his Enemies. His Second 
 Mission to England. Origin of the Stamp- Act. Dean Tucker. 
 Reception of Stamp- Act in America. Examination before the 
 House of Commons. Stamp-Act Repealed. Value of his Services. 
 Old Scottish Tunes . 371 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Visit to the Continent. True Relations of America to England. 
 Visits Paris. Changes in the Cabinet. Lord Hillsborough. Visit 
 to Ireland. Lightning rods for Powder Magazines. He advises 
 Firmness and Moderation in America. The Hutchinson Letters. 
 Ineffectual Attempts at Conciliation. Returns Home . PAGE 417 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Death of his Wife. Congress and Public Business. Mission to 
 France. Residence at Paris. Return to America. Constitution 
 of the United States. Death and Character of Franklin . . 447 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HIS BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 
 
 No man, probably, was ever more eminently and uni 
 formly successful, throughout the whole of a very long 
 life, in attaining the chief objects of human pursuit, than 
 Benjamin Franklin. Of humble origin, with no early 
 opportunities of education beyond the simplest rudi 
 ments of knowledge, bred a tradesman, and compelled 
 by the narrowness of his circumstances to labor with 
 his own hands for his daily bread, he nevertheless won 
 for himself an ample estate, an illustrious reputation, and 
 distinguished public honors. 
 
 Nor was his success the result, in any proper sense, 
 of what is commonly called accident, or mere good for 
 tune, any more than it was the consequences of advan 
 tages derived from high birth and powerful connections. 
 It was, on the contrary, in a remarkable degree, the di 
 rect and visible effect of those causes, chiefly of a moral 
 kind, which, for the encouragement of honest effort and 
 virtuous enterprise, a wise Providence has established 
 as the most worthy and legitimate means of attaining 
 
10 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 success in this life ; for he was, through the favor with 
 which that Providence regards such means, the founder 
 and builder of his own prosperity. 
 
 His success in the acquisition of property was the 
 just recompense of his vigorous industry, his frugality, 
 temperance, prudence, integrity, punctuality, enlight 
 ened and sound judgment, civil manners, respect for 
 himself as well as for others, and his frank and manly 
 deportment. All these qualities marked his conduct in 
 the transaction of business, and in his general inter 
 course with his fellow-men ; and by securing general 
 confidence, esteem, and good will, they were all instru 
 mental to his prosperity. 
 
 His success in the pursuit of literature and science, 
 and in the acquisition of fame as a philosopher, was 
 also the consequence, at least in part, of some of the 
 same qualities. For, although he could not have at 
 tained the high distinction he ultimately enjoyed as a 
 writer and a philosopher, without the great natural abil 
 ities with which he was endowed, yet, without his ac 
 tive and persevering spirit, his industrious, frugal, tem 
 perate, methodical, and time-saving habits, even his 
 great talents would have been far less available, and his 
 philosophical genius could not have accomplished so 
 much. 
 
 His success in political affairs, and in the acquisition 
 of public honors, was also the natural result, not merely 
 of his talents associated with the other attributes al 
 ready mentioned, but also of additional causes inherent 
 in his character of his genuine public spirit, his zeal 
 in applying himself to understand the real condition 
 of public affairs, and the intelligence and fidelity with 
 which he performed the duties of every public station 
 in which he was placed ; of his thorough comprehen 
 sion of the political and civil rights and privileges of the 
 
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 11 
 
 people whom he served, his sagacious and sound views 
 of their true interests, arid the steady firmness with 
 which he maintained and promoted those interests ; of 
 his moderation, candor, and love of truth and justice ; 
 his respect for law and for all lawful authority ; his 
 stanch patriotism, and the unsurpassed moral weight 
 and influence of his character. 
 
 Such were the sources of his success, and the ele 
 ments of his greatness. Such were the causes of that 
 steady, rapid, and almost wholly uninterrupted advance 
 from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to renown, by 
 which his career was so remarkably distinguished ; and 
 which not only rendered that career, during its prog 
 ress, so honorable to himself and so useful to his coun 
 try and mankind, but have for ever sealed it as an exam 
 ple, especially to his own countrymen, rich beyond 
 parallel in lessons of practical wisdom for all, of every 
 age, calling, and condition in life, public and private, in 
 every coming generation. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachu 
 setts, on the 6th of January, old style, equivalent to the 
 17th of that month, according to the present reckoning 
 of time or the new style, in the year 1706. His father, 
 Josiah Franklin, was a native of the village of Ecton, 
 in Northamptonshire, England ; but he married his first 
 wife, at an early age, in Banbury, in the neighboring 
 county of Oxford, where he served his apprenticeship 
 as a wool-dyer, with his uncle John Franklin, and where 
 his first three children were born. In the year 1684, 
 or early in 1685, in consequence of the intolerant and 
 oppressive laws of that country respecting religion and 
 public worship, he emigrated with his family to Boston, 
 Massachusetts, where four more children were borne to 
 him by the same wife. After her decease, he married 
 Abiah Folger, born August loth, 1667, the ninth child, 
 
12 -LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 but the seventh daughter, of Peter Folger and his wife 
 Mary, in the town of Sherburn, on the island of Nan- 
 tucket. By this second wife, Josiah Franklin had ten 
 children, making the whole number seventeen ; ten of 
 whom were sons, and seven daughters. Of these, Ben 
 jamin was the fifteenth child and the youngest son ; and 
 in the very entertaining and instructive narrative of his 
 life, written by himself as far as to the fifty-first year of 
 his age, he states the interesting and uncommon fact, 
 that, of those seventeen children, he had seen sitting to 
 gether at his father s table thirteen, who all grew up to 
 years of maturity and were married. 
 
 According to the wise and wholesome usage of those 
 times, the nine elder sons, as they successively arrived 
 at a proper age, were bound by their father as appren 
 tices to different trades, though by no means to the 
 neglect of such instruction in the elements of useful 
 knowledge, as could be imparted in those schools which 
 it was the early care of the founders of New England 
 to establish. 
 
 With Benjamin, however, it was his father s original 
 intention to take a different course. The boy had ex 
 hibited a rare facility in learning to read. His profi 
 ciency in this particular was so remarkable, that he 
 states, at the age of sixty-five years, in his own account 
 of his life, that he was unable to recollect a time when 
 he could not read. His fondness for books, together 
 with his eagerness for knowledge and other indications 
 of bright parts, prompted a disposition in his father "to 
 devote Benjamin, as the tithe of his sons, to the service 
 of the church." With this view, Benjamin, at the age 
 of eight years, was sent to a grammar-school, where 
 his progress was such as to justify the impression his 
 early docility had made upon his friends ; for, in less 
 than a year, having risen from the middle of the class 
 
HfS SCHOOL-DAYS. 13 
 
 in which he was first placed, to its head, he was trans 
 ferred to the next class above, from which he was to be 
 removed to a still higher one, at the end of the year. 
 
 But narrow circumstances and a large family soon 
 made it apparent to his father, that the long course of 
 study at the grammar-school and college, which would 
 be requisite to give his son a suitable preparation for 
 the contemplated profession, would involve an expense 
 which he would be unable to meet, without very great 
 difficulty, if at all. Besides, on looking more closely 
 into the matter, he thought the proposed profession af 
 forded, as he remarked to a friend, in the presence of 
 Benjamin, "but little encouragement to those who were 
 educated for that line of life." These considerations 
 induced his father to abandon his original design ; and 
 taking the boy from the grammar-school before a year 
 had expired, he placed him in a school devoted exclu 
 sively to writing and arithmetic, kept by a Mr. George 
 Brownwell, who had gained much reputation as a teacher 
 of those two essential branches of a practical business 
 education, and who, as Franklin himself testifies, was 
 " a skilful master, and successful in his profession, em 
 ploying the mildest and most encouraging methods." 
 In this school the lad became an excellent penman ; but, 
 to cite his own confession, he " entirely failed in arith 
 metic." 
 
 Benjamin appears to have remained under the tuition 
 of Mr. Brownwell about twelve months, or the greater 
 part of his ninth year. This was the last of his going 
 to school ; for, on his reaching his tenth year, his father 
 transferred him to his own business, as a tallowchandler 
 and soapboiler, to which business, though not bred to it, 
 his father had betaken himself, on finding that, in the 
 community where he had fixed his new home, his trade 
 as a dyer, tu which he had been regularly trained in 
 
 2 
 
14 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 England, would not yield him employment enough for 
 the support of his family. Benjamin s occupation, now, 
 was cutting caiidlewicks and fitting them to the moulds, 
 tending shop, and running upon errands. 
 
 These employments, however, were exceedingly dis 
 tasteful to him ; and a strong desire sprung up in him 
 to go to sea. Having an active, enterprising spirit, and 
 living near the water, he often resorted to it for both 
 amusement and exercise, and grew familiar with it and 
 fond of it. He very early made himself an expert and 
 bold swimmer, and so dexterous in managing a boat, 
 that whenever he and his playmates were enjoying 
 themselves in that way, he was " commonly allowed to 
 govern, especially in case of difficulty." Indeed, in the 
 various enterprises in which he and his young comrades 
 were engaged, he was generally the leader. One of 
 these enterprises he relates, " as it shows," to use his 
 own words, " an early projecting public spirit, though 
 not then justly directed;" and inasmuch as it serves to 
 exemplify that ready ingenuity in devising means to 
 overcome difficulties, which subsequently developed it 
 self to such a degree as to constitute one of the marked 
 traits of his character, his own sprightly account of the 
 performance in question is here copied. 
 
 " There was," he relates, " a salt-marsh which bound 
 ed part of the millpond, on the edge of which, at high- 
 water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much 
 trampling we had made it a mere quagmire. My pro 
 posal was to build a wharf there for us to stand upon ; 
 and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which 
 were intended for a new house near the marsh, and 
 which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, 
 in the evening, when the workmen were gone home, I 
 assembled a number of my playfellows, and we worked 
 diligently, like so many emmets, sometimes two or three 
 
EARLY ENTERPRISE. 15 
 
 to a stone, till we brought them all, to make our little 
 wharf. The next morning the workmen were surprised 
 at missing the stones, which had formed our wharf. In 
 quiry was made after the authors of this transfer : we 
 were discovered, complained of, and corrected by our 
 fathers ; and, though I demonstrated the utility of our 
 work, mine convinced me that that which was not honest, 
 could not be truly useful." 
 
 Benjamin continued in his father s shop, variously 
 employed as already stated, for two years, but with a 
 continually growing dislike to his situation ; and as his 
 brother John, who had been trained to the same busi 
 ness, had recently married and gone to Rhode Island, 
 to establish himself there as a chandler, on his own ac 
 count, the probability seemed, to the impatient Benja 
 min, fast verging to certainty that he was fated perma 
 nently to this calling. His father, who had not failed 
 to observe his strong repugnance to this employment, 
 and his restiffness at the prospect of continuing in it, 
 began to feel alarmed lest his youngest, like Josiah. one 
 of his elder sons, should gratify his inclination by break 
 ing away clandestinely and going to sea. Such an event 
 would have been a great grief to his parents ; and to 
 prevent it, his father earnestly sought to ascertain what 
 occupation would be most likely to suit his disposition, 
 and keep him in content, safety, and usefulness, at 
 home. With this view, he frequently took the lad out 
 with him to the workshops of the different classes of 
 mechanics in town, in the hope of discovering, in this 
 way, the leading inclination of his son, in reference to a 
 point of such grave concern as that of fixing on a pur 
 suit for life. 
 
 These visits to the workshops were very gratifying to 
 the inquisitive and observant spirit of young Benjamin. 
 In speaking of them, in his own narrative of his life, he 
 
16 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 declares that " it was ever after a pleasure to him to see 
 a good workman handle his tools." He adds, also, the 
 more important remark, that he derived from these vis 
 its the benefit of knowing how to handle some of those 
 tools himself; sufficiently well, at least, to execute va 
 rious small pieces of work about his own premises, when 
 a regular-bred mechanic was not conveniently to be pro 
 cured ; and especially did he thus secure for himself the 
 still more material advantage of being able to construct 
 various kinds of apparatus, for aiding his philosophical 
 investigations, at the moment when some scientific con 
 ception, the principle it involved, and the experiment 
 which would illustrate it, were all fresh and clear in his 
 mind. 
 
 This testimony is instructive and valuable. The ob 
 servations made, and the hints received, during those 
 visits of the boy, worked like leaven among the thoughts 
 of the man. The history of Franklin s philosophical 
 inquiries, no less than his career as a tradesman, abounds 
 with evidence of his mechanical ingenuity, and of the 
 dexterity with which he could contrive and arrange the 
 apparatus necessary to test the correctness of new ideas 
 as they occurred to him. Thus, with him, speculation 
 and experiment were enabled to go forward hand in 
 hand ; inquiry was facilitated ; time was not vainly con 
 sumed in vague untested conjecture ; conclusions were 
 not only reached more promptly, but were rendered 
 more exact and satisfactory ; and the progress of actual 
 knowledge was expedited. It seems, moreover, easy to 
 discern, in the circumstances mentioned, the origin, at 
 least in part, of that striking and characteristic tendency 
 of his mind, to give a practical turn to his most abstruse 
 theoretical ideas, and to regard as the best criterion of the 
 value of all philosophical studies, the extent to which 
 they can be rendered subservient to the wants, the com- 
 
MECHANICAL INGENUITY. 17 
 
 forts, the improvement, and the happiness of his fellow- 
 men. 
 
 The choice of a trade, which, as the result of the walks 
 among the artisans of Boston, the father made for the 
 son, was that of cutler ; and in pursuance of that choice, 
 Benjamin was placed for a short time, by way of trial, 
 with his cousin Samuel Franklin, son of his uncle Ben 
 jamin, brought up to the business in London, and recent 
 ly established in Boston. But the sum demanded for 
 the apprentice s fee, the father thought unreasonable ; 
 and it displeased him so much, that he took his son 
 home again. 
 
 So this project for the welfare of the son, to which 
 his father had been led by somewhat artificial means, 
 fell to the ground ; and the trade which Benjamin actu 
 ally followed that of a printer was shortly after se 
 lected for the same general reason, which had originally 
 prompted in his father the desire to devote him to the 
 clerical profession ; a reason founded on inclinations 
 and capacities, which spontaneously developed them 
 selves, when there was nothing to interfere with the sim 
 ple force of nature in the one, or to bias the judgment 
 of the other ; and which were, therefore, a safer guide 
 to the choice of a pursuit for life. That reason was 
 what Franklin himself called his "bookish inclination." 
 From his earliest childhood he had been " passionately 
 fond of reading;" and the little sums of money he ob 
 tained were all expended in purchasing books. His first 
 acquisition, he says, was a cheap set of Bunyan s works; 
 and when he had read these, he sold them, that he might, 
 with the proceeds, procure others, especially works of 
 history and biography. The few books that belonged 
 to his father contained little but polemical divinity, a 
 very unattractive sort of reading to most people, espe 
 cially the young ; but Benjamin s appetite was keen 
 
LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 enough for the greater part even of that. Fortunately, 
 however, he found also, on the same shelves, Plutarch s 
 Lives, which he read with more avidity as well as profit; 
 An Essay on Projects, by Daniel De Foe, an English 
 man, the author of the famous Adventures of Robinson 
 Crusoe; and An Essay to do Good, by the celebrated 
 Cotton Mather of Boston. In speaking of these works, 
 he intimates the belief that the reading of the two essays 
 mentioned, gave him a turn of thinking which probably 
 exerted an influence upon some of the principal events 
 of his subsequent life. 
 
APPRENTICED TO HIS BROTHER. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HE BECOMES A PRINTER. 
 
 BENJAMIN was now twelve years old. There being 
 no type-foundry in the colony, his brother James, during 
 the preceding year, 1717, had been to England to pro 
 cure the necessary apparatus for a printing-office, and 
 on his return had established himself in Boston, as a 
 printer; and his father, still anxious lest Benjamin, in 
 his unsettled and discontented state of mind, might 
 gratify that " hankering for the sea," which continued 
 as strong in him as ever, was now very urgent to have 
 him regularly apprenticed to James. As this propo 
 sal was far more agreeable to the lad than remaining 
 in the chandler s shop, he at length, after much solicita 
 tion, yielded to the wishes of his father ; and in the 
 course of the year he was duly indentured as an ap 
 prentice to his brother, so to continue till he should be 
 twenty-one years old, and, for the closing year of the 
 term, to be paid the full wages of a journeyman. 
 
 He took readily to his new employment, and soon be 
 came so expert in it as to be exceedingly useful to his 
 brother. A freer access to a wider range of reading 
 helped, very materially, to increase his content with the 
 situation, which thus contributed to gratify one of his 
 strongest propensities. His intercourse with the ap- 
 
20 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 prentices of booksellers, gave him more frequent op 
 portunities to borrow ; and he had the prudence and 
 good sense to preserve this privilege, by losing no time 
 in reading the books thus obtained, and promptly return 
 ing them in good condition. "Often," says he, "I sat 
 up in my chamber reading the greatest part of the night, 
 when the book was borrowed in the evening to be re 
 turned in the morning, lest it should be found missing;" 
 and he further relates that he was greatly favored, in 
 this particular, by the kindness of a neighboring mer 
 chant, " an ingenious and sensible man," named Mat 
 thew Adams, who, in his frequent visits to the print 
 ing-office, finding his attention peculiarly attracted to 
 Benjamin, invited him to see his library, and of his own 
 accord proffered him the loan of any books it contained, 
 which he might wish to read. 
 
 At this period, moreover, as he relates, a strong in 
 clination for poetry took possession of him, and he wrote 
 some small pieces. His brother James, thinking it 
 might be directed to the advantage of his business, en 
 couraged the propensity. Of the performances of our 
 apprentice-muse, about that time presented to the pub 
 lic, two ballads only are specially named. One of them, 
 entitled, " The Light-House Tragedy" recorded and 
 bewailed the shipwreck of one Captain Worthilake, 
 with two daughters ; and the other sung the capture of 
 a truculent pirate named Teach, but better known to 
 fame by the more impressive and appropriate appella 
 tion of Black-Beard. He pronounces them " wretched 
 stuff;" but they were printed, and the author, not known 
 as such, however, except only to himself and his brother, 
 was sent forth to hawk them about the streets. The tra 
 gedy "sold prodigiously," for the disaster was recent, 
 well known, and affecting. His father, however, soon 
 took down the vanity of the young ball ad- writer, by 
 
MENTAL HABITS, 21 
 
 his plain and searching criticism, and by telling him 
 that " verse-makers were generally beggars." 
 
 Though rescued thus from the perils of rhyme, he 
 felt nevertheless a strong propensity to employ his pen ; 
 and the method, which, incited by a generous ambition, 
 he now pursued in order to attain a ready command of 
 his mother-tongue, and to form that clear, flowing, and 
 happy prose style, for which he afterward became dis- 
 tinoriished, and which proved one of the most efficient 
 means of advancing his fortunes, was so well conceived, 
 so practical, so remarkable in a youth but little more 
 than twelve years old, and for that reason among others 
 so valuable as an example, that a somewhat particular 
 account of the method ought not to be omitted. 
 
 One of Benjamin s most intimate companions at this 
 time, was another "bookish lad" by the name of John 
 Collins. They both had an itch for arguing, which 
 grew into a disputatious habit, and led to frequent and 
 eager struggles for victory. This habit, as he admits, is 
 by no means a desirable one, and he subsequently cor 
 rected it in himself entirely; but it served, at the time, to 
 stimulate him to the assiduous employment of his pen, 
 and was, in part, the means, aided again by his judicious 
 father, of leading him to the practice which he soon re 
 sorted to, for improving his style and enlarging his com 
 mand of language. 
 
 In the course of his discussions with Collins, the old 
 question was started, whether the capacities of females 
 fitted them for the more profound and abstruse sciences, 
 and whether such sciences should be made part of their 
 course of study, either for the sake of positive acquire 
 ment, or for the purpose of mental discipline. - Collins 
 took the negative side of the question, and Benjamin 
 the affirmative, the latter, in his own account of the con 
 test, adding " perhaps a little for dispute s sake." They 
 
22 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 commenced the discussion orally; but parting before 
 the debate was ended, and not being likely to meet again 
 for some little time, Benjamin embraced the occasion to 
 write out his arguments and send them to Collins, who 
 replied in the same way. 
 
 Several communications on each side had been made 
 in this form, when they fell under the eye of Benjamin s 
 father, who, without touching at all on the merits of the 
 question, availed himself of the opportunity to com 
 ment freely on the performances of the young dispu 
 tants, showing his son, as he candidly states, that, al 
 though he was more accurate in his spelling and punc 
 tuation, than his antagonist, yet that the latter much ex 
 celled him in elegance of expression, method, and per 
 spicuity, and supporting his criticisms by reference to 
 various passages. Benjamin saw that his father was 
 right, and instead of being either offended, or discour 
 aged, resolved to make more vigorous efforts to improve 
 his manner of writing. 
 
 Fortunately for his purpose, about this time he came 
 across a stray volume containing some of the celebrated 
 essays of the Spectator , none of which had he ever seen 
 before. This book he purchased, read the essays again 
 and again, and having good sense and taste enough to 
 perceive and admire their various merits, the desire to 
 form his style on the model they presented, took full 
 possession of him. The method, already alluded to, 
 which he pursued to attain his end, he describes as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " I took some of the papers, and making short hints 
 of the sentiments in each sentence, laid them by a few 
 days, and then without looking at the book, tried to com 
 plete the papers again, by expressing each hinted senti 
 ment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed 
 before, in any suitable words that should occur to me. 
 
MODE OF FORMING HIS STYLE. 23 
 
 Then I compared my Spectator with the original, dis 
 covered some of my faults, and corrected them." 
 
 This practice soon disclosed to him how compara 
 tively limited was his command of language, and the 
 reason of that deficiency in variety, force, and elegance 
 of expression, which his father had so faithfully pointed, 
 out. These defects, he believed, would by this time 
 have been considerably less, if he had continued his 
 former practice of making verses ; inasmuch as the con 
 stant necessity of finding words not only to express the 
 intended sentiment, but to suit the adopted metre, would 
 have enlarged his vocabulary, and given him at the same 
 time a readier command over it. In this conviction, he 
 next proceeded to turn some of the tales of the Spec 
 tator into verse ; and then, after waiting long enough to 
 forget the language of the original, turn his verse into 
 his own prose. 
 
 This course of proceeding he pursued for the pur 
 pose of improving his power, variety, and fluency of 
 expression. To acquire the habit of an appropriate and 
 skilful arrangement of his thoughts, in composing, he 
 " sometimes jumbled his collections of hints into con. 
 fusion," and then, when their original order had been 
 forgotten, he would, without recurring to the original, 
 methodize them according to his own judgment, and 
 write them out again, in full, in the best and fittest lan 
 guage he could draw from his own store. By faithfully 
 persevering in these practices, and comparing his own 
 performance with his model, his discernment was quick 
 ened for the detection of his faults and the amendment 
 of them. His pains, moreover, were rewarded, not only 
 by the gratifying consciousness of progress, but also by 
 sometimes having the pleasure of fancying that in cer 
 tain particulars of small consequence, as he modestly 
 remarks, he had been fortunate enough to improve the 
 
24 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 method, or the language, of his model. This encour 
 aged him to think that he " might in time, come to be 
 a tolerable English writer," of which, he declares, he 
 was " extremely ambitious." 
 
 These efforts, so ingeniously devised and so resolutely 
 continued, were crowned with marked success. The 
 hours devoted to these exercises in composition, and to 
 reading, were, to use his own words, " at night, or be 
 fore work began in the morning, or on Sundays, when 
 I continued to be in the printing-house ; avoiding as 
 much as I could, the constant attendance at public wor. 
 ship, which my father used to exact of me, when I was 
 under his care, and which I still considered a duty, 
 though I could not find time to practise it." In this last 
 particular he doubtless erred ; for his duty to his Maker 
 was of higher moment than even the acquisition of a good 
 style, or the entertainment and instruction he found in 
 his books. But the honest frankness of his confession, 
 and his express recognition of the duty, may be allow 
 ed, perhaps, as some compensation for his fault, and was 
 at least an amiable trait in his character. Let the 
 youthful reader shun the fault, and imitate the virtue. 
 
 His brother James was at this time unmarried, and 
 hired board and lodging for himself and his apprentices. 
 This circumstance led to another proceeding, on the part 
 of Benjamin, of no little interest as indicating the force 
 of his character, and his self-directing power. In his 
 sixteenth year, or thereabouts, he met with a book by 
 one Try on, in favor of an exclusively vegetable diet. 
 The book made such an impression upon young Ben 
 jamin, that he determined to renounce meat of every 
 sort, and live on vegetable food alone. This rejection 
 of flesh, besides being considered as a mere freak, for 
 which he received frequent chiding, did in fact put the 
 family where he boarded to some inconvenience. This 
 
VEGETABLE DIET. 25 
 
 he wished to avoid, for he had a manly obliging dispo 
 sition ; and having informed himself of Tryon s mode 
 of preparing several dishes, of such articles as were in 
 common use and easily procured, particularly potatoes, 
 rice, corn-meal for hasty-pudding, and some others, he 
 then told his brother that if he would give him, every 
 week, half the money paid for his board, he would board 
 himself. The proposal was instantly accepted, and the 
 benefits he derived from this arrangement shall be stated 
 in his own words : 
 
 " I presently found," says he, " that I could save half 
 what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buy 
 ing books ; but I had another advantage in it. My 
 brother and the rest going from the printing-house to 
 their meals, I remained there alone, and despatching 
 presently my light repast, (which was often no more 
 than a biscuit, or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins, 
 or a tart from the pastry-cook s, and a glass of water), 
 had the rest of the time, till their return, for study ; in 
 which I made the greater progress, from that greater 
 clearness of head and quicker apprehension, which gen 
 erally attend temperance in eating and drinking. Now 
 it was, that, being on some occasion made ashamed of 
 my ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed of 
 learning when at school, I took up Cocker s Arithmetic, 
 and went through the whole by myself, with the greatest 
 ease. I also read Seller and Sturney s book on navi 
 gation, which made me acquainted with what little ge 
 ometry it contains." 
 
 About the same period he read attentively the ^reat 
 work of Locke On The Human Understanding, and an 
 other work having mainly the character of a treatise on 
 logic, produced by the celebrated society of Port Royal, 
 in France, and entitled, The Art of Thinking. 
 
 3 
 
26 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 At this period, also, a treatise on English grammar 
 came in his way, and he had the good sense and indus 
 try to avail himself of it, to obtain a more full and sys 
 tematic understanding of that subject, than he yet pos 
 sessed ; an acquisition indispensable to his becoming, 
 what was then the leading aim of his ambition, a good 
 writer. As the same book also contained short trea 
 tises on rhetoric and logic, he possessed himself of 
 what instruction they had to impart on those subjects. 
 
 The last-named treatise, indeed, proved to be, to him, 
 by no means unimportant ; inasmuch as it wrought a 
 considerable change in one of his mental habits. The 
 treatise on logic closed with a dispute, regularly drawn 
 out in the form of a dialogue, and conducted in the 
 Socratic method; that is, the method of conducting a 
 discussion, which the ancient Athenian philosopher, 
 Socrates, was accustomed to pursue. It may gratify 
 some of the youthful readers, for whom this narrative 
 of the life of Franklin is principally intended, to say a 
 few words of the method referred to. 
 
 In ancient times, when the art of printing was not 
 known, the great task of instruction was performed for 
 the most part orally. Sometimes the teacher communi 
 cated his knowledge in systematic discourses, the pupils 
 being mere listeners ; and sometimes a conversational 
 method was adopted, the teacher being the principal 
 speaker, but permitting and inviting his pupils to put 
 questions, and giving them categorical answers. 
 
 Socrates, the most successful teacher, as well as the 
 wis^t man, of his time, was not only accustomed to use 
 the form of dialogue, and to give it the freest conversa 
 tional turn, but he had, also, a peculiar method of lead 
 ing his disciples and followers to the most strenuous ex 
 ercise of their own faculties, in receiving the opinions 
 and the knowledge he wished to impart. Instead of 
 
SOCRATIC METHOD OF REASONING. 27 
 
 making himself the only speaker, he was frequently not 
 even the principal one ; but, by a succession of ques 
 tions, so framed as gradually to open a subject in all its 
 parts and bearings, and, when finally contemplated to 
 gether, to present a complete analysis of it, he led the 
 minds of his pupils, step by step, to reason out for 
 themselves the conclusions, to which he sought to bring 
 them. The most peculiar and striking feature of this 
 method, as Socrates employed it, was the framing of 
 his questions, or interrogative propositions, in such man 
 ner as to draw from the pupil, or the antagonist, in the 
 first instance, concessions, or affirmations, which, as the 
 investigation proceeded, it was soon found, had been un 
 warily made, and must be materially modified, or aban 
 doned, and the point to which they related be taken up 
 again at the beginning, in order to amend the reasoning by 
 the help of the new lights shed upon the subject, from 
 the various unexpected relations in which it had been 
 presented. In this way, the just conclusions aimed at, 
 were at length reached ; while, in the process, besides 
 becoming possessed, in the most exact and perfect man 
 ner, of the truths which had been the main objects of 
 pursuit, the pupil had also been taught the value of cir 
 cumspection and caution ; the necessity of discrimina 
 tion, of not taking too many things for granted, of a 
 patient and faithful examination of each argument in its 
 various bearings and connexions ; in short, his mind had 
 been subjected to a most invigorating and wholesome 
 discipline. 
 
 Soon after his perusal of the treatise on logic, Ben 
 jamin procured an English translation of Xenophon s 
 Memorabilia of Socrates, which contains many speci 
 mens of the mode of investigation above described ; and, 
 as he declares, becoming charmed with it, he adopted 
 it ; dropped his habit of abrupt contradiction and posi- 
 
28 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tive argumentation, and assumed the much better man 
 ner of the modest inquirer. 
 
 As the best things, however, are liable to abuse, so 
 this Socratic method of conducting an argument may, 
 by an acute and skilful disputant, be made the means of 
 obtaining unfair advantages over one, who, though less 
 expert, may, at the same time, have the more just cause, 
 be the sounder thinker of the two, and much the wiser 
 man. Franklin confesses, that in his youthful zeal and 
 fondness for disputation, he sometimes used his new 
 weapon more for the sake of victory, than truth ; that 
 in his eager practice of it, he acquired an adroitness 
 that enabled him occasionally to draw persons, superior 
 to himself in knowledge, into admissions, which, in 
 volving consequences they did not foresee, gave him 
 sometimes a nominal triumph, which neither himself nor 
 his cause deserved. It is, however, in this case, as in 
 various others which occurred in his experience, grati 
 fying to find, that his clear good sense and general rec 
 titude of mind enabled him at last, to separate the use 
 from the abuse, and rejecting the latter, to retain the 
 modest and deferential manner of discussion, which is, in 
 truth, the most legitimate effect of the method in ques 
 tion, and the one which, among others, its original in 
 ventor intended it should chiefly produce. 
 
 Franklin states, that after practising it a few years ? 
 he laid it aside, retaining only the habit of expressing 
 himself in modest terms, when advancing sentiments 
 open to dispute ; never using the word " certainly," or 
 " undoubtedly," or any other having an air of posi- 
 tiveness ; but employing the phrase " I conceive," or 
 1"I apprehend," or "it seems to me," and the like ; a 
 habit which, he takes the occasion to say, he found very 
 advantageous, in his subsequent experience, whenever 
 he sought to obtain the assent of others to his opinions, 
 
POSITIVE NESS IN ARGUMENT. 29 
 
 or his measures. In this he was doubtless correct ; and 
 he justly deems this point so important, that he presses 
 it with much earnestness. His remarks are so pithy 
 and so well worthy of attention, that they are here re 
 peated : 
 
 " As the chief ends of conversation are to inform, or 
 to be informed, to please, or to persuade, I wish well- 
 meaning and sensible men would not lessen their power 
 of doing good, by a positive assuming manner, that sel 
 dom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to 
 defeat most of those purposes for which speech was 
 given to us. In fact, if you wish to instruct others, a 
 positive dogmatical manner in advancing your senti 
 ments, may occasion opposition and prevent a candid 
 attention. If you desire instruction and improvement 
 from others, you should not at the same time express 
 yourself fixed in your present opinions. Modest and 
 sensible men, who do not love disputation, will leave 
 you undisturbed in the possession of your errors. In 
 adopting such a manner, you can seldom expect to 
 please your hearers, or to obtain the concurrence you 
 desire. Pope judiciously observes 
 
 " Men must be taught, as if you taught them not ; 
 And things unknown, proposed as things forgot." 
 
 He also recommends it to us 
 
 " To speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence." 
 3* 
 
"30 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HIS CONNECTION WITH HIS BROTHER S NEWSPAPER. 
 
 ON the 21st of August, 1721, James Franklin began 
 publishing a newspaper. It was called " TJie New Eng 
 land Courant ;" and it is spoken of by Dr. Franklin, in 
 his own narrative of his life, as being the second news 
 paper, " The Boston News-Letter" having been the 
 first, which appeared in America. In this latter par 
 ticular, however, writing as he was, from memory, fifty 
 years after the event mentioned, he mistook in his recol 
 lection. Dr. Sparks, the learned and accurate editor of 
 the latest and by far the fullest and most valuable col 
 lection of Dr. Franklin s writings, has shown that James 
 Franklin s newspaper was not the second, but the 
 fourth, which made its appearance in this country ; the 
 first being, as above stated, the Boston News-Letter, 
 commenced April 24, 1704 ; the second one, the Boston 
 Gazette, started on the 21st of December, 1719; and 
 the tliird, the American Weekly Mercury, first issued 
 December 22, 1719, at Philadelphia. 
 
 Some of James Franklin s friends urged him, very 
 strenuously, not to undertake the publication of a news 
 paper, there being already, as they thought, quite as 
 many as could find support. But the people of this 
 country, whether colonial, or independent, have always 
 
HE BEGINS TO WRITE FOR THE PAPER. 31 
 
 been much addicted to newspapers ; and when, in 1771, 
 Franklin was recounting these early incidents, he took 
 occasion to state, that the number of this class of publi 
 cations had then increased to not less than twenty-five. 
 Among the acquaintances of James were several, who 
 occasionally furnished him with communications, which 
 enhanced the value of his paper, and helped to extend 
 its circulation. As these persons frequently resorted 
 to the printing-office, the conversation and the favorable 
 reception of their articles by the public, stimulated 
 Benjamin to make trial of his own pen in the same way. 
 
 To avoid all objection from his brother on account of 
 his youth, or for any other reason, he wrote his pieces in 
 a disguised hand, and at night shoved them under the 
 printing-office door. The first piece having been found 
 by James, he showed it to some of the contributors 
 mentioned, whose remarks upon the performance, made 
 of course without any suspicion of the writer and in 
 his hearing, were such as gave him, to use his own 
 words, " the exquisite pleasure of finding that it met 
 with their approbation ; and that, in their different 
 guesses at the author, none were named but men of some 
 character for learning and ingenuity." He modestly 
 adds, that he was probably lucky in his judges, and 
 that they were not really as skilful critics as he then 
 supposed them to be. 
 
 But, whatever may have been the discernment of his 
 critics, the success of his first effort was so gratifying, 
 that, carefully guarding his secret, he continued in the 
 same way to furnish communications, which proved alike 
 acceptable to the publisher of the paper and its readers ; 
 until, as he relates, he had exhausted his stock of ideas 
 for such essays ; when he avowed his authorship, and 
 thereupon found himself the object of increased regard 
 and consideration from his brother s acquaintances. 
 
32 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 But, alas ! human nature is weak ; and if prophets 
 are without their due honor anywhere, it is among their 
 own kin and in their own house. James seems to have 
 been not a little nettled by this success of his younger 
 brother as a writer. Though he sought to disguise so 
 unamiable a feeling, under the worthier one of an appre 
 hension, that the commendation bestowed on his appren 
 tice might make him too vain, and though there may 
 have been some reason for such apprehension, yet the 
 harsh and bitter temper, which, about this time, began 
 to mark his treatment of Benjamin, but too plainly 
 evinced that his brotherly affection had become soured 
 by some drops of envy. Instead of tempering his au 
 thority as a master, with kindness, and with that solici 
 tude for the improvement of his apprentice, which 
 ought, indeed, to be cherished in all such cases, and 
 which, in this instance, were rendered still more oblig 
 atory by the ties of nature, he exercised his power op 
 pressively ; sometimes, in the excitement of passion, 
 beating his brother, and sometimes exacting from him 
 services which were humiliating. 
 
 Their differences were frequently laid before their 
 father, a man of clear head, strong sense, and sound 
 judgment ; arid the fact that his decision was generally 
 in Benjamin s favor, is good evidence of the injustice of 
 the elder brother. From a remark which Dr. Franklin 
 makes in connexion with his account of these matters, it 
 is obvious that James s treatment of him at the period 
 in question, was the means of thus early wakening in 
 his mind, that deep-felt abhorrence of arbitrary power 
 in all its forms, which was so fully developed at a later 
 period of his career, and which became one of the most 
 energetic and controlling emotions of his soul. 
 
 Of the communications which appeared from time to 
 time in the New England Courant, not a few were of a 
 
ARBITRARY ACTS OP THE GOVERNMENT. 33 
 
 strongly marked satirical character ; aiming not merely 
 in a general way at fashionable follies, or the absurdi 
 ties of opinion and manners presenting themselves in 
 the community at large ; but applying the lash to vari 
 ous classes and professions, not omitting either the po 
 litical, or clerical ; exposing abuses in both civil and ec 
 clesiastical administration, and hitting hard. One of 
 these pieces, which appeared in the summer of 1722, 
 gave such offence to the colonial Assembly, that James 
 Franklin, the publisher, was brought before that body, 
 on the Speaker s warrant, severely reprimanded, and 
 sent to prison for one month. It was supposed he might 
 have escaped the sentence, in his own person, if he 
 would have disclosed the writer of the offensive article ; 
 but that he manfully refused to do. Benjamin was also 
 taken up and examined before the council ; and though 
 he also refused to make any disclosure, he was only ad 
 monished and dismissed : on the ground, as he supposed, 
 that an apprentice could not justly be required to be 
 tray his master s secrets. Perhaps his youth, for he 
 was only sixteen years old, also served to render the 
 council less rigorous. 
 
 During the confinement of James, the management 
 of the paper devolved on Benjamin, who, notwithstand 
 ing their private differences, magnanimously resented 
 the harsh usage his brother received from the public au 
 thorities, and gave them, in the paper, to use his own 
 words, " some rubs, which his brother took very kindly; 
 while others began to consider him in an unfavorable 
 light, as a youth that had a turn for libelling and satire." 
 
 The proceedings of the colonial government, on this 
 occasion, seem to have been, in truth, not a little arbi 
 trary and oppressive. James Franklin was arraigned, 
 subjected to examination, and sent to prison, on a mere 
 general accusation, with no specific allegation of the 
 
34 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 subject-matter of his offence, no exhibition of legal 
 proofs to sustain the accusation, and no trial before a 
 judicial tribunal ; and when his term of imprisonment 
 expired, his discharge was accompanied by an act still 
 more arbitrary and tyrannical, if possible, than even his 
 commitment; for the Assembly made an order that 
 "James Franklin should no longer print the newspaper 
 called the New England Courant." 
 
 When James obtained his liberation, having come to 
 consider how he should manage to continue the publi 
 cation of his newspaper, without a direct and bold in 
 fraction of the assembly s order, which would be cer 
 tain to bring upon him the arbitrary power of that body 
 with increased severity, some of his friends advised 
 that he should attain his object by giving his paper a 
 new name. To this, however, there were various ob 
 jections, some of them having relation to the legal ef-- 
 feet on his subscription list, and others arising from 
 considerations of convenience ; so that he adopted a 
 different course, and one which resulted in consequences 
 of great importance to his apprentice-brother. The 
 title of the paper remained unchanged, but its publica 
 tion was continued in Benjamin s name; and to protect 
 himself against the charge of disobeying the mandate 
 of the assembly, by printing his paper through the 
 agency of his servant, as the law would consider it, 
 James resorted to the expedient of surrendering to Ben 
 jamin his old indenture, with a discharge endorsed upon 
 it, to be kept for exhibition in case of need; while, to 
 enable him to retain the services of his apprentice, a 
 new indenture, for the residue of the term, was execu 
 ted, but kept secret. This was truly, as Franklin calls 
 it, "a flimsy scheme;" but, though legally void, it was 
 adopted, and the paper was printed for several months 
 on this footing. 
 
RENEWED DISSENSIONS. 35 
 
 Before long, however, new dissensions arose between 
 the master and his apprentice ; and the impatience of 
 Benjamin, under what he deemed the injurious treat 
 ment of his brother, led him to assert his freedom, feel 
 ing sure that James would not venture to appeal open 
 ly, at law, or otherwise, to the secret indenture. In his 
 own account of this affair, he makes the following frank 
 and ingenuous statement : 
 
 " It was not fair in me to take this advantage, and this 
 I therefore reckon one of the first errata of my life ; 
 but the unfairness of it weighed little with me, when 
 under the impressions of resentment for the blows his 
 [James s] passion too often urged him to bestow upon 
 me; though he was otherwise not an illnatured man; 
 and perhaps I was too saucy and provoking." 
 
 Benjamin, however, carried his resentment no further 
 than simply to break off his apprenticeship ; for when 
 his brother, on finding him determined to leave, went 
 round and spoke to the other master-printers in Boston, 
 to prevent his procuring employment, instead of dis 
 closing the actual condition of the indentures, he kept 
 the secret, and turned his thoughts elsewhere, and par 
 ticularly toward New York, as the nearest place in 
 which he would be likely to obtain employment as a 
 printer. Of his views and motives at this time, he has 
 himself given the following account : 
 
 " I was rather inclined," says he, " to leave Boston, 
 when I reflected that I had already made myself a little 
 obnoxious to the governing party, and, from the arbitrary 
 proceedings of the assembly in my brother s case, it 
 was likely I might, if I stayed, soon bring myself into 
 scrapes ; and further, that my indiscreet disputations 
 about religion, began to make me pointed at with hor 
 ror by good people, as an infidel and atheist. I con 
 cluded, therefore, to remove to New York ; but my 
 
36 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 father now siding with my brother, I was sensible that 
 if I attempted to go openly, means would be used to 
 prevent me." 
 
 In this emergency he resorted to his friend Collins, 
 who, at Benjamin s request, engaged a passage for him 
 in a New York sloop then just about to sail ; alleging 
 to the captain, as the reason for his leaving Boston clan 
 destinely, that he had an intrigue with a girl of bad 
 character, whose parents would compel him to marry 
 her, unless he could make his escape in this manner. 
 " I sold my books," says he, " to raise a little money, 
 was taken on board the sloop privately, had a fair wind, 
 and in three days found myself at New York, near 300 
 miles from my home, at the age of seventeen (October, 
 1723), without the least recommendation, or knowledge 
 of any person in the place, and very little money in my 
 pocket." 
 
JOURNEY TO PHILADELPHIA. 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INCIDENTS ON HIS JOURNEY TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 AT New York Benjamin s early "hankering for the 
 sea," if he had still cherished it, might have been easily 
 gratified. Fortunately for him, however, if we may 
 judge from actual consequences, that desire had left 
 him ; and having now a good trade, one for which he 
 had acquired a liking, and in which he had become an 
 expert workman, he lost no time in seeking for employ 
 ment as a journeyman-printer. With this view he went 
 at once to Mr. William Bradford, as the most prominent 
 master-printer at that time in the city. This person had 
 originally been established in Philadelphia, and was the 
 earliest printer in Pennsylvania ; but having got into a 
 contest with Keith, then governor of that province, he 
 had transferred himself to New York. Mr. Bradford 
 had no occasion to hire an additional hand, but he told 
 Benjamin that his son, Andrew Bradford, who was en 
 gaged in the printing business, in Philadelphia, had 
 been recently deprived, by death, of his principal work 
 man, and would, as he confidently believed, be likely 
 to employ him. 
 
 For Philadelphia, then, though a hundred miles fur 
 ther, a distance by no means inconsiderable in those 
 days, he manfully set forth ; taking himself a sail-boat 
 for Amboy, but leaving his chest, containing most of his 
 4 
 
38 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 clothes, to be sent round by sea. While crossing New 
 York bay, on the course for the Kills which separate 
 Staten island from the main shore of Jersey, a violent 
 squall split the sails of the boat, and drove it toward 
 Long island. While thus driving, an amusing incident 
 occurred, of which Franklin gives the following spright 
 ly account : 
 
 " In our way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a pas 
 senger too, fell overboard. When he was sinking, I 
 reached through the water to his shock-pate and drew 
 him up, so that we got him in again. His ducking so 
 bered him a little, and he went to sleep, taking first out 
 of his pocket a book, which he desired I would dry for 
 him. It proved to be my old favorite author, Bunyan s 
 Pilgrim s Progress, in Dutch, finely printed on good 
 paper, with copper cuts ; a better dress than I had ever 
 seen it wear in its own language. I have since found 
 that it has been translated into most of the languages of 
 Europe ; and I suppose it has been more generally read 
 than any book, except perhaps the Bible. Honest John 
 was the first that I know of, who mixed narrative with 
 dialogue; a method of writing very engaging to the 
 reader, who, in the most interesting parts, finds himself, 
 as it were, admitted into the company arid present at 
 the conversation." 
 
 But, to return to the condition of the voyagers, which 
 was by no means free from peril the surf ran so high 
 on the Long island beach, and the tempest was so violent, 
 that the boat s company could neither land themselves, 
 nor receive assistance from the shore ; so, dropping an 
 chor, they rode out the gale as well as they could ; and 
 when night came down upon them, they had no resource 
 but to wait patiently for the lulling of the storm. Thus 
 situated, Benjamin and the boat-master, determining to 
 get, if possible, a little sleep, bestowed themselves as 
 
STORM IN NEW YORK BAY. 39 
 
 snugly as circumstances permitted, under the hatches 
 alongside of the still wet Dutchman. But the spray 
 making a continual breach over the little vessel and 
 dripping down upon them, they were soon as thoroughly 
 soaked as their unlucky bed-fellow who had previously 
 turned in ; and in this comfortless condition they passed 
 the night. In the morning, however, the wind went 
 down, and they "made shift to reach Amboy before 
 night, after having been thirty hours on the water, with 
 out victuals, and no drink but a little filthy rum, the 
 water sailed on being salt." 
 
 After such an exposure it is not surprising that Ben 
 jamin found himself feverish in the evening. Recol 
 lecting, however, that he had somewhere seen it stated 
 that copious draughts of cold water were very useful, 
 on such occasions, he had the good sense to give the 
 remedy a fair trial. This gave him, in the course of the 
 night, so effectual a sweating, that, when the morning 
 came, his fever was gone, and he set forth on foot for 
 Burlington, fifty miles distant, on the Delaware river, 
 where he expected to be able readily to obtain passage 
 in a boat to Philadelphia. 
 
 A heavy rain fell, all that day, and when noon came 
 he stopped at a small tavern, where he determined to 
 rest till the next morning. On reaching this place, wet, 
 weary, and alone, he experienced such a depression of 
 spirits that he began to wish, as he relates, that he had 
 never left home. His age and appearance, with the 
 other attending circumstances, were such that he soon 
 perceived, by the manner in which he was interrogated, 
 that he was suspected to be a " runaway indentured 
 servant ;" and his trouble was increased by the fear of 
 being taken into custody. He was not molested, how 
 ever, and the next day, pushing stoutly forward, he reach 
 ed a tavern about ten miles from Burlington, " kept by 
 
40 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 one Dr. Brown." While taking some refreshment, 
 Brown, says Franklin, " entered into conversation with 
 me, and finding I had read a little, became very obli 
 ging and friendly ; and our acquaintance continued all 
 the rest of his life." 
 
 Franklin conjectured that this Mr. Brown had been 
 an itinerant quack doctor ; " for there was no town in 
 England, nor any country of Europe, of which he could 
 not give a very particular account." He speaks of him 
 as an ingenious man, of some attainments in literature ; 
 but adds, " he was an infidel, and wickedly undertook, 
 some years after, to turn the Bible into doggrel verse, 
 as Cotton had formerly done with Virgil. By this 
 means he set many facts in a ridiculous light, and might 
 have done mischief with weak minds, if his work had 
 been published; but it never was." 
 
 Benjamin stayed that night at Brown s, and the next 
 morning, which was Saturday, proceeded to Burlington, 
 which, however, he did not reach, till a little after the 
 regular boats for Philadelphia had gone. While pas 
 sing through the town, he had stopped a moment at the 
 door of an elderly woman, who sold gingerbread, of 
 which he had purchased a little to comfort him on his 
 expected passage to Philadelphia ; and now, upon learn 
 ing that no boat was likely to leave Burlington for that 
 city, sooner than the next Tuesday, he turned back from 
 the river-side to the house of the gingerbread woman, 
 whose look he thought had been kindly, to acquaint her 
 with his disappointment, and ask her advice. On hear 
 ing his statement, she very hospitably offered to lodge 
 him, till he could find a passage. To this, leg-weary as 
 he was, he gladly assented ; and as they talked together, 
 the good woman, learning that he was a printer, pro 
 posed, in her ignorance of what would be needed for 
 the purpose, that he should set up his business in Bur- 
 
THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN. 41 
 
 lington. She further manifested her kindness by giving 
 him a nice dinner of ox-cheek, " accepting only a pot of 
 ale in return." 
 
 To the youth of seventeen, weary, lonely, far from 
 home for the first time in his life, with a dim and un 
 certain prospect before him, the kindness of that poor 
 woman must have given unwonted efficacy to the re 
 freshing virtues of the ox-cheek and the ale ; for " bet 
 ter is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a stalled 
 ox, and hatred therewith." It was a pleasant stage in 
 his wet and dreary journey ; and he was expecting, not 
 discontentedly, to remain with the hospitable ginger 
 bread-woman till Tuesday, when, as the day was clo 
 sing arid he was walking by the side of the river, he saw 
 a boat coming down on its way to Philadelphia, with 
 several persons on board, and with them he obtained a 
 passage. 
 
 There was no wind, and it was necessary to row. 
 About midnight, having seen nothing ahead betokening 
 their approach to the city, some of the company, fear 
 ing they had passed it in the dark, would row no fur 
 ther; and as none of them knew precisely where they 
 were, they turned into a creek, landed near an old fence, 
 of the rails of which they made a fire that chill October 
 night, and like Paul and his companions at Melita, they 
 " wished for day." When the day came, one of the 
 company recognised the place as Cooper s creek, a 
 short distance above Philadelphia; whereupon, embark 
 ing and pulling out a little from the cover of the high 
 banks of the creek, the city became visible, and they 
 reached it about 9 o clock, landing at the Market street 
 wharf. 
 
42 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PROCURES EMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 THE personal condition of our hero, on his arrival at 
 Philadelphia, and the appearance he made as he took 
 his first walk in the streets of that city, derive so much 
 interest from the lustre of his subsequent position in 
 that community, and present so strong a contrast there 
 with, that his own description of himself, at that time, 
 is here copied; and a vivid and graphic one it is : 
 
 " I was," says he, " in my working-dress, my best 
 clothes coming round by sea. I was dirty from my be 
 ing so long in the boat. My pockets were stuffed out 
 with shirts and stockings, and I knew no one, nor where 
 to look for lodging. Fatigued with walking, rowing, 
 and the want of sleep, I was very hungry ; and my 
 whole stock of cash consisted of a single dollar, and 
 about a shilling in copper coin, which I gave to the 
 boatmen for my passage. At first they refused it, on 
 account of my having rowed ; but I insisted on their 
 taking it. Man is sometimes more generous when he 
 has little money, than when he has plenty; perhaps to 
 prevent his being thought to have but little." 
 
 Having thus satisfied his self-esteem by paying for 
 his passage, he walked into the city. Near Market 
 street he met a boy with bread, and learning from him 
 
ROLLS OP RREAD QUAKER MEETtNG. 43 
 
 where he obtained it, he went directly to the baker s, to 
 satisfy his hunger, as he had often done before, with a 
 meal of dry bread. He first inquired for biscuits, ex 
 pecting to find such as he had been accustomed to eat 
 in Boston ; but as the Philadelphia bakers did not make 
 them, he asked the baker for three-pence worth of bread 
 in any form. 
 
 " He accordingly gave me," says Franklin, " three 
 great puffy rolls. I was surprised at the quantity, but 
 took it, and, having no room in my pockets, walked off 
 with a roll under each arm, and eating the other. Thus 
 I went up Market street as far as Fourth street, pas 
 sing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife s father; 
 when she, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I 
 made, as I certainly did, a most awkward and ridicu 
 lous appearance. Then I turned and went down Chest 
 nut street and part of Walnut street, eating my roll all 
 the way and coming round, found myself again at 
 Market street wharf, near the boat I came in, to which 
 I went for a draught of the river water; and being 
 filled with one of my rolls, gave the other two to a wo 
 man and her child that came down the river in the boat 
 with us, and were waiting to go further." 
 
 Having done this act of kindness an act, which, if 
 measured, as it ought to be, by his own personal circum 
 stances at the time, should not be regarded merely as 
 testimony of the unreflecting sympathy of youth, but as 
 an earnest of that deliberate bounty of disposition, which 
 distinguished him through life and having been him 
 self refreshed by his bread and water, he set forth ao-ain, 
 and walking up the same street, he now found it throng 
 ed with neat well-dressed people, all going one way. 
 " I joined them," says he, " and thereby was led into 
 the great Meeting-House of the Quakers, near the mar 
 ket. I sat down among them, and, after looking round 
 
44 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy 
 through labor and the want of rest the preceding night, 
 I fell fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke 
 up, when some one was kind enough to rouse me. This, 
 therefore, was the first house I was in, or slept in, in 
 Philadelphia." 
 
 Leaving the Meeting-House, he bent his steps toward 
 the river again, reading faces as he went (not from im 
 pertinence, as will be seen), till he met a young man, a 
 Quaker, whose countenance was so pleasing that he ac 
 costed him, requesting, as a stranger, to be informed 
 where he could find lodging. The reply of the young man 
 justified the favorable impression made by .his counte 
 nance ; for it manifested that considerate and honest re 
 gard for the welfare of the ymithful stranger, which, 
 though really a duty, is of a class not often performed, 
 nor even remembered ; but which showed that this young 
 Quaker comprehended and recognised, on this occasion 
 at least, his obligation as a neighbor, in that wide and 
 generous sense, in which it is inculcated in the beautiful 
 parable of The Good Samaritan. They were near a 
 tavern with the sign of The Three Mariners, to which 
 the young man pointed, saying, in answer to the inquiry, 
 " Here is a house where they receive strangers, but 
 it is not a reputable one ; if thou wilt walk with me, I 
 will show thee a better one" and then conducted him 
 to The Crooked Billet. There Benjamin took dinner, 
 and while thus engaged he there again perceived, from 
 the manner in which he was questioned, that he was 
 " suspected of being a runaway." When he had fin 
 ished his meal he asked for a bed, and being taken to 
 one, he threw himself upon it, without waiting to un 
 dress, and slept till called to supper ; after which, he 
 " went to bed again very early, and slept very soundly 
 till next morning." 
 
PHILADELPHIA PRINTERS. 45 
 
 Having now, by abundant rest and food, recovered 
 from the fatigue of his toilsome journey from New 
 York, though his chest containing his better clothes had 
 not yet arrived, he dressed himself as neatly as circum 
 stances would permit, and went forth to call upon An 
 drew Bradford, the printer. 
 
 Mr. Bradford was in his printing-office, where Benja 
 min, to his surprise, also found with him his father, Mr. 
 William Bradford, who, coming from New York on 
 horseback, had reached Philadelphia before him. The 
 old gentleman instantly recognised Benjamin and intro 
 duced him to his son, who received him very civilly, 
 and gave him a breakfast, but did not then need another 
 journeyman, having recently hired one. He informed 
 him, however, that there was another printer in the 
 place, by the name of Keimer, who had lately opened a 
 printing-office, and who might perhaps employ him ; but 
 kindly added that if he should not be wanted there, he 
 was welcome to lodge at his own house, and he would 
 give him something to do, from time to time, till he 
 could procure fuller employment. 
 
 The elder Bradford obligingly went to Keimer s with 
 Benjamin, and on finding him in his shop, said 
 " Neighbor, I have brought to see you a young man of 
 your business ; perhaps you may want such a one." 
 Upon this, Keimer, after asking a few questions and 
 putting into his hand a composing-stick, to see how he 
 worked, told him that just then he had nothing for him 
 to do, but would employ him soon. Keimer had never 
 seen the elder Bradford before, and supposing him to 
 be a resident of the town favorably disposed toward 
 him, conversed freely with him about his own affairs ; 
 and having, unguardedly, dropped a hint that he ex 
 pected, shortly, to be enabled to secure to himself most 
 of the printing business of the place, the crafty father, 
 
46 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 warily avoiding any disclosure of his relationship to 
 Andrew Bradford, gradually pumped from the commu 
 nicative Keimer, a full account of his plans and pros 
 pects, as well as the personal influences and other means, 
 on which he relied for the attainment of his objects; 
 and having thus got all he wanted, the cunning old man 
 went away, leaving Benjamin and Keimer together. The 
 latter, on being informed by his new acquaintance who 
 the old man was, experienced no little surprise and 
 chagrin. 
 
 The whole interview, in the deceitful and dishonest 
 craftiness practised by one of the parties, and in the 
 weak and leaky folly with which the other betrayed his 
 most important secrets, to a person whom he did not 
 know, furnished to Benjamin an impressive lesson of 
 the value of circumspection and a discreet reserve, as 
 being only the dictate of ordinary prudence, in all in 
 tercourse with strangers upon matters of business, and 
 as generally indispensable to the successful management 
 of private affairs, amid the keen competitions of life. 
 
 Upon inspecting the condition of Keimer s printing- 
 office, Benjamin found it to be very much as might have 
 been expected, from such a lax and careless character, as 
 the one just now disclosed, and serving to betoken it 
 still more fully. The whole equipment appears to have 
 consisted of "an old damaged press and a small worn- 
 out font of English types," which Keimer himself was 
 using in setting up an Elegy to the memory of Aquila 
 Rose, the lately deceased foreman of Andrew Brad 
 ford s office; "an ingenuous young man," says Frank 
 lin, " of excellent character, much respected in the 
 town, secretary of the assembly, and a pretty poet." 
 
 In recounting these incidents Franklin adds, that 
 " Keimer made verses too, but very indifferently. He 
 could not be said to write them ; for his method was to 
 
KEIMER HIS CHARACTER. 47 
 
 compose them in the types, directly out of his head." 
 As there was no written copy, only one pair of cases, 
 and little if any more letter than the Elegy alone would 
 require, the compositor-poet could receive no aid, unless 
 from his muse, in committing his verses to type. Ben 
 jamin, however, made himself useful by overhauling the 
 old press, which Keimer had neither used, nor knew 
 how to use ; and when he had put it in working order, 
 and had promised to come and work off the Elegy as 
 soon as it was ready, he returned to Bradford, who set 
 him upon a small job, and with whom, for the time be 
 ing, he quartered. In the course of a few days, it be 
 ing announced to Benjamin that the Elegy was ready, 
 he went and put it through the press, as he had prom 
 ised ; and Keimer having now procured another pair of 
 cases, set him at work upon a pamphlet, which had just 
 been sent in to be reprinted. 
 
 Neither of these men, however, as Franklin found, 
 had more than a very scanty knowledge of the trade 
 they had undertaken. Bradford, it appears, had not 
 only never been bred a printer, but was very illiterate ; 
 while Keimer, though he had received more general in 
 struction and was more acquainted with books, knew 
 little or nothing of any part of his business, except mere 
 ly the setting of types. And though the former was 
 doubtless the superior in point of plain sense and gen 
 eral repute as a citizen, yet the latter, from his pecu 
 liarities of temper and habits of thinking, was clearly 
 the more amusing of the two, as an individual man. He 
 was, indeed, an oddity, and his character presented not 
 a little of the grotesque. 
 
 He had, at an earlier period, belonged to one of the 
 strange sects of those days, called the French prophets, 
 and he could perform their enthusiastic exercises. " At 
 this time," however, says Franklin, " he did not profess 
 
48 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 any particular religion, but something of all, upon oc 
 casion ; was very ignorant of the world, and had, as I 
 afterward found, a good deal of the knave in his com 
 position." 
 
 As a further specimen of him it may be mentioned 
 that Keimer had a house, but no furniture ; so that he 
 could not lodge his new journeyman, whose boarding at 
 Bradford s, nevertheless, while working for himself, he 
 disliked. He therefore procured quarters for Benjamin 
 at the house of his future father-in-law, Mr. Read, where, 
 as he says of himself long after, " my chest of clothes 
 being come, I made a rather more respectable appear 
 ance in the eyes of Miss Read, than I had done, when 
 she first happened to see me eating my roll in the 
 street." 
 
 Being now agreeably settled, with sufficient employ 
 ment to enable him, by his own industry and frugality, 
 to provide for himself, he began to make acquaintances 
 " among the young people of the town," particularly 
 such as were " lovers of reading, with whom he spent 
 his evenings very pleasantly," and endeavored to wean 
 his thoughts from Boston as much as possible. 
 
 While thus comfortably situated, working cheerfully 
 at his trade and contented with his prospects, some 
 events occurred, in the course of a few months, which 
 not only led him to revisit his native place much sooner 
 than he had anticipated, but interrupted his present con 
 nexions, and gave a new face and direction to his affairs. 
 
 One of his sisters had married Robert Holmes, who 
 was master of a sloop engaged in the coasting-trade be 
 tween Boston and the towns on the Delaware bay and 
 river. In the course of the winter immediately suc 
 ceeding Benjamin s fixing himself in Philadelphia, the 
 winter of 1723- 4, Holmes arrived with his sloop at 
 Newcastle, about forty miles below Philadelphia, and 
 
SIR WILLIAM KEITH. 49 
 
 while there, hearing of his young brother-in-law, he 
 wrote him a letter, telling him of the sorrow of his pa 
 rents and other relatives, at his having absconded they 
 knew not whither, assuring him that their affection for 
 him was undiminished, and that everything would be 
 arranged to his satisfaction, if he would go back to 
 them, which Holmes earnestly besought him to do. 
 
 To this letter Benjamin wrote a full and kind reply, 
 expressing his thanks to his brother-in-law for the af 
 fectionate regard which had prompted his letter, and 
 placing his own reasons for leaving Boston, in such a 
 point of view and with so much clearness and force, 
 that Holmes became convinced, as he subsequently ad 
 mitted, that Benjamin had " not been so much in the 
 wrong as he had apprehended." 
 
 Sir William Keith, at that period governor of Penn 
 sylvania, happened to be at Newcastle and in company 
 with Captain Holmes, when Benjamin s letter was de 
 livered to his brother-in-law, who, after perusing it him 
 self, handed it to the governor and gave him some ac 
 count of the writer. The governor, having read the 
 letter, made further inquiries respecting Benjamin ; and, 
 on learning his age, manifested much surprise at finding 
 him so young, and not a little admiration at the uncom 
 mon talents and force of character developed so early 
 in life. He went on to say that such a youth should be 
 countenanced and encouraged ; he spoke contemptuous 
 ly of the printers then in Philadelphia, and of the way 
 in which th ey conducted their business ; expressed his 
 entire conviction that, if Benjamin would open a print 
 ing-office on his own account, he would unquestionably 
 be successful ; and declared that, for his own part, he 
 would procure for him the public printing, and would 
 render him every kind of assistance and patronage in 
 his power. 
 
 5 
 
50 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Such, as Captain Holmes informed Benjamin when 
 they subsequently met in Boston, was the warm and en 
 couraging language held by the governor, on the occa 
 sion mentioned. At the time, however, nothing of all 
 this had been made known to Benjamin, when, as he and 
 Keimer were one day at work in their printing-office, 
 on looking through a window near them, they saw two 
 well-dressed gentlemen coming across the street direct 
 ly toward the office, and immediately after heard them 
 at the door below. These gentlemen were Governor 
 Keith and a Colonel French, of Newcastle. 
 
 Keimer, very naturally taking it for granted that their 
 visit was intended for him, and that new custom was at 
 hand, hastened down to admit them. The governor, 
 however, inquired only for Benjamin ; and making his 
 way up-stairs into the office, accosted the young printer 
 with great courtesy, expressed his earnest desire to be 
 come acquainted with him, blamed him, with gracious 
 condescension, for not having made himself known to 
 him on his first arrival at Philadelphia, and insisted on 
 his instantly accompanying himself and his friend Col- 
 oriel French, to the tavern to which they were going, 
 "to taste some excellent Madeira." 
 
 At all this, Benjamin was himself "not a little sur 
 prised," while Keimer " stared with astonishment." Af 
 ter reaching the tavern, and as they were sitting over the 
 wine, Governor Keith announced his proposal that Ben 
 jamin should open a printing-office and go into business 
 as a printer, on his own account. He urged, with much 
 zeal and plausibility, the reasons for calculating on suc 
 cess ; and both Sir William and Colonel French pledged 
 to him their whole interest and influence, to procure for 
 him the public printing of the two governments of 
 Pennsylvania and Delaware. 
 
 To carry such a plan into effect, however, Benjamin 
 
A NEW PROJECT. 51 
 
 had no means of his own, and he frankly stated that he 
 could not count at all upon being able to obtain such 
 means from his father. The governor met this objec 
 tion by promising to write to Josiah Franklin, very 
 fully, and to set forth the advantages of the plan, as well 
 as the reasons why it must succeed, in such a light as 
 would, he was confident, procure his approval and as 
 sistance ; and before the interview ended, it was con 
 cluded that Benjamin should avail himself of the first 
 vessel bound for Boston, to go with Governor Keith s 
 promised letter to his father. Meanwhile the whole 
 scheme was to be kept strictly secret. 
 
 This affair having been thus arranged, Benjamin con 
 tinued to work for Keimer as usual ; his social inter 
 course being varied, and his hopes cheered, by accept 
 ing, from time to time, the invitations of Sir William 
 Keith to dine with him at his own house, on which oc 
 casions Sir William conversed with him in " the most 
 affable, familiar, and friendly manner." 
 
 At length, near the end of April, 1724, a vessel was 
 advertised for Boston. Governor Keith prepared a 
 long and elaborate letter to Benjamin s father, in which 
 he spoke of his son in the strongest terms of commen 
 dation, and urged the proposed plan, with great earnest 
 ness, as being not only every way eligible for the young 
 printer, but as most likely to lay the foundation for his 
 permanent prosperity; and Benjamin, assigning to 
 Keimer, as the reason of his going, a strong desire to 
 visit his relations, took his leave, and embarked for his 
 native town, having completed the eighteenth year of 
 liis age, in the preceding January. In Delaware bay 
 they struck a shoal and started a leak. This and rough 
 weather at sea kept the pumps going, Benjamin taking 
 his turn ; but in two weeks they reached Boston in 
 safety. 
 
52 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HIS VISIT TO BOSTON AND RETURN TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 IT was now seven months since Benjamin had left 
 horrte without the knowledge of any of his relatives, and 
 during all that time they had received no tidings of him; 
 for his brother-in-law, Captain Holmes, had not yet re 
 turned to Boston, since his correspondence with Benja 
 min, while at Newcastle, nor had he said anything con 
 cerning him, in his letters. His appearance, therefore, 
 took his parents and other friends by surprise. They 
 were, nevertheless, glad to see him again, and they all 
 gave him a cordial welcome home, except only his 
 brother James, the printer. In his own narrative, 
 Franklin says : "I went to see him at his printing- 
 house. I was better dressed than ever while in his ser 
 vice, having a genteel new suit from head to foot, a 
 watch, and my pockets lined with near five pounds ster 
 ling, in silver. He received me not very frankly, looked 
 me all over, and turned to his work again." 
 
 This sullen coldness of James, however, did not chill 
 the hands in the office, who received their former work- 
 fellow and companion, now returned from his travels, 
 in a very different spirit. They gave him a hearty 
 greeting, and crowded round him eager to learn where he 
 had been, what he had seen, what he had been doing, and 
 especially howhe liked the place where he had been work 
 ing at his trade, and what encouragements it offered in 
 
 > 
 
DECISION AGAINST THE NEW PROJECT. 53 
 
 that line. Benjamin cheerfully answered their inquiries, 
 spoke warmly in praise of Philadelphia and of the hap 
 py life he led there, and in strong terms declared his 
 intention to return thither. On being asked by one of 
 the hands, what sort of money was commonly in use 
 there, he replied by spreading a handful of silver coin 
 before them, which, as he remarks, was " a kind of 
 raree-show they had not been used to," the currency in 
 Boston, at that period, consisting almost exclusively of 
 paper-money. He then showed them his watch ; and 
 finally, observing the sullen demeanor of his brother, he 
 gave them a dollar to regale themselves with, and took 
 his leave. 
 
 These things, as it afterward appeared, offended his 
 brother deeply ; for when their excellent mother sub 
 sequently took an opportunity to speak to him of recon 
 ciliation, expressing her earnest desire to see them liv 
 ing together in mutual kindness, as brothers should, 
 James replied to her, says Benjamin, "that I had in 
 sulted him in such a manner, before his people, that he 
 could never forget or forgive it." It is gratifying to re 
 cord, however, that in the last particular James was mis 
 taken, and that the two brothers became ultimately rec 
 onciled. 
 
 Josiah Franklin, the father, read Governor Keith s 
 letter, as might well be supposed, with no little surprise. 
 Being a circumspect and prudent man, however, he de 
 ferred saying much about it to Benjamin, until he could 
 see his son-in-law, Captain Holmes, to whom, when he 
 got back to Boston, he immediately showed the letter, 
 and made very particular inquiries of him as to Keith s 
 character; expressing much doubt of his discretion, 
 from his having proposed to place so young a person as 
 Benjamin, in so responsible a situation ; and entering 
 fully into the consideration of the whole matter. 
 
 5* 
 
54 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Holmes, who felt a warm regard for his young brother- 
 in-law and had formed a high estimate of his abilities, 
 presented, in favor of the project, such reasons as his 
 knowledge of Philadelphia and of the prospects of 
 business in that quarter, as well as the capacity of Ben 
 jamin and the esteem in which he was held, could sup 
 ply. But the clear understanding and solid judgment 
 of the father not being convinced, he at length, after 
 due deliberation, gave an unqualified decision against 
 the proposed scheme, and wholly refused to render his 
 assistance to carry it into effect. He stated this deter 
 mination, in very civil language, in a letter to Governor 
 Keith, in which he thanked him for the countenance he 
 had given his son, and for the patronage he had so 
 kindly promised him ; placing his own decision in the 
 case, on the ground that his son was too young and in 
 experienced safely to encounter the responsibilities of a 
 business, which required such considerable means to es 
 tablish it, and so much care, discretion, and steadiness, 
 to manage it successfully. 
 
 But, though such was the decision concerning the pro 
 posed plan, yet Benjamin was largely compensated, for 
 the disappointment of any hopes he might have indulged, 
 in that respect, by the deep gratification his father plain 
 ly manifested, at finding that his son had not only been 
 able to win the notice and esteem of a person of such 
 distinction as Sir William Keith, but that he had also 
 been able, by his industry and frugality, to provide for 
 himself so well, in so short a time. These circum 
 stances, together with the embittered state of feeling 
 on the part of James, which rendered any harmonious 
 co-operation between the two brothers hopeless, at least 
 for the present, induced the father to give his ready 
 consent to Benjamin s return to Philadelphia; accom 
 panying that consent with his advice to the young man 
 
PARENTAL LOVE AND COUNSEL. 55 
 
 to check his propensity to satire ; to seek the esteem 
 and goodwill of the community by a respectful and con 
 ciliatory deportment; and to treat all subjects of grave 
 import, with the considerate sobriety due to them, and 
 with that deference to the feelings as well as the opin 
 ions of others, which is, in truth, the duty of all, but 
 is peculiarly becoming in the young. 
 
 To this sound and apposite counsel, the father, as 
 mindful of his love as of his duty, added the encour 
 aging suggestion, that his son, " by steady industry and 
 prudent parsimony," might, by the time he would be 
 twenty-one, save from his earnings nearly or quite 
 enough to set himself up in business, with his own in 
 dependent means ; but that if, in faithfully pursuing 
 such a course, he should fall somewhat short of the sum 
 requisite for so important a purpose, he would himself, 
 in that case, supply the deficiency. 
 
 " This was all I could obtain," says Franklin, " except 
 some small gifts, as tokens of his and my mother s love, 
 when I embarked again for New York now with their 
 approbation and blessing." And better to the youth 
 were those tokens of parental love, and that parental 
 blessing, than could have been, at that period of his 
 life, the readiest consent to the proposed undertaking, 
 with the most ample supply of money only, to carry it 
 forward. 
 
 The observant and sagacious father, who had long 
 been watching the growth of his son s character, and 
 the form it was receiving from its predominant elements 
 as they unfolded, though he looked on with a cheering 
 hope, yet clearly saw that the gifted youth intrusted to 
 his care, needed a fuller experience of himself, not less 
 than of others, and a judgment more exercised in the 
 actual concerns of life, as well as more settled princi 
 ples and habits of action, before he could safely en coun- 
 
56 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ter the responsibilities of business, or even secure that 
 confidence, on the part of the community, which is as 
 necessary as money, to permanent success in the man 
 agement of private affairs. The events of only a few 
 quick following years, showed Benjamin, very plainly, 
 that his father had, on this occasion, decided wisely ; 
 and the union of considerate kindness, prudence, and 
 firmness, so happily blended in the conduct of his father, 
 throughout this whole affair, presents a beautiful exam 
 ple of the true paternal character. 
 
 While waiting in Boston for his father s decision, as 
 related, Benjamin renewed his intercourse with his for 
 mer companion, Collins, who was now employed as a 
 clerk in the postoifice in that town ; and who became so 
 much smitten with Benjamin s description of Philadel 
 phia, of his associates, and his way of life there, that he 
 resolved to transfer himself to the same place. 
 
 Collins had accumulated what, for a youth in his cir 
 cumstances was a considerable and valuable collection of 
 books, chiefly on mathematics and natural philosophy. 
 Leaving these to go on, by water, with Benjamin s books 
 and under his charge, and wishing to visit some friends in 
 Rhode Island, Collins quitted Boston first, intending to 
 go by land to New York, where the two friends were 
 again to meet and proceed to Philadelphia together. 
 
 It has already been related that, while Benjamin was 
 still employed as a boy in his father s shop, his brother 
 John had married and gone to settle himself in busi 
 ness, in Rhode Island. As the sloop, in which Benja 
 min now took passage for New York, touched at New 
 port, it gave him the very gratifying opportunity of 
 again seeing John, who " received him very affection 
 ately, for he had always loved him." 
 
 While at Newport, a friend of his brother, by the name 
 of Vernon, who had a debt of about thirty-five pounds 
 
QUAKER MATRON S WARNING. 57 
 
 due to him in Pennsylvania, gave Benjamin an order to 
 collect and retain it, until he should receive directions 
 from Vernon how to dispose of the money. This agen 
 cy, before it was over, occasioned him a great deal of 
 uneasiness ; and it will be again mentioned, for the sake 
 of the practical lesson more valuable than the money 
 in question which the circumstances connected with it 
 will furnish. 
 
 The service, which, on the day of his first arrival in 
 Philadelphia, Benjamin received from a worthy young 
 Quaker, in the well-principled kindness with which the 
 latter showed him to a respectable tavern, is doubtless 
 remembered by the reader. He is now about to receive 
 another and somewhat similar, but more important fa 
 vor, from another conscientious and benevolent individ 
 ual of the same exemplary class of people. The cir 
 cumstances alluded to, are related by Franklin in the 
 following passage : 
 
 " At Newport we took in a number of passengers, 
 among whom were two young women, travelling togeth 
 er, and a sensible matron-like Quaker-lady, with her ser 
 vants. I had shown an obliging disposition to render 
 her some little services, which probably impressed her 
 with sentiments of goodwill toward me; for when she 
 witnessed the daily-growing familiarity between the 
 young women and myself, which they appeared to en 
 courage, she took me aside and said : Young man, I 
 am concerned for thee, as thou hast no friend with thee, 
 and seemest not to know much of the world, or of the 
 snares youth is exposed to. Depend upon it these are very 
 bad women. I can see it by all their actions ; and if thou 
 art not upon thy guard, they will draw thee into some 
 danger. They are strangers to thee ; and I advise thee, 
 in a friendly concern for thy welfare, to have no ac 
 quaintance with them. As I seemed at first not to 
 
58 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 think so ill of them as she did, she mentioned some 
 things she had observed arid heard, that had escaped 
 my notice, but now convinced me she was right. I 
 thanked her for her kind advice, and promised to follow 
 it. When we arrived at New York they told me where 
 they lived, and invited me to come and see them. But 
 I avoided it, and it was well I did ; for the next day the 
 captain missed a silver-spoon and some other things, 
 that had been taken out of his cabin ; and knowing that 
 these were a couple of strumpets, he got a warrant to 
 search their lodgings, found the stolen goods, and had 
 the thieves punished. So, though we had escaped a 
 sunken rock, which we scraped upon, in the passage, I 
 thought this escape of rather more importance to me" 
 
 At New York Benjamin again met his friend Collins, 
 according to arrangement. Upon being now thrown, 
 by the circumstances of the case, into a much closer 
 and more constant companionship with him, than could 
 well take place during his recent stay in Boston, he 
 found that his friend s habits and character had under 
 gone a most unhappy change. Through all the intimacy 
 of their boyhood and early youth, Collins had been es 
 teemed for his industry and sobriety, his amiable man 
 ners and love of mental improvement. He had, indeed, 
 disclosed an uncommon genius for mathematics and 
 the physical sciences; and having more leisure than 
 Benjamin, for such studies, he had not only made greater 
 proficiency in them, but had, by his attainments therein, 
 attracted the regard of several men distinguished for 
 their learning, and had given the most hopeful indica 
 tions of future eminence. 
 
 After Benjamin s elopement from Boston, however, 
 the misguided Collins fell into the practice of drinking 
 brandy, which soon ripening into habitual intemperance, 
 led, as usual, to other vices; and his friend on rejoining 
 
VISIT TO GOVERNOR BURNET. 59 
 
 him in New York, was not less grieved, than surprised, 
 to discover that Collins had not only been drunk every 
 day, since his arrival in that city,- but had lost all his 
 money, in gaming ; so that Benjamin had to pay for the 
 whole of his board and lodging while there, and his 
 expenses to Philadelphia. This, however, he would 
 scarcely have been able to do, had he not been fortu 
 nate enough to collect the money due on Vernon s or 
 der; so heavy a drain had Collins made on the purse of 
 his liberal friend. 
 
 While in New York, an incident occurred, which 
 made some compensation to Benjamin for the cost and 
 annoyance occasioned by the misconduct of Collins ; 
 and served to deepen, at least in his own mind, if not 
 in that of his companion, the sense of injury and degra 
 dation, which inevitably result from the habit of intem 
 perate drinking. The incident was long afterward re 
 lated by Benjamin as follows : 
 
 " The then governor of New York, Burnet (son of 
 Bishop Burnet), hearing from the captain that one of 
 his passengers had a great many books on board, de 
 sired him to bring me to see him. I waited on him, and 
 should have taken Collins with me, if he had been sober. 
 The governor received me with great civility ; showed 
 me his library, which was a considerable one ; and we 
 had a good deal of conversation relative to books and 
 authors. This was the second governor, who had done 
 me the honor to take notice of me ; and for a poor boy, 
 like me, it was very pleasing." 
 
 Unhappy, besotted Collins ! He was as highly gifted 
 as his friend ; he possessed at that period of their lives, 
 more science, and a wider range of literary acquire 
 ments ; and had become not a little distinguished for the 
 uncommon fluency, grace, eloquence, variety, and spirit 
 of his conversation. And though he, too, was " a poor 
 
60 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 boy>" yet, if his habits and personal condition had not 
 rendered him, with all his rare gifts and attainments, 
 unfit for any personal intercourse with people of culti 
 vation and refinement, dignity of character and purity 
 of manners, how still more remarkable would have been 
 that interview, in the apartment of Governor Burnet s 
 library, with two such representatives of the young gen 
 eration then verging to maturity, pressing forward to a 
 fame destined to be won in upholding the public liber 
 ties, or in serving and adorning their country by their 
 literary accomplishments and performances, or by ad 
 vancing the limits of human knowledge ! 
 
COLLINS BORROWS VERNON s MONEY. 61 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 VERNON S MONEY COLLINS SIR WILLIAM KEITH MISS 
 READ. 
 
 ON reaching Philadelphia, Collins endeavored to pro 
 cure a clerkship in some counting-house ; but his aspect, 
 or manner, or dram-flavored breath, or all together, must 
 have betrayed him ; for although he had brought recom 
 mendations, and though, but for his fatal habit, these 
 recommendations would probably have been superfluous, 
 yet his applications for a place were unsuccessful ; so 
 that he continued living at the expense of his generous 
 friend, and at the same house with him. 
 
 It was still further unlucky for the latter, that Collins 
 was aware of his having collected Vernon s debt ; inas 
 much as he managed to borrow, from time to time, in 
 petty sums, to be returned " as soon as he should be in 
 business," so much of that fund as to occasion, before 
 long, no little distress to Benjamin, especially when it 
 occurred to him that he might be suddenly required to 
 pay it over to the owner. 
 
 His compliance, in this matter, with the importuni 
 ties of Collins, was the weakest act Benjamin had yet 
 done. Although that compliance proceeded, doubtless, 
 from a warm feeling of kindness for an old friend, 
 wholly unmingled with any conscious intent to do an 
 act morally wrong, and though the language of Vernon, 
 
 6 
 
62 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 when giving him authority to collect the debt, conveyed 
 a plain implication that the money would not be wanted 
 for a considerable time, yet the distress of mind, ari 
 sing from the inborn sense of right and wrong, which 
 Benjamin shortly began to suffer, was the sure token, 
 that, however amiable had been his impulse, and how 
 ever clear his motives from deliberate intent to injure, 
 he had, nevertheless, weakly allowed himself to be led 
 to do, what amounted, in point of fact, to a breach of 
 trust. 
 
 Such, in its naked truth, was the nature of the act in 
 in question ; and it is only one of the many evidences, pre 
 sented in Franklin s life and writings, of that rigorous 
 self-scrutiny and manly candor, which strongly marked 
 his character, that he has, in his own account of his ca 
 reer, taken of this affair substantially, though briefly, the 
 same view, which is here presented somewhat more 
 at length and with more emphasis. And it is thus pre 
 sented here, for the urgent reason that, in the ordinary 
 and daily transactions of life, there is, it is believed, no 
 one form of error in conduct, so common as the very 
 one here considered; not one, into which persons, in 
 every class of society and every condition of fortune, 
 are so frequently drawn by the specious impulses of 
 amiable feeling, honest intention, and the various plau 
 sible fallacies of self-delusion ; not one, which has, first 
 and last, made such havoc of personal honor and good- 
 name, of private and public obligation, or of domestic 
 peace and happiness, as this identical error no, not one. 
 
 For the sake of the warning, furnished by the char 
 acter and termination of the brief career of a youth of 
 such brilliant early promise, as Collins, the remainder 
 of all that is known of him, is here presented. 
 
 In spite of remonstrance, enforced by pecuniary des 
 titution and dependence, Collins continued to indulge his 
 
BEHAVIOR AND FATE OF COLLINS. 63 
 
 thirst for strong drink ; and being very irritable and inso 
 lent when tipsy, he sometimes wrangled even with the 
 friend who had treated him so generously. An instance 
 of this sort is related by that friend, to the following 
 effect : They were in a boat, on the Delaware, with 
 several other young men, one afternoon, when Collins, 
 under the influence of spirituous liquor just enough to 
 carry his perverse wilfulness to its utmost point of un 
 reasonableness, refused to take his turn at the oar. " I 
 will be rowed home," said he. " We will not row you," 
 said Benjamin. " You must," replied Collins, " or stay 
 all night on the water, just as you please." For the 
 sake of quiet, the other young men said " Let us row; 
 what matters it?" But Benjamin, justly indignant at 
 such arrogance, persisted in his determination not to 
 submit to it ; whereupon Collins swore he would make 
 him row, or throw him overboard ; and forthwith stri 
 ding toward him on the benches of the boat, aimed at 
 him a blow, which Benjamin avoided by suddenly bend 
 ing forward ; and at the same instant dexterously thrust 
 ing his head under Collins s thigh, pitched him into the 
 river. Knowing him to be an excellent swimmer, Ben 
 jamin felt no concern about his drowning, and so kept 
 the boat playing around him, but just out of his reach, 
 with the design, and in the hope, of constraining him 
 to promise that he would, if taken back into the boat, 
 do his fair share of the rowing. But Collins, full of 
 ire, though ready to choke with vexation and river- 
 water, obstinately refused to make the required prom 
 ise ; till at last, when his strength was well nigh spent, 
 and he began to be in some real danger, he was drawn 
 into the boat, unsubdued, chilled, and sullen. 
 
 This affair put an end to all free and cordial inter 
 course between the two, who had been so long held in 
 bands of the most intimate companionship. 
 
64 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Not a very long time after, the master of a vessel 
 trading to the West Indies, who had been commissioned 
 to procure a tutor for the sons of an opulent planter of 
 the island of Barbadoes, fell into company with Collins, 
 and after a very short acquaintance engaged him for the 
 situation mentioned. Before going, he promised to 
 avail himself of the first money he should receive, to 
 remit the amount of his debt to Benjamin. But this he 
 never did ; and the friend, whose bounty he had so un 
 worthily enjoyed and abused, never heard of him more. 
 
 It is saddening to think how so brilliant a light, just 
 kindled and beginning to beam in beauty, was so pre 
 maturely quenched ; and the contrast presented by the 
 history of these two youths, in its bearing on the mo 
 mentous duty of self-control, furnishes the young with 
 a lesson, which combines the repellent force of the most 
 solemn warning, with the healthful and cheering incite 
 ments of the most honorable and splendid success. 
 
 But, to return from this digression, Benjamin, it may 
 well be presumed, took the earliest opportunity, after 
 coming back to Philadelphia, to wait on Governor Keith 
 and deliver his father s letter. Sir William, when he 
 had possessed himself of the views which the letter pre 
 sented, insisted that the writer was over-cautious, and 
 did not give sufficient weight to the intrinsic differences 
 in the personal characters of men ; that " discretion did 
 not always accompany years, nor was youth always 
 without it;" but, said he to Benjamin, "since your 
 father will not set you up, I will do it myself. Give me 
 an inventory of the things necessary to be had from 
 England, and I will send for them. You shall repay me 
 when you are able. I am resolved to have a good print 
 er here, and I am sure you must succeed." 
 
 Sir William spoke, on this occasion, as he had spoken 
 and acted from the beginning, with such cordial warmth 
 
CONDUCT OF SIR WILLIAM KEITH. 65 
 
 and apparent sincerity, that Benjamin could not doubt 
 that he was thoroughly in earnest. He therefore looked 
 on Governor Keith as one of the best and most gener 
 ous of men ; and went with a cheerful spirit to prepare 
 a list of such articles, and their quantities, as would be 
 requisite to open a printing-office, on a moderate scale, 
 but still sufficient for the business of the place, at the 
 time ; and amounting, by his estimate, to about one hun 
 dred pounds sterling. 
 
 The list being laid before Sir William, he expressed 
 his approval of it ; but suggested that Benjamin had 
 better go himself to London, for the materials wanted, 
 inasmuch as, by being on the spot, he could not only 
 suit himself exactly, both as to variety and quality, but 
 he could form acquaintances, and make arrangements 
 for correspondence in business, which would prove very 
 advantageous to his permanent interests. 
 
 As the correctness of such a view could not be gain 
 said, the governor concluded the interview, by tell 
 ing Benjamin to get himself ready to go out in the 
 Annis, which was the regular packet between Philadel 
 phia and London, and, in those times, made a passage, 
 each way, annually. 
 
 As the Annis, however, was not to sail for several 
 months, Benjamin, keeping his own counsel, continued 
 working as usual for Keimer ; but chafing in spirit, 
 with self-reproach, on account of the money he had per 
 mitted Collins to wheedle from him, and tormented with 
 growing apprehension of a sudden draft upon him, from 
 Vernon, for the whole sum. Fortunately, however, Ver- 
 non did not make that draft till some years later. 
 
 It will be recollected that Benjamin, while working, 
 as an apprentice, for his brother James, adopted the 
 practice of feeding exclusively on vegetable diet. He 
 adhered faithfully to that practice, until, on his late voy- 
 
 6* 
 
66 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 age from Philadelphia to Boston, circumstances occur 
 red which induced him to give it up. On that voyage, 
 the vessel, when off Block island, was becalmed ; where 
 upon the sailors, getting out their fishing-tackle, went 
 to catching cod, of which they took a great many. 
 
 Though Benjamin had, for a considerable time, been 
 holding the doctrine of his dietetical guide, Tryon, that 
 it was wrong to make food of anything that once had 
 lived, and though he had, therefore, regarded the taking 
 of these cod, as an indefensible destruction of the great 
 gift of life ; yet he had, also, at an earlier day and for a 
 longer period, been exceedingly fond of fish ; and when 
 the sailors, quitting catching for cooking, made a fry of 
 some noble cod fresh from the deep cool waters, the 
 warm steam from the pan greeted his smell with so 
 rich a flavor, as mightily to shake his exclusive faith in 
 vegetables. 
 
 While he was still balancing, as he relates, between 
 principle and inclination, he suddenly recollected that, 
 when these cod were opened, he saw smaller fish taken 
 from their stomachs. This flagrant fact determined him. 
 If these fish feed upon each other, why might not he 
 feed upon them; and so, satisfying his understanding 
 with the law of retaliation, he straightway satisfied his 
 appetite with a delicious meal of fried cod. 
 
 From that time forward, he ceased to exclude fish, or 
 flesh, from his customary food ; resorting to a merely 
 vegetable diet, only when the state of his health seemed 
 to ask for some temporary change of regimen. " So 
 convenient a thing it is," he pithily remarks, " to be a 
 reasonable creature ; since it enables one to find, or to 
 make, a reason for everything one has a mind to do." 
 
 During the months in which Benjamin was waiting, 
 in hope, for the Annis to sail for England, his life passed 
 on both pleasantly and usefully ; and it will be alike en- 
 
KEIMER AND HIS NOTIONS. 67 
 
 tertaining and proper to present an outline of some of 
 its more salient features. 
 
 He lived, in the main, on good terms with Keimer ; 
 for although that eccentric person had a whimsical mind, 
 and a suspicious and irritable temper, yet, as he knew 
 nothing at all of Benjamin s plans, seldom did anything 
 interpose itself to disturb their harmony. The young 
 journeyman, moreover, was a quick and shrewd discerner 
 of character, and thoroughly understanding that of his 
 employer, he had, in this respect, greatly the advantage ; 
 so that, while dealing with him most uprightly in all 
 matters of business, in which he was exceedingly useful 
 to him, yet would his quick perception and good-natured 
 enjoyment of the ludicrous, occasionally lead him, in 
 various harmless forms, to make his employer s peculiar 
 humors and ways of thinking tributary to his own amuse 
 ment. 
 
 Keimer, without any analytical power of mind, or any 
 real ability to reason, had, nevertheless, what is quite as 
 common with such persons, as with truly skilful and 
 profound logicians, an inordinate propensity to argu 
 mentation a propensity which no more implies the 
 power of legitimate reasoning, than cunning implies 
 true wisdom and, for a time at least, nothing seemed 
 to please him so well as to draw Benjamin into discus 
 sion. When thus engaged, the latter would ply his an 
 tagonist with the Socratic method, in the use of which, 
 as we have seen, he had made himself very adroit. 
 Pressed by this mode of conducting a controversy, 
 Keimer pretty soon began to find himself so frequently 
 and unexpectedly entangled in his own concessions, by 
 means of questions, the bearings of which he did not 
 perceive, and which seemed to him, when put, wholly 
 unconnected with any point under consideration, but 
 which were shortly seen to be gradually involving the 
 
68 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 whole issue, and bringing him into contradictions and 
 other difficulties, that at last, says Franklin, he grew so 
 ridiculously cautious, that he would hardly answer the 
 most common question, without first asking "What 
 do you mean by that? What do you intend to infer 
 from that 1" 
 
 The readiness with which Benjamin, in these debates, 
 vanquished his antagonist, co-operating with the exalted 
 self-esteem of the latter, led to a singular result. Keimer 
 received so profound a conviction of the subtlety and 
 skill which had discomfited him and which must, there 
 fore, his self-complacency inferred, yet more surely 
 overmaster others, that he now announced, with much 
 gravity, a scheme he had, he said, been long meditating, 
 for founding a new sect in religion ; and he zealously 
 urged his young journeyman to unite with him to carry 
 it into effect. What the particular vagaries of Keimer s 
 brain were, which were to constitute the fundamental 
 articles of the new faith, Franklin has very properly 
 deemed not worth recording ; but whatever they may 
 have been, Keimer himself was to be the great pro- 
 pounder and teacher of the new doctrines, while his 
 young associate was to do the controversial part and 
 shut the mouth of cavil. 
 
 Of course Benjamin s native common sense did not 
 permit him to give a moment s serious thought to the 
 crazy project ; but thinking it fair game for ridicule, he 
 affected to listen to it, with the view of extracting some 
 amusement from its projector. Among the external 
 badges, which were to mark the disciples of the new 
 creed, Keimer proposed to adopt two of his own per 
 sonal customs, that of wearing the beard entire, and 
 that of observing the seventh day of the week as the 
 sabbath. 
 
 Benjamin, even at that early age, entertained but a 
 
NEW SECT CHANGE OF DIET. 69 
 
 poor opinion of all those eccentric whimsies about things 
 merely external and formal, which contain no germ of 
 moral improvement, to compensate for the inconveni 
 ence they occasion, by clashing with the prevalent 
 usages of society ; and still less did he value anything 
 merely for its oddity. A stipulation, however, not to 
 " mar the corners of the beard," could not much em 
 barrass a youth of eighteen; and the observance of 
 Saturday as a day of rest, could occasion little inconve 
 nience, while he continued at work where he then was ; 
 so he allowed himself to accede to the two propositions 
 mentioned, but only on the condition, however, that the 
 destined founder of the new sect should, on his part, 
 renounce all animal food. 
 
 Keimer winced at this condition, for he was, as it 
 appears, uncommonly partial to meat, and a voracious 
 feeder. " I doubt my constitution will not bear a total 
 abstinence from flesh" said the meat-loving and reluct 
 ant Keimer. " O, yes it will, and you will be the better 
 f or it" said Benjamin. For the sake of the new re 
 ligion and the general welfare, however, the Reformer, 
 after some hesitation, consented to make the proposed 
 trial, provided his fellow-laborer would join him in it; to 
 which the latter promptly agreed. 
 
 The compact thus made, was adhered to, as Franklin 
 states, for three months ; the provisions being procured, 
 cooked, and served to them, by a woman dwelling near 
 by, pursuant to a list, furnished by Benjamin, descri 
 bing " forty dishes into which there entered neither 
 fish, flesh, nor fowl." This diet had the further recom 
 mendation that it cost them barely " eighteen-pence ster 
 ling each, per week." Benjamin went on very comfor 
 tably under the new victualling compact; "but poor 
 Keimer suffered grievously, grew tired of the project, 
 longed for the flesh-pots of Egypt, and ordered a roast 
 
70 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pig." Benjamin and two other acquaintances were in 
 vited to the feast on this occasion ; but the dinner hap 
 pening to be served rather early, Keimer was unable to 
 resist the savory temptation, and before the guests ar 
 rived, eat up the pig. 
 
 In relating these incidents Franklin states that, in the 
 subsequent course of his life, he " kept Lent," at vari 
 ous times, in the strictest manner, abruptly quitting his 
 ordinary diet, and as abruptly returning to it ; and hav 
 ing done so without any injury whatever, he concluded 
 that the usual advice to make such changes gradually, 
 was of little value. 
 
 Another affair, however, was going on, at this period, 
 of far more serious import to the parties, than anything 
 connected with the fantastic Keimer. This was Benja 
 min s courtship of Miss Read, for whom he had begun 
 to cherish " a great respect and affection, and had some 
 reasons to believe that she had the same" for him. But 
 they were yet very young, each having seen little more 
 than eighteen years, and he being about to undertake 
 a distant voyage, uncertain as to its results. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the prudent mother of 
 Miss Read interposed so far as to caution the young 
 people against involving themselves in any needless en 
 gagements, which would, at that time, be deemed inju 
 dicious, and which might subsequently become the oc 
 casion of embarrassment and regret ; adding that, how 
 ever much disposed they might be to marry, and however 
 unobjectionable such a union might be ultimately con 
 sidered, it would be best, at least, to defer it, until after 
 Benjamin s return from England, when his condition 
 would be more settled, and he would better understand 
 his own prospects. The mother s advice was substan 
 tially followed. 
 
HIS ASSOCIATES. 71 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 BENJAMIN S WAY OF LIFE SAILS FOR ENGLAND. 
 
 BY this time, also, Benjamin had formed several val 
 uable as well as agreeable acquaintances among persons 
 of his own sex and time of life. Of the young men, 
 who had become his principal and most intimate asso 
 ciates, he has given the names of Charles Osborne, Jo 
 seph Watson, and James Ralph " all lovers of read 
 ing" and obviously, from his account of them, all of 
 them possessing more than ordinary abilities and attain 
 ments. Osborne and Watson, it appears, were clerks 
 in the office of Charles Brockden, a very reputable con 
 veyancer; and Ralph was a clerk in a respectable mer 
 cantile house. 
 
 Of Watson he relates that he "was a pious, sensible 
 young man, of great integrity ; and although the other 
 two were " more lax in their principles of religion," 
 yet, in other respects, they seem clearly to have been 
 attractive companions. Osborne is described as " sen 
 sible, candid, frank ; sincere and affectionate to his 
 friends; but, in literary matters, too fond of criticism ;" 
 Ralph as being easy and graceful in his manners, inge 
 nious, eloquent, and a particularly agreeable talker; and 
 both, not only great lovers of poetry, but occasionally 
 trying their own skill in verse. 
 
 In the occasional conversation of these young men, 
 
72 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 respecting their tastes, and views in life, Ralph, it ap 
 pears, showed a strong predilection for poetry, and de 
 clared his confident belief that, by cultivating it assid 
 uously, he could win both fame and fortune. Osborne 
 thought differently, and urged his friend to apply him 
 self strictly to business ; insisting that he had no true 
 genius for poetry, but that by making himself an accom 
 plished merchant and accountant, he might, though with 
 out capital, obtain the agency of some wealthy house, 
 and in time become a partner, or acquire the means of 
 trading on his own account. Franklin adhered to the 
 opinion, which, as has been seen, he had formed years 
 before, that it was useful to cultivate poetry, or practise 
 versification, for.the sake of acquiring a readier com 
 mand of language and a more varied power of expres 
 sion ; but no further. 
 
 The declaration of these opinions led to a proposal 
 that they should, at their next meeting, each present a 
 performance in verse, composed by himself, to be sub 
 mitted to their respective critical remarks, for the sake 
 of mutual improvement. The object being improve 
 ment in language and style simply, it was agreed that 
 invention, or originality of conception, was not to be 
 considered ; and, in order to confine themselves strictly 
 to the end in view, they appointed for their task, the 
 eighteenth psalm, describing the descent of Deity, to 
 be rendered in verse. 
 
 A day or two before the next meeting, Ralph called 
 on Franklin, showed him his performance, which was 
 exceedingly well done, and finding that Franklin had 
 been too busy to prepare anything himself for the meet 
 ing, Ralph proposed a trap for Osborne, to expose his 
 hypercritical spirit, and bring home, to his own con 
 sciousness, a clear perception of his undue propensity 
 to cavil. "Osborne will never allow the least merit in 
 
A TRAP FOR OSBORNE. 73 
 
 anything of mine," said Ralph, " but makes a thousand 
 criticisms out of mere envy. He is not so jealous of 
 you. I wish, therefore, you would produce this piece 
 as yours. I will pretend not to have had time, and will 
 produce nothing. We shall then hear what he will say 
 to it." This was agreed to ; and Franklin transcribed 
 the piece, so that it should appear in his own hand-wri 
 ting. The result is given in Franklin s own words, as 
 follows : 
 
 "We met; Watson s performance was read; there 
 were some beauties in it, but many defects. Osborne s 
 was much belter; Ralph did it justice ; remarked some 
 faults, but applauded the beauties. He had himself 
 nothing to produce. I was backward, seemed desirous 
 of being excused, had not- had sufficient time to correct, 
 &c. ; but no excuse could be admitted ; produce I must. 
 It was read and repeated ; Watson and Osborne gave 
 up the contest, and joined in applauding it. Ralph only 
 made a few criticisms, and proposed some amendments ; 
 but I defended the text. Osborn was severe against 
 Ralph, and told him he was no better able to criticise 
 than compose verses. As these two were returning 
 home, Osborne expressed himself still more strongly in 
 favor of what he thought my production, having before 
 refrained, as he said, lest 1 should think he meant to 
 flatter me. But who could have imagined, said he, 
 that Franklin was capable of such a performance ; such 
 painting, such force, such fire ! In common conversa 
 tion he seems to have no choice of words ; he hesitates 
 and blunders ; yet how he writes ! When we next 
 met, Ralph disclosed the trick, and Osborne was laughed 
 at." A sufficiently efficacious remedy, one would think, 
 this must have been, against the further exhibition of 
 Osborne s hypercritical spleen, at least in presence of 
 the same circle of companions. 
 7 
 
74 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 In the absence of any recorded notice of the particu 
 lar studies of young Franklin, at this period of his life, 
 these anecdotes may furnish some indication that his 
 course of reading must probably have been as varied 
 and extensive, as the intervals of his regular employ 
 ment, and the access to books, at that day, in the city 
 where he dwelt, would permit ; and they seem to claim 
 insertion, not only for that reason, nor merely as amu 
 sing incidents, but still more as illustrations of charac 
 ter and of some of the influences under which his own 
 was then unfolding. 
 
 Of the young men just introduced to the reader, as 
 the names of Watson and Osborne do not occur, in con 
 nection with the subject of our narrative, at any subse 
 quent stage of its progress, it may be interesting to 
 state, that Watson, to use the words of Franklin, "died 
 in his arms a few years later, much lamented, being the 
 best of the set;" and that Osborne established himself 
 as a lawyer, in the West Indies, where he acquired both 
 distinction and wealth, and yet died in the prime of 
 manhood. 
 
 The connection of Ralph, with young Franklin, con 
 tinued much longer, and was attended by more serious 
 consequences, which, however, do not yet call for no 
 tice. It will be sufficient to state, here, that his incli 
 nation to give himself to poetry, was naturally and not 
 a little strengthened by the incident already related; 
 and, in spite of dissuasion, "he continued scribbling 
 verses," says Franklin, " till Pope cured him." He 
 went, as will be seen, with Franklin, in the Annis, to 
 London, where he afterward passed most of his life. 
 He acquired considerable prominence as a prose writer, 
 and lived by his pen, which he employed frequently in 
 the service of the ministerial party. Besides numerous 
 political pamphlets, and some more elaborate historical 
 
RALPH KEITH S LETTERS MISS READ. 75 
 
 performances of conceded ability, he produced various 
 dramatic pieces and poems of less merit. Among these 
 last, was a poem entitled " Night," and one called 
 " Sawney ," the latter containing some abuse of Pope 
 and Swift ; and the cure above alluded to, was admin 
 istered in the celebrated " Dunciad," in the following 
 couplet : 
 
 " Silence, ye wolves, while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 
 Making Night hideous ; answer him, ye owls !" 
 
 These particulars are gathered chiefly from a note 
 compiled by the vigilant and learned editor of the latest, 
 most complete and valuable edition of the writings of 
 Franklin, where it is also stated that Ralph was, " for 
 many years, the confidential associate of ministers and 
 courtiers ;" and that a little before his death, which oc 
 curred in 1762, the moderate pension, on which he had 
 long lived, was increased to six hundred pounds ster 
 ling, through the influence of Lord Bute. 
 
 While Franklin was thus working for Keimer, and 
 occupying the greater part of his leisure with books, 
 and with the companions mentioned, Sir William Keith 
 continued his friendly attentions to him, inviting him 
 frequently to his house, often adverting to the plan of 
 setting him up in business, and always treating it as " a 
 fixed thing," awaiting only the coming on of time, to be 
 fully accomplished. Sir William was to furnish him, 
 not only with various recommendatory letters to efficient 
 and influential friends in London, but also with a letter 
 of credit, on which the money to pay for the press, 
 types, and other requisite materials for the new print 
 ing-office, was to be obtained. 
 
 These very essential documents, however, though of 
 ten promised, were as often delayed, from time to time, 
 till the Annis was on the very eve of sailing ; and even 
 then, when Benjamin made his last call, to receive the 
 
76 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 letters and take leave of the governor, instead of being 
 enabled to do either, Sir William sent out his secretary 
 to say that he was just then extremely busy, but that 
 he would be down at Newcastle sooner than the ship, 
 and that the letters should there be delivered to him. 
 
 Benjamin, therefore, after exchanging pledges of affec 
 tion and fidelity, with Miss Read, and bidding his other 
 friends good-by, went on board, and the packet dropped 
 down the Delaware to Newcastle. Governor Keith was, 
 indeed, there ; but when Benjamin once more went to his 
 lodgings, his secretary again presented himself, with the 
 deep regrets of the governor, that business of the ut 
 most importance, demanding his whole attention and 
 immediate execution, so engrossed him, that it would 
 prevent his seeing his young friend, but that he would 
 send the letters for him on board in good season, and 
 wished him a pleasant voyage and a speedy return. 
 With this parting message, Benjamin, not a little puz 
 zled, but still confiding, repaired on board the Annis. 
 
 The other persons, who had taken passage for Eng 
 land in the same vessel, were Andrew Hamilton, an em 
 inent lawyer of Philadelphia, and his son James, who, 
 some years after, became governor of the province of 
 Pennsylvania ; a Quaker merchant named Denham ; 
 Messrs. Oniam and Russell, iron-masters, whose works 
 were situated in Maryland; and James Ralph, with 
 whom we already have some acquaintance. The entire 
 cabin of the Annis had been engaged by these per 
 sons, except Ralph ; so that he and Benjamin had to 
 bestow themselves in the steerage, and being unknown 
 to the other passengers, they were supposed to be per 
 sons of little consequence. 
 
 While the packet was waiting at Newcastle, however, 
 the Hamiltons returned to Philadelphia, the father having 
 been drawn back "by a great fee, to plead for a seized 
 
VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 77 
 
 ship ;" and Governor Keith s friend, Colonel French, com 
 ing on board just before the Annis set sail, and being ob 
 served to pay marked respect to Benjamin, it produced 
 such an improved estimate of the quality of the young 
 man, that he and his friend Ralph soon received an in 
 vitation from the other passengers, to take the berths 
 and other accommodations in the cabin, which had been 
 so opportunely vacated by Mr. Hamilton and his son. 
 This invitation was gladly accepted. 
 
 It being understood that Colonel French had brought 
 on board despatches from Governor Keith, Benjamin 
 took it for granted that now, at last, with them had 
 come the long-promised letters intended for himself; 
 and naturally wishing to have them in his own keeping, 
 he applied for them to the captain of the ship. He was 
 answered, however, that his letters with all others going 
 out, were in the bag together, and that they could not 
 then be conveniently got hold of; but that, before land 
 ing in England, he should have ample opportunity to 
 obtain possession of them. Contenting himself with 
 this assurance, he laid aside all further concern on that 
 score, and opened his mind to the reception of such new 
 impressions as the voyage and its incidents should fur 
 nish. 
 
 Only a very brief notice of this outward voyage has 
 been left by Franklin. From that, however, it appears 
 that the company in the cabin fared uncommonly well, 
 inasmuch as the stores provided by Mr. Hamilton, being 
 left in the ship, made the supply unusually abundant; 
 and the passengers found themselves sufficiently agree 
 able to each other, to render the passage a pleasant one 
 inboard ; but in other respects it was made uncomforta 
 ble by the general prevalence of rough weather. Of 
 the incidents which occurred on board, by far the most 
 interesting one to Benjamin, was his acquisition of the 
 
 7* 
 
78 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 friendship of his Quaker fellow-passenger, Mr. Den- 
 ham a friendship, which soon proved exceedingly use 
 ful to him, and ultimately led to a closer and more im 
 portant connection, and which continued without inter 
 ruption, or disturbance, till it was forever sundered by 
 death. 
 
 While going up the British channel, Benjamin had 
 the promised opportunity to overhaul the letter-bag. 
 Finding several letters bearing his own name as the 
 person who was to take charge of them, with some oth 
 ers, which, judging by the names of those to whom 
 they were addressed and other tokens, seemed intended 
 for his use, he took possession of them. But, alas for 
 the good-faith of pretended friendship and for the hopes 
 it had inspired, the sequel showed that all these letters 
 were utterly worthless, and that this youth had been 
 cruelly cheated by the smooth-tongued deceiver, who 
 was then the governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
ARRIVES AT LONDON. 79 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RESULT OP THE VOYAGE PENJAMIN s FIRST EXPERIEN 
 CES IN LONDON. 
 
 THE passengers of the Annis reached London in safe 
 ty, on the 24th of December, 1724; and Benjamin 
 wasted no time before making use of the documents, 
 from which he had been induced to expect so much 
 benefit. One of the letters bearing the address of a 
 Mr. Basket, designated as the King s printer, and an 
 other being directed to a stationer, whose name is riot 
 given, Benjamin, naturally inferring, from the occupa 
 tions of the men whose names they bore, that these two 
 letters would be found to relate, most directly and ma 
 terially, to the main object of his voyage, selected them 
 for immediate delivery. 
 
 The stationer happening to be nearest by, to him Ben 
 jamin first proceeded. Finding him in his shop, he 
 handed the letter to him, saying, as he did so, what he 
 of course took for granted was the fact, that it was from 
 Sir William Keith, governor of the province of Penn 
 sylvania. The stationer remarked that he did not know 
 any such person, but took the letter, and opening it cast 
 his eye upon the signature, when he suddenly exclaimed 
 "O, this is from Riddlesden ! I have lately found 
 him to be a complete rascal ; and I will have nothing to 
 do with him, nor receive any letters from him." So, 
 
80 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 handing back the unread epistle, "he turned on his 
 heel," says Franklin, " and left me, to serve a customer." 
 
 In short, the upshot of this affair was, that not one of 
 the letters, on which so many hopes had been built, was 
 written by Keith ; and now looking back upon his con 
 duct, in the new light poured upon it, Benjamin began, 
 for the first time, to entertain doubts of the honesty and 
 good faith of Sir William Keith, the governor of Penn 
 sylvania. 
 
 Startled by such a result, and filled with apprehen 
 sions, arising from the predicament, in which that result 
 placed him, Benjamin straightway sought out his late fel 
 low-passenger, Denham, and laid the whole matter, from 
 first to last, fully before him. The intelligent and fair- 
 minded Quaker merchant at once let his young friend 
 into, what he was not before aware had been a secret to 
 him the real character of his professing patron. Mr. 
 Denham told Benjamin that there was not the slightest 
 probability that Keith had either written, or had seri 
 ously intended to write, a single letter for his benefit, 
 notwithstanding all his solemn pledges and hospitable 
 attentions ; that nobody, having any knowledge of Sir 
 William and his ways, placed the smallest dependence 
 on his most earnest assurances ; and he laughed heartily 
 at the very idea of a letter -of -credit from a man, who 
 possessed not a particle of that valuable commodity for 
 his own use, or for the service of others. 
 
 Faithless, heartless, and disgraceful as the conduct 
 of Sir William Keith was in this affair, yet, after all, 
 his character, in its general elements at least, was not, 
 we suspect, a very uncommon one. He seems to have 
 been one of those sociable, good-humored, and smiling, 
 but selfish and thick-skinned men, who, though posses 
 sing some agreeable and useful qualities, and often ex 
 hibiting considerable talents fur business, yet have no 
 
81 
 
 very clear perception of many of the differences between 
 right and wrong, and appear unable to recognise them, 
 unless in a coarse way and in the broadest cases ; who, 
 though perhaps seldom actuated by any cherished mal 
 ice, yet have no well-settled moral principles for the 
 uniform regulation of their own conduct ; men of cold 
 affections, and little real sympathy, but of sanguine 
 temperament, lively animal spirits, much self-compla 
 cency, addicted to company, voluble talkers, fond of no 
 toriety, with but little sense of honor and shame, ready 
 with expedients, and eager for place and influence. 
 
 Such men are very apt to play the patron, not so 
 much, however, for the sake of their clients, as for their 
 own; and some calculation of advantage to himself, 
 seems very likely to have suggested to Keith, the expe 
 diency of affecting to patronise Benjamin, and to have 
 led him to obtrude himself and his proffers of assistance 
 upon a youth of so much promise. 
 
 Franklin closes his account of Sir William and their 
 connection, with a short comment which, considering 
 the heartlessness and wanton cruelty of Keith s usage 
 of him, bears the most unequivocal testimony to that 
 spirit of candor and forbearance, which marked and 
 adorned his own character, through life. 
 
 "What shall we think," says Franklin, "of a gov 
 ernor playing such pitiful tricks and imposing so grossly 
 on a poor ignorant boy] It was a Tidbit he had ac 
 quired. He wished to please everybody ; and having 
 little else to give, he gave expectations. He was, oth 
 erwise, an ingenious and sensible man ; a pretty good 
 writer ; and a good governor for the people, though not 
 for his constituents, the Proprietaries, whose instruc 
 tions he sometimes disregarded. Several of our best 
 laws were of his planning, and passed during his ad 
 ministration." 
 
82 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 But the fraud, which had been practised upon Benja 
 min, was not the only piece of treachery brought to 
 light by this letter of Riddlesden. This man was an 
 attorney in Philadelphia, and both Mr. Denham and 
 Benjamin were as fully aware as the stationer, that Rid 
 dlesden was a thorough-going knave. His letter, writ 
 ten under the expectation that Andrew Hamilton, who 
 had been suddenly recalled from Newcastle to Phila 
 delphia, was going to England in the Annis, betrayed 
 the fact that a plot was going on, to injure Mr. Hamil 
 ton, and that Keith and Riddlesden were the plotters. 
 
 Mr. Denham, who was a friend of Mr. Hamilton s, 
 very justly thought that gentleman should be informed 
 of the mischief that was hatching; and when he reached 
 London, as he did, not very long after, in another ves 
 sel, Benjamin called on him and gave him the letter. 
 " He thanked me cordially," says Franklin many years 
 later, "the information being of importance to him; 
 and from that time he became my friend, greatly to my 
 advantage afterward, on many occasions." 
 
 By the shameful and wanton perfidy of Keith, thus, 
 without an acquaintance in London, except one or two 
 of his own countrymen, who were shortly to return 
 home with very scanty means of support, and these 
 soon to be exhausted, unless he should be able to pro 
 cure employment, was Benjamin, a youth oP eighteen, 
 a stranger from another land, left exposed to the perils 
 of a great city. Happy for him, was it, then, that he 
 had a trade. For a poor unfriended youth, without 
 money, or connections, there is, under Providence, no 
 better reliance than the possession of one of those hon 
 est and useful mechanical arts, which belong, perma 
 nently, to the very structure of civilized society, and are 
 essential to the ordinary and daily recurring wants and 
 uses of the community. With such a resource, no hon- 
 
HOW SITUATED IN LONDON. 83 
 
 est and right-minded person, young, or old, needs de 
 spond, while he has health, and cherishes a spark of 
 genuine self-respect, or has any just sense of the true 
 respectability and virtue of useful self-sustaining labor. 
 
 With these manly sentiments in his breast, and with 
 the advice and sympathy of his friend Denham to en 
 courage him, Benjamin at once set about finding em 
 ployment. This he soon procured, at Palmer s, " a fa 
 mous printing-house in Bartholomew Close," where he 
 remained nearly a year. Stranger as he was in Lon 
 don, the only person with whom he could have anything 
 like intimate companionship, was Ralph, and they were 
 a great deal together. They took lodgings in that part 
 of the city called Little Britain, at three shillings and 
 sixpence sterling a week for each. 
 
 At this time, Ralph acquainted Benjamin with his de 
 termination never to return to Philadelphia. His whole 
 stock of money having been exhausted in paying the ex 
 penses of his voyage, he was now destitute ; and though 
 he had some family relatives in London, yet they were 
 too poor to render him any assistance. He had, there 
 fore, no resource but dependence upon Benjamin, who 
 possessed a small fund of fifteen pistoles, about fifty 
 dollars, and who furnished his friend with what money 
 was necessary for his subsistence, while he was looking 
 about for employment. 
 
 This connection proved, as in the case of Collins, 
 another considerable burden, for the time being, to Ben 
 jamin; and, ultimately, he had to sustain a total loss of 
 the money thus generously furnished; for Ralph, after 
 trying in vain to procure an engagement, as a play-ac 
 tor, at one of the theatres, then proposed to a publisher, 
 to write for him a weekly paper on the plan of the 
 Spectator. His terms, however, not proving accepta 
 ble, he next sought employment, as a scrivener, among 
 
84 LIFE OF ItKNJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the stationers and lawyers of the Middle Temple, and 
 its purlieus ; but still without success, as he could find 
 no vacancy. 
 
 To Benjamin, with his trade, in which, for so expert 
 and efficient a workman as he was, employment might 
 be considered certain, the danger of not being able 
 to provide a decent and comfortable subsistence, was 
 scarcely worth a moment s anxiety. In such a city as 
 London, however, there were other perils, of a graver 
 nature, needing more energy of character and more 
 strength of virtuous resolution, in a youth of eighteen, 
 of social disposition and ardent temperament, to pass 
 safely through ; and in reference to these perils, his 
 companion Ralph was no help to him. 
 
 During the customary working hours, Benjamin was 
 sufficiently diligent and attentive to his duties as a jour 
 neyman. His evenings, however, were generally, at 
 this period, devoted to mere diversion ; especially to 
 visiting the play-houses and other places of public 
 amusement. On these occasions Ralph was usually his 
 associate; and as he had himself to defray the expenses 
 of both, his pistoles rapidly melted away, together with 
 a considerable portion of his wages besides. Ralph 
 seemed to have forgotten the wife and child he had left 
 behind him at Philadelphia ; and Benjamin, as he sub 
 sequently confesses, gave little attention to the duties 
 imposed on him, by his engagements with Miss Read, to 
 whom he wrote " but one letter, and that was to let her 
 know he was not likely soon to return." 
 
 This was an unwarrantable neglect of duty ; and 
 long after, in writing his own account of his conduct, in 
 this respect, he had the honesty to admit it ; pronoun 
 cing it " one of the great errata of his life, which he 
 should wish to correct, if he were to live his life over 
 again." In point of fact, his inability to go back to 
 
PERILS IN LONDON. 85 
 
 Philadelphia, was owing to the expenses incurred by 
 himself and his companion, which prevented his accu 
 mulating a sum sufficient to meet the charges of a re 
 turn voyage. But the want of money was not now the 
 chief impediment in the path of his duty. Notwith 
 standing that want, he could easily have performed at 
 least a part of his obligations, by keeping up a corre 
 spondence with one to whom he had plighted his love 
 and truth ; and the mere fact that he disregarded an ob 
 ligation so plain and so easy to fulfil, speaks, with more 
 emphasis, than even his own honest confession, of the 
 perils to which the perfidy of Keith had exposed him, 
 and of the downward tendencies of that pagan manner 
 of living, the temptations of which he was now begin 
 ning to feel with bounding pulses and sparkling eyes. 
 There is, in truth, nothing in human life that produces 
 such intense selfishness, or so soon hardens the heart 
 and benumbs the conscience, as those forms of self-in 
 dulgence, which are found exclusively in the gratifica 
 tion of the senses and in mere amusement. 
 
 In the same house in Little Britain, in which Ben 
 jamin and Ralph lodged, a young woman, who was en 
 gaged in business as a milliner, also had lodgings, 
 though she kept her shop in another building in the 
 neighborhood. She is designated in Franklin s narra 
 tive, simply as Mrs. T. ; and she seems to have been a 
 young widow with one child. She is described as be 
 ing a sensible and sprightly person, of attractive man 
 ners, and of uncommonly agreeable conversation. Ralph 
 not unfrequently passed his evenings in reading plays 
 to her ; and their intercourse shortly became too inti 
 mate to continue innocent. It was not long, therefore, 
 before she changed her lodgings, and he soon joining 
 her, they dwelt together for several weeks. But he not 
 having yet been able to procure any regular employ- 
 
 8 
 
86 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ment, and the avails of her business being too scanty 
 to support both themselves and her child, he left Lon 
 don, after a while, to seek employment, in the country, 
 as teacher of a village-school, for which he felt himself 
 amply qualified, by his skill in penmanship, arithmetic, 
 and keeping accounts. 
 
 With the false pride, however, which formed a con 
 trolling element of his character, though not ashamed of 
 his licentious conduct, he deemed the useful and there 
 fore honorable occupation of teaching a school, beneath 
 his deserts and dignity. To prevent his being ever 
 traced back to that occupation, when, at any subsequent 
 period, he should have attained a position more worthy, 
 in his own estimation, of his capacity and merit, he 
 dropped his true family name, and did Franklin " the 
 honor," as the latter words it, "to assume Ms." This 
 circumstance was disclosed to Benjamin by receiving, 
 not long after, a letter from Ralph, dated at an obscure 
 village in Berkshire, informing him that he was engaged 
 in teaching some ten or twelve boys to read, write, and 
 cipher, for sixpence a week each ; recommending also 
 his friend, the milliner, to Benjamin s kind offices, and 
 requesting him to address his letters to " Mr. Franklin, 
 schoolmaster " at the village alluded to. 
 
 The instruction of his little pupils was, of course, a 
 light task for Ralph s active mind, and in the leisure 
 and seclusion of his present situation, turning to what 
 we have already seen was his favorite pursuit, he under 
 took the composition of an epic poem. The subject and 
 title of the poem are not stated ; but in his frequent 
 letters to Benjamin he enclosed copious specimens of 
 it, requesting the favor of his remarks and strictures 
 thereon, in the spirit of free and independent criticism. 
 Benjamin complied, with freedom and candor, but at 
 the same time, and with right judgment, too, "endeav- 
 
MISCONDUCT RELIEVED FROM RALPH. 87 
 
 ored to discourage his proceeding." With this view, 
 he took the trouble to transcribe the greater portion of 
 a then newly-published satire from the pen of the cele 
 brated Dr. Young, author of the " Night Thoughts" 
 the work by which its author is most generally known 
 in this country, being held in high estimation by the 
 more sedate and meditative lovers of poetry among us ; 
 and which, though containing some offences against 
 taste, particularly in its occasional extravagance of ex 
 pression, does, nevertheless, abound with lofty and ele 
 vating views, and with just as well as striking and bril 
 liant thoughts and images, presented, for the most part, 
 in a style of remarkable vigor and varied beauty. The 
 satire, so much of which was thus disinterestedly trans- 
 scribed for Ralph s benefit, " set in a strong light," says 
 Franklin, " the folly of pursuing the muses ; but all 
 was in vain, and sheets of the poem continued to come, 
 by every post." 
 
 About this time, moreover, the female already men 
 tioned, who had forfeited the favor of her friends and 
 lost her business, by means of her connection with 
 Ralph, often, in her distress, sent for Benjamin, who 
 generously supplied what money he could spare, for her 
 relief. This was a dangerous intercourse for the young 
 man. His account of it clearly shows that her applica 
 tions for assistance, proceeded from actual and extreme 
 penury on her part, and honorably acquits her of any 
 artful design of entrapping him. But this freedom from 
 all craft and subtlety toward him, only increased his 
 danger ; and in his sympathy for a person of her attrac 
 tive qualities and infirm virtue, it was but too natural 
 that he should soon feel other and less pure impulses 
 mingling with his benevolence. The result is best re 
 lated in his own words : 
 
 " I grew fond." says he, "of her company; and be- 
 
88 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing at that time under no religious restraint, and taking 
 advantage of my importance to her, I attempted to take 
 some liberties with her (another erratum], which she 
 repulsed with a proper degree of resentment. She 
 wrote to Ralph and acquainted him with my conduct. 
 This occasioned a breach between us ; and when he re 
 turned to London, he let me know he considered all the 
 obligations he had been under to me, as annulled ; from 
 which I concluded I was never to expect his repaying 
 the money I had lent him, or had advanced for him. 
 This, however, was of little consequence, as he was 
 totally unable ; and by the loss of his friendship, I 
 found myself relieved from a heavy burden." 
 
 This result was unquestionably fortunate for Benja 
 min, for the sake of his morals, not less than his pocket ; 
 and though his conduct, in one particular, was culpa 
 ble, yet his ingenuous confession of his fault, his honest 
 self-condemnation, and his just reference to fixed reli 
 gious principle, as the truest and surest restraint upon 
 the passions, make some amends for his transgression ; 
 while his generous readiness to relieve distress, is wor 
 thy of imitation, as well as praise. 
 
 The conduct of Ralph, however, presents no compen 
 sating traits, and was in good keeping with the spuri 
 ous pride he had manifested, in reference to the em 
 ployment of a schoolmaster. In changing his name, he 
 had committed a fraud, not only upon the community in 
 which he was residing, but also, according to his own 
 estimate of his occupation there, upon the friend whose 
 name he pilfered ; and in pretending to consider his 
 actual debt, to say nothing of gratitude, to Benjamin, as 
 cancelled, when he broke friendship with him, he was 
 only adding more than common meanness, to more than 
 common dishonesty. True self-respect or dignity of 
 sentiment, if he had possessed a particle of either, 
 
NEW ACQUAINTANCES. b9 
 
 would have rendered him more than ordinarily anxious 
 to relieve himself from the sense of obligation, under 
 such circumstances, not by repudiating a debt incurred 
 as that was, but by making his most strenuous exertions 
 to pay it, at the earliest possible day, to the very last 
 farthing. But this unprincipled man will trouble us, as 
 he troubled his abused friend, no further. 
 
 While Benjamin was working in Palmer s printing- 
 office, he was employed in setting the types for a new 
 edition of Wollaston s "Religion of Nature ;" and as 
 he deemed some of the reasonings in that work un 
 sound, he controverted them, in a metaphysical tract, 
 which he then wrote, entitled "A Dissertation of Lib 
 erty and Necessity Pleasure and Pain," a few copies 
 of which he printed. That performance is not now ex 
 tant ; but from the terms in which Franklin himself 
 mentions it, the inference is, that it must have given a 
 very free expression of the religious unbelief, which at 
 that period possessed his mind. Speaking of it, at a 
 long subsequent period, when he cherished very differ 
 ent sentiments, he says : " It occasioned my being more 
 considered by Mr. Palmer, as a young man of some in 
 genuity, though he seriously expostulated with me, upon 
 the principles of my pamphlet, which to him appeared 
 abominable. My printing this pamphlet was another 
 erratum" 
 
 This dissertation, however objectionable on account 
 of its opinions and his own censure of it is likely to 
 have been just contributed, nevertheless, to extend his 
 circle of acquaintance ; and the enlarged opportunity 
 thus obtained for observing life and character, served to 
 give a wider variety to his subjects of thought and fresh 
 impulse to his mental activity. The extension of his 
 social intercourse, on this occasion, took place through 
 the agency of a man named Lyons, a surgeon by pro- 
 
 8* 
 
90 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 fession, who had published a treatise on " The 
 bility of Human Judgment" Lyons having accident 
 ally met with young Franklin s pamphlet, read it, and 
 finding in it, doubtless, some opinions harmonizing with 
 his own, and probably also some indications of an ori 
 ginal way of thinking, he sought out the author, became 
 exceedingly fond of his conversation, courted his soci 
 ety, and introduced him to a club which he was him 
 self in the habit of frequenting. 
 
 The most noted person with whom Benjamin became 
 acquainted at that club, was Mandeville, author of " The 
 Fable of the Bees" a work which enjoyed for a time 
 considerable celebrity, but has latterly been little read. 
 It inculcates the pernicious doctrine that private vices 
 are public benefits, inasmuch as they give a wider range 
 to the wants of men, and by thus multiplying the em 
 ployments of the community, augment the demand and 
 the compensation for labor a doctrine, which the great 
 Apostle to the Gentiles could not have sanctioned, as it is 
 only another way of saying, " Let us do evil, that good 
 may come." 
 
 Mandeville himself is described as being a man of 
 very entertaining conversation, of a facetious turn, and 
 "the soul" of the club that gathered around him. For 
 that very reason, however, he was only the more dan 
 gerous a companion for those whose principles were not 
 firmly settled. Lyons also introduced Benjamin to one 
 Dr. Pemberton, who promised him an opportunity to 
 see the celebrated Sir Isaac Newton, then approaching 
 the close of his long and illustrious career. But that 
 opportunity, though eagerly coveted, never came. The 
 great philosopher was then, 1725, in his 84th year, and 
 died on the 20th of March, 1726, almost as much dis 
 tinguished beyond the common lot, in years as in fame. 
 
 Another incident not unworthy of notice, in the ex- 
 
SIR HANS SLOANE ASBESTOS PURSE. 91 
 
 perience of a journeyman printer, a youth of nineteen, 
 and a stranger from a land beyond the ocean, was his 
 becoming acquainted with Sir Hans Sloane, with the 
 occasion of it. Among some rarities which Benjamin 
 had taken with him from Philadelphia, was a purse 
 made of asbestos, or, as it is sometimes called, amian 
 thus ; a kind of stone, which is not only inconsumable 
 by fire, but so fibrous as to be separable into threads 
 flexible enough to be compactly and smoothly woven ; 
 and the webs made of it, when soiled by use, are cleaned 
 by putting them into the fire, instead of a wash-tub. 
 
 Benjamin, whose pistoles, with his friend Ralph s as 
 sistance, had run very low, having learned something 
 of the character and tastes of Sir Hans, who was very 
 much of a virtuoso, a lover and collector of rare and curi 
 ous things, addressed him a note, dated June 2d, 1725, in 
 which he says : " Having lately been in the northern 
 parts of America, I have brought thence a purse made of 
 the asbestos, a piece of the stone, and a piece of wood 
 the pithy part of which is of the same nature, and is 
 called by the inhabitants there, salamander-cotton. As 
 you are noted to be a lover of curiosities, I have in 
 formed you of these ; and if you have any inclination 
 to purchase or see them, let me know your pleasure by 
 a line for me at the Golden Fan, Little Britain, and I 
 will wait upon you with them." On receiving the note, 
 Sir Hans, instead of writing, called in person upon the 
 young tradesman, whom he politely invited to his house 
 in Bloomsbury square, showed him his extensive col 
 lections of things rare and curious, and finally pur 
 chased the inconsumable purse, paying for it handsome 
 ly, says Franklin, though he does not name the sum. 
 
92 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BETTER HABITS IMPROVE HIS OWN CONDITION ANu 
 BENEFIT OTHERS. 
 
 As soon as Benjamin had got rid of Ralph, he began to 
 think of laying up some of his earnings ; and with a view 
 to more productive employment also, he went from 
 Palmer s to Watts s printing-house, a larger one near 
 Lincoln s Inn Fields, where he continued as long as he 
 remained in London. Upon entering this office he first 
 worked at the press, for the sake of the bodily exercise 
 it gives, which he felt the want of, and to which he had 
 been accustomed in America, where press-work and 
 case-work were in those days almost universally, and 
 are even now to a considerable extent, performed by 
 the same hands. 
 
 Here he became an efficient and valuable promoter of 
 temperance. He was a teetotaller himself, drinking only 
 water; while the fifty other hands in the office were 
 excessive drinkers of beer. For the sake of expediting 
 his labor, or for convenience, he would now-and-then 
 carry, up or down stairs, a large form of types in each 
 hand, while others carried but one such form, with both 
 hands. It was indeed unquestionable evidence of the 
 power of his arms ; and his fellow- workmen wondered 
 to see the strength of the " Water-American," as they 
 called him, so much exceed their own, which had, as 
 
PRINTING-OFFICE USAGES. 93 
 
 they fancied, been nourished and increased by strong 
 beer. So frequent were the calls for beer at that one 
 establishment, that a boy, called the Ale-House Boy, was 
 kept for no other purpose but to go and come with 
 drink. 
 
 The heavy drain upon the wages of the beer-drinkers, 
 made by this practice, may be seen from the fact that 
 Benjamin s companion in working the press, drank six 
 pints a day regularly ; that is to say, a pint before break 
 fast, a pint at breakfast, a pint between that meal and 
 dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint about 6 o clock, P. M., 
 and a pint at the close of the day s work. And all this 
 he did, in the opinion that it was necessary to give him 
 strength ; an opinion still very common, in which, how 
 ever, is involved the serious error of mistaking the tran 
 sient effect of mere stimulation, for the permanent in 
 crease of muscular power. 
 
 " I thought the custom detestable," says Franklin, 
 " and I endeavored to convince him that the bodily 
 strength afforded by beer, could only be in proportion 
 to the grain, or flour, of the barley, dissolved in the 
 water of which it was made ; that there was more flour 
 in a penny-worth of bread; and therefore, if he would 
 eat that, with a pint of water, it would give him more 
 strength than a quart of beer. He drank on, however, 
 and had four or five shillings to pay out of his wages, 
 every Saturday night, for that vile liquor ; an expense 
 I was free from." No wonder that these mistaken hard 
 working men always, as he says, "kept themselves 
 under." 
 
 Much to his own credit, as well as to the benefit of 
 the whole set of hands at Watts s large printing-house, 
 Benjamin exerted himself to reform some of their hab 
 its. His efforts were obstructed for a while, by his re 
 sisting the payment of a certain fee, alleged to be cus- 
 
94 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tomary, but which he thought unfairly demanded. When 
 he first went to this establishment, he began working, 
 as we have seen, at press-work, and then paid, his bien- 
 venu, as it was called ; that is, his welcome fee. After a 
 few weeks, however, Mr. Watts, needing more help at 
 case-work, requested Benjamin to transfer himself to 
 the composing-room. On doing so, the compositors de 
 manded of him another bien-venu. This he refused, and 
 Mr. Watts also forbade his paying it. 
 
 For this refusal, however, the compositors, of course, 
 excommunicated him from all the privileges of their fel 
 lowship ; and while he thus lay under interdict, he was 
 subjected to all manner of annoyance by vexatious 
 tricks and practical jokes. His sorts of type were 
 mixed in his cases ; his matter was broken and trans 
 posed, as it stood on the galleys ; or was thrown into 
 pi t whenever he was for a moment absent. No remedy 
 could be had, because all these naughty things were 
 done by "the ghost of the cliapel" (as the rooms of a 
 printing-office are termed by the craft), which always 
 haunt every one, whose entrance is not according to the 
 chapel canons, and nobody can be held responsible for 
 what is done by a ghost. 
 
 In short, there was no protection for the refractory 
 compositor, as long as he continued recusant ; and after 
 persisting for two or three weeks in recusancy, he saw 
 that the best thing he could do, was to pay the welcome 
 money ; having, in the exercise of his good sense, come 
 to the conclusion, that it is always foolish to be volun 
 tarily on "ill terms with those you are to live with con 
 tinually." 
 
 Being once placed on good terms and a fair footing 
 with the whole body of his fellow- workmen, his shrewd 
 ness, good temper, ingenuity, and obliging disposition, 
 soon gave him, as usual, a leading influence with them, 
 
PRINTING-OFFICE REFORMS. 95 
 
 and enabled him to carry, against all opposition, several 
 very sensible reforms in the laws of the cliapel. His 
 practice, with the results, which, daily and hourly, it 
 placed directly before their eyes, and with especial em 
 phasis on every weekly pay-day, induced numbers of his 
 fellow-workmen to change their habits and follow his ex 
 ample. Leaving their " muddling breakfast of beer, 
 bread, and cheese," they procured, with him, at a house 
 near by, "a large porringer of hot water-gruel," not 
 the meager drink prepared for invalids, but well thick 
 ened with crumbled bread, and savored and enriched 
 with a sprinkle of pepper and " a bit of butter," all for a 
 penny and a half, which was the price their pint of beer 
 alone cost them. This was unquestionably " a more 
 comfortable as well as a cheaper breakfast," than they 
 had been accustomed to take, and it " kept their heads 
 clearer." 
 
 The other workmen, who " continued sotting it with 
 their beer all day," he found to be, pretty generally, 
 either in doubtful credit, or with none at all, at the ale 
 house ; and they became for the most part dependent on 
 the water-drinker for money, or for his responsibility, 
 to enable them to procure beer ; their own cash being 
 exhausted, or, as they termed it, " their light being out." 
 By keeping a vigilant eye on the pay-table, when pay- 
 time came round, every Saturday, he secured himself, in 
 the main, against loss on the sums of beer-money, for 
 which he had agreed to become responsible, and which, 
 at times, as he states, amounted to near thirty shillings 
 in a single week. His willingness to confer favors of 
 this sort, his uniform cheerfulness of spirit, his good 
 temper, playful humor, and ready wit, with a turn for oc 
 casional jocular satire, or being what was called among 
 them a good riggist, gave him a high rank among his 
 associates of the printing-office ; while, at the same time, 
 
96 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 his steady attendance at the office, without regard to St. 
 Monday, or other holyday excuses for absence and idle 
 ness, secured the countenance and favor of his employ 
 er; and being a remarkably rapid compositor, such 
 work as required despatch as well as accuracy, and 
 therefore brought the highest pay, was put into his 
 hands. " So I went on," says he, "very agreeably." 
 
 How soon the conduct and character of this young 
 man, his ways of life, his usefulness to others not less 
 than to himself, and his value as a man, began to improve 
 to rise on the scale of moral and social worth when 
 he had become relieved from the burden of Ralph, and 
 had escaped from the misguiding and depraving influ 
 ences of his companionship ! Such benefits were no 
 doubt cheaply purchased by the loss of the mere money 
 paid on his account. In this connection it may also be 
 mentioned that next door to his lodgings dwelt a man 
 named Wilcox, a bookseller, who had a very large col 
 lection of second-hand books. He seems to have been 
 a well-disposed and obliging man, and with him, for a 
 trifling compensation, Benjamin made an arrangement, 
 by which he was allowed to take, read, and return, any 
 books in the collection ; and of this privilege, to him a 
 precious one, he availed himself as fully as his regular 
 employment would permit. 
 
 About this time, however, Benjamin left his quarters 
 in Little Britain, for others in Duke street, much nearer 
 to his present place of daily labor. His new room was 
 a back chamber, in the fourth story of a warehouse be 
 longing to his new hostess, in which were deposited va 
 rious wares of Italian manufacture, in which she was a 
 dealer. 
 
 This lady was a widow, and had a daughter living 
 with her. She also kept a maid-servant to do her house 
 work, and a hired man to wait upon customers, in the 
 
HIS NENV HOSTESS. 97 
 
 ware-room, during the business hours of the day, but 
 at night he slept elsewhere. Upon obtaining from the 
 people with whom Benjamin had been boarding in Lit 
 tle Britain, an account of his character and habits, she 
 consented to receive him at the same price he had been 
 paying, at the house he was about leaving, and that was 
 three shillings and sixpence a week ; saying that she 
 accepted such small pay, for the sake of the increased 
 security, which she felt would follow from having such 
 a lodger in the house. 
 
 This worthy and kind-hearted widow, now far ad 
 vanced in years, was the daughter of a Protestant cler 
 gyman of the Church of England as by law established, 
 and her father had reared and educated her in his own 
 faith. But having married a gentleman of the Roman 
 Catholic persuasion, he had converted her to his own 
 creed and church, in which she still remained steadfast ; 
 and she appeared, according to Franklin s estimate of 
 her, to cherish her husband s memory with a deep and 
 sincere feeling of affectionate respect. 
 
 She had, moreover, as it is stated, been long and in 
 timately conversant with many families of high rank, 
 some of which were distinguished for character and 
 public services, as well as birth ; and concerning them 
 she possessed, it is related, a rich and varied store of 
 anecdotes, reaching back as far, in many instances, as 
 the days of Charles II. ; thus covering, with interesting 
 recollections, a period of more than forty years. This 
 excellent and respectable woman had suffered long and 
 much from gout in her knees, which had now become 
 so weak that she was rarely able to leave her room, or, 
 at times, even her chair. Company, therefore, espe 
 cially cheerful and quiet company, was very acceptable 
 to her ; and "hers was so highly amusing to me," says 
 Franklin, " that I was sure to spend an evening with 
 9 
 
98 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 her, whenever she desired it." Their supper, on these 
 pleasant occasions, consisted of "half an anchovy for 
 each, on a very little slice of bread and butter, and half 
 a pint of ale for both ; but the entertainment was in 
 her conversation." 
 
 Benjamin was now so regular in his hours, gave so 
 little trouble, and was in all respects so quiet and pleas 
 ant a boarder, that his hostess became solicitous to re 
 tain him ; and when he mentioned that he had heard of 
 lodgings still nearer to his place of labor, to be had for 
 only two shillings a week, and that such a saving, in his 
 circumstances, was important to him, she at once told 
 him not to think of going, for she would thenceforward 
 keep him for eighteen pence per week : and he contin 
 ued with her, at that price, for the rest of his stay in 
 London. 
 
 The same house held another lodger, a female, Whose 
 history and way of life were not a little singular. She 
 was a maiden lady of three-score and ten years, and 
 she occupied a room in the garret, living in almost utter 
 seclusion from society. She was a Roman Catholic, and 
 when very young had been placed in a convent on the 
 continent, with the design of making her a nun. The 
 situation of the establishment, as it appears, however, 
 proving unfavorable to her health, she left it and came 
 back to England. But in England there were no nun 
 neries, nor convents of any kind ; and she was unable, 
 therefore, to pursue the way of life to which she had 
 vowed herself, according to the literal strictness of her 
 vow and the rigor of conventual rule ; and so she was 
 doing the best she could, by living the life of a nun, 
 with as much exactness as circumstances would allow, 
 in the garret of the warehouse, in which Benjamin now 
 had his lodgings. 
 
 There had this aged and simple-minded woman dwelt, 
 
A NUN, BUT NO NUNNERY. 99 
 
 and thus had she lived, for a long series of years, free 
 of rent-charge, through the kindness of many succes 
 sive occupants of the building, all of whom had been 
 professors of the same faith with herself, and who had 
 all deemed it a blessing to have this pious and holy her- 
 mitess under their roof. At an early day, long prior to 
 the time now spoken of, she had conveyed the whole of 
 her estate, which seems to have been considerable, to 
 trustees, in trust for charitable uses, reserving only 
 twelve pounds a year, from its proceeds, for her own 
 support ; and even of this small sum, she annually dis 
 pensed a part in alms, living herself on water-gruel 
 alone, and that too of the most meager kind, using no 
 fire except to make her gruel. 
 
 A priest visited her daily, to receive her confession ; 
 and being asked one day by the landlady, how she, in 
 her long-practised abstinence, could need such frequent 
 confession, the ancient nun replied "Oh! it is impos 
 sible to avoid vain thoughts." 
 
 When it is considered that the " thoughts," which a 
 woman of so harmless and abstemious a life, and of 
 such venerable age, had been so long accustomed to 
 deem "vain," and yet found it "impossible to avoid," 
 were doubtless the suggestions of her natural and long- 
 repressed affections, avenging themselves upon her, for 
 her mistaken faith and practice, then the foregoing re 
 ply, brief and simple as it is, comes to the mind with a 
 melancholy significance. Her " way of life had fallen 
 into the sear and yellow leaf," but yet, at seventy years 
 as at twenty, she was still sitting alone in a secluded 
 chamber 
 
 "While that which should accompany old age, 
 As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends," 
 
 the blessing and glory of the hoary head, and what the 
 aged heart craves and yearns for, she " could not look 
 
100 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to have." There can not easily be found a sadder spec 
 tacle. 
 
 Benjamin once obtained permission to visit her. " She 
 was," says he, " cheerful and polite, and conversed pleas 
 antly. The room was clean, but had no other furniture 
 than a mattress, a table with a crucifix and a book, a 
 stool which she gave me to sit on, and a picture over 
 the chimney, of St. Veronica, displaying her handker 
 chief with the miraculous figure of Christ s bleeding 
 face on it, which she explained to me with great seri 
 ousness. She looked pale, but was never sick ; and I 
 give it as another instance on how small an income life 
 and health may be supported." 
 
 A course of life which makes so trifling a demand up 
 on either the corporeal, or mental powers, as hers did, 
 does certainly need but little sustenance ; for the legiti 
 mate requirement of nature for food, is proportioned to 
 the daily expenditure of strength, by the employment 
 of mind, or body, or both. 
 
 Among the acquaintances which Benjamin formed, 
 while working for Watts, was " an ingenious young 
 man" by the name of Wygate, who, "having wealthy 
 relatives, had been better educated than most printers ; 
 was a tolerable Latinist, spoke French, and loved read 
 ing." He and a friend of his were taught by Benjamin 
 to swim, on going but twice into the Thames ; after 
 which they shortly made themselves good swimmers. 
 They introduced their teacher to some of their acquaint 
 ances just come to London, with whom the three made 
 a party to go by water by Chelsea, to see the college 
 and the curiosities there. 
 
 Wygate had said so much to his friends, of Benja 
 min s remarkable expertness in the water, that they had 
 a strong desire to tfee something of it ; and on their re 
 turn, at the request of the company, he stripped, and 
 
SWIMMING. 101 
 
 plunging into the river, swam the distance from near 
 Chelsea to BlackfHars, performing on the way " many 
 feats of activity both upon and under the water, which 
 surprised and pleased those to whom they were novel 
 ties." He had, "from a child," as he relates, "been 
 delighted with this exercise ; had studied and practised 
 Thevenot s motions and positions, and added some of 
 his own, aiming at the graceful and easy, as well as the 
 useful;" all of which he performed, on the occasion 
 mentioned, deriving much gratification from the admira 
 tion he excited. 
 
 Wygate, who had become filled with a strong desire 
 to make himself a master of the art, growing more and 
 more warmly attached to Benjamin on that account, as 
 well as from the similarity of their studies and tastes in 
 other respects, at length proposed that they two should 
 travel together all over Europe, paying their way with 
 what they could earn at different towns, by working at 
 their trade. This would have been literally restoring 
 the original usage of journeymen tradesmen, with whom 
 it was common to travel, for the purpose of accomplish 
 ing themselves more thoroughly in their craft. The pro 
 posal made a strong impression upon Benjamin s mind, 
 and he was at first inclined to adopt it. Upon talking 
 of it, however, with the excellent Mr. Denham, with 
 whom Benjamin, much to the credit of his good sense 
 and right feeling, frequently spent a portion of his lei 
 sure, that judicious and faithful friend dissuaded him 
 from the project, and wisely urged him to think only of 
 going back to Philadelphia with him, as he now intend 
 ed soon to do. 
 
 Mr. Denham, it has been already intimated, was a 
 member of the Society of Friends, commonly called 
 Quakers ; and Franklin gives, in this connection, a speci 
 men of his practice so honorable to his principles, but 
 
 9* 
 
102 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 so comparatively rare, probably, in those days, as well 
 as at the present time, though still so worthy of imita 
 tion, that the account is too interesting and valuable 
 both as an anecdote and an example, to be omitted. 
 
 " I must," says Franklin, " record one trait of this 
 good man s character. He had formerly been in busi 
 ness at Bristol, but failed, in debt to a number of peo 
 ple, compounded, and went to America. There, by 
 close application to business as a merchant, he acquired 
 a plentiful fortune in a few years. Returning to Eng 
 land in the ship with me, he invited his old creditors to 
 an entertainment, at which he thanked them for the easy 
 composition they had favored him with, and, when they 
 expected nothing but the treat, every man, at the first 
 remove, found under his plate an order on a banker, for 
 the full amount of the unpaid remainder, with interest." 
 
 If all men in trade were thus truly honest and just, 
 there would be less complaint of the hardness of credi 
 tors, and little need of bankrupt-acts. 
 
 Mr. Denham, having transacted the business which 
 had brought him to England, now informed Benjamin 
 that he should soon sail for Philadelphia, with a large 
 stock of merchandise, with which he intended to estab 
 lish himself in that city as a merchant. He had, more 
 over, formed a most favorable estimate of his young 
 friend s capacity as well as the native qualities of his 
 disposition ; and taking a sincere interest in his welfare, 
 for which he could not help feeling a lively concern, if 
 left, without any experienced and faithful adviser, to en 
 counter alone the hazards and perils of London, he pro 
 posed to Benjamin to take hirn as a clerk. The intel 
 ligent and worthy merchant told him that he could soon 
 teach him the manner of keeping a merchant s ac 
 counts ; that in doing this, and in copying business let 
 ters, in attending upon customers for the sale of goods, 
 
THE PRINTER TURNS MERCHANT. 103 
 
 and in the other daily-recurring details of mercantile 
 affairs, he could speedily make himself acquainted with 
 the current prices of produce, merchandise, and other 
 kinds of property, together with the general course and 
 management of trade ; that when he should have be 
 come sufficiently familiar with these matters, he would 
 send him out to the West Indies, with a cargo of pro 
 visions and bread-stuffs, and procure profitable commis 
 sions for him, from other merchants ; and if he should 
 give his best energies to the business, and acquit him 
 self according to his capacity, which only needed some 
 practical development to make him a good merchant, 
 he would " establish him handsomely." 
 
 This plan pleased .Benjamin. He was becoming 
 weary of London ; his recollections of Philadelphia 
 were reviving many pleasing images in his mind, with 
 a vividness and force, which were already urging him 
 to return thither ; and he promptly agreed to the pro 
 posal. For his services as clerk he was to receive a 
 yearly stipend of fifty pounds, in Pennsylvania curren 
 cy.. This was less than he was then earning as a jour 
 neyman-printer ; but he looked mainly at the results of 
 the plan, and the prospects were very inviting. 
 
 "I now," says he, "took leave of printing, as I 
 thought, forever ; and was daily employed in my new 
 business, going about with Mr. Denham among the 
 tradesmen, to purchase various articles and see them 
 packed, delivering messages, and calling upon workmen 
 to despatch." These things being done, and the pack 
 ages being all duly put on ship-board, he still had a few 
 days of leisure before sailing. 
 
 While thus waiting to take his departure, Benjamin 
 was surprised by a message from Sir William Wynd- 
 ham, whom he had never seen and knew only by reputa 
 tion, but who was one of the most accomplished gentle- 
 
104 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 men, as well as one of the most distinguished states 
 men, of that period, and who wished to see him. Upon 
 waiting on him, Benjamin found that Sir William, hav 
 ing heard of his feats in swimming, and of his skill in 
 teaching others to swim, and having two sons about to 
 set forth upon their travels, wished to engage him to 
 make them good swimmers before they went, and 
 would pay liberally for such a service. 
 
 The young men, however, had not yet come to town, 
 and Benjamin s remaining time in London, was now too 
 contingent to allow him to undertake the proposed task. 
 The application, nevertheless, induced him to think that, 
 if he could have stayed and opened a swimming-school, 
 it would have paid well ; and that he should probably 
 have remained and tried the experiment, if the applica 
 tion had been made before he became engaged with 
 Mr. Denham. 
 
 In his own narrative of his life, Franklin closes the 
 account of his residence in London, at this period, with 
 the following paragraph, which will also form an ap 
 propriate close to this chapter : 
 
 " Thus had I passed about eighteen months in Lon 
 don. Most part of the time I worked hard at my busi 
 ness, and spent but little upon myself except in seeing 
 plays, and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me 
 poor. He owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which 
 I was now never likely to receive : a great sum out of 
 my small earnings. I loved him, notwithstanding, for 
 he had many amiable qualities. I had improved my 
 knowledge, however, though I had by no means im 
 proved my fortune ; but I had made some very inge 
 nious acquaintances, whose conversation was of great 
 advantage to me ; and I had read considerably." 
 
EMBARKS FOR AMERICA. 105 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LEAVES ENGLAND VOYAGE HOME NEW CONNECTIONS. 
 
 ON Thursday, the 21st of July, 1726, in the afternoon, 
 Benjamin and his friend Denham went on board the 
 good ship Berkshire, Henry Clark, master, bound for 
 Philadelphia. As appears, however, by the journal, 
 which Benjamin kept of this voyage, it was many days 
 longer before they were able to leave the English waters 
 and get fairly out to sea. Some of the incidents which 
 occurred during this delay on the coast of England, and 
 on the homeward passage, though not incorporated in 
 Franklin s own biographical narrative, are, neverthe 
 less, by no means without interest ; and as they not only 
 belong to his life as truly as if they had occurred at 
 a fixed residence on land, but served, also, to enlarge 
 his experience and his stock of ideas, some of the more 
 entertaining and instructive among them are here 
 briefly related. 
 
 They lingered in the Thames two days, and did not 
 pass the Downs and enter the straits of Dover till the 
 24th of July. As they sailed along that narrow sea, at 
 an easy rate, before a fresh breeze and under a clear 
 blue sky, Benjamin, sitting on the quarter-deck of the 
 Berkshire and noting what he saw, in his diary, was fa 
 vored with one of the fairest and most exhilarating 
 
106 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 scenes the eye can rest on. A large number of ships, 
 with all their canvass spread and trimmed to every va 
 riety of course, were moving before him in all directions 
 over the gleaming waters ; the coast of France was 
 looming far in the distance, to the left ; while nearer, 
 on the right, and in distinct view, were seen the town 
 of Dover with the massive towers and battlements of its 
 huge old castle looking down upon it in protecting 
 strength, and the chalky cliffs and green hills of the 
 English shore all in seeming. motion and receding in 
 a sort of countermarch, as he went by. 
 
 The next morning, however, the wind failed, and a 
 short calm was followed by very variable weather, till the 
 27th, when so heavy a gale came from the west, right 
 in their teeth, that they ran for a harbor; and coming 
 to anchor at Spithead, off Portsmouth, Benjamin took 
 the opportunity to visit that ancient town, one of the 
 principal naval stations of England, and famous for its 
 vast ship-yards. The entrance to Portsmouth is stated 
 to be so narrow, with such bold shores, that the forts 
 which guard it, one on each side, are but a stone s throw 
 apart; while the haven within has ample space to 
 moor the whole British navy. He found the place 
 strongly fortified, surrounded by a high wall, with a 
 spacious moat crossed by two draw-bridges fronting, 
 respectively, the two gates of the town, which depended, 
 then as now, for the support of its population, mainly 
 on its ship-yards and the trade connected with them. 
 
 One of the most remarkable objects pointed out to 
 Benjamin, during his brief visit to Portsmouth, was a dun 
 geon, called "Johnny Gibson s Hole," under the town- 
 wall near one of the gates, where John Gibson, gover 
 nor of the place in Queen Anne s reign, and a heart 
 less tyrant, made it a practice to shut in and starve the 
 soldiers of the garrison, for the most trifling irregular!- 
 
LOVE OF WAR ITS FRUITS. 107 
 
 ties. On this cruel and needless severity, Benjamin 
 makes a comment which is here copied, not only for its 
 pertinency and justness, but as an indication, also, of 
 the range of his reading and his habits of reflection, at 
 that early period. Admitting the importance of good 
 discipline, he adds the remark, that "Alexander and 
 Ccesar, those renowned generals, received more faith 
 ful service, and performed greater actions, by means of 
 the love their soldiers bore them, than they could pos 
 sibly have done, if, instead of being beloved and re 
 spected, they had been hated and feared, by those they 
 commanded." 
 
 After all, however, the general condition of the rank 
 and file of armies, has been, on the whole, but little re 
 lieved by such occasional examples of clemency and 
 care on the part of a few great leaders ; and the prac 
 tice of " Johnny Gibson," there is but too much reason 
 to believe, may, in its spirit and essence, be deemed 
 more in accord with actual experience, or a truer speci 
 men of those fruits, which, among nations particularly 
 covetous of martial fame, war, with its manifold con 
 comitants its costly establishments the life of its 
 camps and garrisons, and the despotic power and sum 
 mary procedure by which alone can that life be regu 
 lated has usually yielded to the common soldiery and 
 the mass of the people. Its pomps and splendors 
 its gains and glories have been mostly for the great 
 ones for the high-born, privileged, or lucky few; 
 while its deadliest perils and most exhausting labors 
 its foot-blistering marches and weary night-watches 
 the pestilence of its camps and the bloody havoc of its 
 battle-fields its nakedness and famine its dungeons 
 and prison-ships its desolated hearths, its peeled and 
 scattered families, its heavy taxes, hard toil, maimed 
 limbs, vagrant beggary, and its thousand nameless woes, 
 
108 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 have been the harvest of the humble, unprivileged, un 
 friended many. 
 
 Leaving Portsmouth on the 28th of July and pro 
 ceeding along the straits, which separate the Isle of 
 Wight from the shore of England, they visited Cowes, 
 Newport, and Yarmouth, the three principal towns of 
 the Isle, and at one or other of which the Berkshire 
 was detained by head winds for nearly a fortnight. 
 Though becoming impatient to be once more in Phil 
 adelphia, this delay was by no means lost time to Ben 
 jamin; for he took the opportunity to gratify his curi 
 osity by seeing, as fully as circumstances allowed, what 
 that side of the island contained. 
 
 Cowes, a port often visited riow-a-days by the mer 
 chant-vessels of the United States, is built on both 
 sides of a small estuary, which sends a narrow inlet 
 about four miles inland, along a pleasant vale at the 
 head of which stands Newport, the residence of the 
 governor of the island, and an inviting little town, 
 embellished arid refreshed by an unusual abundance 
 of fine trees and shrubbery. But Newport is rep 
 resented as being chiefly remarkable for its trade in 
 oysters, reputed to be superior to any others found on 
 the British coasts. It appears, however, that these oys 
 ters are not natives of the place but are procured else 
 where, and, to fatten and prepare them for market, they 
 are planted in regular beds in the Newport waters, 
 which contain, doubtless, some ingredient particularly 
 acceptable to the oysters for food, and imparting to 
 them their fine relish. A case bearing a strong analogy 
 to this, is that of the famous canvass-back ducks, which 
 frequent the lower reaches of the Susquehannah river 
 and the head-waters of the Chesapeake bay, and derive 
 their peculiarly fine and delicate flavor from the wild 
 
CARISBROOK CASTLE. 109 
 
 celery, which abounds in their favorite haunts, and 
 on which they chiefly feed. 
 
 But Benjamin s most interesting excursion, during 
 his stay on this island, was his visit to the village and 
 castle of Carisbrook, about a mile back of Newport. 
 Except the ruins of a fine old Gothic church, the mother- 
 church of the whole isle, and in the palmy days of pa 
 pal supremacy, connected with a priory, the village con 
 tained little to attract a tourist ; and passing the small 
 brook, which skirts it and gives name to the whole lo 
 cality, he made his way, with a boy for his guide, up a 
 steep hill, on the sides and summit of which stood the 
 dilapidated walls and towers of Carisbrook castle, once 
 an extensive and strong fortress, but in 1726 little bet 
 ter than a mass of ivy-mantled ruins. 
 
 The outer wall and fosse of the castle encircled the 
 hill so near its base as to enclose a very large area, in 
 the lower portion of which and contiguous to the wall, 
 had been erected those parts of the vast structure de 
 signed for household and other ordinary civic uses ; 
 while high above, on the crest of the commanding 
 height, stood the massive and round towers of the keep, 
 the strongest and most ancient part of the fortress, the 
 ascent to which was by a steep and narrow stair-way of 
 a hundred stone steps. 
 
 Within this citadel was the famous well, said to have 
 been, when dug, the deepest in the world. To assist him 
 in forming some judgment of its depth, Benjamin drop 
 ped a stone into it, and though great quantities of rubbish 
 had accumulated above its original bottom, yet he found 
 it to be about fifteen seconds before the stone was heard 
 to strike. A more accurate estimate of its depth, how 
 ever, could be formed, probably, by comparing it with 
 the well then actually in use, in the lower part of the 
 castle. That well was known to be thirty fathoms deep ; 
 
 10 
 
110 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and as the water in both the wells was doubtless supplied 
 from the same source and at the same level, the height 
 of the upper well s mouth above that of the lower one, 
 being added to the thirty fathoms mentioned, would give 
 the true original depth of the upper well, and make it 
 about three hundred feet. From this lower well the 
 people in and about the castle obtained their daily sup 
 plies of water, which they raised by means of a very 
 large wheel and axle with a barrel for a bucket. " It 
 makes," says the journal, " a great sound, if you speak 
 in it, and it echoed the flute which we played over it, 
 very sweetly." 
 
 The old man, who acted as nominal keeper of the 
 place, but whose chief occupation was selling cake and 
 beer at the castle-gate, told Benjamin that the castle was 
 originally founded in the year 523, by one Whitgert, a 
 Saxon chief, who had conquered the island, and from 
 whom it bore, for many ages, the name of Whitgerts- 
 burg. Indeed, in its present name there is a trace of 
 its Saxon conqueror. 
 
 This castle was extensively repaired, strengthened, 
 and embellished by Queen Elizabeth, in 1598; in testi 
 mony whereof, Benjamin found on the walls, in several 
 places, the following brief inscription : "1598, E. R. 
 40:" meaning, doubtless, that in the year 1598, the 
 40lh of her reign, Elizabeth, Regina (queen), caused 
 these repairs to be made. 
 
 Since the middle of the 17th century, Carisbrook cas 
 tle has been remembered in history, chiefly from its con 
 nection with the fortunes of Charles I., king of Eng 
 land. In the latter part of 1647, that misguided mon 
 arch, in a sudden but characteristic freak of mind, filled 
 out the measure of his wayward career, by voluntarily 
 placing himself in the custody of Colonel Hammond, a 
 generous and humane man, but belonging, as was well 
 
ISLE OF WIGHT. Ill 
 
 known, to the party led by Charles s most powerful an 
 tagonist, Oliver Cromwell, the ablest of that age ; in 
 which custody, kindly treated, but strictly guarded, the 
 unthroned king remained till about the end of 1648, 
 when he was removed, for a brief space, first to Hurst- 
 castle in Hampshire, and thence to London, to trial, 
 sentence, a scaffold, and the axe, in January, 1649, as a 
 traitor to his country. 
 
 The castle-towers, on the crest of the hill, afforded 
 a wide and beautiful prospect, including most of the 
 island, which is about sixty miles in circuit, and is rep 
 resented as being occupied by a sound and able-bodied 
 population, with its soil even then well cultivated, and 
 producing, says Benjamin s journal, " plenty of wheat 
 and other provisions, and wool as fine as Cotswold." 
 
 The wool-growers of the present day, who clip their 
 fleeces from the purest merinos and saxonies, may 
 smile to see the wool of Cotswold offered as a standard. 
 That standard has doubtless risen since 1726, among 
 the farmers of the Isle of Wight, as well as elsewhere ; 
 and the same region has witnessed other changes of yet 
 graver moment; for while the once massive walls of 
 Carisbrook castle have become heaps of rubbish, testi 
 fying that the age of lawless power and rapine they 
 originally betokened, has passed away, the fields of the 
 Isle of Wight have been improving, with the increasing 
 stability of private rights and social order, till they now 
 constitute one of the most productive and beautiful dis 
 tricts in the whole realm of England. 
 
 Before leaving the island, the Berkshire touched at 
 Yarmouth. The most striking object Benjamin no 
 ticed at this place, was a finely-executed marble statue, 
 in armor, on the tomb of Sir Robert Holmes, a former 
 governor of the island. This statue was said to have 
 been executed in Italy for Louis XIV. of France, and 
 
112 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 intended for one of the ornaments of his magnificent 
 palace at Versailles ; but the vessel, which was taking 
 it to France, being wrecked on the island in the time 
 of Sir Robert, he got possession of the statue and di 
 rected that after his death it should be placed on his 
 own tomb. 
 
 At length, on the 9th of August, the wind came fair, 
 and taking leave of England, mainland and island, the 
 Berkshire stood away for America. The voyage was 
 not marked by any events of magnitude ; but a few of 
 its incidents, having something of instruction or enter 
 tainment, are here noticed. 
 
 On the 21st of August, in the afternoon, when about 
 six hundred miles from land, a small bird, blown off to 
 sea during some recent thick weather, lighted, or rather 
 fell on deck ; but was too much exhausted even to take 
 nourishment, and died in a few hours, though tenderly 
 treated. The occurrence, not without interest in itself, 
 is remarkable chiefly for the great distance from land 
 when it happened. 
 
 An entry of more value for the information it con 
 veys to the general reader, is made in the journal under 
 date of September 2d, relative to the dolphin. It is 
 not commonly known among landsmen that this fish is 
 eaten ; but two dolphins being caught in the morning 
 of the day named, they were fried for dinner, and 
 " tasted tolerably well." Among mere landsmen, more 
 over, the prevalent notion of the appearance and char 
 acter of this fish, is probably that which has been re 
 ceived from the poets and artists, who have given it a 
 form wholly unlike its real one, and who have a fanci 
 ful tradition that, in the dying moments of the dolphin, 
 a succession of quick-shifting brilliant colors play over 
 its body as life is ebbing away. 
 
 These notions are mere fancies, the dolphin being 
 
THE DOLPHIN, AND THE SHARK. 113 
 
 " as beautiful and well-shaped a fish as any that swims ;" 
 making "a glorious appearance in the water" the body 
 being "of a bright green mixed with a silver tint, and 
 the tail of a shining golden yellow." On being taken 
 out of the water, however, these splendid dyes all van 
 ish together, giving place to a uniform pale gray, the 
 usual hue of death. One of the most successful baits 
 for the dolphin is a candle with a feather fixed in each 
 side, to imitate the appearance of its frequent food, the 
 flying fish ; and three large dolphins thus caught one 
 day, made a sufficient dinner for the whole ship s com 
 pany, twenty-one in number. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 14th of September, in the after 
 noon, occurred one of the most sublime and awe-giving 
 spectacles the material universe can present to human 
 eyes an eclipse of the sun nearly total, full ten twelfths 
 of its disk being covered by the intervening moon. 
 
 With the wind almost unvaryingly ahead, the conse 
 quent slow progress, and an ill-assorted dull company, 
 the passage was now becoming exceedingly wearisome; 
 and the supply of bread was getting so low that on the 
 20th of September, they were all put upon a specific 
 allowance of two and a half biscuits a day. They had 
 run so far south, too, that the weather was uncomforta 
 bly hot ; and on the day after the allowance was order 
 ed, the ship idly rocking in the calm and the heat being 
 very oppressive, Benjamin was about to refresh both his 
 body and his spirits by a -cooling bath in the sea, when 
 a shark, "that mortal enemy to swimmers," was fortu 
 nately discovered in season to prevent what would, other 
 wise, have proved probably his last bath. 
 
 The habits of the shark are interesting. This one is 
 represented as "moving round the ship at some dis 
 tance, in a slow majestic manner," waited on by his 
 usual retinue of little pilot-fishes, the largest of them 
 
114 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 being less than the smaller mackerel, and the smallest, 
 not much larger than minnows. Of "these diminutive 
 pilots two kept just before the shark s nose," seeming 
 really to control his movements ; while the rest of the 
 train swam about him, without any special duty to per 
 form, unless it was, according to the common belief of 
 sailors, to act as his purveyors of food ; receiving from 
 him, in return for such service, protection from one of 
 their most destructive enemies, the swift and voracious 
 dolphin. A strong well-baited hook was thrown out for 
 the sea-robber ; but he had, probably, dulled the fierce 
 edge of his formidable appetite, with some recent vic 
 tim, and declined the invitation to a lunch so soon after. 
 
 Two days afterward they spoke a ship from Dublin, 
 bound for New York, carrying out about fifty emigrants 
 to their Land of Promise. The two vessels approached 
 each other within easy hail, and all on board of each 
 presented themselves, to enjoy a look at other human 
 faces thus casually encountered in the midst of the lone 
 ly waste of waters. The feeling that springs from mere 
 identity of race the sympathy of a common nature 
 is probably felt nowhere so strongly as out on the wide 
 ocean, under precisely the circumstances here men 
 tioned ; and the exhilarating influence of such a meeting 
 is so well described in the journal before us, that we 
 transcribe the passage : it will recall to many a beauti 
 ful parallel passage in Irving s " Sketch Book:" 
 
 "There was really," says- the journal, "something 
 strangely cheering to the spirits, in the meeting of a 
 ship at sea, containing a society of creatures of the same 
 species and in the same circumstances with ourselves, 
 after we had been long separated from the rest of man 
 kind. My heart fluttered in my breast with joy, when 
 I saw so many human countenances, and I could scarce 
 refrain from that kind of laughter which proceeds from 
 
v TORNADO AT SEA. 115 
 
 inward pleasure. When we have been for a considera 
 ble time tossing on the vast waters, far from the sight 
 of land or ships, or any mortal creature but ourselves, 
 except a few fish and sea-birds, the whole world, for 
 aught we know, may be under a second deluge, and we, 
 like Noah and his companions in the Ark, the only sur 
 viving remnant of the human race." 
 
 For the following day or two the wind became more 
 favorable, and sent them along at a rate, which so raised 
 their spirits that they began to talk of Philadelphia and 
 think of the friends they should soon meet ; when, early 
 in the morning of September 26th, they suddenly found 
 themselves, without any previous warning, in the very 
 vortex of a violent tornado, which wheeled in so short 
 a curve, that the forward sails were filled on one side, 
 and the sails aft on the other ; and the rain and the gale 
 were both so violent that " the sea looked like a dish 
 of cream." Luckily, however, the tornado soon passed 
 off on its whirling track, and was succeeded, to the joy 
 of all, by a fresh northeaster, which sped the Berkshire 
 cheerily on her course. 
 
 In a day or two, however, the wind veered again to 
 the west and north of west, from which quarter it had, 
 indeed, come during most of their run thus far. But 
 though they had thus been compelled, in order to make 
 any headway, to take a very southerly course, and were 
 making their track a very long one, yet on the 28th 
 they entered the gulf-stream, which was indicated by 
 the sea- weed, which is spread over the Atlantic from 
 near the American coast to the Azores, by that great 
 oceanic river. 
 
 On fishing up and examining some of this weed, his 
 curiosity was much excited by finding numerous speci 
 mens of a small shell-fish adhering to its branches. 
 The smallest of them contained what seemed to the 
 
116 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 naked eye merely a soft unorganized pulp ; but the 
 larger ones plainly manifested animal life, by opening 
 and shutting their shells, and thrusting forth claws re 
 sembling the crab s, but not yet fully formed. On look 
 ing more closely among the branches, he discovered a 
 very small crab, not so large as his finger-nail, detached 
 from the weed. This naturally suggested the inference 
 that the little shells still adhering to the weed, contained 
 the embryos of other animals of the same species ; and 
 the better to test this inference, he put a branch, with 
 many adhering shells upon it, into a cask of sea-water, 
 intending to renew the water from time to time, and 
 watch the result. The very next day he found in the 
 cask another young crab, so small that it seemed just 
 separated from its native branch. But the weed in the 
 cask was now wilted, and the other embryos dead, so 
 that his experiment was cut short. 
 
 The facts he had already observed, however, satisfied 
 him that his inference was correct. He now recollected 
 also, that during a recent calm, he had seen a crab swim 
 ming among the floating weeds, on which it was then 
 supposed to be feeding; and other circumstances re 
 lating to this same species of shell-fish, now recurred 
 to his mind and served to corroborate his views. 
 
 These circumstances are related as serving to present 
 the mental habits and tendencies of the subject of our 
 narrative, in an interesting light, and as exemplifying 
 that spirit of observation which, as it became more de 
 veloped by exercise, led him to those philosophical 
 investigations for which he ultimately became so pre 
 eminently distinguished. 
 
 A day or two after the incidents just related, another 
 interesting phenomenon occurred, in the heavens. This 
 was an eclipse of the moon. According to the calcula 
 tion of this eclipse for the meridian of London, it was 
 
ECLIPSE OF MOON FLYING-FISH. 117 
 
 to commence at 5, A. M., of September 30th ; but at 
 the longitude of the Berkshire it began at about 11, 
 P. M., of the 29th, and continued nearly three hours. 
 At the moment of greatest obscuration, which was 
 about half an hour after midnight, six digits, or one half 
 of the moon s disk, was covered by the shadow of the 
 earth. 
 
 On the morning of October 4th, a flying-fish was 
 found dead on deck, where it had probably alighted 
 from its flight to escape its most persecuting enemy, the 
 dolphin. Its wings are described as being of a fin-like 
 structure, and extending from a little back of the gills 
 nearly to the tail. Its flight is straight-forward, com 
 monly from six to ten feet above the water, and some 
 times reaching forty or fifty yards, or as long as the 
 wings continue wet enough to hold the air. When hard 
 pressed by the dolphin, they rise, usually in little flocks 
 of four or five, and sometimes more ; but their swift 
 pursuer, aware of their straight flight, holds right on, 
 and is generally at the spot ready to seize them when 
 they again touch the water. 
 
 On the evening of the same day the Berkshire s com 
 pany were cheered by tokens of nearing land. These 
 tokens had, in truth, begun to excite more than ordinary 
 interest, for " the ship s crew was now brought to a 
 short allowance of water." Happily, on the 7th of 
 October, the wind, so long contrary, came fresh and 
 strong from the northeast, sending the ship steadily on 
 her course, full seven knots an hour; and holding at the 
 same point for the two following days, they sped on 
 ward, amid multiplying signs that they were at length 
 rapidly approaching the American coast, till, on Sunday, 
 the 9th of October, a little past noon, a man on the look 
 out aloft, to the great joy of all in the ship, gave " the 
 long-wished-for cry of LAND." Sixty full days had now 
 
118 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 elapsed since Benjamin had taken his last look at the 
 shores of England ; and when, about an hour later, the 
 coast of his native land became visible from the Berk 
 shire s deck, it was for a time somewhat dimmed to the 
 moist eyes with which he gazed upon it. 
 
 Captain Clark, however, being wholly unacquainted 
 with the coast, and no pilot appearing, the Berkshire 
 did not enter the Delaware till the next day ; and the 
 evening of still another day came round, before Benja 
 min actually set foot again in Philadelphia, when his 
 journal is closed with a warm expression of gladness, 
 and a hearty " thank God," on the safe completion of 
 "so tedious and dangerous a voyage." 
 
 But far the most important subject that occupied 
 Benjamin s mind, on this long passage, remains to be 
 noticed in closing this chapter. That subject was the 
 regulation of his future career the methodizing of his 
 life upon some comprehensive system, including not 
 merely the occupation by which he was to gain his live 
 lihood, but other fixed and definite objects, for the attain 
 ment of which his faculties should be exerted, so that 
 neither ability nor opportunity should be wasted in in 
 decision, or in unproductive because aimless effort. 
 
 To aid him in accomplishing a purpose of such grave 
 concern, he availed himself of his leisure at sea to di 
 gest such a plan and reduce it to writing. In his own* 
 account of his life, long years after, he refers to that 
 plan as making part of his journal ; but it is not there. 
 It was probably lost, with a great many other of his pa 
 pers, during his long-protracted absence from home and 
 country in the public service ; so that no judgment can 
 now be formed of it, except by way of inference from 
 other portions of his writings on similar topics, and 
 from the actual course of his life. Such an inference is 
 the more to be relied on in this case, for an idea of the 
 
END OF VOYAGE. 119 
 
 general tenor of the plan in question, for the reason that, 
 on adverting to it, as stated, he speaks of it with a just 
 satisfaction, as being the more worthy of mention be 
 cause, though formed at so early an age, he had, never 
 theless, " pretty faithfully adhered to it, quite through 
 to old age." 
 
120 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CHANGES IN PHILADELPHIA DEATH OF MR. DENHAM 
 
 SENDS BENJAMIN TO HIS TRADE AGAIN. 
 
 ON returning to Philadelphia, and looking about 
 among his former acquaintances to reconnect the social 
 ties which had been temporarily severed, Benjamin 
 found that an absence of less than even two years had 
 made room for various changes. During that absence, 
 Sir William Keith, the governor of the province when 
 Benjamin sailed for England, had been removed, and 
 Major Patrick Gordon appointed in his place. Keith, 
 however, still remained in Philadelphia; and when he 
 again saw in its streets the young man he had so un 
 worthily deceived, manifested some consciousness of 
 shame for his conduct, by shrinking away from any 
 meeting with him. 
 
 But a change of more interest to Benjamin was the 
 marriage of Miss Read. After the arrival of the letter, 
 which, as heretofore mentioned, he wrote to her from 
 London, her friends insisted that there was no proba 
 bility he would ever return, and persuaded her to marry 
 a man by the name of Rogers. He was a potter by 
 trade, and is represented as being a very skilful work 
 man. His prospects in business being considered highly 
 promising, the friends of Miss Read urged the match, 
 without making, as it seems, any sufficient inquiry into 
 his personal character or private connections. The 
 
.Vp OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 121 
 
 marriage was an ill-judged and unhappy one ; and from 
 the circumstances attending it, as briefly alluded to by 
 Franklin, it seems nearly certain that the young lady 
 herself assented to it very reluctantly. It was soon fol 
 lowed by her refusal to live with her husband, or to be 
 called by his name ; and a report becoming prevalent 
 that he actually had another wife living, she wholly re 
 nounced the connection. Rogers, in fact, proved to be 
 unprincipled and worthless ; and a year or two later, 
 having involved himself deeply in debt, he absconded to 
 the West Indies, where he died ; thus relieving his no 
 minal wife and her friends from all further embarrass 
 ment or- annoyance through him. 
 
 Of the other persons already introduced into this nar 
 rative on account of their connection with Benjamin, 
 the only one remaining to be noticed in this place, was 
 the eccentric Keimer. His condition appeared to have 
 become considerably improved. He had obtained posses 
 sion of a much better house, in which he had opened a 
 shop, with a good assortment of stationery ; his printing- 
 office was well supplied with types and other furniture j 
 and he had several workmen in his employ, with appa 
 rently work enough to keep them busy. 
 
 Benjamin, however, had returned, it will be recol 
 lected, not as a journeyman printer, but as a merchant s 
 clerk. His principal and friend, Mr. Denham, lost no 
 time in opening his store of goods ; and his clerk, giving 
 diligent and earnest attention to his new business, soon 
 made himself a correct and ready accountant, as well 
 as an adroit and acceptable salesman. They both lived 
 under the same roof, more like father and son than as 
 master and servant ; the excellent and intelligent Qua 
 ker merchant taking a sincere paternal interest in the 
 welfare of his young friend and assistant, and the latter 
 
 11 
 
122 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 cherishing for his patron and employer a truly filial re 
 spect and affection. 
 
 A letter of Benjamin s, dated on the 6th of January, 
 O. S., 1727 the 21st anniversary of his birthday to 
 Jane, his youngest sister, and the last child of her pa 
 rents, presents such pleasing proof of the kindliness of 
 his nature, and, besides the justness of its sentiments, 
 gives so early an indication of the prevalent bent of his 
 mind in favor of what is useful rather than showy, that 
 the insertion of it here seems to be demanded, not 
 merely for the reasons mentioned, but as being in a man 
 ner necessary to the just estimate of his character. To 
 give the letter its full significance, moreover, it should 
 be observed that Jane Franklin was now fast verging to 
 the end of her 15th year, which was completed in the 
 following March, and that her brother had recently 
 heard of her intended marriage with Edward Mecom, 
 which actually took place in the succeeding July, the 
 fourth month of her 16th year. The interest of this 
 letter is somewhat enhanced, also, by the fact that, ex 
 cepting only the brief note to Sir Hans Sloane, relative 
 to the asbestos purse, this is the earliest piece of writing 
 from the same pen, now in print. The letter is as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " DEAR SISTER : I am highly pleased with the ac 
 count Captain Freeman gives me of you. I always 
 judged by your behavior when a child, that you would 
 make a good and agreeable woman ; and you know you 
 were ever my peculiar favorite. I have been thinking 
 what would be a suitable present for me to make, and 
 for you to receive, as I hear you are grown a celebrated 
 beauty. I had almost determined on a tea-table ; but 
 when I considered, that the character of a good house 
 wife was far preferable to that of being only a pretty 
 gentlewoman, I concluded to send you a spinning-wheel, 
 
MR. DENHAM DIES. 123 
 
 which I hope you will accept as a small token of my 
 sincere love and affection. 
 
 " Sister, farewell ; and remember that modesty, as it 
 makes the most homely virgin amiable and charming, 
 so the want of it infallibly renders the most perfect 
 beauty disagreeable and odious. But when that bright 
 est of female virtues shines, among other perfections of 
 body and mind, in the same person, it makes the woman 
 more lovely than an angel. Excuse this freedom, and 
 use the same with me. I am, dear Jenny, your loving 
 
 Drother, 
 
 "B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 The new mercantile life on which Benjamin had en 
 tered, was now opening pleasantly before him, with 
 cheering prospects of success in business, and under the 
 happiest personal relations between himself and his 
 patron, when, early in February, 1727, they were both 
 prostrated by sickness. Benjamin s disease was pleu 
 risy, and it came very near proving fatal. So severe did 
 it become that he gave up any expectation of surviving 
 it ; and his intense sufferings under the violent inflam 
 mation which marks the disease, produced such ex 
 haustion of spirit and weariness of life, that he felt, for 
 the time, as he relates, some degree of disappointment 
 and regret when he found himself recovering, and re 
 flected that, sooner or later, he must again undergo a 
 similar trial. 
 
 The disease which seized upon Mr. Denham is not 
 named ; but after a protracted struggle the worthy man 
 died under it, in the course of the spring. His stock of 
 merchandise passed into the hands of his executors ; 
 and Benjamin, with a small bequest from his friend as a 
 memorial of goodwill, was again thrown upon his own 
 resources. His brother-in-law, Captain Holmes, hap 
 pening, fortunately, to be in Philadelphia, advised him 
 
124 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to betake himself again to his trade ; and Keimer offered 
 him a liberal yearly stipend, if he would take charge of 
 his printing-office, so that he might himself devote his 
 own attention wholly to his business as a stationer and 
 bookseller. But, besides a strong repugnance to another 
 engagement with Keimer, Benjamin felt very reluctant 
 to abandon his new line of business. After making an 
 unsuccessful effort, however, to find a permanent situa 
 tion as a clerk in some mercantile house in Philadelphia, 
 he accepted Keimer s offer. 
 
 On taking his place in the printing-office as foreman, 
 he found there five persons Hugh Meredith, Stephen 
 Potts, a young Irishman called John, George Webb, and 
 David Harry of whom he has left a notice substan 
 tially as follows. 
 
 Meredith, u Pennsylvanian, bred a farmer, and now 
 thirty years old, was an honest, sensible man,- fond of 
 reading, and too fond of strong drink. Potts, born and 
 bred like Meredith, had just passed his minority, pos 
 sessed uncommon parts and a lively wit, but was rather 
 idle. The object of the former of these two was to be 
 come a pressman, and of the latter, a bookbinder ; and 
 for the sake of these objects they had engaged at unu 
 sually low wages, which were to be raised from time to 
 time, as they should become more expert and useful. 
 John, the only name by which the young Irishman is 
 designated, bred to no regular business, was an emigrant 
 whose services Keimer had purchased for a term of four 
 years, and was to make him a good pressman. George 
 Webb was a runaway student of Oxford university, in 
 England, whose services Keimer had bought for four 
 years also, and was to make him a compositor. David 
 Harry, a country lad, was an indented apprentice. 
 
 Such were the persons who constituted Keimer s force 
 in the printing-office, and whom he had hired under an 
 
RETURNS TO HIS TRADE. 125 
 
 express agreement to teach them several branches of 
 business of which he knew little or nothing himself. 
 
 To the quick and observant mind of Benjamin, it soon 
 became evident that Keimer s leading motive for offering 
 him more than ordinary wages, was to obtain, in him, a 
 person who could fulfil the agreement he was not com 
 petent himself to perform, by teaching his workmen the 
 several parts of the printer s trade ; and that when this 
 should be done, as Keimer had them all bound to him 
 for a considerable period, he would then be able to carry 
 on his business without Benjamin s further assistance. 
 Nevertheless, though seeing all this, and the fraudulent 
 spirit which had influenced Keimer, Benjamin went qui 
 etly forward, arranged the printing-office, which was in 
 utter confusion, and not only introduced order and dis 
 cipline among the hands, but taught them how to exe 
 cute their work in a workmanlike manner. 
 
 The case of George Webb was peculiar. That a 
 young man of good parts, who had been a member of 
 Oxford university, should be found, at so early an age, 
 in a foreign land, and in the condition of that class of 
 pauper immigrants, who, from selling their time and ser 
 vice for a term of years, to enable them to pay the ex 
 penses of immigration, are called redemptioners, was cer 
 tainly not a little singular ; and the further notice left 
 of him by Franklin, contains a lesson sufficiently inter 
 esting and monitory to be somewhat more fully pre 
 sented. 
 
 From his own account of himself to Franklin, it ap 
 pears that he was about eighteen years old, and was 
 born at Gloucester, in England, where he was placed at 
 a grammar-school to be fitted for the university. He 
 was one of the wits of the school, wrote verses, and dis 
 tinguished himself among the boys as a player, in the 
 dramatic pieces performed at the school exhibitions. 
 11* * 
 
126 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 On being sent to the university he remained there dis 
 contentedly for about a year, " wishing of all things to 
 see London and become a player." Upon receiving his 
 last quarterly allowance, therefore, instead of paying his 
 bills at Oxford, he ran away to London ; but finding him 
 self unable to join the players, he fell into bad company, 
 squandered his money, pawned his clothes to procure 
 food, and while roaming the streets one day, a printed 
 notice being handed to him, offering employment to all 
 who would go into service in America, he caught at the 
 proposals, executed the necessary contract, was imme 
 diately shipped, and left England, without even a line to 
 his friends to tell them whither he was going. " He 
 was," says Franklin, " lively, witty, good-natured, and 
 a pleasant companion ; but idle, thoughtless, and impru 
 dent, to the last degree." 
 
 Such being the character of this youth, it is easy to 
 see that his whole career, and the result of it, in the sale 
 of himself for four years to Keimer, were but the natu 
 ral and legitimate consequence of very sufficient causes. 
 
 The young Irishman, John, soon eloped and disap 
 peared ; but with the other hands Benjamin lived on very 
 pleasant terms, inasmuch as they found Keimer incapa 
 ble of teaching them anything, while they were daily 
 advancing in the knowledge of their business, under the 
 instruction and supervision of Benjamin, whom they 
 respected accordingly. He was, moreover, adding to 
 the number of his agreeable and valuable acquaintances 
 among the residents of the town ; and as he did not 
 work on Saturday, which was his employer s sabbath, 
 he had two days in the week at his own disposal, which 
 he devoted principally to reading. His services, also, 
 at this period, were so very important to Keimer, that 
 from him, too, he received unusual civility, accompanied 
 by various manifestations of great seeming regard ; so 
 
KEIMER PICKS A QUARREL. 127 
 
 that, as he relates, nothing now gave him any uneasiness, 
 but his debt to Vernon, which he had been too inattentive 
 to economy to be enabled yet to pay. His creditor, how 
 ever, had not yet asked for it. 
 
 There was no type-foundry at that time in either of 
 the colonies ; and as the printing-office became occasion 
 ally deficient in sorts, Benjamin had recourse to his own 
 ingenuity to supply such wants. 
 
 " I had seen type cast at St. James s, in London," says 
 he, " but without much attention to the manner. How 
 ever, I contrived a mould, and made use of the letters 
 we had as puncheons, struck the matrices in lead, and 
 thus supplied in a pretty tolerable way all deficiencies. 
 I also engraved several things on occasion; made the 
 ink; was warehouse-man, and, in short, quite a facto 
 tum" 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, however, and the exemplary 
 good faith and success with which he had managed his 
 department of Keimer s business, doing for him what he 
 was wholly incompetent himself to do, that person be 
 gan in due time to betray his inherent knavery, and the 
 real object for which Benjamin had been engaged. 
 When a sufficient period had elapsed for the benefits of 
 Benjamin s instruction and superintendence to manifest 
 themselves, and the workmen in the office had come to 
 understand their business so as to perform it in a credit 
 able manner, Keimer s deportment began to change ; and 
 when he paid Benjamin his wages at the end of his sec 
 ond quarter, he gave him to understand that he found his 
 pay burdensome, and thought he ought to consent to 
 some abatement. " He grew by degrees less civil, put 
 on more the airs of a master, frequently found fault, was 
 captious, and seemed ready for an outbreak." 
 
 Benjamin bore this change of treatment for a while, with 
 a good degree of patience, and the more so, because he 
 
128 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 generously ascribed it, in part at least, to the irritable state 
 of mind produced by the embarrassment of his affairs. 
 A trifling occurrence, however, pretty soon put a sudden 
 end to their connection. 
 
 An unusual noise in the neighborhood, one day, in 
 duced Benjamin to put his head out of the window to 
 see what occasioned it. Keimer, who was in the street, 
 observing this, called out to him in a loud, imperious tone, 
 and with reproachful language, to mind his business. 
 This insult was rendered particularly galling, by the fact 
 that it was witnessed by many of the neighbors, the same 
 noise having drawn most of them to their doors and win 
 dows ; and as Keimer went immediately up into the of 
 fice, and there renewed his insolent abuse, Benjamin s 
 patience and good nature were exhausted, and he retorted 
 upon him with great indignation. Keimer gave the stip 
 ulated quarter s notice for dissolving their contract, at 
 the same time declaring his wish that it could be short 
 ened. Benjamin told him he could have his wish, for he 
 should instantly quit him ; and, taking his hat, forthwith 
 left the printing-office, requesting Meredith, whom he met 
 below, to take care of such of his things as were in the 
 office, and bring them to his lodgings. 
 
 Meredith readily complied with the request, for he had 
 become strongly attached to Benjamin ; and when, in the 
 evening, he went to the lodgings of the latter, they not 
 only talked over the occurrences of the day and the con 
 dition of Keimer and his affairs, but held also, a long 
 conversation upon their own situations and prospects. 
 As that conversation led to important results, its general 
 tenor is here stated. 
 
 Meredith was extremely desirous that his instructor 
 and friend should continue in Keimer s printing-office, as 
 long as he should himself remain there. Benjamin, it 
 appears, had begun to think seriously of returning to his 
 
NEW PARTNERSHIP. 129 
 
 native town. In this interview, however, Meredith in 
 duced him to abandon that idea, reminding him that 
 Keimer was in debt for every part of his establishment ; 
 that his creditors were growing very apprehensive about 
 their pay ; that he managed all his concerns in the loosest 
 and most ruinous manner, sometimes selling things at 
 bare cost, when hard pressed for cash, and sometimes 
 making sales on credit, without even keeping an account 
 of them ; that bankruptcy must, therefore, inevitably 
 overtake him soon, and thus make an opening, which 
 Benjamin might occupy to certain and great advantage. 
 
 When Benjamin urged his utter inability to avail him 
 self of the contemplated opening, from his want of money, 
 Meredith expressed the most confident belief that his 
 father, who entertained a very favorable opinion of Ben 
 jamin, would furnish the requisite money, provided a 
 partnership could be formed between the two young 
 men ; that if Benjamin would agree to such an arrange 
 ment, they could, by spring, when his own engagement 
 with Keimer would expire, have a press, types, and a 
 full printing-office equipment, fresh from London, and be 
 ready to cany their plan promptly into effect; and 
 frankly admitting his own deficiencies as a workman, 
 as well as his ignorance of the trade, he concluded by 
 proposing that, if Benjamin consented to the project, his 
 skill and knowledge of the business should be considered 
 equivalent to the money and stock contributed on his 
 own account, and they would divide the proceeds of the 
 whole concern equally. 
 
 Such a proposition could not be otherwise than ac 
 ceptable to Benjamin, and he at once declared his assent 
 to it. Mr. Meredith, the elder, being in town, Benjamin, 
 on conferring with him, found that he approved of the 
 proposed arrangement, not only on account of its prob 
 able advantages in reference to business, but for the ad- 
 
130 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ditional reason that Benjamin had so much influence with 
 his son, as to have already induced him to abstain, for a 
 considerable period, from the perilous practice of fre 
 quent tippling, and would, he hoped, be able to cure him 
 of it entirely, upon their becoming more closely connect 
 ed by the ties of a common interest. 
 
 A list of the articles needed for the new partnership 
 was drawn up by Benjamin and delivered to the elder 
 Meredith, to be placed by him in the hands of a merchant 
 who was to import them from London ; and the whole 
 affair was to be kept strictly to themselves, until, upon 
 the arrival of their equipment, they should be ready at 
 once to open shop. 
 
 There was at that time but one printing-office in Phil 
 adelphia, besides Keimer s ; and that one, which was 
 Bradford s, having no occasion for any additional hands, 
 Benjamin was for a few days out of employment. Just 
 then, however, it became known that the colonial author 
 ities of New Jersey were about to issue a considerable 
 amount of paper currency, called, in those days, " bills of 
 credit," because they were issued on the credit of the 
 colonial government. The printing of the bills in ques 
 tion would be a very desirable job, but to execute them 
 properly would require types and cuts of several kinds, 
 which nobody in either colony, except Benjamin, could 
 prepare ; and Keimer, anxious to do the work, but fear 
 ing lest Bradford should get the advantage of him, and 
 secure the contract for the job, by engaging Benjamin, 
 sent the latter a very conciliatory note, purporting that 
 " old friends should not part for a few words, the effect 
 of sudden passion," and earnestly desiring him to come 
 back to his former situation. 
 
 To this request Benjamin yielded, chiefly through the 
 persuasion of Meredith, who urged the benefit which 
 would accrue to himself from the instruction and super- 
 
JERSEY PAPER MONEY. 131 
 
 vision of his friend and teacher; and on returning, he 
 found Keimer disposed to be very civil, and to render his 
 situation in all respects pleasant. 
 
 To crown this reconciliation, and fill for the time, the 
 measure of Keimer s content, he obtained the Jersey 
 contract, and for the neater and more satisfactory execu 
 tion of it, Benjamin " contrived," as he says, " a copper 
 plate press, the first that had been seen in the country, 
 and cut several ornaments and checks for the bills." As 
 the work was to be performed at Burlington, N. J., he 
 went thither with Keimer, and completed the job in the 
 most acceptable manner ; the latter receiving for it a sum 
 considerable enough to patch up his credit, and enable 
 him to continue his business for some time longer. 
 
 This job, in its general and permanent results, how 
 ever, was far more advantageous to Benjamin, than to his 
 employer. While at Burlington, he became personally 
 acquainted with a considerable number of the leading 
 men of that colony. The provincial assembly, then sit 
 ting, raised a committee to superintend the printing of 
 these bills, and especially to see that no more should be 
 struck off than the number authorized by law. For the 
 satisfactory discharge of this duty, it was deemed proper 
 that some one of the committee should be in constant at 
 tendance upon the press, and he was usually accompa 
 nied by one or more of his friends. The public station 
 and character of these men, the nature of the business 
 in hand, and the topics suggested by these circumstances, 
 gave occasion for much pleasant and profitable conversa 
 tion, in which Benjamin, being far better qualified than 
 Keimer to participate, received the chief attention of 
 their visiters ; and so favorable was the impression, which 
 his intelligence, good sense, and general deportment, made 
 upon them, that he soon began to receive invitations to 
 their houses ; and while hie companion was comparative- 
 
132 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ly neglected, he became himself the object of many civil 
 ities, which not only ripened into various lasting personal 
 friendships, but helped to prepare the way for that rapid 
 development of public esteem and confidence, which, not 
 very long after, became so universal and so conspicuous. 
 
 Of the personal friends, whom his stay of not quite 
 three months in Burlington, on this occasion, enabled him 
 to count among his acquisitions, he has mentioned the 
 names of several. Among them, besides various mem 
 bers of the Assembly, with whom his employment brought 
 him into contact, were also the provincial secretary Sam 
 uel Bustill, one of the provincial judges by the name of 
 Allen, and Isaac Ducrow the surveyor-general. " The last 
 named person," says Franklin, " was a shrewd, sagacious 
 old man, who told me that he began for himself, when 
 young, by wheeling clay for the brick-makers ; learned 
 to write after he was of age ; carried the chain for sur 
 veyors, who taught him surveying ; and he had now, by 
 his industry, acquired a good estate." Franklin adds 
 that, without having said a word in relation to his own 
 plans, Ducrow remarked to him : " I foresee that you 
 will soon work this man [Keimer] out of his business, 
 and make a fortune in it, at Philadelphia." 
 
 Such were some of the fruits, which the good sense 
 and discretion, the information which had been so assid 
 uously accumulated, and the conciliating manners of a 
 young man but twenty-one years of age, enabled him to 
 gather, in less than three months, in a place where he 
 was previously a stranger, and while working as a trades- 
 
ENTRANCE UPON MANHOOD. 133 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HIS ENTRANCE UPON MANHOOD HIS PRINCIPLES AND 
 
 CHARACTER NEW ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 FRANKLIN had now reached a stage in the journey of life 
 of deeper interest, and involving cares of a wider range, 
 and graver character than any he had yet encountered. 
 The laws of the land, taking their rule from the statutes 
 of nature, would no longer look upon him as under the 
 guardianship or control of others. Thenceforward they 
 would treat him as a man of full age, himself alone ame 
 nable for his conduct in whatever relations he might as 
 sume ; and he was about to embark in business, not as a 
 servant working for fixed wages, and comparatively ex 
 empt from the anxieties of forethought and accountabil 
 ity, but as himself a master and the employer of others, 
 taking his place in the community as one of its members, 
 with the serious responsibilities of life pressing directly 
 upon him. 
 
 In his autobiography, when, long years after, he is 
 looking back upon this important stage in his career, he 
 presents an outline of his own character so far as it was 
 then developed, and of the principles and opinions, with 
 which he was about to commence manhood, conduct his 
 private affairs, and perform his part as a member of so 
 ciety. This general estimate of himself, and of his moral 
 condition, with the glance he gives at the history of his 
 opinions and way of thinking on moral and religious sub- 
 
 12 
 
134 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 jects, is instructive as showing how early and to what an 
 unusual degree he had cultivated the habit of self ex 
 amination, and how assiduously he had labored to settle 
 his views on points of such weighty concern to every per 
 son, who has not forgotten that he is an accountable 
 being; and as showing, also, notwithstanding grave er 
 rors and defects, how sincerely he sought for truth, and 
 aimed to act toward his fellow-men, according to the 
 requirements of justice, and the dictates of benevo 
 lence. 
 
 This account of himself will be best given chiefly in 
 his own words, not merely for the sake of accuracy arid 
 the livelier interest they will impart to the subject, but 
 also for the sake of justice; inasmuch as the frank hones 
 ty with which it is rendered, and his faults are recorded, 
 is not only praiseworthy in itself, but formed one of the 
 most salient and beautiful features of his character; and 
 if candidly considered in connection with the tone of 
 confession and self-censure which pervades the statement, 
 will, it is believed, satisfy every fair-minded reader, that 
 his errors of opinion were not the result of a perverse 
 and intractable temper, or unteachable spirit, but the er 
 rors of an ingenuous youth, whose consciousness of men 
 tal power had been naturally exalted to over-confidence, 
 by his obvious superiority to most of those with whom 
 he had yet had an opportunity to measure himself; and 
 that in the midst of mistakes he did not obstinately shut 
 his mind against more enlightened convictions, but was 
 ready cheerfully to receive truth, as well as eager to find 
 it. 
 
 The exhibition, even of the errors, whether of opinion 
 or conduct, of a man of so honest and frank a spirit, can 
 hardly fail to be profitable, both for warning and imita 
 tion ; especially, when, as in this instance, subsequent and 
 wider observation of human life, and a richer experience, 
 
OPINIONS. 135 
 
 led him, on fuller reflection and in the maturity of his 
 faculties, to detect such errors and renounce them. 
 
 " Before I enter upon my public appearance in busi 
 ness," says he to his son, to whom his narrative is ad 
 dressed, " it may be well to let you know the then state 
 of my mind, with regard to my principles and morals, 
 that you may see how far they influenced the future 
 events of my life. My parents had early given me re 
 ligious impressions, and brought me through my child 
 hood piously, in the dissenting way. But I was scarce 
 fifteen, when after doubting by turns several points as I 
 found them disputed in the different books I read, I be 
 gan to doubt of the Revelation itself. Some books 
 against deism fell into my hands, said to be the substance 
 of sermons which had been preached at Boyle s lectures. 
 It happened that they wrought an effect on me, quite 
 contrary to what was intended by them. For the argu 
 ments of the deists, which were quoted to be refuted, ap 
 peared to me much stronger than the refutations. In 
 short I soon became a thorough deist. My arguments 
 perverted some others, particularly Collins and Ralph; 
 but each of these having wronged me greatly, without 
 the least compunction, and recollecting Keith s conduct 
 toward me [he was another freethinker], and my own 
 toward Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me 
 great [mental] trouble I began to suspect that this doc 
 trine, though it might be true, was not very useful." 
 
 He then adverts to the pamphlet, which, as heretofore 
 noticed, he wrote while working as a journeyman print 
 er in London. In that pamphlet, taking for his sole 
 premises God s infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, 
 but wholly overlooking man s free agency, he had never 
 theless extended his argument, not only to the works of 
 creation and the ordinances of Providence, but to all hu 
 man action also ; that is, though taking for his premises 
 
136 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the attributes of the Deity only, yet embracing in his ar 
 gument not only what the Deity does, but what man does 
 also, he drew the sweeping conclusion that there can not 
 possibly be anything wrong in the world ; that virtue and 
 vice are only empty names, having no real existence; and 
 that, not merely in the works and government of God, 
 but in human conduct also, "whatever is, is right." 
 
 Such was the scope of that crude performance. Of 
 its fallacies, however, he soon became aware. Even be 
 fore commencing business with Meredith, in less than 
 two years after it was written, its acuteness and cogency 
 had, as he freely confesses, dwindled exceedingly in his 
 own eyes ; and after a passing remark upon the unsatis 
 factory nature of all metaphysical reasoning on such 
 topics, he proceeds as follows : 
 
 " I grew convinced that truth, sincerity, and integrity, 
 in dealings between man and man, were of the utmost 
 importance to the felicity of life ; and I framed written 
 resolutions, which still remain in my journal-book, to 
 practise them ever while I lived. Revelation had, indeed, 
 no weight with me, as such ; but I entertained an opinion 
 that, although certain actions might not be bad, because 
 they were forbidden by it, or good, because it command 
 ed them, yet probably those actions might be forbidden 
 because they were bad for us, or commanded because 
 they were beneficial to us, in their own nature, all cir 
 cumstances considered." 
 
 The sentiment avowed in the forepart of the passage 
 just cited, is worthy of all commendation, and the resolu 
 tions mentioned were well fulfilled through a long and 
 honorable life. And the view, expressed in the latter 
 portion of the same passage, of the ground of moral obli 
 gation, however defective in itself, is clearly better than 
 the doctrine of the pamphlet ; for it admits the reality of 
 the distinction between right and wrong, as well as the 
 
MORALS RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 137 
 
 existence of good and evil ; and by its influence, as he 
 believed, was he preserved in the main from such gross 
 immorality as might otherwise have resulted from the 
 want of fixed religious principle, during the perilous 
 season of youth, passed so much among strangers as to 
 feel little restraint from the observation and opinion of 
 others. The remark with which, by way of inference, 
 he closes the review of himself, as he was when youth 
 merged in manhood, will, when compared with the es 
 teem in which he was held by the community in which 
 he lived, be allowed to be sufficiently modest. " I had, 
 therefore," says he, " a tolerable character to begin the 
 world with : I valued it properly, and I determined to 
 preserve it." 
 
 The passage in the first of the extracts just presented, 
 in which Franklin alludes to the effect on his mind pro 
 duced by reading certain sermons on deism, and by the 
 manner in which the argument was conducted, can not 
 fail to suggest to every considerate mind some grave 
 reflections. Doubtless the cause of revealed truth has 
 been much aided by argument, when conducted with 
 ability and learning, and in a candid and discreet spirit ; 
 and a full and lucid exhibition of the historical, as well 
 as the intrinsic, evidences of the genuineness and au 
 thenticity of the sacred writings, is not only due to the 
 momentous importance of the subject, but has been 
 among the most efficient means of establishing their 
 authority and spreading their doctrines. Nevertheless, 
 before a man presents himself to the world as a cham 
 pion of such a cause, it becomes him well to consider 
 what are his qualifications for the contest. The Scrip 
 tures themselves recognise the fact, that there is some 
 times a zeal which is not according to knowledge ; and 
 the history of Christianity, especially the controversial 
 portion of it, shows but top plainly that some who have 
 
138 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 written in its defence, would have done more wisely if 
 they had left that defence to the arguments presented 
 by the beauty of a Christian life, and the persuasion of 
 a Christian example. A sedate and earnest mind, filled 
 with the convictions of divine truth a pious heart, 
 warmed with sympathizing affections, and upheld by 
 a faith and hope that can sustain adversity with cheer 
 ful resignation, and meet prosperity with a grateful and 
 unselfish joy, as supplying the means, not of greater 
 indulgence, but of a wider usefulness, and beaming over 
 the whole pathway of life have done more than all the 
 volumes of polemics to shut the mouth of cavil, extend 
 the influence of Christianity, and multiply its real fol 
 lowers. 
 
 Not long after the return of the two printers from 
 Burlington to Philadelphia, the types and other furni 
 ture for the new partnership arrived from London ; and 
 both Meredith and Franklin were fortunate enough 
 quietly to close their respective terms of service with 
 Keimer, and leave him in peace, before he knew any 
 thing of their new arrangements. They hired a house 
 near the market, at the moderate rent of twenty-four 
 pounds ; and to assist in paying it, as well as to furnish 
 themselves with convenient board and lodging, they took 
 as an under-tenant Thomas Godfrey, with his family. 
 
 Hardly had they set up their press, arranged their 
 cases, and got ready for work, when George House, one 
 of Franklin s acquaintances, introduced a man from the 
 country, whom he had just met in the street, inquiring 
 for a printer to do a small job for him. The new part 
 ners having exhausted their ready money in the multifa 
 rious details of preparation, this first piece of work, of 
 fering itself so opportunely and boding so well, was pe 
 culiarly gratifying. Indeed, so lively was the impression 
 it made, that in recurring to it long after, Franklin de- 
 
THE FIRST CROWN A CROAKER. 139 
 
 clares that " this countryman s five shillings, being the 
 first-fruits, and coming so seasonably, gave him more 
 pleasure than any crown he had since earned ; and the 
 gratitude he felt toward George House, had made him 
 often more ready than he would otherwise, perhaps, have 
 been, to assist young beginners." 
 
 It must surely be gratifying to the reader, to observe 
 how the incidents of life, even such as might usually be 
 deemed unimportant, touched the feelings of such a man 
 as Franklin, and instilled their lessons. It is in this way 
 that common occurrences become instructive, and the 
 mind is enriched and enlarged by experience. 
 
 There was, it seems, in Philadelphia (and rarely is 
 there to be found a neighborhood free from a similar 
 pest), one of those unhappy persons called croakers; who 
 never see the sun ; whose lives pass under a continual 
 cloud ; who can discern in every new enterprise nothing 
 but a new prognostic of evil ; who speak only to proph 
 esy disaster; and though every prediction be regularly 
 confuted by results, whose faith in their own inspiration, 
 unaffected alike by arguments and events, remains stead 
 fast and immoveable. 
 
 This Philadelphia croaker is described as " a person 
 of note, an elderly man, with a wise look, and a very 
 grave manner of speaking ;" and while yet personally 
 unknown to Franklin, seeing him one day at his door, 
 stopped, and asked if he was the young man who had 
 recently opened a new printing-office. " Being an 
 swered in the affirmative," says Franklin, " he said he 
 was sorry for me, because it was an expensive underta 
 king, and the expense would be lost ; for Philadelphia 
 was a sinking place ; half the people already bankrupts, 
 or nearly so ; all appearances to the contrary, such as 
 new buildings and the rise of rents, being to his certain 
 knowledge, fallacious ; for they were, in fact, the very 
 
140 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tilings that would ruin us ;" and he proceeded with such 
 a specification of present and coming calamities, as 
 served to depress, for the moment, even the manly hope 
 ful spirit and good sense of young Franklin, who, had 
 this woful recital been made to him before he embarked 
 with Meredith, would probably, as he relates himself, 
 have been deterred from the undertaking. 
 
 The " certain knowledge" of this croaker, proved, 
 however, as usual in such cases, far less certain than his 
 folly ; and the faithfulness of Providence, as well as the 
 wisdom of those who trust in it, was abundantly vindi 
 cated by the result. " This person," as Franklin adds, 
 " continued to live in this decaying place, and to declaim 
 in the same strain, refusing for many years to buy a house 
 there, because all was going to destruction ; and at last 
 I had the pleasure of seeing him give five times as much 
 for one, as he might have bought it for, when he first be 
 gan croaking." 
 
 While young Franklin was thus employed in his trade, 
 and was making his way into business, he did not by any 
 means neglect the improvement of his mind and his ad 
 vancement in knowledge. The number of his acquaint 
 ances in Philadelphia had also become considerably ex 
 tended, and in the course of the autumn of 1727, he in 
 duced most of the more intelligent among them, to or 
 ganize themselves as a club for mutual improvement, 
 under the name of the " Junto," to meet every Friday 
 evening. 
 
 The plan and regulations of this club were digested 
 and drawn up by Franklin. Each member in turn was 
 required to present to the club one or more questions "on 
 any point of morals, politics, or natural philosophy," to 
 be debated at their weekly meetings ; and once in every 
 three months each was also to produce a more elaborate 
 essay, digested and written by himself, on any subject he 
 
THE JUNTO. 141 
 
 might choose. The debates, at the weekly meetings, 
 were to be "conducted in a sincere spirit of inquiry af 
 ter truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of vic 
 tory ;" and the better to preserve their temper, candor, 
 and decorum, " all expressions of positiveness of opin 
 ion, and all direct contradiction," were, after a little ex 
 perience in the matter, " made contraband, and prohib 
 ited under small pecuniary penalties." 
 
 To show how much well-directed thought was be 
 stowed upon the principles, on which this club was or 
 ganized and conducted, and to account for the eminent 
 usefulness it attained and its consequent remarkable du 
 ration, some of its regulations and modes of proceeding 
 are here presented : they will, moreover, furnish valua 
 ble hints to others disposed to avail themselves of similar 
 means of mental and moral improvement, as well as help 
 to illustrate the development and tendencies at that time, 
 of Franklin s mind, from which they chiefly proceeded. 
 
 A permanent list of queries was prepared, of which 
 every member was bound to keep by him a copy; and at 
 each meeting it was the president s first duty, on taking 
 the chair, to put the following question, to be considered 
 as addressed to each member present : " Have you read 
 over these queries this morning, in order to consider 
 what you might have to offer to the Junto, touching any 
 one of them?" Whereupon the several members made 
 answer, in proper order, according to the matter they 
 had for remark. 
 
 To show the range and aim of these standing queries, 
 the substance of a number of them may be stated as fol 
 lows : the first one inquired if any member had found, in 
 the book he had last read, in any department of science, 
 literature, or the mechanic arts, anything of such claim 
 to attention, that it would be useful to lay it before the 
 club. Another query asked if any member knew of 
 
142 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 any recent act of any citizen, marked by such merit as 
 to deserve especial praise and imitation, or of any error 
 or misconduct, against which the members should be 
 warned. Others inquired if any particularly unhappy ef 
 fects of intemperance, passion, or other vice or folly, had 
 been recently observed ; or any marked and happy effects 
 of temperance, prudence, moderation, or other virtue; if 
 any deserving stranger had recently come to the city, to 
 whom the club could render any useful aid; if any mem 
 ber desired the friendship of some person, which one of 
 the club could with propriety procure for him, or if he 
 could be aided by them in any other honorable way ; if 
 there was any meritorious young man just starting in 
 business, to whom they could render any assistance ; if 
 any member had recently received important benefits 
 from some person not present; if any member was en 
 gaged in any important undertaking, in which he could 
 be aided by the counsel and information of the club, or 
 any of its associates ; if any idea, or plan, had recently 
 occurred to any member, which might be rendered use 
 ful to any class of people, to their own community, or to 
 men generally; if any special defect, or mischief, had been 
 recently perceived in any of the laws of the province, and 
 if any effectual remedy could be pointed out, so as to 
 make it expedient to lay the matter before the provincial 
 assembly ; or if any recent encroachment upon the 
 rights and liberties of the people had been detected. 
 
 These inquiries, it will be seen, appertain to the social 
 relations of men, and bear directly upon their social du 
 ties ; and their tendency to promote the habitual discharge 
 of those duties, by bringing them regularly forward, ev 
 ery week, for serious acknowledgment and consideration, 
 seems too palpable to be disputed. The faithful obser 
 vance of the principles of conduct involved in them, was 
 well calculated to encourage habits of self-examination, 
 
WELL-DEVISED REGULATIONS. 143 
 
 and self-discipline, on the part of individuals, and to foster 
 mutual goodwill, not only among the associates of the 
 Junto, but toward men generally; and by calling into 
 exercise a more vigilant public spirit, to form more val 
 uable members of the commonwealth. 
 
 But these standing queries, which formed so peculiar 
 and remarkable a feature of this club, were designed, not 
 as doubtful points to be debated, but as modes of present 
 ing to the attention of the members, just occasions for the 
 discharge of acknowledged obligations. They were calls 
 to duty, not subjects for dispute ; and belonged to that 
 part of the organization intended for the moral improve 
 ment of the associates of the Junto. Their mental im 
 provement and advancement in useful knowledge, they 
 sought in the discussion of other questions of a different 
 nature, and in the investigations requisite to render such 
 discussion profitable. 
 
 From the few published specimens of this class of 
 questions, it would seem that the forms and institutions 
 of government, the rights of the people, the principles of 
 political economy, the permanent interests of the coun 
 try, the legislation of the British government relating to 
 the colonies, and other points of general politics, stood 
 first in favor, and the various departments of natural 
 philosophy next, as supplying subjects for discussion; 
 though points of practical morality and the subtleties of 
 metaphysical speculation were occasionally interspersed. 
 Viewed collectively, however, they show that the dis 
 cussions of the Junto took a wide and elevated range ; 
 and the research they called for, together with the exer 
 cise of the best powers of the mind in arranging mate 
 rials and framing arguments, tended to foster a taste 
 for earnest study, well suited to exert a wholesome influ 
 ence on personal character, inspire manly views of duty, 
 and give a higher value to life. 
 
144 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 The terms of admission to this club were as peculiar 
 as its standing queries. These, like those, turned exclu 
 sively on the social relations. Instead of demanding 
 money in the form of initiation fees, they required of the 
 applicant for admission a simple declaration that he har 
 bored no inimical feeling toward any existing member ; 
 that he cherished a sentiment of goodwill toward his fel 
 low-men generally, irrespective of sect or party; that no 
 man ought to be harmed on account of his opinions 
 merely ; and that he held truth in esteem for its own sake 
 and would endeavor to seek it, receive it, and impart it, 
 in a spirit of candor and impartiality. 
 
 Such were the origin, scope, and spirit of an associa 
 tion, which acquired a high local reputation in its day, 
 proved exceedingly useful to its members, exerted a val 
 uable influence in the community, and even upon the pub 
 lic affairs of the province of Pennsylvania ; and after a 
 prosperous existence of forty years, was selected as the 
 healthy and vigorous stock, planted and tended by Frank 
 lin, on which, chiefly by the instrumentality of the same 
 assiduous and enlightened cultivator, was engrafted the 
 American Philosophical Society, of which also he was the 
 first president, and which has borne still more abundant 
 fruit, the volumes of its transactions having been among 
 the most efficient aids to the progress of science in this 
 country. 
 
USEFULNESS OF THE JUNTO. 145 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE JUNTO ORIGINAL MEMBERS BUSI 
 NESS GROWTH IN PUBLIC ESTEEM OPINIONS. 
 
 THE account of the Junto given in the preceding chap 
 ter, has been made somewhat full, not merely from a be 
 lief that it would be both gratifying and useful, but main 
 ly because it was one of the early works of Franklin, 
 and in truth, if duly considered in its various bearings, 
 the most important work he had yet performed. Speak 
 ing of it himself, in his autobiography, he pronounces 
 it, and with good reason, "the best school of philosophy, 
 morals, and politics, then existing in the province ;" and 
 he wisely ranks among its benefits, not only the research 
 and taste for solid studies, which it promoted, but also 
 the "better habits of conversation," which resulted from 
 compliance with regulations requiring mutual deference, 
 courtesy, and candor, and forbidding all direct contradic 
 tion and positiveness of assertion, in conversational dis 
 cussion, as well as in more formal debate habits to 
 which, as the chief cause, he justly ascribes the remark 
 able success and duration of the club. 
 
 Nor was this all. The most striking peculiarities of that 
 association, were but the embodiment of some of the most 
 marked characteristics of the mind and modes of think 
 ing from which they proceeded ; and the pertinence of the 
 sketch given, as well as its intrinsic interest, in this connec 
 tion, is further seen in the conclusive evidence it furnishes, 
 13 
 
146 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of the manly studies which must even then have occu 
 pied most of Franklin s time not demanded by his busi 
 ness ; thus showing how early and industriously he be 
 gan to prepare himself for those philosophical inquiries, 
 in which he attained such distinction, and to accumulate 
 those ample stores of political knowledge, and enter up 
 on that training of himself in the principles of civil lib 
 erty and just government, which enabled him to render, 
 during almost half a century, such important service to 
 his country. 
 
 Of such an association, which not only proved emi 
 nently successful in promoting its direct objects, but ex 
 erted an important influence in various ways, on the sub 
 sequent career of its chief founder, it will be gratifying 
 to know something of his original associates, and especial 
 ly to see from what occupations, himself a young trades 
 man working daily for his daily bread, he obtained his ear 
 liest coadjutors, in this honorable endeavor to enlarge their 
 knowledge, and enhance their individual value and means 
 of usefulness. For this purpose we copy Franklin s own 
 rapid and graphic sketch of the first members of the club. 
 
 The first one named was Joseph Breintnall, " a copier 
 of deeds for the scriveners ; a good-natured, friendly, 
 middle-aged man; a great lover of poetry, reading all 
 he could meet with, and writing some that was tolerable; 
 very ingenious in making little knick-knacks, and of sen 
 sible conversation." 
 
 Next was Thomas Godfrey, " a self-taught mathema 
 tician, great in his way, and afterward inventor of what 
 is now called Hartley s Quadrant. But he knew little 
 out of his way, and was not a pleasing companion ; as, 
 like most great mathematicians I have met with, he ex 
 pected universal precision in everything said, or was for 
 ever denying or distinguishing upon trifles, to the disturb 
 ance of all conversation. He soon left us." 
 
JUNTO-MEN MORE CUSTOM. 147 
 
 Another was Nicholas Scull, " a surveyor, afterward 
 surveyor-general ; who loved books, and sometimes made 
 a few verses." 
 
 Another was William Parsons, " bred a shoemaker, 
 but loving reading, had acquired a considerable share of 
 mathematics, which he first studied with a view to astrol 
 ogy, and afterward laughed at it. He also became sur 
 veyor-general. 
 
 Another was William Maugridge, " a joiner, but a most 
 exquisite mechanic, and a solid sensible man." 
 
 Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb, 
 were also members, but with them the reader is already 
 acquainted. 
 
 Next was Robert Grace, " a young gentleman of some 
 fortune, generous, lively, and witty ; a lover of punning 
 and of his friends." 
 
 The last one named was William Coleman, " then a 
 merchant s clerk," says Franklin, " about my own age, 
 who had the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and 
 the exactest morals, of almost any man I ever met with. 
 He became afterward a merchant of great note, and one 
 of our provincial judges. Our fiiendship continued with 
 out interruption, to his death, upward of forty years." 
 
 To this brief catalogue of the first members of the Jun 
 to, time added, at intervals, not a few of the ornaments of 
 Philadelphia, and among them, some names, besides that 
 of Franklin, of a wide and lasting celebrity. 
 
 Among the extraneous and collateral benefits which 
 soon began to accrue to the principal founder of this 
 club, from his connection with it, was an increase of busi 
 ness for the young firm of Meredith and Franklin. In 
 deed, it was one of the specified objects of the club, 
 though a subordinate one, and a recognised duty of the 
 members, to promote the rightful private interests of each 
 other, whenever opportunity should enable them to do so, 
 
148 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 by just and honorable means. In conformity with this 
 obligation, Joseph Brientnall, who was a Quaker, pro 
 cured for the new partnership the printing of forty sheets 
 of a History of the Quakers, the other sheets having 
 been engaged to Keimer. 
 
 The rate of pay for this job, however, is stated to have 
 been very scanty ; and to make it yield any profit what 
 ever, it was necessary " to work exceeding hard." The 
 size of the book was folio; the paper of the sort then 
 called pro patria ; the type for the text pica, and for the 
 notes long primer. Of these folio pages, " I composed," 
 says Franklin, " a sheet a day, and Meredith worked it 
 off at the press. It was often 11 o clock at night, and 
 sometimes later, before I had finished my distribution 
 [of the types thus set] for the next day s work ; as the 
 little jobs sent in by our other friends, now and then put 
 us back. But so determined was I to continue doing a 
 sheet a day of the folio, that one night, when, having 
 imposed my forms, I thought my day s work was over, 
 one of them by accident was broken, and two of the 
 pages reduced to pi. I immediately distributed and 
 composed it over again, before I went to bed." 
 
 This was, indeed, " working hard." But such perse 
 vering industry soon began to yield its appropriate re 
 ward ; for it soon became obvious to the community, and 
 gave a character, which secured confidence and credit. 
 The merchants of Philadelphia, it appears, had a club 
 called the Every-Night Club. The new partnership in 
 the printing business having been casually mentioned in 
 this club, one evening, the opinion was pretty generally 
 expressed that " it must fail, there bein g already two 
 printers in the place." One of the company, however, 
 (Dr. Baird,) thought differently; for, said he, "the in 
 dustry of that Franklin is superior to anything I ever 
 saw of the kind. I see him still at work when I go 
 
RELIGIOUS VIEWS MODE OP WORSHIP. 149 
 
 home from the club, and he is at work again before his 
 neighbors are out of bed." 
 
 The words of Dr. Baird made an impression on his 
 hearers, which produced shortly after, from one of them, 
 a spontaneous offer to these industrious printers to sup 
 ply them with a stock of stationery. But, though grati 
 fied by the offer, they declined it, not being disposed then 
 to take up that branch of business. The remark which 
 Franklin adds to his relation of these incidents is worthy 
 of attention. " I mention this industry the more freely," 
 says he, " that those of my posterity who shall read it, 
 may know the use of that virtue, when they see its effects 
 in my favor, throughout this narrative." Such was the 
 value placed upon industry, and the honor in which labor 
 was held, by one of the wisest men of his own times or 
 any other. 
 
 About this time, Franklin drew up one of the most 
 remarkable papers to be found among his writings. It 
 is entitled : " Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion ;" 
 and is dated the 20th of November, 1728, when he was 
 approaching the end of his twenty-third year. Much 
 thought was obviously bestowed upon it, both as to mat 
 ter and method, and it is, in style and language, as pol 
 ished and exact as anything he ever wrote. It is, in fact, 
 a kind of liturgy uniting a confession of faith with a 
 formulary of worship, suited to the use of an individual 
 in his private devotions ; and it is manifestly pervaded 
 by a deep feeling of sincerity. It is far too long for 
 insertion here ; and yet it has in it so much of its author, 
 that to omit all notice of it would be to overlook some 
 of the most marked peculiarities of his mental habits and 
 modes of thinking, at that period of his life. For the 
 illustration of those peculiarities, therefore, some account 
 of this paper seems proper ; but a brief one will suffice. 
 
 This document, then, states the author s belief in one 
 13* 
 
150 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 infinitely perfect, eternal, and supreme Deity ; and in 
 various classes of subordinate celestial beings, the high 
 est of whom, though created and dependent, are very 
 exalted, good, and powerful ; invested with high func 
 tions by the one Supreme, whom they worship and obey ; 
 who are themselves also entitled to reverence and hom 
 age from all inferior intelligent creatures, including 
 man ; and one of whom is placed, with delegated author 
 ity, at the head of our world, as the more immediate 
 superintendent of its affairs and occupants. 
 
 Following the articles of belief, comes the formulary^ 
 of worship, arranged in three parts, entitled Adoration, 
 Petition, and Thanks, agreeing in this respect, substan 
 tially, with the usual order of divine service, and consti 
 tuting what the author denominates " Acts of Religion." 
 To give a proper guidance to the mind at all times, while 
 engaged in these acts, and to furnish it with fitting and 
 worthy reasons for praise and thanksgiving, as well as 
 with important and well-considered objects of supplica 
 tion, this formulary was composed. 
 
 The first act, adoration, commences by reverently ad 
 dressing the Deity as Creator and Father, and proceeds 
 with ascriptions of praise for his power, wisdom, and 
 goodness, as displayed in his works and laws, the order 
 of nature, the course of his providence, the rectitude of 
 his moral government, his abhorrence of all evil passions 
 and wicked deeds, and his love for whatever is true, 
 benevolent, and just. 
 
 Adoration is followed, first, by a short interval of 
 meditation ; then by a hymn ; then by reading some 
 discourse designed to promote the love and practice of 
 virtue ; then comes the second part, entitled " Petition," 
 a series of supplications for moral and spiritual bles 
 sings ; and then the service closes with " Thanks" for 
 blessings already bestowed. 
 
HIGH MORAL VIEWS. 1 
 
 Of the peculiarities of sentiment indicated in this 
 document, there is one which it may be interesting to 
 notice more distinctly. Among all its petitions, there is 
 not one for external prosperity. The Deity is suppli 
 cated only for moral and spiritual blessings ; for mental 
 soundness, right principles, virtuous sentiments, and rec 
 titude of conduct; or, as related of Solomon, for "a 
 wise and understanding heart," that he might discern 
 the truth and do right ; to which the riches, honor, and 
 length of days not asked for, were bountifully added. 
 For the peculiarity mentioned, the paper itself alleges, 
 as the reason, that, in our human frailty and unfore- 
 seeing ignorance, we can never be certain that outward 
 possessions may. not prove a snare instead of a benefit ; 
 and that it is wiser, and more in the true spirit of filial 
 trust, to " take no thought" for such things, but calmly 
 rely on the established course of a beneficent Providence, 
 for those means of comfortable living which are the 
 usual recompense of steady industry and an honest life, 
 inasmuch as "our heavenly Father knoweth that we 
 have need of these things." 
 
 Such are the scope and spirit of these petitions. To 
 show the form in which they are offered, a specimen or 
 two will suffice. They commence as follows : 
 
 " That I may be preserved from atheism, impiety, and 
 profaneness ; and in my addresses to thee, avoid irrever 
 ence, ostentation, and hypocrisy help me, O Father!" 
 
 " That I may be faithful to my country, careful for its 
 good, valiant in its defence, and obedient to its laws, 
 abhorring treason as much as tyranny help me, O 
 Father!" 
 
 Thus the petitions proceed, asking that the petitioner 
 may be humble, sincere, merciful, forgiving, candid, in 
 genuous, faithful ; liberal to the poor, tender to the feeble, 
 reverent to the aged, compassionate to the wretched, 
 
152 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 temperate in all things, watchful against pride and anger, 
 ready to protect the innocent, humane, neighborly, hos 
 pitable to strangers, impartial in judgment, upright and 
 fair in dealing, ever acting with probity and honor 
 grouping, in thirteen distinct paragraphs like the above 
 in form, the endowments and qualities, the traits of char 
 acter and principles of conduct, which belong to a good 
 and useful man in the varied relations of life, and in 
 cluding " whatsoever things are true, honest, just, lovely, 
 and of good report." 
 
 In the concluding part, thanks are rendered for 
 " peace and liberty ; for food and raiment, for corn, and 
 wine, and milk, and every kind of healthful nourish 
 ment ; for the common blessings of air and light ; for 
 useful fire and delicious water; for knowledge, litera 
 ture, and every useful art; for friends and their prosper 
 ity, and for the fewness of his enemies;" the closing 
 paragraph summing up his gratitude in the following 
 comprehensive form : 
 
 " For all thy innumerable benefits for life, and rea 
 son, and the use of speech ; for health, and joy, and 
 every pleasant hour good God, I thank thee !" 
 
 That the document described contains many elevated 
 thoughts and just sentiments, no one will probably feel 
 disposed to deny. Indeed, its general accordance with 
 the purely preceptive portions of the New Testament 
 is manifest. Considered as a summary of religious faith 
 and of the grounds of practical morality, it may perhaps 
 most properly be said to be deficient, rather than wrong. 
 But the deficiency, as we regard it, is a very material 
 one ; inasmuch as it consists in the failure to recognise 
 any authoritative revelation of truth from heaven, or any 
 fact, principle, or rule of conduct, peculiar to Christian 
 ity ; thus losing not only the inestimable benefit deriva 
 ble from the highest sanctions .even of the moral truths 
 
PROJECTED NEWSPAPER WEBB S TREACHERY. 153 
 
 it embraces, and the surest safeguards of the virtues it 
 commends, but overlooking also what the experience of 
 life, in every generation, has proved to be the most sus 
 taining, ennobling, and consolatory views of the rela 
 tions of the Deity to the human race ; of the motives he 
 has supplied, and the means he has in his mercy pro 
 vided, for their highest improvement, their truest and 
 most durable welfare. 
 
 Our task, however, is narration not discussion; and 
 opinions and principles are noticed, not as points to be 
 argued here, but simply as facts necessary to a faithful 
 and impartial exhibition of the mental history and pro 
 gressive development of character, of the man whose 
 life we are attempting to delineate. 
 
 Franklin being now established in his trade, and grow 
 ing in the favor and confidence of the community, his 
 business, as well as his habits of study and ready com 
 mand of his pen, naturally suggested the idea of pub 
 lishing a newspaper, which he determined to undertake 
 as soon as he should feel a little more assured of his 
 position. While he was maturing this design in his 
 own mind, and waiting the proper time to announce it 
 and commence the publication, George Webb who, 
 with means furnished by a generous female friend, had 
 redeemed the remnant of time and service for which he 
 was bound to Keimer applied to Meredith and Frank 
 lin to be employed by them as a journeyman. They 
 did not just then want more hands ; but Franklin un 
 warily communicated to Webb his design respecting a 
 newspaper, with the reasons which influenced him ; and 
 added that, when ready to start the publication, they 
 would probably wish to employ him. 
 
 Franklin s expectation of success with his contem 
 plated paper, was founded on his knowledge of the fact 
 that Bradford s paper, the only one then published in 
 
154 MFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the place, though a poor thing and most unskilfully man 
 aged in all respects, nevertheless paid well ; and he felt 
 therefore, the strongest confidence that a well-conducted 
 paper that should present its readers with, not only a 
 general and well-compiled summary of news, but sen 
 sible and intelligent views of public affairs, and other 
 matters worth reading, on subjects in which people gen 
 erally took an interest would be certain to find a lib 
 eral and growing support. 
 
 This communication was made to Webb in strict con 
 fidence ; but he was base enough to disclose the whole 
 project, without delay, to Keimer, who still more dis 
 honorably went immediately to work, without scruple, 
 to avail himself of Franklin s ideas, and to pilfer for 
 himself the advantages justly due to another, by forth 
 with issuing proposals for publishing a newspaper him 
 self, and Webb was engaged to assist him. 
 
 This treachery excited the just indignation of Frank 
 lin, who, with characteristic promptitude and energy, 
 but by fair and legitimate means, straightway set himself 
 to thwart the base interlopers, by giving to Bradford s 
 paper attractions it had never before possessed. For 
 this purpose he commenced a series of communications, 
 under the title of the "Busy-Body;" and Bradford ex 
 tended the demand for his " Weekly Mercury," by 
 inserting them. 
 
 This series was commenced in the forepart of Feb 
 ruary, 1729 not many days after Franklin had com 
 pleted the twenty-third year of his age. The first five 
 numbers, with the eighth, being unquestionably from his 
 pen, are included in the last and fullest collection of 
 Franklin s writings, edited by Dr. Sparks. The other 
 twenty-four numbers of the series, thirty-two in all, are 
 said to have been written chiefly, if not exclusively, by 
 Franklin s worthy friend Brientnall, already known as 
 
THE BUSY-BODY THE NEWSPAPER. 155 
 
 a member of the Junto. In this way the two friends 
 drew the public curiosity and attention to Bradford s 
 Mercury so effectually, that Keimer s proposals were 
 slighted and neglected. Still, notwithstanding the ridi 
 cule and contempt which he brought upon himself, 
 Keimer, with the obstinate and perverse temper which 
 formed so large an ingredient in his nature, persisted in 
 starting his paper. After forcing it along, however, 
 with great difficulty for several months, with a list of 
 subscribers never exceeding ninety in number, he at last 
 came, long before the end of the first year, with an offer 
 to sell out, for a very small consideration, to Franklin, 
 who, being now entirely prepared to go forward with 
 his original design, closed with Keimer at once, and 
 soon made the paper productive property. 
 
 Franklin s numbers of the Busy-Body were his first 
 attempt at essay- writing ; and they do him credit. He 
 takes the office of a censor morum ; not, however, in the 
 narrow modern sense, confining his strictures to mere 
 manners ; but in the old and wider sense, including all 
 the ways of men, and aiming at such notions and prac 
 tices, whether commonly prevalent or occurring occa 
 sionally, as offer fair subjects for either grave admonition 
 or ridicule and satire ; and both his matter and style in 
 dicate, not only unusual talents, but a degree of culture 
 altogether surprising in a young mechanic of twenty- 
 three, who had been compelled to earn his living with 
 the labor of his hands. The matter gives ample evi 
 dence of an observant mind, capable of nice discrimina 
 tion, abounding with good sense, and nourished by 
 reading; while the style is natural, simple, and pure 
 flowing on smoothly, aiming only to convey the author s 
 ideas in appropriate language, without straining after 
 ornament, or that exaggerated force of expression which 
 is so apt to run into bombast or fustian, from which 
 
156 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 never was writer more entirely free. It may be added, 
 moreover, that the practical test, when applied to these 
 pieces, not less than judicious criticism, bears witness to 
 their merit; for they were successful in accomplishing 
 their purpose. 
 
 From a passage in the 5th number of the Busy-Body 
 it seems that Keimer had entitled his paper, " The In 
 structor. On passing to the new proprietors, they chang 
 ed the title to " Pennsylvania Gazette," but retained 
 the numbering, and their first issue was numbered 40, 
 dated September 25th, 1729 ; and though Meredith was 
 at best but an indifferent workman, and had become a 
 very intemperate drinker, yet Franklin, who had in fact 
 the whole control of their business, took care that the 
 paper should, on first coming from their press, exhibit, 
 witii its new type and workmanlike execution, an ap 
 pearance much superior to anything of the kind yet 
 seen in that community. 
 
 The improved aspect of the paper, and the character 
 of its contents, at once attracted general attention. Some 
 remarks from Franklin s pen, relative to a controversy 
 then existing in Massachusetts, between the governor and 
 the assembly of that colony, made such an impression 
 upon the leading men in Philadelphia, that the paper and 
 its new conductor became the frequent subject of their 
 conversation, and in a few weeks their names were all 
 on the subscription-list of the Gazette. This example 
 of the leading men proved contagious, and " the list 
 went on growing continually" a result in which Frank 
 lin could recognise, much to his satisfaction, some of 
 the advantages, as he modestly expresses it, " of hav 
 ing learned a little to scribble." 
 
 The controversy mentioned, between the Massachu 
 setts assembly, and Burnet, then governor of that colony, 
 related to the settlement of a salary for that officer ; and 
 
COLONIAL RIGHTS ASSERTED. 157 
 
 as it involved substantially the same leading principles, 
 which, forty-seven years later, produced the Declaration 
 of Independence, and the war by which it was vindica 
 ted, it will be interesting to see that the same man, who, 
 when his head was whitening with age, assisted to make 
 that Declaration, had, in the bloom of his first manhood, 
 maintained the chartered rights and liberties of his coun 
 try. 
 
 It was not the amount of salary, but the authority 
 under which it was claimed, and the manner in which 
 the permanent settlement of it was demanded, that caused 
 the controversy in question. Governor Burnet, by virtue 
 of his instructions from the British cabinet, required of 
 the assembly an immediate and permanent grant of a 
 thousand pounds sterling yearly, to him and his succes 
 sors. This the assembly refused, on the ground that 
 such demand was repugnant both to the English consti 
 tution arid to the charter of the colony ; that no grant 
 of their own money could be rightfully made, but by 
 their own free will, and in such measure, and for such 
 time, as they should consider just, or expedient ; that 
 thus only had their grants of money been made in time 
 past, and thus only should they be made in time to come ; 
 that as the governor was appointed by the king, if his 
 salary were to be fixed in amount and permanent, he 
 would be rendered too independent of the colony to con 
 sult its welfare ; for they judged, to use Franklin s 
 words, that " there should be a mutual dependence be 
 tween the governor and the governed, and that to make 
 the governor independent, would be dangerous to their 
 liberties, and the ready way to establish tyranny ;" and 
 he holds up the assembly to commendation for con 
 tinuing " thus resolutely to abide by what they think 
 their right and that of the people they represent," not 
 withstanding the threats, or intrigues of the governor, or 
 
 14 
 
158 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 his means of influence derived from the numerous posts 
 of honor and profit at his disposal. 
 
 Franklin was now beginning to reap the recompense 
 of his early and persevering industry in training him 
 self as a writer ; and the men of intelligence and fore 
 sight in the community about him, " seeing a newspaper 
 now in the hands of those who could also handle a pen," 
 deemed it expedient to give it their countenance. In 
 doing this, however, there is reason to believe that they 
 were not all influenced by a purely disinterested desire 
 to promote the success of the young tradesman, simply 
 because he deserved it, or from a liberal public spirit 
 only. Their own advantage, immediate, or remote, seems 
 to have had place among the motives of some ; and 
 very properly too, if such advantage was to be sought 
 by none but worthy means. At all events, it was prob 
 ably not long before all were permitted to understand, 
 whatever might have been the inducements of any to 
 favor the new paper and its conductor, that neither of 
 these could be used for any purpose not consistent with 
 truth, or justice, or a manly and candid freedom. 
 
 There is an anecdote that strikingly exemplifies what 
 has last been said ; and though its date is not very ex 
 actly ascertained, it may be as fitly told in this con 
 nection as in any. It is not related by Franklin him 
 self, but it has obtained such currency, is so well wor 
 thy of record for the lesson it teaches, and has so much 
 characteristic, if not literal truth, that it should not be 
 omitted. It runs substantially as follows : 
 
 Having made in his paper some rather free and pun 
 gent strictures on the public acts of certain leading 
 men of the city, some of Franklin s patrons thought fit 
 to reprove him for so doing, and told him that others of 
 his friends also disliked the strain of his remarks. Hav 
 ing calmly heard what they had to say, he invited them 
 
A REMARKABLE SUPPER. 159 
 
 to sup with him, that evening, and to bring with them 
 the other persons alluded to. When the appointed hour 
 came, bringing his guests with it, he received them cour 
 teously, and again listened, with undisturbed temper, to 
 their well-meant remonstrances. On repairing to the 
 supper-table, great was their surprise at finding on it 
 only two coarse Indian puddings, made of unbolted 
 meal called " sawdust," to eat, and a stout jug of water, 
 to drink. They civilly suppressed their surprise as well 
 as they could, while their host, with laudable self-pos 
 session, helped them bountifully to pudding, and with a 
 relishing air partook freely of it himself; hospitably 
 pressing them, the while, to follow his example. This 
 they politely strove to do ; but the effort was unavail 
 ing ; the pudding would not go down. After enjoying, 
 for a reasonable time, the struggle between the polite 
 ness of his guests and their disgust at the pudding, Frank 
 lin rose, and with a smile and a bow that served for un 
 derscoring, spoke to them these significant words : 
 " My friends, he who can live on sawdust-pudding and 
 water, as I can, is not dependent on any man s patron 
 age." 
 
160 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IS MADE PUBLIC PRINTER AN ERROR CORRECTED DIS 
 SOLVES PARTNERSHIP REAL FRIENDS CONTINUES 
 
 RISING -PAPER MONEY. 
 
 WHILE Franklin was thus industriously employed, ex 
 tending his business by the neatness and despatch with 
 which he executed his work, and resolutely maintaining 
 his own independence and the legitimate freedom of the 
 press, his neighbor Bradford, though his private custom 
 was gradually diminishing, still continued printer for the 
 public authorities of the province. But his work was al 
 ways done in a slovenly manner ; and having about this 
 time, sent from his office an address of the colonial assem 
 bly to the governor, more carelessly done and more crowd 
 ed with blunders than usual, Franklin reprinted it with 
 particular neatness and accuracy, and caused a copy of it 
 to be laid before each member of the assembly. The differ 
 ence between the two editions was so palpable and great, 
 that it could not fail to strike the most heedless ; and the 
 members were so much pleased with the reprint, that 
 they gave the whole of the public printing, by a strong 
 vote, to Franklin & Meredith, for the year then com 
 mencing. 
 
 This vote of the assembly was, of course, very grati 
 fying as well as advantageous to Franklin (for Meredith s 
 habitual intemperance had rendered him more of a bur 
 den than a benefit to their business), and it was an addi 
 tional gratification to know that, among the friends who 
 
VERNON S MONEY PAID. 161 
 
 had brought it to pass, was Mr. Hamilton, the eminent 
 lawyer, to, whom, as heretofore related, Franklin had 
 rendered such valuable service, in London, by putting 
 him on his guard against the plots of Riddlesden arid 
 Keith ; and who took the occasion of this annual vote 
 for a public printer, as he did every fair occasion that 
 subsequently occurred, to repay that service with his ac 
 tive and efficient friendship. 
 
 The error, which had so long been a cause of anxiety 
 and mortification to Franklin into which, as will be 
 remembered, he had been unwarily led by too much con 
 fidence in his early companion Collins the error of 
 lending to that misguided youth the money collected for 
 Mr. Vernon, now at length produced the consequence 
 foreboded, the amount being applied for, before he was 
 in a condition to pay it. Much, however, as his self-es 
 teem was wounded by not being able to pay over the 
 money on demand, he had the moral firmness to do the 
 next best thing in his power, by dealing frankly and tru 
 ly with Vernon ; not adding to his own humiliation and 
 self-reproach by any weak attempt to misrepresent the 
 matter, or to prevaricate. " Mr. Vernon," says Frank 
 lin, " about this time put me in mind of the debt I owed 
 him ; but he did not press me. I wrote to him an ingen 
 uous letter of acknowledgment, craving his forbearance 
 a little longer, which he allowed me. As soon as I was 
 able, I paid the principal with the interest and many 
 thanks ; so, that erratum was in some degree corrected." 
 
 It will be recollected that Franklin was expressly au 
 thorized to keep the money till it should be called for ; 
 and it nowhere appears that any earlier call than the one 
 now mentioned, was ever made by Vernon ; so that in 
 reality, all the delay, in this affair, that could be justly 
 complained of, or could be considered wrongful in the 
 eye of the law, was that which took place subsequently 
 
 14* 
 
162 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to the above-named letter of Vernon. Nevertheless, 
 Franklin s own solicitude on the subject, dated from the 
 time when he first became fully conscious 01 his error, 
 in having thus subjected himself to a liability which he 
 could not instantly meet ; and as he had, clearly, taken 
 the matter much more seriously to heart, than had Mr. 
 Vernon, he felt proportionately grateful for the forbear 
 ance extended to him. Long years after, while he was 
 residing at Paris as minister of the United States to the 
 court of France, his sensibility to the liberal kindness of 
 Vernon, it is gratifying to relate, was further manifested 
 by rendering important service to a young kinsman of 
 that gentleman. 
 
 A more serious embarrassment, in a mere pecuniary 
 sense, and the more annoying from its having never been 
 anticipated, now befell him. Mr. Meredith, senior, it will 
 be remembered, was to furnish the money for setting up 
 the firm of Franklin & Meredith in business. The whole 
 eum to be furnished by him was two hundred pounds, 
 one half of which he had paid up ; but the other half, 
 now overdue, was not forthcoming, and he was unable to 
 raise it. The merchant who had imported the furniture 
 of the printing-office, and to whom the money was due, 
 after long waiting, lost his patience and commenced a 
 suit against both the elder Meredith and the two part 
 ners. The regular course of the suit would give a little 
 time ; but as there was no real defence to be made, that 
 time would soon run out ; and if the money could not 
 be raised to meet the judgment that must come, the 
 whole establishment would be sold by the sheriff under 
 an execution, and the prospects of two young men, now 
 opening so fairly, be utterly blasted. 
 
 This unhappy state of things became known, of course, 
 to Franklin s friends ; and he now had occasion, not on 
 ly to realize, with livelier emotions than ever before, the 
 
NOBLE SENTIMENTS. 163 
 
 advantages of that character he had established for res 
 olute self denial and persevering industry, but to under 
 stand, also, with deeper insight, the nature and value of 
 true friendship. 
 
 " In this distress," says he in his own account of 
 this matter, " two true friends, whose kindness I have 
 never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remem 
 ber, anything, came to me, separately and unknown to 
 each other, and, without any application from me, offered 
 each of them to advance me all the money that should 
 be necessary to enable me to take the whole of the busi 
 ness upon myself, if that should be practicable ; but they 
 did not like my continuing the partnership with Mere 
 dith ; who, as they said, was often seen drunk in the 
 streets, or playing at low games in alehouses, much to 
 our discredit." 
 
 Those two generous friends were William Coleman 
 and Robert Grace, to whom the reader has been already 
 introduced in the Junto. Straitened and sore-pressed 
 as he was, however, and menaced with at least tempo 
 rary ruin by losing the fruits of his long and arduous la 
 bor, Franklin now showed the real strength and noble 
 ness of his character, by his reply to his friends. He 
 told them that he considered himself under such obliga 
 tions to the Merediths, for the advantages he had deri 
 ved from his connection with them, that he could not, 
 with honor and a good conscience, urge a dissolution of 
 the partnership, so long as they entertained a hope of 
 being able to perform their engagements ; but, if they 
 should find themselves wholly unable to do so, and the 
 partnership be thus broken up, he should then feel per 
 fectly free to avail himself of the proffered aid. 
 
 This affair was alike honorable to each of the parties 
 concerned ; to Franklin, for his fine sense of justice and 
 upright dealing toward the Merediths ; and to his two 
 
164 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 friends, not only for the noble sentiments which prompted 
 their generous offers, but also, in a case like this, for their 
 really enlightened public spirit, in coming to the aid of 
 one, who had given such unequivocal proofs of his abili 
 ty and disposition to be useful to the community, and to 
 render it yet greater and more valuable service. 
 
 The affairs of the partnership continued in the unpleas 
 ant and hopeless condition described, for a while longer, 
 when Franklin one day said to his well-meaning but very 
 unprofitable partner : " Perhaps your father is dissatis 
 fied at the part you have undertaken, in this affair of 
 ours, and is unwilling to advance for you and me, what 
 he would, for you. If that is the case, tell me, and I 
 will resign the whole to you, and go about my business." 
 To this Meredith ingenuously answered : " No ; my 
 father has really been disappointed, and is really una 
 ble ; and I am unwilling to distress him further. I see 
 this is a business I am not fit for. I was bred a farmer, 
 and it was folly in me to come to town, and put myself, 
 at thirty years of age, an apprentice to learn a new trade. 
 Many of our Welsh people are going to settle in North 
 Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclined to go 
 with them and follow my old employment. You may 
 find friends to assist you. If you will take the debts of 
 the company upon you, return to my father the hundred 
 pounds he has advanced, pay my little personal debts, 
 and give me thirty pounds and a new saddle, I will re 
 linquish the partnership and leave the whole in your 
 hands. 
 
 Considering all the circumstances of this case, and 
 particularly the fact that Franklin was himself the very 
 life of the concern, which would not have been worth a 
 penny without him, it must be conceded that Meredith 
 did not undervalue his own interest, in the terms pro 
 posed. But Franklin, looking no doubt more at the ca- 
 
PARTNERSHIP DISSOLVED. 165 
 
 pabilities of the establishment, than at the results al 
 ready attained, accepted the proposals on the spot ; and 
 the bargain thus promptly made, was duly executed in 
 writing, before the parties separated. 
 
 Meredith, shortly after, with his thirty pounds and 
 clear of debt, mounted his new saddle for North Caro 
 lina; " whence," says Franklin, " he sent me next year 
 two long letters, containing the best account that had 
 been given of that country, the climate, the soil, and 
 husbandry; for in those matters he was very judicious." 
 The letters, it is added, were published in the paper, and 
 gave general satisfaction. Aside from his pernicious 
 practice of drinking to excess, Meredith appears to have 
 been a sensible and amiable man ; and it is gratifying, 
 in taking leave of him, to have some reason to believe 
 that, on breaking off his unfortunate associations in Phil 
 adelphia, he was enabled to amend his life, and become 
 a more useful and respectable man. 
 
 Having now dissolved his connection with the Mere 
 diths, in the most honorable manner, Franklin, with a 
 clear conscience and freshened hopes, no longer hesita 
 ted to avail himself of the generous proffers of Golem an 
 and Grace. That he might, however, be impartial in 
 his obligations and gratitude, and not burden either of his 
 two friends more heavily than his real exigences honestly 
 required, he took from each of them a moiety of the whole 
 sum he needed. He then proceeded at once to pay off 
 all the debts of the partnership, and publish the proper 
 legal notice of its dissolution ; at the same time announ 
 cing that he should continue the business of the late firm 
 by himself alone and on his own sole account. This affair 
 was consummated in the summer of 1730, the notice of 
 dissolution of the partnership, as published in his paper, 
 bearing date the 14th of July in that year. 
 
 Franklin had now entered the latter half of his twen- 
 
166 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ty-fifth year; and events soon contributed to enhance 
 the importance of his position, and to assign him a more 
 important and influential part to act in the community. 
 
 The restrictions imposed by the mother-country upon 
 the commerce, navigation, and manufactures of her 
 American colonies, confined the industry of the great 
 body of the colonial population almost exclusively to 
 agriculture ; that is, to the production of food, and of 
 raw materials to be manufactured in England ; thus pre 
 venting that varied employment of capital and labor, and 
 that diversity of occupations, which are the natural re 
 sults of the unobstructed progress of society, and indis 
 pensable to the completeness of its organization ; which 
 are, also, equally indispensable to any considerable ex 
 tension of either external or internal trade ; and the 
 prosecution of which, in a large way, for the purpose of 
 commercial exchange and sale, occasions the chief de 
 mand for money and gives it most of its practical social 
 value ; which, in fine, are necessary to the universal and 
 gainful activity of an intelligent, industrious, and enter 
 prising people, and their advancement in civilization. 
 
 As one of the consequences of this selfish and monop 
 olizing policy of the mother-country, the colonies, cut 
 off from the benefits of some of their most important 
 natural advantages, suffered greatly in their business, 
 and particularly from a much too scanty supply of cir 
 culating medium ; hard-money, for a long time the only 
 currency in use, being rendered very injuriously scarce. 
 
 To remedy this last-named evil as well as circum 
 stances permitted, the colonial legislatures, one after an 
 other, resorted to paper-money in that form so well 
 known in the colonial and revolutionary history of the 
 country, as "bills of credit;" deriving their appellation 
 from the fact that they depended for their value on the 
 credit of the government issuing them. To sustain that 
 
PAPER MONEY. 167 
 
 credit, however, the proceeds of specific taxes, or other 
 public funds, were pledged for the redemption of the 
 bills, which were put into circulation, partly in the way 
 of payments made by government, but chiefly in the 
 shape of loans to individuals, at a moderate rate of inter 
 est, and to be repaid in small annual instalments ; the 
 loans being usually secured by mortgages on real es 
 tate. In many cases, moreover, the bills were made a 
 legal tender not only for the payment of dues to the gov 
 ernment, but also in all private transactions. 
 
 The first issue of this kind of currency in Pennsyl 
 vania, was made in the year 1723, under an act of the 
 provincial assembly passed in the preceding year, while 
 Sir William Keith was yet governor. Depreciation was 
 the chief danger to which such a currency was exposed ; 
 and as that danger was believed most likely to be incur 
 red by an excessive issue, that is, by issuing an amount 
 exceeding the real wants of the regular business and le 
 gitimate undertakings of the community, the assembly 
 commenced cautiously, the amount of their first issue 
 being limited to fifteen thousand pounds. Of this sum 
 no part could be loaned but upon a mortgage of unin- 
 cumbered land of twice the value of the loan, or upon 
 ample pledges of plate actually deposited in the loan- 
 office ; the rate of interest was fixed at five per cent, to 
 be paid yearly, together with an instalment of one eighth 
 of the principal ; the bills were made a legal tender in 
 all cases, under the penalty of forfeiting the debt, or the 
 particular commodity, for which they might be offered 
 in payment ; and still more effectually to maintain their 
 value equal to that of gold and silver, penalties were 
 enacted against any bargain, or sale, for a less sum in 
 coin than in bills. 
 
 These provisions accomplished their object, and the 
 business of the province soon manifested, by its exten- 
 
168 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sion and activity, the beneficial influence of this aug 
 mentation of the circulating medium. The testimony 
 of Franklin on this point is explicit and conclusive. He 
 first went to Philadelphia just about the time this first 
 issue of paper-money was made ; and the subject was 
 of such deep concern to the whole community and so 
 universally the principal topic of conversation, that it 
 took stronghold of his mind. By the time its practical 
 operation had become well developed, the Junto was or 
 ganized, and this subject was elaborately discussed in 
 that club, particularly by Franklin, who took his stand 
 in favor of this currency, not for the sake of argument, 
 but because he was thoroughly convinced of its utility, 
 from his own observation of the increase of trade, em 
 ployment, and population, produced by the issue of 
 1723. 
 
 When he first walked about Philadelphia, eating his 
 roll of bread, (to use for the most part his own words,) 
 he saw many a house in the principal streets, with bills 
 " to let" on their doors ; and so frequent were these 
 notices, that they " made him think the inhabitants of the 
 city were one after another deserting it;" whereas, in a 
 few years under the impulse imparted to business by a 
 more plentiful circulating medium, he " saw the old 
 houses all occupied and many new ones building." 
 
 The act authorizing this first issue of bills of credit 
 in Pennsylvania, provided, it should be remembered, 
 that the loans under it should be repaid in eight annual 
 instalments ; and before Franklin closed accounts with 
 the Merediths, the period limited for calling in and ex 
 tinguishing these bills, was approaching so near its ter 
 mination, that the public attention had again become 
 fixed upon the subject, and its importance had once more 
 made it the leading topic of discussion throughout the 
 province. 
 
BENEFIT OF THE PAPER-MONEY. 169 
 
 The effects of this first trial, now before the eyes of 
 all, were so evidently and generally beneficial, that the 
 laboring classes, the men of small means and compara 
 tively moderate possessions, who needed more or less 
 credit, and whose industry, enterprise, and knowledge 
 of business, enabled them to make an advantageous use 
 of credit, were everywhere, in town and country, strong 
 ly in favor of the policy, which had furnished a more 
 plentiful supply of the means of buying and selling, of 
 giving employment to labor, of extending the cultiva 
 tion of the land, augmenting the population, and bring 
 ing out the resources of the province ; and all these 
 classes of people, in view of the near approach of the time 
 fixed for the withdrawal of those means, had begun to 
 call, with great and growing earnestness, for the meas 
 ures necessary, not only to prevent the serious injury 
 which would result from the sudden withdrawal of the 
 bills then in circulation, but for another and a somewhat 
 larger issue, to meet the wants of the augmented busi 
 ness of the province, and to aid in still further develop 
 ing its resources, and giving enterprise a still wider 
 range. 
 
 "While the great body of the people, however, were 
 thus calling for a further supply of that which they had 
 found so useful, the capitalists and men of wealth gen 
 erally, either because, with a scanty currency, they would 
 have a fuller control of the whole amount, or for other 
 reasons, opposed the whole paper-money policy. They 
 insisted that no legislative provisions and no condition 
 of the community could prevent the depreciation of 
 these bills ; and that the inevitable operation of such a 
 currency, when made a lawful tender in payment, either 
 of debts already due, or of sums to accrue on future 
 contracts and payable at a subsequent day, would be 
 greatly injurious to creditors, because, in the prog- 
 15 
 
170 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ress of depreciation, the sums actually paid would be 
 of less and less value, as compared with coin, though 
 nominally equal. 
 
 At this juncture Franklin discussed this subject, in a 
 pamphlet, entitled, " A Modest Inquiry into the Nature 
 and Necessity of a Paper Currency." Though publish 
 ed anonymously, the authorship of the pamphlet was no 
 secret ; and being widely circulated, it exerted a con 
 trolling influence on public opinion. Aside from his oc 
 casional newspaper paragraphs, this was his first sys 
 tematic discussion of any important question of public 
 policy ; and it is now extant among his writings. It is 
 admirable for the fullness of knowledge, ability, and ma 
 turity of thought, which it displays ; aud considered as 
 the production of a young mechanic in his twenty-fourth 
 year, it is a very remarkable performance. 
 
 Some of the views presented in this paper are now 
 deemed erroneous, and some of its reasonings unsound. 
 Yet, writers of distinguished ability even among those 
 who hold different opinions on some points, admit that 
 it also contains principles of great importance, which 
 have stood the test of reason and experience, and some 
 of which, though more fully developed and illustrated 
 with more detail by later writers, have never been more 
 distinctly recognised, or more clearly stated. It should 
 be also observed, that in regard to some of the views 
 which have been declared erroneous by one class of wri 
 ters, that others perhaps equally able would pronounce 
 a different judgment ; while it is conceded on all hands, 
 that the performance in question displays unusual power 
 of philosophical analysis, with a profound and clear in 
 sight into the complex and difficult subject of which it 
 treats ; and that no one even of those have been accus 
 tomed to such investigations, can read this " Inquiry," 
 without finding his ideas simplified and rendered more 
 
PAMPHLET ON PAPER-MONEY. 171 
 
 definite on some points, and seeing the whole subject in 
 a clearer light. 
 
 Franklin was all the better prepared for handling this 
 subject, and presenting it to the public with clearness 
 and force, by his having taken a leading part in the dis 
 cussion of it in the Junto. Referring to the pamphlet, 
 in his autobiography, he states that the people generally 
 received it with favor, while the rich men disliked it, as 
 it strengthened the call for another issue of paper- 
 money ; but the latter class having none among them 
 able to answer it, their opposition to the proposed meas 
 ure relaxed, so that at the next session of the assembly 
 it was carried by a handsome majority. 
 
 The importance of Franklin s service in this matter 
 was felt by the majority; and this fact, together with the 
 natural desire to encourage so efficient a writer to em 
 ploy his pen on subjects of public interest, with the fur 
 ther consideration that the work done at his press was 
 always well done, induced the majority of the assembly 
 to give him the printing of the new bills to be issued ; 
 " a profitable job," says he, " and a great help to me," 
 as well as " another advantage gained by being able to 
 write." 
 
 Continued experience so clearly demonstrated the be 
 neficent operation of this paper-money, guarded as it was 
 against depreciation, that the principles on which it was 
 issued were subsequently, as he states, but little dispu 
 ted ; and the amount, augmented in several successive 
 issues, rose at last, in 1739, to eighty thousand pounds ; 
 " trade, building, and inhabitants, all the while increas 
 ing." Subsequent reflection, however, further enlight 
 ened by a larger and more varied observation, induced 
 him to add to his own account of the foregoing proceed 
 ings, his ultimate conviction " that there are limits" to 
 the amount of such a currency, beyond which it may 
 
172 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 prove injurious to those very interests, to which, when 
 it is properly restricted and regulated, it can be rendered 
 so advantageous. 
 
 It seems but just to add that so far as this policy was 
 carried in Pennsylvania, it appears pretty clearly to have 
 proved on the whole very beneficial in its direct influ 
 ence on the internal interests of the province ; that it 
 was only when money was wanted for foreign remit 
 tances, that the bills of this local currency were per 
 ceived to be somewhat loss valuable than gold and sil 
 ver ; though the discount upon them, even in such cases, 
 was not large, and was by no means equal to the coun 
 terbalancing benefits which resulted from the increased 
 activity their circulation imparted to trade, and the im 
 pulse they gave to the general prosperity of the people. 
 
 By such honorable means as have been indicated, 
 Franklin was now thriving both in business and reputa 
 tion. Not long after the printing of the new bills for 
 Pennsylvania, he was employed to print the bills of a 
 similar issue at Newcastle, for " The Three Lower 
 Counties," as Delaware was then called. For this, which 
 he regarded as another beneficial contract, " small 
 things," as he expresses it, " appearing great to those 
 in small circumstances," he was indebted to his distin 
 guished friend, Hamilton, who also procured for him the 
 printing of the journals and laws of the colonial govern 
 ment of Delaware, which he retained as long as he con 
 tinued in the printing business. 
 
 Further to exemplify Franklin s assiduous industry in 
 the management of his business, and especially his me 
 chanical ingenuity and resource, it is but just to state 
 that in the early part of his career, when he had yet but 
 little cash to spare, any deficiency in the implements and 
 apparatus of his trade was usually supplied by him 
 self. Thus he contrived for himself the apparatus for 
 
YELLOW WILLOW GYPSUM. 173 
 
 casting leaden types; executed cuts in wood, of various 
 ornaments to embellish what the printers call job-work; 
 made printer s ink ; engraved vignettes on copper, and 
 made his own press for taking impressions from such 
 plates. 
 
 Another incident is related of him, which is not only 
 interesting in itself, but testifies to the vigilance of his ob 
 servation and his habit of turning whatever he observed 
 to some useful account. It was he, who, as related in 
 Watson s Annals of Philadelphia, first propagated in 
 this country the yellow willow, now so common among 
 us. A willow basket, in which he had received some 
 package from abroad, having been thrown aside upon 
 moist ground, had sprouted. Franklin seeing this, 
 planted some cuttings of the sprouting rods, and from 
 them, it is alleged, came our yellow willow, a useful 
 plant not only for wicker-work, but for protecting the 
 banks of streams. 
 
 Another incident of much greater importance, may be 
 properly enough introduced in this connection. It is re 
 lated by Dr. Sparks, on the authority of the distinguish 
 ed French chemist, Chaptal ; and it shows that our coun 
 try is indebted to Franklin, in the first instance, for the 
 knowledge and use of gypsum, as a fertilizer in agricul 
 ture. This article having originally been brought from 
 Paris, was long known only by the name of plaster of 
 Paris ; and Chaptal, who rendered incalculable service to 
 agriculture by applying chemical science to its im 
 provement, in his work on Agricultural Chemistry, as 
 quoted by Dr. Sparks, has the following passage : 
 
 " As this celebrated philosopher," says Chaptal refer 
 ring to Franklin, " wished that the effects of this manure 
 should strike the gaze of cultivators, he wrote, in great 
 letters formed by the use of the ground plaster, in a field 
 of clover lying upon the great road : This has been 
 15* 
 
174 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 plastered. The prodigious vegetation which was devel 
 oped in the plastered portion, led him to adopt this meth 
 od. Volumes upon the excellency of plaster would not 
 have produced so speedy a revolution." 
 
 The mode thus chosen for recommending the new ma 
 nure, by its unequivocal, practical directness and sim 
 plicity, was highly characteristic of Franklin ; and the 
 whole statement will enhance the popular respect and 
 affection for his memory, by bringing home to general 
 recognition what has been but little known. 
 
 About the time when Franklin had finished the print 
 ing of the Delaware bills, he added to his printing busi 
 ness that of a stationer ; and he helped his custom by 
 keeping, besides the usual articles of stationery, a con 
 stant supply of blank forms commonly used in convey 
 ancing, and in legal proceedings in the courts of justice. 
 In preparing these forms he was assisted by his friend 
 Breintnall, who was himself a conveyancer; and being 
 well arranged and carefully printed, their neatness and 
 accuracy, much beyond anything previously furnished in 
 that way, secured the custom of all who had occasion to 
 use them. His assortment of the usual articles of sta 
 tionery was also full, and thereto was added an ample 
 supply of school-books, and other books for children. It 
 is worth stating, too, as indicative of the impression he 
 made on those with whom he associated, that one of the 
 journeymen now in his employ, was a man with whom 
 he had become acquainted in the London printing- 
 offices, by the name of Whitmarsh, who, on arriving at 
 Philadelphia, had gone at once to Franklin, and proved 
 to be a diligent workman, and a worthy man. He had, 
 also, as an indented apprentice, a young son of that 
 Aquila Rose, whose death left the opening for employ 
 ment, which was the particular inducement that led 
 Franklin first to Philadelphia, nnd whose elogy furnished 
 
HIS DEVOTION TO HIS BUSINESS. 175 
 
 him with some of his first earnings there, in working it 
 off at the press, when it had been composed in type by 
 the eccentric Keimer. 
 
 Persevering industry and personal attention to his 
 business, with civil deportment, and constant care that 
 whatever work he was employed to do, should be done 
 promptly and in a neat, thorough, and workmanlike man 
 ner, united to the public spirit he had evinced, and his 
 talents as a writer, were now producing for him their 
 legitimate results ; and his thrift enabled him to com 
 mence paying off the debt he had incurred in setting up 
 his printing-office. His habits and course of life at this 
 period, are well described in the following passage from 
 his own pen : 
 
 " In order to secure my credit and character as a trades 
 man," says he, " I took care not only to be in reality indus 
 trious and frugal, but to avoid even appearances to the 
 contrary. I dressed plain, and was seen at no places of 
 idle diversion. I never went out a fishing, or shooting. 
 A book, indeed, sometimes enticed me from my work ; 
 but that was seldom, was private, and gave no scandal ; 
 and to show that I was not above my business, I some 
 times brought home the paper I purchased at the stores, 
 through the streets on a w T heel-barrow. Thus, being 
 esteemed an industrious, thriving young man, and pay 
 ing duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported 
 stationery solicited my custom ; others proposed supply 
 ing me with books, and I went on prosperously." 
 
176 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 RIVALS IN TRADE FRUITLESS ATTEMPT AT MATCH-MA 
 KING HE MARRIES MISS READ LIBRARIES STUD 
 IES PROSPECTS. 
 
 WHILE Franklin was thus prospering in business, and 
 growing in the esteem of the community, Keimer, his 
 former employer, was daily losing both custom and cred 
 it ; and being compelled before long to sell out his whole 
 stock in trade, to meet the demands of his creditors, he 
 went off to Barbadoes, in the West Indies, where, after 
 several years of poverty, he died in great indigence. 
 
 David Harry, who has already been mentioned as an 
 apprentice to Keimer, but who had in fact been taught 
 his trade by Franklin while working in Keimer s office, 
 was the person who bought out his former master, and 
 undertook to carry on the same business himself. Har 
 ry s friends were persons of considerable property and 
 influence ; and when he commenced business on his 
 own account, Franklin felt no little solicitude lest his own 
 prosperity should be seriously checked by one who seem 
 ed likely to be a powerful rival. To avoid any unfriend 
 ly competition, which could only prove injurious to both, 
 he proposed to Harry to form a partnership. This pro 
 posal, however, says Franklin, "he, fortunately for me, 
 rejected with scorn." Harry s foolish pride, expen 
 sive habits, indulgence in amusements, and consequent 
 neglect of business, soon involved him in debt; his cus 
 tomers quit him, and he pretty soon followed Keimer to 
 
ATTEMPT AT MATCH-MAKING. 177 
 
 Barbadoes, taking along with him his printing appa 
 ratus. " There," says Franklin, " the apprentice em 
 ployed his former master as a journeyman. They often 
 quarrelled; Harry went continually behindhand; and 
 at length was obliged to sell his types and return to coun 
 try-work in Pennsylvania." 
 
 Thus ended the career of another young man, whose 
 means and opportunity for the achievement of success 
 in business and a respectable standing in society, were 
 so ample, but were forfeited by his follies and his vices. 
 
 These events left in Philadelphia only two printing- 
 offices, Bradford s and Franklin s. But Bradford was 
 in very easy circumstances ; he employed only a few 
 roving journeymen ; did but little business, and made 
 no effort to increase it. Still, as he was the postmaster 
 of the city, it was taken for granted that his means both 
 of obtaining news and circulating advertisements, must 
 be the best ; and this idea gave him some advantage 
 over his competitor, especially as he had ordered his 
 post-riders not to carry any of that competitor s papers. 
 This unneighborly conduct of Bradford gave Franklin 
 great disgust ; and he considered it so unfair and mean- 
 spirited, that afterward, during the long period for 
 which he had the management of the same postoffice, 
 he never copied so unworthy an example. 
 
 Franklin s printing-office was on the second floor of 
 his own house, and under it, on the first floor, was his 
 stationer s shop, one side of which, the apartment being 
 pretty large, was occupied as a glazier s shop, by 
 Thomas Godfrey, who, with his family, lived in the same 
 house, and with whom Franklin still continued to board. 
 The intimacy which grew out of these circumstances 
 led Mrs. Godfrey to plan a match between Franklin and 
 one of her young relatives. For this purpose she made 
 opportunities to bring them frequently together, and the 
 
178 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 consequence was, that Franklin soon commenced court 
 ship in earnest; especially as the young woman, accord 
 ing to his own testimony, was " very deserving." Her 
 parents, also, favored the courtship by " continual invi 
 tations to supper," and leaving the young people to each 
 other s society. 
 
 When, in due time, it became proper that all the par 
 ties concerned should come to a definite understanding 
 on this subject, Mrs. Godfrey was employed as the nego 
 tiator. Through her Franklin gave the parents distinct 
 ly to understand that if he married their daughter, he 
 must receive with her a sum sufficient to pay off the rem 
 nant of debt, estimated by him at a hundred pounds, 
 which he still owed for his establishment. To this mes 
 sage they sent back for answer that they had no such 
 amount of money to spare ; upon which Franklin sug 
 gested that they might mortgage their house and lot to 
 the loan-office. 
 
 On receiving this suggestion, the parents took some 
 days to consider the expediency of the match, in a more 
 business-like way ; they made inquiries of Bradford re 
 specting the profits and general character, safety and 
 prospects of the printer s trade ; and when they had 
 obtained all the information they deemed necessary on 
 these points, they replied that printing, as they were 
 told, was not a productive trade; that its materials were 
 not only expensive, but necessarily subject to great wear 
 and tear, and that fresh supplies were, therefore, needed 
 at short intervals ; that two printers, Keimer and Har 
 ry, had recently become bankrupt in the business, and 
 that Franklin was himself likely soon to make the third. 
 The result was, that they forbid Franklin s visits to their 
 house, and shut up their daughter. 
 
 On this final reply from the parents Franklin makes 
 the following comment: " Whether this was," says he, 
 
THE ATTEMPTED MATCH FAILS. 179 
 
 "a real change of sentiment, or only an artifice, on the 
 supposition of our being too far engaged in affection to 
 retract, and that therefore we should steal a marriage, 
 which would leave them at liberty to give or withhold 
 what they pleased, I know not. But I suspected the 
 motive, resented it, and went no more." 
 
 The conduct of the parents, as presented in the fore 
 going statement to the mind of an uninterested reader, 
 even at this distance of time, certainly affords some rea 
 son for Franklin s suspicion ; and that reason was 
 strengthened, in his opinion, at least, by the account, 
 which Mrs. Godfrey subsequently gave him, of the re 
 turn of the parents to more friendly views, upon the 
 strength of which she urged him to renew his visits to 
 the young woman. He, however, avowed his fixed de 
 termination to have no further intercourse with those 
 people. This gave such offence to the Godfreys, that 
 they quit Franklin s house, leaving it wholly to himself; 
 and he thereupon * resolved to take no more inmates." 
 
 Though Mrs. Godfrey s attempt at match-making fail 
 ed of its particular object, yet it served to turn Frank 
 lin s thoughts to the subject of marriage; and led him 
 to seek acquaintance with other families. It was not 
 long, however, before this kind of intercourse disclosed 
 to him a very prevalent impression unfavorable to his 
 trade, as a means of accumulating property and giving 
 a family a respectable position in society ; and that he 
 " was not to expect money with a wife," unless it should 
 be found requisite by way of compensation for lack of 
 other attractions. But, situated as he was, the tempta 
 tions to irregular habits, and to pernicious as well as 
 costly pleasures, were numerous and strong ; and he felt 
 his danger. 
 
 The most neighborly intercourse had been maintained 
 between himself and the family of the Reads, whose at- 
 
180 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tachment to him had suffered no abatement, notwithstand 
 ing the circumstances which had prevented his union with 
 the daughter. He stood, in fact, on the most intimate 
 footing with them. They were fond of his society, cher 
 ished his friendship, frequently conferred with him in the 
 most confidential manner concerning their affairs, and he 
 was gratified whenever he could render them a service. 
 
 Miss Read s position, meanwhile, was a very annoying 
 one. Though her marriage with the worthless Rogers, 
 was believed void, on the ground that he had, as was con 
 fidently alleged, another wife living at the time in Eng 
 land, yet the impediments in the way of finding out the 
 woman and procuring proof of the fact, in consequence 
 of the distance and the tardiness of communication be 
 tween the two countries, made it exceedingly difficult to 
 show the invalidity of that marriage judicially ; and 
 though it was reported that Rogers himself had died 
 within a few years after he absconded from Philadel 
 phia, yet that also needed proof, or at least such a lapse 
 of time without knowledge of him, as would raise a le 
 gal presumption of the fact. 
 
 These circumstances, connected with the disappoint 
 ment of her first affection and hope, weighed heavily on 
 the spirits of Miss Read, who lost her native cheerful 
 ness and shunned society ; and as Franklin reflected on 
 what he saw, he could not escape some feeling of self- 
 reproach for his own conduct, as having indirectly con 
 tributed, in some degree at least, to embitter and sadden 
 the condition of one, for whom he cherished the sin- 
 cerest esteem. On this subject he makes the following 
 frank and honest confession : 
 
 " I considered my giddiness and inconstancy when in 
 London," says he, " as in a great degree the cause of 
 her unhappiness ; though her mother was good enough 
 to think the fault more her own than mine ; as she had 
 
HE MARRIES MISS READ. 181 
 
 prevented our marrying before I went thither, and had 
 persuaded the other match in my absence." 
 
 The two young people, however, meeting, as they did 
 almost daily, in the intimate and confidential intercourse 
 already described, soon felt their affection for each other 
 reviving ; and none the less readily and warmly, for the 
 dejection and sadness of the one, and the commisera 
 ting sympathy of the other. Indeed, no state of feeling 
 in the two parties respectively, could be imagined more 
 certain to revive a former love, or kindle a new one ; 
 and as the allegations respecting the former marriage 
 and the death of Rogers, received the general credence, 
 they determined at length to marry. The marriage 
 took place on the 1st of September, 1730. Nothing con 
 nected with the former marriage ever occurred, to dis 
 turb the tranquillity of this union ; and Franklin closes 
 his relation of this interesting and fortunate transaction, 
 by testifying, as a tribute to the worth of his bride, that 
 " she proved to be a good and faithful help-mate, and as 
 sisted him much by attending to the shop ;" that they 
 " throve together, and ever mutually endeavored to make 
 each other happy;" finally adding, in reference to his 
 inconstancy to her, while he was in London : " Thus I 
 corrected that great erratum as well as I could." 
 
 While events so interesting to him, in his private re 
 lations, were thus taking place, Franklin did not neglect 
 to avail himself of such means of improvement in knowl 
 edge and mental discipline as he could command, and 
 business allowed him opportunity to make use of. He 
 continued to be an active and efficient member of the 
 Junto ; and as the meetings of that club had been trans 
 ferred from the tavern, where they were at first held, to 
 a room liberally furnished for the purpose by Robert 
 Grace, the greater privacy and security of this arrange 
 ment led Franklin to propose that, inasmuch as they had 
 
 16 
 
182 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 frequent occasion, in their discussions, to refer to the 
 books they respectively possessed, they should make 
 common stock of them by depositing them in the club- 
 room. 
 
 This proposal was adopted. On bringing their sev 
 eral parcels together, however, the collection was found 
 considerably less than had been anticipated ; and the in 
 jury which befell the books for the want of proper care, 
 the readiness with which the members of a small club 
 could borrow of each other, and the advantages, in their 
 circumstances and for their purposes, of having such 
 books as they severally possessed always at hand, over 
 balanced the benefits of so small a collection, and in 
 duced them, at the end of a twelvemonth or thereabouts, 
 to break up the deposite. 
 
 This experiment, nevertheless, showed that such col 
 lections might be rendered eminently useful, if made on 
 a suitable scale and placed under judicious regulations. 
 A library of sufficient extent to make it worth while to 
 provide for the proper custody and care of the books, 
 would not only be exceedingly useful to persons already 
 addicted to reading, or engaged in investigations, which 
 could not be prosecuted with satisfaction, or success, 
 without the aid of many books ; but it might also be ren 
 dered still more generally beneficial to society, by pla 
 cing the means of knowledge within convenient reach 
 even of persons in the narrowest circumstances ; and by 
 exciting a love of reading, where it did not already exist, 
 especially among the younger members of the commu 
 nity, who might be thus led to substitute the gratifica 
 tion and benefit to be derived from books, in place of 
 idle, unprofitable, and pernicious amusements. 
 
 Considerations of this kind took strong hold of Frank 
 lin s mind ; and their influence was much augmented by 
 observing the destitution of the community about him, 
 
HE FOUNDS A LIBRARY. 183 
 
 in relation to this matter. When he established himself 
 in Philadelphia, there was not, as he states, "a good 
 bookseller s shop anywhere in the colonies south of Bos 
 ton. The printers in New York and Philadelphia were 
 indeed stationers, but they sold only paper, almanacs, 
 ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who 
 loved reading were obliged to send for their books to 
 England." 
 
 In this dearth of the means of knowledge, Franklin 
 set about laying the foundation of a library, on the basis 
 of a general subscription. For this purpose he drew 
 up a plan, with provisions for such a management of the 
 proposed library, as he thought would diffuse its bene 
 fits most widely, while it also insured a proper care of 
 the books ; and then procured Charles Brockden, " a 
 skilful conveyancer," to connect therewith the terms of 
 subscription in such legal form as would constitute a 
 valid contract. Forty shillings were to be paid down 
 by each subscriber, to make the first purchases ; and ten 
 shillings yearly thereafter, for the annual increase of the 
 library. Moderate as these terms were, however, " so 
 few," says Franklin, " were the readers at that time in 
 Philadelphia," and most of them " so poor," that he 
 " was not able, with great industry, to find more than 
 fifty" subscribers, in the outset, and they were " mostly 
 young tradesmen." 
 
 The fifty subscriptions of forty shillings amounted to 
 one hundred pounds, to be paid, of course, in the local 
 currency. The value of the currency as compared with 
 silver coin is not stated. At the rate of eight shillings 
 to the dollar, (the ultimate rate in New York,) the hun 
 dred pounds would be only two hundred and fifty dol 
 lars ; but as the Pennsylvania currency did not finally 
 fall below the rate of seven shillings and sixpence, and 
 was, at the time now spoken of, much nearer par, the 
 
184 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 amount in dollars was somewhat more than the number 
 mentioned. " With this little fund," says Franklin, 
 "we began. The books were imported; the library 
 was opened one day in the week for lending them to 
 subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double 
 the value, if not duly returned. The institution soon 
 manifested its utility, was imitated in other towns, and in 
 other provinces. The libraries were augmented by do 
 nations ; reading became fashionable ; and our people, 
 having no public amusements to divert their attention, 
 became better acquainted with books, and in a few 
 years were observed by strangers to be better instructed 
 and more intelligent than people of the same rank gen 
 erally in other countries." 
 
 The articles of subscription, dated on the 1st of July, 
 1731, bound the signers and their legal representatives 
 for the term of fifty years ; but in 1742 they were super 
 seded by a charter from the proprietaries of the prov 
 ince, converting the library association into a permanent 
 corporation, with Franklin at its head. 
 
 The library thus founded now contains one of the 
 most extensive and valuable collections of books in this 
 country ; and its principal founder had the satisfaction, 
 in 1789, fifty-eight years after its origin, and about eight 
 months before his death, to see the foundation laid of the 
 spacious edifice, designed expressly for it, which it still 
 occupies. At the southeast angle of this edifice, on a 
 stone prepared for the purpose at the suggestion of 
 Franklin, is an inscription, written by him, (except the 
 words relating to himself, inserted by another hand,) and 
 purporting, beside the dates, to be " in honor of the 
 Philadelphia youth, then chiefly artificers," who cheer 
 fully, at the instance of Benjamin Franklin, one of their 
 number, instituted the Philadelphia Library." The 
 front of the building is adorned with a statue of Frank- 
 
A USEFUL LESSON. 185 
 
 lin in marble, executed in Italy, at. the expense of Wil 
 liam Bingham, an opulent citizen of Philadelphia. 
 
 Before leaving this subject it would be wrong to omit 
 recording here a lesson, which Franklin learned while 
 engaged in recommending the library project, and in 
 soliciting subscriptions for it. The lesson, though it is 
 one of no little practical value, in relation both to self- 
 discipline and to the successful persuasion of olhers, is 
 also one, which the self-esteem of most of us renders it 
 by no means easy to practise. Franklin has left this 
 lesson behind him in the following passage : 
 
 " The objections and reluctances I met with," says 
 he, " in soliciting subscriptions, made me soon feel the 
 impropriety of presenting one s self as the proposer of 
 any useful project, which might be supposed to raise 
 one s reputation, in the smallest degree, above that of 
 one s neighbors, when one has need of their assistance 
 to accomplish that project. I therefore put myself, as 
 much as I could, out of sight, and stated it as a scheme 
 of a number of friends, who had requested me to go 
 about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of 
 reading. In this way my affair went on more smoothly, 
 and I ever after practised it on such occasions ; and 
 from my frequent successes can heartily recommend it. 
 The present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterward 
 be amply repaid. If it remains awhile uncertain to 
 whom the merit belongs, some one more vain than your 
 self may be encouraged to claim it, and then even envy 
 will be disposed to do you justice, by plucking those as 
 sumed feathers and restoring them to their right owner." 
 
 This, assuredly, is one of the modes, in which a man 
 may lawfully apply the injunction to " be wise as the 
 serpent, and harmless as the dove." 
 
 The new library being opened, no one made more 
 faithful use of it than Franklin. To avail himself most 
 
 16* 
 
186 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 successfully of its advantages he systematically devoted 
 a portion of every day to study, and eagerly strove to 
 supply, as fully as he could, his deficiencies in those 
 higher parts of learning, to which the " bookish inclina 
 tion" of his boyhood seemed then to entitle him, but 
 which the scantiness of his father s means constrained 
 him in his youth to forego. He squandered none even 
 of the fragments of his time, in taverns, or other resorts 
 of the frivolous and idle. His personal attendance upon 
 his business gave him all the bodily exercise needful to 
 health j and his studies, to which he went with a relish 
 rendered all the keener by the labors of the day, be 
 came his highest and most coveted enjoyment. 
 
 Besides the vigilance and industry constantly demand 
 ed to protect and extend his business, in the midst of a 
 jealous competition, and to enable him to meet the pay 
 ments yet due for his establishment, he now had a family 
 for which it was his duty to provide not merely subsist 
 ence, but instruction, an honest training, and a respecta 
 ble position in society. These considerations, however, 
 never depressed his spirits, or operated as discourage 
 ments. On the contrary, so far from enfeebling him, 
 they only acted as invigorating incitements to his man 
 ly and hopeful nature ; and as he found his means 
 steadily increasing, and saw the confidence and esteem 
 of the community toward him daily extending, the con 
 sciousness of successful effort and justly appreciated 
 character, must have rendered this period one of the 
 very happiest of his life. 
 
 In his own account of this period, Franklin remarks 
 that his father had frequently repeated to him, when a 
 boy, the saying of Solomon " Seest thou a man dili 
 gent in his calling, he shall stand before kings" and 
 that this had led him to consider industry as a means of 
 gaining wealth and distinction. This gave him courage ; 
 
DOMESTIC CONCORD. 187 
 
 and though he had, at the time, no anticipation of the 
 literal verification of the proverb in his own case, yet 
 he did, in fact, verify it as fully, probably, as any person 
 that ever lived, of an equally humble origin; for in the 
 course of his long career he stood before jive kings, with 
 one of whom, the king of Denmark, he sat at dinner, 
 while that monarch was on a visit at Paris, during Frank 
 lin s residence there as the diplomatic representative of 
 his country a greater sovereignty than Denmark. 
 
 Time soon showed Franklin how great a boon was 
 his wife, and how material was her co-operation, in se 
 curing prosperity. Quoting the old proverb "He 
 that would thrive must ask his wife" he congratulates 
 himself on having " one as much disposed to industry 
 and frugality," as he was ; and in his business, which, 
 more than most other occupations, furnishes employment 
 well suited to females, " she cheerfully assisted in fold 
 ing and stitching pamphlets, in tending shop," and in all 
 the various indoor details of their trade. 
 
 Their household affairs, also, were placed on a ration 
 al and economical footing, suited to their means, and 
 managed with careful frugality, yet without foregoing a 
 single real comfort. " We kept," says Franklin, " no idle 
 servants; our table was plain and simple ; and our furni 
 ture of the cheapest." His own breakfast long consisted 
 merely of "bread and milk, (no tea,) taken from a two 
 penny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon." But, 
 as he smilingly adds, " mark how luxury will enter fam 
 ilies, and make progress in spite of principle;" for, go 
 ing one morning to his favorite breakfast, he unexpect 
 edly " found it in a China bowl with a spoon of silver !" 
 His wife, it appears, had prepared this amiable surprise 
 for him, at her own cost, as a token of her affection ; and 
 he playfully remarks that " she had no other excuse, or 
 apology, to make, but that she thought her husband de- 
 
188 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 served a silver spoon and a China bowl, as well as any 
 of his neighbors." These were the first articles of plate 
 and China in the family, and they gradually accumula 
 ted to the amount finally of several hundred pounds. 
 
 This is a pleasing picture, not merely of frugality and 
 thrift, but of cheerful diligence and domestic concord; 
 and if oftener copied in these days of greater seeming 
 affluence, would secure to many an ambitious young 
 household, the respect, confidence, success, and happi 
 ness, they so eagerly desire, but so frequently miss. And 
 the frugality which Franklin practised, as well as taught, 
 was not the mean parsimony of a niggard disposition. 
 This has been sometimes imputed to him ; but such an 
 imputation does him the grossest injustice. Not to in 
 sist on the readiness with which he put his hand into 
 pocket for casual alms, or even the extent to which, more 
 generous than discreet, he supplied the unworthy neces 
 sities of Collins and Ralph, even to his own inconveni 
 ence, when he had nothing but the earnings of his daily 
 labor to bestow, and when the prospect of repayment 
 was far too hopeless to influence him in any degree 
 to say nothing of these instances, the ungrudging liber 
 ality with which he provided for his family, as his means 
 accumulated ; his bounty, through life, to his poorer rela 
 tives ; and the uncalculating and patriotic promptitude, 
 with which he aided the public service with his credit 
 and money both, should for ever silence all imputationo 
 of the kind mentioned. 
 
 No : Franklin s frugality proceeded from a high sense 
 of duty. It was the legitimate fruit and conclusive 
 proof of his honesty, and of a just sentiment of self-re 
 spect and manly independence. Twenty-five years old, 
 not yet free of debt, and with a family to provide for, 
 he was pursuing an occupation which was not capable 
 of producing large results in short periods, or by fortu- 
 
REASONS OF HIS FRUGALITY. 189 
 
 nate adventures, but yielded its gains only by small de 
 grees, to steady diligence and patient perseverance ; 
 and in which, while two persons failed before his eyes, 
 he still had competitors, and could not safely count upon 
 employment more than enough, at best, for a very mod 
 erate and slow accumulation beyond the current expenses 
 of a decent livelihood. 
 
 Frugality, and even parsimony, when practised for 
 such reasons, should always be held in honor; and that 
 such were the true motives of Franklin s frugality, is 
 fully confirmed by some rules, which, about this time, he 
 drew up for his guidance. Among these rules, some of 
 which bound him to the strictest veracity and sincerity 
 on all occasions, and others to the habitual avoidance of 
 all censorious and uncharitable speech concerning other 
 people, there are two which bear directly on the point 
 under consideration. In one of these, he states the ne 
 cessity of his being "extremely frugal" till his debt was 
 paid ; and the other testifies to his good sense by re 
 solving to attend closely to whatever he might under 
 take, and not permit his mind to be " diverted from his 
 business, by any foolish project of growing suddenly 
 rich;" inasmuch as "industry and patience are the 
 surest means of plenty." 
 
 In connection with this view of Franklin s domestic 
 condition, at the commencement of house-keeping, as at 
 the opening of a new act in the drama of life, he has 
 left in his autobiography a characteristically frank and 
 honest account of his religious and moral sentiments and 
 habits ; and as it is somewhat more explicit, as well as 
 less eccentric in some respects, than the view presented 
 in the paper entitled, " Articles of Belief and Acts of Re 
 ligion," already noticed, the substance of this account is 
 here given. 
 
 His parents were Calvinists, and while he remained 
 
190 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 with them, he was trained accordingly. Some of then- 
 tenets, however, seemed to him unintelligible, or doubt 
 ful ; but certain doctrines, or principles, which form the 
 basis, in part at least, of every religous creed, he held 
 with an unfeigned faith. " I never doubted," says he, 
 " the existence of a Deity ; that he made the world and 
 governed it by his providence; that the most acceptable 
 service of God was the doing good to man ; that our 
 souls are immortal ; and that all crimes will be punished, 
 and virtue rewarded, either here, or hereafter." 
 
 Deeming these, as he says, the essentials of every re 
 ligion, and finding them in all the creeds of the country, 
 he respected them all, though in different degrees, ac 
 cording to the admixture of other doctrines having no 
 tendency, as he thought, to nourish a sound morality, but 
 serving rather to promote division and embitter contro 
 versy. These sentiments, joined to a belief, moreover, 
 that even such religious views as seemed to him most 
 mingled with error, were far more wholesome in their 
 practical influence, than no acknowledgment of religious 
 obligation in any form, led him to abstain from every 
 thing calculated to impair the confidence of any person 
 in the value of his religious opinions, or to blunt his re 
 ligious sensibility ; and as the growing population of the 
 province called for a greater number of houses for pub 
 lic worship, he never refused his contribution to the sub 
 scriptions by which they were usually erected. 
 
 He considered public worship and the regular preach 
 ing of a settled ministry capable of being rendered emi 
 nently useful to society ; but he thought their usefulness, 
 in point of fact, greatly diminished by the generally 
 sectarian and polemical character of the preaching; 
 and though he regularly paid a liberal yearly subscrip 
 tion to the support of the only Presbyterian clergyman 
 then in Philadelphia, yet he did not often attend his 
 
SCHEME OF MORAL PERFECTION. 191 
 
 meetings, for the reason just mentioned. On this ac 
 count the clergyman, with whom he lived on terms of 
 uninterrupted good neighborhood, occasionally remon 
 strated with him; and after one of these friendly admo 
 nitions Franklin was induced to attend public worship 
 five Sundays in succession. But the sermons he heard 
 w r ere so exclusively occupied with controversy about 
 points of dispute between different sects; and fell so far 
 short, as it seemed to Franklin, of making that varied 
 and beneficent use of the Scriptures, for which, as he 
 thought, they were designed, and of which they are so 
 capable, for the guidance of life and the elevation of 
 character, that, finding himself not edified, he ceased 
 further attendance upon the preaching of this clergyman, 
 and resorted again to his private devotions, in the form 
 he had some years before prepared for himself, as 
 already related. His own account of this matter he 
 closes with the following frank declaration : " My con 
 duct," says he, " might be blameable ; but I leave it, 
 without attempting further to excuse it ; my present pur 
 pose being to relate facts, not to make apologies for 
 them." 
 
 Another remarkable event in Franklin s mental his 
 tory occurred at this stage in the progress of his opin 
 ions, and of his inner life. This was the conception of 
 a plan for attaining moral perfection. The desire took 
 possession of him "to live without committing any 
 fault at any time ;" and by rigorous and vigilant self- 
 discipline, to hold in check and finally overcome all the 
 tendencies and incitements to moral transgression, 
 " either in natural inclination, or custom, or company." 
 Supposing himself to understand clearly the distinc 
 tions of right and wrong, in all cases presented to his 
 moral judgment, or conscience, it seemed to him prac 
 ticable to do right in one case as certainly as in another ; 
 
192 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 in other words, to follow his convictions of duty, and do 
 right, or avoid wrong, in all cases. 
 
 Although Franklin had, beyond doubt, given far more 
 time and earnest thought, than is usual with either the 
 young or the mature, to the momentous duty of self- 
 examination, yet such conceptions and desires as have 
 just been mentioned, while they betoken high endow 
 ments, noble aspirations, and the upward bent of his 
 moral nature, show also, we think, not only the inexpe 
 rience, but the over-confidence of a young man, and a 
 self-knowledge, or perhaps more correctly, a knowledge 
 of human nature, still very partial and imperfect. Arid 
 this he soon had occasion to perceive, as he does him 
 self very candidly confess. 
 
 " I soon found," says he, " that I had undertaken a 
 task of far more difficulty than I had imagined. While 
 my attention was taken up and my care employed in 
 guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by an 
 other ; habit took advantage of inattention; inclination 
 was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded at 
 length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was 
 our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient 
 to prevent our slipping ; and that the contrary habits 
 must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, 
 before we can have any dependence on a steady and uni 
 form rectitude of conduct." 
 
 Perseverance, however, and a strong tenacity of pur 
 pose, were among the most marked traits of his charac 
 ter ; and instead of abandoning, in weak caprice, his 
 idea of moral perfection, he determined to persist in the 
 endeavor to realize at least some portion of what he 
 might not be able fully to accomplish. For this pur 
 pose he drew up a schedule of the moral virtues, so di 
 gested and arranged as to include under each as a gen 
 eral head, such ideas as are clear and practical, and such 
 
SCHEDULE OF VIRTUES. 193 
 
 points of conduct as are unquestionably binding on the 
 conscience ; avoiding all fanciful views of moral obliga 
 tion drawn from fine-spun theories, and placing his sys 
 tem of positive duties on the broad and solid ground of 
 common sense. 
 
 His schedule arranged the moral virtues under thir 
 teen titles, or heads, with a brief precept annexed to 
 each, to assist his mind more promptly to recognise the 
 general nature of the particular virtue, and the leading 
 points of conduct embraced within its scope. This 
 schedule was as follows : 
 
 1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dulness ; drink not to 
 elevation. 
 
 2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others, 
 or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 
 
 3*. ORDER. Let all your things have their places ; let 
 each part of your business have its time. 
 
 4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought ; 
 perform without fail what you resolve. 
 
 5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to 
 others, or yourself; that is, waste nothing. 
 
 6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time ; be always employed in 
 something useful ; cut off all unnecessary actions. 
 
 7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think inno 
 cently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 
 
 8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omit 
 ting the benefits that are your duty. 
 
 9. MODERATION. Avoid extremes ; forbear resenting 
 injuries so much as you think they deserve. 
 
 10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, 
 clothes, or habitation. 
 
 11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at 
 accidents, common or unavoidable. 
 
 12. CHASTITY. 
 
 13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus, and Socrates. 
 
 1.7 
 
194 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 His process for accomplishing this plan, was to un 
 dertake, in the outset, one virtue at a time, leaving the 
 others meanwhile to his ordinary observance of them ; 
 and to take them up, also, in the order in which the ac 
 quirement of one, would most facilitate the acquisition 
 of another. On this principle he arranged his list. He 
 placed temperance first, because, although a remarkably 
 temperate man, in the common acceptation of the term, 
 he would cultivate that virtue in its largest and worthi 
 est sense, and because, by giving him the fullest and 
 most constant command of all his faculties, it would better 
 prepare him for continual watchfulness against tempta 
 tion and the force of bad habits, and for the cultivation 
 of other virtues. Silence was fitly placed next, not only 
 because the control of the tongue is more readily attain 
 ed, when temperance in all things has become habitual, 
 but because, also, in our intercourse with others, knowl 
 edge is to be gained by listening, rather than by talk 
 ing. And thus he proceeded through the entire list, the 
 arrangement of which, does great credit to his philo 
 sophical discrimination, and his apprehension of moral 
 relations. 
 
 To enable himself the better to pursue this plan of 
 improvement, he framed a moral account book, in which 
 he opened an account with the several virtues on his list. 
 Each page was ruled with seven columns, and at the 
 head of each column was placed the name of a day. 
 These were crossed with thirteen lines, and at the left 
 end of each was entered the name of one of the thirteen 
 virtues, in the order of the list. The pages thus ruled 
 were also thirteen in number, and at the head of each 
 page was written the name of the virtue, which was to 
 be the object of special attention for any one week. On 
 each virtue-line, and in the day-column, was to be a 
 mark for every infraction of that virtue, during that day. 
 
OPENS A MORAL ACCOUNT-BOOK. 195 
 
 When the virtue placed at the head of the page as the 
 particular object of the week, showed a clean line at the 
 end of the week, then he was to pass on to the special 
 account with the virtue at the head of the next page. 
 Thus a full course with all the virtues on the list, would 
 run through thirteen weeks, making room for four such 
 courses in a year. 
 
 To this moral account-book he prefixed three mottoes, 
 or inscriptions, in praise of virtue; and as they serve to 
 reflect, at least a ray of light on the range of study, 
 which this never-idle and much-thinking young trades 
 man had been quietly yet earnestly pursuing, we copy 
 them. The first one was taken from the celebrated so 
 liloquy of Addison s Cato. 
 
 " Here will I hold. If there s a Power above us 
 And that there is, all Nature cries aloud 
 Through all her works He must delight in virtue, 
 And that which He delights in, must be happy." 
 
 The next was from Cicero s admirable work entitled, 
 " De Officiis" that is, a treatise on the Moral Duties. 
 
 "O, vitse philosophise dux! O, virtutum indagatrix 
 expultrixque vitiorum ! Unus dies, bene et ex preceptis 
 tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus." * 
 
 The third inscription was from the proverbs of Solo 
 mon, where he personifies virtue, or righteousness, under 
 the name of Wisdom. 
 
 " Length of days is in her right-hand, and in her left- 
 hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleas 
 antness, and all her paths are peace." 
 
 And furthermore, to use his own words, " conceiving 
 God to be the fountain of wisdom," he " thought it right 
 
 * As many of the readers for whom this book is more particularly pre 
 pared, do not read Latin, this motto may be expressed iu English thus: 
 " O, philosophy, guide of life, tracer of virtue and expeller of vice ! A sin 
 gle day, well spent in obedience to thy precepts, is better than a sinful im 
 mortality." 
 
196 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and necessary to solicit His assistance for obtaining it." 
 He, therefore, prefixed to these tables of self-examina 
 tion a short prayer, composed by himself, for daily use. 
 In this he addresses God as a bountiful and good father, 
 and a merciful guide, asking of him wisdom and strength 
 of spirit to discern and perform his duties ; and that his 
 kind offices to his fellow-creatures might be accepted 
 as some return for the favors extended to himself. 
 
 In this course of self-discipline he persevered for a 
 long time with scrupulous exactness ; and though he in 
 genuously confesses that he felt surprised at the number 
 of his faults, yet he declares that he was in some degree 
 recompensed by seeing them gradually become less fre 
 quent. For the first few years the four cycles of thir 
 teen weeks each, were duly accomplished within the 
 year, in strict accordance with the plan. After a while, 
 however, a single course occupied a whole year ; and 
 finally, his accumulating private affairs, and still more 
 his employments in the public service, sending him to 
 and fro, by land and sea, compelled him wholly to re 
 linquish this particular form of self-discipline ; though 
 he always kept his account-book with him. 
 
 Of all the virtues in his list, Order, and especially that 
 rule of order, which requires a place for everything and 
 everything in its place, gave him, he says, the most trou 
 ble. This arose partly from his becoming more and 
 more subject to the varying convenience of others, in 
 the transactions of his growing business ; but still more 
 from not having been trained to such habits when young. 
 Being blessed with a tenacious memory, he did not be 
 come fully aware of the value of habitual order in the 
 details of all occupations, until advancing age began to 
 diminish the readiness and precision of his recollection. 
 
 The difficulty in question annoyed him so much, that 
 he was sometimes tempted to renounce his resolution of 
 
THE SPECKLED AXE. 197 
 
 amendment, in order to get rid of the struggle and res 
 cue his self-esteem from mortification at being no better 
 able to control his habits in this particular direction. 
 To exemplify his feelings, in regard to this matter, he 
 relates an anecdote to the following effect. 
 
 A man having bought an axe of a blacksmith, wished 
 him to make the whole surface of the axe as bright as 
 the bit. This the smith was ready to do, if the man 
 would turn the giindstone by which alone his wish could 
 be gratified. The man began to turn, and the smith to 
 grind, pressing the broad face of the axe, with all the 
 force of his strong arms, against the biting stone. The 
 man pretty soon beginning to feel a lively curiosity to 
 see, from time to time, how the brightening proceeded, 
 kept quitting the crank to look at the axe, and at length 
 concluded to take it as it was. " No, no," said the 
 smith, " turn on, turn on; we shall have the whole axe 
 bright by-and-by ; as yet it is only speckled." " Yes," 
 said the man, " but I think I like a speckled axe best." 
 
 And so as the anecdote is applied so it is with 
 many a person, who undertakes to reform his habits 
 and burnish his character. Surprised at the diffi 
 culty of the task, he soon gives it up, concluding that 
 " a speckled axe is best ;" and in a vein of pithy irony, 
 Franklin shows, from his own experience, how ready 
 self-indulgence is to find excuses, by remarking that 
 " something that pretended to be reason, kept suggesting 
 that extreme nicety might be a kind of foppery in mor 
 als, and provoke ridicule ; that a perfect character might 
 incur the inconvenience of being envied and hated ; and 
 that a benevolent man should allow some faults in him 
 self, to keep his neighbors in countenance." 
 
 But still, though Franklin found himself unable to 
 reach that high point of Order, which he had been so 
 ambitious to attain, yet, as he avers, his endeavors in 
 
 17* 
 
198 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 that direction, contributed to render him a better and 
 happier roan, than he would have been, had he not made 
 those endeavors. To his own account of his efforts at 
 self-improvement, and of the somewhat artificial plan 
 upon which he pursued his object, he" has annexed the 
 following impressive remarks : 
 
 " It may be well," says he, " that my posterity should 
 be informed that to this little artifice, with the blessing 
 of God, their ancestor owed the constant felicity of his 
 life, down to his 79th year, in which this is written. 
 What reverses may attend the remainder, is in the hand 
 of Providence ; but if they arrive, the reflection on past 
 happiness enjoyed, ought to help him bear them with 
 resignation. To Temperance he ascribes his long-con 
 tinued health, and what is still left to him of a good 
 constitution ; to Industry and Frugality, the early easi 
 ness of his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, 
 with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful 
 citizen, and obtained for him some degree of reputation 
 among the learned ; to Sincerity and Justice, the confi 
 dence of his country and the honorable employs it con 
 ferred upon him; and to the joint influence of the whole 
 mass of the virtues, even in the imperfect state he was 
 able to acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and 
 cheerfulness in conversation, which make his company 
 still sought for, and agreeable even to his young acquaint 
 ance. I hope that some of my descendants may follow 
 the example, and reap the benefit." 
 
 It was Franklin s original design to extend the little 
 tabular book described, by adding a commentary on 
 each of the virtues in the list, more fully to explain its 
 positive advantages, as well as the certain disadvantages 
 of the correlative vices ; and thus to furnish, for the use 
 of others, especially the young, a manual, which, inas 
 much as it was to point out the practical methods of 
 
THE ART OF VIRTUE. 199 
 
 forming habits of virtue, and not be simply preceptive, 
 or speculative, was to be entitled "The Art of Virtue." 
 With this purpose in view he collected a considerable 
 mass of materials in the form of hints and remarks, 
 made from time to time, in the course of his reading and 
 observation ; but the increase of business, and his accu 
 mulating engagements in the most important public af 
 fairs, prevented the execution of the intended commen 
 tary. 
 
 The contemplated manual was, moreover, connected, 
 in Franklin s mind, with another and far more compre 
 hensive plan he had conceived for carrying into wider 
 effect his views of moral culture, through the instrumen 
 tality of an association, to be regularly organized and to 
 act on society at large. But as this chapter has already 
 exceeded the usual limit, we must defer to the next, the 
 account, which it is deemed necessary to give of what 
 he styles the " great and extensive project" referred to. 
 
200 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PROJECT FOR PROMOTING VIRTUE ALMANAC OF RICHARD 
 
 SAUNDERS. 
 
 FROM what has already been said it is plain that 
 Franklin s mind, at this period of his life, had become 
 deeply impressed with the duty and advantage of self- 
 discipline ; of directing his thoughts and efforts to wor 
 thy ends ; and of training his faculties, both intellectual 
 and moral, to the attainment of those ends by just and 
 beneficent means ; such means as should reconcile and 
 harmonize his own interests with the interests of his fel 
 low-men, and present a genuine exemplification of the 
 doctrine that "true seTflove and social, are the same;" 
 or, as the same doctrine had long before been announced, 
 on the very highest authority, in the golden rule requir 
 ing every one of us to " do unto others as we would have 
 others to do unto us." He believed this to be the only 
 way to secure any real happiness, and that no qualities are 
 so likely to advance a poor man s fortune in the world, 
 as veracity and integrity. 
 
 That he strove, with unfeigned earnestness, to correct 
 his faults and train himself to the habitual practice of 
 virtue, is evident, not only from the general tenor of his 
 life and the personal respect in which he was held, but is 
 particularly and beautifully evinced by his candor and 
 docility in receiving admonition, of which the following 
 anecdote presents a good example. His list of virtues, 
 as he relates, contained at first but twelve. A Quaker 
 
HIS DEFERENTIAL MANNER IN CONVERSATION. 201 
 
 friend of his frankly told him one day, that he was gen 
 erally considered proud, and in conversation sometimes 
 overbearing and insolent, several instances of which were 
 called to Franklin s remembrance. He acknowledged 
 the justice of the admonition, and added Humility to the 
 list of virtues, to be particularly cultivated. He con 
 fesses that unremitting watchfulness was at first neces 
 sary, to break the offending habit, especially when en 
 gaged in animated discussion ; yet perseverance was at 
 length crowned with success ; and then he found " the 
 advantage of this change in his manners." It not only 
 made intercourse at all times more agreeable, but it pro 
 cured " a readier reception of his opinions, when right, 
 and less mortification, when wrong." 
 
 There is, indeed, no one point in manners and gen 
 eral deportment, which he has so frequently urged, as the 
 language and tone of unassuming deference, in conver 
 sation, and in reasoning with others for the purpose of 
 changing their opinions, or procuring their co-operation. 
 To this deferential manner, connected with the preva 
 lent confidence in his integrity, he expressly ascribes his 
 influence with his fellow-citizens, and in deliberative as 
 semblies ; for he was, as he declares, but a " bad speak 
 er, hesitating in his choice of words, and never elo 
 quent;" and yet he "generally carried his point." 
 
 The good sense of these remarks is obvious ; but his 
 modesty, nevertheless, has suppressed one reason quite 
 as efficient as any, in procuring him influence, and a 
 ready adoption of his views ; and that reason was to be 
 found in the sound judgment and sagacious forethought 
 by which his views were usually distinguished. 
 
 But Franklin s desires, on the great subject of moral 
 improvement, were not limited to his own personal ben 
 efit and that of the individuals immediately connected 
 with him, or of the single community in which his lot 
 
202 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 was cast. He felt an honest zeal to see the spread of 
 such improvement in all communities, until its purifying 
 and elevating influences should be everywhere manifest ; 
 and he believed that much might be done toward the 
 actual attainment of so great an end, by a thorough and 
 persevering application of the principle of voluntary 
 co-operation, in the form of an association organized on 
 the basis of a few comprehensive elementary truths, in 
 which all soberminded and earnest men could agree, and 
 which could be everywhere received for the regulation 
 of social action as well as individual conduct. 
 
 The organization of such an association was the 
 " great and extensive project" already alluded to. The 
 original conception of this scheme is traced to a paper con 
 taining some observations, suggested to his mind by his 
 historical reading, and dated at the library, May 9th, 
 1731. These observations were stated in the form of 
 general inferences, and their purport was, that the af 
 fairs of all nations, including wars and revolutions, were 
 conducted by parties, acting for their own supposed in 
 terests, and that all confusion in those affairs resulted 
 from the opposing views of such parties ; that under 
 cover of their general objects, individual members 
 were aiming at their own particular interests, and that 
 when a party collectively had attained its ends, it 
 was soon broken into factions by the clashing of those 
 personal interests ; that only a few public men have 
 acted with a single eye to the public good, and that 
 when their acts have, in fact, promoted that end, it 
 has generally been because that good has happened 
 to harmonize with their own personal objects, not 
 because their motives were disinterested and benev 
 olent that still fewer public men have acted with dis 
 tinct views to the common welfare of mankind ; and 
 that, as a general conclusion from the whole of these 
 
PLAN FOR PROMOTING VIRTUE. 203 
 
 premises, there was need of an organized party for the 
 promotion of virtue, to be formed of the good men of 
 all nations, and governed by suitable rules, which such 
 men would be likely to obey more uniformly than the 
 mass of men obey the laws of the land. To these ob 
 servations he subjoined a declaration of his belief, that 
 if such a plan should be attempted, in the right spirit, 
 by a properly-qualified person, it would prove accepta 
 ble to God, and be crowned with success. 
 
 Such were some of the ideas and convictions, which 
 this self-educated tradesman had, at the age of twenty-five 
 years, drawn from history. They indicate a thoughtful 
 and earnest mind, much insight into the ways and mo 
 tives of men, and those generous aspirations for the 
 moral advancement of the race, which betoken a benev 
 olent and fervent spirit. 
 
 It should be remarked that when this project first pre 
 sented itself to his mind, he did not purpose to enter at 
 once upon the attempt to execute it. He was not then 
 in a condition to do so ; but he meditated on it as a work 
 to be attempted when his circumstances should give him 
 the requisite leisure ; making notes, meanwhile, of such 
 thoughts as occurred to him from time to time, in rela 
 tion to it, and to the mode of putting it into operation. 
 During his long residence abroad, those notes, made on 
 detached pieces of paper, got scattered ; and when, af 
 ter his final return home from Europe, he came to write 
 the account of this period of his life, only one of those 
 pieces could be found. That one contained a memoran 
 dum of the general truths which he had supposed might 
 properly serve as a basis of the association, and help to 
 give it unity and cohesion. 
 
 The contemplated association, it should be borne in 
 mind, was not to be confined to one community, or a 
 single country, but was to be extended through many, 
 
204 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 with the design of ultimately embracing all ; at least all 
 those leading nations, whose power and influence, if 
 united, would comprehend and sway the more impor 
 tant social movements of the whole of Christendom, and 
 at last of the whole world. The general basis, therefore, 
 on which the organization was to rest, should include, 
 as he thought, only such truths, as were recognised 
 among the elemental principles of every system of re 
 ligion, and not repugnant to any. Those truths, or 
 principles, as stated by himself, were the following : 
 
 " That there is one God, who made all things ; that 
 he governs the world by his providence ; that he ought 
 to be worshipped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiv 
 ing ; that the most acceptable service to God, is doing 
 good to man ; that the soul is immortal ; and that God 
 will certainly reward virtue, and punish vice, either here, 
 or hereafter." 
 
 As to the incipient proceedings, his idea was that only 
 young and single men should associate, in the outset ; 
 that every applicant for membership should, as prepara 
 tory to admission, exercise himself in the course of self- 
 discipline already described in " The Art of Virtue," 
 and at his initiation should declare his assent to the 
 general truths above stated ; that the association should 
 be kept secret, till it could get well agoing and acquire 
 some eolidity, so as to be able to exercise firmly a just 
 discrimination in reference to applicants for admission; 
 but that any member, nevertheless, might disclose the 
 enterprise to such individuals as he should personally 
 know to be men of sense and virtue. It was, also, to be 
 made one of the duties of the associates, to promote the 
 just interests of one another. As to a name, he had se 
 lected that of " The Society of the Free and Easy;" 
 his reason for it being, in substance, that, by the virtues 
 to be practised they would be freed from the dominion 
 
PRACTICABILITY OP THE PLAN. 205 
 
 of vice, and, especially, kept free from the bondage of 
 debt, and easy in point of property, by their habits of 
 industry and frugality. 
 
 Such was this philanthropic project, as nearly as 
 Franklin could recall his first conceptions of it, after 
 the lapse of more than half a century. Though the " nar 
 rowness of his circumstances," at the time, and his pub 
 lic labors afterward, rendered any attempt on his part, 
 to arrange the machinery necessary to set the plan at 
 work, impossible, yet he never ceased to regard it as 
 practicable. The " seeming magnitude of the under 
 taking," as he expressly states, offered to his mind no 
 discouragement ; for he held that one man of sound un 
 derstanding and a persevering temper, aiming at good 
 ends by just means, can work great changes in human 
 affairs, if he will but devote all his powers to some one 
 distinct object. 
 
 In relation to the practicability of the plan, however, 
 opinions will probably differ ; and yet, before pronoun 
 cing against the scheme, on this ground alone, it might 
 well be deemed prudent to pause, in view of what the 
 world, since its entrance upon the present century, has 
 seen accomplished by societies, organized on the same 
 principle of voluntary co-operation, for the morals and 
 manners of great national communities, as well as for oth 
 er benevolent and religious purposes. Still, though the 
 principle of action in all these cases is the same, there is 
 a difference, which seems to be an important one in its 
 practical bearings, between applying the principle to 
 some one specific and clearly-defined object, as in the 
 Temperance movement, for example, and the applica 
 tion of the same principle to a whole list of virtues and 
 vices, or the entire range of moral action. 
 
 We think, moreover, that the very element in this 
 project, to which its projector looked chiefly for its suc- 
 
 18 
 
206 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 cess, would have been found to be the chief obstacle to 
 its acceptance. We refer to its neutrality in regard to 
 every specific form of religion. Men generally, we ap 
 prehend, are most tenacious of precisely those points in 
 their creeds on which they differ from all others, and for 
 the sake of which alone are they adopted. This we sup 
 pose to be true, even among sects of the same general 
 system of faith. But, in the case before us, from the 
 platform of general truths is excluded everything pecu 
 liar, not merely to different sects claiming a common ori 
 gin, but to that entire system of religion which is re 
 ceived, not merely as true, but as inspired, throughout all 
 Christendom; and which, moreover, notwithstanding the 
 many ways in which it has been perverted, experience, 
 to say nothing of diviner sanctions, has shown to be the 
 surest support of a pure and stable morality, and there 
 fore, as we believe, the best and only undeceitful guide 
 to those benign results which the contemplated project 
 purposed to attain. Instead, therefore, of attracting mem 
 bers, or co-operation in any form, from the professors of 
 Christianity, among whom, after all reasonable conces 
 sions on the score of unfaithfulness, have been found, in 
 every age, the most earnest, steadfast, and efficient pro 
 moters of practical virtue, the neutrality mentioned would, 
 we are persuaded, have constituted their invincible ob 
 jection to the whole scheme. 
 
 Nevertheless, whatever may be the just conclusion 
 upon these points, it will be admitted, we presume, that 
 the reflections out of which this project grew, and the 
 benefits purposed by the projector, give ample evidence, 
 not only of benevolent motives and an honorable zeal for 
 the welfare of society, but of enlightened views of some 
 of the most important lessons taught by the previous ex 
 perience and actual condition of mankind. 
 
 About this time, however, Franklin undertook another 
 
HIS ALMANAC. 207 
 
 work, unquestionably practical in its whole character, 
 and of unequivocal utility ; one which operated with pal 
 pable benefit on the general habits of the community, ex 
 tended his own reputation and influence, and contributed 
 materially to his pecuniary advantage. This was the pub 
 lication, under the name of Richard Saunders, of the 
 almanac, which afterward became so celebrated and pop 
 ular as " Poor Richard s Almanac." He issued the first 
 one of the annual series on the 19th of December, 1732, 
 when he was drawing near the end of the twenty-seventh 
 year of his age ; and he continued the publication for 
 about twenty-five years : the number of copies for each 
 year, during most of that period, amounting to nearly 
 ten thousand. 
 
 The character which he gave to this publication pre 
 sents conclusive proof of his desire to do good, and of his 
 fidelity to the principles of sound morality and the max 
 ims of an honest life. Passing as it did, year after year, 
 into many thousand families, very many of them being 
 exceedingly limited in their pecuniary means, having few 
 or none of the advantages of education, and engaged in 
 occupations too full of labor to allow more than occasion 
 al and scanty opportunity for obtaining information from 
 books, such a publication as Franklin furnished them 
 was iindoubedly valuable to them as a vehicle of instruc 
 tion ; and he availed himself of it for that purpose with 
 such benevolent assiduity, so judiciously, and with such 
 marked success, that in the course of four or five weeks 
 after the first issue, it became necessary to print three 
 editions of the very first number. And although, in sub 
 sequent years, the first edition for the year was greatly 
 enlarged, yet still further issues became frequently ne 
 cessary to supply the demand for it. 
 
 One of the features of this almanac which rendered it 
 at that day most attractive and useful, was the great mini- 
 
208 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ber of maxims of practical, proverbial wisdom, with which 
 its pages were richly stored. " I filled," says he, " all 
 the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable 
 days in the calendar, with proverbial sentences ; chiefly 
 such as inculcated industry and frugality as the means of 
 procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue ; it being 
 more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly, 
 as, to use here one of those proverbs, " It is hard for an 
 empty sack to stand upright" 
 
 When about to relinquish the publication of his alma 
 nac, he gathered these scattered maxims together, and in 
 order to render them more permanently useful, he wove 
 them into a regular discourse, supposed to have been de 
 livered by an aged man to a company of both sexes at a 
 public auction. This discourse he entitled " The Way 
 to Wealth," and prefixed it to the last number of his al 
 manac, published for the year 1757. It soon appeared 
 in all the colonial newspapers ; and on reaching England, 
 it was printed on one large sheet, to be hung against the 
 wall of a room, that " the way to wealth" might always 
 be in sight, and spread all over the British islands. It 
 was, moreover, translated into French twice (in 1773 and 
 1778) during Franklin s life, and once at least, after his 
 death. Of each of these translations several editions were 
 issued, and the clergy and gentry distributed the copies 
 gratuitously in great numbers among the poorer classes. 
 Besides all this, in 1823, when the Greeks had entered 
 into their struggle for national independence, " The Way 
 to Wealth" was published at Paris for distribution among 
 them, with a brief account of the author, in Romaic, or 
 modern Greek. 
 
 The performance in question is so celebrated, contains 
 so much of the common sense and practical wisdom of 
 past ages, and its maxims are so well fitted for the daily 
 guidance of common life, that it is transcribed here, in 
 
THE WAY TO WEALTH. 209 
 
 full, as being essential to one of the leading purposes of 
 this book. 
 
 THE WAY TO WEALTH, 
 
 As clearly shown in the Preface of an old Pennsylvania Almanac, entitled, 
 " Poor Richard Improved." 
 
 COURTEOUS READER : I have heard that nothing gives 
 an author so great pleasure as to find his works respect 
 fully quoted by others. Judge, then, how much I must 
 have been gratified by an incident I am going to relate 
 to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great number 
 of people were collected at an auction of merchants* 
 goods. The hour of the sale not being come, they were 
 conversing on the badness of the times ; and one of the 
 company called to a plain, clean old man, with white 
 locks " Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the 
 times 1 Will not these heavy taxes quite ruin the coun 
 try 1 How shall we ever be able to pay them 1 ? What 
 would you advise us to?" Father Abraham stood up 
 and replied, " If you would have my advice, I will give 
 it you in short ; for A word to the wise is enough, as 
 Poor Richard says." They joined in desiring him to 
 speak his mind, and gathering round him, he proceeded 
 as follows : 
 
 " Friends," said he, " the taxes are indeed very heavy, 
 and if those laid on by the government were the only 
 ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge 
 them ; but we have many others, and much more griev 
 ous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our 
 idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four 
 times as much by our folly ; and from these taxes the 
 commissioners can not ease or deliver us, by allowing an 
 abatement. However, let us hearken to good advice, 
 and something may be done for us ; for God helps them 
 that help themselves, as Poor Richard says. 
 18* 
 
210 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 " I. It would be thought a hard government that should 
 tax its people one tenth of their time, to be employed in 
 its service ; but idleness taxes many of us much more ; 
 sloth, by bringing on diseases, absolutely shortens life. 
 Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears ; while 
 the used key is always bright, as Poor Richard says. But 
 dost thou love life ? then do not squander time, for that is 
 the stuff life is made of, as Poor Richard says. How 
 much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, for 
 getting that The sleeping fox catches no poultry, and that 
 There will be sleeping enough in the grave, as Poor Rich 
 ard says. 
 
 " If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time 
 must be, as Poor Richard says, the greatest prodigality ; 
 since, as he elsewhere tells us, Lost time is never found 
 again ; and what we call time enough, always proves little 
 enough. Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the 
 purpose ; so, by diligence, shall we do more with less 
 perplexity. Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry 
 all easy ; and He that riseth late must trot all day, and 
 shall scarce overtake his business at night ; while Laziness 
 travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes him. Drive 
 thy business, let not that drive thee ; and Early to bed and 
 early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, as 
 Poor Richard says. 
 
 " So, what signifies wishing and hoping for better 
 times ? We may make these times better, if we bestir 
 ourselves. Industry need not wish ; and he that lives up 
 on hopes will die fasting. There are no gains without 
 pains ; Then help, hands, for I have no lands : or if I 
 have, they are smartly taxed. He that hath a trade hath 
 an estate ; and He that hath a calling hath an office of 
 profit and honor, as Poor Richard says ; but then the 
 trade must be worked at, and the calling followed, or 
 neither the estate nor the office will enable us to pay 
 
INDUSTRY AND VIGILANCE. 211 
 
 our taxes. If we are industrious we shall never starve ; 
 for At the working-man s house hunger looks in, but dares 
 not enter. Nor will the bailiff or the constable enter, for 
 Industry pays debts, while despa ir increaseth them . Wh at 
 though you have found no treasure, nor has any rich re 
 lation left you a legacy, Diligence is the mother of good 
 luck, and God gives all things to industry. Then Plough 
 deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell 
 and to keep. Work while it is called to-day, for you 
 know not how much you may be hindered to-morrow. 
 One. to-day is worth two to-morrows, as Poor Richard 
 says ; and further, Never leave that till to-morrow, which 
 you can do to-day. If you were a servant, would you 
 not be ashamed that a good master should catch you 
 idle 1 Are you then your own master 1 ? Be ashamed to 
 catch yourself idle, when there is so much to be done for 
 yourself, your family, and your country. Handle your 
 tools without mittens, remembering that The cat in gloves 
 catches no mice, as Poor Richard says. It is true there 
 is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed; 
 but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects ; for 
 Constant dropping wears away stones ; and By diligence 
 and patience the mouse ate in two the cable ; and Little 
 strokes fell great oaks. 
 
 " Methinks I hear some of you say, Must a man af 
 ford himself no leisure V I will tell thee, my friend, 
 what Poor Richard says : Employ thy time well, if thou 
 meanest to gain leisure ; and Since thou art not sure of a 
 minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for 
 doing something useful. This leisure the diligent man 
 will obtain, but the lazy man never ; for A life ofleistire 
 and a life of laziness are two things. Many, without la 
 bor, woidd live by their wits only, but they break for want 
 of stock ; whereas, industry gives comfort, and plenty, 
 and respect. Fly pleasures, and they will follow you. 
 
212 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 The diligent spinner has a large shift; and Now I 
 have a sheep and a cow, everybody bids me good-mor 
 row. 
 
 " II. But with our industry we must likewise be steady, 
 settled, and careful ; and oversee our own affairs with our 
 own eyes, and not trust too much to others ; for, as Poor 
 Richard says 
 
 / 
 
 / never saw an of t removed tree, 
 Nor yet an oft-removed family, 
 That throve so well as those that settled be. 
 
 And again, Three removes are as bad as ajlre ; and again, 
 Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee ; and again, 
 If you would have your business done, go ; if not, send ; 
 and again 
 
 He that by the plough would thrive, 
 Himself must either liold or drive. 
 
 And again, The eye of a master will do more work than 
 both his hands ; and again, Want of care does us more 
 damage than want of knowledge ; and again, Not to over 
 see workmen, is to leave them your purse open. Trusting 
 too much to others care is the ruin of many ; for In the 
 affairs of THIS world men are saved, not by faith, but by 
 the want of it ; but a man s own care is profitable ; for, 
 If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you 
 like, serve yourself. A little neglect may breed great 
 mischief; for want of a nail the shoe was lost ; for want 
 of a shoe the horse was lost ; for want of a horse the rider 
 was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy ; all for 
 want of a little care about a horse-shoe nail. 
 
 " III. So much for industry, my friends, and attention 
 to one s own business. But to these we must add fru 
 gality, if we would make our industry more certainly 
 successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as 
 he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and 
 
FRUGALITY. 213 
 
 die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen maizes a lean 
 will; and 
 
 Many estates are spent in the getting, 
 
 Since women for tea, forsook spinning and knitting, 
 
 And men for punch, forsook hewing and splitting. 
 
 If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of 
 getting. The Indies have not made Spain rich, because 
 her outgoes are greater than her incomes. 
 
 " Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will 
 not then have so much cause to complain of hard times, 
 heavy taxes, and chargeable families; for 
 
 Women and wine, game and deceit, 
 
 Make the wealth small, and the want great. 
 
 And further W r kat maintains one vice, would bring up 
 two children. You may think, perhaps, that a little tea, 
 or a little punch, now and then, or diet a little more costly, 
 clothes a little finer, and a little entertainment now and 
 then, can be no great matter ; but remember, Many a 
 little makes a mickle. Beware of little expenses. A 
 small leak will sink a great ship, as Poor Richard says ; 
 and again Who dainties love, shall beggars prove ; and, 
 moreover, Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them. 
 
 " Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries 
 and knick-knacks. You call them goods ; but if you do 
 not take care, they will prove evils to some of you. You 
 expect they will be sold cheap ; and perhaps they may 
 be, for less than they cost ; but, if you have no occasion 
 for them, they must be dear to you. Remember what 
 Poor Richard says : Buy what thou hast no need of, and 
 ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries. And again At 
 a great pennyworth pause a while. He means that per 
 haps the cheapness is apparent only, and not real ; or the 
 bargain, by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee 
 more harm than good. For in another place he says 
 Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths. 
 
214 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Again It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of 
 repentance ; and yet this folly is practised every day at 
 auctions, for want of minding the Almanac. Many a one, 
 for the sake of finery on the back, has gone with a hun 
 gry belly, and half-starved his family. Silks and satins, 
 scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchcn-Jire, as Poor Rich 
 ard says. 
 
 " These are not the necessaries of life ; they can scarce 
 ly be called the conveniences ; and yet, only because they 
 look pretty, how many want to have them ! By these 
 and other extravagances, the genteel are reduced to pov 
 erty, and forced to borrow of those they formerly de 
 spised, but who, through industry and frugality, have 
 maintained their standing ; in which case it appears 
 plainly that A ploughman on his legs is higher than a 
 gentleman on his knees, as Poor Richard says. Perhaps 
 they have had a small estate left them, which they knew 
 not the getting of. They think, It is day, and will never 
 be night; that a little to be spent out of so much, is not 
 worth minding ; but Always taking out of the meal-tub, 
 and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom, as Poor 
 Richard says ; and then, When the well is dry, they know 
 the worth of water. But this they might have known 
 before, if they had taken his advice. If you would know 
 the value of money, go and try to borrow some ; for He 
 that goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing, as Poor Richard 
 says ; and indeed so does he, that lends to such people, 
 when he goes to get it again. Poor Richard further ad 
 vises and says 
 
 Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse ; 
 Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse. 
 
 And again Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and a 
 great deal more saucy. When you have bought one fine 
 thing, you must buy ten more, that your appearance may 
 be all of a piece ; but Poor Richard says, It is easier to 
 
THE SLAVERY OF DEBT. 215 
 
 suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow it. 
 And it is as truly a folly for the poor to ape the rich, as 
 for the frog to swell in order to equal the ox. 
 
 Vessels large may venture more ; 
 But little boats should keep near shore. 
 
 It is, however, a folly soon punished ; for, as Poor Rich 
 ard says, Pride tliat dines on vanity, sups on contempt. 
 Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with Poverty, and 
 supped with Infamy. And after all, of what use is this 
 pride of appearance, for which so much is risked and suf 
 fered 1 It can not promote health, nor ease pain ; it 
 makes no increase of merit in the person ; it creates envy; 
 it hastens misfortune. 
 
 " But what madness must it be to run into debt for these 
 superfluities ! We are offered, by the terms of this sale, 
 six months credit ; and that, perhaps, has induced some 
 of us to attend it, because we can not spare the ready 
 money, and hope now to be fine without it. But ah ! think 
 what you do, when you run into debt ! You give to an 
 other, power over your own liberty. If you can not pay 
 at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor ; 
 you will be in fear when you speak to him ; you will 
 make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses ; and by degrees 
 come to lose your veracity, and sink into base, down 
 right lying; for The second vice is lying, when the first is 
 running into debt, as Poor Richard says ; and again, to 
 the same purpose, Lying rides upon Debt s back ; where 
 as, a freeborn American ought not to be ashamed, nor 
 afraid to see or to speak to any man living. But poverty 
 often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard 
 for an empty sack to stand upright. 
 
 " What would you think of that prince, or of that gov 
 ernment, that should issue an edict forbidding you to 
 dress like a gentleman, or a gentlewoman, on pain of 
 imprisonment or servitude ? Would you not say that 
 
216 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 you were free, had a right to dress as you please, and 
 that such an edict would be a breach of your privileges, 
 and such a government tyrannical 1 And yet you are 
 about to put yourself under such a tyranny, when you 
 run into debt for such dress ! Your creditor has authori 
 ty, at his pleasure, to deprive you of your liberty, by con 
 fining you in jail till you shall be able to pay him. When 
 you have got your bargain, you may perhaps think little 
 of payment ; but, as Poor Richard says, Creditors have 
 better memories than debtors ; creditors are a superstitious 
 sect, great observers of set days and times. The day comes 
 round before you are aware, and the demand is made be 
 fore you are prepared to satisfy it; or, if you bear your 
 debt in mind, the term, which at first seemed so long, 
 will, as it lessens, appear extremely short. Time will 
 seem to have added wings to his heels, as well as his 
 shoulders. Those have a short Lent, who owe money to 
 be paid at Easter. At present you may perhaps think 
 yourselves in thriving circumstances, and that you can 
 bear a little extravagance without injury; but 
 
 For age and want save while you may ; 
 No morning- sun lasts a whole day. 
 
 Gain may be temporary and uncertain ; but ever, while 
 you live, expense is constant and certain ; and It is easier 
 to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel, as Poor 
 Richard says ; so, Rather go to bed supperless, than rise 
 in debt. 
 
 Get what you can, and what you get, liold ; 
 
 Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold. 
 
 And, when you have got this philosopher s stone, you will 
 surely no longer complain of bad times, or the difficulty 
 of paying taxes. 
 
 " IV. This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wisdom ; 
 but, after all, do not depend too much upon your own 
 industry, and frugality, and prudence, though excellent 
 
PRECEPT AND PRACTICE. 
 
 things ; for they may all be blasted, without the blessing 
 of Heaven ; and, therefore, ask that blessing humbly, and 
 be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want 
 it, but comfort and help them. Remember, Job suffered, 
 and was afterward prosperous. 
 
 " And now, to conclude, Experience keeps a dear school, 
 but fools will learn in no other, as Poor Richard says, and 
 scarcely in that; for it is true We may give advice, but 
 we can not give conduct. However, remember this : They 
 that will not be counselled, can not be helped ; and further, 
 that If you will not hear Reason, she will surely rap your 
 knuckles, as Poor Richard says." 
 
 Such was the discourse ascribed to the white-haired 
 Abraham ; and the author, in the guise of Richard Saun- 
 ders, adds, with a spice of pungent humor, that " the peo 
 ple heard it, approved the doctrine, and immediately 
 practised the contrary, just as if it had been a common 
 sermon; for the auction opened and they began to buy 
 extravagantly." 
 
 Still, though the company at the auction could not, in 
 the immediate presence of temptation, be persuaded at 
 once to forego the cheap bargains they had come express 
 ly to make, and for which their mouths were already 
 watering ; yet, when the discourse, everywhere distribu 
 ted among the people, had an opportunity to make its 
 quiet appeal to their good sense, without having to en 
 counter the power of rival vanities in the immediate pres 
 ence of the objects of competition, it took effect far and 
 wide ; insomuch that, " as it discouraged useless expense 
 in foreign superfluities, some thought it had its share of in 
 fluence, in producing that growing plenty of money, which 
 was observable for several years after its publication." 
 
 We have, on a previous page, noticed the censure some 
 times passed upon Franklin, as encouraging a too penu- 
 
 19 
 
218 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 rious and niggardly spirit, by insisting so much as he did, 
 in this and a number of other pieces, on the practice of 
 industry, frugality, and economy. In the previous re 
 marks alluded to, it was our object to vindicate his own 
 personal habits and motives from the censure mentioned. 
 The discourse before us presents the subject in another 
 aspect, on which a few words will not, we trust, be 
 deemed inappropriate. 
 
 The reason assigned by Franklin himself for the ear 
 nestness with which he inculcated the maxims of thrift, 
 fully vindicates his motives from the censure in question ; 
 for he expressly declares that in so doing, it was his pur 
 pose to render virtue more safe by placing it as much as 
 possible out of the power of temptation, and securing 
 that degree of personal independence, and freedom of 
 opinion and action, which are most favorable to the dis 
 charge of the various duties of life ; while his conduct, 
 from first to last, shows that his own character was 
 wholly free from the taint of covetousness, or sordid par 
 simony. 
 
 It is very likely that the covetous and mean may have 
 used his pithy sayings, not unfrequently, to cover a pre 
 determination to keep their hands fast* shut against all 
 appeals of private benevolence, or an enlightened and 
 just public spirit. But to use those maxims thus, is to 
 abuse them ; and it still remains true that industry and 
 frugality are virtues ; that the maxims which enforce 
 them are wise and useful ; and that the man who is able, 
 by such teachings, to extend the practice of those virtues, 
 is both a public and a private benefactor ; for notwith 
 standing the occasional abuse of such precepts, it is con 
 stantly true that, for the great majority of our race, the 
 only way to obtain an honest livelihood, or train their 
 children to become useful and wholesome members of 
 society, is the exercise of the virtues mentioned. 
 
USE AND ABUSE OF MONEY. 2 
 
 Indeed, the far more common danger to which men are 
 exposed, is on the side of indolence, prodigality, improvi 
 dence, and the neglect of systematic economy in all af 
 fairs, whether public or private ; and these same vices 
 withhold from the just calls of benevolence and worthy 
 enterprise, far greater sums than all the hoardings of ava 
 rice and parsimony. The money continually lavished 
 for the most frivolous purposes, or the most profligate and 
 pernicious self-indulgence, take Christendom through, 
 would feed and clothe, shelter, educate, and train to vir 
 tue, usefulness, and respectability, all the children of 
 want, ignorance, vice, and infamy, on earth, and renovate 
 the world. 
 
220 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 NEWSPAPERS HE DEFENDS A CLERGYMAN LANGUAGES 
 
 FAMILY CONCERNS NEW CLUBS MADE CLERK OF 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY CITY AFFAIRS. 
 
 FRANKLIN availed himself of his newspaper, as he did 
 of his almanac, to make it not merely a gazette of news 
 and advertisements, but a vehicle of useful knowledge, 
 and the means of promoting a relish for instructive read 
 ing and a just taste. With these views he inserted, from 
 time to time, selections from the best writers in the lan 
 guage, and occasionally an essay of his own, which had 
 been prepared for the Junto. Some of his early perform 
 ances, which first came before the public in this way, 
 have been justly deemed worthy of preservation in the 
 collections of his writings. One of these pieces, pub 
 lished in 1730, aside from its literary merits, has a fur 
 ther interest as presenting another view of the action of 
 his mind and of his way of thinking, at that period, on 
 important points of morality ; and as indicating also some 
 thing of the influences at work in that club, which con 
 tributed so much to exercise and develop his faculties. 
 
 The piece referred to is a dialogue, in the Socratic 
 manner, between two friends, " Concerning Virtue and 
 Pleasure ;" aiming " to show that a vicious man, what 
 ever may be his abilities, can not be properly called a 
 man of sense." In this performance the author incul 
 cates the wisdom and duty of that comprehensive tern- 
 
SOUND PRINCIPLES. 221 
 
 perance, or self-control, which is not less indispensable 
 to the lasting enjoyment of even those pleasures of which 
 the senses are the medium, than it is to the discharge of 
 duty, or to the attainment of any kind of real and perma 
 nent good. Among other things, he touches upon the 
 grave question of the moral responsibility involved in 
 the formation of opinions ; maintaining the doctrine that 
 a man is culpable for wrong opinions of the nature of 
 human actions, so far as he neglects the means within 
 his power to rectify them ; and that wrong actions in 
 duced by such opinions are not excused by mere good 
 intentions. He holds, also, that a man s truest good is 
 to be found in well-doing, or in " doing all the good he 
 can to others;" that "this is that constant and durable 
 good which will afford contentment and satisfaction al 
 ways alike ;" and is the only species of pleasure that 
 "grows by repetition" and " ends but with our being." 
 
 The moral principles which governed him in the con 
 duct of his newspaper give honorable evidence of recti 
 tude and firmness. He " carefully excluded all libelling 
 and personal abuse;" and when the insertion of such ar 
 ticles was urged on the plea of " the liberty of the press," 
 and that " a newspaper was like a stagecoach, in which 
 any one who would pay, had a right to a place," he re 
 plied that " he would not take it upon him to spread de 
 traction ; and that, having contracted with his subscribers 
 to furnish them with what might be either useful or en 
 tertaining, he could not fill their paper with private alter 
 cation, in which they had no concern, without doing them 
 great injustice." 
 
 Such principles are worthy of all praise ; and the ob 
 servance of them, as Franklin urges from his own ample 
 experience, will be found, in the main, as profitable as it 
 is honest and just. 
 
 Franklin, it appears, established the first printing-office 
 19* 
 
222 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 in Charleston, South Carolina. On learning that such an 
 establishment was desired there, he fitted out one of his 
 journeymen with the necessary apparatus, in 1733, un 
 der a contract with him to sustain one third of the ex 
 penses and receive one third of the profits. The person 
 thus sent is represented as an intelligent man, but neg 
 lectful of his accounts ; and though he remitted money 
 occasionally, yet never, while he lived, did he furnish a 
 regular and full statement of the affairs of the partner 
 ship. Upon his death, however, his widow continued 
 the business ; and having been born and bred in Holland, 
 where, as in other parts of Europe, females are taught 
 book-keeping as a customary part of education, she lost 
 no time in looking into the concerns of the printing- 
 office ; and not only furnished as clear and exact an ex 
 hibit of the past transactions of the oifice as the books 
 and papers left by her husband permitted, but she " con 
 tinued to account, with the greatest regularity and exact 
 ness, every quarter afterward." 
 
 This discreet and usefully-educated woman managed 
 the business so well, as to derive from it the means of 
 bringing up several children, in a very judicious and 
 reputable manner; and at the close of the partnership 
 term, was able to buy out her partner s interest, and 
 place her eldest son at the head of the establishment. 
 
 This case is related by Franklin, as he remarks, for 
 the purpose of commending the practice of making a 
 knowledge of account-keeping, sufficient at least for the 
 ordinary transactions of business, a part of the common 
 education of both sexes alike ; and as being likely to prove 
 more useful to " our young women and their children, in 
 case of widowhood, than either music or dancing, by pre 
 serving them from the imposition of crafty men, and ena 
 bling them to continue perhaps a profitable mercantile 
 house, with established correspondents, till a son is grown 
 
PLAGIARISM IN THE PULPIT. 223 
 
 up, fit to go on with it, to the lasting advantage and en 
 riching of the family." 
 
 About this period a young Presbyterian clergyman 
 took charge of the congregation to which Franklin nom 
 inally belonged, who soon became exceedingly popular. 
 In his preaching he chiefly insisted, it appears, on the va 
 rious duties of life ; endeavoring to awaken the con 
 sciences of his hearers to the importance of a faithful 
 discharge of those duties, as the best evidence of a true 
 Christian spirit the good fruit of the good tree ; and 
 saying little of doctrinal points, and nothing of sectarian 
 controversy. His discourses, being delivered in a very 
 impressive manner, without notes, and uncommonly well 
 composed, " drew together considerable numbers of dif 
 ferent persuasions, who joined in admiring them ;" and 
 as they constituted the kind of preaching which Franklin 
 believed most likely to do good, he became a constant 
 and gratified attendant upon them. 
 
 At length, however, a charge of heresy was brought 
 against the preacher, and he was arraigned thereon be 
 fore the synod. This occasioned a warm contest, in which 
 Franklin sided with the accused ; and, as he remarks, 
 " finding him, though an elegant preacher, a poor writer, 
 wrote for him two or three pamphlets," besides an arti 
 cle in his paper. This was in the spring of 1735 ; and so 
 much of a party was enlisted for the young minister, as 
 to raise at first some hope of success. An opponent, how 
 ever, on hearing one of these much-applauded sermons, 
 was strongly impressed with the conviction that he had 
 already seen much of it elsewhere ; arid after a little 
 search he found its most striking portions in some ex 
 tracts, " in one of the British reviews, from a discourse 
 of Dr. Foster ;" the same eloquent divine, doubtless, 
 whom Pope, in the Epilogue to his Satires, styles " mod 
 est Foster," and celebrates for "preaching well." 
 
224 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 This exposure was followed by the sentence of the 
 synod against the young minister, who subsequently con 
 fessed to Franklin, that he did not write one of the ser 
 mons which had been so much admired ; and he stated 
 that his memory was so retentive, that from a single read 
 ing of such a discourse, he could repeat the whole of it. 
 Soon after being silenced, he went from Philadelphia ; 
 and Franklin, though he paid his annual contribution, for 
 many years, to support the minister of the congregation, 
 ceased all further personal intercourse with it. 
 
 Franklin made some valuable acquisitions, at this pe 
 riod, which show how much may be done, in this way, 
 even by a man of business, if he will only adhere, with 
 steady perseverance, to some plan judiciously adapted to 
 the opportunities allowed by his occupation, for the pur 
 suit of collateral objects. In 1733, he began to study the 
 French language; arid without the smallest neglect of his 
 business, he soon learned to read it with ease. He then 
 took up Italian ; but being very fond of chess, and often 
 playing the game with another person, who was engaged 
 in acquiring the same language, Franklin found his favor 
 ite amusement encroaching so much upon his time, that 
 he determined to quit it, unless his companion would 
 agree that the winner, at the close of every game, should 
 require of the loser a task in Italian to be performed at 
 their next meeting. This course was pursued ; and, says 
 Franklin, " as we played pretty equally, we thus beat 
 each other into that language." He adds that afterward, 
 " with a little pains-taking," he acquired enough Spanish 
 to read that language also. 
 
 When a boy he had received, it will be remembered, 
 some instruction in the rudiments of the Latin, but was 
 soon obliged to relinquish it, and had never resumed the 
 study. After acquiring the three modern languages men 
 tioned, " on looking over a Latin Testament," he states 
 
THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES. 225 
 
 his surprise at finding that he " understood more of that 
 language than he had imagined ;" and thereupon apply 
 ing himself to it again, with his habitual earnestness, he 
 now acquired a very valuable knowledge of the Latin. 
 
 His own experience on this point led him to the opin 
 ion that the course usually pursued in the study of lan 
 guages, beginning with the Latin and Greek, and then 
 taking up the modern tongues, is not judicious ; that much 
 time would be saved, and more valuable acquisitions 
 made, by reversing the process, and beginning with the 
 living languages, as being most easily acquired ; and thus, 
 to use his own figure, ascend the stairs regularly step by 
 step, by beginning with the one most readily attained. 
 
 But, besides the more rapid progress, which, as he 
 thought, would thus be made in attaining a series of lan 
 guages, he suggested that another practical advantage 
 would be secured. If, for any reason, the student should 
 be constrained, in the midst of his career, to relinquish 
 his pursuit, he would still be in possession of one or more 
 of the living languages, which, in a great majority of 
 cases, would prove to be the more useful part of the se 
 ries. 
 
 The question here presented is certainly one of much 
 practical importance. The order of study recommended 
 seems to be the natural order. In the pursuit of knowl 
 edge we necessarily proceed from what is known, to 
 what is not known ; and the same rule, in its spirit, would 
 seem to require that, of things not yet known, the student 
 should begin with that which is most easily acquired, and 
 then proceed to the more difficult ; especially when the 
 objects of pursuit are connected by so many affinities as 
 are the languages in question. Various instances, more 
 over, of experience similar to that of Franklin s in this 
 matter, might be cited in support of his recommenda 
 tion. 
 
226 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 As to the practical value of the ancient and modern 
 languages respectively, the question seems to be one 
 which each individual should decide with exclusive ref 
 erence to his actual or intended pursuits. For all those 
 who are directly concerned in the various callings of ac 
 tive life, including not only foreign trade, but every kind 
 of intercourse with other nations, in either private or 
 public affairs, the living languages are obviously the most 
 important. So it seems to be, also, in reference to those 
 professional employments, (engineering, for instance,) 
 which depend on the physical sciences and the mathe 
 matics auxiliary to them ; inasmuch as all the learning, 
 of any practical utility, is contained almost exclusively 
 in the modern languages. 
 
 Even in regard to some of the highest forms of litera 
 ture and art, so far as relates to works most distinguished 
 for original conception and the deepest insight into hu 
 man life and character, the study of the ancient languages 
 and literature seems to be of little importance ; for the 
 most admirable works, of this class, have appeared in 
 times of comparative rudeness, or were produced by men 
 having little instruction of any kind, beyond what they 
 derived from their own observation and experience. But, 
 nevertheless, there are aspects in which the thorough 
 mastery of the classic literature of ancient Greece and 
 Rome seems to be of great moment. As a means of 
 mental discipline, we believe such study to be superior 
 to any other, particularly for training the mind to that 
 nice discrimination, both in thought and expression, with 
 out which some of the highest qualities of style are rare 
 ly attainable, and to that clear perception and quick 
 sense of whatever is beautiful, which seem indispensable 
 to just and profound criticism, and to that high standard 
 of excellence, and that tone of scholarship, from which 
 alone, as from a presiding spirit, can emanate those re- 
 
HE VISITS HIS RELATIVES. 227 
 
 fining influences, which seem necessary to insure the 
 highest state of culture, in art or literature. 
 
 In 1734, Franklin s industrious and frugal habits hav 
 ing placed him in easy circumstances, he paid a visit to 
 his birthplace and family connexions. He had not been 
 there for about ten years ; but death had made but few 
 breaches in the circle of those whom he had best known 
 and loved. Both his parents were yet living. Several 
 of his older brothers and sisters had died young, before 
 he had an opportunity to know them ; but of those who 
 reached maturity, and to whom his natural attachments 
 had linked themselves as he grew up, all had thus far 
 been spared, except his older sister Sarah, (Mrs. Daven 
 port,) who died in 1731. His family affections, which 
 were warm, were much gratified by the visit ; and on his 
 way back to Philadelphia, he visited his brother James, 
 who had now for some time been settled at Newport, 
 Rhode Island, and was still pursuing his trade as a 
 printer. 
 
 This visit was endeared to the two brothers by putting 
 the seal to their mutual reconcilement. Old differences 
 and heart-burnings had all passed away, and they met, 
 as brothers should meet, with cordial affection. The 
 health of James was much undermined, and, in the con 
 viction that his death could not be very distant, he de 
 sired his brother, whenever that event should occur, to 
 take his son, then ten years old, and train him as a 
 printer. To this desire Benjamin cheerfully assented ; 
 and he fulfilled it with generous fidelity, by taking his 
 nephew, on the death of the lad s father in 1735, into his 
 own family, sending him for a few years to school, and 
 then placing him in his printing-office. The widow of 
 James continued his business at Newport, till her son 
 came to the age of twenty-one years ; when, being fur 
 nished by his uncle with a full set of new types, he re- 
 
228 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FllANKLIN. 
 
 turned to his mother and took the business out of her 
 hands into his own. In this way did Franklin more than 
 redeem his pledge to his deceased brother, and make 
 compensation for not having served out the term of his 
 apprenticeship. 
 
 The sorest affliction Franklin had yet suffered, befell 
 him in 1736, in the death of one of his two sons by the 
 small-pox taken in what is called the natural way. " He 
 was a fine boy of four years old," says the father, " and I 
 long regretted him bitterly." He also states his regret 
 that he had not had the child inoculated ; and he makes 
 this declaration, as he remarks, as an admonition to those 
 parents, who assign as their reason for omitting to have 
 their children inoculated, that they could never forgive 
 themselves, if a child should die of the disease thus vol 
 untarily communicated ; inasmuch as his own experience 
 showed, to use his own words, " that the regret may be 
 the same either way ; and therefore the safer course should 
 be chosen." 
 
 The Junto had proved so agreeable and advantageous 
 to its members, that some of them wished to enlarge the 
 club by bringing in their friends. But this would have 
 extended its number beyond twelve, which had been fixed 
 as a limit well fitted for convenience, and for the perma 
 nent preservation of harmony. In order, moreover, to 
 avoid annoying applications for admission, the existence 
 as well as nature of the club had been a secret. 
 
 Franklin, being unwilling thus to augment the num 
 bers of the existing association, proposed, instead, that 
 each member should start a new club, on the same prin 
 ciples and subject to the same regulations, but without 
 making known his connexion with the parent-club ; while 
 he should, at the same time, obey the instructions of the 
 parent-club, in suggesting inquiries and directing the ac 
 tion of the new club, and should also make regular re- 
 
HE IS MADE CLERK OF THE ASSEMBLY. 229 
 
 ports of its doings : thus rendering the new clubs subor 
 dinate to the parent-Junto, and their founders the chan 
 nels of communication with them, but without their 
 knowledge of the fact. 
 
 In support of his proposal he urged that a much larger 
 number of young men would thus be enabled to enjoy 
 the advantages of such an association ; that the members 
 of the parent-club would thus be enabled to obtain much 
 more extended and correct knowledge of the views of all 
 classes of the community, on every important occasion or 
 subject ; that they could thus, also, exert a more exten 
 sive and efficient influence for the advancement of the 
 public interests, as well as in behalf of their own legiti 
 mate private objects ; and, finally, that they would thus 
 increase their power and opportunities to be useful. 
 
 The proposed plan was assented to ; each member of 
 the Junto endeavored to organize a new club ; and sev 
 eral of them succeeded. Of the five or six clubs thus 
 formed, the names of three, as given by Franklin, were 
 The Vine The Union and The Band; and he says 
 that they were not only useful to their own members re 
 spectively, but that they afforded much information as 
 well as amusement to the Junto, besides enabling it to 
 exert occasionally, and to a considerable extent, that in 
 fluence on the public mind, which was one of the induce 
 ments to establish them. 
 
 It was also in the same year, 1736, that Franklin re 
 ceived his first political appointment, in being chosen by 
 the General Assembly of Pennsylvania clerk of that body. 
 On this first occasion he was chosen without opposition. 
 But the members of the Assembly, as well as the clerk, 
 being elected annually, the next year, 1737, a new mem 
 ber, stated to have been a man of fortune, education, and 
 talents, made a long speech against the re-election of 
 Franklin, and in behalf of another candidate for the 
 20 
 
230 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 clerkship. Franklin, however, was again placed in the 
 office, which was a desirable one, not only for its respec 
 tability, but also for its emoluments, and for the influ 
 ence it gave him with the members ; by which means he 
 secured for himself the still more profitable employment 
 of printing the journals of the Assembly, the laws, the 
 paper-money, and such other public printing as occasion 
 ally became necessary. 
 
 The name of the new member, who so strenuously op 
 posed the re-election of Franklin as clerk of the Assem 
 bly, is not stated ; but the latter converted him into a 
 friend before the close of the session. The course he 
 took to attain this end furnishes too valuable a lesson 
 and is too characteristic of the man, to be omitted. Frank 
 lin, readily perceiving that the person in question was 
 certain to become an influential member of such a body, 
 felt a natural and proper regret to find such a man op 
 posed to him for no just reason, but in all probability from 
 a total misconception of his character, and resolved to 
 win his good will. The manner in which he sought and 
 attained this end, is best stated in his own words : 
 
 " I did not aim at gaining his favor," says Franklin, 
 " by paying any servile respect to him ; but, after some 
 time, took this method. Having heard that he had in 
 his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I 
 wrote a note to him, expressing my desire to peruse that 
 book, and requesting that he would do me the favor of 
 lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediate 
 ly ; and I returned it in about a week, with another note, 
 expressing strongly my sense of the favor. When we 
 next met in the house, he spoke to me, which he had 
 never done before, and with great civility ; and he ever 
 after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occa 
 sions ; so that we became great friends, and our friend 
 ship continued to his death." 
 
iro\V TO REMOVE OPPOSITION. 231 
 
 Franklin gives this anecdote as a verification of the 
 old maxim, that " He that hath done you one kindness, 
 will be more ready to do you another , than he to whom 
 you have yourself done a favor;" and "it shows," he 
 adds, "how much more profitable it is, prudently to re 
 move, than to resent, return, and continue, inimical pro 
 ceedings." 
 
 The incidents related, and their results, were certainly 
 honorable to the good sense and liberal feeling of both 
 parties ; though Franklin s course, at least, was very dif 
 ferent from that which ordinary men would have pur 
 sued. If it should be said that the motive, on both sides, 
 was selfish, the remark, even if admitted to be true, would 
 have little force, and no value ; for the very sufficient 
 reason that, if such were the motive, it was a far more 
 creditable and enlightened form of self-love than any ex 
 hibition of such feelings in the unworthy and debasing 
 manner of vulgar resentment and vindictive hate emo 
 tions which not only belong to the very essence of the 
 most intense and intolerant selfishness, but imply, be 
 sides, in a case like the one in question, an arrogant as 
 sumption of merit so great, as to render any opposition 
 to its demands equivalent to an invasion of personal 
 rights. But it seems to be a mere abuse of terms to 
 pronounce the conduct described selfish. To our ap 
 prehension it evinces unusual magnanimity in both par 
 ties ; and, in Franklin, a candid allowance for misconcep 
 tion on the part of his opponent, with a manly admission 
 of the right of that opponent to advocate the election of 
 any candidate he liked best. Indeed, his conduct ap 
 proaches so near that which is enjoined by the Christian 
 precepts, to return good for evil, to do as you would be 
 done by, and to forgive injuries, that any practical dis 
 tinction seems difficult ; and if men would always act 
 with the same good sense and moderation, or even with 
 
232 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 equally enlightened self-love, most of the personal feuds 
 that embitter life and disturb its tranquillity would dis 
 appear, and the enmities, kindled by hasty resentment, 
 and fostered by the pernicious sentiment of false honor, 
 would be happily exchanged for friendship and peace. 
 
 In 1737, the deputy-postmaster at Philadelphia having 
 proved negligent respecting his official accounts, was re 
 moved, and Franklin was appointed in his place. This 
 appointment gratified Franklin, not so much for the salary 
 connected with it, which was but small, as because, by 
 relieving his correspondence from all expense, and ena 
 bling him to improve his newspaper, its circulation and 
 advertising custom were so increased that its profits now 
 began to yield a considerable income. This increase of 
 business and emolument was still further aided by the 
 diminishing patronage received by his rival, Bradford, 
 the displaced postmaster, who had, while in office, for 
 bidden his post-riders to distribute any papers but his 
 own. Upon the change which thus took place in their 
 mutual relations, however, Franklin, content with the 
 thriving condition of his affairs, had the neighborly feel 
 ing and magnanimity not to retaliate upon his competi 
 tor the prohibition just mentioned ; and in relating this 
 reversal of their respective positions, he makes the fol 
 lowing practical and characteristic comment : 
 
 " Thus Bradford," says Franklin, " suffered greatly 
 from his neglect in due accounting ; and I mention it as 
 a lesson to those young men, who may be employed in 
 managing affairs for others, that they should always ren 
 der accounts and make remittances with great clearness 
 and punctuality. A character for observing such a course, 
 is the most powerful of all recommendations to new em 
 ployments and increase of business." 
 
 It is interesting to note the difference between the 
 movement of the public mail, in those old colonial days, 
 
POST-RIDING THE CITY WATCH. 233 
 
 when its bags of at most but a few score pounds in weight, 
 were almost universally carried on horseback, and in 
 these times, when it is speeded in tons by steam. In 
 1737, the post-rider went southward from Philadelphia 
 to Newport, in Virginia, once a month ; and northward, 
 as far as New York, once every fortnight. In 1743, this 
 activity was so much accelerated that, in summer, the 
 mail was carried southward as far as Annapolis, in Ma 
 ryland, once in two weeks, and northward to New York 
 every week ; though, in winter, the transit, each way, was 
 still at the previous rates. This, moreover, is a fair spe 
 cimen of the general sluggishness of all social movements 
 in those times, when compared with the intense activity 
 now imparted to them all by steam, which, in every prac 
 tical sense, has reduced a month to a day, and the seven 
 days of the week to as many hours ; while the yet more 
 wonderful application of another of nature s elemental 
 forces, to the spreading of intelligence, has reduced even 
 those hours to seconds. 
 
 With a productive business, so well established and 
 methodized as to demand less of his personal attention 
 to its details, Franklin, now at the age of thirty-one years, 
 was led, by his innate desire to be useful to the extent 
 of his ability, to apply his mind, more directly than he 
 had yet done, to the consideration of public affairs, and 
 especially to the concerns of the community to which he 
 immediately belonged. His first effort, in this way, was 
 directed to the improvement of the night-watch of the 
 city. This important concern was, at that time, intrust 
 ed wholly to the ward constables, who called out small 
 nightly squads of housekeepers to patrol their respective 
 beats. Such housekeepers as did not or could not turn 
 out, paid to the constable of their ward six shillings each, 
 for the ostensible purpose of enabling him to hire substi 
 tutes. But as the sums thus collected, even if faithfully 
 20* 
 
LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 applied, were more than sufficient for the alleged pur 
 pose, and as the constables seem never to have been re 
 quired to account for the surplus money, great irregulari 
 ties and abuses ensued. These payments, moreover, 
 when considered as a tax levied to protect property, were 
 monsti ously unequal, each non-serving housekeeper pay 
 ing the same amount, without regard to sex or property. 
 
 Franklin s first step toward reforming this objectiona 
 ble system, was to read before the Junto a paper expo 
 sing the inefficiency and abuses of the course pursued. 
 He insisted especially on the gross inequality and injus 
 tice of the assessment, under which a poor widow, (to 
 use one of his own illustrations,) who could not render 
 the personal service required, and whose property to be 
 protected might not exceed fifty pounds, was, if a house 
 keeper, obliged to pay as much as the richest merchant 
 who had merchandise to the amount of thousands of 
 pounds in his warehouses; and he proposed that able- 
 bodied and trusty men should be hired for fixed terms of 
 service, and the expense paid by a general tax fairly ap 
 portioned upon property. 
 
 This obviously just proposal was approved by the 
 Junto ; and on being, by its members, brought forward 
 in the other clubs, as an original proposition in each, it 
 was well received by them also. The new plan was not 
 immediately carried into effect by the city authorities ; 
 but, by the course pursued, and the discussions to which 
 it led, not only in the clubs, but in the community gener 
 ally, the public mind was prepared for it, and in a few 
 years, when the young men belonging to the clubs came 
 to participate more fully and directly in the management 
 of municipal concerns, it was adopted. 
 
 Another and still more important service rendered to 
 Philadelphia, about the same period, by Franklin, was 
 the establishment of the first fire-company in that city. 
 
FIRE-COMPANIES INTRODUCED. 235 
 
 Byway of preparation for the accomplishment of his ob 
 ject, he first laid before the Junto, and then before the 
 public, a full and valuable paper on the general subject 
 of fires, callino- attention to the manner in which houses 
 
 O 
 
 and other buildings are often exposed to them by injudi 
 cious arrangements in their structure, as well as by the 
 personal heedlessness of their occupants ; and suggesting 
 various modes of avoiding such hazards beforehand, as 
 well as different means of extinguishing the flames when 
 kindled. 
 
 The publication of this paper was shortly followed by 
 the actual organization of a fire-company, and by other 
 measures for security against fires. At Franklin s sug 
 gestions, also, the members of the company were to pro 
 vide themselves with leathern buckets, for supplying 
 water, and with sacks and baskets for saving goods, and 
 to take them to every fire. They agreed also to meet, 
 from time to time, to communicate facts arid exchange 
 views in relation to fires and the best way to encounter 
 them. 
 
 The value of this association was soon felt to be so 
 great, that others like it were successively formed, until 
 a numerous and efficient force for the protection of the 
 city was the result ; and more than fifty years after, when 
 Franklin was relating these transactions, he took occa 
 sion to observe, with a gratification he was well entitled 
 to enjoy, that the Union Fire-Company, the first one 
 formed, was still existing, though all its original mem 
 bers were dead, except himself and another person a 
 year older than himself. 
 
 Such were some of the services rendered to the com 
 munity by Franklin in his early manhood. It was the 
 constant tendency of his mind to apply principles to 
 practice his strongly-marked disposition and ability to 
 be useful, guided by an enlightened and sincere public 
 
236 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 spirit, which won for him the esteem and confidence of 
 society, and laid the foundation of that influence with 
 his fellow-citizens, which, to their advantage and the 
 credit of their good sense, not less than to his own honor, 
 he ultimately enjoyed, to an extent not attained by any 
 of his cotemporaries, and probably never surpassed. 
 
REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 237 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WHITEFIELD RELIGIOUS VIEWS ACADEMIES AND SCIEN 
 TIFIC ASSOCIATIONS MILITARY DEFENCE, AND THE 
 
 QUAKERS WESTERN POSTS THE FRANKLIN STOVE. 
 
 IN his own narrative of this period of his life, Frank 
 lin has given an interesting sketch of that celebrated 
 popular preacher, the Rev. George Whitefield, who made 
 his first appearance in this country in the year 1739. As 
 Whitefield, including his various visits, was a good deal 
 in Philadelphia, Franklin became intimately acquainted 
 with him ; and though never one of his converts, he was 
 deeply impressed by the earnest and exciting eloquence 
 of the preacher, and held him in high esteem as a thor 
 oughly sincere, honest, warm-hearted, benevolent man. 
 
 When Whitefield first presented himself in Philadel 
 phia, the clergy of that city freely admitted him into 
 their pulpits ; but for some reason not specifically stated, 
 they pretty soon took offence, and closed their churches 
 against him, so that he was compelled for a time to ad 
 dress the people in the fields. This, however, being 
 found not only inconvenient and uncomfortable, but haz 
 ardous to health, a proposal was started among some of 
 his more zealous and active admirers to build an inde 
 pendent meeting-house, to which not only Whitefield, 
 but any other preacher of whatever denomination, should 
 have free access. The proposal instantly took, and sub 
 scriptions were speedily obtained sufficient to purchase 
 
LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ground and erect a plain, substantial edifice, a hundred 
 feet in length by seventy in width. The work was soon 
 done, and the whole property conveyed, in due legal 
 form, to trustees, to be held for " the use of any preach 
 er of any religious persuasion," who should wish to pre 
 sent to the public his views on any religious subject what 
 ever; the purpose, in providing such a house, not being 
 the accommodation of any particular sect, but the people 
 generally. 
 
 After some time spent in Philadelphia, "Whitefield, pro 
 ceeded southward as far as Georgia, preaching at all the 
 principal places on his way. Georgia had been organ 
 ized as a colony only about six years ; and its first set 
 tlers, as described by Franklin, " instead of being hardy, 
 industrious husbandmen, accustomed to labor the only 
 sort of people fit for such an enterprise" consisted 
 chiefly of " families of broken shopkeepers and other in 
 solvent debtors," unqualified both by character and hab 
 its for clearing away forests and converting a wilderness 
 into a fruitful country, or for encountering the privations 
 and the various exigencies of a new settlement. The 
 natural consequences of such a beginning speedily fol 
 lowed. These first colonists rapidly perished, leaving 
 a large number of helpless children, whose destitute and 
 wretched condition so deeply moved the quick sympa 
 thies of Whitefield, that he straightway resolved upon 
 the project of erecting, in the new colony, an asylum for 
 the support and education of its numerous orphans ; and 
 again turning his face northward, he pressed the subject 
 upon his hearers as he advanced, and everywhere so suc 
 cessfully, that, before reaching Philadelphia, he had gath 
 ered a large amount of contributions in behalf of the 
 undertaking. 
 
 On reaching Philadelphia, Whitefield broached his 
 plans and proceedings to Franklin. The latter, though 
 
EFFECT OF PREACHING. 
 
 concurring in the object proposed, showed his better 
 judgment and more practical good sense, by advising 
 that, inasmuch as neither mechanics nor materials for the 
 work could be furnished in Georgia, instead of incurring 
 the heavy and needless cost of sending everything to the 
 new settlement, it would be wiser, in every respect, not 
 only for the early completion of a suitable edifice, but 
 for the proper management of the institution afterward, 
 to erect the asylum in Philadelphia, and bring the chil 
 dren thither. But Whitefield rejected this judicious ad 
 vice, and persisted in his preconceived course with such 
 stubbornness, that Franklin, offended at his obstinacy, 
 determined he would give nothing in aid of the underta 
 king. To this determination, however, he did not long 
 adhere; and he has himself related the manner in which 
 it was overcome, as an illustration of the power of White- 
 field s preaching. The anecdote is tqp. interesting to be 
 omitted, and is best told in his own words. 
 
 " I happened soon after," says Franklin, " to attend 
 one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he 
 intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved 
 he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a 
 handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, 
 and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to 
 soften, and concluded to give the copper. Another stroke 
 of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined 
 me to give the silver; and he finished so admirably, that 
 I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector s dish, gold 
 and all." 
 
 Another hearer who agreed with Franklin in rela 
 tion to the asylum, no less a man than Thomas Hopkin- 
 son, the father of Francis, was swayed in like manner by 
 the same sermon. To secure himself against the influ 
 ence of the preacher, he had purposely omitted to bring 
 any money with him ; but as the discourse drew to an 
 
240 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 end, he became so warm with the desire to give, that he 
 turned to a Quaker standing by him, an old acquaintance, 
 to borrow money for the purpose. The excitement of 
 his feelings is well indicated by the answer of the Qua 
 ker. " At any other time, Friend Hopkinson," said he, 
 " I would lend to rhee freely, but riot now, for thou seem- 
 est to be out of thy right senses." 
 
 Though Franklin and Hopkinson were both men of 
 quick and generous feelings, yet were they also men of 
 cultivated minds, and not likely to be much moved by 
 coarse and spurious appeals to their sympathies ; so that 
 the testimony thus borne by them to the persuasive pow 
 er of Whitefield s eloquence, may be considered une 
 quivocal and conclusive. 
 
 In repelling some insinuations which had been thrown 
 out against Whitefield s fidelity in applying the money 
 he was collecting for the orphan asylum, Franklin, in the 
 most explicit terms, has declared his conviction that " he 
 was in all his conduct a perfectly honest man." No man, 
 probably, knew Whitefield more thoroughly than did 
 Franklin ; who, besides having entertained him as a guest 
 at his own house, and seen much of him in social inter 
 course, had also transacted a good deal of business with 
 him, as the printer and publisher of four volumes of his 
 sermons and journals; so that these facts, taken in con 
 nexion with Franklin s quick and clear insight into char 
 acter, seem to render his testimony conclusive. 
 
 Franklin, moreover, fully confirms the traditionary 
 statements respecting the vast multitudes, counted by 
 thousands, which flocked together, on foot, on wheels, 
 and on horseback, and not heeding the weather, re 
 mained for hours in the open air, to listen to the fervid 
 eloquence of the man, who, for his power in swaying 
 masses, must probably be regarded as the most remark 
 able preacher of modern times. 
 
REACH OP THE VOICE. 241 
 
 His voice was doubtless one of the means of his pow 
 er. " Whitefield," says Franklin, "had a loud and clear 
 voice, and he articulated his words so perfectly, that he 
 might be heard and understood at a great distance." To 
 test this distance, Franklin once took an opportunity, 
 when Whitefield was preaching from the steps of the 
 Philadelphia courthouse. These steps, it appears, stood 
 on the line of one side of Second street, and fronted the 
 middle of Market street ; so that people, to the right and 
 left, in the former street, and in front in the latter, could 
 both see and hear the speaker. By varying his distance 
 to the front, in Market street, Franklin found that he 
 could distinctly hear and understand all that was uttered, 
 until he had receded very nearly to Front street. Ta 
 king that distance as the radius of a semicircle filled with 
 listeners, and allowing two square feet to each, he com 
 puted that the preacher " might be well heard by more 
 than thirty thousand." This computation, it will be 
 seen, makes no allowance for the number of persons, 
 who, if in the open field, might hear distinctly, though 
 back of the speaker ; a number sufficient, probably, to 
 balance the advantage gained, in point of distance, by the 
 passage of the voice along a street compactly built on 
 both sides ; and Franklin adds that his experiment " rec 
 onciled him to the accounts of Whitefield s having 
 preached to twenty-five thousand in the fields," as well 
 as to what he had read of armies harangued by their 
 leaders. 
 
 Franklin expresses his belief that Whitefield would not 
 only have better consulted his reputation, but would have 
 retained a stronger hold on the admiration of the world, 
 and secured a larger body of followers, if he had never 
 published any of his sermons or other writings, but had 
 intrusted his opinions and his fame to oral tradition and 
 the zeal of his proselytes. 
 
 21 
 
242 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 A further brief reference, in this connexion, to Frank 
 lin s own religious views at this period, seems proper, in 
 order to keep pace with the progress of his mind as he 
 advanced in years ; and it will be the more interesting from 
 the fact that the expression of them was called forth in 
 his correspondence with his parents, now drawing near 
 the close of life. 
 
 It appears that in March, 1738, his father wrote him 
 a letter, in which much concern was expressed, on be 
 half of both his parents, lest he had embraced some dan 
 gerous errors. In his reply, dated the 13th of April 
 ensuing, and marked throughout by filial respect and af 
 fection, Franklin, readily admitting his full share of errors, 
 observes, in substance, that considering the infirmities of 
 our nature, "the influences of education, custom, books, 
 and company," it would evince both vanity and presump 
 tion in any man to claim that " all the doctrines he holds 
 are true, and all he rejects are false ;" that he thought 
 " opinions should be judged of by their influences and 
 effects ; and if a man holds none that tend to make him 
 less virtuous, or more vicious, it may be concluded he 
 holds none that are dangerous," which he trusted was 
 his own case ; that " since it is no more in a man s pow 
 er to think than to look like another, all that should be 
 expected of him was to keep his mind open to conviction, 
 to hear patiently, and to examine attentively, whatever 
 is offered ;" that he had paid little regard to sectarian 
 distinctions ; that, as he thought, " vital religion always 
 suffers, when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue ;" 
 and that the Scriptures assure us the awards of the final 
 judgment will turn, " not on what we "have thought, but 
 what we have done." 
 
 While on this topic it may be well to cite an affection 
 ate letter of his to his sister, Mrs. Jane Mecom, written 
 a few years later, and speaking somewhat more fully on 
 
HIS PARTNERSHIPS. .243 
 
 one or two points. It seems that she had received the 
 impression, as he understood some passages in a letter 
 from her, that he held the opinion that " good works," 
 would merit heaven, and that God was not to be wor 
 shipped. 
 
 These ideas he repelled by replying to his sister, that 
 "so far from thinking that God is not to be worshipped, 
 he had composed a book of devotions, for his own use ;" 
 and that in his belief, " there are few if any in the world 
 so weak as to imagine, that the little good we can do 
 here, can merit so vast a reward hereafter ;" that there 
 were " some things in the New England doctrine and 
 worship, which he could not agree with ;" but that he 
 "did not therefore condemn them, or desire to shake 
 her belief or practice of them." He then advises his 
 sister to read certain portions of " the late book of Mr. 
 Edwards, on the revival of religion in New England ;" 
 and adds ; " when you judge of others, if you can per 
 ceive the fruit to be good, do not terrify yourself that 
 the tree may be evil, but be assured that it is not so ; for 
 you know who has said that men do not gather grapes 
 from thorns, nor figs from thistles" 
 
 Franklin s private affairs were now in a very prosper 
 ous condition. His newspaper, which had obtained a 
 very extensive circulation, and was, indeed, the only one 
 of much importance in Pennsylvania and the adjacent 
 colonies, had become "very profitable," and his "busi 
 ness was constantly augmenting." In these circumstan 
 ces, as he had found his partnership at Charleston a 
 gainful one, he formed others, with several persons, who 
 had, while in his employ, acquired his confidence both 
 as good workmen and as competent to manage busi 
 ness ; thus enabling them to establish themselves advan 
 tageously, while his own interest was also promoted. 
 
 These partnerships present so judicious a mode of 
 
244 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 assisting young men of merit, who have a good trade, 
 but no money, to set themselves up in life, that it may 
 be useful to state the general terms on which they were 
 formed. Franklin furnished those portions of the stock 
 which required the principal outlay of capital, such as 
 the press and types ; while the less costly articles were 
 supplied by the other partner, as the wants of business 
 required. The charges for rent, ink, paper, and oth 
 er current expenses of the office, were deducted from 
 the gross earnings, and then, of the residue of both cash 
 and debts, Franklin took one third and his partner two 
 thirds. These contracts were usually limited to six years, 
 at the end of which his partners were able, in most 
 cases, to buy out Franklin s interest, and go on success 
 fully with the business for themselves. To avoid the 
 disputes, which so frequently disturb and break up such 
 connections, Franklin made it a point to put all the con 
 ditions and obligations on both sides, in writing; justly 
 remarking that, whatever may " be the mutual esteem 
 and confidence of the parties, in the outset, some idea 
 of unequal participation in the burdens of the concern, 
 is but too likely to lead to discontents and jealousies, 
 followed by breach of friendship, animosity, and expen 
 sive lawsuits." 
 
 Another feature of these contracts of partnership, 
 which Franklin has omitted to mention, must, no doubt, 
 have contributed materially to their success. They were 
 obviously liberal on his part. He had the good sense 
 to understand that hard bargains, whatever seeming ad 
 vantages they may, at first, promise to the party who 
 may have the power to prescribe terms, are seldom the 
 most beneficial in their results ; and that not only equity, 
 but sound policy also, requires that contracts covering 
 any considerable length of time, especially such as re 
 late to a business, which, though demanding a moderate 
 
EFFORT TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 245 
 
 investment of money, must depend more on labor than 
 capital, for its productiveness, should be mutually advan 
 tageous to be faithfully executed, and prove, on the 
 whole, really beneficial. 
 
 No success in business, or in the accumulation of prop 
 erty, could be more legitimate in itself, or more valuable 
 as an example, than Franklin s ; for it was the result of 
 his own industry, prudence, and well-directed enterprise ; 
 and he enjoyed his prosperity with a modest and grate 
 ful satisfaction. Having provided for the welfare of his 
 family, and thus not only contented his sense of duty, 
 but secured the means of gratifying his affections, he so 
 arranged his private concerns, that, with ordinary over 
 sight and care, his business would continue to yield a 
 moderately-increasing income ; and thus he enabled him 
 self to give more time to the studies he liked best, as well 
 as to the public interests. 
 
 The community to which he belonged, though in the 
 main a thriving one, was still destitute of some valuable 
 institutions, which a little public spirit, if judiciously di 
 rected, might easily supply. Among these were a native 
 military force, properly organized, for the protection of 
 the province ; seminaries for the education of youth in the 
 higher branches of knowledge ; and some form of associa 
 tion among men of mature years, more or less habitually 
 engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, to promote the 
 investigation of facts in the physical sciences, and the 
 more systematic cultivation of natural philosophy. 
 
 In 1743, in the hope of supplying some of the defi 
 ciencies referred to, Franklin digested a plan for an 
 academy, at the head of which he proposed that the 
 Rev. Hugh Peters, then unemployed, should be placed 
 as principal. That gentleman, however, looking, as he 
 then was, for a more profitable station, which he shortly 
 found, in the service of the Proprietaries of the province, 
 
 21* 
 
246 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 as provincial secretary, declined the proffered appoint 
 ment ; and as Franklin was not acquainted with any 
 other person, whom he considered properly qualified for 
 the place in question, the project of the academy was 
 necessarily deferred. The plan of an academy as drawn 
 up by Franklin, is to be found in his works ; and it does 
 honor to the author, by its enlightened and liberal views 
 of what should be deemed a thorough practical course 
 of instruction, for at least the more intelligent classes of 
 people living under free institutions, and responsible for 
 the just and successful administration of public affairs, as 
 well as the proper discharge of their social and civil 
 duties. 
 
 Another plan, which, about the same time, he pro 
 posed, for the formation of a philosophical society, met 
 more immediate success. This plan was drawn up in 
 the form of a circular, dated May 14, 1743, when he 
 was 37 years old, and sent to all who had any reputation 
 for science in the several colonies ; and in the spring of 
 1744, the first organization was effected. In a letter, 
 dated on the 5th of April, 1744, to Cadwallader Golden, 
 then the most distinguished man in the colony of New 
 York, for scientific attainments, Franklin, after stating 
 that the society was actually formed and had already 
 had several meetings, gives a list of the original mem 
 bers, with the department of knowledge to which each 
 was expected to pay especial attention. 
 
 It can hardly fail to gratify the reader of the present 
 time, to see who were considered as in the van of sci 
 ence at that early day ; and as the list is short, we copy 
 it. Dr. Thomas Bond, a physician, stands first on the 
 roll, and was to give his more particular attention to in 
 quiries and communications on medical subjects ; John 
 Bartram, for botany ; Thomas Godfrey, for mathemat 
 ics ; Samuel Rhoades. for mechanics ; William Parsons, 
 
FIRST PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 247 
 
 for geography ; Dr. Phineas Bond, for natural philoso 
 phy ; Thomas Hopkinson, was president of the society : 
 William Coleman, treasurer, and Benjamin Franklin, 
 secretary. To these, who were resident in Pennsylvania* 
 had been added, prior to the date of the letter just men 
 tioned, Mr. Alexander, of New York ; Mr. Morris, chief 
 justice, and Mr. Home, colonial secretary, of New 
 Jersey ; and Mr. Martin and Mr. John Coxe, private 
 citizens of Trenton, in the same colony. Several emi 
 nent men of Virginia, Maryland, and the New England 
 colonies, were expected to join, as soon as they should 
 learn that the society was actually in operation ; but 
 their names are not stated. 
 
 This association, though its commencement seemed to 
 promise considerable activity, pretty soon began to lan 
 guish. One or two associations, more or less resembling 
 it. were organized in the course of subsequent years, 
 when, finally in 1768, the original society, and the Medi 
 cal Society of Philadelphia, after considerable negotia 
 tion, merged themselves in a single body under the title 
 of " The American Philosophical Society held at Phila 
 delphia for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge." This 
 consolidation took eifect in January, 1769 : and the insti 
 tution thus formed has continued to the present day. 
 
 This association, projected in 1743, but not actually 
 organized till the spring of 1744, was the first movement 
 of the kind, for promoting philosophical inquiry, in the 
 colonies. In the latter year Franklin published a valu 
 able tract on fire-places. Two years before, in 1742, he 
 had devised the plan of the stove which became so cele 
 brated under his name ; and after testing its qualities to 
 his entire satisfaction, he had made a present of the pat 
 tern and the whole property in it, to his friend Robert 
 Grace, who was the owner of a furnace for casting iron 
 wares. To enhance the value of the gift, by extend- 
 
248 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing the sale of the stove, Franklin drew up the paper 
 referred to, and published it, in 1744. It is entitled 
 " An Account of the New-Invented Pennsylvania Fire- 
 Places ;" and may be found in the 6th volume of his 
 works, as edited by Dr. Sparks. It is interesting and in 
 structive, both for its historical details respecting the more 
 important methods of warming houses in the principal 
 countries of Europe, and for its explanation of the prin 
 ciples on which fuel is economized, and health and com 
 fort secured by the manner in which heat is produced 
 and distributed. 
 
 Franklin s stove was planned upon the soundest prin 
 ciples ; and for diffusing a pleasant, uniform, healthful 
 warmth, especially in the parlor and the study, with 
 wood for fuel, we do not believe it has been surpassed, 
 if equalled, when constructed and set up in full accord 
 ance with the plan and directions of its inventor ; for it 
 should be observed that the stoves, which, under his 
 name, have been generally used, since the present centu 
 ry came in, have not, in truth, been Franklin s ; the dis 
 tinctive and most valuable part of the genuine stove, (the 
 air-box, or space between the plate immediately back of 
 the fire, and the real back-plate of the stove,) having 
 been wholly omitted, and the peculiar mode of setting it 
 up, disregarded, so that little else than a mere shell of 
 the original Pennsylvania fire-place, has been retained. 
 
 Though the invention of this valuable fire-place was 
 strictly original with Franklin, and his title to an exclu 
 sive property in it was of the most valid kind, yet he re 
 fused to secure it to himself; assigning, as his reason, 
 to those who urged him to do so, that " as we enjoy 
 great advantages from the inventions of others, we should 
 be glad of an opportunity to serve others, by any inven 
 tions of our own ; and this we should do freely and 
 generously." 
 
PATENT-llIGHTS PUBLIC DEFENCE. 249 
 
 This reason is characteristic of the liberal spiiit of the 
 author, and consistent with the whole tenor of his life ; 
 but it should not be used as an argument against the 
 practice of those who secure to themselves, for their own 
 benefit and that of their families, an exclusive property, 
 for a certain period, in their own inventions. Nothing, 
 surely, can belong to an individual man, considered dis 
 tinctly from other men, so exclusively and absolutely, as 
 the faculties of mind and his time. No property, there 
 fore, can be so entirely and truly his own, as that which 
 he creates, by employing his time and faculties in apply 
 ing his knowledge to important practical uses ; and no 
 private emolument can be more just and honorable than 
 that, which a man derives from his contributions to the 
 common benefit of society. 
 
 Besides these exertions in the cause of education, sci 
 ence, and domestic comfort, Franklin made a strenuous, 
 and to a very important extent, a successful effort, to ef 
 fect a military organization of the able-bodied population 
 of the province, for its defence against both invasion on 
 the sea-board, and the inroads of the Indian tribes on 
 the frontiers. The action of the provincial government, 
 on this important subject, had been controlled by the 
 Quakers. As the majority of the provincial Assembly 
 usually consisted of members of that denomination, and 
 such as voted with them, all endeavors to procure a gen 
 eral and permanent act for embodying and training an 
 efficient militia, had failed. 
 
 Great Britain had, for several years, been engaged in 
 a war with Spain, with which country France had now 
 at last taken part. When it is recollected that France 
 was then, not only in full possession of the Canadas, but 
 that, by means of a succession of posts, extending from 
 the mouth of the St. Lawrence, along the valley of that 
 river, the great lakes, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, to 
 
250 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 New Orleans, she covered and commanded the whole 
 vast frontier of the British settlements ; that those posts 
 were trading stations, as well as military positions, and, 
 in connection with a numerous band of Jesuit missiona 
 ries, gave her an unrivalled influence with most of the 
 more powerful Indian tribes, it will be readily seen 
 that the dangers to which the colonies were exposed, 
 were well calculated to fill the breasts of reflecting men, 
 even the most resolute and firm, with the liveliest anx 
 iety. 
 
 As it had been found impracticable to obtain a law 
 for a general military organization, Franklin proposed 
 to effect as extensive an embodiment of force as possible 
 by voluntary subscription. To prepare the way for 
 such a step, by pressing the subject upon the public 
 mind, he wrote and published a pamphlet entitled " Plain 
 Truth." In this he set forth the defenceless condition 
 of the province, and the necessity and duty of combina 
 tion and discipline, in as impressive language as he 
 could command ; anticipated and answered objections, 
 particularly such as had been more commonly urged 
 among the people at large ; and announced that articles 
 of association would shortly be presented for general 
 subscription, to serve as a basis for the enrolment, organ 
 ization, and training, of such of the people as should 
 come forward, in this way, for the patriotic purpose of 
 defending the community from aggression and injury. 
 
 The effect of this appeal to the people was surprising 
 and decisive. The articles of association were promptly 
 called for; and having settled the main points, in consul 
 tation with a few judicious friends, Franklin drew them 
 up in due form, and gave notice of a meeting, at which 
 they would be presented for subscription. The meeting 
 was well attended ; numerous printed copies, with pens 
 and inkstands, were distributed among the assemblage to 
 
VOLUNTEER MILITIA. 251 
 
 expedite the signing ; and, after Franklin had read the 
 articles, and made a few remarks on their scope and ob 
 ject, they were, as he relates, " eagerly signed, not the 
 least objection being made." 
 
 Upon collecting the several papers, after the meeting, 
 twelve hundred subscriptions were counted up as the re 
 sult of this first movement, in Philadelphia only ; and 
 the articles being distributed throughout the province, 
 the number of men who thus voluntarily pledged them 
 selves to unite for the common defence, rose to upward 
 often thousand. They all equipped themselves as prompt 
 ly as circumstances permitted ; formed themselves into 
 companies and regiments, under officers of their own 
 choice, and turned out weekly to drill. The women, ev 
 er at least as ready as their brethren to obey the call of 
 patriotism, in their own sphere of action, furnished the 
 respective corps with the requisite banners, which were 
 handsomely emblazoned with bearings chiefly devised 
 by Franklin ; who was elected colonel of the Philadel 
 phia regiment, in the first instance ; but not deeming 
 himself particularly qualified for military command, he 
 modestly declined the office, suggesting that a Mr. Law 
 rence, (his individual name is not given,) should be cho 
 sen instead, which was accordingly done. 
 
 Much alarm had been created, about this time in Phil 
 adelphia, by the appearance of a Spanish privateer in 
 Delaware bay. Franklin s next proposal was, therefore, 
 to construct a battery at a suitable point on the bank of 
 the Delaware river below the city ; and to defray the 
 expense of the work he prepared a scheme for a lottery. 
 The plan was promptly adopted and the battery erected, 
 with a strong breastwork of log-cribs filled with earth. 
 A few cannon, procured at Boston, were placed in the 
 battery ; but more being wanted, orders were sent for 
 them to London, and application was also made to the 
 
252 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Proprietaries of the province for aid. But as considera 
 ble time must elapse before these measures could take 
 effect, a committee of four, Franklin being one, was de 
 spatched, on behalf of the military association, to New- 
 York, for the purpose of obtaining the necessary ord 
 nance, as a loan, to be returned when their own supply 
 should be received. This mission resulted in obtaining 
 eighteen guns. " They were fine cannon ;" says Frank 
 lin, " eighteen-pounders, with their carriages, which were 
 soon transported and mounted on our batteries, where 
 the association kept a nightly guard, while the war last 
 ed," Franklin taking his own turn duly, " as a common 
 soldier." 
 
 The public spirit, energy, and capacity, displayed by 
 Franklin, in these emergencies, gained him the respect 
 and confidence of the governor and council ; and they 
 advised with him whenever their co-operation with the 
 association was deemed expedient. At his suggestion, 
 too, they proclaimed a public fast, to be accompanied by 
 appropriate religious services, throughout the colony. 
 As this was the first event of the kind, however, in Penn 
 sylvania, Franklin, as a New-Englander and familiar 
 with the usages on such occasions, was requested to pre 
 pare the proclamation. He accordingly drew up one, 
 and it was sent throughout the province, both in German 
 and English. The clergy availed themselves of the pro 
 mulgation of this document, to commend the association 
 to the approbation of the people and urge them to join 
 it ; and it would soon, probably, have embraced most of 
 the population able to bear arms, except the Quakers, 
 had not peace shortly superseded this appeal to their 
 patriotism. 
 
 Some of Franklin s personal friends felt apprehensive 
 that the leading part he took, in the military arrangements 
 mentioned, would deprive him of the favor he enjoyed 
 
HIS RULE AS TO PUBLIC OFFICE. 253 
 
 among the Quakers, who always had a strong majority 
 in the provincial Assembly; and that he would thus lose 
 the clerkship of that body. A certain young man, who 
 was exceedingly desirous to be clerk himself, told Frank 
 lin, one day, that it had been determined to reject him, 
 when the choice of that officer should come up, at the 
 next session ; and advised him to decline being a candi 
 date, rather than suffer the mortification of a defeat. 
 Franklin s reply to his adviser, whose motive he well un 
 derstood, was quite characteristic. He said to him at 
 once, that he liked the rule, adopted by a man he had 
 read of, neither to seek nor refuse office ; and that he 
 should act on the same rule, with only a single addition ; 
 for, said he "I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ev 
 er resign an office ;" adding that, if the Assembly intend 
 ed to give the clerkship to another, they should " first 
 take it" from him, as he would not, by resigning it, fore 
 go his " right of some time or other making reprisal on 
 his adversaries." 
 
 The above answer disposed of his competitor, and at 
 the next session Franklin was again made clerk without 
 opposition; for, while he had discharged the duties of 
 that office, in the most correct and acceptable manner, 
 the majority were too shrewd to reject him for the sole 
 reason that he had exerted himself, most efficiently, in 
 providing for the defence and safety of the community. 
 Besides, it was by no means certain, and subsequent oc 
 currences fully showed the fact, that even the non-com 
 batant Quakers really disliked the military measures in 
 question, so long as they were not personally required 
 to take part in them. Franklin, indeed, states that, al 
 though they were opposed to offensive war, yet he found 
 " a much greater number of them than he could have 
 imagined," unequivocally in favor of such measures as 
 were neccessary for defence ; and that of the " many 
 
 22 
 
254 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pamphlets, pro and con, published on the subject," some 
 which were in favor of defensive preparations, were writ 
 ten " by good Quakers." 
 
 These views, on the part of that class of people, were 
 still further manifested by the proceedings of the fire- 
 company, to which Franklin belonged, but which con 
 sisted mostly of Quakers, a majority of whom, on a mo 
 tion made by him, voted to appropriate the company s 
 surplus funds, amounting to sixty pounds, to the pur 
 chase of tickets in the lottery formed to defray the cost 
 of the battery, already mentioned, for the defence of the 
 city. 
 
 The truth is, the non-combatant principles of the Qua 
 kers gave them, in the then existing exigencies of the 
 province, not a little embarrassment, especially whenev 
 er application was made to the Assembly, on behalf of 
 the Crown, for grants of money, for the public defence. 
 The result of such applications was, generally, a grant 
 of the sums needed, but so worded as to evade an ex 
 plicit and direct appropriation for warlike purposes. 
 The usual form of the grant was " for the king s use," 
 without particularizing the objects for which the money 
 was to be actually expended. 
 
 The form mentioned served well enough, when the 
 call came directly from the king; but in other cases a 
 different phraseology was requisite, and the selection of 
 it was occasionally marked by as much humor as shrewd 
 ness. When for instance, a request came from one of 
 the New England colonies for a supply of powder, the 
 Assembly of Pennsylvania would not vote money for the 
 purchase of the black-grained munition of war, under its 
 own distinctive name of gun-powder ; but they voted 
 three thousand pounds, to be subject to the governor s 
 order, " for the purchase of bread, flour, wheat, or other 
 grain" To tease the Quaker majority of the Assembly, 
 
COMMITMENT TO OPINIONS. 255 
 
 the Governor was urged in Council to refuse the grant, 
 as not pursuant to his call; but he well understood the 
 equivocal term, and as it was no time for trifling, he drew 
 the money ; and though the grain he bought with it, was 
 not a kernel of it wheat, but the " other grain" exclu 
 sively, no complaint was made by the Assembly. 
 
 Another anecdote will serve further to illustrate this 
 mode of enabling the patriotism of the Quakers to get 
 the advantage of their passive resistance, and will give 
 also a taste of Franklin s humor and ingenuity. When 
 his proposition was pending, in the fire-company, to ap 
 ply its surplus funds to the arming of the battery for the 
 defence of the city, he was prepared, in order to quiet, 
 if needful, any non-combatant scruples about voting to 
 buy cannon, to amend his motion so as to apply the funds 
 to the purchase of fire-engines, in which category every 
 sort of fire-arms might unquestionably be classed. 
 
 In some remarks on these embarrassments of the 
 Quakers, Franklin intimates that they might and prob 
 ably would have avoided them, had they not been so ful 
 ly committed, in print before the world, to their doctrine 
 of the unlawfulness of force in all cases ; and he takes 
 the occasion to question the wisdom of such absolute com 
 mitment to particular opinions, as constituting a need 
 less impediment to the admission of new convictions of 
 truth and duty, even when clearly presented to the un 
 derstanding, by further reflection, in the light derived 
 from fuller experience, and more comprehensive views 
 of the various obligations of civil society. To furnish 
 an example of what he deemed " a more prudent course 
 of conduct," he relates an interesting conversation he 
 once had with one of the founders of the sect of Dunkers. 
 
 The man referred to, Michael Weffare by name, hav 
 ing complained of slanderous representations of the prin 
 ciples and practices of the sect, Franklin remarked that 
 
256 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 such was the usual fate of new sects, and suggested that, 
 to put down the calumnies, they should publish their ar 
 ticles of faith and rules of discipline. Weffare replied, 
 that they had once thought of doing so, but had conclu 
 ded otherwise, for the reason given by him substantially 
 as follows. When they first formed their society, God 
 had been pleased, as they believed, to give them light 
 enough to see that some doctrines, which they had deem 
 ed truths, were errors, and that others, once deemed er 
 rors, were truths; that further light had been, by degrees, 
 imparted to them ; and that, as they were not now sure 
 that their spiritual knowledge was perfect, they feared to 
 put their faith in print, lest their brethren, and still more 
 their successors, should feel so bound and restricted 
 thereby, as to reject new lights, and thus perhaps arrest 
 their advancement in truth. 
 
 Franklin commends the modesty of the Dunkers, and 
 adds the remark, made in the latter part of his life, lhat 
 the Quakers, to escape annoyances of the kind mention 
 ed, were withdrawing from public employments, " choos 
 ing rather to quit their power, than their principles ;" 
 certainly an honorable choice. 
 
NEW PARTNERSHIP. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ACADEMY NEW PARTNERSHIP PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES 
 
 PUBLIC EMPLOYMENTS INDIAN TREATY HOSPITAL 
 
 CITY STREETS POST-OFFICE ALBANY CONVENTION 
 
 PLAN FOR NEW COLONIES PROPRIETARY GOVERNORS 
 
 AID TO MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 THE war spoken of in the last chapter, having been 
 terminated, in 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 the military association, which Franklin had taken so 
 leading and efficient a part in organizing, dissolved with 
 the return of peace ; and he was enabled to turn to more 
 congenial pursuits. About the same period he gave him 
 self a still freer control of his own time and occupations, 
 by forming a partnership, with a very competent and 
 prudent man, who had worked for him several years, by 
 the name of David Hall, who took the entire charge of 
 the business of both the printing-office and the bookstore. 
 
 Being thus released from the immediate and constant 
 care of his business Franklin now again bent his efforts, 
 with renewed zeal, to promote the cause of sound edu 
 cation, by the establishment of an academy. Associating 
 with himself some of the most earnest and efficient fa 
 vorers of the cause, of whom the Junto supplied its full 
 share, he then drew up his plan, which he entitled " Pro 
 posals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylva 
 nia," and placed it in the hands of the leading men of 
 the community. When time had been allowed for the 
 consideration of the subject, he started a subscription ; 
 22* 
 
258 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and by judiciously making the suras subscribed, payable 
 in five annual instalments, the amount obtained, as stated 
 by Peters, the secretary of the Proprietaries, was " up 
 ward of dSOO a year." In doing this, Franklin, though 
 his principal associates well understood the extent of his 
 agency, yet kept himself, in accordance with a rule he 
 had adopted, as much as he could in the back-ground ; 
 and when the " Proposals," which were first distributed 
 in manuscript, were printed, he spoke of them in some 
 prefatory remarks, as emanating from several public- 
 spirited gentlemen, at whose instance they were printed, 
 for more convenient and general distribution. 
 
 The subscription being closed, and twenty-four trus 
 tees elected, two of the number, Franklin and the pro 
 vincial attorney-general, Francis, being appointed a com 
 mittee for the purpose, prepared a plan for the organi 
 zation and management of the academy, which was 
 adopted, and the school was put in operation. The pu 
 pils soon became so numerous, that the house first occu 
 pied was found too small for their accommodation. It 
 will be recollected that some years previous, under the 
 excitement produced by Whitefield s preaching, a large 
 ouilding had been erected for public worship, irrespec 
 tive of sectarian distinctions ; and that the property and 
 care of the house and ground, had been vested in a legal 
 ly constituted board of trustees. The feeling which led 
 to that step having passed away, and the trustees being 
 embarrassed and annoyed by the debt it had created, 
 Franklin, who was one of those trustees, as well as a 
 member of the academy board, suggested the expedien 
 cy of ceding the whole of that property, to the trustees 
 of the academy, for the use of the new school. After 
 some negotiation this measure was effected, on the con 
 ditions that the trustees of the academy, should pay the 
 debt for the house and ground ; keep open a large hall 
 
THE ACADEMY PHILOSOPHICAL PURSUITS. 259 
 
 for occasional preaching without distinction of sect; and 
 maintain therein a free school for the instruction of poor 
 children in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This ar 
 rangement being consummated in legal form, the trus 
 tees of the academy discharged the outstanding meeting 
 house debt, and being put in full possession of the prop 
 erly, forthwith converted the building into a structure 
 of two stories, with suitable apartments for the respec 
 tive schools ; and a little additional ground being pur 
 chased to complete the requisite accommodations thither 
 the academy was transferred. 
 
 The immediate superintendence of this whole affair, 
 including the alterations made in the building, the pur 
 chase of materials, the hiring of workmen, and all other 
 details, devolved on Franklin. Some years after, the 
 academy board was regularly incorporated by a charter 
 from the provincial government; their funds were largely 
 augmented by contributions from England, as well as by 
 donations of land from the Proprietaries and from the 
 provincial assembly ; and this academy subsequently ex 
 panded into the university of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Having acquired " a sufficient though moderate for 
 tune," as he termed it, Franklin, in arranging his private 
 affairs, as already mentioned, intended and expected thus 
 to enable himself to devote his life mainly to those literary 
 pursuits, and especially to those philosophical researches, 
 to which he was so strongly drawn by his predominant 
 tastes and the bent of his genius, and in which he had al 
 ready made no unimportant advances. To say nothing 
 here of his numerous pieces on the economy of private 
 life and the prudent conduct of private affairs, which had 
 ranked him, while yet in middle age, among the most 
 sagacious observers of his own time or any other ; and 
 to pass over various well-considered tracts, filled with 
 enlightened views on the rightful foundation and objects 
 
260 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of all just government, on the freedom of speech and of 
 the press, and other topics connected with political and 
 civil rights and obligations; he had indicated, as early as 
 1737, the wide range of his studies, in an instructive 
 paper, in which he collected all the valuable observations 
 of ancient and modern writers on the causes and chief 
 phenomena of earthquakes, followed, at intervals in the 
 few years immediately succeeding, by experiments and 
 speculations on various points of animal physiology and 
 other physical questions, discussed in a continually-grow 
 ing correspondence with the leading scientific men of 
 that day. 
 
 In 1747, besides his important pamphlet, entitled 
 " Plain Truth," relating, as heretofore noticed, to the 
 defenceless condition, not only of Philadelphia, but of 
 the province generally, and his arduous, patriotic, and 
 successful labors in effecting the military organization to 
 which that pamphlet led the way, he not only wrote his 
 interesting paper explaining the origin and course of the 
 northeast storms of our Atlantic coast, but, as early as 
 July of this same year, in his correspondence with his 
 scientific friend, Peter Collinson, of the Royal Society of 
 London, he announced to the world for the first time, 
 and on the authority of experiments devised and con 
 ducted by himself, what he describes as " the wonderful 
 effect of pointed bodies, both in drawing off and throw 
 ing off the electrical fire ;" and in the same communica 
 tion he also announced the important discovery of the 
 opposite electrical conditions of bodies, indicated by the 
 terms plus and minus, or positive and negative, on the 
 basis of which he gave, in the succeeding September, 
 the explanation of the phenomena of the Leyden jar, 
 or as he usually termed it, the Lei/den bottle, which had 
 previously baffled and perplexed the philosophers of 
 Europe. 
 
ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCES. 261 
 
 In the following year, (1748), he further analyzed the 
 electrical bottle by a long series of ingenious exper 
 iments upon it, showing its true electrical condition un 
 der all circumstances, in relation to the substance or in 
 ternal parts of the glass itself, its surfaces, its coatings, 
 and its whole action. Among other applications, more 
 over, of electrical agency he applied it as a motive pow 
 er, for the production of useful practical results, to a 
 revolving apparatus of his own contrivance, which he 
 called the electric jack, after the machine once in gen 
 eral use for roasting meat. In the communication to Mr. 
 Collinson, (written apparently late in the spring, though 
 the month is not named,) in which he gives the details 
 of these investigations and results, he closes with the 
 following notice of a very remarkable pleasure party 
 a sort of electrical pic-nic arranged and enjoyed, 
 doubtless, with rare zest, by himself and some of his 
 philosophical friends. 
 
 " The hot weather coming on," says he, " when elec 
 trical experiments are not so agreeable, it is proposed to 
 put an end to them for this season, somewhat humorous 
 ly, in a party of pleasure on the banks of the Skuylkill. 
 Spirits, at the same time, are to be fired by a spark sent 
 from side to side, through the river, without any other 
 conductor than the water ; an experiment which we some 
 time since performed, to the amazement of many. A 
 turkey is to be killed for our dinner, by an electric shock, 
 and roasted by the electrical jack, before a fire kindled 
 by the electrical bottle ; when the healths of all the fa 
 mous electricians of England, Holland, France, and 
 Germany, are to be drank in electrified bumpers under 
 the discharge of guns from an electrical battery"* 
 
 * The electrijjed bumper, he describes as a small, thin, glass tumbler, 
 nearly filled with wine, and electrified like the bottle. This, when brought 
 to the lips, gives a slight shock, if the beard be shaved closely, so as to 
 present no points, and the moist breath be not breathed upon the liquor. 
 
262 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 In 1749, moreover, in a paper on " thunder-gusts," he 
 began to broach his theory of the identity of electricity 
 and lightning, (suggesting in the same paper the idea 
 that the Northern Lights may be electrical phenomena,) 
 and in 1750 he propounded, as one of the consequences 
 and proofs of that identity, the efficacy and utility of 
 pointed conductors, now commonly called lightning-rods, 
 for protection against lightning. Though he did not 
 actually make his renowned experiment with the kite, 
 till June, 1752, yet all the principles, on which that ex 
 periment proceeded, had been evolved in the three pre 
 ceding years, beginning, as already stated, in 1749. In 
 deed, in a paper detailing experiments and observations 
 made in 1749, but not communicated to Mr. Collinson, 
 till the next season, (for correspondence across the At 
 lantic was then a matter of months, not of weeks and 
 days,) under cover of a note dated the 29th of July, 
 1750, Franklin had gone so far as to describe a method, 
 (placing on some tower, or other elevated station, a long 
 iron rod, with its foot insulated in a mass of resin, and 
 its pointed top rising singly above surrounding objects 
 into the air,) by which the truth of his theory, already 
 expounded by him on the evidence of a long train of 
 experiments made by himself and previously communi 
 cated, might be demonstrated beyond all doubt or deni 
 al ; and it was in fact, by pursuing exactly the method 
 thus proposed, that the first European attempt to ascer 
 tain the great truth in question, was made and was suc 
 cessful. 
 
 The communication above referred to, containing the 
 experiments and reasonings out of which the proposed 
 method grew, though read before the Royal Society in 
 London, was deemed by the more forward and control 
 ling members of that institution, to be too unimportant, 
 not to say frivolous and extravagant, to be published 
 
ELECTRICITY AND LIGHTNING IDENTICAL. 263 
 
 among their transactions. Indeed, the supposition that 
 the fire, snapping and sparkling from a small glass bot 
 tle, and ground out of a small glass cylinder turned by a 
 hand-crank, could possibly be identical with the elemen 
 tal lightning, was, says Mitchell, a member of the soci 
 ety, in a letter to Franklin, " laughed at by the connois 
 seurs." Fothergill, Collinson, and a few others, however, 
 thought differently, and procured the publication of the 
 papers bearing directly on the question, in a separate pam 
 phlet, which was soon translated into the French and 
 other languages of continental Europe. One of those 
 pamphlets being read by Buffon, Dalibard, and other 
 philosophical inquirers in Paris, they had a series of 
 Franklin s experiments, as he had described them, per 
 formed by M. De Lor, one of their number ; and these 
 made so strong an impression upon them, that they de 
 termined forthwith to put the hypothesis of identity to 
 the test, precisely and avowedly in the manner suggested 
 by its acknowledged author. Dalibard, who set up his 
 rod, forty feet in length, on the heights of Marly, a sub 
 urb of Paris, was lucky enough to obtain from the clouds, 
 the earliest answer to the great question put to them. 
 This was on the 10th of May, 1752. On the 18th of 
 the same month, the same answer was obtained by De 
 Lor, upon the roof of his own house in Paris, with a rod 
 which lifted its sharp point to the height of ninety feet 
 above its base ; and the same results were obtained in 
 speedy succession, by similar means, in various other 
 places on the continent of Europe. In one instance, the 
 experimenter, (Professor Richman, who had early ac 
 quired a high reputation in philosophy,) while making 
 this grand and bold experiment at St. Petersburgh, in 
 Russia, through some Jack of care in managing it, was 
 killed by an unexpected discharge from his rod. 
 
 Franklin would himself have put his plan, as above 
 
264 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 described, in execution with the first opportunity after 
 conceiving it, had he possessed the means of doing so. 
 It was while waiting for some such means, (which, as it 
 would seem, from some expressions relating to this topic, 
 he had reason to expect would soon be furnished in Phil 
 adelphia,) that the simple yet sublime experiment with 
 the kite occurred to him ; and, without having heard, or, 
 indeed, having had time, by many weeks, to hear a word 
 of what had been done in Paris, pursuant to his previous 
 suggestions, he availed himself of the first opportunity 
 presented by a mass of gathering thunder-clouds, in 
 June, 1752, to send up his kite, with its sharp-pointed wire 
 projecting some twelve inches or more beyond its ver 
 tex, which brought the lightning down to him in triumph, 
 demonstrated the great truth he had already drawn from 
 his inductions, and shed unfading splendor on his name. 
 Besides all this, Franklin, as he wrote to the celebrated 
 Cadwallader Golden, with whom he was in constant cor 
 respondence, had, in 1751, by uniting several large elec 
 trified jars in one battery, given such intensity to the 
 electric discharge as to melt steel needles, reverse the 
 poles of the magnetic needle, give magnetism and polar 
 ity to needles previously destitute of them, and ignite 
 dry gunpowder. He had also asserted the unlimited 
 capability of accumulation of the electric force, affirming 
 that, by enlarging the battery of jars as above indicated, 
 the greatest effects of lightning yet known, might be 
 surpassed ; and in another letter to Mr. Golden, dated 
 the 23d of April, 1752, he had questioned the correct 
 ness of the received opinion, that the light of the sun 
 proceeds from it in successive particles actually traversing 
 space in the form of rays ; and propounded, in opposition 
 to that opinion, the query whether all the phenomena of 
 light might not be better solved " by supposing univer 
 sal space filled with a subtile elastic fluid, which, when 
 
Franklin drawing down the Lightning. 
 
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENTS. 265 
 
 at rest, is not visible, but whose vibrations affect that fine 
 sense in the eye, as those of air do the grosser organs 
 of the ear ?" 
 
 Such were the pursuits, with their strong attractions, 
 for the sake of which, Franklin had relieved himself 
 from the engrossment of his private affairs, and as he 
 hoped, from the drudgery of public business ; and, 
 having enlarged his means of philosophical investiga 
 tion with additional apparatus, he was bent on giving 
 himself thereto, with renewed ardor and a more exclu 
 sive devotion than ever. 
 
 But the interest which he had manifested in the de 
 fence of the colony, the leading part he had taken in the 
 measures adopted for that end, and the public spirit and 
 ability he had displayed, served more and more to fix 
 upon him the public attention and win the general con 
 fidence ; and now that he was regarded as a man of lei 
 sure, the demand for his services in public affairs was 
 continually increasing. The governor commissioned him 
 as a justice of the peace ; he was chosen a member of 
 the common council of the city; and, shortly after, was 
 elected a member of the provincial assembly. This last- 
 named position seems to have pleased him most, not 
 only as being most congenial to his qualifications, but as 
 presenting a broader field of action and of usefulness ; 
 though all of them, as being unsolicited testimonies of 
 public respect and confidence, could not be otherwise 
 than gratifying. The conscientiousness, which strongly 
 marked his character, and regulated his conduct in his 
 public employments as well as in his private transactions, 
 was well exemplified by his course in reference to his 
 office as a magistrate. After taking his seat in court, 
 a few times, for the hearing of causes, perceiving that 
 his knowledge of law was not sufficiently extended and 
 exact to enable him to discharge his duties as a judge, 
 23 
 
266 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 in that thorough manner which alone could satisfy his 
 ideas of their importance, he gradually withdrew from 
 them, and devoted himself more engrossingly to the 
 business of the assembly and the general affairs of the 
 province. 
 
 In 1749, he was appointed one of the commissioners, 
 on the part of the province, to make a treaty with the 
 Indians. The meeting for this purpose was held at Car 
 lisle. The number of Indians in attendance being large, 
 to avoid disturbance and bring the negotiation to a speedy 
 and amicable conclusion, no spirituous liquor was per 
 mitted to be distributed till the treaty was finished. Im 
 mediately after, however, the red-men held a powow, 
 and all of them got drunk. When the powow was over, 
 though the principal chiefs showed some tokens of 
 shame, yet they defended themselves on the ground that 
 the Great Spirit made everything for a particular use, 
 and to that use it should be put; that when he made 
 rum he said, " Let this be for the Indians to get drunk 
 with," and that it must be so. The defence was as valid, 
 perhaps, as any yet urged by the white man to this point. 
 
 About this time, Dr. Thomas Bond, one of Franklin s 
 intimate friends, proposed the establishment of a hospital 
 for the sick poor, whether inhabitant3 of the province or 
 strangers ; and made an earnest effort to procure sub 
 scriptions for the purpose. Meeting with little success, 
 however, Dr. Bond came to Franklin to engage him in 
 the undertaking, telling him that he was the only man 
 who could insure the accomplishment of the project, 
 inasmuch as almost every person to whom he applied, 
 inquired whether Franklin had been consulted, and what 
 he thought of-the plan. Upon learning Dr. Bond s 
 views, and being convinced that the proposed institution 
 would be useful, Franklin became a subscriber, and co 
 operated zealously in promoting it. Before making any 
 
A HOSPITAL FOUNDED. 267 
 
 personal application for other subscriptions, however, he 
 resorted to his usual mode of preparing the way for such 
 applications, by explaining the plan to the public in 
 print ; and when the people generally had thus been led 
 to an intelligent consideration of the subject, subscrip 
 tions were more freely made. 
 
 But it soon became evident that the aid of the as 
 sembly would be needed ; and a petition for such aid 
 was circulated, which Franklin took charge of. The 
 country members were at first averse to the petition, 
 alleging that the benefits of the institution would accrue 
 only to the inhabitants of the city, and that the funds, 
 therefore, should be wholly supplied by them. Frank 
 lin, however, obtained leave to introduce a bill, so drawn 
 as to make the proposed grant conditional ; that is to 
 say, if the sum of two thousand pounds should be raised 
 by private subscription, then a like sum should be drawn 
 from the provincial treasury. This condition had a two 
 fold operation in favor of the proposed institution ; for 
 while it secured the passage of the bill by obtaining the 
 votes of those, who did not believe the condition would 
 be met, but, who wished to appear liberal, it served also 
 as a powerful motive for private subscriptions, which soon 
 rose to the required amount and gave effect to the grant. 
 The hospital thus established was duly organized in 
 1751, and has proved a valuable institution. 
 
 An anecdote indicating something of Franklin s pru 
 dence in husbanding his influence, as well as the extent 
 of it, may be related in this connection. The Rev. Gil 
 bert Tennent applied to him for his aid in procuring 
 funds by subscription to build a meeting-house for a new 
 congregation, formed chiefly of the followers of White- 
 field. Franklin, deeming it unwise and improper to be 
 continually pressing people for money, even for laudable 
 objects, declined ; as he did, also, the further request to 
 
268 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 furnish a list of those persons whom he had found ready 
 and liberal givers, and whom, for that very reason, he 
 would not single out for annoyance. Mr. Tennent then 
 asked his advice as to the course he should pursue. 
 With this request Franklin promptly complied, by tel 
 ling him to apply first to such persons as he knew would 
 give something; next to such as he considered doubtful, 
 showing them the list of those who had already sub 
 scribed ; and, finally, to those of whom he now expected 
 nothing, for he might be mistaken in respect to some of 
 them. Mr. Tennent "laughed," took the advice thank 
 fully, and obtained money enough to build a large and 
 handsome edifice. 
 
 About this period Franklin began to agitate the sub 
 ject of paving the streets of Philadelphia. He commenced 
 in his usual manner, by explaining in his paper the ad 
 vantages of the plan. The first specimen of the con 
 venience and utility of a pavement was presented at the 
 market-place, near which he lived. This seems to have 
 been effected by the enterprise of individuals; and Frank 
 lin himself went through the immediate neighborhood 
 and obtained a subscription at every house, for keeping 
 the pavement in good condition by having it regularly 
 swept. The result of this experiment was so satisfac 
 tory that the desire gradually spread throughout the city 
 to have the streets fully paved. This feeling became, in 
 the course of three or four years from the time now re 
 ferred to, so rife and urgent, that Franklin, shortly before 
 he was sent to England, in 1757, as the diplomatic agent 
 of the province, introduced into the assembly a bill for 
 paving the city by a general tax. He left for England 
 before the bill could be passed ; and when he was gone 
 the bill was somewhat changed, though not in his judg 
 ment improved, as to the mode of assessing the tax. 
 Another provision, however, which he justly considered 
 
PAVING AND LIGHTING THE CITY. 269 
 
 a very valuable one, was introduced into the same bill 
 a provision for lighting the streets. This idea, though 
 generally attributed to Franklin, originated in fact with 
 a private citizen by the name of John Clifford, who had 
 for some time had a lamp in front of his own house ; 
 and it suggested so forcibly the increased convenience 
 and security, which would necessarily result from the 
 general lighting of the streets, that the provision for that 
 purpose was introduced and adopted as above stated. 
 
 The thorough lighting of the streets of a city is prob 
 ably the most efficient, reliable, and truly economical 
 part of every system of protective police ; and the credit 
 of first suggesting so useful a measure might well be 
 coveted by any public-spirited citizen ; and the sponta 
 neous transfer of such credit, therefore, by the man to 
 whom, without any agency of his own, it had been erro- 
 neously assigned, and with whom it was resting without 
 dispute, to the person to whom it justly belonged, was 
 unequivocal evidence of honorable feeling. Mr. Clif 
 ford, moreover, had been long dead, when Franklin 
 made the explanation in question, which could, therefore, 
 have been prompted only by that innate love of truth 
 and fair dealing, which was, indeed, a strongly-marked 
 trait of his character. There was another merit, how 
 ever, connected with this subject, which belongs to 
 Franklin ; and that was the improvement, introduced by 
 him, in the form of the street lamp. The one received 
 from London, and in use there, was the globe-lamp ; but 
 it was so insufficiently ventilated that, when lighted, the 
 inner surface soon became thickly coated with lamp 
 black, which materially diminished radiation. This se 
 rious objection was avoided by substituting, on Frank 
 lin s recommendation, a square lamp, with flat panes of 
 glass, with a freer access of air at the bottom, and a 
 funnel-shaped top to permit the easy escape of smoke. 
 23* 
 
270 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 This lamp not only gave a better light, but a broken 
 pane could be replaced at much less expense than the 
 cost of a new glass globe. 
 
 While on these topics, in regard to which, the course 
 of time has been in some respects anticipated a little, we 
 may advert to some further suggestions, relating to the 
 structure and cleaning of streets, made by Franklin, after 
 he became, as provincial agent, a resident again in Lon 
 don, and communicated by him to his warm friend and 
 admirer, the celebrated Dr. Fothergill. Among other 
 things, he expresses the opinion that, fornarrow streets, 
 the transverse slope should be made from the sides to 
 the centre, so as to have but one kennel, or gutter ; for 
 the reason that, in sucli streets, the water they collect 
 from the rains will be usually sufficient to carry away 
 the wash of the surface, if there be only one kennel, but 
 not enough, if divided, to cleanse two such kennels ; 
 while, at the same time, the sidewalks and their passen 
 gers will be much less exposed to annoyance. He also 
 suggested the use of tight-covered carts for carrying 
 away the mud and other wet filth ; and the sweeping of 
 the streets when dry, as well as when wet, (the former 
 of which practices had not yet been adopted in London,) 
 but doing it early in the morning, before the opening 
 of shops and houses ; for all which, in the long dry days 
 of summer, in that high northern latitude, the habits of 
 the London population allowed ample time, even after 
 the morning sun was up, notwithstanding their com 
 plaints of the heavy candle-tax. 
 
 Franklin closes his narration of these matters with the 
 remark, that some may deem them too trivial to be worth 
 relating. His comment on this view of such things is 
 eminently characteristic ; and the lesson of practical 
 wisdom which it teaches, will be appreciated by all who 
 have formed any tolerably adequate estimate of the value 
 
IMPORTANCE OP SMALL THINGS POSTOFFICE. 271 
 
 of time, or of the inevitable results of that perpetual flow 
 of minute occurrences, small wants, momentary gratifi 
 cations, and petty disappointments, by which the actual 
 discipline of character is effected, and ordinary life influ 
 enced for good or for evil. " Human felicity," says 
 Franklin, " is produced not so much by great pieces of 
 good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages 
 that occur every day. Thus, if you teach a poor young 
 man to shave himself and keep his razor in order, you 
 may contribute more to the happiness of his life than by 
 giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon 
 spent, leaving only the regret of having foolishly con 
 sumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent 
 vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes 
 dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors ; he 
 shaves when most convenient to him, and enjoys the 
 daily pleasure of its being done with a good instru 
 ment." 
 
 Prior to 1753, Franklin had been employed to exam 
 ine into the affairs of a number of the more important 
 colonial postoffices, bring their occupants to an adjust 
 ment of their accounts, and regulate their management. 
 This employment he had received from the postmaster- 
 general of the colonies ; and upon the death of that offi 
 cer, in the year just mentioned, his functions were con 
 ferred upon Franklin and Colonel William Hunter, of 
 Virginia, by a joint commission from the English post 
 master-general. The two American deputies were to 
 have six hundred pounds a year between them, provided 
 they could raise that sum from the net proceeds of their 
 office. The colonial postoffice receipts had never been 
 sufficient to pay a shilling of revenue into the English 
 treasury ; and to render them productive enough to yield 
 the compensation mentioned, various reforms were neces 
 sary, and Franklin immediately set about introducing 
 
272 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 them. To do this, however, demanded, in the outset, 
 from the new commissioners, disbursements so consider 
 able that in the first four years the office became indebted 
 to them to the amount of nine hundred pounds. But as 
 soon as the new arrangements had been in operation 
 long enough to produce their proper results, the receipts 
 began to increase ; and in a few years they became suffi 
 cient, not only to pay the stipulated salary, but to yield 
 the government a revenue, which continued until Frank 
 lin, by his exertions in the cause of the colonies, gave 
 such offence to the British government that the post- 
 office was taken from him, and not a penny of revenue 
 was received from it afterward. About the beginning 
 of autumn, in the same year, 1753, being called to Bos 
 ton upon postoffice business, Harvard college conferred 
 on him the degree of master of arts, which he had al 
 ready received from Yale. These honors were bestowed 
 chiefly for his eminence in natural philosophy, and espe 
 cially his discoveries in electricity. 
 
 In 1754, the tokens of another war with France began 
 to be visible ; and as the colonies would not only be in 
 volved in it, as a matter of course, but were likely to 
 become one of its principal theatres, the British govern 
 ment directed a convention of colonial deputies to be 
 held at Albany, for the purpose of meeting the chiefs of 
 the Indian tribes known as the Six Nations, to concert 
 measures for the common defence, and to secure, if not 
 the active aid of the tribes, at least their friendship and 
 neutrality. The order for this convention issued from 
 the English board of trade ; and Governor Hamilton, on 
 communicating it to the Pennsylvania Assembly, together 
 with a recommendation that means should be supplied 
 for making suitable presents to the Indians, nominated 
 Franklin and the speaker of the Assembly, Isaac Nor- 
 ris, to act with John Penn and the provincial secretary, 
 
CONVENTION AT ALBANY IN 1754. 273 
 
 Richard Peters, as the deputies of Pennsylvania to the 
 proposed convention. The Assembly promptly assented 
 to the nominations, and voted the presents. 
 
 The meeting took place at Albany, on the 19th of 
 June, 1754, and consisted of delegates from New Hamp 
 shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 
 York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. 
 
 Franklin had meditated much on the expediency of 
 forming a union of the colonies for certain general pur 
 poses ; and on his way to Albany he sketched a plan of 
 such union, which, while in the city of New York, he 
 submitted to some of the leading men there, whose ap 
 probation of its general scope and propositions was so 
 marked, that he laid it before the convention. 
 
 Though none of the delegates, except those of Massa 
 chusetts, had been instructed to undertake anything more 
 than to secure the friendship of the Six Nations, and pro 
 vide for resisting the inroads of the French and such 
 tribes as might join them, yet the advantages of a closer 
 connection between the colonies had been more or less 
 considered in various quarters ; and the delegates of 
 Massachusetts had been expressly empowered to enter 
 into a closer confederacy for general defence and for 
 promoting the common interests of the colonies, in both 
 peace and war. This important question being brought 
 before the convention, that body, on the 24th of June, 
 after voting unanimously that a union of the colonies was 
 "necessary for their security and defence," appointed a 
 committee to consider and report to the convention a 
 plan for such union. 
 
 This committee consisted of Thomas Hutchinson, of 
 Massachusetts ; Theodore Atkinson, of New Hampshire ; 
 William Pitkin, of Connecticut ; Stephen Hopkins, of 
 Rhode Island ; William Smith, of New York ; Benjamin 
 Franklin, of Pennsylvania; and Benjamin Tasker, of 
 
274 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Maryland. After deliberating on several schemes of 
 union presented, the committee agreed upon Franklin s, 
 and on the 28th of June reported it to the convention, 
 where, after being debated for twelve successive days, it 
 was adopted without opposition on the llth of July, and 
 on the same day the convention broke up. 
 
 The plan thus approved provided for the appointment, 
 by the king, of a president-general ; and for the election, 
 by the respective colonial Assemblies, of a fairly-appor 
 tioned legislative body, to be called the grand council, to 
 meet statedly once a year, and oftener if necessary, but 
 whose enactments were to be subject to the assent of 
 the president-general. When thus passed, they were 
 then to be submitted for final approval to the king in 
 council, and were to take effect as soon as approved, or, 
 if not disapproved, at the end of three years. 
 
 The powers of the government thus organized inclu 
 ded the making of all treaties with the Indians for the 
 purchase of their lands, the regulation of the Indian trade, 
 and making war and peace with any of the tribes ; the 
 formation of new settlements, and the support, defence, 
 and government thereof, until the king should form them 
 into distinct colonies with separate charters ; and the 
 raising, organization, equipment, and pay, of all military 
 forces in the colonies, by land and water, for the common 
 defence, and for the protection of the coasting and fron 
 tier trade. To defray the expenses of this general gov 
 ernment, power was given to lay and collect import du 
 ties and internal taxes, and to appoint a treasurer-gen 
 eral, as well as a special treasurer in each colony, if 
 deemed expedient ; the moneys thus raised to be depos 
 ited in the respective colonial treasuries, subject only to 
 the orders of the general government ; and no payment 
 to be made on account of that government, but on the 
 joint drafts of both branches, or in pursuance of special 
 
PLAN OF UNION. 275 
 
 provision in any act of appropriation. All commissioned 
 military officers, for service on land or water, were to 
 be nominated by the president-general arid approved by 
 the grand council ; and all civil officers to be nominated 
 by the latter and approved by the former. 
 
 The existing civil and military establishments of the 
 respective colonies were to remain unaltered ; and in any 
 sudden exigency, each colony might forthwith defend it 
 self without waiting for the action of the general govern 
 ment ; but all just and proper charges thus incurred were 
 to be reimbursed from the general treasury. Other pro 
 visions were made for carrying the above powers into 
 effect ; and the plan was to be submitted to the several 
 colonial Assemblies for their adoption, and then to be 
 finally ratified by an act of parliament. 
 
 Such were the outlines of the Plan of Union of 1754, 
 the distinctive features of which were derived from Frank 
 lin ; and they bore a much nearer resemblance to the 
 present constitution of the United States, than the Arti 
 cles of Confederation framed by the Continental Con 
 gress in 1777. In that particular most essential of all to 
 its own efficiency, namely, its direct action on the people 
 in laying and collecting the taxes and duties necessary 
 to the accomplishment of its objects, it proceeded on the 
 same principle as the present constitution : whereas, the 
 Confederation of 1777 depended on thirteen separate 
 governments for the quotas of revenue necessary to 
 maintain the federal authority, which, as soon as the ex 
 ternal pressure of war was removed, was, through that 
 dependence, found too weak to sustain itself. Even du 
 ring the war, the chief difficulties arose from that same 
 source ; and it was the common feeling of danger, togeth 
 er with the patriotic spirit of the times, far more than 
 any real vigor in the government, that enabled the assert- 
 ors of American independence to achieve their purposes. 
 
276 
 
 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 But the people of the colonies in 1754 were not yet 
 ripe for so efficient a scheme of government, or so close 
 a union. They needed not only some twenty years more 
 experience of the evils of dependence on a foreign pow 
 er, to prepare them fully for independence, but, in ad 
 dition thereto, the still further experience of the weak 
 ness and perils of a loose and inefficient confederation of 
 states, to prepare them for actual union and a real gov 
 ernment, endowed with sufficient powers either to insure 
 internal order and tranquillity, or to provide for their com 
 mon defence against external aggression, or enable them 
 to develop, in peace and security, the resources of the 
 country. 
 
 The result was that the plan, upon being submitted to 
 the several colonial Assemblies, was rejected, chiefly on 
 the alleged grounds that it conceded too much to the 
 royal prerogative, and would endanger the liberties of 
 the colonies ; while the British board of trade, the chan 
 nel through which it was to be presented to the king in 
 council, were so jealous of its republican principles, and 
 of the powers it conferred upon the colonies, that they 
 did not even lay it before his majesty. Governor Ham 
 ilton, of Pennsylvania, when he communicated it to the 
 Assembly of that province, did indeed express himself 
 in favor of the plan, as being " drawn up with great clear 
 ness and strength of judgment." The Assembly, how 
 ever, through the management of a member, whose name 
 is not given, but who was no friend to Franklin, very un 
 fairly took up the plan in the absence of the latter, and 
 rejected it without examination. 
 
 In referring to this matter long after, Franklin him 
 self remarks that the opposite reasons for rejecting his 
 plan of union led him to consider it as having hit just 
 about the true medium : and as nobody at that time en 
 tertained any design of separation, but simply and in 
 
VIEWS OP THE BRITISH CABINET. 277 
 
 good faith sought the most effectual and least burden 
 some means of protecting the colonies and promoting 
 their best interests, in connection with those of the mother- 
 country, he always adhered to the opinion that it would 
 have proved happy for both parties if his plan had been 
 adopted ; for by such a union, the colonies being enabled 
 to defend themselves, no troops from England would 
 have been needed, and the pretext for taxing the colonies 
 by act of parliament, with its consequences would have 
 been avoided. 
 
 In the autumn of 1754, Franklin made a visit of sev 
 eral weeks to the east. During his stay in Boston he 
 had various private conferences with Shirley, then gov 
 ernor of Massachusetts, relative not only to the Albany 
 plan of union, but to another one contemplated by the 
 British cabinet, though not yet publicly broached, under 
 which the colonial governors, attended respectively by 
 one or more members of their executive councils, were 
 to meet, from time to time, to take general measures for 
 the defence of the colonies and the protection of their 
 trade ; with authority to erect such forts and raise such 
 troops as they should judge requisite, the expense of 
 which was to be paid, in the first instance, from the im 
 perial treasury, but to be subsequently reimbursed by 
 taxes levied upon the colonies by act of parliament. In 
 those conferences, the feasibility of some scheme for the 
 representation of the colonies in parliament was also con 
 sidered. Franklin, at the request of Governor Shirley, 
 put his views on these subjects in writing, in the form 
 of letters to the governor. In those letters, the conse 
 quences of the ministerial projects for the taxation and 
 government of the colonies are pointed out with pro 
 phetic sagacity as well as eminent ability ; and the great 
 principles which ultimately led to American indepen 
 dence are distinctly and boldly asserted. 
 24 
 
278 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 At the period now spoken of, France, it will be rec 
 ollected, held the Canadas and Louisiana, and was aim 
 ing to connect those two great colonies by means of set 
 tlements and military posts on the great lakes and prin 
 cipal rivers beyond the Allegany mountains. She thus 
 designed to acquire the control of the western Indian 
 tribes, monopolize the trade with them, prevent the ex 
 tension of British settlements in that direction, and com 
 mand the entire frontier, as well as the two great routes 
 of the future internal commerce of America by the wa 
 ters of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The suc 
 cess of that policy would have been most injurious, not 
 to say fatal, to the English colonies and the whole circle 
 of British interests in America. 
 
 No man understood all this better than Franklin, or 
 exhibited a wiser foresight in pointing out the means of 
 protecting the colonies and placing their interests, and 
 with them the true interests of the mother-country in 
 America, on the most secure and permanent basis. As 
 one of the most effectual of such means, he drew up a 
 plan for the settlement of two new colonies west of the 
 Alleganies, to occupy the extensive and fertile regions 
 on both sides of the Ohio, and between that river, the 
 great lakes, and the Mississippi. Franklin s views on 
 this subject, though the paper containing them is not 
 dated, must have been put into the form now mentioned 
 not long after the separation of the Albany convention, 
 and, as it is supposed, at the request of Thomas Pow- 
 nall, better known at a later day as Governor Pownall, 
 who was in Albany during the sitting of the convention, 
 and who in 1757 succeeded Shirley as governor of Mas 
 sachusetts. In 1756, Pownall, having returned to Eng 
 land, prepared a memorial on the same subject, which, 
 together with the plan drawn up by Franklin and sus 
 tained by the weightiest reasons, he presented to a mem- 
 
PLAN FOR NEW COLONIES. 279 
 
 ber of the royal family, to be submitted to his majesty in 
 council. The war with France, commonly referred to 
 in this country, since the Revolution, as " the old French 
 war," had, however, commenced the year before, and it 
 was then no time to begin the foundation of new settle 
 ments in one of the most exposed regions of America ; 
 but if, by the conquest of the Canadas, as the richest 
 fruit of that war, some of the reasons for the proposed 
 new colonies were rendered less urgent, yet others re 
 mained in full force, and were quite sufficient to com 
 mend the scheme to early adoption on the return of 
 peace. The scheme did, indeed, ultimately receive the 
 sanction of the British cabinet ; but it was at so late a 
 period, that the disputes between the colonies and the 
 mother-country, then deeply agitating the public mind 
 on both sides of the Atlantic, hindered any attempt to 
 execute a project which was finally rendered alike need 
 less and impossible by the result of our revolutionary 
 war. The broad territories proposed thus to be occu 
 pied and brought under British jurisdiction, have since 
 furnished room for seven free, independent, and flourish 
 ing states of this Union ; and their history has more than 
 justified Franklin s high estimate of the value of that 
 whole region, and of the importance, even at that early 
 day, of bringing it under the actual occupation of British 
 settlers, and establishing among the native tribes the as 
 cendency of British influence. 
 
 During Franklin s absence on his visit to Boston, as 
 already mentioned, in the latter part of 1754, Pennsyl 
 vania received a new governor, Robert Hunter Morris, 
 in place of James Hamilton, who, wearied by perpetual 
 controversy with the Assembly, had resigned his office. 
 Franklin, on his way eastward, had met Mr. Morris in 
 New York, where he had just arrived from England with 
 his commission. Having been previously well acquaint- 
 
280 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ed with each other, Morris, in the course of conversa 
 tion, asked if he was to expect as quarrelsome and un 
 comfortable an administration as Hamilton s had been. 
 " No," said Franklin, " you may have a very comfortable 
 one, if you will only take care not to enter into any dis 
 pute with the Assembly." Morris, with the good humor 
 that belonged to his character, replied that he loved dis 
 puting, but that, to show his regard for Franklin s moni 
 tion, he would avoid controversy if possible. 
 
 When Franklin returned, however, and again took his 
 seat in the Assembly, he found that body and the gover 
 nor warmly engaged in controversy ; and so it continued 
 throughout the administration. Franklin held so promi 
 nent a position in the house as well as in the community 
 at large, that he was not only on every committee ap 
 pointed to answer the speeches and messages of the gov 
 ernor, but was uniformly designated by the committees 
 to draft the answers on the part of the Assembly. " Our 
 answers, as well as his speeches," says Franklin, " were 
 often tart, and sometimes indecently abusive ; and as he 
 knew I wrote for the Assembly, one might have im 
 agined that when we met, we could hardly avoid cutting 
 throats. But he was so good-natured a man, that no 
 personal difference between him and me was occasioned 
 by the contest, and we often dined together." 
 
 Pennsylvania, it should be remembered, was what was 
 called a proprietary province, William Penn being not 
 only the founder and original Proprietary, but the real 
 governor, with power to appoint a deputy to reside in 
 the province and exercise the functions, pursuant to the 
 instructions, of his principal. Upon the death of Wil 
 liam, his sons John, Thomas, and Richard, became as 
 well the successors to his political authority as the heirs 
 of his private estates in the province ; John, as the eld 
 est of the three, receiving, under the will of their fa- 
 
PROPRIETARY INSTRUCTIONS. 281 
 
 ther, two shares of the four into which those estates were 
 divided, and Thomas and Richard one each. Before the 
 time reached in our narrative, however, John had died, 
 leaving his estates to Thomas, who thus became pos 
 sessed of three of the shares originally set out by his 
 father, while Richard had but one. Thomas, moreover, 
 being a more capable and efficient man than Richard, 
 and having so much larger pecuniary interests in the 
 province, the proprietary authority and influence fell 
 chiefly into his hands. The contests between the pro 
 vincial Assembly and the deputy-governors, (commonly 
 styled governors, inasmuch as the principals resided for 
 the most part in London,) were almost always traceable 
 directly to the instructions referred to, and especially in 
 relation to taxes ; for when money was needed even for 
 the defence of the province, or any other general pur 
 poses, in which the Proprietaries, by reason of their 
 great possessions, were far more deeply interested than 
 anybody else in the security and growth of the popula 
 tion, they were unjust and mean enough to require their 
 governors, under heavy penal bonds, executed at the 
 time of receiving their appointments, to refuse their as 
 sent to any act of taxation, unless their own estates were 
 expressly exempted. 
 
 Such instructions and requirements, it is easy to see, 
 must have excited the liveliest and most just indignation 
 in the people of the province and their representatives, 
 and have greatly embarrassed the action of the provin 
 cial government. They were, however, sometimes eva 
 ded, as in the following instance, which, besides its in 
 trinsic interest, serves to illustrate the character and 
 resources of Franklin s mind too well to be omitted. 
 
 War with France, though not formally proclaimed, 
 having in fact commenced, as already intimated, the Mas 
 sachusetts authorities, early in 1755, projected an expe- 
 24* 
 
282 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 dition to Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, to resist 
 the encroachments of the French in that quarter ; and 
 they despatched agents to other colonies to ask for aid. 
 The agent sent to Pennsylvania was Josiah Quincy, of 
 a family distinguished for its patriotic zeal, and one 
 of the firmest, ablest, and most enlightened men of that 
 time. Knowing Franklin not only as a Bostonian by 
 birth, but for his great abilities and high standing in both 
 the Assembly and the community, Mr. Quincy presented 
 himself first to him, to confer with him on the subject 
 of his mission and the best mode of bringing it forward. 
 It was concluded that the object of Mr. Quincy s visit 
 should be presented in a written communication, drawn 
 up in the manner suggested by Franklin, and addressed 
 directly to the Assembly. The application was well re 
 ceived, and promptly answered by a vote of the Assem 
 bly granting an aid of ten thousand pounds, to be ex 
 pended in purchasing provisions for the projected expe 
 dition. 
 
 But the bill making this grant included other sums, to 
 the amount of fifteen thousand pounds, for the public ser 
 vice, and the whole was to be raised by taxation. When 
 the bill, therefore, came before the governor, he, alleging 
 as usual his instructions, refused his assent to the bill, 
 because it did not exempt the proprietary estates from 
 its operation ; and Mr. Quincy s utmost efforts to per 
 suade him to waive his objection were unavailing. In 
 this dilemma, Franklin proposed that the money for Mas 
 sachusetts should be raised by means of drafts on the 
 trustees of the loan-office, (from which the provincial 
 paper-money was issued,) which drafts the Assembly 
 had authority to make, independently of the governor; 
 but as there was scarcely any money then in the loan- 
 office, the drafts should be made payable at the end of 
 the year, with five per cent, interest, and secured by a 
 
AID TO MASSACHUSETTS. 283 
 
 pledge of the fund derived from the interest accruing on 
 all the provincial paper-money then in circulation, and 
 from the excises then collected. 
 
 These revenues were well known to be more than suf 
 ficient to meet the drafts ; the plan was promptly adopted 
 by the Assembly, and the drafts when issued were in 
 such high credit that they were not only readily taken in 
 direct payment for provisions, but moneyed men, who 
 had cash on hand, gladly purchased them as a temporary 
 investment, for the sake of the interest upon them, know 
 ing that they could readily sell them again whenever they 
 might wish to employ their money in some other way. 
 This business being thus successfully accomplished, Mr. 
 Quincy addressed an appropriate letter of thanks to the 
 Assembly, and, filled with warm and lasting esteem for 
 Franklin, returned to Boston, highly gratified with the 
 result of his mission. 
 
284 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 FRANKLIN S SERVICES TO BRADDOCK GNADENHUTTEN 
 
 AND THE FRONTIER INCIDENTS AND SENTIMENTS 
 
 NEW MILITARY ORGANIZATION GOVERNOR DENNY 
 
 GOLD MEDAL LORD LOUDON FRANKLIN SENT TO 
 
 ENGLAND AS AGENT FOR THE PROVINCE. 
 
 IN the spring of 1755, Franklin signalized his per 
 sonal influence, ability, and public spirit, in another 
 branch of the public service. General Braddock, of 
 unfortunate memory, had arrived early that spring, at 
 Alexandria, Virginia, with two regiments of regular 
 troops from England, and had advanced to Frederick- 
 town, Maryland, where he encamped to wait for teams, 
 which he had sent out agents to collect, in the back set 
 tlements of Maryland and Virginia, for the purpose of 
 conveying provisions and other stores for the troops on 
 their march to the frontier. The Pennsylvania Assembly 
 having some reason to suppose that Braddock had been 
 led, by false representations, to misconceive their dispo 
 sition to promote the public service, were anxious to 
 disabuse his mind on that point, and for this purpose 
 desired Franklin to pay him a visit. He was to go, 
 however, not ostensibly as their agent, but as the head 
 of the colonial postoffice department, in order to concert 
 arrangements for expediting the general s official corre 
 spondence with the public authorities of the adjacent 
 colonies, and the expenses of which they would defray. 
 
 Franklin, who promptly undertook the mission, found 
 
VISIT TO BRADDOCK. 285 
 
 Braddock at Fredericktown, full of impatience for the 
 arrival of the much-needed teams ; and remaining with 
 him several days, in constant intercourse, was entirely 
 successful in correcting his erroneous impressions re 
 specting the Assembly, by showing him how they had 
 acted, and what they were ready to do, in aid of his 
 plans. As Franklin was on the point of leaving him, 
 Braddock s agents came in, reporting that they had been 
 able to engage but twenty-five teams, and that some even 
 of that small number were poorly fitted for efficient ser 
 vice. This result surprised the general and his officers. 
 They pronounced the expedition wholly impracticable, 
 as at least six times the number reported were indispen 
 sable ; and they denounced the ministry for their igno 
 rance in ordering them to a country which could furnish 
 no means of conveyance. Franklin took the occasion to 
 express his regret that the troops had not been directed 
 to Pennsylvania, where almost every farmer kept a wag 
 on. To this remark Braddock eagerly responded, say 
 ing to Franklin, that as he was a man of influence there, 
 he could probably procure the necessary teams, and 
 pressing him to undertake the business. Upon inquiring 
 on what terms the teams were to be raised, Franklin, at 
 the general s request, made a brief statement in writing 
 of such terms as he deemed reasonable ; and these being 
 approved, he was forthwith furnished with the requisite 
 authority and instructions, and departed. 
 
 On reaching Lancaster, he issued advertisements, da 
 ted the 25th of April, 1755, stating that he was empow 
 ered to make contracts for one hundred and fifty wagons, 
 with four horses and a driver to each ; and for fifteen 
 hundred pack-horses ; naming the days on which he 
 would be at Lancaster and York to execute such con 
 tracts, and that he had sent his son into Cumberland for 
 the same purpose. To give additional efficacy to his 
 
LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 advertisements, he published an address to the people, 
 appealing to their public spirit, assuring them that the 
 proposed service would be neither burdensome nor haz 
 ardous ; that the contracts would put in circulation more 
 than thirty thousand pounds, to the great advantage of 
 the community ; that the troops sent over the sea for 
 their defence, could not act without the means called for, 
 which, if not furnished by voluntary contract, would be 
 taken by a forced levy, to the great annoyance and in 
 jury of the inhabitants ; and that he had himself no pe 
 cuniary interest in the matter, as he should receive no 
 compensation for his services, except only the satisfac 
 tion arising from endeavors to be useful. 
 
 Franklin received from Braddock eight hundred 
 pounds, to pay such advances as might become indis 
 pensable to secure the object ; but this proving too little, 
 he not only paid the further sum of two hundred pounds 
 of his own money, but found himself constrained to back 
 the contracts by giving his own bonds for their perform 
 ance ; the farmers alleging that they knew nothing of 
 Braddock, or how far they could rely on his faith, or 
 means of payment. This was not all. Learning, while 
 at the camp, that the subaltern officers in the expedition 
 were generally in straitened circumstances, and could 
 not afford to supply themselves with many of the stores 
 that might become necessary for their comfort on their 
 march through the forests, Franklin, without imparting 
 his design to any one, wrote to a committee of the Penn 
 sylvania assembly, which had the control of a small fund, 
 stating the condition of the officers in question, and 
 urging the committee to make them a present of sup 
 plies of the kind needed. The committee complied so 
 promptly that these stores arrived in camp at the same 
 time with the wagons and pack-horses, and were received 
 with the most grateful acknowledgments. General 
 
CHARACTER OF BRADDOCK. 287 
 
 Braddock also expressed his obligations to Franklin for 
 the important services he had rendered, cheerfully re 
 paid his private disbursements, and earnestly requested 
 his further aid in forwarding provisions during the march 
 of his troops to the frontier. Franklin consented, and 
 continued his valuable services, until the expedition ter 
 minated in that overwhelming disaster so well known as 
 "Braddock s defeat." 
 
 In rendering these services, Franklin not only gave 
 his most efficient personal efforts, but he actually paid 
 out upward of a thousand pounds sterling of his own 
 money. Fortunately for him, his accounts for these ad 
 vances reached Braddock a few days prior to the disas 
 ter referred to, and the general immediately remitted an 
 order on the paymaster of his forces for the round thou 
 sand, leaving the balance for another opportunity. 
 
 Franklin, who saw a good deal of Braddock, speaks 
 of him in the following terms : " This general was, I 
 think, a brave man, and might probably have made a 
 figure as a good officer in some European war. But he 
 had too much self-confidence, too high an opinion of the 
 validity of regular troops, and too mean a one of both 
 Americans and Indians. George Croghan, an Indian 
 interpreter, joined him on his march with one hundred 
 of those people, who might have been of great use to 
 his army, as guides and scouts, if he had treated them 
 kindly ; but he slighted and neglected them, and they 
 gradually left him." Talking of his designs one day to 
 Franklin, he said, "After taking Fort Du Quesne, [where 
 Pittsburg now stands,] I am to proceed to Niagara ; and 
 having taken that, to Frontenac, if the season will allow 
 time, as I suppose it will ; for Du Quesne can hardly de 
 tain me above three or four days ; and then I see noth 
 ing to obstruct my march to Niagara." To this, Frank 
 lin modestly replied : " To be sure, sir, if you arrive well 
 
LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 before Du Quesne with these fine troops so well provi 
 ded with artillery, the post, though completely fortified, 
 and with a very strong garrison, can probably make but 
 a short resistance. The only danger I apprehend of ob 
 struction to your march is from the ambuscades of the 
 Indians, who are dexterous in laying and executing them : 
 and the slender line, nearly four miles long, which your 
 army must make, may expose it to be attacked by sur 
 prise on its flanks, and cut like a thread into pieces, which, 
 from their distance, can not support each other." Brad- 
 dock, with a self-complacent smile, answered, " These sav 
 ages may indeed be formidable to your raw American mi 
 litia ; but upon the king s regular and disciplined troops, 
 sir, it is impossible they should make any impression." 
 
 Such blind self-confidence and lamentable ignorance 
 of the true nature of the service undertaken, as well as 
 of the character of the enemy to be encountered, made 
 all further suggestions useless : they could be cured only 
 by one of those crushing disasters which are their legiti 
 mate consequence, and Franklin said no more. But the 
 very first intimation this unfortunate commander had of 
 the presence of " these savages," was the opening of 
 their deadly fire upon him from their ambuscade, which 
 ended in laying upward of seven hundred of his men 
 dead on the field of battle, and in his being himself car 
 ried from it mortally wounded ; while all that was done 
 in the way of rallying and saving even the wreck of the 
 army, was accomplished by the " raw American militia," 
 commanded by a young American colonel named George 
 Washington. Captain Orme, one of Braddock s aids, se 
 verely wounded, was carried from the field with him, and 
 continued near him during the two days he survived. 
 That officer afterward told Franklin that the general re 
 mained silent all the first day till night, when he only 
 said, " Who would have thought it 1" that he was again 
 
BRITISH REGULARS. 289 
 
 silent the next day until near its close, when he said, " We 
 shall know better how to deal with them another time" 
 and in a few minutes after expired. 
 
 Upon the death of Braddock, the command of his 
 forces devolved upon Colonel Dunbar, who had been left 
 in rear with a strong reserve and the principal part of 
 the stores. When the fugitives from the battle readied 
 the camp, they communicated their panic so effectually 
 to Dunbar and his men, that, after destroying their stores, 
 to have more horses to aid their flight, the whole body, 
 still numbering over a thousand, with their commander 
 at their head, instead of moving forward to meet the en 
 emy, consisting of some four or five hundred Indians and 
 French, and to retrieve the honor of " the king s regular 
 and disciplined troops," or to protect the frontier, as half 
 their number of "raw American militia" would have 
 done, if as well equipped and provisioned, used their 
 very best diligence to reach the settlements, and could 
 not, indeed, be persuaded to stop till they were safe in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 This pusillanimous and precipitate retreat, though dis 
 graceful to Dunbar and his forces, and though it in 
 creased, for the time, the danger of the frontier settle 
 ments, taught the colonists a most useful lesson, inasmuch 
 as the whole affair, in the words of Franklin, " gave us 
 Americans the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of 
 the prowess of British regular troops had not been well 
 founded." This lesson, moreover, was further enforced 
 by the conduct of the same troops while on their advance 
 from the seaboard into the interior, during which they 
 committed great outrages, rifling many inhabitants of 
 their property, " besides insulting, abusing, and confining 
 the people," says Franklin, "if they remonstrated j" and 
 he adds, " This was enough to put us out of conceit of 
 such defenders, if we had really wanted any." 
 25 
 
290 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Upon the surprise and defeat of Braddock, his corre 
 spondence and other papers fell into the hands of the 
 French, who, for the purpose of showing the hostile de 
 signs of the English government before the war actually 
 broke out, subsequently published some of them, in 
 which Franklin had the well-deserved satisfaction of 
 seeing that the unlucky general had dealt by him with 
 honor and good faith, in not only appreciating justly his 
 services to the expedition, but in warmly recommending 
 him to the notice of the British ministry ; though, in con 
 sequence of the unhappy issue of Braddock s enterprise, 
 or for some other reason, those recommendations were 
 never acted on. "As to rewards from Braddock him 
 self," says Franklin, " I asked only one, which was, that 
 he would give orders to his officers not to enlist any more 
 of our bought servants, and that he would discharge such 
 as had been already enlisted. This he readily granted, 
 and several were returned to their masters on my appli 
 cation." Dunbar, however, behaved very differently ; 
 for although on Franklin s application to him, in Phila 
 delphia, to discharge the servants of certain farmers of 
 very limited means in Lancaster county, he promised to 
 restore them to their masters if the latter would present 
 themselves to him at Trenton, on his intended march to 
 New York, yet when they came he broke his promise. 
 
 The servants here meant, it should be observed, were 
 such as have been more generally known as " redemp- 
 tioners." They were poor emigrants from Europe, who 
 sold their personal service for a specific term of years, as 
 their only means of paying the expenses of emigration 
 and securing employment afterward, by which they could 
 redeem or buy out their time and make other provision 
 for themselves. They stood in something like the same 
 relation to those who thus purchased their service, as in 
 dented apprentices to their masters ; and the enlistment 
 
PERILS OP SURETYSHIP. 291 
 
 of them, without the consent of their masters, was a griev 
 ance similar to that of enlisting apprentices in the same 
 way. 
 
 Not only did Franklin receive no compensation for 
 his great services to Braddock and his troops, but those 
 very services came near stripping him of his property. 
 Having, as already stated, given his own bonds as surety 
 for the payment of all loss and damage of the horses and 
 wagons furnished to transport the various supplies for 
 those troops, when the loss of the property thus furnished 
 was known, the owners came directly upon him for their 
 pay ; and it was only after much exertion and anxiety 
 that he was relieved from his hazardous position by Gen 
 eral Shirley, then commander-in-chief of the king s forces 
 in America, on whom this and much other business left 
 unsettled by Braddock devolved, and by whose orders 
 these claims, amounting to nearly twenty thousand 
 pounds, were examined and paid. 
 
 Many testimonies, besides those already adverted to, 
 are extant, showing the great value of Franklin s services 
 to Braddock and to the public, and the high esteem in 
 which he was held, not only by General Shirley and other 
 high British functionaries in the colonies, but also by the 
 people of Pennsylvania and their Assembly. General 
 Shirley, who, though governor of Massachusetts, was 
 then with a British force at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, 
 in his letter to Franklin, dated the 17th of September, 
 1755, announcing the orders he had issued for ascertain 
 ing and paying the above-mentioned claims, assures him 
 that if he had earlier understood the position in which 
 he was placed, he should sooner have enabled him to 
 fulfil the contracts in question, " not only because com 
 mon justice demanded it, but because such public-spirited 
 services deserve the highest encouragement ;" and, al 
 though much pressed by business preparatory to his de- 
 
292 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 parture for Niagara, he adds that he "can not conclude 
 without assuring" him that he lias " the highest sense of 
 his public services in general." A letter from Israel 
 Pemberton, a Quaker of Philadelphia, to Dr. Fothergil], 
 of London, after mentioning various instances of Frank 
 lin s public labors at the same period, speaks of his pres 
 ence in the back settlements of Pennsylvania, while pro 
 curing teams for Braddock, as the providential means of 
 averting, especially from the Quakers, the outrages which 
 would otherwise have ensued from a forced levy of wag 
 ons, horses, and men, by the " madman," Sir John St. 
 Clair, quartermaster-general of the expedition ; and adds : 
 " Franklin s conduct throughout this affair was very pru 
 dent, and indeed he was the only person who was alone 
 equal to it. The Assembly, sitting immediately after his 
 return home, unanimously thanked him for it. The sat 
 isfaction of serving a people whom he respects, and his 
 quick sense of the injurious treatment they meet with, 
 animated Franklin so effectually, that I am in hopes it 
 will engage him to act steadily and zealously in our de 
 fence." 
 
 Franklin s exertions to promote the public service were 
 as efficient in the Assembly as they had been among the 
 people. In one important particular, however, it was 
 exceedingly difficult to render any exertions available. 
 Every bill passed by the Assembly for raising money by 
 tax for the common defence and welfare was vetoed by 
 the governor, pursuant to his instructions, for not ex 
 empting the estates of the Proprietaries. In ordinary and 
 peaceful times, this gross injustice attracted but little at 
 tention out of Pennsylvania ; but in the emergency which 
 followed Braddock s defeat, the exposed condition of the 
 colonists, and the necessity for supplies, drew upon the 
 Proprietaries the indignation of many in England, some 
 of whom openly insisted that, in thus obstructing the de- 
 
VOLUNTEER MILITIA. 293 
 
 fence of the province, by refusing to bear their equal and 
 just share of the necessary cost of that defence, the Pro 
 prietaries forfeited their rights under the charter. This 
 alarmed them to such a degree, that they sent orders to 
 the receiver of their revenues in Pennsylvania to pay 
 into the provincial treasury five thousand pounds in ad 
 dition to such sums as should be raised by the Assembly 
 for public purposes. This being certified to that body, 
 it was agreed, in view of the existing public exigency, 
 to regard it as equivalent to so much money levied by a 
 general tax ; and an act was forthwith passed for raising 
 sixty thousand pounds, which, as it exempted the Pro 
 prietary estates, was signed by the governor. 
 
 Franklin having taken an active part in framing and 
 passing this act, was appointed one of seven commission 
 ers for directing the expenditure of the money. While 
 this measure was pending, he prepared another bill, which 
 also became a law, for organizing a body of militia by 
 voluntary enlistment. To avert the opposition of the 
 Quakers to the latter bill, they were exempted from its 
 operation; while, for the purpose of recommending his 
 plan of organizing the military force contemplated by it 
 to the public generally, he wrote and published an able 
 tract, in the form of a dialogue, in which he stated and 
 answered, with marked effect, as the result gave him 
 good reason to believe, all the objections he understood 
 to be urged against it. 
 
 While the organization and training of this militia were 
 going on, Franklin was persuaded by Governor Morris 
 to accept a commission, with ample powers to raise, or 
 ganize, and station a military force, and erect forts, for 
 the protection of the northwestern frontier of Pennsyl 
 vania. The selection of his subordinate officers, among 
 whom it is gratifying to find that the intrepid Wayne 
 was one of the captains, was also submitted to himself 
 25* 
 
294 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 alone, blank commissions for them being furnished by 
 the governor ; and the troops, to the number of five hun 
 dred, to be raised for this purpose, were to be stationed 
 at his discretion, and employed in such manner as he 
 should direct. The men were soon raised, and his son 
 William, who had been a subaltern officer in the prece 
 ding war, became very serviceable to him as his aid-de 
 camp. 
 
 The frontier to be protected was the extensive district 
 stretching northeasterly and southwesterly about midway 
 between the Delaware and Susquehannah rivers, now 
 principally included in the counties of Pike, Monroe, 
 Northampton, Schuylkill, and Lebanon, and drained 
 chiefly by the livers Schuylkill and Lehigh, with their 
 tributaries, and other smaller streams flowing to the Del 
 aware. Franklin ordered his troops to rendezvous at 
 Bethlehem, on the Lehigh, the chief town of the Mora 
 vians, whose inhabitants, though a pacific people, had 
 taken such alarm at the recent burning and massacre by 
 the Indians at Gnadenhutten, one of their back settle 
 ments, that they had surrounded their larger buildings, 
 which were of stone, with stockades, and had even sup 
 plied the chambers of their -^tone houses with piles of 
 stones intended for the women to cast upon the Indians, 
 if assailed, while a regular watch was kept up by patrols 
 of armed brethren; so that when Franklin arrived there, 
 he found the place well prepared for defence. 
 
 The plan for the general protection of the frontier was 
 to erect three forts or strong blockhouses : one at Gnad 
 enhutten ; another at a distance of fifteen or twenty miles 
 further north in the direction of a post called Fort Ham 
 ilton, previously established on or nearBroadhead s creek, 
 and not far from the head- waters of the Lackawaxen ; 
 and the other at about the same distance southwardly in 
 the direction of Fort Lebanon, erected at an earlier dav 
 
THE FRONTIER. 295 
 
 near the forks of the Schuylkill. The post at Gnaden- 
 hutten was to be the principal one, from which both men 
 and supplies were to be sent, as occasion might require, 
 to the smaller garrisons to be placed in the other forts, 
 and a corps of mounted rangers was to be kept moving 
 from post to post along the whole line, which would thus 
 be extended from a point on the Delaware not far from 
 the confluence of the Lackawaxen, nearly or quite to the 
 Susquehannah in the neighborhood of Middletown. 
 
 To execute his plan, Franklin determined to proceed 
 first to Gnadenhutten with the main body of his force, and 
 having established that post, send out detachments each 
 way to construct the other two, which he could easily cover 
 and supply from the principal garrison. He left Bethle 
 hem with his troops on Friday, January 16, 1756, accom 
 panied by seven wagons with provisions and other stores. 
 His route was up the valley of the Lehigh ; the road was 
 rough, the weather rainy, the march toilsome ; and the gap 
 of the mountain, through which the Lehigh makes its way, 
 exposed the party to great danger of being cut off, had a 
 resolute and active enemy taken advantage of that rough 
 and narrow pass. The order of march, however, was 
 arranged with such good judgment, and conducted with 
 such vigilance, that although two Indian scouts came so 
 near one night as to draw the fire of a sentinel, the whole 
 party reached Gnadenhutteu on the third day about noon, 
 in safety and good spirits ; and by nightfall they were 
 encamped under cover of a good breastwork constructed 
 during the afternoon. 
 
 Thomas Lloyd, who was in the expedition, and kept 
 a diary, describes Gnadenhutten, when they reached it, 
 as presenting " one continued scene of horror and de 
 struction. Where lately flourished a happy and peace 
 ful village, it was now all silent and desolate : the houses 
 burnt ; the inhabitants butchered in the most shocking 
 
296 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 manner ; their mangled bodies, for want of burial, ex 
 posed to birds and beasts of prey ; and all kinds of mis 
 chief perpetrated that wanton cruelty could invent. We 
 have omitted nothing that can contribute to the happi 
 ness and security of the district ; and Mr. Franklin will 
 at least deserve a statue for his prudence, justice, human 
 ity, and above all for his patience." 
 
 As soon as they had provided for the security of their 
 temporary camp, they went vigorously to work to con 
 struct their fort ; and notwithstanding it rained so much 
 of the time as materially to retard their labor, yet before 
 the end of a week it was completed. The fort consisted 
 of a strong stockade made of palisades about a foot in 
 diameter, set three feet in the ground, rising twelve feet 
 above it and sharpened at top, with a platform inside all 
 round at half the height, and two ranges of loopholes for 
 musketry, to fire through from the ground and from the 
 platform ; and comfortable log-houses within for the shel 
 ter of the garrison. The area enclosed was one hundr.ed 
 and twenty-five feet in length by fifty in width. In a 
 letter to a friend, dated at Gnadenhutten, the 25th of Jan 
 uary, 1756, Franklin, after describing the rapid progress 
 of the work, says : " This day we hoisted our flag, made 
 a general discharge of our muskets, which had been long 
 loaded, and of our two swivels, and named the place 
 Fort Allen, in honor of our old friend." 
 
 Franklin was here in a new position ; but, as in every 
 other scene of his active life, it served only to place in a 
 new light the value of his clear practical understanding 
 with other admirable qualities of his well-proportioned 
 nature, and to furnish new matter of observation to his 
 ever- vigil ant mind. The important service committed 
 to his charge was promptly and discreetly performed, 
 and in his narrative of it he takes occasion to remark, 
 among other things useful to be noted by all who have 
 
FORT ALLEN AND THE INDIANS. 297 
 
 the direction of any considerable bodies of men, that they 
 were most contented and tractable when fully employed ; 
 that while at work they were cheerful and efficient, ex 
 ecuting their duties well ; but when for any reason their 
 labors were suspended, they grew captious and quarrel 
 some, grumbling at their provisions, and in continual ill 
 humor ; reminding him, as he says, of the sea-captain, 
 whose rule it was to keep his crew busy, and who, when 
 his mate told him one day that there was nothing for 
 them to do, gave order that they should scour the an 
 chor. 
 
 As soon as the fort was finished and a cover thus pro 
 vided in case of need, detachments from the garrison 
 oegan to reconnoitre the adjacent country. No Indians 
 were seen, but marks of their recent neighborhood were 
 detected in various places, where they had been lurking, 
 to watch what was going forward in and around the fort. 
 One of their expedients, white thus engaged, for securing 
 comfort, without betraying their place of concealment, 
 was so ingenious, that Franklin describes it. The sea 
 son made a fire necessary ; but a fire kindled in the usual 
 way on the surface of the ground being unsafe, they dug 
 holes in the earth two or three feet in depth and width, 
 in the bottoms of which they made small fires of char 
 coal chipped with their hatchets from burnt logs and 
 stumps. Round these they sat with their legs hanging 
 down from the knees, and their feet just above the coals, 
 thus securing a very essential condition of rapid move 
 ment, while there was neither flame nor smoke to betray 
 them. The prints of their bodies as thus disposed were 
 plainly seen round several such holes ; but they were too 
 few, it appeared, to expect any advantage from an attack 
 on the garrison, or even its scouting-parties. 
 
 By the time Franklin had effected the arrangements 
 for guarding the back settlements, he received a com- 
 
298 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 munication from Governor Morris, informing him that 
 the Assembly had been summoned to meet, and wishing 
 him to attend, if he could prudently leave the frontier. 
 He received various letters also from his private friends, 
 to the same effect ; and as the back settlers now felt 
 pretty secure on their farms, he determined to return 
 home. He did so the more readily, to quote his own 
 words, " as a New-England officer, Colonel Clapham, 
 experienced in Indian warfare, being on a visit at Fort 
 Allen, consented to accept the command." Having pa 
 raded the troops, therefore, he read to them the commis 
 sion he had prepared for Clapham ; introduced him to 
 them as a skilful officer, better qualified than himself for 
 the command of such a post ; and adding some friendly 
 and cheering words of exhortation and encouragement, 
 took leave, accompanied by an escort as far as Beth 
 lehem. 
 
 While at Gnadenhutteiv Franklin received from Phil 
 adelphia, through the considerate affection and hospitable 
 bounty of Mrs. Franklin, various consignments of cold 
 roast-meats, mince-pies, apples, and other table-comforts, 
 which he shared freely with those about him ; and, in his 
 letters to his wife, he gives a pleasant account of his sit 
 uation, showing that the same buoyant and kindly nature 
 that made his home a happy one, served also to impart 
 a tone of cheerfulness to life at Fort Allen. " We have," 
 says he, under date of January 25, 1756, " enjoyed your 
 roast beef, and this day began on your roast veal. All 
 agree that they are both the best that ever were of the 
 kind. Your citizens, that have their dinners hot-and-hot, 
 know nothing of good eating. We find it in much greater 
 perfection when the kitchen is fourscore miles from the 
 dining-room. The apples are extremely welcome, and 
 
 do bravely after our salt pork As to our lodging, 
 
 it is on deal feather-beds, in warm blankets Ev- 
 
HIS DISPOSITION. 299 
 
 ery other day, since we have been here, it has rained 
 
 more or less, to our no small hinderance All the 
 
 things you sent me, from time to time, are safely come 
 to hand, and our living grows every day more comfort 
 able. .... All the gentlemen drink your health at ev 
 ery meal, having always something on the table to put 
 
 them in mind of you We all continue well, and 
 
 much the better for the refreshments you have sent us. 
 In short, we do very well ; for, though there are many 
 things besides what we have, that used to seem neces 
 sary to comfortable living, yet we have learned to do 
 without them." 
 
 In November of the same year, while at Easton, with 
 other commissioners, attending a conference with the 
 headmen of the Delaware Indians, being disappointed in 
 not receiving a line from his wife by a very convenient 
 opportunity, he writes to her in a playful vein of mock 
 resentment, a specimen of which may be pleasant to the 
 reader ; " My dear child," (his usual style of address to 
 her,) " I wrote to you a few days since, by a special 
 messenger, and enclosed letters for all our wives and 
 sweethearts, expecting to hear from you by his return, 
 and to have the northern newspapers and English letters 
 per packet ; but here he is without a scrap for poor us. 
 So I had a good mind not to write you by this opportu 
 nity ; but I can never be ill-natured enough, even when 
 
 there is most occasion I think I won t tell you 
 
 that we are all well, nor that we expect to return home 
 about the middle of the week. My duty to mother, [his 
 wife s mother,] love to children, &c., I am your loving 
 husband. P. S. I have scratched out the loving words, 
 they being writ in haste, by mistake, when \forgot I was 
 angry r 
 
 This buoyancy of spirit, from which cheering influ 
 ences are ever emanating, if not as indispensable, in the 
 
300 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 leader of an enterprise, whether of difficulty or danger, 
 as the ability to plan and command, is at least of high 
 value when associated with such ability, especially when 
 men are placed in unforeseen and unusual circumstances; 
 and Franklin s deportment in relation to his private 
 affairs, as well as in his long career of public service, 
 presents abundant evidence of the union in himself of 
 both qualities. 
 
 In connection with the agreeable indications of char 
 acter just given, it will be interesting to turn for a mo 
 ment to some evidence of Franklin s sentiments and of 
 the tone of his feelings and affections, in relation to sad 
 der and more sober themes. On his return home from 
 the frontier, he received news of the death of his brother 
 John, at Boston. This brother had married, for his sec 
 ond wife, a widow by the name of Hubbard, to whose 
 daughter by her first husband was addressed the letter 
 from which the following passages are taken : 
 
 " I condole with you," says Franklin to Miss Hubbard. 
 " We have lost a most dear and valuable relative. But 
 it is the will of God and nature that these mortal bodies 
 be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life. 
 .... We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us, 
 while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring 
 knowledge, or in doing good to our fellow-creatures, is 
 a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become 
 unfit for these purposes, and afford us pain instead of 
 pleasure, instead of an aid become an incumbrance, and 
 answer none of the intentions for which they were given, 
 it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided 
 by which we may get rid of them. Death is that way." 
 In a letter to his sister Jane and her husband, Edward 
 Mecorn, on occasion of the death of his aged mother, 
 who, in her last years, had been most kindly tended by 
 them, he refers to her in the tcnderest tone of filial 
 
, WJ AFFECTIONS. 301 
 
 affection, and expresses his grateful thanks to them for 
 the personal and long-continued care of her, which his 
 distance put it out of his own power, or that of his family, 
 to bestow ; and in another letter to the same sister, upon 
 the death of one of her children, he says : " I am pleased 
 to find that, in your troubles, you do not overlook the 
 mercies of God, and that you consider, as such, the chil 
 dren still spared to you. This is a right temper of mind, 
 and must be acceptable to that beneficent Being, who is, 
 in various ways, continually showering down his bles 
 sings upon many who receive them as things of course, 
 and feel no grateful sentiments arising in their hearts on 
 the enjoyment of them." 
 
 His respect and affection for his mother were strong, 
 and manifested themselves among other ways in frequent 
 presents that contributed to her comfort and solace in 
 her advancing years. In one of his letters to her, for 
 example, he sends her a moidore, a gold piece of the 
 value of six dollars, " toward chaise-hire," says he, " that 
 you may ride warm to meetings during the winter." In 
 another, he gives her an account of the growth and im 
 provement of his son and daughter; topics which, as he 
 well understood, are ever as dear to the grandmother as 
 to the mother. Of the character and capacities of the 
 sou it will be sufficient to say that, before he was thirty- 
 five years old, he was appointed governor of New Jer 
 sey, under the administration of Lord Bute, shortly after 
 the accession of George III. to the British throne. Of 
 the daughter, afterward Mrs. Bache, he says : " Sally 
 grows a fine girl, and is extremely industrious with her 
 needle, and delights in her work. She is of a most af 
 fectionate temper, and perfectly dutiful and obliging to 
 her parents and to all. Perhaps I flatter myself too much, 
 but I have hopes that she will prove an ingenuous, sen 
 sible, notable, and worthy woman, like her aunt Jenny ;" 
 26 
 
302 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and he adds the following notice of himself: " I enjoy, 
 through mercy, a tolerable share of health. I read a 
 good deal, ride a little, do a little business for myself 
 and now and then for others, retire when I can, and go 
 into company when I please. So the years roll round ; 
 and the last will come, when I would rather have it said, 
 He lived usefully, than He died rick. " 
 
 Among the more marked evidences of the generous 
 interest he took in the welfare of his kindred, as well as 
 the prudence and good sense with which he manifested 
 that interest, may be mentioned his furnishing one of his 
 nephews, Benjamin Mecom, with the means of establish 
 ing himself in business as a printer, first in the island of 
 Antigua, and subsequently in Boston, together with the 
 manner in which this was done. He reserved to himself, 
 in the outset, one third of the profits, as in his other part 
 nerships in the same business ; intending, however, from 
 the first, as he wrote to his nephew s mother, not only to 
 give him ultimately the whole establishment, but also 
 the accumulated proceeds he might have himself re 
 ceived during the connection ; but deeming it judicious 
 to reserve to himself, as a partner, the right to exercise 
 some control over his nephew till he should acquire some 
 experience and correct a certain fickleness of purpose 
 which he had occasionally evinced. Being encouraged 
 by the management of his nephew, he shortly modified 
 the terms of the connection, so as to require him merely 
 to pay over a certain portion of his profits to his mother, 
 together with a small amount of sugar and other articles 
 for his own family, and he might appropriate all the rest 
 of his earnings to himself. The result was favorable, as 
 appears by a subsequent letter, written to the parents of 
 his nephew on the arrival of the latter at Philadelphia 
 from Antigua, on his way to Boston. In that letter, 
 Franklin states that his nephew had settled all his ac- 
 
SENTIMENTS. 303 
 
 counts honorably, had cleared his printing-office, and had 
 good credit and some money in London, with which, to 
 gether with some further assistance from himself, the 
 young man was going to Boston to set himself up as a 
 printer and bookseller. 
 
 While awaiting at New York the lingering movements 
 of Lord Loudon, Franklin, under date of the 19th of 
 April, 1757, wrote to Mrs. Mecom respecting their half- 
 sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Dowse, a letter so strongly marked 
 by that considerate kindness of heart which was one of 
 the most deep-seated and habitual sentiments of his 
 breast, that we can not forego the gratification of tran 
 scribing portions of it, not only in justice to him, but 
 also in the hope that others may profit by it. Mrs. Dowse 
 was the eldest child of Franklin s father by his first wife, 
 and was now eighty years old, having been born at Ec- 
 ton, in England, March 2, 1677 ; and though her hus 
 band was yet living, they were so poor as to need occa 
 sional assistance from their friends. It is to this aged 
 sister that the following passages refer : " As having 
 their own way is one of the greatest comforts of life to 
 old people, I think their friends should endeavor to ac 
 commodate them in that, as well as in anything else. 
 When they have lived long in a house, it becomes natu 
 ral to them; they are almost as closely connected with it 
 as the tortoise with, his shell ; they die, if you tear them 
 out of it. Old folks and old trees, if you remove them, 
 it is ten to one that you kill them ; so let our good old 
 sister be no more importuned on that Read. We are 
 growing old fast ourselves, and shall expect the same 
 kind of indulgences ; and if we give them, we shall have 
 
 a right to receive them in our turns I hope you 
 
 visit sister as often as your affairs will permit, and afford 
 her what assistance and comfort you can in her present 
 situation. Old age, infirmities, and poverty, joined, are 
 
\ 
 304 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 afflictions enough. The neglect and slights of friends 
 and near relations should never be added. People in 
 her circumstances are apt to suspect these sometimes 
 without cause ; and appearances should, therefore, be at 
 tended to, in our conduct toward them, as well as re 
 alities" 
 
 Writing again at New York, in May, 1757, to Mrs. 
 Mecom, in reply to inquiries from her respecting a young 
 woman with whom her son Benjamin had become ac 
 quainted in Philadelphia and whom he intended to marry, 
 and whose good qualities as " a sweet-tempered, good 
 girl," with " a housewifely education," both Franklin and 
 his wife well knew, he remarks : " Your sister and I 
 have a great esteem for her ; and if she will be kind 
 enough to accept of our nephew, we think it will be his 
 own fault if he is not as happy as the married state can 
 make him. The family is a respectable one, but whether 
 there be any fortune I know not ; and as you do not in 
 quire about that particular, I suppose you think, with 
 me, that where everything else desirable is to be met 
 with, that is not very material. If she does not bring a 
 fortune, she will help to make one. Industry, frugality, 
 and prudent economy, in a wife, are to a tradesman, in 
 their effects, a fortune." 
 
 One or two more extracts, covering somewhat broader 
 ground, will make a fit and interesting close to this ex 
 hibition of Franklin s private sentiments and family ties. 
 They are from a rather long letter dated the 6th of June, 
 1753, and usually cited as addressed to his friend White- 
 field, the famous preacher ; though Dr. Sparks, on look 
 ing at the original draft, found it endorsed by Franklin s 
 own pen as addressed to one Joseph Huey. Referring 
 to an expression of thanks from the person addressed, 
 for some kindness done him by Franklin, the latter re 
 marks that the only return he should desire would be an 
 
FAITH AND WORKS. 305 
 
 equal readiness, on his part, " to serve any other person 
 who might need his assistance, and so let good offices go 
 round; for mankind are all of one family;" and he then 
 proceeds as follows : 
 
 " For my own part, when I am employed in serving 
 others, I do not look upon myself as conferring favors, 
 but as paying debts. In my travels, and since my set 
 tlement, I have received much kindness from men, to 
 whom I shall never have any opportunity of making the 
 least direct return ; and numberless mercies from God, 
 who is infinitely above being benefited by our services. 
 Those kindnesses from men, I can therefore only return 
 on their fellow-men ; and I can only show my gratitude 
 for these mercies from God, by a readiness to help his 
 other children, my brethren. For I do not think that 
 thanks and compliments, though repeated weekly, can 
 discharge our real obligations to each other, and much 
 less those to our Creator. You will see in this my no 
 tion of good works, that I am far from expecting to merit 
 heaven by them. By heaven we understand a state of 
 happiness, infinite in degree, and eternal in duration. I 
 can do nothing to deserve such rewards. He that, for 
 giving a draught of water to a thirsty person, should ex 
 pect to be paid with a good plantation, would be modest 
 in his demands compared with those who think they de 
 serve heaven for the little good they do on earth. Even 
 the mixed, imperfect pleasures we enjoy in this world, 
 are rather from God s goodness than our merit: how 
 much more such happiness of heaven! .... The wor 
 ship of God is a duty j the hearing and reading of ser 
 mons may be useful ; but if men rest in hearing and pray 
 ing, as too many do, it is as if a tree should value itself 
 on being watered and putting forth leaves, though it never 
 produced any fruit. Your great Master thought much 
 less of these outward appearances and professions than 
 26* 
 
306 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 many of his modern disciples. He preferred the doers 
 of the word to the mere hearers ; the son that seemingly 
 refused to obey his father, and yet performed his com 
 mands, to him that professed his readiness, but neglected 
 the work ; the heretical but charitable Samaritan, to the 
 uncharitable though orthodox priest and sanctified Le- 
 vite ; and those who gave food to the hungry, drink to 
 the thirsty, raiment to the naked, entertainment to the 
 stranger, and relief to the sick, though they never heard 
 of his name, he declares shall in the last day be accept 
 ed ; when those who cry, Lord ! Lord ! and who value 
 themselves upon their faith, though great enough to per 
 form miracles, but have neglected good works, shall be 
 rejected." 
 
 Just before going to the frontier, it will be recollected, 
 Franklin had procured the passage of a law, framed by 
 himself, for raising a military force by voluntary enlist 
 ment ; and had written and published a pamphlet, an 
 swering current objections to the measure, arid commend 
 ing it to the public approbation. On his return to Phila 
 delphia he found the people, excepting the Quakers, very 
 generally in favor of the new law, and companies enough 
 enrolled and officered to form a large regiment. At a 
 meeting of the officers of these companies, shortly after 
 his return, they chose him for their colonel, and he ac 
 cepted the station. The regiment mustered at its first 
 review upward of a thousand men, rank and file, besides 
 an artillery company over a hundred strong, with four 
 brass field-pieces, which they soon learned to handle with 
 dexterity and effect. At the close of the review they 
 escorted their colonel home, and, in firing their salute, 
 the field-pieces made such a concussion as to break sev 
 eral articles of glass belonging to his electrical appara 
 tus. In relating these incidents, Franklin adds that his 
 new honors proved not much less brittle, inasmuch as all 
 
MILITARY HONORS. 307 
 
 their commissions were soon after vacated by the repeal, 
 in England, of the law under which they were held. 
 
 The personal qualities and public services of Frank 
 lin, however, had won for him better and less brittle 
 honors than any commission, even from his majesty of 
 England, could confer. As a token of the esteem with 
 which he was regarded, it may be mentioned that, while 
 holding his colonelcy, having occasion to visit Virginia, 
 his officers, to use his own words, " took it into their heads 
 that it would be proper for them to escort him out of town 
 as far as the lower ferry." For this purpose, just as he 
 was about to mount his horse, they rode up to his door 
 in full uniform, alike to his surprise and regret ; for he 
 had a strong repugnance to display, and if he had re 
 ceived beforehand the least intimation of what was in 
 tended, he would have avoided it. But it was now too 
 late, and he was constrained to submit to the well-meant 
 but annoying honor. 
 
 Some envious personal enemy of his wrote an account 
 of this affair to Thomas Penn, who lived in London, and 
 it served to impart new bitterness to the hatred with 
 which the Proprietary already regarded Franklin, for 
 the prominent part he had taken in the Assembly against 
 exempting the proprietary estates in the province from 
 taxation. Penn had even the effrontery not only to ac 
 cuse Franklin to the ministers of the crown with being 
 the chief obstruction to the king s service in the province, 
 by opposing grants of money in proper form, and with 
 the design to change the provincial government by force 
 of arms in evidence of which he cited the abovenamed 
 escort but he also endeavored, though ineffectually, to 
 procure his removal as the head of the colonial postoffice 
 department. 
 
 With Morris, the provincial governor, though bound, 
 like his predecessors, by the instructions of the Propri- 
 
308 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 etary, Franklin, notwithstanding the leading part he took 
 in the Assembly in its disputes with that officer, continued 
 personally on good terms ; and the governor occasionally 
 consulted with him in relation to public affairs. In the 
 measures taken in aid of Braddock s expedition, they co 
 operated ; and on hearing of its fatal issue, Morris in 
 stantly sent for Franklin, to confer with him on the means 
 of protecting the back settlements. We have already 
 seen with what ample powers Franklin was employed 
 on the frontier ; and after his return from that service, 
 the governor offered him a general s commission, if he 
 would, with provincial troops, undertake the same enter 
 prise in which Braddock had so disastrously failed. In 
 reference to this last proposal, Franklin, after a modest 
 remark respecting his qualifications for military employ 
 ment, intimates that the governor himself also probably 
 expected less from him in that way than from his popu 
 larity as a means of raising the requisite force, and from 
 his influence in the Assembly for obtaining funds. The 
 project, however, was not pressed ; and Morris was not 
 long after succeeded by Governor Denny. 
 
 On the arrival of the new governor, in 1757, the city 
 authorities of Philadelphia gave him a public dinner by 
 way of welcome, and introduction to the principal citi 
 zens, with whom his station and character would natu 
 rally bring him into political and social connection ; and 
 he took the occasion to present to Franklin the gold 
 medal voted him by the Royal Society in London for his 
 discoveries in electricity and his eminent success in ad 
 vancing that branch of knowledge. Governor Denny 
 executed this commission on behalf of the society in ap 
 propriate terms of respectful eulogy ; and after dinner, 
 while the company generally were engaged with their 
 conversation and wine, Denny, taking Franklin into an 
 adjoining apartment, told him how strongly he had been 
 
GOVERNOR DENNY. 309 
 
 urged, in England, and how earnestly he desired, to cul 
 tivate his friendship and avail himself of his advice in re 
 lation to public affairs and the management of his admin 
 istration ; that he should cheerfully render him any ser 
 vice in his power; that nothing could more effectually pro 
 mote the public good than harmony between the execu 
 tive and the representatives of the people ; that no per 
 son could exert a more efficient and wholesome influence 
 in this way than he could ; and that such a course would 
 certainly be followed not only by the most hearty ac 
 knowledgments, but also by the most substantial benefits. 
 
 This conversation seems to have been skilfully con 
 ducted by the governor ; but with all its well-worded as 
 surances of esteem and future advantage, its true aim 
 and intent were clearly perceived by Franklin, who 
 promptly yet courteously replied that his circumstances, 
 by the blessing of Providence, rendered him independent 
 of proprietary favors, which, as a representative of the 
 people, he could not in any event accept ; that no feeling 
 of personal hostility had at any time influenced his pub 
 lic conduct; that his opposition to the policy of the Pro 
 prietary had proceeded solely from his convictions as to 
 the rights and true interests of the province ; that if the 
 measures proposed by the Proprietary or his deputies 
 should be in accordance with his own views of justice 
 and the public welfare, he should cheerfully and gladly 
 give them his hearty and earnest support ; and thanking 
 the governor for his expressions of personal regard, in 
 timated a hope that he was about to enter upon his ad 
 ministration unencumbered with the usual Proprietary 
 instructions, which had been the real source of all those 
 contests with the Assembly, that had been so annoying 
 to preceding governors of the province, and had so much 
 impeded the transaction of the public business. 
 
 Thus the interview ended ; and though Governor Denny 
 
310 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 then made no explanations on the last point, yet, as soon 
 as his official duties brought him into contact with the 
 Assembly, the old instructions made their appearance, 
 reproducing the old controversies, in which Franklin 
 took the same leading part as before the principal re 
 ports and other documents of the Assembly being the 
 productions of his practised and vigorous pen. 
 
 These official controversies, however, occasioned no 
 personal animosity between the new governor and Frank 
 lin, nor any interruption of their social intercourse ; and 
 Franklin describes Denny as having been a man of let 
 ters, of agreeable conversation and manners, and well 
 acquainted with the world. 
 
 The obnoxious instructions, with which the Proprie 
 tary obstinately persisted in fettering the discretionary 
 powers of the governor, were so repugnant to all ideas 
 of equal rights and the general welfare of the people, 
 and interfered so seriously with the services which the 
 Assembly were sincerely disposed to render to the sov 
 ereign, but which, under the instructions, they could not 
 render without wholly abandoning the chartered privi 
 leges of their constituents, that they determined to re 
 main no longer in such a position, but to petition the 
 king for a redress of their grievances ; and they fixed 
 on Franklin as their agent to carry over their memorial 
 and lay their complaints before his majesty 
 
 The immediate occasion of this step on the part of the 
 Assembly was the rejection by the governor, acting un 
 der his instructions, of a bill for raising sixty thousand 
 pounds for the king s use ; of which the sum often thou 
 sand pounds was to be subject to the order of Lord Lou- 
 don, who had then recently arrived in the country, and 
 superseded General Shirley as the commander-in-chief 
 of his majesty s forces in America. 
 
 Franklin promptly made preparation for his departure; 
 
* TilK EARL OF LOUDON. 311 
 
 and he had actually caused his sea-stores to be put on 
 board of the packet at New York in which he was to 
 sail, when Lord Loudon presented himself in Philadel 
 phia, in the hope that he might, by his personal interpo 
 sition, be able to reconcile the differences between the 
 governor and the Assembly, and thus remove the chief 
 impediment to the public service in the province of Penn 
 sylvania. With this view, his lordship requested Gov 
 ernor Denny and Mr. Franklin to meet him and make 
 him fully acquainted with the nature of the differences 
 in question, and the state of the controversy respecting 
 them. The proposed conference was accordingly held, 
 and the whole matter discussed. Franklin presented a 
 full view of the grounds taken by the Assembly, a brief 
 sketch of which has already been given ; while Governor 
 Denny simply placed himself upon his instructions, to 
 gether with the bond to obey them, which he, like his 
 predecessors, had been constrained to execute to the 
 Proprietary, and the forfeiture of which would utterly 
 ruin him in point of property. 
 
 It speaks well for Denny s individual sense of justice 
 and magnanimity, that, notwithstanding the critical and 
 perilous position in which the penalty of his bond placed 
 him, he seemed willing, as Franklin states, to encounter 
 the hazard of its forfeiture, if the course of official action, 
 which would expose him to it, should be advised by Lord 
 Loudon. But though this disposition on the part of the 
 governor raises a fair and strong presumption of the 
 odious character of the Proprietary s instructions, still his 
 lordship not only declined the responsibility of giving the 
 advice suggested, but urged concession on the part of the 
 Assembly, and entreated Franklin to exert his utmost in 
 fluence to that end ; declaring that, unless that body yield 
 ed, he would furnish no troops for the defence of their 
 provincial frontier. 
 
312 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Franklin laid the whole matter before the Assembly, 
 accompanying his statement, however, with a series of 
 resolutions, drawn up by himself, setting forth the rights 
 of the province, and declaring them suspended by force, 
 against which they entered a solemn protest ; and then, 
 dropping the bill already passed and rejected, another 
 bill, so framed as not to clash with the instructions, was 
 passed by the Assembly and signed by the governor. 
 
 Thus, from the resources of his own mind, and through 
 the legitimate influence he had acquired in the Assembly 
 by his abilities and weight of character, Franklin ar 
 ranged this difficult and troublesome affair in such man 
 ner as not to concede any provincial right, and at the 
 same time enable the provincial authorities to meet the 
 public exigency, now become, from the temper and move 
 ments of the Indians on the frontier, very pressing and 
 full of danger to the back settlements. 
 
 But while thus detained at Philadelphia in performing 
 a public service at once so arduous, patriotic, and loyal, 
 the ship, in which he had engaged a passage for England, 
 sailed, taking with it the stores he had provided for him 
 self at no trifling expense, and for the loss of which his 
 only compensation was thanks for his services from Lord 
 Loudon, to whom nevertheless accrued all the reputation 
 of adjusting the difficulties which occasioned the loss, and 
 of putting the wheels of government again in motion a 
 very fair specimen of the sense of justice usually enter 
 tained by mother-countries and their great functionaries 
 toward the native subjects of their colonial dependencies. 
 Lord Loudon, upon seeing the object of his visit to 
 Philadelphia thus accomplished, returned immediately to 
 New York ; and in a day or two later Franklin followed, 
 that he might take the next packet for England, which, 
 as his lordship, to whose orders it was subject, had as 
 sured him would sail on the Monday then next to come. 
 
LORD LOUDON S CHARACTER. 313 
 
 Indecision and procrastination, however, were the most 
 prominent features of Lord London s character; and 
 April, May, and much of June, went by, before the de 
 spatches he wished to send to England were ready, though 
 promised almost daily during that long period ; thus oc 
 casioning to Franklin not only great annoyance, but at 
 least equal surprise that so inefficient a man should be 
 intrusted with such high duties, as those which then per 
 tained to the commander-in-chief of his majesty s forces 
 in America. The character of Loudon, however, was 
 soon understood by Pitt the elder, who then wielded the 
 power of the British empire, and who, distinguished as 
 he was for executive ability and vigor, could not long 
 tolerate so dilatory and inefficient an agent, but speedily 
 recalled him, to make way for the far abler and more ac 
 tive men, Lord Amherst and General Wolfe. 
 
 The character of Lord Loudon, as a public man, can 
 not be more pithily described than it is in an anecdote 
 related by Franklin. While lingering in New York as 
 stated, he met a messenger from Philadelphia, named 
 Innis, who had just come on with a packet from Gover 
 nor Denny to Loudon, who told him to call the next 
 morning for his answer. Two weeks after, Franklin 
 again met Irinis, and was told by him that he had called 
 every morning on Lord Loudon for the promised reply, 
 and it was not even yet ready. " Is it possible, when he 
 writes so much, and is always at his desk ]" said Frank 
 lin. " Yes," said Innis, " but he is like the St. George 
 on the signs, always on horseback and never riding on." 
 
 At length, however, about the middle of June, the 
 packet sailed, with Loudoii s despatches and Franklin 
 on board, and reached Falmouth, in the south of Eng 
 land, on the morning of the 17th of July, 1757. As the 
 ship neared the English coast, at about twelve o clock of 
 the preceding night, she was, through the heedlessness 
 27 
 
314 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of the man on the lookout, in extreme peril of being- 
 wrecked on the rocks of Scilly, lying out in the sea off 
 Land s-End, and suggesting the idea that they were once 
 connected with that most southwesterly point of the Eng 
 lish coast. The escape was narrow and the peril great; 
 and the impression thereby made on Franklin s mind is 
 abundantly evinced by the following passage from a letter 
 to his wife, giving an account of the voyage, and written 
 at Falmouth in the evening of the day on which he landed : 
 " The bell ringing for church," says he, " we went thither 
 immediately, and, with hearts full of gratitude, returned 
 thanks to God for the mercies we had received. Were 
 I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should, on this occasion, 
 vow to build a chapel to some saint ; but as I am not, if 
 I were to vow at all, it should be to build a lighthouse." 
 
GRIEVANCES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 GRIEVANCES OF PENNSYLVANIA REMONSTRANCE TO PRO 
 PRIETARIES MISREPRESENTATIONS EXPO SED CAUSE 
 
 PREPARED FOR HEARING EXCURSIONS IN ENGLAND 
 
 FAMILY CONNECTIONS CANADA VISITS SCOTLAND 
 
 MR. STRAHAN MARRIAGE PROPOSED MISS STEVENSON 
 
 AND HER STUDIES POLITICAL ABUSE PENNSYLVANIA S 
 
 SHARE OF INDEMNITY MONEY FROM PARLIAMENT. 
 
 BEFORE entering upon the narration of Franklin s life 
 and services in England, as the agent of Pennsylvania, it 
 will be proper to give a brief view of the reasons for 
 sending him thither. These reasons are well set forth in 
 a report, dated the 22d of February, 1757, drawn up by 
 himself as chairman of the Assembly s committee on 
 grievances. They are founded on alleged violations of 
 the grant made by King Charles II. to William Penn; of 
 Penn s own charter based on that grant, and defining the 
 forms of government under which the province was set 
 tled ; of certain fundamental laws of the province made 
 pursuant to that charter; and finally of some of the prin 
 ciples and provisions of the constitution arid laws of the 
 mother-country most essential to civil liberty and justice, 
 arid from the protection of which, British subjects, wher 
 ever dwelling, could not be rightfully excluded by the 
 king or his grantees. 
 
 The royal grant, which was justly regarded by the 
 colonists as the basis of the provincial constitution, and 
 not to be violated or modified by the grantee or his sue- 
 
310 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 cessors, gave to " William Perm, his heirs and assigns, 
 and to his and their deputies," full power to make laws, 
 " according to their best discretion, by and with the ad 
 vice, assent, and approbation, of the freemen of the prov 
 ince or their delegates, for the good and happy govern 
 ment thereof," including " the raising of money, or any 
 other end appertaining to the public state, peace, or 
 safety," of the commonwealth thus to be constituted. 
 This broad provision of the king s grant, it was held, 
 precluded all those instructions which had occasioned so 
 much trouble, controversy, and impediment to the public 
 business, not only because it was absolutely binding on 
 the deputy-governors as well as their principals the Pro 
 prietaries, but also because such instructions were wholly 
 incompatible with that " best discretion" which they were 
 bound to exercise, and this, too, in conjunction with the 
 co-ordinate " advice, assent, and approbation," of the 
 people of the province, as expressed by their represen 
 tatives, in whom, it was maintained, the grant had vested 
 " an original right of legislation, which neither the Pro 
 prietaries nor any other person could divest, restrain, or 
 abridge, without violating and destroying the letter, spirit, 
 and design, of the grant." 
 
 The obnoxious instructions, therefore, were a manifest 
 encroachment on the vested rights of the people, as well 
 as on the legal and proper discretion of the governor ; 
 and to such an extent had they restrained and abridged 
 just legislation, that no bill to raise supplies for the pub 
 lic service, howsoever " reasonable, expedient, or neces 
 sary" it might be, for the welfare and protection of the 
 province, could be made a law, unless on complying with 
 the instructions by wholly exempting the estates of the 
 Proprietaries from their equal rateable assessments 
 though they constituted by far the largest private inter 
 est in the province, and would be proportionately bene- 
 
GRIEVANCES. 317 
 
 fited by its security, growth, and prosperity ; while, by 
 the laws of England, "the rents, honors, and castles, of 
 the crown," though not the private property of the per 
 son wearing the crown, were actually taxed and paid 
 "their proportion of the supplies granted for the defence 
 of the realm and the support of the government;" and 
 while the sovereign and his nobles, as well as all other 
 tax-paying inhabitants of England, were thus indirectly 
 but really contributing " their proportion toward the de 
 fence of America," including Pennsylvania, it was held 
 to be "in a more especial manner the duty of the Pro 
 prietaries to pay their proportion" of the taxes required 
 for the preservation of their own provincial estates. The 
 exemption of those estates, therefore, was declared to 
 be "as unjust as it was illegal, and as new as it was ar 
 bitrary." 
 
 It was further urged that, by virtue alike of the royal 
 grant and of the colonial charter framed by Penn him 
 self, the provincial Assembly, when convened and acting 
 as a legislative body in its provincial sphere and for its 
 legitimate purposes, was as fully endowed with all the 
 powers and privileges of such a body as the English 
 House of Commons, possessing the incontestable right 
 of granting supplies and laying taxes " in any manner 
 they may think most easy to the people, and being the 
 sole judges of the measure, mode, and time," of so doing ; 
 but that the instructions of the Proprietaries, neverthe 
 less, tended directly and manifestly to subvert all those 
 rights and privileges, especially in assuming arbitrarily 
 to control the action of the Assembly in framing and pas 
 sing bills for raising money, so as to render that body, 
 even if it should forego its just powers and the rights of 
 its constituents, absolutely unable to raise the supplies 
 requisite for the defence and welfare of the province. 
 
 Another prominent ground of complaint was the con- 
 27* 
 
318 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ditiori of the judiciary. Under the original charter framed 
 by William Penn, the judges of the courts of record held 
 their offices during good behavior ; but this independent 
 tenure had latterly been changed, and the judges now 
 held only during the pleasure of the Proprietaries or 
 their deputy-governors. The alleged consequence was, 
 that the "judges being subject to the influence and di 
 rection" of those who gave them their commissions, the 
 laws were " often wrested from their true sense to serve 
 particular purposes; the foundations of justice became 
 liable to be destroyed ; and the lives, laws, liberties, priv 
 ileges, and properties of the people, rendered precarious 
 and insecure." 
 
 The enlistment, by the officers of the king s regular 
 troops in the colonies, of immigrant servants bound for a 
 specific term of years to their masters, was also presented 
 as a heavy grievance, inasmuch as it " not only prevented 
 the cultivation of the land, and diminished the trade and 
 commerce of the province," but was rendered peculiarly 
 odious by its unequal operation ; for there was no gen 
 eral regulation for an impartial distribution of the burden, 
 and the servants were impressed into the army, not only 
 against the consent of their employers, but without ma 
 king the latter any compensation for the loss of those 
 services for which they had paid and of which they were 
 thus forcibly deprived. 
 
 The Proprietaries, moreover, had pursued a most 
 odious policy in another respect. Although the expense 
 of the treaties with the Indians for the cession of their 
 lands and for the regulation of intercourse with them, 
 was borne by the province, yet the choicest of those 
 lands were monopolized by the Proprietaries. This 
 ground of complaint was not included in Franklin s re 
 port to the Assembly, and was not, indeed, technically 
 illegal ; for it had, with crafty foresight, been provided 
 
GRIEVANCES. 
 
 319 
 
 at an early day that all bargains by individual colonists 
 with any of the Indians for the purchase of lands, if made 
 without the consent of the Proprietaries, should be ut 
 terly void, while the Proprietaries themselves were not 
 subjected in this particular to any restriction. This mo 
 nopoly on their part, however, grew into such an abuse 
 as greatly increased the odium against them, and served 
 to extend and strengthen the general repugnance to the 
 whole scheme of their government. 
 
 Besides these complaints against the conduct and ad 
 ministration of the Proprietaries and their instructed 
 deputies, the province had another weighty grievance to 
 complain of as resulting from the action of the king. By 
 the original grant to William Penri, though the laws 
 passed by the provincial legislature were ultimately to be 
 submitted to the king in council, and if there rejected 
 were to become void, yet five years were allowed for 
 making such submission, and meanwhile the laws be 
 came immediately operative in the province. This pro 
 vision in the grant was introduced, not to enable the king a 
 and council to control the internal policy of the province, 
 but simply to keep the royal government informed thereof, 
 and secure the allegiance of the provincial authorities and 
 people. Latterly, however, instructions from the king s 
 ministers, as well as from the Proprietaries, had been 
 sent out, prohibiting a certain class of laws from taking 
 effect, if passed, until after they had received the sanc 
 tion of his majesty in council. This prohibition was 
 aimed particularly against the enactment of laws author 
 izing the creation of bills of credit to be used in the prov 
 ince as a circulating medium ; and it was felt to be a 
 serious injury to the business of the people, as well as a 
 plain encroachment upon their chartered rights ; for this 
 paper currency, in the very great scarcity of hard money 
 produced by the nature and condition of the commerce 
 
320 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of the colonies with the mother-country, had been of very 
 great benefit to all branches of the internal trade and ag 
 riculture of the province, and its credit had been thor 
 oughly sustained by the prudent and well-devised means 
 provided, in every act authorizing the issue of such bills, 
 for redeeming them. 
 
 Such was the nature of the principal grievances of 
 which Pennsylvania complained, and from which Frank 
 lin was commissioned on behalf of the province to apply 
 for relief. The most prominent among them, at the pe 
 riod in question, was that which grew out of the instruc 
 tions given by the Proprietaries to their governors re 
 specting taxation, and which, in the exigencies produced 
 by war, was well fitted to exasperate the public mind. 
 Franklin was accordingly directed to present himself, in 
 the first instance, to the Proprietaries, and endeavor by 
 personal conference to induce them to relinquish their 
 claims to the exemption of their provincial estates from 
 taxation, and abandon the policy which had occasioned 
 so much controversy, had so much obstructed the proper 
 administration of public affairs, and rendered themselves 
 and their government so odious. To this end he carried 
 with him a formal remonstrance from the Assembly; and 
 in case they should persist in repelling the claims thus 
 urged upon them, then a petition, with which he was also 
 furnished by the Assembly on behalf of the province, was 
 to be laid before the king in council, asking for relief of 
 a broader kind, covering the whole list of grievances, 
 and extending to a thorough reform of the provincial 
 government, in accordance with the provisions and spirit 
 of the original charter and with the recognised and true 
 principles of the British constitution. 
 
 Falmouth, as we have seen, was the port at which 
 Franklin reached England, and he proceeded thence by 
 land to London, where he arrived on the evening of July 
 
ARRIVAL IN LONDON SICKNESS. 321 
 
 26, 1757. At the invitation of bis friend Collinson he 
 went in the first instance to the house of that gentleman, 
 where he was hospitably entertained till he could procure 
 suitable permanent lodgings. Such lodgings he shortly 
 after found at the house of Mrs. Stevenson, No. 7 Craven 
 street ; and they proved so convenient, comfortable, and 
 every way pleasant, that he made his home there during 
 all his long subsequent residence in London, embracing, 
 in the two missions on which he was sent thither, about 
 fifteen years. That house, says Dr. Sparks, is noted to 
 this day, in the London guide-books, as " the house in 
 which Franklin resided." 
 
 Not long after his arrival in London, however, he was 
 seized with intermittent fever, brought on by a violent 
 cold. It appears from a letter to his wife, dated the 22d 
 of November, 1757, that at the beginning of the prece 
 ding September he had, as he thought, nearly recovered ; 
 but on going out again, perhaps imprudently, he had 
 taken another cold, upon which the fever returned with 
 increased violence, accompanied by fits of pain in his 
 head, continuing " seldom less than twelve hours, and 
 once thirty-six," of such extreme severity as to produce 
 at times delirium ; and when they went off, leaving the 
 top of the head " very sore and tender." He was most 
 assiduously and kindly nursed by the family with which 
 he had become domesticated, and he received from his 
 physician, the celebrated Dr. Fothergill, (a Quaker, and 
 in later years a zealous advocate of conciliation with the 
 American colonies,) all the attention and aid that medi 
 cal skill, rendered vigilant by the warmest friendship, 
 could bestow. The disease, after about eight weeks, 
 went off with a fit of spontaneous vomiting and diarrhoea ; 
 and as some of the circumstances connected in this case 
 with the termination of this most distressing malady are 
 somewhat strongly marked, it may be useful to state them, 
 
822 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 on the authority of the patient himself, a little more par 
 ticularly. That great remedy, the Peruvian bark, in 
 those days, when chemistry had not yet presented its 
 virtues in a better form, was administered both " in sub 
 stance and infusion;" and Franklin had taken so much 
 of it, that he " began to abhor it." Notwithstanding the 
 condition of his stomach, from which this abhorrence of 
 the bark proceeded, he " dared not take a vomit for fear 
 of his head." Nature, it seems, however, had no such 
 fear: for he was taken one morning with a fit of sponta 
 neous and thorough vomiting, followed immediately by a 
 diarrhoea, recurring at short intervals during the greater 
 part of the day. The effect was decisive. He consid 
 ered it, to use his own words, " a kind of crisis to the 
 distemper, carrying it clear off ; for ever since I feel 
 quite lightsome, and am every day gathering strength. 
 So I hope my seasoning is over, and that I shall enjoy 
 better health during the rest of my stay in England." 
 
 Notwithstanding the prejudices Franklin had to en 
 counter in the outset of his career in philosophy, his rep 
 utation had long stood high in England, and still higher 
 on the continent, where the value of his philosophical 
 researches had been at once acknowledged ; and the at 
 tentions he received from men of science and other emi 
 nent individuals, both personally and by correspondence, 
 served to relieve even the tedious weeks of sickness and 
 convalescence ; and when he regained his usual health, 
 his intercourse with people of this class constituted his 
 chief gratification, and added greatly to the esteem with 
 which he was personally regarded. 
 
 Attractive as this intercourse was to him, however, as 
 soon as his recovery was sufficiently confirmed to enable 
 him prudently to engage in business, he lost no time 
 in waiting upon the Proprietaries, Thomas and Richard 
 Perm, and laying before them the objects of his mission. 
 
MISREPRESENTATIONS CORRECTED. 323 
 
 The manner in which they received him, and the perti 
 nacity with which they insisted on their claim to interpret 
 their powers in their own way, without reference to the 
 views of his constituents, soon convinced Franklin that 
 no just arrangement of the controversy could be effected 
 with them, and that he should not only be constrained to 
 invoke the interposition of a higher authority, but that in 
 making this appeal he would have to encounter the most 
 strenuous opposition from the Penns, and be obstructed 
 by every impediment they could place in his way ; to say 
 nothing of the prejudices of the king and his ministers 
 in behalf of executive prerogative in every form, and 
 their habitual jealousy of colonial privileges and all claims 
 grounded upon them. 
 
 This latter prejudice had been brought to bear upon 
 Pennsylvania with peculiar weight, by the intrigues and 
 misrepresentations of the Proprietaries. They had been 
 so uncandid and dishonest as to represent that those dif 
 ficulties in the way of raising supplies for the public ser 
 vice in that province, which their own instructions to 
 their governors had occasioned, had arisen solely from a 
 factious and aggressive spirit on the part of the people 
 and their representatives, who, it was urged, only made 
 their unwarrantable complaints against the Proprietaries 
 a pretext to cover their disloyalty to the crown. The 
 public journals, moreover, were used to disseminate these 
 misrepresentations ; and such was the effect they had 
 produced on public sentiment in England, that Franklin 
 deemed it necessary to expose them through the same 
 channels. This he did in a very able letter, under the 
 signature of his son, (whom he had taken to England 
 with him,) addressed to the publisher of the paper in 
 which the grossest and most abusive of the misrepresen 
 tations had appeared ; though it should be mentioned, as 
 a further proof of the malice and falsehood of his adver- 
 
324: LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 saries, for the insertion of the letter he was compelled 
 to pay. 
 
 The charges, which exhausted the patience of Frank 
 lin, and called forth this communication, were professedly 
 grounded on letters from Philadelphia, stating that, while 
 the Indians were desolating the back settlements of the 
 province, the Assembly, and especially the Quakers, were 
 engaged in factious quarrels with the governor, and would 
 grant no supplies for defence, unless by such bills as the 
 governor could not approve without sacrificing the rights 
 of the Proprietaries and violating his allegiance to their 
 common sovereign. Franklin s reply thoroughly exposed 
 these calumnies. He showed what had been done for 
 the protection of the frontier, in building forts and raising 
 troops ; that the settlers were themselves also abundantly 
 supplied with arms and ammunition, which they well 
 knew how to use; that the Assembly, since the com 
 mencement of the very war then waging, had raised more 
 than one hundred thousand pounds for military purposes, 
 besides the large sums required for the support of the 
 provincial government and other civil objects ; that an 
 armed ship had been employed at the expense of the 
 province as a cruiser on the coast ; that the Quakers, 
 though non-combatants from religious scruples, consti 
 tuted only a small portion of the whole people, and that, 
 so far from combining to resist the acts of the Assembly 
 for the common defence, they had in various instances 
 resigned their seats in that body and kept aloof from 
 public affairs on account of their principles ; and finally, 
 that all the real obstacles to the vigorous and successful 
 management of the public concerns of the province, and 
 to the security and welfare of the people or any portion 
 of them, were in truth created by the unjust, arbitrary, 
 and unconstitutional instructions, with which the Propri 
 etaries trammelled their governors. 
 
DELAYS, 325 
 
 The statements of this able and honest document were 
 so full and clear, showed so perfect a knowledge and 
 mastery of the subject, drew the attention of leading men 
 so effectually to the whole case, and made so strong an 
 impression, that no public reply to it was attempted. 
 The Proprietaries, nevertheless, continued obstinate and 
 unyielding. The remonstrance from the Assembly re 
 mained unanswered, frivolous pretexts for delay were 
 invented; and at the end of twelve months, nothing hav 
 ing been accomplished, Franklin set about taking the 
 necessary steps to bring the matter before the privy 
 council. To do this, however, much time was required, 
 as the case, in the first instance, had to go for a hearing 
 before the board of trade, and having there been argued 
 by counsel on both sides, would be sent up, in the form 
 of a report, with the opinion of that body upon it, to the 
 council. If no relief should be obtained in that way, 
 Parliament was then to be petitioned for redress. 
 
 In this state of things, all that Franklin could do was 
 to put the counsel, who were to argue the cause on the 
 part of the province before the board of trade, in full 
 possession of the facts and papers belonging to the case, 
 together with such views and instructions as he deemed 
 proper ; and having done so, as there was every likeli 
 hood that more than sufficient time for preparation would 
 elapse before the hearing could be had, he availed him 
 self of the opportunity thus forced upon l^n by the de 
 lay of his business, to extend his acquaintance with men 
 of worth and distinction, to visit interesting places, and 
 to see such objects as were worth a visit and within his 
 reach. In writing to his wife on the 21st of January, 
 1758, he tells her that he is likely to be detained a full 
 year longer, in order to accomplish his business effectu 
 ally ; and he then adds : " You may think, perhaps, that 
 I can find many amusements here to pass the time agree- 
 28 
 
3^6 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ably. It is true the regard and friendship I meet with 
 from persons of worth, and the conversation of ingenious 
 men, give me no small pleasure ; but at this time of life, 
 domestic comforts afford the most solid satisfaction, and 
 my uneasiness at being absent from my family, and my 
 longing desire to be with them, make me often sigh in 
 the midst of cheerful company." 
 
 Among the labors performed by Franklin himself, or 
 with the assistance of others through his procurement 
 and instructions, and designed to aid the cause of the 
 province, not merely before the board of trade and the 
 privy council, but also in the larger view in which it was 
 to be presented to Parliament, should that last resort be 
 come necessary, was the preparation of an elaborate work 
 entitled "An Historical Review of the Constitution and 
 Government of Pennsylvania." This performance, ex 
 tending through four hundred and fifteen octavo pages, is 
 grounded on the original charter from the king ; the frame 
 of government prepared by William Penn pursuant to 
 that charter, and under which the settlement of the new 
 colony commenced ; certain fundamental laws accompa 
 nying that frame of government, and intended to define 
 its powers and the rights and duties of the colonists 
 more in detail ; the modifications of the government 
 during the life of Penn ; the more important acts of 
 the Assembly and the Proprietaries or their governors 
 after the deg^h of the founder; and public documents, 
 votes, and proceedings of the Assembly, down to the 
 time of Franklin s mission. 
 
 In those days, the department of the British govern 
 ment, now in charge of the colonial secretary, was man 
 aged by the board of trade ; and the work just mentioned 
 seems to have grown, at least in part, out of some sug 
 gestions made to Franklin by Robert Charles, an able 
 lawyer, long resident in London as the general agent of 
 
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 327 
 
 Pennsylvania, and well informed of the sentiments of the 
 British ministry and the state of public opinion in rela 
 tion to the colonies ; for Franklin, in a letter dated the 
 10th of June, 1758, to Isaac Norris, speaker of the As 
 sembly, referring to Mr. Charles, writes as follows : " One 
 thing that he recommends to be done before we push our 
 point in Parliament, is to remove the prejudices that art 
 and accident have spread among the people of this coun 
 try against us, and to obtain for us the good opinion of 
 mankind out of doors. This I hope we have it in our 
 power to do, by means of a work, now nearly ready for 
 the press, calculated to engage the attention of many 
 readers, and efface the bad impressions received of us ; 
 but it is thought best not to publish it till a little before 
 the next session of Parliament." 
 
 The work, accordingly was prepared, in 1758, from 
 materials supplied by Franklin, and under his immediate 
 direction and supervision, but was not published till early 
 in 1759. The aim of this performance, the materials of 
 which it was composed and which included much documen 
 tary matter from his own pen while in the Assembly, and 
 the vigor with which it was executed, together with the 
 circumstances and time of its appearance, were all such 
 as to lead the public very naturally to assign the author 
 ship of it to Franklin. This opinion, too, was busily 
 propagated by the Proprietaries and their dependents 
 in both England and Pennsylvania ; for he was the great 
 champion of the popular cause, and they hoped to weaken 
 that cause by directing against him the whole weight of 
 prevailing prejudices, especially among leading men in 
 England. Franklin, however, was not the author, in the 
 usual acceptation of the term. This fact is expressly 
 declared in a letter dated the 27th of September, 1760, 
 to David Hume, in which he writes as follows : " I am 
 obliged to you for the favorable sentiments you express 
 
328 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of the pieces sent to you; though the volume relating to 
 Pennsylvania affairs was not written by me, nor any part 
 of it, except the remarks on the Proprietary s estimate of 
 his estate, and some of the inserted messages and reports 
 of the Assembly, which I wrote when at home, as a 
 member of committees appointed by the house for that 
 service. The rest was by another hand." 
 
 The person to whom Franklin refers, is supposed by 
 many to have been his old acquaintance, James Ralph, 
 whom he had again met in London, very much improved 
 in condition, and who, having early relinquished his 
 pursuit of poetry for history, and politics, had become 
 a writer of considerable eminence, and was from the cir 
 cumstances of their early connection as well as his occu 
 pation at the time in question, very likely to have been 
 the person referred to. ^ 
 
 Having thus taken all the preliminary steps in his pow 
 er to prepare the cause of the province, for the hearing 
 before the board of trade, as there was every likelihood 
 that even more than sufficient time for that preparation 
 would elapse, before the hearing could be had, he availed 
 himself of the opportunity thus forced upo n him, by del ays 
 which he could not prevent, to extend his acquaintance 
 with distinguished men, who courted his society, and to 
 visit such places of interest and objects worth seeing as 
 were within his reach. Much of the summer of 1758, 
 therefore, he passed in making excursions in different 
 directions in England, accompanied by his son. In May 
 he went to Cambridge, some forty to fifty miles north of 
 London, and the seat of one of the two great English 
 universities. Referring to this visit in a letter to his wife, 
 dated June 10, 1758, he says : " We stayed there a week, 
 being entertained with great kindness by the principal 
 people, and shown all the curiosities of the place ; and 
 returning by another road to see more of the country, 
 
FAMILY CONNECTIONS. 329 
 
 we came again to London." He found this jaunt ben 
 eficial to his " he alth and spirits," and on returning to 
 London, finding that "all the great folks were out of 
 town, and public business at a stand," he determined to 
 avail himself of the invitation he had received while at 
 Cambridge, to attend the annual commencement at that 
 university, which was to take place early in July. " We 
 went accordingly," says he, in the letter just cited, "were 
 present at all the ceremonies, dined every day in their 
 halls, and my vanity was not a little gratified by the par 
 ticular regard shown me by the chancellor and vice-chan 
 cellor of the university, and by the heads of the colleges." 
 When the commencement was over, instead of return 
 ing to London, he went into Northamptonshire taking 
 his son with him, to look up his family connections. In 
 Wellingborough he found an aged cousin, " daughter 
 and only child of Thomas Franklin," his father s eldest 
 brother. She was five years older than his father s oldest 
 child, Elizabeth, (Mrs. Dowse,) being therefore, in 1758, 
 eighty-six years old, but she well recollected her and her 
 father s removal with his family, then consisting of his 
 first wife and three children, to Boston, in 1685. " I 
 knew she lived at Wellingborough," says Franklin to 
 his wife, " and had married there to one Richard Fisher, 
 a grazier and tanner, about fifty years before, but hav 
 ing had no correspondence with her for about thirty 
 years, did not expect to see either of them alive, and so 
 inquired for their posterity." He was, however, direct 
 ed to their house, where he found both the husband and 
 wife very infirm from their great age, but very glad to 
 see their American cousins. They had a competent es 
 tate and lived in comfort. Their only child, a daughter 
 and never married, had died at the age of thirty years. 
 Mrs. Fisher gave Franklin some of his uncle Benjamin s 
 letters, and much information respecting the other 
 28* 
 
330 LIFE OF HENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 brancnes of the Franklin family. One of these lie after 
 ward found in London. She was the " daughter of his 
 father s only sister, very old and never married," but a 
 kind and good woman, and though poor, very cheerful 
 and contented. 
 
 Franklin next went to Ecton, about four miles from 
 Wellingborough, and the place where his father was 
 born, and where his ancestors had resided from time im 
 memorial. The first object of his search was the old 
 homestead. It passed to Mr. Fisher with his wife, but 
 he had sold the property. The land had been united to 
 another farm ; and in the old stone house, still called 
 "the Franklin house," a school was kept. He also vis 
 ited the rector of the parish, who received him kindly, 
 and showed him the old registers of the church, where 
 he saw the records of the births, marriages, and deaths 
 of his ancestors, back to the commencement of the regis 
 ter, two hundred years before. The graveyard, too, 
 contained many memorials of the family, some of which 
 were " so covered with moss that we could not read the 
 letters, till a hard brush and a basin of water were 
 brought, with which they were cleaned, and his son 
 copied them." The rector s wife, " a good-natured, 
 chatty old lady," told him various anecdotes of his uncle, 
 Thomas Franklin, (the father of Mrs. Fisher,) who was 
 " a conveyancer, clerk of the county courts, and clerk of 
 the archdeacon to whose jurisdiction the parish belonged ; 
 a very leading man in all county affairs, and much em 
 ployed in public business." It was through the enter 
 prise of this active and public-spirited man that the 
 village-church was furnished, by a subscription set on 
 foot by him, with a chime of bells, and his relatives from 
 across the Atlantic now had the gratification of hearing 
 them play. He had also devised a method of protecting 
 the meadows about Ecton from the injury they had often 
 
HIS UNCLE THOMAS. 331 
 
 suffered from the freshets of the river which runs through 
 the village ; a method still in use at the time of this visit. 
 The method is not described; but when first proposed, 
 said the rector s wife, though the villagers could not 
 conceive how it could answer the purpose, yet they 
 agreed that, " if Franklin says he knows how to do it, 
 it will be done." In short, it appears that Thomas 
 Franklin s counsel was sought in relation to most local 
 matters, whether public or private, if they presented any 
 difficulty, and " he was looked upon by some," said the 
 narrator, "as something of a conjurer;" and even cabi 
 net-ministers did not disdain to weigh his opinions some 
 times in respect to points of domestic policy. This 
 Thomas Franklin, whose character seems to have pre 
 sented not a few traits of resemblance to that of his 
 illustrious kinsman, died exactly four years, to a day, 
 before that kinsman was born. So strong was the re 
 semblance of character just mentioned, that Franklin, in 
 the introductory part of his autobiography, quotes a re 
 mark of his son, who, upon listening to this account of 
 Thomas, said to his father, " Had he died four years 
 later, on the same day, one might have supposed a trans 
 migration." 
 
 In a letter to his favorite sister, Mrs. Jane Mecom, 
 written a few days after the one to his wife, from which 
 the preceding incidents are derived, Franklin refers again 
 to his visit among his kinsfolk in England, and speaks 
 particularly of a cousin Jane, one of his uncle John 
 Franklin s daughters, who had been wife to Robert 
 Page, but had died the year before. Mr. Page, how 
 ever, was living, and had in his possession a number of 
 letters to his wife from her uncle Benjamin, between 
 whom and his brother Josiah, Franklin s father, there 
 was an unusually strong attachment, and who, following 
 that brother to America, had lived for some years in his 
 
332 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 family. Those letters were given to Franklin. In one 
 of them, dated at Boston, July 4, 1723, the writer, refer 
 ring to Mrs. Mecom, then a little girl, says that his 
 brother Josiah had also a Jane, "a good-humored child;" 
 and Franklin, after playfully enjoining it upon his sister 
 to " keep up to her character," goes on to speak of some 
 advice from his uncle Benjamin, who was a man of sin 
 cere piety, to his niece Jane in England. The advice 
 accompanied a religious book he sent her, and was in 
 the form of an acrostic upon her name, Jane Franklin. 
 It was, in substance, an exhortation to cultivate the 
 Christian graces of faith, hope, and charity, which were 
 typified, in the quaint manner of those days, under the 
 figure of a house of three stories. Franklin copies the 
 acrostic for his sister, " for namesake s sake, as well as 
 the good advice it contains," and then appends to it a 
 very characteristic comment, from which the following 
 passages are taken : 
 
 "After professing truly," says Franklin, " that I had a 
 great esteem and veneration for the pious author, permit 
 me a little to play the commentator. The meaning of 
 the three stories seems somewhat obscure. You are to 
 understand, then, that faith, hope, and charity, have been 
 called the three steps of Jacob s ladder, reaching from 
 earth to heaven. Our author calls them stories, likening 
 religion to a building, and these are the three stories of 
 the Christian edifice. Thus, improvement in religion is 
 called building up, and edification. Faith is, then, the 
 ground-floor, and hope is up one pair of stairs. My dearly 
 beloved Jenny, do not delight to dwell too much in those 
 lower rooms, but get as fast as you can into the third 
 story, for in truth the best room in the house is charity" 
 Again : the author had written, very likely from the 
 scantiness of his poetical vocabulary, " Kindness of heart 
 by words express" on which the comment runs thus: 
 
LETTERS AND SENTIMENTS. 333 
 
 " Strike out words and put in deeds. The world is too 
 full of compliments already. They are the rank growth 
 of every soil, and choke the good plants of benevolence 
 and beneficence ; nor do I pretend to be the first in this 
 comparison of words and actions to plants. You may 
 remember an antient poet, whose works we have all 
 studied and copied at school long ago 
 
 A man of words and not of deeds, 
 Is like a garden full of weeds. " 
 
 In the conclusion of this playful and yet earnest and 
 affectionate letter, he does not forget his aged half-sister, 
 Mrs. Dowse, but requests that Mrs. Mecom would read 
 to her the account of their connections in England, which 
 would be sent to her by his wife for their gratification. 
 
 In making these inquiries concerning his kindred, and 
 tracing these various currents of consanguinity, however 
 obscurely they might be flowing along the humbler or 
 more retired ways of life, Franklin was gratifying one 
 of the strongest propensities of his kindly nature; one 
 which pervaded his whole being; which not only consti 
 tuted an essential ingredient of his own happiness, but 
 rendered him peculiarly dear to his familiar friends ; 
 which, in its various manifestations and wider influences 
 as a social principle, led him to regard nothing human 
 as alien to his heart, and without which, human life can 
 be little better than a dreary and cheerless waste ; which 
 spread over his manners and general deportment so at 
 tractive a charm, that, wherever he mingled in society, 
 or engaged in correspondence and personal intercourse 
 of any kind, even with the most eminent, whether in birth 
 and station, or in the pursuits of science, added to the 
 respect and deference he commanded for his abilities 
 and acquii ements as a philosopher and a sage, the 
 warmer sentiment of esteem and friendship for him as 
 a companion and a man. 
 
334 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Besides his excursions to different parts of England, 
 Franklin, during the delay of the business of his mission, 
 gave some portion of his time to his favorite electrical 
 inquiries ; and he paid, also, not a little attention to the 
 leading political questions of the day and the policy of 
 the government. The war with France was not only still 
 going on, but was waged with greater vigor than ever, 
 under the active administration of Pitt the elder, that 
 great minister applying to its prosecution everywhere, 
 by land and sea, in Europe, India, and America, the 
 whole resources of the empire, with all the energy of his 
 character, and with a success corresponding to the power 
 of mind and of military force brought to bear upon it. 
 The deep interest of the British colonies in continental 
 America, in the results of the war, was the topic which 
 chiefly engaged Franklin s thoughts, and he was partic 
 ularly solicitous that the government should turn its best 
 efforts to the conquest of Canada. He regarded that 
 conquest as the blow which, of all others, would not only 
 be most deeply and permanently felt by France, but 
 especially, also, as the most expedient, not to say the 
 only way, in which the safety, peace, growth, and lasting 
 prosperity of the North American colonies of Great Brit 
 ain could be secured. With a powerful enemy, like 
 France, continually pressing on the frontiers of the col 
 onies, commanding the great channels of internal trade 
 on the lakes and rivers, and controlling the sentiments 
 and the power of most of the Indian tribes, the colonial 
 settlements could not, except by very slow degrees, be 
 extended westward much beyond their then existing 
 bounds, but would be kept perpetually in a state of 
 alarm and insecurity inconsistent with their prosperity. 
 They would thus not only be far less valuable to the 
 mother-country, but would also make it necessary to ex 
 pend more upon the means of protecting them, than the 
 
MR. PITT AND CANADA. 335 
 
 conquest of the enemy, on that side, would cost, and 
 which, when once accomplished, would remove both 
 sources of expenditure, and leave the colonies perfectly 
 competent to protect themselves, to secure the friend 
 ship of the Indians, and enjoy exclusively the advantages 
 of an extensive and profitable trade with the tribes; and 
 by opening a clear field for the enterprise of the inhab 
 itants, contribute largely to their own prosperity, and, 
 through that, to the commerce of Great Britain. 
 
 To promote his views on this point, Franklin not only 
 made it the topic of conversation, in his general inter 
 course with society, whenever an opportunity presented 
 itself, but he sought, for some time, to obtain a personal 
 interview with the great premier, in the hope of impres 
 sing his mind with the importance of the proposed policy 
 so thoroughly as to induce him to adopt and carry it into 
 effect with his characteristic promptitude and energy. 
 Though he did not succeed, at that time, in obtaining 
 the desired conference with Mr. Pitt, yet his efforts to 
 that end were not wholly fruitless, inasmuch as they 
 brought him into personal intercourse with the minister s 
 under-secretaries, through whom his views, with more 
 or less fullness and force, reached the minister himself. 
 
 In the very interesting paper addressed to his son in 
 1775, giving an account of a series of interviews and 
 correspondence between himself, the earl of Chatham, 
 Lord Howe, David Barclay, and others, held in 1774, in 
 the hope of falling upon some mode of effecting a recon 
 ciliation with the colonies, Franklin, referring to the 
 abovementioned topic, and the failure of his endeavors 
 to obtain an interview with Mr. Pitt, makes the following 
 remarks : " I was obliged to content myself with a kind 
 of non-apparent and unacknowledged communication 
 through Mr. Potter and Mr. Wood, his secretaries, who 
 seemed to cultivate an acquaintance with me by their 
 
330 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 civilities, and drew from me what information I could 
 give relative to the American war, [that is, the bearing 
 of the war with France on the American colonies, and 
 British interests as connected therewith,] with my senti 
 ments on measures that were proposed or advised by 
 others, which gave me the opportunity of recommending 
 and enforcing the utility of conquering Canada." 
 
 The policy of fighting France on the side of Germany, 
 which had been so much favored by the kings of the 
 reigning family, themselves of German origin, Franklin 
 objected to, on the ground that it was ineffectual to pro 
 duce any lasting advantages to Great Britain, even if 
 victorious, or any real and permanent diminution of the 
 power and influence of France; that it was really fight 
 ing the battles of other European nations, who reaped 
 all the benefits, while Britain paid the cost ; and it was 
 a policy which Pitt himself had never really approved. 
 The harmony of their views on this point may well be 
 supposed to have inclined the minister to Franklin s 
 opinions respecting Canada, and the importance of wrest 
 ing it from France, as the most effectual if not the only 
 mode in which her power could be materially and per 
 manently weakened, to the real benefit of his own coun 
 try. At all events, Franklin s views respecting the con 
 quest of Canada were adopted ; and there is good reason 
 for affirming, that the expedition of Wolfe, and the ac 
 quisition of both territory and renown, which it brought 
 to the British empire and the British arms, are to be 
 ascribed to the political sagacity of Franklin. 
 
 The year 1759 passed on without bringing Franklin s 
 provincial mission to a close, though the historical expo 
 sition of the affairs of Pennsylvania, together with the 
 conversation and character of Franklin, and other means 
 of rectifying opinions in high places, as well as among 
 reading and reflecting men generally, were producing 
 
VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 337 
 
 their legitimate effect, and rendering important aid to his 
 professional counsel in preparing his cause for a hearing. 
 As that hearing, however, did not yet come on, Franklin 
 availed himself of the summer of that year to visit Scot 
 land, taking his son with him. He had, in the preceding 
 February, received from the university of St. Andrew s 
 the honorary degree of doctor of laws, and his merits, 
 not only in physical philosophy and in politics, but as 
 a man of general knowledge and an elegant and forcible 
 writer, having been long well understood, he was re 
 ceived with cordial respect by the eminent men of Scot 
 land. David Hume, Henry Home, (better known as 
 Lord Kames,) and Dr. Robertson, the historian, became 
 his warm personal friends, as his subsequent correspond 
 ence with them abundantly testifies. At Edinburgh, in 
 September, he was "admitted a burgess and guild- 
 brother of that city," says the city record, " as a mark 
 of affectionate respect for a gentleman, whose amiable 
 character, greatly-distinguished usefulness, and love to 
 all mankind, had long ago reached them across the At 
 lantic ocean ;" and in October the freedom of the city of 
 St. Andrew s, also, was conferred upon him. 
 
 Of all the great men whose society he enjoyed in 
 Scotland, the warmest personal attachment seems to have 
 sprung up between himself and Lord Kames. They 
 were congenial spirits ; and when, after spending a 
 number of delightful days at his lordship s country-seat 
 near the Tweed, Franklin left Scotland for London, his 
 noble friend and lady accompanied him through the first 
 stage of his journey. The kind and degree of pleasure 
 he found in the society of Lord Kames is vividly de 
 scribed in a letter written at London, on the 3d of the 
 succeeding January, 1760. After expressing the regret 
 of himself and his son at parting with him and Lady 
 Kames so soon, he says: " Huw much more agreeable 
 29 
 
338 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 would our journey have been, if we could have enjoyed 
 you as far as York. We could have beguiled the way by 
 discoursing on a thousand things, that we now may never 
 have an opportunity of considering together; for con 
 versation warms the mind, enlivens the imagination, and 
 is continually starting fresh game that is immediately 
 pursued and taken, and which would never have oc 
 curred in the duller intercourse of epistolary correspond 
 ence. So that whenever I reflect on the great pleasure 
 and advantage I received from the free communication 
 of sentiment, in the conversations we had at Kames, and 
 in the agreeable little rides to the Tweed-side, I shall 
 for ever regret our premature parting." 
 
 Of the gratification he found in the whole of his so 
 journ in Scotland, he speaks, in the same letter, as fol 
 lows : " On the whole, I must say I think the time we 
 spent there was six weeks of the densest happiness I have 
 met with in any part of my life ; and the agreeable and 
 instructive society we found there in such plenty, has 
 left so pleasing an impression on my memory, that, did 
 not strong connections draw me elsewhere, I believe 
 Scotland would be the country I should choose to spend 
 the remainder of my days in." 
 
 One of Franklin s most intimate personal friends in 
 London, was Mr. William Strahan, bred a printer, who 
 acquired a handsome fortune in his business, and, by his 
 talents, intelligence, and probity, became, in 1775, a 
 member of Parliament. He had long taken a lively 
 interest in the affairs of the American colonies, and when 
 the controversies and estrangements came on between 
 those colonies and the mother-country, he took an active 
 part in all the efforts made to heal difficulties and bring 
 about a reconciliation. Shortly after Franklin s arrival 
 in London, in 1757, Mr. Strahan had, with Franklin s 
 privity, written a very earnest invitation to Mrs. Frank- 
 
MR. STRAHAN MISS STEVENSON. 339 
 
 lin to visit London with her daughter, during her hus 
 band s stay on the business of his mission ; and now, in 
 the winter of 1759- 60, his increased regard for Franklin 
 led him to urge the latter to send for his family and set 
 tle permanently in England. Among the inducements 
 to this step, Mr. Strahan proposed the marriage of his 
 son with Franklin s daughter, Sarah; and he put the 
 proposal in writing, together with the various consider 
 ations in its favor, that it might, if his friend thought fit, 
 be sent to Mrs. Franklin at Philadelphia. 
 
 From Franklin s letter of March 5, 1760, to his wife, 
 on this subject, it appears that Mr. Strahan s business 
 enabled him " to lay up a thousand pounds every year," 
 clear of family expenses and all other charges ; that his 
 wife was "a sensible and good woman;" the children 
 amiable and well trained ; and " the young man sober, 
 ingenious, industrious," and personally agreeable. Frank 
 lin s objections, as stated in conversation with his friend, 
 to settling in England, were his " affection to Pennsyl 
 vania and to long-established friendships and connec 
 tions there, and his wife s invincible aversion to crossing 
 the seas;" while, without the removal to England, he 
 " could not think of parting with his daughter to such a 
 distance." Thanking his friend for the esteem implied 
 by the proposals, but not promising to communicate them, 
 he nevertheless did so, leaving his wife " at liberty to 
 answer or not ;" requesting for himself, however, the 
 knowledge of her sentiments on the subject. 
 
 Among the friendships Franklin formed in England, 
 at the period in question, one of the most interesting was 
 that with Miss Mary Stevenson, the daughter of his host 
 ess of Craven street. Her character was one of high 
 moral worth, and she was gifted with uncommon mental 
 abilities. Upon Franklin s becoming an inmate of her 
 mother s family, he BOOH perceived her various merits, 
 
340 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and took pleasure in aiding and directing her studies. 
 In the spring of 1760, she resided for some time with a 
 relative, at a little distance from London, and during 
 that separation she and her distinguished friend ex 
 changed several letters, relating chiefly to her course of 
 reading. One of those letters contains suggestions on 
 that topic, which most readers, particularly youthful 
 ones, would find it advantageous to observe. He advises 
 her to read " with a pen in hand," and to " enter in a 
 book," suitably prepared for the purpose, short hints," 
 or abstracts, of Whatever she might find striking, whether 
 " curious or useful," as the best method of fixing them 
 in her mind, either for subsequent use, if practically val 
 uable, or, if relating to things rare and curious, " to adorn 
 and improve her conversation ;" and, moreover, always 
 to have good dictionaries at hand, for the instant expla 
 nation of words not perfectly understood, particularly 
 terms of science and art, so that no part of the author s 
 meaning may be lost, or knowledge rendered defective, 
 and the mental perceptions impaired, by any confusion 
 of ideas. 
 
 This advice is believed to be sound; and the method 
 of making " short hints," or condensed abstracts, in the 
 reader s own language, much better than that of the 
 usual common-place book, to which passages are trans 
 ferred in the very words of the author. The former 
 practice may be rendered an efficient mode of mental 
 discipline, promoting the habit of discriminative and ac 
 curate thinking, and so strengthening the memory as well 
 as the understanding ; while the latter method, though 
 occasionally well for the convenient preservation of pas 
 sages remarkable for some felicity of expression, or other 
 quality of mere form, seems unsuited for any purpose 
 of mental training; and though sometimes recommended 
 as a mode of cultivating the memory, it seems less fitted 
 
PERSONAL ABUSE INDEMNITY-MONEY. 341 
 
 to aid that faculty, than to injure it by accustoming it 
 to rely on the common-place book rather than its own 
 power of retention. 
 
 Franklin s zeal in behalf of the claims of Pennsylva 
 nia, and the ability with which he maintained them, ex 
 cited a rancorous hostility on the part of the Proprieta 
 ries and their retainers; and to this was added on riie 
 part of others, the high tory advocates of royal preroga 
 tive and adversaries of colonial privileges, another con 
 fluent current of bitter feeling against him, for the ability 
 and effect with which he maintained those privileges and 
 the general cause of the colonies. From these two 
 sources proceeded not a few political pamphlets and 
 newspaper articles, in which, from time to time, he was 
 assailed with gross personal abuse, and his motives, pur 
 poses, and habits, calumniously misrepresented. These 
 things, however, gave little disturbance to his equanim 
 ity. He was content with the approval of his own con 
 science and the respect and friendship of the men most 
 eminent in either South or North Britain for worth and 
 abilities, and regarded this personal obloquy with cool 
 indifference or silent scorn. Writing from London to 
 his wife, in June, 1760, he says : " I am concerned that 
 so much trouble should be given you by idle reports 
 concerning me. Be satisfied, my dear wife, that while 
 I have my senses, and God vouchsafes me his protection, 
 I shall do nothing unworthy the character of an honest 
 man, and one that loves his family." In another letter 
 he says : " Let no one make you uneasy with their idle 
 or malicious scribblings, but enjoy yourself and friends, 
 and the comforts of life that God has bestowed on you, 
 with a cheerful heart. I am glad their pamphlets give 
 you so little concern. I make no other answer to them 
 at present, than what appears on the seal of this letter." 
 29* 
 
342 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 That answer was, a dove above a snake coiled and dart 
 ing forth its tongue, with a motto in French, signifying 
 that Innocence surmounts everything. 
 
 In the autumn of this year, (1760,) Franklin received 
 a letter from Isaac Norris, Speaker of the Pennsylvania 
 Assembly, accompanied by an act authorizing and direct- 
 ino^/him, as provincial agent, to receive and invest, on 
 behalf of the province, its share of the moneys recently 
 granted by parliament as some indemnity to the Ameri 
 can colonies for the charges they had incurred in 1758, 
 beyond what that body admitted to be their fair propor 
 tion, in support of the war. In the act making this 
 grant, the Lower Counties (as they were then usually 
 called, now the state of Delaware) were joined with 
 Pennsylvania, though they were under separate govern 
 ments. The number of men kept in the field by the 
 two governments was 2,727, the quota of Pennsylvania 
 being 2,446, and that of Delaware 281. The whole sum 
 apportioned to the two colonies, was twenty-nine thou 
 sand nine hundred and ninety-three pounds sterling, of 
 which Pennsylvania s share was nearly twenty-seven 
 thousand pounds, and that of Delaware a little over 
 three thousand. 
 
 On receiving this money, Franklin placed it in the 
 bank of England, till he could invest it in stocks, as he 
 soon did, pursuant to the law under which he acted. 
 The investment was well made ; but the Assembly, 
 moved by some premature rumors of peace, indiscreetly 
 ordered the stocks to be sold when so low as to occasion 
 considerable loss ; and yet the Penn party, in their ran 
 cor toward Franklin, charged the loss to his misconduct, 
 and claimed that he should make it up. 
 
PAMPHLET ON CANADA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PAMPHLET ON CANADA PENNSYLVANIA CASE DECIDED 
 
 TOUR IN ENGLAND AND WALES NEW WORDS 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY PHILOSOPHICAL TOPICS TOUR IN 
 
 HOLLAND ART OF VIRTUE LATENT HEAT WATER 
 
 VAPORIZED BY ELECTRICITY POINTS AND KNOBS 
 
 ARMOMCA LITERARY HONORS RETURN HOME. 
 
 BEFORE the close of 1759, the conquest of Canada 
 had been achieved, and the island of Guadaloupe been 
 taken, by the British. These events in America, with 
 the success of the British arms in East India, and the 
 overwhelming superiority of the British navy, were fol 
 lowed by indications of approaching peace ; and the 
 terms on which that peace should be concluded began to 
 occupy the thoughts of leading men both in and out of 
 the British cabinet. 
 
 In this condition of public affairs, a pamphlet ap 
 peared, addressed in fact to the duke of Newcastle, then 
 premier, and Mr. Pitt, one of the secretaries of state, 
 but published under the title of a Letter to Two Gi eat 
 Men, and written by the earl of Bath, better known as 
 Mr. Pultney, in which he urged that, whatever conces 
 sions might be made in other quarters, on the conclusion 
 of peace, Canada should be retained by Great Britain. 
 A reply to this letter soon after came out, anonymously, 
 entitled Remarks on the Letter to Two Great Men, in 
 which the writer maintained that Guadaloupe would be 
 the more valuable acquisition, and should be retained, 
 while Canada should be restored to France. 
 
344 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 The Remarker was supposed by many to be the cele 
 brated Edmund Burke ; and whether the supposition 
 was correct or not, it was good evidence that his per 
 formance was deemed an able one. Having, from a de 
 sire not to seem obtrusive, waited a suitable time for a 
 reply from the author of the Letter, Franklin took up the 
 subject. In one respect, if no more, he was better qual 
 ified to discuss it than either of the other writers, or, in 
 deed, any man in England ; and that was, his more pre 
 cise and thorough knowledge of all the material facts 
 pertaining to the state of things in America; of the re 
 sources, wants, progress, and prospects of the colonies ; 
 their relations to Canada and to the Indian tribes; the 
 features of the country already occupied by the colonial 
 settlements, as well as the regions which would invite 
 occupancy as soon as new settlements could be made 
 with a reasonable expectation of security ; the extent of 
 the Indian trade, and its value, together with that of the 
 colonies, to the mother-country ; and, in short, all the 
 peculiarly American topics bearing on the question. In 
 reference, also, to the more general topics, whether drawn 
 from history or from the relations of Great Britain to 
 the other countries of Europe, or to the Indies East and 
 West, wherever the commercial interests of the British 
 empire were involved, he showed himself to be at least 
 as well informed as any man, whether in or out of the 
 public councils, who undertook to discuss the question, 
 in either its commercial or its diplomatic bearings ; 
 and he handled it with an ability and pungency, and at 
 the same time with a courtesy and fairness, which drew 
 from an opponent, in another anonymous pamphlet, 
 written doubtless, though not avowedly, by the remarker, 
 a declaration that he considered the author of the Canada 
 Pamphlet, as being of all the advocates of the retention 
 of Canada, " clearly the ablest, the most ingenious, the 
 
CANADA PAMPHLET. 345 
 
 most dexterous, and the most perfectly acquainted with 
 the strong and weak points of the argument," and as 
 having " said everything, and everything in the best man 
 ner, that the cause could bear." 
 
 A brief sketch of the general scope and tenor of this 
 performance, is all that can be here given ; but this, at 
 least, is demanded by justice to its author, not only to 
 illustrate the attitude he then presented, and the estima 
 tion in which he was then held, as a public man, but also 
 in connection with other evidence subsequently furnished 
 from time to time, as the interests and rights of the 
 American colonies grew in importance, and became 
 more and more deeply affected by the policy of the 
 mother-country, to aid in showing something of the 
 extent to which those principles, whereon the colonies 
 at last took their stand in opposition to that policy, and 
 the arguments by which those principles were unfolded 
 and enforced, are traceable to Franklin, and to the influ 
 ence he exerted on opinion both in England and in 
 America. 
 
 The question discussed in the pamphlet before us, let 
 it be remembered, was, which of her two conquests, the 
 island of Guadaloupe, or the province of Canada and 
 its dependencies, Great Britain should retain. Franklin 
 commences with a compliment to the ability and cour 
 tesy of the two preceding writers, and an apology for 
 his taking up the discussion, drawn from " the long si 
 lence" of the author of the Letter, followed by some 
 well-placed observations on the importance of the ques 
 tion at issue, and the wisdom of thoroughly canvassing 
 it, without delay, in order that the government might 
 be prepared, with clear and well-settled views in regard 
 to it, to enter on the negotiations by which it would be 
 decided at the close of the war. 
 
 The first point relates to the right of a nation, on the 
 
346 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 successful termination of a just war, to demand cessions 
 from its enemy, by way of indemnity for the expenses 
 forced upon the former, and for the future security of 
 any exposed part of her dominions. This right is illus 
 trated by various examples from history and modern 
 treaties between the European states ; and the wisdom 
 of insisting upon it in the case under consideration, is 
 enforced by a striking statement of the nature and 
 extent of the colonial frontiers and the Canadian terri 
 tory, the relations between them, the position and char 
 acter of the Indian tribes, the influence exercised among 
 them by French missionaries and traders, and the whole 
 French policy in Canada and Louisiana ; all which 
 considerations demonstrated the necessity of retaining 
 Canada, in order to avoid future wars with their heavy 
 expenditures, from causes arising in that quarter, and to 
 insure the safety and prosperity of the colonies and their 
 value to the mother- country. 
 
 The second point relates to the insufficiency of the 
 method insisted on by his opponent and usually pursued, 
 of block-houses and forts, however strongly garrisoned, 
 or however judiciously placed, to defend a frontier nearly 
 two thousand miles in length, covered with vast primeval 
 forests, swarming with savage tribes familiar with every 
 part of them, and threading them in every direction, in 
 small bands, moving with a celerity that baffled anv pos 
 sible effort of regular troops to pursue them, or even to 
 discover their trail, unless by accident, and spreading 
 desolation and terror through the new settlements. Such 
 military posts would, indeed, be of some service for 
 guarding particular passes, and covering a few places 
 here and there threatened by the regular troops of the 
 enemy, and were of still greater use as depots of provis 
 ions and warlike stores, but were utterly ineffectual to 
 protect the general frontier, or prevent those border en- 
 
CANADA PAMPHLET. 347 
 
 croachments and quarrels that would be perpetually 
 occurring in such remote regions and embroiling the two 
 nations ; whereas the retention of Canada "implied every 
 security," and would at once and for ever cut off all haz 
 ard of future wars between France and England, from 
 causes originating in that seed-bed of hostilities, which, 
 if restored, would become more and more fruitful, de 
 manding a continually-increasing military establishment 
 and a rapidly-augmenting expenditure. If Canada be 
 retained, says Franklin, " we shall then, as it were, have 
 our back against a wall ; the seacoast will be easily pro 
 tected by our superior naval power; and the force now 
 employed in that part of the world may be spared for 
 other service, so that both the offensive and defensive 
 strength of the British empire will be greatly increased." 
 The third point relates to " the blood and treasure 
 spent in America," by the mother-country, which the 
 Remarkcr had said was expended only in the cause of 
 the colonies. This notion, a very prevalent one both 
 then and afterward, Franklin met with a full and clear 
 exposure of its fallacy and injustice. He did not pre 
 tend that the colonies were " altogether unconcerned," 
 for their people were then warmly attached to the moth 
 er-country ; and they not only took pride in her glory 
 and prosperity, in peace and war, but had " exerted 
 themselves beyond their strength and against their evi 
 dent interest," in her behalf. But their loyalty "had 
 made against them;" and for no better reason than the 
 fact, that the battles of Great Britain had been fought in 
 America, the allegation had been made that the colonists 
 were " the authors of a war, carried on for their advan 
 tage only." No individual and no public body of any 
 kind, in the colonies, had any individual or separate in 
 terest in the retention of Canada; they wished for no 
 lands but those they already possessed, and for no con- 
 
348 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 quests, except only for the sake of peace and security 
 within their own borders. Indeed, so far as their pecu 
 niary interests, in this particular, were concerned, the 
 acquisition of additional territory would be a detriment, 
 by bringing more land into market, and thus contributing 
 to retard the growth of their existing settlements. The 
 mother-country, on the contrary, had a direct and sub 
 stantial interest in this increase of territory and cheap 
 lands, through the influence it would necessarily exercise 
 in restricting the inhabitants to agriculture as their great 
 occupation ; and thus, by enlarging the demand for the 
 manufactures of the mother-country, nourish her com 
 merce and navigation, and augment her wealth and her 
 naval power. 
 
 Besides, it was unjust and invidious, for another rea 
 son, to represent the blood and treasure spent in the war, 
 as being spent in the cause of the colonies only. The 
 colonies were, in truth, but part of the frontiers of the 
 empire; and, so long as they preserved their allegiance, 
 had as perfect a claim to protection as any county in 
 England. The acquisition of Canada was not sought to 
 gratify " a vain ambition" on the part of the colonies, as 
 the Rcmarker had insinuated ; it was sought for the ben 
 efit of the whole empire, and such would be the result 
 of retaining it. Should the kingdom engage in a war 
 for the protection of her manufacturing and commercial 
 interests, would it be just or decent to charge "the blood 
 and treasure" expended in it, to the account of " the 
 weavers of Yorkshire, the cutlers of Sheffield, or the 
 button-makers of Birmingham" 1 
 
 Under the fourth head, the argument in favor of the 
 extension of the colonial settlements toward the Missis 
 sippi and along the great lakes, and the advantages that 
 would result to the mother-country from their vast in 
 crease of population and general prosperity, is expanded 
 
WESTERN SETTLEMENT. 349 
 
 and enforced with peculiar ability and the exhibition of 
 the most statesmanlike views. The Rcmarker had ob 
 jected that the interior of that broad territory could not 
 be reached for the purposes of trade to the benefit of 
 Great Britain, and that its population, soon ceasing to 
 have any intercourse with the mother-country, would 
 become useless if not dangerous to her interests. In 
 reply, it is shown that the objection proceeded from 
 ignorance of the character of that country and the re 
 markable facilities furnished by its rivers and lakes for 
 an internal trade of greater extent, activity, and produc 
 tiveness, than any other region of the earth. In illustra 
 tion of this point, reference is made to the trade, long 
 carried on, for British account, in the most interior parts 
 of Europe, against great natural difficulties, and the still 
 greater embarrassments arising from the clashing legis 
 lation of numerous states ; and a comprehensive and 
 masterly view is added of the various routes of commerce 
 through Asia and Europe in ancient and modern times. 
 The Indian trade, also, is adduced to show that, in point 
 of fact, that interior was actually traversed in every di 
 rection, and that the canoe was but the precursor of the 
 larger craft destined to swarm on those unrivalled wa 
 ters. It is thus demonstrated that, while the colonial 
 population would be spreading westward, the manufac 
 tures of England, with whatever merchandise her ships 
 might bring, would certainly follow the people, who 
 would adhere to agriculture as their main occupation, 
 till those vast and fertile regions should be brought un 
 der cultivation ; that manufactures could not naturally 
 grow up in such a country, inasmuch as the population 
 would be too sparse for that, while land was cheap ; that 
 the climate and soil were so varied as to invite the culti 
 vation, not only of food of every kind in the greatest 
 abundance, but of a wide variety of raw products for 
 30 
 
350 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 manufacture in England ; that the result to Great Britain 
 would be a rapid increase of numbers, wealth, arts, and 
 power, on her own soil, as well as in her colonies ; a 
 navigation that would cover the seas, and a navy to ride 
 with it round the world. 
 
 Compared with such vast benefits to the mother-coun 
 try, the natural fruit of the permanent possession of 
 Canada, and of the consequent security and growth of the 
 American colonies, all that the possession of Guadaloupe 
 could promise was insignificant indeed ; and as to the 
 danger of disaffection and separation on the part of the 
 colonies a point much magnified on the other side 
 it was but imaginary, so long as the imperial govern 
 ment should be administered with ordinary justice and 
 discretion, and the charters of the colonies, together with 
 their local laws and usages for the regulation of their 
 own internal concerns, should be respected. The policy 
 of ancient Rome, in this particular, was an example of 
 wisdom worth imitating. She left the countries she 
 subdued to their own institutions, independent of each 
 other and tranquil, so long as they preserved their alle 
 giance to her. In pursuance of this policy, she went 
 even so far as to release the Grecian states from the 
 Macedonian yoke, and give them their separate inde 
 pendence and their own laws, not retaining even the ap 
 pointment of their governors. Rome, by this magnan 
 imous and therefore wise policy, not caring for the 
 ostentatious but irritating parade of sovereignty, enjoyed 
 the trade of the dependent nations, received their tribute, 
 and swayed the world, without a standing army, until 
 "the loss of liberty and the corruption of manners in the 
 sovereign state subverted her dominion." 
 
 But the policy of the Rcma? kcr would leave Canada 
 to the French, to check the dangerous growth of the 
 American colonies. " A modest word, this check" says 
 
CANADA PAMPHLET. 351 
 
 Franklin "for the massacre of men, women, and chil 
 dren." To restore Canada on such ground, would be 
 to invite the French and their savage allies to renew 
 their barbarities, and the stain of such blood-guiltiness 
 would rest on Britain. Better than this would be the 
 Egyptian policy of old, to strangle at its birth every 
 male-child born in the colonies. But the danger of sep 
 aration, and the narrow jealousy which suggested the 
 policy of restoring Canada, was idle and unjust, except 
 only on the supposition of " the most grievous tyranny 
 and oppression" on the part of the mother-country. 
 "People," says Franklin, "who have property to lose, 
 and privileges to be endangered, are generally disposed 
 to be quiet, and to bear much, rather than hazard all. 
 While the government is mild and just while impor 
 tant civil and religious rights are secure such subjects 
 will be dutiful and obedient. The waves do not rise but 
 when the wind blows." 
 
 This able pamphlet concludes with a statistical exhibit 
 of the commercial value of Guadaloupe and the colonies, 
 demonstrating the superiority of the latter, and showing 
 that, if tropical produce and trade were to be the con 
 trolling objects, the possession of Guadaloupe was far 
 less desirable than that of French Guyana and Cayenne, 
 on the neighboring mainland of South America, which, 
 from the small number of the French there, could be 
 much more easily occupied by a British population, and 
 held more quietly under British authority, than Guada 
 loupe, fully peopled as it was by the French, who would 
 always be disposed to throw off the jurisdiction of for 
 eigners and return to their original, natural connections. 
 
 Such is an imperfect outline of this able, enlightened 
 performance. It exerted a very extensive and powerful 
 influence on the public mind, and unquestionably con 
 tributed much to shape the course of the ministry in 
 
352 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 conducting those negotiations, which ended in obtaining 
 Canada arid peace. The consequences amply sustained 
 the views of Franklin, and fully vindicated his sagacity, 
 in everything, except the justice and moderation of the 
 British government ; and that single exception could not 
 have been made, had George Grenville, Lord North, and 
 their respective colleagues, manifested, in subsequent 
 years, half the true statesmanship of the provincial agent 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 At length, in June, 1760, the cause committed to 
 Franklin s charge by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, 
 was argued before the board of trade. The particular 
 case on which the argument was had, was an act of the 
 Assembly, duly signed by Governor Denny, entitled, 
 " An act for granting to his majesty the sum of one hun 
 dred thousand pounds, striking the same in bills of cred 
 it, and sinking the bills by a tax on all estates real and 
 personal" This included, of course, the Proprietary 
 estates ; and though the decision of the board required 
 some few formal amendments of the act, for the sake of 
 greater precision in some of its details, yet, on the great 
 point, it was explicit, that the estates of the Proprietaries 
 ought to be assessed and taxed in the same manner and 
 to the same extent, as all other estates in the province. 
 
 Though the hearing took place in June, yet the report 
 of the whole matter, with the decision thereon by the 
 board, to the privy council, together with other formali 
 ties appertaining to it, detained Franklin in London, as 
 he remarks in a subsequent letter to Lord Kames, until 
 the middle of September. 
 
 Although the leading object of Franklin s mission to 
 England was now accomplished, yet other affairs of the 
 province kept him still in that country ; and during a 
 short period of leisure following the attainment of the 
 object mentioned, he made another excursion, with his 
 
TOUR IN WALES AND WEST OP ENGLAND. 353 
 
 son, to the northern parts of the kingdom, taking a route 
 somewhat west of his former one to Scotland, and re 
 turning through.. Wales. Writing at Coventry, under 
 date of the 27th of September, to Lord Kames, he states 
 that he had intended, when the excursion was originally 
 planned, in the preceding summer, to cross over to Ire 
 land, and having made the tour of that island, pass from 
 one of its northern ports into the southwest of Scotland, 
 and so make a circuit to Edinburgh, for the sake of once 
 more seeing his friends in that neighborhood ; but that 
 the litigation with the Proprietary had delayed him so 
 long in London, as already stated, that he was obliged 
 to relinquish the more important part of his design. 
 
 In a letter to David Hume, of the same date, Franklin 
 expresses the gratification it had given him to learn that 
 Mr. Hume s opinions concerning America had recently 
 become more favorable than they had been ; for, says 
 he, "I think it of importance to our general welfare, that 
 the people of this nation should have right notions of us; 
 and I know of no one who has it more in his power to 
 rectify those notions, than Mr. Hume." That distin 
 guished writer had then recently put forth his able 
 Essay on the Jealousy of Commerce ; and Franklin, in 
 the same letter, expresses the pleasure it had given him, 
 particularly for the following reason : " I think," says 
 Franklin, "it can not but have a good effect in promoting 
 a certain interest, too little thought of by selfish man, 
 and scarcely ever mentioned, so that we hardly have a 
 name for it : I mean the interest of humanity, or the 
 common good of mankind. But I hope, particularly 
 from that essay, an abatement of the jealousy, that 
 reigns here, of the commerce of the colonies." 
 
 The change in some of Mr. Hume s sentiments rela 
 ting to America, as mentioned above, had been pro 
 duced, in great part at least, by the Canada Pamphlet, 
 
354 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 which Franklin had sent him ; and it seems, from the 
 letter already cited, that Mr. Hume, in another referring 
 to it, had, with the frankness of friendship, criticised 
 some of the expressions employed in the pamphlet. 
 Among these were the words pejorate, colonize, and un 
 shakable. After thanking his friend for his admonition, 
 and saying that he should give up the words, for the 
 reason that they were not recognised by usage, he ad 
 mits the position that new words should not be coined, 
 when there are already old ones sufficiently expressive; 
 but he adds the wish that usage would give a readier 
 sanction to new terms, formed by compounding such as 
 already belong to the language and are universally un 
 derstood ; and he refers to the German, as well as the 
 Latin and G-reek, to sanction the practice; remarking, 
 that words compounded of such as are already familiar, 
 would be better than any that could be borrowed from 
 other tongues, inasmuch as their full meaning would be 
 instantly and completely apprehended. 
 
 Much of this we believe to be sound doctrine, if cau 
 tiously applied. Still, Franklin s modesty, or courtesy, 
 led him, we think, to defer to Mr. Hume s authority 
 somewhat beyond the true rule. Not that we would ask 
 the mint-stamp on pejorate ; for, to cite but one example, 
 having deteriorate, the other seems needless, though 
 equally legitimate in its formation, each being originally 
 derived from the comparative degree of a Latin adjec 
 tive, the old word through the French, the other directly 
 from its Roman primitive. As to colonize, however, it 
 is not only in common and unquestioned use, in these 
 days, by the best writers, but it was so, long before the 
 year 1760 ; probably as long before as the condition 
 and political relations of communities called colonies 
 were understood by Englishmen, or the planting of them 
 was the subject of discourse in the English language; 
 
NEW WORDS. 355 
 
 and in its vocabulary there is not a word more regular 
 and legitimate, in form or use. 
 
 We do not intend to enter, here, into a philological 
 dissertation ; but it may be allowable to remark, that, 
 when the progress of knowledge and of society produces 
 new facts and truths, or new institutions, then the very 
 design and end of all language demand new words to 
 express the new ideas, and to discourse with clearness 
 and precision concerning the new subjects of thought. 
 In this way it is that the vocabularies of all tongues have 
 been extended ; and all that sound principle requires is, 
 that the new terms shall be formed in accordance with 
 the established laws of the language to which they are 
 added. Even when subjects of thought, not essentially 
 and strictly new, are placed in unusual relations, and 
 new terms, if not absolutely indispensable, become desi 
 rable, for the more exact, forcible, or graceful expression 
 of the ideas suggested by the varied aspects of the sub 
 ject, the languages of all civilized nations have freely ad 
 mitted them, not from caprice, nor even for convenience 
 alone, nor only for the yet higher purpose of giving style 
 new attractions by giving it a more varied power of ex 
 pression, or an easier flow, but also as being both the 
 instruments and proofs of greater accuracy of thought and 
 increasing intellectual culture; and this augmentation 
 of the means of communicating ideas is one of the pro 
 cesses, perhaps the most efficient one, by which the civ 
 ilization and refinement of nations are advanced. 
 
 During his residence in London, though he was unable 
 to give any systematic attention to philosophical studies, 
 yet he availed himself of occasional opportunities fur 
 nished by the delay of his business, to perform an exper 
 iment, or- attend a meeting of professed cultivators of 
 science, or write to a correspondent on some topic of his 
 favorite pursuit. Tn June of ] 758, he addressed such a 
 
356 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 letter to John Lining, of Charleston, South Carolina, a 
 correspondent of that class, on the cooling of the surfaces 
 of bodies by evaporation. This topic had been started 
 before Franklin left home on his present mission ; and 
 in the letter now mentioned, he relates an experiment 
 he had recently exhibited at Cambridge, in conjunction 
 with Professor Hadley, of the university there, in which, 
 by successive wettings of the glass bulb of a thermome 
 ter with ether, and permitting each wetting to evaporate, 
 as it rapidly did, being aided by blowing on the bulb 
 with a pair of bellows, the mercury in the tube was sent 
 down twenty-five degrees below freezing point, and ice. 
 nearly a fourth of an inch thick, was formed on the bulb, 
 " From this experiment," says Franklin, " one may see 
 the possibility of freezing a man to death, on a warm 
 summer-day, if he were to stand in a passage, through 
 which the wind blew briskly, and were wet frequently 
 with ether, a spirit more inflammable than brandy, or 
 common spirits of wine." 
 
 The principle thus demonstrated Franklin applies, as 
 his habit was, to various cases of practical importance. 
 Many a person has received great injury to his health, 
 from seeking, when much heated and wet with perspira 
 tion, to refresh himself in such a passage, by having his 
 body too rapidly cooled down by evaporation from its 
 surface. On the other hand, by this same law of nature, 
 the husbandman, while gathering his harvests in the field 
 under a burning sun, is protected from a heat that would 
 overpower him, if it were not carried off by evaporation 
 from his perspiring body. On the same principle, water, 
 milk, butter, or anything else, may be cooled in vessels 
 wrapped with cloths, wetted often enough to keep up an 
 active evaporation ; and so, too, local inflammation on 
 the human body, whether occasioned by bruises, boils, 
 or other hot tumors, may be cooled, and pain diminished, 
 
EVAPORATION TIDES. 357 
 
 by laying on linen kept wet with spirit, which is better 
 than water, for this purpose, because it evaporates faster. 
 In the summer of 1760, in several interesting letters 
 to Miss Stevenson, then at Wanstead, a little distance 
 from London, Franklin explains, for her instruction, the 
 action of tides in rivers, both the flow and ebb taking 
 place in the form of tidal waves, the top of each wave, 
 that is to say, high-water, reaching successive places at 
 successive points of time, so as to make the surface of 
 the river present, in fact, a succession of curves. In 
 another of these letters, speaking of inquiries into the 
 character and habits of insects a study to which his 
 young friend was devoting part of her time he illus 
 trates the utility of such inquiries, by references to the 
 honey-bee, the cochineal insect, the silk-worm, and other 
 instances ; and relates the method which the great Swe 
 dish naturalist, Linnaeus, suggested, for protecting the 
 green timber in the dockyards of Sweden from a worm 
 by which large quantities had been materially injured. 
 Linnaeus having detected the origin of the worms from 
 eggs deposited in the small crevices in the surfaces of 
 timber, and the fly which deposited the eggs, and having 
 ascertained accurately the period when the eggs were 
 deposited, recommended that, some days before the com 
 mencement of that period, all the green timber should 
 be placed under water till the period had passed by. 
 The timber was thus secured from injury, in that form, 
 by pursuing the course recommended, only once with the 
 same timber ; for the process of seasoning rendered the 
 timber, by the next year, too hard for the worm to pen 
 etrate. Though the utility of this, as well as other 
 branches of natural history, is thus explicitly recognised 
 by Franklin, yet he felt that there was a certain fitness, 
 or propriety, which should regulate the attention to such 
 pursuits, according to individual position and the pres- 
 
358 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sure of other obligations; and he closes with the follow 
 ing admonition, for the sake of which, in part, the letter 
 has been cited : 
 
 " There is, however," says Franklin, " a prudent 
 moderation to be used in studies of this kind. The 
 knowledge of nature may be ornamental, and it may be 
 useful ; but if, to attain an eminence in that, we neglect 
 the knowledge- and practice of essential duties, we de 
 serve reprehension. For there is no rank in natural 
 knowledge, of equal dignity and importance with that 
 of being a good parent, a good child, a good husband or 
 wife, a good neighbor or friend, a good subject or citizen 
 that is, in short, a good Christian. Nicholas Gim- 
 crack, therefore, who neglected the care of his family, to 
 pursue butterflies, was a just object of ridicule, and we 
 must give him up as fair game to the satirist." 
 
 During his journeys in England and Scotland, Frank 
 lin took occasion to inquire, among other things, into the 
 condition of their hospitals, with a view to the benefit 
 of the hospital which he had helped to establish and 
 manage in Philadelphia; and in replying, under date of 
 February 26, 1761, to Hugh Roberts, a co-manager of 
 that institution, he informs him that he should send, by 
 the same ship that would take his letter, various tran 
 scripts of regulations and accounts given him at different 
 English and Scotch hospitals, from which useful hints 
 might perhaps be taken in regard to management and 
 expenditure ; and that he hoped to obtain some contri 
 butions of money. His friend was also a member of the 
 Junto, and in his letter had spoken of his attending the 
 meetings of the club occasionally. Franklin replies that 
 he should do it oftener ; that the members all loved and 
 respected him; that "people are apt to grow strange 
 and not understand one another so well, when they meet 
 but seldom ;" that for himself, he loved cheerful com- 
 
VISIT TO HOLLAND HUME. 359 
 
 pany as well as ever, while at the same time he enjoyed 
 with a higher relish " the grave observations and wise 
 sentences" of the conversation of cheerful old men, ripe 
 with experience. 
 
 Being still detained in England, he took an opportu 
 nity, in the summer of 1761, to visit Holland and Flan 
 ders. No account of this visit remains, except a brief 
 letter to his wife, dated at Utrecht, September 14, 1761, 
 in which he tells her that, "having seen almost all the 
 principal places, and the things worthy of notice, we [he 
 and his son] are on our return to London," where he 
 intended to arrive in time to witness the coronation of 
 George III. He adds : " We are in good health, and 
 have had a great deal of pleasure, and received a good 
 deal of information in this tour, that may be useful when 
 we return to America." 
 
 In January, 1762, Franklin, in answer to a written re 
 quest from Mr. Hume, wrote him a minute description 
 of the manner in which lightning-rods should be made 
 and attached to buildings. In his reply, dated the 10th 
 of May following, Mr. Hume, after expressing his thanks, 
 and referring to some other matters, pays the following 
 tribute to Franklin s worth and eminence : " I am very 
 sorry that you intend soon to leave our hemisphere. 
 America has sent us many good things, gold, silver, su 
 gar, indigo, &c. ; but you are the first philosopher, and 
 indeed the first great man of letters, for whom we are 
 beholden to her. It is our own fault that we have not 
 kept him ; whence it appears that we do not agree with 
 Solomon, that wisdom is above gold ; for we take care 
 never to send back an ounce of the latter which we once 
 lay our fingers upon." 
 
 In March of the same year he received a letter from 
 his wife, announcing the death of her mother, Mrs. Read, 
 at a very advanced age. The following passage from 
 
360 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Franklin s reply, will give another illustration of the 
 ready sympathy and warmth of his affections : " I con 
 dole with you most sincerely," says he to his wife, " on 
 the death of our good mother, being extremely sensible 
 of the distress and affliction it must have given you. 
 Your comfort will be, that no care was wanting on your 
 part toward her, and that she had lived as long as this 
 life could afford her any rational enjoyment. It is, I am 
 sure, a satisfaction to me, that I can not charge myself 
 with having ever failed in one instance of duty and re 
 spect to her, during the many years that she called me 
 son ;" and after a passing reference to the time of his 
 return home, he adds, " God grant us a happy meeting." 
 Writing to Lord Kames, under a little earlier date, to 
 thank him for a work entitled Introduction to the Art of 
 Thinking, originally written by that nobleman for the 
 benefit of his own children while pursuing their early 
 studies, and sent by him, on its publication, to Franklin, 
 the latter, in his reply, makes the following remarks : 
 " To produce the number of valuable men necessary in 
 a nation for its prosperity, there is much more hope from 
 early institution than from reformation. And, as the 
 power of a single man, in particular situations of influ 
 ence, to do national service, is often immensely great, a 
 writer can hardly conceive of the good he may be doing, 
 when engaged in works of this kind." He then refers 
 again to his long-meditated work, (an outline of which 
 has been presented in a former part of this book,) on the 
 Art of Virtue, declaring that " it is not a mere ideal 
 work;" that having "first planned it in 1732," he had 
 made use of it himself, and induced others to do so, with 
 beneficial effect; that he had been accumulating materi 
 als for it, from time to time, ever since ; and that he in 
 tended to avail himself of his " first leisure" to complete 
 it, on his return to his own country. But the demand 
 
X 
 
 ART OF VIRTUE. 361 
 
 of the public for his services, growing more urgent as 
 their value became more apparent, the pressure of pub 
 lic business, instead of allowing him the leisure he had 
 hoped for, became more engrossing than ever, and this 
 long-meditated plan was never executed. 
 
 His own view of the need and the probable usefulness 
 of such a work he explains in the letter just cited, by 
 saying, substantially, that there are many persons whose 
 lives are unprofitable, or pernicious, not so much from 
 any settled wickedness of motive, or systematic design, 
 as from accident and ignorance from not comprehend 
 ing, in season, the necessary tendencies of early habits, 
 or their own power to control and reform bad habits ; 
 that such persons would willingly, as the long list of 
 their broken resolutions show, have persevered in the 
 endeavor to become upright and respectable men, useful 
 to themselves, their families, and society, if, in addition 
 to precept, they had been shown how to obey the pre 
 cept if the rules and principal details of right conduct 
 had been placed distinctly before them, so that they 
 might know precisely the particular acts they were to do 
 every day, and which, when done, would constitute a 
 well-spent day ; that this process is virtually the same 
 as that which is followed in training men to every one 
 of the mechanical arts, and all other practical occupa 
 tions. If a man, as he says, would become a painter, 
 navigator, or architect, it is not enough that he is advised 
 and convinced that it would be for his advantage to be 
 one ; but he must be also taught the particular principles 
 of his art, as well as its metJt-ods of working, and espe 
 cially the use of his tools by actually handling them 
 every day, for a series of years, till he shall have ac 
 quired the Jidbit of handling them skilfully and success 
 fully. So, the art of virtue is a practical matter, and 
 has its appropriate instruments, and manner of employ- 
 31 
 
362 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing them ; and, to use his own words, "to expect people 
 to be good, just, temperate, and so forth, without showing 
 them how to become so, seems like the ineffectual charity 
 mentioned by the apostle, which consisted in saying to 
 the hungry, cold, and naked, Be ye fed, be ye warmed, 
 be ye clothed? without showing them how they could get 
 food, fire, or clothing." 
 
 The want of time to execute such a work as Franklin 
 had thus conceived and would have produced, is, we 
 think, to be regretted. When, on the one hand, we con 
 sider with what power prevalent usages and manners act 
 on personal habits and character how deeply the gen 
 eral tone of thought and feeling abroad in society affect 
 individual views of duty, and of the true ends of life 
 how few, especially at the early age when only can much 
 effect be ordinarily expected from any method of moral 
 training, have sufficient intelligence, or self-directing 
 power, to frame or follow a plan of self-discipline com 
 prehending the whole of life arid such an employment 
 of their faculties and opportunities as may warrant 
 a reasonable expectation of any considerable amount 
 of beneficial results and how many, therefore, en 
 counter life piecemeal, as it were, running a career of 
 unconnected efforts and isolated enterprises, and exhib 
 iting, at the close, a saddening spectacle of energies 
 wasted, and talents producing no permanently-valuable 
 results, simply for the want of well-defined and consist 
 ent aims ; and then, on the other hand, when we reflect 
 on the method contemplated by Franklin, for assist 
 ing the youth of each generation to train themselves 
 to both virtuous habits and consistent action, in plying 
 their various callings and pursuing the lawful objects 
 of life when we reflect on these things, and advert to 
 the rich experience, varied observation, and profound 
 sagacity, from which the rules and lessons of his work 
 
GLASS AND ELECTRICITY. 363 
 
 would have been drawn, we can not resist the conviction 
 that the fulfilment of the design in question, would have 
 presented a method of self-examination and self-disci 
 pline more thoroughly practical, in both form and spirit, 
 as well as more efficient in producing beneficent results, 
 by its influence on manners, habits, motives, conduct, 
 and the general well-being of private and domestic life, 
 than anything of the same class and design that has yet 
 been furnished. 
 
 Among Franklin s cotemporaries, one of the most 
 enlightened and successful experimenters in electricity, 
 was Ebenezer Kinnersley, of Philadelphia, an old friend 
 and correspondent. In a long letter, dated at London, 
 February 20, 1762, replying to a similar one, on elec 
 trical topics, Franklin confirms the experiments of his 
 friend, showing that glass, which, at the ordinary tem 
 perature, is one of the most perfect non-conductors of 
 electricity, is rendered permeable by it, when expanded 
 by heat ; and in the same letter Franklin broaches the 
 idea that all bodies contain a specific quantity of heat, 
 or caloric, diffused through their substance, and varying 
 in amount according to density and arrangement of parts, 
 but quiescent and not affecting sensation, till excited and 
 evolved by some external agency an idea since proved 
 to have been well founded, and the basis of what has 
 been designated as the theory of latent heat. He was 
 led to this idea by simply considering the manner of ob 
 taining heat and fire by rubbing together two pieces of 
 dry wood, by hammering metals, and by the sudden and 
 forcible collision of flint and steel ; facts which, though 
 so long known, seem never before to have suggested any 
 philosophical induction. 
 
 The fact that even a small amount of electrical fire, as 
 obtained in the laboratory, yields heat enough to convert 
 water into vapor, is also communicated in the same let- 
 
364 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ter. The way in which he detected this fact, he relates 
 as follows : " Water reduced to vapor is said to occupy 
 fourteen thousand times its former space. I have sent a 
 charge through a small glass tube that has borne it well 
 while empty, but, when filled first with water, was shat 
 tered in pieces and driven all about the room. Finding 
 no part of the water on the table, I suspected it to have 
 been reduced to vapor; and was confirmed in that sus 
 picion afterward, when 1 had filled a like tube with ink 
 and laid it on a sheet of clean paper, whereon, after the 
 explosion, I could find neither any moisture nor any sully 
 from the ink." He then suggests that this fact may ex 
 plain the effects sometimes produced by lightning on 
 trees when they are reduced, by the stroke, to "fine 
 splinters like a broom ; the sap-vessels being so many 
 tubes containing a watery fluid, which, when reduced to 
 vapor, rends the tubes lengthwise." He adds : " Per 
 haps it is this rarefaction of the fluids in animals killed 
 by lightning, or electricity, which, by separating its fibres, 
 renders the flesh so tender and apt so much sooner to 
 putrefy ;" and that " much of the damage done by light 
 ning to walls of brick or stone may sometimes be owing 
 to the explosion of water lodging upon them or in their 
 crevices." 
 
 Notwithstanding the full and clear expositions Frank 
 lin had long before given, of the different electrical 
 action of linobs and points, yet some of the few electri 
 cians of reputation then possessed by England still 
 maintained that lightning-rods terminating upward with 
 knobs were better protectors than pointed ones, for the 
 alleged reason that " points invite the stroke." To this 
 he replied that, although points draw the electrical fire 
 at greater distances than knobs, " in the gradual and 
 silent way," yet that an explosion, or violent stroke, in 
 which the danger lies, is drawn farthest by the knob, as 
 
POINTS AND KNOBS. 365 
 
 experiments had undeniably demonstrated. The above- 
 named fallacy is adverted to in the letter to Mr. Kinners- 
 ley ; and in an earlier letter to M. Dalibard, of Paris, 
 Franklin, referring to that and other fallacies, observes 
 that his views respecting these rods seemed to have been 
 extensively misconceived, and the principles from which 
 they derived their protecting power only half understood ; 
 that their more common and valuable effect resulted from 
 the very fact objected to by the knob-men, inasmuch as 
 the point usually disarmed the thunder-cloud, by silently 
 drawing its electricity from it to such an extent as to 
 prevent explosion, and yet, also, in case of explosion, it 
 conducted the formidable element certainly and safely 
 to the ground. " Yet," says he, " whenever my opinion 
 is examined in Europe, nothing is considered but the 
 probability of those rods pi-eventing a stroke or explo 
 sion, which is only apart of the use I had proposed for 
 them; and the otlier part, their conducting a stroke 
 which they may happen not to prevent, seems to be 
 totally forgotten, though of equal importance and advan- 
 tage." 
 
 Among the many good gifts Franklin had received 
 from the " Former of his body and Father of his spirit," 
 was an uncommonly fine ear for music ; and this, acting 
 on the mechanical faculty, which he also possessed in 
 liberal measure, led him to devise and construct a new 
 musical instrument, of which he gave a minute and full 
 description, in a letter, dated at London, July 13, 1762, 
 to the celebrated Italian philosopher, John Baptist Bec- 
 caria, who not only translated his papers on electricity, 
 but defended his doctrines on that subject, and with 
 whom he corresponded for many years. The particular 
 occasion which suggested this trial of his mechanical 
 dexterity and skill in music, was the delight he had 
 taken in listening to some performances on the instru- 
 31* 
 
366 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ment, then recently introduced among the musical circles, 
 called the musical glasses. 
 
 Some years before, an Irish gentleman, by the name 
 of Puckeridge, having often observed " the sweet tone 
 that is drawn from a drinking-glass by passing a wet 
 finger round its brim," conceived the idea of arranging 
 a number of glass goblets, so varied in size and thick 
 ness as to yield the notes of the common gamut in reg 
 ular succession, and so firmly secured, each by its foot, 
 on a table or frame, as to be readily reached and touched 
 by the performer. To aid in tuning these glasses, wa 
 ter, in such quantity as might be needful, was poured in. 
 The house in which the inventor resided, unfortunately 
 taking fire, he, with his instrument, was consumed. A 
 Mr. Del aval, however, an ingenious man, and a member 
 of the Royal Society, having seen and heard the musical 
 glasses, made another instrument, with a better chosen 
 set of glasses ; and this was the first one that came to 
 the notice of Franklin. " Being charmed," says he, "by 
 the sweetness of its tones and the music produced from 
 it, I wished only to see the glasses disposed in a more 
 convenient form, and brought together in a narrow com 
 pass, so as to admit a greater number of tones," by in 
 creasing the number of glasses. 
 
 After various trials, in both the form of the glasses and 
 the mode of arranging them, he finally adopted a set of 
 glass bowls or hemispheres, thirty-six in number, regu 
 larly diminishing from a diameter of nine inches for the 
 largest to three inches for the smallest one, and dimin 
 ishing, also, in thickness, from nearly an inch at the 
 centre to about the tenth of an inch at the brim, for the 
 largest, and so in proportion for the others ; all arranged 
 upon an iron spindle, tapering to suit the size of the 
 glasses, and passing through sockets of cork, fitted in 
 the openings at their centres, the largest glass being 
 
THE ARMONICA. 367 
 
 placed first on the spindle, the next in size placed next, 
 and so far within the first as to leave about an inch of 
 rim projecting, and accessible to the finger; and so, in 
 regular succession of sizes, and due proportion in all 
 respects, with the others. All the glasses being thus 
 adjusted, the spindle, projecting a few inches at each 
 end, was laid horizontally upon brass gudgeons fitted to 
 a frame, supported by four legs, and covered with a 
 mahogany case, opening and shutting like that of a 
 pianoforte. At the larger end, outside of the gudgeon 
 and the case, the spindle presented a square shank, to 
 which was fitted a wheel connected with a treadle under 
 the case, by means of which the performer turned the 
 spindle and its glasses with his foot, just as a spinner 
 turns her wheel. A good deal of grinding and polishing 
 was necessary to bring the glasses into perfect unison ; 
 a cup of water and a sponge were provided, for the per 
 former to wet his fingers from time to time ; and, in or 
 der to bring out the finest tones, the glasses were to turn 
 from, not toward, the ends of the fingers. 
 
 At the close of his long and minute letter to Beccaria, 
 from which we have taken only such particulars as were 
 necessary to give an idea of the instrument, and the in 
 genuity displayed in its construction, Franklin, speaking 
 of its merits, says : " Its tones are incomparably sweet 
 beyond those of any other ; they may be swelled and 
 softened at pleasure, by stronger or weaker pressures 
 of the finger, and continued to any length ; and the in 
 strument being once well tuned, never wants tuning 
 again ;" and he adds : "In honor of your musical lan 
 guage, I have borrowed from it the name of this instru 
 ment, calling it the Armonica" 
 
 Among the latest public testimonies received by Frank 
 lin, during his present sojourn in England, of the high 
 estimation in which he was held, was the degree of doctor 
 
368 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of laws conferred upon him, in April, 1762, by the uni 
 versity of Oxford. His son, also, received at the same 
 time the degree of master of arts ; and was, moreover, 
 just before his father sailed for America, appointed, by 
 the king in council, governor of New Jersey. This 
 appointment was procured through the influence of the 
 earl of Bute, who was then the favorite minister of the 
 young king George III., and who was moved on the oc 
 casion, it is supposed, by his physician, Sir John Pringle, 
 one of the elder Franklin s friends and correspondents. 
 From a letter to the governor of Pennsylvania, written 
 a few months after, by Thomas Penn, it appears that the 
 latter cherished some expectation that this appointment 
 of the younger Franklin would moderate, if not remove, 
 his father s opposition to the Proprietary policy in Penn 
 sylvania ; for in that letter he says : " I am told you will 
 find Mr. Franklin more tractable ; and I believe we shall, 
 in matters of prerogative, as his son must obey instruc 
 tions, and what he is ordered to do, [in Jersey,] the father 
 can not well oppose in Pennsylvania." It seems to have 
 been difficult for this Proprietary to comprehend the 
 character of a man whose public conduct was guided 
 solely by his sense of justice and his convictions of duty. 
 At all events, Franklin adhered to his principles as 
 steadfastly as ever, and continued to be the trusted 
 champion of the rights of the people of Pennsylvania, 
 and the object of the bitterest hostility of the Proprietary 
 and his unscrupulous partisans. 
 
 Before leaving England, Franklin wrote his farewell 
 to Mr. Hume, Lord Kames, and other eminent friends 
 in Scotland. In his letter to the former, written on the 
 19th of May, he returns the compliment respecting wis 
 dom and gold, by referring to the unparalleled plenty 
 of gold and silver in Jerusalem, in the time of Solomon, 
 as a type of the abundance of wisdom in Britain ; and 
 
FAREWELLS VOYAGE HOME. 369 
 
 closes with the expression of his regret, to use his own 
 words, "at leaving a country in which he had received so 
 much friendship, and friends whose conversation had 
 been so agreeable and so improving to him." In his let 
 ter to Lord Kames, written at Portsmouth, on the 17th 
 of August, he says : " I am now waiting here only for a 
 wind to waft me to America ; but I can not leave this 
 happy island and my friends in it, without extreme re 
 gret, though I am going to a country and a people that 
 I love. I am going from the old world to the new; and 
 I fancy I feel like those who are leaving this world for 
 the next grief at the parting, fear for the passage, hope 
 of the future. These different passions all affect the 
 mind at once, and they have tendered me down exceed 
 ingly." After referring, in terms of strong commenda 
 tion, to the celebrated work of Lord Kames, then just 
 published, entitled Elements of Criticism, of which the 
 author had sent him a copy, he closes as follows : 
 " Wherever I am I shall esteem the friendship you honor 
 me with, as one of the felicities of my life ; I shall 
 endeavor to cultivate it by a more punctual correspond 
 ence ; and I hope frequently to hear of your welfare 
 and prosperity." Not many days after the date of this 
 letter, and before the end of August, Franklin sailed for 
 America, in company with ten merchant-ships under 
 convoy of a man-of-war. This fleet took the southern 
 track, and touched at the island of Madeira. In a letter 
 to Lord Kames, written after returning to England on 
 his second mission, he gives a brief account of this pas 
 sage, in the following words : 
 
 " We had a pleasant passage to Madeira, where we 
 were kindly received and entertained ; our nation being 
 then in high honor with the Portuguese, on account of 
 the protection we were then affording them against 
 France and Spain. It is a fertile island, and the differ- 
 
370 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ent heights and situations among its mountains, afford 
 such temperatures of air, that all the fruits of northern 
 and southern countries are produced there ; wheat, 
 apples, grapes, peaches, oranges, lemons, plantains, ba 
 nanas, and so forth. Here we furnished ourselves with 
 fresh provisions of all kinds ; and after a few days pro 
 ceeded on our voyage, running southward until we got 
 into the trade-winds, and then with them westward till we 
 drew near the coast of America. The weather was so 
 favorable, that there were few days in which we could not 
 visit from ship to ship, dining with each other, and on 
 board of the man-of-war ; which made the time pass 
 much more agreeably than when one goes in a single 
 ship ; for this was like travelling in a moving village, 
 with all one s neighbors in company." 
 
 He reached home on the 1st of November, 1762, after 
 an absence from Philadelphia of a little less than six 
 years. He found his wife and daughter in good health ; 
 " the latter," says he " grown quite a woman, with many 
 amiable accomplishments acquired in my absence ; and 
 my friends as hearty and affectionate as ever, with whom 
 my house was filled for many days, to congratulate me 
 on my return." 
 
 His son, who remained behind him in England to con 
 summate, with his father s consent, and approbation," 
 his marriage with " a very agreeable West India lady, 
 with whom he was very happy," arrived at Philadelphia 
 with his wife, in the following February ; and after a 
 few days delay at home, he went, accompanied by his 
 father, to take possession of his office as governor of 
 New Jersey. " He met," says Franklin, " with the 
 kindest reception from people of all ranks, and has lived 
 with them ever since, in the greatest harmony." 
 
SERVICES ACKNOWLEDGED. 371 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SERVICES ACKNOWLEDGED JOURNEY NORTH AND EAST 
 
 MILITIA BILL CONESTOGO INDIANS IMBECILITY 
 
 OF GOVERNOR PENN FRANKLIN UPHOLDS THE PUBLIC 
 
 AUTHORITY CONFUTES HIS ENEMIES HIS SECOND 
 
 MISSION TO ENGLAND ORIGIN OF THE STAMP-ACT 
 
 DEAN TUCKER RECEPTION OF STAMP-ACT IN AMERICA 
 
 EXAMINATION BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 
 
 STAMP-ACT REPEALED VALUE OF HIS SERVICES OLD 
 
 SCOTTISH TUNES. 
 
 FRANKLIN, on his return to Philadelphia, was received, 
 as already intimated, with the strongest demonstration 
 of respect and affection, by his political as well as per 
 sonal friends. During his absence he had been, every 
 year elected as one of the representatives of the city to 
 the Provincial Assembly ; and as that body was in ses 
 sion when he returned, he soon took his seat as a mem 
 ber. On his appearance in his place, the house pro 
 ceeded without delay to the consideration of his agency ; 
 and a committee having been raised to examine his ac 
 counts, unanimously reported, on the 19th of February, 
 1763, that they had found them to be just. A resolu 
 tion was thereupon unanimously passed, fixing the period 
 of his agency at six years, and granting him five hun 
 dred pounds sterling a year, and the thanks of the 
 house, to be pronounced by the speaker, " to Benjamin 
 Franklin, for his many services, not only to the province 
 of Pennsylvania, but to America in general, during his 
 
372 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 late agency at the court of Great Britain." These 
 thanks were delivered by the Speaker, Mr. Norris, on 
 the 31st of March; to which says the journal "Mr. 
 Franklin, respectfully addressing himself to the Speaker, 
 made answer, that he was thankful to the house for the 
 very handsome and generous allowance they had been 
 pleased to make him for his services ; but that the appro 
 bation of this house was, in his estimation, far above 
 every other kind of recompense." 
 
 In the course of the same spring, Franklin set out on 
 a tour through all the colonies north of Pennsylvania, 
 to examine and regulate the postoffices. In that jour 
 ney he spent, as he relates in one of his letters, the sum 
 mer and much of the autumn, travelled about sixteen 
 hundred miles, and did not return to Philadelphia till 
 the beginning of November. He took his daughter 
 with him ; and so different were the habits of that time, 
 from those of the present age of steamboats arid rail 
 roads, that the young lady, as Franklin writes to a 
 friend, " kept to her saddle the greatest part of the jour 
 ney, and was well pleased with her tour." 
 
 While in Boston, Franklin met with a fall which dis 
 located his shoulder ; and though the joint was speedily 
 and properly adjusted again, yet it gave him considera 
 ble pain, and so much disabled him from driving, or 
 even bearing the motion of his carriage, on the rough 
 roads of that day, that he was obliged to rest awhile 
 from travelling. It appears from a letter to his sister, 
 Mrs. Mecom, written after his return home, and it may 
 be useful to mention the fact, that he used the cold bath 
 frequently and with benefit, not only to his weakened 
 limb, but as a general tonic. The same letter has a pas 
 sage, which we copy for the sake of the shrewd, and yet 
 good-humored notice it takes, of the annoyance frequently 
 given by a well-meant, but a too busy arid officious hos- 
 
CONDITION OF THE PROVINCE. 373 
 
 pi tali ty. After referring to some little remaining weak 
 ness in his shoulder, he adds : " I am otherwise very 
 happy in being at home, where I am allowed to know 
 when I have eat enough, and drank enough, am warm 
 enough, and sit in a place that I like, and nobody knows 
 how I feel better than I do myself." 
 
 Notwithstanding the decision, which Franklin had 
 obtained from the Privy Council, that the estates of the 
 Proprietaries were subject to taxation in the same man 
 ner as all other property in the province, yet that decis 
 ion did not restore harmony to the provincial govern 
 ment. The Proprietaries claimed other exclusive priv 
 ileges and prerogatives, and their defeat on the great 
 point of equal taxation, served only to exasperate them, 
 and their partisans the more, particularly against Frank 
 lin, through whose exertions they had been discomfited; 
 and as he continued to exert his great abilities in behalf 
 of impartial legislation, and the rights of the people, 
 with unswerving constancy as well as marked success, he 
 became, more conspicuously than ever, the object of an 
 enmity, which was envenomed by envy, and was mani 
 fested by the most unscrupulous misrepresentations of 
 his conduct, and the most calumnious attacks upon his 
 character. He met this hostility, however, with steady 
 self-possession and firmness. He confuted the calumnies 
 of his enemies, and went on discharging his public du 
 ties, maintaining the cause of law and order, and at the 
 same time defending popular rights, against proprietary 
 usurpation, with unabated zeal. And, indeed, to such a 
 condition had the provincial administration now become 
 reduced, through the imbecility and mismanagement of 
 the present governor, (John Penn, nephew of Thomas, the 
 principal Proprietary,) and the recklessness of the lead 
 ing demagogues of his party, that insurrection, riot, mur 
 der, and confusion, prevailed so widely in the province, 
 32 
 
374 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and the civil authority had become so nearly powerless, 
 that the governor was placed under the humiliating 
 necessity of looking to Franklin for support. A brief 
 statement of facts will illustrate what has just been said. 
 Though the war between Great Britain and France, 
 had been terminated by the treaty of Paris, in February, 
 1763, yet the Indian tribes, in the French interest, still 
 continued hostile, and making frequent bloody inroads 
 upon the back settlements, spread terror throughout the 
 western frontiers, which had been left almost totally de 
 fenceless, upon the withdrawal of the regular forces. 
 The Pennsylvania frontier was particularly exposed to 
 this savage warfare ; and to furnish the protection due 
 to the inhabitants in that quarter, money was granted by 
 the Assembly, to raise and pay troops, and furnish them 
 with all necessary supplies ; and Franklin was placed in 
 the board of commissioners, appointed to direct and su 
 perintend the expenditure of this money. 
 
 As Pennsylvania had no permanently-enrolled and 
 organized militia, it became necessary to raise a mili 
 tary force for every emergency as it arose ; and to do so, 
 on this occasion, the Assembly promptly passed a bill 
 for the purpose. That bill gave to each company, to be 
 recruited under it, the right to nominate nine persons, or 
 three for each of the offices of captain, lieutenant, and 
 ensign, from which number, the governor was to select 
 the individuals he might prefer, and commission them. 
 The companies of a regiment being thus organized, their 
 officers were to meet, and nominate three persons for 
 eachjof the regimental officers, and the governor was to 
 make his own selection, and bestow his commissions, as 
 in the other case. The bill also provided moderate fines 
 for neglect of duty, arid what was deemed far more im 
 portant than all the rest, enacted that all offences com 
 mitted in this temporary body of troops, should be tried 
 
MILITIA BILL. 375 
 
 according to the usual course of law, by a civil court 
 and jury. 
 
 To this bill the governor refused his assent, unless the 
 Assembly would amend it, by giving to him alone the 
 unrestricted authority to designate, as well as commis 
 sion every one of the officers by increasing the fines 
 threefold, and in some instances fivefold and by substi 
 tuting for civil courts and juries, courts-martial, to be 
 called and constituted by himself alone, for the trial of 
 any and every offence, great and small, with power not 
 only to impose fines, but to inflict sentence of death. 
 These amendments gave such unlimited power to the 
 governor, and were so abhorrent to the principles and 
 feelings of the Assembly, especially as applicable to the 
 kind of troops to be raised, that " the house," says 
 Franklin, " could by no means consent to give up the 
 liberty, estates, and lives of their constituents, to the 
 absolute power of a proprietary governor; and so the 
 bill failed." 
 
 Thus, through the perverse temper, and inordinate 
 demands of the governor, the Assembly was not permit 
 ted to employ the strength and means of the province 
 for its defence against dangers from without ; while 
 within, through the prevalence of a partisan spirit in a 
 dependent and unfaithful judiciary and magistracy, the 
 laws had become so powerless, that many good citizens, 
 whose lives had been threatened, for their endeavors to 
 procure the regular and honest administration of justice, 
 fled the province. 
 
 One of the most shocking proofs of this state of law 
 less anarchy, is presented in a narrative, drawn up by 
 Franklin, in 1764, of the fate of a small remnant of In 
 dians, called the Conestogos, from the name of their 
 residence in the county of Lancaster. Their tribe had 
 once belonged to the famous confederacy of The Six 
 
376 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Nations, but their friendship for the white man, had 
 severed the connection. In the days of their prosperity, 
 " on the first arrival of the English in Pennsylvania," 
 says Franklin, " messengers from this tribe, came to 
 welcome them, with presents of venison, corn, and 
 skins ;" and it was with this tribe, as being the nearest 
 to the new-comers, that William Penn made his first 
 treaty a treaty which had often been renewed and 
 never violated, till the time in question. As their lands 
 and numbers diminished, and the white settlers pressed 
 more closely and densely around them, a tract called the 
 manor of Conestogo, was set apart for their exclusive 
 occupation, and there they had dwelt unmolested, deri 
 ving a comfortable subsistence from their rude tillage, 
 and their simple handicraft, in peace and friendship with 
 their white neighbors, till near the close of 1763, when 
 their number had dwindled to twenty persons, consist 
 ing of seven men, five women, and eight children of 
 both sexes. 
 
 Such was the condition of these harmless people, when 
 on the morning of the 14th of December, 1763, six of 
 them, three men, two women, and a boy, (the rest of 
 them being out among the neighboring white families, 
 selling their baskets and other wares,) were murdered in 
 cold blood, and their huts burnt, by a party of fifty-sev 
 en white men from the frontiers. This outrage caused 
 great excitement among the white people of the vicin 
 ity ; and the magistrates of Lancaster had the surviving 
 Indians brought into that town and lodged in the work 
 house as a place of security. Governor Penn, also, 
 issued a proclamation calling on all magistrates, sheriffs, 
 and other officers both civil and military, and all good 
 subjects, to aid with their best diligence in discovering, 
 and bringing the murderers to justice. 
 
 The above proclamation was issued on the 22d of 
 
MASSACRE OF THE CONESTOGOS. 377 
 
 December, but it had scarcely got into circulation, when, 
 on the 27th of the same month, fifty of the bloodthirsty 
 band against whom it was levelled had the audacity to 
 appear in Lancaster, mounted and armed as before; and 
 going to the workhouse, broke in and murdered the re 
 maining Indians while on their knees protesting their 
 friendship for the whites and begging for mercy. This 
 second act of diabolical ferocity was perpetrated in open 
 day, in the face of the community, in defiance and con 
 tempt of the law and its ministers, and the murderers 
 mounted and rode off unmolested. 
 
 Another proclamation was put forth by the governor, 
 offering a reward of two hundred pounds for the appre 
 hension and conviction of any three of the ringleaders 
 of the band, and a pardon to any accomplice, not actually 
 guilty of murder, who would discover any one of the 
 principals and assist in convicting him. 
 
 So weak, however, was the government, so prostrate 
 was the civil authority, and so generally was society dis 
 ordered, that the proclamations effected nothing The 
 threats of the murderers against all who should openly 
 condemn their acts, spread such terror through a large 
 section of the province, that no one ventured to disclose 
 by speech or writing what he knew. And this was not 
 all. A company of one hundred and forty Indians of 
 another tribe having been converted to Christianity by 
 the Moravians, had detached themselves from their tribe, 
 which was then hostile to the whites, and were living 
 quietly within the province. From the same quarter to 
 which the murderers of the Conestogos belonged, came 
 forth threats against the lives of these converts ; and so 
 well founded was the alarm thus excited, that, after sev 
 eral efforts to place them out of danger in other places, 
 the whole company was finally taken to Philadelphia to 
 insure their safety. 
 32* 
 
378 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 In such a state of things it was that Franklin issued 
 the narrative already mentioned, in which he placed the 
 facts in so clear a light, denounced, in such bold and in 
 dignant language, the outrages committed and threatened, 
 as a reproach and disgrace to the public authorities and 
 the whole province, that the humanity, self-respect, pub 
 lic spirit, and honor of the people and the government 
 to which he appealed, were at length roused to some 
 sense of duty, and all seemed disposed, for a time at least, 
 in Philadelphia and the more populous districts in its 
 neighborhood, to make an effort to uphold the laws and 
 restore order and security. 
 
 Still, such was the incompetency of the governor, that 
 his own protection and that of the Indian converts was 
 devolved in fact on Franklin ; for when a large body of 
 the armed insurgents, to quote his language, "marched 
 toward the capital, in defiance of the government, with 
 an avowed resolution to put to death the one hundred 
 and forty Indian converts then under its protection," the 
 governor appealed to him for assistance. Franklin prompt 
 ly answered this appeal, and as there was no militia in 
 the province, he adopted his former method of proceed 
 ing, when public danger was impending, and raised and 
 organized a volunteer corps of a thousand men for the 
 defence of the government. Indeed, Governor Penn 
 found it expedient to make his headquarters at Frank 
 lin s house, arid to act wholly by his advice. 
 
 When the insurgents found that preparation was thus 
 made to meet force with force, they began to falter. Ta 
 king advantage of their hesitation, Franklin with three 
 other persons went, at the request of the governor and 
 council, to confer with them ; and the result was, that 
 they were induced to abandon their enterprise and re 
 turn home. 
 
 But, notwithstanding services like these, the governor, 
 
PERVERSITY OP THE GOVERNOR. 379 
 
 as soon as the immediate danger was over, returned to 
 his perverse policy and his old party connections. The 
 expenses, consequent upon these proceedings and the 
 defence of the back settlements against the inroads of 
 the banded tribes of hostile Indians, were heavy, and to 
 meet them the Assembly passed a bill to raise fifty thou 
 sand pounds, in the usual way, by issuing bills of credit, 
 to be redeemed by specific revenues raised by certain 
 excises and a land-tax. This latter tax was made by 
 Governor Penn the occasion of another quarrel with the 
 Assembly. The decision of the privy council, which had 
 declared the proprietary estates subject to taxation like 
 all other property in the province, was accompanied, as 
 we have seen, by some other directions designed to give 
 greater precision to the acts of the Assembly, and among 
 them was one that the uncultivated but actually located 
 lands of the Proprietaries should " not be assessed higher 
 than the lowest rate at which any located uncultivated 
 lands belonging to the inhabitants should be assessed." 
 The Assembly interpreted this as a direction that the 
 proprietary lands of the class in question should be as 
 sessed at the same rates with similar lands of other peo 
 ple, of like quality and value ; while the governor insist 
 ed that, under it, the very best of the proprietary lands 
 referred to could be assessed no higher than the lowest 
 assessment of the poorest lands of the same class belong 
 ing to others. 
 
 The Assembly urged that the decision of the council was 
 expressly intended to establish equal taxation of all lands 
 of equal value ; that the governor s interpretation of the 
 clause in question was a forced and unjust one, and was, 
 in fact, in violation of the essential point of the decision, 
 inasmuch as it was palpably repugnant to the principle of 
 equality. But the governor persisted ; and after a good 
 deal of controversy, the Assembly, moved by the pres- 
 
380 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sure of the public exigency and by a humane feeling for 
 the sufferings of the people on the frontier, gave way and 
 passed the act as required by the governor. 
 
 This affair, however, only served to strengthen the 
 majority of the Assembly and of their constituents in the 
 conviction that no just and fair legislation was to be ex 
 pected, as long as the government remained in the hands 
 of the Proprietaries. They therefore adopted, just at 
 the close of the session, a series of resolutions, setting 
 forth the evils inflicted on the people of the province by 
 the proprietary government, and declaring that no just 
 and useful administration of public affairs could be ex 
 pected, till their political power was taken from them and 
 transferred directly to the king. Having passed these 
 resolutions, the Assembly adjourned. 
 
 During the winter and spring, Franklin published an 
 able exposition of the defects of the existing form of gov 
 ernment, in which he fortified his position by reference to 
 the other proprietary governments in America ; showing 
 that, in every case, the continual controversies they had 
 generated and the evils which had uniformly flowed from 
 them, had " found no relief but in finally recurring to the 
 immediate government of the crown ;" so that those of 
 Maryland and Pennsylvania were the only two of the 
 kind remaining. This pamphlet was entitled " Cool 
 ThougJits on the Present Situation of Public Affairs" 
 and it made a strong impression, preparatory, as it was 
 intended to be, to the meeting of the Assembly in May, 
 1764. 
 
 The meeting in May took place on the 14th of the 
 month ; and on the 26th, Mr. N orris, who had been speak 
 er of the Assembly for a long series of years, resigned his 
 station, on account of the feeble state of his health, and 
 Franklin was chosen in his place. He had, however, 
 previously drawn and introduced a petition to the king, 
 
PETITION TO THE KING. 381 
 
 asking, in the name of "the representatives of the free 
 men of the province of Pennsylvania in General Assem 
 bly met," for the contemplated change in the form of 
 government; and the petition, backed as it was by many 
 resolutions to the same effect, sent up to the house from 
 meetings of the people in all quarters of the province, 
 became at once the leading subject of the session. Af 
 ter a long and warm debate, in the course of which the 
 champions of the proprietary party assailed Franklin 
 with the bitterest invective, the petition was carried by a 
 large majority. 
 
 The document was brief and directly to the point. It 
 set forth that controversies were perpetually arising be 
 tween the proprietary governors and the .Assembly, as 
 the direct consequence of the clashing between the pri 
 vate interests of the Proprietaries and their duties as the 
 trustees of political power ; that these controversies, as 
 long experience had shown, were continually impeding 
 the public service ; that the government had become so 
 factious and weak that it was unable to maintain its au 
 thority, or preserve the internal peace of the province, 
 which was thus filled with riot and insurrection from 
 armed mobs committing their outrages with impunity; 
 and that there was no prospect of relief from these evils 
 but from the king s taking the government of the prov 
 ince into his own hands, making an equitable compensa 
 tion to the Proprietaries, pursuant to the contract of the 
 original grantee. 
 
 The contract referred to in the petition was made by 
 William Penn himself, who, long before his death, hav 
 ing become entirely convinced that the permanent wel 
 fare of his province required him to divest himself and 
 his successors of all the political powers conferred by 
 the original grant from the king, had not only determined 
 to cany that contract into effect, but had actually re- 
 
382 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ceived part of the consideration to which it entitled him, 
 and had provided, in his last will and testament, for the 
 complete fulfilment of it by his heirs, in case he should die 
 (as he did) before its consummation. The petition, there 
 fore, was not only founded in political justice, but it did not 
 infringe in any respect on the private rights of the Pro 
 prietaries, who were themselves, in truth, the only party 
 against whom could be fairly brought the charge of vio 
 lated faith, in reference to the obligations imposed either 
 by the provincial constitution, or by the personal and 
 transmitted covenants of its founder. 
 
 Of the members of the Assembly who opposed the pe 
 tition and defended the Proprietaries, the most eminent 
 was John Dickinson, who in later years acquired a higher 
 reputation in a better cause, both as a member of the first 
 Continental Congress and as the author of the celebrated 
 "Farmer s Letters" Shortly after the termination^ of 
 the debate, Mr. Dickinson s speech was published with 
 an elaborate prefatory discourse on the same side of the 
 question. The ablest debater on the other side was Jo 
 seph Galloway, an eminent lawyer, who, in his reply to 
 the speech of Mr. Dickinson, reviewed at much length 
 and with distinguished ability the defects of the proprie 
 tary government, the vices of its administration, and the 
 unhappy condition to which it had reduced the province. 
 On the appearance of Mr. Dickinson s speech with its 
 accompanient, Franklin, who, with all his ability as a 
 writer, never figured as a debater, published Mr. Gallo 
 way s speech, with a preface from his own pen, remark 
 ing, in his opening paragraph, that he did so, not because 
 Mr. Dickinson s speech appeared with a preface, but be 
 cause that preface contained aspersions upon former As 
 semblies, and misrepresentations of their proceedings, 
 demanding animadversion and correction. And truly, 
 these were vigorously administered. He refuted the 
 
PARTY COJS TEST. 383 
 
 statements of the Proprietaries and their partisans, ex 
 posed the unworthy selfishness and injustice of their pol 
 icy, their contradictory pretensions, the factious and merce 
 nary character of their administration, and vindicated the 
 Assemblies assailed, with proofs drawn from public doc 
 uments and notorious facts presented by the condition 
 of the province. To borrow the appropriate words of 
 the recent able editor of his works, " For sarcastic humor, 
 point, and strength of argument, this preface is one of the 
 best of his performances." 
 
 The legal term of the Assembly which voted the peti 
 tion ended in September; and at the session which closed 
 with its dissolution, information was received that the 
 British cabinet entertained the design of raising a reve 
 nue in the colonies by a tax on stamps. This intelli 
 gence instantly produced great excitement in Pennsyl 
 vania, as in the other colonies, and Franklin s last signa 
 ture as speaker was put to a resolution of the house, 
 instructing their agent in London, Richard Jackson, to 
 remonstrate against the contemplated tax as a violation 
 of the rights of the colonies. 
 
 At the election which shortly followed, Franklin, who 
 had been chosen, whether absent or at home, one of the 
 representatives of the city of Philadelphia for fourteen 
 successive years, was defeated by the unexampled exer 
 tions and corrupt means employed by the Proprietary 
 party. The majority against him, however, was only twen 
 ty-five votes in four thousand. Even that was but a bar 
 ren victory ; for when the new Assembly met in October, 
 it showed a decisive majority in favor of the petition for 
 a change of government ; and resolving to press the meas 
 ure with their utmost energy, they proceeded on the 26th 
 of the month just named to appoint Franklin their agent, 
 with instructions to depart for England with all conve 
 nient despatch, to lay the petition before the king in 
 
384 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 council, and use his best efforts to obtain the change 
 prayed for. 
 
 The Proprietary minority in the house were so chafed 
 by this result, that they threw off the restraints, not merely 
 of ordinary decorum, but of common discretion ; and in 
 a paper, which they styled "A Protest against the Ap 
 pointment of Mr. Franldin as Agent for the Province of 
 Pennsylvania" they assailed both the agent and the ma 
 jority of the Assembly with such extravagant abuse 
 grounded on such gross misrepresentation of facts, that 
 it served, naturally and justly, to weaken their own 
 cause, while it strengthened that of the people, and aug 
 mented the influence of their ablest and most distin 
 guished leader. This effect was not a little enhanced by 
 the reply of that leader, issued just as he was on the 
 point of sailing for England, under the title of " Remarks 
 on a Late Protest, fyc." No reply, in the way of either 
 defence or retort, was ever more triumphant than this. 
 He took a rapid review of the charges put forth in the 
 protest, of his own public acts, of the course of the Pro 
 prietaries and their partisans, of the inconsistency of their 
 conduct, the hypocrisy of their professions, and sustained 
 himself not only by the public records and journals of 
 the Assembly, but, on several points in reference to 
 which the attack had manifested peculiar malignity, by 
 written testimony on file from his assailants themselves ; 
 and all this with a clearness of exposition, a complete 
 ness of proof, a directness and pertinency in the applica 
 tion of facts, and a pungency of retort, in all respects as 
 conclusive in point of argument, as the style and manner 
 of the whole were admirably adapted to the occasion. 
 Franklin closes this most successful vindication of him 
 self and his friends in the Assembly in the following im 
 pressive words : "I am now to take leave (perhaps a 
 last leave) of the country I love, arid in which I have 
 
SECOND MISSION. 385 
 
 spent the greatest part of my life. Esto perpetua. I 
 wish every kind of prosperity to my friends : and I for 
 give my enemies." 
 
 The times were now beginning to deepen in gloom. 
 The course pursued by the Proprietaries and their lead 
 ing partisans had reduced Pennsylvania to a disturbed, 
 distempered, and unhappy condition ; and the usurping 
 and tyrannical policy of the British government began 
 to lower across the Atlantic and menace the dearest 
 rights and privileges of the American colonies. To 
 show something of the aspects of the political horizon 
 something of the anxiety with which thoughtful and ear 
 liest men were beginning to ruminate upon the future, 
 as well as something of the estimation in which Frank 
 lin s abilities, weight of character, and services, were 
 held by sober-minded patriots the following testimony 
 from a competent and impartial witness, given at a later 
 day, will be read with interest : " This second embassy 
 of Franklin," said Dr. Smith, the head of the college at 
 Philadelphia, " appears to have been a measure preor 
 dained by the counsels of Heaven ; and it will be for ever 
 remembered to the honor of Pennsylvania, that the agent 
 selected to assort and defend the rights of a single prov 
 ince, at the court of Great Britain, became the bold as- 
 sertor of the rights of America in general ; and, behold 
 ing the fetters that were forging for her, conceived the 
 magnanimous thought of rending them asunder before 
 they could be riveted." 
 
 The Assembly, when they appointed their agent, hav 
 ing no money at their disposal, voted that they would 
 provide for the expenses of the mission in their next 
 public-money bill. On the faith of that vote, the sum 
 immediately needed was supplied by the public-spirited 
 merchants of Philadelphia ; and on the 7th of November, 
 Franklin left home, escorted by a cavalcade of three hun- 
 33 
 
386 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 dred of his townsmen and friends, for Chester, sixteen 
 miles below, where he embarked. The next day the 
 ship proceeded to Newcastle to take in some live stock 
 for the passage, which done, she dropped down as far as 
 Reedy island ; and the last letter written by Franklin 
 before leaving the shores of his native land, was dated at 
 "Reedy island, 7 at night, 8th November, 1764." It 
 was addressed to his daughter, and is full of tenderness 
 and wise counsel. His sensibility had been deeply moved 
 by the warm rally of his friends about him, after the 
 virulence exhibited by his political enemies, and he says 
 to her : " The affectionate leave taken of me by so many 
 friends, at Chester, was very endearing. God bless them 
 and all Pennsylvania." Though " the natural prudence 
 and goodness of heart God had blessed her with," as he 
 affectionately says to her, " make it less necessary to be 
 particular in giving you advice," yet, says he, " the more 
 attentively dutiful and tender you are toward your good 
 mother, the more will you recommend yourself to me;" 
 adding "but why should I mention me, when you have 
 so much higher a promise, in the commandments, that 
 such conduct will recommend you to the favor of God T 
 Adverting to his political enemies, he exports her to pe 
 culiar circumspection, that she might give them no pre 
 text for their watchful malevolence " to magnify her 
 slightest indiscretions into crimes," in order to wound 
 Jiim through her. He enjoins it upon her to be constant 
 in her attendance upon Divine worship, less for the sake 
 of the preacher, or the sermon, than for the devotional 
 exercises, the more important part of the service, be 
 cause more efficacious in fostering piety and " amending 
 the heart, than sermons" usually are ; though he would 
 not have her undervalue sermons even from unacceptable 
 preachers, for " the discourse is often better than the man, 
 as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth." 
 
FAREWELL AND ARRIVAL. 387 
 
 He desires her also " to acquire those useful accomplish 
 ments, arithmetic and book-keeping ;" and in closing, he 
 implores for her " the blessing of God, worth thousands 
 of his, though his would never be wanting." 
 
 On the 9th of December, in the afternoon, the ship in 
 which Franklin sailed dropped anchor off Spithead ; and 
 the same waters, which he had visited thirty-eight years 
 before, as an obscure young journeyman printer trans 
 formed for a short while to a merchant s clerk, he now, for 
 the first time since that period, again visited, on a diplo 
 matic mission to the court of a great empire, intrusted 
 with the rights and liberties of a rising commonwealth, 
 and as a philosopher who had filled all Christendom with 
 his fame. In a brief letter to his wife, written before 
 landing, to inform her of his safe arrival, he says : " We 
 have had terrible weather, and I have often been thank 
 ful that our dear Sally was not with me. Tell our friends 
 who dined with us on the turtle, that the kind prayer they 
 then put up for thirty days fair wind to me, was favora 
 bly heard and answered, we being just thirty days from 
 land to land." From Portsmouth, where he went ashore, 
 Franklin proceeded without delay to London, and on ar 
 riving there he went immediately to his former lodgings 
 at Mrs. Stevenson s, No. 7 Craven street. This event 
 gave the people of Pennsylvania the liveliest gratifica 
 tion. Cadwallader Evans, in a letter to him, dated at 
 Philadelphia, March 15, 1765, says: "A vessel from 
 Ireland to New York brought us the most agreeable 
 news of your safe arrival in London, which occasioned 
 a great and general joy in Pennsylvania among those 
 whose esteem an honest man would value most. The 
 bells rang on that account till near midnight, and liba 
 tions were poured out for your health, success, and eveiy 
 other happiness." 
 
 When, in September, 1764, as we have already seen, 
 
388 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 information of the design of the British Parliament to 
 raise a revenue in the colonies by laying a tax on stamped 
 paper which was to be made necessary to the validity of 
 all written contracts, reached the Assembly of Pennsylva 
 nia, that body, Franklin being then its speaker, promptly 
 sent instructions to Richard Jackson, their general agent 
 in London, to oppose the contemplated measure. When, 
 shortly after, Franklin was sent on his present mission, 
 besides the special instructions relating to it, he was also 
 directed, as were the other colonial agents, to use his best 
 efforts to prevent the passage of the stamp-act. 
 
 Of the origin of this famous measure, and of his own 
 course in opposing it, Franklin has left a clear and in 
 teresting account in a letter written by him, in 1778, 
 while he was residing at Paris as minister of the United 
 States to the court of France. The letter was addressed 
 to William Alexander, who had sent to Franklin a pam 
 phlet relating to the subject and containing some material 
 misstatements. It stated, among other things, that when 
 Mr. Grenville, then the British prime minister, conceived 
 the design of raising a revenue in the colonies, his first 
 plan was to demand of them a specific sum, to be levied 
 by them in such manner as they might think fit ; but that 
 they refused to grant anything, and that in consequence of 
 that refusal, he brought forward the stamp-act. Frank 
 lin avers that " no one of these particulars was true," 
 and then proceeds to state the actual course of the trans 
 action. The substance of his statement is as follows : 
 
 About the beginning of 1764, Mr. Grenville had a 
 meeting of the colonial agents, then in London, at which 
 he informed them of his design to introduce a bill at the 
 next session of Parliament, to draw a revenue from the 
 colonies by a tax on stamps ; that he gave them this no 
 tice, to be communicated to their constitutents in season 
 for them to consider the subject, and that if they could 
 
HISTORY OF THE STAMP-ACT. 389 
 
 suggest any other tax, which, being equally productive, 
 would be more acceptable to them, they might let him 
 know it. The agents accordingly wrote to their respec 
 tive Assemblies, and their letters were received, as here 
 tofore stated, early in the succeeding autumn. 
 
 The Assembly of Pennsylvania objected to the contem 
 plated act on the ground that it would be, not only contrary 
 to all recognised and long-established usage, but a direct 
 encroachment on the rights and privileges of the colonies 
 as vested in them by their charters. The constitutional 
 and established mode of raising supplies in the colonies 
 for the king s service, was by requisition from the king in 
 council, whenever his majesty, as advised by his council, 
 deemed a rightful occasion had occurred for making it; 
 such requisition to be communicated by the minister 
 having charge of colonial affairs, through the several co 
 lonial governors, to the respective Assemblies of the col 
 onies, with explanations of the nature of the occasion, for 
 their information and satisfaction, and with an expression 
 of his majesty s regard and his reliance on their loyalty 
 and public spirit for granting such sums as would com 
 port with their ability, the mode of raising them being 
 left to their discretion. 
 
 The colonies, it was urged, had always responded lib 
 erally to such requisitions so liberally, indeed, during 
 the then recent war, as greatly to exceed their just pro 
 portion ; and though Parliament, pursuant to the king s 
 recommendation, had reimbursed to them collectively 
 two hundred thousand pounds a year, for five successive 
 years, yet even that sum, a million in all, fell much short 
 of a full indemnification. The meditated tax, therefore, 
 would be not less ungracious than unjust. Besides, un 
 der their charters, their political connection was solely 
 with the king : he alone was their sovereign, and his 
 financial ministers had, as such, nothing to do with them ; 
 33* 
 
390 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Mr. Grenville had no authority to make requisitions upon 
 them through their agents, nor had these any authority 
 to stipulate anything concerning taxes by act of Parlia 
 ment, inasmuch as the Parliament itself had no right to 
 tax them at all, so long as they were not represented in 
 that body. 
 
 Such was the position taken, in common with the other 
 colonial Assemblies, by the Assembly of Pennsylvania ; 
 and in conformity therewith, that body, in the session of 
 September, 1763, already referred to, passed a resolu 
 tion purporting that, as they always had considered it 
 their duty, so they should continue to consider it, to grant 
 aids to the king, according to their ability, whenever 
 such aids were applied for " in the usual constitutional 
 manner." 
 
 When Franklin shortly after went to England, he 
 took with him an authenticated copy of that resolution, 
 and communicated it to Mr. Grenville before that minis 
 ter introduced his bill for taxing stamps. Similar reso 
 lutions from other colonies were also laid before him ; 
 and if he had been wise enough to drop that measure 
 and apply to the privy council for the usual requisition, 
 " he would," says Franklin, " I am sure, have obtained 
 more money from the colonies, by their voluntary grants, 
 than he himself expected from his stamps. But he cJwse 
 compulsion rather than persuasion, and would not receive 
 from their good will what he thought he could obtain 
 without it." 
 
 Thus Franklin showed that the course, which the 
 pamphlet blamed the colonies for not taking, was the 
 very course they actually took ; and that the minister per 
 sisted in forcing his bill through Parliament, not only 
 against the remonstrances and protests of the colonies, 
 but in contempt of their unvaried practice and recognised 
 duty of granting supplies for the king s service, in all 
 
STAMP-ACT. 391 
 
 public emergencies, when called for in a mariner consist 
 ent with the rights and liberties secured to them alike by 
 their charters and by the British constitution. In this 
 way, the obstinacy of one man, of an impracticable and 
 arbitrary temper, by adhering to an extravagant claim of 
 power not founded in right and never advanced before, 
 became the real moving cause of that controversy, which, 
 though it took various phases in its progress, never ceased 
 until it resulted in sundering from the mother-country 
 the noblest portion of her empire. The inherent incon 
 sistency of such a claim was gross, as its injustice. It was 
 a fundamental principle of the British constitution that its 
 subjects could not be rightfully taxed, or have a farthing of 
 their property taken from them in any other way, without 
 their own consent expressed directly by themselves or 
 their legal representatives. This principle was recog 
 nised by Mr. Grenville as much as by his opponents : 
 and, although his very proposal of a tax necessarily 
 implied that the people to be taxed were subjects, yet 
 he persisted in claiming for Parliament the right to tax 
 hundreds of thousands of subjects, in all cases what 
 soever, not only without their consent in any form, but 
 against their universal remonstrance. 
 
 The earnestness of Franklin s opposition, not merely 
 to the stamp-act, but to the whole claim of power on 
 which it rested, was vividly expressed by him in a letter 
 of July 11, 1765, to Charles Thompson of Philadelphia, 
 so well known in after-years as the secretary of the Con 
 tinental Congress. In quoting from that letter, we would 
 remind the reader that the " claims of independence" 
 mentioned in it, related merely to the counter-claims of 
 Parliament respecting taxation, not to national indepen 
 dence : it was this very stamp-act and the power it as 
 serted that first led to the agitation of the independence 
 of 76 ; and the last remark quoted below shows that the 
 
392 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 coming of that great event was already betokened to the 
 forecasting mind of him who made it : " Depend upon it, 
 my good neighbor," said Franklin, " I took every step 
 in my power to prevent the passing of the stamp-act. 
 But the tide was too strong against us. This nation was 
 provoked by American claims of independence, and all 
 parties joined by resolving in this act to settle the point. 
 We might as well have hindered the sun s setting. Tliat 
 we could not do. But since it is down, my friend, and 
 it may be long before it rises again, let us make as good 
 a night of it as we can. We may still light candles. 
 Frugality and industry will go a great way toward in 
 demnifying us. Idleness and pride tax with a heavier 
 hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of 
 the former, we may easily get rid of the latter" 
 
 Mr. Thompson s reply to the above letter is so interest 
 ing, that we extract a part of it : " The sun of liberty," 
 said he, " is indeed fast setting, if not already clown, in 
 these colonies. They are in general alarmed to the last 
 degree. They can not bring themselves to believe, nor 
 can they see how England with reason or justice expects, 
 that they should have encountered the horrors of a wilder 
 ness, borne the attacks of barbarous savages, and, at the 
 expense of their blood and treasure, settled this country 
 to the great emolument of England, and after all quietly 
 submit to be deprived of everything an Englishman had 
 been taught to hold dear. It is not property only we 
 contend for. Our liberty and most essential privileges 
 are struck at." 
 
 Notwithstanding Franklin s constant and fearless as 
 sertion, both at home and in England, of the rights of 
 the colonies under their charters though the shrewd 
 and accomplished governor Denny had vainly endeavored 
 to lure him to the side of the Proprietaries by assurances 
 of wealth and preferment and though the imbecile gov- 
 
DEAN TUCKER. 393 
 
 ernor John Perm, when his administration was menaced 
 with subversion by riot and insurrection incited by his 
 own weakness and the misconduct of his magistrates, had 
 sought the protection of Franklin and found it yet the 
 emissaries of that same faction had the effrontery to cir 
 culate a story that Franklin was in favor of the stamp- 
 act. The charge, however, was so extravagantly false, 
 and its motive so palpable, that it recoiled upon its in 
 ventors ; and the zeal and energy of his efforts to con 
 vince the ministry of the evil tendency of the measure, 
 and to prevent its passage, were rewarded by a marked 
 increase of the public confidence and esteem. 
 
 Of the malign ers of Franklin in England on this occa 
 sion, the most prominent was the Rev. Josiah Tucker, 
 dean of Gloucester. He was addicted to politics, and 
 wrote various pieces, in which he handled the colonial 
 claims, as he supposed, very severely. In one of these 
 pieces he charged Franklin with having, after the pas 
 sage of the stamp-act, applied to Mr. Grenville for the 
 office of distributor of stamps arid collector of the stamp- 
 duty for Pennsylvania. This charge having been brought 
 to Franklin s notice some time after, he had the charity 
 to suppose that the dean had been imposed upon by 
 others, and wrote to him, in courteous terms, assuring 
 him that the allegation was unfounded, and requesting 
 him to withdraw it. To this the dean replied by saying 
 that on inquiry he had found himself " mistaken in some 
 circumstances" of the case, " though right as to the sub 
 stance." To this insulting answer, Franklin replied that 
 " if the substance was right, any mistakes in the cir 
 cumstances could give him little concern ;" but " know 
 ing the substance to be wrong," and supposing that the 
 dean could have no wish to injure his character, he asked 
 him to communicate the particulars of his information, 
 as he believed he could, after seeing what they were, 
 
394 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 satisfy the dean that they were groundless ; and he pro 
 posed this course as being " more decent than a public 
 altercation, and better suiting the respect due to the char 
 acter" of the dean. 
 
 The justice of this request the reverend gentleman 
 could not but admit, and professing his readiness to com 
 ply with it, he tells Franklin that he had long considered 
 his advocacy of the cause of the colonies as " exceeding 
 the bounds of morality," but that "if it could be proved 
 that he [the dean] had unjustly suspected him," he should 
 acknowledge his error with much satisfaction ;" and then, 
 after this peculiarly modest introduction, he proceeds to 
 give the particulars asked for, by saying that he had been 
 " repeatedly informed" that Franklin had solicited Mr. 
 Grenville for the office mentioned, "from which circum 
 stance," he adds, " I myself concluded that you had made 
 interest for it on your own account ; whereas, I am now 
 informed that there are no positive proofs" to that effect, 
 but that " there is evidence still existing" of such an ap 
 plication for a friend ; from wliicli circumstance the dean 
 again concludes that " the general merits of the question" 
 are not materially varied, inasmuch as any distinction be 
 tween oneself and a friend, in such a case, was above his 
 comprehension ; and then, in his gracious condescension, 
 the dean closes with a compliment to Franklin s " great 
 abilities and happy discoveries." 
 
 The gist of this charge was, as the reader will observe, 
 that Franklin, from mercenary motives and in contempt 
 of his professed principles, had, of his own volition, ap 
 plied for the office named had solicited it made in 
 terest for it; and that there was proof, which, though it 
 failed, in point of mere form, to sustain the charge against 
 Franklin by name, did show that an application was made 
 by him for the office mentioned in the name of a friend, 
 and sustained the inuendo that the form of the pro- 
 
CALUMNY REFUTED. 395 
 
 ceeding was only a cunning pretext to cover the real 
 object. 
 
 The deliberate malice of the reverend calumniator hav 
 ing thus betrayed itself, Franklin was too accurate an 
 observer of character to expect from him any frank and 
 manly confession of the truth. But resolving to leave 
 him without excuse for his injustice, he wrote him a full 
 and clear statement of the facts, accompanied by a com 
 ment, which, though expressed with the decorum and 
 dignity due to himself and his position, exposed the 
 sophistry and equivocation of his assailant, and his mean 
 ness as well as effrontery in continuing to insinuate what 
 he could no longer affirm, so conclusively that the rev 
 erend Josiah Tucker did not attempt any rejoinder. 
 
 The facts of the case were these: Some days after 
 the passage of the stamp-act, Mr. Grenville s secretary, 
 Thomas Whately, wrote Franklin word that he wished to 
 see him. Calling on him, therefore, the next morning, 
 Franklin found several other colonial agents with Mr. 
 Whately, who stated that, to give as little offence as pos 
 sible to the colonies, in executing the act, the officers to 
 distiibute stamps and receive the duty were to be select 
 ed from among their own people, it being deemed but 
 fair that the emoluments of this business should go to in 
 dividuals belonging to the communities paying the tax, 
 and not to foreigners ; and that the object of calling the 
 colonial agents together was, to request them to recom 
 mend competent and responsible persons in their respec 
 tive colonies for the office in question, as great regard 
 would be paid to their recommendation. The agents 
 took it for granted that the proposal of Mr. Whately was 
 seriously and candidly made, and they all made nomina- 
 For Pennsylvania, Franklin named John Hughes, 
 one of the best men in the province, saying at the same 
 time that he did not know that Mr. Hughes would accept 
 
306 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the appointment, but if he should, he would discharge its 
 duties faithfully. Not one of the agents dreamed that 
 anybody could torture this civil compliance with a re 
 quest from the minister into an application from them 
 for office, or, still worse, into an approval of the act they 
 had been so strenuously resisting. 
 
 These attacks upon him, however, gave little disturb 
 ance to Franklin s equanimity. Conscious of his recti 
 tude, strong in the confidence of his constituents, and 
 continually receiving evidence of the esteem and friend 
 ship of a large circle of the most distinguished and virtu 
 ous men of the time, he held on his course, faithful to 
 his principles and his duties. He refers to this topic in 
 a letter of July, 1765, to his friend Roberts. " Expres 
 sions of steady friendship," says he, "such as your letter 
 contains, though but from one or a few honest and sen 
 sible men, who have long known us, afford a satisfaction 
 that far outweighs the clamorous abuse of a thousand 
 knaves and fools." The same composure of spirit, uni 
 ted with a steadfast reliance on Providence, is unequiv 
 ocally indicated in a letter to his wife about the same 
 time. " It rejoices me to learn," says he, " that you are 
 more free than you used to be from the headache and 
 the pain in your side. I am likewise in perfect health. 
 God is very good to us both. Let us enjoy his favors 
 with thankful and cheerful hearts ; and, as we can make 
 no direct return to him, show our sense of his goodness 
 to us by continuing to do good to our fellow-creatures, 
 without regarding the returns they make us, whether 
 good or bad. For they are all his children, though they 
 they may sometimes be our enemies. The friendships 
 of this world are uncertain, transitory things ; but his 
 favor, if we can secure it, is an inheritance for ever." 
 
 The passage of the stamp-act, as soon as it was known 
 in the colonies, produced a ferment among the people 
 
RECEPTION OP THE STAMP-ACT. 397 
 
 everywhere. The Assemblies adopted resolutions de 
 nouncing it as beyond the constitutional power of Parlia 
 ment, and a violation of the colonial charters ; and in 
 conformity with these resolutions, they prepared peti 
 tions to the king for the repeal of the obnoxious meas 
 ure, and sent them to their agents in London to be laid 
 before his majesty in council. These proceedings, though 
 firm and explicit, were respectful in language and mod 
 erate in tone. They recognised their allegiance to the 
 king, their duty to maintain the interests and honor of 
 the crown, and bear their proper share of the burdens 
 required for the public service, in the manner always 
 recognised and pursued, but protested against the au 
 thority of Parliament as a foreign legislature, in which 
 they were not represented, and which, therefore, had no 
 rightful power to tax them. 
 
 But while the public bodies proceeded with dignified 
 moderation, and the documents they put forth, though 
 warm with the sense of invaded rights, were distinguished 
 not only for ability, but for that decorum of language 
 which best becomes a good cause, the people and their 
 favorite orators, paying little regard to punctilio, de 
 nounced the stamp-act, the ministry, and the authority 
 of Parliament, in the most vehement terms. The stamp- 
 distributors were compelled to renounce their appoint 
 ments ; and when the stamp-paper arrived, not a bale 
 was allowed to be landed, but, after being kept for some 
 time on shipboard, the vessels that brought it took it all 
 back to England. 
 
 Such was the reception of the stamp-act, by which Mr. 
 George Grenville had so confidently expected to raise 
 an annual revenue of a hundred thousand pounds ster 
 ling in the American colonies ; and the exasperation it 
 produced is easily accounted for when it is considered 
 that, besides the assumption of power from which it pro- 
 34 
 
398 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ceeded, it expressly enacted, (to sum up its provisions in 
 the words of Franklin,) that the people of the colonies 
 should "have no commerce, make no exchange of prop 
 erty with each other, neither purchase, nor grant lands, 
 nor recover debts ; neither marry, nor make wills," un 
 less they paid, in specie too, the duties imposed by the 
 act on the paper it made necessary for the various pur 
 poses indicated, embracing all the important transactions 
 of life. 
 
 But it was not the stamp-act alone that caused the out 
 burst of indignant feeling and resolute remonstrance 
 through the colonies. Not merely the people of Eng 
 land collectively, but their political writers and leading 
 public men, had little knowledge of the actual condition 
 of the colonies, or of the character of their population ; 
 and what is still more remarkable, the very statesmen 
 who undertook to think for their colonial fellow-subjects 
 and regulate their affairs, were culpably ignorant, not 
 only of the internal relations, pursuits, trade, and re 
 sources, of the colonies, but of their history and progress 
 of the difficulties and dangers they had surmounted, in 
 preparing their broad territories for the occupancy of a 
 great and civilized people of the vast benefits the moth 
 er-country had already derived from them, and the still 
 greater promise of the future or of the heavy burdens 
 they had borne in her wars, not waged for their sake, 
 but springing from her entangled connections with the 
 nations of Europe ; and yet, notwithstanding all this, and 
 the loyal zeal it implied, those same ministers and their 
 partisan writers were perpetually charging the colonies 
 with disaffection and ingratitude, because they would not 
 tamely submit to new burdens however crushing, and to 
 claims of power which, if allowed, would wrest from 
 them every right conferred on them by their charters 
 and recognised by the British constitution itself. These 
 
OPPOSING SENTIMENTS. 399 
 
 considerations had long been weighing upon the minds 
 of the colonists, awakening their apprehensions, appeal 
 ing to their sense of right, and goading them to resent 
 ment. When the information came, in the latter part of 
 1763, that the British ministry intended to propose the 
 stamp-act to Parliament, the colonies saw that the time 
 was at hand for the resolute assertion of their rights, 
 whatever it might cost; and when the stamped paper ar 
 rived, it was but the lighted match applied to elements 
 already prepared for explosion. 
 
 The actual tone of feeling and the tendency of public 
 sentiment throughout the colonies, in 1765, is well stated 
 by Franklin in a letter dated at London, the 6th of Jan 
 uary, 1766, and commenting on a manuscript sent him 
 by a friend, from some one whose name is not given, but 
 who proposed a closer union of the colonies with the 
 mother-country by providing for their representation in 
 Parliament on the same footing with their fellow-subjects 
 in England. " The time has been," says Franklin, " when 
 the colonies would have esteemed it a great advantage to 
 send members to Parliament, and would have asked the 
 privilege, if they could have had the least hope of obtain 
 ing it. The time is now come, when they are indifferent 
 about it, and will not probably ask it, though they might 
 accept it if offered ; and the time will come, when they 
 will certainly refuse it. This people, however, is too 
 proud to bear the thought of admitting the Americans to 
 an equitable participation in the government." 
 
 The general tenor of the manuscript led Franklin to 
 regard its author as a " sensible and benevolent" man. 
 Yet that author spoke of " the very extraordinary efforts" 
 by which " Great Britain, in the late war, had saved the 
 colonists from destruction," and of "the consequent load 
 of debt," as if all this was for the sake of the colonists 
 alone, and as if they had done nothing ; and he insisted, 
 
400 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 therefore, that they " should be somehow induced to con 
 tribute some proportion toward the exigencies of state 
 in future ;" thus betraying his ignorance of the long- 
 practised method of raising supplies in the colonies for 
 " the exigencies of state," by application from the king 
 in council, and of the remarkable fact that those colonies 
 had contributed to the expenses of that same " late war" 
 so much beyond tlieir "proportion" that even Parliament 
 had voted them a million sterling by way of reimburse 
 ment. This writer, however, was a well-meaning man, 
 whose project of union indicated some sense of justice; 
 while, on the part of ministers and placemen generally, 
 with ignorance not less gross than his, was associated a 
 jealous enmity toward their American fellow-subjects, 
 and a notion of parliamentary and ministerial omnipo 
 tence so exalted as scarcely to permit them to recognise 
 such things as colonial rights : and the very pretension 
 of the colonies that they had any, not subject to their con 
 trol, seems to have excited a kind of resentful impatience 
 to manifest their contempt for such claims as soon as 
 possible, in every practicable form. 
 
 Though such were the views and feelings which had 
 led to the passage of the stamp-act, and though the 
 Grenville ministry and their majority in Parliament had 
 laid the remonstrances of the colonies against the act, 
 v/ith their petitions for its repeal, on the table, not deign 
 ing to consider them, yet the sentiments they contained 
 and the commotion in the colonies had made a strong 
 impression on the minds of another class of British states 
 men ; and Mr. Grenville and his colleagues having been 
 superseded by the marquis of Rockingham at the head 
 of a ministry more favorable to the claims of the colonies, 
 the question was brought up, at the commencement of 
 the year 1766, with a determination on the part of the 
 new ministry to propose the repeal of the obnoxious act. 
 
EXAMINATION BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 401 
 
 With the view of obtaining light on this subject, the 
 house of commons resolved itself into a committee of the 
 whole, for the purpose of examining the colonial agents 
 and others connected with the trade as well as the in 
 ternal affairs of the colonies, respecting their population, 
 pursuits, trade, resources, taxes, sentiments regarding 
 their connection with the mother-country, and, in short, 
 whatever might properly bear on the question, not merely 
 of the stamp-act, but of the general policy to be adopted 
 toward the colonies. In pursuance of this resolution, 
 Franklin, with several others, was summoned before the 
 house on the 3d of February, 1766, to undergo the ap 
 pointed examination. This was a marked and memora 
 ble epoch in Franklin s life. On no occasion in his long 
 and splendid career, whether as a statesman and politi 
 cal economist, or as a patriot and a man, did he ever ap 
 pear with more shining advantage. Mr. Grenville and 
 several of his adherents not less bitter than himself, as 
 well as the supporters of the new premier, took part in 
 the examination. The imposing character of the scene, 
 the important and exciting interests involved, and still 
 more, probably, his own position and the consciousness 
 of his great reputation, were well calculated to disturb 
 any man s mental balance ; but Franklin showed himself 
 in all respects equal to the occasion ; and he never ex 
 hibited more unquestionable or higher proofs of the wide 
 range of his political knowledge and sagacity, or of the 
 acuteness, depth, clearness, and vigor, of his masculine 
 understanding, in applying that knowledge in its mani 
 fold details, than he did in that severe test of his qualities 
 before the house of commons. Self-collected and firm, 
 yet with a modest dignity of deportment, he gave his 
 answers with a readiness, perspicuity, directness, and 
 manly boldness, which took his adversaries by surprise, 
 and, while it commanded their respect, raised the admi- 
 34* 
 
402 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ration and affection of his friends to enthusiasm. The 
 interrogatories, one hundred and seventy-four in num 
 ber, took a wide range, and, with the answers, embraced 
 all the main points of the condition of the colonies, their 
 internal administration, capabilities, and burdens ; the 
 aid they rendered the mother-country, and received from 
 her; the extent of authority they conceded to her; their 
 temper toward her prior to the passage of the stamp-act ; 
 the effect which that measure, and especially the princi 
 ples on which it rested, had exerted on their sentiments, 
 and the consequences which might be anticipated from 
 pressing those principles in short, the whole ground 
 of colonial right and metropolitan power, with the con 
 duct and merits of the respective parties to the great 
 issues presented. 
 
 Our limits will admit only a cursory notice of a few 
 prominent points of this examination. In arranging the 
 provisions of the stamp-act, its framers seem to have ta 
 ken it for granted that the stamps could be circulated by 
 post as conveniently in the colonies as in England. In 
 reply to questions on this point, Franklin demonstrated 
 the folly as well as injustice of the act, by showing that 
 the mails were and could be carried, for the most part, 
 only along the seaboard ; that the population generally 
 was so thinly scattered over the great interior, that, to 
 obtain stamps, the people would be compelled to make 
 journeys at the expense of several pounds, in a large 
 proportion of cases, in order to pay sixpence to the rev 
 enue ; arid that as this was required in coin, there was 
 not enough of it in the colonies to pay the duty for a 
 single year, inasmuch as the course of trade took nearly 
 the whole of their hard money to England. 
 
 To the question, put by Mr. Grenville "Do you 
 think it right that America should be protected by this 
 country, and pay no part of the expense 1 ?" Franklin 
 
EXAMINATION BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 403 
 
 replied, " That is not the case. The colonies raised, 
 clothed, and paid, during the last war, nearly twenty- 
 five thousand men, and spent many millions ;" and to the 
 further question "Were you not reimbursed by Par 
 liament ]" it was answered, " We were only reimbursed 
 what, in your opinion, we had advanced beyond our pro 
 portion ; and it was a very small part of what we spent. 
 Pennsylvania disbursed about five hundred thousand 
 pounds, and the whole reimbursement to her did not ex 
 ceed sixty thousand. Being asked if the people of Amer 
 ica would pay the stamp-duty if moderated, he replied, 
 " No, never, unless compelled by force of arms." To 
 the question, " What was the temper of America tow 
 ard Great Britain before the year 1763 t" Franklin an 
 swered, " The best in the world. They submitted wil 
 lingly to the government of the crown. . . . Numerous as 
 the people are in the old provinces, they cost you noth 
 ing in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them 
 in subjection. They were governed by this country at 
 the expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper ; they 
 were led by a thread. They had not only a respect, but 
 an affection, for Great Britain for its laws, customs, 
 manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, which 
 
 greatly increased their commerce but that temper 
 
 is very much altered now." 
 
 To other questions, the import of which will be ap 
 prehended by the answers from which we cite, Franklin 
 replied that " the authority of Parliament was allowed to 
 be valid in all laws, except such as should lay internal 
 taxes" laws for the regulation of external commerce 
 never being disputed ; that the population of the colonies 
 doubled, on an average, every twenty-five years, but that 
 the demand for British manufactures increased much 
 faster, consumption being affected not only by numbers 
 but by the increase of wealth : as, in Pennsylvania, for 
 
404 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 example, the importation of British goods had risen from 
 about fifteen thousand pounds, in 1723, to about half a 
 million sterling, in 1763 ; that the colonies had been ac 
 customed to regard Parliament as " the great bulwark of 
 their liberties and privileges ;" that " arbitrary ministers 
 might, at times, attempt to oppress them, but they had 
 relied on Parliament for redress," as in the "strong in 
 stance" when ministers proposed a bill to give " royal 
 instructions" the force of laws in the colonies, which the 
 commons rejected; but that their respect for Parliament 
 had been greatly lessened by " restraints lately laid on 
 their trade," which shut out gold arid silver by prohib 
 iting paper-money for their own use and then by " de 
 manding a new and heavy tax on stamps ; taking away, 
 at the same time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive 
 and hear their petitions ;" that if any future tax should 
 be imposed on them, upon the principles of the stamp- 
 act, they would receive" it just as they do this they 
 would not pay it ; that they would regard any assertion 
 of such principle by Parliament as " unconstitutional and 
 unjust," because they could not be rightfully taxed where 
 they were not represented." 
 
 Having admitted the lawfulness of duties laid for the 
 regulation of external trade, he was asked if he could 
 show the smallest difference in principle between such 
 duties and internal taxes. The question was of vital im 
 portance to the whole controversy, and came from the 
 Grenville party. Franklin promptly answered that he 
 thought the difference very great ; that the external tax, 
 or duty on imports, passed, with freight and other charges, 
 into the price of the commodity imported, and if the peo 
 ple did not choose to pay the price, they need not take 
 the article. " But an internal tax is forced from the 
 people without their consent, if not laid by their own 
 representatives :" as, in the case of the stamp-act, they 
 
EXAMINATION BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 405 
 
 were required to use the stamp, to render any of their 
 contracts valid, and compelled to pay the duty under the 
 peril of ruinous penalties. But suppose, as he was then 
 asked, the external tax or import duty were laid on the 
 necessaries of life used in the colonies, would not that be 
 the same, in effect, as an internal tax ] To this he an 
 swered, " I do not know a single article imported into 
 the colonies, but what they can either do without, or 
 make themselves ;" that English cloth was " by no means 
 absolutely necessary ;" that so far from its taking them 
 a long time to supply themselves with clothing, " they had 
 made surprising progress in that way already," and that 
 " before their old clothes are worn out, they will have new 
 ones of their own making;" that, for securing a supply 
 of wool, they had " entered into combinations to eat no 
 more lamb, and very few lambs had been killed in the 
 last year;" that they did not need the large establish 
 ments which were necessary to the production of cloths 
 for the purpose of trade, but their spinning and weaving 
 were done in their own families 
 
 The question returning again to the stamp-act, Frank 
 lin was asked if anything short of military force could 
 carry it into effect. To this he replied, " I do not see 
 how military forces can be applied to it; they would find 
 nobody in arms, and they could not compel a man to take 
 stamps who should choose to do without them ; they 
 \\ou\djind no rebellion, though they might, indeed, make 
 one ;" that if the act were not repealed, the consequence 
 would be a "total loss of the respect and affection of the 
 American people for Great Britain, and of all the com 
 merce thereby fostered ;" that they could do without 
 British goods, and had already, by general agreement, 
 discontinued the use of all the merely fashionable and 
 more costly kinds. 
 
 Being asked by Mr. Grenville if the postage rates were 
 
406 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 not a tax " No, "said Franklin, " postage is not of the 
 nature of a tax ; it is a, quantum meruit a compensation 
 for service rendered : no person is obliged to pay it, if 
 he does not choose to receive the service ;" and being 
 further asked if their ill humor would induce the Ameri 
 cans to pay as much for inferior goods of their own make 
 as for better fabrics made in England, he replied, " Yes ; 
 people will pay as freely to gratify one passion as anoth 
 er their resentment as their pride." To the question 
 whether the Americans would be content to have their 
 tribunals of justice closed, and the enforcement of con 
 tracts suspended, rather than use the stamps necessary 
 to legalize them, he gave the following bold and pregnant 
 answer : " It is hard to say what they would do. I can 
 only judge how others would think and act, by what I 
 feel myself. I have a great many debts due me in Amer 
 ica ; but I had rather they should remain unrecoverable 
 by any law, than submit to the stamp-act. They will 
 then be debts of honor. It is my opinion the people 
 will either continue in that situation, or find some way 
 to extricate themselves perhaps by generally agreeing 
 to proceed in the courts without stamps." Being asked 
 if, in repealing the stamp-act, Parliament should in some 
 way manifest its resentment toward the opposers of the 
 act, would the colonies acquiesce in the authority of that 
 body, Frarikiin answered dryly " I don t doubt at all, 
 that if Parliament repeal the stamp-act, the colonies will 
 acquiesce in the authority." 
 
 It was then asked, if Parliament, merely to affirm its 
 right to tax the colonies, should lay a tax on them, how 
 ever small, would they pay it. This question was put 
 by a member who advocated the repeal of the stamp-act, 
 and was designed to give an opportunity to present some 
 important points more in connection than the course of 
 inquiry had yet allowed. 
 
EXAMINATION BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 407 
 
 Franklin s answer was full and discriminating. He 
 called attention to the distinction between the settled con 
 victions of the reflecting classes as shown by the deliber 
 ate action of the public bodies, in the colonies, and the riot 
 ous proceedings in various places at the first outbreak of 
 popular feeling, all which had been confounded together 
 by the recent ministry and their adherents ; he testified 
 that the Assemblies were opposed to all riots, and would 
 punish their ringleaders if they had the power; that they 
 had not taken a single step toward forcible resistance, 
 and had only declared their rights by peaceful resolu 
 tion and remonstrance, but that, as to any internal tax, 
 however small, laid by a legislature in England on 
 the colonists while unrepresented in that legislature, 
 they would never submit to it; that such a tax, moreo 
 ver, was wholly unnecessary, inasmuch as the colonial 
 Assemblies had always promptly raised supplies, in the 
 same way that Parliament raised them, that is, by re 
 quisition from the king; and yet the colonies were con 
 tinually misrepresented arid abused, on this very point, 
 in parliamentary speeches and partisan pamphlets, by 
 false charges of ingratitude and injustice, as having put 
 the nation to immense expense in defending them in the 
 last war, while they refused to bear any part thereof, 
 when they had, during that very war, kept in the field 
 as many men as had been sent from England, that is to 
 say, about twenty-five thousand, and by so doing had in 
 curred debts which would burden them for many years 
 to come ; that this was far beyond their proportion, king, 
 lords, and commons, had admitted by their reimbursing 
 acts, though the million sterling thus granted fell far 
 short of actual indemnification. 
 
 When this strong answer had been rendered, Charles 
 Townshend, one of the recent Grenville ministry, asked 
 if the colonies would contribute to an English war in 
 
408 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Europe. Franklin replied that he thought they would, 
 according to their ability; that they considered them 
 selves as part of the British empire, though regarded in 
 England as foreigners ; that in 1740, in the war with 
 Spain, having been called on for aid to the expedition 
 against Carthagena, on the Spanish Main, in South Amer 
 ica, and as far as Europe from the northern colonies, 
 they sent three thousand men upon that ill-starred enter 
 prise ; that although the recent war with France was 
 commonly spoken of in England as having been waged 
 for the sake of America, that point was misunderstood; 
 that it sprang from a question of limits between Nova 
 Scotia and Canada, involving territory claimed by the 
 crown, not by any of the colonies, and in which no colo 
 nists had any interest; that on the Ohio, also, hostilities 
 sprang from French encroachment on British rights in 
 the Indian trade, the seizure of British traders and their 
 manufactures, and of a fort (Du Quesne) erected by those 
 traders lo protect that trade, which was not a colonial 
 but a British interest altogether ; that it was only after 
 Braddock s defeat, that the colonies were molested by 
 the Indians or the French, with both of whom they had 
 previously been at peace. Though the British troops, 
 therefore, were not sent out for the sake of the colonies, 
 and though the war originated wholly on British account, 
 yet the colonies had given their best efforts to support it 
 and bring it to a happy issue. 
 
 Another adherent of the Grenville party, Mr. Nugent, 
 having asked Franklin if he could deny that the prece 
 ding war with Spain was waged for the sake of America, 
 caused as it was by Spanish captures made in American 
 seas " Yes," said franklin, " caused by the capture of 
 British ships carrying on a British trade there with Brit 
 ish manufactures." Mr, Grenville then asking if the re 
 cent Indian war, since the peace with France, was not 
 
EXAMINATION BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 409 
 
 for America only that war, said Franklin, was but 
 the sequel of the other, and the colonies bore much the 
 larger share of the cost, having been ended by General 
 Bouquet with a force of above a thousand Pennsylva- 
 nians, and only about three hundred regulars for the 
 small garrisons stationed at Niagara and Detroit, solely 
 to protect the British trade with the Indians, should not 
 be counted ; and being then asked if troops from Eng 
 land were not necessary to defend the colonies against 
 the Indians " No, by no means," replied Franklin, " it 
 never was necessary. They defended themselves, when 
 but a handful, and when the Indians were much more 
 numerous, and had driven them over the mountains, with 
 out troops from England, and there is not the least occa 
 sion for them now." Being asked by Mr. Ellis, another 
 member of the stamp-act ministry, if the colonial Assem 
 blies knew that the English statute called the Declaration 
 of Rights forbids the raising money from any subject 
 except by act of Parliament Franklin replied that they 
 knew it well ; that they held that statute to be an essen 
 tial part of the British constitution, but that it applied 
 only to subjects within the realm; that the colonies were 
 not within the realm, any more than Ireland, but had 
 their own Parliaments, or Assemblies, which, in conform 
 ity with the spirit of the great statute cited, and by their 
 own charters, were vested with the power to tax their 
 respective constituents, the people represented by them, 
 while the Parliament of Great Britain had no right to 
 levy an internal tax, either in Ireland or the colonies, 
 until they were represented in that body : for the Decla 
 ration of Rights expressly says that such taxes can only 
 be laid by common consent, and they had no representa 
 tives in that body to give their part of that common con 
 sent ; that in raising supplies on requisition, though the 
 grant was, in terms, " to the king," yet his requisition 
 35 
 
410 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 usually designated the occasion, and the money was 
 raised in such way as the Assemblies themselves might 
 deem most convenient to their constituents; that if the 
 stamp-act were repealed, and the king should ask, in the 
 usual way, for money from the colonies, he believed they 
 would grant it, for the Assembly of Pennsylvania had 
 expressly instructed him, as their agent, to say so, and 
 he had communicated such instruction, before the passage 
 of the stamp-act, to the minister who introduced it. 
 
 Being asked if the Pennsylvania Assembly would re 
 scind their resolutions, provided Parliament would repeal 
 the stamp-act, he said he thought not ; and being further 
 asked if he did not know that there was a clause in the 
 Pennsylvania charter expressly reserving to Parliament 
 the right to levy taxes there, he answered that there was 
 a clause by which the king covenants that he would levy 
 no taxes there, unless with the consent of the Assembly, 
 or by act of Parliament ; that the Assembly interpreted 
 that clause in connection with Magna Charta, the Peti 
 tion and Declaration of Rights, and other fundamental 
 parts of the British constitution, defining the rights and 
 liberties of Englishmen ; that it is one of the rights thus 
 secured, that they can not be taxed but by their common 
 consent, which necessarily implied representation, as al 
 ready explained. 
 
 It was then asked if the words of the charter to Penn 
 expressed any distinction between internal and external 
 taxes, and if, by his interpretation, the Assembly might not 
 object to the latter class of taxes as well as the former. 
 To this Franklin significantly replied : " Many arguments 
 have been lately used here to show the Americans that 
 there is no difference, and that if you have no right to tax 
 them internally, you have none to tax them externally, 
 or make any other law to bind them. At present, they 
 do not reason so ; but, in time, they may possibly ~be con- 
 
RESULT OF THE EXAMINATION. 411 
 
 vinced by these arguments." The question being again 
 pressed whether, if the stamp-act were repealed, the 
 Assemblies would erase their resolutions, he replied 
 " No, never ;" and being then asked if there was a power 
 on earth that could force them to do so, he answered 
 " None that I know of; no power, how great soever, can 
 force men to change their opinions." The examination 
 closed with recurring again to the former and existing 
 tone of feeling among the colonists toward the mother- 
 country, which Franklin illustrated by saying that "it 
 used to be their pride to indulge in her fashions and 
 manufactures ; but now it was their pride to wear their 
 old clothes till they could make new ones." 
 
 The effect of this examination on the members of Par 
 liament was obvious and powerful. Many British mer 
 chants, also, engaged in the American trade, sent in pe 
 titions in aid of those from the colonies ; and when the 
 bill for repealing the stamp-act was taken up, though the 
 late ministers and their adherents opposed it with great 
 violence, yet, after a debate of much vehemence, it was 
 carried through both houses, and received the king s as 
 sent about the middle of March. Writing to his old 
 Philadelphia friend Roberts, on the 27th of February, 
 1766, just after the repeal-bill had passed the house of 
 commons, Franklin says : " I hope I have done even my 
 enemies some service in our struggle for America. It 
 has been a hard one, and we have been often between 
 hope and despair; but now the day begins to clear. . . . 
 The partisans of the. late ministry have been strongly 
 crying out, Rebellion ! and calling for force to be sent 
 against America. The consequence might have been 
 terrible, but milder measures have prevailed." After 
 the bill had become a law, lie wrote to his wife, on the 
 6th of April : "As the stamp-act is at length repealed, I 
 am willing you should have a new gown, which you may 
 
412 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 suppose I aid not send sooner, as I knew you would not 
 like to be finer than your neighbors, unless in a gown of 
 your own spinning. Had the trade between the two 
 countries totally ceased, it was a comfort to me to recol 
 lect that I had once been clothed from head to foot in 
 woollen and linen of my wife s manufacture that I 
 never was prouder of any dress in my life and that 
 she and her daughter might do it again, if necessary." 
 
 The news of the repeal of the stamp-act " that moth 
 er of mischiefs," as Franklin styled it in a letter to a 
 friend in Boston and of the conspicuous and most effec 
 tive services by which he had contributed to that repeal, 
 filled his friends in America with the liveliest exultation. 
 One of those friends, Joseph Galloway, an able and ac 
 tive man, writing to Franklin s son, then governor of New 
 Jersey," under date of the 29th of April, says : "It gives 
 me a pleasure I can not well express, to hear that Dr. 
 Franklin was examined at the bar of the house of com 
 mons. Dr. Fothergill writes thus to William Logan, 
 and that he gave such distinct, clear, and satisfactory 
 answers to every interrogatory, and spoke his sentiments 
 on the subject with such perspicuity and firmness, as did 
 him the highest honor, and was of the greatest service to 
 the American cause. " The letters from Dr. Fothergill, 
 Whitefield, and others present at the examination, were 
 full of praise and admiration for the manner in which 
 Franklin acquitted himself on that occasion. One says : 
 " Our worthy friend, Dr. Franklin, has gained immortal 
 honor by his behavior at the bar of the house. The an 
 swerer was always found equal if not superior to the 
 questioner. He stood unappalled, gave pleasure to his 
 friends, and did honor to his country." Another says : 
 " I can safely assert, from my own personal knowledge, 
 that Dr. Franklin did all in his power to prevent the 
 stamp-act from passing; that he waited upon the minis- 
 
FRANKLIN S SERVICES ACKNOWLEDGED. 413 
 
 try that then was, to inform them fully of its mischievous 
 tendency ; that he has uniformly opposed it to the utmost 
 of his ability ; and that in a long examination before the 
 house of commons, he asserted the rights and privileges 
 of America with the utmost firmness, resolution, and ca 
 pacity:" and another, after similar statements, adds: 
 " He did himself great credit, and served your cause not 
 a little. I believe he has left nothing undone that he 
 imagined would serve his country." The examination 
 being published a few months afterward, it was imme 
 diately translated into French and circulated over Eu 
 rope. When the news, that the bill repealing the stamp- 
 act had been consummated by the assent of the king, 
 reached America in authentic form, the colonial Assem 
 blies passed resolutions of thanks to the king and Parlia 
 ment ; and they expressed also their deep sense of the 
 service rendered by Franklin to the general cause of 
 American rights. In Pennsylvania, the acknowledgments 
 of the great services of their agent were peculiarly warm, 
 not only from the Assembly, but on the part of the in 
 habitants. Philadelphia was illuminated ; and on the 
 4th of June, the king s birthday, the occasion was cele 
 brated by a feast on the banks of the Schuylkill. A ves 
 sel named the " Franklin" took a throng of his friends to 
 the banquet ; the royal family, the Parliament, the prom 
 inent advocates of the act of repeal, were toasted and 
 saluted with artillery, and Franklin s name especially 
 was, there and everywhere, "freshly remembered." In 
 deed, a large portion of the proprietary party, the well- 
 meaning men, who had been misled by false representa 
 tions of Franklin s motives and conduct, now came to 
 the knowledge of so much evidence of his disinterested 
 zeal and efficient effort in behalf of colonial rights, that 
 they laid aside their prejudices ; and only a few ambi 
 tious and mercenary men, who could not forgive him for 
 3,5* 
 
414 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 his merits and his fame, remained openly hostile to him. 
 And although the Grenville party, by their gross mis 
 representations of the state of facts and feelings in the 
 colonies, and by their appeals, both in Parliament and 
 through the press, to the national pride of the English 
 people, aided undoubtedly by some unnecessary and im 
 prudent heat on the part of Mr. Pitt, in denouncing them 
 and their policy, had succeeded in carrying a declaratory 
 act affirming the right of Parliament to bind the colonies 
 in all cases whatsoever yet this assertion of an abstract 
 principle, though it cast at once some shade of appre 
 hension over the minds of all reflecting men, did not, for 
 the time, appear to repress the public joy for the practi 
 cal benefit obtained in the repeal of the stamp-act, which 
 was greeted as a token that, whatever might be the ab 
 stract claims in behalf of British sovereignty, the attempt 
 to enforce them by actual legislation would be relin 
 quished as an unwise policy. 
 
 In the midst of his strenuous and multifarious exertions 
 in the cause of the colonies, however, Franklin did not 
 wholly suspend his philosophic correspondence. One of 
 his letters, written in the summer of 1765, on the char 
 acter of the old and simple Scottish tunes, is too remark 
 able to be passed without notice. This topic was sug 
 gested by some remarks on music, as an object of taste, 
 as well as a source of enjoyment, in the " Elements of 
 Criticism" by Lord Kames, to whom Franklin addressed 
 his letter. He holds that the pleasure derived by artists 
 and other practised musicians, from pieces of great com 
 pass and intricate variety, does not arise from either the 
 melody or the harmony of the sounds, but from the skill 
 and dexterity displayed in the performance of difficult 
 passages, and is similar, in kind, to the pleasure derived 
 from the wonderful feats of agility and hazard performed 
 by rope-dancers and tumblers ; and that it is for the want 
 
THE OLD SCOTTISH TUNES. 415 
 
 of training in the difficult parts of music, that people 
 who have only a natural ear for the " concord of sweet 
 sounds," do not enjoy these intricacies of musical com 
 position, while the natural melodies and simple harmonies 
 of the traditionary airs mentioned, fill them with delight. 
 After quoting the remark of Kames that " melody and 
 harmony are separately agreeable, and in union delight 
 ful," Franklin proceeds with characteristic acuteness and 
 good sense, to analyze the tunes in question and the 
 pleasure they impart, substantially as follows : He main 
 tains that those tunes do, in fact, present the very union 
 suggested by Kames, not simultaneously, indeed, but in 
 succession ; and he explains this seeming paradox by say 
 ing that, although in strictness melody is a succession of 
 musical sounds, and harmony their coexistence, yet, as the 
 mind retains a perfect idea of the pitch of each note in a 
 series till the next note is sounded, those notes are as 
 truly compared, and the enjoyment arising from their 
 harmony is the same, as if they were both sounded to 
 gether. 
 
 To show the correctness of his position, he refers to 
 the readiness with which a note, on being sounded, is re 
 peated in the same pitch, whether by the voice or the 
 string of an instrument ; and to the fact that, when two 
 notes are not in unison, though the dissonance is per 
 ceived when they are sounded together, yet which is 
 wrong is perceived only when they are sounded succes 
 sively. These perceptions, moreover, he thinks are not 
 merely recollected, but arise from a continuance of those 
 vibrations of the ear-drum, by which the sensation of 
 sound is excited in the auditory nerve ; as, with the other 
 organs of sense, the impressions made on them remain 
 more or less distinct for a time after the several objects 
 producing them are removed. 
 
 Having established this point in the philosophy of mu- 
 
416 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sical perception, he proceeds to show that, in the com 
 position of the tunes in question, " almost every succeed 
 ing emphatical note is a third, a fifth, an octave, or some 
 note in concord with the preceding note ; thirds, which 
 are very pleasing notes, being chiefly used." Moreover, 
 when it is considered that these tunes were composed by 
 ancient minstrels, to be played on the harp, accompanied 
 by the voice, the harmonical succession of notes seems 
 not only natural but necessary; inasmuch as the wire of 
 the ancient harp prolonged the note, and had no means 
 of stopping it the instant a succeeding one was struck. 
 " To avoid actual discord it was therefore necessary that 
 the next emphatic note should be a chord with the pre 
 ceding one, as their sounds must exist at the same time." 
 That the old harp was " of the simplest kind, without 
 any half-notes but those in the natural scale, with no 
 more than two octaves of strings, from C to C," he infers 
 from the fact that " not one of those tunes, really ancient, 
 has a single artificial half-note in it, and that in cases 
 where it was most convenient for the voice to use the 
 middle notes of the harp, and place the key in F,jhe B, 
 which if used should be a B flat, is always omitted, by 
 passing over it with a third." 
 
 Such is the physical analysis; and thence, says Frank 
 lin, " arose the beauty in those tunes that have so long 
 pleased, and will please for ever, though men scarcely 
 know why." It may be added these airs are marked by 
 a singleness of character answering to the several emo 
 tions they are intended to express ; and being thus found 
 in unison with our moral as well as our organic struc 
 ture, they are intelligible to all, and obtain the response 
 of all hearts. 
 
VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 417 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 VISIT TO THE CONTINENT TRUE RELATIONS OF AMER 
 ICA TO ENGLAND VISITS PARIS CHANGES IN THE 
 
 CABINET LORD HILLSBOROUGH VISIT TO IRELAND 
 
 LIGHTNING-RODS FOR POWDER MAGAZINES HE AD 
 VISES FIRMNESS AND MODERATION IN AMERICA THE 
 
 HUTCHINSON LETTERS INEFFECTUAL ATTEMPTS AT 
 
 CONCILIATION RETURNS HOME. 
 
 Franklin s arduous exertions during the pendency of 
 the stamp-act question, not only in the long and exciting 
 examination before the house of commons, but in urging 
 upon ministers and other leading men, in personal inter 
 views as well as private correspondence, and upon the 
 public through the press, the multifarious considerations 
 which ought to insure the repeal of the obnoxious act, 
 seriously impaired his health. "Writing to his wife on 
 the 13th of June, 1766, he says : " I wrote you that I 
 had been very ill lately. I am now nearly well again, 
 but feeble. To-morrow I set out with my friend Dr. 
 Pringle (now Sir John) on a journey to Pyrmont, where 
 he goes to drink the waters." Franklin having, the year 
 before, omitted taking one of his customary annual jour 
 neys, had felt the bad effect of that omission on his health 
 very sensibly, as he thought, during the preceding win 
 ter and spring ; and in this excursion to the continent he 
 looked for benefit, not to the waters his friend was seek 
 ing, but to the exercise of travel, the change of air, new 
 scenes, and more agreeable and varied forms of mental 
 
418 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 entertainment. He was absent about two montbs, and 
 spent the time chiefly in Hanover and the north of 
 Germany. Wherever he went he was received with dis 
 tinguished attention by the learned ; for his fame had 
 been long spread throughout Europe, and his merits as 
 a philosopher were more highly and therefore more justly 
 appreciated on the continent than in Great Britain. No 
 details of this journey are to be found among his wri 
 tings ; but there is a letter, in Latin, from Professor 
 Hartman, of the university of Gottingen, received by 
 Franklin some months afterward, which well exemplifies 
 the exalted esteem in which he was held by the learned 
 Germans. The professor speaks of the great pleasure 
 with which he recollected the day on which he first saw 
 and conversed with him ; of his deep regret at not hav 
 ing been able then to show him any new experiments 
 in electricity worthy of his attention ; that the prince 
 Schw-artzenburg of Rudolstadt, (who corresponded with 
 the professor,) on hearing of Franklin s visit to Germany, 
 had expressed his earnest wish to become personally 
 acquainted with him, and for that purpose had sent a 
 learned friend to Gottingen with his salutations, who ar 
 rived the very day of Franklin s departure ; that as the 
 prince had requested of the professor directions for the 
 most proper form of the lightning-rod, which he wished 
 to introduce into his own territories, the professor so 
 licited from Franklin his most matured views on that 
 point ; that as he contemplated writing a complete his 
 tory of electricity, and as there was no name connected 
 with that subject so great as Franklin s, he begged of 
 him an account of his first experiments and discoveries ; 
 that he relied on Franklin s goodness to excuse so bold 
 a request; that compliance with it would give him great 
 happiness, and that he should always be glad of any op 
 portunity to promote his wishes. 
 
VIEWS OF LORD KAMES. 419 
 
 Franklin, on his return to England, upon this second 
 mission, having renewed his correspondence with Lord 
 Kames, received a letter, written a little before the ex 
 amination in the house of commons, in which that lib 
 eral-minded nobleman expressed his views very freely 
 on the American question. The general accordance of 
 those views with his own gratified Franklin exceedingly, 
 but he saw mingled with them several mistakes, derived 
 from the English press, concerning some important facts ; 
 and to set his friend right, he sent, with his reply, a re 
 port of the examination mentioned. In his reply he ob 
 served also that it had become particularly important that 
 " clear ideas should be formed on solid principles, both 
 in Britain and America, of the true political relation be 
 tween them, and the mutual duties belonging to that re 
 lation ;" and he therefore urged his lordship to consider 
 the subject deliberately and fully, as, from his high ju 
 dicial position, his abilities, and impartiality, he was pe 
 culiarly well qualified to render the nation very great 
 service. It seems that Lord Kames had, in his letter, 
 expressed himself in favor of such a union between the 
 two countries as should give the colonies their just pro 
 portion of representatives in Parliament. To this view 
 Franklin, in his reply, fully assents, (it was, indeed, as 
 we have seen, one he had long held,) as "the only firm, 
 basis on which the political grandeur and prosperity of 
 the empire could be founded ;" that the colonies would 
 once have gladly adopted it, but had now become in 
 different to it, and, if much longer delayed, would re 
 ject it; that the pride of England would delay it, and it 
 would never take effect. He adds : " Every man in 
 England seems to consider himself as a piece of a sov 
 ereign over America ; seems to jostle himself into the 
 throne with the king, and talks of our subjects in the colo 
 nies. The Parliament can not well and wisely make 
 
420 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 laws suited to the colonies, without being properly and 
 truly informed of their circumstances, ability, temper, 
 &c. This it can not be, without representatives from 
 them ; and yet it [Parliament] is fond of this power, and 
 averse to the only means of acquiring the necessary 
 knowledge for exercising it ; which is desiring to be om 
 nipotent without being omniscient" In the course of his 
 letter, which is long and able, he sketches the history of 
 the colonies ; exposes the gross mistake, which had be 
 come quite common in England, that they had been 
 planted and fostered by Parliament, whereas, they were 
 planted solely at the expense and risk of private persons, 
 with the assent of the king and under charters from him; 
 and on those conditions consented to continue the king s 
 subjects, though in a foreign country, which had not been 
 conquered by England, to which she had no claim of any 
 kind beyond the naked, abstract claim of discovery, and 
 where there was no proprietorship in the soil except that 
 of the colonists, who purchased, settled, defended, and 
 enlarged their territories with their own individual means 
 and at their own personal peril. In fact, Parliament had 
 never been consulted on the subject, at any time or in 
 any manner, either by colonist or king, and had never 
 noticed the colonies at all, until long after they had thus 
 become established, and began to present temptations to 
 the covetousness of wealth and power to promise ad 
 vantages to the commerce of the mother-country, and 
 aggrandizement to her ambitious statesmen and their 
 partisans. The colonists, having taken their charters 
 from the king, and having thus acknowledged allegiance 
 to him as their common sovereign, with the express right 
 of legislating upon their own internal affairs in their own 
 Assemblies, made up of representatives chosen by them 
 selves, associated with governors and judges represent 
 ing the executive and judicial authority of the king, they 
 
TRUE POLITICAL RELATIONS OP THE COLONIES. 421 
 
 constituted, in truth, so many separate states, acknowl 
 edging one common sovereign, indeed, but as indepen 
 dent of the people of England and their legislative rep 
 resentatives, as they were of each other, or as were the 
 people of Scotland prior to their union, or as the people 
 of Ireland and of Hanover then were. 
 
 In short, the people of America, in their respective 
 colonies, stood on the same footing of equality with the 
 people of England, being subjects of the same king, but 
 having their own separate constitutions, that is to say, 
 their charters, which secured to them, in express terms, 
 the right of legislating for themselves by representatives 
 of their own choice, and managing their own affairs in 
 all respects independently of the representatives of their 
 English fellow-subjects ; and whatever powers the king 
 himself possessed, were vested in him, in point of fact, 
 by their own consent, through the charters they held 
 from him, and by all those parts of the British constitu 
 tion itself which limited or in any way affected the royal 
 prerogative. This was the broad and free basis of equal 
 rights on which Franklin and other eminent American 
 patriots, but he among the first and most influential 
 of them all, placed the colonies; on which the people of 
 those colonies, under such guidance, fast rallied ; and on 
 which they stood with unshaken firmness, at the ultimate 
 peril of " their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
 honor." 
 
 At the time now spoken of, however, though Franklin 
 and some of his great compatriots were resolved to main 
 tain the ground described, at every hazard, yet none of 
 them had yet begun to broach the doctrine of absolute 
 independence. They thought not merely that the colo 
 nies were not yet strong enough for a total rupture with 
 the mother-country, but that their connection might still 
 be rendered more useful to America, as well as to Brit- 
 36 
 
422 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ain, if the statesmen of the latter could be induced to 
 adopt wise counsels, waive their extravagant claims of 
 power, and pursue a liberal and conciliatory policy. To 
 attain this purpose, they labored in good faith toward 
 both parties, pressing their arguments with earnest and 
 honest zeal, and occasionally uttering their warnings with 
 manly boldness and prophetic sagacity. A passage in 
 the latter tone occurs near the close of the letter to Lord 
 Kames, and it marks the forecast of Franklin too strongly 
 to be omitted. Having intimated that the union men 
 tioned was probably more important, after all, to Britain 
 than to America, he proceeds : " America may suffer at 
 present under the arbitrary power of this country; she 
 may suffer, for a while, in a separation from it ; but these 
 are temporary evils which she will outgrow. Scotland 
 and Ireland are differently circumstanced. Confined by 
 the sea, they can scarcely increase in numbers, wealth, 
 and strength, so as to overbalance England. But Amer 
 ica, an immense territory, favored by nature with all ad 
 vantages of climate, soils, -great navigable rivers, lakes, 
 &c., must become a great country, populous and mighty ; 
 and will, in less time than is generally conceived, be able 
 to shake off any shackles that may be imposed upon her, 
 and perhaps place them on the imposers. In the mean 
 time, every act of oppression will sour the tempers of 
 her people, lessen greatly if not annihilate the profits of 
 your commerce with them, and hasten their final revolt; 
 for the seeds of liberty are universally found there, and 
 nothing can eradicate them. And yet there remains 
 among that people so much respect, veneration, and af 
 fection for Britain, that, if cultivated prudently, with kind 
 usage and tenderness for their privileges, they might 
 be easily governed still for ages, without force, or any 
 considerable expense. But I do not see here a suf- 
 
VISIT TO PARIS. 423 
 
 ficient quantity of the wisdom necessary to produce such 
 conduct." 
 
 In the autumn of 1767, Franklin, in company with his 
 friend Sir John Pringle, took an excursion to France. 
 The French embassador, M. Durand, who had become 
 much interested in American affairs and cultivated Frank 
 lin s society, furnished him with many letters of intro 
 duction, and when he arrived at Paris, he was treated 
 with much distinction. He visited Versailles, where, 
 with his friend, he was presented to the royal family ; 
 and besides seeing whatever was curious or striking in 
 the capital, he formed many valuable acquaintances. In 
 a letter to Miss Stevenson, giving her a pleasant account 
 of this jaunt, he says of French manners : " The civili 
 ties we everywhere receive give us the strongest impres 
 sions of French politeness. It seems to be a point set 
 tled here universally that strangers are to be treated with 
 respect; and one has the same deference shown him here 
 by being a stranger, as in England by being a lady." 
 His visit gratified him very much, and in the letter just 
 mentioned he remarks that " travelling is one way of 
 lengthening life, at least in appearance. It is but about 
 a fortnight since we left London, but the variety of scenes 
 we have gone through makes it seem equal to six months 
 living in one place." 
 
 A recent act of Parliament laying duties on certain 
 articles imported into the colonies, and providing for a 
 board of commissioners to be sent out from England to col 
 lect those duties, with some other enactments taking from 
 the colonial Assemblies their long-exercised privilege 
 of fixing as well as paying the salaries of their governors, 
 judges, and other officers, and transferring the fixing 
 of the amount of such salaries to the king, had produced 
 great excitement in the colonies. This power in the As 
 semblies had been useful in giving them some control over 
 
424 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the conduct of the officers in question. The action of Par 
 liament in this matter gave them much dissatisfaction, and 
 resolutions of a bold and high-toned character, recommend 
 ing measures to encourage the products and manufactures 
 of their own people and diminish the use of imports, were 
 passed at Boston, which, on reaching England, roused 
 the pride and embittered the animosity of the ministers 
 and the party by which the acts in question had been 
 passed, and embarrassed also the friends of a more lib 
 eral colonial policy. To appease the feelings thus ex 
 asperated by the Boston resolutions, and to give the 
 English public a correct view of the state of sentiment 
 in the colonies, Franklin wrote a valuable paper on the 
 " Causes of the American Discontents before 1768," and 
 had it published early in January, 1768, just as Parlia 
 ment came together. Written in a cool and candid tem 
 per, it traced rapidly but clearly the progress of what 
 the Americans deemed British encroachment ; and con 
 trasted, in a striking manner, the content of the colonies 
 prior to the stamp-act, with their condition since : and its 
 effect was such as to calm exasperation, for a time at least, 
 and produce a somewhat more favorable disposition in 
 regard to colonial interests. 
 
 The Boston resolutions, however, gave a strong im 
 pulse to the other colonies, which soon followed in the 
 expression of similar sentiments. Franklin, writing to 
 his son, the governor of New Jersey, on this subject, in 
 December, 1767, says : " If our people should follow the 
 Boston example, by entering into resolutions of frugality 
 and industry, full as necessary for us as for them, I hope 
 they will among other things give this reason : that it is 
 to enable them more speedily to discharge their debts to 
 Great Britain." This prudent and honest suggestion of 
 Franklin harmonized, as it subsequently appeared, with 
 the sentiments of Washington, who, when the people of 
 
CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY. 425 
 
 Virginia were advised to put a stop to both their imports 
 and exports, with the design of procuring the repeal of the 
 offensive laws, disapproved of the latter part of the prop 
 osition, though in favor of the former. " If we owe money 
 in Great Britain," said he, " nothing but the last neces 
 sity can justify the non-payment of it; and I wish to see 
 the other method first tried, which is legal, and will facil 
 itate the payments." 
 
 The year 1768 opened with changes in the ministry. 
 These proved unfavorable to the claims of the colonies, 
 not only because some of the Grenville party took places, 
 but more particularly because, in the department of co 
 lonial affairs, Lord Shelburne, who was friendly to Amer 
 ica, and a man of even temper and easy of access, was 
 superseded by Lord Hillsborough, who, though gener 
 ally deemed a man of abilities and probity, was stiff in 
 his opinions, pertinacious as to forms, liable to preju 
 dice, of a capricious temper, and not easily accessible ; 
 and in addition to all this, to cite the authority of Mr. 
 Johnson, the able and enlightened agent of Connecticut, 
 the whole business of the colonies had necessarily to take 
 new channels ; new connections had to be formed ; ne 
 gotiations, which had made some progress, had all to be 
 commenced anew, and great delays would be the conse 
 quence. Besides, when the question concerning the re 
 peal of the act of Parliament forbidding the issue of 
 paper-money in the colonies, was brought before the 
 board of trade, in the previous year, Lord Hillsborough, 
 then at the head of that board, had drawn a report strongly 
 against the repeal solicited by the colonial agents, which 
 report Franklin had answered in a paper of remarkable 
 ability ; and though his lordship, on taking charge of 
 American affairs, treated Franklin with much civility, 
 yet it became evident before long that the masterly an 
 swer of the colonial agent had not convinced the colonial 
 36* 
 
426 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 secretary. When, however, after his new appointment, 
 Franklin waited on him, he admitted that the answer was 
 an able one, and presented stronger reasons in favor of 
 the currency in question than he had supposed to exist; 
 and at the same interview, Franklin having explained to 
 him the state of the question respecting the change pe 
 titioned for in the government of Pennsylvania, the new 
 secretary told him he would examine the subject and 
 confer with him upon it again. These and other cir 
 cumstances gave rise to a rumor that Franklin was to be 
 appointed under-secretary to Lord Hillsborough ; on 
 which the former remarks, in a letter to his son, that 
 there was little likelihood of it, as it was a settled point 
 that he was too much of an American. 
 
 A different proposition, however,- was made to Frank 
 lin, which involved his removal as head of the American 
 postoffice, and the proffer of some other appointment, 
 which, though not mentioned, seems to have been intend 
 ed to be such a one as would withdraw him from all direct 
 connection with American aifairs. But he neither felt 
 nor showed any desire for office, being content with 
 his position. Indeed, his removal from his place as dep 
 uty-postmaster-general of the colonies, would not have 
 given him any chagrin, as he wrote to his son, if his " zeal 
 for America" were to be the reason ; in which, as he 
 states, " some of my friends have hinted to me that I 
 have been too open." To this he adds a remark that 
 shows his foresight, at that early and comparatively tran 
 quil day, of the inevitable result of the doctrines then 
 held by the British government. " If Mr. Grenville," 
 says he, " comes into power again, in any department 
 respecting America, I must refuse accepting anything 
 that may seem to put me in his power, because / appre 
 hend a breach between the two countries;" adding "If 
 it were not for the flattering expectation that by being 
 
POLITICAL PROSPECTS. 427 
 
 here, I might more effectually serve my country, I 
 should certainly determine for retirement, without a 
 moment s hesitation." 
 
 Franklin s enemies in Pennsylvania endeavored to 
 use this rumor of proffered ministerial favors, to his in 
 jury ; but their efforts were unavailing. So strong was 
 he in the confidence of his countrymen everywhere, that 
 in the summer of 1768 he received from the governor of 
 Georgia credentials of his appointment as agent for that 
 colony ; while every arrival from Pennsylvania and the 
 northern colonies furnished fresh evidence of their 
 growing esteem for him. The changes, however, in the 
 ministry, which had taken place, and were anticipated, 
 with the dissolution of Parliament and the new elections, 
 had produced so much confusion and delay in public 
 business, that, seeing no prospect of advancing the chief 
 object of his mission, he was preparing to return to 
 America when the appointment from Georgia reached 
 him ; and though his private affairs made him anxious to 
 be at home, yet that appointment, together with the ur 
 gent expostulations of the friends of America, and a 
 growing apprehension of the restoration of Mr. Gren- 
 ville and his party to power, induced him to remain in 
 England a few months longer; for, as he observed in a 
 letter written in February, 1769, to Lord Kames, things 
 were daily looking worse, with an increasing tendency 
 " to a breach and final separation." 
 
 That this opinion was correct became still more evi 
 dent in the ensuing spring. Near the end of April he 
 wrote to a friend in Boston : " The Parliament remains 
 fixed in the resolution not to repeal the duty acts this 
 session, arid will rise next Tuesday. I hope my coun 
 trymen will remain as fixed in their resolutions of indus 
 try and frugality, till these acts are repealed ; and, if I 
 could be sure of that, I should almost wish them never 
 
428 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to be repealed ; being persuaded that we shall reap 
 more solid and extensive advantages from the steady 
 practice of those two great virtues, than we can suffer 
 damage from all the duties Parliament can levy on us. 
 They flatter themselves you can not subsist without their 
 manufactures ; that you have not virtue enough to per 
 sist in such agreements ; that the colonies will desert one 
 another, and return to the use of British fineries. The 
 ministerial people all talk in this strain, and many even 
 of the merchants. I have ventured to assert that they 
 will all find themselves mistaken." His confidence in 
 the firmness of his countrymen was well vindicated by 
 their conduct ; and from a letter to his sister, Mrs. Me- 
 com, it is evident that the women of America were as 
 resolute as the men : " The account you write," says he, 
 " of the growing industry, frugality, and good sense of 
 my countrywomen, gives me more pleasure than you 
 can imagine ; for from thence I presage great advanta 
 ges to our country." He wrote to the same effect to 
 the committee of merchants in Philadelphia, and that if 
 the people would steadily persist in " using colony man 
 ufactures only, it would, he trusted, be the means, under 
 God, of recovering and establishing the freedom of the 
 country entire, and handing it down to posterity." 
 
 Franklin, who was ever intent on being useful, and 
 had urged, on various occasions, and with much earnest 
 ness, the cultivation of silk in the colonies, sent, in Sep 
 tember, 1769, to his friend and correspondent, Dr. Evans, 
 of Philadelphia, an elaborate treatise, then recently pub 
 lished in France, on the management of silk-worms, 
 with a letter from himself giving some account of the 
 other processes in the production of silk and sending it 
 to market. The British government had offered a boun 
 ty on the raw silk from the colonies, and Franklin be 
 lieved them peculiarly well adapted to the production 
 
SILK NEW JERSEY AGENCY. 429 
 
 of it. In his letter he expresses the opinion that, if the 
 assembly of Pennsylvania would make some provision 
 to encourage the planting of mulberry-trees in the prov 
 ince, the chief difficulty would be overcome. Silk he 
 considered as "the happiest of all inventions for cloth 
 ing." While wool requires much land for its produc 
 tion, the sheep yield but little food, compared to the 
 quantity the same land would supply in grain ; and that 
 flax and hemp not only impoverish the richest soil, but 
 they supply no food at all ; while the mulberry-tree may 
 be so planted as to take little or no land from other 
 uses, and silken garments outwear all others. " Hence 
 it is," says he, " that the most populous of all countries, 
 China, clothes its inhabitants with silk, while it feeds 
 them plentifully, and has besides a vast quantity of silk, 
 both raw and manufactured, to spare for exportation." 
 
 Dr. Evans and some others in Pennsylvania, formed 
 an association for the culture of silk, and persevered in 
 their enterprise till they were constrained to relinquish 
 it by the breaking out of the war for American inde 
 pendence. 
 
 On the 8th of November, 1769, the assembly of New 
 Jersey unanimously appointed Franklin agent for that 
 colony, making the third whose affairs with the Brit 
 ish government were now placed in his charge. One 
 of the more important matters thus committed to him 
 was the procurement of the king s interposition for the 
 rightful adjustment of the boundary line between East 
 and West Jersey ; and another, the most pressing of all, 
 was his majesty s signature to an act of the assembly for 
 issuing bills of credit, secured by funds pledged, by the 
 same act, for their redemption, and to be put into circu 
 lation by loans of various amounts "at an interest of five 
 per cent, per annum, but not to be made a legal tender, 
 against which there was a prohibitory act of Parliament, 
 
430 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 passed two or three years before and applicable to all 
 the colonies. The letter of instructions from the assem 
 bly s committee is brief, simply enumerating the several 
 matters placed in his hands, accompanied by the remark 
 that, " to a gentleman, whose inclination to serve the 
 colonies was believed equal to his knowledge of their 
 true interests, much need not be said to induce his at 
 tention to American concerns." 
 
 About the same time, also, Franklin received a letter 
 from a Boston committee, transmitting a correspondence 
 between them and Governor Bernard, General Gage, 
 Commodore Hood, and the commissioners of customs, 
 relating to the revenue act, and to the sentiments and 
 conduct of the respective parties ; the committee re 
 questing Franklin to defend the Bostonians from the 
 aspersions of the governor and the other crown officers 
 mentioned, to whose arbitrary proceedings the troubles 
 in that quarter were to be ascribed. Those officers and 
 the British functionaries in other colonies, by misrepre 
 senting the conduct of the colonists,, misled both the 
 Parliament and the ministry. Among other things, they af 
 firmed in their despatches, that the combinations in Amer 
 ica against importing and consuming British goods, were 
 all breaking up ; that the people, distressed by the want 
 of such goods, could not refuse them much longer, and 
 must shortly submit to such terms as Parliament might 
 think fit to impose. To such accounts was attrib 
 uted much of the obstinacy, with which the petitions 
 from America for the repeal of the obnoxious revenue 
 acts, were resisted in Parliament, and the tenacity with 
 which the doctrine of absolute sovereignty over the col 
 onies was maintained in that body; so that although the 
 statements of the colonial agents and the actual return 
 of ships from America with the very cargoes they had 
 taken out, made some impression on the minds of the 
 
THE TAXING POWER. 431 
 
 more liberal members of Parliament, yet when, in April, 
 1770, the subject was brought forward in that body, the 
 best bill that could be carried was one which repealed 
 the duties, except that on tea, but still retaining the pre 
 amble of the former act, which asserted the unrestricted 
 authority of Parliament to tax the colonies in all cases. 
 
 This measure was adopted on the avowed ground of 
 conciliation, and the duty on tea was retained for the 
 professed reason that it was not a British production ; 
 but the principle of the bill, nevertheless, remained the 
 same ; and it was that principle against which the objec 
 tions of the colonies were mainly levelled. The new 
 act, therefore, instead of satisfying and appeasing the 
 American people, served only to alarm and exasperate 
 them still more ; for little tea being used at that period 
 in the colonies, the duty on it was too petty an object 
 for revenue, and the new act, therefore, left the real in 
 tention of Parliament to adhere to its claim of power, 
 more palpable than ever ; and the colonists, so far from 
 dissolving their leagues against the consumption of Brit 
 ish merchandise of any sort, gave those leagues fresh 
 vigor and still wider efficiency. 
 
 The knowledge of this effect of the new act in the 
 colonies soon went back to England ; and as Franklin 
 had been particularly conspicuous in asserting colonial 
 rights, and as his letters to the leading patriots of Amer 
 ica had been denounced as having produced much of 
 the feeling exhibited by the people of the colonies, a 
 rumor now began to spread that his office of deputy 
 postmaster-general of the colonies was to be taken from 
 him. The ministerial press in England became more 
 abusive than ever, with the design, as he thought, of in 
 ducing him to relinquish the office by his own act; for, 
 after all, ministers felt that their removal of him, as a 
 punishment for the zeal and ability with which he had 
 
432 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 served his own country, would not strengthen them, and 
 they would willingly be saved from the odium of such a 
 step. 
 
 Franklin, however, remained steadfast, and was not 
 removed till a later period. His language on the occa 
 sion was firm and explicit. His political opinions, he 
 said, had long been well known, and he could not be 
 expected to change them every time the king might think 
 fit to change his ministers ; that in his letters to friends 
 in America, as in all he had said and written in Eng 
 land, he had only done his duty to his country ; and tha.t 
 no concern for office could alter his course, or his rule of 
 doing what he deemed right, leaving results to Provi 
 dence. 
 
 One of his American correspondents was the Rev. 
 Samuel Cooper, of Boston, an able man, and a stanch 
 patriot, from whom Franklin received much valuable in 
 formation respecting the progress of events in the colo 
 nies, and to whom he communicated his own sentiments 
 without reserve. From parts of this correspondence it 
 seems plain that the more leading patriots of that day, 
 in Boston, who were generally much younger men than 
 Franklin, had not yet formed as profound and thoroughly- 
 digested opinions as he had, of the true political rela 
 tions of the two countries ; and when they now per 
 ceived the full reach of his views, they were not only 
 convinced of his sagacity, but they also saw, more clearly 
 than ever, the importance of his position ; and they 
 wisely sought to strengthen it, not only for the sake of 
 their own local interests, but also to aid the general cause 
 of colonial rights. With these views the assembly of 
 Massachusetts appointed him agent for that colony, on 
 the 24th of October, 1770; and as the term was annual, 
 he was reappointed every year during his residence in 
 England. 
 
LOUD HILLSBOROUGH. 433 
 
 Soon after receiving the certificate of his agency, 
 Franklin waited on the secretary for the colonies, Lord 
 Hillsborough, to present it, and acquaint him with the 
 objects of his appointment. The behavior of his lord 
 ship at this interview, which took place on the 16th of 
 January, 1771, exhibited a mixture of petulant anger 
 and insolence as unbecoming as it was strange. When 
 Franklin first presented himself he was received with 
 due courtesy ; but when he began to state the objects of 
 his new agency, the moment he mentioned the name of 
 Massachusetts, his lordship sneeringly cut him short, tel 
 ling him he was not agent ; and when Franklin replied 
 that he had his credentials in his pocket, the secretary 
 told him he was mistaken, for he had himself received a 
 letter from Governor Hutchinson, stating that he (Hutch- 
 inson) had refused to sign the bill making the appoint 
 ment. Franklin replied that no bill was necessary, as 
 he was the assembly s agent, not the governor s, with 
 whom he had nothing to do ; and when his lordship sum 
 moned his under-secretary to bring forth the letter from 
 Hutchinson, he found that no such letter had come, and 
 that the letter actually received related to another mat 
 ter. This mistake of the noble lord did not tend to 
 smooth his temper, and, changing his ground, he went 
 on to say, that no colonial assembly had any right to ap 
 point an agent, by their own vote, independently of the 
 governor, and that no colonial agents would thenceforth 
 be regarded, unless appointed with the consent of the 
 colonial governors ; that he should not yield that point ; 
 and that if he was not supported in his determination, 
 his office might be taken from him as soon as it was 
 thought fit. To all these declarations, which were made 
 with great heat, Franklin coolly replied, that, as the 
 business intrusted to these agents was the people s, no 
 consent was thought necessary on the part of a governor, 
 37 
 
434 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 who was himself but an agent of the king, and did not 
 represent the people. During this dialogue the noble 
 lord worked himself into such a passion that he became 
 very insolent; so that when Franklin took back his cre 
 dentials, (which had not been even looked into,) he re 
 marked, in a tone of indignation which he did not wish 
 wholly to repress, that he believed it was " of no great 
 importance whether his appointment was acknowledged 
 or not, for," said he, "I have not the least idea that an 
 agent can, at present, be of any use to any of the colo 
 nies ; and I shall, therefore, give your lordship no fur 
 ther trouble" and therewith left the chafing secretary. 
 
 It is easy to see that Lord Hillsborough s way for ap 
 pointing agents, only by acts of assembly requiring the 
 assent of the king s governors, would soon render such 
 agents worthless to the colonies, by making them the mere 
 tools of executive authority. Such a scheme, taken iri 
 connexion with that of rendering the governors wholly 
 independent of the people of the colonies, by permanent 
 salaries fixed by the crown, but paid out of the revenues 
 collected from the same people, whose obedience was to 
 be enforced by British troops quartered upon them, 
 would shortly make assemblies superfluous, by placing 
 all actual power in the hands of the king s officers. This 
 policy of multiplying crown officers is noticed by Frank 
 lin in a letter to the Massachusetts committee of corre 
 spondence, dated May 15th, 1771, in which he traces the 
 progress of aggression and resistance of official rapa 
 city and insolence, and of popular resentment and com 
 bination finally to result in the bloody struggle of war 
 with a clearness of vision, a particularity and accura 
 cy, more like history than prediction. 
 
 Early in the summer of 1771, Franklin visited several 
 parts of England. On one of these excursions he passed 
 three weeks with the family of Dr. Shipley, bishop of 
 
VISITS IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 435 
 
 St. Asaph, then residing in Hampshire ; and it was 
 while there that he wrote the first portion of his autobi 
 ography, extending it to the year 1731. In August of 
 the same year he travelled through Wales, Ireland, and 
 Scotland. During his stay in Dublin, the Irish Parlia 
 ment assembled, and he was treated with much distinc 
 tion by leading men of both parties. At a great dinner 
 given by the lord-lieutenant, Franklin met Lord Hills- 
 borough, who, much to his surprise, was uncommonly 
 civil ; and pressed him and his fellow-traveller, Mr. Jack 
 son, when they should proceed on their journey for the 
 north of Ireland, to call on him. They did so, and were 
 most hospitably entertained by that very capricious no 
 bleman. In Scotland, he visited Glasgow, passed seve 
 ral days with Lord Kames, at his residence near Stir 
 ling, and stayed near three weeks in Edinburgh, as the 
 guest of Mr. Hume, gratified with the attentions he re 
 ceived arid with the general character of society in the 
 Scottish capital. 
 
 At the opening of 1772, Franklin thought seriously of 
 returning to America. In a letter of January 30th, to 
 his son, he speaks of his strong desire to be at home; of 
 his age, and the infirmities which might reasonably be 
 anticipated at his age, being then nearly sixty-seven, and 
 of the importance of arranging his private affairs before 
 his death. He saw, moreover, no disposition in Parlia 
 ment to intermeddle any further, for a time at least, 
 with the colonies; and that, even should he return to 
 England again, he might be absent for a year without 
 prejudice to colonial interests. The desire of his friends, 
 however, that he should not leave while Parliament was 
 in session, the arrival of new despatches from America, 
 and particularly the retirement of Lord Hillsborough 
 from office, which shortly after took place, induced him 
 to defer his return. 
 
436 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Lord Hillsborough s resignation of his post as secre 
 tary for the colonies and president of the board of trade, 
 is ascribed to his having been defeated in a favorite 
 plan, in the privy council, through the agency of Frank 
 lin. Some years before, a scheme had been broached 
 for establishing a new colony in the Ohio country, 
 and an application for a grant of territory for the pur 
 pose had been made on behalf of an association, at the 
 head of which was Thomas Walpole. To this grant 
 Lord Hillsborough was strongly opposed, as it conflicted 
 with a project of his own to prevent the extension of the 
 colonial settlements beyond the Alleganies and the sour 
 ces of such streams as flow into the Atlantic. When 
 the petition for the Walpole grant, as it was called, 
 came before the board of trade, to be considered and 
 reported to the privy council, Lord Hillsborough strenu 
 ously opposed it, and made a report to that effect, which 
 the board adopted and sent, with the petition, to the 
 council, which had the ultimate disposal of all such mat 
 ters. Before the petition was acted on by the council, 
 Franklin prepared a reply to the report, exposing its fal 
 lacies and presenting so full and masterly an argument 
 in favor of the petition, that the council was convinced 
 by it and made the grant. At this decision Lord Hills- 
 borough took umbrage and resigned his office. 
 
 The policy of encouraging western settlements had 
 been urged by Franklin many years before, particularly 
 in his celebrated Canada pamphlet, which embraced 
 many of the leading considerations presented in favor of 
 this grant. But though this plan of colonizing beyond 
 the Alleganies was now sanctioned by his majesty s 
 council, yet the execution of it was so delayed, that the 
 revolution put an end to the whole enterprise. 
 
 During the same year, the Royal Society, at the sug 
 gestion of the ministry, appointed a committee to visit 
 
PURFLEET. 437 
 
 the extensive public magazines for storing powder, at 
 Purfleet, in the vicinity of London, with the view of 
 recommending the best mode of protecting them from 
 lightning. The committee consisted of five of the most 
 eminent electricians of the society, of whom Franklin 
 was one; and he drew the report, which recommended the 
 use of pointed conductors. To satisfy the committee of 
 the correctness of the principles on which he based his 
 recommendation, he performed a set of experiments ; 
 and the result was, that all his associates united with 
 him in signing the report, except Mr. Wilson, who was 
 in favor of rods ending with knobs. The principles 
 applicable to both forms having been already stated, it 
 needs only be said here that pointed rods were preferred 
 for the very reason urged against them ; that is, inas 
 much as they attract the electric element further than 
 knobs, they act upon it at a greater distance, drawing it 
 off gradually, without overcharging the rod, which thus 
 conducts it safely to the ground ; whereas blunt rods, by 
 permitting the nearer approach of the element before 
 acting on it, are liable to receive it in too great quanti 
 ties for the safe transmission of it to the earth. 
 
 Though Franklin was unable to advance the political 
 business with which he had been charged, yet his posi 
 tion, in other respects, was very agreeable. His great 
 abilities and illustrious character brought around him 
 the distinguished men of the times ; and he moved in the 
 most enlightened and respectable circle of society. Men 
 of learning from the continent uniformly brought intro 
 ductions to him : foreign diplomatists cultivated his ac 
 quaintance ; and in August, 1772, the Royal Academy 
 at Paris elected him one of its foreign associates an 
 honor the more marked, from the fact that the whole 
 number of its associates of that class was restricted to 
 eight. 
 
 37* 
 
438 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 With the commencement of 1773, however, colonial 
 affairs attracted renewed attention. The British gov 
 ernment had recently adopted the policy of fixing the 
 salaries of the colonial governors, judges, and other offi 
 cers, paying them from the revenue supplied by those 
 very taxes which were levied without the consent of 
 the colonies. This new step gave great dissatisfaction 
 to the Americans. It was removing their only hold on 
 the good-will or the personal interest of the crown offi 
 cers, who, while they received their salaries from the 
 colonies, were supplied with a powerful motive to exer 
 cise their functions with a more discreet and just regard 
 to the rights of the people within their jurisdiction. Such 
 was the excitement produced by this new measure, par 
 ticularly in Massachusetts, that the assembly of that col 
 ony, and the people of all the towns in town-meeting, 
 passed resolutions and adopted petitions, in which they 
 remonstrated against it in the strongest and boldest lan 
 guage. These proceedings were sent to Franklin, as 
 agent of the colony, with instructions to lay them before 
 the privy council. 
 
 Lord Dartmouth, who had succeeded the earl of Hills- 
 borough as colonial secretary, being the minister with 
 whom colonial business was transacted, Franklin not only 
 placed the proceedings mentioned in his hands, but he 
 had them printed in a pamphlet, for general circulation, 
 with a preface from his own pen, explaining, in a brief 
 historical sketch, to use his own words, " the grounds of 
 a dissension, that possibly may, sooner or later, have 
 consequences interesting to all." 
 
 In the course of 1773, Franklin published two re 
 markable pieces, one entitled, " Rules for reducing a 
 great Empire to a small one;" and the other, "An 
 Edict by the King of Prussia ;" both relating to the 
 controversy between Great Britain and America, and 
 
BRITISH CLAIMS BURLESQUED. 439 
 
 both written in a vein of irony not surpassed in pungent 
 sarcasm since the days of Swift, yet presenting, at the 
 same time, the argument against the policy pursued by 
 the British government, with equal force and adroitness. 
 In the former piece he digests the obnoxious acts of the 
 royal government, into the form of rules to be observed 
 for the purpose mentioned, and shows how certain they 
 are to accomplish that purpose, by stating, in the form 
 of necessary consequences, what had actually taken place 
 in the colonies, their existing condition, the character 
 and tendency of opinion among their people, and the in 
 evitable result. In the edict, he supposes the king of 
 Prussia to be the head of the German or Saxon race, 
 and that England, having been settled by portions of 
 that race, who migrated thither under Hengist, Horsa, 
 and other leaders, and the settlements thus made having 
 long flourished under the protection of Prussia, for 
 which protection and the great expense and trouble at 
 tending it, those English colonies had not yet made to 
 their gracious sovereign any adequate and just indemnifi 
 cation, his majesty, therefore, imposes export and import 
 duties on his British subjects, for the more easy collec 
 tion of which, all British vessels bound to or from any 
 part of the globe, are required to touch and unlade at 
 Koningsberg ; all manufactures, also, are forbidden 
 among his British subjects, even of their own natural 
 productions, which must be taken to Prussia to be fab 
 ricated ; and, after commanding that all Prussian con 
 victs shall be taken to his British islands for the better 
 peopling thereof, his majesty assumes that the regula 
 tions of his edict will be deemed "just and reasonable" 
 by his " much-favored colonists in England," inasmuch 
 as they had all been copied from various acts of their 
 own Parliament (which are distinctly cited), and from 
 instructions issued by their own princes, for the " good 
 
440 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 government of their own colonies in Ireland and Amer 
 ica;" and the edict concludes with making it high trea 
 son to resist any of its provisions, for which the traitors 
 are to be carried in fetters to Prussia, to be tried and 
 executed. 
 
 These pieces attracted much attention. Franklin 
 was not suspected of being the author of them, except 
 by one or two intimate friends ; and he heard them spo 
 ken of occasionally, particularly the Edict, as the se 
 verest piece of satire that had appeared for a long 
 time. 
 
 During the summer of 1773, Franklin made an excur 
 sion to the northern counties of England, and while at 
 Keswick, in Cumberland, on visiting the shore of the 
 beautiful lake called Derwent Water, for the gratifica 
 tion of the gentleman with him, he smoothed its ruffled 
 surface with oil. The experiment was easily performed, 
 for he usually carried a small quantity of oil in the head 
 of a bamboo cane, and a few drops answered the pur 
 pose. But political affairs chiefly engrossed his time 
 and thoughts ; and they were fast assuming a more seri 
 ous aspect. The resolutions and remonstrances of the 
 assembly and the towns of Massachusetts had given fresh 
 energy to the feeling in America. In March, 1773, the 
 Virginia house of burgesses appointed a committee of 
 correspondence, inviting the other colonies to do the 
 same ; and preparation for securing unity of action as 
 well as sentiment was everywhere going forward. Be 
 fore the prorogation of Parliament in the summer of the 
 same year, the king s answer to the various petitions 
 from the colonies, and the haughty tone of that answer, 
 served only to give greater firmness to the attitude they 
 had taken, for it showed that his majesty had at length 
 openly united with Parliament in asserting their right 
 to bind the colonies by their laws, " in all cases whatso- 
 
FIRMNESS OF THE COLONIES. 341 
 
 ever." In a letter to Mr. Gushing, dated July 7th, 1773, 
 Franklin, after stating the substance of the answer, pro 
 ceeds to consider the position in which it placed the 
 colonies. He urges, with great force, the necessity of 
 united action on their part, and a common assertion of 
 their rights ; and without assuming to direct the precise 
 form in which they should combine for this purpose, ob 
 serves, that it might be wisest for the colonies, " in a 
 general congress now in peace to be assembled, or by 
 means of the correspondence lately proposed, after a 
 full and solemn declaration of their rights, to engage 
 firmly with each other that they will never grant aid to 
 the crown in any general war, till those rights are rec 
 ognised by the king and Parliament," and send their 
 declaration to the king. Such a step, he thought, would 
 bring the matter to a crisis ; and if force should be used 
 to compel obedience, it would only strengthen our union, 
 and procure the good opinion of the world. 
 
 Franklin, however, like the wiser and more consider 
 ate of his compatriots, while he would have the rights of 
 the colonies boldly asserted arid firmly maintained, rec 
 ommended moderate and prudent action. He, as well 
 as they, deemed the colonies not yet ripe for an open 
 rupture; that a premature struggle would cripple them, 
 and delay, in fact, the full establishment of their free 
 dom ; and that if the British government would concede 
 their rights and treat them justly, the connexion be 
 tween the two countries could be continued, at least 
 for some years longer, to the benefit of both. Such 
 counsels were, in truth, followed by the colonies; but 
 no arguments, no considerations of sound policy, no re 
 spect for charters, no regard for the great principles of 
 British constitution itself, as applicable to British sub 
 jects wherever resident, controlled the action of the 
 British government ; and events took place on both sides 
 
442 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of the Atlantic, in 1774, which gave a still sharper edge 
 to existing animosities. 
 
 In December, 1772, a packet of letters was placed in 
 Franklin s hands, by an Englishman of high standing, 
 whose name has not been made known, but who gave him 
 express permission to send them to America. These let 
 ters have been usually referred to as the HutcMnson Let 
 ters, and had been written by Hutchinson, while he was 
 chief-justice of Massachusetts, by Lieutenant-Governor 
 Oliver, and some other tories of Boston, to Thomas 
 Whately, secretary to George Grenville, the author of 
 the stamp-act, while he was at the head of the British 
 cabinet. As the letters were written at Boston, Frank 
 lin, being then agent for Massachusetts, sent them, in 
 December, 1772, to Mr. Gushing, speaker of the Mas 
 sachusetts Assembly, stating, in the letter with which he 
 transmitted them, that he was riot at liberty to tell from 
 whom he received them, and that they were neither to 
 be printed nor copied, but might be shown to some of 
 the leading patriots for their satisfaction, and that those 
 very letters had mainly instigated those acts of the Brit 
 ish government which the colonies regarded as their 
 principal grievances. 
 
 The letters reached their destination, and after being 
 exhibited to various individuals, were laid before the As 
 sembly of Massachusetts, and ultimately printed, by 
 order of that body, as being of great public importance, 
 and as having been written, as their contents proved, to 
 effect public objects. After full consideration of the let 
 ters, the Assembly passed some very pointed resolutions 
 in relation to the writers and the public evils produced 
 by their instrumentality, and adopted a petition to the 
 king, asking that the offices of Hutchinson and Oliver, 
 then governor and lieutenant-governor of the colony, 
 might be taken from them. 
 
THE HUTCHINSON LETTERS. 443 
 
 When this affair became public in London, it led to a 
 quarrel between Mr. William Whately, brother and ex 
 ecutor of Thomas, to whom it was supposed the letters 
 had been addressed, and a Mr. John Temple, who had 
 been an intimate friend of Thomas Whately ; and as the 
 quarrel threatened a fatal issue, Franklin, to prevent it, 
 and to relieve both those gentlemen from the suspicion 
 of a breach of trust to which their relations to the 
 deceased Thomas Whately had exposed them, sent a 
 card, in his own name, to the Public Advertiser, acquit 
 ting them both of all agency in the matter, and avowing 
 himself as the person who had obtained and transmitted 
 the letters to America, though he still remained faithful 
 to the secret of the individual from whom he had re 
 ceived them. 
 
 This magnanimous conduct of Franklin, however, served 
 only to bring upon him the whole tribe of ministerial 
 writers in fiercer assault than ever ; and it was arranged 
 that, when the Massachusetts petition for the removal of 
 Hutchinson and Oliver should come before the commit 
 tee of the lords of the privy council, those two function 
 aries should be heard by counsel against the petition. 
 It was no part of the reason for this procedure that 
 Hutchinson and Oliver were in any danger of removal ; 
 for, composed as the council was, they would have been 
 safe against the petitions of united America. But the 
 real object was to give an opportunity for a direct pub 
 lic attack on Franklin, in the hope of bringing odium 
 upon him for his connection with the letters, and thus 
 undermining his political influence as a champion of co 
 lonial rights. The person employed for this dishonora 
 ble purpose was the Solicitor-general Wedderburn, (af 
 terward Lord Loughborough,) a man of malignant tem 
 per, and in high repute for his powers of sarcasm and 
 bitter invective. And these qualities, to the disgrace, not 
 
444 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of Franklin, but of their possessor and those who so 
 meanly permitted the employment of them, were allowed 
 the utmost license. 
 
 Franklin, though deeply indignant at the coarse in 
 sults heaped upon him and the people he represented, 
 bore himself with a steady and composed dignity wor 
 thy of his great character, and the malice of his assail 
 ants recoiled upon themselves in the general disgust ex 
 cited by their conduct. The committee, as a matter of 
 course, reported against the petition, denouncing it as 
 groundless, scandalous, and seditious, and affirming the 
 integrity and honor of the authors of the letters, from 
 whom the people they belied had suffered so much in 
 jury. The report was promptly adopted by the privy 
 council ; and the next day Franklin was removed from 
 the colonial postoffice department, the revenue of which 
 he had raised from nothing to nearly three thousand 
 pounds yearly, and which, not long after his removal, fell 
 to nothing again. Both these proceedings are good spe 
 cimens of the fatuity of the British policy toward the 
 colonies ; and, to use the words of a patriot who wit 
 nessed what has just been related, " who can wonder at 
 the indignation of the American people, or that the bat 
 tle of Bunker hill was fought in less than eighteen months 
 afterward 1" 
 
 The occurrences just related took place in January, 
 1774 : and other events which soon succeeded tended to 
 bring the dispute between the two countries rapidly to 
 a crisis. Franklin s self-respect, after the ignominious 
 treatment he had received, did not permit him to hold 
 any further intercourse with the ministry ; arid some of 
 his friends believed his stay in England involved so much 
 hazard to his personal liberty, that they advised him to 
 secure his papers and withdraw. But others, friends of 
 the colonies, urged him to await the action of the Aracr- 
 
PETITION FROM CONGRESS LORD CHATHAM. 445 
 
 ican congress, which assembled that year, for the first 
 time, in Philadelphia; and in the hope that he mio-ht 
 still be of some service, though acting only in a private 
 capacity, he consented to remain. In December, 1774, 
 the petition from Congress was sent to him, with a let 
 ter in which the colonial agents in London were request 
 ed to unite in presenting it. Franklin, Bollan, and Lee, 
 however, were the only three who acted. They took it 
 to Lord Dartmouth, the colonial secretary, and subse 
 quently, when, with other papers, it had been laid on 
 the table of the house of commons, they asked to be 
 heard in support of it, at the bar of the house. This was 
 denied, however, and the petition was subsequently re 
 jected by a great majority. A little before leaving 
 England, an effort was made by several of the more 
 zealous friends of the colonies, to devise some means of 
 conciliation between the British government and the col 
 onies. To this end various interviews were held be 
 tween Franklin, Lord Howe, the earl of Chatham, and 
 other eminent whigs ; and Franklin, at the request of 
 the principal persons concerned, presented his views, at 
 much length and in various forms, of the principles on 
 which harmony might be restored and the connexion be 
 tween the two countries permanently settled to the ad 
 vantage of both. This unofficial and private negotiation 
 continued for some weeks ; but though the parties en 
 gaged were very sincere, and though Lord Chatham, 
 after several conferences with Franklin, prepared a plan 
 of conciliation which he moved in the house of lords on 
 the 31st of January, 1775, and supported with a power 
 ful speech, yet the hostility of the ministers to the colo 
 nies was so strong that " all availed," says Franklin, "no 
 more than the whistling of the winds, and the plan was 
 rejected." During the debate, however, Franklin received 
 ample compensation for the contumely of Wedderburn. 
 38 
 
440 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Lord Sandwich, one of the ministry, opposed even the 
 reception of the plan for consideration ; and having, in 
 the course of an intemperate and most unstatesmanlike 
 speech against it, made some bitter allusions to Frank 
 lin, who was present, Lord Chatham, in his reply, took 
 occasion to say, that, were the settlement of this great 
 question devolved on him as the first minister of the gov 
 ernment, he should not hesitate to seek the aid of " a 
 person so perfectly acquainted with American affairs as 
 the gentleman so injuriously reflected on ; one whom all 
 Europe held in high estimation for his knowledge and 
 wisdom, and ranked with our Boyles and Newtons ; who 
 was an honor, not to the English nation only, but to hu 
 man nature." 
 
 Other whig noblemen besides the Lords Chatham and 
 Howe, and some even of the tory lords not of the cabi 
 net, regarded Franklin with great respect for his per 
 sonal character not less than for his knowledge; while, 
 among the men most eminent at that day for learning and 
 philanthropy, his admirers were so numerous as abun 
 dantly to compensate him by their friendship and soci 
 ety for the enmity of the enemies of his country ; and 
 with this treasure of esteem and honor gathered from 
 every nation in Europe, he left London on the 21st of 
 March, 1775, after a continued residence there of a little 
 more than ten years, for Philadelphia. 
 
DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 447 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 DEATH OF HIS WIFE CONGRESS AND PUBLIC BUSINESS 
 
 MISSION TO FRANCE RESIDENCE AT PARIS RE 
 TURN TO AMERICA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
 
 STATES DEATH AND CHARACTER OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 A FEW weeks before sailing from England, the sor 
 rowful news reached Franklin of the death of his wife. 
 For several months she had felt her health sinking, and 
 on the 14th of December, 1774, she was seized with 
 paralysis, which she survived only five days. This event 
 filled Franklin with poignant grief. Her good sense 
 and native kindness of heart, her discreet management, 
 not only of household affairs, but of his business in his 
 absence, with her placid and even temper, and her ra 
 tional and sober yet hopeful views of life, had greatly 
 endeared her to him, and made his home peculiarly at 
 tractive. In many respects their native qualities and 
 traits of character were much alike, and with the solid 
 materials for domestic felicity which both were able and 
 ever ready to contribute, their forty-four years of wed 
 lock passed in mutual affection and unbroken harmony, 
 and the survivor deeply mourned his bereavement. 
 
 Franklin reached home on the evening of May 5th, 
 1775 ; and the very next day the Assembly of Pennsyl 
 vania, then in session, appointed him a delegate to the 
 second Continental Congress, which was to convene in 
 Philadelphia four days after. The people of America 
 
448 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 had everywhere become exasperated beyond all further 
 forbearance. The blood of their countrymen had been 
 wantonly shed by British troops, at Lexington and Con 
 cord, in April, and the call to arms was now ringing 
 through the land. 
 
 When Congress met, a few timid men still hesitated at 
 the idea of war with so powerful a foe as Great Britain, 
 but the great majority were ready and eager for the con 
 flict; and though they consented that one more appeal 
 should be made to the justice of the British government, 
 by petitioning the king, yet they did so merely to con 
 ciliate their hesitating brethren, while, at the same time, 
 they promptly voted to prepare for defence, and pressed 
 the preparation with vigor. 
 
 Never before had Franklin been so loaded with pub 
 lic business. The Pennsylvania Assembly made him 
 chairman of the committee of safety for that province; 
 and Congress placed him at the head of its secret com 
 mittee authorized to procure and distribute arms and 
 other munitions of war. A new postoffice establish 
 ment, also, was necessary, and the arduous task of ar 
 ranging it was committed to Franklin alone, with exclu 
 sive authority over the whole subject. The department 
 of Indian affairs for the middle colonies was placed un 
 der his superintendence, and he served on the commit 
 tees on commerce, on the organization of a war depart 
 ment, on the terms of treaties to be offered to foreign 
 nations, and various others. 
 
 Several of the posts thus assigned to him involved an 
 active and extensive correspondence, not only within the 
 colonies, but with many persons in foreign countries, 
 requiring great caution and an accurate knowledge of 
 the channels of communication in Europe, to preserve 
 the objects of Congress from becoming known to a vigi 
 lant enemy almost everywhere present. In the midst of 
 
HIS VARIOUS LABORS. 449 
 
 all this labor, moreover, feeling as all other reflecting 
 men did, the vital importance of some general political 
 organization less dependent than Congress then was, on 
 the merely spontaneous action of separate colonial As 
 semblies, and endowed with self-sustaining power suffi 
 cient to abide the vicissitudes of the coming struggle, 
 Franklin prepared a plan of confederacy, which, on the 
 21st of July, 1775, on his own motion, .he laid before 
 Congress. This plan vested the general powers of the 
 proposed confederacy in a single legislative body or 
 congress ; and the executive and administrative func 
 tions in a council, to consist of one member from each 
 colony, appointed by the Congress. Though the plan 
 was not adopted, it brought the subject up, and it may be 
 regarded as the germ of the confederation, under which 
 the thirteen states subsequently organized themselves. 
 
 In October of the same year Congress sent Franklin, 
 with two other members, Thomas Lynch and Benjamin 
 Harrison, to consult and arrange with Washington, then 
 at the camp in Cambridge, a plan for the maintenance 
 of an army ; and on his return he found himself again a 
 member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, having been 
 elected in Philadelphia in his absence. The importance 
 of maintaining a political correspondence with the friends 
 of America in Europe, particularly with a view to such 
 alliances as might become necessary, was strongly felt in 
 Congress, and near the end of November that body or 
 ganized a committee of secret correspondence. For 
 this, Franklin s high standing and wide acquaintance in 
 Europe peculiarly fitted him ; and being placed on it, he 
 opened the intended correspondence in a letter of the 
 9th of December, 1775, to Charles W. F. Dumas, a very 
 learned man, particularly versed in the law of nations, 
 and a Swiss by birth, with whom Franklin had become 
 intimately acquainted in Holland. 
 38* 
 
450 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Mr. Dumas, in a recent letter to Franklin, had ex 
 pressed the warmest approval of the cause of the colo 
 nies, and assured him of the general good wishes of 
 Europe ; and as he had long resided at the Hague, in 
 the midst of distinguished diplomatists from all quarters 
 of the continent, Franklin gave him a sketch of the ex 
 isting condition of America, its strength, resources, and 
 prospects; suggested that Congress might find it neces 
 sary to seek assistance, or alliances, and requested him 
 to ascertain, if he could, what would be the disposition 
 of the principal European cabinets in regard to such ap 
 plications, should they be made ; urging, at the same 
 time, the importance of circumspection, arid pointing out 
 a safe channel of communication. Mr. Dumas under 
 took the agency proposed, and rendered valuable service 
 throughout the struggle for American independence. 
 
 In the spring of 1776, Congress sent Franklin, Charles 
 Carroll, and Samuel Chase, on a mission to Canada, 
 with power to direct the operations of the American for 
 ces in that province, and with the hope of inducing the 
 Canadians to unite in the existing struggle for colonial 
 rights. But the mission was fruitless ; and when Frank 
 lin got back to Philadelphia, early in June, he found 
 Congress occupied with a far more momentous subject. 
 This was the declaration of independence. On this 
 point public opinion was in advance of the action of 
 Congress. This was right. It was wise and just in that 
 body to wait for the clear expression of public senti 
 ment, on so grave a question. But that sentiment had 
 now become fixed, and Congress acted on it promptly. 
 The committee, consisting of Jefferson, Adams, Frank 
 lin, Sherman, and Livingston, appointed in June to 
 draw a declaration, reported on the 1st of July ; and 
 after a debate of three days, the report, as drawn by 
 Jefferson, with a few clauses modified at the suggestion 
 
I 
 
 ,* - / 
 
INTERVIEW WITH LORD HOWE. 451 
 
 of Franklin and Adams, was, on the 4th, by an almost 
 unanimous vote, adopted, declaring the colonies to be 
 free and independent states. ^ 
 
 In the preceding May, Congress had proposed to the 
 several colonies to remodel their own constitutions, to 
 enable them to meet the new exigencies of the country. 
 Accordingly, in July a convention, to frame a constitu 
 tion for Pennsylvania, met in Philadelphia, and chose 
 Franklin president. Though his labors were divided 
 Jbetweeo his various posts, yet his influence in the con 
 vention was weighty, and its ultimate decision in favor of 
 a legislature consisting of one house only, is ascribed to 
 him. His objections to a legislature with two branches 
 were derived partly from wha_t he had seen of colonial 
 Assemblies and legislative councils under royal gover 
 nors, and partly from the history of the English Parlia 
 ment. He did not, perhaps, sufficiently appreciate the 
 difference between a legislature having one of its 
 branches hereditary and constituting a distinct order in 
 the state, and one wholly elective, in a commonwealth 
 exempted from all the influences, direct and indirect, of 
 the hereditary element, as well as from the prerogatives 
 and patronage of a king. At any rate, no other instance 
 of a legislature consisting of a single house has occurred 
 in this country ; and when Pennsylvania, at a subse 
 quent period, reconstructed her constitution, she followed 
 the general example. 
 
 Shortly after, the declaration of independence by Con 
 gress, Lord Howe arrived in the bay of New York with 
 a British fleet; and being commissioned, together with 
 his brother, General Howe, to settle the dispute be 
 tween the two countries, if the colonies would return to 
 their allegiance, he published a manifesto to that effect, 
 and wrote to Franklin, assuring him of his earnest de 
 sire to see harmony restored. A short correspondence 
 
452 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ensued b etween them ; and though Howe was not per 
 mitted to recognise the authority of Congress, yet, as he 
 communicated his wish to confer with some of its mem 
 bers on the terms upon which existing difficulties might 
 be adjusted, that body, early in September, deputed 
 Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, to meet 
 him, to learn the nature and extent of his authority, and 
 to receive such propositions as he might think fit to 
 offer. The meeting took place on Staten Island, and 
 though Lord Howe said much of the disposition of the 
 king and his ministers to listen to the complaints of the 
 colonies and redress their grievances, if they would re 
 turn to their obedience, yet his propositions were unac 
 companied by any distinct pledges of his majesty s good 
 faith, and too vague to be relied on. 
 
 Although the interview, in reference to its direct ob 
 ject amounted to nothing, yet, indirectly, the result of 
 it was doubtless important: for the publication of the 
 whole procedure, which was forthwith ordered by Con 
 gress, showed the American people how idle it was to 
 expect anything from the voluntary justice of the British 
 government ; and that they must look, for the rescue of 
 their liberties, only to their own union, courage, and re 
 sources, without which they could neither protect them 
 selves in the outset, nor receive future aid from foreign 
 alliances. 
 
 To the means of obtaining such alliances Congress 
 now turned its attention. The commerce of the coun 
 try was valuable, and with the offer of that on liheral 
 terms, as an equivalent for the assistance needed, a mis 
 sion to France was determined on. The commissioners 
 "first appointed for this purpose, on the 2Gth of Septem 
 ber, were Franklin, Silas Dean, and Thomas Jefferson. 
 The last, however, declined, and Arthur Lee, of Vir 
 ginia, was put in his place. Mr. Lee and Mr. Dean were 
 
MISSION TO FRANCE. 453 
 
 both in Europe, the former having been employed sev 
 eral years in England as a colonial agent, and the latter 
 having been sent out, in the preceding March, by the 
 committee of secret correspondence, with a view to dip 
 lomatic as well as commercial objects ; and Franklin, 
 after a boisterous voyage in the United States sloop-of- 
 war Reprisal, Captain Wickes, and after escaping from 
 the guns of several Britsh cruisers, met them in Paris in 
 the latter part of December, 1776. 
 
 With a fame unequalled in brilliancy by that of any 
 other man of those times, not only as a philosopher and 
 sage, but as a profound political thinker and an un 
 daunted asserter of the rights and liberties of his coun 
 try, Franklin s name was now familiarly known and 
 revered throughout all Europe. Portraits of him were 
 everywhere multiplied, of all forms and dimensions, from 
 the size of life down to the smallest miniatures for snuff 
 boxes and rings, and all, young and old, of all ranks and 
 of both sexes, felt it a privilege to obtain admission to 
 his presence. Such were the accompaniments of Frank 
 lin s arrival at the capital of France. 
 
 Of the effect produced by Franklin s character, repu 
 tation, and personal appearance, in France, we may cite 
 the testimony of an eminent French writer, who repre 
 sents him as accomplishing the objects of his mission, not 
 so much by direct negotiation with the court, as by the 
 impression he made on the public mind ; for while diplo 
 matic etiquette allowed only occasional interviews with 
 ministers of state, he was in constant intercourse with all 
 who were distinguished for genius, learning, or social in 
 fluence, and who swayed political opinion. " In him," 
 says Lacretelle, the writer alluded to, "men imagined 
 they saw a sage of antiquity, come back to give austere 
 lessons arid generous examples to the moderns. They 
 personified in him the republic of which he was the rep- 
 
454 LIFE OP RENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 reseu tative. They regarded his virtues as those of his 
 countrymen; and even judged of their physiognomy by 
 the imposing and serene traits of his own. This venera 
 ble man, they said, joined to the demeanor of Phocion 
 the spirit of Socrates." To this vivid sketch of the im 
 pression made on French susceptibilities, by the rare 
 combination of great talents and splendid reputation, 
 with the simple yet dignified manners, plain garb, and 
 paternal aspect of the venerable representative of the 
 new-born nation, the same writer adds : " After this pic 
 ture, it would be useless to trace the history of Frank 
 lin s negotiations with the court of France. His virtues 
 and his renown negotiated for him ; and before the sec 
 ond year of his mission had expired, no one conceived it 
 possible to refuse fleets and an army to the compatriots 
 of Franklin." 
 
 Congress had sent with Franklin a draught of a com 
 mercial treaty, which he had himself, no doubt, helped 
 to frame, inasmuch as he was early placed on a com 
 mittee of that body, for the purpose of framing the 
 model of such a treaty, and besides offering it to the ac 
 ceptance of the French cabinet, the commissioners were 
 instructed to apply for eight ships-of-the-line fully manned 
 and equipped ; to purchase arms and other warlike stores ; 
 to fit out armed cruisers in the French ports, with the 
 permission of the government; and to sound the repre 
 sentatives at Paris of other European cabinets, respect 
 ing their recognition of the independence of the United 
 States, and the establishment of commercial relations 
 with them. The expenses of the commissioners and the 
 fulfilment of their contracts were to be provided for by 
 shipments of produce. 
 
 When the commissioners first met in Paris, the French 
 court were not quite ready to take part with their coun 
 try openly. The principal reason for this hesitancy 
 
POLICY OP THE FRENCH CABINET. 455 
 
 seems to have been the fact that it would instantly pro 
 duce war with Great Britain, for which France, it was 
 said, had not yet made sufficient preparation ; and al 
 though the counts de Vergennes and Maurepas, regarded 
 as the two most influential members of the French cabi 
 net, held that the interests of France demanded such a 
 war, and that it would be unwise to neglect the opportu 
 nity now offered to embark in it, yet some of their col 
 leagues thought differently, and the king himself, it is 
 stated, was reluctant to give it his sanction. Besides, 
 not a little doubt was still entertained respecting the 
 general sentiments of the American people. They had 
 not yet, it was urged, given sufficient evidence of their 
 firmness, or their determination to persevere, at all haz 
 ards, in maintaining the position they had taken ; the re 
 verses and misfortunes of the campaign of 1776, which 
 had just closed with but gloomy prospects for the future, 
 might have broken their spirit and crushed their hopes, 
 or at least have so far changed their views as to induce 
 them, upon some concessions from the British govern 
 ment, to return to their former connection ; and that it 
 would be exceedingly imprudent in France to commit 
 herself prematurely to a cause thus doubtfully situated. 
 
 But, with all this caution and seeming hesitancy, the 
 French cabinet had determined to assist the United 
 States, and had, accordingly, soon after Mr. Deane s ar 
 rival at Paris in the preceding July, advanced a million 
 livres from the royal treasury. This, however, was dune 
 privately, by placing the money in the hands of M. Beau- 
 marchais, who, in concert with Mr. Deane, made large 
 shipments of military stores to America. 
 
 Such was the position of things, when, on the 28th of 
 December, 1776, seven days after Franklin reached 
 Paris, Count de Vergennes, the minister of foreign af 
 fairs, gave the American commissioners their first audi- 
 
456 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ence at Versailles. After an interview every way grat 
 ifying, they left with the count a copy of the treaty they 
 had been directed to propose ; and, at his request, a me 
 morial was delivered to him a few days afterward, drawn 
 up by Franklin, and exhibiting the state of affairs in 
 America, the sentiments of the people, the resources of 
 the country, the value of her commerce, and the views 
 of Congress. 
 
 Though the application for ships-of-the-line was not 
 complied with, yet a further sum of two million livres, 
 to be drawn quarterly, was soon placed, in the same 
 private manner as before, at the disposal of the commis 
 sioners, with the intimation that repayment was not ex 
 pected till after the war ; and they w r ere also permitted 
 to make a special contract with the farmers-general of 
 the revenue for another million, to be met by remittances 
 of tobacco. The money thus furnished was expended in 
 purchasing and sending to America clothing, arms, and 
 other munitions of war, and in refitting American cruis 
 ers. Those cruisers, moreover, brought many prizes into 
 French ports, the sale of which was winked at, till the 
 British embassador remonstrated against it ; and then, 
 although the commissioners were gravely admonished on 
 the subject, and put to some trouble in detaining vessels 
 ready to sail with stores for America, or in transferring 
 their lading to other vessels, yet this interposition was 
 not so peremptory as materially to impede the despatch 
 of supplies. 
 
 In March, 1777, Franklin received from Congress a 
 commission as minister to Spain. A little money had 
 been secretly obtained in that quarter ; but, on learning 
 from the Spanish embassador at Pans that the court of 
 Spain, though friendly, was not yet disposed to appear 
 in open alliance with the United States, he deferred act 
 ing under his new commission further than to communi- 
 
TREATIES WITH FRANCE. 457 
 
 cate to that court, through its ambassador, the fact of his 
 appointment and the main articles of the treaty he was 
 instructed to propose, which contemplated a triple alli 
 ance for repairing the losses of Spain and France in the 
 previous war, by restoring to the former her footing in 
 Florida, and to the latter her possessions in the West 
 Indies, while the United States were to secure their in 
 dependence and the free navigation of the Mississippi. 
 
 The results of the campaign of 1777 in America, how 
 ever, put an end to the reserve and hesitancy of the 
 French court, and changed the aspect of negotiation. 
 The news of Burgoyne s surrender reached Paris early 
 in December; and on the 6th of February, 1778, the in 
 dependence of the United States was acknowledged, and 
 two treaties, one of amity and commerce and the other 
 of alliance, were signed at Versailles by the French min 
 ister and the American commissioners. Writing a few 
 days after to a friend in America, to congratulate him on 
 the completion of the treaties, Franklin says of the for 
 mer, that it was framed " on the plan proposed by Con 
 gress, with some good additions;" and of the latter, that 
 it " guaranties to the United States their sovereignty and 
 independence absolute and unlimited, with all the pos 
 sessions they may have at the close of the war," while 
 they " guaranty in return the possessions of France in the 
 West Indies ;" and that " the great principle in both is a 
 perfect equality and reciprocity : no advantage to be de 
 manded by France, or privileges in commerce, which the. 
 States may not grant to any and every other nation." 
 
 As the execution of the treaties drew after it, of course, 
 the official and public recognition of the American com 
 missioners in their diplomatic character, they were, on 
 the 20th of March, presented in due form to the king, 
 and were received thenceforward at the French court as 
 the representatives of a sovereign state. The presenta- 
 39 
 
458 LIFE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tion of no embassador of royalty, however splendid in 
 garb and retinue, could have produced a sensation so 
 lively as that which accompanied on this occasion the plain 
 republican envoy Benjamin Franklin. " His straight, un- 
 powdered hair," says Madame Campan "his round 
 hat, and his brown cloth coat, formed a singular con 
 trast with the laced and embroidered coats, and pow 
 dered and perfumed heads of the courtiers of Versailles." 
 And another French writer in describing the scene says : 
 " His age, his venerable aspect, the simplicity of his 
 dress, everything fortunate and remarkable in his life, 
 contributed to excite public attention. The clapping of 
 hands and other expressions of joy indicated that warmth 
 of enthusiasm which the French are more susceptible of 
 than any other people, and the charm of which is en 
 hanced to the object of it by their politeness and agreea 
 ble manners. After his audience he crossed the courtyard 
 on his way to the office of the minister of foreign affairs. 
 The multitude waited for him in the passage, and greeted 
 him with acclamations ; and he met with a similar re 
 ception wherever he appeared in Paris." 
 
 The execution of the treaties was quickly followed by 
 the appointment of M. Gerard embassador from the court 
 of France to the United States, who sailed in April with 
 a fleet under Count d Estaing, with whom also Mr. Deane, 
 who had been replaced by John Adams, returned to 
 America. The new alliance, moreover, together with 
 the existing aspect of the war, so far influenced the Brit 
 ish ministers, that they sent out commissioners to the 
 United States, with professions of a sincere desire to re 
 store harmony between the two countries, upon terms 
 advantageous to both. But, however willing they may 
 have been to escape from a costly and odious war, it was 
 evident that their notions of justice, of American rights 
 and British supremacy, were little improved. Indeed, 
 
BRITISH AGENTS. 459 
 
 the only propositions they had to offer were so leavened 
 with the old ideas of royal prerogative and parliamentary 
 omnipotence, as to be wholly inadmissible; and they 
 served rather to exasperate than reconcile those to whom 
 they were addressed. 
 
 Besides this formal mission to Congress, various efforts 
 were made, on the part of the British ministry, by the 
 employment of secret emissaries, to entangle Franklin 
 in private negotiation, and thus through him to embroil 
 his country with the French court by exciting suspicion 
 and sowing dissension. But Franklin s sagacity at once 
 detected the motive of these movements ; while his 
 straight-forward sincerity, his steadfast integrity, and his 
 close intimacy with the French minister, between whom 
 and himself, so far as the interests of America were con 
 cerned, there were no secrets, baffled every effort to pro 
 duce jealousy, or to weaken in the slightest degree the 
 confidence they reposed in each other. Indeed, the wisdom 
 and sound policy of perfect frankness, and scorn of every 
 thing like intrigue, was never more triumphantly vindi 
 cated, in diplomatic intercourse, than by the influence 
 which Franklin acquired in the court of France. 
 
 Of all these clandestine attempts to draw Franklin 
 into the schemes of British intrigue, the most remarka 
 ble, alike for profligacy and folly, was made by a person, 
 doubtless an Englishman, but who styled himself Charles 
 de Weissenstein, in along communication, dated at Brus 
 sels in July, 1778, but written probably in Paris. He 
 attempted to intimidate, by magnifying the power of 
 Great Britain ; to bribe, by presenting the prospect of 
 honors and wealth ; and to propitiate, by professions of 
 personal admiration and reverence. He insisted that no 
 British ministry would ever recognise the independence 
 of the United States, and that the war therefore would 
 be continued till America was ruined. To prevent the 
 
460 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 unavailing waste of life and treasure, he proposed a plan 
 of conciliation and government, which, though it asserted 
 the unlimited authority of Parliament over the colonies, 
 would, for the sake of peace and commerce, make such 
 concessions in regard to the exercise of that authority as 
 would be equitable and satisfactory ; and the rewards 
 which Franklin, Washington, and the other leading Amer 
 ican patriots, were to receive, for restoring peace and hap 
 piness to their country and prosperity to the British em 
 pire, were places, pensions, and peerages. This scheme 
 of treachery and corruption bore so many tokens of min 
 isterial origin, that Franklin condescended to reply to it, 
 for the purpose of exposing the folly of the plan of gov 
 ernment it set forth, and he treated the proffered honors 
 with cutting sarcasm and contemptuous derision. This 
 reply closed the correspondence with M. Charles de Weis- 
 senstein. 
 
 Besides these secret agents, others in England, of a 
 different class, the personal friends of Franklin, men of 
 probity and honor, opposed to the measures which brought 
 on the war, and, still faithful to their principles, pressed 
 him in their letters for propositions which might, in his 
 judgment, serve as a basis for overtures of peace, and a 
 settlement of the points in controversy, on terms consist- 
 entwith the honor of all, and advantageous to both coun 
 tries. The most assiduous and persevering of these cor 
 respondents was David Hartley, a member of Parlia 
 ment, a sensible, intelligent, benevolent man, whose mo 
 tives Franklin knew to be pure, and who sought only the 
 public good. But neither Mr. Hartley nor, indeed, any 
 other Englishman, could fully comprehend the true posi 
 tion and interests of the United States, or the extent to 
 which their people had been injured and alienated by 
 the acts and agents of the British government ; and all 
 his plans of pacification involved so many of the old 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS LAFAYETTE. 461 
 
 views of colonial dependence and British supremacy as 
 to be wholly inadmissible. Franklin laid open these ob 
 jections in perfect good temper toward his friend, but in 
 the most explicit terms, and showed him that the British 
 government could have peace and commerce with the 
 United States only as with a sovereign and independent 
 nation, and on terms of entire reciprocity. But though 
 Mr. Hartley found his efforts to move Franklin from his 
 position in reference to this subject wholly unavailing, 
 yet it is due to him to state that, at Franklin s request, 
 he inquired into the condition of American prisoners in 
 England, and not only applied such money as Franklin 
 was able to send over for their relief, but collected among 
 his acquaintances other sums for the same benevolent 
 purpose, and was active and serviceable in facilitating 
 their exchange. 
 
 In September, 1778, to avoid the needless expense of 
 three commissioners in France, Congress appointed 
 Franklin sole minister, and Mr. Adams returned home, 
 leaving Mr. Lee, the other commissioner, still in Europe. 
 
 Almost immediately on Franklin s arrival at Paris he 
 had been beset with applications for letters in behalf of 
 military men of every rank and character, from almost 
 every corner of Europe, seeking service in America. 
 These applications were so zealously pressed by such 
 an array of recommendations, that Franklin s good-nature 
 led him, in the outset, to a somewhat overready compli 
 ance ; and though he soon perceived the necessity of cau 
 tion, yet the annoyance continued during the whole war. 
 He assisted, however, in commending to the good-will 
 and respect of Congress and of Washington one person 
 who never gave cause to regret the confidence reposed in 
 him the then young marquis de Lafayette. This name, 
 it is true, now stands in history on a page of light, and any 
 tribute to it here is superfluous. Still, it is pleasant to 
 39* 
 
462 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 look back at the first public notice of one whose memory 
 is enshrined in every American heart. " He is gone to 
 America," says Franklin, " in a ship of his own, accom 
 panied by several officers of distinction, to serve in our 
 armies. He is exceedingly beloved ; and we are satis 
 fied that the respect which may be shown him will be 
 serviceable to our affairs here, by pleasing not only his 
 powerful relations and the court, but the whole French 
 nation." 
 
 At that early period, Congress not having yet organ 
 ized a consular system, numberless transactions arising 
 from the details of commerce, or connected with the dis 
 posal of prizes taken at sea, and with the fitting out of 
 cruisers in French ports matters usually managed by 
 consuls devolved on Franklin, and, added to his more 
 exclusively diplomatic duties, subjected him to a much 
 greater amount of labor than is demanded of an Ameri 
 can plenipotentiary in these more systematic times. This 
 is made very manifest in his correspondence with Con 
 gress, through the successive presidents of that body and 
 its committee on foreign affairs. This correspondence 
 not only shows how assiduously, and with what patriotic 
 solicitude as well as ability, he watched over the great 
 interests committed to his charge, but it demonstrates, 
 as we believe any candid reader, after an attentive peru 
 sal of it, will admit, that no other man could have pro 
 moted those interests so effectually, or have secured for 
 his country so much aid from France, or so much respect 
 and good-will throughout Europe, as did Franklin. In 
 deed, from his first appearance at Paris, in a diplomatic 
 capacity, he may well be said to have been substantially 
 the representative of the United States, not only to the 
 French court, but to all the courts of continental Europe. 
 And this resulted, not merely from the fact that the court 
 of France was the great wheel, as Arthur Lee called it, 
 
HIS MODESTY AND SENSE OF RIGHT. 463 
 
 which moved the courts of other nations, but it was also 
 in no small degree the natural consequence of Franklin s 
 great name and European reputation of the universal 
 homage paid to him for his splendid career in philoso 
 phy, and the distinguished ability and manly boldness 
 with which he had, while colonial agent in London, de 
 fined and asserted the political rights of the American 
 people, and resisted the aggressions of the British gov 
 ernment upon their liberties. 
 
 The general estimation of Franklin in Europe, not only 
 as a philosopher, nor merely as one among many faithful 
 and illustrious assertors of the liberties of his countrymen, 
 but as pre-eminently the founder of their freedom, can 
 not be more strikingly exemplified than by the following 
 incident : An artist in Paris, having designed an engra 
 ving to commemorate the independence of the United 
 States, submitted his design to Franklin s inspection and 
 proposed to dedicate it to him. The principal symbol 
 in the piece was, it seems, the figure of Franklin in the 
 garb of a Roman senator, with his name inscribed be 
 neath. To this he promptly and flatly refused his assent, 
 because it ascribed to him exclusively the freedom of 
 America, and he insisted that the figure should be made to 
 symbolize Congress, and the print be dedicated to that 
 body ; for, otherwise, said he in a note to the artist, " it 
 would be unjust to the numbers of wise and brave men 
 who, by their arms and counsels, have shared in the en 
 terprise and contributed to its success, at the hazard of 
 their lives and fortunes." Such were the modesty, mag 
 nanimity, and living sense of justice, of Franklin. 
 
 The elevation and generosity of his nature, indeed, his 
 true wisdom, were well illustrated by his sentiments in 
 regard to privateering, against the toleration of which 
 he expressed himself in the strongest terms, and proposed 
 that the nations of Europe should combine to put it down 
 
464 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 by express stipulations in their treaties with each other; 
 and, as a further extension of the same humane policy, 
 demanded by the whole spirit of Christian civilization, 
 he also proposed that, in war as in peace, all people, to 
 whatever country they might belong, belligerent or neu 
 tral, while engaged by land or sea in producing or trans 
 porting food or anything else needed for the support and 
 comfort of life, or the advancement of peaceful pursuits, 
 should remain unmolested. Both these principles should, 
 he held, be incorporated into the general law of nations, 
 not only as being alike humane and just toward the indi 
 viduals and families directly affected by them, but as be 
 ing certain also to lessen the frequency of war by destroy 
 ing the hope of plunder. 
 
 Similar proofs of his philanthropy and abhorrence of 
 rapine and violence in every form, were furnished in the 
 passports which, as minister plenipotentiary, he issued, 
 to protect from American cruisers the vessels annually 
 sent from England, with food and other supplies for the 
 Moravian settlements on the coast of Labrador ; and in 
 doing the same thing for the vessels under the celebrated 
 navigator Captain James Cook, who had, before the war, 
 been sent on a voyage of discovery, and was supposed 
 to be now on his way home. No man ever possessed in 
 larger measure than Franklin the desire to encourage 
 every enterprise to advance knowledge, diffuse the spirit 
 of benevolence, and liberalize the policy of governments ; 
 and the last-named act of magnanimous humanity drew 
 from the English board of trade a vote of acknowledgment, 
 together with an elegant copy of Cook s Voyages, and 
 the splendid collection of plates belonging to it, accom 
 panied by a courteous letter from Lord Howe, stating 
 that the gift was made with the king s approbation. 
 
 A few days after reaching Paris, Franklin took up his 
 residence at Passy, some two or three miles out of the 
 
HIS RESIDENCE AT PASSY. 465 
 
 city, and overlooking the river Seine. There, as he 
 wrote to an old friend, " in a fine house, in a neat vil 
 lage, on high ground, with a large garden to walk in," 
 he dwelt during the whole of his mission to France. It 
 was a pleasant situation, and among his neighbors were 
 several families of great respectability and worth, where 
 he soon became a cherished and honored inmate, and 
 where he enjoyed habitual intercourse with a large circle 
 comprising many of the most cultivated, distinguished, 
 and agreeable people of both sexes, that French society 
 could furnish. At Passy he wrote several of his best 
 tracts on political topics, besides several valuable papers 
 on philosophical subjects, particularly one, which was 
 read before the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, on 
 the aurora borealis, stating his reasons for supposing that 
 splendid phenomenon to be a result of electrical action. 
 At Passy, too, he wrote, for the entertainment of the cir 
 cle of friends just mentioned, some of his most sprightly 
 and instructive humorous pieces, among which were " The 
 Whistle," " The Ephemera," " The Morals of Chess," 
 and others. The hospitality, affectionate respect, and at 
 tention, he received from the families referred to, soothed 
 him under his increasing infirmities, and cheered him un 
 der the heavy burden of his varied and laborious public 
 duties. 
 
 The details of his diplomatic labors are far too volu 
 minous to be recounted here. History has taken charge 
 of them ; and it is enough to say, in this place, that, mul 
 tiplied, burdensome, and important, as they were, he per 
 formed them with the ability and fidelity which charac 
 terized his long career of public service, and with a skill 
 and success which won for him the spontaneous testimony 
 alike of the firm and clear-headed John Jay, then minis 
 ter to Spain, and of the enlightened and high-minded 
 count de Vergennes, the French secretary. Congress, 
 
466 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 also, declined complying with his request, made in March, 
 1781, to be recalled, and placed him shortly after on the 
 commission with Adams, Jay, and Laurens, to negotiate 
 peace,* overtures for which were first made on the part 
 of the British cabinet in January, 1782 ; and, after a pro 
 tracted negotiation, a preliminary treaty, recognising the 
 independence of the United States and fixing their bound 
 aries, was signed in November of the same year ; and a 
 further negotiation, for the settlement of other matters, 
 terminated in a definitive treaty, substantially the same 
 as the other, and executed at Paris, September 3, 1783. 
 
 The independence and sovereignty of the United States 
 being thus established, Mr. Jay returned home, and Mr. 
 Jefferson was sent out to act with Franklin and Adams 
 in the negotiation of treaties with other nations. But 
 though the cabinets of Europe, through their embassa- 
 dors at Paris, expressed a disposition to maintain ami 
 cable relations with the United States, no treaty was ac 
 tually made except with Prussia. This treaty gave its 
 sanction to Franklin s doctrine against privateering and 
 the spoliation of private property ; and putting his signa 
 ture to it was his last act as the diplomatic representa 
 tive of his country. 
 
 Franklin left Paris on the 12th of July, 1785. His de 
 parture was accompanied by the most expressive testi 
 monials of regret from the court as well as from a nu 
 merous train of private friends, including men of the 
 hio-hest rank and most eminent worth : and on the 14th 
 
 O 
 
 of September he found himself once more in Philadel 
 phia. His return was greeted with every mark of per 
 sonal regard and public respect. The Assembly of Penn 
 sylvania, then sitting, addressed him as one " whose ser 
 vices not only merited the thanks of the present genera 
 tion, but would be recorded in history to his immortal 
 honor ;" and other public bodies paid him similar tributes. 
 
HIS LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 467 
 
 He was now rapidly approaching the end of his eigh 
 tieth year, and was looking only for repose, exempt, for 
 the remainder of his days, from all further public cares. 
 But he could not, even yet, be allowed to retire. Very 
 shortly after his return the Assembly and executive coun 
 cil of Pennsylvania elected him governor of the state for 
 the ensuing year ; and the choice was renewed for three 
 years in succession, which was as long as the constitution 
 permitted, till after an interval of four years. 
 
 His domestic situation and the occupation of his pri 
 vate hours might be beautifully depicted by many ex 
 tracts from his own letters written in the brief period 
 still left to him. A few words, however, will give the 
 spirit of the whole. He lived in his own house, with his 
 daughter and her children about him to gratify his affec 
 tions ; with conversation, books, and his garden, to recre 
 ate him; and with the unalterable esteem of his country 
 to crown his long toils in her service ; and though con 
 scious that his life on earth must soon close, yet he wrote 
 to a venerable friend " I can cheerfully, with filial con 
 fidence, resign my spirit to that great and good Parent 
 of mankind who created it, and who has so graciously 
 protected and prospered me from my birth to the present 
 hour." It was in this spirit that, in the federal conven 
 tion of 1787 the last national body in which he sat 
 he moved to open its daily sittings with prayer, declaring 
 that the longer he lived the more proofs he saw of God s 
 government in human affairs. 
 
 Similar sentiments abound in his letters, but the most 
 formal statement of them is given in his reply, on this 
 subject, in March, 1790, to President Stiles, of Yale col 
 lege. There he explicitly states his belief in God, as 
 creator and governor of all things, and entitled to wor 
 ship ; in doing good to each other as our best service to 
 him ; in the immortality of die soul, and a future state of 
 
468 LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 retribution ; that while he had some doubts of the divinity 
 of Jesus, yet he believed his system of religion and mo 
 rality as left by him the best ever taught ; and that for 
 himself he relied solely on the goodness of God, without 
 the slightest idea of meriting it. 
 
 Useful to the end, Franklin gave his remaining strength 
 to the cause of education and freedom ; and some of his 
 latest efforts were made for the abolition of negro-slavery. 
 His malady, the stone, k ept him for his last year chiefly 
 on his bed ; and he continued thus till the end of March, 
 1790, when he was seized with severe pain in the chest 
 and fever, ending in abscess of the lungs, the bursting of 
 which soon proved fatal, and he expired April 17, 1790, 
 the anniversary of his birth-day. 
 
 During his severe sufferings from the pain in his chest, 
 when a groan escaped him, " he would observe," says his 
 physician, " that he was afraid he did not bear them as 
 he ought; acknowledging his grateful sense of the many 
 blessings he had received from the Supreme Being, who 
 had raised him from small beginnings to such high rank 
 and consideration among men." Another friend, speak 
 ing of his long confinement, says : " No repining, no 
 peevish expression, ever escaped him ; and upon every 
 occasion he displayed the clearness of his intellect and 
 the cheerfulness of his temper." Thus died BENJAMIN 
 FRANKLIN, full of years as of honors. Thus terminated 
 a life as remarkable for its early development of the high 
 est traits of character in the midst of the laborious occu 
 pations of a tradesman, as for the achievements in phi 
 losophy and the services to his country, which rendered 
 it illustrious, and which has left the richest lessons of 
 wisdom to every succeeding generation. 
 
 THE END. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
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