\& 
 
 ^ /, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: 
 
 BIS 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY; 
 
 WITH A NARRATIVE OF 
 
 HIS PUBLIC LIFE AND SERVICES 
 
 BY REV. H. HASTINGS WELD. 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS DESIGNS BY J. G. CHAPMAN, 
 
 :NEW YORK: 
 JAMBS C. DERBY, 119 NASSAU STREET. 
 
 CINCINNATI : H. W. DERBY. 
 
 ~ 1855. 
 
I 
 
 IOAN STAC! 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 In the Clerk s Office of the Southern District of New York. 
 
 
 LOAN STACK 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 BRILLIANT military deeds write their own history. 
 Their sound strikes upon the ear, and challenges the at 
 tention of mankind. The sympathy of men with what 
 is daring in courage and glorious in arms, makes all a 
 soldier s countrymen his eulogists ; and the hero usually 
 receives more, rather than less, than his meed of praise. 
 He has comrades, too, bound to him by a community in 
 his sufferings and a partnership in his victories. Upon 
 the follower the glory of the leader is reflected ; and 
 each follower, watchful of the fame of his leader, is ever 
 ready to celebrate far and wide the glory of the achieve 
 ments 
 
 " All which he saw, and part of which he was." 
 
 Every soldier in an army, every man who has borne 
 arms during a war, has his private family of admirers, 
 and by these are the reputation of the officers the rep 
 resentatives of the soldiers extended, until the widening 
 circle of praise embraces a nation. The successful sol 
 dier s apotheosis anticipates his death. The next gener 
 ation endorses his deification, and in process of time 
 very short process too, as our national history may wit 
 ness oral tradition places the soldier on an elevation to 
 which the biographer finds it very hard work to write up. 
 
VI P R E F A C E. 
 
 But statesmen and ambassadors, particularly those 
 who move in such spheres as Franklin, owe small thanks 
 to their cotemporaries. By their very position they are 
 unable to vindicate themselves without injury to the pub 
 lic service ; and although to them may be honestly due 
 the praise of the Wise Man " He that ruleth his spirit 
 is better than he that taketh a city" they must look to 
 posterity for justice. And posterity has not, as in the 
 case of the warrior, the echo of cotemporary praise to 
 bias its judgment in their favor. A nation hears of the 
 advance of an enemy, and looks with gratitude to the 
 opposing soldier from the moment that he buckles on his 
 armor. Whatever be the result, joy in a victory, satis 
 faction in a repulse of the invader, or sorrow in defeat, 
 the people can appreciate the valor, successful or unsuc 
 cessful, which opposed the foe. But the diplomatist, 
 from the necessity of the case, works in the dark. His 
 acts must be judged without the apparent cause and full 
 justification of the open counter-movements of adversa 
 ries ; for, as he strives against covert machinations, so 
 must the motives of his operations be hidden. Even 
 success in such a contest is without eclat. Defeat brings 
 unqualified condemnation. When the point aimed at is 
 gained, the successful statesman is not unfrequently the 
 subject of detraction. Where the soldier finds applause 
 in the verdict of his companion in arms, the statesman 
 receives faint praise from his colleagues, if, indeed, he be 
 not compelled to defend his course and motives before 
 the public against associates who honestly differed from 
 him. He, then, who writes the life of a statesman, has 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 not, as in the life of the warrior, merely to prepare an 
 endorsement of public opinion. He has to wind a diffi- 
 
 *t 
 
 cult path amid political prejudices, or to be content with 
 only a portion of his countrymen for readers. 
 
 From these causes the political character of Franklin 
 has suffered ; not, indeed, by any charges affecting the 
 integrity of the man ; for, if there were such, they were 
 disproved in his lifetime, and set aside as the merest 
 ebullitions of personal enmity or party spleen. To the 
 latest hour his countrymen strove with each other in 
 doing him honor, and his last years were passed in the 
 harvesting of his laurels. But his fame as a politician 
 has lost in this wise : that writers, finding in the public 
 mind a general admiration of the man, when they came 
 to justify it by particulars, found themselves in a dilem 
 ma. It was not that there are not particulars enough, for 
 there is a superfluity capital sufficient for a dozen great 
 reputations but because these particulars are not all 
 available with all men. There are no battle-fields in his 
 story ; and in the days when those who acted with him 
 were alive, to have celebrated his acts of diplomacy 
 would have been to wake up counter-memorials to the 
 public. Therefore, because the history of cabinets offers 
 less popular reading than the history of battle-fields, and 
 because Franklin could not be elevated as a great poli 
 tician for all to admire, his biographers celebrated his 
 electrical discoveries. All acknowledged him great ; but 
 because all readers would not say ay to his statesman 
 ship, he was cried up exceedingly as an economist. As 
 a natural philosopher and as a fireside sage, the digester 
 
nil PREFACE. 
 
 of the minor morals into a code of every-day ethics ; as 
 the man with the kite, and as Poor Richard with an al 
 manac full of wise saws, he is celebrated ; while his ar 
 duous, unremitted, and unrewarded labors for his country 
 have really served no other purpose for his fame than as 
 a balance to keep up the symbolic kite before the world. 
 
 A Morris in the Exchequer was as indispensable to his 
 country as a Washington in the field. A Franklin abroad 
 was as useful as an army at home. Now diplomatist, 
 now broker, now banker, now commissary, and now 
 judge in Admiralty, now commercial agent, and now 
 plenipotentiary a Caleb Quotem abroad to-day clos 
 eted with kings, and to-morrow with newspaper editors ; 
 now arguing with ministers, and now writing for the peo 
 ple, he was indefatigable. He filled a place which no 
 other man of his time could have filled. Few thanked 
 him for it living, though all assented to general and in 
 definite praise. Few have done him justice since. 
 
 It is the aim of this biography, without approving ev 
 ery act in the life of Benjamin Franklin, and without im 
 pugning the motives, unnecessarily, of those who differed 
 from him, to show that he carried the industry and apt 
 ness of the printer s boy into the atmosphere of courts ; 
 that he labored incessantly for his country; that he la 
 bored honestly. He dared to trust posterity with his 
 fame, by neglecting to set himself right before captious 
 cotemporaries at a time when to have appeared too 
 American would have been to jeopard the cause he la 
 bored to promote. With other points of his character 
 the public have long been familiar, and it is trusted that 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 this book may lead the way to his juster appreciation as 
 a ^statesman. Free and diligent use has been made of 
 his writings as collected by that most indefatigable his 
 torian and biographer, Mr. Sparks. 
 
 The author of this book has not bestowed praise where 
 he thought it unmerited, or labored to present his subject 
 as a perfect man. While he has not withheld censure 
 where impartiality demands it, he has not deemed it nec 
 essary to repeat forgotten and unfounded charges merely 
 to disprove them. It is hoped that candor will approve 
 what a desire to be candid has dictated. 
 
 No descendant of Franklin bears his name, though the 
 descendants of his daughter are numerous. They are 
 justly proud of the reputation of their ancestor, but his 
 fame is the national pride. There would seem in his 
 case, as in that of his friend George Washington, a guard 
 thus set against the claim, by a family, of what was meant 
 for a nation, as neither in his life " gave to a party what 
 was meant for mankind." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY, commenced at Twyford in 1771, and addressed to his Son, 
 William Franklin, then Governor of New Jersey. Franklin s Genealogy, 
 Birth, Parentage, and Apprenticeship. Early Formation of a Philosoph- \^r 
 ical and Literary Taste. Disagreement with his Brother. Departure 
 from BosTon. Arrival in New York. Journey to Philadelphia Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. Franklin s Peripatetic Breakfast. The first 
 House he slept in. Commences Work for Keimer. Commencement of 
 a Governor s Patronage. Visit to Boston. His Father s Shrewdness. 
 Accompanied to Philadelphia by his old Friend Collins, whose bad Con 
 duct causes a Breach. Anecdotes and Notices of his Companions and 
 of his Employer. Governor Keith persuades him to sail for London 40 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. End of the Governor s Patronage, and Discov- 
 of hi&.flh^arfa|v F-"gagp in his Business by Advice of his Friend: 
 
 . Habits of London Printers.- Franki^^ u ^ ^ 
 r Swimming. Enters into Business with Mr; 
 Denham 70 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. Return to Philadelphia. Death of Mr. Den- 
 ham. Resumes the Printing Business as Foreman for Keimer. Re 
 solves to commence Business on his own Account. Engraves the Plates 
 for the New Jersey Paper Money, and prints the Bills. Forms a Part 
 nership with one of Keimer s Workmen, and commences a new Printing 
 House in Philadelphia . . . . " * . .87 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. The Junto. Franklin establishes a News 
 paper. Dissolves his Connection with Meredith. Tract on Paper Cur 
 rency. Opens a Shop. Habits. Courtship. Marriage . . 103 
 
Xll CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Break in Dr. Franklin s Narrative. Letters from his Friends, inducing 
 him to resume it. RESUMPTION OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY at Passy, near Paris, 
 in 1784. Origin of the Philadelphia Library. First Luxury in Frank 
 lin s House. Moral Schemes and -Rules^Uan-oflO-rder, Art of Virtue, , 
 &c. . . . ~T! . Page 121 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Resumption of the Narrative at Philadelphia. Points of Religious Belief. 
 Poor Richard s Almanac. Newspapers. Rev. Mr. Hemphill. Remarks 
 on Languages. Visit to Boston. Public Employments. Public Spirit 
 of Franklin ^and the Junto 145 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. Whitefield, his Arrival, Oratory, Character, &c. 
 Philosophical Society. Activity of Franklin in causing the City to be 
 put in a State of Defense. The " Dunkers." Franklin Fire-place . 164 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 .AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. Origin of the University of Pennsylvania. 
 Electrical Experiments. PjubJiaJLife.^Pennsylvania Hospital. Street 
 Cleaning and Paving, how introduced. Appointed Post-master General 
 for the Colonies.. Honorary Degrees 186 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY coptfoued. Convention at Albany. Plan of Union. 
 Assists Mr. Quincy in procuring Supplies for New England. Procures 
 Supplies for General Braddock. Character of that Officer. His Defeat. 
 Poor Reward of .Franklin s Services 206 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY continued. Appointed a Commissioner for disbursing the 
 Money raised for the Public Defense. Commissioned to take charge of 
 the Defenses of the Frontier. March. Military Operations. Indian 
 Massacre. Moravians. Chosen Colonel of a Regiment. Troublesome 
 Etiquette, and its Consequences. Electrical Discovery. Chosen a Mem 
 ber of the Royal Society. Receives the Copley Medal . . . 229 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY concluded. The new Governor, Denny. Deputed to go 
 to England as Agent for Pennsylvania Anecdotes of Lord Loudon. 
 Incidents of Voyage from New York, and Arrival in London . .250 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Style of Dr. Franklin s Autobiography. Letter to Benjamin Vaughan. 
 First Publication of the Work. Caution necessary in the Perusal. 
 Difficulties of the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania. Increase of 
 Embarrassment after the Death of the Founder. Troublesome Process 
 of the final Enactment of Laws. Franklin s Mission. Historical Re 
 view of Pennsylvania Page 266 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Remarks upon Franklin s familiar Correspondence. His Lodgings in Lon 
 don. His Welcome there. His Employments. Testimony of Thomas 
 Penn. Franklin s Letters to Miss Mary Stevenson. Newspaper Mis 
 representations. Answer of William Franklin. Franklin s Fitness for 
 his Post 279 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Mr. Strahan. His Letter to Mrs. Franklin. Franklin s famous Letter to 
 Mr. Strahan. His last Letter to that Gentleman, reviewing their Lives. 
 Franklin s Visit to Cambridge. His Tour among his Connections. 
 American Feeling before the Revolution. The Degree of Doctor of Laws 
 conferred on Franklin by the University of St. Andrew s. Scottish Ac 
 quaintance. Lord Kames. Parable against Persecution . . 289 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Close of Franklin s Mission in England. The Canada Pamphlet. Indirect 
 Communications with the Ministry. Franklin s Ideas of American Re 
 sistance in 1760. His Philosophical Pursuits. Experiments relative to 
 Canals, &c. University Honors. The Parliamentary Grant of Money, 
 and Franklin s Disposal of it. Appointment of his Son as Governor of 
 New Jersey. Sails for America. His Account of the Voyage, and his 
 Reception at Home 304 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Franklin s Welcome Home. The Vote of Thanks and Franklin s Reply. 
 Journey to the North. Shrewd Comments on Hospitality. Indian Diffi 
 culties. The Paxton Murders. Advance of the Insurgents upon Phila 
 delphia. Influence of Franklin. Preparations for Defense. Departure 
 of the Rioters. Popular Feeling in their Favor . . .318 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Revival of Disputes with the Proprietaries. Adjournment of the Assembly 
 to consult their Constituents. Franklin s " Cool Thoughts." Bold Re- 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 marks on the Riots. Published Speeches and Prefaces. Petition to the 
 Crown for a Change in the Government. Resignation of the Speaker, 
 and Election of Franklin to fill the Vacancy. Stamp Duties. Franklin s 
 Defeat as Candidate for the Assembly. His Appointment as Special 
 Agent. Protest and other Opposition against that Measure. Sails for 
 England * . . Page 329 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Franklin s Letter to his Daughter. Extracts from other Letters. Anec 
 dote of the Bees. His Arrival in England. Business of his Mission. 
 Colonial Currency. Humorous Letter to a London Journal. The Stamp 
 Act. " Claims to Independence." Joseph Galloway. Dean Tucker. 
 Charges against Franklin by his Enemies 344 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Opposition to the Stamp Act in America. Popular Violence. Its lenient 
 Manifestations. Change of Ministry. Contemplated Repeal of the 
 Stamp Act. Examination of Dr. Franklin. Division of Questions be 
 tween Friends and Opponents. A " Small Amendment." The Change 
 in American Feeling. Closing Questions. The " Declaratory Act" 358 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Franklin s Letter to his Wife, with the " new Gown." Letter to Franklin 
 from his Wife, describing their new House. Another, describing her 
 Election Terrors. Efforts of Franklin s Enemies in Philadelphia. An 
 swers of his Friends. Franklin s Advice to Moderation. Its Defeat by 
 the Proprietary Party. Reception of the News of Repeal in Philadel 
 phia. Illuminations and Rejoicings. The Birth-day. Franklin s Jour 
 neys to the Continent. Political Writings 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 John Adams s Opinion of Franklin. The Revenue Act. Governor Bernard 
 and the Massachusetts Legislature. The Boston Resolutions. Frank 
 lin s Letters relating thereto. The Paper entitled " Causes of American 
 Discontents." The " Farmer s Letters." Lord Hillsborough. His new 
 Regulations, and Capricious Conduct to Franklin. " Rules for Reducing 
 a Great Empire to a Small One" . . 391 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Rumors of Appointments. Agencies of four Colonies filled by Dr. Frank 
 lin. Bolder Tone of his Correspondence. He encourages the Ameri 
 cans to adhere to their non-importation Agreements. Difficulties in Bos 
 ton in 1770. Change of the Revenue Law. The " Boston Massacre." 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Threats of Removal from the Post-office. High Compliment to Frank 
 lin by the Irish Parliament. Visits to the Bishop of St. Asaph. Bos 
 ton Proceedings in 1772. Republication in London. The Prussian 
 Edict . . . .Page 417 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Removal of Franklin from the Post-office. The Hutchinson Letters. Their 
 Transmission to America. Action of the Massachusetts Legislature upon 
 them. Duel between Mr. Temple and Mr. Whately. Franklin avows 
 his Agency in the Matter. Chancery suit against him. Proceedings 
 before the Privy Council. Franklin s witty View of the Efforts against 
 him. Death of Mrs. Franklin. Lord Chatham s Motion for a removal 
 of the Troops from Boston. His Plan of Reconciliation. His Eulogy on 
 Franklin 439 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Chess. Meetings with Mrs. Howe. Diplomatic Movements. Negotia 
 tions with different Parties. Discussion of "Propositions." Tenders 
 made to Franklin. Apologies for the Insult at the Council Board. 
 Failure of the Plans of Ministry. Franklin s unpresented Memorial. 
 Dr. Fothergill s Note. Remarks on Franklin s ten Years Residence in 
 England 455 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Return to Philadelphia. Election to Congress, and to other Posts. Plan 
 of Confederation. Journey to Canada. Declaration of Independence. 
 Anecdotes. Correspondence and Interview with Lord Howe. Frank 
 lin appointed a Commissioner to France. His Proposals for Peace 474 
 
 CHAPTER XX^IL 
 
 Franklin s Arrival in France. The Character he bore. Advances of As 
 sistance by the French Government. Reserve of that Government. 
 Labors of the American Commissioners. Treaties of Commerce and Al 
 liance. Audience of the King. Informal Negotiations. Mr. Hartley. 
 Charles de Weissenstein. Personal Differences between the Commis 
 sioners. Applications for Letters to America 492 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams. Franklin s Duties. His position Abroad. 
 Negotiations with Great Britain. Preliminary Skirmishings. British 
 Efforts to obtain further Advantages. Signature of the Treaty. Appar 
 ent Distrust toward France. Other Treaties. Close of Franklin s Of 
 ficial Term . 512 
 
XVJ J O N T E N T S. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Franklin s Residence at Passy. His Political Course. Religious Opinion** 
 Literary Occupations. Departure for America. StayliFSoujhampton. 
 Occupation on his Passage. Arrival at Philadelphia. His Reception. 
 Election to the Presidency of Pennsylvania. Unsettled Claims on 
 Congress. Speeches in the Convention of 1787. Closing Labors of his 
 Life. His last Dlness and Death. Funeral and other Honors paid to 
 his Memory Page 527 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Franklin s first Literary Essay .. Frontispiece. 
 
 Portrait of Franklin Title-page. 
 
 Franklin inditing his Letter to his Son i 
 
 The Smithy at Ecton 5 
 
 Franklin at Ten Tears of Age 12 
 
 Young Franklin and his Companions at the Mill-pond 13 
 
 A Family Group 14 
 
 Franklin reading in his Chamber - . 20 
 
 His studying at the Printing-office 25 
 
 Franklin ill-used "by his Brother --.. 30 
 
 His agreeing to sail with a New Tork Captain .... .... 33 
 
 Is taken on hoard the Sloop .... . . .... 33 
 
 Franklin on his Journey to Burlington . . .. 36 
 
 The Old Woman s Hospitality - 38 
 
 Franklin -with a Roll of Bread under each Arm, &c 40 
 
 He gives some of the Bread to a poor Woman ..... 42 
 
 He falls Asleep in the Quaker Meeting-house . .... ... 43 
 
 Franklin s Interview with Bradford and Keimer ..... .... 45 
 
 His Interview with his Brother, Sec . . .. .. 51 
 
 The Quakeress counseling Young Franklin ...................... 54 
 
 His Reception "by the Governor of New York.... . . .... 56 
 
 His Aquatic Adventure with Vernon... . ....... ..... 57 
 
 Franklin s Courtship, &c 62 
 
 His Resort on the Banks of the Schuylkill 63 
 
 He takes Leave of Miss Read 68 
 
 The Governor gives him a Letter of Credit 70 
 
 He resides with Wilcox the Bookseller 74 
 
 Franklin carrying the Type Forms 78 
 
 The Widow Lady of Duke Street 80 
 
 View of her Room, Sec _.. 82 
 
 Franklin looking out of the Window, &c 92 
 
 His Copper-plate Press . 95 
 
 Samuel Mickle at Franklin s Door......... . 100 
 
 The Junto Club 103 
 
 Meredith with his Bottle 108 
 
 Franklin with his Wheel-harrow 115 
 
 Miss Read s Disappointment, &c 118 
 
 Depot of the Books of the Junto Club 123 
 
 Fr.anklin s Wife engaged in Book-folding. Sec. 127 
 
 The China Bowl and Silver Spoon 127 
 
 The Gardener weeding his Plants 135 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Pag* 
 
 The Speckled Ax best 1; 
 
 The Widow inter Counting-room 152 
 
 Franklin playing at Chess l 
 
 His Visit to Ms Brother at Newport 157 
 
 Portrait of Rev. George Whitefield--- 164 
 
 Women providing Silk Colors for the Philadelphia Regiments 175 
 
 Franklin on Military Duty 176 
 
 His Colloquy -with the Quaker 182 
 
 Indians round a Bonfire at Carlisle - 192 
 
 The Female Street-sweeper 201 
 
 The Horse and Packages for the Camp 221 
 
 The precipitous Flight, &c. 224 
 
 March to Gnadenhutten - 233 
 
 Franklin s Military Escort - 241 
 
 Count de Buffon 246 
 
 Franklin taking Wine -with the new Governor 251 
 
 The Sign of St. George and the Dragon 256 
 
 The Ship in danger of Rocks, &c 264 
 
 Franklin writing to his Wife at Falmouth 265 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Franklin 291 
 
 Heading and Initial Letter for Parahle 301 
 
 Portrait of Lord Kames 317 
 
 Franklin on his Tour of Inspection 320 
 
 Franklin s Departure from Chester 343 
 
 Bees Swarming 348 
 
 Reception of the Pompadour Satin, &c . 374 
 
 Franklin s Transformation "by a French Tailor and Perruquier 390 
 
 Lord Hills"borough s Visit to Dr. Franklin at Oxford 402 
 
 The Boston Riot 424 
 
 Heads of Lords Chatham and Camden 452 
 
 Franklin and Mrs. Howe at Chess 457 
 
 Franklin at Saratoga 482 
 
 The Committee on the Declaration of Independence 465 
 
 Popular Feeling in Paris toward Franklin 499 
 
 Portrait of General La Fayette 509 
 
 Franklin amusing himself at his little Press 53C 
 
I vvyford, at the Bishop of 
 St. Asaph s,* 1771. 
 
 DEAR SON, I have ever had 
 pleasure in obtaining any little 
 anecdotes of my ancestors. You 
 may remember the inquiries I 
 made among the remains of my 
 relations when you were with 
 
 * Twyford was the country residence of 
 Dr. Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph s. Dr. Frank- 
 
LIFE OF FRAMLLIX. 
 
 L and tfce josraer I Jcrtnofc tor thai 
 
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LIFE OF FRASKLIS. 3 
 
 say, that if it were left to my choice, I should have 
 no objection to 20 over the same life from its begin 
 ning to the end : requesting only the advantage au 
 thors have, of correcting in a second edition the 
 faults of the first. So would I also wish to change 
 some incidents of it for others more favorable. Not 
 withstanding, if this condition was denied, I should 
 still accept the offer of recommencing the same fife. 
 But as this repetition is not to be expected, that 
 which resembles most living one s life over again. 
 seems to be to recall all the circumstances of it ; and, 
 to render this remembrance more durable, to record 
 them in writing. 
 
 In thus employing myselt I shafl yield to the in 
 clination so natural to old men, of talking of them 
 selves and their own actions : and I shall indulge it 
 without bein^ tiresome to those who. from respect to 
 ray age, might conceive themselves obliged to listen 
 to me. since they will be always free to read me or 
 not And lastly (I may as well confess it as the 
 denial of it would be believed by nobody). I shall 
 perhaps not a little gratify my own vanity. Indeed, 
 I never heard or saw the introductory words " With 
 out vanity I may say." &C., but some vain thing 
 immediatelv followed. Most people dislike vanity 
 in others, whatever share they have of it themselves : 
 bnt I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it 
 being persuaded that it is often productive of good 
 to the possessor, and to others who are within his 
 sphere of action : and therefore, in many cases, k 
 would not be altogether absurd if a man were to 
 
4 L I V E O F ERA N K L I N. 
 
 thank God for his vanity among the other comforts 
 of life. 
 
 And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with 
 all humility to acknowledge that I attribute the 
 mentioned happiness of my past life to his divine 
 providence, which led me to the means I used and 
 gave the success. My belief of this induces me to 
 hope, though I must not presume, that the same 
 goodness will still be exercised toward me, in con 
 tinuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal 
 reverse, which I may experience as others have 
 done ; the complexion of my future fortune being 
 known to him only in whose power it is to bless 
 us, even in our afflictions. 
 
 Some notes which one of my uncles (who had the 
 same curiosity in collecting family anecdotes) once 
 put into my hands, furnished me with several particu 
 lars relative to our ancestors. From these notes I 
 learned that they lived in the same village, Ecton, 
 in Northamptonshire, on a freehold of about thirty 
 acres, for at least three hundred years, and how 
 much longer could not be ascertained.* 
 
 This small estate would not have sufficed for 
 their maintenance without the business of a smith, 
 
 which had continued in the family down to my 
 
 * 
 
 * Sir John Fortescue, chief justice of the King s Bench in the time 
 of Henry VI., in his famous work, "De Laudibus Legum Angliso," writ 
 ten in 1412, speaks of wealthy freeholders as commonly called Franklins 
 Chaucer and Spencer both speak of the country gentleman as a Franklin : 
 and the name was probably assumed as a surname when the fashion of 
 surnames came up. The name Francquelin or Franqueln is found in 
 France, and may be traced back as far as 1521, and even to the century 
 before. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 
 uncle s time, the eldest son being always brought up 
 to that employment ; a custom which he and my 
 father followed with regard to their eldest sons. 
 When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an 
 account of their marriages and burials from the year 
 1555 only, as the registers kept did not commence 
 previous thereto. I, however, learned from it that 
 I was the youngest son of the youngest son for five 
 generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who 
 was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he was too old 
 to continue his business, when he retired to Banbury, 
 in Oxfordshire, to the house of his son John, with 
 whom my father served an apprenticeship. There 
 my uncle died and lies buried. We saw his grave 
 stone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the 
 house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only 
 daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of 
 Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of 
 the manor there. My grandfather had four sons, 
 who grew up: viz., Thomas, John, Benjamin, and 
 Josiah. Being at a distance from my papers, I will 
 
6 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 give you what account I can of them from memory: 
 and if my papers are not lost in my absence, you 
 will find among them many more particulars.* 
 
 Thomas, my eldest uncle, was bred a smith un 
 der his father ; but, being ingenious, and encouraged 
 in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire 
 Palmer, then the principal inhabitant of that parish, 
 he qualified himself for the bar, and became a con 
 siderable man in the county ; was chief mover of all 
 public-spirited enterprises for the county or town of 
 Northampton, as well as of his own village, of which 
 many instances were related of him ; and he was 
 much taken notice of and patronized by Lord Hali 
 fax. He died in 1702, on the 6th of January, four 
 years to a day before I was born. The recital which 
 some elderly persons made to us of his character, I 
 remember, struck you as something extraordinary, 
 from its similarity with what you knew of me. " Had 
 he died," said you, " four years later, on the same day, 
 one might have supposed a transmigration." 
 
 John, my next uncle, was bred a dyer, I believe 
 of wool. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an 
 apprenticeship in London. He was an ingenious 
 man. I remember, when I was a boy, he came to 
 my father s in Boston, and resided in the house with 
 
 * Among Dr. Franklin s papers was found a letter from his father, 
 dated Boston, May 25th, 1739 : " As to the original of our name there is 
 various opinions ; some say that it came from a sort of title of which a 
 book, that you bought when here, gives a lively account. Some think 
 we are of a French extract, which was formerly called Franks ; some of 
 a free line, a line free from that vassalage which was commcT. to sub 
 jects in days of old ; gome from a bird of* long red legs." 
 
LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 7 
 
 us for several years. There was always a particu 
 lar affection between my father and him, and I was 
 his godson. He lived to a great age. He left be 
 hind him two quarto volumes of manuscript, of his 
 own poetry, consisting of fugitive pieces addressed 
 to his friends.* He had invented a short-hand of 
 
 * These volumes are now in the possession of Mrs. Samuel Emmons, 
 of Boston, great-granddaughter of their author. The thoughts of the 
 writer run chiefly on moral and religious subjects ; and the pieces em 
 brace many acrostics, as the names of his friends and connections, and 
 other pieces addressed to them on various occasions. The following 
 lines were sent to his namesake, and were probably elicited by some 
 juvenile performance of the future philosopher. They were prophetic : 
 " Tis time for me to throw aside my pen 
 
 When hanging sleeves read, write, and rhyme like men. 
 
 This forward Spring fortells a plenteous crop ; 
 
 For, if the bud bear grain, what will the top ! 
 
 If plenty in the verdant blade appear, 
 
 What may we not soon hope for in the ear ! 
 
 When flowers are beautiful before they re blown, 
 
 What rarities will afterward be shown ! 
 
 If trees good fruit un noculated bear, 
 
 You may be sure twill afterward be rare. 
 
 If fruits are sweet before they ve time to yellow, 
 
 How luscious will they be when they are mellow ! 
 
 If first years shoots such noble clusters send, 
 
 What laden boughs, Engedi-like, may we expect in the end !" 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, the philosopher s uncle, died in Boston in 1728, 
 leaving one son, Samuel, the only survivor of ten children. This son 
 had an only child, a son, referred to in the text, as living in 1771. He 
 died in 1775, leaving four daughters. It may be here remarked, that there 
 is not now a male descendant of Dr. Franklin s grandfather living who 
 bears the name of Franklin. Dr. Franklin s eldest son, to whom this* 
 autobiography was addressed, left one son, William Temple Franklin, 
 who died without issue. His second son, Francis Folger, died in child 
 hood. His daughter, Sarah, married Richard Bache in 1767, and their 
 descendants are numerous, six out of seven marrying: viz., Benjamin 
 Franklin Bache, who married Margaret Marcoe ; William, who married 
 Catharine Wistar ; Deborah, William J. Duane ; Richard, a daughter of 
 Alexander J. Dallas ; Sarah, Thomas Sergeant. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 his own, which he taught me, but, not having prac 
 ticed it, I have now forgotten it. He was very 
 pious, and an assiduous attendant at the sermons of 
 the best preachers, which he reduced to writing ac 
 cording to his method, and had thus collected several 
 volumes of them. He was also a good deal of a 
 politician; too much so, perhaps, for his station. 
 There fell lately into my hands, in London, a col 
 lection he made of all the principal political pam 
 phlets relating to public affairs, from the year 1641 to 
 1717; many of the volumes are wanting, as appears 
 by their numbering, but there still remain eight vol 
 umes in folio, and twenty in quarto and in octavo. 
 A dealer in old books had met with them, and 
 knowing me by name, having bought books of him 
 he brought them to me. It would appear that my 
 uncle must have left them here when he went to 
 America, which was about fifty years ago. I found 
 several of his notes in the margins. His grandson, 
 Samuel Franklin, is still living in Boston. 
 
 Our humble family early embraced the Reformed 
 religion. Our forefathers continued Protestants 
 through the reign of Mary, when they were some 
 times in danger of persecution on account of their 
 zeal against popery. They had an English Bible, 
 "and to conceal it, and place it in safety, it was fast 
 ened open with tapes under and within the cover of 
 a joint-stool. When my great-grandfather wished 
 to read it to his family, he placed the joint-stool on 
 his knees, and then turned over, the leaves under the 
 tapes. One of the children stood at the door to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 9 
 
 give notice if lie saw the apparitor corning, who was 
 an officer of the spiritual court. In that case the 
 stool was turned down again upon its feet, when 
 the Bible remained concealed under it as before. 
 This anecdote I had from Uncle Benjamin. The 
 family continued all of the Church of England till 
 about the end of Charles the Second s reign, when 
 some of the ministers that had been outed for their 
 n on -conformity holding conventicles in Northamp 
 tonshire, my Uncle Benjamin and Father Josiah ad 
 hered to them, and so continued all their lives : the 
 rest of the family remained with the Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 My father married young, and carried his wife 
 with three children to New England, about 168-5. 
 The conventicles being at that time forbidden by 
 law, and frequently disturbed in their meetings, some 
 considerable men of his acquaintance determined to 
 go to that country, and Jbe. was prevailed with to ac 
 company them thither, where they expected to enjoy 
 the exercise of their religion with freedom. By the * 
 same wife my father had four children more born 
 there, and by a second wife ten others, in all seven 
 teen ; of whom I remember to have seen thirteen 
 sitting together at his table, who all grew up to years 
 of maturity, and were married ; I was the youngest 
 son, and the youngest of all the children except two 
 daughters. I was born in Boston, in New England.* 
 
 * The public Register of Births in Boston, still preserved, dates Dr. 
 Franklin s with January Gth, 1706. This is Old Style, and, according to 
 our present calendar, is the same as January 17th. It appears by the 
 
1C LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 
 
 My mother, the second wife of my father, was Abiah 
 Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first set 
 tlers of New England, of whom honorable mention 
 is made by Cotton Mather, in his ecclesiastical his 
 tory of that country, entitled Magnolia Christi Amer 
 icana, as " a godly and learned Englishman," if I 
 remember the words rightly. I was informed he 
 wrote several small occasional works, but only one 
 of them was printed, which I remember to have seen 
 several years since. It was written in 1675. It 
 was in familiar verse, according to the taste of the 
 times and people, and addressed to the government 
 there. It asserts the liberty of conscience in behalf 
 of the Anabaptists, the Quakers, and other sectaries 
 that had been persecuted. He attributes to this per 
 secution the Indian wars, and other calamities that 
 had befallen the country, regarding them as so 
 many judgments of sGod to punish so heinous an 
 offense, and exhorting the repeal of those laws, so 
 contrary to charity. This piece appeared to me as 
 written with manly freedom and a pleasing simplicity. 
 The last six lines I remember, but have forgotten the 
 preceding ones of the stanza; the purport of them 
 was, that his censures proceeded from good-will, and, 
 therefore he would be known to be the author. 
 
 " Because to be a libeler (said he) 
 I hate it with my heart ; 
 
 record of the Old South Church, opposite which building his father then 
 lived, that he was baptized the same day. The early years of Franklin 
 were spent in a house corner of Hanover and Union streets, to which his 
 father removed shortly after his birth. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 11 
 
 From Sherburne* town, where now I dwell, 
 
 My name I do put here ; 
 Without offense your real friend, 
 
 It is Peter Folger."t 
 
 My elder brothers were all put apprentices to dif 
 ferent trades. I was put to the grammar-school at 
 eight years of age, my father intending to devote 
 me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the 
 Church. My early readiness in learning to read 
 (which must have been very early, as I do not re 
 member when I could not read), and the opinion of 
 all my friends, that I should certainly make a good 
 scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his. My 
 Uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed 
 to give me his short-hand volumes of sermons to set 
 up with, if I would learn his short-hand. I continued, 
 however at the grammar-school rather less than a 
 year, though in that time I had risen gradually from 
 the middle of the class of that year to be at the head 
 of the same class, and was removed into the next 
 class, whence I was to be placed in the third at 
 the end of the year. But my father, burdened with 
 a numerous family, was unable, without inconven 
 ience, to support the expense of a college education ; 
 
 * Sherburne, in the island of Nantucket 
 
 f The pamphlet is well described by the doctor. It was entitled " A 
 Looking-glass for the Times; or, the Former Spirit of New England 
 revived in this Generation." The preceding- lines of the stanza tfo* * 
 quoted are : 
 
 " I am for peace, and not for war, 
 
 And that s the reason why 
 I write more plain than some men do 
 
 That use to daub and lie. 
 But I shall cease, and set my name 
 To what I here insert," &c. 
 
12 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 considering, moreover, as he said to one of his 
 friends in my presence, the little encouragement 
 that line of life afforded to those educated for it, he 
 gave up his first intentions, took me from the gram 
 mar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and 
 arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. George 
 Brownwell. He was a skillful master, and success 
 ful in his profession, employing the mildest and most 
 encouraging methods. Under him I learned to write 
 a good hand pretty soon, but failed entirely in arith 
 metic. At ten years old I was taken to help my 
 
 father in his business, which was that of a tallow- 
 chandler and soap-boiler ; a business to which he was 
 not bred, but had assumed on his arrival in New 
 England, because he found that his dyeing trade, 
 being in little request, would not maintain his family. 
 Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wicks for 
 the candles, filling the molds for cast candles, attend 
 ing the shop, going of errands, &c. 
 
 I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 13 
 
 to go to sea, but my father declared against it; but, 
 residing near the water, I was much in it and on it, 
 I learned to swim well, and to manage boats ; and 
 when embarked with other boys, I was commonly 
 allowed to govern, especially in any case of diffi 
 culty ; and upon other occasions I was generally the 
 leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into 
 scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it 
 shows an early projecting public spirit, though not 
 then justly conducted. 
 
 There was a salt-marsh which bounded part of 
 the mill-pond, 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 
 
 proposal was to build a wharf there for us to stand 
 upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap o! 
 stones, which were intended for a new house neai 
 
14 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the marsh, and which would very well suit our pur 
 pose. Accordingly, in the evening, when the work 
 men were gone home, I assembled a number of my 
 play-fellows, and we worked diligently like so many 
 emmets, sometimes two or three to a stone, till we 
 had brought them all to make our little wharf. The 
 next morning the workmen were surprised at miss 
 ing the stones which formed our wharf. Inquiry was 
 made after the authors of this transfer; we were 
 discovered, complained of, and corrected by our 
 fathers ; and, though I demonstrated the utility oy 
 our work, mine convinced me that that which was 
 
 not honest could not be truly useful. 
 
 / 
 
 I suppose you may like to know what kind/of a 
 man my father was. He had an excellent consti 
 tution, was of a middle stature, well set, and very 
 strong : he could draw prettily, and was skilled* a little 
 in music ; his voice was sonorous and agreeable, so 
 that when he played on his violin and surfg withal, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 15 
 
 as he was accustomed to do after the business of 
 the day was over, it was extremely agreeable to 
 hear. He had some knowledge of mechanics, and, 
 on occasion, was very handyAvith other tradesmen s 
 tools ; but his great excellence was his sound under 
 standing and solid judgjrfent in prudential matters, 
 both in private and jfublic affairs. It is true, he 
 was never employed \ in the latter, the numerous 
 family he had to educate and the straitness of his 
 circumstances keeping him close to his trade : but 
 I remember well his being frequently visited by lead 
 ing men, who consulted him for his opinion in pub 
 lic affairs, and those of the church he belonged to, 
 and who showed a great respect for his judgment and 
 advice : he was also much consulted by private per 
 sons about. their affairs when any difficulty occurred, 
 and frequently chosen an arbitrator between con 
 tending parties. At his table he liked to have, as 
 often as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor 
 to converse with, and always took care to start some 
 ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might 
 tend to improve the minds of his children. By this 
 means he turned our attention to what was good, 
 just, and prudent in the conduct of life ; and little 
 or no notice was ever taken of what related to the 
 victuals on the table, whether it was well or ill dress 
 ed, in or out of season, of good or bad flavor, pref 
 erable or inferior to this or that other thing of the 
 kind, so that I was brought up in such a perfect in 
 attention to those matters as to be quite indifferent 
 what kind of food was set before me. Indeed, 
 
16 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 I am so unobservant of it, that to this day I can 
 scarce tell a few hours after dinner of what dishes 
 it consisted. This has been a great convenience to 
 me in traveling, where my companions have been 
 sometimes very unhappy for want of a suitable grati 
 fication of their more delicate, because better in 
 structed, tastes and appe;ites 
 
 My mother had likewise an excellent constitu 
 tion: she suckled all her ten children. I never 
 knew either my father or mother to have any sick 
 ness but that of which they died, he at 89, and she 
 at 85 years of age. They lie buried together at: 
 Boston, where I some years since placed a marble 
 over their grave, with this inscription : 
 
 JOSIAH FRANKLIN, 
 
 and 
 
 ABIAH his wife, 
 
 lie here interred. 
 
 They lived lovingly together in wedlock 
 
 fifty-five years. 
 
 And without an estate, or any gainful employment. 
 By constant labor and honest industry, 
 
 (with God s blessing), 
 maintained a large family comfortably, 
 and brought up thirteen children and seven grand 
 children reputably. 
 From this instance, reader, 
 Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, 
 
 And distrust not Providence. 
 
 He was a pious and prudent man ; 
 
 She a discreet and virtuous woman. 
 
 Their youngest son, 
 In filial regard to their memory, 
 
 Places this stone. 
 
 J. F. born 1655, died 1744, ^Etat 89. 
 A.F. born 1667, died 1752, .-Etat 85.* 
 
 * In 1827, by the voluntary contributions of a large number of citizen? 
 
LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 17 
 
 By my rambling digressions, I perceive myself to 
 be grown old. I used to write more methodically. 
 But one does not dress for private company as for 
 a public ball. Perhaps it is only negligence. 
 
 To return : 1 continued thus employed in my 
 father s business for two years, that is, till I was 
 twelve years old ; and my brother John,, who was 
 bred to that business, having left my father, married, 
 and set up for himself at Rhode Island, there was 
 every appearance that I was destined to supply his 
 place, and become a tallow-chandler. But my dis 
 like to the trade continuing, my father had appre 
 hensions that if he did not put me to one more 
 agreeable, I should break loose and go to sea, as my 
 brother Josiah had done, to his great vexation. In 
 consequence, he took me to walk with him, and see 
 
 of Boston, an obelisk of granite, twenty-one feet high, resting on a base 
 two feet high, was placed over the grave of the parents of Franklin ia 
 the cemetery, General H. A. S. Dearborn pronouncing an appropriate ad 
 dress. On one side is the word FRANKLIN in large bronze letters, and 
 beneath it is a bronze tablet, on which Dr. Franklin s original epitaph is 
 inscribed. Beneath that are the .following lines : 
 
 " The marble tablet 
 
 Bearing the above inscription 
 
 Having been dilapidated by the ravages of time, 
 
 A number of citizens, 
 
 Entertaining the most profound veneration 
 
 For the memory of the illustrious 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, 
 
 And desirous of reminding succeeding generations 
 
 That he was born in Boston, A.D. MDCCVI., 
 
 Erected this 
 
 Obelisk 
 Over the graves of his parents. 
 
 MDCCCXXVIT." 
 B 
 
18 LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 
 
 joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, &c., at their 
 work, that he might observe my inclination, and 
 endeavor to fix it on some trade or profession that 
 would keep me on land. It has ever since been a 
 pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their 
 tools ; and it has been often useful to me to have 
 learned so much by it as to be able to do some trifling 
 jobs in the house when a workman was not at hand, 
 and to construct little machines for my experiments, 
 at the moment when the intention of making them 
 was warm in my mind. My father determined at 
 last for the cutler s trade, and placed me for some 
 days on trial with Samuel, son to my Uncle Benja 
 min, who was bred to that trade in London, and 
 had just established himself in Boston. But the 
 sum he exacted as a fee for my apprenticeship dis 
 pleased my father, and I was taken home again. 
 
 From my infancy I was passionately fond of read 
 ing, and all the money that came into my hands 
 was laid out in the purchasing of books. I was 
 very fond of voyages. My first acquisition was 
 Bunyan s works in separate little volumes. I after 
 ward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton s 
 Historical Collections; they were small chapmen s 
 books, and cheap, 40 volumes in all. My father s 
 little library consisted chiefly of books in polemic 
 divinity, most of which I read. I have often regret 
 ted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for 
 knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my 
 way, since it was resolved I should not be bred to 
 divinity. There was among them Plutarch s Lives, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 19 
 
 which I read abundantly, and I still think that time 
 spent to great advantage. There was also a book 
 of De Foe s, called an Essay on Projects, and an 
 other of Dr. Mather s, called an Essay to do Good, 
 which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had 
 an influence on some of the principal future events 
 of my life. 
 
 This bookish inclination at length determined my 
 father to make me a printer, though he had already 
 one son (James) of that profession. In 1717 my 
 brother James returned from England with a press 
 and letters to set up his business in Boston. I liked 
 it much better than that of my father, but still had a 
 hankering for the sea. To prevent the apprehend 
 ed effect of such an inclination, my father was im 
 patient to have me bound to my brother. I stood 
 out some time, but at last was persuaded, and sign 
 ed the indentures when I was yet but twelve years 
 old. I was to serve as an apprentice till I was 
 twenty-one years of age, only I was to be allowed 
 journeyman s wages during the last year. In a lit 
 tle time I made a great progress in the business, and 
 became a useful hand to my brother. I had now 
 access to better books. An acquaintance with the 
 apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to 
 borrow a small one, which I was careful to return 
 soon and clean. Often I sat up in my chamber the 
 greatest part of the night, when the book was bor 
 rowed in the evening to be returned in the morning, 
 lest it should be found missing. 
 
 After some time a merchant, an ingenious, sen si- 
 
20 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ble man, Mr. Matthew Adams, who had a pretty 
 collection of books, frequented our printing-office, 
 took notice of me, and invited me to see his library, 
 
 and very kindly proposed to lend me such books as 
 I chose to read. I now took a strong inclination 
 
 a 
 
 for poetry, and wrote some little pieces ; my brother, 
 supposing it might turn to account, encouraged me, 
 and induced me to compose two occasional ballads. 
 One was called The Lighthouse Tragedy, and con 
 tained an account of the shipwreck of Captain 
 Worthilake, with his two daughters : the other was 
 a sailor s song, on the taking of the famous Teach 
 (or Blackbeard) the pirate. They were wretched 
 stuff, in street-ballad style; and when they were 
 printed, my brother sent me about the town to sell 
 them. The first sold prodigiously, the event be 
 ing recent, and having made a great noise. This 
 success flattered my vanity ; but my father dis 
 couraged me by criticizing my performances, and 
 telling me verse-makers were generally beggars. 
 Thus I escaped being a poet, and probably a very 
 
LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 21 
 
 bad one : but as prose writing has been of great use 
 to me in the course of my life, and was a principal 
 means of my advancement, I shall tell you how, in 
 such a situation, I acquired what little ability I may 
 be supposed to have in that way. 
 
 There was another bookish lad in the town, John 
 Collins by name, with whom I was intimately ac 
 quainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond 
 we were of argument, and very desirous of confuting 
 one another, which disputatious turn, by-the-way, 
 is apt to become a very bad habit, making people 
 often extremely disagreeable in company by the 
 contradiction that is necessary to bring it into prac 
 tice ; and thence, besides souring and spoiling the 
 conversation, it is productive of disgusts and, per 
 haps, enmities with those who may have occasion 
 for friendship. I had caught this by reading my 
 father s books of disputes on religion. Persons of 
 good sense, I have since observed, seldom fall into 
 it, except lawyers, university men, and, generally, 
 men of all sorts who have been bred at Edin 
 burgh. 
 
 A question was once, some how or other, started 
 between Collins and me, on the propriety of educa 
 ting the female sex in learning, and their abilities for 
 study. lie was of opinion that it was improper, and 
 that they were naturally unequal to it. I took the con 
 trary side, perhaps a little for dispute s sake. He 
 was naturally more eloquent, having a greater plenty 
 of words ; and sometimes, as I thought, I was van 
 quished more by his fluency than by the strength 
 
22 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 of his reasons. As we parted without settling the 
 point, and were not to see one another again for 
 some time, I sat down to put my arguments in 
 writing, which I copied fair and sent to him. He 
 answered, and I replied. Three or four letters on 
 a side had passed, when my father happened to find 
 my papers and read them. Without entering into 
 the subject in dispute, he took occasion to talk to 
 me about my manner of writing; observed that, 
 though I had the advantage of my antagonist in 
 correct spelling and pointing (which he attributed to 
 the printing-house), I fell far short in elegance of ex 
 pression, in method, and in perspicuity, of which he 
 convinced me by several instances. I saw the jus 
 tice of his remarks, and thence grew more attentive 
 to my manner of writing, and determined to en 
 deavor to improve my style. 
 
 About this time I met with an odd volume of the 
 Spectator. I had never before seen any of them. 
 1 bought it, read it over and over, and was much de 
 lighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, 
 and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With that 
 view 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 complete the papers again, by express 
 ing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as 
 it had been expressed before, in any suitable words 
 that should occur to me. Then I compared my 
 Spectator with the original, discovered some of my 
 faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 23 
 
 a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and 
 using them, which I thought I should have acquired 
 before that time if I had gone on making verses ; 
 since the continual search for words of the same im 
 port, but of different length, to suit the measure, or 
 of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid 
 me under a constant necessity of searching for 
 variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in 
 Qiy mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I 
 took some of the tales in the Spectator, and turned 
 them into verse ; and, after a time, when I had pretty 
 well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. 
 I also sometimes jumbled my collection of hints into 
 confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to re 
 duce them into the best order, before I began to 
 form the full sentences and complete the subject. 
 This was to teach me method in the arrangement 
 of the thoughts. By comparing my work with the 
 original, I discovered many faults and corrected 
 them ; but I sometimes had the pleasure to fancy 
 that, in particulars of small consequence, I had been 
 fortunate enough to improve the method or the lan 
 guage, and this encouraged me to think that I might 
 in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of 
 which I was extremely ambitious. The time I al 
 lotted for writing exercises and for reading was at 
 night, or before work began in the morning, or on 
 
 o o ~ 7 
 
 Sundays, when I contrived to be in the printing- 
 house, avoiding as much as I could the constant at 
 tendance at public worship which my father used to 
 exact from me when I was under his care, and which 
 
24 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 I still continued to consider as a duty, though I could 
 not afford time to practice it. 
 
 When about sixteen years of age I happened to 
 meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recom 
 mending a vegetable diet. I determined to go 
 into it. My brother, being yet unmarried, did not 
 keep house, but boarded himself and his appren 
 tices in another family. My refusing to eat flesh 
 occasioned an inconvenience, and I was frequently 
 chid for my singularity. I made myself acquaint 
 ed with Tryon s manner of preparing some of his 
 dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making has 
 ty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to 
 my brother that if he would give me, weekly, half the 
 money he paid for my board, I would board myself. 
 He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that 
 I could save half what he paid me. This was an 
 additional fund for buying of books. But I had an 
 other advantage in it. My brother and the rest go 
 ing from the printing-house to their meals, I remain 
 ed 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, I had the 
 rest of the time till their return for study, in which 
 I made the greater progress, from that clearness of 
 head and quicker apprehension which generally at 
 tend 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 learning when at school, I took Cocker s 
 
IIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 25 
 
 book on Arithmetic, and went through the whole by 
 myself with the greatest ease. I also read Seller s 
 and Sturny s book on Navigation, which made me 
 acquainted with the little geometry it contained ; 
 but I never proceeded far in that science. I read 
 about this time Locke on the Human Understanding, 
 and the Art of Thinking, by Messrs, du Port Royal. 
 
 While I was intent on improving my language, 1 
 met with an English grammar (I think it was Green 
 wood s) having at the end of it two little sketches 
 on the arts of rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing 
 with a dispute in the Socratic method; and soon 
 after I procured Xenophon s Memorable Things of 
 Socrates, wherein there are many examples of the 
 
2(5 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 same method. I was charmed with it, adopted it, 
 dropped my abrupt contradiction and positive ar 
 gumentation, and put on the humble inquirer ; and 
 being then, from reading Shaftesbury and Collins, 
 made a doubter, as I already was in many points of 
 our religious doctrines, I found this method the safest 
 for myself and very embarrassing to those against 
 whom I used it ; therefore I took delight in it, prac 
 ticed it continually, and grew very artful and expert 
 in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into 
 concessions, the consequences of which they did not 
 foresee, entangling them in difficulties out of which 
 they could not extricate themselves, and so obtain 
 ing victories that neither myself nor my cause al 
 ways deserved. I continued this method some few 
 years, but gradually left it, retaining only the habit 
 of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence ; 
 never using, when I advanced any thing that might 
 possibly be disputed, the words certainly, undoubted 
 ly, or any others that gave the air of positiveness to 
 an opinion ; but rather said, / conceive or apprehend 
 a thing to be so and so ; it appears to me, or I should 
 not think it so or so, for such and such reasons ; or 1 
 imagine it to be so ; or it is so, if I am not mistaken. 
 This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to 
 me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opin 
 ions, and persuade men into measures that I have 
 been from time to time engaged in promoting; and, 
 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 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 27 
 
 power of doing good by a positive, assuming man 
 ner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create op 
 position, and to defeat most of those purposes for 
 which speech was given to us. 
 
 In fact, if you wish to instruct others, a positive and 
 dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments 
 may occasion opposition and prevent a candid atten 
 tion. 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 sel 
 dom expect to please your hearers, or 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." 
 
 And he might have joined with this line tha 
 which he has coupled with another, I think, less 
 properly, 
 
 " For want of modesty is want of sense." 
 
 If you ask, Why less properly? I must repeat the 
 lines, 
 
 " Immodest words admit of no defense, 
 For want of modesty is want of sense." 
 
 Now, is not the want of sense (where a man is so un 
 fortunate as to want it) some apology for his want 
 of modesty ? and would not the lines stand more 
 justly thus 1 
 
28 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 " Immodest words admit but this defense, 
 That want of modesty is want of sense." 
 
 This, however, I should submit to better judgments. 
 
 My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a 
 newspaper. It was the second that appeared in 
 America, and was called the New England C our ant. 
 The only one before it was the Boston News-Letter. 
 T remember his being dissuaded by some of his 
 friends from the undertaking, as not likely to suc 
 ceed, one newspaper being, in their judgment, 
 enough for America.* At this time (1771) there 
 are not less than five-and-twenty. He went on, 
 however, with the undertaking. I was employed to 
 carry the papers to the customers after having 
 worked in composing the types and printing off the 
 sheets. 
 
 He had some ingenious men among his friends, 
 who amused themselves by writing little pieces for 
 this paper, which gained it credit and made it more 
 in demand, and these gentlemen often visited us. 
 Hearing their conversations, and their accounts of 
 the approbation their papers were received with, I 
 was excited to try my hand among them ; but, being 
 still a boy, and suspecting that my brother would 
 
 * The doctor makes a slight mistake. The second newspaper in Bos 
 ton was " The Boston Gazette," of which, however, his brother was at 
 first printer, and it commenced in 1719. In 1721, on the 7th of August, 
 his brother commenced the New England Courant. He continued it till 
 February llth, 1723, in his own name, when, as stated in the text, that 
 of Benjamin was substituted ; and, although Benjamin removed from Bos 
 ton in a few months after, his name was continued upon the paper until 
 its close in 1727. James moved to Newport, and established the Rhode 
 Island Gazette in 1732, which paper is still in existence. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 29 
 
 object to printing any thing of mine in his paper if 
 he knew it to be mine, I contrived to disguise my 
 hand, and. writing an anonymous paper, put it at 
 night under the door of the printing-house. It was 
 found in the morning, and communicated to his 
 writing friends when they called in as usual. They 
 read it, commented on it in my hearing, and I had 
 die exquisite pleasure of finding it met with their 
 approbation, and that, in their different guesses at 
 the author, none were named but men of some char 
 acter among us for learning arid ingenuity. I sup 
 pose that I was rather lucky in my judges, and that 
 they were not really so very good as I then be 
 lieved them to be.* 
 
 Encouraged, however, by this attempt, I wrote 
 and sent in the same way to the press several 
 other pieces that were equally approved ; and 1 
 kept my secret till all my fund of sense for such 
 performances was exhausted, and then discovered 
 it, when I began to be considered a little more by 
 my brother s acquaintance. However, that did not 
 quite please him, as he thought it tended to make 
 me too vain. This might be one occasion of the 
 differences we began to have about this time. 
 Though a brother, he -considered himself as my 
 master, and me as his apprentice, and, accordingly, 
 expected the same services from me as he would 
 from another, while I thought he degraded me too 
 much in some he required of me, who from a brother 
 expected more indulgence. Our disputes were often 
 
 * Vide Frontispiece. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 brought before our father, and I fancy I was either 
 generally in the right, or else a better pleader, be 
 cause the judgment was generally in my favor. But 
 my brother was passionate, and had often beaten 
 me, which I took extremely amiss; and, thinking my 
 
 apprenticeship very tedious, I was continually wish 
 ing for some opportunity of shortening it, which at 
 length offered in a manner unexpected. Perhaps 
 the harsh and tyrannical treatment of me might be 
 a means of impressing me with the aversion to ar 
 bitrary power that has stuck to me through my 
 whole life. 
 
 One of the pieces in our newspaper on some po 
 litical point, which I have now forgotten, gave of 
 fense to the Assembly. He was taken up, censured, 
 and imprisoned for a month, by the speaker s war 
 rant, I suppose, because he would not discover the 
 author. I too was taken up and examined before 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 3l 
 
 the council ; but, though I did not give them any 
 satisfaction, they contented themselves with ad 
 monishing me, and dismissed me, considering me, 
 perhaps, as an apprentice, who was bound to keep 
 his master s secrets. 
 
 During my brother s confinement, which I resented 
 a good deal, notwithstanding our private differences, 
 I had the management of the paper ; and I made bold 
 to give our rulers some rubs in it, which my brother 
 took very kindly, while others began to consider me 
 in an unfavorable light, as a youth that had a turn 
 for libeling and satire. My brother s discharge was 
 accompanied with an order (and a very odd one), 
 that "James Franklin should no longer print the 
 newspaper called the New England Courant." 
 
 On a consultation held in our printing-office among 
 his friends, what he should do in this conjuncture, it 
 was proposed to elude the order by changing the 
 name of the paper ; but my brother, seeing incon 
 veniences in this, came to a conclusion, as a better 
 way, to let the paper in future be printed in the 
 name of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN; and in order to avoid 
 the censure of the Assembly, that might fall on him 
 as still printing it by his apprentice, he contrived and 
 consented that my old indenture should be returned 
 to me, with a discharge on the back of it, to show 
 in case of necessity ; and, in order to secure to him 
 the benefit of my service, I should sign new inden 
 tures for the remainder of my time, which was to 
 be kept private. A very flimsy scheme it was ; how 
 ever, it was immediately executed, and the paper 
 
32 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 was printed, accordingly, under my name for several 
 months. 
 
 At length, a fresh difference arising between my 
 brother and me, I took upon me to assert my free 
 dom, presuming that he would not venture to pro 
 duce the new indentures. It was not fair in me to 
 take this advantage, and this I therefore reckon as 
 \ one of the first errata of my life ; but the unfairness 
 of it weighed little with me, when under the impres 
 sion of resentment for the blows his passion too often 
 urged him to bestow upon me, though he was other 
 wise not an ill-natured man: perhaps I was too saucy 
 and provoking. 
 
 When he found I would leave him, he took care 
 to prevent my getting employment in any other print 
 ing-house of the town, by going round and speak 
 ing to every master, who accordingly refused to give 
 me work. I then thought of going to New York, 
 as the nearest place where there was a printer ; and 
 I was rather inclined to leave Boston when I re 
 flected that I had already made myself a little ob 
 noxious to the governing party, and, from the arbi 
 trary 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 point 
 ed at with horror by good people as an infidel and 
 atheist. I concluded, therefore, to remove to New 
 York; but rny father now siding with my brother, 
 I was sensible that, if 1 attempted to go openly, 
 means would be used to prevent me. My friend 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 33 
 
 Collins, therefore, undertook to manage my flight. 
 
 He agreed with the captain of a New York sloop to 
 take me, under pretense of my being a young man 
 of his acquaintance, that had an intrigue with a girl 
 of bad character, whose parents would compel me 
 to marry her, and that I could neither appear nor 
 come away publicly. I sold my books to raise a 
 little money, was taken on board the sloop privately, 
 
34 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 had a lair wind, and in three days found myself at 
 New York, near three hundred 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. 
 
 The inclination I had had for the sea was by this 
 time done away, or I might now have gratified it. 
 But, having another profession, and conceiving my 
 self a pretty good workman, I offered my services 
 to a printer in the place, old Mr. William Bradford, 
 who had been the first printer in Pennsylvania, but 
 had removed thence in consequence of a quarrel 
 with the governor, George Keith. He could give 
 me no employment, having little to do, and hands 
 enough already ; but he said, " My son at Philadel 
 phia has lately lost his principal hand, Aquila Rose, 
 by death ; if you go thither, I believe he may em 
 ploy you." Philadelphia was one hundred miles 
 further; I set out, however, in a boat for Amboy, 
 leaving my chest and things to follow me round by 
 sea. 
 
 In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that 
 tore our rotten sails to pieces, prevented our getting 
 into the Kill, and drove us upon Long Island. In 
 our way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a passenger 
 too, fell overboard ; when he was sinking, I reach 
 ed through the water to his shock pate, and drew 
 him up, so that we got him in again. His ducking 
 sobered 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 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 35 
 
 author, Banyan s Pilgrim s Progress, in Dutch, fine 
 ly printed on good paper, copper cuts, a dress better 
 than I had ever seen it wear in its own language. 
 I have since found that it has been translated into 
 most of the language? of Europe, and suppose it has 
 been more generally read than any other book, ex 
 cept perhaps the Bible. Honest John was the first 
 that I know of who mixed narration and 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 and present at the 
 conversation. De Foe has imitated him successfully 
 in his Robinson Crusoe, in his Moll Flanders, and 
 other pieces ; and Richardson has done the same in 
 his Pamela, &c. 
 
 On approaching the island, we found it was in a 
 place where there could be no landing, there being 
 a great surge on the stony beach. So we dropped 
 anchor, and swung out our cable toward the shore. 
 Some people came down to the shore, and hallooed 
 to us, as we did to them ; but the wind was so high, 
 and the surge so loud, that we could not understand 
 each other. There were some small boats near the 
 shore, and we made signs, and called to them to 
 fetch us ; but they either did not comprehend us, or 
 it \vas impracticable, so they went off. Night ap 
 proaching, we had no remedy but to have patience 
 till the wind abated ; and, in the mean time, the boat 
 man and myself concluded to sleep, if we could; and 
 so we crowded into the hatches, where we joined the 
 Dutchman, who was still wet, and the spray, break- 
 
36 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 ing over the head of our boat, leaked through to us, 
 so that we were soon almost as wet as he. In this 
 manner we lay all night, with very little rest ; but, 
 the wind abating the next day, we made a shift to 
 reach Amboy before night, having been thirty hours 
 on the water, without victuals, or any drink but a 
 nottle of filthy rum, the water we sailed on being 
 salt. 
 
 In the evening I found myself very feverish, and 
 went to bed ; but, having read somewhere that cold 
 water drunk plentifully was good for a fever, I fol 
 lowed the prescription, and sweat plentifully most 
 of the night. My fever left me, and in the morning, 
 crossing the ferry. I proceeded on my journey on 
 foot, having fifty miles to go to Burlington, where I 
 
 was told I should find boats that would oarry me 
 the rest of the way to Philadelphia. 
 
 It rained very hard all the day ; I was thorough 
 y soaked, and by noon a good deal tired; so I 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 37 
 
 stopped at a poor inn, where I stayed all night, be 
 ginning now to wish I had never left home. I made 
 so miserable a figure, too, that I found, by the ques 
 tions asked me, I was suspected to be some runaway 
 indentured servant, and in danger of being taken up 
 on that suspicion. However, I proceeded next day, 
 and got in the evening to an inn, within eight or 
 ten miles of Burlington, kept by one Dr. Brown. 
 He entered into conversation with me while I took 
 some refreshment, and, finding I had read a tittle, 
 became very obliging and friendly. Our acquaint 
 ance continued all the rest of his life. He had 
 been, I imagine, an ambulatory quack doctor, for 
 there was no town in England, nor any country in 
 Europe, of which he could not give a very particu 
 lar account. He had some letters, and was in 
 genious, but he was an infidel, and wickedly under 
 took, some years after, to turn the Bible into dog 
 gerel verse, as Cotton had formerly done with Vir 
 gil. By this means he set many facts in a ridicu 
 lous light, and might have done mischief with weak 
 minds if his work had been published ; but it nevei 
 was. 
 
 At his house I lay that night, and arrived the 
 next morning at Burlington, but had the mortifica 
 tion to find that the regular boats were gone a little 
 before, and no other expected to go before Tuesday, 
 this being Saturday ; wherefore I returned to an 
 old woman in the town, of whom I had bought 
 some gingerbread to eat on the water, and asked 
 her advice. She proposed to lodge me till a passage 
 
,58 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 by some other boat occurred. I accepted her offer 
 being much fatigued by traveling on foot. Under 
 standing I was a printer, she would have had me 
 remain in that town and follow my business, being 
 ignorant what stock was necessary to begin with. 
 She was very hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox- 
 cheek with great good will, accepting only of a Dot of 
 
 ale 111 return; and I thought myself fixed till Tues 
 day should come. However, walking in the even 
 ing by the side of the river, a boat came by, which 
 I found was going toward Philadelphia, with several 
 people in her. They took me in, and, as there was 
 no wind, we rowed all the way ; and about mid 
 night, not having yet seen the city, some of the 
 company were confident we must have passed it, 
 jmd would row no further; the others knew not 
 where we were ; so we put toward the shore, got 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 39 
 
 into a creek, landed near an old fence, with the rails 
 of which we made a fire, the night being cold, in 
 October, and there we remained till daylight. Then 
 one of the company knew the place to be Cooper s 
 Creek, a little above Philadelphia, which we saw as 
 soon as we got out of the creek, and arrived there 
 about eight or nine o clock on the Sunday morning, 
 and landed at Market-street wharf. 
 
 I have been the more particular in this description 
 of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into 
 that city, that you may in your mind compare such 
 unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since 
 made there. I was in my working dress, my best 
 clothes coming round by sea. I was dirty from my 
 being so long in the boat. My pockets were stuff 
 ed 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 in 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 row 
 ed ; but I insisted on their taking it. Man is some 
 times more generous when he has little money than 
 when he has plenty, perhaps to prevent his being 
 thought to have but little. 
 
40 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 I WALKED toward the top of the street, gazing 
 about till near Market-street, where I met a boy 
 with bread. I had often made a meal of dry bread, 
 and, inquiring where he had bought it, I went im 
 mediately to the baker s he directed me to. I ask 
 ed for biscuits, meaning such as we had at Boston ; 
 that sort, it seems, was not made in Philadelphia. 
 I then asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told 
 they had none. Not knowing the different prices, 
 nor the names of the different sorts of bread, I told 
 him to give me three-penny worth of any sort. He 
 gave me, accordingly, 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 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 43 
 
 Market-street as far as Fourth-street, passing 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, ridiculo us 
 appearance. Then I turned and went down Ches 
 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, tc 
 which I went for a draught of the river water ; and, 
 being filled with one of my rolls, gave the other two 
 to a woman and her child that came down the rive; 
 in the boat with us, and were waiting to go further 
 Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street 
 which by this time had many clean-dressed people 
 
44 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 in it, who were all walking the same way. I join 
 ed them, and thereby was led into the great meeting 
 house of the Quakers near the market. I sat down 
 among them, and, after looking round a while and 
 hearing nothing said, being very drowsy through 
 labor and 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. 
 
 I then walked down toward the river, and, looking 
 in the faces of every one, I met a young Quaker 
 man, whose countenance pleased me, and, accost 
 ing him, requested he would tell me where a stranger 
 could get a lodging. We were then near the sign 
 of the Three Mariners. "Here," said he, "is a 
 house where they receive strangers, but it is not a 
 reputable one ; if thee wilt walk with me, I ll show 
 thee a better one;" and he conducted me to the 
 Crooked Billet in Water-street There I got a 
 dinner; and, while I was eating, several questions 
 were asked me, as, from my youth and appearance, 
 I was suspected of being a runaway. 
 
 After dinner, my host having shown me to a bed, 
 I laid myself on it without undressing, and slept till 
 six in the evening, when I was called to supper. I 
 went to bed again very early, and slept very soundly 
 till next morning. Then I dressed myself as neat as 
 I could, and went to Andrew Bradford the printer s. 
 I found in the shop the old man his father, whom I 
 had seen at New York, and who, traveling on horse- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 45 
 
 back, iiad got to Philadelphia before me. He in 
 troduced me to his SOD, who received me civilly, 
 gave me a breakfast, but told me he did not at pres 
 ent want a hand, being lately supplied with one; 
 but there was another printer in town, lately set up, 
 one Keimer, who, perhaps, might employ me ; if not, 
 I should be welcome to lodge at his house, and he 
 would give me a little work to do now and then till 
 fuller business should offer. 
 
 The old gentleman said he would go with me to 
 the new printer ; and when we found him, " Neigh 
 bor," said Bradford, "I have brought to see you a 
 young man of your business ; perhaps you may want 
 such a one." He asked me a few questions, put a 
 composing stick in my hand to see how I worked, 
 and then said he would employ me soon, though he 
 had just then nothing for me to do ; and, taking 
 old Bradford, whom he had never seen before, to 
 
46 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 be one of the town s people that had a good will 
 for him, entered into a conversation on his present 
 undertaking and prospects ; while Bradford, not dis 
 covering that he was the other printer s father, on 
 Keimer s saying he expected sooato get the greatest 
 part of the business into his own hands, drew him 
 on by artful questions, and starting little doubts, to 
 explain all his views, what influence he relied on, 
 and in what manner he intended to proceed. I, who 
 stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one 
 was a crafty old sophister, and the other a true nov 
 ice. Bradford left me with Keimer, who was great 
 ly surprised when I told him who the old man was. 
 The printing-house, I found, consisted of an old, 
 damaged press, and a small, worn-out font of En 
 glish types, which he was using himself, composing 
 an Elegy on Aquila Rose, before mentioned, an in 
 genious young man, of excellent character, much re 
 spected in the town, secretary to the Assembly, and 
 a pretty poet Keimer made verses too, but very 
 indifferently. He could not be said to write them, 
 for his method was to compose them in the types 
 directly out of his head. There being no copy, but 
 one pair of cases, and the Elegy probably requiring 
 all the letter, no one could help him. I endeavored 
 to put his press (which he had not yet used, and 
 of whfch he understood nothing) into order to be 
 worked with ; and, promising to come and print off 
 his Elegy as soon as he should have got it ready, I 
 returned to Bradford s, who gave me a little job to 
 do for the present, and there I lodged and dieted 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 47 
 
 A few days after, Keimer sent for me to print off 
 the Elegy. And now he had got another pair of 
 cases, and a pamphlet to reprint, on which he set 
 me to work. 
 
 These two printers I found poorly qualified for 
 their business. Bradford had not been bred to it, 
 and was very illiterate ; and Keimer, though some 
 thing of a scholar, was a mere compositor, knowing 
 nothing of presswork. He had been one of the 
 French prophets, and could act their enthusiastic 
 agitations. At this time he did not profess any par 
 ticular religion, but something of all on occasion ; was 
 very ignorant of the world, and had, as I afterward 
 found, a good deal of the knave in his composition 
 He did not like my lodging at Bradford s while ] 
 worked with him. He had a house, indeed, but 
 without furniture, so he could not lodge me ; but he 
 got me a lodging at Mr. Read s, before mentioned, 
 who was the owner of his house ; and, my chest of 
 clothes being come by this time, I made rather a 
 more respectable appearance in the eyes of Miss 
 Read than I had done when she first happened to 
 see me eating my roll in the street. 
 
 I began now to have some acquaintance among 
 the young people of the town, that were lovers of 
 reading, with whom I spent my evenings very ple.as- 
 antly ; and gained money by my industry and fru- 
 gality. I lived very contented, and forgot Boston 
 as much as I could, and did not wish it should be 
 known where I resided, except to my friend Collins, 
 who was in the secret, and kept it faithfully. At 
 
48 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 length, however, an incident happened that occa 
 sioned my return home much sooner than I had in 
 tended. I had a brother-in-law, Robert Holmes, 
 master of a sloop that traded between Boston and 
 Delaware. He being at Newcastle, forty miles 
 below Philadelphia, and hearing of me, wrote me 
 a letter mentioning the grief of my relations and 
 friends in Boston at my abrupt departure, assuring 
 me of their good will to me, and that every thing 
 would be accommodated to my mind if I would re 
 turn, to which he entreated me earnestly. I wrote 
 an answer to his letter, thanked him for his advice, 
 but stated my reasons for quitting Boston so fullj 
 and in such a light as to convince him that I was 
 not so much in the wrong as he had apprehended. 
 
 Sir William Keith, governor of the province, was 
 then at Newcastle, and Captain Holmes, happening 
 to be in company with him when my letter came to 
 hand, spoke to him of me, and showed him the let 
 ter. The governor read it, and seemed surprised 
 when he was told my age. He said I appeared a 
 young man of promising parts, and therefore should 
 be encouraged ; the printers at Philadelphia were 
 wretched ones; and, if I would set up there, he made 
 no doubt I should succeed ; for his part, he would 
 procure me the public business, and do me every 
 other service in his power. This my brother-in- 
 law Holmes afterward told me in Boston, but I knew 
 as yet nothing of it ; when, one day, Keimer and I 
 being at work together near the window, we saw 
 the governor and another gentleman (who proved to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 49 
 
 be Colonel French, of Newcastle, in the province of 
 Delaware), finely dressed, come directly across the 
 street to our house, and heard them at the door. 
 
 Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it a visit 
 to him; but the governor inquired for me, came up, 
 and with a condescension and politeness I had been 
 quite unused to, made me :nany compliments, de 
 sired to be acquainted with me, blamed me kindly 
 for not having made myself known to him when I 
 first came to the place, and would have me away 
 with him to the tavern, where he was going with 
 Colonel French to taste, as he said, some excellent 
 Madeira. I was not a little surprised, and Keimer 
 stared with astonishment I went, however, with 
 the governor and Colonel French to a tavern, at the 
 corner of Third-street, and over the Madeira he pro 
 posed my setting up my business. He stated the 
 probabilities of my success, and both he and Colo 
 nel French assured me I should have their interest 
 and influence to obtain for me the public business 
 of both governments ; and as I expressed doubts 
 that my father would assist me in it, Sir William 
 said he would give me a letter to him, in which he 
 would set forth the advantages, and he did not doubt 
 he should determine him to comply. So it was 
 concluded I should return to Boston by the first ves 
 sel, with the governor s letter to my father. In the 
 mean time it was to be kept a secret, and I went on 
 working with Keimer as usual. The governor sent 
 for me now and then to dine with him, which I 
 
 considered a great honor, more particularly as he 
 
 D 
 
50 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 conversed with me in a most affable, familiar, and 
 friendly manner. 
 
 About the end of April, 1724, a little vessel offer 
 ed for Boston. I took leave of Keimer as going to 
 see my friends. Tb.e governor gave me an ample 
 letter, saying many flattering things of me to my 
 father, and strongly recommending the project of 
 my setting up at Philadelphia as a thing that would 
 make my fortune. We struck on a shoal in going 
 down the bay, and sprung a leak ; we had a bluster 
 ing time at sea, and were obliged to pump almost 
 continually, at which I took my turn. We arrived 
 safe, however, at Boston in about a fortnight. I 
 had been absent about seven months, and my friends 
 had heard nothing of me ; for my brother Holmes 
 was not yet returned, and had not written about me. 
 My unexpected appearance surprised the family ; all 
 were, however, very glad to see me, and made me 
 welcome, except my brother. I went to see him at 
 his printing-house. I was better dressed than ever 
 while in his service, having a genteel new suit from 
 head to foot, a watch, and my pockets lined with 
 near five pounds sterling in silver. He received me 
 not very frankly, looked me all over, and turned to 
 his work again. 
 
 The journeymen were inquisitive where I had 
 been, what sort of a place it was, and how I liked 
 it. I praised it much, and the happy life I led in it, 
 expressing strongly my intention of returning to it ; 
 and, one of them asking what kind of money we 
 had there, I produced a handful of silver, and spread 
 
LIFE OF F R A i\ K L I N, 
 
 5J 
 
 it before them, which was a kind of raree-show they 
 had not been used to, paper being the money of 
 Boston. Then I took an opportunity of letting 
 diem see my watch ; and, lastly (my brother still 
 grum and sullen), gave them a dollar to drink, and 
 took my leave. This visit of mine offended him 
 extremely ; for, when my mother some time after 
 spoke to him of a reconciliation, and of her wish 
 to see us on good terms together, and that we might 
 live for the future as brothers, he said I had insulted 
 him in such a manner before his people that he 
 could never forget or forgive it. In this, however, 
 he was mistaken. 
 
 My father received the governor s letter with some 
 surprise, but said little of it to me for some time. 
 Captain Holmes returning, he showed it to him, and 
 asked him if he knew Sir William Keith, and what 
 kind of man he was ; adding that he must be of 
 
52 LIFE OF F<RANKLIN. 
 
 small discretion to think of setting a youth up in 
 business who wanted three years to arrive at man s 
 estate. Holmes said what he could in favor of the 
 project, but my father was decidedly against it, and 
 at last gave a flat denial. He wrote a civil letter to 
 Sir William, thanking him for the patronage he had 
 so kindly offered me, and declining to assist me as 
 yet in setting up, I being, in his opinion, too young 
 to be trusted with the management of an undertaking 
 so important, and for which the preparation required 
 a considerable expenditure. 
 
 My old companion Collins, who was a clerk in 
 the post-office, pleased with the account I gave him 
 of my new country, determined to go thither also ; 
 and, while I waited for my father s determination, 
 he set out before me by land to Rhode Island, leav 
 ing his books, which were a pretty collection in 
 mathematics and natural philosophy, to come with 
 mine and me to New York, where he proposed to 
 wait for me. 
 
 My father, though he did not approve Sir Will 
 iam s proposition, was yet pleased that I had been 
 able to obtain so advantageous a character from a 
 person of such note where I had resided, and that 
 I had been so industrious and careful as to equip 
 myself so handsomely in so short a time ; therefore, 
 seeing no prospect of an accommodation between 
 my brother and me, he gave his consent to my re 
 turning again to Philadelphia, advised me to behave 
 respectfully to the people there, endeavor to obtain 
 the general esteem, and avoid lampooning and libel- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 53 
 
 ing, to which he thought I had too much inclination ; 
 telling me, that by steady industry and prudent par 
 simony I might save enough by the time I was one- 
 and-twenty to set me up ; and that, if I came near 
 the matter, he would help me out with the rest. 
 This was all I could obtain, except some small gifts 
 as tokens of his and my mother s love, when I em 
 barked again for New York, now with their appro 
 bation and their blessing. 
 
 The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode Island, 
 1 visited my brother John, who had been married 
 and settled there some years. He received me very 
 affectionately, for he always loved me. A friend of 
 his, one Vernon, having some money due to him in 
 Pennsylvania, about thirty-five pounds currency, de 
 sired I would recover it for him, and keep it till I 
 had his directions what to employ it in. Accord 
 ingly, he gave me an order to receive it. This busi 
 ness afterward occasioned me a good deal of uneasi 
 ness. 
 
 At Newport we took in a number of passengers, 
 among whom were two young women traveling to 
 gether, and a sensible, matron-like Quaker lady, with 
 her servants. I had shown an obliging disposition 
 to render her some little services, which probably 
 impressed her with sentiments of good will toward 
 me ; for when she witnessed the daily growing 
 familiarity between the young women and myself, 
 which they appeared to encourage, she took me 
 aside, and said, " Young man, I am concerned for 
 thee, as thou hast no friend with thee, and seems 
 
LIFE OF F HANK LIN. 
 
 aot to know much of the world, or of the snares 
 youth is exposed to ; depend upon it, these are very 
 bad women ; 1 can see it by all their actions ; and 
 if thee 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 acquaintance with them." As I seemed at 
 first not to think so ill of them as she did, she men 
 tioned some things she had observed and 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 NCAY 
 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 miss 
 ed 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 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 55 
 
 the passage, I thought this escape of rather more 
 importance to me. 
 
 At New York I found my friend Collins, who had 
 arrived there some time before me. We had been 
 intimate from children, and had read the same books 
 together; but he had the advantage of more time for 
 reading and studying, and a wonderful genius for 
 mathematical learning, in which he far outstripped 
 me. While I lived in Boston, most of my hours of 
 leisure for conversation were spent with him, and he 
 continued a sober as well as industrious lad ; was 
 much respected for his learning by several of the 
 clergy and other gentlemen, and seemed to promise 
 making a good figure in life. But, during my ab 
 sence, he had acquired a habit of drinking brandy ; 
 and I found by his own account, as well as that of 
 others, that he had been drunk every day since his 
 arrival at New York, and Behaved himself in a very 
 extravagant manner. He had gamed too, and lost 
 his money, so that I was obliged to discharge his 
 lodgings, and defray his expenses on the road and 
 at Philadelphia, which proved a great burden to me. 
 
 The then Governor of New York, Burnet (son of 
 Bishop Burnet), hearing from the captain that one 
 of the passengers had a great many books on board, 
 desired him to bring me to see him. I waited on 
 him, and should have taken Collins with me had he 
 been sober. The governor received me with great 
 civility, showed me his library, which was a consid 
 erable one, and we had a good deal of conversation 
 relative to books and authors. This was the second 
 
56 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 governor who had done me the honor to take notice 
 of me ; and for a poor boy like me, it was very 
 pleasing. 
 
 We proceeded to Philadelphia. Ij received in the 
 way Vernon s money, without which we could hard 
 ly have finished our journey]] Collins wished to be 
 employed in some counting-house ; but, whether they 
 discovered his dram-drinking by his breath, or by his 
 behavior, though he had some recommendations, he 
 met with no success in any application, and con 
 tinued lodging and boarding at the same house with 
 me, and at my expense. Knowing I had that money 
 of Vernon s, he was continually borrowing of me, 
 still promising repayment as soon as he should be 
 in business. At length he had got so much of it 
 that I was distressed to think what I should do in 
 case of being called on to remit it. 
 
 His drinking continued, about which we some 
 times quarreled; for, when a little intoxicated, he 
 was very irritable. Once, in a boat on the Dela- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 57 
 
 ware with some other young men, lie refused to 
 row in his turn. " I will be rowed home," said he. 
 " We will not. row you," said I. " You must," said 
 he, " or stay all night on the water, just as you 
 please." The others said, "Let us row; what signi 
 fies it f But, my mind being soured with his other 
 conduct, I continued to refuse. So he swore he 
 would make me row, or throw me overboard ; and 
 coming along, stepping on the thwarts, toward me, 
 when he came up and struck at me, I clapped my 
 head under his thighs, and, rising, pitched him head 
 foremost into the river. I knew he was a good 
 swimmer, and so was under little concern about 
 him ; but before he could get round to lay hold of 
 the boat, we had with a few strokes pulled her out 
 of his reach ; and whenever he drew near the boat. 
 
 
 we asked bun if he would row, striking a few strokes 
 to slide her away from him. He was ready t& stifle 
 with vexation, and obstinately would not promise to 
 row Finding him at last beginning to tire, we drew 
 
58 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 him into the boat, and brought him home dripping 
 wet. We hardly exchanged a civil word after this 
 adventure. At length a West India captain, who 
 had a commission to procure a preceptor for the 
 sons of a gentleman at Barbadoes, met with him, 
 and proposed to carry him thither to fill that situa 
 tion. He accepted, and promised to remit me what 
 he owed me out of the first money he should re 
 ceive ; but I never heard of him after. 
 
 The violation of my trust respecting Vernon s 
 money was one of the first great errata of my life ; 
 and this showed that my father was not much out 
 in his judgment when he considered me as too 
 young to manage business. But Sir William, on 
 reading his letter, said he was too prudent; that there 
 was a great difference in persons ; and discretion did 
 not always accompany years, nor was youth always 
 without it. " But, since he 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 printer here, 
 and I am sure you must succeed." This was spoken 
 with such an appearance of cordiality, that I had 
 not the least doubt of his meaning what he said. I 
 f had hitherto kept the proposition of my setting up 
 I a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept it. Had it 
 been known that I depended on the governor, prob 
 ably some friend, that knew him better, would have 
 advised me not to rely on him, as I afterward heard 
 it as his known character to be liberal of promises 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 59 
 
 which he never meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as 
 he was by me, how could I think his generous of 
 fers insincere ? I believed him one of the best men 
 in the world. 
 
 I presented him an inventory of a little printing- 
 house, amounting by my computation to about one 
 hundred pounds sterling. He liked it, but asked me 
 if my being on the spot in England to choose the 
 *ypes, and see that every thing was good of the kind, 
 might not be of some advantage. " Then," said he, 
 " when there, you may make acquaintance, and 
 establish correspondences in the bookselling and 
 stationery line." I agreed that this might be ad 
 vantageous. " Then," said he, " get yourself ready 
 to go with Annis ;" which was the annual ship, and 
 the only one at that time usually passing between 
 London and Philadelphia. But as it would be some 
 months before Annis sailed, I continued working 
 with Keimer, fretting extremely about the money 
 Collins had got from me, and in great apprehensions 
 of being called upon for it by Vernon ; this, how 
 ever, did not happen for some years after. 
 
 I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my 
 first voyage from Boston to Philadelphia, being be 
 calmed off Block Island, our crew employed them 
 selves in catching cod, and hauled up a great num 
 ber. Till then, I had stuck to my resolution to eat 
 nothing that had had life; and on this occasion 1 
 considered, according to my master Tryon, the 
 taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, 
 since none of them had, nor could do us any injury 
 
60 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 that might justify this massacre. All this seemed 
 very reasonable. But I had been formerly a great 
 lover of fish, and, when it came out of the frying- 
 pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanced some time 
 between principle and inclination, till recollecting 
 that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish 
 taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, "If 
 you eat one another, I don t see why we may not 
 eat you." So I dined upon cod very heartily, and 
 have since continued to eat as other people, return 
 ing only now and then occasionally to a vegetable 
 diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a reason 
 able creature, since it enables one to find or make 
 a reason for every thing one has a mind to do. 
 
 Keimer and I lived on a pretty good, familiar foot 
 ing, and agreed tolerably well, for he suspected noth 
 ing of my setting up. He retained a great deal of 
 his old enthusiasm, and loved argumentation. We 
 therefore had many disputations. I used to work 
 him so with my Socratic method, and had trepanned 
 him so often by questions apparently so distant from 
 any point we had in hand, yet by degrees leading 
 to the point, and bringing him into difficulties and 
 contradictions, that at last he grew ridiculously cau 
 tious, and would hardly answer me the most com 
 mon question, without asking first, " What do you 
 intend to infer from that V However, it gave him 
 so high an opinion of my abilities in the confuting 
 way, that he seriously proposed my being his col 
 league in a project he had of setting up a new sect. 
 He was to preach the doctrines, and I was to con- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 61 
 
 found all opponents. When lie came to explain with 
 me upon the doctrines, I found several conundrums 
 which I objected to, unless I might have my way a 
 little too, and introduce some of mine. 
 
 Keimer wore his beard at full length, because 
 somewhere in the Mosaic law it is said, " Thou shall 
 not mar the corners of thy beard" He likewise kept 
 the Seventh day, Sabbath ; and these two points 
 were essential with him. I disliked both ; but agreed 
 to them on condition of his adopting the doctrine 
 of not using animal food. " I doubt," said he, " my 
 constitution will not bear it." I assured him it 
 would, and that he would be the better for it. He 
 was usually a great eater, and I wished to give my 
 self some diversion in half starving him. He con 
 sented to try the practice, if I would keep him com 
 pany. I did so, and we held it for three months. 
 Our provisions were purchased, cooked, and brought 
 to us regularly by a woman in the neighborhood, 
 who had from me a list of forty dishes, which she 
 prepared for us at different times, in which there 
 entered neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. This whim 
 suited me the better at this time from the cheapness 
 of it, not costing us above eighteen pence sterling 
 each per week. I have since kept several Lents most 
 strictly, leaving the common diet for that, and that 
 for the common, abruptly, without the least incon 
 venience, so that I think there is little in the ad 
 vice of making those changes by easy gradations. I 
 went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer suffered griev 
 ously, grew tired of the project, longed for the flesh- 
 
62 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 pots of Egypt, and ordered a roast pig. He invited 
 me and two women friends to dine with him ; but, 
 it being brought too soon upon table, he could not 
 resist the temptation, and ate the whole before we 
 
 came. 
 
 I had made some courtship during this time to 
 Miss Read. I had a great respect and affection for 
 
 her, and had some reasons to believe she had the 
 same for me; but, as I was about to take a long 
 voyage, and we were both very young, only a little 
 above eighteen, it was thought most prudent by her 
 mother to prevent our going too far at present, as 
 a marriage, if it was to take place, would be more 
 convenient after my return, when I should be, as I 
 hoped, set up in my business. Perhaps, too, she 
 thought my expectations not so well founded as I 
 imagined them to be. 
 
 My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 63 
 
 Osborne, Joseph Watson, and James Ralph, all 
 lovers of reading;. The two first were clerks to 
 
 a 
 
 an eminent scrivener or conveyancer in the town, 
 Charles Brockden ; the other was a clerk to a mer 
 chant. Watson was a pious, sensible young man, 
 of great integrity ; the others rather more lax in 
 their principles of religion, particularly Ralph, who, 
 as well as Collins, had been unsettled by me, for 
 which they both made me suffer. Osborne was 
 sensible, candid, frank; sincere and affectionate to 
 his friends; but, in literary matters, too fond of criti 
 cism. Ralph was ingenious, genteel in his manners, 
 and extremely eloquent ; I think I never knew a 
 prettier talker. Both were great admirers of poetry, 
 and began to try their hands in little pieces. Many 
 pleasant walks we have had together on Sundays 
 in the woods, on the banks of the Schuylkill, where 
 
 we read to one another, and conferred on what we 
 had read. 
 
 Ralph was inclined to give himself up entirely to 
 
64 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 poetry, not doubting that he might make great pro 
 ficiency in it, and even make his fortune by it. He 
 pretended that the greatest poets must, when they 
 first began to write, have committed as many faults 
 as he did. Osborne endeavored to dissuade him, 
 assured him he had no genius for poetry, and ad 
 vised him to think of nothing beyond the business 
 he was bred to ; that, in the mercantile way, though 
 he had no stock, he might, by his diligence and punc 
 tuality, recommend himself to employment as a factor, 
 and in time acquire wherewith to trade on his own 
 account. I approved, for my part, the amusing one s 
 self with poetry now and then, so far as to improve 
 one s language, but no further. 
 
 On this it was proposed that we should each of us, 
 at our next meeting, produce a piece of our own com 
 posing, in order to improve by our mutual observa 
 tions, criticisms, and corrections. As language and 
 expression were what we had in view we excluded 
 all considerations of invention by agreeing that the 
 task should be a version of the eighteenth Psalm, 
 which describes the descent of a Deity. When the 
 *ime of our meeting drew nigh, Ralph called on me 
 first, and let me know his piece was ready. I told 
 him I had been busy, and, having little inclination, 
 had done nothing. He then showed me his piece 
 for my opinion, and I much approved it, as it ap 
 peared to me to have great merit. " Now," said he, 
 " Osborne never will allow the least merit in any 
 thing of mine, but makes a thousand criticisms out 
 of mere envy. He is not so jealous of you ; I wish. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 65 
 
 therefore, you would take this piece, and produce it 
 as yours ; I will pretend not to have had time, and 
 so produce nothing. We shall then hear what he 
 will say to it." It was agreed, and I immediately 
 transcribed it, that it might appear in my own hand. 
 We met ; Watson s performance was read ; there 
 were some beauties in it, but many defects. Os- 
 borne s was read ; it was much better ; Ralph did it 
 justice; remarked some faults, but applauded the 
 beauties. He himself had 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 some criticisms, and proposed some 
 amendments; but I defended my text. Osborne 
 was severe against Ralph, and told me he was no 
 better able to criticise than compose verses. As 
 these two were returning home, Osborne express 
 ed himself still more strongly in favor of what he 
 thought my production ; having before refrained, as 
 he said, lest I should think he meant to flatter me. 
 ; But who would have imagined," said he, " that 
 Franklin was capable of such a performance ; such 
 painting, such force, such fire ! He has even im 
 proved on the original. In common conversation 
 he seems to have no choice of words ; he hesitates 
 and blunders ; and yet, good God ! how he writes !" 
 When we next met, Ralph discovered the trick we 
 
 had played, and Osborne was laughed at. 
 
 E 
 
66 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolution of 
 becoming a poet. I did all I could to dissuade him 
 from it, but he continued scribbling verses till Pope 
 cured him.* He became, however, a pretty good 
 prose writer. More of him hereafter. But, as 1 
 may not have occasion to mention the other two, I 
 shall just remark here, that Watson died in my arms 
 a few years after, much lamented, being the best of 
 our set. Osborne went to the West Indies, where 
 he became an eminent lawyer and made money, but 
 died young. He and I had made a serious agree 
 ment, that the one who happened first to die should, 
 ii possible, make a friendly visit to the other, and 
 acquaint him how he found things in that separate 
 state. But he never fulfilled his promise. 
 
 The governor, seeming to like my company, had 
 
 * In the third or fourth edition of the " Du nciad" occur the lines, 
 
 " Silence, ye \volves, while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 
 And makes Night hideous answer him, ye owls." 
 
 A note more satirical than the text adds, "James Ralph, 3 name 
 inserted after the first editions, not known to our author till he writ a 
 swearing piece, called Sawney, very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and 
 himself. These lines allude to a thing of his, entitled Night, a poem. v 
 Pope calls him a "low writer" who praised himself in the journals 
 wholly illiterate, &c. Ralph, as is evident from Franklin s account, was 
 a man of no moral rectitude ; and his flexible principles as a political 
 hack obtained him a pension. He i* saM to have obtained possession of 
 a manuscript belonging to Frederic, prince of Wales, for surrendering 
 which his former pension was increased, just before his death in 1762, 
 to six hundred pounds a year. Mr. Pope could hardly be thought to have 
 " cured him of poetry," since he has left a tragedy and other dramatic 
 pieces behind him. Other works were several volumes of history, show 
 ing great research and acuteness ; a much-praised work, 2 vols. 8vo, on 
 the "Use and Abuse of Parliaments;" a work in 8vo, "The Case of 
 Authors by Profession ;" and a vast quantity of pamphlets, &c., &c. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN? 67 
 
 me frequently at his house, and his setting me up 
 was always mentioned as a fixed thing. I was to 
 take with me letters recommendatory to a number 
 of his friends, besides the letter of credit to furnish 
 me with the necessary money for purchasing the 
 press, types, paper, &c. For these letters I was ap 
 pointed to call at different times, when they were to 
 be ready ; but a future time was still named. Thus 
 we went on till the ship, whose departure too had 
 been several times postponed, was on the point of 
 sailing. Then, when I called to take my leave and 
 receive the letters, his secretary, Dr. Baird, came 
 out to me and said the governor was extremely busy 
 in writing, but would be down at Newcastle before 
 the ship, and then the letters would be delivered to 
 me. 
 
 Ralph, though married, and having one child, had 
 determined to accompany me in this voyage. It 
 was thought he intended to establish a correspond 
 ence, and obtain goods to sell on commission ; but I 
 found after, that, having some cause of discontent 
 with his wife s relations, he proposed to leave her 
 on their hands, and never to return to America. 
 Having taken leave of my friends, and exchanged 
 promises with Miss Read, I quitted Philadelphia in 
 the ship, which anchored at Newcastle. The gov 
 ernor was there ; but when I went to his lodging, 
 his secretary came to me from him with expressions 
 of the greatest regret that he could not then see me, 
 being engaged in business of the utmost importance, 
 but that he would send the letters to me on board. 
 
68 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 wishing me heartily a good voyage and a speedy re 
 turn, &c. I returned on board a little puzzled, but 
 still not doubting. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a celebrated lawyer of 
 Philadelphia, had taken passage in the same ship 
 for himself and son, with Mr. Denham, a Quaker 
 merchant, and Messrs. Oniam and Russel, masters 
 of an iron work in Maryland, who had engaged the 
 great cabin ; so that Ralph and I were forced to take 
 up with a berth in the steerage, and none on board 
 knowing us, were considered as ordinary persons. 
 But Mr. Hamilton and his son (it was James, since 
 governor) returned from Newcastle to Philadelphia, 
 the father being recalled by a great fee to plead for 
 a seized ship ; and, just before we sailed, Colonel 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 69 
 
 French coming on board, and showing me great re* 
 spect, I was more taken notice of, and, with my 
 friend Ralph, invited by the other gentlemen to 
 come into the cabin, there being now room. Ac 
 cordingly, we removed thither. 
 
 Understanding that Colonel French had brought 
 on board the governor s despatches, I asked the 
 captain for those letters that were to be under my 
 care. He said all were put into the bag together, 
 and he could not then come at them ; but, before 
 we landed in England, I should have an opportunity 
 of picking them out ; so I was satisfied for the pres 
 ent, and we proceeded on our voyage. We had a 
 sociable company in the cabin, and lived uncom 
 monly well, having the addition of all Mr. Hamil 
 ton s stores, who had laid in plentifully. In this 
 passage Mr. Denham contracted a friendship for me 
 that continued during his life. The voyage was 
 otherwise not a pleasant one r as we had a great deal 
 of bad weather. 
 
70 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHEN we came into the Channel, the captain 
 kept his word with me, and gave me an opportunity 
 of examining the bag for the governor s letters. I 
 found some upon which my name was put as under 
 my care. I picked out six or seven, that, by the 
 handwriting, I thought might be the promised let 
 ters, especially as one of them was addressed to 
 Baskett, the king s printer, and another to some sta 
 tioner. We arrived in London the 24th of Decem 
 ber, 1724. I waited upon the stationer, who came 
 first in my way, delivering the letter as from Gov 
 ernor Keith, " I don t know such a person," said 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 71 
 
 he ; but, opening the letter, " O ! this is from Rid- 
 dlesden. 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, putting the letter 
 into my hand, he turned on his heel and left me to 
 serve some customer. I was surprised to find these 
 were not the governor s letters ; and, after recollect 
 ing and comparing circumstances, I began to doubt 
 his sincerity. I found my friend Denham, and open 
 ed the whole affair to him. He let me into Keith s 
 character; told me there was not the least probability 
 that he had written any letters for me ; that no one, 
 who knew him, had the smallest dependence on him; 
 and he laughed at the idea of the governor s giving 
 me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit 
 to give. On my expressing some concern about 
 what I should do, he advised me to endeavor get 
 ting some employment in the way of my business. 
 "Among the printers here," said he, "you will im 
 prove yourself, and, when you return to America, 
 you will set up to greater advantage." 
 
 We both of us happened to know, as well as the 
 stationer, that Riddlesden, the attorney, was a very 
 knave. He had half ruined Miss Read s father by 
 persuading him to be bound for him. By his letter 
 it appeared there was a secret scheme on foot to the 
 prejudice of Mr. Hamilton (supposed to be then 
 coming over with us) ; that Keith was concerned in 
 it with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a friend of 
 Hamilton s, thought he ought to be acquainted with 
 it; so, when he arrived in England, which was soon 
 
72 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 after, partly from resentment and ill will to Keith 
 and Riddlesden, and partly from good will to him, I 
 waited on him, and gave him the letter. He thank 
 ed me cordially, the information being of importance 
 to him ; and from that time he became my friend, 
 greatly to my advantage afterward on many occa 
 sions. 
 
 But what shall we think of a governor playing 
 such pitiful tricks, and imposing so grossly on a poor 
 ignorant boy ! It was a habit he had acquired. He 
 wished to please everybody ; and, having little to 
 give, he gave expectations. He was otherwise an 
 ingenious, sensible man, a pretty good writer, and a 
 good governor for the people, though not for his 
 constituents, the proprietaries, whose instructions he 
 sometimes disregarded. Several of our best laws 
 were of his planning, and passed during his admin 
 istration. 
 
 Ralph and I were inseparable companions. We 
 took lodgings together in Little Britain at three shil 
 lings and sixpence a week as much as we could 
 then afford. He found some relations, but they 
 were poor, and unable to assist him. He now let 
 me know his intentions of remaining in London, 
 and that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. 
 He had brought no money with him, the whole he 
 could muster having been expended in paying his 
 passage. I had fifteen pistoles ; so he borrowed oc 
 casionally of me to subsist, while he was looking out 
 for business. He first endeavored to get into the 
 playhouse, believing himself qualified for an actor; 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 73 
 
 but Wilkes,* to whom he applied, advised him can 
 didly not to think of that employment, as it was im 
 possible he should succeed in it. Then he proposed 
 to Roberts, a publisher in Paternoster Row, to write 
 for him a weekly paper like the Spectator, on cer 
 tain conditions, which Roberts did not approve. 
 Then he endeavored to get employment as a hack 
 ney writer, to copy for the stationers and lawyers 
 about the Temple, but could not find a vacancy. 
 
 For myself, I immediately got into work at Pal 
 mer s, a famous printing-house in Bartholomew 
 Close, where I continued near a year. I was pretty 
 diligent, but I spent with Ralph a good deal of my 
 earnings at plays and public amusements. We had 
 nearly consumed all my pistoles, and now just rubbed 
 on from hand to mouth. He seemed quite to have 
 forgotten his wife and child, and I, by degrees, my 
 engagements with Miss Read, to whom I never wrote 
 more than one letter, and that was to let her know 
 I was not likely soon to return. This was another 
 of the great errata of my life, which I could wish to 
 correct if I were to live it over again. In fact, by 
 our expenses, I was constantly kept unable to pay 
 my passage. 
 
 At Palmer s I was employed in composing for the 
 second edition of Wollaston s " Religion of Nature" 
 Some of his reasonings not appearing to me well 
 founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece in which 
 I made remarks on them. It was entitled "A Dis 
 sertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and 
 
 * A comedian of eminence. 
 
74 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 Pain" I inscribed it to my friend Ralph ; 1 print 
 ed a small number. It occasioned my being more 
 considered by Mr. Palmer as a young man of some 
 ingenuity, though he seriously expostulated with me 
 upon the principles of my pamphlet, which to him 
 appeared abominable. My printing this pamphlet 
 was another erratum. While I lodged in Little 
 Britain, I made an acquaintance with one Wile ox, 
 a bookseller, \vhose shop was next door. He had 
 an immense collection of second-hand books. Cir 
 culating libraries were not then in use ; but we 
 agreed that, on certain reasonable terms, which I 
 have now forgotten, I might take, read, and return 
 
 any of his books. This I esteemed a great advan 
 tage, and I made as much use of it as I could. 
 
 My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands 
 of one Lyons, a surgeon, author of a book entitled 
 " The Infallibility of Human Judgment" it occasion 
 ed an acquaintance between us. He took great no- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 75 
 
 tice of me, called on me often to converse on those 
 subjects, carried me to the Horns, a pale alehouse in 
 
 Lane, Cheapside, and introduced me to Dr. 
 
 Mandeville, author of the "Fable of the Bees" who 
 had a club there, of which he was the soul, being a 
 most facetious, entertaining companion. Lyons, too, 
 introduced me to Dr. Pemberton, at Batson s Coffee 
 house, who promised to give me an opportunity, 
 some time or other, of seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of 
 which I was extremely desirous; but this never hap 
 pened. 
 
 I had brought over a few curiosities, among which 
 the principal was a purse made of the asbestos, which 
 purifies by fire. Sir Hans Sloane heard of it, came 
 to see me, and invited me to his house in Blooms- 
 bury Square, showed me all his curiosities, and per 
 suaded me to add that to the number, for which he 
 paid me handsomely. 
 
 In our house lodged a young woman, a milliner, 
 who, I think, had a shop in the Cloisters. She had 
 been genteelly bred, was sensible, lively, and of a 
 most pleasing conversation. Ralph read plays to 
 her in the evenings, they grew intimate, she took 
 another lodging, and he followed her. They lived 
 together some time ; but, he being still out of busi 
 ness, and her income not sufficient to maintain them 
 with her child, he took a resolution of going from 
 London, to try for a country school, which he 
 thought himself well qualified to undertake, as he 
 wrote an excellent hand, and was a master of arith 
 metic and accounts. This, however, he deemed a 
 
76 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 business below him, and confident of future better 
 fortune, when he should be unwilling to have it 
 known that he once was so meanly employed, he 
 changed his name, and did me the honor to assume 
 mine ; for I soon after had a letter from him, ac 
 quainting me that he was settled in a small village 
 (in Berkshire, I think it was, where he taught read 
 ing and writing to ten or a dozen boys, at sixpence 
 
 each per week), recommending Mrs. T to my 
 
 care, and desiring me to write to him, directing for 
 Mr. Fraiiklin, schoolmaster, at such a place. 
 
 He continued to write to me frequently, sending 
 me large specimens of an epic poem wtyich he was 
 then composing, and desiring my remarks and cor 
 rections. These I gave him from time to time, but 
 endeavored rather to discourage his proceeding. One 
 of Young s Satires was then just published. I copied 
 and sent him a great part of it, which set in a strong 
 light the folly of pursuing the Muses. All was in 
 vain; sheets of the poem continued to come by 
 
 every post. In the mean time, Mrs. T , having 
 
 on his account lost her friends and business, was 
 often in distresses, and used to send for me, and 
 borrow what money I could spare to help to alleviate 
 them. I grew fond of her company, and, being at 
 that time under no religious restraint, and taking ad 
 vantage 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, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 77 
 
 when he returned 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 
 that I 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. I now began to think of get 
 ting a little beforehand, and, expecting better em 
 ployment, I left Palmer s to work at Watts s, near 
 Lincoln s Inn Fields, a still greater printing-house. 
 Here I continued all the rest of my stay in London 
 At my first admission into the printing-house I 
 took to working at press, imagining I felt a want of 
 the bodily exercise I had been used to in America, 
 where presswork is mixed with the composing. I 
 drank only water ; the other workmen, near fifty in 
 number, were great drinkers of beer. On occasion, 
 I carried up and down stairs a large form of types 
 in each hand, when others carried but one in both 
 hands. They wondered to see, from this and several 
 instances, that the Water- American, as they called 
 me, was sponger than themselves, who drank strong 
 beer ! We had an alehouse boy who attended al 
 ways in the house to supply the workmen. My 
 companion at the press drank every day a pint be 
 fore breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and 
 cheese, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint 
 at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about six o clock, 
 and another when he had done his day s work. I 
 thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, 
 
78 
 
 F.IFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 he supposed, to drink strong beer, that he might be 
 strong to labor. 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 dis 
 solved in the water of which it was made; that 
 there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread ; 
 and therefore, if he could 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. 
 And thus these poor devils keep themselves always 
 under. 
 
 Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in 
 
LIFE OP FRANKLIN. 79 
 
 the composing-room, I left the pressmen ; a new 
 bien venu for drink, being five shillings, was demand 
 ed of me by the compositors. I thought it an im 
 position, as I had paid one to the pressmen; the 
 master thought so too, and forbade my paying it. I 
 stood out two or three weeks, was accordingly con 
 sidered as an excommunicate, and had so many lit 
 tle pieces of private malice practised on me, by mix 
 ing my sorts, transposing and breaking my matter, 
 &c., &c., if ever I stepped out of the room, and all 
 ascribed to the chapel ghost, which they said ever 
 haunted those not regularly admitted, that, notwith 
 standing the master s protection, I found myself 
 obliged to comply and pay the money, convinced 
 of the folly of being on ill terms with those one is to 
 live with continually. 
 
 I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon 
 acquired considerable influence. I proposed some 
 reasonable alterations in their chapel* laws, and car 
 ried them against all opposition. From my example, 
 a great many of them left their muddling breakfast 
 of beer, bread, and cheese, finding they could with 
 me be supplied from a neighboring house with a 
 large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with 
 pepper, crumbled with bread, and a bit of butter in 
 it, for the price of a pint of beer, viz., three half 
 pence. This was a more comfortable as well as a 
 cheaper breakfast, and kept their heads clearer. 
 
 * A printing-office is in England called a chapel, from a tradition that 
 printing was first carried on in an old chapel. The bien venu, or well- 
 come, answers to the footing in other employments : it is altogether abol 
 ished in the United States, and is falling into disuse in England. 
 
80 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Those who continued sotting with their beer all day, 
 were often, by not paying, out of credit at the ale 
 house, and used to make interest with me to get 
 beer ; their light, as they phrased it, being out. I 
 watched the pay-table on Saturday night, and col 
 lected what I stood engaged for them, having to pay 
 sometimes near thirty shillings a week on their ac 
 counts. This, and my being esteemed a pretty good 
 riggite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my 
 consequence in the society. My constant attend 
 ance (I never making a St. Monday} recommended 
 me to the master ; and my uncommon quickness at 
 composing occasioned my being put upon work of 
 dispatch, which was generally better paid. So 1 
 went on now very agreeably. 
 
 My lodgings in Little Britain being too remote, I 
 found another in Duke-street, opposite to the Romish 
 Chapel. It was up three pair of stairs backward, 
 at an Italian warehouse. A widow lady kept the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 81 
 
 
 
 house ; she had a daughter, and a maid servant, and 
 a journeyman who attended the warehouse, but 
 lodged abroad. After sending to inquire my char 
 acter at the house where I last lodged, she agreed to 
 take me in at the same rate, three shillings and six 
 pence a week ; cheaper, as she said, from the pro 
 tection she expected in having a man to lodge in the 
 house. She was a widow, an elderly woman ; had 
 been bred a Protestant, being a clergyman s daughter, 
 but was converted to the Catholic religion by her 
 husband, whose memory she much revered ; had 
 lived much among people of distinction, and knew 
 a thousand anecdote? of them as far back as the 
 time of Charles the Second. She was lame in her 
 knees with the goirt and, therefore, seldom stirred 
 out of her -room, *o sometimes wanted company ; 
 and hers was so Highly amusing to me, that I was 
 sure to spend an evening with her whenever she de 
 sired it. Our supper was only half an anchovy each, 
 on a very little slice of bread and butter, and half a 
 pint of ale between us ; but the entertainment was 
 in her conversation. My always keeping good 
 hours, and giving little trouble in the family, made 
 her unwilling to part with me ; so that, when I talk 
 ed of a lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, 
 for two shillings a week, which, intent as I was on 
 saving money, made some difference, she bid me not 
 think of it, for she would abate me two shillings a 
 week for the future ; so I remained with her at one 
 shilling and sixpence as long as I stayed in London. 
 
 In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady 
 
 F 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 of seventy, in the most retired manner, of whom 
 my landlady gave me this account : that she was a 
 Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when young, 
 and lodged in a nunnery with an intent of becoming 
 a nun ; but, the country not agreeing with her, she 
 returned to England, where, there being no nunnery, 
 she had vowed to lead the life of a nun, as near as 
 might be done in those circumstances. According 
 ly, she had given all her estate to charitable purposes, 
 reserving only twelve pounds a year to live on, and 
 out of this sum she still gave a part in charity, living 
 herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire but to 
 boil it. She had lived many years in that garret, 
 being permitted to remain there gratis by successive 
 Catholic tenants of the house below, as they deem 
 ed it a blessing to have her there. A priest visited 
 her to confess her every day. " From this I asked 
 her," said my landlady, " how she, as she lived, could 
 possibly find so much employment for a confessor f 
 "Oh," said she, "it is impossible to avoid vain 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 83 
 
 thoughts" I was permitted once to visit her. She 
 was cheerful and polite, and conversed pleasantly. 
 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 Saint Veronica displaying 
 her handkerchief, with the miraculous figure of 
 Christ s bleeding face on it, which she explained to 
 me with great seriousness. She looked pale, but 
 was never sick ; and I give it as another instance 
 on how small an income life and health may be sup 
 ported. 
 
 At Watts s printing-house I contracted an ac 
 quaintance with an ingenious young man, one Wy- 
 gate, who, having wealthy relations, had been better 
 educated than most printers ; was a tolerable Latin- 
 ist, spoke French, and loved reading. I taught him 
 and a friend of his to swim at twice going into the 
 river, and they soon became good swimmers. They 
 introduced me to some gentlemen from the country, 
 who went to Chelsea by water to see the College 
 and Don Saltero s curiosities. In our return, at the 
 request of the company, whose curiosity Wygate 
 had excited, I stripped and leaped into the river, 
 and swam from near Chelsea to Blackfriar s, per 
 forming in the way many feats of activity, both upon 
 and under the water, that surprised and pleased those 
 to whom they were novelties. 
 
 I had from a child been delighted with this exer 
 cise, had studied and practised Thevenot s motions 
 and positions, and added some of my own, aim- 
 
84 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing at the graceful and easy as well as the useful.* 
 All these I took this occasion of exhibiting to the 
 company, and was much flattered by their admira 
 tion ; and Wygate, who was desirous of becoming 
 a master, grew more and more attached to me on 
 that account, as well as from the similarity of our 
 studies. He at length proposed to me traveling all 
 over Europe together, supporting ourselves every 
 where by working at our business. I was once in 
 clined to it; but, mentioning it to my good friend 
 Mr. Denham, with whom I often spent an hour when 
 I had leisure, he dissuaded me from it, advising me 
 to think only of returning to Pennsylvania, which 
 he was now about to do. 
 
 I must record one trait of this good man s char 
 acter. He had formerly been in business at Bristol, 
 but failed in debt to a number of people, compound 
 ed, and went to America. There, by a close ap 
 plication to business as a merchant, he acquired a 
 plentiful fortune in a few years. Returning to En 
 gland 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 un 
 paid remainder, with interest. 
 
 * The remarkable experiments of Franklin floating with a kite-string 
 in his hand, &c., &c., and, above all, his sleeping an hour by the watch 
 while floating-, are evidences of what command a man may obtain over 
 the water. He wrote two interesting papers on the art of swimming, 
 which have been much quoted. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN 85 
 
 He now told me he was about to return to Phila 
 delphia, and should carry oyer a great quantity of 
 goods in order to open a store there. He proposed 
 to take me over as his clerk, to keep his books, in 
 which he would instruct me, copy his letters, and 
 attend the store. He added, that, as soon as I should 
 be acquainted with mercantile business, he would 
 promote me by sending me with a cargo of flour and 
 bread to the West Indies, and procure me commis 
 sions from others which would be profitable ; and, if 
 I managed well, would establish me handsomely. 
 The thing pleased me ; for I was grown tired of 
 London, remembered with pleasure the happy months 
 I had spent in Pennsylvania, and wished again to see 
 it ; therefore I immediately agreed on the terms of 
 fifty pounds a year, Pennsylvania money ; less, in 
 deed, than my present gettings as a compositor, but 
 affording a better prospect. 
 
 I now took leave of printing, as I thought, for 
 ever, and was daily employed in my new business, 
 going about with Mr. Denham among the tradesmen 
 to purchase various articles, and see them packed 
 up, delivering messages, calling upon workmen to 
 dispatch, &c. ; and, when all was on board, I had a 
 few days leisure. On one of these days, I was, to 
 my surprise, sent for by a great man I knew only by 
 name, Sir William Wyndham, and I waited upon 
 him. He had heard by some means or other of my 
 swimming from Chelsea to Blackfriar s, and of my 
 teaching Wygate and another young man to swim 
 in a few hours. He had two sons, about to set out 
 
86 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 on their travels ; he wished to have them first taught 
 swimming, and proposed to gratify me handsomely 
 if I would teach them. They were not yet come 
 to town, and my stay was uncertain, so I could not 
 undertake it ; but, from the incident, I thought it 
 likely that, if I were to remain in England and open 
 a swimming-school, I might get a good deal of 
 money ; and it struck me so strongly, that, had the 
 overture been made me sooner, probably I should 
 not so soon have returned to America. Many years 
 after, you and I had something of more importance 
 to do with one of these sons of Sir William Wynd- 
 ham, become Earl of Egremont, which I shall men 
 tion in its place. 
 
 Thus I passed about eighteen months in London; 
 most part of the time I worked hard at my busi 
 ness, and spent but little upon myself except in see 
 ing 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, not 
 withstanding, for he had many amiable qualities. I 
 had improved my knowledge, however, though I had 
 by no means improved my fortune ; but I had made 
 some very ingenious acquaintance, whose conversa 
 tion was of great advantage to me ; and I had read 
 considerably. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 87 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WE sailed from Gravesend on the 23d of July, 
 1726. For the incidents of the voyage, I refer you 
 to my Journal, where you will find them all minute 
 ly related. Perhaps the most important part of that 
 journal is the plan* to be found in it, which I form 
 ed at sea, for regulating the future conduct of my 
 life. It is the more remarkable, as being formed 
 when I was so young, and yet being pretty faithful 
 ly adhered to quite through to old age. 
 
 We landed at Philadelphia on the llth of Octo 
 ber, where I found sundry alterations. Keith was no 
 longer governor, being superseded by Major Gordon. 
 I met him walking the streets as a common citizen. 
 He seemed a little ashamed at seeing me, and passed 
 without saying any thing. I should have been as 
 much ashamed at seeing Miss Read, had not her 
 friends, despairing with reason of my return after 
 the receipt of my letter, persuaded her to marry an- 
 
 * The part referred to as the most " important part of the Journal," 
 the Plan of Order, is not found in the manuscript Journal which was left 
 among Franklin s papers ; nor is the original Journal extant in this country. 
 The copy of the Journal found among the papers was made at Reading 
 in 1787 ; the original is probably lost, as the son of William Franklin died 
 in England without issue. In a subsequent chapter of the autobiography 
 a specimen of the " Plan of Order" is given. The Journal at sea is 
 pleasantly written, but contains nothing of so much interest and import 
 ance as the autobiography. 
 
88 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 other, one Rogers, a potter, which was doiie in my 
 absence. With him, however, she was never happy, 
 and soon parted from him, refusing to cohabit with 
 him or bear his name, it being now said he had an 
 other wife. He was a worthless fellow, though an 
 excellent workman, which was the temptation to 
 her friends. He got into debt, ran away in 1727 
 or 1728, went to the West Indies, and died there. 
 Keimer had got a better house, a shop well supplied 
 with stationery, plenty of new types, and a number 
 of hands, though none good, and seemed to have a 
 great deal of business. 
 
 Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street, where 
 we opened our goods ; I attended the business dili 
 gently, studied accounts, and grew, in a little time, 
 expert at selling. We lodged and boarded together; 
 he counseled me as a father, having a sincere regard 
 for me. I respected and loved him, and we might 
 have gone on together very happily ; but, in the be 
 ginning of February, 1727, when I had just passed 
 my twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My 
 distemper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried 
 me off. I suffered a good deal, gave up the point 
 in my own mind, and was at the time rather disap 
 pointed when I found myself recovering, regretting, 
 in some degree, that I must now, some time or other, 
 have all that disagreeable work to go over again. I 
 forget what Mr. Denham s distemper was; it held 
 him a long time, and at length carried him ofT. He 
 left me a small legacy in a nuncupative will, as a 
 token of his kindness for me, and he left me once 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 89 
 
 more to the wide world; for the store was taken 
 into the care of his executors, and my employment 
 under him ended. 
 
 My brother-in-law, Holmes, being now at Phila 
 delphia, advised my return to my business; and 
 Keimer tempted me, with an offer of large wages 
 by the year, to come and take the management of 
 his printing-house, that he might better attend to his 
 stationer s shop. I had heard a bad character of 
 him in London from his wife and her friends, and 
 was not for having any more to do with him. I 
 wished for employment as a merchant s clerk; but, 
 not meeting with any, I closed again with Keimer. 
 I found in his house these hands : Hugh Meredith, 
 a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of age, bred to 
 country work; he was honest, sensible, a man of 
 experience, and fond of reading, but addicted to 
 drinking. Stephen Potts, a young countryman of 
 full age, bred to the same, of uncommon natural 
 parts, and great wit and humor, but a little idle. 
 These he had agreed with at extreme low wages 
 per week, to be raised a shilling every three months, 
 as they would deserve by improving in their busi 
 ness ; and the expectation of these high wages, to 
 come on hereafter, was what he had drawn them in 
 with. Meredith was to work at press, Potts at book 
 binding, which he, by agreement, was to teach them, 
 though he knew neither one nor the other. John 
 
 , a wild Irishman, brought up to no business, 
 
 whose service, for four years, Keimer had purchased 
 from the captain of a ship ; he, too, was to be made 
 
90 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 a pressman. George Webb, an Oxibrd scholar, 
 whose time for four years he had likewise bought, 
 intending him for a compositor, of whom more pres 
 ently ; and David Harry, a country boy, whom he 
 had taken apprentice. 
 
 I soon perceived that the intention of engaging 
 me at wages so much higher than he had been used 
 to give, was, to have these raw, cheap hands formed 
 through me ; and, as soon as I had instructed them, 
 they being all articled to him, he should be able to 
 do without me. I went, however, very cheerfully, 
 put his printing-house in order, which had been in 
 great confusion, and brought his hands by degrees 
 to mind their business and to do it better. 
 
 It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in 
 the situation of a bought servant. He was not more 
 than eighteen years of age, and he gave me this ac 
 count of himself: that he was born in Gloucester, 
 educated at a grammar-school, and had been distin 
 guished among the scholars for some apparent supe 
 riority in performing his part, when they exhibited 
 plays ; belonged to the Wits Club there, and had 
 written some pieces in prose and verse, which were 
 printed in the Gloucester newspapers ; thence was 
 sent to Oxford, where he continued about a year, 
 but not well satisfied, wishing of all things to see 
 London, and become a player. At length, receiving 
 his quarterly allowance of fifteen guineas, instead of 
 discharging his debts he went out of town, hid his 
 gown in a furze bush, and walked to London, 
 where, having no friend to advise him, he fell intc 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 91 
 
 bad company, soon spent his guineas, found no 
 means of being introduced among the players, grew 
 necessitous, pawned his clothes, and wanted bread. 
 Walking the street very hungry, not knowing what 
 to do with himself, a crimp s bill was put into his 
 hand, offering immediate entertainment and en 
 couragement to such as would bind themselves to 
 serve in America. He went directly, signed the in 
 dentures, was put into the ship, and came over, 
 never writing a line to his friends to acquaint them 
 what was become of him. He was lively, witty, 
 good-natured, and a pleasant companion, but idle, 
 thoughtless, and imprudent to the last degree. 
 
 John, the Irishman, soon ran away; with the rest 
 I began to live very agreeably, for they all respected 
 me the more, as tliey found Keimer incapable of in 
 structing them, and that from me they learned some 
 thing daily. My acquaintance with ihgenious peo 
 ple in the town increased. We never worked on 
 Saturday, that being Keimer s Sabbath, so that I 
 had two days for reading. Keimer himself treated 
 me with great civility and apparent regard, and 
 nothing now made me uneasy but my debt to Ver- 
 non, which I was yet unable to pay, being hitherto 
 but a poor economist. He, however, kindly made 
 no demand of it. 
 
 Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there 
 was no letter-foundry in America ; I had seen types 
 cast at James s in London, but without much atten 
 tion to the matter; however, I contrived a mold, 
 and made use of the letters we had as puncheons, 
 
92 
 
 LTFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 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 ; I was 
 warehouseman, and, in short, quite a fac-totum. 
 
 But, however serviceable I might be, I found that 
 my services became every day of less importance, as 
 the other hands improved in their business ; and, 
 when Keimer paid me a second quarter s wages, he 
 let me know that he felt them too heavy, and thought 
 I should make an abatement. He grew by degrees 
 less civil, put on more the airs of master, frequently 
 found fault, was captious, and seemed ready for an 
 outbreaking. I went on, nevertheless, with a good 
 deal of patience, thinking that his encumbered cir 
 cumstances were partly the cause. At length a 
 trifle snapped our connection ; for, a great noise 
 happening near the court-house, I put my head out 
 of the window to see what was the matter. Keimer, 
 being in the street, looked up and saw me, called 
 
LIFE OF FRAN KLIN 93 
 
 out to ine in a loud voice and angry tone to mind 
 my business, adding some reproachful words, that 
 nettled me the more for their publicity, all the neigh 
 bors who were looking out on the same occasion be 
 ing witnesses how I was treated. He came up im 
 mediately into the printing-house, continued the 
 quarrel, high words passed on both sides, he gave 
 me the quarter s warning we had stipulated, express 
 ing a w 7 ish that he had not been obliged to so long 
 a warning. I told him his wish was unnecessary, for 
 I would leave him that instant; and so, taking my 
 hat, walked out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I 
 saw below, to take care of some things I left, and 
 bring them to my lodgings. 
 
 Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when 
 we talked my affair over. He had conceived a great 
 regard for me, and was very unwilling that I should 
 leave the house while he remained in it. He dis 
 suaded me from returning to my native country, 
 which I began to think of; he reminded me that 
 Keimer was in debt for all he possessed; that his 
 creditors began to be uneasy ; that he kept his shop 
 miserably, sold often without a profit for ready money, 
 and often trusted without keeping accounts; that he 
 must therefore fail, which would make a vacancy I 
 might profit of. I objected my want of money. He 
 then let me know that his father had a high opinion 
 of me, and, from some.discourse that had passed be 
 tween them, he was sure would advance money to 
 set me up, if I would enter into partnership with him. 
 " My time," said he, " will be out with Keimer in 
 
94 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the spring; by that time we may have our press 
 and types in from London. Lam sensible I am no 
 workman ; if you like it, your skill in the business 
 ihall be set against the stock I furnish, and we will 
 share the profits equally." 
 
 The proposal was agreeable to me, and I consent 
 ed ; his father was in town and approved of it ; the 
 more as he said I had great influence with his son, 
 had prevailed on him to abstain long from dram- 
 drinking, and he hoped might break him of that 
 wretched habit entirely, when we came to be so 
 closely connected. I gave an inventory to the fa 
 ther, who carried it to a merchant ; the things were 
 sent for, the secret was to be kept till they should 
 arrive, and in the mean time I was to get work, if I 
 could, at the other printing-house. But I found no 
 vacancy there, and so remained idle a few days, 
 when Keimer, on a prospect of being employed to 
 print some paper money in New Jersey, which 
 would require cuts and various types that I only 
 could supply, and apprehending Bradford might en 
 gage me and get the job from him, sent me a very 
 civil message, that old friends should not part for a 
 few words, the effect of sudden passion, and wish 
 ing me to return. Meredith persuaded me to com 
 ply, as it would give more opportunity for his im 
 provement under my daily instructions ; so I return 
 ed, and we went on more smoothly than for some 
 time before. The New Jersey job was obtained, I 
 contrived a copper-plate press for it, the first that 
 had been seen in the country ; I cut several orna- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 95 
 
 merits and checks for the bills. We went together 
 to Burlington, where I executed the whole to satis 
 faction ; and he received so large a sum for the work 
 as to be enabled thereby to keep himself longer from 
 ruin. 
 
 At Burlington I made acquaintance with many 
 principal people of the province. Several of them 
 had been appointed by the Assembly a committee 
 to attend the press, and to take care that no more 
 bills were printed than the law directed. They were 
 therefore, by turns, constantly with us, and generally 
 he who attended brought with him a friend or two 
 for company. My mind having been much more 
 improved by reading than Keimer s, I suppose it was 
 for that reason my conversation seemed to be more 
 valued. They had me to their houses, introduced 
 me to their friends, and showed me much civility ; 
 while he, though the master, was a little neglect 
 ed. In truth, he was an odd creature ; ignorant 
 of common life, fond of rudely opposing received 
 opinions, slovenly to extreme dirtiness, enthusias- 
 
96 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 tic in some points of religion, and a little knavish 
 withal. 
 
 We continued there near three months ; and by 
 that time I could reckon among my acquired friends, 
 Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary of the 
 Province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several 
 of the Smiths, members of Assembly, and Isaac De- 
 cow, the surveyor-general. The latter 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 surveyors, who taught him surveying, 
 and he had now, by his industry, acquired a good 
 estate ; and said he, " I foresee that you will soon 
 work this man out of his business, and make a for 
 tune in it at Philadelphia." He had then not the 
 least intimation of my intention to set up there or 
 anywhere. These friends were afterward of great 
 use to me, as I occasionally was to some of them. 
 They all continued their regard for me as long as 
 they lived. 
 
 Before I enter upon my public appearance in busi 
 ness, 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 those influenced the future 
 events of my life. My parents had early given me 
 religious impressions, and brought me through my 
 childhood piously in the Dissenting way. But I 
 was scared fifteen, when, after doubting by turns 
 several points, as I found them disputed in the dif 
 ferent books I read, I began to doubt of the Revela- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 97 
 
 tion itself. Some books against Deism fell into my 
 hands ; they were said to be the substance of the 
 sermons which had been preached at Boyle s Lec 
 tures. It happened that they wrought an effect on 
 me quite contrary to what was intended by them; 
 for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted 
 to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than 
 the refutations; in short,-! soon became a thorough 
 Deist. My arguments perverted some others, par 
 ticularly Collins and Ralph; but, each of these 
 having wronged me greatly without the least com- 
 punctioti, and recollecting Keith s conduct toward 
 me (w r ho was another freethinker), and my own to 
 ward Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave 
 me great trouble^I^began to suspect that this doc 
 trine, though it might be true, was not very useful. 
 My London pamphlet, printed in 1725, which had 
 for its motto these lines of Dryden : 
 
 "Whatever is, is right. But purblind man 
 Sees but a part o the chain, the nearest links : 
 His eyes not carrying to that equal beam, 
 That poises all above ;" 
 
 and which, from the attributes of God, his infinite 
 wisdom, goodness, and power, concluded that noth 
 ing could possibly be wrong in the world, and that 
 vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such 
 things existing, appeared now not so clever a per 
 formance as I once thought it; and I doubted whether 
 some error had not insinuated itself unperceived into 
 my argument, so as to infect all that followed, as is 
 
 common in metaphysical reasonings. 
 
 G 
 
98 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 * I grew convinced that truth, sincerity, and in- 
 i / tegrity in dealings between man and man were of 
 the utmost importance to the felicity of life ; and I 
 formed written resolutions, which still remain in my 
 journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. 
 Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such ; 
 but I entertained an opinion that, though certain 
 actions might not be bad because they were forbid 
 den by it, or good because it commanded 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 natures* all the 
 circumstances of things considered. And this per 
 suasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some 
 guardian angel, or accidental favorable circumstances 
 and situations, or all together, preserved me, through 
 this dangerous time of youth, and the hazardous sit 
 uations I was sometimes in among strangers, remote 
 from the eye and advice of my father, free from any 
 willful gross immorality or injustice, that might have 
 been expected from my want of religion. I say will 
 ful, because the instances I have mentioned had 
 something of necessity in them, from my youth, in 
 experience, and the knavery of others. I had there 
 fore a tolerable character to begin the world with ; I 
 valued it properly, and determined to preserve it. 
 
 We had not been long returned to Philadelphia 
 A before the new types arrived from London. We set 
 tled with Keimer, and left him by his consent before 
 he heard of it. We found a house to let near the 
 Market, and took it. To lessen the rent, which 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 101 
 
 was then but twenty-four pounds a year, though I 
 have since known it to let for seventy, we took in 
 Thomas Godfrey, a glazier, and his family, who 
 were to pay a considerable part of it to us, and we 
 to board with them. We had scarce opened our 
 letters and put our press in order, before George 
 House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a country 
 man to us, whom he had met in the street inquiring 
 for a printer. All our cash was now expended in 
 the variety of particulars we had been obliged to 
 procure, and this countryman s five shillings, being 
 our first-fruits, and coming so seasonably, gave me 
 more pleasure than any crown I have since earned ; 
 and the gratitude I felt toward House has made me 
 often more ready than perhaps I otherwise should 
 have been to assist young beginners. 
 
 There are croakers in every country, always bod 
 ing its ruin. Such a one there lived in Philadelphia; 
 a person of note, an elderly man, with a w r ise look 
 and a very grave manner of speaking ; his name was 
 Samuel Mickle. This gentleman, a stranger to me, 
 stopped me one day at my door, and asked me if I 
 was the young man who had lately opened a new 
 printing-house. Being answered in the affirmative, 
 he said he was sorry for me, because it was an ex 
 pensive undertaking, and the expense would be lost; 
 for Philadelphia was a sinking place, the people al 
 ready half bankrupts, or near being so ; all the ap 
 pearances of the contrary, such as new buildings and 
 the rise of rents, being to his certain knowledge fal 
 lacious ; for they were, in fact, among the things that 
 
102 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 would ruin us. Then he gave me such a detail of 
 misfortunes now existing, or that were soon to exist, 
 that he left me half melancholy. Had I known him 
 before I engaged in this business, probably I never 
 should have done it. This person 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 began croaking. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 103 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 I SHOULD have mentioned before, that, in the au 
 tumn of the preceding year, I had formed most of 
 my ingenious acquaintance into a club for mutual 
 improvement, which we called the JUNTO ; we met 
 
 on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up re 
 quired that every member, in his turn, should pro 
 duce one or more queries on any point of Morals, 
 Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discussed by 
 the company; and once in three months produce 
 and read an essay of his own writing, on any sub 
 ject he pleased. Oar debates were to be under the 
 
104 LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 
 
 direction of a president, and to be conducted in the 
 sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness 
 for dispute, or desire of victory ; and, to prevent 
 warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, 
 or direct contradiction, were after some time made 
 contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary 
 penalties. 
 
 The first members were Joseph Breintnal, 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 toler 
 able; very ingenious in making little knickknacker- 
 ies, and of sensible conversation. 
 
 Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, 
 great in his way, and afterward inventor of what 
 is now called Hadleys Quadrant* But he knew 
 little out of his way, and was not a pleasing com 
 panion; as, like most great mathematicians I have 
 met with, he expected universal precision in every 
 thing said, or was for ever denying or distinguishing 
 upon trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. 
 He soon left us. 
 
 * Godfrey died in 1749, and was buried in Germantown. In 1838 his 
 remains were removed from Germantown to Laurel Hill, a beautiful 
 cemetery near Philadelphia, at the charge of Mr. John F. Watson, the 
 well-known annalist. On the 27th of May, 1843, the Mercantile Library 
 Company of Philadelphia noticed, by appropriate ceremonies, the com 
 pletion of a monument, which that association, aided by other citizens of 
 Philadelphia and Germantown, had caused to be erected. The monument 
 is a truncated cone, bearing appropriate devices, and inscriptions asserting 
 his claim to the honor of the invention. The orator of the day, Governeur 
 Emerson, Esq., in an appropriate address, cited the facts \vhich establish 
 the claim of Godfrey to an invention, the merit of which Hadley surrep 
 titiously obtained by copying Godfrey s instrument. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 105 
 
 Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterward surveyor- 
 general, who loved books, and sometimes made a 
 few verses. 
 
 William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but, loving 
 reading, had acquired a considerable share of mathe 
 matics, which he first studied with a view 7 to astrolo 
 gy, and afterward laughed at it. He also became 
 surveyor-general. 
 
 William Maugridge, joiner, but a most exquisite 
 mechanic, and a solid, sensible man. 
 
 Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb 
 I have characterized before. 
 
 Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, 
 generous, lively, and witty ; a lover of punning and 
 of his friends. 
 
 Lastly, William Coleman, then a merchant s clerk, 
 about my 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 friendship continued without interrup 
 tion to his death, upward of forty years; and the 
 club continued almost as long, and was the best 
 school of philosophy, morality, and politics that then 
 existed in the province ; for our queries, which were 
 read the week preceding their discussion, put us 
 upon reading with attention on the several subjects, 
 that we might speak more to the purpose ; and here, 
 too, we acquired better habits of conversation, every 
 thing being studied in our rules which might prevent 
 our disgusting each other. Hence the long con- 
 
106 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 tinuance of the club, which I shall have frequent oc 
 casion to speak further of hereafter. 
 
 But my giving this account of it here is to show 
 something of the interest I had, every one of these 
 exerting themselves in recommending business to us. 
 Breintnal particularly procured us from the Quakers 
 the printing of forty sheets of their history, the rest 
 being to be done by Keimer; and upon these we 
 worked exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It 
 was a folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long primer 
 notes. I composed a sheet a day, and Meredith 
 worked it off at press ; it was often eleven at night. 
 and sometimes later, before I had finished my dis 
 tribution for the next day s work, for the little jobs 
 sent in by our other friends now and then put us 
 back. But so determined I was to continue doing 
 a sheet a day of the folio, that one night, when, hav 
 ing imposed my forms, I thought my day s work over, 
 one of them by accident was broken, and two pages 
 reduced to pi, I immediately distributed and com 
 posed it over again before I went to bed ; and this 
 industry, visible to our neighbors, began to give us 
 character and credit ; particularly, I was told, that 
 mention being made of the new printing-office at 
 the merchants every-night club, the general opinion 
 was that it must fail, there being already two printers 
 in the place, Keimer and Bradford ; but Dr. Baird 
 (whom you and I saw many years after at his native 
 place, St. Andrew s in Scotland) gave a contrary 
 opinion : " For the industry of that Franklin," said 
 he, " is superior to any thing I ever saw of the kind ; 
 
LIFE OF FkANKLIN. 107 
 
 I see him still at work when I go home from the club, 
 and he is at work again before his neighbors are out 
 of bed." This struck the rest, and we soon after 
 had offers from one of them to supply us with sta 
 tionery ; but as yet we did not choose to engage in 
 shop business. 
 
 I mention this industry more particularly and the 
 more freely, though it seems to be talking in my own 
 praise, 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 relation. 
 
 George Webb, who had found a female friend that 
 lent him wherewith to purchase his time of Keimer, 
 now came to offer himself as a journeyman to us. 
 We could not then employ him ; but I foolishly let 
 him know as a secret that I soon intended to begin 
 a newspaper, and might then have work for him. 
 My hopes of success, as I told him, were founded on 
 this, that the then only newspaper, printed by Brad 
 ford, was a paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no 
 way entertaining, and yet \vas profitable to him ; I 
 therefore freely thought a good paper would scarce 
 ly fail of good encouragement. I requested Webb 
 not to mention it ; but he told it to Keimer, who 
 immediately, to be beforehand with me, published 
 proposals for one himself, on which Webb was to 
 be employed. I was vexed at this ; and, to counter 
 act them, not being able to commence our paper, I 
 wrote several amusing pieces for Bradford s paper, 
 under the title of the BUSY BODY, which Breintnal 
 continued some months. By this means the atten- 
 
108 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 don of the public was fixed on that piper, and 
 Keimer s proposals, which we burlesqued and ridi 
 culed, were disregarded. He began his paper, how 
 ever, and, before carrying it on three quarters of a 
 year, with at most only ninety subscribers, he offer- 
 it me for a trifle ; and I, having been ready some 
 time to go on with it, took it in hand directly ; and 
 it proved in a few years extremely profitable to me.* 
 I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular 
 number, though our partnership still continued; it 
 may be that, in fact, the whole management of the 
 business lay upon me. Meredith was no compositor, 
 a poor pressman, and seldom sober. My friends 
 
 . This was tne 
 
 assumed the publication 
 
 llis patrons taking exceptions 
 
 him, and talk the matter over. 
 
 per was a pitcher of water, 
 
 nominated forf. When he found, - 
 friends could not master such fare, he gave them tl mora 
 parable iu these words : My fncnds, an, one " 
 on ,aw-d,t pudding and water, n .ed, no man , 
 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 109 
 
 lamented my connection with him, but I. was to 
 make the best of it. 
 
 Our first papers made quite a different appearance 
 from any before in the province ; a better type, and 
 better printed ; but some remarks of my writing, on 
 the dispute then going on between Governor Burnet 
 and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the princi 
 pal people, occasioned the paper and the manager 
 of it to be much talked of, and in a few weeks 
 brought them all to be our subscribers. 
 
 Their example was followed by many, and our 
 number went on growing continually. This was 
 one of the first good effects of having learned a little 
 to scribble ; another was, that the leading men, see 
 ing a newspaper now in the hands of those who 
 could also handle a pen, thought it convenient to 
 oblige and encourage me. Bradford still printed the 
 votes, and laws, and other public business. He had 
 printed an address of the House to the governor, in 
 a coarse, blundering manner; we reprinted it ele 
 gantly and correctly, and sent one to every member. 
 They were sensible of the difference : it strengthen 
 ed the hands of our friends in the House, and they 
 voted us their printers for the year ensuing. 
 
 Among my friends in the House I must not forget 
 Mr. Hamilton, before mentioned, who was then re 
 turned from England, and had a seat in it. He in 
 terested himself for me strongly in that instance, as 
 he did in many others afterward, continuing his pa 
 tronage till his death.* 
 
 * Franklin, where he could not fully satisfy what he considered in 
 
110 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of 
 the debt I owed him, but did not press me. I wrote 
 to him an ingenuous letter of acknowledgment, crav 
 ing his forbearance a little longer, which he allow 
 ed 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. 
 
 But now another difficulty came upon me which 
 I had never the least reason to expect. Mr. Mere 
 dith s father, who was to have paid for our printing- 
 house, according to the expectations given me, was 
 able to advance only one hundred pounds currency, 
 which had been paid ; and a hundred more were 
 due to the merchant, who grew impatient, and sued 
 us all. We gave bail, but saw that, if the money 
 could not be raised in time, the suit must soon come 
 to a judgment and execution, and our hopeful pros 
 pects must, with us, be ruined, as the press and let 
 ters must be sold for payment, perhaps at half price. 
 
 In this distress two true friends, whose kindness 1 
 have never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while 1 
 can remember any thing, came to me separately, un 
 known 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 business upon myself, if that should be 
 practicable ; but they did not like my continuing the 
 
 gratitude due the parent, remembered the children. He procured for the 
 son of Mr. Hamilton five hundred pounds after his father s death ; and 
 to a descendant of Mr. Vernon he rendered important services while resi 
 ding in France as minister from the United States. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. Ill 
 
 partnership with Meredith, who, as they said, was 
 often seen drunk in the street, playing at low games 
 in alehouses, much to our discredit. These two 
 friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace. 
 I told them I could not propose a separation while 
 any prospect remained of the Merediths fulfilling 
 their part of our agreement, because I thought my 
 self under great obligation to them for what they 
 had done, and would do if they could ; but, if they 
 finally failed in their performance, and our partner 
 ship must be dissolved, I should then think myself 
 at liberty to accept the assistance of my friends. 
 
 Thus the matter rested for some time, when I said 
 to my partner, " Perhaps your father is dissatisfied 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." " No," said he, " my father has really 
 been disappointed, and is really unable ; 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 set 
 tle in North Carolina, where land is cheap. I am 
 inclined to go with them, and follow my old employ 
 ment ; 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 
 
112 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 pounds and a new saddle, I will relinquish the part 
 nership, and leave the whole in your hands." I 
 agreed to this proposal ; it was drawn up in writ 
 ing, signed, and sealed immediately. I gave him 
 what he demanded, and he went soon after to Caro 
 lina, whence 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. I print 
 ed them in the papers, and they gave great satisfac 
 tion to the public. 
 
 As soon as he was gone, I recurred to my two 
 friends ; and because I would not give an unkind 
 preference to either, I took half of what each had 
 offered and I wanted of one, and half of the other ; 
 paid off the company s debts, and went on with the 
 business in my own name, advertising that the part 
 nership was dissolved. I think this was in or about 
 the year 1729* 
 
 About this time there was a cry among the peo 
 ple for more paper money, only fifteen thousand 
 pounds being extant in the province, and that soon 
 to be sunk. The wealthy inhabitants opposed any 
 addition, being against all paper currency, from the 
 apprehension that it would depreciate, as it had done 
 in New England, to the injury of all creditors. We 
 had discussed this point in our Junto, where I was 
 on the side of an addition, being persuaded that 
 the first small sum struck in 1723 had done much 
 
 * By the agreement of dissolution, still extant, it appears that it took 
 place July 14th, 1730 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 113 
 
 good by increasing the trade, employment, and num 
 ber of inhabitants in the province, since I now saw 
 all the old houses inhabited, and many new ones 
 building; whereas I remembered well, when I first 
 walked about the streets of Philadelphia, eating my 
 roll, I saw many of the houses in Walnut-street, be 
 tween Second and Front streets, with bills on their 
 doors, " To be let ;" and many likewise in Chestnut- 
 street and other streets, which made me think the 
 inhabitants of the city were one after another de 
 serting it. 
 
 o 
 
 Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject, 
 that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on 
 it, entitled " The Nature and Necessity of a Paper 
 Currency! 1 It was well received by the common 
 people in general ; but the rich men disliked it, for 
 it increased and strengthened the clamor for more 
 money, and they happening to have no writers among 
 them that were able to answer it, their opposition 
 slackened, and the point was carried by a majority 
 in the House. My friends there, who considered I 
 had been of some service, thought fit to reward me 
 by employing me in printing the money; a very 
 profitable job, and a great help to me. This was 
 another advantage gained by my being able to write. 
 
 The utility of this currency became by time and 
 experience so evident, that the principles upon which 
 it was founded were never afterward much disputed; 
 so that it grew soon to fifty-five thousand pounds, 
 and in 1739 to eighty thousand pounds, trade, 
 building, and inhabitants all the while increasing, 
 
 H 
 
114 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 though I now think there are limits beyond which 
 the quantity may be hurtful. 
 
 ~-f-soon after obtained, through my friend Hamil 
 ton, the printing of the Newcastle paper money, an 
 other profitable job, as I then thought it; small things 
 appearing great to those in small circumstances ; and 
 these, to me, were really great advantages, as they 
 were great encouragements. Mr. Hamilton pro 
 cured for me, also, the printing of the laws and votes 
 of that government, which continued in my hands 
 as long as I followed the business. 
 
 I now opened a small stationer s shop. I had in 
 it blanks of all kinds, the correctest that ever ap 
 peared among us. I was assisted in that by my 
 friend Breintnal. I had also paper, parchment, chap 
 men s books, &c. One Whitemarsh, a compositor 
 I had known in London, an excellent workman, 
 now came to me, and worked with me constantly 
 and diligently; and I took an apprentice, the son 
 of Aquila Rose. 
 
 I began now gradually to pay off the debt I \vas 
 under for the printing-house. In order to secure my 
 credit and character as a tradesman, I took care net 
 only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to 
 \ avoid the 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 debauched 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 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 115 
 
 stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus 
 being esteemed an industrious, thriving young man, 
 and paying duly for what I bought, the merchants 
 who imported stationery solicited my custom ; others 
 proposed supplying me with books, and I went on 
 prosperously. In the mean time, Keimer s credit 
 and business declining daily, he was at last forced 
 to sell his printing-house to satisfy his creditors. 
 He went to Barbadoes, and there lived some years 
 in very poor circumstances. 
 
 His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had in 
 structed while I worked with him, set up in his 
 place at Philadelphia, having bought his materials. 
 I was at first apprehensive of a powerful rival in 
 Harry, as his friends were very able, and had a good 
 deal of interest. I therefore proposed a partnership 
 to him, which he, fortunately for me, rejected with 
 scorn. He was very proud, dressed like a gentle 
 
116 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 man, lived expensively, took much diversion and 
 pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and neglected his busi 
 ness ; upon which, all business left him ; and, find 
 ing nothing to do, he followed Keimer to Barbadoes, 
 taking the printing-house with him. There this ap 
 prentice employed his former master as a journey 
 man ; they quarreled often, and Harry went con 
 tinually behindhand, and at length was obliged to 
 sell his types and return to country work in Penn 
 sylvania. The person who bought them employed 
 Keimer to use them, but a few years after he died. 
 
 There remained now no other printer in Philadel 
 phia but the old Bradford ; but he was rich and 
 easy, did a little business by straggling hands, but 
 was not anxious about it. However, as he held the 
 postoffice, it was imagined he had better opportuni 
 ties of obtaining news; his paper was thought a bet 
 ter distributer of advertisements than mine, and 
 therefore had many more, which was a profitable 
 thing to him, and a disadvantage to me ; for, though 
 I did indeed receive and send papers by the post, 
 yet the public opinion was otherwise, for what I 
 did send was by bribing the riders, who took them 
 privately, Bradford being unkind enough to forbid 
 it, which occasioned some resentment on my part; 
 and I thought so meanly of the practice, that, when 
 I afterward came into his situation, I took care never 
 to imitate it. 
 
 I had hitherto continued to board with Godfrey, 
 who lived in a part of my house with his wife and 
 children, and had one side of the shop for his glazier s 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 117 
 
 business, though he worked little, being always ab 
 sorbed in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected 
 a match for me with a relation s daughter, took op 
 portunities of bringing us often together, till a serious 
 courtship on my part ensued, the girl being in her 
 self very deserving. The old folks encouraged me 
 by continual invitations to supper, and by leaving us 
 together, till at length it was time to explain. Mrs. 
 Godfrey managed our little treaty. I let her know 
 that I expected as much money with their daughter 
 as \vould pay off my remaining debt for the print 
 ing-house, which I believe was not then above a 
 hundred pounds. She brought me word they had 
 no such sum to spare ; I said they might mortgage 
 their house in the loan-office. The answer to this, 
 after some days, was, that they did not approve the 
 match ; that, on inquiry of Bradford, they had been 
 informed the printing business was not a profitable 
 one ; the types would soon be worn out, and more 
 wanted ; that Keimer and David Harry had failed 
 one after the other, and I should probably soon fol 
 low them ; and, therefore, I was forbidden the house, 
 and the daughter was shut up. 
 
 Whether this was a real change of sentiment or 
 only artifice, on a supposition of our being too far 
 engaged in affection to retract, and therefore that 
 we should steal a marriage, which would leave them 
 at liberty to give or withhold what they pleased, 
 know not; but I suspected the motive, resented it, 
 and went no more. Mrs. Godfrey brought me after 
 ward some more favorable accounts of their disposi- 
 
118 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 tion, and would have drawn me on again ; but I de 
 clared absolutely my resolution to have nothing more 
 to do with that family. This was resented by the 
 Godfreys; we differed, and they removed, leaving me 
 the whole house, and I resolved to take no more in 
 mates. 
 
 But this affair having turned my thoughts to mar 
 riage, I looked round me and made overtures of ac 
 quaintance in other places ; but soon found that, the 
 business of a printer being generally thought a poor 
 one, I was not to expect money with a wife, unless 
 with such a one as I should not otherwise think 
 agreeable. A friendly correspondence as neighbor? 
 had continued between me and Miss Read s family, 
 who all had a regard for me from the time of my 
 first lodging in their house. I was often invited 
 there and consulted in their affairs, wherein I some 
 times was of service. I pitied poor Miss Read s un 
 fortunate situation, who was generally dejected, sel- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 119 
 
 dom cheerful, and avoided company. I considered 
 my giddiness and inconstancy when in London as 
 in a great degree the cause of her unhappiness, 
 though the mother was good enough to think the 
 fault more her own than mine, as she had prevented 
 our marrying before I went thither, and persuaded 
 the other match in my absence. Our mutual affec 
 tion was revived, but there were now great objec 
 tions to our union. The match was indeed looked 
 upon as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be 
 living in England ; but this could not easily be 
 proved, because of the distance, &c. ; and, though 
 there was a report of his death, it was not certain. 
 Then, though it should be true, he had left many 
 debts, which his successor might be called upon to 
 pay. We ventured, however, over all these diffi 
 culties, and I took her to wife, September 1st, 1730. 
 None of the inconveniences happened that we had 
 apprehended ; she proved a good and faithful help 
 mate, assisted me much by attending to the shop ; 
 we throve together, and ever mutually endeavored 
 to make each other happy. Thus I corrected that 
 great erratum as well as I could. 
 
 About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, 
 but in a little room of Mr. Grace s, set apart for that 
 purpose, a proposition was made by me, that, since 
 our books were often referred to in our disquisitions 
 upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to 
 have them all together where we met, that upon oc 
 casion they might be consulted ; and by thus club 
 bing our books in a common library, we should, 
 
120 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 while we liked to keep them together, have each of 
 us the advantage of using the books of all the other 
 members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if 
 each owned the whole. It was liked and agreed 
 to, and we filled one end of the room with such 
 books as we could best spare. The number was 
 not so great as we expected ; and, though they had 
 been of great use, yet some inconveniences occur 
 ring for want of due care of them, the collection, 
 after about a year, was separated, and each took his 
 books home again. 
 
 And now I set on foot my first project of a pub 
 lic nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up 
 the proposals, got them put into form by our great 
 scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of my friends 
 in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shil 
 lings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for 
 fifty years, the term our company was to continue. 
 We afterward obtained a charter, the company be 
 ing increased to one hundred : this was the mother 
 of all the North American subscription libraries, now 
 so numerous. It is become a great thing itself, and 
 continually goes on increasing. These libraries have 
 improved the general conversation of the Americans, 
 made the common tradesmen and fanners as intelli 
 gent as most gentlemen from other countries, and 
 perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand 
 so generally made throughout the colonies in defense 
 of their privileges. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 121 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 [THE last chapter concludes that part of Dr. 
 Franklin s autobiography which was commenced by 
 him at Twyford, and continued from time to time, as 
 his leisure permitted, until the commencement of the 
 Revolutionary war, and the important public occu 
 pations in which the author was engaged compelled 
 him to lay it aside. The first part was written with 
 out an eye to publication, or, at any rate, with a prin 
 cipal view to the information of his son. The re 
 sumption w r as undertaken after the close of the Revo 
 lutionary war, at the earnest solicitation of friends ; 
 and there is a marked difference in the style of the 
 work, distinguishing it from the earlier portions. 
 
 The letters, with a reference to which the narra 
 tive, as resumed, commences, were from his friends 
 Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan. Mr. James 
 and Mr. Vaughan had each seen the early part of 
 the narrative, it would seem, by some fortunate ac 
 cident, for Mr. Vaughan speaks of the "twenty-three 
 sheets in Franklin s own handwriting" as recovered 
 by Mr. James. Both these gentlemen strongly urged 
 Dr. Franklin to a continuation and publication of 
 his memoirs ; nor were personal solicitations from 
 others wanting. While Dr. Franklin was in France, 
 as plenipotentiary from the United States, he show- 
 
122 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ed the autobiography to some friends there, and one 
 of them translated it into French. This French 
 translation was published soon after Dr. Franklin s 
 death, at Paris, and shortly after that a most excel 
 lent translation into English appeared in London. 
 That edition was reprinted in this country, even after 
 the original was published by his grandson, of which 
 this is a copy. The continuation is headed by the 
 author, " Continuation of the account of my Life, 
 begun at Passy, near Paris, 1784."] 
 
 It is some time since I received the above letters, 
 but I have been too busy till now to think of com 
 plying with the request they contain. It might, too, 
 be much better done if I were at home among my 
 papers, which would aid my memory, and help to 
 ascertain dates ; but my return being uncertain, and 
 having just now a little leisure, I will endeavor to 
 recollect and write what I can ; if I live to get home, 
 it may there be corrected and improved. 
 
 Not having any copy here of what is already writ 
 ten, I kno.w not whether an account is given of the 
 means I used to establish the Philadelphia public 
 library, which, from a small beginning, is now be 
 come so considerable, though I remember to have 
 some down to near the time of that transaction 
 (1730). I will therefore begin here with an account 
 of it, which may be struck out if found to have been 
 already given. 
 
 At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania, 
 there was not a good bookseller s shop in any of the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 123 
 
 colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York 
 and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers, 
 but they sold only paper, almanacs, ballads, and a 
 few common school-books. Those who loved read 
 ing were obliged to send for their books from En 
 gland ; the members of the Junto had each a few. 
 We had left the alehouse, where we first met, and 
 hired a room to hold our club in. I proposed that 
 we should all of us bring our books to that room, 
 
 where they would not only be ready to consult in 
 our conferences, but become a common benefit, each 
 of us being at liberty to borrow such as he \yished 
 to read at home. This was accordingly done, and 
 for some time contented us. 
 
 Finding the advantage of this little collection, I 
 proposed to render the benefit from the books more 
 common, by commencing a public subscription li 
 
124 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 brary. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that 
 would be necessary, and got a skillful conveyancer, 
 Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of 
 articles of agreement to be subscribed, by which 
 each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down 
 for the first purchase of the books, and an annual 
 contribution for increasing them. So few were 
 the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the 
 majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with 
 great industry, to find more than fifty persons, most 
 ly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this 
 purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per 
 annum. With this little fund we began. The 
 books were imported; the library was opened one 
 day in the week for lending them to the subscribers, 
 on their promissory notes to pay double the value if 
 not duly returned. The institution soon manifested 
 its utility, was imitated by other towns, and in other 
 provinces. The libraries were augmented by dona 
 tions ; reading became fashionable ; and our people, 
 having no public amusements to divert their attention 
 from study, 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 generally are in other countries. 
 
 When we were about to sign the above-mention 
 ed articles, which were to be binding on us, our 
 heirs, &c., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden, the scriv 
 ener, said to us, "You are young men, but it is scarce 
 ly probable that any of you will live to see the ex 
 piration of the term fixed in the instrument." A 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 number ot us, however, are yet living ; but the in 
 strument was after a few years rendered null by a 
 charter that incorporated and gave perpetuity to the 
 company.* 
 
 The objections and reluctances I met with in so 
 liciting the subscriptions, made me soon feel the im 
 propriety of presenting one s self as the proposer of 
 any useful project, that 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 suc 
 cesses, can heartily recommend it. The present lit 
 tle sacrifice of your vanity will afterward be amply 
 repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to whom the 
 merit belongs, some one more vain than yourself 
 may be encouraged to claim it, and then even envy 
 will be disposed to do you justice by plucking those 
 assumed feathers, and restoring them to their right 
 owner. 
 
 * This library, founded in 1731, was incorporated in 1742. By the ad 
 dition made to it of a large library left by Dr. James Logan, and by an 
 nual purchases, the Philadelphia Library now numbers nearly 60,000 
 volumes. The spacious and handsome edifice, corner of Fifth and 
 Library streets, in which the library is now kept, was erected just before 
 Franklin s death. The marble statue which occupies a niche in front, 
 was presented to the company by Mr. William Bingham. It was executed 
 in Italy of Carrara marble, at a cost of 500 guineas. 
 
126 LITE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 This library afforded me the means of improve 
 ment by constant study, for which I set apart an 
 hour or two each day, and thus repaired in some 
 degree the loss of the learned education my father 
 once intended for me. Reading was the only amuse 
 ment I allowed myself. I spent no time in taverns, 
 games, or frolics of any kind ; and my industry in 
 my business continued as indefatigable as it was 
 necessary. I was indebted for my printing-house ; 
 I had a young family coming on to be educated, and 
 I had two competitors to contend with for business, 
 who were established in the place before me. My 
 circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My 
 original habits of frugality continuing, and my father 
 having, among his instructions to me when a boy, 
 frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon, " Seest 
 thou a man diligent in his catting, lie shall stand be 
 fore kings, he shall not stand before mean men" I 
 thence considered industry as a means of obtaining 
 wealth and distinction, which encouraged me, though 
 I did not think that I should ever literally stand be 
 fore kings, which, however, has since happened ; for 
 I have stood before Jive, and even had the honor of 
 sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to 
 .dinner. 
 
 We have an English proverb that says, "He that 
 would thrive, must ask his wife." It was lucky for 
 me that I had one as much disposed to industry and 
 frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in 
 my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tend 
 ing shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN, 
 
 makers, &c. We kept no idle servants, our table 
 was plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. 
 For instance, my breakfast was for a long time bread 
 and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny 
 earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark 
 how luxury will enter families, and make a progress, 
 in spite of principle : being called one morning to 
 breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon 
 of silver ! They had been bought for me without 
 my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the 
 
128 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for 
 which she had no other excuse or apology to make, 
 but that she thought her husband deserved a silver 
 spoon and China bowl as well as any of his neigh 
 bors. This was the first appearance of plate and 
 China in our house, which afterward, in a course of 
 years, as our wealth increased, augmented gradually 
 to several hundred pounds in value. 
 
 I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian ; 
 but, though some of the dogmas of that persuasion, 
 such as the eternal decrees of God, election, reproba 
 tion, &c., appearing to me unintelligible, others doubt 
 ful, and I early absented myself from the public as 
 semblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, 
 I never was without some religious principles. I 
 never doubted, for instance, the existence of a Deity; 
 that he made the world, and governed it by his provi 
 dence ; 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 re 
 warded, either here or hereafter. These I esteem 
 ed the essentials of every religion ; and, being to be 
 found in all the religions w r e had in our country, I 
 respected them all, though with different degrees of 
 respect, as I found them more or less mixed with 
 other articles, which, without any tendency to in 
 spire, promote, or confirm morality, served princi 
 pally to divide us, and make us unfriendly to one 
 another. This respect to all, with an opinion that 
 the worst had some good effects, induced me to 
 avoid all discourse that might tend to lessen the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 129 
 
 good opinion another might have of his own reli 
 gion ; and as our province increased in people, and 
 new places of worship were continually wanted, and 
 generally erected by voluntary contribution, my mite 
 for such purposes, whatever might be the sect, was 
 never refused. 
 
 Though I seldom attended any public worship, 1 
 had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its utility 
 when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my an 
 nual subscription for the support of the only Presby 
 terian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia 
 He used to visit me sometimes as a friend, and ad 
 monish me to attend his administrations, and I was 
 now and then prevailed on to do so, once for five 
 Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion 
 a good preacher, perhaps I might have continued, 
 notwithstanding the occasion I had for the Sunday s 
 leisure in my course of study ; but his discourses 
 were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explica 
 tions of the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were 
 all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, 
 since not a single moral principle was inculcated or 
 enforced, their aim seeming to be rather to make 
 
 citizens 
 
 At length he took for his text that verse of the 
 fourth chapter to the Philippians, " Finally, brethren, 
 whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, 
 or of good report, if there be any virtue, or any praise, 
 think on these things! 9 And I imagined, in a sermon 
 on such a text, we could not miss of having some 
 morality. But he confined himself to five points 
 
130 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 only, as meant by the apostle : 1. Keeping holy the 
 Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy 
 Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the public worship. 
 4. Partaking of the Sacrament. 5. Paying a due 
 respect to God s ministers. These might be all 
 good things ; but, as they were not the kind of good 
 things that I expected from that text, I despaired of 
 ever meeting with them from any other, was disgust 
 ed, and attended his preaching no more. I had 
 some years before composed a little Liturgy, or form 
 of prayer, for my own private use (in 1728), entitled, 
 Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. I returned 
 to the use of this, and went no more to the public 
 assemblies. My conduct might be blamable, but I 
 leave it, without attempting further to excuse it; my 
 present purpose being to relate facts, and not to 
 make apologies for them.* 
 
 It was about this time I conceived the bold and 
 arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I 
 wished to live without committing any fault at any 
 time, and to conquer all that either natural inclina 
 tion, custom, or company might lead me into. As 
 I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and 
 wrong, I did not see why I might not always do 
 the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I 
 had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had 
 imagined. While my attention was taken up, and 
 
 * In a letter written to his daughter, we find Dr. Franklin impressing 
 upon her mind the necessity and duty of attending church, and of not 
 letting disgust toward a preacher operate against the usefulness of his 
 discourse. " Pure water," the philosopher remarks, " is often found to 
 have come through very dirty earth." 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 131 
 
 employed in guarding against one fault, I was often 
 surprised by another; habit took the 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, be 
 fore we can have any dependence on a steady, uni 
 form rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I there 
 fore tried the following method. 
 
 In the various enumerations of the moral virtues 
 I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue 
 more or less numerous, as different writers included 
 more or fewer ideas under the same name. Tem 
 perance, for example, was by some confined to eating 
 and drinking, while by others it was extended to 
 mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, 
 inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our 
 avarice and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the 
 sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with 
 fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with 
 more ideas ; and I included under thirteen names of 
 virtues all that at that time occurred to me as nec 
 essary or desirable, and annexed to each a short pre 
 cept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its 
 meaning. 
 
 These names of virtues, with their precepts, 
 were, 
 
 1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness ; drink not 
 fo elevation. 
 
132 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 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 in 
 nocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak ac 
 cordingly. 
 
 8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or 
 omitting the benefits that are your duty. 
 
 9. MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear re 
 senting 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. 
 
 My intention being to acquire the habitude of all 
 these virtues, I judged it would be well not to dis 
 tract my attention by attempting the whole at once, 
 but to fix it on one of them at a time ; and, when 1 
 should be master of that, then to proceed to another, 
 and so on, till I should have gone through the thir 
 teen ; and, as the previous acquisition of some might 
 facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 133 
 
 them with that view, as they stand above. Tem 
 perance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and 
 clearness of head, which is so necessary where con 
 stant vigilance was to be kept up, and a guard main 
 tained against the unremitting attraction of ancient 
 habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This 
 being acquired and established, Silence would be 
 more easy ; and my desire being to gain knowledge 
 at the same time that I improved in virtue, and con 
 sidering that in conversation it was obtained rather 
 by the use of the ear than of the tongue, and there 
 fore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of 
 prattling, punning, and jesting, which only made me 
 acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the 
 second place. This and the next, Order, I expect 
 ed would allow me more time for attending to my 
 project and my studies. Resolution, once become 
 habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to 
 obtain all the subsequent virtues ; Frugality and In- 
 dustry relieving me from my remaining debt, and 
 producing affluence and independence, would make 
 more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, &c., 
 &c. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice 
 of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, daily examina 
 tion would be necessary, I contrived the following 
 method for conducting that examination. 
 
 I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for 
 each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, 
 so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the 
 week, marking each column with a letter for the 
 day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red 
 
134 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 lines, marking the beginning of each line with the 
 first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and 
 in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black 
 spot, every fault I found upon examination to have 
 been committed respecting that virtue upon that 
 day.* 
 
 Form of the pages. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 Eat not to dullness ; drink not to elevation. 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 Th. 
 
 F. 
 
 s. 
 
 Tern. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sil. 
 
 X- 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 i 
 
 Ord. 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * i 
 
 Res. 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 Fru. 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 Ind. 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sine. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jus. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 
 
 Mod. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Clea. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tran. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chas. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Hum. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 1 determined to give a week s strict attention to 
 each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first 
 week, my great guard was to avoid every the least 
 offense against Temperance, leaving the other vir 
 tues to their ordinary chance, only marking every 
 evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first 
 week I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of 
 spots, I supposed the habit of that virtue so much 
 strengthened, and its opposite weakened, that I might 
 
 * This "little book" is dated 1st July, 1733. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 135 
 
 venture extending my attention to include the next, 
 and for the following week keep both lines clear 
 of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could get 
 through a course complete in thirteen weeks, and 
 four courses in a year. And like him who, having 
 a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all 
 
 the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his read) 
 and his strength, but works on one of the beds at a 
 time, and, having accomplished the first, proceeds to 
 a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging 
 pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress made in 
 virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their 
 spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I 
 should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a 
 thirteen weeks daily examination. 
 
 This my little book had for its motto these lines 
 from Addison s Cato : 
 
136 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 Another from Cicero, 
 
 " O vitae Philosophia dux ! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque vitio- 
 rum ! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati 
 est anteponendus." 
 
 Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking 
 of wisdom or virtue : 
 
 " Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and 
 honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." 
 
 And conceiving God to be the fountain of wis 
 dom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his 
 assistance for obtaining it ; to this end I formed the 
 following little prayer, which was prefixed to my 
 tables of examination, for daily use. 
 
 O powerful Goodness ! bountiful Father ! merciful Guide ! Increase 
 jn me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my 
 resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates Accept my kind offices 
 to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual 
 favors to me." 
 
 I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took 
 from Thomson s Poems, viz. : 
 
 " Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme ! 
 teach me what is good ; teach me Thyself! 
 Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, 
 From every low pursuit ; and feed my soul 
 With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure ; 
 Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!" 
 
 The precept of Order requiring that every part of 
 my business should have its allotted time, one page 
 in my little book contained the following scheme of 
 employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural 
 day. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 137 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 SCHEME. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 5 x Rise, wash, and address Poio- 
 
 The Question. What good 
 shall I do this dayl 
 
 6 erful Goodness ! Contrive day i 
 I, business, and take the resolution 
 
 7 of the day ; prosecute the pres- 
 J ent study, and breakfast 
 
 8 
 
 Work. 
 
 NOON. 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 EVENING. 
 
 The Question. What good 
 have I done to-day 1 
 
 NIGHT. 
 
 Work. 
 
 Read, or look over my ac 
 counts, and dine. 
 2- 
 3 
 4 
 5, 
 6\ Put things in their places. 
 
 7 1 Supper. Music or diversion, or 
 
 8 j conversation. Examination of 
 
 9 J the day 
 10 
 
 11 
 12 
 
 1 )> Sleep. 
 
 2 
 3 
 4; 
 
 1 entered upon the execution of this plan for self- 
 examination, and continued it with occasional inter 
 missions for some time. I was surprised to find my 
 self so much fuller of faults than I had imagined ; 
 but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. 
 To avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my 
 little book, which, by scraping out the marks on the 
 paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a 
 new course, became full of holes, I transferred my 
 tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memo 
 randum book, on which the lines were drawn with 
 
138 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those 
 lines I marked my faults with a black-lead pencil, 
 which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet 
 sponge. After a while I w r ent through one course 
 only in a year> and afterward only one in several 
 years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being 
 employed in voyages and business abroad, with a 
 multiplicity of affairs that interfered ; but I always 
 carried my little book with me. 
 
 My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble ; 
 and I found that, though it might be practicable 
 where a man s business was such as to leave him 
 the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman 
 printer, for instance, it was not possible to be exact 
 ly observed by a master, who must mix with the 
 world, and often receive people of business at their 
 own hours. Order, too, with regard to places for 
 things, papers, &c., I found extremely difficult to ac 
 quire. I had not been early accustomed to method, 
 and, having an exceedingly good memory, I was not 
 so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of 
 method. This article, therefore, cost me much 
 painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so 
 much, and I made so little progress in amendment, 
 and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost 
 ready to give up the attempt, and content myself 
 with a faulty character in that respect, like the 
 man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor, 
 desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as 
 the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright 
 for him if he would turn the wheel ; he turned, while 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 139 
 
 the smith pressed the broad face of the ax hard and 
 heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it 
 very fatiguing. The man came every now and then 
 from the wheel to see how the work went on, and 
 at length would take his ax as it was, without fur 
 ther grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on, turn 
 on ; we shall have it bright by-and-by ; as yet, it is 
 only speckled." "Yes," said the man, "but I think 
 I like a speckled ax best. 7 And I believe this may 
 
 have been the case with many, who, having, for want 
 of some such means as I employed, found the diffi 
 culty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in 
 other points of vice and virtue, have given up the 
 struggle, and concluded that " a speckled ax is best ;" 
 for something, that pretended to be reason, was 
 every now and then suggesting to me that such ex 
 treme nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind 
 
140 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 of foppery in morals, which, if it were known, would 
 make me ridiculous ; that a perfect character might 
 be attended with the inconvenience of being envied 
 and hated ; and that a benevolent man should allow 
 a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in coun 
 tenance. 
 
 In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to 
 Order ; and now I am grown old, and my memory 
 bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the 
 whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had 
 been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of 
 it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a hap 
 pier man than I otherwise should have been if I had 
 not attempted it ; as those who aim at perfect writ 
 ing by imitating the engraved copies, though they 
 never reach the wished-for excellence of those copies, 
 their hand is mended by the endeavor, and is toler 
 able while it continues fair and legible. 
 
 It may be well 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 seventy-ninth 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 
 his bearing them with more resignation. To Tem 
 perance he ascribes his long-continued health, and 
 what is still left to him of a good constitution ; to 
 Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of his 
 circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all 
 that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citi- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 141 
 
 zen, and obtained for him some degree of reputation 
 among the learned ; to Sincerity and Justice, the 
 confidence of his country, and the honorable em 
 ploys it conferred upon him ; and to the joint in 
 fluence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the 
 imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that 
 evenness of temper, and that cheerfulness in conver 
 sation, which makes his company still sought for, and 
 agreeable even to his young acquaintance. I hope, 
 therefore, that some of my descendants may follow 
 the example and reap the benefit. 
 
 It will be remarked that, though my scheme was 
 not wholly without religion, there was in it no mark 
 of any of the distinguishing tenets of any particular 
 sect. {I had purposely avoided them ; for, being fullv 
 persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method^ 
 and that it might be serviceable to people in all re 
 ligions, and intending some time or other to publish 
 it, I would not have any thing in it that should preju 
 dice any one, of any sect, against it. I proposed 
 writing a little comment on each virtue, in which I 
 would have shown the advantages of possessing it, 
 and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice ; ] 
 should have called my book THE ART OF VIRTUE, 
 because it would have shown the means and man 
 ner of obtaining virtue, which would have distin 
 guished it from the mere exhortation to be good, 
 that does not instruct and indicate the means, but 
 is like the apostle s man of verbal charity, who, 
 without showing to the naked and hungry how 
 or where they might get clothes or victuals, only 
 
142 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 exhorted them to be fed and clothed. James, ii., 
 15, 16. 
 
 But it so happened that my intention of writing 
 and publishing this comment was never fulfilled. I 
 had, indeed, from time to time, put down short hints 
 of the sentiments and reasonings to be made use of 
 in it, some of which I have still by me; but the 
 necessary close attention to private business in the 
 earlier part of life, and public business since, have 
 occasioned my postponing it ; for, it being con 
 nected in my mind with a great and extensive pro 
 ject, that required the whole man to execute, and 
 which an unforeseen succession of employs prevent 
 ed my attending to, it has hitherto remained un 
 finished. 
 
 In this piece it was my design to explain and en 
 force this doctrine, that vicious actions are not hurt 
 ful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because 
 they are hurtful, the nature of man alone consider 
 ed ; that it was, therefore, every one s interest to be 
 virtuous who wished to be happy even in this world ; 
 and I should, from this circumstance (there being al 
 ways in the world a number of rich merchants, no 
 bility, states, and princes, who have need of honest 
 instruments for the management of their affairs, and 
 such being so rare), have endeavored to convince 
 young persons that no qualities are so likely to make 
 a poor man s fortune as those of probity and in 
 tegrity. 
 
 My list of virtues contained at first but twelve ; 
 but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 143 
 
 I was generally thought proud ; that my pride show 
 ed itself frequently in conversation ; that I was not 
 content with being in the right when discussing any 
 point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of 
 which he convinced me by mentioning several in 
 stances ; I determined to endeavor to cure myself, 
 if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and 
 I added Humility to my list, giving an extensive 
 meaning to the word. 
 
 I can not boast of much success in acquiring the 
 reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with re 
 gard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to 
 forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of 
 others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even 
 forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, 
 the use of every word or expression in the language 
 that imported a fixed opinion, such as certainly, un 
 doubtedly, &c., and I adopted, instead of them, / con 
 ceive, I apprehend, or / imagine a thing to be so or 
 so ; or it so appears to me at present. When another 
 asserted something that I thought an error, I denied 
 myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, 
 and of showing immediately some absurdity in his 
 proposition ; and in answering I began by observing 
 that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion 
 would be right, but in the present case there appear 
 ed or seemed to me some difference, &c. I soon 
 found the advantage of this change in my manners ; 
 the conversations I engaged in went on more pleas 
 antly. The modest way in which I proposed my 
 opinions procured them a readier reception and less 
 
144 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 contradiction ; I had less mortification when I was 
 found to be in the wrong, and I more easily pre 
 vailed with others to give up their mistakes and join 
 with me when I happened to be in the right. 
 
 And this mode, which I at first put on with some 
 violence to natural inclination, became at length 
 easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for the last 
 fifty years no one has ever heard a dogmatical ex 
 pression escape me. And to this habit (after my 
 character of integrity) I think it principally owing 
 that I had early so much weight with my fellow- 
 citizens when I proposed new institutions, or altera 
 tions in the old, and so much influence in public 
 councils when I became a member ; for I was but a 
 bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesita 
 tion in my choice of words, hardly correct in lan 
 guage, and yet I generally carried my point. 
 
 In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural 
 passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, 
 struggle with it, stifle it, mortify it as much as one 
 pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then 
 peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, 
 often in this history ; for, even if I could conceive 
 that I had completely overcome it, I should probably 
 be proud of my humility. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 145 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 [THE last chapter embraces what was written at 
 Passy. The remainder of Franklin s autobiography, 
 so far as he continued it, is endorsed "MEMORANDUM. 
 1 am now about to write at home (Philadelphia), 
 August, 1788, but can not have the help expected 
 from my papers, many of them being lost in the war. 
 1 have, however, found the following."] 
 
 Having mentioned a great and extensive project 
 which 1 had conceived, it seems proper that some 
 account should be here given of that project and its 
 object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the fol 
 lowing little paper, accidentally preserved, viz. : 
 
 Observations on my reading history, in the Li 
 brary, May 9th, 1731. 
 
 " That the great affairs of the world, the wars, and 
 revolutions are carried on and effected by parties. 
 
 " That the view of these parties is their present 
 general interest, or what they take to be such. 
 
 " That the different views of these different par 
 ties occasion all confusion. 
 
 " That while a party is carrying on a general de 
 sign, each man has his particular private interest in 
 view. 
 
 " That as soon as a party has gained its general 
 
 K 
 
146 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 point, each member becomes intent upon his partic 
 ular interest; which, thwarting others, breaks that 
 party into divisions, and occasions more confusion. 
 
 " That few in public affairs act from a mere view 
 of the good of their country, whatever they may 
 pretend ; and, though their actings bring real good 
 to their country, yet men primarily considered that 
 their own arid their country s interest were united, 
 and so did not act from a principle of benevolence. 
 
 " That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view- 
 to the good of mankind. 
 
 " There seems to me at present to be great occa 
 sion for raising a United Party for Virtue, by form 
 ing the virtuous and good nien of all nations into a 
 regular body, to be governed by suitable good and 
 wise rules, which good and wise men may probably 
 oe more unanimous in their obedience to, than com 
 mon people are to common laws. 
 
 "I at present think that whoever attempts this 
 aright, and is well qualified, can not fail of pleasing 
 God, and of meeting with success." 
 
 Revolving this project in my mind, as to be under 
 taken hereafter, when my circumstances should af 
 ford me the necessary leisure, I put down from time 
 to time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurred 
 to me respecting it. Most of these are lost ; but I 
 find one purporting to be the substance of an intend 
 ed creed, containing, as I thought, the essentials of 
 every known religion, and being free of every thing 
 that might shock the professors of any religion. It 
 is expressed in these words, viz. : 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 147 
 
 :" That there is one God, who made all things. 
 
 " That he governs the world by his providence. 
 
 " That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, 
 prayer, and thanksgiving. 
 
 "But 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." 
 
 My ideas at that time were, that the sect should 
 be begun and spread at first among young and single 
 men only ; that each person to be initiated should 
 not only declare his assent to such creed, but should 
 have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks ex 
 amination and practice of the virtues, as in the be 
 fore-mentioned model ; that the existence of such a 
 society should be kept a secret, till it was become 
 considerable, to prevent solicitations for the admis 
 sion of improper persons, but that the members 
 should each of them search among his acquaint 
 ance for ingenious, well-disposed youths, to whom, 
 with prudent caution, the scheme should be gradual 
 ly communicated ; that the members should en 
 gage to afford their advice, assistance, and support 
 to each other in promoting one another s interest, 
 business, and advancement in life ; that, for dis 
 tinction, we should be called THE SOCIETY OF THE 
 FREE AND EASY : free, as being, by the general 
 practice and habits of the virtues, free from the do 
 minion of vice ; and particularly by the practice of 
 industry and frugality, free from debts, which ex- 
 
148 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 poses a man to constraint, and a species of slavery 
 to his creditors. 
 
 This is as much as I can now recollect of the 
 project, except that I communicated it in part to two 
 young men, who adopted it with some enthusiasm ; 
 but my then narrow circumstances, and the neces 
 sity I was under of sticking close to my business, 
 occasioned my postponing the further prosecution 
 of it at that time ; and my multifarious occupations, 
 public and private, induced me to continue post 
 poning, so that it has been omitted till I have no 
 longer strength or activity left sufficient for such an 
 enterprise ; though I am still of opinion it was a 
 practicable scheme, and might have been very use 
 ful, by forming a great number of good citizens ; and 
 I was not discouraged by the seeming magnitude of 
 the undertaking, as I have always thought that one 
 man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, 
 and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he 
 first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amuse 
 ments or other employments that would divert his 
 attention, make the execution of that same plan his 
 sole study and business. 
 
 In 1732 I first published my Almanac, under the 
 name of Richard Saunders ; it was continued by 
 me about twenty-five years, and commonly called 
 Poor Richard s Almanac. I endeavored to make it 
 both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came 
 to be in such demand, that I reaped considerable 
 profit, from it, vending annually near ten thousand.* 
 
 * The first year that the Almanac was printed was for 1733. The firs . 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 149 
 
 And observing that it was generally read, scarce an y 
 neighborhood in the province being without it, I 
 considered it as a proper vehicle for conveying in 
 struction among the common people, who bought 
 scarcely any other books; I therefore filled 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 up 
 right. 
 
 These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of 
 many ages and nations, I assembled and formed into 
 a connected discourse prefixed to the Almanac of 
 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the peo 
 ple attending an auction. The bringing all these 
 scattered counsels thus into a focus enabled them to 
 make greater impression. The piece, being uni- 
 
 advertisement of it appeared in December, 1732, rather later in the 
 season than our present almanac makers issue. Three editions of the 
 first number were printed before the end of January ; and in after years, 
 though the edition was increased, it was frequently necessary to reprint. 
 We copy the first advertisement from the Pennsylvania Gazette : 
 
 "Just published, for 1733, An Almanac, containing the Lunations, 
 Eclipses, Planets Motions and Aspects, Weather, Sun and Moon s Rising 
 and Setting, High Water, &c. ; besides many pleasant and witty Verses, 
 Jests, and Sayings ; Author s Motive of Writing ; Prediction of the Death 
 of his Friend, Mr. Titan Leeds ; Moon no Cuckold ; Bachelor s Folly ; 
 Parson s Wine and Baker s Pudding ; Short Visits ; Kings and Bears ; 
 New Fashions ; Game for Kisses ; Katherine s Love ; Different Senti 
 ments ; Signs of a Tempest ; Death of a Fisherman ; Conjugal Debate ; 
 Men and Melons ; The Prodigal ; Breakfast in Bed ; Oyster Lawsuit, &c. 
 By Richard Saunders, Philomat. Printed and Sold by B. Franklin." 
 
150 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 versally approved, was copied in all the newspapers 
 of the American Continent; reprinted in Britain on 
 a large sheet of paper, to be stuck up in houses; two 
 translations were made of it in France, and great 
 numbers bought by the clergy and gentry, to dis 
 tribute gratis among their poor parishioners and 
 tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless 
 expense in foreign superfluities, some thought it had 
 its share of influence in producing that growing 
 plenty of money which was observable for several 
 years after its publication. 
 
 I considered my newspaper, also, as another means 
 of communicating instruction, and in that view fre 
 quently reprinted in it extracts from the Spectator, 
 and other moral writers ; and sometimes published 
 little pieces of my own, which had been first com 
 posed for reading in our Junto. Of these are a 
 Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever 
 might be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could 
 not properly be called a man of sense ; and a dis 
 course on self-denial, showing that virtue was not 
 secure till its practice became a habitude, and was 
 free from the opposition of contrary inclinations. 
 These may be found in the papers about the be 
 ginning of 1735. 
 
 In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully ex 
 cluded all libeling and personal abuse, which is of 
 late years become so disgraceful to our country. 
 Whenever I was solicited to insert any thing of that 
 kind, and the writers pleaded, as they generally did, 
 the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper was 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 151 
 
 like a stage-coach, in which any one who would pay 
 had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would 
 print the piece separately if desired, and the author 
 might have as many copies as he pleased to distrib 
 ute himself, but that I would not take upon me to 
 spread his detraction ; and that, having contracted 
 with my subscribers to furnish them with what might 
 be either useful or entertaining, I could not fill their 
 papers with private altercation, in which they had 
 no concern, without doing them manifest injustice. 
 Now, many of our printers make no scruple of grati 
 fying the malice of individuals by false accusations 
 of the fairest characters among ourselves, augment 
 ing animosity even to the producing of duels ; and 
 are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous re 
 flections on the government of neighboring states, 
 and even on the conduct of our best national allies, 
 which may be attended with the most pernicious 
 consequences. These things I mention as a caution 
 to young printers, and that they may be encouraged 
 not to pollute their presses and disgrace their pro 
 fession by such infamous practices, but refuse steadi 
 ly, as they may see by my example that such a 
 course of conduct will not, on the whole, be injurious 
 to their interests. 
 
 In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charles 
 ton, South Carolina, where a printer was wanting. 
 I furnished him with a press and letters, on an agree 
 ment of partnership, by which I was to receive one 
 third of the profits of the business, paying one third 
 of the expense. He was a man of learning, but 
 
152 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ignorant in matters of account : and, though he 
 
 o o 
 
 sometimes made me remittances, I could get no ac 
 count from him, nor any satisfactory state of our 
 partnership while he lived. On his decease, the 
 business was continued by his widow, who, being 
 
 horn and bred in Holland, where, as 1 have been in 
 formed, the knowledge of accounts makes a part of 
 female education, she not only sent me as clear a 
 statement as she could find of the transactions past, 
 but continued to account with the greatest regularity 
 and exactness every quarter afterward, and managed 
 the business with such success, that she not only rep 
 utably brought up a family of children, but, at the 
 expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me 
 the printing-house, and establish her son in it. 
 
 I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recom 
 mending that branch of education for our young 
 women, as likely to be of more use to them and their 
 children, in case of widowhood, than either music 
 or dancing, by preserving them from losses by im- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 153 
 
 position of crafty men, and enabling them to con 
 tinue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house, with 
 established correspondence, till a son is grown up 
 fit to undertake and go on with it, to the lasting ad 
 vantage and enriching of the family. 
 
 About the year 1734 there arrived among us a 
 young Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who 
 delivered with a good voice, and apparently extem 
 pore, most excellent discourses, which drew together 
 considerable numbers of different persuasions, who 
 joined in admiring them. Among the rest, I be 
 came one of his constant hearers, his sermons pleas 
 ing me, as they had little of the dogmatical kind, but 
 inculcated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in 
 the religious style are called good works. Those, 
 however, of our congregation, who considered them 
 selves as orthodox Presbyterians, disapproved his 
 doctrine, and were joined by most of the old minis 
 ters, who arraigned him of heterodoxy before the 
 synod, in order to have him silenced. I became his 
 zealous partisan, and contributed all 1 could to raise 
 a party in his favor, and combated for him a while 
 with some hopes of success. There was much 
 scribbling pro and con upon the occasion; and find 
 ing that, though an elegant preacher, he was but 
 a poor writer, I wrote for him two or three pam 
 phlets, and a piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. 
 Those pamphlets, as is generally the case with con 
 troversial writings, though eagerly read at the time, 
 were soon out of vogue, and I question whether a 
 single copy of them now exists. 
 
154 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt 
 his cause exceedingly. One of our adversaries hav 
 ing heard him preach a sermon that was much ad 
 mired, thought he had somewhere read the sermon 
 before, or at least a part of it. On searching, he 
 found that part quoted at length, in one of the British 
 Reviews, from a discourse of Dr. Foster s. This de 
 tection gave many of our party disgust, who accord 
 ingly abandoned his cause, and occasioned our more 
 speedy discomfiture in the synod. I stuck by him, 
 however ; I rather approved his giving us good ser 
 mons composed by others, than bad ones of his own 
 manufacture, though the latter was the practice of 
 our common teachers. He afterward acknowledged 
 to me that none of those he preached were his own ; 
 adding, that his memory was such as enabled him to 
 retain and repeat any sermon after once reading 
 only. On our defeat, he left us in search elsewhere 
 of better fortune, and I quitted the congregation, 
 never attending it after, though I continued many 
 years my subscription for the support of its ministers. 
 
 I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon 
 made myself so much a master of the French as to 
 be able to read the books in that language with ease. 
 I then undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, 
 who was learning it, used often to tempt me to play 
 chess with him. Finding this took up too much of 
 the time I had to spare for study, I at length refused 
 to play any more, unless on this condition, that the 
 victor in every game should have a right to impose 
 a task, either of parts of the grammar to be got by 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 1 5 
 
 heart, or in translations, which tasks the vanquished 
 was to perform upon honor before our next meeting. 
 As we played pretty equally, we thus beat one an 
 other into that language. I afterward, with a little 
 pains-taking, acquired as much of the Spanish as to 
 read their books also. 
 
 I have already mentioned that I had only one 
 year s instruction in a Latin school, and that when 
 very young, after which I neglected that language en 
 tirely. But, when I had attained an acquaintance 
 with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surprised 
 to find, on looking over a Latin Testament, that I un 
 derstood more of that language than I had imagined, 
 which encouraged me to apply myself again to the 
 study of it, and I met with more success, as those 
 preceding languages had greatly smoothed my way. 
 
 From these circumstances, I have thought there is 
 some inconsistency in our common mode of teach 
 ing languages. We are told that it is proper to be- 
 
156 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 gin first with the Latin, and, having acquired that, it 
 will be more easy to attain those modern languages 
 which are derived from it ; and yet we do not be 
 gin with the Greek, in order more easily to acquire 
 the Latin. It is true that, if we can clamber and 
 get to the top of a staircase without using the steps, 
 we shall more easily gain them in descending; but 
 certainly, if we begin with the lowest, we shall with 
 more ease ascend to the top ; and I would there 
 fore offer it to the consideration of those who super 
 intend the education of our youth, wh ether, since 
 many of those who begin with the Latin quit the 
 same after spending some years without having made 
 any great proficiency, and what they have learned 
 becomes almost useless, so that their time has been 
 lost, it would not have been better to have begun 
 with the French, proceeding to the Italian and Latin ; 
 for, though, after spending the same time, they should 
 quit the study of languages and never arrive at the 
 Latin, they would, however, have acquired another 
 tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be 
 serviceable to them in common life. 
 
 After ten years absence from Boston, and having 
 become easy in my circumstances, I made a journey 
 thither to visit my relations, which I could not sooner 
 afford. In returning, 1 called at Newport to see my 
 brother James, then settled there with his printing- 
 house. Our former differences were forgotten, and 
 our meeting was very cordial and affectionate. He 
 was fast declining in health, and requested me that, 
 in case of his death, which he apprehended not far 
 
UFK OK Fii A.NKI.IN. 
 
 distant, I would take home his son, then ten years 
 of age, and bring him up to the printing business. 
 
 This I accordingly performed, sending him a few 
 years to school before I took him into the office. 
 His mother carried on the business till he was grown 
 up, when I assisted him with an assortment of new 
 types, those of his father being in a manner worn 
 out. Thus it was that I made my brother ample 
 amends for the service I had deprived him of by 
 leaving him so early. 
 
 In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four 
 years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common 
 way. I long regretted him bitterly, and still regret 
 that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This 
 I mention for the sake of parents who omit that 
 operation, on the supposition that they should never 
 
158 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 forgive themselves if a child died under it; my ex 
 ample showing that the regret may be the same 
 either way, and, therefore, that the safer should be 
 chosen. 
 
 Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, arid af 
 forded such satisfaction to the members, that some 
 were desirous of introducing their friends, which 
 could not well be done without exceeding what we 
 had settled as a convenient number, viz., twelve. 
 We had from the beginning made it a rule to keep 
 our institution a secret, which was pretty well ob 
 served; the intention was to avoid applications of 
 improper persons for admittance, some of whom, 
 perhaps, we might find it difficult to refuse. I was 
 one of those who were against any addition to our 
 number, but, instead of it, made in writing a proposal, 
 that every member separately should endeavor to 
 form a subordinate club, with the same rules respect 
 ing queries, &c., and without informing them of the 
 connection with the Junto. The advantages pro 
 posed were, the improvement of so many more young 
 citizens by the use of our institutions ; our better ac 
 quaintance with the general sentiments of the in 
 habitants on any occasion, as the Junto member 
 might propose what queries we should desire, and 
 was to report to the Junto what passed at his sepa 
 rate club ; the promotion of our particular interests 
 in business by more extensive recommendation, and 
 the increase of our influence in public affairs, and 
 our power of doing good by spreading through the 
 several clubs the sentiments of the Junto. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 159 
 
 The project was approved, and every member 
 undertook to form his club, but they did not all suc 
 ceed. Five or six only were completed, which were 
 called by different names, as the Vine, the Union, 
 the Band. They were useful to themselves, and af 
 forded us a good deal of amusement, information, 
 and instruction, besides answering, in some consid 
 erable degree, our views of influencing the public on 
 particular occasions, of which I shall give some in 
 stances in course of time as they happened. 
 
 My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, 
 clerk of the General Assembly. The choice was 
 made that year without opposition ; but the year 
 following, when I was again proposed (the choice, 
 like that of the members, being annual), a new mem 
 ber made a long speech against me, in order to favor 
 some other candidate. I was, however, chosen, 
 which was the more agreeable to me, as, besides 
 the pay for the immediate service of clerk, the place 
 gave me a better opportunity of keeping up an in 
 terest among the members, which secured to me the 
 business of printing the votes, laws, paper money, 
 and other occasional jobs for the public, that, on the 
 whole, were very profitable. 
 
 I therefore did not like the opposition of this new 
 member, who was a gentleman of fortune and edu 
 cation, with talents that were likely to give him, in 
 time, great influence in the House, which, indeed, af 
 terward happened. I did not, however, aim at gain 
 ing his favor by paying any servile respect to him, 
 but, after some time, took this other method. Hav- 
 
160 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing heard that he had in his library a certain very 
 scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, ex 
 pressing my desire of perusing that book, and re 
 questing that he would do me the favor of lending 
 it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, 
 and I returned it in about a week with another note, 
 expressing strongly the 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 occasions, so that we became great friends, 
 and our friendship continued to his death. This is 
 another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had 
 learned, which says, " He that has once done you a 
 kindness will be more ready to do you another, than 
 he whom you yourself have obliged" And it shows 
 how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, 
 than to resent, return, and continue inimical pro 
 ceedings. 
 
 In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Vir 
 ginia, and then postmaster-general, being dissatisfied 
 with the conduct of his deputy at Philadelphia, re 
 specting some negligence in rendering, and want of 
 exactness in framing his accounts, took from him the 
 commission and offered it to me. I accepted it 
 readily, and found it of great advantage ; for, though 
 the salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence 
 that improved my newspaper, increased the number 
 demanded, as well as the advertisements to be in 
 serted, so that it came to afford me a considerable 
 income. My old competitor s newspaper declined 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 161 
 
 proportionably, and I was satisfied without retaliating 
 his refusal, while postmaster, to permit my papers 
 being carried by the riders. Thus he suffered great 
 ly from his neglect in due accounting ; and I men 
 tion it as a lesson to those young men who may be 
 employed in managing affairs for others, that they 
 should always render accounts, and make remit 
 tances, with great clearness and punctuality. The 
 character of observing such a conduct is the most 
 powerful of all recommendations to new employ 
 ments and increase of business. 
 
 I now began to turn my thoughts to public affairs, 
 beginning, however, with small matters. The city 
 watch was one of the first things that I conceived 
 to want regulation. It was managed by the con 
 stables of the respective wards in turn ; the consta 
 ble summoned a number of housekeepers to attend 
 him for the night. Those who chose never to at 
 tend, paid him six shillings a year to be excused, 
 which was supposed to go to hiring substitutes, but 
 was, in reality, much more than was necessary for 
 that purpose, and made the constableship a place of 
 profit ; and the constable, for a little drink, often got 
 such ragamuffins about him as a watch, that respect 
 able housekeepers did not choose to mix with. 
 Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected, and 
 most of the nights spent in tippling. I thereupon 
 wrote a paper to be read in the Junto, representing 
 these irregularities, but insisting more particularly 
 on the inequality of this six- shilling tax of the con 
 stables, respecting the circumstances of those who 
 
 L 
 
162 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 paid it, since a poor widow housekeeper, all whose 
 property to be guarded by the watch did not per 
 haps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as much 
 as the wealthiest merchant, who had thousands of 
 pounds worth of goods in his stores. 
 
 On the whole, I proposed, as a more effectual 
 watch, the hiring of proper men to serve constantly 
 in the business ; and as a more equitable way of 
 supporting the charge, the levying a tax that should 
 be proportioned to the property. This idea, being 
 approved by the Junto, was communicated to the 
 other clubs, but as originating in each of them ; and 
 though the plan was not immediately carried into 
 execution, yet, by preparing the minds of people for 
 the change, it paved the way for the law obtained a 
 few years after, when the members of our clubs were 
 grown into more influence. 
 
 About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read 
 in the Junto, but it was afterward published) on 
 the different accidents and carelessnesses by which 
 houses were set on fire, with cautions against them, 
 and means proposed of avoiding them. This was 
 spoken of as a useful piece, and gave rise to a pro 
 ject, which soon followed it, of forming a company 
 for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual 
 assistance in removing and securing of goods when 
 in danger. Associates in this scheme were presently 
 found, amounting to thirty. Our articles of agree 
 ment obliged every member to keep always in good 
 order, and fit for use, a certain number of leathern 
 buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for packing 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 163 
 
 and transporting of goods), which were to be brought 
 to every fire ; and we agreed about once a month to 
 spend a social evening together, in discoursing and 
 communicating such ideas as occurred to us upon 
 the subject of fires, as might be useful in our conduct 
 on such occasions. 
 
 The utility of this institution soon appeared, and 
 many more desiring to be admitted than we thought 
 convenient for one company, they were advised to 
 form another, which was accordingly done; and 
 thus went on one new company after another, till 
 they became so numerous as to include most of the 
 inhabitants who were men of property ; and now, at 
 the time of my writing this, though upward of fifty 
 years since its establishment, that which 1 first form 
 ed, called the Union Fire Company, still subsists, 
 though the first members are all deceased but one, 
 who is older by a year than I am. The fines that 
 have been paid by members for absence at the 
 monthly meetings have been applied to the pur 
 chase of fire-engines, ladders, fire-hooks, and other 
 useful implements for each qompany, so that I ques 
 tion whether there is a city in the world better pro 
 vided with the means of putting a stop to beginning 
 conflagrations ; and, in fact, since these institutions, 
 the city has never lost by fire more than one or two 
 houses at a time, and the flames have often been ex 
 tinguished before the house in which they began has 
 been half consumed. 
 
164 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Rev 
 erend Mr. Whitefield, who had made himself remark 
 
 able there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first 
 permitted to preach in some of our churches ; but 
 the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him 
 their pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the 
 fields. The multitudes of all sects and denomina 
 tions that attended his sermons were enormous, and 
 it was a matter of speculation to me, who was one of 
 the number, to observe the extraordinary influence 
 of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they 
 admired and respected him, notwithstanding his 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 165 
 
 common abuse of them, by assuring them they were 
 naturally half beasts and half devils. It was wonder 
 ful to see the change soon made in the manners of 
 our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indif 
 ferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world 
 were growing religious, so that one could not walk 
 through the town in an evening without hearing 
 psalms sung in different families of every street. 
 
 And it being found inconvenient to assemble in 
 the open air, subject to its inclemencies, the build 
 ing of a house to meet in was no sooner proposed, 
 and persons appointed to receive contributions, than 
 sufficient sums were soon received to procure the 
 ground and erect the building, which was one hun 
 dred feet long and seventy broad ; and the work was 
 carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a 
 much shorter time than could have been expected. 
 Both house and ground were vested in trustees, ex 
 pressly for the use of any preacher of any religious 
 persuasion who might desire to say something to 
 the people at Philadelphia ; the design in building 
 being not to accommodate any particular sect, but 
 the inhabitants in general ; so that even if the Mufti 
 of Constantinople were to send a missionary to 
 preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pul 
 pit at his service. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield, on leaving us, went preaching all 
 the way through the colonies to Georgia. The set 
 tlement of that province had been lately begun, but, 
 instead of being made with hardy, industrious hus 
 bandmen, accustomed to labor, the only people fit 
 
166 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 for such an enterprise, it was with families of broken 
 shop-keepers and other insolvent debtors, many of 
 indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, 
 being set down in the woods, unqualified for clear 
 ing land, and unable to endure the hardships of a 
 new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving many 
 helpless children unprovided for. The sight of their 
 miserable situation inspired the benevolent heart of 
 Mr. Whitefield with the idea of building an Orphan 
 House there, in which they might be supported and 
 educated. Returning northward, he preached up 
 this charity, and made large collections, for his elo 
 quence had a wonderful power over the hearts and 
 purses of his hearers, of which I myself was an in 
 stance. 
 
 I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia 
 was then destitute of materials and workmen, and it 
 was proposed to send them from Philadelphia at a 
 great expense, I thought it would have been better 
 to have built the house at Philadelphia, and brought 
 the children to it. This I advised ; but he was reso 
 lute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I 
 therefore refused to contribute. I happened soon 
 after to attend one of his sermons, in the course of 
 which I perceived he intended to finish with a col 
 lection, 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 detenu- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 167 
 
 ined me to give the silver; and he finished so ad- 
 
 O 7 
 
 mirably, that I emptied my pocket wholly into the 
 collector s dish, gold and all. At this sermon there 
 was also one of our club, who, being of my senti 
 ments respecting the building in Georgia, and sus 
 pecting a collection might be intended, had, by pre 
 caution, emptied his pockets before he came from 
 home. Toward the conclusion of the discourse, 
 however, he felt a strong inclination to give, and ap 
 plied to a neighbor, who stood near him, to lend 
 him some money for the purpose. The request was 
 fortunately made to perhaps the only man in the 
 company who had the firmness not to be affected 
 by the preacher. His answer was, "At any other 
 time, Friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; 
 but not now, for thee seems to be out of thy right 
 
 senses." 
 
 Some of Mr. Whitefield s enemies affected to sup 
 pose that he would apply these collections to his 
 own private emolument ; but I, who was intimately 
 acquainted with him, being employed in printing his 
 Sermons and Journals, never had the least suspicion 
 of his integrity, but am to this day decidedly of 
 opinion that he was in all his conduct a perfectly 
 honest man ; and methinks my testimony in his favor 
 ought to have the more weight, as we had no re- 
 
 O O " 
 
 ligious connection. He used, indeed, sometimes to 
 pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfac 
 tion of believing that his prayers were heard. Ours 
 was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, 
 and lasted to his death. 
 
168 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 The following instance will show the" terms on 
 which we stood. Upon one of his arrivals from 
 England at Boston, he wrote to me that he should 
 come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he 
 could lodge when there, as he understood his old 
 friend and host, Mr. Benezet, was removed to Ger- 
 mantown. My answer was, " You know my house ; 
 if you can make shift with its scanty accommoda 
 tions, you will be most heartily welcome." He re 
 plied, that if I made that kind offer for Christ s sake, 
 I should not rniss of a reward. And I returned, 
 " Don t let me be mistaken ; it was not for Christ s 
 sake, but for your sake! One of our common ac 
 quaintance jocosely remarked, that, knowing it to 
 be the custom of the saints, when they received any 
 favor, to shift the burden of the obligation from off 
 their own shoulders, and place it in heaven, I had 
 contrived to fix it on earth. 
 
 The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in Lon 
 don, when he consulted me about his Orphan House 
 concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to the 
 establishment of a college. 
 
 He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated 
 his words so perfectly, that he might be heard and 
 understood at a great distance, especially as his 
 auditors observed the most perfect silence. He 
 preached one evening from the top of the Court 
 house steps, which are in the middle of Market- 
 street, and on the west side of Second-street, which 
 crosses it at right angles. Both streets were filled 
 with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 169 
 
 among the hindmost in Market-street, I had the 
 curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by re 
 tiring backward down the street toward the river; 
 and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front- 
 street, when some noise in that street obscured it. 
 Imagining then a semicircle, of which my distance 
 should be the radius, and that it was filled with au 
 ditors, to each of whom I allowed two square feet, 
 I computed that he might well be heard by more 
 than thirty thousand. This reconciled me to the 
 newspaper accounts of his having preached to twen 
 ty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the his 
 tory of generals haranguing whole armies, of which 
 I had sometimes doubted. 
 
 By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily 
 between sermons newly composed, and those which 
 he had often preached in the course of his travels. 
 His delivery of the latter was so improved by fre 
 quent repetition, that every accent, every emphasis, 
 every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well 
 turned and well placed, that, without being interest 
 ed in the subject, one could not help being pleased 
 with the discourse ; a pleasure of much the same 
 kind with that received from an excellent piece of 
 music. This is an advantage itinerant preachers 
 have over those who are stationary, as the latter 
 can not well improve their delivery of a sermon by 
 so many rehearsals. 
 
 His writing and printing from time to time gave 
 great advantage to his enemies ; unguarded expres 
 sions, and even erroneous opinions, delivered in 
 
170 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 preaching, might have been afterward explained or 
 qualified by supposing others that might have ac 
 companied them, or they might have been denied; 
 but liter a scripta manet. Critics attacked his writ 
 ings violently, and with so much appearance of 
 reason as to diminish the number of his votaries and 
 prevent their increase ; so that I am satisfied that, 
 if he had never written any thing, he would have 
 left behind him a much more numerous and im 
 portant sect, and his reputation might in that case 
 have been still growing, even after his death, as, 
 -there being nothing of his writing on which to found 
 a censure and give him a lower character, his prose 
 lytes would be left at liberty to attribute to him as 
 great a variety of excellences as their enthusiastic 
 admiration might wish him to have possessed,* 
 
 * The remarks which Franklin makes relative to the distance at which 
 he heard Whitefield s voice may require a little explanation to those who 
 are acquainted with the appearances of Market-street now. The Court 
 house, of which he speaks as then standing in High or Market street, has 
 long since been removed, and a long line of market-houses occupies the 
 , center of the street. The following interesting particulars relative to the 
 reception of Whitefield in this country are extracted from cotemporary 
 files of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin s newspaper. 
 
 November 15th, 1739. "The Reverend Mr. Whitefield, having given 
 me copies of his Journals and Sermons, with leave to print the same, I 
 propose .to publish them with all expedition, if I fin d sufficient encourage 
 ment. The Sermons will make two volumes, and the Journals two 
 more, which will be delivered to subscribers at two shillings for each 
 volume, bound. Those, therefore, who are inclined to encourage this 
 work, are desired speedily to send in their names to me, that I may take 
 measures accordingly." 
 
 November 29^. " On Friday last, Mr. Whitefield arrived here with his 
 
 friends from New York, where he preached eight times. He has preach 
 ed twice every day to great crowds, except Tuesday, when he preached 
 ,ut Germantown, from a balcony, to about five thousand people in the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 171 
 
 My business was now constantly augmenting* and 
 my circumstances growing daily easier, my news 
 paper having become very profitable, as being for a 
 time almost the only one in this and the neighbor 
 ing provinces. I experienced, too, the truth of the 
 observation, " that after getting the first hundred 
 pounds, it is more easy to get the second" money it 
 self being of a prolific nature. 
 
 The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I 
 
 street. And last night the crowd was so great to hear his farewell ser 
 mon, that the church could not contain one half, whereupon they with 
 drew to Society Hill, where he preached from a balcony to a multitude 
 computed at not less than ten thousand people. He left this city to-day." 
 
 December 5th. "On Thursday last, the Reverend Mr. Whitefield left 
 this city, and was accompanied to Chester by about one hundred and fifty 
 horse, ana preached there to about seven thousand people. On Friday 
 he preached twice at Willing s Town to about five thousand , on Saturday, 
 at Newcastle, to about two thousand five hundred ; and the same even 
 ing at Christiana Bridge, to about three thousand ; on Sunday, at White 
 Clay Creek, he preached twice, resting about half an hour between the 
 sermons, to about eight thousand, of whom three thousand, it is computed, 
 came on horseback. It rained most of the time, and yet they stood in 
 the open air." 
 
 May 15th, 1740. "This evening the Reverend Mr. Whitefield went 
 on board his sloop at Newcastle to sail for Georgia. On Sunday he 
 preached twice at Philadelphia. The last was his farewell sermon, at 
 which was a vast audience. On Monday he preached at Derby and 
 Chester ; on Tuesday at Wilmington and White Clay Creek ; on Wednes 
 day at Nottingham ; on Thursday at Fog s Manor. The congregations 
 were, at every place, much more numerous than when he was here last. 
 We hear that he has collected in these parts, in goods and money, be 
 tween four and five hundred pounds sterling for his Orphan House in 
 Georgia." 
 
 May 2Zd, 1740. "Monday next will be delivered to the subscribers 
 two volumes of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield s works, viz., one of Ser 
 mons and one of Journals. The other volumes being nearly finished, will 
 be ready in a short time. The whole number of names subscribed far 
 exceeds the number of books printed. Those subscribers who have paid, 
 or who bring the money in their hands, will have the preference " 
 
172 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 was encouraged to engage in others, and to promote 
 several of my workmen, who had behaved well, by 
 establishing them in printing-houses in different 
 colonies, on the same terms with that in Carolina. 
 Most of them did well, being enabled at the end of 
 our term, six years, to purchase the types of me and 
 go on working for themselves, by which means sev 
 eral families were raised. Partnerships often finish 
 in quarrels ; but I was happy in this, that mine 
 were all carried on and ended amicably, owing, I 
 think, a good deal to the precaution of having very 
 explicitly settled, in our articles, every thing to be 
 done by or expected from each partner, so that there 
 was nothing to dispute, which precaution I would 
 therefore recommend to all who enter into partner 
 ships ; for, whatever esteem partners may have for, 
 and confidence in, each other at the time of the con 
 tract, little jealousies and disgusts may arise, with 
 ideas of inequality in the care and burden, business, 
 &c., which are attended often with breach of friend 
 ship and of the connection, perhaps with lawsuits 
 and other disagreeable consequences. 
 
 I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satis 
 fied with my being established in Pennsylvania. 
 There were, however, some things that I regretted, 
 there being no provision for defense, nor for a com 
 plete education of youth ; no militia, nor any college. 
 I therefore, in 1743, drew up a proposal for estab 
 lishing an academy ; and at that time, thinking the 
 Reverend Richard Peters, who was out of employ, 
 a fit person to superintend such an institution, I com- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 173 
 
 municated the project to him; but he, having more 
 profitable views in the service of the proprietors, 
 which succeeded, declined the undertaking; and, 
 not knowing another at that time suitable for such 
 a trust, I let the scheme lie a while dormant. I suc 
 ceeded better the next year, 1744, in proposing and 
 establishing a Philosophical Society* The paper 
 I wrote for that purpose will be found among my 
 writings, if not lost with many others. 
 
 With respect to defense, Spain having been sev 
 eral years at war against Great Britain, and being at 
 length joined by France, which brought us into great 
 danger ; and the labored and long-continued en 
 deavor of our governor, Thomas, to prevail with our 
 Quaker Assembly to pass a militia law, and make 
 other provisions for the security of the province, 
 having proved abortive, I proposed to try what might 
 be done by a voluntary subscription of the people. 
 To promote this, I first wrote and published a pam 
 phlet, entitled PLAIN TRUTH, in which I stated our 
 helpless situation in strong lights, with the necessity 
 of union and discipline for our defense, and promised 
 to propose in a few days an association, to be gen 
 erally signed for that purpose. The pamphlet had 
 
 * This institution, one of the best and oldest in the country, now pos 
 sesses a library of 14,000 volumes, and a fine collection of minerals, fos 
 sils, relics, &c., &c. Its "Transactions," published from time to time, 
 are of great value, and its present condition is highly prosperous. It 
 numbers among its active members men of the best practical and philo 
 sophical mind in the country, and its rooms, open to strangers on appli 
 cation to the librarian, have many visitors. In 1740 Franklin published 
 a " General Magazine," better adapted to be useful than popular, which 
 lasted only six months. 
 
174 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 a sudden and surprising effect. I was called upon 
 for the instrument of association. Having settled 
 the draft of it with a few friends, I appointed a meet 
 ing of the citizens in the large building before men 
 tioned. The house was pretty full ; I had prepared 
 a number of printed copies, and provided pens and 
 ink dispersed all over the room. I harangued them 
 a little on the subject, read the paper, explained it, 
 and then distributed the copies, which were eagerly 
 signed, not the least objection being made. 
 
 When the company separated, and the papers 
 were collected, we found above twelve hundred sig 
 natures ; and, other copies being dispersed in the 
 country, the subscribers amounted at length to up 
 ward of ten thousand. These all furnished them 
 selves as soon as they could with arms, formed them 
 selves into companies and regiments, chose their own 
 officers, and met every week to be instructed in the 
 manual exercise, and other parts of military disci 
 pline. The women, by subscriptions among them 
 selves, provided silk colors, which they presented to 
 the companies, painted with different devices and 
 mottoes, which I supplied. 
 
 The officers of the companies composing the 
 Philadelphia regiment, being met, chose me for their 
 colonel ; but, conceiving myself unfit, I declined that 
 station, and recommended Mr. Lawrence, a fine per 
 son, and a man of influence, who was accordingly 
 appointed. I then proposed a lottery to defray the 
 expense of building a battery below the town, and 
 furnished with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 175 
 
 the battery was soon erected, the merlons being 
 framed of logs and filled with earth. We bought 
 some old cannon from Boston ; but, these not being 
 sufficient, we wrote to London for more, soliciting, 
 at the same time, our proprietaries for some assist 
 ance, though without much expectation of obtain 
 ing it. 
 
 Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence, Mr. Allen, Abra 
 ham Taylor, and myself were sent to New York by 
 the associators, commissioned to borrow some can 
 non of Governor Clinton. He at first refused us 
 peremptorily ; but at dinner with his council, where 
 there was great drinking of Madeira wine, as the 
 custom of that place then was, he softened by de- 
 
17f) LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 
 
 grees, and said he would lend us six. After a few 
 more bumpers he advanced to ten; and at length 
 he very good-naturedly conceded eighteen. They 
 were fine cannon, eighteen-pounders, with their car 
 riages, which were soon transported and mounted 
 on our batteries, where the associators kept a night 
 ly guard while the war lasted, and among the rest 
 I regularly took my turn of duty there as a conr- 
 mon soldier. 
 
 My activity in these operations was agreeable to 
 the governor and council ; they took me into con 
 fidence, and I was consulted by them in every 
 measure where their concurrence was thought use 
 ful to the association. Calling in the aid of reli 
 gion, I proposed to them the proclaiming a fast, to 
 promote reformation, and implore the blessing ol 
 Heaven on our undertaking. They embraced the 
 motion ; but, as it was the first fast ever thought of 
 in the province, the secretary had no precedent 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 177 
 
 from which to draw the proclamation. My educa 
 tion in New England, where a fast is proclaimed 
 every year, was here of some advantage : I drew it 
 in the accustomed style ; it was translated into 
 German, printed in both languages, and circulated 
 through the province. This gave the clergy of the 
 different sects an opportunity of influencing their 
 congregations to join the association, and it w r ould 
 probably have been general among all but the Quak 
 ers if the peace had not soon intervened. 
 
 It was thought by some of my friends that, by my 
 activity in these affairs, I should offend that sect, 
 and thereby lose my influence in the Assembly of 
 the province, where they formed a great majority. 
 A young man, who had likewise some friends in 
 the Assembly, and washed to succeed me as their 
 clerk, acquainted me that it was decided to displace 
 me at the next election ; and he, through good will, 
 advised me to resign, as more consistent with my 
 honor than being turned out. My answer to him 
 was, that I had read or heard of some public man 
 who made it a rule never to ask for an office, and 
 never to refuse one when offered to him. " I ap 
 prove," said I, " of this rule, arid shall practice it 
 with a small addition : I shall never ask, never re 
 fuse, nor ever RESIGN an office. If they will have 
 my office of clerk to dispose of it to another, they 
 shall take it from me. I will not, by giving it up, 
 lose my right of some time or other making reprisal 
 on my adversaries." I heard, however, no more of 
 
 this ; I was chosen again unanimously as clerk at 
 
 M 
 
178 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the next election. Possibly, as they disliked my 
 late intimacy with the members of council, who 
 had joined the governors in all the disputes about 
 military preparations, with which the House had 
 long been harassed, they might have been pleased 
 if I would voluntarily have left them ; but they did 
 not care to displace me on account merely of my 
 zeal for the association, and they could not well 
 give another reason. 
 
 Indeed, I had some reason to believe that the de 
 fense of the country was not disagreeable to any of 
 them, provided they were not required to assist in 
 it. And I found that a much greater number of 
 them than I could have imagined, though against 
 offensive war, were clearly for the defensive. Many 
 pamphlets pro and con were published on the sub 
 ject, and some by good Quakers, in favor of defense, 
 which I believe convinced most of their young peo 
 ple. 
 
 A transaction in our fire company gave me some 
 insight into their prevailing sentiments. It had been 
 proposed that we should encourage the scheme for 
 building a battery by laying out the present stock, 
 then about sixty pounds, in tickets of the lottery. 
 By our rules, no money could be disposed of till the 
 next meeting after the proposal. The company con 
 sisted of thirty members, of whom twenty-two were 
 Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions. We 
 eight punctually attended the meeting; but, though 
 we thought that some of the Quakers would join 
 us, we were by no means sure of a majority. Only 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 179 
 
 one Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appeared to oppose 
 the measure. He expressed much sorrow that it 
 had ever been proposed, as he said Friends were all 
 against it, and it would create such discord as might 
 break up the company. We told him that we saw 
 no reason for that; we were the minority, and if 
 Friends were against the measure, and out-voted us, 
 we must and should, agreeably to the usage of all so 
 cieties, submit. When the hour for business arrived, 
 it was moved to put this to the vote ; he allowed 
 we might do it by the rules, but, as he could assure 
 us that a number of members intended to be present 
 for the purpose of opposing it, it would be but can 
 did to allow a little time for their appearing. 
 
 While we were disputing this, a waiter came to 
 tell me that two gentlemen below desired to speak 
 with me. I went down, and found there two of our 
 Quaker members. They told me there were eight 
 of them assembled at a tavern just by; that they 
 w r ere determined to corne and vote with us if there 
 should be occasion, which they hoped would not 
 be the case, and desired we would not call for their 
 assistance if we could do without it, as their voting 
 for such a measure might .embroil them with their 
 elders and friends. Being thus secure of a majori 
 ty, I went up, and after a little seeming hesitation, 
 agreed to a delay of another hour. This Mr. Mor 
 ris allowed to be extremely fair. Not one of his 
 opposing friends appeared, at which he expressed 
 great surprise ; and, at the expiration of the hour, 
 we carried the resolution eight to one ; and as, of 
 
180 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the twenty- two Quakers, eight were ready to vote 
 with us, and thirteen, by their absence, manifested 
 that they were not inclined to oppose the measure, 
 I afterward estimated the proportion of Quakers sin 
 cerely against defense as one to twenty- one only; 
 for these were all regular members of the society, 
 and in good reputation among them, and who had 
 notice of what was proposed at that meeting. 
 
 The honorable and learned Mr. Logan, who had 
 always been of that sect, wrote an address to them, 
 declaring his approbation of defensive war, and sup 
 ported his opinion by many strong arguments. He 
 put into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out in 
 lottery tickets for the battery, with directions to ap 
 ply what prizes might be drawn wholly to that 
 service. He told me the following anecdote of his 
 old master, William Penn, respecting defense. He 
 came over from England, when a young man, with 
 that proprietary, and as his secretary. It was war 
 time, and their ship was chased by an armed vessel, 
 supposed to be an enemy. Their captain prepared 
 for defense ; but told William Penn, and his com 
 pany of Quakers, that he did not expect their assist 
 ance, and they might retire into the cabin, which 
 they did, except James Logan, who chose to stay 
 upon deck, and was quartered to a gun. The sup 
 posed enemy proved a friend, so there was no fight 
 ing ; but when the secretary went down to commu 
 nicate the intelligence, William Penn rebuked him 
 severely for staying upon deck, and undertaking to 
 assist in defending the vessel, contrary to the prin- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 181 
 
 ciples of Friends, especially as it had not been re 
 quired by the captain. This reprimand, being be 
 fore all the company, piqued the secretary, who 
 answered, "I being thy servant, why did thee not 
 order me to come down 1 But thee was willing 
 enough that I should stay and help to fight the ship 
 when thee thought there was danger." 
 
 My being many years in the Assembly, a majority 
 of which were constantly Quakers, gave me frequent 
 opportunities of seeing the embarrassment given 
 them by their principle against war, whenever ap 
 plication was made to them, by order of the crown, 
 to grant aids for military purposes. They were un 
 willing to offend government, on the one hand, by 
 a direct refusal; and their friends, the body of the 
 Quakers, on the other, by a compliance contrary to 
 their principles ; using a variety of evasions to avoid 
 complying, and modes of disguising the compliance 
 when it became unavoidable. The common mode 
 at last was, to grant money under the phrase of its 
 being "for the king s use" and never to inquire how 
 it was applied. 
 
 But, if the demand was not directly from the 
 crown, that phrase was found not so proper, and 
 some other was to be invented. Thus, when pow 
 der was wanting (I think it was for the garrison at 
 Louisburg), and the government of New England 
 solicited a grant of some from Pennsylvania, which 
 was much urged on the House by Governor Thomas, 
 they would not grant money to buy powder t because 
 that was an ingredient of war; but they voted an 
 
182 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 aid to New England of three thousand pounds, to be 
 put into the hands of the governor, and appropriated 
 it for the purchase of bread, flour, wheat, or other 
 gram. Some of the council, desirous of giving the 
 House still further embarrassment, advised the gov 
 ernor not to accept provision, as not being the thing 
 he had demanded ; but he replied, " I shall take the 
 money, for I understand very well their meaning; 
 other grain is gunpowder," which he accordingly 
 bought, and they never objected to it. 
 
 It was in allusion to this fact that, when in our 
 fire company we feared the success of our proposal 
 in favor of the lottery, and I had said to a friend of 
 mine, one of our members, "If we fail, let us move 
 the purchase of a fire-engine with the money; the 
 Quakers can have no objection to that; and then, 
 if you nominate me and I you as a committee for 
 that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is cer 
 tainly a fire-engine." " I see," said he, " you have 
 
 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 183 
 
 improved by being so long in the Assembly; your 
 equivocal project would be just a match for their 
 wheat or other grain 
 
 Those embarrassments that the Quakers suffered 
 from having established and published it as one of 
 their principles that no kind of war was lawful, and 
 which, being once published, they could not after 
 ward, however they might change their minds, easily 
 get rid of, reminds rne of what I think a more pru 
 dent conduct in another sect among us, that of the 
 Dunkers. I was acquainted with one of its founders, 
 Michael Welfare, soon after it appeared. He com 
 plained to me that they were grievously calumniated 
 by the zealots of other persuasions, and charged with 
 abominable principles and practices, to which they 
 were utter strangers. I told him this had always 
 been the case with new sects, and that, to put a stop 
 to such abuse, I imagined it might be well to publish 
 the articles of their belief, and the rules of their dis 
 cipline. He said that it had been proposed among 
 them, but not agreed to, for this reason : " When 
 we were first drawn together as a society," said he, 
 "it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far 
 as to see that some doctrines, which were esteemed 
 truths, were errors ; and that others, which we had 
 esteemed errors, were real truths. From time to 
 time He has been pleased to afford us further light, 
 and our principles have been improving, and our 
 errors diminishing. Now we are not sure that we 
 are arrived at the end of this progression, and at the 
 perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge ; and 
 
184 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 we fear that, if we should once print our confession 
 of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and 
 confined by it, and perhaps be unwilling to receive 
 further improvement, and our successors still more 
 so, as conceiving what their elders and founders had 
 done to be something sacred, never to be departed 
 from." 
 
 This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular in 
 stance in the history of mankind, every other sect 
 supposing itself in possession of all truth, and that 
 those who differ are so far in the wrong ; like a man 
 traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance 
 before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the 
 fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people 
 in the fields on each side, but near him all appear 
 clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as 
 any of them. To avoid this kind of embarrassment, 
 the Quakers have of late years been gradually de 
 clining the public service in the Assembly and in the 
 magistracy, choosing rather to quit their power than 
 their principle. 
 
 In order of time, I should have mentioned before, 
 that having, in 1742, invented an open stove for the 
 better warming of rooms, and at the same time saving 
 fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in enter 
 ing, I made a present of the model to Mr. Robert 
 Grace, one of my early friends, who, having an iron- 
 furnace, found the casting of the plates for these 
 stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in 
 demand. To promote that demand, I wrote and 
 published a pamphlet, entitled "An Account of the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 185 
 
 new-invented Pennsylvanian Fireplaces ; wherein 
 their Construction and Manner of Operation are 
 particularly explained; their Advantages above every 
 other Method of warming Rooms demonstrated ; 
 and all Objections that have been raised against the 
 Use of them answered and obviated," &c. This 
 pamphlet had a good effect. Governor Thomas was 
 so pleased with the construction of this stove, as de 
 scribed in it, that he offered to give me a patent for 
 the sole vending of them for a term of years ; but I 
 declined it from a principle which has ever weighed 
 with me on such occasions, viz., That, as we enjoy 
 great advantages from the inventions of others, we 
 should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by 
 any invention of ours ; and this we should do freely 
 and generously. 
 
 An ironmonger in London, however, assuming a 
 good deal of my pamphlet, and working it up into 
 his own, and making some small changes in the 
 machine, which rather hurt its operation, got a patent 
 for it there, and made, as I was told, a little fortune 
 by it. And this is not the only instance of patents 
 taken out of my inventions by others, though not al 
 ways with the .same success, which I never con 
 tested, as having no desire of profiting by patents 
 myself, and hating disputes. The use of these fire 
 places in very many houses, both here in Pennsyl 
 vania and the neighboring states, has been, and is, 
 a great saving of wood to the inhabitants. 
 
186 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PEACE being concluded, and the association busi 
 ness therefore at an end, I turned my thoughts again 
 to the affair of establishing an academy. The first 
 step I took was to associate in the design a number 
 of active friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good 
 part ; the next was to write and publish a pamphlet, 
 entitled Proposals relating to the Education of Youth 
 in Pennsylvania. This I distributed among the prin 
 cipal inhabitants gratis ; and as soon as I could sup 
 pose their minds a little prepared by the perusal of 
 it, I set on foot a subscription for opening and sup 
 porting an academy : it was to be paid in quotas 
 yearly for five years ; by so dividing it, I judged the 
 subscription might be larger, and I believe it was so, 
 amounting to no less, if I remember right, than five 
 thousand pounds. 
 
 In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their 
 publication, not as an act of mine, but of some pub 
 lic-spirited gentlemen, avoiding as much as I could, 
 according to my usual rule, the presenting myself to 
 the public as the author of any scheme for their 
 benefit. 
 
 The subscribers, to carry the project into imme 
 diate execution, chose out of their number twenty- 
 four trustees, and appointed Mr. Francis, then at- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 187 
 
 torney-general, and myself to draw up constitutions 
 for the government of the academy ; which being 
 done and signed, a house was hired, masters en 
 gaged, and the schools opened, I think, in the same 
 year, 1749. 
 
 The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon 
 found too small, and we were looking out for a piece 
 of ground, properly situated, with intent to build, 
 when accident threw in our way a large house ready 
 built, which, with a few alterations, might well serve 
 our purpose. This was the building before men 
 tioned, erected by the hearers of Mr. Whiten* eld, and 
 was obtained for us in the following manner. 
 
 It is to be noted that the contributions to this 
 building being made by people of different sects, 
 care was taken in the nomination of trustees, in 
 whom the building and ground were to be vested, 
 that a predominance should not be given to any 
 sect, lest in time that predominance might be a 
 means of appropriating the whole to the use of such 
 sect, contrary to the original intention. It was for 
 this reason that one of each sect was appointed, 
 viz., one Church-of-England man, one Presbyterian, 
 one Baptist, one Moravian, &c., who, in case of va 
 cancy by death, were to fill it by election from among 
 the contributors. The Moravian happened not to 
 please his colleagues, and on his death they resolved 
 to have no other of that sect. The difficulty then 
 was, how to avoid having two of some other sect, 
 by means of the new choice. 
 
 Several persons were named, and for that reason 
 
188 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 not agreed to. At length one mentioned me, with 
 the observation that I was merely an honest man, 
 and of no sect at all, which prevailed with them to 
 choose me. The enthusiasm which existed when 
 the house was built had long since abated, and its 
 trustees had not been able to procure fresh contri 
 butions for paying the ground-rent, and discharging 
 some other debts the building had occasioned, which 
 embarrassed them greatly. Being now a member 
 of both boards of trustees, that for the building and 
 that for the academy, I had a good opportunity of 
 negotiating with both, and brought them finally to 
 an agreement, by which the trustees for the building 
 were to cede it to those of the academy, the latter 
 undertaking to discharge the debt, to keep forever 
 open in the building a large hall for occasional 
 preachers, according to the original intention, and 
 maintain a free-school for the instruction of poor 
 children. Writings were accordingly drawn, and 
 on paying the debts the trustees of the academy 
 were put in possession of the premises ; and by di 
 viding the great and lofty hall into stories, and differ 
 ent rooms above and below for the several schools, 
 and purchasing some additional ground, the whole 
 was soon made fit for our purpose, and the scholars 
 removed into the building. The whole care and 
 trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing 
 materials, and superintending the work, fell upon me ; 
 and I went through it the more cheerfully, as it did 
 not then interfere with my private business, having 
 year before taken a very able, industrious, and 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 1S9 
 
 honest partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose charac 
 ter I was well acquainted, as he had worked for me 
 four years. He took off my hands all care of the 
 printi ng-office, paying me punctually my share oi 
 the profits. This partnership continued eighteen 
 years, successfully for us both. 
 
 The trustees of the academy, after a while, were 
 incorporated by a charter from the governor ; their 
 funds were increased by contributions in Britain and 
 grants of land from the proprietaries, to which the 
 Assembly has since made considerable addition ; 
 and thus was established the present University of 
 Philadelphia. I have been continued one of its 
 trustees from the beginning, now near forty years, 
 and have had the very great pleasure of seeing a 
 number of the youth who have received their edu 
 cation in it, distinguished by their improved abilities, 
 serviceable in public stations, and ornaments to their 
 country.* 
 
 When I was disengaged myself, as above men 
 tioned, from private business, I flattered myself that, 
 by the sufficient though moderate fortune I had ac 
 quired, I had found leisure during the rest of my life 
 for philosophical studies and amusements. I pur- 
 
 * The old " Academy," as the building of which Franklin speaks above 
 was called, remained standing in Fourth-street, above Market, until 
 1844. Whatever advantages its internal arrangements may have pre 
 sented, its exterior was unsightly. It was crowded and hemmed in by 
 other structures. A new and tasteful edifice, with modern improve 
 ments and conveniences, has now taken its place. For many years the 
 building had been occupied as an academy, preparatory to the University, 
 commodious buildings for which wero erected in North-street, near 
 Chestnut. 
 
190 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 chased all Dr. Spence s apparatus, who had come 
 from England to lecture in Philadelphia, and I pro 
 ceeded in my electrical experiments with great alac 
 rity ; but the public, now considering me as a man 
 of leisure, laid hold of me for their purposes, every 
 part of our civil government, and almost at the same 
 time, imposing some duty upon me. The governor 
 put me into the commission of the peace ; the cor 
 poration of the city chose me one of the common 
 council, and soon after alderman ; and the citizens 
 at large elected me a burgess to represent them in 
 the Assembly. This latter station was the more 
 agreeable to me, as I grew at length tired with sit 
 ting there to hear the debates, in which, as clerk, I 
 could take no part, and which were often so unin 
 teresting that I was induced to amuse myself with 
 making magic squares or circles, or any thing to 
 avoid weariness; and I conceived my becoming a 
 member would enlarge my power of doing good. I 
 would not, however, insinuate that my ambition was 
 not flattered by all these promotions ; it certainly 
 was; for, considering my low beginning, they were 
 great things to me ; and they were still more pleas 
 ing, as being so many spontaneous testimonies of the 
 public good opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited. 
 The office of justice of the peace I tried a little, 
 by attending a few courts, and sitting on the bench 
 to hear causes ; but finding that more knowledge of 
 the common law than I possessed was necessary to 
 act in that station with credit, I gradually withdrew 
 from it, excusing myself by being obliged to attend 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 191 
 
 the higher duties of a legislator in the Assembly. 
 My election to this trust was repeated every year 
 for ten years, without my ever asking any elector 
 for his vote, or signifying, either directly or indirect 
 ly, any desire of being chosen. On taking my seat 
 in the House, my son was appointed their clerk. 
 
 The year following, a treaty being to be held with 
 the Indians at Carlisle, the governor sent a message 
 to the House, proposing that they should nominate 
 some of their members, to be joined with some 
 members of council, as commissioners for that pur 
 pose. The House named the speaker (Mr. Norris) 
 and myself; and, being commissioned, we went to 
 Carlisle, and met the Indians accordingly. 
 
 As those people are extremely apt to get drunk, 
 and, when so, are very quarrelsome and disorderly, 
 we strictly forbade the selling any liquor to them ; 
 and when they complained of this restriction, we 
 told them that if they would continue sober during 
 the treaty, we would give them plenty of rum when 
 the business was over. They promised this, and 
 they kept their promise, because they could get no 
 rum, and the treaty was conducted very orderly, and 
 concluded to mutual satisfaction. They then claim 
 ed and received the rum ; this was in the afternoon : 
 they were near one hundred men, women, and chil 
 dren, and were lodged in temporary cabins, built in 
 the form of a square, just without the town. In the 
 evening, hearing a great noise among them, the 
 commissioners walked to see what was the matter. 
 We found they had made a great bonfire in the 
 
192 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 middle of the square ; they were all drunk, men and 
 women, quarreling and righting. Their dark-col 
 
 ored bodies, half naked, seen only by the gloomy 
 light of the bonfire, running after and beating one 
 another with firebrands, accompanied by their hor 
 rid yellings, formed a scene the most resembling our 
 ideas of hell that could well be imagined ; there was 
 no appeasing the tumult, and we retired to our lodg 
 ing. At midnight a number of them came thunder 
 ing at our door, demanding more rum, of which we 
 took no notice. 
 
 The next day, sensible they had misbehaved in 
 giving us that disturbance, they sent three of their 
 old counselors to make their apology. The orator 
 acknowledged the fault, but laid it upon the rum ; 
 and then endeavored to excuse the rum by saying, 
 The Great Spirit, who made all things, made every 
 
LIFE OF F K A t \ K L I \. 1 93 
 
 thing for some use, and whatever use he designed any 
 thing for, that use it should always he put to. Now, 
 when he made ruin, he said, Let this be for the In 
 dians to get drunk with , and it must be so." And, 
 indeed, if it be the design of Providence to extirpate 
 these savages in order to make room for the culti 
 vators of the earth, it seems not impossible that rum 
 may be the appointed means. It has already anni 
 hilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the sea- 
 coast. 
 
 In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend 
 of mine, conceived the idea of establishing a hospital 
 in Philadelphia (a very beneficent design, which has 
 been ascribed to me, but was originally and truly 
 his), for the reception and cure of poor sick persons, 
 whether inhabitants of the province or strangers. 
 He was zealous and active in endeavoring to pro 
 cure subscriptions for it, but the proposal being a 
 novelty in America, and at first not well understood, 
 he met but with little success. 
 
 At length he came to me with the compliment 
 that he found there was no such thing as carrying 
 a public-spirited project through without my being 
 concerned in it. " For," said he, " I am often asked 
 by those to whom I propose subscribing, Have you 
 consulted Franklin on this business ? And what does 
 lie think of it ? And when 1 tell them that I have 
 not, supposing it rather out of your line, they do not 
 subscribe, but say they will consider it! I inquired 
 into the nature and probable utility of this scheme, 
 and receiving from him a very satisfactory explana- 
 
 N 
 
194 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 tion, I not only subscribed to it myself, but engaged 
 heartily in the design of procuring subscriptions from 
 others. Previously, however, to the solicitation, I 
 endeavored to prepare the minds of the people by 
 writing on the subject in the newspapers, which was 
 my usual custom in such cases, but which Dr. Bond 
 had omitted. 
 
 The subscriptions afterward were more free and 
 generous ; but, beginning to flag, I saw they would 
 be insufficient without some assistance from the As 
 sembly, and therefore proposed to petition for it, 
 which was done. The country members did not at 
 first relish the project ; they objected that it could 
 only be serviceable to the city, and therefore the 
 citizens alone should be at the expense of it ; and 
 they doubted whether the citizens themselves gen 
 erally approved of it. My allegation on the con 
 trary, that it met with such approbation as to leave 
 no doubt of our being able to raise two thousand 
 pounds by voluntary donations, they considered as 
 a most extravagant supposition, and utterly impos 
 sible. 
 
 On this I formed my plan; and, asking leave to 
 bring in a bill for incorporating the contributors ac 
 cording to the prayer of their petition, and granting 
 them a blank sum of money, which leave was ob 
 tained chiefly on the consideration that the House 
 could throw the bill out if they did not like it, I 
 drew it so as to make the important clause a condi 
 tional one, viz., " And be it enacted, by the authority 
 aforesaid, that when the said contributors shall have 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 195 
 
 met and chosen their managers and treasurer, and 
 shall have raised by their contributions a capital 
 stock of two thousand pounds value (the yearly in 
 terest of which is to be applied to the accommoda 
 tion of the sick poor in the said hospital, and of 
 charge for diet, attendance, advice, and medicines), 
 and shall make the same appear to the satisfaction of 
 the speaker of the Assembly for the time being, that 
 then it shall and may be lawful for the said speaker, 
 and he is hereby required, to sign an order on the 
 provincial treasurer for the payment of two thousand 
 pounds, in two yearly payments, to the treasurer of 
 the said hospital, to be applied to the founding, build 
 ing, and finishing of the same." 
 
 This condition carried the bill through ; for the 
 members, who had opposed the grant, and now con 
 ceived they might have the credit of being charita 
 ble without the expense, agreed to its passage ; and 
 then, in soliciting subscriptions among the people, we 
 urged the conditional promise of the law as an ad 
 ditional motive to give, since every man s donation 
 would be doubled ; thus the clause worked both 
 ways. The subscriptions accordingly soon exceed 
 ed the requisite sum, and we claimed and received 
 the public gift, which enabled us to carry the design 
 into execution. A convenient and handsome build 
 ing was soon erected ; the institution has by constant 
 experience been found useful, and flourishes to this 
 day ; and I do not remember any of my political 
 manoeuvres, the success of which at the time gave 
 me more pleasure, or wherein, after thinking of it, I 
 
196 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 more easily excused myself for having made some 
 use of cunning.* 
 
 It was about this time that another projector, the 
 Reverend Gilbert Tennent, came to me with a re 
 quest that I would assist him in procuring a sub 
 scription for erecting a new meeting-house. It was 
 to be for the use of a congregation he had gathered 
 among the Presbyterians, who were originally disci 
 ples of Mr. Whitefield. Unwilling to make myself 
 disagreeable to my fellow-citizens by too frequently 
 soliciting their contributions, I absolutely refused. 
 He then desired I would furnish him with a list of 
 the names of persons I knew by experience to be 
 generous and public-spirited. I thought it would be 
 unbecoming in me, after their kind compliance with 
 my solicitations, to mark them out to be worried by 
 other beggars, and therefore refused to give such a 
 list. He then desired I would at least give him my 
 advice. " That I will readily do/ said I ; " and, in 
 the first place, I advise you to apply to all those who 
 you know will give something ; next, to those who 
 you are uncertain whether they will give any thing 
 or not, and show them the list of those who have 
 given ; and, lastly, do not neglect those who you are 
 
 * The building occupied by the Pennsylvania Hospital, situated in Pine- 
 street, between Eighth and Ninth, was completed in 1804, and occu 
 pies a whole square. It is one of the best-endowed institutions in the 
 country, and one of the most useful, having now an excellent insane de 
 partment connected with it, a valuable library, lecture-room, anatomical 
 museum, &c. The institution is supported by the interest of its fund, 
 the receipts from the exhibition of West s painting, and the board of pay- 
 patients. It is a great testimony to the sagacity and philanthropy of 
 Franklin that such successful institutions rest on his foundations 
 
L 1 F E O F F R A N K L I N. 197 
 
 sure will give nothing, for in some of them you may 
 he mistaken." He laughed and thanked me, and 
 said he would take my advice. He did so, for he 
 asked of everybody, and he obtained a much larger 
 sum than he expected, with which he erected the 
 capacious and elegant meeting-house that stands in 
 Arch-street. 
 
 Our city, though laid out with a beautiful regu 
 larity, the streets large, straight, and crossing each 
 other at right angles, had the disgrace of suffering 
 those streets to remain long unpaved, and in wet 
 weather the wheels of heavy carnages ploughed them 
 into a quagmire, so that it was difficult to cross them; 
 and in dry weather the dust was offensive. I had 
 lived near what was called the Jersey Market, and 
 saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud while 
 purchasing their provisions. A strip of ground down 
 the middle of that market was at length paved with 
 brick, so that, being once in the market, they had 
 firm footing, but were often over shoes in dirt to 
 get there. By talking and writing on the subject, I 
 was at length instrumental in getting the street paved 
 with stone between the market and the brick foot- 
 pavement, that was on the side next the houses. 
 This, for some time, gave an easy access to the 
 market dry-shod ; but, the rest of the street not be 
 ing paved, whenever a carriage came out of the mud 
 upon this pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon 
 it, and it \vas soon covered with mire, which was 
 not removed, the city as yet having no scavengers. 
 
 After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious 
 
198 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 man, who was willing to undertake keeping the 
 pavement clean, by sweeping it twice a week, carry 
 ing off the dirt from before all the neighbors doors, 
 for the sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each 
 house. I then wrote and printed a paper setting 
 forth the advantages to the neighborhood that might 
 be obtained from this small expense; the greater 
 ease in keeping our houses clean, so much dirt not 
 being brought in by people s feet; the benefit to the 
 shops by more custom, as buyers could more easily 
 get at them ; and by not having, in windy weather, 
 the dust blown in upon their goods, &c., &c. I sent 
 one of these papers to each house, and in a day or 
 two went round to see who would subscribe an 
 agreement to pay these sixpences ; it was unani 
 mously signed, and for a time well executed. All 
 the inhabitants of the city were delighted with the 
 cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded the 
 market, it being a convenience to all, and this raised 
 a general desire to have all the streets paved, and 
 made the people more willing to submit to a tax for 
 that purpose. 
 
 After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, 
 and brought it into the Assembly. It was just be 
 fore I went to England, in 1757, and did not pass 
 till I was gone, and then with an alteration in the 
 mode of assessment, which I thought not for the 
 better, but with an additional provision for lighting 
 as well as paving the streets, which was a great im 
 provement. It was by a private person, the late Mr. 
 John Clifton, giving a sample of the utility of lamps, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 199 
 
 by placing one at his door, that the people were first 
 impressed with the idea of lighting all the city. 
 The honor of this public benefit has also been as 
 cribed to me, but it belongs truly to that gentleman. 
 I did but follow his example, and have only some 
 merit to claim respecting the form of our lamps, as 
 differing from the globe lamps we were at first sup 
 plied with from London. They were found incon 
 venient in these respects : they admitted no air be 
 low ; the smoke, therefore, did not readily go out 
 above, but circulated in the globe, lodged on its in 
 side, and soon obstructed the light they were intend 
 ed to afford; giving, besides, the daily trouble of 
 wiping them clean ; and an accidental stroke on one 
 of them would demolish it, and render it totally use 
 less. I therefore suggested the composing them of 
 four flat panes, with a long funnel above to draw up 
 the smoke, and crevices admitting the air below, to 
 facilitate the ascent of the smoke ; by this means 
 they were kept clean, and did not grow dark in a 
 few hours, as the London lamps do, but continued 
 bright till morning, and an accidental stroke would 
 generally break but a single pane, easily repaired. 
 
 I have sometimes wondered that the Londoneis 
 did not, from the effect holes in the bottom of the 
 globe lamps used at Vauxhall have in keeping them 
 clean, learn to have such holes in their street lamps. 
 But, these holes being made for another purpose, 
 viz., to communicate flame more suddenly to the 
 wick by a little flax hanging down through them, the 
 other use, of letting in air, seems not to have been 
 
200 LIFT: OK FRANKLIN. 
 
 thought of; and therefore, after the lamps have been 
 lit a few hours, the streets of London are very poor 
 ly illuminated. 
 
 The mention of these improvements puts me in 
 mind of one I proposed, when in London, to Dr. 
 Fothergill, who was among the best men I have 
 known, and a great promoter of useful projects. I 
 had observed that the streets, when dry, were never 
 swept, and the light dust carried away ; but it was 
 suffered to accumulate till wet weather reduced it to 
 mud, and then, after lying some days so deep on the 
 pavement that there was no crossing but in paths 
 kept clean by poor people with brooms, it was with 
 great labor raked together and thrown up into carts, 
 open above, the sides of which suffered some of the 
 slush at every jolt on the pavement to shake out and 
 fall, sometimes to the annoyance of foot-passengers. 
 The reason given for not sweeping the dusty streets 
 was, that the dust would fly into the windows of 
 shops and houses. 
 
 An accidental occurrence had instructed me how 
 much sweeping might be done in a little time. I 
 found at my door in Craven-street, one morning, a 
 poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch 
 broom ; she appeared very pale and feeble, as just 
 come out of a fit of sickness. I asked who employ 
 ed her to sweep there ; she said, " Nobody ; but I 
 am poor and in distress, and I sweeps before gentle- 
 folkses doors, and hopes they will give me some 
 thing." I bid her sweep the whole street clean, and 
 I would give her a shilling; this was at nine o clock; 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 20 
 
 at noon she came for the shilling. From tne s.ow 
 ness I saw at first in her working, I could scarce 
 believe that the work was done so soon, and sent 
 my servant to examine it, who reported that the 
 whole street was swept perfectly clean, and all the 
 dust placed in the gutter, which was in the middle; 
 and the next rain washed it quite away, so that the 
 pavement and even the kennel were perfectly clean. 
 I then judged that, if that feeble woman could 
 sweep such a street in three hours, a strong, active 
 man might have done it in half the time. And here 
 let me remark the convenience of having but one 
 gutter in such a narrow street, running down its 
 middle, instead of two, one on each side, near the 
 footway; for where all the rain that falls on a street 
 
202 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 runs from the sides and meets in the middle, it forms 
 there a current strong enough to wash away all the 
 mud it meets with ; but when divided into two chan 
 nels, it is often too weak to cleanse either, and only 
 makes the mud it finds more fluid, so that the 
 wheels of carriages and feet of horses throw and 
 dash it upon the foot-pavement, which is thereby 
 rendered foul and slippery, and sometimes splash it 
 upon those who are walking. My proposal, com 
 municated to the doctor, was as follows : 
 
 " For the more effectually cleaning and keeping 
 clean the streets of London and Westminster, it is 
 proposed that the several watchmen be contracted 
 with to have the dust swept up in dry seasons, and 
 the mud raked up at other times, each in the several 
 streets and lanes of his round ; that they be furnished 
 with brooms and other proper instruments for these 
 purposes, to be kept at their respective stands, ready 
 to furnish the poor people they may employ in the 
 service. 
 
 " That in the dry summer months the dust be all 
 swept up into heaps at proper distances, before the 
 shops and windows of houses are usually opened, 
 when scavengers, with close covered carts, shall also 
 carry it all away. 
 
 " That the mud, when raked up, be not left in 
 heaps to be spread abroad again by the wheels of 
 carriages and trampling of horses, but that the scav 
 engers be provided with bodies of carts, not placed 
 high upon wheels, but low upon sliders, with lattice 
 bottoms, which, being covered with straw, will re- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 203 
 
 tain the rnud thrown into them, and permit the water 
 to drain from it, whereby it will become much 
 lighter, water making the greatest part of the weight; 
 these hodies of carts to he placed at convenient 
 distances, and the rnud brought to them in wheel 
 barrows ; they remaining where placed till the mud 
 is drained, and then horses brought to draw them 
 away." 
 
 I have since had doubts of the practicability of 
 the latter part of this proposal, in all places, on ac 
 count of the narrowness of some streets, and the 
 difficulty of placing the draining-sleds so as not to 
 encumber too much the passage ; but I am still of 
 opinion that the former, requiring the dust to be 
 swept up and carried away before the shops are 
 open, is very practicable in the summer, when the 
 days are long; for, in walking through the Strand 
 and Fleet-street one morning at seven o clock, I ob 
 served there was not one shop open, though it had 
 been daylight and the sun up above three hours ; the 
 inhabitants of London choosing voluntarily to live 
 much by candle-light, and sleep by sunshine, and 
 yet often complain, a little absurdly, of the duty on 
 candles, and the high price of tallow. 
 
 Some may think these trifling matters not worth 
 minding or relating; but when they consider that 
 though dust blown into the eyes of a single person, 
 or into a single shop in a windy day, is but of small 
 importance, yet the great number of the instances in 
 a populous city, and its frequent repetition, gives it 
 weight and consequence, perhaps they will not cen- 
 
204 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 sure very severely those who bestow some attention 
 to affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human fe 
 licity is produced not _ so much by. great pieces of 
 good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advan 
 tages 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 in giving him a thousand guineas. 
 This sum may be soon spent, the regret only re 
 maining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the 
 other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of wait 
 ing for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, 
 offensive breaths, and dull razors ; he shaves when 
 most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleas 
 ure of its being done with a good instrument. With 
 these sentiments I have hazarded the few preceding 
 pages, hoping they may afford hints which some 
 time or other may be useful to a city I love, having 
 lived many years in it very happily, and perhaps to 
 some of our towns in America. 
 
 Having been some time employed by the postmas 
 ter-general of America as his comptroller in regu 
 lating several offices, and bringing the officers to ac 
 count, I was, upon his death in 1753, appointed, 
 jointly with Mr. William Hunter, to succeed him, 
 by a commission from the postmaster-general in En 
 gland. The American office had hitherto never paid 
 any thing to that of Britain. We were to have six 
 hundred pounds a year between us, if we could make 
 that sum out of the profits of the office. To do this, 
 a variety of improvements was necessary ; some of 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 205 
 
 these were inevitably at first expensive, so that in 
 the first four years the office became above nine hun 
 dred pounds in debt to us. But it soon after began 
 to repay us ; and before I was displaced by a freak 
 of the ministers, of which I shall speak hereafter, we 
 had brought it to yield three times as much clear 
 revenue to the crown as the postoffice of Ireland. 
 Since that imprudent transaction, they have received 
 from it not one farthing ! 
 
 The business of the postoffice occasioned my 
 taking a journey this year to New England,* where 
 the College of Cambridge, of their own motion, pre 
 sented me with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale 
 College, in Connecticut, had before made me a simi 
 lar compliment. Thus, without studying in any col 
 lege, I came to partake of their honors. They were 
 conferred in consideration of my improvements and 
 discoveries in the electric branch of natural philos 
 ophy. 
 
 * In a letter written from Passy, France, May, 1784, to Dr. Mather, 
 Boston, Franklin thus speaks of his visits to Boston : " I long much to 
 see again my native place, and to lay my bones there. I left it in 1723 ; 
 I visited it in 1733, 1743, 1753, and 1763. In 1773 I was in England ; in 
 1775 I had a sight of it, but could not enter, it being then in possession 
 of the enemy. I did hope to have been there in 1783, but could not ob 
 tain my dismission from this employment here ; and now I fear I shall 
 never have that happiness." The doctor s visit in 1775 was as a mem 
 ber of a Congressional committee to the camp at Cambridge. His fears 
 (in 1784) that he should never again see Boston were prophetic. 
 
206 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN 1754, war with France being again apprehend 
 ed, a congress of commissioners from the different 
 colonies was, by the order of the Lords of Trade, to 
 be assembled at Albany, there to confer with the 
 chiefs of the Six Nations concerning the means of 
 defending both their country and ours. Governor 
 Hamilton, having received this order, acquainted the 
 House with it, requesting they would furnish proper 
 presents for the Indians, to be given on this occa 
 sion ; and naming the speaker (Mr. Norris) and my 
 self to join Mr. John Penn and Mr. Secretary Peters 
 as commissioners to act for Pennsylvania. The 
 House approved the nomination, and provided the 
 goods for the presents, though they did not much 
 like treating out of the province ; and we met the 
 other commissioners at Albany about the middle of 
 June. 
 
 In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan 
 for the union of all the colonies under one govern 
 ment, so far as might be necessary for defense, and 
 other important general purposes. As we passed 
 through New York, I had there shown my projec 
 to Mr. James Alexander and Mr. Kennedy, two gen 
 tlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and, 
 being fortified by their approbation, I ventured to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 207 
 
 lay it before the Congress. It then appeared that 
 several of the commissioners had formed plans of 
 the same kind. A previous question was first taken, 
 whether a union should be established, which pass 
 ed in the affirmative unanimously. A committee 
 was then appointed, one member from each colony, 
 to consider the several plans and report. Mine hap 
 pened to be preferred, and, with a few amendments, 
 was accordingly reported. 
 
 By this plan the general government was to be 
 administered by a president-general, appointed and 
 supported by the crown, and a grand council was 
 to be chosen by the representatives of the people 
 of the several colonies, met in their respective as 
 semblies. The debates upon it in Congress w r ent 
 on daily, hand in hand with the Indian business. 
 Many objections and difficulties were started, but at 
 length they were all overcome, and the plan was 
 unanimously agreed to, and copies ordered to be 
 transmitted to the Board of Trade and to the assem 
 blies of the several provinces. Its fate was singu 
 lar: the assemblies did not adopt it, as they all 
 thought there was too much prerogative in it, and in 
 England it was judged to have too much of the 
 democratic. The Board of Trade did not approve 
 it, nor recommend it for the approbation of his maj 
 esty ; but another scheme was formed, supposed to 
 answer the same purpose better, whereby the gov 
 ernors of the provinces, with some members of their 
 respective councils, were to meet, and order the 
 raising of troops, building of forts, &c., and to draw 
 
208 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense, 
 which was afterward to be refunded by an act of 
 Parliament laying a tax on America. My plan, with 
 my reasons in support of it, is to be found among 
 my political papers that were printed. 
 
 Being the winter following in Boston, I had much 
 conversation with Governor Shirley upon both the 
 plans. Part of what passed between us on this oc 
 casion may also be seen among those papers. The 
 different and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan 
 makes me suspect that it was really the true me 
 dium ; and I am still of opinion it would have been 
 happy for both sides if it had been adopted. The 
 colonies, so united, would have been sufficiently 
 strong to have defended themselves ; there would 
 then have been no need of troops from England ; 
 of course, the subsequent pretext for taxing Ameri 
 ca, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would 
 have been avoided. But such mistakes are not new : 
 history is full of the errors of states and princes. 
 
 " Look round the habitable world, how few 
 Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue !" 
 
 Those who govern, having much business on 
 their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble 
 of considering and carrying into execution new 
 projects. The best public measures are therefore 
 seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced 
 by the occasion. 
 
 The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it 
 down to the Assembly, expressed his approbation of 
 the plan, " as appearing to him to be drawn up with 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 209 
 
 clearness and strength of judgment, and there 
 fore recommended it as well worthy of their closest 
 ind most serious attention." The House, however, 
 by the management of a certain member, took it up 
 when I happened to be absent, which I thought not 
 very fair, and reprobated it without paying any at 
 tention to it at all, to my no small mortification. 
 
 In my journey to Boston this year,* I met at New 
 York with our new governor, Mr. Morris, just ar 
 rived there from England, with whom I had been 
 before intimately acquainted. He brought a com 
 mission to supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tired with 
 the disputes his proprietary instructions subjected 
 him to, had resigned. Mr. Morris asked me if I 
 thought he must expect as uncomfortable an admin 
 istration. I said, " No ; you may, on the contrary, 
 bave a very comfortable one, if you will only take 
 care not to enter into any dispute with the Assem 
 bly." "My dear friend," said he, pleasantly, "how 
 can you advise my avoiding disputes ? You know 
 I love disputing ; it is one of my greatest pleasures ; 
 however, to show the regard I have for your coun 
 sel, I promise you I will, if possible, avoid them." 
 He had some reason for loving to dispute, being 
 eloquent, an acute sophister, and, therefore, generally 
 successful in argumentative conversation. He had 
 been brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I 
 
 * In the letter quoted in a note to the last chapter, this visit to Boston 
 is dated 1783. Such little inaccuracies, however, were to be expected 
 in a man who had long passed threescore and ten. There are also 
 some errors in the account of Braddock s defeat, in this chapter, which 
 may be placed to the same cause. 
 
 O 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 have heard, accustoming his children to dispute with 
 one another for his diversion, while sitting at table 
 after dinner ; but I think the practice was not wise ; 
 for, in the course of my observation, those disputing, 
 contradicting, and confuting people are generally 
 unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory some 
 times, but they never get good will, which would be 
 of more use to them. We parted, he going to Phil 
 adelphia, and I to Boston. 
 
 In returning, I met at New York with the votes 
 of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, by which it ap 
 peared that, notwithstanding his promise to me, he 
 and the House were already in high contention : 
 and it was a continual battle between them as long 
 as he retained the government. I had my share of 
 it; for, as soon as I got back to my seat in the As 
 sembly, I was put on every committee for answer 
 ing his speeches and messages, and by the commit 
 tees always desired to make the drafts. Our an 
 swers, as \vell as his messages, were often tart, and 
 sometimes indecently abusive ; and, as he knew 1 
 wrote for the Assembly, one might have imagined 
 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 to 
 gether. 
 
 One afternoon, in the height of this public quar 
 rel, we met in the street. " Franklin," said he, 
 " you must go home with me and spend the even 
 ing; I am to have some company that you will 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 21 J 
 
 like;" and, taking me by the arm, led me to his 
 house. In gay conversation over our wine, after 
 supper, he told us, jokingly, that he much admired 
 the idea of Sancho Panza, who, when it was pro 
 posed to give him a government, requested it might 
 be a government of blacks, as then, if he could 
 not agree with his people, he might sell them. One 
 of his friends, who sat next to me, said, "Frank 
 lin, why do you continue to side with those 
 
 Quakers ? Had you not better sell them ? The 
 proprietor would give you a good price." " The 
 governor," said I, " has not yet blacked them enough." 
 He, indeed, had labored hard to blacken the Assem 
 bly in all his messages, but they wiped off his color 
 ing as fast as he laid it on, and placed it, in return, 
 thick upon his own face ; so that, finding he was 
 likely to be negrqfied himself, he, as well as Mr. 
 Hamilton, grew tired of the contest, and quitted the 
 
 government. 
 
 These public quarrels were all at bottom owing 
 to the proprietaries, our hereditary governors, who, 
 when any expense was to be incurred for the de 
 fense of their province, with incredible meanness 
 instructed their deputies to pass no act for levying 
 the necessary taxes, unless their vast estates were in 
 the same act expressly exonerated ; and they had 
 even taken the bonds of these deputies to observe 
 such instructions. The assemblies for three years 
 held out against this injustice, though constrained to 
 bend at last. At length Captain Denny, who was 
 Governor Morris s successor, ventured to disobey 
 
212 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 those instructions: how that was brought about. 7 
 shall show hereafter. 
 
 But I am got forward too fast with my story : 
 there are still some transactions to be mentioned 
 that happened during the administration of Governor 
 Morris. 
 
 War being in a manner commenced with France, 
 the government of Massachusetts Bay projected an 
 attack upon Crown Point, and sent Mr. Quincy to 
 Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pownall, afterward Governor 
 Pownall, to New York, to solicit assistance. As I 
 was in the Assembly, knew its temper, and was Mr. 
 Quincy s countryman, he applied to me for my in 
 fluence and assistance. I dictated his address to 
 them, which was well received. They voted an aid 
 of ten thousand pounds, to be laid out in provisions. 
 But the governor refusing his assent to their bill 
 (which included this with other sums granted for 
 the use of the crown), unless a clause were inserted 
 exempting the proprietary estate from bearing any 
 part of the tax that would be necessary, the Assem 
 bly, though very desirous of making their grant to 
 New England effectual, were at a loss how to ac 
 complish it. Mr. Quincy labored hard with the 
 governor to obtain his assent, but he was obstinate. 
 
 I then suggested a method of doing the business 
 without the governor, by orders on the trustees of 
 the Loan Office, which, by law, the Assembly had 
 the right of drawing. There was, indeed, little or 
 no money at the time in the office, and therefore I 
 proposed that the orders should be payable in a 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 21 o 
 
 year, and to bear an interest of five per cent. With 
 these orders T supposed the provisions might easily 
 be purchased. The Assembly, with very little hes 
 itation, adopted the proposal. The orders were 
 immediately printed, and I was one of the commit 
 tee directed to sign and dispose of them. The fund 
 for paying them was the interest of all the paper 
 currency then extant in the province upon loan, to 
 gether with the revenue arising from the excise, 
 which being known to be more than sufficient, they 
 obtained credit, and were not only taken in payment 
 for the provisions, but many moneyed people, who 
 had cash lying by them, vested it in those orders, 
 which they found advantageous, as they bore inter 
 est while upon hand, and might on any occasion be 
 used as money ; so that they were all eagerly 
 bought up, and in a few weeks none of them was 
 to be seen. Thus this important affair was by my 
 means completed. Mr. Quincy returned thanks to 
 the Assembly in a handsome memorial, went home 
 highly pleased with the success of his embassy, and 
 ever after bore for me the most cordial and affec 
 tionate friendship. 
 
 The British government, not choosing to permit 
 the union of the colonies as proposed at Albany, 
 and to trust that union with their defense, lest they 
 should thereby grow too military, and feel their own 
 strength, suspicion and jealousies at this time being 
 entertained of them, sent over General Braddock 
 with two regiments of regular English troops for that 
 purpose. He landed at Alexandria, in Virginia, and 
 
214 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 thence marched to Frederictown, in Maryland, 
 where he halted for carriages. Our Assembly ap 
 prehending, from some information, that he had re 
 ceived violent prejudices against them, as averse to 
 the service, wished me to wait upon him, not as 
 from them, but as postmaster-general, under the 
 guise of proposing to settle with him the mode of 
 conducting with most celerity and certainty the de 
 spatches between him and the governors of the sev 
 eral provinces, with whom he must necessarily have 
 continual correspondence, and of which they pro 
 posed to pay the expense. My son accompanied 
 me on this journey. 
 
 We found the general at Frederictown, waiting 
 impatiently for the return of those he had sent 
 through the back parts of Maryland and Virginia to 
 collect wagons. I stayed with him several days, 
 dined with him daily, and had full opportunities of 
 removing his prejudices, by the information of what 
 the Assembly had before his arrival actually done, 
 and were still willing to do, to facilitate his opera 
 tions. When I was about to depart, the returns of 
 wagons to be obtained were brought in, by which it 
 appeared that they amounted only to twenty-five, 
 and not all of those in serviceable condition. The 
 general and all the officers were surprised, declared 
 the expedition was then at an end, being impossible ; 
 and exclaimed against the ministers for ignorantly 
 sending them into a country destitute of the means 
 of conveying their stores, baggage, &c., not less than 
 one hundred and fifty wagons being necessary. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 215 
 
 I happened to say I thought it was a pity they 
 had not been landed in Pennsylvania, as in that 
 country almost every fanner had his wagon. The 
 general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said, 
 Then you, sir, who are a man of interest there, 
 can probably procure them for us ; and I beg you 
 will undertake it." I asked what terms were to be 
 offered the owners of the wagons ; and I was de 
 sired to put on paper the terms that appeared to me 
 necessary. This I did, and they were agreed to, 
 and a commission and instructions accordingly pre 
 pared immediately. What those terms were will 
 appear in the advertisement I published as soon as 
 I arrived at Lancaster, which being, from the great 
 and sudden effect it produced, a piece of some curi 
 osity, I shall insert it at length, as follows : 
 
 " ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 " Lancaster, April 26, 1755. 
 
 " Whereas, one hundred and fifty wagons, with 
 four horses to each wagon, and fifteen hundred sad 
 dle or pack horses, are wanted for the service of his 
 majesty s forces now about to rendezvous at Will s 
 Creek, and his excellency General Braddock having 
 been pleased to empower me to contract for the hire 
 of the same, I hereby give notice that I shall attend 
 for that purpose at Lancaster from this day to next 
 Wednesday evening, and at York from next Thurs 
 day morning till Friday evening, where I shall be 
 ready to agree for wagons and teams, or single hor 
 ses, on the following terms, viz. : 1. That there shall 
 
216 LIFE OF FKAMvLIN. 
 
 be paid for each wagon, with tour good horses and a 
 driver, fifteen shillings per diem ; and for each able 
 horse with a pack-saddle, or other saddle and furni 
 ture, two shillings per diem ; and for each able horse 
 without a saddle, eighteen pence per diem. 2. That 
 the pay commence from the time of their joining 
 the forces at Will s Creek, which must be on or be 
 fore the 20th of May ensuing, and that a reasonable 
 allowance be paid over and above for the time nec 
 essary for their traveling to Will s Creek and home 
 again after their discharge, 3. Each wagon and 
 team, and every saddle or pack horse, is to be valued 
 by indifferent persons chosen between me and the 
 owner ; and in case of the loss of any wagon, team, 
 or other horse in the service, the price according to 
 such valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4. Seven 
 days pay is to be advanced and paid in hand by 
 me to the owner of each wagon and team, or horse, 
 at the time of contracting, if required, and the re 
 mainder to be paid by General Braddock, or by the 
 paymaster of the army, at the time of their discharge, 
 or from time to time, as it shall be demanded. 5. 
 No drivers of wagons, or persons taking care of the 
 hired horses, are on any account to be called upon 
 to do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise employed 
 than in conducting or taking care of their carriages 
 or horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other forage 
 that wagons or horses bring to the camp, more than 
 is necessary for the subsistence of the horses, is to 
 be taken for the use of the army, and a reasonable 
 price paid for the same. 
 
L I F E O F l> K A N K L J N. 217 
 
 " Note. My son, William Franklin, is empower 
 ed to enter into like contracts with any person in 
 Cumberland county. B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 " To the Inhabitants of the Counties of Lancaster, 
 York, and Cumberland. 
 
 "Friends and Countrymen, 
 
 u Being occasionally at the camp at Frederic a 
 few days since, I found the general and officers ex 
 tremely exasperated on account of their not being 
 supplied with horses and carriages, which had been 
 expected from this province, as most able to furnish 
 them ; but, through the dissensions between our gov 
 ernor and Assembly, money had not been provided, 
 nor any steps taken for that purpose. 
 
 " It was proposed to send an armed force imme 
 diately into these counties, to seize as many of the 
 best carriages and horses as should be wanted, and 
 compel as many persons into the service as would 
 be necessary to drive and take care of them. 
 
 " I apprehended that the progress of British sol 
 diers through these counties on such an occasion, 
 especially considering the temper they are in, and 
 their resentment against us, would be attended with 
 many and great inconveniences to the inhabitants, 
 and therefore more willingly took the trouble of try 
 ing first what might be done by fair and equitable 
 means. The people of these back counties have 
 lately complained to the Assembly that a sufficient 
 currency was wanting ; you have an opportunity of 
 receiving and dividing among you a very considera- 
 
218 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ble sum ; for, if the service of this expedition should 
 continue, as it is more than probable it will, for one 
 hundred and twenty days, the hire of these wagons 
 and horses will amount to upward of thirty thou 
 sand pounds, which will be paid you in silver and 
 gold of the king s money. 
 
 " The service will be light and easy, for the army 
 will scarce inarch above twelve miles per day, and 
 the wagons and baggage-horses, as they carry those 
 things that are absolutely necessary to the welfare 
 of the army, must march with the army, and no 
 faster; and are, for the army s sake, always placed 
 where they can be most secure, whether in a march 
 or in a camp. 
 
 " If you are really, as I believe you are, good and 
 loyal subjects to his majesty, you may now do a 
 most acceptable service, and make it easy to your 
 selves ; for three or four of such as can not separ 
 ately spare from the business of their plantations a 
 wagon and four horses and a driver, may do it to 
 gether, one furnishing the wagon, another one or 
 two horses, and another the driver, and divide the 
 pay proportionably between you ; but if you do not 
 this service to your king and country voluntarily, 
 when such good pay and reasonable terms are of 
 fered to you, your loyalty will be strongly suspected. 
 The king s business must be done ; so many brave 
 troops, come so far for your defense, must not stand 
 idle through your backwardness to do what may 
 be reasonably expected from you ; wagons and hor 
 ses must be had ; violent measures will probably be 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 219 
 
 used, and you will be left to seek for a recompense 
 where you can find it, and your case, perhaps, be 
 h ttle pitied or regarded. 
 
 "I have no particular interest in this affair, as, 
 except the satisfaction of endeavoring to do good, I 
 shall have only my labor for my pains. If this 
 method of obtaining the wagons and horses is not 
 likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word to the 
 general in fourteen days ; and I suppose Sir John 
 St. Clair, the hussar, with a body of soldiers, will 
 immediately enter the province for the purpose, 
 which I shall be sorry to hear, because I am very 
 sincerely and truly your friend and well-wisher, 
 
 " B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 I received of the general about eight hundred 
 pounds, to be disbursed in advance-money to the 
 wagon owners ; but that sum being insufficient, 1 
 advanced upward of two hundred pounds more, and 
 in two weeks the one hundred and fifty wagons, 
 with two hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, 
 were on their march for the camp. The advertise 
 ment promised payment according to the valuation, 
 in case any wagons or horses should be lost. The 
 owners, however, alleging they did not know Gen 
 eral Braddock, or what dependence might be had 
 on his promise, insisted on my bond for the per 
 formance, which I accordingly gave them. 
 
 While I was at the camp, supping one evening 
 with the officers of Colonel Dunbar s regiment, he 
 represented to me his concern for the subalterns, 
 
220 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 who, he said, were generally not in affluence, and 
 could ill afford, in this dear country, to lay in the 
 stores that might be necessary in so long a march 
 through a wilderness, where nothing was to be pur 
 chased. I commiserated their case, and resolved 
 to endeavor procuring them some relief. I said 
 nothing, however, to him of my intention, but wrote 
 the next morning to the committee of the Assembly, 
 who had the disposition of some public money, 
 warmly recommending the case of these officers to 
 their consideration, and proposing that a present 
 should be sent them of necessaries and refreshments. 
 My son, who had some experience of a camp life, 
 and of its wants, drew up a list for me, which I en 
 closed in my letter. The committee approved, and 
 used such diligence that, conducted by my son, the 
 stores arrived at the camp as soon as the wagons. 
 They consisted of twenty parcels, each containing 
 
 6 Ibs loaf sugar. 1 Gloucester cheese. 
 
 6 do. Muscovado do. 1 keg containing 20 Ibs. good butter 
 
 1 do. green tea. 2 dozen old Madeira wine. 
 
 1 do bohea do. 2 gallons Jamaica spirits. 
 
 6 do. ground coffee. 1 bottle flour of mustard. 
 
 6 do. chocolate. 2 well-cured hams. 
 
 chest best white biscuit. dozen dried tongues. 
 
 i Ib. pepper. 6 Ibs. rice. 
 
 1 quart white vinegar. 6 Ibs. raisins. 
 
 These parcels, well packed, were placed on as 
 many horses, each parcel, with the horse, being in 
 tended as a present for one officer. They were 
 very thankfully received, and the kindness acknowl 
 edged by letters to me from the colonels of both 
 regiments, in the most grateful terms. The general, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 221 
 
 too, was higmy satisfied with my conduct in pro 
 curing him the wagons, and readily paid my account 
 of disbursements, thanking rne repeatedly, and re 
 questing my further assistance in sending provisions 
 after him. I undertook this also, and was busily 
 employed in it till we heard of his defeat, advancing 
 for the service, of my own money, upward of one 
 thousand pounds sterling, of which I sent him an 
 account. It came to his hands, luckily for me, a 
 few days before the battle, and he returned me im 
 mediately an order on the paymaster for the round 
 sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the remainder 
 to the next account. I consider this payment as 
 good luck, having never been able to obtain that re 
 mainder, of which more hereafter. 
 
 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 Amen 
 cans and Indians. George Croghan, our Indian in 
 
222 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 terpreter, 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. 
 
 In conversation with him one day, he was giving 
 me some account of his intended progress. " After 
 taking Fort Duquesne," said he, "I am to proceed 
 to Niagara ; and,, having taken that, to Frontenac, 
 if the season will allow time ; and I suppose it will, 
 for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or 
 four days ; and then I see nothing that can obstruct 
 my march to Niagara." Having before revolved in 
 my mind the long line his army must make in their 
 march by a very narrow road, to be cut for them 
 through the woods and bushes, and also what I had 
 read of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French, 
 who invaded the Illinois country, I had conceived 
 some doubts and some fears for the event of the 
 campaign. But I ventured only to say, " To be sure, 
 sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with these 
 fine troops, so well provided with artillery, the fort, 
 though completely fortified, and assisted with a very 
 strong garrison, can probably make but a short re 
 sistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruc 
 tion to your march is from the ambuscades of the 
 Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in 
 laying and executing them ; and the slender line, 
 near four miles long, which your army must make, 
 may expose it to be attacke d by surprise in its flanks, 
 and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 223 
 
 from their distance, can not come up in time to sup 
 port each other." 
 
 He smiled at my ignorance, and replied, " These 
 savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your 
 raw American militia, but upon the king s regular 
 and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should 
 make any impression." I was conscious of an im 
 propriety in my disputing with a military man in 
 matters of his profession, and said no more. The 
 enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his 
 army which I apprehended its long line of march 
 exposed it to, but let it advance without interruption 
 till within nine miles of the place ; and then, when 
 more in a body (for it had just passed a river, where 
 the front had halted till all were come over), and in 
 a more open part of the woods than any it had pass 
 ed, attacked its advanced guard by a heavy fire from 
 behind trees and bushes, which \vas the first intel 
 ligence the general had of an enemy s being near 
 him. This guard being disordered, the general hur 
 ried the troops up to their assistance, which was 
 done in great confusion, through wagons, baggage, 
 and cattle ; and presently the fire came upon their 
 flank : the officers, being on horseback, w r ere more 
 easily distinguished, picked out as marks, and fell 
 very fast; and the soldiers were crowded together 
 in a huddle, having or hearing no orders, and stand 
 ing to be shot at till two thirds of them were killed ; 
 and then, being seized with a panic, the remainder 
 fled with precipitation. 
 
 The wagoners took each a horse out of his team 
 
224 LIFE OP FRANKLIN. 
 
 and scampered ; their example was immediately fol 
 lowed by others ; so that all the wagons, provisions, 
 artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The 
 general, being wounded, was brought off with diffi 
 culty ; his secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his 
 side ; and out of eighty-six officers, sixty-three were 
 killed or wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen 
 men killed of eleven hundred. These eleven hun 
 dred had been picked men from the whole army ; the 
 rest had been left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who 
 was to follow with the heavier part of the stores, 
 provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being pur 
 sued, arrived at Dunbar s camp, and the panic they 
 brought with them instantly seized him and all his 
 people ; and, though he had now above one thou 
 sand men, and the enemy who had beaten Braddock 
 did not at most exceed four hundred Indians and 
 French together, instead of proceeding, and endeav- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 225 
 
 oring to recover some of the lost honor, he ordered 
 all the stores, ammunition, &c., to be destroyed, that 
 he might have more horses to assist his flight toward 
 the settlements, and less lumber to remove. He was 
 there met with requests from the governors of Vir 
 ginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would 
 post his troops on the frontiers, so as to afford some 
 protection to the inhabitants ; but he continued his 
 hasty march through all the country, not thinking 
 himself safe till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the 
 inhabitants could protect him. This whole transac- 
 tion gave us Americans the first suspicion that 
 
 exalted ideas of the prowess of British regular troops j 
 had not been well founded. 
 
 In their first march, too, from their landing till 
 they got beyond the settlements, they had plunder 
 ed and stripped the inhabitants, totally ruining some 
 poor families, besides insulting, abusing, and confining 
 the people if they remonstrated. This was enough 
 to put us out of conceit of such defenders, if we had 
 really wanted any. How different was the conduct 
 of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march 
 through the most inhabited part of our country, from 
 Rhode Island to Virginia, near seven hundred miles, 
 occasioned not the smallest complaint for the loss of 
 a pig, a chicken, or even an apple. 
 
 Captain Orme, who was one of the general s aids- 
 de-camp, and, being grievously wounded, was brought 
 off with him, and continued with him to his death, 
 which happened in a few days, told me that he was 
 
 totally silent all the first day and at night only said, 
 
 p 
 
226 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 " Who would have thought it?" That he was silent 
 again the following day, saying only at last, " We 
 shall better know how to deal with them another 
 time ;" and died in a few minutes after. 
 
 The secretary s papers, with all the general s or 
 ders, instructions, and correspondence, falling into 
 the enemy s hands, they selected and translated into 
 French a number of the articles, which they print 
 ed, to prove the hostile intentions of the British 
 court before the declaration of war. Among these I 
 saw some letters of the general to the ministry, speak 
 ing highly of the great service I had rendered the 
 army, and recommending me to their notice. David 
 Hume, who was some years after secretary to Lord 
 Hertford, when minister in France, and afterward 
 to General Conway, when secretary of state, told 
 me he had seen among the papers in that office let 
 ters from Braddock highly recommending me. But, 
 the expedition having been unfortunate, my service, 
 it seems, was not thought of much value, for those 
 recommendations were never of any use to me. 
 
 As to rewards from himself, 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 
 accordingly returned to their masters, on my appli 
 cation. Dunbar, when the command devolved on 
 him, was not so generous. He being at Philadel 
 phia, on his retreat, or rather flight, I applied to him 
 for the discharge of the servants of three poor farmers 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 227 
 
 of Lancaster county that he had enlisted, remind 
 ing him of the late general s orders on that head. He 
 promised me that, if the masters would come to him 
 at Trenton, where he should be in a few days on 
 his march to New York, he would there deliver their 
 men to them. They accordingly were at the ex 
 pense and trouble of going to Trenton, and there he 
 refused to perform his promise, to their great loss 
 and disappointment. 
 
 As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was 
 generally known, all the owners came upon me for 
 the valuation which I had given bond to pay. Their 
 demands gave me a great deal of trouble. I ac 
 quainted them that the money was ready in the pay 
 master s hands, but the order for paying it must first 
 be obtained from General Shirley, and that I had 
 applied for it ; but, he being at a distance, an an 
 swer could not soon be received, and they must have 
 patience. All this, however, was not sufficient to 
 satisfy them, and some began to sue me. General 
 Shirley at length relieved me from this terrible situa 
 tion by appointing commissioners to examine the 
 claims, and ordering payment. They amounted to 
 near twenty thousand pounds, which to pay would 
 have mined me. 
 
 Before we had the news of this defeat, the two 
 Doctors Bond came to me with a subscription paper 
 for raising money to defray the expense of a grand 
 firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a re 
 joicing on receiving the news of our taking Fort 
 Duquesne. I looked grave, and said it would, I 
 
228 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 thought, be time enough to prepare the rejoicing 
 when we knew we should have occasion to rejoice. 
 They seemed surprised that I did not immediately 
 comply with their proposal. " Why the d 1!" said 
 one of them, " you surely don t suppose that the fort 
 will not be taken V " I don t know that it will not 
 be taken, but I know that the events of war are sub 
 ject to great uncertainty/ I gave them the reasons 
 of my doubting ; the subscription was dropped, and 
 the projectors thereby missed the mortification they 
 would have undergone if the firework had been pre 
 pared. Dr. Bond, on some other occasion after 
 ward, said that he did not like Franklin s forebod 
 ings. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 229 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 GOVERNOR MORRIS, who had continually worried 
 the Assembly with message after message before the 
 defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the making 
 of acts to raise money for the defense of the province, 
 without taxing, among others, the proprietary estates, 
 and had rejected all their bills for not having such 
 an exempting clause, now redoubled his attacks with 
 more hope of success, the danger and necessity be 
 ing greater. The Assembly, however, continued 
 firm, believing they had justice on their side, and 
 that it would be giving up an essential right if they 
 suffered the governor to amend their money-bills. In 
 one of the last, indeed, which was for granting fifty 
 thousand pounds, his proposed amendment was only 
 of a single word. The bill expressed "that all 
 estates, real and personal, were to be taxed, those 
 of the proprietaries not excepted." His amendment 
 was, for not read only : a small, but very material 
 alteration. However, when the news of the disaster 
 reached England, our friends there, whom we had 
 taken care to furnish with all the Assembly s an 
 swers to the governor s messages, raised a clamor 
 against the proprietaries for their meanness and in 
 justice in giving their governor such instructions; 
 some going so far as to say that, by obstructing the 
 
230 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 defense of their province, they forfeited their right 
 to it. They were intimidated by this, and sent or 
 ders to their receiver-general to add five thousand 
 pounds of their money to whatever sum might be 
 given by the Assembly for such purpose. 
 
 This, being testified to the House, was accepted 
 in lieu of their share of a general tax, and a new bill 
 was formed, with an exempting clause, which passed 
 accordingly. By this act I was appointed one of 
 the commissioners for disposing of the money, sixty 
 thousand pounds. I had been active in modeling 
 the bill and procuring its passage, and had, at the 
 same time, drawn one for establishing and disciplin 
 ing a voluntary militia, which I carried through the 
 House without much difficulty, as care \vas taken in 
 it to leave the Quakers at liberty. To promote the 
 association necessary to form the militia, I wrote a 
 dialogue, stating and answering all the objections I 
 could think of to such a militia, which was printed, 
 and had, as I thought, great effect. 
 
 While the several companies in the city and 
 country were forming, and learning their exercise, 
 the governor prevailed with me to take charge of 
 our North-western frontier, which was infested by 
 the enemy, and provide for the defense of the in 
 habitants by raising troops and building a line of 
 forts. I undertook this military business, though I 
 did not conceive myself well qualified for it. He 
 gave me a commission with full pow r ers, and a parcel 
 of blank commissions for officers, to be given to whom 
 I thought fit. I had but little difficulty in raising 
 
LIFE OF FRA^ 7 KLIN. 231 
 
 men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my 
 command. My son, who had in the preceding war 
 been an officer in the army raised against Canada, 
 was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me. The 
 Indians had burned Gnadenhutten, a village settled 
 by the Moravians, and massacred the inhabitants; 
 but the place was thought a good situation for one 
 of the forts. 
 
 In order to march thither, I assembled the com 
 panies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of these 
 people. I was surprised to find it in so good a pos 
 ture of defense ; the destruction of Gnadenhutten 
 had made them apprehend danger. The principal 
 buildings were defended by a stockade; they had 
 purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from 
 New York, and had even placed quantities of small 
 paving stones between the windows of their high 
 stone houses, for their women to throw down upon 
 the heads of any Indians that should attempt to 
 force into them. The armed brethren, too, kept 
 watch, and relieved each other on guard, as method 
 ically as in any garrison town. In conversation 
 with the bishop, Spangenberg, I mentioned my sur 
 prise ; for, knowing they had obtained an act of 
 Parliament exempting them from military duties in 
 the colonies, I had supposed they were conscien 
 tiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He answered 
 me that it was not one of their established princi 
 ples, but that, at the time of their obtaining that 
 act, it was thought to be a principle with many of 
 their people. On this occasion, however, they, to 
 
232 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 their surprise, found it adopted by but a few. It 
 seems they were either deceived in themselves, or 
 deceived the Parliament ; but common sense, aided 
 by present danger, will sometimes be too strong for 
 whimsical opinions. 
 
 It was the beginning of January when we set out 
 upon this business of building forts. I sent one de 
 tachment toward the Minisink, with instructions to 
 erect one for the security of that upper part of the 
 country, and another to the lower part, with similar 
 instructions ; and I concluded to go myself with the 
 rest of my force to Gnadenhutten, where a fort was 
 thought more immediately necessary. The Mora 
 vians procured me five wagons for our tools, stores, 
 and baggage. 
 
 Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, 
 who had been driven from their plantations by the 
 Indians, came to me requesting a supply of firearms, 
 that they might go back and bring off their cattle. 
 I gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition. 
 We had not marched many miles before it began 
 to rain, and it continued raining all day ; there were 
 no habitations on the road to shelter us, till we ar 
 rived near night at the house of a German, where, 
 and in his barn, we were all huddled together, as 
 wet as water could make us. It was well we were 
 not attacked in our march, for our arms were of the 
 most ordinary sort, and our men could not keep the 
 locks of their guns dry. The Indians are dexterous 
 in contrivances for that purpose, which we had not. 
 They met that day the eleven poor farmers above 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 233 
 
 mentioned, and killed ten of them. The one that 
 escaped informed us that his and his companions 
 guns would not go off, the priming being wet with 
 the rain. 
 
 The next day being fair, we continued our march, 
 and arrived at the desolated Gnadenhutten. There 
 was a mill near, round which were left several pine 
 boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves; an 
 operation the more necessary at that inclement 
 season, as we had no tents. Our first work was to 
 bury more effectually the dead we found there, who 
 had been half interred by the country people. 
 
 The next morning our fort was planned and 
 marked out, the circumference measuring four hun 
 dred and fifty-five feet, which would require as many 
 palisades to be made, one with another, of a foot 
 diameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, 
 were immediately set to work to cut down trees, 
 and, our men being dexterous in the use of them, 
 
234 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 great despatch was made. Seeing the trees fall so 
 fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch when 
 two men began to cut at a pine ; in six minutes they 
 had it upon the ground, and I found it of fourteen 
 inches diameter. Each pine made three palisades 
 of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While 
 these were preparing, our other men dug a trench 
 all round, of three feet deep, in which the palisades 
 were to be planted ; and, the bodies being taken off 
 our wagons, and the fore and hind wheels separated 
 by taking out the pin which united the two parts of 
 the perch, we had ten carriages, with two horses 
 each, to bring the palisades from the woods to the 
 spot. When they were set up, our carpenters built 
 a platform of boards all round within, about six feet 
 high, for the men to stand on when to fire through 
 the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we 
 mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as soon 
 as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were with 
 in hearing, that we had such pieces; and thus our 
 fort, if that name may be given to so miserable a 
 stockade, was finished in a week, though it rained 
 so hard every other day that the men could not 
 work. 
 
 This gave me occasion to observe, that, when 
 men are employed, they are best contented ; for on 
 the days they worked they were good-natured and 
 cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done 
 a good day s work, they spent the evening jollily ; 
 but on our idle days they were mutinous and quar 
 relsome, finding fault with the pork, the bread, &c.. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 235 
 
 and were continually in bad humor, which put me 
 in mind of a sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep 
 his men constantly at work ; and, when his mate 
 once told him that they had done every thing, and 
 there was nothing further to employ them about, 
 " Oh," said he, " make them scour the anchor." 
 
 This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a suf 
 ficient defense against Indians, who have no can 
 non. Finding ourselves now posted securely, and 
 having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ven 
 tured out in parties to scour the adjacent country. 
 We met with no Indians, but we found the places 
 on the neighboring hills where they had lain to 
 watch our proceedings. There was an art in their 
 contrivance of those places that seems worth men 
 tioning. It being winter, a fire was necessary for 
 them; but a common fire on the surface of the 
 ground would by its light have discovered their po 
 sition at a distance. They had therefore dug holes 
 in the ground about three feet in diameter, and some 
 what deeper ; we found where they had with their 
 hatchets cut off the charcoal from the sides of burnt 
 logs lying in the woods. With these coals they had 
 made small fires in the bottoms of the holes, and we 
 observed among the weeds and grass the prints of 
 their bodies, made by their lying all round, with 
 their legs hanging down in the holes to keep their 
 feet warm, which, with them, is an essential point. 
 This kind of fire, so managed, could not discover 
 them, either by its light, flame, sparks, or even 
 smoke : it appeared that the number was not great, 
 
236 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 and it seems they saw we were too many to be at 
 tacked by them with prospect of advantage. 
 
 We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian 
 minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that 
 the men did not generally attend his prayers and 
 exhortations. When they enlisted, they were prom 
 ised, besides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, 
 which was punctually served out to them, half in 
 the morning, and the other half in the evening; and 
 I observed they were punctual in attending to re 
 ceive it ; upon which I said to Mr. Beatty, " It is, 
 perhaps, below the dignity of your profession to act 
 as steward of the rum, but if you were only to dis 
 tribute it out after prayers, you would have them all 
 about you." He liked the thought, undertook the 
 task, and, with the help of a few hands to measure 
 out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and never 
 were prayers more generally and more punctually 
 attended ; so that I think this method preferable to 
 the punishment inflicted by some military laws for 
 non-attendance on divine service. 
 
 I had hardly finished this business, and got my 
 fort well stored with provisions, when I received a 
 letter from the governor, acquainting me that he had 
 called the Assembly, and wished my attendance 
 there, if the posture of affairs on the frontiers was 
 such that my remaining there was no longer neces 
 sary. My friends, too, of the Assembly, pressing me 
 by their letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, 
 and my three intended forts being now completed, 
 and the inhabitants contented to remain on their 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 237 
 
 farms under that protection, I resolved to return ; the 
 more willingly, as a New England officer, Colonel 
 Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit 
 to our establishment, consented to accept the com 
 mand. I gave him a commission, and, parading the 
 garrison, had it read before them, and introduced 
 him to them as an officer who, from his skill in mil 
 itary affairs, was much more fit to command them 
 than myself; and, giving them a little exhortation, 
 took my leave. I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, 
 where I rested a few days to recover from the fa 
 tigue I had undergone. The first night, lying in a 
 good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different 
 from my hard lodging on the floor of a hut at Gna- 
 denhutten, with only a blanket or two. 
 
 While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the 
 practice of the Moravians : some of them had ac 
 companied me, and all were very kind to me. I 
 found they worked for a common stock, ate at 
 common tables, and slept in common dormitories, 
 great numbers together. In the dormitories I ob 
 served loopholes, at certain distances all along just 
 under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed 
 for change of air. I went to their church, where I 
 was entertained with good music, the organ being 
 accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, clarinets, 
 &c. I understood their sermons were not usually 
 preached to mixed congregations of men, w r omen, 
 and children, as is our common practice, but that 
 they assembled sometimes the married men, at other 
 times their wives, then the young men, the young 
 
238 LIFE OF FRANKLIN* 
 
 women, and the little children, each division by it 
 self. The sermon I heard was to the latter, who 
 came in and were placed in rows on benches ; the 
 boys under the conduct of a young man, their tutor, 
 and the girls conducted by a young woman. The 
 discourse seemed well adapted to their capacities, 
 and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, 
 coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They be 
 haved very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, 
 which made me suspect they were kept too much 
 within doors, or not allowed sufficient exercise. 
 
 I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, 
 whether the report was true that they were by lot. 
 I was told that lots were used only in particular 
 cases; that generally, when a young man found 
 himself disposed to marry, he informed the elders of 
 his class, who consulted the elder ladies that gov 
 erned the young women. As these elders of the 
 different sexes were well acquainted with the tem 
 pers and dispositions of their respective pupils, they 
 could best judge what matches were suitable, and 
 their judgments were generally acquiesced in ; but 
 if, for example, it should happen that two or three 
 young women were found to be equally proper for 
 the young man, the lot was then recurred to. I ob 
 jected, if the matches are not made by the mutual 
 choice of the parties, some of them may chance to 
 be very unhappy. "And so they may," answered 
 my informer, " if you let the parties choose for them 
 selves ;" which, indeed, I could not deny. 
 
 Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the asso- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 239 
 
 elation went on with great success, the inhabitants 
 that were not Quakers having pretty generally come 
 into it, formed themselves into companies, and chose 
 their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to 
 the new law. Dr. Bond visited me, and gave me 
 an account of the pains he had taken to spread a 
 general good liking to the law, and ascribed much 
 to those endeavors. I had the vanity to ascribe all 
 to my Dialogue ; however, not knowing but that he 
 might be in the right, I let him enjoy his opinion, 
 which I take to be generally the best way in such 
 cases. The officers, meeting, chose me to be colo 
 nel of the regiment, which I this time accepted. I 
 forget how many companies we had, but we paraded 
 about twelve hundred well-looking men, with a com 
 pany of artillery, who had been furnished with six 
 brass field-pieces, which they had become so expert 
 in the use of as to fire twelve times in a minute. 
 The first time I reviewed my regiment they accom 
 panied me to my house, and would salute me with 
 some rounds fired before my door, which shook 
 down and broke several glasses of my electrical ap 
 paratus. And my new honor proved not much less 
 brittle; for all our commissions were soon after 
 broken by a repeal of the law in England. 
 
 During this short time of my colonelship, being 
 about to set out on a journey to Virginia, the officers 
 of my regiment took it into their heads that it would 
 be proper for them to escort me out of town, as far 
 as the Lower Ferry. Just as I was getting on horse 
 back they came to my door, between thirty and forty, 
 
240 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 mounted, and all in their uniforms. I had not been 
 previously acquainted with their project, or I should 
 have prevented it, being naturally averse to the as 
 sumption of state on any occasion ; and I was a 
 good deal chagrined at their appearance, as I could 
 not avoid their accompanying me. What made it 
 worse was, that, as soon as we began to move, they 
 drew their swords and rode with them naked all the 
 way. Somebody wrote an account of this to the 
 proprietor, and it gave him great offense. No such 
 honor had been paid to him when in the province, 
 nor to any of his governors ; and he said it was 
 only proper to princes of the blood royal, which 
 may be true for aught I know, who was, and still 
 am, ignorant of the etiquette in such cases. 
 
 This silly affair, however, greatly increased his 
 rancor against me, which was before considerable. 
 on account of my conduct in the Assembly respect 
 ing the exemption of his estate from taxation, which 
 I had always opposed very warmly, and not with 
 out severe reflections on the meanness and injustice 
 of contending for it. He accused me to the minis 
 try as being the great obstacle to the king s service, 
 preventing, by my influence in the House, the proper 
 form of the bills for raising money ; and he instanced 
 the parade with my officers as a proof of my having 
 an intention to take the government of the province 
 out of his hands by force. He also applied to Sir 
 Everard Fawkener, the postmaster-general, to de 
 prive me of my office ; but it had no other effect 
 than to procure from Sir Everard a gentle admonition. 
 

LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 243 
 
 Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between 
 the governor and the House, in which I, as a mem 
 ber, had so large a share, there still subsisted a civil 
 intercourse between that gentleman and myself, and 
 we never had any personal difference. I have some 
 times since thought that his little or no resentment 
 against me, for the answers it was known I drew up 
 to his messages, might be the effect of professional 
 habit, and that, being bred a lawyer, he might con 
 sider us both as merely advocates for contending 
 clients in a suit, he for the proprietaries, and I for the 
 Assembly. He would, therefore, sometimes call in a 
 friendly way to advise with me on difficult points, 
 and sometimes, though not often, take my advice. 
 
 We acted in concert to supply Braddock s army 
 with provisions ; and, when the shocking news ar 
 rived of his defeat, the governor sent in haste for 
 me, to consult with him on measures for preventing 
 the desertion of the back counties. I forget now 
 the advice I gave ; but I think it was, that Dunbar 
 should be written to, and prevailed with, if possible, 
 to post his troops on the frontiers for their protec 
 tion, until, by re-enforcements from the colonies, he 
 might be able to proceed in the expedition. And, 
 after my return from the frontier, he would have had 
 me undertake the conduct of such an expedition 
 with provincial troops, for the reduction of Fort Du- 
 quesne, Dunbar and his men being otherwise em 
 ployed; and he proposed to commission me as gen 
 eral. I had not so good an opinion of my military 
 abilities as he professed to have, and I believe his 
 
244 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 professions must have exceeded his real sentiments ; 
 but probably he might think that my popularity 
 would facilitate the business with the men, and in 
 fluence in the Assembly the grant of money to pay 
 for it, and that, perhaps, without taxing the proprie 
 tary. Finding me not so forward to engage as he 
 expected, the project was dropped, and he soon 
 after left the government, being superseded by Cap 
 tain Denny. 
 
 Before I proceed in relating the part I had in 
 public affairs under this new governor s administra 
 tion, it may not be amiss to give here some account 
 of the rise and progress of my philosophical reputa 
 tion. 
 
 In 1746, being in Boston, I met there with a Dr. 
 Spence, who was lately arrived from Scotland, and 
 showed me some electric experiments. They were 
 imperfectly performed, as he was not very expert ; 
 but, being on a subject quite new to me, they equal 
 ly surprised and pleased me. Soon after my return 
 to Philadelphia, our library company received from 
 Mr. Peter Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society 
 of London, a present of a glass tube, with some ac 
 count of the use of it in making such experiments. 
 [ eagerly seized the opportunity of repeating what 
 I had seen at Boston ; and, by much practice, ac 
 quired great readiness in performing those, also, which 
 we had an account of from England, adding a num 
 ber of new ones. I say much practice, for my house 
 was continually full, for some time, with persons 
 who came to see these new wonders. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 245 
 
 To divide a little this incumbrance among my 
 friends, I caused a number of similar tubes to br 
 blown in our glass-house, with which they furnished 
 themselves, so that we had at length several perform 
 ers. Among these, the principal w 7 as Mr. Kinnersley, 
 an ingenious neighbor, who, being out of business, ] 
 encouraged him to undertake showing the experi 
 ments for money, and drew up for him two lectures, 
 in which the experiments were ranged in such or 
 der, and accompanied with explanations in such 
 method, as that the foregoing should assist in com 
 prehending the following. He procured an elegant 
 apparatus for the purpose, in which all the little 
 machines that I had roughly made for myself were 
 neatly formed by instrument makers. His lectures 
 were well attended, and gave great satisfaction ; and 
 after some time he went through the colonies, ex 
 hibiting them in every capital town, and picked up 
 some money. In the West India islands, indeed, it 
 was with difficulty the experiments could be made, 
 from the general moisture of the air. 
 
 Obliged as we were to Mr. Collinson for the pres 
 ent of the tube, &c., I thought it right he should be 
 informed of our success in using it, and wrote him 
 several letters containing accounts of our experi 
 ments. He got them read in the Royal Society, 
 where they were not at first thought worth so much 
 notice as to be printed in their Transactions. One 
 paper, which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the 
 sameness of lightning with electricity, I sent to Mr. 
 Mitchel, an acquaintance of mine, and one of the 
 
246 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 members also of that society, who wrote me word 
 that it had been read, but was laughed at by the con 
 noisseurs. The papers, however, being shown to 
 Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of too much value 
 to be stifled, and advised the printing of them. Mr. 
 Collinson then gave them to Cave for publication in 
 his Gentleman? s Magazine ; but he chose to print 
 them separately in a pamphlet, and Dr. Fothergill 
 wrote the preface. Cave, it seems, judged rightly 
 for his profession, for by the additions that arrived 
 afterward, they swelled to a quarto volume, which 
 has had five editions, and cost him nothing for copy- 
 money. 
 
 It was, however, some time before those papers 
 were much taken notice of in England. A copy of 
 them happening to fall into the hands of the Count 
 
 de Buffon, a philosopher deservedly of great reputa 
 tion in France, and, indeed, all over Europe, he pre- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 247 
 
 vailed with M. Dubourg to translate them into 
 French, and they were printed at Paris. The pub 
 lication offended the Abbe Nollet, preceptor in Nat 
 ural Philosophy to the royal family, and an able 
 experimenter, who had formed and published a 
 theory of electricity, which then had the general 
 vogue. He could not at first believe that such a 
 work came from America, and said it must have 
 been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to oppose 
 his system. Afterward, having been assured that 
 there really existed such a person as Franklin at 
 Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he wrote and 
 published a volume of Letters, chiefly addressed to 
 me, defending his theory, and denying the verity of 
 my experiments, and of the positions deduced from 
 them. 
 
 I once purposed answering the abbe, and actual 
 ly began the answer ; but, on consideration that my 
 writings contained a description of experiments 
 which any one might repeat and verify, and, if not 
 to be verified, could not be defended ; or of observa 
 tions offered as conjectures, and not delivered dog 
 matically, therefore not laying me under any obliga 
 tion to defend them; and reflecting that a dispute 
 between two persons, written in different languages, 
 might be lengthened greatly by mistranslations, and 
 thence misconceptions of one another s meaning, 
 much of one of the abbe s letters being founded on 
 an error in the translation, I concluded to let my 
 papers shift for themselves, believing it was bettei 
 to spend what time I could spare from public busi- 
 
248 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ness in making new experiments, than in disputing 
 about those already made. I therefore never an 
 swered M. Nollet, and the event gave me no cause 
 to repent my silence ; for my friend M. Le Roy, of 
 the Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause 
 and refuted him; my book was translated into the 
 Italian, German, and Latin languages; and the doc 
 trine it contained was by degrees generally adopted 
 by the philosophers of Europe, in preference to that 
 of the abbe ; so that he lived to see himself the last 
 
 of his sect, except Monsieur B , of Paris, his 
 
 eleve and immediate disciple. 
 
 What gave my book the more sudden and gen 
 eral celebrity, was the success of one of its proposed 
 experiments, made by Messieurs Dalibard and DC 
 Lor at Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. 
 This engaged the public attention every where. M. 
 De Lor, who had an apparatus for experimental 
 philosophy, and lectured in that branch of science, 
 undertook to repeat what he called the Philadelphia 
 Experiments; and, after. they were performed be 
 fore the king and court, all the curious of Paris flock 
 ed to see them. I will not swell this narrative with 
 an account of that capital experiment, nor of the in 
 finite pleasure I received in the success of a similar 
 one I made soon after with a kite at Philadelphia, 
 as both are to be found in the histories of electricity. 
 
 Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, 
 wrote to a friend, who was of the Royal Society, an 
 account of the high esteem my experiments were in 
 among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 249 
 
 my writings had been so little noticed in England. 
 The society, on this, resumed the consideration of 
 the letters that had been read to them; and the cele 
 brated Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of 
 them, and of all I had afterward sent to England on 
 the subject, which he accompanied with some praise 
 of the writer. This summary was then printed in 
 their Transactions; and some members of the so 
 ciety in London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. 
 Canton, having verified the experiment of procuring 
 lightning from the clouds by a pointed rod, and ac 
 quainted them with the success, they soon made me 
 more than amends for the slight with which they 
 had before treated me. Without my having made 
 any application for that honor, they chose me a 
 member, and voted that I should be excused the 
 customary payments, which would have amounted 
 to twenty-five guineas ; and ever since have given 
 me their Transactions gratis.* They also present 
 ed me with the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley 
 for the year 1753, the delivery of which was accom 
 panied by a very handsome speech of the president. 
 Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was highly honored. 
 
 * In a letter to his son, Governor Franklin, the doctor gives an account 
 of the manner in which he was thus admitted. Having, as a member f 
 a committee of investigation, access to the records of the society) he 
 found that his name was admitted on the list of members, with a vote of 
 council that he was not to pay any thing. The vote of admission was 
 unanimous, and the certificate, or application, was signed by the president, 
 Lord Macclesfield, and Lords Parker and Willoughby. The usual fees 
 were five guineas admission, and two and a half yearly contribution, or 
 twenty-five for life membership. 
 
250 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR new governor, Captain Denny, brought over 
 for me the before-mentioned medal from the Royal 
 Society, which he presented to me at an entertain 
 ment given him by the city. He accompanied it 
 with very polite expressions of his esteem for me, 
 having, as he said, been long acquainted with my 
 character. After dinner, when the company, as was 
 customary at that time, were engaged in drinking, 
 he took me aside into another room, and acquaint 
 ed me that he had been advised by his friends in 
 England to cultivate a friendship with me, as one 
 who was capable of giving him the best advice, and 
 of contributing most effectually to the making his 
 administration easy ; that he therefore desired of all 
 things to have a good understanding with me, and 
 he begged me to be assured of his readiness on all 
 occasions to render me every service that might be 
 in his power. He said much to me, also, of the pro 
 prietor s good disposition toward the province, and 
 of the advantage it would be to us all, and to me in 
 particular, if the opposition that had been so long 
 continued to his measures was dropped, and har 
 mony restored between him and the people ; in ef 
 fecting which, it was thought no one could be more 
 serviceable than myself; and I might depend on 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 251 
 
 adequate acknowledgments and recompenses. The 
 drinkers, finding we did not return immediately to 
 the table, sent us a decanter of Madeira, which the 
 
 din, 
 
 governor made a liberal use of, and in proportion 
 became more profuse of his solicitations and prom 
 ises. 
 
 My answers were to this purpose: that my circum 
 stances, thanks to God, were such as to make pro 
 prietary favors unnecessary to me ; and that, being a 
 member of the Assembly, I could not possibly accept 
 of any ; that, however, I had no personal enmity 
 to the proprietary, and that, whenever the public 
 measures he proposed should appear to be for the 
 good of the people, no one would espouse and for 
 ward them more zealously than myself; my past op 
 position having been founded on this, that the meas 
 ures which had been urged were evidently intended 
 
252 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 to serve the proprietary interest, with great prejudice 
 to that of the people ; that I was much obliged to 
 him (the governor) for his profession of regard to me, 
 and that he might rely on every thing in my power 
 to render his administration as easy as possible, hoping 
 at the same time that he had not brought with him 
 the same unfortunate instruction his predecessors 
 had been hampered with. 
 
 On this he did not then explain himself; but 
 when he afterward came to do business with the 
 Assembly, they appeared again, the disputes were 
 renewed, and I was as active as ever in the opposi 
 tion, being the penman, first, of the request to have 
 a communication of the instructions, and then of the 
 remarks upon them, which may be found in the 
 votes of the times, and in the Historical Review I 
 afterward published. But between us personally no 
 enmity arose ; we were often together ; he was a 
 man of letters, had seen much of the world, and was 
 entertaining and pleasing in conversation. He gave 
 me information that my old friend Ralph was still 
 alive ; that he was esteemed one of the best political 
 writers in England ; had been employed in the dis 
 pute between Prince Frederic and the king, and had 
 obtained a pension of three hundred pounds a year; 
 that his reputation was indeed small as a poet, Pope 
 having damned his poetry in the Dunciad ; but his 
 prose was thought as good as any man s. 
 
 The Assembly finally finding the proprietary ob 
 stinately persisted in shackling the deputies with in 
 structions inconsistent not only with the privileges 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 253 
 
 of the people, but with the service of the crown, re 
 solved to petition the king against them, and ap 
 pointed me their agent to go over to England, to 
 present and support the petition. The House had 
 sent up a bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty 
 thousand pounds for the king s use (ten thousand 
 pounds of which was subjected to the orders of the 
 then general, Lord Loudoun), which the governor, 
 in compliance with his instructions, absolutely re 
 fused to pass. 
 
 I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet 
 at New York, for my passage, and my stores were 
 put on board, when Lord Loudoun arrived at Phila 
 delphia, expressly, as he told me, to endeavor an ac 
 commodation between the governor and Assembly, 
 that his majesty s service might not be obstructed 
 by their dissensions. Accordingly, he desired the 
 governor and myself to meet him, that he might hear 
 what was to be said on both sides. We met and 
 discussed the business. In behalf of the Assembly, 
 I urged the various arguments that may be found 
 in the public papers of that time, which were of my 
 writing, and are printed with the minutes of the As 
 sembly ; and the governor pleaded his instructions, 
 the bond he had given to observe them, and his ruin 
 if he disobeyed, yet seemed not unwilling to hazard 
 himself if Lord Loudoun would advise it. This 
 his lordship did not choose to do, though I once 
 thought I had nearly prevailed with him to do it; 
 but finally he rather chose to urge tire compliance 
 of the Assembly ; and he entreated me to use my 
 
754 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 endeavors with them for that purpose, declaring that 
 he would spare none of the king s troops for the de 
 fense of our frontiers, and that, if we did not con 
 tinue to provide for that defense ourselves, they must 
 remain exposed to the enemy. 
 
 I acquainted the House with what had passed, 
 and, presenting them with a set of resolutions I had 
 drawn up, declaring our rights, that we did not re 
 linquish our claim to those rights, but only suspend 
 ed the exercise of them on this occasion through 
 
 o 
 
 force, against which we protested, they at length 
 agreed to drop that bill, and frame another conform 
 able to the proprietary instructions. This ^of course 
 the governor passed, and I was then at liberty to 
 proceed on my voyage. But, in the mean time, the 
 packet had sailed with my sea-stores, which was 
 some loss to me, and my only recompense was his 
 lordship s thanks for my service, all the credit of 
 obtaining the accommodation falling to his share. 
 
 He set out for New York before me ; and, as the 
 time for dispatching the packet-boats was at his dis 
 position, and there were two then remaining there, 
 one of which, he said, was to sail very soon, I re 
 quested to know the precise time, that I might not 
 miss her by any delay of mine. The answer was, 
 "I have given out that she is to sail on Saturday 
 next ; but I may let you know, entre nous, that if you 
 are there by Monday morning, you will be in time, 
 but do not delay longer." By some accidental hin- 
 derance at a ferry, it was Monday noon before I ar 
 rived, and I was much afraid she might have sailed, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 255 
 
 as the wind was fair ; but I was soon made easy by 
 the information that she was still in the harbor, and 
 would not move till the next day. One would imag 
 ine that I was now on the very point of departing for 
 Europe. I thought so ; but I was not then so well 
 acquainted with his lordship s character, of which 
 indecision was one of the strongest features. I shall 
 give some instances. It was about the beginning of 
 April that I came to New York, and I think it was 
 near the end of June before we sailed. There were 
 then two of the packet-boats, which had been long 
 in readiness, but were detained for the general s let 
 ters, which were always to be ready to-morrow. 
 Another packet arrived ; she too was detained ; and, 
 before we sailed, a fourth was expected. Ours was 
 the first to be dispatched, as having been there lon 
 gest. Passengers were engaged for all, and some 
 extremely impatient to be gone, and the merchants 
 uneasy about their letters, and for the orders they 
 had given for insurance (it being war time), and for 
 autumnal goods ; but their anxiety availed nothing ; 
 his lordship s letters were not ready ; and yet who 
 ever waited on him found him always at his desk, 
 pen in hand, and concluded he must needs write 
 abundantly. 
 
 Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I 
 found in his antechamber one Innis, a messenger of 
 Philadelphia, who had come thence express with a 
 packet from Governor Denny for the general. He 
 delivered to me some letters from my friends there, 
 which occasioned my inquiring when he was to re- 
 
256 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 turn, and where he lodged, that I might send some 
 letters by him. He told me he was ordered to call 
 to-morrow at nine for the general s answer to the 
 governor, and should set off immediately. I put my 
 letters into his hands the same day. A fortnight 
 after I met him again in the same place. " So, you 
 are soon returned, Innis ?" " Returned ! no, I am 
 not gone yet." " How so 1" " I have called here 
 this and every morning these two weeks past for his 
 lordship s letters, and they are not yet ready." " Is 
 it possible, when he is so great a writer ? for I see 
 him constantly at his escritoire." " Yes," said In 
 nis, " but he is like St. George on the signs, always 
 
 on horseback, and never rides on." This observation 
 of the messenger was, it seems, well founded ; for, 
 when in England, I understood that Mr. Pitt, after 
 ward Lord Chatham, gave it as one reason for re 
 moving this general, and sending Generals Amherst 
 and Wolfe, that the minister never heard from him, 
 mid could not know wliat he was doing. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 267 
 
 In this daily expectation of sailing, and all the 
 three packets going down to Sandy Hook, to join 
 the fleet there, the passengers thought it best to be 
 on board, lest by a sudden order the ships should 
 sail, and they be left behind. There, if I remember, 
 we were about six weeks, consuming our sea-stores, 
 and obliged to procure more. At length the fleet 
 sailed, the general and all his army on board, bound 
 to Louisburg, with intent to besiege and take that 
 fortress ; and all the packet-boats in company were 
 ordered to attend the general s ship, ready to receive 
 his dispatches when they should be ready. We were 
 out five days before we got a letter with leave to 
 part, and then our ship quitted the fleet and steered 
 for England. The other two packets he still de- 
 taiii^d, carried them with him to Halifax, where liu 
 stayed some time to exercise the men in sham at 
 tacks upon sham forts, then altered his mind as to 
 besieging Louisburg, and returned to New York, 
 with all his troops, together with the two packets 
 above mentioned, and all their passengers ! During 
 his absence the French and savages had taken For 
 George, on the frontier of that province, and the In 
 dians had massacred many of the garrison after ca 
 pitulation. 
 
 I saw afterward in London Captain Bound, who 
 commanded one of those packets. He told me that, 
 when he had been detained a month, he acquainted 
 his lordship that his ship was grown foul, to a de 
 gree that must necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a 
 point of consequence for a packet-boat, and request- 
 
2,58 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ed an allowance of time to heave her down and 
 clean her bottom. His lordship asked how long a 
 time that would require. He answered, three days. 
 The general replied, " If you can do it in one day, 
 [ give leave ; otherwise not; for you must certainly 
 sail the day after to-morrow." So he never obtain 
 ed leave, though detained afterward from day to day 
 during full three months. 
 
 ^\ saw also in London one of Bonell s passengers, 
 who was so enraged against his lordship for deceiv 
 ing and detaining him so long at New York, and 
 then carrying him to Halifax and back again, that 
 he swore he would sue him for damages. Whether 
 he did or not, I never heard ; but, as he represented 
 it, the injury to his affairs was very considerable. 
 
 On the whole, I wondered much how such a man 
 came to be intrusted with so important a business 
 as the conduct of a great army ; but, having since 
 seen more of the great world, and the means of ob 
 taining, and motives for giving, places and employ 
 ments, my wonder is diminished. General Shirley, 
 on whom the command of the army devolved upon 
 the death of Braddock, would, in my opinion, if 
 continued in place, have made a much better cam 
 paign than that of Loudoun in 1756, which was 
 frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful to our nation 
 beyond conception; for, though Shirley was not 
 bred a soldier, he was sensible and sagacious in him 
 self, and attentive to good advice from others, capa 
 ble of forming judicious plans, and quick and active 
 in carrying them into execution. Loudoun, instead 
 
LIFE^OF FRANKLIN. 259 
 
 of defending the colonies with his great army, left 
 them totally exposed, while he paraded idly at Hali 
 fax, by which means Fort George was lost ; besides, 
 he deranged all our mercantile operations, and dis 
 tressed our trade, by a long embargo on the expor 
 tation of provisions, on pretense of keeping supplies 
 from being obtained by the enemy, but in reality for 
 beating down their price in favor of the contractors, 
 in whose profits, it was said, perhaps from suspicion 
 only, he had a share ; and, when at length the em 
 bargo was taken off, neglecting to send notice of it 
 to Charleston, where the Carolina fleet was detain 
 ed near three months, and whereby their bottoms 
 were so much damaged by the worm that a great 
 part of them foundered in their passage home. 
 
 Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being re 
 lieved from so burdensome a charge as the conduct 
 of an army must be to a man unacquainted with 
 military business. I was at an entertainment given 
 by the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his 
 taking upon him the command. Shirley, though 
 thereby superseded, was present also. There was 
 a great company of officers, citizens, and strangers, 
 and, some chairs having been borrowed in the neigh 
 borhood, there was one among them very low, which 
 fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. I sat by him, and, per 
 ceiving it, said, " They have given you a very low 
 seat." " No matter, Mr. Franklin," said he, " I find 
 a low seat the easiest." 
 
 While I was, as before mentioned, detained at 
 New York, I received all the accounts of the pro- 
 
260 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 visions, &c., that I had furnished to Braddock, som<> 
 of which accounts could not sooner be obtained from 
 the different persons I had employed to assist in 
 the business. I presented them to Lord Loudoun, 
 desiring to be paid the balance. He caused them 
 to be examined by the proper officer, who, after com 
 paring every article with its voucher, certified them 
 to be right ; and his lordship promised to give me 
 an order on the paymaster for the balance due to 
 me. This was, however, put off from time to time ; 
 and, though 1 called often for it by appointment, 1 
 did not get it. At length, just before my departure, 
 he told me he had, on better consideration, concluded 
 not to mix his accounts with those of his predeces 
 sors. " And you," said he, " when in England, have 
 only to exhibit your accounts to the treasury, and 
 you will be paid immediately." 
 
 I mentioned, but without effect, a great and unex 
 pected expense I had been put to by being detained 
 so long at New York, as a reason for my desiring to 
 be presently paid ; and on my observing that it was 
 not right I should be put to any further trouble or 
 delay in obtaining the money I had advanced, as I 
 charged no commission for my service, " O," said he, 
 " you must not think of persuading us that you are 
 no gainer ; we understand better those matters, and 
 know that every one concerned in supplying the 
 army finds means, in the doing it, to fill his own 
 pockets." I assured him that was not my case, and 
 that I had not pocketed a farthing ; but he appeared 
 clearly not to believe me ; and, indeed, I afterward 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 261 
 
 learned that immense fortunes are often made in 
 such employments. As to my balance, I am not 
 paid it to this day, of which more hereafter. 
 
 Our captain of the packet boasted much, before 
 we sailed, of the swiftness of his ship ; unfortunately, 
 when we came to sea, she proved the dullest of 
 ninety-six sail, to his no small mortification. After 
 many conjectures respecting the cause, when we 
 were near another ship almost as dull as ours, which, 
 however, gained upon us, the captain ordered all 
 hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff 
 as possible. We were, passengers included, about 
 forty persons. While we stood there, the ship mend 
 ed her pace, and soon left her neighbor far behind, 
 which proved clearly what our captain suspected, 
 that she was loaded too much by the head. The 
 casks of water, it seems, had been all placed forward; 
 these he therefore ordered to be moved further aft, 
 on which the ship recovered her character, and 
 proved the best sailer in the fleet. 
 
 The captain said she had once gone at the rate 
 of thirteen knots, which is accounted thirteen miles 
 per hour. We had on board, as a passenger, Cap 
 tain Archibald Kennedy, of the Royal Navy, who 
 contended that it was impossible, and that no ship 
 ever sailed so fast, and that there must have been 
 some error in the division of the log-line, or some 
 mistake in heaving the log. A wager ensued be 
 tween the two captains, to be decided when there 
 should be sufficient wind. Kennedy therefore ex 
 amined the log-line, and, being satisfied with it, he 
 
262 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 determined to throw the log himself. Some days 
 after, when the wind was very fair and fresh, and 
 the captain of the packet, Lutwidge, said he believed 
 she then went at the rate of thirteen knots, Kennedy 
 made the experiment, and owned his wager lost. 
 
 The foregoing fact I give for the sake of the fol 
 lowing observation. It has been remarked, as an 
 imperfection in the art of ship-building, that it can 
 never be known, till she is tried, whether a new ship 
 will or will not be a good sailer ; for that the model 
 of a good-sailing ship has been exactly followed in 
 a new one, which has been proved, on the contrary, 
 remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly 
 be occasioned by the different opinions of seamen 
 respecting the modes of loading, rigging, and sailing 
 of a ship ; each has his method ; and the same ves 
 sel, laden by the method and orders of one captain, 
 shall sail worse than when by the orders of another. 
 Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is formed, 
 fitted for the sea, and sailed by the same person. 
 One man builds the hull, another rigs her, a third 
 loads and sails her. No one of these has the ad 
 vantage of knowing all the ideas and experience of 
 the others, and, therefore, can not draw just conclu 
 sions from a combination of the whole. 
 
 Even in the simple operation of sailing when at 
 sea, I have often observed different judgments in the 
 officers who commanded the successive watches, the 
 wind being the same. One would have the sails 
 trimmed sharper or flatter than another, so that they 
 seemed to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 263 
 
 I think a set of experiments might be instituted, first, 
 to determine the most proper form of the hall for 
 swift sailing ; next, the best dimensions and most 
 proper place for the masts ; then the form and quan 
 tity of sails, and their position, as the winds may be ; 
 and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an 
 age of experiments, and I think a set accurately 
 made and combined would be of great use. 
 
 We were several times chased in our passage, but 
 outsailed every thing, and in thirty days had sound 
 ings. We had a good observation, and the captain 
 judged himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if 
 we made a good run in the night, we might be off 
 the mouth of that harbor in the morning, and by 
 running in the night might escape the notice of the 
 enemy s privateers, who often cruised near the en 
 trance of the Channel. Accordingly, all the sail was 
 set that we could possibly carry, and the wind being 
 very fresh and fair, we stood right before it, and 
 made great way. The captain, after his observa 
 tion, shaped his course, as he thought, so as to pass 
 wide of the Scilly Rocks ; but it seems there is 
 sometimes a strong current setting up St. George s 
 Channel, which formerly caused the loss of Sir 
 Cloudesley Shovel s squadron in 1707. This was 
 probably, also, the cause of what happened to us. 
 
 We had a watchman placed in the bow, to whom 
 they often called, " Look well out before there" and 
 he as often answered, "Ay, ay ;" but perhaps had 
 his eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time, they 
 sometimes answering, as is said, mechanically; for 
 
264: LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 he did not see a light just before us, which had 
 hid by the studding-sails from the man at the helm, 
 and from the rest of the watch, but by an accidental 
 yaw of the ship was discovered, and occasioned a 
 great alarm, we being very near it, the light appear 
 ing to me as large as a cart-wheel. It was mid 
 night, and our captain fast asleep; but Captain 
 Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the dan 
 ger, ordered the ship to wear round, all sails stand 
 ing; an operation dangerous to the masts, but it 
 carried us clear, and we avoided shipwreck, for we 
 were running fast on the- rocks on which the light 
 was erected. This deliverance impressed me strong 
 ly with the utility of light-houses, and made me re 
 solve to encourage the building some of them in 
 America, if I should live to return thither. 
 
 In the morning it. was found by the soundings 
 that we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 265 
 
 land from our sight. About nine o clock the fog 
 began to rise, and seemed to be lifted up from the 
 water like the curtain of a theater, discovering un 
 derneath the town of Falmouth, the vessels in the 
 harbor, and the fields that surround it. This was a 
 pleasing spectacle to those who had been long with 
 out any other prospect than the uniform view of a va 
 cant ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure, as wo 
 were now free from the anxieties which had arisen.* 
 I set out immediately, with my son, for London, 
 and we only stopped a little by the way to view 
 Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, and Lord Pem 
 broke s house and gardens, with the very curious 
 antiquities at Wilton. We arrived in London the 
 27th of July, 1757. 
 
 * In a letter from Dr. Franklin to his wife, dated at Falmouth, the 17th 
 of July, 1757, after giving her a similar account of his: voyage, escape, 
 and landing, he adds : " The bell ringing for church, we went thither im 
 mediately, and, with hearts full of gratitude, returned sincere thanks to 
 God for the mercies we had received. Were I a Roman Catholic, per 
 haps 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 light-house." 
 
266 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 So far we have followed Franklin s own account 
 of himself. His autobiography has not improperly 
 been styled one of the most charming performances 
 of the kind ever written. That it merits this en 
 comium is evident from its popularity. Ease and 
 simplicity of narrative will always find approval with 
 the reader ; and many such performances as this of 
 Dr. Franklin s, making much more pretension, have 
 been received with a great deal less favor. Many 
 have been consigned to the upper shelves of public 
 libraries and the collections of the curious, to be 
 drawn forth only when some industrious compiler 
 disturbs the dust. Many more, though their subjects 
 made noise enough in their day, having had their 
 facts sifted out, have passed into the oblivion to 
 which impartial Time dooms such performances as 
 have their chief importance in the egotism of the 
 author. 
 
 Perhaps a key to the charm of Dr. Franklin s 
 autobiography may be found in the fact that it is 
 uniformly and consistently written to one person. 
 It has, therefore, the character of a familiar conversa 
 tion with a single reader, who can not fail, for the 
 nonce, to put himself in the place of the person ad 
 dressed. It appears like a personal intercourse with 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 2G7 
 
 the venerable sage to read thus what has all the ap 
 pearance of an unreserved confession of his secret 
 thoughts, and a free declaration of his motives and 
 impulses. But we must, in following the doctor 
 through his. narrative, be careful that we do not give 
 too implicit credit to his seeming ingenuousness. 
 No man ever commenced so elaborate an account 
 of himself without a suspicion that it would eventual 
 ly reach the public eye ; and whatever may be said 
 of the first portion of the work, we know that the 
 part written at Passy was prepared at the solicita 
 tion of friends who had seen a manuscript copy of 
 the beginning. The concluding portion, written at 
 Philadelphia, Franklin thus speaks of in a letter to 
 Benjamin Vaughan, under date of Philadelphia, Oc 
 tober 24, 1788. 
 
 " I am now recovering from a long-continued gout, 
 and am diligently employed in writing the History 
 of my Life, to the doing of which, the persuasions 
 contained in your letter of January 31, 1783, have 
 not a little contributed. I am now in the year 1756, 
 just before I was sent to England. To shorten the 
 work, as well as for other reasons, I omit all facts 
 and transactions that may not have a tendency to 
 benefit the young reader, by showing him, from my 
 example, and my success in emerging from poverty, 
 and acquiring some degree of wealth, power, and 
 reputation, the advantages of certain modes of con 
 duct which I observed, and of avoiding the errors 
 which were prejudicial to me. If a writer can judge 
 properly of his own work, I fancy, on reading over 
 
268 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 what is already done, that the book may be found 
 entertaining and useful, more so than I expected 
 when I began it. If my present state of health con 
 tinues, I hope to finish it this winter : when done, 
 you shall have a manuscript copy of it, that I may 
 obtain from your judgment and friendship such re 
 marks as may contribute to its improvement." 
 
 Dr. Franklin appears to have been in the habit of 
 permitting his friends to read his narrative. To 
 this circumstance, it is stated, thut the world owed 
 the first edition of the autobiography. A friend in 
 France held the manuscript long enough to make a 
 translation, which was issued from the press in Paris 
 soon after the death of the author. A translation of 
 the French work appeared in London ; and edition 
 after edition of the translation, and also of the orig 
 inal, have appeared in this country. 
 
 Autobiographies are usually apologies. As Dr. 
 Franklin performed no act of his life, however ap 
 parently trifling, without a thought as to its ultimate 
 influence and tendencies, it is evident that his "Life 
 by Himself" can not be excepted from the definition 
 of "An Apology for Himself. 7 There are in it many 
 direct pleas in defense of his acts. We can not, in 
 deed, forbear the regret that a man who has so hon 
 estly confessed his errors has so skillfully defended 
 them ; or, perhaps we should say, that in the de 
 fense he has so dexterously made it appear that the 
 errors were no such important transgressions, after 
 all. The young, especially, in reading the Life of 
 Franklin, need to be carefully upon their guard lest 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 269 
 
 they derive a wrong impression from the author s 
 self-complacent declaration that on such and such 
 occasions he " repaired" the errors of his life. Good 
 and evil are not to be kept in account with each 
 other, like debtor and creditor ; and especially should 
 we beware of the latent hint, that at the outset in 
 life faults may be indulged in, and a debit account 
 set down to virtue, with the reserved purpose of bal 
 ancing it on the credit side by-and-by. In this re 
 gard, we can not help thinking that the doctor, while 
 striving to do himself justice, has done himself a 
 discredit. Though we are far from thinking that 
 Franklin designedly borrowed the privilege of trans 
 gressing with the purpose of paying by reparation, 
 yet he undoubtedly shared the common feeling of 
 humanity in consoling himself with prospective re 
 pentance for present error; and what we would 
 guard against is the apparent impression that he 
 succeeded in "striking the balance." Nor would 
 we even charge that he intended all that, in this re 
 spect, his narrative seems to convey. The weak 
 ness of his character was too blind, or perhaps wo 
 should say too keen, a pursuit of expediency ; and 
 yet, without this characteristic, he would not have 
 been Franklin. 
 
 His remarkable prudence, both in his private af 
 fairs and in the public trusts which he had held in 
 the colony, caused his appointment, as stated in the 
 last chapter, as agent of the Assembly, to proceed to 
 England with a remonstrance addressed to the pro 
 prietaries. As the colony had increased in popula- 
 
270 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 tion, in trade, and in wealth, a diversity of interests 
 and of opinions had grown up, which were incom 
 patible with harmony under the apparently simple, 
 but really complex system established by William 
 Penn. The charter from the crown asserted politi 
 cal rights most ample ; the Bill of Privileges granted 
 by Penn established universal toleration in religion ; 
 the Legislature was elective, and the laws of the col 
 ony were left, in their conception and enactment, 
 with the people. But the anomaly of a governor 
 appointed by the proprietors, and, in fact, acting as 
 their agent, his real council being the proprietaries 
 in England, jarred with and defeated the apparent 
 liberality of the system. Thus, while obvious polit 
 ical justice directed that all property holders should 
 be taxed alike, the governors refused their assent to 
 bills for revenue which did not exempt the proprie 
 tary domain from taxation ; and while all religious 
 creeds and professions were declared to be on an 
 equality, the executive could refuse assent to laws 
 which conflicted with the peculiar tenets of the So 
 ciety of Friends. In relation to the defense of the 
 colony, as the reader has already noted, evasion and 
 management were resorted to to save the frontiers 
 in the peril of invasion. An empire within an em 
 pire, such as Penn s original draft seemed to indi 
 cate, could only exist by the perfect obedience of 
 the people, and their harmony with the proprie 
 taries. The difficulties and embarrassments neces 
 sary to conflicting interests, and conflicting powers 
 and rights, became so evident and harassing during 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 271 
 
 tlie lifetime of the founder of the colony, that Penn 
 himself was on the point of surrendering a jurisdic 
 tion, fruitful principally in vexation, to the crown, 
 reserving to his family only the right in property 
 which the royal charter conferred. But this was 
 not done ; and the difficulties, irksome in the days 
 of the father, were doubly so in the hands of the 
 sons. Their deputy governors were placed in a 
 most awkward relation. In conciliating the people, 
 they offended the proprietaries, and were recalled; 
 or their instructions were so pointed as to leave 
 them no discretion, and their weary terms of ser 
 vice were spent in fruitless altercations with the As 
 sembly. 
 
 No law was considered as finally enacted in Penn 
 sylvania until it had received the royal sanction. 
 By the terms of the original charter, all enactments 
 were to be sent to Great Britain, and if, within five 
 years, they were not disapproved of by the king, 
 their approval was presumed. Subsequently, how 
 ever, the terms of the charter were interfered with 
 by instructions from the crown, that such acts as 
 were supposed to affect the royal prerogative, or to 
 involve points in dispute between Parliament and the 
 colonies, should not be passed without a clause de 
 ferring their operation until they had received the 
 royal sanction. The method in which a law was 
 discussed in London was sufficiently humiliating to 
 the pride of the Assembly ; and as we review the 
 process now, the wonder is that the tedious and dil 
 atory proceedings did not sooner urge the provincial 
 
272 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Assembly into rebellion. An act of the provincial 
 Assembly was first laid before the Board of Trade, 
 as if the primary consideration in relation to the col 
 ony was a matter of pounds and pence; and the main 
 object to be secured was that the Americans should 
 not make any movement, unwatched, in which the 
 interests of the British merchants and factors, and 
 the revenue of the crown, should not be consulted. 
 To make the colonies dependencies of the Board 
 of Trade was a fatal error of the British crown ; 
 and in many of the revolutionary papers, and the 
 writings which preceded the war of separation, we 
 find evidences of the keenness with which the col 
 onists felt and resented the insult ; for such they 
 considered it. The pecuniary bearing of the bill, 
 if any it had, being ascertained and corrected, if it 
 was deemed to need amendment, it went next to the 
 king s solicitor, that the prerogative might be de 
 fended from encroachment. Thence it came back 
 to the Board of Trade, and that body having acted 
 upon it, it \vent before the king s council for finai 
 action. While these steps were in progress, tilt- 
 proprietaries kept an agent employed to watch the 
 bill, and, if they took exceptions to it, to argue them 
 before the Board of Trade. The Assembly was 
 compelled, also, to appear before the Board by an 
 agent; and thus, for every important act done bv 
 their representatives, the colony was, in effect, put 
 upon trial. Franklin s mission w r as more compre 
 hensive than had been intrusted to any previous 
 agency. It was not only the reconciliation of a 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 273 
 
 present difficulty, but embraced the endeavor to re 
 move the causes which impeded the general har 
 mony and clogged the prosperity of the colony. To 
 his discretion, and to his intimate knowledge of all 
 points of the colonial business, the duty could be 
 safely confided. The replies to the governor s ad 
 dresses, in which the cause of the people was ably 
 vindicated by the Legislature, were chiefly from his 
 pen. He was the popular champion during the 
 many years that he served in the provincial As 
 sembly. 
 
 These replies, messages, and reports of the As 
 sembly were published in London in a work entitled 
 " An Historical Review of the Constitution and 
 Government of Pennsylvania." It appeared anony 
 mously in London early in the year 1759, and caused 
 Dr. Franklin to receive a great deal of censure and 
 abuse as the supposed author. This was, however, 
 to have been anticipated from the very nature of the 
 work, a controversial rather than a strictly impartial 
 one ; the charge against the proprietaries could but 
 provoke reply from them and their friends ; and the 
 forcible language in which the oppressions of the 
 people are depicted, left those assailed no choice but 
 defense. Franklin never publicly admitted or de 
 nied the charge of authorship ; but in an official 
 letter, referring to the work, he speaks of it as one 
 which It we 9t have in press, and thus admits that it 
 was done with his privity. The reports and mes 
 sages before alluded to, form a very large portion of 
 the volume ; other parts Dr. Franklin himself a- 
 
274 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 knowledges in a letter to David Hume, and the 
 Dedication and Introduction are known to be from 
 his pen. The Introduction we subjoin, as one -of 
 the happiest specimens of his style : 
 
 " To obtain an infinite variety of purposes by a 
 few plain principles, is the characteristic of nature. 
 As the eye is affected, so is the understanding; ob 
 jects at a distance strike us according to their di 
 mensions, or the quantity of light thrown upon 
 them ; near, according to their novelty or familiar 
 ity, as they are in motion or at rest. It is the same 
 with actions. A battle is all motion, a hero all glare ; 
 while such images are before us, we can attend to 
 nothing else. Solon and Lycurgus would make no 
 figure in the same scene with the King of Prussia ; 
 and we are at present so lost in the military scram 
 ble on the Continent next us, in which, it must be 
 confessed, we are deeply interested, that we have 
 scarce time to throw a glance toward America, 
 where we have also much at stake, and where, if 
 any where, our account must be made up at last. 
 
 "We love to stare more than to reflect, and to 
 be indolently amused at our leisure rather than com 
 mit the smallest trespass on our patience by winding 
 a painful, tedious maze, which would pay us in noth 
 ing but knowledge. 
 
 " But then, as there are some eyes which can find 
 nothing marvelous but what is marvelously great, 
 so there are others which are equally disposed to 
 marvel at what is marvelously little, and who can 
 derive as much entertainment from their microscope 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 275 
 
 in examining a mite, as Dr. in ascertaining the 
 
 geography of the moon or measuring the tail of a 
 comet. 
 
 " Let this serve as an excuse for the author of 
 these sheets, if he needs any, for bestowing them on 
 the transactions of a colony till of late hardly men 
 tioned in our annals ; in point of establishment one 
 of the last upon the British list, and in point of rank 
 one of the most subordinate ; as being not only sub 
 ject, in common with the rest, to the crown, biat 
 also to the claims of a proprietary, who thinks he 
 does them honor enough in governing them by dep 
 uty ; consequently, so much further removed from 
 the royal eye, and so much the more exposed to the 
 pressure of self-interested instructions. 
 
 " Considerable, however, as most of them for hap 
 piness of situation, fertility of soil, product of valua 
 ble commodities, number of inhabitants, shipping, 
 amount of exportations, latitude of rights and privi 
 leges, and every other requisite for the being and 
 well-being of society, and more considerable than 
 any of them all for the celerity of its growth, unas 
 sisted by any human help but the vigor and virtue 
 of its own excellent constitution. 
 
 " A father and his family, the latter united by in 
 terest and affection, the former to be revered for the 
 wisdom of his institutions and the indulgent use of 
 his authority, was the form it was at first presented 
 in. Those who were only ambitious of repose, 
 found it here ; and as none returned with an evil 
 report of the land, numbers followed, all partook of 
 
276 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the leaven they found ; the community still wore 
 the same equal face ; nobody aspired, nobody was 
 oppressed; industry was sure of profit, knowledge 
 of esteem, and virtue of veneration. 
 
 " An assuming landlord, strongly disposed to con 
 vert free tenants into abject vassals, and to reap 
 what he did not sow, countenanced and abetted by 
 a few desperate and designing dependants on the one 
 side, and on the other, all who have sense enough 
 to know their rights and spirit enough to defend 
 them, combined as one man against the said land 
 lord and his encroachments, is the form it has since 
 assumed. 
 
 " And surely, to a nation born to liberty like this, 
 bound to leave it unimpaired, as they received it 
 from their fathers, in perpetuity to their heirs, and 
 interested in the conservation of it in every append 
 age of the British empire, the particulars of such a 
 contest can not be wholly indifferent. 
 
 " On the contrary, it is reasonable to think the 
 first workings of power against liberty, and the nat 
 ural efforts of unbiased men to secure themselves 
 against the first approaches of oppression, must have 
 a captivating power over every man of sensibility 
 and discernment among us. 
 
 " Liberty, it seems, thrives best in the woods. 
 America best cultivates what Germany brought 
 forth. And were it not for certain ugly compari 
 sons, hard to be suppressed, the pleasure arising from 
 such a research would be without alloy. 
 
 " In the feuds of Florence, recorded by Machiavel, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 277 
 
 we find more to lament and less to praise. Scarce 
 can we believe the first citizens of the ancient re 
 publics had such pretensions to consideration, though 
 so highly celebrated in ancient story. And as to 
 ourselves, we need no longer have recourse to the 
 late glorious stand of the French parliaments to ex 
 cite our emulation. 
 
 " It is a known custom among farmers to change 
 their corn from season to season for the sake of fill 
 ing the bushel ; and in case the wisdom of the age 
 should condescend to make the like experiment in 
 another shape, from hence we may learn whither to 
 repair for the proper species. 
 
 " It is not, however, to be presumed, that such as 
 have long been accustomed to consider the colonies 
 in general as only so many dependencies on the 
 council board, the Board of Trade, and the Board 
 of Customs, or as a hotbed for causes, jobs, and 
 other pecuniary emoluments, and as bound as effect 
 ually by instructions as by laws, can be prevailed 
 upon to consider these patriot rustics with any de 
 gree of respect. 
 
 " Derision, on the contrary, must be the lot of him 
 who imagines it in the power of the pen to set any 
 luster upon them ; and indignation theirs for daring 
 to assert and maintain the independence interwoven 
 in their Constitution, which now, it seems, is be 
 come an improper ingredient, and, therefore, to be 
 excised away. 
 
 " But how contemptibly soever these gentlemen 
 may talk of the colonies, how cheap soever thev 
 
278 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 may hold their Assemblies, or how insignificant the 
 planters and traders who compose them, truth will 
 be truth, and principle principle, notwithstanding. 
 
 " Courage, wisdom, integrity, and honor are not 
 to be measured by the sphere assigned them to act 
 in, but by the trials they undergo and the vouchers 
 they furnish ; and, if so manifested, need neither 
 robes nor titles to set them off." 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 IT was one of the maxims of Dr. Franklin that 
 " Time is money," and he was therefore anxious to 
 apply himself at once to the business of his mission ; 
 but soon after his arrival in London he was attack 
 ed with an intermittent fever, which continued for 
 nearly eight weeks ; protracted, no doubt, by his ef 
 forts, in the intervals of apparent convalescence, to 
 attend to the business with which he was intrusted. 
 We find, in a letter to his wife, written toward the 
 latter part of November, 1757, the common com 
 plaint against the English autumn. " On fair days, 
 which are but few, I venture out about noon . We 
 may remark, by the way, that in nothing is the care 
 ful and attentive character of Dr. Franklin, and his 
 remembrance of his friends, better evinced than in 
 his correspondence. The messages w 7 hich he in 
 cludes in his letters to all the friends of the persons 
 addressed, the hundreds of commissions which he 
 undertook, and the very many little unexpected acts 
 of kindness to his absent friends with which he vol 
 untarily charged himself, while they show the obli 
 ging disposition of the man, exhibit no less the bene 
 fit of method in the arrangement of time, and evince 
 the capacity of the mind for grasping every thing, 
 provided that order is preserved in the mental store- 
 
280 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 house. That the man who had so many trouble 
 some public matters upon his hands should find leis 
 ure for the pursuit of his philosophical studies and 
 experiments, has been considered a remarkable cir 
 cumstance. The wonder is increased when we re 
 view his correspondence, and find him, at the same 
 time, making purchases for his wife and friends, and 
 transmitting, with the ribbons, silks, laces, snuffers, 
 music, salt-ladles, apple-corers, dessert services, break 
 fast-cloths, napkins, and garters, minute accounts of 
 each, and directions in what manner they are to be 
 applied. The style of his letters is also worthy of 
 especial comment. Though showing evident marks 
 of haste, and written with the negligent freedom of 
 easy conversation, there are no useless repetitions, 
 and not even the too frequent recurrence of the 
 same words. The perspicuity which makes the 
 writings of Franklin remarkable, arose from the clear 
 arrangement of his subject in his mind, rather than 
 from elaboration when he was about to commit his 
 thoughts to paper. 
 
 Franklin was at first the guest of Mr. Peter Col- 
 linson, with whom, as a member of the Royal Soci 
 ety, he had corresponded. He then removed to the 
 house of Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, No. 7 Craven- 
 street, near the Strand. This house is still desig 
 nated in the London Guide-books, and shown among 
 the notables as the dwelling in which Franklin re 
 sided during his fifteen years stay in London. Oth 
 er memorials of him are preserved with the like care; 
 for his course and rise, remarkable even among his 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 28] 
 
 countrymen, were more observed in England, as pre 
 senting there a social anomaly, while here they are 
 in perfect accordance with the republican theory. 
 Thirty years before, Franklin the youth had visited 
 London, friendless and almost helpless, finding him 
 self in a strange land, the victim of the hollow and al 
 most incomprehensible duplicity of Governor Keith. 
 He had struggled with difficulties of no ordinary 
 kind, and successfully ; drawing improvement from 
 experience, and treasuring up practical knowledge, 
 until he had not only secured public confidence and 
 trust amid his immediate friends and constituents at 
 home, but had obtained a name with the learned 
 and ingenious abroad, which was the warrant for 
 his welcome. His philosophical correspondents, and 
 the readers of his published essays and discoveries, 
 vied with each other in their congratulatory offices 
 and addresses; and the friends of those who had 
 enjoyed direct communication with the illustrious 
 American were eager to avail themselves of the op 
 portunity of an introduction, and to embrace the priv 
 ilege of tendering him civility. Eminently social 
 and benevolent in his manners, much of his atten 
 tion was given to the gratification of those who ap 
 preciated his pursuits. In a letter written by the 
 proprietor, Thomas Penn, near the close of the mis 
 sion of Franklin, in 1761, occurs this passage: "I 
 do not find that he has done me any injury with any 
 party, having had conversations with all, in which I 
 have studied to talk of these affairs; and I believe 
 he has spent most of his time in philosophical, and 
 
282 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 especially in electrical matters, having generally com 
 pany in a morning to see those experiments, and 
 musical performances on glasses, where any one that 
 knows him carries his friends." 
 
 In such society Franklin, who, it will be remem 
 bered, in his autobiography, acknowledges the pos 
 session of a reasonable share of vanity, found much 
 gratification. But that his vanity was not of a dis 
 agreeable character is evident from the permanence 
 of his friendships. He was now in his fifty-second 
 year, and age had commenced to render what in 
 others might seem assumption, in him a natural and 
 pleasing authority. He never indulged in positive 
 assertions, or permitted himself to give direct con 
 tradictions, but advanced his opinions rather as sug 
 gestions, and differed from his companions as one 
 intimating doubts which they were supposed to be 
 ready to jremove. A mind less evenly balanced than 
 his could not have withstood the extravagant lauda 
 tion to which, at this, and even more at a later pe 
 riod in his life, he was exposed ; but he humorously 
 offset it against the violent abuse which he received 
 from other quarters, and rejoiced that he had some 
 enemies to remind him of his faults. 
 
 Among the friendships which he cherished and 
 we note it the more particularly that it was not one 
 which could minister to his ambition was that of 
 Mrs. Stevenson. To the daughter of that lady, 
 Miss Mary Stevenson, he was a most considerate 
 friend, directing her studies, and improving her mind 
 by valuable advice, which appears among the most 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 283 
 
 interesting passages of his" correspondence. Some 
 of his best papers on philosophical and learned sub 
 jects were in the form of letters, prepared for this 
 young lady s perusal. The circumstance that she 
 was for most of the time absent from her mother s 
 house during his residence in England, caused the 
 correspondence. It was not all, however, of a phil 
 osophical character, and the reader will be gratified 
 with the introduction here of a specimen of the 
 manner in which the philosopher and statesman 
 could gracefully trifle : 
 
 " My dear Polly s good mamma bids me write two 
 or three lines, by way of apology for her having 
 omitted so long to write. She acknowledges the 
 receiving of two agreeable letters from her beloved 
 daughter, inclosing one for Sally Franklin, which 
 was much approved (excepting one word only), and 
 sent as directed. 
 
 " The reasons of her not writing are, that her 
 time all day is fully taken up, during the daylight, 
 with the care of her family, and lying abed in the 
 morning ; and her eyes are so bad that she can not 
 see to write in the evening for playing at cards ; 
 so she hopes that one who is all goodness will cer 
 tainly forgive her, when her excuses are so substan 
 tial. As for the secretary, he has not a word to say 
 in his own behalf, though full as great an offender, 
 but throws himself upon mercy ; pleading only that 
 he is, with the greatest esteem and sincerest regard, 
 his dear Polly s ever affectionate friend, 
 
 " B. FRANKLIN." 
 
284 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 In another letter to the same young lady, we find 
 the following advice upon the subject of reading: 
 
 " I would advise you to read with a pen in your 
 hand, and enter in a little book short hints of what 
 you find that is curious, or may be useful ; for this 
 will be the best method of imprinting such facts on 
 your memory, where they will be ready, either for 
 practice on some future occasion, if they are matters 
 of utility, or, at least, to adorn and improve your 
 conversation, if they are rather points of curiosity. 
 And as many of the terms of science are such as 
 you can not have met with in your common read 
 ing, and may therefore be unacquainted with, I think 
 it would be well for you to have a good dictionary 
 at hand, to consult immediately when you meet 
 with a word you do not comprehend the precise 
 meaning of. This may at first seem troublesome 
 and interrupting ; but it is a trouble that will daily 
 diminish, as you will daily find less and less occa 
 sion for your dictionary, as you become more and 
 more acquainted with the terms ; and, in the mean 
 time, you will read with more satisfaction, because 
 more understanding." 
 
 The reader will feel a natural desire to know 
 something of the after life of a person in whom Dr. 
 Franklin was so much interested. She was married 
 in 1770 to William Hewson, a distinguished anat 
 omist, whose works those familiar with medical lit 
 erature will readily recall. He died in 1774, leav 
 ing his widow with three infant children ; and the 
 advantage of her solid education was evinced in the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 285 
 
 manner in which they were trained for usefulness 
 and distinction. Mrs. Stevenson, the mother, died 
 in 1783 ; Mrs. Hewson removed with her children to 
 America in 1786, and died at Bristol, Pa., in 1795. 
 The list of eminent physicians for which the city of 
 Philadelphia is remarkable, includes the son of Mrs. 
 Mary Hewson. 
 
 The proverbial dilatoriness of public bodies, and 
 the influence of the proprietaries, whose purpose was 
 served by delay, prevented any progress being made 
 in the business with which Franklin was intrusted 
 during the first year that he remained in England. 
 He found the public mind and the attention of the 
 government too much engrossed with the war on the 
 Continent, and with European politics, to be divert 
 ed from these pressing and immediately important 
 subjects to the concerns of a colony. The business 
 upon which he was dispatched, however deeply im 
 portant to the colonists themselves, presented no na 
 tional bearing which required instant notice. The 
 proprietors artfully improved the state of the pub 
 lic mind by producing, either directly through their 
 agents, or through the influence of their friends upon 
 the press, an impression unfavorable to the colonists. 
 As a specimen of these acts, we quote a paragraph 
 which appeared in " The Citizen, or General Ad 
 vertiser," of September 9, 1757 : 
 
 " The last letters from Philadelphia bring accounts 
 of the scalping of the inhabitants of the back prov 
 inces by the Indians ; at the same time, the disputes 
 between the governor and the Assembly are carried 
 
286 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 on to as great a height as ever, and the messages 
 sent from the Assembly to the governor, and from 
 the governor to the Assembly, are expressed in terms 
 which give very little hopes of reconciliation. The 
 bill to raise money is clogged so as to prevent the 
 governor from giving his consent to it ; and the ob 
 stinacy of the Quakers in the Assembly is such that 
 they will in no shape alter it ; so that, while the en 
 emy is in the heart of the country, cavils prevent any 
 thing being done for its relief. Mr. Denny is the 
 third governor with whom the Assembly has had 
 these disputes within a few years." 
 
 At the first glance at the above paragraph, it may 
 appear singular that the proprietors should procure 
 the publication of allegations against the Quakers. 
 But this difficulty is removed by the fact that, of 
 William Penn s six children, all except two aban 
 doned the tenets of their father ; and Thomas and 
 Richard Penn, the proprietors during Franklin s 
 agency, were not members of the Society of Friends. 
 For the rest, it is difficult to conceive a statement 
 more artfully drawn up, or better adapted for its pur 
 pose. The air of gentle candor, and of seeming 
 disinterestedness with which it is prepared, carries 
 the impression of its authorship by a party uncon 
 cerned in the issue, who states facts without com 
 ment, satisfied that they are of themselves glaring 
 enough to supersede the need of remark. The ef 
 fect of such publications upon a community whose 
 attention had been invoked to the known differences 
 between the proprietaries and the people, may be 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 287 
 
 readily imagined. To counteract the influence of this 
 and similar publications, an article was prepared foi 
 The General Advertiser, over the signature of Will 
 iam Franklin. In this the separate allegations and 
 implications are taken up in their order, and con 
 clusively disproved. 
 
 The answer of Franklin shows, first, that the col 
 ony of Pennsylvania was not peculiar in its loss of 
 frontier settlers by the savages, the same dangers at 
 tending the borderers in all the colonies. The out- 
 settlers were not Quakers, but had arms, provided 
 by the Assembly, and used them; but when the sen 
 tinels posted round an army were often killed and 
 scalped while on duty, it was much easier to sur 
 prise a poor ploughman at work in the field. The 
 disputes between the governor and the Assembly 
 were shown to be upon the point of the taxation of 
 the proprietary domains. As to the Quaker influ 
 ence in the Assembly, as only twelve out of thirty- 
 six members who composed that body were Friends, 
 their resistance could avail nothing, if exerted. The 
 records of the Assembly in past years were quoted 
 to show that the Quakers had voted large sums 
 
 CT 
 
 " for the king s use," which were applied to the de 
 fense of the province, and consented to heavy grants 
 of provision for troops in arms. The bill said to be 
 " clogged and prevented" was passed in the spring 
 preceding, granting one hundred thousand pounds 
 for the defense of the colony ; and the assertion that 
 the enemy was in the " heart of the country" was 
 denied as untrue, either at that time, or at any pre- 
 
288 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 vious period. The fact was also exhibited that 
 Pennsylvania had done more for its own defense, 
 and for the assistance of its neighbors, than any oth 
 er colony. To this triumphant answer no reply was 
 ever attempted. If it failed in producing any imme 
 diate action on the part of the proprietors, it answer 
 ed the double purpose, with like publications, of dis 
 abusing the public mind of wrong impressions, and 
 of giving the opinions and statements of the agent 
 of Pennsylvania a weight which was afterward ap 
 plied to important purposes. 
 
 Indeed, no other man could have filled the mission 
 so well as he. A purely political character, in the 
 indisposition which existed to listen to any thing 
 relative to America, would have been forced into in 
 significance. Social position, obtained by the ordi 
 nary methods, could not have prevented this conse 
 quence, as he might have maintained his. place in the 
 saloons, and still have effected nothing in the coun 
 cils. But his philosophical reputation, increased by 
 intercourse with the learned, and by the further dis 
 coveries which he prosecuted, introduced whatever 
 he wrote, or was supposed to have written, to a 
 wider circle than political pamphlets and newspaper 
 essays usually attain ; and the history of the state of 
 the public mind in England anterior to the Revolu 
 tion, and during its progress, exhibits many of the 
 influential friends of America as among the personal 
 friends and correspondents of Benjamin Franklin. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 289 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AMONG Franklin s friends in England was Mr. 
 William Strahan, a printer, distinguished alike for 
 the integrity of his character, his eminent practical 
 talents, and his success in life. Similarity of pur 
 suits, and a resemblance in their fortunes, both hav 
 ing risen from obscurity, made the friendship be 
 tween the two printers intimate Mr. Strahan was 
 printer to the king, and in 1755 was elected to Par 
 liament If we may judge from some specimens of 
 his correspondence, we must conclude him not to 
 have been unapt as a courtier. In a letter to Mrs. 
 Franklin, written in 1757, her husband and ms son, 
 and her daughter, Miss Sally Franklin, are as skill 
 fully complimented as was possible for the ingenuity 
 of a flatterer. Where the praise approaches hyper 
 bole, the effect of the extravagance is dexterously 
 averted by a little pleasantry. Franklin is pro 
 nounced to be a man of singular merit, and perfectly 
 agreeable ; and while some men are amiable in ane 
 view, and some in another, he is said to be amiable 
 in all. The son is extolled as affording, in his char 
 acter, the prospect that the father s virtues and use 
 fulness to his country would be prolonged beyond 
 the period of his own life ; and of the daughter he 
 says, u I wish I could call her mine." 
 
290 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 The prayer of the petition of this epistle was that 
 Mrs. Franklin would visit England. In this the wri 
 ter did not succeed, nor was he more successful in 
 p. subsequent proposal, in 1760, that Franklin should 
 /remain in England, and persuade his wife and daugh 
 ter to come over. While Franklin admitted the 
 excellence of the character of Mr. Strahan, and the 
 amiable and agreeable dispositions of his family ; and 
 while he saw in the business opening a most eligible 
 one, his attachment to his own country, and the invin 
 cible repugnance of his wife against crossing the At 
 lantic, precluded his entertaining the proposal, ad 
 vantageous as it seemed in all particulars. There 
 would seem, however, a reasonable probability, that 
 if Mrs. Franklin had seconded, instead of discour 
 aging the proposition, or if she had even ventured 
 upon a visit to England, the course of the life of 
 Franklin might have been altered. Although we 
 can not doubt that he would have remained the 
 warm friend of America, and the untiring advocate 
 of popular rights, his influence might have been re 
 tained in aiding the changes which have taken place 
 in the old country, rather than exerted in molding 
 the character and founding the institutions of the 
 new. On such apparent trifles hang the course of 
 men and the destiny of nations. 
 
 It may be well in this place to finish what re 
 mains to be said of Mr. Strahan, in connection with 
 our work. As already stated, he was elected to Par 
 liament in 1775. Previously to that event, he had 
 held conversations and correspondence with Frank- 
 
LIFE 0V FRANKLIN. 293 
 
 liri, of which the difficulties in America formed the 
 theme. His friend s views, however, failed to make 
 Mr. Strahan a convert to what Franklin deemed the 
 liberal and just course. On the 5th of July, 1775, 
 Franklin wrote the following from Philadelphia : 
 
 " MR. STRAHAN : You are a member of Parlia 
 ment, and one of that majority which has doomed 
 my country to destruction. You have begun to burn 
 our towns and murder our peoole. Look upon you- 
 hands . cney are stained with the blooa 01 your rela 
 tions ! You and I were long friends ; you are now 
 my enemy, and I am yours, 
 
 " B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 This letter, which was published in the London 
 papers soon after its receipt, was the subject of a 
 great deal of remark. That there was no bitterness 
 of personal feeling between the friends, is evident 
 from the fact that their correspondence, interrupt 
 ed by the Revolutionary war, was never wholly 
 abandoned, and was resumed at a later period with 
 a great deal of warmth and earnestness of friend 
 ship. The apparent harshness of the above note 
 is in the conclusion ; but it is palpably evident, from 
 its face, that the writer merely yielded to the temp 
 tation to give a common and usually unmeaning 
 form a terse and significant epigrammatic turn. In 
 deed, it may have been, and most probably was, an 
 after thought, which occurred at the instant. Mr. 
 Strahan died, at an advanced age, in 1785, and the 
 
294 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 last letter which he received from Franklin (1784) 
 contains a pleasant review of the events of the war, 
 and of the friendship of the writers, which we ex 
 tract : 
 
 " You fairly acknowledge that the late war ter 
 minated quite contrary to your expectation. Your 
 expectation was ill founded ; for you would not be 
 lieve your old friend, who told you repeatedly that 
 by those measures England would lose her colonies, 
 as Epictetus warned in vain his master that he would 
 break his leg. You believed rather the tales you 
 heard of our poltroonery, and impotence of body and 
 mind. Do you not remember the story you told me 
 of the Scotch sergeant who met with a party of forty 
 American soldiers, and, though alone, disarmed them 
 all and brought them in prisoners ? a story almost as 
 improbable as that of an Irishman, who pretended 
 to have alone taken and brought in five of the enemy 
 by surrounding them. And yet, my friend, sensible 
 and judicious as you are, but partaking of the gen 
 eral infatuation, you seemed to believe it. * * * 
 Yankee was understood to be a sort of Yahoo, and 
 the Parliament did not think the petitions of such 
 creatures were fit to be received and read in so wise 
 an assembly. What was the consequence of this 
 monstrous pride and insolence ? You first sent small 
 armies to subdue us, believing them more than suffi 
 cient, but soon found yourselves obliged to send 
 greater ; these, whenever they ventured to penetrate 
 our country beyond the protection of their ships, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 295 
 
 were either repulsed and obliged to scamper out, or 
 were surrounded, beaten, and taken prisoners. An 
 American planter, who had never seen Europe, was 
 chosen by us to command our troops, and contin 
 ued during the whole war. This man sent home 
 to you, one after another, five of your best generals 
 baffled, their heads bare of laurels, disgraced even in 
 the opinion of their employers. Your contempt of 
 our understandings, in comparison with your own, 
 appeared to be much better founded than that of 
 our courage, if we may judge by this circumstance, 
 that in whatever court of Europe a Yankee nego 
 tiator appeared, the wise British minister was routed, 
 put in a passion, picked a quarrel with your friends, 
 and was sent home with a flea in his ear. But, aft 
 er all, my dear friend, do not imagine that I am vain 
 enough to ascribe our success to any superiority in 
 any of those points. I am too well acquainted with 
 all the springs and levers of our machine not to see 
 that our human means were unequal to our under 
 taking, and that, if it had not been for the justice of 
 our cause, and the consequent interposition of Prov 
 idence, in which we had faith, we must have been 
 ruined. If I had ever before been an Atheist, 1 
 should now have been convinced of the being and 
 government of a Deity ! It is He that abases the 
 proud and favors the humble. May we never forget 
 His goodness to us, and may our future conduct 
 manifest our gratitude ! 
 
 " But let us leave these serious reflections, and 
 converse with our usual pleasantry. I remember 
 
296 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 your observing once to me, as we sat together in 
 the House of Commons, that no two journeymen 
 printers within your knowledge had met with such 
 success in the world as ourselves. You were then 
 at the head of your profession, and soon afterward 
 became member of Parliament. I was an agent for 
 
 o 
 
 a few provinces, and now act for them all. But we 
 have risen by different modes. I, as a Republican 
 printer, always liked a form well planed doiun, be 
 ing averse to those overbearing letters that hold their 
 heads so high as to hinder their neighbors from ap 
 pearing. You, as a monarchist, chose to work upon 
 crown paper, and found it profitable, while I work 
 ed upon pro patria (often, indeed, called foolscap) 
 with no less advantage. Both our heaps hold out 
 very well, and we seem likely to make a pretty good 
 day s work of it. With regard to public affairs (to 
 continue in the same style), it seems to me that your 
 compositors in your chapel do not cast off their copy 
 well, nor perfectly understand imposing: their-forms, 
 too, are continually pestered by the outs and doubles 
 that are not easy to be corrected ; and I think they 
 were wrong in laying aside some faces, and particu 
 larly some headpieces, that would have been both 
 useful and ornamental. But, courage ! The business 
 may still flourish with good management, and the 
 master become as rich as any of the company. * * 
 " I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affection 
 ately, B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 Upon Franklin s first arrival in England, as ap- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 297 
 
 pears by letters to his wife, he looked forward to 
 months as a long stay, and indulged in the hope that 
 he would return in the autumn. But in January, 
 1758, six months after his arrival, he was compelled 
 to the unwilling admission that the public business 
 would detain him for twelve months at least from 
 that date. He had been able to do no more in rela 
 tion to the affairs of the colony than to prepare and 
 digest his facts for the lawyers who appeared for the 
 Assembly, that they might be ready whenever the 
 public business permitted, and the dilatory measures 
 of the proprietaries would suffer it, to appear before 
 the Board of Trade. Time never hung heavily upon 
 Franklin s hands. The frequent publications, and 
 the philosophical and curious pursuits in which he 
 was engaged, were varied by journeys in search of 
 his family connections, and those of his wife, and 
 by acceptance of the civilities tendered to him by 
 his many friends. Among his excursions this year 
 were two visits with his son to the University of 
 Cambridge, the second being by invitation to be 
 present at the Commencement exercises. In a letter 
 to his wife, lie says, " We were present at all the cer 
 emonies, dined every day in their halls, and my van 
 ity was cot a little gratified by the particular regard 
 shown me by the chancellor and vice-chancellor of 
 the University, and the heads of colleges." 
 
 From Cambridge he proceeded in search of the 
 collateral branches of the Franklin family in En 
 gland. Sufficient is said in the opening of his auto 
 biography upon this subject for the general reader, 
 
298 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 and we will only add to it what he has there omit 
 ted : that, wherever he found these relatives in need, 
 he conferred upon them substantial aid and benefit 
 The fact that any were poor and obscure was an 
 additional motive for searching them out, and in his 
 letter to his wife, giving an account of this excursion, 
 he records many minute circumstances which, though 
 unimportant to his biography in themselves, are inter 
 esting as marking his character in two particulars. 
 One of these is the care he preserved for his wife s 
 gratification in the minutest respect, sparing no 
 trouble to interest her. The other point is the stur 
 dy independence of conventional forms which he 
 manifested in identifying himself with the poor and 
 the humble. To ^s this may seem a small matter, 
 and one rather of pride than otherwise ; but it must 
 be recollected that Franklin was, in these feelings, a 
 hundred years in advance of his time. At this pe 
 riod the theory of a republic was perhaps entertain 
 ed by him and by others, but it must have been 
 more as a theory than with any hope of its practical 
 operation. Americans before tta Revolution were 
 loyal subjects, and deferred, perhaps, with more rev 
 erence than English residents, to power and title, 
 and their conventional limits and usages. To the 
 English feeling Americans added respect for the isl 
 and itself, as " home," and the " father-land," the 
 center of power, and the guide in learning and in 
 arts. Nothing, indeed, annoyed them more than the 
 distinctions made between them and other British 
 subjects, as they were proud to consider themselves. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 299 
 
 In the month of February, 1759, the University of 
 . St. Andrew s conferred upon Franklin the degree of 
 Doctor of Laws. If the conferring of college lion- 
 
 O o 
 
 ors in America was a source of honest pride to him, 
 we may imagine that compliments from the venera 
 ble institutions of Europe gave him much more grat 
 ification, particularly as no false modesty could lead 
 him to feel that these honors were not honestly de 
 served. They were not, as in some cases, his intro 
 duction to the society of the learned, but followed 
 the estimation with which he was held by those 
 who were attracted to his friendship by Ms practical 
 knowledge, and his eminently useful writings and 
 discoveries. During a visit made to Scotland in the 
 summer of 1759, Franklin met Henry Home, Lord 
 Kames, with whom he afterward frequently corre 
 sponded, Dr. Robertson, and many others of the dis 
 tinguished men who marked this era as one of the 
 most brilliant in Scottish literature. Of the time 
 spent in that country, Dr. Franklin speaks, in a let 
 ter to Lord Kames, as six weeks of the densest hap 
 piness he ever experienced in his life. The ex 
 change of the writings of Kames and of Franklin, 
 and the mutual respect entertained by each for the 
 other, show an intimacy founded on high esteem, 
 and a sincerity which lasted until the death of Lord 
 Kames. Many years the senior of Franklin, he died 
 eight years before him, in 1782. 
 
 Connected with the history of the acquaintance 
 of Franklin and Ldrd Kames is a curious literarv 
 
 */ 
 
 anecdote. While on his visit to Lord Kames, Frank- 
 
300 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 lin read or recited his well-known " Parable against 
 Persecution." Lord Kames inserted it in his work 
 entitled " Sketches of the History of Man," publish 
 ed in the year 1774. He there prefaced it with the 
 remark that it was communicated to him by Dr. 
 Franklin, of Philadelphia ; " a man who makes a 
 great figure in the learned world, and who would 
 make a still greater figure for benevolence and can 
 dor, were virtue as much regarded in this declining 
 age as knowledge." The parable we here annex : 
 
ND it came to pass after tnese 
 things, that Abraham sat in the 
 door of his tent, about the going- 
 down of the sun. 
 
 2. And behold, a man, bowed 
 with age, came from the way of the wilder 
 ness, leaning oil a staff. 
 
 3. And Abraham arose and met him, and 
 said unto him, " Turn in, I pray thee, and 
 wash thy feet, and tarry all night, and thou shalt 
 arise early on the morrow, and go on thy way." 
 
 4. But the man said, " Nay, for I will abide under 
 this tree." 
 
 5. And Abraham pressed him greatly; so he turn 
 ed, and they went into the tent, and Abraham baked 
 unleavened bread, and they did eat. 
 
 6. And when Abraham saw that the man blessed 
 not God, he said unto him, " Wherefore dost thou 
 not worship the most high God, Creator of heaven 
 and earth ?" 
 
 7. And the man answered and said, "I do not 
 worship the God thou speakest of, neither do I call 
 
302 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 upon his name; for I have made to myself a god, 
 which abideth alway in mine house, and provideth 
 me with all things." 
 
 8. And Abraham s zeal was kindled against the 
 man, and he arose and fell upon him, and drove him 
 forth with blows into the wilderness. 
 
 9. And at midnight God called unto Abraham, say 
 ing, " Abraham, where is the stranger 1" 
 
 10. And Abraham answered and said, "Lord, he 
 would not worship thee, neither would he call upon 
 thy name ; therefore have I driven him out from be 
 fore my face into the wilderness." 
 
 11. And God said, " Have I borne with him these 
 hundred ninety and eight years, and nourished him, 
 and clothed him, notwithstanding his rebellion against 
 me ; and couldst not thou, that art thyself a sinner 
 bear with him one night T 
 
 12. And Abraham said, " Let not the anger of the 
 Lord wax hot against his servant ; lo, I have sinned ; 
 lo. I have sinned ; forgive me, I pray thee." 
 
 13. And Abraham arose, and went forth into the 
 wilderness, and sought diligently for the man, and 
 found him, and returned with him to the tent ; and 
 when he had entreated him kindly, he sent him away 
 on the morrow with gifts. 
 
 14. And God spake again unto Abraham, saying, 
 " For this thy sin shall thy seed be afflicted four 
 hundred years in a strange land ; 
 
 15. " But for thy repentance will I deliver them ; 
 and they shall come forth with power, and with 
 gladness of heart, and with much substance." 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 303 
 
 Lord Kames omitted in his version all after the 
 eleventh verse. Whether this was an error, or an in 
 tentional alteration, is not known ; but the dignity of 
 the parable certainly gains nothing by the four last 
 verses. It is complete, and more emphatic in its 
 lesson, closing at the eleventh, than with the some 
 what awkward addition of the last verses. So prob 
 ably Lord Kames thought ; and it is a curious fact, 
 that the very part which Lord Kames omitted is the 
 only portion which Franklin claims as original. The 
 parable itself is of Eastern origin, and a version of it 
 has been discovered in the Persian. It was un 
 doubtedly derived from the Hebrew traditions ; and 
 as that people would not carelessly tamper with the 
 prophecies relating to their nation, the foreign addi 
 tion of the doctor betrays itself. Franklin never 
 published the parable, but arranged it in the form in 
 which it appears for the purpose of reading it, as if 
 from the Bible, and amusing himself with the com 
 ments of those who heard it. He complains, in a 
 letter written in 1789, that the publication by Lord 
 Kames cut him off from this source of amusement. 
 After enjoying the remarks of his hearers, it was his 
 habit to expose the deception, and he generally fol 
 lowed it with amusing anecdotes of those who had 
 been deceived with it on previous occasions. At 
 about the same time that Franklin prepared the 
 Parable against Persecution, he dressed up another 
 Jewish tradition inculcating Brotherly Love. With 
 this, however, he had not the same success as with 
 the other, and laid it aside. 
 
304 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN June, 1760, the business upon which Franklin 
 was sent to England was satisfactorily concluded ; 
 that is to say, so far as the principle was concerned 
 for which he mainly contended, that the estates of 
 the proprietaries should be subject to taxation, like 
 other property in the colony. There were several 
 other acts sent over at the same time for approval, 
 which the proprietaries opposed, and which were 
 repealed, but that in which the domains of the Penn 
 family were put on the same footing with other land 
 ed property was approved. On this came the prin 
 cipal struggle between the proprietors and the As 
 sembly, and very great efforts were made to defeat 
 it ; but, by concessions on the part of Dr. Franklin, 
 which, without affecting the principle involved, re 
 moved certain objections alleged by the proprieta 
 ries, the bill was carried, and the proprietors submit 
 ted, with the reserved intention, probably, of defeat 
 ing, or attempting to defeat, the operation of the act 
 by forced constructions afterward. At any rate, 
 whether such was the intention of the proprietors 
 or not, the conduct of their governor indicated that 
 such was the policy of his principals. The ulti 
 mate appeal to the crown, which had been a part 
 of Dr. Franklin s discretionary business, he judged it 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 305 
 
 prudent to defer. In the contests between the pro 
 prietaries and the Assembly, the Penns did not neg 
 lect to avail themselves of the apparent community 
 of interest with the ministry, which, as grantees of 
 the crown, they felt; and they managed so to ex 
 hibit the danger the prerogative might incur by a 
 victory of the Assembly over the proprietaries, that 
 Franklin perceived that the time was not propitious 
 for attempting to secure or defend any extension of 
 popular rights in the colony. And the course he 
 took met with the general approbation of his con 
 stituents. 
 
 In this year appeared one of the most important 
 of Franklin s political productions, the " Canada 
 Pamphlet." Franklin had earnestly advocated the 
 conquest of Canada by Great Britain, having endeav 
 ored to obtain an introduction to the minister, Mr. 
 Pitt, with the view of suggesting and urging that 
 conquest, as well as of acting in reference to the af 
 fairs of Pennsylvania. But the minister was, to 
 quote a letter of Franklin s, " too great a man, or too 
 much occupied in affairs of greater moment." Prob 
 ably he saw impolicy in receiving the accredited 
 agent of Pennsylvania. While the disputes in ref 
 erence to the colony were made sufficiently perplex 
 ing by other circumstances, it would not aid in re 
 lieving the difficulty, or in harmonizing the conflict 
 ing parties, to put it in the power of one of them to 
 charge that the other had the ear of the administra 
 tion. What information Franklin could give, how 
 ever, the minister obtained through his secretaries 
 
306 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 who cultivated an intimacy with the American, and 
 to whom he did not fail to impart what he desired 
 to communicate to the principal. 
 
 As the war with France drew near a close, the 
 terms of peace became the subject of public discus 
 sion. Several pamphlets were published, some ad 
 vocating the retention of Canada, others that of 
 Guadaloupe. Franklin entered the lists in an anony 
 mous tract, entitled " The Interest of Great Britain 
 considered with Regard to her Colonies, and the 
 Acquisition of Canada and Guadaloupe." The 
 most remarkable passage in this performance, to the 
 present reader, is that in which, after speaking of 
 the separate provincial governments in America, and 
 their jealousy of each other, he declares that he had 
 not the least conception that their growth could make 
 them dangerous to the mother country. He says : 
 
 " If they could not agree to unite for their defense 
 against the French and Indians, who were perpetu 
 ally harassing their settlements, burning their villa 
 ges, and murdering their people, can it reasonably be 
 supposed that there is any danger of their uniting 
 against their own nation, which protects and en 
 courages them, with which they have so many con 
 nections and ties of blood, interest, and affection, 
 and which, it is well known, they all love much 
 more than they love one another 1 In short, there 
 are so many causes which operate to prevent it, that 
 I will venture to say that a union among them for 
 such a purpose is not merely improbable, it is impos 
 sible. And if the union of the whole is impossible. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 307 
 
 the attempt of a part must be madness, as those 
 colonies which did not join the rebellion would join 
 the mother country in suppressing it. When I say 
 such a union is impossible, I mean without the most 
 grievous tyranny and oppression. People who have 
 property in a country which they may lose, and priv 
 ileges which they may endanger, are generally dis 
 posed to be quiet, and to bear much rather than haz 
 ard all. While the government is mild and just, 
 while important civil and religious rights are secure, 
 such subjects will be dutiful and obedient. The 
 waves do not rise but when the winds blow." 
 
 The pamphlet, throughout, is written in the tone 
 of a true Briton and a loyal subject. The defense 
 of the colonists against the charge that this acquisi 
 tion of territory was devised by them, and that the 
 war was an affair of the colonies, while it is most 
 masterly and convincing, is so conducted that no 
 one could, from this part of the pamphlet, suspect an 
 American of its authorship. He showed that the 
 interest of landholders did not lay in the increase of 
 land under the colonial protection. He argued that 
 density of population leads to manufactures, and that 
 by hemming the colonists in, their attention might 
 necessarily be turned to manufactures for support, 
 while in giving them a wider field as agriculturists, 
 the true interests of Great Britain would be consid 
 ered. If the object was to check the growth of the 
 colonies, he pronounced check a modest word for the 
 massacre of women and children, and intimated that 
 the command of Pharaoh to the midwives suggested 
 
308 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 a precedent for a course which he pronounced less 
 cruel. " By this means you may keep the colonies 
 to their present size. And if they were under the 
 hard alternative of submitting to the one or the oth 
 er of these for checking their growth, I dare answer 
 for them, they would prefer the latter." 
 
 The obvious arguments for the retention of Can 
 ada on the ground of removing an enemy from the 
 colonial borders, are ably brought forward; and in 
 defense of the positions taken, not only the history 
 of the colonies, and their relations with Great Brit 
 ain, but examples from other nations, ancient as well 
 as modern, are cited with great appositeness. It has 
 been usually said that the retention of the Canadas 
 was one of the train of events which led to the in 
 dependence of the United States. In its effect upon 
 France, this may be true. Treaties between pow 
 erful nations are not likely to be permanent in their 
 peaceful influence where one party is compelled to 
 make humiliating sacrifices to the other, and the 
 readiness of France to embrace the quarrel of Amer 
 ica undoubtedly had no small part of its origin in the 
 loss of her American colonies. The false security 
 of the British cabinet before the Revolution may 
 also be assigned, in part, to the removal of their dan 
 gerous rival on the northern borders ; but these con 
 siderations by no means detract from the sagacity 
 of Franklin, or the soundness of his argument, as 
 stated in the pamphlet, that, " If the visionary dan 
 ger of independence in our colonies is to be feared, 
 nothing is more likely to render it substantial than 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 309 
 
 the neighborhood of foreigners at enmity with the 
 sovereign government, capable of giving either aid or 
 an asylum, as the event shall require." 
 
 During the remainder of the time spent at this 
 visit in Europe, we find comparatively little public 
 traces of Dr. Franklin. He resumed more fully the 
 philosophical studies which his public avocations 
 had in some measure interrupted, and among his 
 scientific papers and letters we find many which 
 bear date about this period. His visits to remarkable 
 places, and his communications with the ingenious 
 and the curious, afforded him hints for many inter 
 esting experiments. Those who remarked phenom 
 ena referred them to him for solution, and those who 
 performed experiments detailed to him the processes 
 and their results. He never failed to repeat the ob 
 servations and experiments thus described to him, 
 whenever practicable, and it was seldom, indeed, 
 the case that his investigations did not produce new 
 light upon every subject which he undertook. One 
 can not too much admire the candor with which he 
 acknowledges the labor of others, and the acknowl 
 edgments he makes where their discoveries or ex 
 periments have corrected his errors, or removed the 
 wrong impressions of education or of opinions adopt 
 ed at second hand. 
 
 During the summer of 1761 he visited the Con 
 tinent of Europe ; and of this excursion, though we 
 have no incidents recorded, we perceive in his cor 
 respondence the effects, in many curious reasonings, 
 based upon common things, which millions before 
 
310 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 his time and since have observed without perceiv 
 ing. The effect of the shallowness of water in a 
 canal in Holland, in retarding the progress of the 
 boat in which he traveled on one of his tours, gave 
 the hint for observations which he made afterward 
 on the Thames, and for experiments which he con 
 ducted with a great deal of patience and exactness. 
 This, like most of his investigations, had a practical 
 bearing, as he wished to determine the utility of tak 
 ing into consideration depth in the many projects 
 then on foot for digging canals. These experiments, 
 like many others in which Franklin interested him 
 self, may appear to us puerile, since they were un 
 dertaken to investigate facts now familiar to every 
 school-boy. But we are to remember that this very 
 circumstance, the familiarity of the truths which he 
 discovered or examined, is in great part due to his 
 labors ; and to smile at Franklin s experiments is as 
 if we were to laugh at Columbus for discovering 
 America, because any fisherman can now find his 
 way to that continent. 
 
 In April, 1762, the degree of Doctor of Laws was 
 conferred on Franklin by the University of Oxford. 
 Edinburgh paid him a like compliment. Many dis 
 tinguished men in England expressed their regrets, 
 personally or by letter, at his departure for America, 
 which took place in August, after a residence in En 
 gland of five years. Five months would probably 
 have seemed a long period to him at the beginning 
 of his mission. During his stay in England he was 
 appointed by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to re- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 311 
 
 ceive the proportion of the Parliamentary grant to 
 that colony for its expenses in the late war, amount 
 ing to thirty thousand pounds. The governor in 
 Pennsylvania opposed his appointment, and the pro 
 prietors in England labored to thwart him, but the 
 ministry gave no heed to the opposition. The mon 
 ey \vas accordingly paid to Franklin, as the agent 
 of the Assembly. He was directed to place it in the 
 Bank of England, but that institution refused to re 
 ceive it on the terms directed by the Assembly, it be 
 ing contrary to their settled rules to take charge of 
 money subject to the order of unknown persons re 
 siding in distant countries. By direction of the As 
 sembly, the sum was invested in the stocks. An 
 ill-timed resolve of the Assembly withdrew it from 
 thence at a period when the low price of public se 
 curities occasioned a serious loss. The withdrawal, 
 as well as the investment, was managed by Frank 
 lin, under instructions from the Assembly. After 
 Franklin s return to America, the House appointed 
 a committee to examine his accounts, who "found 
 the same to be just." The proprietor, Thomas Penn, 
 wrote to the governor of Pennsylvania, " I think the 
 Assembly made a very handsome allowance to Mr. 
 Franklin, though short of his expenses; but what I 
 most admire at is, that they have made an allowance 
 for his loss in the stocks, which they had no power 
 by law to do, and which ought to have been made 
 good to the public by him and those members of the 
 House that gave him directions to do it." 
 
 If it was a curious notion of the proprietor that 
 
312 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 " those members," meaning the majority of the As 
 sembly, ought to have borne the loss suffered by the 
 above transaction, there was at least some semblance 
 of equity in the opinion. But Franklin s political 
 enemies, on a subsequent occasion, endeavored to 
 throw obloquy upon him in a public and formal man 
 ner, for what it will easily be seen was no fault or 
 error of his. The trust was an arduous one, and he 
 fulfilled it to the hearty approval of his constituents. 
 That some of these very men afterward endeavored 
 to make political capital of so plain a transaction, is 
 only one of the thousands of instances in which ar 
 dent partisans forget past acts and declarations to 
 subserve a present purpose, and sacrifice truth and 
 candor in the heat of party feeling. 
 
 Besides the evidences of private friendship to 
 which we have referred, honorable testimony to the 
 estimation in which Franklin was held was given 
 in the appointment of his son, William Temple 
 Franklin, governor of New Jersey. As there was 
 nothing in the character and claims of the son to 
 call the attention of the ministry to him, this appoint 
 ment may be set down to the credit of the father. 
 If it was intended as a bribe, or to purchase compli 
 ance, it certainly was not given in pursuance of any 
 pledge or promise, implied or expressed, on the part 
 of Dr. Franklin. Thomas Penn, in a letter to Gov 
 ernor Hamilton, expressed the belief that the ap 
 pointment would make the father " more tractable," 
 as he " could not well oppose in Pennsylvania" what 
 the son was instructed to do in New Jersey. But 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 313 
 
 Dr. Franklin remained the same sturdy patriot as 
 ever. While the son became loyal in the hour of 
 difficulty between the colonies and the mother coun 
 try, his course, so far from influencing the father, 
 procured the marked rebuke of the parent in that 
 most emphatic of all acts, his last will and testa 
 ment. 
 
 Dr. Franklin sailed from England in August, 1762, 
 and arrived at Philadelphia on the first of November 
 following. He left England with much pain at part 
 ing with the friends that his long stay had endeared 
 to him. The following account of the incidents of 
 his voyage, and of his reception at home, is extract 
 ed from a letter to Lord Kames, written three years 
 afterward ; and although it anticipates the narrative 
 somewhat, we insert it, as resembling, in its easy, col 
 loquial style, the Autobiography : 
 
 " You require my history from the time I set sail 
 for America. I left England about the end of Au 
 gust, 1762, in company with ten sail of merchant 
 ships, under a convoy of a man-of-war. 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 the 
 united invasions of France and Spain. It is a fer 
 tile island, and the different heights and situations 
 among its mountains afford such temperaments of 
 air, that all the fruits of northern and southern coun 
 tries are produced there: corn, grapes, apples, peach- 
 
314 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 es, oranges, lemons, plantains, bananas, &c. Here 
 we furnished ourselves with fresh provisions, and re 
 freshments 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 west 
 ward, 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 agreeably, much more so 
 than when one goes in a single ship; for this was 
 like traveling in a moving village, with all one s 
 neighbors about one. 
 
 " On the 1st of November I arrived safe and well 
 at my own home, after an absence of near six years; 
 found my wife and daughter well, the latter 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 re 
 turn. I had been chosen yearly during my ab 
 sence to represent the city of Philadelphia in our 
 provincial Assembly, and, on my appearance in the 
 House, they voted me three thousand pounds ster 
 ling for my services in England, and their thanks, 
 delivered by the speaker. In February following 
 my son arrived with my new daughter; for, with 
 my consent and approbation, he married, soon after I 
 left England, a very agreeable West India lady, with 
 whom he is very happy. I accompanied him to his 
 government, where he met with the kindest recep- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 315 
 
 tion from the people of all ranks, and has lived with 
 them ever since in the greatest harmony. A river 
 only parts that province and ours, and his residence 
 is within seventeen miles of me, so that we frequent 
 ly see each other. 
 
 " In the spring of 1763 I set out on a tour through 
 all the northern colonies to inspect and regulate the 
 post-offices in the several provinces. In this journey 
 I spent the summer, traveled about sixteen hundred 
 miles, and did not get home till the beginning of No 
 vember. The Assembly sitting through the follow 
 ing winter, and warm disputes arising between them 
 and the governor, I became wholly engaged in pub 
 lic affairs ; for, besides my duty as an Assemblyman, 
 I had another trust to execute, that of being one of 
 the commissioners appointed by law to dispose of 
 the public money appropriated to the raising and 
 paying an army to act against the Indians and de 
 fend the frontiers. And then, in December, we had 
 two insurrections of the back inhabitants of our 
 province, by whom twenty poor Indians were mur 
 dered, that had, from the first settlement of the prov 
 ince, lived among us, under the protection of our 
 government. This gave me a good deal of employ 
 ment ; for, as the rioters threatened further mischief, 
 and their actions seemed to be approved by an ever- 
 acting party, I wrote a pamphlet entitled " A Nar 
 rative, 8$c." (which I think I sent to you) to strength 
 en the hands of our weak government, by rendering 
 the proceedings of the rioters unpopular and odious. 
 This had a good eifect ; and afterward, when a great 
 
316 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 body of them, with arms, marched toward the capital, 
 in defiance of the government, with an avowed res 
 olution to put to death one hundred and forty Indian 
 converts then under its protection, I formed an asso 
 ciation, at the governor s request, for his and their 
 defense, we having no militia. Near one thousand 
 of the citizens accordingly took arms ; Governor 
 Penn made my house for some time his headquar 
 ters, and did every thing by my advice, so that, for 
 about forty-eight hours, I was a very great man, as 
 I had been once some years before, in a time of 
 public danger. 
 
 " But the fighting face we put on, and the reason 
 ings we used with the insurgents (for I went, at the 
 request of the governor and council, with three oth 
 ers, to meet and discourse with them), having turned 
 them back and restored quiet to the city, I became a 
 less man than ever ; for I had, by this transaction, 
 made myself many enemies among the populace ; 
 and the governor (with whose family our public dis 
 putes had long placed me in an unfriendly light, and 
 the services I had lately rendered him not being of 
 the kind that make a man acceptable), thinking it a 
 favorable opportunity, joined the whole weight of 
 i he proprietary interest to get me out of the Assem 
 bly, which was accordingly effected at the last elec 
 tion by a majority of about twenty-five in four thou 
 sand voters. The House, however, when they met 
 in October, approved of the resolutions taken, while 
 I was speaker, of petitioning the crown for a change 
 of government, and requested me to return to En- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 317 
 
 glaud to prosecute that petition ; which service I 
 accordingly undertook, and embarked at the begin 
 ning of November last, being accompanied to the 
 ship, sixteen miles, by a cavalcade of three hundred 
 of my friends, who filled our sails with their good 
 wishes, and I arrived in thirty days at London. 
 
 " Here I have been ever since, engaged in that and 
 other public affairs relating to America, which are 
 like to continue some time longer upon my hands ; 
 but I promise you, that when I am quit of these, I 
 will engage in no other ; and that, as soon as I have 
 recovered the ease and leisure I hope for, the task 
 you require of me, of finishing my Art of Virtue, 
 shall be performed. In the mean time, I must request 
 you would excuse me on this consideration, that the 
 powers of the mind are possessed by different men 
 in different degrees, and that every one can not, like 
 Lord Kames, intermix literary pursuits and import 
 ant business without prejudice to either." 
 
318 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE letter of Dr. Franklin, with which our last 
 chapter concludes, covers a long period. Return 
 ing to the thread of the narrative, we shall follow in 
 detail the events which Franklin rapidly recounts, 
 and supply the lesser incidents which his letter does 
 not embrace. 
 
 His welcome home, as modestly intimated in the 
 letter, was most cordial and hearty. Indeed, the 
 various claims which he possessed upon the atten 
 tion of his fellow-citizens would not permit it to be 
 otherwise. His political friends asserted and de 
 fended their principles in honoring their champion. 
 The philosophical and literary, who courted his 
 friendship, were eager to hear what new advances 
 he had made in their favorite pursuits, and to learn 
 what discoveries and inventions he had to report, 
 after his sojourn abroad. And his personal friends, 
 and the many who follow the fashion of the hour in 
 paying court to the distinguished, swelled the con 
 course who came to offer their congratulations. To 
 a man like Franklin, by no means insensible to the 
 good opinion of his fellow-citizens, this reception 
 was highly gratifying. 
 
 During his absence in England he had retained 
 his seat in the Assembly by annual election, than 
 
LIFE OP FRANKLIN. 319 
 
 which no stronger proof of the estimate of his ser 
 vices abroad could have been given by his constitu 
 ents ; and upon the meeting of the Assembly, be 
 sides the approval of his accounts, already mention 
 ed, the thanks of the House were voted to him, as 
 well for his faithful discharge of his duty to Penn 
 sylvania in particular, as for the many and import 
 ant services rendered to America in general, during 
 his residence in Great Britain, As appears from 
 the Journal of the House, the resolve of the Legis 
 lature was carried into effect on the 31st of March, 
 1763, and the thanks of the House were given to 
 Dr. Franklin in form by the speaker. The reply 
 was brief but happy : " That he was thankful to the 
 House for the very handsome and generous allow 
 ance they had been pleased to make him for his ser 
 vices, but that the approbation of the House was, 
 in his estimation, far above every other kind of rec 
 ompense." 
 
 Dr. Franklin was now in his fifty-eighth year; 
 but the most active portion of his life in public du 
 ties remained to him. He held the office of post 
 master-general in the colonies, and undertook and 
 accomplished what was at that day a great journey. 
 He traveled in a light carriage, driven by himself, 
 through the colonies north of Philadelphia, on a tour 
 of inspection among the post-offices, journeying as 
 far as New Hampshire. The trip, with his delays 
 and detentions, occupied five months, and the dis 
 tance traveled was about sixteen hundred miles. In 
 the course of the journey he had two falls, by one 
 
320 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 of which his shoulder was dislocated ; and he was 
 afflicted, also, with a weakness and pain in the breast, 
 which compelled him to make slow progress. Ac 
 companying the wagon was a saddle-horse, on which 
 
 his daughter Sally, who was his fellow-traveler, oc 
 casionally rode. On their return, practice having 
 made her expert, she rode in this way nearly all the 
 distance from Rhode Island to Philadelphia. Dur 
 ing this journey he experienced those proofs of of 
 ficial and of private hospitality to which his public 
 character, and large circle of private friends and 
 connections opened the way. Though fully ap 
 preciating the kindness of his entertainers, he has 
 left on record a humorist s idea of the difficulties of 
 hospitality. In a letter to his sister after his return 
 to Philadelphia, he says, "I am very happy in be 
 ing at home, where I am allowed to know when I 
 have ate enough and drank enough, and sit in a 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 321 
 
 place that I like, and nobody pretends to know 
 what I feel better than myself." 
 
 At this period occurred events marking the inex 
 pediency, to use no harsher term, of letting loose 
 the savage propensities of Indians, under the pro 
 tection of white allies. The English and French, 
 who had each employed the savages in their wars 
 against each other, had now returned to peace ; but 
 the evil passions of the Indians, inflamed in a war 
 fare in which they had little other interest than ha 
 tred against all pale-faces, were not so easily to be 
 calmed by European diplomacy. They had their 
 own motives for embarking in the war motives and 
 impulses which were not removed by the declara 
 tion of peace. Nor was their pride at all consulted 
 in a treaty in which they had no share, and from 
 the conditions of which they received no advantage; 
 while, on the other hand, their fierce propensities 
 were disappointed* and the plunder and carnage in 
 which they delighted were ordered to be stayed. 
 Having had a taste of blood, they were not satisfied 
 to desist when their civilized friends cried enough ; 
 nor were they sufficient adepts in sophistry to un 
 derstand why, while on one day it was loyal and 
 proper for them to use the tomahawk, scalping-knife, 
 and brand, on the next the heroism of the red broth 
 ers became the barbarity of fierce Indians. So they 
 settled the question of casuistry in their own way, 
 by commencing a war of plunder and murder on the 
 frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania on their own 
 account. The Assembly of Pennsylvania imme- 
 
 x 
 
322 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 diately passed acts to raise money and military 
 forces, and to appoint commissioners to expend the 
 funds which were levied for the purposes of defense. 
 As the reader is ready to suppose, Franklin s pru 
 dence and integrity secured his appointment as one 
 of these commissioners. 
 
 During the winter of 1763-4, Indian difficulties 
 of a most unexpected character put all the wisdom 
 and strength of the colonial government in requisi 
 tion. The frontier settlers in Donegal, Paxton, and 
 other townships, had long been on no very friendly 
 terms with the Indians, and the alarms of the late 
 war had tended to increase this feeling of aversion. 
 It is a common characteristic offends between races, 
 that the enemies include all of the hated class in 
 their displeasure, and behind the broad line of na 
 tion, color, or class, will recognize no distinction of 
 friend or foe. The " Paxton Boys" denounced all 
 Indians as enemies, a disposition in which they were 
 not singular. In the early criminal records of Penn 
 sylvania is the account of the trial and execution of 
 a man for the murder of two Indians under these 
 circumstances: Having heard that an Indian foray 
 was apprehended, and being crazy with fright, he 
 rushed from his house and killed the first two red 
 men he met. That these men happened to be friends 
 did not help their case at all ; they were Indians, 
 and that was enough. 
 
 In a similar manner the Paxton settlers reasoned. 
 Excited by rumors of Indian hostilities, or, perhaps, 
 improving this pretext to gratify their own desire for 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 323 
 
 murder, these turbulent spirits doomed to destruction 
 a settlement of friendly Indians on the Conestoga 
 manor. These Indians were a remnant of a tribe 
 of the Six Nations, who entered into a treaty with 
 William Penn, had frequently renewed it with suc 
 cessive governors, and, while the settlements of the 
 whites hemmed them in, had still continued to live 
 in peace and friendship with their neighbors. Their 
 chief, Shehoes, was present and assisting at the sec 
 ond treaty made by the Indians of his tribe with 
 William Penn in 1701. 
 
 Upon this settlement, which had dwindled down 
 to twenty persons, an attack was made on the morn 
 ing of the 14th of December, 1763, by a party of 
 fifty-seven men, who broke into their cabins at day 
 light, and slew the defenseless tenants in their beds. 
 Only five were found at home, three women, two 
 men, one of whom was Shehoes, and a little boy. 
 These were butchered in their beds, or as they 
 sprang from them ; and the murderers, as if challeng 
 ing the deepest abhorrence of all the merciful and 
 just, scalped and mutilated the bodies of their vic 
 tims. The Indians had riot been without warning 
 
 o 
 
 of the intended attack ; but Shehoes scouted such 
 a thing as impossible. He might, he said, be in 
 peril from the Indians, who hated him for his friend 
 ship for the whites, but "the English will wrap me 
 in their watchcoat, and save me from all danger." 
 
 The immediate neighbors of these poor sufferers, 
 who had known them best, were horror-struck at 
 this fiendish act. The magistrates of Lancaster, for 
 
324 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the protection of the remainder, caused them to be 
 brought into that town, and placed for safe keeping 
 in the workhouse, a strong block building. The 
 governor issued his proclamation enjoining upon all 
 iiege subjects to make diligent search after the au 
 thors and perpetrators of the crime. But, notwith 
 standing these measures of the government, and the 
 horror expressed by the good among the people, the 
 murderers were not deterred from the completion of 
 their work. On the 27th of December, fifty of the 
 bandits, armed as before, suddenly appeared in Lan 
 caster. They forced the door of the work-house. 
 " When," says Franklin, in his account of the mas 
 sacre, " the poor wretches saw they had no protec 
 tion nigh, nor could possibly escape, and being with 
 out the least weapon for defense, they divided into 
 their little families, the children clinging to their pa 
 rents. They fell on their knees, protested their in 
 nocence, declared their love to the English, and that, 
 in their whole lives, they had never done them inju 
 ry ; and in this posture they all received the hatchet. 
 Men, women, and little children were every one in 
 humanly murdered in cold blood ! The barbarous 
 men who committed the atrocious act, in defiance 
 of government, and of all laws human and divine, 
 and to the eternal disgrace of their country and 
 color, then mounted their horses, huzzaed in tri 
 umph, as if they had gained a victory, and rode off 
 unmolested /" 
 
 The perpetrators of this cruel act all escaped le 
 gal punishment. No proceedings were ever attempt- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 325 
 
 ed against them. But Watson, in his Annals, states 
 that Mr. Wright, an aged member of the Assembly 
 from Columbia, was accustomed to say that he knew 
 and had survived nearly the whole of them ; and 
 that they generally came to untimely deaths, or 
 closed their lives in suffering and distress. Their 
 punishment was thus made to resemble that of the 
 first murderer a guilty conscience who can bear ? 
 And yet these persons had not merely apologists, but 
 defenders ; and so large a party in the province ap 
 proved these outrages, that the arm of government 
 was powerless in the effort to punish, and had quite 
 enough to do in protecting the remaining friendly 
 Christian Indians from a like destruction. 
 
 These Indians, to the number of one hundred and 
 forty, came, under the advice of their Moravian 
 teachers, to Philadelphia. They were put on Prov 
 ince Island for security, thence removed to League 
 Island, and thence, under convoy of the Royal High 
 landers, who volunteered for the service, they start 
 ed for New York, but returned to Philadelphia, and 
 were placed in the barracks, still under the protec 
 tion of the Highlanders. The troops of the prov 
 ince were posted on the frontiers. These removals 
 were not made through caprice or uncertainty, but 
 were considered necessary, as fears were entertain 
 ed from some of the excited citizens of Philadelphia, 
 who were known to favor the insurgents. Mean 
 while, those insurgents showed a determination to 
 prosecute their purposes. They advanced as far as 
 Germantown, now augmented in number to several 
 
326 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 hundreds, armed with rifles, clad in hunting-shirts, 
 and shouting and threatening in all the license which 
 association for an evil purpose confers upon the vio 
 lent, when they feel sure of impunity from their 
 own numbers, and from the sympathy or indecision 
 of those among the public who have neither courage 
 to resist nor boldness openly to countenance. 
 
 In this crisis the influence of Franklin was emi 
 nently serviceable. Under his direction a military 
 association was organized, and nearly a thousand 
 citizens, including many young members of the So 
 ciety of Friends, enrolled themselves. The bar 
 racks were further strengthened by intrenchments, 
 and the friends of order and of mercy were resolved 
 to defend to the last the poor Indians who had 
 thrown themselves upon Philadelphia for protection. 
 The insurgents, in view of these formidable prepara 
 tions, paused. Advantage was taken of their hesi 
 tation to send a committee, one of whom was Dr. 
 Franklin, to meet and confer with the rioters. As 
 they alleged that the Indians had been guilty of out 
 rages which they were in arms to avenge, it was 
 proposed to the leaders to come in and identify the 
 offenders for trial and punishment. Some of the 
 principal of the rioters accordingly visited the bar 
 racks with Dr. Franklin, but could identify none of 
 the Indians as those of whom they professed to be 
 in search. They saw, moreover, what a reception 
 was in preparation for them if they persisted, and, 
 affecting to be satisfied that those they sought were 
 not among the Indians in the barracks, returned to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 327 
 
 their companions, and the formidable danger passed 
 over, the insurgents departing for their homes. 
 
 The address of Dr. Franklin, remarkable in the 
 mode in which he managed this conference, is no 
 less observable in a " Narrative" which he drew up 
 "of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County, by 
 persons unknoivn" Through the whole paper, though 
 the murders are described with most simple yet touch 
 ing pathos, and though the unknown murderers are 
 denounced with righteous indignation, there is a 
 careful avoidance of any thing like an attempt to fix 
 the crime on particular persons. To answer such 
 an appeal was to identify the answerer with the 
 murderers in feeling ; to take umbrage at it was to 
 confess participation. This pamphlet is further re 
 markable for its indignant expostulations, rising often 
 into elevated and eloquent language, being more like 
 a popular harangue than was Franklin s wont. But 
 it bears, notwithstanding, all the impress of his mind 
 in its cairn reasoning, perspicuous statement of facts, 
 and judicious citation of instances and examples. 
 
 The insurgent party memorialized the governor 
 in behalf of the frontier settlers. In this address was 
 displayed much talent and ingenuity ; and the dis 
 tresses which the frontiers had suffered from the In 
 dians, the instances of whole defenseless families 
 murdered by them, and other tragic events and par 
 ticulars, were displayed to enlist the popular feeling, 
 while professing to address the government. An 
 other memorial from fifteen hundred persons, not 
 identified so closely as the others with the rioters, 
 
328 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 was sent to the Assembly. The press teemed with 
 publications defending the conduct of the Paxton 
 Boys ; and the Bible even was wrested to make the 
 course they had taken appear laudable rather than 
 reprehensible. The Indians were classed as hea 
 then, and the command to the children of Israel to 
 destroy the idolaters in Canaan was cited as bind 
 ing upon the colonists in America. Thirty years 
 before, certain frontier settlers had attempted by force 
 to dispossess the Indians of lands which had been 
 guaranteed to them by treaty, alleging, as stated by 
 James Logan (quoted by Watson), "that it was 
 against the laws of God and nature that so much 
 land should be idle while so many Christians want 
 ed it to labor on." With envy and covetousness for 
 interpreters, the unlearned and unstable do indeed 
 " wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction." 
 
 In no part of his life did Franklin rise so superior 
 to his habitual deference to expediency, and in none 
 did he show more moral courage and firmness than 
 at this crisis. The fact that the government found 
 itself too weak to prosecute this heinous offense, and 
 that thus the factious were allowed a virtual triumph, 
 is evidence sufficient of the strength of the faction 
 which Franklin so boldly opposed. But, as men 
 tioned in his letter to Lord Kames, a stronger pop 
 ular rebuke was in preparation for him, to be follow 
 ed, however, by a signal triumph. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 329 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE necessary preparations for defense against 
 the Indians had not been carried in the Assembly 
 without a revival of the old disputes between the 
 proprietaries and the representatives of the people. 
 A militia bill had been lost because the governor 
 would not sign it without amendments giving him the 
 sole appointment of officers, trebling the fines, and 
 making all offenses punishable by sentence of courts 
 martial, thus putting almost absolute power into the 
 hands of the proprietary governor. In its original 
 features the bill conceded quite enough to that func 
 tionary ; in its amended shape it was intolerable. 
 Franklin was conspicuous in his opposition in the 
 House, and appeared, also, before the public with 
 one of his plain and convincing papers upon the sub 
 ject. The act providing for the raising of money 
 to defend the colony had been passed only by a sac 
 rifice of the principle which Franklin had so suc 
 cessfully defended in England, to wit, that the es 
 tates of the proprietaries should be liable to the same 
 taxation with other property. Governor John Penn 
 gave his own construction to the following clause of 
 the decision of the king in council : " The located 
 uncultivated lands of the proprietaries shall not be 
 assessed higher than the lowest rate at which any 
 located uncultivated lands belonging to the inhabi- 
 
330 LIFE OF FRANKLIiN. 
 
 tants shall be assessed." Governor Perm determin 
 ed this to mean that the best land of the proprieta 
 ries should not be taxed higher than the poorest be 
 longing to the people. The Assembly, on the other 
 hand, contended that the decision meant that the 
 proprietaries land should be taxed no higher than 
 the lowest rate at which land of the same quality 
 belonging to the people was assessed. Meanwhile 
 the emergency was pressing. The Indians were in 
 vading the borders ; the public mind was in the high 
 est state of excitement and exasperation ; and the 
 Assembly was compelled to yield to the ungenerous 
 advantage which Governor Penn took of the public 
 danger. The act was passed, with the objectiona 
 ble feature of discrimination between the Penn do 
 mains and the property of the citizens. 
 
 But the patience of the Assembly was exhausted. 
 They passed a series of resolutions detailing their 
 difficulties with the " proprietors deputy, or govern 
 or," as Franklin liked to term that officer, and ex 
 pressing their belief that harmony could not be re 
 stored until the government of the province was 
 vested directly in the crown. Not caring hastily to 
 assume the responsibility of such an act as a petition 
 to the crown, praying the desired change, they ad 
 journed for the purpose of advising with their con 
 stituents. After seven weeks recess, they reassem 
 bled, on the 14th of May, 1764, and brought with 
 them petitions signed by three thousand of their fel 
 low-citizens, praying the king to assume the govern 
 ment of the province. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 331 
 
 In the interim Franklin had not been idle. He 
 had prepared and published, in the form of a letter 
 to a friend in the country, a tract entitled " Cool 
 Thoughts on the Present Situation of Our Public 
 Affairs." In this he showed that Pennsylvania was 
 not the only colony in which there had been disputes 
 between the proprietaries and the people, but that 
 such disputes formed an unavoidable fault of the sys 
 tem ; and that the only remedy was in the proposed 
 change, not of government, but of governor ; for the 
 laws would still remain the same. "His majesty, 
 who has no views but for the good of the people, 
 will thenceforth appoint the governor, who, unshack 
 led by proprietary instructions, will be at liberty to 
 join with the Assembly in enacting wholesome laws. 
 At present, when the king requires supplies of his 
 faithful subjects, and they are willing and desirous to 
 grant them, the proprietaries intervene and say, un 
 less our private interests in other particulars are serv 
 ed, nothing shall be done! This insolent tribunitial 
 VETO has long encumbered all our public affairs, and 
 been productive of many mischiefs." If the preced 
 ing quotation seems somewhat like a warm expres 
 sion of " Cool Thoughts," the conclusion of the let 
 ter is still more pungent : " On the whole, I can not 
 but think, the more the proposal is considered of our 
 humble petition to the king to take this province un 
 der his majesty s immediate protection and govern 
 ment, the more unanimously we shall go into it. 
 We are chiefly people of three countries. British 
 spirits can no longer bear the treatment they have 
 
332 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 received, nor will they put on the chains prepared 
 for them by a fellow-subject; and the Irish and 
 Germans have felt too severely the oppressions of 
 hard-hearted landlords and arbitrary princes to wish 
 to see in the proprietaries of Pennsylvania the one 
 and the other united." 
 
 A good portion of the paper was made up of facts 
 in the history of other colonies, which had changed a 
 proprietary government for a governor appointed by 
 the crown, exhibiting the advantages which had ac 
 crued to them by such a measure. Objections were 
 ably answered, and the benefits of the proposed 
 change strongly set forth. The disadvantages un 
 der which the province labored were shown to have 
 existed from its beginning. " Pennsylvania had 
 scarce been settled twenty years when these dis 
 putes began between the first proprietor and the 
 original settlers ; they continued, with some inter 
 missions, during his whole life ; the widow took 
 them up, and continued them after his death. Her 
 sons resumed them very early, and they still subsist." 
 As a consequence of these disputes, the paper goes 
 on to say, " the people are discontented, and grow 
 turbulent ;" and the recent difficulties with the Pax- 
 ton Boys are thus alluded to : 
 
 " At present we are in a wretched situation. The 
 government, that ought to keep all in order, is it 
 self weak, and has scarce authority enough to keep 
 the common peace. Mobs assemble and kill (we 
 scarce dare say murder) numbers of innocent people 
 in cold blood, who were under the protection of the 
 
L I F i: OFF 11 A Ft K 1. 1 .\. 333 
 
 government. Proclamations are issued to bring the 
 rioters to justice. Those proclamations are treated 
 with the utmost indignity and contempt. Not a 
 magistrate dares wag a finger toward discovering 
 and apprehending the delinquents (we must not call 
 them murderers). They assemble again, and with 
 arms in their hands approach the capital. The gov 
 ernment truckles, condescends to cajole them, and 
 drops all prosecution of their crimes ; while honest 
 citizens, threatened in their lives and fortunes, flee 
 the province, as having no confidence in the public 
 protection. We are daily threatened with more of 
 these tumults ; and the government which, in its dis 
 tress, called aloud on the sober inhabitants to come 
 with arms to its assistance, now sees those who af 
 forded that assistance daily libeled, abused, and 
 menaced by its partisans for so doing; whence it 
 has little reason to expect such assistance on anoth 
 
 er occasion." 
 
 On the assembling of the House, the members, 
 after consultation with their constituents, having re 
 ceived no intimation that the measure was unaccept 
 able to the people, determined upon a petition to 
 the crown. It is here to be noted that the petition 
 offered from three thousand persons, though among 
 the evidence on which the Assembly acted, formed 
 only a portion of it. On the other side only one 
 petition was presented, and that had but forty signa 
 tures. But, though the measure was carried by a 
 large majority, it was not effected without a long 
 and earnest debate. Among the speeches on the 
 
334 LIFE OP FRANKLIN, 
 
 part of the proprietary party, that of John Dickinson 
 was the most able ; and the friends of the proprie 
 taries caused its publication in a pamphlet, with a 
 preface purporting to supply to the people what was 
 supposed to be familiar to the representatives, and 
 was therefore unnecessary in the speech, as address 
 ed to the House. This was answered on the other 
 side by the publication of the speech of Galloway, 
 a leader of the popular party, and to this speech 
 Franklin prefixed a preface. In this he skillfully 
 and adroitly answered the preface to Dickinson s 
 speech, and treated the subject with most caustic 
 irony and sarcasm ; while, as usual, his array of facts, 
 and his exposure of sophistry and misrepresentation, 
 made his production tell with the greatest effect 
 upon the public. It would occupy too much space 
 to make extracts which would at this day require 
 much collateral information to show their point ; but 
 there is one passage which we copy as pertinent to 
 our present narrative. The proprietary party had 
 prepared a petition praying that the petition of the 
 Assembly be " wholly disregarded," and, in comment 
 ing upon this document, Franklin says : 
 
 " The petition proceeds to assure his majesty 
 that this province (except from Indian savages) 
 enjoys the most perfect tranquillity Amazing! 
 What ! the most perfect tranquillity, when there 
 have been three atrocious riots within a few months ! 
 When, in two of them, horrid murders were com 
 mitted on twenty innocent persons, and, in the third, 
 no less than one hundred and forty like murders 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 335 
 
 were meditated, and declared to be intended, with as 
 many more as should be occasioned by any opposi 
 tion ! When we know that these rioters and mur 
 derers have none of them been punished, have never 
 been prosecuted, have not even been apprehended ; 
 when we are frequently told that they intend still to 
 execute their purposes as soon as the protection of the 
 king s forces is withdrawn ! Is our tranquillity more 
 perfect now than it was between the first riot and 
 the second, or between the second and the third ? 
 And why except the Indian savages, if a little inter 
 mission is to be denominated -the most perfect tran 
 quillity V for the Indians themselves have been quiet 
 lately. Almost as well might the ships in an engage 
 ment talk of the most perfect tranquillity between 
 two broadsides. But a spirit of riot and bloodshed 
 is foreign to the general temper of the inhabitants. I 
 hope and believe it is ; the Assembly have said noth 
 ing to the contrary. And yet, is there not too much 
 of it 1 Are there not pamphlets continually written, 
 and daily sold in our streets, to justify and encourage 
 it 1 Are not the mad, armed mob in those writings 
 instigated to imbrue their hands in the blood of their 
 fellow-citizens, by first applauding their murder of 
 the Indians, and then representing the Assembly and 
 their friends as worse than Indians as having pri 
 vately stirred up the Indians to murder the white peo 
 ple, and armed and rewarded them for the purpose ? 
 Lies, gentlemen, villainous as ever the malice of hell 
 invented, and which, to do you justice, not one of 
 you believes, though you would have the mob be 
 lieve them." 
 
33G LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 The petition to the king, adopted by the Assem 
 bly, was drafted by Dr. Franklin, and was in the 
 words and form following: 
 
 "TO THE KING S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, IN 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 " The Petition of the Representatives of the Free 
 men of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, most 
 humbly showeth : 
 
 " That the government of this province by pro 
 prietaries has by long experience been found incon 
 venient, attended by many difficulties and obstruc 
 tions to your majesty s service, arising from the inter 
 vention of proprietary private interests in public af 
 fairs, and disputes concerning those interests. 
 
 " That the said proprietary government is weak, 
 unable to support its own authority, and maintain the 
 common internal peace of the province ; great riots 
 have lately arisen therein, armed mobs marching from 
 place to place, and committing violent outrages and 
 insults on the government with impunity, to the great 
 terror of your majesty s subjects. And these evils 
 are not likely to receive any remedy here, the con 
 tinual disputes between the proprietaries and the 
 people, and their mutual jealousies and dislikes pre 
 venting. 
 
 "We do, therefore, most humbly pray that your 
 majesty would be graciously pleased to resume the 
 government of this province, making such compen 
 sation to the proprietaries for the same as to your 
 majesty s wisdom and goodness shall appear just and 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 337 
 
 equitable, and permitting your dutiful subjects there 
 in to enjoy, under your majesty s more immediate 
 care and protection, the privileges that have been 
 granted to them by and under your royal predeces 
 sors. 
 
 " By order of the House." 
 
 When this petition was adopted, the speaker, Mr: 
 Norris, shrunk from the responsibility of signing it, 
 arid resigned his seat. In the " preface" before quot 
 ed, Franklin thus speaks of this event: " I mention it 
 for the comfort of old sinners, that in politics, as well 
 as in religion, repentance and amendment, though 
 late, shall obtain forgiveness and procure favor. Wit 
 ness the late speaker, Mr. Norris ; a steady and con 
 stant opposer of all the proprietary encroachments, 
 and whom, for thirty years past, they have been con 
 tinually abusing, allowing him no one virtue or good 
 quality whatsoever; and now, as he showed some un 
 willingness to engage in this present application to the 
 crown, he is become all at once the faithful serv 
 ant ! " In place of Mr. Norris, Franklin was elect 
 ed speaker, and as such signed the petition, \nsjirst 
 official act in that capacity. Mr. Dickinson was an 
 other who had opposed the proprietary measures, 
 though he acted with that party in the matter of op 
 posing the petition. Franklin cites his case as en 
 couragement for young sinners. " Though long hat 
 ed by some, and disregarded by others of the propri 
 etary faction, he is at once, for the same reason as 
 in Mr. Norris s case, become a sage in the law, and 
 
338 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 an oracle in matters relating to our Constitution. I 
 would only advise him carefully to preserve these 
 the panegyrics with which they have adorned him ; 
 in time they may serve to console him by balancing 
 the calumny they shall load him with, when he does 
 not go through with them in all their measures." 
 
 The majority in the Assembly were not disposed 
 to proceed without circumspection. One of the ar 
 guments against the proposed change of the govern 
 ment of the province was, that in surrendering the 
 proprietary charter, they would forfeit the peculiar 
 privileges which Penn conferred, and put it in the 
 power of the ministry, in refraining the government 
 to abridge their freedom. Their agent in London 
 was therefore vested with discretionary powers, and 
 instructed so to proceed as not to put the privileges 
 of the colonists in jeopardy, delaying the presenta 
 tion of the petition, should such delay seem expedi 
 ent, until he received further instructions from the 
 Assembly. 
 
 In the next session of the Assembly came up the 
 important subject of the stamp duties. The Assem 
 bly of Pennsylvania, like the other legislative bodies 
 in the colonies, and in common with the universal 
 sentiment of the thinking portion of the American 
 people, saw in the proposal of the British ministry to 
 raise revenue in such a mode, the assertion of a prin 
 ciple the maintenance of which would " deprive the 
 people of their most essential rights as British sub 
 jects." We shall have occasion, in recording Frank 
 lin s examination before the House of Commons, to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 339 
 
 state the grounds upon which he, with other Amer 
 ican patriots whom he most ably represented, oppos 
 ed this encroachment. The agent of Pennsylvania 
 in England was instructed to remonstrate ; and sign 
 ing these instructions as speaker was the last act of 
 Dr. Franklin in that capacity. It is somewhat re 
 markable that his first act and his last as speaker of 
 the House should thus have been connected with 
 matters of so much public moment and interest. 
 
 It is too often the case, in events which depend 
 upon the verdict of men, under all forms of govern 
 ment, and whether that verdict be rendered by many 
 or few, that a man s best acts are those by which he 
 is overthrown and supplanted. In the election of 
 members to tjie Legislature in 1764, the proprietary 
 party strained every nerve to defeat Dr. Franklin, 
 and succeeded. But it was by the scanty majority 
 of about twenty-five votes in four thousand. Simply 
 as the opponent of proprietary measures, he could 
 not probably have been defeated ; but his movements 
 relative to the Paxton riots, and the unreserved man 
 ner in which he spoke of the turbulent party, speci 
 mens of which we have given, were adroitly made to 
 turn against him. Whoever has lived through, of 
 witnessed a popular excitement, in which the heat 
 of passion has led to the commission of wrong and 
 of error, has noticed that whatever restitution may 
 be afterward made to the bold champion of right and 
 of justice, he is often made to suffer for his freedom, 
 even by the indifference, if not the declared opposi 
 tion, of those who can not but commend his course 
 
340 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 in the abstract. So it fared with Franklin ; but, al 
 though the proprietaries managed, by the aid of those 
 stung with his rebukes, to defeat his election, for the 
 first time in fourteen years, it was a defeat which 
 preluded his most brilliant successes, and introduced 
 him into a wider sphere of action and broader field 
 of usefulness than his friends or himself had at all 
 dreamed of or imagined possible, inasmuch as his fu 
 ture acts depended upon events then entirely unan 
 ticipated. It was found, upon the meeting of the 
 Assembly, that after all the strenuous effort which 
 had been made by the proprietary party, full two 
 thirds approved of the measures of the late Assembly. 
 As a rebuke to those who had opposed Franklin, no 
 less than as an endorsement of the policy of their 
 predecessors, the Assembly appointed the rejected 
 candidate a special agent to proceed to Great Brit 
 ain, and there take in charge the petition of the Leg 
 islature and such other affairs of the province as re 
 quired the services of an agent. 
 
 Though Franklin was appointed by a large ma 
 jority the agent of Pennsylvania in England, the 
 opponents of the measure did not suffer the vote to 
 pass without ardent opposition. Mr. Sparks, in a 
 note to the Writings of Franklin, has preserved an 
 extract from a speech of John Dickinson, which, in 
 its terrific prophecies, now seems quite amusing. 
 " Why," said the orator, " should a majority of this 
 House single out from the whole world the man 
 most obnoxious to his country to represent his coun 
 try, though he was at the last election turned out of 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the Assembly, where he had sat for fourteen years ! 
 Why should they exert their power in the most dis 
 gusting manner, and throw pain, and terror, and dis 
 pleasure into the breasts of their fellow-citizens ? 
 Excusable indeed would be their choice if all wis 
 dom and virtue were lodged in his head and heart 
 But it is not pretended that there are not many men 
 in Great Britain qualified and willing to defend the 
 interests of Pennsylvania. Unhappy Pennsylvania ! 
 whose peace must be sacrificed to private connec 
 tions. Since the zeal of his friends will not suffer 
 them to regard her tranquillity, more worthy of the 
 trust intended him would he appear in the eyes of 
 many good men should he voluntarily decline an 
 office which he can not accept without alarming, of 
 fending, and disturbing his country." 
 
 After citing various instances from antiquity of 
 patriots who surrendered office and honor for their 
 country s good, the speaker proceeded in a strain 
 even more energetically deprecatory than before. 
 " The gentleman proposed has been called here to 
 day a great luminary of the learned world. I ac 
 knowledge his abilities. Far be it from me to de 
 tract from the merit I admire. Let him still shine, 
 but without wrapping his country in flames. Let 
 him, from a private station, from a smaller sphere," 
 diffuse, as I think he may, a beneficial light ; but let 
 him not be made to move and blaze like a comet, to 
 terrify and to distress." 
 
 The force of hyperbole certainly could no further 
 go than this. As the orator and his subject after- 
 
342 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ward, in times of peril, acted together, and as their 
 friendship does not appear to have been broken by 
 these temporary political jarrings, we may imagine 
 them making quite merry over these terrible vatici 
 nations and " chimeras dire." But his opponents did 
 not stop at speeches. They prepared a protest 
 against the appointment ; but the House refused to 
 receive it, pronouncing it unparliamentary. Among 
 the charges in this document was one relative to the 
 application of certain moneys, which we have al 
 ready spoken of in another connection. Franklin 
 answered the protest as he was on the point of sail 
 ing ; and the publication of his enemies gave him an 
 opportunity thus to write an able vindication of him 
 self, to make a graceful farewell to his friends, to 
 give the proprietary party another severe review, and 
 to -allude again in strong terms to the proceedings 
 of the rioters, to whom he seemed disposed to give 
 no quarter. 
 
 Whatever opposition to Franklin patriots were 
 led into by the doubtful circumstances of the times, 
 all was removed by the events of his sojourn in En 
 gland. Dr. William Smith, the provost of the Phil 
 adelphia College, some years after wrote : " Under 
 whatever circumstances this second mission was un 
 dertaken, it appears to have been a measure preor 
 dained of Heaven ; and it will be forever remem 
 bered to the honor of Pennsylvania, that the agent 
 selected to assert and defend the rights of a single 
 province at the court of Great Britain, became the 
 bold assertor of the rights of America in general, and, 
 
LIFE OF F 11 A IS K 1. 1 N. 
 
 343 
 
 beholding the fetters that were forging for her, con 
 ceived the magnanimous thought of rending them 
 asunder before they could be riveted." 
 
 On the 7th of November, in less than a fortnight 
 after his appointment, Franklin embarked at Chester 
 
 for England. A cavalcade of three hundred of his 
 friends attended him to that place, where a most af 
 fectionate leave was taken of him. The expenses 
 of his agency the merchants of Philadelphia sub 
 scribed, as a loan, to be reimbursed by the next As 
 sembly ; and all the efforts which had been made to 
 oppose and to injure, served but to give his departure 
 the air of a triumph, and to assure him of the una 
 bated confidence of those who knew him best, and 
 of all people except those in the interest of the pro 
 prietaries, or in sympathy from mistaken views with 
 the malcontents. 
 
344 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE attachment of Benjamin Franklin to his fam 
 ily and friends, and the efforts he continually made 
 to serve them, by imparting advice, the result of his 
 experience, often appears in his correspondence. A 
 letter, written to his daughter on the eve of his de 
 parture for England, though often quoted, and, per 
 haps, already familiar to our readers, deserves a place 
 here, not only on account of its intrinsic value as ad 
 vice, applicable now as then, but as displaying the ap 
 prehensions which he felt lest the misrepresentations 
 of his enemies should wound the feelings of his fam 
 ily. In his letters to his wife we observe similar ev 
 idences of the extreme sensitiveness of Franklin in 
 this respect. In a letter to Mrs. Franklin, he says : 
 " I am concerned that so much trouble should be 
 given you by idle reports concerning me. Be satis 
 fied, my dear, that while I retain my senses, and God 
 vouchsafes me his protection, I shall do nothing un 
 worthy the character of an honest man, and one wlio 
 loves his family" In another letter, sealed with a 
 device representing a dove standing on a coiled ser 
 pent, with the motto Innocence surmont tout, 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 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 345 
 
 you, with a cheerful heart. I am glad these pam 
 phlets give you so little concern. I make no other 
 answer to them at present than what appears on the 
 seal of this letter." These extracts offer a much bet 
 ter key to the real sensitiveness of Franklin than the 
 tone taken in letters to his associates, out of his own 
 household, on the same subject. He writes to an 
 old member of the " Junto :" " I find that expressions 
 of steady, continued friendship, such as are contain 
 ed in your letter, though but from one or a few honest 
 and sensible men, who have long known us, afford a 
 satisfaction that far outweighs the clamorous abuse 
 of a thousand knaves and fools. While I enjoy the 
 share that I have so long had in the esteem of my 
 old friends, the bird-and-beast people you mention 
 may peck, and snarl, and bark at me as much as they 
 think proper. There is only some danger that I 
 should grow too vain on their disapprobation." In 
 this extract there is an evidently assumed tone of 
 bravado, which does not conceal the soreness which 
 every upright man must feel at abuse, however much 
 he may affect to disregard it, and however near he 
 may come to persuading even himself that he is in 
 different to what is said of him. The letter to his 
 daughter above referred to is as follows : 
 
 " My dear child, the natural prudence and good 
 ness of heart God has blessed you with make it less 
 necessary for me to be particular in giving you ad 
 vice. I shall, therefore, only say, that the more at 
 tentively dutiful and tender you are toward your 
 
346 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 good mamma, the more you will recommend yourself 
 to me. But why should I mention ?ne, when you 
 have so much higher a promise in the command 
 ments, that such conduct will recommend you to the 
 favor of God ? You know I have many enemies, all, 
 indeed, on the public account (for I can not recollect 
 that I have in a private capacity given just cause of 
 offense to any one whatever), yet they are enemies, 
 and very bitter ones ; and you must expect their en 
 mity will extend in some degree to you, so that your 
 slightest indiscretions will be magnified into crimes, 
 in order the more sensibly to wound and ajfflict me. 
 It is, therefore, the more necessary for you to be ex 
 tremely circumspect in all your behavior, that no ad 
 vantage may be given to their malevolence. 
 
 " Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The 
 act of devotion in the Common Prayer Book is your 
 principal business there, and, if properly attended to, 
 will do more toward amending your heart than ser 
 mons generally can do ; for they were composed 
 by men of much greater piety and wisdom than our 
 common composers of sermons can pretend to be ; 
 and, therefore, I wish you would never miss the pray 
 er days ; yet I do not mean you should despise ser 
 mons, even of the preachers you dislike, for the dis 
 course is often much better than the man, as sweet 
 and clear waters come through very dirty earth. I 
 am the more particular on this head, as you seemed 
 to express, a little before I came away, some inclina 
 tion to leave our Church, which I would not have 
 you do. 
 
LIFE OF FRAN 
 
 KL?N. 347 
 
 " For the rest, I would only recommend to you, in 
 my absence, to acquire those useful accomplishments, 
 arithmetic and book-keeping. This you might do 
 with ease if you would resolve not to see company 
 on the hours you set apart for those studies. 
 
 " We expect to be at sea to-morrow, if this wind 
 holds, after which I shall have no opportunity of 
 writing to you till I arrive (if it please God I do ar 
 rive) in England. I pray that his blessing may at 
 tend you, which is worth more than a thousand of 
 mine, though they are never wanting. Give my love 
 to your brother and sister, as I can not write to them, 
 and remember me affectionately to the young ladies 
 your friends, and to our good neighbors. I am, my 
 dear child, your affectionate father, 
 
 " B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 " Our church," referred to in the foregoing letter, 
 
 O O 
 
 probably referred to Christ Church, of the vestry of 
 which Franklin was for some time a member. In 
 connection with this fact, an anecdote is related, 
 which is in perfect keeping with the character of the 
 doctor for sagacity. The project of the erection of 
 another church edifice in the city was in agitation, 
 and there were some members of the vestry who 
 conscientiously opposed it, in the fear that the divis 
 ion of the congregation would too much weaken the 
 old church. But Franklin defended the new enter 
 prise ; and, to show that no permanent diminution, 
 but rather a solid increase, was to be expected from 
 the measure, quoted the habit of the bees, of swarm- 
 
348 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing, by which, he said, the comfort and prosperity 
 of the old hive was increased, and a new and flour 
 
 ishing colony established, to keep the parent stock 
 in countenance. 
 
 Franklin reached Portsmouth on the 9th of De 
 cember, 1764, the passage being made in thirty days 
 from land to land. He wrote to his wife, advising 
 her of his safe arrival, before leaving the vessel ; and 
 on the next evening was at his old quarters in the 
 Strand, where his appearance in her parlor was no 
 small astonishment to his old friend, Mrs. Stevenson. 
 The news of his safe arrival, when received in Phil 
 adelphia, was made the occasion of an impromptu 
 rejoicing. The bells were rung, and his personal 
 and political friends met to exchange congratulations, 
 and celebrate, in festivity, an event which would 
 certainly not have received so much honor had it 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 349 
 
 not been for the efforts which Franklin s enemies 
 had made to destroy him. 
 
 The business of his mission, the presentation and 
 defense of the petition for a change of government, 
 received Franklin s early attention. He labored in 
 the premises with such success, that there seemed 
 little doubt of the final accomplishment of a change 
 which was quite as agreeable to the crown and min 
 istry as to the people of Pennsylvania, inasmuch as 
 it promised to remove a source of continual trouble 
 and perplexity in the administration of the affairs of 
 the colony, and to enlarge the authority of the crown, 
 while it simplified the operations of government. 
 But the increasing difficulties in the American colo 
 nies, arising from the passage of the Stamp Act, and 
 other measures of a kindred tendency, which were 
 discussed or attempted, withdrew attention from the 
 affairs of Pennsylvania and its proprietaries. The 
 province which Franklin represented came to be 
 considered as one only of a league of rebellious colo 
 nies. The business in which he acted had more 
 than the local interest of a single province, and he 
 was, in fact, the representative and agent of the 
 whole, long before he became so in form. 
 
 Among the subjects in which Pennsylvania had 
 a common interest with the other colonies, was the 
 legislation of the British Parliament upon the sub 
 ject of emissions of paper money in the colonies. 
 The British merchants, finding a difficulty in the 
 collection of their debts in the provinces, ascribed as 
 the cause, or as one cause, the depreciation of the 
 
350 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 local currencies, and procured the passage of an act 
 restraining the issue of paper in the colonies, coup 
 led with a clause making it a legal tender. Dr. 
 Franklin was charged with a petition from the As 
 sembly praying a repeal of this act All was in a 
 fair way of success, when he found it necessary and 
 prudent to hesitate. In the discussion of the sub 
 ject, the mode of issuing paper in Pennsylvania had 
 come before the ministry, and upon the hints afford 
 ed by Pennsylvania financiering, a scheme was con 
 cocted much more obnoxious than the " Restraining 
 Act." The new plan involved the principles of the 
 Stamp Act, and, in effect, asserted the right of Par 
 liament to tax the unrepresented colonies. In Penn 
 sylvania, the custom of issuing money had been as 
 follows : It was made redeemable in a stated num 
 ber of years, usually ten. When issued, it was loan 
 ed, bearing interest, to individuals, upon sufficient se 
 curity, and repaid to the government in instalments, 
 so that, at the end of the term the whole sum was 
 paid up. The community had thus the benefit of 
 the circulation ; the money was kept at par, or near 
 ly so ; and the colony derived an income from the 
 interest on the issues. 
 
 The plan of the ministry in England was to is 
 sue paper money for the colonies on the credit of 
 the British government, and send it to America to 
 be loaned in the same manner that the government 
 of Pennsylvania had done, thus drawing from the 
 colonies a tax in the shape of the interest, which 
 would, of course, be paid into the British treasury. In 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN, 351 
 
 view of these consequences, Franklin deemed it ad 
 visable to forbear the pressing of the petition for the 
 Restraining Act. 
 
 Franklin found, on this visit to England, the nation 
 more busy with the affairs of America than ever. 
 No topics of such paramount European importance 
 as on his first visit engaged the public mind. He 
 complains that he could not understand Parliament- 
 ary prerogative. The royal prerogative was more 
 intelligible, inasmuch as by birth subjects admitted 
 allegiance to the king; but as the power of Parlia 
 ment is based on representation, it was difficult to 
 understand the precise claims of that body over un 
 represented colonies. He complained, also, in a let 
 ter to Lord Kames, of the disposition of the people. 
 " Every man in England," he says, " seems to con 
 sider himself as a piece of a sovereign over America; 
 seems to jostle himself into the throne with the king, 
 and talks of our subjects in the colonies." The news 
 papers were full of speculations and reports relative 
 to America, particularly as financial and business 
 matters produced no small share of the discussion. 
 Franklin all his life, both from the natural activity 
 of his mind, and from early association with the 
 press, kept his eye on its issues. As he never forgot 
 his capacity to write, or, as he says in his biography, 
 the advantages of" having learned a little to scribble," 
 he made numberless contributions to the journals, 
 which are now lost. He was indefatigable. The 
 following is an extract from a paper written for a 
 London publication, and transcribed from the origi- 
 
352 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 nal draft in Sparks s Collection of Franklin s Works. 
 The object needs no explanation, as the palpable 
 aim of the writer is to ridicule newspaper " We hears" 
 and on dits. 
 
 " The very tails of the American sheep are so la 
 den with wool, that each has a car or wagon, on four 
 little wheels, to support and keep it from trailing on 
 the ground. Would they calk their ships, would 
 they even litter their horses with wool, if it were not 
 both plenty and cheap 1 And what signifies the 
 dearness of labor, where an English shilling passes 
 for five- and- twenty ? Their engaging three hun 
 dred silk throwsters here in one week for New York 
 was treated as a fable, because, forsooth, they have 
 no silk there to throw/ Those who make this 
 objection, perhaps, do not know that, at the same 
 time, the agents from-. the King of Spain were at Que 
 bec to contract for one thousand pieces of cannon to 
 be made there for the fortification of Mexico, and at 
 New York engaging the usual supply of woolen floor- 
 carpets for their West India houses ; other agents 
 from the Emperor of China were at Boston, treating 
 about an exchange of raw silk for wool, to be carried 
 in Chinese junks through the Straits of Magellan. 
 
 " And yet all this is as certainly true as the account, 
 said to be from Quebec, in all the papers of last week, 
 * that the inhabitants of Canada are making prep 
 arations for a cod and whale fishery this summer 
 upon the Upper Lakes/ Ignorant people may ob 
 ject that the Upper Lakes are fresh, and that cod 
 and whales are salt water fish ; but let them know, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 353 
 
 sir, that cod, like other fish, when attacked by their 
 enemies, fly into any water where they can be safest; 
 that whales, when they have a mind to eat cod, 
 pursue them wherever they fly ; and that the grand 
 leap of the whale, in the chase up the Falls of Niag 
 ara, is esteemed, by all who have seen it, as one of the 
 finest spectacles in nature. Really, sir, the world is 
 grown too incredulous. It is like the pendulum, ever 
 swinging from one extreme to another. Formerly, 
 every thing printed was believed, because it was in 
 print. Now, things seem to be disbelieved for just 
 the same reason. Wise men wonder at the present 
 growth of infidelity. They should have considered, 
 when they taught people to doubt the authority of 
 newspapers, and the truth of predictions in the al 
 manacs, that the next step might be a disbelief of 
 the well-vouched accounts of ghosts and witches. 
 
 " Thus much I thought it necessary to say in fa 
 vor of an honest set of writers, whose comfortable 
 living depends on collecting and supplying the print 
 ers with news at the small price of sixpence an ar 
 ticle, and who always show their regard to truth by 
 contradicting, in a subsequent article, such as are 
 wrong for another sixpence to the great satisfac 
 tion and improvement of us coffee-house students in 
 history and politics, and all future Livys, Rapins, 
 Robertsons, Humes, and Macauleys who may be 
 sincerely inclined to furnish the world with that rara 
 avis, a true history." 
 
 On the 22d of March, 1765, the famous Stamp 
 
 Act was passed, notwithstanding the earnest remon- 
 
 z 
 
354 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 strances of the colonists by petition and address. 
 Dr. Franklin, as will readily be inferred from his pa 
 triotic character and from his indefatigable industry, 
 used every means in his power to oppose it. But, 
 to quote his own words, " The tide was too strong 
 against us. The nation was provoked by American 
 claims to independence, and all parties joined by re 
 solving in this act to settle the point We might as 
 well have hindered the sun s setting." The reader 
 need scarce be reminded that the " claims to inde 
 pendence" referred to in the above extract meant 
 independence of taxation by Parliament, in which 
 body the colonies were unrepresented ; and the peo 
 ple, in the spirit of which Franklin speaks in anoth 
 er letter, were unwilling that "our subjects in the 
 colonies" should enjoy what appeared to their prej 
 udiced eyes an immunity over subjects in the moth 
 er country. Joseph Galloway, before mentioned in 
 this biography as one of the leaders of the popular 
 party against the proprietaries, and who was speaker 
 of the Assembly from 1763 to 1774, when he was 
 delegated a member of the General Congress, writes 
 to Franklin in January, 1776, nearly three months 
 after the day on which the obnoxious act was to 
 have gone into effect, "A. certain sect of people, if 
 I may judge from all their late conduct, seem to look 
 on this as a favorable opportunity of establishing 
 their republican principles, and of throwing off all 
 connection with the mother country. Many of their 
 publications justify the thought. Besides, I have 
 other reasons to think that they are not only form- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 355 
 
 mg a private union among themselves, from one 
 end of the Continent to the other, but endeavoring, 
 also, to bring into their union the QuaKers, and a!! 
 other dissenters, if possible. But I hope this will 
 be impossible. In Pennsylvania I am confident it 
 will" 
 
 The phrase " American claims of independence/ 
 in Franklin s letter, has been so misquoted by high 
 authority, that we have referred to Galloway s letter 
 as among the strongest evidences that, at this time 
 (1765), the idea of separation from the mother coun 
 try had not yet assumed a definite shape with any 
 party, if it was entertained at all. Galloway refers 
 to the Stamp Act as the occasion of it ; and that ob 
 noxious act, and the consequences which followed, 
 undoubtedly led to the separation. Indeed, one of 
 the most able and violent pamphleteers against Amer 
 ica, Dean Tucker, held up the idea of separation in 
 intimidation over the colonies. His plan was " to 
 separate totally from the colonies, and to reject them 
 from being fellow-members and joint partakers with 
 us in the privileges and advantages of the British 
 Empire, because they refuse to submit to the author 
 ity and jurisdiction of the British Legislature/ Such 
 a proposed punishment as this would hardly be 
 threatened to a people whose "claims to independ 
 ence" embraced the very thing threatened as a pun 
 ishment. So much for testimony upon both sides 
 of the water. In regard to Galloway, his ulterior 
 course, for in 1776 he deserted the American cause 
 and became an avowed Loyalist, proves that in the 
 
356 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 measures he supported previous to the Congress of 
 1774, he saw no " claims to independence." 
 
 It was charged against Franklin by his political 
 enemies that he " approved the passage of the Stamp 
 Act." This was contradicted by his friends, as well 
 as by his own course at the time ; and at this day it 
 would be an act of supererogation seriously to notice 
 the charge. One of the alleged circumstances on 
 which it was made to rest was, that he solicited the 
 office of stamp distributor, if not for himself, for a 
 friend; and in the pamphlets of Dean Tucker this 
 charge was endorsed, though afterward very ungra 
 ciously, in an evasive manner referred to by the au 
 thor, in a contradiction which almost repeated the 
 charge. Of the foundation of this rumor we can not 
 give a better account than in the doctor s own lan 
 guage, addressed to the dean : 
 
 " Some days after the Stamp Act was passed, to 
 which I had given all the opposition I could, with 
 Mr. Grenville, I received a note from Mr. Whately, 
 his secretary, desiring to see me the next morning. 
 I waited upon him accordingly, and found with him 
 several other colony agents. He acquainted us that 
 Mr. Grenville was desirous to make the execution 
 of the act as little inconvenient and disagreeable to 
 America as possible, and therefore did not think of 
 sending stamp officers from this country, but wished 
 to have discreet and reputable persons appointed in 
 each province from among the inhabitants, such as 
 would be acceptable to them ; for, as they were to 
 pay the tax, he thought strangers should not have 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 357 
 
 the emolument. Mr. Whately therefore wished us to 
 name for our respective colonies, informing us that 
 Mr. Grenville would be obliged to us for pointing out 
 to him honest and responsible men, and would pay 
 great regard to our nominations. By this plausible 
 and apparently candid declaration, we were drawn 
 in to nominate ; and I named for our province Mr. 
 Hughes, saying, at the same time, that I knew not 
 whether he would accept of it, but if he did, I was 
 sure he would execute the office faithfully. I soon 
 after had notice of his appointment. We none of 
 us, I believe, foresaw or imagined that this compli 
 ance with the request of the minister would or could 
 have been called an application of ours, and adduced 
 as a proof of our approbation of the act we had been 
 opposing, otherwise I think few of us would have 
 named at all ; I am sure I should not." 
 
358 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE day on which the Stamp Act was to have 
 gone into effect in America had passed, and the 
 measure, by the resistance of the people, had hecome 
 entirely inoperative. Every officer appointed for the 
 colonies under the act was compelled to resign his 
 commission, and publicly to renounce his trust. Nu 
 merous acts of violence occurred in the provinces ; 
 none, however, attended with any sanguinary or fe 
 rocious conduct ; and in many of the legendary nar 
 ratives of the doings of the resistants against the ob 
 noxious measure, we find evidences of a disposition 
 for rude humor and burlesque. Threats were in most 
 cases sufficient to answer the purpose of the men 
 who desired not to injure individuals, but to defeat 
 what they considered a tyrannical and unconstitu 
 tional measure. And if it was most unwelcome dis 
 cipline to a loyal office-holder to be compelled to sign 
 a recantation of his acceptance at the foot of a rebel 
 liberty-tree, it was, in all respects, better thus than to 
 cancel the commission by swinging the officer from 
 the branches. Tarring and feathering appear to 
 have been the most severe infliction administered in 
 the popular excitement ; and for that, occasion was 
 found only in a few desperate cases of adherence to 
 loyalty. And even then, though it must most as 
 suredly have been no pleasant predicament when 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 359 
 
 Adown the visage, stern and grave, 
 Rolled and adhered the viscid wave, 
 
 yet, as the head was left upon the shoulders, there 
 was an opportunity for reparation left which other 
 scenes of popular violence have denied. In Pennsyl 
 vania, and particularly in Philadelphia, where the 
 peaceful creed of many citizens opposed all violence, 
 their consciences seem to have been treated with 
 great respect. Even the Loyalists, active Loyalists 
 were leniently dealt with. Though tarring and feath 
 ering were in some cases threatened, the punish 
 ment usually went no further than a ride in a cart, 
 not remarkable for the elasticity of its springs, and at 
 tended with circumstances the opposite of honor or 
 of triumph. But the refreshments tendered by the 
 laughing crowd to the executioners were often shared 
 by the derelicts ; and suffering Tory and inflicting 
 Whig, on one or two of these mad frolics, quenched 
 their thirst from the same punch-bowl. It was the 
 commission, and the authority of Parliament under 
 which it was issued, that the people aimed to dishon 
 or and defeat, not the person of the office-holder that 
 they sought to injure ; and where a man took his pun 
 ishment kindly, he suffered little actual bodily injury. 
 Many were left entirely unmolested ; and, even to 
 those who were made examples of, the rebel cart was 
 preferable to the hurdle of the guillotine. The for 
 bearance of the people gave their resistance a more 
 potent moral effect. The popular movements were 
 thus shown to be, not the deeds of a few violent ruf 
 fians, whose conduct would be disavowed by the so- 
 
360 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ber and reflecting, but the pranks of men who knew 
 that public opinion sided with them in their senti 
 ments of resistance ; men who, in awe of that pub 
 lic opinion, stopped short of any deed which should 
 draw down on them the disapproval of their coun 
 trymen, or visit their cause with dishonor, or brand 
 their conduct with the character of barbarity. 
 
 No stamp officer ever executed his mission, and 
 no stamps were left in the provinces at the be 
 ginning of the year 1776 ; or if any of the hated pa 
 per remained, it was in places which had defeated 
 the most searching visits of the active resistants. 
 The law was a dead letter. Issue was made upon 
 it ; and it remained to the ministry to force, or at 
 tempt to force, it upon the people at the point of the 
 bayonet ; to permit it to stand as a memorial of de 
 feat, or to retreat from the measure with the best 
 grace that could be assumed. Between the passage 
 of the act and the time when, by its popular defeat, 
 new measures were forced upon the ministry, a 
 change had taken place. Mr. Grenville had been 
 succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham. As the 
 new ministry felt under no obligation to assume the 
 difficulties of their predecessors, they determined 
 upon the measure of advising a repeal of the obnox 
 ious act. 
 
 This proposition caused a debate of great warmth 
 As in all political questions, the point in dispute does 
 not stand simply upon its own merits, but involves 
 the animosities and the private views of partisans, 
 the friends of the late ministry were active in oppo- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 361 
 
 sition to a movement which, whatever else it might 
 establish, conveyed reproof upon the superseded 
 administration. In this stage of the business, Dr. 
 Franklin w r as called before the committee of the 
 whole House, to whom had been referred the peti 
 tions of the colonists, and other papers relating to the 
 controversy. With whom this motion originated is 
 not known ; but it would appear, from memoranda 
 left by Dr. Franklin, that the call was not unexpect 
 ed ; and, from the whole tenor of the examination, 
 it appears that his friends supported and seconded 
 it. Indeed, among the questions, as is shown by the 
 memoranda already referred to, there were a great 
 number the answers to which were understood by 
 the querists before the inquiries were made. It is, 
 therefore, more than the facts warrant to say that 
 the doctor s answers were in all cases unpremedi 
 tated. The nature and great variety of the subjects 
 which entered into the discussion, some directly and 
 others remotely bearing upon the great question, re 
 quired, as the doctor had given, great and patient 
 previous attention. He had waited upon the min 
 istry whose measure it was, and expostulated upon 
 the mischievous nature of the Stamp Act ; and un 
 questionably he was consulted by the new ministry, 
 as well as by his personal friends in Parliament. Of 
 his bearing and demeanor on the occasion of his 
 examination, too much can not be said in praise. 
 While he preserved his dignity, he astonished the 
 examiners by his promptness ; and in his calm self- 
 possession he found himself at ease for the indul- 
 
362 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 gence of an occasional gleam of humor. Bat Dr. 
 Franklin had ev 7 er a high respect for the proprieties 
 of any place in which he might be called upon to act, 
 and never sacrificed his cause by any indulgence in 
 misplaced wit or improper flippancy. An instance of 
 his caution in this respect is preserved in his private 
 notes relative to this examination, preserved by Mr. 
 Walsh in his Life of Franklin. There were among 
 the members of Parliament several gentlemen who 
 thought that the honor of Parliament might be saved 
 by retaining the act, while the opposition of the 
 Americans could at the same time be overcome by 
 amending it. Dr. Franklin had objected to this plan 
 that it would, in fact, keep up the dispute, without 
 yielding a sufficient revenue to pay for the collec 
 tion. But one of the most active of these gentlemen 
 told Franklin that he was sure the doctor could, if 
 he would, suggest some amendment which would 
 make the Americans receive the act. Dr. Franklin 
 replied that he had thought of an amendment which 
 might be made, and the rest of the act be suffered to 
 remain as it stood, and give nobody in America any 
 uneasiness. " It is," said the doctor, " a very small 
 amendment too : it is only the change of a single 
 word." " Ah," said the other ; " what is that ?" " It 
 is in the clause," replied Franklin, " where it is said 
 that from and after the first day of November, one 
 thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, there shall 
 be paid, &c. The amendment I propose is, for one 
 read two, and then all the rest of the act may stand 
 as it is." One of the friends of the repeal had heard 
 
L I F E O F F R A N K L I N. 363 
 
 of this witticism of the doctor s, and, endeavoring to 
 give him an opportunity to repeat it before the House 
 of Commons, asked him if he could not propose a 
 small amendment that would make the act palatable. 
 " But," says the doctor, " as I thought the answer he 
 wanted too light and ludicrous for the House, I 
 evaded the question." 
 
 The account of the examination was first pub 
 lished in 1767, when the rupture between the moth 
 er country and the colonies had given a historical 
 importance to the difficulties and disputes which pre 
 ceded the taking up of arms. It was translated into 
 French, and widely read throughout Europe, as the 
 contest had now assumed a world-wide importance. 
 Upon the appearance of the pamphlet, a critic in the 
 Gentleman s Magazine remarks upon it : " From 
 this examination of Dr. Franklin, the reader may 
 form a clearer and more comprehensive idea of the 
 state and disposition of America, of the expediency 
 or inexpediency of the measure in question, and of 
 the character and conduct of the minister who pro 
 posed it, than from all that has been written upon 
 the subject in newspapers and pamphlets, under the 
 title of letters, essays, speeches, and considerations, 
 from the first moment of its becoming the object of 
 public attention until now. The questions in gen 
 eral are put with great subtlety and judgment, and 
 they are answered with such deep and familiar 
 knowledge of the subject, such precision and per 
 spicuity, such temper and yet such spirit, as do the 
 highest honor to Dr. Franklin, and justify the gen 
 eral opinion of his character and abilities" 
 
364 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 With the key afforded by Dr. Franklin s mem 
 oranda, we now proceed to analyze the examina 
 tion. The first half dozen questions were asked by 
 a friend of the repeal to remove the impression that 
 the colonists paid no taxes, and that their govern 
 ments were supported by burdening the people in 
 England. The answers comprised the substance 
 of what Dr. Franklin had previously detailed to the 
 questioner, Mr. Hewitt, the member for Coventry, 
 in conversation. To his questions succeeded sev 
 eral by another friend, the answers to which were 
 intended to show the impossibility of distributing the 
 stamped paper by post to all the settlements. The 
 next three questions, asked by a friend of the preced 
 ing administration, were intended to get out of the 
 doctor the admission that the colonists were very 
 well able to pay the stamp duty. But he replied 
 that there was not specie enough in the colonies to 
 pay it for one year ; and in answer to the statement, 
 put in the form of a question, that the money raised 
 by the Stamp Act was all to be spent in America, he 
 answered that it would be spent in the conquered 
 provinces where the soldiers were, and not in the 
 colonies that paid the tax ; and that it would all find 
 its way, not into the old colonies, but directly to En 
 gland. The next question, the answers to which 
 embraced statistics about population, trade, and oth 
 er details, were asked by a friend, to show the form 
 idable opposition which existed, from various causes, 
 to the operation of the act ; and the answers put 
 these difficulties in their most important aspect. The 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 365 
 
 next few questions were asked by opponents, but 
 gave the doctor an opportunity to contradict what 
 the questioners desired to establish, viz., that the 
 Americans wished to be protected by Great Britain, 
 but were unwilling to pay any part of the expense ; 
 and that they laid the taxes in Pennsylvania un 
 equally upon the merchants, in order to discourage 
 trade with England. On the first point raised, he 
 showed that the colonies levied and disbursed sums 
 and furnished men to a much larger amount than 
 they were reimbursed or paid ; and on the second 
 point he denied that any inequality of taxation ex 
 isted, and showed that, even if it should be attempt 
 ed, the merchant, by putting a higher price on his 
 goods, would make the consumer finally pay the 
 greater part of the tax, if not the whole. In this 
 part of the examination, to the question, " Do you 
 not think that the Americans would pay the stamp 
 duty if it was moderated V he answered, "No, nev 
 er, unless compelled by force of arms." 
 
 Next follows a series of questions, forming one of 
 the most interesting portions of the examination. 
 They were asked by " Mr. Cooper and other friends, 
 with whom I had discoursed," says the doctor, " and 
 were intended to bring out such answers as they de 
 sired arid expected from me." The answers show 
 a witness any thing but unwilling or unprepared. 
 To the question, " What was the temper of Amer 
 ica toward Great Britain before the year 1763 ?" 
 the doctor answered, " The best in the world. They 
 submitted willingly to the government of the crown, 
 
366 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 and paid, in their courts, obedience to the acts oi 
 Parliament. Numerous as the people are in the 
 several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, 
 citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in sub 
 jection. They were governed by this country only 
 at the expense 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, its 
 customs, and manners, and even a fondness for its 
 fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Na 
 tives of Britain were always treated with particular 
 regard ; to be an Old-England man was of itself a 
 character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank 
 among us." "And what," pursued the questioner, 
 " is their temper now I" " Oh," replied the doctor, 
 " very much altered." 
 
 When asked, and by the same party, "In what 
 light did the people of America use to consider the 
 Parliament of Great Britain T the answer was, 
 " They considered the Parliament as the great bul 
 wark and security of their liberties and privileges, 
 and always spoke of it with the utmost respect and 
 veneration. Arbitrary ministers, they thought, might 
 possibly, at times, attempt to oppress them ; but they 
 relied on it that the Parliament, on application, 
 would always give redress. They remembered, with 
 gratitude, a strong instance of this, when a bill was 
 brought into Parliament, with a clause to make roy 
 al instructions laws in the colonies, which the House 
 of Commons would not pass, and it was thrown out." 
 "And have they not still," was the next question, 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 367 
 
 " the same respect for Parliament 1" " No ; it is 
 greatly lessened." " To what cause is that owing V 
 " To a concurrence of causes : the restraints lately 
 laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign 
 gold and silver into the colonies was prevented, the 
 prohibition of making paper money among them 
 selves, and then demanding a new and heavy tax by 
 stamps ; taking away, at the same time, trials by ju 
 ries, and refusing to receive and hear their humble 
 petitions." To the inquiry whether the colonists 
 would submit to the act if modified, the doctor an 
 swered, " No ; they will never submit to it." And 
 to the question how the Americans would receive a 
 future tax, imposed on the same principle as the 
 Stamp Act, he said, "Just as they do this; they 
 would not pay it." 
 
 To these questions followed a series, principally 
 from opponents, and designed to draw out admis 
 sions favorable to the continuance of the tax : such, 
 for instance, as the fact that the poorer class in Amer 
 ica were better able to pay the tax than the same 
 class in England. He was also closely questioned 
 upon the distinction which the Americans made be 
 tween duties to regulate commerce and internal tax 
 es ; and the post-office was more than once recur 
 red to as giving an instance in which the Americans 
 submitted to a tax without complaint. But the doc 
 tor pointed out the difference between postage, a 
 payment for service rendered, and a tax, which is a 
 payment of another nature. He was at home in the 
 diiferent statistical and other points which were pre- 
 
368 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 sented to him, and steadily, and without crossing his 
 own path, or making any contradictory admissions, 
 preserved the ground, in relation to taxation, which 
 he held in common with other American patriots. 
 [n his answers to the friends of the late ministry, he 
 was generally most courteous and dignified ; in re 
 plying to the leading questions submitted by his 
 friends, he was prompt and spirited. For instance, 
 to the question, " Can any thing less than a military 
 force carry the Stamp Act into execution ?" he re 
 plied, " I do not see how a military force can be ap 
 plied to that purpose." " Why may it not ?" " Sup 
 pose a military force sent into America, they will find 
 nobody in arms. What are they then to do ? They 
 can not force a man to take stamps who chooses to 
 do without them. They will not find a rebellion : 
 they may, indeed, make one." " If the act is not re 
 pealed, what do you think will be the consequences T 
 "A total loss of the affection and respect the people 
 of America bear to this country, and of all the com 
 merce that depends on that respect and affection/ 
 
 At this point, one of the late ministry put the ques 
 tion, " How can the commerce be affected I" To 
 this Franklin answered, " You will find that if the 
 act is not repealed, they will take very little of your 
 manufactures in a short time." In answer to other 
 questions, he proceeded to say that he thought the 
 American people could do very well without British 
 manufactures. He classed the goods received from 
 Britain as necessaries, conveniences, and superflui 
 ties. The first, he said, with a little industry they 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 369 
 
 could make at home ; the second they could do with 
 out until able to provide them among themselves; and 
 the third they would strike off immediately, as mere 
 articles of fashion, once valued because coming from 
 a respected country, now detested and rejected. In 
 answer to the question whether ill humor would in 
 duce the Americans, if the Stamp Act was continued, 
 to prefer worse manufactures of their own to better 
 British goods, the doctor gave an answer senten 
 tious as any saying of Poor Richard s, " Yes ; I think 
 so. People will pay as much to gratify one passion 
 as another, their resentment as their pride." And 
 in reply to the question if, in places where stamps 
 could be procured, people would not use them rath 
 er than remain in a situation of inability to obtain 
 any right, or recover any debt by law, the doctor 
 answered with a straight-forwardness, for himself, 
 which did him high honor. " It is hard to say what 
 they would do. I can only judge what other peo 
 ple will think and how they will act by what I feel 
 within myself. I have a great many debts due to me 
 in America, and I had rather they should remain 
 unrecoverable by any law than submit to the Stamp 
 Act. They will be debts of honor. It is my opin 
 ion that the people will either continue in that sit 
 uation, or find some way to extricate themselves ; 
 perhaps by generally agreeing to proceed in the 
 courts without stamps." 
 
 To some of the questions Franklin returned an 
 swers which in length could almost be termed 
 
 speeches ; anticipating the examiner by covering 
 
 A A 
 
370 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the whole ground, and stating all the facts relevant 
 to the inquiry. The number of questions asked 
 and answered, without demur or hesitation, was 
 nearly two hundred, some of them being overlooked 
 in the report, and not preserved. The doctor stood 
 before the House as in effect a witness for the colo 
 nies. The questions of his friends enabled him to 
 state the circumstances most important to the inter 
 ests of his constituents, while the cross-questioning 
 efforts of his opponents served only, by the answers 
 elicited, to place those circumstances in a still stron 
 ger light. The nature of the inquiries propounded 
 by many different members, each aufait, or imagin 
 ing himself so, upon some particular feature of the 
 subject, or some single bearing or aspect of the meas 
 ure, developed a knowledge and experience in the 
 witness such as, we may fairly presume, were pos 
 sessed by no other individual in the British Empire. 
 Occasionally a knotty question of polity was pre 
 sented, as, for instance, " Suppose the king should 
 require the colonies to grant a revenue, and the Par 
 liament should be against their doing it, do they 
 think they can grant a revenue to the king without 
 the consent of the Parliament of Great Britain ?" 
 Franklin answered, " That is a deep question. As 
 to my own opinion, I should think myself at liberty 
 to do it, and should do it, if I liked the occasion." 
 
 It is hardly necessary to remark that the last two 
 questions which w r ere asked, and which have been 
 more quoted than any other, were put by friends: 
 u What used to be the pride of the Americans ?" 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 37 
 
 To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of 
 Great Britain." " What is now their pride ?" " To 
 wear their old clothes over again, till they can make 
 
 new ones." 
 
 After a long and warm debate, the obnoxious act 
 was repealed. In that debate some of the members 
 did not spare the doctor, or the constituents whom 
 he represented. Mr. Nugent, who had been one of 
 the busiest of the examiners, made a violent speech, 
 the following extract from which is preserved in 
 Franklin s notes : " We have often experienced Aus 
 trian ingratitude, and jet we assisted Portugal. We 
 experienced Portuguese ingratitude, and jet we as 
 sisted America. But what is Austrian ingratitude, 
 what the ingratitude of Portugal, compared to this 
 of America ? We have fought, bled, and ruined 
 ourselves to conquer for them, and now thej come 
 and tell us to our noses, even at the bar of this 
 House, that thej were not obliged to us." In the 
 course of Franklin s examination, he had, indeed, 
 shown that the colonies had little occasion for grati 
 tude, having done more for themselves than the Brit 
 ish government did for them, and having suffered 
 more for the British Empire than thej had been 
 equited for. He showed that even in the wars 
 which had grown out of colonial questions, it was 
 the honor of the crown, or the interests of British trad 
 ers and manufacturers, and not the welfare of the old 
 and lojal colonies, which was at stake. And he ex 
 hibited, moreover, the fact that the old provinces had 
 been embroiled in war, and exposed to ravages and 
 
372 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 incursions from the Indians, by distant boundary dis 
 putes between England and France, in which, except 
 as Britons, alive to the honor of the whole nation, 
 they had no concern. He exposed the fact that of 
 the large regular force nominally employed in the 
 provinces, the greater part were in distant garrisons, 
 while the colonists themselves, with very slight as 
 sistance, bore the burden of the war. 
 
 The Stamp Act was repealed. But the eagerness 
 of debate had called out hot words, which caused 
 the measure to be shorn of much of its propitiatory 
 character. Ministers were accused of having sacri 
 ficed the dignity of the realm by giving way before 
 a rebellious spirit ; and to save appearances, the De 
 claratory Act was passed, in which was asserted the 
 right of Parliament " to bind the colonies in all cases 
 
 o 
 
 whatsoever." As this declaration was accompanied 
 by no immediate exercise of the right it affirmed, but 
 rather by a practical waiving of that right, if it ex 
 isted, in the repeal of the Stamp Act, it gave little 
 present uneasiness. But the thoughtful saw in it 
 the germ of future difficulties and unhappiness. The 
 principle which it involved either was the deliberate 
 opinion of the British government, or it was forced 
 upon that government, as a rule of conduct, by the 
 fact of having asserted it. It placed an obstacle in 
 the way of reconciliation which was never overcome, 
 and aided the rankling discontent which broke out 
 in open war when the British ministry attempted to 
 carry out the doctrine that Parliament had absolute 
 and arbitrary right of rule over the provinces. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXI, 
 
 THE bill to repeal the Stamp Act passed the Com 
 mons in February, 1766, and the Lords in March, 
 receiving the royal assent on the 18th of the same 
 month. Writing to his wife in April, Franklin says, 
 " My dear child, as the Stamp Act is at length re 
 pealed, I am willing you should have a new gown, 
 which you may suppose I did not send sooner, as I 
 knew you would not like to be finer than your neigh 
 bors, unless in a gown of your own spinning. Had 
 the trade between the two countries totally ceased, 
 it was a comfort to me to recollect that I had once 
 been clothed from head to foot in woolen and linen 
 of my wife s manufacture ; that I never was prouder 
 of any dress in my life ; and that she and her daugh 
 ter might do it again, if it was necessary. I told the 
 Parliament that it was my opinion, before the old 
 clothes of the Americans were worn out, they might 
 have new ones of their own making. I have sent 
 you a fine piece of Pompadour satin, fourteen yards, 
 cost eleven shillings a yard ; a silk negligee, and pet 
 ticoat of brocaded lutestring for my dear Sally, with 
 two dozen gloves, four bottles of lavender water, 
 and two little reels." The letter then goes on to 
 enumerate various other articles, and describes their 
 use. Among the merchandise in the inventory are 
 
374 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 mentioned "three fine cheeses." One can scarce 
 forbear a smile, at this distance of time, in think 
 ing of "Poor Richard" forwarding such a consign 
 ment as Pompadour satin, lavender, corkscrews, and 
 
 cheeses ; but the smile is inevitable when we find 
 the doctor suggesting in his letter that " perhaps a bit 
 of the cheese may be left when he comes home." 
 We have before remarked on the interest he took in 
 minute affairs about his household, as shown in his 
 letters. An extract from a letter to him from his 
 wife, written a few months previous to the above, 
 will give her testimony to his character. The con 
 clusion is exquisite. The original is in the posses 
 sion of Mr. Watson, the annalist. She is describing 
 the arrangement of their new house, erected during 
 the doctor s absence, in Franklin Court : 
 
 " In the room down stairs is the sideboard, which 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 375 
 
 is very handsome and plain, with two tables made 
 to suit it, and a dozen of chairs also. The chairs 
 are plain horse-hair, and look as well as Paduasoy, 
 and are admired by all. The little south room I 
 have papered, as the walls were very much soiled. 
 In this room is a carpet I bought cheap for its good 
 ness, and nearly new. The large carpet is in the 
 blue room. In the parlor is a Scotch carpet, which 
 has had much fault found with it. Your time-piece 
 stands in one corner, which is, as I am told, all 
 wrong; but I say we shall have all these as they 
 should be when you come home. If you could meet 
 with a Turkey carpet, I should like it; but if not, I 
 shall be very easy, for as to these things I have be 
 come quite indifferent at this time. In the north 
 room, where we sit, we have a small Scotch carpet, 
 the small book-case, brother John s picture, and one 
 of the king and queen. In the room for our friends 
 we have the Earl of Bute hung up, and a glass. 
 May I desire you to remember drinking-glasses, and 
 a large table-cloth or two ; also a pair of silver can 
 isters ! The closed doors in your room have been 
 framed for glasses, unknown to me ; I shall send you 
 an account of the panes required. I shall also send 
 the measures of the fire-places, and the piers of glass. 
 The chimneys do well, and I have baked in the 
 oven, and found it is good. The room we call yours 
 has in it a desk, the harmonica made like a desk, a 
 large chest with all the writings, the boxes of glasses 
 for music and for the electricity, and all your clothes. 
 The pictures are not put up, as I do not like to drive 
 
376 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 nails, lest they should not be right. The blue room 
 has the harmonica, the harpsichord, the gilt sconce, 
 a card-table, a set of tea-china, the worked chairs 
 and screen, a very handsome stand for the tea-ket 
 tle to stand on, and the ornamental china. The> 
 paper of this room has lost much of its bloom by 
 pasting up. The curtains are not yet made. The 
 south room is my sleeping-room with my Susannah, 
 where we have a bed without curtains, a chest of 
 drawers, a table, a glass, and old black- walnut chairs, 
 and some of our family pictures. I have taken all 
 the dead letters, and the papers that were in the gar 
 ret, with the books not taken by Billy [William T. 
 Franklin], and had them boxed and barreled up, and 
 put in the south garret, to await your return. Sally 
 has the south room, up two pair of stairs, having 
 therein a bed, bureau, table, glass, and the picture 
 a trunk and books but these you can t have any 
 notion of. * * * * * Oh, my child ! there 
 is a great odds between a man s being at home and 
 abroad : as every body is afraid they shall do wrong 
 so every thing is left undone." 
 
 Mrs. Franklin little imagined, when she was writ 
 ing this epistle, that it would be preserved as illus 
 trative of the character of her husband in his own 
 house. The fear about going wrong with the nails, 
 and the " oh dear !" in the conclusion about a present 
 or absent husband, give us an insjght into the private 
 methodical arrangements of the philosopher which 
 could not be expressed in a page of description. 
 There are, in his correspondence, minute directions 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN 377 
 
 to her about the same "blue room," which gave the 
 good housewife so much trouble with its "faded 
 bloom ;" but we have given sufficient for our pur 
 pose on this head. Another letter of Mrs. Franklin 
 we quote, as giving an idea of the height to which 
 the enemies of Dr. Franklin had inflamed the popu 
 lar mind by the slanders relative to his connection 
 with the Stamp Act, noticed in a previous chapter : 
 "You will see by the papers what work has hap 
 pened in other places, and something has been said 
 relative to raising a mob here. I was for five days 
 kept in one continued hurry to remove, and was 
 persuaded to go to Burlington for safety; but on 
 Monday last we had very great rejoicing on account 
 of the change of the ministry, and a preparation for 
 bonfires at night, and several houses threatened to 
 be pulled down. Cousin Davenport came and told 
 me that more than twenty people had told him that 
 it was his duty to be with me. I said I w 7 as pleas 
 ed to receive civility from any body ; so he stayed 
 with me some time. Toward night I said he should 
 fetch a gun or two, as we had none. I sent to ask 
 my brother to come, and bring his gun also ; so we 
 made our room into a magazine. I ordered some 
 kind of defense up stairs, such as I could manage 
 myself. I said, when I was advised to remove, that 
 I was very sure you had done nothing to hurt any 
 body, nor had I given offense to any person at all, 
 neither would I be made uneasy by any body, nor 
 would I stir, or show the least uneasiness ; but if 
 any one came to disturb me, I would show a proper 
 
378 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 resentment, and I should be very much affronted 
 with any body to hinder me. I was told that there 
 were eight hundred men ready to assist any one that 
 should be molested. * * * * It is Mr. S. S. 
 that is setting the people mad, by telling them it was 
 you that had planned the Stamp Act, and that you 
 are endeavoring to get the Test Act brought over 
 here ; but as I don t go much to town, I maybe 
 shall be easy for a while after the election is over, 
 but till that I shall be disturbed." 
 
 In speaking of events at this period in Pennsyl 
 vania, we must remember that there was a promi 
 nent subject of public attention in a matter now for 
 gotten, or little thought of, overshadowed as it has 
 been by the great events which preceded the Rev 
 olution we mean the petitions for a change of 
 the proprietary government of Pennsylvania. The 
 opponents of this measure were quick to perceive 
 the points in which the. conduct of Franklin appear 
 ed most vulnerable ; and ingenuity was taxed to pro 
 duce lampoons, caricatures, and grave charges, in 
 order, through abuse of Franklin, to render the part} 
 which appointed him odious. Among the carica 
 tures was one representing the philosopher in con 
 ference with a personage who claims all the king 
 doms of the earth, and who, with his head as near 
 that of Franklin as his horns will admit, is whisper 
 ing, " Thee shall be agent, Ben, for all my realms." 
 
 But while the enemies of Franklin were thus act 
 ive, his friends were not idle. They rejoiced at the 
 opportunity which his examination before the Com- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 379 
 
 mons gave him to vindicate his fame from the aspo- 
 sions which had been cast upon it, and caused to 
 be published the letters received from various per 
 sons in England, commendatory of the bearing of 
 the doctor before Parliament, and setting forth the 
 service which he had rendered his country by the 
 representations and labors which, even his enemies 
 were compelled to admit, aided the ministry more 
 than any other single cause or agent could do, in 
 carrying the repeal of the obnoxious law. The re 
 action which followed the popular abuse of the doc 
 tor for that it was popular is evident from the man 
 ner in which his house was threatened placed him 
 in a higher and firmer position in the affections of 
 the people than ever before. A letter to him from 
 Joseph Galloway, dated in May, 1766, says: " The 
 numerous accounts we have of my dear friend s in 
 tegrity and address in procuring the repeal, give us 
 all the greatest pleasure, and have opened the eyes 
 of many, who entertained a contrary opinion of you, 
 from the wicked calumnies of your enemies. Some 
 few there are yet, who, with unwearied industry, are 
 endeavoring, by their" malevolent falsehoods, to in 
 jure your good name, but it will be without effect. 
 The proprietary party will never desist from their 
 abuse of you." But the proprietary party was soon 
 to be lost in other divisions, and the struggles for 
 different forms of colonial government to be forgot 
 ten in the effort to shake off colonial dependence. 
 Perhaps, in strict impartiality, something is due to 
 the proprietors themselves, as unwitting aids to the 
 
380 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Revolution. Their resistance to the wishes of the 
 people, and the impediments which their policy threw 
 in the way of prompt and equal legislation, prepared 
 many Pennsylvanians for the Revolution who might, 
 under a harmonious colonial government, have rest 
 ed content in their allegiance to Great Britain. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, who had an opportunity, from his 
 residence abroad, to perceive how every trifle was 
 magnified to the disparagement of the colonies, urged, 
 in his correspondence with his friends in America, 
 that they should give way to no undue exultation on 
 account of the repeal of the Stamp Act. " I trust," 
 he says, " that the behavior of the Americans on this 
 occasion will be so prudent and grateful, that their 
 friends here will have no reason to be ashamed ; and 
 that our enemies, who predict that the indulgence 
 will make us more insolent and ungovernable, may 
 find themselves false prophets." And again : " The 
 partisans of the late ministry have been strongly cry 
 ing out rebellion, and calling for force to be sent 
 against America. The consequence might have 
 been terrible ; but milder measures have prevailed. 
 I hope, nay, I am confident, America will show itself 
 grateful to Britain on the occasion, and behave pru 
 dently and decently." 
 
 The leading friends of Franklin in Philadelphia 
 strove to carry out his advice ; but the tide was too 
 strong against them. The people were elated, and 
 were determined to give loose to their exultation. 
 And the British authorities took the lead in mani 
 festations of rejoicing. In Boston the mansion of 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 381 
 
 Governor Gage was brilliantly illuminated ; in New 
 York the Loyalists were hearty participants in the 
 rejoicings, and in Philadelphia the proprietary party 
 took the lead in illuminations and festivities. It is 
 generally said that these measures were taken to neu 
 tralize the anticipated rejoicings of the people. No 
 doubt this motive had its share in producing the fes 
 tive demonstrations of the Loyalists ; but there is as 
 little doubt that the authorities, though for a differ 
 ent reason from the people, were quite as glad as 
 they at the repeal. They perceived the danger?; 
 which would attend any attempt at the enforcement 
 of the law ; and some of the Loyalists were shrewd 
 enough to perceive among the opponents of the 
 Stamp Act some persons who really desired that it 
 might be persisted in by the ministry. These trust 
 ed, in the struggle, should Great Britain remain ob 
 stinate, to obtain a greater guerdon than the repeal 
 of a single oppressive enactment. Joseph Galloway, 
 who, though a friend of the popular cause up to the 
 assembling of the first Congress, declared himself 
 a Tory when the issue of separation was made, ex 
 pressed these suspicions of the intentions of some 
 of the Americans in a letter to Franklin, dated in 
 May, 1766. 
 
 When the news of the repeal was received in Phil 
 adelphia, the gentlemen at the " Coffee House" sent 
 an invitation to the captain of the vessel by which 
 the intelligence was brought, inviting him to the 
 house to partake of refreshments. By the " gentle 
 men at the Coffee House," men of no small consid 
 
382 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 eration are to be understood. The meetings of the 
 Common Council were at that time held at " The 
 Coffee House/ or at " Herbert Carey s Inn." At the 
 Coffee House the governor held daily, at about the 
 same hour, a sort of informal levee, and other per 
 sons of note and standing frequented it. Connect 
 ed with the house was the parade ; here auctions 
 were held, and all matters of public commercial and 
 political interest found here their center. Whenev 
 er any rumor agitated the public mind, this was the 
 point to which all tended to ascertain facts or verify 
 intelligence. The " gentlemen at the Coffee House 
 who invited Captain Wise to take punch with them, 
 and presented him with a gold-laced hat, not forget 
 ting his crew in their joy, gave the direction to the 
 public humor. Punch flowed freely, and barrels of 
 beer were put on tap for the people. The city was 
 illuminated in the evening, and on the next day an 
 entertainment was given by the provincial and Phil 
 adelphia authorities to over three hundred persons. 
 At this feast, it was resolved, on the coming royal 
 birth-day, June the 4th, that all should appear in 
 new suits of British manufacture, and that the home 
 spun garments, which had been worn from a patri 
 otic feeling, should be presented to the poor. Against 
 these demonstrations the calm and cautious move 
 ments of the friends of Franklin could make no im 
 pression. They appealed to the authorities to no 
 purpose, and therefore contented themselves with 
 private efforts to preserve the peace, walking the 
 streets through the night as a voluntary patrol. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 383 
 
 On the king s birth-day, occasion was taken to 
 blend with the observation of that anniversary the 
 celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act. Four 
 or five hundred persons dined in a grove on the 
 banks of the Schuylkill. A barge called the Frank 
 lin was rowed up the river to the place of entertain 
 ment. Decorated with flags, and firing salutes as 
 progress was made up the river, the Franklin per 
 formed the water part of the pageant to admiration. 
 At the same time, another barge was drawn through 
 the streets, decorated in like manner, and also treat 
 ing the people to salutes. At the dinner, after the 
 King, the Royal Family, and the Parliament, those 
 individuals who had been active in procuring the 
 passage of the act of repeal were honored, and one 
 of the toasts was, " Our worthy and faithful agent, 
 Dr. Franklin. " The rejoicings were concluded with 
 fireworks and an illumination. In a letter to Frank 
 lin from Thomas Wharton, the writer says, " I have 
 inclosed thee a newspaper of this date, in which 
 thou wilt find that we rejoice, but not in such a man 
 ner as can give our enemies handle against us, and 
 that my friend is not forgotten by a respectable part 
 of the people, I mean the free and independent in 
 judgment." Probably the rejoicings on this occa 
 sion gave the worthy wife of the philosopher less 
 uneasiness than the demonstrations which took place 
 a few months before, upon the occasion of the change 
 of ministry. All the friends of the absent patriot 
 must have experienced a feeling of honest and grat 
 ified triumph at his complete vindication from the 
 
384 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 charges, which certainly possessed, in the appoint 
 ment of his friend as a stamp officer, color enough 
 for party purposes. 
 
 By the journals of the Pennsylvania Assembly, it 
 appears that Dr. Franklin asked permission of the 
 House to return in the spring of 1766. No motion 
 was, however, taken on this application. Such evi 
 dences had been given of the agent s eminent useful 
 ness in London, and the world was now so fond of 
 honoring the representative of Pennsylvania abroad, 
 that it was doubtless felt that no other could make 
 his place good. Among the first acts of the Assem 
 bly, on its meeting in September, was a resolution 
 renewing his appointment. 
 
 During the summer of 1766, Dr. Franklin accom 
 panied his friend, Sir John Pringle, on a visit to Ger 
 many. Sir John visited Pyrmont for the benefit of 
 the waters ; Dr. Franklin, who counted more on ad 
 vantages from air, exercise, and change of scene, left 
 his friend at the springs, and made a hurried visit to 
 the principal cities nearest to Pyrmont. At Gottin- 
 gen, Hanover, and other places, he was received with 
 flattering attention. His philosophical discoveries 
 and writings had given him a wider fame on the Con 
 tinent than even in England or at home, for in Ger 
 many he was not the subject of any party enmity. 
 Probably little was yet known of his political im 
 portance; and the Germans, content with the fact 
 that he was the delegate of his countrymen abroad, 
 were satisfied with that evidence that the great phi 
 losopher was no less a statesman. The results of 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 385 
 
 his examination before the House of Commons, 
 which did more than any previous act to give him 
 celebrity as a political economist, had not then been 
 published. 
 
 A remarkable instance of the activity of Dr. Frank 
 lin s mind is preserved in a series of pamphlets, form 
 erly his property, now in the Athenaeum at Philadel 
 phia. The margins of many contain notes in the 
 hand-writing of the doctor, indicating an intention 
 to publish a reply to their allegations and reasonings. 
 These notes are valuable to his fame now, as post 
 humous witnesses against those who charged that he 
 was consulting rather his own interest than the pub 
 lic service during his residence abroad charges 
 which were imbodied with more point than truth in 
 the following lines, which accompanied a caricature 
 published in Philadelphia : 
 
 " All his designs concenter in himself, 
 For building castles, and amassing pelf; 
 The public tis his wit to sell for gain, 
 Whom private property did ne er maintain." 
 
 Some slight pretext was perhaps given to this 
 charge by the appointment of his son as governor of 
 New Jersey, of which we have already spoken in its 
 order. There were rumors, at various times, of ap 
 pointments which Franklin never received, and all 
 the inference which can be drawn from them is to 
 the honor of the doctor ; for we can but conclude 
 that if he had a price it was never ascertained, for 
 he was never bought. A company was formed, dur 
 ing his second visit to England, for the purpose of 
 
 B B 
 
386 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 obtaining a grant from the crown for a new colony 
 on the Ohio. William T. Franklin and Dr. Frank 
 lin were stockholders, and the governor was Mr. 
 Thomas Walpole, a banker of London, from whom 
 the tract of land solicited by the company has usu 
 ally been called Walpole s Grant. The doctor s in 
 fluence was especially counted on to obtain the char 
 ter ; and he certainly exerted himself to the utmost, 
 and ultimately with success, though the occurrence 
 of Revolutionary events frustrated the completion of 
 the plan. In prosecuting the furtherance of the ob 
 ject of the petitioners, Dr. Franklin wrote several 
 able papers and a great deal of correspondence ; but 
 he was no further interested, nor was his son, than 
 any other stockholder. 
 
 But the best evidence of the sincerity of the doc 
 tor s service of his constituents is contained in the 
 marginal notes to pamphlets before referred to, a 
 portion of which have been laid before the public 
 by Mr. Sparks in his collection of the Writings of 
 Franklin. Among these pamphlets were the Pro 
 tests of certain members of the House of Lords 
 against the repeal of the Stamp Act ; and brochures 
 from the pen of Dean Tucker, who appears to have 
 suffered under a species of singular animosity against 
 the colonies. In remarking upon some declaration 
 in one of the Protests, Franklin makes the following 
 note, to which subsequent events have given the 
 character of prophecy : " Anxious about preserving 
 the sovereignty of this country 1 [England.] Rath 
 er be so about preserving the liberty. We shall be 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 387 
 
 so about the liberty of America, that your posterity 
 may have a free country to come to, where they will 
 be received with open arms." 
 
 As the doctor made his notes with a view of pub 
 lishing a reply to the Protests, we find in one place 
 what he probably intended as a conclusion : " I say 
 nothing to your lordships that I have not been in 
 dulged to say to the Commons. Your lordship s 
 names are to your Protest, therefore I think I ought 
 to put mine to the Answer. I desire that what I have 
 said may not be imputed to the colonies. I am a 
 private person, and do not write by their direction. 
 I am over here to solicit, in behalf of my colony, a 
 closer connection with the crown." Probably the 
 publication of the examination was deemed by the 
 doctor sufficient, as he declares that whatever he 
 purposed to say in his Reply to the Protests was said 
 in his examination. We can not close our notice 
 of these hints for a reply without extracting the fol 
 lowing nervous passage : 
 
 " My duty to the king, and justice to the country, 
 will, I hope, justify me if I likewise protest, which 
 I now do, with all humility, in behalf of myself, and 
 of every American, and of our posterity, against your 
 Declaratory Bill, that the Parliament of Great Brit 
 ain has not, never had, and of right never can have, 
 without consent given either before or after, power 
 to make laws of sufficient force to bind the subjects 
 in America, in any case whatever, and particularly 
 in taxation. I can only judge of others by myself. 
 I have some little property in America. I will free- 
 
388 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ly spend nineteen shillings in the pound to defend 
 my right of giving or refusing the other shilling ; and, 
 after all, if I can not defend that right, I will retire 
 cheerfully with my little family into the boundless 
 woods of America, which are sure to afford freedom 
 and subsistence to any man who can bait a hook or 
 pull a trigger." 
 
 The notes upon the Protests appear to have been 
 made at about this period, 17667. Those upon 
 the pamphlets of Dean Tucker contain references to 
 later events. Throughout the whole he keeps in 
 view the refutation of certain false premises which 
 continually appeared in English publications and 
 speeches, such, for instance, as that the people of 
 England were in some sort sovereigns of America ; 
 that Parliament had a right to tax unrepresented col 
 onies ; and that Great Britain had brought the prov 
 inces in her debt by money expended on them in 
 their protection. To the allegation in Dean Tuck 
 er s " Good Humor, a Way with the Colonies," that 
 the people of Great Britain were taxed for the de 
 fense of the Provinces, and " all was granted when 
 you cried for help," Franklin answers : 
 
 " This is wickedly false. While the colonies were 
 weak and poor, not a penny nor a single soldier was 
 ever spared by Britain for their defense. But as 
 soon as the trade with them became an object, and 
 a fear arose that the French would seize that trade 
 and deprive her of it, she sends troops to America 
 unasked. And she now brings this account of the 
 expense against us, which should be rather carried 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 389 
 
 to her own merchants and manufacturers. We 
 joined our troops and treasure with her to help her 
 in this war. Of this no notice is taken. To refuse 
 to pay a just debt is knavish ; not to return an obli 
 gation is ingratitude ; but to demand a payment of a 
 debt where none has been contracted, to forge a bond 
 or an obligation in order to demand what was never 
 due, is villainy. Every year both king and Parlia 
 ment, during the war, acknowledged that we had 
 done more than our part, and made us some return, 
 which is equivalent to a receipt in full, and entirety 
 sets aside this monstrous claim." 
 
 In the autumn of 1767 Dr. Franklin visited 
 France. He had letters of introduction from the 
 French ambassador to several eminent persons in 
 Paris ; but his published works had been his best 
 introduction. In visiting France he visited a coun 
 try in which his electrical experiments had been re 
 peated and verified, under the sanction of the high 
 est in the state, and in which his writings were not 
 only familiar to the learned, but had been made, by 
 translation, accessible to a much wider circle. He 
 was presented at court, and made among the polit 
 ical circles many new acquaintances ; for French 
 politicians could not have passed unnoticed the in 
 creasing disputes between Great Britain and her col 
 onies. With scientific men his meeting was more 
 like a recognition than an introduction. His pecu 
 liar sagacity and happy address confirmed and in 
 creased the impression in his favor ; and the visit to 
 Paris, while it was productive of great present pleas- 
 
390 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ure to the philosopher and statesman, undoubtedly 
 made his official residence in subsequent years more 
 serviceable to his country. His quick perceptions 
 never permitted any opportunity for acquiring useful 
 knowledge to pass unimproved ; his knowledge of 
 human nature gave him a keen insight into charac 
 ter; and his facility of adaptation enabled him to im 
 prove to the utmost whatever advantage his position 
 conferred upon him. He laughingly alludes to the 
 appearance which he made, as transformed by a 
 French tailor and perruquier into a man twenty 
 
 years younger; and he shows, by the pleasant de 
 scription written to his friends of French men, wom 
 en, and things, that he could enter with the most ju 
 venile gayety of heart into the relaxation which his 
 official fatigues had rendered desirable. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 391 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, in speaking of the course of Frank 
 lin, said, " His conduct has been very composed and 
 grave, and, in the opinion of many, very reserved, 
 yet entirely American." His position, prior to the 
 Revolutionary war, and, indeed, during his whole res 
 idence abroad, was one of exceeding difficulty. It 
 is to be recollected that he was in England as the 
 agent of colonists who, claiming to be loyal subjects, 
 on that account and in that character preferred pe 
 titions to the crown. However much his sympa 
 thies might incline him to feel with his countrymen, 
 it was absolutely necessary that he should be " re 
 served," or he would have made shipwreck of his 
 official trust. Nor are we to regard the advocates 
 of extreme measures against government in America 
 as the only patriots and the only friends of their 
 country. Many hoped to the last that a rupture 
 would be prevented, and the integrity of the British 
 Empire preserved, while her colonies still would re 
 ceive their rights. And the period has now arrived, 
 in the subsidence of national prejudice, and the 
 abatement of that hatred which was engendered by 
 oppression, when we can look with charitable feel 
 ings even upon those Americans who preserved their 
 loyalty and remained true to the British crown. It 
 
392 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 is doing a great injustice to the characters and mo 
 tives of men to judge them by consequences, or, as 
 it may be better expressed, to look at their actions 
 in the light reflected upon them by subsequent events. 
 They could not with any certainty look into futuri 
 ty, and we must try them, therefore, by the circum 
 stances in which they were placed. 
 
 Franklin did not approve of those measures of his 
 countrymen upon which we, in view of what follow 
 ed, are now accustomed to look with unqualified 
 praise. He was very discreet, and not inclined to 
 hazard the fortunes of the colonies upon acts of vio 
 lence or expressions of defiance. And, as already 
 noted, he was himself exposed to great annoyance 
 and inconvenience by every symptom of resistance 
 in America. How much he was stung and annoyed 
 may be gathered from the following extract from a 
 letter to his son, written in November, 1767. "I 
 think the New Yorkers have been very discreet in 
 forbearing to write and publish against the late act 
 of Parliament. I wish the Boston people had been 
 as quiet, since Governor Bernard has sent over all 
 their violent papers to the ministry, and wrote them 
 word that he daily expected a rebellion. He did, 
 indeed, afterward correct this extravagance, by writ 
 ing again, that he now understood those papers were 
 approved but by few, and disliked by all the sober, 
 sensible people of the province. A certain noble 
 lord expressed himself to me with some contempt 
 and disgust of Bernard on this occasion, saying he 
 ought to have known his people better than to im- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 393 
 
 pute to the whole country sentiments that perhaps 
 are only scribbled by some madman in a garret" 
 
 The act above referred to was one passed in pur 
 suance of the assertion of the Declaratory Act, that 
 Parliament had " a right to bind the colonies in all 
 cases whatsoever." It imposed duties on certain 
 articles imported into the colonies, not, as formerly, 
 for the regulation of trade, but to raise a revenue, 
 thus affirming, in a different but quite as objectiona 
 ble a manner, the right of the Parliament to tax the 
 colonies, which had been the great matter of remon 
 strance in the Stamp Act. And the act of 1767 
 was further, and very naturally, hateful to the colo 
 nies, because it provided for the establishment of a 
 Board of Commissioners at Boston to collect and 
 distribute the money. Another dangerous measure 
 was, that out of this revenue certain officers should 
 be paid, who had hitherto been dependent for their 
 salaries on the colonial Legislature ; and the people 
 justly feared the effect of making their government 
 entirely independent of the governed. These move 
 ments on the part of the British ministry called out 
 the storm of indignation to which Franklin referred 
 in the letter above quoted, and further embroiled the 
 governor and the Legislature, which body in Mas 
 sachusetts truly represented the people. Franklin 
 was absent in France when the commissioners left 
 England for America. Although a connection was 
 one of the Board, he writes to his son, " I assure you 
 I had not the least share in his appointment, having 
 carefully kept out of the way of that whole affair." 
 
394 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 As a hint was never lost upon Dr. Franklin, he prob 
 ably learned caution in the history of the Stamp Act, 
 and did not care to have his approval of this act in 
 ferred by his enemies. 
 
 Governor Bernard, who was for several years in 
 an angry contest with the Legislature of Massachu 
 setts, at last hit upon a new method of annoyance, 
 which procured him peace and rest ; that is to say, 
 so far as these desirable objects could be secured by 
 silencing legal and regular opposition. He used his 
 prerogative to shorten the sessions of the Legislature, 
 and delayed and refused to convene it at the request 
 of the people. But the spirit of resistance, the ex 
 pression of which was prevented under legislative 
 sanction, found utterance in another mode. The 
 inhabitants of Boston met in town meeting, and 
 passed a series of resolutions to encourage industry, 
 economy, and domestic manufactures, and thus to 
 defeat the Revenue Act by putting an end to imports. 
 Similar measures had taken place in Philadelphia, 
 but were relaxed on the repeal of the Stamp Act. 
 The Boston movement had, however, a more formal 
 and public character than any of the same nature 
 which preceded it. A committee was appointed at 
 the town meeting to procure subscriptions to an 
 agreement not to use British articles or superfluities 
 of any description, and the example of Boston was 
 followed by other towns. The most wealthy and 
 influential families made a pride of their simplicity, 
 and the general and united resistance of the Massa 
 chusetts people caused their movement to assume, in 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 395 
 
 the eyes of the ministerial party in England, the hue 
 of rebellion. And the friends of America in Great 
 Britain, or rather, we should say, the opponents of 
 the policy of the Grenville ministry, were sorely push 
 ed by the newspapers. Franklin says, in a letter 
 dated in December, 1767, " The newspapers are in 
 full cry against America. You can not conceive 
 how much the friends of America are run upon and 
 hurt by them, and how much the Grenvillians tri 
 umph." And again : " The proceedings in Boston, 
 as the news came just upon the meeting of Parlia 
 ment, and occasioned great clamor here, gave me 
 much concern. And, as every offensive thing done 
 in America is charged upon all, and every province, 
 though not concerned in it, suffers in its interests 
 through the general disgust given, and the little dis 
 tinction here made, it became necessary, I thought, 
 to palliate the matter a little for our own sakes, and 
 therefore I wrote the paper which you have proba 
 bly seen in the Chronicle of January 7th, signed 
 F. S. " 
 
 The paper referred to, entitled " Causes of Amer 
 ican Discontents before 1768," is written in Frank 
 lin s peculiarly smooth and convincing style, with the 
 skill for which he was remarkable in controversy. 
 The drift of it was to show that the ministry had 
 needlessly exasperated the Americans, who readily 
 and cheerfully gave money to the crown, provided 
 they could be permitted to give it in what they con 
 sidered a constitutional and loyal mode, while they 
 resisted all attempts to force taxation upon them in 
 
396 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 any manner which they regarded as violating the 
 privileges secured to them as subjects by Magna 
 Charta. At the close of the paper, after quoting 
 some paragraphs from the American newspapers and 
 other sources, he adroitly adds, " These are the wild 
 ravings of the, at present, half-distracted Americans. 
 To be sure no reasonable man in England can ap 
 prove of such sentiments, and, as I said before, I do 
 not pretend to support or justify them ; but I sin 
 cerely wish, for the sake of the manufactures and 
 commerce of Great Britain, and for the sake of the 
 strength which a firm union with our growing colo 
 nies would give us, that these people had never been 
 thus needlessly driven out of their senses." It will 
 be perceived that this paper was written under the 
 disguise of an Englishman, an allowable artifice to 
 give it weight. Franklin complained that the editor 
 of the Chronicle, " one Jones, seems a Grenvilliari, 
 or is very cautious, as you will see by his corrections 
 and omissions. He has drawn the teeth and pared 
 the nails of my paper, so that it can neither scratch 
 nor bite. It seems only to paw and mumble." One 
 can not help wishing to believe that the paragraph 
 just quoted passed under the correcting fingers of 
 "one Jones, a Grenvillian," for there is nothing in 
 the " sentiments" quoted by Franklin which he had 
 not in other publications presented as his own, and 
 called upon " reasonable men" in England to receive. 
 In the same letter in which Franklin tells his son 
 that he had written the paper for the Chronicle, he 
 adds the following sound advice : " If our people 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 397 
 
 should follow the Boston example, in entering into 
 resolutions of frugality and industry,yw// 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 and effectually to discharge their debts to 
 Great Britain. This will soften a little, and, at the 
 same time, appear honorable and like ourselves." 
 
 Dr. Franklin caused the republication in England 
 of John Dickinson s famous " Farmer s Letters." He 
 contributed to the volume a preface, in the character 
 of an Englishman, in which he expresses the hope 
 that the publication will produce " a full answer, if 
 we can make one." It would be an interesting point 
 could it be ascertained how far or how well the doc 
 tor preserved his incognito in these cases. He was 
 unreserved, in his American correspondence, in ac 
 knowledging the authorship of these several pieces 
 to his friends ; and if he was not more wary in his 
 conversation, the purpose of his assumption of a 
 feigned character was defeated. 
 
 In 1768 there was a change in the British minis 
 try. Lord Hillsborongh was made Secretary of 
 State for America, a new bureau then first establish 
 ed. Mr. William S. Johnson, the agent in En 
 gland for the State of Connecticut, wrote respecting 
 this appointment, " All American affairs will now be 
 thrown into an entire new channel ; all is to be 
 gin anew with Lord Hillsborough ; new negotia 
 tions are to be commenced, new connections form 
 ed, which is an unhappy delay to all who have affairs 
 to solicit." Lord Hillsborough was generally court- 
 
398 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ecus, but capricious, opinionated, and unyielding, 
 and the agents of the colony found much delay and 
 difficulty in their official intercourse with him, as 
 he interposed new and unexpected forms and require 
 ments, from some of which, as entirely incompatible 
 with the relations and duties of the agents, he was 
 compelled to recede in effect, though he preserved 
 his self-complacency by a nominal adherence. He 
 seemed, at first, disposed to receive the agents of the 
 colonies kindly, but afterward established the rule 
 that no agent could be recognized as such who was 
 not appointed by regular act of Assembly, signed by 
 the governor of the colony. Franklin expostulated, 
 but in vain. The agent did not represent the gov 
 ernor, but the people ; and to give the governor, and, 
 through him, the ministry, the appointment of agents, 
 would entirely defeat the purposes for which the co 
 lonial legislatures had maintained agents abroad. 
 Franklin, when Lord Hillsborough broached this 
 new arrangement to him, after he found that all rea 
 soning upon the subject was vain, bluntly told his 
 lordship that he perceived that it was of little conse 
 quence whether the appointment of agents was rec 
 ognized or not ; for, as the affairs of the colonies 
 were now administered, agents could be of little ser 
 vice. Lord Hillsborough carried out his policy by- 
 procuring the passage of a resolution by the Board 
 of Trade, that no agents, unless qualified as before 
 mentioned, would be allowed to appear before that 
 body. Their business was, during Lord Hillsbor- 
 ough s official term, conducted by written applica- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 399 
 
 tions, and indirect influence with the members ; for 
 the colonial legislatures never followed the plan in 
 dicated by his lordship. 
 
 Perhaps there was more than a little personal hos 
 tility on the part of Lord Hillsborough toward Frank 
 lin, which led to these measures. Doctor Franklin 
 had been very active in opposing certain measures 
 contemplated by Lord Hillsborough, who of all men 
 could least endure contradiction. As the personal 
 passages between his lordship and the doctor form 
 quite an interesting episode, we will follow them out 
 in this place, though to the anticipation of the regu 
 lar narrative. Lord Hillsborough, in conversation 
 respecting Franklin, after the interview in relation 
 to his agency, spoke of the doctor as a factious fel 
 low, mischievous, and a Republican. His industry, 
 by his pen and in every other mode, to put the pub 
 lic mind right in relation to his country, and his 
 sturdy opposition of facts and common sense to the 
 abstractions and theories of the closet-politicians of 
 England, made him particularly disagreeable to min 
 isters. In fact, while his countrymen at home were 
 some of them accusing him of apathy and indiffer 
 ence, his friends in England were surprised at his 
 boldness, and all admired the capital prudence with 
 which he conducted himself in his very trying posi 
 tion of umpire between the mother country and the 
 colonies ; and, though willing to accede more to 
 the ministry than his heated friends in the colonies 
 would have done, he still so warily guarded the 
 principles for which they contended, that it was dis- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 
 
 covered that nothing could be made of him but an 
 American. 
 
 In 17"J1, while Dr. Franklin was on a visit to Ire- 
 land, he met Lord Hillsborough at the lord-lieuten 
 ant s in Dublin. His lordship was exceedingly civil, 
 and pressed Dr. Franklin so earnestly to call at Hills- 
 borough during his contemplated journey northward, 
 that the doctor could not, without rudeness, refuse ; 
 and when, in acceptance of the invitation of Lord 
 Hillsborough, Franklin and his party called at his 
 lordship s seat, they were detained four days, during 
 which time the party, and the doctor in particular, 
 were overwhelmed with civilities. " In short," says 
 the doctor, " he seemed extremely anxious to impress 
 me, and the colonies through me, with a good opin 
 ion of him : all which I could not but wonder at, 
 knowing that he likes neither them nor me ; and I 
 thought it inexplicable but on the supposition that 
 he apprehended an approaching storm, and was de 
 sirous of lessening, beforehand, the number of ene 
 mies he had so imprudently created. But if he takes 
 no steps toward withdrawing the troops, repealing 
 the duties, restoring the castle, or recalling the offen 
 sive instructions, I shall think all the plausible be 
 havior I have described is meant only, by patting and 
 stroking the horse, to make him more patient, while 
 the reins are drawn tighter, and the spurs set deep 
 er into his sides." 
 
 The letter, from which the above is an extract, 
 was addressed to Mr. Gushing, of Massachusetts, in 
 1771, and the troops spoken of were those which 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 401 
 
 had been sent into that province to enforce the ob 
 noxious revenue law. Much weight is undoubtedly 
 due to the doctor s opinion, that Lord Hillsborough 
 wished to impress him favorably, to produce an in 
 fluence upon the public business. But there was a 
 matter of less public interest, in which the pride of 
 Lord Hillsborough was deeply interested, and in 
 reference to which we may well suppose his per 
 sonal conduct was somewhat guided. He had con 
 ceived an idea, and was forming the plan, of abound^ 
 ary line for the American colonies, to be drawn 
 from the Hudson River to the Mississippi, and con 
 fining the settlements between that line and the 
 ocean. " Walpole s Grant," for which Franklin was 
 one of the petitioners, and the business of which he 
 managed with his usual discretion and indefatigabil- 
 ity, interfered with Lord Hillsborough s. theory. His 
 lordship, therefore, earnestly opposed the petition, 
 and labored against it from the beginning. As some 
 movement was made by the petitioners as early as 
 1766, it is not assuming too much, perhaps, to con 
 clude that Lord Hillsborough had some eye to the 
 frustration of Franklin in the matter of the Walpole 
 Grant when he procured the passage, by the Board 
 of Trade, of the regulation respecting colonial agents. 
 But, in the indirect prosecution of his business with, 
 the Board of Trade by written applications, Frank 
 lin was, perhaps, even more formidable to Lord Hills- 
 borough than before. 
 
 Lord Hillsborough, as President of the Board of 
 
 Trade, drew up a report against the petition, which 
 
 c c 
 
402 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 was submitted to the king in council. Dr. Franklir 
 answered his lordship s report, and that in so very 
 able a manner that the petition was granted. Hills- 
 borough had declared that if the petition was grant 
 ed he would resign his post as Secretary of State for 
 America ; and he did resign, it is said, for that rea 
 son only. Perhaps, as Dr. Franklin intimates, he 
 thought himself of so much consequence that the pe 
 tition would be set aside rather than that his resig- 
 pation would be accepted. The event, if such were 
 his expectations, disappointed him, and he was very 
 much chagrined. 
 
 While these affairs were pending, Dr. Franklin 
 waited upon Lord Hillsborough to thank him for his 
 civility in Ireland, and was told that his lordship 
 was not at home. He met the same repulse upon 
 three more visits, the last being under circumstances 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 403 
 
 of peculiar incivility. It was on a levee day, when 
 a number of carriages was at his lordship s door. 
 Franklin s coachman drove up, alighted, and was 
 opening the carriage, when the porter came out and 
 surlily chid the coachman for opening the door be 
 fore he had inquired whether his lordship was at 
 home. Then, turning to Franklin, he said, "My 
 lord is not at home." The truth was, that his own 
 rash declaration, and Dr. Franklin s firmness, cost 
 him his place, and he could not endure the doctor 
 on that account. Yet, more than a year after his 
 resignation, while Dr. Franklin was at Oxford, Lord 
 Hillsborough called at his room, and, with the ut 
 most apparent cordiality and friendship, said, "Dr. 
 Franklin, I did not know till this minute that yoa 
 were here, and I am come to make you my bow. I 
 am glad to see you at Oxford, and that you look so 
 well." The conversation continued for a short time, 
 but there is no trace of any further intercourse. This 
 little incident is, however, in perfect keeping with 
 the character of a capricious man, whose anger had 
 betrayed him into a weakness. His pride afterward 
 induced him to endeavor to remove the impression 
 which his caprice had left that his opponent had 
 mortified as well as defeated him. 
 
 In this connection we insert the following " Rules 
 for Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One." This 
 brochure has justly been regarded as among Doctor 
 Franklin s happiest political writings, and it is the 
 more apropos in this place, as it purported in its title 
 to have been " presented to a late minister when he 
 
404 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 entered upon his administration." That "late min 
 ister" was Hillsborough ; and the " Rules," published 
 after his resignation, as presented at the commence 
 ment of his term of office, are thereby sarcastically 
 made to appear those upon which his administration 
 of the affairs of the colony were conducted. The 
 paper was widely sought and read, being printed 
 twice in The Public Advertiser, in which it first ap 
 peared, and widely copied, also, into other journals. 
 Dr. Franklin, in a letter to his son, remarks concern 
 ing it, " Such papers may seem to have a tendency to 
 increase our divisions ; but I intend a contrary effect, 
 and hope, by comprising in a little room, and setting 
 in a strong light, the grievances of the colonies, more 
 attention will be paid to them by our administration, 
 and that, when their unreasonableness is generally 
 seen, some of them will be removed, to the restora 
 tion of harmony between us." 
 
 "An ancient sage valued himself upon this, that 
 though he could not fiddle, he knew how to make a 
 great city of a little one. The science that I, a mod 
 ern simpleton, am about to communicate, is the very 
 reverse. 
 
 "I address myself to all ministers who have the 
 management of extensive dominions, which from 
 their very greatness have become troublesome to 
 govern, because the multiplicity of their affairs leaves 
 no time for fiddling. 
 
 " 1. In the first place, gentlemen, you are to con 
 sider, that a great empire, like a great cake, is most 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 405 
 
 easily diminished at the edges. Turn jour atten 
 tion, therefore, first to your remotest provinces, that, 
 as you get rid of them, the next may follow in order. 
 
 " 2. That the possibility of this separation may al 
 ways exist, take special care the provinces are never 
 incorporated with the mother country ; that they do 
 not enjoy the same common rights, the same privi 
 leges in commerce ; and that they are governed by 
 severer laws, all of your own enacting, without al 
 lowing them any share in the choice of the legisla 
 tors. By carefully making and preserving such dis 
 tinctions, you will (to keep my simile of the cake) 
 act like a wise gingerbread-baker, who, to facili 
 tate a division, cuts his dough half through in those 
 places where, when baked, he would have it broken 
 to pieces. 
 
 " 3. Those remote provinces have perhaps been ac 
 quired, purchased, or conquered, at the sole expense 
 of the settlers or their ancestors, without the aid of 
 the mother country. If this should happen to in 
 crease her strength, by their growing numbers, ready 
 to join in her wars ; her commerce, by their grow 
 ing demand for her manufactures ; or her naval pow 
 er, by greater employment for her ships and seamen, 
 they may probably suppose some merit in this, and 
 that it entitles them to some favor; you are there 
 fore to forget it all, or resent it, as if they had done 
 you injury. If they happen to be zealous Whigs, 
 friends of liberty, nurtured in revolution principles, 
 remember all that to their prejudice, and contrive to 
 punish it; for such principles, after a revolution is 
 
406 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 thoroughly established, are of no more use ; they are 
 even odious and abominable. 
 
 " 4. However peaceably your colonies have sub 
 mitted to your government, shown their affection to 
 your interests, and patiently borne their grievances ; 
 you are to suppose them always inclined to revolt, 
 and treat them accordingly. Quarter troops among 
 them, who by their insolence may provoke the rising 
 of mobs, and by their bullets and bayonets suppress 
 them. By this means, like the husband who uses 
 his wife ill from suspicion, you may in time convert 
 your suspicions into realities. 
 
 " 5. Remote provinces must have governors and 
 judges, to represent the royal person, and execute 
 every where the delegated parts of his office and 
 authority. You ministers know that much of the 
 strength of government depends on the opinion of 
 the people, and much of that opinion on the choice 
 of rulers placed immediately over them. If you send 
 them wise and good men for governors, who study 
 the interest of the colonists, and advance their pros 
 perity, they will think their king wise and good, 
 and that he wishes the welfare of his subjects. If 
 you send them learned and upright men for judges, 
 they will think him a lover of justice. This may 
 attach your provinces more to his government. You 
 are therefore to be careful whom you recommend to 
 those offices. If you can find prodigals who have 
 ruined their fortunes, broken gamesters, or stock 
 jobbers, these may do well as governors; for they 
 will probably be rapacious, and provoke the people 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 407 
 
 by their extortions. Wrangling proctors and petti 
 fogging lawyers, too, are not amiss ; for they will be 
 forever disputing and quarreling with their little 
 Parliaments. If, withal, they should be ignorant, 
 wrongheaded, and insolent, so much the better. At 
 torney s clerks and Newgate solicitors will do for 
 chief justices, especially if they hold their places dur 
 ing your pleasure ; arid all will contribute to impress 
 those ideas of your government that are proper for 
 a people you would wish to renounce it. 
 
 "6. To confirm these impressions, and strike them 
 deeper, whenever the injured come to the capital 
 with complaints of mal-administration, oppression, or 
 injustice, punish such suitors with long delay, enor 
 mous expense, and a final judgment in favor of the 
 oppressor. This will have an admirable effect ev 
 ery way. The trouble of future complaints will be 
 prevented, and governors and judges will be encour 
 aged to further acts of oppression and injustice ; and 
 thence the people may become more disaffected, and 
 at length desperate. 
 
 " 7. When such governors have crammed their cof 
 fers, and made themselves so odious to the people 
 that they can no longer remain among them with 
 safety to their persons, recall and reward them with 
 pensions. You may make them baronets, too, if that 
 respectable order should not think fit to resent it. 
 All will contribute to encourage new governors in 
 the same practice, and make the supreme govern 
 ment detestable. 
 
 " 8. If, when you are engaged in war, your colonies 
 
408 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 should vie in liberal aids of men and money against 
 the common enemy, upon your simple requisition, 
 and give far beyond their abilities, reflect that a pen 
 ny taken from them by your power is more honora 
 ble to you than a pound presented by their benevo 
 lence ; despise, therefore, their voluntary grants, and 
 resolve to harass them with novel taxes. They will 
 probably complain to your Parliament that they are 
 taxed by a body in which they have no representa 
 tive, and that this is contrary to common right. 
 They will petition for redress. Let the Parliament 
 flout their claims, reject their petitions, refuse even 
 to suffer the reading of them, and treat the petition 
 ers with the utmost contempt. Nothing can have a 
 better effect in producing the alienation proposed ; 
 for, though many can forgive injuries, none ever for 
 gave contempt. 
 
 " 9. In laying these taxes, never regard the heavy 
 burdens those remote people already undergo in de 
 fending their own frontiers, supporting their own 
 provincial government, making new roads, building 
 bridges, churches, and other public edifices, which 
 in old countries have been done to your hands by 
 your ancestors, but which occasion constant calls 
 and demands on the purses of a new people. For 
 get the restraint you lay on their trade for your own 
 benefit, and the advantage a monopoly of this trade 
 .gives your exacting merchants. Think nothing of 
 the wealth those merchants and your manufacturers 
 acquire by the colony commerce ; their increased 
 ability thereby to pay taxes at home; their accumu- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 409 
 
 lating, in the price of their commodities, most of 
 those taxes, and so levying them from their consum 
 ing customers ; all this, and the employment and 
 support of thousands of your poor by the colonists, 
 you are entirely to forget. But remember to make 
 your arbitrary tax more grievous to your provinces 
 by public declarations importing that your power of 
 taxing them has no limits; so that, when you take 
 from them without their consent a shilling in the 
 pound, you have a clear right to the other nineteen. 
 This will probably weaken every idea of security in 
 their property, and convince them that, under such 
 a government, they have nothing they can call their 
 own, which can scarce fail of producing the hap 
 piest consequences ! 
 
 " 10. Possibly, indeed, some of them might still 
 comfort themselves, and say, * Though we have no 
 property, we have yet something left that is valua 
 ble ; we have constitutional liberty, both of person and 
 of conscience. This King, these Lords, and these 
 Commons, who, it seems, are too remote from us to 
 know us arid feel for us, can not take from us our 
 Habeas Corpus right, or our right of trial by a jury of 
 our neighbors ; they can not deprive us of the exer 
 cise of our religion, alter our ecclesiastical constitu 
 tion, and compel us to be Papists, if they please, or 
 Mohammedans. To annihilate this comfort, begin 
 by laws to perplex their commerce with infinite reg 
 ulations, impossible to be remembered and observed ; 
 ordain seizures of their property for every failure ; 
 take away the trial of such property by jury, and 
 
410 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 give it to arbitrary judges of your own appointing; 
 and of the lowest characters in the country, whose 
 salaries and emoluments are to arise out of the du 
 ties or condemnations, and whose appointments are 
 during pleasure. Then let there be a formal dec 
 laration of both Houses that opposition to your 
 edicts is treason, and that persons suspected of trea 
 son in the provinces may, according to some obso 
 lete law, be seized and sent to the metropolis of the 
 empire for trial, and pass an act that those there 
 charged with certain other offenses shall be sent 
 away in chains from their friends and country to be 
 tried in the same manner for felony. Then erect a 
 new court of Inquisition among them, accompanied 
 by an armed force, with instructions to transport all 
 such suspected persons ; to be ruined by the expense 
 if they bring over evidences to prove their innocence, 
 or be found guilty and hanged if they can not afford 
 it. And, lest the people should think you can not 
 possibly go any further, pass another solemn declara 
 tory act, that King, Lords, and Commons had, have, 
 and of right ought to have, full power and authority 
 to make statutes of sufficient force and validity to 
 bind the unrepresented provinces in all cases what 
 soever! This will include spiritual with temporal, 
 and, taken together, must operate wonderfully to 
 your purpose, by convincing them that they are, at 
 present, under a power something like that spoken 
 of in the Scriptures, which can not only kill their 
 bodies, but damn their souls to all eternity, by com 
 pelling them, if it pleases, to worship the devil. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 411 
 
 " 11. To make your taxes more odious, and more 
 likely to procure resistance, send from the capital a 
 board of officers to superintend the collection, com 
 posed of the most indiscreet, ill-bred, and insolent you 
 can find. Let these have large salaries out of the 
 extorted revenue, and live in open, grating luxury 
 upon the sweat and blood of the industrious, whom 
 they are to worry continually with groundless and 
 expensive prosecutions before the above-mentioned 
 arbitrary revenue judges ; all at the cost of the party 
 prosecuted, though acquitted, because the king is to 
 pay no costs. Let these men, by your order, be ex 
 empted from all the common taxes and burdens of 
 the province, though they and their property are 
 protected by its laws. If any revenue officers are 
 suspected of the least tenderness for the people, dis 
 card them. If others are justly complained of, pro 
 tect and reward them. If any of the under officers 
 behave so as to provoke the people to drub them, 
 promote those to better offices; this will encour 
 age others to procure for themselves such profitable 
 drubbings, by multiplying and enlarging such prov 
 ocations, and all will work toward the end you 
 aim at. 
 
 " 12. Another way to make your tax odious is to 
 misapply the produce of it. If it was originally ap 
 propriated for the defense of the provinces, and the 
 better support of government, and the administration 
 of justice, where it may be necessary, then apply 
 none of it to that defense, but bestow it where it 
 is not necessary, in augmenting salaries or pensions 
 
412 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 to every governor who has distinguished himself by 
 his enmity to the people, and by calumniating them 
 to their sovereign. This will make them pay it 
 more unwillingly, and be more apt to quarrel with 
 those that collect it and those that imposed it, who 
 will quarrel again with them, and all shall contribute 
 to your own purpose of making them weary of your 
 government. 
 
 " 13. If the people of any province have been ac 
 customed to support their own governors and judges 
 to satisfaction, you are to apprehend that such gov 
 ernors and judges may be thereby influenced to treat 
 the people kindly, and to do them justice. This is 
 another reason for applying part of that revenue in 
 larger salaries to such governors and judges, given, 
 as their commissions are, during your pleasure only ; 
 forbidding them to take any salaries from their prov 
 inces, that thus the people may no longer hope any 
 kindness from their governors, or (in crown cases) 
 any justice from their judges. And, as the money 
 thus misapplied in one province is extorted from all, 
 probably all will resent the misapplication. 
 
 " 14. If the Parliaments of your provinces should 
 dare to claim rights, or complain of your administra 
 tion, order them to be harassed with repeated dis 
 solutions. If the same men are continually returned 
 by new elections, adjourn their meetings to some 
 country village where they can not be accommoda 
 ted, and here keep them during pleasure; for this, 
 you know, is your prerogative, and an excellent one 
 it is, as you may manage it to promote discontents 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 413 
 
 among the people, diminish their respect, and in 
 crease their disaffection. 
 
 "15. Convert the brave, honest officers of your 
 navy into pimping tide-waiters and colony officers 
 of the customs. Let those who in time of war fought 
 gallantly in defense of the commerce of their coun 
 trymen, in peace be taught to prey upon it. Let 
 them learn to be corrupted by great and real smug 
 glers ; but (to show their diligence) scour with arm 
 ed boats every bay, harbor, river, creek, cove, or 
 nook throughout the coast of your colonies; stop 
 and detain every coaster, every wood-boat, every 
 fisherman ; tumble their cargoes, and even their bal 
 last, inside out and upside down, and, if a penny 
 worth of pins is found unentered, let the whole be 
 seized and confiscated. Thus shall the trade of 
 your colonists suffer more from their friends in time 
 of peace than it did from their enemies in war. 
 Then let those boats crews land upon every farm in 
 their way, rob their orchards, steal their pigs and 
 poultry, and insult the inhabitants. If the injured 
 and exasperated farmers, unable to procure other 
 justice, should attack the aggressors, drub them, and 
 burn their boats, you are to call this high treason 
 and rebellion, order fleets and armies into their coun 
 try, and threaten to carry all the offenders three thou 
 sand miles to be hanged; drawn, and quartered. Oh ! 
 this will work admirably ! 
 
 " 16. If you are told of discontents in your colo 
 nies, never believe that they are general, or that you 
 have given occasion for them ; therefore do not think 
 
414 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 of applying any remedy, or of changing any offen 
 sive measure. Redress no grievance, lest they should 
 be encouraged to demand the redress of some other 
 grievance. Grant no request that is just and reason 
 able, lest they should make another that is unreason 
 able. Take all your informations of the state of the 
 colonies from your governors and officers in enmity 
 with them. Encourage and reward these leasing- 
 makers ; secrete their lying accusations, lest they 
 should be confuted ; but act upon them as the clear 
 est evidence, and believe nothing you hear from the 
 friends of the people. Suppose all their complaints 
 to be invented and promoted by a few factious dem 
 agogues, whom if you could catch and hang all would 
 be quiet. Catch and hang a few of them accord 
 ingly, and the blood of the martyrs shall work mira 
 cles in favor of your purpose. 
 
 "17. If you see rival nations rejoicing at the 
 prospect of your disunion with your provinces, and 
 endeavoring to promote it; if they translate, pub 
 lish, and applaud all the complaints of your discon- 
 .ented colonists, at the same time privately stimu 
 lating you to severer measures, let not that offend 
 you. Why should it, since you all mean the same 
 thing ? 
 
 o 
 
 " 18. If any colony should, at their own charge, 
 erect a fortress to secure their port against the fleets 
 of a foieign enemy, get your governor to betray that 
 fortress into your hands. Never think of paying 
 what it cost the country, for that would look, at least, 
 like some regard for justice ; but turn it into a cita- 
 
LIFE OP FRANKLIN. 415 
 
 del to awe the inhabitants and curb their commerce. 
 If they should have lodged in such fortress the very 
 arms they bought and used to aid you in your con 
 quests, seize them all ; it will provoke, like ingrati 
 tude added to robbery. One admirable effect of 
 these operations will be, to discourage every other 
 colony from erecting such defenses, and so their and 
 your enemies may more easily invade them, to the 
 great disgrace of your government, and, of course, 
 the furtherance of your project. 
 
 "19. Send armies into their country under pre 
 tense of protecting the inhabitants ; but, instead of 
 garrisoning the forts on their frontiers with those 
 troops to prevent incursions, demolish those forts 
 and order those troops into the heart of the country, 
 fhat the savages may be encouraged to attack the 
 frontiers, and that the troops may be protected by 
 the inhabitants. This will seem to proceed from 
 your ill will or your ignorance, and contribute fur 
 ther to produce and strengthen an opinion among 
 them that you are no longer fit to govern them. 
 
 " 20. Lastly, invest the general of your army in 
 the provinces with great and unconstitutional pow 
 ers, and free him from the control of even your own 
 civil governors. Let him have troops enough un 
 der his command, with all the fortresses in his pos 
 session ; and who knows but (like some provincial 
 generals in the Roman Empire, and encouraged by 
 the universal discontent you have produced) he may 
 take it into his head to set up for himself? If he 
 should, and you have carefully practiced the few ex- 
 
416 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 cellent rules of mine, take my word for it, all the 
 provinces will immediately join him, and you will 
 that day (if you have not done it sooner) get rid of 
 the trouble of governing them, and all the plagues 
 attending their commerce and connection from 
 thenceforth and forever. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 417 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ABOUT this period, 1768, there were several ru 
 mors concerning proposed appointments to be ten 
 dered to Dr. Franklin, which resulted in nothing, 
 however, except the giving of new pretexts for accu 
 sation to his enemies. It was said that he was to 
 be appointed under secretary to Lord Hillsborough, 
 and that nobleman s first deportment toward him 
 gave color to the report. How widely they after-, 
 ward separated we have seen. There was a pro 
 posal made to him, also, of transferring him from the 
 office of postmaster-general of the colonies to some 
 station under the government ; and there appeared at 
 one time so much probability of such a change, that 
 it became a serious matter of debate with Dr. Frank 
 lin what would be the best course for him to take 
 in the matter. There is no evidence, however, that 
 he was ever put to the necessity of returning any 
 positive answer to the overtures of the government. 
 Pie was probably sounded, and as, by his course af 
 ter the appointment of his son to the government of 
 New Jersey, and by his openly declared opinions, it 
 appeared that he was not a man to be silenced by 
 patronage, the plan of his purchase was abandoned. 
 His famous letter to Lord Kames, which that noble 
 man never received, and which was probably in the 
 
 ^ D 
 
418 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 possession of the British government at this time, 
 may have had its influence. In that letter, written 
 in 1767, is contained an epitome of the opinions, 
 arguments, predictions, and views of Dr. Franklin, 
 with which the reader is already familiar. There 
 was also something said of procuring his appoint 
 ment as governor of Massachusetts ; and his friends 
 in Pennsylvania, who were looking forward to the 
 change of that government from a proprietary to a 
 royal, also thought of Franklin as governor under 
 the new order of things. But he saw the difficul 
 ties in the way of his accepting any royal appoint 
 ment, and had fully determined to decline had it 
 been offered him. He could not accept the govern 
 ment of a colony with such instructions as he knew, 
 in pursuance of the ministerial policy, must accom 
 pany it. The change in the government of Penn 
 sylvania never took place, nor did the ministry think 
 Franklin a suitable person to succeed Governor Ber 
 nard of Massachusetts. 
 
 Other public business, however, crowded upon 
 him. In 1768 he was appointed agent for Georgia. 
 In 1769 he was chosen agent for New Jersey. In 
 J770 Massachusetts paid a similar compliment to his 
 sagacity and patriotism. His Pennsylvania agency 
 was continued, and thus, at the well-advanced age 
 of sixty-four, he had the agency of four colonies, in 
 each of which circumstances of peculiar difficulty 
 and embarrassment required the full exercise of his 
 wisdom and prudence. Thus, though anxious to 
 return home, and feeling that his private affairs need- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 419 
 
 eel his attention, he was detained abroad by the con 
 fidence of his countrymen, which, while it must nat 
 urally and properly have gratified his self-love, im 
 posed most arduous duties upon him. And his per 
 formance of these was not limited to any mere offi 
 cial routine. He w r as influenced by higher consid 
 erations than the literal compliance with instructions. 
 "Being," he writes to a friend, "born and bred in 
 one of the countries now at variance, and having 
 lived long, and made many agreeable connections 
 of friendship in the other, I wish all prosperity to 
 both ; but I have talked and written so much and so 
 long on the subject, that my acquaintance are weary 
 of hearing, and the public of reading any more of it, 
 which begins to make me weary of talking and writ 
 ing, especially as I do not find I have gained any 
 point in either country except that of rendering my 
 self suspected by my impartiality, in England of be 
 ing too much an American, and in America of being 
 too much an Englishman." 
 
 But, as events ripened, that he was too much an 
 American for the purposes of the English ministry 
 became more than a point of mere suspicion. As 
 he perceived unmistakable indications that the mod 
 eration for which he had so earnestly contended was 
 likely to be of little avail, and that ministers were 
 resolved to persist in their plan of coercion, the tone 
 of his correspondence with his American friends 
 grew more like the language which he had at an ear 
 ly period disapproved of in the newspapers. Many 
 of his letters were written to friends in Massachu- 
 
420 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 setts, particularly to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper, 
 who was an active advocate for popular rights and 
 the cause of the colonies. In a letter to Dr. Cooper, 
 dated April, 1769, he says : " The Parliament remain 
 fixed in their resolution not to repeal the duty acts 
 this session, and will rise next Tuesday. I hope 
 my country folks will remain as fixed in their reso 
 lutions of industry and frugality till these acts are 
 repealed ; and if I could be sure of that, I should 
 almost wish them never to be repealed, being per 
 suaded that we shall reap more solid and extensive 
 advantages from the steady practice of those two 
 great virtues, than we can possibly suffer damage from 
 all the duties the Parliament of this kingdom can 
 levy on us. They flatter themselves you can not 
 long subsist without their manufactures. They be 
 lieve you have not virtue enough to persist in such 
 agreements. They imagine the colonies will differ 
 amoDg themselves, deceive and desert one another, 
 and quietly, one after the other, submit to the yoke, 
 and return to the use of British fineries. They think 
 that, though the men may be contented with home 
 spun stuffs, the women will never get the better of 
 their vanity and fondness for English modes and 
 gewgaws. The ministerial people all talk in this 
 strain, and even many of the merchants. I have 
 ventured to assert that they will all find themselves 
 mistaken ; and I rely so much on the spirit of my 
 country as to be confident I shall not be found a 
 false prophet, though at present not believed. * * * 
 The advantages of your perseverance in industry 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 421 
 
 and frugality will be great and permanent. Your 
 debts will be paid, your farms will be better improved 
 and yield a greater produce, your real wealth will in 
 crease in a plenty of evry useful home production, 
 and all the true enjoyments of life, even though no 
 foreign trade should be allowed you, and this handi 
 craft shop-keeping state will, for its own sake, learn 
 to behave more civilly to its customers." It is a lit 
 tle amusing to note, in the last sentence, the appli 
 cation of epithets to England which were in sub 
 stance afterward repeated by Napoleon. Franklin* 
 wrote in the same strain of encouragement to others, 
 individuals, committees, and public bodies. The 
 measures which he once thought and said would be 
 better carried in silence than with the parade of 
 meetings, resolutions, and associations, he now per 
 ceived could be best promoted by the very steps 
 which he had, at first, hesitated to approve. And as 
 Dr. Franklin s plans and views were eminently prac 
 tical, he took a great interest in the silk culture, sug 
 gesting to his correspondents in America the proba 
 bility of exchanging raw silk for manufactures in 
 England, and thus making the colonies independent 
 of British manufactures, by supplying a commod 
 ity in exchange much easier obtained than specie. 
 " When once," he says, " you can raise plenty of 
 silk, you may have manufactures enough from hence." 
 And the experiment was very successfully prosecu 
 ted until the Revolutionary troubles put a period to 
 the culture. 
 
 In April, 1770, Parliament altered the revenue 
 
422 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 law, but in such a manner as to make it more offen 
 sive to the thinking than before. The duties were 
 removed on all articles except tea, in the expectation 
 that motives of self-interest would draw the colo 
 nists into trade again, and thus enrich the British 
 merchants and manufacturers, while the retention of 
 the duty on one article would defend and maintain the 
 principle which was in dispute. Meanwhile, a tragic 
 al affair had occurred in Boston, in the collision be 
 tween the people and the troops quartered in that 
 town for the enforcement of the measures of the min 
 istry. This event, commonly called the Boston Mas 
 sacre, took place on the 5th of March. Through the 
 winter the discipline of the soldiers had been relaxed, 
 and they were permitted to wander, in parties and 
 singly, about the streets. Frequent disputes occur 
 red between them and the citizens ; the soldiers were 
 accused of insolence to the people, and some of them 
 were rude in their deportment toward respectable 
 females. At any time, or for any cause, the pres 
 ence of a standing army in Boston would have been 
 a sore grievance ; but in the events of the times, there 
 were incidents which led to direct collision. 
 
 Governor Bernard had sailed for England. The 
 people, stung by his arbitrary measures in delaying 
 and refusing to convene the " General Court," as the 
 Legislature of that province was styled, and more 
 than suspicious that he was acting against the peo 
 ple in person in Great Britain, as he had strongly 
 accused them in his correspondence, were in a con 
 dition of great exasperation. The citizens renewed 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 423 
 
 their non-importation agreement, and, as some of the 
 merchants persisted in importing British goods, they 
 became highly obnoxious to the people, many of 
 whom resorted to strong methods of testifying their 
 dislike. The boys partook of the spirit of the time, 
 and bore about the streets effigies of the importing 
 merchants. A notorious spy, or informer, became 
 entangled in an affray with certain of these boys, 
 who followed him to his house with abusive epi 
 thets. They threw snow and ice against the build 
 ing; he fired from the window, and killed one of the 
 lads. The excitement produced by this event was 
 intense ; the funeral of the boy was attended by an 
 immense concourse of people, and the state of pub 
 lic feeling which it engendered led to continual af 
 frays between the soldiers and the populace ; all, 
 however, without the use of any other arms on ei 
 ther side than bludgeons, stones, ice, and other im 
 promptu missiles. In most of these encounters, as is 
 usually the case in such affairs between soldiers and 
 citizens, the latter were victorious. 
 
 On the night of the 5th of March, a sentinel was 
 assaulted on his post, near the Custom-house, with 
 ice and snow. As recent events had exasperated 
 the people, and many were in the streets from a fire- 
 alarm, a great crowd pressed upon the point where 
 the collision occurred. A sergeant and six men 
 were dispatched to the relief of the sentinel, and 
 were received with missiles by the crowd. The 
 captain of the guard, who had followed, ordered them 
 to charge ; the people, unintimidated, persisted in 
 
424 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 throwing ice; some person gave the word "fire!" 
 and the soldiers discharged their pieces, killing three 
 rf the crowd outright, and wounding two mortally 
 
 and several slightly. The soldiers were shortly aft 
 er withdrawn from the town to the castle, on an isl 
 and in the harbor. The guard had a fair and im 
 partial trial, and were acquitted ; and the people ac 
 quiesced in the legal justice of the verdict. 
 
 These events, the presence of Governor Bernard 
 in England, and copies of the letters of Franklin to 
 his correspondents in America, which had been sur 
 reptitiously procured, all operated against the inde 
 fatigable friend of his countrymen. It was his for 
 tune to be held in some measure accountable for all 
 that transpired in the colonies in opposition to the 
 ministry. Intimations were made to him that he 
 would be dispossessed of his office of postmaster- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 425 
 
 general. He still retained his office, though efforts 
 were made, as he suspected, to provoke him to a res 
 ignation : a step which he considered would have 
 been a forfeiture of his self-respect, and an admission 
 of a point which he stoutly denied, to wit, that he 
 had in any way compromised his loyalty, or inter 
 fered with his duty as postmaster, in performing that 
 which he owed to his country. He maintained his 
 right to discuss the measures of the ministry, and 
 sought neither to deny nor to conceal his sentiments. 
 In his autobiography Dr. Franklin refers with grat 
 ification to a sort of prophecy of his father s, that he 
 should stand before kings, which was more than ful 
 filled by his standing before six and dining with one, 
 the King of Denmark, in London ; and in a letter 
 to his friend Thomas Gushing, speaker of the Mas 
 sachusetts House of Representatives, the doctor, then 
 65 years of age, speaks with the gratification of an 
 old man of the honor paid him in 1771 by the Irish 
 Parliament. He had just returned from a tour in 
 Scotland and Ireland, and was describing some of 
 the occurrences. " Before leaving Ireland, I must 
 mention that, being desirous of seeing some of the 
 principal patriots there, I stayed till the opening of 
 their Parliament. I found them disposed to be 
 friends of America, in which I endeavored to con 
 firm them, with the expectation that our growing 
 weight might in time be thrown into their scale, 
 and, by joining our interests with theirs, a more equi 
 table treatment from this nation might be obtained 
 for them as well as for us. There are many brave 
 
426 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 spirits among them. The gentry are a very sensi 
 ble, polite, and friendly people. Their Parliament 
 makes a most respectable figure, with a number of 
 very respectable speakers in both parties, and able 
 men of business. And I must not omit acquainting 
 you that, it being a standing rule to admit members 
 of the English Parliament to sit (though they do not 
 vote) in the House among the members, my fellow- 
 traveler, being an English member, was accordingly 
 admitted as such ; but I supposed I must go to the 
 gallery, when the speaker stood up and acquainted 
 the House that he understood there was in town an 
 American gentleman of (as he was pleased to say) 
 distinguished character and merit, a member or del 
 egate of some of the Parliaments of that country, 
 who was desirous of being present at the debates of 
 the House ; that there w r as a rule of the House for 
 admitting members of English Parliaments, and that 
 he supposed the House would consider the Ameri 
 can Assemblies as English Parliaments ; but as this 
 was the first instance, he had chosen not to give any 
 order in it without first receiving their directions. 
 On the question, the House gave a loud, unanimous 
 Ay, when two members came without the bar, led 
 me in between them, and placed me honorably and 
 commodiously." 
 
 Such a reception in Ireland must have been ex 
 ceedingly gratifying to him at a time when the "lying 
 representations," as he strongly terms them, of Gov 
 ernor Bernard, identifying him with the Massachu 
 setts disturbances, made his treatment by the official 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 427 
 
 personages in London any thing but courteous. He 
 had been grievously insulted by Lord Hillsborough, 
 as we have already seen, and certain of the news 
 papers were, or had been, in full cry against him. 
 In the respite from public labors and official discom 
 forts which he enjoyed during this tour through Ire 
 land and Scotland, the sympathy and warm-hearted 
 ness of the Irish patriots were not the only circum 
 stances which gave him comfort and solace. He 
 found his old Scottish friends, with some new ones, 
 ready to receive him with open arms, and spent sev 
 eral weeks in the enjoyment of the society of men, 
 most of whom had no particular political sympathy 
 with him, while their esteem for him as a man and 
 as a philosopher, or, in other words, their personal 
 regard, made their intercourse with him most de 
 lightful. 
 
 In this year (177.1) Dr. Franklin paid two visits 
 to Jonathan Shipley, bishop of St. Asaph s the 
 " good bishop," as he styled him. To this prelate Dr. 
 Franklin was indebted for some of the attention 
 which he received in Ireland, being furnished with 
 letters to gentlemen in that country. As an evi 
 dence of the continual remembrance of his family, 
 we extract the following from a letter to his wife, 
 written August 14th, 1771. The last clause of the 
 extract is amusingly characteristic : " I spent three 
 weeks in Hampshire at my friend the Bishop of St. 
 Asaph s. The bishop s lady knows what children 
 and grandchildren I have, and their ages ; so, when 
 I was to come away on Monday, the 12th, in the 
 
428 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 morning, she insisted on my staying that one day 
 longer, that we might together keep my grandson s 
 birth-day. At dinner, among other nice things, we 
 had a floating island, which they always particular 
 ly have on the birth-days of any of their own six 
 children, who were all but one at table, where there 
 was also a clergyman s widow, now above one hun 
 dred years old. The chief toast of the day was 
 Master Benjamin Bache, which the venerable old 
 lady began in a bumper of mountain. The bishop s 
 lady politely added, * and that he may be as good a 
 man as his grandfather. I said I hoped he would 
 be much better. The bishop, still more complaisant 
 than his lady, said, We will compound the matter, 
 and be content if he should not prove quite so good! 
 This chit-chat is to yourself only, in return for some 
 of yours about your grandson, and must only be read 
 to Sally, and not spoken of to any body else ; for 
 you know how people add and alter silly stories that 
 they hear, and make them appear ten times more 
 silly." 
 
 In the letter to his wife which contained the above, 
 he inclosed also a letter just received from the bish 
 op. Sure that his wife could not help but hear what 
 was said to his disadvantage, he was ever kindly 
 anxious that she should know what pleasant events 
 he encountered, and what good and great men gave 
 him their countenance. It was during his visit to 
 the bishop that he commenced his autobiography, 
 and it is not at all improbable that the partiality and 
 kindness of this hospitable family aided no little in 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 429 
 
 putting him in the good humor with himself which 
 runs so pleasantly through that performance. 
 
 The embarrassments which attended the transac 
 tion of American business, and his increasing infirm 
 ities of age, again pressed upon Franklin the expe 
 diency of returning home, and he expressed the de 
 sire very strongly in his letters written in 1772. But 
 his correspondents in America urged him to remain, 
 and in this year the Massachusetts affairs again en 
 gaged his attention. In this year, too, he was occu 
 pied with the Walpole Grant and with Lord Hills- 
 borough, whose resignation took place about the 
 middle of the year; and the appointment of Lord 
 Dartmouth put matters on a better footing, as the 
 regulations respecting agents, established by Lord 
 Hillsborough, were set aside. It has been supposed 
 that the influence of Dr. Franklin had some weight 
 in the appointment of Lord Dartmouth. That no- 
 blernan was an opponent of the Stamp Act, and from 
 his general principles was supposed to be favorable 
 to the interests of the colonies. It is said that Frank 
 lin was sounded while the successorship to Lord 
 Hillsborough was mooted, and that he mentioned 
 Lord Dartmouth as one who would be acceptable 
 to the Americans. And the change was found gen 
 erally very acceptable. 
 
 Dr. Franklin s first official business with Lord 
 Dartmouth was the presentation of a petition from 
 the Massachusetts Legislature, remonstrating against 
 the payment of the governor s and judges salaries by 
 the crown. Under advice from Dartmouth, whose 
 
430 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 good- will to the provinces was not, at this time, ques 
 tioned, and who, perhaps, would never have been 
 supposed to entertain any other feelings if the com 
 mittal of the ministry to a bad policy had not com 
 pelled him to act against his former opinions, Frank 
 lin consented that the presentation of the petition 
 should be delayed. Meanwhile, orders were dis 
 patched to America, by which the salaries of the 
 governor and judges were to be paid from the cus 
 toms. The Legislature tendered the governor his 
 salary, and he declined receiving it; but he asked 
 that the Province House in Boston might be repair 
 ed for his residence. The Legislature replied that, 
 as he chose to be supported by the British govern 
 ment, they did not feel obliged to be at any expense 
 for his accommodation. 
 
 In the autumn of 1772, two meetings were held 
 by the citizens of Boston in relation to this subject 
 of salaries. Messages desiring information were sent 
 to Governor Hutchinson, which he declined to an 
 swer, refusing to recognize the meeting, and brand 
 ing it as an " unlawful assembly." He was then de 
 sired to convene the General Court, which he re 
 fused to do. A committee was appointed to make 
 a report at a subsequent meeting ; and this report, a 
 most able document, was adopted in Boston, and dis 
 patched with circular letters to other towns in the 
 province. In most of the towns the sentiments of 
 the " Statement of Rights" were cordially responded 
 to, and all the efforts of the friends of the governor 
 to awe and cajole the people into silence were inef- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 431 
 
 fectual. James Otis and Samuel Adams were mem 
 bers of the committee who framed this report. Al 
 though Governor Hutchinson, in his history, says 
 " the materials of the report were prepared for them 
 in England by their great director, whose advice 
 they followed, and in whose wisdom and dexterity 
 they had implicit faith," yet it is hardly to be sup 
 posed that the Otises,. Adamses, and other leading 
 patriots of New England needed to apply for mate 
 rials even to Dr. Franklin. The legislative proceed 
 ings of that period, and the columns of the public 
 press, give evidences of union, and strength, and of 
 political wisdom, which indicated no dearth of abili 
 ty in the province. Dr. Franklin caused the proceed 
 ings of the Bostonians to be republished in London, 
 with a temperate preface prefixed by himself. Of 
 course it was published anonymously. In this case 
 the matter of the pamphlet needed no one to call at 
 tention to it, and Dr. Franklin s efforts were directed 
 rather to obtain a fair hearing than to bespeak readers. 
 Little occurred in 17723 except what tended to 
 show that little more was to be hoped from the min 
 istry of Lord Dartmouth than from that of Lord 
 Hillsborough, except in the cheap article of civility 
 Ministers were determined to persist in their policy, 
 and defend "the dignity of Parliament." At this 
 period Dr. Franklin published the " Rules for Re 
 ducing a Great Empire to a Small One," which we 
 have already quoted, as also the following, which 
 even exceeds the other in point and humor. It pur 
 ports to be " An Edict by the King of Prussia:" 
 
432 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 " Dantzic, September 5th, 1773. 
 
 " WE have long wondered here at the supineness 
 of the English nation under the Prussian imposi 
 tions upon its trade entering our port. We did not, 
 till lately, know the claims, ancient and modern, that 
 hang over that nation, and therefore could not sus 
 pect that it might submit to those impositions from 
 a sense of duty or from principles of equity. The 
 following Edict, just made public, may, if serious, 
 throw some light upon this matter. 
 
 " FREDERIC, by the grace of God, King of Prus 
 sia, &c., &c., &c., to all present and to come (a torn 
 prcsens et a venir), health. The peace now enjoyed 
 throughout our dominions having afforded us leisure 
 to apply ourselves to the regulation of commerce, the 
 improvement of our finances, and, at the same time, 
 the easing our domestic subjects in their taxes ; for 
 these causes, and other good considerations us there 
 unto moving, we hereby make known, that, after 
 having deliberated these affairs in our council, pres 
 ent our dear brothers and other great officers of the 
 state, members of the same, we, of our certain knowl 
 edge, full power, and authority royal, have made and 
 issued this present Edict, viz.: 
 
 " Whereas it is well known to all the world that 
 the first German settlements made in the Island of 
 Britain were by colonies of people subject to our 
 renowned ducal ancestors, and drawn from their do 
 minions under the conduct of Hengist, Horsa, Hella, 
 Ufifa, C/,rclicus, Ida, and others; and that the said 
 colov/f > Lave flourished under the protection of our 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 august house for ages past; have never been eman 
 cipated therefrom, and yet have hitherto yielded 
 little profit to the same ; and whereas we ourself 
 have in the last war fought for and defended the said 
 colonies against the power of France, and thereby 
 enabled them to make conquests from the said pow 
 er in America, for which we have not yet received 
 adequate compensation ; and whereas it is just and 
 expedient that a revenue should be raised from the 
 said colonies in Britain toward our indemnification, 
 and that those who are descendants of our ancient 
 subjects, and thence still owe us due obedience, 
 should contribute to the replenishing of our royal 
 coffers (as they must have done had their ancestors 
 remained in the territories now to us appertaining), 
 we do therefore hereby ordain and command, that 
 from and after the date of these presents, there shall 
 be levied and paid to our officers of the customs, on 
 all goods, wares, and merchandises, and on all grain 
 and other produce of the earth, exported from the 
 said Island of Britain, and on all goods of whatever 
 kind imported into the same, a duty of four and a 
 half per cent, ad valorem, for the use of us and our 
 successors. And, that the said duty may more effect 
 ually be collected, we do hereby ordain that all ships 
 or vessels bound froai Great Britain to any other 
 part of the "world, or from any other part of the world 
 to Great Britain, shall in their respective Voyages 
 touch at our port of Koningsberg, there to be unla-* 
 den, searched, and charged with the said duties. 
 " And whereas there hath been from time to time 
 
 E E 
 
434 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 discovered in the said Island of Great Britain, by our 
 colonists there, many mines or beds of iron-stone ; 
 and sundry subjects of our ancient dominion, skill 
 ful in converting the said stone into metal, have in 
 time past transported themselves thither, carrying 
 with them and communicating that art ; and the in 
 habitants of the said island, presuming that they had 
 a natural right to make the best use they could of 
 the natural productions of their country for their 
 own benefit, have not only built furnaces for smelt 
 ing the said stone into iron, but have erected plating- 
 forges, slitting-mills, and steel-furnaces, for the more 
 convenient manufacturing of the same, thereby en 
 dangering a diminution of the said manufacture in 
 our ancient dominion : We do, therefore, farther or 
 dain, that from and after the date hereof, no mill or 
 other engine for slitting or rolling of iron, or any 
 plating-forge to work with a tilt-hammer, or any fur 
 nace for making steel, shall be erected or continued 
 in the said Island of Great Britain. And the lord- 
 lieutenant of every county in the said island is here 
 by commanded, on information of any such erection 
 within his county, to order, and by force to cause, 
 the same to be abated and destroyed, as he shall 
 answer the neglect thereof to us at his peril. But 
 we are nevertheless graciously pleased to permit the 
 inhabitants of the said island to transport their iron 
 into Prussia, there to be manufactured, and to them 
 returned, they paying our Prussian subjects for the 
 workmanship, with all the costs of commission, 
 freight, and risk, coming and returning, any thing 
 .herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 435 
 
 " * We do not, however, think fit to extend this 
 our indulgence to the article of wool ; but, meaning 
 to encourage not only the manufacturing of woolen 
 cloth, but also the raising of wool in our ancient do 
 minions, and to prevent both, as much as may be, in 
 our said island, we do hereby absolutely forbid the 
 transportation of wool from thence, even to the 
 mother country, Prussia; and, that those islanders 
 may be further and more effectually restrained in 
 making any advantage of their own wool in the way 
 of manufacture, we command that none shall be car 
 ried out of one county into another ; nor shall any 
 worsted, bay, or woolen yarn, cloth, says, bays, ker 
 seys, serges, frizes, druggets, cloth-serges, shalloons, 
 or any other drapery stuffs, or woolen manufactures 
 whatsoever, made up or mixed with wool, in any of 
 the said counties, be carried into any other county, 
 or be water-borne even across the smallest river or 
 creek, on penalty of forfeiture of the same, together 
 with the boats, carriages, horses, &c., that shall be 
 employed in removing them. Nevertheless, our lov 
 ing subjects there are hereby permitted (if they think 
 proper) to use all their wool as manure for the im 
 provement of their lands. 
 
 " And whereas the art and mystery of making 
 hats hath arrived at great perfection in Prussia, and 
 the making of hats by our remoter subjects ought to 
 be as much as possible restrained; and forasmuch 
 as the islanders before mentioned, being in posses 
 sion of wool, beaver, and other furs, have presump 
 tuously conceived they had a right to make some 
 
436 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 advantage thereof, by manufacturing the same into 
 hats, to the prejudice of our domestic manufacture, 
 we do, therefore, hereby strictly command and or 
 dain, that no hats or felts whatsoever, dyed or un- 
 dyed, finished or unfinished, shall be loaded or put 
 into or upon any vessel, cart, carriage, or horse, to 
 be transported or conveyed out of one county in the 
 said island into another county, or to any other place 
 whatsoever, by any person or persons whatsoever, 
 on pain of forfeiting the same, with a penalty of five 
 hundred pounds sterling for every offense ; nor 
 shall any hat-maker, in any of the said counties, em 
 ploy more than two apprentices, on penalty of five 
 pounds sterling per month ; \VQ intending hereby, 
 that such hat-makers, , being so restrained both in 
 the production and sale of their commodity, may 
 find no advantage in continuing their business. But, 
 lest the said islanders should suffer inconvenience 
 by the want of hats, we are further graciously pleased 
 to permit them to send their beaver furs to Prussia, 
 and we also permit hats made thereof to be export 
 ed from Prussia to*Britain, the people thus favored 
 to pay all costs and charges of manufacturing, inter 
 est, commission to our merchants, insurance, and 
 freight going and returning, as in the case of iron. 
 
 " And, lastly, being willing further to favor our 
 said colonies in Britain, we do hereby also ordain 
 and command, that all the thieves, highway and 
 street robbers, housebreakers, forgerers, murderers, 
 s d tes, and villains of every denomination, who 
 have forfeited their lives to the law in Prussia, but 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 437 
 
 whom we, in our great clemency, do not think fit 
 here to hang, shall be emptied out of our jails into 
 the said Island of Great Britain, for the better peo 
 pling of that country. 
 
 " * We flatter ourselves that these our royal regu 
 lations and commands will be thought just and rea 
 sonable by our much-favored colonists in England, 
 the said regulations being copied from their statutes 
 of 10th and llth William III, c. 10 ; 5th George II., 
 c. 22 ; 23d George II, c. 29 ; 4th George I, c. 11, 
 and from other equitable laws made by their Parlia 
 ments, or from instructions given by their princes, 
 or from resolutions of both Houses, entered into for 
 the good government of their own colonies in Ireland 
 and America. 
 
 " And all persons in the said island are hereby 
 cautioned not to oppose in any wise the execution 
 of this our Edict, or any part thereof, such opposi 
 tion being high treason, of which all who are sus 
 pected shall be transported in fetters from Britain to 
 Prussia, there to be tried and executed according to 
 the Prussian law. 
 
 " Such is our pleasure. 
 " Given at Potsdam, this twenty-fifth day of the 
 
 month of August, one thousand seven hundred 
 
 and seventy- three, and in the thirty-third year of 
 
 our reign. 
 
 " By the king, in his council. 
 
 " RECHTMAESSIG, Sec 
 
 " Some take this Edict to be merely one of the 
 
438 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 king s jeux c esprit ; others suppose it serious, and 
 that he means a quarrel with England ; but all here 
 think the assertion it concludes with, * that these 
 regulations are copied from acts of the English Par 
 liament respecting their colonies/ a very injurious 
 one, it being impossible to believe that a people 
 distinguished for their love of liberty, a nation so 
 wise, so liberal in its sentiments, so just and equi 
 table toward its neighbors, should, from mean and 
 injudicious views of petty immediate profit, treat 
 its own children in a manner so arbitrary and ty 
 rannical !" 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 439 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 IN February, 1774, Dr. Franklin was dismissed 
 from his office of postmaster-general for the colo 
 nies. This measure, designed by the ministry to 
 effect the ruin of his influence and character, was so 
 timed that its occurrence was not merely the mark 
 of political disapproval : it was aimed at his per 
 sonal integrity ; for it followed upon a report of the 
 privy council, in such a way that it would appear 
 that the result of a hearing by that board was the 
 establishment of the fact that Benjamin Franklin Jpy 
 abuse of confidence and other knavish proceedings, 
 had shown himself unworthy of trust. The event, 
 however, was, even in England, the reverse of what 
 his enemies counted upon. Detraction might, by 
 more silent and quiet measures, have injured his 
 fame ; but this open and summary persecution caused 
 the public to investigate circumstances to which it 
 might otherwise have been indifferent, and the char 
 acter of Franklin stood higher than before. In 
 America his dismissal from his office proved the 
 most fortunate event for him that his friends could 
 have desired. It relieved him at once from his 
 anomalous position as the holder of office under the 
 British government, and removed the suspicion that 
 his enemies entertained and encouraged, that he was 
 
140 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 playing a double part. Upon the reception of the 
 news, Dr. Rush wrote thus to Arthur Lee : " Dr. 
 Franklin is a very popular character in every part 
 of America. He will be received and carried in tri 
 umph to his house when he arrives among us. It is 
 to be hoped that he will not consent to hold any more 
 offices under government. No step bat this can 
 prevent his being handed down to posterity among 
 the first and greatest characters in the world." 
 
 The circumstances which preceded the removal 
 of Dr. Franklin from the post-office were as follows : 
 In the latter part of the year 1772, while in conver 
 sation with a gentleman in London who was versed 
 in state affairs, the doctor was informed that all the 
 measures of which he and other Americans com- 
 pkined were not originated in England, but were 
 " projected, proposed to the administration, solicited, 
 and obtained by some of the most respectable among 
 the Americans themselves, as necessary measures for 
 the welfare of that country." In proof of this, the 
 gentleman placed in Franklin s hands a large bundle 
 of original letters from Governor Hutchinson, Lieu 
 tenant-governor Oliver, and others, in which the 
 sending of troops and other obnoxious measures 
 were strongly advised. The direction of these let 
 ters was erased, but it subsequently appeared that 
 the person to whom they were written was Mr. 
 Thomas Whately, then deceased. Mr. Whately 
 had been a member of Parliament, and at one time 
 secretary under one of the ministers. It is stated 
 that three persons in England only were privy to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 44] 
 
 this transaction, one of whom was Mr. John Tem 
 ple. Another is supposed to be Mr. Hartley, a mem 
 ber of Parliament. 
 
 Franklin could not, of course, feel it otherwise 
 than his duty to give information of this fact to his 
 constituents but the gentleman in whose hands the 
 letters were, would not permit copies to be taken. 
 Permission was, however, obtained to transmit the 
 originals to America, under the conditions that they 
 should not be printed, that copies should not be tak 
 en, and that they should be carefully returned. Dr. 
 Franklin sent them to Mr. Thomas Gushing, speak 
 er of the House of Representatives, and chairman 
 of the Committee of Correspondence. Mr. Gushing 
 was desirous not to be known publicly in the trans 
 action, and therefore concealed the manner in which 
 they came into his hands, as to mention Dr. Frank 
 lin, who was, as agent for the colony, in constant 
 correspondence with himself, would at once have 
 identified him with the matter. One of the first per 
 sons in whose hands Mr. Gushing placed the letters 
 was Mr. John Adams, who carried them round with 
 him upon a judicial circuit. Dr. Franklin had au 
 thorized him to show them to several gentlemen 
 whom he designated. He afterward wrote to Mr. 
 Gushing that he might even show them to some of 
 the governor s party, and finally took off all restraint 
 except as to copying. 
 
 These documents, having been freely circulated, 
 and thus become the topic of universal conversation, 
 came before the Massachusetts House of Represent- 
 
442 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 atives in June, 1773. The Assembly sat with closed 
 doors, and heard the letters, copies of which were 
 also produced on the second day for the action of 
 the Legislature. It was said that these copies also 
 came from England, but this, of course, was a fiction 
 and an evasion. A long series of resolutions, and a 
 petition drawn up in accordance with them, were 
 adopted by the House of Representatives on the 15th 
 of June. The purport of the resolutions, as sum 
 med by Dr. Franklin in his account of the matter, 
 was the expression of the opinion of the Americans 
 that " the grievances which had been so deeply re 
 sented as measures of the mother country, were, in 
 fact, the measures of two or three of their own peo 
 ple; of course, all that resentment was withdrawn 
 from her, and fell, where it was proper it should fall, 
 on the heads of those caitiffs who were the authors 
 of the mischief." * * * "It was a solemn dec 
 laration, sent over from the province most aggrieved, 
 in which they acquitted Britain of their grievances, 
 and charged them all upon a few individuals in their 
 own country. Upon the heads of these very mis 
 chievous men they deprecated no vengeance, though 
 that of the whole nation was justly merited; they 
 considered it as a hard thing for an administration 
 to punish a governor who had acted from orders, 
 though the orders had been procured by his misrep 
 resentations and calumnies ; they therefore only pe 
 titioned that his majesty would be pleased to remove 
 Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., and Andrew Oliver, Esq., 
 from their posts in the government, and place good 
 and faithful men in their stead." 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 443 
 
 On the 21st of August, Franklin, as agent for the 
 House of Representatives, sent the petition to Lord 
 Dartmouth, secretary of state for the colonies. Near 
 ly six months intervened between the presentation 
 of the petition and the occurrence of any action upon 
 it. In the mean time, the letters, printed in Boston, 
 reached England, and great curiosity was excited as 
 to who had sent them to America. The gentleman 
 who had handed them to Dr. Franklin had enjoined 
 secrecy on his own account, and so the subject was 
 involved in as much mystery on one side of the At 
 lantic as the other. The newspapers and the polit 
 ical circles were full of discussion. Though the ad 
 dress was erased from them, it was well understood 
 to whom they were originally written Mr. Thomas 
 Whately. His brother, Mr. William Whately, into 
 whose hands, as executor, the papers of the deceas 
 ed had passed, was suspected of having permitted 
 the letters to go out of his hands, and he, in turn, 
 looked to Mr. Temple, a gentleman in the Customs, 
 a friend of his brother s, who had been permitted to 
 examine the papers of the deceased. Mr. Temple, 
 in explicit terms, denied having taken the letters, 01 
 any extract from them, from among the documents 
 belonging to the deceased. Anonymous accusations 
 appeared against Mr. Temple, which he thought Mr. 
 Whately should have contradicted, and as he did not, 
 an altercation ensued : Temple challenged Whately 
 on the morning of the llth of December, and in the 
 afternoon the duel was fought, and Mr. Whately 
 wounded. As Dr. Franklin understood the duel to 
 
444 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 be only postponed until Mr. Whatelj recovered, he 
 interfered, and published a card in the Public Ad 
 vertiser, in which he declared himself to have been 
 the person who procured and transmitted the letters 
 to America, and that, as they were not among Mr. 
 Thomas Whately s papers when those documents 
 passed into the hands of his brother, Mr. Temple 
 could not have taken them from thence. Dr. Frank 
 lin was now blamed for not having prevented the 
 duel ; but it is a sufficient vindication of him in this 
 respect, that he knew 7 nothing of it until after it had 
 occurred. He was also attacked for having trans 
 mitted the letters to America; but to this he an 
 swered, that "they were not of the nature of private 
 letters. They were written by public officers to per 
 sons in public stations, on public affairs, and intend 
 ed to promote public measures ; they were, there 
 fore, handed to other public persons, who might be 
 influenced by them to produce those measures. 7 It 
 is now understood that Mr. Temple, afterward Sir 
 John Temple, came into possession of the papers 
 before Mr. Whately s death, and that he sent them 
 to Dr. Franklin by the hands of a third person. Dr. 
 Franklin might have known this or not ; his card is 
 ambiguous. He says that Mr. Temple could not 
 have taken them from Mr. William Whately, be 
 cause they were never in that gentleman s pos 
 session. 
 
 Now Mr. Whately turned upon Dr. Franklin, and 
 commenced a chancery suit against him, founded on 
 the far-fetched declaration that Franklin had print- 
 
LIFE OF FRAMvLirs. 44^ 
 
 ed great numbers of copies of the letters, and he, the 
 complainant, prayed that Franklin might be com 
 pelled to account for the profits, and discover how he 
 came by the letters, &c. Pending the chancery 
 suit, which appears never to have been carried fur 
 ther than filing the complainant s bill .and receiving 
 the respondent s answer, Dr. Franklin was notified 
 that the king had referred the petition of the Assem 
 bly to the privy council. On the llth of January, 
 the doctor accordingly appeared before the council, 
 with Mr. Bollan, the agent for the council of the 
 province of Massachusetts. The evident purpose 
 of this hearing was to make the occasion one of per 
 sonal attack upon Dr. Franklin. Mr. Israel Maudit 
 petitioned that he might be heard by counsel in be 
 half of the governor and lieutenant-governor of Mas 
 sachusetts, and Mr. Wedderbern, afterward Lord 
 Loughborough, appeared as their counsel. Mr. Bol 
 lan was not allowed to speak, because he was not 
 the agent of the House of Representatives ; and Dr. 
 Franklin, finding the other party provided with coun 
 sel, embraced the same privilege, and the hearing was 
 adjourned three weeks to enable him to make prep 
 arations. 
 
 On Saturday, the 29th of January, 1773, the hear 
 ing took place. Thirty-five lords of the council were 
 present, and many other persons, a larger number 
 than had ever attended on any previous occasion. 
 It was well understood what would be the course 
 pursued. After the previous meeting, which was 
 held only to adjourn, rumors were circulated about 
 
446 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the city that Dr. Franklin had been soundly casti 
 gated by Wedderbern, removed from his office, &c. 
 These rumors only indicated a foregone conclusion ; 
 for such was precisely the course which matters took 
 on the examination. Mr. Panning and Mr. John 
 Lee, two eminent barristers, engaged by Dr. Frank- 
 Jin, appeared as counsel for the Massachusetts House 
 of Representatives, producing and reading copies of 
 the famous letters in support of the petition. Mr. 
 Wedderbern followed in an eloquent, artful, and 
 sarcastic speech, bitterly abusing Dr. Franklin, who 
 stood consciously erect and bore it all, apparently 
 unmoved. On this occasion he was dressed in a 
 full suit of Manchester spotted velvet a circum 
 stance which, of no consequence in itself, has been 
 noted, because he preserved the same suit, and wore 
 it when he signed the treaties of commerce and al 
 liance with France, thus indicating that he felt more 
 than he permitted himself to betray, and that he saw 
 more events in the future than he allowed himself to 
 predict. As Wedderbern proceeded, the members 
 of the council frequently laughed outright, and so far 
 forgot decorum as to cry " Hear ! hear !" At no time 
 in his life was he more bitterly and cruelly insult 
 ed. He remarked to a friend the next day that " he 
 had never before been so sensible of the power of a 
 good conscience ; for that if he had not considered 
 the thing for which he had been so much insulted as 
 one of the best actions of his life, and what he should 
 certainly do again in the like circumstances, he could 
 not have supported it." The petition of the Assem- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 447 
 
 bly of Massachusetts for the dismissal of the gov 
 ernor and lieutenant-governor was dismissed as 
 "groundless, vexatious, and scandalous, and calcu 
 lated only for the seditious purpose of keeping up a 
 spirit of clamor and discontent in the said province." 
 On the Monday morning following, Dr. Franklin re 
 ceived his notice of removal from the office of post 
 master in the provinces. This he had looked for; 
 but not for the artful mode in which it was made to 
 appear a personal disgrace, and an endorsement of 
 the malice of his enemies. He had been injured, 
 also, in his resources by an order from the ministry 
 to the governor of Massachusetts, to sign no war 
 rant on the colonial treasury for his expenses as 
 agent. How Dr. Franklin viewed the course of the 
 ministry toward him is shown in the following squib, 
 published by him anonymously in the Public Ad 
 vertiser : 
 
 " SIR : Your correspondent Britannicus inveighs 
 violently against Dr. Franklin for his ingratitude to 
 the ministry of this nation, who have conferred upon 
 him so many favors. They gave him the post-office 
 of America ; they made his son a governor ; and 
 they offered him a post of five hundred a year in the 
 Salt-office, if he would relinquish the interests of his 
 country ; but he had the wickedness to continue true 
 to it, and is as much an American as ever. As it is 
 a settled point in government here that every man 
 has his price, it is plain that they are bunglers in 
 their business, and have not offered him enough. 
 
448 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Their master has as much reason to be angry with 
 them as Rodrigue in the play with his apothecary, 
 for not effectually poisoning Panclolpho, and they 
 must probably make use of the apothecary s justifi 
 cation, viz. : 
 
 " * Rodrigue. You promised to have this Pan- 
 dblpho upon his bier in less than a week ; tis now 
 more than a month since, and he still walks and 
 stares me in the face. 
 
 " Fell. True ; and yet I have done my best en 
 deavors. In various ways I have given the mis 
 creant as much poison as would have killed an ele 
 phant. He has swallowed dose after dose ; far from 
 hurting him, he seems the better for it. He hath a 
 wonderful strong constitution. I find I can not kill 
 him but by cutting his. throat, and that, I take it, is 
 not my business. 
 
 " Rodrigue. Then it must be mine. " 
 
 There is a singular aptness in the above, when 
 Dr. Franklin is known as the author. It lets us into 
 the light in which he regarded ministerial overtures 
 and favors. ^What he did accept would have been 
 poison indeefl, and effectual poison, to almost <any 
 man efse ; and that his influence and character were 
 not effectually destroyed with his countrymen by -his 
 relations to the British government was not through 
 any forbearance of his enemies. But he survived it 
 all ; and what was designed to be the final blow, his 
 removal from the post-office, with its intended igno 
 miny, only produced the effect already described at 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 449 
 
 the opening of this chapter. His situation now had 
 become more critical in another light. He kept 
 away from the ministerial levees, and virtually re 
 signed his post as agent of Massachusetts, putting 
 his papers into the hands of Mr. Arthur Lee, who 
 was designated as his successor; but he resumed 
 the business of the agency during Mr. Lee s absence 
 on the Continent. 
 
 The famous " tea party" occurred in Boston Har 
 bor while the ministry in England were busy with 
 Dr. Franklin. An act had been passed allowing a 
 drawback on teas sent from England to America, of 
 which the effect was to make the article, even with 
 the imposition of the colonial duty, actually cheap 
 er in America than in England. But the colonists, 
 far from swallowing this gilded pill, were exaspera 
 ted at the attempt to bribe them into a surrender of 
 principle. The views of the proceedings in Amer 
 ica, the return of the tea from some ports, and its 
 destruction in Boston, familiarized the public mind 
 to the expectation that blows might result between 
 the mother country and the colonies. The Hutch- 
 inson Letters, and the proceedings thereupon, had 
 brought him into a more prominent position than 
 ever, and caused him to be fully identified with the 
 proceedings in America. The ministerial party par 
 ticularly charged this upon him ; and his friends, 
 who saw in the accusation only a triumphant refu 
 tat) m of the want of patriotism with which his Amer 
 icm enemies had charged him, were far from en 
 deavoring to disprove the ministerial allegations. He 
 
 F F 
 
450 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 had now become anxious to return home, having 
 been absent ten years. But a Continental Congress 
 was called to meet in September, 1774, and Dr. 
 Franklin decided to wait until the spring of 1775 
 before his return home. 
 
 Before the arrival of that time, his desire to revisit 
 America was abated by the afflicting intelligence of 
 the death of his wife. They had been married for 
 ty-four years. Much of that time he had been sep 
 arated from her by his public duties ; but in his ab 
 sence he might almost be said to be present in his 
 household, by the minute, familiar, and affectionate 
 correspondence, specimens of which we have given. 
 In his autobiography he bears testimony to her worth 
 and good qualities, and in his letters before her death 
 and after he makes frequent and affectionate men 
 tion of her. While in the society of the great and 
 wise in Europe, his wife and family were frequent 
 subjects of conversation with him ; and he seemed 
 to strive always while she lived to make her, in some 
 sense, the sharer of the social pleasures which he 
 found in the families of his European friends. Those 
 friends bear accidental but honorable testimony to 
 his affection as a husband and a father, in the to 
 kens of their remembrance which they commission 
 ed him to send his family from persons who loved 
 those connected with their honored guest. While 
 the husband was absent, the wife was his competent 
 and judicious agent. She died December 19th, 1774, 
 and was buried in the cemetery of Christ Church, in 
 the corner bounded by Arch and Fifth streets. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 451 
 
 In December Franklin received the first petition 
 of the Continental Congress, which, accompanied 
 by Messrs. Bollan and Lee, he carried to Lord Dart 
 mouth. It was presented to the king, and by him 
 laid before Parliament, but without any allusion be 
 ing made to it in the royal speech. After a heated 
 debate, it was rejected in the House of Commons 
 by a majority which indicated that all hope for a 
 peaceful termination of the difficulties between the 
 two countries was at an end. The rejection of the 
 petition might have been inferred from the refusal 
 of the House to permit the agents of the colonies to 
 appear at the bar of the House in support of it ; but 
 the violent language in which certain members spolre 
 of reducing the colonists to obedience at all events, 
 and by force, should force prove necessary, argued a 
 spirit of contemptuous prejudice which prevented a 
 just view of the character of the colonists, or their 
 capacity for resistance. There were gentlemen, 
 however, high in standing, who feared the results of 
 the policy of the administration. Among these was 
 Lord Chatham. He sought the counsel of Frank 
 lin upon American affairs, having, as it subsequently 
 appeared, a scheme in view for the reconciliation of 
 the difficulties between Great Britain and the colo 
 nies. In his conversation with Franklin, Lord Chat 
 ham condemned the late laws against Massachu 
 setts, closing the port of Boston, and other oppress 
 ive measures, and expressed the hope that the Amer 
 icans would continue firm, and defend, by all prac 
 ticable and legal means, their constitutional rights. 
 
452 
 
 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 He alluded to an opinion prevalent in England thai 
 the Americans were aiming to set up an independ 
 ent state. Dr. Franklin assured him that he had 
 traveled from one end of the Continent to the oth 
 er, and had never heard such an intention expressed. 
 But it was well understood, and probably Lord 
 Chatham knew, that Franklin, and others best con 
 versant with the character of America, believed and 
 said that pursuance of the ministerial policy would 
 inevitably bring about a rupture. Up to this date, 
 and beyond it, the colonists had only aimed at a re 
 dress of grievances. 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1775, Franklin was pres 
 ent, by Lord Chatham s desire, in the House of 
 Lords, when that nobleman made his motion for the 
 withdrawal of the troops from Boston. The motion 
 was ably sustained by speeches from Lords Chat 
 ham and Camden, but was lost by a large majority. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 453 
 
 Lord Chatham stated that this motion was prepar 
 atory to a general plan of reconciliation which he 
 proposed to lay before Parliament. And, notwith 
 standing the defeat of the preparatory motion, Lord 
 Chatham brought forward his plan, in the form of a 
 bill, on the 1st of February. In the mean time, Lord 
 Chatham and Franklin had several conferences upon 
 the plan, which Chatham drew up and submitted to 
 the doctor. A great deal of interest was felt in the 
 subject, and the friends of peace hoped every thing 
 from the talents of Lord Chatham. But the minis 
 terial party bent all their strength against it. It was 
 not even permitted to remain as the basis of any 
 proceedings, or suffered to lie upon the table, but 
 was rejected by a majority of two to one. Lord 
 Sandwich, in his speech in opposition, said that this 
 bill could not be the work of a British peer, but 
 would seem to be the work of some American. " He 
 fancied that he had in his eye the person who drew 
 it up, one of the bitterest and most mischievous en 
 emies the country had ever known." 
 
 As Lord Sandwich uttered this, he turned toward 
 Franklin. Lord Chatham, in reply, declared that 
 the bill was entirely his own a declaration he felt 
 the more constrained to make, since many of their 
 lordships had so mean an opinion of it. " But," he 
 added, " he made no scruple to declare that, if he 
 were the first minister of this country, and had the 
 charge of this momentous business, he should not be 
 ashamed of publicly calling to his assistance a per 
 son so perfectly acquainted with the whole of Amer- 
 
454 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 lean affairs as the gentleman alluded to, and so in 
 juriously reflected on ; one, he was pleased to say, 
 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 En 
 glish nation only, but to human nature !" 
 
 Such eulogy from Lord Chatham was more than 
 an answer to the abuse of Mr. Wedderbern ; and this 
 public praise in the House of Lords was a triumph 
 ant vindication from the abuse which Franklin re 
 ceived for doing what he considered his duty before 
 the privy council. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 DR. FRANKLIN was a great admirer of chess. He 
 has left among his writings a paper called " The 
 Morals of Chess," in which, with his usual cheerful 
 shrewdness, he lays down rules which will answer 
 for the game of life as well as for the game of chess ; 
 and the directions which he prescribes for the con 
 duct of the players might well be carried into all in 
 tercourse. The character of his calm and philo 
 sophical mind is stamped upon this production ; and 
 in it we see the maxim by which the sagacious di 
 plomatist guided his conduct through duties as ardu 
 ous as those which fell to the share of any patriot 
 of the Revolution. Against all unfairness and lack 
 of courtesy, all unreasonable and insulting triumph 
 the philosophical chess-player is rationally earnest. 
 An interesting parallel might be drawn between his 
 chess-maxims and his political advice to his coun 
 trymen ; and it is hardly exaggeration to say that a 
 complete code of the minor morals, and an instruct 
 ive homily on that true politeness whose foundation 
 is kindness, are contained in the doctor s discourse 
 on this fascinating amusement. "Moderate," says 
 Franklin, in conclusion, "your desire of victory over 
 your adversary, and be pleased with one over your 
 self. Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered 
 
456 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 by his unskillfulness or inattention, but point out to 
 him kindly that, by such a move, he places or leaves 
 a piece in danger and unsupported ; that by another 
 he will put his king in a perilous situation, &c. By 
 this generous civility, you may, indeed, happen to lose 
 the game to your opponent, but you will win what 
 is better, his esteem, his respect, and his affection, 
 together with the silent approbation and good-will 
 of all impartial spectators." 
 
 During the intercourse between Franklin and 
 Lord Chatham, advances were made from another 
 quarter, or quarters, to sound the American relative 
 to the possibility of an adjustment of the difficulties 
 between Great Britain and her colonies. No high 
 er compliment could have been paid him than in 
 these proceedings, which at once recognized his in 
 timate knowledge of the subject, and his influence 
 with his countrymen, and virtually condemned the 
 injustice which had been done him in the insult at 
 the council-board. It may be cited, among the ro 
 mance of modern history, that an individual was 
 thus tacitly reputed to hold the destinies of the world 
 in his hands ; and it is in the highest degree credit 
 able to Franklin s patriotism and good sense that 
 he did not make shipwreck of his character for pru 
 dence and patriotism in a position which would have 
 overthrown a common man. 
 
 The first move in these negotiations was on the 
 chess-board. The well-known skill of the doctor in 
 the game was made the pretext for introducing him 
 to " a certain lady who had a desire of playing with 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 457 
 
 him at chess, fancying she could beat him." The 
 lady proved to he a sister of Lord Howe, and Dr. 
 Franklin, finding her of "very sensible conversation 
 and pleasing behavior," agreed readily to renewed 
 appointments to try her skill at chess, though at this 
 
 time, he says, he " had not the least apprehension 
 that any political business could have any connec 
 tion with this new acquaintance." At the second 
 meeting with the lady, which occurred in Decem 
 ber, 1774, she found a new avenue to the philos 
 opher s good opinion by conversing with him on a 
 mathematical problem. Then the conversation turn 
 ed from Mathematics to the Parliament just assem 
 bled. " What," said Mrs. Howe, " is to be done with 
 this dispute between Great Britain and the colonies ! 
 I hope we are not to have civil war." " They ought 
 to kiss and be friends," said the doctor; "what can 
 
458 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 they do better? Quarreling can be of service to 
 neither, but is ruin to both." " I have said," replied 
 she, " that I wished government would employ you 
 to settle the dispute for them ; I am sure nobody 
 could do it so well. Do not you think the thing is 
 practicable V " Undoubtedly, madam, if the parties 
 are disposed to reconciliation ; for the two coun 
 tries have really no clashing interests to differ about. 
 It is rather a matter of punctilio, which two or three 
 reasonable people might settle in half an hour. ] 
 thank you for the good opinion you are pleased to 
 express of me, but the ministry will never think of 
 employing me in that good work ; they rather choose 
 to abuse me." " Ay," said she, " they have behaved 
 shamefully to you. And, indeed, some of them are 
 now ashamed of it themselves." Still, so much was 
 Dr. Franklin in the habit of conversing with differ 
 ent persons about America and its affairs, he thought 
 this but an incidental conversation. At the next 
 interview, which was on Christmas evening, Mrs. 
 Howe desired permission of him to send for her 
 brother, Lord Howe, who, she stated, desired his ac 
 quaintance, adding that " he was just by." The 
 doctor s eyes must, by this time, have been opened 
 to these designed accidents, particularly when, af 
 ter a long conversation on American affairs, Lord 
 Howe desired him to draw up some propositions, 
 imbodying the terms on which he conceived a good 
 understanding betweentthe countries might be ob 
 tained and established. These propositions, Lord 
 Howe said, they might meet to consider either at his 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 459 
 
 house, or at Franklin s, or at where the doctor pleas 
 ed. But as Franklin s visiting Lord Howe, or Lord 
 Howe s visiting Franklin might, Lord Howe thought, 
 occasion some speculation, it was concluded to be 
 best to meet at his sister s, where there was a good 
 pretense with her family and friends for his being 
 often seen, as it was known they played together at 
 chess. She " readily offered her house for that pur 
 pose." It is evident, from the circumstances, that 
 such was the intention from the beginning. Ladies 
 have often lent their houses for political purposes 
 none appear to have done it with better motives than 
 the Hon. Mrs. Howe. Franklin has left this record 
 of her, that he would have no secrets in a business 
 of the nature of that in which he was engaged, which 
 he would not confide to her prudence; for he "had 
 never conceived a higher opinion of the discretion 
 and excellent understanding of any woman on so 
 short an acquaintance." And her residence was ac 
 cordingly used as the place of conference while the 
 consultations with Lord Howe continued. The mes 
 sages of Franklin and of Lord Howe, when written, 
 passed through her hands, and, when verbal, were 
 communicated by her. 
 
 Dr. Franklin was, at this period, the negotiator 
 with several different parties, nor did he, until some 
 time a fter, discover that there was any concert among 
 them. All consulted him separately. Lord Chat 
 ham, as related in the previous chapter, was seeking 
 his advice ; Lord Howe was conferring with him ; 
 and two of his friends, Mr. David Barclay and Dr. 
 
460 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Fothergil], were consulting him also, in the hope of 
 concocting a plan which might be the basis of a rec 
 onciliation between the countries. These gentle 
 men possessed the means of reaching the ear of a 
 portion of the ministry. Ex-governor Pownall also 
 dined and sounded him, wishing to be dispatched as 
 an envoy to America, with Dr. Franklin as his col 
 league or secretary. Such was his consequence 
 with politicians ; and with the public his movements 
 were deemed of so much moment, that merchants of 
 standing applied to him to verify or disprove the ru 
 mors by which stocks rose, as he was said to have 
 procured the amicable settlement of " all the disputes 
 between Great Britain and the American colonies, 
 through his application and influence with Lord 
 North." 
 
 The general tenor of the propositions which 
 Franklin submitted in these various conversations 
 required that the colonies should be placed on the 
 same footing which they stood before the difficulties; 
 their officers to be paid from the colonial treasuries 
 instead of by the crown; duties arising under the 
 acts of Parliament to be paid into the colonial treas 
 uries, and thence disbursed ; and the claim to the right 
 of taxation by Parliament, or of legislation in the 
 colonies, to be relinquished. The several obnoxious 
 acts restraining manufactures, closing the port of 
 Boston, forbidding the prosecution of the fisheries by 
 the colonists, imposing a duty on tea, &c., he insist 
 ed should be repealed, and that the appointment of 
 officers in the customs should be vested in the colo- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 4 6 J 
 
 nial governors, and that the customs laws should 
 be enacted or revised by the colonial Legislatures, 
 He required that no troops should enter the prov 
 inces without the consent of the Legislatures, and no 
 requisition be made upon the provinces in time of 
 peace. On the part of the provinces, he engaged that 
 the tea destroyed in Boston Harbor should be paid 
 for, and that the colonies, left to their own loyalty, 
 would do their full share in the support of govern 
 ment. He stipulated, however, that the duties al 
 ready paid under the Tea Act should be refunded to 
 the colonies in which it had been collected. 
 
 While Franklin was conversing with Dr. Fother- 
 gill and Mr. Barclay, from time to time, upon these 
 propositions, they conferring with the ministry, and 
 while he was consulting with Lord Howe also, it at 
 length appeared, by his lordship s producing a copy 
 of the memorandum of " Hints" with which Frank 
 lin had furnished Mr. Barclay, that there was an un 
 derstanding between them. Hitherto Franklin had 
 supposed that his share in the negotiation was to be 
 kept secret ; but he now proceeded with more open 
 ness, directly addressing the ministry. Lord Howe 
 admitted that he had moved with their privity in the 
 matter, and semi-officially proposed to Dr. Franklin 
 the plan of sending a commissioner to America. 
 Franklin replied that a person of rank and dignity, 
 who had a character of candor, integrity, and wis 
 dom, might possibly be of great use. And after this 
 conversation, in which Mrs. Howe participated, it 
 was no secret to Franklin that Lord Howe desired 
 
462 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 to be named this commissioner, and to have his as 
 sistance as secretary or colleague. It would occupy 
 too much space to detail all the conversations with 
 these various parties, the exceptions and concessions 
 on both sides, the debates, difficulties, and discus 
 sions. Meanwhile, the petition from the Congress 
 was received, and its tone and character produced a 
 very favorable effect in England. Although it had 
 been given out, beforehand, that the government 
 would not recognize the existence of an " illegal as 
 sembly" by receiving its petition, yet Lord Dart 
 mouth, after perusing it, pronounced it " a decent 
 and proper petition," and cheerfully undertook to 
 present it to the king. It was hoped that it would 
 form the basis of some measures of conciliation. 
 Lord Chatham declared that Congress had acted 
 with " so much temper, moderation, and wisdom, that 
 he thought it the most honorable assembly of states 
 men since those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, 
 in the most virtuous times." Under all these flatter 
 ing indications from the ministry, from the opposi 
 tion, and from the people, Franklin was encouraged 
 to persevere in his efforts for the production of a 
 plan which should be acceptable in both countries. 
 But the first opportunity which was afforded for the 
 expression of the Parliamentary mind, as recorded in 
 our last chapter, dashed his hopes, and induced him 
 to express that opinion of the Houses of Lords and 
 Commons, which is amusingly remarkable as an an 
 tithesis to what Chatham said of the American Con 
 gress : " Hereditary legislators ! thought I. There 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN 463 
 
 would be more propriety, because less hazard of mis 
 chief, in having, as in some university in Germany, 
 hereditary professors of Mathematics / But this was 
 a hasty reflection; for the elected House of Com 
 mons is no better, nor ever will be while the elect 
 ors receive money for their votes, and pay money 
 wherewith ministers may bribe their representatives 
 when chosen." 
 
 As the conversations proceeded, it appeared that 
 Lord Hyde, of the ministry, was one of the parties 
 to whom Messrs. Fothergill and Barclay had access, 
 and that his lordship was also in conference with 
 Lord Howe. Lord Howe told Franklin that he 
 should not expect assistance without rendering a 
 proper consideration : that he (Lord Howe), if he 
 undertook the business, should insist on being en 
 abled to make generous and ample appointments for 
 those he took with him, particularly for Franklin, as 
 well as a firm promise of subsequent rewards. " And," 
 said he, " that the ministry may have an opportunity 
 of showing their good disposition toward yourself, 
 will you give me leave, Mr. Franklin, to procure for 
 you, previously, some mark of it suppose the pay 
 ment here of the arrears of your salary as agent for 
 New England, which I understand they have stop 
 ped for some time past ?" Franklin replied, that if 
 the propositions of the ministry were reasonable ones 
 in themselves, possibly he might be able to make 
 them appear so to his countrymen, and he should 
 deem it a great honor to be joined with his lordship 
 in so good a work. If they were otherwise than 
 
4f)4 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 reasonable, he doubted whether any man could make 
 them acceptable ; certainly he should not undertake 
 it. But," he added, "if you hope service from any 
 influence I may be supposed to have, drop any pur 
 pose of procuring me any previous favors from min 
 isters ; my accepting them would destroy the very 
 influence you propose to make use of; they would 
 be considered so many bribes to betray the interest 
 of my country ; but only let me see the propositions, 
 and, if I approve of them, I shall not hesitate a mo 
 ment, but will hold myself ready to accompany your 
 lordship at a moment s warning." 
 
 Lord Hyde, with whom, at Lord Howe s repeat 
 ed suggestions, Franklin had at length a personal 
 interview, said to him, " That the administration had 
 a sincere desire of restoring harmony with America, 
 and that it was thought if he (Franklin) would co 
 operate with them, the business would be easy ; 
 that he hoped he was above retaining resentment 
 against them for what nobody now approved, and for 
 which satisfaction might be made him ; that he was. 
 as he (Lord Hyde) understood, in high esteem with 
 the Americans; that if he would bring about a rec 
 onciliation on terms suitable to the dignity of gov 
 ernment, he might be as highly esteemed in Britain, 
 and be honored and rewarded, perhaps, beyond his 
 expectation! 1 What "nobody now approved," re 
 ferred, as the reader will readily understand, to the 
 proceedings at the council-board, and the removal 
 of Franklin from the post-office. On the same sub 
 ject, it will be recollected, Mrs. Howe had said to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 465 
 
 aim that he "had been treated shamefully!" Lord 
 Howe, in his first interview, remarked, that he was 
 sensible that Franklin had been very ill treated by 
 the ministry ; that some of them, he was sure, were 
 ashamed of it, and sorry it had happened; and that 
 he was sure ample satisfaction would one day or 
 other be made him. To both Lord Howe and Lord 
 Hyde, Franklin said that it was his fixed rule not to 
 mix his private affairs with those of the public. He 
 declared that the injuries done to his country were 
 so much the greater, that he did not think his own 
 worth mentioning. He said, on another occasion, 
 when conversing with Messrs. Barclay and Pother-- 
 gill, and with a full understanding that what he said 
 would be reported to the ministry, that while Parlia 
 ment claimed and exercised a power of altering our 
 Constitutions at pleasure, there could be no agree 
 ment ; for we were rendered insecure in every privi 
 lege we had a right to, and were secure in nothing. 
 And it being hinted how necessary an agreement 
 was for America, since it was so easy for Britain to 
 burn all our seaport towns, he grew warm, and said, 
 as he informs us, " The chief part of my little prop 
 erty consists of houses in those towns. They might 
 make bonfires of them whenever they pleased: the 
 fear of losing them would never alter my resolution 
 to resist to the last that claim of Parliament ; and 
 that it behooved Britain to take care what mischief 
 it did us, for that, sooner or later, it would certain 
 ly be obliged to make good all damages, with inter 
 est." Through the whole of these interviews, which 
 
466 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 were continued from the 1st of September, 1774, to 
 the middle of March, 1775, Dr. Franklin exhibited 
 a steady regard for the interest and honor of his 
 country, which no personal considerations could 
 shake. His quick perceptions of consequences and 
 results put him on his guard against any admissions 
 which would either in themselves infringe upon the 
 principles which he laid down, or leave the door open 
 for future interference. He desired, if any thing 
 were done, to make it permanent, thorough, and sat 
 isfactory. He was placed, in the business, in a po- 
 siti n of singular responsibility. It is evident, that 
 if he would have accepted a connection with an 
 embassy or commission such as Lord Howe de 
 sired, the measure would have been attempted ; but 
 he would not undertake to procure from his coun 
 trymen concessions which he thought they would 
 not, or they should not make. A mere politician, 
 seeking personal aggrandizement or profit, would 
 rather have labored to procure the appointment than 
 to convince ministers that, without compliance with 
 the terms which he designated, it would be useless. 
 Lord Hyde asked him, in direct terms, his opinion of 
 the proposed commission, and his answer, given in 
 terms similar to those in which he had expressed 
 himself to Lord Howe, caused the plan to be aban 
 doned. Thus did he sacrifice his personal ambition 
 to the public good, and show himself, as he was tru 
 ly styled, " at heart an American." And yet, that 
 he was not indifferent to personal considerations, 
 where honor to himself could be received without 
 
LIFE OP FRANKLIN. 467 
 
 prejudice to the public, is evident from the notice he 
 has left of the visit of Lord Chatham to his lodgings. 
 " He stayed with me near two hours, his equipage 
 waiting at the door; and being there while people 
 were coming from church, it was much taken notice 
 of and talked of, as, at that time, was every little cir 
 cumstance that men thought might possibly any way 
 affect American affairs. Such a visit, from so great 
 a man, on so important a business, flattered not a lit 
 tle my vanity ; and the honor of it gave me the more 
 pleasure, as it happened on the very day twelve 
 months that the ministry had taken so much pains 
 to disgrace me before the privy council/ It is cred 
 itable to Dr. Franklin s estimate of the value of opin 
 ion, that he was more gratified with the attentions 
 of Lord Chatham, in the opposition, than with all 
 the studied compliments of the party in power. 
 
 The account which we have given of the nego 
 tiations of Franklin in London, is compiled from a 
 narrative written on his passage to America, for his 
 son, and first published in W. T. Franklin s edition 
 of his works. The account has all the colloquial 
 ease of his autobiography. We learn, furthermore, 
 from it, that these long-continued evasions and de 
 lays wearied out even Franklin s patience, which 
 was at last thoroughly spent by listening to a debate 
 in the House of Lords, in which the Americans were 
 stigmatized as knaves, who sought a dispute only to 
 avoid payment of their debts. Under the irritation 
 which he felt, he drew up the following petition, to 
 present to Lord Dartmouth before his departure : 
 
468 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 " A Memorial of Benjamin Franklin, Agent of the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " Whereas an injury done can only give the party 
 injured a right to full reparation, or, in case that be 
 refused, a right to return an equal injury ; and where 
 as the blockade of Boston, now continued nine 
 months, hath, every week of its continuance, done 
 damage to that town equal to what was suffered 
 there by the India Company, it follows that such ex 
 ceeding damage is an injury done by this govern 
 ment for which reparation ought to be made ; and 
 whereas reparation of injuries ought always (agree 
 ably to the custom of all nations, savage as well as 
 civilized) to be first required before satisfaction is 
 taken by a return of damage to the aggressors, which 
 was not done by Great Britain in the instance above 
 mentioned, I, the underwritten, do therefore, as their 
 agent, in the behalf of my country, and the said town 
 of Boston, protest against the continuance of the 
 said blockade ; and I do hereby solemnly demand 
 satisfaction for the accumulated injury done them 
 beyond the value of the India Company s tea de 
 stroyed. 
 
 "And whereas the conquest of the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, the coasts of Labrador and Nova Scotia, 
 and the fisheries possessed by the French there, and 
 on the Banks of Newfoundland, as far as they were 
 more extended than at present, was made by the 
 joint forces of Great Britain and the colonies, the 
 latter having nearly an equal number of men in that 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 469 
 
 service with the former, it follows that the colonies 
 have an equitable and just right to participate in the 
 advantages of those fisheries ; I do therefore, in the 
 behalf of the colony of the Massachusetts Bay, pro 
 test against the act now under consideration in Par 
 liament for depriving that province, with others, of 
 that fishery (on the pretense of their refusing to pur 
 chase British Commodities), as an act highly unjust 
 and injurious ; and I give notice that satisfaction will 
 probably one day be demanded for all the injury that 
 may be done and suffered in the execution of such 
 act; and that the injustice of the proceeding is like 
 ly to give such umbrage to all the colonies, that in 
 no future war, wherein other conquests may be med 
 itated, either a man or a shilling will be obtained 
 from any of them to aid such conquests till full sat 
 isfaction be made as aforesaid/ 
 
 This document he signed as Agent of the Prov 
 ince. Before presenting it, however, he handed il 
 for perusal to his friend, Mr. Thomas Walpole, and 
 asked his advice upon it. Franklin s description of 
 this interview is quite amusing. The philosopher, 
 on the point of departure for America, was bustling 
 about in his room, packing up. The banker, to 
 whom he had submitted this bellicose manifesto, 
 stood in dumb amazement, looking alternately at the 
 paper and at the writer, as if he doubted whether 
 Franklin was quite in his senses. Franklin, who 
 perhaps began now to have his own doubts about 
 the wisdom of such a measure, desired his friend to 
 
470 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 put it in his pocket, and consult another friend upon 
 it. On the next day Walpole returned him the me 
 morial, with a note, objecting to it as likely to be at 
 tended with dangerous consequences to himself, and 
 to contribute to exasperate the nation. He after 
 ward called upon him and more fully stated his ob 
 jections. "I had no desire," says Franklin, "to 
 make matters worse, and, being grown cooler, took 
 the advice so kindly given me." 
 
 Lord Howe had told Franklin that his views of a 
 mission were at present at an end, and that he hoped, 
 if all things should still take a more favorable turn, 
 he might hope for the doctor s co-operation. Thus 
 ended that matter. And the result of the efforts of 
 Dr. Fothergill and David Barclay is thus summed in 
 a note which Franklin received from Dr. Fothergill 
 on the evening before he left England. In that note 
 Dr. Fothergill desired Franklin to assemble certain 
 friends whom he designated, and others, "and in 
 form them, that whatever specious pretenses are of 
 fered, they are all hollow, and that to get a larger 
 field on which to fatten a herd of worthless parasites 
 is all that is regarded. Perhaps," continues the note, 
 " it may be proper to acquaint them with David Bar 
 clay s and our united endeavors, and the effects. 
 They will stun, at least, if not convince the most 
 worthy, that nothing favorable is intended, if more 
 unfavorable articles can not be obtained." Some 
 thing is to be allowed for the mortification of defeat 
 in the language of this note ; but it is evident from 
 it that the writer felt that he and his friends had 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 471 
 
 been employed and amused with no higher aims, on 
 the part of the ministry, than to provide employment 
 for some of their political friends. If so, Franklin 
 had proved an impracticable man for the purposes of 
 truckling politicians. The promise of office, the ten 
 der even of justice in the payment of moneys prop 
 erly his due, the eclat of an important mission, the 
 apologies, almost direct, of the ministry which had 
 injured and insulted him, all proved unavailing. His 
 course, in those transactions, places him in proud 
 contrast with such men as Pownall, for instance, who 
 was eagerly striving to buy into the favor of the min 
 istry, and laboring with might and main to procure 
 such an appointment as Franklin was in vain solicit 
 ed to accept. 
 
 Franklin had watched with observant eyes the 
 condition of the dispute, and the character of the 
 parties on both sides of the Atlantic. He knew in 
 what ideas of government and of right his country 
 men had been educated, and he was a full sharer, not 
 from enthusiasm, but from conviction, in the polit 
 ical views of his countrymen. In the early stages 
 of the controversy, while there was yet hope that 
 expostulation and remonstrance would avail, and that 
 the administration of the mother country might be 
 induced to respect the rights which the British Con 
 stitution guaranteed to the subjects of the crown in 
 America, his moderation seemed, perhaps, too great 
 to the more ardent of his countrymen. But as he 
 discovered the inveteracy with which Parliament 
 clung to opinions and political axioms at war with 
 
472 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 justice and opposed to right, and as he became 
 convinced of the impossibility of removing the prej 
 udices and misconceptions which, while they existed, 
 effectually barred out the hope of accommodation 
 without the sacrifice of principles dear to the Amer 
 icans as their lives, he came out of the cloud which 
 a misunderstanding of his character and motives on 
 the part of those more zealous than he had raised 
 around him. Calm in the sense of his own integri 
 ty, he had labored for the best good of his country 
 men, till circumstances had, at last, fully vindicated 
 him from all accusations except that of being "too 
 much an American." No private individual could 
 have commanded a " higher price" than he, if he 
 would but have consented to allow himself to be re 
 garded "as in the market;" no prince, with noth 
 ing to desire, could have more firmly rejected every 
 thing which looked like compromise of principle 
 or betrayal of trust. 
 
 The ten years which he spent at this time in En 
 gland were, in effect, ten years of negotiation. His 
 business was not restricted to the levees of ministers, 
 to audiences of the great, or to the common though 
 less public avenues of diplomacy. While in all 
 these he was assiduous and laborious, he made a 
 party to himself among the learned and ingenious. 
 His scientific attainments were a password and not 
 merely a password, but a warrant to the society of 
 the most enlightened men of Europe, and his writ 
 ings were his avants couriers to the new scenes 
 which he was soon to visit. In addition tb all these 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 473 
 
 means of influence, the people were appealed to 
 through the press, in the political and common-sense 
 productions with which, anonymously, confessedly, 
 or under allowable disguises, he was constantly ar 
 resting the public eye and agitating the public mind. 
 From a portion of these we have made extracts, 
 since to pass them over would be to do injustice to 
 his character, and would leave the reader without an 
 adequate conception of the arduous labors of his res 
 idence in England. The value of his influence on 
 the public mind is attested by the efforts made by 
 ministers to purchase him; and while the popular 
 ear of his countrymen is more frequently appealed to 
 by the tale of the deeds in arms of his compatriots 
 of the Revolution, the no less efficient, though less 
 public and striking service of Benjamin Franklin is 
 held in grateful remembrance by the calm and re 
 flecting. 
 
474 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FRANKLIN arrived at Philadelphia on the 5th oi 
 May, 1775 ; but it was not to attend to the private 
 business from which he had been so long absent, or 
 to cherish that attention to his personal ease and 
 comfort which a man might be supposed to desire 
 whose years had run to the allotted amount of three 
 score and ten. On the next day after his arrival the 
 Assembly of Pennsylvania elected him to the Conti 
 nental Congress, which was summoned to meet on 
 the 10th of the month. He was also appointed by 
 the Assembly a member of the " Committee of Safe 
 ty," and in the arduous duties of both these public 
 bodies his time was incessantly employed. The 
 high reputation which a long life of service had ob 
 tained for him, and the singular discretion and abil 
 ity which he had exhibited under most trying cir 
 cumstances, made men turn to him in these times of 
 danger and excitement as to one whose counsel and 
 advice could not be dispensed with. Other patri 
 ots went into the work of the Revolution young, or 
 at middle age ; Franklin, the septuagenarian, united 
 to the experience of years the sanguine hope and 
 the activity of youth. He had been, by the pecu 
 liarity of his position, a " spy in the enemy s camp ;" 
 for an enemy Britain, by the blood shed at Lexington 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 475 
 
 and Concord, had now become. He knew the dis 
 position of the British ministry and nation, and his 
 countrymen rightly judged that such knowledge and 
 experience as his were at this crisis invaluable. And 
 he applied his powers with no stint or hesitation. 
 He spared himself no labor ; and when we read, in 
 the Congressional records, in the local history of 
 Philadelphia, and in the annals of the Revolutionary 
 army, now just organizing, the evidences of his in 
 dustry, we are fain to forget, or to deem it impossi 
 ble, that this was the man who, ten years before, 
 professed himself to have arrived at the time of life 
 when he should retire from active life. The post- 
 office was reorganized, and Franklin was placed at 
 its head by Congress ; he was at the head of the 
 Indian bureau ; he was placed upon the secret com 
 mittees for correspondence abroad, and for procuring 
 munitions of war ; and of almost every committee 
 of importance he was a member. Indeed, as if with 
 one consent, in all the various duties and details 
 which demanded the attention of Congress, it was 
 deemed necessary to have the advantage of his sa 
 gacity and experience. The army in Massachusetts 
 was to be organized Benjamin Franklin was de 
 puted a member to confer with the commander-in- 
 chief. On his return from this duty, he learned that 
 he had been elected to the Assembly of Pennsylva 
 nia. While at Cambridge he had the pleasure of 
 putting in the hands of a committee of the Massa 
 chusetts Assembly one hundred pounds, remitted to 
 him from friends in England for the sufferers at Con- 
 
476 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 cord and Lexington, and their connections. Ways 
 and means were to be provided Franklin was con 
 sulted. The marine service was to be regulated 
 Franklin again was in request. Even upon the de 
 vice of a national seal he was engaged. While thus 
 employed, how must the old patriot s thoughts have 
 carried him back to the time when, fifty years be 
 fore, he was contriving ornaments for the New Jer 
 sey paper money, and to the devices and mottoes 
 which he furnished for the Philadelphia Volunteers 
 thirty years before this period ! His early publica 
 tions on paper money must also have recurred to 
 him while he was engaged in the details of the 
 Continental paper money issue. It is to be noted 
 that, in the emission of the money, which afterward 
 so sadly depreciated, the advice of Franklin was not 
 followed. He proposed that the bills should bear 
 interest ; but other counsel ruled, and this proposal 
 was not adopted. He also recommended, after the 
 first emission, the borrowing of the bills already is 
 sued, instead of the emission of a further sum. He 
 advised, further, the payment of the interest in sil 
 ver. Neither of these suggestions were adopted un 
 til too late to check the evil which they were intend 
 ed to obviate. 
 
 Among the results of his labors in committees 
 which have been preserved, is a "Vindication and 
 Offer from Congress to Parliament." In this report 
 all the charges which the Parliamentary enemies of 
 the colonies had brought against them are refuted, 
 and the offer of one hundred thousand pounds per 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 477 
 
 annum is made to Great Britain, over and above the 
 usual aids in time of war, conditioned on certain 
 privileges of trade to be accorded to the colonies, 
 and supposing, of course, the removal of the griev 
 ances under which they labored. This proposition 
 was never acted upon, and does not appear on the 
 public records ; for the course of Parliament at this 
 time demonstrated how futile were such efforts at 
 reconciliation. How much Franklin had caught of 
 the fire of Lexington and Concord may be gathered 
 from a preamble to a resolution which the doctor 
 drew up about this time. In this preamble he de 
 clares that " the British nation, through great corrup 
 tion of manners, and extreme dissipation and profu 
 sion, both public and private, have found all honest 
 resources insufficient to supply their excessive lux 
 ury and prodigality, and thereby have been driven 
 to the practice of every injustice which avarice could 
 dictate or rapacity execute ; that, not satisfied with 
 the immense plunder of the East, obtained by sacri 
 ficing millions of the human species, they have late 
 ly turned their eyes to the West, and, grudging us 
 the peaceable enjoyment of the fruits of our hard la 
 bor and virtuous industry, have for years past been 
 endeavoring to extort the same from us, under color 
 of laws regulating trade, and have actually succeed 
 ed in draining us of large sums, to our great loss and 
 detriment ; and, impatient to seize the whole, they 
 have at length proceeded to open robbery, declaring 
 by a solemn act of Parliament that all our estates 
 are theirs, and all our property found upon the seas 
 
478 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 divisible among such of their armed plunderers as 
 shall take the same ; and have even dared, in the 
 same act, to declare, that all the spellings, thefts, 
 burnings of houses and towns, and murders of inno 
 cent people, perpetrated by their wicked and inhu 
 man corsairs upon our coasts, previous to any war 
 declared against us, were just actions, and shall be 
 so deemed, contrary to several of the command 
 ments of God (which by this act they presume to 
 repeal), and to all the principles of right, and all the 
 ideas of justice, entertained heretofore by every oth 
 er nation, savage as well as civilized, thereby mani 
 festing themselves to be hostes humani generis? No 
 document, and no speech of the period, breathes 
 more earnest and determined opposition than this, 
 or places the duty of resistance on broader grounds ; 
 for the resolution to which this was a preamble de 
 clared it to be the duty of the colonies to make re 
 prisals upon their oppressors. The first act which 
 Congress performed upon its assembling was to de 
 clare that hostilities had commenced on the part of 
 Great Britain, and to resolve that the colonies should 
 therefore be immediately put in a state of defense. 
 Even after this, a petition, at the desire of the mod 
 erate party, was moved and carried, which Franklin 
 speaks of as " another humble petition to the crown, 
 to give Great Britain one more chance, one oppor 
 tunity more, of recovering the friendship of the col 
 onies." He had, however, no hope that it would 
 produce any such result, for he was too well aware 
 of the disposition of the British ministry; and he 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 479 
 
 gave way to the motion from a desire to conciliate 
 and unite the members of Congress. 
 
 During all the time that communication between 
 the two countries was open, he kept up his corre 
 spondence with his friends in England, and resumed 
 it when he afterward resided in France. In a letter 
 from David Hartley to Dr. Franklin, we find excep 
 tions taken to the charge that the people of England 
 were "dissipated and corrupt," which was brought 
 against them in an address from Congress to the As 
 sembly of Jamaica. Probably the same pen from 
 which came the preamble above quoted, appeared in 
 the address. Franklin, though too ingenuous to 
 condemn a whole nation for the acts of the ministry, 
 could not, at a time like that of 76, preserve all the 
 nice distinctions which friendship for many of the 
 people of England would dictate ; nor could he for 
 get that the ministry represented the people. In a 
 letter written in the autumn of 1775 to a friend in 
 England, he says, as if in answer to that friend, and 
 assenting to his opinion, " I am persuaded that the 
 body of the British people are our friends ; but they 
 are changeable, and by your lying gazettes may soon 
 be made our enemies. Our respect for them will 
 proportionally diminish, and I see clearly that we 
 are on the high road to mutual family hatred and 
 detestation." 
 
 In July, 1775, Dr. Franklin, in his individual ca 
 pacity, reported in Congress a plan of confederation. 
 It was more perfect than the one that received the 
 sanction of Congress when that body acted upon 
 
480 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the subject, particularly in regard to representation, 
 as it provided for proportioning the representatives 
 to the number of inhabitants, and gave each individ 
 ual vote its weight. When, in 1776, the plan of 
 confederation was adopted, the same principle upon 
 which the votes of Congress had been counted, 
 namely, one vote for each colony, was preserved. 
 Franklin opposed it earnestly, and even prepared a 
 protest against it, designed to be presented as the 
 voice of the Convention of Pennsylvania, then in 
 session ; but he was induced to withdraw his op 
 position in consideration of the necessity of harmo 
 ny. In some other respects in which his plan of 
 confederation differed from that which Congress 
 adopted, the wisdom of Franklin was acknowledged 
 by the adoption of the present Constitution, which 
 Franklin s plan resembles in many particulars. The 
 doctor, in one of his articles, provided that Ireland, 
 as well as the provinces on this Continent, and the 
 West India Islands, might join the confederacy : a 
 circumstance which was debated upon with no small 
 artillery of words in Great Britain, where, when 
 published, it was cited as a proof of the design of 
 the Americans to separate finally from Great Brit 
 ain: a design which, in all their official acts, they 
 denied until the Declaration of Independence; and 
 which, after that solemn act, they neither denied nor 
 permitted to be questioned. Franklin s plan was 
 proposed to be adhered to until a reconciliation took 
 place with Great Britain; and, in event of the failure 
 of a reconciliation, was to be perpetual. As the plan 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 481 
 
 adopted by Congress was not acted upon until after 
 the formal severance from the mother country, no 
 such contingent clause was necessary. 
 
 In March, 1776, a commission, consisting of Dr. 
 Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, was 
 appointed to go to Canada to regulate the opera 
 tions of the American army in that province, to as 
 sist the Canadians in organizing a government, to in 
 vite Canada into the Union, and to pledge the sup 
 port of the other colonies. Rev. John Carroll, after 
 ward Roman Catholic Bishop of Baltimore, and 
 M. Mesplet, a French printer, also accompanied the 
 mission. From the first gentleman*much was hoped, 
 from the circumstances of his religious faith, and his 
 having been educated in France. With the aid of 
 the latter a printing-press was to be established ; for 
 the patriots of the Revolution knew the full power 
 of the press, and where Franklin was an adviser, its 
 aid was never left untried. To Charles W. F. Du 
 mas, who was, on Franklin s recommendation, ap 
 pointed agent of the United States at the Hague, 
 Dr. Franklin wrote in December, 1775 : " The short 
 Expose of what has passed between the court of 
 Britain and the colonies, being a very concise and 
 clear statement of facts, will be reprinted here for 
 the use of our new friends in Canada." This " Ex- 
 post" was one of a number of works, including an 
 edition of Vattel, which Dr. Franklin had received 
 from M. Dumas ; and perhaps the receipt of it sug 
 gested the idea of a press in the sister province. 
 
 But press, commissioners, and encouragement came 
 
 H H 
 
482 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 too late. Canada had a memory of what she had 
 suffered from the colonies, as allies and dependencies 
 of Great Britain, too keen to make her readily co 
 alesce with them in any movement. In the British 
 colonies the press had preceded the taking up of 
 arms, as well as supported it. Canada had not pos 
 sessed that advantage ; nor were the body of the 
 people ripe for any change. The commissioners 
 found the American army in full retreat from Que 
 bec. Dr. Franklin and Mr. Carroll returned from 
 Montreal after a very short stay, and the other com 
 missioners came away with the army at the evacua 
 tion of the city. 
 
 The commissioners, leaving Philadelphia on the 
 20th of March, did not arrive in Montreal till near 
 the end of April. It was a most arduous journey 
 to a man of Franklin s age ; and, while on hi.s 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 483 
 
 way, he wrote from Saratoga to Josiah Quincy : " I 
 begin to apprehend that I have undertaken a fatigue 
 that, at my time of life, may prove too much for me; 
 so I sit down to write to a few friends by way of 
 farewelll And yet, while the infirmities of age thus 
 weighed upon him that he declared himself " at the 
 same time oppressed with years and business," we 
 find in his letters all the stern resolution of a man 
 upon whom age nor difficulty could operate to the 
 defeat of courage, and whom no present cloud could 
 blind to future hope. He arrived in Philadelphia, on 
 his return, in June, grateful to the friends who had 
 made his return passage less irksome by their kind 
 ness, and in some degree refreshed in mind by the 
 renewal of intercourse with old companions. But 
 he was admonished now, by increasing infirmity, 
 to decline, for the first time in his life, posts to which 
 the confidence of his fellow-citizens had elected 
 him, and begged leave to resign his appointment to 
 the Committee of Safety, and his election to the As 
 sembly of Pennsylvania. He had retired from both 
 these posts previous to his journey to Canada, and 
 had been reappointed in his absence. 
 
 On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, 
 seconded by John Adams, moved the resolution de 
 claring the independence of the colonies. It was 
 referred to a committee, who reported it in the fol 
 lowing terms : " Resolved, that these united colonies 
 are, and of right ought to be, free and independent 
 states ; and that all political connection between them 
 and the State of Great Britain is, and of right ought 
 
484 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 to be, totally dissolved." This resolution was de 
 bated in committee of the whole on Saturday the 
 8th, and Monday the 10th of June ; but it appearing 
 that the delegates from some of the provinces were 
 riot ripe for the measure, the debate was postponed 
 to the 1st of July. In the mean time, a committee, 
 consisting of Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin, Roger 
 Sherman, and R. R. Livingston, were appointed to 
 draw up a declaration. Richard Henry Lee, whose 
 fervid eloquence had urged the measure, was called 
 from Congress by the illness of one of his family, 
 and for this reason was not appointed on the com 
 mittee. The Declaration, substantially as Jefferson 
 drafted it, was reported on the 28th of June. On 
 the 1st of July, the original resolution was carried by 
 nine of the thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania and 
 South Carolina voting against it, Delaware being di 
 vided, and New York being permitted to withdraw 
 on account of the character of the instructions of the 
 delegates, dated twelve months before, which enjoin 
 ed them to do nothing to impede reconciliation with 
 the mother country. The votes of the members, it 
 will be recollected, were taken by colonies, each 
 colony having one vote. All the colonies came into 
 the measure by the adoption of the Declaration, and 
 all the members present on the 4th of July signed 
 the Declaration, except John Dickinson. He re 
 tired from public life for two years, when he resumed 
 his place in Congress, and was distinguished for his 
 zeal, as he had ever been respected for his integrity. 
 His was a mind the scruples of which were to be 
 
5 " 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 487 
 
 respected, as his conduct was ever guided by the 
 purest of motives. An amusing instance of Frank 
 lin s humor is preserved in connection with the sig 
 nature. " We must be unanimous," said Hancock ; 
 " we must all hang together." " Yes," answered 
 Franklin, " or most assuredly we shall all hang sep 
 arately." Jefferson s draft, which received in com 
 mittee only a few verbal alterations, in the course 
 of the debate in Congress was amended in very many, 
 and some essential particulars, as may be perceived 
 by the original draft as preserved in his Correspond 
 ence. Franklin, who saw his uneasiness under the 
 criticisms of his colleagues, consoled and amused 
 him with an anecdote of a hatter, \vhose inscription 
 for a sign, "John Thompson, Hatter, makes and 
 sells hats for ready money/ was reduced by the criti 
 cisms of friends to plain John Thompson, with the 
 figure of a hat subjoined. 
 
 Dr. Franklin had a remarkable aptness in the re 
 lation of anecdotes, and the application of parallels 
 to carry conviction, or illustrate a point. When the 
 qualifications for suffrage were on one occasion under 
 discussion, he said, " Suppose you place the property 
 qualification at the price of an ass. The voter, 
 while riding to the polls, is disabled by the death of 
 die beast, which happens to be his whole property. 
 T!K! man is disfranchised. Now, in whom was the 
 right ta yote in the citizen, or his donkey T In the 
 Convenn^n which met to frame a Constitution for 
 Pennsylvania in 1776, of which, of course, Frank 
 lin was a member, he brought forward and carried 
 a favorite theory that there should be but one body 
 
488 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 in a Republican Legislature. He compared a Leg 
 islature with two branches to a wagon with horses 
 at each end pulling different ways ; and to a snake 
 with two heads, the heads choosing opposite sides 
 of a twig, and the body perishing of hunger and 
 thirst while its heads debated the matter. The doc 
 tor s plan, one of the few political errors of his life, 
 was adopted, but expunged from the Constitution 
 upon its revision after the close of the Revolutionary 
 War. As an instance of his aptness at parallels, an 
 essay written after the adoption of the Federal Con 
 stitution is worthy of remark. A public speaker had 
 said " that the repugnance of a great part of man 
 kind to good government was such, that he believed 
 that if an angel from heaven was to bring down ;i 
 Constitution formed there for our use, it would, never 
 theless, meet with violent opposition." He was re 
 proved for the supposed extravagance, says Frank 
 lin, and did not justify it. "Probably it might not 
 have immediately occurred to him that the experi 
 ment had been tried, and that the event was record 
 ed in that most faithful of all histories, the Holy 
 Bible ; otherwise he might, as it seems to me, have 
 supported his opinion by that unexceptionable au 
 thority." The doctor then proceeded to relate the 
 history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in such a 
 manner as to furnish a simple, but very neat ad in 
 structive commentary on the scripture history, while 
 he showed that it furnished precisely ?^ch an in 
 stance as the orator had supposed. 
 
 The contingency to which Lord Howe had re 
 ferred in his last conversation with Franklin in Lon- 
 
LIFE OF FRAN KLIN. 489 
 
 don, that he might be sent to America in order to 
 effect a reconciliation, occurred in 1776, and his 
 lordship lost no time in addressing Franklin, between 
 whom and himself there appears to have existed a 
 sincere friendship. But, unfortunately, the charac 
 ter of Lord Howe s powers only, as Franklin ex 
 pressed it, made the business "hopeless" on which 
 he was sent so far. " Directing pardons to be offered 
 to the colonies, who are the very parties injured," 
 says Franklin, "expresses, indeed, that opinion of 
 our ignorance, baseness, and insensibility, which 
 your uninformed and proud nation has long been 
 pleased to entertain of us ; but it can have no other 
 effect than that of increasing our resentment. It is 
 impossible, we should think, of submission to a gov 
 ernment that has, with the most wanton barbarity and 
 cruelty, burned our defenseless towns in the midst 
 of winter, excited the savages to massacre our farm 
 ers, and our slaves to murder their masters, and is 
 even now bringing mercenaries to deluge our settle 
 ments with blood." Franklin refers with feeling to 
 the efforts which he had made to prevent the " break 
 ing of that pure and noble vase, the British Empire/ 
 and to the tears of joy which wet his cheek when 
 Lord Howe gave him hopes in London that " a re 
 conciliation might soon take place." He concludes 
 as follows : " I know your great motive in coining 
 hither was the hope of being instrumental in a re 
 conciliation ; and I believe, when you find that im 
 possible on any terms given you to propose, you will 
 relinquish so odious a command, and return to a 
 more honorable private station." 
 
490 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 The correspondence, so far as tfie two friends 
 were concerned, resulted in nothing bat the exchange 
 of assurances that the relation in which they were 
 now placed to each other did not abate their per 
 sonal amity. In a national point of view, nothing 
 was effected Nor did the interview which after 
 ward took place between Lord Howe on the one 
 part, and Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rut- 
 ledge, a committee of Congress, on the other, effect 
 any thing, except to convince all Americans but 
 those who were averse to all resistance, that the only 
 hope now left to them was in the maintenance of 
 the position which they had assumed, by force of 
 arms. And now the attention of Congress was 
 turned to the seeking of foreign alliances. While 
 any hope, however dim, remained of obtaining jus 
 tice from the magnanimity of Great Britain, to seek 
 foreign- aid would have been to impede negotiations ; 
 but as they had been forced to the last alternative, 
 nothing now remained for the States but to strength 
 en themselves in their hostile position. 
 
 On the 26th of September Franklin was appoint 
 ed a commissioner, to join Silas Deane and Arthur 
 Lee, already in Europe, and "transact the business 
 of the United States at the court of France." He 
 embarked on the 27th of October, at Chester, with 
 two of his grandsons, on board of the Continental 
 sloop-of-war Reprisal, Captain Wickes. Previous 
 to his leaving Philadelphia, he gave a noble instance 
 of his patriotism by placing all the money he could 
 command, nearly four thousand pounds, at the dis 
 posal of Congress, as a loan. He gave, also, evidence 
 
LI FE OF FRANKLIN. 491 
 
 of his courage, and fortitude under insult, by propo 
 sing to the secret committee that he should be sent 
 to England instead of France. The manner in 
 which he proposed this should be effected was by 
 drawing up the sketch of a proposition for peace. 
 Among the reasons for such a step, he said that 
 " the having such propositions in charge will, by the 
 law of nations, be some protection to the commis 
 sioners or ambassadors, if they should be taken," 
 This sentence may have had some reference to the 
 dangers of the sea. In another paragraph he says : 
 " As the having such propositions to make, or any 
 powers to treat of peace, will furnish a pretense for 
 B. F. s going to England, where he has many friends 
 and acquaintance, particularly among the best writers 
 and the ablest speakers in both houses of Parlia 
 ment, he thinks he shall be able, when there ; if the 
 terms are not accepted, to work up such a division 
 of sentiments in the nation as greatly to weaken it 
 exertions against the United States, and lessen its 
 credit in foreign countries." 
 
 These propositions were not acted upon. If 
 Franklin hoped that they would have been during 
 the period which elapsed after his appointment and 
 before his departure, he does not in any of his cor 
 respondence betray chagrin or disappointment. He 
 was ever ready to defer in minor matters to the 
 opinions of others, and was too patriotic to sacrifice 
 the advantage of his country to his own private 
 views, as he showed in numerous instances in his 
 public career. 
 
492 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 FRANKLIN arrived in Paris on the 21st of Decem 
 ber, 1776. The ocean passage occupied thirty days, 
 from the Capes of the Delaware to the mouth of the 
 Loire. Contrary winds preventing the Reprisal 
 from proceeding to Nantes, Franklin disembarked 
 at Auray, whence he traveled to Nantes, and thence 
 to Paris. His appointment had been kept secret ; 
 and he even held it unannounced after his arrival, 
 waiting for events to show in what manner it would 
 be most prudent to conduct himself; for as yet it 
 was to be ascertained whether France would receive 
 a credited commissioner from the United States, and 
 thus acknowledge the existence of the new govern 
 ment. 
 
 But Benjamin Franklin could no longer travel 
 unheralded or unattended. His name and fame had 
 long been familiar to " all sorts of people," and he 
 had won "golden opinions" from them all. In the 
 cottage the humble abode of the peasant and the ar 
 tisan his lessons of life were oracles ; received, not 
 as the condescension of some hereditary millionnaire, 
 who could well afford to teach lessons of economy 
 which he had never had occasion to observe, and 
 to talk of self-denial of which he knew nothing in 
 practice, but as the lessons which the teacher had 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 493 
 
 learned in his own experience. He was one of the 
 people, elevated by the force of his own character 
 to a prouder position than the accident of birth could 
 confer. In the ] ibrary, the laboratory, and the uni 
 versity, he was known as one who had touched 
 nothing in practical science and philosophy but to 
 elucidate it ; whose discoveries had resolved doubts 
 which had perplexed men for ages ; and whose prac 
 tical experiments had exploded the theories which 
 had amused with inconsistencies those who chose 
 rather to imagine than to test to theorize than to 
 observe. Politicians and diplomatists knew him too, 
 as one whose tongue and pen had sustained the 
 cause of the weak against the strong, and defended 
 the New World against the assumptions of the Old. 
 His personal appearance aided in inspiring the 
 people with enthusiasm, and awing the proud into 
 respect. His capacity for adapting himself to the 
 place and the time made him at home in the salons 
 of the gay, and amid the formalities of the court; 
 agreeable in a tete-a-tete, and the attraction of the 
 drawing-room. He could receive popular applause 
 without betraying elation or condescension, and ob 
 serve the nicest points of etiquette without suffering 
 it to be forgotten that he was a Republican and an 
 American. 
 
 France for Paris then was France even more 
 emphatically than it now is was delighted with 
 Franklin. Pictures, busts, medallions of the illus 
 trious American were met on every hand. His ven 
 erable aspect left the admirers of the picturesqm 
 
494 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 as all Frenchmen are nothing to desire. The ac 
 tual corresponded with the ideal ; Franklin looked 
 the sage that the mind had pictured him. He was 
 Said to "join to the demeanor of Phocion the spirit 
 of Socrates ;" and the imaginative Frenchman saw 
 in the venerable philosopher " a sage of antiquity 
 come back to give austere lessons and generous ex 
 amples to the moderns." It was more than a year 
 after the arrival of Franklin in France before the 
 United States were formally recognized by the ad 
 mission of their commissioners to audience of the 
 king. While prudence rendered this public reserve 
 not only advisable, but imperative, substantial assist 
 ance was rendered to the American cause by the 
 advance of two millions of livres as a loan from 
 "generous individuals," and one million from the 
 farmers-general on account of tobacco to be shipped. 
 The celebrated Beaumarchais had already, with the 
 advice of Mr. Deane, shipped large quantities of 
 inunitions of war to the United States, whether upon 
 his own account, or with money advanced by the 
 government, is still a moot point. His heirs have 
 frequently presented claims to Congress for these 
 advances, but the claims have been met by the alle 
 gation that he acted only as the disbursing agent of 
 the French government. The money advanced to 
 Franklin proved to have been drawn from the king s 
 
 treasury. 
 
 / 
 
 The commissioners were authorized to contract 
 with France a treaty of commerce ; to procure from 
 the French government eight line of battle ships ; to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 495 
 
 borrow money and forward military stores, and to 
 obtain other alliances, if possible, with the European 
 powers. On the very next day after Franklin s ar 
 rival, he held a consultation with his colleagues, and 
 on the 28th of December, the French minister of 
 foreign affairs admitted them to an audience. At 
 
 o 
 
 his suggestion, they drew up a memoir relating the 
 situation of affairs in the United States, and stating 
 their mission; but no answer was received to it. 
 Meanwhile, the money, as already stated, was ad 
 vanced, and they were assured of protection while 
 they remained in France, and that all privileged 
 would be accorded to American commerce compati 
 ble with treaties with England. In this slate of un 
 recognized friendship or toleration, Dr. Franklin and 
 his colleagues labored for about a year in the pros 
 ecution of their delicate and somewhat complicated 
 mission. They purchased and forwarded warlike 
 stores, and built two frigates, one at Amsterdam and 
 another at Nantes ; but, notwithstanding that every 
 thing was done with as much caution as possible, 
 they were frequently interrupted. The British am 
 bassador was, of course, aware of the actual state of 
 things, and his vigilance, through the agency of spies, 
 was employed, not so much in ascertaining what 
 was going on, as in detecting facts upon which he 
 could make representations of complaint. In this 
 he was often successful, and the French govern 
 ment was compelled several times to make a formal 
 interference with the doings of the commissioners. 
 This assumed disapproval of their doings, while it 
 
496 LiFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 sometimes impeded and delayed the commission 
 ers, did not change their course, since they very well 
 understood what were the real sentiments of the 
 French government. And the peculiar character 
 of Franklin stood him at this time in great stead. 
 He was admitted to circles, and enjoyed intercourse, 
 as the philosopher, which gave him most important 
 facilities; but to which, as commissioner of the 
 United States, he could not have obtained admit 
 tance. While the duties of the commissioners in 
 reference to supplies was so effectually performed, 
 m the seeking of foreign alliances they were less 
 successful. Indeed, Franklin disapproved of this 
 portion of his instructions from the beginning ; and 
 although he early received power to treat with Spain, 
 he declined the performance of that commission, and 
 gave Congress such satisfactory reasons for his con 
 duct that they deferred to his opinion. 
 
 But while the commissioners were unrecognized 
 
 o 
 
 by friendly powers, they did not hesitate to address 
 themselves to the British minister in France as 
 American commissioners. Lord Stormont, in an 
 swer to one of their notes, a second time dispatched, 
 made answer, " The king s ambassador receives no 
 applications from rebels, unless they corne to implore 
 his majesty s mercy." As the note to which this 
 haughty answer was returned w.is an application for 
 exchange of prisoners, the commissioners sent back 
 his lordship s paper with the remark, " In answer to 
 a letter which concerns some of the most material 
 interests of humanity, and of the two nations Great 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 497 
 
 Britain and the United States, we received the fol 
 lowing indecent paper, which we return for your 
 lordship s more mature consideration." The time 
 at length arrived when the government which thus 
 repulsed the commissioners as rebels, found it their 
 policy to make friendly, though indirect overtures to 
 the same commissioners ; and the recognition of 
 American prisoners as human beings was forced 
 upon Great Britain by the number of British pris 
 oners taken, upon whom retaliation, according to 
 the usages of war, might be practiced. 
 
 At length, in February, 1778, a formal treaty of 
 commerce was signed between the American com 
 missioners on the one part, and the Count de Ver- 
 gennes and M. Gerard on the other. The capture 
 of the army of Burgoyne, and the general good con 
 duct of the American troops ; the union and firm 
 ness which were manifested in the counsels of the 
 Americans, and the resolution of the people to de 
 fend the high and noble ground they had taken, had 
 satisfied the French government that the war in 
 America would prove something more than a mere 
 temporary revolt, to be crushed by the power of 
 Great Britain, or defeated by the defection of the 
 colonies, or any of them. The treaty was based on 
 the most magnanimous principles of reciprocity, no 
 advantages being taken of the weak state of the 
 Americans. Some little delay occurred in the sign 
 ing, to give time for consultation with the Spanish 
 court, as was required by the relations between the 
 two monarchies ; but as Spain declined to be a party 
 
498 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 France entered alone into a treaty of arnity and 
 commerce with the United States. The draft of a 
 treaty of alliance was also produced by the French 
 minister, and agreed to, its ratification being contin 
 gent upon the declaration of war against France by 
 Great Britain. 
 
 On the 20th of March, 1778, the American com 
 missioners, now the acknowledged agents of an in 
 dependent power, were formally received by the 
 French monarch. It was an event in the life of 
 Franklin which rewarded him for all past discour 
 agements, inasmuch as, in its consequences, he could 
 not but perceive it involved the almost certain suc 
 cess of his country. Aj)owerful government was 
 now pledged to defend the American claim to ex 
 istence as a separate nation ; for the rupture between 
 Great Britain and France was weighed in the ne 
 gotiation as a sure event. He had also the gratifi 
 cation to find the act of the government endorsed 
 by the people, for on his way to Versailles,- ami on 
 his return, he was greeted with the most enthusias 
 tic popular acclamations ; and whenever he appeared 
 in Paris, a similar enthusiasm exhibited the popular 
 feeling. This favorable disposition toward his coun 
 try he knew was in no small degree to be attributed to 
 his own personal efforts and character. JHereditary 
 hatred to Great Britain, and the consciousness that 
 in the last treaty with that power concessions had 
 been made which were humiliating to the pride of 
 France, made both government and people disposed 
 to befriend America ; and the hope of disabling by 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 501 
 
 dismemberment a powerful rival was all the advan 
 tage that the government counted upon. Butjhis 
 reason would..liave-5iifieed only to make war toler 
 able to a people already tax-ridden. Franklin made 
 it popular. His pen and his tongue liacTaTso made 
 the cause of the United States to appear not only just, 
 but likely to be successful with those to whom the 
 most powerful of tests was to be applied demands 
 for money and credit. 
 
 Testimonies to his personal influence came from 
 every quarter. In a previous part of this work we 
 have detailed the efforts made to negotiate with or 
 through him in London. If the British ministry 
 then esteemed him a man whom it was worth their 
 while to secure, subsequent events had not abated 
 their belief in his importance. He had so accurately 
 informed those who consulted him upon the state of 
 the public mind in America, and so truly represent 
 ed the claims and opinions of his countrymen, as 
 events had shown, that it is no matter of surprise 
 that continual advances were made to him, infor 
 mally, during the whole time of his residence in 
 France. The British ambassador had not with 
 drawn from Paris before a secret agent of the Brit 
 ish government called upon Franklin. He was an 
 old English friend of Dr. Franklin, and aimed to ob 
 tain from him some hints on which propositions 
 could be based from Great Britain to her revolted 
 colonies. But Franklin had experience enough of 
 the futility of such conversations, and replied that 
 he had authority to listen to terms, but none to sug- 
 
502 LIFE OF FRANKLIN, 
 
 gest them. In answer to a letter written from Lon 
 don, by the same friend, Mr. James Hutton, Erank- 
 lin wrote that peace might be obtained by Great 
 Britain s dropping all pretension to govern America, 
 and friendship might be secured by granting such 
 terms in the treaty as would show generosity and 
 ^ood-will ; such as indemnification for the American 
 towns burned, and the disgrace, instead of reward, 
 of the abettors of war. He said, however, that he 
 had no idea that his advice would be regarded, " for 
 none but God can give good counsel, and wisdom 
 to follow it." To Mr. William Pulteney, who, under 
 the assumed name of Williams, next appeared in 
 Paris, with the understood sanction of Lord North, 
 Franklin was equally firm. Mr. Pulteney offered 
 the basis of a treaty, to which Franklin replied, that 
 no voluntary return to British allegiance would be 
 thought of by the Americans, and that to acknowl 
 edge the independence of the United States was the 
 proper means to open any negotiation. 
 
 Next followed Mr. David Hartley, a personal friend 
 of Dr. Franklin s, and a man who sincerely desired 
 peace, and had opposed in his place in Parliament, 
 and in other methods, the measures of the Brit 
 ish ministry which had led to the estrangement of 
 the colonies. Mr. Hartley, in his correspondence, 
 strongly appealed to Franklin against the alliance 
 with France, and even begged that he would use 
 his influence to prevent its ratification by Congress. 
 In his personal interview he made nearer approaches 
 to terms than the others had done, by inquiring 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN, 503 
 
 whether superior advantages, commercial and other 
 wise, and an alliance offensive and defensive, could 
 be obtained by a treaty with America. The pur 
 port of the message seemed to be to discover whether 
 America could not be brought into neutrality, at least 
 while Great Britain prosecuted the war with France. 
 The answer was. of course, a decided negative. To 
 the other inquiries, in tenor similar to those pro 
 pounded by former agents, Franklin returned an 
 swers similar to what he had expressed to them. 
 Mr. Hartley continued his correspondence, appa 
 rently with the sanction of Lord North, until the 
 subject of peace was brought forward in Parliament ; 
 and through the whole there was a continued effort 
 to sunder the union between France and the United 
 States. He represented the alliance with France 
 as a stumbling-block and impediment in the way of 
 a treaty ; and, in fact, advised what Franklin con 
 sidered perfidy in the matter. The doctor attribu 
 ted his advancing such a proposition to a "mist 
 thrown before his eyes" by his love of peace, and 
 fear of the destruction of America. Another cir 
 cumstance which blinded the worthy philanthropist 
 for such Mr. Hartley showed himself when na 
 tional prejudices were not in the way was the 
 abomination in which an Englishman of the last 
 century held the French. His last proposition was, 
 that the Americans should agree to a truce for ten 
 years, during which Great Britain might continue 
 her war with France, or not; a proposal which it is 
 hardly necessary to say was rejected by Franklin in 
 
504 LIFE OP FRANKLIN. 
 
 terms which marked his opinion of the perfidy and 
 folly of such a course. Mr. Hartley at one time 
 cautioned him to " take care of his own safety." 
 Franklin answered this hint in a brief and charac 
 teristic manner : " I thank you for your kind cau 
 tion, but, having nearly finished a long life, I set but 
 little value upon what remains of it. Like a draper 
 when one chaffers with him for a remnant, I am 
 ready to say, As it is only a fag end, I will not differ 
 with you about it : take it for what you please. Per 
 haps the best use such an old fellow can be put to 
 is to make a martyr of him." The intention of this 
 warning was to make Dr. Franklin jealous and sus 
 picious of the French government ; for which pur 
 pose he was mysteriously advised that he was con 
 stantly under French espionage. This he said he 
 cared nothing about, as he had nothing to conceal. 
 The English government gave pretty good evidence 
 that Franklin s steps had been watched in England, 
 for the agents sent to Paris were, many of them, men 
 who had formerly been his friends. To Mr. Hut- 
 ton and Mr. Hartley, Mr. (afterward Sir William) 
 Jones was added. 
 
 Even the opposition in England sent their emis 
 saries to Paris. The alliance with France had in 
 creased the American difficulties into an affair too 
 serious for any means to be left untried to avert its 
 mischiefs. And while Franklin was plied, efforts 
 were also made to tamper with the French court in 
 order that the alliance might be defeated, and one 
 or both of the parties induced to betray the other. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 505 
 
 Both, however, remained firm to the last; and the 
 only thing which we have to regret in the history 
 of the relations between the allies is, that jealousy 
 was at length excited, though at a period too late to 
 do any other mischief than to occasion a breach of 
 courtesy. 
 
 Franklin kept the French court advised of the ad 
 vances made to him, and a similar comity was ob 
 served by the Count de Vergennes, Copies of a 
 curious letter and manly answer are preserved in 
 the Foreign Archives in Paris, which were transmit 
 ted to the Count de Vergennes by Franklin. Mr. 
 Sparks obtained an abstract of one and a copy of 
 the other, and has presented them to the American 
 public in his edition of Franklin s writings. The 
 letter, signed Charles de Weissenstein, was dated at 
 Brussels. Dr. Franklin probably knew more of the 
 writer than he has left any record of; and, in his 
 answer, assumed that he was in Paris instead of 
 Brussels, and that he was an agent of the British 
 government. De Weissenstein wrote with an ex- 
 
 F) 
 
 cess of artifice which defeated itself. He affected a 
 great deal of impartiality, freely condemning the 
 measures of the British ministry, and proposing to 
 forward Dr. Franklin s answer directly to the king, 
 without the intervention of those ministers. He la 
 bors to impress Franklin with a bad opinion of 
 French faith ; declares the impossibility that Eng 
 land should ever assent to the independence of 
 America, and threatens that, though Parliament 
 should accede to it, the people would not submit ; 
 
506 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 and that the British title to the empire of America 
 would be asserted by the successors of the men then 
 in power, even though temporarily yielded to " re 
 cover breath." He offers peerages to Franklin, 
 Washington, and others, or pensions, at their op 
 tion, and propounds a plan of government, tolera 
 bly specious at the first glance, but which Franklin 
 characterizes in his answer as a proposition for the 
 Americans to deliver themselves " bound and gagged, 
 ready for hanging, without ever a right to complain, 
 and without a friend to be found afterward among 
 all mankind." 
 
 The reply to his letter M. de Weissenstein de 
 sired Franklin to give to, or drop for a stranger, 
 whom he would find the next Monday in the Church 
 of Notre Dame, to be known by a rose in his hat 
 Franklin says, " I think I can convey my answer in 
 a less mysterious manner, and guess it may come to 
 your hands. * * I may be indiscreet enough in many 
 things ; but certainly, if I were disposed to make 
 propositions, which I can not do, having none com 
 mitted to me to make, I should never think of de 
 livering them to the Lord knows who, to be carried 
 to the Lord knows where, to serve no one knows 
 what purposes. Being at this time one of the most 
 remarkable figures in Paris, even my appearance in 
 the Church of Notre Dame, where I can not have 
 any conceivable business, and especially being seen 
 to leave or drop any letter to any person there, 
 would be a matter of some speculation, and might, 
 from the suspicions it must naturally give, have very 
 
LIFE OF FRANKI f N. 507 
 
 mischievous consequences to our credit here." Of. 
 the offer of places and peerage, Franklin says, " This 
 offer to corrupt us, sir, is with me your credential, 
 and convinces me that you are not a private vol 
 unteer in your application. It bears the stamp of 
 British court character. It is even the signature of 
 your king." And thus, with contemptuous disdain, 
 Franklin dismissed the promises of the anonymous 
 writer, as with calm courage he had met his threats. 
 The official and semi-official correspondence of 
 Franklin during his residence in France would of 
 itself have furnished employment sufficient for a 
 man of ordinary habits of application ; and yet he 
 found leisure for much besides, in his agreeable per 
 sonal intercourse and in philosophical pursuits. A 
 great source of annoyance to him was the repeated 
 and incessant demand for letters of introduction to 
 the commander-in-chief in America, or to Congress, 
 the idea having become prevalent that he was sent 
 to France to engage officers. He writes, in relation 
 to this subject, to a friend, with some tartness, though 
 relieved by a to.uch of pleasantry. " I am worried 
 from morning till night. The noise of every coach 
 now that enters my court terrifies me. I am afraid 
 to accept an invitation to dine abroad, being almost 
 sure to meet with some officer or officer s friend, 
 who, as soon as I am put in good humor by a glass 
 or two of Champaign, begins his attack upon me. 
 Luckily, I do not in my sleep dream of these vexa 
 tious situations, or I should be afraid of what are 
 now my only hours of comfort. If, therefore, you 
 
508 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 have the least remaining kindness for me if you 
 would not help to drive me out of France, let this, 
 your twenty-third application, be your last." 
 
 To such a pitch did the evil grow, that the witty 
 doctor actually prepared a form, which William 
 Temple Franklin states that he certainly used in 
 some instances, to shame applicants out of their im 
 portunity, of whom he could get rid in no other 
 way : " The bearer of this presses me to give him a 
 letter of recommendation, though I know nothing of 
 Jiim, not even his name. I must refer you to him 
 self for his character and merits, with which he is 
 certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be." 
 One can imagine the blank looks of an applicant 
 upon reading a testimonial couched in the usual 
 forms, with such a declaration and reference as the 
 above for its pith. Too complaisant listening to ap 
 plications for employment in the army of the United 
 States was the cause of Mr. Deane s being recalled 
 by Congress. He left, on his return, in April, 1778, 
 a,nd was succeeded by Mr. John Adams. He had 
 made agreements with French officers which Con 
 gress found it impossible to confirm. Franklin 
 wrote more than once in exculpation and vindica 
 tion of his colleague in this particular; for it was 
 exceedingly difficult, and in many cases would have 
 been impolitic, to refuse applications in which the 
 powerful were interested. Franklin and Deane 
 united in the recommendation of Lafayette; and 
 we need remind no American reader that their 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 eulogy in this case was merited, and their judgment 
 fully vindicated. 
 
 Mr. Adams remained in Paris as commissionei 
 only until the autumn of the year in which he ar 
 rived. The commission was dissolved, and Dr. 
 Franklin was appointed minister plenipotentiary 
 Mr. Arthur Lee, the other commissioner, had an ap 
 pointment to Spain, but remained in Paris. From 
 Mr. Lee, and from Mr. Ralph Izard, Dr. Franklin 
 experienced a great deal of annoyance and enmity. 
 The first was exhibited in captious differences about 
 the public business, and the personal and official re 
 lations of the commissioners ; and the latter was ex 
 cited in letters to America, making charges and in 
 sinuations of a weighty character against Franklin. 
 Mr. Lee s unhappy temper toward the doctor was 
 exhibited in England while they were in that coun 
 try together. He quarreled with his other colleague 
 in France, Mr. Deane, before Franklin s arrival ; and 
 ke labored to procure the sending of Mr. Deane to 
 
510 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 one court and Dr. Franklin to another, leaving him 
 self in France, that he might have an opportunity to 
 call upon them for their accounts, which he thus 
 darkly intimated needed examination ; an object 
 which he said could thus be reached without an ap 
 pearance of intention, and thus, he says, " save both 
 the public and me." We have not space, nor is it 
 necessary, to go into a circumstantial account of all 
 the intrigues to which Dr. Franklin s enemies re 
 sorted, and the littlenesses" (an awkward word, 
 but expressive) of which they were capable. Frank 
 lin was not unadvised of any part of their proceed 
 ings. While he did not permit the public business 
 to be injured by differences between the agents of 
 the United States abroad, he replied with sufficient 
 directness and spirit to direct insults ; but, proud in 
 his conscious integrity, he did not attempt to meet 
 or reply to the charges against him which were sent 
 to America, not, be it understood, formally and offi 
 cially, but to operate on individual minds, and thus 
 procure his injury in Congress without giving him 
 an opportunity to vindicate himself. He expressed 
 his confidence that such injustice would not be done 
 him ; and that confidence was well founded. Al 
 though some of the members, and other influential 
 men in America, of correct minds and pure patriot 
 ism, were to some extent swayed by the efforts, in 
 cessant and artful, to injure Franklin, and to make 
 the foreign affairs of the United States appear as if 
 in a desperate condition through his remissness and 
 mismanagement, the truth prevailed. Facts, and the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 511 
 
 unsought testimony of the disinterested, showed that 
 Franklin had effected, and was effecting with the 
 court of France, what no other man could. It is 
 related of Jefferson, that when he succeeded Dr. 
 Franklin as minister to France, and some one said 
 to him, " You have come to fill Dr. Franklin s place," 
 he replied, " Oh no, sir ; no man living can do that ; 
 but I am appointed to succeed him." By repeat 
 ed proofs of confidence, Congress showed that this 
 opinion was not peculiar to Mr. Jefferson. The 
 verdict of posterity has endorsed that opinion ; and 
 if the assailants of Dr. Franklin are remembered, it 
 will be from the character and eminence of the man 
 they attacked, not for any credit that their allega 
 tions against him possessed. 
 
t>l2 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 AFTER the dissolution of the commission, and the 
 appointment of Dr. Franklin as minister plenipo 
 tentiary, his duties, though much more onerous than 
 before, were, however, pursued with more comfort, 
 as he was relieved from the captious interference of 
 a troublesome colleague in Mr. Lee. Mr. Adams, 
 during the time that he remained in France as com 
 missioner, was the hearty assistant and respectful 
 friend of Dr. Franklin. He resided with him in the 
 same house for some time, and the sentiments with 
 which he regarded his venerable colleague may be 
 gathered from his answer to a letter from Mr. Lee, 
 in which the latter desired a room to be prepared in 
 his house for the keeping of the public papers. " I 
 have not asked Dr. Franklin s opinion concerning a 
 room in your house for the papers, and an hour to 
 meet there: I know it would be in vain ; for I think 
 it must appear to him more unequal still. It can not 
 be expected that two should go to one, when it is 
 as easy again for one to come to two ; not to men 
 tion Dr. Franklin s age, his rank in the country, or 
 his character in the world; nor that nine tenths of. 
 the public letters are constantly brought to this house, 
 and always will be carried where Dr. Franklin is." 
 And yet Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams did not en- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 513 
 
 tirely agree, as will presently be observed. But the 
 difference between the two statesmen was one upon 
 points of policy, naturally growing out of their dif 
 ferent characters, and the different positions from 
 which they viewed the same subjects ; a difference, 
 the result of honest convictions, which was restrain 
 ed by the patriotism which they both possessed, and 
 the willingness which both felt to make sacrifices 
 for their country. The other opposition to Frank 
 lin was in its inception, at least, prompted by mor 
 tified personal vanity, and grasping, but disappointed 
 ambition. 
 
 To Dr. Franklin s duties as minister plenipoten 
 tiary were added all others which are usually trans 
 acted by subordinate representatives of a government 
 abroad. Consular duties, the adjudication of ques 
 tions arising out of the capture of the enemy s ves 
 sels; disputes between commanders in the American 
 service; complaints of neutrals against alleged vio 
 lations of national law, and the provision of money 
 to meet the drafts of Congress, all were, by turns, de 
 manding his attention; and the admiration is, that 
 even Franklin performed these multifarious duties so 
 well. Not a draft drawn by authority of Congress 
 was protested during his residence abroad. In these 
 duties he had not even the assistance of a secretary 
 of legation. His grandson was his scribe and as 
 sistant. It was not until near the close of his official 
 residence abroad that consuls were appointed. And 
 while all this official work W 7 as passing through his 
 
 hands, the reader must bear in mind the voluminous 
 
 K K 
 
514 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 correspondence which he held with friends in Eng 
 land, and others, as already mentioned; through all 
 of which he adhered to his strongly expressed dec 
 laration, that Americans "were neither to be dra 
 gooned nor bamboozled out of their liberty;" that in 
 dependence was theirs already, and that no treaty 
 could be commenced without the acknowledgment, 
 tacit or verbal, of this fact. 
 
 The whole sum of money obtained by Franklin 
 from the French court was from twenty-seven to 
 thirty millions of francs. Of this, nine were con 
 sidered a free gift, or subsidy, and the remainder, it 
 was agreed between the Count de Vergennes and 
 Franklin, should be paid in twelve annual instal 
 ments, the first to be paid in three years after the close 
 of the war. To these sums the French court added 
 another loan of six millions, after the signing of the 
 treaty. Without disparagement to the labors or char 
 acter of any one else, w r e may infer that no other 
 agent would have been so successful. De Vergen 
 nes writes in 1780, "We esteem Dr. Franklin as 
 much for the patriotism as the wisdom of his con 
 duct; and it has been owing, in a great part, to this 
 cause, and to the confidence which we put in his 
 veracity, that we have determined to relieve the pe 
 cuniary embarrassments in which he has been placed 
 by Congress." And at a period when the heavy ex 
 penses of the war, and the liberal advances already 
 made, had crippled the resources of the French gov 
 ernment, Franklin secured a loan in Holland by 
 seconding the application of his colleagues to the 
 
I, I FJ: o F F II A N K L I N. 51 f) 
 
 French court, and thus obtaining the guarantee of 
 the French king for the payment of the interest of 
 the sum advanced from that quarter. Drafts drawn 
 upon foreign ministers at other courts were, through 
 the influence of Franklin, saved from being dishon 
 ored ; and, in a word, his services to his country, in a 
 financial character alone, entitled him to her high 
 est gratitude. 
 
 Franklin was an advocate of the plan of dis 
 patching a French army to America, as recom 
 mended by Lafayette on his first return from the 
 United States, and seconded the marquis with his 
 influence and counsel. It was his happiness to be 
 the agent through whom the sword voted by Con 
 gress for that officer was procured and presented to 
 him, and he exercised his usual good taste and judg 
 ment in the selection of the emblems and devices. 
 
 Jealous of the honor of his country, he issued a 
 circular letter to the American cruisers for the pro 
 tection of Captain Cook, on his return from his 
 voyage of discovery, and another for the safety of 
 the vessels dispatched with relief to the Moravian 
 missions, and alms for sufferers in the West India 
 colonies. When France and Spain joined with 
 Russia in the recognition of the new principle that 
 "free ships make free goods," or that the flag of a 
 neutral covers the cargo, Franklin issued instruc 
 tions to the American cruisers accordingly. All the 
 Northern powers except England came into the ar 
 rangement. Franklin assumed the assent of Con 
 gress in this, as he did in many other cases, but 
 
516 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 never in any case when he had not with him the 
 support of the principles of equity and of humanity 
 Through the whole residence of Franklin abroad, 
 it was his peculiar fortune to be, at least, partially 
 misunderstood at home. The impression grew that 
 he was too much a Frenchman ; that he was too com 
 plaisant, not to say obsequious, to the French court. 
 Even if there w r ere some color for this allegation, it 
 would be a circumstance not at all to be wondered 
 at. None knew so well as he what essential serv 
 ices the French court had rendered to the Ameri 
 cans, and were still rendering; for he declared that 
 the Count de Vergennes never made a promise 
 which he did not redeem. None so well under 
 stood as Dr. Franklin what continued efforts were 
 made to influence the councils of France by indi 
 rect means and overtures from the common enemy, 
 for he had experience of the same tortuous policy in 
 his own case. And if, in addition to the national 
 reasons for gratitude, he had some personal feeling 
 for the respect entertained for him by both court 
 and people, he would have been cold-hearted and 
 ungrateful indeed not to have exhibited this senti 
 ment. But in no case did he compromise his duty, 
 or fail in the service of his country. We have ob 
 served how much he was embarrassed in England, 
 while agent of the colonies, by the movements of the 
 patriots at home. In France, the doings of his 
 countrymen in Congress required him, if he would 
 be at all successful, to be their apologist at the 
 French court. In England he was blamed for the 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 517 
 
 revolutionary speeches and manifestoes of his coun 
 trymen; and in France, a point in his public course, 
 of which De Vergennes made serious complaint, was, 
 that he did not discourage the frequent and impor 
 tunate demands which Congress made for assistance. 
 In neither of these cases could he have done more, 
 however, than he really did; and what he did effect 
 or advance in his correspondence, caused his ene 
 mies to make him appear, while in England, too 
 much an Englishman ; while in France, too much a 
 Frenchman. Posterity has, however, done him just 
 ice; and even while he lived, he had the good for 
 tune to find his conduct truly appreciated, and to be 
 honored with renewed marks of public confidence, 
 which were an answer to his enemies as complete 
 as gratifying. 
 
 Dr. Franklin thought his powers as minister plen* 
 ipotentiary not ample enough to enable him to con 
 clude a treaty of peace, should opportunity present 
 itself. Mr. Adams was therefore appointed minis 
 ter for this purpose, and arrived in France in 1780. 
 Count de Vergennes and Mr. Adams differed upon 
 some points of etiquette, and upon some of more 
 importance. The count desired a copy of his in 
 structions as minister to make a treaty with Eng 
 land, which Mr. Adams did not feel inclined to com 
 municate. Mr. Adams also insisted that the depre 
 ciation of the continental paper money in America 
 should equally affect all creditors, foreign and domes 
 tic, while Count de Vergennes claimed that an ex 
 ception should be made in favor of French credit- 
 
518 L I F L O F F R A N K L I N. 
 
 ors. The situation of Mr. Adams in Paris became 
 so irksome that he repaired to Holland, where he 
 remained until he came to Paris with the others 
 named in the commission to negotiate the treaty 
 of peace with Great Britain. While in Holland he 
 took the place of Mr. Laurens in the endeavor to 
 negotiate loans in that country ; and in this business, 
 among his embarrassments, he had to contend with 
 adverse intrigues, as is alleged, of the French court. 
 The question whether this charge against France 
 was well or ill founded, it is not necessary to con 
 sider here ; it is sufficient that circumstances were 
 such as warranted Mr. Adams, in his own mind, in 
 entertaining suspicions of France, and opinions of 
 her course, far less favorable than Dr. Franklin did. 
 The French government even requested his recall; 
 but Congress, instead, passed him a vote of thanks. 
 Of course, these circumstances operated to the prej 
 udice of Dr. Franklin at home, as he was unre 
 served in expressing, in his official letters, the differ 
 ence between himself and Mr. Adams on the atti 
 tude which should be maintained toward France. 
 The question of the recall of Dr. Franklin had been 
 once (1779) broached in Congress, and only eight 
 votes in forty-three were found in favor of it. In 
 1781 he solicited to be recalled, not from "any the 
 least doubt of their success in their glorious cause, 
 or any disgust received in their service, but on ac 
 count of his age and infirmities/ Congress declined 
 accepting his resignation; and, as a further mark 
 of confidence, he was associated with Mr. Laurens, 
 
L I F E O F F 11 A MY L I N. 
 
 Mr. Jay, and Mr. Jefferson, in a commission with 
 Mr. Adams, to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great 
 Britain. He could not be insensible to this confi 
 dence. The assurance that he had tendered his 
 resignation from "no disgust" is emphatic, when 
 considered in reference to the circumstances which 
 we have reviewed. It is of a kindred character 
 with his former declaration, made to Lord Howe, 
 that he never suffered private grievances to interfere 
 with public duties. He remained to fulfill, even to 
 the last, his generous devotedness to his country, 
 and to throw himself as a peacemaker between 
 France and America; not, indeed, that there was 
 any danger of a rupture, though coldness did for a 
 time mark the official intercourse of the represent 
 atives of the two governments. 
 
 In 1782, upon the commencement of the Rock- 
 ingham ministry, which had come into power with 
 the express declaration of the policy of peace with 
 America, an official correspondence was opened 
 with the venerable man who for more than ten years 
 may be said to have been the point of quasi diplo 
 matic advances. Thus, as a matter of course, was 
 precedence ever conferred upon him, in whatever 
 he was engaged. In April, diplomatic agents were 
 sent to Paris to confer with Dr. Franklin and the 
 French court on the mode of conducting the nego 
 tiation. After three months of conversation and 
 skirmishing, Dr. Franklin s colleagues not having 
 arrived, the following points were submitted as the 
 indispensable basis of negotiation: Full and com- 
 
520 LIFE OF FRANKLIN 
 
 plete acknowledgment of the independence of the 
 thirteen states; withdrawal of the British forces; 
 settlement of boundaries, and freedom of the fisher 
 ies. To these indispensable articles Dr. Franklin 
 added certain recommendations as advisable: in 
 demnification for towns burned; a conciliatory act 
 of Parliament ; the surrender of Canada, and equal 
 privileges with British ships in British ports. 
 
 While the preliminary conversations were going 
 forward, the British ministry was dissolved by the 
 death of the Marquis of Rockingham. The Earl of 
 Shelbourne succeeded as prime minister, and Mr. 
 Fox, who had been in the Rockingham cabinet, re 
 tired. Mr. Jay had by this time arrived in Paris. 
 Mr. Adams came in October, about a month before 
 the signature, though he was in correspondence 
 with his colleagues during their preliminary nego 
 tiations. Mr. Laurens, who had been for over a 
 year a prisoner in the Tower in London, arrived 
 only to endorse what his colleagues had done. Mr. 
 Jefferson never acted under his appointment to ne 
 gotiate the treaty of peace, but remained in America, 
 as he learned that the preliminaries were arranged 
 before he was ready to embark. The greater por 
 tion of the labor was thus left to Dr. Franklin and 
 Mr. Jay. As the former, for several weeks during 
 the summer of 1782, was confined to his house by 
 sickness, the negotiations were conducted by Mr. 
 Jay and Mr. Oswald, the English ambassador, or 
 agent. 
 
 The change of ministry in Great Britain pro- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 521 
 
 tracted the discussion. The original intention of 
 the parties was to assume the independence of the 
 United States as an admitted fact, and then proceed 
 to treat as with an independent power. But the 
 new ministry desired to make the independence of 
 America a matter of exchange, for which an equiv 
 alent was to be granted by the United States. Mr. 
 Jay combated this from the beginning; and with the 
 keenness of a lawyer, demurred to Mr. Oswald s in 
 structions, in which every thing which could recog 
 nize the national existence of the United States had 
 been left out. After consultation with Dr. Frank 
 lin, and the dispatch of couriers and messages be 
 tween London and Paris, the difficulty was got over 
 by a compromise. Two commissioners were sent 
 over to Paris from London, which were at first Mr. 
 Grenville and Mr. Oswald. Mr. Grenville s commis 
 sion authorized him to treat with France; but as 
 America was not mentioned, Dr. Franklin refused 
 to consider him as empowered to treat with the 
 United States. The commission was altered to read 
 " France, or any other prince or state." Dr. Frank 
 lin said that the general words any other state 
 could not include a people whom Great Britain did 
 not allow to be a state. Mr. Grenville was succeeded 
 by Mr. Fitzherbert, whose commission was to treat 
 with France, Spain, and Holland. Mr. Oswald re 
 mained in charge of the American treaty, and with 
 him Mr. Jay contended until his authority to treat 
 was changed from the words "with commissioners 
 named, or to be named, by the colonies or plant- 
 
522 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ations of America," to commissioners of the "thir 
 teen United States." 
 
 The preliminary treaty was signed at Paris on 
 the 30th of November, 1782. The stipulations about 
 commerce, originally contemplated by Dr. Franklin, 
 were left for another treaty; all the other "essen 
 tials" were secured. But a great effort was made 
 by the British commissioners to obtain compensa 
 tion for the Loyalists whose property had been con 
 fiscated, or to retain the fisheries. On these points 
 the American commissioners were resolute ; and Mr. 
 Adams arrived from Holland to throw his weight 
 into the scale, and combat with energy any at 
 tempt to depart from the basis which Franklin had 
 marked out, and he had approved. In regard to 
 the compensation of the Loyalists, Franklin s witty 
 anecdote of the poker indicates his opinion of the 
 justice of the claim. He represents a man as having 
 prepared the heated iron for thrusting his neighbor 
 through ; and when the person for whom the com 
 pliment was intended declined it, even to the extent 
 of only one inch, the man who had heated the po 
 ker set up a claim for his time and fuel. After all 
 attempts to obtain more than had in the beginning 
 been conceded were found vain, the British com 
 missioners yielded. The last stand made was on 
 the Loyalist claims and the fisheries; and the com 
 missioners on the part of Great Britain threatened 
 to send the treaty to London for consideration. Dr. 
 Franklin acceded to this, provided a clause was 
 inserted making it obligatory on the king to rec- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 523 
 
 ommend to Parliament a bill to indemnify the 
 Americans for British spoliations. This proposi 
 tion closed the contest, and the treaty was signed. 
 It was a subject of complaint, not official or formal, 
 but of conversation and remark, that the American 
 commissioners should affix their signatures without 
 consulting the French ministry. The reason for 
 this proceeding was the jealousy of diplomacy. The 
 British court, as it had done through the whole war, 
 through its agents, excited distrust of France. Ac 
 cidental circumstances, since proved of no weight, 
 added their force to suspicion; and the natural de 
 sire of the French court, that the negotiation should 
 not be frustrated and the war protracted, gave color 
 to the charge that the French ministry was indis 
 posed to support America in all her claims. It is to 
 be remembered, however, that the preliminary trea 
 ty, thus signed by the commissioners of the United 
 States, was conditioned upon the negotiation of a 
 treaty between England and France, for the United 
 States steadily refused to make any separate treaty. 
 Both France and America kept their faith to each 
 other in this respect. But it was a time of doubt 
 and uncertainty. Fears were entertained of the sin 
 cerity of the British court, as propositions for a sep 
 arate peace had been presented to France, to Spain, 
 and to the United States; and the offer of media 
 tion from Russia, on behalf of Holland, had been ac 
 cepted. All these considerations induced the com 
 missioners to sign the preliminary treaty while if was 
 in their power. 
 
524 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 In reference to the subject of this treaty, Dr. 
 Franklin wrote to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 
 "I will not take it upon me to justify the apparent 
 reserve respecting this court (the French) at the 
 signature of which you disapprove. I do not see, 
 however, that they have much reason to complain 
 of the transaction. Nothing was stipulated to their 
 prejudice, and none of the stipulations were to have 
 force except by a subsequent act of their own. * * * 
 I long since satisfied Count de Vergennes about it 
 here. He did what appeared to all of us best at 
 the time; and, if we have done wrong, the Congress 
 will do right, after hearing us, to censure us. Their 
 nomination of five persons to the service seems to 
 mark that they had some dependence on our joint 
 judgment, since one alone could have made a treaty 
 by direction of the French ministry as well as 
 twenty." The wisdom of the commissioners in 
 their preliminary stipulations, and the completeness 
 with which those articles covered the whole ground, 
 is shown in the fact that the preliminary articles 
 were, on the 3d of September, 1783, signed as the 
 definitive treaty. Efforts were made to introduce a 
 commercial article; but, after much deliberation, this 
 and other subjects were left for after consideration ; 
 and the treaty, as signed, met the full and hearty 
 approval of the American Congress and people. 
 
 Thus closed the last great event of Franklin s 
 official life. What follows in his public acts is 
 overshadowed by the vast importance of the events 
 which he had been so active an instrument in bring- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 525 
 
 ing about. Americans are not inclined to do injus 
 tice to their public men, particularly those who fig 
 ured in the great contest of the Revolution; but 
 injustice has unintentionally been done to Benja 
 min Franklin. He has been regarded rather as 
 the philosopher than as the statesman ; or, in other 
 words, his scientific reputation has been made to 
 supersede his patriotic labors and services. Par 
 ticularly has this been the case in popular biogra 
 phies; and we have therefore followed his most im 
 portant public acts with the more minuteness, that 
 his countrymen may become generally better aware 
 of what is due, in this respect, to the American 
 statesman. 
 
 Pending the negotiations with England, Dr. 
 Franklin was appointed a special commissioner to 
 negotiate a treaty with Sweden, which duty he per 
 formed. He was also, after the treaty of peace, 
 named in two commissions : one with Messrs. 
 Adams and Jay, to negotiate a treaty of commerce 
 with England ; the other with Messrs. Adams and 
 Jefferson, to contract treaties of amity and com 
 merce with the principal European powers. Noth 
 ing was effected under the first commission. Under 
 the second, a treaty was made with Prussia, which 
 embraced a clause against privateering, and in favor 
 of the principles of mercy and equity, by which 
 Franklin proposed to regulate hostile operations. 
 His last official act was to sign this treaty, and in 
 July, 1785, he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson as 
 minister plenipotentiary. He was now in his eigh- 
 
526 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 tieth year. Public life had lost its zest, from the 
 fact that no great interests remained in jeopardy. 
 He had lived to see the "hazardous enterprise," as 
 he termed the Revolution, "happily completed;" and 
 urged upon Congress, in repeated applications, his 
 recall, being willing to leave to younger hands the 
 arrangement of the details, for which his labors of 
 tongue and pen had aided to lay so solid a founda 
 tion. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 527 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 VERY soon after the arrival of Franklin in France, 
 he took lodgings in a house belonging to M. Chau- 
 mont, at Passy, near Paris. As he remained in the 
 same house during his whole official residence in 
 England, so he kept the same quarters during his 
 whole residence in France. These little circum 
 stances are strongly illustrative of his character. He 
 took no step without due consideration ; and sought 
 through his whole life rather to accommodate him 
 self to present circumstances, or to improve those 
 circumstances by gradual and rational steps, than to 
 look for or seek great changes. We observe the 
 same traits in his political character. As decidedly 
 republican as any of his compeers, in all points in 
 advance of many of them in opinion, and in some 
 few points in advance of all, he never advocated 
 the abrupt removal of existing institutions, trusting 
 to the future to supply their places. The plan was 
 to build up before he pulled down; to let the new 
 win favor and supplant the old, rather than by re 
 moval of the old, to compel the adoption of new. 
 If there be any propriety in such a conjunction of 
 terms, he may be styled a conservative democrat, in 
 opposition to those who are termed the movement 
 party. 
 
528 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 In his course upon religious questions we may 
 observe the like characteristics of mind. Through 
 out his whole life he acknowledged habitually his 
 dependence upon an overruling Providence, and de 
 clared it to be not only the personal duty of indi 
 viduals, but the duty of nations in their public acts 
 and in their official proceedings, to recognize the 
 Supreme Ruler of nations. In the Convention which 
 met in 1787 to form the Constitution of the United 
 States, he made an eloquent appeal to his colleagues 
 in support of a motion which he introduced, that 
 " henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of 
 Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations, be 
 held in this assembly every morning before we pro 
 ceed to business." He treated the sacred Scriptures 
 with habitual reverence, and in many places has re 
 corded his faith in them; and his writings and con 
 versation showed that he was intimately acquainted 
 with their contents. He urged upon those depend 
 ent upon him an habitual attention to public wor 
 ship ; and if, in some part of his life, as left by him 
 self, he does not seem to have been exemplary in 
 that particular, whose life is always in accordance 
 with his precepts? He had the near friendship of 
 Whitefield, the Bishop of St. Asaph s, and other cler 
 gymen and devout Christians persons who would 
 not have sought the society of an irreligious man. 
 And he possessed in an eminent degree the grace of 
 charity, as he has left the evidence both in his wri 
 tings and in his acts. In some of his opinions upon 
 theological subjects he was unsettled; in some points 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 529 
 
 he acknowledges he had doubts. "To his own mas 
 ter he standeth or falleth." But he never intruded 
 his doubts or his speculative opinions upon others. 
 He never attempted to disturb any man s faith; and 
 he most earnestly urged the celebrated Thomas 
 Paine to bum the manuscript of a deistical work 
 which he submitted to Franklin for perusal to bum 
 it before it met the eye of any other person, and 
 thus save himself a good deal of regret and repent 
 ance. "By your argument," Franklin says, "against 
 a particular Providence, though you allow a general 
 Providence, you strike at the foundation of all re 
 ligion ; for, without the belief of a Providence that 
 takes cognizance of, guards and guides, and may 
 favor particular persons, there is no motive to wor 
 ship a Deity, to fear his displeasure, or to pray for 
 his protection." 
 
 As among the proofs of the extraordinary activi 
 ty of his mind, it may be remarked that he learned 
 to converse in the French language after he had 
 reached the age of seventy. Among the "baga 
 telles," as he termed them, written at Passy for the 
 amusement of the brilliant coterie with whom he 
 was associated, are several written in French; and 
 this fact leads to the inference that light literature 
 was not the only mode in which he employed his 
 pen in French composition. His attachment to the 
 press is exhibited in the fact that he had a small 
 printing-office at his lodgings, with which he amused 
 himself in printing these trifles, and, in getting up 
 
 ingenious and harmless pasquinades. Many of his 
 
 L L 
 
530 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 practical essays, and not a few political papers, me 
 moirs on various philosophical subjects, were written 
 during his residence in France. His principal phil 
 osophical and miscellaneous works were published 
 in Paris in 1773, and the famous preface to his Al 
 manac in 1757. " The Way to Wealth" had been 
 distributed among the people in a separate transla 
 tion. That exceedingly clever collection of " wise 
 saws" has since enjoyed the honor of being trans 
 lated and published in modern Greek. Without any 
 official rank, the American philosopher would have 
 found sufficient occupation to prevent time from 
 hanging heavy on his hands; and in the pleasures 
 of social intercourse and the gratification of scien 
 tific pursuits, he found relaxation from the fatigues 
 of his public duties duties for which, as we have 
 before remarked, the American people, losing sight 
 of the statesman in the sage, have not been suffi 
 ciently grateful. 
 
 On the 12th of July, 1785, after a residence of 
 
L I F E O F F R A N K L I X. 531 
 
 / 
 
 nearly nine years in France, he left Passy on his 
 way to Havre de Grace. He had contemplated a 
 tour over the Continent, and, in particular, a visit 
 to Vienna, but the increasing infirmities of age com 
 pelled him to abandon the intention. The leave- 
 takings of his numerous personal friends, and the 
 sincere expressions of friendship and attachment 
 which were incorporated in the notes and adieux 
 of official personages, must have made the sundering 
 of the many agreeable ties he had formed a de 
 pressing duty even to a young man, much more to 
 an octogenarian like Franklin, so sensible of kind 
 ness, and grateful for it. The journey from Passy 
 was made in the queen s litter r borne by Spanish 
 mules; and the voyage across the Atlantic would 
 have been made in a French national vessel, had 
 the minister of marine been earlier apprised of his 
 intended return. Of the journey to Havre, which 
 occupied six days, Franklin has left notes, in which 
 those who accompanied him and waited upon him 
 with civilities, including individuals, corporations, 
 and the Masonic Lodge at Rouen, are particularly 
 remembered. From Havre he sailed for Southamp 
 ton, where he remained four days. Here he found 
 his son, William Temple, former governor of New 
 Jersey, who, as a Loyalist, had removed to England; 
 Mr. Benjamin Vaughan, Mr. Alexander, the Bishop 
 of St. Asaph, his lady and daughter, and other 
 friends. With the exchange of courtesies and the 
 transaction of business, the short time of his stay in 
 Southampton was well crowded with occupation. 
 
532 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 The most carious incident of the four days is, 
 that the old gentleman of eighty, who had been, as 
 appears in his memoirs, so great a master of the art 
 of swimming, fell asleep floating in a bath, and re 
 mained asleep for an hour without sinking or turn 
 ing the best practical proof of his theory of self- 
 command in the water. On the 27th of July he 
 embarked in the London Packet, Captain Truxton. 
 The bishop and family accompanied him on board, 
 and remained during the night before the vessel 
 sailed. An evidence of their considerate kindness 
 to their aged friend is found in his journal, under the 
 date of July 28th: "When I waked in the morning, 
 found the company gone and the ship under sail." 
 
 On the passage, which occupied forty-eight days, 
 Dr. Franklin employed himself in writing two pa 
 pers, one on Smoky Chimneys, the other on Im 
 provements in Navigation. Both were read before 
 the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. 
 In both are many excellent suggestions, which have 
 been made the basis of many practical improve 
 ments. In the paper on Navigation occurs the fol 
 lowing sentence: "Some sailors may think the wri 
 ter has given himself unnecessary trouble in pretend 
 ing to advise them, for they have a little repugnance 
 to the advice of landsmen, whom they esteem ig 
 norant, and incapable of giving any worth notice." 
 This charge is in part true, but only in part. Con 
 trivances, and machinery, liable at all times to get 
 out of order, are especially so at sea; and seamen 
 alone can judge of what is practically useful and al- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 533 
 
 ways reliable, which is the main point. The doctor 
 says that when a shipwrecked crew find themselves 
 in a boat without a compass, a fine sewing-needle 
 laid on a cup of clear water will be a good substi 
 tute. But a crew who leave in such haste as to 
 forget a compass, would not be very likely to re 
 member a fine sewing-needle; nor is a cup of clear 
 water always to be had by seamen in such a strait ; 
 and even if it were, the motion of a boat on the 
 ocean, if it permitted the water to remain in the 
 cup, would occasion variations of the impromptu 
 compass, to which the calculations intended for the 
 perfect instrument would hardly apply. The ob 
 servations of the doctor on the Gulf Stream, the di 
 rection of winds, and many other subjects, are full of 
 useful suggestions, which the good sense of mari 
 ners has not been remiss in improving and appro 
 priating. The following is the last entry in the 
 journal of the voyage : 
 
 Wednesday, Sept. 14. With the flood in the 
 morning came a light breeze, which brought us 
 above Gloucester Point, in full view of dear Phila 
 delphia ! when we again cast anchor, to wait for 
 the health officer, who, having made his visit, and 
 finding no sickness, gave us leave to land. My 
 son-in-law, came with a boat for us. We landed at 
 Market-street wharf, where we were received by a 
 crowd of people with huzzas, and accompanied 
 with acclamations quite to my door. Found my 
 family well. God be praised and thanked for all 
 his mercies!" 
 
534 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 The ringing of bells and the firing of cannon also 
 expressed the welcome of the people to him who 
 had fought the battles of his country against diplo 
 matic intrigue, while his compatriots defended the 
 liberty of the new nation with their arms. This 
 spontaneous manifestation was followed by others 
 more formal, from the Legislature then in session, 
 from the Philosophical Society, the Faculty of the 
 University, and other public bodies. Individuals 
 hastened also to pay their respects, and among 
 those who earliest called upon him was General 
 Washington. This great man neglected no oppor 
 tunity during the remainder of Franklin s life of 
 testifying his respect for him; and Franklin, in a 
 codicil to his will, dated in 1789, gives his favorite 
 walking-stick to General Washington, designating 
 him as " my friend and the friend of mankind." "If 
 it were a sceptre," he adds, "he has merited it, and 
 would become it." 
 
 In a few days after his return, Dr. Franklin was 
 elected a member of the Supreme Executive Coun 
 cil of Pennsylvania, and in October he was chosen 
 President of the State, as the executive was termed 
 under the then existing Constitution. He filled this 
 office through the three successive years which the 
 Constitution allowed, receiving on his first election 
 all the votes of the Legislature except one, and at 
 the two subsequent elections a unanimous vote. In 
 pursuance of an opinion which he entertained, that 
 in a republican government there should be no emol 
 ument attached to office, he devoted his salary to 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 535 
 
 purposes of public utility ; and in his will gave so 
 much more to public purposes, that if a balance were 
 struck between what he received during his long 
 public service and what he expended, the credit side 
 would show largely in favor of the doctor. It is a 
 matter of deep regret that the private claims of Ben 
 jamin Franklin are among those which were never 
 adjusted by Congress. His accounts as commis 
 sioner, minister, &c., at the court of France, were 
 audited by the agent appointed by Congress before 
 he left France ; but as there were some points upon 
 which the agent did not feel empowered to admit 
 Franklin s claims, the account was transmitted open 
 to Congress. About seven thousand five hundred 
 livres were found due to Franklin, which he re 
 ceived. The unadjusted part was made up of his 
 reasona ^e demands for extra services. By the terms 
 of Franklin s appointment, he was to receive his ex 
 penses and a net salary of five hundred pounds, and 
 to have a secretary with a salary of one thousand 
 pounds. The secretary never was sent; and the 
 whole labor of his appointment devolved upon him 
 self and his grandson, who received only three hun 
 dred pounds per annum. Dr. Franklin urged the 
 subject upon the attention of Congress without suc 
 cess. One reason which he advanced for attention 
 to it no longer exists. His enemies circulated re 
 ports that he was largely indebted to government, 
 and that -he avoided a settlement. This slander 
 was long since forgotten, as there never was any 
 foundation for it : posterity has done justice to his 
 
536 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 memory ; and it is a better record for his fame that 
 he died the creditor of his country, than if he had 
 amassed wealth in her service. The difficulty which 
 has always been found in pressing private claims 
 upon the attention of Congress, relieves this case 
 from any appearance of singularity; and the unset 
 tled state of that body at the close of the session, 
 before the meeting of the first Congress under the 
 new Constitution, was a sufficient cause for the neg 
 lect. Indeed, after the letter which Franklin wrote 
 to the President of Congress, dated in 1788, the 
 members never assembled in a number sufficient to 
 form a quorum. In the first Congress under the 
 new Constitution, which assembled March 4, 1789, 
 there was abundance of business in the organization 
 of the new government; and it does not appear that 
 Dr. Franklin ever renewed his application to that 
 body. Franklin, in a letter to a friend, says: "He 
 did hope that Congress would at least have been 
 kind enough to have shown their approbation of his 
 conduct by a grant of a small tract of land in their 
 Western country, which might have been of use, and 
 some honor to his posterity/ The honor has been 
 granted in every state of the Union, for in each, in 
 the names of counties or towns, or both, his is pre 
 served the free-will offering of the people; and 
 countless societies bear his honored " style and title." 
 Could he realize the wish he once expressed, to re 
 visit earth in a hundred years after his decease, he 
 would find no room to complain of the ingratitude 
 of his countrymen. 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 537 
 
 Dr. Franklin was chosen by Pennsylvania one of 
 her delegates to the Convention for adopting a Con 
 stitution for the United States, which met in May, 
 1787, at Philadelphia, and was a working member 
 of that body. Its sessions were secret, but in 1819 
 the Journal of the Convention was published by 
 order of Congress. Franklin s speeches were short 
 and pertinent; for he was at home in the committee- 
 room rather than in the deliberative assembly, and 
 never aimed at the fame of an orator. It is curious 
 to note that in the speeches which were afterward 
 written out and published, Dr. Franklin appears 
 usually to have advocated measures which were over 
 ruled by the Convention. He favored the establish 
 ment of an Executive Council rather than a single 
 officer as the head of the government. He would 
 have had the executive hold office for the honor, 
 without salary; and in these two provisions he 
 thought that a guard would be provided against the 
 change of the republican government of the United 
 States into a monarchy. He said, "I am apprehen 
 sive perhaps too apprehensive that the govern 
 ment of these states may in future times end in a 
 monarchy. But this catastrophe may be long de 
 layed, if, in our proposed system, we do not sow the 
 seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making 
 our posts of honor places of profit. If we do, I fear 
 that, though we employ at first a number, and not a 
 single person, the number will in time be set aside : 
 it will only nourish the germ of a king, and a king 
 will be the sooner set over us." Could he re-visit 
 
538 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 the United States, in accordance with his wish al 
 ready referred to, he would see the non-fulfillment 
 of that prophecy, and find the wisdom of his last 
 speech in the Convention confirmed. In that speech 
 he confessed that he did not entirely approve of the 
 Constitution, but he was not sure that he should 
 never approve it. The older he grew, the more apt 
 he was to doubt his own judgment. Many persons, 
 he said, think highly of their own infallibility, but 
 few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, 
 who, in a little dispute with her sister, said, " But I 
 meet with nobody but myself that is always in the 
 right." He consented to the Constitution because 
 he expected no better, and was not sure that it was 
 not the best, sacrificing his opinion of its errors to 
 the public good; and he therefore expressed the hope 
 that all who still had objections to it, would, like 
 him, doubt a little of his own infallibility, and, to 
 make manifest the unanimity of the Convention, put 
 their names to the instrument. The formula, " Done 
 in Convention by the unanimous consent," &c., was 
 agreed to, and added accordingly. Nor was Frank 
 lin s defense of the Constitution a mere cold assent, 
 for it was after this period that he wrote the fa 
 mous " Comparison of the Conduct of the Ancient 
 Jews and the Anti-Federalists of the United States" 
 referred to in a preceding chapter. 
 
 In the year 1788, besides the " Comparison" above 
 mentioned, Dr. Franklin wrote nearly one half of 
 his autobiography, and some scientific papers. In 
 1789 he wrote a long memoir upon the subject of 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 539 
 
 the Academy, now the University of Pennsylvania ; 
 and a satirical paper on the Abuses of the Press, 
 which agent he termed "The Supremest Court of 
 Judicature in Pennsylvania." He drew up a Plan 
 for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks, and 
 wrote an Address to the Public from the " Pennsyl 
 vania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slav 
 ery," of which society he was president. His last 
 published paper appeared in the Federal Gazette of 
 March 25th, 1790, over the signature of "Histori- 
 cus," and purported to be a speech delivered in the 
 Divan of Algiers in 1687 by a member of that coun 
 cil, against the petition of a sect called Erika, who 
 prayed the abolition of slavery. It was a parody 
 upon a speech delivered in Congress upon the same 
 subject, and is remarkable as the production of a 
 man in his eighty-fifth year, having all the freshness 
 and vivacity of style, and the skillfulness of applica 
 tion for which his productions are notable. It was 
 dated only twenty-four days before his death. His 
 last public act was the signature, as President of the 
 Abolition Society, of a memorial to Congress. His 
 last letter, of which any copy has been preserved 
 and, from its date, probably the last which he 
 wrote is one addressed to Jefferson, the Secre 
 tary of State, upon the subject of the Northeastern 
 Boundary. This letter bears date April 8, 1790, 
 nine days before his decease, and gives proofs of a 
 clearness of mind and memory truly wonderful. 
 
 During the last years of his life, feeling perhaps 
 that his attention to politics was no longer neces- 
 
540 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 sarj, he delighted in conversation on philosophical 
 subjects, and upon the objects of philanthropy, which 
 ever had his countenance. He fitted up his house 
 and library with that attention to convenience and 
 utility which was ever a principle with him, from 
 its enabling him to observe economy of time ; and 
 surrounded himself with the trophies of his long 
 public life in the medals, busts, curiosities, diplo 
 mas, and presents of various descriptions memo 
 rials which all had a value in his eyes, as was shown 
 by his distribution of them by will to different friends. 
 In his conversations upon philosophical and other 
 subjects, as he himself informs us, and as his writings 
 show, it was his habit never to dogmatize. Of his 
 philosophical writings it has been well observed, that 
 the most remarkable thing in them "is the unparal 
 leled simplicity and facility with which the reader is 
 conducted from one stage of the inquiry to another. 
 The author never appears for a moment to labor or 
 to be at a loss. The most ingenious and profound 
 explanations are suggested, as if they were the most 
 natural and obvious way of accounting for the phe 
 nomena ; and the author seems to value himself so 
 little on his most important discoveries, that it is 
 necessary to compare him with others before we 
 can form a just notion of his merits." He appears 
 to have made no secret of his processes, or of his 
 discoveries at any point in the progress of his exper 
 iments; and he thus admitted the curious and in 
 genious in all parts of the world to participate in 
 his investigations, freely imparting his own discov- 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 541 
 
 eries, and candidly acknowledging the hints he de 
 rived from others. His proposed experiments to 
 establish the identity of lightning with electricity 
 required a tower such as did not exist in Philadel 
 phia. He published his views : French philoso 
 phers established their correctness in the manner he 
 proposed; while with the memorable and familiarly 
 known expedient of the kite, he completed his ex 
 periment in America. Had he done and published 
 nothing except what he effected in relation to the 
 science of electricity, his name would still be im 
 mortal. 
 
 His discoveries and acquirements procured him 
 membership of all the principal learned and scien 
 tific societies in the world ; for there never has ex 
 isted a man whose cotemporaneous reputation was 
 more literally world-wide than his. These honors 
 were unsolicited, as were other tokens of respect 
 some of which were the reward of his science as 
 the notice of the King of France, communicated 
 through the Royal Society of London, for his elec 
 trical discoveries, while he was plain Mr. Franklin, 
 of Philadelphia; some were the reward of his philan 
 thropy, like the copy of Cook s Voyages, and the 
 medal, sent him with the approbation of the King of 
 England, for his humane order to the American cruiz- 
 ers in relation to the vessels of the great navigator; 
 and others still and their number was immense 
 were tokens of individual respect for his talents and 
 his virtues. The latter class of testimonials includ 
 ed every variety of the curious and the valuable in 
 
542 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 nature and in art, and copies of new works on all 
 subjects. 
 
 With the close of Dr. Franklin s third year as 
 President of Pennsylvania, in 1788, his official life 
 terminated ; but people could not forbear consulta 
 tion with one who for more than fifty years had 
 been familiar with the politics and history of his 
 country, and whose varied knowledge, the result of 
 observation and experience, was so ample. While 
 the question of the adoption of the Constitution was 
 pending in the several states, and as far back as the 
 time when the election of delegates to the Conven 
 tion was in progress, a society was formed "for Po 
 litical Inquiries," of which Franklin was president, 
 and which met at his house. But it became finally 
 absorbed in the desultory and informal conversations 
 which his fellow-citizens delighted to hold with a 
 man whose conversational powers acute disease 
 seemed hardly to diminish, and whose faculties 
 years appeared little to impair. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, throughout his long life, enjoyed al 
 most uninterrupted good health until the few years 
 which preceded his decease. In stature he was 
 well formed and compact, in countenance cheerful 
 and intelligent; for his familiar face, preserved in 
 countless copies, is an index of his character. He 
 was an example and apostle of temperance when 
 the customs of society tended to an opposite course; 
 and in this mode he preserved health and endured 
 fatigue. Toward the close of his life, and particu 
 larly during his residence in France, his personal 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 543 
 
 habits became less active; and his fondness for the 
 society which sought him out, together with the con 
 finement of his official duties, precluded the exercise 
 which he had formerly taken as a preservative of 
 health. He was afflicted with gout, to which, in 
 1782, a severe calculous complaint was added ; and, 
 though enjoying occasional respites, the two diseases 
 at length became so continual as for the last twelve 
 months of his life to confine him almost constantly 
 to his bed. In a letter written to President Wash 
 ington in the autumn of 1789, he says: "For my 
 own personal ease I should have died two years 
 ago ; but, though those years have been passed in 
 excruciating pain, I am pleased that I have lived 
 them, since they have brought me to see our pres 
 ent situation." Dr. John Jones, his physician and 
 friend, wrote the following account of his last sick 
 ness and death : 
 
 " The stone, with which he had been afflicted for 
 several years, had, for the last twelve months of his 
 life, confined him chiefly to his bed ; and, during the 
 extremely painful paroxysms, he was obliged to take 
 large doses of laudanum to mitigate his tortures? 
 Still, in the intervals of pain, he not only amused 
 himself by reading and conversing cheerfully with 
 his family and a few friends who visited him, but 
 was often employed in doing business of a public as 
 well as of a private nature, with various persons 
 who waited upon him for that purpose; and in 
 every instance displayed not only the readiness and 
 disposition to do good, which were the distinguish- 
 
544 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing characteristics of his life, but the fullest and 
 clearest possession of his uncommon abilities. He 
 also not unfrequently indulged in those jeux d? esprit 
 and entertaining anecdotes which were the delight 
 of all who heard them. 
 
 "About sixteen days before his death, he was 
 seized with a feverish disposition, without any par 
 ticular symptoms attending it till the third or fourth 
 day, when he complained of a pain in his left breast, 
 which increased till it became extremely acute, at 
 tended by a cough and laborious breathing. During 
 this state, when the severity of his pains drew forth 
 a groan of complaint, he would observe that he was 
 afraid he did not bear them as he ought; acknowl 
 edging his grateful sense of the many blessings he 
 had received from the Supreme Being, who had 
 raised him, from small and low beginnings, to such 
 high rank and consideration among men; and made 
 no doubt but that his present afflictions were kindly 
 intended to wean him from a world in which he 
 was no longer fit to act the part assigned him. In 
 this frame of body and mind he continued until five 
 days before his death, when the pain and difficulty 
 of breathing entirely left him, and his family were 
 flattering themselves with the hopes of his recovery, 
 but an imposthume which had formed in his lungs 
 suddenly burst and discharged a quantity of matter, 
 which he continued to throw up while he had 
 power; but, as that failed, the organs of respiration 
 became gradually oppressed ; a calm, lethargic state 
 succeeded; and on the 17th instant (April, 1790), 
 
LIFE Ol^FIl AN KLIN. 545 
 
 about eleven o clock at night, he quietly expired, 
 closing a long and useful life of eighty-four years 
 and three months."* 
 
 The public mind was not unprepared for an event 
 which had been daily looked for, but the tidings fell 
 with a sensible gloom upon the city. The news 
 papers announced the event with the insignia of 
 mourning around their borders, and all classes and 
 conditions prepared with one consent to render the 
 last honors to the illustrious deceased. The last 
 paragraph of his will (except the formula of revoca 
 tion of previous ones) expressed his desire that his 
 body should be buried "with as little expense or 
 ceremony as may be." This bound his executors; 
 but the public could not be repressed in the enthu 
 siasm of respect, and the mournful testimony of re 
 gret and veneration. The funeral took place on 
 the 21st of April, and his remains were placed, ac 
 cording to his request, at the side of those of his 
 wife, in the northwest corner of Christ Church 
 Cemetery. The bells of the city were muffled and 
 tolled ; the flags of the shipping in the harbor, and 
 flags upon the public buildings, were displayed at 
 half-mast; and when the body was committed to 
 the earth, peals of artillery announced that all that 
 was mortal of the sage and the philanthropist had 
 
 * Three days previous to his death, he desired his daughter, Mrs. 
 Bache, to have his bed made, " in order that he might die in a decent man 
 ner." His daughter having replied that she hoped he would recover and 
 live many years, he said, " I hope not." On another day, being advised 
 to change his position, that he might breathe easy, he replied, "A dying 
 man can do nothing easy. 1 1 
 
 M M 
 
546 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 been consigned to the keeping of the tomb. An 
 immense concourse, including the public bodies of 
 the state and city, societies and corporations of vari 
 ous names, followed the body in procession, and, 
 with the citizens who closed the long funereal train, 
 the number could not have been less than twenty 
 thousand persons. Without the attraction of a 
 military pageant, and without the prelude of any 
 formal arrangements, the heart of the whole people 
 united in this testimony of respect and affection; 
 and the funeral of Benjamin Franklin was in keep 
 ing with the whole tenor of his life, a spectacle as 
 sublime as unostentatious. 
 
 Congress was in session in New York at the time 
 of Franklin s death. On receipt of the intelligence, 
 a resolution was passed that the members should 
 wear the customary badge of mourning one month, 
 as a mark of the veneration due to the memory of a 
 citizen " whose native genius was not more an or 
 nament to human nature than his various exertions 
 of it have been to science, to freedom, and to his 
 country." When the decease of the philosopher and 
 statesman was known in France, it was announced 
 in the National Assembly by M. Mirabeau the elder, 
 who proposed, after a burst of eulogy full of the 
 spirit of that age and the enthusiasm of a French 
 man, that the Assembly should wear mourning for 
 three days, to "participate in the homage rendered 
 in the face of the universe to ihe rights of man, and 
 to the philosopher who has so eminently propagated 
 the conquest of them throughout the world." The 
 
LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 547 
 
 proposition was seconded by Rochefoucauld and 
 Lafayette, and adopted by acclamation. It was also 
 resolved that the address of Mirabeau should be 
 printed, and that a letter of condolence should be ad 
 dressed to the Congress of the United States. This 
 duty was performed by the President of the Assem 
 bly ; and upon the receipt of the letter, Congress, by 
 resolution, desired President Washington to "com 
 municate to the National" Assembly of France the 
 peculiar sensibility of Congress to the tribute paid 
 to the memory of Benjamin Franklin by the enlight 
 ened and free representatives of a great nation;" 
 and Washington, in his answer, happily acknowl 
 edged this peculiar proof of national courtesy. 
 
 The honors to Franklin in France did not cease 
 with the proceedings of the National Assembly. 
 Several years before, Turgot had applied to him the 
 stately but epigrammatic eulogy, 
 
 " Eripuit ccelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis." 
 
 Mirabeau, in his speech in the Assembly, paraphrased 
 the same idea, terming Franklin " the mortal who, 
 for the advantage of the human race, embracing both 
 heaven and earth in his vast and extensive mind, 
 knew how to subdue thunder and tyranny." The 
 authorities of the city of Paris ordered a public cel 
 ebration in honor of the memory of Franklin ; and 
 the rotunda of the Corn-market, hung with black, 
 was crowded with an auditory wearing the same 
 insignia, who listened to a eulogy pronounced by 
 the Abbe Fauchet. If the Latin verse of Turgot 
 lost force by Mirabeau s French translation, the sen- 
 
5 4 S L I F E OF F R A N K LIN. 
 
 tmient adopted by the people regained its strength, 
 if not ail its imposing dignity, by the vividly acted 
 commentary of the nation. Societies, corporations. 
 and individuals united in the display of that enthusi 
 asm which is so peculiarly the characteristic of the 
 French people. 
 
 The Philadelphia Library Company, which had 
 origin in the efforts of Franklin nearly sixty years 
 before, left a niche in the front of their new building, 
 theii in progress of erection, for a statue of the phi 
 losopher. The statue was placed there in 1792 by 
 the liberality of William Bingham, a citizen of Phil 
 adelphia. It is of Carrara marble, and was the first 
 piece of sculpture of its size which was brought to 
 this country. The costume is the toga; the left arm 
 is supported by books, and in the left hand is a 
 scroll. In the right is an inverted sceptre. The 
 Philosophical Society appointed Dr. William Smith 
 to deliver a eulogy; and at Yale College, New Ha 
 ven, a Latin Oration was pronounced by President 
 Stiles. 
 
 Such were some of the honors paid to Franklin 
 at his decease. No monument marks his resting- 
 place, for he had by will prescribed a plain marble 
 slab; but, better than any other memorial, his name 
 lives in the records of science, the history of nations, 
 the gratitude of his countrymen, the respect of man 
 kind. In this connection we append an epitaph, 
 which he wrote for himself at the age of twenty- 
 three, which looks to a further remembrance than 
 any earthly tribute; 
 
LIl E OF FRANKLIN. 549 
 
 "The Body 
 
 Of 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 Printer 
 (Like the cover of an old book, 
 
 Its contents torn out, 
 And stripped of its lettering and gilding), 
 
 Lies here, food for worms. 
 
 But the work shall not be lost, 
 
 or it will, as he believed, appear once more, 
 
 In a new r and more elegant edition, 
 
 Revised and corrected 
 
 By 
 THE AUTHOR." 
 
 In Franklin s will, besides the distribution of his property and 
 various memorials among kindred, friends, and the societies of 
 which he was a member, he left one thousand pounds to the city 
 of Philadelphia, and the same sum to the town of Boston, to be 
 loaned in small sums to young married mechanics. The sum 
 bequeathed to Philadelphia is now estimated to be worth about 
 seventeen thousand dollars ; the Boston legacy about twenty- 
 seven thousand dollars. The full advantages which the testator 
 expected from these bequests have not been realized, but the 
 character of the motive of the donor is not affected by the failure 
 of the plan. Another donation of one hundred pounds to the 
 town of Boston, the interest of which is annually expended in the 
 purchase of silver medals for the most meritorious pupils in the 
 public schools, has answered its purpose in creating a spirit of 
 emulation ; and it is furthermore a memorial " more durable 
 than brass" of the wisdom of him who " owed his first instruc 
 tions in literature to the free grammar-schools of Boston." 
 
 THE END. 
 
WHICH BORR OWED 
 
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