THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 

 
THE 
 
 POSTHUMOUS 
 
 AND 
 
 Writings 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 /I 
 LL.D. F.R.S., &c. 
 
 MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES 
 OF AMERICA AT THE COURT OF FRANCE, AND FOR THE TREATY OF 
 
 PEACE AND INDEPENDENCE WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINALS, 
 BY HIS GRANDSON, 
 
 WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, CONDUIT STREET. 
 
 1819. 
 
London: Printed byA.J. Valpy, Tooke s Court, Chancery Lane. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION 
 
 OP THE 
 
 POSTHUMOUS AND OTHER WRITINGS. 
 
 - 
 
 WITH the present Volumes the Editor con 
 ceives that he has completely redeemed his 
 pledge to the Public, and faithfully discharged 
 his trust as the conservator of Dr. Franklin s 
 literary remains. 
 
 It is a common complaint that the reputa 
 tion of men of eminence in the world of letters 
 suffers by their posthumous works ; nothing 
 however of that kind is to be apprehended in 
 regard to the present collection, for many of 
 the fugitive Essays here assembled, and the 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 original Pieces now for the first time brought 
 to public view, are directly referred to in the 
 preceding MEMOIRS and CORRESPONDENCE 
 as elucidatory of particular transactions, or as 
 documents of authority for the confirmation of 
 the truth of what is there asserted. 
 
 But independently of a consideration which 
 is sufficient to free these supplementary Vo 
 lumes from the charge of being supereroga 
 tory, the several tractates which make up 
 their contents have all a paramount claim to 
 preservation in their present form, on account 
 of their intrinsic merits and relative import 
 ance, as connected with the personal history, 
 character, and pursuits, of a man who never 
 adopted any theory but with a view to prac 
 tical experience, and who, in the true spirit 
 of philosophy, applied all his speculations to 
 objects of general utility. 
 
 It would, therefore, have been an act of 
 culpable negligence, to have left even the 
 lightest productions of sueh a mind to float 
 down the stream of time, subject to all its 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 fluctuations, and liable to be lost or pervert 
 ed amidst the perpetual changes which take 
 place in human concerns. 
 
 Under the sense of this obligation has the 
 present selection been made, as well to fulfil 
 the promise given in the general title, as to 
 supply that minute account of the Life and 
 Writings of the Author, which has hitherto 
 been so anxiously looked for. 
 
 For the sake of uniformity and perspicui 
 ty, the papers have been distributed into a 
 systematic arrangement according to their 
 respective subjects, or the connexion which 
 they bear to each other. 
 
 The First Portion is entirely miscellaneous, 
 being composed of papers on religious and 
 moral subjects, interspered with a variety of 
 sententious remarks or aphorisms, calculated 
 to make a fixed impression on the mind, and, 
 by their simplicity of operation, to meliorate 
 the condition of mankind in the removal or 
 correction of evils which evidently obstruct 
 the progress of human improvement. The 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 third section of this part, intitled " Bagatelles/ 
 is of a sprightlier cast, and displays the cheer 
 fulness of temper which formed so striking a 
 feature in the character of Dr. Franklin, and 
 uniformly enlivened his conversation amidst 
 the cares of business and the infirmities of old 
 age. The origin and design of these lively 
 effusions are explained in a prefatory note, 
 which it is hoped will prove an ample apolo 
 gy, if any such be necessary, for their insertion 
 in this collection. 
 
 Those papers which relate immediately to 
 the public character of Dr. Franklin are 
 brought together in the Second Part, which 
 may therefore be considered as exhibiting the 
 rise and progress of the American Republic, 
 from its incipient state of colonial industry 
 and dependence, to the vigor of an internal 
 polity, and the power of a consolidated em 
 pire. Here the philosopher, the historian, 
 and the statesman, will find materials for the 
 exercise of profound observation, upon the 
 minute causes, and apparently fortuitous 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 events, which combine in the germination of 
 small but active communities, till they have 
 attained the rank and influence of mighty 
 nations. 
 
 Under the Third Part are disposed a num 
 ber of Essays of a more variegated description, 
 connected with general policy, economy, and 
 commerce, subjects in the discussion of which 
 the felicitous genius of this great man shone 
 with such distinguished lustre, as to render 
 his practical remarks, inquiries, and even ca 
 sual hints on local topics, valuable for the 
 direct tendency which they had, in common 
 with his more elaborate writings, to promote 
 the welfare of society. 
 
 The Fourth and last Part comprises a se 
 lection of letters and papers on philosophical 
 subjects. 
 
 At an early period of Dr. Franklin s career, 
 as a man of science, he occasionally imparted 
 to some of his most intimate acquaintance in 
 England, accounts of the discoveries made by 
 him at Philadelphia ; and though these corn- 
 
Vlll L RETACE. 
 
 munications were far from being intended for 
 the public eye, the persons to whom they 
 were addressed had a higher opinion of them 
 than the Author, in consequence of which 
 they were printed in London, under the title 
 of " Experiments and Observations on Elec 
 tricity, made at Philadelphia, with Letters 
 and Papers on Philosophical Subjects/ That 
 the partiality of friendship had not over-rated 
 the value of these papers, was quickly made 
 evident by the reception which they expe 
 rienced, not only in this country, 1 but on the 
 continent of Europe, where they were trans 
 lated into several languages, and by extend 
 ing the fame of the Author, greatly enlarged 
 the number of his correspondents in different 
 parts of the world. Thus brought as it were, 
 without his own consent, into the circle of the 
 learned, he continued at intervals to prosecute 
 the philosophical pursuits which had crowned 
 
 Five editions of this 4to volume were printed in London 
 prior to 1775. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 him with honor, and to communicate the 
 particulars of his researches to his scientific 
 friends, who received them with avidity. It 
 merits observation, however, that notwith 
 standing the high eminence which Dr. Frank 
 lin attained as an experimentalist, he in reality 
 may be said to have only made philosophy 
 the amusement of his leisure hours, in which 
 it afforded him a pleasing recreation after a 
 variety of more laborious occupations. 
 
 Though some of the Essays contained under 
 this head have already appeared, by far the 
 greater portion of the contents of this part, 
 (among which are several of the latest and 
 most ingenious of Dr. Franklin s philosophical 
 Writings,) are now for the first time printed 
 from his own manuscripts. 
 
 In conclusion, the Editor trusts that the 
 Volumes which now close his account with 
 the public, will meet with the same favorable 
 reception as the four that have preceded 
 them ; and that the whole will prove a lasting 
 monument commemorative of the virtues and 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 talents of a man who, in every character, 
 whether as an humble individual or a public 
 diplomatist, as a philosophical inquirer or 
 the legislator of an enlightened nation, con 
 stantly proved, throughout his long and event 
 ful career, that he estimated his extraordinary 
 talents of no other value than as enabling him 
 to promote, as far as in him lay, the happiness 
 of all mankind. 
 
 London, April, 1819. 
 
 DR. FRANKLlN s MEMOIRS 
 
 * 
 Consist altogether of Six Volumes. They are divided into 
 
 Three Parts ; each Part being published and sold separately ; 
 viz. 
 
 Vols. 1 and 2, containing the Life : 
 
 Yols. 3 and 4, Private Correspondence : 
 
 Vols. 5 and 6, Posthumous and other Works. 
 
 Double Titles are printed, in order that the Parts may either 
 be bound separately, or as a set, in six uniform volumes. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PART I. 
 MISCELLANIES. 
 
 SECTION L 
 RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS. 
 
 Page 
 Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, in two parts 1 
 
 A Parable against Persecution, in imitation of Scriptural 
 
 language V* 11 
 
 On Persecution in former ages Of Dissenters State of 
 
 Toleration, &c. * {< *k 13 
 
 A Parable on Brotherly Love - " 21 
 
 .{&., 
 SECTION II. 
 
 VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 
 
 The Busy-Body, No. 1. 24 
 
 No. 2. - 28 
 
 No. 3. .. .<* 30 
 
 No. 4. - - - 35 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 To the Busy-Body 37 
 
 The Busy-Body, No. 5. - - 44 
 
 No. 8. 54 
 
 Dialogue between Philocles and Horatio, meeting acci 
 dentally in the fields, concerning Virtue and Pleasure 62 
 A Second Dialogue, by the same - 69 
 Public Men 77 
 Self-denial not the essence of Virtue 84 
 On the Usefulness of the Mathematics - 87 
 On true Happiness 92 
 On Discoveries - 95 
 The Waste of Life 100 
 Advice to a young Tradesman 104 
 Hints to those who would be rich 107 
 The Way to make Money plenty in every Man s pocket 108 
 The Way to Wealth, (Poor Richard s Almanac) - 110 
 A Thought concerning the Medals to be struck by order 
 
 of Congress - 122 
 Precautions to be used by those who are about to under 
 take a Sea Voyage - 123 
 Information to those who would remove to America 131 
 Internal state of America in 1784 144 
 Remarks concerning the Savages of North America, 1784 152 
 Observations on Mayz, or Indian Corn l62 
 Sketch of an English School 165 
 Observations relative to the Intentions of the Original 
 
 Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia 174 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 Page 
 Hints for consideration respecting the Orphan School 
 
 House in Philadelphia - 208 
 
 An Account of the supremest Court of Judicature in 
 
 Pennsylvania, viz. The Court of the Press 210 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 BAGATELLES. 
 
 [The Letters, Essays, fyc. contained in this Section, were 
 chiefly written by Dr. Franklin for the amusement of 
 his intimate society in London and Paris ; and were by 
 himself actually collected in a small port-folio, endorsed 
 as above. Several of the pieces were either originally 
 written in French, or afterwards translated by him into 
 that language, by way of exercise.] 
 
 Page 
 The Levee / 216 
 
 Proposed New Version of the Bible - /- 219 
 
 - * / 
 
 Part of the first chapter of Job, modernised 219 
 
 Apologue - 220 
 Poems addressed to Miss Georgiana Shipley, on the Loss 
 
 of her American Squirrel - - / 222 
 
 The Art of procuring Pleasing Dreams 224 
 
 The Ephemera, an emblem of Human Life 231 
 
 The Whistle *- *- - ( - 234 
 
 A Petition to those who have the Superintendence of 
 
 Education - - - - 237 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 The handsome aud deformed Leg 239 
 
 Morals of Chess - 242 
 
 Conte, and Translation 248 
 
 An Arabian Tale - - 250 
 
 Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout - - 251 
 
 Letters to Madame Helvetius 260 
 An humble Petition presented to Madame Helvetius by 
 
 her Cats ; with an English Translation 265 
 
 Letter to the Abb6 de la Roche, with a Song 283 
 
 On Wine, addressed to the Abb6 Morellet 286 
 
 An Economical Project - - 292 
 
 PART II. 
 AMERICAN POLITICS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 AMERICAN POLITICS, PRIOR TO THE INDEPEN 
 DENCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Page 
 ALBANY PAPERS. Reasons and motives on which the 
 
 plan of Union was formed 299 
 
 Reasons against partial Unions 302 
 
 Plan of a proposed Union of the several Colonies 
 of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Con 
 necticut, Khode Island, &c. for their mutual 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Page 
 defence and security, and for extending the 
 
 British Settlements in North America 305 
 
 Doctor Franklin s remarks on the foregoing plan 331 
 
 1st Letter to Governor Shirley, concerning the impo 
 sition of direct Taxes upon the Colonies, without their 
 consent - 332 
 
 2d Letter on the same subject 334 
 
 3d Letter on the same subject 341 
 
 Plan for settling two Western Colonies in North America, 
 
 with reasons for the plan 345 
 
 Remarks and facts relative to the American Paper Money 356 
 Causes of the American Discontents before 1768 - 3/3 
 
 Queries from Mr. Strahan, with Dr. Franklin s Answers 388 
 State of the Constitution of the Colonies, by Governor 
 
 Pownall, with remarks by Dr. Franklin 402 
 
 Corollaries from the foregoing principles - 406 
 
 Preface by the British Editor (Dr. Franklin) to the Votes 
 and Proceedings of the Freeholders, and other in 
 habitants of the town of Boston, in town-meeting 
 
 assembled - 414 
 
 Rules for reducing a great Empire to a small one, pre 
 sented to a late Minister, when he entered upon 
 his administration 42 1 
 
 Paper written in England by Dr. Franklin, to discourage 
 
 the intended Act for preventing Emigration 435 
 
 On sending Felons to America ... 444, 
 
 Vindication and offer from Congress to Parliament in 1775 448 
 
X\] CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 AMERICAN POLITICS, SUBSEQUENT TO THE INDE 
 PENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1776. 
 
 Page 
 A Dialogue between Britain, France, Spain, Holland, 
 
 Saxony, and America 457 
 
 Comparison of Great Britain and America as to Credit in 
 
 1777 462 
 
 A Catechism relative to the National Debt 471 
 
 On the Paper-Money of the United States of America 473 
 
 Retort Courteous - - - 480 
 
 PLATES 
 
 WHICH ILLUSTRATE THE PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS 
 IN THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 Plate 1 to face Page 141 
 
 2 203 
 
 3 291 
 
 4 359 
 
 5 (with the Letter-Press) 393 
 6 406 
 
 7 431 
 
 g 477 
 
> 
 
 SELECT WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
 PART L 
 
 MISCELLANIES. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, 
 
 ARTICLES OF BELIEF, AND ACTS OF RELIGION, 1 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 [Referred to in Memoirs of the Life, Part //.] 
 
 Here will 1 hold If there is a power above us (a , id that there 
 is, all nature cries aloud, through all her works), H<- must de 
 light in virtue ; and that which he delights in, must be happy. 
 CATO. 
 
 PART I. FIRST PRINCIPLES. 
 
 I BELIEVE there is one supreme most perfect 
 Being, author and father of the gods themselves. 
 
 1 This paper is dated PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 20, 1728. 
 VOL. I. A 
 
2 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 For I believe that man is not the most perfect 
 being but one, but rather that there are many de 
 grees of beings superior to him. 
 
 Also when I stretch my imagination through 
 and beyond our system of planets, beyond the 
 visible fixed stars themselves, into that space that 
 is every way infinite, and conceive it filled with 
 suns like ours, each with a chorus of worlds for 
 ever moving round him ; then this little ball on 
 which we move, seems, even in my narrow imagi 
 nation, to be almost nothing, and myself less than 
 nothing, and of no sort of consequence. 
 
 When I think thus, I imagine it great vanity in 
 me to suppose, that the supremely-perfect does in 
 the least regard such an inconsiderable nothing as 
 man ; more especially, since it is impossible for me 
 to have any clear idea of that which is infinite and 
 incomprehensible, I cannot conceive otherwise, 
 than that he the infinite Father expects or requires 
 no worship or praise from us, but that he is even 
 
 INFINITELY ABOVE IT. 
 
 But since there is in all men something like a 
 natural principle which inclines them to DEVO 
 TION, or the worship of some unseen power ; 
 
 And since men are endued with reason superior 
 to all other animals, that we are in our world 
 acquainted with ; 
 
 Therefore I think it seems required of me, and 
 my duty, as a v man, to pay divine regards to SOME 
 THING. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 
 
 I conceive then that the INFINITE has created 
 many beings or gods, vastly superior to man, who 
 can better conceive his perfections than we, and 
 return him a more rational and glorious praise. 
 
 As among men, the praise of the ignorant or of 
 children, is not regarded by the ingenious painter 
 or architect, who is rather honored and pleased 
 with the approbation of wise men and artists. 
 
 It may be these created gods are immortal ; or 
 it may be that after many ages, they are changed, 
 and others supply their places. 
 
 Howbeit, I conceive that each of these is ex 
 ceeding wise and good, and very powerful ; and 
 that each has made for himself one glorious sun, 
 attended with a beautiful and admirable system of 
 planets. 
 
 It is that particular wise and good God, who is 
 the author and owner of our system, that I propose 
 for the object of my praise and adoration. 
 
 For I conceive that he has in himself some of 
 those passions he has planted in us, and that since 
 he has given us reason whereby we are capable of 
 observing his wisdom in the creation, he is not 
 above caring for us, being pleased with our praise, 
 and offended when we slight him, or neglect his 
 glory. 
 
 I conceive, for many reasons, that he is a good 
 Being ; and as I should be happy to have so wise, 
 good, and powerful a Being my friend, let me con- 
 
4 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sider in what manner I shall make myself most 
 acceptable to him. 
 
 Next to the praise resulting from and due to his 
 wisdom, I believe he is pleased and delights in 
 the happiness of those he has created ; and since 
 without virtue a man can have no happiness in 
 this world, I firmly believe he delights to see me 
 virtuous, because he is pleased when he sees me 
 happy. 
 
 And since he has created many things which 
 seem purely designed for the delight of man, I 
 believe he is not offended when he sees his chil 
 dren solace themselves in any manner of pleasant 
 exercises and innocent delights, and I think no 
 pleasure innocent that is to man hurtful. 
 
 I love him therefore for "his goodness, and I 
 adore him for his wisdom. 
 
 Let me not fail, then, to praise my God conti 
 nually, for it is his due, and it is all I can return 
 for his many favors and great goodness to me ; 
 and let me resolve to be virtuous, that I may be 
 happy, that I may please him, who is delighted to 
 see me happy. Amen ! 
 
 1. ADORATION. 2. PETITION. 3. THANKS. 
 
 PREL. Being mindful that before I address the 
 Deity my soul ought to be calm and serene, free 
 from passion and perturbation, or otherwise ele 
 vated with rational joy and pleasure, I ought to 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 5 
 
 use a countenance that expresses a filial respect, 
 mixed with a kind of smiling, that signifies inward 
 joy, and satisfaction and admiration. 
 
 O wise God, my good Father ! 
 
 Thou beholdest the sincerity of my heart and of 
 my devotion : grant me a continuance of thy 
 favor ! 
 
 1. O Creator, O Father ! I believe that thou art 
 good, and that thou art pleased with the pleasure of 
 thy children. Praised be thy name for ever ! 
 
 2. By thy power hast thou made the glorious 
 sun, with his attending worlds ; from the energy 
 of thy mighty will they first received [their prodi 
 gious] motion, and by thy wisdom hast thou pre 
 scribed the wondrous laws by which they move. 
 Praised be thy name for ever ! 
 
 3. By thy wisdom hast thou formed all things ; 
 thou hast created man, bestowing life and reason, 
 and placed him in dignity superior to thy other 
 earthly creatures. Praised be thy name for ever ! 
 
 4. Thy wisdom, thy power, and thy goodness, 
 are everywhere clearly seen ; in the air, and in the 
 water, in the heavens and on the earth ; thou pro- 
 videst for the various winged fowl and the innu 
 merable inhabitants of the water ; thou givest cold 
 and heat, rain and sunshine in their season, and 
 to the fruits of the earth their increase, Praised 
 be thy name for ever ! 
 
 5. Thou abhorrest in thy creatures treachery 
 and deceit, malice, revenge, [intemperance] and 
 
6 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 every other hurtful vice ; but thou art a lover of 
 justice and sincerity, of friendship and benevo 
 lence, and every virtue ; thou art my friend, my 
 father, and my benefactor. Praised be thy name, 
 O God, for ever ! Amen. 
 
 [After this, it will not be improper to read part 
 of some such book as Ray s Wisdom of God in 
 the Creation, or Blackmore on the Creation, and 
 the Archbishop of Cambray s Demonstration edf 
 the Being of a God, &c. or else spend some mi 
 nutes in a serious silence,, contemplating on those 
 subjects.] 
 
 Then sing 
 
 MILTON S HYMN TO THE CREATOR- 
 
 These are thy glorious works, Parent of Good f 
 Almighty ; thine this universal frame, 
 Thus wondrous fair ! Thyself how wondrous then ! 
 Speak ye who best can tell, ye sons of light, 
 Angels, lor ye behold him ; and with songs, 
 And choral symphonies, day without night, 
 Circle his throne rejoicing. You in heaven, 
 On earth, join all ye creatures to extol 
 Him first, him last, him midst, and without end. 
 
 Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, 
 If rather thou belong st not to the dawn, 
 Sure pledge of day ! that crown st the smiling morn 
 With thy bright circlet ; praise him in thy sphere 
 While day arises, that sweet hour of prime. 
 Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul, 
 Acknowledge him thy greater, sound his praise 
 lu thy eternal course ! both when thou climb st, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 7 
 
 And when high noon hast gain d, and when thou fall st, 
 
 Moon, that now meet st the orient sun, now fly st 
 
 With the fix d stars, fix d in their orb that flies ! 
 
 And ye five other wand ring fires that move 
 
 In mystic dance, not without song, resound 
 
 His praise, that out of darkness cail d up light. 
 
 Air! and ye elements ! the eldest birth 
 
 Of nature s womb, that in quaternions run 
 
 Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix d, 
 
 And nourish all things, let your ceaseless change 
 
 Vary to our great Maker stilln ewpraise ! 
 
 Ye mists and exhalations ! that now rise 
 
 From hill or streaming lakes dusky or grey, 
 
 Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold, 
 
 In honor to the world s great Author rise, 
 
 Whether to deck with clouds th uncolored sky, 
 
 Or wet the thirsty earth with falling show rs, 
 
 Rising or falling still advance his praise. 
 
 His praise, ye winds ! that from four quarters blow, 
 
 Breathe soft or loud ; and wave your tops, ye pines ! 
 
 With every plant, in sign of worship wave. 
 
 Fountains ! and ye that warble as ye flow 
 
 Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise. 
 
 Join voices all ye living souls, ye birds ! 
 
 That singing, up to heaven s high gate ascend, 
 
 Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise, 
 
 Ye that in waters glide ! and ye that walk 
 
 The earth ! and stately tread ; or lowly creep ; 
 
 Witness if I be silent, ev n or morn, 
 
 To hill or valley, fountain or fresh shade, 
 
 Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise. 
 
 [Here follows the reading of some book, or part 
 of a book, discoursing on and exciting to moral 
 virtue.] 
 
8 WRITINGS OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 PETITION. 
 
 PR EL. Inasmuch as by reason of our ignorance 
 we cannot be certain that many things which we 
 often hear mentioned in the petitions of men to 
 the Deity, would prove real goods if they were in 
 our possession, and as I have reason to hope and 
 believe that the goodness of my heavenly Father 
 will not withhold from me a suitable share of tem 
 poral blessings, if by a virtuous and holy life I 
 conciliate his favor and kindness : therefore I pre 
 sume not to ask such things ; but rather humbly, 
 and with a sincere heart, express my earnest desire 
 that he would graciously assist my continual en 
 deavors and resolutions of eschewing vice and 
 embracing virtue ; which kind of supplications will 
 at the same time remind me in a solemn manner 
 of my extensive duty. 
 
 That I may be preserved from atheism, impiety, 
 and profaneness ; and in my addresses to Thee 
 carefully avoid irreverence and ostentation, forma 
 lity and odious hypocrisy, Help me, O Father! 
 
 That I may be loyal to my prince, and faithful 
 to my country, careful for its good, valiant in its 
 defence, arid obedient to its laws, abhorring trea 
 son as much as tyranny, Help me, O Father! 
 
 That I may to those above me be dutiful, hum 
 ble and submissive ; avoiding pride, disrespect, 
 and contumacy, Help me, O Father! 
 
 That I may to those below me be gracious, con- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 
 
 descending, and forgiving, using clemency, pro 
 tecting innocent distress, avoiding cruelty, harsh 
 ness, and oppression, insolence and unreasonable 
 severity, Help me, O Father! 
 
 That I may refrain from calumny and detrac 
 tion ; that I may abhor and avoid deceit and envy, 
 fraud, flattery and hatred, malice, lying, and in 
 gratitude, Help me, O Father ! 
 
 That I may be sincere in friendship, faithful in 
 trust, and impartial in judgment, watchful against 
 pride, and against anger (that momentary mad 
 ness,) Help me, O Father! 
 
 That I may be just in all my dealings, temperate 
 in my pleasures, full of candor and ingenuousness, 
 humanity and benevolence, Help me, O Father ! 
 
 That I may be grateful to my benefactors, and 
 generous to my friends, exercising charity and 
 liberality to the poor, and pity to the miserable, 
 Help me, O Father! 
 
 That I may possess integrity and evenness of 
 mind, resolution in difficulties, and fortitude under 
 affliction ; that I may be punctual in performing 
 my promises, peaceable and prudent in my beha 
 vior, Help me, O Father ! 
 
 That I may have tenderness for the weak, and 
 reverent respect for the ancient ; that I may be 
 kind to my neighbors, good-natured to my com 
 panions, and hospitable to strangers, Help me, 
 O Father ! 
 
10 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 That I may be averse to craft and over-reaching, 
 abhor extortion, perjury, and every kind of wick 
 edness, Help me, O Father ! 
 
 That I may be honest and open-hearted, gentle, 
 merciful, and good, cheerful in spirit, rejoicing in 
 the good of others, Help me, O Father ! 
 
 That I may have a constant regard to honor 
 and probity, that I may possess a perfect inno 
 cence and a good conscience, and at length be 
 come truly virtuous and magnanimous, Help me, 
 good God : help me, O Father ! 
 
 And, forasmuch as ingratitude is one of the 
 most odious of vices, let me not be unmindful 
 gratefully to acknowledge the favors I receive 
 from heaven. 
 
 THANKS. 
 
 For peace and liberty, for food and raiment, for 
 corn and wine, and milk, and every kind of 
 healthful nourishment, Good God, I thank thee ! 
 
 For the common benefits of air and light ; for 
 useful fire and delicious water, Good God, I 
 thank thee! 
 
 For knowledge, and literature, and every useful 
 art ; for my friends and their prosperity, and for 
 the fewness of my enemies, Good God, I thank 
 thee! 
 
 For all thy innumerable benefits ; for life and 
 reason, and the use of speech ; for health and joy, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 11 
 
 and every pleasant hour, My good God, I thank 
 thee! 
 
 END OF THE FIRST PART. 
 
 [A r . B. No continuation of this has been found among Dr. 
 Franklin s manuscripts.] 
 
 A PARABLE AGAINST PERSECUTION, IN IMITA 
 TION OF SCRIPTURE LANGUAGE. 1 
 
 [Referred to in Memoirs of the Life, Part V.] 
 1 And it came to pass after these things, that 
 
 1 Lord Kaimes, in his Sketches of the History of Man, (Vol. 
 II. p. 472, 473.) thus expresses himself on the subject of this 
 parable : 
 
 " The following parable against persecution was communi 
 cated to me by Dr. Franklin, of Philadelphia, a man who 
 makes a great figure in the learned world ; and who would still 
 make a greater figure for benevolence and candor, were virtue 
 as much regarded in this declining age as knowledge. 
 ******* 
 
 " The historical style of the Old Testament is here finely 
 imitated ; and the moral must strike every one who is not sunk 
 in stupidity and superstition. Were it really a chapter of Ge 
 nesis, one is apt to think, that persecution could never have 
 shown a bare face among Jews or Christians. But alas ! that 
 is a vain thought. Such a passage in the Old Testament, would 
 avail as little against the rancorous passions of men, as the fol 
 lowing passages in the New Testament, though persecution can 
 not be condemned in terms more explicit. Him that is weak 
 in the faith, receive you, but not to doubtful disputations. 
 For/ " &c. 
 
12 WRITINGS OF BFNJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 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 wilderness, leaning on a staff. 
 
 3 And Abraham rose 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 
 turned, 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 upon his name ; for I have made to myself a 
 god, which abideth alway in mine house, and pro- 
 videth me with all things. 
 
 8 And Abraham s zeal was kindled against the 
 man, and he arose and drove him forth with blows 
 into the wilderness. 
 
 9 And at midnight God called unto Abraham, 
 saying, Abraham, where is the stranger ? 
 
 10 And Abraham answered and said, Lord, he 
 would not worship thee, neither would he call 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 13 
 
 upon thy name, therefore I have driven him out 
 from before my face into the wilderness. 
 
 1 1 And God said, Have I borne with him these 
 hundred ninety and eight years, and clothed him, 
 notwithstanding his rebellion against me ; and 
 couldst not thou, that art thyself a sinner, bear 
 with him one night ? 
 
 12 And Abraham said, Let not the anger of 
 the Lord wax hot against his servant ; 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, say 
 ing, 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. 
 
 ON PERSECUTION IN FORMER AGES OF DIS 
 SENTERS, STATE OF TOLERATION, &C. 
 
 To the Printer of the London Packet, June 3, 1772. 
 SIR, 
 
 I understand from the public papers, that 
 in the debates on the bill for relieving the dis- 
 
14 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 senters in the point of subscription to the church 
 articles, sundry reflections were thrown out against 
 that people, importing, " That they themselves are 
 of a persecuting intolerant spirit, for that when 
 they had the superiority, they persecuted the 
 church, and still persecute it in America, where 
 they compel its members to pay taxes for main 
 taining the presbyterian or independent worship, 
 and at the same time, refuse them a toleration in 
 the full exercise of their religion by the administra 
 tions of a bishop." 
 
 If we look back into history for the character of 
 the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few 
 that have not in their turns been persecutors, and 
 complainers of persecution. The primitive Chris 
 tians thought persecution extremely wrong in the 
 Pagans, but practised it on one another. The 
 first Protestants of the church of England blamed 
 persecution in the Romish church, but practise it 
 against the Puritans : these found it wrong in the 
 bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves 
 both here and in New England. To account for 
 this we should remember, that the doctrine of tole 
 ration was not then known, or had not prevailed 
 in the world. Persecution was therefore not so 
 much the fault of the sect as of the times. It was 
 not in those days deemed wrong in itself. The 
 general opinion was only, that those who are in 
 error ought not to persecute the truth : but the 
 possessors of truth were in the right to persecute 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 15 
 
 error, in order to destroy it. Thus every sect be 
 lieving itself possessed of all truth, and that every 
 tenet differing from theirs was error, conceived 
 that when the power was in their hands, persecu 
 tion was a duty required of them by that God 
 whom they supposed to be offended with heresy. 
 By degrees more moderate, and more modest senti 
 ments have taken place in the Christian world ; 
 and among Protestants particularly all disclaim 
 persecution, none vindicate it, and but few prac 
 tise it. We should then cease to reproach each 
 other with what was done by our ancestors, but 
 judge of the present character of sects or churches 
 by their present conduct only, 1 
 
 Now, to determine on the justice of this charge 
 against the present dissenters, particularly those in 
 America, let us consider the following facts. They 
 went from England to establish a new country for 
 themselves, at their own expense, where they might 
 enjoy the free exercise of religion in their own 
 way. When they had purchased the territory of 
 the natives, they granted the lands out in town- 
 
 tc Toleration in religion, though obvious to common under 
 standing, was not however the production of reason, but of 
 commerce. The advantage of toleration for promoting com 
 merce, was discovered long before by the Portuguese. They 
 were too zealous Catholics to venture so bold a measure in 
 Portugal ; but it was permitted in Goa, and the inquisition in 
 that town was confined to Roman Catholics." Lord Kaimes s 
 Sketches of t/te History of Man, Vol. H. p. 474. 
 
1(? WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ships, requiring for it neither purchase-money nor 
 quit-rent, but this condition only to be complied 
 with, that the freeholders should for ever support a 
 gospel minister, (meaning probably one of the 
 governing sects) and a free-school, within the 
 township. Thus, what is commonly called Pres- 
 byterianism became the established religion of that 
 country. All went on well in this way while the 
 same religious opinions were general, the support 
 of minister and school being raised by a pro 
 portionate tax on the lands. But in process of 
 time some becoming Quakers, 1 some Baptists, and 
 of late years, some returning to the church of 
 England (through the laudable endeavors and a 
 proper application* of their funds by the Society 
 
 1 No person appeared in New England who professed the 
 opinion of the Quakers, until 1656 ; (i.e. about 36 years after 
 the first settling of the colony ;) when Mary Fisher and Ann 
 Austin came from Barbadoes ; and soon after, nine others ar 
 rived in the ship Speedwell from London/ They were suc 
 cessful in their preaching: and the provincial government, 
 wishing to keep the colony from them, attempted to send away 
 such as they discovered, and prevent the arrival of others. 
 Securities, fines, banishment, imprisonment, and corporal pu 
 nishments were instituted for this purpose ; but with so little 
 effect, that at last " a law was made for punishing whh death, 
 all such as should return into the jurisdiction after banishment. 
 A few were hanged !" (See the History of the British domi 
 nions, 4to. 1773, p. 1. 8. 120.) B. V. 
 
 a They were to spread the gospel, and maintain a learned 
 and orthodox clergy, where ministers were wanted or ill-pro- 
 
PART I, MISCELLANIES. 17 
 
 for Propagating the Gospel), objections were made 
 to the payment of a tax appropriated to the sup 
 port of a church they disapproved and had for 
 saken. The civil magistrates, however, continued 
 for a time to collect and apply the tax according 
 to the original laws which remained in force ; and 
 they did it more freely, as thinking it just and 
 equitable, that the holders of lands should pay 
 what was contracted to be paid when they were 
 granted, as the only consideration for the grant, 
 and what had been considered by all subsequent 
 purchasers as a perpetual incumbrance on the 
 estate, bought therefore at a proportionally cheaper 
 rate ; a payment which it was thought no honest 
 man ought to avoid under the pretence of his 
 having changed his religious persuasion. And 
 this I suppose is one of the best grounds of de 
 manding tithes of dissenters now in England. But 
 the practice being clamored against by the episco 
 palians as persecution, the legislature of the pro 
 vince of Massachusetts Bay, near thirty years since, 
 passed an act for their relief, requiring indeed the 
 tax to be paid as usual, but directing that the 
 several sums levied from members of the church 
 of England, should be paid over to the minister 
 of that church, with whom such members usually 
 attended divine worship, which minister had power 
 
 vided ; administering God s word and sacraments, and prevent 
 ing atheism, infidelity, popery, and idolatry. 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 him to receive, and on occasion to recover the 
 same by laic. 
 
 It seems that legislature considered the end of 
 the tax was to secure and improve the morals of 
 the people, and promote their happiness, by sup 
 porting among them the public worship of God, 
 and the preaching of the gospel ; that where par 
 ticular people fancied a particular mode, that mode 
 might probably therefore be of most use to those 
 people ; and that if the good was done, it was not 
 so material in what mode or by whom it was done. 
 The consideration that their brethren the dissent 
 ers in England were still compelled to pay tithes 
 to the clergy of the church, had not weight enough 
 with the legislature to prevent this moderate act, 
 which still continues in full force ; and I hope no 
 uncharitable conduct of the church towards the 
 dissenters will ever provoke them to repeal it. 
 
 With regard to a bishop, I know not upon what 
 grounds the dissenters, either here or in America, 
 are charged with refusing the benefit of such an 
 officer to the church in that country. Here they 
 seem to have naturally no concern in the affair. 
 There the^ have no power to prevent it, if govern 
 ment should think fit to send one. They would 
 probably dislike, indeed, to see an order of men 
 established among them, from whose persecutions 
 their fathers fled into that wilderness, and whose 
 future domination they may possibly fear, not know 
 ing that their natures are chang&L But the non- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. lf> 
 
 appointment of bishops for America, seems to 
 arise from another quarter. The same wisdom of 
 government, probably, that prevents the sitting of 
 convocations, and forbids by noli-prosequis the per 
 secution of dissenters for non-subscription, avoids 
 establishing bishops where the minds of the people 
 are not yet prepared to receive them cordially, lest 
 the public peace should be endangered. 
 
 And now let us see how this persecution account 
 stands between the parties. 
 
 In New England, where the legislative bodies 
 are almost to a man dissenters from the church 
 of England, 
 
 1. There is no test to prevent churchmen from 
 holding offices. 
 
 2. The sons of churchmen have the full benefit 
 of the universities. 
 
 3. The taxes for support of public worship, 
 when paid by churchmen, are given to the epis 
 copal minister. 
 
 In Old England, 
 
 1. Dissenters are excluded from all offices of 
 profit and honor. 
 
 2. The benefits of education in the universities 
 are appropriated to the sons of churchmen. 
 
 3. The clergy of the dissenters receive none of 
 the tithes paid by their people, who must be at 
 the additional charge of maintaining their own 
 separate worship. 
 
20 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 But it is said, the dissenters of America oppose 
 the introduction of a bishop. 
 
 In fact it is not alone the dissenters there that 
 give opposition (if not encouraging must be termed 
 opposing), but the laity in general dislike the pro 
 ject, and some even of the clergy. The inhabi 
 tants of Virginia are almost all episcopalians. The 
 church is fully established there, and the council 
 and general assembly are perhaps to a man its 
 members ; yet, when lately at a meeting of tho 
 clergy a resolution was taken to apply for a bishop, 
 against which several however protested, the as 
 sembly of the province at their next meeting ex 
 pressed their disapprobation of the thing in the 
 strongest manner, by unanimously ordering the 
 thanks of the house to the protesters ; for many 
 of the American laity of the church think it some 
 advantage, whether their own young men come to 
 England for ordination and improve themselves at 
 the same time by conversation with the learned 
 here, or the congregations are supplied by English 
 men, who have had the benefit of education in 
 English universities, and are ordained before they 
 come abroad. They do not therefore see the 
 necessity of a bishop merely for ordination, and 
 confirmation is deemed among them a ceremony 
 of no very great importance, since few seek it in 
 England, where bishops are in plenty. These 
 sentiments prevail with many churchmen there, 
 not to promote a design which they think must 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 21 
 
 ,ooner or later saddle them with great expenses to 
 support it. As to the dissenters, their minds 
 might probably be more conciliated to the measure, 
 if the bishops here should, in their wisdom and 
 goodness, think fit to set their sacred character in 
 a more friendly light, by dropping their opposition 
 to the dissenters application for relief in subscrip 
 tion, and declaring their willingness that dissenters 
 should be capable of offices, enjoy the benefit of 
 education in the universities, and the privilege of 
 appropriating their tithes to the support of their 
 own clergy. In all these points of toleration they 
 appear far behind the present dissenters of New 
 England, and it may seem to some a step below 
 the dignity of bishops to follow the example of 
 such inferiors. I do not however despair of their 
 doing it some time or other, since nothing of the 
 kind is too hard for true. Christian humility. I am, 
 Sir, yours, &,c. A NEW ENGLAND MAN. 
 
 A PARABLE ON BROTHERLY LOVE, &C. 
 
 In those days there was no worker of iron in 
 all the land. And the merchants of Midian 
 passed by with their camels, bearing spices, and 
 myrrh, and balm, and wares of iron. 
 
 And Reuben bought an axe of the Ishmaelite 
 merchants, which he prized highly, for there was 
 none in his father s house. L 
 
 And Simeon said unto Reuben his brother, Lend 
 
22 WRITINGS OF BBNJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 me, I pray thec, thine axe. But he refused, and 
 would not. 
 
 And Levi also said unto him, My brother, lend 
 me, I pray thee, thine axe ; and he refused him 
 also. 
 
 Then came Judah unto Reuben, and entreated 
 him, saying, Lo! thou lovest me, and I have 
 always loved thee, do not refuse me the use of 
 thine axe. 
 
 But Reuben turned from him, and refused him 
 likewise. 
 
 Now it came to pass, that Reuben hewed timber 
 on the bank of the river, and his axe fell therein, 
 and he could by no means find it. 
 
 But Simeon, Levi, and Judah, had sent a mes 
 senger after the Ishmaelites with money, and 
 Jiad bought for themselves each an axe. 
 
 Then came Reuben unto Simeon, and said, 
 Lo ! I have lost :mine axe, and my work is un 
 finished, lend me thine, I pray thee. 
 
 And Simeon answered him, saying, Thou 
 wouldest not lend me thine axe, therefore will I 
 aiot lend thee mine. 
 
 Then went he unto Levi, and said unto him, 
 My brother, thou knowest my loss and my neces 
 sity ; lend me, I pray thee, thine axe. 
 
 And Levi reproached him, saying, Thou would 
 est not lend me thine axe when I desired it, but I 
 will be better than thou, and will lend thee mine. 
 And Reuben was grieved at the rebuke of Levi, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 23 
 
 and being ashamed, turned from him, and look 
 not the axe, but sought his brother Judah. 
 
 And as he drew near, Judah beheld his coun 
 tenance as it were covered with grief and shame ; 
 and he prevented him, saying, My brother, I know 
 thy loss ; but why should it trouble thee ? Lo ! 
 have I not an axe that will serve both thee and 
 me ? Take it, I pray thee, and use it as thine own. 
 
 And Reuben fell on his neck, and kissed him, 
 with tears, saying, Thy kindness is great, but thy 
 goodness in forgiving me is greater. Thou art 
 indeed my brother, and whilst I live will I surely 
 love thee. 
 
 And Judah said, Let us also love our other 
 brethren ; behold, are we not all of one blood ? 
 
 And Joseph saw these things, and reported 
 them to his father Jacob. 
 
 And Jacob said, Reuben did wrong, but he 
 repented. Simeon also did wrong ; and Levi was 
 not altogether blameless : 
 
 But the heart of Judah is princely. Judah hath 
 the soul of a king. His father s children shall 
 bow down before him, and he shall rule over his 
 brethren. 
 
24 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. NO. I. 
 
 From the American Weekly Mercury, from Tuesday, Jan. 
 
 28, to Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1728-9- 
 [Referred to in Memoirs of the Life, Part L] 
 
 MR. ANDREW BRADFORD, 
 
 I DESIGN this to acquaint you, that I, 
 w ho have long- been one of your courteous readers, 
 have lately entertained some thought of setting up 
 for an author myself; not out of the least vanity, I 
 assure yon, or desire of showing my parts, but 
 purely for the good of my country. 
 
 I have often observed with concern, that your 
 Mercury is not always equally entertaining. The 
 delay of ships expected in, and want of fresh ad 
 vices from Europe, make it frequently very dull ; 
 and I find the freezing of our river has the same 
 effect on news as trade. With more concern have 
 I continually observed the growing vices and fol 
 lies of my country-folk ; and though reformation 
 is properly the concern of every man, that is, 
 every one ought to mend one ; yet it is too true in 
 this case, that what is every body s business is no 
 body s business ; and the business is done accord 
 ingly. I therefore, upon mature deliberation, think 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 25 
 
 fit to take no body s business wholly into my own 
 hands ; and, out of zeal for the public good, de 
 sign to erect myself into a kind of censor morum ; 
 purposing, with your allowance, to make use Of 
 the Weekly Mercury as a vehicle in which my 
 remonstrances shall be conveyed to the world. 
 
 I am sensible I have in this particular under 
 taken a very unthankful office, and expect little 
 besides my labor for my pains. Nay, it is proba 
 ble, I may displease a great number of your read 
 ers, who will not very well like to pay ten shillings 
 a year for being told of their faults. But as most 
 people delight in censure when they themselves are 
 not the objects of it, if any are offended at my 
 publicly exposing their private vices, I promise 
 they shall have the satisfaction, in a very little time, 
 of seeing their good friends and neighbors in the 
 same circumstances. 
 
 However, let the fair sex be assured, that I shall 
 always treat them and their affairs with the utmost 
 decency and respect. I intend now and then to 
 dedicate a chapter wholly to their service ; and if 
 my lectures any way contribute to the embellish 
 ment of their minds, and brightening of their un 
 derstandings, without offending their modesty, I 
 doubt not of having their favor and encourage 
 ment. 
 
 It is certain, that no country in the world pro 
 duces naturally finer spirits than ours ; men of ge 
 nius for every kind of science, and capable of 
 
26 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 acquiring to perfection every qualification that is 
 in esteem among mankind. But as few here have 
 the advantage of good books, for want of which 
 good conversation is still more scarce, it would 
 doubtless have been very acceptable to your read 
 ers, if, instead of an old out-of-date article from 
 Muscovy or Hungary, you had entertained them 
 with some well-chosen extract from a good author. 
 This I shall sometimes do, when I happen to have 
 nothing of my own to say that I think of more 
 consequence. Sometimes I purpose to deliver lec 
 tures of morality or philosophy, and (because I am 
 naturally inclined to be meddling with things that 
 do not concern me) perhaps I may sometimes talk 
 politics. And if I can by any means furnish out 
 a weekly entertainment for the public that will give 
 a rational diversion, and at the same time be in 
 structive to the readers, I shall think my leisure 
 hours well employed ; and if you publish this, I 
 hereby invite all ingenious gentlemen and others 
 (that approve of such an undertaking) to my as 
 sistance and correspondence. 
 
 It is like by this time, you have a curiosity to 
 be acquainted with my name and character. As 
 I do not aim at public praise, I design to remain 
 concealed ; and there are such numbers of our 
 family and relations at this time in the country, 
 that though I have signed my name at full length, 
 I am not under the least apprehension of being 
 distinguished and discovered by it. My character, 
 
PART i. MISCELLANIES. 27 
 
 indeed, I would favor you with, but that I am 
 cautious of praising myself, lest I should be told 
 my trumpeter s dead ; and I cannot find in my 
 heart at present, to say any thing to my own dis 
 advantage. 
 
 It is very common with authors, in their first 
 performances, to talk to their readers thus : If this 
 meets with a suitable reception, or, if this should 
 meet with due encouragement, I shall hereafter 
 publish, &c. This only manifests the value they 
 put on their own writings, since they think to 
 frighten the public into their applause, by threaten 
 ing, that unless you approve what they have 
 already wrote, they intend never to write again ; 
 when perhaps it may not be a pin matter, whether 
 they ever do or no. As I have not observed the 
 critics to be more favorable on this account, I shall 
 always avoid saying any thing of the kind ; and 
 conclude with telling you, that if you send me a 
 bottle of ink and a quire of paper by the bearer, 
 you may depend on hearing further from, Sir, 
 
 your most humble servant, 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. 
 
28 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. NO. II. 
 
 From Tuesday, Feb. 4, to Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1728-Q. 
 
 All fools have still an itching to deride, 
 
 And fain would be upon the laughing side. POPE. 
 
 MONSIEUR de la Rochefoucault tells us some 
 where in his Memoirs, that the Prince of Conde 
 delighted much in ridicule, and used frequently to 
 shut himself up for half a day together in his 
 chamber, with a gentleman that was his favorite, 
 purposely to divert himself with examining what 
 was the foible or ridiculous side of every noted 
 person in the court. That gentleman said after 
 wards in some company, that he thought nothing 
 was more ridiculous in any body, than this same 
 humor in the prince ; and I am somewhat inclined 
 to be of this opinion. The general tendency there 
 is among us to this embellishment (which I fear 
 has too often grossly imposed upon my loving 
 countrymen instead of wit), and the applause it 
 meets with from a rising generation, fill me with 
 fearful apprehensions for the future reputation of 
 my country; a young man of modesty (which is 
 the most certain indication of large capacities) is 
 hereby discouraged from attempting to make any 
 figure in life ; his apprehensions of being out- 
 laughed, will force him to continue -in a restless 
 obscurity, without having an opportunity of know 
 ing his own merit himself or discovering it to the 
 world, rather than venture to oppose himself in u 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 29 
 
 place where a pun or a sneer shall pass for wit, 
 noise for reason, and the strength of the argument 
 be judged by that of the lungs. Among these 
 witty gentlemen let us take a view of Ridentius ; 
 what a contemptible figure does he make with his 
 train of paltry admirers ! This wight shall give 
 himself an hour s diversion with the cock of a 
 man s hat, the heels of his shoes, an unguarded 
 expression in his discourse, or even some personal 
 defect ; and the height of his low ambition is to 
 put some one of the company to the blush, who 
 perhaps must pay an equal share of the reckon 
 ing with himself. If such a fellow makes laugh 
 ing the sole end and purpose of his life, if it is 
 necessary to his constitution, or if he has a great 
 desire of growing suddenly fat, let him eat ; let 
 him give public notice where any dull stupid 
 rogues may get a quart of four-penny for beino- 
 laughed at; but it is barbarously unhandsome 
 when friends meet for the benefit of conversation, 
 and a proper relaxation from business, that one 
 should be the butt of the company, and four men 
 made merry at the cost of the fifth. 
 
 How different from this character is that of the 
 good-natured gay Eugenius ! who never spoke yet 
 but with a design to divert and please ; and who 
 was never yet baulked in his intention. Eugenius 
 takes more delight in applying the wit of his friends, 
 than in being admired himself; and if any one of 
 the company is so unfortunate as to be touched a 
 
30 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 little too nearly, he will make use of some inge 
 nious artifice to turn the edge of ridicule another 
 way, choosing rather to make himself a public jest, 
 than be at the pain of seeing his friend in confusion. 
 Among the tribe of laughers, I reckon the petty 
 gentlemen that write satires, and carry them about 
 in their pockets, reading them themselves in all 
 company they happen into ; taking an advantage 
 of the ill taste of the town, to make themselves 
 famous for a pack of paltry low nonsense, for 
 which they deserve to be kicked rather than ad 
 mired, by all who have the least tincture of polite 
 ness. These I take to be the most incorrigible of 
 all my readers ; nay, I expect they will be squib- 
 bing at the Busy-Body himself. However, the 
 only favor he begs of them is this, that if they 
 cannot control their overbearing itch of scribbling, 
 let him be attacked in downright biting lyrics ; for 
 there is no satire he dreads half so much as an 
 attempt towards a panegyric. 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. NO. III. 
 
 From Tuesday, February 11, to Tuesday, February 18, 
 
 17289- 
 
 Non vultus instantis Tyranni 
 JVIente quatit solida, nee auster, 
 Dux inquieti turbidus Adrian, 
 Nee fulminantis magna Jovis man us. HOR. 
 
 IT is said that the Persians, in their ancient con 
 stitution, had public schools in which virtue was 
 
PART I* MISCELLANIES. 31 
 
 taught as a liberal art or science ; and it is cer 
 tainly of more consequence to a man, that he has 
 learnt to govern his passions in spite of temptation, 
 to be just in his dealings, to be temperate in his 
 pleasures, to support himself with fortitude under 
 his misfortunes, to behave with prudence in all his 
 affairs, and in every circumstance of life ; I say it 
 is of much more real advantage to him to be thus 
 qualified, than to be a master of all the arts and 
 sciences in the world beside. 
 
 Virtue alone is sufficient to make a man great, 
 glorious, and happy. He that is acquainted with 
 Cato, as I am, cannot help thinking as I do now, 
 and will acknowledge he deserves the name, with 
 out being honored by it. Cato is a man whom 
 fortune has placed in the most obscure part of the 
 country. His circumstances are such, as only put 
 him above necessity, without affording him many 
 superfluities ; yet who is greater than Cato ? I 
 happened but the other day to be at a house in 
 town, where, among others, were met men of the 
 most note in this place : Cato had business with 
 some of them, and knocked at the door. The 
 most trifling actions of a man, in my opinion, as 
 well as the smallest features and lineaments of the 
 face, give a nice observer some notion of his mind. 
 Moth ought he rapped in such a peculiar manner, 
 as seemed of itself to express there was one who 
 deserved as well as desired admission. He ap 
 peared in the plainest country garb ; his great coat 
 
32 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 was coarse, and looked old and threadbare ; his 
 linen was homespun ; his beard, perhaps, of seven 
 days growth ; his shoes thick and heavy ; and 
 every part of his dress corresponding. Why was 
 this- man received with such concurring respect 
 from every person in the room, even from those 
 who had never known him or seen him before ? It 
 was not an exquisite form of person, or grandeur 
 of dress, that struck us with admiration. I believe 
 long habits of virtue have a sensible effect on the 
 Countenance : there was something in the air of his 
 face that manifested the true greatness of his mind, 
 which likewise appeared in all he said, and in 
 every part of his behavior, obliging us to regard 
 him with a kind of veneration. His aspect is 
 sweetened with humanity and benevolence, and at 
 the same time emboldened with resolution, equally 
 free from diffident bashfulness and an unbecoming 
 assurance. The consciousness of his own innate 
 worth and unshaken integrity, renders him calm 
 and undaunted in the presence of the most great 
 and powerful, and upon the most extraordinary 
 occasions. His strict justice and known impar 
 tiality, make him the arbitrator and decider of all 
 differences that arise for many miles around him, 
 without putting his neighbors to the charge, per 
 plexity, and uncertainty of law-suits. He always 
 speaks the thing he means, which he is nev er afraid 
 or ashamed to do, because he knows he always 
 means well, and therefore is never obliged to blush, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 33 
 
 and feel the confusion of finding himself detected 
 in the meanness of a falsehood. He never con 
 trives ill against his neighbors, and therefore is 
 never seen with a lowring, suspicious aspect. A 
 mixture of innocence and wisdom makes him ever 
 seriously cheerful. His generous hospitality to 
 strangers, according to his ability ; his goodness, 
 his charity, his courage in the cause of the op 
 pressed, his fidelity in friendship, his humility, his 
 honesty and sincerity, his moderation, and his 
 loyalty to the government; his piety, his tem 
 perance, his love to mankind, his magnanimity, his 
 public-spiritedness, and, in fine, his consummate 
 virtue, make him justly deserve to be esteemed the 
 glory of his country. 
 
 The brave do never shun the light, 
 
 Just are their thoughts, and open are their tempers ; 
 
 Freely without disguise they love and hate ; 
 
 Still are they found in the fair face of day, 
 
 And heaven and men are judges of their actions. ROWE. 
 
 Who would not rather choose, if it were in his 
 Choice, to merit the above character, than be the 
 richest, the most learned, or the most powerful 
 man in the province without it? 
 
 Almost every man has a strong natural desire of 
 being valued and esteemed by the rest of his spe 
 cies, but I am concerned and grieved to see how 
 few fall into the right and only infallible method 
 of becoming so. That laudable ambition is too 
 commonly misapplied, and often ill employed. 
 
 VOL. i. c 
 
34 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Some, to make themselves considerable, pursue 
 learning ; others grasp at wealth ; some aim at 
 being thought witty ; and others are only careful 
 to make the most of a handsome person ; but what 
 is wit, or wealth, or form, or learning, when com 
 pared with virtue? It is true, we love the hand 
 some, we applaud the learned, and we fear the 
 rich and powerful ; but we even worship and adore 
 the virtuous. Nor is it strange; since men of 
 virtue are so rare, so very rare to be found. If we 
 were as industrious to become good as to make 
 ourselves great, we should become really great by 
 being good, and the number of valuable men would 
 be much increased ; but it is a grand mistake to 
 think of being great without goodness ; and I pro 
 nounce it as certain, that there w r as never yet a 
 truly great man, that was not at the same time 
 truly virtuous. 
 
 O Cretico ! thou sour philosopher ! thou cun 
 ning statesman ! thou art crafty, but far from being- 
 wise. When wilt thou be esteemed, regarded, and 
 beloved like Cato ? When wilt thou, among thy 
 creatures, meet with that unfeigned respect and 
 warm good-will that all men have for him ? Wilt 
 thou never understand, that the cringing, mean, 
 submissive deportment of thy dependants, is (like 
 the worship paid by Indians to the devil) rather 
 through fear of the harm thou mayest do them, 
 than out of gratitude for the favors they have 
 received of thee ? Thou art not wholly void of 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 35 
 
 nrtue ; there are many good things in thee, and 
 many good actions reported of thee. Be advised 
 by thy friend: neglect those musty authors; let 
 them be covered with dust, and moulder on their 
 proper shelves ; and do thou apply thyself to a 
 study much more profitable the study of man 
 kind and thyself. 
 
 This is to give notice, that the Busy-Body strictly 
 forbids all persons, from this time forward, of what 
 age, sex, rank, quality, degree, or denomination 
 soever, on any pretence, to inquire who is the au 
 thor of this paper, on pain of his displeasure (his 
 own near and dear relations only excepted). 
 
 It is to be observed, that if any bad characters 
 happen to be drawn in these papers, they mean 
 no particular person, if they are not particularly 
 applied. 
 
 Likewise, that the author is no party-man, but a 
 general meddler. 
 
 N. B. Cretico lives in a neighboring province. 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. NO. IV. 
 
 From Tuesday, February 18, to Tuesday, February 25, 
 
 17289- 
 Ne quid minis. 
 
 IN my first paper I invited the learned and the 
 ingenious to join with me in this undertaking, and 
 I now repeat that invitation. I would have such 
 
36 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 gentlemen take this opportunity (by trying their 
 talent in writing) of diverting themselves and 
 friends, and improving the taste of the town. 
 And because I would encourage all wit of our 
 own growth and produce, I hereby promise, that 
 whoever shall send me a little essay on some 
 moral or other subject, that is fit for public view in 
 this manner, (and not basely borrowed from any 
 other author) I shall receive it with candor, and 
 take care to place it to the best advantage. It 
 will be hard if we cannot muster up in the whole 
 country a sufficient stock of sense to supply the 
 Busy-Body at least for a twelvemonth. For my 
 own part, I have already professed, that I have the 
 good of my country wholly at heart in this design, 
 without the legist sinister view ; my chief purpose 
 being to inculcate the noble principles of virtue, 
 and deprecate vice of every kind. But as I know 
 the mob hate instruction, and the generality would 
 never read beyond the first line of my lectures, if 
 they were actually filled with nothing but whole 
 some precepts and advice, I must therefore some 
 times humor them in their own way. There are 
 a set of great names in the province, who are the 
 common objects of popular dislike. If I can now 
 and then overcome my reluctance, and prevail 
 with myself to satirise a little one of these gen 
 tlemen, the expectation of meeting with such a 
 gratification will induce many to read me through, 
 who would otherwise proceed immediately to the 
 
6 
 PART I. MISCELLANIES. 37 
 
 foreign news. As I am very well assured the 
 greatest men among us have a sincere love for 
 their country, notwithstanding its ingratitude, and 
 the insinuations of the envious and malicious to 
 the contrary, so I doubt not but they will cheer 
 fully tolerate me in the liberty I design to take for 
 the end above mentioned. 
 
 As yet I have but few correspondents, though 
 they begin now to increase. The following letter, 
 left for me at the printer s, is one of the first I have 
 received, which I regard the more for that it comes 
 from one of the fair sex, and because I have my 
 self oftentimes suffered under the grievance therein 
 complained of. 
 
 TO THE BUSY-BODY. 
 " SIR, 
 
 " You having set yourself up for a censurer 
 morum, (as I think you call it) which is said to 
 mean a reformer of manners, I know no person 
 more proper to be applied to for redress in ail the 
 grievances we suffer from want of manners in some 
 people. You must know I am a single woman, 
 and keep a shop in this town for a livelihood. 
 There is a certain neighbor of mine, who is really 
 agreeable company enough, and with whom I have 
 had an intimacy of some time standing ; but of late 
 she makes her visits so exceedingly often, and 
 stays so very long every visit, that I am tired out 
 of all patience. I have no manner of time at all 
 
r* 
 38 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to myself; and you, who seem to be a wise man 
 must needs be sensible that every person has little 
 secrets and privacies, that are not proper to be 
 exposed even to the nearest friend. Now I can 
 not do the least thing in the world, but she must 
 know about it ; and it is a wonder I have found 
 an opportunity to write you this letter. My mis 
 fortune is, that I respect her very well, and know 
 not how to disoblige her so much as to tell her I 
 should be glad to have less of her company ; for if 
 I should once hint such a thing, I am afraid she 
 would resent it so as never to darken my door 
 again. But alas, sir, I have not yet told you half 
 my affliction. She has two children that are just 
 big enough to run about and do pretty mischief : 
 these are continually along with mamma, either in 
 my room or shop, if I have ever so many cus 
 tomers or people with me about business. Some 
 times they pull the goods off my low shelves down 
 to the ground, and perhaps where one of them has 
 just been making water. My friend takes up the 
 stuff, and cries, " Oh ! thou little wicked mis 
 chievous rogue ! But, however, it has done no 
 great damage ; it is only wet a little : " and so puts 
 it upon the shelf again. Sometimes they get to 
 my cask of nails behind the counter, and divert 
 themselves, to my great vexation, with mixing my 
 ten-penny, and eight-penny, and four-penny, to 
 gether. I endeavor to conceal my uneasiness as 
 much as possible, and with a grave look go to 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 39 
 
 sorting them out. She cries, " Don t thee trouble 
 thyself, neighbor : let them play a little : I ll put all 
 to rights before I go." But things are never so put 
 to rights but that I find a great deal of work to do 
 after they are gone. Thus, Sir, I have all the 
 trouble and pesterment of children, without the 
 pleasure of calling them my own ; and they are 
 now so used to being here, that they will be content 
 no where else. If she would have been so kind as 
 to have moderated her visits to ten times a day, 
 and staid but half an hour at a time, I should have 
 been contented, and I believe never have given you 
 this trouble. But this very morning they have so 
 tormented me that I could bear no longer ; for, 
 while the mother was asking me twenty impertinent 
 questions, the youngest got to my nails, and with 
 great delight rattled them by handfuls all over the 
 floor; and the other, at the same time, made such 
 a terrible din upon the counter with a hammer, that 
 I grew half distracted. I was just then about to 
 make myself a new suit of pinners, but in the fret 
 and confusion I cut it quite out of all manner of 
 shape, and utterly spoiled a piece of the first mus 
 lin. Pray, sir, tell me what I shall do ; and talk 
 a little against such unreasonable visiting in your 
 next paper ; though I would not have her affronted 
 with me for a great deal, for sincerely I love her 
 and her children, as well, I think, as a neighbor 
 can, and she buys a great many things in a year at 
 
40 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 my shop. But I would beg her to consider, that 
 she uses me unmercifully, though I believe it is 
 only for want of thought. But I have twenty 
 things more to tell you besides all this : there is a 
 handsome gentleman that has a mind (I don t 
 question) to make love to me, but he can t get the 
 
 opportunity to O dear ! here she comes again ; 
 
 I must conclude, 
 
 " Yours, &c. PATIENCE." 
 
 Indeed, it is well enough, as it happens, that she 
 is come to shorten this complaint, which I think 
 is full long enough already, and probably would 
 otherwise have been as long again. However, I 
 must confess, I cannot help pitying my correspon 
 dent s case ; and, in her behalf, exhort the visitor 
 to remember and consider the words of the wise 
 man, " Withdraw thy foot from the house of thy 
 neighbor, lest he grow weary of thee, and so hate 
 thee." It is, I believe, a nice thing, and very diffi 
 cult, to regulate our visits in such a manner as never 
 to give offence by coming too seldom, or too often, 
 or departing too abruptly, or staying too long. 
 However, in my opinion, it is safest for most peo 
 ple in a general way, who are unwilling to dis 
 oblige, to visit seldom, and tarry but a little while 
 in a place, notwithstanding pressing invitations, 
 which are many times insincere. And though more 
 of your company should be really desired, yet in 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 41 
 
 this case too much reservedness is a fault more 
 easily excused than the contrary. 
 
 Men ar^ subject to various inconveniences mere 
 ly through lack of a small share of courage, which 
 is a quality very necessary in the common occur 
 rences of life, as well as in a battle. How many 
 impertinences do we daily suffer with great unea 
 siness, because we have not courage enough to 
 discover our dislike ? And why may not a man 
 use the boldness and freedom of telling his friends, 
 that their long visits sometimes incommode him ? 
 On this occasion, it may be entertaining to some 
 of my readers, if I acquaint them w r ith the Turkish 
 manner of entertaining visitors, which 1 have from 
 an author of unquestionable veracity ; who assures 
 us, that even the Turks are not so ignorant of 
 civility and the arts of endearment, but that they 
 can practise them with as much exactness as any 
 other nation, whenever they have a mind to show 
 themselves obliging. 
 
 " When you visit a person of quality, (says he) 
 and have talked over your business, or the compli 
 ments, or whatever concern brought you thither, 
 he makes a sign to have things served in for the 
 entertainment, which is generally a little sweetmeat, 
 a dish of sherbet, and another of coffee ; all which 
 are immediately brought in by the servants, and 
 tendered to all the guests in order, with the great 
 est care and awfulness imaginable. At last comes 
 
42 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the finishing part of your entertainment, which is, 
 perfuming the beards of the company ; a ceremony 
 which is performed in this manner : They have 
 for the purpose a small silver chafing-dish, covered 
 \rith a lid full of holes, and fixed upon a handsome 
 plate. In this they put some fresh coals, and upon 
 them a piece of lignum aloes ; shutting it up, the 
 smoke immediately ascends with a grateful odor 
 through the holes of the cover. This smoke is held 
 under every one s chin, and offered as it were 
 a sacrifice to his beard. The bristly idol soon 
 receives the reverence done to it, and so greedily 
 takes in and incorporates the gummy steam, that 
 it retains the savor of it, and may serve for a nose 
 gay a good while after. 
 
 " This ceremony may perhaps seem ridiculous 
 at first hearing, but it passes among the Turks for 
 a high gratification. And I will say this in its vin 
 dication, that its design is very wise and useful. 
 For it is understood to give a civil dismission to 
 the visitants, intimating to them that the master of 
 the house has business to do, or some other avoca 
 tions, that permits them to go away as soon as they 
 please ; and the sooner after this ceremony the 
 better. By this means you may, at any time, with 
 out offence, deliver yourself from being detained 
 from your affairs by tedious and unseasonable 
 visits ; and from being constrained to use that 
 piece of hypocrisy, so common in the world, of 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 43 
 
 pressing those to stay longer with you, whom per 
 haps in your heart you wish a great way off for 
 having troubled you so long already." 
 
 Thus far my author. For my own part, I have 
 taken such a fancy to this Turkish custom, that 
 for the future I shall put something like it in prac 
 tice. I have provided a bottle of right French 
 brandy for the men, and citron water for the ladies. 
 After I have tre u d with a dram, and presented a 
 pinch of my best snuff, I expect all company will 
 retire, and leave me to pursue my studies for the 
 good of the public. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 I give notice, that I am now actually compiling, 
 and design to publish in a short time, the true 
 history of the rise, growth, and progress of the 
 renowned Tiff Club. All persons who are ac 
 quainted with any facts, circumstances, characters, 
 transactions, &c. which will be requisite to the 
 perfecting and embellishment of the said work, are 
 desired to communicate the same to the author, 
 and direct their letters to be left with the printer 
 hereof. 
 
 The letter signed " Would-be-somtthing? is come 
 to hand. 
 
44 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. NO. V. 
 
 From Tuesday, February 25, to Tuesday, March 4, 1723 9. 
 
 Vos, o patricius sanguis, quos vivere fas est 
 Occipiti caeco, posticae occurrite saunae. PERSIUS. 
 
 THIS paper being designed for a terror to evil 
 doers, as well as praise to them that do well, I am 
 lifted up with secret joy to find, that my under 
 taking is approved, and encouraged by the just and 
 good, and that few are against me but those who 
 have reason to fear me. 
 
 There are little follies in the behavior of most 
 men, which their best friends are too tender to ac 
 quaint them with ; there are little vices and small 
 crimes which the law has no regard to or remedy 
 for : there are likewise great pieces of villany 
 sometimes so craftily accomplished, and so cir 
 cumspectly guarded, that the law can take no hold 
 of the actors. All these things, and all things of 
 this nature, come within my province as Censor ; 
 and I am determined not to be negligent of the 
 trust I have reposed in myself, but resolve to exe 
 cute my office diligently and faithfully. 
 
 And that all the world may judge with how 
 much humanity, as well as justice, I shall behave 
 in this office ; and that even my enemies may be 
 convinced I take no delight to rake into the dung 
 hill lives of vicious men ; and to the end that cer 
 tain persons may be a little eased of their fears, 
 and relieved from the terrible palpitations they 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 45 
 
 have lately felt and suffered, and do still suffer; I 
 hereby graciously pass an act of general oblivion, 
 for all offences, crimes, and misdemeanors of what 
 kind soever, committed from the beginning of the 
 year 1681, until the day of the date of my first 
 paper, and promise only to concern myself with 
 such as have been since and shall hereafter be 
 committed. I shall take no notice who has (here 
 tofore) raised a fortune by fraud and oppression, 
 nor who by deceit and hypocrisy ; what woman 
 has been false to her good husband s bed, nor what 
 man has, by barbarous usage or neglect, broken 
 the heart of a faithful wife, and wasted his health 
 and substance in debauchery ; what base wretch 
 has betrayed his friend, and sold his honesty for 
 gold, nor what baser wretch first corrupted him, 
 and then bought the bargain : all this, and much 
 more of the same kind, I shall forget, and pass 
 over in silence ; but then it is to be observed, that 
 I expect and require a sudden and general amend 
 ment. 
 
 These threatenings of mine, I hope will have a 
 good effect, and, if regarded, may prevent abun 
 dance of folly and wickedness in others, and, at the 
 same time, save me abundance of trouble: and 
 that people may not flatter themselves with the 
 hopes of concealing their loose misdemeanors from 
 my knowledge, and in that view persist in evil 
 doing, I must acquaint them, that I have lately en 
 tered into an intimacy with the extraordinary per- 
 
40 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 son, who some time since wrote me the following- 
 letter ; and who, having a wonderful faculty, that 
 enables him to discover the most secret iniquity, is 
 capable of giving me great assistance in my de 
 signed work of reformation. 
 
 MR. BUSY-BODY, 
 
 " I rejoice, Sir, at the opportunity you have 
 given me to be serviceable to you, and, by your 
 means, to this province. You must know, that 
 such have been the circumstances of my life, and 
 such were the marvellous concurrences of my 
 birth, that I have not only a faculty of discovering 
 the actions of persons that are absent or asleep, 
 but even of the devil himself, in many of his secret 
 workings, in the various shapes, habits, and names 
 of men and women : and having travelled and 
 conversed much, and met but with a very few of 
 the same perceptions and qualifications, I can re 
 commend myself to you as the most useful man 
 you can correspond with. My father s father s 
 father (for we had no grandfathers in our family) 
 was the same John Bunyan w r ho wrote that me 
 morable book, The Pilgrim s Progress, who had, 
 in some degree, a natural faculty of second sight. 
 This faculty (how derived to him our family me 
 moirs are not very clear) was enjoyed by all his 
 descendants, but not by equal talents. It was very 
 dim in several of my first cousins, and probably 
 had been nearly extinct in our particular branch, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 47 
 
 had not my father been a traveller. He lived, in 
 his youthful days, in New England. There he 
 married, and there was born my elder brother, who 
 had so much of this faculty, as to discover witches 
 in some of their occult performances. My parents 
 transporting* themselves to Great Britain, my se 
 cond brother s birth was in that kingdom. He 
 shared but a small portion of this virtue, being only 
 able to discern transactions about the time of, and 
 for the most part after, their happening. My good 
 father, who delighted in the Pilgrim s Progress, 
 and mountainous places, took shipping, with his 
 wife, for Scotland, and inhabited in the Highlands, 
 where myself was born : and whether the soil, cli 
 mate, or astral influences, of which are preserved 
 divers prognostics, restored our ancestor s natural 
 faculty of second sight, in a greater lustre to me, 
 than it had shined in through several generations, 
 I will not here discuss. But so it is, that I am 
 possessed largely of it, and design, if you encou 
 rage the proposal, to take this opportunity of doing 
 good with it, which I question not will be accepted 
 of in a grateful way by many of your honest readers, 
 though the discovery of my extraction bodes me 
 no deference from your great scholars and modern 
 philosophers. This my father was long ago aware 
 of; and lest the name alone should hurt the for 
 tunes of his children, he, in his shiftings from one 
 country to another, wisely changed it. 
 
 " Sir, I have only this further to say, how I may 
 
4$ WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 be useful to you, and as a reason for my not 
 making myself more known in the world : by vir 
 tue of this great gift of nature, second-sigh tedness, 
 I do continually see numbers of men, women, and 
 children, of all ranks, and what they are doing, 
 while I am sitting in my closet ; which is too great 
 a burden for the mind, and makes me also conceit, 
 even against reason, that all this host of people can 
 see and observe me, which strongly inclines me to 
 solitude, and an obscure living ; and, on the other 
 hand, it will be an ease to me to disburthen my 
 thoughts and observations in the way proposed to 
 you, by, Sir, your friend and humble servant." 
 
 I conceal this correspondent s name, in my care 
 for his life and safety, and cannot but approve his 
 prudence, in choosing to live obscurely. I remem 
 ber the fate of my poor monkey : he had an ill- 
 natured trick of grinning and chattering at every 
 thing he saw in petticoats : my ignorant country 
 neighbors got a notion, that pug snarled by instinct 
 at every female who had lost her virginity. This 
 was no sooner generally believed, than he was 
 condemned to death: by whom I could never 
 learn, but he was assassinated in the night, barba 
 rously stabbed and mangled in a thousand places, 
 and left hanging dead on one of my gate posts, 
 where I found him the next morning. 
 
 The Censor observing, that the itch of scribbling 
 begins to spread exceedingly, and being carefully 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 49 
 
 tender of the reputation of his country, in point of 
 wit and good sense, has determined to take all 
 manner of writing in verse or prose, that pretend 
 to either, under his immediate cognizance ; and 
 accordingly, hereby prohibits the publishing any 
 such for the future, till they have first passed his 
 examination, and received his imprimatur : for 
 which he demands as a fee only sixpence per 
 sheet. 
 
 N. B. He nevertheless permits to be published, 
 all satirical remarks on the Busy- Body, the above 
 prohibition notwithstanding, and without examina 
 tion, or requiring the said fees ; which indulgence, 
 the small wits in and about this city are advised 
 gratefully to accept and acknowledge. 
 
 The gentleman, who calls himself Sirronio, is 
 directed, on receipt of this, to burn his great book 
 of Crudities. 
 
 P. 8. In compassion to that young man, on ac 
 count of the great pains he has taken, in consi 
 deration of the character I have just received of 
 him, that he is really good-natured, and on condi 
 tion he shows it to no foreigner, or stranger of 
 sense, I have thought fit to reprieve his said great 
 book of Crudities from the flames, till further order. 
 
 Noli Die tangere. 
 
 I had resolved, when I first commenced this 
 design, on no account to enter into a public dis- 
 VOL. i. D 
 
50 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 pute with any man ; for I judged it would be 
 equally unpleasant to me and my readers, to see 
 this paper filled with contentious wrangling, an 
 swers, replies, &c. ; which is a way of writing that 
 is endless, and, at the same time, seldom contains 
 any thing that is either edifying or entertaining. 
 
 Yet, when such a considerable man as Mr. 
 
 finds himself concerned so warmly to accuse and 
 condemn me, as he has done in Keimer s last In 
 structor, I cannot forbear endeavoring to say 
 something in my own defence, from one of the 
 worst of characters that could be given me by a 
 man of worth. But as I have many things of more 
 consequence to offer the public, I declare, that I 
 will never, after this time, take notice of any accu 
 sations, not better supported with truth and rea 
 son ; much less may every little scribbler, that shall 
 attack me, expect an answer from the Busy-Body. 
 The sum of the charge delivered against me, 
 either directly or indirectly, in the said paper, is 
 this : not to mention the first weighty sentence 
 concerning vanity and ill-nature, and the shrewd 
 intimation, that I am without charity, and there 
 fore can have no pretence to religion, I am repre 
 sented as guilty of defamation and scandal, the 
 odiousness of which is apparent to every good 
 man, and the practice of it opposite to Christianity, 
 morality, and common justice, and, in some cases, 
 so far below all these, as to be inhuman ; as a 
 blaster of reputations ; as attempting, by a pre- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 51 
 
 tence, to screen myself from the imputation of ma 
 lice and prejudice ; as using a weapon, which the 
 wiser and better part of mankind hold in abhor 
 rence ; and as giving treatment which the wiser 
 and better part of mankind dislike on the same 
 principles, and for the same reason, as they do 
 assassination, &c. ; and all this is inferred and 
 concluded from a character I have written in my 
 Number III. 
 
 In order to examine the justice and truth of this 
 heavy charge, let us recur to that character. And 
 here we may be surprised to find what a trifle has 
 raised this mighty clamor and complaint, this 
 grievous accusation ! The worst thing said of the 
 person, in what is called my gross description (be 
 he who he will to w 7 hom my accuser has applied 
 the character of Cretico), is, that he is a sour phi 
 losopher, crafty, but not wise. Few human cha 
 racters can be drawn that will not fit somebody, 
 in so large a country as this ; but one would think, 
 supposing I meant Cretico a real person, I had 
 sufficiently manifested my impartiality, when I 
 said, in that very paragraph, that Cretico is not 
 without virtue ; that there are many good things in 
 him, and many good actions reported of him ; 
 which must be allowed, in all reason, very much to 
 overbalance in his favor those worst words, sour- 
 tempered, and cunning. Nay, my very enemy 
 and accuser must have been sensible of this, when 
 he freely acknowledges, that he has been seriously 
 
52 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 considering, and cannot yet determine, which he 
 would choose to be, the Cato or Cretico of that 
 paper ; since my Cato is one of the best of charac 
 ters. Thus much in my own vindication. As to 
 the only reasons there given, why I ought not to 
 continue drawing characters, viz. Why should any 
 man s picture be published which he never sat for ; 
 or his good name taken from him any more than 
 his money or possessions, at the arbitrary will of 
 another, &c. ? I have but this to answer ; the 
 money or possessions, I presume, are nothing to 
 the purpose, since no man can claim a right either 
 to those or a good name, if he has acted so as to 
 forfeit them. And are not the public the only 
 judges what share of reputation they think proper 
 to allow any man? Supposing I was capable, 
 and had an inclination to draw all the good and 
 bad characters in America, why should a good 
 man be offended with me for drawing good cha 
 racters t And if I draw ill ones, can they fit any 
 but those that deserve them ? And ought any but 
 such to be concerned that they have their deserts ? 
 I have as great an aversion and abhorrence for de 
 famation and scandal as any man, and would with 
 the utmost care avoid being guilty of such base 
 things ; besides, I am very sensible and certain, 
 that if I should make use of this paper to defame 
 any person, my reputation would be sooner hurt by 
 it than his, and the Busy-Body would quickly be 
 come detestable; because, in such a case, as is justly 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 53 
 
 observed, the pleasure arising from a tale of wit 
 and novelty soon dies away in generous and ho 
 nest minds, and is followed with a secret grief to 
 see their neighbors calumniated. But if I myself 
 was actually the worst man in the province, and 
 any one should draw my true character, would it 
 not be ridiculous in me to say he had defamed and 
 scandalised me, unless he had added in a matter 
 of truth ? If any thing is meant by asking, why 
 any man s picture should be published which he 
 never sat for ? it must be, that we should give no 
 character without the owner s consent. If I dis 
 cern the wolf disguised in harmless wool, and con 
 triving the destruction of my neighbor s sheep, 
 must I have his permission before I am allowed to 
 discover and prevent him ? If I know a man to 
 be a designing knave, must I ask his consent to 
 bid my friends beware of him ? If so, then, by the 
 same rule, supposing the Busy-Body had really 
 merited all his enemy had charged him with, his 
 consent likewise ought to have been obtained be 
 fore so terrible an accusation was published against 
 him. 
 
 I shall conclude with observing, that in the last 
 paragraph save one of the piece now examined, 
 much ill-nature and some good sense are co-inha 
 bitants (as he expresses it). The ill-nature appears 
 in his endeavoring to discover satire where I in 
 tended no such thing, but quite the reverse ; the 
 good sense is this, that drawing too good a cha- 
 
54 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 racier of any one is a refined manner of satire that 
 may be as injurious to him as the contrary, by 
 bringing on an examination that undresses the 
 person, and in the haste of doing it, he may hap 
 pen to be stript of what he really owns and de 
 serves. As I am Censor, I might punish the first, 
 but 1 forgive it. Yet I will not leave the latter un 
 rewarded ; but assure my adversary, that in consi 
 deration of the merit of those four lines, I am re 
 solved to forbear injuring him on any account in 
 that refined manner. 
 
 I thank my neighbor P W 1 for his kind 
 
 letter. 
 
 The lions complained of shall be muzzled. 
 
 THE BUSY-BODY. NO. VIII. 
 
 From Tuesday, March 20, to Tuesday, March 27, 1729. 
 Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, 
 Auri sacra fames ? VIRGIL. 
 
 ONE of the greatest pleasures an author can 
 have, is certainly the hearing his works ap 
 plauded. The hiding from the world our names 
 while we publish our thoughts, is so absolutely 
 necessary to this self-gratification, that I hope my 
 well-wishers will congratulate me on my escape 
 from the many diligent but fruitless inquiries that 
 have of late been made after me. Every man will 
 own, that an author, as such, ought to be hid by 
 the merit of his productions only ; but pride, party, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 55 
 
 and prejudice, at this time run so very high, that 
 experience shows we form our notions of a piece 
 by the character of the author. Nay, there are 
 some very humble politicians in and about this 
 city, who will ask on which side the writer is, be 
 fore they presume to give their opinion of the thing 
 wrote. This ungenerous way of proceeding I was 
 well aware of before I published my first specula 
 tion, and therefore concealed my name. And I 
 appeal to the more generous part of the world, if I 
 have, since I appeared in the .character of the 
 Busy-Body, given an instance of my siding with 
 any party more than another, in the unhappy divi 
 sions of my country ; and I have, above all, this 
 satisfaction in myself, that neither affection, aver 
 sion, or interest, have biassed me to use any par 
 tiality towards any man, or set of men : but what 
 soever I find nonsensical, ridiculous, or immorally 
 .dishonest I have, and shall continue openly to 
 attack, with the freedom of an honest man and a 
 lover of my country. 
 
 I -profess I can hardly contain myself, or pre 
 serve the gravity and dignity that should attend 
 the censorial office, when I hear the odd and un 
 accountable expositions that are put upon some of 
 my works, through the malicious ignorance of 
 some, and the vain pride of more than ordinary 
 penetration in others ; one instance of which many 
 of my readers are acquainted with. A certain 
 gentleman has taken a great deal of pains to write 
 
56 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 a key to the letter in my Number IV., wherein he 
 has ingeniously converted a gentle satire upon 
 tedious and impertinent visitants, into a libel on 
 some of the government. This I mention only as 
 a specimen of the taste of the gentleman I am, 
 forsooth, bound to please in my speculations ; not 
 that I suppose my impartiality will ever be called 
 in question on that account. Injustices of this na 
 ture I could complain of in many instances ; but I 
 am at present diverted by the reception of a letter, 
 which, though it regards me only in my private 
 capacity as an adept, yet I venture to publish it 
 for the entertainment of my readers. 
 
 To Censor Morum, Esq. Busy-Body General of the 
 Province of Pennsylvania, and the Counties of 
 Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex upon Delaware. 
 
 HONORABLE SIR, 
 
 I judge by your lucubrations, that 
 you are not only a lover of truth and equity, but a 
 man of parts and learning and a master of science ; 
 as such 1 honor you. Know, then, most profound 
 Sir, that I have, from my youth up, been a very in 
 defatigable student in and admirer of that divine 
 science, astrology. I have read over Scot, Alber- 
 tus Magnus, and Cornelius Agrippa, above three 
 hundred times ; and was in hopes, by my know 
 ledge and industry, to gain enough to have recom 
 pensed me for my money expended and time lost 
 in the pursuit of this learning. You cannot be 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 57 
 
 ignorant, Sir, (for your intimate second-sighted 
 correspondent knows all things) that there are 
 large sums of money hidden under ground in 
 divers places about this town, and in many parts 
 of the country: but alas, Sir, notwithstanding I 
 have used all the means laid down in the immortal 
 authors before mentioned, and when they failed, 
 the ingenious Mr. P d 1, with his mercurial 
 wand and magnet, I have still failed in my pur 
 pose. This therefore I send, to propose and de 
 sire an acquaintance with you ; and I do not 
 doubt, notwithstanding my repeated ill-fortune, 
 but we may be exceedingly serviceable to each 
 other in our discoveries ; and that if we use our 
 united endeavors, the time will come when the 
 Busy-Body, his second-sighted correspondent, and 
 your very humble servant, will be three of the 
 richest men in the province : and then, Sir, what 
 may we not do ? A word to the wise is sufficient. 
 I conclude, with all demonstrable respect, yours 
 and Urania s votary, TITAN PLEIADES. 
 
 In the evening, after I had received this letter, I 
 made a visit to my second-sighted friend, and com 
 municated to him the proposal. When he had 
 read it, he assured me, that to his certain know 
 ledge, there is not at this time so much as one 
 ounce of silver or gold hid under ground in any 
 part of this province ; for that the late and present 
 scarcity of money had obliged those who were 
 
58 WAITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 living, and knew where they had formerly hid any, 
 to Jake it up, and use it in their own necessary 
 affairs ; and as to all the rest which was buried by 
 pirates and others in old times, who were never 
 like to corne for it, he himself had dug it all up 
 and applied it to charitable uses ; and this he de 
 sired me to publish for the general good. For, as 
 he acquainted me, there are among us great num 
 bers of honest artificers and laboring people, who, 
 fed with a vain hope of growing suddenly rich, 
 neglect their business, almost to the ruining of 
 themselves and families, and voluntarily endure 
 abundance of fatigue in a fruitless search after 
 imaginary hidden treasure. They wander through 
 the woods and bushes by day, to discover the 
 marks and signs ; at midnight they repair to the 
 hopeful spots with spades and pickaxes : full of 
 expectation, they labor violently, trembling at the 
 same time in every joint, through fear of certain 
 malicious demons who are said to haunt and guard 
 such places. At length a mighty hole is dug, and 
 perhaps several cart-loads of earth thrown out ; but 
 alas, no cag or iron pot is found ! no seaman s 
 chest crammed with Spanish pistoles, or weighty 
 pieces of eight ! Then they conclude, that through 
 some mistake in the procedure, some rash word 
 spoke, or some rule of art neglected, the guardian 
 spirit had power to sink it deeper into the earth, 
 and convey it out of their reach. Yet, when a 
 man is once thus infatuated, he is so far from be- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 59 
 
 ing discouraged by ill success, that he is rather 
 animated to double his industry, and will try ao am 
 and again in a hundred different places, in hopes 
 at last of meeting with some lucky hit, that shall 
 at once sufficiently reward him for all his expense 
 of time and labor. 
 
 This odd humor of digging for money, through 
 a belief that much has been hid by pirates formerly 
 frequenting the river, has for several years been 
 mighty prevalent among us; insomuch that you 
 can hardly walk half a mile out of the town on 
 any side, without observing several pits dug with 
 that design, and perhaps some lately opened. 
 Men, otherwise of very good sense, have been 
 drawn into this practice through an overweening 
 desire of sudden wealth, and an easy credulity of 
 what they so earnestly wished might be true. 
 While the rational and almost certain methods of 
 acquiring riches by industry and frugality, are neg 
 lected or forgotten. There seems to be some 
 peculiar charm in the conceit of finding money ; 
 and if the sands of Schuylkil were so much mixed 
 with small grains of gold, that a man might in a 
 day s time, with care and application, get together 
 to the value of half a crown, I make no question 
 but we should find several people employed there, 
 that can with ease earn five shillings a day at their 
 proper trades. 
 
 Many are the idle stories told of the private sue- 
 
60 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 cess of some people, by which others are encou 
 raged to proceed ; and the astrologers, with whom 
 the country swarms at this time, are either in the 
 belief of these things themselves, or find their ad 
 vantage in persuading others to believe them ; for 
 they are often consulted about the critical times 
 for digging, the methods of laying the spirit, and 
 the like whimsies, which renders them very neces 
 sary to, and very much caressed by, the poor de 
 luded money-hunters. 
 
 There is certainly something very bewitching in 
 the pursuit after mines of gold and silver and other 
 valuable metals, and many have been ruined by it. 
 A sea-captain of my acquaintance used to blame 
 the English for envying Spain their mines of silver, 
 and too much despising or overlooking the advan 
 tages of their own industry and manufactures. 
 " For my part," says he, " I esteem the banks of 
 Newfoundland to be a more valuable possession 
 than the mountains of Potosi ; and when I have 
 been there on the fishing account, have looked 
 upon every cod pulled up into the vessel as a cer 
 tain quantity of silver ore, which required only 
 carrying to the next Spanish port to be coined into 
 pieces of eight ;" not to mention the national pro 
 fit of fitting out and employing such a number of 
 ships and seamen. Let honest Peter Buckram, 
 who has long without success been a searcher after 
 hidden money, reflect on this, and be reclaimed 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 61 
 
 from that unaccountable folly. Let him consider, 
 that every stitch he takes when he is on his shop- 
 board, is picking up part of a grain of gold, that 
 will in a few days time amount to a pistole ; and 
 let Fabef think the same of every nail he drives, or 
 every stroke with his plane. Such thoughts may 
 make them industrious, and in consequence, in 
 time they may be wealthy : but how absurd is it to 
 neglect a certain profit for such a ridiculous whim- 
 sey ! to spend whole days at the George, in com 
 pany with an idle pretender to astrology, contriv 
 ing schemes to discover what was never hidden, 
 and forgetful how carelessly business is managed 
 at home in their absence ; to leave their wives and 
 a warm bed at midnight (no matter if it rain, hail, 
 snow, or blow a hurricane, provided that be the 
 critical hour) and fatigue themselves with the violent 
 exercise of digging for what they shall never find, 
 and perhaps getting a cold that may cost their lives, 
 or at least disordering themselves so as to be fit for 
 no business beside for some days after. Surely this 
 is nothing less than the most egregious folly and 
 madness. 
 
 I shall conclude with the words of my discreet 
 friend Agricola, of Chester county, when he gave 
 his son a good plantation : " My son," said he, 
 " I give thee now a valuable parcel of land ; 1 
 assure thee I have found a considerable quantity 
 of gold by digging there ; thee mayst do the same ; 
 
62 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 but thee must carefully observe this, Never to 
 more than plow-deep" 
 
 [The foregoing are the only Numbers of the BUSY 
 BODY ascertained to be from the pen of Franklin ; 
 they were written when he was about 23 years of age.] 
 
 DIALOGUE BETWEEN PHILOCLES AND HORATIO, 
 MEETING ACCIDENTALLY IN THE FIELDS, 
 CONCERNING VIRTUE AND PLEASURE. 
 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 84, June 23, 1730. 1 
 
 Philocles. My friend Horatio ! I am very glad 
 to see you ; prithee how came such a man as you 
 alone ? and musing too ? What misfortune in your 
 pleasures has sent you to philosophy for relief? 
 
 Horatio. You guess very right, my dear Philo 
 cles : we pleasure-hunters are never without them ; 
 and yet, so enchanting is the game, we cannot 
 quit the chace. How calm and undisturbed is 
 your life ! how free from present embarrassments 
 and future cares ! I know you love me, and look 
 
 1 This and the seven Essays following, have never before 
 been published in Europe. They are taken from an American 
 collection ; the editor of which fully ascertained their authcn 
 ticity. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. t>3 
 
 with compassion upon my conduct; show me 
 then the path which leads up to that constant and 
 invariable good, which I have heard you so beau 
 tifully describe, and which you seem so fully to 
 possess. 
 
 Phil. There are few men in the world I value 
 more than you, Horatio ! for amidst all your foi 
 bles and painful pursuits of pleasure, I have oft 
 observed in you an honest heart, and a mind 
 strongly bent towards virtue. I wish, from my 
 soul, I could assist you in acting steadily the part 
 of a reasonable creature ; for, if you would not 
 think it a paradox, I should tell you I love you 
 better than you do yourself. 
 
 Hor. A paradox indeed ! better than I do my 
 self ! when I love my dear self so well, that I love 
 every thing else for my own sake. 
 
 Phil He only loves himself well, who rightly 
 and judiciously loves himself. 
 
 Hor. What do you mean by that, Philocles ? 
 You men of reason and virtue are always dealing 
 in mysteries, though you laugh at them when the 
 church makes them. I think he loves himself 
 very well and very judiciously too, as you call it, 
 who allows himself to do whatever he pleases. 
 
 Phil. What, though it be to the ruin and de 
 struction of that very self which he loves so well ? 
 That man alone loves himself rightly, who pro 
 cures the greatest possible good to himself through 
 
0*4 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the whole of his existence ; and so pursues plea 
 sure as not to give for it more than it is worth. 
 
 Hor. That depends all upon opinion. Who 
 shall judge what the pleasure is worth ? Suppose a 
 pleasing form of the fair kind strikes me so much, 
 that I can enjoy nothing without the enjoyment of 
 that one object : or, that pleasure in general is so 
 favorite a mistress, that I will take her as men do 
 their wives, for better, for worse ; minding no con* 
 sequences, nor regarding what is to come. Why 
 should I not do it ? 
 
 PhiL Suppose, Horatio, that a friend of yours 
 entered into the world about two-and4wenty, with 
 a healthful vigorous body, and a fair plentiful 
 estate of about five hundred pounds a-year ; and 
 yet, before he had reached thirty, should, by fol 
 lowing his own pleasures, and not as you, duly 
 regarding consequences, have run out of his estate, 
 and disabled his body to that degree, that he had 
 neither the means nor capacity of enjoyment left, 
 nor any thing else to do but wisely shoot himself 
 through the head to be at rest ; what would you 
 say to this unfortunate man s conduct ? Is it wrong 
 by opinion or fancy only? or is there really a right 
 and wrong in the case ? is not one opinion of life 
 and action juster than another ? or one sort of 
 conduct preferable to another ? or does that mi 
 serable son of pleasure appear as reasonable and 
 lovely a being in your eyes as a man who, by pru- 
 
PART . I, MISCELLANIES. C5 
 
 dently and rightly gratifying his natural passions, 
 had preserved his body in full health, and his 
 estate entire, and enjoyed both to a good old age, 
 and then died with a thankful heart for the good 
 things he had received, and with an entire submis 
 sion to the will of Him who first called him into 
 being ? Say, Horatio, are these men equally wise 
 and happy ? And is every thing to be measured 
 by mere fancy and opinion, without considering 
 whether that fancy or opinion be right ? 
 
 Hor. Hardly so neither, I think ; yet sure the 
 wise and good Author of nature could never make 
 us to plague us. He could never give us passions, 
 on purpose to subdue and conquer them ; nor pro 
 duce this self of mine, or any other self, only that 
 it may be denied ; for that is denying the works of 
 the great Creator himself. Self-denial, then, which 
 is what I suppose you mean by prudence, seems 
 to me not only absurd, but very dishonorable to 
 that supreme wisdom and goodness which is sup 
 posed to make so ridiculous and contradictory a 
 creature, that must be always fighting with himself 
 in order to be at rest, and undergo voluntary hard 
 ships in order to be happy : are we created sick, 
 only to be commanded to be sound ? Are we born 
 under one law, our passions, and yet bound to 
 another, that of reason ? Answer me, Philocles, 
 for I am warmly concerned for the honor of na 
 ture, the mother of us all. 
 
 Phil. I find, Horatio, my two characters have 
 VOL. i. E 
 
66 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 affrighted you ; so that you decline the trial of 
 what is good, by reason ; and had rather make a 
 bold attack upon Providence, the usual way of 
 you gentlemen of fashion, who, when by living in 
 defiance of the eternal rules of reason, you have 
 plunged yourselves into a thousand difficulties, 
 endeavor to make yourselves easy by throwing the 
 burden upon nature : you are, Horatio, in a very 
 miserable condition indeed ; for you say you can 
 not be happy if you control your passions ; and 
 you feel yourself miserable by an unrestrained gra 
 tification of them ; so that here is evil, irremediable 
 evil, either way. 
 
 Hor. That is very true, at least it appears so 
 to me ; pray what have you to say, Philocles, in 
 honor of Nature or Providence ? methinks I am 
 in pain for her : how do you rescue her, poor 
 lady? 
 
 Phil. This, my dear Horatio, I have to say ; 
 that what you find fault with and clamor against, 
 as the most terrible evil in the world, self-denial, is 
 really the greatest good, and the highest self-grati 
 fication : if indeed you use the word in the sense 
 of some weak moralists, and much weaker divines, 
 you will have just reason to laugh at it ; but if you 
 take it, as understood by philosophers and men of 
 sense, you will presently see her charms, and fly 
 to her embraces, notwithstanding her demure 
 looks, as absolutely necessary to produce even 
 your own darling sole good, pleasure : for, self- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 07 
 
 denial is never a duty, or a reasonable action, but 
 as it is a natural means of procuring more pleasure 
 than you can taste without it ; so that this grave 
 saint-like guide to happiness, as rough and dread 
 ful as she has been made to appear, is in truth the 
 kindest and most beautiful mistress in the world. 
 
 Ho?\ Prithee, Philocles, do not wrap yourself 
 in allegory and metaphor : why do you tease me 
 thus ? I long to be satisfied, what is this philoso 
 phical self-denial ; the necessity and reason of it ; 
 I am impatient, and all on fire : explain, therefore, 
 in your beautiful natural easy way of reasoning, 
 what I am to understand by this grave lady of 
 yours, with so forbidding downcast looks, and 
 yet so absolutely necessary to my pleasures ; I 
 stand to embrace her, for you know, pleasure I 
 court under all shapes and forms. 
 
 Phil. Attend, then, and you will see the reason 
 of this philosophical self-denial. There can be no 
 absolute perfection in any creature ; because every 
 creature is derived from something of a superior 
 existence, and dependent on that source for its 
 own existence : no created being can be all- wise, 
 all-good, and all-powerful, because his powers and 
 capacities are finite and limited ; consequently 
 whatever is created must, in its own nature, be 
 subject to error, irregularity, excess, and imperfect- 
 ness. All intelligent rational agents find in them 
 selves a power of judging what kind of beings they 
 are, what actions are proper to preserve them, 
 
68 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and what consequences will generally attend them, 
 what pleasures they are for, and to what degree 
 their natures are capable of receiving them. All 
 we have to do then, Horatio, is to consider, when 
 we are surprised with a new object, and pas 
 sionately desire to enjoy it, whether the gratifying 
 that passion be consistent with the gratifying other 
 passions and appetites equal, if not more necessary 
 to us. And whether it consists with our happiness 
 to-morrow, next week, or next year ; for, as we all 
 wish to live, we are obliged by reason to take as 
 much care for our future, as our present happiness, 
 and not build one upon the ruins of the other : but 
 if through the strength and power of a present 
 passion, and through want of attending to conse 
 quences, we liave erred and exceeded the bounds 
 which nature or reason have set us ; we are then, 
 for our own sakes, to refrain, or deny ourselves a 
 present momentary pleasure for a future, constanl, 
 and durable one : so that this philosophical self- 
 denial is only refusing to do an action which you 
 strongly desire ; because it is inconsistent with 
 health, convenience, or circumstances in the 
 world : or in other words, because it would cost 
 you more than it was worth. You would lose by 
 it, as a man of pleasure. Thus you see, Horatio, 
 that self-denial is not only the most reasonable, 
 but the most pleasant thing in the world. 
 
 Hor. We are just coming into town, so that we 
 cannot pursue this argument any farther at pre- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 69 
 
 sent ; you have said a great deal for nature, Pro 
 vidence, and reason : happy are they who can fol 
 low such divine guides. 
 
 Pint. Horatio, good night ; I wish you wise in 
 your pleasures. 
 
 Hor. I wish, Philocles, I could be as wise in 
 my pleasures as you are pleasantly wise ; your 
 wisdom is agreeable, your virtue is amiable, and 
 your philosophy the highest luxury. Adieu, thou 
 enchanting reasoner ! 
 
 A SECOND DIALOGUE BETWEEN PHILOCLES AND 
 HORATIO, CONCERNING VIRTUE AND^LEASURE. 
 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 86, July 9, ] 730. 
 
 Philocles. Dear Horatio, where hast thou been 
 these three or four months ? What new adventures 
 have you fallen upon since I met you in these de 
 lightful all-inspiring fields, and wondered how 
 such a pleasure-hunter as you could bear being 
 alone ? 
 
 Horatio. O Philocles! thou best of friends, 
 Because a friend to reason and virtue ! I am very 
 glad to see you. Do not you remember, I told 
 you then, that some misfortunes in my pleasures 
 had sent me to philosophy for relief? but now I 
 do assure you I can, without a sigh, leave other 
 pleasures for those of philosophy : I can hear the 
 
WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 word reason mentioned, and virtue praised, with 
 out laughing. Do not I bid fair for conversion, 
 think you ? 
 
 Phil. Very fair, Horatio ; for I remember the 
 time when reason, virtue, and pleasure, were the 
 same thing with you : when you counted nothing 
 good but what pleased, nor any thing reasonable 
 but what you gained by : when you made a jest of 
 a mind, and the pleasures of reflection ; and ele 
 gantly placed your sole happiness, like the rest of 
 the animal creation, in the gratification of sense. 
 
 Hor. I did so : but in our last conversation, 
 when walking upon the brow of this hill, and look 
 ing down on that broad rapid river, and yon 
 widely-extended beautifully- varied plain, you 
 taught me another doctrine ; you showed me, that 
 self-denial, which above all things I abhorred, was 
 really the greatest good, and the highest self-grati 
 fication, and absolutely necessary to produce even 
 my own darling sole good, pleasure. 
 
 Phil. True: I told you that self-denial was 
 never a duty, but when it was a natural means of 
 procuring more pleasure than we could taste with 
 out it : that as we all strongly desire to live, and 
 to live only to enjoy, we should take as much care 
 about our future as our present happiness, and not 
 build one upon the rains of the other : that we 
 should look to the end, and regard consequences : 
 and if through want of attention we had erred, and 
 exceeded the bounds which nature had set us, w< 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 71 
 
 were then obliged, for our own sakes, to refrain or 
 deny ourselves a present momentary pleasure for a 
 future, constant, and durable good. 
 
 Hor. You have shown, Philocles, that self- 
 denial, which weak or interested men have ren 
 dered the most forbidding, is really the most de 
 lightful and amiable, the most reasonable and 
 pleasant thing in the world. la a word, if I un 
 derstand you aright, self-denial is, in truth, self- 
 recognising, self-acknowledging, or self-owning. 
 But now, my friend, you are to perform another 
 promise, and show me the path that leads up to 
 that constant, durable, and invariable good, which 
 I have heard you so beautifully describe, and 
 which you seem so fully to possess. Is not this 
 good of yours a mere chimera ? Can any thing be 
 constant in a world which is eternally changing, 
 and which appears to exist by an everlasting revo 
 lution of one thing into another, and where every 
 thing without us, and every thing within us, is in 
 perpetual motion ? What is this constant durable 
 good, then, of yours? Prithee satisfy my soul, for 
 I am all on fire, and impatient to enjoy her. Pro 
 duce this eternal blooming goddess with never- 
 fading charms, and see whether I will not embrace 
 her with as much eagerness and rapture as you. 
 
 Phil. You seem enthusiastically warm, Horatio ; 
 I will wait till you are cool enough to attend to 
 the sober dispassionate voice of reason. 
 
 Hor. You mistake me, my dear Philocles ; my 
 
WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
 warmth is not so great as to run away with my 
 reason : it is only just raised enough to open my 
 faculties, and fit them to receive those eternal 
 truths, and that durable good, which you so trium 
 phantly boasted of. Begin, then ; I am prepared. 
 
 Phil. I will. I believe, Horatio, with all your 
 scepticism about you, you will allow that good to 
 be constant which is never absent from you, and 
 that to be durable which never ends but with your 
 being. 
 
 Hor. Yes, go on. 
 
 Phil. That can never be the good of a creature, 
 which, when present, the creature may be miser 
 able, and when absent, is certainly so. 
 
 Hor. I think not ; but pray explain what you 
 mean ; for I am not much used to this abstract 
 way of reasoning. 
 
 Phil. I mean all the pleasures of sense. The 
 good of man cannot consist in the mere pleasures 
 of sense ; because, when any one of those objects 
 which you love is absent, or cannot be come at, 
 you are certainly miserable : and if the faculty be 
 impaired, though the object be present, you cannot 
 enjoy it. So that this sensual good depends upon 
 a thousand things without and within you, and all 
 out of your power. Can this then be the good of 
 man ? Say, Horatio, what think you, is not this a 
 chequered, fleeting, fantastical good ? Can that, in 
 any propriety of speech, be called the good of man 
 which, even while he is tasting, he may be miser- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 73 
 
 able ; and which, when he cannot taste, he is 
 necessarily so ? Can that be our good, which costs 
 us a great deal of pains to obtain, which cloys in 
 possessing, for which we cannot wait the return of 
 appetite before we can enjoy again ? Or is that our 
 good, which we can come at without difficulty, 
 which is heightened by possession, which never 
 ends in weariness and disappointment, and which, 
 the more we enjoy, the better qualified we are to 
 enjoy on ? 
 
 Hor. The latter, I think ; but why do you tor 
 ment me thus ? Philocles, show me this good im 
 mediately. 
 
 Phil. I have showed you what it is not ; it is 
 not sensual, but it is rational and moral good. It 
 is doing all the good we can to others, by acts of 
 humanity, friendship, generosity, and benevolence : 
 this is that constant and durable good, which will 
 afford contentment and satisfaction always alike, 
 without variation or diminution. I speak to your 
 experience now, Horatio : did you ever find your 
 self weary of relieving the miserable ? or of raising 
 the distressed into life or happiness ? or rather, do 
 not you find the pleasure grow upon you by repe 
 tition, and that it is greater in the reflection than 
 in the act itself? Is there a pleasure upon earth to 
 be compared with that which arises from the .sense 
 of making others happy ? Can this pleasure ever 
 be absent, or ever end but with your being ? Does 
 it not always accompany you ? Doth not it lie 
 
74 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 down and rise with you, live as long as you live, 
 give you consolation in the hour of death, and re 
 main with you when all other things are going to 
 forsake you, or you them ? 
 
 HOT. How glowingly you paint, Philocles : 
 methinks Horatio is amongst the enthusiasts. I 
 feel the passion : I am enchantingly convinced ; 
 but I do not know why : overborne by something 
 stronger than reason. Sure some divinity speaks 
 within me : but prithee, Philocles, give me the 
 cause, why this rational and moral good so infi 
 nitely excels the mere natural or sensual. 
 
 Phil. I think, Horatio, that I have clearly 
 shown you the difference between merely natural 
 or sensual good, and rational or moral good. 
 Natural or sensual pleasure continues no longer 
 than the action itself ; but this divine or moral 
 pleasure continues when the action is over, and 
 swells and grows upon your hand by reflection : 
 the one is inconstant, unsatisfying, of short dura 
 tion, and attended with numberless ills ; the other 
 is constant, yields full satisfaction, is durable, and 
 no evils preceding, accompanying, or following it. 
 But if you inquire farther into the cause of this 
 difference, and would know why the moral plea 
 sures are greater than the sensual, perhaps the 
 reason is the same as in all other creatures, that 
 their happiness or chief good consists in acting up 
 to their chief faculty, or that faculty which distin 
 guishes them from all creatures of a different spe- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 75 
 
 cies. The chief faculty in man is his reason, and 
 consequently his chief good ; or, that which may 
 be justly called his good, consists not merely in 
 action, but in reasonable action. By reasonable 
 actions, we understand those actions which are 
 preservative of the human khid, and naturally 
 tend to produce real and unmixed happiness ; and 
 these actions, by way of distinction, we call actions 
 morally good. 
 
 Hor. You speak very clearly, Philocles ; but, 
 that no difficulty may remain on my mind, pray 
 tell me what is the real difference between natural 
 good and evil, and moral good and evil ? for I 
 know several people who use the terms without 
 ideas. 
 
 Phil. That may be : the difference lies only in 
 this ; that natural good and evil are pleasure and 
 pain ; moral good and evil are pleasure or pain 
 produced with intention and design : for it is the 
 intention only that makes the agent morally good 
 or bad. 
 
 Hor. But may not a man, with a very good in 
 tention, do an evil action ? 
 
 Phil Yes ; but then he errs in bis judgment, 
 though his design be good : if his error is in* 
 evitable, or such as, all things considered, he could 
 not help, he is inculpable ; but, if it arose through 
 want of diligence in forming his judgment about 
 the nature of human actions, he is immoral and 
 culpable. 
 
76 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Hor. I find, then, that in order to please our 
 selves rightly, or to do good to others morally, we 
 should take great care of our opinions. 
 
 Phil. Nothing concerns you more ; for, as the 
 happiness or real good of men consists in right 
 action, and right action cannot be produced with 
 out right opinion, it behoves us, above all things in 
 this world, to take care that our own opinions of 
 things be according to the nature of things. The 
 foundation of all virtue and happiness is thinking 
 rightly. He who sees an action is right, that is, 
 naturally tending to good, and does it because of 
 that tendency, he only is a moral man ; and he 
 alone is capable of that constant, durable, and in 
 variable good, which has been the subject of this 
 conversation. 
 
 Hor. How, my dear philosophical guide, shall 
 I be able to know, and determine certainly, what 
 is right and wrong in life ? 
 
 Phil. As easily as you distinguish a circle from 
 a square, or light from darkness. Look, Horatio, 
 into the sacred book of nature ; read your own 
 nature, and view the relation which other men 
 stand in to you, and you to them, and you will 
 immediately see what constitutes human happiness, 
 and consequently, what is right. 
 
 Hor. We are just coming into town, and can 
 say no more at present. You are my good genius, 
 Philocles ; you have showed me what is good ; 
 you have redeemed me from the slavery and misery 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 77 
 
 of folly and vice, and made me a free and happy 
 being. 
 
 Phil. Then I am the happiest man in the world : 
 be you steady, Horatio : never depart from reason 
 and virtue. 
 
 Hor. Sooner will I lose my existence. Good 
 night, Philocles. 
 
 Phil. Adieu, dear Horatio ! 
 
 PUBLIC MEN. 
 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazelle, No. 95, Sept. 3, 1730, 
 
 THE following is a dialogue between Socrates, 
 the great Athenian philosopher, and one Glaucon, 
 a private man, of mean abilities, but ambitious of 
 being chosen a senator, and of governing the re 
 public ; wherein Socrates, in a pleasant manner, 
 convinces him of his incapacity for public affairs, 
 by making him sensible of his ignorance of the in 
 terests of his country, in their several branches, 
 and entirely dissuades him from any attempt of 
 that nature. There is also added, at the end, part 
 of another dialogue the same Socrates had with 
 one Charmidas, a worthy man, but too modest, 
 wherein he endeavors to persuade him to put him 
 self forward and undertake public business, as be 
 ing very capable of it. The whole is taken from 
 Xenophon s Memorable Things of Socrates, lib. 3. 
 
78 WRITINGS OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 A certain man, whose name was Giaucon, the 
 son of Ariston, had so fixed it in his mind to 
 govern the republic, that he frequently presented 
 himself before the people to discourse of affairs of 
 state, though all the world laughed at him for it ; 
 nor was it in the power of his relations or friends 
 to dissuade him from that design. But Socrates 
 had a kindness for him, on account of Plato, his 
 brother, and he only it was who made him change 
 his resolution : he met him, and accosted him in 
 so winning a manner, that he first obliged him to 
 hearken to his discourse. He began with him 
 thus : You have a mind then to govern the repub 
 lic ? I have so, answered Giaucon. You cannot, 
 replied Socrates, have a more noble design : for if 
 you can accomplish it so as to become absolute, 
 you will be able to serve your friends, you will 
 raise your family, you will extend the bounds of 
 your country, you will be known, not only in 
 Athens, but through all Greece, and perhaps your 
 renown will fly even to the barbarous nations, as 
 did that of Themistocles. In short, wherever you 
 come, you will have the respect and admiration of 
 all the world. These words soothed Giaucon, and 
 won him to give ear to Socrates, who went on in 
 this manner. But it is certain, that if you desire 
 to be honored, you must be useful to the state. 
 Certainly, said Giaucon. And in the name of all 
 the gods, replied Socrates, tell me what is the first 
 service that you intend to render the state ? Glau- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 79 
 
 con was considering what to answer, when Socra 
 tes continued : If you design to make the fortune 
 of one of your friends, you will endeavor to make 
 him rich, and thus perhaps you will make it your 
 business to enrich the republic ? I would, answered 
 Glaucon. Socrates replied : Would not the way 
 to enrich the republic be to increase its revenue ? 
 It is very likely it would, answered Glaucon. Tell 
 me then in what consists the revenue of the state, 
 and to how much it may amount ? I presume you 
 have particularly studied this matter, to the end 
 that if any thing should be lost on one hand, you 
 might know w r here to make it good on another, 
 and that if a fund should fail on a sudden you 
 might immediately be able to settle another in its 
 place ? I protest, answered Glaucon, I have never 
 thought of this. Tell me at least the expenses of 
 the republic, for no doubt you intend to retrench 
 the superfluous? I never thought of this either, 
 said Glaucon. You were best then to put off to 
 another time your design of enriching the republic, 
 which you can never be able to do while you are 
 ignorant both of its expenses and revenue. There 
 is another way to enrich a state, said Glaucon, of 
 which you take no notice, and that is by the ruin 
 of its enemies. You are in the right, answered 
 Socrates ; but to this end it is necessary to be 
 stronger than they, otherwise we shall run the 
 hazard of losing what we have : he therefore who 
 talks of undertaking a war, ought to know the 
 
80 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 strength on both sides, to the end that if his party 
 be the stronger he may boldly advise for war, and 
 that if it be the weaker he may dissuade the people 
 from engaging themselves in so dangerous an en 
 terprise. All this is true. Tell me, then, con 
 tinued Socrates, how strong our forces are by sea 
 and land, and how strong are our enemies? In 
 deed, said Glaucon, I cannot tell you on a sudden. 
 If you have a list of them in writing, pray show it 
 me, I should be glad to hear it read. I have it 
 not yet. I see, then, said Socrates, that we shall 
 not engage in war so soon ; for the greatness of 
 the undertaking will hinder you from maturely 
 weighing all the consequences of it in the begin 
 ning of your government. But, continued he, you 
 have thought of the defence of the country ; you 
 know what garrisons are necessary, and what are 
 not ; you know what number of troops is sufficient 
 in one, and not sufficient in another ; you will 
 cause the necessary garrisons to be reinforced, and 
 will disband those that are useless ? I should be 
 of opinion, said Glaucon, to leave none of them 
 on foot, because they ruin a country on pretence 
 of defending it. But, Socrates objected, if all the 
 garrisons were taken away, there would be nothing 
 to hinder the first comer from carrying off what 
 he pleased : but how come you to know that the 
 garrisons behave themselves so ill? Have you 
 been upon the place ? have you seen them ? Not 
 at all : but I suspect it to be so. When therefore 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 81 
 
 we are certain of it, said Socrates, and can speak 
 upon better grounds than simple conjectures, we 
 will propose this advice to the senate. It may be 
 well to do so, said Glaucon. It comes into my 
 mind, too, continued Socrates, that you have never 
 been at the mines of silver, to examine why they 
 bring not in so much now as they did formerly. 
 You say true, I have never been there. Indeed 
 they say the place is very unhealthy, and that 
 may excuse you. You rally me now, said Glau 
 con. Socrates added, but I believe you have at 
 least observed how much corn our lands pro 
 duce, how long it will serve to supply our city, 
 and how much more we shall want for the whole 
 year ; to the end you may not be surprised with a 
 scarcity of bread, but may give timely orders for 
 the necessary provisions. There is a deal to do, 
 said Glaucon, if we must take care of all these 
 things. There is so, replied Socrates, and it is 
 even impossible to manage our own families well, 
 unless we know all that is wanting, and take care 
 to provide it. As you see therefore that our city 
 is composed of above ten thousand families, and it 
 being a difficult task to watch over them all at 
 once, why did you not first try to retrieve youi: 
 uncle s affairs, which are running to decay, and 
 after having given that proof of your industry, you 
 might have taken a greater trust upon you ? But 
 now, when you find yourself incapable of aiding a 
 VOL. i. F 
 
$2 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 private man, how can you think of behaving your 
 self so as to be useful to a whole people ? Ought 
 a man who has not strength enough to carry a 
 hundred pound weight, to undertake to carry a 
 heavier burden ? I would have done good service 
 to my uncle, said Glaucon, if he would have taken 
 my advice. How, replied Socrates, have you not 
 hitherto been able to govern the mind of your 
 uncle, and do you now believe yourself able to 
 govern the minds of all the Athenians, and his 
 among the rest? Take heed, my dear Glaucon, 
 take heed lest too great a desire of power should 
 render you despised : consider how dangerous it 
 is to speak and entertain ourselves concerning 
 things we do not understand: what a figure do 
 those forward and rash people make in the world 
 who do so ; and judge yourself, whether they ac 
 quire more esteem than blame, whether they are 
 more admired than contemned. Think, on the 
 contrary, with how much honor a man is regarded 
 who understands perfectly what he says and what 
 he does, and then you will confess that renown 
 and applause have always been the recompense of 
 true merit, and shame the reward of ignorance and 
 temerity. If therefore you would be honored, en 
 deavor to be a man of true merit ; and if you en 
 ter upon the government of the republic, with a 
 mind more sagacious than usual, I shall not won 
 der if you succeed in all your designs. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 83 
 
 Thus Socrates put a stop to the disorderly am 
 bition of this man : but on an occasion quite con 
 trary, he in the following manner exhorted Char- 
 midas to take an employment. He was a man of 
 sense, and more deserving than most others in the 
 same post ; but as he was of a modest disposition, 
 he constantly declined, and made great difficulties 
 of engaging himself in public business. Socrates 
 therefore addressed himself to him in this manner : 
 If you knew any man that could gain the prizes 
 in the public games, and by that means render 
 himself illustrious, and acquire glory to his coun 
 try, what would you say of him if he refused to 
 offer himself to the combat ? I would say, answered 
 Charmidas, that he was a mean-spirited effeminate 
 fellow. And if a man were capable of governing 
 a republic, of increasing its power by his advice, 
 and of raising himself by this means to a high 
 degree of honor, would you not brand him like 
 wise with meanness of soul, if he would not pre 
 sent himself to be employed? Perhaps I might, 
 said Charmidas ; but why do you ask me this 
 question ? Socrates replied, because you are capa 
 ble of managing the affairs of the republic ; and 
 nevertheless you avoid doing so, though in quality 
 of a citizen you are obliged to take care of the 
 commonwealth. Be no longer then thus negli 
 gent in this tnatter ; consider your abilities and 
 your duty with more attention, and let not slip the 
 occasions of serving the republic, and of render- 
 
84 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing it, if possible, more florishing than it is. This 
 will be a blessing whose influence will descend 
 not only on the other citizens, but on your best 
 friends and yourself. 
 
 SELF-DENIAL NOT THE ESSENCE OF VIRTUE. 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 324, Feb. 18, 1735. 
 
 IT is commonly asserted, that without self-denial 
 there is no virtue, and that the greater the self- 
 deiiial the greater the virtue. 
 
 If it were said, that he who cannot deny himself 
 any thing he inclines to, though he knows it will 
 be to his hurt, has not the virtue of resolution or 
 fortitude, it would be intelligible enough, but as it 
 stands it seems obscure or erroneous. 
 
 Let us consider some of the virtues singly. 
 
 If a man has no inclination to wrong people in 
 his dealings, if he feels no temptation to it, and 
 therefore never does it, can it be said that he is not 
 a just man? If he is a just man, has he not the 
 virtue of justice? 
 
 If to a certain man idle diversions have nothing 
 in them that is tempting, and therefore he never 
 relaxes his application to business for their sake, 
 is he not an industrious man ? Or, has he not the 
 virtue of industry ? 
 
 I might in like manner instance in all the rest of 
 the virtues ; but, tc make the thing short, as it is 
 certain that the more we strive against the tempta- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 85 
 
 tion to any vice, and practise the contrary virtue, 
 the weaker will that temptation be, and the stronger 
 will be that habit, till at length the temptation has 
 no force, or entirely vanishes ; does it follow from 
 thence, that in our endeavors to overcome vice we 
 grow continually less and less virtuous, till at length 
 we have no virtue at all ? 
 
 If self-denial be the essence of virtue, then it 
 follows, that the man who is naturally temperate, 
 just, &c. is not virtuous ; but that in order to be 
 virtuous, he must, in spite of his natural inclina 
 tions, wrong his neighbors, and eat and drink, &c. 
 to excess. 
 
 But perhaps it may be said, that by the word 
 virtue in the above assertion, is meant merit ; and 
 so it should stand thus : without self-denial there 
 is no merit, and the greater the self-denial the 
 greater the merit. 
 
 The self-denial here meant, must be when our 
 inclinations are towards vice, or else it would still 
 be nonsense. 
 
 By merit is understood desert ; and, when we 
 say a man merits, we mean that he deserves praise 
 or reward. 
 
 We do not pretend to merit any thing of God, 
 for he is above our services ; and the benefits he 
 confers on us, are the effects of his goodness and 
 bounty. 
 
 All our merit then is with regard to one another, 
 and from one to another. 
 
86 WRITINGS .OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Taking then the assertion as it last stands, 
 
 If a man does me a service from a natural be 
 nevolent inclination, does he deserve less of me 
 than another, who does me the like kindness 
 against his inclination ? 
 
 If I have two journeymen, one naturally indus 
 trious, the other idle, but both perform a day s 
 work equally good, ought I to give the latter the 
 most wages ? 
 
 Indeed lazy workmen are commonly observed 
 to be more extravagant in their demands than the 
 industrious, for if they have not more for their 
 work, they cannot live as well ; but though it be 
 true to a proverb, that lazy folks take the most 
 pains, does it follow that they deserve the most 
 money ? 
 
 If you were to employ servants in affairs of 
 trust, would you not bid more for one you knew 
 was naturally honest, than for one naturally ro 
 guish, but who has lately acted honestly ? for cur 
 rents whose natural channel is dammed up, till the 
 new course is by time worn sufficiently deep, and 
 become natural, are apt to break their banks. If 
 one servant is more valuable than another, has he 
 not more merit than the other ? and yet this is not 
 on account of superior self-denial. 
 
 Is a patriot not praiseworthy if public spirit i* 
 natural to him ? 
 
 Is a pacing-horse less valuable for being a natu 
 ral pacer ? 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 87 
 
 Nor, in my opinion, has any man less merit for 
 having in general natural virtuous inclinations. 
 
 The truth is, that temperance, justice, charity, 
 &c. are virtues, whether practised with, or against 
 our inclinations, and the man who practises them, 
 merits our love and esteem ; and self-denial is 
 neither good nor bad, but as it is applied : he that 
 denies a vicious inclination, is virtuous in pro 
 portion to his resolution ; but the most perfect vir 
 tue is above all temptation, such as the virtue of 
 the saints in heaven ; and he who does a foolish, 
 indecent, or wicked thing, merely because it is 
 contrary to his inclination (like some mad enthu 
 siasts I have read of, who ran about naked, under 
 the notion of taking up the cross), is not practising 
 the reasonable science of virtue, but is a lunatic. 
 
 ON THE USEFULNESS OF THE MATHEMATICS. 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 360, Oct. . JO, 1735. 
 
 MATHEMATICS originally signifies any kind of 
 discipline or learning, but now it is taken for that 
 science which teaches or contemplates whatever is 
 capable of being numbered or measured. That 
 of the mathematics which relates to numbers 
 only, is called arithmetic ; and that which is con 
 cerned about measure in general, whether length, 
 breadth, motion, force, &c. is called geometry. 
 
 As to the usefulness of arithmetic, it is well- 
 known that no business, commerce, trade, or em- 
 
88 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ployment whatsoever, even from the merchant to 
 the shopkeeper, &c. can be managed and carried 
 on without the assistance of numbers ; for by 
 these the trader computes the value of all sorts of 
 goods that he dealeth in, does his business with 
 ease and certainty, and informs himself how mat 
 ters stand at any time with respect to men, money, 
 or merchandise, to profit and loss, whether he goes 
 forward or backward, grows richer or poorer. 
 Neither is this science only useful to the merchant, 
 but is reckoned the primum mobile (or first mover) 
 of all mundane affairs in general, and is useful for 
 all sorts and degrees of men, from the highest to 
 the lowest. 
 
 As to the usefulness of geometry, it is as certain 
 that no curious art, or mechanic work, can either 
 be invented, improved, or performed, without its 
 assisting principles. 
 
 It is owing to this, that astronomers are put into 
 a way of making their observations, coming at 
 the knowledge of the extent of the heavens, the 
 duration of time, the motions, magnitudes, and 
 distances of the heavenly bodies, their situations, 
 positions, risings, settings, aspects, and eclipses ; 
 also the measure of seasons, of years, and of ages 
 
 It is by the assistance of this science that geo 
 graphers present to our view at once the magnitude 
 and form of the whole earth, the vast extent of the 
 seas, the divisions of empires, kingdoms, and pro 
 vinces. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 89 
 
 It is by the help of geometry the ingenious 
 mariner is instructed how to guide a ship through 
 the vast ocean, from one part of the earth to 
 another, the nearest and safest way, and in the 
 shortest time. 
 
 By help of this science the architects take their 
 just measures for the structure of buildings, as 
 private houses, churches, palaces, ships, fortifica 
 tions, &c. 
 
 By its help engineers conduct all their works, 
 take the situation and plan of towns, forts, and 
 castles, measure their distances from one another, 
 and carry their measure into places that are only 
 accessible to the eye. 
 
 From hence also is deduced that admirable art 
 of drawing sun-dials on any plane howsoever 
 situate, and for any part of the world, to point out 
 the exact time of the day, sun s declination, alti 
 tude, amplitude, azimuth, and other astronomical 
 matters. 
 
 By geometry the surveyor is directed how to 
 draw a map of any country, to divide his lands, 
 and to lay down and plot any piece of ground, 
 and thereby discover the area in acres, rods, and 
 perches. The ganger is instructed how to find the 
 capacities or solid contents of all kinds of vessels, 
 in barrels, gallons, bushels, &c. And the measurer 
 is furnished with rules for finding the areas and 
 contents of superficies and solids, and casting up 
 all manner of workmanship. All these, and many 
 
90 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 more useful arts, too many to be enumerated here, 
 wholly depend upon the aforesaid sciences, viz. 
 arithmetic and geometry. 
 
 This science is descended from the infancy of 
 the world, the inventors of which were the first 
 propagators of human kind, as Adam, Noah, 
 Abraham, Moses, and divers others. 
 
 There has not been any science so much es 
 teemed and honored as this of the mathematics, 
 nor with so much industry and vigilance become 
 the care of great men, and labored in by the po 
 tentates of the world, viz. emperors, kings, princes, 
 &c. 
 
 Mathematical demonstrations are a logic of as 
 much or more use, than that commonly learned at 
 schools, serving to a just formation of the mind, 
 enlarging its capacity, and strengthening it so as 
 to render the same capable of exact reasoning, 
 and discerning truth from falsehood in all occur 
 rences, even subjects not mathematical. For 
 which reason it is said, the Egyptians, Persians, 
 and Lacedemonians, seldom elected any new 
 kings, but such as had some knowledge in the 
 mathematics, imagining those who had not men of 
 imperfect judgments, and unfit to rule and govern. 
 
 Though Plato s censure, that those who did 
 not understand the 117th proposition of the 13th 
 book of Euclid s Elements, ought not to be 
 ranked amongst rational creatures, was unreason 
 able and unjust ; yet to give a man the character 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 91 
 
 of universal learning, who is destitute of a com 
 petent knowledge in the mathematics, is no less 
 so. 
 
 The usefulness of some particular parts of the 
 mathematics in the common affairs of human life, 
 has rendered some knowledge of them very neces 
 sary to a great part of mankind, and very con 
 venient to all the rest that are any way conversant 
 f>eyond the limits of their own particular callings. 
 
 Those whom necessity has obliged to get their 
 bread by manual industry, where some degree of 
 art is required to go along with it, and who have 
 had some insight into these studies, have very 
 often found advantages from them sufficient to 
 reward the pains they were at in acquiring them. 
 And whatever may have been imputed to some 
 other studies, under the notion of insignificancy 
 and loss of time, yet these, I believe, never caused 
 repentance in any, except it was for their remiss- 
 ness in the prosecution of them. 
 
 Philosophers do generally affirm that human 
 knowledge to be most excellent, which is convers 
 ant amongst the most excellent things. What 
 science then can there be more noble, more excel 
 lent, more useful for men, more admirably high 
 and demonstrative, than this of the mathematics ? 
 
 I shall conclude with what Plato says, Kb. 7, 
 of his Republic, with regard to the excellence and 
 usefulness of geometry, being to this purpose : 
 
 " Dear Friend, You see then that mathematics 
 
92 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 are necessary, because by the exactness of the 
 method, we get a habit of using our minds to the 
 best advantage : and it is remarkable, that all men 
 being capable by nature to reason and understand 
 the sciences, the less acute, by studying this, though 
 useless to them in every other respect, will gain 
 this advantage, that their minds will be improved 
 in reasoning aright ; for no study employs it more, 
 nor makes it susceptible of attention so much ; 
 and those who we find have a mind worth culti 
 vating, ought to apply themselves to this study." 
 
 ON TRUE HAPPINESS. 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 363, Nov. 0, 1735. 
 
 THE desire of happiness in general is so natural 
 to us, that all the world are in pursuit of it ; all 
 have this one end in view, though they take such 
 different methods to attain it, and are so much 
 divided in their notions of it. 
 
 Evil, as evil, can never be chosen ; and though 
 evil is often the effect of our own choice, yet we 
 never desire it, but under the appearance of an 
 imaginary good. 
 
 Many things we indulge ourselves in may be 
 considered by us as evils, and yet be desirable ; 
 but then they are only considered as evils in their 
 effects and consequences, not as evils at present, 
 and attended with immediate misery. 
 
 Reason represents things to us, not only as they 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 93 
 
 are at present, but as they are in their whole nature 
 and tendency ; passion only regards them in their 
 former light : when this governs us, we are regard 
 less of the future, and are only affected with the 
 present. 
 
 It is impossible ever to enjoy ourselves rightly, 
 if our conduct be not such as to preserve the har 
 mony and order of our faculties, and the original 
 frame and constitution of our minds ; all true hap 
 piness, as all that is truly beautiful, can only result 
 from order. 
 
 Whilst there is a conflict betwixt the two princi 
 ples of passion and reason, we must be miserable 
 in proportion to the struggle ; and when the victory 
 is gained, and reason so far subdued as seldom to 
 trouble us with its remonstrances, the happiness 
 we have then, is not the happiness of our rational 
 nature, but the happiness only of the inferior and 
 sensual part of us, and consequently a very low 
 and imperfect happiness, to what the other would 
 have afforded us. 
 
 If we reflect upon any one passion and dispo 
 sition of mind, abstract from virtue, we shall soon 
 see the disconnexion between that and true solid 
 happiness. It is of the very essence, for instance, 
 of envy to be uneasy and disquieted. Pride 
 meets with provocations and disturbances upon 
 almost every occasion. Covetousness is ever at 
 tended with solicitude and anxiety. Ambition 
 has its disappointments to sour us, but never the 
 
94 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 good fortune to satisfy us ; its appetite grows the 
 keener by indulgence, and all we can gratify it 
 with at present serves but the more to inflame its 
 insatiable desires. 
 
 The passions, by being too much conversant 
 with earthly objects, can never fix in us a proper 
 composure and acquiescence of mind. Nothing 
 but an indifference to the things of this world, an 
 entire submission to the will of Providence here, 
 and a well-grounded expectation of happiness 
 hereafter, can give us a true satisfactory enjoyment 
 of ourselves. Virtue is the best guard against the 
 many unavoidable evils incident to us; nothing 
 better alleviates the weight of the afflictions, or 
 gives a truer relish of the blessings of human life. 
 
 What is without us has not the least connexion 
 with happiness, only so far as the preservation of 
 our lives and health depends upon it. Health of 
 body, though so far necessary that we cannot be 
 perfectly happy without it, is not sufficient to 
 make us happy of itself. Happiness springs im 
 mediately from the mind ; health is but to be con 
 sidered as a candidate or circumstance, without 
 which this happiness cannot be tasted pure and 
 unabated. 
 
 Virtue is the best preservative of health, as it 
 prescribes temperance, and such a regulation of 
 our passions as is most conducive to the well-being 
 of the animal economy, so that it is, at the same 
 time, the only true happiness of the mind and the 
 best means of preserving the health of the body. 
 
PART V MISCELLANIES. 95 
 
 If our desires are to the things of this world, 
 they are never to be satisfied : if our great view is 
 upon those of the next, the expectation of them is 
 an infinitely higher satisfaction than the enjoyment 
 of those of the present. 
 
 There is no happiness, then, but in a virtuous 
 and self-approving conduct ; unless our actions 
 will bear the test of our sober judgments, and re 
 flections upon them, they are not the actions, and 
 consequently not the happiness of a rational being. 
 
 ON DISCOVERIES. 
 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 409, Oct. 14, 1736. 
 THE world but a few ages since, was in a very 
 poor condition, as to trade and navigation ; nor 
 indeed were they much better in other matters of 
 useful knowledge. It was a green-headed time ; 
 every useful improvement was hid from them ; they 
 had neither looked into heaven, nor earth, into the 
 sea, nor land, as has been done since. They had 
 philosophy without experiments, mathematics with 
 out instruments, geometry without scale, astronomy 
 without demonstration. 
 
 They made war without powder, shot, cannon, 
 or mortars ; nay, the mob made their bonfires 
 without squibs or crackers. They went to sea 
 without compass, and sailed without the needle. 
 They viewed the stars without telescopes, and 
 measured latitudes without observation. Learn- 
 
96 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing had no printing-press, writing no paper, and 
 paper no ink : the lover was forced to send his 
 mistress a deal board for a love-letter, and a 
 billet-doux might be about the size of an ordinary 
 trencher. They were clothed without manufac 
 ture, and their richest robes were the skins of the 
 most formidable monsters : they carried on trade 
 without books, and correspondence without posts : 
 their merchants kept no accounts, their shop 
 keepers no cash-books ; they had surgery without 
 anatomy, and physicians without the mater ia medi- 
 ca : they gave emetics without ipecacuanha, drew 
 blisters without cantharides, and cured agues with 
 out the bark. 
 
 As for geographical discoveries, they had neither 
 seen the North Cape, nor the Cape of Good Hope 
 south. All the discovered inhabited world, which 
 they knew and conversed with, was circumscribed 
 within very narrow limits, viz. France, Britain, 
 Spain, Italy, Germany, and Greece ; the lesser 
 Asia, the west part of Persia, Arabia, the north 
 parts of Africa, and the islands of the Mediterra 
 nean sea, and this was the whole world to them ; 
 not that even these countries were fully known 
 either, and several parts of them not inquired into 
 at all. Germany was known little further than the 
 banks of the Elbe ; Poland as little beyond the 
 Vistula, or Hungary as little beyond the Danube; 
 Muscovy or Russia perfectly unknown, as much 
 as China beyond it ; and India only by a little 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 97 
 
 commerce upon the coast, about Surat and Mala 
 bar ; Africa had been more unknown, but by the 
 ruin of the Carthaginians ; all the western coast of 
 it was sunk out of knowledge again, and forgotten ; 
 the northern coast of Africa, in the Mediterranean, 
 remained known, and that was all ; for the Sara 
 cens over-running the nations which were planted 
 there, ruined commerce, as well as religion ; the 
 Baltic sea was not discovered, nor even the navi 
 gation of it known ; for the Teutonic knights came 
 not thither till the 13th century. 
 
 America was not heard of, nor so much as a 
 suggestion in the minds of men that any part of 
 the world lay that way. The coasts of Greenland, 
 or Spitsbergen, and the whale fishing, not known ; 
 the best navigators in the world, at that time, would 
 have fled from a whale, with much more fright 
 and horror, than from the devil, in the most terri 
 ble shapes they had been told he appeared in. 
 
 The coasts of Angola, Congo, the Gold and the 
 Grain coasts, on the west side of Africa, whence, 
 since that time, such immense wealth has been 
 drawn, not discovered, nor the least inquiry made 
 after them. All the East-India and China trade, 
 riot only undiscovered, but out of the reach of 
 expectation ! Coffee and tea (those modern bless 
 ings of mankind) had never been heard of: all the 
 unbounded ocean, we now call the South Sea, was 
 hid, and unknown : all the Atlantic ocean beyond 
 
 VOL. i. o 
 
98 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the mouth of the Straits, was frightful and terrible 
 in the distant prospect, nor durst any one peep 
 into it, otherwise than as they might creep along 
 the coast of Africa, towards Sallee, or Santa Cruz. 
 The North Sea was hid in a veil of impenetrable 
 darkness ; the White Sea, or Archangel, was a 
 very modern discovery ; not found out till Sir 
 Hugh Willoughby doubled the North Cape, and 
 paid dear for the adventure, being frozen to death 
 with all his crew, on the coast of Lapland ; while 
 his companions ship, with the famous Mr. Chan 
 cellor, went on to the gulph of Russia, called the 
 White Sea, where no Christian strangers had ever 
 been before him. 
 
 In these narrow circumstances stood the world s 
 knowledge at the beginning of the 15th century, 
 when men of genius began to look abroad, and 
 about them. Now, as it was wonderful to see a 
 world so full of people, and people so capable of 
 improving, yet so stupid and so blind, so ignorant 
 and so perfectly unimproved, it was wonderful to 
 see, with what a general alacrity they took the 
 alarm, almost all together, preparing themselves 
 as it were on a sudden, by a general inspiration, 
 to spread knowledge through the earth, and to 
 search into every thing that it was possible to 
 uncover. 
 
 How surprising is it to look back, so little a 
 way behind us, and see, that even in less than two 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 99 
 
 hundred years, all this (now so self- wise) part of 
 the world did not so much as know whether there 
 was any such place as a Russia, a China, a Guinea, 
 a Greenland, or a North Gape ! That as to Ame 
 rica, it was never supposed there was any such 
 place ; neither had the world, though they stood 
 upon the shoulders of four thousand years expe 
 rience, the least thought, so much as that there was 
 any land that way ! 
 
 As they were ignorant of places, so of things 
 also ; so vast are the improvements of science, that 
 all our knowledge of mathematics, of nature, of the 
 brightest part of human wisdom, had their admis 
 sion among us within these two last centuries. 
 
 What was the world, then, before ? And to what 
 were the heads and hands of mankind applied ? 
 The rich had no commerce, the poor no employ 
 ment ; war and the sword was the great field of 
 honor, the stage of preferment ; and you have 
 scarce a man eminent in the world, for any thing 
 before that time, but for a furious outrageous falling 
 upon his fellow-creatures, like Nimrod, and his 
 successors of modern memory. 
 
 The world is now daily increasing in experi 
 mental knowledge ; and let no man flatter the age, 
 
 1 It is now supposed that America was actually discovered 
 in the eleventh century by the Icelanders. See Mallet s North 
 ern Antiquities, voi, i., and Franklin s PRIVATE CORRESPON 
 DENCE, Parti. 
 
100 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 with pretending we have arrived at a perfection of 
 discoveries. 
 
 What s now discovered, only serves to show, 
 That nothing s known, to what is yet to know. 
 
 THE WASTE OF LIFE. 
 From the Pennsylvania Gazette, fro. 404, Nor. 18, 1736. 
 
 AN ERG us was a gentleman of a good estate ; he 
 was bred to no business, and could not contrive 
 how to waste his hours agreeably ; he had mo 
 relish for any of the proper works of life, nor any 
 taste at all for the improvements of the mind ; he 
 spent generally ten hours of the four-and-twenty 
 in his bed ; he dozed away two or three more on 
 his couch, and as many were dissolved in good 
 liquor every evening, if he met with company of his 
 own humor. Five or sjx of the rest he sauntered 
 away with much indolence: the chief business of. 
 them was to contrive his meals, and to feed his 
 fancy before-hand with the promise of a dinner and 
 supper ; not that he was so absolute a glutton, or 
 so entirely devoted to appetite ; but chiefly because 
 he knew not how to employ his thoughts better, 
 he let them rove about the sustenance of his body. 
 Thus he had made a shift to wear off ten years 
 since the paternal estate fell into his hands : and 
 yet, according to the abuse of words in our day, 
 he was called a man of virtue, because he was 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 101 
 
 scarce ever known to be quite drunk, nor was his 
 nature much inclined to lewdness. 
 
 One evening, as he was musing alone, his 
 thoughts happened to take a most unusual turn, 
 for they cast a glance backward, and began to 
 reflect on his manner of life. He bethought him 
 self what a number of living beings had been made 
 a sacrifice to support his carcase, and how much 
 corn and wine had been mingled with those offer 
 ings. He had not quite lost all the arithmetic that 
 he had learned when he was a boy, and he set 
 himself to compute what he had devoured since 
 he came to the age of man, 
 
 " About a dozen of feathered creatures, small 
 and great, have one week with another (said he) 
 given up their lives to prolong mine, which in ten 
 years amounts to at least six thousand. 
 
 " Fifty sheep have been sacrificed in a year, with 
 half a hecatomb of black cattle, that I might have 
 the choicest part offered weekly upon my table. 
 Thus a thousand beasts out of the flock and the 
 herd have been slain in ten years time to feed 
 me, besides what the forest has supplied me with. 
 Many hundreds of fishes have, in all their varieties, 
 been robbed of life for my repast, and of the smaller 
 fry as many thousands. 
 
 " A measure of corn would hardly afford me 
 fine flour enough for a month s provision, and this 
 arises to above six score bushels ; and many hogs 
 heads of ale and wine, and Bother liquors, have 
 
102 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN^ 
 
 passed through this body of mine, this wretched 
 strainer of meat and drink. 
 
 " And what have I done all this time for God 
 or man ? What a vast profusion of good things 
 upon an useless life, and a worthless liver ! There 
 is not the meanest creature among all these which 
 I have devoured, but hath answered the end of its 
 creation better than I. It was made to support 
 human nature, and it hath done so. Every crab 
 and oyster I have eat, and every grain of corn I 
 have devoured, hath filled up its place in the rank 
 of beings with more propriety and honor than I 
 have done : O shameful waste of life and time ! " 
 
 In short, he carried on his moral reflections with 
 so just and severe a force of reason as constrained 
 him to change his whole course of life, to break 
 off his follies at once, and to apply himself to gain 
 some useful knowledge, when he was more than 
 thirty years of age ; he lived many following years, 
 with the character of a worthy man, and an excel 
 lent Christian ; he performed the kind offices of a 
 good neighbor at home, and made a shining figure 
 as a patriot in the senate-house ; he died with a 
 peaceful conscience, and the tears of his country 
 were dropped upon his tomb. 
 
 The world, that knew the whole series of his life, 
 stood amazed at the mighty change. They beheld 
 him as a wonder of reformation, while he himself 
 confessed and adored the Divine power and mercy 
 which had transformed him from a brute to a man. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 103 
 
 But this was a single instance; and we may 
 almost venture to write MIRACLE upon it. Are 
 there not numbers of both sexes among our young 
 gentry, in this degenerate age, whose lives thus run 
 to utter waste, without the least tendency to use 
 fulness ? 
 
 When I meet with persons of such a worthless 
 character as this, it brings to my mind some scraps 
 of Horace : 
 
 " Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati. 
 
 Alcinoique juventus, 
 
 Cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies," &c. 
 
 PARAPHRASE. 
 
 There are a number of us creep 
 Into this world, to eat and sleep ; 
 And know no reason why they re born, 
 But merely to consume the corn, 
 Devour the cattle, fowl, and fish, 
 And leave behind an empty dish : 
 Tho > crows and ravens do the same, 
 Unlucky birds of hateful name ; 
 Ravens or crows might fill their places, 
 And swallow corn and eat carcases. 
 Then if their tomb-stone, when they die, 
 Ben t taught to flatter and to lie, 
 There s nothing better will be said, 
 Than that they ve eat up all their bread, 
 Drank all their drink, and gone to bed. 
 
 \ 
 
 There are other fragments of that heathen poet, 
 which occur on such occasions ; one in the first of 
 his Satires, the other in the last of his Epistles, 
 
104 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 which seem to represent life only as a season of 
 luxury. 
 
 " Exacto conten)tus tempore vitac 
 
 Cedat uti con viva satur 
 
 . 
 
 Lusisti satis, edisti satis atque bibisti ; 
 Tempus abire tibi." 
 
 Which may be thus put into English ; 
 
 Life s but a feast : and wljen we die, 
 Horace would say, if be were by, 
 Friend, thou hast eat and drunk enough, 
 Tis time novy to be marching off : 
 Then like a well-fed guest depart, 
 With cheerful looks, and ease at heart; 
 Bid all \our friends good night, and say, 
 You ve done the business of the day. 
 
 ADVICE TO A YOUNG TRADESMAN, WRITTEN ANNO 
 
 1748. 
 
 To MY FRIEND, A. B. 
 
 As you have desired it of me, I write the follow 
 ing hints, which have been of service tome, and 
 may, if observed, be so to yon. 
 
 Remember, that time is money. He that can 
 earn ten shillings a-day by his labor, and goes 
 abroad, or sits idle one half of that day, though he 
 spends but sixpence during his diversion or idle 
 ness, ought not to reckon that the only expense ; 
 he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five 
 shillings besides. 
 
 Remember, that credit is money. If a man lets 
 his money lie in my hands after it is due, he gives 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 105 
 
 me the interest, or so much as I can make of it 
 during that time. This amounts to a considerable 
 sum where a man has good and large credit, and 
 makes good use of it. 
 
 Remember, that money is of the prolific generating 
 nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring 
 can beget more, and s6 on. Five shillings turned 
 is six, turned again it is seven and three-pence, and 
 so on till it becomes an hundred pounds. The 
 more there is of it, the more it produces every 
 turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker. 
 He that kills a breeding sow, destroys all her 
 offspring to the thousandth generation. He that 
 murders a crown, destroys all that it might have 
 produced, even scores qf pounds. 
 
 Remember, that six-pounds a-year is but a groat 
 a-day. For this little sum (which may be daily 
 wasted either in time or expense unperceived) a 
 man of credit may, on his own security, have the 
 constant possession and use of an hundred pounds. 
 So much in stock, briskly turned by an industrious 
 man, produces great advantage. 
 
 Remember this saying, " The good paymaster 
 is lord of another man s purse." He that is known 
 to pay punctually and exactly to the time he pro 
 mises, may at any time, and on any occasion, 
 raise all the money his friends can spare. This 
 is sometimes of great use. After industry and fru 
 gality, nothing contributes more to the raising of a 
 young man in the world than punctuality and jus- 
 
100 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tice in all his dealings : therefore, never keep bor 
 rowed money an hour beyond the time you pro 
 mised, lest a disappointment shut up your friend s 
 purse for ever. 
 
 The most trifling actions that affect a man s 
 credit are to be regarded. The sound of your 
 hammer at five in the morning, or nine at night, 
 heard by a creditor, makes him easy six months 
 longer : but if he sees you at a billiard-table, or 
 hears your voice at a tavern, when you should be 
 at work, he sends for his money the next day ; 
 demands it before he can receive it in a lump. 
 
 It shows, besides, that you are mindful of what 
 you owe ; it makes you appear a careful as well 
 as an honest man, and that still increases your 
 credit. 
 
 Beware of thinking all your own that you pos 
 sess, and of living accordingly. It is a mistake 
 that many people who have credit fall into. To 
 prevent this, keep an exact account for some time, 
 both of your expenses and your income. If you 
 take the pains at first to mention particulars, it will 
 have this good effect ; you will discover how won 
 derfully small trifling expenses mount up to large 
 sums, and will discern what might have been, and 
 may for the future be saved, without occasioning 
 any great inconvenience. 
 
 In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is 
 as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly 
 on two words, industry and frugality ; that is. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 107 
 
 waste neither time nor money, but make the best 
 use of both. Without industry and frugality no 
 thing will do, and with them every thing. He 
 that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he 
 gets (necessary expenses excepted), will certainly 
 become rich if that Being who governs the world, 
 to whom all should look for a blessing on their 
 honest endeavors, doth not, in his wise providence, 
 otherwise determine. AN OLD TRADESMAN. 
 
 NECESSARY HINTS TO THOSE THAT WOULD BE 
 
 RICH. 
 
 THE use of money is all the advantage there is 
 in having money. 
 
 For six pounds a-year you may have the use of 
 one hundred pounds, provided you are a man of 
 known prudence and honesty. 
 
 He that spends a groat a-day idly, spends idly 
 above six pounds a-year, which is the price for the 
 use of one hundred pounds. 
 
 He that wastes idly a groat s worth of his time 
 per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege 
 of using one hundred pounds each day. 
 
 He that idly loses five shillings worth of time, 
 loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw 
 five shillings into the sea. 
 
 He that loses five shillings, not only loses that 
 sum, but all the advantage that might be made by 
 
108 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 turning it in dealing, which, by the time that a 
 young man becomes old, will amount to a consi 
 derable sum of money. 
 
 Again : he that sells upon credit, asks a price 
 for what he sells equivalent to the principal and 
 interest of his money for the time he is to be kept 
 out of it ; therefore, he that buys upon credit, pays 
 interest for what he buys, and he that pays ready 
 money, might let that money out to use ; so that 
 he that possesses any thing he has bought, pays 
 interest for the use of it. 
 
 Yet, in buying goods, it is best to pay ready 
 money, because he that sells upon credit, expects 
 to lose five per cent, by bad debts ; therefore he 
 charges on all he sells upon credit, an advance 
 that shall make up that deficiency. 
 
 Those who pay for what they buy upon credit, 
 pay their share of this advance. 
 
 He that pays ready money, escapes, or may 
 escape, that charge. 
 
 A penny sav d is two-pence clear, 
 A pin a-day s a groat a-year. 
 
 THE WAY TO MAKE MONEY PLENTY IN EVERY 
 
 MAN S POCKET. 
 
 AT this time, when the general complaint is that 
 " money is scarce," it will be an act of kindness to 
 inform the moneyless how they may reinforce their 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 109 
 
 pockets. I will acquaint them with the trufc secret 
 of money-catching, the certain way to fill empty 
 purses, and how to keep them always foil. Two 
 simple rules, well observed, will do the business. 
 
 First, let honesty and industry be thy constant 
 companions ; and 
 
 Secondly, spend one penny less than thy clear 
 
 gams. 
 
 Then shall thy hide-bound pocket soon begin 
 to thrive, and will never again cry with the empty 
 belly-ache ; neither will creditors insuft tfoee, nor 
 want oppress, nor hunger bite, nor nakedness 
 freeze thee. The whole hemisphere will shine 
 brighter, and pleasure spring up in every corner of 
 thy heart. Now, therefore, embrace these rules 
 and be happy. Banish the bleak winds of sorrow 
 from thy mind, and live independent. Then shalt 
 thou be a man, and not hide thy face at the ap 
 proach of the rich, nor suffer the pain of feeling 
 little when the sons of fortune walk at thy right 
 hand ; for independency, whether with little or 
 much, is good fortune, and placeth thee on even 
 ground with the proudest of the golden fleece. 
 Oh, then, be wise, and let industry walk with thee 
 in the morning, and attend thee until thou readiest 
 the evening hour for rest. Let honesty be as the 
 breath of thy soul, and never forget to have a 
 penny when all thy expenses are enumerated and 
 paid ; then shalt thou reach the point of happiness, 
 and independence shall be thy shield and buckler, 
 
110 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 thy helmet and crown ; then shall thy soul walk 
 upright, nor stoop to the silken wretch because he 
 hath riches, nor pocket an abuse because the hand 
 which offers it wears a ring set with diamonds. 
 
 THE WAY TO WEALTH, AS CLEARLY SHOWN IN 
 THE PREFACE OF AN OLD PENNSYLVANIA 
 ALMANAC, INTITLED, " POOR RICHARD IM 
 PROVED." * 
 
 [Referred to in Memoirs of the Life, Part II.] 
 
 COURTEOUS READER, 
 
 I have heard, that nothing gives an 
 author so great pleasure as to find his works re 
 spectfully quoted by others. Judge, then, how 
 much I must have been gratified by an incident I 
 am going to relate to you. I stopped my horse 
 lately, where a great number of people were col 
 lected at an auction of merchants goods. The 
 hour of the sale not being come, they were con 
 versing on the badness of the times ; and one of 
 the company called to a plain clean old man with 
 
 1 The origin and intent of this popular piece is fully ex 
 plained by Dr. Franklin in the Memoirs of his Life. At the 
 time of its first publication (in 1757) it was read with much 
 avidity and profit by the people of America, and is supposed to 
 have greatly contributed to the formation of that national cha 
 racter they have since exhibited. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. Ill 
 
 white locks, " Pray, Father Abraham, what think 
 you of the times ? Will not these heavy taxes quite 
 ruin the country ? How shall we ever be able to 
 pay them? What would you advise us to?" 
 Father Abraham stood up, and replied, u If you 
 would have my advice, I will give it you in short ; 
 For a word to the wise is enough, as Poor Richard 
 says." They joined in desiring him to speak his 
 mind, and gathering round him, he proceeded as 
 follows : 
 
 " Friends," said he, " the taxes are indeed very 
 heavy, and if those laid on by the government 
 were the only ones we had to pay, we might more 
 easily discharge them ; but we have many others, 
 and much more grievous to some of us. We are 
 taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times 
 as much by our pride, and four times as much by 
 our folly ; and from these taxes the commissioners 
 cannot ease or deliver us, by allowing an abate 
 ment. However, let us hearken to good advice, 
 and something may be done for us ; God helps 
 them that help themselves, as Poor Richard says. 
 
 " I. It would be thought a hard government 
 that should tax its people one-tenth part of their 
 time, to be employed in its service : but idleness 
 taxes many of us much more ; sloth, by bringing 
 on diseases, absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like 
 rust, consumes faster than labor wears ; while the 
 used key is always bright, as Poor Richard says. 
 But dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for 
 
112 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 that is the stuff life is made of, as Poor Richard 
 says. How much more than is necessary do we 
 spend in sleep ! forgetting, that The sleeping fox 
 catches no poultry, and that there zvill be sleeping 
 enough in the grave, as Poor Richard says. 
 
 " If time be of all things the most precious, wasting 
 time must be, as Poor Richard says, the greatest pro 
 digality ; since, as he elsewhere tells us, Lost time 
 is never found again ; and what we, call time enough, 
 always proves little enough : let us then up and be 
 doing, and doing to the purpose ; so by diligence 
 shall we do more with less perplexity. Sloth makes 
 all things difficult, but industry all easy ; and he that 
 riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce over- 
 take his business at night ; while laziness travels so 
 slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him. Drive thy 
 business, let not that drive thee ; and early to bed, 
 and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy , and 
 wise, as Poor Richard says. 
 
 " So what signifies wishing and hoping for 
 better times ? We may make these times better if 
 we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, and he. 
 that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no 
 gaim without pains ; then help hands, for I have no 
 lands ; or, if I have, they are smartly taxed. He 
 that hath a trade, hath an estate ; and he that hath 
 a calling, hath an office of profit and honor, as Poor 
 Richard says ; but then the trade must be worked 
 at, and the calling followed, or neither the estate 
 nor the office will enable us to pay our taxes. If 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 113 
 
 we are industrious we shall never starve ; for, At 
 the working mans house, hunger looks in, but dares 
 not enter. Nor will the bailiff or the constable 
 enter, for Industry pays debts, while despair in- 
 creaseth them. What though you have found no 
 treasure, nor has any rich relation left you a legacy, 
 Diligence is the mother of good hick, and God gives 
 all things to industry. Then plough deep, while slug 
 gards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep. 
 Work while it is called to-day, for you know not 
 how much you may be hindered to-morrow. One 
 to-day is worth two to-morrows, as Poor Richard 
 says ; and further, Never leave that till to-morrow 
 which you can do to-day. If you were a servant, 
 would you not be ashamed that a good master 
 should catch you idle ? Are you then your own 
 master ? be ashamed to catch yourself idle, when 
 there is so much to be done for yourself, your 
 family, your country, and your king. Handle 
 your tools without mittens ; remember that The cat 
 in gloves catches no mice, as Poor Richard says. It 
 is true there is much to be done, and perhaps you 
 are weak-handed ; but stick to it steadily, and you 
 will see great effects ; for Constant dropping wears 
 away stones ; and by diligence and patience the mouse 
 ate in two the cable ; and little strokes fell great 
 oaks. 
 
 ** Methinks I hear some of you say, * Must a 
 man afford himself no leisure ? I will tell thee, 
 my friend, what Poor Richard says, Employ thy 
 
 VOL. i. H 
 
114 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN* 
 
 time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure ; and since 
 thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an 
 hour. Leisure is time for doing something useful ; 
 this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the 
 lazy man never ; for, A life of leisure and a life of 
 laziness are two things. Many, without labor, would 
 live by their wits only, but they break for want of 
 stock ; whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty, 
 and respect. Fly pleasures, and they will follow you. 
 The diligent spinner has a large shift ; and now I 
 have a sheep and a cow, every body bids me good 
 morrow. 
 
 " II. But with our industry we must likewise 
 be steady, settled, and careful, and oversee our 
 own affairs with our own eyes, and not trust too 
 much to others ; for, as Poor Richard says, 
 
 / never saw an oft-removed tree, 
 
 Nor yet an oft-removed family, 
 
 That throve so well as those that settled be. 
 
 And again, Three removes are as bad as ajire ; and 
 again, Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee ; 
 and again, If you would have your business done, go ; 
 if not, send. And again, 
 
 He that by the plough would thrive, 
 Himself must either hold or drive. 
 
 And again, The eye of a master will do more work 
 than both his hands ; and again, Want of care does 
 us more damage than want of knowledge ; and again, 
 Not to oversee workmen, is to leave them your purse 
 
PARTI. MISCELLANIES. 115 
 
 open. Trusting too much to others care is the 
 ruin of many ; for, In the affairs of this world men 
 are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it ; but a 
 man s own care is profitable ; for, If you would 
 have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve 
 yourself. A little neglect may breed great mischief: 
 for want of a nail the shoe was lost ; for want of a 
 shoe the horse was lost ; and for want of a horse the 
 rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy ; 
 all for want of a little care about a horse-shoe nail. 
 
 " III. So much for industry, my friends, and 
 attention to one s own business ; but to these we 
 must add frugality, if we would make our industry 
 more certainly successful. A man may, if he 
 knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose 
 all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a 
 groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will ; 
 and, 
 
 Many estates are spent in the getting, 
 
 Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting, 
 
 And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting. 
 
 If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of 
 getting. The Indies have not made Spain rich, be 
 cause her outgoes are greater than her incomes. 
 
 " Away then with your expensive follies, and 
 you will not then have so much cause to complain 
 of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable fami 
 lies ; for 
 
 Women and wine, game and deceit, 
 
 Make the wealth small and the want great. 
 
110 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 And further, What maintains one vice, would bring 
 up two children. You may think, perhaps, that a 
 little tea, or a little punch now and then, diet a 
 little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little 
 entertainment now and then, can be no great mat 
 ter ; but remember, Many a little makes a inickle. 
 Beware of little expenses ; A small leak will sink a 
 great ship, as Poor Richard says ; and again, Who 
 dainties love, shall beggars prove ; and moreover, 
 Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them. 
 
 66 Here you are all got together at this sale of 
 fineries and nick-nacks. You call them goods; 
 but, if you do not take care, they will prove evils 
 to some of you. You expect they will be sold 
 cheap, and perhaps they may for less than they 
 cost ; but, if you have no occasion for them, they 
 must be dear to you. Remember what Poor 
 Richard says, Buy what thou hast no need of, and 
 ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries. And again, 
 At a great pennyworth pause a while. He means, 
 that perhaps the cheapness is apparent only, and 
 not real ; or the bargain, by straitening thee in thy 
 business, may do thee more harm than good. For 
 in another place he says, Many have been ruined 
 by buying good pennyworths. Again, It is foolish 
 to lay out money in a purchase of repentance ; and 
 yet this folly is practised every day at auctions, for 
 want of minding the Almanack. Many a one, for 
 the sake of finery on the back, have gone with a 
 hungry belly and half-starved their families : Silks 
 
PARTI. MISCELLANIES. 117 
 
 and satins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen 
 Jire, as Poor Richard says. These are not the 
 necessaries of life ; they can scarcely be called the 
 conveniences ; and yet, only because they look 
 pretty, how many want to have them ! By these, 
 and other extravagancies, the genteel are reduced 
 to poverty, and forced to borrow of those whom 
 they formerly despised, but who, through industry 
 and frugality, have maintained their standing ; in 
 which case it appears plainly, that, A ploughman 
 on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees, 
 as Poor Richard says. Perhaps they have had a 
 small estate left them, which they knew not the 
 getting of ; they think It is day, and will never be 
 night ; that a little to be spent out of so much is 
 not worth minding ; but Always taking out of the 
 meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the 
 bottom, as Poor Richard says ; and then, When 
 the well is dry, they know the worth of water. But 
 this they might have known before, if they had 
 taken his advice : If you would know the value of 
 money, go and try to borrow some ; for he that goes 
 a borrowing goes a sorrowing, as Poor Richard 
 says ; and indeed so does he that lends to such 
 people, when he goes to get it in again. Poor 
 Dick further advises, and says, 
 
 Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse ; 
 Ere fancy you consult , consult your purse. 
 
 And again, Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and 
 
118 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 a great deal more saucy. When you have bought 
 one fine thing, you must buy ten more, that your 
 appearance may be all of a piece ; but Poor Dick 
 says, It is easier to suppress the first desire, than to 
 satisfy all that follow it. And it is as truly folly 
 for the poor to ape the rich, as for the frog to swell 
 in order to equal the ox. 
 
 Vessels large may venture more, 
 
 But little boats should keep near shore. 
 
 It is, -however, a folly soon punished ; fur, as Poor 
 Richard says, Pride that dines on vanity, sups on 
 contempt ; Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined 
 with Poverty, and supped with Infamy. And, after 
 all, of what use is this pride of appearance, for 
 which so much is risked, so much is suffered ? It 
 cannot promote health, nor ease pain ; it makes 
 no increase of merit in the person; it creates 
 envy ; it hastens misfortune. 
 
 " But what madness must it be to run in debt 
 for these superfluities? We are offered by the terms 
 of this sale, six months credit ; and that, perhaps, 
 has induced some of us to attend it, because we 
 cannot spare the ready money, and hope now to 
 be fine without it. But, ah ! think what you do 
 when you run in debt ; you give to another power 
 over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, 
 you will be ashamed to see your creditor ; you 
 will be in fear when you speak to him ; you will 
 make poor pitiful sneaking excuses, and, by de- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 119 
 
 grees, come to lose your veracity, and sink into 
 base downright lying ; for, The second vice is lying, 
 the first is running in debt, as Poor Richard says ; 
 and again, to the same purpose, Lying rides upon 
 Debfs back : whereas a free-born Englishman 
 ought not to be ashamed nor afraid to see or speak 
 to any man living. But poverty often deprives a 
 man of all spirit and virtue. // is hard for an 
 empty bag to stand upright. What would you 
 think of that prince, or of that government, who 
 should issue an edict forbidding you to dress like 
 a gentleman or gentlewoman, on pain of imprison 
 ment or servitude ? Would you not say that you 
 were free, have a right to dress as you please, and 
 that such an edict would be a breach of your 
 privileges, and such a government tyrannical ? 
 And yet you are about to put yourself under such 
 tyranny, when you run in debt for such dress ! 
 Your creditor has authority, at his pleasure, to de 
 prive you of your liberty, by confining you in gaol 
 till you shall be able to pay him. When you have 
 got your bargain, you may, perhaps, think little of 
 payment ; but, as Poor Richard says, Creditors 
 have better memories than debtors ; creditors are a 
 superstitious sect, great observers of set days and 
 times. The day comes round before you are 
 aware, and the demand is made before you are 
 prepared to satisfy it ; or, if you bear your debt in 
 mind, the term, which at first seemed so long, will, 
 as it lessens, appear extremely short : time will 
 
120 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 seem to have added wings to his heels as well as 
 his shoulders. Those have a short Lent, who owe 
 money to be paid at Easter. At present, perhaps, 
 you may think yourselves in thriving circum 
 stances, and that you can bear a little extravagance 
 without injury ; but 
 
 For age and want save while you may, 
 No morning sun lasts a whole day. 
 
 Gain may be temporary and uncertain, but ever, 
 while you live, expense is constant and certain ; 
 and, It is easier to build two chimnies, than to keep 
 one in fuel, as Poor Richard says : so, rather go to 
 bed supperlesSy than rise in debt. 
 
 Get what you can, and what you get hold: 
 
 Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold. 
 
 And, when you have got the philosophers stone, 
 sure you will no longer complain of bad times, or 
 the difficulty of paying taxes. 
 
 " IV. This doctrine, my friends, is reason and 
 wisdom : but, after all, do not depend too much 
 upon your own industry, and frugality, and pru 
 dence, though excellent things ; for they may all 
 be blasted, without the blessing of Heaven ; and, 
 therefore, ask that blessing humbly, and be not 
 uncharitable to those that at present seem to want 
 it, but comfort and help them. Remember, Job 
 suffered, and was afterwards prosperous. 
 
 " And now, to conclude, Experience keeps a dear 
 school, but fools will learn in no other, as Poor Ri- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 121 
 
 chard says, and scarce in that ; for, it is true, We 
 may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. How 
 ever, remember this, They that will not be counselled, 
 cannot be helped ; and further, that If you will not 
 hear Reason, she will surely rap your knuckles, as 
 Poor Richard says." 
 
 Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue, 
 The people heard it and approved the doctrine ; 
 and immediately practised the contrary, just as if 
 it had been a common sermon ; for the auction 
 
 opened, and they began to buy extravagantly. 
 
 I found the good man had thoroughly studied my 
 almanacks, and digested all I had dropt on these 
 topics during the course of twenty-five years. The 
 frequent mention he made of me must have tired 
 any one else ; but my vanity was wonderfully de 
 lighted with it, though I was conscious that not a 
 tenth part of the wisdom was my own which he 
 ascribed to me, but rather the gleanings that I had 
 made of the sense of all ages and nations. How 
 ever, I resolved to be the better for the echo of it ; 
 and, though 1 had at first determined to buy stuff 
 for a new coat, I went away resolved to wear my 
 old one a little longer. Reader, if thou wilt do 
 the same, thy profit will be as great as mine. 1 
 am, as ever, thine to serve thee, 
 
 RICHARD SAUNDERS. 
 
122 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 A THOUGHT CONCERNING THE MEDALS THAT 
 ARE TO BE STRUCK BY ORDER OF CON 
 GRESS. 
 
 The forming dies in steel, to strike medals or 
 money, is generally with the intention of making a 
 great number of the same form. 
 
 The engraving of those dies in steel is, from the 
 hardness of the substance, very difficult and ex 
 pensive ; but once engraved, the great number to 
 be easily produced afterwards by stamping justifies 
 the expense, it being but small w 7 hen divided 
 among a number. 
 
 Where only one medal of a kind is wanted, it 
 seems an unthrifty way to form dies for it in steel, 
 to strike the two sides of it, the whole expense of 
 the dies resting on that medal. 
 
 It was by this means that the medal voted by 
 congress for M. Fleury cost one hundred guineas. 
 When an engraving of the same figures and in 
 scriptions might have been beautifully done on a 
 plate of silver of the same size for two guineas. 
 
 The ancients, when they ordained a medal to 
 record the memory of any laudable action, and do 
 honor to the performer of that action, struck a vast 
 number, and used them as money. By this means 
 the honor was extended through their own and 
 neighboring nations : every man who received or 
 paid a piece of such money was reminded of the 
 virtuous action, the person who performed it, and 
 
. 
 
 PART I. MISCELLANIES. 123 
 
 the reward attending it: and the number gave 
 such security to this kind of monuments, against 
 perishing or being forgotten, that some of each of 
 them exist to this day, though more than two 
 thousand years old, and being now copied into 
 books by the art of engraving and printing, are 
 not only exceedingly multiplied, but likely to re 
 main some thousands of years longer. 
 
 I therefore wish the medals of congress weiv 
 ordered to be money, and so contrived as to be 
 convenient money, by being in value aliquot parts 
 of a dollar. 
 
 Copper coins are wanting in America for small 
 change. We have none but those of the king of 
 England. After one silver or gold medal is struck 
 from the dies, for the person to be honored, they 
 may be usefully employed in striking copper 
 money, or in some cases small silver. 
 
 The nominal value of the pieces might be a little 
 more than the real, to prevent their being melted 
 down, but not so much more as to be an encou 
 ragement to counterfeiting. B. F. 
 
 PRECAUTIONS TO BE USED BY THOSE WHO ARE 
 ABOUT TO UNDERTAKE A SEA VOYAGE. 
 
 WHEN you intend to take a long voyage, nothing 
 is better than to keep it a secret till the moment of 
 your departure. Without this, you will be conti 
 nually interrupted and tormented by visits from 
 
124 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 friends and acquaintances, who not only make you 
 lose your valuable time, but make you forget a 
 thousand things which you wish to remember ; so 
 that when you are embarked, and fairly at sea, you 
 recollect, with much uneasiness, affairs which you 
 have not terminated, accounts that you have not 
 settled, and a number of things which you pro 
 posed to carry with you, and which you find the 
 want of every moment. Would it not be attended 
 with the best consequences to reform such a cus 
 tom, and to suffer a traveller, without deranging 
 him, to make his preparations in quietness, to set 
 apart a few days when these are finished, to take 
 leave of his friends, and to receive their good wishes 
 for his happy return ? 
 
 It is not always in one s power to choose a cap 
 tain ; though great part of the pleasure and happi 
 ness of the passage depends upon this choice, and 
 though one must for a time be confined to his com 
 pany, and be in some measure under his command. 
 If he is a social sensible man, obliging, and of a 
 good disposition, you will be so much the happier. 
 One sometimes meets with people of this descrip 
 tion, but they are not common ; however, if yours 
 be not of this number, if he be a good seaman, at 
 tentive, careful, and active in the management of 
 his vessel, you must dispense with the rest, for 
 these are essential qualities. 
 
 Whatever right you may have, by your agree 
 ment with him, to the provisions he has taken on 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 125 
 
 board for the use of the passengers, it is always 
 proper to have some private store, which you may 
 make use of occasionally. You ought, therefore, 
 to provide good water, that of the ship being often 
 bad; but you must put it into bottles, without 
 which you cannot expect to preserve it sweet. You 
 ought also to carry with you good tea, ground 
 coffee, chocolate, wine of that sort which you like 
 best, cyder, dried raisins, almonds, sugar, capil- 
 laire, citrons, rum, eggs dipped in oil, portable 
 soup, bread twice baked. With regard to poultry, 
 it is almost useless to carry any with you, unless 
 you resolve to undertake the office of feeding and 
 fattening them yourself. With the little care which 
 is taken of them on board ship, they are almost all 
 sickly, and their flesh is as tough as leather. 
 
 All sailors entertain an opinion, which has un 
 doubtedly originated formerly from a want of wa 
 ter, and when it has been found necessary to be 
 sparing of it, that poultry never know when they 
 have drunk enough ; and that when w r ater is given 
 them at discretion, they generally kill themselves 
 by drinking beyond measure. In consequence of 
 this opinion, they give them water only once in 
 two days, and even then in small quantities : but 
 as they pour this water into troughs inclining on 
 one side, which occasions it to run to the lower 
 part, it thence happens that they are obliged to 
 mount one upon the back of another in order to 
 reach it ; and there are some which cannot even 
 
126 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 dip their beaks in it. Thus continually tantalised 
 and tormented by thirst, they are unable to digest 
 their food, which is very dry, and they soon fall 
 sick and die. Some of them are found thus every 
 morning, and are thrown into the sea ; whilst those 
 which are killed for the table are scarcely fit to be 
 eaten. To remedy this inconvenience, it will be 
 necessary to divide their troughs into small com 
 partments, in such a manner that each of them 
 may be capable of containing water ; but this is 
 seldom or never done. On this account sheep and 
 hogs are to be considered as the best fresh provision 
 that one can have at sea ; mutton there being in 
 general very good, and pork excellent. 
 
 It may happen that some of the provisions and 
 stores which I have recommended may become 
 almost useless, by the care which the captain has 
 taken to lay in a proper stock : but in such a case 
 you may dispose of it to relieve the poor passen 
 gers, who, paying less for their passage, are stowed 
 among the common sailors, and have no right to 
 the captain s provisions, except such part of them 
 as is used for feeding the crew. These passengers 
 are sometimes sick, melancholy, and dejected ; 
 and there are often women and children among 
 them, neither of whom have any opportunity of 
 procuring those things which I have mentioned, 
 and of which, perhaps, they have the greatest need. 
 By distributing amongst them a part of your super 
 fluity, you may be of the greatest assistance to 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 127 
 
 them. You may restore their health, save their 
 lives, and in short render them happy ; which 
 always affords the liveliest sensation to a feeling 
 mind. 
 
 The most disagreeable thing at sea is the cook 
 ery ; for there is not, properly speaking, any pro 
 fessed cook on board. The worst sailor is gene 
 rally chosen for that purpose, who for the most 
 part is equally dirty. Hence comes the proverb 
 used among the English sailors, that God sends 
 meat and the devil sends cooks. Those, however, 
 who have a better opinion of Providence, will think 
 otherwise. Knowing that sea air, and the exer 
 cise or motion which they receive from the rolling of 
 the ship, have a wonderful effect in whetting the 
 appetite, they will say that Providence has given 
 sailors bad cooks to prevent them from eating too 
 much; or that, knowing they would have bad 
 cooks, he has given them a good appetite to pre 
 vent them from dying with hunger. However, if 
 you have no confidence in these succors of Provi 
 dence, you may yourself, with a lamp and a boiler, 
 by the help of a little spirits of wine, prepare some 
 food, such as soup, hash, &c. A small oven made 
 of tin plate is not a bad piece of furniture : your 
 servant may roast in it a piece of mutton or pork. 
 If you are ever tempted to eat salt beef, which is 
 often very good, you will find that cyder is the best 
 liquor to quench the thirst generally caused by 
 salt meat or salt fish. Sea biscuit, which is too 
 
128 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 hard for the teeth of some people, may be softened 
 by steeping it ; but bread double baked is the best; 
 for being made of good loaf-bread cut into slices, 
 and baked a second time, it readily imbibes water, 
 becomes soft, and is easily digested: it conse 
 quently forms excellent nourishment, much supe 
 rior to that of biscuit, which has not been fer 
 mented. 
 
 I must here observe, that this double-baked 
 bread was originally the real biscuit prepared to 
 keep at sea ; for the word biscuit, in French, signi 
 fies twice baked. 1 Pease often boil badly, and do 
 not become soft ; in such case, by putting a two- 
 pound shot into the kettle, the rolling of the vessel, 
 by means of this bullet, will convert the pease into 
 a kind of porridge, like mustard. 
 
 Having often seen soup, when put upon the table 
 at sea in broad flat dishes, thrown out on every 
 side by the rolling of the vessel, I have wished that 
 our tinmen would make our soup-basons with divi 
 sions or compartments, forming small plates, pro 
 per for containing soup for one person only. By 
 this disposition, the soup, in an extraordinary roll, 
 would not be thrown out of the plate, and would 
 not fall into the breasts of those who are at table, 
 and scald them. Having entertained you with 
 these things of little importance, permit me now to 
 
 * It is derived from bis again, and cult baked. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 129 
 
 conclude with some general reflections upon navi 
 gation. 
 
 When navigation is employed only for trans 
 porting necessary provisions from one country, 
 where they abound, to another where they are 
 wanting ; when by this it prevents famines, which 
 were so frequent and so fatal before it was invent 
 ed and became so common ; we cannot help con 
 sidering it as one of those arts which contribute 
 most to the happiness of mankind. But when it is 
 employed to transport things of no utility, or arti 
 cles merely of luxury, it is then uncertain whether 
 the advantages resulting from it are sufficient to 
 counterbalance the misfortunes it occasions by ex 
 posing the lives of so many individuals upon the 
 vast ocean. And when it is used to plunder ves 
 sels and transport slaves, it is evidently only the 
 dreadful means of increasing th*ge calamities which 
 afflict human nature. 
 
 One is astonished to think on the number of ves 
 sels and men who are daily exposed in going to bring 
 tea from China, coffee from Arabia, and sugar and 
 tobacco from America ; all commodities which our 
 ancestors lived very well without. >The sugar- 
 trade employs nearly a thousand vessels ; and that 
 of tobacco almost the same number. With regard 
 to th utility of tobacco, little can be said ; and, 
 with regard to sugar, how much more meritorious 
 would it be to sacrifice the momentary pleasure 
 which we receive from drinking it once or twice a 
 
 VOL. i. i 
 
130 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 day in our tea, than to encourage the numberless 
 cruelties that are continually exercised in order to 
 procure it us ! 
 
 A celebrated French moralist said, that, when 
 he considered the wars which we foment in Africa 
 to get negroes, the great number who of course pe 
 rish in these wars ; the multitude of those wretches 
 who die in their passage, by disease, bad air, and 
 bad provisions ; and lastly, how many perish by 
 the cruel treatment they meet with in a state of 
 slavery ; when he saw a bit of sugar, he could not 
 help imagining it to be covered with spots of human 
 blood. But, had he added to these considerations 
 the wars which we carry on against one another, 
 to take and retake the islands that produce this 
 commodity, he would not have seen the sugar 
 simply spotted with blood, he would have beheld it 
 entirely tinged with it. 
 
 These wars make the maritime powers of Eu 
 rope, and the inhabitants of Paris and London pay 
 much dearer for their sugar than those of Vienna, 
 though they are almost three hundred leagues dis 
 tant from the sea. A pound of sugar, indeed, 
 costs the former not only the price which they give 
 for it, but also what they pay in taxes, necessary to 
 support the fleets and armies which serve to defend 
 and protect the countries that produce it. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 131 
 
 INFORMATION TO THOSE WHO WOULD REMOVE TO 
 AMERICA. 
 
 [Referred to in Private Correspondence, part 1. Letter to 
 B. Vaughan, Esq. July 26, 1784.] 
 
 MANY persons in Europe having directly or by 
 letters expressed to the writer of this, who is well 
 acquainted with North America, their desire of 
 transporting and establishing themselves in that 
 country ; but who appear to him to have formed, 
 through ignorance, mistaken ideas and expecta 
 tions of what is to be obtained there ; he thinks it 
 may be useful, and prevent inconvenient, expen 
 sive, and fruitless removals and voyages of impro 
 per persons, if he gives some clearer and truer no 
 tions of that part of the world than appear to have 
 hitherto prevailed. 
 
 He finds it is imagined by numbers, that the in 
 habitants of North America are rich, capable of re 
 warding, and disposed to reward all sorts of inge 
 nuity ; that they are at the same time ignorant of 
 all the sciences ; and consequently that strangers 
 possessing talents in the belles lettres, fine arts, &c. 
 must be highly esteemed, and so well paid as to 
 become easily rich themselves ; that there are also 
 abundance of profitable offices to be disposed of, 
 which the natives are not qualified to fill ; and that 
 having few persons of family among them, strangers 
 of birth must be greatly respected, and of course 
 easily obtain the best of those offices which will 
 
132 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 make all their fortunes : that the governments too, 
 to encourage emigrations from Europe, not only 
 pay the expense of personal transportation, but give 
 lands gratis to strangers with negroes to work for 
 them, utensils of husbandry, and stocks of cattle. 
 These are all wild imaginations ; and those who go 
 to America with expectations founded upon them, 
 will surely find themselves disappointed. 
 
 The truth is, that though there are in that coun 
 try few people so miserable as the poor of Europe, 
 there are also very few that in Europe would be 
 called rich : it is rather a general happy mediocrity 
 that prevails. There are few great proprietors of 
 the soil, and few tenants ; most people cultivate 
 their own lands, or follow some handicraft or mer 
 chandise ; very few rich enough to live idly upon 
 their rents or incomes, or to pay the high prices 
 given in Europe for paintings, statues, and the 
 other works of art that are more curious than use 
 ful. Hence the natural geniuses that have arisen 
 in America with such talents have universally 
 quitted that country for Europe, where they can be 
 more suitably rewarded. It is true that letters and 
 mathematical knowledge are in esteem there, but 
 they are at the same time more common than is 
 apprehended ; there being already existing nine 
 colleges or universities, viz. four in New England, 
 and one in each of the provinces of New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and A^irgi- 
 nia, all furnished with learned professors ; besides 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 133 
 
 a number of smaller academies. These educate 
 many of their youth in the languages and those 
 sciences that qualify men for the professions of 
 divinity, law, or physic. Strangers are indeed by 
 no means excluded from exercising those profes 
 sions, and the quick increase of inhabitants every 
 where gives them chance of employ, which they 
 have in common with the natives. Of civil offices 
 or employments there are few ; no superfluous 
 ones as in Europe ; and it is a rule established in 
 some of the states, that no office should be so pro 
 fitable as to make it desirable. The 36th article 
 of the constitution of Pennsylvania runs expressly 
 in these words : " As every freeman, to preserve 
 his independence, (if he has not a sufficient estate) 
 ought to have some profession, calling, trade, or 
 farm, whereby he may honestly subsist, there can 
 be no necessity for, nor use in establishing, offices 
 of profit ; the usual effects of which are dependence 
 and servility unbecoming freemen, in the posses 
 sors and expectants ; faction, contention, corrup 
 tion, and disorder, among the people. Where 
 fore, whenever an office, through increase of fees 
 or otherwise, becomes so profitable as to occasion 
 many to apply for it, the profits ought to be lessen 
 ed by the legislature." These ideas prevailing 
 more or less in all the United States, it cannot be 
 worth any man s while, who has a means of living 
 at home, to expatriate himself in hopes of obtain 
 ing a profitable civil office in America ; and as to 
 
134 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 military offices, they are at an end with the war, 
 the armies being disbanded. Much less is it ad 
 visable for a person to go thither, who has no other 
 quality to recommend him but his birth. In Eu 
 rope indeed it has its value, but it is a commodity 
 that cannot be carried to a worse market than to 
 that of America, where people do not inquire con 
 cerning a stranger, What is he? but, What can he 
 DO ? If he has any useful art he is welcome, and 
 if he exercises it and behaves well, he will be re 
 spected by all that know him ; but a mere man of 
 quality, who on that account wants to live upon 
 the public by some office or salary, will be despised 
 and disregarded. The husbandman is in honor 
 there, and even the mechanic, because their em 
 ployments are useful. The people have a saying, 
 that " God Almighty is himself a mechanic, the 
 greatest in the universe, and he is respected and 
 admired more for the variety, ingenuity, and use 
 fulness of his handyworks, than for the antiquity 
 of his family." They are pleased with the observa 
 tion of a negro, and frequently mention it, that 
 " Boccarorra" (meaning the white men) " make de 
 black man workee, make de horse workee, make 
 de ox workee, make ebery ting workee, only de 
 hog. He, de hog, no workee ; he eat, he drink, 
 he walk about about, he go to sleep when he 
 please, he libb like a gentleman." According to 
 these opinions of the Americans, one of them 
 would think himself more obliged to a genealogist 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 135 
 
 who could prove for him, that his ancestors and 
 -relations for ten generations had been ploughmen, 
 smiths, carpenters, turners, weavers, tanners, or 
 even shoemakers, and consequently that they were 
 useful members of society ; than if he could only 
 prove that they were gentlemen, doing nothing of 
 value, but living idly on the labor of others, mere 
 fruges consumere nati, 1 and otherwise good for no 
 thing, till by their death, their estates, like the car 
 case of the negro s gentleman-hog, come to be cut 
 up. 
 
 With regard to encouragements for strangers, 
 they are really only what are derived from good 
 laws and liberty. Strangers are welcome because 
 there is room enough for them all, and therefore 
 the old inhabitants are not jealous of them ; the 
 laws protect them sufficiently, so that they have no 
 need of the patronage of great men ; and every one 
 will enjoy securely the profits of his industry. But 
 if he does not bring a fortune with him, he must 
 work and be industrious to live. One or two years 
 residence gives him all the rights of a citizen : but 
 the government does not at present, whatever it 
 may have done in former times, hire people to be 
 come settlers, by paying their passages, giving 
 lands, negroes, utensils, stock, or any other kind 
 of emolument whatsoever. In short, America is 
 
 1 There are a number of us born. 
 Merely to eat up the corn. WATTS* 
 
136 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the land of labor, and by no means what the Eng 
 lish call Lubber land, and the French Pays de Co- 
 cagne, where the streets are said to be paved with 
 half-peck loaves, the houses tiled with pancakes, 
 and where the fowls fly about ready roasted, cry 
 ing, come eat me ! 
 
 Who, then, are the kind of persons to whom an 
 emigration to America may be advantageous ? and 
 what are the advantages they may reasonably ex 
 pect? 
 
 Land being cheap in that country, from the vast 
 forests still void of inhabitants, and not likely to 
 be occupied in an age to come, insomuch that the 
 propriety of an hundred acres of fertile soil full of 
 wood may be obtained near the frontiers in many 
 places for eight or ten guineas, hearty young labor 
 ing men, who understand husbandry of corn and 
 cattle, which is nearly the same in that country as 
 in Europe, may easily establish themselves there. 
 A little money saved of the good wages they re 
 ceive there while they work for others, enables 
 them to buy the land and begin their plantation, in 
 which they are assisted by the good-will of their 
 neighbors and some credit. Multitudes of poor 
 people from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Ger 
 many, have by this means in a few years become 
 wealthy farmers, who in their own countries, where 
 all the lands are fully occupied, and the wages of 
 labor low, could never have emerged from the 
 mean condition wherein they were born. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES, 137 
 
 From the salubrity of the air, the healthiness of 
 the climate, the plenty of good provisions, and the 
 encouragement to early marriages, by the certainty 
 of subsistence in cultivating the earth, the increase 
 of inhabitants by natural generation is very rapid 
 in America, and becomes more so by the accession 
 of strangers ; hence there is a continual demand 
 for more artisans of all the necessary and useful 
 kinds to supply those cultivators of the earth with 
 houses and with furniture, and utensils of the 
 grosser sorts, which cannot so well be brought 
 from Europe. Tolerably good workmen in any 
 of those mechanic arts are sure to find employ, and 
 to be well paid for their work, there being no re 
 straints preventing strangers from exercising any 
 art they understand, nor any permission necessary. 
 If they are poor, they begin first as servants, or 
 journeymen ; and if they are sober, industrious, 
 and frugal, they soon become masters, establish 
 themselves in business, marry, raise families, and 
 become respectable citizens. 
 
 Lastly, persons of moderate fortunes and capi 
 tals, who having a number of children to provide 
 for, are desirous of bringing them up to industry, 
 and to secure estates for their posterity, have op 
 portunities of doing it in America, which Europe 
 does not afford. There they may be taught and 
 practise profitably mechanic arts, without incurring 
 disgrace on that account ; but on the contrary, ac 
 quiring respect by such abilities. There small 
 
138 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 capitals laid out in lands, which daily become 
 more valuable by the increase of people, affords a 
 solid prospect of ample fortunes thereafter for 
 those children. The writer of this has known 
 several large tracts of land bought on what was 
 then the frontier of Pennsylvania, for ten pounds 
 per hundred acres, which, after 20 years, when the 
 settlement had been extended far beyond them, 
 sold readily, without any improvement made upon 
 them, for three pounds per acre. The acre in 
 America is the same with the English acre or the 
 acre of Normandy. 
 
 Those who desire to understand the state of 
 government in America, would do well to read the 
 Constitutions of the several states, and the Articles 
 of Confederation that bind the whole together for 
 general purposes, under the direction of one assem 
 bly called the Congress. These Constitutions 
 have been printed by order of Congress in Ame 
 rica ; two editions of them have also been printed 
 in London, and a good translation of them into 
 French has lately been published at Paris. 
 
 Several of the princes of Europe having of late 
 years, from an opinion of advantage to arise by 
 producing all commodities and manufactures with 
 in their own dominions, so as to diminish or render 
 useless their importations, have endeavored to 
 entice workmen from other countries by high sala 
 ries, privileges, &c. Many persons pretending to 
 be skilled in various manufactures, imagining that 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 139 
 
 America must be in want of them, and that Con 
 gress would probably be disposed to imitate the 
 princes above mentioned, have proposed to go 
 over on condition of having their passages paid, 
 lands given, salaries appointed, exclusive privileges 
 for terms of years, &c. &c. Such persons, on 
 reading the Articles of Confederation, will find 
 that the Congress have no power committed to 
 them, or money put into their hands for such pur 
 poses ; and that if any such encouragement is 
 given, it must be by the government of some sepa 
 rate state. This however has rarely been done in 
 America ; and when it has been done it has rarely 
 succeeded, so as to establish a manufacture which 
 the country was not yet so ripe for as to encourage 
 private persons to set it up, labor being generally 
 too dear there and hands difficult to be kept to 
 gether, every one desiring to be a master, and the 
 cheapness of lands inclining many to leave trades 
 for agriculture. Some indeed have met with suc 
 cess and are carried on with advantage ; but they 
 are generally such as require only a few hands, or 
 wherein great part of the work is performed by 
 machines. Things that are bulky and of so small 
 value as not well to bear the expense of freight, 
 may often be made cheaper in the country than 
 they can be imported ; and the manufacture of 
 such things will be profitable wherever there is a 
 sufficient demand. The farmers in America pro 
 duce indeed a good deal of wool and flax ; and 
 
140 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 none is exported ; it is all worked up ; but it is in 
 the way of domestic manufacture for the use of 
 the family. The buying up quantities of wool and 
 flax with the design to employ spinners, weavers, 
 &c. and form great establishments, producing 
 quantities of linen and woollen goods for sale, has 
 been several times attempted in different pro 
 vinces ; but those projects have generally failed, 
 goods of equal value being imported cheaper. 
 And when the governments have been solicited to 
 support such schemes by encouragements in 
 money, or by imposing duties on importation of 
 such goods, it has been generally refused, on this 
 principle, that if the country is ripe for the manu 
 facture, it may be carried on by private persons to 
 advantage ; and if not, it is a folly to think of 
 forcing nature. Great establishments of manufac 
 ture require great numbers of poor to do the w r ork 
 for small wages ; these poor are to be found in 
 Europe, but will not be found in America, till the 
 lands are all taken up and cultivated, and the 
 excess of people who cannot get land want em 
 ployment. The manufacture of silk, they say, is 
 natural in France, as that of cloth in England, 
 because each country produces in plenty the first 
 material : but if England will have a manufacture 
 of silk as well as that of cloth, and France one of 
 cloth as well as that of silk, these unnatural opera 
 tions must be supported by mutual prohibitions, or 
 higher duties on the importation of each other s 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 141 
 
 goods, by which means the workmen are enabled 
 to tax the home consumer by greater prices, while 
 the higher wages they receive makes them neither 
 happier nor richer, since they only drink more, 
 and work less. Therefore the governments in 
 America do nothing to encourage such projects. 
 The people by this means are not imposed on 
 either by the merchant or mechanic : if the mer 
 chant demands too much profit on imported shoes, 
 they buy of the shoemaker ; and if he asks too 
 high a price, they take them of the merchant. 
 Thus the two professions are checks on each 
 other. The shoemaker, however, has on the whole 
 a considerable profit upon his labor in America, 
 beyond what he had in Europe, as he can add to 
 his price a sum nearly equal to all the expense of 
 freight and commission, risk or insurance, &c. 
 necessarily charged by the merchant. And the 
 case is the same with the workmen in every other 
 mechanic art. Hence it is that artisans generally 
 live better and more easily in America than in 
 Europe, and such as are good economists make a 
 comfortable provision for age % and for their chil 
 dren : such may therefore remove with advantage 
 to America. 
 
 In the old long settled countries of Europe all 
 arts, trades, professions, farms, &c. are so full, that 
 it is difficult for a poor man who has children, to 
 place them where they may gain, or learn to gain 
 a decent livelihood. The artisans who fear creat- 
 
142 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ing future rivals in business, refuse to take appren 
 tices, but upon conditions of money, maintenance, 
 and the like, which the parents are unable to com 
 ply with. Hence the youth are brought up in 
 ignorance of every gainful art, and obliged to be 
 come soldiers, or servants, or thieves, for a sub 
 sistence. In America the rapid increase of inha 
 bitants takes away that fear of rivalship, and arti 
 sans willingly receive apprentices from the hope of 
 profit by their labor during the remainder of the 
 time stipulated after they shall be instructed. 
 Hence it is easy for poor families to get their 
 children instructed ; for the artisans are so de 
 sirous of apprentices, that many of them will even 
 give money to the parents to have boys from ten 
 to fifteen years of age bound apprentices to them 
 till the age of twenty-one ; and many poor parents 
 have, by that means, on their arrival in the country, 
 raised money enough to buy land sufficient to 
 establish themselves, and to subsist the rest of 
 their family by agriculture. These contracts for 
 apprentices are made before a magistrate, who 
 regulates the agreement according to reason and 
 justice, and having in view the formation of a 
 future useful citizen, obliges the master to engage 
 by a written indenture, not only that during the 
 time of service stipulated the apprentice shall be 
 duly provided with meat, drink, apparel, washing, 
 and lodging, and at its expiration with a complete 
 new suit of clothes, but also that he shall be taught 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES* 143 
 
 to read, write, and cast accounts, and that he shall 
 be well instructed in the art or profession of his 
 master, or some other, by which he may afterwards 
 gain a livelihood, and be able in his turn to raise a 
 family. A copy of this indenture is given to the 
 apprentice or his friends, and the magistrate keeps 
 a record of it, to which recourse may be had in 
 case of failure by the master in any point of per 
 formance. This desire among the masters to have 
 more hands employed in working for them, in 
 duces them to pay the passages of young persons, 
 of both sexes, who on their arrival agree to serve 
 them, one, two, three, or four years ; those who 
 have already learnt a trade agreeing for a shorter 
 time, in proportion to their skill and the conse 
 quent immediate value of their service ; and those 
 who have none, agreeing for a longer term, in con 
 sideration of being taught an art their poverty 
 would not permit them to acquire in their own 
 country. 
 
 The almost general mediocrity of fortune that 
 prevails in America obliging its people to follow 
 some business for subsistence, those vices that arise 
 usually from idleness, are in a great measure pre 
 vented. Industry and constant employment are 
 great preservatives of the morals and virtue of a 
 nation. Hence bad examples to youth are more 
 rare in America, which must be a comfortable 
 consideration to parents. To this may be truly 
 added, that serious religion under its various deno- 
 
144 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 minations, is not only tolerated, but respected and 
 practised. Atheism is unknown there, infidelity 
 rare and secret, so that persons may live to a great 
 age in that country without having their piety 
 shocked by meeting with either an atheist, or an 
 infidel. And the Divine Being seems to have 
 manifested his approbation of the mutual forbear 
 ance and kindness with which the different sects 
 treat each other, by the remarkable prosperity 
 with which he has been pleased to favor the whole 
 country. 
 
 THE INTERNAL STATE OF AMERICA, 1784 ; 
 [Complaint of hard times and motives for being thankful.] 
 THERE is a tradition, that, in the planting of 
 New England, the first settlers met with many 
 difficulties and hardships ; as is generally the case 
 when a civilised people attempt establishing them 
 selves in a wilderness country. Being piously 
 disposed, they sought relief from heaven, by laying 
 their wants and distresses before the Lord, in 
 frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant 
 meditation and discourse on these subjects kept 
 their minds gloomy and discontented ; and, like 
 the children of Israel, there were many disposed 
 to return to that Egypt, which persecution had 
 induced them to abandon. At length, when it 
 was proposed in the assembly to proclaim another 
 fast, a farmer of plain sense rose, and remarked, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 145 
 
 that the inconveniencies they suffered, and con 
 cerning which they had so often wearied heaven 
 with their complaints, were not so great as they 
 might have expected, and were diminishing every 
 day as the colony strengthened ; that the earth 
 began to reward their labor, and to furnish liberally 
 for their subsistence ; that the seas and rivers were 
 found full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy ; 
 and, above all, that they were there in the full 
 enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious ; he there 
 fore thought, that reflecting and conversing on 
 these subjects would be more comfortable, as tend 
 ing more to make them contented with their situa 
 tion ; and that it would be more becoming the 
 gratitude they owed to the Divine Being, if, instead 
 of a fast, they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His 
 advice was taken ; and from that day to this they 
 have, in every year, observed circumstances of 
 public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for 
 a thanksgiving day ; which is therefore constantly 
 ordered and religiously observed. 
 
 I see in the public newspapers of different states 
 frequent complaints of hard times, deadness of trade, 
 scarcity of money, 8$c. It is not my intention to 
 assert or maintain, that these complaints are entirely 
 without foundation. There can be no country or 
 nation existing, in which there will not be some 
 people so circumstanced as to find it hard to gain 
 a livelihood ; people who are not in the way of 
 any profitable trade, and with whom money is 
 
 VOL. i. K 
 
146 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 scarce, because they have nothing to give in 
 exchange for it ; and it is always in the power of a 
 small number to make a great clamor. But let us 
 take a cool view of the general state of our affairs, 
 and perhaps the prospect will appear less gloomy 
 than has been imagined. 
 
 The great business of the continent is AGRICUL 
 TURE. For one artisan, or merchant, I suppose, 
 we have at least one hundred farmers, by far the 
 greatest part cultivators of their own fertile lands, 
 whence many of them draw not only the food 
 necessary for their subsistence, but the materials of 
 their clothing, so as to need very few foreign sup 
 plies ; while they have a surplus of productions to 
 dispose of, whereby wealth is gradually accumu 
 lated. Such has been the goodness of Divine 
 Providence to these regions, and so favorable the 
 climate, that since the three or four years of hard 
 ship in the first settlement of our fathers here, a 
 famine or scarcity has never been heard of amongst 
 us ; on the contrary, though some years may have 
 been more, and others less plentiful, there has 
 always been provision enough for ourselves, and a 
 quantity to spare for exportation. And although 
 the crops of last year were generally good, never 
 was the farmer better paid for the part he can spare 
 commerce, as the published price currents abun 
 dantly testify. The lands he possesses are also 
 continually rising in value with the increase of 
 population ; and, on the whole, he is enabled to 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 147 
 
 give such good wages to those who work for him, 
 that all who are acquainted with the old world 
 must agree, that in no part of it are the laboring 
 poor so generally well fed, well clothed, well 
 lodged, and well paid, as in the United States of 
 America. 
 
 If we enter the cities, we find that, since the 
 revolution, the owners of houses and lots of ground 
 have had their interest greatly augmented in value ; 
 rents have risen to an astonishing height, and 
 thence encouragement to increase building, which 
 gives employment to an abundance of workmen, 
 as does also the increased luxury and splendor of 
 living of the inhabitants, thus made richer. These 
 workmen all demand and obtain much higher 
 wages than any other part of the world would 
 afford them, and are paid in ready money. This 
 class of people therefore do not, or ought not, to 
 complain of hard times ; and they make a very 
 considerable part of the city inhabitants. 
 
 At the distance I live from our American fish 
 eries, I cannot speak of them with any degree of 
 certainty ; but I have not heard, that the labor of 
 the valuable race of men employed in them is 
 worse paid, or that they meet with less success, 
 than before the revolution. The whale-men, in 
 deed, have been deprived of one market for their 
 oil ; but another, I hear, is opening for them, which 
 it is hoped may be equally advantageous ; and the 
 demand is constantly increasing for their sperma- 
 
148 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ceti candles, which therefore bear a higher price 
 than formerly. 
 
 There remain the merchants and shopkeepers. 
 Of these, though they make but a small part of the 
 whole nation, the number is considerable : too great 
 indeed for the business they are employed in ; for 
 the consumption of goods in every country has its 
 limits ; the faculties of the people, that is, their 
 ability to buy and pay, being equal only to a 
 certain quantity of merchandise. If merchants 
 calculate amiss on this proportion, and import too 
 much, they will of course find the sale dull for the 
 overplus, and some of them will say, that trade 
 languishes. They should, and doubtless will, 
 grow wiser by experience, and import less. If 
 too many artificers in town, and farmers from the 
 country, flattering themselves with the idea of 
 leading easier lives, turn shopkeepers, the whole 
 natural quantity of that business divided among 
 them all may afford too small a share for each, 
 and occasion complaints, that trade is dead ; these 
 may also suppose, that it is owing to scarcity of 
 money, while in fact, it is not so much from the few 
 ness of the buyers, as from the excessive numbers of 
 sellers, that the mischief arises ; and, if every shop- 
 keeping farmer and mechanic would return to the 
 use of his plough and working tools, there would 
 remain of widows, and other women, shopkeepers 
 sufficient for the business, which might then afford 
 them a comfortable maintenance. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 149 
 
 Whoever has travelled through the various parts 
 of Europe, and observed how small is the propor 
 tion of people in affluence or easy circumstances 
 there, compared with those in poverty and misery ; 
 the few rich and haughty landlords, the multitude 
 of poor, abject, rack-rented, tythe-paying tenants, 
 and half-paid and half-starved ragged laborers ; 
 and views here the happy mediocrity, that so 
 generally prevails throughout the states, where the 
 cultivator works for himself, and supports his 
 family in decent plenty, will, methinks, see an 
 abundant reason to bless Divine Providence for 
 the evident and great difference in our favor, and 
 be convinced, that no nation known to us enjoys a 
 greater share of human felicity. 
 
 It is true, that in some of the states there are 
 parties and discords ; but let us look back, and 
 ask if we were ever without them ? Such will exist 
 wherever there is liberty ; and perhaps they help 
 to preserve it. By the collision of different senti 
 ments, sparks of truth are struck out, and political 
 light is obtained. The different factions, which at 
 present divide us, aim all at the public good : the 
 differences are only about the various modes of 
 promoting it. Things, actions, measures, and ob 
 jects of all kinds, present themselves to the minds 
 of men in such a variety of lights, that it is not 
 possible we should all think alike at the same time 
 on every subject, when hardly the same man retains 
 at all times the same ideas of it. Parties are there- 
 
150 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 fore the common lot of humanity ; and ours are by 
 no means more mischievous or less beneficial than 
 those of other countries, nations, and ages, enjoy 
 ing in the same degree the great blessing of political 
 liberty. 
 
 Some indeed among us are not so much grieved 
 for the present state of our affairs, as apprehensive 
 for the future. The growth of luxury alarms them, 
 and they think we are from that alone in the high 
 road to ruin. They observe, that no revenue is 
 sufficient without economy, and that the most 
 plentiful income of a whole people from the natural 
 productions of their country may be dissipated in 
 vain and needless expenses, and poverty be intro 
 duced in the place of affluence. This may be 
 possible. It however rarely happens : for there 
 seems to be in every nation a greater proportion of 
 industry and frugality, which tend to enrich, than of 
 idleness and prodigality, which occasion poverty ; 
 so that upon the whole there is a continual accu 
 mulation. Reflect what Spain, Gaul, Germany, 
 and Britain were in the time of the Romans, inha 
 bited by people little richer than our savages ; and 
 consider the wealth they at present possess, in 
 numerous well-built cities, improved farms, rich 
 inoveables, magazines stocked with valuable ma 
 nufactures, to say nothing of plate, jewels, and 
 coined money ; and all this, notwithstanding their 
 bad, wasteful, plundering governments, and their 
 mad destructive wars ; and yet luxury and extra- 
 
PART J, MISCELLANIES. 151 
 
 vagant living have never suffered much restraint in 
 those countries. Then consider the great propor 
 tion of industrious frugal farmers inhabiting the 
 interior parts of these American states, and of 
 whom the body of our nation consists, and judge 
 whether it is possible that the luxury of our sea 
 ports can be sufficient to ruin such a country. 
 If the importation of foreign luxuries could ruin a 
 people, we should probably have been ruined long 
 ago ; for the British nation claimed a right, and 
 practised it, of importing among us not only the 
 superfluities of their own production, but those of 
 every nation under heaven ; we bought and con 
 sumed them, and yet we florished and grew rich. 
 At present our independent governments may do 
 what we could not then do, discourage by heavy 
 duties, or prevent by heavy prohibitions, such im 
 portations, and thereby grow richer ; if, indeed, 
 which may admit of dispute, the desire of adorning 
 ourselves with fine clothes, possessing fine furniture, 
 with elegant houses, &c. is not, by strongly inciting 
 to labor and industry, the occasion of producing a 
 greater value than is consumed in the gratification 
 of that desire. 
 
 The agriculture and fisheries of the United States 
 are the great sources of our increasing wealth. He 
 that puts a seed into the earth is recompensed, 
 perhaps, by receiving forty out of it ; and he who 
 draws a fish out of our water, draws up a piece 
 of silver. 
 
152 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Let us (and there is no doubt but we shall) be 
 attentive to these, and then the power of rivals, 
 with all their restraining and prohibiting acts, can 
 not much hurt us. We are sons of the earth and 
 seas, and like Antaeus in the fable, if in wrestling 
 with a Hercules, we now and then receive a fall, 
 the touch of our parents will communicate to us 
 fresh strength and vigor to renew the contest. 
 
 REMARKS CONCERNING THE SAVAGES OF NORTH 
 AMERICA, 1784. 
 
 SAVAGES we call them, because their manners 
 differ from ours, which we think the perfection of 
 civility. They think the same of theirs. 
 
 Perhaps if we could examine the manners of 
 different nations with impartiality, we should find 
 no people so rude as to be without any rules of 
 politeness, nor any so polite as not to have some 
 remains of rudeness. 
 
 The Indian men when young, are hunters and 
 warriors ; when old, counsellors ; for all their 
 government is by counsel of the sages ; there is no 
 force, there are no officers to compel obedience, or 
 inflict punishment. Hence, they generally study 
 oratory ; the best speaker having the most influ 
 ence. The Indian women till the ground, dress 
 the food, nurse and bring up the children, and 
 preserve and hand down to posterity the memory 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 153 
 
 of public transactions. The employments of men 
 and women are accounted natural and honorable ; 
 having few artificial wants, they have abundance 
 of leisure for improvement by conversation. Our 
 laborious manner of life compared with theirs, 
 they esteem slavish and base ; and the learning on 
 which we value ourselves, they regard as frivolous 
 and useless. An instance of this occurred at the 
 treaty of Lancaster in Pennsylvania, anno 1744, 
 between the government of Virginia and the Six 
 Nations. After the principal business was settled, 
 the commissioners from Virginia acquainted the 
 Indians by a speech, that there was at Williams- 
 burg a college, with a fund for educating youth ; 
 and that if the Six Nations would send half a 
 dozen of their young lads to that college, the 
 government would take care they should be well 
 provided for, and instructed in all the learning of 
 the white people. It is one of the Indian rules of 
 politeness not to answer a public proposition on 
 the same day that it is made ; they think it would 
 be treating it as a light matter, and that they show 
 it respect by taking time to consider it, as of a 
 matter important. They therefore deferred their 
 answer till the day following ; when their speaker 
 began by expressing their deep sense of the kind 
 ness of the Virginian government in making them 
 that offer ; " For we know," says he, "that you 
 highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those 
 
154 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 colleges, and that the maintenance of our young 
 men with you, would be very expensive to you. 
 We are convinced therefore that you mean to do 
 us good by your proposal, and we thank you 
 heartily. But you who are wise must know, that 
 different nations have different conceptions of 
 things, and you will therefore not take it amiss if 
 our ideas of this kind of education happen not to 
 be the same with yours. We have had some ex 
 perience of it : several of our young people were 
 formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern 
 provinces ; they were instructed in all your sci 
 ences ; but when they came back to us they were 
 bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in 
 the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, 
 knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, 
 or kill an enemy ; spoke our language imperfectly ; 
 were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or 
 counsellors; they were totally good for nothing. 
 We are however not the less obliged by your kind 
 offer, though we decline accepting it; and to show 
 our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia 
 will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take 
 great care of their education, instruct them in all 
 we know, and make men of them." 
 
 Having frequent occasions to hold public coun 
 cils, they have acquired great order and decency 
 in conducting them. The old men sit in the fore 
 most ranks, the warriors in the next, and the 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 155 
 
 women and children in the hindmost. The busi 
 ness of the women is to take exact notice of what 
 passes, imprint it in their memories (for they have 
 no writing), and communicate it to their children. 
 They are the records of the council, and they pre 
 serve traditions of the stipulations in treaties 100 
 years back, which, when we compare with our 
 writings, we always find exact. He that would 
 speak, rises : the rest observe a profound silence. 
 When he has finished, and sits down, they leave 
 him five or six minutes to recollect, that if he has 
 omitted any thing he intended to say, or has any 
 thing to add, he may rise again and deliver it. To 
 interrupt another, even in common conversation, 
 is reckoned highly indecent. How different this 
 is from the conduct of a polite British House of 
 Commons, where scarce a day passes without some 
 confusion that makes the speaker hoarse in calling 
 to order ! and how different from the mode of con 
 versation in the polite companies of Europe, where, 
 if you do not deliver your sentence with great 
 rapidity, you are cut off in the middle of it by the 
 impatient loquacity of those you converse with, 
 and never suffered to finish it ! 
 
 The politeness of these savages in conversation 
 is, indeed, carried to excess, since it does not per 
 mit them to contradict or deny the truth of what 
 is asserted in their presence. By this means they 
 indeed avoid disputes, but then it becomes difficult 
 to know their minds, or what impression you make 
 
156 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 upon them. The missionaries who have attempted 
 to convert them to Christianity, all complain of 
 this as one of the greatest difficulties of their mis 
 sion. The Indians hear with patience the truths 
 of the gospel explained to them, and give their 
 usual tokens of assent or approbation : you would 
 think they were convinced. No such matter it 
 is mere civility. A Swedish minister having as 
 sembled the chiefs of the Susquehannah Indians, 
 made a sermon to them, acquainting them with the 
 principal historical facts on which our religion is 
 founded ; such as the fall of our first parents by 
 eating an apple, the coming of Christ to repair the 
 mischief, his miracles and suffering, Sac. When 
 he had finished, an Indian orator stood up to thank 
 him. " What you have told us," says he, " is all 
 very good. It is bad to eat apples. It is better 
 to make them all into cyder. We are much obliged 
 by your kindness in coming so far to tell us 
 these things, which you have heard from your 
 mothers ; in return, I will tell you some of those 
 we have heard from ours. In the beginning our 
 fathers had only the flesh of animals to subsist 
 on : and, if their hunting was unsuccessful, they 
 were starving. Two of our young hunters having 
 killed a deer, made a fire in the woods to broil 
 some part of it. When they were about to satisfy 
 their hunger, they beheld a beautiful young woman 
 descend from the clouds, and seat herself on that 
 hill which you see yonder among the blue moun- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 157 
 
 tains. They said to each other, it is a spirit that 
 perhaps has smelt our broiling venison, and wishes 
 to eat of it : let us offer some to her. They pre 
 sented her with the tongue : she was pleased with 
 the taste of it, and said, your kindness shall be 
 rewarded. Come to this place after thirteen moons, 
 and you shall find something that will be of great 
 benefit in nourishing you and your children to the 
 latest generations. They did so, and to their great 
 surprise found plants they had never seen before, but 
 which, from that ancient time, have been constant 
 ly cultivated among us to our great advantage. 
 Where her right hand had touched the ground, 
 they found maize ; where her left hand had touched 
 it, they found kidney-beans ; and, where her back 
 side had rested on it, they found tobacco." The 
 good missionary, disgusted with this idle tale, said, 
 " What I delivered to you were sacred truths ; 
 but what you tell me is mere fable, fiction, and 
 falsehood." The Indian, offended, replied, " My 
 brother, it seems your friends have not done you 
 justice in your education ; they have not well in 
 structed you in the rules of common civility. You 
 saw that we, who understand and practise those 
 rules, believed all your stories : why do you refuse 
 to believe ours 1 " 
 
 When any of them come into our towns, our 
 people are apt to crowd round them, gaze upon 
 them, and incommode them where they desire to 
 be private ; this they esteem great rudeness, and 
 
158 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the effect of want of instruction in the rules of 
 civility and good manners. " We have," say they, 
 " as much curiosity as you, and when you come 
 into our towns we wish for opportunities of look 
 ing at you ; but for this purpose we hide ourselves 
 behind bushes where you are to pass, and never 
 intrude ourselves into your company." 
 
 Their manner of entering one another s villages 
 has likewise its rules. It is reckoned uncivil in 
 travelling strangers to enter a village abruptly, 
 without giving notice of their approach. There 
 fore, as soon as they arrive within hearing, they 
 stop and halloo, remaining there till invited to 
 enter. Two old men usually come out to them, 
 and lead them in. There is, in every village, a 
 vacant dwelling called the stranger s house. Here 
 they are placed while the old men go round from 
 hut to hut, acquainting the inhabitants that stran 
 gers are arrived, who are probably hungry and 
 weary, and every one sends them what they can 
 spare of victuals, and skins to repose on. When 
 the strangers are refreshed, pipes and tobacco 
 are brought ; and then, not before, conversation 
 begins, with inquiries who they are, whither bound, 
 what news, &c. ; and it usually ends with offers 
 of service, if the strangers have occasion for guides, 
 or any necessaries for continuing their journey ; 
 and nothing is exacted for the entertainment. 
 
 The same hospitality, esteemed among them as 
 a principal virtue, is practised by private persons, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 159 
 
 of which Conrad Weiser, our interpreter, gave me 
 the following instance. He had been naturalised 
 among the Six Nations, and spoke well the Mo 
 hock language. In going through the Indian 
 country, to carry a message from our governor to 
 the council at Onondaga, he called at the habita 
 tion of Canasetego, an old acquaintance, who em 
 braced him, spread furs for him to sit on, placed 
 before him some boiled beans and venison, and 
 mixed some rum and water for his drink. When 
 he was well refreshed, and had lit his pipe, Cana 
 setego began to converse with him, asked him how 
 he had fared the many years since they had seen 
 each other, whence he then came, what occasioned 
 the journey, &c. &c. Conrad answered all his 
 questions ; and, when the discourse began to flag, 
 the Indian, to continue it, said : " Conrad, you 
 have lived long among the white people, and 
 know something of their customs. I have been 
 sometimes at Albany, and have observed that once 
 in seven days they shut up their shops, and assem 
 ble all in the great house ; tell me, what is it for ? 
 what do they do there ?" " They meet there," 
 said Conrad, " to hear and learn good things." 
 " I do not doubt," said the Indian, " that they 
 tell you so ; they have told me the same ; but I 
 doubt the truth of what they say, and I will tell 
 you my reasons. I went lately to Albany to sell 
 my skins, and buy blankets, knives, powder, rum, 
 &c. You know I used generally to deal with 
 
160 WRITINGS OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Hans Hanson, but I was a little inclined this time 
 to try some other merchant : however, I called 
 first upon Hans, and asked him what he would 
 give for beaver. He said he would not give more 
 than four shillings a pound ; but, said he, * I 
 cannot talk on business now ; this is the day when 
 we meet together to learn good things, and I am 
 going to the meeting. So I thought to myself, 
 since we cannot do any business to-day, I may as 
 well go to the meeting too ; and I went with him. 
 There stood up a man in black, and began to talk 
 to the people very angrily. I did not understand 
 what he said ; but, perceiving that he looked much 
 at me and at Hanson, I imagined he was angry at 
 seeing me there ; so I went out, sat down near the 
 house, struck fire, and lit my pipe, waiting till the 
 meeting should break up. I thought too that the 
 man had mentioned something of beaver, and I 
 suspected it might be the subject of their meeting. 
 So, when they came out, I accosted my merchant : 
 Well, Hans, said I, I hope you have agreed to 
 give more than four shillings a pound. * No, 
 said he, I cannot give so much : I cannot give 
 more than three shillings and sixpence. I then 
 spoke to several other dealers, but they all sung 
 the same song, * three and sixpence three and 
 sixpence. This made it clear to me that my sus 
 picion was right ; and that whatever they pretend 
 of meeting to learn good things, the real purpose 
 was to consult how to cheat Indians in the price 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 161 
 
 of beaver. Consider but a little, Conrad, and you 
 must be of my opinion. If they met so often to 
 learn good things, they would certainly have learnt 
 some before this time : but they are still ignorant. 
 You know our practice : if a white man, in travel 
 ling through our country, enters one of our cabins, 
 we all treat him as I treat you ; we dry him if he 
 is wet, we warm him if he is cold, we give him 
 meat and drink, that he may allay his thirst and 
 hunger, and spread soft furs for him to rest and 
 sleep on. We demand nothing in return. 1 But, 
 if I go into a white man s house at Albany, and 
 ask for victuals and drink, they say, Where is 
 your money ? and, if I have none, they say, Get 
 out, you Indian dog ! You see they have not yet 
 learnt those little good things that we need no 
 meetings to be instructed in, because our mothers 
 taught them to us when we were children ; and, 
 therefore, it is impossible their meetings should be, 
 as they say, for any such purpose, or have any 
 
 1 It is remarkable that in all ages and countries, hospitality 
 has been allowed as the virtue of those whom the civilised were 
 pleased to call barbarians. The Greeks celebrated the Scy 
 thians for it ; the Saracens possessed it eminently ; and it is to 
 this day the reigning virtue of the wild Arabs. St. Paul, too, 
 in his relation of his voyage and shipwreck on the island of 
 Melita, says, " the barbarous people showed us no little kind 
 ness : for they kindled afire, and received us every one, because 
 of the present rain r and because of the cold." Acts, chap. 27. 
 
 VOL. I, L 
 
162 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 such effect : they are only to contrive the cheating 
 of Indians in the price of beaver." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON MAYZ, OR INDIAN CORN. 
 
 IT is remarked in North America, that the Eng 
 lish farmers when they first arrive there, finding a 
 soil and climate proper for the husbandry they 
 have been accustomed to, and particularly suitable 
 for raising wheat, they despise and neglect the cul 
 ture of mayz, or Indian corn ; but observing the 
 advantage it affords their neighbors, the older in 
 habitants, they by degrees get more and more into 
 the practice of raising it ; and the face of the 
 country shows from time to time that the culture of 
 that grain goes on visibly augmenting. 
 
 The inducements are, the many different ways 
 in which it may be prepared, so as to afford a 
 wholesome and pleasing nourishment to men, and 
 other animals. 1st. The family can begin to make 
 use of it before the time of full harvest ; for the 
 tender green ears, stripped of their leaves, and 
 roasted by a quick fire till the grain is brown, and 
 eaten with a little salt or butter, are a delicacy. 
 2dly. When the grain is ripe and harder, the ears 
 boiled in their leaves and eaten with butter, are 
 also good and agreeable food. The tender green 
 grains dried, may be kept all the year, and, mixed 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 163 
 
 with green haricots* also dried, make at any time 
 a pleasing dish, being first soaked some hours in 
 water, and then boiled. When the grain is ripe 
 and hard, there are also several ways of using it. 
 One is to soak it all night in a lessive or lye, and 
 then pound it in a large wooden mortar with a 
 wooden pestle ; the skin of each grain is by that 
 means skinned off, and the farinaceous part left 
 whole, which being boiled swells into a white soft 
 pulp, and eaten with milk, or with butter and 
 sugar, is delicious. The dry grain is also some 
 times ground loosely, so as to be broke into pieces 
 of the size of rice, and being winnowed to separate 
 the bran, it is then boiled and eaten with turkies 
 or other fowls, as rice. Ground into a finer meal, 
 they make of it by boiling a hasty-pudding, or 
 bouilli, to be eaten with milk, or with butter and 
 sugar ; this resembles what the Italians call po 
 lenta. They make of the same meal with water 
 and salt, a hasty cake, which being stuck against 
 a hoe or other flat iron, is placed erect before the 
 fire, and so baked, to be used as bread. Broth is 
 also agreeably thickened with the same meal. 
 They also parch it in this manner. An iron pot 
 is filled with sand, and set on the fire till the sand 
 is very hot. Two or three pounds of the grain are 
 then thrown in, and well mixed with the sand by 
 stirring. Each grain bursts and throws out a 
 
 1 Kidney beans. 
 
164 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 white substance of twice its bigness. The sand is 
 separated by a wire sieve, and returned into the 
 pot, to be again heated and repeat the operation 
 with fresh grain. That which is parched is 
 pounded to a powder in mortars. This being 
 sifted, will keep long for use. An Indian will 
 travel far and subsist long on a small bag of it, 
 taking only six or eight ounces of it per day, 
 mixed with water. The flour of mayz, mixed with 
 that of wheat, makes excellent bread, sweeter and 
 more agreeable than that of wheat alone. To feed 
 horses, it is good to soak the grain twelve hours : 
 they mash it easier with their teeth, and it yields 
 them more nourishment. The leaves, stripped off 
 the stalks after the grain is ripe, tied up in bundles 
 when dry, are excellent forage for horses, cows, 
 &c. The stalks pressed like sugar-cane, yield a 
 sweet juice, which being fermented and distilled, 
 yields an excellent spirit ; boiled without fermen 
 tation, it affords a pleasant syrup. In Mexico, 
 fields are sown with it thick, that multitudes of 
 small stalks may arise, which being cut from time 
 to time like asparagus, are served in deserts, and 
 their sweet juice extracted in the mouth by chew 
 ing them. The meal wetted is excellent food for 
 young chickens, and the whole grain for grown 
 fowls. 
 
PART J. MISCELLANIES. 165 
 
 SKETCH OF AN ENGLISH SCHOOL, FOR THE CON 
 SIDERATION OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE PHI 
 LADELPHIA ACADEMY. 
 
 IT is expected that every scholar to be admitted 
 into this school, be at least able to pronounce and 
 divide the syllables in reading, and to write a legi 
 ble hand. None to be received that are under 
 years of age. 
 
 FIRST, OR LOWEST CLASS. 
 
 Let the first class learn the English Grammar 
 Rules, and at the same time let particular care be 
 taken to improve them in orthography. Perhaps 
 the latter is best done by pairing the scholars ; 
 two of those nearest equal in their spelling to be 
 put together. Let these strive for victory ; each 
 propounding ten words every day to the other to 
 be spelled. He that spells truly most of the other s 
 words is victor for that day ; he that is victor most 
 days in a month, to obtain a prize, a pretty neat 
 book of some kind, useful in their future studies. 
 This method fixes the attention of children ex 
 tremely to the orthography of words, and makes 
 them good spellers very early. It is a shame for a 
 man to be so ignorant of this little art, in his own 
 language, as to be perpetually confounding words 
 of like sound and different significations ; the 
 consciousness of which defect makes some men, 
 otherwise of good learning and understanding, 
 averse to writing even a common letter. 
 
166 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 Let the pieces read by the scholars in this class 
 be short ; such as Croxall s fables, and little stories. 
 In giving- the lesson, let it be read to them : let the 
 meaning of the difficult words in it be explained 
 to them ; and let them con over by themselves 
 before they are called to read to the master or 
 usher, who is to take particular care that they do 
 not read too fast, and that they duly observe the 
 stops and pauses. A vocabulary of the most 
 usual difficult words might be formed for their 
 use, with explanations ; and they might daily get 
 a few of those w r ords and explanations by heart, 
 which would a little exercise their memories ; or 
 at least they might write a number of them in a 
 small book for the purpose, which would help to 
 fix the meaning of those words in their minds, and 
 at the same time furnish every one with a little 
 dictionary for his future use. 
 
 THE SECOND CLASS 
 
 To be taught reading with attention, and with 
 proper modulations of the voice, according to the 
 sentiment and the subject. 
 
 Some short pieces, not exceeding the length of 
 a Spectator, to be given this class for lessons (and 
 some of the easier Spectators would be very suit 
 able for the purpose). These lessons might bo 
 given every night as tasks ; the scholars to study 
 them against the morning. Let it then be required 
 of them to give an account, first of the parts of 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 1G7 
 
 speech, and construction of one or two sentences. 
 This will oblige them to recur frequently to their 
 grammar, and fix its principal rules in their memory. 
 Next, of the intention of the writer, or the scope of 
 the piece, the meaning of each sentence, and of 
 every uncommon word. This would early acquaint 
 them with the meaning and force of words, and 
 give them that most necessary habit of reading with 
 attention. 
 
 The master then to read the piece with the 
 proper modulations of voice, due emphasis, and 
 suitable action, where action is required ; and put 
 the youth on imitating his manner. 
 
 Where the author has used an expression not 
 the best, let it be pointed out ; and let his beau 
 ties be particularly remarked to the youth. 
 
 Let the lessons for reading be varied, that the 
 youth may be made acquainted with good styles 
 of all kinds, in prose and verse, and the proper 
 manner of reading each kind sometimes a well- 
 told story, a piece of a sermon, a general s speech 
 to his soldiers, a speech in a tragedy, some part of 
 a comedy, an ode, a satire, a letter, blank verse, 
 Hudibrastic, heroic, &c. But let such lessons be 
 chosen for reading, as contain some useful instruc 
 tion, whereby the understanding or morals of the 
 youth may at the same time be improved. 
 
 It is required that they should first study and 
 understand the lessons, before they are put upon 
 reading them properly ; to which end each boy 
 
168 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 should have an English dictionary, to help him 
 over difficulties. When our boys read English to 
 us, we are apt to imagine they understand what 
 they read, because we do, and because it is their 
 mother tongue. But they often read, as parrots 
 speak, knowing little or nothing of the meaning. 
 And it is impossible a reader should give the due 
 modulation to his voice, and pronounce properly, 
 unless his understanding goes before his tongue, and 
 makes him master of the sentiment. Accustoming 
 boys to read aloud what they do not first under 
 stand, is the cause of those even set tones, so com 
 mon among readers, which, when they have once 
 got a habit of using, they find so difficult to correct ; 
 by which means, among fifty readers, we scarcely 
 find a good one. For want of good reading, 
 pieces published with a view to influence the minds 
 of men, for their own or the public benefit, lose 
 half their force. Were there but one good reader 
 in a neighborhood, a public orator might be heard 
 throughout a nation with the same advantages, and 
 have the same effect upon his audience, as if they 
 stood within the reach of his voice. 
 
 THE THIRD CLASS 
 
 To be taught speaking properly and gracefully ; 
 which is near a-kiri to good reading, and naturally 
 follows it in the studies of youth. Let the scholars 
 of this class begin with learning the elements of 
 rhetoric from some short system, so as to be able 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 169 
 
 to give an account of the most useful tropes and 
 figures. Let all their bad habits of speaking, all 
 offences against good grammar, all corrupt or fo 
 reign accents, and all improper phrases, be pointed 
 out to them. Short speeches from the Romans, or 
 other history, or from the parliamentary debates, 
 might be got by heart, and delivered with the proper 
 action, &c. Speeches and scenes in our best trage 
 dies and comedies (avoiding every thing that could 
 injure the morals of youth) might likewise be got 
 by rote, and the boys exercised in delivering or 
 acting them : great care being taken to form their 
 manner after the truest models. 
 
 For their farther improvement, and a little to 
 vary their studies, let them now begin to read his 
 tory, after having got by heart a short table of the 
 principal epochas in chronology. They may begin 
 with Rollings ancient and Roman histories, and 
 proceed at proper hours, as they go through the 
 subsequent classes, with the best histories of our 
 own nation and colonies. Let emulation be 
 excited among the boys by giving, weekly, little 
 prizes, or other small encouragements, to those who 
 are able to give the best account of what they have 
 read, as to time, places, names of persons, &c. 
 This will make them read with attention, and 
 imprint the history well in their memories. In 
 remarking on the history, the master will have fine 
 opportunities of instilling instruction of various 
 kinds, and improving the morals as well as the 
 understandings of youth. 
 
170 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 The natural and mechanic history, contained in 
 the Spectacle de la Nature, might also be begun in 
 this class, and continued through the subsequent 
 classes, by other books of the same kind ; for, next 
 to the knowledge of duty, this kind of knowledge 
 is certainly the most useful, as well as the most 
 entertaining. The merchant may thereby be ena 
 bled better to understand many commodities in 
 trade ; the handicraftsman to improve his business, 
 by new instruments, mixtures, and materials ; and 
 frequently hints are given for new manufactures, 
 or new methods of improving land, that may be 
 set on foot greatly to the advantage of a country. 
 
 THE FOURTH CLASS 
 
 To be taught composition. Writing one s own 
 language well is the next necessary accomplishment 
 after good speaking. It is the writing-master s busi 
 ness to take care that the boys make fair characters, 
 and place them straight and even in the lines : but 
 to form their style, and even to take care that the 
 stops and capitals are properly disposed, is the 
 part of the English master. The boys should be 
 put on writing letters to each other on any common 
 occurrences, and on various subjects, imaginary 
 business, &c. containing little stories, accounts of 
 their late reading, what parts of authors please 
 them, and why ; letters of congratulation, of com 
 pliment, of request, of thanks, of recommendation, 
 of admonition, of consolation, of expostulation, ex 
 cuse, &c. In these they should be taught to express 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 171 
 
 themselves clearly, concisely, and naturally, with 
 out affected words or high-flown phrases. All 
 their letters to pass through the master s hand, who 
 is to point out the faults, advise the corrections, 
 and commend what he finds right. Some of the 
 best letters published in our own language, as Sir 
 William Temple s, those of Pope and his friends, 
 and some others, might be set before the youth as 
 models, their beauties pointed out and explained 
 by the master, the letters themselves transcribed 
 by the scholar. 
 
 Dr. Johnson s Ethices Elementa, or First Prin 
 ciples of Morality, may now be read by the scho 
 lars, and explained by the master, to lay a solid 
 foundation of virtue and piety in their minds. And 
 as this class continues the reading of history, let 
 them now, at proper hours, receive some farther 
 instruction in chronology, and in that part of geo 
 graphy (from the mathematical master) which is 
 necessary to understand the maps and globes. 
 They should also be acquainted with the modern 
 names of the places they find mentioned in ancient 
 writers. The exercises of good reading, and pro 
 per speaking, still continued at suitable times. 
 
 FIFTH CLASS. 
 
 To improve the youth in composition, they may 
 now, besides continuing to write letters, begin to 
 write little essays in prose, and sometimes in verse ; 
 not to make them poets, but for this reason, that 
 
172 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 nothing acquaints a lad so speedily with variety 
 of expression as the necessity of finding such 
 words and phrases as will suit the measure, sound, 
 and rhyme of verse, and at the same time well 
 express the sentiment. These essays should all 
 pass under the master s eye, who will point out 
 their faults, and put the writer on correcting them. 
 Where the judgment is not ripe enough for forming 
 new essays, let the sentiments of a Spectator be 
 given, and required to be clothed in the scholar s 
 own words ; or the circumstances of some good 
 story, the scholar to find expression. Let them 
 be put sometimes on abridging a paragraph of a 
 diffuse author ; sometimes on dilating or amplify 
 ing what is wrote more closely. And now let 
 Dr. Johnson s Noetica, or First Principles of 
 Human Knowledge, containing a logic, or art of 
 reasoning, &c. be read by the youth, and the diffi 
 culties that may occur to them be explained by 
 the master. The reading of history, and the ex 
 ercises of good reading and just speaking still 
 continued. 
 
 SIXTH CLASS. 
 
 In this class, besides continuing the studies of 
 the preceding in history, rhetoric, logic, moral and 
 natural philosophy, the best English authors may be 
 read and explained ; as Tillotson, Milton, Locke, 
 Addison, Pope, Swift, the higher papers in the 
 Spectator and Guardian, the best translations of 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 173 
 
 Homer, Virgil, and Horace, of Telemaclms, Tra 
 vels of Cyrus, &c. 
 
 Once a-year let there be public exercises in the 
 hall ; the trustees and citizens present. Then let 
 fine gilt books be given as prizes to such boys as 
 distinguish themselves and excel the others in any 
 branch of learning, making three degrees of com 
 parison ; giving the best prize to him that performs 
 best, a less valuable one to him that comes up 
 next to the best, and another to the third : com 
 mendations, encouragement, and advice to the 
 rest ; keeping up their hopes, that by industry 
 they may excel another time. The names of those 
 that obtain the prize to be yearly printed in a list. 
 
 The hours of each day are to be divided and 
 disposed in such a manner, as that some classes 
 may be with the writing master, improving their 
 hands ; others with the mathematical master, learn 
 ing arithmetic, accounts, geography, use of the 
 globes, drawing, mechanics, &c. ; while the rest 
 are in the English school, under the English mas 
 ter s care. 
 
 Thus instructed, youth will come out of this 
 school fitted for learning any business, calling, or 
 profession, except such wherein languages are 
 required : and, though unacquainted with any 
 ancient or foreign tongue, they will be masters of 
 their own, which is of more immediate and gene 
 ral use, and withal will have attained many other 
 valuable accomplishments : the time usually spent 
 
174 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 in acquiring those languages, often without success, 
 being here employed in laying such a foundation 
 of knowledge and ability as, properly improved, 
 may qualify them to pass through and execute the 
 several offices of civil life, with advantage and 
 reputation to themselves and country. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO THE INTENTIONS 
 OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS OF THE ACADEMY 
 
 IN PHILADELPHIA. June, 1789. 
 
 As the English school in the academy has been, 
 and still continues to be, a subject of dispute and 
 discussion among the trustees since the restitution 
 of the charter, and it has been proposed that we 
 should have some regard to the original intention 
 of the founders in establishing that school, I beg 
 leave, for your information, to lay before you what 
 I know of that matter originally, and what I find 
 on the minutes relating to it, by which it will ap 
 pear how far the design of that school has been 
 adhered to or neglected. 
 
 Having acquired some little reputation among 
 my fellow-citizens, by projecting the public library 
 in 1732, and obtaining the subscriptions by which 
 it was established ; and by proposing and pro 
 moting, with success, sundry other schemes of 
 utility, in 1740 ; I was encouraged to hazard an 
 other project, that of a public education for our 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 175 
 
 youth. As in the scheme of the library I had pro 
 vided only for English books, so in this new scheme 
 my ideas went no farther than to procure the 
 means of a good English education. A number 
 of my friends, to whom I communicated the pro 
 posal, concurred with me in these ideas ; but Mr. 
 Allen, Mr. Francis, Mr. Peters, and some other 
 persons of wealth and learning, whose subscrip 
 tions and countenance we should need, being of 
 opinion that it ought to include the learned lan 
 guages, I submitted my judgment to theirs, retain 
 ing however a strong prepossession in favor of my 
 first plan, and resolving to preserve as much of it 
 as I could, and to nourish the English school by 
 every means in my power. 
 
 Before I went about to procure subscriptions, I 
 thought it proper to prepare the minds of the peo 
 ple by a pamphlet, which I wrote, and printed, and 
 distributed with my newspapers, gratis. The title 
 was, Proposals relating to the Education of Youth 
 in Pennsylvania. I happen to have preserved one 
 of them ; and, by reading a few passages, it will 
 appear how much the English learning was in 
 sisted upon in it ; and I had good reason to know 
 that this was a prevailing part of the motives for 
 subscribing with most of the original benefactors. 1 
 
 1 That the Rector be a man of good understanding, good 
 morals, diligent and patient, learned in the languages and sci 
 ences, and a correct pure speaker and writer of the English 
 tongue ; to have such tutors under him as shall be necessary. 
 
176 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 I met with but few refusals in soliciting the sub 
 scriptions ; and the sum was the more considera- 
 
 The English language might be taught by grammar ; in 
 which some of our best writers, as Tillotson, Addison, Pope, 
 Algernon Sidney, Cato s letters, &c. shoulct be classics : the 
 styles principally to be cultivated, being the clear and the con 
 cise. Reading should also be taught, and pronouncing properly, 
 distinctly, emphatically ; not with an even tone, which under 
 does, nor a theatrical, which over-does nature. 
 
 Mr. Locke, speaking of grammar, p. 252, says, " That to 
 those the greatest part of whose business in this world is to be 
 done with their tongue, and with their pens, it is convenient, if 
 not necessary, that they should speak properly and correctly, 
 whereby they may let their thoughts into other men s minds the 
 more easily, and with the greater impression. Upon this ac 
 count it is, that any sort of speaking, so as will make him be 
 understood, is not thought enough for a gentleman. He ought 
 to study grammar, among the other helps of speaking well ; 
 but it must be the grammar of his own tongue, of the language 
 he uses, that he may understand his own country speech nicely, 
 and speak it properly, without shocking the ears of those it is 
 addressed to with solecisms and offensive irregularities. And 
 to this purpose grammar is necessary ; but it is the grammar 
 only of their own proper tongues, and to those who would take 
 pains in cultivating their language, and perfecting their styles. 
 Whether all gentlemen should not do this, I leave to be con 
 sidered, since the want of propriety and grammatical exactness 
 is thought very misbecoming one of that rank, and usually 
 draws on one guilty of such faults, the imputation of having 
 had a lower breeding and worse company than suit with his 
 quality. If this be so (as I suppose it is), it will be matter of 
 wonder, why young gentlemen are forced to learn the grammar > 
 of foreign and dead languages, and are never once told of the 
 grammar of their own tongues. They do not so much as know 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 177 
 
 ble as I had put the contribution on this footing, 
 that it was not to be immediate, and the whole 
 
 there is any such thing, much less is it made their business to 
 be instructed in it. Nor is their own language ever proposed 
 to them as worthy their care and cultivating, though they have 
 daily use of it, and are not seldom in the future course of their 
 lives judged of by their handsome or awkward way of express 
 ing themselves in it. Whereas the languages whose grammars 
 they have been so much employed in, are such as probably 
 they shall scarce ever speak or write ; or if upon occasion this 
 should happen, they should be excused for the mistakes and 
 faults they make in it. Would not a Chinese, who took notice 
 of this way of breeding, be apt to imagine, that all our young 
 gentlemen were designed to be teachers and professors of the 
 dead languages of foreign countries, and not to be men of busi 
 ness in their own "? " 
 
 Page 255, the same author adds, " That if grammar ought 
 to be taught at any time, it must be to one that can speak the 
 language already ; how else can he be taught the grammar of 
 it ? This at least is evident from the practice of the wise and 
 learned nations among the ancients. They made it a part of 
 education to cultivate their own, not foreign tongues. The 
 Greeks counted all other nations barbarous, and had a contempt 
 for their languages. And though the Greek learning grew in 
 credit among the Romans towards the end of their common 
 wealth, yet it was the Roman tongue that was made the study 
 of their youth : their own language they were to make use of, 
 and therefore it was their own language they were instructed and 
 jcercised in." And p. 281, " There can scarce be a greater 
 defect (says he) in a gentleman, than not to express himself well 
 either in writing or speaking. But yet I think I may ask the 
 reader, whether he doth not know a great many, who live upon 
 iheir estates, and so, with the name, should have the qualities of 
 gentlemen, who cannot so much as tell a story as they should, 
 VOL. I. M 
 
178 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 paid at once, but in parts, a fifth annually during 
 five years. To put the machine in motion, twenty- 
 much less speak clearly and persuasively in any business. This 
 I think not to be so much their fault as the fault of their edu 
 cation." Thus far Locke. 
 
 Monsieur Rollin reckons the neglect of teaching their own 
 tongue a great fault in the French universities. He spends 
 great part of his first volume of Belles Lettres on that subject; 
 and lays down some excellent rules or methods of teaching 
 French to Frenchmen grammatically, and making them masters 
 therein, which are very applicable to our language, but too long 
 to be inserted here. He practised them on the youth under his 
 care with great success. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, Dial. p. 297, says, " To perfect them in the 
 knowledge of their mother tongue, they should learn it in the 
 grammatical way, that they not only speak it purely, but be able 
 both to correct their own idiom, and afterwards enrich the 
 language on the same foundation." 
 
 Dr. Turnbull, in his Observations on a liberal Education, says, 
 p. 262, "The Greeks, perhaps, made more early advances in 
 the most useful sciences than any youth have done since, 
 chiefly on this account, that they studied no other language but 
 their own. This no doubt saved them very much time ; but 
 they applied themselves carefully to the study of their own 
 language, and were early able to speak and write it in the great 
 est perfection. The Roman youth, though they learned the 
 Greek, did not neglect their own tongue, but studied it more 
 carefully than we now do Greek and Latin, without giving our 
 selves any trouble about our own tongue." 
 
 Monsieur Simon, in an elegant Discourse of his among the 
 Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres at Paris, speaking 
 of the stress the Romans laid on purity of language and grace 
 ful pronunciation, adds, "May I here make a reflection on the 
 education we commonly give our children ? It is very remote 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 179 
 
 four of the principal subscribers agreed to take 
 upon themselves the trust ; and a set of constitu- 
 
 from the precepts I have mentioned. Hath the child arrived to 
 six or seven years of age, he mixes with a herd of ill-bred boys 
 at school, where, under the pretext of teaching him Latin, no 
 regard is had to his mother tongue : And what happens ? What 
 we see every day. A young gentleman of eighteen, who has 
 had this education, cannot read. For to articulate the words, 
 and join them together, I do not call reading, unless one can 
 pronounce well, observe all the proper stops, vary the voice, ex 
 press the sentiment, and read with a delicate intelligence. Nor 
 can he speak a jot better. A proof of this is that he cannot 
 write ten lines without committing gross faults ; and because he 
 did not learn his own language well in his early years, he will 
 never know it well: I except a few, who being afterwards en 
 gaged by their profession, or their natural taste, cultivate their 
 minds by study. And yet even they, if they attempt to wri;e, 
 will find by the labor composition costs them, what a loss it is, 
 not to have learned their language in the proper season. Edu 
 cation among the Romans was upon a quite different fooling. 
 Masters of rhetoric taught them early the principles, the diffi 
 culties, the beauties, the subtleties, the depths, the riches of 
 their own language. When they went from \hese schools, they 
 were perfect masters of it, they were never at a loss for proper 
 expressions ; and I am much deceived if it was not owing to 
 this, that they produced such excellent works with so marvellous 
 facility.? 
 
 Pliny, in his letter to a lady on choosing a tutor for her son, 
 speaks of it as the most material thing in his education, that he 
 should have a good Latin master of rhetoric, and recommends 
 Julius Genitor for his eloquent, open, and plain faculty of 
 speaking. He does not advise her to a Greek master of rhe 
 toric, though the Greeks were famous fyr that science ; but to 
 a Latin master, because Latin was the boy s mothes tongue- 
 
180 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tions for their government, and for the regulation 
 of the schools, were drawn up by Mr. Francis and 
 
 In the above quotation from Monsieur Simon, we see what was 
 the office and duty of the master of rhetoric. 
 
 To form their style, they should be put on writing letters to 
 each other, making abstracts of what they read ; or writing the 
 same things in their own words ; telling or writing stories lately 
 read, in their own expressions. AH to be revised and corrected 
 by the tutor, who should give his reasons, explain the force and 
 import of words, &c. 
 
 This Mr. Locke recommends, Educ. p. 284, and says : " The 
 writing of letters has so much to do in all the occurrences of 
 human life, that no gentleman can avoid showing himself in this 
 kind of writing. Occasions will daily force him to make this 
 use of his pen, which, besides the consequence that, in his affairs, 
 the well or ill managing it often draws after it, always lays him 
 open to a severer examination of his breeding, sense and abili 
 ties, than oral discourses, whose transient faults dying for the 
 most part with the sound that gives them life, and so not subject 
 to a strict review, more easily escape observation and censure." 
 
 He adds : " Had the methods of education been directed to 
 their right end, one would have thought this so necessary a part 
 could not have been neglected, whilst themes and verses in 
 Latin, of no use at all, were so constantly everywhere pressed, 
 to the racking of children s invention beyond their strength, 
 and hindering their cheerful progress by unnatural difficulties. 
 But custom has so ordained it, and who dares disobey? And 
 would it not be very unreasonable to require of a learned 
 country schoolmaster (who has all the tropes and figures in 
 Farnaby s rhetoric at his finger s ends) to teach his scholar to 
 express himself handsomely in English, when it appears to be 
 so little his business or thought, that the boy s mother (despised, 
 tis like, as illiterate, for not having read a system of logic or 
 rhetoric) outdoes him in it ? 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 181 
 
 myself, which were signed by us all and printed, 
 that the public might know what was to be ex- 
 
 " To speak and write correctly, gives a grace, and gains a 
 favorable attention to what one has to say : And since tis Eng 
 lish that an Englishman will have constant use of, that is the 
 language he should chiefly cultivate, and wherein most care 
 should be taken to polish and perfect his style. To speak or 
 write better Latin than English, may make a man be talked of, 
 but he will find it more to his purpose to express himself well 
 in his own tongue, that he uses every moment, than to have the 
 vain commendations of others for a very insignificant quality. 
 This I find universally neglected, nor no care taken any where 
 to improve young men in their own language, that they may 
 thoroughly understand and be masters of it. If any one among 
 us have a facility or purity more than ordinary in his mother 
 tongue, it is owing to chance, or his genius, or any thing, rather 
 than to his education or any care of his teacher. To mind what 
 English his pupil speaks or writes, is below the dignity of one 
 bred up among Greek and Latin, though he have but little of 
 them himself. These are the learned languages, fit only for 
 learned men to meddle with and teach : English is the language 
 of the illiterate vulgar. Though the great men among the Ro 
 mans were daily exercising themselves in their own language ; 
 and we find yet upon the record the names of orators who taught 
 some of their Emperors Latin, though it were their mother 
 tongue. Tis plain the Greeks were yet more nice in theirs. 
 All other speech was barbarous to them but their own, and no 
 foreign language appears to have been studied or valued amongst 
 that learned and acute people ; though it be past doubt that 
 they borrowed their learning and philosophy from abroad." 
 
 To the same purpose writes a person of eminent learning in 
 a letter to Dr. Turnbull : " Nothing certainly (says he) can be 
 of more service to mankind than a right method of educating 
 Hie youth, and I should be glad to hear to give an ex- 
 
182 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pected. I wrote also a paper, intitled, Idea of an 
 English School, which was printed, and afterwards 
 
 ample of the great advantage it would be to the rising age, and 
 to our nation. When our public schools were first established, 
 the knowledge of Latin was thought learning ; and he that had 
 had a tolerable skill in two or three languages, though his mind 
 was not enlightened by any real knowledge, was a profound 
 scholar. But it is not so at present ; and people confess, that 
 men may have obtained a perfection in these, and yet continue 
 deeply ignorant. The Greek education was of another kind 
 (which he describes in several particulars, and adds), They 
 studied to write their own tongue more accurately than we do 
 Latin and Greek. But where is English taught at present ? 
 Who thinks it of use to study correctly that language which he 
 is to use every day in his life, be his station ever so high, or ever 
 so insignificant. It is in this the nobility and gentry defend 
 their country, and serve their prince in parliament ; in this the 
 lawyers plead, the divines instruct, and all ranks of people write 
 their letters, and transact all their affairs ; and yet who thinks it 
 worth his learning to write this even accurately, not to say po 
 litely 1 Every one is suffered to form his style by chance ; to 
 imitate the first wretched model which falls in his way, before 
 he knows what is faulty, or can relish the beauties of a just sim 
 plicity. Few think their children qualified for a trade till they 
 have been whipt at a Latin school for five or six years, to learn 
 a little of that which they are obliged to forget ; when in those 
 years right education would have improved their minds, and 
 taught them to acquire habits of writing their own language 
 easily under right direction ; and this would have been useful to 
 them as long as they lived." Introd. p. 3, 4, 5. 
 
 To form their pronunciation, they may be put on making de 
 clamations, repeating speeches, delivering orations, &c. The 
 tutor assisting at the rehearsals, teaching, advising, correcting 
 their accent, &c. By pronunciation is here meant, the proper 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 183 
 
 annexed to Mr. Peters sermon, preached at the 
 opening of the academy. This paper was said to 
 be for the consideration of the trustees ; and the 
 expectation of the public that the idea might in a 
 great measure be carried into execution, contri 
 buted to render the subscriptions more liberal as 
 well as more general. I mention my concern in 
 these transactions, to show the opportunity I had 
 of being well informed in the points I am relating. 
 
 These constitutions are upon record in your mi 
 nutes ; and, although the Latin and Greek is by 
 them to be taught, the original idea of a complete 
 English education was not forgotten, as will appear 
 by the following extracts. 
 
 Page 1. " The English tongue is to be taught 
 grammatically, and as a language." 
 
 Page 4. In reciting the qualification of the per 
 son to be appointed rector, it is said, " that great 
 regard is to be had to his polite speaking, writing, 
 and understanding the English tongue! 
 
 " The rector was to have two hundred pounds 
 a-year, for which he was to be obliged to teach 
 twenty boys without any assistance, (and twenty- 
 five more for every usher provided for him,) the 
 
 modulation of the voice, to suit the subject with due emphasis, 
 action, &c. In delivering a discourse in public, designed to 
 persuade, the manner, perhaps, contributes more to success, 
 than either the matter or method. Yet the two latter seem to 
 engross the attention of most preachers and other public 
 speakers, and the former to be almost totally neglected. 
 
184 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 Latin and Greek languages ; and at the same time 
 instruct them in history, geography, chronology, 
 logic, rhetoric, and the English tongue." 
 
 " The rector was also, on all occasions consis 
 tent with his duty in the Latin school, to assist the 
 English master in improving the youth under his 
 care." 
 
 Page 5. " The trustees shall, with all convenient 
 speed, contract with any person that offers, whom 
 they shall judge most capable of teaching the 
 English tongue grammatically and as a language, 
 history, geography, chronology, logic, and oratory ; 
 which person shall be styled the English master! 1 
 
 The English master was to have one hundred 
 pounds a-year, for which he was to teach, without 
 any assistance, forty scholars, the English tongue 
 grammatically; and at the same time instruct them 
 in history, geography, chronology, logic, and ora 
 tory ; and sixty scholars more for every usher pro 
 vided for him. 
 
 It is to be observed in this place, that here are 
 two distinct courses in the same study, that is of 
 the same branches of science, viz. history, geogra 
 phy, chronology, logic, and oratory, to be carried 
 on at the same time, but not by the same tutor or 
 master. The English master is to teach his scho 
 lars all those branches of science, and also the 
 English tongue grammatically, as a language. 
 The Latin master is to teach the same sciences to 
 his boys, besides the Greek and Latin. He was 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 185 
 
 also to assist the English master occasionally, with 
 out which, and his general care in the government 
 of the schools, the giving him double salary seems 
 not well accounted for. But here is plainly two 
 distinct schools or courses of education provided 
 for. The Latin master was not to teach the Eng 
 lish scholars logic, rhetoric, &c.; that was the duty 
 of the English master ; but he was to teach those 
 sciences to the Latin scholars. We shall see here 
 after how easily this original plan was defeated and 
 departed from. 
 
 When the constitutions were first drawn, blanks 
 were left for the salaries, and for the number of 
 boys the Latin master was to teach. The first in 
 stance of partiality in favor of the Latin part of the 
 institution, was in giving the title of rector to the 
 Latin master, and no title to the English one. But 
 the most striking instance was when we met to 
 sign, and the blanks were first to be filled up, the 
 votes of a majority carried it to give twice as much 
 salary to the Latin master as to the English, and 
 yet require twice as much duty from the English 
 master as from the Latin, viz. 200/. to the Latin 
 master to teach twenty boys ; 100/. to the English 
 master to teach forty ! However, the trustees who 
 voted these salaries being themselves by far the 
 greatest subscribers, though not the most nn- 
 merous, it was thought they had a kind of right to 
 predominate in money matters ; and those who had 
 wished an equal regard might have been shown to 
 
186 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 both schools, submitted, though not without regret, 
 and at times some little complaining, which, with 
 their not being able in nine months to find a pro 
 per person for English master, who would under 
 take the office for so low a salary, induced the 
 trustees at length, viz. in July 1750, to offer 50/. 
 more. 
 
 Another instance of the partiality above-men 
 tioned was in the March preceding, when 100/. 
 sterling was voted to buy Latin and Greek books, 
 maps, drafts, and instruments for the use of the 
 academy, and nothing for the English looks. 
 
 The great part of the subscribers, who had the 
 English education chiefly in view, were however 
 soothed into a submission to these partialities, 
 chiefly by the expectation given them by the con 
 stitution, viz. that the trustees would make it their 
 pleasure, and in some degree their business, to visit 
 the academy often, to encourage and countenance 
 the youth, look on the students as in some mea 
 sure their own children, treat them with familiarity 
 and affection ; and when they have behaved well, 
 gone through their studies, and are to enter the 
 world, the trustees shall zealously unite, and make 
 all the interest that can be made, to promote and 
 establish them, whether in business, offices, mar 
 riages, or any other thing for their advantage, pre 
 ferable to all other persons whatsoever, even of 
 equal merit. 
 
 These splendid promises dazzled the eyes of the 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 187 
 
 public : the trustees were most of them the princi 
 pal gentlemen of the province. Children taught in 
 other schools had no reason to expect such power 
 ful patronage. The subscribers had placed such 
 entire confidence in them as to leave themselves 
 no power of changing them if their conduct of the 
 plan should be disapproved ; and so, in hopes 
 of the best, all these partialities were submitted 
 to. 
 
 Near a year passed before a proper person was 
 found to take charge of the English school. At 
 length Mr. Dove, who had been many years mas 
 ter of a school in England, and had come hither 
 with an apparatus for giving lectures in experimen 
 tal philosophy, was prevailed with by me, after his 
 lectures were finished, to accept that employment 
 for the salary offered, though he thought it too 
 scanty. He had a good voice, read perfectly well, 
 with proper accent and just pronunciation, and his 
 method of communicating habits of the same kind 
 to his pupils, was this : When he gave a lesson to 
 one of them, he always first read it to him aloud, 
 with all the different modulations of voice that the 
 subject and sense required. These the scholars, in 
 studying and repeating the lesson, naturally endea 
 vored to imitate, and it was really surprising to see 
 how soon they caught his manner, which con 
 vinced me and others who frequently attended his 
 school, that though bad tones and manners in 
 
188 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 reading are, when once acquired, rarely, with diffi 
 culty, if ever cured, yet when none have been already 
 formed, good ones are as easily learned as bad. 
 In a few weeks after opening his school, the trus 
 tees were invited to hear the scholars read and re 
 cite : the parents and relations of the boys also at 
 tended. The performances were surprisingly good, 
 and of course were admired and applauded ; and 
 the English school thereby acquired such reputa 
 tion, that the number of Mr. Dove s scholars soon 
 amounted to upwards of ninety, which number did 
 not diminish as long as he continued master, viz. 
 upwards of two years ; but he finding the salary 
 insufficient, and having set up a school for girls in 
 his own house to supply the deficiency, and quitting 
 the boys school somewhat before the hour to at 
 tend the girls, the trustees disapproved of his so 
 doing, and he quitted their employment ; conti 
 nued his girls school, and opened one for boys on 
 his own account. The trustees provided another 
 English master ; but though a good man, yet not 
 possessing the talents of an English schoolmaster 
 in the same perfection with Mr. Dove : the school 
 diminished daily, and soon was found to have but 
 about forty scholars left. The performances of 
 the boys, in reading and speaking, were no longer 
 so brilliant ; the trustees of course had not the 
 same pleasure in hearing them, and the monthly 
 visitations, which had so long afforded a delightful 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 189 
 
 entertainment to large audiences, became less and 
 less attended, and at length discontinued; and 
 the English school has never since recovered its 
 original reputation. 
 
 Thus, by our injudiciously starving the English 
 part of our scheme of education, we only saved 
 fifty pounds a-year, which was required as an 
 additional salary to an acknowledged excellent 
 English master, which would have equalled his 
 encouragement to that of the Latin master; I say, 
 by saving th 50/. we lost fifty scholars, which 
 would have been 200/. a-year, and defeated, be 
 sides, our great end of the institution. 
 
 In the mean time our favors were showered 
 upon the Latin part ; the number of teachers was 
 increased, and their salaries from time to time 
 augmented, till, if I mistake not, they amounted in 
 the whole to more than 600/. a-year, though the 
 scholars hardly ever exceeded sixty ; so that each 
 scholar cost the funds 10/. per annum, while he 
 paid but 4/., which was a loss of 6/. by every one 
 of them. 
 
 The monthly visitations of the schools by the trus 
 tees having been long neglected, the omission was 
 complained of by the parents as a breach of original 
 promise; whereupon the trustees, July 11, 1755, 
 made it a law, that, "they should meet on the 
 second Tuesday in every month at the academy, 
 to visit the schools, examine the scholars, hear their 
 public exercises, &c." This good law, however, 
 
190 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 like many others, was not long observed ; for I 
 find by a minute of December 14, 1756, that the 
 examination of the schools by the trustees had 
 been long neglected, and it was agreed that it 
 should thereafter be done on the first Monday in 
 every month ; and yet, notwithstanding this new 
 rule, the neglect returned, so that we are informed, 
 by another minute of January 13, 1761, " that for 
 five months past there had not been one meeting of 
 the trustees." In the course of fourteen years seve 
 ral of the original trustees, who had. been disposed 
 to favor the English school, deceased, and others 
 not so favorable were chosen to supply their places ; 
 however, it appears by the minutes, that the re 
 mainder had sometimes weight enough to recal 
 the attention of their colleagues to that school, and 
 obtain acknowledgments of the unjust neglect it 
 had been treated with; of this the following ex 
 tracts from the minutes are authentic proofs, viz. 
 "Minute Book, vol. i. February 8, 1763. The 
 state of the English school was taken into consi 
 deration, and it was observed that Mr. Kinnersley s 
 time was entirely taken up in teaching little boys 
 the elements of the English language (this is what 
 it dwindled into, a school similar to those kept by 
 old women, who teach children their letters); and 
 that speaking and rehearsing in public were totally 
 disused, to the great prejudice of the other scholars 
 and students, and contrary to the original design of 
 the trustees in the forming of that school ; and, as 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 191 
 
 this was a matter of great importance, it was parti 
 cularly recommended to be fully considered by the 
 trustees at their next meeting." At their next 
 meeting it was not considered ; but this minute 
 contains full proof of the fact, that the English 
 education had been neglected, and it contains an 
 acknowledgment that the conduct of the English 
 school was contrary to the original design of the 
 trustees in forming it. 
 
 In the same book of minutes we find the follow 
 ing, of April 12, 1763 : " The state of the English 
 school was again taken into consideration, and it 
 was the opinion of the trustees that the ORIGINAL 
 DESIGN should be prosecuted, of teaching the 
 scholars (of that and the other schools) the ele 
 gance of the English language, and giving them a 
 proper pronunciation ; and that the old method of 
 hearing them read and repeat in public, should be 
 again used. And a committee was appointed to 
 confer with Mr. Kinnersley, how this might best 
 be done, as w r ell as what assistance would be 
 necessary to give Mr. Kinnersley to enable him to 
 attend this necessary service, which was indeed the 
 PROPER BUSINESS of his professorship." 
 
 In this minute, we have another acknowledg 
 ment of what was the original design of the English 
 school ; but here are some words thrown in to 
 countenance an innovation, which had been for 
 some time practised. The words are, (and the 
 other schools) " originally by the constitutions, the 
 
192 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 rector was to teach the Latin scholars their Eng 
 lish ; the words of the constitution are, The 
 rector shall be obliged, without the assistance of 
 any usher, to teach twenty scholars the Latin and 
 Greek languages, and the English tongue. " To 
 enable him to do this, we have seen that some of 
 his qualifications indispensably required, were, his 
 polite speaking, writing, and understanding the Eng 
 lish tongue. Having these, he was enjoined on all 
 occasions consistent with his other duties, to assist 
 the English master in improving the boys under 
 his care ; but there is not a word obliging the 
 English master to teach the Latin boys English. 
 However, the Latin masters, either unable to do it, 
 or unwilling to take the trouble, had got him up 
 among them, and employed so much of his time, 
 that this minute owns he could not, without farther 
 assistance, attend the necessary service of his own 
 school, which, as the minute expressly says, " was 
 indeed the proper business of his professorship." 
 
 Notwithstanding this good resolution of the trus 
 tees, it seems the execution of it was neglected, 
 and the public not being satisfied, they were again 
 haunted by the friends of the children with the old 
 complaint, that the original constitutions were not 
 complied with, in regard to the English school. 
 Their situation was unpleasant. On the one hand, 
 there were still remaining some of the first trustees 
 who were friends to the scheme of English educa 
 tion, and these would now and then be remarking 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 193 
 
 that it was neglected, and would be moving for a 
 reformation ; the constitutions at the same time 
 staling the trustees in the face, gave weight to 
 these remarks. On the other hand, the Latinists 
 were combined to decry the English school as use 
 less. It was without example, they said, as indeed 
 they still say, that a school for teaching the vulgar 
 tongue, and the sciences in that tongue, was ever 
 joined with a college, and that the Latin masters 
 were fully competent to teach the English. I will 
 not say that the Latinists looked on every expense 
 upon the English school as so far disabling the 
 trustees from augmenting their salaries, and there 
 fore regarded it with an evil eye ; but when I find 
 the minutes constantly filled with their applications 
 for higher wages, I cannot but see their great 
 regard for money matters, and suspect a little their 
 using their interest and influence to prevail with 
 the trustees not to encourage that school. And 
 indeed the following minute is so different in spirit 
 and sentiment from that last recited, that one can 
 not avoid concluding that some extraordinary pains 
 must have been taken with the trustees between the 
 two meetings of April 12, and June 13, to produce 
 a resolution so very different, which here follows in 
 this minute, viz. "June 13, 1763. Some of the parents 
 of the children in the academy having complained 
 that their children were not taught to speak and 
 read in public, and having requested that this use 
 ful part of education might be more attended to, 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
194 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Mr. Kinnersley was called in, and desired to give 
 an account of what was done in this branch of his 
 duty ; and he declared that this was well taught, 
 not only in the English school, which was more 
 immediately under his care, but in the philosophy 
 classes, regularly every Monday afternoon, and as 
 often at other times as his other business would permit. 
 And it not appearing to the trustees that any more 
 could at present be done, without partiality and 
 great inconvenience, and that this was all that was 
 ever proposed to be done, they did not incline to 
 make any alteration, or to lay any farther burthen 
 on Mr. Kinnersley." Note here, that the English 
 school had not for some years preceding been 
 visited by the trustees. If it had, they w r ould have 
 known the state of it without making this inquiry 
 of the master. They might have judged, whether 
 the children more immediately under his care, 
 were in truth well taught, without taking his word 
 for it, as it appears they did. But it seems he had 
 a merit, which, when he pleaded it, effectually 
 excused him : he spent his time when out of the 
 English school in instructing the philosophy classes 
 who were of the Latin part of the institution. 
 Therefore they did not think proper to lay any 
 farther burthen upon him. 
 
 It is a little difficult to conceive how these trus 
 tees could bring themselves to declare, that " No 
 more could be done in the English school than 
 was then done, and that it was all that was ever 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 195 
 
 proposed to be done ; " when their preceding 
 minute declares, that " The original design was 
 teaching scholars the elegance of the English lan 
 guage, and giving them a proper pronunciation ; 
 and that hearing them read and repeat in public 
 was the old method, and should be again used." 
 And certainly, the method that had been used 
 might be again used, if the trustees had thought fit 
 to order Mr. Kinnersley to attend his own school, 
 and not spend his time in the philosophy classes, 
 where his duty did not require his attendance. 
 What the apprehended partiality was which the 
 minute mentions, does not appear, and cannot 
 easily be imagined, and the great inconvenience 
 of obliging him to attend his own school, could 
 only be depriving the Latinists of his assistance, 
 to which they had no right. 
 
 The trustees may possibly have supposed, that 
 by this resolution they had precluded all future 
 attempts to trouble them with respect to their con 
 duct of the English school. The parents indeed, 
 despairing of any reformation, withdrew their chil 
 dren, and placed them in private schools, of which 
 several now appeared in the city, professing to 
 teach what had been promised to be taught in the 
 academy ; and they have since florished and in 
 creased by the scholars the academy might have 
 had, if it had performed its engagements. But the 
 public was not satisfied ; and we find, five years 
 after, the English school appearing again, after five 
 
196 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 years silence, haunting the trustees like an evil 
 conscience, and reminding them of their failure in 
 duty. For, of their meetings Jan. 19 and 26, 1768, 
 we find these minutes : " Jan. 19, 1768. It having 
 been remarked, that the schools suffer in the public 
 esteem by the discontinuance of public speaking, a 
 special meeting is to be called on Tuesday next, to 
 consider the state of the English school, and to 
 regulate such matters as may be necessary." 
 " Jan. 26. A special meeting. It is agreed to give 
 Mr. Jon*. Easton and Mr. Thomas Hall, at the rate 
 of twenty-fi\e pounds per annum each, for assist 
 ing Mr. Kinnersley in the English school, and 
 taking care of the same when he shall be employed 
 in teaching the students in the philosophy classes 
 and grammar school, the art of public speaking. 
 A committee, Mr. Peters, Mr. Coxe, and Mr. Du- 
 ch6, with the masters, was appointed to fix rules 
 and times for employing the youth in public speak 
 ing. Mr. Easton and Mr. Hall are to be paid out 
 of a fund to be raised by some public performance 
 for the benefit of the college." 
 
 It appears from these minutes, 1. That the repu 
 tation of the academy had suffered in the public 
 esteem by the trustees neglect of that school. 2. 
 That Mr. Kinnersley, whose sole business it was 
 to attend it, had been called from his duty and 
 employed in the philosophy classes and Latin 
 grammar school, teaching the scholars there the 
 art of public speaking, which the Latinists used to 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 197 
 
 boast they could teach themselves. 3. That the 
 neglect for so many years of the English scholars 
 by this subtraction of their master, was now ac 
 knowledged, and proposed to be remedied for the 
 future by engaging two persons, Mr. Hall and Mr. 
 Easton, at twenty-five pounds per annum, to take 
 care of those scholars, while Mr. Kinnersley was 
 employed among the Latinists. 
 
 Care was however taken by the trustees, not to 
 be at any expense for this assistance to Mr. Kin 
 nersley ; for Hall and Easton were only to be paid 
 out of the uncertain fund of money to be raised by 
 some public performance for the benefit of the col 
 lege. 
 
 A committee was however now appointed to fix 
 rules and times for employing the youth in public 
 speaking. Whether any thing was done in conse 
 quence of these minutes, does not appear ; no 
 report of the committee respecting their doings 
 being to be found on the records, and the proba 
 bility is that they did as heretofore, nothing to the 
 purpose. For the English school continued to de 
 cline, and the first subsequent mention we find 
 made of it, is in the minute of March 21, 1769, 
 when the design began to be entertained of abolish 
 ing it altogether, whereby the Latinists would get 
 rid of an eyesore, and the trustees of what occa 
 sioned them such frequent trouble. The minute is 
 this : " The state of the English school is to be 
 taken into consideration at next meeting, and 
 
198 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 whether it be proper to continue it on its present 
 footing or nut." This consideration was however 
 not taken at the next meeting, at least nothing was 
 concluded so as to be minuted ; nor do we find 
 any farther mention of the English school till the 
 18th of July, when the following minute was en 
 tered ; viz. " A special meeting is appointed to be 
 held on Monday next, and notice to be given that 
 the design of this meeting is to consider whether 
 the English school is to be longer continued." 
 
 This special meeting was accordingly held on 
 the 23d of July, 1769, of which date is the follow 
 ing minute and resolution : viz. " The trustees at 
 this meeting, as well as several former ones, having 
 taken into their serious consideration the state of 
 the English school, are unanimously of opinion, 
 that as the said school is far from defraying the 
 expense at which they now support it, and not 
 thinking that they ought to lay out any great part 
 of the funds intrusted to them, on this branch of 
 education, which can so easily be procured at 
 other schools in this city, have resolved, that from 
 and after the 1 7th of October next, Mr. Kinners- 
 ley s present salary do cease, and that from that 
 time the said school, if he shall be inclined to keep 
 it, shall be on the following footing ; viz. that he 
 shall have the free use of the room where he now 
 teaches, and also the whole tuition-money arising 
 from the boys that may be taught by him, and that 
 he continue professor of English and oratory, and 
 as such, have the house he lives in rent-free* in 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 199 
 
 consideration of his giving two afternoons in the 
 week as heretofore, for the instruction of the stu 
 dents belonging to the college in public speaking ; 
 agreeable to such rules as are or shall be made for 
 that purpose by the trustees and faculty. It is further 
 ordered by this regulation, that the boys belonging 
 to his school shall be still considered as part of 
 the youth belonging to the college, and under the 
 same general government of the trustees and 
 faculty ; and such of his scholars as may attend 
 the mathematical or any other master having a 
 salary from the college, for any part of their time, 
 shall pay proportionably into the fund of the 
 trustees, to be accounted for by Mr. Kinnersley, 
 and deducted out of the twenty pounds per quarter 
 now paid by the English scholars." 
 
 The trustees hope this regulation may be agree 
 able to Mr. Kinnersley, as it proceeds entirely 
 from the reasons set forth above, and not from any 
 abatement of that esteem which they have always 
 retained for him, during the whole course of his 
 services in college. 
 
 Upon this and some of the preceding minutes, 
 may be observed : 1. That the English school hav 
 ing been long neglected, the scholars were so di 
 minished in number as to be far from defraying the 
 expense in supporting it. 2. That the instruction 
 they received there, instead of a complete English 
 education, which had been promised to the sub 
 scribers by the original constitutions, were only 
 such as might easily be procured at other schools 
 
200 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 in this city. 3. That this unprofitableness of the 
 English school, owing to neglect of duty in the 
 trustees, was now offered as a reason for demolish 
 ing it altogether. For it was easy to see, that after 
 depriving the master of his salary, he could not 
 long afford to continue it. 4. That if the insuffi 
 ciency of the tuition-money in the English school 
 to pay the expense, and the ease with which the 
 scholars might obtain equal instruction in other 
 schools, were good reasons for depriving the 
 master of his salary and destroying that school, 
 they were equally good for dismissing the Latin 
 masters, and sending their scholars to other schools, 
 since it is notorious that the tuition-money of the 
 Latin school did not pay much above a fourth pail 
 of the salaries of the masters. For such reasons 
 the trustees might equally well have got rid of all 
 the scholars and all the masters, and remained in 
 full possession of all the college property, without 
 any future expense. 5. That by their refusing any 
 longer to support, instead of reforming, as they 
 ought to have done, the English school, they 
 shamefully broke through and set at nought the 
 original constitutions, for the due execution of 
 which the faith of the original trustees had been 
 solemnly pledged to the public, and diverted the 
 revenues proceeding from much of the first sub 
 scriptions, to other purposes than those which had 
 been promised. Had the assembly, when disposed 
 to disfranchise the trustees, set their foot upon this 
 ground, their proceeding to declare the forfeiture 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 201 
 
 would have been more justifiable ; and it may be 
 hoped care will now be taken not to give any 
 future assembly the same handle. 
 
 It seems, however, that this unrighteous resolve 
 did not pass the trustees without a qualm in some 
 of them. For at the next meeting a reconsidera 
 tion was moved, and we find the following minute 
 under the date of Aug. ], 1769 : " The minute of 
 last meeting relative to the English school was 
 read, and after mature deliberation and reconsider 
 ing the same, it was voted to stand as it is, provided 
 it should not be found any way repugnant to the 
 first charter granted to the academy, a copy of 
 which was ordered to be procured out of the rolls 
 office." 
 
 One might have thought it natural for the trustees 
 to have consulted this charter before they took the 
 resolution, and not only the first charter, but the 
 original constitutions ; but as it seems they had lost 
 the instrument containing the charter, and though it 
 had been printed, not one of them was furnished with 
 a copy to which he might refer, it is no wonder 
 that they had forgot the constitutions made 20 
 years before, to which they do not seem to have in 
 the least adverted. 
 
 Probably, however, the trustees found when 
 they came to examine original papers, that they 
 could not easily get entirely rid of the English 
 school, and so concluded to continue it. For I 
 find in a law for premiums, minuted under the 
 date of Jan. 29, 1770, that the English and mathe- 
 
202 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 % 
 
 matical school is directed to be examined the third 
 Tuesday in July, and a premium book of the value 
 of one dollar was to be given to him that reads 
 best, and understands best the English grammar, 
 &c. This is very well ; but to keep up the old 
 partiality in favor of the Latin school, the premium 
 to its boys was to be of the value of two dollars. 
 In the premiums for best speaking, they were in 
 deed put upon an equality. 
 
 After reading this law for premiums, I looked 
 forward to the third Tuesday in July with some 
 pleasing expectation of their effect on the exami 
 nation required for that day. But I met with only 
 this further record of the inattention of the trustees 
 to their new resolutions and even laws, when they 
 contained any thing favorable to the English 
 school. The minute is only this : " July, August,, 
 September, October, no business done." 
 
 On the 20th of November, however, I find there 
 was an examination of the Latin school, and pre 
 miums, with pompous inscriptions afterwards ad 
 judged to Latin scholars ; but I find no mention 
 of any to the English, or that they were even ex 
 amined. Perhaps there might have been none to 
 examine, or the school discontinued ; for it appears 
 by a minute of July 21, following, that the provost 
 was desired to advertise for a master able to teach 
 English grammatically, which it seems was all the 
 English master was now required to teach, the 
 other branches originally premised being dropt en 
 tirely. 
 
PART I* MISCELLANIES. 203 
 
 / 
 
 In October, 1772, Mr. Kinnersley resigned his 
 professorship, when Dr. Peters and others were 
 appointed to consider in what footing the English 
 school shall be put for the future, that a new master 
 may be thought of, and Mr. Willing to take care 
 of the school for the present at fifty pounds per 
 annum. It is observable here that there is no 
 mention of putting it on its original footing, and 
 the salary is shrunk amazingly ; but this resigna 
 tion of Mr. Kinnersley gave occasion to one testi 
 mony of the utility of the English professor to the 
 institution, notwithstanding all the partiality, ne 
 glect, slights, discouragements, and injustice that 
 school had suffered. We find it in the minutes of 
 a special meeting on the 2d of February, 1773, 
 present Dr. Peters, Mr. Chew, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. 
 Willing, Mr. Trettel^nd Mr. Inglis, and expressed 
 in these strong terms. 
 
 " The college suffers greatly since Mr. Kinners 
 ley left" it, for want of a person to teach public 
 speaking, so that the present classes have not those 
 opportunities of learning to declaim and speak 
 which have been of so much use to their prede 
 cessors, and have contributed greatly to raise the 
 credit of the institution." 
 
 Here is another confession that the Latinists 
 were unequal to the task of teaching English elo 
 quence, though on occasion the contrary is still 
 asserted. I flatter myself, Gentlemen, that it ap 
 pears by this time pretty clearly from our own 
 
204 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 minutes, that the original plan of the English 
 school has been departed from ; that the subscri 
 bers to it have been disappointed and deceived, 
 and the faith of the trustees not kept with them ; 
 that the public have been frequently dissatisfied 
 with the conduct of the trustees, and complained 
 of it ; that by the niggardly treatment of good 
 masters, they have been driven out of the school, 
 and the scholars have followed, while a great loss 
 of revenue has been suffered by the academy ; so 
 that the numerous schools now in the city owe 
 their rise to our mismanagement, and that we 
 might as well have had the best part of the tuition- 
 money paid into our treasury that now goes into 
 private pockets. That there has been a constant 
 disposition to depress the English school in favor 
 of the Latin ; and that every means to procure a 
 more equitable treatment has been rendered in 
 effectual ; so that no more hope remains while they 
 continue to have any connexion. It is, therefore, 
 that wishing as much good to the Latinists as 
 their system can honestly procure for them, we 
 now demand a separation, and without desiring to 
 injure them ; but claiming an equitable partition 
 of our joint stock, we wish to execute the plan 
 they have so long defeated, and afford the .public 
 the means of a complete English education. 
 
 I am the only one of the original trustees now 
 living, and I am just stepping into the grave my 
 self. I am afraid that some part of the blame 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 205 
 
 incurred by the trustees may be laid on me for 
 having too easily submitted to the deviations from 
 the constitution, and not opposing them with 
 sufficient zeal and earnestness ; though indeed my 
 absence in foreign countries at different times for 
 near thirty years, tended much to weaken my in 
 fluence: to make what amends are yet in my 
 power, I seize this opportunity, the last I may pos 
 sibly have, of bearing testimony against those de 
 viations. I seem here to be surrounded by the 
 ghosts of my dear departed friends, beckoning 
 and urging me to use the only tongue now left us 
 in demanding that justice to our grand-children 
 that to our children have been denied. And I 
 hope they will not be sent away discontented. 
 
 The origin of Latin and Greek schools among 
 the different nations of Europe is known to have 
 been this, that until between three and four hun 
 dred years past there were no books in any other 
 language ; all the knowledge then contained in 
 books, viz. the theology, the jurisprudence, the 
 physic, the art-military, the politics, the mathe 
 matics and mechanics, the natural and moral 
 philosophy, the logic and rhetoric, the chemistry, 
 the pharmacy, the architecture, and every other 
 branch of science, being in those languages, it was 
 of course necessary to learn them, as the gates 
 through which men must pass to get at that know 
 ledge. 
 
 The books then existing were manuscript, and 
 
206 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 these consequently so dear, that only the few 
 wealthy inclined to learning could afford to pur 
 chase them. The common people were not even 
 at the pains of learning to read, because, after 
 taking that pains, they would have nothing to read 
 that they could understand without learning the 
 ancients languages, nor then, without money to 
 purchase the manuscripts. And so few were the 
 learned readers sixty years after the invention of 
 printing, that it appears by letters still extant be 
 tween the printers in 1499, that they could not 
 throughout Europe find purchasers for more than 
 300 copies of any ancient authors. But printing 
 beginning now to make books cheap, the readers 
 increased so much as to make it worth while to 
 write and print books in the vulgar tongues. At 
 first these were chiefly books of devotion and little 
 histories ; gradually several branches of science 
 began to appear in the common languages, and at 
 this day the whole body of science, consisting not 
 only of translations from all the valuable ancients, 
 but of all the new modern discoveries, is to be met 
 with in those languages, so that learning the 
 ancient for the purpose of acquiring knowledge is 
 become absolutely unnecessary. 
 
 But there is in mankind an unaccountable pre 
 judice in favor of ancient customs and habitudes, 
 which inclines to a continuance of them after the 
 circumstances which formerly made them useful 
 cease to exist. A multitude of instances might be 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 207 
 
 given, but it may suffice to mention one. Hats 
 were once thought an useful part of dress ; they 
 kept the head warm and screened it from the vio 
 lent impression of the sun s rays, and from the 
 rain, snow, hail, &c. Though, by the way, this 
 was not the more ancient opinion or practice ; for 
 among all the remains of antiquity, the bustos, 
 statues, basso-relievos, medals, &c. which are 
 infinite, there is no representation of a human 
 figure with a cap or hat on, nor any covering for 
 the head, unless it be the head of a soldier, who 
 has a helmet, but that is evidently not a part of 
 dress for health, but as a protection from the 
 strokes of a weapon. 
 
 At what time hats were first introduced we know 
 not, but in the last century they were universally 
 worn throughout Europe. Gradually, however, 
 as the wearing of wigs, and hair nicely dressed 
 prevailed, the putting on of hats was disused by 
 genteel people, lest the curious arrangements of the 
 curls and powdering should be disordered; and 
 umbrellas began to supply their place ; yet still 
 our considering the hat as a part of dress continues 
 so far to prevail, that a man of fashion is not 
 thought dressed without having one, or something 
 like one, about him, which he carries under his 
 arm. So that there are a multitude of the politer 
 people in all the courts and capital cities of Eu 
 rope, who have never, nor their fathers before them, 
 worn a hat otherwise than as a chapeau bras, though 
 
208 WRITINGS OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the utility of such a mode of wearing it is by no 
 means apparent, and it is attended not only with 
 some expense, but with a degree of constant 
 trouble. 
 
 The still prevailing custom of having schools 
 for teaching generally our children in these days 
 the Latin and Greek languages, I consider there 
 fore in no other light than as the chapeau bras of 
 modern literature. 
 
 Thus the time spent in that study might, it 
 seems, be much better employed in the education 
 for such a country as ours ; and this was indeed 
 the opinion of most of the original trustees. 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 HINTS FOR CONSIDERATION RESPECTING THE OR 
 PHAN SCHOOL-HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 CHARITABLE institutions, however originally 
 well intended, and well executed at first for many 
 years, are subject to be in a course of time corrupt 
 ed, mismanaged, their funds misapplied or per 
 verted to private purposes. Would it not be well 
 to guard against these by prudent regulations re 
 specting the choice of managers, and establishing 
 the power of inspecting their conduct in some per 
 manent body, as the monthly or quarterly meet 
 ing? 
 
 Would it not be more respectable for the institu- 
 
PART I, MISCELLANIES. 209 
 
 tion, if the appearance of making a profit of the la 
 bor of orphans were avoided, and the dependance 
 for funds to be wholly on charitable contributions ? 
 If this should be concluded, then it may be proper 
 to open an account with each orphan on admis 
 sion ; the orphans to have credit for any subsis 
 tence brought in with them, and for the profit made 
 of it and of their labor, and made debtors for their 
 maintenance and education. And at their dis 
 charge on coming of age, to be paid the balance, 
 if any, in their favor, or remain debtors for the ba 
 lance, if against them, which they may be exhorted 
 to pay, if ever able, but not to be compelled. Such 
 as receive a balance may be exhorted to give back 
 a part in charity to the institution that has taken 
 such kind care of them, or at least to remember it 
 favorably if hereafter God should bless them with 
 ability, either in benefaction while living, or a le 
 gacy on decease. The orphans when discharged 
 to receive, besides decent clothing and some mo 
 ney, a certificate of their good behavior, if such it 
 has been, as a recommendation ; and the managers 
 of the institution should still consider them as their 
 children, so far as to counsel them in their affairs, 
 encourage and promote them in their business, 
 watch over and kindly admonish them when in 
 danger of misconduct. B. F. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
210 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 For the Federal Gazette, 12th September, 1789. 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE SUPREMEST COURT OF JUDI 
 CATURE IN PENNSYLVANIA, VIZ. THE COURT 
 OF THE PRESS. 
 
 Power of* this Court. 
 
 IT may receive and promulgate accusations of 
 all kinds, against all persons and characters among 
 the citizens of the state, and even against all infe 
 rior courts ; and may judge, sentence, and con 
 demn to infamy, not only private individuals, but 
 public bodies, &c. with or without inquiry or hear 
 ing, at the court s discretion. 
 
 In whose favor and for whose emolument this Court 
 is established. 
 
 In favor of about one citizen in five hundred, 
 who, by education or practice in scribbling, has 
 acquired a tolerable style as to grammar and con 
 struction, so as to bear printing ; or who is pos 
 sessed of a press and a few types. This five hun 
 dredth part of the citizens have the privilege of ac 
 cusing and abusing the other four hundred and 
 ninety-nine parts at their pleasure ; or they may 
 hire out their pens and press to others for that pur 
 pose. 
 
 Practice of the Court. 
 
 It is not governed by any of the rules of com 
 mon courts of law. The accused is allowed no 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 211 
 
 grand jury to judge of the truth of the accusation 
 before it is publicly made, nor is the name of the 
 accuser made known to him, nor has he an oppor 
 tunity of confronting the witnesses against him ; 
 for they are kept in the dark, as in the Spanish 
 court of inquisition. Nor is there any petty jury 
 of his peers sworn to try the truth of the charges 
 The proceedings are also sometimes so rapid, that 
 an honest good citizen may find himself suddenly 
 and unexpectedly accused, and in the same morn 
 ing judged and condemned, and sentence pro 
 nounced against him, that he is a rogue and a vil 
 lain. Yet, if an officer of this court receives the 
 slightest check for misconduct in this his office, he 
 claims immediately the rights of a free citizen by 
 the constitution, and demands to know his accuser, 
 to confront the witnesses, and to have a fair trial 
 by a jury of his peers. 
 
 The foundation of its authority. 
 
 It is said to be founded on an article in the state 
 constitution, which establishes the liberty of the 
 press : a liberty which every Pennsylvanian will 
 fight and die for ; though few of us, I believe, have 
 distinct ideas of its nature and extent. It seems 
 indeed somewhat like the liberty of the press that 
 felons have, by the common law of England, before 
 conviction, that is, to be pressed to death or hanged. 
 If by the liberty of the press were understood merely 
 the liberty of discussing the propriety of public 
 
212 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 measures and political opinions, let us have as 
 much of it as you please ; but if it means the 
 liberty of affronting, calumniating, and defaming 
 one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to 
 part with my share of it whenever our legislators 
 shall please so to alter the law, and shall cheerfully 
 consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others 
 for the privilege of not being abused myself. 
 
 By whom this Court is commissioned or constituted. 
 
 It is not by any commission from the supreme 
 executive council, who might previously judge of 
 the abilities, integrity, knowledge, &c. of the per 
 sons to be appointed to this great trust, of deciding 
 upon the characters and good fame of the citizens ; 
 for this court is above that council, and may ac 
 cuse, judge, and condemn it, at pleasure. Nor is it 
 hereditary, as in the court of dernier resort, in the 
 peerage of England. But any man who can pro 
 cure pen, ink, and paper, with a press, a few types, 
 and a huge pair of BLACKING balls, may commis- 
 sionate himself ; and his court is immediately 
 established in the plenary possession and exercise 
 of its rights. For if you make the least complaint 
 of the judges conduct, he daubs his blacking balls 
 in your face wherever he meets you : and besides 
 tearing your private character to flitters, marks you 
 out for the odium of the public, as an enemy to the 
 liberty of the przss. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 213 
 
 Of the natural support of these Courts. 
 
 Their support is founded in the depravity ot 
 such minds as have not been mended by religion, 
 nor improved by good education : 
 
 " There is a lust in man no charm can tame, 
 Of loudly publishing his neighbor s shame." 
 
 Hence : 
 
 " On eagle s wings immortal scandals fly, 
 While virtuous actions are but born and die." 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 Whoever feels pain in hearing a good character 
 of his neighbor, will feel a pleasure in the reverse. 
 And of those who, despairing to rise into distinc 
 tion by their virtues, and are happy if others can 
 be depressed to a level with themselves, there are a 
 number sufficient in every great town to maintain 
 one of these courts by their subscriptions. A 
 shrewd observer once said, that in walking the 
 streets in a slippery morning, one might see where 
 the good-natured people lived by the ashes thrown 
 on the ice before their doors : probably he would 
 have formed a different conjecture of the temper of 
 those whom he might find engaged in such a sub 
 scription. 
 
 Of the checks proper to be established against the 
 abuse of power in those courts. 
 
 Hitherto there are none. But since so much 
 has been written and published on the federal con- 
 
214 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 stitution, and the necessity of checks in all other 
 parts of good government has been so clearly and 
 learnedly explained, I find myself so far enlightened 
 as to suspect some check may be proper in this 
 part also ; but I have been at a loss to imagine any 
 that may not be construed an infringement of the 
 sacred liberty of the press. At length, however, I 
 think I have found one that, instead of diminish 
 ing general liberty, shall augment it ; which is, by 
 restoring to the people a species of liberty of which 
 they have been deprived by our laws, I mean the 
 liberty of the cudgel. In the rude state of society 
 prior to the existence of laws, if one man gave 
 another ill language, the affronted person would 
 return it by a box on the ear ; and if repeated, by 
 a good drubbing ; and this without offending 
 against any law : but now the right of making- 
 such returns is denied, and they are punished as 
 breaches of the peace ; while the right of abusing 
 seems to remain in full force : the laws made 
 against it being rendered ineffectual by the liberty 
 of the press. 
 
 My proposal then is, to leave the liberty of the 
 press untouched, to be exercised in its full extent, 
 force, and vigor ; but to permit the liberty of the 
 cudgel to go with it pan passu. Thus, my fellow- 
 citizens, if an impudent writer attacks your reputa 
 tion, dearer to you perhaps than your life, and puts 
 his name to the charge, you may go to him as 
 openly and break his head. If he conceals him- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 215 
 
 self behind the printer, and you can nevertheless 
 discover who he is, you may in like manner way 
 lay him in the night, attack him behind, and give 
 him a good drubbing. Thus far goes my project 
 as to private resentment and retribution. But if 
 the public should ever happen to be affronted, as it 
 ought to be, with the conduct of such writers, I 
 would not advise proceeding immediately to these 
 extremities ; but that we should in moderation con 
 tent ourselves with tarring and feathering, and 
 tossing them in a blanket. 
 
 If, however, it should be thought that this pro 
 posal of mine may disturb the public peace, I 
 would then humbly recommend to our legislators 
 to take up the consideration of both liberties, that 
 of the press, and that of the cudgel, and by an ex 
 plicit law mark their extent and limits ; and at the 
 same time that they secure the person of a citizen 
 from assaults, they would likewise provide for the 
 security of his reputation. 
 
210 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 BAGATELLES. 
 
 f The Letters, Essays, %c. contained in this section, were 
 chiefly written by Dr. Franklin for the amusement of his in- 
 iiuiate society in London and Paris ; and were by himself 
 actually collected in a small port-folio, endorsed as above. 
 Several of the pieces were either originally written in 
 French, or afterwards translated by him into that language, 
 by way of exercises."] 
 
 THE LEVEE. 
 
 IN the first chapter of Job we have an account 
 of a transaction said to have arisen in the court, or 
 at the levee, of the best of all possible princes, or of 
 governments by a single person, viz. that of God 
 himself. 
 
 At this levee, in which the sons of God were 
 assembled, Satan also appeared. 
 
 It is probable the writer of that ancient book 
 took his idea of this levee from those of the eastern 
 monarchs of the age he lived in. 
 
 It is to this day usual at the levees of princes, to 
 have persons assembled who are enemies to each 
 other, who seek to obtain favor by whispering ca 
 lumny and detraction, and thereby ruining those 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 217 
 
 that distinguish themselves by their virtue and me 
 rit. And kings frequently ask a familiar question 
 or two, of every one in the circle, merely to show 
 their benignity. These circumstances are particu 
 larly exemplified in this relation. 
 
 If a modern king, for instance, finds a person in 
 the circle who has not lately been there, he natu 
 rally asks him how he has passed his time since he 
 last had the pleasure of seeing him ? the gentleman 
 perhaps replies that he has been in the country to 
 view his estates, and visit some friends. Thus Sa 
 tan being asked whence he cometh? answers, 
 " From going to and fro in the earth, and walking 
 up and down in it." And being further asked, 
 whether he had considered the uprightness and 
 fidelity of the prince s servant Job, he immediately 
 displays all the malignance of the designing cour 
 tier, by answering with another question : " Doth 
 Job serve God for naught ? Hast thou not given 
 him immense wealth, and protected him in the 
 possession of it ? Deprive him of that, and he will 
 curse thee to thy face." In modern phrase, Take 
 away his places and his pensions, and your Ma 
 jesty will soon find him in the opposition. 
 
 This whisper against Job had its effect. He 
 was delivered into the power of his adversary, who 
 deprived him of his fortune, destroyed his family, 
 and completely ruined him. 
 
 The book of Job is called by divines a sacred 
 
218 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 poem, and with the rest of the Holy Scriptures, is 
 understood to be written for our instruction. 
 
 What then is the instruction to be gathered from 
 tins supposed transaction ? 
 
 Trust not a single person with the government 
 of your state. For if the Deity himself, being the 
 monarch, may for a time give way to calumny, and 
 suffer it to operate the destruction of the best of 
 subjects ; what mischief may you not expect from 
 such power in a mere man, though the best of men, 
 from whom the truth is often industriously hidden, 
 and to whom falsehood is often presented in its 
 place, by artful, interested, and malicious cour 
 tiers? 
 
 And be cautious in trusting him even with 
 limited powers, lest sooner or later he sap and de 
 stroy those limits, and render himself absolute. 
 
 For by the disposal of places, he attaches to 
 himself all the placeholders, with their numerous 
 connexions, and also all the expecters and hopers 
 of places, which will form a strong party in pro 
 moting his views. By various political engage 
 ments for the interest of neighboring states or 
 princes, he procures their aid in establishing his 
 own personal power. So that, through the hopes 
 of emolument in one part of his subjects, and the 
 fear of his resentment in the other, all opposition 
 falls before him. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 219 
 
 PROPOSED NEW VERSION OF THE BIBLE. 
 To THE PRINTER OF * * * * 
 
 SIR, 
 
 IT is now more than 170 years since 
 the translation of our common English Bible. The 
 language in that time is much changed, and the stile 
 being obsolete, and thence less agreeable, is perhaps 
 one reason why the reading of that excellent book 
 is of late so much neglected. I have therefore 
 thought it would be well to procure a new version, 
 in which, preserving the sense, the turn of phrase 
 and manner of expression should be modern. I 
 do not pretend to have the necessary abilities for 
 such a work myself; I throw out the hint for the 
 consideration of the learned : and only venture to 
 send you a few verses of the first chapter of Job, 
 which may serve as a sample of the kind of version 
 I would recommend. A. B. 
 
 PART OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF JOB MODERNISED. 
 
 OLD TEXT. NEW VERSION. 
 
 Verse 6. Now there was a day Verse 6. And it being levee 
 
 when the sons of God came to day in heaven, all God s nobility 
 
 present themselves before the came to court, to present them- 
 
 Lord, and Satan came among selves before him ; and Satan 
 
 them. also appeared in the circle, as 
 
 one of the ministry. 
 
 7. And the Lord said unto Sa- 7. And God said to Satan, You 
 
 tan, Whence comestthou! Then have been some time absent; 
 
 Satan answered the Lord, and where were you ? And Satan an- 
 
 said, From going to and fro in swered, I have been at my coun- 
 
 the earth, and from walking up try-seat, and in different places 
 
 and down in it. visiting my friends. 
 
220 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 8. And the Lord said unto Sa- 8. And God said, Well, what 
 tan, Hast thou considered my think you of Lord Job? You see 
 servant Job, that there is none he is iny best friend, a perfectly 
 like him in the earth, a perfect honest man, full of respect for 
 and an upright man, one that me, and avoiding every thing 
 feareth God, and escheweth e- that might offend me. 
 
 vil? 
 
 9. Then Satan answered the 9- And Satan answered, Does 
 Lord, and said, Doth Job fear your majesty imagine that his 
 God for naught ? good conduct is the effect of 
 
 mere personal attachment and 
 affection ? 
 
 10. Hast tbou not made an 10, Have you not protected 
 hedge about his house, and him, and heaped your benefits 
 about all that he hath on every upon him, till he is grown euor- 
 side ? Thou hast blessed the mously rich ? 
 
 work of his hands, and his sub 
 stance is increased in the land : 
 
 11. But put forth thine hand 11. Try him ; only withdraw 
 now, and touch all that he hath, your favor, turn him out of his 
 and he will curse thee to thy places, and with-hold his pen- 
 face, sions, and you will soon find 
 
 him in the opposition. 
 
 APOLOGUE. 
 
 LION, king of a certain forest, had among his 
 subjects a body of faithful dogs, in principle and 
 affection strongly attached to his person and 
 government, but through whose assistance he had 
 extended his dominions, and had become the ter 
 ror of his enemies. 
 
 Lion, however, influenced by evil counsellors, 
 took an aversion to the dogs, condemned them 
 
 1 Written at the period of, and in allusion to, the claims of the 
 American Royalists on the British Government. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 221 
 
 unheard, and ordered his tigers, leopards, and 
 panthers to attack and destroy them. 
 
 The dogs petitioned humbly, but their petitions 
 were rejected haughtily ; and they were forced to 
 defend themselves, which they did with bravery. 
 
 A few among them, of a mongrel race, derived 
 from a mixture with wolves and foxes, corrupted 
 by royal promises of great rewards, deserted the 
 honest dogs and joined their enemies. 
 
 The dogs were finally victorious : a treaty of 
 peace was made, in which Lion acknowledged 
 them to be free, and disclaimed all future authority 
 over them. 
 
 The mongrels not being permitted to return 
 among them, claimed of the royalists the reward 
 that had been promised. 
 
 A council of the beasts was held to consider 
 their demand. 
 
 The wolves and the foxes agreed unanimously 
 that the demand was just, that royal promises 
 ought to be kept, and that every loyal subject 
 should contribute freely to enable his majesty to 
 fulfil them. 
 
 The horse alone, with a boldness and freedom 
 that became the nobleness of his nature, delivered 
 a contrary opinion. 
 
 " The king," said he, " has been misled, by bad 
 ministers, to war unjustly upon his faithful subjects. 
 Royal promises, when made to encourage us to act 
 for the public good, should indeed be honorably 
 
222 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 acquitted ; but if to encourage us to betray and 
 destroy each other, they are wicked and void from 
 the beginning. The advisers of such promises, 
 and those who murdered in consequence of them, 
 instead of being recompensed should be severely 
 punished. Consider how greatly our common 
 strength is already diminished by our loss of the 
 dogs. If you enable the king to reward those 
 fratricides, you will establish a precedent that may 
 justify a future tyrant in making like promises, and 
 every example of such an unnatural brute reward 
 ed, will give them additional weight. Horses and 
 bulls, as well as dogs, may thus be divided against 
 their own kind, and civil wars produced at plea 
 sure, till we are so weakened that neither liberty 
 nor safety are any longer to be found in the forest, 
 and nothing remains but abject submission to the 
 will of a despot, who may devour us as he pleases." 
 The council had sense enough to resolve, That 
 the demand be rejected. 
 
 To Miss GEORGIANA SHIPLEY, ] 
 
 On the loss of her American Squirrel, who, escaping from 
 his cage, re as killed by a shepherd s dog. 
 
 DEAR Miss, London, Sept. 26, 1772. 
 
 I LAMENT with you most sincerely, the 
 unfortunate end of poor MUNGO. Few squirrels 
 were better accomplished ; for he had had a good 
 
 1 A daughter of the Bishop of St. Asaph, 
 
PARTI. MISCELLANIES. 2*23 
 
 education, had travelled far, and seen much of the 
 world. As he had the honor of being, for his vir 
 tues, your favorite, he should not go, like common 
 skuggs, without an elegy or an epitaph. Let us 
 give him one in the monumental style and measure, 
 which, being neither prose nor verse, is perhaps the 
 properest for grief; since to use common language 
 would look as if we were not affected, and to make 
 rhimes would seem trifling in sorrow. 
 
 . : ; v ," / 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Alas ! poor MUNGO! 
 Happy wert thou hadst thou known 
 
 Thy own felicity. 
 Remote from the fierce bal d eagle, 
 
 Tyrant of thy native woods ; 
 Thou hadst naught to fear from his piercing talons, 
 
 Nor from the murdering gun 
 Of the thoughtless sportsman. 
 
 Safe in thy wir d castle, 
 
 GRIMALKIN never could annoy thee. 
 
 Daily wert thou fed with the choicest viands, 
 
 By the fair hand of an indulgent mistress ; 
 
 But, discontented, 
 
 Thou wouldst have more freedom : 
 
 Too soon, alas ! didst thou obtain it ; 
 
 And, wandering, 
 Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel RANGER ! 
 
 Learn hence, 
 
 Ye who blindly seek more liberty, 
 
 Whether subjects, sons, squirrels,- or daughters, 
 
 That apparent restraint may be real protection ; 
 
 Yielding peace and plenty 
 
 With security. 
 
224 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 You see, my dear Miss, how much more decent 
 and proper this broken style is, than if we were to 
 say, by way of epitaph, 
 
 Here SKUGG 
 
 Lies snug, 
 
 As a bug 
 
 In a rug. 
 
 and yet, perhaps, there are people in the world of 
 so little feeling as to think that this would be a 
 good-enough epitaph for poor Mungo. 
 
 If you wish it, I shall procure another to succeed 
 him ; but perhaps you will now choose some other 
 amusement. 
 
 Remember me affectionately to all the good 
 family, and believe me ever, 
 
 Your affectionate friend, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 THE ART OF PROCURING PLEASANT DREAMS. 
 INSCRIBED TO MISS ****. 
 (Being written at her request.) 
 
 As a great part of our life is spent in sleep, 
 during which we have sometimes pleasant, and 
 sometimes painful dreams, it becomes of some con 
 sequence to obtain the one kind, and avoid the 
 other ; for, whether real or imaginary, pain is pain, 
 and pleasure is pleasure. If we can sleep without 
 dreaming, it is well that painful dreams are avoid 
 ed. If, while we sleep, we can have any pleasing 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 225 
 
 dreams, it is, as the French say, autant de gagne, 
 so much added to the pleasure of life. 
 
 To this end it is, in the first place, necessary to 
 be careful in preserving health, by due exercise 
 and great temperance ; for, in sickness, the imagin 
 ation is disturbed ; and disagreeable, sometimes 
 terrible, ideas are apt to present themselves. Exer 
 cise should precede meals, not immediately follow 
 them ; the first promotes, the latter, unless mode 
 rate, obstructs digestion. If, after exercise, we 
 feed sparingly, the digestion will be easy and good, 
 the body lightsome, the temper cheerful, and all 
 the animal functions performed agreeably. Sleep, 
 when it follows, will be natural and undisturbed; 
 while indolence, with full feeding, occasions night 
 mares and horrors inexpressible : we fall from 
 precipices, are assaulted by wild beasts, murderers, 
 and demons, and experience every variety of dis 
 tress. Observe, however, that the quantities of 
 food and exercise are relative things : those who 
 move much may, and indeed ought, to eat more ; 
 those who use little exercise should eat little. In 
 general, mankind, since the improvement of cook 
 ery, eat about twice as much as nature requires. 
 Suppers are not bad, if we have not dined ; but 
 restless nights naturally follow hearty suppers after 
 full dinners. Indeed, as there is a difference in 
 constitutions, some rest well after these meals ; it 
 costs them only a frightful dream and an apoplexy, 
 which they sleep till doomsday. Nothing is 
 
 VOL. i. p 
 
226 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 more common in the newspapers, than instances 
 of people who, after eating* a hearty supper, are 
 found dead a-bed in the morning. 
 
 Another means of preserving health, to be at 
 tended to, is the having a constant supply of fresh 
 air in your bed-chamber. It has been a great 
 mistake, the sleeping in rooms exactly closed, and 
 in beds surrounded by curtains. No outward air 
 that may come into you is so unwholesome as the 
 unchanged air, often breathed, of a close chamber. 
 As boiling water does not grow hotter by longer 
 boiling, if the particles that receive greater heat 
 can escape ; so living bodies do not putrefy if the 
 particles, so fast as they become putrid, can be 
 thrown off. Nature expels them by the pores of 
 the skin and the lungs, and in a free open air they 
 are carried off; but in a close room we receive 
 them again and again, though they become more 
 and more corrupt. A number of persons crowd 
 ed into a small room thus spoil the air in a few 
 minutes, and even render it mortal, as in the 
 Black Hole at Calcutta. A single person is said to 
 spoil only a gallon of air per minute, and therefore 
 requires a longer time to spoil a chamber full ; but 
 it is done, however, in proportion, and many putrid 
 disorders hence have their origin. It is recorded 
 of Methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may 
 be supposed to have best preserved his health, that 
 he slept always in the open air ; for, when he had 
 1 lived five hundred years, an angel said to him : 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 227 
 
 " Arise, Methusalem, and build thee an house, for 
 thou shalt live yet five hundred years longer." But 
 Methusalem answered and said, " If I am to live 
 but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while 
 to build me an house ; I will sleep in the air, as 
 I have been used to do." Physicians, after having 
 for ages contended that the sick should not be 
 indulged with fresh air, have at length discovered 
 that it may do them good. It is therefore to be 
 hoped, that they may in time discover likewise, 
 that it is not hurtful to those who are in health, 
 and that we may be then cured of the aerophobia 
 that at present distresses weak minds, and makes 
 them choose to be stifled and poisoned, rather than 
 leave open the window of a bed-chamber, or put 
 down the glass of a coach. 
 
 Confined air, when saturated with perspirable 
 matter, 1 will not receive more ; and that matter 
 must remain in our bodies, and occasion diseases : 
 but it gives some previous notice of its being about 
 to be hurtful, by producing certain uneasinesses, 
 slight indeed at first, such as with regard to the 
 lungs is a trifling sensation, and to the pores of the 
 skin a kind of restlessness, which is difficult to 
 describe, and few that feel it know the cause of it. 
 But we may recollect, that sometimes on waking 
 
 1 What physicians call the perspirable matter, is that vapor 
 which passes off from our bodies, from the lungs, and through 
 the pores of the skin. The quantity of this is said to be rive- 
 eighths of what we eat. 
 
228 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 in the night, we have, if warmly covered, found it 
 difficult to get asleep again. We turn often with 
 out finding repose in any position. This fidgetti- 
 ness (to use a vulgar expression for want of a better) 
 is occasioned wholly by an uneasiness in the skin, 
 owing to the retention of the perspirable matter 
 the bed-clothes having received their quantity, and, 
 being saturated, refusing to take any more. To 
 become sensible of this by an experiment, let a 
 person keep his position in the bed, but throw off 
 the bed-clothes, and suffer fresh air to approach 
 the part uncovered of his body ; he will then feel 
 that part suddenly refreshed ; for the air will imme 
 diately relieve the skin, by receiving, licking up, 
 and carrying off, the load of perspirable matter that 
 incommoded it. For every portion of cool air that 
 approaches the warm skin, in receiving its part of 
 that vapor, receives therewith a degree of heat that 
 rarefies and renders it lighter, when it will be push 
 ed away with its burthen, by cooler and therefore 
 heavier fresh air, which for a moment supplies its 
 place, and then, being likewise changed and warm 
 ed, gives way to a succeeding quantity. This is 
 the order of nature, to prevent animals being infect 
 ed by their own perspiration. He will now be 
 sensible of the difference between the part exposed 
 to the air and that which, remaining sunk in the 
 bed, denies the air access : for this part now 
 manifests its uneasiness more distinctly by the 
 comparison, and the seat of the uneasiness is more 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 229 
 
 plainly perceived than when the whole surface of 
 the body was affected by it. 
 
 Here, then, is one great and general cause of 
 impleasing dreams. For when the body is uneasy, 
 the mind will be disturbed by it, and disagreeable 
 ideas of various kinds will in sleep be the natural 
 consequences. The remedies, preventive and cura 
 tive, follow : 
 
 1 . By eating moderately (as before advised for 
 health s sake) less perspirable matter is produced 
 in a given time ; hence the bed-clothes receive it 
 longer before they are saturated, and we may there 
 fore sleep longer before we are made uneasy by 
 their refusing to receive any more. 
 
 2. By using thinner and more porous bed 
 clothes, which will suffer the perspirable matter 
 more easily to pass through them, we are less in 
 commoded, such being longer tolerable. 
 
 3. When you are awakened by this uneasiness, 
 and find you cannot easily sleep again, get out of 
 bed, beat up and turn your pillow, shake the bed 
 clothes well, with at least twenty shakes, then 
 throw the bed open and leave it to cool ; in the 
 meanwhile, continuing undrest, walk about your 
 chamber till your skin has had time to discharge 
 its load, which it will do sooner as the air may be 
 diied and colder. When you begin to feel the cold 
 air unpleasant, then return to your bed, and you 
 will soon fall asleep, and your sleep will be sweet 
 and pleasant. All the scenes presented to your 
 
230 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 fancy will be too of the pleasing kind. I am often 
 as agreeably entertained with them as by the 
 scenery of an opera. If you happen to be too in 
 dolent to get out of bed, you may, instead of it, lift 
 up your bed-clothes with one arm and leg, so as 
 to draw in a good deal of fresh air, and by letting 
 them fall force it out again. This, repeated twenty 
 times, will so clear them of the perspirable matter 
 they have imbibed, as to permit your sleeping well 
 for some time afterwards. But this latter method 
 is not equal to the former. 
 
 Those who do not love trouble, and can afford 
 to have two beds, will find great luxury in rising, 
 when they wake in a hot bed, and going into the 
 cool one. Such shifting of beds would also be of 
 great service to persons ill of a fever, as it refreshes 
 and frequently procures sleep. A very large bed, 
 that will admit a removal so distant from the first 
 situation as to be cool and sweet, may in a degree 
 answer the same end. 
 
 One or two observations more will conclude this 
 little piece. Care must be taken when you lie 
 down, to dispose your pillow so as to suit your 
 manner of placing your head, and to be perfectly 
 easy ; then place your limbs so as not to bear in 
 conveniently hard upon one another, as, for in 
 stance, the joints of your ancles : for though a bad 
 position may at first give but little pain and be 
 hardly noticed, yet a continuance will render it less 
 tolerable, and the uneasiness may come on while 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 
 
 you are asleep, and disturb your imagination* 
 These are the rules of the art. But though they 
 will generally prove effectual in producing the end 
 intended, there is a case in which the most punc 
 tual observance of them will be totally fruitless. I 
 need not mention the case to you, my dear friend, 
 but my account of the art would be imperfect with 
 out it. The case is, when the person who desires 
 to have pleasant dreams has not taken care to pre 
 serve, what is necessary above all things, 
 
 A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 
 
 THE EPHEMERA, 
 Aii Emblem of Hitman Life (Written in 1778.) 
 
 To MADAME BRILLON, of P assy. 
 You may remember, my dear friend, that when 
 we lately spent that happy day in the delightful 
 garden and sweet society of the Moulin Joly, I 
 stopt a little in one of our walks, and staid some 
 time behind the company. We had been shown 
 numberless skeletons of a kind of little fly, called an 
 ephemera, whose successive generations, we were 
 told, were bred and expired within the day. I 
 happened to see a living company of them on a 
 leaf, who appeared to be engaged in conversation. 
 You know I understand all the inferior animal 
 tongues : my too great application to the study of 
 them is the best excuse I can give for the little pro- 
 
232 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 gress 1 have made in your charming language. I 
 listened through curiosity to the discourse of these 
 little creatures ; but as they, in their national viva 
 city, spoke three or four together, I could make but 
 little of their conversation. I found, however, by 
 some broken expressions that I heard now and 
 then, they were disputing warmly on the merit of 
 two foreign musicians, one a cousin, the other a 
 moscheto ; in which dispute they spent their time, 
 seemingly as regardless of the shortness of life as if 
 they had been sure of living a month. Happy 
 people ! thought I, you live certainly under a wise, 
 just, and mild government, since you have no pub 
 lic grievances to complain of, nor any subject of 
 contention but the perfections and imperfections of 
 foreign music. I turned my head from them to an 
 old grey-headed one who was single on another 
 leaf, and talking to himself. Being amused with 
 his soliloquy, I put it down in writing, in hopes 
 it will likewise amuse her to whom I am so 
 much indebted for the most pleasing of all amuse 
 ments, her delicious company and heavenly har 
 mony. 
 
 " It was," said he, " the opinion of learned phi 
 losophers of our race, who lived and florished long- 
 before my time, that this vast world, the Moulin 
 Joly, could not itself subsist more than eighteen 
 hours ; and I think there was some foundation for 
 that opinion, since, by the apparent motion of the 
 great luminary that gives life to all nature, and which 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 233 
 
 in my time has evidently declined considerably to 
 wards the ocean at the end of our earth, it must 
 then finish its course, be extinguished in the wa 
 ters that surround us, and leave the world in cold 
 and darkness, necessarily producing universal 
 death and destruction. I have lived seven of those 
 hours, a great age, being no less than four hundred 
 and twenty minutes of time. How very few of us 
 continue so long ! I have seen generations born, 
 florish, and expire. My present friends are the 
 children and grand -children of the friends of my 
 youth, who are now, alas, no more ! And I must 
 soon follow them ; for, by the course of nature, 
 though still in health, I cannot expect to live above 
 seven or eight minutes longer. What now avails 
 all my toil and labor, in amassing honey-dew on 
 this leaf, which I cannot live to enjoy ! What the 
 political struggles I have been engaged in, for the 
 good of my compatriot inhabitants of this bush, or 
 my philosophical studies for the benefit of our race 
 in general ! for in politics, what can laws do with 
 out morals ? Our present race of ephemerae will 
 in a course of minutes become corrupt, like those 
 of other and older bushes, and consequently as 
 wretched : and in philosophy how small our pro 
 gress ! Alas ! art is long, and life is short ! My 
 friends would comfort me with the idea of a name, 
 they say, I shall leave behind me ; and they tell 
 me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory. 
 But what will fame be to an ephemera who no 
 
234 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 longer exists ? and what will become of all history 
 in the eighteenth hour, when the world itself, even 
 the whole Moulin Joly, shall come to its end, and 
 be buried in universal ruin ?" 
 
 To me, after all my eager pursuits, no solid 
 pleasures now remain, but the reflection of a long 
 life spent in meaning well, the sensible conversa 
 tion of a few good lady ephemera, and now and 
 then a kind smile and a tune from the ever amiable 
 Brilliant e. B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 THE WHISTLE. 
 (TO MADAME ER1LLON.) 
 
 Passy, November 10, 1779. 
 I RECEIVED my dear friend s two letters, 
 one for Wednesday and one for Saturday. This 
 is again Wednesday. I do not deserve one for to 
 day, because I have not answered the former. 
 But indolent as I am, and averse to writing, the 
 fear of having no more of your pleasing epistles, if 
 I do not contribute to the correspondence, obliges 
 me to take up my pen ; and as Mr. B. has kindly 
 sent me word, that he sets out to-morrow to see 
 you, instead of spending this Wednesday evening 
 as I have done its name-sakes, in your delightful 
 company, I sit down to spend it in thinking of you, 
 in writing to you, and in reading over and over 
 again your letters. 
 
 I am charmed with your description of Para- 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 235 
 
 dise, and with your plan of living there ; and I ap 
 prove much of your conclusion, that, in the mean 
 time, we should draw all the good we can from this 
 world. In my opinion, we might all draw more 
 good from it than we do, and suffer less evil, if we 
 would take care not to give too much for whistles. 
 For to me it seems, that most of the unhappy peo 
 ple we meet with, are become so by neglect of that 
 caution. 
 
 You ask what I mean ? You love stories, and 
 will excuse my telling one of myself. 
 
 When I was a child of seven years old, my 
 friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. 
 I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for 
 children ; and, being charmed with the sound of a 
 whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of ano 
 ther boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my mo 
 ney for one. I then came home, and went whist 
 ling all over the house, much pleased with my 
 whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, 
 and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain 
 I had made, told me I had given four times as 
 much for it as it was worth ; put me in mind what 
 good things I might have bought with the rest of 
 the money ; and laughed at me so much for my 
 folly, that I cried with vexation ; and the reflection 
 gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me 
 pleasure. 
 
 This however was afterwards of use to me, the 
 impression continuing on my mind : so that often, 
 
236 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary 
 thing, I said to myself, Dorit give too much for the 
 whistle; and I saved my money. 
 
 As I grew up, came into the world, and ob 
 served the actions of men, I thought I met with 
 many, very many, who gave too much for the 
 whistle. 
 
 When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, 
 sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his re 
 pose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, 
 to attain it, I have said to myself, This man gives 
 too much for his whistle. 
 
 When I saw another fond of popularity, con 
 stantly employing himself in political bustles, neg 
 lecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that 
 neglect, He pays, indeed, said I, too much for his 
 whistle. 
 
 If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of 
 comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good 
 to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and 
 the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of 
 accumulating wealth, Poor man, said I, you pay 
 too much for your whistle. 
 
 When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing 
 every laudable improvement of the mind, or of his 
 fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining 
 his health in their pursuit, Mistaken man, said I, 
 you are providing pain for yourself, instead of 
 pleasure : you give too much for your whistle. 
 
 If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 237 
 
 fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above 
 his fortune, for which he contracts debts, and ends 
 his career in a prison, A las ! say I, he has paid dear, 
 very dear, for his whistle. 
 
 When I see a beautiful sweet-tempered girl, mar 
 ried to an ill-natured brute of a husband, What a 
 pity, say I, that she should pay so much for a whistle! 
 
 In short, I conceive that great part of the mise 
 ries of mankind are brought upon them by the 
 false estimates they have made of the value of 
 things, and by their giving too much for their 
 whistles. 
 
 Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy 
 people, when I consider, that with all this wisdom 
 of which I am boasting, there are certain things in 
 the world so tempting, for example, the apples of 
 king John, which happily are not to be bought ; 
 for if they were put to sale by auction, I might 
 very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase, 
 and find that I had once more given too much for 
 the whistle. 
 
 Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours 
 very sincerely and with unalterable affection, 
 
 JB. FRANKLIN. 
 
 A PETITION 
 
 To those who have the Superintendence of Education. 
 I ADDRESS myself to all the friends of youth, and 
 conjure them to direct their compassionate regards 
 
238 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 to my unhappy fate, in order to remove the preju 
 dices of which I am the victim. There are twin 
 sisters of us ; and the two eyes of man do not more 
 resemble, nor are capable of being upon better 
 terms with each other, than my sister and myself, 
 were it not for the partiality of our parents, who 
 make the most injurious distinctions between us. 
 From my infancy, I have been led to consider my 
 sister as a being of a more elevated rank. I was 
 suffered to grow up without the least instruction, 
 while nothing was spared in her education. She 
 had masters to teach her writing, drawing, music, 
 and other accomplishments ; but if by chance I 
 touched a pencil, a pen, or a needle, I was bit 
 terly rebuked ; and more than once I have been 
 beaten for being awkard, and wanting a graceful 
 manner. It is true, my sister associated me with 
 her upon some occasions ; but she always made a 
 point of taking the lead, calling upon me only from 
 necessity, or to figure by her side. 
 
 But conceive not, sirs, that my complaints are 
 instigated merely by vanity. No ; my uneasiness 
 is occasioned by an object much more serious. It 
 is the practice in our family, that the whole busi 
 ness of providing for its subsistence falls upon my 
 sister and myself. If any indisposition should 
 attack my sister and I mention it in confidence 
 upon this occasion, that she is subject to the gout, 
 the rheumatism, and cramp, without making men 
 tion of other accidents what would be the fate of 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 239 
 
 our poor family ? Must not the regret of our parents 
 be excessive, at having placed so great a difference 
 between sisters who are so perfectly equal ? Alas 
 we must perish from distress : for it would not be 
 in my power even to scrawl a suppliant petition 
 for relief, having been obliged to employ the hand 
 of another in transcribing the request which I have 
 now the honor to prefer to you. 
 
 Condescend, sirs, to make my parents sensible 
 of the injustice of an exclusive tenderness, and of 
 the necessity of distributing their care and affection 
 among all their children equally. I am, with a 
 profound respect, sirs, your obedient servant, 
 
 THE LEFT HAND. 
 
 THE HANDSOME AND DEFORMED LEG. 
 
 THERE are two sorts of people in the world, 
 who, with equal degrees of health and wealth, and 
 the other comforts of life, become, the one happy, 
 and the other miserable. This arises very much 
 from the different views in which they consider 
 things, persons, and events ; and the effect of those 
 different views upon their own minds. 
 
 In whatever situation men can be placed, they 
 may find conveniences and inconveniencies ; in 
 whatever company, they may find persons and 
 conversation more or less pleasing; at whatever 
 table, they may meet with meats and drinks of 
 
240 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 better and worse taste, dishes better and worse 
 dressed ; in whatever climate, they will find good 
 and bad weather; under whatever government, 
 they may find good and bad laws, and good and 
 bad administration of those laws ; in whatever 
 poem, or work of genius, they may see faults and 
 beauties ; in almost every face, and every person, 
 they may discover fine features and defects, good 
 and bad qualities. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the two sorts of 
 people above-mentioned fix their attention ; those 
 who are disposed to be happy, on the conveniencies 
 of things, the pleasant parts of conversation, the 
 well-dressed dishes, the goodness of the wines, the 
 fine weather, &c. and enjoy all with cheerfulness. 
 Those who are to be unhappy, think and speak 
 only of the contraries. Hence they are continually 
 discontented themselves, and, by their remarks, 
 sour the pleasures of society, offend personally 
 many people, and make themselves everywhere 
 disagreeable. If this turn of mind was founded 
 in nature, such unhappy persons would be the 
 more to be pitied. But as the disposition to criti 
 cise, and to be disgusted, is perhaps taken up 
 originally by imitation, and is unawares grown into 
 a habit, which, though at present strong, may never 
 theless be cured, when those who have it are con 
 vinced of its bad effects on their felicity, I hope 
 this little admonition may be of service to them, 
 and put them on changing a habit, which, though 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 241 
 
 in the exercise it is chiefly an act of imagination, 
 yet has serious consequences in life, as it brings on 
 real griefs and misfortunes. For, as many are 
 offended by, and nobody loves this sort of people, 
 no one shows them more than the most common 
 civility and respect, and scarcely that ; and this 
 frequently puts them out of humor, and draws 
 them into disputes and contentions. If they aim 
 at obtaining some advantage in rank or fortune, 
 nobody wishes them success, or will stir a step, or 
 speak a word, to favor their pretensions. If they 
 incur public censure or disgrace, no one will de 
 fend or excuse, and many join to aggravate their 
 misconduct, and render them completely odious. 
 If these people will not change this bad habit, and 
 condescend to be pleased with what is pleasing, 
 without fretting themselves and others about the 
 contraries, it is good for others to avoid an ac 
 quaintance with them ; which is always disagree 
 able, and sometimes very inconvenient, especially 
 when one finds oneself entangled in their quarrels. 
 
 An old philosophical friend of mine was grown, 
 from experience, very cautious in this particular, 
 and carefully avoided any intimacy with such 
 people. He had, like other philosophers, a ther 
 mometer to show him the heat of the weather, and 
 a barometer to mark when it was likely to prove 
 good or bad ; but there being no instrument in 
 vented to discover, at first sight, this unpleasing 
 disposition in a person, he for that purpose made 
 
 VOL. i. Q 
 
242 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 use of his legs ; one of which was remarkably 
 handsome, the other, by some accident, crooked 
 and deformed. If a stranger, at the first interview, 
 regarded his ugly leg more than his handsome 
 one, he doubted him; If he spoke of it, and took 
 no notice of the handsome leg, that was sufficient 
 to determine my philosopher to have no further 
 acquaintance with him. Every body has not this 
 two-legged instrument ; but every one, with a little 
 attention, may observe signs of that carping, fault 
 finding disposition, and take the same resolution 
 of avoiding the acquaintance of those infected 
 with it. I therefore advise those critical, querulous, 
 discontented, unhappy people, that if they wish to 
 be respected and beloved by others, and happy in 
 themselves, they should leave off looking at the ugly 
 leg. 
 
 MORALS OF CHESS. 
 
 [PLAYING at chess is the most ancient and most 
 universal game known among men ; for its original 
 is beyond the memory of history, and it has, for 
 numberless ages, been the amusement of all the 
 civilised nations of Asia, the Persians, the Indians, 
 and the Chinese. Europe has had it above a 
 thousand years ; the Spaniards have spread it over 
 their part of America ; and it has lately begun to 
 make its appearance in the United States. It is so 
 interesting in itself, as not to need the view of gain 
 
PARTI. MISCELLANIES. 243 
 
 to induce engaging in it; and thence it is seldom 
 pla v^d for money. Those therefore who have leisure 
 for such diversions, cannot find one that is more in 
 nocent: and the following piece, written with a view 
 to correct (among a few young friends) some little 
 improprieties in the practice of it, shows at the 
 same time that it may, in its effects on the mind, 
 be not merely innocent, but advantageous, to the 
 vanquished as well as the victor.] 
 
 THE game of chess is not merely an idle amuse 
 ment. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, 
 useful in the course of human life, are to be ac 
 quired or strengthened by it, so as to become 
 habits, ready on all occasions. For life is a kind 
 of chess, in which we have often points to gain, 
 and competitors or adversaries to contend with, 
 and in which there is a vast variety of good and 
 evil events, that are, in some degree, the effects of 
 prudence or the want of it. By playing at chess, 
 then, we may learn, 
 
 I. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, 
 and considers the consequences that may attend 
 an action : for it is continually occurring to the 
 player, " If I move this piece, what will be the 
 advantage of my new situation ? What use can 
 my adversary make of it to annoy me? What 
 other moves can I make to support it, and to 
 defend myself from his attacks ? " 
 
244 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 II. Circumspection, which surveys the whole 
 chess-board, or scene of action ; the relations of 
 the several pieces and situations, the dangers they 
 are respectively exposed to, the several possibilities 
 of their aiding each other, the probabilities that 
 the adversary may take this* or that move, and 
 attack this or the other piece, and what different 
 means can be used to avoid his stroke, or turn its 
 consequences against him. 
 
 III. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily. 
 This habit is best acquired by observing strictly the 
 laws of the game ; such as, " If you touch a 
 piece, >you must move it somewhere ; if you set it 
 down, you must let it stand : " and it is therefore 
 best that these rules should be observed, as the 
 game thereby becomes more the image of human 
 life, and particularly of war ; in which, if you 
 have incautiously put yourself into a bad and 
 dangerous position, you cannot obtain your ene 
 my s leave to withdraw your troops, and place 
 them more securely, but you must abide all the 
 consequences of your rashness. 
 
 And, lastly, we learn by chess the habit of not 
 being discouraged by present bad appearances in the 
 state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favor- 
 able change, and that of persevering in the search of 
 resources. The game is so full of events, there is 
 such a variety of turns in it, the fortune of it is so 
 subject to sudden vicissitudes, and one so fre 
 quently, after long contemplation, discovers the 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 245 
 
 means of extricating oneself from a supposed in 
 surmountable difficulty, that one is encouraged to 
 continue the contest to the last; in hopes of vic 
 tory by our own skill, or at least of getting a stale 
 mate, by the negligence of our adversary. And 
 whoever considers, what in chess he often sees 
 instances of, that particular pieces of success are 
 apt to produce presumption, and its consequent 
 inattention, by which the losses may be recovered, 
 will learn not to be too much discouraged by the 
 present success of his adversary, nor to despair of 
 final good fortune upon every little check he re 
 ceives in the pursuit of it. 
 
 That we may therefore be induced more fre 
 quently to choose this beneficial amusement, in 
 preference to others which are not attended with 
 the same advantages, every circumstance which 
 may increase the pleasures of it should be re 
 garded ; and every action or word that is unfair, 
 disrespectful, or that in any way may give uneasi 
 ness, should be avoided, as contrary to the imme 
 diate intention of both the players, which is to 
 pass the time agreeably. 
 
 Therefore, first, if it is agreed to play according 
 to the strict rules, then those rules are to be exactly 
 observed by both parties, and should not be in 
 sisted on for one side, while deviated from by the 
 other for this is not equitable. 
 
 Secondly, if it is agreed not to observe the rules 
 exactly, but one party demands indulgencies, he 
 
246 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN* 
 
 should then be as willing to allow them to the 
 other. 
 
 Thirdly, no false move should ever be made to 
 extricate yourself out of difficulty, or to ain an 
 advantage. There can be no pleasure in playing 
 with a person once detected in such unfair prac 
 tice. 
 
 Fourthly, if your adversary is long in playing, 
 you ought not to hurry him, or express any un 
 easiness at his delay. You should not sing, nor 
 whistle, nor look at your watch, nor take up a 
 book to read, nor make a tapping with your feet 
 on the floor, or with your fingers on the table, nor 
 do any thing that may disturb his attention. For 
 all these things displease ; and they do riot show 
 your skill in playing, but your craftiness or your 
 rudeness. 
 
 Fifthly, you ought not to endeavor to amuse and 
 deceive your adversary, by pretending to have 
 made bad moves, and saying, that you have now 
 lost the game, in order to make him secure and 
 careless, and inattentive to your schemes : for this 
 is fraud and deceit, not skill in the game. 
 
 Sixthly, you must not, when you have gained a 
 victory, use any triumphing or insulting expression, 
 nor show too much pleasure; but endeavor to 
 console your adversary, and make him less dis 
 satisfied with himself, by every kind of civil ex 
 pression that may be used with truth, such as ? 
 " you understand the game better than I, but yo i 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 247 
 
 are a little inattentive ; " or, " you play too fast ; " 
 or, " you had the best of the game, but something 
 happened to divert your thoughts, and that turned 
 it in my favor." 
 
 Seventhly, if you are a spectator while others 
 play, observe the most perfect silence. For if you 
 give advice, you offend both parties, him against 
 whom you give it, because it may cause the loss of 
 his game, him in whose favor you give it, because, 
 though it be good and he follows it, he loses the 
 pleasure he might have had, if you had permitted 
 him to think until it had occurred to himself. 
 Even after a move or moves, you must not, by re 
 placing the pieces, show how it might have been 
 placed better ; for that displeases, and may oc 
 casion disputes and doubts about their true situa 
 tion. All talking to the players lessens or diverts 
 their attention, and is therefore unpleasing. Nor 
 should you give the least hint to either party, by 
 any kind of noise or motion. If you do, you are 
 unworthy to be a spectator. If you have a mind 
 to exercise or show your judgment, do it in play 
 ing your own game, when you have an opportunity, 
 not in criticising, or meddling with, or counselling 
 the play of others. 
 
 Lastly, if the game is not to be played rigorously, 
 according to the rules above mentioned, then 
 moderate your desire of victory over your adver 
 sary, and be pleased with one over yourself. 
 Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by 
 
248 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 his unskilfulness 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 situa 
 tion, &c. By this generous civility (so opposite to 
 the unfairness above forbidden) 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 appro 
 bation and good-will of impartial spectators. 
 
 OONTE. 
 
 IL y avoit un officier, homme de bien, appele 
 Montresor, qui etoit tres malade : son cure, croy- 
 ant qu il alloit mourir, lui conseilla de faire sa paix 
 avec Dieu, afm d etre re<ju en Paradis. " Je n ai 
 pas beaucoup d inquietude a ce sujet," dit Montre 
 sor, " car j ai eu, la nuit derniere, une vision qui 
 m a tout-i-fait tranquillise." " Quelle vision avez- 
 vous eue ?" dit le bon pretre. " J etois," repondit 
 Montresor, " a la porte du Paradis, avec une foule 
 de gens qui vouloient entrer. Et St. Pierre de- 
 mandoit a chacun, de quelle religion il 6toit ? L un 
 r6pondoit, Je suis Catholique Romain. H6 bien, 
 disoit St. Pierre, entrez, et prenez votre place la 
 parmi les Catholiques. Un autre dit, qu il ktoit de 
 Teglise Anglicane. H6 bien, dit St. ^Pierre, entrez, 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 249 
 
 et placez-vous la parmi les Anglicans. Un autre 
 dit qu il etoit Quaker. Entrez, dit St. Pierre, et 
 prenez place parmi les Quakers. Enfin, mon tour 
 etant arrive, il me demand a de quelle religion 
 j etois ? Helas ! repondis-je, malheureusement le 
 pauvre Jacques Montresor n en a point. (Jest 
 dommage, dit le Saint, je ne sais ou vous placer ; 
 mais entrezy toujours ; vous vous mettrez ou vous 
 pourrez." 
 
 [Translation. ] 
 
 A TALE. 
 
 AN officer named Montresor, a worthy man, was very ill. 
 The curate of his parish, thinking him likely to die, advised him 
 to make his peace with God, that he might be received into Pa 
 radise. " I have not much uneasiness on the subject," said 
 Montresor, " for I had a vision last night which has perfectly 
 tranquillised my mind." "What vision have you had 7" said 
 the good priest. " I was/ replied Montresor, " at the gate of 
 Paradise, with a crowd of people who wished to enter, and St. 
 Peter inquired of every one what religion he was of? One an 
 swered, I am a Roman Catholic ; Well, said St. Peter, enter 
 and take your place there among the Catholics. Another said 
 he was of the Church of England ; Well, said the Saint, enter 
 and place yourself there among the Anglicans. A third said he 
 was a Quaker; Enter, said St. Peter, and take your place 
 among the Quakers. At length, my turn being come, he asked 
 me of what religion I was ? Alas ! said I, poor Jacques Montre 
 sor has none. Tis pity, said the Saint ; I know not where to 
 place you, but enter nevertheless, and place yourself where you 
 
250 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 AN ARABIAN TALE. 
 
 ALBUMAZAR, the good magician, retired in his* 
 old age to the top of the lofty mountain Calabut ; 
 avoided the society of men, but was visited nightly 
 by genii and spirits of the first rank, who loved him, 
 and amused him with their instructive conversa 
 tion. 
 
 Bel ubel the strong came one evening to see AI- 
 bumazar ; his height was seven leagues, and his 
 wings when spread might overshadow a kingdom. 
 He laid himself gently down between the long 
 ridges of Elulem : the tops of the trees in the valley 
 were his couch ; his head rested on Calabut as on 
 a pillow, and his face shone on the tent of Albu- 
 mazar. 
 
 The magician spoke to him with rapturous piety 
 of the wisdom and goodness of the Most High ; 
 but expressed his wonder at the existence of evil in 
 the world, which he said he could not account for 
 by all the efforts of his reason. 
 
 Value not thyself, my friend, said Belubel, on 
 that quality which thou callest reason. If thou 
 knewest its origin and its weakness, it would ra 
 ther be matter of humiliation. 
 
 Tell me then, said Albumazar, what I do not 
 know ; inform my ignorance, and enlighten my 
 understanding. Contemplate, said Albumazar, the 
 scale of beings from an elephant down to an oyster 
 Thou seest a gradual diminution of faculties and 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 251 
 
 powers, so small in each step, that the difference 
 is scarce perceptible. There is no gap, but the 
 gradation is complete. Men in general do not 
 know, but thou knowest, that in ascending from an 
 elephant to the infinitely Great, Good, and Wise, 
 there is also a long gradation of beings, who pos 
 sess powers and faculties of which thou canst yet 
 have no conception. 
 
 DIALOGUE BETWEEN FRANKLIN AND THE GOUT. 
 
 Midnight, October 22, 1780. 
 
 Franklin. Eh ! Oh ! Eh ! What have I done to 
 merit these cruel sufferings ? 
 
 Gout. Many things : you have ate and drank 
 too freely, and too much indulged those legs of 
 yours in their indolence. 
 
 Frank I m. Who is it that accuses me ? 
 
 Gout. It is I, even I, the Gout. 
 
 Franklin What! my enemy in person? 
 
 Gout. No, not your enemy. 
 
 Franklin. I repeat it ; my enemy : for you would 
 not only torment my body to death, but ruin my 
 good name: you reproach me as a glutton and a 
 tippler; now all the world that knows me will 
 allow, that I am neither the one nor the other. 
 
 Gout. The world may think as it pleases : it is 
 always very complaisant to itself, and sometimes to 
 its friends ; but I very well know, that the quantity 
 
252 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of meat and drink proper for a man, who takes a 
 reasonable degree of exercise, would be too much 
 for another, who never takes any. 
 
 Franklin. I take Eh ! Oh ! as much exercise 
 
 Eh ! as I can, Madam Gout. You know my 
 
 sedentary state, and on that account, it would 
 
 seem, Madam Gout, as if you might spare me a 
 
 little, seeing it is not altogether my own fault. 
 
 Gout. Not a jot; your rhetoric and your polite 
 ness are thrown away ; your apology avails no 
 thing. If your situation in life is a sedentary one, 
 your amusements, your recreations, at least, should 
 be active. You ought to walk or ride ; or, if the 
 weather prevents that, play at billiards. But let 
 us examine your course of life. While the morn 
 ings are long, and you have leisure to go abroad, 
 what do you do ? Why, instead of gaining an ap 
 petite for breakfast, by salutary exercise, you amuse 
 yourself with books, pamphlets, or newspapers, 
 which commonly are not worth the reading. Yet 
 you eat an inordinate breakfast, four dishes of tea, 
 with cream, and one or two buttered toasts, with 
 slices of hung beef, which I fancy are not things 
 the most easily digested. Immediately afterward 
 you sit down to write at your desk, or converse 
 with persons who apply to you on business. Thus 
 the time passes till one, without any kind of bodily 
 exercise. But all this I could pardon, in regard, 
 as you say, to your sedentary condition. But 
 what is your practice after dinner? Walking in 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 253 
 
 the beautiful gardens of those friends with whom 
 you have dined, would be the choice of men of 
 sense : yours is, to be fixed down to chess, where 
 you are found engaged for two or three hours! 
 This is your perpetual recreation, which is the least 
 eligible of any for a sedentary man, because, in 
 stead of accelerating the motion of the fluids, the 
 rigid attention it requires helps to retard the cir 
 culation and obstruct internal secretions. Wrapt 
 in the speculations of this wretched game, you de 
 stroy your constitution. What can be expected 
 from such a course of living, but a body replete 
 with stagnant humors, ready to fall a prey to all 
 kinds of dangerous maladies, if I, the Gout, did not 
 occasionally bring you relief by agitating these hu 
 mors, and so purifying or dissipating them ? If it 
 was in some nook or alley in Paris, deprived of 
 walks, that you played awhile at chess after dinner, 
 this might be excusable ; but the same taste prevails 
 with you in Passy, Auteuil, Montmartre, or Sanoy, 
 places where there are the finest gardens and 
 walks, a pure air, beautiful women, and most agree 
 able and instructive conversation ; all which you 
 might enjoy by frequenting the walks. But these 
 are rejected for this abominable game of chess. 
 Fie, then, Mr. Franklin ! But amidst my instruc 
 tions, I had almost forgot to administer my whole 
 some corrections : so take that twinge and that. 
 Franklin. Oh! Eh! Oh! Ohhh! As much in 
 structions as you please, Madam Gout, and a^ 
 
254 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 many reproaches ; but pray, Madam, a truce with 
 your corrections ! 
 
 Gout. No, sir, no I will not abate a particle of 
 what is so much for your good therefore 
 
 Franklin. Oh ! Ehhh ! -It is not fair to say I 
 take no exercise, when I do very often, going out 
 to dine and returning in my carriage. 
 
 Gout. That of all imaginable exercise is the 
 most slight and insignificant, if you allude to the 
 motion of a carriage suspended on springs. By 
 observing the degree of heat obtained by different 
 kinds of motion, we may form an estimate of the 
 quantity of exercise given by each. Thus, for ex 
 ample, if you turn out to walk in winter with cold 
 feet, in an hour s time you will be in a glow all 
 over : ride on horseback, the same effect will 
 scarcely be perceived by four hours round trotting : 
 but if you loll in a carriage, such as you have men 
 tioned, you may travel all day, and gladly enter 
 the last inn to warm your feet by a fire. Flatter 
 yourself then no longer, that half an hour s airing 
 in your carriage deserves the name of exercise. 
 Providence has appointed few to roll in carriages, 
 while he has given to all a pair of legs, which are 
 machines infinitely more commodious and service 
 able. Be grateful, then, and make a proper use of 
 yours. Would you know how they forward the 
 circulation of your fluids, in the very action of 
 transporting you from place to place ; observe 
 when you walk, that all your weight is alternately 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 255 
 
 thrown from one leg to the other ; this occasions 
 a great pressure on the vessels of the foot, and re 
 pels their contents : when relieved, by the weight 
 being thrown on the other foot, the vessels of the 
 first are allowed to replenish, and by a return of 
 this weight, this repulsion again succeeds ; thus 
 accelerating the circulation of the blood. The 
 heat produced in any given time, depends on the 
 degree of this acceleration : the fluids are shaken, 
 the humors attenuated, the secretions facilitated, 
 and all goes well ; the cheeks are ruddy, and 
 health is established. Behold your fair friend at 
 Auteuil : a lady who received from bounteous na 
 ture more really useful science, than half a dozen 
 such pretenders to philosophy as you, have been 
 able to extract from all your books. When she 
 honors you with a visit, it is on foot. She walks 
 all hours of the day, and leaves indolence and its 
 concomitant maladies to be endured by her horses. 
 In this see at once the preservative of her health 
 and personal charms. But when you go to Au 
 teuil, you must have your carriage, though it is no 
 further from Passy to Auteuil, than from Auteuil 
 to Passy. 
 
 Franklin. Your reasonings grow very tiresome. 
 
 Gout. I stand corrected. I will be silent and 
 continue my office : take that, and that. 
 
 Franklin. Oh ! Ohh ! Talk on, I pray you ! 
 
 1 Madame Ilelvetius, 
 
250 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Gout. No, no ; I have a good number of twinges 
 for you to-night, and you may be sure of some 
 more to-morrow. 
 
 Franklin. What, with such a fever ! I shall go 
 distracted. Oh ! Eh ! Can no one bear it for me ? 
 
 Gout. Ask that of your horses ; they have served 
 you faithfully. 
 
 Franklin. How can you so cruelly sport with 
 my torments ? 
 
 Gout. Sport ! 1 am very serious. I have here 
 a list of offences against your own health distinctly 
 written, and can justify every stroke inflicted on 
 you. 
 
 Franklin. Read it then. 
 
 Gout. \i is too long a detail ; but I will briefly 
 mention some particulars. 
 
 Franklin. Proceed. I am all attention. 
 
 Gout. Do you remember how often you have 
 promised yourself, the following morning, a walk 
 in the grove of Boulogne, in the garden de la 
 Muette, or hi your own garden, and have violated 
 your promise, alleging, at one time, it was too cold, 
 at another too warm, too windy, too moist, or what 
 else you pleased ; when in truth it was too nothing, 
 but your insuperable love of ease ? 
 
 Franklin. That I confess may have happened 
 occasionally, probably ten times in a year. 
 
 Gout. Your confession is very far short of the 
 truth ; the gross amount is one hundred and 
 ninety-nine times. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 257 
 
 Franklin. Is it possible ? 
 
 Gout. So possible that it is fact ; you may rely 
 on the accuracy of my statement. You know Mr. 
 Brillon s gardens, and what fine walks they con 
 tain : yort know the handsome flight of an hundred 
 steps, which lead from the terrace above to the 
 lawn below. You have been in the practice of 
 visiting this amiable family twice a-week after 
 dinner, and it is a maxim of your own, that " a 
 man may take as much exercise in walking a mile 
 up and down stairs, as in ten ou level ground," 
 what an opportunity was here for you to have had 
 exercise in both these ways ! Did you embrace it, 
 and how often ? 
 
 Franklin. I cannot immediately answer that 
 question. 
 
 Gout. I will do it for you ; not once. 
 
 Franklin. Not once ? 
 
 Gout. Even so. During the summer you went 
 there at six o clock. You found the charming 
 lady, with her lovely children and friends, eager to 
 walk with you, and entertain you with their agree 
 able conversation ; and what has been your choice ? 
 Why, to sit on the terrace, satisfying yourself with 
 the fine prospect, and passing your eye over the 
 beauties of the garden below, without taking one 
 step to descend and walk about in them. On the 
 contrary, you call for tea and the chess-board ; and 
 lo ! you are occupied in your seat till nine o clock, 
 and that besides two hours play after dinner ; and 
 
 VOL. i. it 
 
258 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 then, instead of walking home, which would have 
 bestirred you a little, you step into your carriage. 
 How absurd to suppose that all this carelessness 
 can be reconcileable with health, without my inter 
 position ! 
 
 Franklin. I am convinced now of the justness 
 of poor Richard s remark, that " Our debts and our 
 sins are always greater than we think for." 
 
 Gout. So it is. You philosophers are sages in 
 your maxims, and fools in your conduct. 
 
 Franklin. But do you charge among my crimes, 
 that I return in a carriage from Mr. Brillon s ? 
 
 Gout. Certainly : for having been seated all 
 the while, you cannot object the fatigue of the day, 
 and cannot want therefore the relief of a carnage. 
 
 Franklin. What then would you have me do 
 with my carriage ? 
 
 Gout. Burn it, if you choose : you would at 
 least get heat out of it once in this way ; or, if you 
 dislike that proposal, here s another for you : ob 
 serve the poor peasants who work in the vineyards 
 and grounds about the villages of Passy, Auteuil, 
 Chaill ot, &c. : you may find every day among these 
 deserving creatures, four or five old men and wo 
 men, bent and perhaps crippled by weight of years, 
 and too long and too great labor. After a most 
 fatiguing day, these people have to trudge a mile 
 or two to their smoky huts. Order your coach 
 man to set them down. This is an act that will 
 be good for your soul ; and at the same time, after 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 259 
 
 your visit to the Brillons, if you return on foot, that 
 will be good for your body. 
 
 Franklin. Ah ! how tiresome you are ! 
 
 Gout. Well, then, to my office : it should not 
 be forgotten that I am your physician. There. 
 
 Franklin. Ohhh ! what a devil of a physician ! 
 
 Goat. How ungrateful you are to say so ! Is it 
 not I who, in the character of your physician, have 
 saved you from the palsy, dropsy, and apoplexy ? 
 one or other of which would have done for you 
 long ago, but for me. 
 
 Franklin. I submit, and thank you for the past, 
 but intreat the discontinuance of your visits for the 
 future ; for in my mind, one had better die than 
 be cured so dolefully. Permit me just to hint, that 
 I have also not been unfriendly to you. I never 
 feed physician, or quack of any kind, to enter the 
 list against you : if then you do not leave me to 
 my repose, it may be said you are ungrateful too. 
 
 Gout. I can scarcely acknowledge that as any 
 objection. As to quacks, I despise them; they 
 may kill you, indeed, but cannot injure me. And 
 as to regular physicians, they are at last convinced, 
 that the gout, in such a subject as you are, is no 
 disease, but a remedy ; and wherefore cure a reme 
 dy ? but to our business there. 
 
 Franklin. Oh ! Oh ! for heaven s sake leave 
 me ; and I promise faithfully never more to play at 
 chess, but to take exercise daily, and live tempe 
 rately. 
 
260 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Gout. I know you too well. You promise fair; 
 but, after a few months of good health, you will re 
 turn to your old habits ; your fine promises will be 
 forgotten like the forms of the last year s clouds. 
 Let us then finish the account, and I will go. But 
 I leave you with an assurance of visiting you again 
 at a proper time and place ; for my object is your 
 good, and you are sensible now that I am your 
 real friend. 
 
 To MADAME HELVETIUS, AT AUTEUIL. 
 
 # / 111,...* 1 .* . .*,...*.,. * I .. -,# 
 
 - " And now I mention your friends, let me 
 tell you that I have in my way been trying to form 
 some hypothesis to account for your having so 
 many, and of such various kinds. I see that 
 statesmen, philosophers, historians, poets, and men 
 of learning of all sorts, are drawn around you, and 
 seem as willing to attach themselves to you as 
 straws about a fine piece of amber. It is not that 
 you make pretension to any of their sciences ; and 
 if you did, similarity of studies does not always 
 make people love one another. It is not that you 
 take pains to engage them : artless simplicity is 
 a striking part of your character. I would not 
 attempt to explain it by the story of the ancient, 
 who, being asked why philosophers sought the 
 acquaintance of kings, and kings not that of philo 
 sophers, replied, that philosophers knew what they 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 261 
 
 wanted, which was not always the case with kings. 
 Yet thus far the comparison may go, that we find 
 in your sweet society, that charming benevolence, 
 that amiable attention to oblige, that disposition to 
 please and be pleased, which we do not always 
 find in the society of one another. It springs from 
 you ; it has its influence on us all ; and in your 
 company we are not only pleased with you, but 
 better pleased with one another, and with ourselves. 
 " I am ever, with great respect and affection, &c. 
 
 B. R" 
 
 A MADAME HELVETIUS. 
 
 CHAGRINE de votre resolution barbare, pronon- 
 cee si positivement hier an soir, de rester seule 
 pendant la vie en honneur de votre cher mari, je 
 me retirois chez moi, tombois sur mon lit, me croy- 
 ois mort, et que je me trouvois dans les Champs 
 Elisee.s. 
 
 On me demanda si j avois envie de voir quelques 
 personnages particuliers. " Menez-moi chez les 
 philosophes." " II y en a deux qui demeurent ici 
 pres dans ce jardin ; ils sont de trs-bons voisins, 
 et trs-amis Tun de 1 autre." " Qui sont-ils ?" " So- 
 crate et Helvetius." " Je les estime prodigieuse- 
 ment tous les deux ; mais faites-moi voir premire- 
 ment Helvetius, parce que j entends un peu de 
 Francois et pas un mot de Grec." II m a re<ju 
 avec beaucoup de courtoisie, m ayant connu, di- 
 
262 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 soit-il, de reputation il y avoit quelque temps. II 
 me demanda mille choses sur la guerre, et sur 1 etat 
 present de la religion, de la liberte, et du gouverne- 
 ment en France. " Vous ne demandez done rien, 
 lui dis-je, de votre chere amie Madame Helvetius ; 
 et cependant elle vous aime encore excessivement, 
 et il n y a qu une heure que j etois chez elle."- 
 " Ah ! " dit-il, " vous me faites ressouvenir de mon 
 ancienne felicite. Mais il faut 1 oublier pour etre 
 heureux ici. Pendant plusieurs des premieres an- 
 nees, je n ai pense qu a elle. Enfin je suis console. 
 J ai pris une autre femme ; la plus semblable a elle 
 que j ai pu trouver. Elle n est pas, il est vrai, 
 tout-a-fait si belle, mais elle a autant de bon sens, 
 beaucoup d esprit, et elle m aime infiniment. Son 
 etude continuelle est de me plaire, et elle est sortie 
 actuellement chercher le meilleur nectar et ambro- 
 sie pour me regaler ce soir : restez avec moi et vous 
 la verrez." " J appercois," dis-je, " que votre an 
 cienne amie est plus fidelle que vous : car plusieurs 
 bon partis lui ont ete offerts qu elle a refuses tous. 
 Je vous confesse que je 1 ai aimee, moi, a la folie ; 
 mais elle toit dure a mon egard, et m a rejete ab- 
 solument pour Tamour de vous." " Je vous plains," 
 dit-il, " de votre malheur ; car vraiment c est une 
 bonne et belle femme, et bien aimable. Mais 
 TAbb6 de la R**** et FAbbe M****, ne sont-ils 
 pas encore quelquefois chez elle ?" " Oui assure- 
 ment ; car elle n a pas perdu un seul de vos amis." 
 " Si vous aviez gagne FAbbe M**** (avec du 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 263 
 
 bon cafe a la creme) a parler pour vous, vous au- 
 riez peut-etre reussi; car il est raisonneur subtil 
 comme Duns Scotus on St. Thomas ; il met ses 
 arguments en si bon ordre qu ils deviennent presque 
 irresistibles. Et si 1 Abbe de la R**** avoit ete 
 gagne (par quelque belle edition d un vieux clas- 
 sique) a parler contre vous, cela auroit ete mieux : 
 car j ai toujours observe, que quand il lui conseilla 
 quelque chose, elle avoit un penchant tr&s-fort a 
 faire le revers." A ces mots entra la nouvelle 
 Madame Helvetius avec le nectar; a Tinstant je 
 Tai reconnue pour etre Madame Franklin, mon 
 ancienne amie Americaine. Je 1 ai reclamee, mais 
 elle me dit froidement : " J ai ete votre bonne 
 femme quarante-neuf annees et quatre mois ; 
 presqu un demi-si^cle ; soyez content de cela. J ai 
 forme ici une nouvelle connexion, qui durera a 
 leternite." 
 
 Indigne de ce refus de mon Euridice, je pris de 
 suite la resolution de quitter ces ombres ingrates, 
 et revenir en ce bon monde, revoir le soleil et vous. 
 Me voici ! Vengeons nous I 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 LETTER TO MADAME HELVETIUS. 
 
 MORTIFIED at the barbarous resolution pronounced by you 
 so positively yesterday evening, that you would remain single 
 the rest of your life, as a compliment due to the memory of 
 your husband, I retired to my chamber. Throwing myself upon 
 my bed, I dreamt that I was dead, and was transported to the 
 
264 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 Etysiau Fields. I was asked whether I wished to see any per 
 sons in particular : to which I replied, that I wished to see the 
 philosophers. " There are two who live here at hand in this gar 
 den ; they are good neighbors, and very friendly towards one 
 another." " Who are they ?" " Socrates and Helvetius." I 
 esteem them both highly ; but let me see Helvetius first, because 
 I understand a little French, but not a word of Greek." I was 
 conducted to him : he received me with much courtesy, having 
 known me, he said, by character, some time past. He asked 
 me a thousand questions relative to the war, the present state of 
 religion, of liberty, of the government in France. " You do not 
 inquire, then," said I, " after your dear friend Madame Helve 
 tius ; yet she loves you exceedingly : I was in her company not 
 more than an hour ago." " Ah," said he, " you make me recur 
 to my past happiness, which ought to be forgotten in order to 
 be happy here. For many years I could think of nothing but 
 her, though at length I am consoled. I have taken another wife, 
 tbe most like her that I could rind : she is not indeed altogether 
 so handsome, but she has a great fund of wit and good sense ; 
 and her whole study is to please me. She is at this moment 
 gone to fetch the best nectar and ambrosia to regale me : stay 
 here a while and you will see her." " I perceive," said I, " that 
 your former friend is more faithful to you than you are to her : 
 she has had several good offers, but has refused them all. I will 
 confess to you that I loved her extremely ; but she was cruel to 
 me, and rejected me peremptorily for your sake." " I pity you 
 sincerely," said he, " for she is an excellent woman, handsome, 
 and amiable. But do not the Abbe de la R****, and the Abb6 
 M*****, visit her?" "Certainly they do: not one of your 
 friends has dropped her acquaintance." " If you had gained the 
 Abb6 M***** with a bribe of good coffee and cream, perhaps 
 you would have succeeded ; for he is as deep a reasoner as Duns 
 Scotus or Saint Thomas : he arranges and methodises his argu 
 ments in such a manner^ that they are almost irresistible. Or, 
 if by a fine edition of some old classic, you had gained the Abbe 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 265 
 
 de la R** * to speak against you, that would have been still 
 better; as I always observed, that when he recommended any 
 thing to her, she had a great inclination to do directly the con 
 trary." As he finished these words the new Madame Helvetius 
 entered with the nectar, and I recognised her immediately as my 
 former American friend, Mrs. Franklin ! I reclaimed her, but 
 she answered me coldly : " I was a good wife to you for forty 
 nine years and four months, nearly half a century ; let that 
 content you. I have formed a new connexion here, which will 
 last to eternity." Indignant at this refusal of my Euridice, I 
 immediately resolved to quit those ungrateful shades, and return 
 to this good world again, to behold the sun and you ! Here I 
 am let us avenge ourselves! 1 
 
 TRE S-HUMBLE REQUETE PRESENTEE A MADAME 
 HELVE TIUS PAR SES CHATS. 
 
 Tres-illustre et tres-bonne Dame, 
 UNE nouvelle affreuse vient troubler le bonheur 
 dont nous j emissions dans votre basse-cour et dans 
 votre bucher. Nous apprenons que sur un expose 
 calomnieux, nos ennemis, vos Abbes, 1 vous ont fait 
 porter une sentence de proscription contre nous ; 
 qu a Faide d une invention diabolique, nous devons 
 etre pris, mis dans un tonneau, roules jusqu a la 
 riviere et abandonnes a la merci des flots ; et an 
 moment ou nous vous griffonnons notre tres-humble 
 requete, nous entendons les coups de la hache et 
 
 1 To appease prudery the parties were between 70 and 80 
 years of age, when this gallant plaisanterie was written. 
 * Morellet et La Roche. 
 
t>66 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 du marteau de votre cocher, qui fa^onne I instru- 
 ment du supplice qu on nous prepare. 
 
 Mais, tres-il lustre dame, serons-nous done con- 
 damnes sans etre en tend us ; et serons-nous les 
 seules de tant de creatures viv antes a vos depens 
 qui ne trouverons pas votre ame juste et sensible? 
 Nous voyons tous les jours vos bienfaisantes mains 
 nourrir deux ou trois cents poulets, autant de se 
 rins, des pigeons sans nombre, tous les moineaux 
 de la banlieue, tous les merles du Bois de Bou 
 logne, et jusqu a des chiens ; et nous seuls cesse- 
 rions d 6prouver les effets de votre bienfaisance, et, 
 ce qui est affreux a penser, nous deviendrions les 
 objets d une cruaute bieri etrangere a votre ame et 
 que vous n aurez jamais eue que pour nous. Non, 
 la bonte naturelle de votre coeur vous ramenera a 
 des sentimens plus dignes de votre chateite. 
 
 Eh, quels crimes avons-nous commis ? On nous 
 accuse, (le dirons-nous jusqu ou s emporte la calom- 
 nie ?) on nous accuse de manger vos poulets lors- 
 qu ils sont encore jeunes, de detonrner de terns en 
 terns quelques pigeons, de guetter sans cesse vos 
 serins et d en accrocher quelques-uns par les mail les 
 du treillage de votre voliere, et de laisser les souris 
 infester votre maison. 
 
 Mais suffit-il d imputer des crimes pour faire des 
 coupables ? Nous pouvons repousser ces horribles 
 accusations. Qu il nous soit d abord permis 
 d observer qu on ne les appuie d aucunes preuves. 
 Quand on produiroit les pieds de quelques pigeons 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 267 
 
 ou les plumes d un poulet, sont-ce la des t^moins 
 qui puissent etre admis dans quelque tribunal que 
 ce soit? Mais les grands crimes sont les suites de 
 la misere et du besoin, et nous recevons tons les 
 jours de vous, a dix-huit chats que nous sommes, 
 une subsistance abondante. II ne nous manque 
 rien. Egratignerions-nous la main qui nous nour- 
 rit? Plus d une fois, sous vos yeux, vos poulets 
 sont venus manger avec nous au meme plat, sans 
 que vous ayez apperc^u de notre part le plus leger 
 mouvement d impatience ; et si Ton vous dit que 
 nous ne mangeons jamais de poulets lorsqu on nous 
 observe, que c est la nuit que nous commettons les 
 meurtres dont on nous accuse, nous repondrons que 
 ce sont nos calomniateurs qui se cachent dans les 
 ten^bres pour tramer contre nous leurs laches com- 
 plots, puisqu ils sont reduits a nous imputer des 
 crimes nocturnes, que dement sans cesse notre con- 
 duite de tout le jour. 
 
 Mais, disent nos ennemis, la basse-cour de Ma 
 dame lui coute 25 louis par an, il s y el eve environ 
 deux ou trois cents poulets, elle n en mange pas 
 cinquante, qui lui reviennent, par sa grande eco 
 nomic, a 12 liv. la piece ; et que devient le reste ? 
 
 Nous oserons le demander, d abord nous a-t-on 
 donne les poulets en compte et en garde, et pou- 
 vons-nous en repondre ? Au milieu de ce grande 
 nombre d etres destructeurs, les hommes, tons con- 
 vaincus que les poulets ne sont au monde que pour 
 etre manges par eux, ce n est pas sur nous que 
 doivent porter les premiers soup^ons. II se fait 
 
268 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN* 
 
 tous les Dimanches a la porte du Bois de Bou 
 logne et dans les cabarets d Auteuil cent fricassees ; 
 n est-il pas plus que vraisemblable qu il s y glisse 
 quelques-uns de vos poulets ? et certes ce n est pas 
 de nous que les aubergistes les tiennent. Apres 
 tout, Madame, et sans pretendre faire 1 apologie 
 des voleurs de poulets, qu il nous soit permis 
 d observer que quelles que soient les causes qui en 
 diminuent un peu le nombre, elles sont dans 1 ordre 
 de la nature et salutaires pour vous-mme dans 
 leurs effets, puisqu elles contiennent dans des li- 
 mites convenables la multiplication de cette espece, 
 qui convertiroit bientot votre maison toute entiere 
 en un poulaillier, et qui vous reduiroit a n avoir 
 plus de chemises pour avoir plus de poulets. 
 
 Quant aux pigeons, on a vu disparoitre, il est 
 vrai, plusieurs des enfans de Coco ; mais il ne 
 faut pas que votre tendresse pour lui, quivajus- 
 qu a lui laisser casser vos porcelaines pourvu qu il 
 daigne manger dans votre main, vous rende injuste 
 envers nous. Ou est la preuve que nous ayons 
 mang6 ses enfans ? Lui et ses pareils s approchent- 
 ils jamais de nous? Toujours sur les toits, ou se 
 tenant a distance, ne nous montrent-ils pas une 
 defiance dont nous aurions le droit d etre blesses ? 
 Qu on visite tout le bucher au printems prochain ; 
 et si Ton decouvre quelque trace du meurtre, nous 
 serons les premiers a rechercher et a livrer le cou- 
 pable : mais quoi, les pigeons ne sont pas, comme 
 
 1 Pigeon apprivois et favori de Madame HelvStius. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 269 
 
 nous autres pauvres chats, attaches au sol qui les 
 a vu naitre ; ils peuvent voler par les airs a une 
 autre patrie ; ceux qui vous manquent, jaloux sans 
 doute de la preference que vous montrez a quel- 
 ques-uns d entre eux, ont ete chercher 1 egalite 
 dans des colombiers republicans, plutot que de 
 trainer 1 aile sous la domination insolente de vos 
 pigeons favoris. 
 
 L accusation qu on intente contre nous d avoir 
 attrape quelques-uns de vos serins, est une impos 
 ture grossiere. Les mailles de leur voliere sont si 
 petites, que lorsqu en jouant nous essay ons d y 
 passer nos pattes, nous avons beaucoup de peine a 
 les en retirer. Nous nous amusons, il est vrai, 
 quelquefois a voir de pres leurs jeux innocens; 
 mais nous n avons pas a nous reprocher le sang 
 d aucun de ces jolis oiseaux. 
 
 Nous ne nous defendrons pas de meme d avoir 
 mange autant de moineaux, de merles et de grives, 
 que nous en avons pu attraper : mais ici nous avons 
 pour nous vos Abbes memes, nos plus cruels enne- 
 mis : ils se plaignent sans cesse du degat de cerises 
 que les moineaux font, disent-ils, a leur prejudice. 
 Le Sieur Abbe M. montre une haine ardente con 
 tre les grives et les merles, qui depouillent vos 
 treilles de raisins, ainsi que lui. Mais il nous sem- 
 ble, tres-illustre Dame, qu il vaudroit autant que 
 vos raisins fussent manges par des merles que par 
 des Abbes, et qu en vain ferons-nous la chasse a 
 ces pillards ailes si vous tolerez chez vous d autres 
 
270 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 voleurs & deux pieds sans plumes qui y font encore 
 de plus grands degats. 
 
 Nous savons qu on nous accuse aussi de manger 
 les rossignols qui ne volent rien, et qui chantent, dit- 
 on, fort agreablement. II se peut en effet que nous 
 en ayons croque quelques-uns, dans 1 ignorance 
 ou nous etions de votre affection particuliere pour 
 eux ; mais leur plumage terne et gris ressemble 
 beaucoup a celui des moineaux, et nous ne nous 
 connoissons pas assez en musique pour distinguer 
 le ramage des uns et des autres. Un chat de M. 
 Piccini 1 nous a dit, que quand on ne savoit que 
 miauler on ne pouvoit pas juger de Fart du chant, 
 et cette maxime suffit a no tre justification. Cepen- 
 dant nous mettrons desormais le plus grand soin a 
 distinguer les Gluckistes* qui sont, nous a-t-il dit, 
 les moineaux, des Piccinistes, qui sont les rossig 
 nols. Nous vous supplions seulement de nous 
 pardonner les erreurs ou nous pourrions tomber 
 en denichant quelque couvee de Piccinistes, qu il 
 est impossible de reconnoitre lorsqu ils sont sans 
 plumes, et qiuls n ont pas encore appris a chanter. 
 
 La derniere imputation que nous repousserons, 
 tres-illustre Dame, est celle qu on tire contre nous 
 du grand nombre de souris dont votre maison est 
 infestee. Elles font, dit-on, un degat horrible dans 
 votre sucre et vos confitures ; elles rongent les livres 
 de vos savans, et jusqu aux mules de Mademoiselle 
 
 1 Compositeur Italien. a G/wcJt, compositeur Allemand. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 271 
 
 Luillier 1 dans le terns meme qu elle marche. On 
 pretend que les chats n etant crees et mis au monde 
 par la Providence, (qui veille avec une gale bont 
 sur les chats et les souris,) que pour manger les sou- 
 ris, quand ils ne remplissent pas leur destination, 
 on n a rien de mieux & faire que de les noyer. 
 
 Certainement, tres-illustre Dame, il vous est aise 
 de reconnoitre le langage de 1 interet personnel 
 clans la bouche de nos accusateurs. Le Sienr 
 Cabanis,* qui fait chez vous une consommation 
 enorme de confitures et qui va sans cesse derobant 
 des morceaux de sucre lorsqu il croit n etre pas vu, 
 a ses raisons pour vous faire regarder comme un 
 crime capital la gourmandise de quelques souris 
 qui ecornent un pain, on entament avant lui un pot 
 de gelee de groseilles : mais il montre une ame en 
 core plus atroce qu interessee lorsqu il nous juge 
 dignes de mort parceque nous n empechons pas 
 ces petites betes de faire la millieme partie d un 
 degat que lui-meme, tout grand qu il est, fait sans 
 discretion comme sans remords: et pousseroit-il 
 plus loin sa barbaric envers nous si, comme lui et 
 les souris, nous etions nous-metnes des animaux 
 sucro-phages et cortfituri-vores ? N est-il pas mani- 
 feste que sa gourmandise seule lui inspire des 
 sentimens si cruels, et pourriez-vous leur donner 
 entree dans votre cceur ? 
 
 1 Vieille femme-de-chambre de Madame H. 
 1 Ami dc Madame H. demeurant chez ellc. 
 
272 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Pour les livres du Sieur Abbe de la Roche et de 
 cet autre savant, 1 dont nous avons lu tout-a-1 heure 
 le discours a 1 Academie enveloppant un mou de 
 veau que vous avez eu la bonte de nous faire 
 donner ; quel est done le grand mal que les souris 
 mangent un peu de leurs bouquins ? A quoi leurs 
 servent toutes leurs lectures ? Depuis qu ils vivent 
 aupres de rous, ne doivent-ils pas s etre pleine- 
 ment convaincus de I inutilite du savoir ? Us vous 
 voient bonne, sans le secours d aucun Traiti de Mo 
 rale ; aimable sans avoir lu VArt de Plaire de notre 
 historiographe Moncrief, et heureuse sans con- 
 noitre le Traite du Bonheur, du malheureux Mau- 
 pertuis ; en meme terns qu ils sont les temoins 
 journaliers de votre profonde ignorance. Us sa- 
 vent beaucoup de choses, mais ils ignorent 1 art 
 que vous savez si bien de vous passer de rien 
 savoir. Votre orthographe n est pas beaucoup 
 meilleure que la notre, et votre ecriture ne vaut pas 
 mieux que notre griffonage. Vous ecrivez boneure 
 pour bonheur ; mais vous possedez la chose sans 
 savoir comment son nom s ecrit ; enfin, ce bonheur 
 meme qu ils ne savent pas puiser dans leurs livres, 
 du haut de votre ignorance vous le iepandez sur 
 eux. Les souris ne leur font done pas un si grand 
 tort. 
 
 Quant aux mules de Mademoiselle Luillier, 
 pour peu qu elle voulut aller moins lentement, les 
 
 1 L Abbe Morellet. 
 
PART I* MISCELLANIES, 273 
 
 souris ne lui mangeroient pas les pieds \ et il est 
 etrange qu on nous condamne a la mort parceque 
 votre femme-de-chambre n a gueres plus de mouve- 
 ment qu un limac/Hi. 
 
 Ces raisons si fortes ne sont pas encore les seules 
 qui peuvent nous excuser envers vous des degats 
 que les souris font dans votre maison. 
 
 Ah! tres-illustre Dame, en quelle conscience 
 peut-on se plaindre de ce que nous ne prenons pas 
 vos souris, lorsque vous avez sans cesse aupres de 
 vous deux monstres alteres de notre sang, qui ne 
 nous permettent pas d approcher de votre chere 
 personne, comme la reconnoissance et le devoir 
 nous y porteroient ? deux chiens, c est tout dire ; 
 animaux nourris dans la haine des chats, dont les 
 aboiemens continuels nous remplissent de terreur. 
 Comment ose-t-on nous reprocher de nous tenir 
 eloignes des lieux ou regnent ces animaux feroces, 
 en qui la nature a mis Fa version pour notre race et 
 la force pour la detruire ? Encore, si nous n avions 
 affaire qu a des chiens Francois ; leur haine ne 
 seroit pas si active, leur ferocite seroit moindre ; 
 mais vous etes toujours accompagnee d un bull-dog 
 que vous avez fait venir d Angleterre, (au mepri 
 des sages dispositions de M. le Controleur-Gene- 
 ral) et qui nous hait doublement, comme chats 
 Franfois. Nous voyons, sous nos yeux, tous les 
 jours, les cruels effets de sa rage, dans la queue de- 
 pouillee de notre frere Le Noir. Notre zele pour 
 votre service, et meme le gout que nous avons. 
 
 VOL. i. s 
 
274 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pour les souris nous conduiroit a la chasse dans 
 vos appartemens, si nous n en etions pas bannis 
 par ces ennemis redoutables que vous en avez 
 rendus les maitres. Qu on cesse done de nous 
 reprocher les desordres que causent chez vous les 
 souris, puisqu on nous met dans Fimpossibilite de 
 les reprimer. 
 
 Helas ! ils ne sont plus ces terns heureux, ou 
 Fillustre chat Pompon regnoit dans ces memes 
 lieux, dormoit sur vos genoux, et reposoit sur votre 
 couche ; ou cette Zimire, 1 aujourd hui si ardente 
 a nous chasser de chez vous, et qui entre en 
 fureur an seul mot de chat, faisoit humblement sa 
 cour au favori dont elle occupe aujourd^hui la 
 place. Alors nous marchions la queue levee dans 
 toute la maison. Feu M. Pompon daignoit quelque- 
 fois partager avec le dernier d entre nous les lapins 
 que Sa Majeste lui envoy oit de sa chasse, et ii 
 Fombre du credit de cet illustre favori nous jouis- 
 sions de quelque paix et de quelque bonheur: Cet 
 heureux tems n est plus ! Nous vivons sous un 
 regne de chien, et nous regrettons sans cesse le 
 chat, sous 1 empire duquel nous avons coule de si 
 beaux jours ! Aussi allons-nous toutes les nuits 
 arroser de nos pleurs le pied du cypres que couvre 
 sa tombe. 
 
 Ah ! tres-illustre Dame, que le souvenir du chat 
 que vous avez tant aime, vous touche au moins de 
 
 1 Petite chienne. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 275 
 
 quelque pitie pour nous. Nous ne sorames pas a 
 la verite de sa race, puisqu il fut voue des sa jeu- 
 nesse a la chastete ; mais nous sommes de son 
 espece. Ses manes, errans encore dans ces lieux, 
 v.ous demandent la revocation de 1 ordre sangui- 
 naire qui menace nos jours : nous employerons 
 tous ceux que vous conserverez a vous miauler 
 notre vive reconnoissance, et nous la transmet- 
 trons aux creurs de nos enfans et des enfans de 
 nos enfans. 
 
 [Translation. ] 
 
 AN HUMBLE PETITION, 
 PRESENTED TO MADAME HELVETIUS, BY HER CATS. 
 
 MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND EXCELLENT LADY, 
 
 A TERRIBLE piece of news has just reached us to 
 interrupt the happiness we enjoyed in your poultry-yard and 
 wood-yard. We learn, that in consequence of certain calum 
 nious representations on the part of our enemies your Abb^s, 1 a 
 sentence of proscription has been issued against us, and that by 
 means of a diabolical invention, we are all to be seized, put into 
 a cask, rolled down to the river, and abandoned to the mercy of 
 the waters. At the moment in which we are drawing up this 
 our humble request, we hear the strokes of the hammer and 
 hdtchet from the hands of your coachman, who is employed to 
 frame the instrument of our destruction. 
 
 But, most illustrious lady, shall we be condemned without 
 being heard ? and shall we be the only creatures among so 
 
 1 The Abbes Morellet and La Roche. 
 
276 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 many fed and nourished by you, who do not find your bosom 
 alive to justice and compassion ? We see your beneficent hand 
 every day feeding two or three hundred chickens, as many 
 canary-birds, pigeons without number, all the sparrows of the 
 neighborhood, all the blackbirds of the Wood of Boulogne- 
 nay, even the very dogs of your domain ; and shall we alone 
 not only cease to experience the effects of your beneficence, but, 
 what is more terrible to think of, become the objects of a 
 cruelty wholly foreign to your nature, and never exercised but 
 towards us. No, the natural goodness of your heart will recal 
 in you sentiments more worthy of your catology. 
 
 Alas ! what are the crimes that we have committed ! We are 
 accused to what lengths will not calumny transport the heart ! 
 we are accused of eating your chickens while they are still 
 young, of making depredations from time to time upon your 
 pigeons, of watching your canary-birds incessantly, and seizing 
 any that come near enough to the lattice of your aviary, and of 
 suffering the mice to infest your house unmolested. 
 
 But are imputed crimes sufficient to render any one guilty ? 
 These horrible accusations we can easily repel. In the first 
 place, it must be observed, that they do not rest upon any 
 proofs. Granted that the feet of some pigeons, or the feathers 
 of some chickens may be produced ; can these be admitted as 
 evidence before any tribunal upon earth ? Great crimes are, be 
 sides, the consequences of great misery and want, and we receive 
 every day from you, to the number of eighteen cats of which 
 our troop consists, abundant means of subsistence ; nothing is 
 wanting to us. And can we be supposed to scratch the hand 
 by which we are nourished ? Have you not, more than once, 
 with your own eyes seen your chickens come and eat off the 
 same dish with us, without the least hostile movement on our 
 part ] And if you are told, that we never eat the chickens when 
 censcious that we are observed, that it is by night our murders 
 are committed, we answer, that it is our calumniators who 
 hide themselves under the veil of darkness to frame their cruel 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 277 
 
 plots against us. This we may the rather say, since they are 
 reduced to impute to us nocturnal crimes, which are contra 
 dicted by our conduct throughout the day. 
 
 But, say our enemies, the poultry-yard of our most illustrious 
 lady is maintained at an expense of twenty-five louis annually, 
 while of two or three hundred chickens reared there, she never 
 eats more than fifty ; so that, from her great economy, they cost 
 her only twelve livres each : what then becomes of the rest? 
 
 We will ask, in the first place, were the chickens numbered 
 and consigned to our care, and are we answerable for them ? 
 Surrounded by so many destructive beings, by mankind in par 
 ticular, who are firmly persuaded that chickens were only 
 created to be eaten by them, is it on us that the first suspicion 
 can with justice fall? Every Sunday at the gate of the Wood of 
 Boulogne, and in the public-houses of Auteuil, a hundred fri 
 cassees are served up ; is it not probable that some of your 
 chickens may have glided gently in among them ? and certainly 
 it is not by us that they are remitted to the innkeepers. After 
 all, madam, without wishing to become the apologists of 
 chicken-stealers, let us be permitted to observe, that whatever 
 may be the causes which occasion the diminution complained 
 of in your stock of poultry, they are in the order of nature, and 
 produce a salutary effect to yourself, since they restrain within 
 due bounds the multiplication of this species, which, if suffered 
 to go on unrestrained, would soon convert your whole house 
 into a receptacle for chickens, and reduce you to going without 
 a shift, that no limits may be placed to the number of your 
 fowls. 
 
 As to the pigeons, it must be allowed that several of the chil 
 dren of Coco l have disappeared ; but you must not permit your 
 tenderness for him, which goes so far as to suffer him to break 
 your china, provided he will condescend to eat out of your 
 
 1 A favorite tame pigeon of Madame Helvetius, to which she 
 had given that name. 
 
278 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 hand, to render you unjust towards us. Where is the proof 
 that we have ever eaten any of his children ? or do we and his 
 species ever approach each other ? Always keeping upon the 
 roofs of the houses at a distance from us, do they not manifest a 
 distrust of us at which we have just reason to be offended 1 Let 
 the whole wood-yard be examined next spring, and if any traces 
 of murder be discovered, we will be among the most forward in 
 endeavoring to detect the malefactors, and give them up to jus 
 tice. But the pigeons are not like us poor humble cats, con 
 fined to the soil where we were born ; they can fly in the air to 
 another country : those whom you miss, jealous no doubt of 
 the preference shown by you to some over the rest, have taken 
 their flight in search of equality to some republican dove-cote, 
 rather than drag on a painful existence under the insolent tyran 
 ny of your favorite Coco. 
 
 The accusation brought against us with regard to the canary- 
 birds, you must see yourself is wholly absurd, and a gross im 
 posture. The intervals in the lattice of your aviary are so nar 
 row, that when sometimes we have in sport endeavored to thrust 
 a paw through them, it was not without the utmost difficulty 
 that we could withdraw it again. It is true, that we sometimes 
 amuse ourselves with watching the little innocent sports of these 
 pretty creatures, but we cannot reproach ourselves with having 
 ever shed a drop of their blood. 
 
 We shall not endeavor to defend ourselves equally from de 
 vouring as many sparrows, blackbirds, and thrushes, as we can 
 possibly catch. But here we have to plead in extenuation, that 
 our most cruel enemies, your Abbes themselves, are incessantly 
 complaining of the ravages made by these birds among the cher 
 ries and other fruit. The Sieur Abb6 Morellet, in particular, is 
 always thundering the most violent anathemas against the black 
 birds and thrushes, for plundering your vines, which they do 
 with as little mercy as he himself. To us, however, most illus 
 trious lady, it appears, that the grapes may just as well be eaten 
 by blackbirds as by Abbes, and that our warfare against the 
 
PART I- MISCELLANIES. 279 
 
 winged plunderers will be fruitless, if you encourage other biped 
 and featherless pilferers, who make ten times more havoc. 
 
 We know that we are also accused of eating nightingales, 
 who never plunder, and sing, as they say, most enchantiugly. 
 It is indeed possible that we may now and then have gratified 
 our palates with a delicious morsel in this way, but we can 
 assure you that it was in utter ignorance of your affection for 
 the species ; and that, resembling sparrows in their plumage, 
 we, who make no pretensions to being connoisseurs in music, 
 could not distinguish the song of the one from that of the other, 
 and therefore supposed ourselves regaling only on sparrows. A 
 cat belonging to M. Piccini * has assured us, that they who 
 only know how to mew., cannot be any judges of the art of sing 
 ing ; and on this we rest for our justification. However, we 
 will henceforward exert our utmost endeavors to distinguish the 
 Gluckists, 1 who are, as we are informed, the sparrows, from the 
 Piccinists, who are the nightingales. We only ijitreat of you 
 to pardon the inadvertence into which we may possibly fall, if, 
 in roving after nests, we may sometimes fall upon a brood of 
 Piccinists, who, being then destitute of plumage, and not hav 
 ing learnt to sing, will have no mark by which to distinguish 
 them. 
 
 The last imputation we are called upon to repel, most illus 
 trious lady, is that of suffering your house to be infested with 
 such a quantity of mice. They make terrible havoc, it is said, 
 with your sugar and sweetmeats ; they gnaw the books of your 
 savans, and even nibble the slippers of Mademoiselle Luillier, 3 
 as she is walking. It is urged, that cats being created by Pro 
 vidence, (who watches with equal goodness over all his crea 
 tures) for no other purpose but to eat mice, deserve nothing 
 
 1 An Italian composer. 
 
 1 The admirers of Gluck, a German composer, 
 
 3 An old waiting-maid of Madame Helvetius. 
 
280 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 better, when they fail in the object of their vocation, but to be 
 drowned. 
 
 Certainly, most illustrious lady, it is easy to discover in this 
 language, the influence of personal interest in the mouths of our 
 accusers. The Sieur Cabanis, 1 who makes an enormous con 
 sumption of sweetmeats in your house, and who is always ready 
 to steal a lump of sugar when he thinks he can do it unobserved, 
 has certainly very good reasons for making you consider the 
 gourmandise of a few mice, who nibble a loaf of sugar, or begin 
 eating a pot of jelly before him, as a capital crime ; but he 
 shows a mind still more atrocious than interested, when he 
 would condemn us as meriting death because we do not prevent 
 the little animals availing themselves, to the best of their power, 
 of a system of spoliation which he himself, great as he is, prac 
 tises every day without discretion and without remorse. Could 
 he carry his barbarity towards us further, if we were, like the 
 mice and himself, sugarivorous and sweetmeativorous animals ? 
 Is it not manifest, that gourmandise alone inspires him with 
 sentiments so cruel, and can you give them admission into your 
 bosom ? 
 
 With regard to the books of the Abbe de la Roche, and that 
 other savant* whose speech at the Academy we just now read 
 as it wrapped up a calf s lights which you had the goodness to 
 give us ; with regard to their books, we ask, where is the great 
 harm if they are sometimes gnawed a little by the mice ? Of 
 what use to them is all their reading 7 Since they have lived 
 with you, must they not be fully convinced of the iuutility of 
 aJl knowledge ? They see you good without the assistance of 
 Treatises upon Morals; charming in your manners without 
 having read our historiographer Moncrief s Art of Pleasing ; 
 and happy without being acquainted with the Treatise on Hap- 
 
 * A friend of Madame Helvetius, who lived in her house. 
 
 * The Abbe Morellet. 
 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 281 
 
 piness, by the unfortunate Maupertuis. While they are the 
 daily witnesses of your profound ignorance, they, who know so 
 many things, are wholly unacquainted with the art you know 
 so well of being able to dispense with knowing any thing. 
 Your orthography is not much better than ours, and your writ 
 ing is very like the scratching of a cat s paw. You totally 
 mistake the way to spell happiness, but you enjoy the thing 
 without knowing how it should be written ; that happiness, in 
 short, which they cannot draw from their books, you shed 
 around them from the eminence of your ignorance. The mice 
 cannot, therefore, as we have proved, do them any great injury. 
 As to the slippers of Mademoiselle Luillier, if she would only 
 creep on at a somewhat less drawling pace, the mice would not 
 be able to get at them ; and it is strange that you would con 
 demn us to death because your waiting-maid moves only a 
 snail s pace. 
 
 But these reasons, strong as they are, are not the only ones 
 which may excuse us towards you for the spoliations committed 
 in your house by the mice. Ah ! most illustrious lady, with 
 what conscience can we be reproached for not catching them, 
 when you have constantly about you two large dogs thirsting 
 for our blood, who will not permit us to approach your beloved 
 person, as duty and gratitude would lead us to do ? Two dogs ! 
 this is saying enough : they are animals brought up in the ut 
 most hatred of our species ; their barking always fills us with 
 terror. How can any one be so unjust as to reproach us with 
 keeping at a distance from places where animals thus ferocious, 
 whom nature has inspired with such aversion to us, and such 
 power to destroy us, reign uncontrolled ? Nay, farther, if the 
 question were only of French dogs, there might be hopes that 
 their hatred Would not be so active, that their ferocity would 
 not be so alarming ; but you must needs take into your service 
 (in contempt of the wise decrees of the comptroller-general) a 
 bull-dog which you have imported from England, who hates us 
 doubly ; in the first place, as cats, and still more ardently a* 
 
282 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 French cats. We see daily before our eyes, the cruel effects of 
 his rage in the shortened tail of our brother Le Noir. Our 
 zeal to serve you, united with the natural taste we have for 
 mice, would lead us to form hunting-parties in your apartments, 
 if we were not banished by these formidable enemies whom you 
 have made masters of them. Let us no longer, therefore, be 
 reproached with the disorders committed against you by the 
 mice, since we are deprived of the possibility of repressing 
 them. 
 
 Alas ! those happy times are no more, when that illustrious 
 cat Pompon reigned in these places, slept on your lap, and re 
 posed upon your couch ! when that Zemira, 1 who now so 
 eagerly endeavors to procure our downfal, humbly paid his 
 court to the favorite whose situation he now occupies. Then 
 could we parade about the house with our tails in the air : the 
 late M. Pompon would sometimes condescend to share with us 
 the rabbits graciously sent him by his majesty from his shoot 
 ing-parties ; and under the protection of this illustrious favorite 
 we enjoyed peace and happiness. Those happy times, we 
 must repeat, are, alas ! no more : we live under the reign of a 
 DOG : sunk in deep and lasting regrets for the CAT, beneath 
 whose empire such enjoyments were ours, while our only conso 
 lation is to go every night, and water with our tears the cypress 
 which shadows his tomb ! 
 
 Ah, most illustrious lady ! let the memory of the cat you so 
 much loved, inspire you at least with some compassion towards 
 us. We are not indeed of his race, since he was devoted to 
 chastity from his youth ; but we are of his species. His manes, 
 still wandering about this spot, call upon you to revoke the 
 sanguinary order which menaces our days ; and all those which 
 you preserve to us shall be consecrated to mewing forth our 
 lasting gratitude, while the beneficent act shall be handed down 
 by us to our children, and to our children s children. 
 
 1 A little dog. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 283 
 
 A MONSIEUR L ABBE DE LA ROCHE, A AUTEUIL. 
 
 J AI parcouru, mon cher ami, le petit livre de 
 poesies de M. Helvetius, dont vous m avez fait ca- 
 deau. Le poeme sur le Bonheur m a donne beau- 
 coup de plaisir, et m a faite ressouvenir d une petite 
 chanson a boire, que j ai fait il y a quarante ans sur 
 le meme sujet, et qui avoit &-peu-prs le meme 
 plan, et plusieurs des memes pensees, mais bien 
 densement exprimees. La voici. 
 
 Singer. 
 
 Fair Venus calls, her voice obey, 
 In beauty s arms spend night and day. 
 The joys of love, all joys excel, 
 And loving s certainly doing well. 
 
 Chorus* 
 
 Oh! no! 
 
 Not so ! 
 
 For honest souls know, 
 
 Friends and a bottle still bear the bell. 
 
 Singer. 
 
 Then let us get money, like bees lay up honey : 
 We ll build us new hives, and store each cell. 
 The sight of our treasure shall yield us great pleasure ; 
 We ll count it, and chink it, and jingle it well. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Oh ! no ! 
 Not so ! 
 
 For honest souls know, 
 Friends and a bottle still bear the bell. 
 
284 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Singer. 
 
 If this does not fit ye, let s govern the city, 
 
 In power is pleasure no tongue can tell ; 
 
 By crowds tho you re teas d, your pride shall be pleas d, 
 
 And this can make Lucifer happy in hell ! 
 
 Chorus. 
 Oh! no! 
 Not so ! 
 
 For honest souls know, 
 Friends and a bottle still bear the bell. 
 
 Singer. 
 
 Then toss off your glasses, and scorn the dull asses, 
 Who, missing the kernel, still gnaw the shell ; 
 What s love, rule, or riches ? wise Solomon teaches, 
 They re vanity, vanity, vanity still. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 That s true ; 
 
 He knew ; 
 
 He d tried them all through ; 
 
 Friends and a bottle still bore the bell. 
 
 C est un chanteur, mon cher Abbe, qui exhorte 
 ses compagnons de chercher/e bonheur dans C amour, 
 dans les richesses, et dans k powvoir. Us repli- 
 quent, chantant ensemble, que It bonheur ne se 
 trouve pas en aucimes de ces choses, et qu on ne le 
 trouve que dans les amis et le vin. A cette posi 
 tion, le chanteur enfin consent. La phrase " bear 
 the bell" signifie en Francois, remporter le prix. 
 
 J ai souvent remarque, en lisant les ouvrages de 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 285 
 
 M. Helvetius, que quoique nous etions nes Sieves 
 dans deux pays si eloignes Tun de 1 autre ; nous 
 nous sommes rencontres souvent dans les memes 
 pens6es ; et c est une reflexion bien flatteuse pour 
 moi, que nous avons aime les memes etudes, et 
 autant que nous les avions connus, les memes 
 amis, 1 et la memefemwe* 
 
 Adieu ! mon cher ami, &c. B. F. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 To THE ABBE DE LA ROCHE, AT AUTEUIL. 
 
 I HAVK run over, my dear friend, the little book of poetry by 
 M. Helvetius, with which you presented me. The poem on 
 Happiness pleased me much, and brought to my recollection a 
 little drinking song which I wrote forty ears ago upon the same 
 subject, and which is nearly on the same plan, with many of the 
 same thoughts, but very concisely expressed. It is as follows : 
 
 Singer. 
 Fair Venus calls, &c. 
 
 Tis a singer, my dear Abbe, who exhorts his companions to 
 seek happiness in love, in riches, and in power. They reply, 
 singing together, that happiness is not to be found in any of 
 these things ; that it is only to be found in friends and wine. 
 To this proposition the singer at length assents. The phrase 
 " bear the bell," answers to the French expression, " obtain the 
 prize." 
 
 1 Mess. Voltaire, Hume, Turgot, Manuontel, d Holbach, Le 
 Roy, les Abb6s Morelletet La Roche, &c. &c. 
 
 2 Madame Helvetius. 
 
286 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 I have often remarked, in reading the works of M. Helvetius, 
 that although we were born and educated in two countries so 
 remote from each other, we have often been inspired with the 
 same thoughts ; and it is a reflection very flattering to me, that 
 we have not only loved the same studies, but, as far as we have 
 mutually known them, the same friends, 1 and the samt woman? 
 Adieu ! my dear friend, &c. B. F. 
 
 A MONSIEUR L ABBE MORELLET. 
 
 Passy k *****. 
 
 Vous m avez souvent egaye, mon tr^s-cher ami, 
 par vos excellentes chansons a boire ; en echange, 
 je desire vous edifier par quelques reflexions chre- 
 tiennes, morales, et philosophiques, sur le meme 
 sujet. 
 
 In vino veritas, dit le sage. La verite est dans le 
 vin. Avant Noe done, les hommes n ayant que de 
 1 eau a boire, ne pouvoient trouver la v6rite. Ainsi 
 ils s egar&rent, ils devinrent abominablement me- 
 chants, et ils furent justement extermines par feau 
 qu ils aimoient a boire. 
 
 Ce bon-homme Noe ayant vu que par cette 
 mauvaise boisson tous ses contemporains avoient 
 peri, le prit en aversion ; et Dieu, pour le desalte- 
 rer, crea la vigne, et lui revel a Tart d en faire du vin. 
 
 1 Messrs. Voltaire, Hume, Turgot, Marmontel, d Holbach 
 Le Roy, the Abbes Morellet and La Roche, &c. &c. 
 1 Madame Helvetius. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 287 
 
 Par Taide de cette liqueur il decouvrit maintes et 
 maintes verites : et depuis son temps, le mot " de- 
 viner" a ete en usage ; signifiant originairement de- 
 couvrir par le moyen du VIN. Ainsi le patriarche 
 Joseph pretendoit deviner au moyen d une coupe, 
 ou verre de VIN : f liqueur qui a recju ce nom pour 
 marquer qu elle n etoit pas une invention humaine, 
 mais divine : (autre preuve de 1 antiquite de la 
 langue Fran^oise, contre M. Gibelin.)* Aussi de 
 puis ce temps, toutes les choses excellentes, meme 
 les Deites, ont ete appelees divines ou divinites. 
 
 On parle de la conversion de 1 eau en vin, a la 
 noce de Cana, comme d un miracle. Mais cette 
 conversion est faite tous les jours par la bonte de 
 Dieu, sous nos yeux. Voila Feau qui tombe des 
 cieux sur nos vignobles, et alors elle entre dans 
 les racines des vignes pour-etre changee en vin. 
 Preuve constante que Dieu nous aime, et qu il 
 aime a nous voir heureux. Le miracle particulier 
 a ete fait settlement pour hater 1 operation dans 
 une circonstance de besoin soudain, qui le de- 
 mandoit. 
 
 II est vrai que Dieu a aussi instruit les hommes 
 a reduire le vin en eau. Mais quelle espece d eau ? 
 
 1 L orateur Remain, qui est bien coiinu par ses mauvaises 
 poesies, d etre un buveur d eau, confesse francheraent, dans son 
 livre De Divinatione, qu il ne savoit pas deviner. Quidfutu- 
 rum sit non dfiviNo. 
 
 a Author of " Le Monde primitif compart au Monde mo- 
 derne." 
 
288 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 C est reau-de-vie. Et cela afin que par-la ils puis- 
 sent, au besoin, faire le miracle de Cana, et conver- 
 tir Feau ordinaire en cette espece excellente de vin, 
 qu on appelle punch ! 
 
 Mon frere Chretien, soyez bienveillant et bienfai- 
 sant comme lui, et ne gatez pas son bon ouvrage. 
 II a fait le vin pour nous rejouir: quand vous 
 voyez votre voisin a table verser du vin dans son 
 verre, ne vous hatez pas a y verser de Teau. Pour- 
 quoi voulez-vous noyer la verite f II est vraisem- 
 blable que votre voisin sait mieux que vous ce que 
 lui convient. Peut-etre il n aime pas Feau ; peut- 
 etre il ne veut mettre que quelques gouttes, par 
 complaisance pour la mode ; peut-etre il ne veut 
 pas qu un autre observe combien peu il en met dans 
 son verre. Done, n offrez 1 eau qu aux enfans : 
 c est une fausse politesse, et bien incommode. Je 
 vous dis ceci comme homme du monde ; et je fini- 
 rai, comme j ai commence, en bon Chretien, en vous 
 faisant une observation religieuse bien importante, 
 et tiree de 1 Ecritnre Sainte ; savoir que 1 apotre 
 Paul conseilloit bien s6rieusement a Timothee, de 
 mettre du vin dans son eau pour la sante ; mais 
 que pas un des apotres, ni aucuns des saints peres, 
 n ont jamais conseille de mettre de feau dans le win! 
 
 B. R 
 
 P.S. Pour vous confirmer encore plus dans 
 votre piete et reconnoissance a la Providence Di 
 vine, reflechissez sur la situation qu elle a donnee 
 
5PART I. MISCELLANIES. 289 
 
 au coude. Vous voyez aussi que les animaux qui 
 doivent boire 1 eau qui coule sur la terre, s ils ont 
 des jambes longues, ont aussi un cou long, afin 
 qu ils puissent atteindre leur boisson sans la peine 
 de se mettre a genoux. Mais 1 homme, qui etoit 
 destine a boire du vin, doit etre en etat de porter 
 le verre a sa bouche. Si le coude avoit ete place 
 plus pres de la main, la partie d avant auroit ete 
 trop courte pour approcher le verre de la bouche ; 
 et s il avoit ete place plus pres Tepaule, la partie se- 
 roit si longue qu il porteroit le verre au-dela de la 
 tete. Ainsi nous aurions ete tantalises. Mais par 
 la presente situation du coude nous sommes en 
 etat de boire a notre aise ; le verre venant juste- 
 ment a la bouche. Adorons done, le verre a la 
 main, cette sagesse bienveillante ! Adorons, et 
 buvons ! 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 TO THE ABBE MORELLET. 
 
 Passy, * * * 
 
 You have often enlivened me, my dear friend, by your ex 
 cellent drinking songs : in return, I beg to edify you by some 
 Christian, moral, and philosophical reflections upon the same 
 subject. 
 
 In vino veritas, says the wise man; Truth is in wine. Before 
 the days of Noah, then, men having nothing but water to drink, 
 could not discover the truth. Thus they went astray, became 
 abominably wicked, and were justly exterminated by water, 
 which they loved to drink. 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
290 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN . 
 
 The good man Noah, seeing that through this pernicious 
 beverage all his cotemporaries had perished, took it in aversion ; 
 and to quench his thirst, God created the vine, and revealed to 
 him the means of converting its fruit into wine. By means of 
 this liquor he discovered numberless important truths ; so that 
 ever since his time the word to divine has been in common use, 
 signifying originally to discover by means of WINE. Thus the 
 patriarch Joseph took upon himself to divine by means of a cup 
 or glass of WINE; l a liquor which obtained this name to show 
 that it was not of human but divine invention (another proof of 
 the antiquity of the French language, in opposition to M. 
 Gebelin) : nay, since that time, all things of peculiar excellence, 
 even the deities themselves, have been called Divine or Divin 
 ities. 
 
 We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage 
 in Cana, as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the 
 goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the 
 rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and 
 which incorporates itself with the grapes to be changed into 
 wine ; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us 
 happy ! The miracle in question was only performed to hasten 
 the operation under circumstances of present necessity, which 
 required it. 
 
 It is true that God has also instructed man to reduce wine 
 into water. But into what sort of water? Water of Life.* 
 And this, that man may be able upon occasion to perform the 
 miracle of Cana, and convert common water into that excellent 
 species of wine which we call punch. 
 
 My Christian brother, be kind and benevolent like God, and 
 
 1 The Roman orator, who is well known by his bad poetry 
 to have been a water drinker , frankly acknowledges in his book 
 De Divinatione y that he did not know how to divine. Quid 
 futurum sit non divino. 
 
 z Eau-dc-vic, that is, brandy. 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 291 
 
 do not spoil his good work. He made wine to gladden the 
 heart of man ; do not, therefore, when at table you see your 
 neighbor pour wiue into his glass be eager to mingle water with 
 it. Why would you drown truth? It is probable that your 
 neighbor knows better than you can, what suits him. Perhaps 
 he does not like water ; perhaps he would only put in a few 
 drops for fashion s sake ; perhaps he does not wish any one to 
 observe how much he puts in his glass. Do not then offer 
 water except to children, tis a mistaken piece of politeness, 
 and often very inconvenient. I give you this hint as a man of 
 the world ; and I will finish as I began, like a good Christian, 
 in making a religious observation of high importance, taken 
 from the Holy Scriptures ; I mean, that the apostle Paul coun 
 selled Timothy very seriously to put wine into his water for the 
 sake of his health ; but that not one of the apostles or holy 
 fathers ever recommended putting water to wine. B. F. 
 
 P. S. To confirm stilt more your piety and gratitude to 
 Divine Providence, reflect upon the situation which it has given 
 to the elbow. You see in animals who are intended to drink 
 the waters that flow upon the earth, that if they have long 
 legs, they have also a long neck, so that they can get at 
 their drink without kneeling down. But man, who was 
 destined .to drink wine, is framed in a manner that he may raise 
 the glass to his mouth. If the elbow had been placed nearer 
 the hand, the part in advance would have been too short to 
 bring the .glass up to the mouth ; and if it had been nearer the 
 shoulder, that part would have been so long, that when it 
 attempted to carry the wine to the mouth it would have overshot 
 the mark, and gone beyond the head ; thus, either way, we 
 should have been in the case of Tantalus. But from the actual 
 situation of the elbow we are enabled to drink at our ease, the 
 glass going directly to the mouth. Let us, then, with glass in 
 hand, adore this benevolent wisdom let us adore and drink ! 
 
292 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 AN ECONOMICAL PROJECT. 
 TO THE AUTHORS OF THE JOURNAL OF PARIS. 
 
 Messieurs, 
 
 You often entertain us with accounts of new 
 discoveries. Permit me to communicate to the 
 public, through your paper, one that has lately 
 been made by myself, and which I conceive may 
 be of great utility. 
 
 I was the other evening in a grand company, 
 where the new lamp of Messrs. Quinquet and 
 Lange was introduced, and much admired for its 
 splendor ; but a general inquiry was made, whether 
 the oil it consumed was not in proportion to the 
 light it afforded, in which case there would be no 
 saving in the use of it. No one present could 
 satisfy us in that point, which all agreed ought to 
 be known, it being a very desirable thing to lessen, 
 if possible, the expense of lighting our apartments, 
 when every other article of family expense was so 
 much augmented. 
 
 I was pleased to see this general concern for 
 economy, for I love economy exceedingly. 
 
 I went home, and to bed, three or four hours 
 after midnight, with my head full of the subject. 
 An accidental sudden noise waked me about six 
 in the morning, when I was surprised to find my 
 room filled with light ; and I imagined at first, 
 that a number of those lamps had been brought 
 into it : but, rubbing my eyes, I. perceived the light 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 293 
 
 came in at the windows. I got up and looked 
 out to see what might be the occasion of it, when 
 I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from 
 whence he poured his rays plentifully into my 
 chamber, my domestic having negligently omitted, 
 the preceding evening, to close the shutters. 
 
 I looked at my watch, which goes very well, 
 and found that it was but six o clock ; and still 
 thinking it something extraordinary that the sun 
 should rise so early, I looked into the almanac, 
 where I found it to be the hour given for his rising 
 on that day. I looked forward, too, and found he 
 was to rise still earlier every day till towards the 
 end of June ; and that at no time in the year he 
 retarded his rising so long as till eight o clock. 
 Your readers, who with me have never seen any 
 signs of sun-shine before noon, and seldom regard 
 the astronomical part of the almanac, will be as 
 much astonished as I was, when they hear of his 
 rising so early ; and especially when I assure 
 them, that he gives light as soon as he rises. I am 
 convinced of this. I am certain of my fact. One 
 cannot be more certain of any fact. I saw it with 
 my own eyes. And, having repeated this observa 
 tion the three following mornings, I found always 
 precisely the same result. 
 
 Yet so it happens, that when I speak of this 
 discovery to others, I can easily perceive by their 
 countenances, though they forbear expressing it in 
 words, that they do not quite believe me. One, 
 
294 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 indeed, who is a learned natural philosopher, has 
 assured me that I must certainly be mistaken as 
 to the circumstance of the light coining into my 
 room ; for it being well known, as he says, that 
 there could be no light abroad at that hour, it fol 
 lows that none could enter from without ; and 
 that of consequence, my windows being acci 
 dentally left open, instead of letting in the ligro% 
 had only served to let out the darkness : and he 
 used many ingenious arguments to show me how 
 I might, by that means, have been deceived. I 
 own that he puzzled me a little, but he did not 
 satisfy me; and the subsequent observations I 
 made, as above mentioned, confirmed me in my 
 first opinion. 
 
 This event has given rise in my mind to several 
 serious and important reflections. I considered 
 that, if I had not been awakened so early in the 
 morning, I should have slept six hours longer by 
 the light of the sun, and in exchange have lived 
 six hours the following night by candle-light ; and 
 the latter being a much more expensive light than 
 the former, my love of economy induced me to 
 muster up what little arithmetic I was master of, 
 and to make some calculations, \vhich I shall give 
 you, after observing that utility is, in my opinion, 
 the test of value in matters of invention, and that 
 a discovery which can be applied to no use, or is 
 not good for something, is good for nothing. 
 
 I took for the basis of my calculation the sup- 
 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 295 
 
 position that there are 100,000 families in Paris, 
 and that these families consume in the night half 
 a pound of bougies, or candles, per hour. I think 
 this is a moderate allowance, taking one family 
 with another ; for though I believe some consume 
 less, I know that many consume a great deal more. 
 Then estimating seven hours per day as the me 
 dium quantity between the time of the sun s rising 
 and ours, he rising during the six following months 
 from six to eight hours before noon, and there 
 being seven hours of course per night in which we 
 burn candles, the account will stand thus : 
 
 In the six months between the 20th of March 
 and the 20th of September, there are 
 
 Nights .... -., .. . . , : ^ v 183 
 
 Hours of each night in which we 
 burn candles -. ;..*., ..<. ;.. . . 7 
 
 Multiplication gives for the total 
 number of hours . ,, - * ~ .. ... 1,281 
 
 These 1,281 hours multiplied by 
 100,000, the number of inhabitants, 
 give . . ..-.; . 4 . 128,100,000 
 
 One hundred twenty-eight millions 
 
 and one hundred thousand hours, 
 
 spent at Paris by candle-light, 
 
 which, at half a pound of wax and 
 
 tallow per hour, gives the weight of 64,050,000 
 Sixty four millions and fifty thousand 
 
 of pounds, which, estimating the 
 
 whole at the medium price of thirty 
 
296 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 sols the pound, makes the sum of 
 
 ninety-six millions and seventy-five 
 
 thousand livres tournois . 96,075,000 
 
 An immense sum ! that the city of Paris might 
 save every year, by the economy of using sun-shine 
 instead of candles. 
 
 If it should be said, that people are apt to be 
 obstinately attached to old customs, and that it 
 will be difficult to induce them to rise before noon, 
 consequently my discovery can be of little use : I 
 answer, Nil desperandum. I believe all who have 
 common sense, as soon as they have learnt from 
 this paper that it is day-light when the sun rises, 
 will contrive to rise with him ; and, to compel the 
 rest, I would propose the following regulations : 
 
 First. Let a tax be laid of a louis per window, 
 on every window that is provided with shutters to 
 keep out the light of the sun. 
 
 Second. Let the same salutary operation of 
 police be made use of, to prevent our burning can 
 dles, that inclined us last winter to be more eco 
 nomical in burning wood ; that is, let guards be 
 placed in the shops of the wax and tallow chand 
 lers, arid no family be permitted to be supplied 
 with more than one pound of candles per week. 
 
 Third. Let guards also be posted to stop all 
 the coaches, &c. that would pass the streets after 
 sun-set, except those of physicians, surgeons, and 
 midwives. 
 
 Fourth. Every morning, as soon as the sun 
 
PART I. MISCELLANIES. 297 
 
 rises, let all the bells in every church be set ring 
 ing ; and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be 
 fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effec 
 tually, and make them open their eyes to see their 
 true interest. 
 
 All the difficulty will be in the first two or three 
 days : after which the reformation will be as natural 
 and easy as the present irregularity ; for, ce nest 
 que k premier pas qui coute. Oblige a man to rise 
 at four in the morning, and it is more than proba 
 ble he will go willingly to bed at eight in the even 
 ing ; and, having had eight hours sleep, he will 
 rise more willingly at four in the morning following. 
 But this sum of ninety-six millions and seventy- 
 five thousand livres, is not the whole of what may 
 be saved by my economical project. You may 
 observe, that I have calculated upon only one-half 
 of the year, and much may be saved in the other, 
 though the days are shorter. Besides, the immense 
 stock of wax and tallow left unconsumed during 
 the summer, will probably make candles much 
 cheaper for the ensuing winter, and continue them 
 cheaper as long as the proposed reformation shall 
 be supported. 
 
 For the great benefit of this discovery, thus 
 freely communicated and bestowed by me on the 
 public, I demand neither place, pension, exclusive 
 privilege, nor any other reward whatever. I ex 
 pect only to have the honor of it. And yet I 
 know there are little envious minds who will, as 
 
298 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 usual, deny me this, and say, that my invention 
 was known to the ancients, and perhaps they may 
 bring passages out of the old books in proof of it. 
 I will not dispute with these people, that the 
 ancients knew not the sun would rise at certain 
 hours ; they possibly had, as we have, almanacs 
 that predicted it : but it does not follow thence, 
 that they knew he gave light as soon as he rose, 
 This is what I claim as my discovery. If the an 
 cients knew it, it might have been long since for 
 gotten, for it certainly was unknown to the mo 
 derns, at least to the Parisians, which to prove, 
 I need use but one plain simple argument. They 
 are as well instructed, judicious, and prudent a 
 people as exist anywhere in the world, all pro 
 fessing, like myself, to be lovers of economy ; and, 
 from the many heavy taxes required from them by 
 the necessities of the state, have surely an abun 
 dant reason to be economical. I say it is impossi 
 ble that so sensible a people, under such circum 
 stances, should have lived so long by the smoky, 
 unwholesome, and enormously expensive light of 
 candles, if they had really known, that they might 
 have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing. 
 I am, &c. A SUBSCRIBER. 
 
 END OF PART I. 
 
PART II. 
 
 AMERICAN POLITICS, 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 AMERICAN POLITICS PRIOR TO THE INDEPENDENCE 
 OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ALBANY PAPERS. 
 [Referred to in Memoirs of the Life, Part II.] 
 
 Containing, I. Reasons and Motives on which the PLAN of 
 UNION for the COLONIES was formed; II. Reasons 
 against partial Unions; III. And the Plan of Union 
 drawn by Benjamin Franklin, and unanimously agreed 
 to by the Commissioners from New Hampshire, Massa 
 chusetts Bay, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, and 
 Pennsylvania, met in Congress at Albany, in July 1 754, 
 to consider of the best Means of defending the King s 
 Dominions in America, fyc. a War being then appre 
 hended $ with the Reasons or Motives for each Article of 
 the Plan. 
 
 I. Reasons and Motives on which the Plan of Union 
 was formed. 
 
 THE commissioners from a number of the northern 
 colonies being met at Albany, and considering the 
 difficulties that have always attended the most 
 necessary general measures for the common de- 
 
300 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 fence, or for the annoyance of the enemy, when 
 they were to be carried through the several particu 
 lar assemblies of all the colonies ; some assem 
 blies being before at variance with their governors 
 or councils, and the several branches of the govern 
 ment not on terms of doing business with each 
 other ; others taking the opportunity, when their 
 concurrence is wanted, to push for favorite laws, 
 powers, or points, that they think could not at 
 other times be obtained, and so creating disputes 
 and quarrels ; one assembly waiting to see what 
 another will do, being afraid of doing more than 
 its share, or desirous of doing less ; or refusing to 
 do any thing, because its country is not at present 
 so much exposed as others, or because another will 
 reap more immediate advantage ; from one or 
 other of which causes, the assemblies of six (out 
 of seven) colonies applied to, had granted no as 
 sistance to Virginia, when lately invaded by the 
 French, though purposely convened, and the im 
 portance of the occasion earnestly urged upon 
 them ; considering moreover, that one principal 
 encouragement to the French, in invading and 
 insulting the British American dominions, was 
 their knowledge of our disunited state, and of our 
 weakness arising from such want of union ; and 
 that from hence different colonies were, at different 
 times, extremely harassed, and put to great ex 
 pense both of blood and treasure, who would 
 have remained in peace, if the enemy had had 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 301 
 
 cause to fear the drawing on themselves the resent 
 ment and power of the whole ; the said com 
 missioners, considering also the present incroach- 
 ments of the French, and the mischievous conse 
 quences that may be expected from them, if not 
 opposed with our force, came to an unanimous 
 resolution, That an union of the colonies is abso 
 lutely necessary for their preservation. 
 
 The manner of forming and establishing this 
 union was the next point. When it was considered, 
 that the colonies were seldom all in equal danger 
 at the same time, or equally near the danger, or 
 equally sensible of it ; that some of them had 
 particular interests to manage, with which an union 
 might interfere : and that they were extremely 
 jealous of each other: it was thought impractica 
 ble to obtain a joint agreement of all the colonies 
 to an union, in which the expense and burthen of 
 defending any of them should be divided among 
 them all : and if ever acts of assembly in all the 
 colonies could be obtained for that purpose, yet as 
 any colony, on the least dissatisfaction, might re 
 peal its own act, and thereby withdraw itself from 
 the union, it would not be a stable one, or such as 
 could be depended on : for if only one colony 
 should, on any disgust, withdraw itself, others 
 might think it unjust and unequal that they, by 
 continuing in the union, should be at the expense 
 of defending a colony, which refused to bear its 
 proportionable part, and would therefore, one after 
 
302 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 another, withdraw, till the whole crumbled into its 
 original parts. Therefore the commissioners came 
 to another previous resolution, viz. That it was 
 necessary the union should be established by act of 
 parliament. 
 
 They then proceeded to sketch out a plan of 
 union, which they did in a plain and concise manner, 
 just sufficient to show their sentiments of the kind 
 of union that would best suit the circumstances of 
 the colonies, be most agreeable to the people, and 
 most effectually promote his majesty s service and 
 the general interest of the British empire. This 
 was respectfully sent to the assemblies of the seve 
 ral colonies for their consideration, and to receive 
 such alterations and improvements as they should 
 think fit and necessary ; after which it was pro 
 posed to be transmitted to England to be perfected, 
 and the establishment of it there humbly solicited. 
 
 This was as much as the commissioners could 
 do. 1 
 
 II. Reasons against partial Unions. 
 It was proposed by some of the commissioners, 
 
 1 Dr. Davenant was so well convinced of the expediency of 
 an union of the colonies, that he recites, at full length, a plan 
 contrived, as he says, with good judgment, for the purpose. 
 Davenant, Vol. I. p. 40, 41, of Sir C. Whitworth s edition. B. V. 
 This, and other notes ivith similar initials, are those of Mr. 
 Benjamin Vaughan. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 303 
 
 to form the colonies into two or three distinct 
 unions ; but for these reasons that proposal was 
 dropped even by those that made it : viz. 
 
 1 . In all cases where the strength of the whole 
 was necessary to be used against the enemy, there 
 would be the same difficulty in degree, to bring the 
 several unions to unite together, as now the seve 
 ral colonies ; and consequently the same delays on 
 our part, and advantage to the enemy. 
 
 2. Each union would separately be weaker than 
 when joined by the whole, obliged to exert more 
 force, be oppressed by the expense, and the enemy 
 less deterred from attacking it. 
 
 3. Where particular colonies have selfish views, as 
 New York with regard to Indian trade and lands ; 
 or are less exposed, being covered by others, as 
 New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Mary 
 land; or have particular whims and prejudices 
 against warlike measures in general, as Pennsyl 
 vania, where the Quakers predominate ; such co 
 lonies would have more weight in a partial union, 
 and be better able to oppose and obstruct the mea 
 sures necessary for the general good, than where 
 they are swallowed up in the general union. 
 
 4. The Indian trade would be better regulated 
 by the union of the whole than by partial unions. 
 And as Canada is chiefly supported by that trade, 
 if it could be drawn into the hands of the English 
 (as it might be if the Indians were supplied on mo 
 derate terms, and by honest traders appointed by 
 
304 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 and acting for the public) that alone would contri 
 bute greatly to the weakening of our enemies. 
 
 5. The establishing of new colonies westward 
 on the Ohio and the lakes (a matter of consider 
 able importance to the increase of British trade 
 and power, to the breaking that of the French, and 
 to the protection and security of our present colo 
 nies), would best be carried on by a joint union. 
 
 6. It was also thought, that by the frequent 
 meeting together of commissioners or representa 
 tives from all the colonies, the circumstances of the 
 whole would be better known, and the good of the 
 whole better provided for ; and that the colonies 
 would by this connection learn to consider them 
 selves, not as so many independent states, but as 
 members of the same body ; and thence be more 
 ready to afford assistance and support to each 
 other, and to make diversions in favor even of the 
 most distant, and to join cordially in any expedi 
 tion for the benefit of all against the common 
 enemy. 
 
 These were the principal reasons and motives for 
 forming the plan of union as it stands. To which 
 may be added this, that as the union of the * * * * 
 
 [The remainder of this article is missing.] 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 305 
 
 III. Plan of a proposed Union of the several Colonies 
 of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecti 
 cut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Penn 
 sylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and 
 South Carolina, for their mutual Defence and Se 
 curity, and for extending the British Settlements in 
 North America, with the Reasons and Motives for 
 each Article of the Plan [as far as could be re 
 membered.} 
 
 It is proposed That humble application be 
 made for an act of parliament of Great Britain, by 
 virtue of which one general government may be 
 formed in America, including all the said colonies, 
 within and under which government each colony 
 may retain its present constitution, except in the 
 particulars wherein a change may be directed by 
 the said act, as hereafter follows. 1 
 
 PRESIDENT GENERAL, AND GRAND COUNCIL. 
 
 That the said general government be administered 
 by a president general, to be appointed and supported 
 by the crown ; and a grand council to be chosen by the 
 representatives of the people of the several colonies met 
 in their respective assemblies. 
 
 It was thought that it would be best the presi 
 dent general should be supported as well as ap- 
 
 * The reader may perceive, by the difference of the Italic 
 and Roman type, which is the text of the plan, and which the 
 VOL. I. U 
 
S06 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pointed by the crown ; that so all disputes between 
 him and the grand council concerning his salary 
 might be prevented ; as such disputes have been 
 frequently of mischievous consequence in particu 
 lar colonies, especially in time of public danger. 
 The quit-rents of crown-lands in America might in 
 a short time be sufficient for this purpose. The 
 choice of members for the grand council is placed 
 in the house of representatives of each government, 
 in order to give the people a share in this new ge 
 neral government, as the crown has its share by the 
 appointment of the president general. 
 
 But it being proposed by the gentlemen of the 
 council of New York, and some other counsellors 
 among the commissioners, to alter the plan in this 
 particular, and to give the governors and council of 
 the several provinces a share in the choice -of the 
 grand council, or at least a power of approving and 
 confirming or of disallowing the choice made by the 
 house of representatives, it was said : 
 
 " That the government or constitution proposed 
 to be formed by the plan, consists of two branches ; 
 a president general appointed by the crown, and a 
 council chosen by the people, or by the people s 
 representatives, which is the same thing. 
 
 " That by a subsequent article, the council cho 
 sen by the people can effect nothing without the 
 consent of the president general appointed by the 
 
 reasons and motives mentioned in the title. They are thus 
 printed for perspicuity and for convenience. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 307 
 
 crown ; the crown possesses therefore full one half 
 of the power of this constitution. 
 
 " That in the British constitution, the crown is 
 supposed to possess but one third, the lords having 
 their share. 
 
 " That this constitution seemed rather more fa 
 vorable for the crown. 
 
 " That this is essential to English liberty, [that] 
 the subject should not be taxed but by his own 
 consent, or the consent of his elected representa 
 tives. 
 
 " That taxes to be laid and levied by this pro 
 posed constitution will be proposed and agreed to 
 by the representatives of the people, if the plan in 
 this particular be preserved : 
 
 " But if the proposed alteration should take 
 place, it seemed as if matters may be so managed, 
 as that the crown shall finally have the appoint 
 ment not only of the president general, but of a 
 majority of the grand council ; for seven out of 
 eleven governors and councils are appointed by the 
 crown : 
 
 " And so the people in all the colonies would in 
 effect be taxed by their governors. 
 
 " It was therefore apprehended, that such altera 
 tions of the plan would give great dissatisfaction, 
 and that the colonies could not be easy under such 
 a power in governors, and such an infringement of 
 what they take to be English liberty. 
 
308 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 " Besides, the giving a share in the choice of the 
 grand council would not be equal with respect to 
 all the colonies, as their constitutions differ. In 
 some, both governor and council are appointed by 
 the crown. In others, they are both appointed by 
 the proprietors. In some, the people have a share 
 in the choice of the council ; in others, both go 
 vernment and council are wholly chosen by the 
 people. But the house of representatives is every 
 where chosen by the people ; and therefore, placing 
 the right of choosing the grand council in the re 
 presentatives is equal with respect to all. 
 
 " That the grand council is intended to repre 
 sent all the several houses of representatives of the 
 colonies, as a house of representatives doth the se 
 veral towns or counties of a colony. Could all the 
 people of a colony be consulted and unite in pub 
 lic measures, a house of representatives would be 
 needless : and could all the assemblies conve 
 niently consult and unite in general measures, the 
 grand council would be unnecessary. 
 
 " That a house of commons or the house of re 
 presentatives, and the grand council, are thus alike 
 in their nature and intention. And as it would 
 seem improper that the king or house of lords 
 should have a power of disallowing or appointing 
 members of the house of commons ; so likewise, 
 that a governor and council appointed by the 
 crown should have a power of disallowing or ap- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 309 
 
 pointing members of the grand council, (who, in 
 this constitution, are to be the representatives of 
 the people.) 
 
 " If the governors and councils therefore were 
 to have a share in the choice of any that are to 
 conduct this general government, it should seem 
 more proper that they chose the president general. 
 But this being an office of great trust and import 
 ance to the nation, it was thought better to be 
 filled by the immediate appointment of the crown. 
 
 " The power proposed to be given by the plan 
 to the grand council is only a concentration of the 
 powers of the several assemblies in certain points 
 for the general welfare ; as the power of the presi 
 dent general is of the powers of the several go 
 vernors in the same points. 
 
 " And as the choice therefore of the grand 
 council by the representatives of the people, neither 
 gives the people any new powers, nor diminishes 
 the power of the crown, it was thought and hoped 
 the crown would not disapprove of it." 
 
 Upon the whole, the commissioners were of 
 opinion, that the choice was most properly placed 
 in the representatives of the people. 
 
 ELECTION OF MEMBERS. 
 
 That within months after the passing such 
 
 act, the house of representatives, that happen to be 
 sitting within that time, or that shall be especially for 
 
310 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 that purpose convened, may and shall choose members 
 for the grand council, in the following proportion, 
 that is to say, 
 
 Massachusetts Bay - 7 
 New Hampshire 2 
 
 Connecticut - 5 
 
 Rhode Island - 2 
 
 New York - 4 
 
 New Jersey - 3 
 
 Pennsylvania - - 6 
 
 Maryland - 4 
 
 Virginia - -7 
 North Carolina 4 
 
 South Carolina - - - 4 
 
 48 
 
 It was thought, that if the least colony was al 
 lowed two, and the others in proportion, the num 
 ber would be very great and the expense heavy ; 
 and that less than two would not be convenient, as 
 a single person, being by any accident prevented 
 from appearing at the meeting, the colony he ought 
 to appear for would not be represented. That as the 
 choice was not immediately popular, they would be 
 generally men of good abilities for business, and 
 men of reputation for integrity ; and that forty- 
 eight such men might be a number sufficient. But 
 though it was thought reasonable, that each colony 
 should have a share in the representative body in 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 311 
 
 some degree, according to the proportion it contri 
 buted to the general treasury : yet the proportion 
 of wealth or power of the colonies is not to be 
 judged by the proportion here fixed ; because it 
 was at first agreed, that the greatest colony should 
 not have more than seven members, nor the least 
 less than two : and the settling these proportions 
 between these two extremes was not nicely attend 
 ed to, as it would find itself, after the first election 
 from the sums brought into the treasury, as by a 
 subsequent article. 
 
 PLACE OF FIRST MEETING. 
 
 who shall meet for the first time at the city of Phi 
 ladelphia in Pennsylvania, being called by the presi 
 dent general as soon as conveniently may be after Ids 
 appointment. 
 
 Philadelphia was named as being the nearer the 
 centre of the colonies, where the commissioners 
 would be well and cheaply accommodated. The 
 high-roads, through the whole extent, are for the 
 most part very good, in which forty or fifty miles a 
 day may very well be and frequently are travelled. 
 Great part of the way may likewise be gone by wa 
 ter. In summer time, the passages are frequently 
 performed in a week from Charles Town to Phila 
 delphia and New York ; and from Rhode Island 
 to New York through the sound, in two or three 
 days ; and from New York to Philadelphia, by 
 
312 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 water and land, in two days, by stage boats and 
 wheel-carriages that set out every other day. The 
 journey from Charles Town to Philadelphia may 
 likewise be facilitated by boats running up Chesa- 
 peak Bay three hundred miles. But if the whole 
 journey be performed on horseback, the most dis 
 tant members (viz. the two from New Hampshire 
 and from South Carolina) may probably render 
 themselves at Philadelphia in fifteen or twenty 
 days; the majority may be there in much less 
 time. 
 
 NEW ELECTION. 
 
 That there shall be a new election of the members of 
 the grand council every three years ; and on the death 
 or resignation of any member, his place shall be sup 
 plied by a new choice at the next sitting of the assem 
 bly oj the colony he represented. 
 
 Some colonies have annual assemblies, some 
 continue during a governor s pleasure ; three years 
 was thought a reasonable medium, as affording a 
 new member time to improve himself in the busi 
 ness, and to act after such improvement ; and yet 
 giving opportunities, frequent enough, to change 
 him, if he has misbehaved. 
 
 PROPORTION OF MEMBERS AFTER THE FIRST 
 THREE YEARS. 
 
 That after the Jirst three years, when the propor 
 tion of money arising out of each colony to the general 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 313 
 
 treasury can be known, the number of members to be 
 chosen for each colony shall, from time to time, in all 
 ensuing elections, be regulated by that proportion (yet 
 so as I hat the number to be chosen by any one province 
 be not more than seven, nor less than two.) 
 
 By a subsequent article it is proposed, that the 
 general council shall lay and levy such general du 
 ties, as to them may appear most equal and least 
 burthensome, &c. Suppose, for instance, they lay 
 a small duty or excise on some commodity import 
 ed into or made in the colonies, and pretty gene 
 rally and equally used in all of them ; as rum per 
 haps or wine : the yearly produce of this duty or 
 excise, if fairly collected, would be in some co 
 lonies greater, in others less, as the colonies are 
 greater or smaller. When the collector s ac 
 counts are brought in, the proportions will ap 
 pear ; and from them it is proposed to regulate the 
 proportion of representatives to be chosen at the 
 next general election, within the limits however of 
 seven and two. These numbers may therefore 
 vary in course of years, as the colonies may in the 
 growth and increase of people. And thus the 
 quota of tax from each colony would naturally 
 vary with its circumstances ; thereby preventing all 
 disputes and dissatisfactions, about the just pro 
 portions due from each ; which might otherwise 
 produce pernicious consequences, and destroy the 
 harmony and good agreement that ought to subsist 
 between the several parts of the union. 
 
314 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 MEETINGS OF THE GRAND COUNCIL,, AND CALL. 
 
 That the grand council shall meet once in every 
 year, and oftener if occasion require, at such time and 
 place as they shall adjourn to at the last preceding 
 meeting, or as they shall be called to meet at by the 
 president general on any emergency ; he having jirst 
 obtained in writing the consent of seven of the mem 
 bers to such call, and sent due and timely notice to the 
 whole. 
 
 It was thought, in establishing and governing 
 new colonies or settlements, regulating Indian 
 trade, Indian treaties, &c. there would be every 
 year sufficient business arise to require at least one 
 meeting, and at such meeting many things might 
 be suggested for the benefit of all the colonies. 
 This annual meeting may either be at a time or 
 place certain, to be fixed by the president general 
 and grand council at their first meeting ; or left at 
 liberty, to be at such time and place as they shall 
 adjourn to, or be called to meet at by the president 
 general. 
 
 In time of war it seems convenient, that the 
 meeting should be in that colony, which is nearest 
 the seat of action. 
 
 The power of calling them on any emergency 
 seemed necessary to be vested in the president 
 general ; but that such power might not be wan 
 tonly used to harass the members, and oblige them 
 to make frequent long journies to little purpose, 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 315 
 
 the consent of seven at least to such call was sup 
 posed a convenient guard. 
 
 CONTINUANCE. 
 
 That the grand council have power to choose their 
 speaker ; and shall neither be dissolved, prorogued, 
 nor continued sitting longer than six weeks at one 
 time, without their own consent or the special com 
 mand of the crown. 
 
 The speaker should be presented for approba 
 tion ; it being convenient, to prevent misunder 
 standings and disgusts, that the mouth of the 
 council should be a person agreeable, if possible, 
 both to the council and president general. 
 
 Governors have sometimes wantonly exercised 
 the power of proroguing or continuing the sessions 
 of assemblies, merely to harass the members and 
 compel a compliance ; and sometimes dissolve 
 them on slight disgusts. This it was feared might 
 be done by the president general, if not provided 
 against : and the inconvenience and hardship 
 would be greater in the general government than 
 in particular colonies, in proportion to the distance 
 the members must be from home, during sittings, 
 and the long journies some of them must necessa 
 rily take. 
 
316 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 MEMBERS ALLOWANCE. 
 
 That the members of the grand council shall be 
 allowed for their tervice ten shillings sterling per 
 diem,, during their session and journey to and from 
 the place of meeting ; twenty miles to be reckoned a 
 day s journey. 
 
 It was thought proper to allow some wages, lest 
 the expense might deter some suitable persons 
 from the service ; and not to allow too great 
 wages, lest unsuitable persons should be tempted 
 to cabal for the employment, for the sake of gain. 
 Twenty miles was set down as a day s journey, to 
 allow for accidental hindrances on the road, and 
 the greater expenses of travelling than residing at 
 the place of meeting. 
 
 ASSENT OF PRESIDENT GENERAL, AND HIS DUTY. 
 
 That the assent of the president general be requi 
 site to all acts of the grand council ; and that it be 
 his office and duty to cause them to be carried into 
 execution. 
 
 The assent of the president general to all acts 
 of the grand council was made necessary, in order 
 to give the crown its due share of influence in this 
 government, and connect it with that of Great 
 Britain. The president general, besides one half 
 of the legislative power, hath in his hands the 
 whole executive power. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 317 
 
 POWER OF PRESIDENT GENERAL, AND GRAND 
 COUNCIL. TREATIES OF PEACE AND WAR. 
 
 That the president general, with the advice of the 
 grand council, hold or direct all Indian treaties in 
 which the general interest of the colonies may be con 
 cerned ; and make peace or declare war with Indian 
 nations. 
 
 The power of making peace or war with Indian 
 nations is at present supposed to be in every 
 colony, and is expressly granted to some by char 
 ter, so that no new power is hereby intended to be 
 granted to the colonies. But as, in consequence 
 of this power, one colony might make peace with 
 a nation that another was justly engaged in war 
 with ; or make war on slight occasions without the 
 concurrence or approbation of neighboring colo 
 nies, greatly endangered by it ; or make particular 
 treaties of neutrality in case of a general war, to 
 their own private advantage in trade, by supplying 
 the common enemy ; of all which there have been 
 instances it was thought better, to have all trea 
 ties of a general nature under a general direction : 
 that so the good of the whole may be consulted 
 and provided for. 
 
 INDIAN TRADE. 
 
 That they make such laws as they judge necessary 
 for regulating all Indian trade. 
 
 Many quarrels and wars have arisen between 
 
318 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the colonies and Indian nations, through the bad 
 conduct of traders, who cheat the Indians after 
 making them drunk, &c. to the great expense 
 of the colonies both in blood and treasure. Par 
 ticular colonies are so interested in the trade as 
 not to be willing to admit such a regulation as 
 might be best for the whole ; and therefore it was 
 thought best under a general direction. 
 
 INDIAN PURCHASES. 
 
 That they make all purchases from Indians for 
 the crown, of lands not now within the bounds of par 
 ticular colonies, or that shall not be within their 
 bounds when some of them are reduced to more con 
 venient dimensions. 
 
 Purchases from the Indians, made by private 
 persons, have been attended with many inconve- 
 niencies. They have frequently interfered, and 
 occasioned uncertainty of titles, many disputes, 
 and expensive law-suits, and hindered the settle 
 ment of the land so disputed. Then the Indians 
 have been cheated by such private purchases, and 
 discontent and wars have been the consequence. 
 These would be prevented by public fair pur 
 chases. 
 
 Several of the colony charters in America ex 
 tend their bounds to the South Sea, which may be 
 perhaps three or four thousand miles in length to 
 one or two hundred miles in breadth. It is sup 
 posed they must in time be reduced to dimensions 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 319 
 
 more convenient for the common purposes of go 
 vernment. 1 
 
 Very little of the land in those grants is yet pur 
 chased of the Indians. 
 
 1 Mr. Baron Maseres, in page 200 of his Account of the 
 Proceedings at Quebec, for obtaining an Assembly, has the fol 
 lowing hint : " The vast enlargement of the province of Quebec, 
 by adding to it a new territory that contains, according to Lord 
 Hillsborough s estimation of it, five hundred and eleven millions 
 of acres (that is, more land than Spain, Italy, France, and Ger 
 many put together, and most of it good land), is a measure that 
 would require an ample discussion." That the reader may not 
 suspect that these dimensions were convenient for uncommon 
 purposes of government, I shall quote the motives assigned 
 upon this occasion by the act regulating the government of 
 Quebec. ** By the arrangements made by the royal proclama 
 tion, a very large extent of country, within which there were 
 several colonies and settlements of the subjects of France, who 
 claimed to remain therein under the faith of the said treaty, was 
 left without any provision being made for the administration of 
 civil government therein : f. e. a few Indian traders were a 
 pretext for this appropriation of a tract of country, which, 
 according to the minister s estimate, was more than thirteen 
 times larger than England and Wales united, nearly one hundred 
 and twenty-eight times larger than Jamaica, almost one-eighth 
 part of Europe, and considerably more than one thirty-eighth 
 part of the whole habitable earth (comparing it with the several 
 calculations in The Political Survey of Great Britain, by Dr. 
 Campbell, and in that of Jamaica, by Mr. Long). " Now all 
 the inhabitants of the province of Quebec," says this very act, 
 " amounted at the conquest to above sixty-five thousand only, 
 professing the religion of the church of Rome, and enjoying an 
 established form of constitution and system of laws." B. V. 
 
320 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 It is much cheaper to purchase of them, than to 
 take and maintain the possession by force : for 
 they are generally very reasonable in their demands 
 for land ; and the expense of guarding a large 
 frontier against their incursions is vastly great: 
 because all must be guarded, as we know not 
 where or when to expect them* 
 
 " Dr. Franklin (says Mr. Kalm the Swede) and several 
 other gentlemen, frequently told me, that a powerful Indian, 
 who possessed Rhode Island, had sold it to the English for a 
 pair of spectacles : it is large enough for a prince s domain, and 
 makes a peculiar government at present. This Indian knew 
 how to set a true value upon a pair of spectacles : for un 
 doubtedly if those glasses were not so plentiful, and only a few 
 of them could be found, they would, on account of their great 
 use, bear the same price with diamonds/ See Kalm s Travels 
 into North America, Vol. I. p. 386, 387. " At the time whe 
 the Swedes first arrived, they bought land at a very inconsi 
 derable price. For a piece of baize, or a pot full of brandy, 
 or the like, they could get a piece of ground, which at present 
 would be worth more than 290/. sterling." Ib. Vol. II. p. 118. 
 The truth is, that the Indians considered their lands as mere 
 hunting-manors, and not as farms. B. V. 
 
 1 To guard against the incursions of the Indians, a plan was 
 sent over to America (and, as I think, by authority) suggesting 
 the expediency of clearing away the woods and bushes from a 
 tract of land, a mile in breadth, and extending along the back 
 of the colonies. Unfortunately, besides the large expenses of 
 this undertaking, (which, if one acre cost 2/. sterling, and six 
 hundred and forty acres make a square mile, is 128,000/. first 
 cost for every 100 miles,) it was forgotten, that the Indians, like 
 other people, know the difference between day and night, and 
 that a mile of advance and another of retreat were nothing to 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 321 
 
 NEW SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 That they make new settlements on such purchases, 
 by granting lands in the king s name, reserving a 
 quit-rent to the crown for the use of the general 
 treasury. 
 
 It is supposed better that there should be one 
 purchaser than many ; and that the crown should 
 be that purchaser, or the union in the name of the 
 crown. By this means the bargains may be more 
 easily made, the price not enhanced by numerous 
 bidders, future disputes about private Indian pur 
 chases, and monopolies of vast tracts to particular 
 persons (which are prejudicial to the settlement 
 and peopling of the country) prevented ; and the 
 land being again granted in small tracts to the 
 settlers, the quit-rents reserved may in time become 
 a fund for support of government, for defence of 
 the country, ease of taxes, &c. 
 
 Strong forts on the lakes, the Ohio, &c. may, at 
 the same time they secure our present frontiers, 
 serve to defend new colonies settled under their 
 protection ; and such colonies would also mutually 
 defend and support such forts, and better secure 
 the friendship of the far Indians. 
 
 the celerity of such an enemy. This plan, it is said, was the 
 work of Dean Tucker ; and possibly might contain many other 
 particulars. The plans of Dr. Franklin and Governor Pownall 
 appear much more feasible. B. V. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
322 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 A particular colony has scarce strength enough 
 to extend itself by new settlements, at so great a 
 distance from the old ; but the joint force of the 
 union might suddenly establish a new colony or 
 two in those parts, or extend an old colony to 
 particular passes, greatly to the security of our 
 present frontiers, increase of trade and people, 
 breaking off the French communication between 
 Canada and Louisiana, and speedy settlement of 
 the intermediate lands. 
 
 The power of settling new colonies is therefore 
 thought a valuable part of the plan, and what can 
 not so well be executed by two unions as by one. 
 
 LAWS TO GOVERN THEM. 
 
 That they make laws for regulating and governing 
 such new settlements, till the crown shall think fit to 
 form them into particular governments. 
 
 The making of laws suitable for the new colo 
 nies, it was thought, would be properly vested in 
 the president and grand council ; under whose 
 protection they will at first necessarily be, and 
 who would be well acquainted with their circum 
 stances, as having settled them. When they are 
 become sufficiently populous, they may by the 
 crown be formed into complete and distinct go 
 vernments. 
 
 The appointment of a sub-president by the crown, 
 to, take place in case of the death or absence of the 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS, 323 
 
 president general, would perhaps be an improve 
 ment of the plan ; and if all the governors of par 
 ticular provinces were to be formed into a standing 
 council of state, for the advice and assistance of the 
 president general, it might be another considerable 
 improvement 
 
 RAISE SOLDIERS AND EQUIP VESSELS, &C. 
 
 That they raise and pay soldiers, and build forts 
 for the defence of any of the colonies, and equip vessels 
 of force to guard the coasts, and to protect the trade 
 on the ocean, lakes, 1 or great rivers ; but they shall 
 not impress men in any colony, without the consent of 
 the legislature. 
 
 It was thought, that quotas of men, to be raised 
 and paid by the several colonies, and joined for 
 any public service, could not always be got toge 
 ther with the necessary expedition. For instance, 
 suppose one thousand men should be wanted in 
 New Hampshire on any emergency ; to fetch them 
 by fifties and hundreds out of every colony, as far 
 as South Carolina, would be inconvenient, the 
 transportation chargeable, and the occasion per 
 haps passed before they could be assembled ; and 
 therefore, that it would be best to raise them (by 
 offering bounty-money and pay) near the place 
 
 1 According to a plait which* had been proposed by Governor 
 Pownall, and approved of by Congress. Administration of the 
 Colonies, vol. ii. p. 148. B. V. 
 
324 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 where they would be wanted, to be discharged 
 again when the service should be over. 
 
 Particular colonies are at present backward to 
 build forts at their own expense, which they say 
 will be equally useful to their neighboring colonies ; 
 who refuse to join, on a presumption that such forts 
 will be built and kept up, though they contribute 
 nothing. This unjust conduct weakens the whole; 
 but the forts being for the good of the whole, it was 
 thought best that they should be built and main 
 tained by the whole, out of the common treasury. 
 
 In the time of war, small vessels of force are 
 sometimes necessary in the colonies to scour the 
 coast of small privateers. These being provided 
 by the union, will be an advantage in turn to the 
 colonies which are situated on the sea, and whose 
 frontiers on the land-side being covered by other 
 colonies, reap but little immediate benefit from the 
 advanced forts. 
 
 POWER TO MAKE LAWS, LAY DUTIES, &C. 
 
 That for these purposes they have power to make 
 laws, and lay and levy such general duties, imposts, 
 or taxes, as to them shall appear most equal and just 
 (considering the ability and other circumstances of 
 the inhabitants in the several colonies), and such as 
 may be collected with the least inconvenience to the 
 people ; rather discouraging luxury, than loading in 
 dustry with unnecessary burthens. 
 
 The laws which the president general and grand 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 325 
 
 council are empowered to make, are such only as 
 shall be necessary for the government of the settle 
 ments ; the raising, regulating, and paying soldiers 
 for the general service; the regulating of Indian 
 trade; and laying and collecting the general du 
 ties and taxes. (They should also have a power 
 to restrain the exportation of provisions to the 
 enemy from any of the colonies, on particular 
 occasions, in time of war.) But it is not intended 
 that they may interfere with the constitution and 
 government of the particular colonies ; who are to 
 be left to their own laws, and to lay, levy, and 
 apply their own taxes as before. 
 
 GENERAL TREASURER AND PARTICULAR TREA 
 SURER. 
 
 That they may appoint a general treasurer and 
 particular treasurer in each government when neces 
 sary : and, from time to time, may order the sums in 
 the treasuries of each government into the general 
 treasury; or draw on them for special payments, as 
 theyjind most convenient. 
 
 The treasurers here meant are only for the gene 
 ral funds, and not for the particular funds of each 
 colony, which remain in the hands of their own 
 treasurers at their own disposal. 
 
 MONEY HOW TO ISSUE. 
 
 Yet no money to issue but by joint orders of the 
 president general and grand council ; except where 
 
326 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sums have been appropriated to particular purposes v 
 and the president general is previously empowered by 
 act to draw for such sums. 
 
 To prevent misapplication of the money, or even 
 application that might be dissatisfactory to the 
 crown or the people, it was thought necessary to 
 join the president general and grand council in all 
 issues of money. 
 
 ACCOUNTS. 
 
 That the general accounts shall be yearly settled 
 and reported to the several assemblies. 
 
 By communicating the accounts yearly to each 
 assembly, they will be satisfied of the prudent and 
 honest conduct of their representatives in the grand 
 council. 
 
 QUORUM. 
 
 That a quorum of the grand council, empowered to 
 act with the president general, do consist of twenty- 
 Jive members ; among whom there shall be one or more 
 from a majority of the colonies. 
 
 The quorum seems large ; but it was thought it 
 would not be satisfactory to the colonies in general, 
 to have matters of importance to the whole trans 
 acted by a smaller number, or even by this number 
 of twenty-five, unless there were among them one 
 at least from a majority of the colonies ; because 
 otherwise, the whole quorum being made up of 
 members from three or four colonies at one end of 
 
PART II, AMERICAN POLITICS. 327 
 
 the union, something might be done that would not 
 be equal with respect to the rest, and thence dis 
 satisfactions and discords might arise to the pre 
 judice of the whole. 
 
 LAWS TO BE TRANSMITTED. 
 
 That the laws made by them for the purposes afore 
 said, shall not be repugnant, but, as near as may be, 
 agreeable to the laws of England, and shall be trans 
 mitted to the king in council for approbation, as soon 
 as may be after their passing ; and, if not disapproved 
 within three years after presentation, to remain in 
 force. 
 
 This was thought necessary for the satisfaction 
 of the crown, to preserve the connexion of the parts 
 of the British empire with the whole, of the mem 
 bers with the head r and to induce greater care and 
 circumspection in making of the laws, that they be 
 good in themselves and for the general benefit. 
 
 DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. 
 
 That in case of the death of the president general, 
 the speaker of the grand council for the time bei?ig 
 shall succeed, and be vested with the same powers 
 and authorities, to continue till the kings pleasure be 
 known. 
 
 It might be better, perhaps, as was said before, 
 if the crown appointed a vice-president, to take 
 place on the death or absence of the president 
 general ; for so we should be more sure of a suita- 
 
3*28 WRITINGS OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 ble person at the head of the colonies. On the 
 death or absence of both, the speaker to take place 
 (or rather the eldest kings-governor) till his majes 
 ty s pleasure be known. 
 
 OFFICERS HOW APPOINTED. 
 
 That all military commission officers, whether for 
 land or sea-service, to act under this general consti 
 tution, shall he nominated by the president general; 
 but the approbation of the grand council is to be ob 
 tained, before they receive their commissions. And 
 all civil officers are to be nominated by the grand 
 council, and to receive the president general s appro- 
 bation before they officiate. 
 
 It was thought it might be very prejudicial to 
 the service, to have officers appointed unknown to 
 the people, or unacceptable ; the generality of 
 Americans serving willingly under officers they 
 know, and not caring to engage in the service un 
 der strangers, or such as are often appointed by 
 governors through favor or interest. The service 
 here meant, is not the stated settled service in 
 standing troops, but any sudden and short service, 
 either for defence of our own colonies, or invading 
 the enemy s country ; (such as the expedition to 
 Cape Breton in the last war, in which many sub 
 stantial farmers and tradesmen engaged as com 
 mon soldiers, under officers of their own country, 
 for whom they had an esteem and affection, who 
 would not have engaged in a standing army, or 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 329 
 
 under officers from England.) It was therefore 
 thought best to give the council the power of 
 approving the officers, which the people will look 
 upon as a great security of their being good men. 
 And without some such provision as this, it was 
 thought the expense of engaging men in the service 
 on any emergency would be much greater, and the 
 number who could be induced to engage much 
 less ; and that therefore it would be most for the 
 king s service and general benefit of the nation, 
 that the prerogative should relax a little in this 
 particular throughout all the colonies in America, 
 as it had already done much more in the charters 
 of some particular colonies, viz. Connecticut and 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 The civil officers will be chiefly treasurers and 
 collectors of taxes ; and the suitable persons are 
 most likely to be known by the council. 
 
 VACANCIES HOW SUPPLIED. 
 
 But in case of vacancy by death, or removal of any 
 officer civil or military under this constitution, the 
 governor of the province in which such vacancy hap 
 pens may appoint, till the pleasure of the president 
 general and grand council can be known. 
 
 The vacancies were thought best supplied by 
 the governors in each province, till a new appoint 
 ment can be regularly made ; otherwise the service 
 might suffer before the meeting of the president 
 general and grand council. 
 
330 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 EACH COLONY MAY DEFEND ITSELF ON EMER 
 GENCY, &C. 
 
 That the particular military as well as civil estab 
 lishments in each colony remain in their present state* 
 the general constitution notwithstanding ; and that 
 on sudden emergencies any colony may defend itself\ 
 and lay the accounts of expense thence arising before 
 the president general and grand council, who may allow 
 and order payment of the same, as far as they judge 
 such accounts just and reasonable. 
 
 Otherwise the union of the whole would weaken 
 the parts, contrary to the design of the union. 
 The accounts are to be judged of by the president 
 general and grand council, and allowed if found 
 reasonable: this was thought necessary to en 
 courage colonies to defend themselves, as the ex 
 pense would be light when borne by the whole ; 
 and also to check imprudent and lavish expense 
 in such defences. 1 
 
 1 This plan of union, it will appear from the next page, 
 rejected ; and another proposed to be substituted by the English 
 minister, which had for its chief object the taking power from 
 the people in the colonies in order to give it to the crown. B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 331 
 
 REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING PLAN. 
 (Written by Dr. Franklin, February 9, 1789.) 
 
 On reflection it seems probable, that if the fore 
 going plan had been adopted and carried into 
 execution, the present separation of the colonies 
 from the mother country might not so soon have 
 happened, nor the mischiefs which on both sides 
 have occurred, perhaps during another century. 
 For the colonies, if so united, would have really 
 been, as they then thought themselves, sufficient 
 to their own defence, and being trusted with it as 
 by the plan, an army from Britain for that purpose 
 would have been unnecessary. The pretences for 
 framing the Stamp Act would then not have ex 
 isted, nor the other projects for drawing a revenue 
 from America to Britain by acts of parliament, 
 which were the cause of the breach, and attended 
 with such terrible expense of blood and treasure : 
 so that the different parts of the empire might still 
 have remained in peace and union. But the fate 
 of this plan was singular. After many days 
 thorough discussion of all its parts in congress, it 
 was unanimously agreed to ; and copies ordered 
 to be sent to the assemblies of each province for 
 concurrence, and one to the ministry in England 
 for the approbation of the crown. The crown 
 disapproved it, as having placed too much weight 
 in the democratic part of the constitution ; and 
 
332 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 every assembly, as having allowed too much to 
 prerogative. So it was totally rejected. 
 
 B. F. 
 
 ALBANY PAPERS CONTINUED. 
 
 I. LETTER to Governor Shirley, concerning the Im 
 position of direct Taxes upon the Colonies, without 
 their consent. 1 
 
 SIR, Tuesday Morning. 
 
 I RETURN you the loose sheets of the Plan, 
 with thanks to your excellency for communicating 
 them. 
 
 I apprehend, that excluding the people of the 
 colonies from all share in the choice of the grand 
 
 1 These letters to Governor Shirley first appeared in the 
 London Chronicle for Feb. 6 8, 1766, with an introduction 
 signed A Lover of Britain. In the beginning of the year 
 1770, they were republished in Almon s Remembrancer, with 
 an additional prefatory piece, under the signature of A Mourner 
 over our Calamities. I shall explain the subject of them in the 
 words of one of these writers. " The Albany Plan of Union 
 was sent to the government here for approbation : had it been 
 approved and established by authority from hence, English 
 America thought itself sufficiently able to cope with the French, 
 without other assistance ; several of the colonies having alone, 
 in former wars, withstood the whole power of the enemy, un 
 assisted not only by the mother country, but by any of the 
 neighboring provinces. The plan, however, was not approved 
 here ; but a new one was formed instead of it ; by which it was 
 proposed, that the governors of all the colonies, attended by 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 333 
 
 council, will give extreme dissatisfaction ; as well 
 as the taxing them by act of parliament, where 
 they have no representation. It is very possible^ 
 that this general government might be as well and 
 
 one or two members of their respective councils, should assem 
 ble, and concert measures for the defence of the whole, erect 
 forts where they judged proper, and raise what troops they 
 thought necessary, with power to draw on the treasury here for 
 the sums that should be wanted, and the treasury to be reim 
 bursed by a tax laid on the colonies by act of parliament." 
 This new plan being communicated by Governor Shirley to a 
 gentleman of Philadelphia (Dr. Franklin) then in Boston (who 
 hath very eminently distinguished himself, before and since that 
 time, in the literary world, and whose judgment, penetration, 
 and candor, as well as his readiness and ability to suggest, for 
 ward, or carry into execution, every scheme of public utility, 
 hath most deservedly endeared him, not only to our fellow-sub 
 jects throughout the continent of North America, but to his 
 numberless friends on this side the Atlantic), occasioned the 
 following remarks from him, which perhaps may contribute in 
 some degree to its being laid aside. As they very particularly 
 show the then sentiments of the Americans on the subject of a 
 parliamentary tax, before the French power in that country was 
 subjected, and before the late restraints on their commerce ; 
 they satisfy x me, and I hope they will convince your readers 
 (contrary to what has been advanced by some of your corre 
 spondents) that those particulars have had no share in producing 
 the present opposition to such a tax, nor in disturbances occa 
 sioned by it, which these papers indeed do almost prophetically 
 foretel. For this purpose, having accidentally fallen into my 
 hands, they are communicated to you by one who is, partially, 
 but in the most enlarged sense, 
 
 " A LOVER OF BRITAIN." B. V. 
 
334 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 faithfully administered without the people, as with 
 them; but where heavy burdens are to be laid 
 upon them, it has been found useful, to make it as 
 much as possible their own act ; for they bear bet 
 ter when they have, or think they have, some share 
 in the direction ; and when any public measures 
 are generally grievous, or even distasteful, to the 
 people, the wheels of government move more 
 heavily. 
 
 II. LETTER to the same ; concerning direct Taxes 
 in the Colonies imposed without consent, indirect 
 Taxes, and the Albany Plan of Union. 
 
 SIR, Wednesday Morning. 
 
 I MENTIONED it yesterday to your ex 
 cellency as my opinion, that excluding the people 
 of the colonies from all share in the choice of the 
 grand council, would probably give extreme dis 
 satisfaction, as well as the taxing them by act of 
 parliament, where they have no representation. In 
 matters of general concern to the people, and 
 especially where burdens are to be laid upon 
 them, it is of use to consider, as well what they 
 will be apt to think and say, as what they ought 
 to think. I shall therefore, as your excellency 
 requires it of me, briefly mention what of either 
 kind occurs to me on this occasion. 
 
 First, they will say, and perhaps with justice, 
 that the body of the people in the colonies are as 
 loyal, and as firmly attached to the present con- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 335 
 
 stitution and reigning family, as any subjects in 
 the king s dominions. 
 
 That there is no reason to doubt the readiness 
 and willingness of the representatives they may 
 choose, to grant from time to time such supplies 
 for the defence of the country, as shall be judged 
 necessary, so far as their abilities will allow. 
 
 That the people in the colonies, who are to feel 
 the immediate mischiefs of invasion and conquest 
 by an enemy, in the loss of their estates, lives, 
 and liberties, are likely to be better judges of the 
 quantity of forces necessary to be raised and 
 maintained, forts to be built and supported, and of 
 their own abilities to bear the expense, than the 
 parliament of England, at so great a distance. 
 
 That governors often come to the colonies merely 
 to make fortunes, with which they intend to return 
 to Britain ; are not always men of the best abilities 
 or integrity ; have many of them no estates here, 
 nor any natural connexions with us, that should 
 make them heartily concerned for our welfare; 
 and might possibly be fond of raising and keeping 
 up more forces than necessary, from the profits 
 accruing to themselves, and to make provision for 
 their friends and dependants. 
 
 That the counsellors in most of the colonies, 
 being appointed by the crown, on the recommenda 
 tion of governors, are often persons of small 
 estates, frequently dependent on the governors for 
 offices, and therefore too much under influence. 
 
336 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 That there is therefore great reason to be jealous 
 of a power, in such governors and councils, to 
 raise such sums as they shall judge necessary, by 
 drafts on the lords of the treasury, to be afterwards 
 laid on the colonies by act of parliament, and paid 
 by the people here ; since they might abuse it, by 
 projecting useless expeditions, harassing the people, 
 and taking them from their labor to execute such 
 projects, merely to create offices and employments, 
 and gratify their dependants, and divide profits. 
 
 That the parliament of England is at a great 
 distance, subject to be misinformed and misled by 
 such governors and councils, whose united inter 
 ests might probably secure them against the effect 
 of any complaint from hence 
 
 That it is supposed an undoubted right of Eng 
 lishmen, not to be taxed but by their own con 
 sent, given through their representatives. 
 
 That the colonies have no representatives in 
 parliament. 
 
 That to propose taxing them by parliament, and 
 refuse them the liberty of choosing a representative 
 council, to meet in the colonies, and consider and 
 judge of the necessity of any general tax, and the 
 quantum, shows a suspicion of their loyalty to the 
 crown, or of their regard for their country, or of 
 their common sense and understanding ; which 
 they have not deserved. 
 
 That compelling the colonies to pay money 
 without their consent, would be rather like raising 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 3?7 
 
 contributions in an enemy s country, than taxing 
 of Englishmen for their own public benefit. 
 
 That it would be treating them as a conquered 
 people, and not as true British subjects. 
 
 That a tax ] aid by the representatives of the 
 colonies might be easily lessened as the occasions 
 should lessen ; but, being once laid by parliament 
 under the influence of the representations made by 
 governors, would probably be kept up, and con 
 tinued for the benefit of governors : to the grievous 
 burthen and discontentment of the colonies, and 
 prevention of their growth and increase. 
 
 That a power of governors, to march the inhabi 
 tants from one end of the British and French colo 
 nies to the other, being a country of at least one 
 thousand five hundred miles long, without the ap 
 probation or the consent of their representatives 
 first obtained to such expeditions, might be grievous 
 and ruinous to the people, and would put them 
 upon a footing with the subjects of France in 
 Canada, that now groan under such oppression 
 from their governor, who for two years past has 
 harassed them with long and destructive marches 
 to Ohio. 
 
 That if the colonies in a body may be well 
 governed by governors and councils appointed by 
 the crown, without representatives ; particular 
 colonies may as well, or better be so governed ; a 
 tax may be laid upon them all by act of parlia 
 ment for support of government ; and their assem- 
 
 VOL. i. Y 
 
338 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 blies may be dismissed as an useless part of the 
 constitution. 
 
 That the powers proposed by the Albany plan 
 of union, to be vested in a grand council repre 
 sentative of the people, even with regard to mili 
 tary matters, are not so great, as those which the 
 colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut are 
 entrusted with by their charters, and have never 
 abused ; for by this plan, the president general is 
 appointed by the crown, and controls all by his 
 negative ; but in those governments, the people 
 choose the governor, and yet allow him no nega 
 tive. 
 
 That the British colonies bordering on the 
 French are properly frontiers of the British empire ; 
 and the frontiers of an empire are properly de 
 fended at the joint expense of the body of the 
 people in such empire ; it would now be thought 
 hard by act of parliament to oblige the Cinque- 
 ports or sea-coasts of Britain, to maintain the 
 whole navy, because they are more immediately 
 defended by it, not allowing them at the same 
 time a vote in choosing members of the parliament ; 
 and, as the frontiers of America bear the expense 
 of their own defence, it seems hard to allow them 
 no share in voting the money, judging of the 
 necessity and sum, or advising the measures. 
 
 That besides the taxes necessary for the defence 
 of the frontiers, the colonies pay yearly great sums 
 to the mother country unnoticed : for, 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 339 
 
 1. Taxes paid in Britain by the landholder or 
 artificer, must enter into and increase the price of 
 the produce of land and manufactures made of it ; 
 and great part of this is paid by consumers in the 
 colonies, who thereby pay a considerable part of 
 the British taxes. 
 
 2. We are restrained in our trade with foreign 
 nations ; and where we could be supplied with 
 any manufacture cheaper froni them, but must buy 
 the same dearer from Britain, the difference of 
 price is a clear tax to Britain. 
 
 3. We are obliged to carry a great part of our 
 produce directly to Britain ; and where the duties 
 laid upon it lessen its price to the planter, or it sells 
 for less than it would in foreign markets, the 
 difference is a tax paid to Britain. 
 
 4. Some manufactures we could make, but are 
 forbidden, and must take them of British mer 
 chants ; the whole price is a tax to Britain. 
 
 5. By our greatly increasing the demand and 
 Consumption of British manufactures, their price 
 is considerably raised of late years ; the advantage 
 is clear profit to Britain, and enables its people 
 better to pay great taxes ; and much of it being 
 paid by us, is clear tax to Britain. 
 
 6. In short, as we are now suffered to regulate 
 our trade, and restrain the importation and con 
 sumption of British superfluities (as Britain can 
 the consumption of foreign superfluities), our whole 
 wealth centers finally amongst the merchants and 
 
340 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN* 
 
 inhabitants of Britain ; and if we make them 
 richer, and enable them better to pay their taxes, 
 it is nearly the same as being taxed ourselves, and 
 equally beneficial to the crown. 
 
 These kind of secondary taxes, however, we do 
 not complain of, though we have no share of the 
 laying or disposing of them ; but to pay immediate 
 heavy taxes, in the laying, appropriation, and dis 
 position of which we have no part, and which per 
 haps we may know to be as unnecessary as griev 
 ous, must seem hard measure to Englishmen, who 
 cannot conceive, that by hazarding their lives and 
 fortunes in subduing and settling new countries, 
 extending the dominion, and increasing the com 
 merce of the mother-nation, they have forfeited 
 the native rights of Britons ; which they think 
 ought rather to be given to them, as due to such 
 merit, if they had been before in a state of slavery. 
 
 These, and such kinds of things as these, I ap 
 prehend, will be thought and said by the people, 
 if the proposed alteration of the Albany plan 
 should take place. Then the administration of 
 the board of governors and council so appointed, 
 not having the representative body of the people 
 to approve and unite in its measures, and conciliate 
 the minds of the people to them, will probably 
 become suspected and odious ; dangerous animosi 
 ties and feuds will arise between the governors 
 and governed : and every thing go into confusion. 
 
 Perhaps I am too apprehensive in this matter ; 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 341 
 
 but having freely given my opinion and reasons, 
 your excellency can judge better than I, whether 
 there be any weight in them, and the shortness of 
 the time allowed me will, I hope, in some degree 
 excuse the imperfections of this scrawl. 
 
 With the greatest respect and fidelity, I have the 
 honor to be your excellency s most obedient and 
 most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 III. LETTER to the same, on the subject of uniting 
 the Colonies more intimately with Great Britain, 
 by allowing them Representatives in Parliament. 
 
 SIR, Boston, Dec. 22, 1754. 
 
 Since the conversation your excellency was 
 pleased to honor me with, on the subject of uniting 
 the colonies more intimately with Great Britain, by 
 allowing them representatives in parliament, I have 
 something further considered that matter, and am 
 of opinion, that such an union would be very ac 
 ceptable to the colonies, provided they had a rea 
 sonable number of representatives allowed them ; 
 and that all the old acts of parliament restraining 
 the trade, or cramping the manufactures of the 
 colonies, be at the same time repealed, and the 
 British subjects on this side the water put, in those 
 respects, on the same footing with those in Great 
 Britain, till the new parliament, representing the 
 whole, shall think it for the interest of the whole 
 to re-enact some or all of them : it is not that I 
 
342 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 imagine so many representatives will be allowed 
 the colonies, as to have any great weight by their 
 numbers ; but I think there might be sufficient to 
 occasion those laws to be better and more im 
 partially considered, and perhaps to overcome the 
 interest of a petty corporation, or of any particular 
 set of artificers or traders in England, who hereto 
 fore seem, in some instances, to have been more 
 regarded than all the colonies, or than was con 
 sistent with the general interest, or best natural 
 good. I think too, that the government of the 
 colonies by a parliament, in which they are fairly 
 represented, would be vastly more agreeable to 
 the people, than the method lately attempted to be 
 introduced by royal instruction ; as well as more 
 agreeable to the nature of an English constitution, 
 and to English liberty ; and that such laws, as 
 now seem to bear hard on the colonies, would 
 (when judged by such a parliament for the best 
 interest of the whole) be more cheerfully submitted 
 to, and more easily executed. 
 
 I should hope, too, that by such an union, the 
 people of Great Britain, and the people of the colo 
 nies, would learn to consider themselves, as not 
 belonging to different communities with different 
 interests, but to one community with one interest ; 
 which I imagine would contribute to strengthen the 
 whole, and greatly lessen the danger of future 
 separations. 
 
 It is, I suppose, agreed to be the general interest 
 of any state, that its people be numerous and rich ; 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 343 
 
 men enow to fight in its defence, and enow to pay 
 sufficient taxes to defray the charge ; for these cir 
 cumstances tend to the security of the state, and 
 its protection from foreign power. But it seems 
 not of so much importance, whether the lighting be 
 done by John or Thomas, or the tax paid by Wil 
 liam or Charles. The iron manufacture employs 
 and enriches British subjects ; but is it of any im 
 portance to the state, whether the manufacturer 
 lives at Birmingham or Sheffield, or both ; since 
 they are still within its bounds, and their wealth 
 and persons still at its command? Could the 
 Goodwin Sands be laid dry by banks, and land 
 equal to a large country thereby gained to England, 
 and presently filled with English inhabitants, 
 would it be right to deprive such inhabitants of the 
 common privileges enjoyed by other Englishmen, 
 the right of vending their produce in the same 
 ports, or of making their own shoes ; because a 
 merchant or a shoemaker, living on the old land, 
 might fancy it more for his advantage to trade or 
 make shoes for them ? Would this be right, even 
 if the land were gained at the expense of the state ? 
 and would it not seem less right, if the charge and 
 labor of gaining the additional territory to Britain 
 had been borne by the settlers themselves? and 
 would not the hardship appear yet greater, if the 
 people of the new country should be allowed no 
 representatives in the parliament enacting such im 
 positions ? Now I look on the colonies as so 
 
344 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 many countries gained to Great Britain, and more 
 advantageous to it, than if they had been gained 
 out of the seas around its coasts, and joined to its 
 land ; for being in different climates, they afford 
 greater variety of produce, and materials for more 
 manufactures ; and being separated by the ocean, 
 they increase much more its shipping and seamen : 
 and since they are all included in the British em 
 pire, which has only extended itself by their 
 means ; and the strength and wealth of the parts 
 is the strength and wealth of the whole ; what im 
 ports it to the general state, whether a merchant, a 
 smith, or a hatter, grow rich in Old or New Eng 
 land ? and if, through increase of people, two 
 smiths are wanted for one employed before, why 
 may not the new smith be allowed to live and 
 thrive in the new country, as well as the old one in 
 the old? In fine, why should the countenance of a 
 state be partially afforded to its people, unless it be 
 most in favor of those who have most merit? And 
 if there be any difference, those who have most 
 contributed to enlarge Britain s empire and com 
 merce, increase her strength, her wealth, and the 
 numbers of her people, at the risk of their own lives 
 and private fortunes in new and strange countries, 
 methinks ought rather to expect some preference. 
 With the greatest respect and esteem, I have the 
 honor to be your excellency s most obedient and 
 humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 345 
 
 Plan for settling Two Western Colonies in North 
 America, with Reasons for the Plan, 1754. 1 
 
 THE great country back of the Apalachian 
 mountains, on both sides the Ohio, and between 
 
 1 For the occasion which produced this plan, see what fol 
 lows. I apprehend it was given to Governor Pownall, 1754, for 
 the purpose of being inserted in his memorial ; but this point of 
 anecdote I cannot sufficiently ascertain. 
 
 Extract of a Memorial drawn up by order of, and pre 
 sented to, his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, 1/56, 
 by T. Pownall. 
 
 " In other parts of our frontier, that are not the immediate 
 residence and country of Indians, some other species of barrier 
 should be thought of, for which nothing can be more effectual 
 
 than a barrier colony ; but even this cannot be carried 
 
 into execution and effect, without the previous measure of entre 
 pots in the country between us and the enemy 
 
 All mankind must know, that no body of men, whether as an 
 army, or an emigration of colonists, can march from one country 
 to another, through an inhospitable wilderness, without maga 
 zines ; nor with any safety, without posts communicating among 
 each other by practicable roads, to which to retire in case of ac* 
 cidents, repulse, or delay. 
 
 " It is a fact, which experience evinces the truth of, that we 
 have always been able to outsettle the French ; and have driven 
 the Indians out of the country more by settling than fighting ; 
 and that whenever our settlements have been wisely and com 
 pletely made, the French, neither by themselves nor their dogs of 
 war, the Indians, have been able to remove us. It is upon this 
 fact I found the propriety of the measure of settling a barrier co 
 lony in those parts of our frontiers, which are not the immediate 
 residence or hunting-grounds of our Indians. This is a mea- 
 
346 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 that river and the lakes, is now well known, both 
 to the English and French, to be one of the finest 
 
 sure that will be effectual ; and will not only in time pay its ex 
 pense, but make as great returns as any of our preseut colonies 
 do ; will give strength and unity to our dominions in North 
 America ; and give us possession of our country, as well as set 
 tlement in it. But above all this, the state and circumstances of 
 our settlements render such a measure not only proper and eli 
 gible, but absolutely necessary. The English settlements, as 
 they are at present circumstanced, are absolutely at a stand ; 
 they are settled up to the mountains : and in the mountains 
 there is no where together land sufficient for a settlement large 
 enough to subsist by itself, and to defend itself, and preserve a 
 communication with the present settlements. 
 
 " If the English would advance one step farther, or cover 
 themselves where they are, it must be at once, by one large step 
 over the mountains, with a numerous and military colony. 
 Where such should be settled, I do not take upon me to say : 
 at present I shall only point out the measure and the nature of 
 it, by inserting two schemes, one of Dr. Franklin s, the other of 
 your memorialist ; and if I might indulge myself with scheming, 
 I should imagine that two such were sufficient, and only requisite 
 and proper : one at the back of Virginia, filling up the vacant 
 space between the five nations and southern confederacy, and 
 connecting into our system our barrier ; the other somewhere in 
 the Cohass or Connecticut river, or wherever best adapted to co 
 ver the New England colonies. These, with the little settle 
 ments mentioned above in the Indian countries, complete my 
 idea of this branch." See Governor Pownall s Administration 
 of the Colonies, vol. ii. p. 228 231, 5th edition. 
 
 The reader must carry along with him a distinction between 
 the plans of Dr. Franklin and Governor Pownall here referred to. 
 The first (which is before him) is particular, and proposes a plan 
 for two settlements in the uulocated lands to the westward of 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 347 
 
 in North America, for the extreme richness and 
 fertility of the land, the healthy temperature of the 
 air, and mildness of the climate; the plenty of 
 hunting, fishing, and fowling ; the facility of trade 
 with the Indians ; and the vast convenience of in 
 land navigation or water-carriage by the lakes and 
 great rivers, many hundreds of leagues around. 
 
 From these natural advantages it must un 
 doubtedly (perhaps in less than another century) 
 become a populous and powerful dominion ; and 
 a great accession of power, either to England or 
 France. 
 
 The French are now making open encroach 
 ments on these territories, in defiance of our known 
 rights ; and, if we longer delay to settle that coun 
 try, and suffer them to possess it, these inconvc- 
 niencies and mischiefs will probably follow : 
 
 1. Our people, being confined to the country 
 between the sea and the mountains, cannot much 
 more increase in number ; people increasing in 
 proportion to their room and means of subsistence. 
 (See the Observations on the Increase of Mankind, 
 c.) 
 
 2. The French will increase much more, by that 
 
 Pennsylvania and the Virginian mountains, and is totally silent 
 with respect to a settlement in New England ; the other treats 
 of the mode of settling new colonies in North America in gene 
 ral, leaving the precise situation to be in some measure pointed 
 out by the foregoing extract. B. V. 
 
 
 
348 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 acquired room and plenty of subsistence, and be 
 come a great people behind us. 
 
 3. Many of our debtors, and loose English peo 
 ple, our German servants and slaves, will probably 
 desert to them, and increase their numbers and 
 strength, to the lessening and weakening of ours. 
 
 4. They will cut us off from all commerce 
 and alliance with the western Indians, to the great 
 prejudice of Britain, by preventing the sale and 
 consumption of its manufactures. 
 
 5. They will, both in time of peace and war, (as 
 they have always done against New- England) set 
 the Indians on to harass our frontiers, kill and 
 scalp our people, and drive in the advanced set 
 tlers ; and so, in preventing our obtaining more 
 subsistence by cultivating of new lands, they dis 
 courage our marriages, and keep our people from 
 increasing ; thus (if the expression may be allowed) 
 killing thousands of our children before they are 
 born 
 
 If two strong colonies of English were settled 
 between the Ohio and lake Erie, in the places 
 hereafter to be mentioned, these advantages 
 might be expected : 
 
 1. They would be a great security to the fron 
 tiers of our other colonies ; by preventing the in 
 cursions of the French and French Indians of Ca 
 nada, on the back parts of Pennsylvania, Mary 
 land, Virginia, and the Carolinas ; and the fron 
 tiers of such new colonies would be much more 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 349 
 
 easily defended, than those of the colonies last 
 mentioned now can be, as will appear hereafter. 
 
 2. The dreaded junction of the French settle 
 ments in Canada with those of Louisiana would be 
 prevented. 
 
 3. In case of a war, it would be easy, from those 
 new colonies, to annoy Louisiana, by going down 
 the Ohio and Mississippi ; and the southern part 
 of Canada, by sailing over the lakes ; and thereby 
 confine the French within narrower limits. 
 
 4. We should secure the friendship and trade of 
 the Miamis and Twigwees (a numerous people, 
 consisting of many tribes, inhabiting the country 
 between the west end of lake Erie, and the south 
 end of lake Huron, and the Ohio), who are at pre 
 sent dissatisfied with the French, and fond of the 
 English, and would gladly encourage and protect 
 an infant English settlement in or near their coun 
 try, as some of their chiefs have declared to the 
 writer of this memoir. Further, by means of the 
 lakes, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, our trade 
 might be extended through a vast country, among 
 many numerous and distant nations, greatly to the 
 benefit of Britain. 
 
 5. The settlement of all the intermediate lands, 
 between the present frontiers of our colonies on 
 one side, and the lakes and Mississippi on the 
 other, .would be facilitated and speedily executed, 
 to the great increase of Englishmen, English trade, 
 and English power. 
 
350 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 The grants to most of the colonies are of long 
 narrow slips of land, extending west from the 
 Atlantic to the South Sea. They are much too 
 long for their breadth ; the extremes at too great 
 a distance ; and therefore unfit to be continued 
 under their present dimensions. 
 
 Several of the old colonies may conveniently be 
 limited westward by the Alleghany or Apalachian 
 mountains ; and new colonies formed west of 
 those mountains. 
 
 A single old colony does not seem strong 
 enough to extend itself otherwise than inch by 
 inch ; it cannot venture a settlement far distant 
 from the main body, being un-able to support it ; 
 but if the colonies were united under one governor- 
 general and grand council, agreeable to the Albany 
 plan, they might easily, by their joint force, esta 
 blish one or more new colonies, whenever they 
 should judge it necessary or advantageous to the 
 interest of the whole. 
 
 But if such union should not take place, it is 
 proposed that two charters be granted, each for 
 some considerable part of the lands west of Penn 
 sylvania and the Virginian mountains, to a number 
 of the nobility and gentry of Britain, with such 
 Americans as shall join them in contributing to 
 the settlement of those lands, either by paying a 
 proportion of the expense of making such settle 
 ments, or by actually going thither in person, and 
 settling themselves and families. 
 
PART it. AMERICAN POLITICS. 351 
 
 That by such charters it be granted, that every 
 actual settler be entitled to a tract of acres for 
 himself, and acres for every poll in the family 
 he carries with him ; and that every contributor of 
 guineas be entitled to a quantity of acres, 
 equal to the share of a single settler, for every such 
 sum of guineas contributed and paid to the 
 colony treasurer ; a contributor for shares to 
 have an additional share gratis ; that settlers may 
 likewise be contributors, and have right of land in 
 both capacities. 
 
 That as many and as great privileges and 
 powers of government be granted to the contri 
 butors and settlers, as his Majesty in his wisdom 
 shall think most fit for their benefit and encourage 
 ment, consistent with the general good of the 
 British empire ; for extraordinary privileges and 
 liberties, with lands on easy terms, are strong in 
 ducements to people to hazard their persons and 
 fortunes in settling new countries ; and such 
 powers of government as (though suitable to the 
 circumstances, and fit to be trusted with an infant 
 colony, might be judged unfit when it becomes 
 populous and powerful) these might be granted for 
 a term only ; as the choice of their own governor 
 for ninety-nine years ; the support of government 
 in the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 (which now enjoy that and other like privileges) 
 being much less expensive, than in the colonies 
 
352 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 under the immediate government of the crown, and 
 the constitution more inviting. 
 
 That the first contributors to the amount of 
 guineas be empowered to choose a treasurer to re 
 ceive the contribution. 
 
 That no contributions be paid till the sum of 
 thousand guineas be subscribed. 
 
 That the money thus raised be applied to the 
 purchase of the lands from the Six Nations and 
 other Indians ; and of provisions, stores, arms, 
 ammunition, carriages, &c. for the settlers ; who, 
 after having entered their names with the treasurer, 
 or person by him appointed to receive and enter 
 them, are, upon public notice given for that pur 
 pose, to rendezvous at a place to be appointed, 
 and march in a body to the place destined for their 
 settlement, under the [charge] of the government 
 to be established over them. Such rendezvous 
 and march however not to be directed till the 
 number of names of settlers entered, capable of 
 bearing arms, amount at least to thousand . . 
 
 It is apprehended, that a great sum of money 
 might be raised in America on such a scheme as 
 this ; for there are many who would be glad of any 
 opportunity, by advancing a small sum at present, 
 to secure land for their children, which might in a 
 few years become very valuable ; and a great num 
 ber, it is thought, of actual settlers might likewise 
 be engaged (some from each of our present colo- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 353 
 
 nies) sufficient to carry it into full execution by 
 their strength and numbers ; provided only, that 
 the crown would be at the expense of removing 
 the little forts the French have erected in their en 
 croachments on his Majesty s territories, and sup 
 porting a strong one near the falls of Niagara, 
 with a few small armed vessels, or half-galleys, to 
 cruise on the lakes. 
 
 For the security of this colony in its infancy, a 
 small fort might be erected, and for some time 
 maintained, at Buffalo Creek, on the Ohio, above 
 the settlement ; and another at the mouth of the 
 Tioga, on the south side of lake Erie, where a port 
 should be formed, and a town erected for the 
 trade of ttve lakes. The colonists for this settle- 
 merit might march by land through Pennsyl 
 vania . . . 
 
 The river Sciota, which nins into the Ohio 
 about two hundred miles below Logs Town, is 
 supposed the fittest seat for the other colony ; there 
 being for forty miles on each side of it, and quite 
 up to its heads, a body of all rich land ; the finest 
 spot of its bigness in all North America, and has 
 the particular advantage of sea-coal in plenty (even 
 above ground in two places) for fuel, when the 
 woods shall be destroyed. This colony would 
 have the trade of the Miamis or Twig wees ; and 
 should, at first, have a small fort near Hock- 
 kockin, at the head of the river, and another near 
 the mouth of Wabash. Sanduski, a French fort 
 
 VOL. i. z 
 
354 -WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 near the lake Erie, should also be taken ; and all 
 the little French forts south and west of the lakes, 
 quite to the Mississippi, be removed, or taken and 
 garrisoned by the English. The colonists for this 
 settlement might assemble near the heads of the 
 rivers in Virginia, and march over land to the 
 navigable branches of the Kanhawa, where they 
 might embark with all their baggage and provi 
 sions, and fall into the Ohio, not far above the 
 mouth of Sciota ; or they might rendezvous at 
 Willis Creek, and go down the Monongahela to 
 Ohio. 
 
 The fort and armed vessels at the strait of Nia 
 gara would be a vast security to the frontiers of 
 these new colonies against any attempts of the 
 French from Canada. The fort at the mouth of 
 the Wabash would guard that river, the Ohio, and 
 Cutava river, in case of any attempt from the 
 French of Mississippi. (Every fort should have a 
 small settlement round it ; as the fort would pro 
 tect the settlers, and the settlers defend the fort, 
 and supply it with provisions.) .... 
 
 The difficulty of settling the first English colo 
 nies in America, at so great a distance from 
 England, must have been vastly greater than the 
 settling these proposed new colonies : for it would 
 be the interest and advantage of all the present 
 colonies to support these new ones ; as they would 
 cover their frontiers, and prevent the growth of the 
 French power behind or near their present settle- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 355 
 
 * 
 
 ments ; and the new country is nearly at equal 
 distance from all the old colonies, and could easily 
 be assisted from all of them. 
 
 And as there are already in all the old colonies 
 many thousands of families that are ready to 
 swarm, wanting more land ; the richness and 
 natural advantage of the Ohio country would draw 
 most of them thither, were there but a tolerable 
 prospect of a safe settlement. So that the new 
 colonies would soon be full of people ; and, from 
 the advantage of their situation, become much 
 more terrible to the French settlements, than those 
 are now to us. The gaining of the back Indian 
 trade from the French, by the navigation of the 
 lakes, &c. would of itself greatly weaken our ene 
 mies : it being now their principal support, it 
 seems highly probable, that in time they must be 
 subjected to the British crown, or driven out of the 
 country. 
 
 Such settlements may be better made now, than 
 fifty years hence, because it is easier to settle our 
 selves, and thereby prevent the French settling 
 there as they seem now to intend, than to remove 
 them when strongly settled. 
 
 If these settlements are postponed, then more 
 forts and stronger, and more numerous and ex 
 pensive garrisons must be established to secure the 
 country, prevent their settling, and secure our pre 
 sent frontiers ; the charge of which may probably 
 
356 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 
 
 exceed the charge of the proposed settlements, and 
 the advantage nothing near so great. 
 
 The fort at Oswego should likewise be strength 
 ened, and some armed half-gallies, or other small 
 vessels, kept there to cruise on lake Ontario, as 
 proposed by Mr. Pownall in his paper laid before 
 the commissioners at the Albany treaty. 1 
 
 If a fort was also built at Tirondequat on lake 
 Ontario, and a settlement made there near the lake 
 side, where the lands are said to be good, (much 
 better than at Oswego,) the people of such settle 
 ments would help to defend both forts on any 
 emergency/ 
 
 REMARKS AND FACTS RELATIVE TO- THE AME 
 RICAN PAPER-MONEY, 3 1764. 
 
 [Referred to in MEMOIRS, Part III.] 
 
 IN the REPORT of the BOARD of TRADE, dated 
 February 9, 1764, the following Reasons are given 
 
 1 See his work above quoted, Vol. II. p. 234, et seq. and p. 
 179, et seq. 
 
 1 The whole proposal was neglected, though the French 
 thought a considerable settlement very practicable, in order to 
 get at the Ohio. See Governor Pownall, Vol. n. p. 236. 
 B. V. 
 
 3 During the war, there had been a considerable and unusual 
 trade to America, in consequence of the great fleets and armies 
 on foot there, and the clandestine dealings with the enemy, who 
 
PART II, AMERICAN POLITICS. 357 
 
 for restraining the emission of paper-bills of credit 
 in America, as a legal tender. 
 
 - 1. " That it carries the gold and silver out of the 
 province, and so ruins the country ; as experience 
 has shown, in every colony where it lias been prac 
 tised in any great degree. 
 
 2. " That the merchants trading to America have 
 suffered and lost by it. 
 
 3. " That the restriction [of it] has had a benefi 
 cial effect in New England. 
 
 4. " That every medium of trade should have an 
 intrinsic value, which paper-money has not. Gold 
 and silver are therefore the fittest for this medium, 
 as they are an equivalent ; which paper never can 
 be. 
 
 5. " That debtors in the assemblies make paper- 
 money with fraudulent views. 
 
 6. " That in the middle colonies, where the 
 credit of the paper-money has been best supported, 
 the bills have never kept to their nominal value in 
 circulation ; but have constantly depreciated to a 
 
 were cut off from their own supplies. This made great debts. 
 The briskness of the trade ceasing with the war, the merchants 
 were anxious for payment ; which occasioned some confusion 
 in the colonies, and stirred up a clamor (in England) against 
 paper-money. The board of trade, of which Lord Hillsborough 
 was the chief, joined in this opposition to paper- money, as 
 appears by the report. Dr. Franklin being asked to draw up 
 an answer to their report, wrote the above. B. V. 
 
358 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 certain degree, whenever the quantity has been in 
 creased." 
 
 To consider these Reasons in their order ; the 
 first is, 
 
 1. " That paper-money carries the gold and silver 
 out of the province, and so ruins the country ; as 
 experience has shown, in every colony where it has 
 been practised in any great degree." This opinion, 
 of its ruining the country, seems to be merely 
 speculative, or not otherwise founded than upon 
 misinformation in the matter of fact. The truth 
 is, that the balance of their trade with Britain 
 being greatly against them, the gold and silver is 
 drawn out to pay that balance ; and then the 
 necessity of some medium of trade has induced 
 the making of paper-money, which could not be 
 carried away. Thus, if carrying out all the gold 
 and silver ruins a country, every colony was ruined 
 before it made paper-money. But, far from being 
 ruined by it, the colonies that have made use of 
 paper-money, have been, and are, all in thriving 
 condition. The debt indeed to Britain has in 
 creased, because their numbers, and of course 
 their trade, have increased ; for all trade having 
 always a proportion of debt outstanding, which is 
 paid in its turn, while fresh debt is contracted, the 
 proportion of debt naturally increases as the trade 
 increases ; but the improvement and increase of 
 estates in the colonies has been in a greater pro- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 350 
 
 portion than their debt. New England, particu 
 larly, in 1696, (about the time they began the use 
 of paper-money,) had in all its four provinces but 
 130 churches or congregations ; in 1760 they were 
 530. The number of farms and buildings there is 
 increased in proportion to the numbers of people ; 
 and the goods exported to them from England in 
 1750, before the restraint took place, were near 
 five times as much as before they had paper- 
 money. Pennsylvania, before it made any paper- 
 money, was totally stript of its gold and silver ; 
 though they had from time to time, like the neigh 
 boring colonies, agreed to take gold and silver 
 coins at higher and higher nominal values, in hopes 
 of drawing money into, and retaining it, for the 
 internal uses of the province. During that weak 
 practice, silver got up by degrees to 8s. 9d. per 
 ounce ; and English crowns were called six, 
 seven, and eight shilling pieces, long before paper- 
 money was made. But this practice of increasing 
 the denomination, was found not to answer the 
 end. The balance of trade carried out the gold 
 and silver as fast as it was brought in ; the mer 
 chants raising the price of their goods in propor 
 tion to the increased denomination of the money. 
 The difficulties for the want of cash were accord 
 ingly very great, the chief part of the trade being 
 carried on by the extremely inconvenient method 
 of barter; when in 1723 paper-money was first 
 made there, which gave new life to business, pro- 
 
360 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 moted greatly the settlement of new lands, (by 
 lending small sums to beginners on easy interest, 
 to be repaid by instalments,) whereby the province 
 lias so greatly increased in inhabitants, that the 
 export from hence thither is now more than ten 
 fold what it then was ; and by their trade with 
 foreign colonies, they have been able to obtain 
 great quantities of gold and silver to remit hither 
 in return for the manufactures of this country. 
 New York and New Jersey have also increased 
 greatly during the same period, with the use of 
 paper-money ; so that it does not appear to be of 
 the ruinous nature ascribed to it. And if the in 
 habitants of those countries are glad to have the 
 use of paper among themselves, that they may 
 thereby be enabled to spare for remittances hither, 
 the gold and silver they obtain by their commerce 
 with foreigners ; one would expect that no objec 
 tion against their parting with it could arise here, 
 in the country that receives it. 
 
 The 2d reason is, " That the merchants trading 
 to America have suffered and lost by the paper-money 
 -This may have -been the case in particular in 
 stances, at particular times and places ; as in 
 South Carolina about fifty-eight years since, when 
 the colony was thought in danger of being de 
 stroyed by the Indians and Spaniards, and the 
 British merchants, in fear of losing their whole 
 effects there, called precipitately for remittances ; 
 and the inhabitants, to get something lodged in 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 361 
 
 safe countries, ;ave any price in paper-money for 
 bills of exchange, whereby the paper, as compared 
 with bills, or with produce, or other effects fit for 
 exportation, was suddenly and greatly depreciated. 
 The unsettled state of government for a long time 
 in that province, had also its share in depreciating 
 its bills. But since that danger blew over, and the 
 colony has been in the hands of the crown, their 
 currency became fixed, and has so remained to 
 this day. Also in New England, when much great 
 er quantities were issued than were necessary for a 
 medium of trade, to defray the expedition against 
 Louisbourg ; and, during the last war in Virginia 
 and North Carolina, when great sums were issued 
 to pay the colony troops, and the war made to 
 bacco a poorer remittance, from the higher price 
 of freight and insurance ; in these cases, the mer 
 chants trading to those colonies may sometimes 
 have suffered by the sudden and unforeseen rise 
 of exchange. By slow and gradual rises they sel 
 dom suffer, the goods being sold at proportionable 
 prices. Bat war is a common calamity in all 
 countries, and the merchants that deal with them 
 cannot expect to avoid a share of the losses it 
 sometimes occasions, by affecting public credit. 
 It is hoped, however, that the profits of their sub 
 sequent commerce with those colonies may have 
 made them some reparation. And the merchants 
 trading to the Middle Colonies (New York, New 
 Jersey, and Pennsylvania,) have never suffered by 
 
362 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 any rise of exchange, it having ever been a con 
 stant rule there to consider British debts as paya 
 ble in Britain, and not to be discharged but by 
 as much paper (whatever might be the rate of 
 exchange) as would purchase a bill for the full 
 sterling sum. On the contrary, the merchants 
 have been great gainers by the use of paper-money 
 in those colonies ; as it enabled them to send much 
 greater quantities of goods, and the purchasers to 
 pay more punctually for them. And the people 
 there make no complaint of any injury done them 
 by paper-money, with a legal tender: they are 
 sensible of its benefits, and petition to have it so 
 allowed. 
 
 The 3d reason is, " That the restriction has had 
 a beneficial effect in New England! Particular 
 circumstances in the New England colonies, made 
 paper-money less necessary and less convenient to 
 them. They have great and valuable fisheries of 
 whale and cod, by which large remittances can be 
 made. They are four distinct governments ; but 
 having much mutual intercourse of dealings, the 
 money of each used to pass current in all ; but the 
 whole of this common currency not being under 
 one common direction, was not so easily kept 
 within due bounds ; the prudent reserve of one 
 colony in its emissions being rendered useless by 
 excess in another. The Massachusetts, there 
 fore, were not dissatisfied with the restraint, as it 
 restrained their neighbors as well as themselves ; 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 363 
 
 and perhaps they do not desire to have the act 
 repealed. They have not yet felt much inconve 
 nience from it, as they were enabled to abolish 
 their paper-currency s by a large sum in silver from 
 Britain, to reimburse their expenses in taking 
 Louisbourg, which, with the gold brought from 
 Portugal, by means of their fish, kept them sup 
 plied with a currency, till the late war furnished 
 them and all America with bills of exchange, so 
 that little cash was needed for remittance. Their 
 fisheries too furnish them with remittance through 
 Spain and Portugal to England, which enables 
 them the more easily to retain gold and silver in 
 their country. The middle Colonies have not this 
 advantage ; nor have they tobacco, which in Vir 
 ginia and Maryland answers the same purpose. 
 When colonies are so different in their circum 
 stances, a regulation that is not inconvenient to 
 one or a few, may be very much so to the rest. 
 But the pay is now become so indifferent in New 
 England, at least in some of its provinces, through 
 the want of currency, that the trade thither is at 
 present under great discouragement. 
 
 The 4th reason is, " That every medium of trade 
 should have an intrinsic value, which paper-money 
 has not. Gold and silver are therefore the fittest 
 for this medium, as they are an equivalent, which 
 paper can never be." However fit a particular 
 thing may be for a particular purpose, wherever 
 that thing is not to be had, or not to be had in 
 
364 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sufficient quantity, it becomes necessary to use 
 something else, the fittest that can be got, in lieu 
 of it. Gold and silver are not the produce of 
 North America, which has no mines ; and that 
 which is brought thither cannot be kept there in 
 sufficient quantity for a currency. Britain, an 
 independent great state, when its inhabitants grow 
 too fond of the expensive luxuries of foreign coun 
 tries, that draw away its money, can, and fre 
 quently does, make laws to discourage or prohibit 
 such importations, and by that means can retain 
 its cash. The colonies are dependent governments, 
 and their people having naturally great respect for 
 the sovereign country, and being thence immode 
 rately fond of its modes, manufactures, and super 
 fluities, cannot be restrained from purchasing them 
 by any province law ; because such law, if made, 
 would immediately be repealed here, as prejudi 
 cial to the trade and interest of Britain. It seems 
 hard, therefore, to draw all their real money from 
 them, and then refuse them the poor privilege of 
 using paper instead of it. Bank bills and bankers 
 notes are daily used here as a medium of trade ; 
 and in large dealings, perhaps the greater part is 
 transacted by their means ; and yet they have no 
 intrinsic value, but rest on the credit of those that 
 issue them, as paper-bills in the colonies do on the 
 credit of the respective governments there. Their 
 being payable in cash upon sight by the drawer, 
 is indeed a circumstance that cannot attend the 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 365 
 
 colony bills, for the reasons just above mentioned, 
 their cash being drawn from them by the British 
 trade ; but the legal tender being substituted in its 
 place, is rather a greater advantage to the pos 
 sessor, since lie need not be at the trouble of going 
 to a particular bank or banker to demand the mo 
 ney, finding (wherever he has occasion to lay out 
 money in the province) a person that is obliged to 
 take the bills. 80 that even out of the province, 
 the knowledge that every man within that province 
 is obliged to take its money, gives the bill a credit 
 among its neighbors nearly equal to what they 
 have at home. And w r ere it not for the law >s here, 
 that restrain or prohibit as much as possible all 
 losing trades, the cash of this country would soon 
 be exported ; every merchant who had occasion to 
 remit it, would run to the bank with all its bills 
 that came into his hands, and take out his part of its 
 treasure for that purpose ; so that in a short time it 
 would be no more able to pay bills in money upon 
 sight, than it is now in the power of a colony 
 treasury so to do. And if government afterwards 
 should have occasion for the credit of the bank, it 
 must of necessity make its bills a legal tender ; 
 funding them however on taxes, by which they 
 may in time be paid off, as has been the general 
 practice in the colonies. At this very time, even 
 the silver-money in England is obliged to the legal 
 tender for part of its value ; that part which is the 
 difference between its real weight and its denomi- 
 
366 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 nation. Great part of the shillings and sixpences 
 now current are, by wearing, become 5, 10, 20, 
 and some of the sixpences even 50 per cent, too 
 light. For this difference between the real and the 
 nominal, you have no intrinsic value : you have not 
 so much as paper ; you have nothing. It is the 
 legal tender, with the knowledge that it can easily 
 be repassed for the same value, that makes three 
 penny-worth of silver pass for sixpence. Gold 
 and silver have undoubtedly some properties that 
 give them a fitness above paper as a medium of 
 exchange, particularly their universal estimation; 
 especially in cases where a country has occasion 
 to carry its money abroad, either as a stock to 
 trade with, or to purchase allies and foreign suc 
 cours. Otherwise that very universal estimation is 
 an inconvenience which paper-money is free from, 
 since it tends to deprive a country of even the 
 quantity of currency that should be retained as a 
 necessary instrument of its internal commerce, and 
 obliges it to be continually on its guard in making, 
 and executing at a great expense, the laws that 
 are to prevent the trade which exports it. Paper- 
 money well funded has another great advantage 
 over gold and silver ; its lightness of carriage, and 
 the little room that is occupied by a great sum ; 
 whereby it is capable of being more easily, and 
 more safely, because more privately, conveyed 
 from place to place. Gold and silver are not 
 intrinsically of equal value with iron, a metal in 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 363 
 
 itself capable of many more beneficial uses to 
 mankind. Their value rests chiefly in the estima 
 tion they happen to be in among the generality of 
 nations, and the credit given to the opinion that 
 that estimation will continue : otherwise a pound 
 of gold would not be a real equivalent for even a 
 bushel of wheat. Any other well-founded credit 
 is as much an equivalent as gold and silver, and 
 in some cases more so, or it would not be preferred 
 by commercial people in different countries. Not 
 to mention again our own bank bills, Holland, 
 which understands the value of cash as well as 
 any people in the world, would never part with 
 gold and silver for credit (as they do when they 
 put it into their bank, from whence little of it is 
 ever afterwards drawn out 1 ) if they did not think 
 and find the credit a full equivalent. 
 
 The 5th reason is, " That debtors in the assemblies 
 make paper-money with fraudulent views." This is 
 often said by the adversaries of paper-money, and 
 if it has been the case in any particular colony, 
 that colony should, on the proof of the fact, be duly 
 punished. This, however, would be no reason for 
 punishing other colonies, who have not so abused 
 their legislative powers. To deprive all the colo 
 nies of the convenience of paper-money, because 
 it has been charged on some of them, that they 
 
 1 Perhaps Dr. Franklin had not at this time read what Sir James 
 Stuart says of the Amsterdam bank re-issuing its money. B. V. 
 
368 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 have made it an instrument of fraud, is as if all the 
 India, Bank, and other stocks and trading compa 
 nies were to be abolished, because there has been 
 once in an age Mississippi and South Sea schemes 
 and bubbles. 
 
 The 6th and last reason is, " That in the middle 
 colonies, where the paper-money has been best support 
 ed, the bills have never kept to their nominal value 
 in circulation, but have constantly depreciated to a cer 
 tain degree, whenever the quantity has been increased." 
 If the rising of the value of any particular com 
 modity wanted for exportation, is to be -considered 
 as a depreciation of the values of whatever remains 
 in the country, then the rising of silver above paper 
 to that height of additional value, which its capa 
 bility of exportation only gave it, may be called a 
 depreciation of the paper. Even here, as bullion 
 has been wanted or not wanted for exportation, its 
 price has varied from 5s. 2d. to 5s. 8d. per ounce. 
 This is near 10 per cent. But was it ever said or 
 thought on such an occasion, that all the bank 
 bills, and all the coined silver, and all the gold 
 in the kingdom, were depreciated 10 per cent.? 
 Coined silver is now wanted here for change, and 
 1 per cent, is given for it by some bankers ; are 
 gold and bank notes therefore depreciated 1 per 
 cent.? The fact in the middle colonies is really 
 this : on the emission of the first paper-money, a 
 difference soon arose between that and the silver, 
 the latter having a property the former had not, a 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 309 
 
 property always in demand in the colonies ; to wit, 
 its being fit for a remittance. This property having 
 soon found its value by the merchants bidding on 
 one another for it, and a dollar thereby coming to 
 be rated at 8s. in paper-money of New York, and 
 7s. 6d. in paper of Pennsylvania ; it has continued 
 uniformly at those rates in both provinces, now 
 near 40 years, without any variation upon new 
 emissions, though in Pennsylvania the paper cur 
 rency has at times increased from 15,000/. the first 
 sum, to 600,000/. or near it. Nor has any altera 
 tion been occasioned by the paper-money, in the 
 price of the necessaries of life, when compared 
 with silver : they have been for the greatest part of 
 the time no higher than before it was emitted, va 
 rying only by plenty and scarcity according to the 
 seasons, or by a less or greater foreign demand. 
 It has indeed been usual with the adversaries of a 
 paper currency, to call every rise of exchange with 
 London, a depreciation of this paper : but this no 
 tion appears to be by no means just. For if the 
 paper purchases every thing but bills of exchange 
 at the former rate, and these bills are not above 
 one-tenth of what is employed [in] purchases, then 
 it may be more properly and truly said, that the 
 exchange has risen, than that the paper has depre 
 ciated. And as a proof of this, it is a certain fact, 
 that whenever in those colonies bills of exchange 
 have been dearer, the purchaser has been con 
 stantly obliged to give more in silver as well as in 
 VOL. i. 2 A 
 
370 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 paper for them, the silver having gone hand in 
 hand with the paper at the rate above mentioned, 
 and therefore it might as well have been said that 
 the silver was depreciated. 
 
 There have been several different schemes for 
 furnishing the colonies with paper-money, that 
 should not be a legal tender, viz. 
 
 1. To form a Bank in imitation of the Bank of 
 England, with a sufficient stock of cash to pay the 
 bills on sight. 
 
 This has been often proposed, but appears im 
 practicable under the present circumstances of the 
 colony trade, which, as is said above, draws all the 
 cash to Britain, and would soon strip the bank. 
 
 2. To raise a fund by some yearly tax, securely 
 lodged in the Bank of England as it arises, which 
 should (during the term of years/or which the paper- 
 bills are to be current} accumulate to a sum suffi 
 cient to discharge them all at their original value. 
 
 This has been tried in Maryland, and the bills 
 so funded were issued without being made a gene 
 ral legal tender. The event was, that as notes 
 payable in time are naturally subject to a discount 
 proportioned to the time, so these bills fell at the 
 beginning of the term so low, as that twenty 
 pounds of them became worth no more than twelve 
 pounds in Pennsylvania, the next neighboring pro 
 vince; though both had been struck near the same 
 time at the same nominal value, but the latter was 
 supported by the general legal tender. The Mary- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 371 
 
 land bills however began to rise as the term 
 shortened, and towards the end recovered their 
 full value. But as a depreciating currency injures 
 creditors, this injured debtors, and by its con 
 tinually changing value appears unfit for the pur 
 pose of money, which should be as fixed as possi 
 ble in its own value, because it is to be the measure 
 of the value of other things. 
 
 3. To make the bills carry an interest sufficient to 
 support their value. 
 
 This too has been tried in some of the New 
 England colonies, but great inconveniencies were 
 found to attend it. The bills, to fit them for a cur 
 rency, are made of various denominations, and 
 some very low for the sake of change ; there are of 
 them from 10/. down to 3d. When they first come 
 abroad they pass easily, and answer the purpose 
 well enough for a few months ; but as soon as the 
 interest becomes worth computing, the calculation 
 of it on every little bill in a sum between the 
 dealer and his customers in shops, warehouses, and 
 markets, takes up much time, to the great hindrance 
 of business. This evil, however, soon gave place 
 to a worse ; for the bills were in a short time ga 
 thered up and hoarded, it being a very tempting 
 advantage to have money bearing interest, and the 
 principal all the while in a man s power ready for 
 bargains that may offer, which money out on mort 
 gage is not. By this means numbers of people be 
 came usurers with small sums, who could not have 
 
372 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 found persons to take such sums of them upon in 
 terest, giving good security, and would therefore 
 not have thought of it, but would rather have em 
 ployed the money in some business if it had been 
 money of the common kind. Thus trade, instead 
 of being increased by such bills, is diminished ; 
 and by their being shut up in chests, the very end 
 of making tliem, (viz. to furnish a medium of com 
 merce) is in a great measure, if not totally, de 
 feated. 
 
 On the whole, no method has hitherto been 
 formed to establish a medium of trade in lieu of 
 money, equal in all its advantages to bills of credit 
 funded on sufficient taxes for discharging it, or 
 on land-security of double the value for repaying 
 it at the end of the term, and, in the mean time, 
 made a GENERAL LEGAL TENDER. The expe 
 rience of now near half a century in the middle co 
 lonies, has convinced them of it among themselves, 
 by the great increase of their settlements, numbers, 
 buildings, improvements, agriculture, shipping, and 
 commerce. And the same experience has satis 
 fied the British merchants who trade thither, that 
 it has been greatly useful to them, and not in a 
 single instance prejudicial. 
 
 It is therefore hoped, that securing the full dis 
 charge of British debts which are payable here, 
 and in all justice and reason ought to be fully dis 
 charged here in sterling money, the restraint on 
 the legal tender within the colonies will be taken 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 373 
 
 off, at least for those colonies that desire it, and 
 where the merchants trading to them make no ob 
 jection to it. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN DISCONTENTS BEFORE 
 
 1768. 
 
 [Referred to in Memoirs of the Life, Part I/J 
 
 The waves never rise but when the winds blow. Prov. 
 SIR, 1 
 
 As the cause of the present ill-humor in Ame 
 rica, and of the resolutions taken there to purchase 
 less of our manufactures, does not seem to be ge 
 nerally understood ; it may afford some satisfac 
 tion to your readers, if you give them the following 
 short historical state of facts. 
 
 From the time that the colonies were first consi 
 dered as capable of granting aids to the crown, down 
 to the end of the last war, it is said, that the con 
 stant mode of obtaining those aids was, by requisi 
 tion made from the crown, through its governors, 
 to the several assemblies, in circular letters from 
 the secretary of state, in his majesty s name ; set 
 ting forth the occasion, requiring them to take the 
 
 1 This letter first appeared in a London paper, January 7, 
 1768, and was afterwards reprinted as a postscript to The true 
 Sentiments of America, printed for Almon, 1768. 
 
374 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 matter into consideration, and expressing a reliance 
 on their prudence, duty, and affection to his ma 
 jesty s government, that they would grant such 
 sums, or raise such numbers of men, as were suit 
 able to their respective circumstances. 
 
 The colonies being accustomed to this method, 
 have from time to time granted money to the crown, 
 or raised troops for its service, in proportion to 
 their abilities ; and during all the last war beyond 
 their abilities ; so that considerable sums were re 
 turned them yearly by parliament, as they had ex 
 ceeded their proportion. 
 
 Had this happy method of requisition been con 
 tinued, (a method that left the king s subjects in 
 those remote countries the pleasure of showing 
 their zeal and loyalty, and of imagining that they 
 recommended themselves to their sovereign by the 
 liberality of their voluntary grants) there is no 
 doubt, but all the money that could reasonably be 
 expected to be raised from them in any manner, 
 might have been obtained, without the least heart 
 burning, offence, or breach of the harmony of affec 
 tions and interests that so long subsisted between 
 the two countries. 
 
 It has been thought wisdom in a government 
 exercising sovereignty over different kinds of peo 
 ple, to have some regard to prevailing and established 
 opinions among the people to be governed ; wher 
 ever such opinions might, in their effects, obstruct 
 or promote public measures. If they tend to ob- 
 
JPART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 37% 
 
 struct public service, they are to be changed, if 
 possible, before we attempt to act against them ; 
 and they can only be changed by reason and per 
 suasion. But if public business can be earned on 
 without thwarting those opinions ; if they can be, 
 on the contrary, made subservient to it ; they are 
 not unnecessarily to be thwarted, however absurd 
 such popular opinions may be in their nature. 
 
 This had been the wisdom of our government 
 with respect to raising money in the colonies. It 
 was well known, that the colonists universally were 
 of opinion, that no money could be levied from 
 English subjects, but by their own consent, given 
 by themselves or their chosen representatives ; that 
 therefore whatever money was to be raised from the 
 people in the colonies, must first be granted by their 
 assemblies, as the money raised in Britain is first to 
 be granted by the house of commons ; that this 
 right of granting their own money, was essential to 
 English liberty ; and that if any man, or body of 
 men, in which they had no representative of their 
 choosing, could tax them at pleasure, they could 
 not be said to have any property, any thing they 
 could call their own. But as these opinions did 
 not hinder their granting money voluntarily and 
 amply, whenever the crown by its servants came 
 into their assemblies (as it does into its parliaments 
 of Britain or Ireland} and demanded aids; there 
 fore that method was chosen, rather than the hate 
 ful one of arbitrary taxes. 
 
376 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 1 do not undertake here to support these opi 
 nions of the Americans ; they have been refuted by 
 a late act of parliament, declaring its own power ; 
 which very parliament, however, showed wisely 
 so much tender regard to those inveterate preju 
 dices, as to repeal a tax that had militated against 
 them. And those prejudices are still so fixed and 
 rooted in the Americans, that, it has been supposed, 
 not a single man among them has been convinced 
 of his error, even by that act of parliament. 
 
 The person then who first projected to lay aside 
 the accustomed method of requisition, and to raise 
 money on America by stamps, seems not to have 
 acted wisely, in deviating from that method (which 
 the colonists looked upon as constitutional), and 
 thwarting unnecessarily the "fixed prejudices of so 
 great a number of the king s subjects. It was not, 
 however, for want of knowledge, that what he was 
 about to do would give them offence ; he appears 
 to have been very sensible of this, and apprehensive 
 that it might occasion some disorders ; to prevent 
 or suppress which, he projected another bill that 
 was brought in the same session with the stamp 
 act, whereby it was to be made lawful for military 
 officers in the colonies to quarter their soldiers in 
 private houses. This seemed intended to awe 
 the people into a compliance with the other act. 
 Great opposition however being raised here against 
 tb i 1)111 by the agents from the colonies, and the 
 merchants trading thither, (the colonists declaring, 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 377 
 
 that under such a power in the army, no one could 
 look on his house as his own, or think he had a 
 a home, when soldiers might be thrust into it and 
 mixed with his family at the pleasure of an officer,) 
 that part of the bill was dropt ; but there still re 
 mained a clause, when it passed into a law, to 
 oblige the several assemblies to provide quarters for 
 the soldiers, furnishing them with firing, bedding, 
 candles, small beer or rum, and sundry other arti 
 cles, at the expense of the several provinces. And 
 this act continued in force when the stamp act was 
 repealed ; though, if obligatory on the assemblies, 
 it equally militated against the American principle 
 above mentioned that money is not to be raised 
 on English subjects without their consent. 
 
 The colonies nevertheless, being put into high 
 good-humor by the repeal of the stamp act, chose 
 to avoid a fresh dispute upon the other, it being 
 temporary and soon to expire, never, as they 
 hoped, to revive again ; and in the mean time they, 
 by various ways, in different colonies, provided for 
 the quartering of the troops ; either by acts of their 
 own assemblies, without taking notice of the act 
 of parliament, or by some variety or small diminu 
 tion, as of salt and vinegar, in the supplies required 
 by the act ; that what they did might appear a 
 voluntary act of their own, and not done in due 
 obedience to an act of parliament, which, accord 
 ing to their ideas of their rights, they thought hard 
 to obey. 
 
378 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 It might have been well if the matter had then 
 passed without notice; but a governor having 
 written home an angry and aggravating letter upon 
 this conduct in the assembly of his province, the 
 outed proposer 1 of the stamp act and his adherents 
 (then in the opposition) raised such a clamor 
 against America, as being in rebellion ; and against 
 those who had been for the repeal of the stamp 
 act, as having thereby been encouragers of this 
 supposed rebellion ; that it was thought necessary 
 to enforce the quartering act by another act of 
 parliament, taking away from the province of New 
 York (which had been the most explicit in its 
 refusal) all the powers of legislation, till it should 
 have complied with that act. The news of which 
 greatly alarmed the people everywhere in America, 
 as (it had been said) the language of such an act 
 seemed to them to be obey implicitly laws made 
 by the parliament of Great Britain to raise money 
 on you without your consent, or you shall enjoy 
 no rights or privileges at all. 
 
 At the same time, a person lately in high office,* 
 projected the levying more money, from America, 
 by new duties on various articles of our own manu 
 facture, (as glass, paper, painters colors, &c.) ap 
 pointing a new board of customs, and sending 
 over a set of commissioners, with large salaries, to 
 
 1 Mr. George Grenville. 
 * Mr. Charles Townsend. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 379 
 
 be established at Boston, who were to have the 
 care of collecting those duties ; which were by the 
 act expressly mentioned to be intended for the 
 payment of the salaries of governors, judges, and 
 other officers of the crown in America ; it being a 
 pretty general opinion here, that those officers 
 ought not to depend on the people there, for any 
 part of their support. 
 
 It is not my intention to combat this opinion* 
 But perhaps it may be some satisfaction to your 
 readers, to know what ideas the Americans have 
 on the subject. They say then, as to governors, 
 that they are not like princes, whose posterity have 
 an inheritance in the government of a nation, and 
 therefore an interest in its prosperity ; they are 
 generally strangers to the provinces they are sent 
 to govern ; have no estate, natural connexion or 
 relation there, to give them an affection for the 
 country : that they come only to make money as 
 fast as they can ; are sometimes men of vicious 
 characters and broken fortunes, sent by a minister 
 merely to get them out of the way : that as they 
 intend staying in the country no longer than their 
 government continues, and purpose to leave no 
 family behind them, they are apt to be regardless 
 of the good-will of the people, and care not what 
 is said or thought of them after they are gone. 
 Their situation, at the same time, gives them many 
 opportunities of being vexatious ; and they are 
 often so, notwithstanding their dependence on the 
 
380 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 assemblies for all that part of their support, that 
 does not arise from fees established by law ; but 
 would probably be much more so, if they were to 
 be supported by money drawn from the people 
 without their consent or good-will ; which is the 
 professed design of this new act. That if by 
 means of these forced duties government is to be 
 supported in America, without the intervention of 
 the assemblies, their assemblies will soon be looked 
 upon as useless ; and a governor will not call 
 them, as having nothing to hope from their meet 
 ing, and perhaps, something to fear from their 
 inquiries into, and remonstrances against, his mal 
 administration. That thus the people will be de 
 prived of their most essential rights. That it 
 being (as at present) a governor s interest to culti 
 vate the good-will, by promoting the welfare, of 
 the people he governs, can be attended with no 
 prejudice to the mother-country ; since all the laws 
 he may be prevailed on to give his assent to are 
 subject to revision here, and if reported against by 
 the board of trade, are immediately repealed by 
 the crown ; nor dare he pass any law contrary to 
 his instructions ; as he holds his office during the 
 pleasure of the crown, and his securities are liable 
 for the penalties of their bonds if he contravenes 
 those instructions. This is what they say as to 
 governors. 
 
 As to judges, they allege, that being appointed 
 from this country, and holding their commissions 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 381 
 
 not during; good behaviour, as in Britain, but 
 during pleasure ; all the weight of interest or in 
 fluence would be thrown into one of the scales 
 (which ought to be held even) if the salaries are 
 also to be paid out of duties raised upon the people 
 without their consent, and independent of their 
 assemblies approbation or disapprobation of the 
 judge s behaviour. That it is true, judges should 
 be free from all influence ; and therefore, whenever 
 government here will grant commissions to able 
 and honest judges during good behaviour, the 
 assemblies will settle permanent and ample salaries 
 on them during their commissions ; but, at present, 
 they have no other means of getting rid of an ig 
 norant or an unjust judge (and some of scandalous 
 characters have, they say, been sometimes sent 
 them) left, but by starving them out. 
 
 I do not suppose these reasonings of theirs will 
 appear here to have much weight. I do not pro 
 duce them witli an expectation of convincing your 
 readers. I relate them merely in pursuance of the 
 task I have imposed on myself, to be an impartial 
 historian of American facts and opinions. 
 
 The colonists being thus greatly alarmed, as I 
 said before, by the news of the act for abolishing 
 the legislature of New York, and the imposition 
 of these new duties, professedly for such disagree 
 able purposes (accompanied by a new set of reve 
 nue officers, with large appointments, which gave 
 strong suspicions, that more business of the same 
 
I 
 
 382 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 kind was soon to be provided for them, that they 
 might earn their salaries), began seriously to con 
 sider their situation ; and to revolve afresh in their 
 minds, grievances which, from their respect and 
 love for this country, they had long borne, and 
 seemed almost willing to forget. They reflected 
 how lightly the interest of all America had been 
 estimated here, when the interests of a few of the 
 inhabitants of Great Britain happened to have the 
 smallest competition with it. That the whole 
 American people was forbidden the advantage of 
 a direct importation of wine, oil, and fruit, from 
 Portugal ; but must take them loaded with all the 
 expense of a voyage one thousand leagues round 
 about, being to be landed first in England, to be 
 re-shipped for America ; expenses amounting, in 
 war time at least, to thirty pounds per cent, more 
 than otherwise they would have been charged 
 with ; and all this, merely that a few Portugal 
 merchants in London may gain a commission on 
 those goods passing through their hands (Portu 
 gal merchants, by the bye, that can complain 
 loudly of the smallest hardships laid on their 
 trade by foreigners, and yet even in the last year 
 could oppose with all their influence the giving 
 ease to their fellow-subjects laboring under so 
 heavy an oppression !) That on a slight complaint 
 of a few Virginia merchants, nine colonies had 
 been restrained from making paper-money, become 
 absolutely necessary to their internal commerce, 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 383 
 
 from the constant remittance of their gold and 
 silver to Britain. But not only the interest of a 
 particular body of merchants, but the interest of 
 any small body of British tradesmen or artificers, 
 has been found, they say, to outweigh that of all 
 the king s subjects in the colonies. There cannot 
 be a stronger natural right than that of a man s 
 making the best profit he can of the natural pro 
 duce of his lands, provided he does not thereby 
 hurt the state in general. Iron is to be found 
 everywhere in America, and the beaver furs are 
 the natural produce of that country : hats, and 
 nails, and steel, are wanted there as well as here. 
 It is of no importance to the common welfare of 
 the empire, whether a subject of the king s obtains 
 his living by making hats on this, or on that side 
 of the water. Yet the hatters of England have 
 prevailed to obtain an act in their own favor, 
 restraining that manufacture in America ; in order 
 to oblige the Americans to send their beaver to 
 England to be manufactured, and purchase back 
 the hats, loaded with the charges of a double 
 transportation. In the same manner have a few 
 nail-makers, and a still smaller body of steel 
 makers, (perhaps there are not half a dozen of 
 these in England) prevailed totally to forbid by an 
 act of parliament the erecting of slitting-mills, or 
 steel furnaces, in America ; that the Americans 
 may be obliged to take all their nails for their 
 
384 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 buildings, and steel for their tools, from these 
 artificers, under the same disadvantages. 1 
 
 1 Note at the end of the fourth paragraph of the Farmer s 
 Seventh Letter, (written by Mr. Dickinson.) 
 
 " Many remarkable instances might be produced of the 
 extraordinary inattention with which bills of great importance, 
 concerning these colonies, have passed in parliament ; which is 
 owing, as it is supposed, to the bills being brought in, by the 
 persons who have points to carry, so artfully framed, that it is 
 not easy for the members in general, in the haste of business, 
 to discover their tendency. 
 
 " The following instances show the truth of this remark : 
 
 " When Mr. Grenville, in the violence of reformation and 
 innovation, formed the 4th George III. chap. 15th, for regu 
 lating the American trade, the word Ireland was dropt in tlie 
 clause relating to our iron and lumber, so that we could send 
 these articles to no other part of Europe, but to Great Britain. 
 This was so unreasonable a restriction, and so contrary to the 
 sentiments of the legislature, for many years before, that it is 
 surprising it should not have been taken notice of in the house. 
 However, the bill passed into a law. But when the matter was 
 explained, this restriction was taken off in a subsequent act. 
 
 " I cannot say how long after the taking oft* this restriction, 
 as I have not the acts ; but I think in less than eighteen months, 
 another act of parliament passed, in which the word * Ireland 
 was left out, as it had been before. The matter being a second 
 time explained, was a second time regulated. 
 
 " Now if it be considered, that the omission mentioned, 
 struck off, with one word, so very great a part of our trade, it 
 must appear remarkable ; and equally so is the method by 
 which rice became an enumerated commodity, and therefore 
 could be carried to Great Britain only. 
 
 " The enumeration was obtained/ (says Mr. Gee on Trade, 
 p. 32.) * by one Cole, a captain of a ship employed by a com- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 385 
 
 Added to these, the Americans remembered the 
 act authorising the most cruel insult that perhaps 
 was ever offered by one people to another, that of 
 emptying our gaols into their settlements ; Scotland 
 too having within these two years obtained the 
 privilege it had not before, of sending its rogues 
 and villains also to the plantations I say, reflect 
 ing on these things, they said one to another, 
 (their newspapers are full of such discourses,) 
 " These people are not content with making a 
 monopoly of us, (forbidding us to trade with any 
 other country of Europe, and compelling us to 
 buy every thing of them, though in many articles 
 we could furnish ourselves ten, twenty, and even 
 
 pany then trading to Carolina ; for several ships going from 
 England thither, and purchasing rice for Portugal, prevented 
 the aforesaid captain of a loading. Upon his coming home, he 
 possessed one Mr. Lowudes, a member of parliament, (who 
 was frequently employed to prepare bills) with an opinion, that 
 carrying rice directly to Portugal was a prejudice to the trade 
 of England, and privately got a clause into an act to make it an 
 enumerated commodity ; by which means he secured a freight 
 to himself. But the consequence proved a vast loss to the 
 nation/ 
 
 " I find that this clause, privately got into an act, for the 
 benefit of Captain Cole, to the vast loss of the nation/ is foisted 
 into the 3d Anne, chapter 5th, intitled, An act for granting to 
 her majesty a further subsidy on wines and merchandises im 
 ported ; with which it has no more connexion, than with 34th 
 Edward I. 34th and 35th of Henry VIII. or the 25th Charles 
 II. which provide that no person shall be taxed but by himself 
 or his representatives." 
 
 VOL. I. 2 B 
 
386 WHITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to fifty per cent, cheaper elsewhere ; but now they 
 have as good as declared they have a right to tax 
 v& ad libitum internally and externally ; and that 
 our constitutions and liberties shall all be taken 
 away, if we do not submit to that claim." 
 
 " They are not content with the high prices at 
 which they sell us their goods, but have now be 
 gun to enhance those prices by new duties ; and 
 by the expensive apparatus of a new set of 
 officers, appear to extend an augmentation and 
 multiplication of those burthens that shall still be 
 more grievous to us. Our people have been fool 
 ishly fond of their superfluous modes and manu 
 factures, to the impoverishing our own country, 
 carrying off all our cash, and loading us with 
 debt; they will not suffer us to restrain the luxury 
 of our inhabitants, as they do that of their own, 
 by laws ; they can make laws to discourage or 
 prohibit the importation of French superfluities ; 
 but though those of England are as ruinous to us 
 as the French ones are to them, if we make a law 
 of that kind, they immediately repeal it.- Thus 
 they get all our money from us by trade ; and 
 every profit we can any where make by our fish 
 eries, our produce, or our commerce, centers Anally 
 ^ith them ; but this does not signify. It is time, 
 then, to take care of ourselves by the best means 
 in our power. Let us unite in solemn resolution 
 and engagements with and to each other, .that we 
 will give these new officers as little trouble as pos- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 387 
 
 sible, by not consuming the British manufactures 
 on which they are to levy the duties. Let us 
 agree to consume no more of their expensive gew 
 gaws. Let us live frugally, and let us industriously 
 manufacture what we can for ourselves ; thus we 
 shall be able honorably to discharge the debts we 
 already owe them ; and after that, we may be able 
 to keep some money in our country, not only for 
 the uses of our internal commerce, but for the 
 service of our gracious sovereign, whenever he shall 
 have occasion for it, and think proper to require it 
 of us in the old constitutional manner. For not 
 withstanding the reproaches thrown out against us 
 in their public papers and pamphlets, notwith 
 standing we have been reviled in their senate as 
 rebels and traitors, we are truly a loyal people. 
 Scotland has had its rebellions, and England its 
 plots against the present royal family ; but America 
 is untainted with those crimes ; there is in it scarce 
 a man, there is not a single native of our country, 
 who is not firmly attached to his king by principle 
 and by affection. But a new kind of loyalty 
 seems to be required of us, a loyalty to parliament ; 
 a loyalty that is to extend, it is said, to a surrender 
 of all our properties, whenever a house of com 
 mons, in which there is not a single member of 
 our choosing, shall think fit to grant them away 
 without our consent ; and to a patient suffering the 
 loss of our privileges as Englishmen, if we cannot 
 submit to make such surrender. We were sepa- 
 
388 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 rated too far from Britain by the ocean, but we 
 were united to it by respect and love ; so that we 
 could at any time freely have spent our lives and 
 little fortunes in its cause ; but this unhappy new 
 system of politics tends to dissolve those bands of 
 union, and to sever us for ever." 
 
 These are the wild ravings of the, at present, 
 half-distracted Americans. To be sure, no rea 
 sonable man in England can approve of such sen 
 timents, and, as I said before, 1 do not pretend to 
 support or justify them ; but I sincerely 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 colonies 
 would give us ; that these people had never been 
 thus needlessly driven out of their senses. I am 
 yours, &c. F. * S. 
 
 QUERIES FROM MR. STRAHAN, 1 AND DR. FRANK- 
 LIN S ANSWER. 
 
 [Referred to Part HI. of Memoirs of the life.] 
 To DR. FRANKLIN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Nov. 21, 1769. 
 
 IN the many conversations we have had 
 together about our present disputes with North 
 
 1 Mr. Strahan was printer to the King, and representative in 
 parliament for Malmesbury in Wiltshire. An intimacy of long 
 standing had subsisted between him and Dr. Franklin. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 389 
 
 America, we perfectly agreed in wishing they may 
 be brought to a speedy and happy conclusion. 
 How this is to be done is not so easily ascertained. 
 
 Two objects, I humbly apprehend, his Majesty s 
 servants have now in contemplation. 1st. To re 
 lieve the colonies from the taxes complained of, 
 which they certainly had no hand in imposing. 
 2dly. To preserve the honor, the dignity, and the 
 supremacy of the British legislature over all his 
 Majesty s dominions. 
 
 As I know your singular knowledge of the sub 
 ject in question, and am as fully convinced of 
 your cordial attachment to his Majesty, and your 
 sincere desire to promote the happiness equally of 
 all his subjects, I beg you would in your own 
 clear, brief, and explicit manner, send me an 
 answer to the following questions : I make this 
 request now, because this matter is of the utmost 
 importance, and must very quickly be agitated. 
 And I do it with the more freedom, as you know 
 me and my motives too well, to entertain the most 
 remote suspicion that I will make an improper use 
 of any information you shall hereby convey to me. 
 
 1st. Will not a repeal of all the duties (that on 
 tea excepted, which was before paid here en ex 
 portation, and of course no new imposition) fully 
 satisfy the colonists ? 1 If you answer in the nega 
 tive, 
 
 1 In the year 1767, for the express purpose of raising a re- 
 
390 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 2dly. Your reasons for that opinion ? 
 
 3dly. Do you think the only effectual way of 
 composing the present differences, is to put the 
 Americans precisely in the situation they were in 
 before the passing of the late Stamp Act ? If that 
 is your opinion, 
 
 4thly. Your reasons for that opinion ? 
 
 5thly. If this last method is deemed by the 
 legislature and his Majesty s ministers to be re 
 pugnant to their duty as guardians of the just 
 rights of the crown and of their fellow-subjects, 
 can you suggest any other way of terminating these 
 disputes consistent with the ideas of justice and 
 propriety conceived by the King s subjects on both 
 sides of the Atlantic ? 
 
 venue in America ; glass, red lead, white lead, painters colors, 
 paper, and tea, (which last article was subject to various home 
 impositions) became charged by act of parliament, with new 
 permanent duties payable in the American ports. Soon after, 
 in the same sessions, (the East India Company promising in 
 demnification for the experiment,) a temporary alteration was 
 made with respect to the home customs or excise upon certain 
 teas ; in the hope that a deduction in the nominal imposition, 
 by producing a more extended consumption, would give an in 
 creased sum to the exchequer. Mr. Strahan, comparing only 
 the amounts of the imposed American duty, and the deducted 
 home duty, determines that the Americans had suffered no new 
 imposition. The American?, it seems, thought otherwise. Had 
 we established this precedent for a revenue, we thought we bad 
 every thing to hope ; yet we affect surprise, when the colonies 
 avoided an acquiescence, which by parity of reasoning gave 
 them every thing to fear. B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 391 
 
 6thly. And if this method was actually followed, 
 do you not think it would actually encourage the 
 violent and factious part of the colonists to aim at 
 still farther concessions from the mother-country ? 
 
 7thly. If they are relieved in part only, what do 
 you, as a reasonable and dispassionate man, and 
 an equal friend to both sides, imagine will be the 
 probable consequences ? 
 
 The answers to these questions, I humbly con 
 ceive, will include all the information I want, and 
 I beg you will favor me with them as soon as may 
 be. Every well-wisher to the peace and prosperity 
 of the British empire, and every friend to our truly 
 happy constitution, must be desirous of .seeing 
 even the most trivial causes of dissension among 
 our fellow-subjects removed. Our domestic squab 
 bles, in my mind, are nothing to what I am speak 
 ing of. This you know much better than I do, 
 and therefore I need add nothing farther to re 
 commend this subject to your serious considera 
 tion. I am, with the most cordial esteem and 
 attachment, dear Sir, your faithful and affectionate 
 humble servant, W. STRAHAN. 
 
 THE ANSWER. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Craven Street, Nov. 29, 1769. 
 
 BEING just returned to town from a littie 
 excursion, I find yours of the 21st, containing a 
 number of queries that would require a pamphlet 
 
392 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to %nswer them fully. You, however, desire only 
 brief answers, which I shall endeavor to give. 
 
 Previous to your queries, you tell me that you 
 apprehend his Majesty s servants have now " in 
 contemplation, 1st. to relieve the colonists from 
 the taxes complained of; 2dly. to preserve the 
 honor, the dignity, and the supremacy of the Bri 
 tish legislature over all his Majesty s dominions." 
 I hope your information is good, and that what 
 you suppose to be in contemplation, will be carried 
 into execution, by repealing all the laws that have 
 been made for raising a revenue in America, by 
 authority of parliament, without the consent of the 
 people there. The honor and dignity of the Bri 
 tish legislature will not be hurt by such an act of 
 justice and wisdom. The wisest councils are liable 
 to be misled, especially in matters remote from 
 their inspection. It is the persisting in an error, 
 not the correcting it, that lessens the honor of any 
 man or body of men. The supremacy of that 
 legislature, I believe, will be best preserved by 
 making a very sparing use of it ; never but for the 
 evident good of the colonies themselves, or of the 
 whole British empire ; never for the partial advan 
 tage of Britain, to their prejudice. By such pru 
 dent conduct, I imagine that supremacy may be 
 gradually strengthened, and in time fully esta 
 blished ; but otherwise, I apprehend it will be dis 
 puted, and lost in the dispute. At present the 
 colonies consent and submit to it for the regula- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 393 
 
 tions of general commerce ; but a submission to 
 acts of parliament was no part of their original 
 constitution. Our former kings governed their 
 colonies as they had governed their dominions in 
 France, without the participation of British parlia 
 ments. The parliament of England never pre 
 sumed to interfere in that prerogative till the time 
 of the great rebellion, when they usurped the 
 government of all the King s other dominions, 
 Ireland, Scotland, &c. The colonies that held 
 for the King, they conquered by force of arms, 
 and governed afterwards as conquered countries : 
 but New England having not opposed the parlia 
 ment, was considered and treated as a sister-king 
 dom in amity with England (as appears by the 
 Journals, March 10, 1642). 
 
 1st. " Will not a repeal of all the duties (that on 
 tea excepted, which was before paid here on ex 
 portation, and of course no new imposition) fully 
 satisfy the colonists V 
 Answer. I think not. 
 2dly. " Your reasons for that opinion T 
 A. Because it is not the sum paid in that duty 
 on tea that is complained of as a burden, but the 
 principle of the act expressed in the preamble ; 
 viz. that those duties were laid for the better sup 
 port of government, and the administration of 
 justice in the colonies. 1 This the colonists think 
 
 * " Men may lose little property by an act which takes away 
 
394 WRITINGS or BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 unnecessary, unjust, and dangerous to their most 
 important rights. Unnecessary^ because in all the 
 6 colonies (two or three new ones excepted) govern 
 ment and the administration of justice were, and 
 always had been, well supported without any 
 charge to Britain: unjust , as it has made such 
 colonies liable to pay such charge for others 1 in 
 which they had no concern or interest : dangerous, 
 as such mode of raising money for those purposes 
 tended to render their assemblies useless ; for if a 
 revenue could be raised in the colonies for all the 
 purposes of government by act of parliament, with 
 out grants from the people there, governors, who 
 do not generally love assemblies, would never call 
 them : they would be laid aside, and when nothing 
 should depend on the people s good-will to govern 
 ment, their rights would be trampled on ; they 
 would be treated with contempt. Another reason 
 why I think they would not be satisfied with such 
 a partial repeal is, that their agreements not to im 
 port till the repeal takes place, include the whole, 
 which shows that they object to the whole, and 
 those agreements will continue binding on them if 
 the whole is not repealed. 
 
 all their freedom. When a man is robbed of a trifle on the 
 highway, it is not the two pence lost that makes the capital 
 outrage. Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. Hampden s 
 fortune ? No ! but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the 
 principle it WHS demanded, would have made him a slave." See 
 Mr. Burke s speeches in 1774 and 1775. B. V. 
 * Nova Scotia, Georgia, the Floridas, and Canada. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS, 395 
 
 3dly. " Do you think the only effectual way of 
 composing the present differences, is to put the 
 Americans precisely in the situation they were in 
 before the passing of the late Stamp Act ?" 
 
 A. I think so. 
 
 4thly. " Your reasons for that opinion T 
 
 A. Other methods have been tried. They have 
 been rebuked in angry letters. Their petitions 
 have been refused or rejected by parliament. 
 They have been threatened with the punishments 
 of treason by resolves of both houses. Their 
 assemblies have been dissolved, and troops have 
 been sent among them : but all these ways have 
 only exasperated their minds and widened the 
 breach. Their agreements to use no more British 
 manufactures have been strengthened, and these 
 measures, instead of composing differences, and 
 promoting a good correspondence, have almost 
 annihilated your commerce with those countries, 
 and greatly endanger the national peace and 
 general welfare. 
 
 5thly. " If this last method is deemed by the 
 legislature and his Majesty s ministers to be re 
 pugnant to their duty as guardians of the just 
 rights of the crown, and of their fellow-subjects, 
 can you suggest any other way of terminating 
 these disputes, consistent with the ideas of justice 
 and propriety conceived by the King s subjects on 
 both sides the Atlantic ?" 
 
 A. I do not see how that method can be deemed 
 
396 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 repugnant to the rights of the crown. If the 
 Americans are put into their former situation, it 
 must be by an act of parliament ; in the passing of 
 which by the King, the rights of the crown are 
 exercised, not infringed. It is indifferent to the 
 crown whether the aids received from America are 
 granted by parliament here, or by the assemblies 
 there, provided the quantum be the same ; and it 
 is my opinion, that more will be generally granted 
 there voluntarily, than can ever be exacted or col 
 lected from thence by authority of parliament. 
 As to the rights of fellow-subjects, (I suppose you 
 mean the people of Britain) I cannot conceive how 
 those will be infringed by that method. They will 
 still enjoy the right of granting their own money, 
 and may still, if it pleases them, keep up their 
 claim to the right of granting ours ; a right they 
 can never exercise properly, for want of a suffi 
 cient knowledge of us, our circumstances and 
 abilities (to say nothing of the little likelihood there 
 is that we should ever submit to it), therefore a 
 right that can be of no good use to them ; and we 
 shall continue to enjoy in fact the right of granting 
 our money, with the opinion now universally pre 
 vailing among us, that we are free subjects of the 
 King, and that fellow-subjects of one part of his 
 dominions are not sovereigns over fellow-subjects 
 in any other part. If the subjects on the different 
 sides of the Atlantic have different and opposite 
 ideas of "justice and propriety," no one "method" 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 397 
 
 can possibly be consistent with both. The best 
 will be, to let each enjoy their own opinions, with 
 out disturbing them, when they do not interfere 
 with the common good. 
 
 6thly. " And if this method were actually al 
 lowed, do you not think it would encourage the 
 violent and factious part of the colonists to aim at 
 still farther concessions from the mother-country T 
 
 A. I do not think it would. There may be a 
 few among them that deserve the name of factious 
 and violent, as there are in all countries ; but these 
 would have little influence, if the great majority of 
 sober reasonable people were satisfied. If any 
 colony should happen to think that some of your 
 regulations of trade are inconvenient to the general 
 interest of the empire, or prejudicial to them with 
 out being beneficial to you ; they will state these 
 matters to parliament in petitions as heretofore ; 
 but will, I believe, take no violent steps to obtain 
 what they may hope for in time from the wisdom 
 of government here. I know of nothing else they 
 can have in view : the notion that prevails here of 
 their being desirous to set up a kingdom or com 
 monwealth of their own, is, to my certain know 
 ledge, entirely groundless. I therefore think, that 
 on a total repeal of all duties, laid expressly for 
 the purpose of raising a revenue on the people of 
 America without their consent, the present uneasi 
 ness would subside ; the agreements not to import 
 would be dissolved ; and the commerce florish as 
 
398 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 heretofore ; and I am confirmed in this sentiment 
 by all the letters I have received from America, 
 and by the opinions of all the sensible people who 
 have lately come from thence, crown-officers ex- 
 cepted. I know, indeed, that the people of Boston 
 are grievously offended by the quartering of troops 
 among them, as they think, contrary to law; 
 and are very angry with the board of commis 
 sioners, who have calumniated them to govern 
 ment : but as I suppose the withdrawing of those 
 troops may be a consequence of reconciliating 
 measures taking place ; and that the commission 
 also will be either dissolved, if found useless, or 
 filled with more temperate and prudent men, if 
 still deemed useful and necessary ; I do not ima 
 gine these particulars would prevent a return of 
 the harmony so much to be wished. 1 
 
 1 "The opposition (to Lord Rockingham s administration)" 
 says Lord Chesterfield, " are for taking vigorous, as they call 
 them, but I call them violent, measures ; not less than hs dra- 
 gonades ; and to have the tax collected by the troops we have 
 there. For my part, I never saw a froward child mended by 
 whipping : and I would not have the mother become a step 
 mother." Letter, No. 360. 
 
 " Is it a certain maxim," pleads Mr. Burke, " that the fewer 
 causes of dissatisfaction are left by government, the more the 
 subject will be inclined to resist and rebel ?" " I confess I do 
 not feel the least alarm from the discontents which are to arise 
 from putting people at their ease. Nor do I apprehend the 
 destruction of this empire, from giving, by an act of free grace 
 suid indulgence, to two millions of my fellow-citizens, some 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 399 
 
 7th. " If they are relieved in part only, what do 
 you, as a reasonable and dispassionate man, and 
 an equal friend to both sides, imagine will be the 
 probable consequence ?" 
 
 A. I imagine, that repealing the offensive duties 
 in part will answer no end to this country ; the 
 commerce will remain obstructed, and the Ameri 
 cans go on with their schemes of frugality, industry, 
 and manufactures, to their own great advantage. 
 How much that may tend to the prejudice of 
 Britain, I cannot say ; perhaps not so much as 
 some apprehend, since she may in time find new 
 markets. 1 But I think, if the union of the two 
 countries continues to subsist, it will not hurt the 
 general interest ; for whatever wealth Britain loses 
 by the failing of its trade with the colonies, Ame 
 rica will gain ; and the crown will receive equal 
 aids from its subjects upon the whole, if not 
 greater, i 
 
 And now I have answered your questions as to 
 what may be, in my opinion, the consequences of 
 this or that supposed measure, I will go a little 
 farther, and tell you what I fear is more likely to 
 come to pass in reality. I apprehend that the 
 ministry, at least the American part of it, being 
 fully persuaded of the right of parliament, think it 
 
 share of those rights, upon whieh.Lhave always -been -taught to 
 value myself." Speeches in 1774 and 1775. B. V. 
 
 1 Here is another mark of the author s candor and foresight, 
 
400 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ought to be enforced, whatever may be the conse 
 quences ; and at the same time do not believe, 
 there is even now any abatement of the trade be 
 tween the two countries on account of these dis 
 putes ; or, that if there is, it is small, and cannot 
 long continue. They are assured by the crown- 
 officers in America, that manufactures are impossi 
 ble there ; that the discontented are few, and per 
 sons of little consequence; that almost all the 
 people of property and importance are satisfied, 
 and disposed to submit quietly to the taxing power 
 of parliament ; and that, if the revenue-acts are 
 continued, and those duties only that are called 
 anti-commercial be repealed, and others perhaps 
 laid in stead ; the power ere long will be patiently 
 submitted to, and the agreements not to import be 
 broken, when they are found to produce no change 
 of measures here. From these and similar misin 
 formations, which seem to be credited, I think it 
 likely that no thorough redress of grievances will 
 be afforded to America this session. This may 
 inflame matters still more in that country ; farther 
 rash measures there, may create more resentment 
 here, that may produce not merely ill-advised dis 
 solutions of their assemblies, as last year, but 
 attempts to dissolve their constitution ; more 
 troops may be sent over, which will create more 
 
 This was afterwards attempted by the British legislature, 
 ill the case of the Massachusetts Bay province. B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 401 
 
 uneasiness ; to justify the measures of government, 
 your writers will revile the Americans in your 
 newspapers, as they have already begun to do ; 
 treating them as miscreants, rogues, dastards, re 
 bels, &c. to alienate the minds of the people here 
 from them, and which will tend farther to diminish 
 their affections to this country. Possibly, too, 
 some of their warm patriots may be distracted 
 enough to expose themselves by some mad action 
 to be sent for hither ; and government here be 
 indiscreet enough to hang them, on the act of 
 Henry VIII. 1 Mutual provocations will thus go 
 on to complete the separation ; and instead of that 
 cordial affection that once and so long existed, 
 and that harmony, so suitable to the circumstances, 
 and so necessary to the happiness, .strength, safety, 
 and welfare of both countries ; an implacable 
 malice and mutual hatred, such as we now see 
 subsisting between the Spaniards and Portuguese, 
 the Genoese and Corsicans, from the same original 
 misconduct in the superior governments, will take 
 place : the sameness of nation, the similarity of 
 religion, manners, and language, not in the least 
 preventing in our case, more than it did in theirs. 
 I hope, however, that this may all prove false 
 prophecy, and that you and I may live too see as 
 
 1 The lords and commons very prudently concurred in an 
 address for this purpose ; and the king graciously assured them 
 of his compliance with their wishes. B. V. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 C 
 
402 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 sincere and perfect a friendship established be 
 tween our respective countries, as has so many 
 years subsisted between Mr. Strahan, and his truly 
 affectionate old friend, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 STATE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES, 
 
 BY GOVERNOR POWNALL J 1 WITH REMARKS BY 
 
 DR. FRANKLIN. 
 
 [PRINCIPLES.] 
 
 1. Wherever any Englishmen go forth without 
 the realm, and make settlements in partibus txteris, 
 These settlements as English settlements, and 
 these inhabitants as English subjects, (carrying 
 with them the laws of the land wherever they form 
 colonies, and receiving his Majesty s protection 
 by virtue of his royal charter * or commissions of 
 government,) have and enjoy all liberties and 
 
 1 This State of the Constitution of the Colonies was printed 
 at the close of 1769, and communicated to various persons, with 
 a view to prevent mischief, from the misunderstandings between 
 the government of Great Britain and the people of America. I 
 have taken the liberty of ascribing it to Governor Pownall, as his 
 name could have been no secret at the time. Dr. Franklin s re 
 marks (which from their early date are the more curious) are in 
 manuscript ; and from an observation in reply, signed T. P., 
 appear to have been communicated to Governor Pownall. The 
 large type with the lower notes, mark what belongs to Governor 
 Pownall ; and the smaller type, mixed with the larger one, and 
 signed B. F., mark what belongs to Dr. Franklin. B. V. 
 
 4 Pratt and York. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 403 
 
 immunities of free and natural subjects, to all in 
 tents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever ; as 
 if they and every of them were born within the 
 realm; 1 and are bound by the like allegiance as 
 every other subject of the realm. 
 
 Rem. The settlers of colonies iii America did not carry with 
 them the laws of the land, as being bound by them wherever 
 they should settle. They left the realm to avoid the inconve- 
 nienciesand hardships they were under, where some of those laws 
 were in force : particularly ecclesiastical laws, those for payment 
 of tythes, and others. Had it been understood that they were 
 to carry these laws with them, they had better have staid at home 
 among their friends, nnexposed to the risk and toils of a new 
 settlement. They carried with them, a right to such parts of the 
 laws of the land, as they should judge advantageous or useful to 
 them : a right to be free from those they thought hurtful ; and 
 a right to make such others, as they should think necessary, not 
 infringing the general rights of Englishmen ; and such new laws 
 they were to form, as agreeable as might be to the laws of Eng 
 land. B.F. 
 
 2. Therefore, the common law of England, and all 
 such statutes as were enacted and in force at the 
 time in which such settlers went forth, and such 
 colonies and plantations were established, (except 
 as hereafter excepted) together with all such alter 
 ations and amendments as the said common law 
 may have received ; is from time to time, and at all 
 times, the law of those colonies and plantations. 
 
 Rem. So far as they have adopted it; by express laws or by 
 practice. B. F. 
 
 1 General words in all charters. 
 
404 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 3. Therefore all statutes touching the right of the 
 succession, and settlement of the crown, \vith the 
 statutes of treason relating thereto ; all statutes 
 regulating or limiting the general powers and au 
 thority dfthe crown, and the exercise of jurisdiction 
 thereof; all statutes declaratory of the rights and 
 liberty of the subject ; do extend to all British sub 
 jects in the colonies and plantations as of common 
 right, and as if they and every of them were born 
 within the realm. 
 
 Rem. It is doubted whether any settlement of the crown by 
 parliament takes place in the colonies, otherwise than by the con 
 sent of the assemblies there. Had the rebellion in 1745 succeed 
 ed so far as to settle the Stuart family again on the throne, by 
 act of parliament, I think the colonies would not have thought 
 
 1 [i. e.] All statutes respecting the general relation between the 
 crown and the subject ; not such as respect any particular or pe 
 culiar establishment of the realm of England. As for instance : 
 by 13th and 14th of Car. II. c. 2. the supreme military power is 
 declared to be in general, without limitation, in his Majesty, and 
 to have always been of right annexed to the office of King of Eng 
 land, throughout all his Majesty s realms and dominions yet 
 the enacting clause, which respects only the peculiar establish 
 ment of the militia of England, extends to the realm of England 
 only : so that the supreme military power of the crown in all other 
 his Majesty s realms and dominions stands, as to this statute, on 
 the basis of its general power, unlimited. However, the several 
 legislatures of his Majesty s kingdom of Ireland, of his dominions 
 of Virginia, and of the several colonies and plantations in Ame 
 rica; have, by laws to which the King hath given his consent, 
 operating within the precincts of their several jurisdictions, limit 
 ed the powers of it, and regulated the exercise thereof. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 405 
 
 themselves bound by such act. They would still have adhered 
 to the present family, as long as they could. B. F. 
 
 [Obs. in Reply. They are bound to the king and his successors, 
 and we know no succession but by act of parliament. T. P.] 
 
 4. All statutes enacted since the establishment of 
 colonies and plantations, do extend to and operate 
 within the said colonies and plantations, in which 
 statutes the same are specie/Hi/ named. 
 
 Rem. It is doubted whether any act of parliament should of 
 right operate in the colonies : in fact, several of them have and 
 do operate. B. F. 
 
 o. Statutes and customs which respect only the 
 special and local circumstances of the realm, do not 
 extend to and operate within said colonies and 
 plantations, where no such special and local cir 
 cumstances are found. (Thus the ecclesiastical and 
 canon law, and all statutes respecting tythes ; the 
 laws respecting courts baron and copyholds ; the game 
 acts ; the statutes respecting the poor, and settle 
 ments ; and all other laws and statutes having 
 special reference to special and local circumstances 
 and establishments within the realm ; do not ex 
 tend to and operate within these settlements, in 
 partibus exteris, where no such circumstances or 
 establishments exist). 
 
 Rem. These laws have no force in America : not merely be 
 cause local circumstances differ ; but because they have never 
 been adopted, or brought over by acts of assembly or by prac 
 tice in the courts. B. F. 
 
 6. No statutes made since the establishment 
 of said colonies and plantations (except as above 
 
406 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 described in Articles 3 and 4), do extend to and 
 operate within said colonies and plantations. 
 
 Query. Would any statute made since the esta 
 blishment of said colonies and plantations, which 
 statute imported to annul and abolish the powers 
 and jurisdictions of their respective constitutions 
 of government, where the same was not contrary 
 to the laws, or any otherwise forfeited or abated ; 
 or which statute imported to take away, or did 
 take away, the rights and privileges of the settlers 
 as British subjects ; would such statute, as of 
 right, extend to and operate within said colonies 
 and plantations ? 
 
 Answer. No. The parliament has no such power. The char 
 ters cannot be altered but by consent of both parties, the king 
 and the colonies. B. F. 
 
 [COROLLARIES from the foregoing Principles.] 
 
 Upon the matters of fact, right and law, as above 
 stated, it is, that the British subjects thus settled in 
 partibus exteris without the realm, so long as they 
 are excluded from an entire union with the realm as 
 parts of and within the same ; have a right to have 
 (as they have) and to be governed by (as they are) a 
 distinct entire civil government ; of the like powers, 
 pre-eminences, and jurisdictions, (conformable to 
 the like rights, privileges, immunities, franchises, 
 and civil liberties,) as are to be found and are esta 
 blished in the British government, respecting the 
 British subject within the realm. 
 
 Rem. Right, B. F. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 407 
 
 Hence also it is, that the rights of the subject, as 
 declared in the Petition of Rights, that the Limita 
 tion of the prerogative by the Act for abolishing the 
 Star Chamber and for regulating the Privy Council, 
 &c. ; that the Habeas Corpus Act, the Statute of 
 Frauds, the Bill of Rights, do of common right 
 extend to, and are in force within, said colonies 
 and plantations. 
 
 Rem. Several of these rights are established by special colony 
 laws. If any are not yet so established, the colonies have right 
 to such laws : and the covenant having been made in the char 
 ters by the king, for himself and his successors, such laws ought 
 to receive the royal assent as of right. B. F. 
 
 Hence it is, that the freeholders within the pre 
 cincts of these jurisdictions have (as of right they 
 ought to have) a share in the power of making those 
 laws which they are to be governed by, by the right 
 which they have of sending their representatives, 
 to act for them and to consent for them, in all 
 matters of legislation ; which representatives, when 
 met in general assembly, have, together with the 
 crown, a right to perform and do all the like acts 
 respecting the matters, things, and rights, within 
 the precincts of their jurisdiction, as the parliament 
 hath respecting the realm and British dominions. 
 
 Hence also it is, that all the executive offices, 
 (from the supreme civil magistrate, as locum tenens 
 to the king, down to that of constable and head- 
 borough,) must of right be established with all and 
 the like powers, neither more nor less than as 
 
408 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 defined by the constitution and law, as in fact they 
 are established. 
 
 Hence it is, that the judicial offices and courts of 
 justice, established within the precincts of said juris 
 dictions, have, as they ought of right to have, all 
 those jurisdictions and powers * as fully and am 
 ply, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the 
 courts of King s Bench, Common Pleas, and Ex 
 chequer, within his Majesty s kingdom of England 
 have, and ought to have ; and are empowered to 
 give judgment and award execution thereupon. 1 
 
 Hence it is, that by the possession, enjoyment, 
 and exercise of his Majesty s great seal, delivered 
 to his Majesty s governor, there is established with 
 in the precincts of the respective jurisdictions all 
 the same and like powers of Chancery (except where 
 by charters specially excluded), as his majesty s 
 chancellor within his majesty s kingdom of Eng 
 land hath, and of right ought to have, by delivery 
 of the great seal of England . And hence it is, that 
 all the like rights, privileges, and powers, follow the 
 use, exercise, and application of the great seal of 
 each colony and plantation within the precincts of 
 said jurisdiction; as doth, and ought of right, to 
 follow the use, exercise, and application of the 
 great seal. 
 
 Hence also it is, that appeals in real actions, 
 6 whereby the lands, tenements, and hereditaments 
 
 1 Law in New England, confirmed by the crown, Oct. 22, 1700. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 409 
 
 of British subjects may be drawn into question 
 and disposed of, do not lie, as of right and by 
 law they ought riot to lie, to the king in council. 
 
 Hence also it is, that there is not any law now 
 in being, whereby the subject within said colonies 
 and plantations can be removed* from thejurisdic- 
 
 1 l6th Car. I. c. 10. 
 
 * The case of the court erected by Act of Parliament, llth 
 and 12th of William III. c. 7. (since the enacting of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act) for the trial of piracies, felonies, and robberies com 
 mitted in or upon the sea, or in any haven, river, creek, or place 
 where the Admiral has jurisdiction, does no way affect this po 
 sition : nor doth the 14th of the said statute, directing that the 
 commissioners, of whom such court consists, may issue their 
 warrant for apprehending such pirates, &c. in order to their be 
 ing tried in the colonies, or sent into England, any way militate 
 with the doctrine here laid down : nor can it be applied as the 
 case of a jurisdiction actually existing, which supersedes the ju 
 risdictions of the courts in the colonies and plantations, and as 
 what authorises the taking the accused of such piracies, &c. 
 from those jurisdictions, and the sending such, so taken, to 
 England for trial. It cannot be applied as a case similar and in 
 point to the application of an Act of Parliament (passed in the 
 35th of Hen. VIII. concerning the trial of treasons), lately re 
 commended, in order to the sending persons accused of com 
 mitting crimes in the plantations, to England for trial : because 
 this Act of the llth and 12th of William, cap. /. respects 
 crimes committed in places " where the Admiral has jurisdic 
 tion/ and cases to which the jurisdiction of those provincial 
 courts do not extend. In the case of treasons committed within 
 the jurisdiction of the colonies and plantations, there are courts 
 competent to try such crimes, and to give judgment thereupon, 
 where the trials of such are regulated by laws to which the king 
 
410 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tion to which he is amenable in all his rights, and 
 through which his service and allegiance must be 
 derived to the crown, and from which no appeal 
 lies in criminal causes ; so as that such subject may 
 become amenable to a jurisdiction foreign to his 
 natural and legal resiaiicy, to which be may be 
 thereby transported, and under which he may be 
 brought to trial and receive judgment, contrary to 
 the rights and privileges of the subject, as declared 
 by the spirit and intent, and especially by the 16th 
 . of the Habeas Corpus Act. And if the person 
 of any subject within the said colonies and planta 
 tions should be seized or detained by any power 
 issuing from any court, without the jurisdiction of 
 the colony where he then had his legal resiancy, it 
 would become the duty of the courts of justice 
 within such colony (it is undoubtedly of their juris 
 diction so to do) to issue the writ of Habeas Cor 
 pus. 1 
 
 hath given his consent ; from which there lies no appeal, and 
 wherein the king hath given power and instruction to his go 
 vernor as to execution or respite of judgment. The said Act of 
 Hen. VIII. which provides remedy for a case which supposes 
 the want of due legal jurisdiction, cannot be any way, or by 
 any rule, applied to a case where there is due legal and compe 
 tent jurisdiction. 
 
 1 The referring to an old Act made for the trial of treasons 
 committed out of the realm, by such persons as had no legal 
 resiancy but within the realm, and who were of the realm ; ap 
 plying the purview of that statute which was made to bring sub 
 jects of the realm, who had committed treason out of the realm 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 411 
 
 Hence also it is, that in like manner as " the 
 command and disposition of the militia, and of all forces 
 by sea and land, and of all forts and places of 
 strength, is, and by the laws of England ever was, 
 the undoubted right of his Majesty, and his royal 
 predecessors kings and queens of England, within 
 all his Majesty s realms and dominions ;" 1 in like 
 manner as the supreme military power and com 
 mand (so far as the constitution knows of and will 
 justify its establishment) is inseparably annexed to, 
 and forms an essential part of, the office of su 
 preme civil magistrate, the office of King : in like 
 manner, in all governments under the King, where 
 the constituents are British subjects, and of full 
 and perfect right entitled to the British laws and 
 constitution, the supreme military command within 
 
 (where there was no criminal jurisdiction to which they could 
 be amenable), to trial within the realm, under that criminal juris 
 diction to which alone, by their legal resiancy and allegiance, 
 they were amenable ; applying this to the case of subjects whose 
 legal resiancy is without the realm, and who are by that resiancy 
 and their allegiance, amenable to a jurisdiction authorised and 
 empowered to try and give judgment upon all capital offences 
 whatsoever, without appeal ; thus applying this statute so as to 
 take up a proceeding, for which there is no legal process either 
 by common or statute law as now established, but in defiance of 
 which there is a legal process established by the Habeas Corpus 
 Act, would be to disfranchise the subject in America of those 
 rights and liberties, which, by statute and common law, he is 
 now entitled to. 
 
 1 13th and 14th Car. II. c. 2. 
 
412 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the precincts of such jurisdictions, must be insepa 
 rably annexed to the office of supreme civil magis 
 trate, (his Majesty s Regent, Vicegerent, Lieute 
 nant, or Locum Tenens, in what form soever estab 
 lished ;) so that the King cannot by any 1 commis 
 sion of regency, by any commission or charter of 
 government, separate or withdraw the supreme 
 command of the military from the office of supreme 
 civil magistrate ; either by reserving this command 
 in his own hands, to be exercised and executed 
 independent of the civil power ; or by granting a 
 distinct commission to any military commander in 
 chief, so to be exercised and executed ; but more 
 especially not within such jurisdictions where such 
 supreme military power (so far as the constitution 
 knows and will justify the same) is already annexed 
 and granted to the office of supreme civil magis 
 trate. And hence it is, that the King cannot erect 
 
 1 If the King was to absent himself for a time from the realm, 
 and did as usual leave a regency in his place, (his locum tenens 
 as supreme civil magistrate;) could he authorise and commission 
 any military commander in chief, to command the militia forts 
 and forces, independent of such regency ? Could he do this in 
 the colonies and plantations, where the governor is already, by 
 commission or charter, or both under the great seal, military 
 commander in chief; as part of (and inseparably annexed to) 
 the office of supreme civil magistrate, his Majesty s locum te 
 nens within said jurisdictions ? If he could ; then, while openly, 
 by patent according to law, he appeared to establish a free 
 British constitution, he might by a fallacy establish a military 
 power and government. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 413 
 
 or establish any law martial or military command, 
 by any commission which may supersede and not 
 be subject to the supreme civil magistrate, within 
 the respective precincts of the civil jurisdictions of 
 said colonies and plantations ; otherwise than in 
 such manner as the said law martial and military 
 commissions are annexed or subject to the supreme 
 civil jurisdiction within his Majesty s realms and 
 dominions of Great Britain and Ireland ; and 
 hence it is, that the establishment and exercise of 
 such commands and commissions would be ille 
 gal. 1 
 
 Rem. The King has the command of all military force in his 
 dominions : but in every distinct state of his dominions there 
 should be the consent of the parliament or assembly, (the repre 
 sentative body) to the raising and keeping up such military 
 force. He cannot even raise troops and quarter them in another, 
 without the consent of that other. He cannot of right bring 
 troops raised in Ireland and quarter them in Britain, but with the 
 
 1 Governor P. accompanied this paper to Dr. F. with a sort 
 of prophetic remark. After stating that these theorems, and 
 their application to existing cases, were intended to remedy the 
 prejudice, indigestion, indecision, and errors then prevailing 
 either in opinions or conduct ; he adds, " The very attention to 
 the investigation may lead to the discovery of some truths re 
 specting the whole British empire, then little thought of, and 
 scarce even suspected ; and which perhaps it would not be 
 prudent at this time to mark and point out." The minister, 
 however, judged the discussion of dubious rights overgrowing 
 states, a better policy than possession, discretion, and silence : 
 he turned civilian, and lost an empire. B. V. 
 
414 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 consent of the parliament of Britain: nor carry to Ireland, and 
 quarter there, soldiers raised in Britain, without the consent of 
 the Irish parliament ; unless in time of war and cases of extreme 
 exigency. In 1/56, when the speaker went up to present the 
 money-bills, he said, among other things, that " England was 
 capable of lighting her own battles and defending herself; and 
 although ever attached to your Majesty s person, ever at ease 
 under your just government ; they cannot forbear taking notice 
 of some circumstances in the present situation of affairs, which 
 nothing but the confidence in your justice, could hinder from 
 alarming their most serious apprehensions. Subsidies to foreign 
 princes, when already burthened with a debt scarce to be borne, 
 cannot but be severely felt. An army of FOREIGN TROOPS, a 
 thing unprecedented, unheard of, unknown BROUGHT INTO 
 ENGLAND, cannot but alarm," c. &c. (See the Speech.) 
 
 N. B. These FOREIGN TROOPS were part of the King s sub 
 jects, Hanoverians, and all in his service ; which the same 
 thing as * * B. F. 
 
 Preface by the British Editor [Dr. Franklin] to 
 61 TheVolesand Proceedings of the Freeholders, and 
 other Inhabitants of the town of Boston, in town- 
 meeting assembled, according to law, (published by 
 order of the town,) &c. ?l 
 
 [See Memoirs of the Life, Part 
 
 ALL accounts of the discontent so general in our 
 colonies, have of late years been industriously 
 
 1 " Boston, printed : London, reprinted, and sold by J. Wilkie, 
 in St. Paul s Church-yard, 1773." , 
 
 It is said, that this little piece very much irritated the minis 
 try. It was their determination, that the Americans should re- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 415 
 
 smothered and concealed here ; it seeming to suit 
 the views of the American minister l to have it un 
 derstood, that by his great abilities, all faction was 
 subdued, all opposition suppressed, and the whole 
 country quieted. That the true state of affairs 
 there may be known, and the true causes of that 
 discontent well understood ; the following piece 
 (not the production of a private writer, but the una 
 nimous act of a large American city), lately printed 
 in New England, is republished here. This na 
 tion, and the other nations of Europe, may thereby 
 learn, with more certainty, the grounds of a dissen 
 sion, that possibly may, sooner or later, have con 
 sequences interesting to them all. 
 
 The colonies had, from their first settlement, 
 
 ceive teas only from Great Britain. And accordingly the East 
 India Company sent out large cargoes under their protection. 
 The colonists everywhere refused, either entrance, or else per 
 mission of sale, except at Boston, where, the force of govern 
 ment preventing more moderate measures, certain persons in 
 disguise threw it into the sea. 
 
 The preamble of the stamp act produced the tea act; the tea 
 act produced violence ; violence, acts of parliament ; acts ef 
 parliament, a revolt. " A little neglect," says poor Richard, 
 " may breed great mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was 
 lost ; for want of a shoe the horse was lost ; for want of a horse 
 the rider was lost ; being overtaken and slain by the enemy ; all 
 for want of a little care about a horse-shoe nail." B. V. 
 
 1 Lord Hilisborough. This nobleman, already first Lord of 
 trade, was introduced in 1768 into the new-titled office of Secre 
 tary of State for the Colonies/ B. V. 
 
416 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 been governed with more ease, than perhaps can 
 be equalled by any instance in history of domi 
 nions so distant. Their affection and respect for 
 this country, while they were treated with kind 
 ness, produced an almost implicit obedience to the 
 instructions of the Prince, and even to acts of the 
 British parliament ; though the right of binding 
 them by a legislature, in which they were unrepre 
 sented, was never clearly understood. That re 
 spect and affection produced a partiality in favor 
 of every thing that was English ; whence their pre 
 ference of English modes and manufacture^ ; their 
 submission to restraints on the importation of fo 
 reign goods, which they had but little desire to use ; 
 and the monopoly we so long enjoyed of their 
 commerce, to the great enriching of our merchants 
 and artificers. The mistaken policy of the stamp 
 act first disturbed this happy situation ; but the 
 flame thereby raised was soon extinguished by its 
 repeal, and the old harmony restored, with all its 
 concomitant advantage to our commerce. The 
 subsequent act of another administration, which, 
 not content with an established exclusion of foreign 
 manufactures, began to make our own merchan 
 dise dearer to the consumers there, by heavy du 
 ties ; revived it again : and combinations were en 
 tered into throughout the continent, to stop trading 
 with Britain till those duties should be repealed. 
 All were accordingly repealed but one the duty 
 on tea. This was reserved (professedly so) as a 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 417 
 
 standing claim and exercise of the right assumed 
 by parliament of laying such duties. 1 . The colo 
 nies, on this repeal, retracted their agreement, so 
 far as related to all other goods, except that on 
 which the duty was retained. This was trumpeted 
 here by the minister for the colonies as a triumph ; 
 there it was considered only as a decent and equit 
 able measure, showing a willingness to meet the 
 mother-country in every advance towards a recon 
 ciliation, and a disposition to a good understand 
 ing so prevalent, that possibly they might soon 
 have relaxed in the article of tea also. But the 
 system of commissioners of customs, officers with 
 out end, with fleets and armies for collecting and 
 enforcing those duties, being continued ; and these 
 acting with much indiscretion and rashness, (giv 
 ing great and unnecessary trouble and obstruction 
 to business, commencing unjust and vexatious 
 suits, and harassing commerce in all its branches, 
 while that the minister kept the people in a 
 constant state of irritation by instructions which 
 appeared to have no other end than the gratifying 
 
 1 Mr. Burke says (in his speech in 1774,) that this preambu- 
 iary tax had lost us at once the benefit of the west and of the 
 east ; had thrown open folding-doors to contraband ; and would 
 be the means of giving the profits of the colony-trade to every 
 nation but ourselves. He adds, in the same place, " It is in 
 deed a tax of sophistry, a tax of pedantry, a tax of disputation, 
 a tax of war and rebellion, a tax for any thing but benefit to the 
 imposers, or satisfaction to the subject. B. V. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 D 
 
418 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 his private resentments, 1 ) occasioned a persevering 
 adherence to their resolutions in that particular : 
 and the event should be a lesson to ministers, not 
 to risk through pique, the obstructing any one 
 branch of trade ; since the course and connection 
 of general business may be thereby disturbed to a 
 degree, impossible to be foreseen or imagined. 
 For it appears that the colonies, finding their hum 
 ble petitions to have this duty repealed, were re 
 jected and treated with contempt ; and that the 
 produce of the duty was applied to the rewarding, 
 with undeserved salaries and pensions, every one 
 of their enemies ; the duty itself became more 
 odious, and their resolution to share it more vigor 
 ous and obstinate. The Dutch, the Danes, and 
 French, took this opportunity thus offered them by 
 our imprudence, and began to smuggle their teas 
 into the plantations. At first this was something 
 difficult ; but at length, as all business is improved 
 by practice, it became easy. A coast fifteen hun 
 dred miles in length could not in all parts be 
 guarded, even by the whole navy of England; 
 especially where their restraining authority was by 
 all the inhabitants deemed unconstitutional, the 
 smuggling of course considered as patriotism. The 
 needy wretches, too, who, with small salaries, 
 were trusted to watch the ports day and night, in 
 
 1 Some of his circular letters had been criticised, and exposed 
 by one or two of the American assemblies. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 419 
 
 all weathers, found it easier and more profitable, 
 not only to wink, but to sleep in their beds ; the 
 merchant s pay being more generous than the 
 king s. Other India goods, also, which, by them 
 selves, would not have made a smuggling voyage 
 sufficiently profitable, accompanied tea to advan 
 tage ; and it is feared the cheap French silks, for 
 merly rejected as not to the taste of the colonies, 
 may have found their way with the wares of India ; 
 and now established themselves in the popular use 
 and opinion. 
 
 It is supposed that at least a million of Americans 
 drink tea twice a day, which, at the first cost here, 
 can scarce be reckoned at less than half a guinea 
 a head per annum. This market, that in the five 
 years which have run on since the act passed, 
 would have paid 2,500,000 guineas for tea alone, 
 into the coffers of the Company, we have wan 
 tonly lost to foreigners. Meanwhile it is said the 
 duties have so diminished, that the whole remit 
 tance of the last year amounted to no more than 
 the pitiful sum of 85/. 1 for the expense of some hun 
 dred thousands, in armed ships and soldiers, to 
 support the officers. Hence the tea, and other 
 India goods, which might have been sold in Ame- 
 
 1 " Eighty-five pounds, I am assured, my lords, is the whole 
 equivalent we have received for all the hatred and mischief, and 
 all the infinite losses this kingdom has suffered during that year, 
 in her disputes with North America." See the Bishop of St. 
 Asaph s speech, intended to have foen spoken. 
 
420 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 rica, remain rotting in the Company s warehouses ; 
 while those of foreign ports are known to be 
 cleared by the American demand. Hence, in 
 some degree, the Company s inability to pay their 
 bills ; the sinking of their stock, by which millions 
 of property have been annihilated ; the lowering of 
 their dividend, whereby so many must be dis 
 tressed ; the loss to government of the stipulated 
 400,000/. a year, 1 which must make a proportion 
 able reduction in our savings towards the discharge 
 of our enormous debt : and hence, in part, the se 
 vere blow suffered by credit in general, 3 to the ruin 
 of many families ; the stagnation of business in 
 Spitalfields and at Manchester, through want of 
 vent for their goods ; with other future evils, 
 which, as they cannot, from the numerous and se 
 cret connections in general commerce, easily be 
 foreseen, can hardly be avoided. 
 
 1 At this time they contained many millions of pounds of tea, 
 including the usual stock on hand. Mr. Burke, in his speech in 
 1774, supposes that America might have given a vent for ten 
 millions of pounds. This seems to have been the greater part 
 of the whole quantity. B. V. 
 
 4 On account of a temporary compromise of certain disputes 
 with government. B. V. 
 
 3 Seen in certain memorable mercantile failures in the year 
 J772. B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 421 
 
 RULES FOR REDUCING A GREAT EMPIRE TO A 
 SMALL ONE ; PRESENTED TO A LATE MINISTER, 
 WHEN HE ENTERED UPON HIS ADMINISTRA 
 TION. 1 
 
 Referred to Part II. of Private Correspondence, Letter to 
 Governor Franklin, Oct. 6, 1773. 
 
 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 modern simpleton, am about to communi 
 cate, 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 These rules first appeared in a London newspaper, about 
 the beginning of the year 1774, and have several times since 
 been introduced into our public prints. The minister alluded 
 to is supposed to be the Earl of Hillsborough. 
 
 " The causes and motions of seditions (says Lord Bacon) are,, 
 innovation in religion, taxes, alteration of laws and customs^ 
 breaking of privileges, general oppression, advancement of un 
 worthy persons, strangers, dearths, disbanded soldiers, factions 
 grown desperate, and whatsoever in offending people joinetli 
 and knitteth them in a common cause." B, V. 
 
422 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 1. In the first place, gentlemen, you are to con 
 sider, that a great empire, like a great cake, is most 
 easily diminished at the edges. Turn your atten 
 tion therefore first to your remotest provinces ; 
 that, as you get lid of them, the next may follow 
 in order. 
 
 2. That the possibility of this separation may 
 always exist, take special care the provinces are 
 never incorporated with the mother-country ; that 
 they do not enjoy the same common rights, the 
 same privileges in commerce; and that they are 
 governed by severer laws, all of your enacting, 
 without allowing them any share in the choice of 
 the legislators. By carefully making and preserv 
 ing such distinctions, you will (to keep to my 
 simile of the cake) act like a wise gingerbread 
 baker ; who, to facilitate 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 
 acquired, purchased, or conquered, at the sole ex 
 pense of the settlers or their ancestors ; without 
 the aid of the mother-country. If this should 
 happen to increase her strength, by their growing 
 numbers, ready to join in her wars ; her commerce, 
 by their growing demand for her manufactures ; 
 or her naval power, by greater employment for her 
 ships and seamen, they may probably suppose 
 some merit in this, and that it entitles them to 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 423 
 
 some favor : you are therefore 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 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 griev 
 ances ; you are to suppose them always inclined to 
 remit, and treat them accordingly. Quarter troops 
 among them, who by their insolence may provoke 
 the rising of mobs, and by their bullets and bay 
 onets 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 
 everywhere 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 ad 
 vance their prosperity ; they will think their king 
 wise and good, and that he wishes the welfare of 
 
424 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 his subjects. If you send them learned and up 
 right 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 care 
 ful who you recommend for those offices. If you 
 can find prodigals who have ruined their fortunes, 
 broken gamesters or stockjobbers ; these may do 
 well as governors ; for they will probably be ra 
 pacious, and provoke the people by their extor 
 tions. Wrangling proctors and pettifogging law 
 yers too, are not amiss ; for they will be for ever 
 disputing and quarrelling with their little parlia 
 ments. If withal they should be ignorant, wrong- 
 headed and insolent, so much the better. Attor 
 neys clerks and Newgate solicitors will do for 
 chief-justices, especially if they hold their places 
 during your pleasure : and 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, 
 enormous expense, and a final judgment in favor 
 of the oppressor. This will have an admirable 
 effect every way. The trouble of future com 
 plaints will be prevented, and governors and 
 judges will be encouraged to farther acts of op- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 425 
 
 pression and injustice ; and thence the people may 
 become more disaffected, and at length des 
 perate. 
 
 7. When such governors have crammed their 
 coffers, and made themselves so odious to the 
 people that they can no longer remain among them 
 with safety to their persons, recal 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 government detestable. 
 . 8. If, when you are engaged in war, your colo 
 nies should vie in liberal aids of men and money 
 against the common enemy, upon your simple re 
 quisition, and give far beyond their abilities re 
 flect that a penny taken from them by your power, 
 is more honorable to you than a pound presented 
 by their benevolence ; despise therefore their volun 
 tary grants, and resolve to harass them with novel 
 taxes. They will probably complain to your par 
 liament that they are taxed by a body in which 
 they have no representative, and that this is con 
 trary to common right. They will petition for re 
 dress. Let the parliament flout their claims, reject 
 their petitions, refuse even to suffer the reading of 
 them, and treat the petitioners with the utmost 
 contempt. Nothing can have a better effect in 
 producing the alienation proposed; for though 
 
1*20 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 many can forgive injuries, none ever forgave con 
 tempt. 
 
 9. In laying these taxes, never regard the heavy 
 burthens those remote people already undergo ; in 
 defending their own frontiers, supporting their 
 own provincial government, making new roads, 
 building bridges, churches, and other public edifi 
 ces ; 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. Forget the restraint you lay on their trade 
 for your own benefit, and the advantage a mono 
 poly of this trade gives your exacting merchants. 
 Think nothing of the wealth those merchants and 
 your manufacturers acquire by the colony com 
 merce ; their increased ability thereby to pay taxes 
 at home ; their accumulating in the price of their 
 commodities, most of those taxes, and so levying 
 them from their consuming customers : all this, 
 and the employment and support of thousands of 
 your poor by the colonists, you are entirely to for 
 get. But remember to make your arbitrary tax 
 more grievous to your provinces, by public decla 
 rations 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 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 427 
 
 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 va 
 luable ; we have constitutional liberty both of per 
 son and of conscience. This king, these lords, and 
 these commons, who it seems are too remote from 
 us to know us, and feel for us, cannot take from 
 us our Habeas Corpus right, or our right of trial 
 by a jury of our neighbors : they cannot deprive 
 us of the exercise of our religion, alter our eccle 
 siastical constitution, and compel us to be Papists, 
 if they please, or Mahometans." To annihilate 
 this comfort, begin by laws to perplex their com 
 merce with infinite regulations, impossible to be 
 remembered and observed : ordain seizures of 
 their property for every failure ; take away the 
 trial of such property by jury, and give it to arbi 
 trary judges of your own appointing, and of the 
 lowest characters in the country, whose salaries 
 and emoluments are to arise out of the duties or 
 condemnations, and whose appointments are dur 
 ing pleasure. Then let there be a formal declara 
 tion of both houses, that opposition to your edicts 
 is treason, and that persons suspected of treason 
 in the provinces may, according to some obsolete 
 law, be seized and sent to the metropolis of the 
 
428 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 empire for trial ; and pass an act, that those there 
 charged with certain other offences, 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, ac 
 companied 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 cannot afford it. And lest the 
 people should think you cannot possibly go any 
 farther, pass another solemn declaratory act, " that 
 king, lords, 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 whatsoever." 
 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 
 compelling them, if it pleases, to worship the 
 devil. 
 
 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, 
 composed of the most indiscreet, ill-bred, and insolent 
 you can find. Let these have large salaries out ot 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 429 
 
 the extorted revenue, and live in open grating 
 luxury upon the sweat and blood of the indus 
 trious ; 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 exempted from all the common 
 taxes and burthens 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, discard them. If others 
 are justly complained of, protect 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 encourage others to pro 
 cure for themselves such profitable drubbings, by 
 multiplying and enlarging such provocations, and 
 all will work towards the end you aim at. 
 
 12. Another way to make your tax odious, is 
 to misapply the produce of it. If it was originally 
 appropriated for the defence of the provinces, and 
 the better support of government, and the ad 
 ministration of justice where it may be necessary ; 
 then apply none of it to that defence ; but bestow 
 it where it is not necessary, in augmenting sala 
 ries or pensions to every governor who has dis 
 tinguished himself by his enmity to the people, 
 and by calumniating them to their sovereign. This 
 
430 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 \vill 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 pur 
 pose, of making them weary of your govern 
 ment. 
 
 13. If the people of any province have been 
 accustomed to support their own governors and 
 
 judges to satisfaction, you are to apprehend that 
 such governors and judges may be thereby in 
 fluenced to treat the people kindly, and to do 
 them justice. This is another reason for apply 
 ing 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 provinces ; that 
 thus the people may no longer hope any kindness 
 from their governors, or (in crown cases) any jus 
 tice 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 adminis 
 tration ; order them to be harassed with repeated 
 dissolutions. If the same men are continually re 
 turned by new elections ; adjourn their meetings 
 to some country village, where they cannot be 
 accommodated, and there keep them during 
 pleasure ; for this, you know, is your prerogative : 
 and an excellent one it is, as you may manage it 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 431 
 
 to promote discontents among the people, diminish 
 their respect, and increase 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 defence of the commerce of 
 their countrymen, in peace be taught to prey upon 
 it. Let them learn to be corrupted by great and 
 real smugglers ; but (to show their diligence) scour 
 with armed boats every bay, harbor, river, creek, 
 cove, or nook throughout the coast of your colo 
 nies ; stop and detain every coaster, every wood- 
 boat, every fisherman ; tumble their cargoes and 
 even their ballast inside out, and upside down; 
 and if a pennyworth 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 these boats crews 
 land upon every farm in their way, rob their or 
 chards, steal their pigs and poultry, and insult the 
 inhabitants. If the injured and exasperated farm 
 ers, 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 country, and threaten 
 to carry all the offenders three thousand miles to 
 be hanged, drawn, and quartered. O ! this will 
 work admirably ! 
 
 16. If you are told of discontents in your colo- 
 
432 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 nies, never believe that they are general, or that 
 you have given occasion for them ; therefore do 
 not think of applying any remedy, or of changing 
 any offensive measure. Redress no grievance, 
 lest they should be encouraged to demand the 
 redress of some other grievance. Grant no re 
 quest that is just and reasonable, lest they should 
 make another that is unreasonable. Take all your 
 informations of the state of the colonies from your 
 governors and officers in enmity with them. En 
 courage and reward these leasing-makers ; secrete 
 their lying accusations, lest they should be con 
 futed ; but act upon them as the clearest 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 dema 
 gogues, whom, if you could catch and hang, all 
 would be quiet. Catch and hang a few of them 
 accordingly ; and the blood of the martyrs shall 
 work miracles in favor of your purpose. 1 
 
 1 One of the American writers affirms, " That there has not 
 been a single instance in which they have complained, without 
 being rebuked ; or in which they have been complained against, 
 without being punished." A fundamental mistake in the minis 
 ter occasioned this. Every individual in New England (the 
 peccant country) was held a coward or a knave, and the dis 
 orders which spread abroad there, were treated as the result of 
 the too great lenity of Britain ! By the aid of this short and 
 benevolent rule, judgment was ever wisely predetermined ; to 
 the shutting out redress on the one hand, and enforcing every 
 rigor of punishment on the other, B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 433 
 
 17. If you see rival nations rejoicing at the pros 
 pect of your disunion with your provinces, and 
 endeavoring to promote it ; if they translate, pub 
 lish and applaud all the complaints of your dis 
 contented colonists, at the same time privately 
 stimulating you to severer measures ; let not that 
 alarm or offend you; Why should it? since you 
 all mean the same thing. 
 
 18. If any colony should at their own charge 
 erect a fortress to secure their port against the 
 fleets of a foreign 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 citadel, 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 conquests, seize them all ; 
 it will provoke like ingratitude added to robbery. 
 One admirable effect of these operations will be, 
 to discourage every other colony from erecting 
 such defences, 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 
 tence of protecting the inhabitants ; but, instead of 
 garrisoning the forts on their frontiers with those 
 troops, to prevent incursions, demolish those forts ; 
 and order the troops into the heart of the country, 
 
 VOL. i. 2 E 
 
434 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 that the savages may be encouraged to attack the 
 frontiers, 1 and that the troops may be protected by 
 the inhabitants : this will seem to proceed from 
 your ill-will or your ignorance, and contribute far 
 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 enow 
 
 1 I am not versed in Indian affairs, but I find that in April 
 1773, the assembled chiefs of the western nations told one of 
 Our Indian agents, * that they remembered their father, the king 
 of Great Britain s message, delivered to them last fall ; of de 
 molishing Fort Pittsburg [on the Ohio] and removing the 
 soldiers with their sharp-edged weapons out f the country ; 
 this gave them great pleasure, as it was a strong proof of bis 
 paternal kindness towards them/ (See Considerations on the 
 Agreement with Mr. T* Walpole for Lands upon the Ohifr, 
 p. 90 This is general history : I attempt no application of 
 facts, personally invidious. B. V. 
 
 a As the reader may be inclined to divide his belief between 
 the wisdom of ministry, and the candor and veracity of Dr. 
 Franklin, I shall inform him that two contrary objections may 
 be made to the truth of this representation. The first is, that 
 the conduct of Great Britain is made too absurd for possibility ; 
 and the second, that it is not made absurd enough for fact. If 
 we consider that this writing does not include the measures sub 
 sequent to 1773, the latter difficulty is easily set aside. The 
 former, I can only solve by the many instances in history, where 
 the infatuation of individuals has brought the heaviest calam> 
 ties upon nations. B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 435 
 
 under his command, with all the fortresses in his 
 possession ; and who knows but (like some pro 
 vincial generals in the Roman empire, and en 
 couraged 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 
 practised these few excellent 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 com 
 merce and connection, from thenceforth and for 
 ever. 
 
 PAPER 
 
 Written in England by Benjamin Franklin, to discourage 
 the intended act for preventing emigration. 
 
 To THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 You give us in your paper of Tuesday 
 the 16th of November, what is called " the Plan of 
 an Act to be proposed at the next meeting of Par 
 liament to prevent the Emigration of our People." 
 I know not from what authority it comes, but as it 
 is very circumstantial, I suppose some such plan 
 may be really under consideration, and that this is 
 thrown out to feel the pulse of the public. I shall 
 therefore, with your leave, give my sentiments of it 
 in your paper. 
 
436 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 During a century and half that Englishmen 
 have been at liberty to remove if they pleased to 
 America, we have heard of no law to restrain that 
 liberty, and confine them as prisoners in this is 
 land. Nor do we perceive any ill effects produced 
 by their emigration. Our estates, far from dimi 
 nishing in value through a want of tenants, have 
 been in that period more than doubled ; the lands 
 in general are better cultivated; their increased 
 produce finds a ready sale at an advanced price, 
 and the complaint has for some time been, not that 
 we want mouths to consume our meat, but that we 
 want meat for our number of mouths. 
 
 Why then is such a restraining law now thought 
 necessary ? A paragraph in the same paper from 
 the Edinburgh Courant, may perhaps throw some 
 light upon this question. We are there told, " that 
 1500 people have emigrated to America from the 
 shire of Sutherland within these two years, and 
 carried with them 7,500/. sterling ; which exceeds 
 a year s rent of the whole county ; that the single 
 consideration of the misery which most of these 
 people must suffer in America, independent of the 
 loss of men and money to the mother-country, 
 should engage the attention not only of the landed 
 interest, but of administration The humane writer 
 of this paragraph may, I fancy, console himself 
 with the reflection, that perhaps the apprehended 
 future sufferings of those emigrants will never exist ; 
 for that it was probably the authentic accounts 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 437 
 
 they had received from friends already settled 
 there, of the felicity to be enjoyed in that country, 
 with a thorough knowledge of their own misery at 
 home, which induced their removal. And, as a 
 politician, he may be comforted by assuring him 
 self, that if they really meet with greater misery in 
 America, their future letters lamenting it, will be 
 more credited than the Edinburgh Courant, and 
 effectually, without a law put a stop to the emigra 
 tion. It seems some of the Scottish chiefs, who 
 delight no longer to live upon their estates in the 
 honorable independence they were born to, among 
 their respecting tenants, but choose rather a life of 
 luxury, though among the dependants of a court, 
 have lately raised their rents most grievously to 
 support the expense. The consuming of those 
 rents in London, though equally prejudicial to the 
 poor county of Sutherland, no Edinburgh news 
 paper complains of; but now, that the oppressed 
 tenants take flight, and carry with them what might 
 have supported the landlord s London magnifi 
 cence, he begins to feel for the MOTHER-COUNTRY, 
 and its enormous loss of 7,500/. carried to her 
 colonies ! Administration is called upon to reme 
 dy the evil, by another abridgment of ENGLISH 
 LIBERTY. And surely administration should do 
 something for these gentry, as they do any thing 
 for administration. 
 
 But is there not an easier remedy ? Let them 
 return to their family seats, live among their peo- 
 
438 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pie, and instead of fleecing and skinning, patronise 
 and cherish them ; promote their interest, encou 
 rage their industry, and make their situation com 
 fortable. If the poor folks are happier at home 
 than they can be abroad, they will not lightly be 
 prevailed with to cross the ocean. But can their 
 lord blame them for leaving home in search of 
 better living, when he first set them the example ? 
 I would consider the proposed law, 
 
 1st. As to the NECESSITY of it. 
 2dly. The PRACTICABILITY. 
 3dly. The POLICY, if practicable. 
 And, 4thly. The JUSTICE of it. 
 
 Pray spare me room for a few words on each of 
 these heads. 
 
 1st. As to the NECESSITY of it. 
 
 If any country has more people than can be 
 comfortably subsisted in it, some of those who are 
 incommoded may be induced to emigrate. As 
 long as the new situation shall be far preferable 
 to the old, the emigration may possibly continue. 
 But when many of those who at home interfered 
 with others of the same rank, (in the competition 
 for farms, shops, business, offices, and other means 
 of subsistence) are gradually withdrawn, the in 
 convenience of that competition ceases ; the num 
 ber remaining no longer half starve each other; 
 they find they can now subsist comfortably, and 
 though perhaps not quite so well as those who 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 439 
 
 have left them, yet, the inbred attachment to a 
 native country is sufficient to overbalance a mode 
 rate difference ; and thus the emigration ceases 
 naturally. The waters of the ocean may move in 
 currents from one quarter of the globe to another, 
 as they happen in some places to be accumulated, 
 and in others diminished ; but no law beyond the 
 law of gravity, is necessary to prevent their aban 
 doning any coast entirely. Thus the different 
 degrees of happiness of different countries and 
 situations, find, or rather make their level by the 
 flowing of people from one to another, and where 
 that level is once found, the removals cease. Add 
 to this, that even a real deficiency of people in any 
 country, occasioned by a wasting war or pesti 
 lence, is speedily supplied by earlier and more 
 prolific marriages, encouraged by the greater faci 
 lity of obtaining the means of subsistence. So that 
 a country half depopulated would soon be repeo- 
 pled, till the means of subsistence were equalled 
 by the population. All increase beyond that point, 
 must perish or flow off into more favorable situa 
 tions. Such overflowings there have been of man 
 kind in all ages, or we should not now have had so 
 many nations. But to apprehend absolute depo 
 pulation from that cause, and call for a law to 
 prevent it, is calling for a law to stop the Thames, 
 lest its waters, by what leave it daily at Gravesend 
 should be quite exhausted. Such a law therefore 
 I do not conceive to be NECESSARY. 
 
440 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 2dly. As to the PRACTICABILITY. 
 When I consider the attempts of this kind that 
 have been made, first in the time of Archbishop 
 Laud, by orders of council, to stop the Puritans 
 who were flying from his persecutions into New 
 England, and next by Louis XIV. to retain in his 
 kingdom the persecuted Huguenots ; and how in 
 effectual all the power of our crown, with which 
 the Archbishop armed himself, and all the more 
 absolute power of that great French monarch, 
 were, to obtain the end for which they were exert 
 ed : when I consider too, the extent of coast to be 
 guarded, and the multitude of cruisers necessary 
 effectually to make a prison of the island for this 
 confinement of free Englishmen, who naturally 
 love liberty, and would probably by the very 
 restraint be more stimulated to break through it ; 
 I cannot but think such a law IMPRACTICABLE. 
 The offices would not be applied to for licences, 
 the ports would not be used for embarkation. 
 And yet the people disposed to leave us, would, 
 as the Puritans did, get away by shipfuls. 
 
 3dly. As to the POLICY of the Law. 
 Since 1 have shown there is no danger of depo 
 pulating Britain, but that the place of those that 
 depart will soon be filled up equal to the means of 
 obtaining a livelihood, let us see whether there are 
 not some general advantages to be expected from 
 the present emigration. The new settlers in Ame- 
 
PART II, AMERICAN POLITICS. 441 
 
 rica, finding plenty of subsistence, and land easily 
 acquired whereon to seat their children, seldom 
 postpone marriage through fear of poverty. Their 
 natural increase is therefore in a proportion far be 
 yond what it would have been if they had remained 
 here. New farms are daily everywhere forming 
 in those immense forests ; new towns and villages 
 rising; hence a growing demand for our merchan 
 dise, to the greater employment of our manufac 
 turers and the enriching of our merchants. By 
 this natural increase of people, the strength of the 
 empire is increased; men are multiplied, out of 
 whom new armies may be formed on occasion, or 
 the old recruited. The long-extended sea coast 
 too, of that vast country, the great maritime com 
 merce of its ports with each other, its many navi 
 gable rivers and lakes, and its plentiful fisheries, 
 breed multitudes of seamen, besides those created 
 and supported by its voyages to Europe ; a thriv 
 ing nursery this, for the manning of our fleets in 
 time of war, and maintaining our importance among 
 foreign nations, by that navy which is also our best 
 security against invasions from our enemies. An 
 extension of empire by conquest of inhabited coun 
 tries is not so easily obtained, it is not so easily se 
 cured ; it alarms more the neighboring states ; it 
 is more subject to revolts, and more apt to occasion 
 new wars. The increase of dominion by colonies 
 proceeding from yourselves, and by the natural 
 growth of your own people, cannot be complained 
 
442 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 of by your neighbors as an injury ; none have a 
 right to be offended with it. Your new possessions 
 are therefore more secure, they are more cheaply 
 gained, they are attached to your nation by natural 
 alliance and affection; and thus they afford an 
 additional strength more certainly to be depended 
 on, than any that can be acquired by a conquering 
 power, though at an immense expense of blood and 
 treasure. These, methinks, are national advantages 
 that more than equiponderate with the inconve- 
 niencies suffered by a few Scotch or Irish landlords, 
 who perhaps may find it necessary to abate a little 
 of their present luxury, or of those advanced rents 
 they now so unfeelingly demand. From these 
 considerations, I think I may conclude that the 
 restraining law proposed, would, if practicable, be 
 IMPOLITIC. 
 
 4thly. As to the JUSTICE of it. 
 
 I apprehend that every Briton who is made un 
 happy at home, has a right to remove from any 
 part of his king s dominions into those of any 
 other prince, where he can be happier. If this 
 should be denied me, at least it will be allowed 
 that he has a right to remove into any other part 
 of the same dominions. For by this right so 
 many Scotchmen remove into England, easing 
 their own country of its supernumeraries, and 
 benefiting ours by their industry. And this is the 
 case with those who go to America. Will not 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 443 
 
 these Scottish lairds be satisfied unless a law 
 passes to pin down all tenants to the estate they 
 are born on, (adscripti gleba) to be bought and 
 sold with it ? God has given to the beasts of the 
 forest, and to the birds of the air, a right, when 
 their subsistence fails in one country, to migrate to 
 another, where they can get a more comfortable 
 living ; and shall man be denied a privilege en 
 joyed by brutes, merely to gratify a few avaricious 
 landlords ? Must misery be made permanent, and 
 suffered by many for the emolument of one ; while 
 the increase of human beings is prevented, and 
 thousands of their offspring stifled as it were in 
 the birth, that this petty Pharaoh may enjoy an 
 excess of opulence ? God commands to increase 
 and replenish the earth ; the proposed law would 
 forbid increasing, and confine Britons to their pre 
 sent number, keeping half that number too in 
 wretchedness. The common people of Britain 
 and of Ireland contributed by the taxes they paid, 
 and by the blood they lost, to the success of that 
 war, which brought into our hands the vast un 
 peopled territories of North America ; a country 
 favored by heaven with all the advantages of cli 
 mate and soil : Germans are now pouring into it, 
 to take possession of it, and fill it with their poste 
 rity ; and shall Britons and Irelanders, who have 
 a much better right to it, be forbidden a share of 
 it, and, instead of enjoying there the plenty and 
 happiness that might reward their industry, be 
 
444 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 compelled to remain here in poverty and misery ? 
 Considerations such as these persuade me, that the 
 proposed law would be both UNJUST and INHU 
 MAN. 
 
 If then it is unnecessary, impracticable, impolitic, 
 and unjust, I hope our parliament will never re 
 ceive the bill, but leave landlords to their own 
 remedy, an abatement of rents, and frugality of 
 living ; and leave the liberties of Britons and Irish 
 men at least as extensive as it found them. I am, 
 Sir, yours, &c. A FRIEND TO THE POOR. 
 
 FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE. 
 
 ON SENDING FELONS TO AMERICA. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 WE may all remember the time when our 
 mother-country, as a mark of her parental tender 
 ness, emptied her gaols into our habitations, "for 
 the BETTER peopling, as she expressed it, " of the 
 colonies." It is certain that no due returns have 
 yet been made for these valuable consignments. 
 We are therefore much in her debt on that 
 account ; and, as she is of late clamorous for the 
 payment of all we owe her, and some of our debts 
 are of a kind not so easily discharged, I am for 
 doing however what is in our power. It will 
 show our good-will as to the rest. The felons she 
 planted among us have produced such an amazing 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 445 
 
 increase, that we are now enabled to make ample 
 remittance in the same commodity. And since 
 the wheelbarrow law is not found effectually to 
 reform them, and many of our vessels are idle 
 through her restraints on our trade, why should 
 we not employ those vessels in transporting the 
 felons to Britain ? 
 
 I was led into this thought by perusing the copy 
 of a petition to parliament, which fell lately by 
 accident into my hands. It has no date, but I 
 conjecture from some circumstances, that it must 
 have been about the year 1767 or 1768. (It seems, 
 if presented, it had no effect, since the act passed.) 
 I imagine it may not be unacceptable to your 
 readers, and therefore transcribe it for your paper ; 
 viz. 
 
 To the Honorable the Knights, Citizens, and 
 Burgesses of Great Britain, in Parliament as 
 sembled, 
 
 The PETITION of B. F. Agent for the Province of 
 Pennsylvania ; 
 
 Most humbly showeth ; 
 
 That the transporting of felons from England 
 to the plantations in America, is, and hath long 
 been, a great grievance to the said plantations in 
 general. 
 
 That the said felons being landed in America, 
 not only continue their evil practices to the annoy 
 ance of his Majesty s good subjects there, but con- 
 
446 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 tribute greatly to corrupt the morals of the servants 
 and poorer people among whom they are mixed. 
 
 That many of the said felons escape from the 
 servitude to which they were destined, into other 
 colonies, where their condition is not known ; and 
 wandering at large from one populous town to 
 another, commit many burglaries, robberies, and 
 murders, to the great terror of the people ; and 
 occasioning heavy charges for apprehending and 
 securing such felons, and bringing them to justice. 
 
 That your petitioner humbly conceives the 
 easing one part of the British dominions of their 
 felons by burthening another part with the same 
 felons, cannot increase the common happiness of 
 his. Majesty s subjects, and that therefore the 
 trouble and expense of transporting them, is upon 
 the whole altogether useless. 
 
 That your petitioner, nevertheless, observes with 
 extreme concern in the votes of Friday last, that 
 leave is given to bring in a bill for extending to 
 Scotland, the act made in the fourth year of the 
 reign of King George the First, whereby the afore 
 said grievances are, as he understands, to be greatly 
 increased by allowing Scotland also to transport 
 its felons to America. 
 
 Your petitioner therefore humbly prays, in behalf 
 of Pennsylvania, and the other plantations in 
 America, that the house would take the premises 
 into consideration, and in their great wisdom and 
 goodness repeal all acts, and clauses of acts, for 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS, 447 
 
 transporting of felons ; or if this may not at present 
 be done, that they would at least reject the pro 
 posed bill for extending the said acts to Scotland ; 
 or, if it be thought fit to allow of such extension, 
 that then the said extension may be carried fur 
 ther, and the plantations be also, by an equitable 
 clause in the same bill, permitted to transport their 
 felons to Scotland. 
 
 And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall 
 pray, &c. 
 
 The petition, I am informed, was not received 
 by the house, and the act passed. 
 
 On second thoughts, I am of opinion, that be 
 sides employing our own vessels, as above pro 
 posed, every English ship arriving in our ports 
 with goods for sale, should be obliged to give 
 bond, before she is permitted to trade, engaging 
 that she will carry back to Britain at least one 
 felon for every fifty tons of her burthen. Thus we 
 shall not only discharge sooner our debts, but 
 furnish our old friends with the means of " better 
 peopling? and with more expedition, their promis 
 ing new colony of Botany Bay. 
 
 I am yours, &c. A. Z. 
 
448 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 VINDICATION AND OFFER FROM CONGRESS TO 
 PARLIAMENT IN 1775. 1 
 
 FORASMUCH as the enemies of America in the 
 parliament of Great Britain, to render us odious 
 to the nation, and give an ill impression of us in 
 the minds of other European powers, have repre 
 sented us as unjust and ungrateful in the highest 
 degree ; asserting, on every occasion, that the 
 colonies were settled at the expense of Britain ; 
 that they were, at the expense of the same, protect 
 ed in their infancy ; that they now ungratefully 
 and unjustly refuse to contribute to their own pro 
 tection, and the common defence of the nation ; 
 that they aim at independence ; that they intend 
 an abolition of the navigation acts ; and that they 
 are fraudulent in their commercial dealings, and 
 purpose to cheat ther creditors in Britain, by avoid 
 ing the payment of their just debts. 
 
 And as by frequent repetition these groundless 
 assertions and malicious calumnies may, if not con 
 tradicted and refuted, obtain farther credit, and be 
 injurious throughout Europe to the reputation and 
 interest of the confederate colonies, it seems pro- 
 
 1 The above paper was drawn up in a committee of congress, 
 June 25, 1775, but does not appear on their minutes; a severe 
 act of parliament, which arrived about that time, having deter 
 mined them not to give the sum proposed in it. It was first 
 printed in the Public Advertiser for^July 18, 1777, No. 13,346. 
 B. V. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 449 
 
 per and necessary to examine them in our own just 
 vindication. 
 
 With regard to the first, that the colonies were 
 settled at the expense of Britain, it is a known fact, 
 that none of the twelve united colonies were settled, 
 or even discovered, at the expense of England. 
 Henry the Vllth indeed granted a commission to 
 Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian, and his sons, to sail 
 into the western seas for the discovery of new coun 
 tries; but it was to be " suis eorum propriis sump- 
 tibus et expemis" at their own costs and charges. 1 
 They discovered, but soon slighted and neglected, 
 these northern territories ; which were, after more 
 than a hundred years dereliction, purchased of the 
 natives, and settled at the charge and by the labor 
 of private men and bodies of men, our ancestors, 
 who came over hither for that purpose. But our 
 adversaries have never been able to produce any 
 record, that ever the parliament or government of 
 England was at the smallest expense on these 
 accounts ; on the contrary, there exists on the 
 journals of parliament, a solemn declaration i n 
 1642, (only twenty-two years after the first settle 
 ment of the Massachusetts, when, if such expense 
 had ever been incurred, some of the members must 
 have known and remembered it,) " That these colo 
 nies had been planted and established without any 
 
 1 See the Commission in the Appendix to Pownall s Adminis 
 tration of the Colonies. Edit. 1775. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 F 
 
450 WHITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 expense to the stated New York is the only colony 
 in the founding of which England can pretend to 
 have been at any expense ; and that was only the 
 charge of a small armament to take it from the 
 Dutch, who planted it. But to retain this colony 
 at the peace, another at that time full as valuable, 
 planted by private countrymen of ours, was given 
 up by the crown to the Dutch in exchange, viz. 
 Surinam, now a wealthy sugar colony in Guiana, 
 and which, but for that cession, might still have 
 remained in our possession. Of late, indeed, 
 Britain has been at some expense in planting two 
 colonies, Georgia 2 and Nova Scotia ; but those are 
 not in our confederacy ; and the expense she has 
 been at in their name, has chiefly been in grants of 
 sums unnecessarily large, by way of salaries to 
 officers sent from England, and in, jobs to friends, 
 whereby dependants might be provided for ; those 
 excessive grants not being requisite to the welfare 
 and good government of the colonies, which good 
 government (as experience in many instances of 
 other colonies has taught us) may be much more 
 
 1 " Veneris, March 10, 1642. Whereas the plantations in 
 New England have, by the blessing of the Almighty, had good 
 and prosperous success, without any public charge to this state ; 
 and are now likely to prove very happy for the propagation of 
 the gospel in those parts, and very beneficial and commodious 
 to this kingdom and nation : the Commons now assembled in 
 parliament, &c. &c. &c." [See Governor Hutchinson s History. 
 B.V.] 
 
 * Georgia has since acceded, July, 1775. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 451 
 
 frugally, and full as effectually, provided for and 
 supported. 
 
 With regard to the second assertion, that these 
 colonies were protected in their infant state by 
 England, it is a notorious fact, that in none of 
 the many wars with the Indian natives, sustained 
 by our infant settlements for a century after our 
 first arrival, were ever any troops or forces of any 
 kind sent from England to assist us ; nor were any 
 forts built at her expense, to secure our sea-ports 
 from foreign invaders ; nor any ships of war sent 
 to protect our trade, till many years after our first 
 settlement, when our commerce became an object 
 of revenue, or of advantage to British merchants ; 
 and then it was thought necessary to have a frigate 
 in some of our ports, during peace, to give weight 
 to the authority of custom-house officers, who were 
 to restrain that commerce for the benefit of Eng 
 land. Our own arms, with our poverty, and the 
 care of a kind providence, were all this time our 
 only protection ; while we were neglected by the 
 English government ; which either thought us not 
 worth its care, or having no good-will to some of 
 us, on account of our different sentiments in reli 
 gion and politics, was indifferent what became of 
 us. On the other hand, the colonies have not been 
 wanting to do what they could in every war for 
 annoying the enemies of Britain. They formerly 
 assisted her in the conquest of Nova Scotia. In 
 the war before last they took Louisbourg, and put 
 
452 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 it into her hands. She made her peace with that 
 strong fortress, by restoring it to France, greatly to 
 their detriment, In the last war, it is true, Britain 
 sent a fleet and army, who acted with an equal 
 army of ours, in the reduction of Canada; and 
 perhaps thereby did more for us, than we in the 
 preceding wars had done for her. Let it be re 
 membered, however, that she rejected the plan we 
 formed in the congress at Albany, in 175 , for our 
 own defence, by an union of the colonies; an 
 union she was jealous of, and therefore chose to 
 send her own forces ; otherwise her aid, to protect 
 us, was not wanted. And from our first settle 
 ment to that time, her military operations in our 
 favor were small, compared with the advantages 
 she drew from her exclusive commerce with us. 
 We are however willing to give full weight to this 
 obligation ; and as we are daily growing stronger, 
 and our assistance to her becomes of more impor 
 tance, we should with pleasure embrace the first 
 opportunity of showing our gratitude by returning 
 the favor in kind. But when Britain values her 
 self as affording us protection, we desire it may be 
 considered that we have followed her in all her 
 wars, and joined with her at her own expense 
 against all she thought fit to quarrel with. This 
 she has required of us ; and would never permit us 
 to keep peace with any power she declared her 
 enemy ; though by separate treaties we might well 
 have done it. Under such circumstances, when at 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 453 
 
 her instance we made nations Our enemies, whom 
 we might otherwise have retained our friends ; we 
 submit it to the common sense of mankind, whe 
 ther her protection of us in these wars was not our 
 just due, and to be claimed of right, instead of being 
 received as a favor? And whether, when all the 
 parts of an empire exert themselves to the utmost 
 in their common defence, and in annoying the 
 common enemy, it is not as well the parts that pro 
 tect the whole, as the whole that protects the parts? 
 The protection then has been proportionally mu 
 tual. And whenever the time shall come, that 
 our abilities may as far exceed hers, as hers have 
 exceeded ours, we hope we shall be reasonable 
 enough to rest satisfied with her proportionable 
 exertions, and not think we do too much for a part 
 of the empire, when that part does as much as it 
 can for the whole. 
 
 The charge against us, that we refuse to contri 
 bute to our own protection, appears from the above 
 to be groundless : but we farther declare it to be 
 absolutely false ; for it is well known that we ever 
 held it as our duty to grant aids to the crown upon 
 requisition, towards carrying on its wars ; which 
 duty we have cheerfully complied with, to the 
 utmost of our abilities ; insomuch that frequent and 
 grateful acknowledgments thereof, by king and 
 parliament, appear on the records. 1 But as Bri- 
 
 1 Supposed to allude to certain passages in the journals of the 
 House of Commons on the 4th of April, 1/48 ; 28th January, 
 
454 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 tain has enjoyed a most gainful monopoly of our 
 commerce ; the same, with our maintaining the 
 dignity of the king s representative in each colony, 
 and all our own separate establishments of govern 
 ment, civil and military ; has ever hitherto been 
 deemed an equivalent for such aids as might other 
 wise be expected from us in time of peace And 
 we hereby declare, that on a reconciliation with 
 Britain, we shall not only continue to grant aids in 
 time of war ^ as aforesaid; but, whenever she shall 
 think fit to abolish her monopoly, and give us the 
 same privileges of trade as Scotland received at 
 the union, and allow us a free commerce with all 
 the rest of the world ; we shall willingly agree (and 
 we doubt not it will be ratified by our constituents) 
 to give and pay into the sinking fund [100,000/.] 
 sterling per annum for the term of one hundred 
 years ; which duly, faithfully, and inviolably ap 
 plied to that purpose, is demonstrably more than 
 sufficient to extinguish all her present national debt; 
 since it will in that time amount, at legal British 
 interest, to more than pSOjOOC^OOO/.] 1 
 
 But if Britain does not think fit to accept this 
 proposition, we, in order to remove her groundless 
 jealousies, that we aim at independence, and an aboli- 
 
 1756; 3d February, 1756; 16th and 10th of May, 1757; 1st 
 of June, 1758; 26th and 30th April, 1759; 26th and 31st of 
 March and 28th April, 1760; 9th and 20th January, 17^1; 
 22d and 26th January, 1762 ; and 14th and 17th March, 1763. 
 1 See Dr. Price s Appeal on the National Debt. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 455 
 
 tion of the navigation act, (which hath in truth never 
 been our intention) and to avoid all future disputes 
 about the right of making that and other acts for 
 regulating our commerce ; do hereby declare our 
 selves ready and willing to enter into a covenant 
 with Britain, that she shall fully possess, enjoy, and 
 exercise that right, for an hundred years to come ; 
 the same being bona Jide used for the common 
 benefit ; and in case of such agreement, that every 
 assembly be advised by us to confirm it solemnly 
 by laws of their own, which, once made, cannot be 
 repealed without the assent of the crown. 
 
 The last charge, that we are dishonest traders, and 
 aim at defrauding our creditors in Britain, is suffi 
 ciently and authentically refuted by the solemn 
 declarations of the British merchants to parlia 
 ment, (both at the time of the stamp-act, and in the 
 last session) who bore ample testimony to the gene 
 ral good faith and fair dealing of the Americans, 
 and declared their confidence in our integrity ; for 
 which we refer to their petitions on the journals 
 of the House of Commons. And we presume we 
 may safely call on the body of the British trades 
 men, who have had experience of both, to say, 
 whether they have not received much more punc 
 tual payment from us than they generally have 
 from the members of their own two houses of par 
 liament. 
 
 On the whole of the above it appears, that the 
 charge of ingratitude towards the mother-country, 
 
456 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 brought with so much confidence against the colo 
 nies, is totally without foundation ; and that there 
 is much more reason for retorting that charge on 
 Britain, who not only never contributes any aid, 
 nor affords, by an exclusive commerce, any ad 
 vantages to Saxony, her mother-country ; but no 
 longer since than in the last war, without the least 
 provocation, subsidised the King of Prussia while 
 he ravaged that mother-country, and carried fire 
 and sword into its capital, the fine city of Dresden! 
 An example we hope no provocation will induce 
 us to imitate. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 457 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 AMERICAN POLITICS, SUBSEQUENT TO THE INDE 
 PENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1776. 
 
 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN BRITAIN, FRANCE, SPAIN, 
 HOLLAND, SAXONY, AND AMERICA. 1 
 
 Britain. Sister of Spain, I have a favor to ask of 
 you. My subjects in America are disobedient, and 
 I am about to chastise them ; I beg you will not 
 furnish them with any arms or ammunition. 
 
 Spain. Have you forgotten, then, that when my 
 subjects in the low countries rebelled against me, 
 you not only furnished them with military stores, 
 but joined them with an army and a fleet ? I won 
 der how you can have the impudence to ask such 
 a favor of me, or the folly to expect it ! 
 
 Britain. You, my dear sister France, will surely 
 not refuse me this favor. 
 
 France. Did you not assist my rebel Huguenots 
 
 1 A political squib, written by Dr. Franklin shortly after his 
 arrival in France, as Commissioner Plenipotentiary from the 
 United States of America. 
 
458 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 with a fleet and an army at Rochdle ? And have 
 you not lately aided privately and sneakingly my 
 rebel subjects in Corsica ? And do you not at this 
 instant keep their chief, pensioned, and ready to 
 head a fresh revolt there, whenever you can find or 
 make an opportunity ? Dear sister, you must be a 
 little silly ! 
 
 Britain. Honest Holland ! You see it is remem 
 bered that I was once your friend, you will there 
 fore be mine on this occasion. I know indeed you 
 are accustomed to smuggle with these rebels of 
 mine. I will wink at that ; sell them as much tea 
 as you please to enervate the rascals, since they 
 will not take it of me ; but for God s sake don t 
 supply them with any arms ! 
 
 Holland. Tis true you assisted me against Philip, 
 my tyrant of Spain, but have I not since assisted 
 you against one of your tyrants ;" and enabled you 
 to expel him ? Surely that accompt, as we mer 
 chants say, is balanced, and I am nothing in your 
 debt. I have indeed some complaints against you, 
 for endeavoring to starve me by your navigation 
 acts ; but being peaceably disposed, I do not quar 
 rel with you for that. I shall only go on quietly 
 with my own business. Trade is my profession-; 
 tis all I have to subsist on. And let me tell you, 
 I should make no scruple, (on the prospect of a 
 
 1 James II. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 459 
 
 good market for that commodity) even to send my 
 ships to Hell and supply the devil with brimstone. 
 For you must know, I can insure in London 
 against the burning of my sails. 
 
 America to Britain. Why, you old blood-thirsty 
 bully! you who have been everywhere vaunting 
 your own prowess, and defaming the Americans 
 as poltroons ! you who have boasted of being able 
 to march over all their bellies with a single regi 
 ment ! you who by fraud have possessed yourself 
 of their strongest fortress, and all the arms they had 
 stored up in it ! you who have a disciplined army 
 in their country intrenched to the teeth, and pro 
 vided with every thing ! Do you run about begging 
 all Europe not to supply those poor people with a 
 little powder and shot ? Do you mean, then, to 
 fall upon them naked and unarmed, and butcher 
 them in cold blood ? Is this your courage ? Is 
 this your magnanimity ? 
 
 Britain. Oh ! you wicked Whig Presbyte 
 rian Serpent ! Have you the impudence to ap 
 pear before me after all your disobedience ? Sur 
 render immediately all your liberties and properties 
 into my hands, or I will cut you to pieces. Was 
 it for this that I planted your country at so great 
 an expense ? that I protected you in your infancy, 
 and defended you against all your enemies ? 
 
 America. I shall not surrender my liberty and 
 property but with my life. It is not true that my 
 country was planted at your expense. Your own 
 
460 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 records refute that falsehood to your face. Nor 
 did you ever afford me a man or a shilling to de 
 fend me against the Indians, the only enemies I 
 had upon my own account. But when you have 
 quarrelled with all Europe, and drawn me with you 
 into all your broils, then you value yourself upon 
 protecting me from the enemies you have made for 
 me. I have no natural cause of difference with 
 
 1 See the Journals of the House of Commons, 1640, viz. 
 
 Die Veneris, Martii 10, 1642. 
 
 " Whereas the plantations in New England have, by the bless 
 ing of Almighty God, had good and prosperous success, without 
 any public charge to this State ; and are now likely to prove 
 very happy for the Propagation of the Gospel in those parts, 
 and very beneficial and commodious to this kingdom and na 
 tion ; the commons now assembled in parliament do, for the 
 better advancement of those plantations, and the encouragement 
 of the planters to proceed in their undertaking, ordain that all 
 merchandises and goods that by any merchant, or other person 
 or persons whatsoever, shall be exported out of this kingdom of 
 England into New England, to be spent, used, or employed 
 there ; or being of the growth of that kingdom, shall be from 
 thence imported hither, or shall be laden or put on board in any 
 ship or vessel for necessaries in passing or returning to and fro ; 
 and all and every the owner or owners thereof, shall be freed 
 and discharged of and from paying and yielding any custom, 
 subsidy, taxation, imposition, or other duty for the same, either 
 inward or outward, either in this kingdom or New England, or 
 in any port, haven, creek, or other place whatsoever, until the 
 House of Commons shall take further order therein to the con 
 trary. And all and singular customers, &c. are to observe thb 
 order." 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 461 
 
 Spain, France, or Holland, and yet by turns I 
 have joined with you in wars against them all. 
 You would not suffer me to make or keep a sepa 
 rate peace with any of them, though I might easily 
 have done it, to great advantage. Does your pro 
 tecting me in those wars give you a right to fleece 
 me ? If so, as I fought for you, as well as you for 
 me, it gives me a proportionable right to fleece you. 
 What think you of an American law to make a 
 monopoly of you and your commerce, as you have 
 done by your laws of me and mine ? Content 
 yourself with that monoply if you are wise, and 
 learn justice if you w r ould be respected ! 
 
 Britain. You impudent B h ! am not I your 
 
 mother-country ? Is not that a sufficient title to 
 your respect and obedience ? 
 
 Saxony. Mother-country I Hah, hah, hah ! 
 What respect have you the front to claim as a mo 
 ther country ? You know that / am your mother- 
 country, and yet you pay me none. Nay, it is but 
 the other day, that you hired ruffians to rob me on 
 the highway, 2 and burn my house ! J For shame ! 
 Hide your face and hold your tongue. If you 
 continue this conduct you will make yourself the 
 contempt of Europe ! 
 
 1 Prussians. 
 
 They entered and raised contributions in k Saxony. 
 3 And they burnt the fine suburbs of Dresden, the capital of 
 Saxony. 
 
402 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN "FRANKLIN. 
 
 Britain. O Lord ! where are my friends ? 
 
 France, Spain, Holland, and Saxony altogether. 
 Friends ! Believe us you have none, nor ever will 
 have any till you mend your manners. How can 
 we, who are your neighbors, have any regard for 
 you, or expect any equity from you should your 
 power increase, when we see how basely and un 
 justly you have used both your own mother and your 
 own children ? 
 
 COMPARISON OF GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA AS 
 TO CREDIT, IN 1777. 1 
 
 IN borrowing money, a man s credit depends on 
 some or all of the following particulars : 
 
 First. His known conduct respecting former 
 loans, and his punctuality in discharging them. 
 
 Secondly. His industry. 
 
 Thirdly. His frugality. 
 
 Fourthly. The amount and the certainty of his 
 income, and the freedom of his estate from the in- 
 qumbrances of prior debts. 
 
 Fifthly. His well-founded prospects of greater 
 future ability, by the improvement of his estate in 
 value, and by aids from others. 
 
 1 This paper was written, translated, printed, and circulated, 
 while Dr. Franklin was at the court of Paris, for the purpose of 
 inducing foreigners to lend money to America in preference to 
 Great Britain. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 463 
 
 Sixthly. His known prudence in managing his 
 general affairs, and the advantage they will proba 
 bly receive from the loan which he desires. 
 
 Seventhly. His known probity and honest cha 
 racter, manifested by his voluntary discharge of his 
 debts, which he could not have been legally com 
 pelled to pay. The circumstances which give cre 
 dit to an individual ought to, and will have, their 
 weight upon the lenders of money to public bodies 
 or nations. If then we consider and compare Bri 
 tain and America, in these several particulars upon 
 the question, " To which is it safest to lend mo 
 ney ?" we shall find, 
 
 1. Respecting/orwer loans; th at America, which 
 borrowed ten millions during the last war for the 
 maintenance of her army of 25,000 men, and other 
 charges, had faithfully discharged and paid that 
 debt, and all her other debts, in 1772. Whereas 
 Britain, during those ten years of peace and profit 
 able commerce, had made little or no reduction of 
 her debt ; but on the contrary, from time to time, 
 diminished the hopes of her creditors, by a wanton 
 diversion and misapplication of the sinking fund 
 destined for discharging it. 
 
 2. Respecting industry ; every man (in America) 
 is employed ; the greater part in cultivating their 
 own lands ; the rest in handicrafts, navigation, and 
 commerce. An idle man is a rarity ; idleness and 
 inutility are disgraceful. In England, the number 
 of that character is immense ; fashion has spread it 
 
464 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 far and wide ; hence the embarrassments of private 
 fortunes, and the daily bankruptcies arising from 
 an universal fondness for appearance and expen 
 sive pleasures ; and hence, in some degree, the 
 mismanagements of public business ; for habits of 
 business and ability in it, are acquired only by 
 practice ; and where universal dissipation, and the 
 perpetual pursuit of amusement, are the mode ; the 
 youth, educated in it, can rarely afterwards acquire 
 that patient attention and close application to af 
 fairs, which are so necessary to a statesman 
 charged with the care of national welfare. Hence 
 their frequent errors in policy ; and hence the 
 weariness at public councils, and backwardness in 
 going to them ; the constant unwillingness to en 
 gage in any measure that requires thought and 
 consideration; and the readiness for postponing 
 every new proposition : which postponing is there 
 fore the only part of the business that they come to 
 be expert in, an expertness produced necessarily 
 by so much daily practice. Whereas in America, 
 men bred to close employment in their private 
 affairs, attend with ease to those of the public, 
 when engaged in them, and nothing fails through 
 negligence. 
 
 3. Respecting frugality; the manner of living in 
 America is more simple and less expensive than 
 that in England : plain tables, plain clothing, and 
 plain furniture in houses prevail, with few carriages 
 of pleasure ; there, an expensive appearance hurts 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 465 
 
 credit, and is avoided : in England, it is often as 
 sumed to gain credit, and continued to ruin. Re 
 specting public affairs, the difference is still greater. 
 In England, the salaries of officers, and emolu 
 ments of office, are enormous. The king has a 
 million sterling per annum, and yet cannot main 
 tain his family free from debt : Secretaries of State, 
 Lords of Treasury, Admiralty, &c. have vast ap 
 pointments : an Auditor of the Exchequer has six 
 pence in the pound, or a fortieth part of all the public 
 money expended by the nation ; so that when a 
 war costs forty millions, one million is paid to him. 
 An Inspector of the Mint, in the last new coinage, 
 received as his fee 65,000/. sterling per annum : 
 t.o all which rewards, no service these gentlemen 
 can render the public is by any means equivalent. 
 All this is paid by the people ; who are oppressed 
 by taxes so occasioned ; and thereby rendered less 
 able to contribute to the payment of necessary na 
 tional debts. In America, salaries, where indis 
 pensable, are extremely low ; but much of the 
 public business is done gratis. The honor of 
 serving the public ably and faithfully, is deemed 
 sufficient. Public spirit really exists there, and has 
 great effects. In England, it is universally deemed 
 a non-entity, and whoever pretends to it, is 
 aughed at as a fool, or suspected as a knave. 
 The committees of congress, which form the board 
 of war, the board of treasury, the board of foreign 
 affairs, the naval board, that for accounts, &c. all 
 VOL. i. 2 o 
 
466 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 attend the business of their respective functions, with 
 out any salary or emolument whatever; though they 
 spend in it much more of their time than any Lord 
 of Treasury or Admiralty in England can spare, 
 from his amusements. A British minister lately 
 computed, that the whole expense of the Ameri 
 cans, in their civil government, over three millions 
 of people, amounted to but 70,000/. sterling ; and 
 drew from thence a conclusion, that they ought to 
 be taxed, until their expense was equal in propor 
 tion to that which it costs Britain to govern eight 
 millions. He had no idea of a contrary conclu 
 sion; that if three millions may be well governed 
 for 70,000/. eight millions may be as well governed 
 for three times that sum ; and that therefore the 
 expense of his own government should be dimi 
 nished. In that corrupted nation, no man is 
 ashamed of being concerned in lucrative govern 
 ment jobs, in which the public money is egregiously 
 misapplied and squandered, the treasury pillaged, 
 and more numerous and heavy taxes accumulated ; 
 to the great oppression of the people. But the 
 prospect of a greater number of such jobs by a 
 war is an inducement with many to cry out for 
 war upon all occasions, and to oppose every pro 
 position of peace. Hence the constant increase of 
 the national debt, and the absolute improbability 
 of its ever being discharged. 
 
 4. Respecting the amount and certainty of income, 
 and solidity of security : the whole Thirteen States 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 467 
 
 of America are engaged for the payment of every 
 debt contracted by the congress ; and the debt to 
 be contracted by the present war, is the only debt 
 they will have to pay ; all, or nearly all the former 
 debts of particular colonies being already dis 
 charged. Whereas England will have to pay, not 
 only the enormous debt this war must occasion, but 
 all their vast preceding debt, or the interest of it ; 
 and while America is enriching itself by prizes 
 made upon the British commerce, more than it 
 ever did by any commerce of its own, under the 
 restraints of a British monopoly ; Britain is gro\v- 
 ing poorer by the diminution of its revenues ; and 
 of course less able to discharge the present indis 
 creet increase of its expenses. 
 
 5. Respecting prospects of greater future ability, 
 Britain has none such. Her islands are circum 
 scribed by the ocean ; and excepting a few parks 
 or forests, she has no new land to cultivate, and 
 cannot therefore extend her improvements. Her 
 numbers, too, instead of increasing from increased 
 subsistence, are continually diminishing from grow 
 ing luxury, and the increasing difficulties of main 
 taining families, which of course discourages early 
 marriages. Thus she will have fewer people to 
 assist in paying her debts, and that diminished 
 number will be poorer. America, on the contrary, 
 has, besides her lands already cultivated, a vast 
 territory yet to be cultivated ; which being culti 
 vated, continually increases in value with the in- 
 
468 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 crease of people; and the people, who double them 
 selves by a natural propagation every twenty-five 
 years, will double yet faster, by the accession of 
 strangers, as long as lands are to be had for new 
 families ; so that every twenty years, there will 
 be a double number of inhabitants obliged to dis 
 charge the public debts; and those inhabitants 
 being more opulent, may pay their shares with 
 greater ease. 
 
 6. Respecting prudence in general affairs, and the 
 advantages to be expected from the loan desired ; 
 the Americans are cultivators of land ; those en 
 gaged in fishery and commerce are few, compared 
 with the others. They have ever conducted their 
 several governments with wisdom, avoiding wars, 
 and vain expensive projects ; delighting only in 
 their peaceable occupations, w r hich must, consider 
 ing the extent of their uncultivated territory, find 
 them employment still for ages. Whereas Eng 
 land, ever unquiet, ambitious, avaricious, impru 
 dent, and quarrelsome, is half of the time engaged 
 in war; always at an expense infinitely greater 
 than the advantage to be obtained by it, if success 
 ful. Thus they made war against Spain in 1739, 
 for a claim of about 95,000/. (scarce a groat for 
 each individual of the nation) and spent forty 
 millions sterling in the war, and the lives of fifty 
 thousand men ; and finally made peace without ob 
 taining satisfaction for the sum claimed. Indeed, 
 there is scarce a nation in Europe, against which 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 469 
 
 she has not made war on some frivolous pretext 
 or other ; and thereby imprudently accumulated a 
 debt that has brought her on the verge of bank 
 ruptcy. But the most indiscreet of all her wars, 
 is the present against America; with which she 
 might, for ages, have preserved her profitable con 
 nexion, only by a just and equitable conduct. She 
 is now acting like a mad shopkeeper, who, by beat 
 ing those who pass his doors, attempts to make 
 them come in, and be his customers. America 
 cannot submit to such treatment, without being 
 first ruined ; and being ruined, her custom will be 
 worth nothing. England, to effect this, is increas 
 ing her debt, and irretrievably ruining herself. 
 America, on the other hand, aims only to establish 
 her liberty, and that freedom of commerce which 
 will be advantageous to all Europe ; and by abo 
 lishing that monopoly which she labored under, 
 she will profit infinitely more than enough, to 
 repay any debt which she may contract to accom 
 plish it. 
 
 7. Respecting character in the honest payment of 
 debts: the punctuality with which America has 
 discharged her public debts r was shown under the 
 first head. And the general good disposition of 
 the people to such punctuality, has been manifest 
 ed in their faithful payment of private debts to 
 England, since the commencement of this war. - 
 There were not wanting some politicians [in Ame- 
 rka] who proposed stopping that payment, until 
 
470 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 peace should be restored ; alleging that in the 
 usual course of commerce, and of the credit given, 
 there was always a debt existing equal to the trade 
 of eighteen months : that the trade amounting to 
 five millions sterling per annum, the debt must be 
 seven millions and a half; that this sum paid to 
 the British merchants, would operate to prevent 
 that distress, intended to be brought upon Britain, 
 by our stoppage of commerce with her: for the 
 merchants receiving this money, and no orders 
 with it for farther supplies, would either lay it out 
 in the public funds ; or in employing manufac 
 turers, to accumulate goods, for a future hungry 
 market in America, upon an expected accommo 
 dation ; by which means the funds would be kept 
 up, and the manufacturers prevented from mur 
 muring. Bu t against th is it was alleged, th at inj uries 
 from ministers should not be revenged on mer 
 chants ; that the credit was in consequence of 
 private contracts, made in confidence of good faith; 
 that those ought to be held sacred, and faithfully 
 complied with; for that whatever public utility 
 might be supposed to arise from a breach of pri 
 vate faith, it was unjust ; and would in the end be 
 found unwise; honesty being, in truth, the best 
 policy. On this principle, the proposition was 
 rejected ; and though the English prosecuted the 
 war with unexampled barbarity, burning our de 
 fenceless towns in the midst of winter, arid arming 
 savages against us ; the debt was punctually paid ; 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 471 
 
 and the merchants of London have testified to the 
 parliament, and will testify to all the world, that 
 from their experience in dealing with us, they had, 
 before the war, no apprehension of our unfairness ; 
 and that since the war, they have been convinced 
 that their good opinion of us was well founded. 
 England, on the contrary, an old, corrupt, extra 
 vagant, and profligate nation, sees herself deep in 
 debt, which she is in no condition to pay ; and yet 
 is madly and dishonestly running deeper, without 
 any possibility of discharging her debt, but by a 
 public bankruptcy. 
 
 It appears, therefore, from the general industry, 
 frugality, ability, prudence, and virtue of America, 
 that she is a much safer debtor than Britain ; to say 
 nothing of the satisfaction generous minds must 
 have in reflecting, that by loans to America, they 
 are opposing tyranny, and aiding the cause of li 
 berty, which is the cause of all mankind. 
 
 A CATECHISM RELATIVE TO THE ENGLISH 
 NATIONAL DEBT. 
 
 QUESTION 1. Supposing this debt to be only 
 195 millions of pounds sterling at present, 1 al 
 though it is much more, and that was all to be 
 counted in shillings, that a man could count at the 
 rate of 100 shillings per minute, for 12 hours each 
 
 1 At present (1777) it is said to be at least 230 millions. 
 
472 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 day, till he has counted the whole, how long would 
 he take in doing it ? 
 
 ANSWER. One hundred forty-eight years, one 
 hundred nine days, and twenty-two hours. 
 
 Q. 2. The whole of this sum being 3,900 mil 
 lions of shillings, and the coinage standard being 
 sixty-two in the troy pound, what is the whole 
 weight of this sum ? 
 
 A. Sixty-one millions, seven hundred fifty- 
 two thousand, four hundred and seventy-six troy 
 pounds. 
 
 Q. 3. How many ships would carry this weight, 
 suppose 100 tons each? 
 
 A. Three hundred and fourteen ships. 
 
 Q. 4. How many carts would carry this weight, 
 suppose a ton in each ? 
 
 A. Thirty-one thousand, four hundred and fifty- 
 two carts. 
 
 Q. 5. The breadth of a shilling being one inch, 
 if all these shillings were laid in a straight line, 
 close to one another s edges, how long would that 
 line be that would contain them ? 
 
 A. Sixty-one thousand, five hundred fifty-two 
 miles ; which is 9,572 miles more than twice round 
 the whole circumference of the earth. 
 
 Q. 6. Suppose the interest of this debt to be 
 three and a half per cent, per annum, what does 
 the whole annual interest amount to ? 
 
 A. Six millions, seven hundred and seventy 
 thousand pounds. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 473 
 
 Q. 7. How doth government raise this interest 
 annually ? 
 
 A. By taxing those who lent the principal, and 
 others. 
 
 Q. 8. When will government be able to pay the 
 principal ? 
 
 A. When there is more money in England s 
 treasury than there is in all Europe. 
 
 Q. 9. And when will that be ? 
 
 A. Never. 
 
 OF THE PAPER MONEY OF THE UNITED STATES OF 
 AMERICA. 
 
 MUCH conversation having arisen lately on the 
 subject of this money, and few persons being well 
 acquainted with the nature of it, you may possibly 
 oblige many of your readers, by the following ac 
 count of it. 
 
 When Great Britain commenced the present 
 war upon the colonies, they had neither arms nor 
 ammunition, nor money to purchase them or to 
 pay soldiers. The new government had not im 
 mediately the consistence necessary for collecting 
 heavy taxes ; nor would taxes that could be raised 
 within the year during peace, have been sufficient 
 for a year s expense in time of war : they therefore 
 printed a quantity of paper bills, each expressing^ 
 to be of the value of a certain number of Spanish 
 dollars, from one to thirty : with these they paid, 
 
474 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 clothed, and fed their troops, fitted out ships, and 
 supported the war during five years against one of 
 the most powerful nations of Europe. 
 
 The paper thus issued, passed current in all the 
 internal commerce of the United States at par with 
 silver during the first year ; supplying the place of 
 the gold and silver formerly current, but which 
 was sent out of the country to purchase arms, &c. 
 or to defray expenses of the army in Canada : but 
 the great number of troops necessary to be kept 
 on foot to defend a coast of near 500 leagues in 
 length, from an enemy who being masters at sea 
 could land troops where they pleased, occasioned 
 such a demand for money, and such frequent addi 
 tional emissions of new bills, that the quantity 
 became much greater than was wanted for the 
 purposes of commerce; and the commerce being 
 diminished by the war, the surplus quantity of 
 cash was by that means also proportionally aug 
 mented. 
 
 It has been long and often observed, that when 
 the current money of a country is augmented 
 beyond the occasions for money, as a medium of 
 commerce, its value as money diminishes. Its 
 interest is reduced, and the principal sinks, if some 
 means are not found to take off the surplus quan 
 tity. Silver may be carried out of the country 
 that produces it, into other countries, and thereby 
 prevent too great a fall of its value in that country. 
 But when by this means it grows more plentiful in 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 475 
 
 all other countries, nothing prevents its sinking in 
 value. Thus within 300 years, since the discovery 
 of America, and the vast quantities of gold and sil 
 ver imported from thence, and spread over Europe 
 and the rest of the world, those metals have sunk 
 in value four-fifths, that is, five ounces of silver will 
 not purchase more labor now than an ounce would 
 have done before that discovery. 
 
 Had Spain been able to confine all that treasure 
 within its own territories, silver would probably 
 have been there of no more value by this time than 
 iron, or lead. The exportation has kept its value 
 on a level with its value in other parts of the world. 
 Paper money not being easily received out of the 
 country that makes it, if the quantity becomes ex 
 cessive, the depreciation is quicker and greater. 
 
 Thus the excessive quantities which necessity 
 obliged the Americans to issue for continuing the 
 war, occasioned a depreciation of value, which 
 commencing towards the end of 1776, has gone on 
 augmenting, till at the beginning of the present 
 year, 50, 60, and as far as 70 dollars in paper were 
 reckoned not more than equal to one dollar in sil 
 ver, and the prices of all things rose in proportion. 
 
 Before the depreciation commenced, the con 
 gress fearing it, stopt for a time the emission of 
 new bills, and resolved to supply their occasions 
 by borrowing. Those who lent them the paper 
 money at that time and until March 1778, fixed 
 their property and prevented its depreciation ; the 
 
476 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 interest being regularly paid by bills of exchange 
 on France, which supports the value of the princi 
 pal sums lent. 
 
 These loans not being sufficient, the congress 
 were forced to print more bills, and depreciation 
 proceeded. The congress would borrow no more 
 on the former conditions of paying the interest in 
 French money at Paris ; but great sums were offer 
 ed and lent them on the terms of being paid the 
 interest, and repaid the principal in the same bills 
 in America. 
 
 These loans in some degree lessened, but did 
 not quite take away the necessity of new emissions, 
 so that it at length arrived at the excessive differ 
 ence between the value of paper and silver, that is 
 above-mentioned . 
 
 To put an end to this evil, which destroyed all 
 certainty in commerce, the congress first resolved 
 to diminish the quantity gradually by taxes, which, 
 though nominally vastly great, were really less 
 heavy than they appeared to be, and were readily 
 paid. By these taxes 15 millions of S. dollars, 
 of the 200 millions extant, are to be brought in 
 monthly and burnt. This operation will destroy 
 the whole quantity, to wit, 200,000,000, in about 
 14 months. Thirty millions have already been so 
 destroyed. 
 
 To prevent in the meantime the farther progress 
 of the depreciation, and give some kind of deter 
 minate value to the paper, it was ordained that for 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 477 
 
 every sum of forty dollars payable by any person 
 as tax, he might discharge himself by paying one 
 dollar in silver. Whether this expedient will pro 
 duce the effect intended or not, experience and 
 time must discover. 
 
 The general effect of the depreciation among the 
 inhabitants of the states has been this, that it has 
 operated as a gradual tax upon them, their business 
 has been done and paid for by the paper money, 
 and every man has paid his share of the tax accord 
 ing to the time he retained any of the money in his 
 hands, and to the depreciation within that time. 
 Thus it has proved a tax on money, a kind of pro 
 perty very difficult to be taxed in any other mode; 
 and it has fallen more equally than many other 
 taxes, as those people paid most who being richest 
 had most money passing through their hands. 
 
 With regard to the paper money or bills borrow 
 ed by the congress, it appears by the above account 
 to be under two different descriptions. 
 
 First, the quantity of bills borrowed before the 
 depreciation, the interest of which in silver was to 
 be and is paid. The principal of this sum is con 
 sidered as equal in value to so many dollars of 
 silver as were borrowed in paper, and will be paid 
 in silver accordingly. 
 
 Secondly, the quantities of bills borrowed in dif 
 ferent stages of the depreciation down to the present 
 time ; these sums are, by a resolution of congress, 
 to be repaid in silver according to the value they 
 
478 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 were of in silver at the time they were lent ; and 
 the interest is to be paid at the same rate. Thus 
 those lenders have their property secured from the 
 loss by depreciation subsequent to the time of their 
 loan. 
 
 All the inhabitants are satisfied and pleased with 
 this arrangement, their public debt being by this 
 means reduced to a small sum. And the new 
 paper money which bears interest, and for the pay 
 ment of which solid funds are provided, is actually 
 in credit equal to real silver. 
 
 If any perstins living in distant countries have, 
 through their absence from their property in Ame 
 rica, suffered loss by not having it timely fixed in 
 the several loans above-mentioned, it is not doubt 
 ed but that upon an application to congress stating 
 the case, they will meet with redress. 
 
 The real money used in the United States, is 
 French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English coins, 
 gold and silver. The most common is Spanish 
 milled dollars, worth five livres five sols toumois. 
 
 The nominal money is generally paper, reckoned 
 in pounds, shillings, and pence, of different value 
 in the different states when compared with real 
 money, and that value often changing, so that 
 nothing certain can be said of it. Everywhere 
 the accounts are kept in the nominal pounds, shil 
 lings, and pence, the pound containing twenty 
 shillings, and the shilling twelve pence, whatever 
 may be the real value. 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 479 
 
 Bills of exchange are frequently drawn on Eu 
 rope; the rate of exchange differing in different 
 states, and fluctuating in the same state, occasioned 
 by the greater or less plenty of bills or of demand 
 for others ; they are commonly drawn at thirty 
 days sight. 
 
 The usages in buying and selling merchandises, 
 are much the same as in Europe, except that in 
 Virginia the planter carries his tobacco to maga 
 zines, where it is inspected by officers, who ascer 
 tain its quality and give receipts expressing the 
 quantity. The merchants receive these receipts in 
 payment for goods, and afterwards draw the 
 tobacco out of the magazines for exportation. 
 Weights and measures are uniform in all the states, 
 following the standard of Great Britain. 
 
 Money is lent either upon bond, or on mortgage, 
 payable in a year with interest. The interest differs 
 in the different states from five to seven per cent. 
 
 Goods are generally imported on eighteen 
 months credit from Europe, sold in the country 
 at twelve months credit. 
 
 BiHets or promissory notes payable to the credi 
 tor or order, are in use, and demand able when 
 due, as well as accepted bills of exchange : with 
 out any days of grace, but by particular favor. 
 
480 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 THE RETORT COURTEOUS. 
 
 " John Oxly, pawnbroker of Bethnal Green, 
 was indicted for assaulting Jonathan Boldsworth 
 on the highway, putting him in fear, and taking 
 from him one silver watch, value 5/. 5s. The 
 prisoner pleaded, that having sold the watch to 
 the prosecutor, and being immediately after in 
 formed by a person who knew him, that he was 
 not likely to pay for the same, he had only fol 
 lowed him and taken the watch back again. But 
 it appearing on the trial, that, presuming he had 
 not been known when he committed the robbery, 
 he had afterwards sued the prosecutor for the 
 debt, on his note of hand ; he was found guilty, 
 death." Old Bailey Sessions Paper, 1747. 
 
 I chose the above extract from the proceedings 
 of the Old Bailey in the trial of criminals, as a 
 motto or text, on which to amplify in my ensuing 
 discourse. But on second thoughts, having given 
 it forth, I shall, after the example of some other 
 preachers, quit it for the present, and leave to my 
 readers, if I should happen to have any, the task 
 of discovering w 7 hat relation there may possibly 
 be between my text and my sermon. 
 
 During some years past, the British newspapers 
 have been filled with reflections on the inhabitants 
 of America, for not paying their old debts to English 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 481 
 
 merchants. And from these papers the same re 
 flections have been translated into foreign prints, 
 and circulated throughout Europe ; whereby the 
 American character, respecting honor, probity, and 
 justice in commercial transactions, is made to 
 suffer in the opinion of strangers, which may be 
 attended with pernicious consequences. 
 
 At length we are told that the British court has 
 taken up the complaint, and seriously offered it as 
 a reason for refusing to evacuate the frontier posts 
 according to treaty. This gives a kind of authority 
 to the charge, and makes it now more necessary 
 to examine the matter thoroughly ; to inquire im 
 partially into the conduct of both nations ; take 
 blame to ourselves where we have merited it ; and, 
 where it may be fairly done, mitigate the severity 
 of the censures that are so liberally bestowed upon 
 us. 
 
 We may begin by observing, that before the war 
 our mercantile character was good. In proof of 
 this (and a stronger proof can hardly be desired) 
 the votes of the House of Commons in 1774-5, 
 have recorded a petition signed by the body of 
 the merchants of London trading to North America, 
 in which they expressly set forth, not only that the 
 trade was profitable to the kingdom, but that the 
 remittances and payments were as punctually and 
 faithfully made, as in any other branch of com 
 merce whatever. These gentlemen were certainly 
 
 VOL. i. 2 H 
 
482 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 competent judges, and as to that point could have 
 no interest in deceiving the government. 
 
 The making of these punctual remittances was 
 however a difficulty. Britain, acting on the selfish 
 and perhaps mistaken principle of receiving no 
 thing from abroad that could be produced at 
 home, would take no articles of our produce that 
 interfered with any of her own ; and what did not 
 interfere she loaded with heavy duties. We had 
 110 mines of gold or silver. We were therefore 
 obliged to run the world over, in search of some 
 thing that would be received in England. We 
 sent our provisions and lumber to the West Indies, 
 where exchange was made for sugars, cotton, &c. 
 to remit. We brought molasses from thence, dis 
 tilled it into rum, with which we traded in Africa, 
 and remitted the gold dust to England. We em 
 ployed ourselves in the fisheries, and sent the fish 
 we caught, together with quantities of wheat, flour, 
 and rice, to Spain and Portugal, from whence the 
 amount was remitted to England in cash or bills 
 of exchange. Great quantities of our rice too, went 
 to Holland, Hamburgh, &c., and the value of that 
 was also sent to Britain. Add to this, that con 
 tenting ourselves with paper, all the hard money 
 we could possibly pick up among the foreign West 
 India islands, was continually sent off to Britain, 
 not a ship going thither from America without 
 some chests of those precious metals. 
 
 Imagine this great machine of mutually advan- 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 483 
 
 tageous commerce, going roundly on, in full train ; 
 our ports all busy, receiving and selling British 
 manufactures, and equipping ships for the cir 
 cuitous trade that was finally to procure the neces 
 sary remittances ; the seas covered with those 
 ships, and with several hundred sail of our fisher 
 men, all working for Britain ; and then let us con 
 sider what effect the conduct of Britain in 1774 
 and 1775 and the following years, must naturally 
 have on the future ability of our merchants to 
 make the payments in question. 
 
 We will not here enter into the motives of that 
 conduct ; they are well enough known, and not to 
 her honor. The first step w r as shutting up the 
 port of Boston by an act of parliament ; the next 
 to prohibit by another the New England fishery. 
 An army and a fleet were sent to enforce these 
 acts. Here was a stop put at once to all the mer 
 cantile operations of one of the greatest trading 
 cities of America ; the fishing vessels all laid up, 
 and the usual remittances by way of Spain, Por 
 tugal, and the Straits, rendered impossible. Yet 
 the cry was now begun against us, These New 
 England people do not pay their debts ! 
 
 The ships of the fleet employed themselves in 
 cruising separately all along the coast. The 
 marine gentry are seldom so well contented with 
 their pay, as not to like a little plunder. They 
 stopped and seized, under slight pretences, the 
 American vessels they met with, belonging to 
 
484 WRITINGS OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 whatever colony. This checked the commerce of 
 them all. Ships loaded with cargoes destined 
 either directly or indirectly to make remittance in 
 England, were not spared. If the differences be 
 tween the two countries had been then accommo 
 dated, these unauthorised plunderers would have 
 been called to account, and many of their exploits 
 must have been found piracy. But what cured all 
 this, set their minds at ease, made short work, 
 and gave full scope to their piratical disposition, 
 was another act of parliament, forbidding any in 
 quisition into those past facts, declaring them all 
 lawful, and all American property to be forfeited, 
 whether on sea or land, and authorising the king s 
 British subjects to take, seize, sink, bum, or de 
 stroy, whatever they could find of it. The pro 
 perty suddenly and by surprise, taken from our 
 merchants by the operation of this act, is incom 
 putable. And yet the cry did not diminish, These 
 Americans don t pay their debts ! 
 
 Had the several states of America, on the pub 
 lication of this act seized all British property in 
 their power, whether consisting of lands in their 
 country, ships in their harbors, or debts in the 
 hands of their merchants, by way of retaliation, it 
 is probable a great part of the world would have 
 deemed such conduct justifiable. They it seems 
 thought otherwise, and it was done only in one or 
 two states, and that under particular circumstances 
 of provocation. And not having thus abolished 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 485 
 
 all demands, the cry subsists that the Americans 
 should pay their debts! 
 
 General Gage being with his army, (before the 
 declaration of open war) in peaceable possession 
 of Boston, shut its gates, and placed guards all 
 around to prevent its communication with the 
 country. The inhabitants were on the point of 
 starving. The genera], though they were evidently 
 at his mercy, fearing that while they had any 
 arms in their hands, frantic desperation might pos 
 sibly do him some mischief, proposed to them a 
 capitulation, in which he stipulated, that if they 
 would deliver up their arms, they might leave the 
 town with their family and goods. In faith of this 
 agreement, they delivered their arms. But when 
 they began to pack up for their departure, they 
 were informed, that by the word goods, the general 
 understood only household goods, that is, their 
 beds, chairs, and tables, not merchant goods ; those 
 he was informed they were indebted for to the 
 merchants of England, and. he must secure them 
 for the creditors. They were accordingly all 
 seized, to an immense value, what had been paid 
 for not excepted. It is to be supposed, though we 
 have never heard of it, that this very honorable 
 general, when he returned home, made a just dis 
 tribution of those goods, or their value, among the 
 said creditors. But the cry nevertheless continued, 
 These Boston people do not pay their debts ! 
 
 The army having thus ruined Boston, proceeded 
 
486 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 to different parts of the continent. They got pos 
 session of all the capital trading towns. The 
 troops gorged themselves with plunder. They 
 stopped all the trade of Philadelphia for near a 
 year, of Rhode Island longer, of New York near 
 eight years, of Charlestown in South Carolina and 
 Savannah in Georgia, I forget how long. This 
 continued interruption of their commerce ruined 
 many merchants. The army also burnt to the 
 ground the fine towns of Falmouth and Charles- 
 town near Boston, New London, Fairfield, Nor- 
 walk, Esopus, Norfolk, the chief trading town in 
 Virginia, besides innumerable tenements and pri 
 vate farm houses. This wanton destruction of 
 property operated doubly to the disabling of our 
 merchants, who were importers from Britain, in 
 making their payments, by the immoderate loss 
 they sustained themselves, and also the loss suffered 
 by their country debtors, who had bought of them 
 the British goods, and who were now rendered 
 unable to pay. The debts to Britain of course 
 remained undischarged, and the clamor continued, 
 These knavish Americans will not pay us ! 
 
 Many of the British debts, particularly in Vir 
 ginia and the Carolinas, arose from the sales made 
 of negroes in those provinces by the British 
 Guinea merchants. These, with all before in the 
 country, were employed when the war came on, in 
 raising tobaccos and rice for remittance in payment 
 of British debts. An order arrives from England, 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 487 
 
 advised by one of their most celebrated moralists, 
 Doctor Johnson, in his Taxation no Tyranny, to 
 excite these slaves to rise, cut the throats of their 
 purchasers, and resort to the British army, where 
 they should be rewarded with freedom. This was 
 done, and the planters were thus deprived of near 
 30,000 of their working people. Yet the demand 
 for those sold and unpaid still exists ; and the cry 
 continues against the Virginians and Carolinians, 
 that they do not pay their debts ! 
 
 Virginia suffered great loss in this kind of pro 
 perty, by another ingenious and humane British 
 invention. Having the small-pox in their army 
 while in that country, they inoculated some of the 
 negroes they took as prisoners belonging to a num 
 ber of plantations, and then let them escape, or 
 sent them covered with the pock to mix with and 
 spread the distemper among the others of their 
 color, as well as among the white country people, 
 which occasioned a great mortality of both ; and 
 certainly did not contribute to the enabling debtors 
 in making payment. The war too having put a 
 stop to the exportation of tobacco, there was a 
 great accumulation of several years produce in all 
 the public inspecting warehouses and private stores 
 of the planters. Arnold, Philips, and Cornwallis, 
 with British troops, then entered and over-ran the 
 country, burnt all the inspecting and other stores 
 of tobacco, to the amount of some hundred ship 
 loads ; all which might on the return of peace, if 
 
488 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 it had not been thus wantonly destroyed, have 
 been remitted to British creditors. But these d d 
 Virginians, why don t they pay their debts ? 
 
 Paper money was in those times our universal 
 currency. But it being the instrument with which 
 we combated our enemies, they resolved to deprive 
 us of its use by depreciating it; and the most 
 effectual means they could contrive was to coun 
 terfeit it. The artists they employed performed so 
 well, that immense quantities of these counterfeits 
 which issued from the British government in New 
 York, were circulated among the inhabitants of all 
 the states, before the fraud was detected. This 
 operated considerably in depreciating the whole 
 mass, first, by the vast additional quantity, and 
 next by the uncertainty in distinguishing the true 
 from the false ; and the depreciation was a loss to 
 all and the ruin of many. It is true our enemies 
 gained a vast deal of our property by the opera 
 tion, but it did not go into the hands of our par 
 ticular creditors, so their demands still subsisted, 
 and we were still abused for not paying our debts ! 
 
 By the seventh article of the treaty of peace, it 
 v, as solemnly stipulated, that the king s troops in 
 evacuating their posts in the United States, should 
 not carry away with them any negroes. In direct 
 violation of this article, General Carleton, in evacu 
 ating New York, carried off all the negroes that 
 were there with his army, to the amount of several 
 hundreds. It is not doubted that he must have 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 489 
 
 had secret orders to justify him in this transaction ; 
 but the reason given out was, that as they had 
 quitted their masters and joined the king s troops 
 on the faith of proclamations promising them their 
 liberty, the national honor forbad returning them 
 into slavery. The national honor was, it seemed, 
 pledged to both parts of a contradiction, and its 
 wisdom, since it could not do it with both, chose 
 to keep faith rather with its old black, than its new 
 white friends : a circumstance demonstrating clear 
 as day-light, that in making a present peace, they 
 meditated a future war, and hoped, that though 
 the promised manumission of slaves had not been 
 effectual in the last, in the mxt it might be more 
 successful ; and that had the negroes been for 
 saken, no aid could hereafter be expected from 
 those of the color in a future invasion. The 
 treaty however with us was thus broken almost 
 as soon as made, and this by the people who 
 charge us with breaking it by not paying perhaps 
 for some of the very negroes carried off in defiance 
 of it. Why should England observe treaties, 
 when these Americans do not pay their debts? 
 
 Unreasonable, however, as this clamor appears 
 in general, I do not pretend, by exposing it, to jus 
 tify those debtors who are still able to pay, and 
 refuse it on pretence of injuries suffered by the 
 war. Public injuries can never discharge private 
 obligations. Contracts between merchant and mer 
 chant should be sacredlv observed, where the 
 
490 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ability remains, whatever may be the madness of 
 ministers. It is therefore to be hoped the fourth 
 article of the treaty of peace which stipulates, that 
 no legal obstruction shall be given to the payment of 
 debts contracted before the war, will be punctually 
 carried into execution, and that every law in every 
 state which impedes it, may be immediately re 
 pealed. Those laws were indeed made with 
 honest intentions, that the half-ruined debtor, not 
 being too suddenly pressed by some might have 
 time to arrange and recover his affairs so as to do 
 justice to all his creditors. But since the intention 
 in making those acts has been misapprehended, 
 and the acts wilfully misconstrued into a design 
 of defrauding them, and now made a matter of 
 reproach to us, I think it will be right to repeal 
 them all. Individual Americans may be ruined, 
 but the country will save by the operation, since 
 these unthinking merciless creditors must be con 
 tented with all that is to be had, instead of all that 
 may be due to them, and the accounts will be 
 settled by insolvency. When all have paid that 
 can pay, I think the remaining British creditors 
 who suffered by the inability of their ruined debt 
 ors, have some right to call upon their own govern 
 ment, (which by its bad projects has ruined those 
 debtors) for a compensation. A sum given by 
 parliament for this purpose would be more properly 
 disposed, than in rewarding pretended loyalists, 
 who fomented the war. And the heavier the sum, 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 491 
 
 the more tendency it might have to discourage 
 such destructive projects hereafter. 
 
 Among the merchants of Britain, trading for 
 merly to America, there are to my knowledge 
 many considerate and generous men, who never 
 joined in this clamor, and who, on the return of 
 peace, though by the treaty intitled to an immediate 
 suit for their debts, were kindly disposed to give 
 their debtors reasonable time for restoring their 
 circumstances, so as to be able to make payment 
 conveniently. These deserve the most grateful 
 acknowledgments. And indeed it was in their 
 favor, and perhaps for their sakes in favor of all 
 other British creditors, that the law of Pennsylva 
 nia, though since much exclaimed against, was 
 made restraining the recovery of old debts during 
 a certain time. For this restraint was general, 
 respecting domestic as well as British debts, it 
 being thought unfair, in cases where there was not 
 sufficient for all, that the inhabitants, taking ad 
 vantage of their nearer situation, should swallow 
 the whole, excluding foreign creditors from any 
 share. And in cases where the favorable part of 
 the foreign creditors were disposed to give time, 
 with the views above-mentioned, if others less 
 humane and considerate were allowed to bring 
 immediate suits and ruin the debtor ; those views 
 would be defeated. When this law expired in 
 Sept. 1784, a new one was made, continuing for 
 some time longer the restraint with respect to 
 
492 WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 domestic debts, but expressly taking it away where 
 the debt was due from citizens of the state to any 
 of the subjects of Great Britain ; which shows 
 clearly the disposition of the assembly, and that 
 the fair intentions above ascribed to them in 
 making the former act, are not merely the imagi 
 nation of the writer. 
 
 Indeed the clamor has been much augmented 
 by numbers joining it who really had no claim on 
 our country. Every debtor in Britain, engaged in 
 whatever trade, when he had no better excuse to 
 give for delay of payment, accused the want of 
 returns from America. And the indignation thus 
 excited against us now appears so general among 
 the English, that one vrould imagine their nation 
 which is so exact in expecting punctual payment 
 from all the rest of the world, must be at home the 
 model of justice, the very pattern of punctuality. 
 Yet if one were disposed to recriminate, it would 
 
 1 Extract from an Act of General Assembly of Pennsylvania, 
 intituled, " An Act for directing the mode of recovering debts 
 contracted before the first day of January, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven." 
 Exception in favor of British Creditors. 
 
 " Sect. 7. And provided also, and be it further enacted by 
 the authority aforesaid, that this Act, nor any thing therein con 
 tained, shall not extend, or be construed to extend to any debt 
 or debts which were due before the fourth day of July one 
 thousand seven hundred and seventy-six by any of the citizen? 
 of the State, to any of the subjects of Great Britain." 
 
PART II. AMERICAN POLITICS. 493 
 
 not be difficult to find sufficient matter in several 
 parts of their conduct. But this I forbear. The 
 two separate nations are now at peace, and there 
 can be no use in mutual provocations to fresh 
 enmity. If I have shown clearly that the present 
 inability of many American merchants to discharge 
 their debts contracted before the war, is not so 
 much their fault, as the fault of the crediting 
 nation, who by making an unjust war on them, 
 obstructing their commerce, plundering and de 
 vastating their country were the cause of that in 
 ability, I have answered the purpose of writing 
 this jpaper. How far the refusal of the British 
 court to execute the treaty in delivering up the 
 frontier posts, may on account of that deficiency 
 of payment be justifiable, is cheerfully submitted 
 to the world s impartial judgment. 
 
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