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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:01:07 -0700 |
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diff --git a/34193-h/34193-h.htm b/34193-h/34193-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66c4baa --- /dev/null +++ b/34193-h/34193-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12070 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The True Benjamin Franklin, by Sydney George Fisher. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} +hr.chapter {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; } +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-top: 0.75em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; } +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} +.right3 {position:absolute; left: 65%;} +.right2 {position:absolute; left: 75%;} +.right {position:absolute; left: 85%;} +ins {text-decoration:none;} +ins.mycorr {border-bottom: 1px dotted #FF0000;} +.alignr {text-align:right;} +.seventy {max-width:70%;} +.pagenum { position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} +.blockquot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} +.narrow {max-width: 24em; margin:auto;} +.center {text-align: center;} +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.caption {font-weight: bold;} +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} +.colleft {width:45%; float: left; clear: left; margin-left:2.5%; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-right: 0; padding-right:0%; text-align: justify; } +.colright {width:45%; float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 0em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-right: 2.5%; padding: 0; padding-left:2.5%; text-align: justify; border-left: solid 1px black;} +.tnote {padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em; font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} +.fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + +.poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} +.poem br {display: none;} +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The True Benjamin Franklin, by Sydney George Fisher + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The True Benjamin Franklin + +Author: Sydney George Fisher + +Release Date: November 2, 2010 [EBook #34193] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Louise Pattison and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" title="cover" alt="cover" /> +</div> + +<h1>The True Benjamin Franklin</h1> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="front" id="front"></a> +<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="400" height="497" alt="THE DUPLESSIS PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE DUPLESSIS PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>The True<br /> +Benjamin Franklin<br /></h1> + +<p class="center"><big>By<br /><big> +Sydney George Fisher</big></big></p> + +<p class="narrow">Author of “Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial +Times,” “The Making of Pennsylvania,” “The +Evolution of the Constitution,” etc.</p> + +<p class="narrow"><br /><br />“If rigid moral analysis be not the purpose of +historical writing, there is no more value in +it than in the fictions of mythological +antiquity.”—<span class="smcap">Charles Francis Adams, Sr.</span></p> + +<p class="center">FIFTH EDITION</p> + +<p class="center">WITH AN APPENDIX</p> + +<p class="center"><big>Philadelphia<br /> +J. B. Lippincott Company<br /> +1903</big></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1898</span></p> + +<p class="center"><small>BY</small></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">J. B. Lippincott Company</span></p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h2>Preface to the Third Edition</h2> + +<p>Since the appearance of the first edition there has been some discussion +of the question whether Mrs. Foxcroft was really Franklin’s daughter. In +the present edition I have added an appendix going fully into this +question.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s plain language about love and marriage and his very frank +descriptions of his own shortcomings in these matters seem to have +surprised many people. I might have explained this more fully in the +first edition, but to any one who knows the age in which Franklin lived +there is nothing that need cause surprise.</p> + +<p>It was an age of frank autobiographies and plain, detailed, +introspective statements about love affairs. Rousseau flourished in +those days, also Gozzi and Madame Roland; and Casanova began writing his +most extraordinary memoirs just about the time of Franklin’s death. +Anyone who is at all familiar with these authors will readily understand +why Franklin wrote his “Advice on the Choice of a Mistress.” His “Speech +of Polly Baker” was of the same sort. It had a most extraordinary +circulation because people were then looking at these matters from that +point of view. The philosophic thought of that age was somewhat +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>inclining to the opinion, since then much developed by German theorists +like Nietzche, that religion had made love impure. Franklin, as at page +106, was also inclining that way.</p> + +<p>Such things must be mentioned and given their proper position and +importance in a book calling itself “The True Benjamin Franklin.” There +are many books describing the false Franklin, the impossible Franklin, +the Franklin that never existed, and could not in the nature of things +exist, and to these books those who do not like the truth are referred.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2>Preface</h2> + +<p>This analysis of the life and character of Franklin has in view a +similar object to that of the volume entitled “The True George +Washington,” which was prepared for the publishers by Mr. Paul Leicester +Ford and issued a year or two ago.</p> + +<p>Washington sadly needed to be humanized, to be rescued from the +myth-making process which had been destroying all that was lovable in +his character and turning him into a mere bundle of abstract qualities +which it was piously supposed would be wholesome examples for the +American people. This assumption that our people are children who must +not be told the eternal truths of human nature, but deceived into +goodness by wooden heroes and lay figures, seems, fortunately, to be +passing away, and in a few years it will be a strange phase to look back +upon.</p> + +<p>So thorough and systematic has been the expurgating during the last +century that some of its details are very curious. It is astonishing how +easily an otherwise respectable editor or biographer can get himself +into a state of complete intellectual dishonesty. It is interesting to +follow one of these literary criminals and see the minute care with +which he manufactures an entirely new and imaginary being out of the +real man who has been placed in his hands. He will not allow his victim +to say even a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>single word which he considers unbecoming. The story is +told that Washington wrote in one of his letters that a certain movement +of the enemy would not amount to a flea-bite; but one of his editors +struck out the passage as unfit to be printed. He thought, I suppose, +that Washington could not take care of his own dignity.</p> + +<p>Franklin in his Autobiography tells us that when working as a journeyman +printer in London he drank nothing but water, and his fellow-workmen, in +consequence, called him the “Water-American;” but Weems in his version +of the Autobiography makes him say that they called him the “American +Aquatic,” an expression which the vile taste of that time was pleased to +consider elegant diction. In the same way Temple Franklin made +alterations in his grandfather’s writings, changing their vigorous +Anglo-Saxon into stilted Latin phrases.</p> + +<p>It is curious that American myth-making is so unlike the ancient +myth-making which as time went on made its gods and goddesses more and +more human with mortal loves and passions. Our process is just the +reverse. Out of a man who actually lived among us and of whose life we +have many truthful details we make an impossible abstraction of +idealized virtues. It may be said that this could never happen among a +people of strong artistic instincts, and we have certainly in our +conceptions of art been theatrical and imitative rather than dramatic +and real. Possibly the check which is being given to our peculiar +myth-making is a favorable sign for our art.</p> + +<p>The myth-makers could not work with Franklin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> in quite the same way that +they worked with Washington. With Washington they ignored his personal +traits and habits, building him up into a cold military and political +wonder. But Franklin’s human side would not down so easily. The human in +him was so interlaced with the divine that the one dragged the other +into light. His dramatic and artistic sense was very strong, far +stronger than in most distinguished Americans; and he made so many plain +statements about his own shortcomings, and followed pleasure and natural +instincts so sympathetically, broadly, and openly, that the efforts to +prepare him for exhibition are usually ludicrous failures.</p> + +<p>But the eulogists soon found an effective way to handle him. Although +they could ignore certain phases of his character only so far as the +genial old fellow would let them, they could exaggerate the other phases +to an almost unlimited extent; for his career was in many ways +peculiarly open to exaggeration. It was longer, more varied, and more +full of controversy than Washington’s. Washington was twenty-six years +younger than Franklin and died at the age of sixty-seven, while Franklin +lived to be eighty-four. Washington’s important public life was all +covered by the twenty-two years from 1775 to 1797, and during more than +three of those years he was in retirement at Mount Vernon. But Franklin +was an active politician, philosopher, man of science, author, +philanthropist, reformer, and diplomat for the forty-odd years from 1745 +to 1788.</p> + +<p>Almost every event of his life has been distorted until, from the great +and accomplished man he really<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> was, he has been magnified into an +impossible prodigy. Almost everything he wrote about in science has been +put down as a discovery. His wonderful ability in expressing himself has +assisted in this; for if ten men wrote on a subject and Franklin was one +of them, his statement is the one most likely to be preserved, because +the others, being inferior in language, are soon forgotten and lost.</p> + +<p>Every scrap of paper he wrote upon is now considered a precious relic +and a great deal of it is printed, so that statements which were but +memoranda or merely his way of formulating other men’s knowledge for his +own convenience or for the sake of writing a pleasant letter to a +friend, are given undue importance. Indeed, when we read one of these +letters or memoranda it is so clearly and beautifully expressed and put +in such a captivating form that, as the editor craftily forbears to +comment on it, we instinctively conclude that it must have been a gift +of new knowledge to mankind.</p> + +<p>The persistency with which people have tried to magnify Franklin is +curiously shown in the peculiar way in which James Logan’s translation +of Cicero’s essay on old age was attributed to him. This translation +with notes and a preface was made by Logan and printed in 1744 by +Franklin in his Philadelphia printing-office, and at the foot of the +title-page Franklin’s name appeared as the printer. In 1778 the book was +reprinted in London, with Franklin’s name on the title-page as the +translator. In 1809 one of his editors, William Duane, actually had this +translation printed in his edition of Franklin’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> works. The editor was +afterwards accused of having done this with full knowledge that the +translation had not been made by Franklin; but, under the code of +literary morals which has so long prevailed, I suppose he would be held +excusable.</p> + +<p>One of Franklin’s claims to renown is that he was a self-made man, the +first distinguished American who was created in that way; and it would +seem, therefore, all the more necessary that he should be allowed to +remain as he made himself. I have endeavored to act upon this principle +and so far as possible to let Franklin speak for himself. The analytical +method of writing a man’s life is well suited to this purpose. There are +already chronological biographies of Franklin in two volumes or more +giving the events in order with very full details from his birth to his +death. The present single volume is more in the way of an estimate of +his position, worth, and work, and yet gives, I believe, every essential +fact of his career with enough detail to enable the reader to appreciate +it. At the same time the chapters have been arranged with such regard to +chronological order as to show the development of character and +achievement from youth to age.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h3>Contents</h3> + +<div style="margin-left:20%;"> +<p>CHAPTER<span class="right2">PAGE</span></p> + +<p>I.—<span class="smcap">Physical Characteristics</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></span></p> + +<p>II.—<span class="smcap">Education</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></span></p> + +<p>III.—<span class="smcap">Religion and Morals</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></span></p> + +<p>IV.—<span class="smcap">Business and Literature</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></span></p> + +<p>V.—<span class="smcap">Science</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></span></p> + +<p>VI.—<span class="smcap">The Pennsylvania Politician</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></span></p> + +<p>VII.—<span class="smcap">Difficulties and Failure In England</span> <span class="right2"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></span></p> + +<p>VIII.—<span class="smcap">At Home Again</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></span></p> + +<p>IX.—<span class="smcap">The Embassy to France and its Scandals</span> <span class="right2"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></span></p> + +<p>X.—<span class="smcap">Pleasures and Diplomacy in France</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></span></p> + +<p>XI.—<span class="smcap">The Constitution-Maker</span> <span class="right2"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></span><br /></p> + + +<p>APPENDIX</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Franklin’s Daughter, Mrs. Foxcroft</span><span class="right2"><a href="#Page_365">365</a></span><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<h3>List of Illustrations with Notes</h3> + + +<p> <span class="smcap right">Page</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">The Duplessis Portrait of Franklin</span><span class="right2" style="margin-left:3em;"><a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Painted from life by Duplessis in Paris in 1778, and believed to +be the best likeness of Franklin. The reproduction is from the +original in the Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, by +permission of the owner. Duplessis also made a pastel drawing of +Franklin in 1783, which has often been reproduced.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin Towed by his Kite</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_19i">19</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>This picture is copied from an engraving on the title-page of +the old English edition of Franklin’s Works, published in 1806 +by J. Johnson & Co., London.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">The Sumner Portrait of Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_29i">29</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Painted, as is supposed, in London in 1726, when he was twenty +years old, and now in the possession of Harvard University. Its +history and the doubts as to its authenticity are given in the +text.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Martin Portrait of Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_32i">32</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Painted by Martin in England in 1765, at the request of Mr. +Robert Alexander, for whom Franklin had performed a service in +examining some documents and giving his opinion.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">The Grundmann Ideal Portrait of Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_34i">34</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Painted by Otto Grundmann, a German artist in America, after a +careful study of Franklin’s career and of the portraits of him +taken from life. The original is now in the Boston Art Museum.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">House in which Franklin was born</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_42i">42</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Franklin’s parents lived in this house, which stood on Milk +Street, Boston, until 1810, when it was destroyed by fire.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Printing-Press at which Franklin worked when a Boy in Boston</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_45i">45</a></span></p> +<blockquote><p>From a photograph kindly furnished by the Mechanics’ Institute +of Boston, in whose rooms the press is exhibited.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">The Book of Common Prayer as abridged by Lord Despencer and Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_101i">101</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>The changes in the Venite on the left-hand page are by Franklin, +and perhaps also those in the Te Deum. The changes in the +rubrics are by Lord Despencer, and possibly he also made the +changes in the Te Deum. The copy of the prayer-book from which +this reproduction is made is in the collection of Mr. Howard +Edwards, of Philadelphia.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">John Foxcroft</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_105i">105</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Reproduced by permission of the Historical Society of +Pennsylvania from the painting in their possession. It has been +supposed by some to be a portrait of Franklin; but it has not +the slightest resemblance to his other portraits, and the letter +held in the hand is addressed to John Foxcroft.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">William Franklin, Royal Governor of New Jersey</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_108i">108</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Born 1730, died 1813; son of Benjamin Franklin; was Governor of +New Jersey from 1762 to 1776, when he became a Tory. The +reproduction is from an etching by Albert Rosenthal of the +portrait once temporarily in the Philadelphia Library and owned +by Dr. T. Hewson Bache, of Philadelphia.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">William Temple Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_113i">113</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Born 1760, died 1823, son of William Franklin, Governor of New +Jersey. He was brought up principally by his grandfather, for +whom he acted as secretary in Paris, during the Revolution, and +by whom he was saved from following his father to Toryism. The +reproduction is from an etching by Albert Rosenthal of the +portrait in the Trumbull Collection, Yale School of Art.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Mrs. Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_116i">116</a></span></p> +<blockquote><p>This reproduction is from the portrait painted by Matthew Pratt, +and now in the possession of Rev. F. B. Hodge, of Wilkesbarre, +Pennsylvania.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Mrs. Sarah Bache</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_119i">119</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>This picture is copied from an engraved reproduction which has +often appeared in books relating to Franklin; but none of these +reproductions are faithful copies of the original painting, +which represents an older and less handsome woman, with more +rugged features and more resemblance to Franklin. Permission to +reproduce the painting could not be secured.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Front Page of the First Number of the “Pennsylvania Gazette”</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_135i">135</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Reproduced by permission from the collection of the Historical +Society of Pennsylvania.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Title-Page of Poor Richard’s Almanac for 1733</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_144i">144</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>Reproduced by permission from the collection of the Historical +Society of Pennsylvania.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin’s Maritime Suggestions</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_188i">188</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>These figures accompanied Franklin’s letter to Alphonsus Le Roy +on maritime improvements.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin’s Letter to Strahan</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_267i">267</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>William Strahan was Franklin’s intimate friend, although they +differed on the subject of the Revolution. The letter was half +jest, half earnest, and in this tone Franklin always wrote to +him on political subjects. In 1784 he wrote him an affectionate, +but teasing and sarcastic letter on the success of the +Revolution.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin cannot die</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_275i">275</a></span></p> +<blockquote><p>From an old French engraving in the collection of Mr. Clarence +S. Bement, of Philadelphia. Death has seized Franklin and is +dragging him to the lower world. The figure half kneeling is +America, with her bow and arrows and the skin of a wild beast, +imploring Death to spare her deliverer. Fame is flying in the +air, with a crape on her arm and a trumpet, announcing that <i>le +grand</i> Franklin has saved his country and given her liberty in +spite of tyrants. The spirit of Philosophy and a warrior are +weeping at the foot of the monument, on which is a +lightning-rod; while France, a fair, soft woman, seizes Franklin +in her arms to bear him to the sky.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">America set free by Franklin</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_309i">309</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>From an old French engraving in the collection of Mr. Clarence +S. Bement, of Philadelphia. Like the preceding one, from the +same collection, it represents America as a savage, in +accordance with the French ideas of that time.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin tears the Lightning from the Sky and the Sceptre from the Tyrants</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_312i">312</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>From an old French engraving in the collection of Mr. Clarence +S. Bement, of Philadelphia. The figure with her arm on +Franklin’s lap is America.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin Relics in the Possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_330i">330</a></span></p> +<blockquote><p>The cups and saucers are Dresden china, given him by Madame +Helvetius. The china punch-barrel was given him by Count +d’Artois; the wine-glass is one of the heavy kind then in use; +the picture-frame contains a printed dinner invitation sent by +him to the members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Portrait of Louis XVI.</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_346i">346</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>The kings of France at that time usually gave their portrait to +a foreign ambassador on his return to his country. This one, by +Sicardi, which was given to Franklin, was formerly surrounded by +two rows of four hundred and eight diamonds, and was probably +worth from ten to fifteen thousand dollars. It is now in the +possession of Mr. J. May Duane, of Philadelphia, by whose +permission it is reproduced.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin Portrait in West Collection</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_350i">350</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>A pencil drawing with Benjamin West’s name on the back, now the +property of Hon. S. W. Pennypacker, of Philadelphia. It is +supposed by some authorities to be merely a copy of the bust by +Ceracchi; others believe it to be a drawing from life by West.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-right:20%">Franklin’s Grave in Christ Church Graveyard, Philadelphia</span><span class="right"><a href="#Page_360i">360</a></span></p> +<blockquote><p>The flat stone marks the grave of Franklin and his wife. The +larger upright stone is in memory of John Read, Mrs. Franklin’s +father, and the smaller one is in memory of Franklin’s son, +Francis, who died in infancy.</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<h1>The True<br />Benjamin Franklin</h1> + + + +<hr /> +<h2>I<br /> +<br /><small>PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Franklin</span> was a rather large man, and is supposed to have been about five +feet ten inches in height. In his youth he was stout, and in old age +corpulent and heavy, with rounded shoulders. The portraits of him reveal +a very vigorous-looking man, with a thick upper arm and a figure which, +even in old age, was full and rounded. In fact, this rounded contour is +his most striking characteristic, as the angular outline is the +characteristic of Lincoln. Franklin’s figure was a series of harmonious +curves, which make pictures of him always pleasing. These curves +extended over his head and even to the lines of his face, softening the +expression, slightly veiling the iron resolution, and entirely +consistent with the wide sympathies, varied powers, infinite shrewdness, +and vast experience which we know he possessed.</p> + +<p>In his earliest portrait as a youth of twenty he looks as if his bones +were large; but in later portraits this largeness of bone which he might +have had from his Massachusetts origin is not so evident.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> He was, +however, very muscular, and prided himself on it. When he was a young +printer, as he tells us in his Autobiography, he could carry with ease a +large form of letters in each hand up and down stairs. In his old age, +when past eighty, he is described as insisting on lifting unaided heavy +books and dictionaries to show the strength he still retained.</p> + +<p>He was not brought up on fox-hunting and other sports, like Washington, +and there are no amusements of this sort to record of him, except his +swimming, in which he took great delight and continued until long after +he had ceased to be a youth. He appears, when a boy, to have been fond +of sailing in Boston Harbor, but has told us little about it. In +swimming he excelled. He could perform all the ordinary feats in the +water which were described in the swimming-books of his day, and on one +occasion tied himself to the string of his kite and was towed by it +across a pond a mile wide. In after-years he believed that he could in +this way cross the English Channel from Dover to Calais, but he admitted +that the packet-boat was preferable.</p> + +<p>His natural fondness for experiment led him to try the effect of +fastening oval paddles to his hands, which gave him greater speed in +swimming, but were too fatiguing to his wrists. Paddles or large sandals +fastened to his feet he soon found altered the stroke, which the +observant boy had discovered was made with the inside of the feet and +ankles as well as with the flat part of the foot.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_19i" id="Page_19i"></a> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="500" height="338" alt="FRANKLIN TOWED BY HIS KITE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN TOWED BY HIS KITE</span> +</div> + +<p>While in London, as a wandering young journeyman printer, he taught an +acquaintance, Wygate, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> swim in two lessons. Returning from Chelsea +with a party of Wygate’s friends, he gave them an exhibition of his +skill, going through all the usual tricks in the water, to their great +amazement and admiration, and swimming from near Chelsea to Blackfriars, +a distance of four miles. Wygate proposed that they should travel +through Europe, maintaining themselves by giving swimming-lessons, and +Franklin was at first inclined to adopt the suggestion.</p> + +<p>Just as he was on the eve of returning to Pennsylvania, Sir William +Wyndham, at one time Chancellor of the Exchequer, having heard of his +swimming feats, wanted to engage him to teach his sons; but his ship +being about to sail, Franklin was obliged to decline. If he had remained +in England, he tells us, he would probably have started a +swimming-school.</p> + +<p>When forty-three years old, retired from active business, and deep in +scientific researches, he lived in a house at Second and Race Streets, +Philadelphia. His garden is supposed to have extended to the river, +where every warm summer evening he used to spend an hour or two swimming +and sporting in the water.</p> + +<p>This skill in swimming and the agility and grace which Franklin +displayed in performing feats in the water are good tests of general +strength of muscles, lungs, and heart. So far as can be discovered, only +one instance is recorded of his using his physical power to do violence +to his fellow-man.</p> + +<p>He had a friend named Collins, rather inclined to drink, who, being in a +boat with Franklin and some other youths, on the Delaware, refused to +take his turn at rowing. He announced that the others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> should row him +home. Franklin, already much provoked at him for not returning money +which he had lent him, and for other misconduct, insisted that he row +his share. Collins replied that Franklin should row or he would throw +him overboard, and, as he was approaching him for that purpose, Franklin +seized him by the collar and breeches and threw him into the river, +where they kept him till his strength was exhausted and his temper +cooled.</p> + +<p>Until he was forty years old Franklin worked on his own account or for +others as a printer, which included hard manual labor; for, even when in +business for himself, he did everything,—made his own ink, engraved +wooden cuts and ornaments, set the type, and worked the heavy +hand-presses. His pleasures were books, the theatre, and love-affairs. +Except swimming, he had no taste for out-door amusements. Sport, either +with rod, gun, horse, or hound, was altogether out of his line. As he +became prosperous and retired from the active business of money-getting, +he led an entirely sedentary life to the end of his long career.</p> + +<p>Although he did a vast amount of work in his time, was fond of early +rising, and had the greatest endurance and capacity for labor, there +was, nevertheless, a touch of indolence about him. He did the things +which he loved and which came easy to him, cultivated his tastes and +followed their bent in a way rather unusual in self-made men. It has +been said of him that he never had the patience to write a book. His +writings have exerted great influence, are now considered of inestimable +value, and fill ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> large volumes, but they are all occasional pieces, +letters, and pamphlets written to satisfy some need of the hour.</p> + +<p>His indolence was more in his manner than in his character. It was the +confident indolence of genius. He was never in a hurry, and this was +perhaps one of the secrets of his success. His portraits all show this +trait. In nearly every one of them the whole attitude, the droop of the +shoulders and arms, and the quietude of the face are reposeful.</p> + +<p>He seems to have been totally without either irritability or +excitability. In this he was the reverse of Washington, who was subject +to violent outbursts of anger, could swear “like an angel of God,” as +one of his officers said, and had a fiery temper to control. Perhaps +Franklin’s strong sense of humor saved him from oaths; there are no +swearing stories recorded of him; instead of them we have innumerable +jokes and witticisms. His anger when aroused was most deliberate, +calculating, and judicious. His enemies and opponents he always +ridiculed, often, however, with so little malice or sting that I have no +doubt they were sometimes compelled to join in the laugh. He never +attacked or abused.</p> + +<p>Contentment was a natural consequence of these qualities, and +contributed largely to maintain his vigor through eighty-four years of a +very stormy life. It was a family trait. Many of his relations possessed +it; and he describes some of them whom he looked up in England as living +in happiness and enjoyment, in spite of the greatest poverty. Some able +men struggle with violence, bitterness, and heart-ache<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> for the great +prizes of life, but all these prizes tumbled in on Franklin, who seems +to have had a fairy that brought them to him in obedience to his +slightest wish.</p> + +<p>His easy-going sedentary life, of course, told on him in time. After +middle life he had both the gout and the stone, but his natural vitality +fortified him against them. He was as temperate as it was possible to be +in that age, and he studied his constitution and its requirements very +closely. He was so much interested in science that he not infrequently +observed, reasoned, and to some extent experimented in the domain which +properly belongs to physicians.</p> + +<p>When only fifteen years old, and apprenticed in the printing-office of +his brother in Boston, in the year 1721, he became a vegetarian. A book +written by one of the people who have for many centuries been advocating +that plan of living fell in his way and converted him. It appealed to +his natural economy and to his desire for spare money with which to buy +books. He learned from the book the various ways of cooking vegetables, +and told his brother that if he would give him half the money paid for +his board he would board himself. He found very soon that he could pay +for his vegetable diet and still save half the money allowed him, and +that he could also very quickly eat his rice, potatoes, and pudding at +the printing-office and have most of the dinner-hour for reading the +books his spare money procured.</p> + +<p>This was calculating very closely for a boy of fifteen, and shows +unusual ability as well as willingness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> to observe and master small +details. Such ability usually comes later in life with strengthened +intellect, but Franklin seems to have had this sort of mature strength +very early.</p> + +<p>He did not remain an entire convert to the vegetarians, but he often +practised their methods and apparently found no inconvenience in it. He +could eat almost anything, and change from one diet to another without +difficulty. Two years after his first experiment with vegetarianism he +ran away from his brother at Boston, and found work at Philadelphia with +a rough, ignorant old printer named Keimer, who wanted, among other +projects, to form a religious sect, and to have Franklin help him. +Franklin played with his ideas for a while, and finally said that he +would agree to wear a long beard and observe Saturday instead of Sunday, +like Keimer, if Keimer would join him in a vegetable diet.</p> + +<p>He found a woman in the neighborhood to cook for them, and taught her +how to prepare forty kinds of vegetable food, which reduced their cost +of living to eighteen pence a week for each. But Keimer, who was a heavy +meat-eater, could stand it only three months, and then ordered a +roast-pig dinner, to be enjoyed by the two vegetarians and a couple of +women. Keimer, however, arrived first at the feast, and before any of +his guests appeared had eaten the whole pig.</p> + +<p>While working in the printing-office in London, Franklin drank water, to +the great astonishment and disgust of the beer-guzzling Englishmen who +were his fellow-laborers. They could not understand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> how the +water-American, as they called him, could go without strength-giving +beer and yet be able to carry a large form of letters in each hand up +and down stairs, while they could carry only one with both hands.</p> + +<p>The man who worked one of the presses with Franklin drank a pint before +breakfast, a pint with bread and cheese for breakfast, one between +breakfast and dinner, one at dinner, another at six o’clock, and another +after he had finished his day’s work. The American boy, with his early +mastery of details, reasoned with him that the strength furnished by the +beer could come only from the barley dissolved in the water of which the +beer was composed; that there was a larger portion of flour in a penny +loaf, and if he ate a loaf and drank a pint of water with it he would +derive more strength than from a pint of beer. But the man would not be +convinced, and continued to spend a large part of his weekly wages for +what Franklin calls the cursed beverage which kept him in poverty and +wretchedness.</p> + +<p>Franklin was, however, never a teetotaler. He loved, as he tells us, a +glass and a song. Like other people of that time, he could drink without +inconvenience a quantity which nowadays, especially in America, seems +surprising. Some of the chief-justices of England are described by their +biographer, Campbell, as two- or four-bottle men, according to the +quantity they could consume at a sitting. Washington, Mr. Ford tells us, +drank habitually from half a pint to a pint of Madeira, besides punch +and beer, which would now be thought a great deal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> But Franklin +considered himself a very temperate man. When writing his Autobiography, +in his old age, he reminds his descendants that to temperance their +ancestor “ascribes his long-continued health and what is still left to +him of a good constitution.”</p> + +<p>Like most of those who live to a great age, he was the child of +long-lived parents. “My mother,” he says, “had likewise an excellent +constitution; she suckled all her ten children. I never knew either my +father or mother to have any sickness but that of which they died,—he +at eighty-nine and she at eighty-five years of age.”</p> + +<p>He was fond of air-baths, which he seems to have thought hardened his +skin and helped it to perform its functions, and when in London in 1768 +he wrote one of his pretty letters about them to Dr. Dubourg in Paris.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“You know the cold bath has long been in vogue here as a tonic; +but the shock of the cold water has always appeared to me, +generally speaking, as too violent, and I have found it much +more agreeable to my constitution to bathe in another element, I +mean cold air. With this view I rise almost every morning and +sit in my chamber, without any clothes whatever, half an hour or +an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing. +This practice is not in the least painful, but, on the contrary, +agreeable; and if I return to bed afterwards, before I dress +myself, as sometimes happens, I make a supplement to my night’s +rest of one or two hours of the most pleasing sleep that can be +imagined. I find no ill consequences whatever resulting from it, +and that at least it does not injure my health, if it does not +in fact contribute much to its preservation. I shall therefore +call it for the future a <i>bracing</i> or <i>tonic</i> bath.” (Bigelow’s +Works of Franklin, vol. iv. p. 193.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Some years afterwards, while in Paris and suffering severely from gout +in his foot, he used to expose the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> foot naked out of bed, which he +found relieved the pain, because, as he supposed, the skin was given +more freedom to act in a natural way. His remarks on air-baths were +published in the early editions of his works and induced many people to +try them. Davis, in his “Travels in America,” says that they must have +been suggested to him by a passage in Aubrey’s “Miscellanies;” but, +after searching all through that old volume, I cannot find it. Franklin, +however, made no claim to a discovery. Such baths have been used by +physicians to strengthen delicate persons, but in a more guarded and +careful manner than that in which Franklin applied them.</p> + +<p>It was characteristic of his genial temperament that he loved to dream +in his sleep and to recollect his dreams. “I am often,” he says, “as +agreeably entertained by them as by the scenery of an opera.” He wrote a +pleasant little essay, addressed to an unknown young lady, on “The Art +of Procuring Pleasant Dreams,” which may be said to belong among his +medical writings. Fresh air and ventilation are the important +dream-persuaders, and bad dreams and restlessness in bed are caused by +excess of perspirable matter which is not allowed to get away from the +skin. Eat less, have thinner and more porous bedclothes, and if you are +restless, get up, beat and turn your pillows, shake all the sheets +twenty times, and walk about naked for a while. Then, when you return, +the lovely dreams will come.</p> + +<p>Closely connected with his faith in air-baths was his opinion that +people seldom caught cold from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> exposure to air or even to dampness. He +wrote letters on the subject and prepared notes of his observations. +These notes are particularly interesting and full of curious +suggestions. The diseases usually classed as colds, he said, are not +known by that name in any other language, and the name is misleading, +for very few of them arise from cold or dampness. Indians and sailors, +who are continually wet, do not catch cold; nor is cold taken by +swimming. And he went on enumerating the instances of people who lived +in the woods, in barns, or with open windows, and, instead of catching +cold, found their health improved. Cold, he thought, was caused in most +cases by impure air, want of exercise, or over-eating.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I have long been satisfied from observation, that besides the +general colds now termed influenzas (which may possibly spread +by contagion, as well as by a particular quality of the air), +people often catch cold from one another when shut up together +in close rooms and coaches, and when sitting near and conversing +so as to breathe in each other’s transpiration; the disorder +being in a certain state. I think, too, that it is the frouzy, +corrupt air from animal substances, and the perspired matter +from our bodies, which being long confined in beds not lately +used, and clothes not lately worn, and books long shut up in +close rooms, obtains that kind of putridity which occasions the +colds observed upon sleeping in, wearing, and turning over such +bedclothes or books, and not their coldness or dampness. From +these causes, but more from too full living, with too little +exercise, proceed, in my opinion, most of the disorders which, +for about one hundred and fifty years past, the English have +called <i>colds</i>.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Much of this is true in a general way, for medical practitioners have +long held that all colds do not arise from exposure or draughts; but +they do not admit that colds can be taken from turning over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> old books +and clothes, although the dust from these might make one sneeze.</p> + +<p>John Adams and Franklin while travelling together through New Jersey to +meet Lord Howe, in 1776, discussed the question of colds, and the former +has left an amusing account of it. The taverns were so full at Brunswick +that they had to sleep in the same bed. Franklin insisted on leaving the +window wide open, and discoursed on the causes of colds until they both +fell asleep.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I have often asked him whether a person heated with exercise +going suddenly into cold air, or standing still in a current of +it, might not have his pores suddenly contracted, his +perspiration stopped, and that matter thrown into the +circulation, or cast upon the lungs, which he acknowledged was +the cause of colds. To this he never could give me a +satisfactory answer, and I have heard that in the opinion of his +own able physician, Dr. Jones, he fell a sacrifice at last, not +to the stone, but to his own theory, having caught the violent +cold which finally choked him, by sitting for some hours at a +window, with the cool air blowing upon him.” (Adams’s Works, +vol. iii. p. 75.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>In some of his letters Franklin denied positively that colds could be +taken by exposure. He got a young physician to experiment on the effect +of nakedness in increasing perspiration, and when he found, or thought +he had found, that the perspiration was greater than when the body was +clothed, he jumped to the conclusion that exposure could not check +perspiration. In a passage in his notes, however, he seems to admit that +a sudden cold air or a draught might check it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_29i" id="Page_29i"></a> +<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="400" height="506" alt="THE SUMNER PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE SUMNER PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p>He wrote so well and so prettily on colds that people began to think he +was the discoverer of their causes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> and his biographer, Parton, goes +so far as to say so. But upon inquiry among learned physicians I cannot +find that they recognize him as a discoverer, or that he has any +standing on this question in medical history. It would seem that he +merely collected and expressed the observations of others as well as his +own; none of them were entirely new, and many of them are now considered +unsound.</p> + +<p>Nearer to the truth is Parton’s statement that “he was the first +effective preacher of the blessed gospel of ventilation.” He certainly +studied that subject very carefully, and was an authority on it, being +appointed while in England to prepare a plan for ventilating the Houses +of Parliament. It would, however, be better to say that he was one of +the most prominent advocates of ventilation rather than the first +effective preacher of it; for in Bigelow’s edition of his works<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> will +be found an excellent essay on the subject in which the other advocates +are mentioned. But Parton goes on to say, “He spoke, and the windows of +hospitals were lowered; consumption ceased to gasp and fever to inhale +poison;” which is an extravagant statement that he would find +difficulty, I think, in supporting.</p> + +<p>In Franklin’s published works there is a short essay called “A +Conjecture as to the Cause of the Heat of the Blood in Health and of the +Cold and Hot Fits of Some Fevers.” The blood is heated, he says, by +friction in the action of the heart, by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> distention and contraction +of the arteries, and by being forced through minute vessels. This essay +is very ingenious and well written, and the position given to it in his +works might lead one to suppose that it was of importance; but I am +informed by physicians that it was merely the revamping of an ancient +theory held long before his time, and quite without foundation.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s excursions into the domain of medicine are not, therefore, to +be considered among his valuable contributions to the welfare of man, +except so far as they encouraged him to advocate fresh air and +ventilation, though they may have assisted him to take better care of +his own health.</p> + +<p>Of the numerous portraits of him of varying merit, nearly all of which +have been reproduced over and over again, only a few deserve +consideration for the light they throw on his appearance and character. +The Sumner portrait, as it used to be called, is supposed to have been +painted in London in 1726, when he was there as a young journeyman +printer, twenty years old, and was brought by him to America and given +to his brother John, of Rhode Island. He evidently dressed himself for +this picture in clothes he was not in the habit of wearing at his work; +for he appears in a large wig, a long, decorated coat and waistcoat, +with a mass of white ruffles on his bosom and conspicuous wrist-bands. +The rotund and strongly developed figure is well displayed. Great +firmness and determination are shown in the mouth and lower part of the +face. The animal forces are evidently strong. The face is somewhat +frank, and at the same time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> very shrewd. The eyes are larger than in +the later portraits, which is not surprising, for eyes are apt to grow +smaller in appearance with age.</p> + +<p>This portrait, which is now in Memorial Hall at Harvard University, has +been supposed by some critics not to be a portrait of Franklin at all. +How, they ask, could Franklin, who was barely able to earn his living at +that time, and whose companions were borrowing a large part of his spare +money, afford to have an oil-painting made of himself in such expensive +costume? and why is there no mention of this portrait in any of his +writings? But, on the other hand, the portrait has the peculiar set +expression of the mouth and the long chin which were so characteristic +of Franklin; and it would have been entirely possible for him to have +borrowed the clothes and had the picture painted cheaply or as a +kindness. It is not well painted, need not have been expensive, and, as +there were no photographs then, paintings were the only way by which +people could give their likenesses to relatives.</p> + +<p>The Martin portrait, painted when he was about sixty years old, +represents him seated, his elbows resting on a table, and holding a +document, which he is reading with deep but composed and serene +attention. It was no doubt intended to represent him in a characteristic +attitude. As showing the calm philosopher and diplomat reading and +thinking, somewhat idealized and yet a more or less true likeness, it is +in many respects the best picture we have of him. But we cannot see the +eyes, and it does not reveal as much character as we could wish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Grundmann portrait, an excellent photograph of which hangs in the +Philadelphia Library, was painted by a German artist, after a careful +study of Franklin’s career and of all the portraits of him which had +been painted from life. As an attempt to reproduce his characteristics +and idealize them it is a distinct success and very interesting. He is +seated in a chair, in his court-dress, with long stockings and +knee-breeches, leaning back, his head and shoulders bent forward, while +his gaze is downward. He is musing over something, and there is that +characteristic shrewd smile on the lower part of the rugged face. It is +the smile of a most masterful and cunning intellect; but no one fears +it: it seems as harmless as your mother’s. You try to imagine which one +of his thousand clever strokes and sayings was passing through his mind +that day; and the strong, intensely individualized figure, which +resembles that of an old athlete, is wonderfully suggestive of life, +experience, and contest.</p> + +<p>But the Duplessis portrait, which was painted from life in Paris in +1778, when he was seventy-two, reveals more than any of them. The Sumner +portrait is Franklin the youth; the Martin and the Grundmann portraits +are Franklin the philosopher and statesman; the Duplessis portrait is +Franklin the man.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_32i" id="Page_32i"></a> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="400" height="514" alt="THE MARTIN PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE MARTIN PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p>Unfortunately, it is impossible to get a good reproduction of the +Duplessis portrait, because there is so much detail in it and the +coloring and lights and shadows cannot be successfully copied. But any +one who will examine the original or any good replicas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> of it in oil +will, I am convinced, see Franklin as he really was. The care in +details, the wrinkles, and the color of the skin give us confidence in +it as a likeness. The round, strong, but crude form of the boy of twenty +has been beaten and changed by time into a hundred qualities and +accomplishments, yet the original form is still discernible, and the +face looks straight at us: we see the eyes and every line close at hand.</p> + +<p>In this, the best portrait for studying Franklin’s eye, we see at once +that it is the eye of a very sensuous man, and we also see many details +which mark the self-made man, the man who never had been and never +pretended to be an aristocrat. This is in strong contrast to +Washington’s portraits, which all disclose a man distinctly of the upper +class and conscious of it.</p> + +<p>But, in spite of this homeliness in the Duplessis portrait and the easy, +careless manner in which the clothes are worn, there are no signs of +what might be called vulgarity. The wonderful and many-sided +accomplishments of the man carried him well above this. Brought up as a +boy at candle- and soap-making, he nevertheless, when prosperous, turned +instinctively to higher things and refined accomplishments and was +comparatively indifferent to material wealth. Nor do we find in him any +of that bitter hostility and jealousy of the established and successful +which more modern experience might lead us to expect.</p> + +<p>The Duplessis portrait conforms to what we read of Franklin in +representing him as hale and vigorous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> at seventy-two. The face is full +of lines, but they are the lines of thought, and of thought that has +come easily and cheerfully; there are no traces of anxiety, gnawing +care, or bitterness. In Paris, at the time the Duplessis portrait was +painted, Franklin was regarded as a rather unusual example of vigor and +good health in old age. John Adams in his Diary uses him as a standard, +and speaks of other old men in France as being equal or almost equal to +him in health.</p> + +<p>Although not so free from disease as were his parents, he was not much +troubled with it until late in life. When a young man of about +twenty-one he had a bad attack of pleurisy, of which he nearly died. It +terminated in an abscess of the left lung, and when this broke, he was +almost suffocated by the quantity and suddenness of the discharge. A few +years afterwards he had a similar attack of pleurisy, ending in the same +way; and it was an abscess in his lung which finally caused his death. +The two abscesses which he had when a young man seem to have left no ill +effects; and after his two attacks of pleurisy he was free from serious +sickness for many years, until at the age of fifty-one he went to +England to represent the Province of Pennsylvania. Soon after landing he +was attacked by an obscure fever, of which he does not give the name, +and which disabled him for eight weeks. He was delirious, and they +cupped him and gave him enormous quantities of bark.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_34i" id="Page_34i"></a> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="400" height="561" alt="THE GRUNDMANN IDEAL PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE GRUNDMANN IDEAL PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p>After he had passed middle life he found that he could not remain +entirely well unless he took a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> journey every year. During the nine +years of his residence in Paris as minister to France he was unable to +take these journeys, and as a consequence his health rapidly +deteriorated. He had violent attacks which incapacitated him for weeks, +sometimes for months, and at the close of the nine years he could +scarcely walk and could not bear the jolting of a carriage.</p> + +<p>In France his diseases were first the gout and afterwards the stone. He +was one of those stout, full-blooded men who the doctors say are +peculiarly liable to gout, and his tendency to it was evidently +increased by his very sedentary habits. He confesses this in part of +that clever dialogue which he wrote to amuse the Parisians:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Midnight</span>, October 22, 1780.</p> + +<p>“<i>Franklin.</i>—Eh! Oh! Eh! What have I done to merit these cruel +sufferings?</p> + +<p>“<i>Gout.</i>—Many things; you have ate and drank too freely, and +too much indulged those legs of yours in their indolence.</p> + +<p>“<i>Franklin.</i>—Who is it that accuses me?</p> + +<p>“<i>Gout.</i>—It is I, even I, the Gout.</p> + +<p>“<i>Franklin.</i>—What! my enemy in person?</p> + +<p>“<i>Gout.</i>—No, not your enemy.</p> + +<p>“<i>Franklin.</i>—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.</p> + +<p>“<i>Gout.</i>—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 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.</p> + +<p>“<i>Franklin.</i>—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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<p>“<i>Gout.</i>—Not a jot; your rhetoric and your politeness are +thrown away; your apology avails nothing. 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 mornings are long, and you have +leisure to go abroad, what do you do? Why, instead of gaining an +appetite 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 the beautiful garden 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!... Wrapt in the speculations of this +wretched game, you destroy 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 those humors, and so purifying or dissipating +them?... But amidst my instructions, I had almost forgot to +administer my wholesome corrections; so take that twinge,—and +that....”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>He tried to give himself exercise by walking up and down his room. In +that humorous essay, “The Craven Street Gazette,” in which he describes +the doings of Mrs. Stevenson’s household, where he lived in London, +there is a passage evidently referring to himself: “Dr. Fatsides made +four hundred and sixty turns in his dining-room as the exact distance of +a visit to the lovely Lady Barwell, whom he did not find at home; so +there was no struggle for and against a kiss, and he sat down to dream +in the easy-chair that he had it without any trouble.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some years afterwards, when he was in Paris, John Adams upbraided him +for not taking more exercise; but he replied, “Yes, I walk a league +every day in my chamber. I walk quick, and for an hour, so that I go a +league; I make a point of religion of it.” This was not a very good +substitute for out-of-door exertion. In fact, Franklin’s opinions on the +subject of exercise were not wise. The test of exercise was, he thought, +the amount of warmth it added to the body, and he inferred, therefore, +that walking must be better than riding on horseback, and he even +recommended walking up and down stairs. Walking, being monotonous and +having very little effect on the trunk and upper portions of the body, +is generally admitted to be insufficient for those who require much +exercise; while running up and down stairs would now be considered +positively injurious. But it is, perhaps, hardly in order to criticise +the methods of a man who succeeded in living to be eighty-four and who +served the public until the last year of his life.</p> + +<p>Even when he was at his worst in Paris and unable to walk, his mind was +as vigorous as ever, and he looked well. Adams, who was determined to +comment on his neglect of exercise, says of him when in his crippled +condition, in 1785, “but he is strong and eats freely, so that he will +soon have other complaints besides the stone if he continues to live as +entirely without exercise as he does at present.” Adams also said that +his only chance for life was a sea-voyage.</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards Franklin was carried in a litter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> by easy journeys from +Paris to the sea-coast, and crossed to Southampton, England, to wait for +the vessel that was to take him to Philadelphia. While at Southampton he +says,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I went at noon to bathe in the Martin salt water hot bath, and +floating on my back, fell asleep, and slept near an hour by my +watch without sinking or turning! a thing I never did before and +should hardly have thought possible. Water is the easiest bed +that can be.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>It was certainly odd that in his seventy-ninth year and enfeebled by +disease he should renew his youthful skill as a swimmer and justify to +himself his favorite theory that nakedness and water are not the causes +of colds.</p> + +<p>His opinion that occasional journeys were essential to his health and +Adams’s opinion of the necessity of a sea-voyage were both justified; +for when he reached Philadelphia, September 14, 1785, he could walk the +streets and bear the motion of an easy carriage. He was almost +immediately elected Governor of Pennsylvania, and held the office by +successive annual elections for three years. The public, he said, have +“engrossed the prime of my life. They have eaten my flesh, and seem +resolved now to pick my bones.” During the summer of 1787 he served as a +member of the convention which framed the national Constitution, +although unable to stand up long enough to make a speech, all his +speeches being read by his colleague, James Wilson; and yet it was in +that convention, as we shall see, that he performed the most important +act of his political career.</p> + +<p>In December, 1787, he had a fall down the stone steps of his garden, +spraining his right wrist and bringing on another attack of the stone. +But he recovered in the spring; and at this period, and indeed to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>end of his life, his wonderful vitality bore up so well against severe +disease that his mental faculties were unimpaired, his spirits buoyant, +and his face fresh and serene.</p> + +<p>But towards the end he had to take to his bed, and the last two or three +years of his life were passed in terrible pain, with occasional respites +of a few weeks, during which he would return to some of his old +avocations, writing letters or essays of extraordinary brightness and +gayety. He wrote a long letter on his religious belief to President +Stiles about five weeks before his death, his humorous protest against +slavery two weeks later, and an important letter to Thomas Jefferson on +the Northeast Boundary question nine days before his death.</p> + +<p>His grandchildren played around his bedside; friends and distinguished +men called to see him, and went away to write notes of what they +recollected of his remarkable conversation and cheerfulness. One of his +grandchildren, afterwards Mrs. William J. Duane, was eight years old +during the last year of his life, and she has related that every evening +after tea he insisted that she should bring her Webster’s spelling-book +and say her lesson to him.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“A few days before he died, he rose from his bed and begged that +it might be made up for him so that he might die in a decent +manner. His daughter told him that she hoped he would recover +and live many years longer. He calmly replied, ‘I hope not.’ +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +Upon being advised to change his position in bed, that he might +breathe easy, he said, ‘A dying man can do nothing easy.’” +(Bigelow’s Franklin from his own Writings, vol. iii. p. 464.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>His physician, Dr. Jones, has described his last illness,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“About sixteen days before his death he was seized with a +feverish indisposition, without any particular symptoms +attending it, till the third or fourth day, when he complained +of a pain in the left breast, which increased till it became +extremely acute, attended with a cough and laborious breathing. +During this state when the severity of his pains drew forth a +groan of complaint, he would observe—that he was afraid he did +not bear them as he ought—acknowledged his grateful sense of +the many blessings he had received from that Supreme Being, who +had raised him from small and low beginnings to such high rank +and consideration among men—and made no doubt but his present +afflictions were kindly intended to wean him from a world, in +which he was no longer fit to act the part assigned him. In this +frame of body and mind he continued till five days before his +death, when his pain and difficulty of breathing entirely left +him, and his family were flattering themselves with the hopes of +his recovery, when an imposthumation, [abscess] which had formed +itself in his lungs suddenly burst, and discharged a great +quantity of matter, which he continued to throw up while he had +sufficient strength to do it; but, as that failed, the organs of +respiration became gradually oppressed—a calm lethargic state +succeeded—and, on the 17th of April, 1790, about eleven o’clock +at night, he quietly expired, closing a long and useful life of +eighty-four years and three months.”</p></blockquote> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Vol. iv. p. 271.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> +<h2>II +<br /><br /> +<small>EDUCATION</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Self-made</span> men of eminence have been quite numerous in America for a +hundred years. Franklin was our first hero of this kind, and I am +inclined to think our greatest. The others have achieved wealth or +political importance; sometimes both. But Franklin achieved not only +wealth and the reputation of a diplomatist and a statesman, but made +himself a most accomplished scholar, a man of letters of world-wide +fame, a philosopher of no small importance, and as an investigator and +discoverer in science he certainly enlarged the domain of human +knowledge.</p> + +<p>His father, Josiah Franklin, an industrious candle-maker in Boston, +intended that his youngest son, Benjamin, should enter the ministry of +the Puritan Church. With this end in view he sent him, when eight years +old, to the Boston Grammar-School; but before a year had expired he +found that the cost of even this slight schooling was too much for the +slender means with which he had to provide for a large family of +children. So Franklin went to another school, kept by one George +Brownell, where he stayed for about a year, and then his school-days +were ended forever. He entered his father’s shop to cut wicks and melt +tallow. During his two years of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> schooling he had learned to read and +write, but was not very good at arithmetic.</p> + +<p>His associations were all humble, but they cannot be said to have been +those of either extreme poverty or ignorance. At Ecton, +Northamptonshire, England, whence his father came, the family had lived +for at least three hundred years, and how much longer is not known. +Several of those in the lineal line of Benjamin had been blacksmiths. +They were plain people who, having been always respectable and lived +long in one neighborhood, could trace their ancestry back for several +centuries.</p> + +<p>They were unambitious, contented with their condition, and none of them +except Benjamin ever rose much above it, or even seriously tried to +rise. This may not have been from any lack of mental ability. Franklin’s +father was a strong, active man, as was to be expected of the descendant +of a line of blacksmiths. He was intelligent and inquiring, conversed +well on general subjects, could draw well, played the violin and sang in +his home when the day’s work was done, and was respected by his +neighbors as a prudent, sensible citizen whose advice was worth +obtaining. It does not appear that he was studious. But his brother +Benjamin, after whom our Franklin was named, was interested in politics, +collected pamphlets, made short-hand notes of the sermons he heard, and +was continually writing verses.</p> + +<p>This Uncle Benjamin, while in England, took a great interest in the +nephew in America who was named after him, and he sent verses to him on +all sorts of subjects. He was unsuccessful in business,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> lost his wife +and all his children, save one, and finally came out to America to join +the family at Boston.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_42i" id="Page_42i"></a> +<img src="images/i005.jpg" width="400" height="483" alt="HOUSE IN WHICH FRANKLIN WAS BORN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HOUSE IN WHICH FRANKLIN WAS BORN</span> +</div> + +<p>Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of his father. She +was the daughter of Peter Folger, of Nantucket, a surveyor, who is +described by Cotton Mather as a somewhat learned man. He made himself +familiar with some of the Indian languages, and taught the Indians to +read and write. He wrote verses of about the same quality as those of +Uncle Benjamin. One of these, called “A Looking Glass for the Times,” +while it is mere doggerel, shows that its author was interested in +literature. He was a man of liberal views and opposed to the persecution +of the Quakers and Baptists in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>From this grandfather on his mother’s side Franklin no doubt inherited +his fondness for books, a fondness that was reinforced by a similar +tendency which, though not very strong in his father, evidently existed +in his father’s family, as Uncle Benjamin’s verses show. These verses +sent to the boy Franklin and his efforts at times to answer them were an +encouragement towards reading and knowledge. Franklin’s extremely +liberal views may possibly have had their origin in his maternal +grandfather, Peter Folger.</p> + +<p>But independently of these suppositions as regards heredity, we find +Franklin at twelve years of age reading everything he could lay his +hands on. His first book was Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” which would +not interest boys nowadays, and scarcely interests mature people any +more; but there were no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> novels then and no story-books for boys. +“Pilgrim’s Progress” is a prose story with dialogues between the +characters, the first instance of this sort of writing in English, and +sufficient to fascinate a boy when there was nothing better in the +world.</p> + +<p>He liked it so well that he bought the rest of Bunyan’s works, but soon +sold them to procure Burton’s Historical Collections, which were forty +small chapmen’s books, full of travels, adventures, history, and +descriptions of animals, well calculated to stimulate the interest of a +bright lad. Among his father’s theological books was Plutarch’s “Lives,” +which young Franklin read eagerly, also De Foe’s “Essay upon Projects,” +and Cotton Mather’s “Essays to do Good,” which he said had an important +influence on his character.</p> + +<p>He so hated cutting wicks and melting tallow that, like many other boys +of his time, he wanted to run away to sea; and his father, to check this +inclination and settle him, compelled him to sign articles of +apprenticeship with his brother James, who was a printer. The child’s +taste for books, the father thought, fitted him to be a printer, which +would be a more profitable occupation than the ministry, for which he +was at first intended.</p> + +<p>So Franklin was bound by law to serve his brother until he was +twenty-one. He learned the business quickly, stealing time to read +books, which he sometimes persuaded booksellers’ apprentices to take +from their masters’ shops in the evening. He would sit up nearly all +night to read them, so that they might be returned early in the morning +before they were missed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_45i" id="Page_45i"></a> +<img src="images/i006.jpg" width="500" height="413" alt="PRINTING-PRESS AT WHICH FRANKLIN WORKED WHEN A BOY IN +BOSTON" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PRINTING-PRESS AT WHICH FRANKLIN WORKED WHEN A BOY IN +BOSTON</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>He wrote ballads, like his uncle Benjamin and his grandfather Peter +Folger, on popular events,—the drowning of a Captain Worthilake, and +the pirate Blackbeard,—and, after his brother had printed them, sold +them in the streets. His biographer, Weems, quotes one of these verses, +which he declares he had seen and remembered, and I give it with the +qualification that it comes from Weems:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Come all you jolly sailors,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">You all, so stout and brave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come hearken and I’ll tell you<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What happened on the wave.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Oh! ’tis of that bloody Blackbeard<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I’m going now for to tell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as how by gallant Maynard<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He soon was sent to hell—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With a down, down, down, derry down.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>His father ridiculed these verses, in spite of their successful sale, +and dissuaded him from any more attempts; but Franklin remained more or +less of a verse-writer to the end of his life. Verse-writing trained him +to write good prose, and this accomplishment contributed, he thought, +more than anything else to his advancement.</p> + +<p>He had an intimate friend, John Collins, likewise inclined to books, and +the two argued and disputed with each other. Franklin was fond of wordy +contention at that time, and it was possibly a good mental training for +him. He had caught it, he says, from reading his father’s books of +religious controversy. But in after-years he became convinced that this +disputatious turn was a very bad habit, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> made one extremely +disagreeable and alienated friends; he therefore adopted during most of +his life a method of cautious modesty.</p> + +<p>He once disputed with Collins on the propriety of educating women and on +their ability for study. He took the side of the women, and, feeling +himself worsted by Collins, who had a more fluent tongue, he reduced his +arguments to writing and sent them to him. A correspondence followed, +and Franklin’s father, happening to find the papers, pointed out to his +son the great advantage Collins had in clearness and elegance of +expression. A hint is all that genius requires, and Franklin went +resolutely to work to improve himself.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. It +was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, +read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought +the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. +With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short +hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few +days, and then, without looking at the book, try’d to compleat +the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, +and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable +words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator +with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected +them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in +recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have +acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since +the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of +different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for +the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of +searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety +in my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of +the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I +had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I +also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, +and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best +order, before I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> began to form the full sentences and compleat +the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of +thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I +discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the +pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small +import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the +language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in +time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was +extremely ambitious.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>In some respects this is the most interesting passage in all of +Franklin’s writings. It was this severe training of himself which gave +him that wonderful facility in the use of English that made him a great +man. Without it he would have been second-rate or ordinary. His method +of improving his style served also as a discipline in thought and logic +such as is seldom, if ever, given nowadays in any school or college.</p> + +<p>Many of those who have reflected deeply on the subject of college +education have declared that its ultimate object should be to give in +the highest degree the power of expression. Some have said that a sense +of honor and the power of expression should be its objects. But there +are few who will dispute the proposition that a collegian who receives +his diploma without receiving with it more of the art of expression than +most men possess has spent his time and his money in vain.</p> + +<p>During the last thirty years we have been trying every conceivable +experiment in college education, many of them mere imitations from +abroad and many of them mere suggestions, suppositions, or Utopian +theories. When we began these experiments it was taken for granted that +the old methods, which had produced in this country such scholars, +writers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> and thinkers as Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes, Hawthorne, +Webster, Prescott, Motley, Bancroft, Everett, Phillips, Channing, +Parker, and Parkman, and in England a host too numerous to name, must +necessarily be wrong. We began to imitate Germany. It was assumed that +if we transplanted the German system we should begin to grind out +Mommsens and Bunsens by the yard, like a cotton-mill; and that if we +added to the German system every plausible suggestion of our own for +making things easy, the result would be a stupendous success.</p> + +<p>But how many men have we produced who can be compared with the men of +the old system? Not one. The experiment, except so far as it has given a +large number of people a great deal of pretty information about history +and the fine arts, is a vast failure. After thirty years of effort we +have just discovered that the boys whose nerves and eyesight are being +worn out under our wonderful system cannot write a decent letter in the +English language; and a committee of Harvard University have spent +months of labor and issued a voluminous report of hundreds of pages on +this mortifying discovery, leaving it as perplexing and humiliating as +they found it.</p> + +<p>Remedies are proposed. We have made a mistake, say some, and they +suggest that for a change we adopt the English University system. After +partially abolishing Latin and Greek we were to have in place of them a +great deal of history and mathematics, which were more practical, it was +said; but now we are informed that this also was a mistake, and a +movement is on foot to abolish history and algebra.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> Others suggest the +French system, and one individual writes a long article for the +newspapers proving beyond the possibility of a doubt that French +education is just the thing we need. Always imitating something; always +trying to bring in the foreign and distant. And until we stop this +vulgar provincial snobbery and believe in ourselves and learn to do our +own work with our own people in our own way, we shall continue to +flounder and fail.</p> + +<p>Let us distinguish clearly between information and education. If it is +necessary, especially in these times, to give people information on +various subjects,—on science, history, art, bric-a-brac, or mud +pies,—very good; let it be done by all means, for it seems to have a +refining influence on the masses. But do not call it education. +Education is teaching a person to do something with his mind or his +muscles or with both. It involves training, discipline, drill; things +which, as a rule, are very unpleasant to young people, and which, unless +they are geniuses, like Franklin, they will not take up of their own +accord.</p> + +<p>You can never teach a boy to write good English by having him read +elegant extracts from distinguished authors, or by making him wade +through endless text-books of anatomy, physics, botany, history, and +philosophy, or by giving him a glib knowledge of French or German, or by +perfunctory translations of Latin and Greek prepared in the +new-fashioned, easy way, without a grammar.</p> + +<p>The old English method, by which boys were compelled to write Latin +verses, was simply another form of Franklin’s method, but rather more +severe in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> some respects, because the boy was compelled to discipline +his versifying power and hunt for and use words in two languages at +once. The result was some of the greatest masters of language that the +world has ever known, and the ordinary boy, though perhaps not a wonder +in all the sciences, did not have a learned committee of a university +investigating his disgraceful failure to use his native tongue. His +mind, moreover, had been so disciplined by the severe training in the +use of language—which is only another name for thought—that he was +capable of taking up and mastering with ease any subject in science or +philosophy, and could make as good mud pies and judge as well of +bric-a-brac as those who had never done anything else.</p> + +<p>In this country people object to compelling boys to write verse, +because, as they say, it is an endeavor to force them to become poets +whether they have talent for it or not. Any one who reflects, however, +knows that there is no question of poetry in the matter. It is merely a +question of technical versifying and use of language. Franklin never +wrote a line of poetry in his life, but he wrote hundreds of lines of +verse, to the great improvement of the faculty which made him the man he +was.</p> + +<p>When he voluntarily subjected himself to a mental discipline which +modern parents would consider cruel he was only fifteen years old; +certainly a rather unusual precocity, from which some people would +prophesy a dwarfed career or an early death. But he did some of his best +work after he was eighty, and died at the age of eighty-four.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>He lived in the little village of Boston nearly two hundred years ago, +the wholesome wilderness on one side of him and the wholesome ocean on +the other. He worked with his strong arms and hands all day, and the +mental discipline and reading were stolen sweets at the dinner-hour, at +night, and on Sunday,—for he neglected church-going for the sake of his +studies. Could he have budded and grown amid our distraction, dust, and +disquietude? and have we any more of the elements of happiness than he?</p> + +<p>Ashamed of his failure to learn arithmetic during his two short years at +school, he procured a book on the subject and studied it by himself. In +the same way he studied navigation and a little geometry. When scarcely +seventeen he read Locke’s “Essay on the Human Understanding” and “The +Art of Thinking,” by Messieurs du Port-Royal.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“While I was intent on improving my language I met with an +English grammar (I think it was Greenwood’s) at the end of which +there were two little sketches of the arts of rhetoric and +logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the +Socratic method; and soon after I procured Xenophon’s memorable +things of Socrates, wherein there are many instances of the same +method. I was charmed with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt +contradiction and positive argumentation, and put on the humble +inquirer and doubter.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>It was very shrewd of the boy to see so quickly the strategic advantage +of the humbler method. It was also significant of genius that he should +of his own accord not only train and discipline himself, but feed his +mind on the great masters of literature instead of on trash. He could +hardly have done any better at school, for he was gifted with unusual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +power of self-education. Boys are occasionally met with who have by +their own efforts acquired a sufficient education to obtain a good +livelihood or even to become rich; but it would be difficult to find +another instance of a boy with only two years’ schooling self-educating +himself up to the ability not only of making a fortune, but of becoming +a man of letters, a man of science, a philosopher, a diplomat, and a +statesman of such very distinguished rank.</p> + +<p>There was no danger of his inclination for the higher departments of +learning making him visionary or impractical, as is so often the case +with the modern collegian. He was of necessity always in close contact +with actual life. His brother, in whose printing-office he worked as an +apprentice, was continually beating him; perhaps not without reason, for +Franklin himself admits that he was rather saucy and provoking. He was, +it seems, at this period not a little vain of his learning and his skill +as a workman. He had been writing important articles for his brother’s +newspaper, and he thought that his brother failed to appreciate his +importance. They soon quarrelled, and Franklin ran away to New York.</p> + +<p>He went secretly on board a sloop at Boston, having sold some of his +books to raise the passage-money; and after a three days’ voyage, which +completely cured his desire for the sea, he found himself in a strange +town, several hundred miles from home. He applied for work to old Mr. +William Bradford, the famous printer of the colonies, who had recently +removed from Philadelphia. But he had no position to give the boy, and +recommended him to go to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> Philadelphia, where his son kept a +printing-office and needed a hand.</p> + +<p>Franklin started for Amboy, New Jersey, in a sloop; but in crossing the +bay they were struck by a squall, which tore their rotten sails to +pieces and drove them on Long Island. They saved themselves from wreck +on the beach by anchoring just in time, and lay thus the rest of the day +and the following night, soaked to the skin and without food or sleep. +They reached Amboy the next day, having had nothing to eat for thirty +hours, and in the evening Franklin found himself in a fever.</p> + +<p>He had heard that drinking plentifully of cold water was a good remedy; +so he tried it, went to bed, and woke up well the next morning. But it +was probably his boyish elasticity that cured him, and not the cold +water, as he would have us believe.</p> + +<p>He started on foot for Burlington, a distance of fifty miles, and +tramped till noon through a hard rain, when he halted at an inn, and +wished that he had never left home. He was a sorry figure, and people +began to suspect him to be a runaway servant, which in truth he was. But +the next day he got within eight miles of Burlington, and stopped at a +tavern kept by a Dr. Brown, an eccentric man, who, finding that the boy +had read serious books, was very friendly with him, and the two +continued their acquaintance as long as the tavern-keeper lived.</p> + +<p>Reaching Burlington on Saturday, he lodged with an old woman, who sold +him some gingerbread and gave him a dinner of ox-cheek, to which he +added a pot of ale. His intention had been to stay until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> the following +Tuesday, but he found a boat going down the river that evening, which +brought him to Philadelphia on Sunday morning.</p> + +<p>He walked up Market Street from the wharf, dirty, his pockets stuffed +with shirts and stockings, and carrying three great puffy rolls, one +under each arm and eating the third. Passing by the house of a Mrs. +Read, her daughter, standing at the door, saw the ridiculous, +awkward-looking boy, and was much amused. But he continued strolling +along the streets, eating his roll and calmly surveying the town where +he was to become so eminent. One roll was enough for his appetite, and +the other two, with a boy’s sincere generosity, he gave to a woman and +her child. He had insisted on paying for his passage, although the +boatman was willing to let him off because he had assisted to row. A +man, Franklin sagely remarks, is sometimes more generous when he has but +little money through fear of being thought to have but little.</p> + +<p>He wandered into a Quaker meeting-house and, as it was a silent meeting, +fell fast asleep. Aroused by some one when the meeting broke up, he +sought the river again, and was shown the Crooked Billet Inn, where he +spent the afternoon sleeping, and immediately after supper went sound +asleep again, and never woke till morning.</p> + +<p>The next day he succeeded in obtaining work with a printer named Keimer, +a man who had been a religious fanatic and was a good deal of a knave; +and this Keimer obtained lodging for him at the house of Mrs. Read, +whose daughter had seen him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> walking up Market Street eating his roll. +Well lodged, at work, and with a little money to spend, he lived +agreeably, he tells us, in Philadelphia, made the acquaintance of young +men who were fond of reading, and very soon his brother-in-law, Robert +Holmes, master of a sloop that traded between Boston and the Delaware +River, heard that the runaway was in Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>Holmes wrote from New Castle, Delaware, to the boy, assuring him of the +regret of his family at his absconding, of their continued good will, +and urging him to return. Franklin replied, giving his side of the +story, and Holmes showed the letter to Sir William Keith, Governor of +Pennsylvania and Delaware, who happened to be at New Castle.</p> + +<p>Keith was one of the most popular colonial governors that Pennsylvania +ever had, and enjoyed a successful administration of ten years, which +might have lasted much longer but for his reckless ambition. He had +allowed himself to fall into habits of extravagance and debt, and had a +way of building up his popularity by making profuse promises, most of +which he could not keep. Chicanery finally became an habitual vice which +he was totally unable to restrain, and he would indulge in it without +the slightest reason or excuse.</p> + +<p>He was surprised at the ability shown in Franklin’s letter, declared +that he must be set up in the printing business in Philadelphia, where a +good printer was sadly needed, and promised to procure for him the +public printing. A few days afterwards Franklin and Keimer, working near +the window, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> very much surprised to see the governor and Colonel +French, of New Castle, dressed in all the finery of the time, walking +across the street to their shop. Keimer thought that the visit was to +him, and “stared like a poisoned pig,” Franklin tells us, when he saw +the governor addressing his workman with all the blandishments of +courtly flattery. “Why,” exclaimed the unscrupulous Keith, “did you not +come to me immediately on your arrival in the town? It was unkind not to +do so.” He insisted that the boy should accompany him to the tavern, +where he and Colonel French were going to try some excellent Madeira.</p> + +<p>At the tavern the boy’s future life was laid out for him. The governor +and Colonel French would give him the public printing of both +Pennsylvania and Delaware. Meantime he was to go back to Boston, see his +father, and procure his assistance in starting in business. The father +would not refuse, for Sir William would write him a letter which would +put everything right. So Franklin, completely deceived, agreed, and, +until a ship could be found that was going to Boston, he dined +occasionally with the governor, and became very much inflated with a +sense of his own importance.</p> + +<p>Arrived at Boston, he strolled into his brother’s printing-office, +dressed in beautiful clothes, with a watch, and jingling five pounds +sterling in silver in his pockets. He drew out a handful of the silver +and spread it before the workmen, to their great surprise, for at that +time Massachusetts was afflicted with a paper currency. Then, with +consummate impudence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> and in his brother’s presence, he gave the men a +piece of eight to buy drink, and, after telling them what a good place +Philadelphia was, swaggered out of the shop. It is not surprising that +his brother turned away from him and refused to forgive or forget his +conduct.</p> + +<p>His father, being a man of sense, flatly refused to furnish money to +start a boy of eighteen in an expensive business, and was curious to +know what sort of man Governor Keith was, to recommend such a thing. So +Franklin, with his conceit only slightly reduced, returned to +Philadelphia, but this time with the blessing and consent of his +parents.</p> + +<p>He stopped in Rhode Island on his way, to visit his brother John, who +had quite an affection for him, and while there was asked by a Mr. +Vernon to collect thirty-five pounds due him in Pennsylvania, and was +given an order for the money. On the vessel from Newport to New York +were two women of the town, with whom Franklin, in his ignorance of the +world, talked familiarly, until warned by a matronly Quaker lady. When +the vessel reached New York, the women robbed the captain and were +arrested.</p> + +<p>His education in worldly matters was now to begin in earnest. His friend +Collins accompanied him to Philadelphia; but Collins had taken to drink +and gambling, and from this time on was continually borrowing money of +Franklin. The Governor of New York, son of the famous Bishop Burnet, +hearing from the captain that a plain young man who was fond of books +had arrived, sent for him, flattered him, and added to his increasing +conceit. The boy who within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> a year had been made so much of by two +governors was on the brink of ruin.</p> + +<p>On his journey to Philadelphia he collected the money due Mr. Vernon, +and used part of it to pay the expenses of Collins and himself. Collins +kept borrowing Mr. Vernon’s money from him, and Franklin was soon in the +position of an embezzler.</p> + +<p>Governor Keith laughed at the prudence of his father in refusing to set +up in business such a promising young man. “I will do it myself,” he +said. “Give me an inventory of the things necessary to be had from +England, and I will send for them. You shall repay me when you are +able.”</p> + +<p>Thinking him the best man that had ever lived, Franklin brought him the +inventory.</p> + +<p>“But now,” said Keith, “if you were on the spot in England to choose the +types and see that everything was good, might not that be of some +advantage? And then you may make acquaintances there and establish +correspondences in the bookselling and stationery way.”</p> + +<p>Of course that was delightful.</p> + +<p>“Then,” said Keith, “get yourself ready to go with Annis,” who was +captain of a vessel that traded annually between Philadelphia and +London.</p> + +<p>Meantime, Franklin made love to Miss Read, who had seen him parading up +Market Street with his rolls, and, if we may trust a man’s account of +such matters, he succeeded in winning her affections. He had lost all +faith in religion, and his example unsettled those friends who +associated and read books with him. He was at times invited to dine with +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> governor, who promised to give him letters of credit for money and +also letters recommending him to his friends in England.</p> + +<p>He called at different times for these letters, but they were not ready. +The day of the ship’s sailing came, and he called to take leave of his +great and good friend and to get the letters. The governor’s secretary +said that his master was extremely busy, but would meet the ship at New +Castle, and the letters would be delivered.</p> + +<p>The ship sailed from Philadelphia with Franklin and one of his friends, +Ralph, who was going to England, ostensibly on business, but really to +desert his wife and child, whom he left in Philadelphia. While the +vessel was anchored off New Castle, Franklin went ashore to see Keith, +and was again informed that he was very busy, but that the letters would +be sent on board.</p> + +<p>The despatches of the governor were brought on board in due form by +Colonel French, and Franklin asked for those which were to be under his +care. But the captain said that they were all in the bag together, and +before he reached England he would have an opportunity to pick them out. +Arrived in London after a long, tempestuous voyage, Franklin found that +there were no letters for him and no money. On consulting with a Quaker +merchant, Mr. Denham, who had been friendly to him on the ship, he was +told that there was not the slightest probability of Keith’s having +written such letters; and Denham laughed at Keith’s giving a letter of +credit, having, as he said, no credit to give.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p>Franklin was stranded, alone and almost penniless, in London. When seven +years old he had been given pennies on a holiday and foolishly gave them +all to another boy in exchange for a whistle which pleased his fancy. +Mortified by the ridicule of his brothers and sisters, he afterwards +made a motto for himself, “Don’t give too much for the whistle.” More +than fifty years afterwards, when minister to France, he turned the +whistle story into a little essay which delighted all Paris, and “Don’t +give too much for the whistle” became a cant saying in both Europe and +America. He seldom forgot a lesson of experience; and, though he says +but little about it, the Keith episode, like the expensive whistle, must +have made a deep impression on him and sharpened his wits.</p> + +<p>His life in London may be said to have been a rather evil one. He forgot +Miss Read; his companion, Ralph, forgot the wife and child he had left +in Philadelphia, and kept borrowing money from him, as Collins had done. +Franklin wrote a small pamphlet about this time, which he printed for +himself and called “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure +and Pain.” It was an argument in favor of fatalism, and while +acknowledging the existence of God, it denied the immortality of the +soul; suggesting, however, as a possibility, that there might be a +transmigration of souls. It was a clever performance in its way, with +much of the power of expression and brightness which were afterwards so +characteristic of him; but in later years he regretted having published +such notions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>He sums up his argument on Liberty and Necessity as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“When the Creator first designed the universe, either it was his +will and intention that all things should exist and be in the +manner they are at this time; or it was his will they should be +otherwise, i.e. in a different manner: To say it was his will +things should be otherwise than they are is to say somewhat hath +contracted his will and broken his measures, which is impossible +because inconsistent with his power; therefore we must allow +that all things exist now in a manner agreeable to his will, and +in consequence of that are all equally good, and therefore +equally esteemed by him.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>His argument, though shorter, is almost precisely the same as that with +which Jonathan Edwards afterwards began his famous essay against the +freedom of the will, and it is strange that Franklin’s biographers have +not claimed that he anticipated Edwards. But, so far as Franklin is +concerned, it is probable that he was only using ideas that were afloat +in the philosophy of the time; the two men were merely elaborating an +argument and dealing with a metaphysical problem as old as the human +mind. But Edwards carried the train of thought far beyond Franklin, and +added the doctrine of election, while Franklin contented himself with +establishing to his own satisfaction the very ancient proposition that +there can be no freedom of the will, and that God must be the author of +evil as well as of good.</p> + +<p>In the second part of his pamphlet, “Pleasure and Pain,” he argues that +pleasure and pain are exactly equal, because pain or uneasiness produces +a desire to be freed from it, and the accomplishment of this desire +produces a corresponding pleasure. His argument<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> on this, as well as on +the first half of his subject, when we consider that he was a mere boy, +is very interesting. He had picked up by reading and conversation a +large part of the philosophy that permeated the mental atmosphere of the +time, and his keen observation of life and of his own consciousness +supplied the rest.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“It will possibly be objected here, that even common Experience +shows us, there is not in Fact this Equality: Some we see +hearty, brisk and cheerful perpetually, while others are +constantly burden’d with a heavy ‘Load of Maladies and +Misfortunes, remaining for Years perhaps in Poverty, Disgrace, +or Pain, and die at last without any Appearance of +Recompence.’... And here let it be observed, that we cannot be +proper Judges of the good or bad Fortune of Others; we are apt +to imagine, that what would give us a great Uneasiness or a +great Satisfaction, has the same Effect upon others; we think, +for instance, those unhappy, who must depend upon Charity for a +mean Subsistence, who go in Rags, fare hardly, and are despis’d +and scorn’d by all; not considering that Custom renders all +these Things easy, familiar, and even pleasant. When we see +Riches, Grandeur and a chearful Countenance, we easily imagine +Happiness accompanies them, when often times ’tis quite +otherwise: Nor is a constantly sorrowful Look, attended with +continual Complaints, an infallible Indication of +Unhappiness.... Besides some take a Satisfaction in being +thought unhappy, (as others take a Pride in being thought +humble,) these will paint their Misfortunes to others in the +strongest Colours, and leave no Means unus’d to make you think +them thoroughly miserable; so great a Pleasure it is to them to +be pitied; Others retain the form and outside Shew or Sorrow, +long after the thing itself, with its Cause, is remov’d from the +Mind; it is a Habit they have acquired and cannot leave.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>A very sharp insight into human nature is shown in this passage, and it +is not surprising that the boy who wrote it afterwards became a mover of +men. His mind was led to the subject by being employed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> to print a book +which was very famous in its day, called “The Religion of Nature +Delineated.” He disliked its arguments, and must needs refute them by +his pamphlet “Liberty and Necessity,” which was certainly a most +vigorous mental discipline for him, although he was afterwards +dissatisfied with its negative conclusions.</p> + +<p>Obscure and poor as he was, he instinctively seized on everything that +would contribute to his education and enlargement of mind. He made the +acquaintance of a bookseller, who agreed for a small compensation to +lend him books. His pamphlet on Liberty and Necessity brought him to the +notice of Dr. Lyons, author of “The Infallibility of Human Judgment,” +who took him to an ale-house called The Horns, where a sort of club of +free-thinkers assembled. There he met Dr. Mandeville, who wrote “The +Fable of the Bees.” Lyons also introduced him to Dr. Pemberton, who +promised to give him an opportunity of seeing Sir Isaac Newton; but this +was never fulfilled.</p> + +<p>The conversation of these men, if not edifying in a religious way, was +no doubt stimulating to his intelligence. He had brought over with him a +purse made of asbestos, and this he succeeded in selling to Sir Hans +Sloane, who invited him to his house and showed him his museum of +curiosities.</p> + +<p>He says of the asbestos purse in his Autobiography that Sir Hans +“persuaded me to let him add it to his collection, for which he paid me +handsomely.” But the persuasion was the other way, for the letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> which +he wrote to Sir Hans, offering to sell him the purse, has been +discovered and printed.</p> + +<p>Even the woman he lodged with contributed to his education. She was a +clergyman’s daughter, had lived much among people of distinction, and +knew a thousand anecdotes of them as far back as the time of Charles II. +She was lame with the gout, and, seldom going out of her room, liked to +have company. Her conversation was so amusing and instructive that he +often spent an evening with her; and she, on her part, found the young +man so agreeable that after he had engaged a lodging near by for two +shillings a week she would not let him go, and agreed to keep him for +one and sixpence. So the future economist of two continents enlarged his +knowledge and at the same time reduced his board to thirty-seven cents a +week.</p> + +<p>He certainly needed all the money he could get, for he was helping to +support Ralph, who was trying to become a literary man and gradually +degenerating into a political hack. Ralph made the acquaintance of a +young milliner who lodged in the same house with them. She had known +better days and was genteelly bred, but before long she became Ralph’s +mistress.</p> + +<p>Ralph went into the country to look for employment at school-teaching, +and left his mistress in Franklin’s care. As she had lost friends and +employment by her association with Ralph, she was soon in need of money, +and borrowed from Franklin. Presuming on her dependent position, he +attempted liberties with her, and was repulsed with indignation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> Ralph +hearing of it on his return, informed him that their friendship was at +an end and all obligations cancelled. This precluded Franklin’s hope of +being repaid the money he had lent, but it had the advantage of putting +a stop to further lending.</p> + +<p>For a year and a half he lived in London, still keeping up his reading, +but also going to the theatres and meeting many odd characters and a few +distinguished ones. It was an experience which at least enlarged his +mind if it did not improve his morals. He eventually became very tired +of London, longing for the simple pleasures and happy days he had +enjoyed in Pennsylvania, and he seized the first opportunity to return. +Mr. Denham, the Quaker merchant who had come over in the same ship with +him, was about to return, and offered to employ him as clerk. He eagerly +accepted the offer, helped his benefactor to buy and pack his supply of +goods, and landed again in Philadelphia in the autumn of 1726.</p> + +<p>Keith was no longer governor. Miss Read, despairing of Franklin’s +return, had yielded to the persuasions of her family and married a +potter named Rogers, and Keimer seemed to be prospering. But the young +printer was in a business that he liked. He was devoted to Mr. Denham, +with whom his prospects were excellent, and he thought himself settled +at last. In a few months, however, both he and Mr. Denham were taken +with the pleurisy. Mr. Denham died, and Franklin, fully expecting to +die, made up his mind to it like a philosopher who believed that there +was nothing beyond the grave. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> was rather disappointed, he tells us, +when he got well, for all the troublesome business of resignation would +some day have to be done over again.</p> + +<p>Finding himself on his recovery without employment, he went back again +to work at his old trade with Keimer, and before long was in business +for himself with a partner. He had never paid Mr. Vernon the money he +had collected for him; but, fortunately, Mr. Vernon was easy with him, +and, except for worrying over this very serious debt and the loss of +Miss Read, Franklin began to do fairly well, and his self-education was +continued in earnest.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that he founded the club called the Junto, which +he has described as “the best school of philosophy, morality, and +politics that then existed in the province.”</p> + +<p>This description was true enough, but was not very high praise, for at +that time Pennsylvania had no college, and the schools for children were +mostly of an elementary kind. Franklin, in making this very sweeping +assertion, may have intended one of his deep, sly jokes. It was the only +school of philosophy in the province, and in that sense undoubtedly the +best.</p> + +<p>It was a sort of small debating club, in which the members educated one +another by discussion; and Franklin’s biographer, Parton, supposes that +it was in part suggested by Cotton Mather’s benefit societies, which +were well known in Boston when Franklin was a boy.</p> + +<p>The first members of the Junto were eleven in number, young workmen like +Franklin, four of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> them being printers. The others were Joseph +Brientnal, a copier of deeds; Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught +mathematician, inventor of the quadrant now known as Hadley’s; Nicholas +Scull; William Parsons, a shoemaker; William Maugridge, a carpenter; +William Coleman, a merchant’s clerk; and Robert Grace, a witty, generous +young gentleman of some fortune. The Junto was popularly known as the +Leather-Apron Club, and Franklin has told us in his Autobiography of its +methods and rules:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“We met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required +that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more +queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, +to be discuss’d by the company; and once in three months produce +and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased. +Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and +to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, +without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and, to +prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or +direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and +prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>From other sources we learn that when a new member was initiated he +stood up and, with his hand on his breast, was asked the following +questions:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“1. Have you any particular disrespect to any present member? +Answer: I have not.</p> + +<p>“2. Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind in general of +what profession or religion soever? Answer: I do.</p> + +<p>“3. Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, +name, or goods for mere speculative opinions or his external way +of worship? Answer: No.</p> + +<p>“4. Do you love truth for truth’s sake, and will you endeavor +impartially to find and receive it yourself and communicate it +to others? Answer: Yes.”</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>At every meeting certain questions were read, with a pause after each +one; and these questions might very well have been suggested by those of +the Mather benefit societies. The first six are sufficient to give an +idea of them all:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“1. Have you met with anything in the author you last read, +remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the Junto, +particularly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, +mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?</p> + +<p>“2. What new story have you lately heard, agreeable for telling +in conversation?</p> + +<p>“3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business +lately, and what have you heard of the cause?</p> + +<p>“4. Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by +what means?</p> + +<p>“5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or +elsewhere, got his estate?</p> + +<p>“6. Do you know of a fellow-citizen, who has lately done a +worthy action, deserving praise and imitation; or who has lately +committed an error, proper for us to be warned against and +avoid?”</p></blockquote> + +<p>The number of members was limited to twelve, and Franklin always opposed +an increase. Instead of adding to the membership, he suggested that each +member form a similar club, and five or six were thus organized, with +such names as The Vine, The Union, The Band. The original club is said +to have continued for forty years. But it did not keep up its old +character. Its original purpose had been to educate its members, to +supply the place of the modern academy or college; but when the members +became older and their education more complete, they cared no longer for +self-imposed tasks of essay-writing and formal debate on set questions. +They turned it into a social club, or, rather, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> dropped its +educational and continued its social side,—for it had always been +social, and even convivial, which was one of the means adopted for +keeping the members together and rendering their studies easy and +pleasant.</p> + +<p>A list of some of the questions discussed by the Junto has been +preserved, from which a few are given as specimens:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Is sound an entity or body?</p> + +<p>“How may the phenomena of vapors be explained?</p> + +<p>“Is self-interest the rudder that steers mankind?</p> + +<p>“Which is the best form of government, and what was that form +which first prevailed among mankind?</p> + +<p>“Can any one particular form of government suit all mankind?</p> + +<p>“What is the reason that the tides rise higher in the Bay of +Fundy than in the Bay of Delaware?”</p></blockquote> + +<p>The young men who every Friday evening debated such questions as these +were certainly acquiring an education which was not altogether an +inferior substitute for that furnished by our modern institutions +endowed with millions of dollars and officered by plodding professors +prepared by years of exhaustive study. But the plodding professors and +the modern institutions are necessary, because young men, as a rule, +cannot educate themselves. The Junto could not have existed without +Franklin. He inspired and controlled it. His personality and energy +pervaded it, and the eleven other members were but clay in his hands. +His rare precocity and enthusiasm inspired a love for and an interest in +study which money, apparatus, and professors often fail to arouse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Junto debated the question of paper money, which was then agitating +the Province of Pennsylvania, and Franklin was led to write and publish +a pamphlet called “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a +Paper Currency,” a very crude performance, showing the deficiencies of +his self-education. The use of the word modest in the title was in +pursuance of the shrewd plan he had adopted of affecting great humility +in the expression of his opinions. But his description in his +Autobiography of the effect of this pamphlet is by no means either +modest or humble:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“It was well received by the common people in general; but the +rich men disliked it, for it increased and strengthened the +clamor for more money, and they happening to have no writers +among them that were able to answer it their opposition +slackened, and the point was carried by a majority in the +House.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>In other words, he implies that the boyish debate of twelve young +workingmen, resulting in the publication of a pamphlet by one of them, +was the means of passing the Pennsylvania paper-money act of 1729. His +biographers have echoed his pleasant delusion, and this pamphlet, which +in reality contains some of the most atrocious fallacies in finance and +political economy, has been lauded as a wonder, the beginning of modern +political economy, and the source from which Adam Smith stole the +material for his “Wealth of Nations.”<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of all his natural brightness and laudable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> efforts for his own +improvement, he was but half educated and full of crude enthusiasm. He +was only twenty-three, and nothing more could be expected.</p> + +<p>Fifteen or twenty years afterwards, with added experience, Franklin +became a very different sort of person. The man of forty, laboriously +investigating science, discovering the secrets of electricity, and +rejecting everything that had not been subjected to the most rigid +proof, bore but little resemblance to the precocious youth of +twenty-three, the victim of any specious sophism that promised a +millennium. But he never fully apologized to the world for his +paper-money delusion, contenting himself with saying in his +Autobiography, “I now think there are limits beyond which the quantity +may be hurtful.”</p> + +<p>Three years after the publication of his pamphlet on paper money he +began to study modern languages, and soon learned to read French, +Italian, and Spanish. An acquaintance who was also studying Italian +often tempted him to play chess. As this interfered with the Italian +studies, Franklin arranged with him that the victor in any game should +have the right to impose a task, either in grammar or translation; and +as they played equally, they beat each other into a knowledge of the +language.</p> + +<p>After he had become tolerably well acquainted with these modern +languages he happened one day to look into a Latin Testament, and found +that he could read it more easily than he had supposed. The modern +languages had, he thought, smoothed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> way for him, and he immediately +began to study Latin, which had been dropped ever since, as a little +boy, he had spent a year in the Boston Grammar School.</p> + +<p>From this circumstance he jumped to the conclusion that the usual method +pursued in schools of studying Latin before the modern languages was all +wrong. It would be better, he said, to begin with the French, proceed to +the Italian, and finally reach the Latin. This would be beginning with +the easiest first, and would also have the advantage that if the pupils +should quit the study of languages, and never arrive at the Latin, they +would have acquired another tongue or two which, being in modern use, +might be serviceable to them in after-life.</p> + +<p>This suggestion, though extravagantly praised, has never been adopted, +for the modern languages are now taught contemporaneously with Latin. It +was an idea founded exclusively on a single and very unusual experience, +without any test as to its general applicability. But all Franklin’s +notions of education were extremely radical, because based on his own +circumstances, which were not those of the ordinary youth, to whom all +systems of education have to be adapted.</p> + +<p>He wished to entirely abolish Latin and Greek. They had been useful, he +said, only in the past, when they were the languages of the learned and +when all books of science and important knowledge were written in them. +At that time there had been a reason for learning them, but that reason +had now passed away. English should be substituted for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> them, and its +systematic study would give the same knowledge of language-structure and +the same mental training that were supposed to be attainable only +through Latin and Greek. His own self-education had been begun in +English. He had analyzed and rewritten the essays in Addison’s +<i>Spectator</i>, and, believing that in this way he had acquired his own +most important mental training, he concluded that the same method should +be imposed on every one. He wished to set up the study of that author +and of Pope, Milton, and Shakespeare as against Cicero, Virgil, and +Homer.</p> + +<p>One of our most peculiar American habits is that every one who has a pet +fancy or experience immediately wants it adopted into the public school +system. We not uncommonly close our explanation of something that +strikes us as very important by declaring, “and I would have it taught +in the public schools.” It has even been suggested that the game of +poker should be taught as tending to develop shrewdness and observation.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s foundation for all education was English. He would have also +French, German, or Italian, and practical subjects,—natural science, +astronomy, history, government, athletic sports, good manners, good +morals, and other topics; for when one is drawing up these ideal schemes +without a particle of practical experience in teaching it is so easy to +throw in one thing after another which seems noble or beautiful for boys +and girls to know. But English he naturally thought from his own +experience was the gate-way to everything.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the course of his life Franklin received the honorary degree of +doctor of laws from Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Edinburgh, and St Andrew’s, +and he founded a college. It has been said in support of his peculiar +theories of education that when, in 1776, the Continental Congress, +which was composed largely of college graduates, was considering who +should be sent as commissioner to France, the only member who knew +enough of the language to be thoroughly eligible was the one who had +never been near a college except to receive honorary degrees for public +services he had performed without the assistance of a college training.</p> + +<p>This is, of course, an interesting statement; but as an argument it is +of no value. Franklin could read French, but could not speak it, and he +had to learn to do so after he reached France. By his own confession he +never was able to speak it well, and disregarded the grammar +altogether,—a natural consequence of being self-taught. John Adams and +other members of the Congress could read French as well as Franklin; and +when, in their turn, they went to France, they learned to speak it as +fluently as he.</p> + +<p>In 1743 Franklin attempted to establish an academy in Philadelphia. The +higher education was very much neglected at that time in the middle +colonies. The nearest colleges were Harvard and Yale, far to the north +in New England, and William and Mary, far to the south in Virginia. The +Presbyterians had a few good schools in Pennsylvania of almost the grade +of academies, but none in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> Philadelphia. The Quakers, as a class, were +not interested in colleges or universities, and confined their efforts +to elementary schools. People were alarmed at the ignorance in which not +only the masses but even the sons of the best citizens were growing up, +and it was the general opinion that those born in the colony were +inferior in intelligence to their fathers who had emigrated from +England.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s efforts failed in 1743 because there was much political +agitation in the province and because of the preparations for the war +with Spain in which England was about to engage; but in 1749 he renewed +his attempt, and was successful. He was then a man of forty-three, had +been married thirteen years, and had children, legitimate and +illegitimate, to be educated. The Junto supported him, and in aid of his +plan he wrote a pamphlet called “Proposals relating to the Education of +Youth in Pennsylvania.”</p> + +<p>In this pamphlet he could not set forth his extreme views of education +because even the most liberal people in the town were not in favor of +them. Philadelphia was at that time the home of liberal ideas in the +colonies. Many people were in favor of altering the old system of +education and teaching science and other practical subjects in addition +to Latin and Greek; but they did not favor abolishing the study of these +languages, and they could not see the necessity of making English so +all-important as Franklin wished. He was compelled, therefore, to +conform his arguments to the opinions of those from whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> he expected +subscriptions, and he did this with his usual discretion, making, +however, the English branches as important as was possible under the +circumstances.</p> + +<p>The result of the pamphlet was that five thousand pounds were +subscribed, and the academy started within a year, occupying a large +building on Fourth Street, south of Arch, which had been built for the +use of George Whitefield, the famous English preacher. It supplied a +real need of the community and had plenty of pupils. Within six years it +obtained a charter from the proprietors of the province, and became a +college, with an academy and a charitable school annexed.</p> + +<p>A young Scotchman, the Rev. William Smith, was appointed to govern the +institution, and was called the provost. He had very advanced opinions +on education, holding much the same views as were expressed in +Franklin’s proposals; but he was not in accord with Franklin’s extreme +ideas.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Those who intended to become lawyers, doctors, or clergymen +should be taught to walk in the old paths and to study Latin and Greek; +but the rest were to be deluged with a knowledge of accounts, +mathematics, oratory, poetry, chronology, history, natural and mechanic +philosophy, agriculture, ethics, physics, chemistry, anatomy, modern +languages, fencing, dancing, religion, and everything else that by any +chance might be useful.</p> + +<p>Thus the academy founded by Franklin became<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> the College of +Philadelphia, and as managed by Provost Smith it was a very good one and +played a most interesting part in the life and politics of the colony. +Its charter was revoked and its property confiscated during the +Revolution, and another college was created, called the University of +the State of Pennsylvania, which was worthless. Eleven years afterwards +the old college was restored to its rights, and soon after that it was +combined with the State University, and the union of the two produced +the present University of Pennsylvania.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> It should, however, have been +called Franklin University, which would have been in every way a better +name.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, pp. 374-377, 381.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> +<h2>III<br /><br /> +<small>RELIGION AND MORALS</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Franklin’s</span> father and mother were Massachusetts Puritans who, while not +conspicuously religious, attended steadily to their religious duties. +They lived in Milk Street, Boston, near the Old South Church, and little +Benjamin was carried across the street the day he was born and baptized +in that venerable building.</p> + +<p>He was born on Sunday, January 6, 1706 (Old Style), and if it had +occurred in one of the Massachusetts towns where the minister was very +strict, baptism might have been refused, for some of the Puritans were +so severe in their views of Sabbath-keeping that they said a child born +on the Sabbath must have been conceived on the Sabbath, and was +therefore hopelessly unregenerate.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>These good men would have found their theory fully justified in +Franklin, for he became a terrible example of the results of Sabbath +birth and begetting. As soon as opportunity offered he became a most +persistent Sabbath-breaker. While he lived with his parents he was +compelled to go to church; but when apprenticed to his elder brother, +and living away from home, he devoted Sunday to reading and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> study. He +would slip off to the printing-office and spend nearly the whole day +there alone with his books; and during a large part of his life Sunday +was to him a day precious for its opportunities for study rather than +for its opportunities for worship.</p> + +<p>His persistence in Sabbath-breaking was fortified by his entire loss of +faith in the prevailing religion.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and tho’ +some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as <i>the eternal +decrees of God</i>, <i>election</i>, <i>reprobation</i>, etc., appeared to me +unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself +from the public assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying +day, I never was without some religious principles. I never +doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made +the world and governed it by his Providence; that the most +acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our +souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished and +virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.” (Bigelow’s Works of +Franklin, vol. i. p. 172.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>It will be observed that he speaks of himself as having been educated a +Presbyterian, a term which in his time was applied to the Puritans of +Massachusetts. We find Thomas Jefferson also describing the New +Englanders as Presbyterians, and in colonial times the Quakers in +Pennsylvania used the same term when speaking of them. But they were not +Presbyterians in the sense in which the word is now used, and their +religion is usually described as Congregationalism.</p> + +<p>In the earlier part of his Autobiography Franklin describes more +particularly how he was led away from the faith of his parents. Among +his father’s books were some sermons delivered on the Boyle foundation, +which was a fund established at Oxford,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> England, by Robert Boyle for +the purpose of having discourses delivered to prove the truth of +Christianity. Franklin read some of these sermons when he was only +fifteen years old, and was very much interested in the attacks made in +them on the deists, the forerunners of the modern Unitarians. He thought +that the arguments of the deists which were quoted to be refuted were +much stronger than the attempts to refute them.</p> + +<p>Shaftesbury and Collins were the most famous deistical writers of that +time. Their books were in effect a denial of the miraculous part of +Christianity, and whoever accepted their arguments was left with a +belief only in God and the immortality of the soul, with Christianity a +code of morals and beautiful sentiments instead of a revealed religion. +From reading quotations from these authors Franklin was soon led to read +their works entire, and they profoundly interested him. Like their +successors, the Unitarians, they were full of religious liberty and +liberal, broad ideas on all subjects, and Franklin’s mind tended by +nature in that direction.</p> + +<p>It seems that Franklin’s brother James was also a liberal. He had been +employed to print a little newspaper, called the <i>Boston Gazette</i>, and +when this work was taken from him, he started a newspaper of his own, +called the <i>New England Courant</i>. His apprentice, Benjamin, delivered +copies of it to the subscribers, and before long began to write for it.</p> + +<p>The <i>Courant</i>, under the guidance of James Franklin and his friends, +devoted itself to ridiculing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> government and religion of +Massachusetts. A description of it, supposed to have been written by +Cotton Mather, tells us that it was “full-freighted with nonsense, +unmanliness, raillery, profaneness, immorality, arrogance, calumnies, +lies, contradictions, and what not, all tending to quarrels and +divisions and to debauch and corrupt the minds and manners of New +England.” Among other things, the <i>Courant</i>, as Increase Mather informs +us, was guilty of saying that “if the ministers of God approve of a +thing, it is a sign it is of the devil; which is a horrid thing to be +related.” Its printer and editor was warned that he would soon, though a +young man, have to appear before the judgment-seat of God to answer for +things so vile and abominable.</p> + +<p>Some of the Puritan ministers, under the lead of Cotton Mather, were at +that time trying to introduce inoculation as a preventive of small-pox, +and for this the <i>Courant</i> attacked them. It attempted to make a +sensation out of everything. Increase Mather boasted that he had ceased +to take it. To which the <i>Courant</i> replied that it was true he was no +longer a subscriber, but that he sent his grandson every week to buy it. +It was a sensational journal, and probably the first of its kind in this +country. People bought and read it for the sake of its audacity. It was +an instance of liberalism gone mad and degenerated into mere radicalism +and negation.</p> + +<p>Some of the articles attributed to Franklin, and which were in all +probability written by him, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> violent attacks on Harvard College, +setting forth the worthlessness of its stupid graduates, nearly all of +whom went into the Church, which is described as a temple of ambition +and fraud controlled by money. There is a touch of what would now be +called Socialism or Populism in these articles, and it is not surprising +to find the author of them afterwards writing a pamphlet in favor of an +inflated paper currency.</p> + +<p>The government of Massachusetts allowed the <i>Courant</i> to run its wicked +course for about a year, and then fell upon it, imprisoning James +Franklin for a month in the common jail. Benjamin conducted the journal +during the imprisonment of his brother, who was not released until he +had humbly apologized. The <i>Courant</i> then went on, and was worse than +ever, until an order of council was issued forbidding its publication, +because it had mocked religion, brought the Holy Scriptures into +contempt, and profanely abused the faithful ministers of God, as well as +His Majesty’s government and the government of the province.</p> + +<p>The friends of James Franklin met and decided that they would evade the +order of council. James would no longer print the paper, but it should +be issued in the name of Benjamin. So Benjamin’s papers of +apprenticeship were cancelled, lest it should be said that James was +still publishing the paper through his apprentice. And, in order to +retain Benjamin’s services, James secured from him secret articles of +apprenticeship. A little essay on “Hat Honor” which appeared in the +<i>Courant</i> soon afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> is supposed to have been written by Benjamin +and is certainly in his style.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“In old Time it was no disrespect for Men and Women to be called +by their own Names: <i>Adam</i> was never called <i>Master</i> Adam; we +never read of Noah <i>Esquire</i>, Lot <i>Knight</i> and <i>Baronet</i>, nor +the <i>Right Honourable</i> Abraham, Viscount of Mesopotamia, <i>Baron</i> +of Canaan; no, no, they were plain Men, honest Country Grasiers, +that took care of their Families and Flocks. Moses was a great +Prophet, and <i>Aaron</i> a priest of the Lord; but we never read of +the <i>Reverend</i> Moses, nor the Right Reverend Father in God +Aaron, by Divine Providence, <i>Lord Arch-Bishop</i> of Israel; Thou +never sawest <i>Madam</i> Rebecca in the Bible, my <i>Lady</i> Rachel: nor +Mary, tho’ a Princess of the Blood after the death of <i>Joseph</i>, +called the Princess Dowager of Nazareth.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This was funny, irreverent, and reckless, and shows a mind entirely out +of sympathy with its surroundings. In after-years Franklin wrote several +humorous parodies on the Scriptures, but none that was quite so shocking +to religious people as this one.</p> + +<p>The <i>Courant</i>, however, was not again molested; but Franklin quarrelled +with his brother James, and was severely beaten by him. Feeling that +James dare not make public the secret articles of apprenticeship, he +resolved to leave him, and was soon on his way to Philadelphia, as has +been already related.</p> + +<p>He had been at war with the religion of his native province, and, though +not yet eighteen years old, had written most violent attacks upon it. It +is not likely that he would have prospered if he had remained in Boston, +for the majority of the people were against him and he was entirely out +of sympathy with the prevailing tone of thought. He would have become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> a +social outcast devoted to mere abuse and negation. A hundred years +afterwards the little party of deists who gave support to the <i>Courant</i> +increased so rapidly that their opinions, under the name of +Unitarianism, became the most influential religion of Massachusetts.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +If Franklin had been born in that later time he would doubtless have +grown and flourished on his native soil along with Emerson and Channing, +Lowell and Holmes, and with them have risen to greatness. But previous +to the Revolution his superb faculties, which required the utmost +liberty for their expansion, would have been starved and stunted in the +atmosphere of intolerance and repression which prevailed in +Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>After he left Boston, his dislike for the religion of that place, and, +indeed, for all revealed religion, seems to have increased. In London we +find him writing the pamphlet “Liberty and Necessity,” described in the +previous chapter, and adopting what was in effect the position of +Voltaire,—namely, an admission of the existence of some sort of God, +but a denial of the immortality of the soul. He went even beyond +Voltaire in holding that, inasmuch as God was omnipotent and all-wise, +and had created the universe, whatever existed must be right, and vice +and virtue were empty distinctions.</p> + +<p>I have already told how this pamphlet brought him to the notice of a +certain Dr. Lyons, who had himself written a sceptical book, and who +introduced Franklin to other philosophers of the same sort who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> met at +an inn called The Horns. But, in spite of their influence, Franklin +began to doubt the principles he had laid down in his pamphlet. He had +gone so far in negation that a reaction was started in his mind. He tore +up most of the hundred copies of “Liberty and Necessity,” believing it +to be of an evil tendency. Like most of his writings, however, it +possessed a vital force of its own, and some one printed a second +edition of it.</p> + +<p>His morals at this time were, according to his own account, fairly good. +He asserts that he was neither dishonest nor unjust, and we can readily +believe him, for these were not faults of his character. In his +Autobiography he says that he passed through this dangerous period of +his life “without any willful gross immorality or injustice that might +have been expected from my want of religion.” In the first draft of the +Autobiography he added, “some foolish intrigues with low women excepted, +which from the expense were rather more prejudicial to me than to them.” +But in the revision these words were crossed out.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>On the voyage from London to Philadelphia he kept a journal, and in it +entered a plan which he had formed for regulating his future conduct, no +doubt after much reflection while at sea. Towards the close of his life +he said of it, “It is the more remarkable as being formed when I was so +young and yet being pretty faithfully adhered to quite thro’ to old +age.” This plan was not found in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> journal, but a paper which is +supposed to contain it was discovered and printed by Parton in his “Life +of Franklin.” It recommends extreme frugality until he can pay his +debts, truth-telling, sincerity, devotion to business, avoidance of all +projects for becoming suddenly rich, with a resolve to speak ill of no +man, but rather to excuse faults. Revealed religion had, he says, no +weight with him; but he had become convinced that “truth, sincerity, and +integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance +to the felicity of life.”</p> + +<p>Although revealed religion seemed of no importance to him, he had begun +to think that, “though certain actions might not be bad because they +were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably +those actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us or +commanded because they were beneficial to us in their own natures, all +the circumstances of things considered.”</p> + +<p>It was in this way that he avoided and confuted his own argument in the +pamphlet “Liberty and Necessity.” He had maintained in it that God must +necessarily have created both good and evil. And as he had created evil, +it could not be considered as something contrary to his will, and +therefore forbidden and wrong in the sense in which it is usually +described. If it was contrary to his will it could not exist, for it was +impossible to conceive of an omnipotent being allowing anything to exist +contrary to his will, and least of all anything which was evil as well +as contrary to his will. What we call evil,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> therefore, must be no worse +than good, because both are created by an all-wise, omnipotent being.</p> + +<p>This argument has puzzled many serious and earnest minds in all ages, +and Franklin could never entirely give it up. But he avoided it by +saying that “probably” certain actions “might be forbidden,” because, +“all the circumstances of things considered,” they were bad for us, or +they might be commanded because they were beneficial to us. In other +words, God created evil as well as good; but for some reason which we do +not understand he has forbidden us to do evil and has commanded us to do +good. Or, he has so arranged things that what we call evil is injurious +to us and what we call good is beneficial to us.</p> + +<p>This was his eminently practical way of solving the great problem of the +existence of evil. It will be said, of course, that it was simply +exchanging one mystery for another, and that one was as incomprehensible +as the other. To which he would probably have replied that his mystery +was the pleasanter one, and, being less of an empty, dry negation and +giving less encouragement to vice, was more comforting to live under, +“all the circumstances of things considered.”</p> + +<p>He says that he felt himself the more confirmed in this course because +his old friends Collins and Ralph, whom he had perverted to his first +way of thinking, went wrong, and injured him greatly without the least +compunction. He also recollected the contemptible conduct of Governor +Keith towards him, and Keith was another free-thinker. His own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> conduct +while under the influence of arguments like those in “Liberty and +Necessity” had been by no means above reproach. He had wronged Miss +Read, whose affections he had won, and he had embezzled Mr. Vernon’s +money. So he began to suspect, he tells us, that his early doctrine, +“tho’ it might be true, was not very useful.”</p> + +<p>When back again in Philadelphia and beginning to prosper a little, he +set himself more seriously to the task of working out some form of +religion that would suit him. He must needs go to the bottom of the +subject; and in this, as in other matters, nothing satisfied him unless +he had made it himself. In the year 1728, when he was twenty-two years +old, he framed a creed, a most curious compound, which can be given no +other name than Franklin’s creed.</p> + +<p>Having rejected his former negative belief as not sufficiently practical +for his purposes, and having once started creed-building, he was led on +into all sorts of ideas, which it must be confessed were no better than +those of older creed-makers, and as difficult to believe as anything in +revealed religion. But he would have none but his own, and its +preparation was, of course, part of that mental training which, +consciously or unconsciously, was going on all the time.</p> + +<p>He began by saying that he believed in one Supreme Being, the author and +father of the gods,—for in his system there were beings superior to +man, though inferior to God. These gods, he thought, were probably +immortal, or possibly were changed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> and others put in their places. Each +of them had a glorious sun, attended by a beautiful and admirable system +of planets. God the Infinite Father, required no praise or worship from +man, being infinitely above it; but as there was a natural principle in +man which inclined him to devotion, it seemed right that he should +worship something.</p> + +<p>He went on to say that God had in him some of the human passions, and +was “not above caring for us, being pleased with our praise and offended +when we slight him or neglect his glory;” which was a direct +contradiction of what he had previously said about the Creator being +infinitely above praise or worship. “As I should be happy,” says this +bumptious youth of twenty-two, “to have so wise, good, and powerful a +Being my friend, let me consider in what manner I shall make myself most +acceptable to him.”</p> + +<p>This good and powerful Being would, he thought, be delighted to see him +virtuous, because virtue makes men happy, and the great Being would be +pleased to see him happy. So he constructed a sort of liturgy, prefacing +it with the suggestion that he ought to begin it with “a countenance +that expresses a filial respect, mixed with a kind of smiling that +signifies inward joy and satisfaction and admiration,”—a piece of +formalism which was rather worse than anything that has been invented by +the ecclesiastics he so much despised. At one point in the liturgy he +was to sing Milton’s hymn to the Creator; at another point “to read part +of some such book as Ray’s Wisdom of God in the Creation, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> Blackmore +on the Creation.” Then followed his prayers, of which the following are +specimens:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“O Creator, O Father, I believe that thou art Good, and that +thou art pleased with the pleasure of thy children.</p> + +<p>“Praised be thy name for ever.”</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>“That I may be preserved from Atheism, and Infidelity, Impiety +and Profaneness, and in my Addresses to thee carefully avoid +Irreverence and Ostentation, Formality and odious Hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>“Help me, O Father.</p> + +<p>“That I may be just in all my Dealings and temperate in my +pleasures, full of Candour and Ingenuity, Humanity and +Benevolence.</p> + +<p>“Help me, O Father.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He was doing the best he could, poor boy! but as a writer of liturgies +he was not a success. His own liturgy, however, seems to have suited +him, and it is generally supposed that he used it for a great many +years, probably until he was forty years old. He had it all written out +in a little volume, which was, in truth, Franklin’s prayer-book in the +fullest sense of the word.</p> + +<p>Later in life he appears to have dropped the eccentric parts of it and +confined himself to a more simple statement. At exactly what period he +made this change is not known. But when he was eighty-four years old, +and within a few weeks of his death, Ezra Stiles, the President of Yale +College, in a letter asking him to sit for his portrait for the college, +requested his opinion on religion. In his reply Franklin said, that as +to the portrait he was willing it should be painted, but the artist +should waste no time, or the man of eighty-four might slip through his +fingers. He then gave his creed, which was that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> there was one God, who +governed the world, who should be worshipped, to whom the most +acceptable service was doing good to man, and who would deal justly with +the immortal souls of men.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly +desire, I think his system of morals and his religion, as he +left them to us, the best the world ever saw, or is like to see; +but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and +I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some +doubts as to his Divinity; though it is a question I do not +dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless +to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of +knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in +its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as +probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more +observed; especially as I do not perceive that the Supreme takes +it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of +the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.</p> + +<p>“I shall only add, respecting myself, having experienced the +goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously through a +long life, I have no doubt of its continuance in the next, +though without the smallest conceit of meriting such goodness.</p> + +<p>“P. S. I confide, that you will not expose me to criticisms and +censures by publishing any part of this communication to you. I +have ever let others enjoy their religious sentiments, without +reflecting on them for those that appeared to me unsupportable +or even absurd. All sects here, and we have a great variety, +have experienced my good will in assisting them with +subscriptions for the building their new places of worship; and, +as I have never opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out +of the world in peace with them all.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>So Franklin’s belief at the close of his life was deism, which was the +same faith that he had professed when a boy. From boyish deism he had +passed to youthful negation, and from negation returned to deism again. +He also in his old age argued out his belief in immortality from the +operations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> he had observed in nature, where nothing is lost; why then +should the soul not live?</p> + +<p>In the convention that framed the National Constitution in 1787, when +there was great conflict of opinion among the members and it seemed +doubtful whether an agreement could be reached, he moved that prayers be +said by some clergyman every morning, but the motion was lost. In a +general way he professed to favor all religions. A false religion, he +said, was better than none; for if men were so bad with religion, what +would they be without it?</p> + +<p>Commenting on the death of his brother John, he said,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“He who plucks out a tooth, parts with it freely, since the pain +goes with it; and he who quits the whole body parts at once with +all pains, and possibilities of pains and diseases, which it was +liable to or capable of making him suffer. Our friend and we +were invited abroad on a party of pleasure, which is to last +forever. His chair was ready first, and he is gone before us. We +could not all conveniently start together; and why should you +and I be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow and know +where to find him?”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He not infrequently expressed his views on the future life in a light +vein:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“With regard to future bliss, I cannot help imagining that +multitudes of the zealously orthodox of different sects who at +the last day may flock together in hopes of seeing each other +damned, will be disappointed and obliged to rest content with +their own salvation.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>His wife was an Episcopalian, a member of Christ Church in Philadelphia, +and he always encouraged her, as well as his daughter, to attend the +services of that church.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>“Go constantly to church,” he wrote to his daughter after he had +started on one of his missions to England, “whoever preaches. +The act of devotion in the common prayer book is your principal +business there, and if properly attended to, will do more +towards mending the heart than sermons generally can do. For +they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom than +our common composers of sermons can pretend to be; and +therefore, I wish you would never miss the prayer days; yet I do +not mean that you should despise sermons even of the preachers +you dislike; for the discourse is often much better than the +man, as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>It does not appear that he himself attended the services of Christ +Church, for to the end of his life he was always inclined to use Sunday +as a day for study, as he had done when a boy. At one time, soon after +he had adopted his curious creed, he was prevailed upon to attend the +preaching of a Presbyterian minister for five Sundays successively. But +finding that this preacher devoted himself entirely to the explanation +of doctrine instead of morals, he left him, and returned, he says, to +his own little liturgy.</p> + +<p>Not long afterwards another Presbyterian preacher, a young man named +Hemphill, came to Philadelphia, and as he was very eloquent and +expounded morality rather than doctrine, Franklin was completely +captivated, and became one of his regular hearers. We would naturally +suppose that a Presbyterian minister able to secure the attention of +Franklin was not altogether orthodox, and such proved to be the case. He +was soon tried by the synod for wandering from the faith. Franklin +supported him, wrote pamphlets in his favor, and secured for him the +support of others. But it was soon discovered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> that the sermons of the +eloquent young man had all been stolen from a volume published in +England. This was, of course, the end of him, and he lost all his +adherents except Franklin, who humorously insisted that he “rather +approved of his giving us sermons composed by others, than bad ones of +his own manufacture; though the latter was the practice of our common +teachers.”</p> + +<p>Whitefield, the great preacher who towards the middle of the eighteenth +century started such a revival of religion in all the colonies, was, of +course, a man of too much ability to escape the serious regard of +Franklin, who relates that he attended one of his sermons, fully +resolved not to contribute to the collection at the close of it. “I had +in my pocket,” he says, “a handful of copper money, three or four silver +dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded, I began to soften +and concluded to give him the copper. Another stroke of his oratory made +me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; and he +finished so admirably, that I emptied my pocket wholly into the +collector’s dish, gold and all.”</p> + +<p>This seems to have been the only time that Franklin was carried away by +preaching. On another occasion, when Whitefield was preaching in Market +Street, Philadelphia, Franklin, instead of listening to the sermon, +employed himself in estimating the size of the crowd and the power of +the orator’s voice. He had often doubted what he had read of generals +haranguing whole armies, but when he found that Whitefield could easily +preach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> to thirty thousand people and be heard by them all, he was less +inclined to be incredulous.</p> + +<p>He and Whitefield became fast friends, and Whitefield stayed at his +house. In replying to his invitation to visit him, Whitefield answered, +“If you make that offer for Christ’s sake, you will not miss of the +reward.” To which the philosopher replied, “Don’t let me be mistaken; it +was not for Christ’s sake, but for your sake.” Whitefield often prayed +for his host’s conversion, but “never,” says Franklin, “had the +satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.”</p> + +<p>He admitted that Whitefield had an enormous influence, and that the +light-minded and indifferent became religious as the result of his +revivals. Whether the religion thus acquired was really lasting he has +not told us. He was the publisher of Whitefield’s sermons and journals, +of which great numbers were sold; but he thought that their publication +was an injury to their author’s reputation, which depended principally +upon his wonderful voice and delivery. He commented in his bright way on +a sentence in the journal which said that there was no difference +between a deist and an atheist. “M. B. is a deist,” Whitefield said, “I +had almost said an atheist.” “He might as well have written,” said +Franklin, “chalk, I had almost said charcoal.”</p> + +<p>In spite of his deism and his jokes about sacred things, he enjoyed most +friendly and even influential relations with religious people, who might +have been supposed to have a horror of him. His conciliatory manner, +dislike of disputes, and general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> philanthropy led each sect to suppose +that he was on its side, and he made a practice of giving money to them +all without distinction. John Adams said of him,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The Catholics thought him almost a Catholic. The Church of +England claimed him as one of them. The Presbyterians thought +him half a Presbyterian, and the Friends believed him a wet +Quaker.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>When in England he was the intimate friend of the Bishop of St. Asaph, +stayed at his house, and corresponded in the most affectionate way with +the bishop’s daughters. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was sent to +Canada in company with the Rev. John Carroll, of Maryland, in the hope +of winning over that country to the side of the revolted colonies. His +tendency to form strong attachments for religious people again showed +itself, and he and Carroll, who was a Roman Catholic priest, became +life-long friends. Eight years afterwards, in 1784, when he was minister +to France, finding that the papal nuncio was reorganizing the Catholic +Church in America, he urged him to make Carroll a bishop. The suggestion +was adopted, and the first Roman Catholic bishop of the United States +owed his elevation to the influence of a deist.</p> + +<p>At the same time the members of the Church of England in the +successfully revolted colonies were adapting themselves to the new order +of things; but, having no bishops, their clergy were obliged to apply to +the English bishops for ordination. They were, of course, refused, and +two of them applied to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> Franklin, who was then in Paris, for advice. It +was strange that they should have consulted the philosopher, who +regarded bishops and ordinations as mere harmless delusions. But he was +a very famous man, the popular representative of their country, and of +proverbial shrewdness.</p> + +<p>He suggested—doubtless with a sly smile—that the Pope’s nuncio should +ordain them. The nuncio, though their theological enemy, believed in the +pretty delusion as well as they, and his ordination would be as valid as +that of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He asked the nuncio, with whom he +was no doubt on terms of jovial intimacy, if he would do it; but that +functionary was of course obliged to say that such a thing was +impossible, unless the gentlemen should first become Roman Catholics. So +the philosopher had another laugh over the vain controversies of man.</p> + +<p>He carried on the joke by telling them to try the Irish bishops, and, if +unsuccessful, the Danish and Swedish. If they were refused, which was +likely, for human folly was without end, let them imitate the ancient +clergy of Scotland, who, having built their Cathedral of St. Andrew, +wanted to borrow some bishops from the King of Northumberland to ordain +them a bishop for themselves. The king would lend them none. So they +laid the mitre, crosier, and robes of a bishop on the altar, and, after +earnest prayers for guidance, elected one of their own members. “Arise,” +they said to him, “go to the altar and receive your office at the hand +of God,” And thus he became the first bishop of Scotland. “If <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>the +British isles,” said Franklin, “were sunk in the sea (and the surface of +this globe has suffered greater changes) you would probably take some +such method as this.” And so he went on enlarging on the topic until he +had a capital story to tell Madame Helvetius the next time they flirted +and dined together in their learned way.</p> + +<p>But his most notable escapade in religion, and one in which his sense of +humor seems to have failed him, was his abridgment of the Church of +England’s “Book of Common Prayer.” It seems that in the year 1772, while +in England as a representative of the colonies, he visited the +country-seat of Sir Francis Dashwood, Lord le Despencer, a reformed rake +who had turned deist and was taking a gentlemanly interest in religion. +He had been, it is said, a companion of John Wilkes, Bubb Doddington, +Paul Whitehead, the Earl of Sandwich, and other reckless characters who +established themselves as an order of monks at Medmenham Abbey, where +they held mock religious ceremonies, and where the trial of the +celebrated Chevalier D’Eon was held to prove his disputed sex. An old +book, called “Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea,” professes to +describe the doings of these lively blades.</p> + +<p>Lord Despencer and Franklin decided that the prayer-book was entirely +too long. Its prolixity kept people from going to church. The aged and +infirm did not like to sit so long in cold churches in winter, and even +the young and sinful might attend more willingly if the service were +shorter.</p> + +<p>Franklin was already a dabster at liturgies. Had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> he not, when only +twenty-two, written his own creed and liturgy, compounded of mythology +and Christianity? and had he not afterwards, as is supposed, assisted +David Williams to prepare the “Apology for Professing the Religion of +Nature,” with a most reasonable and sensible liturgy annexed? Lord +Despencer had also had a little practice in such matters in his mock +religious rites at the old abbey. Franklin, who was very fond of him, +tells of the delightful days he spent at his country-seat, and adds, +“But a pleasanter thing is the kind countenance, the facetious and very +intelligent conversation of mine host, who having been for many years +engaged in public affairs, seen all parts of Europe, and kept the best +company in the world, is himself the best existing.”<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> I have no doubt +that his lordship’s experience had been a varied one; but it is a +question whether it was of such a character as to fit him for +prayer-book revision. He, however, went seriously to work, and revised +all of the book except the catechism and the reading and singing psalms, +which he requested Franklin to abridge for him.</p> + +<p>The copy which this precious pair went over and marked with a pen is now +in the possession of Mr. Howard Edwards, of Philadelphia, and is a most +interesting relic. From this copy Lord Despencer had the abridgment +printed at his own expense; but it attracted no attention in England. +All references to the sacraments and to the divinity of the Saviour +were, of course, stricken out and short work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> made of the Athanasian and +the Apostles’ Creed. Even the commandments in the catechism had the pen +drawn through them, which was rather inconsistent with the importance +that Franklin attached to morals as against dogma. But both editors, no +doubt, had painful recollections on this subject; and as Franklin would +have been somewhat embarrassed by the seventh, he settled the question +by disposing of them all.</p> + +<p>The most curious mutilation, however, was in the Te Deum, most of which +was struck out, presumably by Lord Despencer. The Venite was treated in +a similar way by Franklin. The beautiful canticle, “All ye Works of the +Lord,” which is sometimes used in place of the Te Deum, was entirely +marked out. As this canticle is the nearest approach in the prayer-book +to anything like the religion of nature, it is strange that it should +have suffered. But Franklin, though of picturesque life and character, +interested in music as a theory, a writer of verse as an exercise, and a +lover of the harmony of a delicately balanced prose sentence, had, +nevertheless, not the faintest trace of poetry in his nature.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_101i" id="Page_101i"></a> +<img src="images/i007.jpg" width="500" height="388" alt="THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AS ABRIDGED BY LORD DESPENCER +AND FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AS ABRIDGED BY LORD DESPENCER +AND FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p>The book, which is now a very rare and costly relic, a single copy +selling for over a thousand dollars, was known in America as “Franklin’s +Prayer-Book,” and he was usually credited with the whole revision, +although he expressly declared in a letter on the subject that he had +abridged only the catechism and the reading and singing psalms. But he +seems to have approved of the whole work, for he wrote the preface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +which explains the alterations. A few years after the Revolution, when +the American Church was reorganizing itself, the “Book of Common Prayer” +was revised and abbreviated by competent hands; and from a letter +written by Bishop White it would seem that he had examined the “Franklin +Prayer-Book,” and was willing to adopt its arrangement of the calendar +of holy days.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The preface which Franklin wrote for the abridgment was an exquisitely +pious little essay. It was written as though coming from Lord Despencer, +“a Protestant of the Church of England,” and a “sincere lover of social +worship.” His lordship also held “in the highest veneration the +doctrines of Jesus Christ,” which was a gratifying assurance.</p> + +<p>When Franklin was about twenty-two or twenty-three and wrote his curious +creed and liturgy, he seems to have been in that not altogether +desirable state of mind which is sometimes vulgarly described as +“getting religion.” He was not the sort of man to be carried away by one +of those religious revival excitements of which we have seen so many in +our time, but he was as near that state as a person of his intellect +could be.</p> + +<p>Preaching to him and direct effort at his conversion would, of course, +have had no effect on such an original disposition. The revival which he +experienced was one which he started for himself, and, besides his creed +and liturgy, it consisted of an attempt to arrive at moral perfection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>“I wished to live,” he says, “without committing any fault at +any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, +custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew or thought I +knew what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not +always do the one and avoid the other.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>So he prepared his moral code of all the virtues he thought necessary, +with his comments thereon, and it speaks for itself:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“1. <span class="smcap">Temperance.</span>—Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.</p> + +<p>“2. <span class="smcap">Silence.</span>—Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; +avoid trifling conversation.</p> + +<p>“3. <span class="smcap">Order.</span>—Let all your things have their places; let each part +of your business have its time.</p> + +<p>“4. <span class="smcap">Resolution.</span>—Resolve to perform what you ought; perform +without fail what you resolve.</p> + +<p>“5. <span class="smcap">Frugality.</span>—Make no expense but to do good to others or +yourself; i. e. waste nothing.</p> + +<p>“6. <span class="smcap">Industry.</span>—Lose no time; be always employed in something +useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.</p> + +<p>“7. <span class="smcap">Sincerity.</span>—Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and +justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly.</p> + +<p>“8. <span class="smcap">Justice.</span>—Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the +benefits that are your duty.</p> + +<p>“9. <span class="smcap">Moderation.</span>—Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so +much as you think they deserve.</p> + +<p>“10. <span class="smcap">Cleanliness.</span>—Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, +or habitation.</p> + +<p>“11. <span class="smcap">Tranquillity.</span>—Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents +common or unavoidable.</p> + +<p>“12. <span class="smcap">Chastity.</span>—Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, +never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or +another’s peace or reputation.</p> + +<p>“13. <span class="smcap">Humility</span>.—Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He thought that he could gradually acquire the habit of keeping all +these virtues, and instead of attempting the whole at once, he fixed his +attention on one at a time, and when he thought he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> master of that, +proceeded to the next, and so on. He had arranged them in the order he +thought would most facilitate their gradual acquisition, beginning with +temperance and proceeding to silence; for the mastery of those which +were easiest would help him to attain the more difficult. He has, +therefore, left us at liberty to judge which were his most persistent +sins.</p> + +<p>He had a little book with a page for each virtue, and columns arranged +for the days of the week, so that he could give himself marks for +failure or success. He began by devoting a week to each virtue, by which +arrangement he could go through the complete course in thirteen weeks, +or four courses in a year.</p> + +<p>His intense moral earnestness and introspection were doubtless inherited +from his New England origin. But when he was in the midst of all this +creed- and code-making, he records of himself:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“That hard to be governed passion of youth had hurried me +frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way, +which were attended with some expense and great inconvenience, +besides a continual risk to my health by a distemper, which of +all things I dreaded, though by great good luck I escaped it.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>His biographer, Parton, reminds us that his liturgy has no prayer +against this vice, and that about a year after the date of the liturgy +his illegitimate son William was born. The biographer then goes on to +say that Franklin was “too sincere and logical a man to go before his +God and ask assistance against a fault which he had not fully resolved +to overcome.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> There is, however, a prayer in the liturgy against +lasciviousness. He had not yet paid Mr. Vernon the money he had +embezzled, although he was the author of a prayer asking to be delivered +from deceit and fraud, and another against unfaithfulness in trust.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>It is obvious that this inconsistency is very like human nature, +especially youthful human nature. There is nothing wonderful in it. It +was simply the struggle which often takes place in boys who are both +physically and mentally strong. The only thing unusual is that the +person concerned has made a complete revelation of it. Such things are +generally deeply concealed from the public. But that curious frankness +which was mingled with Franklin’s astuteness has in his own case opened +wide the doors.</p> + +<p>It has been commonly stated in his biographies that he had but one +illegitimate child, a son; but from a manuscript letter in the +possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, written by John +Foxcroft, February 2, 1772, and never heretofore printed, it appears +that he had also an illegitimate daughter, married to John Foxcroft:</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> +<blockquote><p> <span class="right3">“<span class="smcap">Philad<sup>a</sup></span> Feby 2d, 1772.</span></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span></p> + +<p>“I have the happiness to acquaint you that your Daughter was +safely brot to Bed the 20<sup>th</sup> ulto and presented me with a sweet +little girl, they are both in good spirits and are likely to do +very well.</p> + +<p>“I was seized with a Giddyness in my head the Day before +yesterday wch alarms me a good deal as I had 20 oz of blood +taken from me and took physick wch does not seem in the least +to have relieved me.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p>“I am hardly able to write this. Mrs F joins me in best +affections to yourself and compts to Mrs Stevenson and Mr and +Mrs Huson.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:12em;">“I am D<sup>r</sup> Sir<br /> +<span style="margin-left:2em;">“Yrs. affectionately</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:4em;">“<span class="smcap">John Foxcroft</span>.</span></p> + +<p>“Mrs Franklin, Mrs Bache, little Ben & Family at Burlington are +all well. I had a letter from ye Gov<sup>r</sup> yesterday<br /> <span class="right2">J. F.”</span></p> +</blockquote> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_105i" id="Page_105i"></a> +<img src="images/i008.jpg" width="400" height="462" alt="JOHN FOXCROFT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JOHN FOXCROFT</span> +</div> + +<p>Among the Franklin papers in the State Department at Washington there +are copies of a number of letters which Franklin wrote to Foxcroft, and +in three of them—October 7, 1772, November 3, 1772, and March 3, +1773—he sends “love to my daughter.” There is also in Bigelow’s edition +of his works<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> a letter in which he refers to Mrs. Foxcroft as his +daughter. The letter I have quoted above was written while Franklin was +in England as the representative of some of the colonies, and is +addressed to him at his Craven Street lodgings. Foxcroft, who was +postmaster of Philadelphia, seems to have been on friendly terms with +the rest of Franklin’s family.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bache, whom Foxcroft mentions in the letter, was Franklin’s +legitimate daughter, Sarah, who was married. The family at Burlington +was the family of the illegitimate son, William, who was the royal +governor of New Jersey. This extraordinarily mixed family of legitimates +and illegitimates seems to have maintained a certain kind of harmony.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +The son William, the governor, continued the line through an +illegitimate son, William Temple Franklin, usually known as Temple +Franklin. This condition of affairs enables us to understand the odium +in which Franklin was held by many of the upper classes of Philadelphia, +even when he was well received by the best people in England and France.</p> + +<p>In his writings we constantly find him encouraging early marriages; and +he complains of the great number of bachelors and old maids in England. +“The accounts you give me,” he writes to his wife, “of the marriages of +our friends are very agreeable. I love to hear of everything that tends +to increase the number of good people.” He certainly lived up to his +doctrine, and more.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Men I find to be a sort of beings very badly constructed, as +they are generally more easily provoked than reconciled, more +disposed to do mischief to each other than to make reparation, +much more easily deceived than undeceived, and having more pride +and even pleasure in killing than in begetting one another; for +without a blush they assemble in great armies at noonday to +destroy, and when they have killed as many as they can they +exaggerate the number to augment the fancied glory; but they +creep into corners or cover themselves with the darkness of +night when they mean to beget, as being ashamed of a virtuous +action.” (Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. vii. p. 464.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>There has always been much speculation as to who was the mother of +Franklin’s son, William, the governor of New Jersey; but as the gossips +of Philadelphia were never able to solve the mystery, it is hardly +possible that the antiquarians can succeed. Theodore Parker assumed that +he must have been the son of a girl whom Franklin would have married<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> if +her parents had consented. Her name is unknown, for Franklin merely +describes her as a relative of Mrs. Godfrey, who tried to make the +match. Parker had no evidence whatever for his supposition. He merely +thought it likely; and, as a Christian minister, it would perhaps have +been more to his credit if he had abstained from attacking in this way +the reputation of even an unnamed young woman. An English clergyman, +Rev. Bennet Allen, writing in the London <i>Morning Post</i>, June 1, 1779, +when the ill feeling of the Revolution was at its height, says that +William’s mother was an oyster wench, whom Franklin left to die of +disease and hunger in the streets. The gossips, indeed, seem to have +always agreed that the woman must have been of very humble origin.</p> + +<p>The nearest approach to a discovery has, however, been made by Mr. Paul +Leicester Ford, in his essay entitled “Who was the Mother of Franklin’s +Son?” He found an old pamphlet written during Franklin’s very heated +controversy with the proprietary party in Pennsylvania when the attempt +was made to abolish the proprietorship of the Penn family and make the +colony a royal province. The pamphlet, entitled “What is Sauce for a +Goose is also Sauce for a Gander,” after some general abuse of Franklin, +says that the mother of his son was a woman named Barbara, who worked in +his house as a servant for ten pounds a year; that he kept her in that +position until her death, when he stole her to the grave in silence +without a pall, tomb, or monument. This is, of course, a partisan +statement only, and reiterates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> what was probably the current gossip of +the time among Franklin’s political opponents.</p> + +<p>There have also been speculations in Philadelphia as to who was the +mother of Franklin’s daughter, the wife of John Foxcroft; but they are +mere guesses unsupported by evidence.</p> + +<p>From what Franklin has told us of the advice given him when a young man +by a Quaker friend, he was at that time exceedingly proud, and also +occasionally overbearing and insolent, and this is confirmed by various +passages in his early life. But in after-years he seems to have +completely conquered these faults. He complains, however, that he never +could acquire the virtue of order in his business, having a place for +everything and everything in its place. This failing seems to have +followed him to the end of his life, and was one of the serious +complaints made against him when he was ambassador to France.</p> + +<p>But he believed himself immensely benefited by his moral code and his +method of drilling himself in it.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this +little artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor owed +the constant felicity of his life, down to his 79th year in +which this is written.... To Temperance he ascribes his long +continued health, and what is still left to him of a good +constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of +his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that +knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained +for him some degree of reputation among the learned; to +Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his country, and the +honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the joint +influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the +imperfect state he was able to acquire then, all that evenness +of temper and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his +company still sought for and agreeable even to his younger +acquaintances.”</p></blockquote> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_108i" id="Page_108i"></a> +<img src="images/i009.jpg" width="400" height="527" alt="WILLIAM FRANKLIN, ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WILLIAM FRANKLIN, ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +At the same time that he was trying to put into practice his moral code, +he conceived the idea of writing a book called “The Art of Virtue,” in +which he was to make comments on all the virtues, and show how each +could be acquired. Most treatises of this sort, he had observed, were +mere exhortations to be good; but “The Art of Virtue” would point out +the means. He collected notes and hints for this volume during many +years, intending that it should be the most important work of his life; +“a great and extensive project,” he calls it, into which he would throw +the whole force of his being, and he expected great results from it. He +looked forward to the time when he could drop everything else and devote +himself to this mighty project, and he received grandiloquent letters of +encouragement from eminent men. His vast experience of life would have +made it a fascinating volume, and it is to be regretted that public +employments continually called him to other tasks.</p> + +<p>A young man such as he was is not infrequently able to improve his +morals more effectually by marrying than by writing liturgies and codes. +He decided to marry about two years after he had begun to discipline +himself in his creed and moral precepts. The step seems to have been +first suggested to him by Mrs. Godfrey, to whom, with her husband, he +rented part of his house and shop. She had a relative who, she thought, +would make a good match for him, and she took opportunities of bringing +them often together. The girl was deserving, and Franklin began to court +her. But he has described<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> the affair so well himself that it would be +useless to try to abbreviate it.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The old folks encouraged me by continual invitations to supper, +and by leaving us together, till at length it was time to +explain. Mrs. Godfrey managed our little treaty. I let her know +that I expected as much money with their daughter as would pay +off my remaining debt for the printing-house, which I believe +was not then above a hundred pounds. She brought me word they +had no such sum to spare; I said they might mortgage their house +in the loan office. The answer to this, after some days, was, +that they did not approve the match; that, on inquiry of +Bradford, they had been informed the printing business was not a +profitable one; the types would soon be worn out, and more +wanted; that S. Keimer and D. Harry had failed one after the +other, and I should probably soon follow them; and, therefore, I +was forbidden the house and the daughter shut up.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This the young printer thought was a mere artifice, the parents thinking +that the pair were too fond of each other to separate, and that they +would steal a marriage, in which event the parents could give or +withhold what they pleased. He resented this attempt to force his hand, +dropped the whole matter, and as a consequence quarrelled with Mrs. +Godfrey, who with her husband and children left his house.</p> + +<p>The passage which follows in Franklin’s Autobiography implies that his +utter inability at this period to restrain his passions directed his +thoughts more seriously than ever to marriage, and he was determined to +have a wife. It may be well here to comment again on his remarkable +frankness. There have been distinguished men, like Rousseau, who were at +times morbidly frank. Their frankness, however, usually took the form of +a confession which did not add to their dignity. But Franklin never +confessed anything; he told it. His dignity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> was as natural and as +instinctive as Washington’s, though of a different kind. His supreme +intellect easily avoided all positions in which he would have to confess +or make admissions; and, as there was nothing morbid in his character, +so there was nothing morbid in his frankness.</p> + +<p>The frankness seems to have been closely connected with his serenity and +courage. There never was a man so little disturbed by consequences or +possibilities. He was quick to take advantage of popular whims, and he +would not expose himself unnecessarily to public censure. His letter to +President Stiles, of Yale, is an example. Being asked for his religious +opinion, he states it fully and without reserve, although knowing that +it would be extremely distasteful to the man to whom it was addressed, +and, if made public, would bring upon him the enmity of the most +respectable people in the country, whose good opinion every one wishes +to secure. The only precaution he takes is to ask the president not to +publish what he says, and he gives his reasons as frankly as he gives +the religious opinion. But if the letter had been published before his +death, he would have lost neither sleep nor appetite, and doubtless, by +some jest or appeal to human sympathy, would have turned it to good +account.</p> + +<p>Since his time there have been self-made men in this country who have +advanced themselves by professing fulsome devotion to the most popular +forms of religion, and they have found this method very useful in their +designs on financial institutions or public office. We would prefer them +to take Franklin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> for their model; and they may have all his failings if +they will only be half as honest.</p> + +<p>But to return to his designs for a wife, which were by no means +romantic. Miss Read, for whom he had a partiality, had married one +Rogers during Franklin’s absence in London. Rogers ill treated and +deserted her, and, dejected and melancholy, she was now living at home +with her mother. She and Franklin had been inclined to marry before he +went to London, but her mother prevented it. According to his account, +she had been in love with him; but, although he liked her, we do not +understand that he was in love. He never seems to have been in love with +any woman in the sense of a romantic or exalted affection, although he +flirted with many, both young and old, almost to the close of his life.</p> + +<p>But now, on renewing his attentions, he found that her mother had no +objections. There was, however, one serious difficulty, for Mr. Rogers, +although he had deserted her, was not known to be dead, and divorces +were but little thought of at that time. Franklin naturally did not want +to add bigamy to his other youthful offences, and it would also have +required a revision of his liturgy and code. Rogers had, moreover, left +debts which Franklin feared he might be expected to pay, and he had had +enough of that sort of thing. “We ventured, however,” he says, “over all +these difficulties, and I took her to wife September 1, 1730.” None of +the inconveniences happened, for neither Rogers nor his debts ever +turned up.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="Page_113i" id="Page_113i"></a> +<img src="images/i010.jpg" width="400" height="511" alt="WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>Franklin’s detractors have always insisted that no marriage ceremony was +performed and that he was never legally married. There is no record of +such a marriage in Christ Church, of which Mrs. Rogers was a member, and +the phrase used, “took her to wife,” is supposed to show that they +simply lived together, fearing a regular ceremony, which, if Rogers was +alive, would convict them of bigamy. The absence of any record of a +ceremony is, however, not necessarily conclusive that there was no +ceremony of any kind; and the question is not now of serious importance, +for they intended marriage, always regarded themselves as man and wife, +and, in any event, it was a common-law marriage. Their children were +baptized in Christ Church as legitimate children, and in a deed executed +three or four years after 1730 they are spoken of as husband and wife.</p> + +<p>A few months after the marriage his illegitimate son William was born, +and Mr. Bigelow has made the extraordinary statement, “William may +therefore be said to have been born in wedlock, though he was not +reputed to be the son of Mrs. Franklin.”<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> This is certainly an +enlarged idea of the possibilities of wedlock, and on such a principle +marriage to one woman would legitimatize the man’s illegitimate +offspring by all others. It is difficult to understand the meaning of +such a statement, unless it is an indirect way of suggesting that +William was the son of Mrs. Franklin; but of this there is no evidence.</p> + +<p>Franklin always considered his neglect of Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> Read after he had +observed her affection for him one of the errors of his life. He had +almost forgotten her while in London, and after he returned appears to +have shown her no attention, until, by the failure of the match Mrs. +Godfrey had arranged for him, he was driven to the determination to +marry some one. He believed that he had largely corrected this error by +marrying her. “She proved a good and faithful helpmate,” he says; +“assisted me much by attending the shop; we throve together, and have +ever mutually endeavored to make each other happy.” She died in 1774, +while Franklin was in England.</p> + +<p>There is nothing in anything he ever said to show that they did not get +on well together. On the contrary, their letters seem to show a most +friendly companionship. He addressed her in his letters as “my dear +child,” and sometimes closed by calling her “dear Debby,” and she also +addressed him as “dear child.” During his absence in England they +corresponded a great deal. Her letters to him were so frequent that he +complained that he could not keep up with them; and his letters to her +were written in his best vein, beautiful specimens of his delicate +mastery of language, as the large collection of them in the possession +of the American Philosophical Society abundantly shows.</p> + +<p>In writing to Miss Catharine Ray, afterwards the wife of Governor +Greene, of Rhode Island, who had sent him a cheese, he said,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Mrs. Franklin was very proud that a young lady should have so +much regard for her old husband as to send him such a present. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +We talk of you every time it comes to the table. She is sure you +are a sensible girl, and a notable housewife, and talks of +bequeathing me to you as a legacy; but I ought to wish you a +better, and I hope she will live these hundred years; for we are +grown old together, and if she has any faults, I am so used to +them that I don’t perceive them. As the song says,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“‘Some faults we have all, & so has my Joan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But then they’re exceedingly small;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, now I’m grown used to them, so like my own,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I scarcely can see them at all,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">My dear friends,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I scarcely can see them at all.’<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>“Indeed I begin to think she has none, as I think of you. And +since she is willing I should love you as much as you are +willing to be loved by me, let us join in wishing the old lady a +long life and a happy one.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>While absent at an Indian conference on the frontier, he wrote +reprovingly to his wife for not sending him a letter:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I had a good mind not to write to you by this opportunity; but +I never can be ill natured enough even when there is the most +occasion. I think I won’t tell you that we are well, nor that we +expect to return about the middle of the week, nor will I send +you a word of news; that’s poz. My duty to mother, love to the +children, and to Miss Betsey and Gracy. I am your loving +husband.</p> + +<p>“P. S. I have <i>scratched out the loving words</i>; being writ in +haste by mistake when I forgot I was angry.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mrs. Franklin was a stout, handsome woman. We have a description of her +by her husband in a letter he wrote from London telling her of the +various presents and supplies he had sent home:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I also forgot, among the china, to mention a large fine jug for +beer, to stand in the cooler. I fell in love with it at first +sight; for I thought it looked like a fat jolly dame, clean and +tidy, with a neat blue and white calico gown on, good natured +and lovely, and put me in mind of somebody.”</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>This letter is full of interesting details. He tells her of the regard +and friendship he meets with from persons of worth, and of his longing +desire to be home again. A full description of the articles sent would +be too long to quote entire, but some of it may be given as a glimpse of +their domestic life:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I send you some English china; viz, melons and hams for a +dessert of fruit or the like; a bowl remarkable for the neatness +of the figures, made at Bow, near this city; some coffee cups of +the same; a Worcester bowl, ordinary. To show the difference of +workmanship, there is something from all the china works in +England; and one old true china bason mended, of an odd color. +The same box contains four silver salt ladles, newest but +ugliest fashion; a little instrument to core apples; another to +make little turnips out of great ones; six coarse diaper +breakfast cloths; they are to spread on the tea table, for +nobody breakfasts here on the naked table, but on the cloth they +set a large tea board with the cups. There is also a little +basket, a present from Mrs. Stevenson to Sally, and a pair of +garters for you, which were knit by the young lady, her +daughter, who favored me with a pair of the same kind; the only +ones I have been able to wear, as they need not be bound tight, +the ridges in them preventing their slipping. We send them +therefore as a curiosity for the form, more than for the value. +Goody Smith may, if she pleases, make such for me hereafter. My +love to her.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>At the time of the Stamp Act, in 1765, when the Philadelphians were much +incensed against Franklin for not having, as they thought, sufficiently +resisted, as their agent in England, the passage of the act, the mob +threatened Mrs. Franklin’s house, and she wrote to her husband:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_116i" id="Page_116i"></a> +<img src="images/i011.jpg" width="400" height="475" alt="MRS. FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MRS. FRANKLIN</span> +</div> +<blockquote><p>“I was for nine days kept in a continual hurry by people to +remove, and Sally was persuaded to go to Burlington for safety. +Cousin Davenport came and told me that more than twenty people +had told him it was his duty to be with me. I said I was pleased +to receive civility from anybody, so he staid with me some time;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +towards night I said he should fetch a gun or two, as we had +none. I sent to ask my brother to come and bring his gun also, +so we turned one room into a magazine; I ordered some sort of +defense up stairs such as I could manage myself. I said when I +was advised to remove, that I was very sure you had done nothing +to hurt anybody, nor had I given any offense to any person at +all, nor would I be made uneasy by anybody, nor would I stir or +show the least uneasiness, but if any one came to disturb me I +would show a proper resentment. I was told that there were eight +hundred men ready to assist anyone that should be molested.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This letter is certainly written in a homely and pleasant way, not +unlike the style of her husband, and other letters of hers have been +published at different times possessing the same merit; but they have +all been more or less corrected, and in some instances rewritten, before +they appeared in print, for she was a very illiterate woman. I have not +access to the original manuscript of the letter I have quoted, but I +will give another, which is to be found in the collection of the +American Philosophical Society, exactly as she wrote it:</p> + +<blockquote><p> <span class="right3">October ye 29, 1773.</span></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">My Dear Child</span></p> + +<p>“I have bin very much distrest a boute as I did not oney letter +nor one word from you nor did I hear one word from oney bodey +that you wrote to So I must submit and indever to submit to what +I ame to bair I did write by Capt Folkner to you but he is gone +doun and when I read it over I did not like it and so if this +dont send it I shante like it as I donte send you oney news nor +I donte go abrode.</p> + +<p>“I shall tell you what consernes myself our yonegest Grandson is +the finest child as alive he has had the small Pox and had it +very fine and got abrod agen Capt All will tell you a boute him +Benj Franklin Beache but as it is so deficall to writ I have +desered him to tell you I have sente a squerel for your friend +and wish her better luck it is a very fine one I have had very +bad luck with two they one killed and another run a way allthou +they was bred up tame I have not a caige as I donte know where +the man lives that makes them my love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> to Sally Franklin—my +love to all our cousins as thou menthond remember me to Mr and +Mrs Weste due you ever hear aney thing of Ninely Evers as was.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>“I cante write any mor I am your afeckthone wife<br /> + <span class="right3">“<span class="smcap">D. Franklin</span>”</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>She was not a congenial companion for Franklin in most of his tastes and +pursuits, in his studies in science and history, or in his political and +diplomatic career. He never appears to have written to her on any of +these subjects. But she helped him, as he has himself said, in the early +days in the printing-office, buying rags for the paper and stitching +pamphlets. It was her homely, housewifely virtues, handsome figure, good +health, and wholesome common sense which appealed to him; and it was a +strong appeal, for he enjoyed these earthly comforts fully as much as he +did the high walks of learning in which his fame was won. He once wrote +to her, “it was a comfort to me to recollect that I had once been +clothed from head to foot in woolen and linen of my wife’s manufacture, +and that I never was prouder of any dress in my life.”</p> + +<p>She bore him two children. The first was a son, Francis Folger Franklin, +an unusually bright, handsome boy, the delight of all that knew him. +Franklin had many friends, and seems to have been very much attached to +his wife, but this child was the one human being whom he loved with +extravagance and devotion. Although believing in inoculation as a remedy +for the small-pox, he seems to have been unable to bear the thought of +protecting in this way <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>his favorite son; at any rate, he neglected to +take the precaution, and the boy died of the disease when only four +years old. The father mourned for him long and bitterly, and nearly +forty years afterwards, when an old man, could not think of him without +a sigh.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"><a name="Page_119i" id="Page_119i"></a> +<img src="images/i012.jpg" width="300" height="326" alt="MRS. SARAH BACHE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MRS. SARAH BACHE</span> +</div> + +<p>The other child was a daughter, Sarah, also very handsome, who married +Richard Bache and has left numerous descendants. His illegitimate son, +William, was brought home when he was a year old and cared for along +with his other children; and William’s illegitimate son, Temple +Franklin, was the companion and secretary of his grandfather in England +and France. The illegitimate daughter was apparently never brought home, +and is not referred to in his writings, except in those occasional +letters in which he sends her his love. According to the letter already +mentioned as in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, +she was married to John Foxcroft, who was deputy colonial postmaster in +Philadelphia. It was well that she was kept away from Franklin’s house, +for the presence of William appears to have given trouble enough. A +household composed of legitimate and illegitimate children is apt to be +inharmonious at times, especially when the mother of the legitimate +children is the mistress of the house.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s biographies tell us that Mrs. Franklin tenderly nurtured +William. This may be true, and, judging from expressions in her printed +letters, she seems to have been friendly enough with him. But from other +sources we find that as William grew up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> she learned to hate him, and +this, with some other secrets of the Franklin household, has been +described in the diary of Daniel Fisher:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“As I was coming down from my chamber this afternoon a +gentlewoman was sitting on one of the lowest stairs which were +but narrow, and there not being room enough to pass, she rose up +& threw herself upon the floor and sat there. Mr. Soumien & his +Wife greatly entreated her to arise and take a chair, but in +vain, she would keep her seat, and kept it, I think, the longer +for their entreaty. This gentlewoman, whom though I had seen +before I did not know, appeared to be Mrs. Franklin. She assumed +the airs of extraordinary freedom and great Humility, Lamented +heavily the misfortunes of those who are unhappily infected with +a too tender or benevolent disposition, said she believed all +the world claimed a privilege of troubling her Pappy (so she +usually calls Mr. Franklin) with their calamities and +distresses, giving us a general history of many such wretches +and their impertinent applications to him.” (Pennsylvania +Magazine of History, vol. xvii. p. 271.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the pamphlet called “What is Sauce for a Goose is also Sauce for a +Gander,” already alluded to, Franklin is spoken of as “Pappy” in a way +which seems to show that the Philadelphians knew his wife’s nickname for +him and were fond of using it to ridicule him.</p> + +<p>Afterwards, Daniel Fisher lived in Franklin’s house as his clerk, and +thus obtained a still more intimate knowledge of his domestic affairs.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Mr. Soumien had often informed me of great uneasiness and +dissatisfaction in Mr. Franklin’s family in a manner no way +pleasing to me, and which in truth I was unwilling to credit, +but as Mrs. Franklin and I of late began to be Friendly and +sociable I discerned too great grounds for Mr. Soumien’s +Reflections, arising solely from the turbulence and jealousy and +pride of her disposition. She suspecting Mr. Franklin for having +too great an esteem for his son in prejudice of herself and +daughter, a young woman of about 12 or 13 years of age, for whom +it was visible Mr. Franklin had no less esteem than for his son +young Mr. Franklin. I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> often seen him pass to and from his +father’s apartment upon Business (for he does not eat, drink, or +sleep in the House) without the least compliment between Mrs. +Franklin and him or any sort of notice taken of each other, till +one Day as I was sitting with her in the passage when the young +Gentleman came by she exclaimed to me (he not hearing):—</p> + +<p>“‘Mr. Fisher there goes the greatest Villain upon Earth.’</p> + +<p>“This greatly confounded & perplexed me, but did not hinder her +from pursuing her Invectives in the foulest terms I ever heard +from a Gentlewoman.” (Pennsylvania Magazine of History, vol. +xvii. p. 276.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Fisher’s descriptions confirm the gossip which has descended by +tradition in many Philadelphia families. He found Mrs. Franklin to be a +woman of such “turbulent temper” that this and other unpleasant +circumstances forced him to leave. Possibly these were some of the +faults which her husband speaks of as so exceedingly small and so like +his own that he scarcely could see them at all. The presence of her +husband’s illegitimate son must have been very trying, and goes a long +way to excuse her.</p> + +<p>All that Franklin has written about himself is so full of a serene +philosophic spirit, and his biographers have echoed it so faithfully, +that, in spite of his frankness, things are made to appear a little +easier than they really were. His life was full of contests, but they +have not all been noted, and the sharpness of many of them has been worn +off by time. In Philadelphia, where he was engaged in the most bitter +partisan struggles, where the details of his life were fully known,—his +humble origin, his slow rise, his indelicate jokes, and his illegitimate +children,—there were not a few people who cherished a most relentless +antipathy towards him which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> neither his philanthropy nor his +philosophic and scientific mind could soften. This bitter feeling +against the “old rogue,” as they called him, still survives among some +of the descendants of the people of his time, and fifty or sixty years +ago there were virtuous old ladies living in Philadelphia who would +flame into indignation at the mention of his name.</p> + +<p>Chief-Justice Allen, who was his contemporary and opponent in politics, +described him as a man of “wicked heart,” and declared that he had often +been a witness of his “envenomed malice.” In H. W. Smith’s “Life of Rev. +William Smith” a great deal of this abuse can be found. Provost Smith +and Franklin quarrelled over the management of the College of +Philadelphia, and on a benevolent pamphlet by the provost Franklin wrote +a verse from the poet Whitehead:<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Full many a peevish, envious, slanderous elf<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is in his works, Benevolence itself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all mankind, unknown his bosom heaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He only injures those with whom he lives.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Read then the man. Does truth his actions guide?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exempt from petulance, exempt from pride?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To social duties does his heart attend—As<br /></span> +<span class="i0">son, as father, husband, brother, friend?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do those who know him love him? If they do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You have my permission—you may love him too.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">(Smith’s Life of Rev. William Smith, vol. i. p. 341.)<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Provost Smith’s biographer resents this attack by giving contemporary +opinions of Franklin; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> a paragraph omitted in the regular edition +(page 347 of volume i.), but printed on an extra leaf and circulated +among the author’s friends, may be quoted as an example. It was, +however, not original with Smith’s biographer, but was copied with a few +changes from Cobbett’s attack on Franklin:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Dr. Benjamin Franklin has told the world in poetry what, in his +judgment, my ancestor was. His venerable shade will excuse me, +if I tell in prose what, in the judgment of men who lived near a +century ago, Dr. Smith was not: He was no almanack maker, nor +quack, nor chimney-doctor, nor soap boiler, nor printer’s devil, +neither was he a deist; and all his children were born in +wedlock. He bequeathed no old and irrecoverable debts to a +hospital. He never cheated the poor during his life nor mocked +them in his death. If his descendants cannot point to his statue +over a library, they have not the mortification of hearing him +daily accused of having been a fornicator, a hypocrite, and an +infidel.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Some of the charges in this venomous statement are in a sense true, but +are exaggerated by the manner in which they are presented, an art in +which Cobbett excelled. I have in the preceding chapters given +sufficient details to throw light on many of them. Franklin was an +almanac-maker, a chimney-doctor, and a soap-boiler, but in none of these +is there anything to his discredit. As to his irrecoverable debts, it is +true that he left them to the Pennsylvania Hospital, saying in his will +that, as the persons who owed them were unwilling to pay them to him, +they might be willing to pay them to the hospital as charity. They were +a source of great annoyance to the managers, and were finally returned +to his executors. The statement that he cheated the poor during his life +and mocked them in his death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> is entirely unjustified. He was often +generous with his money to people in misfortune, and several such +instances can be found in his letters. It is also going too far to say +that he was a quack and a hypocrite.</p> + +<p>While in England he associated on the most intimate terms with eminent +literary and scientific men. Distinguished travellers from the Continent +called on him to pay their respects. He stayed at noblemen’s +country-seats and with the Bishop of St. Asaph. He corresponded with all +these people in the most friendly and easy manner; they were delighted +with his conversation and could never see enough of him. In France +everybody worshipped him, and the court circles received him with +enthusiasm. But in Philadelphia the colonial aristocracy were not on +friendly terms with him. He had, of course, numerous friends, including +some members of aristocratic families; but we find few, if any, +evidences of that close intimacy and affection which he enjoyed among +the best people of Europe.</p> + +<p>This hostility was not altogether due to his humble origin or to the +little printing-office and stationery store where he sold goose-feathers +as well as writing material and bought old rags. These disadvantages +would not have been sufficient, for his accomplishments and wit raised +him far above his early surroundings, and the colonial society of +Philadelphia was not illiberal in such matters. The principal cause of +the hostility towards him was his violent opposition to the proprietary +party, to which most of the upper classes belonged, and, having this +ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> of dislike, it was easy for them to strengthen and excuse it by +the gossip about his illegitimate son and the son’s mother kept as a +servant in his house. They ridiculed the small economies he practised, +and branded his religious and moral theorizing as hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>He was very fond of broad jokes, which have always been tolerated in +America under certain circumstances; but the man who writes them, +especially if he also writes and talks a great deal about religion and +undertakes to improve prayer-books, gives a handle to his enemies and an +opportunity for unfavorable comment. The <i>Portfolio</i>, a Philadelphia +journal, of May 23, 1801, representing more particularly the upper +classes of the city, prints one of his broad letters, and takes the +opportunity to assail him for “hypocrisy, hackneyed deism, muck-worn +economy,” and other characteristics of what it considers humbug and +deceit. It has been suggested that far back in the past one of +Franklin’s ancestors might have been French, for his name in the form +Franquelin was at one time not uncommon in France. This might account +for his easy brightness and vivacity, and also, it may be added, for +such letters as he sometimes wrote:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">To</span> Mr. <span class="smcap">James Read</span></p> + +<p class="alignr">“Saturday morning Aug 17 ’45.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear J.</span></p> + +<p>“I have been reading your letter over again, and since you +desire an answer I sit me down to write you; yet as I write in +the market, will I believe be but a short one, tho’ I may be +long about it. I approve of your method of writing one’s mind +when one is too warm to speak it with temper: but being myself +quite cool in this affair I might as well speak as write, if I +had opportunity. Your copy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> of Kempis must be a corrupt one if +it has that passage as you quote it, <i>in omnibus requiem +quaesivi, sed non inveni, nisi in angulo cum libello</i>. The good +father understood pleasure (<i>requiem</i>) better, and wrote <i>in +angulo cum puella</i>. Correct it thus without hesitation.”</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="alignr">(Portfolio, vol. i. p. 165.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>The letter continues the jest in a way that I do not care to quote; but +the last half of it is full of sage and saintly advice. It is perhaps +the only letter which gives at the same time both sides of Franklin’s +character. But Sparks and Bigelow in their editions of his works give +the last half only, with no indication that the first half has been +omitted.</p> + +<p>In the same year that he wrote this letter he also wrote his letter of +advice to a young man on the choice of a mistress, a copy of which is +now in the State Department at Washington, while numerous copies taken +from it have been circulated secretly all over the country. This year +(1745) seems to have been his reckless period, for it was about that +time that he published “Polly Baker’s Speech,” which will be given in +another chapter. In the State Department at Washington is also preserved +his letter on Perfumes to the Royal Academy of Brussels, which cannot be +published under the rules of modern taste, and, in fact, Franklin +himself speaks of it as having “too much <i>grossièreté</i>” to be borne by +polite readers.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> I shall, however, give as much of the letter on the +choice of a mistress as is proper to publish.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="alignr">“June 25th, 1745.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">My Dear Friend</span>:</p> + +<p>“I know of no medicine fit to diminish the violent natural +inclinations you mention, and if I did, I think I should not +communicate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> it to you. Marriage is the <i>proper</i> remedy. It is +the most natural state of man, and, therefore, the state in +which you are most likely to find solid happiness. Your reasons +against entering it at present appear to me not well founded. +The circumstantial advantages you have in view of postponing it +are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with +that of the thing itself.</p> + +<p>“It is the man and woman united that make the complete human +being. Separate she wants his force of body and strength of +reason. He her softness, sensibility, and acute discernment. +Together they are more likely to succeed in the world. A single +man has not nearly the value he would have in a state of union. +He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair +of scissors. If you get a prudent, healthy wife, your industry +in your profession, with her good economy will be a fortune +sufficient.</p> + +<p>“But if you will not take this counsel, and persist in thinking +a commerce with the sex inevitable, then I repeat my former +advice, that in all your amours you should <i>prefer old women to +young ones</i>. You call this a paradox and demand my reasons. They +are these:</p> + +<p>“1st. Because they have more knowledge of the world, and their +minds are better stored with observations; their conversation is +more improving and more lastingly agreeable.</p> + +<p>“2d. Because when women cease to be handsome, they study to be +good. To maintain their influence over men, they supply the +diminution of beauty by an augmentation of utility. They learn +to do a thousand services, small and great, and are the most +tender and useful of all friends when you are sick. Thus they +continue amiable, and hence there is scarcely such a thing to be +found as an old woman who is not a good woman.</p> + +<p>“3d. Because there is no hazard of children, which, irregularly +produced, may be attended with much inconvenience.</p> + +<p>“4th. Because, through more experience, they are more prudent +and discreet in conducting an intrigue to prevent suspicion. The +commerce with them is therefore safe with regard to your +reputation and with regard to theirs. If the affair should +happen to be known, considerate people might be rather inclined +to excuse an old woman who would kindly take care of a young +man, form his manners by her good counsels, and prevent his +ruining his health and fortunes among mercenary prostitutes.</p> + +<p>“5th....</p> + +<p>“6th....</p> + +<p>“7th. Because the compunction is less. The having made a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> young +girl miserable may give you frequent bitter reflections, none of +which can attend the making an <i>old</i> woman <i>happy</i>.</p> + +<p>“8th and lastly....</p> + +<p>“Thus much for my paradox, but I still advise you to marry +directly, being sincerely,</p> + +<p style="margin-left:12em;">“Your Affectionate Friend,<br /> +<span style="margin-left:10em;">“B. F.”</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>Franklin, however, was capable of the most courteous gallantry to +ladies. In France he delighted the most distinguished women of the court +by his compliments and witticisms. When about fifty years old he wrote +some letters to Miss Catharine Ray, of Rhode Island, which, as coming +from an elderly man to a bright young girl who was friendly with him and +told him her love-affairs, are extremely interesting. One of them about +his wife we have already quoted. In a letter to him Miss Ray had asked, +“How do you do and what are you doing? Does everybody still love you, +and how do you make them do so?” After telling her about his health, he +said,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“As to the second question, I must confess (but don’t you be +jealous), that many more people love me now than ever did +before; for since I saw you, I have been able to do some general +services to the country and to the army, for which both have +thanked and praised me, and say they love me. They say so, as +you used to do; and if I were to ask any favors of them, they +would, perhaps, as readily refuse me; so that I find little real +advantage in being beloved, but it pleases my humor.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>On another occasion he wrote to her,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Persons subject to the <i>hyp</i> complain of the northeast wind as +increasing their malady. But since you promised to send me +kisses in that wind, and I find you as good as your word, it is +to me the gayest wind that blows, and gives me the best spirits. +I write this during a northeast storm of snow, the greatest we +have had this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> winter. Your favors come mixed with the snowy +fleeces, which are pure as your virgin innocence, white as your +lovely bosom, and—as cold. But let it warm towards some worthy +young man, and may Heaven bless you both with every kind of +happiness.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He had another young friend to whom he wrote pretty letters, Miss Mary +Stevenson, daughter of the Mrs. Stevenson in whose house he lived in +London when on his diplomatic missions to England. He encouraged her in +scientific study, and some of his most famous explanations of the +operations of nature are to be found in letters written to her. He had +hoped that she would marry his son William, but William’s fancy strayed +elsewhere.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr">“<span class="smcap">Portsmouth</span>, 11 August, 1762.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Polly</span></p> + +<p>“This is the best paper I can get at this wretched inn, but it +will convey what is intrusted to it as faithfully as the finest. +It will tell my Polly how much her friend is afflicted that he +must perhaps never again see one for whom he has so sincere an +affection, joined to so perfect an esteem; who he once flattered +himself might become his own, in the tender relation of a child, +but can now entertain such pleasing hopes no more. Will it tell +<i>how much</i> he is afflicted? No, it cannot.</p> + +<p>“Adieu, my dearest child. I will call you so. Why should I not +call you so, since I love you with all the tenderness of a +father? Adieu. May the God of all goodness shower down his +choicest blessings upon you, and make you infinitely happier +than that event would have made you....”</p> + +<p class="alignr">(Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 209.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>This correspondence with Miss Stevenson continued for a great many +years, and there are beautiful letters to her scattered all through his +published works. The letters both to her and to Miss Ray became more +serious as the two young women grew older and married. Miss Stevenson +sought his advice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> on the question of her marriage, and his reply was as +wise and affectionate as anything he ever wrote. She married Dr. Hewson, +of London, and they migrated to Philadelphia, where she became the +mother of a numerous family.</p> + +<p>Franklin had a younger sister, Jane, a pretty girl, afterwards Mrs. +Mecom, of whom he was very fond, and he kept up a correspondence with +her all his life, sending presents to her at Boston, helping her son to +earn a livelihood, and giving her assistance in her old age. Their +letters to each other were most homely and loving, and she took the +greatest pride in his increasing fame.</p> + +<p>His correspondence with his parents was also pleasant and familiar. In +one of his letters to his mother he amuses her by accounts of her +grandchildren, and at the same time pays a compliment to his sister +Jane.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“As to your grandchildren, Will is now nineteen years of age, a +tall, proper youth, and much of a beau. He acquired a habit of +idleness on the Expedition, but begins of late to apply himself +to business, and I hope will become an industrious man. He +imagined his father had got enough for him, but I have assured +him that I intend to spend what little I have myself, if it +pleases God that I live long enough; and, as he by no means +wants acuteness, he can see by my going on that I mean to be as +good as my word.</p> + +<p>“Sally grows a fine girl, and is extremely industrious with her +needle, and delights in her work. She is of a most affectionate +temper, and perfectly dutiful and obliging to her parents, and +to all. Perhaps I flatter myself too much, but I have hopes that +she will prove an ingenious, sensible, notable and worthy woman +like her aunt Jenny.”</p> +<p class="alignr">(Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. ii. p. +154.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Over the grave of his parents in the Granary Burial-Ground in Boston he +placed a stone, and prepared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> for it one of those epitaphs in which he +was so skilful and which were almost poems:</p> + +<p class="center">Josiah Franklin and Abiah his wife<br /> +lie here interred.<br /> +They lived together in wedlock fifty-five years;<br /> +and without an estate or any gainful employment,<br /> +by constant labour, and honest industry,<br /> +(with God’s blessing,)<br /> +maintained a large family comfortably;<br /> +and brought up thirteen children and seven grandchildren reputably.<br /> +From this instance, reader,<br /> +be encouraged to diligence in thy calling,<br /> +and distrust not Providence.<br /> +He was a pious and prudent man,<br /> +she a discreet and virtuous woman.<br /> +Their youngest son,<br /> +in filial regard to their memory,<br /> +places this stone.</p> + +<p class="center">J. F. born 1655—died 1744,—Æ. 89.<br /> +A. F. born 1667—died 1752,—Æ. 85.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, vol. i. p. 210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, vol. i. p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. i. p. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. v. p. 209.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> H. W. Smith’s Life of Rev. William Smith, vol. ii. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Some years afterwards, when he had become prosperous, he restored +the money to Mr. Vernon, with interest to date.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Vol. v. p. 201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 216, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> This verse Franklin also quotes against Smith in a letter to Miss +Stevenson. (Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 235.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. vii. p. 374.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> +<h2>IV<br /><br /> +<small>BUSINESS AND LITERATURE</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Franklin’s</span> ancestors in both America and England had not been remarkable +for their success in worldly affairs. Most of them did little more than +earn a living, and, being of contented dispositions, had no ambition to +advance beyond it. Some of them were entirely contented with poverty. +All of them, however, were inclined to be economical and industrious. +They had no extended views of business enterprise, and we find none of +them among the great merchants or commercial classes who were reaching +out for the foreign trade of that age. Either from lack of foresight or +lack of desire, they seldom selected very profitable callings. They took +what was nearest at hand—making candles or shoeing horses—and clung to +it persistently.</p> + +<p>Franklin advanced beyond them only because all their qualities of +economy, thrift, industry, and serene contentedness were intensified in +him. His choice of a calling was no better than theirs, for printing was +not a very profitable business in colonial times, and was made so in his +case only by his unusual sagacity.</p> + +<p>I have already described his adventures as a young printer, and how he +was sent on a wild-goose chase to London by Governor Keith, of +Pennsylvania. I have also told how on his return to Philadelphia he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +gave up printing and became the clerk of Mr. Denham. He liked Mr. Denham +and the clerkship, and never expected to return to his old calling. If +Mr. Denham had lived, Franklin might have become a renowned Philadelphia +merchant and financier, like Robert Morris, an owner of ships and +cargoes, a trader to India and China, and an outfitter of privateers. +But this sudden change from the long line of his ancestry was not to be. +Nature, as if indignant at the attempt, struck down both Denham and +himself with pleurisy within six months of their association in +business. Denham perished, and Franklin, after a narrow escape from +death, went back reluctantly to set type for Keimer.</p> + +<p>He was now twenty-one, a good workman, with experience on two +continents, and Keimer made him foreman of his printing-office. Within +six months, however, his connection with Keimer was ended by a quarrel, +and one of the workmen, Hugh Meredith, suggested that he and Franklin +should set up in the printing business for themselves, Meredith to +furnish the money through his father, and Franklin to furnish the skill. +This offer was eagerly accepted; but as some months would be required to +obtain type and materials from London, Franklin’s quarrel with Keimer +was patched up and he went back to work for him.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1728 the type arrived. Franklin parted from Keimer in +peace, and then with Meredith sprung upon him the surprise of a rival +printing establishment. They rented a house for twenty-four pounds a +year, and to help pay it took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> in Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Godfrey as +lodgers. But their money was all spent in getting started, and they had +a hard struggle. Their first work was a translation of a Dutch history +of the Quakers. Franklin worked late and early. People saw him still +employed as they went home from their clubs late at night, and he was at +it again in the morning before his neighbors were out of bed.</p> + +<p>There were already two other printing-offices, Keimer’s and Bradford’s, +and hardly enough work for them. The town prophesied failure for the +firm of Franklin & Meredith; and, indeed, their only hope of success +seemed to be in destroying one or both of their rivals, a serious +undertaking for two young men working on borrowed capital. There was so +little to be made in printing at that time that most of the printers +were obliged to branch out into journalism and to keep stationery +stores. Franklin resolved to start a newspaper, but, unfortunately, told +his secret to one of Keimer’s workmen, and Keimer, to be beforehand, +immediately started a newspaper of his own, called <i>The Universal +Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and the Pennsylvania Gazette</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_135i" id="Page_135i"></a> +<img src="images/i013.jpg" width="400" height="647" alt="FRONT PAGE OF THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE “PENNSYLVANIA +GAZETTE,” PUBLISHED BY FRANKLIN AND MEREDITH" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRONT PAGE OF THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE “PENNSYLVANIA +GAZETTE,” PUBLISHED BY FRANKLIN AND MEREDITH</span> +</div> + +<p>Franklin was much disgusted, and in resentment, as he tells us, and to +counteract Keimer, began writing amusing letters for the other newspaper +of the town, Bradford’s <i>Mercury</i>. His idea was to crush Keimer’s paper +by building up Bradford’s until he could have one of his own. His +articles, which were signed “Busy Body,” show the same talent for humor +that he had displayed in Boston a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>few years before, when he wrote for +his brother’s newspaper over the name “Silence Dogood;” but there is a +great difference in their tone. No ridicule of the prevailing religion +or hatred of those in authority appears in them. The young man evidently +found Philadelphia more to his taste than Boston, and was not at war +with his surroundings. The “Busy Body” papers are merely pleasant +raillery at the failings of human nature in general, interspersed with +good advice, something like that which he soon afterwards gave in “Poor +Richard.”</p> + +<p>Keimer tried to keep his journal going by publishing long extracts from +an encyclopædia which had recently appeared, beginning with the letter +A, and he tried to imitate the wit of the “Busy Body.” But he merely +laid himself open to the “Busy Body’s” attacks, who burlesqued and +ridiculed his attempts, and Franklin in his Autobiography gives himself +the credit of having drawn public attention so strongly to Bradford’s +<i>Mercury</i> that Keimer, after keeping his <i>Universal Instructor</i> going on +only ninety subscribers for about nine months, gave it up. Franklin & +Meredith bought it in and thus disposed of one of their rivals. That +rival, being incompetent and ignorant, soon disposed of himself by +bankruptcy and removal to the Barbadoes. Franklin continued the +publication of the newspaper under the title of the <i>Pennsylvania +Gazette;</i> but it was vastly improved in every way,—better type, better +paper, more news, and intelligent, well-reasoned articles on public +affairs instead of Keimer’s stupid prolixity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<p>An article written by Franklin on that great question of colonial times, +whether the Legislature of each colony should give the governor a fixed +salary or pay him only at the end of each year, according as he had +pleased them, attracted much attention. It was written with considerable +astuteness, and, while upholding the necessity of the governor’s +dependence on the Legislature, was careful not to give offence to those +who were of a different opinion. The young printers also won favor by +reprinting neatly and correctly an address of the Assembly to the +governor, which Bradford had previously printed in a blundering way. The +members of the Assembly were so pleased with it that they voted their +printing to Franklin & Meredith for the ensuing year. These politicians, +finding that Franklin knew how to handle a pen, thought it well, as a +matter of self-interest, to encourage him.</p> + +<p>The two young men were kept busily employed, yet found it very difficult +to make both ends meet, although they did everything themselves, not +having even a boy to assist them. Meredith’s father, having suffered +some losses, could lend them but half of the sum they had expected from +him. The merchant who had furnished them their materials grew impatient +and sued them. They succeeded in staying judgment and execution for a +time, but fully expected to be eventually sold out by the sheriff and +ruined.</p> + +<p>At this juncture two friends of Franklin came to him and offered +sufficient money to tide over his difficulties if he would get rid of +Meredith, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> intemperate, and take all the business on himself. +This he succeeded in doing, and with the money supplied by his friends +paid off his debts and added a stationery shop, where he sold paper, +parchment, legal blanks, ink, books, and, in time, soap, goose-feathers, +liquors, and groceries; he also secured the printing of the laws of +Delaware, and, as he says, went on swimmingly. Soon after this he +married Miss Read, and he has left us an account of how they lived +together:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“We kept no idle servants, our table was plain and simple, our +furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was for a +long time bread and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a +twopenny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark how +luxury will enter families, and make a progress in spite of +principle: being called one morning to breakfast, I found it in +a china bowl, with a spoon of silver! They had been bought for +me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the +enormous sum of three and twenty shillings, for which she had no +other excuse or apology to make but that she thought <i>her</i> +husband deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as well as any of +his neighbors.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>A story is told on the Eastern Shore of Maryland of a young man who +called one evening on an old farmer to ask him how it was that he had +become rich.</p> + +<p>“It is a long story,” said the old man, “and while I am telling it we +might as well save the candle,” and he put it out.</p> + +<p>“You need not tell it,” said the youth. “I see.”</p> + +<p>Franklin’s method was the one that had always been practised by his +ancestors, and with his wider intelligence and great literary ability it +was sure to succeed. The silver spoons slowly increased until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> in the +course of years, as he tells us, the plate in his house was “augmented +gradually to several hundred pounds in value.”</p> + +<p>His newspaper, the <i>Pennsylvania Gazette</i>, was the best in the colonies. +Besides the ordinary news and advertisements, together with little +anecdotes and squibs which he was always so clever in telling, he +printed in it extracts from <i>The Spectator</i> and various moral writers, +articles from English newspapers, as well as articles of his own which +had been previously read to the Junto. He also published long poems by +Stephen Duck, now utterly forgotten; but he was then the poet laureate +and wrote passable verse. He carefully excluded all libelling and +personal abuse; but what would now be considered indelicate jests were +not infrequent. These broad jokes, together with witticisms at the +expense of ecclesiastics, constituted the stock amusements of the time, +as the English literature of that period abundantly shows.</p> + +<p>Opening one of the old volumes of his <i>Gazette</i> at random, we find for +September 5, 1734, a humorous account of a lottery in England, by which, +to encourage the propagation of the species, all the old maids of the +country are to be raffled for. Turning over the leaves, we find the +humorous will of a fellow who, among other queer bequests, leaves his +body “as a very wholesome feast to the worms of his family vault.” In +another number an account is given of some excesses of the Pope, with a +Latin verse and its translation which had been pasted on Pasquin’s +statue:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> +<blockquote> +<p class="center">“Omnia Venduntur imo<br /> +Dogmata Christi<br /> +Et ne me vendunt, evolo.<br /> +Roma Vale.”</p> + +<p class="center">“Rome all things sells, even doctrines old and new.<br /> +I’ll fly for fear of sale; so Rome adieu.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the number for November 7, 1734, we are given “The Genealogy of a +Jacobite.”</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The Devil <i>begat</i> Sin, Sin <i>begat</i> Error, Error <i>begat</i> Pride, +Pride <i>begat</i> Hatred, Hatred <i>begat</i> Ignorance, Ignorance +<i>begat</i> Blind Zeal, Blind Zeal <i>begat</i> Superstition, +Superstition <i>begat</i> Priestcraft, Priestcraft <i>begat</i> Lineal +Succession, Lineal Succession <i>begat</i> Indelible Character, +Indelible Character <i>begat</i> Blind Obedience, Blind Obedience +<i>begat</i> Infallibility, Infallibility <i>begat</i> the Pope and his +Brethren in the time of Egyptian Darkness, the Pope <i>begat</i> +Purgatory, Purgatory <i>begat</i> Auricular Confession, Auricular +Confession <i>begat</i> Renouncing of Reason, Renouncing of Reason +<i>begat</i> Contempt of Scriptures, Contempt of the Scriptures +<i>begat</i> Implicit Faith, Implicit Faith <i>begat</i> Carnal Policy, +Carnal Policy <i>begat</i> Unlimited Passive Obedience, Unlimited +Passive Obedience <i>begat</i> Non-Resistance, Non-Resistance <i>begat</i> +Oppression, Oppression <i>begat</i> Faction, Faction <i>begat</i> +Patriotism, Patriotism <i>begat</i> Opposition to all the Measures of +the Ministry, Opposition <i>begat</i> Disaffection, Disaffection +<i>begat</i> Discontent, Discontent <i>begat</i> a Tory, and a Tory +<i>begat</i> a Jacobite, with Craftsman and Fog and their Brethren on +the Body of the Whore of Babylon when she was deemed past child +bearing.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Franklin’s famous “Speech of Polly Baker” is supposed to have first +appeared in the <i>Gazette</i>. This is a mistake, but it was reprinted again +and again in American newspapers for half a century.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The Speech of Miss Polly Baker before a Court of Judicatory, in +New England, where she was prosecuted for a fifth time, for +having a Bastard Child; which influenced the Court to dispense +with her punishment, and which induced one of her judges to +marry her the next day—by whom she had fifteen children.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>“May it please the honourable bench to indulge me in a few +words: I am a poor, unhappy woman, who have no money to fee +lawyers to plead for me, being hard put to it to get a +living.... Abstracted from the law, I cannot conceive (may it +please your honours) what the nature of my offence is. I have +brought five children into the world, at the risque of my life; +I have maintained them well by my own industry, without +burthening the township, and would have done it better, if it +had not been for the heavy charges and fines I have paid. Can it +be a crime (in the nature of things, I mean) to add to the +King’s subjects, in a new country that really needs people? I +own it, I should think it rather a praiseworthy than a +punishable action. I have debauched no other woman’s husband, +nor enticed any youth; these things I never was charged with; +nor has any one the least cause of complaint against me, unless, +perhaps, the ministers of justice, because I have had children +without being married, by which they have missed a wedding fee. +But can this be a fault of mine? I appeal to your honours. You +are pleased to allow I don’t want sense; but I must be stupefied +to the last degree, not to prefer the honourable state of +wedlock to the condition I have lived in. I always was, and +still am willing to enter into it; and doubt not my behaving +well in it; having all the industry, frugality, fertility, and +skill in economy appertaining to a good wife’s character. I defy +any one to say I ever refused an offer of that sort; on the +contrary, I readily consented to the only proposal of marriage +that ever was made me, which was when I was a virgin, but too +easily confiding in the person’s sincerity that made it, I +unhappily lost my honour by trusting to his; for he got me with +child, and then forsook me.</p> + +<p>“That very person, you all know; he is now become a magistrate +of this country; and I had hopes he would have appeared this day +on the bench, and have endeavoured to moderate the Court in my +favour; then I should have scorned to have mentioned it, but I +must now complain of it as unjust and unequal, that my betrayer, +and undoer, the first cause of all my faults and miscarriages +(if they must be deemed such), should be advanced to honour and +power in the government that punishes my misfortunes with +stripes and infamy.... But how can it be believed that Heaven is +angry at my having children, when to the little done by me +towards it, God has been pleased to add his divine skill and +admirable workmanship in the formation of their bodies, and +crowned the whole by furnishing them with rational and immortal +souls? Forgive me, gentlemen, if I talk a little extravagantly +on these matters: I am no divine, but if you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> gentlemen, must +be making laws, do not turn natural and useful actions into +crimes by your prohibitions. But take into your wise +consideration the great and growing number of bachelors in the +country, many of whom, from the mean fear of the expense of a +family, have never sincerely and honestly courted a woman in +their lives; and by their manner of living leave unproduced +(which is little better than murder) hundreds of their posterity +to the thousandth generation. Is not this a greater offence +against the public good than mine? Compel them, then, by law, +either to marriage, or to pay double the fine of fornication +every year. What must poor young women do, whom customs and +nature forbid to solicit the men, and who cannot force +themselves upon husbands, when the laws take no care to provide +them any, and yet severely punish them if they do their duty +without them; the duty of the first and great command of nature +and nature’s God, increase and multiply; a duty, from the steady +performance of which nothing has been able to deter me, but for +its sake I have hazarded the loss of the public esteem, and have +frequently endured public disgrace and punishment; and therefore +ought, in my humble opinion, instead of a whipping, to have a +statue erected to my memory.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>A newspaper furnishing the people with so much information and sound +advice, mingled with broad stories, bright and witty, and appealing to +all the human passions,—in other words, so thoroughly like +Franklin,—was necessarily a success. It was, however, a small +affair,—a single sheet which, when folded, was about twelve by eighteen +inches,—and it appeared only twice a week.</p> + +<p>It differed from other colonial newspapers chiefly in its greater +brightness and in the literary skill shown in its preparation. But +attempts have been made to exaggerate its merits, and Parton declares +that in it Franklin “originated the modern system of business +advertising” and that “he was the first man who used this mighty engine +of publicity as we now use it.” A careful examination of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> <i>Gazette</i> +and the other journals of the time fails to disclose any evidence in +support of this extravagant statement. The advertisements in the +<i>Gazette</i> are like those in the other papers,—runaway servants and +slaves, ships and merchandise for sale, articles lost or stolen. On the +whole, perhaps more advertisements appear in the <i>Gazette</i> than in any +of the others, though a comparison of the <i>Gazette</i> with Bradford’s +<i>Mercury</i> shows days when the latter has the greater number.</p> + +<p>Franklin advertised rather extensively his own publications, and the +lamp-black, soap, and “ready money for old rags” which were to be had at +his shop, for the reason, doubtless, that, being owner of both the +newspaper and the shop, the advertisements cost him nothing. This is the +only foundation for the tale of his having originated modern +advertising. His advertisements are of the same sort that appeared in +other papers, and there is not the slightest suggestion of modern +methods in them.</p> + +<p>Parton also says that Franklin “invented the plan of distinguishing +advertisements by means of little pictures which he cut with his own +hands.” If he really was the inventor of this plan, it is strange that +he allowed his rival Bradford to use it in the <i>Mercury</i> before it was +adopted by the <i>Gazette</i>. No cuts appear in the advertisements in the +<i>Gazette</i> until May 30, 1734; but the <i>Mercury’s</i> advertisements have +them in the year 1733.</p> + +<p>Franklin made no sudden or startling changes in the methods of +journalism; he merely used them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> effectively. His reputation and fortune +were increased by his newspaper, but his greatest success came from his +almanac, the immortal “Poor Richard.”</p> + +<p>In those days almanacs were the literature of the masses, very much as +newspapers are now. Everybody read them, and they supplied the place of +books to those who would not or could not buy these means of knowledge. +Every farm-house and hunter’s cabin had one hanging by the fireplace, +and the rich were also eager to read afresh every year the weather +forecasts, receipts, scraps of history, and advice mingled with jokes +and verses.</p> + +<p>Every printer issued an almanac as a matter of course, for it was the +one publication which was sure to sell, and there was always more or +less money to be made by it. While Franklin and Meredith were in +business they published their almanac annually, and it was prepared by +Thomas Godfrey, the mathematician, who with his wife lived in part of +Franklin’s house. But, as has been related, Mrs. Godfrey tried to make a +match between Franklin and one of her relatives, and when that failed +the Godfreys and Franklin separated, and Thomas Godfrey devoted his +mathematical talents to the preparation of Bradford’s almanac.</p> + +<p>This was in the year 1732, and the following year Franklin had no +philomath, as such people were called, to prepare his almanac. A great +deal depended on having a popular philomath. Some of them could achieve +large sales for their employer, while others could scarcely catch the +public attention<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> at all. Franklin’s literary instinct at once suggested +the plan of creating a philomath out of his own imagination, an ideal +one who would achieve the highest possibilities of the art. So he wrote +his own almanac, and announced that it was prepared by one Richard +Saunders, who for short was called “Poor Richard,” and he proved to be +the most wonderful philomath that ever lived.</p> + +<p>As Shakespeare took the suggestions and plots of his plays from old +tales and romances, endowing his spoils by the touch of genius with a +life that the originals never possessed, so Franklin plundered right and +left to obtain material for the wise sayings of “Poor Richard.” There +was, we are told, a Richard Saunders who was the philomath of a popular +English almanac called “The Apollo Anglicanus,” and another popular +almanac had been called “Poor Robin;” but “Poor Richard” was a real +creation, a new human character introduced to the world like Sir Roger +de Coverley.</p> + +<p>Novel-writing was in its infancy in those days, and Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s +Progress,” Addison’s character of Sir Roger, and the works of +Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett were the only examples of this new +literature. That beautiful sentiment that prompts children to say, “Tell +us a story,” and which is now fed to repletion by trash, was then +primitive, fresh, and simple. Franklin could have written a novel in the +manner of Fielding, but he had no inclination for such a task. He took +more naturally and easily to creating a single character somewhat in the +way Sir Roger de Coverley was created by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Addison, whose essays he had +rewritten so often for practice.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_144i" id="Page_144i"></a> +<img src="images/i014.jpg" width="400" height="747" alt="TITLE-PAGE OF POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC FOR 1733" title="" /> +<span class="caption">TITLE-PAGE OF POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC FOR 1733</span> +</div> + +<p>Sir Roger was so much of a gentleman, there were so many delicate +touches in him, that he never became the favorite of the common people. +But “Poor Richard” was the Sir Roger of the masses; he won the hearts of +high and low. In that first number for the year 1733 he introduces +himself very much after the manner of Addison.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Courteous Reader</span>,</p> + +<p>“I might in this place attempt to gain thy favor by declaring +that I write almanacks with no other view than that of the +public good, but in this I should not be sincere; and men are +now-a-days too wise to be deceived by pretences, how specious +soever. The plain truth of the matter is, I am excessive poor, +and my wife, good woman, is, I tell her, excessive proud; she +cannot bear, she says, to sit spinning in her shift of tow, +while I do nothing but gaze at the stars; and has threatened +more than once to burn all my books and rattling traps (as she +calls my instruments) if I do not make some profitable use of +them for the good of my family. The printer has offered me some +considerable share of the profits, and I have thus begun to +comply with my dame’s desire.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>There was a rival almanac, of which the philomath was Titan Leeds. “Poor +Richard” affects great friendship for him, and says that he would have +written almanacs long ago had he not been unwilling to interfere with +the business of Titan. But this obstacle was soon to be removed.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“He dies by my calculation,” says “Poor Richard,” “made at his +request, on Oct. 17, 1733, 3 ho., 29 m., P. M., at the very +instant of the <ins title="conjunction">☌</ins> of <ins title="Sun">☉</ins> and <ins title="Mercury">☿</ins>. By his own calculation he will +survive till the 26th of the same month. This small difference +between us we have disputed whenever we have met these nine years +past; but at length he is inclinable to agree with my judgment. +Which of us is most exact, a little time will now determine.”</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>In the next issue “Poor Richard” announces that his circumstances are +now much easier. His wife has a pot of her own and is no longer obliged +to borrow one of a neighbor; and, best of all, they have something to +put in it, which has made her temper more pacific. Then he begins to +tease Titan Leeds. He recalls his prediction of his death, but is not +quite sure whether it occurred; for he has been prevented by domestic +affairs from being at the bedside and closing the eyes of his old +friend. The stars have foretold the death with their usual exactitude; +but sometimes Providence interferes in these matters, which makes the +astrologer’s art a little uncertain. But on the whole he thinks Titan +must be dead, “for there appears in his name, as I am assured, an +Almanack for the year 1734 in which I am treated in a very gross and +unhandsome manner; in which I am called a false predicter, an ignorant, +a conceited scribbler, a fool, and a lyar;” and he goes on to show that +his good friend Titan would never have treated him in this way.</p> + +<p>The next year he is still making sport of Titan, the deceased Titan, and +the ghost of Titan, “who pretends to be still living, and to write +Almanacks in spight of me;” and he proves again by means of the funniest +arguments that he must be dead. Another year he devotes several pages of +nonsense to disproving the charge that “Poor Richard” is not a real +person. He ridicules astrology and weather forecasting by pretending to +be very serious over it. At any rate, he says, “we always hit the day of +the month, and that I suppose is esteemed one of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> most useful things +in an Almanack.” He and his good old wife are getting on now better than +ever; and the almanac for 1738 is prepared by Mistress Saunders herself, +who rails at her husband and makes queer work with eclipses and +forecasting. Then in the number for 1740 Titan writes a letter to “Poor +Richard” from the other world.</p> + +<p>Besides the formal essays or prefaces which appeared in each number, +there were numerous verses, paragraphs of admirable satire on the events +of the day or the weaknesses of human nature, and those prudential +maxims which in the end became the most famous of all. As we look +through a collection of these almanacs for an hour or so we seem to have +lived among the colonists, who were not then Americans, but merry +Englishmen, heavy eaters and drinkers, full of broad jokes, whimsical, +humorous ways, and forever gossiping with hearty good nature over the +ludicrous accidents of life, the love-affairs, the married infelicities, +and the cuckolds. It is the freshness, the sap, and the rollicking +happiness of old English life.</p> +<blockquote> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Old Batchelor would have a wife that’s wise,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Fair, rich and young a maiden for his bed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not proud, nor churlish, but of faultless size,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A country housewife in the city bred.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">He’s a nice fool and long in vain hath staid;<br /></span> +<span class="i8">He should bespeak her, there’s none ready made.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="center">“Never spare the parson’s wine, nor the baker’s pudding.”</p> + +<p class="center">“Ne’er take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“My love and I for kisses play’d,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">She would keep stakes, I was content,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when I won, she would be paid,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">This made me ask her what she meant:<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Quoth she, since you are in the wrangling vein<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Here take your kisses, give me mine again.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="center">“Who has deceived thee so oft as thyself?”</p> +<p class="center">“There is no little enemy.”</p> +<p class="center">“<i>Of the Eclipses this year.</i></p> +<p>“During the first visible eclipse Saturn is retrograde: For +which reason the crabs will go sidelong and the ropemakers +backward. The belly will wag before, and the —— will sit down +first.... When a New Yorker thinks to say <span class="smcap">THIS</span> he shall say +<span class="smcap">DISS</span>, and the People in New England and Cape May will not be +able to say Cow for their Lives, but will be forc’d to say <span class="smcap">KEOW</span> +by a certain involuntary Twist in the Root of their Tongues....”</p> + +<p class="center">“Many dishes many diseases.”</p> + +<p class="center">“Let thy maid servant be faithful, strong and homely.”</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Here I sit naked, like some fairy elf;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My seat a pumpkin; I grudge no man’s pelf,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though I’ve no bread nor cheese upon my shelf,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I’ll tell thee gratis, when it safe is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To purge, to bleed, or cut thy cattle or—thyself.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="center">“Necessity never made a good bargain.”</p> + +<p class="center">“A little house well filled, a little field well till’d and a +little wife well will’d are great riches.”</p> + +<p class="center">“<i>Of the Diseases this year.</i></p> +<p>“This Year the Stone-blind shall see but very little; the Deaf +shall hear but poorly; and the Dumb shan’t speak very plain. And +it’s much, if my Dame Bridget talks at all this Year. Whole +Flocks, Herds and Droves of Sheep, Swine and Oxen, Cocks and +Hens, Ducks and Drakes, Geese and Ganders shall go to Pot; but +the Mortality will not be altogether so great among Cats, Dogs +and Horses....”</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>“<i>Of the Fruits of the Earth.</i></p> + +<p>“I find that this will be a plentiful Year of all manner of good +Things, to those who have enough; but the Orange Trees in +Greenland will go near to fare the worse for the Cold. As for +Oats, they’ll be a great Help to Horses....”</p> + +<p class="center">“Lend money to an enemy, and thou’lt gain him; to a friend, and +thou’lt lose him.”</p> + +<p class="center">“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut +afterwards.”</p> + +<p class="center">“It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>For twenty years and more “Poor Richard” kept up this continuous stream +of fun, breaking forth afresh every autumn,—sound, wholesome, dealing +with the real things and the elemental joys of life, and expressed in +that inimitable language of which Franklin was master. In this way was +built up the greater part of his wonderful reputation, which in some of +its manifestations surprises us so much. Such a reputation is usually of +long growth; one or two conspicuous acts will not achieve it. But the +man who every year for nearly a generation delighted every human being +in the country, from the ploughman and hunter to the royal governors, +was laying in store for himself a sure foundation of influence.</p> + +<p>The success of “Poor Richard” was immediate. The first number of it went +through several editions, and after that the annual sales amounted to +about ten thousand copies. For the last number which Franklin prepared +for the year 1758, before he turned over the enterprise to his partner, +he wrote a most happy preface. It was always his habit, when a +controversy or service he was engaged in was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>finished, to summarize the +whole affair in a way that strengthened his own position and left an +indelible impression which all the efforts of his enemies could not +efface. Accordingly, for this last preface he invented a homely, +catching tale that enabled him to summarize all the best sayings of +“Poor Richard” for the last twenty-five years.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I stopt my Horse lately where a great Number of people were +collected at a Vendue of Merchant Goods. The Hour of Sale not +being come, they were conversing on the Badness of the Times, +and one of the Company call’d to a plain clean old Man, with +white Locks, ‘Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the Times? +Won’t these heavy Taxes quite ruin the Country? How shall we be +ever able to pay them? What would you advise us to?’—Father +Abraham stood up, and reply’d, ‘If you’d have my Advice, I’ll +give it you in short, for a Word to the Wise is enough, and many +Words won’t fill a Bushel, as Poor Richard says.’ They join’d in +desiring him to speak his Mind, and gathering round him, he +proceeded as follows:</p> + +<p>“‘Friends,’ says he, ‘and neighbours, 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 +Abatement. However let us hearken to good Advice, and something +may be done for us; God helps them that help themselves, as Poor +Richard says in his Almanack of 1733.</p> + +<p>“‘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, if we reckon +all that is spent in absolute Sloth, or doing of nothing, with +that which is spent in idle Employments or Amusements, that +amount to nothing. Sloth, by bringing on Diseases absolutely +shortens Life. Sloth, like Rust, consumes faster than Labour +wears, while the used Key is always bright, as Poor Richard +says. But dost thou love Life, then do not squander Time, for +that’s the Stuff Life is made of, as poor Richard says.—How +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +much more than is necessary do we spend in Sleep! forgetting +that The Sleeping Fox catches no Poultry, and that there will be +sleeping enough in the Grave, as Poor Richard says. If Time be +of all Things the most precious, wasting of Time must be, as +Poor Richard says, the greatest Prodigality, since, as he +elsewhere tells us, Lost Time is never found again; and what we +call Time-enough, always proves little enough. Let us then be up +and doing, and doing to the Purpose; so by Diligence shall we do +more with less Perplexity. Sloth makes all Things difficult, but +Industry all Things easy, as Poor Richard says; and He that +riseth late, must trot all Day, and shall scarce overtake his +Business at night. While Laziness travels so slowly, that +Poverty soon overtakes him, as we read in Poor Richard, who +adds, Drive thy Business, let that not drive thee; and Early to +Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>“‘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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>“‘And now to conclude, Experience keeps a dear School, but Fools +will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true, we +may give Advice, but we cannot give Conduct, as Poor Richard +says: However, remember this, They that won’t be counselled, +can’t be helped, as Poor Richard says: and farther, That if you +will not hear Reason, she’ll surely wrap your Knuckles.’</p> + +<p>“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 Vendue +opened and they began to buy extravagantly, notwithstanding all +his Cautions and their own Fear of Taxes.”</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> +</blockquote> + +<p>This speech of the wise old man at the auction, while perhaps not so +interesting to us now as are some other parts of “Poor Richard,” was a +great hit in its day; in fact, the greatest Franklin ever made. Before +it appeared “Poor Richard’s” reputation was confined principally to +America, and without this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> final speech might have continued within +those limits. But the “clean old Man, with white locks” spread the fame +of “Poor Dick” over the whole civilized world. His speech was reprinted +on broadsides in England to be fastened to the sides of houses, +translated into French, and bought by the clergy and gentry for +distribution to parishioners and tenants. Mr. Paul Leicester Ford, in +his excellent little volume, “The Sayings of Poor Richard,” has +summarized its success. Seventy editions of it have been printed in +English, fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and nine in Italian. It +has also been translated into Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Welsh, Polish, +Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian, Dutch, Catalan, Chinese, and Modern Greek, +reprinted at least four hundred times, and still lives.</p> + +<p>It was quite common a hundred years ago to charge Franklin with being an +arrant plagiarist. It is true that the sayings of “Poor Richard” and a +great deal that went to make up the almanac were taken from Rabelais, +Bacon, Rochefoucauld, Ray Palmer, and any other sources where they could +be found or suggested. But “Poor Richard” changed and rewrote them to +suit his purpose, and gave most of them a far wider circulation than +they had before.</p> + +<p>More serious charges have, however, been made, and they are summarized +in Davis’s “Travels in America,”<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> which was published in 1803. I have +already noticed one of these,—the charge that his letter on air-baths +was taken from Aubrey’s “Miscellanies,”—which, on examination, I cannot +find to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> sustained. Davis also charges that Franklin’s famous epitaph +on himself was taken from a Latin one by an Eton school-boy, published +with an English translation in the <i>Gentleman’s Magazine</i> for February, +1736. Franklin’s epitaph is already familiar to most of us:</p> + +<p class="center">The Body<br /> +of<br /> +Benjamin Franklin<br /> +Printer<br /> +(Like the cover of an old book<br /> +Its contents torn out<br /> +And stript of its lettering and gilding)<br /> +Lies here, food for worms.<br /> +But the work shall not be lost<br /> +For it will (as he believed) appear once more<br /> +In a new and more elegant edition<br /> +Revised and corrected<br /> +by<br /> +The Author.</p> + +<p>The Eton boy’s was somewhat like it:</p> + +<p class="center">Vitæ Volumine peracto<br /> +Hic Finis Jacobi Tonson<br /> +Perpoliti Sociorum Principis;<br /> +Qui Velut Obstetrix Musarum<br /> +In Lucem Edivit<br /> +Fœlices Ingenii Partus.<br /> +Lugete, Scriptorum chorus,<br /> +Et Frangite Calamos;<br /> +Ille vester, Margine Erasus, deletur!<br /> +Sed hæc postrema Inscriptio<br /> +Huic primæ Mortis Paginæ<br /> +Imprimatur,<br /> +Ne Prælo Sepulchri Commissus,<br /> +Ipse Editor careat Titulo:<br /> +Hic Jacet Bibliopola<br /> +Folio vitæ delapso<br /> +Expectans novam Editionem<br /> +Auctiorem et Emendatiorem.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +One of these productions might certainly have been suggested by the +other. But Franklin’s grandson, William Temple Franklin, who professed +to have the original in his possession, in his grandfather’s +handwriting, said that it was dated 1728, and it is printed with that +date in one of the editions of Franklin’s works. If this date is +correct, it would be too early for the epitaph to have been copied from +the one in the <i>Gentleman’s Magazine</i> for February, 1736. It might be +said that possibly the Eton boy knew of Franklin’s epitaph; but I cannot +find that it was printed or in any way made public before 1736. There is +no reason why both should not be original, for everybody wrote epitaphs +in that century.</p> + +<p>Franklin has been credited by one of his biographers with the invention +of the comic epitaph, and Smollett’s famous inscription on Commodore +Trunnion’s tomb in “Peregrine Pickle” is described as a mere imitation +of Franklin’s epitaph on himself. But there is no evidence that Smollett +had seen Franklin’s production before “Peregrine Pickle” was published +in 1750, and it was not necessary that he should. There were plenty of +similar productions long before that time. Franklin’s own <i>Gazette</i>, +January 6 to January 15, 1735/6, gives a very witty inscription on a +dead greyhound, which is described as cut on the walls of Lord Cobham’s +gardens at Stow. In writing comic epitaphs Franklin was merely following +the fashion of his time, and he was hardly as good at it as Smollett.</p> + +<p>He has himself told us the source of one of his best short essays, “The +Ephemera,” a beautiful little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> allegory which he wrote to please Madame +Brillon in Paris. In a letter to William Carmichael, of June 17, 1780, +he describes the circumstances under which it was written, and says that +“the thought was partly taken from a little piece of some unknown +writer, which I met with fifty years since in a newspaper.”<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> It was +in this way that he worked over old material for “Poor Richard.” +Everything he had read seemed capable of supplying suggestions, and it +must be said that he usually improved on the work of other men.</p> + +<p>He was very fond of paraphrasing the Bible as a humorous task and also +to show what he conceived to be the meaning of certain passages. He +altered the wording of the Book of Job so as to make it a satire on +English politics. He did it cleverly, and it was amusing; but it was a +very cheap sort of humor.</p> + +<p>His most famous joke of this kind was his “Parable against Persecution.” +He had learned it by heart, and when he was in England, and the +discussion turned on religious liberty, he would open the Bible and read +his parable as the last chapter in Genesis. The imitation of the +language of Scripture was perfect, and the parable itself was so +interesting and striking that every one was delighted with it. His +guests would wonder and say that they had never known there was such a +chapter in Genesis.</p> + +<p>The parable was published and universally admired, but when it appeared +in the <i>Gentleman’s Magazine</i> some one very quickly discovered that it +had been taken from Jeremy Taylor’s Polemical Discourses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>, and there was +a great discussion over it. Franklin afterwards said, in a letter to Mr. +Vaughan, that he had taken it from Taylor; and John Adams said that he +never pretended that it was original.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> It is interesting to see how +cleverly he improved on Taylor’s language:</p> + +<div class="colleft"> +<p class="smcap center">Taylor.</p> +<p>“When Abraham sat at his tent door according to his custom, +waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping +and leaning on his staff; weary with age and travel, coming +towards him, who was an hundred years old. He received him +kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, and caused him to sit +down; but observing that the old man ate and prayed not, nor +begged for a blessing on his meat, he asked him why he did not +worship the God of heaven? The old man told him, that he +worshipped the fire only and acknowledged no other god. At which +answer Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust the old +man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the +night and an unguarded condition. When the old man was gone, God +called to Abraham, and asked him where the stranger was? He +replied, I thrust him away, because he did not worship thee. God +answered him, I have suffered him these hundred years, although +he dishonoured me; and couldst not thou endure him one night, +and when he gave thee no trouble? Upon this, saith the story, +Abraham fetched him back again, and gave him hospitable +entertainment and wise instruction. Go thou and do likewise and +thy charity will be rewarded by the God of Abraham.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="colright"> +<p class="smcap center">Franklin.</p> + +<p>“¶ <sup>1</sup> And it came to pass after these things, that Abraham sat in +the door of his tent, about the going down of the sun. ¶ <sup>2</sup> And +behold a man, bent with age, coming from the way of the +wilderness leaning on his staff. ¶ <sup>3</sup> 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 in the morning +and go on thy way. ¶ <sup>4</sup> But the man said, Nay, for I will abide +under this tree. ¶ <sup>5</sup> And Abraham pressed him greatly: so he +turned and they went into the tent, and Abraham baked unleavened +bread, and they did eat. ¶ <sup>6</sup> 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? ¶ <sup>7</sup> And +the man answered, and said, I do not worship thy God, neither do +I call upon his name; for I have made to myself a god, which +abideth in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +house and provideth me with all things. ¶ <sup>8</sup> And +Abraham’s zeal was kindled against the man; and he arose and +fell upon him, and drove him forth with blows into the +wilderness. ¶ <sup>9</sup> And at midnight God called unto Abraham saying, +Abraham, where is the stranger? ¶ <sup>10</sup> And Abraham answered and +said, Lord, he would not worship thee, neither would he call +upon thy name; therefore have I driven him out from before my +face into the wilderness. ¶ <sup>11</sup> And God said, have I borne with +him these hundred and ninety and eight years, and nourished him, +and Cloathed him, notwithstanding his rebellion against me; and +couldest not thou, who art thyself a sinner, bear with him one +night? ¶ <sup>12</sup> And Abraham said, Let not the anger of the Lord wax +hot against his servant; lo, I have sinned; forgive me I pray +thee. ¶ <sup>13</sup> 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. ¶ <sup>14</sup> And God spake unto +Abraham, saying, For this thy sin shall thy seed be afflicted +four hundred years in a strange land. ¶ <sup>15</sup> But for thy +repentance will I deliver them; and they shall come forth with +power and gladness of heart, and with much substance.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p></div> + +<p style="clear:both;">The parable was, indeed, older than Taylor for Taylor said he had found +it in “The Jews’ Book,” and at length it was discovered in a Latin +dedication of a rabbinical work, called “The Rod of Judah,” published at +Amsterdam in 1651, which ascribed the parable to the Persian poet Saadi. +None of them, however, had thought of introducing it into the Old +Testament, nor had they told it so well as Franklin, who gave it a new +currency, and it was reprinted as a half-penny tract and also in Lord +Kames’s “Sketches of the History of Man.”</p> + +<p>While on this question of plagiarism it may be said that Franklin’s +admirable style was in part modelled on that of the famous Massachusetts +divine, Cotton Mather, whom he had known and whose books he had read in +his boyhood. The similarity is, indeed, quite striking, and for vigorous +English he could hardly have had a better model. But he improved so much +on Mather that his style is entirely his own. It is the most effective +literary style ever used by an American. Nearly one hundred and fifty +years have passed since his Autobiography was written, yet it is still +read with delight by all classes of people, has been called for at some +public libraries four hundred times a year, and shows as much promise of +immortality as the poems of Longfellow or the romances of Hawthorne.</p> + +<p>Besides his almanac and newspaper, Franklin extended his business by +publishing books, consisting mostly of religious tracts and +controversies. He also imported books from England, and sold them along +with the lamp-black, soap, and groceries contained in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> that strange +little store and printing-office on Market Street. He sent one of his +journeymen to Charleston to establish a branch printing-office, of which +Franklin was to pay one-third of the expense and receive one-third of +the profits. After continuing in this manner some five years, the +Legislature of the province in 1736 elected him clerk of that body, +which enabled him to retain the printing of the notes, laws, paper +money, and other public jobs, which he tells us were very profitable.</p> + +<p>The next year Colonel Spotswood, Postmaster-General of the colonies, +made him deputy postmaster of Philadelphia. This appointment reinforced +his other occupations. He could collect news for his <i>Gazette</i> more +easily, and also had greater facilities for distributing it to his +subscribers. In those days the postmaster of a town usually owned a +newspaper, because he could have the post-riders distribute copies of it +without cost, and he did not allow them to carry any newspaper but his +own. Franklin had been injured by the refusal of his predecessor to +distribute his <i>Gazette</i>; but when he became postmaster, finding his +subscriptions and advertisements much increased and his competitor’s +newspaper declining, he magnanimously refused to retaliate, and allowed +his riders to carry the rival journal.</p> + +<p>How much money Franklin actually made in his business is difficult to +determine, although many guesses have been made. He was, it would seem, +more largely and widely engaged than any other printer in the colonies, +for nearly all the important<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> printing of the middle colonies and a +large part of that of the southern colonies came to his office. He made +enough to retire at forty-two years of age, having been working for +himself only twenty years.</p> + +<p>On retiring he turned over his printing and publishing interest to his +foreman, David Hall, who was to carry on the business in his own way, +but under the firm name of Franklin & Hall, and to pay Franklin a +thousand pounds a year for eighteen years, at the end of which time Hall +was to become sole proprietor. This thousand pounds which Franklin was +to receive may be looked upon as an indication that before his +retirement the business was yielding him annually something more than +that sum, possibly almost two thousand pounds, as some have supposed.</p> + +<p>He never again engaged actively in any gainful trade, and his retirement +seems to have been caused by the passion for scientific research which a +few years before had seized him, and by that trait of his character +which sometimes appears in the form of a sort of indolence and at other +times as a wilful determination to follow the bent of his inclinations +and pleasures. Although extremely economical and thrifty in practice as +well as in precept, he had very little love of money, and took no +pleasure in business for mere business’ sake. The charges of sordidness +and mean penny-wisdom are not borne out by any of the real facts of his +life. It is not improbable that just before his retirement he had +advanced far enough in his scientific experiments to see dimly in the +future the chance of a great discovery and distinction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> He certainly +went to work with a will as soon as he got rid of the cares of the +printing-office, and in a few years was rewarded.</p> + +<p>He had invested some of his savings in houses and land in Philadelphia, +and the thousand pounds (five thousand dollars) which he was to receive +for eighteen years was a very good income in those times, and more than +equivalent to ten thousand dollars at the present day. He moved from the +bustle of Market Street and his home in the old printing, stationery, +and grocery house, and is supposed to have taken a house at the +southeast corner of Second and Race Streets. This was at the northern +edge of the town, close to the river, where in the summer evenings he +renewed his youthful fondness for swimming.</p> + +<p>It must be confessed that very few self-made men, conducting a +profitable business with the prospect of steady accumulation of money, +have willingly resigned it in the prime of life, under the influence of +such sentiments as appear to have moved him. But that intense and +absolute devotion to business which is the prevailing mood of our times +had not then begun in America, and it was rather the fashion to retire.</p> + +<p>The years which followed his retirement, and before he became absorbed +in political affairs, seem to have had for him a great deal of ideal +happiness. He lived like a man of taste and a scholar accustomed to +cultured surroundings more than like a self-made man who had battled for +forty years with the material world. In writing to his mother, he +said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I read a great deal, ride a little, do a little business for +myself, now and then for others, retire when I can, and go into +company when I please; so the years roll round, and the last +will come, when I would rather have it said, He lived usefully +than He died rich.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>After his withdrawal from business he remained postmaster of +Philadelphia, and in 1753, after he had held that office for sixteen +years, he was appointed Postmaster-General of all the colonies, with +William Hunter, of Virginia, as his colleague, and he retained this +position until dismissed from it by the British government in 1774, on +the eve of the Revolution. There was some salary attached to these +offices, that of Postmaster-General yielding three hundred pounds. The +postmastership of Philadelphia entailed no difficult duties at that +time, and his wife assisted him; but when he was made Postmaster-General +he more than earned his salary during the first few years by making +extensive journeys through the colonies to reform the system. The salary +attached to the office was not to be allowed unless the office produced +it; and during the first four years the unpaid salary of Franklin and +his colleague amounted to nine hundred and fifty pounds. He procured +faster post-riders, increased the number of mails between important +places, made a charge for carrying newspapers, had all newspapers +carried by the riders, and reduced some of the rates of postage.</p> + +<p>But he was not the founder of the modern post-office system, nor was he +the first Postmaster-General of America, as some of his biographers +insist. He merely improved the system which he found and increased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> its +revenues as others have done before and since.</p> + +<p>The leisure he sought by retirement was enjoyed but a few years. He +became more and more involved in public affairs, and soon spent most of +his time in England as agent of Pennsylvania or other colonies, and +during the Revolution he was in France. There was a salary attached to +these offices. As agent of Pennsylvania he received five hundred pounds +a year, and when he represented other colonies he received from +Massachusetts four hundred, from Georgia two hundred, and from New +Jersey one hundred. These sums, together with the thousand pounds a year +from Hall, would seem to be enough for a man of his habits; but +apparently he used it all, and was often slow in paying his debts.</p> + +<p>In a letter written to Mrs. Stevenson in London, while he was envoy to +France, he expresses surprise that some of the London tradespeople still +considered him their debtor for things obtained from them during his +residence there some years before, and he asks Mrs. Stevenson, with whom +he had lodged, how his account stands with her. The thousand pounds from +Hall ceased in 1766, and after that his income must have been seriously +diminished, for the return from his invested savings is supposed to have +been only about seven hundred pounds. He appears to have overdrawn his +account with Hall, for there is a manuscript letter in the possession of +Mr. Howard Edwards, of Philadelphia, written by Hall March 1, 1770, +urging Franklin to pay nine hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> and ninety-three pounds which had +been due for three years.</p> + +<p>He procured for his natural son, William, the royal governorship of New +Jersey, and he was diligent all his life in getting government places +for relatives. This practice does not appear to have been much +disapproved of in his time; he was not subjected to abuse on account of +it; and, indeed, nepotism is far preferable to some of the more modern +methods.</p> + +<p>When Governor of Pennsylvania, after the Revolution, he declined, we are +told, to receive any salary for his three years’ service, accepting only +his expenses for postage, which was high in those times, and amounted in +this case to seventy-seven pounds for the three years. This is one of +the innumerable statements about him in which the truth is distorted for +the sake of eulogy. He did not decline to receive his salary, but he +spent it in charity, and we find bequests of it in his will.</p> + +<p>As minister to France he had at first five hundred pounds a year and his +expenses, and this was paid. He was also promised a secretary at a +salary of one thousand pounds a year; but, as the secretary was never +sent, he did the work himself with the assistance of his grandson, +William Temple Franklin, who was allowed only three hundred pounds a +year.</p> + +<p>He considered himself very much underpaid for his services in resisting +the Stamp Act, for his mission to Canada in 1776 at the risk of his +life, and for the long and laborious years which he spent in France. +Certainly five hundred pounds a year and expenses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> was very small pay +for his diplomatic work in Paris, but during the last six years of his +mission there he received two thousand five hundred pounds a year, which +would seem to be sufficient compensation for acting as ambassador, as +well as merchant to buy and ship supplies to the United States, and as +financial agent to examine and accept innumerable bills of exchange +drawn by the Continental Congress (Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. ix. +p. 127). In 1788, two years before his death, he made a statement of +these claims for extra service and sent it to Congress, accompanied by a +letter to his friend, Charles Thomson, the secretary.</p> + +<p>He thought that Congress should recognize these services by a grant of +land, an office, or in some other way, as was the custom in Europe when +an ambassador returned from a long foreign service; and he reminded +Thomson that both Arthur Lee and John Jay had been rewarded handsomely +for similar services. But the old Congress under the Articles of +Confederation was then just expiring, and took no notice of his +petition; and when the new Congress came in under the Constitution, it +does not appear that his claims were presented. It is a mistake to say, +however, as some have done, that the United States never paid him for +his services and still owes him money. These claims were for extra +services which the government had never obligated itself to pay.</p> + +<p>He died quite well off for those times, leaving an estate worth, it is +supposed, considerably over one hundred thousand dollars. The rapid rise +in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> value of houses and land in Philadelphia after the Revolution +accounts for a part of this sum. He owned five or six large houses in +Philadelphia, the printing-house which he built for his grandson, and +several small houses. He had also a number of vacant lots in the town, a +house and lot in Boston, a tract of land in Nova Scotia, another large +tract in Georgia, and still another in Ohio. His personal property, +consisting mostly of bonds and money, was worth from sixty to seventy +thousand dollars.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Pp. 209-217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Bigelow’s Franklin from His Own Writings, vol. ii. p. 511.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. v. p. 376; also vol. x. p. 78; +Adams’s Works, vol. i. p. 659.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<h2>V<br /><br /> + +<small>SCIENCE</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> exact period at which Franklin began to turn his attention to +original researches in science is difficult to determine. There are no +traces of such efforts when he was a youth in Boston. He was not then +interested in science, even in a boyish way. His instincts at that time +led him almost exclusively in the direction of general reading and the +training of himself in the literary art by verse-writing and by +analyzing the essays of the <i>Spectator</i>.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere of Boston was completely theological. There was no room, +no opportunity, for science, and no inducement or even suggestion that +would lead to it, still less to original research in it. We find +Franklin in a state of rebellion against the prevailing tone of thought, +writing against it in his brother’s newspaper at the risk of +imprisonment, and in a manner more bitter and violent than anything he +afterwards composed. If he had remained in Boston it is not likely that +he would ever have taken seriously to science, for all his energies +would have been absorbed in fighting those intolerant conditions which +smothered all scientific inquiries.</p> + +<p>In Pennsylvania he found the conditions reversed. The Quakers and the +German sects which made up the majority of the people of that province +in colonial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> times had more advanced ideas of liberty and free thought +than any of the other religious bodies in America, and in consequence +science flourished in Pennsylvania long before it gained entrance into +the other colonies. The first American medical college, the first +hospital, and the first separate dispensary were established there. +Several citizens of Philadelphia who were contemporaries of Franklin +achieved sufficient reputation in science to make their names well known +in Europe.</p> + +<p>David Rittenhouse invented the metallic thermometer, developed the +construction of the compensation pendulum, and made valuable experiments +on the compressibility of water. He became a famous astronomer, +constructed an orrery to show the movements of the stars which was an +improvement on all its predecessors, and conducted the observations of +the transit of Venus in 1769. Pennsylvania was the only one of the +colonies that took these observations, which in that year were taken by +all the European governments in various parts of the world. The +Legislature and public institutions, together with a large number of +individuals, assisted in the undertaking, showing what very favorable +conditions for science prevailed in the province.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>These were the conditions which seem to have aroused Franklin. Without +them his mind tended more naturally to literature, politics, and schemes +of philanthropy and reform; but when his strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> intellect was once +directed towards science, he easily excelled in it. Some of the early +questions discussed by the Junto, such as “Is sound an entity or body?” +and “How may the phenomena of vapors be explained?” show an inclination +towards scientific research; and it is very likely that he studied such +subjects more or less during the ten years which followed his beginning +business for himself.</p> + +<p>In his <i>Gazette</i> for December 15, 1737, there is an essay on the causes +of earthquakes, summarizing the various explanations which had been +given by learned men, and this essay is supposed to have been written by +him. Six years afterwards he made what has been usually considered his +first discovery,—namely, that the northeast storms of the Atlantic +coast move against the wind; or, in other words, that instead of these +storms coming from the northeast, whence the wind blows, they come from +the southwest. He was led to this discovery by attempting to observe an +eclipse of the moon which occurred on the evening of October 21, 1743; +but he was prevented by a heavy northeaster which did great damage on +the coast. He was surprised to find that it had not prevented the people +of Boston from seeing the eclipse. The storm, though coming from the +northeast, swept over Philadelphia before it reached Boston. For several +years he carefully collected information about these storms, and found +in every instance that they began to leeward and were often more violent +there than farther to windward.</p> + +<p>He seems to have been the first person to observe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> these facts, but he +took no pains to make his observations public, except in conversation or +in letters to prominent men like Jared Eliot, of Connecticut, and these +letters were not published until long afterwards. This was his method in +all his investigations. He never wrote a book on science; he merely +reported his investigations and experiments by letter, usually to +learned people in England or France. There were no scientific +periodicals in those days. The men who were interested in such things +kept in touch with one another by means of correspondence and an +occasional pamphlet or book.</p> + +<p>During the same period in which he was making observations on northeast +storms he invented the “Pennsylvania Fireplace,” as he called it, a new +sort of stove which was a great improvement over the old methods of +heating rooms. He published a complete description of this stove in +1745, and it is one of the most interesting essays he ever wrote. It is +astonishing with what pleasure one can still read the first half of this +essay written one hundred and fifty years ago on the driest of dry +subjects. The language is so clear and beautiful, and the homely +personality of the writer so manifest, that one is inclined to lay down +the principle that the test of literary genius is the ability to be +fascinating about stoves.</p> + +<p>He explained the laws of hot air and its movements; the Holland stove, +which afforded but little ventilation; the German stove, which was +simply an iron box fed from outside, with no ventilating properties; and +the great open fireplace fed with huge logs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> which required such a +draft to prevent the smoke from coming back into the room that the outer +door had to be left open,—and if the door was shut the draft would draw +the outer air whistling and howling through the crevices of the windows. +His “Pennsylvania Fireplace” was what we would now call an +open-fireplace stove. It was intended to be less wasteful of fuel than +the ordinary fireplace and to give ventilation, while combining the +heating power of the German and Holland stoves. It continued in common +use for nearly a century, and modified forms of it are still called the +Franklin stoves.</p> + +<p>One of its greatest advantages was that it saved wood, which, for some +time prior to the introduction of coal, had to be brought such a long +distance that it was becoming very expensive. Franklin refused to take +out a patent for his invention; for he was on principle opposed to +patents, and said that as we enjoyed great advantages from the +inventions of others, we should be willing to serve them by inventions +of our own. He afterwards learned that a London ironmonger made a few +changes in the “Pennsylvania Fireplace” and sold it as his own, gaining +a small fortune.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s invention was undoubtedly an improvement on the old methods +of heating and ventilation; but he was not, as has been absurdly +claimed, the founder of the “American stove system,” for that system +very soon departed from his lines and went back to the air-tight stoves +of Germany and Holland.</p> + +<p>It was not until 1746 or 1747, after he had been making original +researches in science for about five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> years, that he took up the subject +of electricity, and he was then forty-one years old. It appears that Mr. +Peter Collinson, of London, who was interested in botany and other +sciences, and corresponded largely on such subjects, had presented to +the Philadelphia Library one of the glass tubes which were used at that +time for producing electricity by rubbing them with silk or skin. +Franklin began experimenting with this tube, and seems to have been +fascinated by the new subject. On March 28, 1747, he wrote to Mr. +Collinson thanking him for the tube, and saying that they had observed +with its aid some phenomena which they thought to be new.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“For my own part, I never was before engaged in any study that +so totally engrossed my attention and my time as this has lately +done; for what with making experiments when I can be alone, and +repeating them to my friends and acquaintance, who from the +novelty of the thing, come continually in crowds to see them, I +have, during some months past, had little leisure for anything +else.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>It will be observed that he speaks of crowds coming to see the +experiments, and this confirms what I have already shown of the strong +interest in science which prevailed at that time in Pennsylvania, and +which had evidently first aroused Franklin. In fact, a renewed interest +in science had been recently stirred up all over the world, and people +who had never before thought much of such things became investigators. +Voltaire, who resembled Franklin in many ways, had turned aside from +literature, and at forty-one, the same age at which Franklin began the +study of electricity, had become a man of science, and for four years +devoted himself to experiments.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +Franklin was by no means alone in his studies. Besides the crowds who +were interested from mere curiosity, there were three men—Ebenezer +Kinnersley, Thomas Hopkinson, and Philip Syng—who experimented with +him, and it was no mere amateurish work in which these men were engaged. +Franklin was their spokesman and reported the results of his and their +labor by means of letters to Mr. Peter Collinson. Within six months +Hopkinson had observed the power of points to throw off electricity, or +electrical fire, as he called it, and Franklin had discovered and +described what is now known as positive and negative electricity. Within +the same time Syng had invented an electrical machine, consisting of a +sphere revolved on an axis with a handle, which was better adapted for +producing the electrical spark than the tube-rubbing practised in +Europe.</p> + +<p>The experiments and the letters to Collinson describing them continued, +and about this time we find Franklin writing a long and apparently the +first intelligent explanation of the action of the Leyden jar. Then +followed attempts to explain thunder and lightning as phenomena of +electricity, and on July 29, 1750, Franklin sent to Collinson a paper +announcing the invention of the lightning-rod, together with an +explanation of its action.</p> + +<p>In these papers he also suggested an experiment which would prove +positively that lightning was a form of electricity. The two phenomena +were alike as regarded light, color, crooked direction, noise, swift +motion, being conducted by metals, subsisting in water or ice, rending +bodies, killing animals, melting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> metals, and setting fire to various +substances. It remained to demonstrate with absolute certainty that +lightning resembled electricity in being attracted by points; and for +this purpose Franklin proposed that a man stand in a sort of sentry-box +on the top of some high tower or steeple and with a pointed rod draw +electricity from passing thunder-clouds.</p> + +<p>This suggestion was successfully carried out in France, in the presence +of the king, at the county-seat of the Duke D’Ayen; and afterwards +Buffon, D’Alibard, and Du Lor confirmed it by experiments of their own. +But they did not use steeples; they erected lofty iron rods, in one +instance ninety-nine feet high. Nevertheless, it was in effect the same +method that Franklin had suggested. The experiment was repeated in +various forms in England, and the Philadelphia philosopher, postmaster, +and author of “Poor Richard” became instantly famous as the discoverer +of the identity of lightning with electricity.</p> + +<p>Two years before these experiments were inaugurated he had retired from +business for various reasons, chief among which was his strong desire to +devote more time to science. His letters continue to be filled with +closely reasoned details of all sorts of experiments. So earnest were +these Philadelphia investigators, that when Kinnersley wrote complaining +that in travelling to Boston he found difficulty in keeping up his +experiments, Franklin, in reply, suggested a portable electrical +apparatus which would not break on a journey.</p> + +<p>In a letter written to Collinson on October 19, 1752, Franklin says he +had heard of the success<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> in France of the experiment he had suggested +for drawing the lightning from clouds by means of an elevated metal rod; +but in the mean time he had contrived another method for accomplishing +the same result without the aid of a steeple or lofty iron rod. This was +the kite experiment of which we have heard so much, and he goes on to +describe it:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so +long as to reach to the four corners of a large thin silk +handkerchief when extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief +to the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite; +which being properly accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, +will rise in the air, like those made of paper; but this being +of silk is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a thunder gust +without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is +to be fixed a very sharp pointed wire, rising a foot or more +above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be +tied a silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key may +be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust +appears to be coming on, and the person who holds the string +must stand within a door or window, or under some cover, so that +the silk ribbon may not be wet; and care must be taken that the +twine does not touch the frame of the door or window. As soon as +any of the thunder clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire +will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with all +the twine, will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the +twine, will stand out every way, and be attracted by an +approaching finger. And when the rain has wetted the kite and +twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will +find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of +your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged: and from +electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled, and all the +other electric experiments be performed, which are usually done +by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the +sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning +completely demonstrated.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This is the only description by Franklin of the experiment which added +so much to his reputation. Franklin and the kite became a story for +school-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>books; innumerable pictures of him and his son drawing the +lightning down the string were made and reproduced for a century or more +in every conceivable form, and even engraved on some of our national +currency.</p> + +<p>The experiment was made in June, 1752; in the following October the +above letter was written, and the news it contained appears to have +rushed over the world without any effort on his part to spread it. He +never wrote anything more concerning this experiment than the very +simple and unaffected letter to Mr. Collinson. But people, of course, +asked him about it, and from the details which they professed to have +obtained grand statements have been built up describing his conduct and +emotions on that memorable June afternoon on the outskirts of +Philadelphia, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of the present Vine +Street, near Fourth; how his heart stood still with anxiety lest the +trial should fail; how with trembling hand he applied his knuckles to +the key, and the wild exultation with which he saw success crown his +efforts.</p> + +<p>But it is safe to say that there were none of these theatrical +exhibitions, and that he made the experiment in that matter-of-fact and +probably half-humorous way in which he did everything. Nothing important +depended on it, for he had already proved conclusively, not only by +reasoning but by his suggested experiments which had been tried in +Europe, that thunder and lightning were phenomena of electricity. The +kite was used because there were in Philadelphia no high steeples on +which he could try<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> the experiment that had proved his discovery in +France.</p> + +<p>But it was Franklin’s good fortune on a number of occasions to be placed +in picturesque and striking situations, which greatly increased his +fame. He did not foresee that kite-flying would be one of these, and as +it was not essential to his discovery of the nature of lightning, he was +disinclined at first to think much of it, and did not even report it to +Mr. Collinson until after several months had elapsed. But the world +fixed upon it instantly as something easy to remember. To this day it is +the popular way of illustrating Franklin’s discovery, and is all that +most people know of his contributions to science.</p> + +<p>He went on steadily reporting his experiments to Collinson, and in 1753 +was at work on the mistaken hypothesis of the sea being the grand source +of lightning, but at the same time making the discovery of the negative +and sometimes positive electricity of the clouds. He had a rod erected +on his house to draw down into it the mystical fire of any passing +clouds, with bells arranged to warn him when his apparatus was working; +and it was about this time that he was struck senseless and almost +killed while trying the effect of an electrical shock on a turkey.</p> + +<p>Collinson kept his letters, and in May, 1751, had them published in a +pamphlet called “New Experiments and Observations in Electricity made at +Philadelphia in America.” It had immediately, like all of Franklin’s +writings, a vast success, at first in France, and afterwards in England +and other countries. Franklin was, strange to say, always more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> popular +in France than in either America or England. In England his experiments +in electricity were at first laughed at, and the Royal Society refused +to publish his letters in their proceedings. But after Collinson had +secured their publication in a pamphlet, they were translated into +German, Italian, and Latin, as well as into French, and were greatly +admired not only for the discoveries and knowledge they revealed, but +for their fascinating style and noble candor tinged occasionally with +the most telling and homely humor.</p> + +<p>It has been repeatedly charged that Franklin was indebted to his +fellow-worker, Kinnersley, for his discoveries in electricity. The +charge is so vaguely made that it is impossible to ascertain which of +them are supposed to have been stolen. In Franklin’s letters on +electricity there are frequent footnotes giving credit to Hopkinson and +Syng for their original work, and there are also in his published works +letters to and from Kinnersley. He and Kinnersley seem to have been +always fast friends, and, so far as I can discover, the latter never +accused Franklin of stealing from him.</p> + +<p>After he had proved in such a brilliant manner that lightning was merely +one of the forms or phenomena of that mysterious fire which appears when +we rub a glass tube with buckskin, Franklin made no more discoveries in +science; but his interest and patience of research were unabated. He +cannot be ranked among the great men of science, the Newtons and +Keplers, or the Humboldts, Huxleys, or Darwins. He belongs rather in the +second class,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> among the minor discoverers. But his discovery of the +nature of lightning was so striking and so capable of arousing the +wonder of the masses of mankind, and his invention of the lightning-rod +was regarded as so universally valuable, that he has received more +popular applause than men whose achievements were greater and more +important.</p> + +<p>During the rest of his life his work in science was principally in the +way of encouraging its study. He was always observing, collecting facts, +and writing out his conclusions. The public business in which he was +soon constantly employed, and the long years of his diplomatic service +in England and France, were serious interruptions, and during the last +part of his life it was not often that he could steal time for that +loving investigation of nature which after his thirtieth year became the +great passion of his life.</p> + +<p>His command of language had seldom been put to better use than in +explaining the rather subtle ideas and conceptions in the early +development of electricity. Even now after the lapse of one hundred and +fifty years we seem to gain a fresher understanding of that subject by +reading his homely and beautiful explanations; and modern students would +have an easier time if Franklin were still here to write their +text-books. His subsequent letters and essays were many of them even +more happily expressed than the famous letters on electricity.</p> + +<p>In old editions of his works all his writings on science were collected +in one place, so that they could be read consecutively, which was rather +better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> than the modern strictly chronological plan by which they are +scattered throughout eight or ten large volumes. As we look over one of +the old editions we feel almost compelled to begin original research at +once,—it seems so easy and pretty. There are long investigations about +water-spouts and whirlwinds,—whether a water-spout ever actually +touches the surface of the sea, and whether its action is downward from +the sky or upward from the water. He interviewed sea-captains and +received letters from people in the West Indies to help him, and those +who had once come within the circle of his fascination were never weary +of giving aid.</p> + +<p>He investigated what he called the light in sea-water, now called +phosphorescence. The cause of the saltness of the sea and the existence +of masses of salt or salt-mines in the earth he explained by the theory +that all the water of the world had once been salt, for sea-shells and +the bones of fishes were found, he said, on high land; upheavals had +isolated parts of the original water, which on evaporation had left the +salt, and this being covered with earth, became a salt-mine. This +explanation was given in a letter to his brother Peter, and is really a +little essay on geology, which was then not known by that or any other +name, but consisted merely of a few scattered observations.</p> + +<p>Many of his most interesting explanations of phenomena appear in letters +to the young women with whom he was on such friendly terms. Indeed, it +has been said that he was never at his best except when writing to +women. People believe, he tells<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Miss Stevenson, that all rivers run +into the sea, and he goes on to show in his most clever way that some +rivers do not. The waters of the Delaware, for example, and the waters +of the rivers that flow into Chesapeake Bay, probably never reach the +ocean. The salt water backing up against them twice a day acts as a dam, +and their fresh water is dissipated by evaporation. Only a few, like the +Amazon and the Orinoco, are known to force their fresh water far out on +the surface of the sea. In this same letter he describes the experiments +he made to prove that dark colors absorb more of the sun’s rays, and are +therefore warmer than white.</p> + +<p>While representing Pennsylvania in England, and living with Mrs. +Stevenson, in Craven Street, London, he made an experiment to prove that +vessels move faster in deep than in shallow water. This was generally +believed by seafaring men; but Franklin had a wooden trough made with a +false bottom by which he could regulate the depth of water, and he put +in it a little boat drawn by a string which ran over a pulley at the end +of the trough, with a shilling attached for a weight. In this way he +succeeded in demonstrating a natural law which, though known to +practical men, had never been described in books of science.</p> + +<p>He took much pains to collect information about the Gulf Stream. This +wonderful river in the ocean has been long known, but the first people +to observe it closely were the Nantucket whalemen, who found that their +game was numerous on the edges of it, but was never seen within its +warm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> waters. In consequence of their more exact knowledge they were +able to make faster voyages than other seamen. Franklin learned about it +from them, and on his numerous voyages made many observations, which he +carefully recorded. He obtained a map of it from one of the whalemen, +which he caused to be engraved for the general benefit of navigation on +the old London chart then universally used by sailors. But the British +captains slighted it, and this, like his other efforts in science, was +first appreciated in France.</p> + +<p>He has been called the discoverer of the temperature of the Gulf Stream; +but this statement is somewhat misleading. That the stream was warmer +than the surrounding ocean seems to have been long known; but Franklin +was the first to take its temperature at different points with a +thermometer. He did this most systematically on several of his voyages, +even when suffering severely from sea-sickness, and thus suggested the +use of the thermometer in investigating ocean currents. He first took +these temperatures in 1775, and the next year Dr. Charles Blagden, of +the British army, took them while on the voyage to America with troops +to suppress the Revolution. He and Franklin are ranked together as the +first to show the value of an instrument which is now universally used +in ocean experiments as well as in the practical navigation of +ships.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>In the same careful manner he collected all that was known of the effect +of oil in stilling waves by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> making the surface so smooth and slippery +that the wind cannot act on it. So fascinated was he with this +investigation that he had a cane made with a little receptacle for oil +in the head of it, and when walking in the country in England +experimented on every pond he passed. But it would be long to tell of +all he wrote on light and heat, the <i>vis inertiæ</i> of matter, magnetism, +rainfall, evaporation, and the aurora borealis.</p> + +<p>One of the discomforts of colonial times, when large open fireplaces +were so common, was a smoky chimney. Franklin’s attention was drawn to +this question about the time that he invented the Pennsylvania +fireplaces, and he made an exhaustive study of the nature of smoke and +heated air. He became very skilful in correcting defects in the chimneys +of his friends’ houses, and while he was in England noblemen and +distinguished people often sought his aid. It was not, however, until +1785, near the close of his life, that he put his knowledge in writing +in a letter to Dr. Ingenhausz, physician to the Emperor of Austria. The +letter was published and extensively circulated as the best summary of +all that was known on this important question. It is as fresh and +interesting to-day as when it was written, and well worth reading, +because it explains so charmingly the philosophy of some phenomena of +common occurrence which modern books of science are not at much pains to +make clear.</p> + +<p>His enemies, of course, ridiculed him as a chimney doctor, and his +friends have gone to the other extreme in implying that he was the only +man in the world<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> who understood the action of heat and smoke, and that, +alone and unaided, he delivered mankind from a great destroyer of their +domestic comfort. But his letter shows that most of his knowledge and +remedies were drawn from the French and Germans. In this, as in many +other similar services, he was merely an excellent collector of +scattered material, which he summarized so well that it was more +available than before. He was by no means the only person in the world +who could doctor a chimney; but there were few, if any, who could +describe in such beautiful language the way in which it was done.</p> + +<p>He invented a stove that would consume its own smoke, taking the +principle from a Frenchman who had shown how the flame of a burning +substance could be made to draw downward through the fuel, so that the +smoke was burnt with the fuel. But the way in which this invention is +usually described would lead one to suppose that it was entirely +original with Franklin.</p> + +<p>He was much interested in agriculture, and was an earnest advocate of +mineral manures, encouraged grape culture, and helped to introduce the +basket willow and broom-corn into the United States. He at one time +owned a farm of three hundred acres near Burlington, New Jersey, where +he tried agricultural experiments. He dabbled in medicine, as has been +shown, and also wasted time over that ancient delusion, phonetic +spelling.</p> + +<p>Knowing, as we do, Franklin’s versatility, it is nevertheless somewhat +of a surprise to find him venturing into the sphere of music. He is said +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> have been able to play on the harp, the guitar, and the violin, but +probably only in a philosopher’s way and not well on any of them. Some +people in England had succeeded in constructing a musical instrument +made of glasses, the idea being taken from the pleasant sound produced +by passing a wet finger round the brim of a drinking-glass. When in +England Franklin was so delighted with these instruments that he set +about improving them. He had glasses specially moulded of a bell-like +shape and ground with great care until each had its proper note. They +were placed in a frame in such a way that they could all be set +revolving at once by means of a treadle worked by the foot, and as they +revolved they were played by the wet fingers pressed on their brims. He +gave the name “Armonica” to his instrument, and describes its tones as +“incomparably sweet beyond those of any other.” It is said to have been +used in public concerts, and it was one of the curiosities at his famous +Craven Street lodging-house in London, where he also had a fine +electrical apparatus, and took pleasure in showing his English friends +the American experiments of which they had heard so much.</p> + +<p>He seems to have studied music with great care as a science, just as he +studied the whirlwinds, the smoke, and the lightning; but he was +unalterably opposed to the so-called modern music then becoming +fashionable, and which is still to a great extent the music of our time. +The pleasure derived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> from it was, he said, not the natural pleasure +caused by harmony of sounds, but rather that felt on seeing the +surprising feats of tumblers and rope-dancers.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Many pieces of it are mere compositions of tricks. I have +sometimes, at a concert, attended by a common audience, placed +myself so as to see all their faces, and observed no signs of +pleasure in them during the performance of a great part that was +admired by the performers themselves; while a plain old Scotch +tune, which they disdained, and could scarcely be prevailed upon +to play, gave manifest and general delight.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>In a letter to Lord Kames which has been often quoted he explained at +length, and for the most part in very technical language, the reasons +for the superiority of the Scotch tunes.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Farther, when we consider by whom these ancient tunes were +composed and how they were first performed we shall see that +such harmonical successions of sounds were natural and even +necessary in their construction. They were composed by the +minstrels of those days to be played on the harp accompanied by +the voice. The harp was strung with wire, which gives a sound of +long continuance and had no contrivance like that in the modern +harpsichord, by which the sound of the preceding could be +stopped the moment a succeeding note began. To avoid actual +discord, it was therefore necessary that the succeeding emphatic +note should be a chord with the preceding, as their sounds must +exist at the same time. Hence arose that beauty in those tunes +that has so long pleased, and will please forever, though men +scarce know why.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Franklin’s numerous voyages naturally turned his mind to problems of the +sea. He pondered much on the question whether the daily motion of the +earth from west to east would increase the speed of a ship sailing +eastward and retard it on a westward passage. He was not quite sure that +the earth’s motion would have such an effect, but he thought it +possible.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I wish I had mathematics enough to satisfy myself whether the +much shorter voyages made by ships bound hence to England, than +by those from England hither, are not in some degree owing to +the diurnal motion of the earth, and if so in what degree. It is +a notion that has lately entered my mind; I know not if ever any +other’s.” (Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. ii. p. 14.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>He referred to the subject again soon after, and finally a few years +before his death,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> but always as an unsettled question. The idea +seems never to have got beyond the stage of investigation with him, but +Parton has built up out of it a wonderful discovery.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“He conceived an idea still more practically useful, which has +since given rise to a little library of nautical works, and +conferred unmerited honor upon a naval charlatan—Maury. This +idea was that by studying the form and motions of the earth and +directing a ship’s course so that it shall partake of the +earth’s diurnal motion a voyage may be materially shortened.” +(Parton’s “Life of Franklin,” vol. ii. p. 72.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>This is certainly a most extraordinary statement to be made by a writer +like Parton, who has given the main facts of Franklin’s life with +considerable fidelity. He refers to it again in another passage, in +which he says that this method of navigation is now used by all +intelligent seamen. But there is no evidence that it was ever so used. +He may have confused it with great circle sailing. The theory is an +exploded one. There is no library of nautical works on the subject, and +I think that the officers of the United States navy, the captains of the +great ocean liners, and thousands of sailors all over the world<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> would +be very much surprised to hear Maury called a charlatan.</p> + +<p>Maury’s wonderful investigations were not in the line of sailing a ship +so as to take advantage of the earth’s diurnal motion, and could not +have been suggested by such an idea. He explored the physical geography +of the sea, and particularly the currents, trade-winds, and zones of +calm. It was he who first worked out the shortest routes from place to +place, which are still used. Although he never made a picturesque and +brilliant discovery about lightning, and had not Franklin’s exquisite +power of expression, he was a much more remarkable man of science.</p> + +<p>In a long letter to Alphonsus Le Roy, of Paris, written in 1785, on his +voyage home from France with Captain Truxton, Franklin summed up all his +maritime observations, including what he knew of the Gulf Stream. This +letter is full of most curious suggestions for the navigation of ships, +and was accompanied by a plate of carefully drawn figures, which has +been reproduced in most editions of his works.</p> + +<p>So much attention had been given, he said, to shaping the hull of a +vessel so as to offer the least resistance to the water, that it was +time the sails were shaped so as to offer the least resistance to the +air. He proposed to do this by making the sails smaller and increasing +their number, and contrived a most curious rig (Fig. 4) which he thought +would offer the least resistance both in sailing free and in beating to +windward.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"><a name="Page_188i" id="Page_188i"></a> +<img src="images/i015.jpg" width="800" height="453" alt="FRANKLIN’S MARITIME SUGGESTIONS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN’S MARITIME SUGGESTIONS</span> +</div> + +<p>Figs. 5, 6, and 7 show why, in those days of rope cables, a ship was +always breaking the cable where it bent at right angles just outside the +hawse-hole. All the strain was on the outer strands of the rope at <i>a b +c</i>, Fig. 7, and as they broke the others followed one by one. His remedy +for this was to have a large wheel or pulley in the hawse-hole.</p> + +<p>Figs. 8 and 9 show how a vessel with a leak at first fills very rapidly, +so that the crew, finding they cannot gain on the water with the pumps, +take to their boats. But if they would remain they would find after a +while that the quantity entering would be less as the surfaces without +and within became more nearly equal, and that the pumps would now be +able to prevent it from rising higher. The water would also begin to +reach light wooden work, empty chests, and water-casks, which would give +buoyancy, and thus the ship could be kept afloat longer than the crew at +first expected. In this connection he calls attention to the Chinese +method of water-tight compartments which Mr. Le Roy had already adopted +in his boat on the Seine.</p> + +<p>Fig. 12 is intended to show the loss of power in a paddle-wheel because +the stroke from <i>A</i> to <i>B</i> is downward and from <i>D</i> to <i>X</i> upward, and +the only effective stroke is from <i>B</i> to <i>D</i>. A better method of +propulsion, he thinks, is by pumping water out through the stern, as +shown in Figs. 13 and 14.</p> + +<p>Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 illustrate methods of making +floating sea anchors by which to lay a vessel to in a gale. Fig. 24 +shows how a heavy boat may be drawn ashore by bending the rope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> from <i>C</i> +to <i>D</i>. Fig. 23 represents a new way of planking ships to secure greater +strength, and Figs. 26 and 27 are soup-dishes which will not spill in a +heavy sea. But this delightful letter is published in all of the +editions of his works, and should be read in order to render his +ingenious contrivances intelligible.</p> + +<p>Among the few of Franklin’s writings on scientific subjects which are +not in the form of letters is an essay, entitled “Peopling of +Countries,” supposed to have been written in 1751. It is in part +intended to show that Great Britain was not injured by the immigration +to America; the gap was soon filled up; and the colonies, by consuming +British manufactures, increased the resources of the mother country. The +essay is full of reflections on political economy, which had not then +become a science, and the twenty-second section contains the statement +that there is no bound to the productiveness of plants and animals other +than that occasioned by their crowding and interfering with one +another’s means of subsistence. This statement supplied Malthus with the +foundation for his famous theory that the population of the earth +increased in a geometrical ratio, while the means of subsistence +increased only in an arithmetical ratio, and some of those who opposed +this theory devoted themselves to showing error in Franklin’s +twenty-second section rather than to disputing the conclusions of +Malthus, which they believed would fall if Franklin could be shown to be +in the wrong.</p> + +<p>He investigated the new field of political economy with the same +thoroughness as the other departments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> of science, and wrote on national +wealth, the price of corn, free trade, the effects of luxury, idleness, +and industry, the slave-trade, and peace and war. The humor and +imagination in one of his letters to Dr. Priestley on war justify the +quoting of a part of it:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“A young angel of distinction being sent down to this world on +some business, for the first time, had an old courier-spirit +assigned him as a guide. They arrived over the seas of +Martinico, in the middle of the long day of obstinate fight +between the fleets of Rodney and De Grasse. When through the +clouds of smoke he saw the fire of the guns, the decks covered +with mangled limbs and bodies dead and dying, or blown into the +air, and the quantity of pain, misery, and destruction the crews +yet alive were thus with so much eagerness dealing round to one +another, he turned angrily to his guide and said, ‘You +blundering blockhead, you are ignorant of your business; you +undertook to conduct me to the earth and you have brought me +into hell!’ ‘No, sir,’ says the guide, ‘I have made no mistake; +this is really the earth, and these are men. Devils never treat +one another in this cruel manner; they have more sense, and more +of what men (vainly) call humanity.’” (Bigelow’s Works of +Franklin, vol. vii. p. 465.)</p></blockquote> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Making of Pennsylvania, chap. ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Pillsbury’s Gulf Stream, published by the U. S. government.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. ii. p. 331; vol. ix. p. 185.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> +<h2>VI<br /><br /> + +<small>THE PENNSYLVANIA POLITICIAN</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">While</span> Franklin kept his little stationery shop and printing-office, sent +out his almanacs every year, read and studied, experimented in science, +and hoped for an assured income which would give larger leisure for +study and experiment, he was all the time drifting more and more into +public life. In a certain sense he had been accustomed to dealing with +living public questions from boyhood. When an apprentice in his teens, +he had written articles for his brother’s newspaper attacking the +established religious and political system of Massachusetts, and during +his brother’s imprisonment the newspaper had been published in the +apprentice’s name. In Pennsylvania his own newspaper, the <i>Gazette</i>, +which he established when he was but twenty-three years old, made him +something of a public man; and his pamphlet in favor of paper money, +which appeared at about the same period, showed how strongly his mind +inclined towards the large questions of government.</p> + +<p>When he reached manhood he also developed a strong inclination to assist +in public improvements, in the encouragement of thrift and comfort, and +in the relief of suffering, subjects which are now included under the +heads of philanthropy and reform.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> He had in full measure the social and +public spirit of the Anglo-Saxon, the spirit which instinctively builds +up the community while at the same time it is deeply devoted to its own +concerns. The only one of his ancestors that had risen above humble +conditions was of this sort, and had been a leader in the public affairs +of a village.</p> + +<p>His natural disposition towards benevolent enterprises was much +stimulated, he tells us, by a book called “Essays to do Good,” by the +eminent Massachusetts divine, Cotton Mather, of witchcraft fame. He also +read about the same time De Foe’s “Essay upon Projects,” a volume +recommending asylums for the insane, technical schools, mutual benefit +societies, improved roads, better banking, bankrupt laws, and other +things which have now become the commonplace characteristics of our age.</p> + +<p>His club, the Junto, was the first important fruit of this benevolent +disposition. At first its members kept all their books at its rooms for +the common benefit; but some of the books having been injured, all were +taken back by the owners, and this loss suggested to Franklin the idea +of a circulating library supported by subscriptions. He drew up a plan +and went about soliciting money in 1731, but it took him more than a +year to collect forty-five pounds. James Logan, the secretary of the +province, gave advice as to what books to buy, and the money was sent to +London to be expended by Mr. Peter Collinson, to whom Franklin’s famous +letters on electricity were afterwards written.</p> + +<p>Mr. Collinson was the literary and philosophic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> agent of Pennsylvania in +those days. To him John Bartram, the first American botanist, sent the +plants that he collected in the New World, and Mr. Collinson obtained +for him the money with which to pursue his studies. Collinson encouraged +the new library in every way. For thirty years he made for it the annual +purchase of books, always adding one or two volumes as a present, and it +will be remembered that it was through him that Franklin obtained the +electrical tube which started him on his remarkable discoveries.</p> + +<p>The library began its existence at the Junto’s rooms and grew steadily. +Influential people gradually became interested in it and added their +gifts. For half a century it occupied rooms in various buildings,—at +one time in the State-House, and during the Revolution in Carpenters’ +Hall,—until in 1790, the year of Franklin’s death, it erected a pretty +building on Fifth Street, opposite Independence square. During the +period from 1731 to 1790 similar libraries were established in the town, +which it absorbed one by one: in 1769 the Union Library, in 1771 the +Association Library Company and Amicable Library Company, and, finally, +in 1790 the Loganian Library, which James Logan had established by his +will. Before the Revolution the number of books increased but slowly, +and in 1785 was only 5487. They now number 190,000.</p> + +<p>Franklin says that it was the mother of subscription libraries in North +America, and that in a few years the colonists became more of a reading +people, and the common tradesmen and farmers were as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> intelligent as +most gentlemen from other countries. This statement seems to be +justified; for within a few years libraries sprang up in New England and +the South, and they may have been suggested by the Philadelphia Library +which Franklin founded.</p> + +<p>I have already shown how Franklin established the academy which soon +became the College of Philadelphia, but this was some twenty years after +he founded the library. Almost immediately after the academy was started +Dr. Thomas Bond sought his assistance in establishing a hospital. +Pennsylvania was receiving at that time great numbers of German +immigrants, who arrived in crowded ships after a voyage of months, in a +terrible state of dirt and disease. There was no proper place provided +for them, and they were a source of danger to the rest of the people. A +hospital was needed, and Dr. Bond, at first meeting with but little +success, finally accomplished his object with the assistance of +Franklin, who obtained for him a grant of two thousand pounds from the +Assembly, and helped to stir up subscribers.</p> + +<p>This was the first hospital in America, and it still fulfils its mission +in the beautiful old colonial buildings which were originally erected +for it. Additional buildings have been since added, fortunately, in the +same style of architecture. For the corner-stone Franklin wrote an +inscription matchless for its originality and appropriateness:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“In the year of <span class="smcap">Christ</span> MDCCLV George the Second happily reigning +(for he sought the happiness of his people), Philadelphia +flourishing (for its inhabitants were public spirited), this +building,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> by the bounty of the government, and of many private +persons, was piously founded for the relief of the sick and +miserable. May the <span class="smcap">God of Mercies</span>bless the undertaking.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the same spirit Franklin secured by a little agitation the paving of +the street round the market, and afterwards started subscriptions to +keep this pavement clean. At that time the streets of Philadelphia, like +those of most of the colonial towns, were merely earth roads, and it was +not until some years after Franklin’s first efforts at the market that +there was any general paving done. He also secured a well-regulated +night watch for the city in place of the disorderly, drunken heelers of +the constables, who had long made a farce of the duty; and he +established a volunteer fire company which was the foundation of the +system that prevailed in Philadelphia until the paid department was +introduced after the civil war.</p> + +<p>The American Philosophical Society, which was also originated by him, +might seem to be more entitled to mention in the chapter on science. But +it was really a benevolent enterprise, intended to propagate useful +knowledge, to encourage agriculture, trade, and the mechanic arts, and +to multiply the conveniences and pleasures of life. He first suggested +it in 1743, in which year he prepared a plan for a society for promoting +useful knowledge, and one appears to have been organized which led a +languishing existence until 1769, when it was joined by another +organization, called “The American Society held at Philadelphia for +Promoting Useful Knowledge,” and from this union resulted the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> American +Philosophical Society, which still exists. Franklin was for a long time +its president, and was succeeded by Rittenhouse. It was the first +society in America devoted to science. Thomas Jefferson and other +prominent persons throughout the colonies were members of it, and during +the colonial period and long afterwards it held a very important +position.</p> + +<p>Franklin was by nature a public man; but the beginning of his life as an +office-holder may be said to have dated from his appointment as clerk of +the Assembly. This took place in 1736, when he had been in business for +himself for some years, and his newspaper and “Poor Richard” were well +under way. It was a tiresome task to sit for hours listening to buncombe +speeches, and drawing magic squares and circles to while away the time. +But he valued the appointment because it gave him influence with the +members and a hold on the public printing.</p> + +<p>The second year his election to the office was opposed; an influential +member wanted the place for a friend, and Franklin had a chance to show +a philosopher’s skill in practical politics.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Having heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce +and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire of +perusing that book, and requesting he would do me the favour of +lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, and I +return’d it in about a week with another note, expressing +strongly my sense of the favour. When we next met, in the House, +he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with great +civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me +on all occasions, so that we became great friends and our +friendship continued to his death. This is another instance of +the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says ‘He that has +once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, +than he whom you yourself have obliged.’” (Bigelow’s Franklin +from his own Writings, vol. i. p. 260.)</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>Some people have professed to be very much shocked at this disingenuous +trick, as they call it, although perhaps capable of far more +discreditable ones themselves. It would be well if no worse could be +said of modern practical politics.</p> + +<p>Franklin held his clerkship nearly fifteen years. During this period he +was also postmaster of Philadelphia, and these two offices, with the +benevolent enterprises of the library, the hospital, the Philosophical +Society, and the academy and college, made him very much of a public man +in the best sense of the word long before he was engaged in regular +politics.</p> + +<p>In the year 1747 he performed an important public service by organizing +the militia. War had been declared by England against both France and +Spain, and the colonies were called upon to help the mother country. +Great difficulty was experienced in recruiting troops in Quaker +Pennsylvania, although the Quakers would indirectly consent to it when +given a reasonable excuse. They would vote money for the king’s use, and +the king’s officials might take the responsibility of using it for war; +they would supply provisions to the army, for that was charity; and on +one occasion they voted four thousand pounds for the purchase of beef, +pork, flour, wheat, or <i>other grain</i>; and as powder was grain, the money +was used in supplying it.</p> + +<p>But the actual recruiting of troops was more difficult, and it was to +further this object that Franklin exerted himself. He wrote one of his +clever pamphlets showing the danger of a French invasion, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> supplied +biblical texts in favor of defensive war. Then calling a mass-meeting in +the large building afterwards used for the college, he urged the people +to form an association for defence. Papers were distributed among them, +and in a few minutes he had twelve hundred signatures. These citizen +soldiers were called “Associators,”—a name used down to the time of the +Revolution to describe the Pennsylvania militia. In a few days he had +enrolled ten thousand volunteers, which shows how large the combatant +portion of the population was in spite of Quaker doctrine.</p> + +<p>In 1748 he retired from active business with the purpose of devoting +himself to science. It was the custom at that time to give retired men +of business the more important public offices; and in 1752, about the +time of his discovery of the nature of lightning, he was elected to the +Assembly as one of the members to represent Philadelphia. In the same +year he was also elected a justice of the peace and a member of the City +Councils.</p> + +<p>At this time France and England were temporarily at peace. The treaty of +Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 had resulted in a sort of cessation of +hostilities, which France was using to push more actively her advantages +on the Ohio River and in the Mississippi Valley. She intended to get +behind all the colonies and occupy the continent to the Pacific Ocean. +The efforts of Great Britain to check these designs, including the +expeditions of the youthful Washington to the Ohio, need not be given +here.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> England<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> broke the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and what is +known as the Seven Years’ War began with the memorable defeat of +Braddock.</p> + +<p>Franklin was sent by the Pennsylvania Assembly to Braddock’s +head-quarters in Virginia to give any assistance he could and to prevent +Braddock from making a raid into Pennsylvania to procure wagons, as he +had threatened. The journey was made on horseback in company with the +governors of New York and Massachusetts, and on the way Franklin had an +opportunity to observe the action of a small whirlwind, which he +reported in a pleasant letter to Mr. Collinson. It was while on this +visit that Franklin appears in Thackeray’s “Virginians,” in which he is +strangely described as a shrewd, bright little man who would drink only +water.</p> + +<p>He told Braddock that there were plenty of wagons in Pennsylvania, and +he was accordingly commissioned to procure them. He returned to +Philadelphia, and within two weeks had delivered one hundred and fifty +wagons and two hundred and fifty pack-horses. He had received only eight +hundred pounds from Braddock, and was obliged to advance two hundred +pounds himself and give bond to indemnify the owners of such horses as +should be lost in the service. Claims to the amount of twenty thousand +pounds were afterwards made against him, and he would have been ruined +if the government, after long delay, had not come to his rescue. Such +disinterested service was not forgotten, and his popularity was greatly +increased.</p> + +<p>He had the year before been one of the representatives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> of Pennsylvania +in the convention at Albany, where he had offered a plan for the union +of all the colonies, which was generally approved, and I shall consider +this plan more fully in another chapter. It was intended, of course, +primarily to enable the colonies to make more effective resistance +against the French and Indians, and as an additional assistance he +suggested that a new colony be planted on the Ohio River. The +establishment of this colony was a favorite scheme with him, and he +urged it again many years afterwards while in England.</p> + +<p>As a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly he joined the Quaker majority +in that body and became one of its leaders. This majority was in +continual conflict with the governor appointed by William Penn’s sons, +who were the proprietors of the province. The government of the colony +was divided in a curious way. The proprietors had the right to appoint +the governor, judges, and sheriffs, or, in other words, had absolute +control of the executive offices, while the colonists controlled the +Legislature, or Assembly, as it was called, and in this Assembly the +Quakers exercised the strongest influence.</p> + +<p>During the seventy years that the colony had been founded the Assembly +had built up by slow degrees a body of popular rights. It paid the +governor his salary, and this gave it a vast control over him; for if he +vetoed any favorite law it could retaliate by cutting off his means of +subsistence. This right to withhold the governor’s salary constituted +the most important principle of colonial constitutional law, and by it +not only Pennsylvania but the other colonies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> maintained what liberty +they possessed and saved themselves from the oppression of royal or +proprietary governors.</p> + +<p>Another right for which the Pennsylvania Assembly always strenuously +contended was that any bill passed by it for raising money for the crown +must be simply accepted or rejected by the governor. He was not to +attempt to force its amendment by threats of rejection, or to interfere +in any way with the manner of raising the money, and was to have no +control over its disbursement. The king had a right to ask for aid, but +the colony reserved the right to use its own methods in furnishing it.</p> + +<p>These rights the proprietors were constantly trying to break down by +instructing their governors to assent to money and other bills only on +certain conditions, among which was the stipulation that they should not +go into effect until the king’s pleasure was known. They sent out their +governors with secret instructions, and compelled them to give bonds for +their faithful performance. When the governors declined to reveal these +instructions, the Assembly thought it had another grievance, for it had +always refused to be governed in this manner; and was now more +determined than ever to maintain this point because several bills had +been introduced in Parliament for the purpose of making royal +instructions to governors binding on all the colonial assemblies without +regard to their charters or constitutions.</p> + +<p>These were all very serious designs on liberty, and the proprietors took +advantage of the war necessities +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> and Braddock’s defeat to carry them +out in the most extreme form. The home government was calling on all the +colonies for war supplies, and Pennsylvania must comply not only to +secure her own safety but under fear of displeasing the Parliament and +king. If under such pressure she could be induced to pass some of the +supply bills at the dictation of the governor, or with an admission of +the validity of his secret instructions, a precedent would be +established and the proprietary hold on the province greatly +strengthened.</p> + +<p>The Quakers, especially those comprising the majority in the Assembly, +were not at heart opposed to war or to granting war supplies. As they +expressed it in the preamble to one of their laws, they had no objection +to others bearing arms, but were themselves principled against it. If +the others wished to fight, or if it was necessary for the province to +fight, they, as the governing body, would furnish the means. Franklin +relates how, when he was organizing the Associators, it was proposed in +the Union Fire Company that sixty pounds should be expended in buying +tickets in a lottery, the object of which was to raise money for the +purchase of cannon. There were twenty-two Quakers in the fire company +and eight others; but the twenty-two, by purposely absenting themselves, +allowed the proposition to be carried.</p> + +<p>The Quaker Assembly voted money for war supplies as liberally and as +loyally as the Assembly of any other colony; but at every step it was +met by the designs of the governor to force upon it those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> conditions +which would be equivalent to a surrender of the liberties of the colony. +Thus, in 1754 it voted a war supply of twenty thousand pounds, which was +the same amount as Virginia, the most active of the colonies against the +French, had just subscribed, and was much more than other colonies gave. +New York gave only five thousand pounds, Maryland six thousand pounds, +and New Jersey nothing. But the governor refused his assent to the bill +unless a clause was inserted suspending it until the approval of the +king had been obtained, and this condition the Assembly felt bound to +reject.</p> + +<p>During the whole seven years of the war these contests with the governor +continued; and the members of the Assembly, to show their zeal for the +war, were obliged at times to raise the money on their own credit +without submitting their bill to the governor for his approval. In these +struggles Franklin bore a prominent part, drafting the replies which the +Assembly made to the governor’s messages, and acquiring a most thorough +knowledge of all the principles of colonial liberty. At the same time he +continued to enjoy jovial personal relations with the governors whom he +resisted so vigorously in the Assembly, and was often invited to dine +with them, when they would joke with him about his support of the +Quakers.</p> + +<p>The disputes were increased about the time of Braddock’s defeat by a new +subject of controversy. As the Assembly was passing bills for war +supplies which had to be raised by taxation, it was thought to be no +more than right that the proprietary estates should also bear their +share of the tax. The proprietors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> owned vast tracts of land which they +had not yet sold to the people, and as the war was being waged for the +defence of these as well as all the other property of the country, the +Assembly and the people in general were naturally very indignant when +the governor refused his consent to any bill which did not expressly +exempt these lands from taxation. The amount assessed on the proprietary +land was trifling,—only five hundred pounds; but both parties felt that +they were contending for a principle, and when some gentlemen offered to +pay the whole amount in order to stop the dispute, it was rejected.</p> + +<p>The proprietors, through the governor, offered a sort of indirect bribe +in the form of large gifts of land,—a thousand acres to every colonel, +five hundred to every captain, and so on down to two hundred to each +private,—which seemed very liberal, and was an attempt to put the +Assembly in an unpatriotic position if it should refuse to exempt the +estates after such a generous offer. But the Assembly was unmoved, and +declined to vote any more money for the purposes of the war, if it +involved a sacrifice of the liberties of the people or enabled the +proprietors to escape taxation. “Those,” said Franklin, “who would give +up essential liberty for the sake of a little temporary safety, deserve +neither liberty nor safety.”</p> + +<p>But the proprietors were determined to carry the point of exemption of +their estates, and as a clamor was being raised against them in England +for defeating, through their governor, the efforts of the Assembly to +raise money for the war, they sent over word<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> that they would subscribe +five thousand pounds for the protection of the colony. Such munificence +took the Assembly by surprise, and an appropriation bill was passed +without taxing the proprietary estates. But popular resentment against +the proprietors was raised to a high pitch when it was discovered that +the five thousand pounds was to be collected out of the arrears of +quit-rents due the proprietors. It was merely a clever trick on their +part to saddle their bad debts on the province, have their estates +exempted from taxation, and at the same time give themselves a +reputation for generosity.</p> + +<p>The defeat of Braddock in July, 1755, was followed in September and +October by a terrible invasion of the Indians, who massacred the farmers +almost as far east as Philadelphia. Evidently something more was +necessary to protect the province than the mere loose organization of +the Associators, and a militia law drafted by Franklin was passed by the +Quaker Assembly. The law had a long preamble attached, which he had +prepared with great ingenuity to satisfy Quaker scruples. It was made up +largely of previous Quaker utterances on war, and declared that while it +would be persecution, and therefore unlawful in Pennsylvania, to compel +Quakers to bear arms against their consciences, so it would be wrong to +prohibit from engaging in war those who thought it their duty. The +Quaker Assembly, as representing all the people of the province, would +accordingly furnish to those who wanted to fight the legal means for +carrying out their wish; and the law then went on to show how they +should be organized as soldiers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>In his <i>Gazette</i> Franklin published a Dialogue written by himself, which +was intended to answer criticisms on the law and especially the +objections of those who were disgusted because the new law exempted the +Quakers. Why, it was asked, should the combatant portion of the people +fight for the lives and property of men who are too cowardly to fight +for themselves? These objectors required as delicate handling as the +Quakers, and Franklin approached them with his usual skill.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Z. For my part I am no coward, but hang me if I will fight to +save the Quakers.</p> + +<p>“X. That is to say, you will not pump ship, because it will save +the rats as well as yourself.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>As a consequence of his success in writing in favor of war, the +philosopher, electrician, and editor found himself elected colonel of +the men he had persuaded, and was compelled to lead about five hundred +of them to the Lehigh Valley, where the German village of Gnadenhutten +had been burnt and its inhabitants massacred. He had no taste for such +business, and would have avoided it if he could; for he never used a gun +even for amusement, and would not keep a weapon of any kind in his +house. But the province with its peace-loving Quakers and Germans had +never before experienced actual war, nor even difficulties with the +Indians, and Franklin was as much a military man as anybody.</p> + +<p>So the philosopher of nearly fifty years, famous the world over for his +discoveries in electricity and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> his “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” set forth +in December, slept on the ground or in barns, arranged the order of +scouting parties, and regulated the serving of grog to his men. He built +a line of small forts in the Lehigh Valley, and during the two months +that he was there no doubt checked the Indians who were watching him all +the time from the hilltops, and who went no farther than to kill ten +unfortunate farmers. He had no actual battle with them, and was perhaps +fortunate in escaping a surprise; but he was very wily in his movements, +and in his shrewd common-sense way understood Indian tactics. He has +left us a description in one of his letters how a force like his should, +before stopping for the night, make a circuit backward and camp near +their trail, setting a guard to watch the trail so that any Indians +following it could be seen long before they reached the camp.</p> + +<p>He, indeed, conducted his expedition in the most thorough and systematic +manner, marching his men in perfect order with a semicircle of scouts in +front, an advance-guard, then the main body, with scouts on each flank +and spies on every hill, followed by a watchful rear-guard. He observed +all the natural objects with his usual keen interest, noting the exact +number of minutes required by his men to fell a tree for the palisaded +forts he was building. After two months of roughing it he could not +sleep in a bed on his return to Bethlehem. “It was so different,” he +says, “from my hard lodging on the floor of a hut at Gnadenhutten with +only a blanket or two.”</p> + +<p>Very characteristic of him also was the suggestion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> he made to his +chaplain when the good man found it difficult to get the soldiers to +attend prayers. “It is perhaps beneath the dignity of your profession,” +said Franklin, “to act as steward of the rum; but if you were only to +distribute it after prayers you would have them all about you.” The +chaplain thought well of it, and “never,” Franklin tells us, “were +prayers more generally or more punctually attended.”</p> + +<p>On the return of the troops to Philadelphia after their two months’ +campaign they had a grand parade and review, saluting the houses of all +their officers with discharges of cannon and small-arms; and the salute +given before the door of their philosopher colonel broke several of the +glasses of his electrical apparatus.</p> + +<p>The next year, 1756, brought some relief to the colonists by Armstrong’s +successful expedition against the Indians at Kittanning. But the year +1757 was more gloomy than ever. Nothing was wanting but a few more +soldiers to enable the French to press on down the Mississippi and +secure their line to New Orleans, or to fall upon the rear of the +colonies and conquer them. The proprietors of Pennsylvania took +advantage of the situation to force the Assembly to abandon all its most +cherished rights. The new governor came out with full instructions to +assent to no tax bill unless it exempted the proprietary estates, to +have the proprietary quit-rents paid in sterling instead of Pennsylvania +currency, and to assent to no money bill unless the money to be raised +was appropriated for some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> particular object or was to be at the +disposal of the governor and Assembly jointly.</p> + +<p>Their attack on the liberties of the province was well timed; for, the +English forces having been everywhere defeated, the Assembly felt that +it must assist in the prosecution of the war at all hazards. It +therefore resolved to waive its rights for the present, and passed a +bill for raising thirty thousand pounds to be expended under the joint +supervision of the Assembly and the governor. So the proprietors gained +one of their points, and they soon gained another. The Assembly was +before long obliged to raise more money, and voted one hundred thousand +pounds, the largest single appropriation ever made. It was to be raised +by a general tax, and the tax was to include the proprietary estates. +The governor objected, and the Assembly, influenced by the terrible +necessities of the war, yielded and passed the bill in February, 1757, +without taxing the estates.</p> + +<p>But it was determined to carry on its contest with the governor in +another way, and resolved to send two commissioners to England to lay +before the king and Privy Council the conduct of the proprietors. The +first avowed object of the commissioners was to secure the taxing of the +proprietary estates, and the second was to suggest that the +proprietorship be abolished and the province taken under the direct rule +of the crown. Franklin and Isaac Norris, the Speaker of the Assembly, +were appointed commissioners, but Norris being detained by ill health, +Franklin started alone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> + +<p>He set forth as a sort of minister plenipotentiary to London, where he +had at one time worked as a journeyman printer. He had left London an +obscure, impoverished boy; he was returning as a famous man of science, +retired from worldly business on an assured income. He remained in +England for five years, and so full of pleasure, interesting occupation, +and fame were those years that it is remarkable that he was willing to +come back to Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>He secured lodgings for himself and his son William at Mrs. Stevenson’s, +No. 7 Craven Street. Here he lived all of the five years and also during +his subsequent ten years’ residence in London. He had been recommended +to her house by some Pennsylvania friends who had boarded there; but he +soon ceased to be a mere lodger, and No. 7 Craven Street became his +second home. He and Mrs. Stevenson became firm friends, and for her +daughter Mary he formed a strong attachment, which continued all his +life. His letters to her are among the most beautiful ever written by +him, and he encouraged her to study science. “In all that time,” he once +wrote to her, referring to the happy years he had spent at her mother’s +house, “we never had among us the smallest misunderstanding; our +friendship has been all clear sunshine, without the least cloud in its +hemisphere.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stevenson took care of the small every-day affairs of his life, +advised as to the presents he sent home to his wife, assisted in buying +them, and when a child of one of his poor English relatives needed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +assistance, she took it into her house and cared for it with almost as +tender an interest as if she had been its mother. Many years afterwards, +in a letter to her written while he was in France, Franklin regrets “the +want of that order and economy in my family which reigned in it when +under your prudent direction.”<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>The familiar, pleasant life he led with her family is shown in a little +essay written for their amusement, called “The Craven Street Gazette.” +It is a burlesque on the pompous court news of the English journals. +Mrs. Stevenson figures as the queen and the rest of the family and their +friends as courtiers and members of the nobility, and we get in this way +pleasant glimpses of each one’s peculiarities and habits, the way they +lived, and their jokes on one another.</p> + +<p>He had an excellent electrical machine and other apparatus for +experiments in her house, and went on with the researches which so +fascinated him in much the same way as he had done at home. It was at +No. 7 Craven Street that he planned his musical instrument, the +armonica, already described, and exhibited it to his friends who came to +see his electrical experiments. He quickly became a member of all the +learned societies, was given the degree of doctor of laws by the +universities of St Andrew’s, Edinburgh, and Oxford, and soon knew all +the celebrities in England. But he does not appear to have seen much of +that burly and boisterous literary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> chieftain, Dr. Johnson. This was +unfortunate, for Franklin’s description of him would have been +invaluable.</p> + +<p>Peter Collinson, to whom his letters on electricity had been sent, of +course welcomed him. He became intimate with Dr. Fothergill, the +fashionable physician of London, who had assisted to make his electrical +discoveries known. This was another of his life-long friendships: the +two were always in perfect sympathy, investigating with the enthusiasm +of old cronies everything of philosophic and human interest.</p> + +<p>Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen and one of the foremost men of +science of that time, became another bosom friend, and Franklin +furnished him the material for his “History of Electricity.” William +Strahan, the prosperous publisher and friend of Dr. Johnson, also +conceived a great liking for the Pennsylvania agent. Strahan afterwards +became a member of Parliament, and was fond of saying to Franklin that +they both had started life as printers, but no two printers had ever +risen so high. He was a whole-souled, jovial man, wanted his son to +marry Franklin’s daughter, and wanted Mrs. Franklin to come over to +England and settle there with her husband, who, he said, must never go +back to America. He used to write letters to Mrs. Franklin trying to +persuade her to overcome her aversion to the sea, and he made bets with +Franklin that his persuasions would succeed.</p> + +<p>We need not wonder that Franklin spent five years on his mission, when +he was so comfortably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> settled with his own servant in addition to those +of Mrs. Stevenson, his chariot to drive in like an ambassador, and his +son William studying law at the inns of court. During his stay, and +about the year 1760, William presented him with an illegitimate +grandson, William Temple Franklin. This boy was brought up exclusively +by his grandfather, and scarcely knew his father, who soon married a +young lady from the West Indies. In his infancy Temple was not an inmate +of the Craven Street house, but he lived there afterwards during his +grandfather’s second mission to England, and accompanied him to France.</p> + +<p>The birth of Temple and his parentage were probably not generally known +among Franklin’s English friends during this first mission. It has been +said also that William’s illegitimacy was not known in London, but this +is unlikely. It did not, however, interfere with the young man’s +advancement; for in 1762, just before Franklin returned to America, +William was appointed by the crown governor of New Jersey. This honor, +it is said, was entirely unsolicited by either father or son, and the +explanation usually given is that it was intended to attach the father +more securely to the royal interest in the disputes which were +threatening between the colonies and the mother country.</p> + +<p>William and his father were on very good terms at this time. Every +summer they took a little tour together, and on one occasion travelled +in Holland. On a visit they made to the University of Cambridge they +were entertained by the heads of colleges, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> chancellor, and the +professors in the most distinguished manner, discussed new points of +science with them, and with Professor Hadley experimented on what was +then a great wonder, the production of cold by evaporation. They +wandered also to the old village of Ecton, where the Franklins had lived +poor and humble for countless generations, saw many of the old people, +and copied inscriptions on tombstones and parish registers. But Scotland +they enjoyed most of all. There they met Lord Kames, the author of the +“Elements of Criticism,” and the historians Hume and Robertson. It was +an atmosphere of philosophy and intelligence which Franklin thoroughly +enjoyed. “The time we spent there,” he wrote to Lord Kames, “was six +weeks of the <i>densest</i> happiness I have met with in any part of my +life.”</p> + +<p>During his stay in England the war against the French and Indians, which +was raging when he left America, came to a close, and Quebec and Canada +were surrendered. It became a question in settling with France whether +it would be most advantageous for Great Britain to retain Canada or the +Guadeloupe sugar islands, and there were advocates on both sides. +Franklin published an admirable argument in favor of retaining Canada, +without which the American colonies would never be secure from the +Indians instigated by the French, and the acquisition of Canada would +also tend to a grander development of the British empire. It was an able +appeal, but there is no evidence that it alone influenced the final +decision of the ministry, as has been claimed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> any more than there is +evidence that Franklin suggested the policy of William Pitt which had +brought the war to a successful close. There were many advocates of +these opinions and suggestions, and Franklin was merely one of them, +though unquestionably an able one.</p> + +<p>He also published his essay on the “Peopling of Countries” and an +article in favor of the vigorous prosecution of the war in Europe. +These, with his pleasures and experiments in science, occupied most of +the five years, and the work of his mission, though well done, was by no +means absorbing.</p> + +<p>When he arrived, in July, 1757, he had, under the advice of Dr. +Fothergill, first sought redress from the proprietors themselves before +appealing to the government; but meeting with no success, he tried the +members of the Privy Council, and first of all William Pitt, the great +minister who was then conducting the war against France and recreating +England. But he could not even secure an interview with that busy +minister, which is a commentary on the extravagant claims of those who +say that Franklin suggested Pitt’s policy.</p> + +<p>Two years and more passed without his being able to accomplish anything +except enlighten the general public concerning the facts of the +situation. An article appeared in the <i>General Advertiser</i> abusing the +Pennsylvania Assembly, and his son William replied to it. The reply +being extensively copied by other newspapers, the son was set to work on +a book now known as the “Historical Review of Pennsylvania,” which went +over the whole ground of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> quarrels of the Assembly with the +proprietors and their deputy governors. It was circulated quite widely, +some copies being sold and others distributed free to important persons. +But it is doubtful whether it had very much influence, for it was an +extremely dull book, and valuable only for its quotations from the +messages of the governors and the replies of the Assembly.</p> + +<p>His opportunity to accomplish the main object of his mission came at +last by accident. The Assembly in Pennsylvania were gradually starving +the governor into submission by withholding his salary, and under +pressure for want of money, he gave his assent to a bill taxing the +proprietary estates. The bill being sent to England, the proprietors +opposed it before the Privy Council as hostile to their rights, and +obtained a decision in their favor in spite of the arguments of Franklin +and his lawyers. But Franklin secured a reconsideration, and Lord +Mansfield asked him if he really thought that no injury would be done +the proprietary estates by the Assembly, for the proprietors had +represented that the colonists intended to tax them out of existence. +Franklin assured him that no injury would be done, and he was +immediately asked if he would enter into an engagement to assure that +point. On his agreeing to do this, the papers were drawn, the Assembly’s +bill taxing the estates was approved by the crown, and from that time +the assaults of the proprietors on the liberties of the colony were +decisively checked.</p> + +<p>Franklin was now most furiously attacked and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> hated by the proprietary +party in Pennsylvania, but from the majority of the people, led by the +Quakers, he received increased approbation and applause, and his +willingness to risk his own personal engagement, as in the affair with +Braddock, was regarded as an evidence of the highest public spirit.</p> + +<p>He remained two years longer in England on one pretext or another, and +no doubt excuses for continuing such a delightful life readily suggested +themselves. He returned in the early autumn of 1762, receiving from the +Assembly three thousand pounds for his services, and during the five +years of his absence he had been annually elected to that body. For a +few months he enjoyed comparative quiet, but the next year he was again +in the turmoil of a most bitter political contest.</p> + +<p>The war with France was over, and Canada and the Ohio Valley had been +ceded to the English by the treaty of Paris, signed in February, 1763. +But the Indians, having lost their French friends, determined to destroy +the English, and, inspired by the genius of Pontiac, they took fort +after fort and, rushing upon the whole colonial frontier of +Pennsylvania, swept the people eastward to the Delaware with even worse +devastation and slaughter than they had inflicted after Braddock’s +defeat. I cannot give here the full details of this war,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and must +confine myself to one phase of it with which Franklin was particularly +concerned.</p> + +<p>The Scotch-Irish who occupied the frontier counties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> of Pennsylvania +suffered most severely from these Indian raids, and believed that the +proprietary and Quaker government at Philadelphia neglected the defence +of the province. Their resentment was strongest against the Quakers. +They held the Quaker religion in great contempt and viewed with scorn +the attempts of the Quakers to pacify the Indians and befriend those of +them who were willing to give up the war-path and adopt the white man’s +mode of life.</p> + +<p>Some friendly Indians, descendants of the tribes that had welcomed +William Penn, were living at Conestoga, near Lancaster, in a degenerate +condition, having given up both war and hunting, and following the +occupations of basket- and broom-making. They were the wards of the +proprietary government, and were given presents and supplies from time +to time. There were also at Bethlehem some other friendly Indians who +had been converted to Christianity by the Moravians.</p> + +<p>The Scotch-Irish believed that all of these so-called friendly Indians +were in league with the hostile tribes, furnished them with information, +and even participated in their murders. They asked the governor to +remove them, and assured him that their removal would secure the safety +of the frontier. Nothing being done by the governor, a party of +Scotch-Irish rangers started to destroy the Moravian Indians, but were +prevented by a rain-storm. The governor afterwards, through +commissioners, investigated these Moravian Indians, and finding reason +to suspect them, they were all brought down to Philadelphia<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> and +quartered in barracks. But the Conestoga Indians were attacked by a +party of fifty-seven Scotch-Irish, afterwards known as the “Paxton +Boys,” who, finding only six of them in the village,—three men, two +women, and a boy,—massacred them all, mangled their bodies, and burnt +their property. The remaining fourteen of the tribe were collected by +the sheriff and put for protection in the Lancaster jail. The Paxtons +hearing of it, immediately attacked the jail and cut the Indians to +pieces with hatchets.</p> + +<p>We have grown so accustomed to lynch law that this slaughter of the +Conestogas would not now cause much surprise, especially in some parts +of the country; but it was a new thing to the colonists, who in many +respects were more orderly than are their descendants, and a large part +of the community were shocked, disgusted, and indignant. Franklin wrote +a pamphlet which had a wide circulation and assailed the Scotch-Irish as +inhuman, brutal cowards, worse than Arabs and Turks; fifty-seven of +them, armed with rifles, knives, and hatchets, had actually succeeded, +he said, in killing three old men, two women, and a boy.</p> + +<p>The Paxton lynchers, however, were fully supported by the people of the +frontier. A large body of frontiersmen marched on Philadelphia with the +full intention of revolutionizing the Quaker government, and they would +have succeeded but for the unusual preparations for defence. They were +finally, with some difficulty, persuaded to return without using their +rifles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + +<p>The governor was powerless to secure even the arrest of the men who had +murdered the Indians in the jail, and the disorder was so flagrant and +the weakness of the executive branch of the government so apparent that +the Quakers and a majority of the people thought there was now good +reason for openly petitioning the crown to abolish the proprietorship. +While in England, Franklin had been advised not to raise this question, +and he had accordingly confined his efforts to taxing the proprietary +estates.</p> + +<p>The arrangement he had made provided that the estates should be fairly +taxed, but the governor and the Assembly differed in opinion as to what +was fair. The governor claimed that the best wild lands of the +proprietors should be taxed at the rate paid by the people for their +worst, and he tried the old tactics of forcing this point by delaying a +supply bill intended to defend the province against Pontiac and his +Indians. The Assembly passed the bill to suit him, but immediately +raised the question of the abolition of the proprietorship. Twenty-five +resolutions were passed most abusive of the proprietors, and the +Assembly then adjourned to let the people decide by a general election +whether a petition should be sent to the king asking for direct royal +government.</p> + +<p>A most exciting political campaign followed in which Franklin took the +side of the majority in favor of a petition, and wrote several of his +most brilliant pamphlets. He particularly assailed Provost Smith, who, +in a preface to a printed speech by John Dickinson defending the +proprietary government, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> eulogized William Penn in one of those +laudatory epitaphs which were the fashion of the day:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Utterly to confound the assembly, and show the excellence of +proprietary government, the Prefacer has extracted from their +own votes the praises they have from time to time bestowed on +the first proprietor, in their addresses to his son. And, though +addresses are not generally the best repositories of historical +truth, we must not in this instance deny their authority.</p> + +<p>“That these encomiums on the father, though sincere, have +occurred so frequently, was owing, however, to two causes: +first, a vain hope the assemblies entertained, that the father’s +example, and the honors done his character, might influence the +conduct of the sons; secondly, for that, in attempting to +compliment the sons upon their own merits, there was always +found an extreme scarcity of matter. Hence, <i>the father, the +honored and honorable father</i>, was so often repeated, that the +sons themselves grew sick of it, and have been heard to say to +each other with disgust, when told that A, B, and C, were come +to wait upon them with addresses on some public occasion, ‘<i>Then +I suppose we shall hear more about our father</i>.’ So that, let me +tell the Prefacer, who perhaps was unacquainted with this +anecdote, that if he hoped to curry more favor with the family, +by the inscription he has framed for that great man’s monument, +he may find himself mistaken; for there is too much in it of +<i>our father</i>.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Franklin then goes on to say that he will give a sketch “in the lapidary +way” which will do for a monument to the sons of William Penn.</p> + +<p class="center">“Be this a Memorial<br /> +Of T—— and R—— P——<br /> +P—— of P——<br /> +Who with estates immense<br /> +Almost beyond computation<br /> +When their own province<br /> +And the whole British empire<br /> +Were engaged in a bloody & most expensive war<br /> +Begun for the defence of those estates<br /> +Could yet meanly desire<br /> +To have those very estates<br /> +Totally or partially<br /> +Exempted from taxation<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>While their fellow subjects all around them<br /> +Groaned<br /> +Under the universal burden.<br /> +To gain this point<br /> +They refused the necessary laws<br /> +For the defence of their people<br /> +And suffered their colony to welter in its blood<br /> +Rather than abate in the least<br /> +Of these their dishonest pretensions.<br /> +The privileges granted by their father<br /> +Wisely and benevolently<br /> +To encourage the first settlers of the province<br /> +They<br /> +Foolishly and cruelly,<br /> +Taking advantage of public distress,<br /> +Have extorted from the posterity of those settlers;<br /> +And are daily endeavoring to reduce them<br /> +To the most abject slavery;<br /> +Though to the virtue and industry of those people,<br /> +In improving their country<br /> +They owe all that they possess and enjoy.<br /> +A striking instance<br /> +Of human depravity and ingratitude;<br /> +And an irrefragable proof,<br /> +That wisdom and goodness<br /> +Do not descend with an inheritance;<br /> +But that ineffable meanness<br /> +May be connected with unbounded fortune.”</p> + +<p>Dickinson’s followers, of course, assailed Franklin on all sides. Their +pamphlets are very exciting reading, especially Hugh Williamson’s “What +is Sauce for a Goose is also Sauce for a Gander,” which describes itself +in its curious old-fashioned subtitle as</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Being a small Touch in the Lapidary Way, or Tit for Tat, in +your own way. An Epitaph on a certain Great Man. Written by a +Departed Spirit, and now most humbly inscribed to all his +dutiful Sons and Children, who may hereafter choose to +distinguish him by the Name of A Patriot. Dear Children, I send +you here a little Book for you to look upon that you may see +your Pappy’s Face when he is dead and gone. Philadelphia, +Printed in Arch Street 1764.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p></blockquote> + +<p>“Pappy” is then described for the benefit of his children in an epitaph:</p> + +<p class="center">“An Epitaph &c<br /> +To the much esteem’d Memory of<br /> +B ... F ... Esq., LL.D.</p> + + <hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center">Possessed of many lucrative<br /> +Offices<br /> +Procured to him by the Interest of Men<br /> +Whom he infamously treated<br /> +And receiving enormous sums<br /> +from the Province<br /> +For Services<br /> +He never performed<br /> +After betraying it to Party and Contention<br /> +He lived, as to the Appearance of Wealth<br /> +In moderate circumstances;<br /> +His principal Estate, seeming to consist<br /> +In his Hand Maid Barbara<br /> +A most valuable Slave<br /> +The Foster Mother<br /> +of his last offspring<br /> +Who did his dirty Work<br /> +And in two Angelic Females<br /> +Whom Barbara also served<br /> +As Kitchen Wench and Gold Finder<br /> +But alas the Loss!<br /> +Providence for wise tho’ secret ends<br /> +Lately deprived him of the Mother<br /> +of Excellency.<br /> +His Fortune was not however impaired<br /> +For he piously withheld from her<br /> +Manes<br /> +The pitiful stipend of Ten pounds per Annum<br /> +On which he had cruelly suffered her<br /> +To starve<br /> +Then stole her to the Grave in Silence<br /> +Without a Pall, the covering due to her dignity<br /> +Without a tomb or even<br /> +A Monumental Inscription.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>”</p> + +<p>Franklin was a more skilful “lapidary” than his enemies, and his +pamphlets were expressed in better language, but there is now very +little doubt that he and the majority of the people were in the wrong. +The colony had valuable liberties and privileges which had been built up +by the Assembly through the efforts of nearly a hundred years. In spite +of all the aggressions of the proprietors these liberties remained +unimpaired and were even stronger than ever. The appeal to the king to +take the colony under his direct control might lead to disastrous +results; for if the people once surrendered themselves to the crown and +the proprietorship was abolished, the king and Parliament might also +abolish the charter and destroy every popular right.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> In fact, the +ministry were at that very time contemplating the Stamp Act and other +measures which brought on the Revolution. Franklin seemed incapable of +appreciating this, and retained for ten years, and in the face of the +most obvious facts, his strange confidence in the king.</p> + +<p>But the petition was carried by an overwhelming majority, although +Franklin failed to be re-elected to the Assembly. He never had been so +fiercely assailed, and it is probable that the attacks on his morals and +motives were far more bitter in ordinary conversation than in the +pamphlets. This abuse may have had considerable effect in preventing his +election. He was, however, appointed by the Assembly its agent to convey +the petition to England and present it to the king. He set out in +November, 1764,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> on this his second mission to England which resulted in +a residence there of ten years. Fortunately, the petition was +unsuccessful. He did not press it much, and the Assembly soon repented +of its haste.</p> + +<p>He settled down comfortably at No. 7 Craven Street, where Mrs. Stevenson +and her daughter were delighted to have again their old friend. His +scientific studies were renewed,—spots on the sun, smoky chimneys, the +aurora borealis, the northwest passage, the effect of deep and shallow +water on the speed of boats,—and he was appointed on committees to +devise plans for putting lightning-rods on St. Paul’s Cathedral and the +government powder-magazines. The circle of his acquaintance was much +enlarged. He associated familiarly with the noblemen he met at country +houses, was dined and entertained by notables of every sort, became +acquainted with Garrick, Mrs. Montague, and Adam Smith, and added +another distinguished physician, Sir John Pringle, to the list of his +very intimate friends. He dined out almost every day, was admitted to +all sorts of clubs, and of course diligently attended the meetings of +all the associations devoted to learning and science.</p> + +<p>Although only an amateur in medicine, he was invited by the physicians +to attend the meetings of their club, and it was of this club that he +told the story that the question was once raised whether physicians had, +on the whole, done more good than harm. After a long debate, Sir John +Pringle, the president, was asked to give his opinion, and replied that +if by physicians they meant to include old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> women, he thought they had +done more good than harm; otherwise more harm than good.</p> + +<p>During this his second mission to England he became more intimate than +ever with the good Bishop of St. Asaph, spending part of every summer +with him, and it was at his house that he wrote the first part of his +Autobiography. In a letter to his wife, dated August 14, 1771, he +describes the close of a three weeks’ stay at the bishop’s:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The Bishop’s lady knows what children and grandchildren I have +and their ages; so, when I was to come away on Monday, the 12th, +in the morning, she insisted on my staying that one day longer, +that we might together keep my grandson’s birthday. At dinner, +among other nice things, we had a floating island, which they +always particularly have on the birthdays of any of their own +six children, who were all but one at table, where there was +also a clergyman’s widow, now above one hundred years old. The +chief toast of the day was Master Benjamin Bache, which the +venerable old lady began in a bumper of <i>mountain</i>. The Bishop’s +lady politely added ‘and that he may be as good a man as his +grandfather.’ I said I hoped he would be <i>much better</i>. The +Bishop, still more complaisant than his lady, said: ‘We will +compound the matter and be contented if he should not prove +<i>quite so good</i>.’” (Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. vi. p. +71.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>The bishop’s daughters were great friends of Franklin, and often +exchanged with him letters which in many respects were almost equal to +his own. Years afterwards, when he was in France during the Revolution, +and it was rather imprudent to write to him, one of them, without the +knowledge of her parents, sent him a most affectionate and charming +girl’s letter, which is too long to quote, but is well worth reading.</p> + +<p>He had his wife send him from Pennsylvania a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> number of live squirrels, +which he gave to his friends. One which he presented to one of the +bishop’s daughters having escaped from its cage, and being killed by a +dog, he wrote an epitaph on it rather different from his political +epitaph:</p> + +<p class="center">“Alas! poor <span class="smcap">Mungo</span>!<br /> +Happy wert thou, hadst thou known<br /> +Thy own felicity.<br /> +Remote from the fierce bald eagle<br /> +Tyrant of thy native woods,<br /> +Thou hadst naught to fear from his piercing talons,<br /> +Nor from the murdering gun<br /> +Of the thoughtless sportsman.<br /> +Safe in thy weird castle<br /> +<span class="smcap">Grimalkin</span> never could annoy thee.<br /> +Daily wert thou fed with the choicest viands,<br /> +By the fair hand of an indulgent mistress;<br /> +But, discontented,<br /> +Thou wouldst have more freedom.<br /> +Too soon, alas! didst thou obtain it;<br /> +And wandering<br /> +Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton cruel Ranger!<br /> +Learn hence<br /> +Ye who blindly seek more liberty,<br /> +Whether subjects, sons, squirrels or daughters,<br /> +That apparent restraint may be real protection<br /> +Yielding peace and plenty<br /> +With security.”</p> + +<p>Franklin’s pleasures in England remind us of other distinguished +Americans who, having gone to London to represent their country, have +suddenly found themselves in congenial intercourse with all that was +best in the nation and enjoying the happiest days of their lives. +Lowell, when minister there, had the same experience as Franklin, and +when we read their experiences together, the resemblance is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> very +striking. Others, though perhaps in less degree, have felt the same +touch of race. Blood is thicker than water. But I doubt if any of +them—Lowell, Motley, or even Holmes in his famous three months’ +visit—had such a good time as Franklin.</p> + +<p>He loved England and was no doubt delighted with the appointments that +sent him there. If it is true, as his enemies have charged, that he +schemed for public office, it is not surprising in view of the pleasure +he derived from appointments such as these. Writing to Miss Stevenson on +March 23, 1763, after he had returned to Pennsylvania from his first +mission, he says,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Of all the enviable things England has, I envy it most its +people. Why should that petty Island, which, compared to +America, is but a stepping stone in a brook, scarce enough of it +above water to keep one’s shoes dry; why, I say should that +little Island enjoy, in almost every neighborhood, more +sensible, virtuous, and elegant minds than we can collect in +ranging a hundred leagues of our vast forests?” (Bigelow’s Works +of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 233.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>In fact, he had resolved at one time, if he could prevail on Mrs. +Franklin to accompany him, to settle permanently in England. His reason, +he writes to Mr. Strahan, was for America, but his inclination for +England. “You know which usually prevails. I shall probably make but +this one vibration and settle here forever. Nothing will prevent it, if +I can, as I hope I can, prevail with Mrs. F. to accompany me, especially +if we have a peace.”<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> fondness for the old home no doubt helped +to form that very conservative position which he took in the beginning +of the Revolution, and which was so displeasing to some people in +Massachusetts. His reason, though not his inclination, was, as he says, +for America, but the ignorant and brutal course of the British ministry +finally made reason and inclination one.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. vi. p. 300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, p. 221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, chap. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Bigelow’s Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 212; vol. x. pp. 295, +302.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> +<h2>VII<br /><br /> + +<small>DIFFICULTIES AND FAILURE IN ENGLAND</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Franklin’s</span> diplomatic career was now to begin in earnest. Although the +petition to change Pennsylvania into a royal province under the direct +rule of the crown was, fortunately, not acted upon and not very +seriously pressed, he, nevertheless, continued to believe that such a +change would be beneficial and might some day be accomplished.</p> + +<p>He looked upon the king as supreme ruler of the colonies, and retained +this opinion until he heard of actual bloodshed in the battle of +Lexington. The king and not Parliament had in the beginning given the +colonies their charters; the king and not Parliament had always been the +power that ruled them; wherefore the passage by Parliament of stamp acts +and tea acts was a usurpation. This was one of the arguments in which +many of the colonists had sought refuge, but few of them clung to it so +long as Franklin.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately after his arrival in London in December, 1764, the +agitations about the proposed Stamp Act began, and within a few weeks he +was deep in them. His previous residence of five years in London when he +was trying to have the proprietary estates taxed had given him some +knowledge of men and affairs in the great capital; had given him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +indeed, his first lessons in the diplomat’s art; but he was now +powerless against the Stamp Act. The ministry had determined on its +passage, and they considered the protests of Franklin and the other +colonial agents of little consequence.</p> + +<p>The act passed, and Franklin wrote home on the subject one of his +prettiest letters to Charles Thomson:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Depend upon it, my good neighbor, I took every step in my power +to prevent the passing of the Stamp Act. But the tide was too +strong against us.... The nation was provoked by American claims +of independence, and all parties joined in resolving by this act +to settle the point. We might as well have hindered the sun’s +setting. That we could not do. But since it is down, my friend, +and it may be long before it rises again, let us make as good a +night of it as we can. We may still light candles. Frugality and +industry will go a great way towards indemnifying us. Idleness +and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If +we can get rid of the former we may easily bear the latter.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Grenville, in conformity with his assurance that the act would work +satisfactorily even to the Americans, announced that stamp officers +would not be sent from England, but that the kind mother would appoint +colonists, and he asked the colonial agents to name to him honest and +responsible men in their several colonies. Franklin recommended his old +friend John Hughes, a respectable merchant of Philadelphia, never +dreaming that by so doing he was getting the good man into trouble. But +as soon as Hughes’s commission arrived his house was threatened by the +mob and he was forced to resign.</p> + +<p>Franklin had no idea that the colonies would be so indignant and offer +so much resistance. He supposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> that they would quietly submit, buy the +stamps, and paste them on all their documents. He bought a quantity of +stamped paper and sent it over to his partner, David Hall, to sell in +the little stationery shop which was still attached to their +printing-office. When he heard of the mob violence and the positive +determination not to pay the tax, he was surprised and disgusted. He +wrote to John Hughes, expressing surprise at the indiscretion of the +people and the rashness of the Virginia Assembly. “A firm loyalty to the +crown,” he said, “and a faithful adherence to the government of this +nation, which it is the safety as well as honour of the colonies to be +connected with, will always be the wisest course for you and I to +take.”<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>His old opponents, the proprietary party, were not slow to take this +opportunity to abuse him as faithless to his province and the American +cause. A certain Samuel Smith went about telling the people that +Franklin had planned the Stamp Act and intended to have the Test Act put +in force in America. A caricature of the time represents the devil +whispering in his ear, “Thee shall be agent, Ben, for all my dominions,” +and underneath was printed—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“All his designs concentre in himself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For building castles and amassing pelf.<br /><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The public ’tis his wit to sell for gain,<br /><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whom private property did ne’er maintain.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The mob even threatened his house, much to the alarm of his wife, who, +however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> sturdily remained and refused to seek safety in flight. This +and other events, together with the information that he received from +America during the next few months, compelled him to change his ground. +He saw that there was to be substantial resistance to the act, and he +joined earnestly in the agitation for its repeal. This agitation was +carried on during the autumn of 1765 and a very strong case made for the +colonies, the most telling part of which was the refusal of the +colonists to buy English manufactured goods, which had already lost the +British merchants millions of pounds sterling.</p> + +<p>In December Parliament met and the whole question was gone into with +thoroughness. For six weeks testimony was taken before the House sitting +as committee of the whole, and merchants, manufacturers, colonial +agents, and every one who was supposed to be able to throw light on the +subject were examined. It was during the course of this investigation +that Franklin was called and gave those famous answers which enhanced +his reputation more than any other one act of his life, except, perhaps, +his experiment with the kite.</p> + +<p>For a long time before the examination he had been very busy +interviewing all sorts of persons, going over the whole ground of the +controversy and trying to impress members of Parliament with the +information and arguments that had come to him from the colonies. His +answers in the examination were not given so entirely on the spur of the +moment as has sometimes been supposed, for he had gone over the subject +again and again in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> conversation, and was well prepared. But his replies +are truly wonderful in their exquisite shrewdness, the delicate turns of +phrase, and the subtle but perfectly clear meaning given to words. The +severe training in analyzing and rewriting the essays of the <i>Spectator</i> +stood him in good stead that day, and we realize more fully what he +himself said, that it was to his mastery of language that he owed his +great reputation.</p> + +<p>They asked him, for example, “Are you acquainted with Newfoundland?” He +could not tell to what they might be leading him, and some people would +have replied no, or yes; but the wily old philosopher contented himself +with saying, “I never was there.”</p> + +<p>They drove him into an awkward corner at one point of the examination. +He had been showing that the colonies had no objection to voting of +their own free will supplies to the British crown, and had frequently +done so in the French and Indian wars.</p> + +<p>“But,” said his questioner, “suppose one of the colonial assemblies +should refuse to raise supplies for its own local government, would it +not then be right, in order to preserve order and carry on the +government in that locality, that Parliament should tax that colony, +inasmuch as it would not tax itself for its own support?”</p> + +<p>Franklin parried the question by saying that such a case could not +happen, and if it did, it would cure itself by the disorder and +confusion that would arise.</p> + +<p>“But,” insisted his tormentor, “just suppose that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> it did happen; should +not Parliament have the right to remedy such an evil state of affairs?”</p> + +<p>The philosopher yielded a little to this last question, and said that +there might be such a right if it were used only for the good of the +people of the colony. This was exactly what they had wanted him to say, +so they put the next question which would clinch the nail.</p> + +<p>“But who is to judge of that, Britain or the colonies?”</p> + +<p>This was difficult to answer; but with inimitable sagacity their victim +replied,—</p> + +<p>“Those that feel can best judge.”</p> + +<p>It was a narrow escape, but he was safely out of the trap. Then they +badgered him about the difference between external taxes, such as +customs duties and taxes on commerce, which he said the colonists had +always been willing to pay, and internal taxes, like the Stamp Tax, +which they would never pay and could not be made to pay. He was very +positive on this point; so a member asked him whether it was not likely, +since the colonists were so opposed to internal taxes, that they would +in time assume the same rebellious attitude towards external taxes. +Franklin’s reply was very subtle in showing how Great Britain was +driving the colonies more and more into rebellion:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“They never have hitherto. Many arguments have been lately used +here to show them that there is no difference, and that if you +have no right to tax them internally, you have none to tax them +externally, or make any other law to bind them. At present they +do not reason so; but in time they may possibly be convinced by +these arguments.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p></blockquote> + +<p>They reminded him of the clause in the charter of Pennsylvania which +expressly allowed Parliament to tax that colony. How, then, they said, +can the Pennsylvanians assert that the Stamp Act is an infringement of +their rights? This was a poser; but Franklin was equal to the occasion.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“They understand it thus: by the same charter and otherwise they +are entitled to all the privileges and liberties of Englishmen. +They find in the Great Charters and the Petition and Declaration +of Rights that one of the privileges of English subjects is, +that they are not to be taxed but by their common consent. They +have therefore relied upon it, from the first settlement of the +province, that the Parliament never would, nor could, by color +of that clause in the charter, assume a right of taxing them +till it had qualified itself to exercise such right by admitting +representatives from the people to be taxed, who ought to make a +part of that common consent.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>But to print all the brilliant passages of this examination would +require too much space. It should be read entire; for in its wonderful +display of human intelligence we see Franklin at his best. He never did +anything else quite equal to it, and he never again had such an +opportunity. It was an ordeal that would have crushed or appalled +ordinary men, and would have been too much for some very able men. They +would have evaded the severe questions, given commonplace answers, or +sought refuge in obscurity, eloquence, or sentiment. But Franklin, with +perfect composure, ease, and almost indifference, met every question +squarely as it was asked. Many other persons were examined during the +long weeks of that investigation, but who now knows who they were? They +may have been as well informed as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> Franklin, and doubtless many of them +were; but they were submerged in the situation which he made a +stepping-stone to greatness.</p> + +<p>In nothing that he said can there be discovered the slightest trace of +hurry, surprise, or disturbed temper; everything is unruffled and +smooth. He guards without effort the beauty and perfection of his +language as carefully as its substance. Each reply is complete. Nothing +can be added to it, and it would be impossible to abbreviate it. It was +his superb physical constitution that enabled him to bear himself thus. +No prize-fighter could have been more self-possessed.</p> + +<p>As is well known, he could seldom speak long, especially at this time of +his life, without jesting or telling stories; but there is no trace of +this in the examination, and the slightest touch of anything of the kind +would have marred its wonderful merit. In his previous conversations +with members he had been humorous enough. On one occasion a Tory asked +him, as he would not agree to the act, to at least help them to amend +it. He said he could easily do that by the change of a single word. The +act read that it was to be enforced on a certain day in the year one +thousand seven hundred and sixty-five. Just change one to two, he said, +and America will have little or no objection to it. During his +examination members who favored the repeal asked him questions +calculated to bring out his favorite arguments, and one of them, +remembering this jest, asked him a question which would lead to it. It +seems to have been the only question he evaded;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> for, as he has told us, +he considered such a jest too light and ridiculous for the occasion.</p> + +<p>The Stamp Act was repealed principally through the efforts of the +merchants and tradespeople who thronged the lobbies of the House of +Commons and clamorously demanded that the Americans should be restored +to a condition in which they would be willing to buy British goods; but +there is no question that Franklin’s efforts and examination greatly +assisted, and members of the opposition party thanked him for the aid he +had given them in carrying the repeal. Pennsylvania reappointed him her +agent, and he continued his life in London as a sort of colonial +ambassador. In 1768 Georgia made him her agent, and during the next two +years he was appointed agent for both New Jersey and Massachusetts; so +that he was in a sense representing at London the interests of America.</p> + +<p>His appointment as the agent of Massachusetts had been opposed by many +of the leaders of the liberty party in Boston; for his opinions were +rather too moderate to suit them. He still retained his confidence in +George III. as a safe ruler for America, and he did all he could to +soften and accommodate the differences existing between the colonies and +the mother country.</p> + +<p>His motives were, of course, attacked and his moderation ascribed to his +love of office. He was at that time Postmaster of North America, and as +his income of a thousand pounds a year from his partnership with David +Hall in the printing business ceased in 1766, he was naturally desirous +to retain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> his postmaster’s salary. His zeal for the American cause was +inclining Lord Sandwich, the Postmaster-General, to remove him, while +the Duke of Grafton was disposed to give him a better office in England, +in order to identify him with the mother country and bring him into +close relations with the government.</p> + +<p>There is no evidence that he was unduly influenced by love of office. +His confidence in the king was merely a mistake which many other people +made, and his moderation and attempt to settle all difficulties amicably +were measures which a man of his temperament and in his position would +naturally take.</p> + +<p>He tried to give the English correct opinions about America, and to +disclose the true interest and the true relations which should subsist +between the mother and her daughters. To this end he wrote articles for +the newspapers, and reprinted Dickinson’s “Farmer’s Letters” with a +preface written by himself. There was a large party led by Burke, Barré, +Onslow, Lord Chatham, and others who were favorable to America, and it +seemed as if this party might be made larger. At any rate, Franklin felt +bound to take sides with them, and assist them as far as possible. His +articles were humorous, and necessarily anonymous; for he feared they +would lose half of the slight effect they had if the name of the +American agent were signed to them.</p> + +<p>His two famous articles were published in the early autumn of 1773. One, +called “Rules for Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One,” was an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>admirable satire on the conduct of the British government. A great +empire is like a cake, most easily diminished at the edges. Take care +that colonies never enjoy the same rights as the mother country. Forget +all benefits conferred by colonies; treat them as if they were always +inclined to revolt; send prodigals, broken gamesters, and stock-jobbers +to rule over them; punish them for petitioning against injustice; +despise their voluntary grants of money, and harass them with novel +taxes; threaten that you have the right to tax them without limit; take +away from them trial by jury and <i>habeas corpus</i>, and those who are +suspected of crimes bring to the mother country for trial; send the most +insolent officials to collect the taxes; apply the proceeds of the taxes +to increasing salaries and pensions; keep adjourning the colonial +assemblies until they pass the laws you want; redress no grievances; and +send a standing army among them commanded by a general with unlimited +power.</p> + +<p>The popularity of this piece was so great that all the newspapers copied +it and new editions had to be issued. The other article was a short +squib, called “An Edict of the King of Prussia,” and professes to be a +formal announcement by Frederick the Great that, inasmuch as the British +isles were originally Saxon colonies and have now reached a flourishing +condition, it is just and expedient that a revenue be raised from them; +and he goes on to declare the measures he had decided to put in force, +which are most clever burlesques on the measures adopted by England for +America.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>This edict also had a great run of popularity, and of course its +authorship became known. Many of the slow-witted English at first +thought it real, and Franklin in a letter to his son gives an +interesting account of its reception, and at the same time allows us a +glimpse of his life at English country houses:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I was down at Lord le Despencer’s, when the post brought that +day’s papers. Mr. Whitehead was there, too, (Paul Whitehead, the +author of ‘Manners,’) who runs early through all the papers, and +tells the company what he finds remarkable. He had them in +another room, and we were chatting in the breakfast parlor, when +he came running in to us out of breath, with the paper in his +hand. ‘Here,’ says he, ‘here’s news for ye! Here’s the King of +Prussia claiming a right to this kingdom!’ All stared, and I as +much as anybody; and he went on to read it. When he had read two +or three paragraphs, a gentleman present said, ‘Damn his +impudence; I dare say we shall hear by next post that he is upon +his march with one hundred thousand men to back this.’ +Whitehead, who is very shrewd, soon after began to smoke it, and +looking in my face, said, ‘I’ll be hanged if this is not some of +your American jokes upon us.’ The reading went on, and ended +with abundance of laughing, and a general verdict that it was a +fair hit; and the piece was cut out of the paper and preserved +in my Lord’s collection.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This was all very pleasant for Franklin, and increased his fame, +especially among the Whigs, who were already on the side of America. But +the Tories, whom it was necessary to win, were so indignant and so +deeply disgusted that these brilliant essays may be said to have done +more harm than good.</p> + +<p>It is not usual for an ambassador in a foreign country to discuss in the +public prints the questions at issue between that country and his own. +It would generally be regarded as serious misconduct,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> and the rule +which prohibits it seems to be founded on good reasons. The ambassador +is not there for the purpose of instructing or influencing the general +public. He is not in any way concerned with them, but is concerned only +with the heads of the government, with whom alone he carries on the +business of his mission. In order that he may fulfil his part +successfully he must be acceptable, or at least not offensive, to the +persons in control of the government. But how can he be acceptable to +them if he is openly or in secret appealing to the people of the country +against them? Will they not regard him very much as if he were a spy or +an enemy in disguise in their midst?</p> + +<p>This was precisely the difficulty into which Franklin got himself. He +was not called an ambassador, and he would not have been willing to +admit that he was in a foreign country. But in effect he was in that +position, being the duly accredited agent of colonies that had a serious +quarrel with the mother country which every one knew might terminate in +war. When he began to write anonymous articles full of sarcasm and +severity against the ministry of the party in power he was doing what, +under ordinary diplomatic circumstances, might have caused his +dismissal. It was distinctly a step downward. It was not different in +essentials from that of an ambassador joining one of the political +parties of the country to which he is accredited and making stump +speeches for it. His arguments were approved only by people among the +English liberals who were already convinced, while they made him bitter +enemies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> among the Tory governing class at a time when he had every +reason to mollify them, and when he was doing his utmost to accommodate +amicably the differences between the mother and her daughters. They had +now a handle against him, something that would offset the charm of his +conversation, his learning, and his discoveries in science which gave +him such influence among notable people. They soon had the opportunity +they wanted in the famous episode of the Hutchinson letters.</p> + +<p>In order to carry out his purpose of accommodating all disputes, he was +in the habit of saying wherever he went in England that the colonies +were most loyal and loving; that there was no necessity for the severe +measures against Boston,—quartering troops on her, and other +oppressions. Such severities created the impression among the Americans +that the whole English nation was against them; they did not stop to +think that it was merely the ministry and the party in power. +Accordingly there were riots and tumults among some of the disorderly +classes in America which in their turn created a wrong impression in +England, where such disturbances were falsely supposed to be +representative of the colonists at large. In this way the +misunderstanding was continually aggravated because the true state of +things was unknown.</p> + +<p>Many people in England were disposed to smile at this pretty delusion of +peace and affection, but they thought it best to let the colonial agents +continue under its influence and not acquaint them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> with the means they +had of knowing the contrary. At last, however, in the year 1772, one of +them let the cat out of the bag. Franklin was talking in his usual +strain to a Whig member of Parliament who was disposed to be very +friendly to America, when that member frankly told him that he must be +mistaken. The disorders in America were much worse than he supposed. The +severe measures complained of were not the mere suggestion of the party +in power in England, but had been asked for by people in Boston as the +only means of restoring order and pacifying the country, which was +really in a most rebellious and dangerous state.</p> + +<p>When Franklin expressed surprise and doubt, the member said he would +soon satisfy him, and a few days after placed in his hands a packet of +letters which had been written by Thomas Hutchinson, the Governor of +Massachusetts, Andrew Oliver, the Lieutenant-Governor, and some other +officials to Mr. William Whately, a man who had held some subordinate +offices and had been an important political worker in the Grenville +party.</p> + +<p>The letters described the situation in Massachusetts in the year 1768; +the riotous proceedings when John Hancock’s sloop was seized for +violating the revenue laws; how the customs officers were insulted, +beaten, the windows of their houses broken, and they obliged to take +refuge on the “Romney” man-of-war. These and other proceedings the +writers of the letters intimated were approved by the majority of the +people, and they recommended that these turbulent colonists should, for +their own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> good, be restrained by force, and the liberty they were +misusing curtailed. “There must be an abridgment,” said one of +Hutchinson’s letters, “of what are called English liberties.”</p> + +<p>Hutchinson, as well as some of the other writers of the letters, were +natives of New England; and Hutchinson, before he became governor, had +had a long public career in Massachusetts in which he had distinguished +himself as a most conservative, prudent, and able man who had conferred +many benefits on the colony. The letters by him and the other officials +had been handed about among prominent people in London, who regarded +them as better evidence of the real situation in America than the +benevolent talk of the colonial agent or his brilliant and anonymous +sallies in the newspapers.</p> + +<p>The condition which the member of Parliament annexed to his loan of the +letters to Franklin was that they should not be printed or copied, and +after having been read by the leaders of the patriot movement in +Massachusetts, they were to be returned to London. He must have had very +little knowledge of the world, and Franklin must have smiled at the +condition. Of course, in transmitting the letters to Massachusetts +Franklin mentioned the condition. This relieved him from responsibility, +and John Adams and John Hancock could do what they thought right under +the circumstances.</p> + +<p>What might have been expected soon followed. The leaders in Boston read +the letters and were furious. Here were their own governors and +officials secretly furnishing the British government with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> information +that would bring punishment on the colony, and actually recommending +that the punishment should be inflicted. One of Hutchinson’s letters +distinctly stated that the information furnished by him in a previous +letter had brought the troops to Boston; and, as is well known, it was +the collision of some of these troops with a mob which led to what has +been called the “Boston massacre.”</p> + +<p>John Adams showed the letters to his aunt; others showed them to +relatives and friends, no doubt, with the most positive instructions +that they were not to be copied or printed, and were to be exhibited +only to certain people. The Assembly met, and John Hancock, with a +mysterious air, announced that a most important matter would in a few +days be submitted to that body for consideration; but most of the +members knew about it already; and when the day arrived the public was +refused admittance and the letters read to the Assembly in secret +session. As for publishing them, they were soon in print in London as +well as in the colonies; and when the originals could be of no further +use, John Adams put them in an envelope and sent them back to London, as +the condition required.</p> + +<p>The Assembly resolved to ask the crown to remove both Hutchinson and +Oliver, and prepared a petition to that effect, basing the request on +the ground that these two men had plotted to encourage and intensify the +quarrel of the colonies with the mother country. By their false +representations they had caused a fleet and an army to be brought to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +Massachusetts, and were therefore the cause of the confusion and +bloodshed which had resulted. This petition reached the king in the +summer of 1773.</p> + +<p>Franklin thought that the whole affair would have a good effect. The +resentment of the colonies against the mother country would be +transferred to Hutchinson and the other individuals who had caused it; +the ministry would see that the colonists were sincerely desirous of a +good understanding with the British government and that Hutchinson and +Oliver were evil persons bent on fomenting trouble and responsible for +all the recent difficulties in Massachusetts. This was a pleasant +theory, but it turned out to be utterly unsound and useless. The effect +of the letters was just the opposite of what was expected. Instead of +modifying the feelings of the colonists and the ministry, they increased +the resentment of both.</p> + +<p>The king and his Privy Council were not inclined to pay any attention to +the petition, and it might have slept harmlessly like other petitions +from America at that time. But when the letters were printed in London, +people began to wonder how they had reached the colonists. They were in +a sense secret information, and had been intrusted to persons who were +supposed to understand that they were for government circles alone. +William Whately, to whom they had been written, was dead, and as it +began to be suspected that his brother and executor, Thomas Whately, +might have put them into circulation, he felt bound to defend himself.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, they seem to have passed out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> of William Whately’s +hands before his death, and were never in the possession of the +executor. But the executor had given permission to John Temple to look +over the deceased Whately’s papers and to take from them certain letters +which Temple and his brother had written to him. Accordingly, Thomas +Whately went to see Temple, who gave the most positive assurances that +he had taken only his own and his brother’s letters, and he repeated +these assurances twice afterwards. But the suspicion against him getting +into the newspapers, he demanded from Whately a public statement +exonerating him. Whately published a statement which merely gave the +facts and exonerated him no more than to say that Temple had assured him +he did not take the Hutchinson letters. Such a statement left an +unpleasant implication against Temple, for the executor seemed +studiously to avoid saying that he believed Temple’s assurances.</p> + +<p>So Temple challenged Whately, and the challenge was carried by Ralph +Izard, of South Carolina. They fought a queer sort of duel which would +have amused Frenchmen, and half a century later would have amused +Carolinians. Whately declined to be bothered with a second, so Temple +could not have one. They met in Hyde Park at four in the morning, +Whately with a sword and Temple with both sword and pistols. Seeing that +Whately had only a sword, he supposed that he must be particularly +expert with it, and he therefore suggested that they fight with pistols. +They emptied their weapons without effect, and then took to their +blades.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>Temple, who was something of a swordsman, soon discovered that Whately +knew nothing of the art, and he chivalrously tried to wound him +slightly, so as to end the encounter. But Whately slashed and cut in a +bungling way that was extremely dangerous; and Temple, finding that he +was risking his life by his magnanimity, aimed a thrust which would have +killed Whately if he had not seized the blade in his left hand. As it +was, it wounded him severely in the side, and he suggested that the +fight end. But his opponent in this extraordinary duel was deaf, and, +recovering his sword, as Whately slipped forward he wounded him in the +back of the shoulder.</p> + +<p>Izard and Arthur Lee, of Virginia, now arrived on the scene and +separated the combatants. One result of not fighting in the regular +manner with witnesses was that some people believed, from the wound on +Whately’s back, that Temple had attempted to stab him when he was down. +Meantime Franklin, who had been out of town on one of his pleasant +excursions, returned to London and, hearing that another duel between +the two was imminent, published a letter in the newspapers announcing +that he was the person who had obtained and sent the letters to +Massachusetts, and that they had never been in the possession of the +executor and consequently could not have been stolen from him by Temple.</p> + +<p>He supposed that he had ended the difficulty most handsomely, and he +continued to hope for good results from making the letters public. But +the ministry and the Tories had now the opportunity they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> wanted. They +saw a way to deprive him of his office of postmaster and attack his +character. He had admitted sending the letters to Massachusetts. But how +had he obtained them? How did he get possession of the private letters +of a deceased member of the government; letters, too, that every one had +been warned not to allow to get into a colonial agent’s hands? If the +distinguished man of science whose fascinating manner and conversation +were the delight of London drawing-rooms and noblemen’s country-seats +had stepped down from the heights of philosophy to do this sort of work, +why, then, his great reputation and popularity need no longer be +considered as protecting him.</p> + +<p>It was unfortunate that Franklin sent these letters to Massachusetts in +the way that has been described. At the same time it is rather too much +to expect that he should have foreseen all the results. But after more +than a hundred years have passed we can perhaps review the position of +the Tory government a little more calmly than has been usual.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose that the Spanish minister in the United States should get +possession of letters sent from Spain by our minister there to the +Secretary of State at Washington; and we will assume also that these +letters relate to a matter of serious controversy between our country +and Spain, and are the private communications from our minister to the +Secretary of State. If the Spanish minister should send these letters to +his government, and that government should publish them in its own and +our newspapers, would there not be considerable indignation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> in America? +Would it not be said that the Spanish minister was here to conduct +diplomatic negotiations in the usual way and not for the purpose of +securing possession of the private documents of our government? Would it +not be assumed at once that he must have bribed some one to give him the +letters, or got them in some other clandestine way? and would not his +country in all probability be asked to recall him?</p> + +<p>Then, too, we must remember that Franklin’s argument that the colonies +were all loyal and needed only a little kind treatment was in the eyes +of the Tories a pious sham; and they were somewhat justified in thinking +so. It is true, indeed, that outside of Massachusetts the people were +very loyal, and determined not to break with Great Britain unless they +were forced to it. But in Massachusetts Samuel Adams was laboring night +and day to force a breach. He had as much contempt as the Tories for +Franklin’s peace and love policy, and thought it ridiculous that such a +man should be the agent for Massachusetts. He was convinced that there +never would be peace, that it was not desirable, and that the sooner +there were war and independence the better.</p> + +<p>The Tory government knew all this; it knew of the committees of +correspondence that the Boston patriots were inaugurating to inflame the +whole country; it knew all these things, from the reports of the royal +governors and other officials in the colonies, and it was probably +better acquainted with the real situation than was Franklin. There may +still be read among the documents of the British<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> government the +affidavits of the persons who followed Samuel Adams about and took down +his words when he was secretly inciting the lower classes of the people +in Boston to open rebellion.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> About the time that Whately and Temple +fought their duel, in December, 1773, the tea was thrown overboard in +Boston harbor, and it is now generally believed that Samuel Adams +inspired and encouraged this act as one which would most surely lead to +a breach with the mother country.</p> + +<p>The school-book story of the “Boston Tea Party” has been so deeply +impressed upon our minds as one of the glorious deeds of patriotism that +its true bearings are obscured. There were many patriots at the time who +did not consider it a wise act. Besides Boston, the tea was sent by the +East India Company to Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York, and in +these cities the people prevented its being landed and sold; but they +did not destroy it. They considered that they had a right to prevent its +landing and sale; that in doing this they were acting in a legal and +constitutional manner to protect their rights; but to destroy it would +have been both a riotous act and an attack on private property.</p> + +<p>The Tory ministry, while having no serious objection to the method +adopted in Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York, considered the Boston +method decidedly riotous, and from its point of view such a conclusion +was natural. It seemed to be of a piece with all the other occurrences +which Hutchinson<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> and Oliver had described in their letters, and it +confirmed most strongly all the statements and recommendations in those +letters. It was decided to punish Boston in a way that she would +remember, and in the following March, after careful deliberation, +Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, which locked up the harbor of +that town, destroyed for the time her commerce, and soon brought on the +actual bloodshed of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>Meantime the ministry also attended to Franklin’s case. The Privy +Council sent word to Franklin that it was ready to take up the petition +of the Massachusetts Assembly asking for the removal of Governor +Hutchinson, and required his presence as the colony’s agent. He found +that Hutchinson and Oliver had secured as counsel Alexander Wedderburn, +a Scotch barrister, afterwards most successful in securing political +preferment, and ending his career as Lord Rosslyn. Franklin had no +counsel, and asked for a postponement of three weeks to obtain legal aid +and prepare his case, which was granted.</p> + +<p>The day fixed for the hearing aroused great expectations. An +unprecedented number of the members of the Privy Council attended. The +Archbishop of Canterbury, Burke, Dr. Priestley, Izard, Lee, and many +other distinguished persons, friends or opponents of Franklin, crowded +into the chamber. The members of the Privy Council sat at a long table, +and every one else had to stand as a mark of respect. The room was one +of those apartments which tourists are often shown in palaces in Europe, +somewhat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> like a large drawing-room with an open fireplace at one end. +The fireplace projected into the room, and in one of the recesses at the +side of it Franklin stood, not far behind Lord Gower, president of the +Council, who had his back to the fireplace.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s astute counsel, John Dunning, a famous barrister, afterwards +Lord Ashburton, told him that his peace and love theory was not a very +good ground to rest his case on before the Council. It would be well not +to use the Hutchinson letters at all, or refer to them as little as +possible; for the Privy Council believed every word in them to be true, +and the passages in them which had most inflamed the colonists were the +very ones which were most acceptable to the Council.</p> + +<p>So Dunning made a speech in which he said that no crime or offence was +charged against Hutchinson and Oliver; they were in no way attacked or +accused; the colonists were simply asking a favor of His Majesty, which +was that the governor and the lieutenant-governor had become so +distasteful to the people that it would be good policy and tend to peace +and quiet to remove them.</p> + +<p>It was a ridiculous attempt, of course, and none knew better than +Dunning that there was not the slightest hope of success. The Privy +Council would never have taken up the petition, it would have slept in +the dust of its pigeon-hole, if the council had not seen in it a way of +attacking Franklin. Wedderburn’s speech was the event awaited, and to it +the Tories looked forward as to a cock-fight or a bull-baiting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<p>A little volume published in England and to be found in some of the +libraries in America contains an account of the proceedings and gives a +large part of Wedderburn’s speech. He has been most abundantly abused in +America and by Whigs in England as an unprincipled office-seeker and a +shallow orator, with no other talent than that of invective. That he was +successful in obtaining office and rising to high distinction as an +ardent Tory cannot be denied, and in this respect he did not differ +materially from others or from the Whigs themselves when they had their +innings. As to the charge of shallowness, it is not borne out by his +speech on this occasion. Once concede his point of view as a Tory, and +the speech is a very clever one.</p> + +<p>He began by a history of Hutchinson’s useful public career in +Massachusetts; and there is no question that Hutchinson had been a most +valuable official; even the Massachusetts people themselves conceded +that. The difficulty with Hutchinson was the same as with +Wedderburn,—his point of view was not ours. Having reviewed Hutchinson, +he went on to show how ridiculous it was to suppose that he alone had +been the cause of sending the troops to Boston, and in this he was again +probably right. The home government, as he well said, had abundant other +means of information from General Gage, Sir Francis Bernard, and its +officials all through the colonies; and he concluded this part of his +speech with the point that Hutchinson, by the admission of Massachusetts +herself, had never done anything wrong except write these letters, and +would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> it not be ridiculous to dismiss a man for giving information +which had been furnished by a host of others?</p> + +<p>Then he turned his attention to Franklin. How had he obtained those +letters? And here it must be confessed that Franklin was in a scrape, +and from the Tory point of view was fair game. He could not disclose the +name of the member of Parliament who gave them to him, for he had +promised not to do so, and even without this promise it would have been +wanton cruelty to have subjected the man to the ruin and disgrace that +would have instantly fallen upon him. Nothing could drag this secret +from Franklin. He refused to answer questions on the subject, and it is +a secret to this day, as it is also still a secret who was the mother of +his son. Ingenious persons have written about one as about the other, +and supposed and guessed and piled up probabilities to no purpose. +Franklin told the world more private matters than is usual with men in +his position; but in the two matters on which he had determined to +withhold knowledge the world has sought for it in vain.</p> + +<p>Praiseworthy as his conduct may have been in this respect, it gave his +opponents an advantage which we must admit they were entitled to take. +If, as Wedderburn put it, he refused to tell from whom he received the +letters, they were at liberty to suppose the worst, and the worst was +that he had obtained them by improper means and fraud.</p> + +<p>For a time which must have seemed like years to Franklin, Wedderburn +drew out and played on this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> point with most exasperating skill. +Gentlemen respect private correspondence. They do not usually steal +people’s letters and print them. Even a foreign ambassador on the +outbreak of war would hardly be justified in stealing documents. Must he +not have known as soon as the letters were handed to him that honorable +permission to use them could be obtained only from the family of +Whately? Why had he chosen to bring that family into painful notoriety +and one of them within a step of being murdered? He had sent the letters +to Massachusetts with the address removed from them, and he was here +supporting the petition with nothing but copies of the letters. He +would, forsooth, have removed from office a governor in the midst of a +long career of usefulness on the ground of letters the originals of +which he could not produce and which he dared not tell how he had +obtained.</p> + +<p>The orator went on to cite some of Franklin’s letters to the people in +Massachusetts encouraging them in their opposition. He read the +resolutions of New England town meetings, and gave what, indeed, was a +truthful description, from his point of view, of the measures taken for +resistance in America. Franklin was aspiring to be Governor of +Massachusetts in the place of Hutchinson, that was the secret of the +whole affair, he said; and as for that beautiful argument that +Hutchinson and Oliver had incensed the mother country against the +colonies, what absurdity!</p> + +<p>We are perpetually told, he said, of men’s incensing the mother country +against the colonies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> but we hear nothing of the vast variety of acts +which have been made use of to incense the colonies against the mother +country, setting at defiance the king’s authority, treating Parliament +as usurpers, pulling down the houses of royal officials and attacking +their persons, burning His Majesty’s ships of war, and denying the +supreme jurisdiction of the British empire; and yet these people pretend +a great concern about these letters as having a tendency to incense the +parent state against the colonies, and would have a governor turned out +because he reports their doings. “Was it to confute or prevent the +pernicious effect of these letters that the good men of Boston have +lately held their meetings, appointed their committees, and with their +usual moderation destroyed the cargo of three British ships?”</p> + +<p>While this ferocious attack was being delivered,—and it is said to have +been delivered in thundering tones, emphasized by terrible blows of the +orator’s fist on a cushion before him on the table,—Franklin stood with +head erect, unmoved, and without the slightest change upon his face from +the beginning to the end. When all was over he went out, silent, +dignified, without a word or sign to any one except that, as he passed +Dr. Priestley, he secretly pressed his hand. His superb nerves and +physique again raised him far above the occasion.</p> + +<p>It was one of the most remarkable traits of his wonderful personality +that in all the great trials of his life he could give a dramatic +interest and force to the situation which in the end turned everything +in his favor. Burke said that his examination before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> Parliament +reminded him of a master examined by a parcel of school-boys; and +Whitefield said that every answer he gave made the questioner appear +insignificant. In his much severer test before Wedderburn and the Privy +Council he was defeated; but his supreme and serene manner was never +forgotten by the spectators, and will live forever as a dramatic +incident. Pictures have been painted of it, for it lends itself +irresistibly to the purposes of the artist. In these pictures Franklin +is the hero, for it is impossible, from an artistic point of view, to +make any one else the hero in that scene.</p> + +<p>The petition of the Massachusetts Assembly was, of course, rejected with +contempt; Franklin was immediately deprived of his office of postmaster +of the colonies, and his usefulness as a colonial agent or as a +diplomatist was at an end. He could no longer go to court or even be on +friendly terms with the Tory party which controlled the government; and +from this time on he was compelled to associate almost exclusively with +the opposition, who still continued to be his friends. In other words, +from being a colonial representative he had become a mere party man or +party politician in England, and his own acts had brought him to this +condition. While in a position which was essentially diplomatic, he had +chosen to write anonymous newspaper articles against the very men with +whom he was compelled to carry on his diplomatic negotiations. They +naturally watched their opportunity to destroy him; and his conduct with +regard to the Hutchinson letters gave it to them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> + +<p>He fully realized his situation, and made preparations to return to +Philadelphia. He was, in fact, in danger of arrest; and the government +had sent to America for the originals of some of his letters on which to +base a prosecution for treason. But when it became known that the first +Continental Congress was called to meet in September, he was persuaded +to remain, as the Congress might have business for him to transact. He +still believed that all difficulties would be finally settled. He did +not think that there would be war; and this belief may have been caused +partly by his conviction of the utter folly of such a war and partly +because it was impossible for him to get full and accurate information +of the real state of mind of the people in America. He had great faith +in a change of ministry. If the Americans refused for another year to +buy British goods, there would be such a clamor from the merchants and +manufacturers that the Whigs would ride into power and colonial rights +be safe.</p> + +<p>He remained until the following spring, without being able to accomplish +anything, but he caught at several straws. Lord Chatham, who, as William +Pitt, had conquered Canada in the French and Indian wars and laid the +foundations of the modern British empire, was thoroughly disgusted at +the conduct of the administration towards America. An old man, living at +his country-seat within a couple of hours’ drive from London, and +suffering severely at times from the gout, he nevertheless aroused +himself to reopen the subject in the House of Lords. He sent for +Franklin, who has left us a most graphic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> account of the great man, so +magnificent, eloquent, and gracious in his declining years.</p> + +<p>Franklin went over the whole ground with him; but the aged nobleman who +had been such a conqueror of nations was fond of having everything his +own way, and Franklin confesses that he was so charmed in watching the +wonderful powers of his mind that he cared but little about criticising +his plans. His lordship raised the question in the House of Lords in a +grand oration, parts of which are still spoken by our school-boys, and +he followed it by other speeches. He was for withdrawing all the troops +from the colonies and restoring peace; but his oratory had no more +effect on Parliament than Franklin’s jokes.</p> + +<p>At the same time Lord Howe, brother of the General Howe who was +afterwards prominent in the war against the colonies, attempted a plan +of pacification which was to be accomplished through Franklin’s aid. The +Howes were favorably inclined towards America. Their brother, General +Viscount Howe, had been very popular in the colonies, was killed at +Ticonderoga in 1758 in the French and Indian war, and Massachusetts had +erected a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey.</p> + +<p>Lord Howe’s object was to secure some basis of compromise which both +Franklin and the ministry could agree upon, an essential part of which +was that his lordship was to be sent over to the colonies as a special +commissioner to arrange final terms. The negotiations began by Franklin +being asked to play chess with Lord Howe’s sister, and he was also +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +approached by a prominent Quaker, David Barclay, and by his old friend, +Dr. Fothergill. There were numerous interviews, and Franklin prepared +several papers containing conditions to which he thought the colonies +would agree. Lord Howe promised him high rewards in case of success, and +even offered, as an assurance of the good things to come, to pay him at +once the arrears of his salary as agent of Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>Whether this was a sincere attempt at accommodation on the part of some +of the more moderate of the Tories, or a scheme of Lord Howe’s private +ambition, or a mere trap for Franklin, has never been made clear. +Franklin, however, rejected all the bribes and stood on the safe ground +of terms which he knew would be acceptable in America; so this attempt +also came to naught.</p> + +<p>After reading the long account Franklin has given of these negotiations, +and the innumerable letters and proposals that were exchanged, one may +see many causes of the break with the colonies,—ignorance, blindness, +the infatuation of the king or of North or of Townsend,—but the primary +cause of all is the one given at the end by Franklin,—corruption. The +whole British government of that time was penetrated through and through +with a vast system of bribery. Statesmen and politicians cared for +nothing and would do nothing that did not give them offices to +distribute. That was one of the objects of Lord Howe’s scheme. Dr. +Fothergill was intimate with all the governing class, and he said to +Franklin, “Whatever specious pretences are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> offered, they are hollow; to +get a larger field on which to fatten a herd of worthless parasites is +all that is regarded.” England lost her colonies by corruption, and she +could not have built up her present vast colonial empire unless +corruption had been abolished.</p> + +<p>At the end of April Franklin set out on his return to Philadelphia, and +there was some question whether he would not be arrested before he could +start. He used some precautions in getting away as quietly as possible, +and sailed from Portsmouth unmolested.</p> + +<p>He still believed that there would be no war, and fully expected to +return in October with instructions from the Continental Congress that +would end the controversy. His ground for this belief seems to have been +the old one that the hostility in England towards America was purely a +ministerial or party question, and would be overthrown by the refusal of +the colonists to buy British goods. But on his arrival in Philadelphia +on the 5th of May he heard of the battle of Lexington, and never after +that entertained much hope of a peaceful accommodation.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth, p. 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Hosmer’s Life of Samuel Adams, p. 117.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> +<h2>VIII<br /><br /> + +<small>AT HOME AGAIN</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Franklin’s</span> wife had died while he was in England, and his daughter, Mrs. +Sarah Bache, was now mistress of his new house, which had been built +during his absence. The day after his arrival the Assembly made him one +of its deputies in the Continental Congress which was soon to meet in +Philadelphia. For the next eighteen months (from his arrival on the 5th +of May, 1775, until October 26, 1776, when he sailed for France) every +hour of his time seems to have been occupied with labors which would +have been enough for a man in his prime, but for one seventy years old +were a heavy burden.</p> + +<p>He was made Postmaster-General of the united colonies, and prepared a +plan for a line of posts from Maine to Georgia. He dropped all his +conservatism and became very earnest for the war, but was humorous and +easy-going about everything. He had, of course, the privilege of +franking his own letters; but instead of the usual form, “Free. B. +Franklin,” he would mark them “B free Franklin.” He prepared a plan or +constitution for the union of the colonies, which will be considered +hereafter. Besides his work in Congress, he was soon made a member of +the Pennsylvania Legislature, and was on the Committee of Safety which +was preparing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> the defences of the province, and was, in effect, the +executive government in place of the proprietary governor. From six to +nine in the morning he was with this committee, and from nine till four +in the afternoon he attended the session of Congress. He assisted in +devising plans for obstructing the channel of the Delaware River, and +the <i>chevaux-de-frise</i>, as they were called, which were placed in the +water were largely of his design.</p> + +<p>It was extremely difficult for the Congress to obtain gunpowder for the +army. The colonists had always relied on Europe for their supply, and +were unaccustomed to manufacturing it. Franklin suggested that they +should return to the use of bows and arrows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“These were good weapons not wisely laid aside: 1st. Because a +man may shoot as truly with a bow as with a common musket. 2dly. +He can discharge four arrows in the time of charging and +discharging one bullet. 3dly. His object is not taken from his +view by the smoke of his own side. 4thly. A flight of arrows +seen coming upon them, terrifies and disturbs the enemies’ +attention to their business. 5thly. An arrow striking any part +of a man puts him <i>hors de combat</i> till it is extracted. 6thly. +Bows and arrows are more easily provided everywhere than muskets +and ammunition.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This suggestion seems less strange when we remember that the musket of +that time was a smooth-bore and comparatively harmless at three hundred +yards.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_267i" id="Page_267i"></a> +<img src="images/i016.jpg" width="400" height="533" alt="FRANKLIN’S LETTER TO STRAHAN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN’S LETTER TO STRAHAN</span> +</div> + +<p>His letters to his old friends in England were full of resentment +against the atrocities of the British fleet and army, especially the +burning of the town of Portland, Maine. It was at this time that he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +wrote his famous letter to his old London friend, Mr. Strahan, a +reproduction of which, taken from the copy at the State Department, +Washington, is given in this volume. It is a most curiously worded, +half-humorous letter, and the most popular one he ever wrote. It has +been reprinted again and again, and <i>fac-similes</i> of it have appeared +for a hundred years, some of them in school-books.</p> + +<p>He could have desired nothing better than its appearance in +school-books. One of his pet projects was that all American +school-children should be taught how shockingly unjust and cruel Great +Britain had been to her colonies; they must learn, he said, to hate her; +and while he was in France he prepared a long list of the British +outrages which he considered contrary to all the rules of civilized +warfare. He intended to have a picture of each one prepared by French +artists and sent to America, that the lesson of undying hatred might be +burnt into the youthful mind.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1775 he went with two other commissioners to +Washington’s army before Boston to arrange for supplies and prepare +general plans for the conduct of the war. In the following March he was +sent to Canada with Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll, of Maryland, to +win over the Canadians to the side of the revolted colonies. Charles +Carroll’s brother John, a Roman Catholic priest, accompanied them at the +request of the members of Congress, who hoped that he would be able to +influence the French Canadian clergy.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible journey for Franklin, now an old +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> man; for as they +advanced north they found the ground covered with snow and the lakes +filled with floating ice. They spent five days beating up the Hudson in +a little sloop to Albany, and two weeks after they had started they +reached Lake George. General Schuyler, who lived near Albany, +accompanied them after they had rested at his house, and assisted in +obtaining wagons and boats. Franklin was ill with what he afterwards +thought was an incipient attack of the gout which his constitution +wanted strength to develop completely. At Saratoga he made up his mind +that he would never see his home again, and wrote several letters of +farewell.</p> + +<p>But by the care and assistance of John Carroll, the priest, with whom he +contracted a life-long friendship, he was able to press on, and they +reached the southern end of Lake George, where they embarked on a large +flat-bottomed boat without a cabin, and sailed the whole length of the +lake through the floating ice in about a day. Their boat was hauled by +oxen across the land to Lake Champlain, and after a delay of five days +they embarked again amidst the floating ice. Sailing and rowing, +sleeping under a canvas cover at night, and going ashore to cook their +meals, they made the upper end of the lake in about four days, and +another day in wagons brought them to Montreal.</p> + +<p>Their mission was fruitless. The army under General Montgomery which had +invaded the country had been unsuccessful against the British, had +contracted large debts with the Canadians which it was unable to pay, +and the Canadians would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> join in the Revolution. So Franklin and the +commissioners had to make their toilsome journey back again without +having accomplished anything; and many years afterwards Franklin +mentioned this journey, which nearly destroyed his life, as one of the +reasons why Congress should vote him extra pay for his services in the +Revolution.</p> + +<p>In June, 1776, Franklin was made a member of the convention which framed +a new constitution for Pennsylvania to supply the place of the old +colonial charter of William Penn, and he was engaged in this work during +the summer, when his other duties permitted; but of this more hereafter. +At the same time he was laboring in the Congress on the question of +declaring independence. He was in favor of an immediate declaration, and +his name is signed to the famous instrument.</p> + +<p>During this same summer he also had another conference with Lord Howe, +who had arrived in New York harbor in command of the British fleet, and +again wanted to patch up a peace. He failed, of course, for he had +authority from his government only to receive the submission of the +colonies; and he was plainly told by Franklin and the other +commissioners who met him that the colonies would make no treaty with +England except one that acknowledged them as an independent nation.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> +<h2>IX<br /><br /> + +<small>THE EMBASSY TO FRANCE AND ITS SCANDALS</small></h2> + +<p>Franklin’s most important duties in the Continental Congress were +connected with his membership of the “Secret Committee,” afterwards +known as the “Committee of Correspondence.” It was really a committee on +foreign relations, and had been formed for the purpose of corresponding +with the friends of the revolted colonies in Europe and securing from +them advice and assistance. From appointing agents to serve this +committee in France or England, Franklin was soon promoted to be himself +one of the agents and to represent in France the united colonies which +had just declared their independence.</p> + +<p>On September 26, 1776, he was given this important mission, not by the +mere appointment of his own committee, but by vote of Congress. He was +to be one of three commissioners of equal powers, who would have more +importance and weight than the mere agents hitherto sent to Europe. The +news received of the friendly disposition of France was very +encouraging, and it was necessary that envoys should be sent with full +authority to take advantage of it. Silas Deane, who had already gone to +France as a secret agent, and Thomas Jefferson were elected as +Franklin’s fellow-commissioners. The ill health of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> Jefferson’s wife +compelled him to decline, and Arthur Lee, already acting as an agent for +the colonies in Europe, was elected in his place.</p> + +<p>When the result of the first ballot taken in Congress showed that +Franklin was elected, he is said to have turned to Dr. Rush, sitting +near him, and remarked, “I am old and good for nothing; but as the +storekeepers say of their remnants of cloth, I am but a fag end, you may +have me for what you please.”</p> + +<p>There was, however, fourteen more years of labor in the “fag end,” as he +called himself; and the jest was one of those appropriately modest +remarks which he knew so well how to make. He probably looked forward +with not a little satisfaction to the prospect of renewing again those +pleasures of intercourse with the learned and great which he was so +capable of enjoying and which could be found only in Europe. His +reputation was already greater in France than in England. He would be +able to see the evidences of it as well as increase it in this new and +delightful field. But the British newspapers, of course, said that he +had secured this appointment as a clever way of escaping from the +collapse of the rebellion which he shrewdly foresaw was inevitable.</p> + +<p>On October 26, 1776, he left Philadelphia very quietly and, accompanied +by his two grandsons, William Temple Franklin and Benjamin Franklin +Bache, drove some fifteen miles down the river to Marcus Hook, where the +“Reprisal,” a swift war-vessel of the revolted colonies, awaited him. +She set sail immediately and got out of the river into the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> ocean as +quickly as possible, for the British desired nothing better than to +capture this distinguished envoy to the court of France. Wickes, the +captain, afterwards famous for the prizes he took from the British, knew +that he must run the gauntlet of the cruisers, and he drove his little +vessel with all sail through the November gales, making Quiberon Bay, on +the coast of France, in thirty-three days.</p> + +<p>It was a rough, dangerous, exciting voyage; the venerable philosopher of +seventy years was confined to a little, cramped cabin, more sick and +distressed than he had ever been before on the ocean; and yet he +insisted on taking the temperature of the water every day to test again +his theory of the Gulf Stream. They were chased by cruisers, but the +fleet “Reprisal” could always turn them into fading specks on the +horizon’s verge; and as she neared the coast of France she fell in with +some good luck,—two British vessels loaded with lumber, wine, brandy, +and flaxseed, which were duly brought to and carried into a French port +to be sold. The “Reprisal” had on board a small cargo of indigo, which, +with the prizes, was to go towards paying the expense of the mission to +France. In this simple and homely way were the colonies beginning their +diplomatic relations.</p> + +<p>The French people received Franklin with an outburst of enthusiasm which +has never been given by them to any other American. So weak from the +sickness of the voyage that he could scarcely stand, the old man was +overwhelmed with attention,—a grand dinner at Nantes, an invitation to +a country +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> house where he expected to find rest, but had none from the +ceaseless throng of visitors. The unexpected and romantic manner of his +arrival, dodging the cruisers and coming in with two great merchantmen +as prizes, aroused the greatest interest and delight. It was like a +brilliant stroke in a play or a tale from the “Arabian Nights,” worthy +of French imagination; and here this wonderful American from the woods +had made it an accomplished fact.</p> + +<p>The enthusiasm of this reception never abated, but, on the contrary, +soon became extravagant worship, which continued during the nine years +of his residence in France. Even on his arrival they were exaggerating +everything about him, adding four years to his age to make his +adventures seem more wonderful; and Paris waited in as much restless +expectation for his arrival as if he had been a king.</p> + +<p>Beneath all this lay, of course, the supreme satisfaction with which the +French contemplated the revolt of the colonies and the inevitable +weakening of their much-hated enemy and rival, Great Britain; and they +had made up their minds to assist in this dismemberment to the utmost of +their ability. They were already familiar with Franklin; his name was a +household word in France; his brilliant discovery of the nature of +lightning appealed strongly to every imagination; “Poor Richard” had +been translated for them, and its shrewd economy and homely wisdom had +been their delight for years. Its author was the synonyme and +personification of liberty,—that liberty which they were just beginning +to rave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> about, for their own revolution was not twenty years away.</p> + +<p>It interested them all the more that the man who represented all this +for them, and whose name seemed to be really a French one, came from the +horrible wilderness of America, the home of interminable dark forests, +filled with savage beasts and still more savage men.</p> + +<p>France at that time was the gay, pleasure- and sensation-loving France +which had just been living under the reign of Louis XIV. Sated with +luxury and magnificence, with much intelligence and culture even among +the middle classes, there was no novelty that pleased Frenchmen more +than something which seemed to be close to nature; and when they +discovered that this exceedingly natural man from the woods had also the +severe and serene philosophy of Cato, Phocion, Socrates, and the other +sages of antiquity, combined with a conversation full of wit, point, and +raillery like their own, it is not surprising that they made a perpetual +joy and feast over him. It was so delightful for a lady to pay him a +pretty compliment about having drawn down the fire from heaven, and have +him instantly reply in some most apt phrase of an old man’s gallantry; +and then he never failed; there seemed to be no end to his resources.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_275i" id="Page_275i"></a> +<img src="images/i017.jpg" width="600" height="575" alt="FRANKLIN CANNOT DIE +(From a French engraving)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN CANNOT DIE +<br /> +(From a French engraving)</span> +</div> + +<p>Amidst these brilliant surroundings he wore for a time that shocking old +fur cap which appears in one of his portraits; and although his +biographers earnestly protest that he was incapable of such affectation, +there is every reason to believe that he found +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> that it intensified +the character the French people had already formed of him. Several +writers of the time speak of his very rustic dress, his firm but free +and direct manner which seemed to be the simplicity of a past age. But +if he was willing to encourage their laudation by a little clever +acting, he never carried it too far; and there is no evidence that his +head was ever turned by all this extravagant worship. He was altogether +too shrewd to make such a fatal mistake. He knew the meaning and real +value of it, and nursed it so carefully that he kept it living and fresh +for nine years.</p> + +<p>So he went to live in Paris, while the people began to make portraits, +medals, and busts of him, until there were some two hundred different +kinds to be set in rings, watches, snuff-boxes, bracelets, +looking-glasses, and other articles. Within a few days after his arrival +it was the fashion for every one to have a picture of him on their +mantel-piece. He selected for his residence the little village of Passy, +about two miles from the heart of Paris, and not too far from the court +at Versailles. There for nine years his famous letters were dated, and +Franklin at Passy, with his friends, their gardens and their wit, was a +subject of interest and delight to a whole generation of the civilized +world.</p> + +<p>M. Ray de Chaumont had there a large establishment called the Hôtel de +Valentinois. In part of it he lived himself, and, to show his devotion +to the cause of America, he insisted that Franklin should occupy the +rest of it as his home and for the business of the embassy free of rent. +This arrangement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> Franklin accepted in his easy way, and nothing more +was thought of it until precise John Adams arrived from Massachusetts +and was greatly shocked to find an envoy of the United States living in +a Frenchman’s house without paying board.</p> + +<p>Pleasantly situated, with charming neighbors who never wearied of him, +enjoying the visits and improving conversation of the great men of the +learned and scientific worlds, caressed at court, exchanging repartees +and flirtations with clever women, oppressed at times with terrible +anxiety for his country, but slowly winning success, and dining out six +nights of nearly every week when he was not disabled by the gout, the +old Philadelphia printer cannot be said to have fallen upon very evil +days.</p> + +<p>His position was just the reverse of what it had been in England, where +his task had been almost an impossible one. In France everything was in +his favor. There were no Wedderburns or Tory ministers, no powerful +political party opposed to his purposes, and no liberal party with which +he might be tempted to take sides. The whole nation—king, nobles, and +people—was with him. He had only to suggest what was wanted; and, +indeed, a great deal was done without even his suggestion.</p> + +<p>This condition of affairs precluded the possibility of his accomplishing +any great feat in diplomacy. The tide being all in his favor, he had +only to take advantage of it and abstain from anything that would check +its flow. Instead of the aggressive course he had seen fit to follow in +England, he must avoid everything which in the least resembled +aggression.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> He must be complaisant, popular, and encourage the +universal feeling instead of opposing it, and this part he certainly +played to perfection.</p> + +<p>He was by no means the sole representative of his country in France, and +considerable work had been accomplished before he arrived. In fact, the +French were ready to do the work themselves without waiting for a +representative. When Franklin was leaving London in 1775 the French +ambassador called upon him and gave him to understand in no doubtful +terms that France would be on the side of the colonies.</p> + +<p>It is a mistake to suppose, as has sometimes been done, that some one +person suggested to the French government, or that Franklin himself +suggested or urged, the idea of weakening England by assisting America. +It was a policy the wisdom of which was obvious to every one. As early +as the time of the Stamp Act, Louis XV. sent De Kalb to America to watch +the progress of the rebellion, and to foment it. The English themselves +foresaw and dreaded a French alliance with the colonies. Lord Howe +referred to it in his last interview with Franklin; Beaumarchais argued +about it in long letters to the king; it was favored by the Count +d’Artois, the Duke of Orléans, and the Count de Broglie, not to mention +young Lafayette; and the colonists themselves thought of it as soon as +they thought of resistance. The French king, Louis XVI., who, as an +absolute monarch, disliked rebellion, hesitated for a time; but he was +won over by Vergennes and Beaumarchais.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> + +<p>France had just come out of a long war with England in which she had +lost Canada and valuable possessions in the East and West Indies. +England held the port of Dunkirk, on French soil, and searched French +ships whenever she pleased. France was humiliated and full of +resentment. She had failed to conquer the English colonies; but it would +be almost as good and some slight revenge if she deprived England of +them by helping them to secure their own independence. It would cripple +English commerce, which was rapidly driving that of France from the +ocean. England had in 1768 helped the Corsican rebels against France, +and that was a good precedent for France helping the American rebels +against England.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1775 the Secret Committee of Congress had sent Thomas +Story to London, Holland, and France to consult with persons friendly to +the colonies. He was also to deliver a letter to Arthur Lee, who had +taken Franklin’s place as agent of Massachusetts in London, and this +letter instructed Lee to learn the disposition of foreign powers. A +similar letter was to be delivered to Mr. Dumas in Holland, and soon +after Story’s departure M. Penet, a French merchant of Nantes, was sent +to France to buy ammunition, arms, and clothing.</p> + +<p>A few months afterwards, in the beginning of 1776, the committee sent to +Paris Silas Deane, of Connecticut, who had served in the Congress. He +was more of a diplomatic representative than any of the others, and was +instructed to procure, if possible, an audience with Vergennes, the +French Minister of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> Foreign Affairs, suggest the establishment of +friendly relations, the need of arms and ammunition, and finally lead up +to the question whether, if the colonies declared their independence, +they might look upon France as an ally.</p> + +<p>Meantime that strange character, Beaumarchais, the author of “The Barber +of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro,” and still a distinguished +light of French literature, fired by the general enthusiasm for the +Americans, constituted himself their agent and ambassador, and was by no +means an unimportant one. He was the son of a respectable watch-maker, +and when a mere youth had distinguished himself by the invention of an +improvement in escapements, which was stolen by another watch-maker, who +announced it as his own. Beaumarchais appealed to the Academy of +Sciences in a most cleverly written petition, and it decided in his +favor. Great attention had been drawn to him by the contest; he appeared +at court, and was soon making wonderful little watches for the king and +queen; he became a favorite, the familiar friend of the king’s +daughters, and his career as an adventurer, courtier, and speculator +began. A most wonderful genius, typical in many ways of his century, few +men have ever lived who could play so many parts, and his excellent +biographer, Loménie, has summed up the occupations in which he excelled:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Watch-maker, musician, song writer, dramatist, comic writer, +man of fashion, courtier, man of business, financier, +manufacturer, publisher, ship-owner, contractor, secret agent, +negotiator, pamphleteer, orator on certain occasions, a peaceful +man by taste, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> yet always at law, engaging, like Figaro, in +every occupation, Beaumarchais was concerned in most of the +events, great or small, which preceded the Revolution.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He traded all over the world, and made three or four fortunes and lost +them; he had at times forty vessels of his own on the ocean, and his +private man-of-war assisted the French navy at the battle of Grenada. In +fact, he was like his great contemporary, Voltaire, who, besides being a +dramatist, a philosopher, a man of letters, and a reformer, was one of +the ablest business men of France, a ship-owner, contractor, and +millionaire.</p> + +<p>The resemblance of Franklin to these two men is striking. He showed the +same versatility of talents, though perhaps in less degree. He had the +same strange ability to excel at the same time in both literary and +practical affairs, he had very much the same opinion on religion, and +his morals, like Voltaire’s, were somewhat irregular. When we connect +with this his wonderful reputation in France, the adoration of the +people, and the strange way in which during his residence in Paris he +became part of the French nation, we are almost led to believe that +through some hidden process the causes which produced Franklin must have +been largely of French origin. He is, indeed, more French than English, +and seems to belong with Beaumarchais and Voltaire rather than with +Chatham, Burke, or Priestley.</p> + +<p>But to return to Beaumarchais and the Revolution. He was carried away by +the importance of the rebellion in America, and devoted his whole soul +to bringing France to the assistance of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> colonies. He argued with +the court and the king, visited London repeatedly in the secret service +of his government, and became more than ever convinced of the weakness +of Great Britain.</p> + +<p>The plan which the French ministry now adopted was to aid the colonies +in secret and avoid for the present an open breach with England. Arms +were to be sent to one of the French West India islands, where the +governor would find means of delivering them to the Americans. Soon, +however, this method was changed as too dangerous, and in place of it +Beaumarchais established in Paris a business house, which he personally +conducted under the name of Roderique Hortalez & Company. He did this at +the request of the government, and his biographer, De Loménie, has given +us a statement of the arrangement in language which he assumes Vergennes +must have used in giving instructions to Beaumarchais:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The operation must essentially in the eyes of the English +government, and even in the eyes of the Americans, have the +appearance of an individual speculation, to which the French +ministers are strangers. That it may be so in appearance, it +must also be so, to a certain point, in reality. We will give a +million secretly, we will try to induce the court of Spain to +unite with us in this affair, and supply you on its side with an +equal sum; with these two millions and the co-operation of +individuals who will be willing to take part in your enterprise +you will be able to found a large house of commerce, and at your +own risk can supply America with arms, ammunition, articles of +equipment, and all other articles necessary for keeping up the +war. Our arsenals will give you arms and ammunition, but you +shall replace them or shall pay for them. You shall ask for no +money from the Americans, as they have none; but you shall ask +them for returns in products of their soil, and we will help you +to get rid of them in this country, while you shall grant them, +on your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> side, every facility possible. In a word, the +operation, after being secretly supported by us at the +commencement, must afterwards feed and support itself; but, on +the other side, as we reserve to ourselves the right of favoring +or discouraging it, according to the requirements of our policy, +you shall render us an account of your profits and your losses, +and we will judge whether we are to accord you fresh assistance, +or give you an acquittal for the sums previously granted.” (De +Loménie’s Beaumarchais, p. 273.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>It was in June, 1776, that Beaumarchais started his extraordinary +enterprise in the Rue Vieille du Temple, in a large building called the +Hôtel de Hollande, which had formerly been used as the residence of the +Dutch ambassador. The million francs was paid to him by the French +government, another million by Spain in September, and still another +million by France in the following year. So with the greatest +hopefulness and delight he began shipping uniforms, arms, ammunition, +and all sorts of supplies to America. He had at times great difficulty +in getting his laden ships out of port. The French government was +perfectly willing that they should go, and always affected to know +nothing about them. But Lord Stormont, the British ambassador, would +often discover their destination and protest in most vigorous and +threatening language. Then the French ministry would appear greatly +surprised and stop the ships. This process was repeated during two +years,—a curious triangular, half-masked contest between Beaumarchais, +Lord Stormont, and the ministry.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“If government caused my vessels to be unloaded in one port, I +sent them secretly to reload at a distance in the roads. Were +they stopped under their proper names, I changed them +immediately, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> made pretended sales, and put them anew under +fictitious commissions. Were obligations in writing exacted from +my captains to go nowhere but to the West India Islands, +powerful gratifications on my part made them yield again to my +wishes. Were they sent to prison on their return for +disobedience, I then doubled their gratifications to keep their +zeal from cooling, and consoled them with gold for the rigor of +our government.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>In this way he sent to the colonies within a year eight vessels with +supplies worth six million francs. Sometimes, in spite of all efforts, +one of his vessels with a valuable cargo was obliged to sail direct to +the West Indies, and could go nowhere else. In one instance of this sort +he wrote to his agent Francy, in America, to have several American +privateers sent to the West Indies to seize the vessel.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“My captain will protest violently, and will draw up a written +statement threatening to make his complaint to the Congress. The +vessel will be taken where you are. The Congress will loudly +disavow the action of the brutal privateer, and will set the +vessel at liberty with polite apologies to the French flag; +during this time you will land the cargo, fill the ship with +tobacco, and send it back to me as quickly as possible, with all +you may happen to have ready to accompany it.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Imagination is sometimes a very valuable quality in practical affairs, +and this neat description by the man of letters was actually carried out +in every detail and with complete success by his agent in America. He +was certainly a valuable ambassador of the colonies, this wonderful +Beaumarchais; but he suffered severely for his devotion. Under his +agreement with his government, the government’s outlay was to be paid +back gradually by American<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> produce; but Congress would not send the +produce, or sent it so slowly that Beaumarchais was threatened with +ruin, and suffered the torturing anxiety which comes with the conviction +that those for whom you are making the greatest sacrifices are +indifferent and incapable of gratitude.</p> + +<p>It was in vain that he appealed to Congress; for Arthur Lee was +continually informing that body that he was a fraud and his claims +groundless, because the French government intended that all the supplies +sent through Hortalez & Co. should be a free gift to the revolted +colonies. Lee may have sincerely believed this; but it was very +unfortunate, because more than two years elapsed before Congress became +convinced that the supplies were not entirely a present, and voted +Beaumarchais its thanks and some of the money he claimed. A large part +of his claims were never paid. For fifty years there was a controversy +about “the lost million,” and for its romantic history the reader is +referred to De Loménie, Durand’s “New Material for the History of the +American Revolution,” and Dr. Stillé’s “Beaumarchais and the Lost +Million.”</p> + +<p>But he was not the only person who suffered. The truth is that the whole +arrangement made by Congress for conducting the business in France was +ridiculously inefficient, not to say cruel and inhuman. That we got most +important aid from France was due to the eagerness and efforts of the +French themselves, and not to anything done by Congress.</p> + +<p>Franklin and his two fellow-commissioners, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, +had equal powers. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> had to conduct a large and complicated business +involving the expenditure of millions of dollars without knowing exactly +where the millions were to come from, and with no regular system of +accounts or means of auditing and investigating; their arrangements had +to be largely kept secret; they expended money in lump sums without +always knowing what use was made of it; they were obliged to rely on the +assistance of all sorts of people,—naval agents, commercial agents, and +others for whose occupation there was no exact name; and they had no +previous experience or precedents to guide them. On their arrival at +Paris, the three commissioners found a fourth person, Beaumarchais, well +advanced in his work, and accomplishing in a practical way rather more +than any of them could hope to do. Moreover, Beaumarchais’s arrangement +was necessarily so secret that though they knew in a general way, as did +Lord Stormont and all Paris, what he was doing, yet only one of them, +Deane, was ever fully admitted into the secret, and it is probable that +the other two died without having fully grasped the real nature and +conditions of his service.</p> + +<p>That three joint commissioners of equal powers should conduct such an +enormous business of expenditure and credit for a series of years +without becoming entangled in the most terrible suspicions and bitter +quarrels was in the nature of things impossible. The result was that the +history of their horrible disputes and accusations against one another +is more voluminous than the history of their services. Deane, who did +more actual work than any one except<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> Beaumarchais, was thoroughly and +irretrievably ruined. Arthur Lee, who accomplished very little besides +manufacturing suspicions and charges, has left behind him a reputation +for malevolence which no one will envy; Beaumarchais suffered tortures +which he considered almost equivalent to ruin, and his reputation was +not entirely rescued until nearly half a century after his death; and +Franklin came nearer than ever before in his life to sinking his great +fame in an infamy of corruption, for the attacks made upon him by Arthur +Lee were a hundred times worse than those of Wedderburn.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible ordeal for the four men,—those two years before +France made an open alliance with the colonies,—and I will add a few +other circumstances which contributed variety to their situation. Ralph +Izard, of South Carolina, a very passionate man, was appointed by the +wise Congress an envoy to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He never went to +Tuscany for the simple reason that the duke could not receive him +without becoming embroiled with Great Britain; so he was obliged to +remain in Paris, where he assisted Lee in villifying Deane, Franklin, +and Beaumarchais, and his letters home were full of attacks on their +characters.</p> + +<p>He was not a member of the commission which had charge of French +affairs, and yet, in the loose way in which all the foreign business of +the colonies was being managed, it was perhaps natural that, as an +energetic and able man and an American, he should wish to be consulted +occasionally by Franklin and Deane. In a certain way he was directly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +connected with them, for he had to obtain money from them for some of +his expenses incurred in attempting to go to Tuscany, and on this +subject he quarrelled with Franklin, who thought that he had used too +much. He was also obliged to apply to Franklin for certain papers to +enable him to make a commercial treaty with Tuscany, and these, he said, +Franklin had delayed supplying. He complained further of Franklin’s +neglect to answer his letters and obstructing his means of sending +information to America.</p> + +<p>Franklin afterwards admitted that he might have saved himself from +Izard’s enmity by showing him a little attention; his letters to both +Izard and Lee were very stinging; in fact, they were the severest that +he ever wrote; and Izard’s charge that he delayed answering letters was +probably true, for we know from other sources that he was never orderly +in business matters. At any rate, the result of his neglect of Izard was +that that gentleman’s hatred for him steadily increased to the end of +his life, and years after Izard had left Paris he is described as unable +to contain himself at the mention of Franklin’s name, bursting out into +passionate denunciation of him like the virtuous old ladies we are told +of in Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>Then there was William Lee, brother of Arthur Lee, appointed envoy to +Berlin and Vienna, which places he could not reach for the same reason +that prevented Izard from going to Tuscany. So he also stayed in Paris, +assisted his brother Arthur, became a commercial agent, and had no love +for either<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +Franklin or Deane. There was also Dr. Edward Bancroft, who +had no regular appointment, but flitted back and forth between London +and Paris. He was intimate with Franklin, assisted Deane, knew the +secrets of the American business in Paris, which knowledge Lee tells us +he used for the purpose of speculating in London, and Bancroft the +historian says that he was really a British spy. Thomas Morris, a +younger brother of Robert Morris, was a commercial agent at Nantes, +wrecked himself with drink, and started what came near being a serious +dispute between Robert Morris and Franklin; and Franklin himself had his +own nephew, Jonathan Williams, employed as naval agent, which gave Lee a +magnificent opportunity to charge that the nephew was in league with the +uncle and with Deane to steal the public money and share with them the +proceeds of the sale of prizes.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to go fully into all these details; but we are obliged +to say, in order to make the situation plain, that Deane, being taken +into the full confidence of Beaumarchais, conducted with him an immense +amount of business through the firm of Hortalez & Co. On several +occasions Franklin testified in the warmest manner to Deane’s efficiency +and usefulness, and this testimony is the stronger because Franklin was +never taken into the confidence of Beaumarchais, had no intercourse with +him, and might be supposed to be piqued, as Lee was, by this neglect. +But the greatest secrecy was necessary, and Deane could not reveal his +exact relationship with the French contractor and dramatist. So letter +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +after letter was received by Congress from Lee, describing what dreadful +fraud and corruption the wicked pair, Deane and Beaumarchais, were +guilty of every day. Deane, he said, was making a fortune for himself by +his relations with Beaumarchais, and was speculating in London. Deane +also urged that Beaumarchais should be paid for the supplies, which were +not, he said, a present from the king, and this Lee, of course, thought +was another evidence of his villany.</p> + +<p>Some of Lee’s accusations are on their face rather far-fetched. On the +charge, however, that Deane and Franklin’s nephew, Jonathan Williams, +were speculating on their own account in the sale of prizes, he quotes a +letter from Williams to Deane which is rather strong:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I have been on board the prize brig. Mr. Ross tells me he has +written to you on the subject and the matter rests whether +according to his letter you will undertake or not; if we take +her on private account she must be passed but 13,000 livres.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>This, it must be confessed, looked very suspicious, for Williams was in +charge of the prizes, and by this letter he seemed prepared to act as +both seller and purchaser and to share with Deane.</p> + +<p>The charge that Deane had assumed to himself the whole management of +affairs and ignored Lee was undoubtedly true, and no one has ever denied +it. Franklin also ignored him, for he was an unbearable man with whom no +one could live at peace.</p> + +<p>Lee kept on with his accusations, declaring that Deane’s accounts were +in confusion. A packet of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> despatches sent to Congress was found on its +arrival to contain nothing but blank paper. It had evidently been opened +and robbed. Lee promptly insinuated that Deane must have been the thief, +and that Franklin probably assisted.</p> + +<p>In a letter to Samuel Adams, Lee said,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“It is impossible to describe to you to what a degree this kind +of intrigue has disgraced, confounded, and injured our affairs +here. The observation of this at head-quarters has encouraged +and produced through the whole a spirit of neglect, abuse, +plunder, and intrigue in the public business which it has been +impossible for me to prevent or correct.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>So the evidence, or rather suspicions, piled up against Deane, and he +was ordered home. Supposing that Congress wanted him merely for +information about the state of France, he returned after the treaty of +alliance was signed, coming over, as he thought, in triumph with Admiral +D’Estaing and the fleet that was to assist the Americans.</p> + +<p>He expected to be welcomed with gratitude, but Congress would not notice +him; and when at last he was allowed to tell his story, the members of +that body did not believe a word of it. He made public statements in the +newspapers, fought Lee with paper and ink, and the curious may still +read his and Lee’s recriminations, calling one another traitors, and +become more confused than ever over the controversy. His arguments only +served to injure his case. He made the mistake of attacking Lee instead +of merely defending himself, and he talked so openly about our affairs +in France, revealing, among other things, the dissensions among the +members of the commission,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> that he was generally regarded as having +injured our standing among the governments of Europe.</p> + +<p>He struggled with Congress, and returned to Paris to have his accounts +audited; but it was all useless; he was ruined; and, in despair and fury +at the injustice done him, he went over to the British, like Arnold, and +died in poverty and obscurity.</p> + +<p>In America both he and Beaumarchais seem to have been considered rascals +until far into the next century, when the publication of Beaumarchais’s +life and the discovery of some papers by a member of the Connecticut +Historical Society put a different face upon their history. Congress +voted Deane’s heirs thirty-eight thousand dollars as a recompense for +the claims which the Continental Congress had refused to pay their +ancestor. Indeed, the poverty in which Deane died was not consistent +with Lee’s story that he had been making millions by his arrangement +with Beaumarchais. Franklin always stood by him, and publicly declared +that in all his dealings with him he had never had any occasion to +suspect that he lacked integrity.</p> + +<p>Lee was a Virginian, a member of the famous family of that name, and a +younger brother of Richard Henry Lee, who was a member of the +Continental Congress. Though born in Virginia, he was educated in +England at Eton and also at Edinburgh, where he took the degree of +doctor of medicine. The easy-going methods by which Franklin and Deane +handled millions of dollars, sold hundreds of prizes brought in by Paul +Jones and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> American captains, and shipped cargoes of arms, +ammunition, and clothing to America were extremely shocking to him. Or +perhaps he was extremely shocked because he was not allowed a hand in +it. But it was necessary to be prompt in giving assistance to the +revolted colonies, and Franklin and Deane pushed the business along as +best they could.</p> + +<p>If Congress had made a less stupid arrangement the embassy might have +been organized on a business-like system in which everything would move +by distinct, definite orders, everybody’s sphere be defined, with a +regular method of accounts in which every item should have its voucher. +But, as Franklin himself confessed, he never could learn to be orderly; +and now, when he was past seventy, infirm, often laid up with violent +attacks of the gout, with a huge literary and philosophic reputation to +support, tormented by Lee and Izard, the whole French nation insane with +admiration for him, and dining out almost every day, it was difficult +for him to do otherwise than as he did.</p> + +<p>Although the others had equal power with him, he was necessarily the +head of the embassy, for his reputation was so great in France that +everything gravitated towards him. Most people scarcely knew that there +were two other commissioners, and the little they knew of Lee they did +not like. Lee was absent part of the time on journeys to Spain, Berlin, +and Vienna, and as Deane had started the business of sending supplies +before either Franklin or Lee arrived, the conduct of affairs naturally +drifted away from Lee. It afforded a good excuse for ignoring +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> him. He +was insanely suspicious, and charged John Jay, Reed, Duane, and other +prominent Americans with treason, apparently without the slightest +foundation.</p> + +<p>Finding himself ignored and in an awkward and useless position, he +should have resigned, giving his reasons. But he chose to stay and send +private letters to members of Congress attacking the characters of his +fellow-commissioners and intriguing to have himself appointed the sole +envoy to France. Among his letters are to be found three on this +subject, two to his brother in Congress and one to Samuel Adams.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“There is but one way of redressing this and remedying the +public evil; that is the plan I before sent you of appointing +the Dr. <i>honoris causa</i> to Vienna, Mr. Deane to Holland, Mr. +Jennings to Madrid, and leaving me here.” (Life of Arthur Lee, +vol. ii. p. 127.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>His attack on Franklin and his nephew, Jonathan Williams, was a very +serious one, and was published in a pamphlet, entitled “Observations on +Certain Commercial Transactions in France Laid Before Congress.” +Williams was one of Franklin’s Boston nephews who turned up in Paris +poor and without employment. Franklin was always taking care of his +relatives with government positions, and he gave this one the position +of naval agent at Nantes. He had charge of the purchase of supplies for +American men-of-war, sold the prizes that were brought in, and also +bought and shipped arms and ammunition. It was a large business +involving the handling of enormous sums of money, and there is no doubt +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> there were opportunities in it for making a fortune. Under the +modern spoils system it would be regarded as a precious plum which a +political party would be justified in making almost any sacrifices to +secure.</p> + +<p>Franklin and Deane seem to have let Williams manage this department +pretty much as he pleased, and, as has been already shown, Lee had some +ground for suspecting that Deane was privately interested with Williams +in the sale of prizes. Williams certainly expended large sums on Deane’s +orders alone, and he was continually calling for more money from the +commissioners’ bankers. Lee demanded that there should be no more orders +signed by Deane alone, and that Williams should send in his accounts; +and, notwithstanding Lee’s naturally captious and suspicious +disposition, he was perfectly right in this.</p> + +<p>Deane and Williams kept demanding more money, and Lee asked Franklin to +stop it, which he not only refused to do, but wrote a letter to his +nephew justifying him in everything:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="alignr">“<span class="smcap">Passy</span>, Dec. 22, 1777.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Nephew</span>:</p> + +<p>“I received yours of the 16th and am concerned as well as you at +the difference between Messrs. Deane and Lee, but cannot help +it. You need, however, be under no concern as to your orders +being only from Mr. Deane. As you have always acted uprightly +and ably for the public service, you would be justified if you +had no orders at all. But as he generally consulted with me and +had my approbation in the orders he gave, and I know they were +for the best and aimed at the public good, I hereby certify you +that I approve and join in those you received from him and +desire you to proceed in the execution of the same.”</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>Williams at last sent in his accounts, and Lee went over them, marking +some items “manifestly unjust,” others “plainly exorbitant,” and others +“altogether unsatisfactory for want of names, dates, or receipts.” He +refused to approve the accounts, sent them to Congress, and asked +Williams to produce his vouchers. The vouchers, Lee tells us, were never +produced. He asked for them again and again, but there was always some +excuse, and he charges that Williams had in his possession a hundred +thousand livres more than was accounted for. Finally, John Adams, who +had come out to supersede Deane, joined with Franklin in giving Williams +an order on the bankers for the balance claimed by him; but the order +expressly stated that it was not to be understood as an approval of his +accounts, for which he must be responsible to Congress. Franklin +appointed certain persons to audit the accounts, but at a time, Lee +says, when they were on the point of sailing for America, and therefore +could not act. Adams seems to have been convinced that Williams was not +all that could be desired, and he and Franklin soon dismissed him from +his office, again reminding him that this was not to be considered as an +approval of his accounts.</p> + +<p>Lee’s charge against Franklin was that he had connived at the acts of +his nephew and done everything possible to shield him and enable him to +get possession of the balance of money he claimed. Readers must draw +their own conclusions, for the matter was never officially investigated. +It would have been unwise for Congress to inaugurate a public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> scandal +at a time when the country was struggling for existence, needed all the +moral and financial support it could obtain from Europe, and as yet saw +no end to the Revolution.</p> + +<p>One more point must be noticed. Lee commented with much sarcasm on the +sudden prosperity of Jonathan Williams. He had been clerk to a +sugar-baker in England, and was supposed to be without means; but as +naval agent he soon began to call himself a merchant, and when waiting +on the commissioners charged five Louis d’ors a day for the loss of his +time. Lee, according to some of his letters, had been trying for some +time to have a certain John Lloyd, of South Carolina, appointed in the +place of Williams; and I shall quote part of one of these letters, which +shows why Lee wanted Williams’s place for one of his friends.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“My brother and myself have conceived that as the public +allowance to the commercial agent is very liberal and the +situation necessarily must recommend considerable business, the +person appointed might with the most fair and conscientious +discharge of his duty to the public make his own fortune.” (Life +of Arthur Lee, vol. ii. p. 144.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>He did not succeed in having Lloyd appointed, but he and his brother +William secured the position for a friend of theirs called +Schweighauser, on the dismissal of Williams, and this Schweighauser +appointed a nephew of the Lees as one of his assistants.</p> + +<p>It should be said that although Lee and Izard were constantly hinting at +evil practices by Franklin, and sometimes directly stigmatized him as +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> + “father of corruption” and deeply involved in the most disreputable +schemes, they never produced any proof that he had enriched himself or +was directly engaged in anything discreditable. There seems to be no +doubt that certain people were making money under cover of the loose way +in which affairs were managed. Franklin must have known of this, as well +as Adams and the other commissioners, but neither he nor they were +enriched by it. Lee’s pamphlet goes no farther than to say that Franklin +had shielded his nephew. John Adams, it may be observed, assisted in +this shielding, if it can with justice be so called, for he signed with +Franklin the order allowing the money to be paid to Williams on +condition that it should not be considered an approval of his accounts. +Adams afterwards described very concisely the situation, and how he, +with the others, was compelled to connive at peculations under the +absurd system.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I knew it to be impossible to give any kind of satisfaction to +our constituents, that is to Congress, or their constituents, +while we consented or connived at such irregular transactions, +such arbitrary proceedings, and such contemptible peculations as +had been practised in Mr. Deane’s time, not only while he was in +France, alone, without any public character, but even while he +was associated with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Arthur Lee in a real +commission; and which were continued in some degree while I was +combined in the commission with Franklin and Lee, in spite of +all the opposition and remonstrance that Lee and I could make.” +(Adams’s Works, vol. i. p. 657.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Franklin said and wrote very little on the subject. He sent no letters +to members of Congress undermining the characters of his +fellow-commissioners; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> + the few statements that he made were exceedingly +mild and temperate, and were usually to the effect that there were +differences and disputes which he regretted. He usually invited his +fellow-commissioners to dine with him every Sunday, and on these +occasions they appeared very friendly, though at heart cherishing +vindictive feelings towards one another.</p> + +<p>In truth, Lee and Izard wrote so much and so violently that they dug the +graves of their own reputations. It was Dr. Johnson who said that no man +was ever written down except by himself, and Franklin once shrewdly +remarked, “spots of dirt thrown upon my character I suffered while fresh +to remain; I did not choose to spread by endeavoring to remove them, but +relied on the vulgar adage that they would all rub off when they were +dry.”</p> + +<p>General public opinion was then and has remained in favor of Franklin, +and the prominent men of France were, without exception, on his side. +They all in the end detested Lee, whose conduct showed a vindictive +disposition, and who evidently had purposes of his own to serve. One of +his pet suspicions was that Paul Jones was a rascal in league with the +other rascal, Franklin, and he protests in a letter to a member of +Congress against Jones being “kept upon a cruising job of Chaumont and +Dr. Franklin.” Jones, he predicted, would not return from this cruise, +but would go over to the enemy.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s service in France may be divided into four periods. First, +from his arrival in December, 1776, until February, 1778, during which +two years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> he and Deane conducted the business as best they could and +quarrelled with Lee and Izard. Second, the year from February, 1778, +until February, 1779, during which John Adams was in Paris in the place +of Silas Deane. Third, some of the remaining months of 1779, during +which, although Franklin was sole plenipotentiary to France, Lee, Izard, +and others still retained their appointments to other countries, and +remained in Paris, continuing the quarrels more viciously than ever. +They were recalled towards the close of 1779, and from that time dates +the fourth period, during which Franklin enjoyed the sole control, +unassailed by the swarm of hornets which had made his life a burden.</p> + +<p>I have already described most of the first period as briefly as +possible; its full treatment would require a volume. All that remains is +to describe the act with which it closed,—the signing of the treaty of +alliance. This treaty, which secured the success of our Revolution by +giving us the assistance of a French army and fleet, was the result of +unforeseen events, and was not obtained by the labors of Franklin or +those of any of the commissioners.</p> + +<p>France had been anxious to ally herself with us during the first two +years of the Revolution, but dared not, because there was apparently no +prospect that we would be successful. In fact, all the indications +pointed to failure. Washington was everywhere defeated; had been driven +from New York, lost the battle of the Brandywine, lost Philadelphia, and +then the news arrived in Europe that Burgoyne was moving from Canada +down the Hudson, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> + would be joined by Howe from New York. This would +cut the colonies in half; separate New England, the home of the +Revolution, from the Middle and Southern Colonies and result in our +total subjugation.</p> + +<p>The situation of the commissioners in Paris was dismal enough at this +time. They had been successful at first, with the aid of Beaumarchais; +but now Beaumarchais was in despair at the ingratitude of Congress and +its failure to pay him; no more prizes were coming in, for the British +fleets had combined against the American war vessels and driven them +from the ocean; the commissioners had spent all their money, and +Franklin proposed that they should sell what clothing and arms they had +been unable to ship and pay their debts as far as possible with the +proceeds. At any moment they might hear that they had neither country +nor flag, that the Revolution had collapsed, and that they must spend +the rest of their lives in France as pensioners on the royal bounty, +daring to go neither to America nor to England, where they would be hung +as ringleaders of the rebels.</p> + +<p>In their dire extremity they forgot their animosities, and one is +reminded of those pictures of the most irreconcilable wild +animals—foxes and hares, or wolves and wild-cats—seeking refuge +together from a flood on a floating log. In public they kept a bold +front, in spite of the sneers of the English residents in Paris and the +shrugging shoulders of the Frenchmen.</p> + +<p>“Well, doctor,” said an Englishman to Franklin, “Howe has taken +Philadelphia.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, sir; Philadelphia has taken Howe.”</p> + +<p>But in his heart Franklin was bowed down with anxiety and apprehension. +We all know what happened. Burgoyne and Howe failed to connect, and +Burgoyne surrendered his army to the American general, Gates. That was +the turning-point of the Revolution, and there was now no doubt in +France of the final issue. A young man, Jonathan Austin, of +Massachusetts, was sent on a swift ship to carry the news to Paris. The +day his carriage rolled into the court-yard of Chaumont’s house at +Passy, Franklin, Deane, both the Lees, Izard, Beaumarchais,—in fact, +all the snarling and quarrelling agents,—were there, debating, no +doubt, where they would drag out the remains of their miserable lives.</p> + +<p>They all rushed out to see Austin, and Franklin addressed to him one sad +question which they all wanted answered, whether Philadelphia really was +taken.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Austin.</p> + +<p>The old philosopher clasped his hands and was stumbling back into the +house.</p> + +<p>“But, sir, I have greater news than that. General Burgoyne and his whole +army are prisoners of war.”</p> + +<p>Beaumarchais drove his carriage back to Paris so fast that it was +overturned and his arm dislocated. Austin relates that for a long time +afterwards Franklin would often sit musing and dreaming and then break +out, “Oh, Mr. Austin, you brought us glorious news.”</p> + +<p>Austin had arrived on December 3, 1777. On the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> 6th of the same month +the French government requested the commissioners to renew their +proposals for an alliance. Eleven days after that they were told that +the treaty would be made, and within two months,—namely, on February 6, +1778,—after full discussion of all the details, it was signed. This was +certainly very prompt action on the part of France and shows her +eagerness.</p> + +<p>On the day that he signed the treaty, Franklin, it is said, wore the +same suit of Manchester velvet in which he had been dressed when +Wedderburn made his attack upon him before the Privy Council in London, +and after the signing it was never worn again. When asked if there had +not been some special meaning attached to the wearing of these clothes +at the signing, he would make no other reply than a smile. It was really +beautiful philosophic vengeance, and adds point to Walpole’s epigram on +the scene before the Council:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Sarcastic Sawney, swol’n with spite and prate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On silent Franklin poured his venal hate.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The calm philosopher, without reply,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Withdrew, and gave his country liberty.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There was much discussion among the three envoys over the terms of the +treaty, and their love for one another was not increased. The principal +part of Izard’s bitterness against Franklin is supposed to have begun at +this time. Lee made a point on the question of molasses. In the first +draft of the treaty it was agreed that France should never lay an export +duty on any molasses taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> + from her West India islands by Americans. +Vergennes objected that this was not fair, as the Americans bound +themselves to no equivalent restriction on their own exports. Franklin +suggested a clause that, in consideration of France agreeing to lay no +export duty on molasses, the United States should agree to lay no export +duty on any article taken by Frenchmen from America, and this was +accepted by Vergennes.</p> + +<p>Lee, however, objected that we were binding ourselves on every article +of export, while France bound herself on only one. In this he was +entirely right, and it was not an officious interference, as Franklin’s +biographers have maintained. He pressed his point so hard that it was +finally agreed with the French government that Congress might accept or +reject the whole arrangement on this question, if it saw fit. Congress +supported Lee and rejected it.</p> + +<p>The signing of the treaty of course rendered Beaumarchais’s secret work +through Hortalez & Co. of less importance. France was now the open ally +of the United States; the French government need no longer smuggle arms +and clothing into America, but was preparing to send a fleet and an army +to assist the insurgents, as they were still called in Paris. All this +rendered the labors of the embassy lighter and less complicated.</p> + +<p>In April, 1778, a few months after the signing of the treaty, John +Adams, after a most dangerous and adventurous voyage across the +Atlantic, arrived to take the place of Silas Deane. He has left us a +very full account of the condition of affairs and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> efforts at +reform. Franklin’s biographers have been sorely puzzled to know what to +do with these criticisms; but any one who will take the trouble to read +impartially all that Adams has said, and not merely extracts from it, +will easily be convinced of his fairness. He makes no mistake about Lee; +speaks of him as a man very difficult to get on with, and describes +Izard in the same way. There is not the slightest evidence that these +two men poisoned his mind against Franklin. He does not side with them +entirely; but, on the contrary, in the changes he undertook to make was +sometimes on their side and sometimes against them. He held the scales +very evenly.</p> + +<p>Lee wanted all the papers of the embassy brought to his own house, and +Adams wrote him a letter which certainly shows that Adams had not gone +over to the Lee party, and is also an example of the efforts he was +making to improve the situation.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I have not asked Dr. Franklin’s opinion concerning your +proposal of a room in your house for the papers, and an hour to +meet there, because I know it would be in vain; for I think it +must appear to him more unequal still. It cannot be expected, +that two should go to one, when it is as easy again for one to +go to two; not to mention Dr. Franklin’s age, his rank in the +country, or his character in the world; nor that nine-tenths of +the public letters are constantly brought to this house, and +will ever be carried where Dr. Franklin is. I will venture to +make a proposition in my turn, in which I am very sincere; it is +that you would join families with us. There is room enough in +this house to accommodate us all. You shall take the apartments +which belong to me at present, and I will content myself with +the library room and the next to it. Appoint a room for +business, any that you please, mine or another, a person to keep +the papers, and certain hours to do business. This arrangement +will save a large sum of money to the public, and, as it would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +give us a thousand opportunities of conversing together, which +now we have not, and, by having but one place for our countrymen +and others to go to, who have occasion to visit us, would +greatly facilitate the public business. It would remove the +reproach we lie under, of which I confess myself very much +ashamed, of not being able to agree together, and would make the +commission more respectable, if not in itself, yet in the +estimation of the English, the French, and the American nations; +and, I am sure, if we judge by the letters we receive, it wants +to be made more respectable, at least in the eyes of many +persons of this country.” (Bigelow’s Franklin from His Own +Writings, vol. ii. p. 424.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Adams had none of the rancor of Lee and Izard, but he tells us candidly +that he found the public business in great confusion. It had never been +methodically conducted. “There never was before I came a minute book, a +letter book, or an account book; and it is not possible to obtain a +clear idea of our affairs.” Of Deane he says that he “lived expensively, +and seems not to have had much order in his business, public or private; +but he was active, diligent, subtle, and successful, having accomplished +the great purpose of his mission to advantage.”</p> + +<p>Adams procured blank books and devoted himself to assorting the papers +of the office at Passy, where Franklin had allowed everything to lie +about in the greatest confusion. He found that too many people had been +making money out of the embassy, and of these Jonathan Williams appears +to have been one. He united with Lee in demanding Williams’s accounts, +and compelled Franklin to join in dismissing him. A man named Ross was +another delinquent who was preying on the embassy, and the arrangement +by which he was allowed to do it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> described by Adams as “more +irregular, more inconsistent with the arrangement of Congress and every +way more unjustifiable than even the case of Mr. Williams.”</p> + +<p>He gives us many glimpses of Franklin’s life,—his gayety, the bright +stories he told, and his wonderful reputation among the French. An +interesting young lady, Mademoiselle de Passy, was a great favorite with +Franklin, who used to call her his flame and his love. She married a man +whose name translated into English would be “Marquis of Thunder.” The +next time Madame de Chaumont met Franklin, she cried out, “Alas! all the +conductors of Mr. Franklin could not prevent the thunder from falling on +Mademoiselle de Passy.”</p> + +<p>Adams was at the Academy of Sciences when Franklin and Voltaire were +present, and a general cry arose among the sensation-loving people that +these two wonderful men should be introduced to each other. They +accordingly bowed and spoke. But this was not enough, and the two +philosophers could not understand what more was wanted. They took each +other by the hand; but still the clamor continued. Finally it was +explained to them that “they must embrace in French fashion.” The two +old men immediately began hugging and kissing each other, which +satisfied the company, and the cry spread through the whole country, +“How beautiful it was to see Solon and Sophocles embrace!”</p> + +<p>Some of Adams’s criticisms and estimates of Franklin, though not +satisfactory to his eulogists, are, on the whole, exceedingly just.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>“That he was a great genius, a great wit, a great humorist, a +great satirist, and a great politician is certain. That he was a +great philosopher, a great moralist, and a great statesman is +more questionable.” (Adams’s Works, vol. iii. p. 139.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>This brief statement will bear the test of very close investigation. +Full credit, it will be observed, is given to his qualities as a +humorous and satirical writer, and even as a politician. The word +politician is used very advisedly, for up to that time Franklin had done +nothing that would raise him beyond that class into statesmanship.</p> + +<p>He had had a long career in Pennsylvania politics, where his abilities +were confined to one province, and in the attempt to change the colony +into a royal government he had been decidedly in the wrong. While +representing Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Georgia in England from +the time of the Stamp Act until the outbreak of the Revolution, he had +accomplished nothing, except that his examination before Parliament had +encouraged the colonists to persist in their opposition; he had got +himself into a very bad scrape about the Hutchinson letters; and his +plan of reconciliation with the mother country had broken down. In +France, the government being already very favorable to the colonies, +there was but little for the embassy to do except to conduct the +business of sending supplies and selling prizes, and in this Deane and +Beaumarchais did most of the work, while Franklin had kept no accounts, +had allowed his papers to get into confusion, was utterly unable to keep +the envoys in harmony, and had not made any effective<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> appeal to +Congress to change the absurd system which permitted the sending to a +foreign country of three commissioners with equal powers. In the last +years of his mission in France he did work which was more valuable; but +it was not until some years afterwards, when he was past eighty and on +the verge of the grave, that he accomplished in the Constitutional +Convention of 1787 the one act of his life which may be called a +brilliant stroke of statesmanship.</p> + +<p>His qualities as a moralist have been discussed in a previous chapter +which fully justifies Adams’s assertion. As a philosopher, by which +Adams meant what we now call a man of science, Franklin was +distinguished, but not great. It could not be said that he deserved to +be ranked with Kepler or Newton. His discovery of the nature of +lightning was picturesque and striking, and had given him popular +renown, but it could not put him in the front rank of discoverers.</p> + +<p>In a later passage in his Diary Adams attempts to combat the French idea +that Franklin was the American legislator.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“‘Yes,’ said M. Marbois, ‘he is celebrated as the great +philosopher and the great legislator of America.’ ‘He is,’ said +I, ‘a great philosopher, but as a legislator of America he has +done very little. It is universally believed in France, England, +and all Europe, that his electric wand has accomplished all this +revolution. But nothing is more groundless. He has done very +little. It is believed that he made all the American +constitutions and their confederation; but he made neither. He +did not even make the constitution of Pennsylvania, bad as it +is.’...</p></blockquote> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_309i" id="Page_309i"></a> +<img src="images/i018.jpg" width="400" height="556" alt="AMERICA SET FREE BY FRANKLIN +(From a French engraving)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AMERICA SET FREE BY FRANKLIN +<br /> +(From a French engraving)</span> +</div> + +<blockquote><p>”I said that Mr. Franklin had great merit as a philosopher. His +discoveries in electricity were very grand, and he certainly was +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> great genius, and had great merit in our American affairs. +But he had no title to the ‘legislator of America.’ M. Marbois +said he had wit and irony; but these were not the faculties of +statesmen. His Essay upon the true means of bringing a great +Empire to be a small one was very pretty. I said he had wrote +many things which had great merit, and infinite wit and +ingenuity. His Bonhomme Richard was a very ingenious thing, +which had been so much celebrated in France, gone through so +many editions, and been recommended by curates and bishops to so +many parishes and dioceses.</p> + +<p>“M. Marbois asked, ‘Are natural children admitted in America to +all privileges like children born in wedlock?’... M. Marbois +said this, no doubt, in allusion to Mr. F.’s natural son, and +natural son of a natural son. I let myself thus freely into this +conversation, being led on naturally by the Chevalier and M. +Marbois on purpose, because I am sure it cannot be my duty, nor +the interest of my country, that I should conceal any of my +sentiments of this man, at the same time that I do justice to +his merits. It would be worse than folly to conceal my opinion +of his great faults.” (Adams’s Works, vol. iii. p. 220.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>The French always believed that Franklin was the originator of the +Revolution, and that he was a sort of Solon who had prepared laws for +all the revolted colonies, directed their movements, and revised all +their state papers and public documents. It was under the influence of +this notion that they worshipped him as the personification of liberty. +It must have been extremely irritating to Adams and others to find the +French people assuming that the old patriarch in his fur cap had +emancipated in the American woods a rude and strange people who without +him could not have taken care of themselves. But, protest as they might, +they never could persuade the French to give up their ideal, and this +was undoubtedly the foundation of a great deal of the hostility to +Franklin which showed itself in Congress.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1811, long after Franklin’s death, Adams wrote a newspaper article +defending himself against some complaints that Franklin had made, of +which I shall have more to say hereafter. It is a most vigorous piece of +writing, and, in spite of some unfounded suspicions which it contains +and the bluster and egotism so characteristic of its author, is by far +the most searching and fairest criticism of Franklin that was ever +written:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“His reputation was more universal than that of Leibnitz or +Newton, Frederick or Voltaire, and his character more beloved +and esteemed than any or all of them.... His name was familiar +to government and people, to kings and courtiers, nobility, +clergy and philosophers, as well as plebeians, to such a degree +that there was scarcely a peasant or a citizen, a <i>valet de +chambre</i>, coachman or footman, a lady’s chambermaid or a +scullion in a kitchen who was not familiar with it, and who did +not consider him as a friend to human kind.” (Adams’s Works, +vol. i. p. 660.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>A large part of this reputation rested, Adams thought, on great talents +and qualities, but the rest was artificial, the result of peculiar +circumstances which had exaggerated the importance of Franklin’s +opinions and actions. The whole tribe of printers and newspaper editors +in Europe and America had become enamoured and proud of him as a member +of their body. Every day in the year they filled the magazines, +journals, pamphlets, and all the gazettes of Europe “with incessant +praise of Monsieur Franklin.” From these gazettes could be collected “a +greater number of panegyrical paragraphs upon ‘<i>le grand</i> Franklin’ than +upon any other man that ever lived.” He had become a member of two of +the most powerful democratic and liberal bodies in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> Europe, the +Encyclopedists and the Society of Economists, and thus effectually +secured their devotion and praise. All the people of that time who were +rousing discontent in Europe and preparing the way for the French +Revolution counted Franklin as one of themselves. When he took part in +the American Revolution their admiration knew no bounds. He was “the +magician who had excited the ignorant Americans to resistance,” and he +would soon “abolish monarchy, aristocracy, and hierarchy throughout the +world.” But most important of all in building up his reputation was the +lightning-rod.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Nothing,” says Adams, “perhaps, that ever occurred upon the +earth was so well calculated to give any man an extensive and +universal a celebrity as the discovery of the efficacy of iron +points and the invention of lightning-rods. The idea was one of +the most sublime that ever entered a human imagination, that a +mortal should disarm the clouds of heaven, and almost ‘snatch +from his hand the sceptre and the rod.’ The ancients would have +enrolled him with Bacchus and Ceres, Hercules and Minerva. His +paratonnerres erected their heads in all parts of the world, on +temples and palaces no less than on cottages of peasants and the +habitations of ordinary citizens. These visible objects reminded +all men of the name and character of their inventor; and in the +course of time have not only tranquillized the minds and +dissipated the fears of the tender sex and their timorous +children, but have almost annihilated that panic, terror, and +superstitious horror which was once almost universal in violent +storms of thunder and lightning.” (Adams’s Works, vol. 1. p. +661.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Latin motto universally applied to Franklin at this time, <i>Eripuit +cœlo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis</i>, has usually been attributed to +Turgot, the French Minister of Finance; but Adams believed that Sir +William Jones was the author of it. Turgot made an alteration in it. As +usually understood, the last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> half referred to the American colonies +delivered from the oppression of Great Britain; but as Franklin grew to +be more and more the favorite of that large class of people in Europe +who were opposed to monarchy, and who believed that he would soon be +instrumental in destroying or dethroning all kings and abolishing all +monarchical government, Turgot suggested that the motto should read, +<i>Eripuit cœlo fulmen; mox septra tyrannis</i>, which may be freely +translated, “He has torn the lightning from the sky; soon he will tear +their sceptres from the kings.”</p> + +<p>At first Adams took the quarrelling lightly, trying to ignore and keep +clear of it; but in a little while he confesses that “the uncandor, the +prejudices, the rage among several persons here make me sick as death.” +After about a month he was so disgusted with the service, so fully +convinced that the public business was being delayed and neglected on +account of the disputes, that he determined to try to effect a change. +He therefore wrote to Samuel Adams, then in Congress, declaring that the +affairs of the embassy were in confusion, prodigious sums of money +expended, large sums yet due, but no account-books or documents; the +commissioners lived expensively, each one at the rate of from three to +six thousand pounds a year; this would necessarily continue as long as +their salaries were not definitely fixed, and it would be impossible to +get an account of the expenditure of the public money. Equally +ridiculous was the arrangement which made the envoys half ambassadors +and half commercial agents. Instead of all this he suggested that +Congress separate the offices +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> of public ministers from those of +commercial agents, recall all the envoys except one, define with +precision the salary he should receive, and see that he got no more.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_312i" id="Page_312i"></a> +<img src="images/i019.jpg" width="400" height="570" alt="FRANKLIN TEARS THE LIGHTNING FROM THE SKY AND THE SCEPTRE +FROM THE TYRANTS (From a French engraving)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN TEARS THE LIGHTNING FROM THE SKY AND THE SCEPTRE +FROM THE TYRANTS +<br /> +(From a French engraving)</span> +</div> + +<p>This is what Lee should have done long before. Franklin had indeed +recommended a change in one of his letters, but not with such force as +to cause its adoption. Now that Adams had set the example, they all +wrote letters in the succeeding months begging for reform. The wisdom of +Adams’s plan was so apparent that when the facts were laid before +Congress it was quickly adopted and Franklin made sole plenipotentiary.</p> + +<p>But Lee and Izard retained their missions to other countries and +remained in Paris, renewing their discussions and attacks on Franklin +until the subject was again brought before Congress, and it was proposed +to order all of them back to America and send others in their stead. +Franklin had a narrow escape. The large committee which had the question +before it was at one time within a couple of votes of recalling him and +sending Arthur Lee in his place, which, whatever were the failings of +Franklin, would have been a terrible misfortune. The French minister to +the United States, M. Gérard, came to the rescue. He disclosed the +extreme favor with which the French government regarded Franklin and its +detestation of Lee. Franklin’s wonderful reputation in Europe saved him, +for it would have been folly to recall under a cloud the one man whom +our allies took such delight in honoring.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> + +<h2>X<br /><br /> + +<small>PLEASURES AND DIPLOMACY IN FRANCE</small></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Congress</span> not only refused to recall Franklin, but relieved him entirely +of the presence of Lee and Izard, so that the remaining six years of his +service were peaceful and can be very briefly described. The improvement +in the management of the embassy which immediately followed shows what a +serious mistake the previous arrangement had been. Left entirely to his +own devices, and master of the situation, he began the necessary reforms +of his own accord, had complete books of account prepared, and managed +the business without difficulty.</p> + +<p>It is curious to read of the diverse functions the old man of +seventy-four had to perform in this infancy of our diplomatic service. +He was a merchant, banker, judge of admiralty, consul, director of the +navy, ambassador to France, and negotiator with England for the exchange +of prisoners and for peace, in addition to attending to any other little +matter, personal or otherwise, which our representatives to other +countries or the individual States of the Union might ask of him. The +crudeness of the situation is revealed when we remember that not only +was Congress obtaining loans of money and supplies of arms in Europe, +but several of the States were doing the same thing, and it was often +rather difficult for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> Franklin to assist them all without discrimination +or injustice.</p> + +<p>Paul Jones and the other captains of our navy who were cruising against +British commerce on that side of the Atlantic made their head-quarters +in French ports, and were necessarily under the direction of Franklin +because the great distance made it impossible to communicate with +Congress without months of delay. That they were lively sailors we may +judge from the exploits of the “Black Prince,” which in three months on +the English coast took thirty-seven prizes, and brought in seventy-five +within a year. Franklin had to act as a court of admiralty in the matter +of prizes and their cargoes, settle disputes between the officers and +men, quiet discontent about their pay by advancing money, decide what +was to be done with mutineers, and see that ships were refitted and +repaired. A couple of quotations from one of his letters to Congress +will give some idea of his duties:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“In the mean time, I may just mention some particulars of our +disbursements. Great quantities of clothing, arms, ammunition, +and naval stores, sent from time to time; payment of bills from +Mr. Bingham, one hundred thousand livres; Congress bills in +favor of Haywood & Co., above two hundred thousand; advanced to +Mr. Ross, about twenty thousand pounds sterling; paid Congress +drafts in favor of returned officers, ninety-three thousand and +eighty livres; to our prisoners in England, and after their +escape to help them home, and to other Americans here in +distress, a great sum, I cannot at present say how much; +supplies to Mr. Hodge for fitting out Captain Conyngham, very +considerable; for the freight of ships to carry over the +supplies, great sums; to Mr. William Lee and Mr. Izard, five +thousand five hundred pounds sterling; and for fitting the +frigates <i>Raleigh</i>, <i>Alfred</i>, <i>Boston</i>, <i>Providence</i>, +<i>Alliance</i>, <i>Ranger</i>, &c., I imagine not less than sixty or +seventy thousand livres each,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> taken one with another; and for +the maintenance of the English prisoners, I believe, when I get +in all the accounts, I shall find one hundred thousand livres +not sufficient, having already paid above sixty-five thousand on +that article. And now, the drafts of the treasurer of the loans +coming very fast upon me, the anxiety I have suffered, and the +distress of mind lest I should not be able to pay them, have for +a long time been very great indeed.”</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>“With regard to the fitting out of ships, receiving and +disposing of cargoes, and purchasing of supplies, I beg leave to +mention, that, besides my being wholly unacquainted with such +business, the distance I am from the ports renders my having +anything to do with it extremely inconvenient. Commercial agents +have indeed been appointed by Mr. William Lee; but they and the +captains are continually writing for my opinion or orders, or +leave to do this or that, by which much time is lost to them, +and much of mine taken up to little purpose, from my ignorance. +I see clearly, however, that many of the captains are exorbitant +in their demands, and in some cases I think those demands are +too easily complied with by the agents, perhaps because the +commissions are in proportion to the expense. I wish, therefore, +the Congress would appoint the consuls they have a right to +appoint by the treaty, and put into their hands all that sort of +employment. I have in my desk, I suppose, not less than fifty +applications from different ports, praying the appointment, and +offering to serve gratis for the honor of it, and the advantage +it gives in trade; but I imagine, that, if consuls are +appointed, they will be of our own people from America, who, if +they should make fortunes abroad, might return with them to +their country.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He was, in fact, deciding questions and assuming responsibilities which +with other nations and afterwards with our own belonged to the home +government. He had great discretionary power, an instance of which may +be given in connection with the subject which was then agitating +European countries, of “free ships, free goods.” He wrote to Congress, +telling that body how the matter stood:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Whatever may formerly have been the law of nations, all the +neutral powers at the instance of Russia seem at present +disposed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> change it, and to enforce the rule that <i>free ships +shall make free goods</i>, except in the case of contraband. +Denmark, Sweden, and Holland have already acceded to the +proposition, and Portugal is expected to follow. France and +Spain, in their answers, have also expressed their approbation +of it. I have, therefore, instructed our privateers to bring in +no more neutral ships, as such prizes occasion much litigation, +and create ill blood.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>He did not know whether Congress would approve of this new rule of law, +but he took his chances. He was not the first person to suggest the +principle of “free ships, free goods,” nor was he a prominent advocate +of it, as has sometimes been implied; for his letter shows that Russia +had suggested this improvement in the rules of international law, and +that other nations were accepting it. He, however, urged on a number of +occasions that war should be confined exclusively to regularly organized +armies and fleets, that privateering should be abolished, that merchant +vessels should be free from capture even by men-of-war, and that +fishermen, farmers, and all who were engaged in supplying the +necessaries of life should be allowed to pursue their avocations +unmolested. The world has not yet caught up with this suggestion.</p> + +<p>The great difficulty during the last two or three years of the +Revolution was the want of money. The supplies sent out by Beaumarchais +and Deane in the early part of the struggle merely served to start it. +In the long run expenses increased enormously, the resources of the +country were drained, the paper money depreciated with terrible +rapidity, and we were compelled to continue borrowing from France or +Holland. We borrowed principal and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> then borrowed more to pay the +interest on the principal, and a large part of this business passed +through Franklin’s hands.</p> + +<p>He persuaded the French government to lend, and then to lend again to +pay interest. He was regarded as the source from which all the money was +to come. Congress drew on him, John Jay in Spain drew on him, he had to +pay salaries and the innumerable expenses appertaining to the fitting +out and repairing of ships and the exchange of prisoners. These calls +upon him were made often from a long distance, with a sort of blind +confidence that he would in some way manage to meet them. A captain in +the West Indies would run his ship into a port to be careened, refitted, +and supplied, and coolly draw on him for the expense. It was extremely +dangerous sometimes to refuse to accept a bill presented to him, and, as +he said to Congress, if a single draft for interest on a loan went to +protest there would be “dreadful consequences of ruin to our public +credit both in America and Europe.”</p> + +<p>He suffered enough anxiety and strain to have destroyed some men. When +Jay went to Spain in 1780, Congress was so sure he would obtain money +from that monarchy that it drew on him. But as Jay could not get a cent, +he forwarded the drafts to Franklin, who in reply wrote, “the storm of +bills which I found coming upon us both has terrified and vexed me to +such a degree that I have been deprived of sleep, and so much indisposed +by continual anxiety as to be rendered almost incapable of writing.” He +would have gone under in this storm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> if he had not persuaded the French +government to come to his rescue.</p> + +<p>He was also from time to time receiving all sorts of proposals of peace +from emissaries or agents of the British government; and he had a long +correspondence on this subject with David Hartley, who helped him to +arrange the exchange of prisoners in England. Nearly all these proposals +contained a trap of some kind, as that we should break our alliance with +France and then England would treat with us, or that there should be a +peace without a definite recognition of independence; and some of them +may have been intended to entrap Franklin himself. It was, in any event, +most dangerous and delicate work, for it was corresponding with the +public enemy. Most men in Franklin’s position would have been compelled +to drop it entirely, for fear of becoming involved in some serious +difficulty; for it was suspected, if not actually proved, that persons +connected with our own embassy in France were using their official +knowledge to speculate in stocks in England. But Franklin came through +it all unscathed.</p> + +<p>He was much annoyed by numerous applications from people who wished to +serve in the American army. Most of them had proved failures in France +and were burdens on their relations. In the early years of the embassy +many were sent out who gave endless trouble and embarrassment to +Washington and Congress. Out of the whole horde, only about +three—Lafayette, Steuben, and De Kalb—were ever anything more than a +nuisance. But, to avoid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> giving offence to the French people, Franklin +was often obliged to give these applicants some sort of letter of +recommendation, and he drew up a form which he sometimes used in extreme +cases:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give +him a letter of recommendation, though I know nothing of him, +not even his name. This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you +it is not uncommon here. Sometimes, indeed, one unknown person +brings another equally unknown, to recommend him; and sometimes +they recommend one another! As to this gentleman, I must refer +you to himself for his character and merits, with which he is +certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be. I recommend +him, however, to those civilities, which every stranger, of whom +one knows no harm, has a right to; and I request you will do him +all the good offices, and show him all the favor, that, on +further acquaintance, you shall find him to deserve. I have the +honor to be, &c.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>The old man’s sense of humor carried him through many a difficulty; and +it is hardly necessary to say that the management of all this +multifarious business, the exercise of such large authority and +discretion, and the weight of such responsibility required a nervous +force, patience, tact, knowledge of men and affairs, mental equipoise, +broad, cool judgment, and strength of character which comparatively few +men in America possessed. Indeed, it is difficult to name another who +could have filled the position. John Adams could not have done it. He +would have lost his temper and blazed out at some point, or have +committed some huge indiscretion that would have wrecked everything. +That Lee, Izard, or even Deane could have held the post would be +ridiculous to suppose.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +Adams appeared again in Paris in the beginning of the year 1780, having +been sent by Congress to await England’s expected willingness to treat +for peace. He was authorized to receive overtures for a general peace, +and also, if possible, to negotiate a special commercial treaty with +England. He had nothing to do but wait, and was in no way connected with +our embassy in France. But being presented at court and asked by +Vergennes to furnish information, he must needs try to make an +impression. He assailed Vergennes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with +numerous reasons why he should at once disclose to the court at London +his readiness to make a commercial treaty. He argued about the question +of the Continental currency and how it should be redeemed. He urged the +sending of a large naval force to the United States; and when told that +the force had already been sent without solicitation, he attempted to +prove in the most tactless and injudicious manner that it was not +without solicitation, but, on the contrary, the king had been repeatedly +asked for it, and had yielded at last to importunity.</p> + +<p>This conduct was so offensive to Vergennes that he complained of it to +Franklin, who was obliged to rebuke Adams; and Congress, when the matter +came before it, administered another rebuke. Adams never forgave +Franklin for this, and afterwards publicly declared that Franklin and +Vergennes had conspired to destroy his influence and ruin him. At the +time, however, he had the good sense to take his rebuff in silence, and +went off grumbling to Holland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> to see if something could not be done to +render the United States less dependent on France.</p> + +<p>Adams represented a large party, composed principally of New-Englanders, +who did not like the alliance with France and were opposed to Franklin’s +policy of extreme conciliation and friendliness with the French court. +It was as one of this party that Adams had attempted to give Vergennes a +lesson and show him that America was not a suppliant and a pauper. Like +the rest of his party, he harbored the bitter thought that France +intended to lord it over the United States, send a general over there +who would control all the military operations, get all the glory, and +give the French ever after a preponderating influence. He thought +America had been too free in expressions of gratitude to France, that a +little more stoutness, a greater air of independence and boldness in our +demands, would procure sufficient assistance and at the same time save +us from the calamity of passing into the hands of a tyrant who would be +worse than Great Britain had been.</p> + +<p>His attempt at stoutness, however, was at once checked by Vergennes, who +refused to answer any more of his letters; and there is no doubt that if +Adams’s plan had been adopted by the United States government, our +alliance with France would have been jeopardized. It is not pleasant to +think that without the aid of France the Revolution would have failed +and we would have again been brought under subjection to England; but it +is unquestionably true, and as Washington had no hesitation in frankly +admitting it, we need have none.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +At the time of Adams’s attempted interference with Franklin’s policy our +fortunes were at a very low ebb. The resources of the country were +exhausted and the army could no longer be maintained on them. The +soldiers were starving and naked, and the generals could not show +themselves without being assailed with piteous demands for food and +clothes. France had much to gain by assisting us against England, and +she never pretended that she had not; but in all the documents and +correspondence that have been brought to light there is no evidence that +she intended to take advantage of our situation or that her ministers +had designs on our liberties. Indeed, when we read the whole story of +her assistance, including the secret correspondence, it will be found +almost unequalled for its worthiness of purpose and for the honorable +means employed.</p> + +<p>Franklin had spent several years at the court, knew everybody, and +thoroughly understood the situation.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The king, a young and virtuous prince, has, I am persuaded, a +pleasure in reflecting on the generous benevolence of the action +in assisting an oppressed people, and proposes it as a part of +the glory of his reign. I think it right to increase this +pleasure by our thankful acknowledgments, and that such an +expression of gratitude is not only our duty, but our interest. +A different conduct seems to me what is not only improper and +unbecoming, but what may be hurtful to us.... It is my intention +while I stay here to procure what advantages I can for our +country by endeavoring to please this court; and I wish I could +prevent anything being said by any of our countrymen here that +may have a contrary effect, and increase an opinion lately +showing itself in Paris, that we seek a difference, and with a +view of reconciling ourselves in England.”</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +Please the court, as well as the whole French nation, he most certainly +did. His communications with Vergennes, even when he was asking for +money or some other valuable thing, were not only free from offence, but +so adroit, so beautifully and happily expressed, that they charmed the +exquisite taste of Frenchmen. There is not space in this volume to give +expression to all that the people of the court thought of his way of +managing the business intrusted to him by America, but one sentence from +a letter of Vergennes to the French minister in America may be given:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“If you are questioned respecting our opinion of Dr. Franklin, +you may without hesitation say that we esteem him as much on +account of the patriotism as the wisdom of his conduct, and it +has been owing in a great part to this cause, and to the +confidence we put in the veracity of Dr. Franklin, that we have +determined to relieve the pecuniary embarrassments in which he +has been placed by Congress.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is not likely that Gouverneur Morris, Jefferson, or any other +American of that time possessed the qualifications necessary to give +them such a hold on the French court as Franklin had. We were colonists, +very British in our manners, of strong energy and intelligence, but +quite crude in many things, and capable of appearing in a very +ridiculous light in French society, which was in effect the society of +Louis XIV., very exacting, and by no means so republican as it has since +become.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the French disliked everybody we sent to them at +that time except Franklin. Deane they tolerated, Izard they laughed at, +Adams<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> they snubbed, and Lee they despised as a stupid blunderer who +knew no better than to abuse French manners in the presence of his +servants, who spread the tale all over Paris. But dear, delightful, +philosophic, shrewd, economical, naughty, flirtatious, and +anecdote-telling Franklin seemed like one of themselves. He still +remains the only American that the French have thoroughly known and +liked. The more we read of him the more confidence we are inclined to +place in the supposition that three or four centuries back he must have +had a French ancestor who migrated to England, and some of whose +characteristics were reproduced in his famous descendant. The little +fables and allegories he wrote to please them read like translations +from the most subtle literary men of France. Fancy any other American or +Englishman writing to Madame Brillon the letter which was really a +little essay afterwards known as the “Ephemera,” and very popular in +France.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“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 stopped a little in one of our walks, and stayed +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 progress I have made in your charming language. I +listened through curiosity to the discourse of these little +creatures; but as they, in their natural vivacity, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +foreign musicians, one a <i>cousin</i>, the other a <i>moscheto</i>; 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 are certainly under a wise, +just, and mild government, since you have no public 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 +amusements, her delicious company and heavenly harmony.”...</p></blockquote> + +<p>The letter is too long to quote entire; but some of the fine touches in +the passage given should be observed. He refers to the little progress +he had made in French, and he certainly spoke that language badly, +although he read it with ease. He probably had a large vocabulary; but +he trampled all over the grammar, as Adams tells us. He managed, +however, by means of a little humor to make this defect endear him still +more to the people. The musical dispute of the insects is a hit at a +similar dispute among the Parisians over two musicians, Gluck and +Picini. But what a depth of subtlety is shown in the suggestion which +follows, that the French were under such a wise government and such a +good king that they could afford to waste their time in disputing about +trifles! No wonder that all the notable people and the rulers loved him.</p> + +<p>This single delicately veiled point was alone almost sufficient to make +his fortune in the peculiar society of that time. It was in such perfect +taste, so French, such a rebuke to the fanatics who were laying the +foundations of the Reign of Terror; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> yet, at the same time, +Franklin, as the apostle of liberty, was regarded by many of those +fanatics as one of themselves. In this way he carried with him all +France.</p> + +<p>But suppose that John Adams had been given the opportunity to write such +a letter to a French lady; what would he have done? The straightforward +fellow would probably have thought it his religious, moral, and +patriotic duty to tell her that the government she lived under was +wasteful and extravagant, and was plotting to destroy the liberties of +America.</p> + +<p>Madame Brillon, for whom the “Ephemera” was written, was a charming +woman and more domestic than French ladies are supposed to be. For her +amusement were written some of Franklin’s most famous essays,—“The +Morals of Chess,” “The Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout,” “The +Story of the Whistle,” “The Handsome and Deformed Leg,” and “The +Petition of the Left Hand.” In a letter telling how the “Ephemera” +happened to be written he has described the intimacy he and his grandson +enjoyed at her house:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The person to whom it was addressed is Madame Brillon, a lady +of most respectable character and pleasing conversation; +mistress of an amiable family in this neighborhood, with which I +spend an evening twice every week. She has, among other elegant +accomplishments, that of an excellent musician; and with her +daughter who sings prettily, and some friends who play, she +kindly entertains me and my grandson with little concerts, a cup +of tea, and a game of chess. I call this <i>my Opera</i>, for I +rarely go to the Opera at Paris.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Madame Helvetius, a still more intimate friend, was a very different +sort of woman. She was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> widow of a literary man of some celebrity, +and she and Franklin were always carrying on an absurd sort of +flirtation. They hugged and kissed each other in public, and exchanged +extravagant notes which were sometimes mock proposals of marriage, +although some have supposed them to have been real ones. He wrote a sort +of essay addressed to her, in which he imagines himself in the other +world, where he meets her husband, and, after the exchange of many +clever remarks with him about madame, he discovers that Helvetius is +married to his own deceased wife, Mrs. Franklin, who declares herself +rather better pleased with him than she had been with the Philadelphia +printer.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Indignant at this refusal of my Eurydice, 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 +<i>avenge ourselves</i>!”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Such sport over deceased wives and husbands would not be in good taste +in America or England, but it was correct enough in France. One of his +short notes to Madame Helvetius has also been preserved:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Mr. Franklin never forgets any party at which Madame Helvetius +is expected. He even believes that if he were engaged to go to +Paradise this morning, he would pray for permission to remain on +earth until half-past one, to receive the embrace promised him +at the Turgots’.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mrs. Adams has left a description of Madame Helvetius which admirers of +Franklin have in vain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> attempted to explain away by saying that all +French women were like her, and that she was, after all, a really noble +person:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“She entered the room with a careless, jaunty air; upon seeing +ladies who were strangers to her, she bawled out, ‘Ah! mon Dieu, +where is Franklin? Why did you not tell me there were ladies +here?’ You must suppose her speaking all this in French. ‘How I +look!’ said she, taking hold of a chemise made of tiffany, which +she had on over a blue lute-string, and which looked as much +upon the decay as her beauty, for she was once a handsome woman; +her hair was frizzled; over it she had a small straw hat, with a +dirty gauze half-handkerchief round it, and a bit of dirtier +gauze than ever my maids wore was bowed on behind. She had a +black gauze scarf thrown over her shoulders. She ran out of the +room; when she returned, the Doctor entered at one door, she at +the other; upon which she ran forward to him, caught him by the +hand, ‘Hélas! Franklin;’ then gave him a double kiss, one upon +each cheek, and another upon his forehead. When we went into the +room to dine, she was placed between the Doctor and Mr. Adams. +She carried on the chief of the conversation at dinner, +frequently locking her hand into the Doctor’s, and sometimes +spreading her arms upon the backs of both the gentlemen’s +chairs, then throwing her arm carelessly upon the Doctor’s neck.</p> + +<p>“I should have been greatly astonished at this conduct, if the +good Doctor had not told me that in this lady I should see a +genuine Frenchwoman, wholly free from affectation or stiffness +of behavior, and one of the best women in the world. For this I +must take the Doctor’s word; but I should have set her down for +a very bad one, although sixty years of age, and a widow. I own +I was highly disgusted, and never wish for an acquaintance with +any ladies of this cast. After dinner she threw herself upon a +settee, where she showed more than her feet. She had a little +lap-dog, who was, next to the Doctor, her favorite. This she +kissed, and when he wet the floor she wiped it up with her +chemise. This is one of the Doctor’s most intimate friends, with +whom he dines once every week, and she with him. She is rich, +and is my near neighbor; but I have not yet visited her. Thus +you see, my dear, that manners differ exceedingly in different +countries. I hope, however, to find amongst the French ladies +manners more consistent with my ideas of decency, or I shall be +a mere recluse.” (Letters of Mrs. John Adams, p. 252.)</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +It is not likely that Franklin had the respect for Madame Helvetius that +he had for Madame Brillon. She was, strange to say, an illiterate woman, +as one of her letters to him plainly shows. Some of his letters to her +read as if he were purposely feeding her inordinate vanity. He tells her +in one that her most striking quality is her artless simplicity; that +statesmen, philosophers, and poets flock to her; that he and his friends +find in her “sweet society that charming benevolence, that amiable +attention to oblige, that disposition to please and to be pleased which +we do not always find in the society of one another.” She lived at +Auteuil, and he and the Abbé Morellet and others called her “Our Lady of +Auteuil.” They boasted much of their love for her, and enjoyed many +wonderful conversations on literature and philosophy, and much gayety at +her house, which they called “The Academy.”</p> + +<p>After Franklin had returned to America the Abbé Morellet, who was an +active and able man in his way, wrote him many amusing letters about +their lady and her friends.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I shall never forget the happiness I have enjoyed in knowing +you and seeing you intimately. I write to you from Auteuil, +seated in your arm chair, on which I have engraved <i>Benjamin +Franklin hic sedebat</i>, and having by my side the little bureau, +which you bequeathed to me at parting with a drawerful of nails +to gratify the love of nailing and hammering, which I possess in +common with you. But, believe me, I have no need of all these +helps to cherish your endeared remembrance and to love you.</p> + +<p>“‘Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos reget artus.’”</p></blockquote> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_330i" id="Page_330i"></a> +<img src="images/i020.jpg" width="600" height="333" alt="FRANKLIN RELICS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE HISTORICAL +SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN RELICS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE HISTORICAL +SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA</span> +</div> + +<p>One of the cleverest letters Franklin wrote while in France was +addressed to an old English friend,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> Mrs. Thompson, who had called him +a rebel. “You are too early, <i>hussy</i>” he says, “as well as too saucy, in +calling me <i>rebel</i>; you should wait for the event, which will determine +whether it is a <i>rebellion</i> or only a <i>revolution</i>. Here the ladies are +more civil; they call us <i>les insurgens</i>, a character that usually +pleases them.” He continues chaffing her, and describes himself as +wearing his own hair in France, where every one else had on a great +powdered wig. If they would only dismiss their <i>friseurs</i> and give him +half the money they pay to them, “I could then enlist these <i>friseurs</i>, +who are at least one hundred thousand, and with the money I would +maintain them, make a visit with them to England, and dress the heads of +your ministers and privy councillors, which I conceive at present to be +<i>un peu dérangées</i>. Adieu, madcap; and believe me ever, your +affectionate friend and humble servant.”</p> + +<p>In the large house of M. de Chaumont, which he occupied, he, of course, +had his electrical apparatus, and played doctor by giving electricity to +paralytic people who were brought to him. On one occasion he made the +wrong contact, and fell to the floor senseless. He had, also, a small +printing-press with type made in the house by his own servants, and he +used it to print the little essays with which he amused his friends.</p> + +<p>His friendships in France seem to have been mostly among elderly people. +There are only a few traces of his fondness for young girls, and we find +none of those pleasant intimacies such as he enjoyed with Miss Ray, Miss +Stevenson, or the daughters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> of the Bishop of St. Asaph. Unmarried women +in France were too much restricted to be capable of such friendships +even with an elderly man. But among his papers in the collection of the +American Philosophical Society there is a letter written by some French +girl who evidently had taken a fancy to him and playfully insisted on +calling herself his daughter.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">My dear father américain</span></p> + +<p>“god Bess liberty! I drunk with all my heart to the republick of +the united provinces. I am prepared to my departure if you will +and if it possible. give me I pray you leave to go. I shall be +happy of to live under the laws of venerable good man richard. +adieu my dear father I am with the most respect and tenderness</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">“Your humble Servant<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">“and your daughter</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">“<span class="smcap">J. B. J. Conway</span></span></p> + +<p>“Auxerre 22 M. 1778.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Besides the dining abroad, which, he tells us, occurred six days out of +seven, he gave a dinner at home every Sunday for any Americans that were +in Paris; “and I then,” he says, “have my grandson Ben, with some other +American children from the school.”</p> + +<p>New-Englanders had very economical ideas in those days, and when it was +learned that Franklin entertained handsomely in Paris there was a great +fuss over it in the Connecticut newspapers.</p> + +<p>The <i>fête-champêtre</i> that was given to him by the Countess d’Houdetot +must have been a ridiculous and even nauseous dose of adulation to +swallow; but he no doubt went through it all without a smile, and it +serves to show the extraordinary position that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> he occupied. He was more +famous in France than Voltaire or any Frenchman.</p> + +<p>A formal account of the <i>fête</i> was prepared by direction of the +countess, and copies circulated in Paris. The victim of it is described +as “the venerable sage” who, “with his gray hairs flowing down upon his +shoulders, his staff in his hand, the spectacles of wisdom on his nose, +was the perfect picture of true philosophy and virtue;” and this +sentence is as complete a summary as could be made of what Franklin was +to the French people.</p> + +<p>As soon as he arrived the countess addressed him in verse:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Soul of the heroes and the wise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, Liberty! first gift of the gods.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! at too great a distance do we offer our vows.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As lovers we offer homage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the mortal who has made citizens happy.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The company walked through the gardens and then sat down to the banquet. +At the first glass of wine they rose and sang,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Of Benjamin let us celebrate the glory;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us sing the good he has done to mortals.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In America he will have altars;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in Sanoy let us drink to his glory.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At the second glass the countess sang a similar refrain, at the third +glass the viscount sang, and so on for seven glasses, each verse more +extraordinary than the others. Virtue herself had assumed the form of +Benjamin; he was greater than William Tell; Philadelphia must be such a +delightful place; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> the French would gladly dwell there, although there +was neither ball nor play. But Sanoy was Philadelphia as long as dear +Benjamin remained there. He was led to the garden to plant a tree, with +more singing about the lightning that he had drawn from the sky, and the +lightning, of course, would never strike that tree. Finally he was +allowed to depart with another song of adulation addressed to him after +he was seated in the carriage.</p> + +<p>Now that more than a hundred years have passed it is gratifying to our +national pride to reflect that a man who was so thoroughly American in +his origin and education should have been worshipped in this way by an +alien race as no other man, certainly no other American, was ever +worshipped by foreigners. But the enjoyment of this stupendous +reputation, overshadowing and dwarfing the Adamses, Jays, and all other +public men who went to Europe, was marred by some unpleasant +consequences. Jealousies were aroused not only among individuals, but to +a certain extent among all the American people. It was too much. He had +ceased to be one of them. It was rumored that he would never return to +America, but would resign and settle down among those strangers who +treated him as though he were a god.</p> + +<p>It was also inevitable that a worse suspicion should arise. He was too +subservient, it was said, to France. He yielded everything to her. He +was turning her from an ally into a ruler. He could no longer see her +designs; or, if he saw them, he approved of them. This suspicion gained +such force that it was the controlling principle with Adams and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> Jay +when they went to Paris to arrange the treaty of peace with England +after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in October, 1781. We +have seen instances in our own time of our ministers to Great Britain +becoming very unpopular at home because they were liked in England, and +in Franklin’s case this feeling was vastly greater than anything we have +known in recent years, because his popularity in France was prodigious, +and he avowedly acted upon the principle that it was best to be +complaisant to the French court.</p> + +<p>During the winter which followed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis +overtures of peace were made by England to Franklin, as representing +America, and to Vergennes, as representing France, and they became more +earnest in March after the Tory ministry, which had been conducting the +war, was driven from power. In April the negotiations with Franklin were +well under way, and he continued to conduct them until June, when he was +taken sick and incapacitated for three months. After his recovery he +took only a minor part in the proceedings, for Jay and Adams had +meanwhile arrived.</p> + +<p>Congress had appointed Adams, Jay, Franklin, Jefferson, and Laurens +commissioners to arrange the treaty, and made Adams head of the +commission. When the negotiations began, however, Franklin was the only +commissioner at Paris, and necessarily took charge of all the business. +Just before he was taken sick Jay arrived, and he and Jay conducted +affairs until Adams joined them at the end of October. Laurens, who had +been a prisoner in England, did +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> not reach Paris until just before the +preliminary treaty was signed, and Jefferson, being detained in America, +took no part in the proceedings.</p> + +<p>While Franklin was carrying on the negotiations alone, he insisted on +most of the terms which were afterwards agreed upon: first of all, +independence, and, in addition to that, the right to fish on the +Newfoundland Banks and a settlement of boundaries; but he added a point +not afterwards pressed by the others,—namely, that Canada should be +ceded to the United States. In exchange for Canada he was prepared to +allow some compensation to the Tories for their loss of property during +the war. Adams and Jay, on taking up the negotiations, dropped Canada +entirely and insisted stoutly to the end that there should be no +compensation whatever to the Tories.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s admirers have always contended that it would have been better +if Jay and Adams had kept away altogether, for in that case Franklin +would have secured all that they got for us and Canada besides. This, +however, is mere supposition, one of those vague ideas of what might +have been without any proof to support it. Franklin pressed the cession +of Canada, it is true; but there is no evidence that it would have been +granted. At that time the people of the United States appear not to have +wanted the land of snow, and ever since then the general opinion has +been that we have enough to manage already, and are better off without a +country vexed with serious political controversies with its French +population and the Roman Catholic school question.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +On the whole, it would not have been well for Franklin to have continued +to conduct the negotiations alone. The situation was difficult, and the +united efforts and varied ability of at least three commissioners were +required. Neither Franklin nor Jay knew much about the fisheries +question, and they might have been forced to yield on this point. But +Adams, from his long experience in conducting litigation for the +Massachusetts fishing interests, was better prepared on this subject +than any other American, and it was generally believed by the public men +of that time that the important rights we secured on the Newfoundland +Banks were due almost entirely to his skill. He was also more familiar +with the boundary question between Maine and New Brunswick, and had +brought with him documents from Massachusetts which were invaluable.</p> + +<p>While Jay and Franklin were acting together before the arrival of Adams, +a serious question arose about the commission of Oswald, the British +negotiator who had come over to Paris. He was empowered to treat with +the “Colonies or Plantations,” and nowhere in the document was the term +United States of America used. Jay refused to treat with a man who held +such a commission. Franklin and Vergennes vainly urged that it was a +mere form, and that Great Britain had already in several ways +acknowledged the independence of the United States. Oswald showed an +article of his instructions which authorized him to grant complete +independence to the thirteen colonies, and he offered to write a letter +declaring that he treated with them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> as an independent power; but Jay +was inflexible, and in this he seems to have been right.</p> + +<p>Franklin made a great mistake in not agreeing with him, for in the +suspicious state of people’s minds at that time his conduct in this +respect was taken as proof positive of his subserviency to the French +court. Jay suspected that Vergennes advised accepting Oswald’s +commission so as to prevent a clear admission of independence, and thus +keep the United States embroiled with England as long as possible. In +order to support his opposition to Jay, Franklin was obliged to talk +about his confidence in the French court, its past generosity and +friendliness, and also to call attention to the instruction of Congress +that the commissioners should do nothing without the knowledge of the +French government, and in all final decisions be guided by that +government’s advice.</p> + +<p>This instruction had been passed by Congress after much debate and +hesitation, and was finally carried, it is said, through the influence +of the French minister. Its adoption was a mistake; without it the +commissioners would probably of their own accord have sought the advice +of Vergennes; but a positive order to do so put them in an undignified +and humiliating position. Franklin had been so long intimate with +Vergennes and was so accustomed to consulting him that the instruction +was superfluous as to him. His reputation was so great in France and his +tact so perfect that he was in no danger of feeling overshadowed or +subdued by such consultations; but Jay and Adams so thoroughly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> detested +the instruction that they had made up their minds to disregard it +altogether.</p> + +<p>“Would you break your instruction?” said Franklin.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jay, “as I break this pipe,” and he threw the pieces into +the fire.</p> + +<p>Jay’s firmness compelled Oswald to obtain a new commission in the proper +form, and while he deserves credit for this and also for his principle, +“We must be honest and grateful to our allies, but think for ourselves,” +he seems in the light of later evidence to have been mistaken in his +deep mistrust of the French court. His opinions have been briefly stated +by Adams:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Mr. Jay likes Frenchmen as little as Mr. Lee and Mr. Izard did. +He says they are not a moral people; they know not what it is; +he don’t like any Frenchman; the Marquis de Lafayette is clever, +but he is a Frenchman. Our allies don’t play fair, he told me; +they were endeavoring to deprive us of the fishery, the western +lands, and the navigation of the Mississippi; they would even +bargain with the English to deprive us of them; they want to +play the western lands, Mississippi, and whole Gulf of Mexico +into the hands of Spain.” (Adams’s Works, vol. iii. p. 303.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Jay had had a very bitter experience in Spain, where the cold +haughtiness and chicanery of the court had made him feel that he was +among enemies. The instructions sent to him by Congress had been +intercepted, and instead of receiving them as secret orders from his +government, they had been handed to him by the Spanish prime-minister +after that official had read them. He was accordingly prepared to think +that the French government was no better.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +In a certain sense there were grounds for his suspicion of France. She +was interested in the fisheries on the Banks of Newfoundland, and would +naturally like to have a share in them. It was also obviously her policy +to prevent the United States and England from becoming too friendly and +from making too firm a peace, for fear that they might unite at some +future time against her. If she could get them to make a sort of half +peace with a number of subjects left unsettled, about which there would +be difficulties for many years, it would be a great advantage to her.</p> + +<p>Spain wanted to secure the control of the Gulf of Mexico, the exclusive +navigation of the Mississippi, and the possession of the lands west of +that river, and France, as her ally, might be expected to assist her to +obtain these concessions. Arguments and suggestions favoring all these +projects were unquestionably used by Frenchmen at that time, and no +doubt Vergennes and other public men often had them in mind. It was +their duty at least to consider them. But there is no evidence that they +actively promoted these schemes or acted in any other than an honorable +manner towards us.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, our commercial relations with England were left +unsettled. England claimed, among other things, the right to search our +ships, and there was great discontent over this for a long time, amply +sufficient to keep us from friendship with England until the question +was finally settled by the war of 1812. Adams seems to imply that he +could have settled this and other difficulties +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> in 1780 by the +commercial treaty which he was empowered to make with England, and that +Vergennes, in advising him not to communicate with England, had intended +to keep England and the United States embroiled. Possibly that may have +been Vergennes’s intention. But as it was afterwards found impossible to +adjust these commercial difficulties until the war of 1812, and as Adams +himself did not attempt it, though he might have done so in spite of +Vergennes’s advice, and as they were finally settled only by a war, it +is not probable that Adams could have adjusted them in the easy, offhand +way he imagines. In any event, it was not worth while for the sake of +these future contingencies to offend Vergennes and jeopardize our +alliance and the loans of money we were obtaining from France.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s policy of making absolutely sure of the friendship and +assistance of France seems to have been the sound one, and with his +wonderful accomplishments and adaptability he could be friendly and +agreeable without sacrificing anything. But Adams went at everything +with a club, and could understand no other method.</p> + +<p>I cannot find that Franklin was at any time willing to sacrifice the +fisheries, or the Mississippi River or the western lands. In fact, he +was more firm on the question of the Mississippi than Congress. In its +extremity, Congress finally instructed Jay to yield the navigation of +the Mississippi if he could get assistance from Spain in no other way; +and the Spanish premier, having intercepted this instruction +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> and read +it, had poor Jay at his mercy. But Franklin was very strenuous on this +point, and wrote to Jay,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Poor as we are, yet, as I know we shall be rich, I would rather +agree with them to buy at a great price the whole of their right +on the Mississippi, than sell a drop of its waters. A neighbor +might as well ask me to sell my street door.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Jay grew more and more suspicious of France, and Adams reports him as +saying, “Every day produces some fresh proof and example of their vile +schemes.” One of the British negotiators obtained for him a letter which +Marbois, the secretary of the French legation in America, had written +home, urging Vergennes not to support the commissioners in their claim +to the right of fishing on the Newfoundland Banks. This he considered +absolute proof; but the examination which has since been made of all the +confidential correspondence of that period does not show that Marbois’s +suggestion was ever acted upon. Individuals doubtless cherished purposes +of their own, but the French government in all its actions seems to have +fully justified Franklin’s confidence in it. Jefferson, who afterwards +went to France, declared that there was no proof whatever of Franklin’s +subserviency.</p> + +<p>When Adams arrived he was delighted to find himself in full accord with +Jay. He had been in Holland, where he had succeeded in negotiating a +loan and a commercial treaty, and consequently felt that he was somewhat +of a success as a diplomatist, and need not any longer be so much +overawed by Franklin. He relates in his diary how the French +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> courtiers +heaped compliments on him. “Sir,” they would say, “you have been the +Washington of the negotiation.” To which he would answer in his best +French, “Sir, you have given me the grandest honor and a compliment the +most sublime.” They would reply, “Ah, sir, in truth you have well +deserved it.” And he concludes by saying, “A few of these compliments +would kill Franklin, if they should come to his ears.”</p> + +<p>He uses strong language about the “base system” pursued by Franklin, and +talks in a lofty way of the impossibility of a man becoming +distinguished as a diplomatist who allows his passion for women to get +the better of him. He and Jay conducted the rest of the negotiations and +completed the treaty, Franklin merely assisting; and Adams gloried in +breaking the instruction of Congress to take the advice of France. He +was still smarting under the rebuke administered for his interference +and for the offence he gave Vergennes a year or two before, and after +declaring that Congress in this rebuke had prostituted its own honor as +well as his, he breaks forth on the subject of the instruction to take +the advice of France:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Congress surrendered their own sovereignty into the hands of a +French minister. Blush! blush! ye guilty records! blush and +perish! It is glory to have broken such infamous orders. +Infamous, I say, for so they will be to all posterity. How can +such a stain be washed out? Can we cast a veil over it and +forget it?” (Adams’s Works, vol. iii. p. 359.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Franklin finally agreed that they should go on with the negotiations and +make the treaty without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> consulting the French government. Vergennes was +offended, but Franklin managed to smooth the matter over and pacify him. +Congress censured the commissioners for violating the instruction, and +they all made the best excuses they could. Franklin’s was a very clever +one.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“We did what appeared to all of us best at the time, and if we +have done wrong, the Congress will do right, after hearing us, +to censure us. Their nomination of five persons to the service +seems to mark, that they had some dependence on our joint +judgment, since one alone could have made a treaty by direction +of the French ministry as well as twenty.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is probable that Franklin agreed to ignore the instruction, and +assented to all the other acts of the commissioners, because he thought +it best to have harmony. Such an opportunity for a terrible quarrel +could not have been resisted by some men, for Adams bluntly told him +that he disapproved of all his previous conduct in the matter of the +treaty. As Adams was the head of the commission, it would seem that +Franklin, finding himself outvoted, took the proper course of not +blocking a momentous negotiation by his personal feelings or opinions, +so long as substantial results were being secured. In this respect he +did exactly the reverse of what Adams had prophesied. In the beginning +of the negotiations Adams entered in his diary, “Franklin’s cunning will +be to divide us; to this end he will provoke, he will insinuate, he will +intrigue, he will manœuvre.” Instead of that he encouraged their +union.</p> + +<p>Adams’s writings are full of extraordinary suspicions of this sort which +turned out to be totally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> unfounded; but so fond was he of them that, +after having been obliged to confess that Franklin had acted in entire +harmony with the commissioners, and after all had ended well and +Franklin had obtained another loan of six millions from Vergennes, he +cannot resist saying, “I suspect, however, and have reason, but will say +nothing.” Those familiar with him know that this means that he had no +reason or evidence whatever, but was simply determined to gratify his +peculiar passion.</p> + +<p>Franklin wrote a long letter to Congress about the treaty, and after +saying that he entirely discredited the suspicions of the treachery of +the French court, he squares accounts with Adams:</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I ought not, however, to conceal from you, that one of my +colleagues is of a very different opinion from me in these +matters. He thinks the French minister one of the greatest +enemies of our country, that he would have straitened our +boundaries, to prevent the growth of our people; contracted our +fishery, to obstruct the increase of our seamen; and retained +the royalists among us, to keep us divided; that he privately +opposes all our negotiations with foreign courts, and afforded +us, during the war, the assistance we received, only to keep it +alive, that we might be so much the more weakened by it; that to +think of gratitude to France is the greatest of follies, and +that to be influenced by it would ruin us. He makes no secret of +his having these opinions, expresses them publicly, sometimes in +presence of the English ministers, and speaks of hundreds of +instances which he could produce in proof of them. None, +however, have yet appeared to me, unless the conversations and +letter above-mentioned are reckoned such.</p> + +<p>“If I were not convinced of the real inability of this court to +furnish the further supplies we asked, I should suspect these +discourses of a person in his station might have influenced the +refusal; but I think they have gone no further than to occasion +a suspicion, that we have a considerable party of Antigallicians +in America, who are not Tories, and consequently to produce some +doubts of the continuance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> of our friendship. As such doubts may +hereafter have a bad effect, I think we cannot take too much +care to remove them; and it is therefore I write this, to put +you on your guard, (believing it my duty, though I know that I +hazard by it a mortal enmity), and to caution you respecting the +insinuations of this gentleman against this court, and the +instances he supposes of their ill will to us, which I take to +be as imaginary as I know his fancies to be, that Count de +Vergennes and myself are continually plotting against him, and +employing the news-writers of Europe to depreciate his +character, &c. But as Shakespeare says, ‘Trifles light as air,’ +&c. I am persuaded, however, that he means well for his country, +is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in +some things, absolutely out of his senses.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Adams never forgave this slap, and he and his descendants have kept up +the “mortal enmity” which Franklin knew he was hazarding.</p> + +<p>Before he left France Franklin took part in making a treaty with +Prussia, and secured the insertion of an article which embodied his +favorite idea that in case of war there should be no privateering, the +merchant vessels of either party should pass unmolested, and unarmed +farmers, fishermen, and artisans should remain undisturbed in their +employments. But as a war usually breaks all treaties between the +contending nations, this one might have been difficult to enforce.</p> + +<p>At last, in July, 1785, came the end of his long and delightful +residence in a country which he seems to have loved as much as if it had +been his own. No American, and certainly no Englishman, has ever spoken +so well of the French. He never could forget, he said, the nine years’ +happiness that he had enjoyed there “in the sweet society of a people +whose conversation is instructive, whose manners are highly pleasing, +and who, above all the nations of the world, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>have, in the greatest +perfection, the art of making themselves beloved by strangers.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"><a name="Page_346i" id="Page_346i"></a> +<img src="images/i021.jpg" width="300" height="384" alt="PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XVI. GIVEN BY HIM TO FRANKLIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XVI. GIVEN BY HIM TO FRANKLIN</span> +</div> + +<p>The king gave him his picture set in two circles of four hundred and +eight diamonds,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and furnished the litter, swung between two mules, +to carry him to the coast. If the king himself had been in the litter he +could not have received more attention and worship from noblemen, +ecclesiastics, governors, soldiers, and important public bodies on the +journey to the sea. It was a triumphal march for the American +philosopher, now so old and so afflicted with the gout and the stone +that he could barely endure the easy motion of the royal mules.</p> + +<p>His two grandsons accompanied him. De Chaumont and his daughter insisted +on going as far as Nanterre, and his old friend Le Veillard went with +him all the way to England. He kept a diary of the journey, full of most +interesting details of the people who met him on the road, how the +Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld sent messengers to stop him and order him +with mock violence to spend the night at his castle. It is merely the +jotting down of odd sentences in a diary, but the magic of Franklin’s +genius has given to the smallest incidents an immortal fascination.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p> + +<p>He would have liked to spend some time in England among his old friends, +but the war feeling was still too violent. He, however, crossed to +England and stayed four days at Southampton waiting for Captain +Truxton’s ship, which was to call for him. English friends flocked down +to see him and to give him little mementos, and the British government +gave orders that his baggage should not be examined. The Bishop of St. +Asaph, who lived near by, hastened to Southampton with his wife and one +of his daughters and spent several days in saying farewell. On the +evening of the last day they accompanied him on board the ship, dined +there, and intended to stay all night; but, to save him the pain of +parting, they went ashore after he had gone to bed. “When I waked in the +morning,” he says, “found the company gone and the ship under sail.”</p> + +<p>The bishop’s daughter, Catherine, wrote him one of her charming letters +which, as it relates to him, is as immortal as any of his own writings. +Every day at dinner, she tells him, they drank to his prosperous voyage. +She is troubled because she forgot to give him a pin-cushion. He seemed +to have everything else he needed, and that might have been useful. “We +are forever talking of our good friend; something is perpetually +occurring to remind us of the time spent with you.” They had besought +him to finish during the voyage his Autobiography, which had been begun +at their house. “We never walk in the garden without seeing <i>Dr. +Franklin’s room</i>, and thinking of the work that was begun in it.”</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> By his will Franklin left this picture to his daughter, Sarah +Bache, and it is still in the possession of her descendants. He +requested her not to use the outer circle of diamonds as ornaments and +introduce the useless fashion of wearing jewels in America, but he +implied that she could sell them. She sold them, and with the proceeds +she and her husband made the tour of Europe. The inner circle he +directed should be preserved with the picture, but they were removed.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p> +<h2>XI<br /><br /> + +<small>THE CONSTITUTION-MAKER</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Almost</span> immediately on Franklin’s return to Philadelphia he was made +President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, under the +extraordinary constitution he had helped to make before he went to +France in 1776. This office was somewhat like that of the modern +governor. He held it for three years, by annual re-elections, but +without being involved in any notable questions or controversies.</p> + +<p>He was at this period of his life still genial and mellow, in spite of +disease, and full of anecdotes, learning, and curious experiences. His +voice is described as low and his countenance open, frank, and pleasing.</p> + +<p>He enjoyed what to him was one of the greatest pleasures of life, +children and grandchildren. He had six grandchildren, and no doubt often +wished that he had a hundred. He had no patience with celibacy, and was +constantly urging marriage on his friends. To John Sargent he wrote,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“The account you give me of your family is pleasing, except that +your eldest son continues so long unmarried. I hope he does not +intend to live and die in celibacy. The wheel of life that has +rolled down to him from Adam without interruption should not +stop with him. I would not have one dead unbearing branch in the +genealogical tree of the Sargents. The married state is, after +all our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> jokes, the happiest.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Sir Samuel Romilly, who visited him in Paris shortly before his return +to America, says in his journal,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Of all the celebrated persons whom in my life I have chanced to +see, Dr. Franklin, both from his appearance and his +conversation, seemed to me the most remarkable. His venerable +patriarchal appearance, the simplicity of his manner and +language, and the novelty of his observations, at least the +novelty of them at that time to me, impressed me with an opinion +of him as one of the most extraordinary men that ever existed.” +(Life of Romilly. By his Sons. Vol. i. p. 50.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>He lived in a large house in Philadelphia, situated on a court long +afterwards called by his name, a little back from the south side of +Market Street, between Third and Fourth Streets. There was a small +garden attached to it, and also a grass-plot on which was a large +mulberry-tree, under which he often sat and received visitors on summer +afternoons. He built a large addition to the house, comprising a +library, a room for the meetings of the American Philosophical Society, +with some bedrooms in the third story. Here he passed the closing years +of his life with his daughter and six grandchildren, reading, writing, +receiving visits from distinguished men, and playing cards in the winter +evenings.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“I have indeed now and then,” he writes to Mrs. Hewson, “a +little compunction in reflecting that I spend time so idly; but +another reflection comes to relieve me, whispering, ‘<i>You know +that the soul is immortal; why then should you be such a niggard +of a little time, when you have a whole eternity before you?</i>’ +So, being easily convinced, and, like other reasonable +creatures, satisfied with a small reason, when it is in favor of +doing what I have a mind to, I shuffle the cards again, and +begin another game.”</p></blockquote> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_350i" id="Page_350i"></a> +<img src="images/i022.jpg" width="400" height="483" alt="FRANKLIN PORTRAIT IN WEST COLLECTION" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN PORTRAIT IN WEST COLLECTION</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>He was soon, however, given very important employment in spite of his +age. He had made himself famous in many varied spheres, from almanacs +and stove-making to treaties of alliance. Nothing seemed to be too small +or too great for him. He invented an apparatus for taking books from +high shelves. He suggested that sailors could mitigate thirst by sitting +in the salt water or soaking their clothes in it. The pores of the skin, +he said, while large enough to admit the water, are too small to allow +the salt to penetrate; and the experiment was successfully tried by +shipwrecked crews. He suggested that bread and flour could be preserved +for years in air-tight bottles, and Captain Cook tried it with good +results in his famous voyage. It is certainly strange that the man who +was so passionately interested in such subjects should enter the great +domain of constitution-making and, in spite of many blunders, excel +those who had made it their special study.</p> + +<p>He had no knowledge of technical law, either in practice or as a +science. He was once elected a justice of the peace in Philadelphia, but +soon resigned, because, as he said, he knew nothing of the rules of +English common law. It was perhaps the only important domain of human +knowledge in which he was not interested.</p> + +<p>As a public man of long experience he had considerable knowledge of +general laws and their practical effect. He was a law-maker rather than +a law-interpreter. He understood colonial rights, and knew every phase +of the controversy with Great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> Britain, and he had fixed opinions as to +constitutional forms and principles. Some of his ideas on +constitution-making were unsound; but it is astonishing what an +important part he played during his long life in American constitutional +development.</p> + +<p>I have shown in another volume, called “The Evolution of the +Constitution of the United States,” how the principles and forms of that +instrument were developed out of two hundred years’ experience with more +than forty colonial charters and Revolutionary constitutions and more +than twenty plans of union. The plans of union were devised from time to +time with the purpose of uniting the colonies under one general +government. None of them was put into actual practice until the +“Articles of Confederation” were adopted during the Revolution. But +although unsuccessful in the sense that no union was formed under any of +them, they contributed ideas and principles which finally produced the +federalism of the national Constitution under which we now live.</p> + +<p>Two of these plans of union were prepared by Franklin. No other American +prepared more than one, and Franklin’s two were the most important of +all. Not only was he the originator of the two most important plans, but +he lived long enough to take part in framing the final result of all the +plans, the national Constitution, and he was the author of one of the +most valuable provisions in it.</p> + +<p>The first plan of union which he drafted was the one adopted by the +Albany Conference of 1754, that had been called to make a general treaty +with the Indians which would obviate the confusion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> separate treaties +made by the different colonies. Such a general treaty, by controlling +the Indians, would, it was hoped, assist in resisting the designs of the +French in Canada. It was obvious, also, that if the colonies were united +under a general government they would be better able to withstand the +French. Franklin had advocated this idea of union in his <i>Gazette</i>, and +had published a wood-cut representing a wriggling snake separated into +pieces, each of which had on it the initial letter of one of the +colonies, and underneath was written, “Join or die.”</p> + +<p>He was sent to the conference as one of the delegates from Pennsylvania, +and his plan of union, which was adopted, was a distinct improvement on +all others that had preceded it, and contained the germs of principles +which are now a fundamental part of our political system. In 1775, while +a member of the Continental Congress, he drafted another plan, which, +though not adopted, added new suggestions and developments. But as both +of these plans are fully discussed in “The Evolution of the +Constitution,”<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> it is unnecessary to say more about them here.</p> + +<p>He was a member of the convention which in 1776 framed a new +constitution for Pennsylvania, and in this instrument he secured the +adoption of two of his favorite ideas. He believed that a Legislature +should consist of only one House, and that the executive authority, +instead of being vested in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> single person, should be exercised by a +committee. The executive department of Pennsylvania became, therefore, a +Supreme Executive Council of twelve members elected by the different +counties. In order to make up for the lack of a double House, there was +a sort of makeshift provision providing that every bill must pass two +sessions of the Assembly before it became a law. There was also a +curious body called the Council of Censors, two from each city and +county, who were to see that the constitution was not violated and that +all departments of government did their duty. It was a crude and awkward +attempt to prevent unconstitutional legislation, and proved an utter +failure. The whole constitution was a most bungling contrivance which +wrought great harm to the State and was replaced by a more suitable one +in 1790.</p> + +<p>But Franklin heartily approved of it, and in 1790 protested most +earnestly against a change. He argued at length against a single +executive and in favor of a single house Legislature in the teeth of +innumerable facts proving the utter impracticability of both. No other +important public men of the time believed in them, and they had been +rejected in the national Constitution. He was, however, as humorous and +clever in this argument as if he had been in the right. A double-branch +Legislature would, he said, be too weak in each branch to support a good +measure or obstruct a bad one.</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Has not the famous political fable of the snake with two heads +and one body some useful instruction contained in it? She was +going to a brook to drink, and in her way was to pass through a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +hedge, a twig of which opposed her direct course; one head chose +to go on the right side of the twig, the other on the left; so +that time was spent in the contest, and, before the decision was +completed, the poor snake died with thirst.” (Bigelow’s Works of +Franklin, vol. x. p. 186.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>After Franklin had taken part in framing the Pennsylvania constitution +of 1776 and had gone to Paris as ambassador to France, he had all the +new Revolutionary constitutions of the American States translated into +French and widely circulated. Much importance has been attached to this +translation by some writers, Thomas Paine saying that these translated +constitutions “were to liberty what grammar is to language: they define +its parts of speech and practically construct them into syntax;” and +both he and some of Franklin’s biographers ascribe to them a vast +influence in shaping the course of the French Revolution. Franklin wrote +to the Rev. Dr. Cooper, of Boston, that the French people read the +translations with rapture, and added,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“There are such numbers everywhere who talk of removing to +America with their families and fortunes as soon as peace and +our independence shall be established that it is generally +believed we shall have a prodigious addition of strength, wealth +and arts from the emigration of Europe; and it is thought that +to lessen or prevent such emigration the tyrannies established +there must relax and allow more liberty to their people. Hence +it is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of +all mankind and that we are fighting for their liberty in +defending our own.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>As there was none of the vast emigration out of France which he speaks +of, and the great emigration from Europe did not begin until after the +year 1820, it may very well be that both he and his biographers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> have +exaggerated the effect of the translations. But there seems to be no +doubt that the translations must, on general principles, have had a +stimulating effect on liberal ideas, although we may not be able to +measure accurately the full force of their influence. They also were +valuable in arousing the enthusiasm of the French forces, and making +more sure of their assistance and alliance.</p> + +<p>His last work in constitution-making was in 1787, when the convention +met at Philadelphia to frame the national document which was to take the +place of the old Articles of Confederation, and this was also the last +important work of his life. He was then eighty-one years old, and +suffering so much from the gout and stone that he could not remain +standing for any length of time. His important speeches he usually wrote +out and had his colleague, Mr. Wilson, read them to the convention. This +was in some respects an advantage, for these speeches have been +preserved entire in Madison’s notes of the debates, while what was said +by the other members was written by Madison from memory or much +abbreviated. It was Franklin’s characteristic good luck attending him to +the last.</p> + +<p>Considering his age and infirmity, one would naturally not expect much +from him, and, as we go over the debates, some propositions which he +advocated and his treatment by the other members incline us at first to +the opinion that he had passed his days of great usefulness, and that he +was in the position of an old man whose whims are treated with kindness.</p> + +<p>One of the principles which he advocated most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> earnestly was that the +President, or whatever the head of the government should be called, +should receive no salary. He moved to amend the part relating to the +salary by substituting for it “whose necessary expenses shall be +defrayed, but who shall receive no salary, stipend, fee, or reward +whatsoever for their services.”</p> + +<p>He wrote an interesting speech in support of his amendment. But it is +easy to see that his suggestion is not a wise one. No one familiar with +modern politics would approve of it, and scarcely any one in the +convention looked upon it with favor. Madison records that Hamilton +seconded the motion merely to bring it before the House and out of +regard for Dr. Franklin. It was indefinitely postponed without debate, +and Madison adds that “it was treated with great respect, but rather for +the author of it than from any apparent conviction of its expediency or +practicability.”</p> + +<p>He also clung steadfastly to his old notions that the executive +authority should be vested in a number of persons,—a sort of council, +like the absurd arrangement in Pennsylvania,—and that the Legislature +should consist of only one House. These two propositions he advocated to +the end of the session. We find, moreover, that he seconded the motion +giving the President authority to suspend the laws for a limited time, +certainly a most dangerous power to give, and very inconsistent with +Franklin’s other opinions on the subject of liberty.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, however, we find him opposing earnestly any +restrictions on the right to vote. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> was always urging the members to +a spirit of conciliation and a compromise of their violent opinions on +the ground that it was only by this means that a national government +could be created. It was for this purpose that he proposed the daily +reading of prayers by some minister of the Gospel, which was rejected by +the convention, because, as they had not begun in this way, their taking +it up in the midst of their proceedings would cause the outside world to +think that they were in great difficulties.</p> + +<p>He was strongly in favor of a clause allowing the President to be +impeached for misdemeanors, which would, he said, be much better than +the ordinary old-fashioned way of assassination; and he was opposed to +allowing the President an absolute veto on legislation. All matters +relating to money should, he thought, be made public; there should be no +limitation of the power of Congress to increase the compensation of the +judges, and very positive proof should be required in cases of treason. +In these matters he was in full accord with the majority of the +convention.</p> + +<p>But his great work was done in settling the question of the amount of +representation to be given to the smaller States, and was accomplished +in a curious way. John Dickinson, of Delaware, was the champion of the +interests of the small commonwealths, which naturally feared that if +representation in both Houses of Congress was to be in proportion to +population, their interests would be made subordinate to those of the +States which outnumbered them in inhabitants. This was one of the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +serious difficulties the convention had to face, and the strenuousness +with which the small States maintained their rights came near breaking +up the convention.</p> + +<p>Franklin was in favor of only one House of Congress, with the +representation in it proportioned to population, and he made a most +ingenious and fallacious argument to show that there was more danger of +the smaller States absorbing the larger than of the larger swallowing +the smaller. But, in the hope of conciliating Dickinson and his +followers, he suggested several compromises, the first one of which was +very cumbersome and impracticable and need not be mentioned here. It +seemed to take for granted that there was to be only one House of +Congress.</p> + +<p>Afterwards, when it was definitely decided to have two Houses, the +question as to the position of the smaller States was again raised in +deciding how the Senate was to be composed. Some were for making its +representation proportional to population, like that of the lower House, +and this the small States resisted. Franklin said that the trouble +seemed to be that with proportional representation in the Senate the +small States thought their liberties in danger, and if each State had an +equal vote in the Senate the large States thought their money was in +danger. He would, therefore, try to unite the two factions. Let each +State have an equal number of delegates in the Senate, but when any +question of appropriating money arose, let these delegates “have +suffrage in proportion to the sums which their respective<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> States do +actually contribute to the treasury.” This was not very practical, but +it proved to be a step which led him in the right direction.</p> + +<p>A few days afterwards, in a committee appointed to consider the +question, he altered his suggestion so that in the lower House the +representation should be in proportion to population, but in the Senate +each State should have an equal vote, and that money bills should +originate only in the lower House. The committee reported in favor of +his plan, and it was substantially adopted in the Constitution. The +lower House was given proportional representatives, and the Senate was +composed of two Senators from each State, which gave absolute equality +of representation in that body to all the States. Money bills were +allowed to originate only in the lower House, but the Senate could +propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.</p> + +<p>Thus the great question was settled by one of those strokes of +Franklin’s sublime luck or genius. He disapproved of the whole idea of a +double-headed Congress, and thought the fears of the small States +ridiculous; but, for the sake of conciliation and compromise with John +Dickinson and his earnest followers, his masterful intellect worked out +an arrangement which satisfied everybody and is one of the most +important fundamental principles of our Constitution. Without it there +would be no federal union. We would be a mere collection of warring, +revolutionary communities like those of South America. It has never been +changed and in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> human probability never will be so long as we +retain even the semblance of a republic.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="Page_360i" id="Page_360i"></a> +<img src="images/i023.jpg" width="400" height="531" alt="FRANKLIN’S GRAVE IN CHRIST CHURCH GRAVEYARD, +PHILADELPHIA" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANKLIN’S GRAVE IN CHRIST CHURCH GRAVEYARD, +PHILADELPHIA</span> +</div> + +<p>This was Franklin’s greatest and most permanent service to his country, +more valuable than his work in England or France, and a fitting close to +his long life. The most active period of his life, as he has told us, +was between his seventieth and eighty-second years. How much can be done +in eighty vigorous years, and what labors had he performed and what +pleasures and vast experiences enjoyed in that time! Few men do their +best work at such a great age. Moses, however, we are told, was eighty +years old before he began his life’s greatest work of leading the +children of Israel out of Egypt. But it would be difficult to find any +other instances in history except Franklin.</p> + +<p>After the Constitution as prepared by the convention had been engrossed +and read, it became a question whether all the members of the convention +could be persuaded to sign it, and Franklin handed one of his happy +speeches to Mr. Wilson to be read. He admitted that the Constitution did +not satisfy him; it was not as he would have had it prepared; but still +he would sign it. With all its faults it was better than none. A new +convention would not make a better one, for it would merely bring +together a new set of prejudices and passions. He was old enough, he +said, to doubt somewhat the infallibility of his own judgment. He was +willing to believe that others might be right as well as he; and he +amused the members with his humor and the witty story of the French lady +who, in a dispute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> with her sister, said, “I don’t know how it happens, +sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.”</p> + +<blockquote><p>“It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system +approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it +will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to +hear that our councils are confounded, like those of the +builders of Babel, and that our States are on the point of +separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting +one another’s throats....</p> + +<p>“On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish, that every +member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, +would with me on this occasion doubt a little of his own +infallibility, and, to make <i>manifest</i> our <i>unanimity</i>, put his +name to this instrument.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>At the close of the reading of his speech Franklin moved that the +Constitution be signed, and offered as a convenient form,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States +present the 17th day of September, etc. In witness whereof we +have hereunto subscribed our names.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Madison explains that this form, with the words “consent of the States,” +had been drawn up by Gouverneur Morris to gain the doubtful States’ +rights party. It was given to Franklin, he says, “that it might have the +better chance of success.”</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Whilst the last members were signing,” says Madison, “Dr. +Franklin, looking towards the president’s chair, at the back of +which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few +members near him that painters had found it difficult to +distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. ‘I have,’ +said he, ‘often and often in the course of the session and the +vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at +that behind the president, without being able to tell whether it +was rising or setting, but now at length I have the happiness to +know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.’”</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>So Franklin, from whose life picturesqueness and charm were seldom +absent, gave, in his easy manner, to the close of the dry details of the +convention a touch of beautiful and true sentiment which can never be +dissociated from the history of the republic he had helped to create.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Pp. 218, 231-236.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p> +<h2>Appendix to Page 104<br /><br /> + +<small>FRANKLIN’S DAUGHTER, MRS. FOXCROFT</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was impossible in the text at page 104 to give in full all the +letters which showed that Mrs. Foxcroft was Franklin’s daughter. Most of +them, however, were cited. It seems necessary now to give them in full, +because since the book was first published the correctness of the +statement in the text has been questioned; and the reasons for +questioning it have been set forth by a reviewer in a New York newspaper +called <i>The Nation</i>. A reply to this review appeared in <i>Lippincott’s +Magazine</i> for May, 1899, and this reply, so far as it relates to Mrs. +Foxcroft, was as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The best way to discuss the above statement, and a great deal +more nonsense that the reviewer has written on this subject, is +to give in full the letters and reasons which have led the +members of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to believe +that a certain manuscript letter in the possession of the +society showed that Franklin had an illegitimate daughter.</p> + +<p>The letter itself, which Mr. Fisher gives in his book, is +addressed to Franklin at his Craven Street lodgings in London, +and is as follows:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">Philada.</span> Feby. 2d, 1772.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir:</p> + +<p>I have the happiness to acquaint you that your daughter was +safely brot to Bed the 20th ulto. and presented me with a +sweet little girl, they are both in good spirits and are +likely to do very well.</p> + +<p>I was seized with a Giddyness in my head the Day before +yesterday as I had 20 oz. of blood taken from me and took +physick wch does not seem in the least to have relieved me.</p> + +<p>I am hardly able to write this. Mrs. F. Joins me in best +affections to yourself and compts to Mrs. Stevenson and Mr. +and Mrs. Huson.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">I am Dr Sir<br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">yrs affectionately</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 8em;" class="smcap">John Foxcroft.</span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Franklin, Mrs. Bache, little Ben & Family at Burlington +are all well. I had a letter from yr. Govr. yesterday.</p> + +<p class="alignr">J. F.</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is to be observed that the above letter is an entirely serious one +from beginning to end; there is no attempt to joke or make sport, as +some of Franklin’s correspondents did; and the first sentence in the +letter states that the writer’s wife was Franklin’s daughter and that +she had given birth to a girl. The letter is apparently written to +announce that event to Franklin. Such a statement, made by a man about +his wife, is certainly deserving of serious consideration. Would he on +such an occasion and in such a manner have said that she was Franklin’s +daughter unless he firmly believed that she was?</p> + +<p>If she was Franklin’s daughter, as her husband describes her, she must +have been illegitimate, for it is well known that Franklin’s only +legitimate daughter was Mrs. Sarah Bache.</p> + +<p>John Foxcroft, the writer of the letter, is well known as the deputy +postmaster of Philadelphia at that time, and Franklin was +postmaster-general of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> the Colonies. Foxcroft and Franklin were close +friends and often corresponded on business matters. We shall give, +therefore, the letters of Franklin to Foxcroft in which he refers to +Mrs. Foxcroft as his daughter, and we shall give them in full, so that +the connection can be seen. Some of these letters are in the collection +of Franklin’s papers in the State Department at Washington, and have +been copied from that source. Others are from the collection of the +American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, and one or two can be +found in Bigelow’s “Works of Franklin.”</p> + +<p>American Philosophical Society Collection, vol. xlv., No. 46:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span>, Feb. 4, 1772.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Foxcroft</span>,</p> + +<p>Dear Friend</p> + +<p>I have written two or three small letters to you since my return +from Ireland and Scotland. I now have before me your favours of +Oct. 1, Nov. 5 and Nov. 13.</p> + +<p>Mr. Todd has not yet shown me that which you wrote to him about +the New Colony, tho he mentioned it and will let me see it, I +suppose, when I call on him. I told you in one of mine, that he +had advanced for your share what has been paid by others, tho I +was ready to [torn] and shall in the whole Affair take the same +care of your interests as of my own. You take notice that Mr. +Wharton’s friends will not allow me <i>any Merit</i> in this +transaction, but insist <i>the Whole</i> is owing to his superior +Abilities. It is a common error in Friends when they would extol +their Friend to make comparison and depreciate the merit of +others. It was not necessary for his Friends to do so in this +case. Mr. Wharton will in truth have a good deal of Merit in the +Affair if it succeeds, he having been exceedingly active and +industrious in soliciting it, and in drawing up Memorials and +Papers to support the Application, remove objections &c. But tho +I have not been equally active (it not being thought proper that +I should appear much in the solicitation since I became a little +obnoxious to the Ministry on acct. of my Letters to America) yet +I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> suppose my Advice may have been thought of some use since it +has been asked in every step, and I believe that being longer +and better known here than Mr. Wharton, I may have lent some +weight to his Negotiations by joining in the Affair, from the +greater confidence men are apt to place in one they know than in +a stranger. However, as I neither ask or expect any particular +consideration for any service I may have done and only think I +ought to escape censure, I shall not enlarge on this invidious +topic. Let us all do our endeavours, in our several capacities, +for the common Service, and if one has the ability or +opportunity of doing more for his Friends than another let him +think that a happiness and be satisfied.</p> + +<p>The Business is not yet quite completed and as many Things +happen between the Cup and the Lip, perhaps there may be nothing +of this kind for Friends to dispute about. For if no body should +receive any Benefit there would be no scrambling for the Honour.</p> + +<p>Stavers is in the wrong to talk of my promising him the Rider’s +Place again. I only told him that I would (as he requested it) +recommend him to Mr. Hubbard to be replaced if it could be done +without impropriety or inconveniency. This I did & the rather as +I had always understood him to have been a good honest punctual +Rider. His behaviour to you entitles him to no Favour, and I +believe any Application he may make here will be to little +purpose.</p> + +<p>In yours from N York of July 3 you mention your intention of +purchasing a Bill to send hither as soon as you return home from +your journey. I have not since received any from you, which I +only take notice of to you, that if you have sent one you may +not blame me for not acknowledging the Receipt of it.</p> + +<p>In mine of April 20 I explained to you what I had before +mentioned that in settling our private Account I had paid you +the sum of 389£ (or thereabouts) in my own Wrong, having before +paid it for you to the General Post Office. I hope that since +you have received your Books and looked over the Accounts you +are satisfied of this. I am anxious for your Answer upon it, the +sum being large and what cannot prudently for you or me be left +long without an Adjustment.</p> + +<p>My Love to my Daughter and compliments to your Brother, I am +ever my dear Friend</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">Yours most affectionately<br /> + +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left:8em;">B Franklin</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>The above letter is taken from the copy kept by Franklin in his own +handwriting in the collection of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> the American Philosophical Society. +The same letter, with some verbal differences and without the last +clause relating to the daughter, appears in Bigelow’s “Works of +Franklin,” vol. iv., p. 473.</p> + +<p>Library of State Department, Washington, 11 R, 8:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span>, Oct. 7, 1772.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Foxcroft</span>,</p> + +<p>Dear Sir—</p> + +<p>I had no line from you by this last Packet, but find with +Pleasure by yours to Mr. Todd that you and yours are well.</p> + +<p>The affair of the Patent is in good Train and we hope, if new +Difficulties unexpected do not arise, we may get thro’ it as +soon as the Board meet. We are glad you made no Bargain [torn] +your Share and hope none of our Partners [torn] do any such +thing; for the Report of such a Bargain before the Business is +completed might overset the whole.</p> + +<p>Mr. Colden has promised by this Packet that we shall certainly +have the Accounts by the next. If they do not come I think we +shall be blamed, and he will be superseded; For their Lordships +our masters are incensed with the long Delay.</p> + +<p>I hope you have by this time examined our private Accounts as +you promised, and satisfyd yourself that I did, as I certainly +did, pay you that Ballance of about 389£ in my own wrong. It +would relieve me of some uneasiness to have the Matter settled +between us, as it is a Sum of Importance and in case of Death +might be not so easily understood as while we are both living.</p> + +<p>With love to my Daughter and best Wishes of Prosperity to you +both, and to the little one, I am ever my dear Friend</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">Yours most affectionately,<br /> + +<span style="margin-left:8em;" class="smcap">B. Franklin</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>Library of State Department, Washington, 11 R, 12:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span> Nov 3 1772</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Foxcroft</span></p> + +<p>Dear Sir</p> + +<p>I received your Favour of June 22d by Mr. Finlay and shall be +glad of an opportunity of rendering him any service on your +Recommendation. There does not at present appear to be any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +Disposition in the Board to appoint a Riding Surveyor, nor does +Mr. Finlay seem desirous of such an Employment. Everything at +the Office remains as when I last wrote only the Impatience for +the Accounts seems increasing. I hope they are in the October +Packet now soon expected agreeable to Mr. Colden’s last +promise.</p> + +<p>I spent a Fortnight lately at West Wycomb with our good master +Lord Le Despencer and left him well.</p> + +<p>The Board has begun to act again and I hope our Business will +again go forward.</p> + +<p>My love to my Daughter concludes from</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">Your affectionate Friend<br /> +<span style="margin-left:4em;">and humble servant</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:12em;">B. F.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>There is a letter to Foxcroft in the Library of the State Department, +Washington, 11 R, 8, dated London, December 2, 1772, which need not +perhaps be given in full, because Franklin sends love to his daughter +and then crosses it out as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I can now only add my Love to my Daughter and best Wishes of +Happiness to you and yours from Dear Friend</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">Yours most affectionately</p> + +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>He apparently struck out the words “Love to my Daughter and” because +they were in effect included in the best wishes and happiness which +followed.</p> + +<p>Library of State Department, Washington, 11 R, 63:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span> Mar. 3, 73</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Foxcroft</span>,</p> + +<p>Dear Friend—</p> + +<p>I am favoured with yours of June 5, and am glad to hear that you +and yours are well. The Flour and Bisket came to hand in good +order. I am much obliged to you and your brother for your care +in sending them.</p> + +<p>I believe I wrote you before that the Demand made upon us on +Acct. of the Packet Letters was withdrawn as being without +Foundation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> As to the Ohio Affair we are daily amused with +Expectations that it is to be compleated at this and T’other +time, but I see no Progress made in it. And I think more and +more that I was right in never placing any great dependence on +it. Mr. Todd has received your 200£.</p> + +<p>Mr. Finlay sailed yesterday for New York. Probably you will have +seen him before this comes to hand.</p> + +<p>You misunderstood me if you thought I meant in so often +mentioning our Acct. to press an immediate Payment of the +Ballance. My Wish only was, that you would inspect the Account +and satisfy yourself that I had paid you when here that large +supposed Ballance in my own wrong. If you are now satisfied +about it and transmit me the Account you promise with the +Ballance stated I shall be easy and you will pay it when +convenient.</p> + +<p>With my Love to my Daughter &c. I am ever Dear Friend</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">Yours most affectionately</p> + +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>Bigelow’s “Works of Franklin,” vol. v. p. 201:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span>, 14 July, 1773.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To Mr. Foxcroft</span>.</p> + +<p>Dear Friend:—I received yours of June 7th, and am glad to find +by it that you are safely returned from your Virginia journey, +having settled your affairs there to satisfaction, and that you +found your family well at New York.</p> + +<p>I feel for you in the fall you had out of your chair. I have had +three of those squelchers in different journeys, and never +desire a fourth.</p> + +<p>I do not think it was without reason that you continued so long +one of St. Thomas’ disciples: for there was always some cause +for doubting. Some people always ride before the horse’s head. +The draft of the patent is at length got into the hands of the +Attorney General, who must approve the form before it passes the +seals, so one would think much more time can scarce be required +to complete the business: but ’tis good not to be too sanguine. +He may go into the country, and the Privy Councillors likewise, +and some months elapse before they get together again: +therefore, if you have any patience, use it.</p> + +<p>I suppose Mr. Finlay will be some time at Quebec in settling his +affairs. By the next packet you will receive a draft of +instructions for him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p> + +<p>In mine of December 2d, upon the post-office accounts to April, +1772, I took notice to you that I observed I had full credit for +my salary: but no charge appeared against me for money paid on +my account to Mrs. Franklin from the Philadelphia office. I +supposed the thirty pounds currency per month was regularly +paid, because I had had no complaint from her for want of money, +and I expected to find the charge in the accounts of the last +year—that is, to April 3, 1773: but nothing of it appearing +there, I am at a loss to understand it, and you take no notice +of my observation above mentioned. The great balance due from +that office begins to be remarked here, and I should have +thought the officer would, for his own sake, not have neglected +to lessen it by showing what he had paid on my account. Pray, my +dear friend, explain this to me.</p> + +<p>I find by yours to Mr. Todd that you expected soon another +little one. God send my daughter a good time, and you a good +boy. Mrs. Stevenson is pleased with your remembrance of her, and +joins with Mr. and Mrs. Hewson and myself in best wishes for you +and yours.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">I am ever yours affectionately,</p> + +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>American Philosophical Society Collection, vol. xlv., No. 80:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span> Feb. 18, 1774</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Foxcroft</span>,</p> + +<p>Dear Friend —</p> + +<p>It is long since I have heard from you. I hope +nothing I have written has occasioned any coolness. We are no +longer Colleagues, but let us part as we have lived so long in +Friendship.</p> + +<p>I am displaced unwillingly by our masters who were obliged to +comply with the orders of the Ministry. It seems I am too much +of an American. Take care of yourself for you are little less.</p> + +<p>I hope my daughter continues well. My blessing to her. I +shall soon, God willing, have the Pleasure of seeing you, intending +homewards in May next. I shall only wait the Arrival of the April +Pacquet with the accounts, that I may settle them here before I go. +I beg you will not fail of forwarding them by that Opportunity, +which will greatly oblige.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%">Dear Friend<br /> +<span style="margin-left:4em;">Yours most affectionately</span></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +It is to be observed of all these letters that, like the original letter +of Foxcroft, they are entirely serious. They are business letters. They +are not letters of amusement and pleasure, in which Franklin might joke +and laugh with a young girl and in sport call her his daughter. They are +not addressed to the woman in question but to her husband, and at the +close of long details about business matters he simply says “give my +love to my daughter,” or he refers to her, as in the letter next to the +last, as about to have another child. Read in connection with Foxcroft’s +original letter, they form very strong proof that Franklin believed Mrs. +Foxcroft to be his daughter.</p> + +<p>But the reviewer says that Mr. Fisher notes in two places that women +correspondents in writing to Franklin called him father and signed +themselves “your daughter.” Mr. Fisher notes on page 332 the letter of a +girl written to Franklin in broken French and English, in which she +begins by calling him “My dear father Americain,” and signs herself +“your humble servant and your daughter J. B. J. Conway.” The letter is +obviously childish and sportive. We do not find the other instance of a +similar letter to which the reviewer alludes. The Conway letter is such +a frivolous one that it amounts to nothing as proof to overcome the +serious, solemn statements by Franklin and Foxcroft in their letters. A +light-minded French girl calling Franklin her father is very different +from serious, business-like statements by Franklin saying that a certain +woman was his daughter.</p> + +<p>The reviewer goes on to say that “a little more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> research would have +shown him [Mr. Fisher] letters of Franklin couched in the same parental +terms.” The meaning of this is presumably that Franklin was in the habit +of calling the young women he corresponded with his daughters. This, +however, it will be observed, is quite a different matter from +Franklin’s writing to a husband and sending love to the husband’s wife +as his daughter. But there are some letters to young girls on which a +reckless, slap-dash reviewer would be likely to base the statement that +Franklin habitually called women his daughters. Let us look into these +letters and see what they are.</p> + +<p>Franklin’s first correspondent of this sort was Miss Catherine Ray, of +Rhode Island. They were great friends and exchanged some beautiful +letters, almost unequalled in the English language. They are collected +in Bigelow’s “Works of Franklin,” vol. ii. pp. 387, 414, 495. The letter +at page 387 begins “Dear Katy,” and ends “believe me, my dear girl, your +affectionate faithful friend and humble servant.” The letter at page 414 +begins “My Katy,” speaks of her as “dear girl,” and ends with the same +phrase as the previous one, except that the word “faithful” is left out. +The one at page 495 begins “Dear Katy,” and closes “Adieu dear good girl +and believe me ever your affectionate friend.” In none of these letters +does he speak of her as his daughter.</p> + +<p>The letters to Miss Catherine Louisa Shipley and to Miss Georgiana +Shipley, the daughters of the Bishop of St. Asaph, are friendly but not +very endearing in the terms used. He once calls Georgiana “My dear +friend,” and in the famous letter on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> squirrel addresses her as “My +dear Miss.” He nowhere calls them his daughters.</p> + +<p>The letters that come nearest to what the reviewer wants are those to +Miss Mary Stevenson. There are quite a number of them, and she and +Franklin were on the most affectionate terms. We will give the citations +of them in Bigelow, although any one can look them up in the index: In +vol. iii. pp. 34, 46, 54, 56, 62, 139, 151, 186, 187, 195, 209, 232, +238, 245; in vol. iv. pp. 17, 33, 212, 258, 264, 287, 332, 339; in vol. +x. p. 285. These letters call Miss Stevenson “Dear Polly,” “My dear +friend,” “My good girl,” and “My dear good girl.” The first of them, +vol. iii. p. 34, begins by addressing her as “dear child,” and another, +vol. iii. p. 209, closes by saying “Adieu my dear child. I will call you +so. Why should I not call you so, since I love you with all the +tenderness of a father.”</p> + +<p>This may be what the reviewer had in his mind. But Franklin nowhere +calls Miss Stevenson his daughter. The word daughter and child are very +different. We all of us often call children we fancy “my child.” +Franklin’s use of the word child as applied to Miss Stevenson has from +the context of the letters a perfectly obvious meaning,—no one can +mistake it; just as his use of the word daughter in the Foxcroft letters +has, from the context and all the circumstances, a perfectly obvious +meaning.</p> + +<p>It would be endless to discuss all the reviewer’s irrelevant and +extravagant statements. We shall call attention to only one other +illustration of his methods. He closes one of his wild paragraphs by +saying that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> if “Mr. Fisher wishes further knowledge on this subject for +‘speculation,’ we recommend him to read Franklin’s letter to Foxcroft of +September 7, 1774.”</p> + +<p>The reviewer is careful not to quote from this letter or even to say +where it may be found, and the inference the ordinary reader would draw +from the way it is paraded is that it contains some very positive denial +that Mrs. Foxcroft was Franklin’s daughter. But when it is examined, it +is found to be a business letter like the others, referring to the lady +in question as “Mrs. Foxcroft” instead of as “my daughter,” a perfectly +natural way of referring to her and entirely consistent with the other +letters. We give the letter in full. It is in the American Philosophical +Society Collection, vol. xlv., No. 94:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">London</span> Sept. 7, 1774.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Foxcroft</span>,</p> + +<p>Dear Friend—</p> + +<p>Mr. Todd called to see me yesterday. I perceive there is good +deal of uneasiness at the office concerning the Delay of the +Accounts. He sent me in the Evening to read and return to him a +Letter he had written to you for the Mail. Friendship requires +me to urge earnestly your Attention to the contents, if you +value the Continuance of your Appointment; for these are times +of uncertainty, and I think it not unlikely that there is some +Person in view ready to step into your Shoes, if a tolerable +reason could be given for dismissing you. Mr. Todd is +undoubtedly your Friend. But everything is not always done as he +would have it This to yourself; and I confide that you will take +it as I mean it for your Good.</p> + +<p>Several Packets are arrived since I have had a Line from you. +But I had the pleasure of seeing by yours to Mr. Todd that you +and Mrs. Foxcroft with your little Girl are all in good Health +which I pray may continue.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:40%">I am ever my dear old friend<br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">Yours most affectionately</span></p> + +<p class="alignr"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span>.</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p> +<h2>Index</h2> + +<p> +Academy established by Franklin, 74-5.<br /> +<br /> +---- of Madame Helvetius, 330.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Adams</span>, John, 295, 297, 303-5;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticisms of Franklin, 306-12;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his difficulties with Vergennes, 321;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to France, 322-3, 341-6;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Franklin criticises, 345-6.</span><br /> +<br /> +----, Mrs. John, 328-9.<br /> +<br /> +Advertising, Franklin’s methods of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>-<a href="#Page_142">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Air-baths, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Albany Conference, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>-<a href="#Page_353">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Allen</span>, Chief-Justice, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alliance, treaty of, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Almanac, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_152">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +American Philosophical Society, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Amusements as a youth, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ancestors of Franklin, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Aristocracy, colonial, opposed to Franklin, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Arithmetic, Franklin learns, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Armonica,” the, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Asaph, St., the Bishop of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his daughters, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_228">8</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Asbestos purse, the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Assembly, Franklin clerk of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected a member of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +“Associators,” the, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Austin</span>, Jonathan, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Autobiography, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bache</span>, Sarah, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Baker</span>, Polly, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ballads by Franklin, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bancroft</span>, Dr. Edward, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bartram</span>, John, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Beaumarchais</span>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>-<a href="#Page_283">83</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Black Prince, the, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Blagden</span>, Dr. Charles, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blood, causes of heat of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Books read by Franklin, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bows and arrows, Franklin suggests use of, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Braddock</span>, Franklin visits, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Brillon</span>, Madame, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>-<a href="#Page_327">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Broad jokes of Franklin, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Broom-corn, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Burgoyne</span>, surrender of, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Busy Body” papers, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Canada, cession of, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Franklin’s journey to, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Carroll</span>, Rev. John, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Celibacy, Franklin’s dislike of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Chatham</span>, Lord, assists the Americans, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Chaumont</span>, Ray de, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chevaux-de-frise devised by Franklin, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chimneys, smoky, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Claims for extra service, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_165">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clerk of the Assembly, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Cobbett</span>, his attack on Franklin, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Colds, Franklin’s theory of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_29">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +College of Philadelphia founded, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_76">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Collins</span>, John, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Collinson</span>, Peter, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_173">3</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +Constitution of Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>-<a href="#Page_354">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +----, signing of, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>-<a href="#Page_362">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Constitutional Convention of 1787, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Constitution-making, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>-<a href="#Page_363">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Constitutions, American, translated into French, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Contentment of Franklin, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Conway</span>, Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Courant, New England</i>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_81">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Coverley</span>, Sir Roger de, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-<a href="#Page_145">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Creed, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Deane</span>, Silas, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>-<a href="#Page_291">91</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Death of Franklin, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>-<a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Deep water, effect of, on vessels, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">De Foe’s</span>“Essay upon Projects,” <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Deism, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Denham</span>, Mr., befriends Franklin, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Despencer</span>, Lord le, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Diseases of Franklin, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Diurnal motion of the earth, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_167">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Dogood, Silence,” <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dreams, Franklin’s fondness for, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Edict of the King of Prussia, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_242">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Education, defects of modern, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Electricity, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_178">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Eliot</span>, Jared, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Ephemera, The,” <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_155">5</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>-<a href="#Page_326">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Epitaph of Franklin on himself, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comic epitaphs, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Penns, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Franklin, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the squirrel, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Examination before Parliament, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>-<a href="#Page_239">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Exercise, Franklin’s opinion of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +“Fireplace, Pennsylvania,” <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fisheries, the, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>-<a href="#Page_342">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ford</span>, Paul Leicester, his essay on the mother of Franklin’s son, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>-<a href="#Page_107">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Fothergill</span>, Dr., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Foxcroft</span>, John, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_105">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +France, willingness of, to assist America, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>-<a href="#Page_278">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loans from, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>-<a href="#Page_318">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Franklin’s love for, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed commissioner to, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subserviency to, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">departure from, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Franklin</span>, Mrs., <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_118">18</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">1</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +----, William, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_107">7</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.<br /> +<br /> +----, William Temple, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Free ships, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.<br /> +<br /> +French, enthusiasm of the, for Franklin, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a href="#Page_275">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +----, Franklin’s knowledge of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>-<a href="#Page_326">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fur cap, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Gazette, Pennsylvania</i>, founded by Franklin, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_142">42</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advertisements in, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Girls, Franklin’s fondness for, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">9</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>-<a href="#Page_333">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Godfrey</span>, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gout, dialogue of the, with Franklin, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Governor, the Assembly’s contests with the, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Governor’s salary, contests about, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Great Empire, Rules for Reducing a,” <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_241">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gulf Stream, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-<a href="#Page_182">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Hall</span>, David, Franklin’s partner, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Hartley</span>, David, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>“Hat Honor,” <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_83">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Helvetius</span>, Madame, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>-<a href="#Page_330">30</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Hopkinson</span>, Thomas, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hospital, the Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Houdetot</span>, Countess d', <a href="#Page_332">332</a>-<a href="#Page_334">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Howe</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Hughes</span>, John, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hutchinson Letters, the, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>-<a href="#Page_260">60</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Illegitimate children of Franklin, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Immorality, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Indolence, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Izard</span>, Ralph, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>-<a href="#Page_287">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +“Jacobite, The Genealogy of a,” <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Jay</span>, John, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>-<a href="#Page_339">9</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>-<a href="#Page_342">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Junto, the, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Kames</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Keimer</span>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">5</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a href="#Page_135">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Keith</span>, Governor, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>-<a href="#Page_59">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Kinnersley</span>, Ebenezer, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>-<a href="#Page_174">4</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kite experiment, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_176">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Languages, modern, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>-<a href="#Page_72">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Latin, Franklin learns, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wants to abolish the study of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Lee</span>, Arthur, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>-<a href="#Page_295">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Leeds</span>, Titan, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Legislature, Franklin clerk of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected a member of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lehigh Valley, expedition to, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_209">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Liberty and Necessity,” Franklin’s pamphlet on, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_63">3</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_86">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Library, the Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Liturgy, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Loans from France, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>-<a href="#Page_318">18</a>.<br /> +<br /> +London, Franklin’s first visit to, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his life there, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_65">5</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Louis XVI</span>. gives his portrait to Franklin, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Love of money, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Malthus</span>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Manures, mineral, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Marbois</span>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Maritime suggestions, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_190">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marriage, Franklin favors, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts it for himself, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries Mrs. Rogers, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_113">13</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mather</span>, Cotton, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Maury</span>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_188">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mecom</span>, Jane, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Mercury</i>, the, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-<a href="#Page_135">5</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Meredith</span>, Hugh, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Militia, Franklin organizes the, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br /> +<br /> +---- law drafted by Franklin, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mississippi, navigation of the, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mistress, Franklin’s advice on the choice of a, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Modern languages, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>-<a href="#Page_72">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Molasses, export duty on, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>-<a href="#Page_303">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Money, Franklin’s love of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moral code, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Music, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Nepotism, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Northeast storms, origin of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nuncio, the papal, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_97">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Oil, effect of, on waves, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_183">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ordination of bishops, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_97">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Oswald</span>, commission of, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>-<a href="#Page_339">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Paper money, Franklin’s pamphlet on, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Parable against persecution, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>-<a href="#Page_158">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Paralytic people brought to Franklin, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Parker</span>, Theodore, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Passy, Franklin at, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Passy</span>, Mademoiselle de, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Paxton Boys,” <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-<a href="#Page_220">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Peace, proposals of, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty of, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</span><br /> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +“Pennsylvania Fireplace,” <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.<br /> +<br /> +---- Hospital, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Peopling of countries, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Perfumes, Franklin’s letter on, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Persecution, parable against, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>-<a href="#Page_158">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Philadelphia, Franklin’s first journey to, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +---- Library, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Plagiarism, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Plan of life, Franklin’s, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Polly Baker’s speech, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Pontiac</span>, conspiracy of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Poor Richard,” <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_152">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Portraits of Franklin, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_33">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Postmaster of Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Postmaster-General of the colonies, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Congress, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Prayer-book, Franklin’s revision of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Priestley</span>, Joseph, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Privateering, Franklin opposed to, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Profits of business, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-<a href="#Page_161">61</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Proprietary estates, taxing of, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-<a href="#Page_205">5</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-<a href="#Page_210">10</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_217">17</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Proprietorship, abolition of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_226">6</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ralph</span>, a friend of Franklin, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ray</span>, Miss Catharine, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Read</span>, Miss, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">6</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reading as a boy, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Recommendation, letters of, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>-<a href="#Page_320">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Reprisal,” the, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-<a href="#Page_272">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Retirement from business, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_161">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Rittenhouse</span>, David, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rolls, Franklin’s story of the, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Romilly</span>, Sir Samuel, visits Franklin, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Royal government, petition to, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_226">6</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Rules for Reducing a Great Empire,” <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_241">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Sabbath-breaker, Franklin as a, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Salaries of Franklin’s offices, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_164">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Salary of the President, Franklin opposes, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.<br /> +<br /> +School-days, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scotch-Irish, the, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-<a href="#Page_220">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sedentary life of Franklin, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Self-made man, Franklin as a, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Senate, composition of the, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shallow water, effect of, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Sloane</span>, Sir Hans, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Small-pox, inoculation for, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Smith</span>, Rev. William, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smoke-consuming stove, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smoky chimneys, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Soldier, Franklin as a, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spain, her interests in the Mississippi, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Spectator, The</i>, analyzed by Franklin, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>-<a href="#Page_239">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +States, the smaller, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Stevenson</span>, Miss Mary, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> +<br /> +----, Mrs., <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_212">12</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Storms from the northeast, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Strahan</span>, William, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Street-cleaning, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Subserviency to France, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>-<a href="#Page_335">5</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Swimming, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Syng</span>, Philip, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Taxing the estates, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-<a href="#Page_205">5</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-<a href="#Page_210">10</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_217">17</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Temperance, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_25">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Temple</span>, John, his duel with Whately, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Thompson</span>, Mrs., calls Franklin a rebel, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Thunder</span>, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Truxton</span>, Captain, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Turgot</span>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>-<a href="#Page_312">12</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +Union, plans of, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>-<a href="#Page_353">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Vegetarianism, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Veillard</span>, Le, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ventilation, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Venus, transit of, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Vergennes</span>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>-<a href="#Page_322">2</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.<br /> +<br /> +“Virtue, The Art of,” planned by Franklin, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Voltaire</span>, resemblance of, to Franklin, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embraces Franklin, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +War, Franklin’s opinion of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +War, Quaker opinion of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Water, depth of, as affecting vessels, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Water-drinking, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Water-spouts, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wealth of Franklin, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Wedderburn</span>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>-<a href="#Page_259">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Whately</span>, Thomas, his duel with Temple, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Whistle, story of the, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Whitefield</span>, Rev. George, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_95">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Williams</span>, Jonathan, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>-<a href="#Page_298">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Writing, Franklin trains himself in, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br /><br /> +</p> +<p class="center"><big>THE END.</big><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="tnote"> +<h3>Transcriber’s Note.</h3> +<p>Irregular spelling in quoted material is as per the original. Minor +errors in punctuation corrected without note. The following +typographical errors have been corrected:</p> +<p style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Page 23: Original: “... other projects, to form a religous ...” (changed to “religious”)</p> +<p style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Page 35: Original: “... ate and drank too freeely, and ...” (changed to “freely”)</p> +<p style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Page 139: Original: “... American newsapers for half a ...” (changed to “newspapers”)</p> +<p style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Page 291: Original: “... publication of Beamarchais’s life ...” (changed to “Beaumarchais’s”)</p> +<p style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Page 293: Original: “... in a phamphlet, entitled ...” (changed to “pamphlet”)</p> +<p style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Page 349: Original: “... Eripuit cœlo fulmen septrumque ...” (changed to “sceptrumque”)</p> +<p>This Unicode file uses the symbols: ☌: conjunction, ☉: sun, ☿: Mercury, +œ: oe ligature. If these do not appear correctly, try using a different font.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The True Benjamin Franklin, by Sydney George Fisher + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN *** + +***** This file should be named 34193-h.htm or 34193-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/9/34193/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Louise Pattison and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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