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diff --git a/29482.txt b/29482.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..892c5b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29482.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2804 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Benjamin Franklin, by Paul Elmer More + +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: Benjamin Franklin + +Author: Paul Elmer More + +Release Date: July 22, 2009 [EBook #29482] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENJAMIN FRANKLIN *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +The Riverside Biographical Series + + 1. ANDREW JACKSON, by W. G. BROWN. + 2. JAMES B. EADS, by LOUIS HOW. + 3. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, by PAUL E. MORE. + 4. PETER COOPER, by R. W. RAYMOND. + 5. THOMAS JEFFERSON, by H. C. MERWIN. + 6. WILLIAM PENN, by GEORGE HODGES. + 7. GENERAL GRANT, by WALTER ALLEN. + 8. LEWIS AND CLARK, by WILLIAM R. LIGHTON. + 9. JOHN MARSHALL, by JAMES B. THAYER. +10. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, by CHAS. A. CONANT. +11. WASHINGTON IRVING, by H. W. BOYNTON. +12. PAUL JONES, by HUTCHINS HAPGOOD. +13. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, by W. G. BROWN. +14. SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, by H. D. SEDGWICK, Jr. + +Each about 140 pages, 16mo, with photogravure portrait, 65 cents, +_net_; _School Edition_, each, 50 cents, _net._ + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +The Riverside Biographical Series + +NUMBER 3 + + + +BENJAMIN FRANKLIN + + + +By + +PAUL ELMER MORE + + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge + +COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY PAUL E. MORE +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. EARLY DAYS IN BOSTON 1 + + II. BEGINNINGS IN PHILADELPHIA AND FIRST VOYAGE TO ENGLAND 22 + +III. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.--THE JUNTO 37 + + IV. THE SCIENTIST AND PUBLIC CITIZEN IN PHILADELPHIA 52 + + V. FIRST AND SECOND MISSIONS TO ENGLAND 85 + + VI. MEMBER OF CONGRESS--ENVOY TO FRANCE 109 + + + + +BENJAMIN FRANKLIN + + + + +I + +EARLY DAYS IN BOSTON + + +When the report of Franklin's death reached Paris, he received, among +other marks of respect, this significant honor by one of the +revolutionary clubs: in the cafe where the members met, his bust was +crowned with oak-leaves, and on the pedestal below was engraved the +single word VIR. This simple encomium, calling to mind Napoleon's _This +is a man_ after meeting Goethe, sums up better than a volume of eulogy +what Franklin was in his own day and what his life may still signify to +us. He acted at one time as a commander of troops, yet cannot be called +a soldier; he was a great statesman, yet not among the greatest; he +made famous discoveries in science, yet was scarcely a professional +scientist; he was lauded as a philosopher, yet barely outstepped the +region of common sense; he wrote ever as a moralist, yet in some +respects lived a free life; he is one of the few great American +authors, yet never published a book; he was a shrewd economist, yet +left at his death only a moderate fortune; he accomplished much as a +philanthropist, yet never sacrificed his own weal. Above all and in all +things he was a man, able to cope with every chance of life and wring +profit out of it; he had perhaps the alertest mind of any man of that +alert century. In his shrewdness, versatility, self-reliance, wit, as +also in his lack of the deeper reverence and imagination, he, I think, +more than any other man who has yet lived, represents the full American +character. And so in studying his life, though at times we may wish +that to his practical intelligence were added the fervid insight of +Jonathan Edwards, who was his only intellectual equal in the colonies, +or the serene faith of an Emerson, who was born "within a kite string's +distance" of his birthplace in Boston, yet in the end we are borne away +by the wonderful openness and rectitude of his mind, and are willing to +grant him his high representative position. + +Franklin's ancestors were of the sturdy sort that have made the +strength of the Anglo-Saxon race. For three hundred years at least his +family had lived on a freehold of thirty acres in the village of Ecton, +Northamptonshire; and for many generations father and son had been +smiths. Parton, in his capital Life of Franklin, has observed that +Washington's ancestors lived in the same county, although much higher +in the social scale; and it may well have been that more than one of +Franklin's ancestors "tightened a rivet in the armor or replaced a shoe +upon the horse of a Washington, or doffed his cap to a Washington +riding past the ancestral forge." During these long years the family +seems to have gathered strength from the soil, as families are wont to +do. Seeing how the Franklins, when the fit of emigrating seized upon +them, blossomed out momentarily, and then dwindled away, we are +reminded of Poor Richard's wise observation,-- + + "I never saw an oft-removed tree + Nor yet an oft-removed family + That throve so well as those that settled be." + +About the year 1685, Josiah Franklin, the youngest of four sons, came +with his wife and three children to Boston. He had been a dyer in the +old home, but now in New England, finding little to be done in this +line, he set up as a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, and prospered in +a small way. By his first wife he had four more children, and then by a +second wife ten others,--a goodly sheaf of seventeen, among whom +Benjamin, the destined philosopher, was the fifteenth. + +The second wife, Benjamin's mother, was the daughter of Peter Folger, +one of the settlers of Nantucket,--"a godly and learned Englishman," +who, like many of the pious New England folk, used to relieve his heart +in doggerel rhymes. In his "Looking-Glass for the Times" he appeals +boldly for liberty of conscience in behalf of the persecuted +Anabaptists and Quakers, and we are not surprised that Franklin should +have commended the manly freedom of these crude verses. Young Benjamin +was open to every influence about him, and something of the large and +immovable tolerance of his nature may have been caught from old Peter +Folger, his grandfather. We can imagine with what relish that sturdy +Protestant, if he had lived so long, would have received Benjamin's +famous "Parable against Persecution," which the author used to pretend +to read as the last chapter of Genesis, to the great mystification of +his audience,--"And it came to pass after these things that Abraham sat +in the door of his tent," etc. Try the trick to-day, and you will find +most of your hearers equally mystified, so perfectly has Franklin +imitated the tone of Old Testament language. + +But we forget that our hero, like Tristram Shandy, is still in the +limbo of non-existence. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, January 6 +(old style), 1706. At that time the family home was in Milk Street, +opposite the Old South Church, to which sacred edifice the child was +taken the day of his birth, tradition asserting that his own mother +carried him thither through the snow. Shortly afterwards the family +moved to a wooden house on the corner of Hanover and Union streets. + +Naturally in so large a family, where the means of support were so +slender, young Benjamin had to get most of his education outside of the +schoolroom, and something of this practical unscholastic training clung +to his mind always. Perhaps this was just as well in that age and +place, where theology and education were synonymous terms. Certainly +his consequent lack of deep root in the past and his impressionability, +though limitations to his genius, make him the more typical of American +intelligence. At the age of eight he was sent to the grammar school, +where he remained less than a year, and then passed under the charge of +Mr. George Brownell, a teacher of the three R's. Benjamin had learned +to read so young that he himself could not remember being unable to +read, and at school he did notably well. It is curious, however, that +he found difficulty with his arithmetic, and was never a mathematician, +though later in life he became skillful in dealing with figures. No +error could be greater than Carlyle's statement that ability in +mathematics is a test of intelligence. Goethe, scientist as well as +poet, could never learn algebra; and Faraday, the creator of electrical +science, knew no mathematics at all. + +When ten years old the lad was taken from school and set to work under +his father. But his education was by no means ended. There is a +temptation to dwell on these early formative years because he himself +was so fond of deducing lessons from the little occurrences of his +boyhood; nor do I know any life that shows a more consistent +development from beginning to end. There is, too, a peculiar charm in +hearing the world-famous philosopher discourse on these petty +happenings of childhood and draw from them his wise experience of life. +So, for instance, at sixty-six years of age he writes to a friend in +Paris the story of "The Whistle." One day when he was seven years old +his pocket was filled with coppers, and he immediately started for the +shop to buy toys. On the way he met a boy with a whistle, and was so +charmed with the sound of it that he gave all his money for one. Of +course his kind brothers and sisters laughed at him for his extravagant +bargain, and his chagrin was so great that he adopted as one of his +maxims of life, "Don't give too much for the whistle." As he grew up, +came into the world, and observed the actions of men, he thought he met +with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle,--men +sacrificing time and liberty and virtue for court favor; misers, giving +up comfort and esteem and the joy of doing good for wealth; others +sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind and fortune and +health to mere corporal sensations, and all the other follies of +exorbitant desire. + +Another experience, this time a more painful lesson in honesty, he +relates in his Autobiography. Having one day stolen some stones from an +unfinished house while the builders were away, he and his comrades +built up a wharf where they might stand and fish for minnows in the +mill-pond. They were discovered, complained of, and corrected by their +fathers; "and though I demonstrated the utility of our work," says +Franklin, "mine convinced me that that which was not honest could not +be truly useful." + +It is interesting, too, to see the boy showing the same experimental +aptitude which brought scientific renown to the man. Like all American +boys living on the coast, he was strongly attracted to the water, and +early learned to swim. But ordinary swimming was not enough for +Benjamin: with some skill he made a pair of wooden paddles for his +hands, which enabled him to move through the water very rapidly, +although, as he says, they tired his wrists. Another time he combined +the two joyful pursuits of swimming and kite-flying in such a manner +perhaps as no boy before him had ever conceived. Lying on his back, he +held in his hands the stick to which the kite-string was attached, and +thus "was drawn along the surface of the water in a very agreeable +manner." Later in life he said he thought it not impossible to cross in +this manner from Dover to Calais. "But the packet-boat is still +preferable," he added. We shall see how he managed to put even his +knowledge of swimming to practical use; and kite-flying, every one +knows, served him in his most notable electrical experiment. Certainly, +if it could ever be said of any one, it might be said of him, "The +child is father of the man." + +But swimming and boyish play formed a small, though it may be +important, part of his education. He was from childhood up +"passionately fond of reading," and he was moreover a wise reader, +which is still better. Books were not so easy to get in those days; and +the good libraries of the country were composed chiefly of great +theological volumes in folio on the shelves of the clergymen's studies. +But in one way and another Franklin contrived to lay hands on the food +he most needed. All the money he could save he devoted to buying books, +and he even had recourse to unusual methods of saving for this purpose. +When sixteen he chanced to read a treatise commending a vegetable diet, +and forthwith he put himself under this regimen, finding he could thus +set aside half his board money to increase his library. He also made +the acquaintance of the booksellers' apprentices from whom he could +borrow books; and often he would read late into the night so as to +return the purloined volume early the next morning. + +The first book he owned was the "Pilgrim's Progress," which remained a +favorite with him through life and even served to a certain extent as a +model for his own work. This book he sold to buy Burton's "Historical +Collections" in forty volumes. His father's library was mainly +theological, and the young lad was courageous enough to browse even in +this dry pasture, but to his little profit as he thought. There was, +however, a book on his father's shelves which was admirably suited to +train one destined himself to play a large part in a great drama of +history. Where could patriotism and fortitude of character better be +learnt than in Plutarch? and Plutarch he read "abundantly" and thought +his "time spent to great advantage." That was in the good days before +children's books and boys' books were printed. In place of--whom shall +we say, Henty or Abbott or another?--boys, if they read at all, read +Plutarch and the "Spectator." They came to the intellectual tasks of +manhood with their minds braced by manly reading and not deboshed by +silly or at best juvenile literature. It is safe to say that no book +written primarily for a boy is a good book for a boy to read. Apart +from lessons in generous living, Franklin may have had his natural +tendency to moralize strengthened by this study of Plutarch. It is +indeed notable that in one respect eighteenth-century literature has +marked affinity with the Greek. The writers of that age, and among them +Franklin, were like the Greeks distinctly ethical. In telling a story +or recording a life, their interest was in the moral to be drawn, +rather than in the passions involved. + +Another book which had a special influence on his style may be +mentioned. An odd volume of the "Spectator" coming into his hands, he +read the essays over and over and took them deliberately as a model in +language. This was before the date of Johnson's well-known dictum: +"Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, +and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the +volumes of Addison." His method of work was "to make short hints of the +sentiments in each sentence," lay these by for a few days, and then +having reconstructed the essay from his notes to compare his version +with the original. Sometimes he jumbled the collection of hints into +confusion and thus made a study of construction as well as of style; or +again he turned an essay into verse and after a while converted it back +into prose. And this we believe to be the true method of acquiring a +good style, more efficacious than any English course in Harvard +College. + +At sixteen he was reading Locke "On Human Understanding,"--very strong +meat for a boy--and the Port Royal "Art of Thinking." From Xenophon's +"Memorable Things of Socrates" he acquired a lesson which he never +forgot and which he always esteemed of importance in his education. +This was the skillful assumption of ignorance or uncertainty in +dispute, the so-called "irony" of Socrates. At first he employed this +ironical method to trap his opponents into making unwary statements +that led to their confusion; and in this way he grew expert in +obtaining victories that, as he said, neither he nor his cause +deserved. Accordingly he afterwards gave up this form of sophistry and +only retained the habit of expressing himself in terms of modest +diffidence, always saying: He conceived or imagined such a thing to be +so, and never using the words _certainly_, _undoubtedly_, and the like. + +Books, however, occupied but a small part of his life at this time. +After leaving school he was first made to assist his father in the +tallow-chandler business; but his distaste for this trade was so great +that his father, fearing the boy would run away to sea, began to look +about for other employment for him. He took the lad to see "joiners, +brick-layers, turners, braziers, etc., at their work," in order to +discover where the boy's inclination lay. And this event of his boyhood +he as an old man remembered, saying, that it had ever since been a +pleasure to him to see good workmen handle their tools, and adding that +it was useful to him in his business and science to have learned so +much in the way of handicraft. At length Benjamin's love of books +determined his occupation, and like many another famous author he was +set to the printing-press. In 1717 his brother James had come back from +England with a press and letters, and at the age of twelve Benjamin was +bound to his brother as an apprentice. + +James soon discovered Benjamin's cleverness with the pen and induced +him to compose two ballads, "The Light-House Tragedy," being the story +of a recent shipwreck, and "Blackbeard," a sailor's song on the capture +of that notorious pirate. These ballads, which the author frankly, and +no doubt truthfully, describes as "wretched stuff," were printed and +hawked about the streets by the boy. "The Light-House Tragedy" at least +sold prodigiously, and the boy's vanity was correspondingly flattered; +but the father stepped in and discouraged such work, warning Benjamin +that "verse-makers were generally beggars." So, perhaps, we were spared +a mediocre poet and given a first-rate prose writer, for the stuff of +poetry was not in Franklin's sober brain. + +At this time the good people of Massachusetts were dependent for the +news of the world on a single paper, the "Boston News-Letter," +afterwards called the "Gazette" (and indeed there was no other paper in +the whole country), published, as was commonly the case in those days, +by the postmaster of the town. But in 1721 James Franklin, much against +the advice of his friends, started a rival paper, the "New England +Courant," which the young apprentice had to carry about to subscribers +after helping it through the press. Benjamin, however, soon played a +more important part than printer's devil. Several ingenious men were in +the habit of writing little Addisonian essays for the paper, and +Benjamin, hearing their conversation, was fired to try his own skill. +"But being still a boy,"--so he tells the story himself,--"and +suspecting that my brother would object to printing anything of mine in +his paper if he knew it to be mine, I contrived to disguise my hand, +and writing an anonymous paper, I put it at night under the door of the +printing-house. It was found in the morning and communicated to his +writing friends when they called in as usual. They read it, commented +on it in my hearing, and I had the exquisite pleasure of finding it met +with their approbation, and that in their different guesses at the +author none were named but men of some character among us for learning +and ingenuity." Naturally the lad was flattered by the success of his +ruse; and he continued to send in his anonymous essays for more than a +year. They have been pretty conclusively identified as the series of +articles signed "Silence Dogood," and are a clever enough imitation of +the "Spectator's" style of allegory and humorous satire, such as +Franklin was fond of using all his life. The signature, too, Silence +Dogood, was characteristic of the man who turned all religion into a +code of morality, and was famous for his power of keeping a secret. +Like the ancient poet Simonides, he knew the truth of the saying, +_Silence hath a safe reward_. + +Those days were not easy times for printers, nor was the freedom of the +press any more respected than liberty of conscience. Trouble very soon +arose between the new paper and the authorities chiefly on account of +the "Courant's" free handling of the church. Already the free-thinking +party which afterwards formed into the Unitarian church was showing its +head, and the writers for the "Courant" were among the most outspoken. +The climax was reached when one day the paper appeared with a diatribe +containing such words as these: "For my own part, when I find a man +full of religious cant and palaver, I presently suspect him to be a +knave,"--a sentiment which the religious authorities very properly took +as an insult to themselves. James was arrested and imprisoned for a +month, and on his release was forbidden to print the "Courant." To +escape this difficulty the old indenture of Benjamin was canceled and +the paper was printed in his name; at the same time, however, a new +indenture was secretly made so that James might still, if he desired, +claim his legal rights in the apprentice. It was a "flimsy scheme," and +held but a little while. + +Bickerings had been constant between the two brothers, and Benjamin was +especially resentful for the blows his master's passion too often urged +him to bestow. + + "My mind now is set, + My heart's thought, on wide waters,"-- + +said the youth in the old Anglo-Saxon poem, and this same sea-longing +was bred in the bones of our Boston apprentice. Now at length the boy +would break away; at least he would voyage to another home, though he +might give up the notion of becoming a sailor. He intimates, moreover, +that the narrow bigotry of New England in religion was distasteful to +him--as we may well believe it was. Yet he always retained an +affectionate memory of the place of his birth; and only two years +before his death he wrote pleasantly regarding the citizens of that +town, "for besides their general good sense, which I value, the Boston +manner, turn of phrase, and even tone of voice and accent in +pronunciation, all please and seem to refresh and revive me." The +newspapers of those days were full of advertisements for runaway +apprentices, and Benjamin was one to get his freedom in the same way. +He sold his books for a little cash, took secret passage in a sloop for +New York, and in three days (some time in October, 1723) found himself +in that strange city "without the least recommendation or knowledge of +anybody in the place." The voyage had been uneventful save for an +incident which happened while they were becalmed off Block Island. The +crew here employed themselves in catching cod, and to Franklin, at this +time a devout vegetarian, the taking of every fish seemed a kind of +unprovoked murder, since none of them had done or could do their +catchers any injury. But he had been formerly a great lover of fish, +and the smell of the frying-pan was most tempting. He balanced some +time between principle and inclination, till, recollecting that when +the fish were opened he had seen smaller fish taken out of their +stomachs, he bethought himself: "If you eat one another I don't see why +we may not eat you;" so he dined upon cod very heartily, and continued +through life, except at rare intervals, to eat as other people. "So +convenient a thing it is," he adds, "to be a reasonable creature, since +it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind +to do." + + + + +II + +BEGINNINGS IN PHILADELPHIA AND FIRST VOYAGE TO ENGLAND + + +The only printer then in New York was old William Bradford, formerly of +Philadelphia, whose monument may still be seen in Trinity Churchyard. +To Mr. William Bradford accordingly young Franklin applied for work; +but there was little printing done in the town and Bradford had no need +of another hand at the press. He told Franklin, however, that his son +at Philadelphia had lately lost his principal assistant by death, and +advised Franklin to go thither. + +Without delay Franklin set out for that place, and after a somewhat +adventurous journey arrived at the Market Street wharf about eight or +nine o'clock of a Sunday morning. + +Philadelphia at that time was a comfortable town of some ten thousand +inhabitants, extending a mile or more along the Delaware and reaching +only a few blocks back into the country. It was a shady easy-going +place, with pleasant gardens about the houses, and something of Quaker +repose and substantial thrift lent a charm to its busy life. Men were +still living who could remember when unbroken forests held the place of +Penn's city:-- + + "And the streets still reecho the names of the trees of the forest, + As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose haunts they molested." + +Franklin was fond of contrasting his humble entrance into his adopted +home with the honorable station he afterwards acquired there. He was, +as he says, in his working dress, his best clothes coming round by sea. +He was dirty from being so long in the boat. His pockets were stuffed +out with shirts and stockings, and he knew no one nor where to look for +lodging. Fatigued with walking, rowing, and the want of sleep, he was +very hungry; and his whole stock of cash consisted in a single dollar +and about a shilling in copper coin, which he gave to the boatmen for +his passage. At first they refused it on account of his having rowed, +but he insisted on their taking it. "Man is sometimes," he adds, "more +generous when he has little money than when he has plenty; perhaps to +prevent his being thought to have but little." + +It was indeed a strange entrance for the future statesman and +scientist. As he walked up to Market Street he met a boy with bread, +which reminded him forcibly of his hunger, and asking the boy where he +had got his loaf he went straight to the same baker's. Here, after some +difficulty due to difference of names in Boston and Philadelphia, he +provided himself with three "great puffy rolls" for threepence, and +with these he started up Market Street, eating one and carrying one +under each arm, as his pockets were already full. On the way he passed +the door of Mr. Read's house, where his future wife saw him and thought +he made an awkward, ridiculous appearance. At Fourth Street he turned +across to Chestnut and walked down Chestnut and Walnut, munching his +roll all the way. Coming again to the river he took a drink of water, +gave away the two remaining rolls to a poor woman, and started up +Market Street again. He found a number of clean-dressed people all +going in one direction, and by following them was led into the great +meeting-house of the Quakers. There he sat down and looked about him. +It was apparently a silent meeting, for not a word was spoken, and the +boy, being now utterly exhausted, fell into a sleep from which he was +roused only at the close of the service. + +That night he lodged at the Crooked Billet, which despite its ominous +name seems to have been a comfortable inn, and the next morning, having +dressed as neatly as he could, set out to find employment. Andrew +Bradford had no place for him; but another printer named Keimer, who +had recently set up in business, was willing to give him work. It was a +queer house and a queer printer. There was an old damaged press, on +which Franklin exercised his skill in repairing, and a small worn-out +font of type. Keimer himself, who seems to have been a grotesque +compound of knave and crank, was engaged at once in composing and +setting up in type an elegy on the death of a prominent young man. He +is the only poet to my knowledge who ever used the composition-stick +instead of a pen for the vehicle of inspiration. The elegy may still be +read in Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia, and on perusing it we may well repeat +the first line:-- + + "What mournful accents thus accost mine ear!" + +Now began a period of growing prosperity for our philosopher. The two +printers of Philadelphia were poorly qualified for their business, and +Franklin by his industry and intelligence soon rendered himself +indispensable to Keimer. He was making money, had discovered a few +agreeable persons to pass his evenings with, and was contented. He took +lodging with Mr. Read, and now, as he says, "made rather a more +respectable appearance in the eyes of Miss Read." + +He was even in a fair way to forget Boston when an incident occurred of +some importance in his life. Robert Holmes, who had married his sister, +being at Newcastle, forty miles below Philadelphia, heard of him and +wrote entreating him to return home. To this appeal Franklin replied +giving his reasons for leaving Boston. Now Sir William Keith, governor +of Pennsylvania, chanced at this time to be at Newcastle, and, being +shown the letter by Holmes, was so much impressed with it that he +determined to offer encouragement to the writer. Great, then, was the +surprise of Benjamin and his master when one day the governor and +another gentleman in their fine clothes called at the printing-house +and inquired for the young man. They took him to a tavern at the corner +of Third Street, and there over the Madeira the governor proposed that +Benjamin should start an independent shop, promising in this case to +give him the government printing. Benjamin was skeptical, but at last +it was decided that he should go to Boston and seek help of his father; +and in April, 1724, with a flattering letter from the governor, he set +out for his old home. Benjamin's father, however, though pleased by the +governor's approval, thought the boy too young to assume so much +responsibility, and sent him back to Philadelphia with no money, but +with his blessing and abundant good counsel, advising him to restrain +his natural tendency to lampoon, and telling him that by steady +industry and prudent parsimony he might save enough by the time he was +twenty-one to set himself up, and withal promising help if he came near +the matter. + +The return voyage was unimportant save for an amusing incident which +showed Franklin's innocence at that time whatever he may have been +later on, and for an agreement he made to collect a debt of thirty-five +pounds in Pennsylvania for one Vernon,--an agreement which was to cost +him considerable anxiety. While stopping in New York, too, his +reputation as a reader got him an invitation to visit Governor Burnet, +who showed him his library and conversed with him on books and authors. +"This," as Franklin observes, "was the second governor who had done me +the honor to take notice of me, and for a poor boy like me it was very +pleasing." + +In New York he had picked up his old friend Collins, a companion of his +childhood, who had preceded him from Boston. Collins had passed from +license of belief to license of morals, and was now besotting himself +with drink. On the way to Philadelphia Franklin had collected the money +due to Vernon, and Collins pressed him until he drew largely on this +sum to help the spendthrift. Franklin regarded this as one of the chief +_errata_ of his life, and would have repented his error still more +seriously perhaps if Vernon had not allowed him time to make good the +defalcation. It was some five years before he was able to restore the +money, and then, having paid both principal and interest, he felt a +load taken off his mind. + +His association with Collins came to an amusing end. Once when they +were on the Delaware with some other young men, Collins refused to row +in his turn. "I will be rowed home," said he. "We will not row you," +said Franklin. "You must," said he, "or stay all night on the water, +just as you please." The others were willing to indulge him, but +Franklin, being soured with his other conduct, continued to refuse. +Collins swore he would make Franklin row or throw him overboard, and +came along stepping on the thwarts to carry out his threat. But he +mistook his man. Franklin clapped his head under the fellow's thighs +and, rising, pitched him headforemost into the river. Collins was a +good swimmer, but they kept him pulling after the boat until he was +stifled with vexation and almost drowned. And that was the end of the +friendship between the two. Collins later went to the Barbadoes, that +limbo of the unsuccessful in colonial days, and Franklin never heard of +him again. + +With his employer, Keimer, Franklin had little sympathy, despising both +his knavery and his false enthusiasms. Keimer wore his beard at full +length, because somewhere in the Mosaic law it is said, "Thou shalt not +mar the corners of thy beard." He likewise kept the seventh day +Sabbath. Franklin disliked both practices, but agreed to them on +condition of their adopting a vegetarian diet, this whim suiting him at +the time, both because he could save money by it and because he wished +to give himself some diversion in half starving the gluttonous fanatic. +Poor Keimer suffered grievously, grew tired of the project in three +months, longed for the fleshpots of Egypt, and ordered a roast pig. He +invited Franklin and two women friends to dine with him; but the pig +being brought too soon upon the table, he could not resist the +temptation, and ate the whole before his guests came. + +Having to do with such a man, Franklin was very glad to accept Sir +William Keith's offer to set him up alone. It was agreed that Franklin +should sail to London, with letters of introduction, and also with +letters of credit for purchasing press, types, paper, and such like. +But for one reason and another the governor delayed writing the +letters, and at last Franklin actually found himself afloat and on the +way to London without a word from his patron. Great was his chagrin +when he learned during the passage that it was a habit of this amiable +magistrate to promise anything and perform nothing. Franklin's comment +on the occasion displays the imperturbable justice of his mind: "But +what shall we think of a governor playing such pitiful tricks and +imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a habit he had +acquired. He wished to please everybody, and having little to give he +gave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, sensible man, a +pretty good writer, and a good governor for the people, though not for +his constituents, the proprietaries." + +Franklin reached London December 24, 1724, and remained there some +nineteen months, doing many things and learning many things during this +time that were of use to him in after life. But interesting as his +experiences were, we pass over them with a few words. Without +difficulty he got work with the printers, and employed his time +industriously--of that there could be no doubt. As always, his head was +full of plans of economy; and we are amused to see him carry his +reforms into the printing chapel, attempting to persuade the men to +give up their expensive beer and take to hot-water gruel. + +But though Franklin was always industrious, he was far from leading a +confined life. Then as ever he mixed much with men, and his experience +in London added largely no doubt to his knowledge of human nature. He +even saw something of the ways of Grub Street through his friend Ralph, +who had come with him from Philadelphia. "This low writer," as Pope +called him, is now remembered only for a couple of vicious lines in the +Dunciad, and for the ignominious part he plays in Franklin's +Autobiography. For many months he was a continual drain on Franklin's +pocket, and seems to have been the boy's evil genius in immorality as +well. + +Another acquaintance introduced him to a phase of character quite new +to the youth from America. This was an old maiden lady of seventy, who +occupied the garret of his lodging house. She was a Roman Catholic, and +lived the secluded life of a nun, having given away to charities all +her estate except twelve pounds a year, out of which small sum she +still gave a part, living herself on water gruel only, and using no +fire but to boil it. Franklin was permitted to visit her once, and +remarks that she was cheerful and polite, as also that the room was +almost without furniture. "She looked pale," he says, "but was never +sick; and I give it as another instance on how small an income life and +health may be supported."--Not another word! Ah, Doctor Franklin, you +were very wise in this world's wisdom! Your life was for a young +struggling nation a splendid example of probity and thrift and +self-culture. And yet we think your countrymen could wish you had used +this poor enthusiast's folly as something else than a mere lesson in +economy. + +But the religious imagination played a small part in our philosopher's +life, and least of all was it active in these London days. His +skepticism in fact became acute, and sought relief in public +expression. As a compositor Franklin was engaged in setting up one of +the many religious treatises then pouring out against the deists, and +as the author's arguments seemed insufficient to the young reasoner, he +wrote and printed a rejoinder. This is the pamphlet called "A +Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," which he +inscribed to his friend Ralph, and whose printing he afterwards +regretted as one of the _errata_ of his life. It is a disquisition +quite after the manner of the day, and, though it has no permanent +value, is nevertheless a most unusual production for a boy of nineteen. +He accepts the belief in a God and an all-powerful Providence, and +argues thence the complete absence of free will in man; pleasure and +pain are necessary correlatives, and cannot exist apart; the soul is +perhaps immortal, but loses its personal identity at death. + +It was time for Franklin to come home and prepare for the great work +before him. He was indeed ready to come when his skill in swimming +almost lost him to this country. He had made such an impression by his +feats in the water that one of his friends and pupils in the art +proposed they should travel over Europe together, and support +themselves by giving exhibitions. Fortunately Mr. Denham, an older and +wiser friend, persuaded Franklin to return with him to America. + + + + +III + +RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.--THE JUNTO + + +Franklin reached Philadelphia some time in October, 1726, and found +many things had changed during his absence. Keith was no longer +governor, but walked the streets as a common citizen. He seemed a +little ashamed at seeing Franklin, and passed him by without saying +anything. Miss Read, too, whom he had left under the pledge of an +engagement, had grown tired of his long neglect, and at the insistence +of her friends had married a potter named Rogers. The union, however, +had proved unfortunate, and the lady was again living at home under her +maiden name, it being believed that Rogers had a previous wife. + +Franklin at once entered the employment of his friend Denham, who +opened a thriving business on Water Street. But after an engagement of +four months he was left idle by Mr. Denham's death, and, finding +nothing better to do, returned to his old employer, Keimer. Here he +received good wages as foreman of the shop, but soon discovered that he +was engaged only to teach Keimer's raw hands the trade, and was to be +dismissed as soon as this was accomplished. Franklin had a habit +apparently of breaking with a burdensome friend by means of a judicious +quarrel. He had done so with his brother James, with Collins, with +Ralph, and now he parted with Keimer in the same way. After an interval +of a few months, during which he was again for a while in the +employment of Keimer, he entered into partnership with one of the +hands, Meredith by name, and in the spring of 1728 started an +independent printing-house. + +At this point Franklin interrupts the narrative of his life to give +some account of his religious beliefs, and we will follow his example. +And first of all let us say frankly that Parton, whose work is likely +long to remain the standard biography of Franklin, gives a false color +to the religious experience of his hero. Of regeneration there is in +Franklin no sign, but instead of that a constant growth,--which is far +more wholesome. He was always an amused and skeptical observer of the +revivals and wild enthusiasms kindled by his friend Whitefield and by +the inspired preacher of Northampton. And it is quite absurd to speak +of Franklin as "the consummate Christian of his time." There was in him +none of the emotional nature and little of the spirituality that go to +make the complete Christian. His strength lay in his temperance, +prudence, justice, and courage,--eminently the pagan virtues; and +indeed he was from first to last a great pagan, who lapsed now and then +into the pseudo-religious platitudes of the eighteenth century deists. + +His family had early adopted the reformed faith, and had possessed the +courage to continue of this faith through the bloody persecutions of +Queen Mary. Under Charles II. Benjamin's father went a step further, +casting in his lot with the non-conformist Presbyterians; and it was +the persecutions of that society which drove him with his family to +America. Independence, or even recalcitrance, together with broad +toleration of the faith of others, was in the family blood, and +Benjamin continued the good tradition. From revolt against Rome to +revolt against the established English Church, and from this to +complete independence of individual belief, was after all a natural +progression. + +Among the books which Franklin had read in Boston were Shaftesbury and +Collins, representative deistical writers of the time, and he had been +led by them, as he says, to doubt "many points of our religious +doctrines." Now there are in religion two elements quite distinct and +at times even antagonistic, though by the ordinary mind they are +commonly seen as blended together. These are the emotional and the +moral natures. In many religious ceremonies of the Orient, religion is +purely an emotion, an exaltation of the nerves, accompanied at times by +outbreaking immorality; and unfortunately the same phenomena have been +too often seen in our own land. This emotional element is always +connected with the imagination and with belief in some form of +revelation. The other element of religion is the law of morality which +has been taught the world over by true philosophers, and which depends +at last on the simple feeling that a man should to a certain varying +extent sacrifice his personal advantage for the good of the community. +Now the deists of the eighteenth century, of whom Voltaire was the +great champion, denied revelation and sought to banish the emotions +from religion. They believed in a God who manifested himself in the +splendid pageantry of nature, and this they called natural revelation. +They laid especial emphasis on morality, but in their attempt to sever +morals from enthusiasm (_enthousiasmos_, god-in-us) they too often +reduced human life to a barren formula. From this brief account it will +be seen how naturally Franklin, with his parentage and particular +genius, fell a prey to the teachings of Shaftesbury. + +After a little while, however, he began to notice that certain of his +friends who protested most loudly against religion were quite +untrustworthy in their morals as well. Moreover he attributed several +_errata_ of his own early life to lack of religious principles, and to +remedy this defect he now undertook--deliberately if we may credit his +later confessions--to build up a religion of his own. There is, one +must acknowledge, something grotesque in this endeavor to supply the +warmth of the emotional imagination by the use of cold reason, and had +Franklin possessed less wit and more humor he would never have fallen +into such bathos. The little book still exists in which Franklin wrote +out his creed and private liturgy. The creed expresses a belief in "one +Supreme, most perfect Being, Author and Father of the gods themselves." +Finding this God to be infinitely above man's comprehension, our +religionist goes on to say: "I conceive, then, that the Infinite has +created many beings or gods vastly superior to man, who can better +conceive his perfections than we, and return him a more rational and +glorious praise.... It may be these created gods are immortal; or it +may be that, after many ages, they are changed, and others supply their +places. Howbeit, I conceive that each of these is exceeding wise and +good, and very powerful; and that each has made for himself one +glorious sun, attended with a beautiful and admirable system of +planets. It is that particular wise and good God, who is the author and +owner of our system, that I propose for the object of my praise and +adoration." Thereupon follows the form of adoration, or liturgy, +including an invocation, psalm, indication of philosophic reading to +take the place of the lessons, singing of the Hymn to the Creator from +Milton's Paradise Lost, and litany. The whole is not without elevation, +and the litany, composed as it is by a young man of twenty-two, touches +one with a feeling almost of pathos for its true humility and reaching +out after virtue. + +Franklin continued to use this form of worship for a number of years; +but its fantastic nature seems to have dawned on him at last, and he +gave it up for a still simpler creed consisting merely in reverence for +the Deity and in respect for the moral law. In the matter of public +worship he was of the same opinion as Spinoza and many other +philosophers. He esteemed public worship salutary for the state, and +paid an annual subscription to the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia; +but he also esteemed it his privilege to stay away from service, and +indulged in this privilege to the full, making Sunday his chief day of +study. Though affiliated in this way to the Presbyterians, he showed +perfect impartiality, or even indifference, to the various +denominations of the Christian world. The only sect he ever really +praised was the Dunkers, whom he commended for their modesty in not +formulating a creed. He quotes with pleasure the character given +himself of being merely "an honest man of no sect at all." Tolerance in +religion and in every other walk of life was indeed a marked and +distinguishing trait of his character. He was of the mind of Bishop +Warburton, when he said, "Orthodoxy is my doxy and Heterodoxy is your +doxy." + +It is a little disconcerting to find our philosopher himself proposing +a new sect, which should be called the Society of the Free and Easy, +and which actually progressed so far as to possess two enthusiastic +disciples. The creed of this projected sect may be taken as an +expression of Franklin's mature belief:-- + +"That there is one God, who made all things. + +"That he governs the world by his providence. + +"That he ought to be worshipped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving. + +"But that the most acceptable service to God is doing good to man. + +"That the soul is immortal. + +"And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here +or hereafter." + +The real religion of his life consisted in the practice of virtue with +a minimum of emotional imagination. His methodical mind found it +convenient to tabulate the virtues in a manner more precise, as he +thought, than they usually appear. His table is not without interest:-- + +"1. TEMPERANCE.--Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. + +"2. SILENCE.--Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid +trifling conversation. + +"3. ORDER.--Let all your things have their places; let each part of +your business have its time. + +"4. RESOLUTION.--Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without +fail what you resolve. + +"5. FRUGALITY.--Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; +i.e., waste nothing. + +"6. INDUSTRY.--Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; +cut off all unnecessary actions. + +"7. SINCERITY.--Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and +if you speak, speak accordingly. + +"8. JUSTICE.--Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting benefits that +are your duty. + +"9. MODERATION.--Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as +you think they deserve. + +"10. CLEANLINESS.--Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or +habitation. + +"11. TRANQUILLITY.--Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common +or unavoidable. + +"12. CHASTITY.... + +"13. HUMILITY.--Imitate Jesus and Socrates." + +These virtues he has arranged in such an order that the acquisition of +one naturally leads to the acquisition of the following. As regards +chastity, he says himself: "The hard-to-be-governed passion of youth" +had more than once led him astray. But there is every reason to suppose +he exercised great self-control in this as in all other passions. We +may remark here that Franklin had an illegitimate son, William, whom he +reared in his own home, but who caused him great pain by siding with +the Tories in the Revolution. An illegitimate son of William, born in +London and named William Temple Franklin, adhered to the grandfather +and was a great comfort to him in his old age. One other of these +virtues Franklin could never acquire. He confesses sadly that try as he +might he could never learn orderliness. But in general it may be said +that few men have ever set before themselves so wise a law of conduct, +and that still fewer men have ever come so near to attaining their +ideal. This was both because his ideal was so thoroughly practical, and +because he was a man of indomitable will who had genuinely chosen true +Philosophy as his guide. "O vitae Philosophia dux! O virtutum +inda-gatrix expultrixque vitiorum!"--O Philosophy, thou guide of life! +thou searcher out of virtues and expeller of vices!--he wrote as one of +the mottoes on his little book of conduct, and to him the words were a +living reality. + +The virtues in Franklin were eminently human. Though dwelling in a +community of Quakers and often identified with them, he looked to +anything rather than the inner light for guidance, nor could he +conceive the meaning of those "divine pleasures" which William Penn +declared "are to be found in a free solitude." On his voyage home from +London the boy philosopher had written in his journal: "Man is a +sociable being, and it is, for aught I know, one of the worst of +punishments to be excluded from society." Accordingly on his return to +Philadelphia he began to cultivate seriously his "sociable being." + +Among the few clubs famous in literature is the Junto which Franklin +established in 1727, and which lasted for forty years. This club was a +little circle of friends, never more than twelve, who met on Friday +evenings to discuss matters of interest. Twenty-four questions were +read, with a pause after each for filling and drinking a glass of wine. +Two or three of these questions will suffice to show their general aim. + +"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? + +"11. Do you think of anything at present, in which the Junto may be +serviceable to mankind, to their country, to their friends, or to +themselves? + +"15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of +the people? + +"20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of +your honorable designs?" + +Besides the answering of these questions, there were regular debates, +declamations, and the reading of essays; while the wise Franklin took +care always that no undue heat should enter into the proceedings. +Singing and drinking and other amusements also claimed a fair share of +the time. It is curious to observe that in his Autobiography Franklin +half apologizes for mentioning the Junto, and declares that his reason +for so doing was to show how the various members of the club aided him +in his business. Were the Autobiography our only source of information, +we might sum up the lessons of Franklin's life in the one word +_Thrift_. The truth is that many of Franklin's schemes for public +improvement first found a hearing in the secrecy of these friendly +meetings. + +Before returning to Franklin's active life, let us insert here an +amusing epitaph which he composed about this time, and which has become +justly famous:-- + + THE BODY + OF + BENJAMIN FRANKLIN + PRINTER + (LIKE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOK + ITS CONTENTS TORN OUT + AND STRIPT OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING) + LIES HERE, FOOD FOR WORMS. + BUT THE WORK SHALL NOT BE LOST + FOR IT WILL (AS HE BELIEVED) + APPEAR ONCE MORE + IN A NEW AND MORE ELEGANT EDITION + REVISED AND CORRECTED + BY + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +IV + +THE SCIENTIST AND PUBLIC CITIZEN IN PHILADELPHIA + + +Franklin was twenty-two years old when he began business with Meredith. +They had no capital, and in fact were in debt for part of their +appurtenances. Meredith proved not only incompetent, but a hard drinker +as well; so that Franklin, accepting the kindness of two friends who +lent him the money, soon bought his partner out and conducted the shop +alone. He prospered steadily, and in twenty years was able to retire +from active business. From the beginning friends came to his aid: +through a member of the Junto he got printing from the Quakers; by his +careful work he drew away from old Bradford the public printing for the +Assembly; he engaged assistants, and before many years was far the most +important printer in the colonies. Besides his regular trade he was +bookbinder, sold books and stationery, and dealt in soap and any other +commodity that came handy. The description of his thrift we must give +in his own words: "In order to secure my credit and character as a +tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and +frugal, but to avoid the appearance to the contrary. I dressed plain, +and was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a-fishing +or shooting; a book indeed sometimes debauched me from my work, but +that was seldom, was private, and gave no scandal; and to show that I +was not above my business I sometimes brought home the paper I +purchased at the stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow." + +When Franklin became independent of Keimer he turned to his favorite +project of establishing a newspaper. But in this case his usual habit +of secrecy failed him, and knowledge of his plans reached Keimer's +ears. Immediately his old master anticipated him by issuing proposals +for a paper which he grandiloquently styled "The Universal Instructor +in all Arts and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette,"--an utterly absurd +sheet, whose contents were taken chiefly from an encyclopaedia recently +published in London. To counteract this Franklin published in +Bradford's paper, "The Mercury," a series of essays after the manner of +Addison, to which he subscribed the name "Busy-Body." Other members of +the Junto contributed to the series; and Keimer, being stung by their +satire, replied with coarse abuse, and also with attempted imitation. +But Keimer was quite unequal to the conflict, and after publishing +thirty-nine numbers of the paper sold it for a small sum to Franklin +and Meredith, and himself moved to the Barbadoes. Number 40, October 2, +1729, under the simple title of "The Pennsylvania Gazette," came from +Franklin's press. The encyclopaedic extracts were cut short, and in +their stead appeared what news could be gathered, with occasional +clever essays such as only Franklin could write. It was for the times a +good paper, and the printing was admirably done. + +With prosperity Franklin began to think of matrimony. A family of +Godfreys lived in the same house with him, and now Mrs. Godfrey +undertook to make a match between him and the daughter of a relative of +hers. Franklin's account of this affair for its coolness and placidity +may almost be compared with Gibbon's "I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as +a son." On learning that the girl's parents could not or would not give +with her enough money to pay off his debts, the gallant suitor at once +and irrevocably withdrew. + +He then looked about him for another match, but found to his chagrin +that an adventurous printer could not command an agreeable wife and a +dowry at the same time. Being determined to marry, that he might bring +order into his life, he at last turned to Miss Read, with whom he had +maintained a friendly correspondence, and notwithstanding the +difficulties in the way married her on the 1st of September, 1730. If +he rejected Miss Godfrey because she brought no dowry with her, he +praised his wife chiefly because she aided him in his economies. "He +that would thrive must ask his wife," he quotes, and congratulates +himself that he has a wife as much disposed to frugality as himself. +She helped in the business; they kept no idle servants; their table was +plain and simple, their furniture of the cheapest. His breakfast for a +long time was bread and milk, and he ate it out of a twopenny earthen +porringer with a pewter spoon. "But mark," he adds, "how luxuries will +enter families and make a progress despite of principles: 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 twenty-three shillings, for which +she had no other excuse or apology to make but that she thought _her_ +husband deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as well as any of his +neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and china in our +house, which afterward, in a course of years as our wealth increased, +augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value." + +Mrs. Franklin's temper was not of the serenest, and her manners perhaps +were not such as would have honored him had she followed him into the +great world; but she made him a good wife,--and we need not repeat the +tattle which we are told is still current among some of the high +families of Philadelphia. They had two children,--a son, the idol of +his father's heart, who died as a child; and a daughter, who married +Richard Bache, and is the ancestress of a large family. + +In this happy home, and as his business prospered, Franklin found more +and more time for study and self-improvement. In 1733 he began the +acquisition of languages, teaching himself to read French fluently, and +then passing on to Italian and Spanish. Chess was always a favorite +amusement with him; and we can imagine the grave philosopher playing a +cautious and invulnerable game, with now and then, when least expected, +a brilliant sally. But his conscience seems always to have protested +against the waste of time involved, and he now made use of the game to +forward his studies. With his favorite antagonist he agreed that the +victor in each game should impose some task in Italian, which the other +on his honor was to complete before the next meeting. As his opponent +was a pretty even match for him they both made steady progress in the +language. In Latin he had had a year's instruction at school, and later +in life he dabbled a little in that language; but his knowledge of the +classics was always superficial, and he seems to have entertained +something like a spite against them. + +In 1732 Franklin began the publication of an almanac under the name of +Richard Saunders, which he continued for twenty-five years, and which +gained immense popularity as Poor Richard's Almanac. It was the +flourishing time of such publications. Since the year 1639, when +Stephen Daye printed his first almanac at Cambridge, these annual +messages had increased in number until after theology they became +perhaps the most genuine feature of colonial literature. And from the +first they displayed the sort of shrewdness and humor which have always +been characteristic of the American mind. So, too, the bulk of Poor +Richard's production was humor, sometimes blunt and coarse, and +sometimes instinct with the finest irony. Perhaps the best of Poor +Richard's jokes is that played at the expense of Titan Leeds, his rival +in Philadelphia. In the first issue Mr. Saunders announces the imminent +death of his friend Titan Leeds: "He dies, by my calculation, made at +his request, on October 17, 1733, 3 ho., 29 m., P.M., at the very +instant of the [symbol for conjunction] of [symbol for sun] and [symbol +for Mercury].[1] 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 +inclined to agree with my judgment. Which of us is most exact a little +time will now determine. As, therefore, these Provinces may not longer +expect to see any of his performances after this year, I think myself +free to take up the task." Naturally Mr. Titan Leeds objected with +strenuous voice to this summary manner of being shuffled out of the +world; and Franklin's yearly protest that Leeds is really dead, and his +appeal to the degenerating wit of Leeds's almanac to prove his +assertion, is one of the most successful and malicious jokes ever +perpetrated. We ought to add, however, that this venomous jest is +borrowed bodily from Dean Swift's treatment of the poor almanac-maker, +Partridge. Indeed it might be said of Franklin, as Moliere said of +himself, that he took his own wherever he found it. + + [1] [conjunction symbol] signifies _conjunction_; [sun symbol] + _the sun_; [Mercury symbol] _Mercury_. + +But what gave the almanac its permanent fame was the cleverness of the +maxims scattered through its pages. These wise saws Franklin gathered +from far and wide, often, however, reshaping them and marking them, +with the stamp of his peculiar genius. As might be expected, they are +chiefly directed to instill the precepts of industry and frugality. On +ceasing to edit the almanac in 1757 Franklin gathered together the best +of these proverbs and wove them into a continuous narrative, which he +pretends to have heard spoken at an auction by an old man called Father +Abraham. This speech of Father Abraham became immediately famous, was +reprinted in England, was translated into the languages of Europe, and +still lives. It made the name of Poor Richard a household word the +world over. + +Franklin, however, had many intellectual interests besides reading and +writing. He was always interested in music, himself playing the guitar +and harp and violin; and one of his proudest achievements was the +perfection of a musical instrument called the armonica, which consisted +of a series of glasses so designed as to give forth the notes of the +musical scale when chafed with the moistened finger. + +He was moreover sensitive in his own way to the various spiritual +movements that swept over the country. This was the period of wild +revivals, when religion, entering into the converted soul with +inconceivable violence, found expression in gasping shrieks, rigid +faintings, and strong convulsions; and the leader of this movement, +strange as it may seem, was a warm friend of Franklin's. George +Whitefield first visited Philadelphia in 1739, and immediately filled +the city with enthusiasm by his powerful oratory. Franklin was +astonished at the hold he got on the people, especially as he assured +them they were naturally half beasts and half devils; but our +philosopher admits that he himself succumbed once to the preacher's +spell. Whitefield was preaching a begging sermon for a project which +Franklin did not approve, and the latter made a silent resolve that he +would not contribute. He had in his pocket a handful of copper money, +three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As the orator +proceeded, he began to soften and concluded to give the copper. Another +stroke of eloquence made him ashamed of that and determined him to give +the silver; and the peroration was so admirable that he emptied his +pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. But he was never +too much carried away to omit analyzing and observing; and on one +occasion, when Whitefield was preaching in the open air, he calculated +by a clever experiment that the speaker might be heard by more than +thirty thousand persons. Nor did he suffer Whitefield's cant phrases to +pass unchallenged. At one time he invited the preacher to stop at his +house, and Whitefield in accepting declared that if Franklin made the +kind offer for Christ's sake he should not miss of a reward. To which +the philosopher replied: "Don't let me be mistaken; it was not for +_Christ's_ sake, but for _your_ sake." + +This intimate acquaintance with Whitefield forms something like a bond +of union between Franklin and his only intellectual compeer, Jonathan +Edwards; and the different attitude of the two men towards the +wandering revivalist is a good illustration of the great contrast in +their characters. If Franklin may in some ways be called the typical +American, yet the lonely, introverted, God-intoxicated soul of Edwards +stands as a solemn witness to depths of understanding in his countrymen +which Dr. Franklin's keen wit had no means of fathoming. But in one +respect the two minds were alike: they were both acute observers of +nature, and we have only to read Edwards's treatise on spiders, written +when he was twelve years old, and to follow his later physical +investigations, which indeed foreshadowed some of Franklin's electrical +discoveries, to learn how brilliant a part he might have played in +science if his intelligence had not been troubled by the terrible +theology of the day. As for Franklin, we have seen the inquisitive bent +of his mind in childhood, and as he grew older the habit of observing +and recording and theorizing became his master passion. Though scarcely +a professional scientist, his various discoveries in natural history +and his mechanical inventions brought great renown to him as a man, and +were even an important factor in the national struggle for +independence. + +Nothing was too small or too great to attract his investigating eyes. +All his life he was interested in the phenomena of health and in the +care of the body, and even as a boy, it will be remembered, he had +experimented in the use of a vegetarian diet. He had his own theory in +regard to colds, maintaining that they are not the result of exposure +to a low temperature, but are due to foul air and to a relaxed state of +the body,--as in general they no doubt are. His letters are full of +clever protests against the common theory, and at times he was brought +by his opinions into amusing conflict with the habits of other persons. +On one occasion in a tavern he was compelled to occupy the same bed +with John Adams, who, being an invalid and afraid of night air, shut +down the window. "Oh!" says Franklin, "don't shut the window, we shall +be suffocated." Adams answered that he feared the evening air. Dr. +Franklin replied, "The air within the chamber will soon be, and indeed +now is, worse than that without doors. Come, open the window and come +to bed, and I will convince you. I believe you are not acquainted with +my theory of colds." Whereupon Adams got into bed, and the Doctor began +an harangue upon air and cold, respiration and perspiration, with which +the Bostonian was so much amused that he soon fell asleep and left +Franklin and his philosophy together. The effect of drafts on chimneys +was just as interesting to our philosopher as their effect on the human +system, and it was one of his diversions when visiting the great houses +of England and Europe to cure smoky fireplaces. From chimneys to stoves +is an easy step, and the invention of the so-called Pennsylvania stove +is one of his best known achievements. + +All his life he was an observer of the weather, and a student of the +winds and tides. His first discovery in natural history was an +observation of the fact that storms move against the wind, that is, for +instance, that a northeast storm along the coast is felt at +Philadelphia earlier than at Boston. He made a careful study of the +temperature of the gulf stream in the Atlantic; and in a letter written +when he was seventy-nine years old he gives a long account of his +inventions and observations in nautical matters. + +But his discoveries in electricity quite overshadow all his other work +of the sort, and on them must rest his real claim to scientific renown. +For many years the world had been amusing itself with various machines +for making sparks and giving shocks, and after the discovery of the +Leyden jar, in 1745, the manipulation of electrical toys and machines +became the rage among scientists and even among the people of society. +Just about this time a friend in England sent Franklin specimens of the +glass tubes used to create electricity by friction, and immediately +Franklin's inquisitive mind was fired to take up the new study. So +fully indeed was his attention engrossed by the series of experiments +he now undertook, alone and with several investigating friends in the +city, that business became irksome to him and he retired from active +management of the printing house. Besides making many ingenious toys +and showy experiments, Franklin added three contributions of real +importance to science. + +1. He anticipated Faraday in the discovery that the electricity in a +charged Leyden jar resides on the glass and not on the metal coatings. +He, however, made no generalizations from this discovery. + +2. He advanced the fluid theory of electricity, recognizing clearly the +dual nature of the varieties commonly called positive and negative from +the mathematical symbols used to express them. + +3. He established the identity of lightning and electricity. + +To understand the importance of this last discovery we must remember +with what terror the world had hitherto regarded this bewildering +apparition of the sky. It was not so much the dread of feeling above +one an irresponsible power subject to a law that knows no sympathy with +human life, as the more debasing fear of superstition, that sees in the +red thunderbolt a deadly instrument of vengeance hurled by the hand of +an angry deity, and that loosens the inmost sinews of a man's moral +courage. With the knowledge that lightning is only a magnified +electrical spark, fell one of the last strongholds of false religion. +And there is something eminently fit in the fact that this lurking +mystery of the heavens was finally exploded by Dr. Franklin, the +exponent of common sense. + +I am told by a specialist that the neatness and thoroughness of the +reasoning by which Franklin established his theory before proceeding to +experimentation are most laudable, and I am sure his letters of +explanation have a literary charm not often found in scientific +writing. The paper in which Franklin developed his theory and showed +how it might be tested by drawing lightning from the clouds by means of +a pointed wire set up on a steeple, was sent to his friend in England, +and there printed; and at the suggestion of the great Buffon the same +paper was translated into French. The pamphlet created a sensation in +France, and the proposed experiment was actually performed in the +presence of the king. Before the report, however, of the successful +experiment reached Franklin he had himself verified his theory, using a +kite to attain an altitude, as there was no spire or high building in +Philadelphia. Taking his son with him, he went to an old cow house in +the country, before a storm, and there, to catch the electric fluid, +sent up his kite made of an old silk handkerchief. A wire extended from +the upright stick of the kite, and this was connected with the cord, +which when wet acted as a good conductor. The part of the cord held in +his hand was of silk, and between this and the wet hempen cord a key +was inserted and connected with a Leyden jar. How successful the +experiment proved to be, all the world knows. Somehow all the important +events of Franklin's life are dramatic and picturesque, and this scene, +especially, of the philosopher in the storm drawing down the very +thunderbolts of heaven has always had a fascination for the popular +mind. The detailed story of the experiment became public only through +Franklin's conversation with his friends. When he learned that his +theory had been previously verified in France, his modesty was so great +that in writing he simply told how the experiment might be performed +with a kite, never that he himself had actually accomplished it. In +consequence of this discovery he was at once elected a member of the +Royal Society of London, Yale and Harvard gave him the honorary degree +of master of arts, and everywhere he was celebrated as the foremost +philosopher of the day. + +When the time comes we shall see that Franklin's scientific fame was a +real aid to him in his diplomatic career; now we must turn our eyes +backward and trace from the beginning his slow rise in political and +civic power. And it is a peculiar feature of the day and of Franklin's +individual character that many of his reforms took their start in the +gayety of social intercourse. There was nothing morose, nothing stern, +in our genial philosopher. Though always temperate, his vivacity and +easy politeness made him welcome in any merry company of the day. He +could sing with the best of the young blades and even compose his own +ditties; and one of these songs, "The Old Man's Wish," he tells us he +sang at least a thousand times. The chorus of the song is +characteristic enough to be quoted:-- + + "May I govern my passions with absolute sway, + Grow wiser and better as my strength wears away, + Without gout or stone, by gentle decay;" + +and another ballad in praise of his wife still has a kind of +popularity:-- + + "Of their Chloes and Phyllises poets may prate, + I sing my plain country Joan, + These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my life, + Blest day that I made her my own." + +Franklin's first public improvement carries us back to the early +leathern-apron days of the Junto. Books were a rare commodity among the +frugal members of that club, and for a while they increased their +resources by keeping all their volumes together in the club room for +common use. But this plan proving hardly feasible, Franklin in the year +1731 drew up proposals for a city library. His method of arousing +public interest in the scheme was one to which he always had recourse +on such occasions, and is a credit to his modesty as well as to his +shrewdness. "I put myself," he says, "as much as I could out of sight, +and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, who had requested me +to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading." +He succeeded, as he always did in his projects, and the library, still +an honored institution of Philadelphia, is the parent of all the +subscription libraries of the country. + +Through the aid of the Junto, also, Franklin set in motion another +project. As a boy he had seen the first fire company started in Boston, +and now that his Quaker home had grown to be a thriving city, he +undertook to introduce the same system there. No doubt many of our +readers have seen the curious relics of these colonial fire +companies,--old leathern buckets stamped with various devices and with +the owner's name, which were used to pass water rapidly from hand to +hand. The companies had a social as well as a useful aim, so that +families were proud to preserve such memorials of the old days. + +Owing to the wretched system in vogue, the night watch of the city had +fallen into a deplorable state, the watchmen consisting of a set of +ragamuffins who passed their nights in tippling and left the town to +take care of itself. To remedy this evil Franklin made use of the Junto +and of his paper, "The Gazette," and once more his efforts were +successful. + +It seemed, indeed, as if there were no limits to his activity. At +different times he bent his energies to getting the streets paved, to +improving the lighting of the city, to introducing various novelties in +agriculture, and to assisting other projects, such as the establishment +of the Pennsylvania hospital. More important, perhaps, than these was +the founding of the academy which has since developed into the +University of Pennsylvania. As early as 1743 we find Franklin +regretting that there was no convenient college where he might send his +son to be educated; and in 1749 he took up the matter seriously, +publishing a pamphlet which he called, "Proposals relating to the +Education of Youth in Pennsylvania." Nor did his zeal end here. He +continued to urge on the project, and in a short time the money was +raised and the school actually opened. Franklin was for more than forty +years a trustee of the institution, and took just pride in the good +which it accomplished for the community. His purpose in one respect, +however, was foiled; he was an ardent advocate of English and the +sciences in education, and would have been glad to have the study of +Latin and Greek utterly banished from the schools. Fortunately in this +matter public opinion was too strong for him, and he was obliged to +succumb to the regular curriculum. For some reason, whether because of +early lack of training in these studies or because his mind was of such +a sort as to be completely absorbed in the present, he was all his life +violently prejudiced against the classics, and on his very death-bed +one of his last acts was to compose a mocking diatribe against the use +of those languages. It is one of the few cases where his judgment was +marred, not by the limitations of his intelligence, but a lack of the +deeper imagination,--where he applied his footrule of utility to +measure quantities beyond its reach. + +With Franklin's increasing prosperity and popularity his influence in +matters political grew more and more dominant. His first recognition in +this field was in 1736, when he was chosen clerk of the General +Assembly,--a position which he continued to hold until he was elected a +member of the Assembly itself. He found this office very tedious, but +amused himself during the long debates by constructing magic squares of +figures and by other diversions of the sort. Constant to his practice +he lets us know that he retained the position chiefly because it +enabled him to get control of the public printing, and once when +threatened by the advent of a new member with loss of this lucrative +employment he saved himself by his usual recourse to honorable +stratagem. Having heard that this gentleman had in his library a +certain very scarce and curious book, Franklin wrote him a note +expressing a desire to read the volume and asking to borrow it for a +few days. The book came immediately, and the two students were at once +bound together in friendship. "This is another instance," Franklin +adds, "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.'" + +Other positions came to Franklin in due time. The very next year he was +made postmaster of Philadelphia, and filled the office so well that +some years later he was put at the head of the postal system for the +colonies. This gave him an opportunity to become familiar with the +political affairs of the whole country and enhanced his usefulness very +much. + +What first brought him into real prominence was his activity during the +troublesome times that now followed with the Indians. England was at +war with France, and as usual the combatants stirred up the savages to +commit all kinds of atrocities. Franklin was much incensed that the +peace-loving Quakers of his colony should refuse to make any provision +for defense against the Indians on the western frontier or against +possible attacks of the French from the river. His indignation was +increased by a visit to Boston in 1746, where he found the people in a +state of warlike fervor after the conquest of Louisburg; and on +returning home he wrote an eloquent pamphlet, called "Plain Truth," to +rouse the colony to a sense of its peril. Despite the half-hearted +opposition of the Quakers in the Assembly companies were raised, +cannon, by the shrewd policy of Franklin, were got from New York, and +the promoter of the movement was even asked to act as colonel of the +troops,--an honor which he declined. One of Franklin's friends now +warned him that the Quakers in the Assembly would dismiss him from his +position as clerk and advised him to resign at once to avoid the +disgrace. Franklin's reply, which he was fond of quoting in after life, +shows the sturdy nature of the man: "I shall never _ask_, never +_refuse_, nor ever RESIGN an office." As it happened, however, he was +again chosen unanimously at the next election, and we may suppose that +he was keen enough to know with whom he had to deal. The good Quakers +would not fight, but they were not always averse to have some one do +their fighting for them. + +We are approaching the tumultuous times of the Seven Years' War, when +the sound of cannon was indeed heard round the world, and when the +prowess of England's arms added India and Canada to her empire. In 1752 +Franklin, who was now a member of the legislature, was sent, together +with the speaker of the Assembly, to confer with the Indians of Ohio; +and if no important results came from the conference it at least helped +to give Franklin an insight into Indian character such as few men +possessed. Two years later, when actual war became imminent, he was +chosen one of the commissioners from Pennsylvania to meet those of the +other colonies at Albany and consult on measures of common defense. Any +one might see that the colonies would be stronger united than +separated, and several of the commissioners came prepared with +proposals of union. Franklin had already published in his "Gazette" an +article on the subject, to which he had added a wood-cut showing a +snake cut in thirteen pieces with the device JOIN OR DIE. On the way to +Albany he had drawn up a plan of union which pleased the Congress, and +which resembled very much the form of union afterwards adopted during +the Revolution; but as Franklin observes, "Its fate was singular; the +Assemblies did not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much +prerogative in it; and in England it was judged to have too much of the +democratic." Instead of this scheme the London Board of Trade devised a +plan of their own which, besides other objectionable features, involved +the deplorable principle of taxing the colonies without their consent. +It is interesting to find Franklin the next winter in Boston discussing +the improprieties of this plan with Governor Shirley, and it has been +truly observed that his arguments include almost all that was later +brought out when the question of taxation without representation became +a burning question. + +In 1755 we find Franklin connected with an event which first brought +Washington into prominence. That was the year of Braddock's unfortunate +campaign, and the Assembly of Pennsylvania, which had refused to grant +money for the war and now feared that Braddock would take revenge by +ravaging the colony, sent Franklin into Maryland to consult with the +general and pacify him if possible. It is needless to say that Franklin +succeeded. By cunning advertisements and appeals to the farmers in +Pennsylvania he got wagons and teams for the army; but to do this he +had to pledge himself for a considerable sum of money, his own credit +being higher than that of the government, and after the general rout in +which many of the wagons and horses were lost he was compelled to pay +out large sums of money for which he was never entirely reimbursed. He +also persuaded the Assembly of Pennsylvania to provide the younger +officers of the regiment with horses and stores for the campaign, +although to Washington, as we know, all this accumulation of provisions +for such an expedition seemed no better than a nuisance. Franklin, too, +had his fears, and even went so far as to caution Braddock against the +ambuscades of the Indians. Braddock smiled at his ignorance, and +replied: "These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw +American militia, but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, +sir, it is impossible they should make any impression." Franklin tells +us he was conscious of the impropriety of disputing with a military man +in matters of his profession, and said no more. The story of Braddock's +defeat is only too well known; but to Franklin at least the campaign +brought some profit. When later he went to England he found that the +general's account of his intelligence and generosity had added +considerably to his reputation. + +The failure of the expedition had left the western frontier open to the +savage raids of the Indians, and Pennsylvania, owing to her unprotected +condition, suffered more than the other colonies. Franklin came to the +rescue with a bill to raise volunteers which was carried through the +Assembly; troops were quickly organized, and the philosopher was +himself appointed general. He was two months in the field and conducted +himself with admirable prudence, although he did not undergo the test +of actual fighting. After that time he was recalled by the governor to +Philadelphia, for the Assembly was about to meet and his services were +needed at home. + +The old trouble between the proprietary governor and the Assembly had +now reached an acute stage. The two sons of William Penn, into whose +hands the colony had descended, pursued a narrow and selfish policy, +forcing the governor to veto every bill for raising money unless the +estates owned by the proprietors were exempted from taxation. From the +beginning Franklin had stood with the popular party in opposing these +regulations, yet curiously enough had always been a favorite with the +governors. These magistrates were bound to follow the proprietors' will +under penalty of being recalled; but on the other hand their salary was +dependent on the pleasure of the Assembly, and they may well have clung +to a wise and tolerant intermediary like Franklin. Nothing, however, +could now allay the hostile feelings. The Assembly voted money for +immediate defense under the conditions imposed, but at the same time +declared that the measure was not to be held as a precedent for the +future; and Franklin was sent to England to treat with the +proprietaries in person, and if necessary with the Crown. + + + + +V + +FIRST AND SECOND MISSIONS TO ENGLAND + + +Franklin reached London July 27, 1757, when he was fifty-one years old. +He remained in England five years, and during that period his life was +one of manifold interests and vexations. His business with the Penns +first engaged his attention; but from those stubborn gentlemen he got +nothing but insolence and delays. After much manoeuvring the dispute +was brought before a committee of the Privy Council, where the +Pennsylvania Assembly through its representative virtually won its +case. The proprietary estates were made subject to taxation, and this +bone of contention was for a time removed. It was indeed a great +victory for the Philadelphia printer; but perhaps its chief value was +the training it gave him for the more important diplomatic negotiations +that were to come later. There was that in Franklin's nature which made +him an ideal diplomatist. Under the utmost candor and simplicity he +concealed a penetration into character and a skill in using legitimate +chicanery that rarely missed their mark. Then, too, he was persistent: +what he undertook to do he never left until it was done. Though far +from being an orator, he wielded a pen that for clearness and logical +pointedness has scarcely been surpassed, and his powers of irony and +sarcasm were worthy of Swift himself. + +Among other subjects which engaged Franklin's pen at this time was a +question of vital interest, as he thought, to the empire. Under the +masterly guidance of the great Pitt, England had come out victorious in +the struggle with France, and the government was now debating whether +Canada should be retained or given back to the French. The chief +argument for surrendering the province was ominous of the future. "A +neighbor that keeps us in some awe is not always the worst of +neighbors.... If we acquire all Canada, we shall soon find North +America itself too powerful and too populous to be governed by us at a +distance." To this timid reasoning, which was attributed to William +Burke, Franklin replied in a pamphlet, discussing the whole question +with the utmost acumen, displaying the future greatness of the empire +in America, and denying that the colonies would ever revolt. Touching +this last apprehension he says: "There are so many causes that must +operate to prevent it that I will venture to say a union amongst them +for such a purpose is not merely improbable, it is impossible.... When +I say such a union is impossible, I mean without the most grievous +tyranny and oppression.... _The waves do not rise but when the wind +blows._... What such an administration as the Duke of Alva's in the +Netherlands might produce, I know not; but this, I think, I have a +right to deem impossible." Strange words to come from Franklin in those +days; but it is thought they were of considerable influence in the +final decision of the question. Franklin indeed was always fond of +prophesying the future greatness of America, and again in the +diplomatic debates after the revolutionary war he long insisted that +Canada should be severed from England and joined to the thirteen +States. + +But our philosopher had much to occupy him besides politics. He had +taken lodgings at No. 7 Craven Street with a Mrs. Stevenson, in whom +and in whose daughter he found warm and congenial friends. His +correspondence with "Dear Polly," the daughter, contains some of his +most entertaining letters; and he even planned, but unsuccessfully, to +make her the wife of his son William. His fame as a scientist had +preceded him, and introduced him into the society of many distinguished +men in England and Scotland, among whom his genial nature freely +expanded. And nothing could stop the activity of his mind, not even +sickness. For eight weeks he struggled with a fever, but the letter to +his wife conveying the story of his illness reads as if he were almost +willing to undergo such an experience for the opportunity of studying +pathology which it offered. + +At last he was ready to return home. The University of St. Andrews had +conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and afterwards Oxford +had done the same. He had succeeded in his mission, his son had been +appointed governor of New Jersey, and he looked forward to a life of +honorable ease in his adopted city. Just before sailing he wrote to +Lord Kames: "I am now waiting here only for a wind to waft me to +America, but cannot leave this happy island and my friends in it +without extreme regret, though I am going to a country and a people +that I love. I am going from the old world to the new, and I fancy I +feel like those who are leaving this world for the next. Grief at the +parting, fear of the passage, hope of the future,--these different +passions all affect their minds at once, and these have _tendered_ me +down exceedingly." + +Peace had come to Europe in 1763, but not to America. The Indians, who +had been aroused by European intrigue, were not so easily pacified, and +western Pennsylvania especially continued to suffer from their ravages. +The men of the frontier banded together for retaliation, and +unfortunately their revenge equaled the brutality of the red savages. +Religious odium added bitterness to the passions. The Scotch-Irish +Presbyterians of the west, enraged at the supineness of the eastern +Quakers, made the extermination of the Indians a point of religion. The +horror reached its climax when the good people of Paxton in cold blood +massacred twenty helpless and innocent Indians, and then with a large +following marched towards Philadelphia with the avowed purpose of +murdering in the name of an angry God one hundred and forty peaceful +Moravian Indians. The governor, a nephew of the proprietaries, came, as +all men did, to Franklin in his perplexity; he even lodged in +Franklin's house, and concerted with him hourly on the means of +repelling the invaders. The "Paxton boys" had reached Germantown. The +city was in a panic, and there was no time to lose. Franklin first got +together a regiment of militia, and then, with three other gentlemen, +went out to Germantown to remonstrate with the fanatics. His mission +was successful, and the insurrection was quelled; but Franklin himself +had gained many enemies by his action. The people were largely in favor +of the Paxton rioters; and the governor, now relieved of his immediate +fears, made an infamous proclamation setting a price upon Indian +scalps. A strong coalition was formed against Franklin; to the enmity +of the proprietary party was now added the distrust of the people. + +Just at this time the old trouble between the governor and the Assembly +broke out more virulently. Despite the decision of the London Council, +the governor vetoed an important bill because the proprietary estates +were not exempted from taxation. An angry debate arose in the Assembly +as to whether they should petition the king to withdraw Pennsylvania +from the proprietaries and make it a crown colony. Franklin took an +active part in this contest, and threw all the weight of his authority +in favor of the petition; but in the election which followed in 1764 +the combination of the aristocrats, who sided with the proprietaries, +and of the fanatics, who favored the Paxton uprising, was too strong +for him, and he was not returned. After a stormy debate, however, the +Assembly adopted the petition; and Franklin, despite the bitter +personal attacks of John Dickinson, was chosen as agent to carry the +request to England. + +The petition was not allowed, and Pennsylvania remained in the hands of +the proprietaries until it became an independent state. But other +questions, far more important than the local difficulties of any one +colony, were to occupy Franklin's and the other commissioners' time. +Franklin was in England from December, 1764, until March of 1775, and +during these ten years was busily engaged in supporting the colonies in +their unequal struggle against the British Parliament. He was the +accredited representative of Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, and +Massachusetts, and before the government and the people of England +stood as the champion of the whole province. Every one knows the nature +of the acts which finally created a new empire in the West,--the Stamp +Act, the duty on tea, the Boston Port bill. Their very names still stir +the patriotic blood of America. The principle at issue was clearly +announced in the battle cry, "No taxation without representation." +Franklin was a stanch advocate of the American claims, and threw all +the weight of his personal influence and of his eloquent pen into the +work. But in one respect he seems to have been deceived: during the +first years of his mission he held Parliament responsible for all the +tyrannical measures against the colonies, and looked upon the king as +their natural protector. It was a feeling common among Americans who +wished to preserve their allegiance to the empire while protesting +against the authority of the laws. Even as late as 1771 he could write +these words about George III: "I can scarcely conceive a king of better +dispositions, of more exemplary virtues, or more truly desirous of +promoting the welfare of his subjects." When at last the bigoted +character of that sovereign was fully revealed to him, he despaired +utterly of reconciliation with the mother country. + +Franklin's labors may well be portrayed in two dramatic incidents: his +examination before Parliament in 1766, and the so-called Privy Council +outrage in 1774. + +After the passage of the Stamp Act, Franklin wrote to a friend: "Depend +upon it, my good neighbor, I took every step in my power to prevent the +passing of the Stamp Act. Nobody could be more concerned and interested +than myself to oppose it sincerely and heartily.... 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 can 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." But Franklin's +philosophical habit of accepting the inevitable,--a habit which for a +time brought him the hostility of such strenuous patriots as the +Adamses,--did not prevent him from doing all in his power to further +the repeal of that act when the matter was again taken up by +Parliament. Nor did America lack friends in Parliament itself, and +these gentlemen now arranged that Franklin should give testimony before +the bar of the House. + +In the examination which followed, Franklin showed the fullness of his +knowledge and the keenness of his wit better perhaps than in any other +act of his life. It is impossible to give at length the replies with +which he aided the friends of repeal and baffled its foes; but a few of +his answers may indicate the nature of all. + +_Q._ "What was the temper of America towards Great Britain before the +year 1763?" + +_A._ "The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government +of the Crown, and paid in their courts obedience to acts of Parliament.... +They had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain; for +its laws, its customs, and manners; and even a fondness for its +fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain were +always treated with particular regard; to be an _Old England man_ was, +of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among +us." + +_Q._ "What is their temper now?" + +_A._ "Oh, very much altered." + +_Q._ "How would the Americans receive a future tax, imposed on the same +principle as the Stamp Act?" + +_A._ "Just as they do the Stamp Act; _they would not pay it_". + +_Q._ "Would the colonists prefer to forego the collection of debts by +legal process rather than use stamped paper?" + +_A._ "I can only judge what other people will think and how they will +act by what I feel within myself. I have a great many debts due to me +in America, and I had rather they should remain unrecoverable by any +law than submit to the Stamp Act. They will be debts of honor." + +The examination was a complete success; not even the Tories could +object to it, and to Burke it seemed like the examination of a master +by a parcel of schoolboys. A few days later the repeal was carried. + +But the relief was only temporary, and Parliament soon returned to its +high-handed measures of repression. One day in the midst of the contest +Franklin was talking with a friendly member of Parliament and +inveighing against the violence of the government towards Boston. The +Englishman replied that these measures of repression did not originate +in England, and to prove his assertion placed in Franklin's hands a +packet of letters written by Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts, and +others to a member of Parliament with the intention of reaching the +ears of Lord Grenville. These letters, written by native-born +Americans, advised the quartering of troops on Boston, advocated the +making of judges and governors dependent on England for their salaries, +and were full of such sentiments as that "there must be an abridgment +of what are called English liberties." Franklin by permission sent them +to Boston, where they naturally raised a furor of indignation. A +petition was immediately sent over to have Governor Hutchinson removed +from office, but for a while government took no action. After a time +the letters got into the London newspapers with the most deplorable +result. One Thomas Whately, brother of the gentleman to whom they had +been addressed, was accused of purloining the letters and sending them +to America. This caused a duel, and a second duel was about to be +fought when Franklin published a note in the "Public Advertiser" +avowing that the letters had not passed through Mr. Whately's hands, +that he himself was responsible for sending them to Boston, and that no +blame could be attached to the action as the letters were really of a +public nature. The Tories now saw their opportunity to attack Franklin. +The petition for removing Hutchinson was taken up by the Committee for +Plantation Affairs, and Franklin was summoned to appear before them. +Wedderburn, the king's solicitor-general, was there to speak for +Hutchinson, and Franklin, having no counsel, had the proceedings +delayed for three weeks. + +On the appointed day the Council met in a building called the Cockpit, +and Franklin appeared before them. The room was furnished with a long +table down the middle, at which the lords sat. At one end of the room +was a fireplace, and in a recess at one side of the chimney Franklin +stood during the whole meeting. His advocates spoke, but without much +effect, and the defense of Hutchinson was then taken up by Wedderburn. +But instead of arguing the point at issue, Wedderburn made it the +occasion for delivering, much to the delight of the Tory lords present, +a long and utterly unjustified tirade against Franklin. With thunderous +voice and violent beating of his fist on the cushion before him, he +denounced Franklin as the "prime mover of this whole contrivance +against his majesty's two governors." Although the letters had been +given to Franklin for the express purpose of having them conveyed to +America, Wedderburn accused him of base treachery; turning to the +committee he said: "I hope, my Lords, you will mark and brand the man, +for the honor of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Private +correspondence has hitherto been held sacred, in times of the greatest +party rage, not only in politics but religion." "He has forfeited all +the respect of societies and of men. Into what companies will he +hereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of +virtue? Men will watch him with a jealous eye; they will hide their +papers from him, and lock up their escritoirs. He will henceforth +esteem it a libel to be called _a man of letters_; _homo TRIUM +litterarum_ (i.e., _fur_, thief)!" "But he not only took away the +letters from one brother; but kept himself concealed till he nearly +occasioned the murder of the other. It is impossible to read his +account, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, without +horror." "Amidst these tragical events, of one person nearly murdered, +of another answerable for the issue, of a worthy governor hurt in his +dearest interests, the fate of America in suspense; here is a man, who, +with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself +the author of all. I can compare it only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's +"Revenge";-- + + "'Know then 'twas--I; + I forged the letter, I disposed the picture; + I hated, I despised, and I destroy.' + +I ask, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed, by poetic +fiction only, to the bloody African is not surpassed by the coolness +and apathy of the wily American?" + +The picture of Franklin standing unmoved under this torrent of abuse +is, I think, the most dramatic incident of his life. It was a victory +of glorious endurance; it was the crown of unmerited infamy which was +needed to give depth of interest to his successful career. An +eyewitness thus described the scene: "Dr. Franklin's face was directed +towards me, and I had a full, uninterrupted view of it, and his person, +during the whole time in which Mr. Wedderburn spoke. The Doctor was +dressed in a full dress suit of spotted Manchester velvet, and stood +_conspicuously erect_ without the smallest movement of any part of his +body. The muscles of his face had been previously composed, so as to +afford a placid, tranquil expression of countenance, and he did not +suffer the slightest alteration of it to appear during the continuance +of the speech, in which he was so harshly and improperly treated. In +short, to quote the words which he employed concerning himself on +another occasion, he kept his 'countenance as immovable as if his +features had been made of _wood_.'" + +Fortunately, to sustain him in these trials, Franklin had a cheerful +home and the society of the best men in England. He was living at the +old house on Craven Street, where Mrs. Stevenson did all in her power +to make him forget that he was an exile. Indeed, were it not that Mrs. +Franklin had an unconquerable dread of crossing the water, it is quite +possible that our philosopher might have carried his family to England +and lived permanently among his new friends; and in estimating the +services of Franklin to America we should never forget to give due +credit to his loyal wife who stayed quietly at home, managing his +affairs for him in Philadelphia and keeping warm his attachment for his +adopted city. Besides the eminent statesmen, such as Pitt and Burke, +with whom Franklin's business brought him naturally in contact, he +associated much with liberal clergymen,--with Priestley particularly, +the discoverer of oxygen, and with the family of the good Bishop of St. +Asaph's, at whose house he had almost a second home. To one of the +bishop's daughters he sent the inimitable epitaph on the squirrel Mungo +which he had given her as a present from America. The influence for +good is almost incalculable which Franklin thus exercised by the noble +type of American character he displayed to the liberal party in +England. + +Nor did he ever lose an opportunity to accomplish what he could with +the pen. At one time, to lay bare the suicidal policy of the +government, he published in a newspaper a satirical squib quite in the +vein of Dean Swift, entitled "Rules for reducing a Great Empire to a +Small One." The opening sentences were as follows: "An ancient sage +valued himself upon this, that, though he could not fiddle, he knew how +to make a great city of a little one. The science that I, a modern +simpleton, am about to communicate, is the very reverse;" and with this +introduction the author proceeds to give a detailed account of the +treatment of the colonies by Parliament. + +In another paper Franklin reduced certain arguments of the ministry to +the absurd. This was a pretended "Edict of the King of Prussia," in +which Frederick was supposed to announce the same sovereignty over +England, which had been originally settled by Germans, as Parliament +now claimed over America. Speaking of these two papers Franklin says, +in a letter to his son: "I sent you one of the first, but could not get +enough of the second to spare you one, though my clerk went the next +morning to the printer's, and wherever they were sold.... I am not +suspected as the author, except by one or two friends; and have heard +the latter spoken of in the highest terms, as the keenest and severest +piece that has appeared here a long time. Lord Mansfield, I hear, said +of it, that it _was very ABLE and very ARTFUL indeed_; and would do +mischief by giving here a bad impression of the measures of government; +and in the colonies, by encouraging them in their contumacy.... What +made it the more noticed here was, that people in reading it were, as +the phrase is, _taken in_, till they had got half through it, and +imagined it a real edict, to which mistake I suppose the King of +Prussia's _character_ must have contributed. 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." + +After the Privy Council outrage there was very little for Franklin to +do. Lord Chatham consulted with him before introducing in Parliament a +liberal bill for conciliating the colonies, and Franklin himself was +present in the House of Lords when the old statesman, despite the +protests of his gout, plead for fairer measures. It may very well be +that if these troubles had occurred in Chatham's vigorous days he might +have been able to preserve the integrity of the empire. But now he was +crippled by the gout and debarred from active life; and in the +interesting "Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout" the philosopher +might have retorted upon that exacting lady the mischief she had done +his people by laming Pitt. Again Franklin had to stand the bitter +denunciation of the Tories, while Lord Sandwich held him up as "one of +the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had ever +known;" but he also had the satisfaction of hearing a noble eulogy of +his character pronounced by the great Chatham. + +Then, after a good deal of secret negotiation with Lord Howe, Franklin +reluctantly abandoned the situation and turned homeward. His last day +in London was passed with Dr. Priestley, who has left an interesting +record of their conversation. He says of Franklin that "the unity of +the British empire in all its parts was a favorite idea of his. He used +to compare it to a beautiful china vase, which, if ever broken, could +never be put together again; and so great an admirer was he of the +British constitution that he said he saw no inconvenience from its +being extended over a great part of the globe. With these sentiments he +left England." + + + + +VI + +MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND ENVOY TO FRANCE + + +Franklin reached Philadelphia May 5, 1775; and what a home-coming it +was! His wife had died, and he was now to live with his daughter Mrs. +Bache. The battle of Lexington had been fought while he was at sea, and +the whole country was in a ferment of excitement. It was in regard to +this battle, it may be remembered, that he uttered one of his famous +witticisms. To a critic who accused the Americans of cowardice for +firing from behind stone walls, he replied: "I beg to inquire if those +same walls had not two sides to them?" + +He received the most honorable welcome home, and on the very morning +after his arrival was unanimously chosen one of the Pennsylvania +delegates to the Continental Congress about to meet in Philadelphia. + +Our philosopher, now seventy years old, had come home to rest, but +found himself instead in the very vortex of public affairs. He was a +member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety and a burgess in the +Assembly, but later he gave himself entirely to Congress. Afterwards +when in Paris he declared that he used to work twelve hours out of the +twenty-four on public business. His part in Congress was one of +conciliation between conflicting interests,--a role he was admirably +adapted to fill. Very early he proposed, as he had done at Albany, a +union of the thirteen colonies, but the times were not yet ripe for +such a measure. + +Of the great act of this Congress, the Declaration of Independence, +Franklin's share was small, as might be inferred from the nature of the +man. He did indeed serve with Jefferson and three others on the +committee appointed to draft this document, but, as every one knows, +the actual writing of the Declaration was the work of Jefferson. +Franklin is chiefly remembered for one or two witticisms in connection +with the affair. "We must be unanimous," said Hancock, when it came to +signing the document, "there must be no pulling different ways; we must +all hang together." "Yes," replied Franklin, "we must, indeed, all hang +together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." + +Over Franklin's manifold occupations we may now pass rapidly, for, +though he was connected with almost every prominent transaction of the +times, yet he was not a true leader of the revolutionary movement. He +was easily the most illustrious man in America, and, since the death of +Jonathan Edwards, the most intellectual; but his mind was inquisitive +and contemplative rather than aggressive, and rougher hands were now +needed at the helm. He acted as postmaster for the colonies, and served +on many committees. So, for instance, he went with John Adams and +Edward Rutledge to confer with Lord Howe on Staten Island. The embassy, +however, came to nothing, as Lord Howe utterly refused to treat with +them as envoys of a Congress whose existence he could not acknowledge. +It was too late for negotiations. And now we are to see Franklin in a +new part. + +Of the great leaders of the Revolution each had his peculiar task. +There was Samuel Adams in Boston, the herald of division and battle, +whose office it was to make clear the mind of the country and to stir +up in the people the proper enthusiasm; there was Thomas Jefferson, +imbued with French eighteenth-century notions of the rights of man, +incapable perhaps of distinguishing between theory and fact, but for +that very reason suited to formulate the national Declaration of +Independence, a document not rigorously true in philosophy but +inimitable as the battle cry of freedom and progress; there was +Washington, whose military genius, indomitable will, and noble solidity +of character were able to carry the war through to the end; and there +was Franklin, too cool-headed ever to have inflamed the hearts of the +people with the inspiration of hope and revenge, incapable of uttering +political platitudes which could express tersely the national feeling, +a lover of peace and without the grim determination of a soldier, but +still able in his own way to serve the state more effectually perhaps +than any other man except the great Captain himself. It was absolutely +necessary, both for actual help in money and arms and for moral +support, that the young nation should receive recognition abroad. To +win this recognition was just the task of Franklin. Already he was +known personally to many of the leading spirits of England and the +Continent. The respect and friendship felt for him by Burke, Fox, Lord +Shelburne, Lord Rockingham, did much to augment the power of the +opposition in England, and on the Continent the high reputation of +Franklin as a philosopher and statesman contributed largely to the +general confidence in the ultimate success of the rebellion. + +The first really important communication from Europe came to Congress +through Dr. Dubourg, of Paris, who wrote a long letter to Franklin, +addressing him as "My dear Master," and assuring him of the sympathies +of France. Congress hereupon appointed Franklin, Silas Deane, and +Arthur Lee commissioners to Paris, the two last being already in +Europe. + +Before departing Franklin got together what money he could, "between +three and four thousand pounds," and lent it to Congress; he then +sailed with his two grandsons, William Temple Franklin and Benjamin +Franklin Bache, reaching Paris December 21, 1776. Considering the +dangers and hardships of the voyage this was no light undertaking for a +man of his age, and he was in fact physically exhausted when he arrived +on the other side. + +Franklin came now to reap the fruits of a long and well spent life. His +personal fame aided him in a land where philosophers had become the +fashion of the day, and as the representative of a people struggling +for liberty he was peculiarly dear to the French, who were themselves +speculating on such matters and preparing for their own revolution. It +is of course easy to exaggerate the influence of sentiment in the case. +France was glad to encourage America because the loss of the colonies +would weaken the British Empire, and that was natural; but it is, I +think, a mistake not to acknowledge the generous sentiments of the +people and even of the grandees of the land. Voltaire and Rousseau had +not been preaching in vain; the American Declaration of Independence +was quite in the drift of French political ideas. But to awaken trust +in a people who dwelt in a far-off wilderness and who were commonly +esteemed little better than savages, the presence of such a man as +Franklin was of incalculable value. + +After a brief interval M. de Chaumont, one of the wealthy Frenchmen of +the day, offered Franklin rooms at Passy in his Hotel de Valentinois, +and there our philosopher fixed his abode, living in some style, and +spending perhaps about thirteen thousand dollars a year. His popularity +was immediate and almost unexampled. The great people of +France--philosophers, statesmen, titled noblemen, and fine +ladies--thought it an honor to receive the famous American; and it is +said that so great was his fame among the common people that the +shopkeepers would run to their doors to see him pass down the street. +Innumerable pictures were drawn and medallions cut of his figure, +until, as he wrote, his countenance was made "as well known as that of +the moon, so that he durst not do anything that would oblige him to run +away, as his phiz would discover him wherever he should venture to show +it." Parton quotes this interesting account of the commissioners from +the Memoirs of Count Sigur: "Nothing could be more striking than ... +the almost rustic apparel, the plain but firm demeanor, the free and +direct language, of the envoys, whose antique simplicity of dress and +appearance seemed to have introduced within our walls, in the midst of +the effeminate and servile refinement of the eighteenth century, some +sages contemporary with Plato, or republicans of the age of Cato and of +Fabius. This unexpected apparition produced upon us a greater effect in +consequence of its novelty, and of its occurring precisely at the +period when literature and philosophy had circulated amongst us an +unusual desire for reforms, a disposition to encourage innovations, and +the seeds of an ardent attachment to liberty." + +But life was not all roseate for Franklin; he and the other envoys had +plenty of work to do. Among other things an endless number of foreign +officers applied to Franklin for commissions in the American army. Some +of these applicants--such as Lafayette and Steuben--were heartily +welcome, and really aided the cause; but he was beset by innumerable +others who would have been merely a burden on the army. For men of this +stamp he drew up and actually used more than once a blank +recommendation beginning with these ominous words: "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," etc. +He was also kept busy managing the affairs of the small but active +navy, which was largely fitted out in France, and which brought most of +its prizes into French ports. But of all his labors the most difficult +and the most important was the raising of money for Congress. Into the +details of this exasperating task we cannot here enter. Congress was +not wise, and its necessities were desperate, and, despite the +generosity of the French court, he had often to employ extreme measures +to borrow money on doubtful security or none at all. + +To excite interest in favor of the colonies Franklin wrote several +papers, whose practical ideas of political liberty were not without +effect in guiding the French people on to their own revolution. Even +the wit of "the old fox," as he was called in England, appealed +strongly to that nation of esprit. So, for instance, when asked if a +certain story of American defeat told by Lord Stormont, the British +ambassador, was a truth, he answered: "No, monsieur, it is not a truth; +it is only a Stormont." And straightway "a stormont" became the polite +word for a lie. Again, when told that Howe had taken Philadelphia he +retorted: "I beg your pardon, sir, Philadelphia has taken Howe." + +But though Franklin could maintain his philosophic calm, and could even +joke in the presence of disaster, yet the strain on his nerves was +tremendous. I believe that only once in his life was he betrayed into +manifesting a strong emotion. Mr. Austin, a messenger from Boston, is +coming with important news. All the American commissioners, together +with Beaumarchais, are at Passy waiting his arrival. His chaise is +heard in the court, and they go out to meet him. But before he even +alights Franklin cries out, "Sir, _is_ Philadelphia taken?" "Yes, sir," +says Austin. It seemed then that all was over. Without a word Franklin +clasped his hands and turned toward the house. "But, sir," said Austin, +"I have greater news than that GENERAL BURGOYNE AND HIS WHOLE ARMY ARE +PRISONERS OF WAR!" "The news," as one of the party afterwards declared, +"was like a sovereign cordial to the dying." How deep the impression +upon Franklin was we may judge from his gratitude to the messenger. Mr. +Austin relates that often he "would break from one of those musings in +which it was his habit to indulge, and clasping his hands together, +exclaim, 'Oh, Mr. Austin, you brought us glorious news!'" + +It was indeed glorious news. The result in France was instantaneous and +immense. Franklin and his companions had long wished the court to +acknowledge publicly the independence of the United States and to make +a treaty of commerce with them. The news of Burgoyne's surrender +reached Paris on the 4th of December, 1777; the desired treaty was +actually signed on the 6th of February following. Dr. Bancroft, who was +present when both parties signed the document, tells us that Franklin +on that occasion wore the old suit of Manchester velvet which he had +worn on the day of his outrage in the Privy Council, and which had been +long laid aside. It was apparently a bit of quaint and secret revenge +in which the philosopher indulged himself. But when Dr. Bancroft +intimated to Franklin his suspicions in the matter, the philosopher +only smiled, and said nothing. + +Several weeks later the new treaty was to receive formal recognition, +and the American commissioners were to be presented to Louis XVI in +their public capacity. Franklin intended to wear the regular court +costume at the presentation, but was balked of his desire. The costume +did not come in time; and when the perruquier brought his wig it +refused to sit on the Doctor's head. Franklin suggested that the wig +might be too small. "Monsieur, it is impossible," cried the perruquier, +and then, dashing the wig to the floor, exclaimed, "No, Monsieur!--it +is not the wig which is too small; it is your head which is too large." +At any rate the wig could not be worn, and Franklin appeared in his own +gray hair, dressed in black velvet, with white silk stockings, +spectacles on nose, and no sword at his side. The king received the +envoys courteously, saying: "Gentlemen, I wish the Congress to be +assured of my friendship. I beg leave also to observe that I am +exceedingly satisfied in particular with your own conduct during your +residence in my kingdom;" and with these words walked out of the +apartment. Immediately Lord Stormont, the British ambassador, left +Paris; and a few days later M. Gerard, the first minister of France to +this country, sailed for America. + +Franklin had met the king; he had now to meet a greater and more famous +man than Louis,--the only man living whose fame was equal to his own. +Voltaire, eighty-four years old, feeble in body but with intellect +unconquered, had just come to Paris after his long exile to hear the +plaudits of his countrymen, and to die. The American envoys asked +permission to wait upon the great man, and were received by Voltaire +lying on his couch. He quoted a few lines from Thomson's "Ode to +Liberty," and then began to talk with Franklin in English; but his +niece, not understanding that language, begged them to speak in French. +Whereupon Voltaire replied: "I beg your pardon. I have for a moment +yielded to the vanity of showing that I can speak in the language of a +Franklin." When Dr. Franklin presented his grandson, the old +philosopher pronounced over his head only these words: "_God and +Liberty!_" All who were present shed tears. + +John Adams tells the story of a more public meeting between the two men +at the Academy of Sciences: "Voltaire and Franklin were both present, +and there presently arose a general cry that M. Voltaire and M. +Franklin should be introduced to each other. This was done, and they +bowed and spoke to each other. This was no satisfaction; there must be +something more. Neither of our philosophers seemed to divine what was +wished or expected. They, however, took each other by the hand; but +this was not enough. The clamor continued until the exclamation came +out, 'Il faut s'embrasser a la Francaise!'[2] The two aged actors upon +this great theatre of philosophy and frivolity then embraced each other +by hugging one another in their arms and kissing each other's cheeks, +and then the tumult subsided. And the cry immediately spread throughout +the kingdom, and I suppose over all Europe, 'Qu'il etait charmant de +voir embrasser Solon et Sophocle!'"[3] + + [2] They must embrace like Frenchmen. + + [3] How charming it was to see Solon and Sophocles embrace. + +The mention of John Adams recalls us to the most disagreeable part of +Franklin's experience. During all his sojourn in France he was subject +to continual and annoying interference from his colleagues. Before his +arrival in Paris, Silas Deane had entered for Congress into +semi-commercial relations with the French government through the +eccentric and industrious Beaumarchais. Franklin was content to leave +these affairs to him, and did not at the time even know their real +nature. But with Arthur Lee it was different. Of all characters in +American history Lee is almost the hardest to endure. He was patriotic, +and in a way honest, but meddlesome, suspicious, vain, and quarrelsome +to an incredible degree. He immediately made up his mind that Deane was +peculating, and never ceased writing accusatory letters until Congress +recalled the unfortunate envoy. All this time he was also acting toward +Franklin in a manner which can only be described as insane. He fumed at +Franklin's easy way of conducting business; his vanity suffered +indescribable tortures at every mark of respect paid to his +distinguished colleague; he suspected him of treason and every other +crime; and with his partisans (whose names we need not here mention) he +wrote voluble letters of incrimination to Congress. When Silas Deane +was recalled, John Adams was sent over to take his place, and for a +while Franklin received support from his new colleague,--for Adams, +with all his faults, was at least single-hearted in his patriotism. But +their characters were too widely different for them to work easily +together in harness. Adams's vanity was almost as great as Arthur +Lee's. The homage paid to Franklin drove him almost into a frenzy of +rage, both because he thought himself overlooked and because such +homage savored of aristocracy. In Franklin's catalogue of the virtues +there were two which he could not claim to have attained,--chastity and +orderliness; and these two weaknesses now rose to exact their penalty. +Adams could not believe that a man who had been lax with women could be +honest in anything else; Adams was the spirit of petty orderliness, and +Franklin's easy ways seemed to him the destruction of all business. At +last Congress came to the rescue, and for once acted sensibly: Lee and +Adams were recalled, and Franklin was left as sole plenipotentiary in +Paris. + +With other Americans Franklin's relationship was of a pleasanter sort. +To the American navy and privateers Franklin was the American +government; and, though he was often annoyed by the unreasonable +conduct of importunate captains, yet he also shared in the glory of +their deeds. John Paul Jones was one of the many forced to endure +Arthur Lee's impertinences, and had it not been for Franklin's aid and +friendship our navy would have lost the honor of that name. At one time +Paul Jones was in Paris with no ship to command, and though he tried +every channel to obtain a vessel from the French court, was always put +off. At last, as he was reading a French translation of Poor Richard's +Almanac, his eye was struck by this sentence: "If you would have your +business done, go; if not, send." Without delay he went himself to +Versailles, and obtained an order to purchase an old ship of forty +guns. This good vessel he christened Le Bon Homme Richard, which is +French for Poor Richard, and the story of how she beat the Serapis need +not here be retold. + +Through all these difficulties in France, as before in England, +Franklin found consolation and amusement in the intellectual society of +a great capital. And what a society this was! The very list of names of +Franklin's friends is an inspiration. With the scientists of the day he +continued to discuss philosophic questions; and with the great ladies +of society he could find relaxation from his graver cares. Chess still +absorbed more of his time than his conscience approved, and there are +several well known stories of him in connection with that game. Once +when playing with the old Duchess of Bourbon, the lady happened to put +her king into prize, and the Doctor took it. "Ah," says she, "we do not +take kings so." "We do in America," said the Doctor; and this pleasant +joke he seems to have repeated several times in different forms. To +Madame Brillon, a wealthy and amiable lady of the neighborhood, he +wrote a number of those clever sketches which might well find a place +in the "Spectator,"--such as The Ephemera, The Petition of the Left +Hand, The Whistle, The Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout, and +others almost as well known. + +One of his best friends was Madame Helvetius, widow of the celebrated +philosopher, and it was to her he wrote his famous dream ending with +the words, "Let us avenge ourselves." We must at least find space for +Mrs. Adams's curious account of that lady: "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 maid 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, 'Helas! 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 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." + +Another house to which Franklin was welcome was that of the Countess +d'Houdetot celebrated for her part in the life of Rousseau. It was at +her chateau that Franklin had to undergo the ordeal of such a +glorification as must have tried his philosophic nerves to the +uttermost. The chronicler of the occasion declares that "the venerable +sage, with his gray hair flowing down upon his shoulders, his staff in +hand, the spectacles of wisdom on his nose, was the perfect picture of +true philosophy and virtue." But the "sage" must have found his virtue +a burden on that day. He was escorted through the grounds; wine was +poured out freely; music was played, and the company in turn celebrated +the guest in stanzas which were none the less fulsome because they were +true. The ceremony closed with the planting of a Virginia locust by the +Doctor. + +The surrender of Burgoyne in 1777 had brought about the treaty with +France; the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, four years later, was +the beginning of peace and the cause of the treaty with England. What +effect the news of Cornwallis's defeat had in England; how Lord North, +the Prime Minister, received the message "as he would have taken a ball +in his breast," walking wildly up and down the room, tossing his arms, +and crying out, "Oh God! it is all over! it is all over!"--all this is +known to everybody. + +The diplomacy which now passed between the belligerent parties is a +most complicated chapter of history. Franklin, Jay, and Adams were +appointed by Congress to treat with England concerning peace, with +instructions to consult the French government in every measure. The +first difficulty was one of form. England was ready to sign a treaty of +peace and acknowledge the independence of the colonies; but the envoy +sent to Paris for this purpose was empowered to treat only with +commissioners of the "colonies or plantations," and Jay and Adams felt +incensed that the United States did not receive recognition by name. +Franklin regarded the matter as a mere formality and was eager to push +on the proceedings; but his colleagues were obdurate, and after some +delay England made the required recognition. Three important points had +then to be settled: 1. Whether the Americans should be allowed to fish +on the New Foundland banks; 2. Whether the western boundary should +extend to the Mississippi River; 3. Whether the United States +government should reimburse the losses of the Tories. + +Adams, who as a Bostonian understood the importance of the first +measure, insisted stubbornly that England should cede this point, and +finally won the day. That the United States were not confined to a +strip of land along the seacoast was chiefly due to Jay. And here a new +complication came in. Jay had from the first suspected that France was +playing a double game, and convincing evidence of duplicity now fell +into his hands. To obtain concessions for herself, France was secretly +encouraging England to refuse the American claims on the New Foundland +fishing banks and on the territory lying between the Alleghanies and +the Mississippi. Jay thereupon insisted that the American envoys should +treat secretly with England without consulting the French court, and +Adams sided with him. Franklin was at first much averse to this mode of +procedure, both because Congress had distinctly commanded them to act +in concert with Versailles, and because he could not believe in the +treachery of his French friends. When, however, Jay laid the matter +clearly before him he gave up the point, and the negotiations +proceeded. England acknowledged the American right to the western +territory, but was more obstinate in regard to the Tory +indemnification. Franklin was willing to grant this if England in +return would cede Canada to the American union, and for a time the +question was debated in this form. Finally a compromise was adopted, +Congress promising to recommend to the state legislatures "to restore +the estates, rights, and properties of real British subjects,"--which +was of course a concession in words only, as Congress had no authority +to enforce such a recommendation. The preliminary treaty between +England and America was signed November 30, 1782, and Franklin had at +once to appease the wrath of the French government which felt it had +been duped. With consummate skill he accomplished this task, and all +the vexing questions at issue were settled by the signing, on September +3, 1783, of separate definitive treaties between the three hostile +powers. + +Franklin's great work was done. He had before this urged Congress to +release him from his heavy duties, and at last--in 1785, after he had +assisted in making treaties with the other powers of Europe--his +resignation was accepted, and he was free to return home. Thomas +Jefferson came over to Paris as plenipotentiary in his stead. When +asked if he replaced Dr. Franklin, Jefferson used to reply: "I +_succeed_. No one can _replace_ him." + +Franklin returned to Philadelphia laden with years and honors; yet +still his country could not let him repose. For three successive years +he was elected President of Pennsylvania; but the labors entailed were +not severe, and the old man found time for amusement and quiet study. +We have a beautiful picture of his life at home with his daughter and +her family in one of his letters of the time: "The companions of my +youth are indeed almost all departed; but I find an agreeable society +among their children and grandchildren. I have public business enough +to preserve me from ennui, and private amusement besides in +conversation, books, my garden, and cribbage. Considering our +well-furnished, plentiful market as the best of gardens, I am turning +mine, in the midst of which my house stands, into grass plots and +gravel walks, with trees and flowering shrubs. Cards we sometimes play +here in long winter evenings; but it is as they play at chess,--not for +money, but for honor, or the pleasure of beating one another. This will +not be quite a novelty to you, as you may remember we played together +in that manner during the winter at Passy. I have indeed now and then a +little compunction in reflecting that I spend time so idly. But another +reflection comes to relieve me, whispering: '_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?_' 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." Yet the old man could not but +feel lonely at times in the new society growing up about him. He says +pathetically in another letter: "I seem to have intruded myself into +the company of posterity, when I ought to have been abed and asleep." + +In 1787 the constitutional convention met in Philadelphia, and it was a +fitting thing that the statesman and philosopher should live to aid in +framing laws by which his country is still governed. He was now too +weak to stand long, so that his speeches on various questions had to be +read out by a friend. His work in the convention was altogether +subordinate to that of Madison and one or two other leading spirits; +but his part in reconciling various factious elements in the convention +was of the greatest importance. When at last the deadlock came between +the smaller and the larger States on the question of representation in +the legislature, it was Franklin who saved the day by a suggestion +which led to the famous compromise, making the Senate represent the +individual States, while the lower house is proportioned to population. +Washington presided over the assembly; and we are told that while "the +last members were signing, 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.'" + +It was, however, the setting sun for Franklin. The few years that +remained to him were peaceful and noble; but his old maladies increased +on him, until at the last he was confined to his bed. Yet through it +all he showed the same untiring energy. He wrote against the study of +the classics, against the abuse of the liberty of the press, and from +his very deathbed sent out a stinging letter against slavery. The end +was come: at eleven o'clock at night, April 17, 1790, he passed away. +Philadelphia knew that she had lost her most distinguished citizen, and +he was followed to the grave by a procession including all that was +honorable in the city. + +In closing this brief Life of a great and good man we cannot do better +than quote the words sent to him by America's greatest citizen: "If to +be venerated for benevolence, if to be admired for talent, if to be +esteemed for patriotism, if to be beloved for philanthropy, can gratify +the human mind, you must have the pleasing consolation to know that you +have not lived in vain. And I flatter myself that it will not be ranked +among the least grateful occurrences of your life to be assured that so +long as I retain my memory you will be recollected with respect, +veneration, and affection by your sincere friend." To receive such +praise from Washington is sufficient answer to all the petty cavils +that have been raised against the memory of Benjamin Franklin. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Benjamin Franklin, by Paul Elmer More + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENJAMIN FRANKLIN *** + +***** This file should be named 29482.txt or 29482.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/8/29482/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +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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