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 COMPANYBOSTON AND NEW YORK

The Riverside Biographical Series

NUMBER 3

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

By

PAUL ELMER MORE

BOSTON AND NEW YORKHOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANYThe Riverside Press Cambridge

COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY PAUL E. MOREALL 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, amongother marks of respect, this significant honor by one of therevolutionary clubs: in the café where the members met, his bust wascrowned with oak-leaves, and on the pedestal below was engraved thesingle word VIR. This simple encomium, calling to mind Napoleon's _Thisis a man_ after meeting Goethe, sums up better than a volume of eulogywhat Franklin was in his own day and what his life may still signify tous. He acted at one time as a commander of troops, yet cannot be calleda soldier; he was a great statesman, yet not among the greatest; hemade famous discoveries in science, yet was scarcely a professionalscientist; he was lauded as a philosopher, yet barely outstepped theregion of common sense; he wrote ever as a moralist, yet in somerespects lived a free life; he is one of the few great Americanauthors, yet never published a book; he was a shrewd economist, yetleft at his death only a moderate fortune; he accomplished much as aphilanthropist, yet never sacrificed his own weal. Above all and in allthings he was a man, able to cope with every chance of life and wringprofit out of it; he had perhaps the alertest mind of any man of thatalert century. In his shrewdness, versatility, self-reliance, wit, asalso in his lack of the deeper reverence and imagination, he, I think, more than any other man who has yet lived, represents the full Americancharacter. And so in studying his life, though at times we may wishthat to his practical intelligence were added the fervid insight ofJonathan Edwards, who was his only intellectual equal in the colonies, or the serene faith of an Emerson, who was born "within a kite string'sdistance" of his birthplace in Boston, yet in the end we are borne awayby the wonderful openness and rectitude of his mind, and are willing togrant him his high representative position. 

Franklin's ancestors were of the sturdy sort that have made thestrength of the Anglo-Saxon race. For three hundred years at least hisfamily had lived on a freehold of thirty acres in the village of Ecton, Northamptonshire; and for many generations father and son had beensmiths. Parton, in his capital Life of Franklin, has observed thatWashington's ancestors lived in the same county, although much higherin the social scale; and it may well have been that more than one ofFranklin's ancestors "tightened a rivet in the armor or replaced a shoeupon the horse of a Washington, or doffed his cap to a Washingtonriding past the ancestral forge. " During these long years the familyseems to have gathered strength from the soil, as families are wont todo. Seeing how the Franklins, when the fit of emigrating seized uponthem, blossomed out momentarily, and then dwindled away, we arereminded of Poor Richard's wise observation, --

 "I never saw an oft-removëd tree Nor yet an oft-removëd family That throve so well as those that settled be. "

About the year 1685, Josiah Franklin, the youngest of four sons, camewith his wife and three children to Boston. He had been a dyer in theold home, but now in New England, finding little to be done in thisline, he set up as a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, and prospered ina small way. By his first wife he had four more children, and then by asecond wife ten others, --a goodly sheaf of seventeen, among whomBenjamin, 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 heartin doggerel rhymes. In his "Looking-Glass for the Times" he appealsboldly for liberty of conscience in behalf of the persecutedAnabaptists and Quakers, and we are not surprised that Franklin shouldhave commended the manly freedom of these crude verses. Young Benjaminwas open to every influence about him, and something of the large andimmovable tolerance of his nature may have been caught from old PeterFolger, his grandfather. We can imagine with what relish that sturdyProtestant, if he had lived so long, would have received Benjamin'sfamous "Parable against Persecution, " which the author used to pretendto read as the last chapter of Genesis, to the great mystification ofhis audience, --"And it came to pass after these things that Abraham satin the door of his tent, " etc. Try the trick to-day, and you will findmost of your hearers equally mystified, so perfectly has Franklinimitated the tone of Old Testament language. 

But we forget that our hero, like Tristram Shandy, is still in thelimbo 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 wastaken the day of his birth, tradition asserting that his own mothercarried him thither through the snow. Shortly afterwards the familymoved to a wooden house on the corner of Hanover and Union streets. 

Naturally in so large a family, where the means of support were soslender, young Benjamin had to get most of his education outside of theschoolroom, and something of this practical unscholastic training clungto his mind always. Perhaps this was just as well in that age andplace, where theology and education were synonymous terms. Certainlyhis consequent lack of deep root in the past and his impressionability, though limitations to his genius, make him the more typical of Americanintelligence. 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 ofMr. George Brownell, a teacher of the three R's. Benjamin had learnedto read so young that he himself could not remember being unable toread, and at school he did notably well. It is curious, however, thathe found difficulty with his arithmetic, and was never a mathematician, though later in life he became skillful in dealing with figures. Noerror could be greater than Carlyle's statement that ability inmathematics is a test of intelligence. Goethe, scientist as well aspoet, could never learn algebra; and Faraday, the creator of electricalscience, knew no mathematics at all. 

When ten years old the lad was taken from school and set to work underhis father. But his education was by no means ended. There is atemptation to dwell on these early formative years because he himselfwas so fond of deducing lessons from the little occurrences of hisboyhood; nor do I know any life that shows a more consistentdevelopment from beginning to end. There is, too, a peculiar charm inhearing the world-famous philosopher discourse on these pettyhappenings 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 inParis the story of "The Whistle. " One day when he was seven years oldhis pocket was filled with coppers, and he immediately started for theshop to buy toys. On the way he met a boy with a whistle, and was socharmed with the sound of it that he gave all his money for one. Ofcourse his kind brothers and sisters laughed at him for his extravagantbargain, and his chagrin was so great that he adopted as one of hismaxims 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 metwith many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle, --mensacrificing time and liberty and virtue for court favor; misers, givingup comfort and esteem and the joy of doing good for wealth; otherssacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind and fortune andhealth to mere corporal sensations, and all the other follies ofexorbitant desire. 

Another experience, this time a more painful lesson in honesty, herelates in his Autobiography. Having one day stolen some stones from anunfinished house while the builders were away, he and his comradesbuilt up a wharf where they might stand and fish for minnows in themill-pond. They were discovered, complained of, and corrected by theirfathers; "and though I demonstrated the utility of our work, " saysFranklin, "mine convinced me that that which was not honest could notbe truly useful. "

It is interesting, too, to see the boy showing the same experimentalaptitude which brought scientific renown to the man. Like all Americanboys living on the coast, he was strongly attracted to the water, andearly learned to swim. But ordinary swimming was not enough forBenjamin: with some skill he made a pair of wooden paddles for hishands, which enabled him to move through the water very rapidly, although, as he says, they tired his wrists. Another time he combinedthe two joyful pursuits of swimming and kite-flying in such a mannerperhaps as no boy before him had ever conceived. Lying on his back, heheld in his hands the stick to which the kite-string was attached, andthus "was drawn along the surface of the water in a very agreeablemanner. " Later in life he said he thought it not impossible to cross inthis manner from Dover to Calais. "But the packet-boat is stillpreferable, " he added. We shall see how he managed to put even hisknowledge of swimming to practical use; and kite-flying, every oneknows, served him in his most notable electrical experiment. Certainly, if it could ever be said of any one, it might be said of him, "Thechild is father of the man. "

But swimming and boyish play formed a small, though it may beimportant, 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; andthe good libraries of the country were composed chiefly of greattheological volumes in folio on the shelves of the clergymen's studies. But in one way and another Franklin contrived to lay hands on the foodhe 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 thusset aside half his board money to increase his library. He also madethe acquaintance of the booksellers' apprentices from whom he couldborrow books; and often he would read late into the night so as toreturn the purloined volume early the next morning. 

The first book he owned was the "Pilgrim's Progress, " which remained afavorite with him through life and even served to a certain extent as amodel for his own work. This book he sold to buy Burton's "HistoricalCollections" in forty volumes. His father's library was mainlytheological, and the young lad was courageous enough to browse even inthis dry pasture, but to his little profit as he thought. There was, however, a book on his father's shelves which was admirably suited totrain one destined himself to play a large part in a great drama ofhistory. Where could patriotism and fortitude of character better belearnt than in Plutarch? and Plutarch he read "abundantly" and thoughthis "time spent to great advantage. " That was in the good days beforechildren's books and boys' books were printed. In place of--whom shallwe say, Henty or Abbott or another?--boys, if they read at all, readPlutarch and the "Spectator. " They came to the intellectual tasks ofmanhood with their minds braced by manly reading and not deboshed bysilly or at best juvenile literature. It is safe to say that no bookwritten primarily for a boy is a good book for a boy to read. Apartfrom lessons in generous living, Franklin may have had his naturaltendency to moralize strengthened by this study of Plutarch. It isindeed notable that in one respect eighteenth-century literature hasmarked affinity with the Greek. The writers of that age, and among themFranklin, were like the Greeks distinctly ethical. In telling a storyor 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 bementioned. An odd volume of the "Spectator" coming into his hands, heread the essays over and over and took them deliberately as a model inlanguage. 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 thevolumes of Addison. " His method of work was "to make short hints of thesentiments in each sentence, " lay these by for a few days, and thenhaving reconstructed the essay from his notes to compare his versionwith the original. Sometimes he jumbled the collection of hints intoconfusion and thus made a study of construction as well as of style; oragain he turned an essay into verse and after a while converted it backinto prose. And this we believe to be the true method of acquiring agood style, more efficacious than any English course in HarvardCollege. 

At sixteen he was reading Locke "On Human Understanding, "--very strongmeat for a boy--and the Port Royal "Art of Thinking. " From Xenophon's"Memorable Things of Socrates" he acquired a lesson which he neverforgot and which he always esteemed of importance in his education. This was the skillful assumption of ignorance or uncertainty indispute, the so-called "irony" of Socrates. At first he employed thisironical method to trap his opponents into making unwary statementsthat led to their confusion; and in this way he grew expert inobtaining victories that, as he said, neither he nor his causedeserved. Accordingly he afterwards gave up this form of sophistry andonly retained the habit of expressing himself in terms of modestdiffidence, always saying: He conceived or imagined such a thing to beso, 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 thetallow-chandler business; but his distaste for this trade was so greatthat his father, fearing the boy would run away to sea, began to lookabout for other employment for him. He took the lad to see "joiners, brick-layers, turners, braziers, etc. , at their work, " in order todiscover where the boy's inclination lay. And this event of his boyhoodhe as an old man remembered, saying, that it had ever since been apleasure to him to see good workmen handle their tools, and adding thatit was useful to him in his business and science to have learned somuch in the way of handicraft. At length Benjamin's love of booksdetermined his occupation, and like many another famous author he wasset to the printing-press. In 1717 his brother James had come back fromEngland with a press and letters, and at the age of twelve Benjamin wasbound to his brother as an apprentice. 

James soon discovered Benjamin's cleverness with the pen and inducedhim to compose two ballads, "The Light-House Tragedy, " being the storyof a recent shipwreck, and "Blackbeard, " a sailor's song on the captureof that notorious pirate. These ballads, which the author frankly, andno doubt truthfully, describes as "wretched stuff, " were printed andhawked about the streets by the boy. "The Light-House Tragedy" at leastsold prodigiously, and the boy's vanity was correspondingly flattered;but the father stepped in and discouraged such work, warning Benjaminthat "verse-makers were generally beggars. " So, perhaps, we were spareda mediocre poet and given a first-rate prose writer, for the stuff ofpoetry was not in Franklin's sober brain. 

At this time the good people of Massachusetts were dependent for thenews of the world on a single paper, the "Boston News-Letter, "afterwards called the "Gazette" (and indeed there was no other paper inthe whole country), published, as was commonly the case in those days, by the postmaster of the town. But in 1721 James Franklin, much againstthe advice of his friends, started a rival paper, the "New EnglandCourant, " which the young apprentice had to carry about to subscribersafter helping it through the press. Benjamin, however, soon played amore important part than printer's devil. Several ingenious men were inthe habit of writing little Addisonian essays for the paper, andBenjamin, hearing their conversation, was fired to try his own skill. "But being still a boy, "--so he tells the story himself, --"andsuspecting that my brother would object to printing anything of mine inhis 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 theprinting-house. It was found in the morning and communicated to hiswriting friends when they called in as usual. They read it, commentedon it in my hearing, and I had the exquisite pleasure of finding it metwith their approbation, and that in their different guesses at theauthor none were named but men of some character among us for learningand ingenuity. " Naturally the lad was flattered by the success of hisruse; and he continued to send in his anonymous essays for more than ayear. They have been pretty conclusively identified as the series ofarticles signed "Silence Dogood, " and are a clever enough imitation ofthe "Spectator's" style of allegory and humorous satire, such asFranklin was fond of using all his life. The signature, too, SilenceDogood, was characteristic of the man who turned all religion into acode 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 thepress any more respected than liberty of conscience. Trouble very soonarose between the new paper and the authorities chiefly on account ofthe "Courant's" free handling of the church. Already the free-thinkingparty which afterwards formed into the Unitarian church was showing itshead, and the writers for the "Courant" were among the most outspoken. The climax was reached when one day the paper appeared with a diatribecontaining such words as these: "For my own part, when I find a manfull of religious cant and palaver, I presently suspect him to be aknave, "--a sentiment which the religious authorities very properly tookas an insult to themselves. James was arrested and imprisoned for amonth, and on his release was forbidden to print the "Courant. " Toescape this difficulty the old indenture of Benjamin was canceled andthe paper was printed in his name; at the same time, however, a newindenture was secretly made so that James might still, if he desired, claim his legal rights in the apprentice. It was a "flimsy scheme, " andheld but a little while. 

Bickerings had been constant between the two brothers, and Benjamin wasespecially resentful for the blows his master's passion too often urgedhim 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-longingwas bred in the bones of our Boston apprentice. Now at length the boywould break away; at least he would voyage to another home, though hemight give up the notion of becoming a sailor. He intimates, moreover, that the narrow bigotry of New England in religion was distasteful tohim--as we may well believe it was. Yet he always retained anaffectionate memory of the place of his birth; and only two yearsbefore his death he wrote pleasantly regarding the citizens of thattown, "for besides their general good sense, which I value, the Bostonmanner, turn of phrase, and even tone of voice and accent inpronunciation, all please and seem to refresh and revive me. " Thenewspapers of those days were full of advertisements for runawayapprentices, 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 forNew York, and in three days (some time in October, 1723) found himselfin that strange city "without the least recommendation or knowledge ofanybody in the place. " The voyage had been uneventful save for anincident which happened while they were becalmed off Block Island. Thecrew here employed themselves in catching cod, and to Franklin, at thistime a devout vegetarian, the taking of every fish seemed a kind ofunprovoked murder, since none of them had done or could do theircatchers any injury. But he had been formerly a great lover of fish, and the smell of the frying-pan was most tempting. He balanced sometime between principle and inclination, till, recollecting that whenthe fish were opened he had seen smaller fish taken out of theirstomachs, he bethought himself: "If you eat one another I don't see whywe may not eat you;" so he dined upon cod very heartily, and continuedthrough life, except at rare intervals, to eat as other people. "Soconvenient a thing it is, " he adds, "to be a reasonable creature, sinceit enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mindto do. "

II

BEGINNINGS IN PHILADELPHIA AND FIRST VOYAGE TO ENGLAND

The only printer then in New York was old William Bradford, formerly ofPhiladelphia, 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 needof another hand at the press. He told Franklin, however, that his sonat Philadelphia had lately lost his principal assistant by death, andadvised Franklin to go thither. 

Without delay Franklin set out for that place, and after a somewhatadventurous journey arrived at the Market Street wharf about eight ornine o'clock of a Sunday morning. 

Philadelphia at that time was a comfortable town of some ten thousandinhabitants, extending a mile or more along the Delaware and reachingonly a few blocks back into the country. It was a shady easy-goingplace, with pleasant gardens about the houses, and something of Quakerrepose and substantial thrift lent a charm to its busy life. Men werestill living who could remember when unbroken forests held the place ofPenn's city:--

 "And the streets still reëcho 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 adoptedhome 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 stuffedout with shirts and stockings, and he knew no one nor where to look forlodging. Fatigued with walking, rowing, and the want of sleep, he wasvery hungry; and his whole stock of cash consisted in a single dollarand about a shilling in copper coin, which he gave to the boatmen forhis passage. At first they refused it on account of his having rowed, but he insisted on their taking it. "Man is sometimes, " he adds, "moregenerous when he has little money than when he has plenty; perhaps toprevent his being thought to have but little. "

It was indeed a strange entrance for the future statesman andscientist. 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 hehad got his loaf he went straight to the same baker's. Here, after somedifficulty due to difference of names in Boston and Philadelphia, heprovided himself with three "great puffy rolls" for threepence, andwith these he started up Market Street, eating one and carrying oneunder each arm, as his pockets were already full. On the way he passedthe door of Mr. Read's house, where his future wife saw him and thoughthe made an awkward, ridiculous appearance. At Fourth Street he turnedacross to Chestnut and walked down Chestnut and Walnut, munching hisroll 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 upMarket Street again. He found a number of clean-dressed people allgoing in one direction, and by following them was led into the greatmeeting-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 theboy, being now utterly exhausted, fell into a sleep from which he wasroused only at the close of the service. 

That night he lodged at the Crooked Billet, which despite its ominousname seems to have been a comfortable inn, and the next morning, havingdressed as neatly as he could, set out to find employment. AndrewBradford had no place for him; but another printer named Keimer, whohad recently set up in business, was willing to give him work. It was aqueer house and a queer printer. There was an old damaged press, onwhich Franklin exercised his skill in repairing, and a small worn-outfont of type. Keimer himself, who seems to have been a grotesquecompound of knave and crank, was engaged at once in composing andsetting up in type an elegy on the death of a prominent young man. Heis the only poet to my knowledge who ever used the composition-stickinstead of a pen for the vehicle of inspiration. The elegy may still beread in Duyckinck's Cyclopædia, and on perusing it we may well repeatthe first line:--

 "What mournful accents thus accost mine ear!"

Now began a period of growing prosperity for our philosopher. The twoprinters of Philadelphia were poorly qualified for their business, andFranklin by his industry and intelligence soon rendered himselfindispensable to Keimer. He was making money, had discovered a fewagreeable persons to pass his evenings with, and was contented. He tooklodging with Mr. Read, and now, as he says, "made rather a morerespectable appearance in the eyes of Miss Read. "

He was even in a fair way to forget Boston when an incident occurred ofsome importance in his life. Robert Holmes, who had married his sister, being at Newcastle, forty miles below Philadelphia, heard of him andwrote entreating him to return home. To this appeal Franklin repliedgiving his reasons for leaving Boston. Now Sir William Keith, governorof Pennsylvania, chanced at this time to be at Newcastle, and, beingshown the letter by Holmes, was so much impressed with it that hedetermined to offer encouragement to the writer. Great, then, was thesurprise of Benjamin and his master when one day the governor andanother gentleman in their fine clothes called at the printing-houseand inquired for the young man. They took him to a tavern at the cornerof Third Street, and there over the Madeira the governor proposed thatBenjamin should start an independent shop, promising in this case togive him the government printing. Benjamin was skeptical, but at lastit 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 setout for his old home. Benjamin's father, however, though pleased by thegovernor's approval, thought the boy too young to assume so muchresponsibility, and sent him back to Philadelphia with no money, butwith his blessing and abundant good counsel, advising him to restrainhis natural tendency to lampoon, and telling him that by steadyindustry and prudent parsimony he might save enough by the time he wastwenty-one to set himself up, and withal promising help if he came nearthe matter. 

The return voyage was unimportant save for an amusing incident whichshowed Franklin's innocence at that time whatever he may have beenlater on, and for an agreement he made to collect a debt of thirty-fivepounds in Pennsylvania for one Vernon, --an agreement which was to costhim considerable anxiety. While stopping in New York, too, hisreputation 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 methe honor to take notice of me, and for a poor boy like me it was verypleasing. "

In New York he had picked up his old friend Collins, a companion of hischildhood, who had preceded him from Boston. Collins had passed fromlicense of belief to license of morals, and was now besotting himselfwith drink. On the way to Philadelphia Franklin had collected the moneydue to Vernon, and Collins pressed him until he drew largely on thissum to help the spendthrift. Franklin regarded this as one of the chief_errata_ of his life, and would have repented his error still moreseriously perhaps if Vernon had not allowed him time to make good thedefalcation. It was some five years before he was able to restore themoney, and then, having paid both principal and interest, he felt aload taken off his mind. 

His association with Collins came to an amusing end. Once when theywere on the Delaware with some other young men, Collins refused to rowin 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, butFranklin, being soured with his other conduct, continued to refuse. Collins swore he would make Franklin row or throw him overboard, andcame along stepping on the thwarts to carry out his threat. But hemistook his man. Franklin clapped his head under the fellow's thighsand, rising, pitched him headforemost into the river. Collins was agood swimmer, but they kept him pulling after the boat until he wasstifled with vexation and almost drowned. And that was the end of thefriendship between the two. Collins later went to the Barbadoes, thatlimbo of the unsuccessful in colonial days, and Franklin never heard ofhim again. 

With his employer, Keimer, Franklin had little sympathy, despising bothhis knavery and his false enthusiasms. Keimer wore his beard at fulllength, because somewhere in the Mosaic law it is said, "Thou shalt notmar the corners of thy beard. " He likewise kept the seventh daySabbath. Franklin disliked both practices, but agreed to them oncondition of their adopting a vegetarian diet, this whim suiting him atthe time, both because he could save money by it and because he wishedto give himself some diversion in half starving the gluttonous fanatic. Poor Keimer suffered grievously, grew tired of the project in threemonths, longed for the fleshpots of Egypt, and ordered a roast pig. Heinvited Franklin and two women friends to dine with him; but the pigbeing brought too soon upon the table, he could not resist thetemptation, and ate the whole before his guests came. 

Having to do with such a man, Franklin was very glad to accept SirWilliam Keith's offer to set him up alone. It was agreed that Franklinshould sail to London, with letters of introduction, and also withletters of credit for purchasing press, types, paper, and such like. But for one reason and another the governor delayed writing theletters, and at last Franklin actually found himself afloat and on theway to London without a word from his patron. Great was his chagrinwhen he learned during the passage that it was a habit of this amiablemagistrate to promise anything and perform nothing. Franklin's commenton the occasion displays the imperturbable justice of his mind: "Butwhat shall we think of a governor playing such pitiful tricks andimposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a habit he hadacquired. He wished to please everybody, and having little to give hegave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, sensible man, apretty good writer, and a good governor for the people, though not forhis constituents, the proprietaries. "

Franklin reached London December 24, 1724, and remained there somenineteen months, doing many things and learning many things during thistime that were of use to him in after life. But interesting as hisexperiences were, we pass over them with a few words. Withoutdifficulty he got work with the printers, and employed his timeindustriously--of that there could be no doubt. As always, his head wasfull of plans of economy; and we are amused to see him carry hisreforms into the printing chapel, attempting to persuade the men togive up their expensive beer and take to hot-water gruel. 

But though Franklin was always industrious, he was far from leading aconfined life. Then as ever he mixed much with men, and his experiencein London added largely no doubt to his knowledge of human nature. Heeven saw something of the ways of Grub Street through his friend Ralph, who had come with him from Philadelphia. "This low writer, " as Popecalled him, is now remembered only for a couple of vicious lines in theDunciad, and for the ignominious part he plays in Franklin'sAutobiography. For many months he was a continual drain on Franklin'spocket, and seems to have been the boy's evil genius in immorality aswell. 

Another acquaintance introduced him to a phase of character quite newto the youth from America. This was an old maiden lady of seventy, whooccupied the garret of his lodging house. She was a Roman Catholic, andlived the secluded life of a nun, having given away to charities allher estate except twelve pounds a year, out of which small sum shestill gave a part, living herself on water gruel only, and using nofire but to boil it. Franklin was permitted to visit her once, andremarks that she was cheerful and polite, as also that the room wasalmost without furniture. "She looked pale, " he says, "but was neversick; and I give it as another instance on how small an income life andhealth may be supported. "--Not another word! Ah, Doctor Franklin, youwere very wise in this world's wisdom! Your life was for a youngstruggling nation a splendid example of probity and thrift andself-culture. And yet we think your countrymen could wish you had usedthis poor enthusiast's folly as something else than a mere lesson ineconomy. 

But the religious imagination played a small part in our philosopher'slife, and least of all was it active in these London days. Hisskepticism in fact became acute, and sought relief in publicexpression. As a compositor Franklin was engaged in setting up one ofthe many religious treatises then pouring out against the deists, andas the author's arguments seemed insufficient to the young reasoner, hewrote and printed a rejoinder. This is the pamphlet called "ADissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, " which heinscribed to his friend Ralph, and whose printing he afterwardsregretted as one of the _errata_ of his life. It is a disquisitionquite after the manner of the day, and, though it has no permanentvalue, is nevertheless a most unusual production for a boy of nineteen. He accepts the belief in a God and an all-powerful Providence, andargues thence the complete absence of free will in man; pleasure andpain are necessary correlatives, and cannot exist apart; the soul isperhaps immortal, but loses its personal identity at death. 

It was time for Franklin to come home and prepare for the great workbefore him. He was indeed ready to come when his skill in swimmingalmost lost him to this country. He had made such an impression by hisfeats in the water that one of his friends and pupils in the artproposed they should travel over Europe together, and supportthemselves by giving exhibitions. Fortunately Mr. Denham, an older andwiser friend, persuaded Franklin to return with him to America. 

III

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. --THE JUNTO

Franklin reached Philadelphia some time in October, 1726, and foundmany things had changed during his absence. Keith was no longergovernor, but walked the streets as a common citizen. He seemed alittle ashamed at seeing Franklin, and passed him by without sayinganything. Miss Read, too, whom he had left under the pledge of anengagement, had grown tired of his long neglect, and at the insistenceof her friends had married a potter named Rogers. The union, however, had proved unfortunate, and the lady was again living at home under hermaiden name, it being believed that Rogers had a previous wife. 

Franklin at once entered the employment of his friend Denham, whoopened a thriving business on Water Street. But after an engagement offour months he was left idle by Mr. Denham's death, and, findingnothing better to do, returned to his old employer, Keimer. Here hereceived good wages as foreman of the shop, but soon discovered that hewas engaged only to teach Keimer's raw hands the trade, and was to bedismissed as soon as this was accomplished. Franklin had a habitapparently of breaking with a burdensome friend by means of a judiciousquarrel. He had done so with his brother James, with Collins, withRalph, and now he parted with Keimer in the same way. After an intervalof a few months, during which he was again for a while in theemployment of Keimer, he entered into partnership with one of thehands, Meredith by name, and in the spring of 1728 started anindependent printing-house. 

At this point Franklin interrupts the narrative of his life to givesome account of his religious beliefs, and we will follow his example. And first of all let us say frankly that Parton, whose work is likelylong to remain the standard biography of Franklin, gives a false colorto the religious experience of his hero. Of regeneration there is inFranklin no sign, but instead of that a constant growth, --which is farmore wholesome. He was always an amused and skeptical observer of therevivals and wild enthusiasms kindled by his friend Whitefield and bythe inspired preacher of Northampton. And it is quite absurd to speakof Franklin as "the consummate Christian of his time. " There was in himnone of the emotional nature and little of the spirituality that go tomake the complete Christian. His strength lay in his temperance, prudence, justice, and courage, --eminently the pagan virtues; andindeed he was from first to last a great pagan, who lapsed now and theninto the pseudo-religious platitudes of the eighteenth century deists. 

His family had early adopted the reformed faith, and had possessed thecourage to continue of this faith through the bloody persecutions ofQueen Mary. Under Charles II. Benjamin's father went a step further, casting in his lot with the non-conformist Presbyterians; and it wasthe persecutions of that society which drove him with his family toAmerica. Independence, or even recalcitrance, together with broadtoleration of the faith of others, was in the family blood, andBenjamin continued the good tradition. From revolt against Rome torevolt against the established English Church, and from this tocomplete independence of individual belief, was after all a naturalprogression. 

Among the books which Franklin had read in Boston were Shaftesbury andCollins, representative deistical writers of the time, and he had beenled by them, as he says, to doubt "many points of our religiousdoctrines. " Now there are in religion two elements quite distinct andat times even antagonistic, though by the ordinary mind they arecommonly seen as blended together. These are the emotional and themoral natures. In many religious ceremonies of the Orient, religion ispurely an emotion, an exaltation of the nerves, accompanied at times byoutbreaking immorality; and unfortunately the same phenomena have beentoo often seen in our own land. This emotional element is alwaysconnected with the imagination and with belief in some form ofrevelation. The other element of religion is the law of morality whichhas been taught the world over by true philosophers, and which dependsat last on the simple feeling that a man should to a certain varyingextent sacrifice his personal advantage for the good of the community. Now the deists of the eighteenth century, of whom Voltaire was thegreat champion, denied revelation and sought to banish the emotionsfrom religion. They believed in a God who manifested himself in thesplendid pageantry of nature, and this they called natural revelation. They laid especial emphasis on morality, but in their attempt to severmorals from enthusiasm (_enthousiasmos_, god-in-us) they too oftenreduced human life to a barren formula. From this brief account it willbe seen how naturally Franklin, with his parentage and particulargenius, fell a prey to the teachings of Shaftesbury. 

After a little while, however, he began to notice that certain of hisfriends who protested most loudly against religion were quiteuntrustworthy in their morals as well. Moreover he attributed several_errata_ of his own early life to lack of religious principles, and toremedy this defect he now undertook--deliberately if we may credit hislater confessions--to build up a religion of his own. There is, onemust acknowledge, something grotesque in this endeavor to supply thewarmth of the emotional imagination by the use of cold reason, and hadFranklin possessed less wit and more humor he would never have falleninto such bathos. The little book still exists in which Franklin wroteout his creed and private liturgy. The creed expresses a belief in "oneSupreme, most perfect Being, Author and Father of the gods themselves. "Finding this God to be infinitely above man's comprehension, ourreligionist goes on to say: "I conceive, then, that the Infinite hascreated many beings or gods vastly superior to man, who can betterconceive his perfections than we, and return him a more rational andglorious praise.... It may be these created gods are immortal; or itmay be that, after many ages, they are changed, and others supply theirplaces. Howbeit, I conceive that each of these is exceeding wise andgood, and very powerful; and that each has made for himself oneglorious sun, attended with a beautiful and admirable system ofplanets. It is that particular wise and good God, who is the author andowner of our system, that I propose for the object of my praise andadoration. " Thereupon follows the form of adoration, or liturgy, including an invocation, psalm, indication of philosophic reading totake the place of the lessons, singing of the Hymn to the Creator fromMilton'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, touchesone with a feeling almost of pathos for its true humility and reachingout 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 hegave it up for a still simpler creed consisting merely in reverence forthe Deity and in respect for the moral law. In the matter of publicworship he was of the same opinion as Spinoza and many otherphilosophers. He esteemed public worship salutary for the state, andpaid an annual subscription to the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia;but he also esteemed it his privilege to stay away from service, andindulged in this privilege to the full, making Sunday his chief day ofstudy. Though affiliated in this way to the Presbyterians, he showedperfect impartiality, or even indifference, to the variousdenominations of the Christian world. The only sect he ever reallypraised was the Dunkers, whom he commended for their modesty in notformulating a creed. He quotes with pleasure the character givenhimself of being merely "an honest man of no sect at all. " Tolerance inreligion and in every other walk of life was indeed a marked anddistinguishing trait of his character. He was of the mind of BishopWarburton, when he said, "Orthodoxy is my doxy and Heterodoxy is yourdoxy. "

It is a little disconcerting to find our philosopher himself proposinga new sect, which should be called the Society of the Free and Easy, and which actually progressed so far as to possess two enthusiasticdisciples. The creed of this projected sect may be taken as anexpression 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 hereor hereafter. "

The real religion of his life consisted in the practice of virtue witha minimum of emotional imagination. His methodical mind found itconvenient to tabulate the virtues in a manner more precise, as hethought, 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; avoidtrifling conversation. 

"3. ORDER. --Let all your things have their places; let each part ofyour business have its time. 

"4. RESOLUTION. --Resolve to perform what you ought; perform withoutfail 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; andif you speak, speak accordingly. 

"8. JUSTICE. --Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting benefits thatare your duty. 

"9. MODERATION. --Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much asyou think they deserve. 

"10. CLEANLINESS. --Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, orhabitation. 

"11. TRANQUILLITY. --Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents commonor unavoidable. 

"12. CHASTITY.... 

"13. HUMILITY. --Imitate Jesus and Socrates. "

These virtues he has arranged in such an order that the acquisition ofone naturally leads to the acquisition of the following. As regardschastity, he says himself: "The hard-to-be-governed passion of youth"had more than once led him astray. But there is every reason to supposehe exercised great self-control in this as in all other passions. Wemay remark here that Franklin had an illegitimate son, William, whom hereared in his own home, but who caused him great pain by siding withthe Tories in the Revolution. An illegitimate son of William, born inLondon and named William Temple Franklin, adhered to the grandfatherand was a great comfort to him in his old age. One other of thesevirtues Franklin could never acquire. He confesses sadly that try as hemight he could never learn orderliness. But in general it may be saidthat 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 theirideal. This was both because his ideal was so thoroughly practical, andbecause he was a man of indomitable will who had genuinely chosen truePhilosophy as his guide. "O vitæ Philosophia dux! O virtutuminda-gatrix expultrixque vitiorum!"--O Philosophy, thou guide of life!thou searcher out of virtues and expeller of vices!--he wrote as one ofthe mottoes on his little book of conduct, and to him the words were aliving reality. 

The virtues in Franklin were eminently human. Though dwelling in acommunity of Quakers and often identified with them, he looked toanything rather than the inner light for guidance, nor could heconceive the meaning of those "divine pleasures" which William Penndeclared "are to be found in a free solitude. " On his voyage home fromLondon the boy philosopher had written in his journal: "Man is asociable being, and it is, for aught I know, one of the worst ofpunishments to be excluded from society. " Accordingly on his return toPhiladelphia he began to cultivate seriously his "sociable being. "

Among the few clubs famous in literature is the Junto which Franklinestablished in 1727, and which lasted for forty years. This club was alittle circle of friends, never more than twelve, who met on Fridayevenings to discuss matters of interest. Twenty-four questions wereread, 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 ofknowledge?

"11. Do you think of anything at present, in which the Junto may beserviceable to mankind, to their country, to their friends, or tothemselves?

"15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties ofthe people?

"20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any ofyour honorable designs?"

Besides the answering of these questions, there were regular debates, declamations, and the reading of essays; while the wise Franklin tookcare always that no undue heat should enter into the proceedings. Singing and drinking and other amusements also claimed a fair share ofthe time. It is curious to observe that in his Autobiography Franklinhalf apologizes for mentioning the Junto, and declares that his reasonfor so doing was to show how the various members of the club aided himin 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 publicimprovement first found a hearing in the secrecy of these friendlymeetings. 

Before returning to Franklin's active life, let us insert here anamusing epitaph which he composed about this time, and which has becomejustly 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 theirappurtenances. Meredith proved not only incompetent, but a hard drinkeras well; so that Franklin, accepting the kindness of two friends wholent him the money, soon bought his partner out and conducted the shopalone. He prospered steadily, and in twenty years was able to retirefrom active business. From the beginning friends came to his aid:through a member of the Junto he got printing from the Quakers; by hiscareful work he drew away from old Bradford the public printing for theAssembly; he engaged assistants, and before many years was far the mostimportant printer in the colonies. Besides his regular trade he wasbookbinder, sold books and stationery, and dealt in soap and any othercommodity that came handy. The description of his thrift we must givein his own words: "In order to secure my credit and character as atradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious andfrugal, 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-fishingor shooting; a book indeed sometimes debauched me from my work, butthat was seldom, was private, and gave no scandal; and to show that Iwas not above my business I sometimes brought home the paper Ipurchased at the stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow. "

When Franklin became independent of Keimer he turned to his favoriteproject of establishing a newspaper. But in this case his usual habitof secrecy failed him, and knowledge of his plans reached Keimer'sears. Immediately his old master anticipated him by issuing proposalsfor a paper which he grandiloquently styled "The Universal Instructorin all Arts and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette, "--an utterly absurdsheet, whose contents were taken chiefly from an encyclopædia recentlypublished in London. To counteract this Franklin published inBradford's paper, "The Mercury, " a series of essays after the manner ofAddison, to which he subscribed the name "Busy-Body. " Other members ofthe Junto contributed to the series; and Keimer, being stung by theirsatire, replied with coarse abuse, and also with attempted imitation. But Keimer was quite unequal to the conflict, and after publishingthirty-nine numbers of the paper sold it for a small sum to Franklinand Meredith, and himself moved to the Barbadoes. Number 40, October 2, 1729, under the simple title of "The Pennsylvania Gazette, " came fromFranklin's press. The encyclopædic extracts were cut short, and intheir stead appeared what news could be gathered, with occasionalclever essays such as only Franklin could write. It was for the times agood paper, and the printing was admirably done. 

With prosperity Franklin began to think of matrimony. A family ofGodfreys lived in the same house with him, and now Mrs. Godfreyundertook to make a match between him and the daughter of a relative ofhers. Franklin's account of this affair for its coolness and placiditymay almost be compared with Gibbon's "I sighed as a lover, I obeyed asa son. " On learning that the girl's parents could not or would not givewith her enough money to pay off his debts, the gallant suitor at onceand irrevocably withdrew. 

He then looked about him for another match, but found to his chagrinthat an adventurous printer could not command an agreeable wife and adowry at the same time. Being determined to marry, that he might bringorder into his life, he at last turned to Miss Read, with whom he hadmaintained a friendly correspondence, and notwithstanding thedifficulties in the way married her on the 1st of September, 1730. Ifhe rejected Miss Godfrey because she brought no dowry with her, hepraised his wife chiefly because she aided him in his economies. "Hethat would thrive must ask his wife, " he quotes, and congratulateshimself that he has a wife as much disposed to frugality as himself. She helped in the business; they kept no idle servants; their table wasplain and simple, their furniture of the cheapest. His breakfast for along time was bread and milk, and he ate it out of a twopenny earthenporringer with a pewter spoon. "But mark, " he adds, "how luxuries willenter families and make a progress despite of principles: being calledone morning to breakfast, I found it in a china bowl, with a spoon ofsilver! They had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of twenty-three shillings, for whichshe 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 hisneighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and china in ourhouse, 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 perhapswere not such as would have honored him had she followed him into thegreat world; but she made him a good wife, --and we need not repeat thetattle which we are told is still current among some of the highfamilies of Philadelphia. They had two children, --a son, the idol ofhis father's heart, who died as a child; and a daughter, who marriedRichard Bache, and is the ancestress of a large family. 

In this happy home, and as his business prospered, Franklin found moreand more time for study and self-improvement. In 1733 he began theacquisition of languages, teaching himself to read French fluently, andthen passing on to Italian and Spanish. Chess was always a favoriteamusement with him; and we can imagine the grave philosopher playing acautious and invulnerable game, with now and then, when least expected, a brilliant sally. But his conscience seems always to have protestedagainst the waste of time involved, and he now made use of the game toforward his studies. With his favorite antagonist he agreed that thevictor in each game should impose some task in Italian, which the otheron his honor was to complete before the next meeting. As his opponentwas a pretty even match for him they both made steady progress in thelanguage. In Latin he had had a year's instruction at school, and laterin life he dabbled a little in that language; but his knowledge of theclassics was always superficial, and he seems to have entertainedsomething like a spite against them. 

In 1732 Franklin began the publication of an almanac under the name ofRichard Saunders, which he continued for twenty-five years, and whichgained immense popularity as Poor Richard's Almanac. It was theflourishing time of such publications. Since the year 1639, whenStephen Daye printed his first almanac at Cambridge, these annualmessages had increased in number until after theology they becameperhaps the most genuine feature of colonial literature. And from thefirst they displayed the sort of shrewdness and humor which have alwaysbeen characteristic of the American mind. So, too, the bulk of PoorRichard's production was humor, sometimes blunt and coarse, andsometimes instinct with the finest irony. Perhaps the best of PoorRichard's jokes is that played at the expense of Titan Leeds, his rivalin Philadelphia. In the first issue Mr. Saunders announces the imminentdeath of his friend Titan Leeds: "He dies, by my calculation, made athis request, on October 17, 1733, 3 ho. , 29 m. , P. M. , at the veryinstant of the [symbol for conjunction] of [symbol for sun] and [symbolfor Mercury]. [1] By his own calculation, he will survive till the 26thof the same month. This small difference between us we have disputedwhenever we have met these nine years past; but at length he isinclined to agree with my judgment. Which of us is most exact a littletime will now determine. As, therefore, these Provinces may not longerexpect to see any of his performances after this year, I think myselffree to take up the task. " Naturally Mr. Titan Leeds objected withstrenuous voice to this summary manner of being shuffled out of theworld; and Franklin's yearly protest that Leeds is really dead, and hisappeal to the degenerating wit of Leeds's almanac to prove hisassertion, is one of the most successful and malicious jokes everperpetrated. We ought to add, however, that this venomous jest isborrowed bodily from Dean Swift's treatment of the poor almanac-maker, Partridge. Indeed it might be said of Franklin, as Molière said ofhimself, 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 themaxims scattered through its pages. These wise saws Franklin gatheredfrom far and wide, often, however, reshaping them and marking them, with the stamp of his peculiar genius. As might be expected, they arechiefly directed to instill the precepts of industry and frugality. Onceasing to edit the almanac in 1757 Franklin gathered together the bestof these proverbs and wove them into a continuous narrative, which hepretends to have heard spoken at an auction by an old man called FatherAbraham. This speech of Father Abraham became immediately famous, wasreprinted in England, was translated into the languages of Europe, andstill lives. It made the name of Poor Richard a household word theworld over. 

Franklin, however, had many intellectual interests besides reading andwriting. He was always interested in music, himself playing the guitarand harp and violin; and one of his proudest achievements was theperfection of a musical instrument called the armonica, which consistedof a series of glasses so designed as to give forth the notes of themusical scale when chafed with the moistened finger. 

He was moreover sensitive in his own way to the various spiritualmovements that swept over the country. This was the period of wildrevivals, when religion, entering into the converted soul withinconceivable violence, found expression in gasping shrieks, rigidfaintings, and strong convulsions; and the leader of this movement, strange as it may seem, was a warm friend of Franklin's. GeorgeWhitefield first visited Philadelphia in 1739, and immediately filledthe city with enthusiasm by his powerful oratory. Franklin wasastonished at the hold he got on the people, especially as he assuredthem they were naturally half beasts and half devils; but ourphilosopher admits that he himself succumbed once to the preacher'sspell. Whitefield was preaching a begging sermon for a project whichFranklin did not approve, and the latter made a silent resolve that hewould not contribute. He had in his pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As the oratorproceeded, he began to soften and concluded to give the copper. Anotherstroke of eloquence made him ashamed of that and determined him to givethe silver; and the peroration was so admirable that he emptied hispocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. But he was nevertoo much carried away to omit analyzing and observing; and on oneoccasion, when Whitefield was preaching in the open air, he calculatedby a clever experiment that the speaker might be heard by more thanthirty thousand persons. Nor did he suffer Whitefield's cant phrases topass unchallenged. At one time he invited the preacher to stop at hishouse, and Whitefield in accepting declared that if Franklin made thekind offer for Christ's sake he should not miss of a reward. To whichthe 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 bondof union between Franklin and his only intellectual compeer, JonathanEdwards; and the different attitude of the two men towards thewandering revivalist is a good illustration of the great contrast intheir characters. If Franklin may in some ways be called the typicalAmerican, yet the lonely, introverted, God-intoxicated soul of Edwardsstands as a solemn witness to depths of understanding in his countrymenwhich Dr. Franklin's keen wit had no means of fathoming. But in onerespect the two minds were alike: they were both acute observers ofnature, and we have only to read Edwards's treatise on spiders, writtenwhen he was twelve years old, and to follow his later physicalinvestigations, which indeed foreshadowed some of Franklin's electricaldiscoveries, to learn how brilliant a part he might have played inscience if his intelligence had not been troubled by the terribletheology of the day. As for Franklin, we have seen the inquisitive bentof his mind in childhood, and as he grew older the habit of observingand recording and theorizing became his master passion. Though scarcelya professional scientist, his various discoveries in natural historyand his mechanical inventions brought great renown to him as a man, andwere even an important factor in the national struggle forindependence. 

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 thecare of the body, and even as a boy, it will be remembered, he hadexperimented in the use of a vegetarian diet. He had his own theory inregard to colds, maintaining that they are not the result of exposureto a low temperature, but are due to foul air and to a relaxed state ofthe body, --as in general they no doubt are. His letters are full ofclever protests against the common theory, and at times he was broughtby his opinions into amusing conflict with the habits of other persons. On one occasion in a tavern he was compelled to occupy the same bedwith John Adams, who, being an invalid and afraid of night air, shutdown the window. "Oh!" says Franklin, "don't shut the window, we shallbe suffocated. " Adams answered that he feared the evening air. Dr. Franklin replied, "The air within the chamber will soon be, and indeednow is, worse than that without doors. Come, open the window and cometo bed, and I will convince you. I believe you are not acquainted withmy theory of colds. " Whereupon Adams got into bed, and the Doctor beganan harangue upon air and cold, respiration and perspiration, with whichthe Bostonian was so much amused that he soon fell asleep and leftFranklin and his philosophy together. The effect of drafts on chimneyswas just as interesting to our philosopher as their effect on the humansystem, and it was one of his diversions when visiting the great housesof England and Europe to cure smoky fireplaces. From chimneys to stovesis an easy step, and the invention of the so-called Pennsylvania stoveis one of his best known achievements. 

All his life he was an observer of the weather, and a student of thewinds and tides. His first discovery in natural history was anobservation of the fact that storms move against the wind, that is, forinstance, that a northeast storm along the coast is felt atPhiladelphia earlier than at Boston. He made a careful study of thetemperature of the gulf stream in the Atlantic; and in a letter writtenwhen he was seventy-nine years old he gives a long account of hisinventions and observations in nautical matters. 

But his discoveries in electricity quite overshadow all his other workof the sort, and on them must rest his real claim to scientific renown. For many years the world had been amusing itself with various machinesfor making sparks and giving shocks, and after the discovery of theLeyden jar, in 1745, the manipulation of electrical toys and machinesbecame the rage among scientists and even among the people of society. Just about this time a friend in England sent Franklin specimens of theglass tubes used to create electricity by friction, and immediatelyFranklin's inquisitive mind was fired to take up the new study. Sofully indeed was his attention engrossed by the series of experimentshe now undertook, alone and with several investigating friends in thecity, that business became irksome to him and he retired from activemanagement of the printing house. Besides making many ingenious toysand showy experiments, Franklin added three contributions of realimportance to science. 

1. He anticipated Faraday in the discovery that the electricity in acharged 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 thedual nature of the varieties commonly called positive and negative fromthe 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 rememberwith what terror the world had hitherto regarded this bewilderingapparition of the sky. It was not so much the dread of feeling aboveone an irresponsible power subject to a law that knows no sympathy withhuman life, as the more debasing fear of superstition, that sees in thered thunderbolt a deadly instrument of vengeance hurled by the hand ofan angry deity, and that loosens the inmost sinews of a man's moralcourage. With the knowledge that lightning is only a magnifiedelectrical spark, fell one of the last strongholds of false religion. And there is something eminently fit in the fact that this lurkingmystery of the heavens was finally exploded by Dr. Franklin, theexponent of common sense. 

I am told by a specialist that the neatness and thoroughness of thereasoning by which Franklin established his theory before proceeding toexperimentation are most laudable, and I am sure his letters ofexplanation have a literary charm not often found in scientificwriting. The paper in which Franklin developed his theory and showedhow it might be tested by drawing lightning from the clouds by means ofa 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 samepaper was translated into French. The pamphlet created a sensation inFrance, and the proposed experiment was actually performed in thepresence of the king. Before the report, however, of the successfulexperiment reached Franklin he had himself verified his theory, using akite to attain an altitude, as there was no spire or high building inPhiladelphia. Taking his son with him, he went to an old cow house inthe country, before a storm, and there, to catch the electric fluid, sent up his kite made of an old silk handkerchief. A wire extended fromthe 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 inhis hand was of silk, and between this and the wet hempen cord a keywas inserted and connected with a Leyden jar. How successful theexperiment proved to be, all the world knows. Somehow all the importantevents of Franklin's life are dramatic and picturesque, and this scene, especially, of the philosopher in the storm drawing down the verythunderbolts of heaven has always had a fascination for the popularmind. The detailed story of the experiment became public only throughFranklin's conversation with his friends. When he learned that histheory had been previously verified in France, his modesty was so greatthat in writing he simply told how the experiment might be performedwith a kite, never that he himself had actually accomplished it. Inconsequence of this discovery he was at once elected a member of theRoyal Society of London, Yale and Harvard gave him the honorary degreeof master of arts, and everywhere he was celebrated as the foremostphilosopher of the day. 

When the time comes we shall see that Franklin's scientific fame was areal aid to him in his diplomatic career; now we must turn our eyesbackward and trace from the beginning his slow rise in political andcivic power. And it is a peculiar feature of the day and of Franklin'sindividual character that many of his reforms took their start in thegayety of social intercourse. There was nothing morose, nothing stern, in our genial philosopher. Though always temperate, his vivacity andeasy politeness made him welcome in any merry company of the day. Hecould sing with the best of the young blades and even compose his ownditties; and one of these songs, "The Old Man's Wish, " he tells us hesang at least a thousand times. The chorus of the song ischaracteristic 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 ofpopularity:--

 "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 earlyleathern-apron days of the Junto. Books were a rare commodity among thefrugal members of that club, and for a while they increased theirresources by keeping all their volumes together in the club room forcommon use. But this plan proving hardly feasible, Franklin in the year1731 drew up proposals for a city library. His method of arousingpublic interest in the scheme was one to which he always had recourseon such occasions, and is a credit to his modesty as well as to hisshrewdness. "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 meto 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, stillan honored institution of Philadelphia, is the parent of all thesubscription libraries of the country. 

Through the aid of the Junto, also, Franklin set in motion anotherproject. 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, heundertook to introduce the same system there. No doubt many of ourreaders have seen the curious relics of these colonial firecompanies, --old leathern buckets stamped with various devices and withthe owner's name, which were used to pass water rapidly from hand tohand. The companies had a social as well as a useful aim, so thatfamilies were proud to preserve such memorials of the old days. 

Owing to the wretched system in vogue, the night watch of the city hadfallen into a deplorable state, the watchmen consisting of a set ofragamuffins who passed their nights in tippling and left the town totake care of itself. To remedy this evil Franklin made use of the Juntoand of his paper, "The Gazette, " and once more his efforts weresuccessful. 

It seemed, indeed, as if there were no limits to his activity. Atdifferent times he bent his energies to getting the streets paved, toimproving the lighting of the city, to introducing various novelties inagriculture, and to assisting other projects, such as the establishmentof the Pennsylvania hospital. More important, perhaps, than these wasthe founding of the academy which has since developed into theUniversity of Pennsylvania. As early as 1743 we find Franklinregretting that there was no convenient college where he might send hisson to be educated; and in 1749 he took up the matter seriously, publishing a pamphlet which he called, "Proposals relating to theEducation of Youth in Pennsylvania. " Nor did his zeal end here. Hecontinued to urge on the project, and in a short time the money wasraised and the school actually opened. Franklin was for more than fortyyears a trustee of the institution, and took just pride in the goodwhich it accomplished for the community. His purpose in one respect, however, was foiled; he was an ardent advocate of English and thesciences in education, and would have been glad to have the study ofLatin and Greek utterly banished from the schools. Fortunately in thismatter public opinion was too strong for him, and he was obliged tosuccumb to the regular curriculum. For some reason, whether because ofearly lack of training in these studies or because his mind was of sucha sort as to be completely absorbed in the present, he was all his lifeviolently prejudiced against the classics, and on his very death-bedone of his last acts was to compose a mocking diatribe against the useof those languages. It is one of the few cases where his judgment wasmarred, not by the limitations of his intelligence, but a lack of thedeeper imagination, --where he applied his footrule of utility tomeasure quantities beyond its reach. 

With Franklin's increasing prosperity and popularity his influence inmatters political grew more and more dominant. His first recognition inthis field was in 1736, when he was chosen clerk of the GeneralAssembly, --a position which he continued to hold until he was elected amember of the Assembly itself. He found this office very tedious, butamused himself during the long debates by constructing magic squares offigures and by other diversions of the sort. Constant to his practicehe lets us know that he retained the position chiefly because itenabled him to get control of the public printing, and once whenthreatened by the advent of a new member with loss of this lucrativeemployment he saved himself by his usual recourse to honorablestratagem. Having heard that this gentleman had in his library acertain very scarce and curious book, Franklin wrote him a noteexpressing a desire to read the volume and asking to borrow it for afew days. The book came immediately, and the two students were at oncebound together in friendship. "This is another instance, " Franklinadds, "of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says: 'He thathas once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another thanhe whom you yourself have obliged. '"

Other positions came to Franklin in due time. The very next year he wasmade postmaster of Philadelphia, and filled the office so well thatsome years later he was put at the head of the postal system for thecolonies. This gave him an opportunity to become familiar with thepolitical affairs of the whole country and enhanced his usefulness verymuch. 

What first brought him into real prominence was his activity during thetroublesome times that now followed with the Indians. England was atwar with France, and as usual the combatants stirred up the savages tocommit all kinds of atrocities. Franklin was much incensed that thepeace-loving Quakers of his colony should refuse to make any provisionfor defense against the Indians on the western frontier or againstpossible attacks of the French from the river. His indignation wasincreased by a visit to Boston in 1746, where he found the people in astate of warlike fervor after the conquest of Louisburg; and onreturning home he wrote an eloquent pamphlet, called "Plain Truth, " torouse the colony to a sense of its peril. Despite the half-heartedopposition of the Quakers in the Assembly companies were raised, cannon, by the shrewd policy of Franklin, were got from New York, andthe promoter of the movement was even asked to act as colonel of thetroops, --an honor which he declined. One of Franklin's friends nowwarned him that the Quakers in the Assembly would dismiss him from hisposition as clerk and advised him to resign at once to avoid thedisgrace. 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 wasagain chosen unanimously at the next election, and we may suppose thathe was keen enough to know with whom he had to deal. The good Quakerswould not fight, but they were not always averse to have some one dotheir fighting for them. 

We are approaching the tumultuous times of the Seven Years' War, whenthe sound of cannon was indeed heard round the world, and when theprowess of England's arms added India and Canada to her empire. In 1752Franklin, who was now a member of the legislature, was sent, togetherwith the speaker of the Assembly, to confer with the Indians of Ohio;and if no important results came from the conference it at least helpedto give Franklin an insight into Indian character such as few menpossessed. Two years later, when actual war became imminent, he waschosen one of the commissioners from Pennsylvania to meet those of theother colonies at Albany and consult on measures of common defense. Anyone might see that the colonies would be stronger united thanseparated, and several of the commissioners came prepared withproposals of union. Franklin had already published in his "Gazette" anarticle on the subject, to which he had added a wood-cut showing asnake cut in thirteen pieces with the device JOIN OR DIE. On the way toAlbany he had drawn up a plan of union which pleased the Congress, andwhich resembled very much the form of union afterwards adopted duringthe Revolution; but as Franklin observes, "Its fate was singular; theAssemblies did not adopt it, as they all thought there was too muchprerogative in it; and in England it was judged to have too much of thedemocratic. " Instead of this scheme the London Board of Trade devised aplan of their own which, besides other objectionable features, involvedthe deplorable principle of taxing the colonies without their consent. It is interesting to find Franklin the next winter in Boston discussingthe improprieties of this plan with Governor Shirley, and it has beentruly observed that his arguments include almost all that was laterbrought out when the question of taxation without representation becamea burning question. 

In 1755 we find Franklin connected with an event which first broughtWashington into prominence. That was the year of Braddock's unfortunatecampaign, and the Assembly of Pennsylvania, which had refused to grantmoney for the war and now feared that Braddock would take revenge byravaging the colony, sent Franklin into Maryland to consult with thegeneral and pacify him if possible. It is needless to say that Franklinsucceeded. By cunning advertisements and appeals to the farmers inPennsylvania he got wagons and teams for the army; but to do this hehad to pledge himself for a considerable sum of money, his own creditbeing higher than that of the government, and after the general rout inwhich many of the wagons and horses were lost he was compelled to payout large sums of money for which he was never entirely reimbursed. Healso persuaded the Assembly of Pennsylvania to provide the youngerofficers of the regiment with horses and stores for the campaign, although to Washington, as we know, all this accumulation of provisionsfor such an expedition seemed no better than a nuisance. Franklin, too, had his fears, and even went so far as to caution Braddock against theambuscades of the Indians. Braddock smiled at his ignorance, andreplied: "These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your rawAmerican militia, but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any impression. " Franklin tellsus he was conscious of the impropriety of disputing with a military manin matters of his profession, and said no more. The story of Braddock'sdefeat is only too well known; but to Franklin at least the campaignbrought some profit. When later he went to England he found that thegeneral's account of his intelligence and generosity had addedconsiderably to his reputation. 

The failure of the expedition had left the western frontier open to thesavage raids of the Indians, and Pennsylvania, owing to her unprotectedcondition, suffered more than the other colonies. Franklin came to therescue with a bill to raise volunteers which was carried through theAssembly; troops were quickly organized, and the philosopher washimself appointed general. He was two months in the field and conductedhimself with admirable prudence, although he did not undergo the testof actual fighting. After that time he was recalled by the governor toPhiladelphia, for the Assembly was about to meet and his services wereneeded at home. 

The old trouble between the proprietary governor and the Assembly hadnow reached an acute stage. The two sons of William Penn, into whosehands the colony had descended, pursued a narrow and selfish policy, forcing the governor to veto every bill for raising money unless theestates owned by the proprietors were exempted from taxation. From thebeginning Franklin had stood with the popular party in opposing theseregulations, yet curiously enough had always been a favorite with thegovernors. These magistrates were bound to follow the proprietors' willunder penalty of being recalled; but on the other hand their salary wasdependent on the pleasure of the Assembly, and they may well have clungto a wise and tolerant intermediary like Franklin. Nothing, however, could now allay the hostile feelings. The Assembly voted money forimmediate defense under the conditions imposed, but at the same timedeclared that the measure was not to be held as a precedent for thefuture; and Franklin was sent to England to treat with theproprietaries 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 wasone of manifold interests and vexations. His business with the Pennsfirst engaged his attention; but from those stubborn gentlemen he gotnothing but insolence and delays. After much manoeuvring the disputewas brought before a committee of the Privy Council, where thePennsylvania Assembly through its representative virtually won itscase. The proprietary estates were made subject to taxation, and thisbone of contention was for a time removed. It was indeed a greatvictory for the Philadelphia printer; but perhaps its chief value wasthe training it gave him for the more important diplomatic negotiationsthat were to come later. There was that in Franklin's nature which madehim an ideal diplomatist. Under the utmost candor and simplicity heconcealed a penetration into character and a skill in using legitimatechicanery that rarely missed their mark. Then, too, he was persistent:what he undertook to do he never left until it was done. Though farfrom being an orator, he wielded a pen that for clearness and logicalpointedness has scarcely been surpassed, and his powers of irony andsarcasm were worthy of Swift himself. 

Among other subjects which engaged Franklin's pen at this time was aquestion of vital interest, as he thought, to the empire. Under themasterly guidance of the great Pitt, England had come out victorious inthe struggle with France, and the government was now debating whetherCanada should be retained or given back to the French. The chiefargument for surrendering the province was ominous of the future. "Aneighbor that keeps us in some awe is not always the worst ofneighbors.... If we acquire all Canada, we shall soon find NorthAmerica itself too powerful and too populous to be governed by us at adistance. " To this timid reasoning, which was attributed to WilliamBurke, Franklin replied in a pamphlet, discussing the whole questionwith the utmost acumen, displaying the future greatness of the empirein America, and denying that the colonies would ever revolt. Touchingthis last apprehension he says: "There are so many causes that mustoperate to prevent it that I will venture to say a union amongst themfor such a purpose is not merely improbable, it is impossible.... WhenI say such a union is impossible, I mean without the most grievoustyranny and oppression.... _The waves do not rise but when the windblows. _... What such an administration as the Duke of Alva's in theNetherlands might produce, I know not; but this, I think, I have aright to deem impossible. " Strange words to come from Franklin in thosedays; but it is thought they were of considerable influence in thefinal decision of the question. Franklin indeed was always fond ofprophesying the future greatness of America, and again in thediplomatic debates after the revolutionary war he long insisted thatCanada should be severed from England and joined to the thirteenStates. 

But our philosopher had much to occupy him besides politics. He hadtaken lodgings at No. 7 Craven Street with a Mrs. Stevenson, in whomand in whose daughter he found warm and congenial friends. Hiscorrespondence with "Dear Polly, " the daughter, contains some of hismost entertaining letters; and he even planned, but unsuccessfully, tomake her the wife of his son William. His fame as a scientist hadpreceded him, and introduced him into the society of many distinguishedmen in England and Scotland, among whom his genial nature freelyexpanded. And nothing could stop the activity of his mind, not evensickness. For eight weeks he struggled with a fever, but the letter tohis wife conveying the story of his illness reads as if he were almostwilling to undergo such an experience for the opportunity of studyingpathology which it offered. 

At last he was ready to return home. The University of St. Andrews hadconferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and afterwards Oxfordhad done the same. He had succeeded in his mission, his son had beenappointed governor of New Jersey, and he looked forward to a life ofhonorable ease in his adopted city. Just before sailing he wrote toLord Kames: "I am now waiting here only for a wind to waft me toAmerica, but cannot leave this happy island and my friends in itwithout extreme regret, though I am going to a country and a peoplethat I love. I am going from the old world to the new, and I fancy Ifeel like those who are leaving this world for the next. Grief at theparting, fear of the passage, hope of the future, --these differentpassions all affect their minds at once, and these have _tendered_ medown exceedingly. "

Peace had come to Europe in 1763, but not to America. The Indians, whohad been aroused by European intrigue, were not so easily pacified, andwestern Pennsylvania especially continued to suffer from their ravages. The men of the frontier banded together for retaliation, andunfortunately their revenge equaled the brutality of the red savages. Religious odium added bitterness to the passions. The Scotch-IrishPresbyterians of the west, enraged at the supineness of the easternQuakers, made the extermination of the Indians a point of religion. Thehorror reached its climax when the good people of Paxton in cold bloodmassacred twenty helpless and innocent Indians, and then with a largefollowing marched towards Philadelphia with the avowed purpose ofmurdering in the name of an angry God one hundred and forty peacefulMoravian Indians. The governor, a nephew of the proprietaries, came, asall men did, to Franklin in his perplexity; he even lodged inFranklin's house, and concerted with him hourly on the means ofrepelling the invaders. The "Paxton boys" had reached Germantown. Thecity was in a panic, and there was no time to lose. Franklin first gottogether a regiment of militia, and then, with three other gentlemen, went out to Germantown to remonstrate with the fanatics. His missionwas successful, and the insurrection was quelled; but Franklin himselfhad gained many enemies by his action. The people were largely in favorof the Paxton rioters; and the governor, now relieved of his immediatefears, made an infamous proclamation setting a price upon Indianscalps. A strong coalition was formed against Franklin; to the enmityof the proprietary party was now added the distrust of the people. 

Just at this time the old trouble between the governor and the Assemblybroke out more virulently. Despite the decision of the London Council, the governor vetoed an important bill because the proprietary estateswere not exempted from taxation. An angry debate arose in the Assemblyas to whether they should petition the king to withdraw Pennsylvaniafrom the proprietaries and make it a crown colony. Franklin took anactive part in this contest, and threw all the weight of his authorityin favor of the petition; but in the election which followed in 1764the combination of the aristocrats, who sided with the proprietaries, and of the fanatics, who favored the Paxton uprising, was too strongfor him, and he was not returned. After a stormy debate, however, theAssembly adopted the petition; and Franklin, despite the bitterpersonal attacks of John Dickinson, was chosen as agent to carry therequest to England. 

The petition was not allowed, and Pennsylvania remained in the hands ofthe proprietaries until it became an independent state. But otherquestions, far more important than the local difficulties of any onecolony, were to occupy Franklin's and the other commissioners' time. Franklin was in England from December, 1764, until March of 1775, andduring these ten years was busily engaged in supporting the colonies intheir unequal struggle against the British Parliament. He was theaccredited representative of Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, andMassachusetts, and before the government and the people of Englandstood as the champion of the whole province. Every one knows the natureof the acts which finally created a new empire in the West, --the StampAct, the duty on tea, the Boston Port bill. Their very names still stirthe patriotic blood of America. The principle at issue was clearlyannounced in the battle cry, "No taxation without representation. "Franklin was a stanch advocate of the American claims, and threw allthe weight of his personal influence and of his eloquent pen into thework. But in one respect he seems to have been deceived: during thefirst years of his mission he held Parliament responsible for all thetyrannical measures against the colonies, and looked upon the king astheir natural protector. It was a feeling common among Americans whowished to preserve their allegiance to the empire while protestingagainst the authority of the laws. Even as late as 1771 he could writethese words about George III: "I can scarcely conceive a king of betterdispositions, of more exemplary virtues, or more truly desirous ofpromoting the welfare of his subjects. " When at last the bigotedcharacter of that sovereign was fully revealed to him, he despairedutterly of reconciliation with the mother country. 

Franklin's labors may well be portrayed in two dramatic incidents: hisexamination before Parliament in 1766, and the so-called Privy Counciloutrage in 1774. 

After the passage of the Stamp Act, Franklin wrote to a friend: "Dependupon it, my good neighbor, I took every step in my power to prevent thepassing of the Stamp Act. Nobody could be more concerned and interestedthan myself to oppose it sincerely and heartily.... We might as wellhave hindered the sun's setting. That we could not do. But since it isdown, my friend, and it may be long before it rises again, let us makeas good a night of it as we can. We can still light candles. Frugalityand industry will go a great way towards indemnifying us. Idleness andpride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can getrid of the former, we may easily bear the latter. " But Franklin'sphilosophical habit of accepting the inevitable, --a habit which for atime brought him the hostility of such strenuous patriots as theAdamses, --did not prevent him from doing all in his power to furtherthe repeal of that act when the matter was again taken up byParliament. Nor did America lack friends in Parliament itself, andthese gentlemen now arranged that Franklin should give testimony beforethe bar of the House. 

In the examination which followed, Franklin showed the fullness of hisknowledge and the keenness of his wit better perhaps than in any otheract of his life. It is impossible to give at length the replies withwhich he aided the friends of repeal and baffled its foes; but a few ofhis answers may indicate the nature of all. 

_Q. _ "What was the temper of America towards Great Britain before theyear 1763?"

_A. _ "The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the governmentof the Crown, and paid in their courts obedience to acts of Parliament.... They had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain; forits laws, its customs, and manners; and even a fondness for itsfashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain werealways treated with particular regard; to be an _Old England man_ was, of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank amongus. "

_Q. _ "What is their temper now?"

_A. _ "Oh, very much altered. "

_Q. _ "How would the Americans receive a future tax, imposed on the sameprinciple 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 bylegal process rather than use stamped paper?"

_A. _ "I can only judge what other people will think and how they willact by what I feel within myself. I have a great many debts due to mein America, and I had rather they should remain unrecoverable by anylaw than submit to the Stamp Act. They will be debts of honor. "

The examination was a complete success; not even the Tories couldobject to it, and to Burke it seemed like the examination of a masterby a parcel of schoolboys. A few days later the repeal was carried. 

But the relief was only temporary, and Parliament soon returned to itshigh-handed measures of repression. One day in the midst of the contestFranklin was talking with a friendly member of Parliament andinveighing against the violence of the government towards Boston. TheEnglishman replied that these measures of repression did not originatein England, and to prove his assertion placed in Franklin's hands apacket of letters written by Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts, andothers to a member of Parliament with the intention of reaching theears of Lord Grenville. These letters, written by native-bornAmericans, advised the quartering of troops on Boston, advocated themaking of judges and governors dependent on England for their salaries, and were full of such sentiments as that "there must be an abridgmentof what are called English liberties. " Franklin by permission sent themto Boston, where they naturally raised a furor of indignation. Apetition was immediately sent over to have Governor Hutchinson removedfrom office, but for a while government took no action. After a timethe letters got into the London newspapers with the most deplorableresult. One Thomas Whately, brother of the gentleman to whom they hadbeen addressed, was accused of purloining the letters and sending themto America. This caused a duel, and a second duel was about to befought 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 noblame could be attached to the action as the letters were really of apublic nature. The Tories now saw their opportunity to attack Franklin. The petition for removing Hutchinson was taken up by the Committee forPlantation Affairs, and Franklin was summoned to appear before them. Wedderburn, the king's solicitor-general, was there to speak forHutchinson, and Franklin, having no counsel, had the proceedingsdelayed 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 longtable down the middle, at which the lords sat. At one end of the roomwas a fireplace, and in a recess at one side of the chimney Franklinstood during the whole meeting. His advocates spoke, but without mucheffect, and the defense of Hutchinson was then taken up by Wedderburn. But instead of arguing the point at issue, Wedderburn made it theoccasion for delivering, much to the delight of the Tory lords present, a long and utterly unjustified tirade against Franklin. With thunderousvoice and violent beating of his fist on the cushion before him, hedenounced Franklin as the "prime mover of this whole contrivanceagainst his majesty's two governors. " Although the letters had beengiven to Franklin for the express purpose of having them conveyed toAmerica, Wedderburn accused him of base treachery; turning to thecommittee he said: "I hope, my Lords, you will mark and brand the man, for the honor of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Privatecorrespondence has hitherto been held sacred, in times of the greatestparty rage, not only in politics but religion. " "He has forfeited allthe respect of societies and of men. Into what companies will hehereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity ofvirtue? Men will watch him with a jealous eye; they will hide theirpapers from him, and lock up their escritoirs. He will henceforthesteem it a libel to be called _a man of letters_; _homo TRIUMlitterarum_ (i. E. , _fur_, thief)!" "But he not only took away theletters from one brother; but kept himself concealed till he nearlyoccasioned the murder of the other. It is impossible to read hisaccount, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, withouthorror. " "Amidst these tragical events, of one person nearly murdered, of another answerable for the issue, of a worthy governor hurt in hisdearest interests, the fate of America in suspense; here is a man, who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himselfthe 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 poeticfiction only, to the bloody African is not surpassed by the coolnessand apathy of the wily American?"

The picture of Franklin standing unmoved under this torrent of abuseis, I think, the most dramatic incident of his life. It was a victoryof glorious endurance; it was the crown of unmerited infamy which wasneeded to give depth of interest to his successful career. Aneyewitness thus described the scene: "Dr. Franklin's face was directedtowards me, and I had a full, uninterrupted view of it, and his person, during the whole time in which Mr. Wedderburn spoke. The Doctor wasdressed in a full dress suit of spotted Manchester velvet, and stood_conspicuously erect_ without the smallest movement of any part of hisbody. The muscles of his face had been previously composed, so as toafford a placid, tranquil expression of countenance, and he did notsuffer the slightest alteration of it to appear during the continuanceof the speech, in which he was so harshly and improperly treated. Inshort, to quote the words which he employed concerning himself onanother occasion, he kept his 'countenance as immovable as if hisfeatures had been made of _wood_. '"

Fortunately, to sustain him in these trials, Franklin had a cheerfulhome and the society of the best men in England. He was living at theold house on Craven Street, where Mrs. Stevenson did all in her powerto 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 quitepossible that our philosopher might have carried his family to Englandand lived permanently among his new friends; and in estimating theservices of Franklin to America we should never forget to give duecredit to his loyal wife who stayed quietly at home, managing hisaffairs for him in Philadelphia and keeping warm his attachment for hisadopted city. Besides the eminent statesmen, such as Pitt and Burke, with whom Franklin's business brought him naturally in contact, heassociated 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 thebishop's daughters he sent the inimitable epitaph on the squirrel Mungowhich he had given her as a present from America. The influence forgood is almost incalculable which Franklin thus exercised by the nobletype of American character he displayed to the liberal party inEngland. 

Nor did he ever lose an opportunity to accomplish what he could withthe pen. At one time, to lay bare the suicidal policy of thegovernment, he published in a newspaper a satirical squib quite in thevein of Dean Swift, entitled "Rules for reducing a Great Empire to aSmall One. " The opening sentences were as follows: "An ancient sagevalued himself upon this, that, though he could not fiddle, he knew howto make a great city of a little one. The science that I, a modernsimpleton, am about to communicate, is the very reverse;" and with thisintroduction the author proceeds to give a detailed account of thetreatment of the colonies by Parliament. 

In another paper Franklin reduced certain arguments of the ministry tothe absurd. This was a pretended "Edict of the King of Prussia, " inwhich Frederick was supposed to announce the same sovereignty overEngland, which had been originally settled by Germans, as Parliamentnow 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 getenough of the second to spare you one, though my clerk went the nextmorning to the printer's, and wherever they were sold.... I am notsuspected as the author, except by one or two friends; and have heardthe latter spoken of in the highest terms, as the keenest and severestpiece that has appeared here a long time. Lord Mansfield, I hear, saidof it, that it _was very ABLE and very ARTFUL indeed_; and would domischief by giving here a bad impression of the measures of government;and in the colonies, by encouraging them in their contumacy.... Whatmade it the more noticed here was, that people in reading it were, asthe phrase is, _taken in_, till they had got half through it, andimagined it a real edict, to which mistake I suppose the King ofPrussia's _character_ must have contributed. I was down at Lord LeDespencer's, when the post brought that day's papers. Mr. Whitehead wasthere, too (Paul Whitehead, the author of "Manners"), who runs earlythrough all the papers, and tells the company what he finds remarkable. He had them in another room, and we were chatting in the breakfastparlor, when he came running in to us, out of breath, with the paper inhis hand. 'Here!' says he, 'here's news for ye! Here's the King ofPrussia, claiming a right to this kingdom!' All stared, and I as muchas anybody; and he went on to read it. When he had read two or threeparagraphs, a gentleman present said, 'Damn his impudence, I dare saywe shall hear by next post, that he is upon his march with one hundredthousand men to back this. ' Whitehead, who is very shrewd, soon afterbegan to smoke it, and looking in my face, said, 'I'll be hanged ifthis 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 wasa fair hit. "

After the Privy Council outrage there was very little for Franklin todo. Lord Chatham consulted with him before introducing in Parliament aliberal bill for conciliating the colonies, and Franklin himself waspresent in the House of Lords when the old statesman, despite theprotests of his gout, plead for fairer measures. It may very well bethat if these troubles had occurred in Chatham's vigorous days he mighthave been able to preserve the integrity of the empire. But now he wascrippled by the gout and debarred from active life; and in theinteresting "Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout" the philosophermight have retorted upon that exacting lady the mischief she had donehis people by laming Pitt. Again Franklin had to stand the bitterdenunciation of the Tories, while Lord Sandwich held him up as "one ofthe bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had everknown;" but he also had the satisfaction of hearing a noble eulogy ofhis character pronounced by the great Chatham. 

Then, after a good deal of secret negotiation with Lord Howe, Franklinreluctantly abandoned the situation and turned homeward. His last dayin London was passed with Dr. Priestley, who has left an interestingrecord of their conversation. He says of Franklin that "the unity ofthe British empire in all its parts was a favorite idea of his. He usedto compare it to a beautiful china vase, which, if ever broken, couldnever be put together again; and so great an admirer was he of theBritish constitution that he said he saw no inconvenience from itsbeing extended over a great part of the globe. With these sentiments heleft England. "

VI

MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND ENVOY TO FRANCE

Franklin reached Philadelphia May 5, 1775; and what a home-coming itwas! 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, andthe whole country was in a ferment of excitement. It was in regard tothis battle, it may be remembered, that he uttered one of his famouswitticisms. To a critic who accused the Americans of cowardice forfiring from behind stone walls, he replied: "I beg to inquire if thosesame walls had not two sides to them?"

He received the most honorable welcome home, and on the very morningafter his arrival was unanimously chosen one of the Pennsylvaniadelegates to the Continental Congress about to meet in Philadelphia. 

Our philosopher, now seventy years old, had come home to rest, butfound himself instead in the very vortex of public affairs. He was amember of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety and a burgess in theAssembly, but later he gave himself entirely to Congress. Afterwardswhen in Paris he declared that he used to work twelve hours out of thetwenty-four on public business. His part in Congress was one ofconciliation between conflicting interests, --a rôle he was admirablyadapted to fill. Very early he proposed, as he had done at Albany, aunion of the thirteen colonies, but the times were not yet ripe forsuch 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 theman. He did indeed serve with Jefferson and three others on thecommittee 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 connectionwith the affair. "We must be unanimous, " said Hancock, when it came tosigning the document, "there must be no pulling different ways; we mustall hang together. " "Yes, " replied Franklin, "we must, indeed, all hangtogether, 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 thetimes, yet he was not a true leader of the revolutionary movement. Hewas easily the most illustrious man in America, and, since the death ofJonathan Edwards, the most intellectual; but his mind was inquisitiveand contemplative rather than aggressive, and rougher hands were nowneeded at the helm. He acted as postmaster for the colonies, and servedon many committees. So, for instance, he went with John Adams andEdward Rutledge to confer with Lord Howe on Staten Island. The embassy, however, came to nothing, as Lord Howe utterly refused to treat withthem 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 anew 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 stirup 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 forthat very reason suited to formulate the national Declaration ofIndependence, a document not rigorously true in philosophy butinimitable as the battle cry of freedom and progress; there wasWashington, whose military genius, indomitable will, and noble solidityof character were able to carry the war through to the end; and therewas Franklin, too cool-headed ever to have inflamed the hearts of thepeople with the inspiration of hope and revenge, incapable of utteringpolitical platitudes which could express tersely the national feeling, a lover of peace and without the grim determination of a soldier, butstill able in his own way to serve the state more effectually perhapsthan any other man except the great Captain himself. It was absolutelynecessary, both for actual help in money and arms and for moralsupport, that the young nation should receive recognition abroad. Towin this recognition was just the task of Franklin. Already he wasknown personally to many of the leading spirits of England and theContinent. The respect and friendship felt for him by Burke, Fox, LordShelburne, Lord Rockingham, did much to augment the power of theopposition in England, and on the Continent the high reputation ofFranklin as a philosopher and statesman contributed largely to thegeneral confidence in the ultimate success of the rebellion. 

The first really important communication from Europe came to Congressthrough Dr. Dubourg, of Paris, who wrote a long letter to Franklin, addressing him as "My dear Master, " and assuring him of the sympathiesof France. Congress hereupon appointed Franklin, Silas Deane, andArthur Lee commissioners to Paris, the two last being already inEurope. 

Before departing Franklin got together what money he could, "betweenthree and four thousand pounds, " and lent it to Congress; he thensailed with his two grandsons, William Temple Franklin and BenjaminFranklin Bache, reaching Paris December 21, 1776. Considering thedangers and hardships of the voyage this was no light undertaking for aman of his age, and he was in fact physically exhausted when he arrivedon the other side. 

Franklin came now to reap the fruits of a long and well spent life. Hispersonal fame aided him in a land where philosophers had become thefashion of the day, and as the representative of a people strugglingfor liberty he was peculiarly dear to the French, who were themselvesspeculating on such matters and preparing for their own revolution. Itis of course easy to exaggerate the influence of sentiment in the case. France was glad to encourage America because the loss of the colonieswould weaken the British Empire, and that was natural; but it is, Ithink, a mistake not to acknowledge the generous sentiments of thepeople and even of the grandees of the land. Voltaire and Rousseau hadnot been preaching in vain; the American Declaration of Independencewas quite in the drift of French political ideas. But to awaken trustin a people who dwelt in a far-off wilderness and who were commonlyesteemed little better than savages, the presence of such a man asFranklin was of incalculable value. 

After a brief interval M. De Chaumont, one of the wealthy Frenchmen ofthe day, offered Franklin rooms at Passy in his Hôtel de Valentinois, and there our philosopher fixed his abode, living in some style, andspending perhaps about thirteen thousand dollars a year. His popularitywas immediate and almost unexampled. The great people ofFrance--philosophers, statesmen, titled noblemen, and fineladies--thought it an honor to receive the famous American; and it issaid that so great was his fame among the common people that theshopkeepers 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 ofthe moon, so that he durst not do anything that would oblige him to runaway, as his phiz would discover him wherever he should venture to showit. " Parton quotes this interesting account of the commissioners fromthe Memoirs of Count Sigur: "Nothing could be more striking than ... The almost rustic apparel, the plain but firm demeanor, the free anddirect language, of the envoys, whose antique simplicity of dress andappearance seemed to have introduced within our walls, in the midst ofthe effeminate and servile refinement of the eighteenth century, somesages contemporary with Plato, or republicans of the age of Cato and ofFabius. This unexpected apparition produced upon us a greater effect inconsequence of its novelty, and of its occurring precisely at theperiod when literature and philosophy had circulated amongst us anunusual desire for reforms, a disposition to encourage innovations, andthe seeds of an ardent attachment to liberty. "

But life was not all roseate for Franklin; he and the other envoys hadplenty of work to do. Among other things an endless number of foreignofficers applied to Franklin for commissions in the American army. Someof these applicants--such as Lafayette and Steuben--were heartilywelcome, and really aided the cause; but he was beset by innumerableothers who would have been merely a burden on the army. For men of thisstamp he drew up and actually used more than once a blankrecommendation beginning with these ominous words: "The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give him a letter ofrecommendation, though I know nothing of him, not even his name. Thismay seem extraordinary, but I assure you it is not uncommon here, " etc. He was also kept busy managing the affairs of the small but activenavy, which was largely fitted out in France, and which brought most ofits prizes into French ports. But of all his labors the most difficultand the most important was the raising of money for Congress. Into thedetails of this exasperating task we cannot here enter. Congress wasnot wise, and its necessities were desperate, and, despite thegenerosity of the French court, he had often to employ extreme measuresto borrow money on doubtful security or none at all. 

To excite interest in favor of the colonies Franklin wrote severalpapers, whose practical ideas of political liberty were not withouteffect in guiding the French people on to their own revolution. Eventhe wit of "the old fox, " as he was called in England, appealedstrongly to that nation of esprit. So, for instance, when asked if acertain story of American defeat told by Lord Stormont, the Britishambassador, was a truth, he answered: "No, monsieur, it is not a truth;it is only a Stormont. " And straightway "a stormont" became the politeword for a lie. Again, when told that Howe had taken Philadelphia heretorted: "I beg your pardon, sir, Philadelphia has taken Howe. "

But though Franklin could maintain his philosophic calm, and could evenjoke in the presence of disaster, yet the strain on his nerves wastremendous. I believe that only once in his life was he betrayed intomanifesting a strong emotion. Mr. Austin, a messenger from Boston, iscoming with important news. All the American commissioners, togetherwith Beaumarchais, are at Passy waiting his arrival. His chaise isheard in the court, and they go out to meet him. But before he evenalights Franklin cries out, "Sir, _is_ Philadelphia taken?" "Yes, sir, "says Austin. It seemed then that all was over. Without a word Franklinclasped his hands and turned toward the house. "But, sir, " said Austin, "I have greater news than that GENERAL BURGOYNE AND HIS WHOLE ARMY AREPRISONERS OF WAR!" "The news, " as one of the party afterwards declared, "was like a sovereign cordial to the dying. " How deep the impressionupon Franklin was we may judge from his gratitude to the messenger. Mr. Austin relates that often he "would break from one of those musings inwhich 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 andimmense. Franklin and his companions had long wished the court toacknowledge publicly the independence of the United States and to makea treaty of commerce with them. The news of Burgoyne's surrenderreached Paris on the 4th of December, 1777; the desired treaty wasactually signed on the 6th of February following. Dr. Bancroft, who waspresent when both parties signed the document, tells us that Franklinon that occasion wore the old suit of Manchester velvet which he hadworn on the day of his outrage in the Privy Council, and which had beenlong laid aside. It was apparently a bit of quaint and secret revengein which the philosopher indulged himself. But when Dr. Bancroftintimated to Franklin his suspicions in the matter, the philosopheronly 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 intheir public capacity. Franklin intended to wear the regular courtcostume at the presentation, but was balked of his desire. The costumedid not come in time; and when the perruquier brought his wig itrefused to sit on the Doctor's head. Franklin suggested that the wigmight be too small. "Monsieur, it is impossible, " cried the perruquier, and then, dashing the wig to the floor, exclaimed, "No, Monsieur!--itis 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 owngray hair, dressed in black velvet, with white silk stockings, spectacles on nose, and no sword at his side. The king received theenvoys courteously, saying: "Gentlemen, I wish the Congress to beassured of my friendship. I beg leave also to observe that I amexceedingly satisfied in particular with your own conduct during yourresidence in my kingdom;" and with these words walked out of theapartment. Immediately Lord Stormont, the British ambassador, leftParis; and a few days later M. Gérard, the first minister of France tothis country, sailed for America. 

Franklin had met the king; he had now to meet a greater and more famousman than Louis, --the only man living whose fame was equal to his own. Voltaire, eighty-four years old, feeble in body but with intellectunconquered, had just come to Paris after his long exile to hear theplaudits of his countrymen, and to die. The American envoys askedpermission to wait upon the great man, and were received by Voltairelying on his couch. He quoted a few lines from Thomson's "Ode toLiberty, " and then began to talk with Franklin in English; but hisniece, not understanding that language, begged them to speak in French. Whereupon Voltaire replied: "I beg your pardon. I have for a momentyielded to the vanity of showing that I can speak in the language of aFranklin. " When Dr. Franklin presented his grandson, the oldphilosopher pronounced over his head only these words: "_God andLiberty!_" All who were present shed tears. 

John Adams tells the story of a more public meeting between the two menat 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 theybowed and spoke to each other. This was no satisfaction; there must besomething more. Neither of our philosophers seemed to divine what waswished or expected. They, however, took each other by the hand; butthis was not enough. The clamor continued until the exclamation cameout, 'Il faut s'embrasser à la Française!'[2] The two aged actors uponthis great theatre of philosophy and frivolity then embraced each otherby hugging one another in their arms and kissing each other's cheeks, and then the tumult subsided. And the cry immediately spread throughoutthe kingdom, and I suppose over all Europe, 'Qu'il était charmant devoir 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 ofFranklin's experience. During all his sojourn in France he was subjectto continual and annoying interference from his colleagues. Before hisarrival in Paris, Silas Deane had entered for Congress intosemi-commercial relations with the French government through theeccentric and industrious Beaumarchais. Franklin was content to leavethese affairs to him, and did not at the time even know their realnature. But with Arthur Lee it was different. Of all characters inAmerican history Lee is almost the hardest to endure. He was patriotic, and in a way honest, but meddlesome, suspicious, vain, and quarrelsometo an incredible degree. He immediately made up his mind that Deane waspeculating, and never ceased writing accusatory letters until Congressrecalled the unfortunate envoy. All this time he was also acting towardFranklin in a manner which can only be described as insane. He fumed atFranklin's easy way of conducting business; his vanity sufferedindescribable tortures at every mark of respect paid to hisdistinguished colleague; he suspected him of treason and every othercrime; and with his partisans (whose names we need not here mention) hewrote voluble letters of incrimination to Congress. When Silas Deanewas recalled, John Adams was sent over to take his place, and for awhile Franklin received support from his new colleague, --for Adams, with all his faults, was at least single-hearted in his patriotism. Buttheir characters were too widely different for them to work easilytogether in harness. Adams's vanity was almost as great as ArthurLee's. The homage paid to Franklin drove him almost into a frenzy ofrage, both because he thought himself overlooked and because suchhomage savored of aristocracy. In Franklin's catalogue of the virtuesthere were two which he could not claim to have attained, --chastity andorderliness; and these two weaknesses now rose to exact their penalty. Adams could not believe that a man who had been lax with women could behonest in anything else; Adams was the spirit of petty orderliness, andFranklin's easy ways seemed to him the destruction of all business. Atlast Congress came to the rescue, and for once acted sensibly: Lee andAdams were recalled, and Franklin was left as sole plenipotentiary inParis. 

With other Americans Franklin's relationship was of a pleasanter sort. To the American navy and privateers Franklin was the Americangovernment; and, though he was often annoyed by the unreasonableconduct of importunate captains, yet he also shared in the glory oftheir deeds. John Paul Jones was one of the many forced to endureArthur Lee's impertinences, and had it not been for Franklin's aid andfriendship our navy would have lost the honor of that name. At one timePaul Jones was in Paris with no ship to command, and though he triedevery channel to obtain a vessel from the French court, was always putoff. At last, as he was reading a French translation of Poor Richard'sAlmanac, his eye was struck by this sentence: "If you would have yourbusiness done, go; if not, send. " Without delay he went himself toVersailles, and obtained an order to purchase an old ship of fortyguns. This good vessel he christened Le Bon Homme Richard, which isFrench for Poor Richard, and the story of how she beat the Serapis neednot here be retold. 

Through all these difficulties in France, as before in England, Franklin found consolation and amusement in the intellectual society ofa great capital. And what a society this was! The very list of names ofFranklin's friends is an inspiration. With the scientists of the day hecontinued to discuss philosophic questions; and with the great ladiesof society he could find relaxation from his graver cares. Chess stillabsorbed more of his time than his conscience approved, and there areseveral well known stories of him in connection with that game. Oncewhen playing with the old Duchess of Bourbon, the lady happened to puther king into prize, and the Doctor took it. "Ah, " says she, "we do nottake kings so. " "We do in America, " said the Doctor; and this pleasantjoke he seems to have repeated several times in different forms. ToMadame Brillon, a wealthy and amiable lady of the neighborhood, hewrote a number of those clever sketches which might well find a placein the "Spectator, "--such as The Ephemera, The Petition of the LeftHand, The Whistle, The Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout, andothers almost as well known. 

One of his best friends was Madame Helvetius, widow of the celebratedphilosopher, and it was to her he wrote his famous dream ending withthe words, "Let us avenge ourselves. " We must at least find space forMrs. Adams's curious account of that lady: "She entered the room with acareless, jaunty air; upon seeing ladies who were strangers to her, shebawled out, 'Ah! mon Dieu, where is Franklin? Why did you not tell methere were ladies here?' You must suppose her speaking all this inFrench. 'How I look!' said she, taking hold of a chemise made oftiffany, which she had on over a blue lute-string, and which looked asmuch 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 dirtygauze half-handkerchief round it, and a bit of dirtier gauze than evermy maid wore was bowed on behind. She had a black gauze scarf thrownover her shoulders. She ran out of the room; when she returned, theDoctor entered at one door, she at the other; upon which she ranforward to him, caught him by the hand, 'Hélas! Franklin;' then gavehim 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 Doctorand Mr. Adams. She carried the chief of the conversation at dinner, frequently locking her hand into the Doctor's, and sometimes spreadingher arms upon the backs of both the gentlemen's chairs, then throwingher arm carelessly upon the Doctor's neck. "

Another house to which Franklin was welcome was that of the Countessd'Houdetot celebrated for her part in the life of Rousseau. It was ather château that Franklin had to undergo the ordeal of such aglorification as must have tried his philosophic nerves to theuttermost. The chronicler of the occasion declares that "the venerablesage, with his gray hair flowing down upon his shoulders, his staff inhand, the spectacles of wisdom on his nose, was the perfect picture oftrue philosophy and virtue. " But the "sage" must have found his virtuea burden on that day. He was escorted through the grounds; wine waspoured out freely; music was played, and the company in turn celebratedthe guest in stanzas which were none the less fulsome because they weretrue. The ceremony closed with the planting of a Virginia locust by theDoctor. 

The surrender of Burgoyne in 1777 had brought about the treaty withFrance; the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, four years later, wasthe beginning of peace and the cause of the treaty with England. Whateffect the news of Cornwallis's defeat had in England; how Lord North, the Prime Minister, received the message "as he would have taken a ballin 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 isknown to everybody. 

The diplomacy which now passed between the belligerent parties is amost complicated chapter of history. Franklin, Jay, and Adams wereappointed by Congress to treat with England concerning peace, withinstructions to consult the French government in every measure. Thefirst difficulty was one of form. England was ready to sign a treaty ofpeace and acknowledge the independence of the colonies; but the envoysent to Paris for this purpose was empowered to treat only withcommissioners of the "colonies or plantations, " and Jay and Adams feltincensed that the United States did not receive recognition by name. Franklin regarded the matter as a mere formality and was eager to pushon the proceedings; but his colleagues were obdurate, and after somedelay England made the required recognition. Three important points hadthen to be settled: 1. Whether the Americans should be allowed to fishon the New Foundland banks; 2. Whether the western boundary shouldextend to the Mississippi River; 3. Whether the United Statesgovernment should reimburse the losses of the Tories. 

Adams, who as a Bostonian understood the importance of the firstmeasure, insisted stubbornly that England should cede this point, andfinally won the day. That the United States were not confined to astrip of land along the seacoast was chiefly due to Jay. And here a newcomplication came in. Jay had from the first suspected that France wasplaying a double game, and convincing evidence of duplicity now fellinto his hands. To obtain concessions for herself, France was secretlyencouraging England to refuse the American claims on the New Foundlandfishing banks and on the territory lying between the Alleghanies andthe Mississippi. Jay thereupon insisted that the American envoys shouldtreat secretly with England without consulting the French court, andAdams sided with him. Franklin was at first much averse to this mode ofprocedure, both because Congress had distinctly commanded them to actin concert with Versailles, and because he could not believe in thetreachery of his French friends. When, however, Jay laid the matterclearly before him he gave up the point, and the negotiationsproceeded. England acknowledged the American right to the westernterritory, but was more obstinate in regard to the Toryindemnification. Franklin was willing to grant this if England inreturn would cede Canada to the American union, and for a time thequestion was debated in this form. Finally a compromise was adopted, Congress promising to recommend to the state legislatures "to restorethe estates, rights, and properties of real British subjects, "--whichwas of course a concession in words only, as Congress had no authorityto enforce such a recommendation. The preliminary treaty betweenEngland and America was signed November 30, 1782, and Franklin had atonce to appease the wrath of the French government which felt it hadbeen duped. With consummate skill he accomplished this task, and allthe vexing questions at issue were settled by the signing, on September3, 1783, of separate definitive treaties between the three hostilepowers. 

Franklin's great work was done. He had before this urged Congress torelease him from his heavy duties, and at last--in 1785, after he hadassisted in making treaties with the other powers of Europe--hisresignation was accepted, and he was free to return home. ThomasJefferson came over to Paris as plenipotentiary in his stead. Whenasked 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; yetstill his country could not let him repose. For three successive yearshe was elected President of Pennsylvania; but the labors entailed werenot 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 andher family in one of his letters of the time: "The companions of myyouth are indeed almost all departed; but I find an agreeable societyamong their children and grandchildren. I have public business enoughto preserve me from ennui, and private amusement besides inconversation, books, my garden, and cribbage. Considering ourwell-furnished, plentiful market as the best of gardens, I am turningmine, in the midst of which my house stands, into grass plots andgravel walks, with trees and flowering shrubs. Cards we sometimes playhere in long winter evenings; but it is as they play at chess, --not formoney, but for honor, or the pleasure of beating one another. This willnot be quite a novelty to you, as you may remember we played togetherin that manner during the winter at Passy. I have indeed now and then alittle compunction in reflecting that I spend time so idly. But anotherreflection comes to relieve me, whispering: '_You know that the soul isimmortal. Why, then, should you be such a niggard of a little time, when you have a whole eternity before you?_' So, being easilyconvinced, and, like other reasonable creatures, satisfied with a smallreason when it is in favor of doing what I have a mind to, I shufflethe cards again, and begin another game. " Yet the old man could not butfeel lonely at times in the new society growing up about him. He sayspathetically in another letter: "I seem to have intruded myself intothe company of posterity, when I ought to have been abed and asleep. "

In 1787 the constitutional convention met in Philadelphia, and it was afitting thing that the statesman and philosopher should live to aid inframing laws by which his country is still governed. He was now tooweak to stand long, so that his speeches on various questions had to beread out by a friend. His work in the convention was altogethersubordinate to that of Madison and one or two other leading spirits;but his part in reconciling various factious elements in the conventionwas of the greatest importance. When at last the deadlock came betweenthe smaller and the larger States on the question of representation inthe legislature, it was Franklin who saved the day by a suggestionwhich led to the famous compromise, making the Senate represent theindividual States, while the lower house is proportioned to population. Washington presided over the assembly; and we are told that while "thelast members were signing, Dr. Franklin, looking towards thepresident's chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to bepainted, observed to a few members near him that painters had found itdifficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. 'Ihave, ' said he, 'often and often in the course of the session and thevicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue looked at thatbehind the president without being able to tell whether it was risingor setting; but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is arising, and not a setting sun. '"

It was, however, the setting sun for Franklin. The few years thatremained to him were peaceful and noble; but his old maladies increasedon him, until at the last he was confined to his bed. Yet through itall he showed the same untiring energy. He wrote against the study ofthe classics, against the abuse of the liberty of the press, and fromhis very deathbed sent out a stinging letter against slavery. The endwas come: at eleven o'clock at night, April 17, 1790, he passed away. Philadelphia knew that she had lost her most distinguished citizen, andhe was followed to the grave by a procession including all that washonorable in the city. 

In closing this brief Life of a great and good man we cannot do betterthan quote the words sent to him by America's greatest citizen: "If tobe venerated for benevolence, if to be admired for talent, if to beesteemed for patriotism, if to be beloved for philanthropy, can gratifythe human mind, you must have the pleasing consolation to know that youhave not lived in vain. And I flatter myself that it will not be rankedamong the least grateful occurrences of your life to be assured that solong as I retain my memory you will be recollected with respect, veneration, and affection by your sincere friend. " To receive suchpraise from Washington is sufficient answer to all the petty cavilsthat have been raised against the memory of Benjamin Franklin.