Youth in Pennsylvania.” It was published at his own expense and gratuitously distributed, after it had been read in the Junto, where he disclosed his purpose.
“It is the greatest enterprise you have conceived yet,” remarked Parsons, after listening to the paper, “and it will be the most difficult one to push forward to success, I think.”
“Five thousand pounds is a great amount of money to raise,” said Breintnal. “I should not want to be the one to raise it.”
“I should, if I could,” retorted Franklin. “To be the author of so great a blessing to the young is pay enough without any salary. At any rate, that is all the pay any man will get for such service.”
“Do you propose to raise the money yourself?” inquired Coleman.
“Chiefly. I expect that interested parties may assist on that line. The fact that the enterprise is to bless their own children, gives me access to them at once. First of all, however, I propose to send this pamphlet, printed, to a long list of persons upon whom I shall call for aid, after ample time for them to read and digest it has elapsed.”
It is sufficient to say that Franklin successfully prosecuted his purpose, raised all the money necessary, and the academy was founded. Scholars multiplied so rapidly that larger quarters were soon demanded; and now came into use the building which Franklin caused to be erected for the use of Rev. Mr. Whitefield. With some alterations, it was just the building necessary to meet the wants of the popular institution. Franklin was glad when he secured the building for Whitefield; but he was more glad now because it could be used for the “University of Philadelphia,” as his school was named afterwards.
Perhaps the Junto did not give attention to a more important measure in its whole history than that of establishing militia for public security. Franklin read a paper, having the caption, “Plain Truth,” in which he expatiated upon the defenseless condition of Pennsylvania; that, while New England was all aglow with enthusiasm for armed defense against foreign invasion, and some of the southern colonies as well, Pennsylvania was utterly defenseless.
“There is not a battery, fort, or gun, on the banks of the Delaware,” he said; “not a volunteer company in the whole Province; and what is still more alarming, not guns enough to arm one.”
“Our people don’t believe in resistance, you know,” responded Coleman. “Quaker influence is decidedly against shot-guns and batteries.”
“And that is the trouble,” retorted Franklin. “The Legislatures of other Provinces have established public defenses; but the Quaker influence in the Assembly of Pennsylvania has defeated every measure of the kind.”
“And will continue to do so until a French privateer seizes and sacks this town, as one could very easily,” added Parsons.
“Or a tribe of savages, so easily set on by French politicians, shall plunder and burn us,” added Franklin.
“But John Penn and Thomas Penn are not Quakers, like their father, I have been told,” remarked Potts; “and certainly the Province has not had Quaker governors.”
“That is very true; but so many of the people are Quakers that the Assembly is under their control,” answered Franklin. “But I think the appearance of a privateer in the river, or an attack by a band of blood-thirsty savages, would knock the non-resistance out of many of them.”
“Nothing short of that will,” responded Coleman; “but Franklin’s plan of raising a volunteer militia, and all necessary funds by subscription, will not call out any opposition from them. I believe that many of them will be glad to have such defense if they are not expected to engage in it.”
“It is not true, even now, that all the Quakers oppose defensive war: for some of them do not; they have told me so,” continued Franklin. “They oppose aggressive warfare; but let a privateer come up the river, or savages attack our town, and they will fight for their homes as hard as any of us.”
“But how do you propose to reach the public, and interest them in your plan?” inquired Maugridge.
“I shall publish the paper I have read, with some additions, suggested by our discussion, and distribute it freely throughout the town. At the same time, I shall discuss it in the _Gazette_, and appeal to Quakers themselves, on Bible grounds, to co-operate for the public defense. And when they have had time to read the pamphlet and weigh the proposition, I shall call a public meeting.”
“Wise again, Franklin,” answered Coleman, who was delighted with the plan. “Your scheme will work to a charm; I have no doubt of it. But just what will you do at your public meeting?”
“Organize an ‘Association for Defense,’ after I have harangued the audience upon the perils of the hour. I shall urge every man present, as he values his home and life, to join the league, of whatever sect or party.”
“Each man to arm himself at his own expense, I suppose?” inquired Grace.
“As far as possible,” answered Franklin; “and to raise money for a battery, I have thought of a lottery.” Lotteries were generally resorted to, at that day, for raising money.
“That scheme for raising a battery will succeed, too,” said Coleman with a smile. “I can not see why the whole thing will not carry the public by storm.”
The plan of Franklin succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations. His pamphlet and articles in the _Gazette_ moved the public to great enthusiasm. When the public meeting was called, there was a general rush to it. It was held in the large building erected for Rev. Mr. Whitefield, and it was filled to overflowing. Twelve hundred men joined the “Association for Public Defense” on that night, and the number was increased to ten thousand within a few days. Within a few weeks, eighty companies were organized in the Province, armed, and drilled, ready to march to any point of danger at a moment’s warning. The companies in Philadelphia united to form a regiment, and Franklin was elected Colonel–an honor which he declined because he “considered himself unfit,” and recommended a Mr. Lawrence, who was a prominent and influential citizen.
The lottery scheme succeeded, also, and eighteen cannon were borrowed of the Governor of New York until the authorities could import the requisite number from England. Not a few Quakers approved of these measures for the public defense.
In the midst of the excitement Franklin intensified the feeling, by inducing the Governor to appoint a day of fasting and prayer. Such a day had never been observed in Pennsylvania, and so the Governor and his associates were too ignorant of the measure to undertake it alone. Hence, Franklin, who was familiar with Fast Days in Massachusetts, wrote the proclamation for the Governor, and secured the co-operation of ministers in the observance of the day.
It is claimed that Quakers often lent their influence to defensive warfare in an indirect manner. As, for example, when the Assembly made appropriations for the army, “for the purchase of bread, flour, wheat and _other grain_,” the latter phrase covered _gunpowder_. Perhaps this suggested to Franklin, when trying to get an appropriation through the Assembly, the following remark: “If we fail, let us move the purchase of a fire-engine with the money; the Quakers can have no objection to that; and then, if you nominate me, and I you, as a committee for that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is certainly a _fire-engine_.”
The fears of the colonists were allayed, and these warlike preparations discontinued, when the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was declared, and signed by the British Commissioners, Oct. 7, 1748.
XXXV.
PHILOSOPHER AND STATESMAN.
“I have a proposition to make to you, an important one,” remarked Franklin to David Hall, who had worked for him four years. “Come into the office, and I will tell you what it is.”
Hall followed him into the office, wondering what the proposition could be. When they were seated, Franklin continued:
“I must have a partner in this business; and I think you are just the man I want, if we can agree upon the terms. I desire to be released from the care of the printing office, that I may pursue my scientific studies more thoroughly and satisfactorily.”
“Your proposition is very unexpected to me, and I feel very much flattered by it,” answered Hall; “but I hardly know what to say, for I have no capital to put into the business.”
“And you need none,” interrupted Franklin. “My plan is that you take the office just as it is, pay me one thousand pounds a year, for eighteen years, releasing me from all care of the business, and, at the close of eighteen years, the whole business shall be yours, without further consideration.”
“Well, I ought to be satisfied with that offer, if you are; it is certainly a generous one, and I shall accept it.”
“And you will get out of it three or four times the amount of your present salary every year,” suggested Franklin. “I mean it shall be a profitable enterprise for you; for your long service here has satisfied me that you are the partner I want.”
This plan was carried into effect, and Franklin was no longer obliged to visit the printing office daily, whither he had been for over twenty years. His printing and newspaper business had been very profitable, so that he was comparatively wealthy for that day. His investments had proved fortunate; and these, with the thousand pounds annually from Hall, and five hundred pounds from two public offices he held, gave him an annual income of about fifteen thousand dollars, which was large for those times–one hundred and forty years ago.
“Now I can pursue my studies to my heart’s content,” Franklin said to his wife. “I have only had fragments of time to devote to electricity and other studies hitherto; but now I can command time enough to make research an object.”
“I am very glad that you are able to make so favorable arrangements,” Mrs. Franklin replied. “You have had altogether too much on your hands for ten years and more. You ought to have less care.”
“And I have an intense desire to investigate science, especially electricity,” Franklin continued. “I see a wide field for research and usefulness before me. But I have time enough to prosecute my plans.”
Franklin was forty-two years old at this time; and it is a singular fact that his career as a philosopher did not begin really until he had passed his fortieth birthday. But from the time he was released from the care of the printing office, his advancement in science was rapid. His fame spread abroad, both in this country and Europe, so that, in a few years, he became one of the most renowned philosophers in the world. In a former chapter we described his experiment with a kite, to prove that lightning and the electric fluid are identical; and this discovery established his fame as the greatest electrician of the world.
The Royal Society of London elected him a member by a unanimous vote, and the next year bestowed upon him the Copley medal. Yale College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts; and Harvard University did the same. Suddenly Franklin found himself the most conspicuous character in American history–a philosopher of the most honored type.
Mignet said of him, “Thus all at once distinguished, the Philadelphia sage became the object of universal regard, and was abundantly loaded with academic honors. The Academy of Sciences of Paris made him an associate member, as it had Newton and Leibnitz. All the learned bodies of Europe eagerly admitted him into their ranks. Kant, the celebrated German philosopher, called him ‘the Prometheus of modern times.’ To this scientific glory, which he might have extended if he had consecrated to his favorite pursuits his thoughts and his time, he added high political distinction. To this man, happy because he was intelligent, great because he had an active genius and a devoted heart, was accorded the rare felicity of serving his country, skilfully and usefully, for a period of fifty years; and after having taken rank among the immortal founders of the positive sciences, of enrolling himself among the generous liberators of the nations.”
A few years later, the three Universities of St. Andrew’s, Oxford, and Edinburgh, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Europe vied with America in tributes of honor and praise.
His electrical experiments made him the author of several useful inventions, among which the LIGHTNING ROD was the foremost. It came into general use, not only in our country, but also in Europe. The celebrated Kinnersley wrote to him, “May this method of security from the destructive violence of one of the most awful powers of Nature meet with such further success as to induce every good and grateful heart to bless God for the important discovery! May the benefit thereof be diffused over the whole globe! May it extend to the latest posterity of mankind, and make the name of Franklin, like that of Newton, IMMORTAL!”
Franklin did not intend to continue in political life, when he entered into partnership with Mr. Hall; and he so announced to his friends. At that time he had served as Councilman in the city, been a member of the General Assembly, acted as Commissioner on several important occasions, and served the public in various other ways; but now he designed to stop and devote himself entirely to scientific pursuits.
Within five years, however, he found himself more deeply involved in political plans and labors than ever before. He was as wise in statesmanship as he was in philosophy; and the services of such a man were in constant demand. The following list of public offices he filled shows that he stood second to no statesman in the land in public confidence and ability in public service:
A LEGISLATOR OF PENNSYLVANIA AT TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF AGE, CONTINUED FOR TWENTY YEARS.
FOUNDER AND LEADING TRUSTEE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
COLONEL OF MILITIA, WHICH HE ORIGINATED.
LEADER OF COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY FOR YEARS, IN TIME OF WAR.
POSTMASTER-GENERAL.
AGENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW JERSEY, AND GEORGIA TO THE KING OF ENGLAND.
MINISTER TO THE COURT OF ENGLAND IN 1764.
ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS IN 1775, AND A MEMBER OF IT.
MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO FRANCE IN 1776.
AUTHOR OF FIRST TREATY FOR AMERICA IN 1778.
MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO FRANCE IN 1778.
ONE OF FIVE TO DRAFT THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
A LEADER IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
ONE OF THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
LIKE WASHINGTON, “FIRST IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE, AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN.”
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were associated with Franklin in drafting the Declaration of Independence, which Congress adopted, July 4, 1776. The original draft was by Jefferson, but it contained many interlineations in the hand-writing of Franklin. When they were signing the memorable document, after its passage by Congress, John Hancock remarked:
“We must be unanimous,–we must all hang together.”
“Yes, if we would not hang separately,” replied Franklin.
Jefferson was viewing, with evident disappointment, the mutilation of his draft of the Declaration in Franklin’s hand-writing, when the latter remarked:
“I have made it a rule, whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draftsman of papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from an incident which I will relate to you. When I was a journeyman-printer, one of my companions, an apprentice-hatter, having served out his time, was about to open shop for himself. His first concern was to have a handsome sign-board, with a proper inscription. He composed it in these words: _John Thompson, hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money_, with a figure of a hat subjoined. But he thought he would submit to his friends for their amendments. The first he showed it to thought the word _hatter_ tautologous, because followed by the words _makes hats_, which showed he was a hatter. It was struck out. The next observed that the word _makes_ might as well be omitted, because his customers would not care who made the hats; if good and to their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever made. He struck it out. A third said he thought the words _for ready money_ were useless, as it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit. Every one who purchased expected to pay. They were parted with, and the inscription now stood: _John Thompson sells hats_. ‘_Sells_ hats?’ says his next friend; ‘why, nobody will expect you to give them away. What, then, is the use of that word?’ It was stricken out, and _hats_ followed, the rather as there was one painted on the board. So his inscription was reduced, ultimately, to _John Thompson_, with the figure of a hat subjoined.”
It is doubtful if American Independence would have been achieved when it was, but for the services of Franklin at the Court of England. His first appearance there was when his fame as a philosopher was at its zenith, and the greatest men of that country sought his acquaintance. William Strahan, a member of Parliament, wrote to Mrs. Franklin, “I never saw a man who was, in every respect, so perfectly agreeable to me. Some are able in one view, some in another, he in all.”
The Tories, who meant to keep the Colonies in subjection and burden them with taxes, were the leaders in governmental affairs and the majority in numbers. Of course, the Colonies could not expect many favors from them without the mediation of their strongest statesmen; and Franklin was the one above all others on whom they depended. His first diplomatic career in England, when he was the Agent of Pennsylvania and other Colonies, lasted from 1757 to 1762. He remained at home only a year and a half, when he was appointed “Minister to England,” whither he went in 1764, remaining there ten years, a long, stormy period of political troubles, culminating in the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
We have only to mention the Boston Port Bill, the Stamp Act, quartering British troops in the public buildings of Boston, and other measures which the Colonies considered oppressive, and even tyrannical, to show the line of Franklin’s intercession in behalf of his countrymen, and how they came to throw off the yoke of bondage.
The Tory hatred towards Franklin was something fearful at times, exceeded only by their hatred towards the people whom he represented. “I am willing to love all mankind except an American,” exclaimed Dr. Johnson. And when rebuked for his unchristian disposition, “his inflammable corruption bursting into horrid fire,” says Boswell, “he breathed out threatenings and slaughter, calling them rascals, robbers, pirates, and exclaiming that he would burn and destroy them.” When Mr. Barclay hinted to Franklin that he might have almost any place of honor if he would consent to a certain line of action, our loyal hero spurned the bribe, saying, “The ministry, I am sure, would rather give me a place in a cart to Tyburn [prison] than any other place whatever.” He could neither be coaxed nor frightened into submission to the British crown.
In February, 1766, he was summoned before the House of Commons, where he met the enemies of his country face to face, and stood firm through the searching examination.
“Will the Americans consent to pay the stamp duty if it is lessened?” he was asked.
“No, never; unless compelled by force of arms,” he answered.
“May not a military force carry the Stamp Act into execution?”
“Suppose a military force sent into America; they will find nobody in arms; what are they, then, to do? Then can not force a man to take stamps who chooses to do without them. They will not _find_ a rebellion; they may, indeed, _make_ one.”
“If the Stamp Act is enforced, will ill-humor induce the Americans to give as much for the worse manufactures of their own, and use them in preference to our better ones?”
“_Yes. People will pay as freely to gratify one passion as another,–their resentment as their pride_.”
“Would the people of Boston discontinue their trade?”
“The merchants of Boston are a very small number, and must discontinue their trade, if nobody will buy their goods.”
“What are the body of the people in the Colonies?”
“They are farmers, husbandmen, or planters.”
“Would they suffer the produce of their lands to rot?”
“No; but they would not raise so much. They would manufacture more and plow less. I do not know a single article imported into the Northern Colonies that they can not do without, or make themselves.”
To Lord Kames he said, “America must become a great country, populous and mighty; and will, _in a less time than is generally conceived_, be able to shake off any shackles that may be imposed upon her, and perhaps place them on the imposers.”
But his labors availed nothing, although Chatham, Pitt, Burke, Fox, and others, espoused the cause of the Colonies. Affairs hastened to the crisis of 1775, and Franklin returned to Philadelphia, reaching that city soon after the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought, in 1776.
A few months before he left England for America, his wife died. Her death occurred on Dec. 17, 1774, though the sad tidings did not reach Franklin until a short time before he took passage for home.
It was at this time that his famous letter to his old English friend, William Strahan, was written, of which we are able to furnish a _fac-simile_.
The scenes of the Revolution followed. Through the agency of Franklin, as Minister Plenipotentiary to France, the French Government formed an alliance with the Colonies, and the eight years’ war was waged to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown; and Freedom was achieved.
No American exerted greater influence in securing the independence of the Colonies than Franklin. He was one of the originators of the Continental Congress, and was the author of the plan for a Union of the States. On his way to the Albany Conference in 1754 he drew up a plan of Union, which he presented to said Conference, composed of delegates from seven Northern Colonies. Other members presented plans, but his was preferred and adopted, with some amendments, and commended to the favorable consideration of the King and Parliament of England. Franklin’s plan of Union was substantially that which, subsequently, united the thirteen States into one nation.
No name is more conspicuous in history than that of Franklin. At one time in France, “prints, medallion portraits, and busts of him were multiplied throughout that country.” In England, the most renowned statesmen and scholars acknowledged his abilities and praised his remarkable career. In America, his statue was set up in halls of learning and legislation, literary societies and institutions were founded in his name, and numerous towns were called after him. Perhaps the author’s native town–Franklin, Mass.–was the first to appropriate his name. A few years thereafter, a nephew called his attention to this fact, suggesting that the present of a bell from him would be very acceptable, as the people were erecting a house of worship. Franklin was in Passy, France, at the time, and he immediately addressed the following letter to his old friend, Dr. Price, asking him to select and forward a library:
“PASSY, 18 March, 1785.
“DEAR FRIEND,–My nephew, Mr. Williams, will have the honor of delivering you this line. It is to request from you a list of a few books, to the value of about twenty-five pounds, such as are most proper to inculcate principles of sound religion and just government. A new town in the State of Massachusetts having done me the honor of naming itself after me, and proposing to build a steeple to their meeting-house if I would give them a bell, I have advised the sparing themselves the expense of a steeple for the present, and that they would accept of books instead of a bell, sense being preferable to sound. These are, therefore, intended as the commencement of a little parochial library for the use of a society of intelligent, respectable farmers, such as our country people generally consist of. Besides your own works, I would only mention, on the recommendation of my sister, Stennett’s ‘Discourses on Personal Religion,’ which may be one book of the number, if you know and approve it.
“With the highest esteem and respect, I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
“B. FRANKLIN.”
The inhabitants of Franklin got _sense_ instead of _sound_, and were never sorry.
Doctor Price, in the course of a letter dated at Newington Green, June 3, 1785, in which he speaks of Mr. Williams’ visit, says: “I have, according to your desire, furnished him with a list of such books on religion and government as I think some of the best, and added a present to the parish that is to bear your name, of such of my own publications as I think may not be unsuitable. Should this be the commencement of parochial libraries in the States, it will do great good.”
The books were duly forwarded to the town of Franklin. The Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, clergyman of the parish for which the library was designed, preached a sermon in commemoration of this bounty, entitled “The Dignity of Man: a Discourse Addressed to the Congregation in Franklin upon the Occasion of their Receiving from Doctor Franklin the Mark of his Respect in a Rich Donation of Books, Appropriated to the Use of a Parish Library.” This sermon was printed in the year 1787, with the following dedication: “To his Excellency Benjamin Franklin, President of the State of Pennsylvania, the Ornament of Genius, the Patron of Science, and the Boast of Man, this Discourse is Inscribed, with the Greatest Deference, Humility, and Gratitude, by his Obliged and Most Humble Servant, the Author.”
The library contained one hundred and sixteen volumes, chiefly relating to Government, Science, and Religion, of which about ninety volumes are still in a good state of preservation.
On the 17th of April, 1790, Franklin expired, mourned by a grateful nation and honored by the world. For two years he had lived in anticipation of this event. One day he rose from his bed, saying to his daughter, “Make up my bed, that I may die in a decent manner.”
“I hope, father, that you will yet recover, and live many years,” replied his daughter.
“I hope not,” was his answer.
When told to change his position in bed, that he might breathe more easily, he replied:
“A dying man can do nothing easy.”
His sufferings were so great as to extort a groan from him at one time, whereupon he said:
“I fear that I do not bear pain as I ought. It is designed, no doubt, to wean me from the world, in which I am no longer competent to act my part.”
To a clerical friend, who witnessed one of his paroxysms as he was about to retire, he said:
“Oh, no; don’t go away. These pains will soon be over. They are for my good; and, besides, what are the pains of a moment in comparison with the pleasures of eternity?”
He had a picture of Christ on the cross placed so that he could look at it as he lay on his bed. “That is the picture of one who came into the world to teach men to love one another,” he remarked. His last look, as he passed away, was cast upon that painting of Christ.
In a codicil to his will was this bequest.
“My fine crab-tree walking-stick, with a gold head, curiously wrought in the form of a cap of liberty, I give to my friend, and the friend of mankind, _George Washington_. If it were a sceptre, he has merited it, and would become it.”
Philanthropist, Scholar, Philosopher, Statesman, were the titles won by the Boston Printer Boy!