Among illustrious Americans Franklin stands
preeminent in the interest which is aroused by a
study of his character, his mind, and his career.
One becomes attached to him, bids him farewell
with regret, and feels that for such as he the long
est span of life is all too short. Even though dead,
he attracts a personal regard which renders easily
intelligible the profound affection which so many
men felt for him while living. It may be doubted
whether any one man ever had so many, such con
stant, and such firm friends as in three different
nations formed about him a veritable host. In
the States and in France he was loved, and as he
grew into old age he was revered, not by those
who heard of him only, but most warmly by those
who best knew him. Even in England, where
for years he was the arch-rebel of all America,
he was generally held in respect and esteem, and
had many constant friends whose confidence no
events could shake. It is true, of course, that he
had also his detractors, with most of whom the
reader has already made acquaintance. In Penn
sylvania the proprietary party cherished an ani
mosity which still survives against his memory,
but which does not extend far beyond those who
take it as an inheritance. It does him no dis
credit with persons who understand its source.
In New England a loyalty to those famous New
Englanders, John Adams and Samuel Adams,
seems to involve in the minds of some persons
a depreciation of Franklin. In English historical
AT HOME 421
literature the patriotic instinct stands in the way
of giving Franklin quite his full due of praise.
But the faults and defects of character and con
duct which are urged against him appear little
more than the expression of personal ill will,
when they are compared with the affection and
the admiration given to him in liberal measure
by the great mass of mankind both in the genera
tions which knew him as a living contemporary
and in those which hear of him only as one of the
figures of history. It is not worth while to deify
him, or to speak with extravagant reverence, as
if he had neither faults nor limitations. Yet it
seems ungracious to recall these concerning one
who did for his fellow men so much as Franklin
did. Moral, intellectual, and material boons he
conferred in such abundance that few such bene
factors of the race can be named, though one
should survey all the ages. A man of a greater
humanity never lived; and the quality which stood
Abou Ben Adhem in good stead should suffice to
save Franklin from human criticism. He not
only loved his kind, but he also trusted them with
an implicit confidence, reassuring if not extraor
dinary in an observer of his shrewdness and ex
perience. Democrats of the revolutionary school
in France and of the Jeffersoniaii school in the
United States have preached an exaggerated gos
pel of the people, but their words are the dubious
ones of fanatics or politicians. Franklin was of
a different kind, and had a more genuine and
422 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
more generous faith in man than the greatest
democrat in politics who ever lived.
Franklin s inborn ambition was the noblest of
all ambitions : to be of practical use to the multi
tude of men. The chief motive of his life was to
promote the welfare of mankind. Every moment
which he could snatch from enforced occupations
was devoted to doing, devising, or suggesting some
thing advantageous more or less generally to men.
His detractors have given a bad, but also a false
coloring to this trait. They say that the spirit
of all that he did and taught was sordid, that
the motives and purposes which he set before men
were selfish, that his messages spoken through
the mouth of Poor Richard inculcated no higher
objects in life than money-getting. This is an
utterly unfair form of stating the case. Franklin
was a great moralist: though he did not believe
in the Christian religion according to the strait-
laced orthodox view, he believed in the virtues
which that religion embodies; and he was not
only often a zealous preacher, but in the main
a consistent exemplar of them. Perhaps he did
not rest them upon precisely the same basis upon
which the Christian preacher does, but at least
he put them on a basis upon which they could
stand firm. In such matters, however, one may
easily make mistakes, breed ill blood, and do
harm; and his wisdom and good sense soon led
him to put forth his chief efforts and to display
especial earnestness and constancy in promoting
AT HOME 423
the well-being of all men. It was an object suffi
ciently noble, one would think, worthy of the
greatest brain and the largest heart, and having
certain very commendable traits in the way of
practicability and substantial possibilities. His
desire was to see the community prosperous, com
fortable, happy, advancing in the accumulation
of money and of all physical goods, but not to
the point of luxury; it was by no means the pile
of dollars which was his end, and he did not care
to see many men rich, but rather to see all men
well to do. He was perfectly right in thinking
that virtuous living has the best prospects in a
well-to-do society. He gave liberally of his own
means and induced others to give, and promoted
in proportion to the ability of the community a
surprising number of public and quasi public
enterprises; and always the fireside of the poor
man was as much in his thought as the benefit
of the richer circle. Fair dealing and kindliness,
prudence and economy in order to procure the
comforts and simpler luxuries of life, reading and
knowledge for those uses which wisdom subserves,
constituted the real essence of his teaching. His
inventive genius was ever at work devising meth
ods of making daily life more agreeable, comfort
able, and wholesome for all who have to live. In
a word, the service of his fellow men was his
constant aim; and he so served them that those
public official functions which are euphemistically
called "public services" seemed in his case almost
424 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
an interruption of the more direct and far-reaching
services which he was intent upon rendering to
all civilized peoples. Extreme religionists may
audaciously fancy that the judgment of God upon
Franklin may be severe; but it would be gross
disloyalty for his own kind to charge that his in
fluence has been ignobly material.
As a patriot none surpassed him. Again it
was the love of the people that induced this feel
ing, which grew from 110 theory as to forms of
government, no abstractions and doctrines about
"the rights of man." He began by espousing
the cause of the people of the province of Penn
sylvania against proprietary despotism, and for
many years he was a patriot in his colony, before
the great issue against England made patriotism
common. His patriotism had not root in any
revolutionary element in his temper, but was the
inevitable outcome of his fair-mindedness. That
which was unfair as between man and man first
aroused his ire against the grinding proprietaries ;
and afterward it was the unfairness of taxation
without representation which especially incensed
him : for an intellect of the breadth and clearness
of his sees and loves justice above all things.
During the struggle of the States no man was
more hearty in the cause than Franklin; and the
depth of feeling shown in his letters, simple and
unrhetorical as they are, is impressive. All that
he had he gave. What also strikes the reader
of his writings is the broad national spirit which
AT HOME 425
he manifested. He had an immense respect for
the dignity of America; he was perhaps fortu
nately saved from disillusionment by his distance
from home. But be this as it may, the way in
which he felt and therefore genuinely talked about
his nation and his country was not without its
moral effect in Europe.
Intellectually there are few men who are Frank
lin s peers in all the ages and nations. He cov
ered, and covered well, vast ground. The repu
tation of doing and knowing various unrelated
things is wont to bring suspicion of perfunctori-
ness; but the ideal of the human intellect is an
understanding to which all knowledge and all
activity are germane. There have been a few,
very few minds which have approximated toward
this ideal, and among them Franklin s is promi
nent. He was one of the most distinguished
scientists who have ever lived. Bancroft calls
him "the greatest diplomatist of his century." 1
His ingenious and useful devices and inventions
were very numerous. He possessed a masterly
shrewdness in business and practical affairs. He
was a profound thinker and preacher in morals
and on the conduct of life ; so that with the excep
tion of the founders of great religions it would
be difficult to name any persons who have more
extensively influenced the ideas, motives, and hab
its of life of men. He was one of the most, per
haps the most agreeable conversationist of his age.
1 Bancroft, Hist. U. S. ix. 134.
426 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
He was a rare wit and humorist, and in an age
when "American humor" was still unborn, amid
contemporaries who have left no trace of a jest,
still less of the faintest appreciation of humor, all
which he said and wrote was brilliant with both
these most charming qualities of the human mind.
Though sometimes lax in points of grammar, as
was much the custom in his day, he wrote as
delightful a style as is to be found in all English
literature, and that too when the stilted, verbose,
and turgid habit was tediously prevalent. He
was a man who impressed his ability upon all
who met him ; so that the abler the man and the
more experienced in judging men, the higher did
he rate Franklin when brought into direct contact
with him; politicians and statesmen of Europe,
distrustful and sagacious, trained readers and val
uers of men, gave him the rare honor of placing
confidence not only in his personal sincerity, but
in his broad fair-mindedness, a mental quite as
much as a moral trait.
It is hard indeed to give full expression to a
man of such scope in morals, in mind, and in
affairs. He illustrates humanity in an astonishing
multiplicity of ways at an infinite number of
points. He, more than any other, seems to show
us how many-sided our human nature is. No in
dividual, of course, fills the entire circle; but if
we can imagine a circumference which shall ex
press humanity, we can place within it no one
man who will reach out to approach it and to
AT HOME 427
touch it at so many points as will Franklin. A
man of active as well as universal good will, of
perfect trustfulness towards all dwellers on the
earth, of supreme wisdom expanding over all the
interests of the race, none has earned a more
kindly loyalty. By the instruction which he gave,
by his discoveries, by his inventions, and by his
achievements in public life he earns the distinction
of having rendered to men varied and useful ser
vices excelled by no other one man; and thus he
has established a claim upon the gratitude of
mankind so broad that history holds few who can
be his rivals.
INDEX
431
reenter s cabinet, 147 suggests
treating for peace, 284 ; moves ad
dress against the war, after York-
town, 364.
Conyngham, , American privateer,
248, 249.
" Cool Thoughts on the Present Situa
tion," a pamphlet by Franklin, 91.
Cooper, Sir Grey, thinks Franklin s
mission is a desertion, 234.
Cooper, Samuel, tells Franklin of the
sentiment in Massachusetts regard
ing his appointment as agent, 138 ;
letter to, regarding Hutchinson let
ters, 180.
"Critical Period of American His
tory" a time of reviving industrial
prosperity, 406.
Cornwallis, Lord, effect of his sur
render, 363.
Cumberland, Duke of, forms cabinet,
115; dies, 116.
dishing, Thomas, letter from Frank
lin to, about the Hutchinson letters,
180.
DANA, FRANCIS, his reliance on Frank
lin, 342, 345.
Dartmouth, Lord, suggested as Hills-
borough s successor by Franklin,
165 ; friendly relations with Frank
lin, 166 ; later divergence, 166 ; dis
cusses with Franklin Massachusetts
resolves denying parliamentary con
trol, 167 ; impossibility of agree
ment, 168, 193 ; Franklin s memo
rial to, 200.
Deane, Silas, rank as diplomate, 220 ;
first envoy to France, 222 ; previous
career and character, 222 ; his mis
takes, 223 ; abandons America, 223 ;
introduced in France by Franklin,
223 ; his instructions, 224 ; balked
by Bancroft, 224 ; joins plans of
Beaumarchais, 230 ; not interfered
with by Franklin, 238 ; slandered
by Arthur Lee, 238, 239; ruined
by him, 239; defended by Frank
lin, 240, 243, 290 ; sends European
officers to America, 242 ; proposes j
an ultimatum to France, 269 ; re
called, 289 ; confidence in Franklin,
399.
De Grey, Lord Chief Justice, in
Hutchinson letters affair, 186.
Denham, , offers Franklin a clerk
ship, 10; his death, 10.
Despencer, Lord le, breakfast party
with, 136.
D Estaing, Admiral, sails to aid Amer
ica, 285.
u De Weissenstein " makes mysterious
offer of peace with pensions for
leading rebels, 358 ; supposed to be
George III., 358; Franklin s reply
to, 358, 359.
Dickinson, John, defends the Penn
sylvania proprietors, 94 ; personal
attack on Franklin, 97, 98 ; pro
tests against his appointment as
agent of the Assembly, 98 ; advo
cates renewed petitioning to king
in Continental Congress, 206 j sup
ported by Franklin, 206.
Digges, , embezzles funds sent by
Franklin to American prisoners,
264 ; makes secret proposals on be
half of Lord North, 364.
Diplomacy of the Revolution, its gen
eral character, 220 ; varied person
nel, 220; difficulties in choosing
ministers, 221 ; vagueness as to
status of representatives, 222 ; mis
sion of Silas Deane to France, 222-
231 ; assistance gained from France
through Beaumarchais, 225-231 ;
mission of Franklin to France, 232-
401 ; first offer of alliance, 236, 237 ;
dealings of Franklin and Deane with
foreign military adventurers, 242-
246; management of privateers,
248-252 ; negotiations relative to
exchange of prisoners, 252-264 ;
dealings with opposition in England,
271 ; alliance with France, 273-279 ;
proposal of Deane to force a deci
sion, 269 ; effect of news of Bur-
goyne s capture, 273 ; discussion
over terms of alliance, 273-277 ; de
bate over molasses duties, 276 ; con
cessions arranged by Franklin, 277,
278 ; peace with England suggested,
282, 284; quarrels in the French
mission, 290-298 ; Franklin minis
ter plenipotentiary, 298 ; methods
of raising money in Europe, 306 ;
history of Franklin s efforts in
France, 306-336 [see Finances of
the Revolution] ; unique position of
Franklin in Europe, 340-343 ; supe
riority to other diplomatists, 342,
344-346 ; mistake of John Adams in
irritating Vergennes about American
paper money, 350-352 ; the affair
smoothed over by Franklin, 352-
355 ; futile advances toward recon
ciliation made by English emissa
ries, 357-360 ; events leading up to
treaty of peace [see treaty of
peace], 363-396 ; commercial trea
ties with Prussia and other countries,
397.
Dubourg, Dr., conveys to Franklin
news of French willingness to help
colonies, 232.
Dunning, , counsel for Franklin
in Hutchinson letters affair, 187,
188.
432
INDEX
EDINBURGH gives Franklin freedom of
the city, 75.
East India Company, hurt by colonial
non-importation, 175.
FINANCES of the Revolution, difficul
ties, 304 ; vague powers of Con
gress, 304 ; inability to offer secur
ity, 305 ; methods of raising money
adopted, 305, 306 ; burden of mak
ing loans thrown on foreign repre
sentatives, 306 ; situation of Jay,
307 ; of Adams, 307 ; real brunt
borne by Franklin, 307, 321 : unpic-
turesqueness and indispensableness
of his labors, 308, 336 ; description
of them, 308-336 ; proposed pay
ments by cargoes of American pro
ducts, 309 ; failure of this method,
310 ; loans made by French court
on pure credit, 311, 317, 319 ; Frank
lin s pamphlet on resources of the
United States, 311 ; neglect of Con-
ress to advise ministers of bills,
12, 313, 326, 332; protests from
Franklin, 312, 318, 320; lack of
business methods in Congress, 313,
314, 320 ; extravagance of Lee and
Izard, 314-316 ; difficulties of
French court in furnishing money,
319; injurious influence of State
agents, 320 ; difficulties of Jay in
Spain, 321, 322, 332 ; criticisms of
Vergennes, 325 ; neglect of Congress
to keep promises, 322, 326, 332 ;
begging from Vergennes, 327 ; from
Necker, 328 ; difficulties over loan
raised in Holland, 328 ; extravagance
of Laurens and Jackson, 329 ; diffi
culties of Adams in Holland, 331,
332 ; antedating of bills to elude a
promise, 332 ; further loans, 334,
336 ; liquidation of accounts begins,
335 ; peace alone puts an end to
borrowing, 336.
Fisheries, importance of, to New Eng
land, 380; right to, upheld by
Adams, 380, 399.
Fitzherbert, , replaces Grenville,
372.
Florida, suggested as member of Con
federation by Franklin, 208.
Folger, Abiah, mother of Franklin, 2.
Folger, ancestry of Franklin, 3.
Fox, C. J., member of opposition,
271 ; attacks North regarding
French and American alliance, 281 ;
in Rockingham cabinet, 365 ; tries
to outdo Shelburne by treating with
colonies through France, 366 ; will
ing to acknowledge their independ
ence, 367 ; urges Franklin to ne
gotiate separately. 370 ; retires from
Shelburne s cabinet, 372.
France, policy of; early interest in
English colonial controversy, 137 ;
regarded as probable ally of colo
nies, 222 ; intervention suggested by
Beaumarchais and Vergennes, 226-
228 ; enthusiasm over Franklin, 233-
235 ; secret assistance, 251 ; self-
interest of France, 252, 285, 368,
375, 380, 391, 396 ; treaty of alliance
with, 273-279 ; war with England,
285 ; financial assistance, 307-336.
Franklin ancestry, 2 ; from North
amptonshire, 2 ; religious independ-
dence, 2.
Franklin, Benjamin. Early years.
Ancestry, 2 ; birth, 3 ; intended at
first for the church, 3 ; assists
father as tallow chandler, 4 ; ap
prenticed as printer to his brother,
4 ; " escapes being a poet," 4 ; bold
religious speculations, 5 ; runs
away, 6 ; begins printing in Phila
delphia, 6 ; receives offer of help
from Gov. Temple, 6 ; fails to in
duce his father to assist, 7 ; tricked
by Temple into sailing for England,
8; lives in London, 8; "errata"
in his career, 9 ; bad company, 9 ;
infidelity, 9 ; declines proposal to
[ establish swimming school, 10 ; re
turns home, 10 ; composes epitaph,
11 ; rise as printer in Philadelphia,
11, 12; publishes "Pennsylvania
Gazette," 12, 13 ; matrimonial pro
jects, 13, 14 ; marriage, 15 ; rise in
society, 19 ; establishes a library,
20 ; effective methods of agitation,
21; publishes Poor Richard s al
manac, 21 ; his management of the
Gazette, 24 ; religious and moral
views, 24-33 ; gains political influ
ence through the Junto, 34 ; estab
lishment of affiliated clubs, 34;
studies languages, 35 ; clerk of
General Assembly, 35 ; postmaster
of Philadelphia, 35 ; invents a stove,
and refuses to patent it, 36 ; founds
a philosophical society, 36 ; an acad
emy, 37 ; tries to reorganize night-
watch, 38 ; founds the Union Fire
Company, 39 ; begins organization
of military force against French,
39 ; takes a partner, 39 ; enters
public life, 40 ; appointed to vari
ous offices and elected burgess, 40 ;
commissioner to treat with In
dians, 40; assists Dr. Bond in
founding hospital, 41 ; induces legis
lature to make a contingent grant,
42 ; his pride over this device, 42 ;
improves cleaning and lighting of
streets, 42 ; appointed head of
postal system, his successful man
agement of it, 43 ; receives degree
INDEX
4133
of Master of Arts from Yale and
Harvard, 43; deputy to Indian con
ference at Albany, 44 ; proposes a
colonial union, 44 ; his plan adopted,
45; later rejected by England and
by colonies, 45 ; speculations as to
possible results if successful, 46 ;
opposes Shirley s plan of a parlia
mentary tax, 47 ; proclaims theory
of no taxation without consent, 47 ;
points out heaviness of existing in
direct taxation, 48 ; doubts feasi
bility of colonial representation in
Parliament, 48, 49 ; visits Boston,
49 ; on committee to supervise mili
tary expenditure in Pennsylvania,
50 ; disapproves of Braddock s ex
pedition, 51 ; acts in behalf of the
Assembly, 52 ; arranges for trans
portation for the expedition, 53 ;
obliged to give bonds to owners,
54 ; in danger of ruin owing to fail
ure of expedition and losses of {
wagons and horses, 54 ; escapes !
with slight losses, 54 ; reputed to j
have made money, 55 ; builds forts |
on frontier, 56 ; increased popular- j
ity, 56 ; scheme for settling barrier j
colonies west of mountains, 57 ; j
scientific studies, 59 ; reputation j
in Europe, 59, 60.
Representative of Pennsylvania in
conflict with proprietors. Sent to
England by burgesses to appeal to
the king against the proprietors, 63 ;
his share in previous agitation, 63 ; j
detained from sailing by Lord Lou- ;
doun s procrastination, 65 ; arrival
in London, 6G ; interview with Lord !
Granville, GG ; dispute over legal j
rights of the colonies, 67 ; futile in
terview with proprietors, 67 ; with
their counsel, 68 ; kept waiting a
year, 68 ; complained of to the As
sembly by the proprietors, 68 ;
learns of an adverse report of the i
board of trade, 70 ; engages that !
proprietors shall be fairly treated by
the Assembly, 70 ; thus gains main
contention that proprietors may be j
taxed, 71 ; comments on proprie
tors behavior, 71, 72; detained,
two years in England on business,
73 ; purposely delayed by oppo- j
nents, 73 ; suffers from lack of so
cial influence, 74 ; fails to see Pitt,
74 ; illness, 74 : welcomed in scien
tific circles, 75 ; travels, 75 ; re
ceives degree of Doctor of Laws
from St. Andrews and Oxford, 75 ;
friendship with Strahan, 76 ; at
tempts at match-making with Sar ih
Franklin and William Franklin, 76 ;
willing to live in England, 77 : re-
gret at leaving, 77 ; interested in
proposal to leave Canada to French
in order to overawe colonies, 80 ;
shows fallacy in a pamphlet, 80, 81 ;
denies possibility of colonial inde
pendence, 81, 82, 83; predicts fu
ture development of the West, 84 ;
returns home, 84 ; popularity, 84 ;
elected to assembly, 84 ; receives
partial compensation, 84 ; desires
repose, 86; regulates post-office, 86 ;
friendly relations with Governor
Penn, 87 ; condemns " Paxton mas
sacre " of friendly Indians, 88 ; or
ganizes force to protect Christian
Indians in Philadelphia, 89 ; pro
tects governor in his house, 89 ;
joins popular party in opposing gov
ernor, 91 ; urges change to Royal
Government, 91, 92, 93 ; draws peti
tion to this effect, 93 ; chosen
speaker, 94 ; attacks governor s
methods, 94, 95 ; defeated in elec
tion to Assembly, 9G, 97 ; appointed
agent to present petition for Royal
Government, 97, 99; attacked by
Dickinson, 98 ; expenses of journey
paid by subscription, 100 ; return to
old lodgings in London, 100; fails
to gain consideration for his peti
tion, 101, 102.
Colonial representative in Eng
land. Instructed by Pennsylvania to
oppose Stamp Act, 105 ; fruitless in
terview with Grenville, 106 ; writes
home advising submission, 107 ; no
thought of resistance, 107 ; names
Hughes for stamp-distributer at
Grenville s request, 108 ; temporary
fury of Philadelphia at the news,
109 ; his surprise and mortification,
109, 110 ; apparent disagreement
with colonists, but real unity of opin
ion, 111 ; his fitness for diplomatic
position in England, 111, 112; sym
pathizes with both sides, 1 13 ; tact
and coolness, 113; appears as wit
ness at bar of Commons, 119; abil
ity displayed under cross-examina
tion, 119 ; thorough mastery of sit
uation, 120 ; great effect of his
testimony, 121 ; presents American
sentiment against the Stamp Act,
122 ; expresses willingness to sacri
fice all rather than submit, 123,
124 ; states legislative independence
of colonies, 124, 125 ; has friendly
feeling for George III., 126 ; seeks
to defend him, 126, 127 ; think?
colonial representation in Purlin
ment impossible of adoption, 128
views on " virtual " representation
130 ; draws distinctions betweei
external and internal taxation, 130 V
434
INDEX
131 ; asserts willingness of colonies !
to bear their share of public bui -
dens, 132 : return of popularity in
Pennsylvania, 134; satirical publica
tions at expense of English igno
rance of colonies, 134, 135 ; joke
concerning a claim of the king of
Prussia to England, 136 ; " rules for
reducing a great empire to a small