24 EDITS A NEWSPAPER AND ALMANACK. Father of light and life, thou God supreme! O teach me what is good: teach me thyself! With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; King George the First!" The work which Keimer here refers to in so magniloquent a style, was Cham bers's Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences; and his plan consisted simply of copying the articles from that publication into his projected paper. Alas! his visions of hope ended in a prison before the year had filled its self-regula-term, and the paper fell into the hands of his rivals whom he had tried to injure. By Franklin's ingenuity, the paper rose in general estimation. It was conducted on a respectable footing, and enlivened either by small pieces from the pen of the editor, or by extracts from the papers of Addison in the Spectator. In following out these plans of study and tion, he encountered numberless obstructions, both from the forms of society, and from the natural proneness to err common to all human beings. But it does not appear that he permitted any of these to divert him from the course which he had prescribed. Conscious of rectitude of intention, and delighted with the pleasure which he derived from moral and intellectual pursuits, he treated the ordinary sarcasms of the world with indifference, and comforted himself with the reflection that the period would perhaps ultimately arrive when his line of conduct would meet with its appropriate reward. Already, indeed, as he tells us, at the very outset of his career in business, his steady industry had gained him several genuine friends. Franklin was careful to exclude from the Gazette all matter partaking of the character of personal abuse, to which most of the colonial papers of the period were addicted; at the same time, he was most severe in his strictures on the conduct of men in their public capacity, and was heedless of the consequences. The following anecdote is related as an illustration of his independent feeling as an editor:-Not long after he had commenced his duties, he noticed with considerable freedom the Of Franklin's intercourse with his family little has public conduct of one or two influential persons in been made known, though it is ascertained, by a few Philadelphia. This circumstance was regarded with scattered hints in his writings, that he was an affection- disapprobation by some of his patrons, one of whom ate husband and father, and placed much of his happi- undertook to convey to him the opinions of the rest in ness in home. In his household affairs the most exact regard to it. Benjamin listened with patience to the economy prevailed, and, for several years after his mar-reproof, and begged the favour of his friend's company riage, his breakfast consisted simply of bread and milk, at supper on an evening which he named; at the same which he ate from a penny earthenware porringer. time, requesting that the other gentlemen who were Fortunately, his wife was as much disposed to be in- dissatisfied with him should also attend. The invitadustrious as he was; she assisted him in his business, tion was accepted by Philip Syng, Hugh Roberts, and folded the sheets of books which he printed, kept his several others. The printer received them cordially, shop, and executed other humble but useful duties. By and his editorial conduct was canvassed, and some adfollowing this industrious and economical plan of living, vice given. Supper was at last announced, and the they gradually accumulated wealth, and were enabled guests invited into an adjoining room. Franklin begged to possess comforts and luxuries which were at first the party to be seated, and urged them to help thembeyond their reach. Still, Franklin was not puffed up selves; but the table was only supplied with two pudby prosperity, but continued to live in a style of sim- dings, and an earthenware pitcher filled with water! plicity agreeable to the notions he had formed at the Each guest had a plate, a spoon, and a penny poroutset of his career. ringer; they were all helped; but none but Franklin could eat-he partook freely of the pudding, and urged his friends to do the same; but it was out of the question-they tasted and tried in vain. When their facetious host saw the difficulty was unconquerable, he rose and addressed them thus:-"My friends, any one who can subsist upon saw-dust pudding and water, as I can, needs no man's patronage !"* advertisements, &c. Franklin, in his turn, enjoyed these advantages, by being appointed post-master of Philadelphia in 1737. Bradford, while in office, had acted ungenerously towards Franklin, preventing as much as possible the circulation of his paper. He had now an opportunity of retaliating, but his nobleness of soul prevented him from making use of it.+ In conducting his business, he happily united the occupation of a printer with the profession of an author, and thus became the publisher of his own literary productions. No large work, however, was given by him to the world. His writings were chiefly of a minor character, such as detached pamphlets, treating of subjects of local import, and short essays. The publication of a weekly newspaper and an annual almanack, Franklin's rival in trade, Bradford, at first possessed afforded him the means of giving his ideas to the world; some advantage over him by being post-master, therebut even with these advantages he did not, as it ap- by having any opportunity of circulating his paper more pears, write much that has been thought worthy of re-extensively, and thus rendering it a better vehicle for publication in a succeeding age. His newspaper was the Pennsylvania Gazette, which had been started by Keimer in 1728, and which, after about a twelvemonth's mismanagement, had come into the possession of Franklin and Hugh Meredith. Keimer, who seems to have been an odd mixture of covetousness and eccentricity, started the Gazette in consequence of hearing that Franklin was about to set a newspaper on foot. The braggart style of Keimer's prospectus is curious, even in the present age of puffing. "Whereas," says he, "many have encouraged me to publish a paper of intelligence, and whereas the late Mercury has been so wretchedly performed as to be a scandal to the name of printing-as to be truly styled nonsense in folio: this is therefore to notify, that I shall begin in November next a most useful paper, to be entitled The Pennsylvania Gazette, or Universal Instructor. Having dwelt at the fountain of intelligence in Europe, I will be able to give a paper to please all and to offend none, at the reasonable expense of ten shillings per annum, proclamation money. It will exceed all others that ever were in America, and will possess, in fine, the most complete body of history and philosophy ever yet published since the creation. A work of the self-same design has been going on in England, by no less then seven dukes, two viscounts, eighteen earls, twenty-two lords, and some hundreds of knights, esquires, &c.; and withal approved and honoured by the wisest king-even the very darling of heaven-velled in a few hours. Besides editing his newspaper, he conducted and published an almanack, which he began in 1732, and continued for a period of twenty-five years. This almanack bore the feigned name, Richard Saunders, and hence acquired the title of Poor Richard's Almanack, by which it became extensively known. The leading feature of the work consisted in an array of concise maxims and apothegms of an economical character, distributed here and there throughout the calendar, wherever space was left betwixt the names of the holidays. When Poor Richard's Almanack was brought to a close, a considerable number of the *Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. In 1755, the postmaster-general, Benjamin Franklin, pubwinter northern mail from Philadelphia to New England, which lishes that to aid trade, &c. he gives notice, that thereafter the used to set out but once a-fortnight, shall start once a-week all the year round, "whereby answers may be obtained to letters between Philadelphia and Boston in three weeks, which used to require six weeks."-Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. In the present day, the distance betwixt Philadelphia and Boston is tra was chosen colonel of the Philadelphia regiment; but he did not think proper to accept of the honour. His activity at this crisis in colonial affairs, gained him the favour and confidence of the governor and council, and paved the way for greater honours being conferred upon him. maxims were collected in an Address to the Reader, | ber of subscribers amounted to ten thousand. Franklin in the last number, and entitled The Way to Wealth. This admirable digest has been since translated into various languages, and is now widely known. A copy of it will be found in another part of the present volume. As a commercial speculation, Franklin's almanack was eminently successful; some of its numbers were circulated to the extent of ten thousand copies, which was a prodigious sale in a thinly peopled American province a hundred years since. Franklin's literary abilities, and the respectability of his character as a citizen, gained him considerable popularity in Pennsylvania; and in 1736, he was chosen, without opposition, to be clerk to the General Assembly of the province-an office which brought him an accession of business as a printer, and elevated his position in society. His appointment to the office of post-master to the province in 1737, has already been adverted to. From this period may be dated a new era in his life. He now began to devote some of his energies to public affairs, but confining himself chiefly to the establishment and improvement of local institutions. One of the first of his measures was the establishment of a system of effective street police in Philadelphia; and another was the forming of a fireinsurance company, which was instituted in 1738.* In 1739, Philadelphia was visited by the celebrated George Whitfield, who, after exciting much religious enthusiasm in England, had conceived that in America his extraordinary gifts might prove still more efficacious. In all parts of the colonies in which he made his appearance, he did create a very great sensation, and particularly in Philadelphia. Franklin, among others, was delighted with the remarkable oratorical powers of Whitfield, which were the result of careful study; and when on one occasion he attended a charity sermon, predetermined to give nothing, he was so affected by successive touches of the preacher, that he gave all the money he happened at the time to have in his pockets. With Whitfield he afterwards had some friendly correspondence, though it does not appear that he esteemed him in any other light than as an amiable enthusiast, who had perfected himself in the art of rousing the feelings of mankind by a theatrical style of oratory. The peace of the colony being at length secured, Franklin resumed his active duties in civil life. Perceiving that education was in an exceedingly defective condition in Philadelphia and the country generally, he wrote and published a pamphlet on the subject, and suggested the establishment of an academy, on an extended and improved plan, for the instruction of youth. This wise and benevolent object attracted the attention it deserved; a seminary was speedily set on foot by public subscription, under the charge of trustees, and it met with a much greater degree of success than its projector had originally contemplated. Pursuits of a different nature now occupied a large share of the attention of Franklin for some years. Finding himself in the enjoyment of a moderate competence realised by his industry, he considered himself entitled to relax in his mercantile exertions, and to indulge himself a little in scientific pursuits. The branch of physics to which he chiefly directed his attention was that of electricity, which was at this time in its infancy. Electricity is a subtle and mysterious fluid or quality, which seems to pervade all nature, and has received its name from the Greek word electron, signifying amber, in which substance it was supposed by the ancients exclusively to reside, and from which it could be evolved in the form of bright sparks by rubbing. Upon this almost unknown property of matter, Franklin, in 1746, engaged in a course of experiments, with all the ardour and thirst for discovery which characterised the philosophers of that day. He was enabled to do so, by means of some apparatus which he purchased from a Dr Spence, a Scottish gentleman whom he had heard lecture on the subject of electricity at Boston, during a recent short visit to that town. He was further induced to enter upon his course of experiments, in consequence of Mr Peter Collinson, a gentleman of scientific acquirements in London, having presented the Library Company of Philadelphia with a glass tube suitable for exhibiting certain electrical phenomena, at the same time communicating to Franklin some interesting intelligence of what had lately been done in this branch of experimental philosophy. Nothing more was required to excite the mind of Franklin on the About this period, Franklin felt himself called upon, subject. For about two years he was assiduous in exby a sense of public duty, to interfere in preserving the ploring the hidden principles of electrical action, and inviolability of the country from warlike aggression. The at length, in the year 1748, he made the important frontiers of the province became subject to the repeated discovery that there are two kinds or affections of elecinroads and attacks of the wild Indian tribes, in conse- tricity, one of which he called the positive, and the quence of the war betwixt Great Britain and France other the negative-and that it is by first disturbing having broken out in Canada. Franklin roused the the natural balance subsisting between these two states, people by his writings, and incited them to a general and then restoring the equilibrium by bringing them defence. He proposed to a meeting of the citizens of into connection, that an explosive effect is produced. Philadelphia, a plan for an association of volunteers, This discovery led him to conjecture that lightning is which was immediately approved of, and signed by twelve identical with electrical sparks, and is produced in the hundred persons. Copies were instantly circulated atmosphere by an effort of nature to restore the harthroughout the province; and in a short time the num-monious balance of electricity in the clouds or in the air, which has been some way disturbed. In the year *We obtain a glimpse of the wardrobe of Franklin in the 1749, he published his opinion on these points, and adyear 1738, from an advertisement for stolen clothes, to wit:-duced many particulars in which the external pheno"Broad-cloth breeches lined with leather, sagathee coat lined mena of lightning and electricity agree. In the same with silk, and fine home-spun linen shirts."-Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. In 1744, Franklin proposed and effected the establishment of a Philosophical Society in Philadelphia; an institution congenial with his intellectual habits, and which still exists as a memorial of his desire for social advancement.+ + For several years, this Society was little more than an association of scientific gentlemen, for the purpose of aiding one another in their pursuits, by conversation and concerted efforts. The meetings of the Society were also frequently interrupted during the political troubles of the country; but the activity of its members did not cease, and their labours have been recorded ranks among its members some of the most distinguished men of letters and science in America and Europe. The meetings are held in a handsome and commodious building in Philadelphia, which contains a valuable library and museum of natural history.-North American Review, No. 50. in successive volumes of Transactions. The association now year, he conceived the bold idea of ascertaining the truth of his doctrine, by actually drawing down the lightning, by means of sharp-pointed iron rods raised into the region of the clouds. Even in this extraordinary inquiry, his passion to be useful to mankind displays itself in a powerful manner. Admitting the identity of electricity and lightning, and knowing the power of points in repelling bodies charged with electricity, and in conducting their fire silently and imperceptibly, he suggested the idea of securing houses, ships, &c. from being damaged by lightning, by erecting pointed iron rods, that should rise some feet above the most elevated part, and descend some feet into the ground or the water. The effect of these, he concluded, quack. The French philosophers thought very diffe- By these experiments, Franklin's theory was established in a most convincing manner. When the truth of it could no longer be doubted, envy and vanity endeavoured to detract from its merit. That an American, an inhabitant of the obscure city of Philadelphia, the name of which was hardly known, should be able to make discoveries and to frame theories, which had escaped the notice of the enlightened philosophers of Europe, was too mortifying to be admitted. He must certainly have taken the idea from some one else. An American, a being of an inferior order, make discoveries!-Impossible. It was said that the Abbe Nollet, in 1748, had suggested the idea of the similarity Franklin now wrote an account of his experiments of lightning and electricity in his Leçons de Physique. and theories, in the form of letters to Mr Collinson in It is true that the Abbé mentions the idea, but he England, who published them in a separate volume, throws it out as a bare conjecture, and proposes no under the title of New Experiments and Observations mode of ascertaining the truth of it. on Electricity, at Philadelphia in America. They acknowledges, that Franklin first entertained the bold were read with avidity, and met with the cordial appro- thought of bringing lightning from the heavens, by bation of many learned men in England, particularly means of pointed rods fixed in the air. The similarity of Dr Priestley,* who thus speaks of them :-" It is not of lightning and electricity is so strong, that we need easy to say whether we are most pleased with the sim- not be surprised at notice being taken of it, as soon as plicity and perspicuity with which the author proposes electrical phenomena became familiar. But the honour every hypothesis of his own, or the noble frankness of forming a regular theory of thunder-gusts-of sugwith which he relates his mistakes when they were gesting a mode of determining the truth of it by excorrected by subsequent experiments." While Frank-periments, and of putting these experiments in practice, lin's experiments and theories were received with delight by the learned in all quarters of the globe, they met at first with nothing but contemptuous sneers from the Royal Society of London, which esteemed them as little better than the whimsicalities of a charlatan or * Dr Priestley was an eminent philosopher and dissenting clergyman (born 1733, died 1804). He spent a considerable part of his life at Leeds, where he presided over a congregation, and pursued his philosophical investigations. As a man of science, he stands high in invention and discovery; and to no one have chemistry and pneumatics been so much indebted. His philan. thropic and magnanimous character was akin to that of Franklin, with whom he became acquainted and corresponded. He himself and thus establishing the theory upon a firm and solid basis-is incontestibly due to Franklin. D'Alibard, who made the first experiments in France, says, that he only followed the track which Franklin had pointed out. Besides these great principles, Franklin's letters on electricity contain a number of facts and hints, which have contributed greatly towards reducing this branch of knowledge to a science. They have been translated into most of the European languages, and into Latin. In proportion as they have become known, his principles have been adopted. In later times, the knowledge of electricity has been greatly extended; but Franklin's theory, as regards the practical benefit to | as the sum was granted upon a contingency which they be derived from employing lightning protectors, remains undisturbed.* During the time of his performing experiments in electricity, Franklin paid considerable attention to the principles of heat in application to the purposes of warming houses. In 1745, he published an account of his newly-invented Pennsylvania fire-places, and endeavours to show their superiority to others in use. His invention consisted chiefly in making stoves or fire-places of such a construction, that they radiated heated air into the apartment, and effected a saving of fael; but, while this plan is at once effectual and economical, later investigations have decided that the air so heated is too much dried, and is therefore rendered unwholesome, and unsuitable for close apartments. Franklin likewise wrote and published some papers at this period, on the subject of smokiness in chimneys, which were republished in England, though, we believe, in a form altered from the original. In the year 1747, he became a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, by being appointed as a representative burgess for the city of Philadelphia. Warm disputes at this time subsisted between the Assembly and a class of landholders of old standing, called proprietaries, who claimed the peculiar privilege of not being subject to taxation. Franklin, a friend to the principles of justice from his infancy, and an enemy of aristocratic assumptions, soon distinguished himself as a steady opponent of the unjust schemes of the proprietaries. He was looked up to as the head of the opposition; and to him have been attributed many of the spirited replies of the Assembly to the messages of the governors. His influence in the body was very great. This arose not from any superior powers of eloquence; he spoke but seldom, and he never was known to make any thing like an elaborate harangue. His speeches often consisted of a single sentence, or of a well-told story, the moral of which was obviously to the point. He never attempted the flowery fields of oratory. His manner was plain and mild. His style in speaking was like that of his writings-simple, unadorned, and remarkably concise. With this plain manner, and his penetrating and solid judgment, he was able to confound the most eloquent and subtle of his adversaries, to confirm the opinions of his friends, and to make converts of the unprejudiced who had opposed him. With a single observation, he often rendered of no avail an elegant and lengthy discourse, and determined the fate of a question of importance. About the year 1752, an eminent physician of Philadelphia, Dr Bond, considering the deplorable state of the poor, when visited with disease, conceived the idea of establishing an hospital. Notwithstanding very great exertions on his part, he was able to interest few people so far in his benevolent plan, as to obtain subscriptions from them. Unwilling that his scheme should prove abortive, he sought the aid of Franklin, which was immediately granted. Their united efforts were attended with success. Considerable sums were subscribed, but they were still short of what was necessary. Franklin now made another exertion. He applied to the Assembly: and, after some opposition, obtained leave to bring in a bill, specifying, that as soon as two thousand pounds were subscribed, the same sum should be drawn from the treasury by the speaker's warrant, to be applied to the purposes of the institution. The opposition, *The house, No. 141, High Street, on the north side, between Third and Fourth Streets, was originally the residence of Dr Franklin, and was the first house in Philadelphia which ever had a lightning rod affixed to it. This was put up by Franklin. The rod came into the bed-chamber in the second story on the nication with the rod descending to the ground, the intermediate space, about one yard, was filled up with a range or chime of bells, which, whenever an electric cloud passed over the place, was set to ringing and throwing out sparks of electricity. These bells remained some time after Daniel Wister occupied the house, and were at last reluctantly taken down to quiet the fears of his wife.-Annals of Philadelphia. gable end, eastern side, and there, being cut off from its commu supposed would never take place, were silent, and the bill passed. The friends of the plan now redoubled their efforts to obtain subscriptions to the amount stated in the bill, and were soon successful. This was the foundation of the Pennsylvanian Hospital-an institution which continues to bear testimony to the humanity of the citizens of Philadelphia. Dr Franklin had conducted himself so well in the office of post-master, and had shown himself to be so well acquainted with the business of that department, that it was thought expedient to raise him to a more dignified station. In 1753, he was appointed deputy post-master general for the British colonies. The profits arising from the postage of letters, formed no inconsiderable part of the revenue which the crown of Great Britain derived from these colonies. In the hands of Franklin, it is said that the post-office in America yielded annually thrice as much as that of Ireland. The matter of public importance in which Franklin was next engaged, was the drawing up, in 1754, of a scheme of union of the various colonies, for mutual protection against the apparently interminable attacks of the Indians, and also the encroachments of the French. The scheme was approved of by the different provinces, but was finally rejected by the British ministry, who dreaded seeing the colonists united in their interests, or adopting any means for common defence. The proposition which had been made for establishing a plan of general protection, was not the result of merely theoretic fears. In 1753, the French colonists in Canada and the vale of the Mississippi made encroachments on the boundaries of Virginia, against which remonstrances had no effect. In the ensuing year, a body of men was sent out by the British provincials, under the command of Mr George Washington, who, though a very young man, had, by his conduct in the preceding year, shown himself worthy of such an important trust. Whilst marching to take possession of a post at the junction of the rivers Alleghany and Monongahela, in the upper part of the Ohio, he was informed that the French had already erected a fort there. A detachment of these were marched against him. He fortified himself as strongly as time and circumstances would permit, but was compelled to surrender. This he did on honourable terms for himself and men, and returned to Virginia. The government of Great Britain now thought it necessary to interfere. In the year 1755, General Braddock, with some regiments of regular troops and provincial levies, was sent to dispossess the French of the posts upon which they had seized. After the men were all ready, a difficulty occurred, which had nearly prevented the expedition. This was the want of waggons. Franklin now stepped forward, and, with the assistance of his son, in a little time procured a hundred and fifty. Braddock unfortunately fell into an ambuscade, and perished, with a number of his men. Washington, who had accompanied him as an aid-de-camp, and had warned him in vain of his danger, now displayed great military talents in effecting a retreat of the remains of the army, and in forming a junction with the rear, under Colonel Dunbar, upon whom the chief command now devolved. With some difficulty they brought their little body to a place of safety, but they found it necessary to destroy their waggons and baggage, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. For the waggons which he had furnished, Franklin had given bonds to a large amount. The owners declared their intention of obliging him to make a restitution of their property. Had they put their threats in execution, ruin must inevitably have been the consequence. Governor Shirley, finding that he had incurred those debts for the service of government, made arrangements to have them discharged, and released Franklin from his disagreeable situation. The alarm which spread through the colonies, after the *The modern and flourishing town of Pittsburg has been erected on the site of this old French fort. defeat of Braddock, was very great; and preparations | From Falmouth he proceeded by land to London, for war were every where made. In Pennsylvania, examining on his way the remarkable Druidic remains the prevalence of the Quaker interest prevented the of Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain. Franklin lost no adoption of any system of defence which would compel time in laying before the Privy Council the question the citizens to bear arms. Franklin introduced into in dispute between the colonists generally, and the the Assembly a bill for organising a militia, by which landholders or proprietaries. These persons, who every man was allowed to take arms or not, as to him claimed exemption from taxation on no rational prinshould appear fit. The Quakers, being thus left at ciple, were either the descendants of Penn, the original liberty, suffered the bill to pass; for although their founder of Pennsylvania, or their successors in their principles would not suffer them to fight, they had no estates, and it was against the united force of these objections to their neighbours fighting for them. In parties and their friends that Franklin had to make consequence of this act, a very respectable militia was head. The cause was amply discussed before the formed. The scene of impending danger infused a Privy Council; and after some time spent in debate, military spirit in all whose religious tenets were not a proposal was made, that Franklin should solemnly opposed to war. Franklin was appointed colonel of a engage that the proposed assessment should be so regiment in Philadelphia, which consisted of 1200 men. made, as that the proprietary estates should pay no The north-western frontier being invaded by the more than a due proportion. This he agreed to perenemy, it became necessary to adopt measures for its form-the opposition was withdrawn, and tranquillity defence. Franklin was directed by the governor to was thus once more restored to the province. take charge of this. A power of raising men, and of The mode in which this dispute was terminated, is a appointing officers to command them, was vested in remarkable proof of the high opinion entertained of him. He soon levied a body of troops, with which he Franklin's integrity and honour, even by those who repaired to the place at which their presence was ne- considered him as inimical to their views. Nor was cessary. Here he built a fort, and placed a garrison their confidence ill founded. The assessment was made in such a posture of defence as would enable them to upon the strictest principle of equity; and the propriewithstand the inroads to which the inhabitants had tary estates bore only a proportionable share of the been previously exposed. He remained here for some expenses of supporting government. time, in order the more completely to discharge the trust committed to him. Some business of importance at length rendered his presence necessary in the As-agent for the province of Pennsylvania. The extensive sembly, and he returned to Philadelphia. The defence of her colonies was a great expense to Great Britain. The most effectual mode of lessening this, was to put arms into the hands of the inhabitants, and to teach them their use. But England wished not that the Americans should become acquainted with their own strength. She was apprehensive, that, as soon as this period arrived, they would no longer submit to that monopoly of their trade, which to them was highly injurious, but extremely advantageous to the mother country. In comparison with the profits of this, the expense of maintaining armies and fleets to defend them was trifling. She sought to keep them dependent upon her for protection-the best plan which could be devised for retaining them in peaceable subjection. The least appearance of a military spirit was therefore to be guarded against; and although a war then raged, the act for organising a militia was disapproved of by the ministry. The regiments which had been formed under it were disbanded, and the defence of the province intrusted to regular troops. The disputes between the proprietaries and the people continued in full force, although a war was raging on the frontiers. Not even the sense of danger was sufficient to reconcile, for ever so short a time, their jarring interests. The Assembly still insisted upon the justice of taxing the proprietary estates, but the governors constantly refused their assent to this measure, without which no bill could pass into a law. Enraged at the obstinacy, and what they conceived to be unjust proceedings of their opponents, the Assembly at length determined to apply to the mother country for relief. A petition was addressed to the king in council, stating the inconveniences under which the inhabitants laboured, from the attention of the proprietaries to their private interests, to the neglect of the general welfare of the community, and praying for redress. Franklin was appointed to present this address, as agent for the province of Pennsylvania, and departed from America in June 1757. After the completion of this important business, Franklin remained at the court of Great Britain, as knowledge which he possessed of the situation of the colonies, and the regard which he always manifested for their interests, occasioned his appointment to the same office by the colonies of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia. His conduct, in this situation, was such as rendered him still more dear to his countrymen. During his residence in England, he rendered some service to the state, by writing a pamphlet in favour of the projected conquest of Canada by the British. The province of Canada was at this time, as already mentioned, in the possession of the French, with whom Great Britain was now at war. The trade with the Indians-for which its situation was very convenientwas exceedingly lucrative. The French traders here found a market for their commodities, and received in return large quantities of rich furs, which they disposed of at a high price in Europe. Whilst the possession of this country was highly advantageous to France, it was a grievous inconvenience to the inhabitants of the British colonies. The Indians were almost generally desirous to cultivate the friendship of the French, by whom they were abundantly supplied with arms and ammunition. Whenever a war happened, the Indians were ready to fall upon the frontiers; and this they frequently did, even when Great Britain and France were at peace. From these considerations, it appeared to be the interest of Great Britain to gain possession of Canada. But the importance of such an acquisition was not well understood in England. Franklin about this time published his Canada pamphlet, in which, in a very forcible manner, he pointed out the advantages which would result from the conquest of this province. An expedition against it was planned, and the command given to General Wolfe. His success is well known. By the battle of Quebec, fought on the 13th of September 1759, and in which the British were completely victorious, the French power was extinguished in America. By the treaty of 1762, Canada and other possessions belonging to France were ceded to Great Britain. Franklin remained in Great Britain from July 1757 till August 1762, a period of five years, during which SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND-1757. he had an opportunity of indulging in the society of Franklin sailed from New York, on his important those friends whom his merits had procured him while mission as agent for the colony of Pennsylvania, to- at a distance. The regard which they entertained for wards the end of June 1757, and after an uninteresting publications, that he had but one surviving legitimate child, a voyage, he arrived at Falmouth, on the coast of Eng-daughter, of whom he speaks, on one occasion, in a letter to a land, on the 17th of the following July. In this expe- friend, in the most affectionate terms. According to the author dition, his son William Franklin accompanied him.* of the Annals of Philadelphia, the son above mentioned was * In none of the memoirs of the life of Franklin is any thing said of his family. We learn only, from casual notices in other illegitimate; but this does not appear to have caused any difference in his intercourse with him. |