191 



" Plain Truth " was followed by several other tracts in re- 

 lation to the struggle between Pennsylvania and the Propri- 

 etary Government in the hands of the Penn family. The most 

 influential was that called " Cool Thoughts on the Present 

 Situation of our Public Affairs," printed in 1764, which was a 

 masterly argument in favor of a change from Proprietary to a 

 Royal Government. 



During his residence in England before the Revolution, and 

 in France during its continuance and afterwards, Franklin 

 wrote much. One of the most important of his early papers 

 was that printed in London in 1760, entitled " The Interest of 

 Great Britain in Regard to Her Colonies," a protest against the 

 proposal that Great Britain should give up Canada to the 

 French, and receive instead the Island of Guadaloupe in the 

 West Indies. 



So strong a paper was this that Burke, in replying to it, said 

 of its author : " He is clearly the ablest, the most ingenuous, 

 and the most dexterous of those who have written upon the 

 question, and we may therefore conclude that he has said 

 everything in the best manner that the case would bear." 



These, however, together with his more extensive treatises 

 upon the condition of affairs in the new Republic, belong to 

 the statesman Franklin, rather than to Franklin the man of 

 letters. Together with his diplomatic correspondence they 

 make up fully half of his published works. 



SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 



Franklin's scientific writings were voluminous. Sparks re- 

 printed 63 papers on electricity, filling 802 pages, and 157 on 

 philosophical subjects, making 578 pages — in all 220 letters 

 and 880 pages — which is a remarkable showing for a man so 

 constantly occupied with private and public business. 



