1001 



FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. 



FRANKLIN, REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN. 



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a universal branch of education : subjects consonant to his practical 

 character, and most of them directly applicable to the increase of 

 human comforts. Papers on these matters nearly fill the second 

 volume of his collected works; his electrical treatises and letters 

 occupy the first volume; and his moral, historical, and political 

 writings the third. 



To return to Franklin's private history : the increasing estimation 

 in which he was held, was manifested in his successive appointments 

 to different offices. In 1736 he was made clerk to the General Assem- 

 bly of Pennsylvania; in 1737 postmaster of Philadelphia; in 1747 he 

 was elected as one of the representatives of Philadelphia in the Assem- 

 bly ; in 1 753 he was appointed deputy postmaster-general for the 

 British colonies. 



When lie first became a member of Assembly, that body and the 

 proprietary governors, Penn's representatives, were in hot dispute, 

 chiefly with respect to the immunity from taxation claimed by the 

 latter. In this Franklin took an active part. " He was soon 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 that body was very great. This arose 

 not from any superior powers of eloquence ; he spoke but seldom, and 

 ho never was known to make anything like an elaborate harangue. 

 His speeches often consisted of a single sentence, or of a well-told 

 story, th moral of which was always 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 ajlid judgment, he was able to confound the most 

 eloquent and subtle of his adversaries, to confirm the opinion of his 

 friends, and to make converts of the unprejudiced who had opposed 

 him." ('Life,' p. 115.) Having thus shown his talents, he was sent 

 to England in 1757, on the part of the Assembly, to manage the con- 

 troversy before the privy council, and was successful : it was decided 

 that the estates of the proprietaries ought to pay their fair proportion 

 of the public burdens. He remained in England after this question 

 waa settled, as agent for Pennsylvania ; and his conduct was so highly 

 approved that Massachusetts, Mary laud, and Georgia, severally appointed 

 him their agent. By this time his Dame was well known to European 

 philosophers. He was chosen a member of the Royal Society, and of 

 several foreign scientific bodies at a later period ; in 1772 he was made 

 a foreign associate of the Acadcmie des Sciences, and the universities 

 of Oxford, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews, admitted him to the degree 

 of D.C.L. On his return to America, in 17C2, he received the thanks 

 of the Assembly, " as well for the faithful discharge of his duty to 

 that province in particular, as for the many and important services 

 done to America in general during his residence in Great Britain." 



Being re-elected a member of Assembly, Franklin was earnest in 

 endeavouring to procure a change in tlio government, by vesting 

 directly in the king those rights and powers, which were held 

 mediately by the proprietaries, to the injury, as he thought, of the 

 community. Party spirit ran high on this point ; and the friends 

 of the proprietaries hail influence enough to prevent his election in 

 17''!. On the meeting of the Assembly however he was re-appointed 

 provincial agent in England. He was a warm opponent of the Stamp 

 Act : and his examination at the bar of the House of Commons in 

 17<;0, when the repeal of that unhappy measure was proposed, shows 

 the minuteness, variety, and readiness of his information. (See his 

 Works, vol. iii., p. 245.) In the outset of the contest he is said to have 

 been truly desirous of effecting a reconciliation between the mother 

 country and the colonies. The rough treatment which he experienced 

 in the course of his negotiations is reported to have changed his 

 temper. That he should have been deprived of his postmastership, is 

 not wonderful. On one occasion, before the privy council, being 

 assailed by Wedderburne, then solicitor-general, in a torrent of 

 personal abuse, which was received with evident pleasure by the 

 council, he bore it in silence, and apparently unmoved. On changing 

 his dress however he is reported to have said, that he never again 

 would wear that suit till he had received satisfaction for that day's 

 insult. His next appearance in it was on the day when, as minister 

 of the United States, he signed the treaty by which England recog- 

 nised the independence of the colonies. 



In 1775, perceiving that there was little chance of a reconciliation 

 being elected, he returned to Philadelphia, and the day after he 

 lauded, was elected a delegate to the Congress then assembled in that 

 city. His character and services marked him out for the most 

 important employments during that and the following year : among 

 them he waa sent on a fruitless mission to persuade the Canadians to 

 join in the insurrection ; and was appointed president of the conven- 

 tion assembled at Philadelphia, for the purpose of remodelling the 

 government of Pennsylvania. Towards the end of 1770 ha was sent 

 to France, where in conjunction with his brother minister, Silas 

 Deaue, h'- succeeded in inducing the French Government to form an 

 offensive and defensive alliance with the United States, Feb. 6, 1778. 

 Having made several journeys to the Continent in his former visits to 

 Europe, he was already known iu person as well as by reputation to 

 the scientific and literary men of France, by whom he was received 

 with the highest marks of respect. Nor did his political engagements 

 prevent Ilia bestowing some share of his attention on science. He 



tioo, civ. VOL, u. 



bore a part iu exposing the frauds practised under the name of animal 

 magnetism. In 1785 he was recalled, at his own wish, and was 

 succeeded by Jefferson. Soon after his return he was chosen member 

 of the supreme executive council for the city of Philadelphia, and in 

 a short time was elected president of tho same. In 1787 he was 

 delegate for the state of Pennsylvania, in the convention appointed to 

 revise and amend the Articles of Union, and his last political act was 

 an address to his colleagues, entreating them to sacrifice their owu 

 private views, for the sake of unanimity iu recommending the new 

 constitution, as determined by the majority, to their constituents. 



After enjoying, through a long life, an unusual share of health, the 

 just reward of temperance and activity, Franklin was compelled in 

 1738 to quit public life, by the infirmities of age. But he still 

 retained'his philanthropy uudiminished, and his intellect unclouded; 

 and his name appears, as president of the Abolition Society, to a 

 memorial to Congress, dated February 12, 17S9, praying them to exert 

 the full extent of power vested in them by the constitution in dis- 

 couraging the traffic in men. This was his last public act Still ho 

 preserved his liveliness and -energy, during tho-<e intervals of ease 

 which a painful disease, the stone, afforded to him. This however 

 was not the proximate cause of his death. Ho died, after a short illness, 

 from disease of the lungs, Apri 117, 1790, aged eighty-four. 



Dr. Franklin's published works were collected iu three volumes, 

 with his fragment of his own life, continued by Dr. Stuber, prefixed. 

 He bequeathed his papers to his grandson, William Temple Franklin, 

 by whom, after long delay, an excellent ' Life of Franklin,' including 

 many of his miscellaneous writings, and much of his correspondence, 

 was published. The ' Biog. Universelle ' contains a long memoir of 

 him by Biot; and his character and conduct have employed the pens 

 of several of the most distinguished Americans of the present day. 

 The latest and best life of Dr. Franklin is that by Mr. Jared Sparks, 

 prefixed to an edition of the Works of Franklin, in 10 vols. 8vo. 



WILLIAM FRANKLIN, the natural son of Benjamin Franklin, and his 

 only son who survived childhood, born at Philadelphia in 1731, took, 

 at the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, the opposite side 

 to his father, and during the whole of the war of independence remained 

 a steadfast loyalist. He held early in life the office of postmaster of 

 Philadelphia; and in 1763 was made Governor of New Jersey, an 

 appointment he retained until 1776, when a new governor was elected 

 by tho popular vote, and Governor Franklin was arrested aud sent 

 prisoner to Connecticut. He was treated with considerable harshness, 

 but, after some two years had passed, was exchanged, and removed to 

 New York, then held by the English army. Here he became president 

 of the ' Board of Loyalists,' and took an extremely active part in 

 furthering every effort made by the loyal party. When the English 

 were obliged to evacuate New York, William Franklin took refuge in 

 England, where he met with a favourable reception from the king and 

 the government, and received a handsome pension, on which he 

 resided iu this country till his death, November 1813. From the 

 moment of his accepting the governorship of New Jersey his father 

 broke off all intercourse with him, and though William Franklin, 

 sought a reconciliation when the cause of their original quarrel was 

 removed, there was no renewal of cordial feelings. Fraukliu 

 indeed promised to forget, but iu his will he bequeathed but a trifling 

 sum to his son, assigning as a reason " the part he acted iu the Into 

 war." 



FRANKLIN, REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN, was born in 1786 at 

 Spilsby in Lincolnshire. His ancestors were substantial yeomen, and 

 his father inherited an estate in that county, which though small was 

 sufficient to give him local rank as a landlord. Unhappily however 

 the property waa so embarrassed that he was obliged to sell it, 

 and he became entirely dependent on his commercial profits for the 

 maintenance aud education of twelve children, some of whom, besides 

 the subject of this memoir, attained considerable rauk and reputa- 

 tion. One, Sir Willingham Franklin, became judge at Madras, and 

 another, Major James Franklin of the Bengal Service, was highly 

 distinguished for his scientific acquirements, which procured him the 

 Fellowship of the Royal Society. 



John, the youngest son, early evinced a great predilection for a sea- 

 life. There is a story told of him which seems to rest on more than 

 mere traditionary evidence. When a school-boy at Louth in Lincoln- 

 shire, he availed himself of a holiday to walk to the coast, a distauce 

 of twelve miles, in order to see the ocean, on which he gazed with 

 wonder and delight for many hours. His father, who was extremely 

 desirous that his son should follow any other profession than that of a 

 sailor, conceived that by Bending him in a small merchant-ship to 

 Lisbon, the discomforts of the voyage would effectually cure the lad of 

 his love for the sea,- but it had a totally different effect ; aud accord- 

 ingly perceiving that he was bent on a naval profession, he was entered 

 as midshipman ou board the Polyphemus at the aye of fourteen, aud 

 was iu that ship in the celebrated battle of Copenhagen, from which 

 he escaped without a wound, whilst a brother midshipman was killed 

 at his side. 



He next joined the Investigator, under the command of Captain 

 Flinders, his cousiu by marriage, with whom he sailed ou a voyage 

 of discovery to the coasts of Australia. During this expedition, 

 which combined investigations iuto natural history with geographical 

 discovery, young Franklin had aliuudaut opportunities which w. TJ 



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