FRANKLIN. 



electrical principles. He pointed out 

 many particulars in which lightning 1 and 

 electricity agreed, and he adduced many 

 facts, and reasoning from facts, in sup- 

 port of his positions. In the same year 

 he conceived the bold and grand idea of 

 ascertaining the truth of his doctrine, by 

 actually drawing down the forked light- 

 rring by means of sharp pointed iron rods, 

 raised in the region of the clouds, .from 

 whence he derived his method of securing 

 buildings and ships from lightning. It was 

 not until the summer of 1752 that he was 

 enabled to complete his grand discovery 

 of the electrical kite, which being raised 

 up into the clouds, brought thence the 

 electricity, or lightning, down to the 

 earth, and M. D'Alebard made the expe- 

 riment about the same time in France, by 

 following the track which Franklin had 

 before pointed out. 



The letters which he sent to Mr. Col- 

 linson, it is said, were refused a place 

 among the papers of the Royal Society 

 of London, and Mr. Collinson published 

 them in a separate volume, under the 

 title of New Experiments and Observa- 

 tions on Electricity, made at Philadelphia, 

 in America ; which were read with avidi- 

 ty, and soon translated into different lan- 

 guages. His theories were at first oppos- 

 ed by many philosophers, some of them 

 members of the Royal Society of Lon- 

 don ; but in 1755, when he returned to 

 that city, they voted him the gold me- 

 dal, which is annually given to the per- 

 son who presents the best paper on some 

 interesting subject. He was also admit- 

 ted a member of the society, and had the 

 degree of doctor of laws conferred upon 

 him by several universities; but at this 

 time, by reason of the war which broke 

 out between Great Britain and France, 

 he returned to America, and interested 

 himself in the public affairs of that coun- 

 try. Indeed, he had done this long be- 

 fore ; for although philosophy was a prin- 

 cipal object in Franklin's pursuit for se- 

 veral years, he did not confine himself 

 to it alone. In the year 1747 he became 

 a member of the General Assembly of 

 Philadelphia. Being a friend to the rights 

 of the people from his infancy, he soon 

 distinguished himself as a steady oppo- 

 nent to the unjust schemes of the pro- 

 prietaries. He was soon looked up to as 

 the head of the opposition, and to him 

 have been attributed many of the spirit- 

 ed replies of the Assembly to the mes- 

 sages of the governors. His influence 

 in that body was very great; this arose 

 not from any superior powers of elo- 



quence ; he spoke but seldom, and he 

 was never known to make an elaborate 

 harangue ; his speeches often consisted 

 of a single sentence, or a well told story, 

 the moral of which was always obviously 

 to the point. He never attempted the 

 flowery fields of oratory ; his manner 

 was plain and mild ; his styk in speaking 

 was like that of his writings, simple, un- 

 adorned, and remarkably concise. With 

 this plain manner, and his penetrating 

 and solid judgment, he was able to con- 

 found 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 obervation he has render- 

 ed of no avail a long and elegant dis- 

 course, and determined the fate of a 

 question of importance. 



In the year 1749, he proposed the 

 plan of an academy, to be erected in the 

 city of Philadelphia, as a foundation for 

 posterity to erect a seminary of learn- 

 ing more extensive and suitable to future 

 circumstances ; and in the beginning of 

 1750, three of the schools were opened, 

 namely, the Latin and Greek schools, 

 the Mathematical and the English schools. 

 This foundation soon after gave rise to 

 another more extensive college, incorpo- 

 rated by charter, May 27, 1755, which 

 still subsists, and in a very flourishing 

 condition. In 1752, he was instrumental 

 in the establishment of the Pennsylvania 

 Hospital, for the cure and relief of indi- 

 gent invalids, which has proved of the 

 greatest use to that class of persons. 

 Having conducted himself so well as Post- 

 master to Philadelphia, he was, in 1753, 

 appointed Deputy Post-master General 

 to the whole of the British colonies. 



The colonies being much exposed in 

 their frontiers to depredations by the 

 Indians and the French ; at a meeting 

 of commissioners for several provinces, 

 Mr. Franklin proposed a plan for their 

 general defence, to establish in the co- 

 lonies a general government, to be ad- 

 ministered by a president general, ap- 

 pointed by the crown, and by a grand 

 council, consisting of members chosen 

 by the representatives of the different 

 colonies ; a plan which was unanimously 

 agreed to by the commissioners present. 

 The plan, however, had a singular fate : 

 it was disapproved of by the ministry of 

 Great Britain, because it gave too much 

 power to the representatives of the peo- 

 ple ; and it was rejected by every as- 

 sembly, as giving to the president gene- 

 ral, who was to be the representative of 



