62 KEPOKT OF THE COMMITTEE 



tinned to bear until its nnion with the Philosophical 

 Society on the 2nd of January 1769. 



It is natural to ask, why was Franklin, if a member 

 of the Society-Junto, elected into a continuation of 

 the same association? The solution of this difficulty 

 is thus given by Mr. Du Ponceau. "This (his elec- 

 tion into the Society) was probably done, ex majors 

 cautela, his son Governor Franklin, having been ad- 

 mitted without an election, at the preceding meeting, 

 on merely signing the amended rules, on the ground 

 that he had been a member of the ancient Society (the 

 Junto), which rule of admission, they said, was con- 

 cluded on, in reviving the Society. But Franklin 

 was in England, and could not sign the amended 

 articles, it was thought best to elect him. The So- 

 ciety probably contemplated to make him their Presi- 

 dent, and wished to avoid all dispute, particularly if 

 a union should take place, which might not have been 

 quite despaired of." 



The Committee deem it very unlikely that the mem- 

 bership of Franklin in the Society- Junto from its be- 

 ginning, if it really existed, should be nowhere no- 

 ticed on the Minutes. Such a membership would 

 have been a cherished fact, not to be disregarded in 

 making up the records. Nor will absence in Eng- 

 land explain the omission, since a contemporaneous 

 absence of William Franklin did not prevent them 

 from recording him, on numerous occasions, as 

 absent, and sometimes in the express words, "absent 



