304 The Franklin Bi-centennial 



THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS 



The Colonial Society of Massachusetts 



TO 



The American Philosophical Society 

 Greeting : 



In addressing your ancient and distinguished Society 

 on an occasion at once so memorable and so auspicious 

 as the Two Hundredth Anniversary of your Founder's 

 Birth, it would ill become us to use many words, being, 

 as we are, among the youngest of the many bodies — 

 academic, literary, scientific, and historical — that press 

 forward to felicitate you and to do honor to BENJAMIN 

 Franklin. Nor is it needful that we should recite facts 

 which are enrolled in the annals of our Country, and 

 which are familiar to all citizens of the Republic of 

 Letters. 



Yet we have deemed it fitting to put on record our 

 sense of the profound significance of this day, and we 

 have, accordingly, delegated our Associate, HenRY HER- 

 BERT Edes, to offer to your Society an expression of our 

 sentiments of respect and congratulation. 



