FRANKLIN. 
removed the coating, and found that upon 
applying a new coating, the shock might 
still be received. In the year 1749 he first 
suggested his idea of explaining the pheno- 
mena of thunder-gusts, and of the aurora 
borealis, upon electrical principles. He 
pointed out many particulars in which light- 
ning and electricity agreed, and he adduced 
many facts, and reasoning from facts, in 
support of his positions. In the same year 
he conceived the bold and grand idea of 
ascertaining the truth of his doctrine by ac- 
tually drawing down the forked lightning 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 elec- 
trical kite, which being raised up into the 
clouds, brought thence the electricity or 
lightning down to the earth, and M. 
D’Alehard made the experiment about the 
same time in France, by following the track 
which Franklin had before pointed out. 
The letters which he sent to Mr. Collin- 
son, it is said, were refused a place among 
the papers of the Royal Society of London, 
and Mr. Collinson published them in a sepa- 
rate volume, under the title of New Expe- 
riments and Observations on Electricity, 
made at Philadelphia, in America ; which 
were read with avidity, and soon translated 
into different languages. His theorieswere 
atfirst opposed by many philosophers, some 
of them members of the Royal Society of 
London ; but in 1755, when he returned to 
that city, they voted him the gold medal 
which is annually given to the person who 
presents the best paper on some interesting 
subject. He was also admitted a member 
of the. society, and had the degree of doctor 
of laws conferred upon him by several uni- 
versities ; but at this time, by reason of the 
war, which broke out between Great Bri- 
tain and France, he returned to America, 
and interested himself in the public affairs of 
that country. Indeed, he had done this long 
before, for although philosophy was a prin- 
cipal object in Franklin’s pursuit for seve- 
ral years, he did not confine himself to it 
alone. In the year 1747 he became a 
member of the General Assembly of Phila- 
delphia. Being a friend to the rights of the 
people from his infancy, he soon distinguish- 
ed himself as a steady opponent to the unjust 
schemes of the proprietaries. 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 the body was very great ; this arose not 
from any superior powers of eloquence, 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 style in 
speaking was like that of his writings, sim- 
ple, unadorned, and remarkably concise. 
With this plain manner, and his penetrating 
and solid judgment, he was able to confound 
the most eloquent and subtle of his adver- 
saries, to confirm the opinions of his friends, 
and to make converts of the unprejudiced 
who had opposed him ; with a single obser- 
vation he has rendered of no avail a long 
and elegant discourse, 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 prosperity, 
to erect a seminary of learning more exten- 
sive 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 ri°e to another more extensive 
college, incorporated by charter, May 27, 
1755, which still subsists, and in a very flou- 
rishing condition. In 1752, he was instrumen- 
tal in the establishment of the Pennsylvania 
Hospital, for the cure and relief of indigent 
invalids, which has proved of the greatest 
use to that class of persons. Having con- 
ducted 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 commis- 
sioners for several provinces, Mr. Franklin 
proposed a plan for their general defence, 
to establish in the colonies a general go- 
vernment, to be administered by a presi- 
dent general, appointed by the crown, and 
by a grand council, consisting of members 
chosen by the representatives of the differ- 
ent 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 people ; and it 
