excellent school of humility to me. On being presented to any one, as
the minister of America, the common-place question was, "_c'est vous
Monsieur, qui remplacez le Docteur Franklin?_"--is it you, sir, who
replace Dr. Franklin? I generally answered--"No one can replace him,
sir; I am only his successor."
I could here relate a number of those _bon mots_, with which he was
used to charm every society, as having heard many of them; but these
are not your object. Particulars of greater dignity happened not to
occur, during his stay of nine months after my arrival in France.
A little before that time, Argand had invented his celebrated lamp,
in which the flame is spread into a hollow cylinder, and thus brought
into contact with the air, within as well as without. Dr. Franklin
had been on the point of the same discovery. The idea had occurred to
him; but he had tried a bullrush as a wick, which did not succeed.
His occupations did not permit him to repeat and extend his trials to
the introduction of a larger column of air, than could pass through
the stem of a bullrush.
About that time, also, the king of France gave him a signal testimony
of respect, by joining him with some of the most illustrious men of
the nation to examine that ignis-fatuus of philosophy, the animal
magnetism of the maniac, Mesmer; the pretended effects of which had
astonished all Paris. From Dr. Franklin's hand, in conjunction with
his brethren of the learned committee, that compound of fraud and
folly was unveiled, and received its death-wound. After this nothing
very interesting was before the public, either in philosophy or
politics, during his stay; and he was principally occupied in winding
up his affairs, and preparing for his return to America.
These small offerings to the memory of our great and dear friend
(whom time will be making still greater, while it is spunging us from
its records) must be accepted by you, sir, in that spirit of love
and veneration for him, in which they are made; and not according to
their insignificancy in the eyes of a world, which did not want this
mite to fill up the measure of his worth.
His death was an affliction which was to happen to us at some time or
other. We have reason to be thankful he was so long spared; that the
most useful life should be the longest also; that it was protracted
so far beyond the ordinary span allotted to humanity, as to avail us
of his wisdom and virtue, in the establishment of our freedom in the
west; and to bless him with a view of its dawn in the east, where men
seemed till now to have learned every thing--but _how to be free_.
FOOTNOTE:
[204] Extracted from the Eulogium on Dr. Franklin, delivered by Dr.
W. Smith, before the American philosophical society. _Editor._
_Letter from the late Dr. Joseph Priestley to the Editor of the
Monthly Magazine[205]._
SIR,
I have just read in the Monthly Review, vol. 36, p. 357, that the
late Mr. Pennant said of Dr. Franklin, that, "living under the
protection of our mild government, he was secretly playing the
incendiary, and too successfully inflaming the minds of our fellow
subjects in America, till that great explosion happened, which for
ever disunited us from our once happy colonies."
As it is in my power, as far as my testimony will be regarded, to
refute this charge, I think it due to our friendship to do it. It
is probable, that no person now living was better acquainted with
Dr. Franklin and his sentiments on all subjects of importance, than
myself, for several years before the American war. I think I knew him
as well as one man can generally know another. At that time I spent
the winters in London, in the family of the Marquis of Lansdown,
and few days passed without my seeing more or less of Dr. Franklin;
and the last day that he passed in England, having given out that
he should depart the day before, we spent together, without any
interruption, from morning till night.
Now he was so far from wishing for a rupture with the colonies,
that he did more than most men would have done, to prevent it. His
constant advice to his countrymen, he always said, was "to bear every
thing from England, however unjust;" saying, that "it could not
last long, as they would soon outgrow all their hardships." On this
account Dr. Price, who then corresponded with some of the principal
persons in America, said, he began to be very unpopular there. He
always said, "If there must be a war, it will be a war of ten years,
and I shall not live to see the end of it." This I have heard him say
many times.
It was at his request, enforced by that of Dr. Fothergil, that I
wrote an anonymous pamphlet, calculated to show the injustice and
impolicy of a war with the colonies, previous to the meeting of a new
parliament. As I then lived at Leeds, he corrected the press himself,
and, to a passage, in which I lamented the attempt to establish
arbitrary power in so large a part of the British empire, he added
the following clause, "to the imminent danger of our most valuable
commerce, and of that national strength, security, and felicity,
which depend on union and on liberty."
The unity of the British empire, in all its parts, was a favourite
idea of his. He used to compare it to a beautiful China vase, which,
if once broken, could never be put together again: and so great an
admirer was he at the time of the British constitution, that he said
he saw no inconvenience from its being extended over a great part
of the globe. With these sentiments he left England; but when, on
his arrival in America, he found the war begun, and that there was
no receding, no man entered more warmly into the interests of what
he then considered as _his country_, in opposition to that of Great
Britain. Three of his letters to me, one written immediately on his
landing, and published in the collection of his Miscellaneous Works,
p. 365, 552, and 555[206], will prove this.
By many persons, Dr. Franklin is considered as having been a
cold-hearted man, so callous to every feeling of humanity, that the
prospect of all the horrors of a civil war could not affect him. This
was far from being the case. A great part of the day abovementioned
that we spent together, he was looking over a number of American
newspapers, directing me what to extract from them for the English
ones; and, in reading them, he was frequently not able to proceed
for the tears literally running down his cheeks. To strangers he was
cold and reserved; but where he was intimate, no man indulged to more
pleasantry and good humour. By this he was the delight of a club, to
which he alludes in one of the letters above referred to, called the
_whig-club_, that met at the London coffee-house, of which Dr. Price,
Dr. Kippis, Mr. John Lee, and others of the same stamp, were members.
Hoping that this vindication of Dr. Franklin will give pleasure to
many of your readers, I shall proceed to relate some particulars
relating to his behaviour, when lord Loughborough, then Mr.
Wedderburn, pronounced his violent invective against him at the
privy-council, on his presenting the complaints of the province of
Massachusetts (I think it was) against their governor. Some of the
particulars may be thought amusing.
On the morning of the day on which the cause was to be heard, I
met Mr. Burke, in Parliament-street, accompanied by Dr. Douglas,
afterwards bishop of Carlisle; and after introducing us to each
other, as men of letters, he asked me whither I was going? I said I
could tell him where I _wished_ to go. He then asking me where that
was, I said to the privy-council, but that I was afraid I could not
get admission. He then desired me to go along with him. Accordingly
I did; but when we got into the anti-room, we found it quite filled
with persons as desirous of getting admission as ourselves. Seeing
this, I said, we should never get through the crowd. He said, "Give
me your arm;" and locking it fast in his, he soon made his way to
the door of the privy-council. I then said, Mr. Burke, you are an
excellent leader; he replied, "I wish other persons thought so too."
After waiting a short time, the door of the privy-council opened,
and we entered the first, when Mr. Burke took his stand behind the
first chair next to the president, and I behind that the next to his.
When the business was opened, it was sufficiently evident, from the
speech of Mr. Wedderburn, who was counsel for the governor, that the
real object of the court was to insult Dr. Franklin. All this time
he stood in a corner of the room, not far from me, without the least
apparent emotion.
Mr. Dunning, who was the leading counsel on the part of the colony,
was so hoarse, that he could hardly make himself heard; and Mr. Lee,
who was the second, spoke but feebly in reply; so that Mr. Wedderburn
had a complete triumph. At the sallies of his sarcastic wit, all
the members of the council, the president himself (Lord Gower) not
excepted, frequently laughed outright. No person belonging to the
council behaved with decent gravity, except Lord North, who, coming
late, took his stand behind the chair opposite to me.
When the business was over, Dr. Franklin, in going out, took me by
the hand, in a manner that indicated some feeling. I soon followed
him, and going through the anti-room, saw Mr. Wedderburn there
surrounded with a circle of his friends and admirers. Being known to
him, he stepped forwards as if to speak to me; but I turned aside,
and made what haste I could out of the place.
The next morning I breakfasted with the doctor, when he said, "He
had never before been so sensible of the power of a good conscience;
for that if he had not considered the thing for which he had been
so much insulted, as one of the best actions of his life, and what
he should certainly do again in the same circumstances, he could not
have supported it." He was accused of clandestinely procuring certain
letters, containing complaints against the governor, and sending them
to America, with a view to excite their animosity against him, and
thus to embroil the two countries. But he assured me, that he did not
even know that such letters existed, till they were brought to him
as agent for the colony, in order to be sent to his constituents;
and the cover of the letters on which the direction had been
written, being lost, he only guessed at the person to whom they were
addressed, by the contents.
That Dr. Franklin, notwithstanding he did not show it at the time,
was much impressed by the business of the privy council, appeared
from this circumstance: when he attended there, he was dressed in
a suit of Manchester velvet; and Silas Dean told me, that, when
they met at Paris to sign the treaty between France and America, he
purposely put on that suit.
Hoping that this communication will be of some service to the memory
of Dr. Franklin, and gratify his friends,
I am, sir, your's, &c.
J. PRIESTLEY.
_Northumberland, Nov. 10, 1802._
FOOTNOTES:
[205] Inserted in the number for February, 1803. _Editor._
[206] Answering to page [___] of the present volume. _Editor._
FINIS.
JAMES CUNDEE, PRINTER,
_Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row_.
INDEX.
A.
_Accent_, or emphasis, wrong placing of, a fault in modern tunes, ii. 345.
_Accidents_ at sea, how to guard against, ii. 172.
_Adams_, Mr. Matthew, offers the use of his library to Franklin, i. 16.
_Addison_, Franklin an assiduous imitator of, in his youth, i. 13.
_Advice_ to youth in reading, ii. 378.
to emigrants to America, iii. 398.
to a crafty statesman, 430.
to a young tradesman, 463.
to a young married man, 477.
to players at chess, 490.
_Æpinus_, his hypothesis of magnetism, i. 412.
_Agriculture_ takes place of manufactures till a country is fully settled,
iii. 107.
the great business of America, 393.
_Air_, some of the properties of, ii. 226.
its properties with respect to electricity, i. 204.
properties of its particles, 205. ii. 1.
its currents over the globe, i. 207.
resists the electric fluid and confines it to bodies, 241.
its effects in electrical experiments, 253.
its elasticity not affected by electricity, 254.
its friction against trees, 270, 323.
has its share of electricity, 333.
its electricity denser above than below, 335.
in rooms, electrified positively and negatively, 353.
attracts water, ii. 1.
when saturated with water precipitates it, 2.
dissolves water, and, when dry, oil, 4.
why suffocating, when impregnated with oil or grease, _ibid._
supports water, 5, 46, 49.
why less heated in the higher regions than near the earth's surface,
6.
how it creates hurricanes, _ibid._
winds, 8.
whirlwinds, 10.
effects of heat upon, 50.
its effects on the barometer, 92.
condensed, supposed to form the centre of the earth, 119, 127.
noxious, corrected by vegetation, 129.
observations on the free use of, 213.
rare, no bad conductor of sound, 337.
fresh, beneficial effects of, in bed-rooms, iii. 495.
_Air-thermometer_, electrical, experiments with, i. 336.
_Albany_ plan of union, short account of, i. 127.
its singular fate, 129.
papers relating to, iii. 3.
motives on which formed, 4.
rejects partial unions, 6.
its president and grand council, 9.
election of members, 12.
place of first meeting, 13.
new election, _ibid._
proportion of members after three years, 15.
meetings of the grand council and call, 16.
allowance to members, 17.
power of president and his duty, 18.
treaties of peace and war, _ibid._
Indian trade and purchases, 19.
new settlements, 21.
military establishments, 23.
laws and taxes, 24, 26.
issuing of money, 25.
appointment of officers, 27.
rejected in England, 29.
_Almanack._ _See Poor Richard._
_Alphabet_, a new one proposed, ii. 357.
examples of writing in it, 360.
correspondence on its merits, 361.
_Amber_, electrical experiments on, i. 403.
_America_, North, air of, drier than that of England and France, ii. 140.
why marriages are more frequent there than in Europe, 385.
why labour will long continue dear there, _ibid._
argument against the union of the colonies of, under one government,
401.
state of toleration there, 457.
reflections on the scheme of imposing taxes on, without its consent,
iii. 30.
thoughts on the representation of, in the British parliament, 37.
interest of Great Britain with regard to, 39.
forts in the back settlements of, no security against France, 99.
wars carried on there against the French, not merely in the cause of
the colonies, 105.
preference of the colonies of, to the West Indian colonies, 113.
great navigable rivers of, favourable to inland trade, 118.
what commodities the inland parts of, are fitted to produce, 119.
the productions of, do not interfere with those of Britain, 123.
union of the colonies of, in a revolt against Britain, impossible but
from grievous oppression, 132.
reasons given for restraining paper-bills of credit there, 144.
intended scheme of a bank there, described, 155.
attempts of Franklin for conciliation of Britain with, 286.
feeling of, as to Britain, in May 1775, 346.
conciliation of Britain with, hopeless, 355.
account of the first campaign of the British forces against, 357.
application of, to foreign courts, for aid in its independence, 360.
credit of, with that of Britain, in 1777, compared, 372.
true description of the interest and policy of, 391.
information to those emigrating thither, 398.
terms on which land may be obtained for new settlements there, 409.
_Americans_, their prejudices for whatever is English, i. 144.
_Anchor_, a swimming one proposed, ii. 181, 185.
_Ancients_, their experimental learning too often slighted, ii. 146.
_Anecdote_ of Franklin's early spirit of enterprise, i. 11.
of a Swedish clergyman among the Indians, iii. 386.
of an Indian who went to church, 389.
_Animal_ food, Franklin's abstinence from, i. 20.
return to, 47.
humorous instance of abstinence from, 49.
heat, whence it arises, ii. 79, 125.
magnetism, detected and exposed, i. 150.
_Animalcules_, supposed to cause the luminous appearance of sea-water,
ii. 89.
_Animals_, how to kill them by electricity, i. 415.
_Antifederalists_ of America, comparison of, to the ancient Jews,
iii. 410.
_Apprentices_ easier placed out in America than in Europe, iii. 407.
indentures of, how made in America, 408.
_Argumentation_, bad effects of, as a habit, i. 17.
best method of, 22.
_Armies_, best means of supporting them, ii. 400.
_Armonica_, musical instrument so called, described, ii. 330.
manner of playing on it, 334.
_Asbestos_, specimen of, sold by Franklin to Sir Hans Sloane, i. 60.
letter relating to it, iii. 513.
_Astrology_, letter to the Busy-body on, iii. 448.
_Atmosphere_ sometimes denser above than below, ii. 6.
electrical, its properties, i. 294.
_Aurora borealis_ explained, i. 212.
conjectures respecting, 257, ii. 69.
query concerning, i. 293.
B.
_Badoin_, Mr. letters from, i. 314, 324.
_Ballads_, two, written by Franklin in his youth, i. 16.
_Balls_ of fire in the air, remark concerning, ii. 337.
_Barometer_, how acted on by air, ii. 92.
_Barrels_ for gunpowder, new sort proposed, i. 376.
_Bass_, unnecessary in some tunes, ii. 343.
_Bathing_ relieves thirst, ii. 104.
observations on, 211.
_Battery_, electrical, its construction, i. 193.
_Baxter_, Mr. observations on his enquiry into the nature of the soul,
ii. 110.
_Beccaria_, character of his book on electricity, i. 310.
_Beer_, not conducive to bodily strength, i. 62.
_Bells_, form in consecrating them at Paris, i. 384.
_Belly-ache_, dry, lead a cause of, ii. 220.
_Bermuda_, little thunder there, i. 216.
_Bermudian_ sloops, advantages of their construction, ii. 173.
_Bernoulli_, Mr. his plan for moving boats, ii. 179.
_Bevis_, Dr. draws electricity from the clouds, i. 429.
_Bible_, anecdote of its concealment in the reign of Mary, i. 7.
travestied by Dr. Brown, 31.
_Bills_ of mortality, reasonings, formed on those for capital cities,
not applicable to the country, ii. 383.
_Birth_, noble, no qualification in America, iii. 400.
_Bishops_, none in America, and why, ii. 456, 458.
_Black clothes_ heat more and dry sooner than white, ii. 108.
not fit for hot climates, 109.
_Blacksmith_, trade of, hereditary in Franklin's family, i. 4.
_Blindness_ occasioned both by lightning and electricity, i. 228.
_Boats_, difference of their sailing in shoal and deep water, ii. 160.
management of, best understood by savages, 176.
how rowed by the Chinese, 177.
methods of moving them by machinery, _ibid._
improvement of Mr. Bernoulli's plan for moving them, 179.
proposal for a new mode of moving them, _ibid._
double, advantage of, 173, 174.
one built by Sir W. Petty, _ibid._
_Bodies_, electrified negatively, repel each other, ii. 294.
effect of blunt, compared with pointed ones, i. 172, 223.
_Body_, human, specifically lighter than water, ii. 208.
political and human, compared, iii. 115.
_Boerhaave_, his opinion of the propagation of heat, ii. 58.
of steam from fermenting liquors, 59.
_Boiling_ water, experiments with, i. 332, 344, 345.
pot, bottom of, why cold, 387.
_Bolton_, Mr. experiment by, i. 346.
_Books_ read by Franklin in his youth, i. 15, 18, 20, 21.
_Boston_, the birth-place of Franklin, i. 8.
why quitted by him in his youth, 27,
its inhabitants decrease, ii. 210.
preface to proceedings of the town meeting of, iii. 317.
_Boyle's_ lectures, effect of, on Franklin, i. 79.
_Braddock_, general, defeat of, i. 131.
_Bradford_, printer at Philadelphia, i. 34, 102.
_Brass_, hot, yields unwholesome steams, ii. 249
_Brientnal_, Joseph, a member of the Junto club, i. 83.
_Brimstone_, when fluid, will conduct electricity, i. 256.
_Bristol waters_, an alledged fact concerning, ii. 95.
_Britain_, incapacity of, to supply the colonies with manufactures,
ii. 386.
_British empire_, an union of several states, iii. 310.
_Brown_, Dr. acquaintance of Franklin's, i. 30.
travestied the bible, 31.
_Bubbles_ on the surface of water, hypothesis respecting, ii. 48.
_Buchan_, earl of, letter to, on the price of land for new settlements
in America, iii. 409.
_Buildings_, what kind safest from lightning, i. 379.
_Bullion_, causes of its variation in price, iii. 153.
_Bunyan's_ Voyages, a book early read by Franklin, i. 15, 28.
_Bur_, cause of, round a hole struck through pasteboard, i. 280.
_Burnet_, governor, his attention to Franklin in his youth, i. 44.
_Busy-body_, essays under the title of, i. 86. iii. 422.
C.
_Cabinet-work_, veneered in England, shrinks and flies in America,
ii. 140.
_Cables_, why apt to part when weighing anchor in a swell, ii. 167.
this defect of, remedied, 168.
_Cabot_, Sebastian, his commission from Henry VII., iii. 348.
_Calvinism_, Franklin educated in the principles of, i. 79.
_Campaign_ in America, account of the first, iii. 357.
_Canals_, observations on their depth, ii. 159.
_Canada_, importance of, to England, i. 136.
visited by Franklin, 147.
its extent, iii. 20.
pamphlet on the importance of, 89.
easily peopled without draining Britain, 139.
_Cancers_, specific for, i. 260, 261.
_Candles_ lighted by electricity, i. 176.
distance at which the flame of, may be seen, ii. 90.
_Cann_, silver, a singular experiment on, i. 307.
_Canoes_ of the American Indians, their advantages, ii. 176.
_Canton_, Mr. John, experiments by, i. 286, 346.
draws electricity from the clouds, 428.
_Capitals_, their use in printing, ii. 352.
_Caribbees_, possession of, only a temporary benefit, iii. 142.
_Carolina_, South, see _Lightning_.
_Cavendish_, lord Charles, his electrical experiments, i. 348.
_Cayenne_ would be a great acquisition to Britain, iii. 140.
_Centre_ of the earth, hypothesis concerning, ii. 119, 127.
_Cessions_ from an enemy, on what grounds may be demanded, iii. 93.
_Chapel_, nickname for a printing house, i. 63.
_Character_, remarks on the delineation of, iii. 445.
_Charcoal-fires_, hurtful, ii. 235.
_Charging_ and discharging, in electricity, explained, i. 190.
a number of bottles at once, how done, _ibid._
_Charters_ of the colonies could not be altered by parliament, iii. 332.
_Chess_, morals of, iii. 488.
not an idle amusement, _ibid._
teaches various virtues, 489.
advice to those who play, 490.
too intense an application to, injurious, 500.
_Chimnies_, different kinds of, enumerated, ii. 228.
inconvenience of the old-fashioned ones, 229.
defect of more modern ones, 230.
have not long been in use in England, 277.
Staffordshire, described, 285.
have a draft of air up and down, 289.
may be used for keeping provisions in summer, 290.
may be of use to miners, 291.
funnels to, what the best, 292, 295.
method of contracting them, 317.
smoky. See _Smoky_.
_China_, provision made there against famine, ii. 407.
_Chinese_ wisely divide the holds of their vessels by partitions, ii. 171.
how they row their boats, 177.
their method of warming ground floors, 292.
improvement in this method suggested, 293.
their method of making large paper, 349.
_Circle_, magical, account of, ii. 327, 328.
_Cities_, spring water gradually deteriorates in, i. 163.
do not supply themselves with inhabitants, ii. 384.
_Clark_, Dr. of Boston, quoted, on the instigation of the American
Indians against the English, iii. 95, 100, 102.
_Clothes_, wet, may preserve from lightning, i. 213.
will relieve thirst, ii. 104.
do not give colds, _ibid._
imbibe heat according to their colour, 108.
white, most suitable for hot climates, _ibid._
_Clothing_ does not give, but preserves, warmth, ii. 81.
_Clouds_, at land and at sea, difference between, i. 207.
formed at sea, how brought to rain on land, 208.
driven against mountains, form springs and rivers, 209.
passing different ways, accounted for, 211.
electrical, attracted by trees, spires, &c. 213.
manner in which they become electrised, 257, 305.
are electrised sometimes negatively and sometimes positively, 274,
277, 284, 292.
electricity drawn from them, at Marly, 420.
by Mr. Cauton, 428.
by Dr. Bevis, 429,
by Mr. Wilson, _ibid._
how supported in air, ii. 5.
how formed, 7.
whether winds are generated or can be confined in them, 57.
have little more solidity than fogs, _ibid._
_Club_, called the Junto, instituted by Franklin, i. 82.
rules of, ii. 366, 369.
questions discussed in, 369.
_Coal_, sea, letter on the nature of, ii. 128.