AT HOME: PRESIDENT OF PENNSYLVANIA: THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: DEATH
On September 12, 1785, the ship brought Franklin into Delaware Bay, and
the next morning he rejoiced to find himself "in full view of dear
Philadelphia." A multitude, filling the air with huzzas of salutation,
greeted his landing and escorted him to his door. Private welcomes and
public addresses poured in upon him. His health had been much improved
by the sea air and rest, and he rejoiced, as his foot touched the
streets of the town which after all his wanderings was his home, to feel
himself by no means yet a worn-out man, though in fact he had
seventy-nine years of a busy life behind him. His fellow citizens
evidently thought that the reservoir which had been so bountiful could
not yet be near exhaustion, and were resolved to continue their copious
draughts upon it. They at once elected him to the State Council, of
which he was made President; and, as he said, "I had not firmness enough
to resist the unanimous desire of my country folks; and I find myself
harnessed again in their service for another year. They engrossed the
prime of my life. They have eaten my flesh, and seem resolved now to
pick my bones." A visible and a natural pleasure lurks in the words; old
age finds nothing sweeter than a tribute to the freshness of its powers;
and especially Franklin saw in this honor a vindication against his
maligners. From it he understood that, however some individuals might
indulge in dislike and distrust, the overwhelming mass of his fellow
citizens esteemed him as highly as he could wish. The distinction,
however, cost posterity an unwelcome price, for it prevented further
work on the autobiography, which otherwise would probably have been
finished.[94]
[Note 94: Franklin's _Works_, ix. 459.]
He came into office as a peacemaker amid warring factions, and in the
fulfillment of his functions gave such satisfaction that in 1786 he was
unanimously reëlected; and the like high compliment was paid him again
in the autumn of 1787. It was like Washington and the presidency: so
long as he would consent to accept the office, no other candidate was
thought of. He also took substantially the same course which had been
taken by Washington as commander-in-chief concerning his pay; for he
devoted his whole salary to public uses. He had the good fortune to be
able to carry out his somewhat romantic, and for most persons
impracticable, theory in this respect, because his private affairs were
prospering. His investments in real estate in Philadelphia had risen
greatly in value and in their income-producing capacity since the war,
and he was now at least comfortably endowed with worldly goods.
He still continued to ply his pen, and the just but annoying complaints
which came from Great Britain, that English creditors could not collect
their _ante-bellum_ debts from their American debtors, stimulated him to
a bit of humor at which his own countrymen at least were sure to laugh,
however little droll it might seem to Englishmen, who reasonably
preferred good dollars to good jokes. "We may all remember the time," he
wrote, "when our mother country, as a mark of her parental tenderness,
emptied her gaols into our habitations, '_for the better peopling_,' as
she expressed it, '_of the colonies_.' It is certain that no due returns
have yet been made for these valuable consignments. We are therefore
much in her debt on that account; and as she is of late clamorous for
the payment of all we owe her, and some of our debts are of a kind not
so easily discharged, I am for doing, however, what is in our power. It
will show our good will as to the rest. The felons she planted among us
have produced such an amazing increase that we are now enabled to make
ample remittance in the same commodity," etc., etc.
Nevertheless these English assaults nettled him not a little; and
further he dreaded their possible influence in the rest of Europe
outside of England. The English newspapers teemed with accounts of the
general demoralization and disintegration of the States; it was said
that they had found their ruin in their independence, and the
unwillingness of American merchants to pay their debts was in one
paragraph attributed to their dishonesty, and in the next to the
hopeless poverty which was described as having possession of the
country. It was in good truth what Mr. John Fiske has called it, "The
Critical Period of American History." But Franklin was at once too
patriotic and too sanguine to admit that matters were so bad as they
seemed. His insight into the situation proved correct, and the outcome
very soon showed that the elements of prosperity which he saw were
substantial, and not merely the phantoms of a hopeful lover of his
country. During these years of humiliation and discouragement he was
busy in writing to many friends in England and in France very manly and
spirited letters, declaring the condition of things in the States to be
by no means so ill as it was represented. Industry had revived, values
were advancing, the country was growing, welfare and success were within
the grasp of the people. These things he said repeatedly and
emphatically, and in a short time the accuracy of his knowledge had to
be admitted by all, whether friends or enemies. He would not even admit
that the failure to arrange a treaty of commerce with England was the
serious misfortune which most Americans conceived it to be. In his usual
gallant fashion of facing down untoward circumstances he alleged again
and again that the lack of such a treaty was worse for Great Britain
than for the States. If British merchants could stand it, American
merchants, he avowed, could stand it much better. He was for showing no
more concern about it. "Let the merchants on both sides treat with one
another. _Laissez les faire_," he said. The presence of such a temper in
the States, in so prominent a man, was of infinite service in those
troubled years of unsettled, novel, and difficult conditions.
Dr. Franklin was not at first elected a member of the deputation from
Pennsylvania to the convention which framed the Constitution of the
United States. But in May, 1787, he was added in order that, in the
possible absence of General Washington, there might be some one whom all
could agree in calling to the chair.[95] It was fortunate that even an
unnecessary reason led to his being chosen, for all future generations
would have felt that an unpardonable void had been left in that famous
assemblage, had the sage of America not been there. Certainly the
"fitness of things," the historical picturesqueness of the event,
imperatively demanded Dr. Franklin's venerable figure in the
constitutional convention of the United States of America.
[Note 95: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 565.]
As between the two theories of government which divided that body,
Franklin ranged himself with the party opposed to a strong and
centralized government endowed with many functions and much power.[96]
The simplest government seemed to him the best; and he substantially
gave in his allegiance to those democratic ideas which afterward
constituted the doctrines of the Jeffersonian school in American
politics. It was natural that he should do so; he was a cheerful
optimist all his life long, and few men have ever so trusted human kind
as he did; so now he believed that the people could take care of
themselves, as indeed the history of the past few years and the
character of the population of the States at that time indicated that
they could. He attended regularly all the sessions, and gave his
opinions freely; but they are only dimly revealed in the half-light
which enfolds in such lamentable obscurity the debates of that
interesting body. What little is known can be briefly stated.
[Note 96: But later he remarked: "Though there is a general dread of
giving too much power to our _governors_, I think we are more in danger
from too little obedience in the _governed_."]
The same theory which he was practicing concerning his own salary he
wished to see introduced as an article of the Constitution. The
President, he thought, should receive no salary. Honor was enough
reward; a place which gave both honor and profit offered too corrupting
a temptation, and instead of remaining a source of generous aspiration
to "the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men
fittest for the trust," it would be scrambled for by "the bold and the
violent, the men o£ strong passions and indefatigable activity in their
selfish pursuits."[97] In our day such a notion and such arguments would
be quickly sneered out of the debate; but they were in keeping with the
spirit of that era when the first generation which for ages had dared to
contemplate popular government was carried away by the earliest romantic
fervor of inexperienced speculation.
[Note 97: Franklin's _Works_, ix. 418. See also letter to Bishop of
St. Asaph, _Ibid._ viii. 270.]
It is familiar that the gravest question which perplexed the convention
was whether the larger and the smaller States should stand upon terms of
equality, or whether some proportion should be established. After a
discussion, recurred to at intervals during many weeks, had failed to
develop any satisfactory solution of this problem, pregnant with
failure, Franklin moved that the daily proceedings should be opened with
prayer.[98] But Hamilton said that a resort to prayer would indicate to
the people that the convention had reached a desperate pass; and either
this or some other reason was so potent that scarcely any one voted yea
on the motion. What could be more singular than to see the skeptical
Franklin and the religious Hamilton thus opposed upon this question!
Franklin next suggested a compromise: an equal number of delegates for
all States; an equal vote for all States upon all questions respecting
the authority or sovereignty of a State, and upon appointments and
confirmations; but votes to be apportioned according to the populations
of the States respectively upon all bills for raising and spending
money. He was in favor of a single legislative chamber, and his plan was
designed to be applied to such a system. Its feasibility would probably
have been defeated through the inevitable complexity which would have
attended upon it in practice.[99] Nevertheless it was a suggestion in
the right direction, and contained the kernel of that compromise which
later on he developed into the system of an equal representation in the
Senate, and a proportionate one in the House. This happy scheme may be
fairly said to have saved the Union.
[Note 98: Franklin's _Works_, ix. 428.]
[Note 99: One becomes quite convinced of this upon reading his
presentation of his scheme. _Works_, ix. 423; see also _Ibid._ 395.]
Upon the matter of suffrage Franklin voted against limiting it to
freeholders, because to do so would be to "depress the virtue and public
spirit of our common people," for whose patriotism and good sense he
expressed high esteem. He opposed the requirement of a residence of
fourteen years as a preliminary to naturalization, thinking four years a
sufficient period. He thought that the President should hold office for
seven years, and should not be eligible for a second term; he should be
subject to impeachment, since otherwise in case of wrong-doing recourse
could be had only to revolution or assassination; he should not have
the power of an absolute veto.
When at last the long discussions were over and the final draft was
prepared, Franklin found himself in the position in which also were most
of his associates, disapproving certain parts, but thinking adoption of
the whole far better than rejection. He was wise enough and singular
enough to admit that he was not infallibly right. "Nothing in human
affairs and schemes is perfect," he said, "and perhaps that is the case
of our opinions." He made an excellent speech,[100] urging that at the
close of their deliberations all should harmonize, sink their small
differences of opinion, and send the document before the people with the
prestige of their unanimous approbation. While the last members were
signing, relates Madison, "Dr. Franklin, looking toward the president's
chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted,
observed to a few members near him that painters had found it difficult
to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. 'I have,' he
said, 'often and often in the course of the session, and the
vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that
behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or
setting; but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a
rising and not a setting sun.'"
[Note 100: Franklin's _Works_, ix. 431.]
He did what he could to secure the adoption of the instrument by the
people; and when that end was happily achieved he joined his voice to
the unanimous cry with which the American nation nominated George
Washington as the only possible candidate for the presidency. He said:
"General Washington is the man whom all our eyes are fixed on for
President, and what little influence I may have is devoted to him."
It was about the time of the election that he himself took his farewell
of public life. The third year of his incumbency in the office of
president of Pennsylvania expired in the autumn of 1788, and his
physical condition precluded all idea of further official labors. Nature
could not have committed such an incongruity, such a sin against
æsthetic justice, as not to preserve Benjamin Franklin's life long
enough to enable him to see the United States fairly launched as a real
nation, with an established government and a sound constitution giving
promise of a vigorous career. But evidently with this boon the patience
of nature was exhausted; for Franklin's infirmities now increased upon
him terribly. He endured extreme pain during periods steadily increasing
in length and recurring at ever-shortening intervals. He bore his
suffering, which too often became agony, with heroic fortitude; but it
was evident that even his strong frame could not long hold out against
the debilitating effects of his merciless disease. Yet while it racked
his body it fortunately spared his mental faculties; and indeed so
lively did his interest in affairs remain that it seemed to require
these physical reminders to show him how old he was; save for his body,
he was still a man in his prime. He once said: "I often hear persons,
whom I knew when children, called _old_ Mr. Such-a-one, to distinguish
them from their sons, now men grown and in business; so that by living
twelve years beyond David's period, _I seem to have intruded myself into
the company of posterity, when I ought to have been abed and
asleep_,"--words which should take their place among the fine sayings of
the ages.
He was courageous and cheerful. In November, 1788, he wrote: "You kindly
inquire after my health. I have not of late much reason to boast of it.
People that will live a long life and drink to the bottom of the cup
must expect to meet with some of the dregs. However, when I consider how
many more terrible maladies the human body is liable to, I think myself
well off that I have only three incurable ones: the gout, the stone, and
old age; and, those notwithstanding, I enjoy many comfortable intervals,
in which I forget all my ills, and amuse myself in reading or writing,
or in conversation with friends, joking, laughing, and telling merry
stories, as when you first knew me, a young man about fifty."[101] He
does not seem to have taken undue credit to himself; there is no
querulousness, or egotism, or senility in his letters, but a delightful
tranquillity of spirit. His sister wrote to him that the Boston
newspapers often had matter in his honor. "I am obliged to them," he
wrote; "on the other hand, some of our papers here are endeavoring to
disgrace me. I take no notice. My friends defend me. I have long been
accustomed to receive more blame, as well as more praise, than I have
deserved. It is the lot of every public man, and I leave one account to
balance the other." So serene was the aged philosopher, a _real_
philosopher, not one who, having played a part in life, was to be
betrayed in the weakness and irritability of old age. He felt none of
the mental weariness which years so often bring. He was by no means
tired of life and affairs in this world, yet he wrote in a
characteristic vein to the Bishop of St. Asaph: "The course of nature
must soon put a period to my present mode of existence. This I shall
submit to with the less regret, as, having seen during a long life a
good deal of this world, I feel a growing curiosity to be acquainted
with some other." It was characteristic that in these closing days it
was the progress of mankind in knowledge and welfare which especially
absorbed his thoughts. When he reflected on the great strides that were
making he said that he almost wished that it had been his destiny to be
born two or three centuries later. He was one of the few men who has
left on record his willingness to live his life over again, even though
he should not be allowed the privilege of "correcting in the second
edition the errors of the first."
[Note 101: He habitually wrote in this vein; see, for example,
_Works_, ix. 266, 283, and _passim_.]
The French Revolution excited his profoundest interest. At first he said
that he saw "nothing singular in all this, but on the contrary what
might naturally be expected. The French have served an apprenticeship to
liberty in this country, and now that they are out of their time they
have set up for themselves."[102] He expressed his hope that "the fire
of liberty, ... spreading itself over Europe, would act upon the
inestimable rights of man as common fire does upon gold: purify without
destroying them; so that a lover of liberty may find _a country_ in any
part of Christendom." The language had an unusual smack of the French
revolutionary slang, in which he seems in no other instance to have
indulged. But as the fury swelled, his earlier sympathies became merged
in a painful anxiety concerning the fate of his many good old friends.
[Note 102: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 600.]
Franklin's last act was a memorial addressed to Congress, signed by him
in his capacity as president of the abolition society, and praying that
body: "That you will devise means for removing this inconsistency from
the character of the American people; that you will promote mercy and
justice towards this distressed race; and that you will step to the very
verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every species of
traffic in the persons of our fellow men." He had always spoken of
slavery with the strongest condemnation, and branded the slave-trade as
"abominable," a "diabolical commerce," and a "crime."
A large part of the last year or two of his life was passed by Franklin
in his bed. At times when his dreadful suffering seemed to become
intolerable, it was quelled, so far as possible, by opium. But at
intervals it left him, and still whenever he thus got a respite for a
few days he was again at work. It was in such an interval that he wrote
his paper condemning the liberty, which was becoming the license, of the
press. If the law permitted this sort of thing, he said, then it should
restore also the liberty of the cudgel. The paper is not altogether
antiquated, nor the idea altogether bad!
It was even so late as March 23, 1790, that he wrote the humorous
rejoinder to the pro-slavery speech delivered in Congress by Jackson of
Georgia. But the end was close at hand; and when this brilliant satire
was composed, there lacked but a few days of the allotted term when that
rare humor was to be stilled forever, and that broad philanthropy was to
cease from the toil in which it had never tired alike for the free and
the oppressed.
On April 12, 1790, a pain in the chest and difficulty of breathing,
which had been giving him much trouble, ceased for a short while, and he
insisted upon getting up in order to have his bed re-made; for he wished
to "die in a decent manner." His daughter expressed the conventional
wish that he might yet recover and live many years. "I hope not," he
replied. Soon afterward the pain returned, and he was advised to change
his position, so that he could breathe more easily. "A dying man can do
nothing easy," he said; and these are the last words which he is known
to have uttered. Soon afterward he sank into a lethargy, and so remained
until at eleven o'clock, P. M., on April 17, 1790, he died.
A great procession and a concourse of citizens escorted his funeral, and
Congress voted to "wear the customary badge of mourning for one month."
The bits of crape were all very well, a conventional, insignificant
tribute; but unfortunately the account of the country, or at least of
Congress as representing the country, did not stand very honorably, to
say nothing of generously, with one of its oldest, most faithful, and
most useful servants.[103] Again and again Franklin had asked for some
modest office, some slight opening, for his grandson, Temple Franklin.
The young man's plans and prospects in life had all been sacrificed to
the service of Franklin as his secretary, which was in fact the service
of the country; yet he had never been able to collect even the ordinary
salary pertaining to such a position. Throughout a long life of public
service, often costly to himself in his own affairs, Franklin had never
asked any other favor than this, which after all was rather compensation
than favor, and this was never given to him. When one reflects how such
offices are demanded and awarded in these days, one hardly knows whether
to be more ashamed of the present or of the past. But this was not all
nor even the worst; for Franklin's repeated efforts to get his own
accounts with the government audited and settled never met with any
response. It needed only that Congress should appoint a competent
accountant to examine and report. Before leaving France Franklin had
begged for this act of simple, business-like justice, which it was the
duty of Congress to initiate without solicitation; he had the fate of
the "poor unhappy Deane" before his eyes, to make him uncomfortable, but
in this respect he was treated no better than that misused man. After
his return home he continued his urgency during his last years, not
wishing to die leaving malignant enemies behind him, and accounts open
which he could no longer explain and elucidate. Indeed, stories were
already circulating that he was "greatly indebted to the United States
for large sums that had been put into [his] hands, and that [he] avoided
a settlement;" yet this request was still, with unpardonable disregard
of decency and duty, utterly ignored. He never could get the business
attended to, and Benjamin Franklin actually could not extort from an
indifferent Congress the small satisfaction of having his accounts
passed. The consequence was that when he died the United States appeared
his debtor, and never extricated itself from that painful position.[104]
It was only in this matter that he ever showed the slightest anxiety
concerning his reputation with posterity. He wanted to leave the name of
an honest man; but otherwise he never was at the trouble of preparing a
line to justify any of his actions, therein differing from many of his
contemporaries.
[Note 103: One of the most painful letters to read which our annals
contain is that written by Franklin to Charles Thomson, secretary of
Congress, November 29, 1788, _Works_, viii. 26, 30. It is an arraignment
which humiliates the descendants of the members of that body.]
[Note 104: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 596.]
France showed a livelier affection and warmer appreciation toward the
great dead than did his own countrymen. At the opening of the National
Assembly, June 11, 1790, Mirabeau delivered an impassioned eulogy in the
rhetorical French fashion; and the motion to wear mourning for three
days was carried by acclamation. The president of that body, M. Siéyes,
was instructed to communicate the resolution to Washington. At the
celebration of the municipality of Paris the citizens generally wore a
mourning badge; and the grain market, where the oration was delivered,
was draped in black. The Academy of Sciences of course did formal honor
to his memory, as did likewise the revolutionary clubs. A street at what
was in his day Passy, but is now included in Paris, near the Trocadéro,
perpetuates by his name the admiration which France felt for him.
Among illustrious Americans Franklin stands preëminent in the interest
which is aroused by a study of his character, his mind, and his career.
One becomes attached to him, bids him farewell with regret, and feels
that for such as he the longest span of life is all too short. Even
though dead, he attracts a personal regard which renders easily
intelligible the profound affection which so many men felt for him while
living. It may be doubted whether any one man ever had so many, such
constant, and such firm friends as in three different nations formed
about him a veritable host. In the States and in France he was loved,
and as he grew into old age he was revered, not by those who heard of
him only, but most warmly by those who best knew him. Even in England,
where for years he was the arch-rebel of all America, he was generally
held in respect and esteem, and had many constant friends whose
confidence no events could shake. It is true, of course, that he had
also his detractors, with most of whom the reader has already made
acquaintance. In Pennsylvania the proprietary party cherished an
animosity which still survives against his memory, but which does not
extend far beyond those who take it as an inheritance. It does him no
discredit with persons who understand its source. In New England a
loyalty to those famous New Englanders, John Adams and Samuel Adams,
seems to involve in the minds of some persons a depreciation of
Franklin. In English historical literature the patriotic instinct
stands in the way of giving Franklin quite his full due of praise. But
the faults and defects of character and conduct which are urged against
him appear little more than the expression of personal ill will, when
they are compared with the affection and the admiration given to him in
liberal measure by the great mass of mankind both in the generations
which knew him as a living contemporary and in those which hear of him
only as one of the figures of history. It is not worth while to deify
him, or to speak with extravagant reverence, as if he had neither faults
nor limitations. Yet it seems ungracious to recall these concerning one
who did for his fellow men so much as Franklin did. Moral, intellectual,
and material boons he conferred in such abundance that few such
benefactors of the race can be named, though one should survey all the
ages. A man of a greater humanity never lived; and the quality which
stood Abou Ben Adhem in good stead should suffice to save Franklin from
human criticism. He not only loved his kind, but he also trusted them
with an implicit confidence, reassuring if not extraordinary in an
observer of his shrewdness and experience. Democrats of the
revolutionary school in France and of the Jeffersonian school in the
United States have preached an exaggerated gospel of the people, but
their words are the dubious ones of fanatics or politicians. Franklin
was of a different kind, and had a more genuine and more generous faith
in man than the greatest democrat in politics who ever lived.
Franklin's inborn ambition was the noblest of all ambitions: to be of
practical use to the multitude of men. The chief motive of his life was
to promote the welfare of mankind. Every moment which he could snatch
from enforced occupations was devoted to doing, devising, or suggesting
something advantageous more or less generally to men. His detractors
have given a bad, but also a false coloring to this trait. They say that
the spirit of all that he did and taught was sordid, that the motives
and purposes which he set before men were selfish, that his messages
spoken through the mouth of Poor Richard inculcated no higher objects in
life than money-getting. This is an utterly unfair form of stating the
case. Franklin was a great moralist: though he did not believe in the
Christian religion according to the straitlaced orthodox view, he
believed in the virtues which that religion embodies; and he was not
only often a zealous preacher, but in the main a consistent exemplar of
them. Perhaps he did not rest them upon precisely the same basis upon
which the Christian preacher does, but at least he put them on a basis
upon which they could stand firm. In such matters, however, one may
easily make mistakes, breed ill blood, and do harm; and his wisdom and
good sense soon led him to put forth his chief efforts and to display
especial earnestness and constancy in promoting the well-being of all
men. It was an object sufficiently noble, one would think, worthy of the
greatest brain and the largest heart, and having certain very
commendable traits in the way of practicability and substantial
possibilities. His desire was to see the community prosperous,
comfortable, happy, advancing in the accumulation of money and of all
physical goods, but not to the point of luxury; it was by no means the
pile of dollars which was his end, and he did not care to see many men
rich, but rather to see all men well to do. He was perfectly right in
thinking that virtuous living has the best prospects in a well-to-do
society. He gave liberally of his own means and induced others to give,
and promoted in proportion to the ability of the community a surprising
number of public and quasi public enterprises; and always the fireside
of the poor man was as much in his thought as the benefit of the richer
circle. Fair dealing and kindliness, prudence and economy in order to
procure the comforts and simpler luxuries of life, reading and knowledge
for those uses which wisdom subserves, constituted the real essence of
his teaching. His inventive genius was ever at work devising methods of
making daily life more agreeable, comfortable, and wholesome for all who
have to live. In a word, the service of his fellow men was his constant
aim; and he so served them that those public official functions which
are euphemistically called "public services" seemed in his case almost
an interruption of the more direct and far-reaching services which he
was intent upon rendering to all civilized peoples. Extreme religionists
may audaciously fancy that the judgment of God upon Franklin may be
severe; but it would be gross disloyalty for his own kind to charge that
his influence has been ignobly material.
As a patriot none surpassed him. Again it was the love of the people
that induced this feeling, which grew from no theory as to forms of
government, no abstractions and doctrines about "the rights of man." He
began by espousing the cause of the people of the province of
Pennsylvania against proprietary despotism, and for many years he was a
patriot in his colony, before the great issue against England made
patriotism common. His patriotism had not root in any revolutionary
element in his temper, but was the inevitable outcome of his
fair-mindedness. That which was unfair as between man and man first
aroused his ire against the grinding proprietaries; and afterward it was
the unfairness of taxation without representation which especially
incensed him; for an intellect of the breadth and clearness of his sees
and loves justice above all things. During the struggle of the States no
man was more hearty in the cause than Franklin; and the depth of feeling
shown in his letters, simple and unrhetorical as they are, is
impressive. All that he had he gave. What also strikes the reader of his
writings is the broad national spirit which he manifested. He had an
immense respect for the dignity of America; he was perhaps fortunately
saved from disillusionment by his distance from home. But be this as it
may, the way in which he felt and therefore genuinely talked about his
nation and his country was not without its moral effect in Europe.
Intellectually there are few men who are Franklin's peers in all the
ages and nations. He covered, and covered well, vast ground. The
reputation of doing and knowing various unrelated things is wont to
bring suspicion of perfunctoriness; but the ideal of the human intellect
is an understanding to which all knowledge and all activity are germane.
There have been a few, very few minds which have approximated toward
this ideal, and among them Franklin's is prominent. He was one of the
most distinguished scientists who have ever lived. Bancroft calls him
"the greatest diplomatist of his century."[105] His ingenious and useful
devices and inventions were very numerous. He possessed a masterly
shrewdness in business and practical affairs. He was a profound thinker
and preacher in morals and on the conduct of life; so that with the
exception of the founders of great religions it would be difficult to
name any persons who have more extensively influenced the ideas,
motives, and habits of life of men. He was one of the most, perhaps the
most agreeable conversationist of his age.
[Note 105: Bancroft, _Hist. U. S._ ix. 134.]
He was a rare wit and humorist, and in an age when "American humor" was
still unborn, amid contemporaries who have left no trace of a jest,
still less of the faintest appreciation of humor, all which he said and
wrote was brilliant with both these most charming qualities of the human
mind. Though sometimes lax in points of grammar, as was much the custom
in his day, he wrote as delightful a style as is to be found in all
English literature, and that too when the stilted, verbose, and turgid
habit was tediously prevalent. He was a man who impressed his ability
upon all who met him; so that the abler the man and the more experienced
in judging men, the higher did he rate Franklin when brought into direct
contact with him; politicians and statesmen of Europe, distrustful and
sagacious, trained readers and valuers of men, gave him the rare honor
of placing confidence not only in his personal sincerity, but in his
broad fair-mindedness, a mental quite as much as a moral trait.
It is hard indeed to give full expression to a man of such scope in
morals, in mind, and in affairs. He illustrates humanity in an
astonishing multiplicity of ways at an infinite number of points. He,
more than any other, seems to show us how many-sided our human nature
is. No individual, of course, fills the entire circle; but if we can
imagine a circumference which shall express humanity, we can place
within it no one man who will reach out to approach it and to touch it
at so many points as will Franklin. A man of active as well as universal
good will, of perfect trustfulness towards all dwellers on the earth, of
supreme wisdom expanding over all the interests of the race, none has
earned a more kindly loyalty. By the instruction which he gave, by his
discoveries, by his inventions, and by his achievements in public life
he earns the distinction of having rendered to men varied and useful
services excelled by no other one man; and thus he has established a
claim upon the gratitude of mankind so broad that history holds few who
can be his rivals.
INDEX
Abolition of Slavery, petition for, signed by Franklin, 415, 416.
Adams, Abigail, on meeting Franklin, 210.
Adams, John, 111, 208;
dislike of Franklin, 210;
on committee to confer with Lord Howe, 214;
pugnacious remarks, 215, 216;
rank as diplomate, 220;
remarks on Franklin in France, 235, 236;
joins Lee in forcing dismissal of Williams, 266;
on rum trade, 276;
feeling towards France, 286;
charged to request admission of United States into Armed Neutrality, 288;
replaces Deane, 294;
his egotism, 294;
endeavors to reform French mission, 294;
censorious language, 295;
advises having a single minister at Paris, 296, 297;
returns home, 298;
financial agent in Holland, 307;
inability to borrow money, 330;
helped by Franklin, 331;
judgment of Franklin, 337, 338;
unable to appreciate his value, 339;
contrast between the two men, 340;
really follows Franklin, 342;
his vanity, 344;
envy of Franklin's popularity, 345;
does not understand its value, 346;
appointed commissioner to treat for peace, 349;
informs Vergennes of paper money redemption in America, 350;
writes an unwise defense of repudiation, 351;
begs Franklin to help, 351;
presents case to Congress, 354;
angry at Franklin for not supporting his position, 355;
on the De Weissenstein episode, 358;
refuses to treat apart from France, 365, note;
disapproves Oswald's commission, 374;
joins with Jay in deciding to treat without consulting Vergennes, 379;
arranges fisheries clause, 380, 392, 399;
testimony in behalf of Franklin, 389;
feud with Franklin, 390, 391.
Adams, Samuel, 107, 111;
distrusts Franklin, 138;
opposes his nomination as agent for Massachusetts, 138;
threatens to form a New England confederacy, 212;
supported by Franklin, 212.
"Alliance," officers of, helped by Franklin, 317.
Arnold, Benedict, mission of Franklin to confer with, 210.
"Art of Virtue," a receipt book for virtues, 31, 32.
"Armed Neutrality," approved by Franklin, 288;
vote of Congress requesting admission of the United States, 288.
Austin, J. L., brings news to France of Burgoyne's capture, 270;
sent by Franklin on secret mission to opposition in England, 271.
Bache, Richard, marries Sarah Franklin, 203.
Bancroft, Dr. Edward,
tells story of Franklin's Manchester velvet suit, 191, 283;
spy for England betrays Deane, 224.
Beaumarchais, Caron de, his romantic career, 225;
inspired by Arthur Lee to aid the colonies, 226;
appeals to Louis XVI., 226;
supported by Vergennes, opposed by Turgot, 227;
establishes firm of Hortalez & Co. to trade with the colonies, 229;
communicates with Deane, 230;
project betrayed by Bancroft, 230;
fails to do a successful business, 231;
suspected and thwarted by Arthur Lee, 238, 239;
partly paid by Congress, 241;
joy at Burgoyne's surrender, 270;
claims cargoes of rice and indigo, 310.
Bedford, Duke of, opposes raising a colonial army, 52;
irritates George III. into dismissing Grenville, 114.
Bollan, ----,
agent for Massachusetts Council, works in harmony with Franklin, 155;
advises against employing counsel in Hutchinson letter case, 185;
changes his opinion, 187.
"Bon Homme Richard," 302.
Bond, Dr., aided by Franklin in establishing a hospital, 41.
Braddock, General, 50, 51; visited by
Franklin, 52;
distrusted by Pennsylvania farmers, 53, 54;
his expedition, 51-54;
praises Franklin, 55.
Bradford, ----, editor of rival newspaper in Philadelphia, 12;
refuses as postmaster to let Franklin's paper go by mail, 12, 13.
Burgoyne, General, invades the colonies, 261;
captured, 270;
effect of news on American loans, 317.
Burke, Edmund, Rockingham's secretary, 115;
on Franklin's examination by the commons, 120.
Burke, William, writes pamphlet in favor of returning Canada to France
in order to check the colonies, 79.
"Busybody" papers, 31.
Bute, Earl of, favors a Stamp Act, 105;
complaints against by Bedford, 114;
Franklin's witty remark upon, 213.
Camden, Lord, counsel for Penn family, 68;
predicts American independence, 83;
denies unlimited power of Parliament over colonies, 118;
enters cabinet, 149.
Canada, conquered by English, 78;
its recession to France advocated as a check to colonies, 79;
controversy on this point, 80-82;
suggested as member of confederation by Franklin, 208;
mission of Franklin to, 210, 211.
Carmichael, William, rank as diplomate, 220;
Jay's secretary in Spain, 321;
praises Franklin, 345.
Charles, ----, agent for Pennsylvania, 70.
Chatham, Earl of. See Pitt, William.
Chaumont, M. Ray de, lends Franklin a house in Passy, 235.
Choiseul, Duc de, predicts American independence, 83.
Colden, ----, letter from Franklin to, 40.
"Colonial System," criticised by Franklin, 48;
defended by Granville, 67;
enforced by Grenville, 104.
Colonial union, suggested by William Penn, 44;
by Franklin, 44, 45;
by Gov. Shirley, 46;
opposed by colonies and board of trade, 45, 52;
proposed at time of Stamp Act, 110.
Concord, fight at, 204; effect on Franklin, 205.
Constitutional Convention, Franklin chosen a member, 407;
the two parties, 408;
part played by Franklin, 408;
unsalaried presidency, 408;
debate on representation, 409;
single legislative chamber, 410;
suffrage, 410;
naturalization, 410;
presidential term, 410;
story about the "rising sun," 411.
Continental Congress, 206-212;
its duties, 206;
resolves to petition once more, 206;
takes no action on Franklin's plan for a confederation, 208;
makes Franklin head of postal system, 209;
sends him on mission to Montreal, 210;
repudiates independence, 211;
adopts declaration, 212;
forms Confederation, 212;
sends Franklin and others to confer with Lord Howe, 214;
elects Franklin envoy to France, 219;
has difficulty in choosing ministers, 221;
instructs Deane to get help from France, 224;
sends Franklin on formal embassy, 232;
puzzled by letters of Deane, Lee, and Beaumarchais, 239;
irritated at Deane's sending military adventurers, 242, 243;
sends Austin as special messenger, 270;
rejects North's conciliatory offers, 282;
votes to request admission into Armed Neutrality, 288;
stinginess toward Franklin, 295-343;
breaks up French mission, 298;
management of finances, 304-336;
has power to borrow but not to tax, 304-306;
method of drawing bills on foreign envoys, 306, 307;
proposes to secure loans by pledging merchandise, 309, 310;
orders Franklin to borrow money and build warships, 311;
issues drafts on Franklin, 312, 315, 325-327, 330-334;
on Jay, 321;
on Laurens, 324;
on Adams, 330;
fails to advise ministers of bills drawn, 313, 315, 318;
fails to keep promises, 322, 325, 326, 332;
loses confidence of French court, 328;
antedates bills to evade a promise, 332;
ill-treatment of Franklin, 349;
ignores his request to resign, 349;
appoints commissioners to treat for peace, 349;
passes act to redeem paper money at forty to one, 350;
angers Vergennes, 350 seq.;
induced by France to name commission instead of plenipotentiary, 363;
at French suggestion omits all but independence from ultimatum, 378;
instructs commissioners to be guided by France, 378;
condemns independent action of commissioners, 388;
again refuses Franklin's request to be relieved, 397;
finally permits him, 398;
honors Franklin's memory, 417;
neglects to reward Temple Franklin, 417;
neglects to audit Franklin's accounts, 418.
Conway, General, opposes Stamp Act, 115;
secretary for colonies, 115;
reënter's cabinet, 147;
suggests treating for peace, 284;
moves address against the war, after Yorktown, 364.
Conyngham, ----, American privateer, 248, 249.
"Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation," a pamphlet by Franklin, 91.
Cooper, Sir Grey, thinks Franklin's mission is a desertion, 234.
Cooper, Samuel, tells Franklin of the sentiment in Massachusetts regarding
his appointment as agent, 138;
letter to, regarding Hutchinson letters, 180.
"Critical Period of American History" a time of reviving industrial
prosperity, 406.
Cornwallis, Lord, effect of his surrender, 363.
Cumberland, Duke of, forms cabinet, 115; dies, 116.
Cushing, Thomas, letter from Franklin to, about the Hutchinson letters, 180.
Dana, Francis, his reliance on Franklin, 342, 345.
Dartmouth, Lord, suggested as Hillsborough's successor by Franklin, 165;
friendly relations with Franklin, 166;
later divergence, 166;
discusses with Franklin Massachusetts
resolves denying parliamentary control, 167;
impossibility of agreement, 168, 193;
Franklin's memorial to, 200.
Deane, Silas, rank as diplomate, 220;
first envoy to France, 222;
previous career and character, 222;
his mistakes, 223;
abandons America, 223;
introduced in France by Franklin, 223;
his instructions, 224;
balked by Bancroft, 224;
joins plans of Beaumarchais, 230;
not interfered with by Franklin, 238;
slandered by Arthur Lee, 238, 239;
ruined by him, 239;
defended by Franklin, 240, 243, 290;
sends European officers to America, 242;
proposes an ultimatum to France, 269;
recalled, 289;
confidence in Franklin, 399.
De Grey, Lord Chief Justice, in Hutchinson letters affair, 186.
Denham, ----, offers Franklin a clerkship, 10;
his death, 10.
Despencer, Lord le, breakfast party with, 136.
D'Estaing, Admiral, sails to aid America, 285.
"De Weissenstein"
makes mysterious offer of peace with pensions for leading rebels, 358;
supposed to be
George III., 358;
Franklin's reply to, 358, 359.
Dickinson, John, defends the Pennsylvania proprietors, 94;
personal attack on Franklin, 97, 98;
protests against his appointment as agent of the Assembly, 98;
advocates renewed petitioning to king in Continental Congress, 206;
supported by Franklin, 206.
Digges, ----, embezzles funds sent by Franklin to American prisoners, 264;
makes secret proposals on behalf of Lord North, 364.
Diplomacy of the Revolution, its general character, 220;
varied personnel, 220;
difficulties in choosing ministers, 221;
vagueness as to status of representatives, 222;
mission of Silas Deane to France, 222-231;
assistance gained from France through Beaumarchais, 225-231;
mission of Franklin to France, 232-401;
first offer of alliance, 236, 237;
dealings of Franklin and Deane with foreign military adventurers, 242-246;
management of privateers, 248-252;
negotiations relative to exchange of prisoners, 252-264;
dealings with opposition in England, 271;
alliance with France, 273-279;
proposal of Deane to force a decision, 269;
effect of news of Burgoyne's capture, 273;
discussion over terms of alliance, 273-277;
debate over molasses duties, 276;
concessions arranged by Franklin, 277, 278;
peace with England suggested, 282, 284;
quarrels in the French mission, 290-298;
Franklin minister plenipotentiary, 298;
methods of raising money in Europe, 306;
history of Franklin's efforts in France,
306-336 [see Finances of the Revolution];
unique position of Franklin in Europe, 340-343;
superiority to other diplomatists, 342, 344-346;
mistake of John Adams in irritating Vergennes
about American paper money, 350-352;
the affair smoothed over by Franklin, 352-355;
futile advances toward reconciliation made by English emissaries, 357-360;
events leading up to treaty of peace [see treaty of peace], 363-396;
commercial treaties with Prussia and other countries, 397.
Dubourg, Dr.,
conveys to Franklin news of French willingness to help colonies, 232.
Dunning, ----, counsel for Franklin in Hutchinson letters affair, 187, 188.
Edinburgh gives Franklin freedom of the city, 75.
East India Company, hurt by colonial non-importation, 175.
Finances of the Revolution, difficulties, 304;
vague powers of Congress, 304;
inability to offer security, 305;
methods of raising money adopted, 305, 306;
burden of making loans thrown on foreign representatives, 306;
situation of Jay, 307;
of Adams, 307;
real brunt borne by Franklin, 307, 321;
unpicturesqueness and indispensableness of his labors, 308, 336;
description of them, 308-336;
proposed payments by cargoes of American products, 309;
failure of this method, 310;
loans made by French court on pure credit, 311, 317, 319;
Franklin's pamphlet on resources of the United States, 311;
neglect of Congress to advise ministers of bills, 312, 313, 326, 332;
protests from Franklin, 312, 318, 320;
lack of business methods in Congress, 313, 314, 320;
extravagance of Lee and Izard, 314-316;
difficulties of French court in furnishing money, 319;
injurious influence of State agents, 320;
difficulties of Jay in Spain, 321, 322, 332;
criticisms of Vergennes, 325;
neglect of Congress to keep promises, 322, 326, 332;
begging from Vergennes, 327;
from Necker, 328;
difficulties over loan raised in Holland, 328;
extravagance of Laurens and Jackson, 329;
difficulties of Adams in Holland, 331, 332;
antedating of bills to elude a promise, 332;
further loans, 334, 336;
liquidation of accounts begins, 335;
peace alone puts an end to borrowing, 336.
Fisheries, importance of, to New England, 380;
right to, upheld by Adams, 380, 399.
Fitzherbert, ----, replaces Grenville, 372.
Florida, suggested as member of Confederation by Franklin, 208.
Folger, Abiah, mother of Franklin, 2.
Folger, ancestry of Franklin, 3.
Fox, C. J., member of opposition, 271;
attacks North regarding French and American alliance, 281;
in Rockingham cabinet, 365;
tries to outdo Shelburne by treating with colonies through France, 366;
willing to acknowledge their independence, 367;
urges Franklin to negotiate separately, 370;
retires from Shelburne's cabinet, 372.
France, policy of; early interest in English colonial controversy, 137;
regarded as probable ally of colonies, 222;
intervention suggested by Beaumarchais and Vergennes, 226-228;
enthusiasm over Franklin, 233-235;
secret assistance, 251;
self-interest of France, 252, 285, 368, 375, 380, 391, 396;
treaty of alliance with, 273-279;
war with England, 285;
financial assistance, 307-336.
Franklin ancestry, 2; from Northamptonshire, 2;
religious independence, 2.
Franklin, Benjamin. _Early years._ Ancestry, 2;
birth, 3;
intended at first for the church, 3;
assists father as tallow chandler, 4;
apprenticed as printer to his brother, 4;
"escapes being a poet," 4;
bold religious speculations, 5;
runs away, 6;
begins printing in Philadelphia, 6;
receives offer of help from Gov. Temple, 6;
fails to induce his father to assist, 7;
tricked by Temple into sailing for England, 8;
lives in London, 8;
"errata" in his career, 9;
bad company, 9;
infidelity, 9;
declines proposal to establish swimming school, 10;
returns home, 10;
composes epitaph, 11;
rise as printer in Philadelphia, 11, 12;
publishes "Pennsylvania Gazette," 12, 13;
matrimonial projects, 13, 14;
marriage, 15;
rise in society, 19;
establishes a library, 20;
effective methods of agitation, 21;
publishes Poor Richard's almanac, 21;
his management of the Gazette, 24;
religious and moral views, 24-33;
gains political influence through the Junto, 34;
establishment of affiliated clubs, 34;
studies languages, 35;
clerk of General Assembly, 35;
postmaster of Philadelphia, 35;
invents a stove, and refuses to patent it, 36;
founds a philosophical society, 36;
an academy, 37;
tries to reorganize night-watch, 38;
founds the Union Fire Company, 39;
begins organization of military force against French, 39;
takes a partner, 39;
enters public life, 40;
appointed to various offices and elected burgess, 40;
commissioner to treat with Indians, 40;
assists Dr. Bond in founding hospital, 41;
induces legislature to make a contingent grant, 42;
his pride over this device, 42;
improves cleaning and lighting of streets, 42;
appointed head of postal system, his successful management of it, 43;
receives degree
of Master of Arts from Yale and Harvard, 43;
deputy to Indian conference at Albany, 44;
proposes a colonial union, 44;
his plan adopted, 45;
later rejected by England and by colonies, 45;
speculations as to possible results if successful, 46;
opposes Shirley's plan of a parliamentary tax, 47;
proclaims theory of no taxation without consent, 47;
points out heaviness of existing indirect taxation, 48;
doubts feasibility of colonial representation in Parliament, 48, 49;
visits Boston, 49;
on committee to supervise military expenditure in Pennsylvania, 50;
disapproves of Braddock's expedition, 51;
acts in behalf of the Assembly, 52;
arranges for transportation for the expedition, 53;
obliged to give bonds to owners, 54;
in danger of ruin owing to failure of
expedition and losses of wagons and horses, 54;
escapes with slight losses, 54;
reputed to have made money, 55;
builds forts on frontier, 56;
increased popularity, 56;
scheme for settling barrier colonies west of mountains, 57;
scientific studies, 59;
reputation in Europe, 59, 60.
_Representative of Pennsylvania in conflict with proprietors._
Sent to England by burgesses to appeal
to the king against the proprietors, 63;
his share in previous agitation, 63;
detained from sailing by Lord Loudoun's procrastination, 65;
arrival in London, 66;
interview with Lord Granville, 66;
dispute over legal rights of the colonies, 67;
futile interview with proprietors, 67;
with their counsel, 68;
kept waiting a year, 68;
complained of to the Assembly by the proprietors, 68;
learns of an adverse report of the board of trade, 70;
engages that proprietors shall be fairly treated by the Assembly, 70;
thus gains main contention that proprietors may be taxed, 71;
comments on proprietors' behavior, 71, 72;
detained two years in England on business, 73;
purposely delayed by opponents, 73;
suffers from lack of social influence, 74;
fails to see Pitt, 74;
illness, 74;
welcomed in scientific circles, 75;
travels, 75;
receives degree of Doctor of Laws from St. Andrews and Oxford, 75;
friendship with Strahan, 76;
attempts at match-making with Sarah Franklin and William Franklin, 76;
willing to live in England, 77;
regret at leaving, 77;
interested in proposal to leave Canada
to French in order to overawe colonies, 80;
shows fallacy in a pamphlet, 80, 81;
denies possibility of colonial independence, 81, 82, 83;
predicts future development of the West, 84;
returns home, 84;
popularity, 84;
elected to assembly, 84;
receives partial compensation, 84;
desires repose, 86;
regulates post-office, 86;
friendly relations with Governor Penn, 87;
condemns "Paxton massacre" of friendly Indians, 88;
organizes force to protect Christian Indians in Philadelphia, 89;
protects governor in his house, 89;
joins popular party in opposing governor, 91;
urges change to Royal Government, 91, 92, 93;
draws petition to this effect, 93;
chosen speaker, 94;
attacks governor's methods, 94, 95;
defeated in election to Assembly, 96, 97;
appointed agent to present petition for Royal Government, 97, 99;
attacked by Dickinson, 98;
expenses of journey paid by subscription, 100;
return to old lodgings in London, 100;
fails to gain consideration for his petition, 101, 102.
_Colonial representative in England._
Instructed by Pennsylvania to oppose Stamp Act, 105;
fruitless interview with Grenville, 106;
writes home advising submission, 107;
no thought of resistance, 107;
names Hughes for stamp-distributer at Grenville's request, 108;
temporary fury of Philadelphia at the news, 109;
his surprise and mortification, 109, 110;
apparent disagreement with colonists, but real unity of opinion, 111;
his fitness for diplomatic position in England, 111, 112;
sympathizes with both sides, 113;
tact and coolness, 113;
appears as witness at bar of Commons, 119;
ability displayed under cross-examination, 119;
thorough mastery of situation, 120;
great effect of his testimony, 121;
presents American sentiment against the Stamp Act, 122;
expresses willingness to sacrifice all rather than submit, 123, 124;
states legislative independence of colonies, 124, 125;
has friendly feeling for George III., 126;
seeks to defend him, 126, 127;
thinks colonial representation in Parliament impossible of adoption, 128;
views on "virtual" representation, 130;
draws distinctions between external and internal taxation, 130, 131;
asserts willingness of colonies to bear their share of public burdens, 132;
return of popularity in Pennsylvania, 134;
satirical publications at expense of
English ignorance of colonies, 134, 135;
joke concerning a claim of the king of Prussia to England, 136;
"rules for reducing a great empire to a small one," 136;
communications with the French, 137;
appointed agent for Georgia and Massachusetts, 138;
opposed by Samuel Adams, 138;
increased prestige, 139;
pecuniary sacrifice, 139;
retains post-mastership, 140;
motives of ministry in leaving him undisturbed, 140;
rumors circulated in America that he had accepted royal office, 141;
his reputation increases in England and France, 144;
urges moderation at home, 145;
disliked by extremists, 146;
hopes advantage from Hillsborough's appointment, 151;
discovers Hillsborough's enmity, 152;
dispute with him over legality of commission from Massachusetts, 152-157;
a telling retort, 157;
no longer recognized as agent of Massachusetts, 157;
low opinion of Hillsborough, 158;
thinks agents quite as valuable to government as to colonies, 158;
works to undermine Hillsborough, 159, 160;
controverts Hillsborough's objections to two frontier colonies, 162;
his arguments prevail with the privy council, 163;
drives Hillsborough to resign, 163;
snubbed by him, 164;
fails to get the grant for frontier provinces, 164;
suggests Lord Dartmouth for colonial secretary, 165;
amicable relations with him, 166;
counsels him to be patient with Massachusetts, 167, 168;
would be satisfied with a return to conditions before Stamp Act, 169;
begins to forbode separation, but hopes and works for peace, 171;
continually urges moderation on colonists, 172;
belief in efficacy of non-importation, 173;
urges its advantages, 173;
and effects upon England, 174;
comments on complete financial failure of Stamp Act and Customs Act, 176;
shown copies of Tory letters from Massachusetts, 177;
sends them to Boston under pledge of secrecy, 178;
publishes a letter taking upon himself
responsibility of their discovery, 182, 183;
presents petition of Massachusetts to Dartmouth, 183;
delicacy of his position, 184;
learns that Hutchinson and Oliver are to be represented by counsel, 185;
fearing trouble and foreseeing an attack, asks for time, 186;
threats and rumors, 187;
appears before a hostile privy council, 187, 188;
violently attacked as a thief by Wedderburn, 188, 189;
the "suit of Manchester velvet," 191;
begins and abandons a defense of himself, 192;
dismissed from office of postmaster, 192;
loses his standing in England, 192, 193;
resigns agency for Massachusetts, 193;
rebuked by Massachusetts for laxity, 194;
slandered by Arthur Lee, 194;
danger of charges of treason, 195;
interview with Lord Chatham, 196;
urges policy of colonial self-government, 197;
denies that independence is desired, 197;
wishes unity of the Empire, 198;
attacked by Lord Sandwich in House of Lords, 198;
defended by Chatham, 198, 199;
irritated at attacks on America in House of Commons, 199;
writes an angry letter to Dartmouth, 200;
demands reparation for injuries done America and rights denied, 200;
saved from presenting this by advice of Walpole, 201, 202;
rejects secret attempts by ministry to negotiate, 202;
again rejects bribes, 202;
last day in London with Priestley, 203;
emotion at situation, 203;
leaves for home, 203;
significance of his failure, 203.
_Member of Congress._ Revulsion of feeling on reaching America, 204;
anger against England, 205;
letters to Priestly and Strahan, 204, 205;
elected to Congress, 206;
active in committee work, 206;
willing to send the Olive Branch petition, 206;
hopes thus to put England in the wrong, 206;
suggests offer by colonies to pay annual sum
for privilege of Free Trade, 207;
repels humorously charge of colonial ingratitude, 207, 208;
formulates a plan of union, 208;
chairman of committee on postal service, 209;
postmaster-general, 209;
chairman of Committee of Safety, 209;
plans defenses for Philadelphia, 209;
prevented by necessary oath of allegiance from
sitting in Pennsylvania Assembly, 209;
sent to Boston to confer with Washington, 209;
to Montreal to confer with Arnold, 210;
president of Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 211;
willing to join a New England confederacy rather than none, 212;
connection with Declaration of Independence, 212;
his famous jests, 212;
in the Articles of Confederation wishes votes of States
according to population, 212;
correspondence with Lord Howe, who wishes reconciliation, 213;
replies condemning the English, 213, 214;
member of committee of Congress to confer with Howe, 214;
remarks, 215;
says nothing short of independence is possible, 216;
his indignation at British attacks, 217;
suggests, in humorous form, to Priestley, the impossibility
of conquering the Americans, 217, 218;
depth of his feeling, 218.
_Minister to France._ Appointed, 219, 232;
the only American with diplomatic experience, 220, 221;
voyage, 232, 233;
alarm of English at news of his arrival, 234;
French enthusiasm, 234, 235;
settles at Passy, 235;
avoids thrusting himself upon the government, 236;
presents credentials at audience given by Vergennes, 236, 237;
gains a secret loan, 237;
not involved in Deane's schemes, 238;
befriends Deane, 240;
much annoyed by the complications, 241, 242;
and by French officers previously encouraged by Deane, 243, 244;
discourages them, 245;
uses an unvarnished form of letter of recommendation, 245;
recognizes value of Lafayette and Steuben, 246;
impressed with feeling for liberty in Europe, 247;
expects great liberal immigration, 247;
advises privateering, 248;
charged with duty of regulating it, 249, 250;
protects privateers against French government, 250;
works to gain time, 251;
tries to exchange prisoners with England, 253;
tart correspondence with Stormont, 253;
indignant at treatment of American prisoners by English, 254, 255;
correspondence with Hartley on the subject, 256-262;
urges humane treatment, 257, 258;
proposes liberation by English "on account," 258, 259, 260;
threatens retaliatory treatment, 260, 263;
finally succeeds, 261, 262;
difficulties raised by English, 262, 263;
sends money to prisoners, 263;
appoints Williams naval agent, 264;
acquiesces in his dismissal, 266;
predicts in 1777 the ultimate success of the war, 268;
prevents desperate measures on Deane's part, 269;
receives news of Burgoyne's surrender, 270;
sends J. L. Austin to confer with English liberals, 271;
justifies to Hartley the project of a French alliance, 272, 273;
secret negotiations with France, 274, 275;
misunderstanding with Lee, 275;
arranges commercial concessions, 277;
plans nearly upset by Lee and Izard, 278-9;
signs treaty in "Manchester velvet suit," 279;
writes to Hartley urging peace, 281, 282;
predicts futility of English conciliatory bills, 282;
presented to Louis XVI., 283;
his costume, 283;
secures in treaty principle of "free ships, free goods," 287;
favors the "armed neutrality," 288;
meetings with Voltaire, 287, 288;
speaks well of Deane, 290;
accused of inefficiency and corruption by Lee and Izard, 292, 293, 298;
criticised by Adams, 294, 296;
personal frugality of Franklin, 297;
advises a single representative at Versailles, 297;
made minister plenipotentiary, 298;
insulted by Lee, 299;
supplies money, commissions, and protection to Paul Jones, 300, 301;
advises plundering English coast, 301;
difficulties with Landais, 302.
_Foreign Financial Agent._
Forced to beg money to meet congressional bills, 306;
assists Jay, 307;
sole effective financier, 307, 308;
lends money to Congress, 308;
yields two cargoes to Beaumarchais, 310;
appeals vainly to Thomas Morris, 310;
instructed by Congress to borrow money and build ships of war, 311;
writes pamphlet on credit of the United States, 311;
agrees to meet interest on congressional loan, 311;
obliged to meet drafts, 312;
continually surprised by new and old ones, 312;
not warned of bills drawn, 312, 313, 318, 332;
annoyed by exorbitant demands of Lee and Izard, 314;
refuses Izard, 315;
attacked bitterly, 316, 317;
helps officers of "Alliance," 317;
humiliating necessity of begging from France, 318;
hampered by state agents making loans, 319;
aids Jones, 320;
begs Congress not to permit its agents to draw upon him, 320;
assists Jay, 321, 322, 333, 335;
proposes that Congress furnish supplies to French fleet, 322;
urges sacrifice in America, 323, 324;
meets drafts on Laurens, 324, 326, 332;
overwhelmed by fresh demands, 325;
fragment of his diary showing the swarm of bills, 326;
more begging from Vergennes, 327, 328;
secures loan in Holland, 328;
difficulties over William Jackson's purchases, 329, 330;
helps John Adams meet drafts, 331;
directed by Robert Morris to make further requests, 331;
in return asks remittance from America, 331;
yet manages to meet drafts, 332;
promises Vergennes to accept no drafts dated later than March, 1781, 332;
discovers that Congress is antedating bills, 332;
personal liability, 332;
more demands from Livingston, 333, 334;
warned by Vergennes, 333;
refused further aid from French, but succeeds in getting more, 334;
begins liquidation of accounts, 335;
receives further demands for loans, 335, 336;
released by treaty of peace, 336;
accused of sloth, luxury, and indecision by Adams, 337, 338;
political value of his personal popularity in France, 339;
breadth of view, 340;
carelessness never caused failure, 341;
amount of his labors, 341, 342;
variety of functions, 342;
meagreness of assistance rendered him, 343;
his indolence only physical, 344;
his great social prestige in Europe, 345;
its value, 346;
annoyed by attacks at home, 347;
patient under calumny, 348;
tries vainly to resign, 348;
his requests uniformly ignored by Congress, 349;
urges Congress not to injure foreign creditors, 350;
appealed to by Adams and Vergennes to settle quarrel, 351;
agrees with Vergennes in favor of foreign creditors, 353;
advises Adams to smooth over unwise expressions to Vergennes, 354;
hated by Adams, 355.
_Commissioner to make peace._ Approached by Pulteney as to peace, 357;
by de Weissenstein, 358;
thinks latter an agent for George III., 358;
writes a severe answer which he does not send, 359;
approached by Hartley as to truce, 359;
bitterness toward England, 359, 360;
refuses from the outset to discuss possibility of reunion, 360, 361;
gratitude toward France, 362;
commissioned to treat for peace, 363;
refuses to treat separately from France, 364;
suggests peace to Shelburne, 364;
interview with Oswald, 365;
again refuses separate negotiations, 366;
sends suggestions to Shelburne, 366, 371;
second inconclusive interview with Oswald, 367;
dealings with Grenville, 368;
urges Jay to join him, 371;
asks Shelburne to give Oswald exclusive authority, 371;
continues to discuss with Oswald, 372;
willing to accept vague commission given Oswald, 373;
thinks
well of Vergennes' motives, 373;
criticises Jay's letter on this point, 374;
differs with Jay regarding French duplicity, 375, 378;
resumes negotiations with Oswald, 377;
surrenders his view to Jay and Adams, probably to save time, 379;
on compensation to Tories, 381;
suggests counter-claims, 382;
antipathy to loyalists, 382;
informs Vergennes of treaty, 384;
criticised by him, 385;
apparent duplicity, 386;
tries to defend his action, 387;
blamed at home for too great subservience to France, 388;
persuades Jay not to write a defense, 388;
asks Jay and Adams to vindicate him, 389;
increased ill-feeling with Adams, 391;
merits of the dispute, 391;
large part played by him in negotiations, 392;
value of his reputation, 392, 393;
his friendly opinion of Vergennes, 393, 394, and of France, 395;
again resigns, 396;
retained for commercial treaties, 397;
pleasant life in Paris, 397, 398;
departure from France, 400, 401;
voyage, 401, 402.
_President of Pennsylvania._ Arrival at Philadelphia, popular welcome, 403;
elected President of State Council, 403;
acts as peacemaker between factions, 404;
successive reëlections, 404;
devotes salary to public use, 404;
humorous proposal for paying British debts, 405;
not discouraged by condition of America, 406;
preaches coolness, 407;
elected member of Constitutional Convention, 407.
_In Constitutional Convention._
Elected in order to preside in possible absence of Washington, 407;
opposes centralization, 408;
views on constitutional points, 408-411;
moves that sessions open with prayer, 409;
urges harmony, 411;
favors Washington for president, 412;
leaves public life, 412;
physical infirmities, 412;
cheerfulness of mind in later days, 413, 414;
applauds French Revolution, 415;
president of abolition society, 415;
condemns too great license of press, 416;
death, 417;
public honors in America, 417;
but continued neglect on part of Congress
to adjust his accounts or recompense Temple Franklin, 417, 418;
memorial ceremonies in France, 419.
_Character._ General summary 420-427;
an unfavorable view, 337, 338;
criticisms on the foregoing, 338-344;
religious views, 5, 9, 24-29;
moral attitude, 21, 24, 29-33;
utilitarianism, 29-30; 422-424;
wit and humor, 11, 120, 134, 207, 212, 268, 405, 426;
humanity, 101, 112, 144, 254-264, 393, 425;
patriotism, 203, 424;
courage and cheerfulness, 145, 172, 268, 406;
business ability, 12, 13, 39;
literary ability, 22, 35, 43, 426;
diplomatic ability, 338-344;
tact, 52, 112, 113, 243, 244, 365;
political insight, 121-126;
other characteristics, 19, 20, 21, 33, 36, 171, 172, 218;
reputation in Europe, 75, 111, 144, 235, 398, 401, 419.
_Political Opinions._ On colonial union, 44, 208;
on parliamentary supremacy, 46, 47, 196;
on colonial representation in Parliament, 49, 128;
on relation of colonies to England, 66, 124-126;
on external and internal taxation, 130, 131;
on free ships and free goods, 207;
on colonial system, 48, 197;
on paper money, 13, 355;
on export duties, 277;
on non-importation, 173, 174;
on proprietary government, 92, 93;
in constitutional convention, favors unpaid presidency, 408;
favors representation proportional to population, 212, 409;
suggests compromise, 410;
favors wide suffrage, 410;
brief naturalization period, 410;
president for seven years,
ineligible for reëlection, and liable to impeachment, 410;
on French Revolution, 415;
on slavery, 415, 416;
a believer in democracy, 408, 421;
but from faith in mankind, not mere theory, 421, 424.
Franklin, Mrs. Deborah, 6;
engaged to Franklin, 14;
previous matrimonial experiences, 15;
marries Franklin, 15;
receives Franklin's illegitimate son, 16;
dread of crossing the Atlantic, 76, 78;
in danger during Stamp Act riots, 109;
Franklin's present of a gown to, 134;
death, 203.
Franklin, James, takes his brother Benjamin Franklin as apprentice, 4;
unfriendly relations, 5.
Franklin, Josiah, emigrates to Boston, 2;
his family, 2, 3;
father of Benjamin Franklin, 3;
devotes him to the church, 3;
suggests that he become a printer, 4;
refuses to aid him in Philadelphia, 7.
Franklin, Sarah, offer of marriage, 76;
leaves Philadelphia to escape Stamp Act riots, 109;
marriage to Richard Bache, 203.
Franklin, Temple, assists his grandfather in Paris, 273, 343, 347;
neglected by Congress, 417.
Franklin, William, birth, 16;
refuses to marry Mary Stevenson, 76;
appointed governor of New Jersey, 85;
becomes a Tory and alienated from his father, 85;
partial reconciliation, 85, 401.
"Free Ships and Free Goods," doctrine upheld by Franklin, 287.
"French and Indian War," 49-58;
conflict inevitable, 44, 50;
inequality of combatants, 50;
Braddock's expedition, 51-55;
outcome of war, 78.
French Revolution, applauded by Franklin, 415.
Gadsden, Christopher, 107, 111.
Galloway, Joseph, speech against Pennsylvania Proprietors, 94;
defeated for reëlection, 97.
Gates, General, captor of Burgoyne, 272, 280, 298.
"Gentleman's Magazine," praises Franklin's examination before Commons, 121.
George III., desires peace with France, 78;
displaces Grenville, 114;
favorable opinion of Franklin towards, 126, 127;
hatred of Shelburne, 148, 150;
vexed with Hillsborough, 160;
hatred of Franklin, 284;
supposed to be author of De Weissenstein letter, 358;
makes Shelburne prime minister, 372.
George IV., interview with Austin, 271.
Georgia, appoints Franklin its agent, 138.
Gérard, M., asks for proposals for alliance, 274;
negotiates treaty, 274, 275;
arranges reciprocity with Franklin, 278;
signs treaty, 279;
minister to United States, 285;
claims credit of having defeated Lee's schemes, 298.
Gibbon, remark on diplomatic events in 1777, 280.
Grand, M., banker for Franklin, 314, 327, 336.
Granville, Lord, interview with Franklin, 66;
asserts that king is legislator for the colonies, 66;
defends English colonial system, 67.
Greene, General, his remark on meeting Franklin, 210.
Grenville, George, proposes enforcement of colonial trade regulations, 104;
introduces Stamp Act, 104;
honesty of his intentions, 105, 143;
unmoved by Franklin's protest, 106;
asks Franklin to name a distributer, 108;
views on parliamentary power over America, 117;
loss of prestige, 143.
Grenville, Thomas, sent by Fox to
treat with France and with the United States, 366;
preposterous offer to Vergennes, 367;
relations with Franklin, 368, 369;
difficulty over his commission, 371;
recalled, 372;
remark on self-seeking of France, 395.
Guadaloupe. See Canada.
Hale, Edward E., quoted, 234, 238, 242, 281, 290, 303.
Hall, David, fellow workman of Franklin, 9;
taken into partnership, 39.
Hamilton, Alexander, mentioned, 344;
opposes Franklin's motion to open sessions
of Constitutional Convention with prayer, 409.
Hamilton, governor of Pennsylvania, superseded, 87.
Harrison, Benjamin, on committee with Franklin, 209.
Hartley, David, character and friendship with Franklin, 256;
aids American prisoners, 256;
tries to arrange exchanges, 258;
unable to hasten matters, 261;
finally succeeds, 262;
cautions Franklin against a French alliance, 272;
sends copies of conciliatory bills to Franklin, 281;
visits him, 282;
warning to Franklin, 288;
proposes a truce, 359;
letters to, 360, 364.
Harvard College makes Franklin Master of Arts, 43.
Henry, Patrick, 107, 111.
Hillsborough, Earl of, replaces Shelburne in charge of the colonies, 151, 157;
Franklin's opinion of, 151;
holds that colonial agents were illegally appointed, 152;
interview and dispute with Franklin, 153-157;
angry at Franklin's retort, 157;
refuses to recognize Franklin as agent, 157;
his theory followed by board of trade, 158;
loses prestige, 159;
disliked by George III., 160;
tries to prevent granting of barrier colonies, 160-162;
his action reversed by privy council at Franklin's suggestion, 163;
resigns, 163;
resentment against Franklin, 164.
Hortalez & Co. See Beaumarchais.
Howe, Lord, negotiations with Franklin in England, 202;
tries to mediate in America, 213;
arranges a conference with Franklin, Adams, and Rutledge, 214, 215;
fails to find common ground, 216.
Hughes, ----, named stamp distributer at Franklin's suggestion, 108.
Hume, David, 75.
Hunter, William, 43.
Hutchinson, Anne, 178 note.
Hutchinson, Governor,
disputes over parliamentary taxation with Massachusetts Assembly, 166;
vexes Dartmouth, 167;
writes letters urging ministry to take severe measures in Boston, 177;
value of his advice to ministry, 178 note;
petition for his removal, 183;
advises detention of Franklin, 196.
Hutchinson Letters, 177-193;
shown to Franklin, 177;
sent by him to America under pledge of secrecy, 178;
published, 179;
manner of transmission unknown, 180;
quarrel between Temple and Whately, 181;
responsibility taken by Franklin, 182, 183;
question as to honorableness of his action, 184;
attack on Franklin before Privy Council, 185-191;
incident ruins Franklin's standing, 193.
Ignorance of English concerning America, 132, 134, 135, 137.
Indians, Franklin's dealings with, 40, 44;
their opinion of rum, 41;
hated in Pennsylvania, 83, 87.
Independence of colonies, dreaded in England, 49, 66, 79, 106;
its possibility denied by Franklin, 81, 82, 83, 108, 197;
foreseen by Pratt, Choiseul, Vergennes, 83;
its approach recognized by Franklin, 107, 171;
repudiated by Congress, 211;
declaration of, 212.
Internal and external taxation, dispute concerning difference, 130;
identity upheld by Grenville, 130;
by Townshend, 149;
denied by Franklin, 130, 131.
Ireland, suggested as possible member of Confederation by Franklin, 208.
Izard, rank as diplomate, 220;
sides with Lee against Franklin, 278;
quarrel with Franklin, 279;
attacks Deane and Franklin, 290;
charges against Franklin, 292, 298, 399;
extravagant demands for money, 297, 299, 314;
letter of Franklin to, 314.
Jackson, William, buys supplies in Holland, 328, 329;
draws on Franklin, 329;
damages American credit, 329;
complications about goods, 330;
his pro-slavery speech in Congress, 416.
Jay, John, his "conscience" in Congress, 208;
rank as diplomate, 220;
humiliating situation as financial agent in Spain, 307;
inability to raise money, 307, 321;
helped by Franklin, 307, 322, 332, 333, 335;
defers to Franklin's opinion, 342;
recognizes importance of Franklin's position, 346;
appointed commissioner to treat for peace, 349;
sent for by Franklin to aid in treating, 370;
illness, 372;
insists on recognition of independence in Oswald's commission, 373;
suspects Vergennes' motives, 373;
is certain that Vergennes is secretly working against United States, 375;
persuades Shelburne to grant the new commission, 376;
wishes to negotiate without Vergennes, 378;
arranges boundaries and Mississippi navigation in the treaty, 380;
indignant at congressional reproof, 388;
dissuaded by Franklin from replying, 388;
testimony in behalf of Franklin, 390, 399;
freedom from quarrels, 390;
the real leader in the negotiations, 391.
Jefferson, Thomas, mentioned, 212;
declines mission to France, 232;
appointed commissioner to treat for peace, 349;
arrival in Paris, 398;
succeeds Franklin, 398;
describes his popularity, 398;
on Franklin's calumniators, 399.
Jones, John Paul, his daring exploits, 300, 301;
supported by Franklin, 301;
advised by him, 301.
"Junto," club founded by Franklin, 34;
becomes a political engine, 34, 35.
Kames, Lord, 75;
letters to, 77, 83.
Kant, Immanuel, calls Franklin Prometheus, 60.
Keimer, ----, Franklin's employer in Philadelphia, 6, 11;
prints a newspaper and sells out to Franklin, 12.
Keith, Sir William, governor of Pennsylvania,
proposes to set Franklin up as printer, 6;
tricks him into sailing to England, 7, 8.
Knox, ----, agent of Georgia, favors Stamp Act, 105.
Lafayette, Marquis de, recommended by Franklin, 246;
brings Franklin's commission, 298;
tries to help Franklin raise money, 333.
Landais, French captain of American vessel, 302;
refuses to obey Franklin, 302;
goes insane, 302, 303.
Laurens, Henry, rank as diplomate, 220;
complains of Franklin's neglect, 264;
captured, 324;
appointed commissioner to treat for peace, 349;
letter from Franklin to, 390;
confidence in Franklin, 399.
Laurens, John, great expenses in Holland, 238, 329.
Lee, Arthur, appointed by Massachusetts
to succeed Franklin as her agent on his departure from England, 141;
praised by Franklin, 141;
slanders him, 141;
unable to help Franklin when attacked before Privy Council, 185;
circulates rumors of Franklin's treachery, 194;
still praised by Franklin, 194;
succeeds Franklin, 203;
rank as diplomate, 220;
influences Beaumarchais, 226;
appointed Franklin's colleague in France, 232;
suspects Deane and Beaumarchais, 238;
prevents Congress from sending them goods, 239;
ruins Deane, 239, 240;
slanders Williams, 265;
secures his removal, 266;
joins with Franklin against Deane, 270;
description of secret meetings of Vergennes with commissioners, 274;
jealousy of Franklin, the cake episode, 275;
objects to reciprocity with French West Indies, 277;
tries to reverse action taken on it, 278;
rage with Franklin at not being told of sailing of Gérard and Deane, 290;
his evil influence at home, 291;
general unpopularity, 291, 317;
virulent hatred of Franklin, 292;
extravagant slanders, 292, 293, 297;
excessive demands for money, 297, 299, 314, 316;
sent to Madrid, 298;
refuses to give up papers of French embassy, 299;
prevents a Spanish loan by his imprudence, 317;
defers to Franklin, 342;
influence in prejudicing Massachusetts against Franklin, 399.
Lee, John, counsel for Franklin in Hutchinson letters affair, 187, 188.
Lee, William, rank as diplomate, 220;
offended at appointment of Jonathan Williams, 265;
sides with Arthur Lee against terms of French treaty, 278;
makes charges against Franklin, 298.
Lexington, fight at, 204.
Library, established by Franklin, 20;
parent of later subscription libraries, 20.
Livingston, R. R., letters of Franklin to, 323, 335;
letters from, asking money, 333, 334;
condemns commissioners for making treaty without French advice, 388.
"London Chronicle" publishes Franklin's letters to Shirley, 47.
Loudoun, Lord, appointed military head of colonies, 64;
his procrastination and inefficiency, 65.
Louis XVI., puzzled by Beaumarchais' zeal for the colonies, 226;
sides with Turgot in opposing intervention, 228;
compliments American
envoys, 283;
civilities to Franklin, 401.
Lovell, James, Franklin's letter to, 312.
Luzerne, Chevalier de la, French minister to the United States, 351, 363, 387.
Lynch, ----, on committee with Franklin, 209.
Mansfield, Lord, arranges settlement of Penn dispute with Franklin, 70, 71;
upholds parliamentary power over colonies, 118;
condemns a pamphlet of Franklin's, 136.
Massachusetts appoints Franklin its agent, 138;
fails to pay him, 139;
quarrels with Hutchinson over parliamentary supremacy, 166;
petitions for removal of Hutchinson and Oliver, 183;
rebukes Franklin for carelessness, 194.
Mauduit, ----, agent for Hutchinson, 185.
Meredith, ----, Franklin's partner, 11, 12.
Mirabeau, eulogy on Franklin, 419.
Molasses trade, its importance to the colonies, 276;
remarks of Adams upon, 276;
secured in French treaty, 277-279.
Morris, Robert, offended at appointment of Jonathan Williams, 265;
appointed treasurer, 304;
complete reliance on Franklin, 307;
urges Franklin to suggest
to Vergennes to help America to raise a loan at Madrid, 331;
drafts on Franklin, 333-336;
letters of Franklin to, 333, 334, 335, 336;
directs Franklin to leave surplus, if any, to M. Grand, 336.
Morris, Thomas, rank as diplomate, 220;
commercial agent at Nantes, 264;
his incompetence, 264, 265, 311.
Navy, United States, supported by Franklin, 300-303.
Necker, induced by Franklin to guarantee a loan, 328.
New Jersey, appoints Franklin its agent, 138.
"New England Courant," printed under Franklin's name, 5.
Noailles, Marquis de,
announces to England alliance of French with United States, 284.
Non-importation, its effectiveness against the Stamp Act, 115, 116;
urged later by Franklin, 173, 175;
acts like "protection," 173;
its effects upon the East India Company, 175;
other effects, 176.
Norris, Isaac, declines to represent
Pennsylvania against the Proprietors in England, 63;
resigns speakership rather than sign petition, 94.
North, Lord, chancellor of exchequer, 151;
at Privy Council hearing, 190;
attempts to bribe Franklin, 202;
permits Hartley to correspond with Franklin, 256;
forced by Burgoyne's surrender to attempt conciliation with colonies, 280;
twitted by Fox with French and American alliance, 281;
receives news of Cornwallis's surrender, 363;
tries to alienate France from the States, 363, 364;
resigns, 364.
Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor, his letters, 177;
petition for his removal, 183.
Oswald, Richard, sent by Shelburne to discuss peace with Franklin, 365;
second visit, 366;
fruitless interview with Franklin, 367;
preferred to Grenville by Franklin, 371;
continues negotiation, 372;
difficulty over his commission, 373;
receives satisfactory commission, 376;
agrees to a draft treaty, 377.
Otis, James, opposition to Stamp Act, 107, 111.
Oxford University makes Franklin Doctor of Laws, 75.
Parliament, supremacy of, over colonies, denied by Franklin, 47;
asserted by Shirley, 46;
by Parliament, 64;
Stamp Act raises question, 110;
denied by Pitt, 114, 117;
debate over declaratory resolution in Parliament, 118;
arguments of Franklin before Commons, 124-126;
distinction between internal and external taxes, 130;
debates under Dartmouth's ministry, 167-170.
Parton, James, Life of Franklin, quoted,
3, 16, 23, 36, 97, 208, 222, 232, 240, 241, 271, 281, 283, 407, 415, 419.
"Paxton massacre," 87-89;
Paxton boys threaten Indians in Philadelphia, 88;
overawed by Franklin's preparations, 89;
unpopularity of latter with lower classes, 90.
Pelham, Henry, said to have planned a Stamp Act, 104.
Penn family, proprietaries, strained relations with people, 49, 60;
refuse to allow lands to be taxed by Assembly, 61, 62;
interviews with Franklin, 67;
complain to Pennsylvania of him, 68;
endeavor to get taxing acts disallowed, 69;
denied by the board of trade, 70, 72;
continue struggle with Assembly, 90;
their corrupt practices, 94, 95;
famous epitaph by Franklin, 95;
his hostility later diminished, 95.
Penn, John, appointed governor of Pennsylvania, 87;
agreeable beginning of administration, 87;
protected and directed by Franklin at time of Paxton massacre, 89;
vetoes bills of the Assembly, 90, 91.
Penn, Thomas, wishes Parliament to tax colonies, 49, 64.
Penn, William, suggests colonial union, 44.
Pennsylvania, reluctance to take military measures, 39, 49, 52;
controversy with proprietors, 60-64, 69, 72, 73, 90-99;
desires to be a crown colony, 63, 64, 91-93;
labors of Franklin in behalf of, 66-72, 101, 102;
adopts a state constitution, 211;
chooses Franklin president of legislature, 403, 404.
"Pennsylvania Gazette," published by Franklin, 12;
its character and success, 13, 23;
Franklin's writings in, 44.
Pitt, William, refuses audience to Franklin, 74;
opposes Stamp Act, 114, 117;
upholds American claim to self-taxation, 117;
denies parliamentary power over colonies, 118;
reorganizes cabinet, 147;
supports Shelburne, 148;
becomes Earl of Chatham, 148;
loses control of affairs, 148, 150;
statue erected in America, 149;
interview with Franklin, 196;
compliments Franklin in House of Lords, 198.
"Plain Truth," effect upon Pennsylvania, 39.
"Poor Richard's Almanac," 21;
its character and influence, 22;
wit and wisdom, 22, 23.
Pownall, Governor, favors barrier Western colonies, 57.
Pratt, Attorney-General [see Camden, Lord].
Price, Dr., humorous message of Franklin to, 217, 218.
Priestley, Dr., present at Privy Council hearing, 190;
describes Franklin's last day with him in London, 203;
letters of Franklin to, 204, 217;
protects Austin, 271.
Prisoners, exchange of, difficulties attending, 252, 253;
hardships of American prisoners, 253, 254, 255;
refusal of British to consider them prisoners of war, 254;
efforts of Franklin to secure this recognition, 255-264;
correspondence with Hartley, 256-262;
proposes exchange "on account," 258, 260;
final success, 262, 263;
refusal to exchange privateer prisoners, 263;
retaliation suggested, 263.
Privateers, their feats in English waters, 248, 249;
protected and commissioned by Franklin, 250, 252.
Prussia, treaty with, signed by Franklin, 397.
Pulteney, William, visits Franklin with a view to peace, 357.
Ralph, James, 9.
Rayneval, F. M. G. de, secretary to Vergennes, 375;
argues with Jay against American claims to Western lands, 375;
secret journey to London, 375.
Representation in Parliament, colonial, proposed by Shirley, 48;
by others, 127, 128;
views of Franklin, 48, 49, 128, 129.
Robertson, Dr., 75.
Rockingham, Marquis of, prime minister, 115;
decides to repeal Stamp Act, 118;
on importance of Franklin's arrival in France, 234;
forms cabinet after Yorktown, 365;
death, 372.
"Rules for reducing a great empire to a small one," 136;
condemned by Mansfield, 136, 137.
Rutledge, Edward, on committee to treat with Lord Howe, 214, 215, 216.
Sandwich, Lord, attacks Franklin in House of Lords, 198.
Saville, Sir George, friendly to America, 282.
Shelburne, Earl of, friendly to America, 147;
administers colonial affairs, 147;
hampered by Townshend, 148;
and hated by George III., 148, 149;
superseded by Hillsborough, 151;
protects Austin, 271;
timely letter of Franklin to, 365;
enters Rockingham cabinet, 365;
sends Oswald to Franklin, 365;
unwilling to admit independence of colonies, 367;
idea of a federal union, 367;
difficulties with Fox, 366, 370, 372;
becomes prime minister, 372;
assures Franklin of continuation of previous policy toward America, 372;
issues vague commission to Oswald, 372;
appealed to by Jay not to be led by Vergennes, 376;
his liberal views, 376;
gives new commission, 376;
his anxiety over the concession, 377;
earnest in behalf of Tories, 381, 382;
finally yields, 382;
condemned in England and loses office, 383.
Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, proposes scheme of colonial union, 46;
discussion with Franklin, 47-49;
appoints auditors for claims under Braddock's expedition, 54;
his success as a soldier explained by Franklin, 56.
Siéyes, M., 419.
Spain, secretly aids Beaumarchais, 229;
aid asked in recognizing United States, 274, 275, 279;
gives slight financial aid, 307, 317, 321;
interests in America threaten to prolong war, 369;
or divide France and States, 370;
tries to prevent States gaining Western lands, 380.
Stamp Act, causes leading to it, 102, 103;
colonial taxation proposed by Townshend, 103;
plan resumed by Grenville, 104, 105;
protests of colonial agents disregarded, 106;
passed, 106;
opinion of Franklin concerning, 106;
causes violent outbreak in Pennsylvania, 109;
in other colonies, 110;
rouses opposition among Grenville's opponents, 114;
among English exporters who find trade cut down, 115, 116;
attacked by Pitt, 117;
its repeal decided on, 118;
way paved by a declaratory resolution of its validity, 118;
debated, 118;
examination of Franklin as to its effects, 119-123;
effect on English sentiment, 121;
testimony as to colonial feeling, 122;
argument as to colonial right of self-taxation, 124;
repealed, 132, 133;
popular rejoicing in England, 133;
in America, 133, 134;
causes for repeal, 142;
repeal caused by union of diverse elements, 143.
St. Andrews University makes Franklin Doctor of Laws, 75.
St. Asaph, Bishop of, friend to America, 282;
visits Franklin at Portsmouth, 401;
letters to, 409, 414.
Steuben, Baron, recommended by Franklin, 246.
Stevenson, Mary, scientific tastes, 76;
wished by Franklin to marry his son, 76;
letters to, 86, 101.
Stiles, Ezra, letter to, 28.
Stormont, Lord, English ambassador to France, complains of Beaumarchais, 230;
threatens to leave if Franklin is allowed to come to Paris, 234;
refuses to communicate with Franklin, 253;
recalled, 285.
Strachey, Henry, sent to Paris by Shelburne, 377.
Strahan, William, offers his son to marry Franklin's daughter, 76;
letters to, 77, 84, 205.
Sullivan, General, carries message of Lord Howe to Congress, 214.
Temple, ----, suspected of having sent
Hutchinson letters to America, 181;
calls on Whately to exonerate him, 181;
quarrel and duel, 182;
exculpated by Franklin, 182.
Thomson, Charles, letters to, 106, 417.
Thornton, Major, agent of Franklin to aid prisoners, 257.
Townshend, Charles, proposes colonial taxation, 103;
goes out of office, 104;
hostility to colonies, 116;
willing to repeal Stamp Act, 143;
chancellor of exchequer, 147;
favored by George III., 148;
renews proposal to draw a revenue from America, 149;
proposes disciplining New York, 150;
introduces bill for American customs duties, 150;
death, 151.
"Townshend duties," introduction, 150;
passage, 150;
non-importation used against, 174-175;
effect in destroying revenue, 175;
and increasing cost of collection, 176.
Treaty of peace, early suggestions
of peace without independence by Pulteney, 357;
by "Charles de Weissenstein," 357, 358;
latter supposed to be George III., 358;
answered by Franklin, 358, 359;
proposals by Hartley, 359;
high tone of Franklin's replies, 361;
effects of capture of Cornwallis, 363;
efforts by Lord North to divide the States and France, 363;
repudiated by Franklin and by Vergennes, 364;
fall of North cabinet, 364;
formation of Rockingham cabinet, friendly to America, 365;
Shelburne sends Oswald to see Franklin and Vergennes, 365;
plan of separate treaty with America again rejected, 365;
Laurens brings same news from Adams, 365;
Franklin suggests certain concessions, 366, 371;
rivalry of Fox and Shelburne, 366;
both send emissaries, 366;
dealings of Grenville with Vergennes and Franklin, 367-370;
possibility that to avoid prolonging war on Spain's account,
the States might treat separately, 369;
difficulties over Grenville's and Oswald's commissions, 371;
retirement of Fox and Grenville from Shelburne ministry, 372;
Oswald resumes negotiation, 372;
debate over form of his commission, 373-377;
Jay and Adams overrule Franklin, 374;
their suspicions of French friendliness, 374-376;
Jay persuades Shelburne to yield his objections, 376;
negotiations resumed, 377;
draft agreed upon but rejected by English, 377;
difficulties of American commissioners
on account of their instructions, 377, 378;
Adams and Jay again overrule Franklin
and determine not to follow French advice, 379;
boundaries agreed upon, 380;
fisheries, 380;
responsibility of Franklin for dispute over indemnification of Tories, 380;
a deadlock, 381;
counter-claims suggested by Franklin, 381, 382;
Shelburne yields, 382;
provisional articles signed, 383;
condemnation of treaty in England, 383;
real success of Americans, 384;
anger of Vergennes, 384, 385, 387;
Franklin's reply, 386;
condemnation in America, 388;
justification of Adams and Jay, 391, 392, 396.
Truxton, Commodore, 401.
Turgot, opposes France's aiding colonies, 227, 228;
on French poverty, 319.
University of Pennsylvania, founded by Franklin, 37.
Vaughan, Benjamin, sent by Shelburne to Paris, 372;
carries Jay's message to Shelburne, 376;
fears failure of treaty over royalist indemnity, 381.
Vergennes, Comte de, predicts American independence, 83;
favors policy of aiding colonies to weaken England, 227;
gets control of king's foreign policy, 229;
establishes Beaumarchais as Hortalez & Co., 229;
maintains outward neutrality, 230, 231;
avoids a quarrel on Franklin's account with English ambassadors, 234;
meets the commissioners, 237;
tries to suppress license of colonial privateers, 250, 251;
self-interest of his policy toward America, 252;
secret interview with envoys, 274;
liberal dealings with States, 285;
keeps departure of Gérard and Deane secret, 290;
suspects Lee's secretary of being a spy, 290;
dislike for Lee, 291;
complains of exorbitant financial demands, 325, 328, 333;
appealed to by Morris to help American credit in Spain, 331;
confidence in Franklin, 345;
antipathy to Adams, 350;
angry at proposal to scale American paper money, 350;
insists that French creditors be spared, 351;
appeals to Franklin against Adams, 352;
advises against answering "De Weissenstein," 359;
trusted by Franklin, 362, 378;
refuses to treat with England apart from United States, 364;
amused at Grenville's proposal, 368;
puzzled at discord between Grenville and Oswald, 370;
advises commissioners not
to quibble over wording of Oswald's commission, 373;
suspected by Jay, 373, 375;
succeeds in having American ultimatum reduced to independence, 378;
and commissioners instructed to follow his advice, 378;
suspected by Adams, 379;
praises success of treaty, 383;
informed of the conclusion of preliminary articles, 384;
angry note to Franklin, 385;
to Luzerne, 387;
personal regard for Franklin, 387, 393, 398;
apparent generosity, 393-396.
"Virtual" representation of the colonies in Parliament, 129;
Pitt's opinion, 117;
Franklin's, 129.
Voltaire, relations with Franklin, 288, 289.
Walpole, Horace, remarks on Franklin's voyage to France, 232;
receives private news of French and American alliance, 281.
Walpole, Robert, said to have planned a stamp tax, 104.
Walpole, Thomas, astonished at Franklin's proposed memorial to Dartmouth, 200;
advises Franklin not to present it, but to leave England, 201, 202;
receives private news of French and American alliance, 281.
Washington, George, mentioned, 206, 209, 267, 298, 307, 328, 344, 358;
harassed by foreign military adventurers, 242;
relieved by Franklin, 245;
comparison of services with those of Franklin, 308, 339, 404, 407;
supported for president by Franklin, 412.
Wedderburn, Alexander, solicitor-general
and counsel for Hutchinson and Oliver, 186;
bitter attack on Franklin before Privy Council, 188, 189.
West, the, its expansion foreseen by Franklin, 57, 83, 84.
West India Islands, suggested as members of Confederation by Franklin, 208.
Whately, Thomas, denies knowledge of Hutchinson letters, 181;
refuses to exculpate Temple, 181;
quarrel and duel, 182;
exculpated by Franklin, 182;
sues him, 187.
Whately, William, recipient of Hutchinson
letters, as secretary of Grenville, 180.
Whitehead, ----, deceived by a satire of Franklin, 135, 136.
Wickes, ----, colonial privateer, 248.
Williams, Jonathan, rank as diplomate, 220;
appointed naval agent by Franklin, 264;
accused of dishonesty by the Lees, 265;
dismissed, 266;thereafterward
ill-treated by Congress, 266.
Wyndham, Sir William, wishes Franklin to open a swimming-school in London, 10.
Yale College makes Franklin Master of Arts, 43.
Yorke, Charles, solicitor-general, counsel for Penn family, 68.
End of Project Gutenberg's Benjamin Franklin, by John Torrey Morse, Jr.