Bicentenary of the Famous Man Whom Joseph H. Choate Has
Styled "The Greatest of American Diplomats"--Contrasts of a
Successful Career--Franklin's Own Practical Rules of
Conduct, and the Epitaph He Wrote for Himself.
_An original article written for_ THE SCRAP BOOK.
It is two hundred years since Benjamin Franklin was born. The anniversary,
important though it is, has led to reflections concerning the man rather
than enthusiasm over him. We are struck by the great variety of his
activities and accomplishments, and by the sanity of his conduct.
Benjamin Franklin is not named as the greatest American. Washington and
Lincoln always will be ranked before him, because in certain achievements
they stand altogether alone. The deeds which made Washington and Lincoln
great required special gifts in mind and character--endowments found in
such full measure only in few men and at rare intervals.
Mr. Choate's Eloquent Tribute.
Joseph H. Choate, recently ambassador to Great Britain, in his inaugural
address as president of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, in 1903,
paid eloquent tribute to Franklin:
His whole career has been summed up by a great French
statesman, who was one of his personal friends and
correspondents, in six words, Latin words of course:
"_Eripuit caelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis_," which,
unfortunately for our language, cannot be translated into
English in less than twelve: "He snatched the lightning from
the skies, and the scepter from tyrants."
Surely the briefest and most brilliant biography ever
written. He enlarged the boundaries of human knowledge by
discovering laws and facts of Nature unknown before, and
applying them to the use and service of man; and that
entitles him to lasting fame.
But his other service to mankind differed from this only in
kind, and was quite equal in degree. For he stands second
only to Washington in the list of heroic patriots who on
both sides of the Atlantic stood for those fundamental
principles of English liberty which culminated in the
independence of the United States, and have ever since been
shared by the English-speaking race the world over.
In view of his fifteen years' service in England and ten in
France, of the immense obstacles and difficulties which he
had to overcome, of the art and wisdom which he displayed,
and the incalculable value to the country of the treaties
which he negotiated, he still stands as by far the greatest
of American diplomats.
Though greatest in no one thing, Franklin was great in many things. He
was, in his time and place, a great statesman, a great diplomat. He was a
great scientist, a great philosopher, a great inventor, a great man of
letters, a great business man.
The Variety of His Talents.
All his qualities were made valuable by his practical sense. He was
interested in nothing unless he saw in it some use. The result was that he
found use in almost everything. It is no wonder that he is called "the
many-sided Franklin."
This practical nature makes Franklin a typical American. Most of the
larger figures of the eighteenth century, when we look back to them now,
seem a little remote in their way of thinking and acting. They carry the
peculiar flavor of their period. But Franklin, as we know him, might be a
man of the present day--of any day in American history.
In the course of his life he worked his way up through every social
stratum. A self-made man, he was virtually unassisted in his efforts to
advance himself. He was the fifteenth child of a poor tallow-chandler and
soap-maker. All his public-school education was received before his
eleventh year.
A Manager of Men.
Yet we see him in his later life the idol of the French court, pitted
against the shrewdest diplomats of the Old World to plead for the
struggling American colonies, and gaining his ends almost as much through
social tact and charm as by the power of a well-trained mind. He did not
lead men--he managed them.
The contrasts in his career can be seen in this condensed biography:
1706--Born in Boston, January 17.
1716--Taken from school and put to work
in his father's tallow-chandler's shop.
1718--Apprenticed to his brother in the
printing trade.
1723--Ran away to Philadelphia, where he
worked as a printer.
1725--Stranded in London and forced to
work at his trade.
1729--Began publication of the _Pennsylvania
Gazette._
1732--First appearance of "Poor Richard's
Almanac." Founded a Philadelphia
library, first circulating library in
America.
1737--Appointed postmaster of Philadelphia.
Organized first fire company in America.
1742--Invented the first stove used in this
country.
1743--Founded the American Philosophical Society
and the University of Pennsylvania.
1748--Retired from active business with an
estimated fortune of $75,000.
1752--The kite demonstration to prove that
lightning is electricity.
1755--Led in the defense of Pennsylvania
against the Indians.
1757--Sent to London as agent of the
Colonial Assembly of Pennsylvania.
1763--Traveled sixteen hundred miles, extending
and improving postal system.
1766--Gave testimony on the Stamp Act and spoke
for the colonies before the House of Commons.
1775--After eleven years in England returned to
America to take part in the contest for
independence, and was elected to the second
Continental Congress.
1776--On Committee of Five to frame the
Declaration of Independence. Appointed
commissioner to solicit aid from France.
1778--Secured a treaty of alliance with
France.
1781--Member of the commission to negotiate
a treaty of peace with Great Britain.
1785--President of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
1787--Assisted in framing the Constitution
of the United States.
1790--Died at his home in Philadelphia,
eighty-four years of age.
"Stranded in London in 1725;" in 1748 retiring from business "with an
estimated fortune of seventy-five thousand dollars"--a real fortune in
those days--besides an assured income of five thousand dollars a year from
his publishing business. Here is advancement!
Franklin the Scientist.
If Franklin had remained in retirement he would be remembered as a
successful colonial gentleman who contributed many maxims and proverbs to
the literature of common sense.
But about this time men who had the leisure were everywhere playing with
electricity. Experiments in natural science happened to be a fad, much as
in recent years have been experiments in table-lifting, automatic writing,
and other phenomena of what is called the "subliminal self."
Franklin studied electricity with the rest, but with the difference that
he made his electrical work amount to something. The results of his
experiments were published, arousing a great deal of interest in Europe.
The suggestion that thunder and lightning are electrical phenomena similar
to those produced artificially was made by Franklin in 1749. The idea was
not altogether new. He, however, emphasized it, and proposed an experiment
by which the identity of the two manifestations of the electric fluid
might be proved.
His scheme involved the erection of an iron rod on a church steeple or
high tower to draw electricity from passing clouds. The experiment was
first actually carried out by a Frenchman, D'Alibard.
When Franklin made his famous experiment with the kite in 1752 the theory
he was seeking to prove had already been established. Yet the credit of
the discovery belongs to him by right of prior suggestion.
Franklin offered, instead of the two-fluid theory of electricity, the then
revolutionary one-fluid theory; discovered the poisonous nature of air
breathed out from the lungs; made important meteorological discoveries,
including the fact that the Gulf Stream is warmer than the surrounding
ocean; proved, by experiment with colored cloths on snow, that different
colors absorb the heat of the sun in different quantities.
These are among his scientific achievements. From each he drew some
practical inference. He invented the lightning-rod; devised systems of
ventilation for buildings, and suggested that white, since it absorbs the
least heat, is the best color to wear in summer.