In truth, I found myself incorrigible with regard to order, yet I was,
by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I should have been if
I had not attempted it. It may be well that my posterity should be
informed that to this little artifice, with the blessing of God, their
ancestor owed the constant felicity of his life.
I purposed publishing my scheme, writing a little comment on each
virtue, and I should have called my book "The Art of Virtue,"
distinguishing it from the mere exhortation to be good. But my intention
was never fulfilled, for it was connected in my mind with a great and
extensive project, which I have never had time to attend to. I had set
forth on paper the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I
thought, the essentials of every known religion, and I conceived the
project of raising a united party for virtue, by forming the virtuous
and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be governed by
suitable good and wise rules. I thought that the sect should be begun
and spread at first among young and single men only, that each person to
be initiated should declare his assent to my creed, and should have
exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' practice of the virtues, that
the existence of the society should be kept a secret until it was become
considerable, that the members should engage to assist one another's
interests, business, and advancement in life, and that we should be
called "The Society of the Free and Easy," as being free from the
dominion of vice and of debt. I am still of opinion that it was a
practicable scheme.
In 1732 I first published my Almanack, commonly called "Poor Richard's
Almanack," and continued it for about twenty-five years. It had a great
circulation, and I considered it a proper vehicle for conveying
instruction among the common people. Thus, I assembled the proverbs
containing the wisdom of many ages and nations into a discourse prefixed
to the Almanack of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people
attending an auction. I considered my newspaper also as a means of
instruction, and published in it extracts from moral writers and little
pieces of my own, in the form sometimes of a Socratic dialogue, tending
to prove the advantages of virtue.
I had begun in 1733 to study languages. I made myself master of French
so as to be able to read books with ease, and then Italian, and later
Spanish. Having an acquaintance with these, I found, on looking over a
Latin Testament, that I understood much of that language, which
encouraged me to study it with success.
Our secret club, the Junto, had turned out to be so useful that I now
set every member of it to form each of them a subordinate club, with the
same rules, but without informing the new clubs of their connection with
the Junto. The advantages proposed were, the improvement of so many
young citizens; our better acquaintance with the general sentiments of
the inhabitants on any occasion, as the Junto member was to report to
the Junto what passed in his separate club; the promotion of our
particular interests in business by more extensive recommendation; and
the increase of our influence in public affairs. Five or six clubs were
completed, and answered our views of influencing public opinion on
particular occasions.
_IV.--Public Life_
My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, clerk of the General
Assembly. In the following year I received the commission of postmaster
at Philadelphia, and found it of great advantage. I now began to turn my
thoughts a little to public affairs, beginning, however, with small
matters, and preparing the way for my reforms through the Junto and
subordinate clubs. Thus I reformed the city watch, and established a
company for the extinguishing of fires. In 1739 the Rev. Mr. Whitefield
arrived among us and preached to enormous audiences throughout the
colonies. I knew him intimately, being employed in printing his sermons
and journals; he used sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had
the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Our
friendship lasted till his death.
My business was now continually augmenting, and my circumstances daily
growing easier. Spain having been several years at war against Great
Britain, and being at length joined by France, our situation became one
of great danger; our colony was defenceless, and our Assembly was
composed principally of Quakers. I therefore formed an association of
citizens, numbering ten thousand, into a militia; these all furnished
themselves with arms and met every week for drill, while the women
provided silk colours painted with devices and mottoes which I supplied.
With the proceeds of a lottery we built a battery below the town, and
borrowed eighteen cannon of the governor of New York.
Peace being concluded, and the association business therefore at an end,
I turned my thoughts to the establishment of an academy. I published a
pamphlet; set on foot a subscription, not as an act of mine, but of some
"public-spirited gentleman," and the schools were opened in 1749. They
were soon moved to our largest hall; the trustees were incorporated by a
charter from the governor, and thus was established the University of
Pennsylvania. The building of a hospital for the sick, and the paving,
lighting, and sweeping of the streets of the city, were among the
reforms in which I had a hand at this time. In 1753 I was appointed,
jointly with another, postmaster-general of America, and the following
year I drew up a plan for the union of all the colonies under one
government for defence and other important general purposes. Its fate
was singular; the assemblies did not adopt it, as they thought there was
too much prerogative in it, and in England it was judged to be too
democratic. The Board of Trade therefore did not approve of it, but
substituted another scheme for the same end. I believe that my plan was
really the true medium, and that it would have been happy for both sides
of the water if it had been adopted.
When war was in a manner commenced with France, the British Government,
not choosing to trust the union of the colonies with their defence, lest
they should feel their own strength, sent over General Braddock in 1755
with two regiments of regular English troops for that purpose. He landed
at Alexandria and marched to Frederictown in Maryland, where he halted
for carriages. I was sent to him by the Assembly, stayed with him for
several days, and had full opportunity of removing all his prejudices
against the colonies by informing him of what the essemblies had done
and would still do to facilitate his operations.
This general was a brave man, and might have made a figure as a good
officer in some European war. But he had too much self-confidence, too
high an opinion of regular troops, and too mean a one of both Americans
and Indians. Our Indian interpreter joined him with 100 guides and
scouts, who might have been of great use to him; but he slighted and
neglected them and they left him. He said to one of the Indians, "These
savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia,
but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is
impossible that they should make any impression." In the first
engagement his force was routed in panic, and two-thirds of them were
killed, by no more than 400 Indians and French together. This gave us
the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British
regulars had not been well founded. Besides, from the day of their
landing, they had plundered, insulted, and abused our inhabitants. We
wanted no such defenders.
After this the governor prevailed with me to take charge of our
north-west frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and I undertook
this military business, although I did not conceive myself well suited
for it.
My account of my electrical experiments was read before the Royal
Society of London, and afterwards printed in a pamphlet. The Count de
Buffon, a philosopher of great reputation, had the book translated into
French, and then it appeared in the Italian, German, and Latin
languages. What gave it the more sudden celebrity was the success of its
proposed experiment for drawing lightning from the clouds. I was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society, and they presented me with the gold medal
of Sir Godfrey Copley, for 1753.
The Assembly had long had much trouble with the "proprietary," or great
hereditary landowners. Finally, finding that they persisted obstinately
in manacling their deputies with instructions inconsistent, not only
with the privileges of the people, but with the service of the crown,
the Assembly resolved to petition the king against them, and appointed
me agent in England to present and support the petition. I sailed from
New York with my son in the end of June; we dropped anchor in Falmouth
harbour, and reached London on July 27, 1757.
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