14. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice and
injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
The Junto led to the establishment, by Franklin, of the Philadelphia
Public Library, which became the parent of all public libraries in
America. He also organized and equipped a fire-company; paved and lighted
the streets of Philadelphia; established a high school and an academy for
the study of English branches; founded the Philadelphia Public Hospital;
invented the toggle-joint printing-press, the Franklin Stove, and various
other useful mechanical devices.
After his retirement from business, Franklin enjoyed seven years of what
he called leisure, but they were years of study and application; years of
happiness and sweet content, but years of aspiration and an earnest
looking into the future. His experiments with kite and key had made his
name known in all the scientific circles of Europe, and his suggestive
writings on the subject of electricity had caused Goethe to lay down his
pen and go to rubbing amber for the edification of all Weimar.
Franklin was in correspondence with the greatest minds of Europe, and what
his "Poor Richard Almanac" had done for the plain people of America, his
pamphlets were now doing for the philosophers of the Old World.
In Seventeen Hundred Fifty-four, he wrote a treatise showing the Colonies
that they must be united, and this was the first public word that was to
grow and crystallize and become the United States of America. Before
that, the Colonies were simply single, independent, jealous and bickering
overgrown clans. Franklin showed for the first time that they must unite
in mutual aims.
In Seventeen Hundred Fifty-seven, matters were getting a little strained
between the Province of Pennsylvania and England. "The lawmakers of
England do not understand us--some one should go there as an authorized
agent to plead our cause," and Franklin was at once chosen as the man of
strongest personality and soundest sense. So Franklin went to England and
remained there for five years as agent for the Colonies.
He then returned home, but after two years the Stamp Act had stirred up
the public temper to a degree that made revolution imminent, and Franklin
again went to England to plead for justice. The record of the ten years he
now spent in London is told by Bancroft in a hundred pages. Bancroft is
very good, and! have no desire to rival him, so suffice it to say that
Franklin did all that any man could have done to avert the coming War of
the Revolution. Burke has said that when he appeared before Parliament to
be examined as to the condition of things in America, it was like a lot of
schoolboys interrogating the master.
With the voice and tongue of a prophet, Franklin foretold the English
people what the outcome of their treatment of America would be. Pitt and a
few others knew the greatness of Franklin, and saw that he was right, but
the rest smiled in derision.
He sailed for home in Seventeen Hundred Seventy-five, and urged the
Continental Congress to the Declaration of Independence, of which he
became a signer. Then the war came, and had not Franklin gone to Paris and
made an ally of France, and borrowed money, the Continental Army could not
have been maintained in the field.
He remained in France for nine years, and was the pride and pet of the
people. His sound sense, his good humor, his distinguished personality,
gave him the freedom of society everywhere. He had the ability to adapt
himself to conditions, and was everywhere at home.
Once, he attended a memorable banquet in Paris shortly after the close of
the Revolutionary War. Among the speakers was the English Ambassador, who
responded to the toast, "Great Britain." The Ambassador dwelt at length on
England's greatness, and likened her to the sun that sheds its beneficent
rays on all. The next toast was "America," and Franklin was called on to
respond. He began very modestly by saying: "The Republic is too young to
be spoken of in terms of praise; her career is yet to come, and so,
instead of America, I will name you a man, George Washington--the Joshua
who successfully commanded the sun to stand still." The Frenchmen at the
board forgot the courtesy due their English guest, and laughed needlessly
loud.
Franklin was regarded in Paris as the man who had both planned the War of
the Revolution, and fought it. They said, "He despoiled the thunderbolt of
its danger and snatched sovereignty out of the hand of King George of
England." No doubt that his ovation was largely owing to the fact that he
was supposed to have plucked whole handfuls of feathers from England's
glory, and surely they were pretty nearly right.
In point of all-round development, Franklin must stand as the foremost
American. The one intent of his mind was to purify his own spirit, to
develop his intellect on every side, and make his body the servant of his
soul. His passion was to acquire knowledge, and the desire of his heart
was to communicate it.
The writings of Franklin--simple, clear, concise, direct, impartial,
brimful of commonsense--form a model which may be studied by every one
with pleasure and profit. They should constitute a part of the curriculum
of every college and high school that aspires to cultivate in its pupils a
pure style and correct literary taste.
We know of no man who ever lived a fuller life, a happier life, a life
more useful to other men, than Benjamin Franklin. For forty-two years he
gave the constant efforts of his life to his country, and during all that
time no taint of a selfish action can be laid to his charge. Almost his
last public act was to petition Congress to pass an act for the abolition
of slavery. He died in Seventeen Hundred Ninety, and as you walk up Arch
Street, Philadelphia, only a few squares from the spot where stood his
printing-shop, you can see the place where he sleeps.
The following epitaph, written by himself, not, however, appear on the
simple monument that marks his grave:
The Body
of
Benjamin Franklin, Printer
(Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and gilding,)
Lies here food for worms.
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will (as he believes) appear once
more
In a new
And more beautiful Edition
Corrected and Amended
By
The Author.