The trustees of the academy, after a whi_Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself. [Vol. 1 of 2] With His Most Interesting Essays, Letters, and Miscellaneous Writings; Familiar, Moral, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, Selected with Care from All His Published Productions, and Comprising Whatever Is Most Entertaining and Valuable to the General Reader

charter from the governor; their funds were increased by contributions

in Britain, and grants of land from the proprietors, to which the

Assembly has since made considerable addition; and thus was established

the present University of Philadelphia. I have been continued one of its

trustees from the beginning (now near forty years), and have had the

very great pleasure of seeing a number of the youth who have received

their education in it distinguished by their improved abilities,

serviceable in public stations, and ornaments to their country.

When I was disengaged myself, as above mentioned, from private business,

I flattered myself that, by the sufficient though moderate fortune I had

acquired, I had found leisure during the rest of my life for

philosophical studies and amusements. I purchased all Dr. Spence's

apparatus, who had come from England to lecture in Philadelphia, and I

proceeded in my electrical experiments with great alacrity; but the

public, now considering me as a man of leisure, laid hold of me for

their purposes; every part of our civil government, and almost at the

same time, imposing some duty upon me. The governor put me into the

commission of the peace; the corporation of the city chose me one of the

common council, and soon after alderman; and the citizens at large

elected me a burgess to represent them in Assembly; this latter station

was the more agreeable to me, as I grew at length tired with sitting

there to hear the debates, in which, as clerk, I could take no part, and

which were often so uninteresting that I was induced to amuse myself

with making magic squares or circles, or anything to avoid weariness;

and I conceived my becoming a member would enlarge my power of doing

good. I would not, however, insinuate that my ambition was not flattered

by all these promotions: it certainly was; for, considering my low

beginning, they were great things to me: and they were still more

pleasing, as being so many spontaneous testimonies of the public good

opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited.

The office of justice of the peace I tried a little, by attending a few

courts and sitting on the bench to hear causes; but finding that more

knowledge of the common law than I possessed was necessary to act in

that station with credit, I gradually withdrew from it, excusing myself

by my being obliged to attend the higher duties of a legislator in the

Assembly. My election to this trust was repeated every year for ten

years, without my ever asking any elector for his vote, or signifying

either directly or indirectly any desire of being chosen. On taking my

seat in the house, my son was appointed their clerk.

The year following, a treaty being to be held with the Indians at

Carlisle, the governor sent a message to the house, proposing that they

should nominate some of their members, to be joined with some members of

council, as commissioners for that purpose. The house named the speaker

(Mr. Norris) and myself; and, being commissioned, we went to Carlisle

and met the Indians accordingly. As those people are extremely apt to

get drunk, and, when so, are very quarrelsome and disorderly, we

strictly forbade the selling any liquor to them; and when they

complained of this restriction, we told them that, if they would

continue sober during the treaty, we would give them plenty of rum when

the business was over. They promised this, and they kept their promise,

because they could get no rum; and the treaty was conducted very

orderly, and concluded to mutual satisfaction. They then claimed and

received the rum; this was in the afternoon; they were near one hundred

men, women, and children, and were lodged in temporary cabins, built in

the form of a square, just without the town. In the evening, hearing a

great noise among them, the commissioners walked to see what was the

matter; we found they had made a great bonfire in the middle of the

square: they were all drunk, men and women, quarrelling and fighting.

Their dark-coloured bodies, half naked, seen only by the gloomy light of

the bonfire, running after and beating one another with firebrands,

accompanied by their horrid yellings, formed a scene the most diabolical

that could well be imagined; there was no appeasing the tumult, and we

retired to our lodging. At midnight a number of them came thundering at

our door, demanding more rum, of which we took no notice. The next day,

sensible they had misbehaved in giving us that disturbance, they sent

three of their old counsellors to make their apology. The orator

acknowledged the fault, but laid it upon the rum; and then endeavoured

to excuse the rum by saying, "_The Great Spirit, who made all things,

made everything for some use, and whatever use he designed anything for,

that use it should always be put to_: now, when he made rum, he said,

'LET THIS BE FOR THE INDIANS TO GET DRUNK WITH;' and it must be so."

And, indeed, if it be the design of Providence to extirpate these

savages, in order to make room for the cultivators of the earth, it

seems not impossible that rum may be the appointed means. It has already

annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the seacoast.

In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of mine, conceived the

idea of establishing a hospital in Philadelphia (a very beneficent

design, which has been ascribed to me, but was originally and truly his)

for the reception and cure of poor sick persons, whether inhabitants of

the province or strangers. He was zealous and active in endeavouring to

procure subscriptions for it; but the proposal being a novelty in

America, and, at first, not well understood, he met with but little

success. At length he came to me with the compliment, that he found

there was no such a thing as carrying a public-spirited project through

without my being concerned in it. "For," said he, "I am often asked by

those to whom I propose subscribing, _Have you consulted Franklin on

this business? And what does he think of it?_ And when I tell them that

I have not (supposing it rather out of your line), they do not

subscribe, but say, _they will consider it_." I inquired into the nature

and probable utility of the scheme, and, receiving from him a very

satisfactory explanation, I not only subscribed to it myself, but

engaged heartily in the design of procuring subscriptions from others:

previous, however, to the solicitation, I endeavoured to prepare the

minds of the people, by writing on the subject in the newspapers, which

was my usual custom in such cases, but which Dr. Bond had omitted. The

subscriptions afterward were more free and generous; but, beginning to

flag, I saw they would be insufficient without assistance from the

Assembly, and therefore proposed to petition for it, which was done. The

country members did not at first relish the project: they objected that

it could only be serviceable to the city, and, therefore, the citizens

alone should be at the expense of it; and they doubted whether the

citizens themselves generally approved of it. My allegation, on the

contrary, that it met with such approbation as to leave no doubt of our

being able to raise two thousand pounds by voluntary donations, they

considered as a most extravagant supposition, and utterly impossible. On

this I formed my plan; and asking leave to bring in a bill for

incorporating the contributors according to the prayer of their

petition, and granting them a blank sum of money, which leave was

obtained chiefly on the consideration that the house could throw the

bill out if they did not like it, I drew it so as to make the important

clause a conditional one, viz.: "And be it enacted by the authority

aforesaid, that when the said contributors shall have met and chosen

their managers and treasurer, and shall have raised by their

contributions a capital stock of two thousand pounds value (the yearly

interest of which is to be applied to the accommodation of the sick poor

in the said hospital, and of charge for diet, attendance, advice, and

medicines), and _shall make the same appear to the satisfaction of the

Speaker of the Assembly for the time being_, that then it shall and may

be lawful for the said speaker, and he is hereby required to sign an

order on the provincial treasurer, for the payment of two thousand

pounds, in two yearly payments, to the treasurer of the said hospital,

to be applied to the founding, building, and finishing of the same."

This condition carried the bill through; for the members who had opposed

the grant, and now conceived they might have the credit of being

charitable without the expense, agreed to its passage; and then, in

soliciting subscriptions among the people, we urged the conditional

promise of the law as an additional motive to give, since every man's

donation would be doubled: thus the clause worked both ways. The

subscriptions accordingly soon exceeded the requisite sum, and we

claimed and received the public gift, which enabled us to carry the

design into execution. A convenient and handsome building was soon

erected; the institution has, by constant experience, been found useful,

and flourishes to this day; and I do not remember any of my political

manoeuvres, the success of which, at the time, gave me more pleasure, or

wherein, after thinking of it, I more easily excused myself for having

made some use of cunning.

It was about this time that another projector, the Rev. Gilbert Tennent,

came to me with a request that I would assist him in procuring a

subscription for erecting a new meeting-house. It was to be for the use

of a congregation he had gathered among the Presbyterians, who were

originally disciples of Mr. Whitefield. Unwilling to make myself

disagreeable to my fellow-citizens by too frequently soliciting their

contributions, I absolutely refused. He then desired I would furnish him

with a list of the names of persons I knew by experience to be generous

and public spirited. I thought it would be unbecoming in me, after their

kind compliance with my solicitation, to mark them out to be worried by

other beggars, and therefore refused to give such a list. He then

desired I would at least give him my advice. That I will do, said I;

and, in the first place, I advise you to apply to all those who you know

will give something; next, to those who you are uncertain whether they

will give anything or not, and show them the list of those who have

given; and, lastly, do not neglect those who you are sure will give

nothing, for in some of them you may be mistaken. He laughed and thanked

me, and said he would take my advice. He did so, for he asked

_everybody_, and he obtained a much larger sum than he expected, with

which he erected the capacious and elegant meeting-house that stands in

Arch-street.

Our city, though laid out with a beautiful regularity, the streets

large, straight, and crossing each other at right angles, had the

disgrace of suffering those streets to remain long unpaved, and in wet

weather the wheels of heavy carriages ploughed them into a quagmire, so

that it was difficult to cross them; and in dry weather the dust was

offensive. I had lived near what was called the Jersey market, and saw,

with pain, the inhabitants wading in mud while purchasing their

provisions. A strip of ground down the middle of that market was at

length paved with brick, so that, being once in the market, they had

firm footing, but were often over their shoes in dirt to get there. By

talking and writing on the subject, I was at length instrumental in

getting the streets paved with stone between the market and the brick

foot-pavement that was on the side next the houses. This for some time

gave an easy access to the market dry shod; but the rest of the street

not being paved, whenever a carriage came out of the mud upon this

pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was soon

covered with mire, which was not removed, the city as yet having no

scavengers. After some inquiry I found a poor industrious man who was

willing to undertake keeping the pavement clean, by sweeping it twice a

week, carrying off the dirt from before all the neighbours' doors, for

the sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each house. I then wrote

and printed a paper, setting forth the advantages to the neighbourhood

that might be obtained from this small expense; the greater ease in

keeping our houses clean, so much dirt not being brought in by people's

feet; the benefit to the shops by more custom, as buyers could more

easily get at them; and by not having, in windy weather, the dust blown

in upon their goods, &c. I sent one of these papers to each house, and

in a day or two went round to see who would subscribe to an agreement to

pay these sixpences; it was unanimously signed, and, for a time, well

executed. All the inhabitants of the city were delighted with the

cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded the market, it being a

convenience to all, and this raised a general desire to have all the

streets paved, and made the people more willing to submit to a tax for

that purpose. After some time I drew a bill for paving the city and

brought it into the Assembly. It was just before I went to England, in

1757, and did not pass till I was gone, and then with an alteration in

the mode of assessment, which I thought not for the better; but with an

additional provision for lighting as well as paving the streets, which

was a great improvement. It was by a private person, the late Mr. John

Clifton, giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing one at his

door, that the people were first impressed with the idea of lighting all

the city. The honour of this public benefit has also been ascribed to

me, but it belongs truly to that gentleman. I did but follow his

example, and have only some merit to claim respecting the form of our

lamps, as differing from the globe lamps we were at first supplied with

from London. They were found inconvenient in these respects: they

admitted no air below; the smoke, therefore, did not readily go out

above, but circulated in the globe, lodged on its inside, and soon

obstructed the light they were intended to afford; giving, besides, the

daily trouble of wiping them clean: and an accidental stroke on one of

them would demolish it, and render it totally useless. I therefore

suggested the composing them of four flat panes, with a long funnel

above to draw up the smoke, and crevices admitting air below to

facilitate the ascent of the smoke; by this means they were kept clean,

and did not grow dark in a few hours, as the London lamps do, but

continued bright till morning; and an accidental stroke would generally

break but a single pane, easily repaired. I have sometimes wondered that

the Londoners did not, from the effect holes in the bottom of the

globe-lamps used at Vauxhall have in keeping them clean, learn to have

such holes in their street-lamps. But these holes being made for another

purpose, viz., to communicate flame more suddenly to the wick by a

little flax hanging down through them, the other use of letting in air

seems not to have been thought of: and, therefore, after the lamps have

been lit a few hours, the streets of London are very poorly illuminated.

The mention of these improvements puts me in mind of one I proposed,

when in London, to Dr. Fothergill,[11] who was among the best men I have

known, and a great promoter of useful projects. I had observed that the

streets, when dry, were never swept, and the light dust carried away;

but it was suffered to accumulate till wet weather reduced it to mud;

and then, after lying some days so deep on the pavement that there was

no crossing but in paths kept clean by poor people with brooms, it was

with great labour raked together and thrown up into carts open above,

the sides of which suffered some of the slush at every jolt on the

pavement to shake out and fall; sometimes to the annoyance of

foot-passengers. The reason given for not sweeping the dusty streets

was, that the dust would fly into the windows of shops and houses. An

accidental occurrence had instructed me how much sweeping might be done

in a little time; I found at my door in Craven-street one morning a poor

woman sweeping my pavement with a birch broom; she appeared very pale

and feeble, as just come out of a fit of sickness. I asked who employed

her to sweep there; she said, "Nobody; but I am poor and in distress,

and I sweep before gentlefolkses doors, and hopes they will give me

something." I bid her sweep the whole street clean, and I would give her

a shilling; this was at nine o'clock; at noon she came for the shilling.

From the slowness I saw at first in her working, I could scarcely

believe that the work was done so soon, and sent my servant to examine

it, who reported that the whole street was swept perfectly clean, and

all the dust placed in the gutter which was in the middle; and the next

rain washed it quite away, so that the pavement and even the kennel were

perfectly clean. I then judged that if that feeble woman could sweep

such a street in three hours, a strong, active man might have done it in

half the time. And here let me remark the convenience of having but one

gutter in such a narrow street, running down its middle, instead of two,

one on each side, near the footway. For where all the rain that falls on

a street runs from the sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a

current strong enough to wash away all the mud it meets with: but when

divided into two channels, it is often too weak to cleanse either, and

only makes the mud it finds more fluid, so that the wheels of carriages

and feet of horses throw and dash it upon the foot pavement (which is

thereby rendered foul and slippery), and sometimes splash it upon those

who are walking.

Some may think these trifling matters, not worth minding or relating;

but when they consider that though dust blown into the eyes of a single

person or into a single shop in a windy day is but of small importance,

yet the great number of the instances in a populous city, and its

frequent repetition, gives it weight and consequence, perhaps they will

not censure very severely those who bestow some attention to affairs of

this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is produced, not so much by

great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages

that occur every day. Thus, if you teach a poor young man to shave

himself and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the

happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum

may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly

consumed it: but, in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of

waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive

breaths, and dull razors: he shaves when most convenient to him, and

enjoys daily the pleasure of its being done with a good instrument. With

these sentiments I have hazarded the few preceding pages, hoping they

may afford hints which some time or other may be useful to a city I love

(having lived many years in it very happily), and perhaps to some of our

towns in America.

Having been some time employed by the postmaster-general of America as

his comptroller in regulating the several offices and bringing the

officers to account, I was, upon his death in 1753, appointed jointly

with Mr. William Hu---- to succeed him, by a commission from the

postmaster-general in England. The American office had hitherto never

paid anything to that of Britain; we were to have L600 a year between

us, if we could make that sum out of the profits of the office. To do

this, a variety of improvements were necessary; some of these were

inevitably at first expensive; so that, in the first four years, the

office became above L900 in debt to us. But it soon after began to repay

us; and, before I was displaced by a freak of the ministers (of which I

shall speak hereafter), we had brought it to yield _three times_ as much

clear revenue to the crown as the postoffice of Ireland. Since that

imprudent transaction, they have received from it--not one farthing!

The business of the postoffice occasioned my taking a journey this year

to New-England, where the college of Cambridge, of their own motion,

presented me with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale College, in

Connecticut, had before made me a similar compliment. Thus, without

studying in any college, I am to partake of their honours. They were

conferred in consideration of my improvements and discoveries in the

electric branch of Natural Philosophy.

In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a congress of

commissioners from the different colonies was, by an order of the lords

of trade, to be assembled at Albany, there to confer with the chiefs of

the Six Nations concerning the means of defending both their country and

ours. Governor Hamilton having received this order, acquainted the house

with it, requesting they would furnish proper presents for the Indians,

to be given on this occasion; and naming the speaker (Mr. Norris) and

myself, to join Mr. John Penn and Mr. Secretary Peters, as commissioners

to act for Pennsylvania. The house approved the nomination, and provided

the goods for the presents, though they did not much like treating out

of the province; and we met the other commissioners at Albany about the

middle of June. In our way thither I projected and drew up a plan for

the union of all the colonies under one government, so far as might be

necessary for defence and other important general purposes. As we passed

through New-York, I had there shown my project to Mr. James Alexander

and Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and

being fortified by their approbation, I ventured to lay it before the

Congress. It then appeared that several of the commissioners had formed

plans of the same kind. A previous question was first taken, whether a

union should be established, which passed in the affirmative

unanimously. A committee was then appointed, one member from each

colony, to consider the several plans and report. Mine happened to be

preferred, and, with a few amendments, was accordingly reported. By this

plan the general government was to be administered by a

president-general, appointed and supported by the crown; and a grand

council, to be chosen by the representatives of the people of the

several colonies, met in their respective assemblies. The debates upon

it in Congress went on daily, hand in hand with the Indian business.

Many objections and difficulties were started, but at length they were

all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed to, and copies ordered

to be transmitted to the board of trade and to the assemblies of the

several provinces. Its fate was singular: the assemblies did not adopt

it, as they all thought there was too much _prerogative_ in it, and in

England it was judged to have too much of the _democratic_; the board of

trade did not approve of it, nor recommend it for the approbation of his

majesty: but another scheme was formed, supposed to answer the same

purpose better, whereby the governors of the provinces, with some

members of their respective councils, were to meet and order the raising

of troops, building of forts, &c., and to draw on the treasury of Great

Britain for the expense, which was afterward to be refunded by an act of

Parliament laying a tax on America. My plan, with my reasons in support

of it, is to be found among my political papers that were printed. Being

the winter following in Boston, I had much conversation with Governor

Shirley upon both the plans. Part of what passed between us on this

occasion may also be seen among those papers. The different and contrary

reasons of dislike to my plan makes me suspect that it was really the

true medium, and I am still of opinion it would have been happy for both

sides if it had been adopted. The colonies, so united, would have been

sufficiently strong to defend themselves: there would then have been no

need of troops from England, of course the subsequent pretext for taxing

America; and the bloody contest it occasioned would have been avoided:

but such mistakes are not new: history is full of the errors of states

and princes.

"Look, round the habitable world, how few

Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!"

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally

like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new

projects. The best public measures are, therefore, seldom _adopted from

previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion_.

The governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down to the Assembly,

expressed his approbation of the plan "as appearing to him to be drawn

up with great clearness and strength of judgment, and therefore

recommended it as well worthy their closest and most serious attention."

The house, however, by the management of a certain member, took it up

when I happened to be absent (which I thought not very fair), and

reprobated it without paying any attention to it at all, to my no small

mortification.

In my journey to Boston this year, I met at New-York with our new

governor, Mr. Morris, just arrived there from England, with whom I had

been before intimately acquainted. He brought a commission to supersede

Mr. Hamilton, who, tired with the disputes his proprietary instructions

subjected him to, had resigned. Mr. Morris asked me if I thought he must

expect as uncomfortable an administration. I said "No; you may, on the

contrary, have a very comfortable one, if you will only take care not to

enter into any dispute with the Assembly." "My dear friend," said he,

pleasantly, "how can you advise my avoiding disputes? You know I love

disputing; it is one of my greatest pleasures; however, to show the

regard I have for your counsel, I promise you I will, if possible, avoid

them." He had some reason for loving to dispute, being eloquent, an

acute sophister, and, therefore, generally successful in argumentative

conversation. He had been brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I

have heard, accustoming his children to dispute with one another for his

diversion, while sitting at table after dinner; but I think the practice

was not wise; for, in the course of my observation, those disputing,

contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their

affairs. They get victory sometimes, but they never get good-will, which

would be of more use to them. We parted, he going to Philadelphia and I

to Boston. In returning, I met at New-York with the votes of the

Assembly of Pennsylvania, by which it appeared that, notwithstanding his

promise to me, he and the house were already in high contention; and it

was a continual battle between them as long as he retained the

government. I had my share of it; for, as soon as I got back to my seat

in the Assembly, I was put on every committee for answering his speeches

and messages, and by the committees always desired to make the draughts.

Our answers, as well as his messages, were often tart, and sometimes

indecently abusive; and as he knew I wrote for the Assembly, one might

have imagined that, when we met, we could hardly avoid cutting throats.

But he was so good-natured a man, that no personal difference between

him and me was occasioned by the contest, and we often dined together.

One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in the

street; "Franklin," said he, "you must go home with me and spend the

evening; I am to have some company that you will like;" and, taking me

by the arm, led me to his house. In gay conversation after supper, he

told us jokingly that he much admired the idea of Sancho Panza, who,

when it was proposed to give him a government, requested it might be a

government of blacks; as then, if he could not agree with his people, he

might sell them. One of his friends, who sat next to me, said,

"Franklin, why do you continue to side with those Quakers? had you not

better sell them? the proprietor would give you a good price." "The

governor," said I, "has not yet _blacked_ them enough." He, indeed, had

laboured hard to blacken the Assembly in all his messages, but they

wiped off his colouring as fast as he laid it on, and placed it in

return thick upon his own face; so that, finding he was likely to be

_negrofied_ himself, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton, grew tired of the

contest and quitted the government.

These public quarrels were all at bottom owing to the proprietaries our

hereditary governors; who, when any expense was to be incurred for the

defence of their province, with incredible meanness, instructed their

deputies to pass no act for levying the necessary taxes, unless their

vast estates were in the same act expressly exonerated; and they had

even taken the bonds of these deputies to observe such instructions. The

assemblies for three years held out against this injustice, though

constrained to bend at last. At length Captain Denny, who was governor

Morris's successor, ventured to disobey those instructions; how that

was brought about I shall show hereafter.

But I am got forward too fast with my story: there are still some

transactions to be mentioned that happened during the administration of

Governor Morris.

War being in a manner commenced with France, the government of

Massachusetts Bay projected an attack upon Crown Point, and sent Mr.

Quincy to Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pownal (afterward Governor Pownal) to

New-York, to solicit assistance. As I was in the Assembly, knew its

temper, and was Mr. Quincy's countryman, he applied to me for my

influence and assistance: I dictated his address to them, which was well

received. They voted an aid of ten thousand pounds, to be laid out in

provisions. But the governor refusing his assent to their bill (which

included this with other sums granted for the use of the crown) unless a

clause were inserted exempting the proprietary estate from bearing any

part of the tax that would be necessary, the Assembly, though very

desirous of making their grant to New-England, were at a loss how to

accomplish it. Mr. Quincy laboured hard with the governor to obtain his

assent, but he was obstinate. I then suggested a method of doing the

business without the governor, by orders on the trustees of the

loan-office, which, by law, the Assembly had the right of drawing. There

was, indeed, little or no money at the time in the office, and therefore

I proposed that the orders should be payable in a year, and to bear an

interest of five per cent.: with these orders I supposed the provisions

might easily be purchased. The Assembly, with very little hesitation,

adopted the proposal; the orders were immediately printed, and I was one

of the committee directed to sign and dispose of them. The fund for

paying them was the interest of all the paper currency then extant in

the province upon loan, together with the revenue arising from the

excise, which, being known to be more than sufficient, they obtained

credit, and were not only taken in payment for the provisions, but many

moneyed people who had cash lying by them vested it in those orders,

which they found advantageous, as they bore interest while upon hand,

and might on any occasion be used as money; so that they were eagerly

all bought up, and in a few weeks none of them were to be seen. Thus

this important affair was by my means completed. Mr. Quincy returned

thanks to the Assembly in a handsome memorial, went home highly pleased

with the success of his embassy, and ever after bore for me the most

cordial and affectionate friendship.

The British government, not choosing to permit the union of the colonies

as proposed at Albany, and to trust that union with their defence, lest

they should thereby grow too military and feel their own strength

(suspicion and jealousies at this time being entertained of them), sent

over General Braddock with two regiments of regular English troops for

that purpose. He landed at Alexandria, in Virginia, and thence marched

to Fredericktown, in Maryland, where he halted for carriages. Our

Assembly, apprehending from some information that he had received

violent prejudices against them as averse to the service, wished me to

wait upon him, not as from them, but as postmaster-general, under the

guise of proposing to settle with him the mode of conducting, with the

greatest celerity and certainty, the despatches between him and the

governors of the several provinces, with whom he must necessarily have

continual correspondence, and of which they proposed to pay the expense.

My son accompanied me on this journey. We found the general at

Fredericktown, waiting impatiently for the return of those whom we had

sent through the back parts of Maryland and Virginia to collect wagons.

I stayed with him several days, dined with him daily, and had full

opportunities of removing his prejudices, by the information of what the

Assembly had, before his arrival, actually done, and were still willing

to do, to facilitate his operations. When I was about to depart, the

returns of wagons to be obtained were brought in, by which it appeared

that they amounted only to twenty-five, and not all of those were in

serviceable condition. The general and the officers were surprised;

declared the expedition was then at an end, being impossible; and

exclaimed against the ministers for ignorantly sending them into a

country destitute of the means of conveying their stores, baggage, &c.,

not less than one hundred and fifty wagons being necessary. I happened

to say, I thought it was a pity they had not been landed in

Pennsylvania, as in that country almost every farmer had his wagon. The

general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said, "Then you, sir, who are

a man of interest there, can probably procure them for us, and I beg you

will undertake it." I asked what terms were to be offered the owners of

the wagons; and I was desired to put on paper the terms that appeared to

me necessary. This I did, and they were agreed to; and a commission and

instructions accordingly prepared immediately. What those terms were

will appear in the advertisement I published soon as I arrived at

Lancaster; which being, from the great and sudden effect it produced, a

piece of some curiosity, I shall insert it at length, as follows:

"ADVERTISEMENT.

"Lancaster, April 26th, 1753.

"Whereas, one hundred and fifty wagons, with four horses to each

wagon, and fifteen hundred saddle or packhorses, are wanted for the

service of his majesty's forces, now about to rendezvous at Will's

Creek; and his excellency General Braddock, having been pleased to

empower me to contract for the hire of the same, I hereby give

notice, that I shall attend for that purpose at Lancaster from this

day to next Wednesday evening, and at York from next Thursday

morning till Friday evening, where I shall be ready to agree for

wagons and teams, or single horses, on the following terms, viz.:

1. That there shall be paid for each wagon, with four good horses

and a driver, fifteen shillings per diem. And for each able horse,

with a packsaddle or other saddle and furniture, two shillings per

diem. And for each able horse without a saddle, eighteen pence per

diem. 2. That the pay commence from the time of their joining the

forces at Will's Creek (which must be on or before the 20th of May

ensuing), and that a reasonable allowance be paid over and above

for the time necessary for their travelling to Will's Creek and

home again after their discharge. 3. Each wagon and team, and every

saddle or packhorse, is to be valued by indifferent persons, chosen

between me and the owner; and in case of the loss of any wagon,

team, or other horse in the service, the price, according to such

valuation, is to be allowed and paid. 4. Seven days' pay is to be

advanced and paid in hand by me to the owner of each wagon and

team, or horse, at the time of contracting, if required; and the

remainder to be paid by General Braddock, or by the paymaster of

the army, at the time of their discharge; or from time to time, as

it shall be demanded. 5. No drivers of wagons or persons taking

care of the hired horses are, on any account, to be called upon to

do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise employed than in

conducting or taking care of their carriages or horses. 6. All

oats, Indian corn, or other forage that wagons or horses bring to

the camp, more than is necessary for the subsistence of the horses,

is to be taken for the use of the army, and a reasonable price paid

for the same.

"_Note._--My son, William Franklin, is empowered to enter into like

contracts with any person in Cumberland county.

"B. FRANKLIN."

I received of the general about eight hundred pounds, to be disbursed in

advance-money to the wagon owners, &c.; but that sum being insufficient,

I advanced upward of two hundred pounds more; and in two weeks, the one

hundred and fifty wagons, with two hundred and fifty-nine carrying

horses, were on their march for the camp. The advertisement promised

payment according to the valuation, in case any wagons or horses should

be lost. The owners, however, alleging they did not know General

Braddock, or what dependance might be had on his promise, insisted on my

bond for the performance, which I accordingly gave them.

While I was at the camp, supping one evening with the officers of

Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he represented to me his concern for the

subalterns, who, he said, were generally not in affluence, and could ill

afford, in this dear country, to lay in the stores that might be

necessary in so long a march through a wilderness where nothing was to

be purchased. I commiserated their case, and resolved to endeavour

procuring them some relief. I said nothing, however, to him of my

intention, but wrote the next morning to the committee of Assembly, who

had the disposition of some public money, warmly recommending the case

of these officers to their consideration, and proposing that a present

should be sent them of necessaries and refreshments. My son, who had

some experience of a camp life and of its wants, drew up a list for me,

which I enclosed in my letter. The committee approved, and used such

diligence that, conducted by my son, the stores arrived at the camp as

soon as the wagons. They consisted of twenty parcels, each containing

6 lbs. Loaf Sugar,

6 do. Muscovado do.,

1 do. Green Tea,

1 do. Bohea do.,

6 do. Ground Coffee,

6 do. Chocolate,

1-2 chest best white Biscuit,

1-2 lb. Pepper,

1 quart white Vinegar,

1 Gloucester Cheese,

1 keg containing 20 lbs. good Butter,

2 doz. old Madeira Wine,

2 gallons Jamaica Spirits,

1 bottle Flour of Mustard,

2 well-cured Hams,

1-2 dozen dried Tongues,

6 lbs. Rice,

6 do. Raisins.

These parcels, well packed, were placed on as many horses, each parcel,

with the horse, being intended as a present for one officer. They were

very thankfully received, and the kindness acknowledged by letters to me

from the colonels of both regiments, in the most grateful terms. The

general, too, was highly satisfied with my conduct in procuring him the

wagons, &c., &c., and readily paid my account of disbursements; thanking

me repeatedly, and requesting my farther assistance in sending

provisions after him. I undertook this also, and was busily employed in

it till we heard of his defeat; advancing for the service, of my own

money, upward of one thousand pounds sterling, of which I sent him an

account. It came to his hands, luckily for me, a few days before the

battle, and he returned me immediately an order on the paymaster for the

round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the remainder to the next

account. I consider this payment as good luck, having never been able

to obtain that remainder, of which more hereafter.

This general was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have made a

figure as a good officer in some European war; but he had too much

self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops,

and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George Croghan, our

Indian interpreter, joined him on his march with one hundred of those

people, who might have been of great use to his army as guides, scouts,

&c., if he had treated them kindly; but he slighted and neglected them,

and they gradually left him. In conversation with him one day, he was

giving me some account of his intended progress. "After taking Fort

Duquesne," said he, "I am to proceed to Niagara; and having taken that,

to Frontenac, if the season will allow time, and I suppose it will; for

Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days; and then I see

nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara." Having before revolved

in my mind the long line his army must make in their march by a very

narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods and bushes; and also

what I had read of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French who invaded

the Illinois country, I had conceived some doubts and some fears for the

event of the campaign. But I ventured only to say, "To be sure, sir, if

you arrive well before Duquesne, with the fine troops so well provided

with artillery, the fort, though completely fortified, and assisted with

a very strong garrison, can probably make but a short resistance. The

only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march is from the

ambuscades of the Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in

laying and executing them: and the slender line, near four miles long,

which your army must make, may expose it to be attacked by surprise in

its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which,

from their distance, cannot come up in time to support each other." He

smiled at my ignorance, and replied, "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 they should make

any impression." I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with

a military man in matters of his profession, and said no more. The

enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his army which I apprehend

its long line of march exposed it to, but let it advance without

interruption till within nine miles of the place; and then, when more in

a body (for it had just passed a river, where the front had halted till

all were come over), and in a more open part of the woods than any it

had passed, attacked its advanced guard by a heavy fire from behind

trees and bushes; which was the first intelligence the general had of an

enemy's being near him. This guard being disordered, the general hurried

the troops up to their assistance, which was done in great confusion,

through wagons, baggage, and cattle; and presently the fire came upon

their flank: the officers, being on horseback, were more easily

distinguished, picked out as marks, and fell very fast; and the soldiers

were crowded together in a huddle, having or hearing no orders, and

standing to be shot at till two thirds of them were killed; and then,

being seized with a panic, the remainder fled with precipitation. The

wagoners took each a horse out of his team and scampered; their example

was immediately followed by others; so that all the wagons, provisions,

artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The general, being

wounded, was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, Mr. Shirley,

was killed by his side; and out of eighty-six officers, sixty-three were

killed or wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men killed out of

eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been picked men from the whole

army; the rest had been left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who was to

follow with the heavier part of the stores, provisions, and baggage. The

fliers, not being pursued, arrived at Dunbar's camp, and the panic they

brought with them instantly seized him and all his people. And though he

had now above one thousand men, and the enemy who had beaten Braddock

did not at most exceed four hundred Indians and French together, instead

of proceeding and endeavouring to recover some of the lost honour, he

ordered all the stores, ammunition, &c., to be destroyed, that he might

have more horses to assist his flight towards the settlements, and less

lumber to remove. He was there met with requests from the Governor of

Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on

the frontiers, so as to afford some protection to the inhabitants; but

he continued his hasty march through all the country, not thinking

himself safe till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants

could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first

suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regular

troops had not been well founded.

In their first march, too, from their landing till they got beyond the

settlements, they had plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally

ruining some poor families, besides insulting, abusing, and confining

the people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put us out of

conceit of such defenders, if we had really wanted any. How different

was the conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march

through the most inhabited part of our country, from Rhode Island to

Virginia, near seven hundred miles, occasioned not the smallest

complaint for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple!

Captain Orme, who was one of the general's aidsdecamp, and being

grievously wounded, was brought off with him, and continued with him to

his death, which happened in a few days, told me he was totally silent

all the first day, and at night only said, "_Who would have thought

it?_" That he was silent again the following day, saying only at last,

"_We shall better know how to deal with them another time_;" and died in

a few minutes after.

The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders, instructions, and

correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, they selected and

translated into French a number of the articles, which they printed, to

prove the hostile intentions of the British court before the declaration

of war. Among these I saw some letters of the general to the ministry,

speaking highly of the great service I had rendered the army, and

recommending me to their notice. David Hume, who was some years after

secretary to Lord Hertford when minister in France, and afterward to

General Conway when secretary of state, told me he had seen among the

papers in that office letters from Braddock highly recommending me. But

the expedition having been unfortunate, my service, it seems, was not

thought of much value, for those recommendations were never of any use

to me. As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, which was, that he

would give orders to his officers not to enlist any more of our bought

servants, and that he would discharge such as had been already enlisted.

This he readily granted, and several were accordingly returned to their

masters on my application. Dunbar, when the command devolved on him, was

not so generous. He being at Philadelphia on his retreat, or, rather,

flight, I applied to him for the discharge of the servants of three poor

farmers of Lancaster county that he had enlisted, reminding him of the

late general's orders on that head. He promised me that, if the masters

would come to him at Trenton, where he should be in a few days on his

march to New-York, he would there deliver their men to them. They

accordingly were at the expense and trouble of going to Trenton, and

there he refused to perform his promise, to their great loss and

disappointment.

As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was generally known, all

the owners came upon me for the valuation which I had given bond to pay.

Their demands gave me a great deal of trouble: I acquainted them that

the money was ready in the paymaster's hands, but the order for paying

it must first be obtained from General Shirley, and that I had applied

for it; but he being at a distance, an answer could not soon be

received, and they must have patience. All this, however, was not

sufficient to satisfy, and some began to sue me: General Shirley at

length relieved me from this terrible situation, by appointing

commissioners to examine the claims, and ordering payment. They amounted

to near twenty thousand pounds, which to pay would have ruined me.

Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doctors Bond came to me

with a subscription-paper for raising money to defray the expense of a

grand fireworks, which it was intended to exhibit at a rejoicing on

receiving the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I looked grave, and

said, "It would, I thought, be time enough to prepare the rejoicing when

we knew we should have occasion to rejoice." They seemed surprised that

I did not immediately comply with their proposal. "Why the d--l," said

one of them, "you surely don't suppose that the fort will not be taken?"

"I don't know that it will not be taken; but I know that the events of

war are subject to great uncertainty." I gave them the reasons of my

doubting: the subscription was dropped, and the projectors thereby

missed the mortification they would have undergone if the fireworks had

been prepared. Dr. Bond, on some other occasion afterward, said that he

did not like Franklin's forebodings.

Governor Morris, who had continually worried the Assembly with message

after message, before the defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the

making of acts to raise money for the defence of the province, without

taxing, among others, the proprietary estates, and had rejected all

their bills for not having such an exempting clause, now redoubled his

attacks with more hope of success, the danger and necessity being

greater. The Assembly, however, continued firm, believing they had

justice on their side, and that it would be giving up an essential right

if they suffered the governor to amend their money-bills. In one of the

last, indeed, which was for granting fifty thousand pounds, his proposed

amendment was only of a single word: the bill expressed "that all

estates, real and personal, were to be taxed; those of the proprietaries

_not_ excepted." His amendment was, for _not_ read _only_. A small but

very material alteration! However, when the news of the disaster reached

England, our friends there, whom we had taken care to furnish will all

the Assembly's answers to the governor's messages, raised a clamour

against the proprietaries for their meanness and injustice in giving

their governor such instructions; some going so far as to say that, by

obstructing the defence of their province, they forfeited their right to

it. They were intimidated by this, sent orders to their receiver-general

to add five thousand pounds of their money to whatever sum might be

given by the Assembly for such purpose. This being testified to the

house, was accepted in lieu of their share of a general tax, and a new

bill was formed, with an exempting clause, which passed accordingly. By

this act I was appointed one of the commissioners for disposing of the

money, sixty thousand pounds. I had been active in modelling the bill

and procuring its passage, and had, at the same time, drawn one for

establishing and disciplining a voluntary militia, which I carried

through the house without much difficulty, as care was taken in it to

leave the Quakers at liberty. To promote the association necessary to

form the militia, I wrote a dialogue stating and answering all the

objections I could think of to such a militia, which was printed, and

had, as I thought great effect. While the several companies in the city

and country were forming and learning their exercise, the governor

prevailed with me to take charge of our northwestern frontier, which was

infested by the enemy, and provide for the defence of the inhabitants by

raising troops and building a line of forts. I undertook this military

business, though I did not conceive myself well qualified for it. He

gave me a commission, with full powers, and a parcel of blank

commissions for officers, to be given to whom I thought fit. I had but

little difficulty in raising men, having soon five hundred and sixty

under my command. My son, who had in the preceding war been an officer

in the army raised against Canada, was my aiddecamp, and of great use to

me. The Indians had burned Gnadenhutten, a village settled by the

Moravians, and massacred the inhabitants; but the place was thought a

good situation for one of the forts. In order to march thither, I

assembled the companies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those

people; I was surprised to find it in so good a posture of defence; the

destruction of Gnadenhutten had made them apprehend danger. The

principal buildings were defended by a stockade; they had purchased a

quantity of arms and ammunition from New-York, and had even placed

quantities of small paving stones between the windows of their high

stone houses, for their women to throw them down upon the heads of any

Indians that should attempt to force into them. The armed brethren, too,

kept watch, and relieved each other on guard as methodically as in any

garrison town. In conversation with the bishop, Spangenberg, I

mentioned my surprise; for, knowing that they had obtained an act of

parliament exempting them from military duties in the colonies, I had

supposed they were conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He

answered me, "That it was not one of their established principles; but

that, at the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought to be a

principle with many of their people. On this occasion, however, they, to

their surprise, found it adopted by but a few." It seems they were

either deceived in themselves or deceived the parliament; but common

sense, aided by present danger, will sometimes be too strong for

whimsical opinions.

It was the beginning of January when we set out upon this business of

building forts; I sent one detachment towards the Minisink, with

instructions to erect one for the security of that upper part of the

country, and another to the lower part with similar instructions; and I

concluded to go myself with the rest of my force to Gnadenhutten, where

a fort was thought more immediately necessary. The Moravians procured me

five wagons for our tools, stores, baggage, &c. Just before we left

Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been driven from their plantations by

the Indians, came to me requesting a supply of firearms, that they might

go back and bring off their cattle. I gave them each a gun with suitable

ammunition. We had not marched many miles before it began to rain, and

it continued raining all day; there were no habitations on the road to

shelter us till we arrived near night at the house of a German, where,

and in his barn, we were all huddled together as wet as water could make

us. It was well we were not attacked in our march, for our arms were of

the most ordinary sort, and our men could not keep the locks of their

guns dry. The Indians are dexterous in contrivances for that purpose,

which we had not. They met that day the eleven poor farmers above

mentioned, and killed ten of them; the one that escaped informed us that

his and his companions' guns would not go off, the priming being wet

with the rain. The next day, being fair, we continued our march, and

arrived at the desolate Gnadenhutten; there was a mill near, round which

were left several pine boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves; an

operation the more necessary at that inclement season, as we had no

tents. Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found

there, who had been half interred by the country people; the next

morning our fort was planned and marked out, the circumference measuring

four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would require as many palisades

to be made, one with another, of a foot diameter each. Our axes, of

which we had seventy, were immediately set to work to cut down trees;

and our men being dexterous in the use of them, great despatch was made.

Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch

when two men began to cut a pine; in six minutes they had it upon the

ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter: each pine made three

palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While these were

preparing our other men dug a trench all round of three feet deep, in

which the palisades were to be planted; and the bodies being taken off

our wagons, and the fore and hind wheels separated by taking out the pin

which united the two parts of the perch, we had ten carriages, with two

horses each, to bring the palisades from the woods to the spot. When

they were set up, our carpenters built a platform of boards all round

within, about six feet high, for the men to stand on when to fire

through the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of

the angles, and fired it as soon as fixed, to let the Indians know, if

any were within hearing, that we had such pieces; and thus our fort (if

that name may be given to so miserable a stockade) was finished in a

week, though it rained so hard every other day that the men could not

well work.

This gave me occasion to observe, that when men are employed they are

best contented, for on the days they worked they were good-natured and

cheerful, and with the consciousness of having done a good day's work

they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous

and quarrelsome, finding fault with the pork, the bread, &c., and we

were continually in bad humour, which put me in mind of a sea-captain,

whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work; and when his mate

once told him that they had done everything, and there was nothing

farther to employ them about, "_Oh_," said he, "_make them scour the

anchor_."

This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defence against

Indians who had no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted securely, and

having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventured out in parties to

scour the adjacent country. We met with no Indians, but we found the

places on the neighbouring hills where they had lain to watch our

proceedings. There was an art in their contrivance of those places that

seems worth mentioning. It being winter, a fire was necessary for them;

but a common fire on the surface of the ground would, by its light, have

discovered their position at a distance; they had therefore dug holes in

the ground, about three feet in diameter and somewhat deeper; we found

where they had, with their hatchets, cut off the charcoal from the sides

of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these coals they had made small

fires in the bottom of the holes, and we observed among the weeds and

grass the prints of their bodies, made by their lying all round with

their legs hanging down in the holes to keep their feet warm, which with

them is an essential point. This kind of fire, so managed, could not

discover them either by its light, flame, sparks, or even smoke; it

appeared that the number was not great, and it seems they saw we were

too many to be attacked by them with prospect of advantage.

I had hardly got my fort well stored with provisions when I received a

letter from the governor acquainting me that he had called the Assembly,

and wished my attendance there, if the posture of affairs on the

frontiers was such that my remaining there was no longer necessary. My

friends, too, of the Assembly, pressing me by their letters to be, if

possible, at the meeting; and my three intended forts being now

completed, and the inhabitants contented to remain on their farms under

that protection, I resolved to return, the more willingly, as a

New-England officer, Colonel Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being

on a visit to our establishment, consented to accept the command. I gave

him a commission, and, parading the garrison, had it read before them,

and introduced him to them as an officer who, from his skill in military

affairs, was much more fit to command them than myself, and, giving them

a little exhortation, took my leave. I was escorted as far as Bethlehem,

where I rested a few days to recover from the fatigue I had undergone.

The first night, lying in a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so

different from my hard lodging on the floor of a hut at Gnadenhutten,

with only a blanket or two. While at Bethlehem I inquired a little into

the practices of the Moravians; some of them had accompanied me, and all

were very kind to me. I found they worked for a common stock, ate at

common tables, and slept in common dormitories, great numbers together.

In the dormitories I observed loopholes at certain distances all along

just under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of

air. I went to their church, where I was entertained with good music,

the organ being accompanied with violins, haut-boys, flutes, clarinets,

&c. I understood their sermons were not usually preached to mixed

congregations of men, women, and children, as is our common practice,

but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other times their

wives, then the young men, the young women, and the little children,

each division by itself. The sermon I heard was to the latter, who came

in and were placed in rows on benches, the boys under the conduct of a

young man, their tutor, and the girls conducted by a young woman. The

discourse seemed well adapted to their capacities, and was delivered in

a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They

behaved very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, which made me

suspect they were kept too much within doors, or not allowed sufficient

exercise. I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the

report was true that they were by lot; I was told that lots were used

only in particular cases: that generally, when a young man found himself

disposed to marry, he informed the elders of his class, who consulted

the elder ladies that governed the young women. As these elders of the

different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions

of their respective pupils, they could best judge what matches were

suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesced in. But if, for

example, it should happen that two or three young women were found to be

equally proper for the young man, the lot was then recurred to. I

objected, if the matches are not made by the mutual choice of the

parties, some of them may chance to be very unhappy. "And so they may,"

answered my informer, "if you let the parties choose for themselves:"

which, indeed, I could not deny.

Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the association went on with

great success, the inhabitants that were not Quakers having pretty

generally come into it, formed themselves into companies, and chose

their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to the new law. Dr.

Bond visited me, and gave me an account of the pains he had taken to

spread a general good-liking to the law, and ascribed much to those

endeavours. I had the vanity to ascribe all to my dialogue; however, not

knowing but that he might be in the right, I let him enjoy his opinion,

which I take to be generally the best way in such cases. The officers

meeting, chose me to be colonel of the regiment, which I this time

accepted. I forget how many companies we had, but we paraded about

twelve hundred well-looking men, with a company of artillery, who had

been furnished with six brass field-pieces, which they had become so

expert in the use of as to fire twelve times in a minute. The first time

I reviewed my regiment, they accompanied me to my house, and would

salute me with some rounds fired before my door, which shook down and

broke several glasses of my electrical apparatus. And my new honour

proved not much less brittle; for all our commissions were soon after

broken by a repeal of the law in England.

During this short time of my colonelship, being about to set out on a

journey to Virginia, the officers of my regiment took it into their

heads that it would be proper for them to escort me out of town as far

as the lower ferry; just as I was getting on horseback they came to my

door, between thirty and forty, mounted, and all in their uniforms. I

had not been previously acquainted with their project, or I should have

prevented it, being naturally averse to the assuming of state on any

occasion; and I was a good deal chagrined at their appearance, as I

could not avoid their accompanying me. What made it worse was, that, as

soon as we began to move, they drew their swords and rode with them

naked all the way. Somebody wrote an account of this to the proprietor,

and it gave him great offence. No such honour had been paid him when in

the province, nor to any of his governors; and he said it was only

proper to princes of the blood royal, which may be true for aught I

know, who was and still am ignorant of the etiquette in such cases. This

silly affair, however, greatly increased his rancour against me, which

was before considerable, on account of my conduct in the Assembly

respecting the exemption of his estate from taxation, which I had always

opposed very warmly, and not without severe reflections on the meanness

and injustice in contending for it. He accused me to the ministry as

being the great obstacle to the king's service, preventing, by my

influence in the house, the proper form of the bills for raising money;

and he instanced the parade with my officers as a proof of my having an

intention to take the government of the province out of his hands by

force. He also applied to Sir Everard Faukener, the postmaster-general,

to deprive me of my office; but it had no other effect than to procure

from Sir Everard a gentle admonition.

Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the governor and the

house, in which I, as a member, had so large a share, there still

subsisted a civil intercourse between that gentleman and myself, and we

never had any personal difference. I have sometimes since thought, that

his little or no resentment against me, for the answers it was known I

drew up to his messages, might be the effect of professional habit, and

that, being bred a lawyer, he might consider us both as merely advocates

for contending clients in a suit; he for the proprietaries, and I for

the Assembly: he would, therefore, sometimes call in a friendly way to

advise with me on difficult points; and sometimes, though not often,

take my advice. We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army with

provisions; and when the shocking news arrived of his defeat, the

governor sent in haste for me, to consult with him on measures for

preventing the desertion of the back counties. I forget now the advice I

gave, but I think it was that Dunbar should be written to, and prevailed

with, if possible, to post his troops on the frontiers for their

protection, until, by re-enforcements from the colonies, he might be

able to proceed in the expedition: and, after my return from the

frontier, he would have had me undertake the conduct of such an

expedition with provincial troops, for the reduction of Fort Duquesne

(Dunbar and his men being otherwise employed); and he proposed to

commission me as a general. I had not so good an opinion of my military

abilities as he professed to have, and I believe his professions must

have exceeded his real sentiments: but probably he might think that my

popularity would facilitate the business with the men, and influence in

the Assembly the grant of money to pay for it; and that, perhaps,

without taxing the proprietary. Finding me not so forward to engage as

he expected, the project was dropped; and he soon after left the

government, being superseded by Captain Denny.

Before I proceed in relating the part I had in public affairs under this

new governor's administration, it may not be amiss to give here some

account of the rise and progress of my philosophical reputation.

In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. Spence, who was lately

arrived from Scotland, and showed me some electric experiments. They

were imperfectly performed, as he was not very expert; but, being on a

subject quite new to me, they equally surprised and pleased me. Soon

after my return to Philadelphia, our library company received from Mr.

Peter Collinson, F.R.S., of London, a present of a glass tube, with some

account of the use of it in making such experiments. I eagerly seized

the opportunity of repeating what I had seen at Boston; and, by much

practice, acquired great readiness in performing those also which we had

an account of from England, adding a number of new ones. I say much

practice, for my house was constantly full for some time with persons

who came to see these new wonders. To divide a little this encumbrance

among my friends, I caused a number of similar tubes to be blown in our

glasshouse, with which they furnished themselves, so that we had at

length several performers. Among these the principal was Mr. Kinnersly,

an ingenious neighbour, who, being out of business, I encouraged to

undertake showing the experiments for money, and drew up for him two

lectures, in which the experiments were ranged in such order, and

accompanied with explanations in such method, as that the foregoing

should assist in comprehending the following. He procured an elegant

apparatus for the purpose, in which all the little machines that I had

roughly made for myself were neatly formed by instrument-makers. His

lectures were well-attended and gave great satisfaction; and, after some

time, he went through the colonies, exhibiting them in every capital

town, and picked up some money. In the West India islands, indeed, it

was with difficulty the experiments could be made, from the general

moisture of the air.

Obliged as we were to Mr. Collinson for the present of the tube, &c., I

thought it right he should be informed of our success in using it, and

wrote him several letters containing accounts of our experiments. He got

them read in the Royal Society, where they were not at first thought

worth so much notice as to be printed in their transactions. One paper

which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersly, on the sameness of lightning with

electricity, I sent to Mr. Mitchel, an acquaintance of mine, and one of

the members also of that society; who wrote me word that it had been

read, but was laughed at by the connoisseurs. The papers, however, being

shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of too much value to be

stifled, and advised the printing of them. Mr. Collinson then gave them

to _Cave_ for publication in his _Gentleman's Magazine_; but he chose to

print them separately in a pamphlet, and Dr. Fothergill wrote the

preface. _Cave_, it seems, judged rightly for his profession; for, by

the additions that arrived afterward, they swelled to a quarto volume;

which has had five editions, and cost him nothing for copy-money.

It was, however, some time before those papers were much taken notice of

in England. A copy of them happening to fall into the hands of the Count

de Buffon (a philosopher deservedly of great reputation in France, and,

indeed, all over Europe), he prevailed with Monsieur Dubourg to

translate them into French; and they were printed at Paris. The

publication offended the Abbe Nollet, preceptor in Natural Philosophy to

the royal family, and an able experimenter, who had formed and published

a theory of electricity, which then had the general vogue. He could not

at first believe that such a work came from America, and said it must

have been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to oppose his system.

Afterward, having been assured that there really existed such a person

as Franklin at Philadelphia (which he had doubted), he wrote and

published a volume of letters, chiefly addressed to me, defending his

theory, and denying the verity of my experiments, and of the positions

deduced from them. I once purposed answering the abbe, and actually

began the answer; but, on consideration that my writings contained a

description of experiments which any one might repeat and verify, and,

if not to be verified, could not be defended; or of observations offered

as _conjectures_, and not delivered dogmatically, therefore not laying

me under any obligation to defend them; and reflecting that a dispute

between two persons, written in different languages, might be lengthened

greatly by mistranslations, and thence misconceptions of another's

meaning, much of one of the abbe's letters being founded on an error in

the translation, I concluded to let my papers shift for themselves,

believing it was better to spend what time I could spare from public

business in making new experiments than in disputing about those already

made. I therefore never answered Monsieur Nollet, and the event gave me

no cause to repent my silence; for my friend, Monsieur Le Roy, of the

Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and refuted him: my book was

translated into the Italian, German, and Latin languages; and the

doctrine it contained was, by degrees, generally adopted by the

philosophers of Europe, in preference to that of the abbe; so that he

lived to see himself the last of his sect, except Monsieur B----, of

Paris, his _eleve_ and immediate disciple.

What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, was the success

of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messieurs Dalibard and

Delor, at Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This engaged the

public attention everywhere. Monsieur Delor, who had an apparatus for

experimental philosophy, and lectured in that branch of science,

undertook to repeat what he called the _Philadelphia experiments_; and

after they were performed before the king and court, all the curious of

Paris flocked to see them. I will not swell this narrative with an

account of that capital experiment, nor of the infinite pleasure I

received in the success of a similar one I made soon after with a kite

at Philadelphia, as both are to be found in the histories of

electricity. Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to a

friend, who was of the Royal Society, an account of the high esteem my

experiments were in among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that

my writings had been so little noticed in England. The society, on this,

resumed the consideration of the letters that had been read to them, and

the celebrated Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of them, and of all

I had afterward sent to England on the subject, which he accompanied

with some praise of the writer. This summary was then printed in their

transactions: and some members of the society in London, particularly

the very ingenious Mr. Canton, having verified the experiment of

procuring lightning from the clouds by a pointed rod, and acquainted

them with the success, they soon made me more than amends for the slight

with which they had before treated me. Without my having made any

application for that honour, they chose me a member; and voted that I

should be excused the customary payments, which would have amounted to

twenty-five guineas; and ever since have given me their transactions

gratis.[12] They also presented me with the gold medal of Sir Godfrey

Copley, for the year 1753, the delivery of which was accompanied by a

very handsome speech of the president, Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was

highly honoured.

Our new governor, Captain Denny, brought over for me the

before-mentioned medal from the Royal Society, which he presented to me

at an entertainment given him by the city. He accompanied it with very

polite expressions of his esteem for me, having, as he said, been long

acquainted with my character. After dinner, when the company, as was

customary at that time, were engaged in drinking, he took me aside into

another room, and acquainted me that he had been advised by his friends

in England to cultivate a friendship with me, as one who was capable of

giving him the best advice, and of contributing most effectually to

render his administration easy. That he therefore desired of all things

to have a good understanding with me, and he begged me to be assured of

his readiness on all occasions to render me any service that might be in

his power. He said much to me also of the proprietors' good disposition

towards the province, and of the advantage it would be to us all, and to

me in particular, if the opposition that had been so long continued to

his measures was dropped, and harmony restored between him and the

people, in effecting which it was thought no one could be more

serviceable than myself; and I might depend on adequate acknowledgments

and recompenses, &c. The drinkers, finding we did not return immediately

to the table, sent us a decanter of Madeira, which the governor made

liberal use of, and, in proportion, became more profuse of his

solicitations and promises. My answers were to this purpose; that my

circumstances, thanks to God, were such as to make proprietary favours

unnecessary to me; and that, being a member of the Assembly, I could not

possibly accept of any; that, however, I had no personal enmity to the

proprietary, and that, whenever the public measures he proposed should

appear to be for the good of the people, no one would espouse and

forward them more zealously than myself; my past opposition had been

founded on this, that the measures which had been urged were evidently

intended to serve the proprietary interest with great prejudice to that

of the people. That I was much obliged to him (the governor) for his

profession of regard to me, and that he might rely on everything in my

power to render his administration as easy as possible, hoping, at the

same time, that he had not brought the same unfortunate instructions his

predecessors had been hampered with. On this he did not then explain

himself; but when he afterward came to do business with the Assembly,

they appeared again; the disputes were renewed, and I was as active as

ever in the opposition, being the penman, first of the request to have a

communication of the instructions, and then of the remarks upon them,

which may be found in the Votes of the Times, and in the HISTORICAL

REVIEW I afterward published: but between us personally no enmity arose;

we were often together; he was a man of letters, and had seen much of

the world, and was entertaining and pleasing in conversation. He gave

me information that my old friend Ralph was still alive, that he was

esteemed one of the best political writers in England; had been employed

in the dispute between Prince Frederic and the king, and had obtained a

pension of three hundred pounds a year; that his reputation was indeed

small as a poet, but his prose was thought as good as any man's.

The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obstinately persisted in

shackling the deputies with instructions, inconsistent not only with the

privileges of the people, but with the service of the crown, resolved to

petition the king against them, and appointed me their agent to go over

to England to present and support the petition. The house had sent up a

bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty thousand pounds for the

king's use (ten thousand pounds of which was subjected to the orders of

the then general, Lord Loudon), which the governor, in compliance with

his instructions, absolutely refused to pass. I had agreed with Captain

Morris, of the packet at New-York, for my passage, and my stores were

put on board; when Lord Loudon arrived at Philadelphia, expressly, as he

told me, to endeavour an accommodation between the governor and

Assembly, that his majesty's service might not be obstructed by their

dissensions. Accordingly, he desired the governor and myself to meet

him, that he might hear what was to be said on both sides. We met and

discussed the business: in behalf of the Assembly, I urged the various

arguments that may be found in the public papers of that time, which

were of my writing, and are printed with the minutes of the Assembly;

and the governor pleaded his instructions, the bond he had given to

observe them, and his ruin if he disobeyed; yet seemed not unwilling to

hazard himself if Lord Loudon would advise it. This his lordship did not

choose to do, though I once thought I had nearly prevailed with him to

do it; but finally he rather chose to urge the compliance of the

Assembly; and he entreated me to use my endeavours with them for that

purpose, declaring that he would spare none of the king's troops for the

defence of our frontiers, and that, if we did not continue to provide

for that defence ourselves, they must remain exposed to the enemy. I

acquainted the house with what had passed, and presenting them with a

set of resolutions I had drawn up, declaring our rights, that we did not

relinquish our claim to those rights, but only suspended the exercise of

them on this occasion, through _force_, against which we protested, they

at length agreed to drop the bill, and frame another conformably to the

proprietary instructions; this, of course, the governor passed, and I

was then at liberty to proceed on my voyage. But, in the mean time, the

packet had sailed with my sea stores, which was some loss to me, and my

only recompense was his lordship's thanks for my service, all the credit

of obtaining the accommodation falling to his share.

He set out for New-York before me; and as the time for despatching the

packet-boats was in his disposition, and there were two then remaining

there, one of which, he said, was to sail very soon, I requested to know

the precise time, that I might not miss her by any delay of mine. The

answer was, "I have given out that she is to sail on Saturday next; but

I may let you know, _entre nous_, that if you are there by Monday

morning, you will be in time, but do not delay longer!" By some

accidental hinderance at a ferry, it was Monday noon before I arrived,

and I was much afraid she might have sailed, as the wind was fair; but I

was soon made easy by the information that she was still in the harbour,

and would not move till next day. One would imagine that I was now on

the very point of departing for Europe; I thought so, but I was not then

so well acquainted with his lordship's character, of which _indecision_

was one of the strongest features: I shall give some instances. It was

about the beginning of April that I came to New-York, and I think it was

near the end of June before we sailed. There were then two of the

packet-boats which had been long in readiness, but were detained for the

general's letters, which were always to be ready _to-morrow_. Another

packet arrived; she too was detained, and before we sailed a fourth was

expected. Ours was the first to be despatched, as having been there

longest. Passengers were engaged for all, and some extremely impatient

to be gone, and the merchants uneasy about their letters, and for the

orders they had given for ensurance (it being war-time) and for autumnal

goods; but their anxiety availed nothing; his lordship's letters were

not ready: and yet, whoever waited on him found him always at his desk,

pen in hand, and concluded he must needs write abundantly. Going myself

one morning to pay my respects, I found in his antechamber one Innis, a

messenger of Philadelphia, who had come thence express, with a packet

from Governor Denny for the general. He delivered to me some letters

from my friends there, which occasioned my inquiring when he was to

return, and where he lodged, that I might send some letters by him. He

told me he was ordered to call to-morrow at nine for the general's

answer to the governor, and should set off immediately; I put my letters

into his hands the same day. A fortnight after I met him again in the

same place. "So you are soon returned, Innis!" "Returned; no, I am not

gone yet." "How so?" "I have called here this and every morning these

two weeks past for his lordship's letters, and they are not yet ready."

"Is it possible, when he is so great a writer; for I see him constantly

at his escritoir." "Yes," said Innis, "but he is like St. George on the

signs; _always on horseback but never rides on_." This observation of

the messenger was, it seems, well founded; for, when in England, I

understood that Mr. Pitt (afterward Lord Chatham) gave it as one reason

for removing this general and sending Generals Amherst and Wolf, _that

the minister never heard from him, and could not know what he was

doing_.

This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three packets going down

to Sandy Hook to join the fleet there, the passengers thought it best to

be on board, lest, by a sudden order, the ships should sail and they be

left behind. There, if I remember, we were about six weeks, consuming

our sea stores and obliged to procure more. At length the fleet sailed,

the general and all his army on board bound to Louisburg, with intent to

besiege and take that fortress; all the packet-boats in company ordered

to attend the general's ship, ready to receive his despatches when they

should be ready. We were out five days before we got a letter with leave

to part, and then our ship quitted the fleet and steered for England.

The other two packets he still detained, carried them with him to

Halifax, where he stayed some time to exercise his men in sham attacks

upon sham forts; then altered his mind as to besieging Louisburg, and

returned to New-York with all his troops, together with the two packets

above mentioned, and all their passengers! During his absence the French

and savages had taken Fort George, on the frontier of that province, and

the Indians had massacred many of the garrison after capitulation. I saw

afterward in London Captain Bound, who commanded one of those packets;

he told me that when he had been detained a month, he acquainted his

lordship that his ship was grown foul to a degree that must necessarily

hinder her fast sailing (a point of consequence for a packet-boat), and

requested an allowance of time to heave her down and clean her bottom.

His lordship asked how long a time that would require. He answered,

Three days. The general replied, "If you can do it in one day, I give

leave, otherwise not; for you must certainly sail the day after

to-morrow." So he never obtained leave, though detained afterward from

day to day during full three months. I saw also in London one of

Bonell's passengers, who was so enraged against his lordship for

deceiving and detaining him so long at New-York, and then carrying him

to Halifax and back again, that he swore he would sue him for damages.

Whether he did or not I never heard; but, as he represented it, the

injury to his affairs was very considerable. On the whole, I wondered

much how such a man came to be intrusted with so important a business as

the conduct of a great army: but having since seen more of the great

world, and the means of obtaining, and motives for giving places and

employments, my wonder is diminished. General Shirley, on whom the

command of the army devolved upon the death of Braddock, would, in my

opinion, if continued in place, have made a much better campaign than

that of Loudon in 1756, which was frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful

to our nation beyond conception. For though Shirley was not bred a

soldier, he was sensible and sagacious in himself, and attentive to good

advice from others, capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and

active in carrying them into execution. Loudon, instead of defending the

colonies with his great army, left them totally exposed, while he

paraded idly at Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost; besides,

he deranged all our mercantile operations, and distressed our trade by a

long embargo on the exportation of provisions, on pretence of keeping

supplies from being obtained by the enemy, but in reality for beating

down their price in favour of the contractors, in whose profits, it was

said (perhaps from suspicion only), he had a share; and when at length

the embargo was taken off, neglected to send notice of it to

Charleston, where the Carolina fleet was detained near three months, and

whereby their bottoms were so much damaged by the worm that a great part

of them foundered in their passage home. Shirley was, I believe,

sincerely glad of being relieved from so burdensome a charge as the

conduct of an army must be to a man unacquainted with military business.

I was at the entertainment given by the city of New-York to Lord Loudon,

on his taking upon him the command. Shirley, though thereby superseded,

was present also. There was a great company of officers, citizens, and

strangers; and some chairs having been borrowed in the neighbourhood,

there was one among them very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley.

I sat by him, and perceiving it, I said, they have given you a very low

seat. "No matter, Mr. Franklin," said he, "I find a _low seat_ the

easiest."

While I was, as before mentioned, detained at New-York, I received all

the accounts of the provisions, &c., that I had furnished to Braddock,

some of which accounts could not sooner be obtained from the different

persons I had employed to assist in the business; I presented them to

Lord Loudon, desiring to be paid the balance. He caused them to be

examined by the proper officer, who, after comparing every article with

its voucher, certified them to be right; and his lordship promised to

give me an order on the paymaster for the balance due to me. This was,

however, put off from time to time; and though I called often for it by

appointment, I did not get it. At length, just before my departure, he

told me he had, on better consideration, concluded not to mix his

accounts with those of his predecessors. "And you," said he, "when in

England, have only to exhibit your accounts to the treasury, and you

will be paid immediately." I mentioned, but without effect, a great and

unexpected expense I had been put to by being detained so long at

New-York, as a reason for my desiring to be presently paid; and on my

observing that it was not right I should be put to any farther trouble

or delay in obtaining the money I had advanced, as I charged no

commission for my service, "Oh," said he, "you must not think of

persuading us that you are no gainer: we understand better those

matters, and know that every one concerned in supplying the army, finds

means, in the doing it, to fill his own pockets." I assured him that was

not my case, and that I had not pocketed a farthing; but he appeared

clearly not to believe me; and, indeed, I afterward learned, that

immense fortunes are often made in such employments: as to my balance, I

am not paid it to this day, of which more hereafter.

Our captain of the packet boasted much before we sailed of the swiftness

of his ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she proved the dullest

of ninety-six sail, to his no small mortification. After many

conjectures respecting the cause, when we were near another ship, almost

as dull as ours, which, however, gained upon us, the captain ordered all

hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as possible. We

were, passengers included, about forty persons; while we stood there,

the ship mended her pace, and soon left her neighbour far behind, which

proved clearly what our captain suspected, that she was loaded too much

by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had been placed forward;

these he therefore ordered to be moved farther aft, on which the ship

recovered her character, and proved the best sailer in the fleet. The

captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen knots, which is

accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had on board, as a passenger,

Captain Archibald Kennedy, of the royal navy, afterward Earl of

Cassilis, who contended that it was impossible, and that no ship ever

sailed so fast, and that there must have been some error in the

division of the logline, or some mistake in heaving the log. A wager

ensued between the two captains, to be decided when there should be

sufficient wind: Kennedy therefore examined the logline, and, being

satisfied with it, he determined to throw the log himself. Some days

after, when the wind was very fair and fresh, and the captain of the

packet (Lutwidge) said he believed she then went at the rate of thirteen

knots, Kennedy made the experiment, and owned his wager lost. The

foregoing fact I give for the sake of the following observation: it has

been remarked, as an imperfection in the art of shipbuilding, that it

can never be known till she is tried whether a new ship will or will not

be a good sailer; for that the model of a good sailing ship has been

exactly followed in a new one, which has been proved, on the contrary,

remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly be occasioned by the

different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of loading, rigging,

and sailing of a ship; each has his method; and the same vessel, laden

by the method and orders of one captain, shall sail worse than when by

the orders of another. Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is

formed, fitted for the sea, and sailed by the same person; one man

builds the hull, another rigs her, a third loads and sails her. No one

of these has the advantage of knowing all the ideas and experience of

the others, and, therefore, cannot draw just conclusions from a

combination of the whole. Even in the simple operation of sailing when

at sea, I have often observed different judgments in the officers who

commanded the successive watches, the wind being the same. One would

have the sails trimmed sharper than another, so that they seemed to have

no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of experiments might be

instituted, first, to determine the most proper form of the hull for

swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and most proper place for the

masts; then the form and quantity of sails, and their position as the

winds may be; and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age

of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combined would be

of great use.

We were several times chased in our passage, but outsailed everything;

and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good observation, and the

captain judged himself so near our port (Falmouth), that if we made a

good run in the night, we might be off the mouth of that harbour in the

morning; and, by running in the night, might escape the notice of the

enemy's privateers, who often cruised near the entrance of the channel.

Accordingly all sail was set that we could possibly carry, and the wind

being very fresh and fair, we stood right before it, and made great way.

The captain, after his observation, shaped his course, as he thought, so

as to pass wide of the Scilly rocks; but it seems there is sometimes a

strong current setting up St. George's Channel, which formerly caused

the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's Squadron (in 1707): this was

probably also the cause of what happened to us. We had a watchman placed

in the bow, to whom they often called, "_Look well out before there_;"

and he as often answered, "_Ay, ay_;" but perhaps had his eyes shut, and

was half asleep at the time; they sometimes answering, as is said,

mechanically: for he did not see a light just before us, which had been

hid by the studding sails from the man at the helm and from the rest of

the watch, but by an accidental yaw of the ship was discovered, and

occasioned a great alarm, we being very near it; the light appearing to

me as large as a cart wheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast

asleep; but Captain Kennedy, jumping upon deck and seeing the danger,

ordered the ship to wear round, all sails standing; an operation

dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, and we avoided

shipwreck, for we were running fast on the rocks on which the light was

erected. This deliverance impressed me strong with the utility of

light-houses, and made me resolve to encourage the building some of them

in America, if I should live to return thither.

In the morning it was found by our soundings, &c., that we were near our

port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About nine o'clock

the fog began to rise, and seemed to be lifted up from the water like

the curtain of a theatre, discovering underneath the town of Falmouth,

the vessels in the harbour, and the fields that surround it. This was a

pleasing spectacle to those who had been long without any other prospect

than the uniform view of a vacant ocean! and it gave us the more

pleasure, as we were now free from the anxieties which had arisen.[13]

I set out immediately, with my son,[14] for London, and we only stopped

a little by the way to view Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain; and Lord

Pembroke's house and gardens, with the very curious antiquities at

Wilton.

We arrived in London, July 27th, 1757.

[Conclusion of Memoirs written by himself.]

FOOTNOTES:

[10] This little book is dated _Sunday_, 1st _July_, 1773, and is in the

possession of Mr. W. T. Franklin: a copy was also in the possession of

the late B. T. Bache.

[11] Fothergill (John), F.R.S., an eminent physician, born in 1712, at

Carr End, in Yorkshire, of Quaker parents, died in 1780.

[12] Dr. Franklin gives a farther account of his election in the

following extract of a letter to his son, Governor Franklin.

"London, Dec. 19, 1767.

"We have had an ugly affair at the Royal Society lately. One

Dacosti, a Jew, who, as our clerk, was intrusted with collecting

our moneys, has been so unfaithful as to embezzle near thirteen

hundred pounds in four years. Being one of the council this year as

well as the last, I have been employed all the last week in

attending the inquiry into, and unravelling his accounts, in order

to come at a full knowledge of his frauds. His securities are bound

in one thousand pounds to the society, which they will pay, but we

are like to lose the rest. He had this year received twenty-six

admission payments of twenty-five guineas each, which he did not

bring to account.

"While attending this affair, I had an opportunity of looking over

the old council books and journals of the society; and having a

curiosity to see how I came in (of which I had never been

informed), I looked back for the minutes relating to it. You must

know it is not usual to admit persons that have not requested to be

admitted; and a recommendatory certificate in favour of the

candidate, signed by at least three of the members is by our rule

to be presented to the society, expressing that he is desirous of

that honour, and is so and so qualified. As I had never asked or

expected the honour, I was, as I said before, curious to see how

the business was managed. I found that the certificate, worded very

advantageously for me, was signed by Lord Macclesfield, then

president, Lord Parker, and Lord Willoughby; that the election was

by a unanimous vote; and the honour being voluntarily conferred by

the society unsolicited by me, it was thought wrong to demand or

receive the usual fees or composition; so that my name was entered

on the list with a vote of council _that I was not to pay

anything_. And, accordingly, nothing has ever been demanded of me.

Those who are admitted in the common way pay five guineas as

admission fees, and two guineas and a half yearly contribution, or

twenty five guineas down in lieu of it. In my case a substantial

favour accompanied the honour."

[13] In a letter from Dr. Franklin to his wife, dated at Falmouth, the

17th July, 1757, after giving her a similar account of his voyage,

escape, and landing, he adds, "The bell ringing for church, we went

thither immediately, and, with hearts full of gratitude, returned

sincere thanks to God for the mercies we had received."

[14] William Franklin, afterward governor of New-Jersey.

Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself. [Vol. 1 of 2] With His Most Interesting Essays, Letters, and Miscellaneous Writings; Familiar, Moral, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, Selected with Care from All His Published Productions, and Comprising Whatever Is Most Entertaining and Valuable to the General Reader · 第 4 / 6 章

The trustees of the academy, after a while, were incorporated by a