intercourse with society and in all his public acts. To remove such a suspicion, it is only necessary to peruse his writings, and study his history. The tale of his early years is told by himself in his own simple and expressive language, and no one will say, that it is deficient in a lively concern for the welfare of his relatives, or in the natural sympathies of a son and a brother. His circumstances were as humble, and his fortunes as adverse, as those of any of his family; and, before he had gained a competency, many of them had passed off the stage. When his wife died, the last of his sixteen brothers and sisters, except the youngest, had been dead eight years, his father twenty-eight, and his mother twenty. Neither his parents, nor more than two or three of his brothers and sisters, needed his assistance. His brother James died at Newport in Rhode Island, leaving a widow and children, whom he befriended and aided many years. His brother Peter died at an advanced age in Philadelphia, having been established there by Dr. Franklin, and assisted by him in procuring a support. His youngest sister, Jane, who married Edward Mecom, resided the most of her life in Boston, and was left a widow with several children. Her means of support were small, and her misfortunes many; but she was sustained by his affectionate kindness and liberal bounty as long as he lived, of which there are abundant evidences in her letters of grateful acknowledgment. More than any others of the family, she resembled him in the strength of her character and intellect. Her eldest son found a home in his family, till he had learned the printer's trade, when he was set up in business by his uncle. Dr. Franklin met in England a relation of the same name, but of another branch of the family, old and poor, who had an only daughter eleven years of age. This child he took home to his lodgings in London, with no other than charitable motives, and had her educated and maintained at his charge till she was married. No father was ever more kind, devoted, or generous to his own children. His eldest son, William, was his constant companion at home and abroad in his youth, and afterwards the object of his confidence and paternal regard, till he estranged himself by his violent political conduct, sacrificing the ties of kindred to the schemes of ambition. Francis Folger, his second son, died when he was only four years old, of whom his father said, "Though now dead thirty-six years, to this day I cannot think of him without a sigh." His daughter, Sarah, alone remained to soothe his old age, and administer to his last wants in a lingering disease. From her birth she experienced from him all that a father's fondness, indulgence, and counsel could bestow, and he bequeathed to her the principal part of the fortune, which he had acquired by years of laborious industry, and by the habitual practice of his rigid maxims of economy and prudence. On all occasions he was prompt to assist the necessitous, and liberal in his benefactions and deeds of charity. For public objects his contributions were in full proportion to his means. He had a delicate way of giving money, which he called lending it for the good of mankind. To an English clergyman, a prisoner in France, whose wants he relieved by a sum of money, he wrote; "Some time or other you may have an opportunity of assisting with an equal sum a stranger who has equal need of it. Do so. By that means you will discharge any obligation you may suppose yourself under to me. Enjoin him to do the same on occasion. By pursuing such a practice, much good may be done with little money. Let kind offices go round. Mankind are all of a family." This was a common practice with him, by which he could spare the feelings of the receiver, and practically inculcate the maxim of doing good. About the middle of December, 1774, Dr. Franklin received the petition of the first Continental Congress to the King, with a letter from the president of Congress to the several colonial agents in London, requesting them to present the petition. All the agents, except Franklin, Bollan, and Lee, declined acting in the business, alleging that they had no instructions. These three gentlemen, however, carried it to Lord Dartmouth, who, after retaining it one day for perusal, during which a cabinet council was held, agreed to deliver it; and in a short time he informed them, that his Majesty had been pleased to receive it "very graciously," and would lay it before both Houses of Parliament. This was accordingly done, but without any allusion to it in the King's speech, or any message calling the attention of Parliament to the subject. It was sent down with a mass of letters of intelligence, newspapers, and pamphlets, and laid upon the table undistinguished from the other papers with which it was accompanied. The agents requested to be heard at the bar of the House in support of the petition, but were refused. When it came up for consideration, it was rejected by an overwhelming majority, after a heated debate, in which the ministerial members spoke contemptuously of the Americans and of their pretended grievances, and insisted on reducing them to obedience at all events, and by force of arms if that were necessary. While the first Congress was sitting, Galloway, who was a member from Pennsylvania, proposed a VOL. I. 48 FF * plan of union between Great Britain and the colonies, which met with so little success, that there was almost a unanimous voice for not permitting it to be. entered in the journals. Piqued at this slight, and at the defeat of a scheme from which he had formed high expectations, Galloway caused his plan to be printed, in connexion with disrespectful observations on the proceedings of Congress. He sent a copy of it to Dr. Franklin, who, in his reply, without touching upon its merits, gave his ideas of some preliminary articles, which he said ought to be agreed to before any plan of union could be established. These articles included a repeal of the Declaratory Act, and of all the acts of Parliament laying duties on the colonies, all acts altering the charter, constitution, or laws of any colony, all acts restraining manufactures, with a modification of the navigation acts, which should be reënacted by the legislatures of both countries. It was his opinion, however, that no benefit would result to America by a closer union with Great Britain than already existed. For the year past, Dr. Franklin had foreseen, that, if the ministers persevered in their mad projects against the colonies, a rupture between the two countries and a civil war would soon follow; and he used all the means in his power to induce a change of measures. This was known to gentlemen of influence in the opposition, who were striving to effect the same end, and who accordingly sought his counsel and coöperation. Lord Chatham was among those, who condemned the policy and acts of the administration; and he was resolved to make a strenuous effort in Parliament to avert the calamity, which he saw, as he thought, impending over the nation. In the month of August, 1774, while Dr. Franklin was on a visit to Mr. Sargent, at his seat in Kent, he received an invitation from Lord Chatham to visit him at Hayes, his Lordship's residence, which was not far distant. Lord Stanhope called on Dr. Franklin the next day, and accompanied him to Hayes. The conversation turned on American affairs. Lord Chatham spoke feelingly of the late laws against Massachusetts; censured them with severity, and said he had a great esteem for the people of that country, and "hoped they would continue firm, and unite in defending, by all practicable and legal means, their constitutional rights." Dr. Franklin said he was convinced they would do so, and then proceeded to explain the nature and grounds of their complaints, the unconstitutional encroachments of Parliament, and the injustice and impolicy of the measures, which the ministers. were rashly enforcing, and which would inevitably alienate the affections of the colonists, and drive them to desperation and open resistance. His Lordship seemed pleased with his frankness, assented to some of his statements, and raised queries respecting others. He mentioned an opinion prevailing in England, that the Americans were aiming to set up an independent state. Dr. Franklin assured him, that he had at different times travelled from one. end of the continent to the other, conversed with all descriptions of people, and had never heard a hint of this kind from any individual. This declaration referred to the past, and to the actual disposition towards the mother country before the late events, and not to the temper which had been excited by the novel aggressions of the British government; for Dr. Franklin himself, at this very time, as we learn from his conversation with Mr. Quincy, was looking forward to independence, because he was satisfied that the min |