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TO WILLIAM SMITH.

Respecting the new Academy, which had lately been established in Philadelphia.*

SIR,

Philadelphia, 19 April, 1753,

I received your favor of the 11th instant, with your new piece on Education, which I shall carefully peruse, and give you my sentiments of it, as you desire, by next post.

I believe the young gentlemen, your pupils, may be entertained and instructed here, in mathematics and philosophy to satisfaction. Mr. Alison, who was educated at Glasgow, has been long accustomed to teach the latter, and Mr. Grew the former, and I think their pupils make great progress. Mr. Alison has the care of the Latin and Greek school; but, as he has now three good assistants, he can very well afford some

• As early as 1743, Franklin had endeavoured to procure the establastnent of an Academy in Philadelphia. His efforts were not successful till 1749, when, chiefly through his instrumentality, the Academy was institited and went into operation. Franklin was chosen the first president of the Board of Trustees. From this institution arose, first the Counge of Philadelphia, and afterwards the present University of Pessevivania. The Reverend William Smith was appointed Provost of the Academy in 1754, and he filled that office, with distinguished reputatem, at the head of the Academy and College successively, for the period of thirty-seven years, till the University was founded in 1791. A full account of these institutions, in their various stages, may be seen in "Wood's History of the University of Pennsylvania," contained in the third volume of the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. * A General Idea of the College of Mirania. - STUBER.

The Rev. Francis Alison, afterwards Vice-Provost of the College in Paladelphia, — STUBER.

{ Taeoptuius Grew, afterwards Professor of Mathematics in the ColJege STUBER.

| Those assistants were at that time Charles Thomson, afterwards Secretary of Congress, Paul Jackson, and Jacob Duché. - STUBER.

hours every day for the instruction of those, who are engaged in higher studies. The mathematical school is pretty well furnished with instruments. The English Library is a good one, and we have belonging to it a middling apparatus for experimental philosophy, and purpose speedily to complete it. The Loganian Library, one of the best collections in America, will shortly be opened; so that neither books nor instruments will be wanting; and, as we are determined always to give good salaries, we have reason to believe we may have always an opportunity of choosing good masters; upon which, indeed, the success of the whole depends. We are obliged to you for your kind offers in this respect; and, when you are settled in England, we may occasionally make use of your friendship and judgment.

If it suits your conveniency to visit Philadelphia, before your return to Europe, I shall be extremely glad to see and converse with you here, as well as to correspond with you after your settlement in England. For an acquaintance and communication with men of learning, virtue, and public spirit, is one of my greatest enjoyments.

I do not know whether you ever happened to see the first proposals I made for erecting this Academy. I send them enclosed. They had, however imperfect, the desired success, being followed by a subscription of four thousand pounds towards carrying them into execution. And, as we are fond of receiving advice, and are daily improving by experience, I am in hopes we shall, in a few years, see a perfect institution. I am, very respectfully, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

TO WILLIAM SMITH.

Critical Remarks on his Scheme of Education.

SIR,

Philadelphia, 3 May, 1753.

Mr. Peters has just now been with me, and we have compared notes on your new piece. We find nothing in the scheme of education, however excellent, but what is, in our opinion, very practicable. The great difficulty will be, to find the Aratus, and other suitable persons, to carry it into execution; but such may be had if proper encouragement be given. We have both received great pleasure in the perusal of it. For my part, I know not when I have read a piece that has more affected me; so noble and just are the sentiments, so warm and animated the language; yet, as censure from your friends may be of more use, as well as more agreeable to you, than praise, I ought to mention, that I wish you had omitted, not only the quotation from the Review, which you are now justly dissatisfied with, but those expressions of resentment against your adversaries, in pages 65 and 79. In such cases, the noblest victory is obtained by neglect, and by shining on.

Mr. Allen has been out of town these ten days; but, before he went, he directed me to procure him SIX copies of your piece. Mr. Peters has taken ten.

• The name given to the principal or head of the ideal college, the system of education in which has nevertheless been nearly realized, or followed as a model, in the College and Academy of Philadelphis, and some other American seminaries, for many years past. — STUBER.

+ I be quotation siluded to (from the “London Monthly Review" for 1709) was judged to reflect too severely on the discipline and government of the English Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and was expunged from the following editions of this work. — STUBER.

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He purposed to have written to you, but omits it, as he expects so soon to have the pleasure of seeing you here. He desires me to present his affectionate compliments to you, and to assure you that you will be very welcome to him. I shall only say, that you may depend on my doing all in my power to make your visit to Philadelphia agreeable to you. I am, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

TO PETER COLLINSON.

Poverty and Idleness. Difficulty of Instructing the Indians in the Arts of Civilized Life. - Condition and Character of the Germans in Pennsylvania.

SIR,

Philadelphia, 9 May, 1753.

I thank you for the kind and judicious remarks you have made on my little piece. I have often observed with wonder that temper of the poorer English laborers which you mention, and acknowledge it to be pretty general. When any of them happen to come here, where labor is much better paid than in England, their industry seems to diminish in equal proportion. But it is not so with the German laborers; they retain the habitual industry and frugality they bring with them, and, receiving higher wages, an accumulation arises that makes them all rich. When I consider, that the English are the offspring of Germans, that the climate they live in is much of the same temperature, and when I see nothing in nature that should create this difference, I am tempted to suspect it must arise from the constitution; and I have sometimes doubted whether the laws peculiar to England, which compel the rich to maintain the poor, have not given the latter a dependence, that very much lessens the care of providing against the wants of old age.

I have heard it remarked that the poor in Protestant countries, on the continent of Europe, are generally more industrious than those of Popish countries. May not the more numerous foundations in the latter for relief of the poor have some effect towards rendering them less provident? To relieve the misfortunes of our fellow creatures is concurring with the Deity; it is godlike; but, if we provide encouragement for laziness, and support for folly, may we not be found fighting against the order of God and nature, which perhaps has appointed want and misery as the proper punishments for, and cautions against, as well as necessary consequences of, idleness and extravagance? Whenever we attempt to amend the scheme of Providence, and to interfere with the government of the world, we had need be very circumspect, lest we do more harm than good. In New England they once thought blackbirds useless, and mischievous to the corn. They made efforts to destroy them. The consequence was, the blackbirds were diminished; but a kind of worm, which devoured their grass, and which the blackbirds used to feed on, increased prodigiously; then, finding their loss in grass much greater than their saving in corn, they wished again for their blackbirds.

We had here some years since a Transylvanian Tartar, who had travelled much in the East, and came hither merely to see the West, intending to go home through the Spanish West Indies, China, &c. He asked me one day, what I thought might be the reason, that so many and such numerous nations, as the Tartars in Europe and Asia, the Indians in America, and the Negroes in Africa, continued a wandering, careless Lie, and refused to live in cities, and cultivate the arts they saw practised by the civilized parts of mankind? While I was considering what answer to make him

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