issue against England made patriotism common. His patriotism had not root in any revolutionary element in his temper, but was the inevitable outcome of his fair-mindedness. That which was unfair as between man and man first aroused his ire against the grinding proprietaries; and afterward it was the unfairness of taxation without representation which especially incensed him; for an intellect of the breadth and clearness of his sees and loves justice above all things. During the struggle of the States no man was more hearty in the cause than Franklin; and the depth of feeling shown in his letters, simple and unrhetorical as they are, is impressive. All that he had he gave. What also strikes the reader of his writings is the broad national spirit which he manifested. He had an immense respect for the dignity of America; he was perhaps fortunately saved from disillusionment by his distance from home. But be this as it may, the way in which he felt and therefore genuinely talked about his nation and his country was not without its moral effect in Europe.
Intellectually there are few men who are Franklin's peers in all the ages and nations. He covered, and covered well, vast ground. The reputation of doing and knowing various unrelated things is wont to bring suspicion of perfunctoriness; but the ideal of the human intellect is an understanding to which all knowledge and all activity are germane. There have been a few, very few minds which have approximated toward this ideal, and among them
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.ch/books/content?id=_oQcAAAAMAAJ&hl=de&output=html_text&pg=PA419&img=1&zoom=3&q=editions:UOM39015027014458&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2Ftn78QsGUR_d7cRP5CrtTRqP6-g&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=455,708,19,12)
Franklin's is prominent. He was one of the most distinguished scientists who have ever lived. Bancroft calls him "the greatest diplomatist of his century." His ingenious and useful devices and inventions were very numerous. He possessed a masterly shrewdness in business and practical affairs. He was a profound thinker and preacher in morals and on the conduct of life; so that with the exception of the founders of great religions it would be difficult to name any persons who have more extensively influenced the ideas, motives, and habits of life of men. He was one of the most, perhaps the most agreeable conversationist of his age. He was a rare wit and humorist, and in an age when "American humor was still unborn, amid contemporaries who have left no trace of a jest, still less of the faintest appreciation of humor, all which he said and wrote was brilliant with both these most charming qualities of the human mind. Though sometimes lax in points of grammar, was much the custom in his day, he wrote as delightful a style as is to be found in all English literature, and that too when the stilted, verbose, and turgid habit was tediously prevalent. He was a man who impressed his ability upon all who met him; so that the abler the man and the more experienced in judging men, the higher did he rate Franklin when brought into direct contact with him; politicians and statesmen of Europe, distrustful and sagacious, trained readers and valu
1 Bancroft, Hist. U. S., ix. 134.
ers of men, gave him the rare honor of placing confidence not only in his personal sincerity, but in his broad fair-mindedness, a mental quite as much as a moral trait.
It is hard indeed to give full expression to a man of such scope in morals, in mind, and in affairs. He illustrates humanity in an astonishing multiplicity of ways at an infinite number of points. He, more than any other, seems to show us how manysided our human nature is. No individual, of course, fills the entire circle; but if we can imagine a circumference which shall express humanity, we can place within it no one man who will reach out to approach it and to touch it at so many points as will Franklin. A man of active as well as universal good-will, of perfect trustfulness towards all dwellers on the earth, of supreme wisdom expanding over all the interests of the race, none has earned a more kindly loyalty. By the instruction which he gave, by his discoveries, by his inventions, and by his achievements in public life he earns the distinction of having rendered to men varied and useful services excelled by no other one man ; thus he has established a claim upon the gratitude of mankind so broad that history holds few who can be his rivals.
ADAMS, Abigail, on Franklin, 208.
Adams, John, 109, 217, 281, 284, 353,
367, 378, 383, 391, 395, 414; at the
conference with Lord Howe, 212-
214; remarks concerning Franklin,
232, 234, 333, 340; in the Williams
quarrel, 262; concerning rum, 273;
feeling toward France, 283 note;
arrival in Paris, and extreme ac-
tivity there, 290-292; share in the
quarrels there, 292; advises to break
up the French commission, 293, 294;
returns home, 294; letter to, 318;
drafts on, and financial labors in
Holland, 326-328; unpopular at the
French court, 335; relations with
Franklin, 336, 337, 338, 340, 341,
342; return to Paris as peace com-
missioner, 355, 357; trouble with
de Vergennes, 345-349; consequent
wrath against Franklin, 350; disap-
proves Oswald's commission, 368;
approves of treating without com-
munication with de Vergennes, 373;
his part in the negotiations, 375,
386, 394; testimony in behalf of
Franklin, 384; feud with Franklin,
385.
Adams, Samuel, 106, 109, 333, 414;
opposes Franklin's nomination as
agent for Massachusetts, 136; pro-
jects a New England Confederacy,
"Alliance," officers of, 313.
Arnold, General, 208.
"Art of Virtue," scheme for book,
30-32.
Austin, J. L., brings news of Bur-
goyne's defeat, 267; secret mission
to England, 268.
Bache, Richard, marries Franklin's
daughter, 201.
Bancroft, Edward, 258; tells story
about Franklin's coat, 189, 280; a
spy, 221, 227.
Beaumarchais, Caron de, early career,
222; meets Arthur Lee, 222; es-
pouses colonial cause, 223; estab-
lishes firm of Hortalez & Co., 226-
228; relations with Deane, 234, 235,
237; suspected by Lee, 235; at Bur-
goyne's surrender, 267; claims on
cargoes of rice and indigo, 305, 306.
Bedford, Duke of, 113; opposed to
raising a colonial army, 51.
Bollan, Mr., agent for council of Mas-
sachusetts Bay, 153; in affair of the
Hutchinson letters and privy coun-
cil hearing, 183, 185.
"Bon Homme Richard," 297, 298.
Bond, Dr., aided by Franklin in es-
tablishing hospital, 40.
Braddock, General, 50; visited by
Franklin, 52; expedition, 50 et
seq.; praises Franklin, 54.
Bradford, editor of rival news-
paper, 12.
Burgoyne, General, 264, 269; news of
defeat, 267; effect of, 331.
Burke, Edmund, 113; on Franklin's
French mission, 230.
Burke, William, pamphlet in favor of
retaining Guadaloupe rather than
Canada in 1760, 78, 79.
"Busybody " papers, 31.
Bute, Earl of, 104, 113, 211.
Camden, Marquis of, counsel for Penns,
67; predicts an American revolt, 81;
befriends the colonies, 117; enters
cabinet, 146.
Canada, question whether to retain it
at peace of 1763, 77-82.
Carmichael, William, 217, 317; praises
Franklin, 341.
Charles, Mr., agent for colonies, exe-
cutes agreement as to taxation, 69.
Chatham, Earl of. See Pitt.
Chaumont, M. Ray de, lends his house
to Franklin, 232.
Choiseul, Duke de, predicts American
independence, 82.
Colden, letter to, 39.
Conway, General, receives office, 113
moves repeal of Stamp Act, 131;
enters cabinet, 146; advises adop-| East India Company, suffers by Eng-
tion of Franklin's ideas, 281; mo-
tion, after news of Yorktown, 359.
Conyngham, the privateersman, 245,
246 et seq.
"Cool thoughts on the Present Situa-
tion," etc., published, 90.
Cooper, Sir Grey, on Franklin's
French mission, 230.
Cooper, Samuel, letter as to Frank-
lin's appointment as agent for Mas-
sachusetts, 137.
Cornwallis, Lord, surrender, 358.
Cumberland, Duke of, forms cabinet,
113; dies, 115.
Cushing, Thomas, letter to, as to
Hutchinson's letters, 177.
Dana, Francis, reliance on Franklin,
338, 341.
Dartmouth, Lord, succeeds Hillsbor-
ough in charge of colonies, 164; re-
lations with Franklin, 164; annoyed
at Governor Hutchinson's behavior,
165; discusses situation with Frank-
lin, 165-167; petition to, for re-
moval of Hutchinson, etc., 181;
achieves nothing for colonies, 191;
Franklin's memorial to, 197.
Deane, Silas, 217, 229, 272, 412; char-
acter and career, 219; arrival in
France, 220, 227; instructions, 221;
relations with Bancroft, 221, 227;
relations with Beaumarchais, 234,
235, 237; traduced by Arthur Lee,
235, and by Izard, 286; defended by
Franklin, 236, 286; sends foreign
officers to the States, 238-240; favors
strong appeal to France, 266; re-
turn home, 286, 290; friendly to
Franklin, 393.
Declaration of rights, 123.
De Grey, Lord Chief Justice, 184.
De la Luzerne, minister to States, 346,
357, 382.
Denham,
offers Franklin a clerk-
ship, 9; dies, 10.
Despencer, Lord le, breakfast party
at his house, 134.
D'Estaing, Admiral, sails, 282.
De Weissenstein, letter from, and re-
ply, 352-354.
Dickinson, John, 170; speech of, 93;
opposition to election of Franklin as
agent for Pennsylvania, 96, 97; de-
sires to petition Parliament, 204,
215.
Digges, rascality of, 260, 359.
"Dissertation on Liberty and Necessi-
ty, Pleasure and Pain," published, 9;
Franklin's subsequent opinion of, 25.
Dubourg, Dr., letter to Franklin, 228.
Dunning, Mr., counsel for Franklin,
185, 186.
Folger, Abiah, wife of Joseph Frank-
lin, 2.
Fox, Charles, 268, attacks Lord
North about the French alliance,
277; in Rockingham cabinet, 360;
differences with Shelburne, 361,
365, 366; retires from office, 366.
Franklin, Benjamin, lineage, 2; birth,
3; intended for the church, 3; ap-
prenticed to his brother, 4; religious
speculations, 5; runs away, 5; be-
ginnings in Philadelphia, 6; returns
home, 7; embarks for England,
under auspices of Sir William Keith,
7; career in London, 8; infidelity,
9; returns home, 10; illness and
epitaph, 10, 11; partnership with
Meredith, 11; establishes a news-
paper, 12, 23; matrimonial schemes,
13; married, 15; establishes a li-
brary, 20; publishes "Poor Rich-
ard's" almanac, 21; as a teacher of
morality, 24 et seq.; religious views,
24 et seq.; scheme for "The Art of
Virtue," 30-32; letter to President
Stiles, 28; project for the "Society
of the Free and Easy," 33; estab-
lishes the Junto, 33; studies lan-
guages, 35; clerk of the General As-
sembly, 35; postmaster at Philadel-
phia, 35; invents a stove, 35; founds
a philosophical society, 36; interest
in agriculture, 36; founds the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, 36; en-
deavors to reorganize the night
watch, 37; establishes the Union
Fire Company, 38; interest in mil-
itary matters, 38; "Plain Truth,"
39; takes a partner, 39; elected to
various offices, 40; commissioner to
treat with the Indians, 40; assists
Dr. Bond to establish his hospital,
40; attends to lighting and cleaning
streets, 42; postmaster general, 42;
made Master of Arts of Harvard and
Yale, 43; deputy to an Indian con-
ference at Albany, 43; proposes a
colonial confederation, 44; writes
letters on Shirley's plan for assem-
bly of governors, 46; early views on
parliamentary taxation of colonies,
46 et seq.; and concerning colonial
representation in parliament, 48;
visits Boston, 49; appointed to
supervise military expenditures, 49;
concerned in Braddock's campaign,
51-54; claims against the govern-
ment for advances, 54; becomes a
colonel, 54-56; scheme for planting
|