tive argumentation, and assumed the much better manner of the modest inquirer. As the best things, however, are liable to abuse, so this Socratic method of conducting an argument may, by an acute and skilful disputant, be made the means of obtaining unfair advantages over one, who, though less expert, may, at the same time, have the more just cause, be the sounder thinker of the two, and much the wiser man. Franklin confesses, that in his youthful zeal and fondness for disputation, he sometimes used his new weapon more for the sake of victory, than truth; that in his eager practice of it, he acquired an adroitness that enabled him occasionally to draw persons, superior to himself in knowledge, into admissions, which, involving consequences they did not foresee, gave him sometimes a nominal triumph, which neither himself nor his cause deserved. It is, however, in this case, as in various others which occurred in his experience, gratifying to find, that his clear good sense and general rectitude of mind enabled him at last, to separate the use from the abuse, and rejecting the latter, to retain the modest and deferential manner of discussion, which is, in truth, the most legitimate effect of the method in question, and the one which, among others, its original inventor intended it should chiefly produce. Franklin states, that after practising it a few years, he laid it aside, retaining only the habit of expressing himself in modest terms, when advancing sentiments open to dispute; never using the word "certainly," or "undoubtedly," or any other having an air of positiveness; but employing the phrase "I conceive," or "I apprehend," or "it seems to me," and the like; a habit which, he takes the occasion to say, he found very advantageous, in his subsequent experience, whenever he sought to obtain the assent of others to his opinions, POSITIVENESS IN ARGUMENT. 29 or his measures. In this he was doubtless correct; and he justly deems this point so important, that he presses it with much earnestness. His remarks are so pithy and so well worthy of attention, that they are here repeated: "As the chief ends of conversation are to inform, or to be informed, to please, or to persuade, I wish wellmeaning and sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good, by a positive assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat most of those purposes for which speech was given to us. In fact, if you wish to instruct others, a positive dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments, may occasion opposition and prevent a candid attention. If you desire instruction and improvement from others, you should not at the same time express yourself fixed in your present opinions. Modest and sensible men, who do not love disputation, will leave you undisturbed in the possession of your errors. In adopting such a manner, you can seldom expect to please your hearers, or to obtain the concurrence you desire. Pope judiciously observes— "Men must be taught, as if you taught them not; He also recommends it to us "To speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence." 3* CHAPTER III. HIS CONNECTION WITH HIS BROTHER'S NEWSPAper. On the 21st of August, 1721, James Franklin began publishing a newspaper. It was called "The New England Courant;" and it is spoken of by Dr. Franklin, in his own narrative of his life, as being the second newspaper, "The Boston News-Letter" having been the first, which appeared in America. In this latter particular, however, writing as he was, from memory, fifty years after the event mentioned, he mistook in his recollection. Dr. Sparks, the learned and accurate editor of the latest and by far the fullest and most valuable collection of Dr. Franklin's writings, has shown that James Franklin's newspaper was not the second, but the fourth, which made its appearance in this country; the first being, as above stated, the Boston News-Letter, commenced April 24, 1704; the second one, the Boston Gazette, started on the 21st of December, 1719; and the third, the American Weekly Mercury, first issued December 22, 1719, at Philadelphia. Some of James Franklin's friends urged him, very strenuously, not to undertake the publication of a newspaper, there being already, as they thought, quite as many as could find support. But the people of this country, whether colonial, or independent, have always HE BEGINS TO WRITE FOR THE PAPER. 31 been much addicted to newspapers; and when, in 1771, Franklin was recounting these early incidents, he took occasion to state, that the number of this class of publications had then increased to not less than twenty-five. Among the acquaintances of James were several, who occasionally furnished him with communications, which enhanced the value of his paper, and helped to extend its circulation. As these persons frequently resorted to the printing-office, the conversation and the favorable reception of their articles by the public, stimulated Benjamin to make trial of his own pen in the same way. To avoid all objection from his brother on account of his youth, or for any other reason, he wrote his pieces in a disguised hand, and at night shoved them under the printing-office door. The first piece having been found by James, he showed it to some of the contributors mentioned, whose remarks upon the performance, made of course without any suspicion of the writer and in his hearing, were such as gave him, to use his own words, "the exquisite pleasure of finding that it met with their approbation; and that, in their different guesses at the author, none were named but men of some character for learning and ingenuity." He modestly adds, that he was probably lucky in his judges, and that they were not really as skilful critics as he then supposed them to be. But, whatever may have been the discernment of his critics, the success of his first effort was so gratifying, that, carefully guarding his secret, he continued in the same way to furnish communications, which proved alike acceptable to the publisher of the paper and its readers; until, as he relates, he had exhausted his stock of ideas for such essays; when he avowed his authorship, and thereupon found himself the object of increased regard and consideration from his brother's acquaintances. But, alas! human nature is weak; and if prophets are without their due honor anywhere, it is among their own kin and in their own house. James seems to have been not a little nettled by this success of his younger brother as a writer. Though he sought to disguise so unamiable a feeling, under the worthier one of an apprehension, that the commendation bestowed on his apprentice might make him too vain, and though there may have been some reason for such apprehension, yet the harsh and bitter temper, which, about this time, began to mark his treatment of Benjamin, but too plainly evinced that his brotherly affection had become soured by some drops of envy. Instead of tempering his authority as a master, with kindness, and with that solicitude for the improvement of his apprentice, which ought, indeed, to be cherished in all such cases, and which, in this instance, were rendered still more obligatory by the ties of nature, he exercised his power oppressively; sometimes, in the excitement of passion, beating his brother, and sometimes exacting from him services which were humiliating. Their differences were frequently laid before their father, a man of clear head, strong sense, and sound judgment; and the fact that his decision was generally in Benjamin's favor, is good evidence of the injustice of the elder brother. From a remark which Dr. Franklin makes in connexion with his account of these matters, it is obvious that James's treatment of him at the period in question, was the means of thus early wakening in his mind, that deep-felt abhorrence of arbitrary power in all its forms, which was so fully developed at a later period of his career, and which became one of the most energetic and controlling emotions of his soul. Of the communications which appeared from time to time in the New England Courant, not a few were of a |