BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 4, Issue 169, 23 October 1880, Page 2

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

[Toirn and Coitntry Journal.] \ It may be, and we hope will be, inter- ! esting to many of the readers of this journal to know something of the men j concerned in one of the most remarkable j eventsintlieworld'shistory. Of theliading . spirits thoso whose lives have become immortalised by their connection with the most extraordinary political struggle and social revulsion of modern times—the name of Benjamin Frauklin. printer, ; poet, patriot, and philosopher, occupies a | foremost place. His wns the guiding ! hand, the brave heart, and the keen in- | telleet that enabled the infant nation to j blossom into a noble maturity. To many | thousands of our readers the history and . wise sayings of" Poor Richard " are known, j Not the less surely are both unknown to other thousands. The mission of this journal is in a large degree educational, | and in the performance of the duty, j " twice told tales " are a necessity. In 1 connection with the recent 4th July celo- j ovation, it hns occurred to us that a few | remarks touching the great. American will ; prove of considerably diversified, if not of I general interest. '[' Benjamin Franklin,an eminent American philosopher ami statesman, born at ■ Boston, in Massachusetts, the 17th of j January 170 G. He was tho youngest son and fifteenth child out of a family J of seventeen children. His father, Josiah i Franklin, emigrated from England to I America in 1G85: he followed the business of tallow-chandler and soapboiler. Benjamin, when only ten years 1 old, was employed in his father's shop in cutting wicks, going errands, &c. ; but becoming soon disgusted with the rnonoI tonous routine of his duties, he conceived ! a strong desire to go to sea. To prevent ! this, his father bound him apprentice to I bis brother James, who was a printer, j Young Franklin had now free access to 1 books, for which he had evinced a fondi noss oven from infancy. He himself ; says be could not remember tho time i when he did not know how to read. I To gratify his thiwt for reading, lie ; would often sit up the greater part of 1 the night. He did not, however, neglect 1 , his duties as printer, and he became in a j few years well skilled iti Ids trade. But i the two brothers could not agree. The I elder appears to have been of a severe ; and passionate temper, which the younger, j as he himself intimates, may have some- j j times provoked by his impertinence. At j I length, when seventeen years of age. young I Franklin left Boston without the knowi ledge of his relations, embarking on a I vessel bound for New York, whence he I proceeded, partly by water, and partly I on foot, to Philadelphia. Here he obj tamed employment as a journeyman ! printer. In the fallowing year, en- 1 j.cotiragcd by the promise of assistance 'from a gentleman in Philadelphia, lie I resolved to set up business for himself. I With this view he went to England in | order to purchase type and other materials | necessary for carryiug on his trade. But | failing to receive the aid which he bad expected from bis pretended friend, he | I was obliged to work as a journeyman in I London, where he remained more than a year. He returned in 1720 to Philadelphia, and in 1729, with ilie assistance of aome friends, estal lashed himself in business. The. next yutr be married Miss Deborah I Read, with whom be had become acquainted j in Philadelphia before he went te England, j : 111 1729, Franklin had become the pro- | I pvietor and editor of n newspaper (the Pennsylvania Gazette), which his talent for writing soon rendered very popular and very profitable, In 1702, he commenced the publication of an almanac, I purporting lo !■■ by Richard Saunders. ■ lie i-ought to make his almanac, like his I j paper, the vehicle of useful information for the people, especially inculcating the virtues of frugality, industry, &a. It wns commonly called Poor Richard's Almanac, under which name it acquited a wide celebrity. By his talents, prudence, and integrity, " Franklin continued to rise in the estimation of the community in which he lived, Until he was rb einod worthy of the highest honours which his country could bestow. Ho was made successively Clerk of the Assembly of Pennsylvania (1730), Postmaster of Philadelphia (1737), and Deputy Pest master-General for the British Colonics (I7e8). A dispute having arisen between the Assembly and the proprietary governors, in consequence of the latter claiming 1 exemption from taxation, Franklin was • sent in 1757 to England to plead the. i cause of the people before the Privy Council. His representations and argti--8 roeuls prevailed, and it was decided that r the estates of the proprietaries should bear 5 their due proportion of the public burdens. 1 On his return in 1702, he received the i j tftanka of the Assembly for the able and j faithful performance of his mission. 0| Franklin hud already become distin--1 guished in the scientific world by his scientific experiments on the nature of r electricity. In 1752, he had made the j important and brilliant discovery of the 3' identity of lightning with the' eloctrio 1 fluid. Soon after, the Royal Society of - Loudon, even without waiting for "any f t application tube made on bis behalf—--1 j which had been the genoral usage—cho3e 1 him a number of their body, and bestowed l; upon him the Copley gold medal. Alluding j to Franklin's account of his electrical e.\c j pertinent*. Sir Humphrey Davy observes: i —"A singular felicity of'induction guided i I ] all his researches, and by very small means ho established very grand'truths. The I ntylo and manner of bis publication are e almost ns worthy of admiration us the e doctrines it contains. . . . He has written - equally for the uninitiated and for the V philosopher." . In lilil. Franklin wan again sent by the Arceinbly a.i agent to England. The

policy of taxing the colonies had already i boon agitated, and he was instructed by the Assembly to use hie efforts against such a measure. But the ministry had formed their plans, and the Stamp Act was passed early in 17G5. It caused a great excitement, and met with the most determined opposition in America. At the beginning of 1766, a new ministry * having come into power, the subject was again brought to the attention of parliament. Fraulclin was examined before the House of Commons, on which occasion his talents, his varied information, and his presence of mind, were shown to I great advantage, and the repeal of the I obnoxious Stamp AcV was the result, j But other laws deemed equally objectionable remained in force. In tho | dispute between the American colonies i and the mother country, Franklin had sought sincerely and earnestly to prevent a disruption ; when, however, ho became convinced that a separation was inevitable, be returned home, and took an active part in promoting the cause of independence. He arrived at Philadelphia on the 3th of May, 1776, after an absence of rather more than ten years. Tho day after his arrival, lie was unanimously elected by the Assembly of Pennsylvania a delegate to tho Second Continental Congress then about to assemble. Ho was one of the committee of five chosen by congress to prepare the celebrated “ Declaration of Independence,” which, having been unanimously agreed to on the 4th of July. 1776, ho afterwards signed with the other leading patriots. Towards the close of the same year be was sent ns ambassador to the French Court. To him is due the principal, if not the sole, credit of effecting between France and the United States the Treaty of Alliance, the stipulations of which were so eminently favourable to the latter country. This treaty, signed at Paris the Oth of February, 1778, may be said to j have secured the independence of the American colonies. Franklin remained in Europe some time after the establishment of peace. In 1785 be returned to Philadelphia, where ho died on tho 17th April 1790, aged ill years. In person Franklin was of medium .stature, well formed, and strongly built, with a light complexion, and grey eyes. His manners were affable and engaging. He was remarkable for simplieity of character, and practical common sense. He deemed nothing which concerned tho interest or happiness of mankind un--1 worthy of his attention, and rarely if j over bestowed his attention on any | subject ’■•ithout obtaining permanently useful results. lie left among his numerous works an extremely inUnesting and instructive autobiography of the earlier portion of his life, extending to his titty--..ecoml year. A complete collection of his works, ! edited by Jared Sparks, has been published in ten volumes octavo. Of Franklin's living posterity, there is none bearing his name. Among the doscendcnts of bis daughter Sarah, who was married to Richard hache, several have riaun to eminence in science or literature.