LECTURE ON BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 147, 1 December 1870, Page 6

LECTURE ON BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

BY THE REV. J. MESTZIES.

On Friday evening last, the 25 th ult., a lecture was delivered, in the Athenaeum, by the Key. J. Menzies. Mr. Adams in the chair.

The Chairman explained that the lecture was delivered under the auspices of the Tuapeka Total Abstinence Society, and announced the subject of lecture " Benjamin Franklin."

Mr. Menzies began by saying there is a great difference between an old country and a new one. In the old you have a civilization which is the growth of centuries ; in a new, such as a colony, we have given us a wilderness, and immigrants who have brought with them the arts, the ideas, the culture, the habits of citizenship, and the laws of the mother country as germs out of which a country and nation are to be developed ; standing in the relation of a child to the mother country, the bantling has to be nursed and tended. Anon its education proceeds, and various feats of independent action are exhibited, and that stage of life is arrived at which may be pronounced critical — corresponding to that when the youth .becomes conscious of incipient manhood j when he is no longer a child, and yet it is doing him an injury to call him a man; when he shows an amount of caprice, self sufficiency, and questioning of authority, which to onlookers is sometimes amusing, to those who have to deal with, is perplexing, and to himself, may end in weal or ill according as good sense or presumption obtain ultimate ascendency over him. Jfoiv, it appeared that the American colonies had advanced as far as this in their orgauic life when Benjamin Franklin, as a man of thought and action, came to take his share in the duties and responsibilities of citizenship., The robust youth, jealous of his incipient manhood, would no longer be treated as an infant, and was indisposed to accept any terms which would detain him as a loyal son within his father's house. Nothing would sitisfy but an establishment of his own. It seems as if these Australasian Colonies of ours are attaining a similar stage of political life, and, therefore, the history of that period, and the lives of the men who took part in it, are of the deepest interest to us. Moreover, Benjamin Franklin had no more than th^ average advantage of colonists, if he had as much ; and yet he qualified himself to take a foremost part in this transition state of society. Much in him was the gift of nature, much the result of the pursuit of wisdom undei difficulties. He was in his life the embodiment of the philosophy of common sense. He was not sent to school nntil he was nine years of age, and for one year only. But from his earliest years, he had been able to read, and had been passionately fond of books. This determined his future calling, that of a printer; and it was during his apprenticeship that his education may be said to have been advanced by the prosecution, on his part, of a diligent system of self-help. His " schools and schoolmasters " were now in his own election. To the sound judgment and intelligence of his father, and to his plan of gathering round his table intelligent society, who spent their time, not in frivolous amusements, but in in tellectual discourse, he owed not a little. He elected his companions from among those who were his equals or superiors in intelligence, -md discussed a variety of subjects with foemen worthy of his steel. Books, also, were chosen that demanded the girding up of the loins pf the mind as for an intellectual wrestling match ; such as Lock's "Essay on the Human Understanding, 1 ' and logic by Messrs. Dv Port Royal, &c. He also adopted means to improve his style of writing, such as taking brief summaries of the essays in the "Spectator," and then trying to reproduce them after a lapse of some days, An important feature in his charactei, was his temperance, which was closely allied to habits of economy. During his apprenticeship, he read a book on vegetarianism, and adopted the system. He persuaded his brother to allow him one half of what he paid for his board in a neighbouring boarding house, and he would board himself. Out of that \xq saved one half, which he spent on books, and had the meal hour for reading and self-improvement. When in London he practised abstinence from intoxicants, and induced some of his fellow workmen to follow his example. Another feature of his character was Jiis diligence in business, As a journeyman printer, St. Monday had no place in his calendar ; and when he commenced business on his own account he used to set himself so much work to be done ; and on one occasion having, by an accident, reduced two folio pages of set types to pie, he rearranged the types and finished his work before he slept, Snch diligence did not fail to attract the notice of the ' merchants of Philadelphia, and procui'ed friends for him when his business necessities required them ; nor did he impair his credit by frequenting public house bars and pubile lounging places. As regards religion, he was in (ftHy life a sceptic, and therefore not scrupulous on that ground. He, however, ultimately modified his scepticism when he reflected that it had not had a wholesome influence over himself, and that he had experienced wrong at the hands of those whom he had reduced into his owjJ way, of thinking. J#t the concession was to tb^ utility |

more than-to the truth of revelation. Another feat are of Franklin's character was Kis- manly independence. He spoke out his convictions. While his brother's apprentice, he had begun his career as a journalist, and when he afterwards established a journal of his own, his outspokenness alarmed his friends. Without replying to them, it is said that he invited them to supper. Ho provided nothing for their repast but dumplings made of rough meal called sawdust puddings. He helped them liberally, and then helped himself. He ate freely himself and pressed them to do the same, but it was of no use, the sawdust would not go down. He then turned to his friends and said a man that can eat sawdust puddings may write what he likes. His sagacity as a politician was shown in the weight of his counsel in the legislative assembly ; every word of his told, and he had the art of condensing into a single sentence what others might have taken an hour to utter. Moreover, while an advocate for the rights of man he took pains to raise the standard of education by founding advanced seminaries of learning. The New England States, like ourselves, had their difficulties with the native Indians, who were hounded on by the French Canadians

to make inroads on the British Colonies. To meet this?, Franklyn drew up an admirable plan of union which proposed a representation for the various colonies proportioned to their respective contributions to the revenue. It craved from the mother country a liberty to tax themselves, and to arrange with the Indians for fresh territory ; also to organise a force for defence. It conceded to Great Britain the appointment of governors and the confirmation of laws, &r. But Britain would not concede so much, and the colonies were jealous of each other.- He took a leading part as a citizen in all questions affeHin^ both the social and scientific status of America. His experiments in electricity resulted in the invention of lightning conductors, atd shadowed fort'i the electric telegraph. He was the first to organise fire britranes and insurances against fire. Ho founded the public library of Philadelphia, and bequeathed a certain sum to be lent without interest to desening young men about to commence business. Both as a statesman and a man of business, he was an example of diligence, integrity, and decision. As regards the wisdom or' t'se present life, his career will be studied with advantage by young men entering on life. During the delivery of the lecture, Mr Menzies was frequently applauded.