mentioned me, with the observation that I was merely an honest man, and of no sect at all, which prevailed with them to choose me. The enthusiasm which existed when the house was built had long since abated, and its trustees had not been able to procure fresh contributions for paying the ground rent, and discharging some other debts the building had occasioned, which embarrassed them greatly. Being now a member of both sets of trustees, that for the building and that for the academy, I had a good opportunity of negotiating with both, and brought them finally to an agreement by which the trustees for the building were to cede it to those of the academy, the latter undertaking to discharge the debt, to keep forever open in the building a large hall for occasional preachers, according to the original intention, and maintain a free school for the instruction of poor children. Writings were accordingly drawn, and on paying the debts the trustees of the academy were put into possession of the premises, and by dividing the great and lofty hall into stories, and different rooms above and below for the several schools, and purchasing some additional ground, the whole was soon made fit for our purpose, and the scholars removed into the building.

comes the univer

* * *

The trustees of the academy, after a while, were incorporated The academy be- by a charter from the governor; their funds were increased by contributions in Britain and grants of land from the prosity. prietaries, to which the assembly has since made considerable addition; and thus was established the present University of Philadelphia. I have been continued one of its trustees from the beginning, now near forty years, and have had the very great pleasure of seeing a number of the youth who have received their education in it distinguished by their improved abilities, serviceable in public stations, and ornaments to their country.

Shall Latin and Greek be taught?

In his plan for the education of youth in Pennsylvania he outlined his ideas of university training, but all the parts of the proposals were not wholly according to his liking. He discovered that his idea of an English school would not win the financial support of all the subscribers. Many of them thought that provision should be made for the study of the ancient languages, and to gain the support of these men Franklin, in the spirit of compromise, inserted this clause:

When youth are told that the great men, whose lives and actions they read in history, spoke two of the best languages that ever were, the most expressive, copious, beautiful; and that the finest writings, the most correct compositions, the most perfect productions of human wit and wisdom are in those languages, which have endured for ages, and will endure while there are men; that no translation can do them justice, or give the pleasure found in reading the originals; that those languages contain all science; that one of them is become almost universal, being the language of learned men in all countries, and that to understand them is a distinguished ornament, they may be thereby made desirous of learning these languages, and their industry sharpened in the acquisition of them. All intended for divinity should be taught Latin and Greek; for physic, the Latin, Greek, and French; for law, the Latin and French; merchants, the French, German, and Spanish; and though all should not be compelled to learn Latin, Greek, or the modern foreign languages, yet none that have an ardent desire to learn them should be refused, their English, arithmetic, and other studies absolutely necessary, being at the same time not neglected.

To strengthen his defence of English studies he wrote at this Translations vs. time the Sketch of an English School, which was printed as a the original. pamphlet at his press, but did not receive much attention. At the opening of the academy Mr. Peters preached a sermon which was favorably received and printed in pamphlet form at Franklin's press. With characteristic sagacity Franklin sewed together his pamphlet, A Sketch of an English School, with Mr. Peters's sermon, and so got his notions before the public. Forty years after the foundation of the academy, and two years before his death, he wrote his Observations relating to the Intentions of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia, in which he elaborated his early ideas of education. He anticipated the revolt against the classics which has come in our day, and which has

This institution became the University of Pennsylvania in 1779. (See act of assembly, Nov. 27, 1779, creating the corporation.)

relegated Latin and Greek into the region of the dead. It is not inexpedient to say that his idea of studying only such languages as will be of utility to those who pursue them is the correct principle in this department of education. In conformity with his notion we have the modern elective course, which is the practical result of his challenge of the advantage and utility of compelling all persons who pursue higher education to pursue the same subjects in the same way for different ends. It will be noticed that there is a touch of humorous satire when he writes in a spirit of compromise that "no translations can do the finest writings in Latin and Greek justice" or give the "pleasure found in reading the originals," and that these languages "contain all science." It should not be forgotten, however, that he owed his fame to the publication of his electrical investigations in the Latin tongue as well as in French, Spanish, and Italian.

When he pleaded for the study of modern languages and the relegation of Latin and Greek to a secondary place he was confronting and challenging the scholastic world. The first struggle between the old system and Franklin's ideas of the new education occurred in Philadelphia in the very institution which he had been instrumental in founding, and the story of that struggle was told by Franklin himself two years before his death.

The education of It will be noted that in his plan of a school there was a proviorphans. sion for the education of poor children. The doctrines of equity regulated his ideas of charity. His Hints for Consideration Respecting the Orphan Schoolhouses in Philadelphia formulate the large experience of his life in charitable matters. He laid down the controlling principles for such an institution as follows: (1) That the institution be regularly inspected; (2) that the labor of the orphans should not be made for the profit of the establishment; (3) that an account should be opened with each orphan, crediting him with his labor and debiting him for the maintenance of his education; (4) that at his discharge, on coming of age, his accounts should be balanced and he should be urged and in honor bound to pay any indebtedness, and he should receive any credit due him; (5) that upon leaving the institution he should receive decent clothing, some money, and if deserving, a certificate of good behavior; (6) that the institution should aid him in entering upon a business or securing a position in life. Stephen Girard seems to have been influenced by these principles in founding Girard College, but it is doubtful whether Franklin would have limited the benefits of this charity to persons of the white race.

II.

THE PRACTICE OF THE ART IN A DEMOCRACY.

At 53 Franklin had become, by the application of his own maxims, a man of independent fortune, much respected by his neighbors and of good reputation throughout the colonies. There had been a long and bitter dispute in Pennsylvania respecting the rights of the proprietaries and of the assembly, chiefly turning upon the question whether the estates of the Penns should be taxed like other realty in the province. He had earnestly and efficiently advocated the rights of the assembly, and it was as its representative that he went to England in 1757. "It was Franklin," says one of his biographers, "who chiefly educated the colonies in the knowledge of their rights. He did this in many ways-by his Junto, by his newspaper, by his conversation, by the libraries founded through him, by the taste for science which he communicated, but especially by the ardor and ability with which he waged this long warfare against arrogant stupidity embodied in the degenerate offspring of William Penn."

Franklin educates the colonies.

His experiments in electricity had already been recognized in England and France, and he was included among the literary and learned men of the time. Defects in his education were never suspected by the academic world that sought his society." He was a genius in his capacity for reading, was a good listener, easy in his manners, gay and witty, and never sought to indulge the company with "flashes of silence." No sooner had he settled in London as colonial agent than his instinct to effect improvements showed itself. The smoky street lamps and filthy streets of the city were the objects of his attention.

It is not my purpose to write a biography of Franklin, nor even to catalogue his experiments, but only to outline the utilitarian character of the man and his ideas.

The conduct of the ministry toward him afforded him an opportunity to travel, and in 1757 he visited Scotland, where the University of St. Andrews conferred upon him the title of doctor of laws, by which he was ever familiarly known. In Edinburgh he met Hume, Robertson, and Lord Kames, and it is thought by one of his biographers that one of his remarks to Dr. Robertson "suggested the wellknown Macaulayan image of the New Zealander sitting upon the arch of London Bridge contemplating the ruin of St. Paul's."

land also.

But he was engaged in a larger service for his countrymen He educates Eng- than making the favorable acquaintance of eminent men. He was writing and printing pamphlets on the American colonies for the enlightenment of the English public. The dark and dreary night of English opinion at that time respecting America seemed impervious to the beams of Franklin's genius, and he succeeded but feebly at first in piercing it; but the rays of his intelligence at last fell upon fertile soil, and there sprang up a liberal party in the Kingdom, which at last laid hold of the Government and compelled the acknowledgment of American independence.

The usefulness of Franklin at this time may be understood by any who choose to read his numerous pamphlets and his more numerous letters. His farsightedness is illustrated in one of his cherished opinions, expressed to Lord Kames, "that the foundations of the future grandeur and stability of the British Empire lie in America." He opposed the restoration of Canada to the French, saying: "If we keep it, all the country from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi will in another century be filled with British people; Britain itself will become vastly more populous; by the immense increase of its commerce the Atlantic Sea will be covered with your trading ships, and your naval power, thus continually increasing, will extend your influence round the whole globe, and awe the world."

He ever believed and labored to effect that Canada and the thirteen colonies should comprise a political unit, and it was only by a blunder of his colleagues in Paris, when the final treaty of peace was made in 1783, that the United States did not include Canada.

Examined before

mons.

Perhaps the most telling lesson which he imparted to the the House of Com- British public was his examination before the House of Commons in 1765. For the first time England received true information of the state of the colonies, and the information was conveyed to the masters of England. The examination was by no means an accidental or impromptu affair. Nearly all the questions and answers were arranged beforehand by Franklin and his friends among the Liberal members of Parliament. This lawyer-like proceeding does not affect the value of the evidence. By timely shaping the examination he concentrated, during the brief period he was before the House, all possible information that could be elicited from the man best

a Instance the honorary degrees he received from William and Mary College, St. Andrews, Oxford, and Cambridge.

informed in the affairs of the colonies. Franklin was at home in the subject and played the first part in the most Socratic dialogue in parliamentary history. The whole examination was after Franklin's own heart and singularly in keeping with his own self-education. Experience and observation equipped him for the task, and his triumph is the proof of the excellence of his method, a

He aims to educate succeeds.

He had a unique method of educating the British public and public opinion, and he had learned it in his apprentice days in Boston and during the long struggle between the assembly and the proprietaries in Pennsylvania. The method is characteristic of all his political writings. It was briefly to set the whole question in dispute in a humorous light, by which the reader might see his way to the true conclusion; that is, the conclusion which Franklin wished to draw. This method of political enlightenment is unquestionably good in journalism and pamphleteering, and has its uses in bookmaking and public speaking, but Franklin's tendency to indulge in humor, it is said, excluded him from being asked by his contemporaries to write any of the great state papers with which he was, in one way or another, concerned. It would hardly do to put a joke into the Declaration of Independence. His English pamphlets are exquisite political hits, of which two are particularly famous. His Rules for Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One, Presented to a Late Minister (Lord Hillsboro, when he entered upon his ministry), and An Edict of the King of Prussia. These show one phase of his genius at great advantage. He was the first American humorist. He was aware that public opinion is won and controlled by the most delicate and yet by the broadest manipulation, and that if he could win for America the favorable opinion of the British public an American party would ultimately control the votes of the House of Commons. By this procedure he showed the practicality of his mind; he appealed to the power in England which makes and unmakes ministries.

His educational methods.

In appealing to this power he did not proceed blindly by addressing merely humorous and ephemeral newspaper articles to the general reader. He wrote masterly articles for the education of the public, and more, he became the companion of the first literary and scientific men of England, and won many of them to the support of his liberal ideas, not by formal discussion of the rights of the colonies, but by exemplifying in his own character and appointments the nature of the institutions which could produce such a man as he. It is not difficult for us to realize how he thus became the typical American and won respect for America by winning respect for himself. One of his services to his country was in the experimental proof that the human race does not degenerate in America.

We must not forget that he appeared in the drawing rooms of London when it was a common doubt in English society whether Americans were white or black, whether they dressed in skins or wool, whether they spoke English or Indian, whether they lived in houses or wigwams, and whether Philadelphia was in Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

lin on Adam Smith.

Among his friends in England were Adam Smith, who at Influence of Frank- the time Franklin met him was writing his classic work, The Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations, and David Hume, the well-known author of a history of England and of essays in politics and philosophy. Adam Smith, when writing his Wealth of Nations, was in the habit of bringing the chapters, as he composed them, to Franklin, to Dr. Price, and others of the literati, then patiently hearing their observations and profiting by their discussions and criticisms, sometimes rewriting whole chapters after con

a See the Examination in Bigelow's edition of his works, vol. 3, p. 407.

The later incident of the six tall Americans and the six short Frenchmen together at dinner is in point.

ference and even reversing some of his propositions. Hume writes to Adam Smith in 1776: "Your work is probably much improved by your last abode in London." Parton has pointed out that Franklin's papers at this period "contain sets of problems and queries, as though agitated at some meeting of philosophers for particular consideration at home." All students of political economy have long known that Smith's Wealth of Nations is the first book that illustrates its propositions by examples from America. Smith was working out a new system of economics. In seeking a field for the application of his ideas it was natural that he should refer to America, a new country, as the region where they might have a practical test.a

It is known that the Wealth of Nations had great influence in centering the attention of Europe upon America. It is also known that the statesmen who cooperated in the formation of the United States-Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Jay, Morris, and others-were acquainted with the teachings of Adam Smith. The Wealth of Nations had a most important influence in the organization of government in America in the critical years from 1776 to 1789. The doctrines of Smith are traceable in the debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and references to the influence of the Wealth of Nations are scattered through the works of the statesmen of the period. Monroe, in a letter to Jefferson, dated New York, June 16, 1785, speaks of “a Mr. Smith on the Wealth of Nations" as attempting to controvert the doctrine of the "balance of trade as one in pursuit of which Great Britain hath exposed herself to great injury." Smith's work was well known to Hamilton and Madison and was referred to by them and their political associates frequently during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The book had direct reference to America, due to Franklin's influence, and was influential here long before it was influential in Europe. Washington's copy of the Wealth of Nations shows evidence that it had been carefully read; it contains proof corrections and notes in Washington's hand. It is not too much to say that Franklin's influence on economic education is illustrative of his whole educational doctrine. He gave to Adam Smith apt illustrations of the utility of the ideas of the Wealth of Nations. So great have been the economic changes in the world due to the development of America, the illustrations in the Wealth of Nations which bear particularly upon the American colonies are now with difficulty estimated at their original value. It should be remembered that this book, which Buckle calls "the most important book ever written," and "the most valuable contribution ever made by a single man toward establishing the principles on which governments should be based," was the first work by a European scholar which made use of the American colonies to illustrate its doctrines, and pointed to those colonies as the country where the new political economy should develop in all its strength. Had Franklin done no more in the world than to contribute these illustrations to Adam Smith's book, he would have had a high place among the great teachers of mankind. Among books on economics of modern government the Wealth of Nations is to be classed with the Federalist, De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, and Bryce's American Commonwealth.

Franklin influenced English opinion by his association with the leading men of the times. The educational influence of such association may be suggested by mentioning some of his English friends. He was intimate with Burke, Hume, the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lord Kames, Sir John Pringle, Dr. Fothergill, Dr. Cannon, Dr. Richard Price, and Dr. Priestley; among his acquaintances were Lord Shelbourne, the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord De Lespencer, Lord Bathurst,

a See, specially, Franklin's idea of labor as a measure of wealth, expanded by Smith in Book I, and consult index to The Wealth of Nations, title "America," for illustrations of Franklin's influence on Smith.