BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S RELATIONS WITH THE ENGLISH RADICALS 
 
 BY 
 
 KATHARINE WHEELER CULLEN 
 A. B. University of Illinois, 1920 
 
 THESIS 
 
 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the 
 
 Degree of 
 
 MASTER OF ARTS 
 IN ENGLISH 
 
 IN 
 
 THE GRADUATE SCHOOL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1921 
 
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TABLE OP CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 I. Franklin the Radical 1 
 
 II. Franklin's Relations with Paine 12 
 
 III. Franklin and Dr. Price 25 
 
 IV. Franklin and Priestley 34 
 
 V. Conclusion 49 
 
 VI . Appendix 53 
 
 VII. Bibliography 55 
 
BE1\IJAMHT EMMLIirS ilSIATIOES 
 WITH 
 
 THE EHGIISH RADICALS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklinOOcull 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Benjamin Franklin became familiar with radicalism early in 
 life. At the age of sixteen he became a vegetarian in order to 
 save money to buy Locke’s ’’Human Understanding” and the Port 
 Royalist ’’Art of Thinking.” Before this he had imbibed the phil- 
 osophy of scepticism from Shaftesbury and Collins. In 1725 he 
 
 met Bernard Handeville and his club at a Cheapside ale-house, and 
 
 1 
 
 found him ”a most facetious entertaining companion. Luring his 
 next visit in England he met David Hume and Adam Smith, and was 
 eagerly sought after by men of science. 
 
 Franklin’s third visit to England introduced him to the two 
 vigorous Dissenting ministers, Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley, and 
 to Thomas Paine, the author of ’’Common Sense.” 
 
 In making this study, I have endeavored to show the rela- 
 tions that existed between Franklin and the English radicals- as 
 revealed in their friendships, letters, and works, and I have 
 tried to shov; that radicalism was as vital and early a factor in 
 American politics as it was in the political life of England. 
 
 1 
 
 Writings, Vol. 1, P. 278. 
 
ibi 
 
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 i<^lHip«i m w;w — fc .gKe— 
 
1 
 
 I. 
 
 i^RAlJKLIH THE HAHICAL 
 
 Franklin's radicalism was inevitable. He was born to it, he 
 cherished and cultivated it, and he was fitted by temperament and 
 natural ability to make expediency successful, because of it. 
 
 His father, driven out of England by the Conventicle Act, came 
 
 to Hew England so that he could .en;joy his "mode of religion with 
 1 
 
 freedom."”* His mother v/as the daughter of Peter Folger, one of the 
 first settlers of Hev/ England, who was honorably mentioned in Cotton 
 Llather's history, as "a godly, learned Englishman." He was distin- 
 guished, even among his radical neighbors, by his zeal for religious 
 freedom, having written an address to the government of his colony 
 "in favor of liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, 
 Quakers, and other sectaries that had been under persecution, a- 
 scribing the Indian wars, and other distresses that had befallen the 
 country, to that persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish 
 so heinous an offense, and exhorting a repeal of those uncharitable 
 lav/s . 
 
 Franklin's father destined him for the church, and with this 
 end in vie?/ he sent him to the grammar-school, while his uncle pro- 
 posed to give him "all his short-hand volumes of sermons." Although 
 he made rapid progress in school, his fomal education came to an 
 end in his tenth year, when he informed his father that he did not 
 wish to become a minister, but wanted to go to sea instead. He v/as 
 fond of reading and read everything that came in his way, even his 
 
 1 
 
 .writings, ed. by Smith, In-cmillan & Co., Hew York, 1907, Vol. i. 
 
 p: sSi, i ibia. p. 2S2. 
 
E 
 
 father’s little library consisting ’’chiefly of boohs in polemic di- 
 vinity." Among these books was one, blather ’s Essay ^ Good , 
 v/hich gave him a "turn of thinking" that had an effect on some of 
 the principal future events of his life. 
 
 He had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian, but very 
 soon, he says, "some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the 
 eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation etc. appeared to me 
 unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from 
 the public assemblies of the sect."^ He was, however, never without 
 some religious principles. Though he doubted Revelation, he be- 
 lieved, he says, "the existence of the Piety, that he made the world 
 and governed it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service 
 of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and 
 that all crime ?/ill be punished either here or hereafter."— He re- 
 garded these as the essentials of every religion, and as he foimd 
 them in all the religions in the country, he came to look upon all 
 religions with a respect proportional to the degree in which he 
 found his own beliefs in them. "This respect to all, with an opin- 
 ion that the v/orst has some good effects, induced me to avoid all 
 discourse that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might 
 have of his own religion; and as our province increased in people, 
 and new places of v/orship were continually wanted, and generally 
 ' erected by voluntary contribution, my mite for such purpose, v/hat- 
 ever might be the sect, was never refused."— 
 
 -Ibid. Yol. i, p. 5E4. 
 2 
 
 Ibid. p. 325. 
 
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 Ibid. 
 
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 He had a high sense of the propriety and utility of public wor- 
 ship, but finding the Sunday service "uninteresting and unedifying, 
 since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc’d," he 
 devoted his Sunday to study, choosing to be a good citizen rather 
 than a Presbyterian. 
 
 To this end he drew up for himself "a little liturgy or form of 
 
 1 
 
 prayer-- entitled Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion . It is 
 a frank confession of the Peism, in v/hich he was confirmed at the 
 age of fifteen, and may be summ.ed up in his resolution, "Let me re- 
 solve to be virtuous, that I may be happy, that I may please Him, 
 
 £ 
 
 v/ho is delighted to see me happy."— This pursuit of virtue to which 
 he pledged himself was no light task, but an arduous labor, calling 
 for the most scrupulous care and the most exacting self-discipline. 
 He selected from a list of all the virtues,' t\¥elve, which seemed the 
 most useful, and set himself deliberately to acquire them in the 
 following order; temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, 
 industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquillity 
 and chastity. At the suggestion of a Quaker friend he added humil- 
 ity to his list, taking for his models Jesus and Socrates. 
 
 He became so enamored of the pursuit of virtue that he was 
 anxious to form a United Party for Virtue. This he would have 
 called "The Society of the Free and Easy : free, as being, by the 
 general practice and habit of the virtues, free from the dominion 
 of vice; and particularly by the practice of industry and frugality, 
 free from. debt, which exposes a man to confinement, and a species 
 
 —Ibid. p. 326. 
 
 2 
 
 Ibid. Vol. ii, p. 94. 
 

4 
 
 of slavery to his creditors."— He had observed that few men act 
 v/ith a view to the good of their country, and "fewer still in public 
 affairs act with a view to the good of mankind." He believed that 
 the most acceptable service of God was doing good to man, and so he 
 endeavored to make himself useful in this service by devoting some 
 space in his Almanack to little proverbs, "such as inculcated in- 
 dustry and frugality, as means of procuring wealth, and thereby 
 securing virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act 
 
 always honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard 
 
 2 
 
 for an empty sack to stand upright. 
 
 His pursuit of virtue was utilitarian in its aim, and tended to 
 the cultivation of "that Benignity of Hind which shov/s itself in 
 searching for and seizing every Opportunity serve and to -oblige ; 
 and is the foundation of what is called Good Breeding;-- Ability to 
 serve Llankind, one’s Country, friends, and family; ¥\^hich Ability is 
 (v^?ith the Blessing of God) to be acquired or greatly increased by 
 true Learnin g;; and should indeed be the great Aim and End of all 
 Learning . He intended to write a treatise on the art of virtue , 
 but he says, "the necessary close attention to private business in 
 the earlier part of my life, and public business since have occa- 
 sioned my postponing it," and so we have never had the "great and 
 
 4 
 
 extensive project, that required the whole man to execute. 
 
 There was nothing mystical, nothing romantic in franklin’s 
 religion. He received his first impulse to the development of an 
 independent system of religion and morality based on virtue, from 
 
 “Ibid. Vol. i, p. 341. 
 wibid. pp. 342-345. 
 
 £lbid. Yol. ii, p. 396. 
 ilbid. Yol. i, p. 357. 
 

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 Locke, ”a great writer" in his opinion. This was supplemented hy 
 the Art of Thinking of the Port Hoyalists, and finally he gleaned 
 from Collins and Shaftesbury just enough of the Leistic principles 
 they professed, to make his religion comfortable and respectable, 
 but never aggressive and bitter. In building up his "Christian 
 edifice,"— he would turn his house upside d'ov/n, so that Charity 
 would occupy the ground floor, and Paith and Hope v;ould be trans- 
 ferred to the attic. It was a new and purely personal religion 
 from which were excluded the services and traditions of the past, 
 but which retained all its benevolence and charity touched with 
 prudence and common sense. 
 
 Pranklin’s political attitude is more complex. It was shaped 
 by necessity, and developed to meet the occasions as they were 
 forced upon him by a peculiar situation v^fhich found him at the cen- 
 ter in every crisis. 
 
 His preliminary political training was received at the Junto, 
 
 a little debating society of twelve members, who were united by a 
 
 common interest in morals, politics, and philosophy. The club was 
 
 found so useful, and gave so much satisfaction that some of the 
 
 members wanted to bring in their friends. Pranklin opposed this 
 
 idea, "but, instead of it, made in writing a proposal, that every 
 
 member separately should endeavor to form a subordinate club, with 
 
 the same rules respecting queries etc., and without informing them 
 
 2 
 
 of the connection with the Junto.”— The advantages proposed v/ere 
 the improvement of a larger number of citizens, a better acquaint- 
 ance with the geneial sentiments of the people as a whole, but 
 
 — Ibid. Vol. lii, p. 460. 
 
 - Ibid. Vol. i, p. 349. 
 
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 ’especially the promotion of their own particular interests in "busi- 
 ness by extensive recommendation, and the increase of their influence 
 in public affairs and in the power of doing good by spreading the . 
 sentiments of the. Junto. 
 
 It was a splendid training in organization and leadership, and 
 as a result of it, Franklin emerged as the Clerk of the General As- 
 sembly in 1736, and the ‘Junto became a political organ of the Colony. 
 He turned his attention to public affairs, beginning with small mat- 
 ters that needed improvement, and the ideas being approved by the 
 Junto, were communicated to other clubs, and in this way he v/as able 
 to impose his mind on the public by creating a public opinion in 
 favor of his projects. 
 
 In 1754 he proposed a plan for the union of the colonies, but 
 it met with opposition from England as granting too much po¥/er to the 
 colonies, while the colonies opposed it for giving too much pov/er to 
 England. Twenty years later, the colonies formed this union without 
 the consent of the Mother Country, proving the truth of Franklin's 
 assertion, that it was "absolutely necessary for their preservation.” 
 Preparedness was one of Franklin's favorite doctrines. "The very 
 Fame of our Strength and Readiness would be a means of Discouraging 
 our Enemies.-- The way to secure Peace is to be prepared for Y/ar."— 
 
 It was, hov/ever, the interest of Great Britain that Franklin had 
 most at heart. He v/as an enthusiastic Englishman, ambitious for the 
 British occupation of America, and fearful of an injudicious treaty 
 that would leave France in possession of Canada and Louisiana, to be 
 a menace to colonial expansion. For the same reason he protested 
 
 — Ibid. Vol. ii, p. 552. 
 
V 
 
7 
 
 against the government 's policy of commercial interference and re- 
 striction of trade, seeing in the crippling of the members, a ?;eaken- 
 ing of the whole nation. 
 
 Like all good Whigs, Franklin had a high respect for property, 
 and he opposed the passage of the Stamp Act on the grounds of its 
 cruelty and injustice. In spite of his opposition, the hill passed, 
 and Franklin accepted the defeat with philosophical serenity. He 
 says "I took every step in my pov/er to prevent the passing of the 
 Stamp Act. --But the Tide was too strong against us.-- We might as 
 well have hindered the sun's setting. But since 'tis down,-- and it 
 may he long before it rises again, let us make as good a night as w/e 
 can of it. — Frugality and Industry will go a great way toward in- 
 demnifying us. Idleness and Pride tax with a heavier hand than 
 kings and Parliaments;' if we can get rid of the former, we rnaj/ easily 
 hear the latter.—" 
 
 The Americans were of a different mind, and' when the news of the 
 adoption of the hated measure reached the colonies, Franklin was re- 
 garded as a betrayer of their trust. But with his customary sagac- 
 ity, Franklin grasped the situation, threw himself unreservedly into 
 the cause of his constituents, clothed himself "from head to foot in 
 Woollen and linnen" of his wife's manufacture, and proved his loy- 
 alty in a six weeks' searching examination before the bar of Parlia- 
 ment. The Stamp Act was repealed, and Franklin again became the 
 good Englishman sending Deborah material for a ne?/ govm, "a fine 
 Piece of Pompadour Satin, 14 yards, cost 11 shillings a yard," to- 
 gether with cambrics, laces, threads and fine linen table cloths 
 all made in the Mother Country. 
 
 “1 
 
 Ibid. Vol. iii, p. 390. 
 

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 Franklin’s efficiency v/as once more recognized by the colonists 
 and after the Boston l^assacre Franklin was chosen to represent col- 
 onial interests in England. His policy was a conciliatory one, and 
 he labored incessantly for a peaceful settlement of the differences, 
 so as ’’not to suffer by their little Misunderstandings, so glorious 
 a Fabric as the present British Empire to be demolished by these 
 Blunders.”— 
 
 Ivlien he rea,ched America in Llay 17V5, he found that war had 
 actually begun. With the ardor of a youth and the prudence of a 
 sage, he gave to his compatriots the great wealth of his experience 
 in organization, and undertook to finance the war. He became the 
 ardent champion of liberty. Out of his shattered fabric of empire, 
 was woven a fairer and a nobler dream, that of a human fatherland, 
 based on universal brotherhood and the rights of man. The idea had 
 been developing within him, since it was first enkindled by his con- 
 tact with the determined spirit of American radicalism in 1765. It 
 had been recognized by Du Pont de Hemours, who said, ”Avant ce 
 temp, Monsieur, je connaisias bien de vous le Savant, le Geometre, 
 
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 le Physicien, I'homme d (^ui la nature permet de devoiler ses secrets. 
 
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 Bespues ce temp Monsieur le Bocteur Barbeu du Bourg mon ami a bien 
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 de votre patrie. J 'ai pris la liberte d'en traduire quelques-ans , 
 
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 J'y ai reconnu a chaque page le philosophe citoyen occupe avec 
 
 ' ' / — 
 genie du bonheur de ses freres et des interets le plus chers de 
 
 1 'humanite . 
 
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 Ibid. Yol. vi, p. 319. 
 
 2 Ibid. Yol. V. pp. 153-154. 
 
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 David Hume had recognised it, and regretted that England had 
 not the same regard for wisdom as she had for gold. She took care 
 never to send back an ounce of gold, once her fingers had been on 
 it, but she let a philosopher leave the country without a sign of 
 •regret. 
 
 Eranklin, himself, sav/ that he had within him., a spirit of 
 world nationality that England did not comprehend. He felt it in 
 the Americans, and responded to every stimulus that came from them. 
 ”I am sorry, " he said, when speaking of the national prejudices of 
 England, "to find that that wisdom which sees the welfare of the 
 parts in the prosperity of the whole, seems yet not to be knov/n in 
 this country."— This strong sense of universal brotherhood made him 
 deprecate the horrors of war, not only for its wanton v/aste of life, 
 but also because of its immense drain of the economic resources. In 
 a letter to Sir Joseph Banks he wrote, "I join with you most cor- 
 dially in rejoicing at the return of Peace. I hope it will be last- 
 ing, and that Liankind vail at length, as they call themselves rea- 
 sonable creatures, have Season and Sense enough to settle their 
 differences v/ithout cutting throats; for in my opinion, there never 
 v/as a p;ood War , or a bad Peac e . V/hat vast additions to the Conveni- 
 ences and Comforts of the living might Mankind have acquired, if the 
 Money spent in V/ars had been, employed in V/orks of public utility.’ 
 V/hat an extension to Agriculture, even to the Tops of our Mountains; 
 what Rivers rendered navigable, or joined by Canals; v/hat Bridges, 
 Aqueducts, nev/ Roads, and other public Works, Edifices, and Improve- 
 ments, rendering England a corapleat Paradise, might have been 
 
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 Ibid. p. 156. 
 
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 obtained by spending those llillions in doirig good, which in the last 
 V/ar have been spent in doing Mischief; in bringing Misery into thou- 
 sands of Families, and destroying the Lives of so many thousands of 
 working people, who might have performed the useful labor."— Again 
 on this same question he wrote, "Justice is as strictly due between 
 neivghbor nations as between neighbor Citizens. A Highv;ayman is as 
 much a Robber when he plunders in a Gang, as when single; and a 
 nation that makes an unjust War, is only a great Gang . 
 
 5 4 
 
 Franklin regarded suffrage— as a common right of man,— and he 
 vy^as also a firm believer in equal suffrage for states. He appre- 
 hended no danger from the liberty-loving Americans giving too much 
 power to their governors, but he sa?/ some danger "from too little 
 obedience of the governed." V/ornan suffrage, however, had no place 
 in his political theory. V/hen he wanted to send a present to his 
 sister, who had grown to be a celebrs^ted beauty, he considered "that 
 the character of a good housewife v/as far preferable" to anything 
 else, and so he sent her a spinning-wheel , "as a small token of his 
 love and affection." The world of politics in which Franklin moved, 
 v;as a man's world, although he played chess and discussed mathemat- 
 ical problems with the sister of Lord Howe, who was v;orking for her 
 brother's political interests. He was opposed to slavery on the 
 grounds of its lack of humaneness, as well as its inutility. In 
 1789, as president of the Abolition Society he signed the memorial 
 presented to the House of Representatives begging them to discourage 
 the inhuman traffic. The next year he v/rote an essay for the Fed- 
 
 ilbid. Vol. ix, p. tI"! £• Appendix I. 
 
 -Ibid. p. 296. ilbid. Yol. x, p. 130. 
 

 
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11 
 
 e ral Gazette in which he showed the futility of the argunients in de- 
 fense of the trade. 
 
 In this as in every other issue, Franklin knew when to act, as 
 
 he said, ”it is not only right to strike while the iron is hot, but 
 
 -- it may be very practicable to heat it by continually striking.”" 
 
 This he did fearlessly and manfully, dominated throughout his life, 
 
 in spite of the variety of influences that reacted on him, by the 
 
 Puritan conviction that ’’truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings 
 
 between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity 
 2 
 
 of life.”“ His radicalism was not the passionate expression of a 
 fervid enthusiasm. It was a plant of a sturdier and surer growth, 
 sprung from the Puritan heritage that showed itself in the boy of 
 ten. Long before he inspired Paine and Price to popularize the 
 principles manifested by the American Revolution, Franklin had en- 
 joyed the privileges of a national group emancipated by the very 
 non-conformity that gave them birth in a new and untried land. 
 
 1 
 
 Ibid. Vol. viii, p. 457. 
 
 2 
 
 Ibid. Vol. i, p. 296. 
 
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12 
 
 II. 
 
 FSAITZL Ill’s HELATI01T3 WITH PAIHE 
 
 Carlyle says that Paine, a "rehellious , unkempt staymaker,” 
 felt that he, "a sing-le Heedleman, did hy his Common Sense Pamphlet 
 free America.”— Paine was not alone in this idea. In January 1776, 
 George Washington said, "The sound doctrine and unanswerable reason- 
 ing contained in Common Sense will not leave numbers at a loss to 
 
 2 
 
 decide upon the propriety of a separation.”"" Two months later he 
 
 wrote, "I find Common Sense is working a powerful change in the 
 
 3 
 
 minds of many men.” 
 
 Paine wrote Common Sense the "latter end of 1776, and published 
 
 it the first of January 1776. • Independence v/as declared the fourth 
 
 4 
 
 of July following."— Samuel Adams said, "Your Common Sense and your 
 Crisis unquestionably av/akened the public mind, and led the people 
 loudly to call for a Declaration of our national Independence . " — 
 And yet Paine says he had no disposition for "what v;as called ” 
 politics. "The natural bent of my mind v;as to science. I had some 
 talent for poetry; but this I rather repressed' than encouraged, as 
 leading too much into the field of imagination. As soon as I v/as 
 able, I purchased a pair of globes, and attended the philosophical 
 lectures of iiartin and Ferguson, and became afterwards acquainted 
 v/ith Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal Society, then living 
 in the Temple, and an excellent astronomer."— Paine v/as at this 
 
 1 
 
 "Fr ench Revolution ," Centenary Edition, Yol. ii, p. 21. 
 
 ■ ^V/ritinrrs ,Ed. by Ford (1089) Yol. iii, p.396. Vol. iv. p. 4. 
 
 ^./ritings ,Ed . by Conway (1899) Yol. iv. p. 6. l.Ibid. p. 201. 
 
 The Age of Reason, V/ri tings , Yol. iv, p. 63. 
 
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13 
 
 time employed by Llr. Gardiner in his school at Plensington, and ’’sel- 
 dom passed five minutes in v/hich he did not acquire some knowledge^” 
 It was in this year that he became acquainted with Benjamin franklin 
 
 of whom he said in 1797, "Dr. franklin has been mj/ intimate friend 
 
 2 
 
 for thirty years past,”— and to whose influence are due Paine’s 
 political achievements. It v;as a common interest in science that 
 drew these two men together, and the formal introduction was made by 
 George Lewis Scott, Paine’s excise employer, who labored assiduously 
 in Paine's behalf, and v/hom Paine esteemed as ”one of the most arni- 
 
 g 
 
 able characters I know.”— 
 
 franklin advised Paine to go to America, and provided him \¥ith 
 a recommendation as an ’’ingenious, v/orthy young man.” He asked 
 Hichard Bache to give him his ’’best advice and countenance” and fi- 
 nally asked him to ’’put him in a way of obtaining employment as a 
 clerk, or assistant tutor in a school, or assistant surveyor, (of alj 
 vdiich I think him very capable) — till he can make acquaintance and 
 
 4 
 
 obtain a knowledge of the country.”— Paine arrived in america Hovern- 
 ber 20, 1774, and on ilarch 4, 1775 he v/rote to frankliii from Phila- 
 delphia; ”Your countenancing me has obtained for me many friends and 
 much reputation for which please accept my sincere thanks. I have 
 been applied to by several gentlemen to instruct their sons on very 
 advantageous terms to myself, and a printer and bookseller here, a 
 man of reputation and property, Robert aitken has lately attempted a 
 magazine, but having little or no turn in that ?/ay himself he has ap* 
 
 5 
 
 plied to me for assistance.”— Paine edited this magazine for eighteen 
 1 2 
 
 Life , 
 
 Yol. i, 
 
 p. 19. 
 
 v/ri tings , 
 
 Yol. 
 
 iv . 
 
 , P* 
 
 15. 
 
 rz * ' ' 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ibid . 
 
 r 
 
 p. 450. 
 
 
 Writings , 
 
 Yol. 
 
 Vi, 
 
 PP* 
 
 248-249. 
 
 Life , 
 
 Yol. i, 
 
 p . 40 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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14 
 
 ■months at a salary of fifty pounds a year. A feature of the maga- 
 zine was the description of new scientific inventions, and this 
 attracted the attention of Franklin's Philosophical Society, and 
 Paine v/as given a warm v/elcome into their midst. 
 
 Franklin returned to America in T77-5, reaching Philadel-nhia on 
 the 6th of Play. His arrival was announced "by ringing of bells to 
 the great joy of the city." The tories hoped for some good from his 
 return, believing that his knov/ledge and experience would induce 
 Congress to listen to his judgment.— But Franklin came, not to in- 
 duce the patriots to return to the Mother Country as the tories 
 hoped, but to finish the v^ork that Paine had just begun. ' Paine says, 
 "In October 1775 Dr. Franklin proposed giving me such materials as 
 were in his hands tov/ards com.pleting a history of the present trans- 
 actions, and seemed desirous of having the first volume out the next 
 spring. I had then form.ed the outlines of Common Sense and finished 
 nearly the first part; and as I supposed the doctor's design in get- 
 ting out a history was to open the new year with a nev/ system, I 
 expected to surprise him v/ith a production on that subject much 
 earlier than he thought of; and without informing him of what I was 
 
 doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could 
 
 2 
 
 and sent him the first pamphlet that was printed off."— Vslien the 
 pamphlet appeared it was for a time believed to have come from 
 Franklin. 
 
 Franklin had v/ritten to Dr. Priestley just after his arrival in 
 America, "The breach* betv/een the two countries is grown wider, and 
 1 
 
 Journal of Samuel Curv/en, Hew York, 1845, p. 27. 
 
 2 
 
 Lif e . Yol. i, p. 214. 
 

 
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15 
 
 in danger of 'becoming irrepara'ble . In Septem'ber he wrote to 
 
 Jonathan Williams, ”Bnt whether America is ever again to have any 
 
 connection with Britain either Commercial or Political is at present 
 
 uncertain. All depends on that nation's coming to its Senses. Here 
 
 vie are preparing and determining to rim all Risques rather than com- 
 
 2 
 
 ply with her mad Dem.ands;”— and in October he said, "A separation of 
 
 3 
 
 course will be inevitable."” In December he virote to His Most 
 
 Serene Highness, Don Gabriel, of Bourbon, who had sent him a copy of 
 
 4 
 
 the version of Sallust printed in 1772, "I v/ish I could send from 
 hence any American literary Production worthy of your Perusal; but 
 as yet the Muses have scarcely visited these remote Regions. Per- 
 haps, however, the late Proceedings of our American Congress, just 
 published, may. be a subject of some Curiosity at your Court. I 
 therefore take the Liberty of sending your Highness a Copy, with 
 some other Papers, which contain Accounts of the successes wherev/ith 
 Providence has lately favored us. Therein your wise Politicians may 
 contemplate the first efforts of a rising State, which. seems likely 
 soon to act a Part of some Importance on the Stage of Human Affairs 
 and furnish materials for a future Sallust." 
 
 Paine expresses Pranklin's thought in Common Sense , but colors 
 it for tlae multitude for whom it was intended. "The authority of 
 Great Britain over this continent is a form of government, which 
 sooner or later must have an end."— "The— birthday of a nev/ world 
 is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe 
 
 1 2 
 
 Writing's, Vol. vi, p. 400. Ibid. p. 429. 
 
 3 4 
 
 Ibid. p. 431. Ibid. pp. 456-437. 
 
 5 6 
 
 Writings . 'Vol . i, p. 89. Ibid. p. 119. 
 

 
 
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16 
 
 contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the events 
 of a few months.” 
 
 The spirit that impelled Franklin to return to America in 1775 
 
 was the spirit that impelled him to send his ingenious young friend 
 
 to America. Franklin had preached his "unite or die" doctrine well, 
 
 hut it had only influenced the handful of radical leaders who came 
 
 into direct contact with state affairs. Franklin's keen vision saw 
 
 in Paine, who was capable of fulfilling a position as assistant 
 
 tutor or assistant anything, until he learned America's need of him, 
 
 the medium through v/hom. the spirit of independence must reach the 
 
 people. VJhile Franklin was telling the illustrious prince of Spain 
 
 that he would soon behold the birth of a new nation, his worthy 
 
 young friend was moving the minds of the people, and exhorting them 
 
 1 
 
 to unite or die; — "b'herefore instead of gazing at each other, with 
 
 suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let each of us hold out to his 
 
 neighbor the hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drav/ing a line, 
 
 v;hich like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every 
 
 form of dissention. Let the names of v/hig and tory be extinct; and 
 
 let none other be heard among us than those of good citizen; and 
 
 open and resolute friend; and a virtuous supporter of the Rights of 
 
 i'lankind and of the Free and Independent States of America . " 
 
 Franklin called it a "famous piece" and said it "had prodigious 
 2 3 
 
 effects"”" at the beginning “ of the Revolution, and greatly "for- 
 warded" it. Paine said, "V/hen I turned my thoughts tov\^ard matters 
 of government, I had to form a system for myself, that accorded with 
 
 ~1 
 
 Ibid. p. 120. 
 
 2 
 
 jVri tings, Vol. ix, p. 562. 
 
 Ibid. p. 565. 
 

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17 
 
 the moral and philosophic principles in which I had been educated."— 
 He believed that America's cause was the cause of Humanity. "The 
 independence of America, considered merely as a separation from 
 England, would have been a matter but of little importance, had it 
 not been accompanied by a revolution in the principles and practice 
 of governments . She made a stand not for herself only, but for the 
 
 p 
 
 world, and looked beyond the advantages herself could receive.”— 
 
 Eranklin spoke of it as the "cause of Liberty and America," and 
 
 he longed for the return of "Peace on the general Principles of Hu- 
 3 
 
 manity."— Paine recognized this quality in Pranklin, when he said 
 
 4 
 
 he "was not the diplomatic of a Court, but of ilan."— 
 
 After the Leclaration of Independence was adopted, Pranklin had 
 to work to find the substantial aid that was needed to obtain the 
 freedom that they had declared. To Paine fell the work of develop- 
 ing within the state, the spirit of independence that v/as born from 
 Common Sense . It is certain that America's Preedorn could not have 
 been obtained without the financial help secured from Prance, and no 
 one could have obtained that help without the influence of Pranklin. 
 But it is equally certain that America's Independence had to be fos- 
 tered at home, and no influence was so important, and no single 
 force so efficient in securing this support as Paine's Crisis . "I 
 found," he says, "the dispositions of the people such, that they 
 might have been led by a thread and governed by a reed. Their sus- 
 picion v/as quick and penetrating, but their attachment to Britain 
 was obstinate.-- They disliked the Ministry, but they esteemed the 
 
 I 2 
 
 Writings, Vol. iv, p. 63. Ibid. Vol. ii, p. 401. 
 
 3 4 
 
 Writings , Vol. iii, p. 454-455. Y/ri tings , Vol. ii, p. 335. 
 

 
 
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18 
 
 nation.”— Paine knew his povi^er. In the A^e of Reason he said, ”I 
 
 believe I should never have been known in the v/orld as an author on 
 
 2 
 
 any subject whatever, had it not been for the affairs in America.”— 
 The Crisis shows the peculiar ingenious quality that Pranklin 
 recognized in the man. He does not blame the Americans for their 
 attachment to the Mother Country. He listens to their unspoken pro- 
 test against the harshness of a parent, and, with genuine sympathy, 
 he cries, "These are times that try men's souls.”— Then he praises 
 their aspiration. "Heaven knov/s how to put a proper price upon its 
 goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as 
 
 4 
 
 Preedom should not be highly rated.”— He does not urge them to 
 fight, he lets them hear him assure Lord Ho?ire that the Americans 
 will maintain their independence against the world. He does it all 
 consciously, and confides to Pranklin, that he feels the pleasure of 
 having done his duty, adding, "I feel that of not having discredited 
 your friendship and patronage. I live in hopes of seeing and ad- 
 vising with you respecting the History of the American Revolution, 
 as soon as a turn of affairs makes it safe to take a passage for 
 Europe . ” 
 
 Pranklin had been in Prance since December 4th 1776, and while 
 he was the official minister to Prance, he used the occasion to cul- 
 tivate a popular opinion in favor of American liberty. This gave 
 immense support to Paine's work at home, and fired, in no small 
 measure, the courage of the leaders. In May 1777, he wrote to 
 Samuel Cooper, "All Europe is on our Side of the Question, as far as 
 
 1 2 
 
 Life, Vol. ii, n. 435. Writings, Vol. iv, p. 63. 
 
 3 ' 4 
 
 Writings , Vol. i, p. 170. Ibid. p. 393. 
 
19 
 
 Applause and good V/ishes can carry them.-- They read the Translations 
 of our Separate Colony Constitutions with Rapture; and there are such 
 numbers everywhere, who talk of Removing to America with their Fam- 
 ilies and Fortunes as soon as Peace and our Independence shall be 
 established, that ’tis generally believed we shall have a prodigious 
 Addition of Strength, V/ealth, and Arts from the Emigrations of 
 Europe; and 'tis thought, that, to lessen, or prevent, such Emigra- 
 tions, the Tyrannies established there must relax, and allov/ more 
 Liberty to their people. Hence 'tis a common observation here, that 
 
 our Cause is the Cause of all Mankind, and that v/e are fighting for 
 
 2 
 
 their liberty in defending our own.' 
 
 Paine does not differ from this when he says, "One of the great 
 
 advantages of the American Revolution has been, that it led to a 
 
 discovery of the principles, and laid open the impositions of gov- 
 2 
 
 erniments;” or again, "In proportion as the independence of America 
 became contemplated and understood, the local benefits of it to the 
 immediate actors and the numerous benefits it promised mankind, ap- 
 peared every day to be increasing; and we saw not a temporary good 
 
 '5 
 
 for the present race only, but a continued good to all posterity,"— 
 It was the combined influence of Franklin and Paine that had pene- 
 trated French thought, and made it receptive to the Age of Reason 
 and the Rights of Ivlan . In the words of Paine, "The American consti- 
 tutions were to liberty, v/hat a grammar is to a language; they de- 
 fine its parts of speech, and practically construct them into 
 syntax."— 
 
 1 2 . 
 
 'Writings / Vol. vii, p. 256. V/ri tings , Vol. ii, pp. 410-411. 
 
 Z Ibid. p. 100. 4 Ibid. p. 536. 
 

 
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 In 1780 Paine felt that he had a mission to perform in Europe, 
 and v/as anxious to go to England. It seemed to him that the time 
 was favorable for moving the British' mind in the direction of peace, 
 and thus ending the war. On the ninth of September he wrote, ~ "I 
 do not suppose that the acknowledgment of Independence is at this 
 time a more unpopular doctrine in England than the declaration of it 
 was in America immediately before the publication of the pamphlet, 
 'Common Sense ' , and the gro'und appears as open for the one now as it 
 did for the other then.-- The simple point I mean to aim at is, to 
 make the acknowledgment of Independence a popular subject, and that 
 not by exposing and attacking their errors, but by stating its ad- 
 vantages and apologizing for their errors by way of accomodating the 
 measure to their pride." 
 
 This mission v/as not given to Paine, but v&ien Col. John Laurens 
 was sent to Prance for aid, he was reluctant to go, and would accept, 
 only on the condition of Paine's accompanying him. They sailed from 
 Boston in 1781 and met Franklin in llarch. Paine and Franklin ac- 
 complished the mission, and received a gift of six millions from the 
 King. It is probable that Franklin dissuaded Paine from going to 
 England, for he returned with Col. Laurens, with a "charge of up- 
 wards of two thousand pounds sterling."^ 
 
 The year 1783 brought Paine much relief. He felt that his po- 
 litical work v/as at an end, and he could now find leisure for his 
 v/ork in science. In taking his leave of politics, he reminded the 
 Americans that "we are apt to be stunned by calmness when it com.es 
 
 1 
 
 Life , Vol. i, pp. 169-170. 
 
 E 
 
 Writings , Vol. iv, p. 465. 
 
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21 
 
 too ins tantly 'upon us." "To — see it in our power to make a world 
 
 happy-- to teach mankind the art of being so," are responsibilities 
 
 to be regarded gratefully. "But as the scenes of war are closed-- 
 
 I therefore take my leave of the subject.-- And what ever country I 
 
 may hereafter be in, I shall alv/ays feel an honest pride at the part 
 
 I have taken and acted, and a gratitude to nature and providence for 
 
 2 
 
 putting it in my power to be of some use to mankind.”— 
 
 V/hen Branklin returned to America Paine at once resumed his in- 
 timate relations with him and Pranklin wrote to him, "Your present 
 
 3 
 
 arduous undertaking, I easily conceive demands retirement, and tho ' 
 
 we shall reap the fruits of it, I can not help regretting the want 
 
 of your abilities here where in the present moment, they might, I 
 
 4 
 
 think, be successfully employed. Parties still run very high.-- 
 Comraon Sense would unite them. It is to be hoped therefore it has 
 not abandoned us forever." 
 
 Common Sense had not abandoned the country in its need, and in 
 
 1786 Paine v/rote his "Dissertations on Governm.ent, the Affairs of 
 
 the Bank, and Paper Money." Paine's interest in this bank was deep; 
 
 no one had more confidence in it than he, for it had grov/n out of 
 
 his subscription of $500 for Washington's Army. To repeal its char- 
 
 ter-was to violate a contract, so the repeal had to be submitted to 
 
 popular suffrage. Paine's pamphlet succeeded in its personal appeal 
 
 and his ideas have been affimed in every contention since. 
 
 Paine returned once miore to his bridge, and began a lively cor- 
 
 5 
 
 respondence with Pranklin asking him "to bestow a few thoughts on 
 
 I 2 
 
 Ibid. Vol. i, p. 371. Ibid. p. 376. 
 
 3 4 
 
 His bridf?:e. Life, Vol. i, p. 213. 
 
 5 
 
 Ibid. p. 218. 
 
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22 
 
 the suoject and to commimicate” any difficulties or douhts as to its 
 efficiency. At another time he sent his models to Franklin with 
 these v/ords, "The gentleman, ivlr. Hall, who' presents you with this 
 letter, has the care of two models for a bridge, one of wood, the 
 other of cast iron, which I have the pleasure of submitting to you, 
 as v;ell for the purpose of showing my respect to you, as m.y patron 
 in this country, as for the sake of having your opinion and judg- 
 ment thereon.'— 'hlien he came to Philadelphia, he saw a great deal oi 
 Franklin, at the "Society for Political Inq^uiries," which met in 
 Franklin's library. 
 
 In 1787 he went to France, and Franklin's letters opened the 
 
 door for him, and he v/as warmly received. John Hall's Diary has 
 
 2 . 
 
 this interesting note,” "He is nav going for England by way of 
 France in the French packet which sails the 25th inste^nt. — He told 
 me of the Committee's proceedings on Bridges and Sewers; anecdotes 
 of Dr. Franklin who had sent a letter by him to the president or 
 some one to communicate to the Society of Civil Architects, who su- 
 perintended solely over bridges in France. — The Doctor -- considers 
 Mr. Paine as his adopted political Son.-- He told me many anecdotes 
 of the Doctor, relating to national and political concerns, and 
 observations of many aged and sensible men of his acquaintance in 
 that country." 
 
 V(hen Paine reached France he v/rote to Franklin, "It must have 
 been a very strong attachm.ent that drew you from this country for 
 
 rr 
 
 your friends are very numerous and very affectionate." 
 
 1 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 2 
 
 Quoted in Life , Vol. ii, p. 468. 
 
 ^t'ri tings, Vol. 
 
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25 
 
 Paine, like Franklin, was a Feist, and like him too, he was 
 tolerant of all heliefs. He declared his belief thus:— ”I believe 
 in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. 
 --I believe the equality of ma^n, and I believe that religious duties 
 consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our 
 fellovz-creatures happy.-- I do not mean by this declaration to con- 
 demn those who believe otherv/ise. Infidelity does not consist in 
 believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe 
 what he does not believe.” His _.”religion of humanity” admitted no 
 infringement on the rights of man. The whole moral dut^/ of man 
 seemed to him to consist in imitating the goodness that God mani- 
 fested to his creatures. Every act of persecution and revenge, 
 every act of cruelty to man or animal is a violation of the moral 
 law. His kinship v/ith Franklin extended beyond their political re- 
 lations. He shared, as Priestley did, Franklin’s keen interest in 
 science as well as his unfaltering pursuit of the greatest happiness 
 of man. His optimism v\/as tinged with Franklin's unlimited hope, and 
 he realized his future as soon as he conceived it. The common sense 
 philosophy of Paine was perceived by Franklin to be so like his own, 
 that he was able to direct it into the most productive channels, and 
 the eloquence of Paine in the French Hevolution fell on ears that 
 recognized the echo of Franklin's voice in the revolution in 
 America, and Paine generously, acknowledged Franklin's influence in 
 his Eights of Ivlan . There v/as nothing of mysticism in the philosoph- 
 ical theory of Paine, as there was none in that of Franklin. They 
 loved their fellov/ men, upheld their rights, and, though hedged 
 
 I 
 
 'writings , Vol. iv, pp. 21-22. 
 
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 about by criticism from tlieir orthodox contemporaries, they looked, 
 with a sublim.e faith, for a sphere of usefulness in the W'orld to 
 come. 'vVhen franklin’s enfeebled life ?/as drawing to a close, he 
 made a plea for the emancipation of the negro and abolition of the 
 slave trade. By a singular coincidence, Paine at the same time was 
 interested in the same question, and looked to America for its so- 
 lution. "I wish most anxiously to see my much loved America.. It 
 is the country from v/hence all reformation must originally spring. 
 
 I despair of seeing the abolition of the infernal trade in negroes. 
 We miust push that matter further on your side of the v/ater. I v;ish 
 that a few well instructed could be sent among their bretZaren in 
 
 bondage; for until they are able to take their own part nothing v/ill 
 1 
 
 be done.”"" 
 
 Paine’s estimate of franklin is simple and sincere: ”His mind 
 
 7/as ever young; his temper ever serene; science that never grows 
 
 gray v/as always his m.istress. He was never without an ob.j ect . --His 
 
 life v/as devoted to the good and im.provement of man. Let, then, 
 
 ✓* 
 
 those v/ho profess a different creed, imitate his virtues, and excel 
 
 2 
 
 him if they can.” 
 
 — Vol.i,P« 271. 
 
 — Writlnp:s , Vol. iv, pp. 128 et 427. 
 
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25 
 
 III. 
 
 FHAIJXLII'T AHD DH. PH ICE. 
 
 There is something in the story of Hichard Price's changing the 
 "pure atmosphere of Wales for the putrescent vapors of London," that 
 recalls the circumstance in the life of Franklin when he went out 
 into the v/orld to seek his fortune. Price's father, a Dissenter 
 with narrow prejudices, could not endure his son's hroad and toler- 
 ant religious views, and cut him off from any share in his inherit- 
 ance. This only strengthened the boy's determination to become a 
 minister after his own convictions. "Having no conveyance, he had 
 recourse to his brother, the heir of his father's fortune, who sup- 
 plied him with a horse to carry himself and a servant as far as 
 Cardiff, a distance of twenty miles, from wdiere he v/as left to 
 trudge on foot with his bundle in his hand to Bristol a further dis- 
 tance of forty miles. But luckily for him, a good-natured lady, 
 seeing a youth in this forlorn condition, walking over rough and 
 dirty roads, took him into her carriage part of the v/ay, and so far 
 relieved, him of his fatigue and sorrov/. From Bristol he set off in 
 a conveyance, which to the best of my recollection he told me was no 
 other than a broad-wheeled waggon."— 
 
 Arrived in London, Price received scant encouragement from his 
 uncle, a rigid Calvinist, v/ho disliked the boy for his candid benev- 
 olent opinions, and sav; no prospect of his success, "notwithstanding 
 the excellence of his moral conduct." This uncle resented the boy's 
 "daring to think for himself," and vvhen Price became a Unitarian min- 
 
 1 
 
 :.:ernoirs of the Life of Hichard Price, D. D. London, 1815, pp. 8-9. 
 
 A 
 
26 
 
 is ter, he is said to have exclaimed that ’'he had rather see him 
 transformed into a pig, than that he should have been brought up to 
 be a dissenting minister fathout believing in -the Trinity.” 
 
 Price's first appointment was at Stoke Nev/ington, v/here he 
 preached in various pulpits, particularly at Pr. Chandler's in the 
 Old Jewry. Here he drev/ around him a small but devoted group of ra- 
 tional thinkers, and in 1756 he was invited to become the morning 
 preacher at Hewington Green. His work absorbed him so completely, 
 that he "lamented as a trifling waste of time, the few hours he 
 spent in the study of mathematics and philosophy, and even in the 
 hamless relaxation of visiting his friends."— 
 
 He made an exception, however, in the case of Pr. Pranklin, 
 whose friendship he had gained through his relations ¥/ith John 
 Canton, Pr. Andrew Kippis, and a small select group of philosophic 
 members of the Royal Society. Price had contributed some miathemat- 
 ical papers to the Society, and in 1760 he ?/rote a Pissertation on 
 Miracles . He read this article to his little group of intimates and 
 published it with their approval. The following year he undertook 
 to determine "from the number of times in which an unknovai event has 
 happened and failed, the chance that the probability of its happen- 
 ing in a single trial lies somewhere between any tv/o degrees of 
 
 2 
 
 probability that can be nam.ed . This was sent to Franklin, who had 
 returned to America, and Franklin had it published in the Transac- 
 tions of the American Philosophical Society in 1765. 
 
 1 
 
 Ibid. p. 20. 
 
 2 
 
 Ibid. p. 21. 
 

 
 
 1 
 
 
 ■ I’ 
 
 1 r.i . 
 
 
27 
 
 The next year Franklin was in England, representing the colonies 
 in the Stamp Act dispute, and now was organized the "delightful Club" 
 which met first at a coffee-house in St. Paul's Churchyard, but 
 "v/hose meetings v/ere afterward moved to the London Coffee-house Lud- 
 gate Hill.”” Dr. Price used to set apart certain evenings in each 
 week to meet Franklin and the other philosophical gentlemen there, 
 and from these meetings dates his interest in national finances, 
 population, and other political q.uestions, that had been Franklin's 
 problems since the early days of Poor Richard. 
 
 In 1751 Franklin had published some Observations on the Increase 
 of Iv-ankind and the Peopling of Countries . He turned these over to 
 Price together v/ith some statistics that he had gathered since their 
 publication, and in 1769 Price addressed to him. his " Observations on 
 the Expectation of Lives-- the Increase of Mankind--and the Popula- 
 tion of London, ” v/hich v/ere published in the Philosophical Transac - 
 tions of that year. Franklin gathered data from every source for 
 Lr. Price's v/ork on Annuities , and v/hen he made his trip on the con- 
 tinent he found much that v/as useful to his friend, and gave it 
 2 
 
 generously He enlisted the services of William Franklin in gath- 
 ering accounts from, the colonies, which he said were agreeable to 
 him, "but particularly to Lr. Price." 
 
 The breaking out of the American War brought Franklin and 
 Price into the warmest kind of sympathy. Price was a profound hu- 
 manitarian as well as a thrifty economist, and he was opposed to v/ar 
 as Franklin was, on every ground. I'vhen, in the v.^inter of 1775, he 
 sav; that England was determined to repair her dilapidated finances 
 
 r 1 3 
 
 Ibid. p. 48. See Writings , Yol. v, p. 406. Ibid. Vol. vi,p.32. 
 
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28 
 
 oy a direct attack on the civil liberties of the colonists, he threv/ 
 himself into the struggle with genuine sympathy. V/hile Franklin was 
 bending every effort to save the beautiful vase from being shattered, 
 Dr. Price undertook to correct the general notions of liberty, and 
 at the same time endeavored to promote a thorough knowledge of the 
 rights which the colonists claimed. 
 
 Franklin was most anxious that this be done. He had returned 
 to America in May, and found the temper of the Americans bent on re- 
 sistance. His letters to his British friends, show how important he 
 considered it to have British public opinion converted to the colo- 
 nial point of view. In October he wrote, "Tell our dear good friend 
 (Dr. Price) that America is determined and unanimous-- Britain at 
 the expense of three millions has killed one hundred and fifty Yan- 
 kees this campaign, which is twenty-thousand pounds a head; and at 
 Bunker's Hill she gained a mile of ground, half of which she lost 
 again by our taking a post on Ploughed Hill. During the same time 
 sixty thousand children have been born in America. From these data 
 his mathematical head will easily calculate the time and expense 
 necessary to kill us all, and conquer the whole territory."— 
 
 To another friend he wrote, "I am persuaded that the body of 
 
 the British people are our friends; but they are changeable, and by 
 
 2 
 
 your lying gazettes may soon be made our enemies."— Franklin knew 
 that the voice of the English would soon be heard in relation to the 
 American question. The colonies were contending for a principle, 
 and it v/as absolutely necessary to get the colonial propaganda 
 1 
 
 Ibid. pp. 429-430. 
 
 2 
 
 Ibid. p. 431. 
 

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abroad, if the civil liberties of the Americans were to be made se- 
 cure. With unerring instinct for recognizing the capabilities of 
 individual men, he saw that Dr. Price's service to liberty, was to 
 promote a more correct general knowledge of the American controversy 
 What Common Sense did in America, Price's Observations on the Ameri - 
 can War accomplished in England . Behind these pamphlets v/as the mind 
 of Franklin, creating a new current of thought in the direction of 
 the rights of man. 
 
 Price's pamphlet was so eagerly and so universally read, that 
 the press could not supply the demands for it. In the course of a 
 fev/ days several thousands were sold; and such was the rapid pro- 
 gress of the impression which it made, and of the admiration which 
 it excited, that the friends of the Americans thought that they 
 
 could not better serve the cause than by extending the sale of it to 
 
 1 
 
 all ranks of society."— With generous zeal for liberty Dr. Price 
 sacrificed all private emolument that might have come to him, and 
 at the same time endured with heroic nobility all the "rancorous 
 abuse which he received from the advocates of American subjection.” 
 
 By this time the Parliament regarded the colonies as rebels, 
 and all communication and direct intercourse with them was cut off. 
 Franklin was sent to France, and was thus able to transmit to Price 
 letters and information v/hich would not, otherwise, have reached 
 England. Price said that he had "become so marked and obnoxious” 
 that he did not think it prudent to correspond with any one, and 
 caution prevented him from writing to Franklin, but he said that in- 
 formation regarding the American situation would be most acceptable. 
 
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30 
 
 and that "there was less danger in receiving than in sending ac- 
 counts . 
 
 J’ranklin was the channel through v/hich the information came. In 
 a letter to John Winthrop he said, "I forv/arded your letter to Dr. 
 Price, v/ho was well lately; out his Friends on his Acct., were under 
 some apprehensions from the Violence of the Government, in conse- 
 quence of his late excellent Publications in favor of Liberty. I 
 
 wish all the Friends of liberty and of Man would quit that Sink of 
 
 2 
 
 Corruption and leave it to its Fate."— Franklin continued to supply 
 the material, and Price issued a second pamphlet with some addi- 
 tional observations on the nature and valne of civil liberty, on the 
 war with America, and following Franklin's hints to his "mathemat- 
 ical head," on the debts and resources of Great Britain. 
 
 Franklin sent, for use in this pamphlet, a report of the fi- 
 nances of M. Turgot's administration, and out of this began M. 
 Turgot's correspondence vyith Price. At the sam.e time Franklin's re- 
 port of the persecutions that threatened Price, brought him an in- 
 vitation to accept citizenship from the United States. Franklin, 
 Lee, and Adams ga.ve him the invitation together with a request for 
 his services in assisting "to regulate the finances," and an offer to 
 provide generously for these services. They even added a promise of 
 "every assistance in our power to make your passage agreeable, as 
 well as your reception and accommodation in our country."— 
 
 Price declined this offer, and set about to warn England of the 
 dangers which the grov/ing luxury of the rich and the increasing bur- 
 den of the poor v/ere threatening. Ee was one with Franklin in the 
 belief that moderation and justice are the safeguards of liberty. 
 
 I 2 
 
 Ibid. p. 65. Writings , Vol. vii, p. 57. 
 
 - Hichard Price , D.D., p. 77. 
 

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31 
 
 By 1782 British public opinion had changed so notably that the old 
 ministers resigned, and the new ministers set about at once to con- 
 ciliate America. Franklin immediately v/rote to Price, congratu- 
 late you on the late revolution in your public affairs.-- The change, 
 however, in the sentiments of the nation, in which I see evident ef- 
 fects of your writings-- should encourage you to proceed. 
 
 The Ancient Roman and Greek orators could only speak to the 
 number of citizens capable of being assembled within the reach of 
 their voice, — Row by the press we can speak to nations; and good 
 books and well written pamphlets have great and general influence. 
 
 The facility, with which the same truths may be repeatedly enforced 
 by placing them daily in different lights in newspapers , which are 
 
 everywhere read, gives a great chance of establishing them. -- I 
 
 1 
 
 suppose we may now correspond v/i th more freedom.” 
 
 'jVhen the struggle was ended, and peace restored Price v/rote an 
 
 Advice to the People of America , v/hich he published and distributed 
 
 to them at his ov/n expense. To it was appended a letter of If. 
 
 Turgot’s, which v/as inserted at the wish of Franklin, who obtained 
 
 the necessary permission to use it. He also procured for him, some 
 
 reports on the "immense powers of compound interest," and a nev/ v/ork 
 
 2 
 
 on the Finances of France ♦ 
 
 when Franklin was called back to America, he had to leave with- 
 out seeing the "good Doctor," It was a great disappointment, for he 
 had labored "for Peace v/ith more Earnestness to be happy" in the 
 "sweet society" of the good souls at the London, who had escaped the 
 contagion of a "perverse generation." Their correspondence v/as kept 
 
 1 
 
 V/ritinp:s, Vol. viii, p. 457. 
 
 2 
 
 Ibid. Yol. ix, p. 286. 
 
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 32 
 
 up, and Price sent liira a copy of the Sermons , v/hich v/ere written as 
 soon as the cessation of the war gave him leisure for his religious 
 writings . 
 
 Franklin and Price were one in religion, and Franklin liked to 
 take his friends to Newington Green, when Price occupied the pulpit. 
 In 1772 he took Sir John Pringle to hear this preacher of "rational 
 Christianity," and frequently heard other preachers of the kind, on 
 Price’s recommendation. 
 
 Price, like Franklin, was devoted to the practice of virtue. 
 
 To improve himself and others v/as the great guiding principle of his 
 life. He opposed tyranny and usurpation, just as Franklin did, be- 
 cause they bred corruption, and hence opposed virtue. He, too, con- 
 demned no man for want or excess of faith, and like Franklin he pre- 
 ferred the honest, though mistaken opinions of a humble mind to the 
 soundest orthodoxy when joined lYith conceit and bigotry. 
 
 Franklin's Puritanism, rejoiced in the conscientious candor of 
 Dr. Price, and it was to him, in preference to all his optim.istic 
 friends that he sent his memoirs, desiring him to read it critically, 
 and to give his candid opinion as to whether it had best be published 
 or suppressed. Y/hen the tow'n of Franklin \¥anted to honor the philos- 
 opher by erecting a steeple to his memory, if he would furnish the 
 bell, he wrote to Dr. Price, "I have advis'd the sparing themselves 
 the Expense of a steeple, for the present, and that they would ac- 
 cept of Books instead of a Bell, Sense being preferable to Sound." — 
 He then requested Price to select books, "to the value of about 
 Tv/enty-five Pounds, such as are proper to inculcate Principles 
 
 1 
 
 Ibid. Vol. ix, p. 500. 
 

 
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 of sound Religion and .just Government.” He made the further sugges- 
 tion, ’’Besides your ovm V/orks, I would only mention, on the Recom- 
 mendation of my sister, ’’Stennet’s Discourses on Personal Religion ” , 
 
 2 
 
 v/hich may he one hook of the Humher, if you Imow and approve of it.” 
 That Dr. Price complied with his req^uest and suggestion is another 
 evidence of the perfect understanding between these two men. 
 
 There can he no douht that the friendship between these two . 
 apostles of liberty had a prodigious influence for good on civilized 
 mankind; nor can it he doubted that the versatility, firmness, and 
 tact of Pranklin was in a large measure responsible for the converts 
 to radicalism made by the writings of Dr. Price. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
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34 
 
 IV. 
 
 FRiUKLIU AND PRIESTLEY, 
 
 Pranklin's Autobiography ended with the year 1757 and does not 
 contain any mention of his friendship vi^ith Dr. Priestley. His let- 
 ters to Priestley extend over the period from 1772 to 1786, and show 
 that these tv/o philosophers were united by a variety of interests. 
 
 "Their acquaintance began in 1766. Priestley i7rote to his friend Mr. 
 Rotheram,— ”I have lately been in London, and formed a most agree- 
 able acquaintance with Dr. Pranklin, Mr. Cs.nton, Dr. Watson, and 
 other philosophers and electricians. I have been engaged by them to 
 write a Treatise on Electricity, in which I shall give a full his- 
 tory of all the discoveries, in the order of time in which they were 
 made. I have made three or four new experiments myself, of which 
 you will probably see an account in the ' Philosophical Transac tions ♦ ' 
 I do not recollect whether you had a taste for these subjects. I am 
 enthusiastically fond of them, particularly since I got a little ap- 
 paratus of my own, which I had a year or t7/o before I came to 
 V'/arrington. " 
 
 These experiments took up much of his leisure time, as five 
 hours of every day were employed in public or private lectures, and 
 he spent a two months' vacation with his father-in-law a-t Bristol. 
 
 He v;orked rapidly, perhaps hastily, although the v/ork was v/ell re- 
 ceived, a.nd v/ithin a year from the time he made the plan of his work, 
 he sent a copy of his "History of Electricity" to Pranklin in print. 
 During the course of his electrical experiments, he kept up a con- 
 stant correspondence v/ith Eranklin; a corres,pondence v/hich he says, 
 
 " Memoirs of Dr. Priestley ;" Ed. by Rutt, London 1831 . Vol . I , pt . i , p56 
 
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 "would have made a oonsiderahle volume, and took up much tj.me. — 
 
 In 1769 Dr. Priestley published his "Chart of P^istory” \vith 
 
 ♦this dedication, "lo Benjamin Pranklin I. L. D., P. H. S. this chart 
 
 is, in testim.ony of esteem and friendship, inscribed by his most 
 
 2 
 
 obliged humble servant, Joseph Priestley. This had been preceded 
 by a "Chart of Biogra^hiy, " v/hich procured for him the title of 
 "Doctor of Lav/s" from the University of Edinburgh. His ex]Deriments 
 in electricity brought him to the notice of the Hoj-al Society, to 
 which he was recommended hj Dr. Pranklin, Ur. Canton, Dr. V/atson, 
 and Dr. Price. 
 
 He wrote to Dr. Price at this time, "I shall write out a full 
 account of the new exxjeriments I have mentioned to Dr. Pranklin and 
 Mr. Canton after a week or two, in v/hich I shall have made other 
 experiments which have a connexion with them. In the m.eantime m^/' 
 friends here think it v/ill be best to mention them to some of the 
 principal' members , and to read the full account of them to the So- 
 ciety about the time of election; but I beg of you, dear Sir, and 
 
 Mr. Canton, not to have me proposed at all, (if it be not done,) 
 
 (3 
 
 unless you be morally certain it v/ill be carried."" Dr. Priestley 
 felt sure that the Hoyal Society v/as too Anglican to admit a Dis- 
 senter without opposition, and Pranklin met the expected opposition 
 
 v/hen he tried to get the Copley Medal from the Society for Dr. 
 
 4 
 
 Priestley. He v/rote to Canton,“"Af ter the Society was gone, my Lord 
 Moreton said (v/hen I offered him the paper) that it ought to have 
 been deliver'd before and read to the Society; he desired me to pro- 
 duce it to the Council. There the reading of it v/as opposed as not 
 
 I 2 
 
 Ibid. p. 57. Works, Vol. XXTV , p. 477. 
 
 — 4 
 
 ..orks , Yol. I, part i, p. 58. — V/ri tings , Ed. by Smyth, LLacmillan 
 
 Sc Co. Hew York, 1907, Yol. V,pp. 69-71. 
 
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.V 6 
 
 "being referr'd to them "by the Society. But this was at last got 
 over, "by hr. ivioreton's proposing that the giving a ivledal to I)r. 
 Priestley should be taken into consideration, and that in order to 
 judge the better of the Propriety of the proposal, the paper should 
 be read. I was then desired as the best Judge present to give my 
 Opinion of the Merit of the Experiments as to the Medal; v/hich I did 
 in plain Terms, declaring it as my judgment that the great Pains and 
 Expense the Doctor had been at in making them and the Importance of 
 the Experiments themselves, well deserved that Encouragement from 
 the Society; and that it was a Mark of Distinction justly due to so 
 much philosophical Industry and Sagacity." Here followed an account 
 of the discussion that followed Franklin's remarks, and he concludes, 
 "Thus the Business ended for that time; and how it will conclude at 
 last seems an Uncertainty, for I think some Persons are busy in Op- 
 position to the Measure. But I hope it will end in favour of Merit, 
 in which case I think our Friend cannot m.iss it." 
 
 Franklin not only recommended Priestley "to favour," but he 
 
 helped him to get his books abroad. Dr. Priestley consulted him at 
 
 every turn and gratefully acknowledged his obligations. vVhen he was 
 
 making his experiments on "Fixed Air," Franklin v/as intensely inter- 
 
 1 
 
 ested and wrote from Paris, "I rejoice to hear of yoLir continual 
 Progress in those useful discoveries; I find that you have set all 
 the Philosophers of Europe at Work upon Fixed Air; and it is with 
 great Pleasure I observe hov/ high you stand in their Opinion; for I 
 enjoy my Friends’ fame as my own," 
 
 1 
 
 Writings, Vol. VII, p. 18. 
 

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37 
 
 It' v/as a request from Priestley that brought out Franklin’s 
 "moral algebra."— "In the Affair of so much importance to you where- 
 in you ask my Advice, I can not for want of sufficient prem.ises 
 advise you what to determine, but if you please I will tell you how. 
 V/hen those difficult Gases occur, they are difficult chiefly because 
 while we have them under consideration, all the reasons pro and con 
 are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set 
 present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out 
 of sight. Hence the various purposes or Inclinations that alter- 
 nately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us. To get over 
 this, my Way is, to divide half a sheet of Paper by a line into two 
 Columns; Vs/riting over one Pro and over the other Con . Then during 
 three or four days’ consideration, I put dovm under the different 
 Heads short Hints of the different Motives, that at different Times 
 occur to me, for or against the Measure. V.h.en I have thus got them 
 all together in one view, I endeavor to estimate their respective 
 Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seen equal, I 
 strike them both out. If I find a Reason pro equal to some two 
 Reasons con, I strike out three. If I judge some two Reasons con 
 equal to some three Reasons pro , I strike out the five; and thus 
 proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a 
 Day or two of farther Consideration, nothing new of Importance oc- 
 curs on either side, I comie to a Determination accordingly. And, 
 tho ’ the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken W'ith the Precision of 
 Algebraic quantities, yet, when each is considered, separately and 
 
 1 
 
 Ibid. pp. 437-438. 
 
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38 
 
 comparatively, and the whole lies "before me, I think I can judge 
 better, and am less liable to make a rash step; and in fact I have 
 found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what might be 
 called Moral or Prudential Algebra." 
 
 In 1775 Pr. Priestley, upon the recommendation of Pr. Price 
 left Leeds to become the literary companion of Lord Shelburne. In 
 this situation he spent seven years, living in the suimiier with his 
 family near the Earl’s seat in Wiltshire, and spending the wint^er in 
 Lord Shelburne’s London house. In this same year the Hoyal Society 
 gave him the Copley Medal, that Franklin had asked for, "as a faith- 
 ful and unfading testimonial of their regard, and of the just sense 
 
 they have of your merit, and of the persevering industry with which 
 
 1 
 
 you have promoted the views, and thereby the honor of this Societyr” 
 
 Franklin wfes much pleased with Pr. Priestley’s engagem.ent v/ith 
 Lord Shelburne and v/rote to John Winthrop,— "Pr. 'Priestley is now 
 well provided for. Lord Shelburne is become his Patron, and desir- 
 ous to have the Company of a Man of general Learning to read with 
 him and superintend the Education of his Children, has taken him 
 from his Congregation at Leeds, settled three hundred pounds a year 
 upon him for ten Years, and two hundred pounds for life v/ith a House 
 to live in near his Country Seat. My Lord has a great Library there 
 which the Poctor is nor/ putting in Order and seems very happy in his 
 nev/ Situation. The learned Leisure he will now have, secure of a 
 com.fortable Substance, gives his Friends a pleasing Hope of many 
 useful Works from his Pen. I expect him soon in town, when I shall 
 communicate to him your Remarks on his last Book, for which I am. 
 sure he v/ill feel himself much obliged to you." 
 
 I 2 
 
 Viorks , Vol. I, part i, p. 194. Writings , Vol. vi, pp. 106-107. 
 
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39 
 
 One of Priestley greatest pleasures during his relations v/ith 
 
 Lord Shelburne ¥v'as his v/inter's residence in ’London. It was, he 
 
 says, '^the means of improving my acquaintance with Lr. Franklin. I 
 
 was seldom many days without seeing him, and being members of the 
 
 sam.e Club, we constantly returned together.”— Franklin’s regard for 
 
 this Club is seen in his messages to Priestley and Price after his 
 
 return to America. In 1775 he sent his "sincere respects to the 
 
 2 
 
 Club of honest V/higs" at the London Coffee-House.— In 17 60 he wrote 
 
 to Lr. Price, "Please to present my affectionate Respects to that 
 
 honest, sensible, and intelligent Society who did me so long the 
 
 Honor of admitting me to share in their instructive Conversations. 
 
 I never think of the hours I sq happily spent in that com.pany with- 
 
 3 
 
 out regretting that they are never to be repeated.”— In 1782 he • 
 
 v/rote, "Please to present my best respects to our good old friends 
 
 at the London Coffee-House. I often figure to m.yself the pleasure 
 
 4 
 
 I should have in being once more seated among them.”— 
 
 In 1774 Lr. Priestley published "An Address to the Protestant 
 Lissenters of all Lenominations , on the approaching Election of 
 Members to Parliament, v/ith respect to the State of Public Liberty 
 in general and of American Affairs in particular.” Franklin had 
 been discussing the Am.erican situation with Priestley, who says, 
 
 "It v/as at his request, enforced by that of Lr. Fothergill, that I 
 wrote an anonymous pamphlet, calculated to shov/ the injustice and 
 impolicjr of a war v/ith the Colonies, previous to the meeting of a 
 of a new Parliament.-- He corrected the press himself, and to a 
 
 I 2 
 
 Works, Vol. I, part i, p. 209. “Writings, Vol. VI, p. 430. 
 
 Iwri tings, Vol. VIII, p. 8. i Ibid. p. 458. 
 
 5 
 
 .;orks , Vol. XXV, pp. 392-5. 
 

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40 
 
 passage in v/hich I lamented the attempt to establish arbitrary power 
 in so large a part of the British Empire, he added the follov/ing 
 clause, 'I'o the imminent hazard of our most valuable commerce, and 
 of that national strength, security, and felicit3?-, which depend on 
 union and liberty. ' 
 
 "The unit 37- of the British Empire in all its parts was a favor- 
 ite idea of his. He used to compare it to a beautiful China vase, 
 which if once brohen, could never be put together again; and so 
 great an admirer 'v;as he of the British constitution, that he said he 
 saw no inconvenience from its being extended all over the globe. -- 
 I think I knew him as well as one man can generally know another. 
 
 The last day that he x^a-ssed in England, having given out that he 
 should depart the day before, we spent together without an3r inter- 
 ruption from morning until night.-- By many persons Dr. Eranklin is 
 considered as having been a cold-hearted man, so callous to every 
 feeling of humanit37, that the prospect of all the borrows of a civil 
 v/ar could not affect him. This was far from being the case. A 
 great part of trie day above-ment ioned that we spent together, he was 
 looking over a number of American newspapers, directing m.e vdiat to 
 extract from them for the English ones; and in reading them, he was 
 frequently not able to proceed for the tears literally running down 
 his cheeks. To strangers he was cold and reserved; but v/here he was 
 intimate, no man indulged in more pleasantry and good humor." 
 
 Eranklin had revealed his real feelings to Dr. Priestley before 
 this. V/'hen he was accused of trying to embroil England and the 
 Colonies by means of the Hutchinson letters, Eranklin went through 
 the ordeal without the least apparent emotion, but, "I’/hen the busi- 
 ness v/as over," says Priestley, "Dr. Eranklin took me by the hand 
 

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41 
 
 in a manner that indicated some feeling.-- The next morning I hreal;- 
 fasted with the doctor, when he said, he had never hefore heen so 
 sensible of t-he power of a good conscience; for that if he had not 
 considered the thing for v/hich he had been so much insulted as one 
 of the best actions of his life, and v;hat he should certainly do 
 
 1 
 
 again in the same circumstances, he could not have supported it."“ 
 
 I'ranklin's affection for Priestley was real and enduring. He 
 2 
 
 wrote in 1782,~ "I love you as much as ever, and I love all the 
 honest souls that meet at the London Coffee-House. I only wonder 
 how it happened that they and all my friends in England cam.e to be 
 such good creatures in the midst of so perverse a generation. I 
 long to see you and them once more, and I labor for Peace with more 
 Earnestness that I may again be happy in your sweet society.” 
 
 Eranklin and Priestley had not only a common interest in sci- 
 ence, they were radicals in religion but radicals with a difference. 
 
 3 ■ 
 
 Priestley says of his religion,"" ”I see the greatest reason to be 
 thankful to God for the pious care of my parents and friends, in 
 giving me religious instruction. My mother was a woman of exemplary 
 piety, and my father also had a strong sense of religion, praying 
 with his family morning and evening, and carefully teaching his 
 children and servants the Assembly’s Catechism , which was all the 
 system of v/hich he had amy knov/ledge. In the latter part of his 
 life, he. became very fond of Mr. Whitefield's writings, and other 
 works of a similar kind, having been brought up in the principles of 
 Calvinism and adopting them, but v/ithout giving much attention to 
 matters of speculation, and entertaining no bigoted aversion to 
 1 2 
 
 "V/orks," XXV, p. 394. ’’Writings," Vol. iii, p. 453. 
 
 3 
 
 " Works , " Vol. I, part i, pp. 10-11. 
 
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42 
 
 those who differed from him on the subject.-- Thus I was brought up 
 v/ith sentiments of piety, but ?/ithout bigotry; and having from my 
 earliest years, given much attention to the subject of religion, I 
 was as much confirmed as I well could be in the principles of Calvin- 
 ism, all the books that came my way having that tendency.” His "ex- 
 cellent aunt," who took the place of his mother, after his mother's 
 death, was "truly Galvinistic" in principle, but was so tolerant that 
 her "home was the resort of all the Dissenting ministers in the neigh- 
 borhood without distinction; and those who were most obnoxious on ac- 
 count of their heresy, were almost as welcome to her, if she thought 
 them good and honest men, (which she was not unwilling to do) as any 
 other . 
 
 Priestley must have done much individual work while he was at 
 
 Daventry. He says, "Ho provision was made for teaching the learned 
 
 langue-ges. We had even no compositions or orations in Latin. Our 
 
 course of lectures was also defective in containing no lectures on 
 
 the Scriptures, or on ecclesiastical history, and by the students in 
 
 general-- commentators in general and ecclesiastical history also 
 
 2 
 
 were held in contempt.—" He was not a consistent Christian, if indeed 
 he was one, passing from Calvinism to Arianism, and then on to Socin- 
 
 3 
 
 ianlsm. He professed his belief in miracles," but declared that all 
 
 Christianity had been corrupted, and regarded the primitive Christians 
 4 
 
 as Unitarians ." 
 
 Franklin says his parents gave him religious impressions early 
 and brought him "through his childhood piously in the Dissenting 
 v/ay." He adds, "But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by 
 
 I 2 1 
 
 Ibid. Ibid. p. 26. "Works," xxi, p. 92. 
 
 4 
 
 Ibid, xix, p. 295. 
 

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 44 
 
 says, ”he acknowledged that he had not given so much attention as he 
 ought to have doiie to the Evidences of Christianity, and desired me 
 to recommend him a fevi treatises on the subject, such as I thought 
 most deserving of his notice, hut not of great length, promising to 
 read them, and give me his. sentiments on them.”— Priestley gave him 
 some pamphlets which the Unitarian Book Society had published, to- 
 gether with his om " Institutes of natural and Hevealed Religion . ” 
 Pranklin never found "the leisure" to enjoy the "discussion" that 
 Dr. Priestley invited, al'though his letters contain inquiries about 
 the "Unitariei,n Church in Essex Street," the "honest minister of it,” 
 and other of Priestley's colleagues. In 1788 he asked Benjamin 
 Vaughan to remember him "affectionately to -- the honest heretic. Dr. 
 Priestley. I do not call him honest by way of distinction; for I 
 think all the heretics I have known have been virtuous men. They 
 have the virtue of fortitud.e, or they \70uld not venture to own their 
 heresy; and they can not afford to be deficient in any of the other 
 virtues as that would give advantage to their many enemies; and they 
 have not, like orthodox sinners such a number of friends to excuse 
 or justify them. Bo not, however, mistake me. It is not to m.y good 
 
 friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrarjr, it is 
 
 2 
 
 his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic."— 
 
 Pranklin and Priestley thought alike on the question of happi- • 
 ness. They agreed that the purpose of life was not "to form a shin- 
 ing and popular character," but a useful one, "this being also the 
 
 5 
 
 only foundation of real happiness."— Happiness was to be distributed 
 
 It was to be found in service and in emancipation. In this Priestley 
 
 1 ' 2 . 
 l/orks , Vol. I, pt. i, p. 212. Writings , Vol. ix, p. 677. 
 
 v/orks , Vol, xxw, p. 6. 
 
■ 
 
 
 
 : % 0 . 
 
 \ 
 
 s 
 
45 
 
 and S'ranklin v/ere one, thus Priestley — said, ’^V.’ith your immortal 
 
 Pranklin, I say, "where liberty is, there is ray home." 
 
 Pranklin entered the v/orld of politics early, and it was v/ith 
 
 keen regret that Priestley sav/ him forsake for it the attractions of 
 
 science. In 1774 in the preface to the "History of Electricity" he 
 
 wrote, "Here my reader will thank me, and the writer will I hope 
 
 forgive me, if I quote a passage from the postscript of a letter wh 
 
 which I formerly received from that excellent, and, in mj?^ opinion, 
 
 not too enthusia,stical philosopher, Father Beccaria, of Turin. 
 
 'Mi spiace che il mondo politico ch’ h pur tanto 
 passeggero, rubbi il grande Pranklin al mundo della 
 natura, che non sa ne carabiare ne mancare. ' " 
 
 In 1769 Dr. Priestley wrote a pamphlet on "The Present State of 
 Liberty in Great Britain and Her Colonies." It was published anony- 
 moiisly during the Wilkes affair and reviewed the question of col- 
 onial taxation. The follov;ing passage shov/s that, like the Priestley 
 
 History Lectures, it was influenced by Pranklin. In 1766 ¥/hen the 
 
 2 
 
 Commons examined Pranklin, he was asked,— "Y/ould the repeal of the 
 Stamp Act be any discouragem.ent to your manufactures? Will the peo- 
 ple that have begun to manufacture decline it?" "Yes," replied 
 
 Pranklin, "I think they will, especially if at the same time, trade 
 
 > 
 
 is opened again, so that remittances can be easily made." VPnen, at 
 the close of the examination, he was asked, "What used to be the 
 pride of the Americans?" he ansv/ered, "To indulge in the fashions 
 and manufactures of Great Britain." To the question, "V/hat is nov/ 
 their pride?, he replied, "To wear their old cloaths over again, til3 
 they can make new ones."*^ Priestley's parallel passage runs; "But 
 
 2 5 
 
 ”” Ibid. p. 122. ” Writings , Vol. ix, p. 447. Ibid. p. 448. 
 
I,' ' 
 
46 
 
 v/ill not the colonists choose to manufacture for"* themselves? A. It 
 is far from "being their interest to commence manufactures, and noth- 
 ing hut necessity can drive them to it.-- Fev/ hands being at liberty 
 to apply to labor or manufactures, their work is so dear that it 
 v;ill always be for their interest to purchase of us, rather than 
 supply themselves . 
 
 Durirog Priestley's residence ?;ith lord Shelburne, Franklin was’ 
 absorbed in_ the question of the American War. Priestley's interest 
 was lively too, and one of his anxieties during his jaunt on the con- 
 tinent with Lord Shelburne v/as the state of American affairs. In 
 October 1774 he v\frote to Mr. Lindsey from Paris, £ "We receive the 
 English papers here very irregularly, so that we have sometim.es been 
 a fortnight behind hand, which in the present very critical state of 
 American affairs, is the source of great anxiety to me. I would 
 give a good deal to know what you knov/ at this moment. Perhaps you 
 knov/ the issue of the congress, and of the troubles which seemed to 
 be beginning to break out at Boston." 
 
 Franklin's letters to Priestley after his return to America, 
 relate, almost entirely, to the struggle going on. He asks him to 
 tell their "good dear friend, (Dr. Price)" who sometimes doubts the 
 firmness of the Americans, that "America is determined and unani- 
 rnous.'— In December 1776 Franklin was sent to "Paris and early the 
 next year in reply to Priestley's question he wrote, "Do not believe 
 the reports you hear of our internal divisions. We are, I believe, 
 as much united as any people ever were and as firmly.”— 
 
 I 2 
 
 Works, Vol. xxii, pp. 297-398. Works, Vol. I, part i, p. 253. 
 
 3 \ i 
 
 Writings, Vol. vi, p. 430. Ibid. Vol. vli, p. 19. 
 
47 
 
 nTien Dr. Priestley vvas about to sever liis relations with Lord 
 Shelburne, Franklin once more recommended his system of moral alge- 
 bra, as the proper means to solve Priestley's case. He further sug- 
 gested that he take a college position in America, but, v;ith his 
 usual good practical sense, reminded him that such an engagement 
 would afford him no leisure for his scientific investigation. 
 
 Franklin's last letters to Dr. Priestley are warm, and show that 
 he was not unwilling to reveal to him his longing for peace and free- 
 dom from responsibility. He complimented his "good heretic" on his 
 zeal for souls, and wonders if devils do not treat each other with 
 more humanity than men do. He was interested in his observations 
 and experiments to the last. "I know of no Philosopher who starts 
 so much good game for the Hunters after Knowledge as you do. Go on 
 and prosper . " ~ 
 
 In December of 1789, Franklin expressed himself thus on the Rev- 
 olution in France; "The Convulsions in France are attended with som^e 
 disagreeable circumstances; but if by the struggle she obtains and 
 secures for the Nation its future Liberty, and a good Constitution, 
 a few years' Enjoyment of those Blessings will amply repair all the 
 Damages their Acquisition may have occasioned. God grant, that not 
 only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Ilnowledge of the Rights of 
 kan, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher 
 
 may set his foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, '’This is my Coun- 
 
 2 
 
 try."— Dr. Priestley so heartily approved of this last sentiment of 
 
 Franklin, that he became a citizen of France to shov7 his love of 
 
 liberty, and not, as Burke said, "on account of his declared hostil- 
 
 ity to the constitution of England."— 
 
 1 2 
 
 "'ritin^rs. Vol. ix. n. 528. V/ritino-s, Vol. x, p. 72. 
 
 3 ^ - 
 
 Works, Vol. XXV, p. 141. 
 
48 
 
 In 1790 Priestley was involved in the Birmingham controversies, 
 that led to his migration to America. It is safe to assume that his 
 interest in "Political Arithmetic” took him away from Franklin's 
 "Prudential Algebra” and left him open to his enemies. Franklin 
 died in April "in a good old age at the end of a life of laborious 
 and glorious usefulness."” Like all pioneers, the Piadical Franklin 
 experienced enough bitter to make his life sv/eet. Priestley like 
 most disciples, if not eager to provoke controversy, did not hesitate 
 to draw his sv/ord. 
 
 The relations between these two men, radicals in religion and 
 politics, and explorers in the world of natural science, show quite 
 conclusively that radicalism was as indigenous and as thrifty a 
 product of IJew England as it was of the Mother Country. 
 
 1 
 
 Ezra Stiles: Literary Diary , p. 591. 
 

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49 
 
 V. 
 
 COECLUSIOn 
 
 Long before the ideas of democracy and the language of liberty 
 
 came into vogue in England, Benjamin Franklin had introduced them 
 
 •into the epigrams and Americanisms that gave flavor to his earliest 
 
 writings. As early as 1744, when ordering books from 'Villiam Strahan 
 
 he said, "Your Authors know but little of the Fame they have on this 
 
 side of the Ocean. V'fe are a kind of Posterity in respect to them. 
 
 V/e read their V/orks with perfect impartiality, being at too great a 
 
 distance to be byassed by the Factions, Parties, and Prejudices that 
 
 1 
 
 prevail among you." This expresses precisely the relation that ex- 
 isted between Franklin and the English Radicals. He was a posterity 
 with respect to them, and his years of association with the demo- 
 cratic life and thought of the land of the Pilgrim Fathers , had 
 broadened his view beyond any petty faction, or personal bias. 
 
 Later in the same year he wrote, "Our governments, parliaments, 
 wars, treaties, expeditions, fashions, etc., though matters of great 
 and serious consequence to us, can seem but trifles to you." Here 
 Franklin sees the situation exactly as it is. The colonists had 
 
 emancipated themselves, and were governed by England "at the expense 
 
 2 
 
 only of a little pen, ink, and paper." — The loyalty of the colo- 
 nists v;as the loyalty of the imagination. The Mother Country, gov- 
 T Vh'i tings , Yol~, ii"^ p^ E42. 
 
 2 
 
 Ibid. Vol. iv, p. 419. 
 
I 
 
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50 
 
 erning by a thread, was an alma mater of their own creation. Born 
 on the ’'stern and rock-bound coast” and glowing v/ith the life and 
 vigor of an unfettered childhood, the colonists sav/ only the glory 
 of their ovm rising sun, and clothed the Empire that claimed their 
 loyalty, with the splendor of their own freedom. 
 
 V.'iien the Commons asked Eranklin if he did not know that there 
 was, in the Pennsylvania charter, "an express reservation of the 
 right of parliament to lay taxes there," he replied, "I Imow there 
 is a clause in the charter, by which the King grants that he wall 
 levy no taxes on the inhabitants, unless it be with the consent of 
 the assembly, or by an act of parliament."^ Then they asked him 
 how the assembly could assert that the stamp act was an infringement. 
 Franklin’s reply is most significant. "They understood it thus; by 
 the same charter, and otherv/ise, they are entitled to all the privi- 
 leges and liberties of Englishmen; they find in the great charters, 
 and the petition and declaration of rights, that one of the privi- 
 leges of English subjects is, that they are not to be taxed but by 
 their com.mon consent; they have therefore relied upon it, from the 
 first settlement of the province, that the parliament never would, 
 nor could, by colour of that clause in the charter, assume a right 
 of taxing them, till it had qualified itself to exercise such right, 
 
 by admitting representatives of the people to be taxed, w/ho ought to 
 
 2 
 
 make a part of that comm.on consent."— Here is the exact temper of 
 
 the Americans. The spirit of independence and non-conf ority that 
 
 gave birth to the colonies, was nov/ demanding that parliament oual - 
 
 ify itself to conform to their demands. 
 
 “1 2 
 
 Ibid. p. 445. Ibid. p. 445. 
 
51 
 
 Franklin represented this American Spirit. By culture, travel, 
 opportunity, and desire he v/as an Englishman, hut his sympathies, 
 aspirations, and convictions were those of America. It was the 
 American Franklin, glowing v^ith a century of self-expression, that 
 demanded ’'the common rights of Englishmen," the common rights of 
 man. The humanitarian Franklin shared his "three puffy rolls" with 
 a needy mother and child; the English Franklin enjoyed the enter- 
 tainment at the London ale-house, when the author of The Fahle of 
 the Bees attracted a group of free-thinkers hy his facetious conver- 
 sation, hut the Puritan Franklin renounced the errata of his life, 
 and protested "Except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain 
 that build it."— The English Franklin was one v/ith Burke and the 
 whig principles of 1765, but Franklin, the Puritan radical, and the 
 liberal dissenters v/ere one in 1775. 
 
 It was natural for the English radicals to turn to America as 
 the most likely place for their dream.s to come true. Like Paine, 
 they saw in Franklin's cause, the cause of mankind, and the moment 
 seemed at hand to make the universal social contract. The principle 
 of the inalienable rights of man expressed itself politically in 
 democracy, and religiously in Leism. Lr. Priestley looked for his 
 Utopia in a reform centering around the church, and from such a re- 
 form he looked for the greatest happiness. Lr. Price saw the weak- 
 nesses of the British Empire, and felt that reform, must begin with 
 the correction of the colonial policy. Lr. Andrew Kippis, another 
 of the honest souls, felt that the fire of emancipation must be 
 fanned by teaching the principles of liberty, and his success is 
 
 1 
 
 Ibid. Vol. ix, p. 601. 
 
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52 
 
 attested in the life of Godv/in, his most notable pupil, who passed 
 the torch to his ardent disciple Shelley, who pined ’’for what is 
 not." 
 
 Pranhlin 's theory of reform v/as more inclusive, and more dis- 
 tinctly individualistic. It began at home, within the man. Before 
 erecting an edifice for the perfection of the v/orld, he laid the 
 moral foundation v/ithin himself, in his own life. Ilather’s Essa?/ 
 to do Good was translated into his own experience, and together with 
 the "decent plainness and imnly freedom," that was his inheritance, 
 urged him to try to make "the world safe for democracy." Eully per- 
 suaded, by actual experience with m.en, of the utility of "evenness 
 of temper and cheerfulness of conversation,” he cultivated a grace- 
 ful urbanity and delightful amenity, so that "for fiftjr years no 
 dogmatical expression" escaped from him. In this way he drew the 
 English radicals tov/ard him, but kept free from all their disagree- 
 able by-products, by avoiding controversy and turning even his en- 
 emies to use . 
 
 Through the "Club of honest hhigs” he stimulated English radi- 
 calism to the point of an "inquiry into political .justice," but his 
 radical descendents in England failed to grasp the sage conclusion 
 of his closing years: "The longer I live, the more convincing 
 
 1 
 
 proofs I see of this Truth, that God governs in the affairs of men." 
 
 The compliment he bestowed on his Quaker friend. Dr. Eothergill, 
 
 2 
 
 might well be applied to him: "He was a great doer of good..""" 
 
 1 2 
 
 Ibid. vol. ix, p. 691. I.Iemoirs of J ohn Eother,g:ill . u. 1., John 
 
 Groakley Lettsom, Ed. 4, london, 1766, 
 p. 176. 
 

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53 
 
 APPSIJDIX I. 
 
 Pranklin's conceptioii of a free and happy people, in 177£, was 
 such as exists when every man is a freeholder, has a vote in public 
 affairs, lives in a comfortable house, and has plenty of good food. 
 In 1787 he opposed vigorously a proposal to limit suffrage to free- 
 holders, as tending to lower the ideals of the poorer classes.” 
 
 APPEiroDC II. 
 
 In 1760 Pranhlin v/rote to Pr. Priestley,-? ”I always rejoice to 
 hear of your being still employed in experimental Researches into 
 Rature and of the Success you meet with. The rapid Progress true 
 Science na7 m.akes occasions my regretting sometimes that I ?/as born 
 so soon.” Priestley's ability to start "new game" for hunters in 
 the ?/orld- of science, ?/as knovvn to Thomas Jefferson. The relations 
 between Jefferson and Priestley Yiere most friendly, and Jefferson's 
 election to the presidency prevented Priestley's being returned to 
 England under the Alien and Sedition Act. 
 
 Jefferson shared Eranhlin's high esteem for Priestley's inves- 
 tigations in science. In 1800 Priestley vixote to his friend Mr. 
 Russell, "Mr. Jefferson writes to consult me about the plan of a new 
 
 college, which the State of Virginia is going to establish and en- 
 3 
 
 dov/."— Priestley gave him his "best advice," and v/rote later that, 
 "Mr. 'Jefferson approved of it." In December of the same year he 
 wrote to Mr. Lindsey that Jefferson had approved the plan he sent 
 
 1 
 
 Writings . Vol. ix, pp. 590-607. 
 3 
 
 W'orhs , Vol. I, pr. ii, p. 427. 
 
 Writings , 
 
 Vol. iii, pp. 9-10. 
 
 2 
 

 
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54 
 
 Iiirn fop "til© 0 0113131.1311131011 ^ of fli© n©w collsg©. Tli© uponiinsnc© 
 
 of clieniisfry in fh© curriciiliuii of Univorsify of Virg^inis. siiov/s 
 friostley's influoiice. 
 
 Dr. Pri©stl©y b©cam© sinc©r©ly attachod to Jofferson. He spoke 
 
 of him as a "man of great prudence and moderation, and if it Toe 
 
 possible, he will heal their differences, and keep the country in 
 2 
 
 peace,”— and again as "every thing that the friends of liberty can 
 v/ish."“ He dedicated to him his "History of the Church," and 
 Jefferson accepted it as a precious testimony that his sincere de- 
 sire to do ?/nat was right and .just, had been received ?/ith candor. 
 
 He invited Priestley to visit him, but Priestley found the "distance 
 
 too great and the travelling too incommodious for a person of his 
 
 4 
 
 age and health." It is probable that this friendship gave Priestles 
 an opportuni uy to finish the work v/hich v/ould have been done with 
 Pranklin’s cooperation, if he had not been "born too soon.” 
 
 Ibid. p. 450. 
 
 Ibid. p. 476. 
 
 4 
 
 Ibid, p, 453. 
 
 Works, Vol. I, pt. ii, p. 501 
 

 
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55 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Belsham, Thomas; Memoirs of the late Reverend Theophilus 
 Lindsey , M. A. , London, 1873. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas; The French Revolution , London, 18S8, 3. vol. 
 
 Conway, Moncure Daniel; The Life of Thomas Paine , Hew Yorh, 
 3rd. ed. 1908, 2 vol. 
 
 Curwen, Samuel; J ournal and Letters , 3rd ed. By George 
 Atkinson Ward, Hew York, 1845. 
 
 Pitzmaurice, Lord Edmond; Life of William , Earl of Shelburne , 
 London, 1875-76. 3 vol. 
 
 Godwin, '"illiam; ^ Enouir;/ Concerning Political Justice , 
 London, 1793. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas; Writings , ed. by Ford, Hew York, 1892, 
 
 10 vol. 
 
 Lettsom, John Croakley; Memoirs of John Pothergill, M. L. , 
 
 Ed. 4, London, 1786. 
 
 Morgan, William; Memoirs of the Life of The Rev . Richard 
 Price , D. D. , E. R. S . London, 1615. 
 
 Paine, Thomas; Writings , collected and ed. by Moncure Daniel 
 Conway, Hew York, 1902. 4 vol. 
 
 Price, Richard; A Review of the Principal Questions in Morals , 
 London, 1767. 
 
 Price, Richard; Observations on the Hature of Civil Liberty, 
 3rd. ed. London, 1776. 
 
 Priestley, Joseph; Memoirs , Ed. by J. T. Rutt, London, 1831. 
 
 Priestley, Joseph; Theological and Miscellaneous Works , ed. by 
 J. T. Rutt, London, 1631, 25 vol. 
 
 Smyth, Albert Henry; The V/ri tings of Benjamin Franklin , The 
 Macmillan Company, Hew York, 1907, 10 vol. 
 
 Stiles, Ezra; The Literary Diary , Hew York, 1901, 3 vol. 
 
 Washington, George; '’.'ri tings , ed. Ford, Hew York, 1899,14 vol. 
 
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