HIS RULE AS TO PUBLIC OFFICE.

253

among the Quakers, who always had a strong majority in the provincial Assembly; and that he would thus lose the clerkship of that body. A certain young man, who was exceedingly desirous to be clerk himself, told Franklin, one day, that it had been determined to reject him, when the choice of that officer should come up, at the next session; and advised him to decline being a candidate, rather than suffer the mortification of a defeat. Franklin's reply to his adviser, whose motive he well understood, was quite characteristic. He said to him at

once, that he liked the rule, adopted by a man he had read of, neither to seek nor refuse office; and that he should act on the same rule, with only a single addition; for, said he "I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an office;" adding that, if the Assembly intended to give the clerkship to another, they should "first take it" from him, as he would not, by resigning it, forego his "right of some time or other making reprisal on his adversaries."

The above answer disposed of his competitor, and at the next session Franklin was again made clerk without opposition; for, while he had discharged the duties of that office, in the most correct and acceptable manner, the majority were too shrewd to reject him for the sole reason that he had exerted himself, most efficiently, in providing for the defence and safety of the community. Besides, it was by no means certain, and subsequent occurrences fully showed the fact, that even the non-combatant Quakers really disliked the military measures in question, so long as they were not personally required to take part in them. Franklin, indeed, states that, although they were opposed to offensive war, yet he found "a much greater number of them than he could have imagined," unequivocally in favor of such measures as were neccessary for defence; and that of the " many

pamphlets, pro and con, published on the subject," some which were in favor of defensive preparations, were written" by good Quakers."

These views, on the part of that class of people, were still further manifested by the proceedings of the firecompany, to which Franklin belonged, but which consisted mostly of Quakers, a majority of whom, on a motion made by him, voted to appropriate the company's surplus funds, amounting to sixty pounds, to the purchase of tickets in the lottery formed to defray the cost of the battery, already mentioned, for the defence of the city.

The truth is, the non-combatant principles of the Quakers gave them, in the then existing exigencies of the province, not a little embarrassment, especially whenever application was made to the Assembly, on behalf of the Crown, for grants of money, for the public defence. The result of such applications was, generally, a grant of the sums needed, but so worded as to evade an explicit and direct appropriation for warlike purposes. The usual form of the grant was for the king's use," without particularizing the objects for which the money was to be actually expended.

66

The form mentioned served well enough, when the call came directly from the king; but in other cases a different phraseology was requisite, and the selection of it was occasionally marked by as much humor as shrewdness. When for instance, a request came from one of the New England colonies for a supply of powder, the Assembly of Pennsylvania would not vote money for the purchase of the black-grained munition of war, under its own distinctive name of gun-powder; but they voted three thousand pounds, to be subject to the governor's order, "for the purchase of bread, flour, wheat, or other grain." To tease the Quaker majority of the Assembly,

COMMITMENT TO OPINIONS.

255

the Governor was urged in Council to refuse the grant, as not pursuant to his call; but he well understood the equivocal term, and as it was no time for trifling, he drew the money; and though the grain he bought with it, was not a kernel of it wheat, but the "other grain" exclusively, no complaint was made by the Assembly.

Another anecdote will serve further to illustrate this mode of enabling the patriotism of the Quakers to get the advantage of their passive resistance, and will give also a taste of Franklin's humor and ingenuity. When his proposition was pending, in the fire-company, to apply its surplus funds to the arming of the battery for the defence of the city, he was prepared, in order to quiet, if needful, any non-combatant scruples about voting to buy cannon, to amend his motion so as to apply the funds to the purchase of fire-engines, in which category every sort of fire-arms might unquestionably be classed.

In some remarks on these embarrassments of the Quakers, Franklin intimates that they might and probably would have avoided them, had they not been so fully committed, in print before the world, to their doctrine of the unlawfulness of force in all cases; and he takes the occasion to question the wisdom of such absolute commitment to particular opinions, as constituting a needless impediment to the admission of new convictions of truth and duty, even when clearly presented to the understanding, by further reflection, in the light derived from fuller experience, and more comprehensive views of the various obligations of civil society. To furnish an example of what he deemed "a more prudent course of conduct," he relates an interesting conversation he once had with one of the founders of the sect of Dunkers.

The man referred to, Michael Weffare by name, having complained of slanderous representations of the principles and practices of the sect, Franklin remarked that

such was the usual fate of new sects, and suggested that, to put down the calumnies, they should publish their articles of faith and rules of discipline. Weffare replied, that they had once thought of doing so, but had concluded otherwise, for the reason given by him substantially as follows. When they first formed their society, God had been pleased, as they believed, to give them light enough to see that some doctrines, which they had deemed truths, were errors, and that others, once deemed errors, were truths; that further light had been, by degrees, imparted to them; and that, as they were not now sure that their spiritual knowledge was perfect, they feared to put their faith in print, lest their brethren, and still more their successors, should feel so bound and restricted thereby, as to reject new lights, and thus perhaps arrest their advancement in truth.

Franklin commends the modesty of the Dunkers, and adds the remark, made in the latter part of his life, that the Quakers, to escape annoyances of the kind mentioned, were withdrawing from public employments, "choosing rather to quit their power, than their principles;" certainly an honorable choice.

NEW PARTNERSHIP.

257

CHAPTER XX.

ACADEMY

NEW PARTNERSHIP- PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES -PUBLIC EMPLOYMENTS-INDIAN TREATY - HOSPITAL -CITY STREETS

POST-OFFICE-ALBANY CONVENTION

-PLAN FOR NEW COLONIES

PROPRIETARY GOVERNORS

AID TO MASSACHUSETTS.

THE war spoken of in the last chapter, having been terminated, in 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the military association, which Franklin had taken so leading and efficient a part in organizing, dissolved with the return of peace; and he was enabled to turn to more congenial pursuits. About the same period he gave himself a still freer control of his own time and occupations, by forming a partnership, with a very competent and prudent man, who had worked for him several years, by the name of David Hall, who took the entire charge of the business of both the printing-office and the bookstore.

Being thus released from the immediate and constant care of his business Franklin now again bent his efforts, with renewed zeal, to promote the cause of sound education, by the establishment of an academy. Associating with himself some of the most earnest and efficient favorers of the cause, of whom the Junto supplied its full share, he then drew up his plan, which he entitled "Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania," and placed it in the hands of the leading men of the community. When time had been allowed for the consideration of the subject, he started a subscription;