13 - Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Penned as a heartfelt letter to his son, Benjamin Franklins autobiography is not just a chronicle of his life, but also a pioneer in the self-help genre in America. The book is an intriguing blend of personal history and timeless advice on success, beautifully edited by Frank Woodworth Pine (1869-1919). Join us as we delve into Franklins wisdom-filled world. (Summary by Gary)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Chapter twelve. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Frank Woodworth Pine,

(00:23):
Chapter twelve. Defense of the Province. I had, on the
whole abundant reason to be satisfied with my being established
in Pennsylvania. There were, however, two things that I regretted,
there being no provision for defense, nor for a complete
education of youth, no militia or any college. I therefore,

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in seventeen forty three drew up a proposal for establishing
an academy, and, at that time, thinking the Reverend mister Peters,
who was out of employ a fit person to superintend
such an institution, I communicated the project to him, But he,
having more profitable views in the service of the proprietaries

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which succeeded, declined the undertaking. And, not knowing another at
that time suitable for such a trust, I let the
scheme lie a wild dormant. I succeeded better the next year,
seventeen forty four, in proposing and establishing a philosophical society.
The paper I wrote for that purpose will be found

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among my writings when collected with respect to defense Spain
having been several years at war against Great Britain, and
being at length joined by France, which brought to us
great danger, and the labored and long continued endeavor of
our Governor Thomas to prevail with our quicker assembly to

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pass a militia law and make other provisions for the
security of the province. Having proved abortive, I determined to
try what might be done by a voluntary association of people.
To promote this, I first wrote and published a pamphlet
entitled Plain Truth, in which I stated our defenseless situation

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in strong lights, with the necessity of union and discipline
for our defense, and promised to propose in a few
days an association to be generally signed for that purpose.
The pamphlet had a sudden and surprising effect. I was
called upon for the instrument of association, and having settled

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the draft of it with a few friends, I appointed
a meeting of the citizens in the large building before mentioned.
The house was pretty full. I had prepared a number
of printed copies and provided pens and ink dispersed all
over the room. I harangued them a little on the subject,
read the paper and explained it, and then distributed the copies,

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which were eagerly signed, not the least objection being made.
When the company separated and the papers were collected, we
found about twelve hundred hands and other copies being dispersed
in the country. The subscribers amounted at length to upwards
of ten thousand. These all furnished themselves as soon as

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they could with arms, formed themselves into companies and regiments,
chose their officers, and met every week to be instructed
in the manual exercise and other parts of military discipline.
The women, by subscription among themselves, provided silk colors, which
they presented to the companies, painted with different devices and mottoes,

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which I supplied. The officers of the companies composing the
Philadelphia Regiment being met, chose me for their colonel, but
conceiving myself unfit, I declined that station and recommended mister Lawrence,
a fine person and a man of influence, who was
accordingly appointed. I then proposed a lottery to defray the

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expense of building a battery below the town and furnishing
it with cannon. It filled expeditiously in The battery was
soon erected, with Merlin's being framed of logs and filled
with earth. We bought some old cannon from Boston, but
these not being sufficient, we wrote to England for more soliciting.
At the same time our proprietaries for the assistance, though

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without much expectation of obtaining it. Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence William Allen,
Alan Taylor Esquire and myself were sent to New York
by the Associators, commissioned to borrow some cannon of Governor Clinton.
He first refused us peremptorily, but at dinner with his counsel,

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where there was great drinking of Madeira wine, as the
custom of that place then was, he softened by degrees
and said he would lend us six. After a few
more bumpers, he advanced at ten, and at length he
very good naturedly conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon, eighteen pounders,
with their carriages, which were soon trained, ported and mounted

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on our battery, where the Associators kept a nightly guard
while the war lasted, and among the rest, I regularly
took my turn of duty there as a common soldier.
My activity in these operations was agreeable to the Governor
and council. They took me into confidence, and I was
consulted by them in every measure wherein their concurrence was

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thought useful to the association. Calling in the aid of religion,
I proposed to them the proclaiming a fast to promote
reformation and implore the blessing of Heaven on our undertaking.
They embraced the motion, but as it was the first
fast ever thought of in the province, the secretary had

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no precedent from which to draw the proclamation. My education
in New England, where a fast is proclaimed every year,
was here of some advantage. I drew it in the
accustomed style. It was translated into German, printed in both landslanguages,
and divulged through the province. This gave the clergy of

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the different sects an opportunity of influencing their congregation to
join in the association, and it would probably have been
general among all but Quakers if the peace had not
soon intervened. Bien footnote. William Penn's agents sought recruits for
the Colony of Pennsylvania in the Low countries of Germany,

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and there are still in eastern Pennsylvania many Germans inaccurately
called Pennsylvania Dutch. Many of them use a Germanized English
end a footnote. It was thought by some of my
friends that by my activity in these affairs, I should
offend that sect, and thereby lose my interest in the

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Assembly of the Province, where they formed a great majority.
A young gentleman, who had likewise some friends in the
house and wished to succeed me as their clerk, acquainted
me that it was decided to displace me at the
next election, and he, therefore, in good will, advised me
to resign, as more consistent with my honor than being

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turned out. My answer to him was that I had
read or heard of some public man who had made
it a rule never to ask for an office, and
never to refuse one when offered to him. I approve,
says I of his rule, and will practice it. With
a small addition. I shall never ask, never refuse, nor

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ever resign an office. If they will have my office
of clerk to dispose of to another, they shall take
it from me. I will not, by giving it up,
lose my right of some time or other making reprisals
on my adversaries. I heard. However, no more of this.
I was chosen again unanimously as usual at the next election,

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possibly as they disliked my late intimacy with the members
of Council who had joined the governors in all the
disputes about military preparations with which the House had long
been harassed. They might have been pleased if I would
voluntarily have left them, but they did not care to
displace me on account merely of my zeal for the association,

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and they could not well give another reason. Indeed, I
had some cause to believe that the defense of the
country was not disagreeable to any of them, provided they
were not required to assist in it, And I found
that a much greater number of them than I could
have imagined, though against offensive war, were clearly for the defensive.

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My pamphlets pro and con were published on the subject,
and some by good Quakers in favor of defense, which
I believe convinced most of their younger people. A transaction
in our fire company gave me some insight into their
prevailing sentiments. It had been supposed that we should encourage
the scheme for building a battery by laying out the

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present stock, then about sixty pounds in tickets of the lottery.
By our rules, no money could be disposed of till
the next meeting after the proposal. The company consisted of
thirty members, of which twenty two were Quakers, and ate
only of other persuasions. We ate punctuously attended the meetings,

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but though we thought that some of the Quakers would
join us, we were by no means sure of a majority.
Only one Quaker, mister James Morris, appeared to oppose the measure.
He expressed much sorrow that it had ever been proposed,
as he said, friends were all against it, and it
would create such discord as might break up the company.

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We told him that we saw no reason for that.
We were the minority, and if friends were against the
measure and outvoted us, we must and should agreeably to
the usage of all societies submit. When the hour for
business arrived and was moved to put to the vote,
he allowed, we might then do it by the rules,
But as he could assure us that a number of

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members intended to be present for the purpose of opposing it,
it would be but candid to allow little time for
their appearing. While we were disputing this, a waiter came
to tell me two gentlemen below desired to speak with me.
I went down and found they were two of our
quicker members. They told me there were eight of them

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assembled at a tavern just by, and that they were
determined to come and vote with us if there should
be occasion, which they hoped would not be the case,
and desired we should not call for their assistance if
we could do without it, as their voting for such
a measure might embroil them with their elders and friends.

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Being thus secure of a majority, I went up, and,
after a little seeming hesitation, agreed to a delay of
another hour. This mister Morris allowed to be extremely fair.
Not one of his opposing friends appeared, at which he
expressed great surprise. And at the expiration of the hour
we carried their resolution eight to one, and as of

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the twenty two Quakers, eight were ready to vote with us,
and thirteen, by their absence, manifested that they were not
inclined to oppose the measure. I afterward estimated the proportion
of Quakers sincerely against the defense as one to twenty one,
only for these were all regular members of that society,

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and in good reputation among them, and had due notice
of what was proposed at that meeting. The honorable and
learned mister Logan, who had always been of that sect,
was one who wrote an address to them, declaring his
approbation of defensive war, and supporting his opinion by many
strong arguments. He put into my hand sixty pounds to

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be laid out in lottery tickets for the battery, with
directions to apply what prize might be drawn wholly to
that service. He told me the following anecdote of his
old master, William Penn, respecting defense. He came over from
England when a young man with that proprietary and as
his secretary. It was war time, and their ship was

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chased by an armed vessel supposed to be an enemy.
Their captain prepared for defense, but told William Penn and
his company of Quakers that he did not expect their assistance,
and they might retire into the cabin, which they did,
except James Logan, who chose to stay upon deck and
was quartered to a gun. The supposed enemy proved a

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friend and there was no fighting. But when the secretary
went down to communicate the intelligence. William Penn rebuked him
severely for staying upon deck and undertaking to assist in
defending the vessel, contrary to the principles of friends, especially
as it had not been required by the captain. This
reproof being before all the company piqued the secretary, who answered, I,

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being thy servant, why did THEE not order me to
come down? But THEE was willing enough that I should
stay and help to fight the ship when THEE thought
there was danger. Begin footnote. James Logan sixteen seventy four
to seventeen fifty one came to America with William Penn

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in sixteen ninety nine and was the business agent for
the Penn family. He bequeathed his valuable library, preserved at
his county seat, sentenced to the city of Philadelphia. End footnote.
My being many years in the Assembly, the majority of
which were constantly Quakers, gave me frequent opportunities of seeing

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the embarrassment given them by their principle against war. Whenever
application was made to them by order of the Crown
to grant aids for military purposes. They were unwilling to
offend government. On the one hand, by a direct refusal,
and their friends the Body of the Quakers, on the
other by compliance contrary to their principles. Hence a variety

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of evasions to avoid complying, and modes of disguising the
compliance when it became unavoidable. The common mode at last
was to grant money under the phrase of its being
for the King's use, and never to inquire how it
was applied. But if the demand was not directly from
the crown, that phrase was found not so proper, and

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some other was to be invented. As when powder was wanting,
I think it was for the garrison at Louisbourg, and
the Government of New England solicited a grant of some
from Pennsylvania, which was much urged on the House by
Governor Thomas. They could not grant money to buy powder,
because that was an ingredient of war, but they voted

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and aid to New England of three thousand pounds to
be put into the hands of the governor, and appropriated
it for the purchase of bread, flour, wheat or other grain.
Some of the council, desirous of giving the House still
further embarrassment, advised the governor not to accept provision as
not being the thing he had demanded, But he replied,

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I shall take the money. I understand very well their meaning.
Other grain is gunpowder, which he accordingly bought, and they
never objected to it. It was an allusion to this
fact that when in our fire company we feared the
success of our proposal in favor of the lottery, and
I had said to my friend mister Singh, one of

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our members, if we fail, let us move the purchase
of a fire engine with the money. The Quakers can
have no objection to that. And then if you nominate
me and I you as a committee for that purpose,
we will buy a great gun, which is certainly a
fire engine. I see, says he you have improved by

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being so long in the assembly. Your equivocal project would
be just a match for their wheat or other grain.
These embarrassments that the Quaker suffered from having established and
published it as one of their principles that no kind
of war was lawful, and which being once published, they
could not afterwards, however they might change their mind easily

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get rid of, reminds me of what I think a
more prudent conduct in another sect among us, that of
the dunkers. I was acquainted with one of its founders,
Michael Welfare. Soon after it appeared, he complained to me
that they were grievously clumated by the zealots of other persuasions,

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and charged with the abominable principles and practices to which
they were utter strangers. I told him this had always
been the case with New Sex, and that to put
a stop to such abuse, I imagined it might be
well to publish the articles of their belief and the
rules of their discipline. He said it had been proposed
among them, but not agreed to for this reason. When

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we were first drawn together as a society. He said,
it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far
as to see some doctrines which we once esteemed truths,
were errors, and that others which we had esteemed errors
were real truths. From time to time he has been
pleased to afford us further light, and our principles have

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been improving and our errors diminishing. Now we are not
sure that we are arrived at the end of this
progression and at the perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge.
And we fear that if we should once print our
confession of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound
and confirmed by it, and perhaps be unwilling to receive

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further improvement, and our successors still more so, as conceiving
what we their elders and founders have done to be
something sacred, never to be departed from. This modesty in
a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history
of mankind, every other sect, supposing itself in possession of

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all truth, and that those who differ are so far
in the wrong. Like a man traveling in foggy weather,
those at some distance before him on the road he
sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those
behind him, and also the people in the fields on
each side, but near him all appears clear, though in

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truth he is as much in the fog as any
of them. To avoid this kind of embarrassment, the Quakers
have of late years been gradually declining the public service
in the Assembly and in the magistry, choosing rather to
quit their power than their principle. In order of time,
I should have mentioned before that, having in seventeen forty

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two invented an open stove for the better warming of
rooms and at the same time saving fuel, as the
fresh air admitted was warmed in entering. I made a
present of the model to mister Robert Grace, one of
my early friends, who, having an iron furnace, found the
casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing,

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as they were growing in demand. To promote that demand,
I wrote and published a pamphlet entitled An Account of
the New Invented Pennsylvania Fireplaces, wherein their construction and manner
of operation is particularly explained, their advantages above every other
method of warming rooms demonstrated, and all objections that had

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been raised against the use of them answered and obviated,
et cetera. This pamphlet had a good effect. Governor Thomas
was so pleased with the construction of this stove as
described in it, that he offered to give me a
patent for the soul vending of them for a term
of years. But I declined it from a principle which

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has ever weighed with me on such occasions, fees that
as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others,
we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others
by any invention of ours, and thus we should do
freely and generously. Begin footnote the Franklin stove is still

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in use Warwick Furnace, Chester County, Pennsylvania, across the Chuschool
River from Potsdam End footnote. An ironmonger in London, however,
assumed a good deal of my pamphlet, and working it
up into his own, and making some small changes in
the machine which rather hurt its operation, cut a patent

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for it there, and made, as I was told, a
little fortune by it. And this is not the only
instance of patents taken out for my inventions by others,
though not always with the same success, which I never contested,
as having no desire of profiting by patents myself, and
hating disputes. The use of these fireplaces in very many houses,

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both of this and the neighboring colonies, has been and
is a great saving of wood to the inhabitants. End
of Chapter twelve.