Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/755

FRANKLIN 719 There are few born into this world so ill-conditioned that they cannot find comfort and encouragement from some portion of tho life of Franklin ; none of any station who may not meditate on it with advantage. That feature of it which is most valuable will probably be found most difficult to imitate. It is stated by himself iu the following extract from his diary in 1784 : " Tuesday 27th. Lord Fitzmauvicc called to see me, his father having requested that I should give him such instructive hints as might he useful to him. I occasionally mentioned the old story of Demosthenes s answer to oue who demanded what was the iirst point of oratory? Action; the second? Action; the third? Action, wliieh I said had been generally understood to mean the action of an orator with his hands in speaking, but that I thought another kind . of action of more importance to an orator who would persuade people to follow his advice, viz., such a course of action in the conduct of life as would impress them with an opinion of his integrity as well as of his understanding ; that this opinion once established, all the difficulties, delays, and oppositions usually occasioned by doubts and suspicions were prevented; and such a man, though a very imperfect speaker, would almost always carry his points against the most flourishing orator who had not the character of sincerity. To express my sense of the importance of a good private character in public affairs more strongly, I said the advantage of having it, and the disadvantage of not having it, were so great that I even believe if George III. had had a bad private character and John Wilkes a good one, the latter might have turned the former out of his kingdom." Though Franklin was far from being insensible to what are termed worldly considerations, his public life was singularly free from any vulgar or degrading trace of self- seeking; ho never is found making the public interests secondary to his own ; though holding office a good portion of his life, he never treated office holding as a profession, nor the public treasury as the accumulations of the many for the good of a few. His private affairs and the public business were never allowed to become entangled or to depend the one upon the other. Though, from the nature of his various employments, a target for every form of malevo lence and detraction during the last half of his life, his word was never impeached, nor his good faith and fairness, even to his enemies, successfully questioned. Of some irregularities in his youth he early repented, and for the benefit of mankind made a public confession, and all the reparation that was possible. The most complete edition of Franklin s works is that of Jarcd Sparks, in 10 vols. 8vo, Boston, 1836-10. An edition of the auto biography, revised by John Bigelow, from original MSS. , appeared in 1868, and again in 1875, 3 vols. Parton s Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, 2 vols., was published at New York, in 1864. (j. sr.) The foregoing article is reprinted, by permission of Messrs Little, Brown, & Co., Boston, Mass., from Franklin, a Sketch, by John Bigelow, Boston, 1879. FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN (1786-1847), rear-admiral, was born at Spilsby, Lincolnshire, April 16, 1786. Sprung from a line of -free-holders, or "franklins," his father inherited a small family estate, which was so deeply mortgaged by his immediate predecessor that it was found necessary to sell it ; but by his success in commercial pursuits he was enabled to maintain and educate a family of twelve children. John, the youngest son, was destined for the church by his father, who, with this view, had purchased an advowson for him. He received the rudi ments of education at St Ives, and afterwards attended Louth Grammar School for two years ; but having em ployed a holiday in walking 12 miles with a companion to look at the sea, which up to that time ho knew only by description, his imagination was so impressed that he determined to be a sailor. In the hope of dispelling what he considered to be a boyish fancy, his father sent him on a trial voyage to Lisbon in a merchantman ; but it being found on his return that his wishes were unchanged, an entry on the quarterdeck of the " Polyphemus," 74, Captain Law- ford, was procured for him in 1800 ; and this ship having led the line in tho battle of Copenhagen iu 1801, young Franklin had the honour of serving in Nelson s hardest- fought action. Two months after the action of Copen hagen, he joined the " Investigator," discovery-ship, com manded by his relative Captain Flinders, and under tho training of that able scientific officer, while employed in exploring and mapping the coasts of Australia, he acquired a correctness of astronomical observation and a skill in surveying which proved of eminent utility in his future career. Franklin was on board the "Porpoise" when that ship and the "Cato" were wrecked, August 18, 1803, on a coral reef, off the coast of Australia (seo FLINDERS). After this misfortune, Franklin proceeded to Canton, where he obtained a passage to England in tho "Earl Cainden," East Indiaman, commanded by Sir Nathaniel Dance, commodore of the China fleet of 16 sail. On the 15th of February 1804 Captain Dance repulsed a strong French squadron, led by the redoubtable Admiral Linois. In this action Franklin performed the important duty of signal midshipman. On reaching England, he joined the " Bellerophon," 74, and in that ship he was again entrusted with the signals, a duty which he executed with his accustomed coolness and intrepidity in the great battle of Trafalgar. In the " Bedford," his next ship, he attained the rank of lieutenant, and remaining in her for six years, latterly as first lieutenant, served in the blockade of Flushing, on the coast of Portugal, and in other parts of the world, but chiefly on the Brazil station, whither the " Bedford " went as part of the convoy which escorted the royal family of Portugal to Rio de Janeiro in 1808. In the ill-managed and disastrous attack on New Orleans, he commanded the "Bedford s" boats in an engagement with the enemy s gunboats, one of which he boarded and cap tured, receiving a slight wound in the hand-to-hand fight. On peace being established, Franklin turned his attention once more to the scientific branch of his profession, and sedulously extended his knowledge of surveying. In 1818 the discovery of a north-west passage became again, after a long interval, a national object, and Lieutenant Franklin was appointed to the "Trent," as second to Captain Buchan of the " Dorothea," hired vessels equipped for penetrating to the north of Spitzbergen, and, if possible, crossing the Polar Sea by that route. During a heavy storm, both ships were forced to seek for safety by boring into the closely packed ice, in which extremely hazardous operation the " Dorothea " was so much damaged that her reaching England became doubtful; but the "Trent" having sustained less injury, Franklin requested to be allowed to prosecute the voyage alone, or under Captain Buchan, who had the power of em barking in the "Trent" if he chose. The latter, however, declined to leave his officers and men at a time when the ship was almost in a sinking condition, and directed Franklin to convoy him to England. Though success did not attend this voyage, it brought Franklin into personal intercourse with the leading scientific men of London, and they were not slow in ascertaining his peculiar fitness for the command of such an enterprise. To calmness in danger, promptness and fertility of resource, and excellent seaman ship, he added other qualities less common, more especially an ardent desire to promote science for its own sake, and not merely for the distinction which eminence in it confers, together with a love of truth that led him to do full justice to the merits of his subordinate officers, without wishing to claim their discoveries as a captain s right. Added to this, he had a cheerful buoyancy of mind, which, sustained by religious principle of a depth known only to his most in timate friends, was not depressed in the most gloomy times. It was, therefore, with full confidence in his ability and ex ertions that he was, in 1819, placed in command of an ex pedition appointed to travel through Rupert s Laud to the