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famous astronomer and mathematician. For twenty-two years Franklin was President of this society. Also in 1743 he began to investigate the course of storms in the United States, and laid the foundation for the science of meteorology. Among his other notable achievements was the establishment of an academy, which is now the University of Pennsylvania; the invention of the first movable stove, and the organization of a fire company of which he was a member for fifty years.

CAUGHT LIGHTNING WITH A KITE.

During these years Franklin was making constant experiments with electricity, and discovered many scientific facts through the use of the Leyden jar, the most important of which were that electricity is not created, but only collected by means of friction and retained through attraction, and that two bodies repel each other if they are electrified by the same pole, and attract each other if they are electrified by opposite poles.

Various The most important question then unsolved with reference to electricity was whether or not electricity and lightning were the same. methods were suggested to solve this problem, one of which was the building of towers into the clouds. Franklin found an easier, simpler and cheaper solution by sending up a silken kite, to which was attached an ordinary' door key and which was connected with a Leyden jar. The kite was sent up into a storm cloud, and when the lightning flashed the jar became charged with electricity, which was ample proof that electricity and lightning were the same. This experiment, through the suggestion of Franklin, led to the invention of the lightning rod.

The result of Franklin's experiments and discoveries were published abroad, and he achieved a world-wide reputation as a scientist and philosopher. In the meantime, he had so perfected his education that he was probably the most accomplished man of letters in America.

Previous to his electrical discoveries Franklin had sold his paper and almanac with the intention of retiring from active participation in public affairs, but his success and fame were both so great that the people insisted he should enter the public service. He was in succession a justice of the peace, member of the city council, an alderman, a burgess, a member of the Assembly, and in 1756-57 was sent to England as agent of the Province to advocate the right of the Province to tax the estate of William Penn. He was so successful that Massachusetts, Maryland and Georgia also appointed him their representative to the home government.

WARNED ENGLAND OF THE REVOLUTION.

In 1764 Franklin was again sent to England to oppose the passage of the obnoxious Stamp Act-the primary cause of the Revolutionary War. It was he who warned Parliament of the impending conflict; that "the Provinces would never pay taxes without representation unless compelled by force of arms."

When Franklin returned to America in 1775 the war had already begun, and Lexington and Concord had passed into history. He was at once elected a member of the Continental Congress, which appointed him Postmaster-General-the first appointment made by the United Colonies and one that the King of Great Britain regarded as rank treason.

His was the second name on the list selected to draft the Declaration of Independence, and when Jefferson, to whom was assigned the actual work of writing that great document, had completed the first draft of it, it was submitted first to Franklin, then to Adams, but to no others, for suggestions and revisions.

Few, if any, of the patriots connected with the American Revolution performed such an enormous amount of work as Franklin. Not only did he serve as Postmaster-General, but he was Chairman of the Committee of Safety for the Defenses of Philadelphia, and served on nine other committees. He was one of the three commissioners to confer with Washington regarding the organization of the American Army, was a delegate to the conference for the organization for a new form of government, and later was one of the three commissioners sent to treat with Lord Howe, Commanderin-Chief of the British forces in America.

"If America should fall I should lament it like a brother," said Lord Howe to Franklin.

"My Lord," replied Franklin, "we will use our utmost endeavors to save your Lordship that mortification."

GETS A WARSHIP AND MONEY FROM FRANCE.

Franklin's success in diplomacy had been so great that in September, 1776, Congress elected him Ambassador to France. The French government was exceedingly friendly to the American revolutionists, and this friendship was greatly strengthened by the appointment of Franklin, who, as a scientist and a man of letters, was as famous in France as in his own country. The result was that he was received with open arms, and his cause

was given much secret assistance. His personal popularity was so great that England feared he would transfer the Colonies to France, and to prevent this the British government began offering everything in the way of terms to the Americans, except independence. Franklin refused to consider any proposition that did not include independence, "for," he said, "the dependency of the Colonies is gone like the clouds of last year." At this time Franklin persuaded the French government to make a loan of five millions of dollars to the Colonies and to send them a warship, and as a result of all this, a private treaty of friendship, commerce and alliance was signed by the two countries.

England was now in desperate straits; Burgoyne and his army were prisoners of war, and Lord Howe had been forced to retreat from Philadelphia. When England heard of the treaty with France she made desperate efforts to win the good will of Franklin. "Take all you ever asked for, only don't forsake your mother country and throw yourselves into the arms of our natural enemy, perfidious France."

REFUSED BRIBES FROM ENGLAND.

Entreaties proved useless, and the British government then tried bribery. A letter dated at Brussels, June 16, 1778, and signed by Chas. D. Weissenstein-a name assumed by the British King-was thrown in the window of Franklin's room. The letter proposed the union of all the colonies with Great Britain, denounced any dealings with France and promised pensions or offices for life to certain Americans who would join the British cause. At the head of this list of Americans was the name of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin's reply was characteristic of the man who had turned over to his government his entire private fortune before leaving for the Court of France. He said: "All the hopes of places, pensions and peerages cannot corrupt a single patriot."

After the surrender or Cornwallis, Franklin, at the request of Congress, remained as Minister Plenipotentiary until a treaty of peace with Great Britain had been concluded and signed, and then, at his own request, was recalled. As an evidence of his popularity at the French Court the King and Queen of France presented him with a valuable portrait of himself.

Upon his return he served as President of the State of Pennsylvania, a position which corresponded with the position of Governor of the present day, and was afterwards a delegate to the convention which framed a new Constitution for the United States. His public services covered a period of

forty years. He retired from public life in 1788 and died at Philadelphia, April 17, 1790.

FAMOUS LETTER TO PAINE.

Franklin's writings and letters have been collected and published in many editions. The following letter to Thomas Paine, who had sent him the manuscript of a book, is characteristic of the learned doctor, and reveals the religious side of his character:

"I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument it contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general Providence, you strike at the foundation of all religion. For without the belief of a Providence that takes cognizance of guards and guides, and many favor particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, to fear His displeasure, or to pray for his protection. I will not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to desire it. But were you to succeed, do you imagine any good would be done by it? You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life without the assistance afforded by religion, you having a clear perception of the advantages of virtue and the disadvantages of vice and possessing strength of resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations. But think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue and to retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security. "And perhaps you are indebted to her originally; that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother.

"I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by another person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification by the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?

Franklin is buried in Christ Church burial ground, Philadelphia, and a lowly monument marks the spot.

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT.

CHAPTER XV.

THE FRIGHTFUL WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN-TEN THOUSAND MEN LOST IN THREE HOURS-GRANT NEVER

LOST A BATTLE-ALWAYS VICTORIOUS.

66

"G

ENERAL," said one of General Grant's staff, as the great campaign of the Wilderness, in 1864, was about to open, "if your army is defeated, what will the troops do for provisions?"

"If this army is defeated," was General Grant's grim reply, "It won't need any provisions."

The Wilderness campaign was the one which really brought the Civil War of 1861-65 to a close, but the sacrifice of life was frightful.

In the bloody assault at Cold Harbor, begun at half-past four o'clock in the morning, General Grant's army lost ten thousand men in three hours. Casualties so awful had never been known in war between nations, but it must be remembered that such foes were never, in the history of the world, brought face to face before.

The Southerners were rare fighters-good American blood ran in their veins and they had in front of them a commander who did not know what it was to fail in anything he undertook.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the machine-gun was given its first trial.

At the battle of St. Privat (the French call it Gravelotte) the Germans lost eight thousand men in ten minutes while charging the fortifications. During the first fortnight of August, 1870, the Germans lost sixty thousand men and nearly one thousand officers.

GRANT WAS A VERY OBSTINATE MAN.

Grant's principal trait was stubbornness.

This, with his great military genius, made him successful.

He never lost a battle, and when the fight was going against his army he merely gave the order to his soldiers to stand their ground.

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