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Sec. P. No, my lord.

B. F. I thought it could not well be, my lord, as my letters are by the last ships, and they mention no such thing. Here is the authentic copy of the vote of the House appointing me, in which there is no mention of any act intended. Will your lordship please to look at it? (With seeming unwillingness he takes it, but does not look into it.)

L. H. An information of this kind is not properly brought to me as Secretary of State. The Board of Trade is the proper place.

B. F. I will leave the paper, then, with Mr. Pownall, to be L. H. (Hastily.) To what end would you leave it with him?" B. F. To be entered on the minutes of that Board, as usual. L. H. (Angrily.) It shall not be entered there! No such paper shall be entered there, while I have anything to do with the business of that Board! The House of Representatives has no right to appoint an agent. We shall take no notice of any agents but such as are appointed by acts of Assembly, to which the governor gives his assent. We have had confusion enough already. Here is one agent appointed by the Council, another by the House of Representatives. Which of these is agent for the province ? Who are we to hear in provincial affairs? An agent appointed by act of Assembly we can understand. No other will be attended to for the future, I can assure you!

B. F. I cannot conceive, my lord, why the consent of the governor should be thought necessary to the appointment of an agent for the people. It seems to me that

L. H. (With a mixed look of anger and contempt.) I shall not enter into a dispute with you, sir, upon this subject.

B. F. I beg your lordship's pardon; I do not presume to dispute with your lordship; I would only say that it seems to me that every body of men, who cannot appear in person where business relating to them may be transacted, should have a right to appear by an agent. The concurrence of the governor does not seem to me necessary. It is the business of the people that is to be done; he is not one of them; he is himself an agent. L. H. (Hastily.) Whose agent is he?

B. F. The king's, my lord.

L. H. No such matter. He is one of the corporation by the province charter. No agent can be appointed but by an act, nor any act pass without his assent. Besides, this proceeding is directly contrary to express instructions.

B. F. I did not know there had been such instructions. I am not concerned in any offence against them, and ·

L. H. Yes, your offering such a paper to be entered is an offence against them. (Folding it up again without having read a word of it.) No such appointment shall be entered. When I came into the administration of American affairs, I found them in great disorder. By my firmness they are now something mended; and, while I have the honor to hold the seals, I shall continue the same conduct, the same firmness. I think my duty to the master I serve, and to the government of this nation, requires it of me. If that conduct is not approved, they may take my office from me when they please. I shall make them a bow and thank them. I shall resign with pleasure. That gentleman knows it (pointing to Mr. Pownall); but while I continue in it I shall resolutely persevere in the same FIRMNESS. (Spoken with great warmth, and turning pale in his discourse, as if he was angry at something or somebody besides the agent, and of more consequence to himself.)

B. F. (Reaching out his hand for the paper, which his lordship returned to him.) I beg your lordship's pardon for taking up so much of your time. It is, I believe, of no great importance whether the appointment is acknowledged or not; for I have not the least conception that an agent can at present be of any use to any of the colonies. I shall therefore give your lordship no further trouble. (Withdrew.)

[TO JOSHUA BABCOCK.]

Agriculture the most Honorable Employment · · Condition of the Poor in Ireland - Savage Life and Civilization.

LONDON, 13 January, 1772.

DEAR SIR: It was with great pleasure I learnt, by Mr. Marchant, that you and Mrs. Babcock and all your good family continue well and happy. I hope I shall find you all in the same state when I next come your way, and take shelter, as often heretofore, under your hospitable roof. The colonel, I am told, continues an active and able farmer; the most honorable of all employments, in my opinion, as being the most useful in itself, and rendering the man most independent. My namesake, his son, will soon, I hope, be able to drive the plough for him.

I have lately made a tour through Ireland and Scotland. In those countries a small part of the society are landlords, great

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noblemen, and gentlemen, extremely opulent, living in the highest affluence and magnificence. The bulk of the people are tenants, extremely poor, living in the most sordid wretchedness, in dirty hovels of mud and straw, and clothed only in rags.

I thought often of the happiness of New England, where every man is a freeholder, has a vote in public affairs, lives in a tidy, warm house, has plenty of good food and fuel, with whole clothes from head to foot, the manufacture, perhaps, of his own family. Long may they continue in this situation! But, if they should ever envy the trade of these countries, I can put them in a way to obtain a share of it. Let them, with three-fourths of the people of Ireland, live the year round on potatoes and buttermilk, without shirts; then may their merchants export beef, butter, and linen. Let them, with the generality of the common people of Scotland, go barefoot; then may they make large exports in shoes and stockings, and, if they will be content to wear rags, like the spinners and weavers of England, they may make cloths and stuffs for all parts of the world.

Further, if my countrymen should ever wish for the honor of having among them a gentry enormously wealthy, let them sell their farms and pay racked rents; the scale of the landlords will rise, as that of the tenants is depressed, who will soon become poor, tattered, dirty, and abject in spirit. Had I never been in the American colonies, but were to form my judgment of civil society by what I have lately seen, I should never advise a nation of savages to admit of civilization; for I assure you that, in the possession and enjoyment of the various comforts of life, compared to these people every Indian is a gentleman, and the effect of this kind of civil society seems to be the depressing multitudes below the savage state, that a few may be raised above it. My best wishes attend you and yours,

being ever, with great esteem, &c.,

B. FRANKLIN.

[TO SAMUEL FRANKLIN.]

How to choose a Wife.

LONDON, 13 January, 1772.

DEAR COUSIN I received your kind letter of November 8th, and rejoice to hear of the continued welfare of you and your good wife and four daughters. I hope they will all get good

husbands. I dare say they will be educated so as to deserve them.

I knew a wise old man who used to advise his young friends to choose wives out of a bunch; for where there were many daughters, he said, they improved each other, and from emulation acquired more accomplishments, knew more, could do more, and were not spoiled by parental fondness, as single children often are. Yours have my best wishes and blessing, if that can be of any value.

I received a very polite letter from your friend, Mr. Bowen, relating to the print. Please to present him my respectful compliments. I am just returned from a long journey. Your affectionate cousin, B. FRANKLIN.

[TO WILLIAM FRANKLIN.]

Modes of Exercise

Importance to Health.

LONDON, 19 August, 1772.

DEAR SON IN yours of May 14th you acquaint me with your indisposition, which gave me great concern. The resolution you have taken to use more exercise is extremely proper; and I hope you will steadily perform it. It is of the greatest importance to prevent diseases, since the cure of them by physic is so very precarious.

In considering the different kinds of exercise, I have thought that the quantum of each is to be judged of, not by time or by distance, but by the degree of warmth it produces in the body. Thus, when I observe, if I am cold when I get into a carriage in a morning, I may ride all day without being warmed by it; that, if on horseback my feet are cold, I may ride some hours before they become warm; but, if I am ever so cold on foot, I cannot walk an hour briskly without glowing from head to foot by the quickened circulation; I have been ready to say (using round numbers, without regard to exactness, but merely to make a great difference), that there is more exercise in one mile's riding on horseback than five in a coach, and more in one mile's walking on foot than in five on horseback; to which I may add, that there is more in walking one mile up and down stairs than in five on a level floor.

The two latter exercises may be had within doors, when the weather discourages going abroad; and the last may be had

when one is pinched for time, as containing a great quantity of exercise in a handful of minutes. The dumb bell is another exercise of the latter compendious kind. By the use of it I have in forty swings quickened my pulse from sixty to one hundred beats in a minute, counted by a second watch; and I suppose the warmth generally increases with quickness of pulse. B. FRANKLIN.

[TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY.]

Moral Algebra, for arriving at Decisions in Doubtful Cases.
LONDON, 19 September, 1772.

DEAR SIR: In the affair of so much importance to you, wherein you ask my advice, I cannot, for want of sufficient premises, counsel you what to determine; but, if you please, I will tell you how. When those difficult cases 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 alternately 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, writing over the one pro, and over the other con; then, during three or four days' consideration, I put down under the different heads short hints of the different motives that at different times occur to me, for or against the measure. When 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 seem equal, I strike them both out. If I find a reason pro equal to some two reasons con, I strike out the 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 balance lies; and if, after a day or two of further consideration, nothing new that is of importance occurs on either side, I come to a determination accordingly. And, though the weight of reasons cannot be taken with the precision of algebraic quantities, yet, when each is thus considered separately and 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

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