Four American Leaders | Page 5

him
(Franklin) to offer a good hire for horses, wagons, and drivers, and
proper compensation for the equipment in case of loss. By this appeal
to the frontier farmers of Pennsylvania he secured in two weeks all the
transportation required. To defend public order Franklin was perfectly
ready to use public force, as, for instance, when he raised and
commanded a regiment of militia to defend the northwestern frontier
from the Indians after Braddock's defeat, and again, when it became
necessary to defend Philadelphia from a large body of frontiersmen
who had lynched a considerable number of friendly Indians, and were
bent on revolutionizing the Quaker government. But his abhorrence of
all war was based on the facts, first, that during war the law must be
silent, and, secondly, that military discipline, which is essential for
effective fighting, annihilates individual liberty. "Those," he said, "who
would give up essential liberty for the sake of a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." The foundation of his firm
resistance on behalf of the colonies to the English Parliament was his
impregnable conviction that the love of liberty was the ruling passion
of the people of the colonies. In 1766 he said of the American people:
"Every act of oppression will sour their tempers, lessen greatly, if not
annihilate, the profits of your commerce with them, and hasten their
final revolt; for the seeds of liberty are universally found there, and
nothing can eradicate them." Because they loved liberty, they would
not be taxed without representation; they would not have soldiers
quartered on them, or their governors made independent of the people
in regard to their salaries; or their ports closed, or their commerce
regulated by Parliament. It is interesting to observe how Franklin's
experiments and speculations in natural science often had a favorable
influence on freedom of thought. His studies in economics had a strong
tendency in that direction. His views about religious toleration were

founded on his intense faith in civil liberty; and even his demonstration
that lightning was an electrical phenomenon brought deliverance for
mankind from an ancient terror. It removed from the domain of the
supernatural a manifestation of formidable power that had been
supposed to be a weapon of the arbitrary gods; and since it increased
man's power over nature, it increased his freedom.
This faith in freedom was fully developed in Franklin long before the
American Revolution and the French Revolution made the fundamental
principles of liberty familiar to civilized mankind. His views
concerning civil liberty were even more remarkable for his time than
his views concerning religious liberty; but they were not developed in a
passionate nature inspired by an enthusiastic idealism. He was the very
embodiment of common sense, moderation, and sober honesty. His
standard of human society is perfectly expressed in the description of
New England which he wrote in 1772: "I thought often of the happiness
in 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!" Such was
Franklin's conception of a free and happy people. Such was his political
philosophy.
The moral philosophy of Franklin consisted almost exclusively in the
inculcation of certain very practical and unimaginative virtues, such as
temperance, frugality, industry, moderation, cleanliness, and
tranquillity. Sincerity and justice, and resolution--that indispensable
fly-wheel of virtuous habit--are found in his table of virtues; but all his
moral precepts seem to be based on observation and experience of life,
and to express his convictions concerning what is profitable, prudent,
and on the whole satisfactory in the life that now is. His philosophy is a
guide of life, because it searches out virtues, and so provides the means
of expelling vices. It may reasonably determine conduct. It did
determine Franklin's conduct to a remarkable degree, and has had a
prodigious influence for good on his countrymen and on civilized
mankind. Nevertheless, it omits all consideration of the prime motive
power, which must impel to right conduct, as fire supplies the power

which actuates the engine. That motive power is pure, unselfish
love--love to God and love to man. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart ... and thy neighbor as thyself."
Franklin never seems to have perceived that the supreme tests of
civilization are the tender and honorable treatment of women as equals,
and the sanctity of home life. There was one primary virtue on his list
which he did not always practise. His failures in this respect diminished
his influence for good among his contemporaries, and must always
qualify the admiration with which mankind will regard him as a moral