ire department and street-cleaning service, and the
colonial postal system which grew into the United States Post Office
Department. He started the Philadelphia public library, the American
Philosophical Society, the University of Pennsylvania, and the first
American magazine, _The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle_; so
that he was almost singly the father of whatever intellectual life the
Pennsylvania colony could boast. In 1754, when commissioners from the
colonies met at Albany, Franklin proposed a plan, which was adopted,
for the union of all the colonies under one government. But all these
things, as well as his mission to England in 1757, on behalf of the
Pennsylvania Assembly in its dispute with the proprietaries; his share
in the Declaration of Independence--of which he was one of the
signers--and his residence in France as embassador of the United
Colonies, belong to the political history of the country; to the
history of American science belong his celebrated experiments in
electricity; and his benefits to mankind in both of these departments
were aptly summed up in the famous epigram of the French statesman
Turgot:

"_Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyranniis_."

Franklin's success in Europe was such as no American had yet achieved,
as few Americans since him have achieved. Hume and Voltaire were among
his acquaintances and his professed admirers. In France he was fairly
idolized, and when he died Mirabeau announced, "The genius which has
freed America and poured a flood of light over Europe has returned to
the bosom of the Divinity."

Franklin was a great man, but hardly a great writer, though as a
writer, too, he had many admirable and some great qualities. Among
these were the crystal clearness and simplicity of his style. His more
strictly literary performances, such as his essays after the
_Spectator_, hardly rise above mediocrity, and are neither better nor
worse than other imitations of Addison. But in some of his lighter
bagatelles there are a homely wisdom and a charming playfulness which
have won them enduring favor. Such are his famous story of the
_Whistle_, his _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout_, his letters to
Madame Helvetius, and his verses entitled _Paper_. The greater portion
of his writings consists of papers on general politics, commerce, and
political economy, contributions to the public questions of his day.
These are of the nature of journalism rather than