FRANKLIN 202 FRANKLIN over to England for the requisite ma- terial to establish himself in the printing business in Philadelphia, by the promise to advance what money he would need for this purpose, and also to secure to him the printing for the government. Franklin arrived in London on Dec. 12, 1724. Instead of the lettei's of credit he expected he discovered that no one who knew Keith placed the smallest depend- ence upon his word. Franklin soon found employment in a London printing house, where he remained for the next 18 months. He then returned to Phila- delphia, where in connection with a fellow printer whose father advanced some capital, he established a printing house for himself. In September, 1729, he bought for a trifle the "Pennsylvania Gazette." In the following year, Franklin married his old love, Deborah Read, a widow, a young woman of his own station in life, by whom he had two children, a son who died in his youth, and a daughter, Sally, who afterward became Mrs. Bache, a name since associated with the history of American science. In 1732 he commenced the publication of what is still known to literature as "Poor Richard's Almanac," which gained a wide circulation. His con- tributions to it have been republished in many languages. In 1736 Franklin was appointed clerk of the assembly, in 1737 postmaster of Philadelphia; and shortly after he was elected a member of the assembly. In 1746 he began those researches in electricity which gave him a position among the most illustrious natural phi- losophers. He exhibited in a more dis- tinct form than heretofore the theory of positive and negative electricity; by his famous experiment with a boy's kite he proved that lightning and electricity are identical; and he it was who suggested the protecting of buildings by lightning- conductors. At the comparatively early age_ of 47 he was elected to the Roval Society of London. Franklin was the author of many other discoveries. They are: (1) The course of storms over the North American continent — a discovery which marked an epoch in the science of meteorology, and which has since been utilized by the aid of land and ocean telegraphy. (2) The course and most important characteristics of the Gulf Stream, its high temperature, and the consequent uses of the thermometer in navigation. (3) The diverse powers of different colors to absorb solar heat. In 1757 he was sent to England to in- sist upon the right of the province to tax the proprietors of the land still held under the Penn charter for their share of the cost of defending it from hostile Frenchmen and Indians. His mission was crowned with success. He was absent on this work five years, during which he received honorory degrees from Oxford and Edinburgh. In 1764 he was again sent to England to contest the pretensions of Parliament to tax the American colonies without representa- tion. The differences, however, became too grave to be reconciled by negotiation. The officers sent by the home government to New England were resisted in the dis- charge of their duty, and in 1775 patri- otism as well as regard for his personal safety decided Franklin to return to the United States, where he at once partici- pated actively in the measures and de- liberations of the Colonists, which re- sulted in the declaration of independence, July 4, 1776. "To secure foreign assistance in prose- cuting the war in which the colonies were already engaged with Great Britain, Franklin then, in the 71st year of his age, was sent to Paris. He reached the French capital in the winter of 1776- 1777, where his fame as a philosopher as well as a statesman had already pre- ceded him. His great skill as a negotia- tor and immense personal popularity led to an alliance between France and the United States signed by the French king Feb. 6, 1778, while opportune and sub- stantial aids in arms and munitions of war as well as money were supplied from the royal arsenals and treasury. On Sept. 3, 1783, his mission was crowned with success through England's recognition of the independence of the United States. Franklin continued to discharge the duties of minister-plenipotentiary in Paris till 1785, when he was relieved at his own request. He reached Philadelphia Sept. 14, 1785, when he was elected al- most immediately governor of Pennsyl- vania with but one dissenting vote be- sides his own. To this office he was twice re-elected unanimously. During the period of his service as governor he was also chosen a delegate to the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States. With the expiration of his third term as governor in 1788 Franklin re- tired from public life, after an almost continuous service of more than 40 years. Franklin was the founder and first presi- dent of the Philosophical Society of Pennsylvania, and an honorary member of all the leading scientific societies of the Old World. He died April 17, 1790, and was buried in the graveyard of Christ Church, PhiladelpTiia. FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN, an Eng- lish navigator, born in Spilsby, Lincoln- shire, April 16, 1786 ; when only a boy he went to sea, and later entered the Eng-
