The birth of the university marks the half way point in Franklin's life; in the pursuit of its history we cannot fail to note his work from time to time in behalf of his native country, for we must watch the events by his share in which he was elevated more and more to public notoriety, and some of which nearly concerned the institution whose trusteeship he faithfully continued in to his last days, though his long absences in his country's service deprived it for many consecutive years of that prudent and skilful counsel, which, if exercised, had perhaps spared it from its great disaster of 1779.
The attempt of 1743 had not been forgotten by him, and though he had not within view any capable or experienced person to take it in charge, he sought counsel of his friends, Mr. Peters included, and now made public his designs. "Peace being concluded,"[1] he says in his Narrative,
and the association business therefore at an end, I turn'd my thoughts again to the affair of establishing an academy. The first step I took was to associate in the design a number of active friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good part; the next was to write and publish a pamphlet, entitled, Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania. This I distributed among the principal inhabitants gratis; and as soon as I could suppose their minds a little prepared by the perusal of it, I set on foot a subscription for opening and supporting an academy.
And he adds a sentence in his usual vein showing how little anxious he was to claim the authorship of the plan:
In the introduction to these proposals, I started their publication not
- ↑ Bigelow, 224, 25. These Proposals of 1749 are not found in Mr. Bigelow's Complete Works of Franklin. See Sparks, i. 569, where they are inserted with Mr. Spark's literary freedom; but will be found herein correctly recorded in Appendix I, without however carrying the author's copious and many notes wherein he transcribed authorities endorsing his objects and his methods. Upon the appearance of Volumes i. and ii. of Mr. Bigelow's valuable work, his attention was called to the omission of the Proposals, and he replied, 23 April, 1887, "it will appear in one of the later volumes which is now in the hands of the printer. Why it was assigned to a later date I do not remember, nor could I satisfy myself without reference to the copy, which at present would be inconvenient. It will serve your purpose, I hope, to know that it had not been overlooked." Doubtless the failure to obtain a copy of the original prevented this consummation. Of this rare publication but three copies are now known to be preserved, one of them, happily, is in the possession of the University, the Pennsylvania Historical Society and the Boston Athenæum owning the other two.
