history and to posterity, and that it is equally absurd and discreditable to think of suppressing any part of the evidence by which their merits must be ultimately determined. But the whole of the works that have been suppressed certainly did not relate to republican politics. The history of the author's life, down to 1757, could not well contain any matter of offence, and a variety of general remarks and speculations which he is understood to have left behind him might have been permitted to see the light, though his diplomatic operations had been interdicted. The emissary of government, however, probably took no care of these things: he was resolved to leave no rubs and botches in his work, and, to stifle the dreaded revelation, he thought the best way was to strangle all the innocents in the vicinage."

William Temple's tardy vindication from these imputations is given in the preface to his edition of his grandfather's works. He there admits that he delayed their publication, that "they might not be the means of awakening painful recollections or of rekindling the dying embers of animosity."*

Mr. Sparks thinks that William Temple Franklin had motives for delaying the publication of the writings of his grandfather which he did not assign in his preface. He says:†

“There was a rumor that the British ministry interposed, and offered the proprietor of the papers a large remuneration to suppress them, which he accepted. This rumor was so broadly stated in the preface to Johnson's edition

* The whole of this preface is worth perusing. It will be found at length in Appendix 7.

† Sparks' Life of Franklin, vol. vii. Preface.

6

as to amount to a positive charge: and it was reiterated with an assurance that would seem at least to imply that it was sustained by the public opinion. To this charge William Temple Franklin replied when, in the year 1817, he published an edition of his grandfather's works from the manuscripts in his possession. In the preface to the first volume he endeavors to explain the reason why he had so long delayed the publication, and he also takes notice of the charge in question. He treats it with indignation and contempt, and appears not to regard it as worthy of being refuted. He was less reserved in conversation. Dr. John W. Francis, of New York, saw him often in London in the year 1816, while he was preparing his grandfather's papers for the press. To me,' says Dr. Francis, he peremptorily denied all interference of any official authorities whatever with his intended publication, and assigned, as sufficient causes for the non-execution of the task committed to him, the interruption of communication and the hostilities between the French and the English nations, and the consequent embarrassments he encountered in collecting the scattered materials.' The reason here assigned for delay is not very satisfactory, and there were doubtless others. His father, William Franklin, died in 1813. He had been a pensioner on the British government, in consequence of the part he had taken in the Revolution, and it is probable that he may have been averse to the publication of his father's papers during his lifetime. To say the least, the suspicion that papers were finally suppressed for any cause is without proof and highly improbable. A paper mentioned by Mr. Jefferson, as having been shown to him by Dr. Franklin, and supposed to have been sup

pressed, was undoubtedly the one relating to a negotiation with Lord Howe and others, for a reconciliation between the two countries, just before Dr. Franklin left England for the last time. This was published by his grandson, and is contained in the fifth volume of the present edition.”

The conjecture of Mr. Sparks is, no doubt, correct so far as it goes. There can be no question with any person cognizant of the state of feeling which prevailed at the time in England toward the revolted Colonies, that the publication of an elaborate edition of Franklin's works would have been unacceptable to the governing classes; nor can there be much doubt that such a publication would have had a tendency to compromise William Franklin with the government, and put his pension inperil. When it is further considered that William Franklin not only had no sympathy with the republican cause in America, but did all he could to betray it, and thus entitled himself to the pension upon which he lived, it may safely be inferred that he exerted what influence he possessed over his son, not only to defer the publication, but to unsettle his son's faith in the value and stability of the political fabric which their common ancestor had had such an important agency in erecting. And it is also to be borne in mind, that any representations of that nature which the father might make would have fallen upon the son's mind in a state not wholly unprepared to give it hospitality. Both he and his grandfather thought he had been treated ungraciously by our governmant, from which he had been educated to expect some diplomatic appointment. Immediately after his grandfather's death he left the United States under a feeling of disappointment, if

not of disgust, at their ingratitude, and never returned. He bore with him in his trunk a manuscript property which could be turned to considerable account in two ways either by printing it or by suppressing it. The course that he finally took was one which enabled him, if he chose, to take the benefit of both modes of procedure. He delayed the publication until it could no longer work any prejudice to him or his, and then found for it, doubtless, at last as propitious a market as he could have hoped for had he published earlier.

Whether he did profit by this delay, and if so, in what way and to what extent, will probably never be known with absolute certainty. Every one's conclusions will be more or less affected by their knowledge of his character, habits and necessities. There is a paragraph in one of his letters already cited, which must henceforth be weighed in deciding this question. He wrote to M. le Veillard from London on the 14th of June, 1791:

"I am much distressed, my dear friend, at what you say you suffer from my not arriving in Paris. I have been wishing to be there as much as you could wish to see me, but I could not possibly think of leaving this while a business I had undertaken was pending, for which I rec'd a salary; and which, being now completed, affords me a profit of seven thousand pounds sterling! This, my dear friend, has hitherto kept me here-having only been finally terminated on the 11th inst. I am in hopes you will think my excuse for staying till it was done a good one. I have now only some few arrangements to make in consequence of my success, and shall undoubtedly be with you before the conclusion of this month."

When this was written, Dr. Franklin had been dead

but about a year; the writer had been in London barely six months. He never pretended in his correspondence before to have any other business there than to edit his grandfather's works; he suddenly engages himself upon a salary; in less than six months finishes his business, and pockets a profit of £7000, or say $35,000. While earning this handsome sum he was apparently a free man, constantly writing to M. le Veillard that he was expecting to go in a few days or weeks to Paris, being only detained in London to finish his book. It is not easy to imagine any salaried employment, especially such a profitable one as this seemed to be, which imposed so slight a restraint upon the movements of its beneficiary.

From whatever source this £7000 came, and however little or much the acquisition of it had to do with the delay in the publication of his grandfather's works, it is certainly to be regretted that so little is known of the business engagement which was entered into so suddenly, was of such brief duration, and yet yielded such generous profits. Cabanis * tells us, that when William Franklin asked of the Court of St. James the governorship of one of the coloniest-a favor by which he became unfortunately bound to the Loyalist party-Franklin said to him: "Think what this whistle will some day cost you. Why not rather be a carpenter or a ploughman, if the fortune I leave you prove insufficient? The man who works for his living is at least independent. But," added he, in telling us this story, "the young man was infatuated with the 'Excellency.' He was ashamed to resemble his father."

* Euvres de Cabanis, vol. v. p. 223.

† New Jersey.