that colony at the peace, is given entire; and appears to be composed with great force of reason, and in a style of extraordinary perspicuity. The same may be said of what are called the Albany papers, or the plan for a general political union of the colonies in 1754; and of a variety of other tracts on the provincial politicks of that day. All these are worth preserving, both as monuments of Dr. Franklin's talents and activity, and as affording, in many places, very excellent models of strong reasoning and popular eloquence; but the interest of the subjects is now completely gone by: and the few specimens of general reasoning which we meet with serve only to increase our regret, that the talents of the author should have been wasted on such perishable materials.

There is not much written on the subject of the dispute with the colonies; and most of Dr. Franklin's papers on that subject are already well known to the publick. His examination before the House of Commons in 1766, affords a striking proof of the extent of his information, the clearness and force of his extempore composition, and the steadiness and self-possession, which enabled him to display these qualities with so much effect upon such an occasion. His letters before the commencement of hostilities, are full of grief and anxiety; but, no sooner did matters come to extremities, than he appears to have assumed a certain keen and confident cheerfulness, not unmixed with a seasoning of asperity, and more vindictiveness of spirit, than perhaps became a philosopher.

None of Dr. Franklin's political writings, during the nine years when he resided as Ambassadour at the Court of France, have yet been made publick. Some of them,

we should imagine, must be highly interesting.

Of the merit of this author as a political economist, we have already had occasion to say something, in the general remarks which we made on the character of his genius; and we cannot now spare time to go much into particulars. He is perfectly sound upon many important and practical points ;upon the corn-trade, and the theory of money, for instance; and also upon the more general doctrines, as to the freedom of commerce, and the principle of population. In the more elementary and abstract parts of the science, however, his views seem to have been less just and luminous. He is not very consistent or profound, in what he says of the effects of luxury; and seems to have gone headlong into the radical errour of the Economistes, when he maintains, that all that is done by manufacture, is to embody the value of the manufacturer' subsistence in his work, and that agriculture is the only source from which a real increase of wealth can be derived. Another favourite position is, that all commerce is cheating, where a commodity, produced by a certain quantity of labour, is exchanged for another, on which more labour has been expended; and that the only fair price of any thing, is some other thing requiring the same exertion to bring it to market. This is

evidently a very narrow and erroneous view of the nature of commerce. The fair price to the purchaser is, whatever he deliberately chooses to give, rather than go without the commodity; it is no matter to him, whether the seller bestowed much or little labour upon it, or whether it came into his possession without any labour at all; whether it be a diamond, which he

picked up, or a picture, at which he had been working for years. The commodity is not valued by the purchaser, on account of the labour which is supposed to be embodied in it, but solely on account of certain qualities, which he finds convenient or agreeable ; he compares the convenience and delight which he expects to derive from this object, with the convenience and delight which is afforded by the things asked in exchange for it; and if he find the former preponderate, he consents to the exchange, and makes a beneficial bargain. We have stated the case in the name of a purchaser, because, in barter, both parties are truly purchasers, and act upon the same principles; and it is easy to shew, that all commerce resolves itself ultimately into barter. There can be no unfairness in trade, except where there is concealment on the part of the seller, either of the defects of the commodity, or of the fact that the purchaser may be supplied with it at a cheaper rate by another. It is a matter of fact, but not of morality, that the price of most commodities will be influenced by the labour employed in producing them. If they are capable of being produced in unlimited quantities, the competition of the producers will sink the price very nearly to what is necessary to maintain this labour; and the impossibility of continuing the production, without repaying that la, bour, will prevent it from sinking lower. The doctrine does not apply at all, to cases where the materials, or the skill necessary to work them up, are scarce in proportion to the demand. The author's speculation on the effects of paper-money, seem also to be superficial and inaccurate. Statisticks had not been carefully studied in the days of his activity; and,

accordingly, we meet with a good deal of loose assumption,and sweeping calculation, in his writings. Yet he had a genius for exact observation, and complicated detail; and probably wanted nothing but leisure, to have made very great advances in this branch of economy.

As a writer on morality and general literature, the merits of Dr. Franklin cannot be estimated properly, without taking into consideration the peculiarities, that have been already alluded to, in his early history and situation. He never had the benefit of any academical instruction, nor of the society of men of letters; his style was formed entirely by his own judgment and reading; and most of his moral pieces were written while he was a tradesman, addressing himself to the tradesmen of his native city. We cannot expect, therefore, either that he should write with extraordinary elegance or grace; or that he should treat of the accomplishments, follies, and occupations of polite life. He had no great occasion, as a moralist, to expose the guilt and the folly of gaming or seduction; or to point a

poignant and playful ridicule against the lighter immoralities of fashionable life. To the mechan icks and traders of Boston and Philadelphia, such warnings were altogether unnecessary; and he endeavoured, therefore, with more appropriate eloquence, to impress upon them the importance of industry, sobriety, and economy, and to direct their wise and humble ambition to the attainment of useful knowledge and honourable independence. That morality, after all, is certainly the most valuable, which is adapted to the circumstances of the greater part of mankind; and that eloquence is the most meritorious, that is calculated to convince and persuade the mul

titude to virtue. Nothing can be more perfectly and beautifully adapted to its object, than most of Dr. Franklin's compositions of this sort. The tone of familiarity, of good-will, and homely jocularity; the plain and pointed illustrations; the short sentences, made up of short words; and the strong sense, clear information, and obvious conviction of the author himself, make most of his moral exhortations perfect models of popular eloquence; and afford the finest specimens of a style which has been but too little cultivated in a country, which numbers perhaps more than one hundred thousand readers among its tradesmen and artificers.

In writings which possess such solid and unusual merit, it is of no great consequence that the fastidious eye of a critick can discover many blemishes. There is a good deal of vulgarity in the practical writings of Dr. Franklin; and more vulgarity than was any way necessary for the object he had in view. There is something childish, too, in some of his attempts at plea santry his story of the Whistle, and his Parisian letter, announcing the discovery that the sun gives light as soon as he rises, are instances of this. The soliloquy of an Ephemeris, however, is much better; and both it, and the Dialogue with the Gout, are executed with the lightness and spirit of genuine French compositions. Speech in the Divan of Algiers, composed as a parody on those of the defenders of the slave-trade, and the scriptural parable against persecution, are inimitable; they have all the point and facility of the fine pleasantries of Swift and Arbuthnot, with something more of directness and apparent sincerity.

The

The style of his letters, in general, is excellent. They are chiefly remarkable, for great simplicity of

language, admirable good sense and ingenuity, and an amiable and inoffensive, cheerfulness, that is never overclouded or eclipsed. Among the most valuable of the writings that are published for the first time, in the last edition, are four letters from Dr. Franklin to Mr. Whatley, written within a few years of his death, and expressive of all that unbroken gaiety, philanthropy, and activity, which distinguish the compositions of his. earlier years.

His account of his own life, down to the year 1730, has been in the hands of the publick since 1790, It is written with great simplicity and liveliness, though it contains too many trifling details and anecdotes of obscure individuals. It affords a striking example of the irresistible force with which talente and industry bear upwards in society, as well as an impressive illustration of the substantial wisdom and good policy of invariable integrity and candour. We should think it a very useful reading for all young persons of unsteady principle, who have their fortunes to make or to mend in the world, Upon the whole, we look upon the life and writings of Dr. Franklin as affording a striking illustration of the incalculable value of a sound and well directed understanding, and of the comparative uselessness of learning and laborious accomplishments. Without the slightest pretensions to the character of a scholar or a man of science, he has extended the bounds of human knowledge on a variety of subjects, which scholars and men of science had previously investigated with out success; and has only been found deficient in those studies which the learned have generally turned from in disdain. We would not be understood to say any thing in disparagement of scholarship

and science; but the value of these instruments is apt to be overrated by their possessors; and it is a wholesome mortification, to shew

them that the work may be done without them. We have long known, that their employment does not ensure its success.

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