From Boyhood to Manhood

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The closing sentence referred to the action of the Legislature in
enacting that Franklin should publish nothing more without first
submitting it to the Secretary of the Province and receiving his
endorsement--legislation that will be quoted in the next chapter.

Franklin continued to issue the _Courant_ after his imprisonment with
more plainness and exposure of public wrongs than he did before. For
several months he handled the governor and public officers severely,
never forgetting those ministers who supported the cause of the king
instead of the cause of New England. He little thought that he was
fighting a battle for the ages to come. From his day the press in our
country began to enjoy liberty. He began a conflict which did not end
until liberty of speech and press was proclaimed throughout the land.

Men have often contended for right, and started enterprises, the
results of which the divinest prophet could never have foretold. When
John Pounds, the poor Portsmouth shoemaker, with a passion for doing
good to those who needed it most, gathered a few street-arabs into his
shanty to teach them something good, while he hammered his leather and
mended shoes, he did not dream that he was inaugurating a benevolent
enterprise that would spread throughout the Christian world. But he
did, and to-day the fifteen millions of old and young in the Sabbath
schools of our Republic are but the growth and development he began in
his shop. In like manner, the Franklin brothers inaugurated a measure
that culminated in the complete freedom of the press.

[1] Parton's Life of Franklin, vol. i, p. 88.

XVI.

THE BOY EDITOR.

For six months the _Courant_ continued its attacks upon the
government, after the editor came out of prison. It took up also, the
inconsistencies of church members, and discussed them with great
plainness. But the number of the paper for Jan. 14, 1723, was too much
for aristocratic flesh and blood, and almost too much for blood that
was not aristocratic. The Council was incensed, and adopted the
following order:

"IN COUNCIL, Jan. 14, 1723.

"WHEREAS, The paper, called _The New England Courant_ of this day's
date, contains many passages in which the Holy Scriptures are
perverted, and the Civil Government, Ministers, and People of the
Province highly reflected on,

"_Ordered_, That William Tailer, Samuel Sewell, and Penn Townsend,
Esqrs., with such as the Honorable House of Representatives shall
join, be a committee to consider and report what is proper for the
Court to do thereon."

The House of Representatives concurred in the measure, and it was
rushed through, as measures are likely to be when the dander of
legislators is up, and the committee reported as follows:

"That James Franklin, the printer and publisher thereof, be strictly
forbidden by the Court to print or publish _The New England Courant_,
or any other pamphlet or paper of the like nature, except that it is
first supervised by the Secretary of the Province; and the Justices of
His Majesty's Sessions of the Peace for the County of Suffolk, at
their next adjournment, be directed to take sufficient bonds of the
said Franklin for twelve months' time."

As soon as the Council took this action, the _Courant_ club was called
together, and the whole matter canvassed.

"The next thing will be an order that no one of us shall have a pair
of breeches without permission from the Secretary of the Province,"
remarked one, sarcastically. "The Secretary has not brains enough to
pass judgment upon some of our articles, and he is too English to
judge rightly of New England necessities."

"We should appear smart, tugging our articles over to the Secretary
each week for his permission to print them," suggested James. "I shall
never do it as long as my name is James Franklin."

"Nor I," added one of the club.

"Nor I," another.

"Nor I," another still.

There was but one mind in the company; and all were disposed to fight
it out on the line of freedom of the press.

"But, do you notice," added one of the club, "that no one but James
Franklin is forbidden to publish the _Courant_? Some other person can
publish it."

"Sure enough, that is so," responded James, "and here is our way out
of the difficulty."

"Of course you can not publish it yourself," addressing James, "in
defiance of this order of the Council."

"Of course not; but Benjamin Franklin can do it, as he is not
forbidden. How would that do?"

"That can not be done, because he is only an apprentice," suggested a
former speaker. "They can prove that he is your apprentice readily."

"Well, I can meet that difficulty without any trouble," said James,
who was intent upon evading the order of the Court.

"Pray, tell us how? By changing the name of the paper?"

"Not by any means. Now is not the time to part with a name that the
magistrates and ministers are so much in love with."

"How, then, can you meet the difficulty?"

"Well, I can return his indenture, with his discharge upon the back of
it, and he can show it in case of necessity. At the same time he can
sign a new indenture that will be kept a secret."

"Capital!" exclaimed one; "I never thought of that. The measure is a
practical one, and I move that we reduce it to practice at once."

"I support it with all my heart, not only as practical, but
ingenious," added another. "It is honorable to meet the tyranny of the
Council with an innocent subterfuge like that."

All agreed to the plan, and adopted it enthusiastically.

"Benjamin Franklin, Editor of the _Courant_," exclaimed a member of
the club, rising from his seat and patting Benjamin on the shoulder.
"Don't that sound well, my boy? Rather a young fellow to have in
charge such an enterprise, but a match, I guess, for the General Court
of the Province."

"The youngest editor, proprietor, and publisher of a paper in the
whole land, no doubt," suggested another. "But it is as true here as
it is in other things, 'Old men for counsel, young men for war.' We
are at war now, and we do not want an editor who will cry peace, when
there is no peace."

"A free man, too," suggested another facetiously, "an apprentice no
longer, to be knocked about and treated as an underling. At the top,
with the laurels of manhood on the brow of sixteen!"

Benjamin had not spoken, but he had listened. Affairs had taken an
unexpected turn. In the morning he had no idea of becoming
editor-in-chief of the paper that made more stir in Boston than the
other two combined. The promotion rather startled him. Not that he
shrank from the responsibility; for he had no hesitation in assuming
that; but the promotion was wholly unexpected. The honors came upon
him suddenly, in a way he never dreamed of. It is not strange that he
was somewhat dumbfounded, though not confounded. He maintained
silence, because, in the circumstances, he could say nothing better
than silence.

The plan of James having been adopted, all hastened to carry out the
details. Benjamin received his indenture, with the endorsement that
constituted him a free man, and he was announced as the publisher of
the _Courant_, and as such his name appeared upon the paper, also as
editor.

In the next issue James inserted the following in the _Courant_:

"The late publisher of this paper, finding so many inconveniences
would arise, by his carrying the manuscripts and the public news to be
supervised by the Secretary, as to render his carrying it on
unprofitable, has entirely dropped the undertaking."

Benjamin inserted an amusing salutatory, as if the _Courant_ was
appearing before the public for the first time. It was as follows:

"Long has the press groaned in bringing forth a hateful brood of
pamphlets, malicious scribbles, and billingsgate ribaldry. No generous
and impartial person then can blame the present undertaking, which is
designed purely for the diversion and merriment of the reader. Pieces
of pleasantry and mirth have a secret charm in them to allay the heats
and tumults of our spirits, and to make a man forget his restless
resentment. The main design of this weekly paper will be to entertain
the town with the most comical and diverting incidents of human life,
which, in so large a place as Boston, will not fail of a universal
exemplification. Nor shall we be wanting to fill up these papers with
a grateful interspersion of more serious words, which may be drawn
from the most ludicrous and odd parts of life."

Pretty good for a boy of sixteen! Good sense, tact, humor, and
rhetoric combined in one brief paragraph! Not only the youngest editor
in 1723, but the youngest editor of a city paper from that day to
this, so far as we know. On the fact hangs a tale of the wonderful
powers of a boy who can occupy such a place, and fill it.

We have said that the _Courant_ of Jan. 14, 1723, was filled with
matter that exasperated officials of the Province. The reader will
want to know what some of those utterances were. We will copy a few:

"Religion is indeed the principal thing, but too much of it is worse
than none at all. The world abounds with knaves and villains; but, of
all knaves, the religious knave is the worst, and villainies acted
under the cloak of religion the most execrable. Moral honesty, though
it will not itself carry a man to heaven, yet I am sure there is no
going thither without it."

"But are there such men as these in thee, O New England? Heaven forbid
there should be any; but, alas, it is to be feared the number is not
small. '_Give me an honest man_,' say some, '_for all a religious
man_'; a distinction which I confess I never heard of before. The
whole country suffers for the villainies of a few such wolves in
sheep's clothing, and we are all represented as a pack of knaves and
hypocrites for their sakes."

"In old Time it was no disrespect for Men and Women to be called by
their own Names. _Adam_ was never called _Master_ Adam; we never heard
of Noah, _Esquire_, Lot, _Knight_ and _Baronet_, nor the _Right
Honorable_ Abraham, _Viscount_ Mesopotamia, _Baron_ of Canaan. No, no;
they were plain Men, honest Country Graziers, that took care of their
Families and their Flocks. _Moses_ was a great Prophet, and _Aaron_ a
priest of the Lord; but we never read of the _Reverend_ Moses, nor the
_Right Reverend Father in God_, Aaron, by Divine Providence, _Lord
Arch-Bishop_ of Israel. Thou never sawest _Madam_ Rebecca in the
Bible, _My Lady_ Rachel, nor _Mary_, tho' a Princess of the Blood
after the death of _Joseph_, called the _Princess Dowager_ of
Nazareth. No; plain _Rebecca, Rachel, Mary_, or the _Widow_ Mary, or
the like. It was no Incivility then to mention their naked Names as
they were expressed.

"Yet, one of our Club will undertake to prove, that tho' _Abraham_ was
not styled _Right Honorable_, yet he had the Title of _Lord_ given him
by his Wife _Sarah_, which he thinks entitles her to the Honour of _My
Lady_ Sarah; and _Rachel_, being married into the same Family, he
concludes that she may deserve the Title of _My Lady_ Rachel. But this
is but the Opinion of one Man; it was never put to vote in the
Society."

"On the whole, Friend James, we may conclude, that the
_Anti-Couranteers_ [opponents of the _Courant_] are a sort of
_Precisians_, who, mistaking Religion for the peculiar Whims of their
own distemp'rd Brain, are for cutting or stretching all Men to their
own Standard of Thinking. I wish Mr. Symmes' Character may secure him
from the Woes and Curses they are so free of dispensing among their
dissenting neighbours, who are so unfortunate as to discover a
Cheerfulness becoming Christianity."

It is not questioned that Benjamin wrote these paragraphs, among
others; and for keen satire they are very remarkable as the
composition of a boy of sixteen. At the present day they would be
regarded as quaint, able and truthful, without awakening opposition.
But, in 1723, no doubt there were tender consciences among the
official sycophants of the English Government, that made a just
application of these cutting words, so as to become exasperated and
bitter. Hence, their tyrannical and unjustifiable legislation.

Mr. Parton mentions a fact that should be noted here: "Until the
Revolution, the business of publishing newspapers in America was
carried on almost exclusively by postmasters. Newspapers went free of
postage in the colonies as late as 1758. Until that time, the
postmasters had not only the privilege of sending papers through the
mail free, but the still more valuable right of excluding from the
mail papers published by others. Accordingly, we find that nearly all
the pioneers of the press, in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, were
postmasters. When a postmaster lost his office he generally sold out
his newspaper, and a new postmaster soon bought or established one.
John Campbell, however, feeling himself aggrieved by his removal, did
not dispose of the _News-letter_ [first paper in this country]; which
induced his successor, William Brocker, to set up a paper of his own,
the _Boston Gazette_, which appeared in December, 1719. Mr. Brocker
expressly says, in his prospectus, that he started the new paper at
the request of several merchants, and others, who 'have been
_prevented_ from having their newspaper sent them by the post, ever
since Mr. Campbell was removed from being postmaster.'"[2]

It is a significant fact that, in 1758, newspapers ceased to be
carried free in the mails, and a charge of ninepence a year for each
fifty miles of carriage was assessed; and our Benjamin brought about
the change. He was then known as Deputy Postmaster General, and made
the change in the interest of the public welfare. We think that, at
the time, he must have recalled his tussle with the General Court,
when, at sixteen, he edited the _Courant_.

Benjamin continued in his brother's printing office eight months after
the occurrence just narrated, editor and publisher of the _Courant_.
His brother never run the paper again in his own name, and,
subsequently, he removed to Newport, R.I., where he established the
_Rhode Island Gazette_ in 1732.

Benjamin kept up his running fire against the truckling
representatives of the British government, including ministers who
were not outspoken against oppression and the censorship of the press.
The blade of his satire became brighter and keener, and the
circulation of the paper increased largely, showing that the portion
of the population having the true American spirit, were in sympathy
with the purpose of the paper. Mr. Sparks says of it:

"It touched with great freedom the vices and follies of the time. The
weapon of satire was used with an unsparing hand. Neither the
government nor the clergy escaped. Much caution was practised,
however, in regard to individuals, and names were seldom introduced.
There are some severe and humorous criticisms on the poets of the day,
which may be classed with the best specimens of this kind of
composition in the modern reviews. The humor sometimes degenerates
into coarseness, and the phraseology is often harsh; but, bating these
faults, the paper contains nothing, which in later times would have
been deemed reprehensible."

Of the action of the General Court, imprisoning James Franklin, Mr.
Sparks says: "He was sentenced by a vote of the Assembly, without any
specification of offensive passages, or any trial before a court of
justice. This was probably the first transaction, in the American
Colonies, relating to the freedom of the press; and it is not less
remarkable for the assumption of power on the part of the legislature,
than for their disregard of the first principles and established forms
of law."

This is a fair and just estimate of the affair. Probably officials saw
their mistake, and concluded not to repeat it; for Benjamin was not
molested in his business, though he continued to be as saucy and
sarcastic as ever. From that day freedom of the press was assured in
this country.

This narrative of Benjamin's connection with the printing office, at
the time a new paper was to be established, shows that the
circumstances called out a certain kind of talent he possessed, and
thus helped to make him what he became. Success depends in a great
measure on early directing the young in the path to which their
natural endowments point. Square men should be put into square holes,
and round men into round holes. Many careers are spoiled by reversing
this law of nature, getting square men into round holes, and round men
into square holes. A good mechanic has often been spoiled to make an
indifferent clergyman or merchant, and a good minister has been
spoiled to make a commonplace artisan. Overlooking the "natural bent,"
the youth has selected an occupation (or his father for him) for which
he has no special aptitude, and he brings little to pass.

Benjamin was a square youth, and he got into a square hole, which he
just fitted. He was not there by his own election; he was there by the
lead of Providence, and he cheerfully acquiesced. Becoming the right
boy in the right place, he grew into stalwart manhood and a useful
life, as naturally as the sapling on congenial soil grows into the
thrifty, fruit-bearing tree.

In the second chapter we spoke of Boston, in the infancy of Benjamin,
as a place where bears were plenty, and other wild animals roamed. The
_Courant_ contained the following paragraph, about the time of its
contest with the Court, and we copy it as a fitting close to this
chapter:

"It is thought that not less than twenty Bears have been killed in
about a week's time within two miles of Boston. Two have been killed
below the Castle, as they were swimming from one island to another,
and one attempted to board a boat out in the bay, but the men defended
themselves so well with the boat-hook and oars, that they put out her
eyes, and then killed her. On Tuesday last two were killed at
Dorchester, one of which weighed sixty pounds a quarter. We hear from
Providence that the bears appear to be very thick in those parts."

[2] Vol. i, p. 78.

XVII.

THE YOUNG SKEPTIC.

"What book have you there, Ben?" inquired John Collins, some time
before the newspaper enterprise was started.

"Lord Shaftesbury's work. I have been looking into it for some time;
and Anthony Collins' work, too," answered Benjamin. "I suppose that my
father would say they are not quite Orthodox; but they are very
interesting, and I think their views are reasonable."

"I have been questioning your Orthodoxy for some time, Ben, but I
thought you would come out all right in the end, and so I have said
nothing. I do not know about your coming out right if you become a
disciple of Shaftesbury." John made this reply more in jest than in
earnest, for he cared little whether Benjamin was a skeptic or not.
Perhaps he was skeptical himself at that time; some things indicate as
much.

"I think it is rather difficult to tell how I shall come out, John;
but I do not propose to believe any thing in religion, science, or any
thing else, just because my father does," responded Benjamin. "I know
that I have accepted some religious dogmas because I was taught them,
and for no other reason."

"Then you do not now believe all that you have been taught about
religion, if I understand you?"

"No, I am free to say that I do not. There is neither reason nor
wisdom in portions of the creed of the Church."

"Why, Ben, you surprise me. You are getting to be quite an infidel for
a boy. It won't do for you to read Shaftesbury and Collins any more,
if you are so easily upset by them. I do not know any thing about them,
only from what I hear. I never read a paragraph of either."

"One thing is sure," continued Benjamin. "I mean to be classed among
the few people who think for themselves. It is a small company I shall
be found in, but it is an independent one. Most people are religious
because they are so instructed. They embrace the religion of their
fathers and mothers, without asking what is true or false. I will not
be of that class. I will not be Orthodox or Heterodox because my
ancestors were."

"There is not much danger that you will do that, Ben. Present
appearances rather indicate that the religious opinions of your father
will be blown sky-high." John did not mean quite as much as his
language in this reply denoted.

"You do not understand me. I respect my parents and their religious
opinions, though I doubt some of the doctrines they have taught me. I
never examined them until I began to read Shaftesbury and Collins, but
accepted them as correct because my father and grandfather believed
them. I shall do that no more, that is all I meant."

"Well, I can not say that you are wrong, Ben. If you make half as good
a man as your father is, by believing half the truths he believes and
advocates, you will stand pretty well in the world. I expect that we
ought to avoid religious cant, bigotry, and intolerance."

"I expect so, too; and there is much of all three existing to-day,"
Benjamin answered. "A bigot may be a well-meaning man, but so much the
worse for him. There is so much bigotry in Boston to-day, that the
minister of each denomination thinks his denomination has all the
truth and all the religion there is. I think that idea is a falsehood,
to begin with."

"I shall agree with you there, Ben. I have no question that a man may
be a Christian without believing half that most denominations profess
to believe. And I suppose that the main thing is to be Christians, and
not theologians."

"You are drifting to my side as fast as is necessary," remarked
Benjamin, laughing. "You will come clear over in due time. I am sure
you will, if you read Shaftesbury."

"Well, I must drift home in a hurry," responded John. "Whether I shall
drift to you, the future will reveal. You are now in too deep water
for me. I should drown if I got in where you are."

John left, and Benjamin went on thinking, as he was wont. He put more
thinking into every twenty-four hours than any three boys together in
Boston. At this time he was quite a doubter,--really a young skeptic.
In the printing office he drifted in that direction faster and faster.
He was a kind of speculator from childhood. He loved to argue. He
enjoyed being on the opposite side, to indulge his propensity to
argue. After he learned the Socratic method of reasoning, he was more
inclined to discuss religion with different parties. Perhaps he did it
to practise the method, rather than to show his aversion to religion.
But, judging from what followed, in the next three or four years, he
grew decidedly unbelieving. We can discover his lack of reverence for
the Christian religion, and want of confidence in it, in articles he
wrote for the _Courant_. Nothing very marked, it is true, but some of
his articles lean in that direction.

Besides, Benjamin was one of those talented, independent boys, who
think it is manly to break away from ancestral creeds. When he was
eleven years old he was assisting his father to pack a barrel of pork
for winter use. When the work was done he said to his father:

"Father, it would save time if you would say grace over the whole
barrel now, instead of saying it over a piece at a time."

Whether his father flogged him for such irreverence, we are not told;
nevertheless, the fact is suggestive of an element in the boy's
make-up to which the ingenious skeptic may appeal with success.
Possibly it was only the native humor of the boy, which, with his love
of fun, cropped out on that occasion. It was irreverence, however,
whatever may have been his motive.

Many were the conversations that Benjamin had with his friend, John
Collins, upon religion, after becoming thoroughly poisoned by reading
Shaftesbury and Collins.

"By the way, John, I should like to read to you what your namesake
says on the subject. Perhaps you descended straight from this
illustrious infidel."

"Perhaps so; but I shall not spend time in tracing my pedigree," John
replied. "I never dared to trace my ancestors far back, for fear I
should run into some disreputable family."

"It is probably an accident that you are a Collins, so that we can't
lay it up against you, John; but I should really like to read two or
three paragraphs from Collins' work, that you may judge of him."

"Go ahead, and I will give you respectful attention. If it is above my
capacity to understand, I will not hold you responsible."

Benjamin proceeded to read from Collins' work as follows:

"Opinions, how erroneous soever, when the Effect of an impartial
Examination, will never hurt Men in the sight of God, but will
recommend Men to his Favour. For impartial Examination in the Matter
of Opinion is the best that a Man can do towards obtaining Truth, and
God, who is a wise, good, and just Being, can require no more of Men
than to do their best, and will reward them when they do their best;
and he would be the most unjust Being imaginable, if he punished Men,
who had done their best endeavor to please him. Besides, if men were
to be punished by God for mistaken Opinions, all men must be damned;
for all Men abound in mistaken Opinions."

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