Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/39

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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," 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