Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/121

111 a member of the general aſſembly of Pennſylvania, as a burgeſs for the city of Philadelphia. Warm diſputes at this time ſubſiſted between the aſſembly and the proprietaries; each contending for what they conceived to be their juſt rights. Franklin, a friend to the rights of man from his infancy, ſoon diſtinguiſhed himſelf as a ſteady opponent of the unjuſt ſchemes of the proprietaries. He was ſoon looked up to as the head of the oppoſition; and to him have been attributed many of the ſpirited replies of the aſſembly, to the meſſages of the governors. His influence in the body was very great. This aroſe not from any ſuperior powers of eloquence; he ſpoke but ſeldom, and he never was known to make any thing like an elaborate harangue. His ſpeeches often conſiſted of a ſingle ſentence, or of a well-told ſtory, the moral of which was always obviouſly to the point. He never attempted the flowery fields of oratory. His manner was plain and mild. His ſtyle in ſpeaking was, like that of his writings, ſimple, unadorned, and remarkably conciſe. With this plain manner, and his penetrating and ſolid judgment, he was able to confound the moſt eloquent and ſubtle of his adverſaries, to confirm the opinions of his friends, and to make converts of the unprejudiced who had oppoſed him. With a ſingle obſervation, he has rendered of no avail an elegant and lengthy diſcourſe, and determined the fate of a queſtion of importance.

But he was not contented with thus ſupporting the rights of the people. He wiſhed to render them permanently ſecure, which can only be done by making their value properly known; and this muſt depend upon increaſing and extending information to every claſs of men. We have already ſeen that he was the founder of the