New-York tribune., 1872-01-17


ful and industrious workman; and so gained
means and leisure TO devote himself to science
and politics. II was a favOrite saying OF hiS
father in the old candle-shop at Boston,
Seest thou q man diligent IN business ne
" shall stand before kings" No man ever
lived more dilgent in business, and no man
over stood with more Of the dignity OF upright
manhood before kings.
He has passed into a type Of democracy
here and abroad. At home his name indicates
thrift intelligence. integrity, and love OF
couEtry, the qualities which save RcpnDhcs'
Abroad hc is our best known if not our great
est rame. His serene and noble cOuntenance
is as familiar in Europe as that OF any monarch
After sustaining in England the cause OF the
Colonies against the aggressiOns OF George
Ill. he went to France to enlist the assist
ancc of a dying despOtism in favor of the new
born democracy. Arriving in time of moral
and political chaos, when the old system was
passing away and no man knew 1t, he became
at once the point of attraction for all the
waverng and stormy currents oi Thought and
inquiry. He was a light shining III darkness,
and though the darkness comprehended not, II
became filed with strange rcstlessncss ana ex-
element The moths of The court flew to the new
Gpht. They petted and fattcrcd him they made
democracy fashionable at Versailles. When
Josepb H. of Austria came down to Paris to
visit his sister, Marie AntOinctte, he shook his
head over this ominOus popularity OF the Re-
publican philosopher. and said: Madame, the
&" trade we live by is that Of Royalists." But
as long al Franklin stayed. this unconscious
homage of the past to the future continued,
and when no went home he received an almost
royal farewell They have never forgotten
him. TO this hour the most popular memory
of foreigner in France is that of Franklin.
Again in our day we see a dcspotism flattering
Democracy in his name. One of the new
boulcyards of the Trocadcro, opened for the
Exposition of 1867. is called the Avenue
Franklin.
To-day ho receives fitting and impressive
recognition at the hands of the craft to which
nc belonged, and on which he conferred un-
questioned honor. However the rest of the
world may have distinguished and glorifed
him, this tribute has still It's own full and
novel significance Philadelphia has his grave,
and Boston has set mp his statue in cOmmef-
Grafton of bis nativity. But it is especially
becoming that here, in the first city of the con-
tneut, his image should stand, surrounded on
every side by the engines of that mighty power
whose importance he was the first to appreciate
and acknowledge. The Intervention of saints
and the worship of ancestors have place in
most of the religions OF the globe. 1t will do
tho Press OF America no harm to have always
before them. in the very center of their
highest activity, the face and form of our first
and greatest printer and editor, recalling con-
tinually the needed lesson that thrift is not
greed or meanncss. that politics nobly pursued
are ennobiDg, that the first obligation of
Science is to better the condition of humanity,
and that the surcst road of intelligence to
fortune and to enduring fame is that of in
dustry and integrity and patriotism.