, 1890-11-05
BENJAMIN Franklin's Will.
(Dai[a Tel eQrdphl

AAd0lCAa PAAAN SNENN C"A ~'AiONR A0b
GULLY paid at Philadelphia, at the ratri-
Grchal age of eighty.four, the debt. Of na-
ture, desiring shortly before he expired
that his bed should be made aft eSh, Gin
order as he %murmured, chat he might
die decently." He died, indeed, not only
in decency, but it may fairly be said, with
glory, since he had lived to see the indie
pendence of his country, for which he had
t0iled so .nnremittingly, fully achieved;
to fnd his attainmentS recognised, and The
Integrity of his personal character vene.
rated, throughout the civilised world and
TO know that in the history of the Ameri-
can Revolution his name would stand next
TO that of Washington. When franklin
died his remains were honoured with a
funeral the like of which, for splendour.
had never been seen in America before
and when the news of his demis6 reached
France it was unanimously Resolved, OH the
motion Of Mirabeau, thai the National AS
sembly should go into mourning for three
days. Fate, however, would lack COM
pleteness if she were not cOnsistentlyIIfroni-
cal. and the centenary of his death is being
celebrated in a manner which could scarce
~ have been contemplated by the inventor
of the neutrality-suspicious., who, to quote
the pompous panpgyric of Mignet, "wrested
bnuDutIUOl(S llOHl hCdtNu dlA 6CCkLtcN
from tyrants." A hundred years have
elapsed since TIE mortal coil Of the author
OF sPoor Richards Alnanack" and the
friend of Vol,aire and Paul Jones was
committed to the grave; and his heirs are
souabbling with the trustees OF his estate
over the disposition of his property.
Franklin made q very peculiar will, and,
when it is remembered how eDiuently
practical he was in every relation Of life, IL
sufficiently fantastic one. His testament
was admitted to probate in the year OF his
death and it was found that, among other
l~egaCies. re had left the sum OF ono thuU.
sand pounds each TO the cities Of BOSt@n
and Philadelphia, 10 be invested i'll lOans
TO Young married artisans-Such loans t0
bear interest ut the rate Of five per cent
per annum. At the expiration Of one mum
dred year !, the will went on to lecite, one
hundred thousand pounds was to he paid
out of the fnnd for municipal improvements
i'll the beneficiary cities. A. the end of the
second century, according to the tcstatOr'S
calculations, the accumulation of the capi.
tai invested at compound interest would
amount to fCur million pounds, which was
Gt0 be used for public purposes" Now, the
first term of a hundred years has fallen III
and it has transpired that the total of the
Boston fund is four hundred thousand dol
lars. aud that of the Philadelphia trust only
one hundred AMI fifty thousand dollars. The
heirs of franklin assert that the estate
OF their ancestor has been gravely mis-
managed that the will itself was 'per sc"
All illegal document; and that the Grustees
have been negligent and the directions oil
ihe testator disregarded.
A gentleman named Bache, Holding the
~n.l c 81 elm V0n' nA Gknknu
Navy, who, is the great-grandson OF the
Richard Bache who married Framklin's
-i ughter. is put forward as the OStensihle
plaintiff in that which promises to be the
stbggest thing in law suits" that has occu-
pied the attention OF the American tribu-
nails since the famous litigation anent the
New Almaden quicksilver mines; but the
naval paymaster is only acting, it il said, OH
behalf Of more than fifty heirs, who pray
for the breaking.of the will and the division
of the accumulated trust funds. The oys-
ter in dispute is, it must be ADMITTED, n
sncculently fat one. 1t has failed, owing
to a variety of circumstances which re.
main to be explained, to attain the NAM
moth proportions dreamed Of 10y Franklin:
still, there is an immensely of meat u Oh it
and very edifying speculatiOnG have al
ready, %perchance, been indulged ia by the
members of the legal fraternity in New
England and Pennsylvania as to the ratio
O fdiminutiom which the molluSc itself is
destined to experience ere, in the fulnesS OF
lime. when the case has run the gauntlet OF
State Court after State Court, il reaches,
49, A. r~roCDn TNOrrk re Nho TT~ifoH