The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-28
FRANKLIN NGERMANY
A NEGLECTED INCIDENT IN THE CA
REER OF THE GREAT AMERICAN.
A Visit to Go~ettingen Which He Great
~ Enjoyed, but OF Which Little Ha.
Been S~aid-variocs Comments.
J. ]. James. in New York Post.

many in the year 1766, which appears to
have been almost entirely neglected by his
hiographers. and yet it is of interest from
many points of view. In a let
ter to his wife, dated London, June Is, 1866
prilted in Sparks's Works of Franklin
Vol. vii, page 500, he wrote: Tomorrow
1 set out with my friend. DIR. Pringle {now
Sir john. on a journey to Pyrmont, wher
he goes to drink the waters. . : . We
must be back at furthest in eight weeks.
I propose to leave him in Pyr-
mont. and visit some of the principal cities
nearest to it, and call for him again when
the time for our return draws nigh.' That
he actually went to the baths with Pringle
we have satisfactory evidence in the Pyr-
mont Brunnenarchiv, published in Berlin
in 1782, which contains a list of the guests
at Pyrmont from 1852, and which, under
the year 1866, contains the entry: .Ieib-
medicus Ritter Pringle aus London and
DR.. Franklin aus Pennsylvania, kommit
aus London"
Very few references to this trip occur
in his correspondence or 1t
was in the midst of a very exciting period
of Franklin's life. which may account for
the fact that he makes such small mention
of the journey himself; but the few times
he mentions it he certainly shows that he
enjoyed it very much, and there is various
evidence from German sources pointing to
the fact that his visit was regarded as a
very important and interesting event in
the annals of Goettingen.
The exact date of Franklin's visit to
Goettingen is fortunately preserved for us
in the reports of the Goettingen Academy
of Sciences. In the one-hundred-and-tenth
issue of the Goettinger Anzeigen, bearing
date of Sept. 13, 1866, the statement is
made that the session of the Royal Society
of Sciences held on the 18th of the pre-
ceding July was more impressive than
usual. The two famous English scholars,
the royal physician, Mr.. Pringle, and Mr.
BENJAMIN Franklin, from Pennsylvania,
who happened to be at that time in Goet-
tingen, on a trip through Germany, took
their seats as members of the society"
j Ihe 77s same periodieal, in its issue Of Sept.
tied Mr.. Hartmann in Hanover in order
to see his apparatus for strong electrical
ter dated London, Sept 6, 1866, to Prof.
Michaelis, of Goettingen, thanks him for
had received from him on occasion of their
visit to that city. In a letter dated June
2, 1863, to the same gentleman, Pringle
statements which Franklin had made dur
ing their conversation in Goettingen in
1866, in regard to the enormous size of the
Patagonians, explaining that he had been
misled by the reports of sailors.
During this visit at Goettingen, Professor
N~AAS - - q NV Aod AASt VAIN = aim
lin on the condition of the American colonies.
He wrote out careful notes of this inter
view, and published them subsequently in
the Hannoversches Magazin in the seven
teenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, thirty-first
and thirty-second issues-the first bearing
date of Feb. q, 1867, and the last April 20,
1767-under the title of "Some Remarks
Upon North America and the Colonies of
Great Britain in that Continent, from a
Personal Interview with DIR. Franklin He
remarks in his closing note that he found
Or. Franklir very willing indeed TO answer
all his rfINGtt inn < and mt only that hrff fa RI
much further and give him all the informal
ton he could in regard to matters in the
new world. He also calls attention to the
fact, in this foot note. that when the Brit
ish colonies felt themselves aggrieved by
the stamp act, they showed almost exactly
the same temper and mode of thought as
the Corcyreans displayed towards their
mother country. Corinth, on a somewhat
similar occasion. (See Thucydides j, "a, etc.
REPORTS MADE.
The report of the interview with DR..
Franklin was republished subsequently, in
various forms: In KoehIer's q. To 'Samm-
lung neuer Observation-Disclosures aus frem-
den Sprachen,' Goettingen and Gotha, 1857
50; also, a separate edition entitled 'ierrn
Hofrath Achenwalls in Goettingen Amer
kungen uber Nord Amerika und uber dasige
grosbritannische Colonien aus mundlichen
Nachrichten deS Herrn DR.. Franklin,
Frankfort and Leipzig, 1869; also, at Helm
stedt in 1777. The latter edition was accom-
panied by an appendix consisting of a trans
lation of John Wesley's address to his
brethren and countrymen in the American
colonies. There seems to haye been also a
Dutch translation of this interview pub
lished at Utrecht iii Ills.
The book attracted considerable. attention.,
to Judge from these frequent reprints;
though. SO far as l am able to learn, no
mention of it is made by any of Franklin's
ception, and he evidently knew nothing be-
yond its bare title. Mr.; Paul Leicester
Ford, in his Franklin photography Ga most
valuable work, by the way, mentions it, but
confuses it with a supposed translation of
1.-THE Examination in Parliament" pub
blished by Almon in London in 1866. lie says
in the photography page 1881, under the
title of Examination in Parliament that
this work was reprinted several times in
German, and gives the three titles which
are cited above. 1t is evident that Mr.. Ford
had never seen any one of these pamphlets,
serious mistake. Not only do the pampi-
let's above mentioned treat of an entirely
different subject, but they had no relation
whatever to the Examination in Pariia-
ment,' nor, so far as / have been able to
ascertain, is any mention made in any one
of them of the fact that DR.. Franklin had
been examined before Parliament. The
Frankfort and Leipzig edition of 1863 is in
the Philadelphia library; the koehler edition
College library, and the Helmstedt edition,
he states, is in the Massachusetts Historical
Society's library. Copies of the Koehler
edition and the Helmstedt edition are to be
found in the British Museum, and the Leip-
zig edition of 1863 is also in the British
Museum catalogue, but the attendants were
unable to find it when l called for it.
A copy in the Philadelphia library con-
tains ninety-four pages, 12mo. and discusses
various topics relating to the British col
onies. The style of composition bears out
the statement of the author. that it is es-
sentially a series of answers to questions
which he p~ropounded in regard to the In
dams. to the products OF the country, it's
AGRICULTURE, manufactures and commerce.
education. government, monetary and tax
systems, law of succession, system OF land
holding, slavery. redemptioners. religion,
towns and cities, etc. The account of the
paper money issued in Pennsylvania would
of itself be ample evidence that this pamph-
let rested upon statements of Franklin. rs
the account is very similar to that which
he gives in other places.
CORRECTIONS MADE.
Koehler, in his edition. evidently Regards
it as very necessary to correct some of DR..
Franklin's statements about the colonies.
on the basis of Meyer Roberts's acounct of
his travels in America. and he adds a num-
Der OF foot notes that are interesting. as he
plainly makes the attempt to discredit
Franklin's testimony. He accuses Frank
lin of great carelessness in his statements
to Professor A~chenwall, and unfairness
towards other colonies than Pennsylvania