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OF THE

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

ON motion, resolved unanimously, that the thanks of this Society be given to the Rev. Dr. WILLIAM SMITH, for preparing, and delivering at their desire, the ORATION or EULOGIUM, as a tribute to the memory of their illustrious president Dr. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN; and that he be requested to furnish the society with a copy of the same, for publication.

ORDERED, that a transcript of this resolution be forthwith made, and delivered to Dr. SMITH, by one of the secretaries. Extract from the Minutes,

SAMUEL MAGAW, SECRETARY.

MARCH 4, 1791.

TO THE PUBLIC.

THE assistance derived by the author in the composition of the following EULOGIUM, from the friendly communications of some of his learned colleagues, among the officers of the American Philosophical Society, requires his public acknowledgments to be made to them, viz.

TO DAVID RITTENHOUSE, Esq. L. L. D. president of the society, for sundry papers, which have been digested into the account of Dr. Franklin's electrical and philosophical discoveries, from page 64 to 71.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, Esq. L. L. D. one of the vice presidents of the society, and secretary of the United States, for his letter, concerning Dr. Franklin's ministry at the court of France, page 75 to 77.

TO JONATHAN WILLIAMS, Esq. one of the secretaries of the society, for the original letter, page 80, 81; and some papers in the appendix.

To BENJAMIN RUSH, M. D. one of the council of the society, for some sketches of Dr. Franklin's character, of which the author has availed himself, p. 50.

The length of time, which (from some necessary avocations both of the author and publisher) has intervened between the delivery of this Eulogium, and its issuing from the press, requires an apology; and might induce an expectation of its appearing at last in a more improved state. But if either the author's leisure or abilities had permitted the attempt of improvements, by a deviation from the original work, he would have considered them as unjustifiable on such an occasion; and therefore, it is submitted to the public candor, without the least addition, excepting the appendix, and the alteration only of a few words.

ORATION II.

BEING AN EULOGIUM

ON

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, L. L. D.

President of the American Philosophical Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, of the Royal Society at Gottingen, the Batavian Society in Holland, and of many other Literary Societies in Europe and America; late Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States of America at the Court of Paris, sometime President, and for more than half a century a revered citizen, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

DELIVERED MARCH 1, 1791,

IN THE

GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH

OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,

BEFORE

THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,

AND

AGREEABLY TO THEIR APPOINTMENT.

THIS SOLEMNITY WAS ALSO HONOURED WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE PRESIDENT, SENATE, AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE CORPORATION, AND MOST OF THE PUBLIC BODIES, AS WELL AS RESPECTABLE PRIVATE CITIZENS, OF PHILADELPHIA.

ORATION, &c.

CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA! LUMINARIES OF SCIENCE! ASSEMBLED FATHERS OF AMERICA!

tory?

HEARD you not that solemn interroga

Who is He that now recedes from his labours among you?

What citizen, super-eminent in council, do you now deplore?

What luminary, what splendid sun of science, from the hallowed walks of philosophy, now withdraws his beams?

What father of his country, what hero, what statesman, what law-giver, is now extinguished from your political hemisphere; and invites the mournful obsequies?

Is it He-your FRANKLIN?-It cannot be!Long since, full of years, and full of honours, hath he submitted to the inexorable call, and proceeded on his fated journey*. From west to east, by land and on the wide ocean, to the utmost extent of the civilized globe, the tale hath been told-That the vene

• He died April 17, 1790.

rable sage of Pennsylvania, the patriot and patriarch of America, is no more. With the plaudits of the wise and good; with the eulogies of whole* nations and communities, he hath received his dismission, and obtained the award of glory-" As a citizen, "whose genius was not more an ornament to human nature, than his various exertions of it have been

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precious to science, to freedom, and to his coun"tryf."

What new occasion, then, (methinks I hear it inquired) invites the present solemnity, and convenes this illustrious assembly of citizens, philosophers, patriots, and law-givers? Must it be said in answer, "That, after the name of FRANKLIN hath been consecrated to deathless fame in the most distant countries, the American Philosophical Society are now, for the first time, assembled, to pay the tribute of public homage, so long due to the memory and the manes of their beloved founder and head?

On me! on me, I fear, must the blame of this delay, in some degree, fall! On me, perhaps, a much greater blame will fall, than of a delay, rendered unavoidable, on my part, by some mournful familycircumstances-I mean the blame of having attempted a duty, which might have been better discharged by other members of this society, and at the time first proposed.

See the Eulogiums of the Abbe Fauchet and M. de la Rochefoucault, before the deputies of the national assembly of France and the municipality of Paris.

+ See Mr. Madison's motion, and the act of the representatives of the United States of America in congress, for wearing the customary badge of mourning, for one month, on occasion of his death.

Yet I know not whether this delay is to be accounted inauspicious to the subject before us. There are some phænomena so luminous, that they dazzle and dim the sight, at too near an approach; some structures so grand, that they can be beheld with advantage, only at a distance; some characters so interesting, that they can be duly appreciated, only by time.

The truth of this remark hath been feelingly acknowledged, and finely described, by the celebrated Pericles, in his anniversary commemoration of the Athenians slain in battle.

"It is difficult," says he, "to handle a subject judiciously, where even probable truth will hardly gain assent. When the debt of public gratitude is to be paid to the memory of those, in whom whole communities have been interested, their nearest relatives, those who have borne a share in their illustrious actions, enlightened by an intimate acquaintance with their worth, warm in their grief and warm in their affections and praise, may quickly pronounce every eulogium to be unfavourably expressed, in respect to what they wish to be said, and what they know to be the truth; while the stranger pronounceth all to be exaggerated, through envy of those deeds, which, he is conscious, are above his own achievement:" For men endure with patience the praise of those actions only, in their cotemporaries, which their self-love represents as within their own reach. But time mellows a character into true relish, and ripens it into venerable beauty. The public, indeed, may sometimes too hastily bestow, and may likewise too long

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