hemselves was considerable, the office falling more than L900 in
debt to them during the first four years. But there-afterward the benefit
of their measures was felt, and an office which had never before paid
anything to that of Great Britain came, under their administration, "to
yield three times as much clear revenue to the crown as the post-office
of Ireland." Franklin narrates that in time he was displaced "by a freak
of the ministers," and in happy phrase adds, "Since that imprudent
transaction, they have received from it--not one farthing!" In this
connection it may be worth while to quote Franklin's reply to a request
to give a position to his nephew, a young man whom he liked well, and
otherwise aided. "If a vacancy should happen, it is very probable he may
be thought of to supply it; but it is a rule with me not to remove any
officer that behaves well, keeps regular accounts, and pays duly; and I
think the rule is founded on reason and justice."

At this point in his autobiography he records, with just pride, that he
received the degree of Master of Arts, first from Yale College and
afterward from Harvard. "Thus, without studying in any college, I came
to partake of their honors. They were conferred in consideration of my
improvements and discoveries in the electric branch of natural
philosophy."

An interesting page in the autobiography concerns events in the year
1754. There were distinct foreshadowings of that war between England and
France which soon afterward broke out, beginning upon this side of the
water earlier than in Europe; and the lords of trade ordered a congress
of commissioners from the several colonies to assemble at Albany for a
conference with the chiefs of the Six Nations. They came together June
19, 1754. Franklin was a deputy from Pennsylvania; and on his way
thither he "projected and drew a plan for the union of all the colonies
under one government, so far as might be necessary for defense and other
important general purposes." It was not altogether a new idea; in 1697
William Penn had suggested a commercial union and an annual congress.
The journal of the congress shows that on June 24 it was unanimously
voted that a union of the colonies was "absolutely necessary for their
security and defense." The Massachusetts delegation alone had been
authorized to consider the question of a union, and they had power to
enter into a confederation "as well in time of peace as of war."
Franklin had