Note i-349 — INTRODUCTION (continued 2)

Although the preponderance of evidence bears out the trustworthiness of this assertion, one can not idly dismiss his Some Good Whig Principles or disregard his expressed belief that the people "seldom continue long in the wrong" and if misled they "come right again, and double their former affections" (cited in W. C. Bruce, Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed, II, 100; also see Writings, X, 130). There is a clearly evident polarity in Franklin's mind between ultra-democratic faith and a rigorous observation that if "people" are so constituted, many men are utter rascals. One almost senses a dichotomy between Franklin the politician and Franklin the man and moralist.