MINISTER TO FRANCE, III TREATY WITH FRANCE: MORE QUARRELS
The enthusiastic reception of Franklin in France was responded to by him
with a bearing so cheerful and words so encouraging that all the
auguries for America seemed for a while of the best. For he was sanguine
by nature, by resolution, and by policy; and his way of alluring good
fortune was to welcome it in advance. But in fact there were clouds
enough floating in the sky, and soon they expanded and obscured the
transitory brightness. Communication between the two continents was
extremely slow; throughout the war intervals occurred when for long and
weary months no more trustworthy news reached Paris than the rumors
which got their coloring by filtration through Great Britain. Thus in
the dread year of 1777, there traveled across the Channel tales that
Washington was conducting the remnant of his forces in a demoralized
retreat; that Philadelphia had fallen before Howe; that Burgoyne, with a
fine army, was moving to bisect the insurgent colonies from the north.
It was very well for Franklin, when told that Howe had taken
Philadelphia, to reply: "No, sir: Philadelphia has taken Howe." The
jest may have relieved the stress of his mind, as President Lincoln used
often to relieve his own over-taxed endurance in the same way. But the
undeniable truth was that it looked much as if the affair, to use
Franklin's words, would prove to be a "rebellion" and not a
"revolution." Still, any misgivings which he may have inwardly felt
found no expression, and to no one would he admit the possibility of
such an ultimate outcome. Late in the autumn of this dismal year he
wrote:--
"You desire to know my opinion of what will probably be the end of
this war, and whether our new establishments will not be thereby
again reduced to deserts. I do not, for my part, apprehend much
danger of so great an evil to us. I think we shall be able, with a
little help, to defend ourselves, our possessions, and our
liberties so long that England will be ruined by persisting in the
wicked attempt to destroy them.... And I sometimes flatter myself
that, old as I am, I may possibly live to see my country settled in
peace, when Britain shall make no more a formidable figure among
the powers of Europe."
But though Franklin might thus refuse to despair for his country, the
French ministry were not to be blamed if they betrayed an increased
reserve in their communications with men who might soon prove to be
traitors instead of ambassadors, and if they were careful to stop short
of actually bringing on a war with England. It was an anxious period for
Franklin when the days wore slowly into months and the months
lengthened almost into a year, during which he had no trustworthy
information as to all the ominous news which the English papers and
letters brought.
In this crisis of military affairs the anxious envoys felt that the
awful burden of their country's salvation not improbably rested upon
them. If they could induce France to come to the rescue, all would be
well; if they could not, the worst might be feared. Yet in this mortal
jeopardy they saw France growing more guarded in her conduct, while in
vain they asked themselves, in an agony, what influence it was possible
for them to exert. At the close of November, 1777, they conferred upon
the matter. Mr. Deane was in favor of demanding from the French court a
direct answer to the question, whether or not France would come openly
to the aid of the colonies; and he advised that de Vergennes should be
distinctly told that, if France should decline, the colonies would be
obliged to seek an accommodation with Great Britain. But Dr. Franklin
strenuously opposed this course. The effect of such a declaration seemed
to him too uncertain; France might take it as a menace; she might be
induced by it to throw over the colonies altogether, in despair or
anger. Neither would he admit that the case was in fact so desperate;
the colonies might yet work out their own safety, with the advantage in
that event of remaining more free from any European influence. The
soundness of this latter argument was afterward abundantly shown by the
history of the country during the first three administrations.
Fortunately upon this occasion Lee sided with Franklin, and the untimely
trial of French friendship was not made. Had it been, it would have been
more likely to jeopardize forever than to precipitate the good fortune
which, though still invisible, was close at hand.
It was not until December 4, 1777, that there broke a great and sudden
rift in the solid cloudiness. First there came a vague rumor of good
news, no one at all knew what; then a post-chaise drove into Dr.
Franklin's courtyard, and from it hastily alighted the young messenger,
Jonathan Loring Austin, whom Congress had sent express from
Philadelphia, and who had accomplished an extraordinarily rapid journey.
The American group of envoys and agents were all there, gathered by the
mysterious report which had reached them, and at the sound of the wheels
they ran out into the courtyard and eagerly surrounded the chaise.
"Sir," exclaimed Franklin, "is Philadelphia taken?" "Yes, sir," replied
Austin; and Franklin clasped his hands and turned to reënter the house.
But Austin cried that he bore greater news: that General Burgoyne and
his whole army were prisoners of war! At the words the glorious sunshine
burst forth. Beaumarchais, the ecstatic, sprang into his carriage and
drove madly for the city to spread the story; but he upset his vehicle
and dislocated his arm. The envoys hastily read and wrote; in a few
hours Austin was again on the road, this time bound to de Vergennes at
Versailles, to tell the great tidings. Soon all Paris got the news and
burst into triumphant rejoicing over the disaster to England.
Austin's next errand was a secret and singular one. Franklin managed
throughout his residence in France to maintain a constant communication
with the opposition party in England. He now thought it wise to enable
them to obtain full information from an intelligent man who was not many
weeks absent from the States. Accordingly he dispatched Austin, using
extreme precautions of secrecy, making him "burn every letter which he
had brought from his friends in America," but giving him in exchange two
other letters, which certainly introduced him to strange society for an
American "rebel" to frequent. During his visit he was "domesticated in
the family of the Earl of Shelburne; placed under the particular
protection of his chaplain, the celebrated Dr. Priestley; introduced" to
George IV., then Prince of Wales, with whom was Charles Fox, and was
"present at all the coteries of the opposition." Almost every evening he
was invited to dinner-parties, at which the company was chiefly composed
of members of Parliament, and they plied him with interrogations about
his country and its affairs, so that, as he reported, "no question which
you can conceive is omitted."[49] He answered well, and rendered
service as good as it was singular, for which Franklin was probably the
only American who could have furnished the opening. The adventure brings
to mind some of the Jacobite tales of Sir Walter Scott's novels.
[Note 49: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 307.]
One half of the advantages accruing from "General Burgoyne's
capitulation to Mr. Gates"--such was the Tory euphemism, somewhat ill
considered, since it implied that the gallant British commander had
capitulated to a civilian--was to be reaped in Europe. The excellent
Hartley was already benevolently dreaming of effecting an accommodation
between the two contestants; and seeing clearly that an alliance with
France must be fatal to any such project, he closed a letter on February
3, 1778, to Franklin, by "subjoining one earnest caution and request:
Let nothing ever persuade America to throw themselves into the arms of
France. Times may mend. I hope they will. An American must always be a
stranger in France; Great Britain may for ages to come be their home."
This was as kindly in intention as it was bad in grammatical
construction; but it was written from a point of view very different
from that which an American could adopt. Franklin promptly replied:
"When your nation is hiring all the cut-throats it can collect, of all
countries and colors, to destroy us, it is hard to persuade us not to
ask or accept aid from any power that may be prevailed with to grant it;
and this only from the hope that, though you now thirst for our blood,
and pursue us with fire and sword, you may in some future time treat us
kindly. This is too much patience to be expected of us; indeed, I think
it is not in human nature."
A few days later he transposed Hartley's advice, not without irony: "Let
nothing induce [the English Whigs] to join with the Tories in supporting
and continuing this wicked war against the Whigs of America, whose
assistance they may hereafter want to secure their own liberties, or
whose country they may be glad to retire to for the enjoyment of them."
Hartley must have had a marvelous good temper, if he read without
resentment the very blunt and severe replies which Franklin a little
mercilessly made to the other's ever temperate and amiable letters.
Hartley's advice, if not acceptable, was at least timely. At the very
moment when he warned America against taking refuge in the arms of
France, the colonists were joyously springing into that international
embrace. The victory at Saratoga had at last settled that matter. On
December 6, 1777, two days after the news was received, M. Gérard called
upon the envoys and said that the capacity of the colonies to maintain
their independence could no longer be doubted, and that the French court
would be pleased by a renewal of their proposals for an alliance. On
December 8 a request for an alliance was placed by young Temple Franklin
in the hands of de Vergennes. On December 12 the cabinet met; also
Arthur Lee reports that the envoys went out to Versailles and concealed
themselves at an appointed spot in the wood, whither soon came to them
de Vergennes. In the talk that ensued he said to them everything which a
liberal spirit of friendship could suggest, but nothing which was
actually positive and binding. For it was necessary, as he explained,
first to consult with Spain, whose concurrence was desired; this,
however, could be safely counted upon, and a courier was to be
dispatched at once to Madrid. But the return of this messenger was not
awaited; for on December 17 the commissioners were formally notified
that France would acknowledge the independence of the colonies, and
would execute with them treaties of commerce and alliance immediately
upon getting the Spanish reply. In return for her engagements France
only asked that, in the probable event of a war ensuing between herself
and England, the colonies would pledge themselves never to make peace
save upon the terms of independence.
On January 8, 1778, M. Gérard met the envoys after dark at Mr. Deane's
quarters. He informed them that the government had resolved immediately
to conclude with the colonies a treaty of amity and commerce; also
another treaty, offensive and defensive, and guaranteeing independence,
upon the conditions that the colonies would neither make a separate
peace, nor one relinquishing their independence. The independence of the
thirteen colonies being the king's sole purpose, no assistance would be
extended for subduing Canada or the English West Indies. As it would
probably not be agreeable to the colonies to have foreign troops in
their country, the design was to furnish only naval aid. It would be
left open for Spain to accede to the treaties at any time. Nothing could
have been more agreeable and encouraging than these arrangements, by
which France did all the giving and America all the receiving. A few
days later Gérard said that the king would not only acknowledge, but
would support American independence, and that the condition precluding
the Americans from making a separate peace, if France should be drawn
into the war, would be waived.
On January 18 Gérard came to the envoys with drafts which he had
prepared for the two treaties, and which he left for them to consider at
their leisure. It took them much longer to consider than it had taken
him to devise these documents. Lee said that the delay was all
Franklin's fault; but at least Franklin illumined it by one of his
_mots_. There was sent to the envoys a large cake inscribed: "Le digne
Franklin." Deane said that, with thanks, they would appropriate it to
their joint use; Franklin pleasantly replied that it was obviously
intended for all three, only the French donor did not know how to spell
"Lee, Deane, Franklin" correctly. But the uneasy jealousy of Lee
suggested a counter-argument:
"When they remember us," _i. e._, himself and Deane, he said, "they
always put you first." Lee, who in his lifetime could never endure being
second to Franklin, must be astounded indeed if, in another existence,
he sees the place which judicial posterity has assigned to him!
In their discussions concerning the treaty the commissioners fell into a
contention over one article. Their secret instructions directed them to
"press" for a stipulation that no export duties should be imposed by
France upon molasses taken from the French West Indies into the States;
but they were not to let the "fate of the treaty depend upon obtaining
it." Of all merchandise imported into the States molasses was the most
important to their general trade; it was the "basis on which a very
great part of the American commerce rested."[50] In exchange for it they
sent to the islands considerable quantities of pretty much all their
products, and they distilled it in enormous quantities into rum. Every
man who drank a glass of rum seemed to be advancing _pro tanto_ the
national prosperity, and the zeal with which those godly forefathers of
ours thus promoted the general welfare is feebly appreciated by their
descendants. All this rum, said John Adams, has "injured our health and
our morals;" but "the taste for rum will continue;" and upon this
conviction the commissioners felt obliged to act. Accordingly they
proposed that it should be "agreed and concluded that there shall never
be any duty imposed on the exportation of molasses that may be taken by
the subjects of the United States from the islands of America which
belong or may hereafter appertain to his most Christian majesty." But
Gérard said that this was "unequal," since the States made no balancing
concession. It was not easy to suggest any "concession of equal
importance on the part of the United States," and so "after long
consideration Dr. Franklin proposed" this: "In compensation of the
exemption stipulated in the preceding article, it is agreed and
concluded that there shall never be any duties imposed on the
exportation of any kind of merchandise, which the subjects of his most
Christian majesty may take from the countries and possessions, present
or future, of any of the thirteen United States, for the use of the
islands which shall furnish molasses."
[Note 50: _Diplomatic Correspondence of the Amer. Rev._ i. 156.]
This pleased Lee as little as the other article had pleased Gérard; for
it was "too extensive, and more than equivalent for molasses only." He
was answered that "it was in reality nothing more than giving up what we
could never make use of but to our own prejudice; for nothing was more
evident than the bad policy of laying duties on our own exports."
Franklin was of opinion that export duties were "a knavish attempt to
get something for nothing;" that the inventor of them had the "genius of
a pickpocket." Britain had lost her colonies by an export duty on tea.
Moreover since the States produced no commodity which could not be
procured elsewhere, to discourage consumption of their own and encourage
the rivalship of others would be an "absolute folly" against which he
would protest even if practiced by way of reprisal. Gérard finally said
that he regarded these articles as "reciprocal and equal," that his
majesty was "indifferent" about them, and that they might be retained or
rejected together, but that one could not be kept without the other. Lee
then yielded, and Gérard was notified that both articles would be
inserted. He assented. Soon, however, William Lee and Izard, being
informed of the arrangement, took Arthur Lee's original view and
protested against it. Lee reports that this interference put Franklin
"much out of humor," and that he said it would "appear an act of levity
to renew the discussion of a thing we had agreed to." None the less, Lee
now resumed his first position so firmly that Franklin and Deane in
their turn agreed to omit both articles. But they stipulated that Lee
should arrange the matter with Gérard, since, as they had just agreed in
writing to retain both, they "could not with any consistency make a
point of their being expunged," and they felt that the business of a
change at this stage might be disagreeable. In fact Lee found it so.
When he called on Gérard and requested the omission of both, Gérard
replied that the king had already approved the treaty, that it was now
engrossed on parchment, and that a new arrangement would entail
"inconvenience and considerable delay." But finally, not without showing
some irritation at the fickleness of the commissioners, he was brought
to agree that Congress might ratify the treaty either with or without
these articles, as it should see fit. This business cost Franklin, as an
annoying incident, an encounter with Mr. Izard, and a tart
correspondence ensued.
On February 6 all was at length ready and the parties came together, M.
Gérard for France and the envoys for the States, to execute these most
important documents. Franklin wore the spotted velvet suit of privy
council fame. They signed a treaty of amity and commerce, a treaty of
alliance, and a secret article belonging with the latter providing that
Spain might become a party to it--on the Spanish _mañana_. There was an
express stipulation on the part of France that the whole should be kept
secret until after ratification by Congress; for there was a singular
apprehension that in the interval some accommodation might be brought
about between the insurgent States and the mother country, which would
leave France in a very embarrassing position if she should not be free
to deny the existence of such treaties. It was undoubtedly a dread of
some such occurrence which had induced the promptitude and the
ever-increasing liberality in terms which France had shown from the
moment when the news of Saratoga arrived. Nor perhaps was her anxiety
so utterly absurd as it now seems. There was some foundation for
Gibbon's epigrammatic statement that "the two greatest nations in Europe
were fairly running a race for the favor of America." For the disaster
to the army on the Hudson had had an effect in England even greater than
it had had in France, and Burgoyne's capitulation to "Mr. Gates" had
very nearly brought on a capitulation of Lord North's cabinet to the
insurgent Congress. On February 17 that minister rose, and in a speech
of two hours introduced two conciliatory bills. The one declared that
Parliament had no intention of exercising the right of taxing the
colonies in America. The other authorized sending to the States
commissioners empowered to "treat with Congress, with provincial
assemblies, or with Washington; to order a truce; to suspend all laws;
to grant pardons and rewards; to restore the form of constitution as it
stood before the troubles."[51] The prime minister substantially
acknowledged that England's course toward her colonies had been one
prolonged blunder, and now she was willing to concede every demand save
actual independence. The war might be continued, as it was; but such a
confession could never be retracted. "A dull melancholy silence for some
time succeeded to this speech.... Astonishment, dejection, and fear
overclouded the assembly."
[Note 51: Bancroft, _Hist. U. S._ ix. 484.]
But a fresh sensation was at hand. Horace and Thomas Walpole had
obtained private information of what had taken place in France, but had
cautiously held it in reserve, and arranged that only two hours before
the meeting of the House of Commons on that eventful day the Duke of
Grafton should tell it to Charles Fox. So now when North sat down Fox
rose, indulged in a little sarcasm on the conversion of the ministry to
the views of the opposition, and then asked his lordship "Whether a
commercial treaty with France had not been signed by the American agents
at Paris within the last ten days? 'If so,' he said, 'the administration
is beaten by ten days, a situation so threatening that in such a time of
danger the House must concur with the propositions, though probably now
they would have no effect.' Lord North was thunderstruck and would not
rise." But at last, warned that it would be "criminal and a matter of
impeachment to withhold an answer," he admitted that he had heard a
rumor of the signature of such a treaty.[52] So the bills were passed
too late.
[Note 52: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 309.]
So soon as their passage was assured, Hartley, "acting on an
understanding with Lord North,"[53] dispatched copies to Franklin.
Franklin upon his part, also first having an understanding with de
Vergennes, replied that, if peace with the States upon equal terms were
really desired, the commissioners need not journey to America for it,
for "if wise and honest men, such as Sir George Saville, the Bishop of
St. Asaph, and yourself were to come over here immediately with powers
to treat, you might not only obtain peace with America but prevent a war
with France." About the same time also Hartley visited Franklin in
person; but nothing came of their interview, of which no record is
preserved. The two bills were passed, almost unanimously. But every one
felt that their usefulness had been taken out of them by the other
consequences of that event which had induced their introduction. News of
them, however, was dispatched to America by a ship which followed close
upon the frigate which carried the tidings of the French treaties. If
the English ship should arrive first, something might be effected. But
it did not, and probably nothing would have been gained if it had.
Franklin truly said to Hartley: "All acts that suppose your future
government of the colonies can be no longer significant;" and he
described the acts as "two frivolous bills, which the present ministry,
in their consternation, have thought fit to propose, with a view to
support their public credit a little longer at home, and to amuse and
divide, if possible, our people in America." But even for this purpose
they came too late, and stirred no other response than a ripple of
sarcastic triumph over such an act of humiliation, which was aggravated
by being rejected almost without consideration by Congress.
[Note 53: Bancroft, _Hist. U. S._ ix. 485; Hale's _Franklin in
France_, i. 223.]
So there was an end of conciliation. On March 23 the American envoys had
the significant distinction of a presentation to the king, who is said
to have addressed to them this gracious and royal sentence: "Gentlemen,
I wish the Congress to be assured of my friendship. I beg leave also to
observe that I am exceedingly satisfied, in particular, with your own
conduct during your residence in my kingdom."[54] This personal
compliment, if paid, was gratifying; for the anomalous and difficult
position of the envoys had compelled them to govern themselves wholly by
their own tact and judgment, with no aid from experience or precedents.
[Note 54: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 312.]
The presentation had been delayed by reason of Franklin having an attack
of the gout, and the effort, when made, laid him up for some time
afterward. It was on this occasion, especially, that he made himself
conspicuous by wearing only the simple dress of a gentleman of the day
instead of the costume of etiquette. Bancroft says that again he donned
the suit of spotted Manchester velvet. He did not wear a sword, but made
up for it by keeping on his spectacles; he had a round white hat under
his arm, and no wig concealed his scanty gray hair. America has always
rejoiced at this republican simplicity; but the fact seems to be that it
was largely due to chance. Parton says that the doctor had ordered a
wig, but when it came home it proved much too small for his great head,
and there was no time to make another. Hawthorne also repeats the story
that Franklin's court suit did not get home in time, and so he had to go
in ordinary apparel; but it "took" so well that the shrewd doctor never
explained the real reason.
On March 13 the Marquis de Noailles, French ambassador at St. James's,
formally announced to the English secretary of state the execution of
the treaty of amity and commerce; and impudently added a hope that the
English court would see therein "new proofs" of King Louis's "sincere
disposition for peace;" and that his Britannic majesty, animated by the
same sentiments, would equally avoid everything that might alter their
good harmony; also that he would particularly take effective measures to
prevent the commerce between his French majesty's subjects and the
United States of North America from being interrupted. When this was
communicated to Parliament Conway asked: "What else have we to do but to
take up the idea that Franklin has thrown out with fairness and
manliness?"[55] But Franklin's ideas had not now, any more than
heretofore, the good fortune to be acceptable to English ministers.
Indeed, the mere fact that a suggestion came from him was in itself
unfortunate; for the king, whose influence was preponderant in this
American business, had singled out Franklin among all the "rebels" as
the object of extreme personal hatred.[56] Franklin certainly
reciprocated the feeling with an intensity which John Adams soon
afterward noted, apparently with some surprise. The only real reply to
Noailles's message which commended itself to government was the instant
recall of Lord Stormont, who left Paris on March 23, _sans prendre
congé_, just as he had once before threatened to do. On the same day the
French ambassador left London, accompanied, as Gibbon said, by "some
slight expression of ill humor from John Bull." At the end of the month
M. Gérard sailed for America, the first accredited minister to the new
member of the sisterhood of civilized nations. A fortnight later the
squadron of D'Estaing sailed from Toulon for American waters, and two
weeks later the English fleet followed.
[Note 55: The reference was to the suggestion made to Hartley for
sending commissioners to Paris to treat for peace.]
[Note 56: Franklin's _Works_, vi. 39, note.]
Thus far the course of France throughout her relationship with the
States had been that of a generous friend. She undoubtedly had been
primarily instigated by enmity to England; and she had been for a while
guarded and cautious; yet not unreasonably so; on the contrary, she had
in many instances been sufficiently remiss in regarding her neutral
obligations to give abundant cause for war, though England had not felt
ready to declare it. At the first interview concerning the treaty of
commerce de Vergennes had said that the French court desired to take no
advantage of the condition of the States, and to exact no terms which
they would afterward regret, but rather to make an arrangement so based
upon the interest of both parties that it should last as long as human
institutions should endure, so that mutual amity should subsist forever.
M. Gérard reiterated the same sentiments. That this language was not
mere French courtesy was proved by the fact that the treaties, when
completed, were "founded on principles of equality and reciprocity, and
for the most part were in conformity to the proposals of Congress."[57]
Each party, under the customs laws of the other, was to be upon the
footing of the most favored nation. The transfer of the valuable and
growing trade of the States from England to France had been assiduously
held out as a temptation to France to enter into these treaties; but no
effort was made by France to gain from the needs of the Americans any
exclusive privileges for herself. She was content to stipulate only that
no other people should be granted preferences over her, leaving the
States entirely unhampered for making subsequent arrangements with other
nations. The light in which these dealings about the treaties made the
French minister and the French court appear to Franklin should be
remembered in the discussions which arose later concerning the treaty of
peace.[58]
[Note 57: Bancroft, _Hist. U. S._ ix. 481.]
[Note 58: See Franklin's _Works_, vi. 133. At this time John Adams
strongly entertained the same sentiments, though he afterward felt very
differently about the sincerity of France. _Diplomatic Correspondence of
American Revolution_, iv. 262, 292.]
It may further be mentioned, by the way, that Franklin had the pleasure
of seeing inserted his favorite principle: that free ships should make
free goods, and free persons also, save only soldiers in actual service
of an enemy. In passing, it is pleasant to preserve this, amid the
abundant other testimony to Franklin's humane and advanced ideas as to
the conduct of war between civilized nations.[59] The doctrine of free
ships making free goods, though promulgated early in the century, was
still making slow and difficult progress. Franklin accepted it with
eagerness. He wrote that he was "not only for respecting the ships as
the house of a friend, though containing the goods of an enemy, but I
even wish that ... all those kinds of people who are employed in
procuring subsistence for the species, or in exchanging the necessaries
or conveniences of life, which are for the common benefit of mankind,
such as husbandmen on their lands, fishermen in their barques, and
traders in unarmed vessels, shall be permitted to prosecute their
several innocent and useful employments without interruption or
molestation, and nothing taken from them, even when wanted by an enemy,
but on paying a fair price for the same." Also to the president of
Congress he spoke of Russia's famous proposal for an "armed neutrality
for protecting the liberty of commerce" as "the great public event" of
the year in Europe. He proposed that Congress should order their
cruisers "not to molest foreign ships, but to conform to the spirit of
that treaty of neutrality." Congress promptly voted to request the
admission of the States to the league, and John Adams took charge of
this business during his mission to Holland.
[Note 59: He was able to give a practical proof of his liberality by
furnishing a passport to the packets carrying goods to the Moravian
brethren in Labrador. Hale's _Franklin in France_, i. 245.]
Events having thus established the indefinite continuance of the war,
the good Hartley, profoundly disappointed, wrote a brief note invoking
blessings on his "dear friend," and closing with the ominous words, "If
tempestuous times should come, take care of your own safety; events are
uncertain and men may be capricious." Franklin, however, declined to be
alarmed. "I thank you," he said, "for your kind caution, but having
nearly finished a long life, I set but little value on what remains of
it. Like a draper, when one chaffers with him for a remnant, I am ready
to say: 'As it is only the fag end, I will not differ with you about it;
take it for what you please.' Perhaps the best use such an old fellow
can be put to is to make a martyr of him."
A few weeks after the conclusion of this diplomatic bond of friendship
between the two peoples, Franklin, in the words of Mr. Bancroft, "placed
the public opinion of philosophical France conspicuously on the side of
America." Voltaire came back to Paris, after twenty-seven years of
voluntary exile, and received such adoration that it almost seemed as
if, for Frenchmen, he was taking the place of that God whom he had been
declaring non-existent, but whom he believed it necessary for mankind to
invent. Franklin had an interview with him, which presented a curious
scene. The aged French philosopher, shriveled, bright-eyed,
destructive-minded, received the aged American philosopher, portly,
serene, the humanest of men, in theatrical French fashion, quoting a
passage of English poetry, and uttering over the head of young Temple
the appropriate benediction, "God and Liberty." This drama was enacted
in private, but on April 29 occurred that public spectacle made familiar
by countless engravings, decorating the walls of so many old-fashioned
American "sitting-rooms" and "best parlors," when, upon the stage of the
Academy of Sciences, before a numerous and distinguished audience, the
two venerable sages met and saluted each other. "_Il faut s'embrasser à
la Française_," shouted the enthusiastic crowd; so they fell into each
other's arms, and kissed, after the continental mode. Great was the
fervor aroused in the breasts of the classic people of France as they
proudly saw upon their soil a new "Solon and Sophocles" in embrace. Who
shall say that Franklin's personal prestige in Europe had not practical
value for America?
Silas Deane, recalled, accompanied Gérard to America. He carried with
him a brief but generous letter from Franklin to the president of
Congress.[60] At the same time Izard was writing home that Deane's
misbehavior had long delayed the alliance with France, and he repeated
what he had said in former letters, that "whatever good dispositions
were shown by Mr. Lee, they were always opposed and overruled by the two
oldest commissioners." The departure of the two gentlemen was kept a
close secret at Paris, and at the request of de Vergennes especially a
secret from Arthur Lee. For the French ministry were well assured that
Lee's private secretary was a spy in British pay, and had he got
possession of this important bit of news, it would not only have been
untimely in a diplomatic way, but it might have given opportunity for
British cruisers to waylay a vessel carrying such distinguished
passengers. The precaution was justifiable, but it had ill consequences
for Franklin, since it naturally incensed Lee to an extreme degree, and
led to a very sharp correspondence, which still further aggravated the
discomfort of the situation. The legitimate trials to which the aged
doctor was subjected were numerous and severe enough, but the untiring
and malicious enmity of Arthur Lee was an altogether illegitimate
vexation.
[Note 60: Franklin's _Works_, vi. 153.]
Mr. Hale in his recent volumes upon Franklin truly says that "it is
unnecessary to place vituperative adjectives to the credit [discredit?]
of Arthur Lee;" and in fact to do so seems a work of supererogation,
since there probably remain few such epithets in the English language
which have not already been applied to him by one writer or another. Yet
it is hard to hold one's hand, although humanity would perhaps induce us
to pity rather than to revile a man cursed with so unhappy a
temperament. But whatever may be said or left unsaid about him
personally, the infinite disturbance which he caused cannot be wholly
ignored. It was great enough to constitute an important element in
history. Covered by the powerful authority of his influential and
patriotic family at home, and screened by the profound ignorance of
Congress concerning men and affairs abroad, Lee was able for a long time
to run his mischievous career without discovery or interruption. He
buzzed about Europe like an angry hornet, thrusting his venomous sting
into every respectable and useful servant of his country, and irritating
exceedingly the foreigners whom it was of the first importance to
conciliate. Incredible as it seems, it is undoubtedly true that he did
not hesitate to express in Paris his deep antipathy to France and
Frenchmen; and it was only the low esteem in which he was held that
prevented his singular behavior from doing irreparable injury to the
colonial cause. The English newspapers tauntingly ridiculed his
insignificance and incapacity; de Vergennes could not endure him, and
scarcely treated him with civility. But his intense egotism prevented
him from gathering wisdom from such harsh instruction, which only added
gall to his native bitterness. He wreaked his revenge upon his
colleagues, and towards Franklin he cherished an envious hatred which
developed into a monomania. Perhaps Franklin was correct in charitably
saying that at times he was "insane." He began by asserting that
Franklin was old, idle, and useless, fit only to be shelved in some
respectable sinecure mission; but he rapidly advanced from such moderate
condemnation until he charged Franklin with being a party to the
abstraction of his dispatches from a sealed parcel, which was rifled in
some unexplained way on its passage home;[61] and finally he even
reached the extremity of alleging financial dishonesty in the public
business, and insinuated an opinion that the doctor's great rascality
indicated an intention never again to revisit his native land. In all
this malevolence he found an earnest colleague in the hot-blooded Izard,
whose charges against Franklin were unmeasured. "His abilities," wrote
this angry gentleman, "are great and his reputation high. Removed as he
is at so considerable a distance from the observation of his
constituents, if he is not guided by principles of virtue and honor,
those abilities and that reputation may produce the most mischievous
effects. In my conscience I declare to you that I believe him under no
such restraint, and God knows that I speak the real, unprejudiced
sentiments of my heart." Such fulminations, reaching the States out of
what was then for them the obscurity of Europe, greatly perplexed the
members of Congress; for they had very insufficient means for
determining the value of the testimony given by these absent witnesses.
[Note 61: Parton's _Franklin_, ii. 354.]
It would serve no useful purpose to devote valuable space to narrating
at length all the slander and malice of these restless men, all the
correspondence, the quarrels, the explanations, and general trouble to
which they gave rise. But the reader must exercise his imagination
liberally in fancying these things, in order to appreciate to what
incessant annoyance Franklin was subjected at a time when the inevitable
anxieties and severe labors of his position were far beyond the strength
of a man of his years. He showed wonderful patience and dignity, and
though he sometimes let some asperity find expression in his replies, he
never let them degenerate into retorts. Moreover, he replied as little
as possible, for he truly said that he hated altercation; whereas Lee,
who reveled in it, took as an aggravation of all his other injuries that
his opponent was inclined to curtail the full luxury to be expected from
a quarrel. Franklin also magnanimously refrained from arraigning Lee and
Izard to Congress, either publicly or privately, a forbearance which
these chivalrous gentlemen did not emulate. The memorial[62] of Arthur
Lee, of May, 1779, addressed to Congress, contains criminations enough
to furnish forth many impeachments. But Franklin would not condescend to
allow his serenity to be disturbed by the news of these assaults. He
felt "very easy," he said, about these efforts to injure him, trusting
in the justice of the Congress to listen to no accusations without
giving him an opportunity to reply.[63] Yet his position was not so
absolutely secure and exalted but that he suffered some little injury at
home.
[Note 62: Franklin's _Works_, vi. 363.]
[Note 63: To Richard Bache, Franklin's _Works_, vi. 414.]
John Adams, going out to replace Silas Deane, crossed him on the
passage, arriving at Bordeaux on March 31, 1778. This ardent New
Englander, orderly, business-like, endowed with an insatiate industry,
plunged headlong into the midst of affairs. With that happy
self-confidence characteristic of our people, which leads every American
to believe that he can at once and without training do anything
whatsoever better than it can be done by any other living man no matter
how well trained, Adams began immediately to act and to criticise. In a
few hours he knew all about the discussions between the various envoys,
quasi envoys, and agents, who were squabbling with each other to the
scandal of Paris; in a few days he was ready to turn out Jonathan
Williams, unseen and unheard. He was shocked at the confusion in which
he saw all the papers of the embassy, and set vigorously about the task
of sorting, labeling, docketing, and tying up letters and accounts; it
was a task which Franklin unquestionably had neglected, and which
required to be done. He was appalled at the "prodigious sums of money"
which had been expended, at the further great sums which were still to
be paid, and at the lack of any proper books of accounts, so that he
could not learn "what the United States have received as an equivalent."
He did not in direct words charge the other commissioners with culpable
negligence; but it was an unavoidable inference from what he did say.
Undoubtedly the fact was that the accounts were disgracefully muddled
and insufficient; but the fault really lay with Congress, which had
never permitted proper clerical assistance to be employed. Adams soon
found this out, and appreciated that besides all the diplomatic affairs,
which were their only proper concern, the commissioners were also
transacting an enormous business, financial and commercial, involving
innumerable payments great and small, loans, purchases, and
correspondence, and that all was being conducted with scarcely any aid
of clerks or accountants; whereas a mercantile firm engaged in affairs
of like extent and moment would have had an extensive establishment with
a numerous force of skilled employees. When Adams had been a little
longer in Paris, he also began to see where and how "the prodigious
sums" went,[64] and just what was the full scope of the functions of the
commissioners; then the censoriousness evaporated out of his language.
He admitted that the neglects of subordinate agents were such that it
was impossible for the commissioners to learn the true state of their
finances; and he joined in the demand, so often reiterated by Franklin,
for the establishment of the usual and proper commercial agencies. The
business of accepting and keeping the run of the bills drawn by
Congress, and of teasing the French government for money to meet them at
maturity, would still remain to be attended to by the ministers in
person; but these things long experience might enable them to manage.
[Note 64: _Diplomatic Corresp. of Amer. Rev_. iv. 249, 251.]
No sooner had Adams scented the first whiff of the quarrel-laden
atmosphere of the embassy than he expressed in his usual self-satisfied,
impetuous, and defiant way his purpose to be rigidly impartial. But he
was a natural fault-finder, and by no means a natural peacemaker; and
his impartiality had no effect in assuaging the animosities which he
found. However, amid all the discords of the embassy there was one note
of harmony; and the bewildered Congress must have felt much satisfaction
in finding that all the envoys were agreed that one representative at
the French court would be vastly better as well as cheaper than the sort
of caucus which now held its angry sessions there. At worst one man
could not be forever at odds with himself. Adams, when he had finished
the task of arranging the archives, found no other occupation; and he
was scandalized at the extravagance of keeping three envoys. Lee, by
the way, had constantly insinuated that Franklin was blamably lax, if
not actually untrustworthy, in money matters, though all the while he
and his friend Izard had been quite shameless in extorting from the
doctor very large sums for their own expenses. When the figures came to
be made up it appeared that Franklin had drawn less than either of his
colleagues, and much less than the sum soon afterward established by
Congress as the proper salary for the position.[65] The frugal-minded
New Englander himself now acknowledged that he could "not find any
article of expense which could be retrenched,"[66] and he honestly
begged Congress to stop the triple outlay.
[Note 65: _Diplomatic Corresp. of Amer. Rev._ iv. 246.]
[Note 66: _Ibid._ 245.]
Franklin, upon his part, wrote that in many ways the public business and
the national prestige suffered much from the lack of unanimity among the
envoys, and said: "In consideration of the whole, I wish Congress would
separate us." Neither Adams nor Franklin wrote one word which either
directly or indirectly had a personal bearing. Arthur Lee was more
frank; in the days of Deane he had begun to write that to continue
himself at Paris would "disconcert effectually the wicked measures" of
Franklin, Deane, and Williams, and that it was "the one way of
redressing" the "neglect, dissipation, and private schemes" prevalent in
the department, and of "remedying the public evil." He said that the
French court was the place of chief importance, calling for the ablest
and most efficient man, to wit, himself. He suggested that Franklin
might be sent to Vienna, a dignified retreat without labor. Izard and
William Lee wrote letters of like purport; it was true that it was none
of their affair, but they were wont to interfere in the business of the
commissioners, as if the French mission were common property. Congress
took so much of this advice as all their advisers were agreed upon; that
is to say, it broke up the commission to France. But it did not appoint
Arthur Lee to remain there; on the contrary, it nominated Franklin to be
minister plenipotentiary at the French court, left Lee still accredited
to Madrid, as he had been before, and gave Adams neither any place nor
any instructions, so that he soon returned home. Gérard, at
Philadelphia, claimed the credit of having defeated the machinations of
the "dangerous and bad man," Lee, and congratulated de Vergennes on his
relief from the burden.[67] Franklin's commission was brought over by
Lafayette in February, 1779. Thus ended the Lee-Izard cabal against
Franklin; it was not unlike the Gates-Conway cabal against Washington,
save that it lasted longer and was more exasperating. The success of
either would have been almost equally perilous to the popular cause; for
the instatement of Lee as minister plenipotentiary at the French court
would inevitably have led to a breach with France. The result was very
gratifying to Franklin, since it showed that all the ill tales about him
which had gone home had not ruined, though certainly they had seriously
injured, his good repute among his countrymen. Moreover, he could truly
say that the office "was not obtained by any solicitation or intrigue,"
or by "magnifying his own services, or diminishing those of others." But
apart from the gratification and a slight access of personal dignity,
the change made no difference in his duties; he still combined the
functions of loan-agent, consul, naval director, and minister, as
before. Nor was he even yet wholly rid of Arthur Lee. He had, however,
the satisfaction of absolutely refusing to honor any more of Lee's or
Izard's exorbitant drafts for their personal expenses.
[Note 67: Parton's _Life of Franklin_, ii. 383.]
Shortly after his appointment Franklin sent his grandson to Lee, with a
note requesting Lee to send to him such papers belonging to the embassy
as were in his possession. Lee insolently replied that he had "no papers
belonging to the department of minister plenipotentiary at the court of
Versailles;" that if Franklin referred to papers relating to
transactions of the late joint commission, he had "yet to learn and
could not conceive" by what reason or authority one commissioner was
entitled to demand custody of them. Franklin replied temperately enough
that many of them were essential to him for reference in conducting the
public business, but said that he should be perfectly content to have
copies. The captious Lee was still further irritated by this scheme for
avoiding a quarrel, but had to accede to it.
***
To John Paul Jones Franklin stood in the relation of a navy department.
The daring exploits of that gallant mariner form a chapter too
fascinating to be passed by without reluctance, but limitations of space
are inexorable. His success and his immunity in his reckless feats seem
marvelous. His chosen field was the narrow seas which surround Britain,
which swarmed with British shipping, and were dominated by the
redoubtable British navy as the streets of a city are kept in order by
police. But the rover Jones, though always close to his majesty's
coasts, was too much for all his majesty's admirals and captains. He
harried these home waters and captured prizes till he became embarrassed
by the extent of his own success; he landed at Whitehaven, spiked the
guns of the fort, and fired the ships of the fleet in the harbor beneath
the eyes of the astounded Englishmen, who thronged the shore and gazed
bewildered upon the spectacle which American audacity displayed for
them; he made incursions on the land; he threatened the port of Leith,
and would undoubtedly have bombarded it, had not obstinate counter winds
thwarted his plans; he kept the whole British shores in a state of
feverish alarm; he was always ready to fight, and challenged the
English warship, the Serapis, to come out and meet him; she came, and he
captured her after fighting so desperately that his own ship, the famous
Bon Homme Richard, named after Poor Richard, sank a few hours after the
combat was over.
[Illustration]
All these glorious feats were rendered possible by Franklin, who found
the money, consulted as to the operations, issued commissions, attended
to purchases and repairs, to supplies and equipment, who composed
quarrels, settled questions of authority, and interposed to protect
vessels and commanders from the perils of the laws of neutrality. Jones
had a great respect and admiration for him, and said to him once that
his letters would make a coward brave. The projects of Jones were
generally devised in consultations with Franklin, and were in the direct
line of enterprises already suggested by Franklin, who had urged
Congress to send out three frigates, disguised as merchantmen, which
could make sudden descents upon the English coast, destroy, burn, gather
plunder, and levy contributions, and be off before molestation was
possible. "The burning or plundering of Liverpool or Glasgow," he wrote,
"would do us more essential service than a million of treasure, and much
blood spent on the continent;" and he was confident that it was
"practicable with very little danger." This was not altogether in accord
with his humane theory for the conduct of war; but so long as that
theory was not adopted by one side, it could not of course be allowed
to handicap the other.
As if Franklin had not enough legitimate trouble in furthering these
naval enterprises, an entirely undeserved vexation grew out of them for
him. There was a French captain Landais, who entered the service of the
States and was given the command of a ship in what was dignified by the
name of Jones's "squadron." Of all the excitable Frenchmen who have ever
lived none can have been more hot-headed than this remarkable man.
During the engagement between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, he
sailed up and down beside the former and delivered broadsides into her
until he was near disabling and sinking the ship of his own commander.
The incomprehensible proceeding meant only that he was so wildly excited
that he did not know at whom he was firing. Soon he quarreled with
Jones; Franklin had to intervene; then Landais advanced all sorts of
preposterous demands, which Franklin refused; thereupon he quarreled
with Franklin; a very disagreeable correspondence ensued; Franklin
finally had to displace Landais from command of his ship; Landais defied
him and refused to surrender command. Then Lee decided to go home to the
States in Landais's ship. When the two got together they stirred up a
mutiny on board, and more trouble was made for Franklin. At last they
got away, and Landais went crazy during the voyage, was deposed by
his officers, and placed in confinement. If the ship had been lost,
it would have been a more tolerable loss than many for which the ocean
is accountable; but she was not, and Lee got safe ashore to continue his
machinations at Philadelphia, and to publish an elaborate pamphlet
against Franklin. All this story and the correspondence may be read at
length in Mr. Hale's "Franklin in France." It is entertaining and shows
vividly the misery to which Franklin was subjected in attending to
affairs which were entirely outside of the proper scope of his office.
"It is hard," said he, "that I, who give others no trouble with my
quarrels, should be plagued with all the perversities of those who think
fit to wrangle with one another."
[Illustration]