and qualities, but the rest was artificial, the result of peculiar
circumstances which had exaggerated the importance of Franklin's
opinions and actions. The whole tribe of printers and newspaper editors
in Europe and America had become enamoured and proud of him as a member
of their body. Every day in the year they filled the magazines,
journals, pamphlets, and all the gazettes of Europe "with incessant
praise of Monsieur Franklin." From these gazettes could be collected "a
greater number of panegyrical paragraphs upon '_le grand_ Franklin' than
upon any other man that ever lived." He had become a member of two of
the most powerful democratic and liberal bodies in Europe, the
Encyclopedists and the Society of Economists, and thus effectually
secured their devotion and praise. All the people of that time who were
rousing discontent in Europe and preparing the way for the French
Revolution counted Franklin as one of themselves. When he took part in
the American Revolution their admiration knew no bounds. He was "the
magician who had excited the ignorant Americans to resistance," and he
would soon "abolish monarchy, aristocracy, and hierarchy throughout the
world." But most important of all in building up his reputation was the
lightning-rod.
"Nothing," says Adams, "perhaps, that ever occurred upon the
earth was so well calculated to give any man an extensive and
universal a celebrity as the discovery of the efficacy of iron
points and the invention of lightning-rods. The idea was one of
the most sublime that ever entered a human imagination, that a
mortal should disarm the clouds of heaven, and almost 'snatch
from his hand the sceptre and the rod.' The ancients would have
enrolled him with Bacchus and Ceres, Hercules and Minerva. His
paratonnerres erected their heads in all parts of the world, on
temples and palaces no less than on cottages of peasants and the
habitations of ordinary citizens. These visible objects reminded
all men of the name and character of their inventor; and in the
course of time have not only tranquillized the minds and
dissipated the fears of the tender sex and their timorous
children, but have almost annihilated that panic, terror, and
superstitious horror which was once almost universal in violent
storms of thunder and lightning." (Adams's Works, vol. 1. p.
661.)
The Latin motto universally applied to Franklin at this time, _Eripuit
coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis_, has usually been attributed to
Turgot, the French Minister of Finance; but Adams believed that Sir
William Jones was the author of it. Turgot made an alteration in it. As
usually understood, the last half referred to the American colonies
delivered from the oppression of Great Britain; but as Franklin grew to
be more and more the favorite of that large class of people in Europe
who were opposed to monarchy, and who believed that he would soon be
instrumental in destroying or dethroning all kings and abolishing all
monarchical government, Turgot suggested that the motto should read,
_Eripuit coelo fulmen; mox septra tyrannis_, which may be freely
translated, "He has torn the lightning from the sky; soon he will tear
their sceptres from the kings."
At first Adams took the quarrelling lightly, trying to ignore and keep
clear of it; but in a little while he confesses that "the uncandor, the
prejudices, the rage among several persons here make me sick as death."
After about a month he was so disgusted with the service, so fully
convinced that the public business was being delayed and neglected on
account of the disputes, that he determined to try to effect a change.
He therefore wrote to Samuel Adams, then in Congress, declaring that the
affairs of the embassy were in confusion, prodigious sums of money
expended, large sums yet due, but no account-books or documents; the
commissioners lived expensively, each one at the rate of from three to
six thousand pounds a year; this would necessarily continue as long as
their salaries were not definitely fixed, and it would be impossible to
get an account of the expenditure of the public money. Equally
ridiculous was the arrangement which made the envoys half ambassadors
and half commercial agents. Instead of all this he suggested that
Congress separate the offices of public ministers from those of
commercial agents, recall all the envoys except one, define with
precision the salary he should receive, and see that he got no more.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN TEARS THE LIGHTNING FROM THE SKY AND THE SCEPTRE
FROM THE TYRANTS
(From a French engraving)]
This is what Lee should have done long before. Franklin had indeed
recommended a change in one of his letters, but not with such force as
to cause its adoption. Now that Adams had set the example, they all
wrote letters in the succeeding months begging for reform. The wisdom of
Adams's plan was so apparent that when the facts were laid before
Congress it was quickly adopted and Franklin made sole plenipotentiary.
But Lee and Izard retained their missions to other countries and
remained in Paris, renewing their discussions and attacks on Franklin
until the subject was again brought before Congress, and it was proposed
to order all of them back to America and send others in their stead.
Franklin had a narrow escape. The large committee which had the question
before it was at one time within a couple of votes of recalling him and
sending Arthur Lee in his place, which, whatever were the failings of
Franklin, would have been a terrible misfortune. The French minister to
the United States, M. Gérard, came to the rescue. He disclosed the
extreme favor with which the French government regarded Franklin and its
detestation of Lee. Franklin's wonderful reputation in Europe saved him,
for it would have been folly to recall under a cloud the one man whom
our allies took such delight in honoring.
X
PLEASURES AND DIPLOMACY IN FRANCE
Congress not only refused to recall Franklin, but relieved him entirely
of the presence of Lee and Izard, so that the remaining six years of his
service were peaceful and can be very briefly described. The improvement
in the management of the embassy which immediately followed shows what a
serious mistake the previous arrangement had been. Left entirely to his
own devices, and master of the situation, he began the necessary reforms
of his own accord, had complete books of account prepared, and managed
the business without difficulty.
It is curious to read of the diverse functions the old man of
seventy-four had to perform in this infancy of our diplomatic service.
He was a merchant, banker, judge of admiralty, consul, director of the
navy, ambassador to France, and negotiator with England for the exchange
of prisoners and for peace, in addition to attending to any other little
matter, personal or otherwise, which our representatives to other
countries or the individual States of the Union might ask of him. The
crudeness of the situation is revealed when we remember that not only
was Congress obtaining loans of money and supplies of arms in Europe,
but several of the States were doing the same thing, and it was often
rather difficult for Franklin to assist them all without discrimination
or injustice.
Paul Jones and the other captains of our navy who were cruising against
British commerce on that side of the Atlantic made their head-quarters
in French ports, and were necessarily under the direction of Franklin
because the great distance made it impossible to communicate with
Congress without months of delay. That they were lively sailors we may
judge from the exploits of the "Black Prince," which in three months on
the English coast took thirty-seven prizes, and brought in seventy-five
within a year. Franklin had to act as a court of admiralty in the matter
of prizes and their cargoes, settle disputes between the officers and
men, quiet discontent about their pay by advancing money, decide what
was to be done with mutineers, and see that ships were refitted and
repaired. A couple of quotations from one of his letters to Congress
will give some idea of his duties:
"In the mean time, I may just mention some particulars of our
disbursements. Great quantities of clothing, arms, ammunition,
and naval stores, sent from time to time; payment of bills from
Mr. Bingham, one hundred thousand livres; Congress bills in
favor of Haywood & Co., above two hundred thousand; advanced to
Mr. Ross, about twenty thousand pounds sterling; paid Congress
drafts in favor of returned officers, ninety-three thousand and
eighty livres; to our prisoners in England, and after their
escape to help them home, and to other Americans here in
distress, a great sum, I cannot at present say how much;
supplies to Mr. Hodge for fitting out Captain Conyngham, very
considerable; for the freight of ships to carry over the
supplies, great sums; to Mr. William Lee and Mr. Izard, five
thousand five hundred pounds sterling; and for fitting the
frigates _Raleigh_, _Alfred_, _Boston_, _Providence_,
_Alliance_, _Ranger_, &c., I imagine not less than sixty or
seventy thousand livres each, taken one with another; and for
the maintenance of the English prisoners, I believe, when I get
in all the accounts, I shall find one hundred thousand livres
not sufficient, having already paid above sixty-five thousand on
that article. And now, the drafts of the treasurer of the loans
coming very fast upon me, the anxiety I have suffered, and the
distress of mind lest I should not be able to pay them, have for
a long time been very great indeed."
* * * * *
"With regard to the fitting out of ships, receiving and
disposing of cargoes, and purchasing of supplies, I beg leave to
mention, that, besides my being wholly unacquainted with such
business, the distance I am from the ports renders my having
anything to do with it extremely inconvenient. Commercial agents
have indeed been appointed by Mr. William Lee; but they and the
captains are continually writing for my opinion or orders, or
leave to do this or that, by which much time is lost to them,
and much of mine taken up to little purpose, from my ignorance.
I see clearly, however, that many of the captains are exorbitant
in their demands, and in some cases I think those demands are
too easily complied with by the agents, perhaps because the
commissions are in proportion to the expense. I wish, therefore,
the Congress would appoint the consuls they have a right to
appoint by the treaty, and put into their hands all that sort of
employment. I have in my desk, I suppose, not less than fifty
applications from different ports, praying the appointment, and
offering to serve gratis for the honor of it, and the advantage
it gives in trade; but I imagine, that, if consuls are
appointed, they will be of our own people from America, who, if
they should make fortunes abroad, might return with them to
their country."
He was, in fact, deciding questions and assuming responsibilities which
with other nations and afterwards with our own belonged to the home
government. He had great discretionary power, an instance of which may
be given in connection with the subject which was then agitating
European countries, of "free ships, free goods." He wrote to Congress,
telling that body how the matter stood:
"Whatever may formerly have been the law of nations, all the
neutral powers at the instance of Russia seem at present
disposed to change it, and to enforce the rule that _free ships
shall make free goods_, except in the case of contraband.
Denmark, Sweden, and Holland have already acceded to the
proposition, and Portugal is expected to follow. France and
Spain, in their answers, have also expressed their approbation
of it. I have, therefore, instructed our privateers to bring in
no more neutral ships, as such prizes occasion much litigation,
and create ill blood."
He did not know whether Congress would approve of this new rule of law,
but he took his chances. He was not the first person to suggest the
principle of "free ships, free goods," nor was he a prominent advocate
of it, as has sometimes been implied; for his letter shows that Russia
had suggested this improvement in the rules of international law, and
that other nations were accepting it. He, however, urged on a number of
occasions that war should be confined exclusively to regularly organized
armies and fleets, that privateering should be abolished, that merchant
vessels should be free from capture even by men-of-war, and that
fishermen, farmers, and all who were engaged in supplying the
necessaries of life should be allowed to pursue their avocations
unmolested. The world has not yet caught up with this suggestion.
The great difficulty during the last two or three years of the
Revolution was the want of money. The supplies sent out by Beaumarchais
and Deane in the early part of the struggle merely served to start it.
In the long run expenses increased enormously, the resources of the
country were drained, the paper money depreciated with terrible
rapidity, and we were compelled to continue borrowing from France or
Holland. We borrowed principal and then borrowed more to pay the
interest on the principal, and a large part of this business passed
through Franklin's hands.
He persuaded the French government to lend, and then to lend again to
pay interest. He was regarded as the source from which all the money was
to come. Congress drew on him, John Jay in Spain drew on him, he had to
pay salaries and the innumerable expenses appertaining to the fitting
out and repairing of ships and the exchange of prisoners. These calls
upon him were made often from a long distance, with a sort of blind
confidence that he would in some way manage to meet them. A captain in
the West Indies would run his ship into a port to be careened, refitted,
and supplied, and coolly draw on him for the expense. It was extremely
dangerous sometimes to refuse to accept a bill presented to him, and, as
he said to Congress, if a single draft for interest on a loan went to
protest there would be "dreadful consequences of ruin to our public
credit both in America and Europe."
He suffered enough anxiety and strain to have destroyed some men. When
Jay went to Spain in 1780, Congress was so sure he would obtain money
from that monarchy that it drew on him. But as Jay could not get a cent,
he forwarded the drafts to Franklin, who in reply wrote, "the storm of
bills which I found coming upon us both has terrified and vexed me to
such a degree that I have been deprived of sleep, and so much indisposed
by continual anxiety as to be rendered almost incapable of writing." He
would have gone under in this storm if he had not persuaded the French
government to come to his rescue.
He was also from time to time receiving all sorts of proposals of peace
from emissaries or agents of the British government; and he had a long
correspondence on this subject with David Hartley, who helped him to
arrange the exchange of prisoners in England. Nearly all these proposals
contained a trap of some kind, as that we should break our alliance with
France and then England would treat with us, or that there should be a
peace without a definite recognition of independence; and some of them
may have been intended to entrap Franklin himself. It was, in any event,
most dangerous and delicate work, for it was corresponding with the
public enemy. Most men in Franklin's position would have been compelled
to drop it entirely, for fear of becoming involved in some serious
difficulty; for it was suspected, if not actually proved, that persons
connected with our own embassy in France were using their official
knowledge to speculate in stocks in England. But Franklin came through
it all unscathed.
He was much annoyed by numerous applications from people who wished to
serve in the American army. Most of them had proved failures in France
and were burdens on their relations. In the early years of the embassy
many were sent out who gave endless trouble and embarrassment to
Washington and Congress. Out of the whole horde, only about
three--Lafayette, Steuben, and De Kalb--were ever anything more than a
nuisance. But, to avoid giving offence to the French people, Franklin
was often obliged to give these applicants some sort of letter of
recommendation, and he drew up a form which he sometimes used in extreme
cases:
"The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give
him a letter of recommendation, though I know nothing of him,
not even his name. This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you
it is not uncommon here. Sometimes, indeed, one unknown person
brings another equally unknown, to recommend him; and sometimes
they recommend one another! As to this gentleman, I must refer
you to himself for his character and merits, with which he is
certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be. I recommend
him, however, to those civilities, which every stranger, of whom
one knows no harm, has a right to; and I request you will do him
all the good offices, and show him all the favor, that, on
further acquaintance, you shall find him to deserve. I have the
honor to be, &c."
The old man's sense of humor carried him through many a difficulty; and
it is hardly necessary to say that the management of all this
multifarious business, the exercise of such large authority and
discretion, and the weight of such responsibility required a nervous
force, patience, tact, knowledge of men and affairs, mental equipoise,
broad, cool judgment, and strength of character which comparatively few
men in America possessed. Indeed, it is difficult to name another who
could have filled the position. John Adams could not have done it. He
would have lost his temper and blazed out at some point, or have
committed some huge indiscretion that would have wrecked everything.
That Lee, Izard, or even Deane could have held the post would be
ridiculous to suppose.
Adams appeared again in Paris in the beginning of the year 1780, having
been sent by Congress to await England's expected willingness to treat
for peace. He was authorized to receive overtures for a general peace,
and also, if possible, to negotiate a special commercial treaty with
England. He had nothing to do but wait, and was in no way connected with
our embassy in France. But being presented at court and asked by
Vergennes to furnish information, he must needs try to make an
impression. He assailed Vergennes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with
numerous reasons why he should at once disclose to the court at London
his readiness to make a commercial treaty. He argued about the question
of the Continental currency and how it should be redeemed. He urged the
sending of a large naval force to the United States; and when told that
the force had already been sent without solicitation, he attempted to
prove in the most tactless and injudicious manner that it was not
without solicitation, but, on the contrary, the king had been repeatedly
asked for it, and had yielded at last to importunity.
This conduct was so offensive to Vergennes that he complained of it to
Franklin, who was obliged to rebuke Adams; and Congress, when the matter
came before it, administered another rebuke. Adams never forgave
Franklin for this, and afterwards publicly declared that Franklin and
Vergennes had conspired to destroy his influence and ruin him. At the
time, however, he had the good sense to take his rebuff in silence, and
went off grumbling to Holland to see if something could not be done to
render the United States less dependent on France.
Adams represented a large party, composed principally of New-Englanders,
who did not like the alliance with France and were opposed to Franklin's
policy of extreme conciliation and friendliness with the French court.
It was as one of this party that Adams had attempted to give Vergennes a
lesson and show him that America was not a suppliant and a pauper. Like
the rest of his party, he harbored the bitter thought that France
intended to lord it over the United States, send a general over there
who would control all the military operations, get all the glory, and
give the French ever after a preponderating influence. He thought
America had been too free in expressions of gratitude to France, that a
little more stoutness, a greater air of independence and boldness in our
demands, would procure sufficient assistance and at the same time save
us from the calamity of passing into the hands of a tyrant who would be
worse than Great Britain had been.
His attempt at stoutness, however, was at once checked by Vergennes, who
refused to answer any more of his letters; and there is no doubt that if
Adams's plan had been adopted by the United States government, our
alliance with France would have been jeopardized. It is not pleasant to
think that without the aid of France the Revolution would have failed
and we would have again been brought under subjection to England; but it
is unquestionably true, and as Washington had no hesitation in frankly
admitting it, we need have none.
At the time of Adams's attempted interference with Franklin's policy our
fortunes were at a very low ebb. The resources of the country were
exhausted and the army could no longer be maintained on them. The
soldiers were starving and naked, and the generals could not show
themselves without being assailed with piteous demands for food and
clothes. France had much to gain by assisting us against England, and
she never pretended that she had not; but in all the documents and
correspondence that have been brought to light there is no evidence that
she intended to take advantage of our situation or that her ministers
had designs on our liberties. Indeed, when we read the whole story of
her assistance, including the secret correspondence, it will be found
almost unequalled for its worthiness of purpose and for the honorable
means employed.
Franklin had spent several years at the court, knew everybody, and
thoroughly understood the situation.
"The king, a young and virtuous prince, has, I am persuaded, a
pleasure in reflecting on the generous benevolence of the action
in assisting an oppressed people, and proposes it as a part of
the glory of his reign. I think it right to increase this
pleasure by our thankful acknowledgments, and that such an
expression of gratitude is not only our duty, but our interest.
A different conduct seems to me what is not only improper and
unbecoming, but what may be hurtful to us.... It is my intention
while I stay here to procure what advantages I can for our
country by endeavoring to please this court; and I wish I could
prevent anything being said by any of our countrymen here that
may have a contrary effect, and increase an opinion lately
showing itself in Paris, that we seek a difference, and with a
view of reconciling ourselves in England."
Please the court, as well as the whole French nation, he most certainly
did. His communications with Vergennes, even when he was asking for
money or some other valuable thing, were not only free from offence, but
so adroit, so beautifully and happily expressed, that they charmed the
exquisite taste of Frenchmen. There is not space in this volume to give
expression to all that the people of the court thought of his way of
managing the business intrusted to him by America, but one sentence from
a letter of Vergennes to the French minister in America may be given:
"If you are questioned respecting our opinion of Dr. Franklin,
you may without hesitation say that we esteem him as much on
account of the patriotism as the wisdom of his conduct, and it
has been owing in a great part to this cause, and to the
confidence we put in the veracity of Dr. Franklin, that we have
determined to relieve the pecuniary embarrassments in which he
has been placed by Congress."
It is not likely that Gouverneur Morris, Jefferson, or any other
American of that time possessed the qualifications necessary to give
them such a hold on the French court as Franklin had. We were colonists,
very British in our manners, of strong energy and intelligence, but
quite crude in many things, and capable of appearing in a very
ridiculous light in French society, which was in effect the society of
Louis XIV., very exacting, and by no means so republican as it has since
become.