George III was uneasy about both Americans because they gambled wildly in stocks and kept mistresses. His sense of competition for the favor of America was plain in the letter he immediately wrote the French ambassador at Madrid. Franklin resolved to break through any limitations put on his mission by Congress. He refused, when his mission was over, to return to his once beloved Paris. They were sure that the men who were shouldering the executive functions of a nonexistent Administration were in the wrong: Washington, Franklin, Morris, Deane, John Jay, and their hardheaded allies. A French expeditionary force arrived in the United States in 1780. Most of the supply was still down in the Caribbean, but the fact remains that there must have been more powder on the continent than the various colonies and the merchants were willing to release to Congress. The French, who had close touch with the Americans, were victorious in incorporating Enlightenment principles into a new governmental system. Deane and Beaumarchais were already fast friends, working in harmony to load the Hortalez fleet with war supplies. A clever negotiator could have done much there, for Frederick the Great despised the British and the little German states that sold them mercenaries; he took a lively interest in the progress of the American war and was ready to expand Prussias trade with the Americans, which so far had been clandestine. To formalize the colonial complaints against Parliament. Vergennes sent an agent, Achard de Bonvouloir, to Philadelphia to sound out Franklin about the prospects of a separation from England and a successful war. The first British protests were made to the French ambassador, Noailles, who blandly replied that in a great nation there are many turbulent spirits eager to run after adventures. He did not attempt to have his turbulent compatriots released from prison. The fact that he was a genius, and a genius of such multiple gifts that he might easily inspire alarm or jealousy in others, had early taught him the art of using screens and disguises. The American Revolution. His friend Sieur Montaudoin bought a great Dutch ship and named it, Silas Deane was invaluable. His widening circle of intimates included people of great influence: Masons, scientists and scholars, men and women of the aristocracy. He decided that Jonathan Williams, the soul of probity, should be drawn into the Lee crusade against all rivals, and soon Congress was hearing about Williams embezzlements of public funds. Franklin prudently released his grandnephew from his post as special agent for the mission, and he remained in Nantes in private business. A box tree on the south terrace of the Tuileries Gardens had a convenient hollow under the trunk, and into this hole a bottle containing the gallant letter was let down by a string. Every step in preparing the lugger for a cruise was watched by the British in Dunkirk. If Conyngham was not punished, Stormont would resign, breaking off diplomatic relations with France. For once Wentworth brought the King good news, the only kind he could ever believe. England registered the expected sense of outrage; the whole country seethed with the news. There were sixty-odd American merchants established in Nantes, and when Franklin considered that all this activity was being repeated on a somewhat smaller scale in Bordeaux, Lorient, Le Havre, and Dunkirk, he felt that the Franco-American alliance was already a reality. French forces under Rochambeau landed at Rhode Island in 1780, which they fortified before linking up with Washington in 1781. Though he knew that affairs at Nantes were in a frightful state, William Lee lingered in Paris until August to confer with his brother about rearranging American foreign affairs to enhance the family glory. But Deane was not interested; he showed great American pride, Wentworth wrote Eden. Copyright 1949-2022 American Heritage Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved. The French support NATO modernization efforts and are leading contributors to the NATO Response Force. The American Revolution of 1775-1789, which concluded as the revolution in France was unfolding, was perhaps the most significant. He welcomed routine, even a pernicious routine, but any crisis produced a violent reaction. Later that year, the Franco-American army marched 700 miles south to besiege Gen. Charles Cornwallis' British army at Yorktown, while . The Reprisal was carrying a cargo of indigo worth 3,000 which was intended to pay the early expenses of the Paris mission. Stormont subsided; England needed time too. Still hopeful that Congress had ships to command, they spoke of raids on Greenland whalers and Hudson Bay fishing fleets, and urged that Navy ships convoy shipping in the Caribbean, since England would now send privateers and heavy units of her fleet there. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over . It caused many French nobles and clergy to move to the newly independent United States. The dramatist became a whirlwind of activity. Above all we needed an ally. The Declaration of Independence served as a model for the French Revolution. Young Gustavus Conyngham of the landed Irish gentry had emigrated as a boy to Philadelphia where his relatives were prominent shipping merchants. The chief French ammunition dumps were Martinique and Cap Franois (now Cap Haitien) on Santo Domingo, known to seagoing Americans simply as the Cape. The Spanish shipped to New Orleans and Havana, and the British chose islands convenient to Washingtons chief arsenal, the Dutch island of St. Eustatia. Congress would not even sanction commerce with friendly powers because that was tantamount to declaring independence. How long could he continue? He was lulled by the specious truce with Francebut how would he feel if Captain Wickes captured a royal packet carrying the royal mails? He returned to Paris with his usual air of pompous impeccability, for his conscience was light. This treaty was a promise from France to help the fight against the British. Long before it got into feeble action, eleven of the colonies had started their own navies, and several of them commissioned their own privateer fleets. His affection for Franklin and Deane had the ring of sincerity, and years later, when Deane was of no possible use to him, he was still the devoted friend. Friends, and in French, amis! In terms of violent behavior, the American Revolution can't hold a candle to the French Revolution. A photograph of Edouard de Laboulaye from the Galerie Contemporaine collection. In 1757, Franklin went to England to represent the Pennsylvania Assembly as a diplomat in its fight against the descendants of the Penn . Franklins hosts were the merchants Pliarne and Penet, who had little standing in Nantes, but who may have been subsidized by Vergennes. As such is their miserable policy, it is our business to force on a war for which purpose I see nothing so likely as fitting our privateers from the ports and islands of France. The United States fought all the way through the war without a government. He had never outgrown some early drive to make the blacksmiths son a great gentleman. The French and Indian War was the North American conflict that was part of a larger imperial conflict between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years' War. A number of ill-advised financial maneuvers in the late 1700s worsened the financial situation of the already cash-strapped French government. Much later Wentworth revealed the trick: the night before the official inspection Wickes had pumped water into the hold. Floridablancas policies prevailed; he wanted to keep the United States too weak to threaten Spanish possessions in America. For 70 years, American Heritage has been the leading magazine of U.S. history, politics, and culture. As the American who best understood both sides of the Atlantic, Franklin had carried much of that burden, and for a long time to come would carry all the responsibility for getting maximum aid from the neutral powers without compromising the future of the new republic. Instead of using direct pressure he used leverage. Affairs at Nantes became more and more tangled, and William Lee did nothing to straighten them out. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French people commemorating the alliance of France and the United States during the American Revolution. Deane was in and out of the Passy house, keeping his hotel quarters for business and the entertaining of transient sea captains and a horde of friends. They were in the best possible hands; Captain Lambert Wickes was one of the few masters seasoned in the merchant fleet who had joined the Continental Navy. No man of his century could approach Franklin as a subtle and effective propagandist. Introduction. At the moment, Nantes was all, The American was adulated, wined and dined. Bancroft was in a balky mood but finally gave the desired information: Spain was not ready for a war with England. He understood not only the practical mechanics of business but the direction it would take after the war; his economic thinking was often bold and creative. Congress had sent the King the Olive Branch Petition, which paralyzed war efforts for many months. He was to evoke this nightmare more than once, but it never lost its effect. It made the French . American morale was so low that only the immediate entrance of France into the war could put heart into the country. In March the Doctor was given a charming house at Passy on the grounds of the Htel Valentinois, which belonged to the merchant prince Donatien le Rey de Chaumont. He had to fend off a break with England until France was ready for war. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, France supports U.S. engagement in the peace process. Before Deane and Wentworth met, he sent word to Passy that France would after all not wait for word from Spain but would conclude the alliance independently, on one condition: that no separate peace be made with England. He sent his first secretary, Grard de Rayvenal, to Passy with his congratulations and the suggestion that Franklin might now press the treaty negotiation which France had avoided for nearly a year. There would soon be an unfavorable change in the Spanish ministry: Grimaldi, friendly to America, would be replaced as chief minister by the Count of Floridablanca, who feared that an America now independent would before long overrun Spanish possessions in the New World. Franklin had no doubt guessed, when the courier returned from Europe in September with news of tremendous shipments of arms by Monsieur Hortalez, that the real name of this mysterious friend was France. Vergennes was so disheartened by the bad news which had arrived even before these disasters were known, and he so much dreaded a sudden declaration of war by Britain, that in August he formally closed the ports of France to American privateers and their prizes. He had spent eighteen years in England as colonial agent and the last eighteen months at home in the Continental Congress. Vergennes too recognized the subtle strategy behind the cruises, and he was coming to the decision that war could not be postponed much longer. The copies of his early correspondence with Beaumarchais proved that he knew better. On the third day of May he seized the Prince of Orange and brought her into Dunkirk, along with a British brig picked up on the way. A certain Monsieur Hortalez, said the courier, was sending munitions worth 200,000 to the Cape, Martinique, and Statia, which American captains could obtain for Congress simply by saying Hortalez to the port commandant. However, Franklin had boarded the Reprisal for that very purpose. The Doctor, instead of staying with the Montaudoins, allowed himself to be captured by people he disliked. Conyngham was still in the Dunkirk jail, the only safe place for him. Franklin was now seventy, afflicted with gout, and wretchedly tired from his labors in Congress and its candle-burning committees. Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949, Benjamin Franklin And The French Alliance, Franklin was now seventy, afflicted with gout, and wretchedly tired from his labors in Congress and its candle-burning committees. This was the same thing as asking France and Spain to declare immediate war against Great Britain. Carmichael wrote a strong-action letter to William Bingham on Martinique, mincing no words as to the policy being carried out in France: I think your situation of singular consequence to bring on a war so necessary to assure our independence, and which the weak system of this court seems studiously to avoid. It began with the bold request that France sell the United States eight ships of the line, completely manned . When he arrived at Nantes Penet kept him drunk and hostile to the Paris commissioners. The new physiocratic school had its followers on both sides of the Atlantic. He came down to Passy to receive one of the captains commissions Franklin was empowered to issue, and then Carmichael took charge of him. The first similarity between the two revolutions are their origins. During the struggle for American independence, France provided the money, troops, armament, military leadership, and naval support that tipped the balance of military power and paved the way for the Continental Army's ultimate victory. Only a frayed rope anchored the nations to peace, and Franklin believed that an implement lay ready to hand which would saw through the hawser. He had corrupted his government from Lord North down in the hope of buying security for himself. The misunderstanding was cleared up, but meanwhile Deane was bitter about Morris and bitter about the energies he had poured into his public life, only to be systematically destroyed by the Lees. In their eyes she was still colonial, an outlying province of Europe. And Spanish concurrence in the alliance must be won. February 6, 1778. "Rear alliance"), aiming at allying with countries situated on the opposite side or "in the back" of an adversary, in order to open a second front encircling the adversary and thus re . By the middle of July Vergennes had made up his mind to ask the King for armed intervention. Moreover, orders would be given for British warships to seize the French fishing fleet daily expected from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. As far as brains and ability went, Deane belonged in the first rank of the men doing the hard immediate tasks of the Revolution. The campaign against Franklin, the father of mischief, took longer because, as Izard confessed in a letter to the president of Congress, Henry Laurens, it was extremely difficult to find any proofs of his crimes. Some of them were British merchants; others were American sea captains who could be trusted to deliver letters or verbal messages to people on the Continent. France remains the center of political activity, and here, therefore, I should choose to be employed., He went on to suggest how Franklin and Deane might be erased altogether. It was with the greatest difficulty, he wrote, I persuaded them to insist on the recognition of our sovereignty, and the acknowledgement of our independence. He was to steal all original papers possible from the commissioners, and copy others. Though facing insurmountable odds, the underdog naval forces of the young United States proved their savvy by helping to defeat Great Britain in the War for Independence. Hodge was not released until the last of the fishing fleet was safely home in France. The Americans' victory over the British may have been one of the greatest catalysts for the French Revolution. France had 26 battleships ready, and by spring Spain would have thirty. Franklin, bobbing a thermometer over the Reprisal s rail to take the temperatures of the Gulf Stream, could think about the life of the sea, this western Atlantic and warm Caribbean which nature had chosen as the home for the new race of Americans. It had only an overworked legislature trying to perform administrative functions. For all his enjoyment of high life and high-level intrigue, he was a seismograph about social upheavals and an intellectual who understood their necessity. The foreign alliances of France have a long and complex history spanning more than a millennium. Anything he could learn about the missions connections with Spain and other countries was wanted. His new cutter, the, When Vergenness orders came through to sell the, Conyngham lusted for his fine new cutter, which mounted 14 six-pounders and 22 swivels, and would have a crew of more than a hundred American and French seamen. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975. His private period of turmoil and decision lay behind him, and he could think calmly of what must be done to make Jeffersons great charter a reality. The result of this conflict would not only determine the fate of the thirteen North American colonies, but also alter the balance of colonial power throughout the world. Now she was acknowledged as a nation in her own right, a nation whose treaties protected her commerce on the seas and her growing space on land, a rising people for whose friendship Britain and France must compete. Ferreiro, Larrie D. Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France & Spain Who Saved It. By this process of elastic diplomacy the amenities were preserved while both sides gained time for war preparations and spared their exchequers the drain of active hostilities. Sieur Montaudoin shared many interests with Franklin; both were members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, enthusiasts of the new physiocratic school, and Masons. Franklin took charge of diplomatic duties, Arthur Lee undertook missions to Spain and Prussia which happily kept him out of Paris at a crucial period, and Deane continued his commercial activities. The defeat was so ugly for France that it led them to lose all the colonies in the Americas. Before he left Philadelphia Franklin had written with Morris certain instructions for Captain Wickes: he was to cruise against the British in their home waters, and bring his prizes into a French port. He helped Beaumarchais buy and fit out eight ships, prudently scattered in various ports: the Amphitrite, Mercure, Flammand, Mre Bobie, Seine, Thrse, Amelia , and Marie Catherine . The story goes that he was rushing to play the stock market, and no doubt he was. The Committee of Secret Correspondence, under Franklin, engaged agents abroad to explore the possibilities of foreign alliances. Naval affairs were stagnant; the privateers attracted all the able seamen. 1. George III was delighted and directed Lord North to stress in Parliament this proof of Frances intention to keep appearances. The next step would be to force France to deliver Conyngham to Britain for hanging as a pirate. 2. The alliance of France with the American Patriots started on February 6, 1778, when the King of France signed a treaty with Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. By October Beaumarchais had spent the original 2,000,000 livres from the Bourbon kings, plus another million from France, and 2,600,000 livres in the form of credit from French merchants. Later Lee developed this fantasy into a sinister engine of destruction against those he hated. It began with the bold request that France sell the United States eight ships of the line, On January 24 Wickes sailed out of Nantes with a French pilot and several French seamen aboard, strengthening the desired impression of collusion with Versailles. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. If successful, France would get as her share half the Newfoundland fishery and all the sugar islands; Spain would be enriched by Portugal and the Floridas, and the United States would gain Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. During this period of watchful waiting, Franklin applied political pressure. He had high connections at the court, which did not at all disapprove his heavy shipments of arms to American merchants, and later he was appointed ambassador to the United States. Join, or Die, the first political cartoon in America, was created by Benjamin Franklin and was published in a newspaper on May 9, 1754.The cartoon later became a symbol of colonial unity during the American Revolution and remains popular. Islanders and continentals had worked out a prototype of the free trade which was one of Franklins major objectives. The chief results of the mission were the snuffing out of Prussia as a potential ally, and the theft of Lees papers by a professional burglar hired by the British ambassador. The Stamp Act riots were noisy on the land, but the seas were quiet and busy. George III, faced with plain warnings from Bancroft and Wentworth that a French alliance was pending, would not believe them. It was Carmichael who got the last of the Hortalez fleet on its way. It looked like a checkmate. Franklins most pressing assignment was to buy or borrow eight battleships from France and to urge both Bourbon powers, France and Spain, to send fleets at their own expense to act in concert with these ships. The table has been produced based upon "Ferguson's estimate of the total cost of the war": Edwin J. Perkins, American Public Finance and Financial Services, 1700-1815 (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1994), 103, Table 5.4. Wentworths connection with the secret service was not suspected; Franklin regarded him as a former patriot who had joined the Tory ranks and must be treated with caution. For a complication of reasons the Massachusetts cousins, John and Samuel Adams, had formed a close alliance with the Virginia brothers, Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee. Vergennes, who had confidently hoped to receive these protests under very different circumstances, was forced to buy a little more time at the expense of his American friends. He left the rack ruined in fortune, health, and mind, and openly went over to the British. He went back to London in a fury. The bogus company functioned as a legitimate business house, paying cash for its purchases and keeping its connection with Versailles a secret even from the American leaders. The Channel Islands privateers were out in force, and the maritime war in Europe, which could no longer be closely directed from Passy, was in a state of anarchy. The joint conquest was proposed of Canada, the Floridas, and the British West Indies. He might have included the foreign islands, since all colonial America had been united for a century and a half in its resistance to the mercantilism of Europe. In the last months the King had relinquished his illusion that war could be avoided, and he approved his ministers memoir the day it was presented. Johnson was captured and sent to the Old Mill, from which he soon escaped. Early in 1774 Franklin had written from London to a friend at home that he wished Americans might know what we are and what we have. After much private groping and anguish he had discovered what he was: not a colonial American, but that new man, an American. As Americas sole diplomat Franklin had done all that one man could do to influence the ministries of Europe.
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