The move was long overdue, for the Americans had been making a brilliant success of their sea raids all over the Atlantic and the Caribbean. French Empire wanted to take revenge on the British Empire for its defeat in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). Little Benny Bache would be put in school to learn French, and Temple Franklin would act as his grandfathers unpaid secretary. On May 3 Vergennes wrote his royal master that he proposed to call in Sieur Montaudoin of Nantes and entrust him with forwarding funds and arms to America. Which French foreign minister and supporter of American independence convinced the French king to form an alliance with the Patriots? Bancroft was a supreme spy, but he preserved a curious code of his own, almost a code of honor, about what he would or would not do. However, Franklin had boarded the, But now he had something serious to report: My informations says that the, In later reports Sir Joseph drew such an alarming picture of Dutch gunrunning, especially to the Caribbean, that the British sent a Navy sloop and cutter to spend the winter at Texel Island near Amsterdam. The American Revolution and the French Alliance. Captain Pearson of the, The islet of St. Eustatia, an international free port in the northern Leewards, was a fountainhead of what Samuel Adams called the, To the citizens of Nantes the alliance was not merely a commercial bond, but a blend of credos and enthusiasms which they shared with their friends overseas. The United States fought all the way through the war without a government. A member of the Royal College of Physicians, in 1773 he was elected to the Royal Society under the sponsorship of Franklin, the astronomer royal, and the kings physician. Almost every transaction carried out for Congress was a mixture of public and private business, an accepted practice. The King was tireless, and only the quirks and massive stubbornness which were part of his psychosis would now and then hamper the working of his great information machine. Since Nantes was the key port for American purposes, Franklin made a personal sacrifice and sent his grandnephew Jonathan Williams there as the special agent for the commissioners. Franklins hosts were the merchants Pliarne and Penet, who had little standing in Nantes, but who may have been subsidized by Vergennes. 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. 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. Athur Lee, who became Congress agent in London after Franklins departure, had been in conspiratorial relations with Beaumarchais during his visits to England. 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. He must gather exhaustive information on the missions dealings with Congress, with Versailles, with merchants shipping out contraband. He had connived in the Conyngham raid in the confidence that the next time Stormont came fuming into his Cabinet with threats of war, he could hand the pestiferous ambassador his portfolio and wish him a pleasant old age in England. This released a great stock of surplus arms for Hortalez to buy up cheaply. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over . It made the French . 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. He helped Beaumarchais buy and fit out eight ships, prudently scattered in various ports: the, Amphitrite, Mercure, Flammand, Mre Bobie, Seine, Thrse, Amelia, Delays which were not the fault of Deane and Beaumarchais held up most of the fleet for months after lading. After the Seven Years' War, Britain found itself in about twice as much debt . 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. Intended as a defensive alliance, it saw France provide both supplies . was a war only between the French and the Native Americans. To gain time, he placated Stormont by arresting the three Wickes vessels (which kept them safe from the British warships on patrol) and by promising that the new cutter being fitted for Conyngham would be sold. He was to steal all original papers possible from the commissioners, and copy others. Captain Conyngham had lost his ship on the last voyage, and was given command of the Surprise , a lugger newly bought for Congress. Once he was installed as sole envoy in Paris, I should have it in my power to call those to account, through whose hands I know the public money has passed, and which will either never be accounted for, or misaccounted for, by connivance between those, who are to share in the public plunder. By a supple turn of the wrist, Franklin transformed Franco-American relations. In this first interview the minister was lifted out of his discouragement by Franklins solid faith in the American destiny, and by his understanding of the whole European complex which made him able to suggest the right move at the right time rather than chimerical impossibilities. At the first hint of this the Doctor tendered his resignation, which to his relief was not accepted. His sense of competition for the favor of America was plain in the letter he immediately wrote the French ambassador at Madrid. Edmund Pendleton was, according to John Adams . But before this blackout settled down Congress managed to get dispatches through, which in effect begged Franklin to manage his side of the desperate crisis as he saw fit. 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. 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. The Revenge was owned half by Congress and half by Hodge and David Conyngham, a wealthy cousin of the captains who was on a business trip to Europe. Vergennes was alarmed. His beloved wife had died, and his best friend Robert Morris had thrown him over because he had told the truth about Tom. That switched him to the Caribbean trade. America needed French aid of every sort: ships, supplies, loans, to begin with. They might refit in the island ports, stock up their magazines, cruise the Caribbean, and bring their prizes in to St. Pierre for judgment in Mr. Binghams court of admiralty. This kept him out of personal debates and increased his potential. Now he hurried his preparations, and Captain Wickes was ordered to make all speed to Nantes, and to avoid action if possible. Since Charles III had already contributed a million livres to Hortalez & Company, and allowed New Orleans to become an American privateer base, he may well have thought that he had done his share. Following hard on the American Revolution (1776-83), the sweeping aside of the French feudal order demonstrated the irresistible rise of freedom and enlightenment. It encouraged the French to adopt the government system of popular sovereignty. 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. Franklin could make his quip about Philadelphia taking Howe while he privately worried about his family and friends there, about Washingtons reverses, and the dreadful paralysis that had seized the French ministry. He already knew Deane, and wished not to know Arthur Lee, but he was consumed with curiosity about Franklin. DuVal, Kathleen. Dubourg, said the archivist, amassed arms with the help of the brilliant new foreign minister, the Comte de Vergennes, who was determined to make the American rebellion a success; and Montaudoin shipped this contraband to America. All the colonizing powers tried to keep New World produce flowing home to the motherland. In their eyes she was still colonial, an outlying province of Europe. George Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army in 1775. The letter announcing his imminent arrival in Madrid was received with consternation. 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. Ferreiro, Larrie D. Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France & Spain Who Saved It. The two Lees and Izard were busily writing letters about the expected alliance. His friend Sieur Montaudoin bought a great Dutch ship and named it Benjamin Franklin . He had spent eighteen years in England as colonial agent and the last eighteen months at home in the Continental Congress. Lee next stormed Prussia. William Lee was appointed joint commercial agent for France to checkmate Robert Morris brother. As for the Reprisal , anchored at Lorient, she suddenly sprang a leak, and international usage allowed a ship in distress harbor privileges until she was fit to sail. What thus started as an acknowledged business arrangement was twisted by Arthur Lee into a fantasy which better suited his private purposes, all directed toward immortalizing Arthur Lee. At any rate, they had bobbed up in Philadelphia and obtained the first publicized arms contract between Congress and foreign shippers. A swarm of workmen then changed the marks of the vessels by slapping on new coats of paint, changing the figurehead, and such devices. Late in October, 1776, Benjamin Franklin sailed for France to direct the foreign sector of the extraordinary war into which his young country had been plunged. He waited until the Revenge was safely out of Dunkirk, and then he and the commissioners exchanged letters, purely to clear the record, about the necessity of France abiding by her treaties, which meant no more violations by American privateers. Congress demanded impossibilities of him: a huge loan which France could not afford, French battleships and seamen, and the prompt entrance of the Bourbons into the war. The small matter was to be Conynghams capture of another British packet, this time the one plying to Holland. Then, when the diplomatic pressure eased, he would stealthily release them one at a time. The British had many other secret agents in France, and other avenues of information. He added, Take care that America and the West Indies dont glide through our fingers..

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