Silas Deane, a Connecticut leader in the American Revolution
by George L. Clark
New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1913

CHAPTER I
SILAS DEANE A MERCHANT IN WETHERSFIELD

the summer of 1633, venturesome and trying John Oldham gave the Massachusetts people a little rest, and ascended the Connecticut to the little Indian hamlet of Pyquag, a part of the sachemdom of the chieftain Soheag, who reigned at what is now Middletown, twelve miles down river.

Attracted by the glorious elms, rich and sightly uplands, broad meadows fertilized by freshets every spring, waters teeming with fish, it is no wonder that this pioneer in the following year led a band of adventurers from Watertown, Massachusetts, and building their log houses just beyond the space visited by the spring floods, they settled the ancient town of Wethersfield.

In the autumn of 1635, Winthrop tells us, "About

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sixty men, women, and little children went by land toward Connecticut with their cows, horses, and swine, and after a tedious and difficult journey, arrived there."

The next period of a century and a half was likewise tedious. Welcomed by the friendly Indians along the river, as avenues of trade and allies against the dangerous Mohawks and Pequots, they bought a tract of land six miles square, laid out their roads, built their homes, their church and fortress, and entered upon a century and a half of hard work and peril. There were years when no one could be sure that a band of braves was not lurking in the forest for months, waiting for the right time for the midnight attack. Again and again the citizen soldiers marched out of the village streets on the Pequot campaign, to Deer-field, Albany, for deadly Havana, to Louisburg, Crown Point, Ticonteroga, and Quebec. The campaign of 1762 ended the long contest known as the "Old French War."

In that year, Silas Deane, a young lawyer from Yale, put up his shingle in the town of Wethersfield, which, despite its struggles and losses, had grown wealthy and prosperous with cultivating the soil, manufactures, and a brisk shipping trade.

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Silas Deane, son of Silas Deane, a blacksmith of Groton, Connecticut, was born December 24, 1737, graduated from Yale in the class of 1758, taught school, after the custom of his time, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1761.

The prosperous town, which was to be his home for twelve years, had a population of 2500 inhabit­ants, and a grand list three quarters as large as that of Hartford. It was decidedly inviting to the young lawyer, who saw no necessity for starting at the foot of the ladder, but had the nerve to marry on October 8, 1763, Mehitabel, widow of Mr. Joseph Webb, five years his senior, and blessed with six children and a thriving store.

Squire Deane threw himself into commercial life with all his energy, and before long he was widely known as a man of enterprise, vigor, and good judgment.

In 1764, he built a substantial house just north of his store, and soon afterwards a boy, Jesse, his only child, was born. On October 13, 1767, his wife died of consumption, and later he married Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Gurdon Salton-stall of Norwich.

There was a large assortment in the population of Wethersfield during those twelve years, while Deane practised his calling of merchant, trader,

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and politician. It ranged all the way from Mrs. Joseph Smith, who paid two pounds and ten shillings for a pair of red shoes, to the squaw slave owned by Rector Elisha Williams.

It startles us a little to think that in those days of blossoming freedom there should have been slaves in a Puritan village; but one in twenty-five was negro or Indian, and many of these humble people were slaves. The upright Leonard Chester owned a "Neager Maide," appraised at twenty-five pounds. Some of the slaves were offered their freedom if they would serve three years in the army.

We must not press too far the question as to the origin of these lowly helpers. We know the origin of the Indian slaves. Long enough the steal­thy red men carried terror and loss to the hamlets by the Great River. No wonder some of their descendants were kept washing dishes and hoe­ing corn.

Whether negroes were brought home in Wethersfield sloops, odds and ends of human cargoes landed in Southern ports, it is perhaps neither discreet nor kind to ask. There were New Eng­land ships in the slave trade. Thrifty captains left our ports for Lisbon, or the Canary Islands, "and a market"; the market was the west coast

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of Africa, and on the return there came a load of blacks for the West Indies, Charleston, or Savannah.

While not exciting, there was much variety in the life of Wethersfield. A weekly paper, The Connecticut Courant, came to town from Hartford, four miles up river, after April, 1764. There was no post-office until April 1, 1794, and no stagecoach until after the Revolution, but a public wagon went through the town at inter­vals of a few days, for the town was on the great road from Boston to New York.

A central feature of the life of the village was the church, whose noble meetinghouse was building when Deane was wooing Mehitabel; and in the church he had a prominent place. The records tell us that when the society voted to "discontinue the present method of lining out the Psalms," Colonel Chester, Deacon May, and Silas Deane were appointed to arrange the stations of those who should carry the principal parts of the singing.

It was at a time when the formalities of religion were rigidly required. It was an expensive thing to stay away from church. Not many miles down river the setting sun one Saturday found a man half-shaven, owing perhaps to a dull

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razor or a week's tough growth of beard, but he was in church the next day with a muffler over his half-shaven face.

How much religion Deane drank in we do not know. His earlier letters contain occasional specimens of the language of religion, but after he went to France they became less frequent.

A wide variety of industries was carried on in the town. The first gristmill in the colony, "corne mill," it was called, was built on Mill Brook, a mile south of the village, in 1635. Later, windmills were used to grind grain, and sawmills were operated by wind and water. "Brick mills" prepared material for many substantial houses and capacious chimneys with their enormous ovens, on Port Street, Sandy Lane, Jordan Lane, Main and Broad Streets. There were several tanneries at the time of which we write, and Ephraim Williams's account book, covering 1746 to 1760, gives an interesting story of a merchant currier and shoemaker, who re­ceived prices for boots and shoes which seem extravagant in our more economical days. Colo­nel Israel Williams of Hartford paid him four pounds for a pair of double channeled pumps, and for a pair of double-channeled boots the price was fourteen pounds.

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Boots were one of the extravagances which the Puritans did not give up: the leather in one pair would be enough for six pairs of shoes, and those great square-toed casings would last a lifetime, and become an heirloom. Captain Jonathan Robbins had several pairs of silk shoes made for his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and pumps for his son, Appleton.

When Washington was in town, a guest in the Webb house, in May, 1781, he was measured for a pair of boots by a first-class Wethersfield shoe­maker.

The "smithy" was a far more important establishment than nowadays, for axes, chisels, ploughs, hoes, spades, nails, and spikes were made there, as well as shoes for horses and cattle. The fuel for the smithy was charcoal. There were so many coal pits in one section of the town it was called "Collier Swamp."

A prominent industry was pipe staves, mostly of oak, put up in bundles or "shooks" and shipped to the West Indies for hogsheads or casks for rum, molasses, and sugar.

There was a fulling mill, and a carding and weaving mill, though hand-looms wove serges, kerseys, flannels, fustians, linsey-woolsey’s, tow-cloth, dimities, ginghams, and jeans.

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Clothiers and tailors were hard at work, and the year Deane reached town Rev. John Marsh was credited on Jonathan Buckley's account book with "making one pair Leather Breeches- four shillings, sixpence."

Hats, too, were "felted" from the fur of the muskrat from the river, and sold in New York. Ropes and cordage were in great demand for the rigging of the ships made at Stepney, a hamlet of Wethersfield four miles below. Hemp was raised as early as 1640, and "hemp mills" and a ropewalk were indispensable.

Fish, a leading attraction to the early settlers, was abundant almost to superfluity in the river before the days of chemicals and sewage. Salmon and shad were sold in Hartford in 1700 for "less than a penny a pound." Fishes were sometimes piled up on a corner lot for sale: and it was con­sidered disreputable for any but "poor folks" to eat shad. Apprentices, in binding themselves to their masters, frequently stipulated that salmon should not be served them as food oftener than twice a week. Fish made a first-class fertilizer: a shad in a hill of corn was as strong a plant food as a handful of phosphate.

The staple crops were grass, Indian corn, Indian beans, barley, rye, peas, onions, and

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tobacco. Tobacco was a valuable export to the West Indies. The famous Wethersfield, large red onions were cultivated mainly by the women, who were seldom too high-minded to shrink from the lowly task of weeding them. Women were fond of bunching them; sitting around a heap of fragrant bulbs, they dressed off the butcher, dis­sected the doctor, did up the grocer, measured the tailor, sized up the shoemaker, hammered the blacksmith, and dozed over the minister.

We wish it were not necessary to mention another industry, but they did have distilleries. Farmers appreciated the still for it made a mar­ket for their rye, and on all occasions, from a barn raising to the ordination of the minister, flip was a favorite beverage.

Apples were common after 1750, when orchards began to come into bearing, and since there were scarcely any winter varieties, the juice of the apples could be preserved in barrels, to cheer and sometimes inebriate, through the long cold months. Cider was displacing at meals the beer, which the women had brewed as regularly and conscien­tiously as they made rye bread.

It was a neighborly kind of life the people lived; when farmers butchered, they exchanged spare-ribs and quarters of beef and lamb. The common

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table ware was of pewter; there were no carpets in the spare room beneath the gambrel-roof, but what furniture there was, was substantial, well made, though not always comfortable. The cherry clocks, highboys, lowboys, chests, and oaken chairs which have come down to us speak of a sterling age.

The food of that time was varied. The Yankee cooks were skillful in concocting dishes whose mysteriousness would puzzle us today. No doubt there came upon Deane's table berries of all kinds, quinces, cherries, damsons, peaches, artichokes, grapes, and walnuts, put into all kinds of preserves, conserves, pickles, candies, syrups, and cordials. He enjoyed peas, turnips, carrots, cu-cumbers, beef, pork, lamb, geese, turkeys, and chickens. Potatoes had a limited use, but apples were wrought into tarts, shrub, dowdy, puff, and the celebrated pie. Pumpkin pie was also a famous dainty.

The store in which Deane did business stood high, and was reached by five long stone steps, one of which is in front of the present post-office. He kept a large variety of goods: flour, molasses, sugar, rope, knives, Barcelona handkerchiefs, sieves, fustian, buttons. In 1765, he advertised in The Connecticut Courant a quantity of choice

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brandy, which he was willing to part with at a very low rate for cash, either by the hogshead, barrel, or keg, also hemp seed at twenty shillings a bushel.

The Great River was a convenient thoroughfare for extensive ventures, shipping lumber, barrel staves, horses, cattle, tobacco, and onions to the West Indies and Europe. Wethersfield was in full sympathy with the rest of New England in com­mercial activity. In 1760, the first lighthouse was erected on the coast, paid for by a lottery authorized by the General Assembly.

In 1768, Captain John Bulkley was running a sloop from Wethersfield to the Caribbean Islands, carrying oxen, horses, and cows. Trade was springing up with Ireland, whither was sent flaxseed, then and long afterward a staple pro­duction. Flour and lumber were carried to Gibraltar and Barbary. Vessels carried fish to Lisbon and Bilboa, and brought back wines. Lumber and potashes were shipped to England. Beef and pork loaded many a sloop bound for New York and the West Indies, bringing back molasses, sugar, and spices.

The river was a busy place, and the life of the young merchant was far from narrow in his store or at the wharves, fitting out vessels, corresponding

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with business men near and far, caring for his large household, attending to the duties of the church and the merry social life, in that short breathing spell between the Old French War and the terrible Revolution, whose thunder clouds were beginning to fill thoughtful minds with dread.

CHAPTER II

THE three river towns, Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, held from an early date advanced views concerning the principles which led to the Revolution. Their settlement was due more to a democratic reaction against the aristocratic views of Winthrop and Cotton as to government, than to a desire for land. At first, the river towns were governed by a commission established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but four years after the settlement began the people felt at liberty to govern themselves, and on January 14, 1639, the constitution of the new colony was adopted; and into that constitution was written Thomas Hooker's democratic theory of government.

Suffrage was granted to all free men, the principle of representative democracy was applied to the infant state without reservation, and authority was traced to the free suffrage of free men. This

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famous document, the constitution of 1639, marks an epoch in the civil history of the world. It put into action for the first time the declaration made by Thomas Hooker, in his sermon, May 31, 1638, "that the foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of the people."

Thus, for the first time in history, the delegates of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor crystallized into a written constitution the principles of de­mocracy, which for centuries had been slowly evolving in England, and later had such splendid expression in the Constitution of the United States, a constitution which has become the model for all democracies. It is the first written constitution defining its own powers. With such a past, we are not surprised that Wethersfield, in the time of Deane, had a keen interest in the political events that led to the Revolution.

Opposition to the Stamp Act was as pronounced in Connecticut as in the Bay Colony, and, as early as 1765, the Sons of Liberty from the eastern towns joined with those on the river in bold defiance of the obnoxious measure.

Jared Ingersoll of New Haven, the stamp-master newly appointed by the Crown, met with such determined resistance that he was obliged to resign his office. This opposition appeared first

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in New Haven, New London, and Windham counties, but, evading the demand for his resignation, he started on horseback for Hartford where the General Assembly was about to meet. For a part of the way he was attended by Governor Fitch to protect him from insult. On his way up the river, when within a few miles of Wethersfield, Ingersoll was met by a party of four or five mounted men; half a mile farther he was met by a second squad, and they all rode silently together until they came to a company of five hundred free-holders, all mounted, and armed with long, heavy sticks, from which the bark had been peeled, giving them a resemblance to the staves of office carried by sheriffs and constables. This force, led by one Durkee, with two fully uniformed militia officers acting as aids, and heralded by three trumpeters, rode, two abreast; and with quiet courtesy, opening ranks to receive the stamp collector, they closed silently around and behind him. We think we can imagine his feelings, and the cool-headed, humorous Tory saw the comical side of the affair, for when one of his escort quizzically inquired of him what he thought of him-self attended by such a retinue, Ingersoll, who chanced to be riding a white horse, quickly replied that he now had a clearer idea than ever before of

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that passage in the Revelation, which speaks of " Death on a pale horse and all hell following."

Reaching the immense elm in front of the Colonel Chester mansion on Broad Street, the procession halted, and demanded that the matter be settled there. The stalwart farmers would brook no delay, and Ingersoll, reading the faces of his opponents, said, "The cause is not worth dying for," and wrote and signed his resigna­tion. He was then persuaded to shout three times, "Liberty and Property." After dinner the mounted men attended Ingersoll to Hartford, where he again read his resignation and the Sons of Liberty dispersed.

Not long after this, the people of Wethersfield had an opportunity to show their spirit of opposition to the encroachments of King George. In April 1768, the merchants of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York made a compact to unite in stopping the importation of goods from Great Britain. The Connecticut merchants kept the agreement with more fidelity than those of New York, and this led to a general convention of delegates from all the towns of the Connecticut colony to "take into consideration the perilous condition of the country, to provide for the growth and spread of home manufactures, and

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to devise more thorough means for carrying out to the letter the non-importation agreement." The spirit of the people was manifested in the resolutions passed by the town meetings.

At a meeting held in Wethersfield, December 25, 1769, it was

Voted that it is and ever has been the opinion of this town that the late acts of Parliament commonly called the American Revenue Acts, imposing certain duties on paper, glass, etc., are in themselves un-constitutional, offensive, and tending to that total subversion of the liberties of his Majesty's subjects in America; that the opposition made thereto through-out the Continent has been noble, just, firm, and deserving of highest applause through every age.

That in particular the resolution against importing goods of merchandise from Great Britain, until said Acts are repealed, so genuinely and unanimously come into by the merchants in America, and so universally approved of by the people, is worthy of the highest commendation, as being the most effectual method for obtaining relief,-Do resolve to abide by the same, and as far as possible to prevent the least breach thereof by any of the inhabitants of this town or others: nor will we purchase nor use nor consume any goods imported contrary to said agreement, so universally come into.

And, for the more effectual preventing any counter­acting said resolution, we do appoint Messeurs. Silas Deane, Ezekiel Williams, Elisha Williams, David Webb, and Elias Williams, a committee, directing

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them, with the utmost vigilance and care to guard against and prevent any attempt to put in execution so fatal and infamous a purpose as that of sacrificing the good of this Continent and their posterity to private gain and emolument: desiring them to correspond and consult with, as well as aid and assist, the other committees appointed in the neighboring towns and elsewhere for this purpose.

On February 20, 1774, when Connecticut merchants declared non-intercourse against the merchants of Newport, charging them with infraction of the non-importation agreement, designed to coerce England into a fuller acknowledgment of American rights, Deane was clerk of the meeting, and signed the circular.

Unwilling to wait for the formal action of the General Assembly in October, the people of Wethersfield met in the Congregational meeting-house in June, to express sympathy with Boston, which was suffering from the Port Bill. Resolutions of sympathy were passed, and a committee appointed to receive contributions from the people and for-ward them to Boston, and the first name on the list of contributors is Silas Deane. In October, 1772, Deane took his place with Captain Belden in the General Assembly, of which he was a member until two years later, when he was sent to the Continental Congress.

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We look In vain for many exciting Incidents in the legislation of those years. A large part of the energy of the law makers was exercised in appointing officers for the trainbands in the different towns. It was voted that Deane and three others be appointed a committee to receive money to be raised by a lottery, to erect buoys and other signals on Saybrook Bar.

It was voted, In 1772, that a horse thief should be fined and publicly whipped, and sent to jail for three months, and on the first Monday of the other two months, he was to receive publicly ten more lashes.

On May 21, 1773, a letter having been received from the House of Burgesses of Virginia concerning the support of the ancient, legal, and constitutional rights, it was voted in the Connecticut Assembly that a standing committee of nine be appointed, called a Committee of Correspondence, "whose business it shall be to obtain all such intelligence, and keep up and maintain a correspondence and communication with our sister colonies." Deane was the zealous and efficient secretary of this committee.

In the same year, he was appointed on an important committee concerning western lands, in the settlement of the Susquehanna Claims.

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In March, 1774, the governor of Connecticut sent to the Earl of Dartmouth, a British Secretary of State, a letter complaining of the dissensions due to British aggression, and of the unlimited powers claimed by Parliament, which were driving the Americans to the border of despair; expressing deep sympathy with Boston, whose closed port had wrought such distress; and while insisting that the interests of the two countries were identical, yet calling for relief. One of the six men of the lower house appointed to confer with a committee of the upper house on this matter was Deane.

Evidently the young lawyer-merchant was giving good account of himself in the colonial Assembly, and in the movement which was leading up to the Revolution; and when, in 1774, it was proposed to hold in Philadelphia a Continental Congress, it was natural that Deane should be sent on the important mission of assisting in the organization of the colonies into unanimity and efficiency, to suppress disorder, and boldly resist the stupid endeavors of the British Ministry.

CHAPTER III

It was a great day for Wethersfield when their able young statesman, in the full vigor of his prime, set forth for Congress on Monday, August 22, 1774. He was thirty-seven years old; he had a wide acquaintance with the leading men in his own colony, and in the neighboring colonies. A

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large number of the principal men of the town escorted him as far as Middletown, twelve miles down the river. His stepson, Samuel B. Webb, who was just twenty-one, attended him. Webb was commissioned lieutenant-major at Bunker Hill, and afterwards, through Deane's influence, he obtained a position on Washington's staff. The quality of the training of Webb under the eye of Deane is suggested by the charge which has come down to us: "Be master of your pleasures, and not let them master you. Let me urge on you patience and assiduity until you can be honorably advised. Master all the principles and movements of the great army."

They were joined at New Haven by Eliphalet Dyer, and at Fairfield, by Roger Sherman, and on Thursday, August 25, they reached New York, and put up at Hill's Tavern at the sign of the Bunch of Grapes.

In those days, before the lumbering stage-coach had appeared, Deane traveled in his own carriage, and there is an interesting comment on the extravagance which ignorant critics after-wards attributed to him in his village career. He wrote to his wife that while in New York he visited a carriage factory to learn the prices, and when he found that it would cost five pounds to

Page 23 paint and regild his carriage he denied himself the luxury, fearing his money would not hold out till he reached home.

We let Deane tell the story of this expedition. Writing to his wife Elizabeth, he says:

We left the Bridge after dinner, and baiting by the way arrived in town at six. Instantly Mr. Bayard came up and forced us directly to the Exchange, where were the Boston delegates and two from South Carolina, and all the gentlemen of considerable note in the city in a mercantile way: when we had dined, and were passing around the glass, we went the round of introduction and congratulation, and then took our seats. The glass had circulated just long enough to raise the spirits of every one to that nice point which is above disguise or suspicion. Of consequence I saw that it was an excellent opportunity to know their real situation. Cool myself, I was not afraid of sharing in the jovial entertainment; there-fore, after the introduction, I waived formality of sitting at the upper part among my brother delegates, and mixed up among the gentlemen of the city. I found many favorable to the cause and willing to go any length. I found they were fond of paying great court to Connecticut. We broke up at nine.

Deane gives an interesting glimpse of Judge Sherman, so famous later for his work on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu­tion of the United States. He wrote his wife:

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Mr. Sherman is clever in private, but I will only say he is as badly calculated to appear in such a company as a chestnut burr is for an eyestone. He occasioned some shrewd countenances among the company, and not a few oaths by the odd questions he asked, and the very odd and countrified cadence with which he speaks, but he was and did as well as I expected.

At that early time, Deane found traces of a spirit, which in later years was to bring him such keen misery. He says, "The more I converse in the city, the more I see and lament the virulence of party."

Judge Sherman's Puritan strictness was a trial to Deane, who wrote his wife on Sunday, August 28:

Heard Parson Treat in the forenoon and Mr. Ledlie in the afternoon. Mr. Sherman (would to heaven he were well at New Haven!) is against our sending our carriages over the ferry this evening because it is Sunday, so we shall have a scorching sun to drive forty miles in tomorrow.

Deane bought some new clothes in New York, and evidently the assortment was scanty, for he wrote, "I am not well suited, but took the best I found."

His letters are full of tender solicitude for his wife, whose health was evidently frail. He says:

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Pray omit nothing conducive to your health and peace of mind. I have been really ill until this after-noon, when the villainous carelessness of the tailor so awakened me that I feel well. I go hence with an additional weight upon my spirits by reason of the uncertainty I am in, and remain in, as to your health.

Still heavier would have been his load, could he have realized that he would scarcely see her again. She died while Deane was in Paris.

At Trent Town it was hot. " I was worn," he says," anxious, sick, went to bed after eleven, but could not sleep; I turned and turned, while Judge Sherman, who lodged in the same chamber, snored in concert."

Deane was pleased with the delegates from Virginia and other Southern States. "They appear," he says, "like men of importance, sociable, sensible, and spirited men."

We see the effects of their stimulus upon the Wethersfield legislator, when we read, "We are in high spirits when the eyes of millions are upon us, and consider posterity is interested in our conduct." He speaks of the prospect of unanimity and of the willingness to undergo hardship

in the arduous task before us, which is as arduous and of as great consequence as ever man undertook, or

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engaged in. I never met, nor scarcely had an idea of meeting, with men of such firmness, sensibility, spirit, and thorough knowledge of the interests of America as the gentlemen of the Southern provinces appear to be. May New England go hand in hand with them.

Yet with all his admiration for Washington, Henry, Randolph, and Dickinson, he is proud to represent Connecticut, and well he might be, for Connecticut entered the Revolution under singu­larly favorable conditions, passing as a whole from a royal colony into the revolutionary state by the alteration of a few words in the enactment of the legislature. In a moment the royal governor became the governor of a new state.

Not so was it with Massachusetts, rent by faction, the extreme revolutionists in control. Not so in New York, where royalty was strong, and the success of the popular party for a time doubtful; where wealth, position, and influ­ence favored conservatism, and inclined toward neutrality.

Connecticut could act with greater freedom, directness, and force. Her trade with the West Indies and Europe gave her ready money, and furnished a body of hardy seamen. Connecticut had for generations been in the fire of Indian wars,

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and through the Revolution General Washington turned repeatedly to the governor of Connecticut for counsel, men, and means. Governor Jonathan Trurnbull was the "Brother Jonathan," on whom he depended in many a day of stress and anxiety.

Deane wrote from Philadelphia:

I see the Wethersfield company under Captain Chester appeared with honor on a recent occasion. This has made me an inch taller, though I am prouder as I may say of Connecticut than I dare express: not a colony on the continent stands in higher estimation among the colonies.

Congress met on September 7, and Reverend Mr. Duche offered a prayer which Deane said "was worth riding one hundred miles to hear; even Quakers shed tears."

He sketches Randolph, president of Congress,

as noble and dignified in appearance, and may be rising of sixty years: Mr. Henry, the lawyer, is the completest speaker I ever heard: Colonel Washington is tall, very young-looking, and of an easy, soldier-like air and gesture. He does not appear above forty-five. It is said that in the House of Burgesses, hearing of the Boston Port Bill, he offered to train and arm a thou­sand men at his own expense. Colonel Washington speaks very modestly and in cool but determined style and accent.

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Little remains of the records of the doings of that first Congress. On September 23, he writes, " Business is slow from the vast extent and lasting importance of the questions."

Deane was elected with Sherman and Dyer by the colonial legislature to the second Congress, which met in May, 1775; but, before his second expedition to Philadelphia, an event occurred which gave him congratulation and praise.

The first conquest made by patriots was the capture of Fort Ticonteroga on May 10, 1775, by Colonel Ethan Alien. The history of the origin of the enterprise, to which belongs the honor of compelling the first surrender of the British flag to the coming re-public, has been made clear by J. H. Trumbull.

On Thursday forenoon, April 27, Colonel S. H. Parsons of Middletown arrived at Hartford from Massachusetts, eager for a project to surprise Fort Ticonteroga. This project was conceived in an interview which Parsons had with Benedict Arnold, captain of a company of volunteers, on their march to the camp at Cambridge. On that eventful Thursday, Colonel Parsons, Colonel Samuel Wyllys of Hartford, and Silas Deane of Wethersfield first undertook and projected taking the fort. A sum of three hundred pounds was

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obtained from the treasurer of the colony, on the personal note of these men with three others, and the money was soon on its way northward ; and a swift express was sent to Colonel Ethan Alien requesting him to be ready with his valiant Green Mountain Boys.

This prompt action of Deane is in accord with a letter of his to Ebenezer Watson, of the Courant, in which he speaks of some who are too fearful of spending money, or of losing property. He says, "There is no alternative except to submit or prepare to resist even unto blood."

The success at Ticonteroga gave Deane some prestige in Congress, and with his experience with men, his energy, and address, we are not surprised to find him on important committees. A naval force was one of his favorite projects.

With Washington, Schuyler, and others he was appointed to consider means of procuring military supplies for the colonies, and with Washington to estimate the cost of equipping an army.

He formulated the rules for a continental navy and October 15, 1775, selected and purchased the first vessel for the service. He was also a member of the Committee of Secrecy, organized September 18, 1775, to purchase arms and ammunition in Europe.

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On December n, Congress appointed a strong Committee of Ways and Means for furnishing a naval armament. This committee numbered such men as Robert Morris and Samuel Adams, but Silas Deane was the chairman.

On May 26,1775, Deane, with John Jay, Samuel Adams, and others, was appointed on a committee to send a letter to Canada.

June 14, Deane was appointed on a committee with George Washington to bring in a draft of rules and regulations for the army.

July 31, Deane was appointed on a committee with John Adams, Franklin, and others, to make inquiry in the recess of Congress about virgin lead and leaden ore, and the best methods of refining it.

On September 9, Deane was appointed on the committee of nine to import five hundred tons of powder, or saltpetre and sulphur, forty brass cannon, and twenty thousand good, plain, double-bridled musket locks, and ten thousand stands of good arms.

On September 21, Deane was appointed on a committee of five, to consider the best means of supplying the army with provisions.

There were very able men in those Congresses, men of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson, Robert

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Morris, John Jay, George Washington, John Adams, and John Dickinson, and it is clear from the respect in which Deane was held, as shown by his appointment to the above and other committees, that he was regarded as in the first class of the strong men of the country.

Fragments of the debates have come down to us through John Adams's tireless Journal.

On September 23, Paine said: "We have not agreed to clothe the soldiers, and the quarter-master-general has no right to keep a slop shop any more than any one else."

Deane sprang to his feet and exclaimed: "The army must be clothed or perish. There is no preaching against the snowstorm. We ought to look out that the men are kept warm, and that the means of doing it be secured."

In reply to Sherman, who said, "The sutlers in the last war sold to the soldiers, who were not obliged to take anything," Deane replied, "The soldiers were imposed on by the sutlers in the last war."

On October 12, in the debate on the state of trade, Deane said: "We must have trade; I think we ought to apply abroad; we must have powder and goods; we can't keep our people easy without."

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This will be developed in the next chapter, but we cannot conclude our story of Dearie's career in Congress without referring to his acquaintance with George Washington.

On June 16, 1775, Deane wrote to his wife:

General Washington will be with you soon; elected to that office by the unanimous voice of all America, I have been with him for a great part of the last forty-eight hours in Congress and Committee, and the more that I have become acquainted with the man, the more 1 esteem him. He promises me to call, and, if it happens favorably, to spend the night with you. I wish to cultivate this gentleman's acquaintance and regard, for the great esteem I have of his virtues, which do not shine in the view of the world by reason of his great modesty, but when discovered by the discerning eye shine brighter. 1 know you will receive him as my friend, and what is more- his country's friend, who, sacrificing private fortune, independence, ease, and every domestic pleasure, sets off at his country's call to exert himself in her defense without so much as returning to bid adieu to a fond partner and family. Let our youth look up to this man as a pattern to form themselves by, who unites the bravery of a soldier with the most consummate modesty and virtue,

On June 18, Deane wrote to his wife:

Washington sets out on Thursday of this week. I have a strong temptation to accompany him quite to the camp. This morning, Colonel

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Schuyler and I rode as far as the Falls at Schuylkill; our ride was to consult a plan we are forming for another bold stroke like that of Ticonteroga (which is become my nickname at times). People here, members of Congress and others, have unhappily and erroneously thought me a schemer; this has brought me rather more than my share of business in a commerical way.

He adds with a possible premonition of coming troubles:

I find, however, that he that has the least to do in public affairs stands the fairest chance of happiness. If General Washington sets out on Thursday, he will be in New York early on Saturday, where affairs will doubtless detain him until Monday or Tuesday, and in that case he will be with you on the Friday following. He is no lover of parade, so do not put yourself in distress. If it happens convenient, he will spend one night with you; if not, just call and go on. Should he spend a night, his retinue will doubtless go on to Hartford.

On June 22, Deane wrote again to Ms wife, "This will be handed you by his Excellency, General Washington, in company with General Lee and retinue."

On June 29, Deane wrote his wife:

I hope before this you have seen General Washington and friends on their way with health and spirits; the bearer of this is General Gates of Virginia, a general

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of great experience in war, who leaves an affluent and independent situation for the service of the colonies. You will receive him with the respect due to his character.

On July 1, he writes:

I have the fullest assurance that these colonies will rise triumphant, and shine to the latest posterity, though trying scenes are before us. Tell my brother to get his vessel away as quick as possible somewhere or other, ... I hope to see vessels of war on our side soon.

Deane strongly favored Putnam in preference to Wooster as general; he liked his bluff, hearty ways. "He is the toast of the army," he said.

On July 20, he wrote Mrs. Deane:

I am glad the good and virtuous of Connecticut are willing to stand by the resolution of Congress in the appointment of General Putnam. He does not wear a large wig, nor screw his countenance into a form that belies the sentiments of his generous soul. He is no adept either at politics or religious canting or cozening; he is no shake-hand body; he, therefore, is totally unfit for everything but fighting; that, I never heard these intriguing gentry wanted to in­terfere with him in. I have scarce any patience. 0 Heaven blast, I implore thee, every such low, narrow, selfish, envious manoeuvre in the land, nor let one such succeed far enough to stain the fair page of American patriotic politics!

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My principles are (the eye of my God knows them, and the most envious eye of man or the bitterest tongue of slander cannot find anything in my political conduct to contradict them) to sacrifice all lesser considerations to the service of the whole, and in this tempestuous season to throw cheerfully overboard private fortune, private emolument, even my life,- if the ship, with the jewel Liberty, may be safe. This being my line of conduct, I have calmness of mind which more than balances my external troubles, of which I have not a few.

This we regard as Dearie's valedictory, in closing two terms in the Continental Congress. Associating with men of light and power, with Franklin, Washington, Jay, and Morris, he ranked with the best.

The reasons for his failure of an election to a third term are variously given. A letter from John Trumbull to Deane, October 20, 1775, may explain the situation. Speaking of the malice and envy of the freemen against him, he adds: "We have a strange people here as well as else-where, who say,' It is dangerous to trust so great power as you now have for a long time in the hands of one set of men, lest they should grow too self-important, and a great deal of mischief in the end.'"

This brilliant excuse for pushing aside a tried and able man that some ambitious aspirant

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might have his inning is elderly, and not yet decayed.

On November 26, 1775, Deane wrote his wife:

I am quite willing to quit my station to abler men. My long and thorough acquaintance with the genius of the Assembly prevents my being surprised at any sudden whim, or uneasy at any of their resolutions so far as they respect myself, individually. On a review of the part I have acted on the public theatre of life, an examination of my own genius and disposition, unfit for trimming, courting, and intrigues with the populace, I have greater reason to wonder how I be­came popular at all. What, therefore, I did not ex­pect, I have too much philosophy to be in distress at losing. I only wish that my friends felt as easy on this occasion as I. I should be sorry that you or my friends should manifest any uneasiness on my being superseded. One of the greatest pleasures I enjoy is a consciousness of the rectitude of my intentions and conduct.

One of the last acts of the Naval Committee was to direct Deane to go at once to New York, buy a ship to carry twenty-nine pounders, and a sloop of ten guns, fit them out and send them through the Sound to New London for seamen, and to arm.

On December 15, he wrote his wife: "Naval preparations are now entering with spirit, and yesterday Congress chose a standing committee

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to superintend this department of which I had the honor to be chosen one."

The last letter from Congress was written January 21, 1776, to his wife. He says :

Colonel Dyer pleaded, scolded, fretted, and even threatened to make me set out for home with him, and parted in ill humor. It is necessary to tarry, to close the naval accounts and assist in getting forward the preparation for the fleet in the coming season.

Connecticut had no occasion to be ashamed of any one of her representatives to the first and second congresses, but Deane had been in train­ing for wider enterprise and a more responsible task.

Chapter IV
deane's mission to france

In one of his early letters, Deane explained to the committee how the French made cannon, as though the industry were new to him and to his readers. The muskets first used in the Revolution were of every variety: plain weapons, made by village blacksmiths, useful for killing bears, deer, wild cats, and Indians, Agents 'went from house to house to obtain firearms; and the obstacles in the way of securing powder were overwhelming, After the battle of Lexington, it is said that there was not powder enough in the thirteen colonies for a week's fighting, and that English troops could have marched from Boston to Savannah with but slight resistance.

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The Committee of Safety in New York wrote in July, 1775: "We have no arms, we have no powder, we have no blankets. "

Whether or not the colonies could have won their independence without the aid of France is an interesting topic for conversation on the veranda, on a pleasant summer evening, but there are facts which stand out clearly in the Revolution, and one is that when Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, and such standing was given thereby to the continental cause that a recognition of independence was made by the French. Court on the following February, the British soldiers, as they laid down their arms, found themselves surrounded by muskets and fusils and a train of artillery which Silas Deane had sent over from France.

When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, the victory was essentially French. The fleet, which was indispensable, was French, under the lead of Admiral de Grasse; the allied army numbered fifteen thousand men, and after the arrival of the French recruits who came with the fleet, Lafayette had under his command seven thousand French soldiers. At that time a man-of-war carried a small army; the entire strength of the fleet was twenty thousand men, and the

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marines could furnish assistance for a land at-tack, so that we can say that one half the army "was French. Furthermore, American soldiers were kept in the ranks by French money. Washington wrote Morris, August 17, that the American troops destined for the southern ser-vice must have a month's pay in specie. Morris made application to Count de Rochambeau for a loan of twenty thousand dollars. The necessity was so urgent, that Washington's usual calmness vanished. He wrote: "I cannot leave without entreating you in the warmest terms to send on a month's pay at least, with all the expediency possible-I wish it to come on the wings of speed." The French hard money put the men into a proper temper, and the victory at Yorktown was essentially French.

What has this to do with the mission of Silas Deane to France? Much every way. As early as September, 1775, John Adams proposed in Congress that application be made to Europe for military supplies. He clearly saw that it was one thing to conduct an irregular warfare with the Indians, or a long struggle with French and Indians when backed by British arsenals, but quite another thing to face the British Empire, armed with a few matchlocks bored by the village

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blacksmith, Adams's proposition was rejected. "It was too much for the nerves of Congress," Adams wrote; " the grimaces, the convulsions were very great," Even the almost infallible Franklin objected to a virgin state "suitoring for alliances," but events ripened fast, and on November 29, 1775, a committee was appointed by Congress called the Committee of Secret Correspondence, whose members were among the most eminent and trusted fathers of the Revolution. The purpose of the committee was to "correspond with friends of the colonies in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world." Provision was made for de-fraying expenses, and paying such agents as the committee might send.

The country to which Congress naturally looked for help was Prance, the ancient rival and enemy of Great Britain; and the man who was chosen for a task, on whose success the prosperity of future campaigns so largely depended, was Silas Deane. It is scarcely necessary to repeat the varied and well-worn phrases of disparagement of the object of their choice. It is certainly remarkable that men of the caliber of Franklin, Morris, and Jay, who had been intimately associated with Deane during two terms of Congress, should have chosen a man for such a task,

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without the most careful deliberation. They knew the difficulties and responsibilities before their agent, and the evidence of their confidence is in the following commission :

We, the undersigned, being the Committee of Congress for Secret Correspondence, do hereby certify whom it may concern that the Bearer, the Honorable Silas Deane, Esquire, one of the delegates from the colony of Connecticut, is appointed by us to and into France, there to transact such business, commercial and political, as we have committed to his care in be­half and by the authority of the Congress of the thirteen united colonies. In testimony whereunto we have set our hands and seals at Philadelphia, 2 March, 1776.

B. franklin benj. harrison john dickinson john jay robert morris. It was no light thing for Deane to leave his wife, whose health was frail, whom he was des­tined never to see again, and to part with his son Jesse, a boy of ten years who had never been well, to undertake a mission upon which the eyes of the whole country were fixed, and upon whose success so much depended. That he felt his responsibility appears from his parting letter to his wife, to whom he wrote:

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I have, in one of the most solemn acts of my life, committed my son and what I have to your care, and the care of my Brother, confident that you will be to him a real mother, which you have ever been, and guard his youth from anything dangerous and dishonorable. I can but feel for the pain I must have given you by this adventure. You have in every situation discharged your duty as one of the best partners and wives, while on my part, by a peculiar fatality attending me from my first entry into public life, I have ever been involved in one scheme after another so as to keep my mind in constant agitation, and my attention fixed on other objects than my own immediate interests.

The present object is great: I am about to enter on the great state of Europe, and the consideration of getting myself well established weighs me down, with-out the addition of more tender scenes; but I am

" Safe in the hand of the protecting Power, Who ruled, my natal, and must fix my mortal hour."

It matters but little, my dear, what part we act or where, if we only act it well. I wish as much as any man for the enjoyment of domestic ease, peace, and society, but I am forbid experience in them soon; indeed, it must be criminal in my own eyes, did I balance them one moment in opposition to the public good, and the call of my country.

I hope to sail on Tuesday. May God Almighty protect you safe through the vicissitudes of time.

Deane set out on his journey early in March, 1776; sailing by the Bermudas and landing in

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Spain, he escaped the British cruisers. He made his way over the Pyrenees, and after visiting several French cities; he arrived in Paris early in July. He entered upon his mission with caution and some embarrassment. Beaumarchais wrote: "M. Deane does not open his mouth before the English-speaking people he meets. He must be the most silent man in France, for I defy him to say six consecutive words in French."

If Deane was poorly supplied with French, he was well equipped with good advice, "On your arrival in France," began the letter from the committee of March 3, 1776,

you will for some time be engaged in the business of providing goods for the Indian trade. This will give you good countenance to your appearing in the character of a merchant, which we wish you to retain among the French in general, it being probable that the Court of France may not like it should be known publicly that any agent of the colonies is in that country. When you come to Paris, by delivering Dr. Franklin's letters to M. LeRay at the Louvre, and M. Dubourg, you will be introduced to a set of acquaintances, all friends to America. By conversing with them you will have a good opportunity of ac­quiring Parisian French, and you will find in M. Dubourg a man prudent, faithful, secret, intelli­gent in affairs, and capable of giving you very safe advice.

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Thus the Wethersfield merchant was set adrift in the gay capital of Louis XVI, with the task of learning a new language, the customs and ways of a community decidedly different from that with which he had been accustomed, and also of securing goods indispensable to the cause of the patriots.

He was to hold out to France the prize of our commerce and to say:

If we should, as there is a great appearance we shall, come to a total separation from Great Britain, France would be looked upon as the power whose friendship it would be fittest for us to obtain and cultivate. The commercial advantages Britain had enjoyed with the colonies had contributed greatly to her late wealth and importance. It is likely a great part of our commerce will naturally fall to the share of France, especially if she favors us in this application, as that will be a means of gaining and securing the friendship of the colonies; and that, as our trade is rapidly increasing with our increase of people, and in a greater pro-portion, her part of it will be extremely valuable.

These brilliant prospects were not fulfilled. For years French merchants gained more bankruptcy than profit from the American trade, but it is well to put the best foot forward, and in a letter from the Secret Committee of October I, 1776, we read:

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If France will join us, in time there is no danger but the Americans will soon be established as an Independ­ent Empire, and France, drawing from her the princi­pal part of those sources of wealth and power which formerly flowed into Great Britain, will immediately become the greatest power in Europe.

If Franklin, chairman of the committee, wrote these alluring sentences he must have been pretty thoroughly converted to the advantages of the "virgin suitoring" in Europe.

The demands were not modest either.

The supply we at present want [they wrote] is clothing and arms for twenty-five thousand men, with a suitable quantity of ammunition and a hundred field-pieces; and that besides, we want great quanti­ties of linens and woolens with other articles for the Indian trade, and that the whole, if France should grant the other supplies, would make a cargo which it might be well to secure by a convoy of two or three ships of war.

The payment for these stores is rather vaguely hinted at: for the linens, woolens, and goods for the Indian trade he was to ask no credit; and how this Connecticut Yankee was to be magician enough to stretch his little store of money, most of which was in bills, which were afterward re­turned protested, to cover so large a purchase, it is

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hard to understand, and a good many of them have not been paid for yet.

As for the military supplies he was to say: ''We mean to pay for the same by remittances to France or through Spain, Portugal, or the French islands, as soon as our navigation can be protected by ourselves or France." This cheerful information demanded friends both optimistic and altruistic.

Deane's programme was carefully laid out, and the words he was to convert into "Parisian French" were put into his mouth:

If you should find Vergennes reserved, and not inclined to enter into free conversation with you, it may be well to shorten your visit, request him to consider what you have proposed, acquaint him with your place of lodging, that you may stay some time at Paris, and that knowing how precious his time is, you do not presume to ask another audience, but that if he should have any communication for you, you will upon the least notice immediately wait on him. If at a future conference he should be more free, and find a disposition to favor the colonies, it may be proper to acquaint him that they must necessarily be anxious to know the disposition of France in certain points, which, with his permission, you will mention, such as whether, if the colonies should be forced to form themselves into an independent state, France would probably acknowledge them as such, receive their ambassador, enter into any treaty or

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alliance with them, for commerce, or defense, or both.

It is clear that Franklin, Jay, and Morris had a high opinion of the good judgment and diplo­matic skill of their agent, for he was not only to secure supplies, without which the war could not be prosecuted, and do it mainly with promises, and get the supplies past the watchful English men-of-war to America, but he was also to be the entering wedge for a treaty between the old world empire and the new republic.

In further conferences he was to enlarge on these topics, and defend the colonies against ail calum­nies. The committee adds :

When your business in France admits of it, it may be well to go into Holland and visit our agent there, M. Dumas, conferring with him on subjects that may promote our interest, and our means of communi­cation. You will endeavor to procure a meeting with Mr. Bancroft near London, and desiring him to come over to him in France or Holland on the score of old acquaintance. From him you may obtain a good deal of information of what is now going on in England. It may be well to remit him a small bill to defray his expenses in coming to you, and avoid all political matters in your letters to him.

It was a narrow path in which the inexperienced commissioner was to walk. Alas, that the lane had

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such turning as is suggested by the sentence which follows: "You will also endeavor to correspond with Mr. Arthur Lee, agent of the colonies in London."

On July 17, Deane was presented to the Minister of French Affairs, M. Vergennes, whose chief secretary spoke English well, and the interview lasted two hours. Many questions were asked on both sides: the French, eager to know more about the colonies; Deane, anxious to learn how the con­templated Declaration of Independence would be received in Europe.

Vergennes explained that since there was a good understanding between Versailles and London, France could not openly encourage the shipping of warlike stores, but no obstruction of any kind would be given; that Deane was to have a free hand to carry on any kind of commerce in the kingdom under the protection of the police and Vergennes, and he would do well to avoid all Eng­lishmen as far as possible, as the British ambas­sador was on the watch. In reply to Deane's rose-colored prospects for trade, Vergennes con­descended to reply: "The people and their cause are very respectable in the eyes of disinterested persons, and the interview has been agreeable."

Deane soon learned that in a late reform of the

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French army they had shifted their arms to those of a lighter kind; the heavy ones, most of which were the same as new, to the number of seventy or eighty thousand, lay useless in magazines, with other military stores in some such proportion, and that it would be possible to get a supply of these through some merchant, without the Ministry being concerned in the affair.

Then came the tug; with four thousand pounds, and vague promises, Deane was to buy shiploads of merchandise, transport it to the seaboard,- in some instances two hundred miles,-provide vessels, and get them past the watchful British cruisers.

On August 16, he writes to the Committee of Correspondence :

Were it possible, I would attempt to paint to you the heartrending anxiety I have suffered in this time through a total want of intelligence; my arrival here, my name, my lodgings, and many other particulars have been reported to the British Administration, on which they sent orders to the British ambassador to remonstrate in high terms, and to enforce their re­monstrance they despatched Wedderburn from Lon­don and Lord Rochford from Holland as persons of great interest and address here to counteract me. They have been some time here, and the city swarms with Englishmen, and as money purchases everything in this country, I have had, and still have, a most

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difficult task to avoid their machinations. Not a coffee-house or theatre or other place of public diver­sion but swarms with their emissaries, I have seen many more of the persons in power, and had long con­versations with them; their intentions are good, and they appear convinced, but there is wanting a great and daring genius at their head, which the Count Maurepas is far from being.

I must again remind you of my situation here: the bills designed for my use are protested, and expenses rising fast in consequence of the business on my hands. The quantity of stores to be shipped will amount to a large sum; the very charge on them will be great, for which I am the only responsible person.

Burdened as he was with care, Deane was full of courage and hope for the colonies, and through the summer and autumn of 1776 he devoted himself to his mission.

CHAPTER V
DEANE, VERGENNES, AND BEAUMARCHAIS

"I waited on M. Dubourg and delivered him Dr. Franklin's letter," Deane wrote, "which gave the good gentleman the most sincere and real pleasure."

Dubourg was only too willing to help; he had been interested in securing supplies for the colonies,

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and he wished to be the intermediary between Deane and the French Ministry. Deane soon saw that he was too officious and indiscreet to be entrusted with important business. Dubourg talked too much about plans to assist America to suit Vergennes, who wished to have the govern­ment completely in the background.

Beaumarchais wrote the minister: "If while we close the door on one side, the window is open on the other, surely the secret will escape. Sil­ence must be imposed on these babblers, who can do nothing themselves, and who hinder those who can do something."

In August, Deane was informed by Gerard, the first Secretary of Foreign Affairs, that he could rely on whatever Beaumarchais should engage in commercial supplies. In vain Dubourg remon­strated against the decision, the programme was settled, the French government was willing to open its arsenals to help America, but the aid was to be given through the agency and bookkeeping of the fictitious house of Roderique, Hortalez & Co., the head of which was Caron de Beaumarchais.

One would suppose that the French govern­ment would have chosen a merchant or speculator for the task, rather than an author, who, Dubourg bitterly said, was famous for large promises and for

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his carelessness in money matters; but the result proved the wisdom of the choice, though it ruined the brilliant and devoted friend of the colonies.

The famous author of Figaro was born in 1732, in the shop of his father, Caron, a jeweler in the rue St. Denis. At twenty, he invented an improvement in the escapement in watches, and soon styled himself "Watchmaker of the King." By selling watches to courtiers at Versailles, and jostling against nobles and officials, he got together money enough to buy a little office, that of Controller of the Pantry of the King's Household, and he marched with the procession that carried the meat to the royal table; and he had the honor of placing some of the dishes before the king with his own hands; and then he stood watching the repast, with sword at his side. His next step upward was to marry a widow, a lady older than himself, and wealthy; and he took the name of Beaumarchais from a small fief belonging to his wife.

In 1761, M. de Beaumarchais, as he was now cabled, bought for eighty-five thousand livres an office of Secretary to the King, which imposed no duties, but conferred the rank of nobility. When taunted with being a plebeian, he replied that he could easily prove his nobility, for he held the

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parchment that conferred it, and a receipt for the money that paid for it. That parchment did not destroy his democratic sympathy with his brothers in America, who were struggling against tyranny; and the author of Le Mariage de Figaro organized concerts, dipped into speculation, plunged into law, visited England, where he first became interested in American affairs through conversations with men prominent in opposition to Lord North.

Arthur Lee, a member of the Lee family of Virginia, was then studying law at the Temple. He, too, was as gifted a talker as Beaumarchais, and when the two men came together, the atmosphere was flavored and tinged with roses. We can hardly imagine that either believed all that the other said about his respective people, but Beaumarchais came to believe that the American insurgents were of surpassing power, and Lee was convinced that France would help the colonists to the limit of her strength.

Arthur Lee reported to Virginia that France would furnish five million livres' worth of arms and ammunition to the United States. This pro-duct of Lee's imagination and reckless tongue made no end of trouble.

Beaumarchais returned to Paris enthusiastic

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in the cause of America, and suggested to the French government the advisability of lending aid to the colonies. In September, 1775, he submitted to the king a memoir, in which he predicted the triumph of America.

Durand, in New Materials on the American Revolution, says that Beaumarchais told Lee, in 1775, that he was trying to persuade Louis XVI, and Lee wrote the Secret Committee that in consequence of his active procedure with the French ambassador at London, "the Count de Vergennes has sent a secret agent to inform me that France could not think of going to war with England, but he is ready to send five million livres in arms and munitions of war, by way of St. Domingo, to the United States."

Not one word of this was true. Vergennes had not only not sent an agent to Arthur Lee, but Beaumarchais' frequent applications to the minister for secret aid in the shape of money and arms had been and were steadily refused. Not until months afterward was Vergennes ready.

On returning to Paris, Beaumarchais corresponded with Lee and, June 12, 1776, he wrote: "The difficulties I have found in my negotiations with the minister have determined me to form a company, which will enable munitions and powder

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to be transmitted to your friend (Congress) on condition of his returning tobacco to St. Francis."

The youthful Louis XVI was not easily convinced, and if the advice of Turgot, the greatest statesman of France, had been followed, America would have received no encouragement. Turgot, who was Minister of Finance for two years from the summer of 1774, urged neutrality, retrenchment, reform, and the quiet development of France, wasted by the fearful Seven Years' War.

Maurepas, the aged head of the Cabinet, was without vigor, but Vergennes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, adopted the cause of the colonies. Though a cold, calculating man, he was the most powerful friend America had in Europe through the war.

As a statesman, Vergennes was not in the same class as Turgot, but he was a man of decided ability. The Due de Choiseul, Prime Minister of Louis XV, said of Vergennes: " The Compte de Vergennes has something to say against whatever is proposed to him, but he never finds any difficulty in carrying out his instructions. Were we to order him to send us the vizier's head, he would write that it was dangerous, but the head would come."

This powerful friend of America, more than any

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one else, brought the king to our side, though, Sparks says, it was largely due to Beaumarchais that the king was persuaded. On December 7, 1775. Beaumarchais wrote a letter, which was given to Louis XVI by Vergennes, urging him to assist the United States. That letter is said to have turned the scale.

Vergennes was neither a courtier nor a selfishly ambitious man: his habits were simple, clear-headed, and trustworthy. Jefferson says:" I found him as honorable, as frank, as easy of access to reason as any man I have ever done business with." Said James Madison: " He is the great minister of European affairs, cool, reserved in political conversation, free and familiar on other subjects."

Vergennes believed that the loss of the colonies would so seriously cripple England that she could no longer disturb Prance. He also felt the wave of republicanism which was sweeping over France in sympathy with the insurgent spirit across the Atlantic. He likewise believed that the independence of the colonies would greatly advance the commerce of France.

When the ice in Vergennes did not take fire on the reception of Beaumarchais' memorial, the Impetuous dramatist wrote again on the following day, complaining that the Council had taken no

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action, "All the wisdom of the world," he wrote, "will not enable a man to decide on the policy he should pursue if he receives no answers to his letters. Am I an agent who may prove use­ful to this country, or am I a deaf and dumb traveler?"

In December, he addressed another long memo­rial to his sovereign, who had maintained silence. He insisted that Louis owed it to his people to weaken their ancient foe, and ended his harangue with the pious prayer, "May the guardian angel of the state incline the heart and mind of your Majesty."

Two months later, he sent another long com­munication to the crown, declaring that the quarrel between England and America would divide the world and change the system of Europe, and every person should consider how the impending separation would work for his own gain or loss.

This letter discloses the hand of the scheming Arthur Lee:

A secret representative of the colonies in London, discouraged by the failure of his efforts through me to obtain from the French ministers supplies of powder and munitions of war, said to-day: "Has France absolutely decided to refuse us all succor, and thus become the victim of England and the laughing-stock of Europe? We offer France in return

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for secret assistance a treaty of commerce, which will secure to her for a number of years after the peace all the benefits which for a century have enriched England."

Beaumarchais proposed to the king the scheme of which he spoke to Arthur Lee, a scheme by which France could aid the colonies and not be-come involved in war with England. He said: "If your Majesty has not a better man to employ, I will undertake the enterprise and no one shall be compromised. My zeal will better supply my lack of capacity, than the ability of another could replace my zeal." The plan was acceptable to Vergennes, who in May wrote to the French ambassador at Madrid that the king had decided to lend the Americans a million livres, though he would hardly venture to furnish arms and munitions of war; and it would be done in the name of a commercial firm, which would color its zeal by the appearance of a desire to engage in the American trade.

The prospect of repayment was slender, for the company would furnish securities-"to tell the truth, not very binding."

The Spanish king promised to send another million livres.

With the powerful backing of Vergennes,

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Beaumarchais formed his imaginary house of Roderique, Hortalez & Co., and through the Spanish, high-sounding, mythical firm, supplies were forwarded from the French arsenals to the insurgents in America.

To supply money above that furnished by the state, Beaumarchais planned a speculation on his own account, which might prove profitable, if his ships were not captured by the English, and he could get his pay.

On June 10, 1776, the French government advanced a million livres, and Beaumarchais executed the receipt, and two months later an­other million arrived from Spain.

Early in July, a new actor appeared in Paris, Silas Deane, with a commission from Congress to purchase supplies to be paid for by cargoes shipped from the colonies. On applying to Vergennes, he was referred to Beaumarchais, who offered to ship merchandise to the credit of Congress to the amount of three million livres.

Deane wrote Franklin and Morris on August 15: I find M. Beaumarchais, as I before hinted, possesses the entire confidence of the Ministry; he is a man of wit and genius, and a considerable writer on comic and political subjects; all my supplies are to come through his hands.

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On August 18, 1776, Beaumarchais wrote the Committee of Congress:

An extensive commercial house has been formed solely for the purpose of serving you in Europe, to supply you with necessaries of every sort, clothes, linen, powder, ammunition, muskets, cannon, or even gold for the payment of your troops, and in general every­thing that can be useful for the honorable war in which you are engaged.

He gives them to understand that return must be made. He says: "I request of you, gentlemen, to send me next spring ten or twelve thousand hogs­heads, or more if you can, of tobacco from Virginia of the best quality." He also suggests that he could handle cargoes of salted fish.

Lee's officious and imaginative talk about the supplies being a gift made a deeper impression on Congress than Deane's and Beaumarchais' appeal for payment, and the Secret Committee never sent any reply to Roderique, Hortalez & Co., though they received the supplies, and put off paying the unlucky firm.

In February, Beaumarchais sent a letter to the king, in which he showed that if a million livres could be furnished Hortalez & Co., and tobacco be promptly received in payment and sold at Beaumarchais' romancing prices, by the time the

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king had invested a second time the profits of the scheme, the Americans would receive two millions in gold and seven millions in powder and this would increase in geometrical proportion, using three as the multiple.

The Iago in all this mixture of confusion and depravity was Arthur Lee, the political enemy of Beaumarchais and Deane, who was determined to advance himself, though he ruined every one who stood in his way.

When Deane arrived in Paris, and Beau­marchais no longer communicated with Arthur Lee,

The latter [says Sparks] was disappointed and en­raged against Deane, no less than against Beaumar­chais. To avenge himself on both, Lee wrote the Committee of Congress that the two men had agreed to deceive at once the French and the American governments, by changing what the French minister meant to be a gratuitive present into a commercial operation.

De Lomenie says he has found among Beau­marchais' papers proofs that the shipments were carefully inspected by American agents, and Deane and Beaumarchais were surprised that Virginia and Maryland tobacco did not arrive. Neither took account of Arthur Lee.

The headquarters of the flourishing and ill-

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starred firm of Roderique & Co. were In the Faubourg du Temple, in a large house in which the Dutch ambassadors had lived. Many clerks were installed there, and the author of Figaro was to be found there early and late, overseeing the activity of the clerks with energy, if not with business methods.

One would not use the term "hard-headed" in speaking of a merchant who wrote in business letters such sentences as these:

Your deputies, gentlemen, can find in me a sure friend, and asylum in my house, money in my coffers, and any means of facilitating their operations. I promise you that my indefatigable zeal shall never be wanting to clear up difficulties, soften prohibitions, and facilitate the operations of a commerce which your advantage, more than my own, has made me undertake.

Of the activities of Beaumarchais, we shall speak more in detail in the next chapter. We wish we were not obliged to record the sequel to this al­truistic and enthusiastic endeavor. No tobacco was sent by the colonies to the Hortalez firm. Its agents at Nantes and Boulogne strained their eyes to see the ships, with thousands of hogs­heads of the best Virginia tobacco, coming up the harbor. Beaumarchais received not even

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a letter acknowledging the receipt of the sup-plies. In October, he wrote: "There is no news from America and no tobacco either. This is depressing, but depression is a long way from discouragement.''

The mischievous and pernicious activity of Arthur Lee was bearing fruit. Lee, who seemed incapable of telling the truth, kept writing Congress that the munitions of war were not to be paid for. "M. Vergennes," he wrote, "has repeatedly assured us that no return was expected for the cargo sent by Beaumarchais. This gentle-man is not a merchant; he is known to be a political agent employed by the Court of France."

Even if France had advanced two hundred thousand dollars, the supplies sent by Beaumarchais amounted to several times that amount; and when Lee said the supplies were a gift of France, he lied and he knew it, and he knew also that when he suggested that the demands of Beaumarchais and Deane would fill their pockets with illegal gains, his lies were still more fiendish, for he was plotting the ruin of two honest and devoted men, whose earnestness and fidelity his miserable soul could not appreciate.

Congress was perplexed and, being short of funds, did nothing. It is hard enough to pay

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one's honest debts out of a full pocket; the payment of a questionable claim causes a beggar little worry.

Franklin had little confidence in the Roderique, Hortalez & Co., and declared to Deane that he would have nothing to do with any transactions arranged before his arrival. When Coudray, on reaching America, was furious against Beau-marchais, Congress was puzzled.

Imagine [says De Lomenie] the effect on sober Yankees, nearly all of whom had taken part in commercial transactions before the war, receiving cargoes almost always shipped clandestinely in the night, with. Invoices more or less correct, and the whole, with no other advices than the somewhat hasty missives over the romantic signature of Roderique & Co. in which Beaumarchais mingled together enthusiastic protestations, an unlimited tender of services, political advice, and demands for tobacco and codfish.

Shrewd Yankees were naturally led to think that such a person, so ardent and fantastic, if he really existed, was playing a commercial comedy, understood between him and the French authorities, and that they might use his supplies, read his amplifications, and dispense with sending tobacco. The brilliant firm of Hortalez & Co. was in dire straits. Beaumarchais extracted another million from the depleted French treasury, but that did

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not cover the bill. Beaumarchais wrote repeatedly for payment in tobacco, indigo, anything. Arthur Lee kept repeating his rascally lies, assuring Congress that the demands were parts of a French comedy, or attempts to cheat Congress, and defeat the generous programme of Louis. At last, a cargo of rice and indigo reached France, which the envoys said was intended for them, but Beaumarchais begged so hard, he secured it, though it was worth but a hundred and fifty thousand livres You will see [he wrote his agent in America] that there is a great difference between this drop of water and the ocean of my debts. I am contending with obstacles of every nature, but I struggle with all my might, and I hope to conquer with patience, credit, and money. The enormous losses to which all this puts me appears to affect no one. The minister is inflexible; even the deputies at Passy claim the honor of annoying me-me, the best friend of their country.

In December, 1777, Beaumarchais sent M. Francy to America to see if he could get a settlement of past accounts. " Be like me," he charged him; "despise small considerations and small resentments; I have enlisted you in a magnificent cause."

As the result of Francy's journey the treasuries were put on a surer basis-at least, on paper.

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A carefully drawn contract was made, but the bills remained unpaid.

An appeal was made to Vergennes, asking his advice.

We do not know [the Committee said] who the persons are who constitute the house of Roderique & Co.; but Congress has ever understood, and so have the people in America in general, that they were under obligations to his Majesty's good will for the great part of the merchandise and warlike stores heretofore furnished under the firm name of Roderique, Hortalez & Co.; we cannot discover that any written contract was ever made between Congress or any agent of theirs and the house of Roderique & Co., nor do we know of any living witness or any other evidence, whose testimony can ascertain for us, who the persons are who constitute the house of Roderique & Co., or what were the terms upon which the merchandise and munitions of war were supplied, neither as to the price, nor the time, nor the conditions of payment.

We apprehend that the United States hold them-selves under obligation to his Majesty for all those supplies, and we are sure that it is their wish and their determination to discharge the obligation as soon as Providence shall put it in their power. In the mean-time we are ready to settle and liquidate the accounts according to our instructions, at any time and in any manner, which his Majesty and your Excellency shall point out to us.

In reply to this beautiful letter Vergennes did not and could not make any clear statement.

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He could not acknowledge any responsibility for Roderique & Co. in furnishing munitions of war to America, while England and France were at peace; he wrote the newly appointed minister to the United States:

The king has not furnished anything, he has simply allowed M. de Beaumarchais to provide himself with what he wanted in the arsenals, on condition of re-placing what he took; and that for the rest, I will gladly interpose in order that they may not be pressed for the payment of the military supplies.

In January, 1779, John Jay, president of Congress, extended an eloquent vote of thanks to Beaumarchais as follows:

Sir, the Congress of the United States, sensible of your exertions in their favor, present you with their thanks, and assure you of their regard.

They lament the inconvenience you have suffered by the great advances made in support of these states. Circumstances have prevented a compliance with their wishes; but they will take the most effectual measures in their power to discharge the debt due you.

The liberal sentiments and extensive views, which could alone dictate a conduct like yours, are conspicuous in your actions, and adorn your character. While with great talents you served your Prince, you have gained the esteem of this infant Republic, and will receive the united applause of the New World.

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This must have been very gratifying to a man who enjoyed applause as did Beaumarchais, and in December he sent over another fleet laden with arms and supplies; he also equipped a man-of-war named Fier Roderique, and sent it to guard the merchantmen, at his own expense, and to his personal loss.

The United States did make some payment, not in tobacco, which could have been turned into money, but it remitted two million and a half of livres in bills, payable three years in the future. These scanty promises of a precarious government would not have been paid at all, had not Dr. Franklin insisted upon it.

At last Beaumarchais' money and zeal gave out, and the rich nobles, who had helped him, showed little indulgence. In 1781, Silas Deane sought the settlement of Beaumarchais' claims, for Deane never wavered in the declaration that the supplies should be paid for. In November, 1776, Deane wrote Congress:

I never should have completed what I have done but for the indefatigable and spirited exertions of M. Beaumarchais, to whom the United States are on every account greatly indebted; more so than to any other person on this side of the water; he is greatly in advance of stores, clothing, and the like, and there-

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fore I am confident that you will make him the earliest and most ample remittance. Deane went over the accounts and found the balance due Beaumarchais was three million six hundred thousand livres, but Lee's lies and Deane's calamities furnished excuses for Congress to postpone Beaumarchais' claims.

In 1787, with accounts ten years old, Beau-marchais wrote Congress complaining of the ingratitude of a powerful nation, and it was voted to refer the account to Arthur Lee, who, following his false genius, and consistent with his willingness to ruin Beaumarchais, declared that the goods furnished by Roderique & Co. were gifts, and that Beaumarchais owed the United States almost two million livres.

In 1793, Alexander Hamilton examined the claims and set the sum due M. Beaumarchais at two million two hundred and eighty thousand livres at least, and possibly a million more, but Congress made no appropriation.

Ruined by the French Revolution, Beaumarchais fled to Hamburg, and from his garret and poverty, ill and broken-hearted, he wrote: "Americans, I served you with untiring zeal. I have thus far received no return for this but vexation and disappointment, and I die your creditor. On leaving

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this world I must ask you to give what you owe me to my daughter as a dowry."

Twenty-nine years later, after repeated endeavors for justice, Beaumarchais' daughter went to Washington and solicited payment of the prosperous nation, and eleven years later, fifty-seven years after the debt was incurred, the heirs were told they would receive twenty-five cents on a dollar, if they would sign a receipt in full. They did so to the shame of the young Republic!

Such was the treatment of a man of whom Deane wrote Congress in November 1776:

I cannot in a letter do full justice to M. Beaumarchais for his great address and assiduity in our cause; I can only say he appears to have undertaken it on great and liberal principles, and has in the pursuit made it his own. His interest and influence, which are great, have been exerted to the utmost in the cause of the United States, and I hope the consequences will equal his wishes.

The consequences of what he did for America have more than equaled his expectations, but what can we say of his share in the prosperity, to achieve which he gave such altruistic, such unstinted, devotion?

CHAPTER VI
DEANE FORWARDS MILITARY SUPPLIES

That France had been pitched on for the first application, from an opinion that if we should, as there is a great appearance we shall, come to a total separation from Great Britain, it is likely a great part of our commerce would naturally fall to her share. That the supply we at present want is clothing and arms for twenty-five thousand men, with a suitable quantity of ammunition and a hundred field-pieces.

The French Ministry evaded all responsibility, but told Deane he must do all business with Roderique, Hortalez & Co.-in other words, with Beaumarchais; and the negotiations began

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with the promise of remittance within eight months of the time of the delivery of the goods. On August 2, Deane wrote the Committee of Congress: "A number of gentlemen of rank and fortune, who have seen service and have good character, are desirous of serving the United Colonies and have applied; pray let me have orders on this subject." Though sharply criticized later for sending over so many French engineers and officers, it is significant that his request for instructions was unheeded, and he was left entirely to his own judgment.

Deane was especially impressed with M. Coudray "who had the character of the first engineer of the kingdom," Deane said, "and his manners and disposition will, I am confident, be highly pleasing to you, as he is a plain, modest, active, sensible man, perfectly averse to frippery and parade."

In November, Deane wrote:

M. de Coudray, who has the character of being one of the best officers of artillery in Europe, has been indefatigable in our service, and I hope that the terms I have made with him will not be thought exorbitant as he was a principal means of engaging the stores.

The letters of Deane are full of anxiety. On July 20, he asked Beaumarchais for two hundred

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brass cannon, and arms and clothing for twenty-five thousand men, and desires still more. Four days later he wrote:

The fate of my country depends on the arrival of these supplies. I cannot be too anxious on the subject, nor is there any danger or exposure so great, but what must be hazarded, if necessary, to effect so capital and important a subject.

Two days afterward Beaumarchais wrote:

I do not think so large a train of artillery as you desire can leave this country without a chief and officers, for among a nation as peaceful as the Americans, all knowledge of the tactics must be unknown, and the proper management of a train of artillery is the most difficult branch of the tactics. You ought not, therefore, to hesitate in adopting Mr. Arthur Lee's former plan of sending engineers and officers, particularly officers of artillery. If you approve of the plan, it shall be my duty to tempt the best ones of their class, especially soldiers of fortune. Here there should be no effort at economy.

Coudray was a striking sample of the soldiers of fortune engaged. Deane wrote the Secret Committee that, dissatisfied with an idle life, he was willing to be advanced from his position as an adjutant-general in the French service, to be general of artillery in the American forces, with the rank of major-general.

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It is clear that the French were determined to lump officers and supplies, and apparently Deane had no alternative, he must take both or neither, for he adds :

Considering the importance of having two hundred pieces of brass cannon with every necessary article for twenty-five thousand men provided, with an able and experienced general at the head, warranted by the Minister of the Court, with a number of fine and spirited young officers in his train, and all with­out advancing one shilling, is too tempting an offer for me to hesitate about, though I own there is a silence in my instructions.

In our judgment of Deane for sending over so many officers as he did, we are also to remember how eager they were to come. Franklin wrote to Lovell, October 17, 1777:

You can have no conception of the arts and interest made use of to recommend and engage us to recom­mend very indifferent persons. The opportunity is boundless; the numbers we refuse incredible, which, if you knew, you would applaud us for, and on that account excuse the few we have been prevailed upon to introduce to you.

On September 11, Deane signed an agreement with General Coudray to have the pay of major general, and wrote, "He will exert himself in dispatching the artillery and stores agreed on."

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Coudray was a disappointment: the noble qualities Deane had discovered in him were only skin-deep. He set sail in the Amphitrite with a large cargo of stores, but soon the vessel returned to port by order of the officious Coudray and against the protest of the captain. The officers complained of a lack of livestock. Evidently the gallant general, Coudray, found the menu less appetizing than in the Paris banquet halls. Deane wrote bitterly:

The consequences have been bad. This I must say: He acted an unwise and injudicious part in returning into port; he gave a fresh alarm to the Ministry and occasioned a second counter-order. Indeed, Mons. De Coudray appeared to have solely in view his own ease, safety, and emolument. He returned quite to Paris, without the least ground that I can find for his conduct, and has laid his scheme to pass to America in a ship without artillery, which is absurd, as I engaged with this man solely on account of the artillery he was to assist in procuring and attending in person. His desertion of this charge, with his other conduct, makes me wish that he may not arrive in America at all.

Coudray finally brought his officious and conceited presence across the Atlantic. Then came troubles innumerable; the arrangement was that he should command the artillery; there sprang up

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a plentiful crop of resignations: Coudray would have everything or nothing. His inflexible will paid no regard to the situation. The difficulty was relieved when Congress created for him the office of inspector of the artillery with the rank of major general. Coudray refused this, and en-tered the army as a volunteer, with the rank of captain; but, by what Franklin called "a happy accident," on September 16,1777, he was drowned in the Schuylkill, and the rest of his corps returned to France.

More conspicuous still was the episode con-cerning Comte de Broglie. The following is what Deane wrote the Committee of Secret Corre-spondence December 6, 1776, on a matter, which brought sharp criticism upon the head of the writer:

I submit one thought to you, whether, if you could engage a great general of the highest character in Europe, such for instance as Prince Ferdinand, Mar-shal Broglie, or others of an equal rank, to take the lead of your armies, such a step would not be politic, as it would give a character and a credit to your military, and strike perhaps a greater panic in our enemy. I only suggest the thought, and leave you to confer with Baron De Kalb on the subject at large.

The candidate for the position of commander-in-chief of the American forces was Comte de Broglie,

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who belonged to a family which had furnished two marshals to France. He was a soldier of experience and energy, and it is not strange that when his cause was urged by Baron de Kalb, Deane, overburdened with work and perplexity, and shouldering alone the task of commission, unaided by advice from Congress, should have listened with sympathy. On November 6, he wrote the Committee:

Comte de Broglie, who commanded the army of France in the last war, did me the honor to call on me twice yesterday with an officer who served as his head quartermaster-general and has now a regiment in the service. He is desirous of engaging in the service of the United States. I can by no means let slip the opportunity of engaging a person of so much experience, who is by every one recognized as one of the bravest and most skillful officers in the kingdom.

Just a month later, Deane proposed to the Secret Committee that De Broglie be engaged to take the lead in the army, "I only suggest the thought," wrote Deane, "and leave you to confer with Baron de Kalb." Ten days later De Kalb argues that a military leader of great European reputation would be worth twenty thousand men. It is not strange that Deane was impressed with the idea that a man brought up in war, with such a reputation as Broglie, would be of great value to

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the American cause. Deane was having a hard time.

Well-nigh embarrassed to death [he writes], with applications of officers to go out to America, bills protested, credit poor in Paris, and worse in Amsterdam, reports of the disaster on Long Island, the burning of New York, and of negotiations with Eng-land rendering the French Ministry wary and distant, no orders, advices, or remittance.

On December 4, he wrote Robert Morris that in eight months he had received but two letters from Congress. "Every one here judges," he writes, "you are negotiating, or giving up the cause, and the British ambassador and agents roundly assert it."

His anxiety and distress were greater than at any other time in his life. In the midst of all this wearing, perplexing, discouraging medley, we should not criticize too severely the man for mildly suggesting the project of securing a commander-in-chief of European reputation for the American forces. Washington had a high reputation, and Deane had great respect for his ability, but he still had his spurs to win. We smile with pitying compassion at the folly of displacing the majestic George Washington with a little Frenchman, whose head stood erect, as one contemporary

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said, "like a bantam cock"; his sparkling eyes, when he was excited, were like a volcano pouring forth fire; with the fame of the Seven Years' War resting on his pompous shoulders. De Kalb went over to America as advance agent of this fierce little second-rate officer. De Kalb had the utmost confidence in De Broglie and submitted to him a project, of which he said that it "would perhaps decide the success of the cause of liberty in the United States. Congress should ask of the king of France some one, who would become their civil and military chief, the temporary generalissimo of the new republic." De Kalb speaks considerately of Washington; thinks he has done fairly well.

But my plan is [he says] to have a man whose name and reputation alone would discourage the enemy. Many young noblemen would follow him as volunteers for the sake of serving and distinguishing themselves under his eyes. The nobility, by its interest at Court, by its credit, or the management of its friends and kinsmen, could decide the king in favor of a war with England.... Such a leader, with the assist-ants he would choose, would be worth twenty thou-sand men, and would double the value of the American troops. This man may be found, I think I have found him, and I am sure that once he is known, he will unite the suffrages of the public, of all sensible men, of all military men, and I venture to say of all Europe.

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We are amused at the suggestion that follows that this fiery little fountain of emotion and egotism needed to be wooed like a coy maiden. De Kalb continues:

The question is to obtain his acceptance, which as I think can only be accomplished by loading him with sufficient honors to satisfy his ambition, as by naming him Field Marshal Generalissimo, and giving him a considerable sum of ready money for his numerous children; the cares of whom he would have to forego for some time during his sojourn beyond the seas, to be equivalent to them in case of the loss of their father, and by giving him all the powers necessary for the good of the service.

De Kalb planned to go over to America on the Amphitrite in December, with the promise of the rank of major-general together with twelve thou-sand livres for expenses; and his great mission was to convince the rustics in America that a man of elevated rank and large experience called generalissimo, with supreme authority over the army, and a large pension for life, would splendidly replace the provincial Washington, and reimburse by a hundred-fold all the expenses of the costly venture.

It is unfair to shoulder all this variegated bubble upon the worried and overworked Deane; De Kalb was the prime mover in behalf of his modest

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little chief. "I leave this unsigned," adds De Kalb; "you know who I am."

Broglie had remained quietly at his countryseat at Ruffec, while De Kalb was working so faithfully for the prosperity of America, by plead­ing the interests of its mighty deliverer. In the spring of 1777, De Kalb embarked with Lafayette on the Victory, and when he reached America all his dreamy mists of delusion vanished, after he had entered the presence of Washington, and had seen the greatness of his character, the breadth and force of his mind, his courage and his success. De Kalb was shrewd enough to see that the colonies had no need of a brilliant French officer to give them the victory. In September, 1777, he wrote to General Broglie:

If I return to Europe, it is largely on account of the impossibility of succeeding in the great project with which I occupied myself with so much pleasure. M. de Valfort will tell you that the proposition is im­practicable. It would be regarded as a crying injustice against Washington, and an affront to the honor of the country. He does every day more than could be expected from any general in the world in the same circumstances, by his natural and acquired capa­city, his bravery, good sense, uprightness and honesty, to keep up the spirits of the army and people, and I look upon him as the sole defender of his country's cause.

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Perhaps the most distinguished man whom Deane commissioned was Lafayette, of whom Deane wrote the Secret Committee of Congress: "Lafayette not thinking that he can obtain leave of his family to pass the seas till he can go as a general officer, I have thought I could not better serve my country than by granting him the rank of major-general."

The man who probably did more for our cause than any one else whom Deane sent from Europe was Baron Steuben, whose coming overbalances many a blunder in commissioning some gay soldier of fortune.

On September 3, 1777, Deane wrote Morris of Steuben, who had visited Paris two months before, with all the weight of twenty years of experience under Frederick the Great, part of the time quartermaster-general and aide-de-camp to the king of Prussia. Steuben carried in his pocket letters from Prince Henry of Prussia, and wished to embark immediately, but finding no opportunity, returned to Germany; urged by his friends he went again to Paris, and although Franklin did not favor the plan, Deane urged the German veteran to go to America without delay. It was at a time when complaints were coming back to Paris of the swarm of French officers, who had

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embarrassed more than helped the cause of the Insurgents, but Deane recognized the superior worth of Steuben, and recommended him to Congress and to Washington. Deane's judgment was justified. No other officers who came to us did more than Steuben to perfect our army. He was made inspector-general of the army, with the rank of major-general; introduced German tactics, organized the military staff, and trained the troops in the use of the bayonet.

On September 17, 1776, Deane wrote to a French firm that the total silence of his friends in America had well-nigh distracted him, and de-ranged his whole proceedings; however, he was tired of waiting, and must proceed to order sulphur, saltpetre, and powder. The same day, he wrote to Robert Morris that he should forward in October, clothing for twenty thousand men, thirty thousand fusils, one hundred tons of powder, twenty-four brass mortars, with shells, shot, lead, etc.

On September 30, he explains to Morris his embarrassment in ordering large stores of military supplies without a shilling of money, exclusive of a fund of forty thousand pounds originally in-tended for other affairs. He writes: "To let slip or to let pass such an opportunity for want of

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ready money would be unfortunate, and yet that was taking from a fund before deficient." He adds a little touch which shows the domestic side of his life: "Pray forward the trifles I am sending to my little deserted family as soon as received. God bless and prosper America, is the prayer of every one here, to which I say, Amen and Amen.''

Although the Declaration of Independence had been issued in America nearly three months be-fore, there had been no official announcement of the fact to France. On October I, Deane wrote the Secret Committee that the situation was critical, the ministry uneasy at the absolute silence from America and the bold assertions of the British Ambassador, together with the declaration of a General Hopkins of Maryland, who pretended to be in Deane's secrets, who insisted that the stores would be used against France. This had brought the French to apprehend, not only a settlement between England and America, but the most serious consequences to the French West India Islands should the colonies again unite with Great Britain. He said:

For me, alas, I had nothing left but to make the most positive assertions that no accommodation could or would take place, and to pledge myself in the strongest possible manner that thus would turn out

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the event, yet so strong were their apprehensions that an order was issued to suspend furnishing me with stores. Our friend Beaumarchais exerted himself, and in a day or two obtained the orders to be countermanded. For Heaven's sake, if you mean to have any connection with this kingdom, be more assiduous in getting your letters here. It would be too tedious to recount what I have met with. I do not mention a single difficulty with one complaining thought for myself: my all is devoted, and I am happy in being so far successful. The stores are collecting, and I hope will be embarked by the middle of the month. It is consistent with a political letter to urge the remittance of the fourteen thousand hogsheads of tobacco written for formerly, in part payment of these stores: if you make it twenty thousand the public will be gainers.

Evidently Deane did not think of the goods as a present.

A week later, Deane wrote the Committee that the three months' silence after the Declaration of the Fourth of July had given him inexpressible anxiety, and more than once came near frustrating his whole endeavors, for it had been expected in Paris that the next step after the independence would be an appeal for the friendship of France. He again calls for twenty thousand hogsheads of tobacco and suggests that the frigates could discharge their cargo at Bordeaux, and refit there

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as cruisers to prey on British commerce and pillage the west coast of England and Scotland.

Through the autumn of 1776, Deane was burdened with incessant anxiety in his endeavors to get the war materials to Havre de Grace and Nantes, and then away. He was overwhelmed by offers from French officers, eager for advanced orifice and increased pay. He wrote: "Had I ten ships I could fill them all with passengers for America. I am well-nigh harassed with applications of officers. Baron de Kalb, I consider an important acquisition, as are many other officers, whose character I stay not to particularize."

On December 3, he wrote the Committee: "I shipped forty thousand tons of saltpetre, two hundred thousand pounds of powder via Martinique, and one hundred barrels via Amsterdam." By the same mail he wrote John Jay that the Declaration of Independence had been presented in Court, and it was well received.

Thomas Morris, the wayward brother of Robert, added much to the care and worry of Deane. Thomas was in London, and his able and powerful brother, Robert, anxious to help him in his career, had given him a financial position in London under the supervision of Deane. Writing to Robert Morris, December 4,1777, Deane says:

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I am afraid, from good advices from London, that pleasure has got too strong a hold on him. On his arrival in London, a respectable friend wrote me that the company he dipped at once into was so dissolute and expensive that it very essentially injured the reputation of your house.

On October 23, a letter came from Robert Morris urging Deane to be attentive to Thomas and spur him up to diligent, honest, and faithful discharge of duty. By the same mail there came a letter from the Committee announcing that Thomas Jefferson had declined to go to France, and Arthur Lee of London had been appointed to serve with Deane and Franklin as commissioner. It is interesting to imagine what would have been Deane's later life, if Jefferson had accepted the office of commissioner, and Arthur Lee had been allowed to spend his virulence on some one else.

The gloom of approaching disaster and ruin began to gather about Deane when in December 1777; Arthur Lee crossed the British Channel and took lodgings in Paris.

Before we pass to the consideration of Deane's work in conjunction with Franklin and Lee, we glance at the work accomplished in the five months during which he had served alone. By the first of December, eight ships were ready to sail with

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the supplies, which were indispensable for the campaign which culminated in the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, and all, except the Flamand, were got to sea in January and February, 1777; the Flamand sailed in September. These vessels carried eight thousand seven hundred and fifty pairs of shoes, three thousand six hundred blankets, more than four thousand dozen pairs of stockings, one hundred and sixty-four brass cannon, one hundred and fifty-three carriages, more than forty-one thousand balls, thirty-seven thousand fusils, three hundred and seventy-three thousand flints, fifteen thousand gun worms, five hundred and fourteen thousand musket balls, nearly twenty thousand pounds of lead, nearly one hundred and sixty-one thousand pounds of powder, twenty-one mortars, more than three thousand bombs, more than eleven thousand grenades, three hundred and forty-five grapeshot, eighteen thou-sand spades, shovels, and axes, over four thousand tents, and fifty-one thousand pounds of sulphur.

The Amphitrite and Mercure, on board of which were more than eighteen thousand stands of arms complete, and fifty-two pieces of brass cannon* with powder and tents and clothing, reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the spring in season for the campaign of 1777. It is impossible

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to exaggerate the importance of those supplies in the battles which culminated in the fall of Burgoyne, who was sweeping down powerfully from Canada to New York with the purpose of separating the northern from the southern colonies. It was a time of general alarm throughout the country. The governor's Horse Guard of Connecticut was summoned. Every nerve was strained to stay the advance of Burgoyne. The military supplies, furnished by Vergennes and forwarded by Beaumarchais and Deane, landed at Portsmouth and carried overland to the Hudson, figured largely in the splendid victory, which gave new courage and hope to the American cause, and soon led to the French recognition of the new republic.

It were unfortunate if our story of Coudray and De Broglie has created the impression that all the volunteers who came from beyond the sea were failures; Lafayette, De Kalb, Steuben, and Pulaski came early, and others who came later who did valiant service.

On the whole, the choice of Deane as com-missioner to forward military supplies was justified by the results.

CHAPTER VII
FRANKLIN AND LEE JOIN DEANE IN PARIS

There never has been any question about the wisdom of the choice of Franklin.

Philosophic, literary, and political ferment pre-pared the French people to sympathize with the American insurgents. Scientific activity was vigorous in France in the eighteenth century. "More new truths," says Buckle, "concerning the external world were discovered in France during the latter part of the eighteenth century than during all the previous periods put together." Lecture rooms of professors of chemistry, anatomy, and physics were almost as crowded as theatres, and

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when Franklin appeared in Paris heralded by his fame in electricity, and put the first lightning-rod in France upon his dwelling in Passy, the genial philosopher received a royal welcome.

Wearied with the artificial modes of life, the French were delighted with the naturalness of the Americans, and when Franklin appeared with his provincial dress and benignant face, he excited a widespread interest, which rose to enthusiasm. The feeling of the English was different. Some claimed he had abandoned his country in her ruin. "I have just seen," writes Franklin, "seven paragraphs in the English papers about me, six were lies." Stormont, the British Ambassador to France, wrote: "It is generally believed here that he comes in the double capacity of a negotiator and a fugitive. He will lie, he will promise, and he will flatter, with all the insincerity and subtlety that are natural to him." Deane wrote: "His arrival is the common topic for conversation, and has given birth to a thousand conjectures."

No one else could have been selected so admirably adapted to the task that needed doing. The story of the kite, the new world of electrical knowledge and power just opening; his reputation as a philosopher and a wise man, his simple dress, shrewd conversation, keen criticism, and inde-

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pendent judgment attracted the admiration of a people, tired of an effete civilization. The Comte de Segur says:

It would be difficult to describe the eagerness and delight with which these agents of a people in a state of insurrection against their monarch were received in Prance, in the bosom of an ancient monarchy. No-thing could be more striking than the contrast between the luxury of our capital, the elegance of our fashions, the magnificence of Versailles, the still brilliant remains of the monarchical pride of Louis, and the polished and superb dignity of our nobility. . . and the almost rustic apparel, the tmpowdered hair, the plain but firm demeanor, the free and direct language of the envoys; whose antique simplicity of dress and appearance seemed to have introduced within our walls, in the midst of the effeminate and servile refinement of the eighteenth century, sages contemporary with Plato, or republicans of the age of Cato and of Fabius. This unexpected spectacle produced upon us a greater effect in consequence of its novelty, and because it occurred precisely at the period when literature and philosophy had spread amongst us all an unusual desire for reforms, a disposition to encourage innovations, and the seeds of an ardent attachment to liberty.

Parton writes:

Men imagined they saw in Franklin a sage of antiquity come back to give austere lessons and generous examples to the moderns. They personified in him

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the Republic of which he was the representative and the legislator. They regarded his virtues as those of his countrymen, and even judged of their physiognomy by the imposing and serene traits of his own.

The French police gave him abundant advertisement:

Dr. Franklin [says a sketch of the time is very much run after, and feted, not only by the savants, his confreres, but by all the people who can get hold of him. This Quaker wears the full costume of his sect. He has an agreeable physiognomy, spectacles always on his eyes; but little hair,-a fur cap is always on his head. He wears no powder, but has a neat air, linen very white, and a brown coat.

When he reached Paris on Dec. 3, 1776, he took lodgings at first at the center of the city in the H6tel de Hamburg, but he soon accepted the invitation of Le Ray de Chaumont, a wealthy and ardent friend of America, to take up his abode in a more retired place in Passy, half a mile beyond the outskirts of Paris. There for nine years Dr. Franklin lived.

That house is still in existence, and it has on its facade an inscription which informs the public that it was the home of Franklin.

That house became the center of a cordial and extensive hospitality. Americans were there, whether friendly or unfriendly. There Franklin

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tried to make Deane and Lee forget their animosities. There was entertained Ralph Izard, a man of the same stripe as Arthur Lee, sent over as envoy to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, but preferring to live in Paris in idleness; whose laziness and meanness at length wore out the patience of the gentle Franklin, who closed his house to a man so unprincipled and virulent. John Adams says:

Franklin's reputation was more universal than that of Leibnitz or Newton, Frederick or Voltaire; and his character more esteemed than any or all of them. . . . His name was familiar to government and people, to kings, courtiers, nobility, clergy, and philosophers, as well as plebeians, to such a degree that there was scarcely a peasant or a citizen, a valet-de-chambre, coachman, or footman, a lady's chamber-maid, or a scullion in the kitchen, who was not familiar with it, or who did not consider him as a friend to humankind. If a collection could be made of all the Gazettes of Europe for the latter part of the eighteenth century, a greater number of panegyrical paragraphs upon "le grande Franklin" would appear, it is believed, than upon any other man who ever lived.

Medallions, busts, medals of every size and style appeared. Franklin wrote his daughter:

A variety of impressions has been made of different sizes: some large enough to be set in the lids of snuff-boxes; some so small as to be worn in rings; and the

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number sold is incredible. These, with the pictures, busts, and printings (of which copies upon copies are spread everywhere), have made your father's face as well known as that of the moon.

Franklin and Deane were together at Passy, on friendliest terms, and soon Lee came over from England and took lodgings in another part of the city, scornful of the French, eager to push forward his own interests, bent on mischief.

Arthur Lee had two brothers in Congress, one of whom was Richard Henry Lee, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Arthur Lee was born Dec. 20, 1740, three years after Deane. His early education was finished at Eton in England, whence he went to Edinburgh to prepare for the medical profession. After taking his degree, he traveled in Holland and Germany, and then re­turned to Virginia to practice. Not satisfied with the medical profession he went to London and be­gan to study law at the Temple, about the year 1766.

Sparks is our authority for the statement that Lee was hostile to Franklin from an early date, and while he did not secure his downfall as he did that of Deane, he did his best to compass it.

While Franklin was agent for Massachusetts at the Court of London, Arthur Lee was nominated

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to be his successor when he should retire. Circumstances detained the philosopher longer in England than was expected, and Lee grew impatient, and fearing, as he said, that Franklin would never depart until he was gathered to his fathers, resorted to the dishonorable artifice of writing letters to one of the principal men of the Massachusetts legislature, filled with charges against him regarding his official conduct, charges as destitute of foundation as of candor and propriety.

In October, 1777, Lee wrote to his brothers and to Samuel Adams that foreign affairs were in con­fusion, and that he would "prefer being at the Court of France, the great wheel by which all the other wheels are moved," and he recommended that Franklin be sent to Vienna and Deane to Holland.

At one time, he intimated that Franklin had out a public vessel on a "erasing job," in the profits of which he was to share; at another lime, he said that Franklin and an American banker in Paris were in league with each other to defraud the public and put money into their own pockets.

Deane had some dealings with Lee before the filter was appointed Commissioner, and in a way

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which did not commend the Virginian to the Yankee. In the summer of 1776, Deane wrote:

I received a letter from Arthur Lee, then at London, desiring me to inform Congress that Joseph Reed and John Langdon were dangerous persons, and to put Congress on guard. Stranger as I was to Arthur Lee's character, his letter greatly surprised me, the more so as he wrote in the most positive terms, with­out giving me the reasons for the charge. I replied that I could by no means comply with his request, that I had long been personally acquainted with the gentlemen, and had the fullest confidence in their integrity and zeal for America, therefore I could not think of transmitting such information without proof; that I knew they held important posts in Congress, therefore, if the charge could be supported, no time should be lost in transmitting evidence, but I trembled at the thought of giving Congress suspicions of its most confidential servants without certain proof; the consequences must be pernicious to the public and fatal to the individual.

Some time afterward Lee visited Paris, and Deane urged him to give him the grounds for his letter concerning Reed and Langdon. Lee said that as for Reed he really knew nothing more than that he formerly corresponded with Lord Dart­mouth, and Reed's brother-in-law had an inter­view with his lordship. But as for Langdon he had no doubt about his disloyalty, as he had spent the last winter in London and was frequently with

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the Ministry. Deane replied that as to the latter he had spent the last winter in Philadelphia, and as to the former he did not think such vague and inconclusive circumstances were sufficient to authorize the sending general charges to Congress; that charges of such a complexion, and coming from such a person as himself, must forever damn the reputation of those accused, and alarm and embarrass the public. To this Lee replied that he knew that a person named Langdon had been in London the last winter, and therefore he wrote, supposing him to be John Langdon of Ports-mouth; that he believed he was too suspicious at times, and was glad Deane had not sent forward the letter.

When the three Commissioners had gotten settled, they called on Vergennes, who assured them of his friendliness so far as the treaty obligations with England would permit. He criti-cized Beaumarchais for letting Deane have the supplies and seemed to blame the imaginary firm, Roderique, Hortalez & Co., and Franklin and Lee determined to let Deane engineer the business end of their commission.

It was a trying time, the Amphitrite had re-turned to port because of head-winds and lack of fresh meat for the gallant Coudray. Deane found

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Beaumarchais ill in bed with fatigue and vexation "I never had been," writes Deane, "in so critical and distressed a situation. All the difficulties before were as nothing." The stores of thirty thousand stands of arms, near two hundred and fifty pieces of brass artillery, clothing and powder, were ready at the ports; ships were ready at expense; accounts of the critical situation of the armies in America, their misfortunes, distress, and want of supplies, together with the coolness and reserve of the Minister, almost put Deane into desperation. Something must be done; Deane saw that his only hope was through Beaumarchais and he assured him that, however decided the opposition of the city and the Court, there must be no desertion of the cause, and the business of securing supplies for the American army must not fall through; between Beaumarchais and Deane, the Amphitrite was cleared as for the West Indies, with instructions to the captain to head for Portsmouth, and he arrived there in April just as the troops were taking the field.

It was difficult and expensive to get the stores to the seaports; some of the cannon were drawn two hundred miles; British agents were every-where on the watch; the moment war supplies began to move, remonstrance and counter orders

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sprang up. Deane carried the burden of buying and forwarding supplies, a task for which he was better qualified than for politics. Franklin was past seventy when he went to Paris, and he had neither experience nor taste for business and accounts, and he was quite willing that younger men should attend to details. Lee was away from Paris much of the time, in Spain, Holland, and Berlin, vainly seeking help; when he was in Paris Deane talked over the contracts with him as he always did with Franklin, but affairs ran more smoothly with the Commissioners when Lee was out of town. Here is a sample of his mental breadth and good sense: Deane was negotiating with a French contractor, a M. Holker, for several thousand suits of clothes for the army, and after talking it over together they decided that it would be wise, for the severe climate of America, to make the coats longer than usual, in order to lap over the trousers for the better protection of the men; it was argued that the expense would be slight as it would require only one sixth more cloth and four extra buttons, but when Deane and Holker talked it over with Lee, the latter objected on the ground of expense; so strenuous was the opposition, that Holker generously offered to bear the extra cost himself, when Lee

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answered that he had another objection, that it would increase the weight of the coat and thus fatigue the soldier! It is not strange that after that the French contractors declined to discuss their contracts with Lee. The autumn of 1776 was discouraging: Burgoyne was on his way toward Albany to cut the eastern colonies off from the southern; Gen. Howe was pushing on toward Philadelphia, and the American forces were retreating; the French Ministry was wary; sometimes the French assurances of help were scanty. Deane went to Fontainebleau with a fixed resolution, when the fortunes of the Continental army were ebbing and credit almost gone. The appearance of the persistent Yankee Commissioner gave the Ministry decided uneasiness, for powerful English officers were on the watch, and the future of the American cause was cloudy. They asked Deane to wait till they heard from Spain; he knew it was an excuse to hear from America; the last news from the seat of war was discouraging, the next might mean ruin for the insurgents; but notwithstanding the hostile looks, Deane declared his determination to remain there until he obtained a positive answer to his request for money. He insisted on a short interview with Vergennes, he

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was informed that the courier had not returned from Spain, and it was desired that he should retire from Fontainebleau, where the person and business of any stranger, especially an American Com-missioner, could not escape observation.

Deane replied that it was within the power of the Minister to free himself from any uneasiness on his account by granting his request, and probably of all future solicitude concerning America by the absolute refusal of it, but that he could not think of returning to Paris without an explicit answer.

As we look at the situation, the stand which Deane took was indispensable, for while the French treasury was impoverished, the state of affairs in America was desperate; even Franklin advised stopping the execution of the contract, and selling the goods on hand, to pay the pressing debts which the Commissioners had contracted.

Deane's earnest and convincing plea was successful, he was told that three million livres would be furnished Grand, our banker, on our account in quarterly payments the next year, and perhaps som