Unlikely Allies

by Joe Richard Paul

  Though Franklin thought that Deane could escape suspicion, practically from the moment Deane landed, the British ambassador to France, Lord Stormont, knew of his presence. Stormont had informants posted at various French ports reporting on the arrival and departure of vessels. Any American arriving in France was immediately suspect. Deane noticed two Englishmen, whom he had seen when he arrived in Bordeaux, trailing him in Paris. Stormont had sent them to watch Deane and prevent him from meeting with French officials. He plotted to have Deane seized if he tried to return to America. Deane wrote that Paris “swarmed with Englishmen” who followed him everywhere, causing him “heartrending anxiety.” Deane could trust no one.

  It was not idle paranoia. Paris was lousy with British spies. Less obtrusively, the French police chief Jean-Charles-Pierre Lenoir was also watching Deane and reporting all this British espionage regularly to Foreign Minister Vergennes. Marveling at Britain’s economic competitiveness, Vergennes remarked that the British government was hardly “economical” when it came to espionage. Spying on foreigners was not uncommon, but Vergennes mused that only a government as free as England’s would be so suspicious of its own subjects.

  NINETEEN

  THE FOREIGN MINISTER WINKS

  Paris, July 1776

  The Secret Committee had advanced 200,000 Continental dollars to Deane and Robert Morris as a down payment on the purchase of arms, ammunition, and clothing for 25,000 troops, 100 brass field pieces, and presents for the Indian tribes. Deane soon realized that the 200,000 Continental dollars would not go far in France. Though a Continental dollar was supposed to have the same value as a Spanish silver dollar, which was often used in the colonies, the Continental dollar lost value as soon as it was printed. There was no gold or foreign currency backing up the value of the Continental dollar, and Congress had not even declared independence by the time it was printing Continental dollars, which was prohibited by British law. While originally the face value of 200,000 Continental dollars would have equaled the purchasing power of nearly $5 million today, by the time Deane reached Paris, it was worth about one-tenth that amount, assuming he could find someone willing to accept his dollars. It was hardly enough money to finance an army, and Deane had already spent a substantial portion of his cash on his four-month-long journey. Most of the advance was in the form of large bills drawn by Congress on a bank in London, but banks had no reason to trust the credit of a Congress that was operating without legal authority from the British sovereign. When Deane presented the bills for deposit to a bank in Paris, nearly all of the notes were returned unpaid. Within days of his arrival in Paris, Deane had no means to purchase more supplies for the army, and for his travel and living expenses he was forced to rely on bills drawn against his own private business.

  On July 8, a few days after Deane’s arrival in Paris, a visitor called on him at his hotel. It was Dr. Edward Bancroft, whom Franklin had recommended as a contact for Deane in London. Bancroft arrived still feeling the ill effects of a virus. Deane had not seen Bancroft since he had been Deane’s pupil back in Hartford, sixteen years earlier, and he was eager to hear all about Bancroft’s adventures since. After leaving Deane’s tutelage, Bancroft had apprenticed to a doctor in Connecticut, but he yearned for more excitement and soon ran off to sea. Coincidentally, he worked on a plantation in Guiana owned by Paul Wentworth, Arthur Lee’s friend in London. Wentworth had become a kind of patron to Bancroft. In Guiana, Bancroft learned about obscure native plants and developed an expertise in native dyes, medicines, and poisons. After a few years he moved to Britain, where he received a medical degree from the University of Aberdeen. He also wrote An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, in South America. He found work writing reviews of recent American publications for the Monthly Review, and in that capacity he had befriended Franklin, America’s most famous publisher, while Franklin was living in London in the 1770s. He also knew Lee in London, and Bancroft may have introduced Lee to his friend Wentworth when Lee was a law student. With Franklin’s support, Bancroft had been elected to the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal British Society. Bancroft had also written a strong critique of British colonial policy, which had impressed Franklin.

  Now thirty-two, Bancroft was well known in London as a scientist and a popular author. He had written an epistolary novel on the evils of religion and civilization called The History of Charles Wentworth, Esq. It tells the sordid tale of a young man who impregnates a woman, abandons her to a life of prostitution, and runs off to find adventure in Guiana. Some people probably wondered if Bancroft used the name of the former British prime minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, the Marquess of Rockingham, as a political satire. But Bancroft may have been writing about someone else entirely. Rockingham, a leading critic of the present government’s colonial policy, was also the cousin of Bancroft’s friend and patron, Paul Wentworth, who had much more in common with Bancroft’s amoral hero. As charming as he was sophisticated, Bancroft captivated nearly everyone who met him, and Deane was no exception. Bancroft, who spoke French fluently, offered to help Deane get settled in Paris and make contact with Foreign Minister Vergennes.

  The following day Deane and Bancroft called on Dr. Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg with a letter of introduction from Franklin. Dr. Dubourg was one of Franklin’s closest friends in France. He was a distinguished physician and botanist who spoke English fluently and had translated the first French edition of Franklin’s works—Les Oeuvres de M. Franklin. Dubourg was a wealthy gentleman with access to the highest reaches of the French government, and he was sympathetic to the American cause. Dubourg had already tried to help Congress by sending an agent, Monsieur Pinette, to Philadelphia with an offer to sell the Americans 15,000 muskets from the French government. Deane had met Pinette in Philadelphia before he left for France, and they had agreed on terms for the purchase. But Dubourg did not have Louis XVI’s blessing, and the deal collapsed. Despite this setback, Dubourg still hoped to become the chief arms dealer for the Americans.

  Dubourg’s sympathy for the American cause was eclipsed by his own avarice. He insisted that Deane must procure arms exclusively through him. He told Deane that Vergennes would not see Deane, because Vergennes feared offending the British ambassador, Stormont. Indeed, Stormont had already warned Vergennes that France should not interfere with the American colonies, but Deane saw through Dubourg’s self-serving scheme and firmly insisted that Dubourg must arrange for him to meet with the French foreign minister immediately. Dubourg reluctantly agreed to write a letter to Vergennes asking to arrange a meeting with Deane at Versailles the following week.

  WHEN DEANE, BANCROFT, and Dubourg arrived at Versailles on July 11, Vergennes was not expecting them. Though Vergennes’s spies had informed him of Deane’s arrival in Paris, he had not received Dubourg’s letter of introduction. Nevertheless, the French foreign minister met with them for two hours in his well-appointed villa known as “La Solitude,” a short distance from the palace. There British agents would be less likely to observe their meeting. News that Congress had already declared independence had not yet reached Europe. Vergennes’s English was no better than Deane’s French, but the minister’s chief secretary, Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, spoke English well and acted as translator.

  Deane began by informing Vergennes of his secret mission: to solicit France’s friendship, commerce, and support in the guise of a private merchant. Aware that he did not know what behavior would be expected of him in these circumstances, Deane modestly asked the foreign minister to forgive him for his ignorance of diplomatic etiquette. Vergennes assured Deane that he found Deane’s simplicity and sincerity agreeable. Vergennes responded that an open acknowledgment of the independence of the colonies or an assertion of a right to trade with North America would antagonize Britain and could lead to war. This issue could not be addressed without discussions with the king and his other ministers after the colonies declared their independence and proposed terms for commerce and alliance. Independence, in the ministe
r’s words, “was an event in the womb of time,” and it would be improper for him to “say anything on that subject until it had actually taken place.”

  What was France likely to do if the colonies declared independence? Vergennes expressed his personal view that it was not in France’s interest for the British sovereign to defeat the Americans and establish absolute control over North American trade. Vergennes assured Deane that the American cause had “the unanimous good Wishes of the Government and People of France.” The minister extended to Deane “the King’s Protection” from any threat or action by the British. Vergennes worried that the British ambassador might learn of Deane’s mission, and he cautioned Deane to maintain his disguise as a private merchant and to act discreetly to avoid compromising French neutrality. Vergennes told Deane that he should maintain contact with Vergennes’s secretary, Gérard. If Deane needed to see the foreign minister, Vergennes would be happy to meet him someplace away from the palace.

  Deane’s visit to Vergennes bore fruit immediately. Deane had impressed Vergennes both with the urgency of his appeal and his discretion. First, Vergennes informed Deane that 13,000 small arms were being shipped at once to Congress from Nantes. This was the shipment Dubourg had arranged with Pinette but which the French government had earlier stopped. Second, Vergennes wrote to Deane a few days after their initial meeting to suggest that Deane contact a Monsieur Beaumarchais, who ran an import-export firm in Paris. Vergennes claimed that Beaumarchais could offer Congress military merchandise at good prices on credit, up to three million livres (roughly $25 million today). Since he spoke no French, Deane probably would not have heard of the famous playwright. Dubourg was puzzled by the suggestion that a comedic playwright was now heading a trading firm large enough to finance such a transaction, and he warned Deane that Beaumarchais, “though confessedly a man of abilities, had always been a man of pleasure and never of business.” Relying on Dubourg’s judgment, Deane decided not to contact the playwright.

  Deane followed his meeting with Vergennes by submitting a lengthy memorandum to the minister on the commercial advantages of trade with North America, part of which he had composed during his long ocean voyage. On the morning of July 20, Deane, Dubourg, and Bancroft returned to Versailles to meet with Vergennes and Gérard to urge the French to provide military aid. Deane showed the foreign minister extracts from Franklin’s instructions. He needed arms and uniforms for 25,000 soldiers and 200 light cannons. He offered to pay for them on credit or to replace them at some future time. Vergennes said he did not have sufficient uniforms to offer, but he would see what could be done. The French government could not provide guns or cannons directly, but perhaps Deane could buy these from a private firm.

  Deane asked if France would consider forming an alliance with the Americans against Britain. Vergennes cautiously replied that Deane “could not expect anything of the kind.” Any assistance would be inconsistent with the explicit terms of the 1763 treaty ending the Seven Years’ War with Britain. Vergennes appeared to close the door on providing any overt material support. Vergennes added with a knowing smile that “the ports of France were open” for all trade, other than military goods. And even arms shipments “might be winked at if conducted with prudence.”

  Toward the end of their conversation, Vergennes repeated his suggestion that Deane should meet Beaumarchais. Deane was still uneasy about meeting with the playwright, given what Dubourg had told him. Dubourg’s criticism of Beaumarchais may have been based on the contemporary rumors about Beaumarchais’s unconventional romantic life or his theatrical productions, like The Barber of Seville, which skirted the line of good taste. Or Dubourg’s judgment may have been clouded once more by his own self-interest. He wanted to control commerce with the Americans, and it must have seemed preposterous to Dubourg to be displaced by a comedy writer. Vergennes and his secretary, Monsieur Gérard, assured Deane that Beaumarchais really was financially secure and could readily sell merchandise on credit to the Americans.

  Deane agreed to contact Beaumarchais, unaware that Beaumarchais was already his secret ally in Louis XVI’s court.

  TWENTY

  THE COUNTERSPY

  Paris and London, July 1776

  An envelope addressed in an elegant hand to “Mr. Deine” arrived at the Hôtel du Grand Villars. Beaumarchais had written to Silas Deane in French, hoping that Deane could find someone to translate for him. Edward Bancroft, who spoke fluent French, was happy to oblige. Beaumarchais began that he “cherished the desire to aid the brave Americans to shake off the British yoke,” and for this purpose he had established a firm that could provide military supplies through private channels to the Americans. He alluded to his prior conversation with Arthur Lee, whom he had not heard from in some time, and he now questioned Lee’s bona fides. Moreover, since Vergennes had welcomed Deane as Congress’s emissary, Beaumarchais preferred to negotiate with Deane. There may be other Frenchmen, like Dubourg, who could offer Deane supplies, Beaumarchais conceded, but when Deane compared these offers with Beaumarchais’s “own disinterested ardor for the cause of America,” he would see the difference between dealing with “the common run of agents” and “the pleasure of finding a generous friend.”

  Beaumarchais and Deane met for the first time on a warm Friday afternoon, July 19, 1776. Since Beaumarchais could not speak English, it was necessary for Bancroft to be present to translate. Beaumarchais introduced Deane to his trading firm, Rodriguez Hortalez and Co., which, Deane was unaware, Beaumarchais had recently established for this purpose only. They agreed that in exchange for uniforms, guns, and ammunition sufficient to arm 25,000 men, Congress would ship to Rodriguez Hortalez and Co. ten to twelve thousand hogshead or more of the finest Virginia tobacco. (A hogshead was a large wooden barrel, which, when full of tobacco, weighed roughly one ton.) Beaumarchais did not disclose to Deane that his operation was secretly underwritten by a loan of one million livres from Louis XVI and another million that Vergennes had squeezed out of the king of Spain with vague assurances about the Bourbon alliance against Portugal. (The total of two million livres would be worth about $15 million today.) Although Deane may have suspected later that the king was financing Beaumarchais, it is unclear whether Deane ever realized the full extent to which the French government was Beaumarchais’s silent partner.

  Beaumarchais boasted to Deane that Rodriguez and Hortalez was “well established and I have allocated many millions to your trade alone.” He would take care of every detail of their commercial arrangements, and he claimed that he had agents in every French port to assist them. He explained that despite Louis XVI’s “overt opposition” to helping the Americans, Beaumarchais would do his “utmost to clear up difficulties, soften prohibitions, and in short pave the way” for providing military aid on favorable terms.

  It is doubtful that Beaumarchais had any of the capabilities he claimed, but he never doubted that his capacity could rise to meet his confidence. Whether out of excessive zeal or blind ambition, Beaumarchais now acted as if he were operating as a kind of shadow government. He advised both the American Congress and Versailles on foreign relations and finances. Though he was virtually unknown in America, Beaumarchais boldly wrote to the Continental Congress, advising the delegates of the merits of appointing a dictator during wartime. In a similar vein, he wrote to Louis XVI, proposing a new tax system to finance a war with Britain. Beaumarchais did not have a modest opinion of his own genius.

  In fact, Beaumarchais remained frustrated with his own government’s tentative measures. “I am even more unfortunate than Cas sandra, whose prophecies no one believed because she always announced calamities,” he complained. Even though he predicted only success for the Americans, his predictions were dismissed as confusing reality with his “overheated imagination.” At least, he had the good sense to acknowledge his clumsiness. He knew that he could offend ministers. “I did not promise you to do my best in politics,” he wrote Vergennes, “but to do the best that can be done. You can jud
ge if I intend to keep my word.” He asked the foreign minister not to “take my impatient remarks as insubordination.” Rather, he explained, “It’s only zeal.”

  A WEEK AFTER Deane’s first meeting with Beaumarchais, Bancroft left Deane to return to London. He promised to visit again with fresh information when his affairs permitted. Deane was sorry to see his friend leave. He paid Bancroft’s travel expenses out of his dwindling advance and agreed to employ him as a secret agent for information about British politics and military movements. Deane gave Bancroft an advance of thirty pounds on an annual salary of 300 pounds (about $56,000 today).