CHAPTER Hortales and Co. Before this matter could be finally arXXXV. ranged, Deane had arrived at Paris; not openly in any 1776. public capacity, but apparently as a private merchant. May. He was courteously received by Vergennes, and was

presently introduced to Beaumarchais, with whom he completed the arrangements commenced with Lee in London. It was agreed that Hortales and Co. should send the proposed supplies by way of the West Indies, and that Congress should remit tobacco and other produce in payment.

Beaumarchais presently dispatched three vessels, and others subsequently, with valuable cargoes, including two hundred pieces of artillery and a supply of small arms from the king's arsenals, four thousand tents, and clothing for thirty thousand men. This whole transaction was conducted with great secrecy and a good deal of mystery. Deane's movements were closely watched by British agents; and the French court would trust none of its secrets to Congress, whose most private deliberations, by some means or other, became speedily known to the British ministry.

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence, a plan of treaties with foreign powers had been reported by the committee on that subject, and their report being accepted by Congress, Franklin, Deane, and Jefferson had Sept. 26. been appointed commissioners to the French court. Unwilling to leave his wife, whose health was declining, Jefferson refused the appointment, and Arthur Lee, who still remained at London, was substituted for him. The secret committee charged with the oversight of foreign affairs were directed to remit bills or to export produce till they had established in France a fund for the support of the commissioners, who were directed to live in a style" to support the dignity of their public character."

Besides the payment of their expenses, they were to re- CHAPTER ceive a handsome allowance" for their time and trouble.

XXXV.

Dec.

Franklin sailed for France in the Reprisal, of sixteen 1776. guns, one of the new Continental frigates, the first na- Oct. tional American vessel to show itself in the eastern hemisphere. He arrived in safety; and Lee, from London, presently joined his colleagues. The commissioners were received by Vergennes, privately, with marks of favor, but without public acknowledgment, or any open recognition of their diplomatic character. The firmness of the Americans, and their resolution to maintain their independence, were still regarded as doubtful. France was secretly strengthening her navy and preparing for war; but a serious obstacle was encountered in the deranged state of her finances, over which Neckar had just been called to preside.

A considerable number of captured British seamen had been brought into French ports by American privateers, and the American commissioners, shortly after their arrival, addressed a note to Lord Stormont, the British embassador, proposing to exchange them for American prisoners in the hands of the British. "The king's embassador receives no application from rebels, unless they come to implore his majesty's mercy:" such was Stormont's stately reply, written on a slip of paper, which the commissioners sent back again for his lordship's "better consideration."

The American commissioners received from the French government a quarterly allowance, amounting in the whole to about $400,000; and half as much more was advanced on loan by the farmers general, to be repaid by remittances of tobacco. This money was principally applied to the purchase of arms and supplies for the troops, and the fitting out of armed vessels-a business

XXXV.

CHAPTER left very much in the hands of Deane, who had been bred a merchant, and who still continued to have the 1777. chief management of the transactions with BeaumarApril. chais. Of the ships first dispatched under that arrangement, two were taken by the enemy; a third arrived very seasonably with arms for the new regiments, which began at last to fill up.

After the loss of New York, the commissioners had been instructed by Congress to press the subject of a treaty, and to offer very favorable terms as to commerce and the division of conquests. Commissioners were also appointed to the other European courts-Franklin, and, when he declined, Arthur Lee, to Madrid; William Lee, a brother of Arthur, and lately one of the sheriffs of London, to Vienna and Berlin; and Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, to Florence. These appointments, how. ever, were perfectly useless. Before information of them

arrived at Paris, Lee, at the request of his brother commissioners, had already visited Spain. He was stopped short at Burgos by an agent of the Spanish government; a small sum of money was promised to pay for military stores shipped from Bilboa; but Lee was not allowed to proceed to Madrid. His activity presently vented itself in a still more fruitless expedition to Germany. Izard made no attempt to visit Florence, but remained at Paris, drawing a salary from the almost exhausted funds of the commissioners. William Lee, after a useless visit to Berlin, where his papers were stolen, through the contrivance, as was thought, of the British resident minister, returned to Paris to keep Izard company.

The convenient expedient of postponing the burdens of the war by the issue of bills of credit had stood Congress and the states in excellent stead. The value of

XXXV.

this paper had kept up remarkably. Eighteen months CHAPTER expired, and twenty millions of Continental bills had been authorized, besides large local issues, before any 1777. very marked signs of depreciation had made their appearance. At length, however, it began to be obvious that depreciation could only be prevented by stopping the issue; and Congress, as a substitute for further issues, had proposed to raise a loan of five millions of dollars at an interest of four per cent. A lottery was also authorized, designed to raise a like sum on loan, the prizes being payable in loan-office certificates. With the continued ill success of the American arms, after the loss of New York, the paper money continued to depreciate. The disaffected refused to take it; and among the other extraordinary powers conferred upon Washington, he was authorized, as we have seen, to arrest and imprison all such maligners of the credit of Congress.

But depreciation was not confined to the seat of war nor to the disaffected districts. It was felt also in New England, where it had been aggravated by large local issues. At a Convention of the New England States, Jan. held at Providence at the beginning of the year, to consult about the defense of Rhode Island, and other matters of common interest, a scheme was agreed upon for regulating by law the prices of labor, produce, manufactured articles, and imported goods; and this project, though strenuously opposed by the merchants, was presently enacted into law by the New England Legislatures.

Congress sought to sustain their failing credit by a resolution that their bills "ought to pass current in all Jan. 14. payments, trade, and dealings, and be deemed equal in value to the same nominal sums in Spanish dollars;" and that all persons refusing to take them ought to be considered "enemies of the United States," upon whom

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CHAPTER it was recommended to the local authorities to inflict The states were 1777. called upon to make the bills a legal tender, and to provide" for drawing in their several quotas at such times as had been or should be fixed by Congress." Except as to the first six millions, no such time had yet been appointed. It was also recommended to the states to raise by taxation, and to remit to the national treasury, "such sums as they shall think most proper in the present situation of their inhabitants," these sums to be passed to the credit of the paying states. The advice was also given to avoid the further emission of local bills of credit, and to adopt measures for redeeming those already out.

"forfeitures and other penalties."

The doings of the New England Convention having been laid before Congress, their scheme for regulating Feb. 15. prices was approved. The other states were advised to imitate it, and to call for that purpose two conventions, one from the Middle, the other from the Southern States. In accordance with this recommendation, a Convention for the Middle States, in which New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were March 26. represented, presently met at Yorktown, and agreed upon a scale of prices.

Feb. 22.

But this scheme, though very popular, was found wholly impracticable. The traders every where combined to defeat it; while the embarrassments which it placed in the way of commerce aggravated instead of diminishing the evils complained of.

The scheme of a loan was still earnestly pursued. Jan. 16. Two millions, and presently thirteen millions more, of loan-office certificates were authorized, in sums from $200 to $10,000, making the whole amount thus attempted to be borrowed equal to the outstanding issue of Continental bills. Loan offices were opened in all the