styled it. I was much surprised at the reflections which you made upon the subject, as I am conscious that I have done nothing in my life that could make me contemptible in the eyes of any honest man. I suppose that your strange opinion of me originates from the misfortune I have of not being better known to you. However, I shall always cherish the cause I have fought for, and shall be very happy to hear of its success.

I am, with much regard, Sir,

Your obedient, humble servant,

T. CONWAY.

As is usual in such cases Mr. Carroll was constantly reminded of the religion of Conway and support of the man asked on that account. But such appeals had no effect on a patriot like Mr. Carroll. They were usually made too, by men who had no sympathy with the religious faith of the great signer.

Mr.

The movement to reorganize the War Board or rather to name an annex to it with General Gates as President was made while Mr. Carroll was in attendance on the Maryland Senate. They did not dare go as far as to supplant him but sought to make his efforts less effective, by increasing the size of the board and making General Gates the President. The scope of this annex or new membership was not very clearly defined. But Gates and Mifflin, the two military members, were stoutly against Washington. Carroll got to York on the day that Congress was discussing the matter of reorganizing the army. He saw that the chief end of this reorganization was to injure Washington. Instead of opposing it he fell in with the idea of a committee to go to Valley Forge and study the conditions and learn the requirements. This committee was appointed and of course Mr. Carroll headed it, and he secured a committee mainly friendly to his views.

It was in the discharge of the duties of this committee that he spent so much time at Vally Forge during the winter.

General Conway after his disappointment at not being promoted rallied the discontents and took change of the effort to have Gates supplant Washington. But he had not the discretion of the others. Success depended on keeping the matter from reaching Washington till the plans were further matured. Conway talked, gesticulated and shrugged his shoulders so much that his secret was soon in the air. Then Wilkenson, a staff officer of Gates in a drunken brawl blurted it out. About the same time anonymous letters reached the president of Congress, Patrick Henry and others telling what could be accomplished by the army, "if it had a man at its head like Gates, Mifflin or Conway." These letters were sent to Washington at Valley Forge where the faithful Tilghman read them to Washington and Carroll and the three discussed the situation. Washington merely wrote to Gates and Mifflin letting them know that the information had reached him, and the conspiracy collapsed. Mr. Latrobe said that though Mr. Jefferson was not personally friendly to Mr. Carroll and was on the opposite side of the political division that followed, he always insisted that the conspiracy against Washington would have succeeded if it had not been for the loyalty and vigilance of Mr. Carroll. Colonel Tilghman went further and said he knew that it was Mr. Carroll that had saved the day. But Tilghman's admiration and love for Mr. Carroll might have warped his judgment. He came from Maryland and was a nephew of Matthew Tilghman one of Mr. Carroll's closest workers in the Maryland Senate.

Mifflin urged that Conway be made Inspector General of the army with the rank of Major General.

Wayne expressed his determination to follow the lead of Gates and Mifflin. Conway, to advance his intrigue tendered his resignation to Congress and offered to Gates as President of the War Board his services to form a plan for the instruction and better discipline in the army. Lovell of Massachusetts wrote to Gates, "the army will be totally lost unless you come down and collect the virtuous band who wish to fight under your banner." Gates wrote to Conway a letter that showed him to be fully cognizant of, and a party to the conspiracy. All this was going on at a time when Washington's army was suffering for food and clothing through the treachery of Mifflin with the connivance of the others.

Once when some one said that Mr. Carroll's loyalty and watchfulness had saved the day for Washington he replied, "Oh, there's Tilghman. Don't forget Tilghman. Washington was so straightforward and earnest that he never suspected treachery. But Tilghman was alert, always watchful and the most wise of them could not circumvent Tilghman."

And he added, "I prepared the resolution of Congress presenting the young man with a horse, saddle, bridle and sword, in the name of the people of the United States, and I never wrote a paper that came more directly from my heart than did that resolution." Colonel Tilghman was an aid on Washington's staff and as military secretary to the general was in a position where his fidelity and watchfulness were useful.

The Cabal collapsed completely and afterwards all were heartily ashamed of it. Even Conway, when he thought he was about to die, wrote an apology to Washington for the part he had taken.

CHAPTER XVII

THE PEACE OF PARIS AND CONDITIONS LEADING TO THE FRENCH ALLIANCE

No chapter in American history has been as much written and none is as poorly understood as that which relates to the friendship of France for the colonies, the assistance secretly given, and the alliance that followed.

The Peace of Paris in 1763 left France beaten, humiliated, and deeply in debt. England on the contrary, flushed with success, was naturally arrogant, dominating and many times unreasonable. The Seven Years' War had been a glorious period for British armies. On land and sea they had been victorious. Her generals and her admirals had returned as conquering heroes, and the Peace of Paris was made entirely on terms laid down by British States

men.

France had been required to give up Canada, Cape Breton, Acadia and many of her island possessions, and had been compelled to submit to the humiliating condition that Dunkirk, her great coast defense city should level her fortifications. And more than this; she had to submit to the presence of a British Commissioner, who should reside in Dunkirk to see that no move was made looking to rebuilding them.

Beaten down and deeply humiliated as they were, the French statesmen had not all given up hope of evening things with England, their enemy from an early day. Mr. Carroll was in both London and Paris when the subject of the Seven Years' War was under constant discussion. He heard every phase presented; and saw the question from every possible

angle. A close student of economics, the science of government, as well as the history of the times and prospectively the wealthiest man of America; he was questioned, consulted, persuaded, and posted by every party in both England and France.

From the time of the first Stamp Act and the kindred legislation of the period; and the restlessness that followed, he had felt sure that a great war between England and the American Colonies had to come; and he believed that the colonies were destined soon to become a great country independent of Great Britain. Feeling this with such positiveness, his every effort was in promoting the best interests of the colonies in preparing for the conflict he saw so clearly.

He became well acquainted with Vergennes, afterwards head of the French Department of Foreign Affairs, but at that time Minister to Turkey, and later to Sweden. A close relative of Vergennes, either a younger brother or a nephew, was a classmate of Mr. Carroll at LeGrand College in Paris; and he was thus enabled to have frequent and friendly talks with both the Vergennes in respect to the conditions and aspirations of the colonies. In this way he laid the foundations of the warm friendship Vergennes constantly showed to the colonies.

In England while his close association was with Pitt, Burke and other Whig leaders, he also frequently met and heard the views of statesmen like Lord North and Germain, and pamphleteers like Ben Johnson. In fact he let no opportunity escape, where it was possible to learn a fact or make a friend that might be useful to the colonies. With the foundation thus laid and such a fund of information, there is no wonder that he early began to scheme for a French alliance.

This friendship and alliance was planned, promoted