220

REMONSTRANCE OF BURGOYNE.

[CHAP. III. again during the war, to detect and punish any breach of faith, a minute description of each officer and private was required to be taken. When the troops arrived in Boston, Burgoyne complained that the quarters assigned to them were not such as had been stipulated, and it was apprehended by Congress that this allegation was intended as the foundation of a future plea that the convention which had been violated by one party, was void as to the other. This suspicion was strengthened by the fact that Burgoyne threw difficulties in the way of the descriptive list of his troops, and by some other circumstances. It was also said that some cartouch-boxes, supposed to be comprehended under the word arms, had not been given up.1

Congress therefore resolved that the convention had not been strictly complied with on the part of the British army: that the refusal to give descriptive lists was fitted to excite alarm, as it could be objectionable only on the supposition that they meant to violate the terms of the convention; and that the charge urged by General Burgoyne, of a breach of faith, was unwarranted, and justified the fear that he wished for a pretext to relieve himself from its obligations; and that, therefore, the embarkation of General Burgoyne and his troops be suspended until a ratification of the convention was notified by Great Britain to Congress.

To this course Congress adhered, notwithstanding the

'It appears from the report of a committee of Congress, in December, 1777, that there were also many muskets, bayonets, and other accoutrements, besides the military chests, which were not delivered up according to the terms of the convention at Saratoga; but General Gates, in answer to the inquiries of the committee, gives explanations as to nearly all of the missing articles; and acquits General Burgoyne and his officers of all privity to the destruction of the military stores, after the convention.

1778.] LORD NORTH'S NEW PROPOSITIONS.

221

remonstrance of General Burgoyne; but they finally granted him permission to depart.

The entire abortion of Burgoyne's expedition, from which so much had been expected, induced the British ministry to make another attempt at conciliation. In February, 1778, Lord North proposed two bills to this end. By the first, Parliament declared that it would impose no tax payable within any of the colonies of America, except such as might be required for the purposes of commerce, the net produce of which should be applied to the exclusive use of the colonies. The second authorised the appointment of Commissioners by the Crown, with power to treat with the constituted authorities, and even individuals, in America; but such agreements were first to receive the confirmation of Parliament. These Commissioners to have power to proclaim a cessation of hostilities, suspend the non-intercourse laws, as well as all acts of Parliament passed since the sixteenth of February, 1763; and to grant pardons. As the British ministry had heard that a treaty between France and the United States was signed, those bills, before they had actually passed, were sent off to America, to be laid before Congress. They were transmitted to that body through the Commander-in-chief.

In the letter which inclosed those bills, General Washington expressed doubts of their genuineness, and spoke of them as base and insidious. They were referred to a committee of three, who reported that the bills were intended to operate on the hopes and fears of the American people, and to produce a division among them at the time when their affairs were tending to a favorable issue. That those who made any partial convention or agreement with the Commissioners of Great Britain would be regarded as enemies; and that the United States could

222

FRIENDLY SENTIMENTS IN FRANCE. [CHAP. III.

hold no conference with such Commissioners until the British government first withdrew its fleets and armies, or acknowledged the independence of the United States. Those States were therefore invited to redouble their exertions. The resolutions recommended by the committee were adopted and published.

This rejection of terms which they not long before would have cordially welcomed, was no doubt caused by the confident expectation they then had of the support and alliance of France; and accordingly the news of that alliance soon after reached them, and diffused a general joy throughout the land.

When the disturbances first broke out, though the French naturally beheld with pleasure what might diminish the wealth and power of a formidable rival, who had some twenty years before wrested from France her fairest colonial possessions; yet doubtful whether this dispute, like those which preceded it, would not be finally accommodated; and already experiencing fiscal difficulties from the reckless extravagance and expensive wars that her monarchs had been engaged in, she was unwilling to commit herself to any course towards the revolted colonies which would involve her in a war with England. Her ablest ministers even undertook to show that France was interested in the subjugation of the colonies, provided the pacification between them and the mother country was not immediate. All that she could do then was to grant aid to the Americans through the medium of individual liberality; and this was done by the agency of Baron de Beaumarchais, who was in high favor at Court by his wit and success as a dramatic writer, and who had the requisite qualifications for managing a business that assumed the character and required the secrecy of a Court intrigue. Liberal aid

1778.]

ENVOYS TO FRANCE.

223

was thus procured in money and in military stores, drawn, it is said, from the royal magazines.

There was, moreover, a party about the Court who thought the present a favorable opportunity of humbling the ancient rival of France, by effecting the independence of her valuable possessions in America.

Silas Deane, of Connecticut, had been sent to France in 1776, to procure aid to the colonies. He had succeeded in obtaining military stores sufficient to load three vessels, but the order granting them permission to depart was for a time suspended. Even after independence was declared, France still pursued the same cautious policy, and refused to give open assistance, or even to acknowledge the States.

The ministers first appointed by the United States to negotiate a treaty with France were Dr. Franklin, Mr. Deane, and Mr. Jefferson, the last of whom having declined the appointment, Mr. Arthur Lee, then in London, was put in his place. After the arrival of these envoys in Paris, the ministry still kept up appearances of taking no part in the quarrel, and were occasionally active in preventing or punishing deviations from neutrality; and they privately urged to the envoys that they should more effectually serve the American cause by their forbearance than by open and direct aid.

Though the French government was thus cautious of embroiling itself with that of Great Britain, the leading persons about the Court, both male and female, soon manifested a lively interest in the cause of the Americans; and besides liberal contributions in money to purchase arms and ammunition, many offered their services in the field; and at length the number of those who procured recommendations from the American Commissioners was so great as to prove quite embarrassing to Congress,

224

MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.

[CHAP. III. and also to become objects of jealousy to the American officers.

Among these generous volunteers, the Marquis de La Fayette stood conspicuous. He was scarcely more than twenty years of age, had recently married, was rich and well received at Court; and when the fortunes of the revolted States appeared to be at the lowest point of depression, and Washington lost battle after battle, and found his only safety in retreat, was the moment La Fayette chose to enter their service, and did so on express stipulation that he should join the army as a volunteer, and should receive no pay.

Congress, not to be behind him in generosity, by a resolution of July, 1777, in which they expressed their sense of his sacrifices and of his support, made him a Majorgeneral in Washington's army. He thenceforth contracted an enthusiastic admiration, which he cherished through life, for the American Commander.

After the States had shown, by their successes at Trenton and Princeton; by their ability to meet British veterans in the field, with equal numbers; and above all, by the capture of the whole army of Burgoyne, that they were likely to maintain their new sovereignty, France thought that she should no longer delay securing to herself the credit and benefit she must gain by completing the dismemberment of the British empire. A treaty was then formed, on liberal terms, in which it was stipulated that neither party should conclude either truce or peace without the consent of the other first obtained, and that they would not lay down their arms till the Independence of the United States should be assured by the treaties that terminated the war. They entered also into mutual guarantees the United States, of the possessions of France in America, and France, of the entire