WEBVTT NOTE 23. Getting Aid from France 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Volume 4, Chapter 23, Getting Aid from France 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:23.000 To open the ports of America to trade for munitions and with the West Indies, the Americans were required to take a step toward independence almost as momentous as throwing open the ports in defiance of the Navigation Acts. 3 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:35.000 They had to negotiate as a separate country with the European countries supplying the munitions, especially with the major supplier, France. 4 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:49.000 As early as July 1775, the Continental Congress began its first diplomatic efforts by sidestepping the British government and speaking directly to their fellow subjects. 5 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:55.000 An address stating its wish for equal liberty was sent to the city of London. 6 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:00.000 Appeals to the people of Canada and Jamaica to join in the colonial cause 7 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.000 and a particularly noteworthy address sent to the people of Ireland 8 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:10.000 were the first attempts to export the revolution overseas. 9 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.000 Congress noted the grievances of the Irish under British rule 10 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:24.000 and suggested that both peoples should engage in a common struggle for liberty, albeit within the framework of the British Empire. 11 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:33.000 The subservient Irish Parliament, however, merrily moved to endorse the British War of Suppression against the colonies. 12 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:43.000 At the same time, Congress was moving toward liberty and independence, however, it was taking some steps at home toward oligarchic rule. 13 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:53.000 Of necessity, it had already begun to function through various standing committees to discharge its vital responsibilities for the war effort. 14 00:01:53.000 --> 00:02:02.000 Generally, these functioned under the strict control of Congress itself and were always open to its guidance and supervision. 15 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:10.760 But in late 1775, Congress created two secret committees, and as their name implies, they 16 00:02:10.760 --> 00:02:17.000 acted in secret and on their own initiative, without checking with Congress. 17 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:24.520 Instead, Congress only had the power, largely unexercised, to ask for their records at its 18 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:25.520 discretion. 19 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:31.680 A great deal of working power was thereby put into the hands of a few men who dealt 20 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:37.360 for the more in the particularly sensitive area of foreign affairs. 21 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:43.980 On September 18, Congress created the Nine Man Secret Committee to handle the deals with 22 00:02:43.980 --> 00:02:47.180 foreign countries for munitions. 23 00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:54.640 On November 29, it created the Five, later Six, Man Committee of Secret Correspondence 24 00:02:54.640 --> 00:02:58.440 to correspond with our friends abroad. 25 00:02:58.440 --> 00:03:05.440 An omen for the future was the highly conservative complexion of the Committee of Secret Correspondence 26 00:03:05.440 --> 00:03:16.440 consisting of John Jay, John Dickinson, Benjamin Harrison and Thomas Johnson, who were arch-conservatives, 27 00:03:16.440 --> 00:03:23.440 and Benjamin Franklin, a thorough-going opportunist with highly conservative instincts. 28 00:03:23.440 --> 00:03:30.200 The establishment of this committee came as a response to the prodding by John Adams, 29 00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:37.800 Patrick Henry and Samuel Chase of Maryland to open full diplomatic relations with France. 30 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:43.880 Soon the two secret committees were able to work very closely and cozily together. 31 00:03:43.880 --> 00:03:50.020 This close working relationship was embodied in the person of the young Philadelphia merchant 32 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:56.380 Robert Morris, destined to become the great Mephistophelian figure of the revolutionary 33 00:03:56.380 --> 00:03:57.820 era. 34 00:03:57.820 --> 00:04:01.900 At the turn of the year, he became a member of both committees. 35 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:08.900 He virtually ran the Committee of Secret Correspondence himself throughout 1776 and quickly became 36 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:12.180 the leading figure in the secret committee. 37 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:17.540 He was, in fact, to serve as the second chairman of the latter committee, succeeding his friend 38 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:23.940 and Partner, Thomas Willing, of the firm of Willing and Morris. Thus catapulted to the 39 00:04:23.940 --> 00:04:29.500 very seat of power in the American colonies, the highly conservative Morris was able to 40 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:36.980 make himself the center of a veritable plunder bond, which unabashedly and systematically 41 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:41.580 looted the public purse for their private profit. 42 00:04:41.580 --> 00:04:47.460 One of the first deeds of the Secret Committee was to substitute for regular market purchases 43 00:04:47.460 --> 00:04:55.420 A system of contracting, the ancestor of modern cost-plus government contracts. Under this 44 00:04:55.420 --> 00:05:02.380 system some favored firms were selected by the government to purchase or to produce certain 45 00:05:02.380 --> 00:05:08.580 goods which the government pledges to buy at a rate that will give the merchants a guaranteed 46 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:15.180 margin of profit, a lucrative special privilege eagerly fought for by businessmen then and 47 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:21.860 The Secret Committee established a handsome rate of profit on such mercantile purchases 48 00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:27.180 and often advanced the merchants the initial capital to buy the supplies. 49 00:05:27.180 --> 00:05:32.960 Moreover, Congress had thoughtfully allowed only merchants specifically to purchase supplies 50 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:40.740 abroad and, as we have seen, this condition obtained until April 1776. 51 00:05:40.740 --> 00:05:45.620 This authorization came from the secret committee, and it was soon clear enough that control 52 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:52.620 of this committee was the open sesame to special privilege and high guaranteed fortunes to 53 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:59.620 be made out of the revolutionary effort. Control of the committee Morris and Willing had, and 54 00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:05.100 they lost no time in exploiting their position. One of the very first acts of the committee 55 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:11.700 was to grant heavy contracts to the firm of Willing and Morris. These commission contracts 56 00:06:11.700 --> 00:06:17.220 were not the only form of subsidy the company enjoyed. The committee now quickly granted 57 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:26.780 it a startling contract for supplying gunpowder, guaranteeing a high flat price of $14 a barrel, 58 00:06:26.780 --> 00:06:33.340 whether or not the powder reached American stores safely. This assured Willing and Morris 59 00:06:33.340 --> 00:06:41.260 A clear profit of $60,000 without even a fleeting risk of loss. Other members of the Secret 60 00:06:41.260 --> 00:06:46.860 Committee also came in for their share of the loot. John Langdon of New Hampshire provided 61 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:53.360 contracts to his own firm. Philip J. Livingston routed contracts to Livingston and Turnbull 62 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.820 of New York. Silas Dean of Connecticut furnished commissions to his brother Barnabas. But heading 63 00:06:59.820 --> 00:07:03.940 and the associates in plunder were Willing and Morris. 64 00:07:03.940 --> 00:07:11.700 All in all, the secret committee paid out over $2 million in war contracts from 1775 65 00:07:11.700 --> 00:07:21.580 to 1777, and of these nearly $500,000 or one-fourth of all disbursements went directly to the 66 00:07:21.580 --> 00:07:24.460 firm of Willing and Morris. 67 00:07:24.460 --> 00:07:29.780 Morris also directly shared with fellow members of the committee the largesse of nearly $300,000 68 00:07:29.780 --> 00:07:37.100 $1,000 in other contracts. Morris and Willing soon established a far-flung network of agents 69 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:43.160 and followers, including leading merchants Benjamin Harrison, a member of the Committee 70 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:49.540 of Secret Correspondence, and Carter Braxton, both of whom consequently received handsome 71 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:56.540 contracts from the Secret Committee. Two particularly important Committee agents were soon to double 72 00:07:56.540 --> 00:08:02.460 People as Congressional Envoys to the French, William Bingham of Philadelphia and Silas 73 00:08:02.460 --> 00:08:08.460 Dean of Westfield, Connecticut. Dean was a prototype of the young lawyer with a keen 74 00:08:08.460 --> 00:08:14.260 eye to the main chance. He had launched his career by marrying the widow of a wealthy 75 00:08:14.260 --> 00:08:20.620 merchant, then capped that by divorcing her and marrying a member of the powerful Salton 76 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:28.260 and Stahl Family, thus getting himself profitably launched in Connecticut politics. Hardly had 77 00:08:28.260 --> 00:08:33.860 he latched on to a good thing in the operations of the Secret Committee, however, when the 78 00:08:33.860 --> 00:08:40.980 ungrateful voters of Connecticut unceremoniously turned him out of Congress in the elections 79 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:47.980 of October 1775. But the lame duck congressman continued to stay in Philadelphia knowing 80 00:08:47.980 --> 00:09:07.980 Great Britain, by its aggressive expansion of over two centuries, culminating in the conquest and arrogant seizure of shipping during the Seven Years' War, had gravely alienated the other powers of Europe. 81 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:16.980 Particularly bitter at England was France, crushed by the Pithite War and the Peace of 1763. 82 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:23.180 France, of course, especially, welcomed the American Revolution and its prospects of trouble 83 00:09:23.180 --> 00:09:28.940 and even loss of the colonies for Great Britain. A reduction in British power would benefit 84 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:34.420 France and the other countries of Europe, and would guard France against any possible 85 00:09:34.420 --> 00:09:42.760 resumption of a Carthaginian war against her by a united Anglo-American empire under another 86 00:09:42.760 --> 00:09:48.400 Chatham Ministry During the summer of 1775, the dashing young 87 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:54.920 dramatist Caron de Beaumarchais, an agent of the French government in London, was able 88 00:09:54.920 --> 00:10:01.480 to make contact with many British and American radicals. On the basis of his information, 89 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:07.380 he predicted turbulence in Britain and urged some understanding between France and the 90 00:10:07.380 --> 00:10:16.140 The Shrewd French Foreign Minister, Comte de Vergen, thereupon sent to the American colonies 91 00:10:16.140 --> 00:10:20.900 a secret agent, Achard de Bonvouloir. 92 00:10:20.900 --> 00:10:26.740 Without making any definite commitments of French aid, Bonvouloir was to assure the Americans 93 00:10:26.740 --> 00:10:32.980 that France had no designs for reconquest of Canada, had nothing but admiration for the 94 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:44.300 The Committee of Secret Correspondence had been recently established by Congress and 95 00:10:44.300 --> 00:10:50.860 Bonvillois met privately with it to convey the French assurances to the rebels. 96 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:56.040 In its turn, the Committee was eager to convince the French that Congress was moving toward 97 00:10:56.040 --> 00:11:01.720 independence and thus spur French aid to the Revolutionary cause. 98 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:07.360 In early March, despite the absence of a Declaration of Independence, the committee decided to 99 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:13.600 send a secret agent to France as its envoy to bid for French aid. 100 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:20.880 This envoy was Silas Deane, who arrived at Paris in early July 1776 in the guise of a 101 00:11:20.880 --> 00:11:22.640 private merchant. 102 00:11:22.640 --> 00:11:28.620 He was able to use his crucial position in the procurement of munitions to serve also 103 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:34.220 also as an agent of the firm of Willing and Morris. There, Dean was able to draw many 104 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:40.980 influential French financiers and officials into the Morris-Willing network. Dean and 105 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:47.100 Morris employed the network to plunder public activities systematically for their private 106 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:53.180 profit. In addition to granting themselves contracts, public ships and wagons were freely 107 00:11:53.180 --> 00:12:21.040 in 1776, on one contract alone, the government advanced Morris the large sum of $80,000 to 108 00:12:21.040 --> 00:12:22.920 to buy goods abroad. 109 00:12:22.920 --> 00:12:27.680 Even though the goods were never delivered, Morris never returned the money. 110 00:12:27.680 --> 00:12:33.680 Furthermore, purchases on public account were given a back seat by Morris and his group 111 00:12:33.680 --> 00:12:38.080 in preference to their strictly private transactions. 112 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:42.280 Before the dispatch of Dean, the Committee of Secret Correspondence was able to engage 113 00:12:42.280 --> 00:12:44.960 secret agents living abroad. 114 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:49.040 The separate colonies had employed six agents in London. 115 00:12:49.040 --> 00:12:55.800 Of these, two were members of parliament and hence effectively ineligible for further work. 116 00:12:55.800 --> 00:13:02.800 One became a Tory, actively serving the British cause, one resigned, and one, Franklin, had 117 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:05.260 been forced to return home. 118 00:13:05.260 --> 00:13:11.040 This left the learned Massachusetts radical, Arthur Lee, Richard Henry Lee's brother, who 119 00:13:11.040 --> 00:13:16.440 became a secret agent of the Committee of Secret Correspondence in mid-December. 120 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:22.360 The committee also engaged an old friend of Franklin's living at The Hague, Charles W.F. 121 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:28.580 Dumas, to work for it in Holland. Meanwhile, Beaumarchais was strengthened in his purpose 122 00:13:28.580 --> 00:13:34.240 by frequent conferences with author Lee, who had the verve and vision to ask for French 123 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:42.900 aid on his own initiative. Beaumarchais pressed upon King Louis XVI a policy not only of permitting 124 00:13:42.900 --> 00:13:49.260 and encouraging private shipment of munitions to America by selling these munitions to French 125 00:13:49.260 --> 00:13:56.760 merchants, but of going beyond this to positive aid by the French government itself. This 126 00:13:56.760 --> 00:14:03.540 aid was to be secret through a dummy private firm, so as not to provide Great Britain with 127 00:14:03.540 --> 00:14:10.700 a casus bellae. Bonvilloir's optimistic report on American plans for independence persuaded 128 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:19.860 Bergen, to recommend and the king to adopt the Beaumarchais plan. On May 2, 1776, the 129 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:25.540 king ordered the government to supply as a virtual gift to the Americans one million 130 00:14:25.540 --> 00:14:32.100 livre worth of munitions through Beaumarchais, who emerged as a supposed merchant representing 131 00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:39.980 the fictitious firm of Roderic Hortélez A.C. As part of the act of new policy, the king 132 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:46.620 also moved to strengthen Francis' army and navy. This gift was promptly matched by another 133 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:53.180 one million livre supplied to Beaumarchais by Charles III of Spain, eager to join his 134 00:14:53.180 --> 00:15:00.100 ally in weakening their ancient foe. King Louis envisioned French governmental aid as 135 00:15:00.100 --> 00:15:07.060 an outright gift to the Americans in the guise of a loan. But when Beaumarchais saw that 136 00:15:07.060 --> 00:15:15.060 When President Deane had come prepared to purchase the munitions, he saw an opportunity for a huge future windfall for himself. 137 00:15:15.060 --> 00:15:25.060 He drew up an agreement with Congress to supply munitions on credit, to be repaid in money or in tobacco at an indefinite later date. 138 00:15:25.060 --> 00:15:31.060 He also advanced government credit to French ships to carry the war supplies to America. 139 00:15:31.060 --> 00:15:37.920 Indeed, Beaumarchais was to send to America on credit many times the initial Franco-Spanish 140 00:15:37.920 --> 00:15:39.480 subsidy. 141 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:46.840 By mid-October 1776, he had shipped over five and a half million livre of supplies furnished 142 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:52.840 by the government, of which Spain refused to pay more than the initial one million, including 143 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:59.080 powder, guns, cannon, cannon balls, and clothing for soldiers. 144 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:05.600 After the war, Beaumarchais had the nerve to demand 3.6 million livres from the United 145 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.240 States in payment for the supplies. 146 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:15.040 But the perceptive author Lee had early realized that Beaumarchais was simply a cover agent 147 00:16:15.040 --> 00:16:21.640 intended by the French government to give munitions in secret to the Americans. 148 00:16:21.640 --> 00:16:25.720 Congress properly paid Beaumarchais nothing. 149 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:33.640 In 1835, however, the United States government paid 800,000 francs, livres, to the heirs 150 00:16:33.640 --> 00:16:39.840 of Beaumarchais as a deduction monies paid to the U.S. by the French government under 151 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.100 the Treaty of 1831. 152 00:16:43.100 --> 00:16:48.720 As the Americans had foreseen, France quickly followed its encouragement of private as well 153 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:55.520 as its own secret trade with America by using its navy to protect that trade. 154 00:16:55.520 --> 00:17:25.520 The US informed Britain in June that it would insist on full rights as a neutral under international law, to open its ports to American merchant shipping, to have its ships free from British search in French territorial waters, such as the French West Indies, especially Martinique and Cap-Francois, in Haiti, the entrepôt for the new trade, and to keep its trade with its own colonies inviolate from British interference. 155 00:17:25.520 --> 00:17:31.120 The French could then keep their shipments within their empire and therefore inviolate 156 00:17:31.120 --> 00:17:37.120 until they reached the West Indies, thus protecting them most of the way to America. 157 00:17:37.120 --> 00:17:42.580 Furthermore, France greatly aided American privateers by secretly permitting them to 158 00:17:42.580 --> 00:17:44.920 fit out in French ports. 159 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:50.040 British complaints were either ignored or the privateers would be seized officially 160 00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:53.040 and then allowed to escape without loss.