The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [108]
FRANKLIN HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE for over a year, but only in the most discreet and secretive way. To any foreign government America was still officially a part of the British empire, and no one in the French government would risk a confrontation with their eternal enemy by openly meddling in King George’s internal affairs. But the finances of making war had created a disaster for the American cause far worse than any rout on a battlefield. Congress was operating in bankruptcy, and no amount of debate or meetings in committees could solve the problem of supplying Washington’s army. The troops themselves might be accustomed to late pay, but many did not yet know what Franklin knew, that the congress had exhausted every means of feeding and clothing them, not to mention the purchase of guns and ammunition, horses and wagons.
From the earliest days of the congress, Franklin had supported the attempt at a foreign alliance, that in order to achieve independence, there might first have to be some kind of dependence on a foreign power who saw the loss to England as a gain for themselves. The most logical choice was France, the one country whose conflicts with England had produced centuries of warfare. But France was not eager to renew a war she had lost thirteen years earlier.
With Franklin’s prodding, France had offered a gesture of friendship by accepting an unofficial visitor from congress, whose duties would be harmless enough, a man who would only provide information of events in America. That man was Silas Deane, a Connecticut congressman with a particular talent for finance. Despite the public face of the French court, Deane’s real mission was to pursue any form of assistance France would be willing to provide, presumably in the form of military hardware. But France could not do business directly with America without risking war with Britain. Thus, Deane’s mission had involved him in convoluted deal-making, the French nervously offering minimal assistance through nefarious business channels. The result had been a slow trickle of munitions from French manufacturers which could reach America only after sailing through the French West Indies, where the goods could be transferred to American ships.
Once the Declaration of Independence had been signed, the French government could feel more comfortable speaking directly to official representatives of the American congress, though a war with Britain was still the likely outcome. As the desperation in supplying Washington’s army increased, congress responded by naming three commissioners to openly negotiate for French involvement. Deane would remain in Paris as one of them. Franklin was an obvious choice, with his experience in Paris, and his familiarity with the French court. The third commissioner was to have been Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin had been enthusiastic to be working again with the young Virginian. He had enormous respect for Jefferson’s mind, and for his humility. The negotiations with the French would be ticklish certainly, and Jefferson would never be one to make some grand show in Paris, placing his own ambitions ahead of the job at hand. But as Jefferson was preparing to sail for France, his wife had fallen ill, and the young man had chosen to remain in Virginia. The congress replaced him with a man who contrasted completely with Jefferson’s quiet subtlety, another Virginian. His name was Arthur Lee.
Lee was the brother of one of the stalwart champions of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee. But Arthur Lee possessed none of his brother’s gift for diplomacy or passion for any cause other than his own.