Franklin in France : From original documents, most of which are now published for the first time

Part II. The Treaty Op Peace

AND

FRANKLIN'S LIFE TILL HIS RETURN.

BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS.

COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY EDWARD E. HALE,

RAND AVERY COMPANY,

ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS,

BOSTON, MASS.

Preface

THE volume in the reader's hands is an attempt to illus trate the closing years of Franklin's residence in France, from the original manuscripts in several large collections. With few exceptions, the manuscripts now printed at length, have never been published till now. The collections which have been open to us for that purpose are what we have called the "Stevens Collection" in the State Department at Washington, the American Philosophical Society's collec tion, the private collection of Hon. George Bancroft at Washington, that of the Adams family at Quincy, and the Sparks manuscripts at Cambridge. We are indebted to two Secretaries of State of two administrations, Messrs. Frelinghuysen and Bayard ; to the Philosophical Society, and its accomplished librarian, Mr. Phillips ; to Mr. Bancroft's untir ing kindness ; to Messrs. J. Q. and C. F. Adams ; to Mrs. Sparks and the officers of the Harvard Library, — for the freest use of all these priceless collections, and for endless courtesies such as cannot be enumerated. To Mr. Dupont de Nemours ; to Judge Chamberlain of the Boston Public Library; and to Mr. Hale of Phillipsburg, Penn., — we are indebted for single letters. All together, these manuscripts give the student such a view of the years covered by the nar rative, as no single observer had while those years passed. And we must own that it is our fault if the reader does not find that the collections illustrate each other, and that the papers now printed throw new side-lights, even on the points best established in the history of Franklin's stay in France.

VI PKEFACE.

By the rather unsatisfactory standard of linear measure ment, the Stevens collection has contributed most largely to this volume. Indeed, the years covered by it are those from which Temple Franklin had been more reserved in his printed selections, because he hoped to have here the materials for a second series, which, in fact, he never published.

But it is impossible to speak of the comparative value of such documents. Their interest comes largely from the light which they throw upon each other. Thus, the letters of Lafayette all bear on each other, and illustrate each other. But they came to us from the Stevens collection, from the Adams collection, and from Philadelphia. To give a single instance of the advantage which a modern reader has, now that collections once private are opened to study, we may say, the first chapter of this book is made up from five differ ent manuscript collections, besides its citations from printed books, and from private correspondence.

The reader of our first volume will see at once, that, with the great American success at Yorktown, the position of Franklin in France is essentially changed. He had no longer to make friends. The new-born nation had friends in plenty. Condorcet, in his eulogy on Franklin, delivered after his death, observes the complete change in his life in Paris which followed the negotiation of peace. He now became the man of science, of letters, and of society ; while, up to this time, he had been of necessity a man of business, and hardly any thing more.

For a study of the negotiations leading to the Preliminary Treaty, recent publications have offered much new material, and much new material has been found in the manuscript collections which have been opened to us. The subject is one which has been frequently discussed, and that with some slight differences of opinion. As is well known, Adams, Franklin, and Jay did not wholly agree in their views of the steps to be taken. Adams and Jay have found able defenders in their illustrious descendants. Franklin's case

PKEFACE. vii

has been put with great force by Mr. Bancroft in his His tory. Mr. Bancroft, as we have said, has laid open to usthe manuscript collections used by him ; and, as the reader will see, the use of his data has shown to us the weight of his conclusions.

The chief material in print now at hand, from which the student may form an opinion on the case, is as follows : Mr. Bancroft's account in his fifth volume, Hon. John Jay's mon ograph, Hon. Charles F. Adams's study in the life of his grandfather, Lord Edmund Fitz Maurice in his Life of Shelburne, Comte de Circourt's translations from Mr. Bancroft's manuscripts, and his notes, and Dr. Francis Wharton's study in the Appendix to his " International Law." Of these, Mr. Jay and Mr. Adams have had the advantage of the most intimate acquaintance with the papers of Jay and Adams respectively ; Lord Edmund Fitz Maurice has had the pri vate papers of Lord Shelburne and the official correspondence between the English ministers and their commissioners ; Mon sieur Circourt has had Mr. Bancroft's manuscripts ; Dr. Wharton has especially studied the papers of Franklin and Oswald ; and Mr. Bancroft, besides the above, has made particular use of the letters to and from Vergennes, in the- French archives. If Mr. Trevelyan would but continue the life of Charles James Fox, the material would be as complete as we could desire.

Our own account has certain advantages derived from the work of all these previous workers. It is based chiefly upon the above-named studies and on the Franklin and Oswald papers in the Stevens manuscripts collection, and on the copies from the Lansdowne manuscripts and from the State-paper office, which Mr. Bancroft kindly bade us use, giving us per mission to print whatever we might deem necessary. The letters we print are mostly new. They, are from the collec tions mentioned above. We have tried not to print material already public, and we have found much that seemed valuable which was not already well known. The Fox-Grenville and

Vlll PREFACE.

Grautham-Fitzherbert letters, with the letters from Vergennes to Luzerne, are from Mr. Bancroft's manuscripts. The Oswald Journal and the Franklin letters are from the Stevens collection. The letters from Shelburne and Townshend to Oswald, and their answers are sometimes from one, some times from the other.

The reader will see wherein we have had occasion to differ from those who have written before us. Mr. Bancroft's manuscripts have enabled us to form a very clear notion of the proceedings before the resignation of Fox. It is after a careful study of these manuscripts, that we are compelled to dissent from Mr. Jay in his view of the results and importance of Yaughan's mission. It is by their aid that we have, we hope, made clear the position of Vergennes from the begin ning of the affair to the end. The Oswald Journal in the Stevens collection has, we believe, enabled us to give a statement of the proceedings during the summer fuller than has been previously made public. And certain of the Franklin letters, in the same collection, give us a good view of the opinion regarding the matter in America.

The careful reader will see that it is somewhat difficult to draw a precise line at which the study of Franklin's life in France should stop. For, when he sailed from Havre to Southampton, some of the measures in which he had engaged were still unfinished. One must trace their history for years before he finds their full result. In editing the correspondence of Franklin upon such special subjects, we have not hesitated to draw quite largely from that of Jefferson, — who was, first, his colleague in diplomacy in Paris, and then his successor, — and from that of Adams. As we have said in the text, we have done this the more freely because Mr. Jefferson's letters, which exist in manuscript, have not been rightly handled by previous editors. In particular, it seems important to follow out the indications which American statesmen leave in fore cast of the French Revolution. To this curious subject we have given a chapter of this book, which might be very much

PREFACE. IX

extended. The early volumes of the second series of what is called "The Diplomatic Correspondence" of the United States contain a great deal of curious matter which has never been fully discussed by historians. The private corre spondence still unedited contains more. That would be an interesting book which should bring together Mr. Jefferson's narratives of the early stages of the French Revolution, as it exists in his published and unpublished letters. It was hardly our part to undertake this, but we are glad to call the attention of students of the French Revolution to the mate rial thus existing. It can hardly be said that the second series of the " Diplomatic Correspondence" was ever really published, and there exist many letters in manuscript which will not be found there.

The great kindness of Mr. Bigelow permits us to print the two letters of Franklin to Sir Joseph Banks, which have not, till the recent publication of his volume, been in the hands of those who are curious in the early history of the balloon. They are the more valuable because, for some curious reason, the Royal Society, to which the}7 were to have been presented, never heard them read, and never included them in their published transactions, as Franklin intended that they should do.

We must repeat the acknowledgments which we made in the preface to the first volume, of the unfailing courtesy of the heads of the depositories of which we have spoken, in answering the endless questions which an editor finds neces sary in trying to give accuracy to such a collection of papers as the reader holds in his hands. It is an inconvenience that the two great depositories of Franklin papers should not be together. We cannot but renew the expression of the hope, that, for a few years at least, the Philosophical Society may be willing to deposit in the State Department its in valuable collection, so that the student of American history who wishes to consult the Stevens papers may be able to consult the other collection at the same place and at the same

X PREFACE.

time. We ought to take this place to express the conviction, that the action of the government in purchasing what is called the Stevens collection was most wise. It would have been mortifying, indeed, had so large and valuable a body of papers, bearing the closest relation to the history of this country, been left on the other side of the ocean.

Since Mr. Benjamin F. Stevens has advanced so far as he has in his wonderful index to the archives of Europe, every careful student of American history is obliged to consult him. Some general readers may not yet understand that Mr. Stevens has attained such relations with the great archive bureaux of different nations that he has already very full copies from the papers bearing on American history, and a very large number of titles which give reference to such papers in the different places where they exist. We have tested Mr. Stevens's kindness in every way, and it has never failed us. We cannot but express the hope that the National Government may avail itself of this index, which is con stantly increasing in value, and make such arrangements that the student of our history in this country may be able to use it in Washington. It should not remain in London : it should be a part of the archives of America. We cannot, of course, hope that the Governments of Spain, of Holland, of France, or of England, will give us the original papers in their possession which bear upon their national history. They have done more than could be hoped in permitting Mr. Stevens to index those papers, and to copy from them as largely as he has done. If, in our own archives, besides our own papers, we could have the facilities which this index gives us for reference to the originals, we should have such a resource as historians of no nation have ever had before.

EDWARD E. HALE.

EDWARD E. HALE, JR.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. BETTER TIMES 1

II. THE FINANCIAL POSITION 23

Appendix

A. — THE STORMONT PAPERS 417

B. — THE ASGILL TRIAL 439

C. — LETTERS TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS 441

D. — FROM Miss G. SHIPLEY TO FRANKLIN .... 451

xi

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

FRANKLIN IN HIS OLD AGE. From a Miniature Portrait

painted in France, engraved by WILCOX . . Frontispiece

The admirable head of Franklin in his old age, which is the frontis piece to this volume, has been engraved by Mr. Wilcox from a miniature portrait, painted in France, now in the possession of Franklin's greatgranddaughter, Mrs. Gillespie. It has never been engraved before, and the reader of this book is indebted to Mrs. Gillespie's kindness for the use which she has permitted us to make of it.

THE INFANT HERCULES FROM THE PEDESTAL TO GREEN-

OUGII'S STATUE 11

ROBERT MORRIS 23

LORD SHELBURNE 46

CHARLES JAMES Fox 48

JOHN ADAMS 175

SIR WILLIAM JONES 212

BISHOP SHIPLEY 213

COUNT CAGLIOSTRO 226

CARDINAL DE ROHAN 226

THE EMPEROR JOSKPII 244

GEORGE III. . . 249

DIDEROT 271

PRIESTLEY 275

MALESHERBES 382

DR. RICHARD PRICE 388

MIRABEAU 409

xiii

FRANKLIN IN FRANCE.

PART IT.

Chapter I. Better Times

THE surrender at Yorktown was an event, which, as it proved, divided Franklin's life in France into two strongly contrasted periods. Through the second period, which this volume is to describe, he was the representative of a successful nation, and was the most distinguished among the commissioners who discussed the terms of peace between that nation and her old mistress. Through the first period, which has been described in our first volume, he had been one of the envoys of a weak confederation, of which the independ ence was not generally acknowledged : he was solicit ing loans and alliances which were not always cordially granted; he was, indeed, in the position of a suitor or adventurer, regarding whom judgment is to be deferred. In the three years and a half which follow, — until he leaves France, crowned with honors, — we shall find that success has won its usual reward. Money comes in more freely, respect is accorded more graciously, and, as he himself proudly observes, the nation which five years ago could hold no communication with him, unless

i

Z FRANKLIN IN FRANCE.

he came to sue for mercy, torments him now by the frequency and variety of its applications for his good will.

The Hotel Valentinois, which M. Ray de Chaumont had placed at the disposal of the Commissioners, had now long been regarded as the seat of the American Embassy. " This home of unbridled pleasure and im moderate laughter became, in 1777, the home of an ascetic philosopher." These are the words of M. Guillet, the local historian of Passy. It stood, till lately, at the corner of la rue Basse and la rue des Vignes. It took its name, which it always retained, from the Countess of Valentinois, to whom it once belonged. Two wings made out from the main building, each of which ended in a " belvedere " ornamented by stone balustrades, and supported by Tuscan columns. In the right wing was a salon, with statues and busts. The luxury of the fetes which the Countess gave there is still remembered. In her day the gardens were large and well planted. The whole has been swept away by modern changes. The rue Basse preserves Franklin's name, and is known as "L'Avenue Franklin."

Franklin's life here seemed to some of the American travellers too luxurious ; but the French criticism was not so severe. " To luxury there succeeded modesty, and to all the extravagance of vice the most frugal simplicity. The minister was usually dressed in a coat of chestnut-colored cloth, without any embroidery. He wore his hair without dressing it, used large spectacles, and carried in his hand a white staff, of crab-apple stock. Whoever saw him would not have thought him to be an ambassador, but a peasant of distinguished appearance." With reference to this remark, wrhich appears in more than one French author of that and

THE HOTEL VALENTINOIS. 3

of succeeding times, it is to be said, that Franklin knew as well as any man when full dress was required, and was as unwilling as any man to undervalue social restrictions.

When Miss Alexander, his young friend, was to marry Mr. Jonathan Williams, son of his nephew and corre spondent, Franklin asked her what wedding present he should give to her. She asked for his portrait. He then sat to Martin for the elegant full-sized portrait which has been engraved for Mr. Sparks's collection. It still exists, in perfect condition, in the possession of Mr. Thomas A. Biddle of Philadelphia : it is one of the finest portraits in the world. This picture represents the " austere philosopher " in a full court-dress of blue silk, fully embroidered with gold. He wears a wig also.

The tradition says that the lightning-rod now on the Valentinois house was put up by Franklin, with the consent of Chaumont, and adds that it was the first put up in France. The first half of this story is true ; but there were lightning-rods in France long before 1777.

M. Guillet, in his account of the hotel, adds — what the reader would gather from Franklin's correspond ence — that he made many experiments here on the weight of air and on electricity. He kept up here the private printing-office, which has been referred to, and was not above setting type with his own hand.

As we read the correspondence of such a time, with\ our own knowledge of the importance of all which fol lowed, we feel as if every letter of the moment must reflect a corresponding sense of the crisis in the mind of the writer ; but of course we are disappointed. The regular routine of business must go on, the correspond ence of the office must be kept down, the wishes of different applicants must be met, and the methodical course of correspondence must be kept up in the same way, whether we have learned that Cornwallis has sur rendered, or whether the wind is stiffly east, with no chance of fresh news from America. A clerk writing letters for Franklin to sign does not, of course, indulge in any felicitations.

Here are a few of his own words, referring to the victory in this auspicious week, — to Mr. Hobart, enclos ing a letter to Pownall.

" The late event, if it might contribute to bring for ward a reconciliation, would, indeed, as you observe, be a happy one ; but I do riot think your nation yet suffi ciently disposed to it. I can only assure you that any reasonable measures to that end should have every assistance in my power."

This was written on the 22d of November. They had the good news on the 20th. The letter to Pownall, which it encloses,1 simply says, " I wish most heartily with you, that this cursed war was at an end ; but I despair of seeing it finished in my time. Your thirsty nation has not yet drunk enough of our blood." To John Adams, on, the 23d, he says, in the beginning of a letter about the purchase of stores, "I congratulate your Excellency on the late great event." But on the 26th, with more time, or perhaps by a more rapid con veyance, he says to him, " I sent forward last Saturday some packets and letters, which I hope got to hand in time. Most heartily do I congratulate you on the glori ous news." And then comes the passage so often cited, to which we shall have to refer again: "The infant Hercules in his cradle has now strangled his second serpent, and gives hopes that his future history will be 1 Printed in SPAKKS, ix. 93.

LETTER TO STRAHAN. 5

answerable." The rest of the same letter1 is in the tone of congratulation.

It seems curious that a letter to Vaughan, his old friend, with which he re-opens communication with him on the 23d, contains no reference to the victory, but in the postscript, " Col. Laurens was well at the capitula tion," — a piece of news put in for the benefit of Henry Laurens, then a prisoner in the Tower.

An interesting letter of this period to Strahan, his old friend in England, shows his continued interest in printing. It seems to decide a discussion, which has occupied some attention, as to his edition of Logan's translation of Cicero's " De Senectute." It will be seen that he addresses Strahan without rancor, and that there is no evidence that friendship had been broken between them. This makes the curious letter, reprinted from the autograph in the eighth volume of Sparks's "Franklin," "You are my enemy, and I am yours," more inexplicable than ever.

Franklin to Strahan.

DEAR SIR, — Not remembering precisely the address of Mrs. Strange, I beg leave you would forward the enclosed to her, which I received under my cover from America.

I formerly sent you from Philadelphia part of an edi tion of Tully on " Old Age," to be sold in London ; and you put the books, if I remember right, into the hands of Mr. Becket for that purpose. Probably he may have some of them still in his warehouse, as I never had an account of their being sold. I shall be much obliged by your procuring and sending me one of them. 1 SPARKS, ix. 94.

A strong emulation exists at present between Paris and Madrid, with regard to beautiful printing. Here, M. Didot le jeune has a passion for the art, and besides having procured the best types, he has much improved the press. The utmost care is taken of his press work ; his ink is black, and his paper fine white. He has exe cuted several charming editions. But the Sallust and the Don Quixote of Madrid are thought to excel them. Didot, however, improves every day, and by his zeal and indefatigable application, bids fair to carry the art to a high pitch of perfection. I will send you a sample of his work when I have an opportunity.

I am glad to hear that you have married your daugh ter happily, and that your prosperity continues. I hope it may never meet with any interruption, having still, though at present divided by public circumstances, a remembrance of our ancient private friendship.

Please to present my affectionate respects to Mrs. Strahan, and my love to your children.

With great esteem and regard, I am, dear s:r,

While Dr. Franklin himself received no return from the English sale of his own edition of the "Senectute," it was pirated by an English house, under the general rule which holds to this day. Jonathan Williams, writing to him from London in May, 1785, says, "In going through Exeter change, I saw a translation of Cicero on Old Age, with your name and picture in front. I told the book-seller that I imagined it to be the Rev. Dr. Francklin,1 but he assured me it was by you, and first published in Philadelphia, as indeed,

1 Dr. Thomas Francklin, b. 1721, d. 1784, still remembered by lazy students for his convenient translations of Latin books, used in schools and colleges. *

CORRESPONDENCE WITH BOYS. 7

appears by a preface put to the book. We are both positive, and you only can tell which of us is in the right."

A considerable part of Franklin's occupation at Passy was the oversight of the young people whose education had been intrusted to him by American parents.

As early as 1778, the Academy placed first among the competitors for a prize in painting the picture of a young American, M. Loeuillard, only nineteen years of age, from a subject in the tenth Iliad. Whether he were from the Rebel States, or the French islands, how ever, does not appear. There is a very edifying corre spondence with Mr. Vernon of Rhode Island, about a son of his, who was wasting both time and money in Europe. To young Master Johonnot from Boston, who is still remembered in that city, there is the following affectionate letter written at this period : —

Franklin to Johonnot.

PASSY, Jan. 25th, 1782.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND, — Inclosed are two letters for you which came under my cover from Boston.

I am glad to hear a good account of you from M. de Marignac. A Gentleman of Lyons has repeatedly wrote to my proposing to remove you to a School in his Neighborhood, and tells me that you desire it. I hope he is mistaken in that. You are plac'd to the satisfac tion of your excellent Grandfather, who is a good Judge of the Place and kind of Education that is best for you ; and I hope you will be content with it, make a good use of the advantages it affords you for Improvement, and not indulge any Fancies of change. It is time for you to think of establishing a character for manly Steadiness, — which you will find of great use to you in Life. The Proverb says wisely, A rotting Stone gathers no Moss. So in frequent changing of Schools much time is Lost, before the Scholar can be well acquainted with new Rules, and get into the use of them, and Loss of Time will be to you a Loss of Learn ing. If I had not a great Regard for you, I should not take the Trouble of advising you. I have paid M. de Marignac's bill for your Expence and Schooling to the beginning of next month, and desiring to hear from you I continue to be

Your affectionate friend,

But young countrymen were not the only young people with whom he corresponded. The letter-books are full of tokens of his consideration for everybody who was young and needed encouragement. A French boy named Richard, a pupil of the College Nizier in Paris, wrote to him, and received a kind reply. In this reply Franklin told him, if he wrote poetry, "to sing things which are useful to mankind, and the men who achieve them." The boy's teacher, after this, gave the school, as an exercise in French verse, Turgot's line,1 —

for which young Richard had furnished this rather poor rendering : —

" A POlympe surpris il arracha la foudre, Et d'un Tyran barbare il init le Sceptre en Poudre."

A translation in the " Almanach des Muses," immedi ately after the line first appeared, was in these words : —

4 'Get homme que tu vois, sublime en tous les terns, Derobe aux Dieux la foudre et la sceptre des tyrans."

1 See vol. i. p. 410.

ENGLISH POLITICS. 9

This is even worse than Richard's. Nogaret sug gests, —

"On 1'a vu desarmer les tyrans et les dieux."

A French correspondent, to whom we have already expressed our obligations, sends us this version : —

" Par un double bienfait de deux fleaux vainqueur, II eteignit la foudre et detrone 1'erreur."

M. Artaud, in 1783, gave, —

"Ravir la foudre aux dieux et le sceptre aux tyrans,"

which preserves a certain rhythm, and is nearly literal. For the first half year which follows that happy 20th of November .which began a fit Thanksgiving week for all Americans in Paris, the tokens of the change of wind in the fickle climate of European favor, were, of course, vague and puzzling. Lord North was still at the head of the ministry until March. He had been in communication with Franklin through Hartley. But, after the vote of Feb. 28, Lord North was obliged to withdraw, and a new ministry was formed, with the Earl of Shelburne at the head, on the express understanding that the war with America must be finished. On the morning of that day, the House of Commons passed Gen. Conway's resolution, that " any minister would be highly criminal, and an enemy of his country, who should attempt to carry on an offensive war in America against the sense of the House." Edmund Burke at once wrote to Franklin to communicate the resolution, — and the announcement of it to him, therefore, has a certain dramatic fitness, coming from a friend not un worthy of such a charge. But, even then, the new ministry had to be formed, and the summer of 1782 was well opened before the actual negotiations began in Paris.

As the reader knows, the French Government re ceived the first news of Cornwallis's surrender. The message was brought by Lauzun and Segur, and the son of the Chevalier Delle. They proceeded at once to Versailles, and told their news. Young Delle says, " The Count de Maurepas wished to know every thing. He heard it all from M. de Segur and M. de Lauzun with the greatest interest, and ended by saying, ' I die content.' "

Vergennes at once announced it to Franklin in the note acknowledged by him at the end of our last chap ter.1 From that moment congratulations pour in on Franklin from all sources, private and public, and the credit of America, in every line, begins to rise. Chaumont, for so many years the host or landlord of the Commissioners at Passy, writes, on that very day, to say that Dr. B., who is probably Dr. Bancroft, is going to make his court at Versailles the next day, and wants copies of the despatches to send to Madrid.

In the passage already cited, in the letter to John Adams, covering the despatches for him from Washing ton, Franklin says, " The infant Hercules in his cradle has now strangled his second serpent, and gives hopes that his future history will be answerable." The emblem was too good to be easily forgotten. He gave directions, the next summer, for the fine medal which preserves it. His first design for it is thus described by himself: it should represent "the United States by the figure of the infant Hercules in his cradle, strangling the two serpents ; and France by that of Minerva, sit ting by as his nurse with her spear and helmet, and her 1 Vol. i. p. 465.