Revolution, diplomacy of the
As soon as the idea of independence had taken the practical shape of a resolution and declaration adopted by Congress, the
Americans began to contemplate the necessity of foreign aid, material and moral.
The Congress appointed a secret committee of correspondence for the purpose,
[
409]
and sent Silas Deane upon a half-commercial, half-diplomatic mission to
France.
Franklin was at first opposed to seeking foreign alliances.
“A virgin State,” he said, “should preserve the virgin character, and not go about suitoring for alliances, but wait with decent dignity for the application of others.”
But
Franklin soon became the chief suitor in
Europe, for in the autumn of 1776 he was sent as “commissioner” to
France to seek an alliance and material aid. The aid was furnished through
Beaumarchais, at first secretly, and afterwards by the government openly.
The American commissioners proposed a treaty of alliance with
France, but the
French government hesitated, for it did not then desire an open rupture with
England; but when the news of the defeat and capture of
Burgoyne's army, late in 1777, reached
France, the
King no longer hesitated, and a treaty of amity, commerce, and alliance was consummated in February, 1778.
The recognition of the independence of the
United States involved
France in war with
England, and the latter sent commissioners to negotiate with the
Americans for peace.
The terms were not satisfactory, and the mission failed.
The French government pressed
Spain to join in espousing the cause of the
Americans, but that power hesitated, because a support of such a republican system in
America might be dangerous to the integrity of her own colonial system in that part of the world.
In this feeling
France had been alike cautious, and for the same reasons.
They had agreed that while it would not be politic to invade the rights of the
British crown, they would evade the obligations of treaties, for both had a mischievous intent to foment the disturbances between
England and her American colonies.
While doing this secretly, they held the language of honest neutrality.
When, therefore,
France had determined openly to espouse the cause of the
Americans,
Spain was urged to do likewise; but the Spanish Court could not be persuaded to go beyond a certain point.
The French minister, with keen prescience, saw ultimate independence for
America, while the Spanish Court dreaded such a result.
Meanwhile the Continental Congress had sent
John Jay as ambassador to
Spain, to win the active friendship of that power.
He could effect nothing; and it was well he did not, as subsequent events manifested.
From the time of the treaty of alliance with
France, the action of
Spain towards the
United States was selfish, hypocritical, and often sullen.
She declared war against
England for her own selfish purpose, but it worked in favor of the
Americans by keeping British troops employed elsewhere than in
America.
The
Count d'aranda, the
Spanish minister in
France, who had watched the course of events with keen vision from the beginning to the end of the
American war for independence, suggested to his sovereign, as an antidote to American independence, the formation of the
Spanish-American colonies into independent Spanish monarchies.
He said, in reference to the treaty of peace in 1783: “The independence of the
English colonies has been, then, recognized.
It is for me a subject of grief and fear.
France has but few possessions in
America; but she was bound to consider that
Spain, her most intimate ally, had many, and that she now stands exposed to terrible reverses.
From the beginning
France has acted against her true interests in encouraging and supporting this independence, and so I have often declared to the ministers of this nation.”
When the armed neutrality was proposed in 1780, the
Americans gladly joined the
European powers with their moral influence (all they could then give), for it would aid themselves by weakening
England.
Its results were disappointing to the other powers, but it added to the open enemies of
England.
The Congress, in instructions to
Dana at
St. Petersburg, had said: “You will readily perceive that it must be a leading and capital point, if these
United States shall be formally admitted as a party to the convention of the neutral maritime powers for maintaining the freedom of commerce.”
Thus early, while yet fighting for independence, the
American statesmen assumed the dignity and used the language of the representatives of a powerful nation, which they certainly expected to form.
The
Americans had opened negotiations with the States-
General of
Holland
[
410]
for a treaty as early as 1778.
William, brother of
Richard Henry and
Arthur Lee, had begun the discussion of such a treaty with
Van Berkel, the pensionary of
Amsterdam.
This negotiation with a single province was made in secret.
Lee had no authority to sign a treaty, nor could the expression of a single province bind the
Dutch Republic.
Finally,
Henry Laurens was sent by Congress to negotiate a treaty with the States-General, but was captured while crossing the
Atlantic, and imprisoned in
England.
Then
John Adams was sent for the purpose to
The Hague.
Early in 1782, through the joint exertions of
Mr. Adams and the
French minister at
The Hague, the provinces, one after another, consented to the public recognition of
Mr. Adams, and so openly recognized the independence of the
United States.
He was publicly introduced to the
Prince of
Orange on April 22, 1782.
In October following he had completed the negotiation of a treaty with
Holland, and signed it with great satisfaction.
It was a “Treaty of Alliance between their High Mightinesses the States-
General of the United Netherlands and the
United States of America.”
This treaty was not altogether dependent upon the alliance of the
United States with
France, and was a step forward in the march of the former towards independent national existence.
The final great act in the diplomacy of the Revolution was the negotiation of a treaty of peace with
England.
In their foreign diplomacy the
Congress had been greatly aided at almost every step by the enlightened wisdom, prudence, and firmness of
Count Gravier de Vergennes, who was a faithful servant of his
King, while he earnestly desired the boon of the enjoyment of rational liberty for all peoples.
He died soon after the peace.
Revolutionary War
