France, early relations with.
The serious quarrel between the
English and
French colonists in
America, which was begun in 1754 and continued by collisions of armed men, was taken up by the home governments in 1755.
The
French had offered to treat for reconciliation, but the terms were not acceptable to the
English; and when the offer was refused, the
French fitted out privateers and threatened to invade
England with a fleet and army collected at
Brest.
To confront this menace, a body of German troops were introduced into
England; and, to induce the colonies to make fresh efforts against the
French in
America, the Parliament voted a reimbursement of $775,000 to those involved on account of
Dieskau's invasion.
Provision was also made for enlisting a royal American regiment, composed of four battalions of 1,000 men each.
All hopes of reconciliation being past,
England formally declared war against
France (May, 18, 1756), to which the latter shortly after responded.
On Aug. 15, 1761,
Choiseul, the able French minister, brought about, by treaty, a firm alliance between
France and
Spain, a family compact that eventually proved beneficial to the
English-American colonies.
It was designed to unite all the branches of the
House of Bourbon as a counterpoise to the maritime ascendency of
England.
It was agreed that at the conclusion of the then existing war
France and
Spain, in the whole extent of their dominions, were to stand as one state towards foreign powers.
This treaty secured to the
American colonies, in advance, the aid of Charles III.
of
Spain.
A special convention was concluded the same day between
France and
Spain, by which the latter agreed to declare war against
England unless peace between
France and
England should be concluded before May, 1762.
Choiseul covenanted with
Spain that
Portugal should be compelled, and
Savoy,
Holland, and
Denmark should be invited, to join in a federative union “for the common advantage of all maritime powers.”
Pitt proposed to declare war against
Spain, but was outvoted, and resigned (Oct. 5, 1761).
The French government was pleased when the breach between
Great Britain and her colonies began, and sought to widen it.
England had stripped
France of her possessions in
America, and
France sought to dismember the
British Empire, and cause it a greater loss, by the achievement of the independence of the colonies.
Arthur Lee, of
Virginia, being in
London soon after the breaking out of hostilities, made such representations to the
French ambassador there that the
Count de Vergennes, the
French minister of foreign affairs, sent
Pierre Augustin Caron De Beaumarchais (q. v.), a well-known political intriguer and courtier, to concert measures with
Lee for sending to the
Americans arms and military stores to the amount of $200,000. An open breach with the
English was not then desirable, and the
French minister, to cover up the transaction, gave it a mercantile feature, by having
Beaumarchais transmit the supplies under the fictitious firm-name of Rodrique Hortales & Co. Before the matter was completed,
Silas Deane (q. v.), sent by the committee of secret correspondence, arrived in
Paris (May, 1776), in the disguise of a private merchant.
He was received kindly by
Vergennes, and introduced to
Beaumarchais.
It was agreed that Hortales & Co. should send the supplies by way of the
West Indies, and that Congress should pay for them in tobacco and other American products.
When the arrangement was completed,
Beaumarchais despatched vessels from time to time, with valuable cargoes, including 200 cannon and mortars, and a supply of small
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arms from the
French arsenals; also, 4,000 tents, and clothing for 30,000 men.
Deane was suspected of some secret connection with the
French government, and was closely watched by British agents; and the French Court would trust none of its secrets to the
Congress, for its most private deliberations (the sessions were always private) leaked out, and became known to the
British ministry.
The business was done by the secret committee.
Soon after the
Declaration of Independence, a plan of treaties with foreign nations had been reported by a committee and accepted by Congress, and
Franklin,
Deane, and
Jefferson were appointed (Sept. 28, 1776) commissioners to the Court of France.
Jefferson declined the appointment, and
Arthur Lee was substituted.
They were directed to live in a style “to support the dignity of their public character,” and provision was made for their maintenance.
Franklin arrived at
Paris, and was joined by
Deane and
Lee in December.
The commissioners were courteously received by
Vergennes, privately, but without any recognition of their diplomatic character.
France was secretly strengthening her navy, and preparing for the inevitable war which her aid to the revolted colonies would produce.
The commissioners received from the
French government a quarterly allowance of $400,000, to be repaid by the
Congress, with which they purchased arms and supplies for troops, and fitted out armed vessels— a business chiefly performed by
Deane, who had been a merchant, and managed the transactions with
Beaumarchais.
Out of these transactions grew much embarrassment, chiefly on account of the misrepresentations of
Arthur Lee, which led Congress to believe that the supplies forwarded by
Beaumarchais were gratuities of the
French monarch.
This belief prevailed until the close of 1778, when
Franklin, on inquiry of
Vergennes about the matter, was informed that the
King had furnished nothing; he simply permitted
Beaumarchais to be provided with articles from the arsenals upon condition of replacing them.
The matter becoming a public question, the startled Congress, unwilling to compromise the French Court, declared (January, 1779) that they “had never received any species of military stores as a present from the Court of France.”
Then
Beaumarchais claimed payment from the
Congress for every article he had forwarded.
This claim caused a lawsuit that lasted about fifty years. It was settled in 1835, by the payment by the United States government to the heirs of
Beaumarchais of over $200,000.
On May 4, 1778, the Continental Congress unanimously ratified the treaties with
France, and expressed their grateful acknowledgments to its
King for his “magnanimous and disinterested conduct.”
This treaty and this ratification “buried the hatchet” that had so long been active between the
French and the
English colonies in
America.
The latter regarded all Frenchmen as their friends, and proclaimed Louis XVI.
the “protector of the rights of mankind.”
On the evening of April 12, 1779, the representatives of
France and
Spain signed a convention for an invasion of
England, in which the
Americans were considered and concerned.
By its terms
France bound herself to undertake the invasion of
Great Britain and
Ireland; and, if the
British could be driven from
Newfoundland, the fisheries were to be shared with
Spain.
France promised to use every effort to recover for Spain Minorca,
Pensacola, and
Mobile, the
Bay of Honduras, and the coast of Campeachy; and the two courts agreed not to grant peace nor truce, nor suspension of hostilities, until
Gibraltar should be restored to
Spain.
Spain was left free to exact from the
United States, as the price of her friendship, a renunciation of every part of the basin of the
St. Lawrence and the
Lakes, of the navigation of the
Mississippi, and of all the territory between that river and the
Alleghany Mountains.
This modification of the treaty of
France with the
United States gave the latter the right to make peace whenever
Great Britain should recognize their independence.
So these two
Bourbon dynasties plotted to exclude the
Americans from a region essential to them as members of an independent republic.
But a new power appeared in the
West to frustrate their designs, which was prefigured by an expedition under a hardy son of
Virginia.
See
Clark, George Rogers.
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In 1797 the
consul-general of the
United States in
France complained of the condemnation of American vessels unjustly.
Merlin, the
French minister of justice, made a reply in which he openly avowed the intention to humble the
Americans and compel Congress to conform to the wishes of
France by depredations upon American commerce.
“Let your government,” wrote this minister of justice (who was also a speculator in privateers), “return to a sense of what is due to itself and its true friends, become just and grateful, and let it break the incomprehensible treaty which it has concluded with our most implacable enemies, and then the
French Republic will cease to take advantage of this treaty, which favors
England at its expense, and no appeals will then, I can assure you, be made to any tribunal against injustice.”
In March, 1798,
President Adams, in a special message, asked Congress to make provision for the war with
France that seemed impending.
It was promptly complied with.
A provisional army of 20,000 regular soldiers was voted, and provision was made for the employment of volunteers as well as militia.
Provision was also made for a national navy, and the office of
Secretary of the Navy was created (see
Navy of the United States), and the incumbent was made a member of the cabinet.
Party spirit disappeared in the national legislature in a degree, and a war spirit everywhere prevailed.
There were a few members of Congress who made the honor of the nation subservient to their partisanship.
They opposed a war with
France on any account; and so unpopular did they become that some of the most obnoxious, particularly from
Virginia, sought personal safety in flight, under the pretext of needed attention to private affairs.
Ever since
Minister Adet's proclamation the Democrats, or friends of the
French, had worn the tricolored cockade.
When, in the spring of 1798,
President Adams took strong ground against
France, a decided war spirit was aroused throughout the country; addresses poured in on the
President; and everywhere were seen evidences of a reflex of opinion which sustained the
President.
In Philadelphia, an “Address to the
President,” signed by 5.000 citizens, was presented to
Adams; and this was followed by an address by the young men of the city, who went in a body to deliver it, many of them wearing black cockades, the same which were worn in the
American army during the Revolution.
This was done in the way of defiance to the tricolored cockades.
From this circumstance was derived the term, so familiar to politicians of that period, of “Black cockade Federalists.”
It became, in time, a term of reproach, and the wearers were exposed to personal attacks.
In July, 1798, the American Congress declared the treaties made between the
United States and
France (Feb. 6, 1778) at an end, and authorized American vessels of war to capture French cruisers.
A marine corps was organized, and thirty cruisers were provided for. The frigates
United States,
Constitution, and
Constellation, already built, were soon made ready for sea under such commanders as
Dale,
Barry,
Decatur the elder,
Truxton,
Nicholson, and
Phillips.
Decatur soon captured a French corsair (April, 1798). So many American armed vessels in
West India waters, in the
summer and
autumn of 1798, astonished the
British and
French authorities there.
At the close of that year the
American navy consisted of twenty-three vessels, with a total of 446 guns.
It was much strengthened during the year 1799 by the launching and putting into commission several new ships, and victories over the
French on the ocean were gained.
In February, 1799,
Commodore Truxton, in the
Constellation, captured the French frigate
L'Insurgente; and in February, 1800, he gained a victory over the French frigate
La Vengeance.
The convention at
Paris brought about peace between the two nations, and the navy of the
United States was called to another field of action.
While war with
France seemed inevitable, and was actually occurring on the ocean, a change in the government of that country occurred, which averted from the
United States the calamity of war. For a long time the quarrels of political factions had distracted
France.
The
French Directory (q. v.) had become very unpopular, and the excitable people were ripe for another revolution.
Napoleon
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Capture of La vengeance by constellation. |
Bonaparte was then at the head of an army in the
East.
His brothers informed him of the state of affairs at home, and he suddenly appeared in
Paris with a few followers, where he was hailed as the good genius of the republic.
With his brother Lucien, then president of the Council of Five Hundred, and the
Abbe Sieyes, one of the Directory, and of great influence in the Council of the Ancients, he conspired for the overthrow of the government and the establishment of a new one.
Sieyes induced the Council of the Ancients to place
Bonaparte in command of the military of
Paris, Nov. 9, 1799.
Then Sieyes and two other members of the Directory resigned, leaving
France without an executive authority, and
Bonaparte with its strong arm, the military, firmly in his grasp.
The Council of the Ancients, deceived by a trick, assembled at
St. Cloud the next day.
Bonaparte appeared before them to justify his conduct.
Perceiving their enmity, he threatened them with arrest by the military if they should decide against him. Meanwhile Lucien had read the letters of resignation of the three directors to the Council of Five Hundred.
A scene of terrible excitement occurred.
There were shouts of “No
Cromwell!
no dictator!
the constitution forever!”
Bonaparte entered that chamber
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with four grenadiers, and attempted to speak, but was interrupted by cries and execrations.
The members seemed about to offer personal violence to the bold soldier, when a body of troops rushed in and bore him off. A motion was made for his outlawry, which Lucien refused to put, and left the chair.
He went out and addressed the soldiers.
At the conclusion of his speech,
Murat entered with a body of armed men, and ordered the council to disperse.
The members replied with defiant shouts and execrations.
The drums were ordered to be beaten; the soldiers levelled their muskets, when all but about fifty of the Council escaped by the windows.
These, with the Ancients, passed a decree making Sieyes,
Bonaparte, and
Ducros provisional consuls.
In December,
Bonaparte was made first consul, or supreme ruler, for life.
New American envoys had just reached
Paris at this crisis, and very soon
Bonaparte concluded an amicable settlement of all difficulties between the two nations.
Peace was established; the envoys
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Medal awarded by Congress in commemoration of the capture of La vengeance by the constellation. |
returned home; and the provisional army of the
United States which had been organized was disbanded.
Circumstances humbled the pride of the
French Directory, and the wily
Talleyrand began to think of reconciliation with the
United States.
He saw the unity of the people with
Washington as leader, and paused; and, through letters to Pinchon (August and September, 1798), information was conveyed to the United States government that the Directory were ready to receive advances from the former for entering into negotiations.
Anxious for peace,
President Adams, without consulting his cabinet or the national dignity, nominated to the
Senate William Vans Murray (then
United States diplomatic agent at
The Hague) as minister plenipotentiary to
France.
This was a concession to the Directory which neither Congress nor the people approved, and the Senate refused to ratify the nomination.
This advance, after unatoned insults from the Directory, seemed like cowardly cringing before a half-relenting tyrant.
After a while the
President consented to the appointment of three envoys extraordinary, of which
Murray should be one, to settle all disputes between the two governments.
Oliver Ellsworth and
William R. Davie were chosen to join
Murray.
The latter did not proceed to
Europe until assurances were received from
France of their courteous reception.
These were received from
Talleyrand (November, 1799), and the two envoys sailed for
France.
The some month the Directory, which had become unpopular, was overthrown, and the government of
France remodelled, with
Napoleon Bonaparte as first consul, or
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supreme ruler, of the nation.
The envoys were cordially received by
Talleyrand, in the name of the first consul, and all difficulties between the two nations were speedily adjusted.
A convention was signed at
Paris (Sept. 30, 1800) by the three envoys and three French commissioners which was satisfactory to both parties.
The convention also made a decision contrary to the doctrine avowed and practised by the
English government, that “free ships make free goods.”
This affirmed the doctrine of Frederick the
Great, enunciated fifty years before, and denied that of
England in her famous “rule of 1756.”
