The Diplomacy Of The American Revolution
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There he assumed the role of a merchant openly buying goods, while privately seeking the favor of the French government. In a secret meeting with Vergennes, Deane was given assurance that as a private merchant he could conduct business in France and that the French government was in possession of older model weapons see the article on Jean Baptiste de Gribeauval that were still serviceable.
Vergennes recommended him to Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais, the author of comedies who was also engaged in commerce. Soon the two had made arrangements for significant arms shipments to America. Early in December many French officers began to approach Deane for service in the American army. Perhaps seeking to play to public opinion in France as well as to provide experienced officers for the American army, Deane provided commissions for many highly placed officers. In September the Continental Congress appointed Franklin and Arthur Lee to join Deane as a committee or, as they became known, the "commissioners" to perform the mission originally entrusted to Deane alone.
Though not "trained" diplomats, Franklin and Lee had served earlier as colonial agents in England and had become accomplished negotiators and propagandists. Their skills strengthened the American presence in France. Franklin, as the more colorful and charming figure, of course became the topic of greatest public interest. Lee, without set duties and accused of English associations, dissociated himself from the others.
Ironically it was Franklin and Deane who were unwittingly providing information for covert English agents such as Edward Bancroft. By early February , Franklin, Deane, and Lee became concerned at their lack of timely news and further instructions from the Congress. So in February they agreed to exceed their earlier instructions. Given that little was happening in France, the three decided that Lee should venture off to Spain and Deane to the Netherlands. In February Lee went to Spain, where the embarrassment of his presence forced the officially neutral government to offer him private assurances of money and supplies through Diego de Gardoqui.
William Carmichael, an affluent student in London, had been recruited by Lee to carry dispatches for him. When he appeared in Paris, he shifted loyalties to Deane to establish business and diplomatic contacts with the Netherlands and Prussia. Before news of these Congressional appointments reached France, Arthur Lee proposed in April that Carmichael accompany him to Prussia. Carmichael—now associated with Deane—refused unless awarded official status, which the commissioners declined to grant.
This magnified the growing rift among Deane, Franklin, and the Lees. In addition, Deane and Franklin refused to inform Lee of negotiations during his absence or to provide him with access to their files. Contrary to his experiences in Spain, Lee found his advances stymied in both capitals. When he returned to Paris to find his brother William arrived from London, Lee also discovered that his fellow commissioners were not keeping systematic financial accounts and were indiscreet in the security of sensitive documents.
In October and November, Arthur Lee wrote to his congressional allies calling for an overhaul of America's agency in Europe and a separation of diplomats from commercial agents; he also suggested that the commercial activities of Beaumarchais were in fact gifts of the French government. If it would not agree to a commercial treaty, they would open negotiations with the British. The two rejected Deane's proposal. Shortly thereafter news arrived in France that General John Burgoyne had surrendered his army to the Americans at Saratoga.
One prominent American historian, Jonathan Dull, suggests that news of Saratoga had little to do with the French decision to negotiate treaties with the Americans. He suggests that French planners had already projected that spring would be the date to begin hostilities against the British. On the other hand, noted English historians John Hardman and Munro Price suggest that changes in Bavarian politics may have opened the way for the redirection of French attention and resources to America. Serious negotiations on a treaty began on 8 January The French representative agreed to American proposals and responded with a counteroffer of a commercial treaty and a military alliance treaty.
Although the British ambassador quickly withdrew from France, there was no major combat between England and France until 16 June, when a naval encounter served as the formal cause for mutual proclamations of war between the two major powers. As a last effort to trump the alliance in America, Lord North pressed two bills through Parliament. One offered the Americans repeal of the Coercive Acts and freedom from taxation; the other established a commission to negotiate peace with the Americans under the nominal leadership of the earl of Carlisle.
Congress dismissed the proposals. To equalize diplomatic representation, the Congress dissolved the commission in September and appointed Franklin as its minister plenipotentiary. France now turned to Spain to secure its commitment to the war and thereby achieve clear naval superiority over England. Spain's price for such a commitment was a series of objectives crowned by a combined invasion of England. The treaty of Aranjuez, establishing a Franco-Spanish alliance, was signed on 12 April By its terms Spain promised not to undertake a separate peace with England and to acknowledge that France would conclude no peace short of American independence.
Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War
As a result of disease and bad weather, the projected invasions in and failed, but they distracted critical English naval forces from American waters. An English attempt to negotiate with the Spanish through envoy Richard Cumberland also failed.
Congress's next step was to balance its diplomatic representation overseas. Congress kept Franklin as minister to France, selected from the "radicals" John Adams as peace commissioner, chose from the "moderates" John Jay as minister to Spain, and the nonaligned former president of Congress Henry Laurens as minister to the Netherlands. Arthur Lee and William Lee were recalled to America. During Congress appointed a peace commission composed of Franklin, Jay, Adams, Laurens, and Thomas Jefferson who declined and instructed them to undertake no treaty without consulting with the French government.
With the success of the Yorktown campaign , American prospects for a serious English negotiation blossomed. When the British government under Lord North fell in March and was replaced by the Opposition under Lord Rockingham, there were deep divisions within the new government about how to handle the Americans. Adams had gone to the Netherlands to work out the terms of a treaty of amity and commerce. John Jay did not return to Paris until late June. Henry Laurens had been captured on the Atlantic and upon his release from English imprisonment declined to serve.
Separate English negotiations with Franklin and with Vergennes were both stalemated. By the end of July Shelburne offered the Americans independence.
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However, Franklin, owing to illness, had been forced to withdraw from the negotiations. Jay, having entered the negotiations late, hesitated to agree until the British negotiator's instructions included the offer of independence. He was also suspicious of a separate French-British deal. In October Franklin, Adams, and Laurens joined the negotiations, and all reached an agreement with the British diplomats on 30 November. The British would acknowledge American independence and withdraw all their troops, and accept America's boundary demands, its fishing rights off Newfoundland, and its right to navigation on the Mississippi River.
In turn, the Americans would honor their British debts and Congress would urge the states to treat the Loyalists fairly. Yet ambiguities in these terms would lead the British to delay a full troop withdrawal from the frontier until by the terms of Jay's Treaty. Although the French were somewhat surprised by the British concessions the Americans had obtained, they were pleased that this achievement would put additional pressure on the Spanish to comply without having reached their primary goal of retaking Gibraltar.
On 20 January a preliminary peace treaty was signed by the Americans, French, and Spanish and on behalf of the Netherlands. However, by February a new problem had arisen. Copyright, , by the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. You do not currently have access to this article. You could not be signed in.
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Diplomacy: A Key Component of the Revolution
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