Tuesday, February 10, 1778. Today, as if to celebrate France’s commitment to America’s democratic revolution, the Enlightenment philosopher of tolerance and rationality François Marie Arouet, known everywhere as Voltaire, appears in Paris for the first time in twenty-eight years. He is ill and has but a few months to live.1051 The Marquis de Condorcet:
A crowd of men and women of every rank and condition, from whom his verses had drawn the tears of humanity … were eager to behold him … Ministers, and proud prelates, were obliged to respect the idol of the nation … His carriage, which could scarcely proceed along the streets, was surrounded by a numerous multitude, who blessed him and celebrated his work.1052
Saturday, February 14, 1778. Today, America’s newest commissioner to the court of France, John Adams of Massachusetts, sets sail from Boston to France aboard the Continental frigate Boston, Captain Samuel Tucker. Like Ben Franklin, John Adams brings with him a very young child, his ten-year-old son, John Quincy Adams.1053
Thursday, February 22, 1778. Today, in France, Benjamin Franklin takes Benny Bache out of school to meet the great Voltaire at his private apartment. The Marquis de Condorcet:
Franklin was eager to see a man whose reputation had long been spread over both worlds; Voltaire, although he had lost the habit of speaking English, endeavored to support the conversation in that language; and afterwards, reassuming the French, he said: “I could not resist the desire of speaking the language of Mr. Franklin for a moment.”
The American philosopher presented his grandson to Voltaire, with a request that he give him a benediction. “God and liberty!” said Voltaire: “it is the only benediction which can be given to the grandson of Franklin.”1054
Friday, February 27, 1778. Today, the Marquis de Lafayette writes George Washington of the growing opposition to America’s commander in chief:
I understood that John Adams spoke very disrespectfully of your Excellency in Boston … [E]nemy’s of yours are so low, so far under your feet, that it is not of your dignity to take notice of ’em. I don’t speak however of the honorable, the Continental Congress, for, if I was General Washington, I schould write very plain to them.1055
John Adams:
The News of my Appointment [on the mission to France] was whispered about, and General Knox came up to dine with me, at Braintree. The design of his Visit was As I soon perceived to sound me in relation to General Washington. He asked me what my Opinion of him was. I answered with the Utmost Frankness, that I thought him a perfectly honest Man, with an amiable and excellent heart, and the most important Character at that time among Us, for he was the Center of our Union. He asked the question, he said, because, as I was going to Europe it was of importance that the Generals Character should be supported in other Countries. I replied that he might be perfectly at his ease on the Subject for he might depend upon it, that both from principle and Affection, public and private I should do my Utmost to support his Character at all times and in all places, unless something should happen very greatly to alter my Opinion of him … I mention this incident, because that insolent Blasphemer of things sacred and transcendent Libeller of all that is good Tom Paine has more than once asserted in Print, the scandalous Lye, that I was one of a Faction in the fall of the Year 1777, against General Washington. It is indeed a disgrace to the moral Character and the Understanding of this Age, that this worthless fellow should be believed in any thing. But Impudence and Malice will always find Admirers.1056
Jimmy Callender:
During the revolution, [Mr. Adams] was one of the party discontented with Mr. Washington, and favoured the projects for turning him out.1057
Tom Paine:
John Adams was one of the chiefs of a party at York-town in Pennsylvania, in the latter end of the year 1777 and beginning of ’78, for dismissing Washington from the command of the army, because, they said, he was not capable of it and did nothing.1058
Saturday, March 21, 1778. The alliance between France and America will yield many victories for America. Today, in London, British Colonial Secretary Lord George Germain writes a highly confidential communication to the Lords of Admiralty:
My Lords, the French King … having signed a treaty of amity and commerce with the agents of His Majesty’s rebellious subjects in North America and there being reason to suppose that a squadron of French ships of war … is sailed for North America … I have received the King’s commands to signify to your lordships that His Majesty’s pleasure that you do instruct the commander of His Majesty’s ships in North America … that he do collect as great a force as he immediately can and do his utmost to attack, defeat, and utterly destroy the said squadron in preference to all other services which he may have received instructions to perform.1059
Today, the King’s instructions are sent to British General Sir Henry Clinton, the new commander in chief for British forces in North America:
[I]t is our will and pleasure that you do evacuate Philadelphia, and having embarked all the troops, as also the ordinance, stores, provisions and everything belonging to us or necessary for our troops, you are to proceed with the whole to New York …
If … you shall find yourself in danger of being overpowered and forced by the superior numbers of the enemy, or your retreat likely to be cut off, in either of these cases, it is our will and pleasure that you withdraw our troops from New York … 1060
Friday, March 27, 1778. Today, on the orders of the King of France, orders are issued to French Admiral Charles-Hector, Comte d’Estaing:
1st.—Departure from Toulon … Landing by the Delaware River … [&c.]1061
A French fleet of twelve ships-of-the-line and five frigates, under Admiral d’Estaing, will soon be leaving for America!1062
Saturday, March 28, 1778. Today, the King of France writes to the United States Continental Congress:
VERY DEAR AND GREAT FRIENDS AND ALLIES:
The Treaties we have signed with you … are a certain guaranty to you of our affection … as well as of the interest which we take … in your happiness and prosperity … [W]e have appointed Mr. Gerard, secretary of our council of state, to reside near you in quality of our minister plenipotentiary …
You will learn, undoubtedly with gratitude, the measure which the conduct of the King Of Great Britain has induced us to take, of sending a fleet to endeavor to destroy the English forces upon the shores of North America …
The Count d’Estaing, vice-admiral of France, is charged to concert with you the operations …
Moreover, we pray God that he will have you, very dear and great friends and allies, under his holy protection.
Written at Versailles, the 28th of March, 1778.
Your good friend and ally, LOUIS.1063
Tuesday, March 31, 1778. Today, Ben Franklin writes Benny Bache’s parents, Richard and Sarah Bache, that France’s first Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, Conrad-Alexandre Gérard de Rayvenal, will soon be leaving for Philadelphia:
His Excellency, M. Gérard … is a Friend to your Country and to your Father which gives him a double Claim to your Civilities … It is so long since I have heard from you, and there have been such Burnings and Devastations made by the Enemy, that I know not whether, even if Philadelphia is recover’d, you have a House left to entertain him in …
Benny continues well, and minds his Learning …1064
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE DUKE OF BRAINTREE
I ought not to conceal from you, that one of my colleagues [Mr. Adams] is of a very different Opinion from me in these matters. He thinks … Gratitude to France is the greatest of Follies, and that to be influenc’d by it would ruin us. He makes no secret of having these Opinions … I am persuaded … that he means well for his Country, is always an Honest Man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses.
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN1065
Dr. Franklin’s behavior had been so excessively complaisant to the French ministry … I had been frequ
ently obliged to differ from him and sometimes to withstand him to his face; so that I knew he had conceived an irreconcilable hatred of me and that he had propagated and would continue to propagate prejudices, if nothing worse, against me in America from one end of it to the other.
JOHN ADAMS,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1797–18011066
Wednesday, April 1, 1778. Today, after a long journey from America, John Adams arrives at Bordeaux, France. He is too late to participate in treaty negotiations. The Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1778 and the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance of 1778 are on their way to Philadelphia for ratification. John Adams writes:
When I arrived in France, the French nation had a great many questions to settle. The first was, Whether I was the famous Adams? Le fameux Adams? Ah, le fameux Adams. In order to speculate a little on this subject, the pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” had been printed in the “Affaires de Angleterre et de l’Amérique,” and expressly [and wrongly] ascribed to Mr. Adams, the celebrated member of Congress— le célèbre member du congres. It must be further known that, although the pamphlet, Common Sense, was received in France and in all Europe with rapture, yet there are certain parts of it that they did not choose to publish in France. The reasons of this any man may guess. Common Sense undertakes to prove that monarchy is unlawful by the Old Testament. They, therefore, gave the substance of it, as they said; and, paying many compliments to Mr. Adams, his sense and rich imagination, they were obliged to ascribe some parts to republican zeal. When I arrived at Bordeaux, all that I could say or do could not convince anybody but that I was the fameux Adams.1067
Thursday, April 2, 1778. Tonight at dinner in Bordeaux, a French woman flirts with New Englander John Adams. John Adams writes in his diary:
One of the most elegant Ladies at Table, young and handsome, tho married to a Gentleman in the Company, was pleased to Address her discourse to me … “Mr. Adams, by your Name I conclude you are descended from the first Man and Woman, and probably in your family may be preserved the tradition which may resolve a difficulty which I could never explain. I never could understand how the first Couple found out the Art of lying together?” To me … this question was surprizing and shocking: but although I believe at first I blushed, I was determined not to be disconcerted … I answered her “Madame … I rather thought it was by Instinct … resembling the Power of Electricity …” When this Answer was explained to her, she replied “Well I know not how it was, but this I know it is a very happy shock.”… The decided Advances made by married Women, which I heard related, gave rise to many reflections in my mind … The first was if such a[re] the manners of Women of Rank, Fashion and Reputation [in] France, they can never support a Republican Government nor be reconciled with it. We must therefore take great care not to import them into America.1068
Thursday, April 9, 1778. Having arrived in Paris last night from Bordeaux and having stayed overnight at a downtown hotel, today John Adams visits Benjamin Franklin at Franklin’s residence in the suburb of Passy. Adams writes in his diary:
Went in a Coach to Passy with … my son. [We visited] Dr. Franklin with whom I had served the best part of two Years in Congress … [H]e received me accordingly with great apparent Cordiality. Mr. Dean [whom I am replacing] was gone to Marseilles to embark with [the French fleet under Admiral] D’Estaing for America. Franklin undertook the care of Jesse Deane [Mr. Deane’s son] … [a]nd he was soon sent, with my son [John Quincy Adams] and Dr. Franklin’s Grandson Benjamin Franklin Bache … to the Pension [boarding school] of Mr. Le Coeur at Passy …
Dr. Franklin presented to me the Compliments of Mr. Turgot, the late [French] Controuler of the Finances and a very pressing Invitation to dine with him … I went with Dr. Franklin … and dined with this Ex-Minister … [T]wenty others of the Great People of France were there …
Dr. Franklin had shewn me the Apartements and Furniture left by Mr. Deane … I determined to put my Country to no further expence on my Account but to take my Lodgings under the same Roof with Dr. Franklin …1069
Friday, April 10, 1778. Today, John Adams writes in his diary:
When I arrived in Paris, I found a different style. I found great pains taken, much more than the question was worth, to settle the point that I was not the famous Adams. There was a dread of sensation … Nobody went so far in France … that I was the infamous Adams … I certainly joined both sides in this, in declaring that I was not the famous Adams, because this was the truth.
It being settled that he was not the famous Adams, the consequence was plain; he was some man that nobody had ever heard of before, and therefore a man of no consequence—a cipher … I was not the famous Adams.
Seeing this and saying nothing,—for what could a man say? … I behaved with as much prudence and civility and industry as I could; but still it was settled, absolutely and unalterably, that I was a man of whom nobody had ever heard before—a perfect cipher; a man who did not understand a word of French, awkward in his figure, awkward in his dress; no abilities, a perfect bigot and fanatic.1070
Saturday, April 11, 1778. Today, at the Royal Court of France at Versailles, John Adams meets the French Foreign Minister, the Comte de Vergennes. John Adams:
Went to Versailles with Dr. Franklin … visited the Secretary of State for foreign Affairs, the Count de Vergennes and was politely received. He hoped I should stay long enough in France to acquire the French Language perfectly … Hoped the Treaty would be agreable, and the Alliance lasting. Although the Treaty had gone somewhat farther than the System I had always advocated in Congress and further than my Judgment could yet perfectly approve, it was now too late to make any Objections …
I was then shewn the Pallace …
Although my Ignorance of the Language was very inconvenient and humiliating to me, yet I thought the Attentions which had been shewn me … manifested … in what estimation the new Alliance with America was held.1071
Sunday, April 12, 1778. Today, in Paris, John Adams writes:
It is the universal Opinion of the People here, of all Ranks, that a Friendship between France and America is the Interest of both Countries, and the late Alliance, so happily formed, is universally popular; so much so that I have been told by Persons of good Judgment that the Government here would have been under a Sort of Necessity of agreeing to it even if it had not been agreable to themselves.1072
Franklin’s work is revealed: “[T]he Government here would have been under a Sort of Necessity of agreeing to it even if it had not been agreable to themselves.”
Monday, April 13, 1778. Today, acting in pursuance of the new Franco-American alliance, a French war fleet of twelve ships of the line and five frigates, under the command of French Admiral Comte d’Estaing, sets sail from Toulon, France for Philadelphia’s Delaware River. Their mission is to surprise the British army and fleet at Philadelphia. Traveling aboard the fleet’s flagship, the Languedoc, is France’s first Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, Conrad-Alexandre Gérard de Rayvenal, formerly first secretary to the Comte de Vergennes. Also aboard the Languedoc is one of the American commissioners at Paris, Silas Deane, who’s been recalled by Congress.1073
Thursday, April 16, 1778. Today, from Paris, a British spy reports:
J. Adams is arrived very disappointed to find everything concluded. [T]alks of returning.1074
Today, John Adams writes in his diary,
Doctor Franklin is reported to speak French very well, but I find, upon attending to him, that he does not speak it grammatically, and, indeed, upon enquiring, he confesses that he is wholly inattentive to the Grammar. His Pronunciation too upon which the French Gentlemen and Ladies compliment him, and which he seems to think is pretty well, I am sure is very far from being exact.1075
Tuesday, April 21, 1778. Of today, John Adams writes,
Dr. Franklin, one of my Colleagues, is so generally known that I shall not attempt a Sketch of his Character at present. That He was a great Geni
us, a great Wit, a great Humourist, and a great Satyrist, and a great Politician is certain. That he was a great Phylosopher, a great Moralist, and a great Statesman is more questionable.1076
Wednesday, April 22, 1778. Today, in America, American Commissary General of Prisoners Elias Boudinot meets with George Washington’s former second in command General Charles Lee, just released from captivity. Boudinot records:
When [Genl Lee] came out [from being a prisoner] … Genl Washington gave him command of the Right Wing of the Army, but before he took charge of it, he requested leave to go to Congress at York town; which was readily granted.
Before he went, I had an interview with him.— … He said he was going to Congress … That he found the Army in a worse situation than he expected and that General Washington was not fit to command a Sergeant’s Guard …
He went to Congress … He returned to the army and took command of the right wing—He immediately began to rebel ag[ains]t Genl Washington … He assured himself that Genl Washington was ruining the whole cause …1077
Thursday, April 23, 1778. Word is out in Philadelphia that France has signed an alliance with the United States.1078
Wednesday, April 29, 1778. Tonight, in Paris, John Adams writes in his diary:
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