Deane, and it seemed settled that they were to trust to the promise of the minister for paying the interest of their debt; though Mr. Lee observed that promise was vague and verbal," etc., etc.; Mr. Lee continuing, for some time, to multiply objections, and imagine difficulties.

This dismal conversation, it is interesting to know, occurred as late as November 27th, only seven days before the arrival at Passy of Mr. Austin, the messenger sent to convey to the envoys the news of General Burgoyne's surrender, and of General Washington's spirited and all but successful attack upon the British forces at Germantown!

CHAPTER V.

THE ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE.

FEW men have won immortality more agreeably than Mr. Jonathan Loring Austin, the bearer of dispatches who brought to Paris this tremendous intelligence. Let us accompany the young gentleman in his mission; we shall catch thereby some precious glimpses of that stirring, memorable time.

Massachusetts sent him-spirited, generous, patriotic Massachusetts! No sooner had it become certain that Burgoyne's expedition was frustrated, than the Council of Massachusetts, perceiving the infinite importance of getting the news swiftly to France, completed a fast-sailing vessel, and appointed Mr. Austin (then Secretary to the Massachusetts Board of War) special messenger. The details of the great surrender having arrived, and the dispatches being ready, the vessel sailed on the last day of October, followed by the benedictions of a million patriotic hearts. The Sunday before she sailed, we are told, a note was handed to Dr. Chauncey, minister of the Brick Church in Boston, where Mr. Austin and his family attended, asking the prayers of the congregation for the safety of the messenger and the success of the voyage. The good doctor, it seems, was not a man of perfect tact, and the occasion was one that roused his patriotic feelings to the highest pitch.

"He thanked the Lord," records a writer, "most fervently for the great and glorious event which required the departure of a special messenger. He prayed that it might pull down the haughty spirit of our enemies; that it might warm and inspirit our friends; that it might be the means of procuring peace, so anxiously desired by all good men; and that no delay might retard the arrival in Europe of the packet which contained this great news. He invoked a blessing, as desired, on the person who was about to expose himself to the dangers of the sea to carry this wonderful intelligence across the mighty waters; but," said he, "whatever in thy wise providence thou seest best to do with the young man, we beseech thee most fervently, at all events, to preserve the packet."*

It pleased Heaven to preserve both the packet and the young man. He reached Nantes in thirty-one days, and pushed on rapidly for Paris. Swiftly as he traveled, a rumor preceded him of the arrival of a special messenger, and all the circle of official Americans hurried out to Passy to be present at the opening of the packet. Deane, Lee, William Lee, Izard, Bancroft, Beaumarchais, all appear to have been there. When Mr. Austin's chaise was heard in the court, they went out to meet him, and before he had time to alight, Dr. Franklin cried out:

"Sir, is Philadelphia taken ?"

"Yes, sir," replied Austin.

Upon hearing this Dr. Franklin clasped his hands, and turned as if to go back into the house.

"But, sir," said Austin, "I have greater news than that. GENERAL BURGOYNE AND HIS WHOLE ARMY ARE PRISONERS OF WAR!"

The effect was thrilling, electric, overwhelming, indescribable. But they did not shout, nor seize each other by the hand, nor rush, French-fashion, into each other's arms. The three envoys and Mr. Austin hastened into the hotel, and spent the rest of the day in reading, copying extracts, and writing dispatches, Austin himself being pressed into the service to assist. "The news," said Mr. Deane afterwards, "was like a sovereign cordial to the dying." Beaumarchais, who had been for several days in an agony of despair, feeling himself to be on the brink of irrecoverable ruin, was almost beside himself with joy. He straightway ordered his carriage, and drove

* Memoirs of Jonathan Loring Austin, in Boston Monthly Magazine for July, 1826.

towards Paris at such a furious pace, that the vehicle was overturned, and one of his arms dislocated.* Dr. Bancroft instantly set out for London, for what purpose did not immediately appear, but Mr. Arthur Lee was perfectly sure his errand could be no other than to make a corrupt use of the secret on the stock exchange. No doubt he went, at Dr. Franklin's request, to make known the full details of the intelligence to the heads of the British Opposition, Shelburne, Fox, Burke, and Rockingham; of whom more anon. The envoys busied themselves, first, in preparing a dispatch for Count de Vergennes, containing a summary of the news; which they sent, within a few hours after Mr. Austin's arrival, to Versailles by an express. In a few days all Europe had heard it; and, except the tory party of Great Britain, and the Continental holders of English stock, all Europe rejoiced at it. In Paris the intelligence was received, said Franklin, as if the victory had been won by their own troops over their own enemies; "such is the universal warm and sincere good will and attachment to us and our cause in their nation." Mr. Dumas wrote from the Hague, that the Cafés and the Exchange were all astir with the news, and the colonies were considered lost to the English. England had been haughty and overshadowing since the peace of 1763, and it seemed that all nations and most men exulted in her humiliation; while liberal minds in Englandt and out of England, rejoiced in the weakening of a power warring against the rights of man.

Diplomacy of the United States, i., 36.

† A London tory letter of December 9th, 1777, contains this passage: "The account of General Burgoyne's treaty with Mr. Gates, arriving when the two Houses of Parliament were sitting, and in the warmth of high debate, the friends of government were much confounded and staggered by such a shock; but you cannot imagine how furiously, illiberally, and indecently opposition triumphed on the occasion, opening and roaring like so many bull dogs against administration. The king, God bless him, for we never had a better one, and no other nation had ever so good a one, who feels every calamity and misfortune of his people, was greatly affected; but, with that magnanimity which distinguishes his character, he soon declared that such a cause could never be given up, that this loss must be retrieved by greater and more vigorous exertions, and that he would even sell Hanover and all his private estate, before he would desert the cause of his loyal American subjects, who had suffered so much for him.'

"In two or three days the nation recovered from its surprise, and now is ready to support the king and his ministers in the proper and vigorous use of such means as are adequate to the great end of reducing the revolted colonies to a constitutional subordination. Many in both Houses of Parliament have spoken to this effect with great spirit, and one member of the Commons, Mr. Cambridge, said that he would part with reluctance with one shilling in the pound towards raising another army of ten thousand men for America, yet he would cheerfully pay twelve shillings in the pound towards an additional army of sixty thousand men."-Frank Moore's Diary of the Revolution.

Dr. Franklin, ever after, felt for Mr. Austin a peculiar affection; "as if," remarks the writer quoted above, "he had not merely been the messenger, but the cause of this glorious information." He took the young gentleman into his own family, and gave him abundant employment as secretary to the embassy. Often, in meeting him at breakfast, or when sitting with him in the office, "Dr. Franklin would break from one of those musings in which it was his habit to indulge, and, clasping his hands together, exclaim, 'Oh, Mr. Austin, you brought us glorious news!' He made it a point to have the young Bostonian accompany him to all the great houses; wherein, at that period, Bostonian was more distinguishing and honorable than a title of nobility. He taught him to play chess, and delighted to have him at his bedside during his fits of the gout. Ere long, he found for him an honorable and confidential mission, of which we shall have to speak in a moment.

Events now succeeded one another with great rapidity. It will be convenient, for a short time, to give our narrative in the form of a diary.

Dec. 4th. On this, the day of Mr. Austin's arrival, the envoys, as just related, sent off their dispatch to Versailles; which is ten miles from Paris, and eight from Passy. Mr. Lee, also, wrote to the Spanish ambassador (Lee still holding his commission as envoy to Spain) and to the Prussian prime minister, an outline of the

news.

Dec. 5th. Letter-writing-congratulations-tumultuous joy!

Dec. 6th. M. Gerard, secretary of the king's council and under secretary for foreign affairs, called upon the envoys at Passy, charged with messages of the first importance. The Count de Vergennes, he said, had directed him to convey to the envoys their congratulations upon the victory, and to assure them that the tidings had given great pleasure at Versailles. The king, he added, would be glad to have further particulars of the recent events, and he assured them that they might depend upon the three millions of francs from Spain. But the grand object of his visit was to say, that as there could no longer be a reasonable doubt of the ability of the States to maintain their independence, it was desired at Versailles that the envoys should renew their proposals for an alliance with France; and the sooner the better, in order that there

might be time to secure the concurrence of Spain, and to prepare for the next campaign. M. Gerard was informed that extracts from American newspapers and dispatches relative to the surrender of Burgoyne and the battle of Germantown were then preparing, and should be sent to the king as soon as they were ready. December 7th. Dr. Franklin drew up a short memorial to the Count de Vergennes, thanking the king for the three millions of francs last granted by him, and proposing an immediate alliance between France and Spain, and the United States.

December 8th. The memorial was submitted to the other envoys, who approved and signed it; though Mr. Lee snarled a little because the preparation of so short and simple a document had taken two days (one of which was Sunday). "Young Mr. Franklin" conveyed the memorial to Versailles along with the packet of extracts for the king. The Count de Vergennes received him with unusual cordiality and politeness. "In two days," said the minister, "an answer shall be sent to you, and you will then see how much disposed I am to serve the cause of America." Sir George Grand (brother of the banker employed by the envoys), dining with Dr. Franklin to-day, said at the table that the Count de Vergennes, in a note received a few hours before, had spoken of the envoys as "our friends," instead of "your friends," as he had always called them before.

December 10th. Mr. Lee sent a memorial to Count d'Aranda, the Spanish embassador, urging the proposed alliance upon Spain. He asked Sir George Grand to mention to M. de Vergennes that American Commissioners for Prussia, Austria, Tuscany, and Spain, were then in Paris, and would go to their destinations as soon as the French court thought proper. He also requested the banker to say to the minister how extremely convenient it would be if the French government would grant convoy to the fleet of American supply ships that were shut up at Nantes, at a daily expense to Congress. Sir George Grand conveyed these hints to the Count de Vergennes; who replied, that as to the convoy, he would speak of that to the minister of marine; and, as to the commissioners, he saw no objection to their going at once to their courts, but advised him to consult the Spanish embassador on the subject. Grand called upon the Spanish embassador, who made this prudent reply: "I have two ways of thinking, one as the count d'Aranda, and the