He had a great warehouse in Paris, and, under
the rather fantastic Spanish name of Roderigue Hortalez & Co., he
sent vast quantities of munitions and clothing to America.
Cannon, not from private firms but from the government arsenals,
were sent across the sea. When Vergennes showed scruples about
this violation of neutrality, the answer of Beaumarchais was that
governments were not bound by rules of morality applicable to
private persons. Vergennes learned well the lesson and, while
protesting to the British ambassador in Paris that France was
blameless, he permitted outrageous breaches of the laws of
neutrality.
Secret help was one thing, open alliance another. Early in 1776
Silas Deane, a member from Connecticut of the Continental
Congress, was named as envoy to France to secure French aid. The
day was to come when Deane should believe the struggle against
Britain hopeless and counsel submission, but now he showed a
furious zeal. He knew hardly a word of French, but this did not
keep him from making his elaborate programme well understood.
Himself a trader, he promised France vast profits from the
monopoly of the trade of America when independence should be
secure. He gave other promises not more easy of fulfillment.
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