Defeat is not a good argument for an
alliance. France was willing to send arms to America and willing
to let American privateers use freely her ports. The ship which
carried Franklin to France soon busied herself as a privateer and
reaped for her crew a great harvest of prize money. In a single
week of June, 1777, this ship captured a score of British
merchantmen, of which more than two thousand were taken by
Americans during the war. France allowed the American privateers
to come and go as they liked, and gave England smooth words, but
no redress. There is little wonder that England threatened to
hang captured American sailors as pirates.
It was the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga which brought decision
to France. That was the victory which Vergennes had demanded
before he would take open action. One British army had
surrendered. Another was in an untenable position in
Philadelphia. It was known that the British fleet had declined.
With the best of it in America, France was the more likely to win
successes in Europe. The Bourbon king of France could, too, draw
into the war the Bourbon king of Spain, and Spain had good ships.
The defects of France and Spain on the sea were not in ships but
in men. The invasion of England was not improbable and then less
than a score of years might give France both avenging justice for
her recent humiliation and safety for her future.
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