The Perils of Peace by Thomas Fleming

Author:Thomas Fleming
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061870101
Publisher: HarperCollins

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By now over a month had passed since Admiral Rodney had routed the French fleet and captured Admiral de Grasse in the Battle of the Saints Islands. Both sides were still operating in the aftermath of Yorktown and the Spanish capture of Minorca. Looming was the threat that Spain’s siege of Gibraltar would succeed there as certainly as they had won Minorca. Nothing had been heard from India, but the British knew that even with the reinforcements sent in early 1782, their Far East fleet was barely equal to the firepower of the talented Admiral Bailli de Suffren. Even more worrisome was the havoc the Sultan of Mysore, Hyder Aly, might be inflicting on land with French support.

The psychological and strategic momentum was still in the hands of Franklin and Vergennes. This was soon apparent in Franklin’s treatment of Thomas Grenville. The ambassador learned from the Marquis de Lafayette that Grenville’s commission only empowered him to treat with France. Lafayette had been talking to Grenville and the young diplomat had incautiously revealed this to the Marquis, perhaps hoping to ingratiate himself with a man whose chief interest, Grenville assumed, was France.

This revelation was followed by a letter from Vergennes informing Franklin: “They want to treat with us for you. But this the King will not agree to. He thinks it not consistent with the dignity of your state. You will treat for yourselves and every one of the powers at war with England will make its own treaty.” All would be secure because the treaties would go “hand and in hand” and would be signed on the same day.

An angry Franklin informed Grenville he would not even talk to him unless he got his commission changed. Grenville vowed to procure the alteration, but the revised document that came from London five or six days later was equally unsatisfactory. It authorized Grenville to treat for peace “with France and her allies.” Obviously, the Rockingham cabinet, with George III’s brooding presence in the background, could not even write the words, “The United States of America.” Franklin informed Grenville that the change left him still dissatisfied.

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