Those Damned Rebels by Michael Pearson

Author:Michael Pearson [MICHAEL PEARSON]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2012-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

National Portrait Gallery, London

ADMIRAL LORD RICHARD HOWE

National Portrait Gallery, London

CHARLES, EARL CORNWALLIS

National Portrait Gallery, London

MAJOR GENERAL JOHN BURGOYNE

National Portrait Gallery, London

LORD FREDERICK NORTH

National Portrait Gallery, London

COLONEL BANASTRE TARLETON

National Gallery, London

LORD GEORGE GERMAIN

Courtauld Institute of Art and Captain Nigel Stopford-Sackville

SIR HENRY CLINTON

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM HOWE

In Paris the idea of war with Britain was welcomed by the public. Benjamin Franklin had recently arrived to add his prestigious support to Silas Deane’s negotiating team and had been given an ecstatic reception both by the court at Versailles and by Parisian society. In a few weeks the young Marquis de Lafayette, a member of one of France’s top families, was to sail for America with a group of officers to offer his services to Congress.

The mood of the French was dangerous enough without further complications, but poor Stormont had the added difficulty that at Versailles at the center of this ever-changing power complex was a sexually impotent, slow-witted young king and a strong-willed but utterly frivolous queen.

For although Marie Antoinette paid “no great attention” to politics, she was keenly interested in her personal power, which she could use to reward friends by deploying her influence with the King.

One of her proteges was M. de Sartines, the War Minister. “He is a master of little cabal and intrigue . . . ,” warned Stormont. “He inclines to hostile measures. . . .”

Against this background of diplomatic brinkmanship, the degree of pressure it was politic for Stormont to lever depended to a large extent on the news of Howe’s armies. And on that day in late January when he called on Vergennes at Versailles to complain about the French arms ships the news was particularly favorable.

The latest dispatches from New York had reported the successful and easy storming of Fort Washington and the rapid retreat of the rebels through New Jersey under pursuit by Cornwallis. A letter from Clinton which had just arrived told of taking Rhode Island without a single casualty.

After the string of British victories through the summer, the prospects for the revolutionaries seemed very dim, so Stormont was more aggressive than usual, pressing Vergennes to take action to curb Beaumarchais’ activities.

Blandly Vergennes denied all knowledge of the ships and offered to make inquiries of M. de Sartines, the War Minister. But this time the ambassador refused to let him sidestep the issue and virtually accused him of lying. “It’s well known in the Palace,” he insisted, according to his report, “that Beaumarchais directs the whole of this enterprise and that he . . . has frequent interviews with Franklin and Deane.”

He had reason to believe that the arms ships were not bound for Santo Domingo, their usual fictitious destination, but for America. “Suffering the Rebels to be supplied with ammunition,” he insisted, “is contrary to the friendship this Court has professed for us. . . .”

Boldly he bared the Santo Domingo cover story. A few weeks back an English man-of-war had stopped a ship that was routed there and on board found nearly 30,000 French-made uniforms.

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