Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence Volume II Part 9

"'The council has rejected my demands.'

"'_Ah, ciel!_ and you said nothing to me last evening?'

"'No, my friend, I did not wish to disturb your night. It was enough that I did not sleep. I have been thinking all night of what there is for me to do. I have decided, my plan is formed and I go to execute it....'

"Sixty hours later we were in Paris.

"'Eh, what,' he said to M. de Maurepas, who was somewhat surprised to see him so promptly, 'while I was running to the extremities of France to look after the affairs of the king, you lose mine at Versailles.'

"'It is a blunder of Mormesnil (the minister of justice). Go find him, tell him that I want him, and come back together.'

"They explained themselves all three. The matter was taken up under another form, the council judged differently, the request was granted and letters of relief obtained the 12th of August, 1776."

This, however, was but the first step. The letters patent simply allowed Beaumarchais the privilege of having his case brought up a second time for judgment. At this juncture, a new difficulty presented itself. In the words of Lomenie: "It was the end of August; the parliament was about to enter on its vacation and it did not wish to take up the matter until afterwards. But Beaumarchais did not adjourn so easily anything once begun. He went again to M. de Maurepas, and persuaded that one is never better served than by himself he did with the first minister what we have seen him do with the king. He drew a note for the first president of Parliament and for the solicitor-general, had M. de Maurepas to sign two copies of the note and send one to each of the above officials." The notes ran thus:

"Versailles, this 27th of August, 1776.

"That part of the affairs of the king with which M. de Beaumarchais is charged, requires, Monsieur, that he make several voyages very shortly. He fears to leave Paris before his case has been tried. He a.s.sures me that it can be done before vacation. I do not ask any favor as to the ground of the affair, but only celerity for the judgment; you will oblige him who has the honor to be, very truly yours, etc.

"Maurepas."

In the same way, Beaumarchais served himself through Monsieur de Vergennes, obtaining with the same facility the favor which he desired.

He wrote:

"August 29th, 1776.

"I had the honor of seeing M. le Comte de St.-Germain yesterday.... I was very well received.... After two hours'

conversation, he wished to keep me to dinner. But can a miserable unfortunate who is running after the solution of his lawsuit take time to dine? I left him, but I have hope that he will be an additional protector. If all is not well, at least all is not bad. I have drawn up a letter intended to correct the fault committed.

"It is your reply to his letter. Pardon, M. de Comte, if I have taken the liberty of acting as your secretary. For so long I have been attached to you by all possible t.i.tles, if you approve of the letter there is only a signature and an envelope necessary."

(Doniol, V. I, p. 574.)

M. de Lomenie continued: "This was still not sufficient for Beaumarchais. He wished the Attorney-General Seguier to speak and to be eloquent in his favor; for this he wrote a letter to Maurepas, accompanied by another note, rather more expressive, for M. Seguier, a note which the minister copied with the same docility as the preceding one." It runs as follows:

"Versailles, this 30th of August, 1776.

"I learn, Monsieur, by M. de Beaumarchais, that if you have not the goodness to speak on his affair it will be impossible for him to obtain a judgment before the 7th of September. That part of the affair of the king with which M. de Beaumarchais is entrusted requires that he make a voyage very soon; he fears to leave Paris before he is restored to his estate as citizen; it has been so long now that he suffers, and his desire in this respect is truly legitimate. I ask no favor as to the ground of the affair, but you will oblige me infinitely if you will contribute towards having him judged before vacation.

"I have the honor to be, etc. Maurepas."

The trial took place. Beaumarchais chose for his defense a lawyer, Target, who had remained firm during the entire existence of the parliament Maupeou, refusing to plead before it. "Beaumarchais," says Lomenie, "always faithful to his taste for _mise en scene_, wrote him a letter which circulated everywhere and which commenced with the words, 'The Martyr Beaumarchais to the Virgin Target.'"

An immense concourse of people thronged the judgment hall the day appointed for the trial; and when, after the pleading of Target and the recommendation of Seguier, the restored parliament annulled by a solemn decree the decree of the parliament Maupeou, the wildest excitement prevailed. Beaumarchais immediately addressed the following letter to Vergennes:

"Paris, this Friday, September 6, 1776.

"M. le Comte,

"I have just been judged, _deblame_, amidst a universal concourse of applause. Never did so unfortunate a citizen receive greater honor. I hasten to announce to you the news, begging you to place my grat.i.tude at the feet of the king. I am so trembling with joy that my hand can scarcely write all the respectful sentiments with which I am, Monsieur le Comte, your very humble and very obedient servitor, Beaumarchais.

"Do me the kindness, M. le Comte, to announce this very happy news to M. de Maurepas and to M. de Sartine. I have four hundred persons about me who applaud and embrace me and make an infernal noise, which seems to me superb harmony."

The happy man was carried in triumph amid the enthusiastic shouts of the populace from the great chamber of justice to his carriage.

The next day he published a discourse which he had intended to deliver, but from which he had been dissuaded.

It will be remembered that Beaumarchais had been consulted by the ministers in regard to the principles on which the new parliament should be recalled, and that they had not dared to carry out the justice and the liberality of his ideas. Although as we have seen, Beaumarchais utilized the ministers pretty much as he desired, he did so without in the least compromising his own freedom.

In this daring address he combated the existing abuses of the present parliament, as he before had done those of the Parliament Maupeou.

"He contributed," says Lomenie, "without being conscious of it, to prepare the ruin of the parliament which applauded him. He combated their abuses and caused to enter into the minds of the ma.s.ses the necessity for judicial reform."

M. de Lomenie says elsewhere: "Beaumarchais at this moment, reinstated in his rights as a citizen, enjoying the brilliant success of his _Barbier de Seville_, already invested with the intimate confidence of the government in the American question; well received at court, popular in the city; directing the dramatic authors in their struggle for literary liberty, might be considered as a man who had at last conquered evil fortune; nevertheless, he was not yet disengaged from the fetters of his past. His first suit with the Comte de la Blache, which had been the origin of his trials and of his celebrity, existed still in the midst of his triumphs, and held in check his fortunes and his honor."

This man, confident of the ministry in the affairs of the United States, the popular author of the _Barbier de Seville_, was under the blow of an iniquitous sentence which declared him indirectly a forger, and placed his goods at the discretion of an enemy.

In 1775, the first judgment had been revoked and the affair sent before the parliament which met at Aix in the south of France.

The zeal which we have seen Beaumarchais display in carrying rapidly to a successful termination the matter of his rehabilitation was now turned toward the _r.e.t.a.r.ding_ of the judgment in the other case.

The Comte de la Blache, on the other hand, vexed at seeing the rapidly rising fortunes of his adversary, endeavored by every means in his power to hasten the decision. Overwhelmed with the multiplicity of his undertakings, Beaumarchais appealed to M. de Vergennes, urging that the case be allowed to stand in _statu quo_ for the present. In a letter from the minister, dated June 2, 1776, the following pa.s.sage occurs:

"I saw yesterday, in relation to your affair at Aix, M. le Guard of the Seals, who immediately gave orders to write to M. de la Tour, the first president of the tribunal, to the effect that all ultimate procedure should be suspended.... You know, Monsieur, the sincerity of my interest for all that concerns you.

"de Vergennes."

Thus with a comparatively tranquil mind, the indefatigable agent of the government was able to turn his attention to the gigantic commercial enterprise which he already had well in hand.

We shall not, therefore, be surprised to see him rise above all adverse circ.u.mstances, and notwithstanding the disloyalty of some of his agents, the fury of the English Amba.s.sador, the opposition of the government itself, actually succeed in landing immense cargoes on the American coast in time for the great decisive campaign of 1777.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wm. Carmichael]

CHAPTER XIX

_"I should never have completed what I have but for the generous, the indefatigable and spirited exertions of Monsieur de Beaumarchais, to whom the United States are in every account greatly indebted, more so than to any other person on this side the water."_

_Silas Deane to Congress, November 29, 1776._

Suspicions of English Aroused Through Indiscretions of Friends of America-Treachery of du Coudray-Counter Order Issued Against s.h.i.+pments of Beaumarchais-Franklin's Arrival-England's Attempt to Make Peace Stirs France-Counter Order Recalled-Ten s.h.i.+ps Start Out-Beaumarchais Cleared by Vergennes.

While Beaumarchais, through the intervention of the Ministry, was bringing his own personal interests to a successful termination, he was at the same time carrying vigorously forward his operations in the cause of America. These operations were the most difficult. In the words of Lomenie: "It was a question of an officially prohibited commerce, which prohibition was under the vigilant supervision of the English Amba.s.sador,-and could receive the official support of the French government only on condition that it was carefully hidden. The least indiscretion, the slightest diplomatic embarra.s.sment occasioned by the affair would immediately transform this support into persecution. It was under these conditions that the author of the _Barbier de Seville_ was obliged to extract without noise and in small quant.i.ties, from the different a.r.s.enals of the state, 200 pieces of cannon, mortars, bombs, bullets, 25,000 guns, 100 tons of powder; to manufacture the stuffs necessary for the equipment of 25,000 men, collect all these objects in the different ports and send them to the insurgents without arousing the suspicion of the English Amba.s.sador."

It was, however, humanly impossible that suspicions should not be aroused; too many people were interested in the cause of America; too many were eager to aid in the struggle of the colonies for liberty.