As it was impossible to separate the military events which took
place in America from the principles of the American Revolution, the
publication of those events in France necessarily connected themselves
with the principles which produced them. Many of the facts were in
themselves principles; such as the declaration of American
Independence, and the treaty of alliance between France and America,
which recognised the natural rights of man, and justified resistance
to oppression.
The then Minister of France, Count Vergennes, was not the friend
of America; and it is both justice and gratitude to say, that it was
the Queen of France who gave the cause of America a fashion at the
French Court. Count Vergennes was the personal and social friend of
Dr. Franklin; and the Doctor had obtained, by his sensible
gracefulness, a sort of influence over him; but with respect to
principles Count Vergennes was a despot.
The situation of Dr. Franklin, as Minister from America to France,
should be taken into the chain of circumstances. The diplomatic
character is of itself the narrowest sphere of society that man can
act in. It forbids intercourse by the reciprocity of suspicion; and
a diplomatic is a sort of unconnected atom, continually repelling
and repelled.
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