A Century of American Diplomacy. John W. Foster
is shown in the lengthy resolution adopted and formally entered upon the Journal, prescribing the order to be observed on all such occasions. Every step to be taken, from the
i 2 Dip. Cor. Rev. 521.
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moment the envoy lands till he reaches the place where Congress is in session, is carefully indicated. As to further proceedings, I extract from the resolutions of Congress : " Two members of Congress shall then be deputed to wait upon him, and inform him when and where he shall receive audience of the Congress. At the time he is to receive his audience, the two members shall again wait upon him in a coach, belonging to the States, and the person first named of the two, shall return with the minister plenipotentiary or envoy in the coach, giving the minister the right hand, and placing himself on the left with the other member on the first seat. When the minister plenipotentiary or envoy is arrived at the door of the Congress hall, he shall be introduced to his chair by the two members, who shall stand at his left hand. When the minister is introduced to his chair by the two members, he shall sit down. His secretary shall then deliver to the President the letter of his sovereign, which shall be read and trans- lated by the secretary of Congress. Then the minister shall be announced, at which time the President, the House, and the minister shall rise together. The min- ister shall then bow to the President and the House and they to him. The minister and the President shall then bow to each other, and be seated, after which the House shall sit down. The minister shall deliver his speech standing. The President and the House shall sit while the minister is delivering his speech. The House shall rise and the President shall deliver the answer standing. The minister shall stand while the President delivers his answer. Having spoken, and being answered, the min-
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ister and President shall bow to each other, at which time the House shall bow, and then the minister shall be conducted home in the manner in which he was brought to the House." 1
In 1783 Congress modified the above so as to allow foreign representatives, having the grade of ambassadors, to sit covered in its presence, and the President rose not only when he was introduced, but also when he read his address. It was further prescribed that after the audi- ence, the members of Congress should be first visited by the minister plenipotentiary.
M. Gerard was received after this elaborate ceremonial, Richard Henry Lee and Samuel Adams being deputed by Congress, and bringing him in a coach and six pro- vided by Congress; and, in order that I may be true to history, I should add that Mr. Lee rode on the back seat on the left of the minister, and Mr. Adams on the front seat facing them. The audience was followed by a banquet given by Congress, at which were present several foreign gentlemen of distinction and gentlemen of public character. It is recorded that " The enter- tainment was conducted with a decorum suited to the occasion, and gave perfect satisfaction to the whole company." It will thus be seen that the fathers of the republic did not disdain careful attention to the con- ventional details of official life.
No other foreign minister was received by the United States until October, 1783, when Mr. Van Berckel, minister from the Netherlands, presented his creden- tials. The ceremony of his reception by Congress was somewhat simplified. As in the case of the French
1 2 Secret Journal of Congress, 94, 96.
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minister, a dinner was ordered by Congress to be given him at the public expense. 1
Throughout the war the French minister occupied a peculiar and intimate relation to the Continental Con- gress. His communications were addressed to the president of Congress, and after being reported upon by a committee, were considered by the whole Con- gress. On most important questions the minister was present when they were considered; he claimed the right to attend when foreign affairs were discussed; and his views were usually stated verbally. They were always received with great respect, and often had a controlling influence on the action of that body.
The triumvirate of American envoys had other diffi- culties in their negotiations and business than those occasioned by the vigilant British ambassador and the caution of the French government. Almost from the beginning there was a lack of harmony in their coun- sels, which grew into distrust and bitterness of feeling. Franklin's two colleagues were his compeers in rank, but immeasurably below him in talent and personal stand- ing. Deane was a commonplace man, of mediocre abilities, and a not very exalted sense of patriotism. Lee was young, energetic, and ambitious, of influential family connection, and inspired by patriotic sentiments, but possessed of a very malevolent disposition. Frank- lin described him to Adams as " a man of an anxious, uneasy temper, which made it disagreeable to do busi- ness with him; that he seemed to be one of those men, of whom he had known many in his day, who went on through life quarreling with one person or another, till
1 Ib. 409, 410, 426.
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they commonly ended with the loss of their reason." Even before Franklin reached Paris, Lee had become offended at Deane because of Beaumarchais's more inti- mate relations with the latter. In letters to Congress, he charged Deane with dishonesty; and, as we have seen, made such representations respecting the fictitious firm of Hortalez & Co. as prevented Beaumarchais's accounts from being settled till long after his death. His charges against Deane led to the latter' s recall, his open quarrel with Congress, his disgrace, and his ulti- mate abandonment of the cause of his country. Lee represented to his friends in Congress that Franklin had no capacity for business, having reached the age of senility, and he was actively plotting for the doctor's removal and his own appointment as sole minister in Paris. Mr. Jefferson, who succeeded Franklin as min- ister at Paris, narrates an anecdote respecting this quarrel. He says that Franklin received a very intem- perate letter from Lee. He folded it up and put it in a pigeon-hole. A second, third, and so on to a fifth he received and disposed of in the same way. Finding no answer could be obtained by letter, Mr. Lee paid him a personal visit, and gave a loose to all the warmth of which he was susceptible. The doctor replied : " I can no more answer this conversation of yours than the several letters you have written me (taking them down from the pigeon-hole). Call on me when you are cool and good-humored and I will justify myself to you." Mr. Jefferson adds that they never saw each other afterwards. 1
i 1 Dip. Cor. Rev. 538.
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Lee was seconded in his unworthy work by Kalph Izard, who had been accredited as minister to Tuscany, but not being received, was staying in Paris. Franklin represents him as " a man of violent and ungoverned passions/' and states that he and Lee " had a number of Americans about them, who were always exciting disputes, and propagating stories that made the service very disagreeable." John Adams, who, some weeks after the treaties had been signed, arrived in Paris to replace Deane, makes the following entry in his diary : " It is with much grief and concern that I have learned, from my first landing in France, the disputes between the Americans in this Kingdom; the animosities be- tween Mr. Deane and Mr. Lee; between Dr. Franklin and Mr. Lee; between Mr. Izard and Dr. Franklin; between Dr. Bancroft and Mr. Lee; between Mr. Car- michael and all." He adds he had heard that Deane and Bancroft had made fortunes by " dabbling in the English funds, and in trade, and in fitting out priva- teers. … I am sorry for these things; but it is no part of my business to quarrel with anybody without
cause." 1
We can well understand how very distasteful such a state of affairs would be to one so little inclined to controversy and so much above deceit and intrigue as Franklin. The situation finally became so intolerable that he made it the subject of a communication to the president of Congress, which is so characteristic of the man that I give from it the following extract :
" Speaking of Commissioners in the plural, puts me 1 3 J. Adams's Works, 138.
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in mind of inquiring, if it can be the intention of Con- gress to keep three Commissioners at this Court. We have, indeed, four, with the gentleman intended for Tuscany, who continues here, and is very angry that he was not consulted in making the treaty, which he could have mended in several particulars and, perhaps, he is angry with some reason, if the instructions to him do, as he says they do, require us