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1783.

The British parliament, in its bill of rights, had XV. only summed up the liberties that Englishmen in 1776- the lapse of centuries had acquired, or had wrested from their kings; the Americans opened their career of independence by a declaration of the self-evident rights of man; and this, begun by Virginia, was repeated, with variations, in every constitution formed after independence, except that of South Carolina. In that state, the amended constitution breathed not one word for universal freedom, made no assertion of human rights, and no longer affirmed that the people is the source of power. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire proclaimed that all men are born free, and as a consequence were the first to get rid of slavery; Georgia recognised rights derived to Americans from "the laws of nature and reason;" at the bar of humanity and the bar of the people, South Carolina alone remained silent.

Here, then, we have the prevailing idea of political life in the United States. On the one hand, they continued the institutions received from England with as little immediate change as possible; and on the other, they desired for their constitutions a healthy, continuous growth. They accepted the actual state of society as the natural one resulting from the antecedents of the nation; at the same time, they recognised the right of man to make unceasing advances towards realizing political justice, and the public conscience yearned for a nearer approach to ideal perfection. Civil power remained, under slight modifications, with those who had held it before; but for their inviolable rule in

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its exercise, they were enjoined to take the gen- CHAP. eral principles derived from the nature of man and the eternal reason. No one thought it possible 1783. to introduce by a decree the reign of absolute right. To have attempted to strike down all evil at one blow would have been to attempt to strike down human society itself; for, from the nature of man, imperfection clings to all the works of his hands. The American statesmen were not misled by this attractive but delusive hope, even while they held that their codes of law and their constitutions should reflect ever more and more clearly the equality and brotherhood of man.

America neither separated abruptly from the past, nor adhered to its decaying forms. The principles that gave life to the new institutions pervaded history like a prophecy. They did not compel a sudden change of social or of internal political relations; but they were as a light shining more and more brightly into the darkness. a country which enjoyed freedom of conscience, of inquiry, of speech, of the press, and of government, the universal intuition of truth promised a neverending career of progress and reform.

In

CHAP.

XVI.

1776.

CHAPTER XVI.

PREPARATIONS OF EUROPE FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF 1777. FRANCE AND HOLLAND.

DECEMBER, 1776 — MAY, 1777.

WHILE Washington was toiling under difficulties without reward, a rival in Europe aspired to his Dec. place. The Count de Broglie, disclaiming the ambition of becoming the sovereign of the United States, insinuated his willingness to be for a period of years its William of Orange, provided he could be assured of a large grant of money before embarkation; an ample revenue, the highest military rank, and the direction of foreign relations during his command; and a princely annuity for life after his return. The offer was to have been made through Kalb, the former emissary of Choiseul in the British colonies: the acknowledged poverty of the new republic scattered the great man's short-lived dream; but Kalb, though

1 Lettre du Comte de Broglie à by Frederic Kapp. See Kapp's de Kalb, à Ruffec, le 11 Décembre, Kalb, 88.

1776, communicated to me in MS.

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1776.

Dec.

in his fifty-sixth year, affluent, and happy in his CHAP. wife and children, remained true to an engagement which in company with Lafayette he had taken with Deane to serve as a major-general in the insurgent army. In him the country gained an officer who had ability and experience, spoke English well, and, though no enthusiast, was active and devoted to duty. When the American commissioner told Lafayette plainly that the credit of his government was too low to furnish the volunteers a transport, "Then," said the young man, “I will purchase one myself;" and, glad to be useful where he had before only shown zeal, at his own cost he bought and secretly freighted the "Victory," which was to carry himself, the veteran Kalb, and twelve other French officers to America. During the weeks of preparation, he made a visit to England. At the age of nineteen it seemed to him an amusement to be presented to the king against whom he was going to fight; but he declined the king's offer of leave to inspect the British navy-yards.

After a stormy passage of thirty days, during which his ship, the "Reprisal," had been chased by British cruisers, and had taken two British brigantines as prizes, Franklin came within sight of France; and on the seventh of December, he reached Nantes. His arrival took Europe by surprise, as no notice of his mission had preceded him. The story was spread in England, that he was a fugitive for safety. "I never will believe," said Edmund Burke, "that he is going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every hour it has

1776.

CHAP. continued, with so foul and dishonorable a flight." XVI. All Europe at once inferred, that a man of his Dec. years and great name would not have crossed the Atlantic but in the assured hope of happy results. The sayings that fell from him at Nantes ran through Paris and France; and on his word the nation eagerly credited what it wished to find true, that not even twenty successful campaigns could reduce the Americans; that their irrevocable decision was made; that they would be forever an independent state, and the natural ally of France. His manner was frank; and yet, when he had spoken, his silence raised expectation that he had still weightier words to utter.

Lord Stormont, the British ambassador, was constantly protesting against the departure of French ships, laden with military stores, for America. He now demanded the restoration of the two prizes brought in to Nantes with Franklin, arguing from the law of nations, that no prize can be a lawful one unless made under the authority of some sovereign power, whose existence has been acknowledged by other powers, and evidenced by treaties and alliances. "You cannot expect us," replied Vergennes, "to take upon our shoulders the burden of your war; every wise nation places its chief security in its own vigilance." "The eyes of Argus," said Stormont, "would not be too much for us." "And if you had those eyes," answered Vergennes, "they would only show you our sincere desire of peace." Stormont complained that French officers were embarking for America. "The French nation," replied Vergennes, "has a turn for adven