by the louder accents of Lord Stormont. He despatched privately to
America some old arms, which were of little use, and some young
officers, who did but little good, the whole directed by M. de
Beaumarchais; and when the English ambassador spoke to our court, it
denied having sent any cargoes, ordered those that were preparing to
be discharged, and dismissed from our ports all American privateers.
Whilst wishing to address myself in a direct manner to Mr. Deane, I
became the friend of Kalb, a German in our employ, who was applying
for service with the _insurgents_, (the expression in use at that
time,) and who became my interpreter. He was the person sent by M. de
Choiseul to examine the English colonies; and on his return he
received some money, but never succeeded in obtaining an audience, so
little did that minister in reality think of the revolution whose
retrograde movements some persons have inscribed to him! When I
presented to Mr. Deane my boyish face, (for I was scarcely nineteen
years of age,) I spoke more of my ardour in the cause than of my
experience; but I dwelt much upon the effect my departure would excite
in France, and he signed our mutual agreement. The secrecy with which
this negotiation and my preparations were made appears almost a
miracle; family, friends, ministers; French spies and English spies,
all were kept completely in the dark as to my intentions. Amongst my
discreet confidants, I owe much to M. du Boismartin,~[8] secretary of
the Count de Broglie, and to the Count de Broglie himself, whose
affectionate heart, when all his efforts to turn me from this project
had proved in vain, entered into my views with even paternal
tenderness.

Preparations were making to send a vessel to America, when very bad
tidings arrived from thence. New York, Long Island, White Plains, Fort
Washington, and the Jerseys, had seen the American forces successively