nary" orders, as these somewhat uninstructed sea-dogs
described them in their complaining letters to Franklin. They thought it
an outrage that the French minister should refuse to have English prizes
condemned within French jurisdiction, and that he should not allow them
to refit and to take on board cannon and ammunition at Nantes or
Rochelle. They called upon Franklin to check these intolerable
proceedings. Their audacious and boundless insolence is very
entertaining to read, especially if, in connection therewith, we call to
mind the history of the "Alabama outrages."

Franklin knew, just as well as de Vergennes did, that the French
ministry was all the time favoring the privateersmen and cruisers far
beyond the law, and that it was ready to resort to as many devices as
ingenuity could concoct for that purpose; also that the Americans by
their behavior persistently violated all reason and neutral toleration.
Nevertheless he stood gallantly by his own, and in one case after
another he kept corresponding with de Vergennes under pretense of
correcting misrepresentations, presenting requests, and arguing points,
until, by the time thus gained, the end was achieved. The truth was that
Franklin's duty was to get from France just as much aid, direct and
indirect, as could be either begged or filched from her. Such orders
could not be written down in plain words in his instructions, but none
the less they lurked there not illegible to him among the lines. He
obeyed them diligently. France was willing to go fully as far as she
could with safety; his function was to push, to pull, to entice, even to
mislead, in order to make her go farther. Perhaps it was a fair game;
France had her interest to see Great Britain dismembered and weakened,
but not herself to fight other people's battles; the colonies had their
interest to get France into the fight if they possibly could. It was a
strictly selfish interest, and was pursued almost shamelessly. The
colonial policy and the details of its execution are defensible simply
on the basis that nations in their dealings with each other are always
utterly selfish and generally utterly unscrupulous. By and by, when it
comes to the treating for peace between England and the colonies, we
shall find de Vergennes much reviled because he pursued exclusively
French interests; but it will be only fair to reflect that little more
can be charged against him than that he was playing the game with cards