had long delayed the alliance with France, and he repeated
what he had said in former letters, that "whatever good dispositions
were shown by Mr. Lee, they were always opposed and overruled by the two
oldest commissioners." The departure of the two gentlemen was kept a
close secret at Paris, and at the request of de Vergennes especially a
secret from Arthur Lee. For the French ministry were well assured that
Lee's private secretary was a spy in British pay, and had he got
possession of this important bit of news, it would not only have been
untimely in a diplomatic way, but it might have given opportunity for
British cruisers to waylay a vessel carrying such distinguished
passengers. The precaution was justifiable, but it had ill consequences
for Franklin, since it naturally incensed Lee to an extreme degree, and
led to a very sharp correspondence, which still further aggravated the
discomfort of the situation. The legitimate trials to which the aged
doctor was subjected were numerous and severe enough, but the untiring
and malicious enmity of Arthur Lee was an altogether illegitimate
vexation.

[Note 60: Franklin's _Works_, vi. 153.]

Mr. Hale in his recent volumes upon Franklin truly says that "it is
unnecessary to place vituperative adjectives to the credit [discredit?]
of Arthur Lee;" and in fact to do so seems a work of supererogation,
since there probably remain few such epithets in the English language
which have not already been applied to him by one writer or another. Yet
it is hard to hold one's hand, although humanity would perhaps induce us
to pity rather than to revile a man cursed with so unhappy a
temperament. But whatever may be said or left unsaid about him
personally, the infinite disturbance which he caused cannot be wholly
ignored. It was great enough to constitute an important element in
history. Covered by the powerful authority of his influential and
patriotic family at home, and screened by the profound ignorance of
Congress concerning men and affairs abroad, Lee was able for a long time
to run his mischievous career without discovery or interruption. He
buzzed about Europe like an angry hornet, thrusting his venomous sting
into every respectable and useful servant of his country, and irritating
exceedingly the foreigners whom it was of the first importance to
conciliate. Incredible as it seems, it is undoubtedly true that he did
not hesitate to express in Paris his deep antipathy to France and