ad duties, or at least something very near akin to duties,
to the king, imposed upon him by numerous and weighty obligations which
at his request had been conferred upon him and accepted by him on behalf
of the American people. The violation of the instructions of Congress
gave to the secret treating too much the air of an insulting distrust,
of the throwing over a friend when he had been sufficiently used; for
whatever might be suspected, it could by no means be proved that de
Vergennes was not still the sincere friend which he certainly long had
been. This bore hard upon Franklin. The policy which in fact had been
forced upon him against his will by his colleagues was now made a
matter of personal reproach against him especially, because he was
persistently regarded as the head and front of the commission; no
European yet dreamed of considering any other American as of much
consequence in any matter in which Franklin was concerned. During long
years de Vergennes had been his constant and efficient adviser and
assistant in many a day of trial and of stress, and Franklin believed
him to be still an honest well-wisher to the States. Moreover it
actually was only a very few weeks since Franklin had applied for and
obtained a new loan at a time when the king was so pressed for his own
needs that a lottery was projected, and bills drawn by his own officials
were going to protest. All this made the secrecy which had been
practiced seem almost like duplicity on Franklin's part, and he felt
keenly the ill light in which he was placed. It is true that if he had
known then all that we know now, his mind would have been at ease; but
he did not know it, and he was seriously disturbed at the situation into
which he had been brought.

But his usual skill did not desert him, and his reply was aptly framed
and prompt. "Nothing," he said, "had been agreed in the preliminaries
contrary to the interests of France; and no peace is to take place
between us and England till you have concluded yours. Your observation
is, however, apparently just that, in not consulting you before they
were signed, we have been guilty of neglecting a point of _bienseance_.
But as this was not from want of respect for the king, whom we all love
and honor, we hope it will be excused, and that the great work which has
hitherto been so happily conducted, is so nearly brought to perfection,
and is so glorious to his reign, will not be ruined by a single
indiscreti