Tea at Trianon: Franklin in France

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, November 6, 2017

Franklin in France

From Politico:

However, Franklin’s sought-after diplomatic goals took longer to bear fruit. Although the French had been secretly aiding the Americans, providing military supplies since the outbreak of the revolution, they balked at signing a formal allegiance with the United States until they were more confident of an American victory over the British. It was not until the U.S. victory at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 that France sensed the possibility that the Americans might win the war.

On Feb. 6, 1778, in the wake of the Battle of Saratoga, representatives of the U.S. and France, including Franklin, signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. The aid sent under these pacts proved crucial to the eventual American victory over the British in the War for Independence. Franklin was also on hand to sign the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which formally concluded the seven-year struggle.

His image as the democratic folk figure from the wilds of North America preceded him, and he exploited it brilliantly for the American cause. His face appeared on French medallions, on snuffboxes, on candy boxes, in rings, in statues, and in prints. Some French women active in court circles even did their hair à la Franklin. (Read more.)