Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Benjamin Franklin’s diplomatic achievements are centered around three items: first the 1778 alliance with France, which was essential for the military and diplomatic success of the American War of Independence; second, the 1783 peace treaty, which confirmed American Independence. In between came his third achievement, raising vast sums of money largely on credit and a prayer that amounted in the case of the French royal government—largely borrowed—to the equivalent of many billions in today’s dollars. It was such a huge sum that the burden of paying it off led directly to the decision by King Louis XVI to convene the estates general, which hadn’t been convened since the time of his grandfather, Louis XIII. From that estates general eventually sprang the French Revolution itself. Thus in a way the financing of the American Revolution contributed to the onset of the French Revolution, certainly not Franklin’s intent.
How did he do this? Franklin arrived in Paris on December 21, 1776, accompanied by two boys: one, his grandson, William Temple Franklin, 16 years old, the illegitimate son of his illegitimate son; and the other Benjamin Franklin (Benny) Bache, the 7-year-old son of his daughter Sally. For a man of 70 to be accompanied by two boys of that age gives some indication that this was going to be a very unusual voyage.
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