of attacking our liberties, and among them the most ungenerous ones, treachery and falsehood have ever been the first weapons on which the British nation have the most depended.

I am glad it is in my power generally to assure you that the many reports propagated by them, and alluded to in your letter, are not founded upon truth. These contracts with petty German princes have not, I believe, taken place. And if any such merchandise was sent to America it would at most consist of a few recruits.

The troubles in Ireland, if there is the least common sense amongst the first patriots in that country, are not, I hope, at an end, and it seems they now begin to raise new expectations.

The Russian troops so much talked of in their gazette I take to be more recruits for the thirty thousand Russians that Mr. Rivington had three years ago ordered to embark for America.

These intelligences, my dear Sir, be counteracted by letters to our friends in America. But as the respect we owe to the free citizens of the United States makes it a point of duty for us never to deceive them, and as the most candid frankness must ever distinguish our side of the question from the cause of tyranny and falsehood, I intend paying to-morrow morning a visit to the minister of foreign affairs, and from him get so minuted intelligences as will answer your purpose.

With the most sincere Regard and friendly affection, I have the honor to be, dear Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

LAFAYETTE.

P. S. On my return from Versailles, my dear Sir, where

I will settle the affair of

that I had undertaken, I will

"E PLURIBUS UNUM.”

307

impart you a project privately, relating to one that is not inconsistent with my sentiments for our country America.

In one of the French letters of this summer, from an unknown man who wishes to emigrate, letters so numerous and so effusive that they are very tedious, appears the national motto, "E pluribus unum." It has been remembered that these words first appear in Virgil's account of a salad-dressing, in his little poem "Moretum." This French letter is perhaps their first application to the union of the thirteen States.

We know now that the French officers in America sent home, in some instances, statements almost disloyal to the country which commissioned and fed them.

As early as December, 1777, De Portail had written that he doubted the American success. "The Americans have been used to idleness, to drinking tea and rum, to smoking, &c. they will not hold out in such a war. It will not do to think of sending a French force to act in concert with them. They have a violent antipathy to the French; they would sooner go over to the British army than fight with the French." Such is Hutchinson's digest of the letter of an officer in the American service.1 It was no misfortune to America that the English took the ship which carried it.

1 Hutchinson's Diary, ii. 309.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE PRIVATEERS FROM DUNKIRK.

HE old town of Dunkirk was always a breeding-place

THE

Later,

for smugglers, privateers, and even for pirates. For centuries it had been famous as a seaport. Even in the time of the crusades did fleets fit out in Dunkirk. being fortified and made a place of great strength, it was constantly besieged and captured, now in the hands of one party, and now of another. Successively occupied and fortified by Flemish, Spanish, French, English, and French again, the sailors of Dunkirk made for themselves a mighty reputation as terrors of the narrow seas. Fortified into a place of immense strength by the genius of Vauban, and withstanding all the attacks of the Triple Alliance in the war, Dunkirk succumbed to the diplomats, and according to the treaty of Utrecht, its great fortifications were pulled down and thrown into its harbor; and although at each successive outbreak of war the walls were again lifted up, in the successive treaties of Aix la Chapelle and of Paris the clauses which condemned them to destruction were reaffirmed. But although Dunkirk was not now a place of importance in war, the sailors still swarmed about her docks and quays. They were of all nationalities, English, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, and French, and knew all the neighboring coasts, on which they followed the hardy and dangerous trade of smuggling. One may imagine that this population would be keenly alive

COFFYN TO FRANKLIN.

309

to those prospects which would open up at the hope of a war between England and France. Before this, indeed, had the privateers been busy at Dunkirk. It was from Dunkirk that Conyngham sailed in the "Surprise," and afterwards in the "Revenge." Two worthy business men, Franz Coffyn and John Torris, on the lookout for their own profits as well as for those of the Commissioners, were Franklin's agents at the port. Shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Alliance, it occurred to Coffyn that all the raw material drifting about Dunkirk might be utilized; and on the 12th of April he wrote to Franklin:

HONOURED SIR,The warr which was expected to be declared soon after the notification made by the Count of Noailles to the British of the Treaty concluded between France and America having not yet taken place, this keeps in suspense diverse merchants who were inclined to fit out privateers to annoy the trade of the common enemy; but as no French Commissions can be granted before the declaration of war, I know that some of these merchants would be glad to obtain Commissions from Congress to fit out their vessels under the colours of the United States, provided it should be allowed to bring the prizes into the French ports. I take the liberty to request your opinion on these two points, whether such commissions can be granted by the Hon'ble Commissioners, and whether the prizes taken in virtue of the same could be brought into the ports of this kingdom and sold for the captors.

At great length he goes on to propound a scheme which occurs to him. Here is one Christopher Ferron, a noted Irish smuggler (and there are many more of his stamp about the port), who knows the coasts of Ireland,

Scotland, England, and Holland better than he knows the four corners of his bed. Why not utilize all this material by fitting out privateers, filling them up with these English, Scotch, and Irish who would fight under American commissions, and if taken would cause no trouble to any one, for they would all swear that they were American? They could not take French commissions, for they could not pass as Frenchmen; but under American colours they would do good service.

We find no notice afterwards of any direct result from this note. But though no use was at this time made of the suggestion, at a later time the same idea was put into effect by Torris. It was in the spring of 1779, that the "Black Prince" privateer was fitted out, commissioned (24th of May), and sent to sea under Stephen Marchant with a mixed crew of various nationalities, who knew the narrow seas well, and were prepared to give a good account of themselves if attacked by a man-of-war. The captain took an oath of allegiance to the United States, but it does not appear that the crew joined in this protestation of loyalty.

The "Black Prince" did well both in the matter of prizes and of prisoners; though, being a small vessel and parting with her crew to man prizes, it was deemed inexpedient to retain the prisoners, and they were let go on giving a paper in which each one promised to see that an American prisoner was exchanged in his place. But to these paroles the English authorities paid not the slightest regard, as was indeed natural. The captured sailors had no authority to promise the release of an American seaman in case they were let go free; and indeed if they had not chosen to give such papers, they would probably in most cases have been allowed to go, all the same, on account of the difficulty of retaining them until the