Transcriber’s Note This book was published in two volumes, of which this is the second. The first volume was released as Project Gutenberg ebook #37960, available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37960. Two incorrect index sub-entries for Beaumarchais have been corrected: jealousies aroused against -- page changed from 6 to 304 judged by parliament Maupeou -- page changed from 24 to 100 BEAUMARCHAIS _And the War of American Independence_ BY ELIZABETH S. KITE _Diplôme d’instruction Primaire-Supérieure, Paris, 1905 Member of the Staff of the Vineland Research Laboratory_ WITH A FOREWORD BY JAMES M. BECK _Author of “The Evidence in the Case”_ TWO VOLUMES VOLUME TWO ILLUSTRATED [Illustration] BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY RICHARD G. BADGER All Rights Reserved Made in the United States of America The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. “_The faith of a believer is a spring to which uncertain convictions yield; this was the case of Beaumarchais with the King in the cause of American Independence._” _Gaillardet, in Le Chevalier d’Eon._ CONTENTS CHAPTER XV PAGE Curious History of the Chevalier d’Eon—Secret Agent of Louis XV—The Chevalier Feigns to Be a Woman—Curiosity of London Aroused—Necessity for the French Government to Obtain Possession of State Papers in d’Eon’s Hands—Beaumarchais Accepts Mission—Obtains Possession of the Famous Chest 13 CHAPTER XVI Beaumarchais’s Earliest Activities in the Cause of American Independence—First Steps of the Government of France-Bonvouloir—Discord Among Parties in England—Beaumarchais’s Memoirs to the King—Meets Arthur Lee—Lee’s Letter to Congress—King Still Undecided—Curious Letter of Beaumarchais, with Replies Traced in the Handwriting of the King 31 CHAPTER XVII Beaumarchais’s English Connections—With Lord Rochford—With Wilkes—Meets Arthur Lee—Sends Memoirs to the King—His Commission to Buy Portuguese Coin—Called to Account by Lord Rochford—Vergennes’s Acceptance of his Ideas—Article in _The Morning Chronicle_ 56 CHAPTER XVIII