As shown in the above letter, Beaumarchais while beginning his extraordinary operations for the Americans was not forgetful of his own interests. He was still a civilly degraded man with no solid basis upon which to build. Gudin, in his history of Beaumarchais, says: “Arriving from London, May, 1776, he presented a petition to the council in order to obtain letters of relief; that is, letters of the king by which it was permitted him to appeal from the judgment rendered against him, although the delay accorded by law had long expired. “The development of his projects called him to the west coast of France; he did not wish to go until his request was admitted. “‘Go all the same,’ M. de Maurepas said to him. ‘The council will pronounce very well without you.’” The projects alluded to by Gudin were, of course, his mercantile operations for supplying the Americans with munitions of war. But so well did Beaumarchais guard his secret, that his dearest friend knew as little of the real nature of his enterprise as the rest of the world. In his visit to the ports of France during the summer of 1776, Gudin accompanied him. Their reception at Bordeaux is described by the latter. Here as elsewhere, Beaumarchais hid his real occupation under the show of seeking amusement. “When it was known,” says Gudin, “of our arrival, invitations poured in upon us from every side; the women received him as the most amiable of men, the merchants as the most intelligent, the crowds as the most extraordinary; we passed several days in the midst of festivities.... All the while Beaumarchais was preparing new commercial combinations. “One evening, on entering, he found several letters from Paris; he read them while I was preparing for bed, hurried by fatigue to repose myself. I asked him if he was satisfied with his news. “‘Very well,’ he said to me without the least emotion. I was soon asleep. In the morning I felt myself pulled by the arm; I wakened, recognized him and asked if he were ill. “‘No,’ he replied, ‘but in half an hour we leave for Paris.’ “‘_Eh, pourquoi?_ What has happened? Have you been sent for?’ “‘The council has rejected my demands.’ “‘_Ah, ciel!_ and you said nothing to me last evening?’ “‘No, my friend, I did not wish to disturb your night. It was enough that I did not sleep. I have been thinking all night of what there is for me to do. I have decided, my plan is formed and I go to execute it....’ “Sixty hours later we were in Paris. “‘Eh, what,’ he said to M. de Maurepas, who was somewhat surprised to see him so promptly, ‘while I was running to the extremities of France to look after the affairs of the king, you lose mine at Versailles.’ “‘It is a blunder of Mormesnil (the minister of justice). Go find him, tell him that I want him, and come back together.’