While Deane was thus busily engaged in carrying out the commission with which he was entrusted, he was being left, as far as Congress was concerned, absolutely without support or approval. Communication between the two continents was slow in those days, and it has been shown already that before Deane was able to send any definite information to Congress of his reception by the French Government, Lee had forestalled him by giving that body his own private and unfounded interpretation of the relation entered into between the commissioner and the agent of the French Government. When Lee’s letter reached America, Congress was deeply engrossed with the weightier matters which were forcing themselves upon its attention, owing to the decisive step which it was about to take in declaring itself free from British rule. The matter, therefore, was allowed to rest in _statu quo_ for the present. Congress preferred to await developments before setting on foot any investigations, and so, though Deane continued to give frequent and full accounts of all his transactions, no reply was ever made to any of his letters. This rendered his situation cruel in the extreme. Wholly unsuspicious by nature, it never occurred to him that an enemy was busily at work, undermining his character and poisoning the minds of his compatriots in regard to the disinterestedness of the motives which actuated him. His irritation began at last to manifest itself. “For heaven’s sake,” he wrote in a letter to Congress, dated October 1, 1776 (Spark’s _Diplomatic Correspondence_, Vol. II), “if you mean to have any connection with this kingdom, be more assiduous in getting your letters here. I know not where the blame lies, but it must lie heavy somewhere, when vessels are suffered to sail from Philadelphia and elsewhere, right down to the middle of August, without a single line. This circumstance was near proving a mortal blow to my whole proceedings.” October 17th of the same year he says: “Warlike preparations are daily making in this kingdom and in Spain. I need not urge the importance of immediate remittances towards paying for the large quantity of stores I have engaged for, and I depend that this winter will not be suffered to slip away unimproved. I have the honor to be, etc. “Silas Deane.” By the end of November, notwithstanding the delays and discouragements encountered by the agents of the two governments, several vessels had been loaded with supplies and were about to set sail. Silas Deane wrote to Congress, Nov. 29th, 1776.