Madrid was finally forced to follow the course laid out for it at Versailles; but before openly declaring their alliance, both courts awaited some decisive act of the Americans. The capture of Burgoyne determined the King, although several months more elapsed before the treaty was actually signed. But if the court was thus apparently inactive, Beaumarchais continued as assiduous as ever in aiding the Americans, and this notwithstanding the coldness of the commissioners, the total absence of returns and the unbroken silence of the Continental Congress. The Hon. John Bigelow, in his admirable paper _Beaumarchais, the Merchant_, speaking of Beaumarchais at this period, said: “He received no tobacco, nor money, nor thanks, nor even a letter from Congress.... His funds were exhausted, and all his expectations of returns were disappointed.... At last, reduced to extremities, he resolved to send a confidential agent to the United States, to obtain, if possible some explanation of results so chilling to his enthusiasm, and for which he was so poorly prepared. For this mission he selected a young man named Theveneau de Francy, a person of considerable talent, generous and enthusiastic, but poorly trained for the delicate duty assigned him. De Francy embarked for the United States at Marseilles on the 26th of September, 1777, on board of one of Beaumarchais’s ships, carrying twenty-four guns, called _Le Flammand_.” “De Francy,” says Loménie, “went out with the double mission of obtaining justice from Congress for the past, and to prevent cargoes from being delivered gratis in the future.”