“The profound silence which I have imposed upon myself for the past two months, since the departure of the brother of M. Deane, secretly embarked at Bordeaux and bearing ... but this shall be matter for another letter. It is just that M. de Maurepas learns through me of this affair, for if the fear of the most frightful misfortune has rendered me pressing solicitor, I am not a man without virtue; it will be the strongest proof which I can offer of the resignation with which I know how to support the coldness and disdain of those who have protected me. Ah! but I am again saved. It is to you that I render a million thanks for all the efforts which you have made in my favor. Never will I forget the generous efforts which you have made to save me from ruin....” The moment of the open alliance between France and America was now hastening forward. With it, ends the first phase of the war of the United States against England, “phase heroic by its enterprise, its constancy, its privations, by the serenity of its chief and by the results obtained, if one considers the nature and quality of the soldiers.” (_Doniol_ III, 260.) It was to this period that the activities of Beaumarchais in the cause of America essentially belong. The operations, however, now so well under way, he continued to carry on through his agent de Francy, though from henceforward they are wholly private in character. CHAPTER XXI _”Any crisis which puts in peril all that society undertakes to secure to us by its laws, uncovers our hearts to the world, strips our native selfishness of all its disguises, and makes us appear to each other pretty nearly as bad as we must always appear to the angels.”_ _Hon. John Bigelow in “Beaumarchais the Merchant.”_ De Francy Sails for America—His Disappointment in the New World—Beaumarchais Recounts His Grievances against the Deputies at Passy—Rejoices Over American Victories—Manœuvers to Insure Safety to his Ships—The Depreciation of Paper Money in America—De Francy Comes to the Aid of Lafayette—Contract between Congress and De Francy Acting for Roderigue et Cie.—Letters of Lee to Congress—Bad Faith of that Body—Deane’s Signature to Documents Drawn up by Franklin and Lee—Beaumarchais’s Triumph at Aix—Gudin Seeks Refuge at the Temple—Letters of Mlle. Ninon. Theveneau de Francy arrived in the States the 1st of December, 1777. He was the bearer of letters to Congress from Roderigue Hortalès et Cie., filled with polite reminders of the fact that great advances had been made for arms, ammunition, etc., and that it was very important that much tobacco should be returned as soon as possible. (Spark’s _Diplomatic Correspondence_, Vol. 1, p. 112.)