The Baron de Kalb arranged that the Count de Broglie should see Silas Deane of Connecticut. Silas Deane was impressed with the importance of securing such a powerful friend and leader for his hard-pressed people, and he at once agreed to see what he could do for De Broglie, and promised Baron de Kalb the rank of major-general in the American army and signed an agreement with him by which fifteen French officers should go to America on a ship that was fitting out with arms and supplies. This fell in beautifully with Lafayette’s wishes. De Broglie introduced the Marquis to De Kalb, and De Kalb presented him to Silas Deane. This was in December, 1776, and Lafayette, only nineteen, slight of figure, looked very boyish for such an enterprise. But he plainly showed that his whole heart was in his plan, and, as he said himself, “made so much out of the small excitement that my going away was likely to cause,” that the American agent was carried away by his enthusiasm, and in his own rather reckless fashion, wrote out a paper by which the young Marquis was to enter the service of the American colonies as a major-general. Deane’s enthusiasm over Lafayette’s offer of his services may be seen from what he wrote in the agreement. The paper he sent to Congress in regard to this volunteer ran as follows: “His high birth, his alliances, the great dignities which his family holds at this court, his considerable estates in this realm, his personal merit, his reputation, his disinterestedness, and, above all, his zeal for the liberty of our provinces, are such as have only been able to engage me to promise him the rank of major-general in the name of the United States. In witness of which I have signed the present this seventh of December, 1776. Silas Deane, Agent for the United States of America.” By this time the colonies had issued their Declaration of Independence, and called themselves, as Silas Deane described them, the United States of America. Imagine Lafayette’s joy at this result of his meeting with Silas Deane! It seemed as if his enthusiasm had already won him his goal. But there were other people to be considered, and his family were not as much delighted with his plans as the man from Connecticut had been. As a matter of fact his father-in-law, the powerful Duke d’Ayen, was furious, and so were most of the others of his family. His cousin, the Count de Segur, described the feelings of Lafayette’s relations. “It is easy to conceive their astonishment,” he wrote, “when they learned suddenly that this young sage of nineteen, so cool and so indifferent, had been so far carried away by the love of glory and of danger as to intend to cross the ocean and fight in the cause of American freedom.” There was more of a storm at home than when the self-filled young Marquis had of his own accord disgraced himself at court.