In the last year of the war Congress began to dispose of its naval craft. On September 3, 1782, the 74-gun ship “America” now at last almost ready for launching was on the recommendation of the Agent of Marine given to France to replace the ship of the line “Magnifique,” 74, which the French fleet had recently lost in Boston harbor. Congress, “desirous of testifying on this occasion to his Majesty, the sense they entertain of his generous exertions in behalf of the United States,” directed the Agent of Marine to present the “America” to Luzerne, the French minister at Philadelphia, for the service of His Most Christian Majesty.[305] It was a gracious act of international friendship. In April, 1783, the “Duc de Lauzun” was lent to the French minister to carry home some French troops, after which service she was to be sold.[306] In July Morris ordered the “Hague” to be sold, and recommended to Congress a like disposition of the “Bourbon,” which latter ship in all probability had been recently launched.[307] In March, 1784, Morris recommended the sale of the “Alliance,” as she was “now a mere bill of costs;” and also the “Washington,” because much money would be required to repair her, and there was no need to employ her as a packet, since the French and English had established a mail service.[308] Lieutenant Joshua Barney, acting as the agent for the Naval Department, sold the “Washington” in Baltimore in the summer of 1784. The members of Congress were not unanimous on the question of the proper disposition of the “Alliance.” On January 15, 1784, a committee of three reported: “That the honour of the Flag of the United States and the protection of its trade and coasts from the insults of pirates require that the Frigate of Alliance should be repaired.”[309] A committee in March, 1784, and another in May, 1785, recommended her sale.[310] Finally, on June 3, 1785, Congress directed the Board of Treasury “to sell for specie or public securities, at public or private sale, the frigate Alliance, with her tackle and appurtenances.”[311] In August, 1785, the Board of Treasury sold this vessel for £2,887, to be paid in United States certificates of public debt. The purchasers afterwards sold the “Alliance” at a great profit to Robert Morris. In June, 1787, this vessel sailed for Canton, China, as a merchantman.[312] From the sale of the “Alliance” until the establishment of a new navy under the Constitution in 1794 it was left to the stars and stripes floating from American merchantmen to familiarize foreign ports and seas with the symbol of the new Nation.