Conciliatory Bills

Franklin and his colleagues were presented to the king and queen at Versailles, on the 20th of March. Willing to comply with the court etiquette on such occasions, the republican ambassador sent for a wig, and contemplated ordering a suit of blue velvet and lace. No wig in Paris would fit his capacious head; so he resolved to appear in his baldness, with his thin gray hair hanging down upon his shoulders. So he did appear in defiance of the chamberlain and fashion. Clad in an elegant suit of black velvet made as plain as one he would have worn at an evening party in Philadelphia, with white cambric ruffles in his bosom and at his wrists, white silk stockings and silver shoe-buckles, he won the admiration of all beholders in that brilliant assembly. The beautiful young queen bestowed her sweetest smiles upon him, and kept him near her person as much as possible during the audience. In one of the saloons of Paris a few evenings afterward, he was the centre of attraction. His defiance of etiquette charmed the Parisians. The ladies pressed around the Philosopher, and more enthusiastic ones saluted him with kisses on his forehead. The king was irritated by these attentions, for he despised republicans, and only consented to be their ally in war for the benefit of France. Voltaire, who, at the age of eighty-four, had just arrived in Paris after a long exile, was not more popular then than Franklin. They soon became personal friends, for Voltaire espoused the cause of the Americans. Franklin venerated him for his wisdom, and bade his grandson, a tall youth, ask the philosopher's blessing. The venerable man placed his hand on the lad's head and gave it in these words: God and Liberty.

The position now assumed by France toward the Americans greatly embarrassed the British ministry, and even the king was disposed to yield a little. Eleven days after the treaty was concluded at Paris, Lord North presented two conciliatory bills to Parliament. One declared the government did not intend to exercise the right of imposing taxes in America, and proposed to make almost every concession which the Americans had demanded two years before--even not to insist upon the renunciation of their independence; the other authorized the king to send commissioners to America to treat for reconciliation and peace. Mr. Hartley, a confidant of Lord North, sent copies of these bills to Dr. Franklin. The ambassador, with the knowledge of Vergennes, sent word back that if the king wished to treat with the Americans on terms of perfect equality, the desired result might be obtained by sending commissioners to the representatives of the United States in Paris. The French king fearing a reconciliation might take place, and so thwart his plans for using the Americans for the glory of France, hastened to officially inform the British government, through the French minister in London, of the treaty between that country and the United States. That minister, acting under instructions, in his note to the British government, spoke of the United States as being in "full possession of independence," and declared that his king was determined "to protect effectually the lawful commerce of his subjects, and to maintain the dignity of his flag," and had, "in consequence, taken effectual measures in concert with the Thirteen United and Independent States of America."