Franklin in France: Versailles and American

From that time both Franklin and the other American commissioners attended the court at Versailles on the same footing as the ambassadors of the European powers. Madame Campan says that on these occasions Franklin appeared in the dress of an American farmer. "His straight, unpowdered hair, his round hat, his brown cloth coat, formed a singular contrast with the laced and embroidered coats, and powdered and perfumed heads, of the courtiers of Versailles."

The treaties thus entered into were considered equivalent to a declaration of war, and both parties prepared for hostilities, though the actual declaration was not made till later. Meanwhile, Franklin was approached by agents from England, with the ostensible object of arranging some terms of accommodation between America and England, but probably, to some extent, with the real object of entrapping the shrewd American and embroiling him with the French government. Whatever their object, he was too wise to be deceived, and too patriotic to listen to any terms short of a complete independence. Commissioners were also sent to America, to treat with Congress and with the leading Americans. The ill success of this effort has been already mentioned. Franklin continued in Paris, as the American representative, till 1785, taking an active part in diplomatic labors, and assisting in the final treaty of peace.