Beaumarchais Pierre Augustin Caron de - Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution

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Table of Contents

RIVERHEAD BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL,
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Copyright 2009 by Joel Richard Paul

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any
printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of
copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published simultaneously in Canada

Photograph of William Johnstons portrait of Silas Deane (page 4) Ruth Hanks. Reproduced with
generous permission of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum.
Photograph of portrait of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (page 20) Patrick Lorette.
Reproduced with generous permission of the Comdie-Franaise.
Portrait of the Chevalier don (page 30) reproduced with generous permission
of the Bibliothque Nationale de France.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Paul, Joel R.
Unlikely allies : how a merchant, a playwright, and a spy saved the American Revolution /
Joel Richard Paul.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-1-101-15103-7

1. United StatesHistoryRevolution, 1775-1783Secret service. 2. United StatesHistory
Revolution, 1775-1783Participation, French. 3. United StatesForeign relations1775-1783.
4. Deane, Silas, 1737-1789. 5. Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de, 1732-1799. 6. Eon de
Beaumont, Charles Genevive Louis Auguste Andr Timothe d, 1728-1810. 7. Arms transfersUnited
StatesHistory18th century. 8. Arms transfersFranceHistory18th century.
9. Saratoga Campaign, N.Y., 1777. I. Title.
E279.P
973.385dc22

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers
and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author
assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication.
Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not
assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

http://us.penguingroup.com

For Jane, John, Bertrand, and Micky

Perhaps Chance is Gods pseudonym, when He does not wish to sign His name.

THOPHILE GAUTIER

INTRODUCTION

In 1776, the lives of three extraordinary charactersa Connecticut merchant, a French playwright, and a cross-dressing French spycollided to produce the Franco-American alliance. This is the story of how Silas Deane, Caron de Beaumarchais, and the Chevalier dEon saved the American Revolution.

They were unlikely allies and improbable heroes. Each rose to prominence at a young age by force of wit and energy, and each enjoyed wealth and social standing as a member of the elite. Deane, the son of a blacksmith, became a leading figure in Connecticut politics and an influential member of the Continental Congress. Beaumarchais, a French watchmaker and musician, achieved fame as the author of The Barber of Seville. DEon, a child prodigy whose public life belied a dark secret, was a decorated French soldier, diplomat, and spy. Each risked his career to pursue a grand design, abandoning the comfort of an insider to become a social outlaw. Though each suffered disgrace and poverty, they persevered with ingenuity and moxie.

Before Silas Deane became Congresss secret emissary to France, he was a merchant and shopkeeper who had lived his entire life in Connecticut and could not speak a word of French. Benjamin Franklin chose Deane for this delicate diplomatic mission because he considered Deane such an unlikely choice that the British spies in France would never suspect him. Months before Franklin got there, Deane arrived in Paris on the eve of the Declaration of Independence. With little cash, few resources, and no friends or family, Deane improvised. He eluded would-be assassins who hounded him; managed the mercenaries, privateers, and saboteurs who sought to help him; and fought off American patriots who plotted to destroy him.

Deane succeeded with the aid of the comic writer Beaumarchais. Together they conspired to arm the Americans at a time when the Revolutions prospects seemed dim. Through their romantic misadventures and uncanny bad luck, they formed a friendship that became the foundation of the Franco-American alliance.

And none of this would have been possible without the leavening influence of the flamboyant Chevalier dEon. The chevaliers disguises, gender confusion, and eccentricity made him notorious. Voltaire once famously called the Chevalier dEon A nice problem for history. And when he began blackmailing the French king, dEon became a problem that only Beaumarchais could resolve. In the end, dEon would unwittingly become the catalyst that persuaded Louis XVI to arm the Americans against the British.

Despite their prodigious intelligence, courage, and spunk, Deane, Beaumarchais, and dEon were vain, arrogant, impatient, and at times bad tempered. Their government careers were cut short because they flaunted social convention and challenged authority. Beaumarchais once wrote, If you are mediocre and you grovel, you shall succeed. By that measure, they were all prodigious failures.

This is not a conventional narrative of the American Revolution. The conventional story is that Ben Franklin was our first emissary to the court of Louis XVI and that through charm, cunning, and persistence Franklin obtained arms and forged an alliance with France. This is not that story. In fact, Franklin is really an accessory after the fact. Long before Franklin set foot in France, Deane had already formed the foundation of our alliance. Most histories of the American Revolution ignore Deane. If he is mentioned at all, he is usually described as a scoundrel who tried to enrich himself at public expense, a puppet of the British Crown, or a traitor who betrayed the Revolutions ideals. But Deane is the hero of this story. While he was accused of many crimes, none was ever proved. He gave his wealth, his honor, and his life to his country, and for his troubles he has been either reviled or forgotten, until now.

We are accustomed to reading about the great men who won our Independence. We know that the Revolution was also inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment and realized by mass social movements. While it is true that great men, great ideas, and great movements all influence history, history is never so predetermined. We know from our lived experience the impact of random events, chance meetings, and peripheral characters. So too, the arc of history is often diverted from its intended trajectory. These three intertwined lives tell us much about the power of personality, the complexity of human motivation, and the accidental path of history.

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