Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
A Continental Congress committee chose Ben Franklin with the intent that he embark on a mission to France to try to pull the French into supporting the colonies with aid. Some of his enemies found his leaving the New World cowardly especially when the Redcoats were coming closer to Philadelphia. Franklin was the first of three envoys sent to Paris. The other two were going to be Thomas Jefferson and Silas Deane. The third position switched from Jefferson to grumpy Arthur Lee after Jefferson sniffed out untold family problems. On the question of Franklin's mettle though it showed courage for a 70 year old with gout, kidney stones and other maladies to cross the Atlantic and brave the possibility of his ship being sunk or captured by the mighty British navy.
Jumble - Houston Chronicle |
Franklin landed in France via a fishing boat which had ferried him from the more
scenic Continental Naval ship the
Reprisal. He and his grandsons Benny Bache (age 7) and William Temple Franklin (age 17) accompanied him when they landed at Auray. Franklin had wanted to make the most anonymous landing in France he could notifying the
fewest French of his arrival. This did not last long as the people of France loved Ben Franklin and as soon as his carriage reached a larger city, he was in for a
grand ball. He had taken to wearing a soft fur cap which the ladies of Nantes honored by wearing wigs that mirrored it in the
coiffure à la Franklin. Franklin's cult status in France soon eclipsed that of King Louis XVI who was so irked by it that he gave his mistress who was a huge Franklinphile a chamber pot with Franklin's image embossed inside. There were probably palm
fronds made into likenesses of Ben Franklin and his fur hat in France. There were images of him in just about every art in France in late 1776.