dents of Europe, chief among whom were Arthur Lee, who was instructed to communicate with Count Vergennes, in Paris, and Charles W. F. Dumas, a Swiss gentleman, then residing at the Hague, a friend of Franklin's and a student of international law.* The first representative sent by the Committee abroad was Silas Deane, of Connecticut. His instructions,† dated March 3, 1776, are to appear in France "in the character of a merchant," as the "Court of France may not like it should be known publicly that any agent from the Colonies is in that country," but to confide to Count Vergennes that he has come "upon business of the American Congress." He is to endeavor to obtain arms and ammunition for the defense of the Colonies, and to ascertain whether, in the event of their being "forced to form themselves into an independent state," France would

* Parton's Franklin, II, 3. Dumas afterwards acted with John Adams when the latter was on his mission to the Hague, and held office after the adoption of the Constitution (see p. 67).

†Diplomatic Correspondence, I, 8.

feel disposed to enter into a treaty of friendship and alliance with them.

September 26, 1776, the mission to France was made a Commission, with Deane, Franklin, and Jefferson as the members. They were elected by Congress, and a committee composed of Robert Morris, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, and John Adams was chosen "to prepare a draft of letters of credence to the Commissioners" and their instructions.* Jefferson declining to serve, Arthur Lee was elected in his place. The Secret Committee was composed at this time of Benjamin Harrison, Richard Henry Lee, John Witherspoon, and William Hooper, but the two last did not act continuously. ‡

It was decided later to send Commissioners to other European states, and Franklin and Arthur Lee were selected for Spain, Ralph Izard

*Secret Journals of Congress, II, 31.

† Ibid., II, 35.

Department of State MS. archives.

for Tuscany, and William Lee for Vienna and Berlin.*

The functions of the Secret Committee of Correspondence, after its first action, do not appear to have been important. Arthur Lee and Thomas Morris, who acted as the commercial agents of the Colonies while the committee was still in existence, did not correspond with it, but were under the jurisdiction of the Secret Committee of Congress, a separate committee from the Secret Committee of Correspondence. "As all affairs relative to the conduct of commerce and remittance," wrote the latter to the Commissioners at Paris, "pass through another department, we beg leave to refer you to the Secret Committee, and Mr. Thomas Morris, their agent in France, for every information on these subjects."+

On April 17, 1777, the title of the Committee was changed, and it became the "Committee of

*Secret Journals of Congress, II, 45. They did not perform diplomatic functions at these courts, however.

† Letters of William Lee, I, 195.

Foreign Affairs."

The first members were

Benjamin Harrison, Robert Morris, Thomas Hayward, jr., and James Lovell. Hayward did not act after August, and in October John Witherspoon went on the Committee, and later Richard Henry Lee. The first Secretary of the Committee was Thomas Paine, appointed at a salary of $70 per month.* He severed his connection with it in January, 1779. The chief function of the Committee was to furnish the agents of the Government abroad with full accounts of the course of events in America. Beyond that it acted simply as an agent to execute the orders of Congress, and was intrusted with few of the duties that subsequently pertained to it. The members of the Committee were being constantly changed, and the communications reflected the opinions of those who happened to be serving at the time they were

sent.

* Department of State MS. archives.

† Paine was dismissed by Congress for making an official matter public. An explanation and a defense of his conduct may be found in Conway's Life of Paine, I, 90 et seq.

Communications relative to foreign affairs were usually referred by Congress to special committees; and May 1,1777, less than a month after the Foreign Affairs Committee had been instituted, John Wilson, John Adams, and Richard Henry Lee were selected a committee to "inquire into the laws and customs of nations respecting neutrality, and to report their opinion, whether the conduct of the King of Portugal, in forbidding the vessels of the United States to enter his ports, and ordering those already there to depart at a short day is not a breach of the laws of neutrality." Inquiries of this character, it might reasonably be expected, would fall within the functions of the Foreign Affairs Committee, but rarely did so.

The communications of the Committee were usually signed by several of the members; but Lovell signed them-often "for the Committee"-continuously up to the time the Committee was superseded by the Department of

*Secret Journals of Congress, II, 44.