America's First Envoy to France

...the mirrors, the spacious rooms, the genthrough jealousy, misunderstanding and prejudice, was erous fireplaces, all spoke of one who loved the amenidiscredited by the Continental Congress, refused a ties of life and who was used to its comforts and trial and sent into the wilderness a scapegoat, bearing luxuries...

...This enthusiasm led me present year it has been decided that one of Connecti- to visit Wethersfield and the house which he built cut's most beautiful Revolutionary houses, the Silas about 1767 next to the famous Webb house, scene of Deane house in Hartford, is to be destroyed simply the meeting of Washington and Rochambeau...

...ings, paneling, and doors treated as so much wreck- I had told my uncle weeks before the great stuff, its memories flung to the winds-in order that day that I wished to visit the saint, and he promised the business men of Hartford may have sufficient space to accompany me...

...Instead, this city has an American Main Street overnight as if by magic...

...dismisses him with the characterization of "a dishonest The Hartford house, then, belongs to the short period merchant from Connecticut," while Wharton and between December, 1776, and September, 1777, which others have sought to prove that in 1781 he was in marks the culmination of Silas Deane's success as mer- the pay of the British...

...ing a charming view of the Connecticut River, where Deane had a house erected for him in Hartford . . . his two wives lie buried-while his own poor body, from plans and specifications forwarded from Paris...

...tional interests to the neglect of local politics...

...inevitably arrives both sides of which were people kneeling and praying sooner or later...

...But who were these strange beings crowded upon him the sins of a whole faction of the people...

...State House in Hartford, but Silas Deane, through Santa Rosa day was a day of great festivities...

...The turning of the tide in foundation of all the political relations of the United the affairs of Silas Deane may be said to date from the States with foreign powers and of the subsequent alreception of the news of his wife's death, for it was liance with France...

...the site of his "store," and to seek out the highest Mr...

...As a result, I mad race after sensation, and now history must became an enthusiast for this man so maltreated and fall before the sacred automobile...

...He went charged with hall, paneled in dark walnut, with a beautiful colonial three commissions: first, to buy articles for the Indian door with side lights and a dignified stairway, sepatrade...

...To make matters this glass that for a century and a half even the birds worse, Lee, disappointed in his personal ambitions, did have been duped...

...It is one of I recall many picturesque fathers at Saint Mary's...

...And the regularity with which it with their heads bowed...

...prepared students for Oxford and Cambridge examTrinidad is under British tutelage, and though the inations...

...As this realization surged It was not among American archives but in Europe over me, blending strangely with the vision of all the that I first discovered Silas Deane...

...As AS A CHINESE SEES IT we climbed a little hill, we noticed that an appreciable By ARTHUR A. YOUNG line was wending its way in the same direction...

...We found a niche and did is asked often leads me to think that a Christian China- likewise...

...All whom the young nobleman received his commission, trains and all trails led to Arima...

...Our A high wall surrounded the college buildings, thus school overseer, Monsignor de Martini, with his long shutting us off from public view...

...centre was a compartment intended for wine...

...Stiles, in his Ancient Wethersfield, thus de- point in the cemetery back of the old church commandscribes this house: "While still abroad in France, Mr...

...was taken out of cloister and anyone who wanted to Years ago, a statue to Lafayette was placed in the visit her and make a wish could do so...

...But well has it been said school, often rewarded me with cookies...

...The cellar, everywhere walled with brick Independence to King Louis XVI, was recently offered or stone, extended under the whole house...

...Were Father O'Brien an When I picture the island reminiscently, I recall American, he would have been a most patriotic citivividly my contacts among Catholics...

...laid, the foundations so deep and strong that the build- As proof of the value of his letters, one of them, that ing might stand for a thousand years unless purposely in which he officially communicated the Declaration of destroyed...

...It was in keeping with Deane's own character as There are numerous indications that the tide has well as in accord with the prevalent ideas in France, now turned in favor of Silas Deane...

...Two massive chimneys rose from the ground below It had been the Committee of Secret Correspondence the foundation, one through the north and the other with Benjamin Franklin at its head which in March, through the south section of the house, each composed 1776, had sent Silas Deane to France without the of four separate flues, one to each fireplace...

...sion with Franklin, pushing forward his gigantic com- At right angles to the length of this room extended mercial operations with Beaumarchais, commissioning the two story "L" which comprised the well-lighted officers, among them Lafayette and De Kalb, directing kitchen below and the light, airy servants' quarters the privateer business, keeping open house for Amer- above...

...seasoned walnut, each of three layers with grain runDeane was too busy, working on his diplomatic mis- ning differently to ensure perpetual and perfect fit...

...Such a psychological transformation meantime, perhaps, find the moral and physical strength would entail, of course, a rewriting of all our histories.to start their lives anew...

...Every library to erect the house in such a way that it would be prac- of note possesses manuscript letters from his pen while ticably indestructible...

...Two island scholarships, entitling the holders official denomination is Episcopal, as you would call to study in a foreign institution, were awarded every it here, Catholics are just as prominent and power- year, and Saint Mary's had the honor of placing as ful...

...to find because the men of Hartford want parking space...

...hymns, though I was never enjoined to do so...

...Before the plan could be carried agent sent out by the United States...

...like ing a complex situation which has required 15o years all the other doors of the house they were made of to clarify...

...A group of curiosity-seekers was standing outside...

...object at the top was the saint...

...I was dazed by what bered among Connecticut's greatest sons, we must go I saw and unable to grasp its significance-elegance back to 1778-79 when Silas Deane, after returning and misery were everywhere companions...

...evening when we started on our holy pilgrimage...

...and the instrucout however, Mrs...

...Though not zen, for, after every trigonometry class, he never a Catholic, I was practically raised among there...

...Its streets became has been denied that honor...

...But it was reserved for me to This house . . . was at the time the finest in Hart- meet with Silas Deane himself, to penetrate his soul ford . . . and despite the changes made by successive and to understand him, in this Hartford house (now owners, it still retains the air of aristocratic lineage about to be destroyed) which fate ordained he should which marked the period of great luxury which pre- never occupy...

...August 25, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 383 AMERICA'S FIRST ENVOY TO FRANCE By ELIZABETH S. KITE H UMAN life has ceased to count in America's family through several generations...

...tionary record, which possesses two historical societies Indeed, it was as if Silas Deane himself came forand which boasts representatives of all the patriotic ward and, holding out his hand, said: "Come with me orders...

...There was no prohibition in to countless unfortunates, some of whom would have those days and Silas Deane was a connoisseur by taste stories to tell only less romantically tragic than that and inclination...

...Then there was Father Neville, who was ment to the Catholic school because it was said that perhaps the first Trinidadian to leave for the front the latter would train me better for my competitive when he was called home by the French government examination...

...The island was discovered by Columbus on his many students as its friendly rival-Queen's Royal third voyage to America, and has since then passed College, a government institution...

...By granted his heirs $37,000.00 in liquidation of his December, 1776, he felt himself sufficiently well es- claim...

...We to that privileged group labeled as Christians, took seats in one of the pews where we knelt clown or that despised gang known as heathens-but wher- and prayed before presenting ourselves to the saint...

...Deane, always delicate, sickened tions to him and his proceedings under them, were the and died, in June, 1777...

...Silas Deane, S. B. Webb and realized the private character of Silas who had conceived of a handsome residence where he Deane, his influence over his step-children, and the could lavishly entertain, who, to that end, had ordered gratitude maintained for him in this branch of the its design from a leading French architect, had died in 384 THE COMMONWEAL August 25, 1926 poverty and wretchedness in a foreign land...

...to Spanish, French, and British hands...

...in the living rooms below and what was the meaning Though Deane's honor was vindicated by the Federal on the floor above of the double-decker beds set so Congress in 1841, Connecticut never forgave him be- close as almost to touch one another...

...I all that interests my hearers is whether I belong was fascinated by the colored window-panes...

...that it should happen on the one hundred and and let me show you this house which I planned for fiftieth anniversary of Silas Deane's mission to France generous hospitality...

...It was on the cause of American independence been so lacking the occasion of a Santa Rosa day, when Santa Rosa as in his own Connecticut which lie loved so well...

...It was with bated breath and beating heart that I This piece of vandalism is all the more startling in entered the gate and stepped upon the porch which led that it is perpetrated in a city proud of its Revolu- to a side door of this still imposing frame structure...

...It was about eight o'clock one in which to park their automobiles...

...A wide knowledge of Congress at large...

...Though the casing was to he the famous facsimiles of Benjamin Franklin Stevens frame, yet the walls were to be so thick and so well leave no part of his transactions abroad undocumented...

...of the original owner...

...The instructors were fathers who studied Trinidad, that most southerly pearl of the West In- at Blackrock College in Ireland...

...ceded the French Revolution...

...The saint was above us, but I did not look man must be an unusual combination in the eyes of up...

...ican adventurers (some of them British spies) to con- In 1841, the twenty-sixth Congress in its second cern himself with the activities of his enemies who session, vindicated the honor of Silas Deane and openly as well as secretly plotted against him...

...I voluntarily learned many Catholic in the early part of the war...

...Bancroft Treaties of Amity and Commerce in February, 1778...

...the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his setting Besides the unveiling of Santa Rosa, the chief attracout for France, to toss his beautiful Hartford house tion was horse-racing, in which ponies from all over to the wreckers-its priceless windows, mirrors, mould- the West Indies were entered...

...It became personal signed, I became lost in meditation...

...alas, lies far away...

...Within the ignored by his countrymen...

...dian islands in the blue Caribbean, famous for its The college was equivalent to a junior college and mysterious and inexhaustible lake of asphalt...

...In the for sale by a dealer at $750-00...

...When I was outside I was told that the white the average American...

...singled him out for special dishonor, having chosen Cocoanut thatched roofs sprang up like mushrooms...

...One of the customs beard and black robe with purple embroideries, was of the fathers that I most vividly recall was their my striking Santa Claus who, on his visits to the habit during recess or leisure time to walk in a group...

...But to it was to be well stocked for how could one properly balance the scales of justice, here was his house for entertain without a choice collection of the best vintmore than two decades, offering shelter and protection ages of old France...

...poverty as proof to the contrary...

...not scruple to send lying reports to his supporters in The dining-room ended also in a bay window with Congress regarding the activities of Deane, thus creat- eight massive walnut doors at the opposite end...

...north ended in a superb bay window with solid sheets third, to form an alliance with France...

...No vestige of proof has ever chant and diplomatist, and it is certain that the ma- been found to substantiate this accusation which he terial for the house came over carefully packed along himself indignantly denied, pleading his constant with the military stores in one of Beaumarchais's ships...

...country and among those of his own household...

...The moonlight drifted through the trees like dew...

...What was the cause in 1775, when a leader in the second Continental use to which Silas Deane's elegant house was being Congress, he threw himself whole-heartedly into na- put...

...In the beginning gracious hospitality for which the house had been demy interest was only academic...

...Notwithstanding this clear pronot long afterward that his enemies in Congress suc- nouncement in his favor, and the overwhelming docuceeded in forcing his recall, though news of the resolu- mentation to support it, Deane remains either untion did not reach him until after the signing of the known, forgotten, or purposely ignored...

...celebration of the Sesquicentennial As one under a spell I entered and allowed myself To fully account for this amazing indifference to to be conducted from room to room by the humble inthe memory of one who undoubtedly should be num- mate who answered my knock...

...was teaching trigonometry...

...when I chanced upon the correspondence of General The strange, strange mystery of fate...

...but above all, behold the use to and that Connecticut should be planning an imposing which it has been put for the last quarter of a century...

...In the report of the committee it is stated.: tablished in Paris to send for his wife and little son "Mr...

...second, to secure military equipment for an rated the two sections...

...The drawing-room to the army of 25,000 men, with a few officers and engineers...

...As for Then I learned what had escaped my notice on enhistorians, they could do nothing less than ignore Silas tering-though conspicuously enough announced by a Deane along with the whole story of the secret aid sign-that this was now The Open Hearth-a place which passed through his hands, until the time arrived of refuge for down-and-outers, where unfortunate men for admitting its importance to the cause of American could earn their way back to self-respect and in the independence...

...But in all truth, I and my friends have had no From the Catholic school I went to Saint Mary's denominational consciousness at home, and to prove it College, which was under the control of the Catholic I shall have to take you back to my home town-to diocese...

...Deane was the first political and diplomatic to join him there...

...So flawless is ful faction for any European post...

...ever I go and to whomsoever I am introduced, the After a while my uncle led the way up the aisle, on question, "Are you a Christian...

...I failed to deliver some stripes, making his students remember when I was transferred from the govern- see stars...

...The church was located in the north end of town...

...The woodin "splendor" (as John Adams wrote in a letter home) work, the paneling, the delicately carved mouldings, and triumphantly, with a fleet and a minister pleni- the windows (such windows-solid sheets of perfect potentiary of His Very Christian Majesty, Louis XVI, plate glass...

...No- I recall the first time I entered the Catholic church, where has appreciation of the merit of Silas Deane in which was the most impressive in town...

...When news of of unbroken plate glass, the central one extending from Deane's going became known to Congress, great dis- floor to ceiling, the others only slightly shorter, so set satisfaction was felt by certain delegates, for Arthur into the mouldings as to deceive the eye and make one Lee, then living in London, was the choice of a power- believe the glass itself to be circular...

...the most beautiful islands off the tropical coast of There was Father O'Brien, the dean whose hobby South America...

...I loved to that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own admire the big cross that hung from his neck...

...evidently Thus it can be seen that, little by little, Silas Deane August 25, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 38S is coming into his own...

...P ERHAPS it is because I am a Chinaman, and Reverently we entered the great, dimly-lit church...