William Bingham, Agent of the Continetal Congress in Marinique
IOOKING back, it seems fairly obvious that France would support the English colonists in America in their revolt against the -* mother country. Although at the time the Americans were uncertain of the extent to which they could depend upon her, there were early indications that France and probably Spain would cooperate in the effort to hamper England by giving surreptitious aid to the colonies. As early as the summer of 1775 there were stories unearthed by British spies and relayed back to England that ships, actually French and Spanish property but made to appear American in case of detection, were being fitted out in the West Indies. In England the government was already convinced that help was going to the American rebels directly from Europe as well as from the West Indies. There is no doubt that during the winter of 1775-1776 powder and arms were trickling into the rebellious colonies from the French islands, especially from Martinique. The ships returned to Martinique taking cargoes of American produce in demand there, with orders from Congress to bring back more war supplies. If this trade could be enlarged, and if vessels engaged in it could avoid capture by British ships, it might become a very profitable business for the French islands as well as for the continental colonies. Early in 1776 it became known that France was about to send a squadron over to the West Indies, supposedly for self-defense, but actually to protect this trade between the French islands and the American colonies. About the same time the Continental Congress in Philadelphia authorized the issuance of privateering commissions. The crying need of the American colonies was military supplies, supplied in former wars by the mother country. France was the log-