The General assured the Minister, that he had the deepest sense of the friendship of France, but replied to the matter in question, that he was altogether a stranger to the measures adopted by Congress relative to the Floridas, and could give no opinion of the propriety of the co-operation proposed in a civil or political light; but considering it merely as a military question, he saw no objection to the measure, on the supposition that the enemy's force in Georgia and South Carolina be withdrawn, without which it would, of course, be impossible.
The Minister then asked, in case the operation by the Spaniards against the Floridas should not induce the English to abandon the Southern States, whether it would be agreeable that the forces, either French or Spanish, employed there, should co-operate with our troops against those of the enemy in Georgia and South Carolina.
The General replied, that he imagined such a co-operation would be desirable.
The Minister inquired in the next place, whether in case the Court of France should find it convenient to send directly from France a squadron and a few regiments attached to it, to act in conjunction with us in this quarter, it would be agreeable to the United States.
The General thought it would contribute much to advance the common cause.
The Minister informed us, that Dr Franklin had purchased a fifty gun ship, which the King of France intended to equip for the benefit of the United States, to be sent with two or three frigates to Newfoundland to act against the enemy's vessels employed in the fishery, and afterwards to proceed to Boston to cruise from that port.
He concluded the conference with stating, that in Boston several gentlemen of influence, some of them members of Congress, had conversed with him on the subject of an expedition against Canada and Nova Scotia; that his Christian Majesty had a sincere and disinterested desire to see those two Provinces annexed to the American Confederacy, and would be disposed to promote a plan for this purpose; but that he would undertake nothing of the kind unless the plan was previously approved and digested by the General. He added, that a letter from the General to Congress some time since, on the subject of an expedition to Canada, had appeared in France, and had been submitted to the best military judges, who approved the reasoning, and thought the objections to the plan, which had been proposed, very plausible and powerful. That whenever the General should think the circumstances of this country favorable to such an undertaking, he should be very glad to recommend the plan he should propose, and he was assured that the French Court would give it all the aid in their power.