Page 71

colonies had been glad tidings to Choiseul, but
he could not get at the true condition of
things. His agents in Holland and England
sent unsatisfactory reports; they were not,
probably, the kind of men to form an intelligent
opinion after carefully sifting all
rumors and reports. Choiseul came to the
conclusion that if there was any reality in the
news from America, he must send some
one there; no vulgar spy or mere
inquirer, but a man capable of judging for
himself not only of the importance of the reported
dissatisfaction, but of the true object
sought by the colonists and of the available
resources of the country in case armed resistance
was contemplated. To find such an
agent was no easy matter. The Duke de
Broglie, under whose orders De Kalb had
served, suggested him as the fittest person for
such a mission. He described him as "a scholar
well versed in several language, * * * an
intelligent, zealous and accomplished soldier,
fully capable of forming a correct estimate
of the military strength of an enemy, in
whose judgment implicit reliance might be
placed."

MARRIAGE OF DE KALB.

De Kalb, in 1764, had married the beautiful
daughter of Peter Van Robais, a wealthy retired
cloth manufacturer, whose grandfather
had been ennobled as a reward for the improvements
he had introduced in the cloth
manufacture of France. The young husband,
passionately attached to his bride, and
possessing the means to live in ease and comfort
since his wife's dowry, added to his
own little fortune of 52,000 francs, formed a
capital of near 200,000 francs, retired from
active serviee [service] with a pension as lieutenant-
colonel of infantry. But neither the true
love he bore his wife, and which continued
unchanged to the hour of his death, nor the
pleasures and comfort which wealth may
give, would satisfy this man of action, this
soldier ever thirsting for military glory and
distinction. In 1765-66 he was seeking the
appointment of brigadier of the German
troops then being raised for service in Portugal.
After long delays the project of raising
foreign troops was abandoned by Portugal,
and DeKalb continued to chafe against the
inactivity to which the general peace condemned
him. In 1767 his father-in-law died
and DeKalb and his wife found themselves
the owners of ever half a million francs—a
handsome fortune for those times.

DE KALB SENT ON A MISSION TO AMERICA.

It was at this juncture his name was suggested
to De Choiseul. On the 2d of February,
1767, De Kalb received a letter from the
War Department, advising him that his name
had been placed on the list of officers who
were about to make a survey of the frontier
lines; said list was to be submitted to the
minister. This was followed, in August of
the same year, by a letter from the minister's
office announcing the final appointment, and
advising De Kalb that his post would be at
Dunkirk; that he should examine the maritime
coast from that port to Calais, and
report the condition thereof. De Kalb repaired [reported]
immediately to the ministerial bureau
to get his final instructions, and was much
surprised when the private secretary informed
him that his destination was
changed, and the Duke intended to
employ him on an important secret mission.
An interview with De Choiseul followed
when this mission was revealed. Colonel
De Kalb was to go to Amsterdam, there to
investigate the reports concerning the British
colonies, and should these reports appear to
him worthy of credit to take proper steps to
go to the colonies in person. There he was
to satisfy himself whether the dissatisfaction
waa ss [was as] widespread as reported; whether the
colonists actually contemplated separation
from England; what resources they had at
command, and what assistance they required
in material of war or in experienced officers.
De Kalb was inclined to decline this mission,
the difficulties of which he did not underrate,
and which did not satisfy his craving
for brilliant military deeds. The minister
insisted: he had selected him advisedly, he
said, as the most competent person for this
difficult undertaking, which the service of
the King required, and which would be a
strong claim to his (De Kalb's) advancement.

De Kalb finally accepted, and started
with brief delay for Holland. He went the
rounds of the seaports of that country, collecting
information to be compared with that
sent him by his agents in England. The result
was not conclusive. While it was generally
held that the withdrawal of the stamp
act had put an end to the complaints of the
colonists, persons from America assured
him that all was not over; that the temporary
lull would be followed by a storm should
England make any attempt to encroach upon
the liberties of the colonists. De Kalb made
his report. His conclusions were that the
troubles were adjusted, though not finally.
He saw no immediate necessity for proceeding
to America, yet held himself in readiness
if the minister should think his departure imminent.
Choiseul understood the English
colonial question better than most of his contemporaries
—better, perhaps, than the British
government. He saw clearly that the attempted
oppression which had roused the
colonists to a degree of exasperation had
caused them to realize their strength and
power. Any attempt at coercion would have
brought on an immediate conflict, and that
had been avoided, but the concessions obtained,
while satisfactory in so far that they
were a victory, did not guarantee the future.
England evidently had adopted a temporizing
policy, without renouncing the project of
making her colonies pay the greater part of the
enormous debt contracted during her European
wars. The day she would attempt again
to carry out this project she would find still
greater resistance, and a bitter feeling
resulting from the fact that she had
attempted to delude the colonists. It was
only a question of time—the conflict must
come. The minister ordered De Kalb to proceed
to America, there to ascertain what
preparatoins were being made for this conflict,
and whether events could be hastened
by proffers of assistance.

Such was the object of De Kalb's first mission
to America. In all his instructions and
letters Choiseul spoke in the name of the
King; De Kalb, therefore, was eager to serve
"His Majesty," and the secrecy required
seemed a very natural and necessary policy.
Yet the wily minister was playing a game
which might have cost him his head, and
which did cost him his place some years later.

DE KALB'S FIRST LETTERS.

De Kalb's letters to Choiseul show from the
very first that the Duke de Broglie had not
overrated his power of observation and the
soundness of his judgment. To a graphic
account of the state of things in the colonies
and of the grievances and hopes of the
people he adds his own conclusions, arrived
at after a careful sifting of facts, and the
correctness of these conclusions has been
fully demonstrated by subsequent events.
But the wonder is in the rapidity of his observations.
He represented to the minister
that the colonies in their present condition
(1768) could not resist force, but that they believed
the importance of their commercial
relations with the metropolis would protect
them from anything like actual
coercion. They were little disposed, he
said, to accept proffers of foreign aid
to shake off the British yoke, for such
assistance might be still more dangerous
to their liberties than the attempt at arbitrary
measures made by England. These remarks
be made in the first letter, dated January 15,
1768, three days after his arrival at Philadelphia.
A few days after this he wrote still
more fully, giving a most graphic and true
picture of the condition of affairs and of the
temper of the Americans. He saw the possibility
of an open rupture, but could not
believe the English government so blind to
its own interests as to provoke this rupture.

NEARLY FROZEN TO DEATH.

From Philadelphia De Kalb proceeded to
New York. His voyage, for such it was in
those days, was attended with more danger
than his trip across the ocean had been.
While crossing the sound to Staten Island, on
the fifth day after his departure, he encountered
a snow-storm of great violence. The
open scow in which he had taken passage