But hatred of England was not the only reason
why activities had been set afoot to increase the discord which
should finally separate the colonies from Great Britain and leave
the destiny of the colonies to be decided by the House of
Bourbon. Spain saw in the Americans, with their English modes of
thought, a menace to her authority in her own colonies on both
the northern and southern continents. This menace would not be
stilled but augmented if the colonies should be established as a
republic. Such an example might be too readily followed. Though
France had, by a secret treaty in 1762, made over to Spain the
province of Louisiana, she was not unmindful of the Bourbon
motto, "He who attacks the Crown of one attacks the other." And
she saw her chance to deal a crippling blow at England's prestige
and commerce.
In 1764, the French Minister, Choiseul, had sent a secret agent,
named Pontleroy, to America to assist in making trouble and to
watch for any signs that might be turned to the advantage of les
duex couronnes. Evidently Pontleroy's reports were encouraging
for, in 1768, Johann Kalb--the same Kalb who fell at Camden in
1780--arrived in Philadelphia to enlarge the good work. He was
not only, like several of the foreign officers in the War of
Independence, a spy for his Government, but he was also the
special emissary of one Comte de Broglie who, after the colonies
had broken with the mother country, was to put himself at the
head of American affairs.
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