In 1775 the French foreign minister sent a spy to London to investigate the quarrel between the English colonies in North America and England. That spy met with several American representatives, including Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, who sought French aid to the American revolutionaries. The spy returned to France and wrote a memoire recommending that France establish a trading company whose overt purpose was to trade with France's colonies in the West Indies but whose real purpose was to supply arms and ammunition to the American revolutionaries. The spy's name was Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais who is more famous to us as a playwright. He is the author of The Barber of Seville and the Marriage of Figaro. The latter play was so popular that it was quickly turned into an opera by Mozart. Beaumarchais established a trading company called Rodrigue Hortalez et Cie on the rue Vielle du Temple in Paris. Long before Franklin secured overt French aid to the American Revolution, Beaumarchais had as many as 47 ships plying the Atlantic sending guns, cannons, and gunpowder to the Americans. Ninety percent of the gunpowder used by the Americans was supplied by France and other foreign sources. Beaumarchais believed in liberty but he also saw this as an opportunity to make money. Unfortunately, he never received any payment from the Americans. Deane had promised that he would be paid in money or in kind. See James Potts book "French Covert Action in the American Revolution". Gary McCollim John Philip Adams Texas