Folio 230: Stormont to Weymouth. Further reports confirm the great naval preparations....

Folio 230: Stormont to Weymouth. Further reports confirm the great naval preparations. He gives accounts of intelligence he has received, concerning the Mediterranean, L'Orient, Rochefort and Brest. These preparations must indicate some particular plan, even if Vergennes continues to speak of merely putting the fleet in proper order. Aranda has been exerting pressure as follows: France and Spain must safeguard their American interests. If Britain defeats the rebels, she will, flushed with victory, attack in the West Indies. If she fails to defeat the rebels, the English ministers will make their peace with the nation by a successful enterprise against the house of Bourbon. Stormont thinks Spain's preparations are no longer made to intimidate Portugal. French public opinion however shows no signs of anticipating war. `The levity and indiscretion of this country is what no ministry can control'. As long as Maurepas remains, there will be no war but, should he go, there are many, who want revenge. He cannot, however, see France, in its present state, embarking on war but equally he views the preparations with alarm. France may seek simply to encourage the rebels by her preparations, in order to prolong the war.

Date and place: 1776 July 3 Paris.