Observations sur le Memoire Justificatif

1779. BEAUMARCHAIS, Pierre-Augustin Caron de. Observations sur le Memoire Justificatif de la Cour de Londres. A Londres, a Philadelphie, 1779. 56pp. A very good copy in later patterned cloth boards with a leather spine label. HOWES B-289, "aa." Sabin 4182. Goldsmiths 11907. Bell B129. A reply to Edward Gibbon's Memoire Justificatif..., not to be confused with de Rayneval's response of the same name. "This work by the famous playwright was part of the pamphlet war that flared over French support of the Americans in the Revolution" (Bell). Beaumarchais, who wrote the libretti of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, was an avid supporter of the colonists' plight and had been instrumental in obtaining and transporting arms and ammunition to the Americans under the firm name of Roderigue Hortalez & Co. Later, however, there was some confusion about whether the supplies were gifts from the French government, and Beaumarchais was never properly compensated. His heirs were finally paid $800,000 in 1835, only a portion of the actual amount owed him. This present pamphlet is a justification of French policy during the American Revolution and an account of French and American grievances against Great Britain. According to Streeter, this "represents the first diplomatic approach to the international problem of the recognition of neutrals of seceded colonies and revolutionary governments"--Streeter Sale 797.