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During the American Revolution, the French
dramatist Pierre Beaumarchais financed the shipping of supplies and ammunition
to the colonists, even sending out his own cruiser, LE FIER RODERIQUE,
in the D'Estang fleet. His various visits to England having led
him to take a deep interest in the impending struggle between
the American colonies and the mother-country, his sympathies
were entirely with the former; and by his unwearied exertions
he succeeded in inducing the French government to give ample,
though private, assistance in money and arms to the Americans.
He himself, partly on his own account, but chiefly as the agent
of the French and Spanish governments, carried on an enormous
traffic with America. Under the name of Rodrigue Hortalez et
Cie, he employed a fleet of forty vessels to provide help for
the insurgents. During the same period he produced his two famous
comedies: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE and THE MARRIAGE OF
FIGARO.
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