"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men… [no] controls on government would be necessary." — James Madison

Dr.Edward Bancroft—The Man Who Spied on Benjamin Franklin

It was Tuesday evening and rapidly approaching half past nine. As he had done so on previous Tuesdays, a staff member of the British embassy in Paris made his way to the Tuileries Garden. There, in the south terrace, he saw the large tree with a hole at its base.Within the hole was a white card attached to a wooden peg—a marker visible in the dark.The courier reached into the hole, pulled on a string, and reeled up a glass bottle filled with important documents about the American delegation in Paris— papers that outlined the delegates' political endeavors, ongoing strategies of the revolution in America, troop and ship movements, and other confidential bits of information.

After he replaced the bottle with new instructions inside, the courier carried the documents to the British Embassy.

If he were to be stopped, the courier's papers would simply appear to be the latest record of an illicit love affair. One would not have seen the hidden message written in invisible ink,between the lines, masking in plain sight the information the British sought.

The documents were given directly to British diplomat Lord Stormont, who alone held the “developer” that could reveal the invisible information gathered by the British double agent Dr. Edward Bancroft—codename "Dr.Edward Edwards"—who had managed to secure a position as secretary to Benjamin Franklin and the American delegation in Paris. <

Origins of a Secret Agent

Edward Bancroft was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, on January 9, 1744. Tragedy struck his life at age 2 when his father passed away. His mother remarried and the family moved to Connecticut, where Bancroft studied under schoolmaster Silas Deane, a future diplomat and delegate to the Continental Congress.

Bancroft also apprenticed for a time under a medical physician before leaving for Surinam in July of 1763, at the age of 19. There he found work as a doctor of sorts, and conducted studies of tropical plants and animals, including "torporific eels," in the area before traveling again.

Eventually he arrived in London and began studying medicine again at St.Bartholomew's Hospital.Over the next decade he also worked as a stock speculator and published An Essay on the Natural History of New Guiana,in South America, in 1769. The publication piqued the curiosity of a colonist in the British capital named Paul Wentworth, who contracted Bancroft to survey his land in Surinam. Bancroft acquiesced—and on his return,he met Benjamin Franklin, then a colonial representative in London.

Franklin and Bancroft appear to have gotten along famously. The men had a great deal in common. Both had run away from apprenticeships in their youth, both were "self-made"men and inventors,and both were interested in medicine and scientific theories. Due in part to his friendship with Franklin, Bancroft was elected to London's Royal Society. Furthermore, Bancroft agreed to spy on the British for Franklin; Bancroft apparently had social connections with men in Britain's political and military circles.

After Franklin left London in 1775, Bancroft remained, presumably still spying for Franklin. Such was the Founding Father's trust in Bancroft that when the doctor's old schoolmaster, Silas Deane, was sent to France on a diplomatic mission in June of 1776, Franklin instructed Deane to contact Bancroft.

The two men reunited in Paris that July,and Deane soon informed Bancroft of his real reason for being in France—to secretly obtain French aid for the colonial struggle, and to inspire France to openly join the war against Britain.There is reason to believe that Bancroft served as Deane's interpreter during some early meetings with the French.However, Deane's confession seems to have been the catalyst for Bancroft's eventual betrayal of the Americans, for Bancroft had hoped for some sort of reconciliation between the colonies and Britain and knew that France's entry into the war would make this impossible. Before returning to London, Bancroft assured Deane that he would continue to spy for the Americans. However, once back in England,Bancroft met his old associate, Paul Wentworth, who was now a British spy. Wentworth approached Bancroft with a proposal that Bancroft become a double agent, and a meeting was arranged between Bancroft, Wentworth, William Eden—Chief of the British Secret Service—and Lords Suffolk and Weymouth. Bancroft was ordered to associate with Franklin (who was now in Paris) and relay intelligence back to the British in return for an annual salary.Bancroft was also given the barely passable code name of "Dr. Edward Edwards." Naturally, a contract outlining the details and expectations of his service was signed.In sum, the information requested by the British Secret Service included:

"The progress of the treaty with France and ofthe assistance expected…The same of Spain and ofevery other court in Europe…The means of obtaining credit, effect and money and the channels and agents used…Franklin's and Deane's correspondence with Congress in secret…Descriptions of the ships and cargos, the time of sailing and the ports bound to…The intelligence that may arrive from America."

The Mission Begins

Franklin soon made Bancroft the official secretary of the American delegation in Paris. Since both men stayed in the Passy area of the capital, Bancroft was privy to much sensitive information about the French and American govern-ments.Bancroft would record this information in invisible ink between the lines of fake letters and place the letters in the bottle hidden in the Tuileries Garden every Tuesday evening at 9:30. He would then return later in the evening to receive his latest instructions.

Using this method, Bancroft was able to supply a steady stream of intelligence to the British. For example,it is reported that King George III knew that France and America had signed treaties just 48 hours after the fact,thanks to the double agent.

Although Bancroft's mission in Paris went rather smoothly, it was not completely without scrutiny because American delegates John Adams and Arthur Lee disliked him. While Adams himself never actually accused or suspected Bancroft of spying, he certainly did not hold him in high regard; Adams was correct in his assumptions that Bancroft used "inside information" for personal gain in stocks and other dealings with the French.

Lee, on the other hand, openly accused Bancroft of leaking information to the British. Unfortunately, Lee had previously accused so many other men of similar crimes that his credibility had diminished and the accusations weren't taken seriously. Nevertheless, Bancroft responded in vehement protest, even challenging both Arthur Lee and his brother, William, to duels that never materialized.

Furthermore, Franklin had received a warning in a candid letter from a friend named Juliana Ritchie:

"…I proceed to the purpose of this letter—which is to inform you Sir—that you are surrounded with spies—who watch your every movement who you visit—& by whom you are visited—of the latter there are who pretend to be friends to the cause ofyour Country but that is a mere pretense—your own good sense will easily infer—the motive of their conduct. One party assures—that you are seeking aid & support from this Kingdom for the other party—insinuate that you have given up that Cause & are making the best terms you can for the private advantage of your own family connections & friends…"

To this Franklin replied:

"I have long observed one rule which prevents any inconveniences from such practices. It is simply this: to be concerned in no affairs I should blush to have made public, and to do nothing but what spies may see and welcome. When a man's actions are just and honorable, the more they are known,the more his reputation is increased and established. If I was sure, therefore, that my valet de place was a spy, as he probably is, I think I should probably not discharge him for that, if in other respects I liked him."

Whether Franklin really suspected that Bancroft was a double agent is unknown. Regardless, the British took steps to ensure Bancroft's continued success. Because Franklin and Deane sent Bancroft on regular intelligence-gathering trips to London, the British Secret Service was able to stage Bancroft's brief "arrest," all in the hopes of convincing the American delegation in Paris of his allegiances. The ruse appears to have worked quite well. As Silas Deane wrote in a letter:

"…Dr. Bancroft is arrested in London for corresponding with and assisting us—This worthy man is conf ined in the Bastile of England, for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus has enabled the wicked tyrant and his slaves to make a Bastile of every prison in England. I feel more for Dr. Bancroft than I can express; he deserves much from us; consequently will be pursued with the utmost rigor by them, though nothing capital, not even the correspondence can be proved. I wish we may be able to assist him."

Evaluation
Remarkably, Bancroft was never truly exposed as a double agent during the American Revolution, and afterwards he lived in London to the ripe old age of 77. It was only in 1889—78 years after his death—that his role was made clear when the secret papers of British spy chief William Eden (who later became Lord Auckland) were published.

The fact that Edward Bancroft was a double agent is not questioned today. However, what may be questioned is his effectiveness. An article in the archives of the Central Intelligence Agency states that "…the measure of excellence is success; and [Bancroft's] method proved effective and safe for several years."

The report continues:

"We think of Franklin as one of the shrewdest diplomats this country has ever produced and a man who never got the bad end of a bargain; but of all the dupes of history surely none can best his record in the Bancroft case."

Yet this may be unfair. Although we don't know for sure if Franklin suspected Bancroft, we do know that many historians consider Franklin to be one of the "shrewdest" American diplomats. There is a school of thought that believes that had Franklin overreacted to rumors of spies in his circle, he would have trusted no one. This, in turn, would have jeopardized the goals of the American delegation in Paris. Or perhaps a suspecting Franklin wanted to keep his friends close—and his enemies closer. One should also note that during the entire time Bancroft was a spy in Passy, nothing of great consequence was ever achieved or lost as a result of his activities. Franklin's most renowned biographer, Carl Van Doren, believes that "On the whole Franklin profited more by the British spies than he lost."And if the measure of excellence truly is success, then excellence was certainly achieved in 1778—when Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Alliance with France—and again in 1782, when he successfully negotiated and signed the Treaty of Paris, both times regardless of any damage a double agent may have caused.

References

"Edward Bancroft: (@ Edwd. Edwards), Estimable Spy." Central Intelligence

Agency. July 01, 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of

intelligence/kent-csi/vol5no1/html/v05i1a07p_0001.htm

Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York, NY: Simon &

Schuster Paperbacks, 2003.

Letter from Juliana Ritchie to Benjamin Franklin,Jan.12,1777;Benjamin Franklin

to Juliana Ritchie, Jan. 19, 1777.

McCullough, David. John Adams. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster

Paperbacks, 2001.

Potts, Louis W. Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana

State University Press, 1981.

Van Doren, Carl. Benjamin Franklin. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1938.

Wood, Gordon S. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. New York, NY:

Penguin Press, 2004.