At the same time, France also experienced the Queen Marie's Necklace Affair, which caused the French royal family and the Queen's dissatisfaction to accumulate to an explosive degree.
At this critical juncture, the weak Louis XVI finally succumbed to the difficult financial situation, proposing to convene the Estates-General several years earlier than in history, to discuss increasing taxes on the commoners.
As soon as this tax increase proposal was made, France immediately erupted in outrage; the commoners vehemently opposed it and began to form alliances, intending to give Louis XVI a harsh reception at the Estates-General next year, rejecting his proposal, and then see what he would do.
If this were merely the voice of the commoners, it wouldn't be the worst, but in reality, many representatives from other classes were also deeply dissatisfied with Louis XVI and the kingdom's government due to their current political and economic circumstances, and they likewise hoped to use this Estates-General to secure their own interests.
This widespread resentment had been detected by most politically astute people in France. Many immediately took active steps, either preparing to profit from the coming crisis or to suppress it. These individuals all possessed some political power.
However, those with foresight but little power could only choose to temporarily leave France, seek refuge in a relatively stable place, and return to their lives once the situation in France calmed down.
The Federal Government and the Federal Congress were closely monitoring events in France, the United States' closest ally. Fortunately, after Charles and Jefferson visited France and reported on the dangerous situation there, the Federal Government was somewhat prepared for such a possibility, and its work in various aspects was thorough. Nearly half of the French merchants and scholars who went abroad to escape disaster chose to settle in the distant New World.
Only many people who hadn't truly grasped the situation chose to seek refuge in countries near France, unwilling to come to the distant and wild United States.
In any case, these people who recognized the crisis were considered the most far-sighted group in France, and Federal Government officials felt great regret for every such talent who did not come to the United States.
Besides the acquisition of talent, the most important gain was a large amount of commercial capital. Unstable situations are unfavorable for the development of industry and commerce, so many big merchants chose to use the United States as a capital transit point. However, the capital flowing into the United States was relatively small, as not all capital could be transferred at will. Moreover, many businesses, realizing the impending turmoil, saw it as an opportunity and were not all willing to easily leave France and Europe. It was only because the commercial capital of France, an old great power, was so immense that even a small fraction flowing into the United States made Americans feel the quantity was very large.
On New Year's Day, 1783, Franklin published an article for the first time in major newspapers across the states, wishing all Americans a Happy New Year. He also called on the nation to work harder in the new year to create more wealth for the country and their families.
Just a few days after New Year's Day, news arrived from Florida. During a Christmas celebration, Florida colonial rebels, taking advantage of the Spanish army's negligence while attending a ball, set fire to a military warehouse, destroying several thousand Spanish troops' reserve ammunition and supplies. Subsequently, fierce street fighting broke out, ending in a stalemate, with the rebels eventually retreating. This time, the casualties on both sides finally exceeded one hundred.
Although the casualties were not significant enough for the United States to consider them very important, this number caused a huge uproar in Florida. The Spanish governor of Florida, enraged, ordered several thousand regular Spanish troops to launch attacks in various directions to clear out the armed colonial rebels. The Florida colonists naturally resisted, and full-scale armed struggles repeatedly erupted on all fronts. Both sides had victories and losses, and casualties remained high.
Although the armed colonial forces were far inferior to the regular Spanish army, Georgia and North and South Carolina provided substantial support to this economically similar state. This included teaching the guerrilla tactics used by the North and South Carolina militias against the Hessian army during the war of Independence. The Spanish army's decline was fully exposed in this series of battles; facing guerrilla warfare, they were temporarily helpless against the colonial rebels, and the conflict entered a brief stalemate.
Finally, the cunning governor came up with an idea, ordering the regular Spanish army to occupy cities and large colonial settlements to prevent rebels from entering towns for supplies. Lacking food and clothing, and crucially, often unable to see their families, the Floridians' belief in guerrilla warfare naturally waned, and the situation for the colonial rebels grew increasingly dire.
Under these circumstances, they naturally made demands to the United States, hoping to receive formal aid from the United States Federal Government, preferably direct military intervention, similar to France's assistance to the United States.
That day, Charles had just finished meeting a group of French scholars introduced by the United States Ambassador to France when Tom, the earl's castle butler, reported that governor Feilloux of Georgia had arrived with several guests seeking an audience with Charles.
"Please invite them in quickly!" Charles ordered without hesitation, and personally went to the front porch to greet them.
"Hello! Honorable Speaker!"
"Hello! Esteemed Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States!"
Feilloux and his guests removed their hats and greeted Charles with different titles.
"Good afternoon, Your Excellency Feilloux. Good afternoon, gentlemen!" Charles nodded and returned their greetings.
Observing the typical Southern rustic attire of the men, combined with a bit of prior information, Charles immediately concluded that these individuals accompanying Feilloux must be representatives of the Florida rebels. They should have first called on the Department of State, and then himself and other party leaders. Coming to him first was probably Feilloux's idea. Charles was well aware of the situation.
Feilloux introduced them to Charles, and indeed, these men were representatives sent by the Florida colonial rebels.
"Your Excellency, we have come with sincere hearts, earnestly hoping to receive assistance from your government and parliament. After gaining independence, we Floridians will certainly give your country considerable Returns!" The first man introduced, named Henrique, respectfully said to Charles.
"Your Excellency need not say so; helping friends is something everyone enjoys doing. Please, gentlemen, sit down and enjoy some refreshments. We can discuss things slowly." Charles first invited them to sit down.
Although Henrique's attitude was very respectful, even humble, for the United States, it was not enough. Florida's reward, no matter how high, could not exceed Florida itself. For the United States, the best reward would be for Florida to give itself entirely to the United States.
Moreover, the most crucial point was that Charles was still waiting for the situation in Europe to unfold. Louis XVI had convened the Estates-General early this year, and if all went as expected, the French Revolution would also erupt early this year. When the whole of Europe descended into chaos, that would be the best time for him to truly seize Florida.
Unaware of Charles' and the United States' ambitious intentions, Representative Henrique felt a slight sense of relief when he heard Charles invite them to sit down and have tea.
He concluded that at least this important American figure had no intention of giving them the cold shoulder. Therefore, he should be sympathetic to the Florida rebels, and the subsequent discussions would be much easier.
Perhaps feeling that his speaking rights were insufficient, after politely drinking a cup of tea, these Florida representatives immediately looked at governor Feilloux of Georgia, their eyes pleading, hoping he could speak on their behalf.
Feilloux was unaware of the Federal Government's and the United States' top brass' attitude towards Florida. Being very concerned about his neighbors, he naturally, as an old Republican, began to plead with Charles.
"Mr. Godfrey, the situation in Florida has indeed reached a point where external assistance is essential. The colonial guerrillas are trapped in the wild, lacking food and clothing, unable to resupply. Without rescue, the Spanish will surely defeat the Florida rebels. Therefore, I believe it is time for us to make a stand on the Florida issue and curb the Spanish actions."
Feilloux addressed him as Chairman of the Republican Party, Charles.
Charles did not openly object to Feilloux's self-appointed remarks in front of outsiders. He merely shook his head helplessly:
"We are a democratic country, and all decisions naturally involve a process. Some things are not simply decided by me."
"We know that Your Excellency is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, so we hope Your Excellency can use your influence to speak more on our behalf in your country's parliament! We will absolutely never forget Your Excellency's kindness," Henrique immediately interjected.
"Haha! If the Florida matter were our country's internal affair, then Congress could intervene. But in foreign affairs, the primary decision-making power rests with the Federal Government and its Department of State. Without their cooperation, even if our House of Representatives passes a decision, it cannot be implemented!" Charles subtly hinted.
If Florida were willing to join the United States, making Florida affairs an internal matter, then intervention would be possible.
"Yes, this matter is indeed troublesome," Henrique and the others sighed.
They only believed that Charles was stating a fact, and not one of them realized the hidden implication in his words.
"Haha! It's good that you understand," Charles nodded.
He did not explicitly clarify the true meaning of his words, as someone would eventually have to be the 'bad guy' to demand Florida join the United States, and he saw no need to take on that role himself.
Feilloux, to some extent, was still good at reading expressions. Comparing Charles' current attitude with his reaction when he had visited Georgia, he knew that these words were a way of shirking responsibility and that he actually did not want to aid Florida at this time.
However, those Florida representatives did not know Charles' original attitude. They had just begun to understand the American political system and knew that Charles' statement was entirely factual. Considering they were already planning to visit Jefferson, the head of the Democratic Party and the Department of State, they did not find it difficult to accept.
Henrique, on the other hand, smiled understandingly and said:
"As long as Mr. Godfrey can support us in the American parliament, that will suffice. For other aspects, we can lobby ourselves."
Immediately following were a series of praises for the United States and Charles, hoping to leave a good impression on Charles and thus make him more willing to help in the subsequent actions.
With his words, governor Feilloux, who had been preparing to say something, also felt it inappropriate to speak further. Although he had developed a good personal relationship with these rebel representatives during their journey, in matters concerning his political future and personal interests, rationality had to prevail.
Charles was quite willing to discuss the situation in Florida with these people from Florida. Through their words, he learned about his future plantations.
These representatives who came for aid were naturally happy to introduce their beautiful homeland to Charles, interspersing their descriptions with how wonderful certain places used to be, and how they were now occupied by the Spanish army, and imploring the "benevolent" Speaker of the House to uphold justice, and so on.
One willing to listen, one willing to speak, this meeting lasted the entire afternoon.
By the time they left, Charles had a general understanding of the situation in Florida.
In fact, although the situation for the Florida rebels was dire, it was not as dangerous as it had been for the original American militia. Spain had only a few thousand regular troops in Florida, making it virtually impossible to search everywhere for the rebel guerrillas hiding in the desolate wilderness. They could only isolate these wild rebels by guarding checkpoints and occupying important towns.
However, while the lives of these rebel guerrillas were not in danger, they could not endure living in the wilderness for long periods. A large number of Floridians fled to Georgia and received asylum there. Only a small number of people continued to resist, but as fewer and fewer people were willing to join the guerrilla resistance, they began to feel that they could no longer sustain it.
The resistance of the Florida colonists, after all, was not a rebellion born out of an inability to survive under the oppression of the Spanish motherland. With the United States as their backer, their true resolve to resist was naturally not as strong. When the situation turned bad, they immediately left their homes and fled to the United States for refuge.
A small number of people like Henrique, seeing this situation, were naturally worried and tried every possible way to solve the current predicament. The best method they came up with was to seek military and political support from other powers in order to win the final victory of their "war of Independence." And this other power, at present, could only be the United States.
Somewhat ironically, these Florida colonial rebels were mostly unaware that the United States' ultimate goal was actually to annex Florida. Still relying on previous American instigation and support for the Florida independence movement, they naively believed that the United States was a country that truly supported colonial resistance, and they hoped that this plea for help would ultimately result in military aid from the United States.
But in reality, even those congressmen who constantly spoke about America's responsibility to help the colonists did not truly believe that now was the time for America to send troops to help Florida. Even if they were unaware that Charles' true reason was that the time was not yet right and he was waiting for the French Revolution, they were also very aware of Spain's true strength. Once the United States intervened in the war, Spain's anger would absolutely not be something the current United States could bear. Therefore, Henrique's trip to the United States was destined to fail.
Three days later, Mr. Thomas Jefferson, the United States Secretary of State, reluctantly summoned Mr. Henrique, a representative of the Florida rebels, and conveyed America's sympathy for the unfortunate plight of the Florida colonists. He decided to provide humanitarian aid to the suffering Florida colonists, offering ten tons of grain, two thousand bolts of cotton cloth, and five thousand US dollars worth of medicine. However, considering America's current situation and the pressure from the Spanish government, it was ultimately decided to maintain neutrality in the ongoing conflict between the two sides. The state government was not yet prepared to intervene in Florida's "war of Independence."
Just as Henrique was on the verge of despair, Jefferson informally hinted that some private collaborations had never been handled by the Department of State, and that Mr. Henrique could still obtain American aid through the original channels.
This, in turn, shifted the matter back to Charles.
Because all previous support for Florida, whether ordinary supplies like cotton and grain or advanced weaponry, had been arranged by Charles and governor Feilloux. So, now that Jefferson hinted that the United States would continue its private aid, the implication was naturally that Charles and Feilloux's assistance would continue.
This aid was not something that could be resolved by diplomats merely talking. When Henrique sought them out again, Charles and Feilloux were a bit troubled.