Edward Bancroft - Spying For The British

Spying For The British

Though Bancroft had worked for Franklin and Deane, he was not a great enthusiast for American independence, and the possibility of a French war against Britain alarmed him. Despite his promise to Deane, he had reservations about doing anything that might promote a rift between Britain and the American colonies.

In London he met Paul Wentworth, recently recruited by the British Secret Service. Wentworth arranged for Bancroft to meet Secret Service chief William Eden and Lords Suffolk and Weymouth. Bancroft agreed to be a double agent for Britain.

Soon after this, Franklin arrived to take over the negotiations with France. Bancroft was ordered to associate himself with Franklin. Fortuitously, Franklin appointed Bancroft as secretary to the American Commission in Paris. For his spying, the British promised Bancroft a pension of 200 pounds. (This amount was later increased to 500 and then 1,000 pounds.)

Bancroft reported under the cover of weekly letters to "Mr. Richards", signed "Edward Edward", about "gallantry" (the writer's exploits with ladies). But between the lines of the cover text, Bancroft wrote his reports in a special ink. Every Tuesday, he put the letter in a bottle, tied a string around the bottle, and left the bottle in a hole in a certain box tree in Paris, after 9:30 PM. A British official retrieved the message and replaced it with new orders. Bancroft return later that night to recover his bottle. It is said that, through this method, George III saw the French-American Treaty of Alliance just two days after it was signed. In addition, Bancroft was often sent on spying missions to London by Franklin and Deane, so he was able to report directly to Lord Suffolk and others.