"The french, wrote George Canning, a British statesman, to a ministerial colleague in 1825, “have but two rules of action: to thwart us whenever they know our object; and when they know it not, to imagine one, and to set about thwarting that.” Canning’s grumble, made a decade after the end of the Napoleonic wars, sounds oddly familiar two centuries later...."
I have always found it puzzling about people in the US 'blaming' France for so much alleged mischief tending to forget, if they ever knew, that without France and the Alliance the US would not have won the War of the Revolution.
In 2015, a replica of the French ship Hermione of 1780 made a visit to the east coast of the United States. While she was visiting Yorktown, Virginia, my family and I went there to see her. She is a beautiful ship and while talking to a member of her crew, I told her that we were grateful to France for her help during the Revolution. She returned the compliment regarding Wars I and II.
At least she remembered, which was heartening. And my son loved the ship. Two years later, my son and I went through the Napoleonic section of the Musee de l'Armee in Paris at Les Invalides and then visited Napoleon's tomb. He was particularly impressed with the collection of period band instruments, as he was in his high school band at the time.
He also photographed the 1/8th artillery collection for me of the Gribeauval System pieces and vehicles. The models are excellent and well-worth seeing.