MDMD (6) - L'Grand again

[Scott Badger]

(184.28) "Their boats ride the lenient Current together, in and out of
the Shadows, ever in easy reach of rescue, the Boys shepherding them
with Willow Wands, no more obtrusive in this Naval History than Gods in
a Myth." ....or, more Secular, though no less Mysterious, or, perhaps,
Imagined, Forces...and -again- we are reminded of the l'Grand.

I don't mean to go over old ground, but, since it comes up in almost
every chapter, what was the l'Grand incident anyhow?  A set-up, to be
sure, but to what level?  As Franklin suggests, in Ch. 27, a simple
conspiracy of governmental "bloody-mindedness"?  A failed attempt to off
M&D?  Or more?  And if so, were the French complicit?  Or, their actions
"just" determined?  If not complicit, why break off the attack at the
point of fatal victory?  Why attack in the first place?  Perhaps, as
Jody has suggested, M&D's paranoia is but a vain need for some sort, any
sort, of control.  Desperate evidence of a continuum that could lead to
a God.

In any case, I note some parallels to Slothrop's run-in with the
octupus.  As in GR, a "meet" is effected (engineered?) between Mason and
Dixon - a Zero Meridian is established.  Also, both events serve to
knock our main characters off balance and to give them an initial
momentum and direction.  To draw on a favorite Pynchon analogy; Like the
plunger (or whatever it's called) in a pin-ball machine.  But, is this
all, or did the attack and release have some more exact purpose? 
Perpetrator?

Scott Badger