Part 14

I shall leave this letter open for the inspection of Dr Franklin, to whom I shall enclose it, and I shall request him to obtain for and communicate to you such information from the Court as may be necessary for your direction in this business. I wish that the shipments of money may if possible be on board of the same vessels in which the money shall be sent for the use of the French army or navy here. I wrote to you on the 3d of December last, requesting you to pay to Messrs Couteulx & Co. for account of John Ross two hundred thousand livres, and for account of William Bingham one hundred thousand livres, to John Holker for account of John Holker fils; conceiving that you would be in cash for the purpose, from the loan opened in Holland for our use.

I hope before this reaches you, that those sums will have been paid; and you will observe it is my wish, that as well those as the bills mentioned in my letters of the 9th and 28th of March, should be paid out of that loan, but if that cannot be done, you will then make payment from any other moneys which may be in your hands.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

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TO MESSRS LE COUTEULX & CO.[6]

Office of Finance, May 18th, 1782.

Gentlemen,

I pray that you will receive my sincere thanks for the accurate and punctual manner in which you have performed the business of the United States, which I have placed in your hands, and be assured that it shall always command my attention. I should have lodged in your hands very considerable sums on their account, subject to my disposition, but Dr Franklin having recommended to me in a very particular manner Mr Grand, whom he had formerly employed, not only for his punctuality as a banker, but also for his zeal in the American cause, which he had early and warmly espoused, and evidenced his attachment by liberal advances of money on the credit of their commissioners, before the Court had acknowledged them as a nation, I thought it my duty to employ him. But I think it more than probable, I shall have occasion for another banker, on particular occasions and negotiations, and I shall take the liberty in every such instance to employ you, gentlemen, not in the least doubting a continuance of your punctuality and attention.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

[6] _May 20th._ This evening I met Mr Madison, Governor Rutledge, Mr Clymer, Mr Lovell, and Mr Root, the Committee of Congress appointed to confer with me on the subject of my letter to Congress of the 17th instant, enclosing an intended circular letter to the States. I laid before these gentlemen a true picture of our present situation, but after much conversation, they appeared to be disinclined to sending the circular letter, and I proposed sending suitable persons to the several States, to make proper representations to the Executives and Legislatures, which they seemed to prefer, and on which they are to consult and report tomorrow morning. _Diary._

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TO B. FRANKLIN.

Office of Finance, May 23d, 1782.

Sir,

The Minister has been so kind as to delay his express, until I could write this letter. You mention in yours of the 4th of March, that on Friday (then) last, the Minister informed you that we should have six millions, paid quarterly, and that you should now be able to face the loan office and other bills, and your acceptances _in favor of M. de Beaumarchais_.

You are not unacquainted with the disputes which have subsisted with respect to M. de Beaumarchais' demand. Whether or not the moneys were originally advanced to him by the Court, is not at present to be brought into question by me, because it involves many things, which are better adjusted by the Court themselves, than by any communications to or with others. I am only to observe, that if the very considerable sum, which is now payable to that gentleman forms a deduction from the pecuniary aid afforded us, the remainder will be extremely incompetent to the purposes intended by it. There can be no doubt that your acceptances must be paid, but I have always expected that you would have been enabled to do it by a special grant for that purpose, or by an assumption of the payment on the part of the Court. I shall not enter into the mode of arranging this business, but I must not refrain from observing, that the great object now is to prosecute the war, that the articles which may have been furnished for the sum payable to M. de Beaumarchais must long since have been applied and expended, that our necessities now are as pressing as they possibly can be, and that everything which adds to their weight is extremely distressful.

You will observe, Sir, that I have already made my dispositions as to the six millions granted for the current year. I shall go on to draw as occasion offers, for all the moneys which may be in Mr Grand's possession, making allowance for the shipments of money, directed in my letters to him. If, therefore, any part of this sum should be otherwise disposed of, it might produce the most dangerous consequences.

With respect and esteem, I am, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Office of Finance, May 23d, 1782.

Sir,

I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency copies of letters, the former from Dr Franklin to me of the 4th of March, and the latter from the Count de Vergennes to him of the 6th of February. With these, I send the best sketch I have been able to form of the state of the public moneys; from which Congress will perceive that every sou we can command during the year 1782 is already anticipated. They will perceive that the pecuniary supplies of 1781 and 1782 amount, after deducting the expenses on the loan, to twentyfive and a half millions of livres, and that there are, (including the two million two hundred thousand livres, appropriated to the interest of Loan Office certificates) ten millions, besides the sum expended in Holland, which have already passed and are now passing through the hands of Dr Franklin, and of which not a livre has been, or ever will be, applied to the current service.

If to this be added above two millions and a half due on Beaumarchais' bills, we shall have an amount of about twelve and a half millions, being at least one half of all the moneys obtained abroad for the service of the year 1781 and 1782. And we shall find, that this greater half is totally consumed in paying the principal of some, and the interest of other debts, which have been contracted before that period. I shall make no further comments on these things. They are before Congress, and will speak for themselves. I have only to lament, that the situation to which our affairs have been reduced is such, that the greatest exertion which our ally can make in our favor is barely sufficient to satisfy present engagements, and that the knowledge of such aid only confirms the inattention of our own citizens to those distressing circumstances which it does not relieve.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Office of Finance, May 27th, 1782.

Sir,

I do myself the honor to enclose certain information, which I have just received in a letter from the Minister of France. I take this occasion to mention, that it is some time since M. de la Luzerne communicated to me the grant of his Court, which was made in the month of December last. I think it my duty to add the persuasion I have, that this grant was made on the Minister's representations, and I cannot omit testifying to Congress my grateful sense of his conduct, and my conviction, that his endeavors have not been wanting still further to promote the interests of the United States.

I should earlier have communicated my intelligence of the loan in question, but I wished to receive the details, which would enable me to judge how much of it was at my disposition. I confess that I did not expect they would have been so unfavorable. I was restrained also by an apprehension, that the exertions of the States would relax, when they should learn that any foreign aid could be obtained; and the situation of our commerce was such, that if I had been enabled to draw for much larger sums, it would have been of no avail, as I could not have got money for the bills.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

* * * * *

_Information mentioned in the above Letter._

The King never promised any subsidy to the United States, and all the sums which they have received from him have been lent or freely given. All those, which have been advanced after the 6th of February, 1778, are to be repaid by the United States except the six millions given last year. All the rest, whether furnished in money or in value, is a debt, which they have contracted with his Majesty.

These advances have been made at the following periods, and are payable with interest, conformably to the acknowledgements and obligations of Dr Franklin.

Livres. In 1778, 3,000,000 In 1779, 1,000,000 In 1780, 4,000,000 In 1781, 10,000,000 ---------- Total, 18,000,000

From this sum must be taken the gratuitous subsidy granted last year of 6,000,000 ---------- Remains 12,000,000

To this must be added, 1st the produce of the loan in Holland, 10,000,000

2dly, The loan made by his Majesty for the service of the current year, 6,000,000 ---------

Total of the capital of the debt contracted by the United States with his Majesty, 28,000,000

I am ordered, Sir, to renew to you the demand, which I had the honor to make before, to the purport that Congress should authorise Dr Franklin to consolidate the principal and interest of that debt, by an obligation in proper form. You are so firmly resolved, Sir, to preserve the order you have introduced into your department, that it would be superfluous to reiterate to you the assurance, that his Majesty will under no pretext exceed the sum of six millions, which he has determined to advance to the United States for the current year. This exactness, which is in all cases indispensable, has become still more so now, that the enemy seem determined to adopt a system, which obliges us to turn the greatest part of our resources to a marine. I am persuaded, Sir, that you can have no doubt as to the interest of Loan Office certificates, and that you will not consider it as being at our expense, seeing that no engagement of that sort has ever been taken by us. If bills for this interest should continue to be forwarded, those who draw must provide for the payment of them.

LUZERNE.

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TO B. FRANKLIN.

Office of Finance, May 29th, 1782.

Dear Sir,

I do myself the honor to enclose you copies of two Acts of Congress, one of the 5th of June, and the other of the 18th of June, 1779, relating to the affairs of M. de Beaumarchais.

You will observe, Sir, that you were authorised to pledge the faith of the United States to the Court of Versailles for obtaining money or credit to honor the drafts on you. There is a mysteriousness in this transaction arising from the very nature of it, which will not admit of explanation here, neither can you go so fully into an explanation with the Court. M. de Beaumarchais certainly had not funds of his own to make such considerable expenditures; neither is there any reason to believe that he had credit. If the Court advanced money it must be a secret; but there would be no difficulty in giving an order in your favor for the sum necessary to pay those bills, and, therefore, measures might be taken to obtain from him the reimbursement of any sums he might have received. Consequently, there would be no actual advance of money made, as the whole might be managed by the passing of proper receipts from you to the Court, from M. de Beaumarchais to you, and from the Court to him.

I wish that you would apply on this subject and get it adjusted. The diverting from a loan, for the service of the current year, so considerable a part as that due to M. de Beaumarchais, will defeat the object for which it was granted. It ought not, therefore, to be done if possible to be avoided.

With respect and esteem, I am, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

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TO DANIEL CLARKE.

Office of Finance, May 30th, 1782.

Sir.

I received your letters of the 7th, 9th, 14th, 18th, and 21st of May. The resolutions of the House of Delegates, passed on the 20th, have been submitted to Congress, and they have referred the matter to Mr Rutledge, and Mr Clymer, two of their members, who are going on special business to the southward. Your letters contain a great many particulars, which I shall briefly enumerate, and take notice of; many of them are of a private and personal nature, and therefore ought not in any case to have influenced the determinations on a matter of great public importance. I should pay no attention to them, if I were not persuaded, that the design is not so much to injure me, as to involve the national affairs committed to me.

I find there are made against me personally, the following charges.

1st. That I have robbed the Eastern States of their specie.

2dly. That I am partial to Pennsylvania, being commercially connected with half the merchants of Philadelphia.

3dly. That I am partial to the disaffected.

4thly. That I have established a bank for sinister purposes.

5thly. That my plan and that of Pennsylvania, are to keep Virginia poor, and

6thly. That with the Secretary of Congress and Mr Coffin I am engaged in speculation.

As to the first point, I believe the Eastern States have a very different opinion of the matter, although there may be one or two persons in some part of those States, who from their great latitude of conscience, would not scruple to assert what they know to be false. Those who make and respect such assertions, must be content to pass for the authors and inventors of untruths, with design to injure the public service and sow dissensions among the States. I have not received from the Eastern States, any more than from the Southern States, _one shilling of specie_, since I was appointed to my present office, although I have sent very considerable sums from hence, both eastward and southward, as the exigencies of the service required.

As to the second point, that I am commercially concerned with half the merchants of Philadelphia, if that were as true as it is false, the conclusion, that I am partial to Pennsylvania would by no means follow. A merchant, as such, can be attached particularly to no country. His mere place of residence, is as merchant perfectly accidental, and it would be just as reasonable to conclude, that an American residing at L'Orient, and trading to China, must be partial to the French and Chinese. I know that this story of my partiality to Pennsylvania has been very assiduously circulated, and has obtained an extensive currency. It was supposed that I must be partial to Pennsylvania, because I reside in it. The assertion therefore was made, and the contracts I had entered into were brought as the evidence to support it. I have received from Pennsylvania, for the service of the last year, one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, besides a warrant on their treasury for near ninety thousand, which is not yet paid. The contracts in Pennsylvania have not amounted to that sum. Is there a State in the Union, which can say I received from them one shilling for the last year? There is not one. But I can demonstrate that while I was charged with this partiality, I had exhausted my credit, and supplied every shilling of money, which I could command from my private fortune, to support and succor _the Southern States_. But this was not from a partiality in their favor, for I will neither endeavor to ingratiate myself with them, on such principles, nor subject myself to the ignominy of just reproach from others. It was for the general good.

That I am partial to the disaffected is among those threadbare topics of defamation, which have been so generally applied, that they have lost their effect. But I have remarked, that this particular aspersion is generally cast on those who least deserve it, and by those who are in a fair way of becoming disaffected themselves. I am not very sorry for this charge, because it shows, that while I have inveterate enemies, they have nothing to allege against me, and must resort to the regions of fiction for the ground of calumny.

That I have established the bank I shall confess. That bank has already saved America from the efforts of her avowed, and the intrigues of her concealed enemies; and it has saved her from those, who, while they clamor loudly against the administration for doing so little, sedulously labor to deprive it of the means of doing anything. The bank will exist in spite of calumny, operate in spite of opposition, and do good in spite of malevolence. If there be sinister purposes in view, it must be easy to show what they are. The operations of a bank are such plain matters of arithmetic, that those who run may read. There is nothing of mystery, disguise, or concealment. If, therefore, these sinister views cannot be shown, (and I know that they cannot) that defect of proof, after the charge made, is itself a proof that the thing does not exist. But the matter does not terminate here. A groundless unfounded opposition against measures of public utility, must proceed from some cause. If it proceed from an opposition to the public interests, their conduct is dangerous; but if it proceed from aversion to me, I pity them.

That I should, or that Pennsylvania should have a plan to keep Virginia poor, is a strange assertion. I believe that Pennsylvania will probably be rich, the soil and climate are good, and the people are quiet and industrious. Their rulers also begin to be sensible of their true interests. They encourage commerce, have laid aside all the idle systems of specific supplies, and content themselves with laying money taxes. There can be no doubt but that such a people must become rich. On the other hand, if Virginia, or any other State, be poor, it must be their own fault. Prudence, diligence, and economy, promote national prosperity; and vice, indolence, and prodigality, involve national ruin. I am so far from wishing to impoverish Virginia, that I have constantly labored, both in my public and private applications to bring about those measures, which are calculated to make her wealthy and powerful. In the moment of cool reflection this will be acknowledged; whenever my measures are adopted, it will be known, and in that moment those who from ignorance, or wickedness, have opposed themselves to their country's good, will be known and despised. The charge of speculating, in conjunction with the Secretary of Congress and Mr Coffin, is one of those foolish things, which are not worth an answer. The whole business was known to the General, and after him, to a committee of Congress, before anything was done.

You tell me further, that there are jealousies and resentments against Congress, for a design to curtail the territory of Virginia; that it is alleged no money can come into the country, while bank notes and bills on Philadelphia will purchase tobacco; and that the enemy having failed to subdue Virginia by force, would now try the arts of seduction, wherefore great care ought to be taken in preventing any intercourse with them. As to any design in Congress to curtail Virginia, if there be such, I know nothing, of it. Congress will undoubtedly pursue the line of justice, and might be justly offended were they charged with that design, which you say has offended Virginia. There was a time when Pennsylvania clamored loudly against Congress. It impeded the public service, and injured the reputation of Pennsylvania, without producing any good, much less a counterbalance for the evils, which it did produce. Happily all those heats have subsided, and Pennsylvania is now, what I hope Virginia will soon be, the zealous supporter of Congress.

The means of bringing money into a country are very simple, being nothing more than the creating a demand for it. If every man be obliged to get some money, every man must part with something to get money. This makes things cheap, and those who have money always choose to expend it where things are cheapest. But what is the predilection in favor of specie? If bank notes answer the purposes of money the man who receives them has every benefit, which he could derive from specie. If they will not answer those purposes, no man will receive them; and then Virginia will not be troubled with them. If money is due from Virginia to Pennsylvania or Maryland, it must go thither, and the only way to get it back again is to sell something cheaper than Pennsylvania or Maryland will sell it. As to any profit made by the bank in issuing their paper, gentlemen in Virginia may easily share it by purchasing stock, which can be had here for the subscription and interest.

That the enemy have been foiled in their attempts to subdue Virginia is true, and when we recollect the means by which they were foiled, it will not only obviate the charges of partiality, but show the advantages of unanimity; and ought to become a motive to cultivate harmony and excite exertion. That the enemy will try the arts of seduction I verily believe, or rather that these arts have been tried, but I do not believe they have the will or the power to buy many. It will sufficiently answer their purposes, if they can promote disunion among us, because our concord is our only safety. To produce disunion nothing more is necessary than to set at work a few turbulent spirits. Neither do I see that they need go at the trouble of sending ships into the harbors of the several States, because such negotiations may be accomplished without that trouble or parade.

You tell me that the Executive of Virginia refused the passports, because they deemed the commerce and intercourse with the enemy to be dangerous. There can be no doubt, that a commerce with the enemy is not only dangerous but highly reprehensible, and if the transaction in question could be considered as a commerce of that sort, I would readily join in the censure. But if there was a commerce, it was by the capitulation, and the present object relates only to the mode of paying a debt already contracted under that solemn agreement.