Chapter 29

DEAR SIR,--The Commissioners of the Treasury have given notice to Willincks and Van Staphorsts, that they shall not be able to remit them one shilling till the New Government gets into action, and that therefore the sole resource for the payment of the Dutch interest till that period is in the progress of the last loan. Willinck and Van Staphorst reply that there is not the least probability of raising as much on that loan as will pay the next June interest, and that, if that payment fails one day, it will do an injury to our credit, which a very long time will not wipe off. A Mr. Stanitski, one of our brokers, who holds $4,340,000 of our domestic debt, offers, if we will pay him one year's interest of that debt, he will have the whole of the loan immediately filled up, that is to say, he will procure the sum of six hundred and twenty-two thousand eight hundred and forty florins still unsubscribed. His year's interest (deducting from it ten per cent. which he will allow for payment in Europe instead of America) will require one hundred and eighty thousand florins of this money. Messrs. Willinck and Van Staphorsts say that, by this means, they can pay Fiseaux' debt, and all the Dutch interest, and our current expenses here, till June, 1789, by which time the New Government may be in action. They have proposed this to the Commissioners of the Treasury; But it is possible that the delay of letters going and coming, with the time necessary between the receiving their answer and procuring the money, may force the decision of this proposition on me at the eleventh hour. I wish, therefore, to avail myself of your counsel before your departure, on this proposition. Your knowledge of the subject enables you to give the best opinion, and your zeal for the public interest, and I trust your friendly disposition towards me will prompt you to assist me with your advice on this question, to wit, if the answer of the Commissioners does not come in time, and there shall appear no other means of raising the June interest, will it be worse to fail in that payment, or to accept of about seven hundred thousand florins, on the condition of letting one hundred and eighty thousand be applied to the payment of a year's interest of a part of our domestic debt? Do me the friendship to give me an answer to this as soon as possible, and be assured of the sentiments of esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY.

PARIS, Feb. 7, 1788.

GENTLEMEN,--Your favors of November the 10th and 13th, and December the 5th, have been duly received. Commodore Jones left this place for Copenhagen, the 5th instant, to carry into execution the resolution of Congress of October the 25th. Whatever moneys that court shall be willing to allow, shall be remitted to your bankers, either in Amsterdam or Paris, as shall be found most beneficial, allowing previously to be withdrawn Commodore Jones' proportion, which will be necessary for his subsistence. I desired him to endeavor to prevail on the Danish Minister to have the money paid in Amsterdam or Paris, by their banker in either of those cities, if they have one.

M. Ast (secretary to the consulate) is at L'Orient. Whether he comes up with the papers, or sends them, they shall be received, sealed up and taken care of. I will only ask the favor of you, that I may never be desired to break the seals, unless very important cause for it should arise.

I have just received from Messrs. Willincks and Van Staphorsts, a letter of January the 31st, in which are these words: "The official communication we have of the actual situation and prospect of the finances of the United States, would render such a partial payment as that to Fiseaux' house of no avail towards the support of the public credit, unless effectual measures shall be adopted, to provide funds for the two hundred and seventy thousand florins, interest, that will be due the 1st of June next; a single day's retard in which would ground a prejudice of long duration." They informed me, at the same time, that they had made to you the following communication: that Mr. Stanitski, our principal broker, and holder of thirteen hundred and forty thousand dollars, of certificates of our domestic debt, offers to have our loan of a million of guilders (of which six hundred and twenty-two thousand eight hundred and forty are still unfilled) immediately made up, on condition that he may retain thereout, one hundred and eighty thousand guilders, being one year's interest on his certificates, allowing a deduction of ten per cent. from his said interest, as a compensation for his receiving it in Amsterdam instead of America, and not pretending that this shall give him any title to ask for any payment of future interest in Europe. They observe, that this will enable them to face the demands of Dutch interest, till the 1st of June, 1789, pay the principal of Fiseaux' debt, and supply the current expenses of your legation in Europe. On these points, it is for you to decide. I will only take the liberty to observe, that if they shall receive your acceptance of the proposition, some day's credit will still be to be given for producing the cash, and that this must be produced fifteen days before it is wanting, because that much previous notice is always given to the creditors that their money is ready. It is, therefore, but three months from this day, before your answer should be in Amsterdam. It might answer a useful purpose also, could I receive a communication of that answer, ten days earlier than they. The same stagnation attending our passage from the old to the new form of government, which stops the feeble channel of money hitherto flowing towards our treasury, has suspended also what foreign credit we had. So that, at this moment, we may consider the progress of our loan as stopped. Though much an enemy to the system of borrowing, yet I feel strongly the necessity of preserving the power to borrow, Without this, we might be overwhelmed by another nation, merely by the force of its credit. However, you can best judge whether the payment of a single year's interest on Stanitski's certificates, in Europe, instead of America, may be more injurious to us than the shock of our credit in Amsterdam, which may be produced by a failure to pay our interest.

I have only to offer any services which I can render in this business, either here or by going to Holland, at a moment's warning, if that should be necessary.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO DOCTOR PRICE.

PARIS, February 7, 1788.

DEAR SIR,--It is rendering mutual service to men of virtue and understanding to make them acquainted with one another. I need no other apology for presenting to your notice the bearer hereof, Mr. Barlow. I know you were among the first who read the Visions of Columbus, while yet in manuscript; and think the sentiments I heard you express of that poem will induce you to be pleased with the acquaintance of their author. He comes to pass a few days only at London, merely to know something of it. As I have little acquaintance there, I cannot do better for him than to ask you to be so good as to make him known to such persons, as his turn and his time might render desirable to him.

I thank you for the volume you were so kind as to send me some time ago. Everything you write is precious, and this volume is on the most precious of all our concerns. We may well admit morality to be the child of the understanding rather than of the senses, when we observe that it becomes dearer to us as the latter weaken, and as the former grows stronger by time and experience, till the hour arrives in which all other objects lose all their value. That that hour may be distant with you, my friend, and that the intermediate space may be filled with health and happiness, is the sincere prayer of him who is, with sentiments of great respect and friendship, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO MR. A. DONALD.

PARIS, February 7, 1788.

DEAR SIR,--I received duly your friendly letter of November the 12th. By this time, you will have seen published by Congress the new regulations obtained from this court, in favor of our commerce. You will observe, that the arrangement relative to tobacco is a continuation of the order of Berni for five years, only leaving the price to be settled between the buyer and seller. You will see, too, that all contracts for tobacco are forbidden, till it arrives in France. Of course, your proposition for a contract is precluded. I fear the prices here will be low, especially if the market be crowded. You should be particularly attentive to the article, which requires that the tobacco should come in French or American bottoms, as this article will, in no instance, be departed from.

I wish with all my soul, that the nine first conventions may accept the new constitution, because this will secure to us the good it contains, which I think great and important. But I equally wish, that the four latest conventions, whichever they be, may refuse to accede to it, till a declaration of rights be annexed. This would probably command the offer of such a declaration, and thus give to the whole fabric, perhaps, as much perfection as any one of that kind ever had. By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil, which no honest government should decline. There is another strong feature in the new Constitution, which I as strongly dislike. That is, the perpetual re-eligibility of the President. Of this I expect no amendment at present, because I do not see that anybody has objected to it on your side the water. But it will be productive of cruel distress to our country, even in your day and mine. The importance to France and England, to have our government in the hands of a friend or a foe, will occasion their interference by money, and even by arms. Our President will be of much more consequence to them than a King of Poland. We must take care, however, that neither this, nor any other objection to the new form, produces a schism in our Union. That would be an incurable evil, because near friends falling out, never re-unite cordially; whereas, all of us going together, we shall be sure to cure the evils of our new Constitution, before they do great harm. The box of books I had taken the liberty to address to you, is but just gone from Havre for New York. I do not see, at present, any symptoms strongly indicating war. It is true, that the distrust existing between the two courts of Versailles and London, is so great, that they can scarcely do business together. However, the difficulty and doubt of obtaining money make both afraid to enter into war. The little preparations for war, which we see, are the effect of distrust, rather than of a design to commence hostilities. And in such a state of mind, you know, small things may produce a rupture; so that though peace is rather probable, war is very possible.

Your letter has kindled all the fond recollections of ancient times; recollections much dearer to me than anything I have known since. There are minds which can be pleased by honors and preferments; but I see nothing in them but envy and enmity. It is only necessary to possess them, to know how little they contribute to happiness, or rather how hostile they are to it. No attachments soothe the mind so much as those contracted in early life; nor do I recollect any societies which have given me more pleasure, than those of which you have partaken with me. I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give. I shall be glad to hear from you often. Give me the small news as well as the great. Tell Dr. Currie, that I believe I am indebted to him a letter, but that like the mass of our countrymen, I am not, at this moment, able to pay all my debts; the post being to depart in an hour, and the last stroke of a pen I am able to send by it, being that which assures you of the sentiments of esteem and attachment, with which I am, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.

TO MR. WARVILLE.

PARIS, February 12, 1788.

SIR,--I am very sensible of the honor you propose to me, of becoming a member of the society for the abolition of the slave trade. You know that nobody wishes more ardently to see an abolition, not only of the trade, but of the condition of slavery; and certainly, nobody will be more willing to encounter every sacrifice for that object. But the influence and information of the friends to this proposition in France will be far above the need of my association. I am here as a public servant, and those whom I serve, having never yet been able to give their voice against the practice, it is decent for me to avoid too public a demonstration of my wishes to see it abolished. Without serving the cause here, it might render me less able to serve it beyond the water. I trust you will be sensible of the prudence of those motives, therefore, which govern my conduct on this occasion, and be assured of my wishes for the success of your undertaking, and the sentiments of esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO MR. DUMAS.

PARIS, Feb. 12, 1788.

SIR,--I have duly received your favor of the 5th inst. enclosing that for Mr. Jay. The packet was gone, as I presume, but I have another occasion of forwarding it securely. Your attentions to the Leyden gazette are, in my opinion, very useful. The paper is much read and respected. It is the only one I know in Europe which merits respect. Your publications in it will tend to re-establish that credit which the solidity of our affairs deserve. With respect to the sale of lands, we know that two sales of five millions and two millions of acres have been made. Another was begun for four millions, which, in the course of the negotiation, may have been reduced to three millions, as you mention. I have not heard that this sale is absolutely concluded, but there is reason to presume it. Stating these sales at two-thirds of a dollar the acre, and allowing for 3 or 400,000 acres sold at public sale, and a very high price, we may say they have absorbed seven millions of dollars of the domestic federal debt. The States, by taxation and otherwise, have absorbed eleven millions more: so that debt stands now at about ten millions of dollars, and will probably be all absorbed in the course of the next year. There will remain then our foreign debt, between ten and twelve millions, including interest. The sale of lands will then go on for the payment of this. But, as this payment must be in cash, not in public effects, the lands must be sold cheaper. The demand will probably be less brisk. So we may suppose this will be longer paying off than the domestic debt. With respect to the new Government, nine or ten States will probably have accepted by the end of this month. The others may oppose it. Virginia, I think, will be of this number. Besides other objections of less moment, she will insist on annexing a bill of rights to the new Constitution, _i. e._ a bill wherein the Government shall declare that, 1. Religion shall be free; 2. Printing presses free; 3. Trials by jury preserved in all cases; 4. No monopolies in commerce; 5. No standing army. Upon receiving this bill of rights, she will probably depart from her other objections; and this bill is so much to the interest of all the States, that I presume they will offer it, and thus our Constitution be amended, and our Union closed by the end of the present year. In this way, there will have been opposition enough to do good, and not enough to do harm. I have such reliance on the good sense of the body of the people, and the honesty of their leaders, that I am not afraid of their letting things go wrong to any length in any cause. Wishing you better health, and much happiness, I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MONSIEUR DE BERTROUS.

PARIS, Feb. 21, 1788.

SIR,--I am now to acknowledge the receipt of the letter you did me the honor to write me on the 21st of January, together with the book on the culture of the olive tree. This is a precious present to me, and I pray you to accept my thanks for it. I am just gratified by letters from South Carolina, which inform me that in consequence of the information I had given them on the subject of the olive tree, and the probability of its succeeding with them, several rich individuals propose to begin its culture there. This will not interfere with the commerce of France, because she imports much more oil than she exports, and because the consumption of oil in the United States at present, is so inconsiderable, that should their demand be totally withdrawn at the European market, and supplied at home, it will produce no sensible effect in Europe. We can never produce that article in very great quantity, because it happens that in our two southernmost States, where only the climate is adapted to the olive, the soil is so generally rich as to be unfit for that tree, and proper for other productions of more immediate profit. I am to thank you, also, for the raisins of Smyrna, without seed, which I received from you through Mr. Grand. * * * * *

TO MONSIEUR TROUCHIN.

PARIS, February 26, 1788.

SIR,--I should with great cheerfulness have done anything I could for the manufacturers of Bourges, had anything been in my power. To this I should have been induced by justice to them, and a desire to serve whomsoever you befriend. This company is part of a great mass of creditors to whom the United States contracted debts during the late war. Those States, like others, are not able to pay immediately all the debts which the war brought on them; but they are proceeding rapidly in that payment, and will, perhaps, get through it more speedily than any nation ever did before.

You will have seen in the public papers the progress they are making in this matter. They proceed in this by fixed rules, from which it is their principle never to depart in any instance, nor to do on any account for any one person what they will not be able to do for all others claiming on the same grounds. This company should engage the French Consul, or some other person on the spot, to be always ready to present their claim whenever anything can be received on it, according to the order of payment established by Congress. I suppose that the interest might have been annually received. With respect to what they call the reduction of the debt from its nominal sum, it is not a reduction of it, but an appreciation at its true value. The public effects of the United States, such as their paper bills of credit, loan office bills, etc., were a commodity which varied its value from time to time. A scale of their value for every month has been settled according to what they sold for at market, in silver or gold. This value in gold or silver, with an interest of six per cent. annually till payment, is what the United States pay. This they are able to pay; but were they to propose to pay off all their paper, not according to what it cost the holder, in gold or silver, but according to the sum named in it, their whole country, if sold, and all their persons into the bargain, might not suffice. They would, in this case, make a bankruptcy where none exists, as an individual, who being very able to pay the real debts he has contracted, would undertake to give to every man fifty times as much as he had received from him. The company will receive the market value of the public effects they have on their hands, and six per cent. per annum on that; and I can only repeat my advice to them, to appoint some friend on the spot to act for them whenever anything can be received. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MR. JOHN ADAMS.

PARIS, March 2, 1788.--Sunday.

DEAR SIR,--I received this day, a letter from Mrs. Adams, of the 26th ultimo, informing me you would set out on the 29th, for the Hague. Our affairs at Amsterdam press on my mind like a mountain. I have no information to go on, but that of Willincks and Van Staphorsts, and according to that, something seems necessary to be done. I am so anxious to confer with you on this subject, and to see you and them together, and get some effectual arrangement made in time, that I determine to meet you at the Hague. I will set out the moment some repairs are made to my carriage; it is promised me at three o'clock to-morrow; but probably they will make it night, and that I may not set out till Tuesday morning. In that case, I shall be at the Hague on Friday night; in the meantime, you will perhaps have made all your bows there. I am sensible how irksome this must be to you, in the moment of your departure. But it is a great interest of the United States which is at stake, and I am sure you will sacrifice to that, your feelings and your interest. I hope to shake you by the hand, within twenty-four hours after you receive this; and in the meantime, I am, with much esteem and respect, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and humble servant.

TO THE HON. JOHN JAY.

AMSTERDAM, March 13, 1788.

SIR,--Mr. Adams having announced to our bankers here his approaching departure from Europe, and referred them to me for counsel on our affairs in their hands, they sent me a state of them, and of the difficulties which were pressing at the moment, and impending more seriously for the month of June. They were urging me by almost every post on this subject. In this situation, information of Mr. Adams' journey of leave to the Hague reached me on the day of his arrival there. I was sensible how important it was to have the benefit of his interference in a department which had been his peculiarly from the beginning, and with all the details of which he was as intimately acquainted as I was little so. I set out therefore in the instant, joined him at the Hague, and he readily concurred with me in the necessity of our coming here to confer with our bankers on the measures which might be proper and practicable. We are now engaged on this subject, and the result, together with a full explanation of the difficulties which commanded our attention, shall be the subject of a letter which I shall do myself the honor of writing you by Mr. Adams, to be forwarded by Colonel Smith, who will go in the English packet. I avoid further particulars in the present letter, because it is to pass through the different post-offices to Paris. It will be forwarded thence by Mr. Short, whom I have desired to do himself the honor of writing to you any occurrences since my departure, which may be worthy of being communicated, by the French packet of this month. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE HON. JOHN JAY.

AMSTERDAM, March 16, 1788.

SIR,--In a letter of the 13th instant, which I had the honor of addressing you from this place, I mentioned in general terms, the object of my journey hither, and that I should enter into more particular details, by the confidential conveyance which would occur through Mr. Adams and Colonel Smith.