quis de la Fayette joined me warmly in the Application for this purpose, and I hope we shall in due time see some good Effects from it. I have also in various Ways, and thro' various Channels, laid before the Ministry the distressed state of our Finances in America. There seems a great Willingness in all of them to help us, except in the Controller, M. Necker, who is said to be not well dispos'd towards us, and is suppos'd to embarras every Measure propos'd to relieve us by Grants of Money. It is certain, that under the Resolution, perhaps too hastily declar'd, of the King's imposing no new Taxes on his Subjects for this year, the Court has great Difficulties in defraying the present Expence, the vast Exertions to put the Navy in a Condition to equal that of England having cost immense Sums.

There is also a prevailing Opinion, that the most effectual Service to us is to be expected from rendering their Marine superior to that of England. The King has, however, to encourage our loan in Holland, been so good as to engage, under his Hand, to be Security for our Payment of the Interest of Three Millions of Livres; but that Loan has not yet amounted to more than about 80,000 Florins. Dr. Price, whose Assistance was requested by Congress, has declin'd that Service, as you will see by the Copy of his Letter enclos'd. To me it seems, that the Measure recommended by the Wisdom of Congress, for diminishing the Quantity of Paper by Taxes of large nominal Sums, must have very salutary Effects.

As to your Finances here, it is fit that you should know the state of them. When the Commissioners of Congress made the Proposition of paying the Interest at Paris of the Money borrowed in America, they understood the Loan to

VOL. VII-Y

be of Five Million of Dollars. They obtained from Goverment Sums more than sufficient for the Interest of such a Sum. That Sum has been encreas'd; and, if they could otherwise have provided for it, they have been from time to time drain'd by a number of unforeseen Expences, of which the Congress had no Knowledge, and of others, occasion'd by their Orders and Drafts; and the Cargos sent to the Commissioners by the Committee have some of them been treacherously run away with by the Seamen, or taken by the Enemy, or, when arrived, have been hitherto applied towards the Payment of Debts, the Tobaccos to the FarmersGeneral according to Contract, and the Rice and Indigo to Messrs. Hortales & Co., from whom, by the way, we have not yet been able to procure any Account.

I have lately employ'd an Accountant, the Son of our Banker, to form compleat Books of our Accounts, to be sent to Congress. They are not yet ready. When they are, I shall send them by the first safe Opportunity. In the mean time, I may just mention some particulars of our Disbursements. Great Quantities of Clothing, Arms, Ammunition, and naval Stores, sent from time to time; Payment of Bills from Mr. Bingham, 100,000 Livres; Congress Bills in favour of Haywood & Co., above 200,000; advanc'd to Mr. Ross, about £20,000 sterling; Paid Congress Drafts in favour of return'd Officers, 93,080 livres. To our prisoners in England, and after their Escape to help them home, and to other Americans here in Distress, a great sum, I cannot at present say how much. Supplies to Mr. Hodge for fitting out Capt Cunningham, very considerable; for the Freights of Ships to carry over the Supplies, great sums; to Mr. W. Lee and Mr. Izard, £5,500 Sterling; and for fitting the Frigates

Raleigh, Alfred, Boston, Providence, Alliance, Ranger, &c., I imagine not less than 60 or 70,000 livres each, taken one with another; and for the Maintenance of the English Prisoners, I believe, when I get in all the Accounts, I shall find 100,000 Livres not sufficient, having already paid above 65,000 on that Article. And now, the Drafts of the Treasurer of the Loans coming very fast upon me, the Anxiety I have suffered, and the Distress of Mind lest I should not be able to pay them, has for a long time been very great indeed.

To apply again to this Court for Money for a particular Purpose, which they had already over and over again provided for and furnish'd us, was extremely awkward. I therefore repeated the general Applications, which we had made when together, for Aids of Money; and received the general Answers, that the Expence of Government for the Navy was so great, that at present it was exceedingly difficult to furnish the necessary Supplies; that France, by sending a Fleet to America, obliged the Enemy to divide their Forces, and left them so weak on the Continent, as to aid us by lessening our Expence, if it could not by giving us Money, &c. &c.; and I was ask'd if we did not receive Money from Spain. I know, indeed, of some Money receiv'd from thence, and I have heard of more, but know not how much, Mr. A. Lee, as minister for Spain, having taken to himself all the Management of that Affair, and will account to Congress. I only understand, that there is none of it left to assist in paying Congress Bills.

I at length obtain'd, as above mentioned, the King's Bon for Payment of the Interest of Three Millions, if I could borrow it in Holland, or elsewhere; but, tho' two eminent

Houses in Amsterdam have undertaken it, and had Hopes of Success, they have both lately written to me, that the great Demands of Money for Germany and for England had raised Interest above our Limits, and that the Successes of the English in Georgia and St. Lucia, and in destroying the French Trade, with the suppos'd Divisions in Congress, all much magnified by the British Minister, and the pressing Application to borrow by several of our States separately, had made the money'd People doubtful of our Stability, as well as our Ability to repay what might be lent us, and that it was necessary to wait a more favourable moment for proceeding with our Loan.

In this Situation, I have been applied to by Mr. William Lee, and lately, thro' our Banker, by Mr. Izard, for more Money for their Expences; and I am told, there is much Anger against me for declining to furnish them, and that I am charg'd with disobeying an Order of Congress,' and with cruelly attempting to distress Gentlemen, who are in the Service of their Country. They have, indeed, produc'd to me a Resolve of Congress, impowering them to draw on the Commissioners in France for their Expences at Foreign Courts; and doubtless Congress, when that Resolve was made, intended to enable us to pay those Drafts; but, as that has not been done, and the Gentlemen (except Mr. Lee for a few Weeks) have not incurred any Expence at Foreign Courts, and, if they had, the 5,500 guineas, received by them in about 9 Months, seem'd an ample Provision for it, and as both of them might command Money from England,

1 Letter from Izard to the Committee of Foreign Affairs, January 28, 1779, in "The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States." Wharton, Vol. III, p. 33. — ED.