The Writings of Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Jefferson (books to read now .TXT) 📕

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.

The board of treasury had, in the month of December, informed me and our bankers here, that it would be impossible for them to make any remittances to Europe for the then ensuing year, and that they must, therefore, rely altogether on the progress of the late loan. But this, in the meantime, after being about one-third filled, had ceased to get forward. The bankers who had been referred to me for advice by Mr. Adams, stated those circumstances, and pressed their apprehension for the ensuing month of June, when two hundred and seventy thousand florins would be wanting for interest. In fine, they urged an offer of the holders of the former bonds to take all those remaining on hand, provided they might receive out of them the interest on a part of our domestic debt, of which they had also become the holders. This would have been one hundred and eighty thousand florins. To this proposition I could not presume any authority to listen. Thus pressed between the danger of failure on one hand, and this proposition on the other, I heard of Mr. Adams being gone to the Hague, to take leave. His knowledge of the subject was too valuable to be neglected under the present difficulty, and it was the last moment in which we could be availed of it. I set out immediately, therefore, for the Hague, and we came on to this place together, in order to see what could be done. It was easier to discover, than to remove, the causes which obstructed the progress of the loan. Our affairs here, like those of other nations, are in the hands of particular bankers. These employ particular, and they have their particular circle of money lenders. These money lenders, as I have before mentioned, while placing a part of their money in our foreign loans, had at the same time employed another part in a joint speculation, to the amount of eight hundred and forty thousand dollars, in our domestic debt. A year's interest was becoming due on this, and they wished to avail themselves of our want of money for the foreign interest, to obtain payment of the domestic. Our first object was to convince our bankers, that there was no power on this side the Atlantic which could accede to this proposition, or give it any countenance. They at length, therefore, but with difficulty, receded from this ground, and agreed to enter into conferences with the brokers and lenders, and to use every exertion to clear the loan from the embarrassment in which this speculation had engaged it. What will be the result of these conferences, is not yet known. We have hopes, however, that it is not desperate, because the bankers consented yesterday to pay off the capital of fifty-one thousand florins, which had become due on the first day of January, and which had not yet been paid. We have gone still further. The treasury-board gives no hope of remittances, till the new government can procure them. For that government to be adopted, its legislature assembled, its system of taxation and collection arranged, the money gathered from the people into the treasury, and then remitted to Europe, must extend considerably into the year 1790. To secure our credit then, for the present year only, is but to put off the evil day to the next. What remains of the last loan, when it shall be filled up, will little more than clear us of present demands, as may be seen by the estimate enclosed. We thought it better, therefore, to provide at once for the years 1789 and 1790, also; and thus to place the Government at its ease, and her credit in security, during that trying interval. The same estimate will show, that another million of florins will be necessary to effect this. We stated this to our bankers, who concurred in our views, and that to ask the whole sum at once, would be better than to make demands from time to time so small, as that they betray to the money holders the extreme feebleness of our resources. Mr. Adams, therefore, has executed bonds for another million of florins; which, however, are to remain unissued till Congress shall have ratified the measure; so that this transaction is something or nothing, at their pleasure. We suppose its expediency so apparent, as to leave little doubt of its ratification. In this case, much time will have been saved by the execution of the bonds at this moment, and the proposition will be presented under a more favorable appearance, according to the opinion of the bankers. Mr. Adams is under a necessity of setting out to-morrow morning, but I shall stay two or three days longer, to attend to and encourage the efforts of the bankers; though it is yet doubtful whether they will ensure us a safe passage over the month of June. Not having my letters here to turn to, I am unable to say whether the last I wrote mentioned the declaration of the Emperor that he should take part in the war against the Turks. This declaration