Papers of John Adams, volume 16
I have received repeated Letters from Mr. Barclay, who is settling American Accounts, requiring me to produce the Bills of Exchange which were accepted by me, and paid by you in Amsterdam in behalf of Mr Grand at Paris, or of Dr. Franklin
If you are willing to deliver them to me, I will come to Amsterdam to receive them, and will take them with me to Paris. But I will not dissemble to you, that I think them your Vouchers, and that you should have them to produce to Mr. Barclay, or at least that Mr. Grand of Paris or Dr. Franklin should have them to shew, in support of the Account of the Money expended in the Payment of them. I should be obliged to you for an Answer, as speedily as may be convenient1
with much respect I have the honour to be / Gentlemen, your most obedient & most humble / servant &c.
LbC in C. W. F. Dumas’ hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs. Fizeaux, Grand & Co:”; APM Reel 107. This and two other letters of 4 May, to the loan consortium and Jonathan Jackson, not printed, are the only known instances in which Dumas performed the role of JA’s secretary by copying letters into a Letterbook, but for another example of Dumas in the secretarial role, see Proposed Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, [9 April – post 5 May], No. II, descriptive note, above.
The principals in the Amsterdam firm of Fizeaux, Grand & Co. were Henri Fizeaux and Georges Grand, brother of Ferdinand Grand of Paris. It was the successor firm to Horneca, Fizeaux & Co., which had previously served as the United States’ banker in the Netherlands and sought to raise the American commissioners’ unsuccessful 1778 loan. It was formed in 1779 upon the death of Fizeaux’s partner, Jean Jacques Horneca (vol. 6:60–61). For the correspondence between JA and the firm that ultimately resulted in an accounting for 544 bills accepted by JA totaling ƒ 477,252.13 (to Thomas 188 Barclay, 24 May 1784, below), see JA’s letters of 8, 12, 19, and 20 May, all LbC’s, APM Reel 107, and the firm’s replies of 6, 14, and 19 May, all Adams Papers.