Papers of John Adams, volume 17
th.June 1785
We are in the disagreable necessity to acquaint the Honble. Commissioners of the Board of Treasury of the United States of America, that Mess. De La Lande & fynje who at the present moment are debtors to them for the Amount of ƒ112,000, have Stopt payment, and we take the Liberty to Send your Excellency inclosed the Letter to Said Gentlemen, which we left open in order you may peruse it for your Government, time not permitting to write you more fully on the Subject.1
Further we beg your Excellency will seal up the letter, and forward it by the July Packet. If in the interim your Excellency Should have some advice in the matter, you may depend that we are disposed to do every thing in behalf of Congress, which is consistent with the present circumstances of the House.
We remain very respectfully / Sir! / Your most obt. hble. Servts.
Nich
s.& Jacob van Staphorst
We send copies by other opportunities
RC (Adams Papers).
For JA’s reaction to the news of De la Lande & Fynje’s bankruptcy, see his 2 July letter to the Board of Treasury, below. The enclosed 28 June letter to the Board from the 213Willinks and the Staphorsts has not been found, but the Board received it on or about 11 Sept., and a copy was enclosed with its letter to the president of Congress of that date (PCC, No. 140, II, f. 79). By that time, however, the Board had already taken action, for which see note 1 to JA’s 2 July letter to the Board. For De la Lande & Fynje’s account of the firm’s situation, see its letter of 1 July, below.