Papers of John Adams, volume 11
1781-06-30
This is to request that you will accept no more Bills with an Expectation of my Paying them, till you have farther Advice from me: For I find that Mr. Laurens, who went away without informing me what he had done, has made so full a Disposition of the Six Millions granted at my Request before his Arrival, that unless the Specie he 400sent to Holland is stopt there, I shall not be in a Condition to pay them.1 I have the Honour to be, Sir, Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble Servant
Franklin wrote a similar letter to William Jackson on 28 June. Despite Jackson's protests, Franklin succeeded in stopping shipment of the specie to the U.S. aboard the South Carolina. See Franklin, Papers
, 35:195–196, 211–214, 219–226, 242–244.