LbC in JQA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Messrs: Wilhem & Jan Willink / Nicholas & Jacob van Staphorst / & de la Lande & Fynje.”; APM Reel 107.

Only one letter to JA commenting on the loan plan has been found and that was from J. Franc van den Corput, dated 21 Feb. at Amsterdam (Adams Papers), which Antoine 54 Marie Cerisier had forwarded to JA with his letter of 21 Feb., above. What follows are verbatim extracts from Corput’s letter of 21 February.

Translation: It seems to me that according to the terms of the aforementioned plan, it would be hardly suitable, not to say absolutely unsuitable, for a merchant to place his funds there as it is possible that he would be deprived of them for thirteen years, because the final drawing will not occur until the expiration of that time. I therefore thought that if the seven different drawings could take place during the first year, then any merchant who was reasonably well-off would be in a position to try his luck. So if he put in ƒ10,000, for instance, he would have no other way out but with his ten obligations. Without any premium, the choice would be his to sell them to use that sum anew in his business. And although in this manner alone it would be suitable for merchants to invest their funds, it would be no less appropriate for other investors. Several of my friends, having asked my advice, declared that they would not be interested unless the abovementioned change were made. As for the rest, the plan is well put together and generally well received, and I do not doubt that the transaction would soon be complete if the slight change that I take the liberty of proposing to you was made.

Corput’s objection revolves around the lottery drawings for additional loan obligations to be held in 1785, 1787, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1795, and 1797, for which see the consortium’s 4 Feb. 1784 letter and the letters from Wilhem & Jan Willink of 4 and 16 Feb., all above, and the loan contract of [9 March], below. Thus premiums would be ƒ50,000 at the first drawing in 1785, rising to ƒ200,000 in 1797, and totaling ƒ690,000 through all seven drawings. Depending on his luck, or lack thereof, an investor could wait thirteen years to learn whether or not he would be receiving a premium on his investment. If the investor did not win additional obligations in the lottery, his principal would be tied up in the obligations that he had purchased, and his only return during that period would be the 4 percent yearly interest. If, however, all of the drawings were held in a single year, but with the payment of the premium being in the year designated for the drawing, then at the end of the twelve months the investor would know if he had won a premium and, if he had not, sell his obligations to another investor, thereby being without his principal for only one year rather than thirteen. For the consortium’s rejection of Corput’s proposal because it was seen as favorable only to speculators, and also because the loan had already been opened under the terms to which Corput objected, see its letter of 25 Feb. 1784, below.

RC (Adams Papers).

The last extant issue of Le politique hollandais is of 12 Jan. 1784. Antoine Marie Cerisier’s role as the paper’s editor, however, likely ended much earlier, with the issue of 11 Aug. 1783, the result of his struggle over control of the journal with the paper’s publisher, Amsterdam bookseller Jacobus Adrianus Crajenschot (vol. 14:300–301). Crajenschot’s assumption of control is evident from the notice appearing at the end of the 18 Aug. issue: “J. A. Crajenschot, Editeur & seul propriétaire de cette feuille”; and the signed “Lettre du Libraire, Editeur & Propriétaire de cette Feuille à ses Confreres” that appeared in the issue of 25 August. That letter denied Cerisier’s claim to be sole editor and declared that Crajenschot’s role had been at least as important, if not more so. Cerisier’s ouster as editor may explain his 3 Sept. 1783 letter to JA requesting his assistance in obtaining a position in the French foreign ministry (vol. 15:244–245). Nothing is known of the Mercure hollandais beyond what Chavannes de la Giraudière says in this letter, and the copy sent to JA has not been found.

The reference to Chantre de l’Amérique remains obscure, but that to the Gazette de Leyde, edited by Jean Luzac, is of some interest. Until the latter part of 1781, Luzac’s Gazette had been JA’s principal means for 56 disseminating news from and about America. That role ended only when JA sought the wider audience offered by the Gazette d’Amsterdam and Le politique hollandais. For Luzac’s complaint about JA’s shift to other papers, see vol. 12:125–127, 128–130. It is also worthy of note that C. W. F. Dumas obtained a position for Cerisier with the Gazette de Leyde (from Cerisier, 10 Aug. 1786, MB).

Having learned from JA of the land office that Joseph Ward had opened in Boston (vol. 15:350–352), Chavannes de la Giraudière wrote on 26 Jan. 1784 to propose opening a branch in Europe and to ask for assistance in setting up a partnership with Ward and his associates (Adams Papers). In his reply of 30 Jan. (LbC, APM Reel 107), JA enclosed a copy of Ward’s brochure but declared that he could give no more aid to such a private venture. In his reply of 4 March (LbC, APM Reel 107), JA referred to his earlier letter and repeated that he was unable to help further. By the time Chavannes de la Giraudière wrote again, on 9 Aug. (Adams Papers), he was residing in Amsterdam and intended to move to the United States. Having been promised land in Virginia and passage across the Atlantic, he sought from JA money and letters of recommendation. In a last letter to JA, dated 23 Sept. (Adams Papers), Chavannes de la Giraudière reported that he and his family had been stranded in Amsterdam after the vessel that was to carry them to the United States had been seized by the owner’s creditors, and he expressed his resolve to take his children to London and seek free passage across the ocean there. JA apparently made no reply to either of these later letters. For a full account of Chavannes de la Giraudière’s flight from France and removal to the United States, see his letter to George Washington of 10 July 1787 in Washington, Papers, Confederation Series , 5:252–256.