Papers of John Adams, volume 19
y1787 [
1788]
We have before us your Excell favor of 4 ins inclosing
| 20 Coupons due | 1 febr @ 40 f
|
f 800— |
20 do. — |
1 June next 50 | 1000— |
f 1800— |
Whch: payment we anticipate with much pleasure as we have no doubt to receive the remitte from the board of treasury to discharge the June intrest & in consequence we inclose you two new bonds
f 2000— purchased at 96 ½ per C |
f 1930— |
|
of whch. we also keep the Coupons & in consequence bonify you on |
||
the same the intrest from 1. Jany to 1 June 5/mth.
|
41:13—
|
|
f 1888.7— |
||
| in consequence a ballance is due to us of | 88.7— | |
for whch. you’ll send us a Small bill on the houses.
We put the books Mr. dillon1 Sent to us to the Care of a bookseller & ordered proper advertisement of the Same, but as little English books are read here, he has Sold none of them.
We wished that instead of getting the bonds so much under par, An Agio2 was payed on the Same, whch. Should greatly be favourable to the Credit, as this Shows to our great pains hitherto no Sufficient
256
confidence for the United States, & we apprehend, this will no take place, before the new convention is adopted & maintained, & a System of regular punctuality is introduced and observed.
We shall take information abt. the Chariot & inform your Excellency abt. it.
We beg leave to present our respectfull Compliments to your Lady & remain With great esteem. / Sir / Your most Humb & Ob servants
RC (Adams Papers); notation by AA2: “It should be 1788.”
That is, London bookseller Charles Dilly.
A premium or percentage paid in order to exchange one currency for another (
OED
).
I do myself the Honour of transmitting to your Lordship, for the Information of his Majestys Ministers, a Collection of Papers relative to certain Demands upon the British Government, of bonâ fide debts contracted before the Peace. The Names of these Creditors, My lord, are Thomas Bulfinch, Samuel Austin, Samul Partridge, John Rowe, and Samul Dashwood. The States of the Several Claims, and the Evidence in Support of them, appear in the Several Papers inclosed and numbered from 31 to 20 inclusively, and from another Paper marked Captain Dashwoods Case and Papers.2 When it is considered, My Lord, that British Merchants of whom those Goods were purchased before the War are now demanding Pay for them, under the Treaty of Peace and threatning Lawsuits in the Courts of Law at Boston for the Recovery of it, Humanity, My Lord as well as Equity is interested, that the British Government Should take upon itself to pay for what was taken by its orders accompanied with Promisses of Payment.
With great Respect, My lord I have / the Honour to be, your Lordships / most obedient and most humble / servant
RC (PRO:FO 4, State Papers, vol. 6, f. 9–11); internal address: “The Right Honourable / The Marquis of Carmarthen / His Britannic Majestys Principal Secretary / of State for foreign Affairs.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112.
In the LbC, WSS wrote “2.”
With support from Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin, all of these Boston merchants had appealed to JA a year earlier, anxious to recover or be reimbursed for property allegedly seized by the British Army when it evacuated Boston in March 1776. JA did not present these documents to the British foreign secretary until he was on the brink of departure for America, presumably because he 257 knew he would receive no response from the British government regarding the settlement of prewar debts, a view shared by John Jay and others. For, as JA explained to Samuel Austin on 25 May 1786, due to “a great misunderstanding between the two Countries … there is not the least chance for obtaining any thing for you or any of your fellow sufferers” (vol. 18:61–65, 140–142, 312–313).