Papers of John Adams, volume 19
th:January 1788
We are honored with Your Excellency’s respected favor of 22d. Inst:—informing us You and Colo: Smith will require £3000— Stg: previous to your Departure from Europe. Messrs: Pullers had already acquainted us therewith, and have Orders to hold that Sum at Your Disposal. The Bills on Mr: Rucker are regularly received by us.
We take notice of your Dereliction of the Affairs of the United-States, and consequently of your Relation towards us, unto His Excellency Thos: Jefferson Esqr: To which We shall conform. This Minister has strongly urged the Payment of the f51,000— Guilders due by Congress the First Instant at the House of Hy: Fizeaux and Co: and We should have complied, had not the Letter from the Board of Treasury forwarded us by Colo: Smith, and of which we inclose a Copy signed by us, rendered the Support of the Credit of the United-States in Europe, dependant upon a very great and consequential Arrangement, without the Accomplishment of which, It would not be at all benefited by the partial discharge of the f 51m̃.—1
The present Mode of supplying the Federal Treasury, having rendered it very improbable in our Opinion, that the Commissioners would be able to make us Remittances to face the June Interest; We had revolved the matter in our Minds, and strived all in our power, to procure a timely Extension of Sale of the remaining Bonds of the last Loan, to effect this purpose. But unsuccessfully. And we are fully convinced there is no possibility of supplying this Object, but by the Proposal in our Letter of 18th: Inst: to the Board of Treasury, of which You have likewise herewith a Copy signed by us; Which Plan would operate as the Board wishes to view the Loan, “to provide a Fund for answering the Interest which might become due, ’till
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such Time as a more efficacious system of General Revenue was provided.”—
As we cannot well flatter ourselves, to receive the Answer of the Board, in season to conclude with the Subscribers and receive the Monies from them, for which they always take some Credit, We shall lay the matter officially before His Excellency Thos: Jefferson Esqr. and require his Approbation and Ratification of the Proposal, we have judged it the Interest of the United-States to accede to; And if as we doubt not, He will grant it, We shall lose no time in the Execution. The sole Objection, if any should be deemed sufficiently weighty, to counterbalance the extreme Advantages that will result to the United-States from the Adoption, would be the Payment of One Year’s Interest on the two Loans of the Liquidated-Debt; Which, exclusive of its being obviated, by being only an Anticipation, is removed by the Disposition of the Board of Treasury to make a Sacrifice, should this Point be considered one, where the Commissioners say “The last Expedient we are sensible may subject you to Inconvenience; but the Sacrifice will we doubt not be considered by the Government of the United-States, when its more solid Establishment may induce them to call forth, and compensate in a proper Manner your present Exertions to support their Credit—”
It is highly pleasing to us, that the Importance we attributed to the proposed Arrangement for Sale of the remaining Bonds, is fully corroborated by the Letter, and our Acceptance of it, quite consonant to the Wishes of the Commissioners of the Treasury. We do not now entertain a doubt, of the propriety of using our best Exertions to consolidate same; Of which however We shall be happy to have Your Excellency’s Sentiments, Which We earnestly entreat you, to communicate to us with all possible Diligence.—
We are respectfully / Your Excellency’s / Most obedient and very / humble Servants
Nic
s.& Jacob van Staphorst.
RC and enclosures (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excelly: John Adams Esqr:—”; endorsed by AA: “Willings & Vanstap / horst 29 Janry / 1788.”
The loan consortium enclosed a copy of the Board of Treasury’s 5 Dec. 1787 letter and a copy of the consortium’s 18 Jan. 1788 reply (both Adams Papers). The board explained that while it awaited the “great work” of the Constitutional Convention to be ratified by the states, the “almost total Stagnation in the receipt of revenue arising from direct taxation” enfeebled the United States’ ability to pay the previous loans’ interest and to cover the expenses of American ministers in Europe. Confirming JA’s instructions, the board directed the loan consortium to remit C. W. F. Dumas’ $1,300 salary and “only to pay such sums as may be drawn” by JA, Thomas Jefferson, and WSS.
266When it replied on 18 Jan., the consortium observed that the board’s “very unaccountable Silence” had forced it to monitor American interests via “public Papers and our private Connexions.” After reflecting on ways to sustain American credit in Europe, the consortium suggested selling stock of the liquidated debt, which might “thus ease you of all Cares, Anxieties and Sacrifices,” especially as a new round of payments loomed for the United States. This speculative turn marked a change in the consortium’s outlook on how to steer American credit. The consortium wrote, “In proposing this Matter to you, We are well aware, it is of an extraordinary Nature and militating against established Rules, but on the other hand, the Circumstances and Object that would be accomplished, are likewise out of the usual Line, and scarce to have been expected in the present floating State of Your Government.” For JA’s reaction to the consortium’s letter, which led him to travel to the Netherlands in March to raise a new loan, see his 12 Feb. letter to Jefferson, below.
o.36, Wigmore St
t.Cavendish Square.
y.5. [
1788]
Mr. Croft takes the liberty to present his compliments to Mr. Adams.1 His friend Mr. Shippen was to have done him the honour of introducing him to Mr. Adams, but, upon asking after Mr. S., it seems that he has left this country for France.2 Mr. C. hears also that Mr. Adams returns soon to America.
If Mr. Adams would condescend so far as to afford Mr. C. an opportunity of explaining the new dictionary, on which he is employed, of the language spoken in Great Britain & America, which Mr. S. has probably mentioned; Mr. Adams will confer no common favour on Mr C. & may possibly hear something to gratify his friends in America. Mr. C. would be happy in the honour of waiting upon Mr. Adams, or of meeting him any day at Mr. Stockdale’s.
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “recd & ansd. 11. Feb.”
Sir Herbert Croft (1751–1816), a lawyer and lexicographer, of Dunster Park, Berk shire, England, toiled over a proposed English dictionary that would amend portions of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, London, 1755. By 1787, Croft’s labors tallied 200 quarto volumes, but he abandoned the project to pursue more lucrative literary objectives (
DNB
).
Bearing a 9 Jan. 1788 letter of introduction from WSS, Thomas Lee Shippen arrived in Paris in early February. He stayed at the Hotel de Langeac and was presented at the Versailles court by “that best of men Mr. Jefferson” (Jefferson, Papers
, 12:501, 502; 13:7).
The Commissioners of the treasury have given notice to Willincks & Van Staphorsts that they shall not be able to remit them one shilling till the new government gets into action; and that therefore the sole resource for the paiment of the Dutch interest till that period is
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in the progress of the last loan. Willincks & V.S. reply that there is not the least probability of raising as much on that loan as will pay the next June interest, & that if that paiment fails one day, it will do an injury to our credit which a very long time will not wipe off. a mr̃ Stanitski, one of our brokers, who holds 1,340,000 dollars of our domestic debt offers, if “we will pay him one year,” interest of that debt, he will have the whole of the loan immediately filled up, that is to say he will procure the sum of 622,840 florins still unsubscribed. his year’s interest (deducting from it 10 percent which he will allow for paiment in Europe instead of America) will require 180,000 florins of this money. Messrs. W. & V.S. say that, by this means, they can pay Fiseaux debt, and all the Dutch interest and our current expences here, till June 1789. by which time the new government may be in action.1 they have proposed this to the commissioners of the treasury. but it is evident possible that the delay of letters going & coming, with the time necessary between their receiving the answer & procuring the money, may force the decision of this proposition on me at the eleventh hour. I wish therefore to avail myself of your counsel before your departure on this proposition. your knowlege of the subject enables you to give the best opinion, and your zeal for the public interest, &, I trust, your friendly dispositions towards me will prompt you to assist me with your advice on this question, to wit, if the answer of the Commissioners does not come in time, and there shall appear no other means of raising the June interest, will it be worst to fail in that paiment, or to accept of about 700,000 florins, on the condition of letting 180,000 be applied to the paiment of a year’s interest of a part of our domestic debt? do me the friendship to give me an answer to this as soon as possible & be assured of the sentiments of esteem & respect with which I have the honour to be Dear Sir / your most obedient / & most humble servt.
RC and enclosures (Adams Papers); internal address: “H.E. mr̃ Adams.”; endorsed: “Mr Jefferson / Feb. 6. 1788. / ansd. Feb. 12.”; notation by CFA: “not published.” CFA presumably meant that the letter was not published in Jefferson, Correspondence, ed. Randolph.
Hastily preparing for JA’s imminent departure for the United States, Jefferson took over the complex responsibility of managing American funds in Europe. One pressing issue prevented the filling of the third Dutch loan of [1 June 1787], above. Interest payments on the previous loan had been suspended, pending the formation of a new federal government under the U.S. Constitution, for which see the loan consortium’s 29 Jan. 1788 letter, and note 1, above. Holland’s continued political upheaval led Jefferson to propose this plan, which encouraged debt speculators like Amer. Finance and Dutch Investment
, 1:223–224, 228–229, 260). For JA’s rejection of Jefferson’s scheme, see his reply of 12 Feb., below.