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 267 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.

I have received your Letter of the 6th. and had before received the Same Information from Amsterdam.

I know not how to express to you, the Sense I have of the disingenuity of this Plott.— The Difficulty of Selling the Obligations I believe to be mere Pretence. and indeed the whole appears to me to be a concerted Fiction, in consequence of some Contrivance or suggestion of Mr Parker, the great Speculator in American Paper, who, though I love him very well, is too ingenious for me.— I feel myself obliged to write this in Confidence to you, and to put You on your Guard against the immeasurable Avarice of Amsterdam as well as the ungovernable Rage of Speculation.— I feel no Vanity in Saying that this Project never would have been Suggested, if it had not been known, that I was recalled. if I was to continue in Europe and in office I would go to Amsterdam and open a new Loan with John Hodshon before I would Submit to it.—1 The Undertakers are bound in Honour, as I understood it, to furnish the Money on the new Loan. They agreed to this upon Condition that I would go to Amsterdam to sign the Obligations.

The Truth is that Messrs Willinks and Vanstaphorst have been purchasing immense Quantities of American Paper,2 and they now Want to have it acknowledged and paid in Europe.— it appears to me totally impossible that You or I should ever agree to it, or approve it. and as far as I can comprehend it is equally impossible for the Board of Treasury or Congress to consent to it. You and I however cannot answer for them: but I think We cannot countenance any hopes that they will ever comply with it.— The Continental Certificates & their Interest are to be paid in America at the Treasury of the United States. if a Precedent is set of paying them in Europe, I pretend not to Sufficient foresight to predict the Consequences. They appear however to me to be horrid.— if the Interest of one Million Dollars is paid this Year in Europe, you will find the Interest of Ten Millions demanded next year.— I am very sorry to be obliged at the moment of my Retirement to give opinions which may be misrepresented and imputed to Motives that my soul dispizes: but I cannot advise you by 269 any means to countenance this Project: but it is my Serious Opinion that the Judgment of Congress or the Board of Treasury, ought to be waited for, At all hazards.— if the Brokers, Undertakers and Money lenders will take such Advantages of Us, it is high time to have done with them; pay what is due as fast as We can, but never contract another farthing of Debt with them.— if a little firmness is shewn in adhering to the Resolution of waiting the orders of Congress, it is my opinion, Care will be taken in Amsterdam that our Credit shall not suffer. The Interest of our Commissioners, of the Brokers, Undertakers and Money Lenders, all conspire to induce them to prevent a failure. But in my Judgment a failure had better take Place than this Project.— I shall not write with the same frankness to Willinks, but I shall give them my opinion that the Judgment of Congress must be waited for.3

My dear Friend farewell. I pity You, in your Situation; dunned and teazed as you will be, all your Philosophy will be wanting to support you.— But be not discouraged, I have been constantly vexed with such terrible Complaints and frightened with such long Faces these ten years. depend upon it, the Amsterdammers love Money too well, to execute their Threats. They expect to gain too much by American Credit to destroy it.—

I am with / Sincere Affection and great Esteem, your / Friend & servant