Papers of John Adams, volume 19
Inclosed are Copies of two Protests of Bills of Exchange, received from the Board of Treasury. They are Duplicates. another Sett of Copies I have before transmitted to that Board, to whom these Duplicates will no doubt be referred.
Inclosed also are Copies of Letters from the Commissioners of Loans at Amsterdam, which render it neccessary for me, to go to Amsterdam.1 I Shall Sett off, on Fryday the twenty fifth, and hope to return in three Weeks, or less. it is with great regret that I find myself reduced to the necessity, of opening a new Loan, without the explicit and particular orders of Congress. But there is no alternative but this or immediate and total Ruin to the Credit of the United States. Such is the nature of Money transactions in Holland, that if the punctual Payment of the Interest is not advertised, a Panick arises & spreads the Stock falls, and every one is eager to get rid of what he has in his hands.
In Consequence of a delay, only of a few days, to advertise the Payment of our Interest in June, my Obligations fell to ninety five Per Cent, as I am informed. But immediately upon the Advertisements appearing they rose again to ninety Nine, which is as high as they have been for several Years.—
Mr Barclay has drawn upon me for more Money than I expected to pay the Expence of Presents and other Things in the Morocco Negotiation, and has made Several draughts after I had Supposed, or at least hoped that the Payments were all made.— But I could do no other than presume, that the Demands were necessary, and accept his Bills. He will render his Account to Congress or the Board of Treasury. But if I am not mistaken he has drawn upon me for, near five thousand Pounds sterling a Sum considerably more than, one quarter Part of the Eighty thousand dollars, appropriated by Congress to Treaties with four Powers though it was always expected that Algiers would be more costly than all the other three.
The Expences of Coll Franks’s Journeys and Voyages, and that of Coll Smiths Tour to Lisbon as well as mine to Portsmouth and Holland, will amount to Something, tho not very considerable. What Draughts upon the Bankers in Holland, Mr Jefferson has made, as mentioned in thier Letter I know not, unless it be to pay for honourary Swords and Medals, ordered by Coll Humphreys in obedience to
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the orders of Congress, for which I gave a Letter of Credit before I left France.2 Possibly Congress may have authorized Mr Jefferson to draw upon their Commissioners in Holland. if they have I am glad of it, but had not been informed of it.3
I regret very much, that I have not yet a Letter of Recall, which I might upon this my last tour to the Hague present to their High Mightinesses and take my Leave, in order to my Return home, upon the Expiration of my Commission to st. James’s.— But Altho this is now impossible I hope, sir, soon to receive Such a Letter of Recall, that I may, have time to transmit it with a Memorial, which must answer the End of an Audience of Leave.4
With great Respect, I have the Honour to be &c
RC and enclosures (PCC, No. 84, VI, f. 481–490); internal address: “His Excellency John Jay / Secretary of foreign Affairs”; endorsed: “Letter 23 May 1787 / honbe J Adams with / protests of two bills & letters / of Mess Willink & Van Staphorts. / Recvd 23 July 1787 / Referred to the board / of treasury—” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112.
JA enclosed here copies of the loan consortium’s letters of 15 and 18 May, both above.
For the honorary swords and medals authorized by Congress see vols. 17:97–98; 18:40–41, 95; and from Thomas Jefferson, 20 Feb., and note 3, above.
Jefferson’s salary and expenses were paid by the Paris banker Ferdinand Grand, but in a 23 July letter to JA , below, Jefferson requested that the Dutch loan consortium pay him instead.
On 30 March 1788, JA received his notice of recall enclosed with Jay’s 14 Feb. letter, below, and he forwarded it the same day to the Baron van Nagell, Dutch minister to Britain in London (LbC, APM Reel 112). For JA’s official leave-taking at The Hague, see his [6 March] Memorial to the States General, and note 1, and [7 March] Memorial to William V, Prince of Orange, both below.
JA resumed his official correspondence with his 12 June 1787 letter to Antoine Marie Cerisier, below.
The information I have found in your letters has been of a great service to me, the last of the 1st. inst. not excepted, ’though you suppuse in it quite the reverse. I beg you to accept my hearty thanks for it. I have been highly pleased with your undertaking the defence of our governments, especially as I have been assured by Col. Smith that you intend to compleat the work. I am extremely obliged to you, Sir, for the first volume, which you did me the honour to send me. There are several people, who have applyed to government for the liberty of publishing the translation of it. All your Friends, as far as I Know, wish that it may not be executed by bad hands. To
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prevent it, we have engaged an honest book-seller to publish an advertisement, in which he promises to give the Public a good translation with annotations.1 To proceed in a manner, as to guard against a bad one, or at least to prevent it being published before the one, which we will endeavour to have executed as well as possible, it is desirable that you would be so Kind as to send us, from time to time, the sheets which are printed, without delaying untill the whole is done. Persuaded that you will contribute to prevent your own child being disfigured, I hope you will favour us in our request.
With my most respectfull compliments to Mrs. Adams, & Mrs. Smith, I am most sincerely & respectfully, / Dear Sir, / Your Excellency’s most Hmble / & most Obedt. Sert.
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Dear Sir.”
The bookseller was Jacques Franjois Froullé, but he never published an edition. The first French edition, Défense des constitutions américaines: Ou de la nécessité d’une balance dans les pouvoirs d’un gouvernement libre, printed by Jacques Vincent Delacroix, appeared in 1792 (vol. 18:549–550).