Office of Finance 13th Febry. 1784
I have written to you, under yesterday’s Date, on a very
interesting Subject, and I will now add something farther which I
did not chuse to place in that Letter, as a Copy of it is
transmitted to the Houses in Holland, and first I will give you an
account of my Situation, as accurately as possible, in order that
(seeing the whole State of my Engagement, and the means of
fulfilling them) you may rest at Ease under the operation I have
requested, and which I must now most strongly urge and intreat you
to engage in.
My present actual Engagements are three fold viz. 1st General
Engagements for the public Service not yet Satisfied, including
therein the Notes issued by me which remain in Circulation. 2ly My
Bills of Exchange unpaid and 3ly My Debts to the National Bank.
The first of these it is difficult to ascertain with Exactness
For I take into the Account all Payments to be made for past
Services and the like, and I sit against it sundry Sums to be
received and the public Goods which are yet to arrive. It cannot
be expected therefore that any great Precision will take Place in
this Estimate but from the clearest Insight I have, the Amount is
rather under than over one hundred thousand Dollars.
The Second Stands thus. I drew for a Million of Guilders of
which calculating to the Extent, not more than one half remains
unprovided for, as I have observed in My Letter of yesterday. This
half may be considered as of the Value of two hundred thousand
Dollars. Besides this Sum, I have drawn three Bills of two hundred
and fifty thousand Guilders each, and one of one hundred thousand
Guilders, for which I have received three hundred and forty
thousand Dollars; but as I have agreed that those Bills shall not
be protested they are not to be carried to the account of Bills of
Exchange.
My Debt to the National Bank is the above sum of three hundred
and forty thousand Dollars obtained from them by Discounting Notes
received for the Bills of Exchange and which notes they will
continue on Interest, untill taken up by my Payments here, or by
Monies raised on the Drafts of the Parties who gave them, should
my Bills be eventually paid in Europe.
In this Calculation you will perceive that I make no mention of
any monies which I suppose to be in the Hands of Mr. Grand,
because (for the greater Certainty) I will on the present Occasion
consider them as equal to answer for Contingencies only. And on
the other Hand, I will not calculate the Interest to arise on
monies borrowed in Europe, because altho that object may be stated
as of the Value of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
thousand Dollars, yet to answer it I place 1st. the general System
for funding the public Debts, and 2ly. by whatever small Sums may
arise on the Dutch Loan, supposing it to have no Success worth
counting on for other Purposes.
Hence therefore we will state the Account as of the first of the
present month thus
We come now to the means of making Payment, after rejecting all
Hope of any material aid from the Dutch Loan. And they are as
follows—The Taxes for the last four months, ending the thirty
first of January, amounting to somewhat more than two hundred
thousand Dollars. Towards these Taxes, the States of Delaware,
North Carolina and Georgia have as yet paid Nothing, neither is
there any Thing paid by the State of South Carolina within the
account of those months. The States of New Hampshire Connecticutt
New York Maryland and Virginia have paid very little, in
Proportion to their present ability, and the other four States
will all by the Extention of Peace and Commerce, be in better
Circumstances for Revenue than they were before.
From the States of New York Maryland Virginia and South
Carolina, I expect to derive very considerable Releif;
particularly from the first, by a proposed Sale of confiscated
Lands. However, I shall (after deducting from the probable
Increase of the Revenue, so much as may pay the current
Expenditures) calculate the Surplus, and the proposed Sales of
Lands, as amounting to no more than two hundred and fifty thousand
Dollars, by the End of next September. This, then will place the
Sum unprovided for at the amount of four hundred thousand Dollars
and the Fund to pay it at fifty thousand Dollars per Month—That
Fund will discharge the first article above mentioned, by the End
of March, and the next Thing to be provided for is the two hundred
thousand, to answer Bills of Exchange drawn. The intended
Provision for that Object is as follows, I shall borrow
immediately one hundred thousand Dollars of the Bank, and direct
Purchases of Tobacco and Rice partly with Cash, partly on Credit
and partly by Bills drawn on me. By this means, I can with that
one hundred thousand Dollars, have the Purchases made in all March
and April, so that the Shippments to the required amount of two
hundred thousand Dollars will take Place Some in March, some in
April, and all of them I hope by the End of May. The Taxes during
April and May, will pay the Purchases on Credit, and the Bills
drawn on me; and the Taxes in June and July, will pay the hundred
thousand Dollars due to the Bank. By the End of September
therefore I may calculate on a full Discharge of all these Debts.
If the Loan should meet with Success, my Releif will be more
speedy; but you will see, Sir, from this Detail, what is most
important to you, viz that the Funds will be placed in Europe
during the Months of June and July, to pay the half Million of
Guilders which I desire you provide for. I suppose the Mode of
circuitous Negotiations to be very familiar with your Bankers, but
I would hint at the following as practicable. Suppose the Houses
in Amsterdam to draw in the Month of March on Mr. Grand at sixty
Days Sight. Mr. Grand might in May draw on a good House in London
for his full Reimbursement and the House in London might (in like
Manner) reimburse on Messrs. Le Couteulx & Co:, by which Time the
Remittances would arrive. Or the Time might be still farther
extended, if the House in London should reimburse on Messrs.
Wilhelm and Jan Willink, and they on Messrs. Le Couteulx. Or the
last Bills might perhaps be drawn on Mr. Grand instead of Messrs.
Le Couteulx. However, supposing that the Credit of those Gentlemen
might be useful, I have requested them to aid your operations,
should you think proper to ask their aid.
And now my dear Sir, let me before I close this Letter, entreat
of you most earnestly, that the public Credit just begining to
revive, be not totally lost for want of an Effort which is but
Nothing in Comparison with what we have already experienced, and
passed thro, with Success. With very sincere Esteem and Respect I
am Your most obedient and humble Servant
His Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esqr. Minister Plenipotentiary of
the United States