The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume XI Part 57

I know that I give you much trouble, but I also know, that it will be pleasing to you, because the time and the labor will be expended in the service of your country. If, Sir, my feeble but honest efforts, should open to us the prospect of American glory; if we should be enabled to look forward to a period, when, supported by solid revenue and resources, this war should have no other duration or extent than the wisdom of Congress might allow, and when its object should be the honor and not the independence of our country; if with these fair views the States should be roused, excited, animated, in the pursuit, and unitedly determining to be in that happy situation, find themselves placed there by the very determination; if, Sir, these things should happen, and what is more, if they should happen soon; the reflection that your industry has princ.i.p.ally contributed to effect them, would be the rich reward of your toils, and give to your best feelings their amplest gratification.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] It stands thus in the ma.n.u.script, but there seems to be an omission of what is meant by the _first branch_ of the accounts.

B. FRANKLIN TO ROBERT MORRIS.

Pa.s.sy, July 26, 1781.

Dear Sir,

I have just received your very friendly letter of the 6th of June past, announcing your appointment to the superintendence of our finances. This gave me great pleasure, as from your intelligence, integrity and abilities, there is reason to hope every advantage, that the public can possibly receive from such an office. You are wise in estimating beforehand, as the princ.i.p.al advantage you can expect, the consciousness of having done service to your country; for the business you have undertaken is of so complex a nature, and must engross so much of your time and attention, as necessarily to injure your private interests; and the public is often n.i.g.g.ardly even of its thanks, while you are sure of being censured by malevolent critics and bug-writers, who will abuse you while you are serving them, and wound your character in nameless pamphlets; thereby resembling those little dirty insects, that attack us only in the dark, disturb our repose, molesting and wounding us, while our sweat and blood are contributing to their subsistence. Every a.s.sistance that my situation here, as long as it continues, may enable me to afford you, shall certainly be given; for, besides my affection for the glorious cause we are both engaged in, I value myself upon your friendship, and shall be happy if mine can be made of any use to you.

With great and sincere esteem, I am ever, Dear Sir, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

B. FRANKLIN TO ROBERT MORRIS.

Pa.s.sy, July 26th, 1781.

Dear Sir,

I have received the letter you honored me with, of the 8th of June past, acquainting me, that as Superintendent of Finance, you have named Messrs Couteulx, & Co. at Paris to receive from his Majesty's Ministers the money granted to Congress, that they may be enabled to honor your bills whenever they appear; and you intimate a desire to be informed of the responsibility of that house.

With regard to the six millions given by the King in aid of our operation's for the present campaign, before the arrival of Mr Laurens, 2,500,000 of it went in the same ship with him in cash; stores equivalent to 2,200,000 more of it were ordered by him, and are shipped; 1,500,000 were sent to Holland, to go in the ship commanded by Commodore Gillon. Add to this, that Captain Jackson, by his orders, purchased clothing and stores in Holland, to the value of about 50,000 sterling, for which he has drawn bills on me, which bills I accepted, and also agreed to pay those drawn on Messrs Laurens, Jay, and Adams; expecting aid from a projected loan of 10,000,000 of livres for our use in Holland. But this loan meeting with unforeseen difficulties, and its success uncertain, I have found myself obliged to stop the money in Holland, in order to be able to save the honor of the Congress drafts, and to comply with my engagements. By these means you have really at present no funds here to draw upon. I hope, however, that Messrs Couteulx, & Co. will be enabled to honor your drafts; but I trust in your prudence that you will draw no more till you have advice of funds provided. And as the laying out so much money in Holland instead of France is disapproved here, and the payment will, therefore, not be provided for, I must earnestly request your aid in remitting that sum to me before December next, when my acceptances will become due, otherwise I shall be ruined with the American credit in Europe.

With regard to the wealth and credit of the House of Le Couteulx, & Co. I have never heard it in question. But as Mr Ferdinand Grand, banker at Paris, and his broker, Sir George Grand, banker in Holland, have been our zealous and firm friends ever since our arrival in France, have aided us greatly by their personal interest and solicitations, and have often been six or seven hundred thousand livres in advance for us, and are houses of unquestionable solidity, I cannot but be concerned at any step for taking our business out of their hands, and wish your future bills may be drawn on Ferdinand Grand, for I think it concerns our public reputation, to preserve the character of grat.i.tude, as well as that of honesty and justice. The commission hitherto charged to us by Mr Grand for receiving and paying our money is a half per cent, which, considering the trouble given by the vast number of small drafts for interest of the loans, appears to me a moderate consideration.

With great and sincere esteem, I have the honor to be, Dear Sir, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

TO THE GOVERNORS OF Ma.s.sACHUSETTS, RHODE ISLAND, NEW YORK, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, AND NORTH CAROLINA.

Philadelphia, July 27th, 1781.

Sir,

I find upon examination, that the recommendation of Congress of the 3d of February last, for laying an impost of five per cent on goods imported, and a like impost of five per cent on prizes and prize goods, has not been complied with by your State.

The object which Congress had in view when they issued this recommendation was of the utmost importance, and every day gives it an additional weight and magnitude. Whether these States are able to support the annual expenses of the war by their annual revenue, and whether it would be prudent and wise to draw forth such revenue, are questions which may hereafter be agitated, considered, and answered.

For the present it is sufficient to observe, that no methods have hitherto been adopted to produce a revenue by any means adequate to the current expenses. The public debt, therefore, is large and increasing. The faith of the United States is pledged to the public creditors. At every new loan it must be pledged anew, and an appeal is now made to the States individually, to support the public faith so solemnly pledged. If they do, it is possible that public credit may be restored, if not our enemies will draw from thence strong arguments in favor of what they have so often a.s.serted, that we are unworthy of confidence, that our union is a rope of sand, that the people are weary of Congress, and that the respective States are determined to reject its authority. I fear that a mere verbal contradiction of these a.s.sertions will have but little effect. No words will induce men to risk their property upon the security of a nominal union. Your Excellency will be able at once to determine whether that union is more than nominal, in which any part shall refuse to be bound for the debts of the whole, or to contribute to the general defence. I must be permitted, however, to observe, that in matters of public credit long delay is equivalent to direct refusal.

Despotic governments are in war superior to others by the union of efforts, the secrecy of operations, and the rapidity with which every wheel may be moved by one sovereign will. This superiority, however, is amply compensated to free governments by the ardent attachment of their citizens, and the general confidence, which enables them to make exertions beyond their force, and expend in one year the revenues of many. A single view of our enemy, in the unequal contest she now carries on, will demonstrate these advantages more clearly than any arguments. The credit of Great Britain is not only her chief, but it is almost her only support. Inferior in everything else to the a.s.sociates combined against her, she still makes head everywhere, and balances the opposition through the four quarters of the globe. While we feel the force of these last struggling of her ambition, we must admire the source from whence they flow. Admiring, we should endeavor to imitate, and in order to succeed, we need only to make the attempt.

There was a time when public confidence was higher in America than in any other country. Hence the existence of that paper, which bore us through the conflict of five years' hostility. In the moment when no others dared oppose Great Britain in her career towards universal empire, we met her ambition with our fort.i.tude, encountered her tyranny with our virtue, and opposed her credit with our own. We may perceive what our credit would have done, had it been supported by revenue, from what it has already effected without that support. And we have no reason to doubt but that it may be restored, when we reflect on the fate which paper currencies have formerly sustained.

The appeal, as I have already had the honor to observe, is made by Congress to the several States. Some of them have answered by pa.s.sing the laws required, others are silent. Whence this silence proceeds, I confess myself at a loss to determine. Some reasons, indeed, I have heard a.s.signed by individuals in conversation, but I cannot conceive that they should have weighed with the Legislatures. Indeed I can hardly conceive how any reasons can have weighed against a matter of such importance as the keeping public faith inviolate.

I have heard it said, that commerce will not bear a five per cent duty. Those who make such a.s.sertions must be very little acquainted with the subject. The articles of commerce are either such as people want, or such as they do not want. If they be such as people want, they must be purchased at the price for which they can be had; and the duty being on all, gives to no seller any advantage over another. If, on the contrary, the article be such as people do not want, they must either increase their industry so as to afford the use of it with the duty, or else they must dispense with that use. In the former case, the commerce is just where it was, and in the latter case the people consume less of foreign superfluities, which certainty is a public benefit.[38]

I have also heard it said, that the duty should be carried to the account of the State where it is levied. What can be the object of those, who contend for this point, I know not. If there are doubts as to the justice of Congress, that body should not have been intrusted with the power of apportioning quotas on the several States. If, on the contrary, those who make this proposition, expect that the commercial States, by carrying the five per cent duty to their private account, can derive from their neighbors, the idea is as fallacious as it is unjust. The equity of Congress would lead them to relax so much in the quotas as would render the contribution of the States proportionate, or if that could not be done, the suffering State would be induced to carry on its commerce. Thus the end would be defeated, as indeed it ought; for surely the advantage derived by the mercantile States, as a mercantile profit, is sufficient without exacting a revenue in addition to it. Articles imported into the country are consumed in the country. If each pays a duty, that duty will be paid by all. The tax will fall equally on all, and therefore ought, in justice, to be carried to the general account.

I have also heard it suggested, that the public debts ought to be divided among the several States, and each be called to provide for its proportion. This measure would be sufficient to destroy the credit of any country. The creditors trust the Union, and there can be no right to alter the pledge which they have accepted for any other, even for a better one, without their free consent. But this is not all; there is in it a principle of disunion implied, which must be ruinous.

Even at this late period, the States might singly be subjugated. Their strength is derived from their union. Everything, therefore, which injures that union, must impair the strength which is dependent upon it.

I shall not encroach longer upon your Excellency's patience by adducing farther arguments. Everything for and against the proposition, has doubtless been considered by the United States in Congress a.s.sembled, with that attention which is due to the importance of those objects on which they deliberate. I think, however, it may fairly be concluded, that those who wish to re-establish the credit and confirm the union of these States, will comply with this requisition. As I do not doubt that this is the sentiment of that State over which you preside, I shall believe that the Legislature at their next session, will pa.s.s the proper laws, and I shall at present only entreat that it may be done as speedily as possible.

I take the liberty, however, on this occasion, to make an observation, which applies indeed to many others. Those who have the public weal very seriously at heart, cannot but lament that the acts pa.s.sed by many States on the requisitions of Congress, have been fettered with restrictions, as to their operation and effect, very inconsistent with that confidence which is due to the integrity of the United States in Congress a.s.sembled. Nothing can be more pernicious than the jealousy which dictates clauses restraining the operation of laws, until similar laws shall have been pa.s.sed by the other States, or confining the revenue or supplies to partial or particular objects, not within the design of Congress, or short of their intentions; or any other clauses, which show a distrust of the States in the sovereign representative of America, or in each other. Such jealousies must prove highly detrimental, if not ruinous. And surely there can be no ground to entertain them, for the Congress is composed of Representatives freely chosen, and is of consequence under the control of those by whom they were appointed. Nothing, therefore, ought to prevent the free and generous communication of all necessary powers to Congress; and I am confident that such a communication will more effectually dishearten the enemy, encourage our friends, and promote the general and unanimous efforts of the whole community, than any other circ.u.mstance which could possibly happen. It is a truth, that the enemy does not even pretend to hope anything except from sowing discord among us, and it is but too true, that while the whigs of America are daily more firm and united in the cause of independence, there has been too little attention paid to give to that union of sentiment a proper political form and consistency. I am not, however, the less confident that in this, as in everything else, the enemy will, to their cost, discover that their hopes have been extremely fallacious.

With every sentiment of respect, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] For a very interesting letter from the President of Congress to the Governor of Rhode Island, on the matter of duties to be levied by the States, reported by a Committee, of which Hamilton was Chairman, see the _Public Journals of Congress_, under the date of April 29th, 1783.

TO JOHN JAY, MINISTER IN SPAIN.

Philadelphia, July 29th, 1781.

Sir,

I enclose you copies of my letters, of the 17th, to the Governor of Havana, and Robert Smith. These letters will require no explanation to you. In addition, however, I am to inform you, that my letter to the Governor was shown to Don Francisco Rendon, whose full approbation of it is contained, in the enclosed copy of his note to me.

I am to request your early attention to this matter, and that you will support and justify the measures I have taken, and which may be taken in consequence of them by others.

With every sentiment of respect, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA.