The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume XII Part 45

With perfect respect, I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Office of Finance, May 6th, 1784.

Sir,

In consequence of the resolutions of the 28th of April, and 2d of May, 1783, I have made the various engagements then in contemplation, and any late letters to Congress will show that some of those engagements to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars still remain to be fulfilled. Congress will be pleased also to observe that their late arrangements with respect to foreign officers, form an object of about fifty thousand dollars, including the grant of ten thousand to Baron Steuben. Notwithstanding this and the constant demands for current service, I am not without hopes that if all the bills on Holland be paid, I shall in the course of the summer be able to quit my station. Having been informed (though not officially) that Congress intend to adjourn in the beginning of next month, I am humbly to request that they would in such case be pleased to take eventual arrangements for administering their finances. And I am the more solicitous on this subject, lest through the want of such arrangements, some injury should happen to the public service when I retire.

I hope Congress will indulge me also in mentioning, that no committee has been appointed to inspect into the conduct of my department. It would give me particular pleasure that measures were taken on that subject also.

With respect, I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.

Office of Finance, May 19th, 1784.

Dear Sir,

By the opportunity which your friend, Mr Constable, offers, I now acknowledge the receipt of your several favors of the 26th of December, 10th of January, and 9th of March last. Accept, I pray you, of my sincere thanks for them all. I also enclose for your perusal the copies of my letters to Congress, of the 16th of April and of this date. To these I add their resolutions of the 3d instant, which will I hope prove agreeable to you. If I have not transmitted the copies of or extracts from your letters to Congress so soon as they were received, you must attribute it to circ.u.mstances which I, on the spot, could best judge of, and which is not worth while to mention.

In pursuance of what I have just now said to Congress, I shall proceed to request your exertions for establishing a free port at the Isle of France or Bourbon. You will easily obtain sufficient information in Europe to direct your applications on this subject, and Mr Constable will, I think, be able to give you some useful information as to the consequences of it upon this country. I confess, that it appears to me to be the probable means of establishing at that port, the most extensive and useful commerce with India, that has ever yet existed. To France and to America it will be most particularly useful, because we shall trade freely and without risk to such port, and you will undoubtedly furnish us with all those articles of India goods, which we should otherwise go in search of to India, or procure from other nations. This will form an object of near twenty millions of livres annually, or calculating both the export and import cargoes, it will amount to about thirty millions, and consequently cannot be less than five millions clear advantage to France; and if it be considered, that this is so much taken from her commercial rival, we may estimate it as being an object of ten millions annually. Such being the importance of it with respect to America, what may we not calculate on for the other countries, who may incline to trade thither? But besides this great commercial consideration, there are others of a political nature; such as the increase of your seamen; the advantage of a place of arms, marine a.r.s.enal, &c. in that critical position. These I shall not dwell upon, because I do not wish to go out of my depth.

Returning then to a commercial view of the subject, I consider it as almost certain, that America would find it more advantageous to trade with that port than to go on to India; and hence I draw one very strong inference, that we should not only be by that means brought into a closer political connexion with France, but that France would hold a much larger share of all our other commerce, than she would without such an establishment. I will not trouble you with my reasons, because I think they will not escape you. But before I close my letter I must observe, that although this commerce may and undoubtedly will yield you a revenue, yet there is danger in beginning with revenue too soon. Let the port be first made free to all the world, and let good and intelligent commissioners or intendants be appointed to transmit information of the commerce carried on. If there be no duties, there will be no false entries; and thus in two or three years the Court will be able to act with their eyes open; and in the meantime the enriching of your own subjects is always of sufficient consequence, even if revenue be put entirely out of the question. If on the other hand you only free the port by halves, and leave it subject to duties and restrictions, the commerce may never take its course that way; and always remember, that the commission received by your merchants from such a commerce is alone of vast importance.

I am, Sir, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND.

Office of Finance, June 21st, 1784.

Sir,

That my official existence has been prolonged to the present moment arises from the dilatoriness of the States in providing means to discharge those engagements, which I had taken for their benefit at the pressing instance of Congress. I hope your Excellency will believe me when I seriously a.s.sure you, that the greatest advocates for a change cannot more earnestly desire my dismission than I myself do. I hope that their sincerity and mine will speedily be put to the trial. They, by granting money, and I by resigning, can best evince that our professions are founded in truth. Thus, Sir, it has happened, that the reasons for granting money to the Union have acquired an additional weight from considerations personal to me, and perhaps in the only way in which I could have given to them any efficacy.

Whatever sinister causes may have been suggested to invalidate my former applications, I humbly hope, that at this period my earnest entreaty to comply with the requisitions of Congress for funding the public debt will be considered as flowing from a conviction, that it is a measure necessary to the peace and happiness of our country. To me it can produce neither honor, nor power nor profit.

The advantage I may derive will be common with all my fellow citizens, and I shall share, also, the burden in common with them.

But the numerous cla.s.s of sufferers in whose particular favor that burden is to be sustained, will, I hope, meet with an advocate in every bosom. Justice, policy, humanity, press the measure upon our feelings and reflection; and if it be objectionable, let it be considered how seldom any human plans are formed, to which objections may not be made. Our union, necessary as it is to our existence, is still liable to objections. And government, without which we cannot partic.i.p.ate in the benefits of society, will always in something or other give room for clamor and discontent.

I hope, Sir, this application from me will be at least excused. It is the last. It is the general result of what I feel to be my duty. Those who come after me will, I hope, have that influence, which I have not; and succeed where I have failed. But whether they succeed or whether they fail, they cannot more earnestly desire the good of America than I do.

I am, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO M. DE MARBOIS, CHARGe D'AFFAIRES FROM FRANCE.

Office of Finance, August 17th, 1784.

Sir,

I had yesterday the honor to receive your letter of the 15th, by which I perceive that you misunderstood me a little in the conversation alluded to. On that occasion, Sir, I expressed my intention to take arrangements for the payment of four hundred thousand livres, being the interest due in November next, upon the loan of ten million livres, guarantied by his Most Christian Majesty; but I could not have told you that they were actually taken, because that is not the fact. Indeed I did expect, that certain attachments which have been laid upon the property of the United States in France would have been taken off; and that in consequence of orders formerly given, Mr Grand would have received through Mr Barclay the necessary funds. Should this be the case he will pay that interest of course, having already done so last year, in pursuance of a general authority to that effect. If, however, the suspense occasioned by those attachments should cause any delay, the King's Ministers who were long ago informed of them, will doubtless excuse the inconveniences which may result from it. The arrangements now to be formed must be in a double sense eventual, and depend not only upon the fate of the attachments, but also upon the state of those funds, which may be in Europe at the disposition of the United States.

I should be happy, Sir, in the opportunity of satisfying your desire, to be informed of the measures taken with respect to those sums, which the King was pleased to lend, and which (with the interest accruing thereon) are payable at the several epochas specified for the purpose in the conventions made on that subject, between our respective Ministers; but not having received the orders of the United States in Congress, I cannot presume to antic.i.p.ate what they may think proper to say. I will immediately do myself the honor of transmitting to his Excellency, the President, a copy of your letter; and as I cannot doubt, that both those measures which they have already taken, and those which they may hereafter adopt, must be perfectly consistent with their honor, I shall indulge the hope, that they will meet the approbation of their august ally.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Office of Finance, September 30th, 1784.

Sir,

I had the honor of mentioning to Congress, upon the 4th of May, the advices then just received from Holland, and to pray their sentiments upon the loan, which Mr Adams had (upon a view of all circ.u.mstances) found it necessary to open. I was the more anxious on this subject, as I saw a probability of the speedy completion of this loan for two millions of guilders, and therefore if not approved of, no time should have been lost in stopping the further progress.

Since writing that letter, I have received the scheme of the loan, and the copy of the obligation, both of which are here enclosed for the inspection and consideration of the United States in Congress. It is probable, that not only this loan, but also the former loan of five millions will both be filled before any determinations of Congress can arrive in Europe; for the concurrence of many States to the measures proposed by Congress, and the resolutions of several legislative bodies expressing their sense of the necessity of enabling the United States punctually and honorably to discharge their engagements have reanimated that credit, which for evident reasons had languished and died away.

The public accounts will sufficiently explain the situation of money matters, and the gentleman charged with the department of the finances will of course furnish such information as may from time to time be required; I shall not therefore go any further into the details of this business, but must express to Congress my opinion of the loan generally; and certainly, if we consider the very untoward circ.u.mstances in which it was undertaken, very great praise is due to the persons concerned in proposing, adopting, and pursuing it. This sentiment, which I have constantly felt has not been declared until the present moment, because no suspicion can now arise, that what I say, is dictated by a view to influence their future exertions, seeing that my political existence must be at an end before the contents of this letter can possibly be transmitted.

I have invariably in my official correspondence, (as indeed upon every other occasion, both public and private) expressed the conviction which I feel, that however the several States may, from a difference in local circ.u.mstances, differ in their opinions about the mode of providing for public debts, all of them will concur in the just sentiment, that these debts ought to be most punctually discharged. There cannot, therefore, be any doubt, that the proper provisions will be made, and I am grounded in the a.s.sertion that when made, the public credit of America will be the best of any in the world, that it will cost less to maintain it by us, than by any other nation, and that considering the infant state of our cultivation in general, and the frontiers in particular, it is of more importance to us than it can be to any other country. It is also a commercial problem, which admits of absolute demonstration, that the punctual payment of interest on our debts will produce a clear annual gain of more than such interest can possibly amount to. So that the eternal and immutable principles of truth and justice, being for a moment out of the question, and stifling those sentiments of humanity, which arise from a view of what the public creditors must suffer, should their dues be withheld, (if indeed it be possible to stifle such sentiments,) still it will indisputably appear to be the interest of the merchant, as well as of the husbandman and mechanic, to pay their just proportions towards discharging the public engagements.

For this plain and simple system of common honesty, while it invigorates the springs of our credit, strengthens also the bands of our union, proceeding with equal motion towards the public weal and private prosperity.

That the labors of our great and glorious revolution may thus be crowned by the impartial hand of justice, and the last stone be thus placed in the arch of our extensive empire, is the ardent wish of your Excellency's most obedient, &c.

ROBERT MORRIS.

TO B. FRANKLIN.

Office of Finance, September 30th, 1784.