I still wait here for instructions, and must repeat to Congress, that the refusal of Dr Franklin to furnish any money for my expenses should I go to Spain, makes it necessary, if I am to serve, that some other means of supplying me should be adopted; and I beg it may be with a sum fixed, that future discussions and disputes may be avoided.
I have the honor to be, &c.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, December 8th, 1779.
Gentlemen,
I have the honor of transmitting to you the King of England’s speech to his Parliament, and a memorial from his Ambassador at the Hague, demanding assistance from the United Provinces. It is not probable he will obtain it.
The speech shows, what I before wrote you was resolved in the British Cabinet, a determination to continue the war. His total silence about alliances seems as if he had not formed any, which I believe to be the fact.
I have the honor to be, &c.