[ [65] They were not permitted by the French Court to make it known.
[ [66] In reply to this letter, see Mr Deane’s letter to the President of Congress, dated October 12th, 1778, Vol. I. p. 129.
[ [67] Succeeding events proved all these suspicions and speculations to have been erroneous.
[ [68] For the correction of an error here, respecting Dr Franklin’s designs in regard to his nephew, see the present volume, [p. 164, note].
[ [69] In Congress, June 8th, 1779. “According to the order of the day, Congress proceeded to the consideration of the report of the Committee of thirteen on Foreign Affairs; and on the question, shall Mr Izard be recalled?—resolved in the affirmative.
“A motion was then made, that Mr Izard be informed, that it is the sense of Congress that he need not return to America;—resolved in the affirmative.”
[ [70] For an account of the appointment of Henry Laurens to “negotiate a foreign loan,” and also as a “Commissioner to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with the United Provinces of the Low Countries,” see the Secret Journal of Congress, Vol. II. pp. 283, 285, 290, 314, 320.
[ [71] In Congress, November 23d, 1779. Committee reported, “that bills of exchange be drawn on John Jay to the amount of £100,000 sterling, and on Henry Laurens to the amount of £100,000 sterling, payable at six months sight, and that the same be sold at the current rate of exchange.”
November 29th. “Congress took into consideration the report of the Committee appointed to report the manner in which the resolution of the 23d instant, relative to the drawing bills of exchange on Mr Jay and Mr Laurens, shall be carried into execution; whereupon
“Resolved, That the bills be prepared under the direction of the Board of Treasury, and with such checks as they may devise to prevent counterfeits, and be signed by the Treasurer of Loans.