New York, July 25th, 1784.
Sir,
Having waited until the settlement of the public accounts was completed, I left Paris the 16th of May last, and on the 1st of June embarked with my family at Dover, on board the ship Edward, Captain Coupar, in which we arrived here yesterday. Mr Barclay has transmitted, or will soon transmit to Mr Morris, a state of the above mentioned accounts; and as it will thence appear, that some of the bills drawn upon me have been twice paid, it becomes necessary for me to inform your Excellency of the particular and cautious manner in which that business was transacted on my part. Soon after the arrival of the first bills, I directed Mr Carmichael to prepare and keep a book, with the pages divided into a number of columns, and to enter therein the dates, numbers, and other descriptive particulars of every bill, that might be presented to me for acceptance, and to which on examination he should find no objection. I made it an invariable rule to send every bill to him to be examined and entered previous to accepting it; and from that time to the day I left Spain, I never accepted a single bill until after it had been inspected and sent to me by him to be accepted. Further, to avoid mistakes and frauds, I also made it a constant rule, that every bill presented for payment, should undergo a second examination by Mr Carmichael, that if he found it right, he should sign his name on it, and that the bankers should not pay any bill unless so signed.
The bills twice paid, or rather the different numbers of the same set, stand entered in different places in the book abovementioned; and I can only regret, that the entries of the numbers first presented and accepted, were not observed by him, either at the time when the subsequent ones were offered for acceptance, or at the time when they were afterwards brought for payment.
It gives me pleasure to inform your Excellency, that the British and American ratifications of the treaty of peace were exchanged a few days before I left Paris. The day of my departure, I received under cover from Dr Franklin, a copy of the British ratifications, which I have the honor to transmit herewith enclosed.
With great respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN JAY.
P. S. I shall send with this letter to the post office, several others, which were committed to my care for your Excellency.