TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Paris, April 24th, 1781.
Sir,
I had the honor of addressing to your Excellency a letter on the 9th instant, conformably to which I presented the Memorial now sent, after preparing the way for it by as many conferences as an intervening vacation would permit. In the course of these I discovered that it was impossible to obtain any further detachment of ships of force from hence; consequently, that the sum of specie to be sent immediately to America would be limited by the means of conveyance, and that successive epochs must divide a risk, which would be too considerable if simultaneous.
In pursuance of these ideas Count de Vergennes declared to me, that it had been solemnly determined to send no more than two millions in a frigate with me, and to have the remainder transmitted afterwards at different periods; this sum appeared to me so inconsiderable, compared with our necessities, that I thought it my duty to make the warmest remonstrances on the subject, and the succeeding day I delivered the Memorial above mentioned. In the mean time I have been employed in engaging a conveyance from Holland, which is so unexceptionable as to enable me to demand with confidence an additional sum for the first remittance of specie. The conveyance alluded to is the Indian, a vessel having the dimensions of a seventyfour gun ship, mounting twentyeight French thirtysix pounders on her main deck, and twelve twelves on her quarter deck and forecastle, sold by the Chevalier de Luxembourg to the State of South Carolina for the term of three years, loaded in part with articles of clothing, &c. on said State's account, nearly ready for sea, but reduced to the impossibility of sailing for want of ten thousand pounds sterling to discharge an accumulation of debts contracted in port. In these circumstances Captain Gillon, her present commander, has applied to me in the most pressing terms for assistance, and has offered to cede me the cargo which he has on board, on condition of furnishing the means of extricating himself from his present difficulties. As there appeared to me a happy coincidence in this matter, of the interests of the State and the Continent, I determined to accept his offer, annexing certain conditions, as will be seen in the enclosure.[17]
The advantages in favor of the continent are in the first place a very important and considerable gain of time in forwarding supplies of clothing, as no considerable quantity could have been obtained at the proper seaport of France at an earlier date than the 10th of June. Secondly, the excellence of the conveyance removes a powerful objection on the part on the Ministry against augmenting the first remittance of specie.
The advantages on the part of the State are, that she will be able to avail herself of the services of her ship, of which without the present interposition there would not be the least prospect, and besides, she will derive her share in common with the other members of the Union from the general advantages.
I have not as yet received a definitive answer from the Count de Vergennes to my last Memorial and subsequent applications, but I learn from M. Necker, that the following will be the distribution of what relates to his department, viz. that two millions will be sent in the frigate with me, one million on board the Indian, and that it is besides in agitation to make an arrangement with Spain for assigning a sum of specie at Vera Cruz, to be transported from thence by a frigate to be ordered on that service from one of the West India Islands.
I have reason to apprehend an unfavorable answer to my request, that the military effects from the public arsenals should be granted on credit. The expense of these articles will make a considerable deduction from our pecuniary resources. Your Excellency will observe that the same difficulties exist with respect to these objects, as with regard to the manufactures of cloth, the great deposits of them all being situated in the interior country, remote from the sea. The cargo of the Marquis de Lafayette, that of the Indian, (including the additional purchases, which I have directed to be made in order to complete her tonnage) and the supplies collected at Brest, or on their way thither, will nearly include the most essential articles of the Board of War's estimate. The purchases in France are made under the direction of an Intendant in the War Department. Those in Holland are made by M. de Neufville & Son, whom I employed because they appeared to possess the confidence of our Minister Plenipotentiary in that country.
I found great difficulties and delays likely to attend the plan of casting howitzers of English calibre in France. The scarcity of materials, the great danger of a want of precision in the proportions, and the facility with which we cast shells in America, induced me to substitute six inch howitzers of French calibre, to those demanded by the Board of War. This size, in the opinion of the most experienced artillerists, is preferable to the larger, their effects being the same, and their inferior size rendering them much more manageable, as well as less expensive of ammunition. A certain number of shells will accompany the howitzers, but it will be necessary that the Board of War should give immediate orders for making a larger provision of them. Their dimensions may be taken from those with the French artillery under General Rochambeau.