Congress has directed Mr Laurens to solicit from the King an aid of money, and to request his guarantee for a loan. In consequence his Majesty has been pleased to grant six millions tournois,[19] in form of a gift, and he has likewise agreed to be security for a loan of ten millions, to be opened in Holland, for account of Congress; and if that loan should meet with difficulties, he has even resolved to supply it out of his own finances, as soon as possible. The six millions, which his Majesty has granted, have been employed in the following manner; two million five hundred thousand livres are sent to Brest, there to be shipped; one million five hundred thousand are sent to Amsterdam, to be likewise shipped there; about two millions are to be employed in payment for the goods, which Mr Laurens was directed to purchase. Besides the sum above mentioned, his Majesty has been pleased to grant Dr Franklin four millions to discharge the bills of exchange drawn on him by Congress. In case the loan, which is to be opened in Holland on account of the Americans, should fail of success, his Majesty will be under the necessity of supplying it. It is understood, that the United States shall repay his Majesty the sum of ten millions, in order to fulfil the engagements, that shall be entered into in Holland.
The operations of the campaign, of which his Majesty has given a plan to the commander of his fleet in America, form the second object, in which the United States are interested; and without being able to fix the attention of Congress or General Washington upon the moment when his fleet shall appear on the coast of North America, he assures them, that the success of their armies makes a principal part of his views for the ensuing campaign. It is therefore proper, that, upon the arrival of Colonel Laurens, the United States should put themselves in condition to take advantage of the operations of his fleet in America.
DE VERGENNES.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] These six millions were not obtained "in consequence" of Colonel Laurens's solicitation, but were granted to Dr Franklin, before Colonel Laurens's arrival. See Franklin's Correspondence, Vol. III. p. 230, and also Colonel Laurens's letter above, dated March 20th;—also the following letter of September 2d.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, September 2d, 1781.
Sir,
Happy in this opportunity of renewing the assurances of my inviolable duty and attachment to the United States, in Congress assembled, I have the honor of submitting to them a supplementary report of the negotiation, with which they were pleased to intrust me, by their commission of the 23d of December, 1780.
Previous to my arrival in France, the letter from Congress of the 22d of December to his Most Christian Majesty had been delivered, and the application for succors supported by our Minister Plenipotentiary, the result of which was a gratuitous donation from the King of France of six millions of livres, to be drawn for by General Washington at distant periods, and an offer to provide clothing and other supplies for the army, the expense to be deducted from the donation above mentioned. The disproportion between this and the necessities of the United States upon which their demand was founded, as well as the exceptionable manner of touching the money, determined me without delay to renew the negotiation, in which I had the concurrence of our Minister Plenipotentiary, and the advantage of his counsels.