ROBERT MORRIS.
TO B. FRANKLIN.
Office of Finance, November 27th, 1781.
Sir,
The Marquis de Lafayette who is about to sail for France, will have the honor to deliver this letter, and, consistently with the acts of Congress of the 23d instant, I must request you to communicate it to him, and, from time to time, to take his aid in the prosecution of the business, which I must recommend to your particular attention. The affairs of my department are of a nature not to require concealment; but, even if that were not the case, I have such perfect confidence, as well in the prudence of the Marquis, as in his attachment to this country, that the acts of Congress out of the question, I should feel a pleasure in making him acquainted with my views and wishes. Indeed, I expect that his zeal and activity will go far in smoothing the way towards the accomplishment of those objects, which your Excellency may have to solicit.
In order that you may be perfectly acquainted with the situation of our affairs, I shall previous to my observations on the supplies to be asked for the next campaign, take some notice of the efforts I have made, and am daily reiterating, to obtain supplies from the several States, upon the various requisitions, which Congress have already made, and to operate a settlement of past accounts, and to procure proper funds for the public debts. I shall also make some remarks as to the prospect of future supplies in this country, and on those which have already been granted by the Court of France.
The papers enclosed relate chiefly to the former requisitions of Congress. You will observe, Sir, that by an act of the 28th of June last, I was directed to press a compliance with those requisitions, and it is in consequence thereof, that my circular letter of the 6th of July was written. The demands of Congress were twofold; some for specific supplies of the produce of the several States, the others for money. It may be proper here to observe, that the manner of doing public business had been such, that it was not merely difficult, but absolutely impracticable to state any accounts in the clear satisfactory manner, which ought always to be wished, even in private life, but which in public life is of the last importance. I do not mention this to cast any reflection or aspersion; for the evil resulted more from the want of arrangement, than the faults of any particular men. But it is right to take notice of the circumstance, because, in the course of what I am about to write, the want of such accounts cannot but appear. I shall say nothing as to the ill effects of demanding generally a contribution of specified articles; my opinions on that subject will appear from the enclosed papers, and experience has taught, that such contributions are no longer to be relied on. At the same time, I declare now, that in some degree it must still take place, for reasons, which will be mentioned at the proper time.
As the letter last mentioned contains no statement of the accounts, I wrote on the 16th of July another, containing the cash account of each State, as extracted from the treasury books; a statement, however, which I knew to be imperfect, for causes not necessary to be repeated. On the 25th of July, I wrote another circular letter, and in which was enclosed a statement of the several demands for specific supplies. These were considerable, and I am of opinion, that a very great part of them still remains to be delivered at this day; but there have yet come to my hands no accounts by which to determine the balances. What is said, as to the settlement of accounts in this letter, will be honored with your notice presently. You will now observe, that I therein request information as to the revenue laws, which have been passed, the mode of collecting taxes, the moneys in their treasuries, the various appropriations of it, and the different paper currencies in the several States. To your Excellency, it is unnecessary to observe, that my object was to obtain proper materials, on which to ground my future expectations, and to form efficacious systems of revenue and expenditure. I have the mortification, however, to mention, that no accurate or satisfactory answers have been received to these questions; and when I tell you, that I am not much deceived in my expectations, you will readily form the proper conclusions, as to the relaxed habit of administration in this country. I wish you to be fully possessed of our situation, and that you may convey a clear idea of it to the Court of Versailles. This will be useful to the common cause. I trust that I need not remind you how advantageous it would be for us to know as fully the real situation of France.