ROBERT MORRIS.
TO MESSRS LE COUTEULX & CO.
Office of Finance, February 12th, 1784.
Gentlemen,
Previously to my letter of the 13th of January, I had received yours of the 10th of September and 18th of October. In one of my said letters I requested you to come under acceptance for Mr Ross's bills, although my public bill in his favor should not be accepted. But Mr Ross assures me that he has not yet drawn, and promises that he will not draw on the credit of that bill until my advices from Europe shall warrant it. So that my precaution in this respect was unnecessary. Neither is that bill to be protested if not paid when it falls due, but it is to be held by you for Mr Ross's future orders. Those advices which I have lately received, are far from being agreeable, and it is probable that my letters written to Dr Franklin in consequence of them may induce him to apply for your friendly aid to prolong the time of payment of some bills, which I had drawn on the credit of that loan, and which to my great surprise the negotiators of it were not in cash to answer. Should he make any such application, Gentlemen, I am to request that you will come in with your extensive credit, to support that of the United States; and you may rely that I will take care, by proper and speedy remittances, finally to absolve your engagements.
I have this day given to the house of Peter Whitesides & Co. my bill on you, (number ninetyseven) payable at ninety days' sight, and for three hundred thousand livres. I am to desire your acceptance of that bill, which I have drawn, to prevent, if possible, the protest of bills drawn by that House in consequence of one of my said bills on Amsterdam; to put you in cash for that sum, I have purchased already seven hundred hogsheads of tobacco, now lying ready for shipment at Alexandria in Virginia, and directed farther purchases, as also the chartering of vessels to carry it to Europe. I shall make you a shipment of from seven to eight hundred hogsheads as soon as the weather will permit, for at present all our navigation is shut up by the ice. This tobacco shall be shipped to your order at L'Orient, and I think, that with every allowance for delay, it must leave the Chesapeake by the 1st of April at farthest, and will arrive within two months after the bill shall have been presented. The sales of it will therefore put you in cash to answer the bill. But to render the matter as safe as possible, you shall have early advices, so as to make the insurance, which will answer the bill should the tobacco fail. After all, Gentlemen, it is possible that you may be in advance for a short time. But I make not the least doubt, that you will cheerfully go into the proposed operation, at present necessary to the United States, and which (that necessity out of the question) is in itself among the best kinds of commercial transactions. In order, also, to place you more perfectly at your ease, I agree to make good any expense, which may be incurred, by negotiations to prolong the payment, should it be inconvenient for you to make the actual advance, and should such advance become necessary by accidents of the sea or other unforeseen circumstances. But at all events my said bills must be honored.
With esteem and respect, &c.
ROBERT MORRIS.