TO MR GRAND.
Office of Finance, February 12th, 1784.
Sir,
The last letter which I have received from you is of the 12th of September, and in that you have left a blank for the amount of funds received from Amsterdam, and inform me, that you expect again to apply for more, as Mr Barclay could not tell what sum he should be able to pay you nor when. My letters from Messrs Wilhelm and Jan Willink, Nicolas and Jacob Van Staphorst, De la Lande and Finje, announce to me a sum remitted to you beyond the idea which I had formed of your wants; and the consequence of it is, that bills I had drawn on them remained unprovided for. Not having received letters from you in so long a time, it is impossible for me to guess at the exact state of your accounts; but if Mr Barclay has placed in your hands the sums which I expected he would have done, it appears to me that the United States must have been considerably in advance to you, at the very moment when my bills were in the critical situation above mentioned. I shall not, however, draw any conclusions on this subject before I receive those advices from you, which I am in the hourly expectation of. As I do not know whether any effectual measures have yet been taken to provide for the bills, which I had drawn, and which the Houses in Amsterdam were not in cash to answer, owing to a sudden failure of the loan intrusted to their management, I have written to Dr Franklin on that subject, and am now to request your aid in the business, so that time may be given for the arrival of those remittances, which I am making to provide for the consequences, should the loan continue unproductive. On this occasion I confidently rely on your efforts, and I persuade myself, that the credit of the United States, so long preserved in Europe, through doubtful and dangerous events, will not now be suffered to expire for the want of a very little timely aid and attention.
I am, Sir, &c.
ROBERT MORRIS.
TO MESSRS WILLINK & CO.
Office of Finance, February 12th, 1784.