[14] April 29th. This morning when I received the book from the office of the Secretary of Congress, in which the Acts of Congress that respect this department are entered every day, I perceived that the committee who had conferred with me respecting my continuance in office after the last day of next month had not reported the whole of the conversation which passed, and that the report as entered on the Journals of Congress, mistakes the sense of what passed on my part. I, therefore, wrote a note to Mr Osgood, informing the committee that they had misconstrued my sentiments. He soon called, and upon my repeating some material parts of the conversation, he acknowledged they had been omitted. I requested him to call the committee together again, but he said they had made their report, and are dissolved, but he would immediately return to Congress, have my note to him read, and move to have the report of the committee expunged from the Journals. Diary.
[15] Requesting Mr Morris's continuance in office.
[16] May 13th. Mr Gorham and Mr Hamilton, two members of a committee of Congress for conferring with the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and myself, relative to disbanding the army, met this morning. I opened the business, and stated very fully the necessity of disbanding the army, in order to get clear of an expense, which our resources are unequal to, and which cannot be supported many months at any rate, but which, if continued any longer, will consume the only means now left for making a payment to the army when disbanded. The gentlemen of the committee seemed perfectly satisfied of the necessity of disbanding the army on principles of economy, but opposed to it on principles of policy, in which the Secretary of Foreign Affairs joins with them. The Secretary at War said little, and I related an observation which he had made to me a few days before in favor of disbanding the army directly, viz.; that they would not continue in the field under their present enlistments, if the war were to break out again; but that in such a case we must begin entirely anew. The conclusion of the conference is, that I am to state the reasons resulting from the situation of our finances, which induce an immediate disbanding of the army, in writing to the committee. Diary.
[17] The proportions are as follows:
| South Carolina | 1-1 |
| Rhode Island nearly | 1-4 |
| Pennsylvania above | 1-5 |
| Connecticut and} | |
| New Jersey } each about | 1-7 |
| Massachusetts, about | 1-8 |
| Virginia about | 1-12 |
| New York and} | |
| Maryland } each about | 1-20 |
| New Hampshire, about | 1-121 |
| North Carolina,} | |
| Delaware and } nothing at all. | |
| Georgia } |
Transcriber's note:
Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained except in obvious cases of typographical error.
The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Omitted words, shown as blank spaces in the original, have been transcribed as dashes (——) in the following cases:
Page 59: As I am not positively instructed that this loan has succeeded, I do not venture to draw bills on you; but in case you shall be in cash for the United States, which I expect will happen, you will pay to Messrs —— & Co., for account of John Ross, the sum of two hundred thousand livres; to Messrs Le Couteulx & Co., for account of William Bingham, one hundred thousand livres, and to John Holker, for account of John Holker fils, the sum of one hundred thousand. From each of these persons you will take quadruplicate receipts, in the form following; "Received of ——, banker, by order of the Superintendent of the Finances of the United States of North America, on behalf of —— the sum of —— being so much paid by the said States to him, the said —— for which I have signed four receipts, all of this tenor and date. Done in Paris this —— day of —— 178—." You will be pleased, Sir, to forward to me three of the copies by different opportunities.