tual mode of
relief was to lay the commerce open. But the King's interest was also
to be guarded. A committee was appointed to take this matter into
consideration; and the result was, an order to the Farmers General, that
no such contract should be made again. And to furnish such aliment as
might keep that branch of commerce alive, till the expiration of the
present contract, they were required to put the merchants in general on
a level with Mr. Morris, for the quantity of twelve or fifteen thousand
hogsheads a year. That this relief, too, might not be intercepted from
the merchants of the two suffering nations, by those of a neighboring
one, and that the transportation of so bulky an article might go to
nourish their own shipping, no tobaccos were to be counted of this
purchase, but those brought in French or American vessels. Of this
order, made at Bernis, his Excellency, Count de Vergennes, was pleased
to honor me with a communication, by a letter of the 30th of May, 1786;
desiring that I would publish it as well in America as to the American
merchants in France. I did so; communicating it to Congress at the same
time. This order, thus viewed, with the transactions which produced
it, will be seen to have been necessary; and its punctual and candid
execution has been rendered still more so, by the speculations of the
merchants, entered into on the faith of it. Otherwise it would become
the instrument of their ruin instead of their relief. A twelvemonth
has elapsed some time since; and it is questioned, whether the Farmers
General have purchased, within that time, the quantity prescribed, and
on the conditions prescribed. It would be impossible for the merchants
to prove the negative; it will be easy for the Farmers General to show
the affirmative, if it exists. I hope that a branch of commerce of this
extent, will be thought interesting enough to both nations to render it
the desire of your Excellency to require, as I deem it my duty to ask,
a report of the purchases they have made, according to the conditions
of the order of Bernis, specifying in that report, 1. The quantities
purchased; 2. the prices paid; 3. the dates of the purchase and payment;
4. the flag of the vessel in which imported; 5. her name; 6. her port
of delivery; and 7. the name of the seller. The four first articles make
part of the conditions required by the order of Bernis; the three last
may be necessary for the correction of any errors, which shou