O JOHN JAY, March 16, 1788

TO JOHN JAY.

Amsterdam, March 16, 1788.

Sir,

In a letter of the 13th instant, which I had the honor of addressing you
from this place, I mentioned in general terms, the object of my journey
hither, and that I should enter into more particular details, by the
confidential conveyance which would occur through Mr. Adams and Colonel
Smith.

The board of treasury had, in the month of December, informed me and
our bankers here, that it would be impossible for them to make any
remittances to Europe for the then ensuing year, and that they must,
therefore, rely altogether on the progress of the late loan. But this,
in the mean time, after being about one third filled, had ceased to
get forward. The bankers who had been referred to me for advice, by Mr.
Adams, stated these circumstances, and pressed their apprehension for
the ensuing month of June, when two hundred and seventy thousand florins
would be wanting for interest. In fine, they urged an offer of the
holders of the former bonds, to take all those remaining on hand,
provided they might receive out of them the interest on a part of our
domestic debt, of which they had also become the holders. This would
have been one hundred and eighty thousand florins. To this proposition,
I could not presume any authority to listen. Thus pressed between the
danger of failure on one hand, and this proposition on the other, I
heard of Mr. Adams being gone to the Hague to take leave. His knowledge
of the subject was too valuable to be neglected under the present
difficulty, and it was the last moment in which we could be availed of
it. I set out immediately, therefore, for the Hague, and we came on to
this place together, in order to see what could be done. It was easier
to discover, than to remove, the causes which obstructed the progress
of the loan. Our affairs here, like those of other nations, are in the
hands of particular bankers. These employ particular, and they have
their particular circle of money-lenders. These moneylenders, as I have
before mentioned, while placing a part of their money in our
foreign loans, had at the same time employed another part in a joint
speculation, to the amount of eight hundred and forty thousand dollars,
in our domestic debt. A year's interest was becoming due on this, and
they wished to avail themselves of our want of money for the foreign
interest, to obtain payment of the domestic. Our first object was to
c