at to do. He said that he
knew not what advice to give me; that he saw no resources anywhere;
that he should dismiss a courier on Saturday next, and that he would
again write to the Count de Vergennes on the subject. I observed to
him, that the answer if favorable would probably come too late, as a
great number of the bills would become payable about the 14th of
March. He replied, that if the Court should resolve to supply the
money, he should soon be informed of it.

We had some conversation about the Marquis de Lafayette. The
Ambassador spoke well of him, and as a proof of the confidence of
Congress in the attachment of that nobleman, I mentioned my having
received orders to correspond with him.

I then drew the conversation to our affairs in Holland, and the
prospects of an alliance with the Dutch. He said those prospects were
less fair than ever; for that though Mr Wentworth had been sent there
by England on pretence of settling a cartel, yet that his real
business was to negotiate a separate peace. I observed that in my
opinion England would be the first nation to acknowledge our
independence, (for there are many reasons that induce me to think that
France does not in fact wish to see us treated as independent by other
nations until after a peace, lest we should become less manageable in
proportion as our dependence upon her shall diminish.) I threw out
this opinion to see how it would strike him. He made a short pause,
and then asked me if I had heard that Lord Germain had resigned? I
told him I had, and as he chose to wave the subject I did not resume
it, lest he should from my pressing it suspect that I meant more than
a casual remark. The conversation then turned upon our affairs here. I
remarked, that the friends of Spain in America must greatly diminish,
that the manner we were treated by this Court was far from
conciliatory, and that it would perhaps have been better as things
have turned out, if America had not sent a Minister here. He gave into
this opinion, but added, we must be contented here now during the war;
that Spain was necessary; that she was to be treated like a mistress.
He also said, that if I had been landed in France instead of Spain, I
should not probably have come to Madrid so soon as I did, and was
going to explain himself, when the entry of his servants with
breakfast interrupted us.

Having made it a rule to give Dr Franklin frequent and minute
information of my situation, I wrote h