ugh he has sent
us a bill for, six or eight months ago, we had refused to receive till
the arrival of your Excellency's letter informing me it had not been
paid in America; it was therefore applied for and received by Mr. Grand
a few days ago. Mr. Barclay drew on me for the balance of his account
with the State of Virginia, 2,370 livres, which I paid; besides these
he afterwards discovered an omission of 108_l._ 8_s._ in his account,
which I pay also, so as to leave your account with him balanced. There
is, however, the articles of expenses for young Mercier, which he has
neither entered in your account, nor charged to me in my private
account. It yet remains due to him, therefore, and I shall pay it to
him if he applies to me. I should have called for it, but that he was
gone to America before I discovered the omission. Should the State have
further occasion for arms, your Excellency will be able to judge,
combining quality and price, whether those of Liege or of France are to
be preferred. I shall with cheerfulness obey your future orders on this
or any other account, and have the honor to be, with sentiments of the
most perfect esteem and respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and
most humble servant.

P. S.--The original of the report on the inauguration of the bust of
the Marquis de La Fayette accompanies this.

TO WILLIAM HAY.

PARIS, August 4, 1787.

SIR,--I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors of April
26, and May 3. I have forwarded, by a vessel lately sailed from Havre
to New York, a box marked W. H., containing the livraisons of the
Encyclopedie subsequent to those Dr. Currie has delivered you, to the
22d inclusive. They are sent to the care of Mr. Madison at Congress,
who will forward the box to you. There is in it, also, the same
livraisons to Colonel Monroe. I will continue to forward them once or
twice a year, as they come out. I have stated in a letter to Dr. Currie
the cost and expenses of the first twenty-two livraisons, to enable
yourself and himself to settle. The future shall be charged to you or
him, as your agreement shall be. It is really a most valuable work, and
almost supplies the place of a library.

I receive from too many quarters the account of the distresses of my
countrymen to doubt their truth--distresses brought on themselves by a
feebleness of mind which calculates very illy its own happiness. It is
a miserable arithmetic which makes any single privati