ance, the expenses of the nation
had been greatly reduced. The bank established in Philadelphia, and
his own high character, had enabled him to support in some degree a
system of credit, the advantages of which were incalculably great.

He had through the Chevalier de la Luzerne obtained permission from
his most Christian Majesty to draw for half a million of livres
monthly, until six millions should be received. To prevent the
diversion of any part of this sum from the most essential objects, he
had concealed the negotiation even from congress, and had communicated
it only to the Commander-in-chief; yet, after receiving the first
instalment, it was discovered that Doctor Franklin had anticipated the
residue of the loan, and had appropriated it to the purposes of the
United States. At the commencement of the year 1782, not a dollar
remained in the treasury; and, although congress had required the
payment of two millions on the 1st of April, not a cent had been
received on the twenty-third of that month; and, so late as the 1st of
June, not more than twenty thousand dollars had reached the treasury.
Yet to the financier every eye was turned; to him the empty hand of
every public creditor was stretched forth; and against him, instead of
the state governments, the complaints and imprecations of every
unsatisfied claimant were directed. In July, when the second quarter
annual payment of taxes ought to have been received, the minister of
finance was informed by some of his agents, that the collection of the
revenue had been postponed in some of the states, in consequence of
which the month of December would arrive before any money could come
into the hands of the continental receivers. In a letter communicating
this unpleasant intelligence to the Commander-in-chief, he added,
"with such gloomy prospects as this letter affords, I am tied here to
be baited by continual clamorous demands; and for the forfeiture of
all that is valuable in life, and which I hoped at this moment to
enjoy, I am to be paid by invective. Scarce a day passes in which I am
not tempted to give back into the hands of congress the power they
have delegated, and to lay down a burden which presses me to the
earth. Nothing prevents me but a knowledge of the difficulties I am
obliged to struggle under. What may be the success of my efforts God
only knows; but to leave my post at present, would, I know, be
ruinous. This candid state of my situation and feeling