ter, wrote me nothing on this
business, and I have not drawn on them for more than I had agreed with
Mr Deane, towards the end of the past year, to be necessary for me to
live here in a style of mediocrity, and with much economy, namely,
two hundred louis d'ors this year. I shall continue on this footing,
drawing always a hundred louis d'ors every six months, till it please
your honorable Congress to fix my stipend. In expectation that the
situation of affairs will permit the United States to observe in
respect to me, or in case of my death, in respect to my daughter, the
wise magnanimity that befits sovereigns, I will serve them, with the
same zeal as if they gave me double, and with more inward satisfaction
than if any other Power should give me ten fold. I can assure you,
Gentlemen, that from the beginning, I have done for the whole American
people, as I would do for a friend in danger. For the rest, I am well
satisfied and grateful for the obliging things you have written me on
this subject, and I do not ask new assurances. It is sufficient for
me, that you know my true sentiments, and that you will have the
goodness to make them known to the honorable Congress.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DUMAS.[34]

FOOTNOTES:

[33] This Declaration is missing.

[34] Several letters from M. Dumas, on the affairs of Holland, in the
year 1778, may be found in the Commissioners' Correspondence, in the
first volume of the present work.

* * * * *

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

The Hague, January 1st, 1779.

Gentlemen,

On the 19th of December, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, before going
to the Assembly of the States of Holland, received from the Duc de la
Vauguyon, Ambassador of France, a note, explanatory of the Memorial
presented to their High Mightinesses the 7th, as follows.

"The king, determined to have perfect certainty of the final
resolution of the States, flatters himself that their High
Mightinesses will explain themselves in a clear and precise manner,
upon the point of perfect neutrality, which his Majesty is persuaded
that they do not wish to swerve from. He expects that they will
preserve to the flag of the United Provinces all the liberty that
belongs to them, in consequence of their independence, and to their
commerce all the integrity that t