PARIS, January 17, 1787.
SIR,--You were pleased, in behalf of a friend, to ask information of me
on the subject of the money of the United States of America, and I had
the honor of informing you, by letter of November 7, that no
regulations of their coin had then been made by Congress, as far as I
knew. They had, however, entered into resolutions on that subject,
which have since come to hand. A translation of these will be found in
the Leyden Gazette of some few weeks ago. But it will be necessary to
make the following corrections in the Gazette:
The Gazette dates the resolutions October 10; but they were of August
8. It gives only 365.64 grains of pure silver to the dollar; it should
be 375.64. It states the pound of silver, with its alloy, to be worth
9.99 dollars only, whereas it is fixed at 13.777 dollars; and the pound
of gold, with its alloy, being worth 209.77 dollars, gives the
proportion of silver to gold as 1 to 15.225. These corrections being
made, the resolutions as stated in the Leyden Gazette may be confided
in.
I have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient, and
most humble servant.