AMSTERDAM, March 29, 1788.
DEAR SIR,--I have received from you three letters of March the 9th,
14th, and 17th, and written you two of the 10th and 13th. In the last,
I mentioned to you that I should leave this place the 13th but I have
been drawn on from day to day by the hope of seeing the business on
which I came settled, on the basis of positive engagement, and the
great object of the month of June appeared so sure, that we were about
proceeding to immediate payment of Mr. Grand, the State of Virginia,
and all smaller claims, when a letter of the 20th February, from the
Commissioners of the Treasury, arrived, forbidding the application of
money to any object except the diplomatic expenses, till the cash for
the June interest was actually in hand. No room was left for the
bankers to execute their discretion. The consequence is a delay of all
other objects for some weeks, which probably might have been effected
instantly, without danger to the great one. Indeed, I had obtained a
positive engagement on that ground. Be so good as to communicate this
much to Mr. Grand.
A letter from Mr. Van Berkel, at New York, confirms the arrival of the
Count de Moustier there on the 18th of January, and removes all
suspense and anxiety on that subject. You know we received a similar
account the day before I left Paris, which I communicated to M. de
Montmorin. It is with infinite affliction that I recollect, in the
hurry of my departure, to have omitted to have notified the same to M.
Dupont, who had a son embarked in the same bottom. I am haunted with
this recollection, and would beg either yourself or Mr. Grand,
whichever sees M. Dupont first, to let him know that it was neither
want of attention nor attachment to him which occasioned it to escape
me, but the confusion which attended the setting out on such a journey
on so short notice.
I set out to-morrow for Utrecht, Nimeguen, etc., and shall pursue the
course of the Rhine as far as the roads will permit me, not exceeding
Strasburg. Whenever they become impassable, or too difficult, if they
do become so, I shall turn off to Paris. So also if anything of
importance should call for me at Paris sooner, you will be so good as
to address to me at Frankfort and Strasburg. I will call at the post
office there, and be happy to find news from you relative to yourself,
my daughters, and America. I shall be at Frankfort about the 8th of
April, and at Strasburg about the 15th. You shall hear from me on the
road.
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