With perfect respect, I have the honor to be, &c.
By my letter of this date you will be informed of the intentions of Congress, to provide for a principal part of the expenditures of the year 1783, by loan. I expect that you will be able to obtain the four millions of dollars, either from the Court, or by their assistance. I wish for an immediate deposition of a part in the following manner. That the Court of Spain should give orders for the shipment of a million of dollars at the Havana, free of duties, and be convoyed by one or more ships of the line to an American port; the money to be paid to them during the year, in Europe; I wish this order may be so expedited, as that Captain Barney, in the Washington, by whom this letter goes, may carry it out to the Havana, and receive the money, which will by that means arrive here some time during the winter, and of course will, I expect, come safely as well as seasonably. I wish that a half million of dollars may be paid to Messrs Le Courealx & Co, as soon us possible, to enable them to execute my orders as to particular negotiations, which I commit to them. Whatever else of the money is obtained in France, will of course be paid to Mr Grand, subject to my orders. If any part of the money be negotiated in Holland, it will be, I suppose, proper to leave it in the hands of those who negotiate the loan, subject to my further disposition.
It is in some respects fortunate, that our stores were not shipped, because, as you observe, they might have been taken; but I hope they are now on the way, for if they are to lie in France at a heavy expense of storage, &c. while we suffer for the want, it will be even worse than if they were taken. You will find by the letters, which are to go with this, that Mr Barclay is prohibited from making any more purchases on account of the United States. I confess, that I disapprove of those he has made; for the purchase of unnecessary things because they are cheap, appears to be a very great extravagance. We want the money as much as anything else, and the world must form a strange idea of our management, if while we are begging to borrow, we leave vast magazines of clothing to rot at Brest, and purchase others to be shipped from Holland. I have said nothing on this subject to Mr Barclay, because the thing having been done, could not be undone, and because the pointed resolutions of Congress on the subject, will prevent any more such operations.