attentions touch me deeply. You share, I am persuaded, my father's grief and mine, and conceive in what affliction we are plunged. All the circumstances of this death are heart-rending; we are overwhelmed by it. To my affliction is added my maternal anxiety, which increases every day. My children were well on the sixth. They were at Toul. But how many events may have taken place since that time! Alas! We know but too well how many may happen in a very brief space. My father is always grateful for your remembrance. He charges me to thank you sincerely, and to speak well of him to you. Our good Mr Morris knows the value I attach to his friendship, and merits the sentiments, which I have devoted to him forever.' CHAPTER XXI. NEGOTIATION FOR PAYING A PART OF THE FRENCH DEBT.-DOUBTS RAIS- MORRIS DEMANDS HIS THREATENS TO LEAVE PARIS.-CAPTURE OF LAFAYETTE. VIEWS OF THE AMERICAN MINISTERS AT LONDON, PARIS, AND THE HAGUE, AS TO THEIR AUTHORITY TO DEMAND HIS RELEASE. IMPRISONMENT OF MADAME DE LAFAYETTE IN PARIS.-DISAGREEABLE SITUATION OF MR MORRIS, AS MINISTER IN PARIS.-RETIRES INTO THE COUNTRY.-HIS VARIOUS OFFICIAL ACTS AND DUTIES. IMPRISONMENT OF THOMAS PAINE AT THE LUXEMBOURG, AND MR MORRIS'S ATTEMPT TO PROCURE HIS RELEASE.-MR MORRIS'S RECALL. ONE of Mr Morris's first official transactions with the French ministry, was an arrangement respecting the liquidation of a portion of the debt due from the United States to France. This debt had been contracted during the American revolution, the original amount being thirty-four millions of livres. The interest and a part of the principal had already been paid. In the year 1790, Congress authorized the President to borrow a sum or sums not exceeding fourteen millions of dollars, to be appropriated towards the payment of the public debt. The business of contracting for the loans, thus authorized by Congress, was entrusted by the President to Mr Short, then Chargé des Affaires from the United States to France, and be received instructions accordingly from the Secretary of the Treasury to repair to Holland, and contract for loans on the best terms that should offer, within certain limits prescribed by the Secretary. The disposal of this money after it was borrowed, and while in the bankers' hands, as well as all arrangements with the French government concerning the debt, was also committed to Mr Short. When Mr Morris presented his credentials to the King, as minister from the United States, Mr Short had already made considerable progress in negotiating loans, and there was at that time a large sum of money belonging to the United States in the hands of their bankers at Amsterdam. As the interest on this money was lost, while thus lying useless, both Mr Short and Mr Morris thought it advisable, that some provision should be made for paying it over to the French government, on account of the American debt. Mr Short had received his credentials and instructions as Minister Resident in Holland, and was obliged to depart speedily for the Hague. The question then arose, as to the person duly empowered to manage the affairs of the American debt. Mr Morris's instructions contained nothing whatever on that head, whence he inferred, that the President intended the business to remain in the hands of Mr Short. On the contrary, Mr Short considered his agency at an end, when the new Minister was accredited, and took it for granted that the whole business devolved on him. In a concern of so much responsibility and delicacy, however, Mr Morris declined acting, without explicit instructions to that effect. Nevertheless, as the public good seemed to require it, he consented to negotiate a payment to the French ministry, as Mr Short's agent, the latter promising to sanction any arrangement thus made, and to order the money to be paid for carrying it into execution. With this understanding on both sides, Mr Short went to Holland, and Mr Morris concluded an agreement with the Commissioners of the Treasury, by which six millions of livres were to be paid to the French bankers in Holland, towards the liquidation of the American debt. On the 6th of August he gave notice of the same to Mr Short, who was then at the Hague, and requested him to make a transfer of that amount accordingly. By some accident, the letter conveying this information did not reach Mr Short, till the 16th of the month, very nearly the time that intelligence arrived of the revolution of the tenth. Here was a new and unexpected dilemma. The King was suspended, and the old government dissolved. Could the money rightfully be paid to the men, who had then put themselves at the head of affairs, and might perhaps be superseded in a week or a month by others, who would not acknowledge their authority, nor the validity of the payment? Mr Short thought not, and, moreover, believed, that he had authority only to pay the money to the King, or to the government existing at the time he received his instructions. At all events, he resolved to write to Mr Morris, and wait for his answer, as he had not heard from him since the events of the tenth. In reply, Mr Morris gave it as his opinion, that the change of government did not invalidate the transaction, and that the money ought to be paid. Mr Short was surprised at this decision, so contrary to his own views, and {to the views of almost every person whom he consulted, yet having great confidence in the judgment of Mr Morris, and believing it to have been the real intention of the President, that the Minister in Paris should have entire control in the affairs of the debt, although by some oversight nothing had been said about it in the instructions, he resolved to pay over the money. In doing this, he bethought himself of a mode of obtaining security for the payment, in case any succeeding government should disavow the transaction. happened, that the Executive Council in Paris named as their bankers the same house in Amsterdam, which had formerly It acted in that capacity for the King. It was Mr Short's plan for these bankers to receive the money, as paid from the United States on account of the King of France, and for them to give a receipt in this form. To this the bankers objected, and would act only in the name of the Executive Council. At length, on the fifth of September, the money was paid, more, as Mr Short acknowledged, in conformity with Mr. Morris's judgment, than his own. As it turned out, although the new order of things in France continued, and there was afterwards no difficulty about the payments of the debt on that ground, yet Mr Short's sentiments accorded exactly with those of his own government at the time. When the news of the revolution of the tenth of August reached the United States, Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, happened to be absent from the seat of government. He wrote immediately to Mr Short, directing him to suspend all further payments, adding that he would be responsible for obtaining the President's confirmation of that order. It was in fact confirmed, for the Secretary of State, in his first letter to Mr Morris, after the intelligence of the above event had been received, and when it was known only through the public papers, gave him the same instructions, advising him not to mention the fact to the existing authority, unless occasion rendered it necessary, and then with the assurance, that the United States had no design to delay the payment, and were only solicitous to pay the debt to such persons, as were really authorized by the nation to receive it. Notwithstanding this coincidence of opinions between Mr Short and his own government, he was severely censured by the ruling powers in France. M. Maulde, then French Ambassador at the Hague, represented Mr Short's conduct in very unfavorable terms to the Executive Council, even affirming that he refused to pay the money, till a written approbation signed by the King should be obtained. This was an error, since Mr Short requested only, that the bankers would receive it in the King's name. The Ambassador also hinted, ན་ that Mr Short's intimacies at the Hague were among the Foreign Ministers, who were hostile to the French revolution. The Executive Council, jealous of their new authority, wrote to Mr Morris expressing great indignation at these reports of their Ambassador, and adding their conviction, that the American government would disapprove, in the most pointed manner, the course pursued by their Minister at the Hague. All this, however, was manifestly unjust, because Mr Short, from the nature of the case, could have no other motive than that of doing his duty, by paying the money into proper hands. Mr Morris had a concise argument, in regard to the validity of the payment. The contract had been made with the old government, and the money was paid to the only persons pretending to represent the nation. Should the King be restored, therefore, no future claim could be presented; and should the new order of things continue, the security was equally certain, for the money had been paid on that footing. But in case of difficulty on either side, the United States had the staff in their own hands, and could walk with it which way they pleased. They owed more money, and, in a final adjustment, could insist on this amount being allowed as a part of the extinguished debt. While the above transaction was going on in Holland, the . Executive Council labored hard to push Mr Morris into another arrangement, which he resisted. At this time the French government were furnishing large supplies of provisions to the inhabitants of St Domingo. An agreement had previously been entered into, by which four hundred thousand dollars of the American debt were to be paid in the United States, and expended there in purchasing provisions for that island. This was thought a favorable scheme to the United States, because it was virtually paying the amount to their own citizens, in exchange for produce, instead of sending it to Europe. It was now proposed by the French Ministry, to extend the sum thus expended to four hundred thousand dollars inore. Some initiatory steps to this effect had already been taken with Mr Short. |