Congress to depreciate the money, which they themselves

have emitted.

But while I admit, Sir, that that Assembly might have recourse to the expedient abovementioned in order to remove their load of debt, I am far from agreeing, that it is just, or agreeable to the ordinary course of things to extend the effect to strangers, as well as to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, I think it ought to be confined to Americans, and that an exception ought to be made in favor of strangers, or at least, that some means ought to be devised to indemnify them, for the losses they may suffer by the general laws.

In order to make you sensible of the truth of this observation, I will only remark, Sir, that the Americans alone ought to support the expense, which is occasioned by the defence of their liberty, and that they ought to consider the depreciation of their paper money, only as an impost which ought to fall upon themselves, as the paper money was at first established only to relieve them from the necessity of paying taxes. I will only add, that the French, if they are obliged to submit to the reduction proposed by Congress, will find themselves victims of their zeal, and I may say of the rashness, with which they exposed themselves in furnishing the Americans with arms, ammunition, and clothing; and in a word, with all things of the first necessity, of which the Americans at the time stood in need. You will agree with me, Sir, that this is not what the subjects of the King ought to expect, and that after escaping the dangers of the sea, the vigilance of the English, instead of dreading to see themselves plundered in America, they ought on the contrary, to expect the thanks of Congress, and of all the Americans, and believe, that their

property will be as secure and sacred in America as in France itself.

It was with this persuasion, and in a reliance on public faith, that they received paper money in exchange for their merchandise, and kept that paper with a view to employ it in new speculations of commerce. The unexpected reduction of this paper overturns all their calculations at the same time that it ruins their fortune. I ask, Sir, if these consequences can induce you to believe, that this act of Congress is proper to advance the credit of the United States, to inspire a confidence in their promises, to invite the European nations to run the same risks, to which the subjects of his Majesty have exposed themselves?

These, Sir, are the principal reflections occasioned by the resolution of Congress of the 18th of March. I thought it my duty to communicate them to you with an entire confidence, because you are too enlightened not to feel their force and justice, and too much attached to your country, not to use all your endeavors to engage it to take steps to do justice to the subjects of the King.

I will not conceal from you, that the Chevalier de la Luzerne has received orders to make the strongest representations on this subject, and that the King is firmly persuaded, that the United States will be forward to give to him, on this occasion, a mark of their attachment by granting to his subjects the just satisfaction, which they solicit and expect, from the wisdom and justice of the United States.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DE VERGENNES.

TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, June 22d, 1780.

Sir,

I received this day the letter, which your Excellency did me the honor to write me on the 21st of this month.

I thank your Excellency for the confidence, which induced you to communicate this letter to me, and the continuance of which I shall ever study to deserve.

When your Excellency says, that his Majesty's Minister at Congress has already received orders to make representations against the resolutions of Congress of the 18th of March, as far as they effect his subjects, I am at a loss to know with certainty, whether your Excellency means only, that such orders have lately passed, and are sent off to go to America, or whether you mean, that such orders were sent so long ago as to have reached the hand of the Chevalier de la Luzerne.

If the latter is your Excellency's meaning, there is no remedy; if the former, I would submit it to your Excellency's consideration, whether those orders may not be stopped and delayed a little time, until his Excellency Mr Franklin may have opportunity to make his representations to his Majesty's Ministers, to the end, that if it should appear, that those orders were issued in consequence of misinformation, they may be revoked, otherwise sent on.

I will do myself the honor to write fully to your Excellency upon this subject without loss of time, and although it is a subject on which I pretend not to an accurate knowledge in the detail, yet I flatter myself I am so far master of the principles as to demonstrate, that the plan of Congress is not only wise, but just.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

Sir,

TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, June 22d, 1780.

I this day acknowledge the receipt of the letter, which you did me the honor to write to me on the 21st.

I have the honor to agree with your Excellency in opinion, that it is the intention of Congress to redeem all their paper bills which are extant, at an exchange of forty for one, by which means, the two hundred millions of dollars, which are out, will be reduced to about five millions.

I apprehend, with your Excellency, that it was necessary for the Congress to put themselves in a condition to defray the public expenses. They found their currency to be so depreciated, and so rapidly depreciating, that a further emission sufficient to discharge the public expenses another year, would have, probably, depreciated it to two hundred for one; perhaps, would have so totally discredited it, that nobody would have taken it at any rate. It was absolutely necessary, then, to stop emitting. Yet it was absolutely necessary to have an army to save their cities from the fire, and their citizens from the sword. That army must be fed, clothed, paid, and armed, and other expenses must be defrayed. It had become necessary, therefore, at this time, to call in their paper; for there is no nation that is able to carry on war by the taxes, which can be raised within the year. But I am far from thinking, that this necessity was the cause of their calling it in at a depreciated value, because I am well convinced that they would have called it in at a depreciated value, if the British fleet and army had been withdrawn from the United States, and a general peace had

been concluded. My reason for this belief is, the evident injustice of calling it in at its nominal value, a silver dollar for a paper one. The public has its rights as well as individuals; and every individual has a share in the rights of the public. Justice is due to the body politic, as well as to the possessor of the bills; and to have paid off the bills at their nominal value, would have wronged the body politic of thirtynine dollars in every forty, as really as if forty dollars had been paid for one, at the first emission in 1775, when each paper dollar was worth, and would fetch a silver one.

I beg leave to ask your Excellency, whether you judge that the Congress ought to pay two hundred millions of silver dollars, for the two hundred millions of paper dollars which are abroad? I presume your Excellency will not think that they ought; because I have never met with any man in America or in Europe, that was of that opinion. All agree, that Congress ought to redeem it at a depreciated value. The only question then, is, at what depreciation? Shall it be at seventyfive, forty, thirty, twenty, ten, or five, for one? After it is once admitted, that it ought to be redeemed at a less value than the nominal, the question arises, at what value? What rule? I answer, there is no other rule of justice than the `current value, the value at which it generally passes from man to man. The Congress have set it at forty for one; and they are the best judges of this, as they represent all parts of the continent where the paper circulates.

I think there can be little need of illustration; but two or three examples may make my meaning more obvious. A farmer has now four thousand dollars for a pair of oxen, which he sells to a commissary to subsist the army.