To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 16 December 1787
From Thomas Jefferson
Paris Dec. 16. 1787.
Dear Sir
I wrote you on the 12th instant, that is to say, by the last post. but as that channel of conveiance is sometimes unfaithful I now inclose you a copy of my letter of that date, and of the one of Fiseaux & co. inclosed in that.1 I have since received my letters by the packet, but, among them, nothing from the Board of Treasury.2 still their orders may be among the dispatches with which Paul Jones is charged for me, who was to sail a week after the packet. if he brings any orders, what you shall have done as I observed in my former letter shall be considered as if not done. on further consideration & consultation the object of my letter seems to increase in importance & to render it indispensible in us to do what we can, even without orders, to save the credit of the U. S. I have conferred with mr̃ Jacob Van Staphorst, who is here, on this subject. he thinks the failure would have so ill an effect that it should certainly be prevented, he supposes the progress of your late loan may by this time furnish money in the hands of Willincks & Van Staphorsts, to face this demand, & at any rate that these gentlemen will exert themselves to do it. by his advice I wrote to ask of them if I might count on their doing it, provided I forwarded your orders, and I wrote to Fizeaux & co. what steps I was taking, desired them to confer with Willincks & Van Staphorsts, and to regulate the expectations of our creditors accordingly. the answer of Willincks & Van Staphorsts which I shall receive the 22d. inst. and yours which I hope to receive about the same time will decide what is to be done. still it will be about the 28th. before Fizeaux can receive it through me, and he sais notice should have been given by the middle of the month.3
I see by the American papers that your commission to the United Netherlands continues till the spring. will you have to go there to take leave? if you do, and will give me notice in time, I will meet you there. in so doing I shall gratify my wish to see you before you leave Europe, to confer with you on some subjects, and become acquainted with our money affairs at Amsterdam, and that ground in general on which it may be rendered necessary, by our various debts, for me sometimes to undertake to act. I am very ignorant of it at present.
I am with great & sincere esteem Dr. Sir / Your most obedient & mo. humble servt.
Th: Jefferson
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “H.E. mr̃ Adams.”; endorsed: “Mr Jefferson / Decr. 16. Ans. 25 / 1787”; notation by CFA: “not published.” CFA presumably meant that the letter was not published in .
1. The enclosures, not found, were copies of his 12 Dec. letter to JA, above, and of a 6 [Dec.] letter from Henri Fizeaux & Co. to Jefferson (, 12:397).
2. The Board of Treasury wrote to Jefferson on 5 Dec., enclosing a letter from Thomas Barclay with a copy of his accounts. The board advised Jefferson that it would be “absolutely impracticable to make any remittance from this Country” for the redemption of the enslaved American sailors in Algiers (, 12:395–396). For the board’s orders regarding the Fizeaux loan, see the loan consortium’s 25 Dec. letter, and note 1, below.
3. On 13 Dec. Jefferson wrote separately to Fizeaux & Co., to Nicolaas van Staphorst, and to the loan consortium. In his letter to Staphorst, Jefferson wrote that he met with Jacob van Staphorst and was enclosing the letter to the loan consortium, in which he asked if the consortium could pay the interest and the loan due to the Fizeaux firm. In a letter to Jefferson of 24 Dec., the loan consortium agreed to pay the interest, and in its letters of 31 Dec. and 10 Jan. 1788 to Jefferson, confirmed that it had done so. To safeguard American credit, the loan consortium recommended paying it from the funds secured in the third Dutch loan arranged by JA on [1 June 1787], above. In his letter to John Jay of 16 March, Jefferson wrote that the Fizeaux loan had been paid, and the enclosed account listed a figure of f51,637.10 for the principal of f51,000 and three months’ interest (, 12:420–422, 457–458, 485, 506, 672, 674).