To Alexander Hamilton from Jean Baptiste de Ternant, 21 February 1792

From Jean Baptiste de Ternant1

Philade. 21 fevr. 1792

En consequence des arrangemens pris entre moi et votre gouvernement, je vous addresse cy-jointe la note des sommes à acquitter. Des motifs de prudence tendant à prévenir dans notre comptabilité nationale tout embarras relatif au reversement de ces fonds sur le compte des diverses branches de l’administration me font desirer que vous receviez pour le montant des avances que vous alles faire ainsi que pour celui des armes et munitions envoyés à st. Domingue,2 une reconnaissance en livres tournois reglée sur le pied du pair intrinsèque entre nos monnoies respectives. Cet arrangement au quel vous avez déja verbalement consenti a besoin d’etre officiellemt adopté, et je ne doute pas que vous ne vous y pretiez, puis qu’il est purement relatif aux convenances de votre administration et ne change rien au fond de l’affaire principale. Ces reconnoissances dont je rendrai compte à ma cour seront alors recues par notre tresor national, dans les remboursemens que les Etats unis auront à y faire successivement.

Copy, Arch. des Aff. Etr., Corr. Pol., Etats-Unis description begins Transcripts or photostats from the French Foreign Office deposited in the Library of Congress. description ends , Supplement Vol. 20.

1. Ternant was French Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States.

For background to this letter, see Ternant to H, September 21, 1791, and H to Ternant, September 21, 1791.

2. On September 24, 1791, George Washington had written to Ternant that he had dispatched “orders to the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish the money, and to the Secretary of War to deliver the Arms and Ammunition, which you have applied to me for” (GW description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington (Washington, 1931–1944). description ends , XXXI, 375). The sum of $8,962 was spent on the arms and ammunition which were received in New York on October 4, 1791, by Antoine René Charles Mathurin de La Forest, who was officially appointed French consul general for the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware on March 2, 1792, although he had conducted the affairs of the office since June 22, 1785 (copy, RG 217, Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts, 1790–1894, Account No. 2092, National Archives; copy, William Short Papers, Library of Congress). For Ternant’s reports on the money secured from the United States, see Ternant to Comte de Montmorin, November 24, December 10, 1791, and February 23, 1792 (Turner, “Correspondence of French Ministers,” description begins Frederick J. Turner, ed., “Correspondence of the French Ministers to the United States, 1791–1797,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1903 (Washington, 1904), II. description ends 76–84, 86–87).

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Source Project: Hamilton Papers
Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Jean Baptiste de Ternant, 21 February 1792
Author: Ternant, Jean Baptiste de
Recipient: Hamilton, Alexander
Date: 21 February 1792

Reference

Cite as: “To Alexander Hamilton from Jean Baptiste de Ternant, 21 February 1792,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-11-02-0050. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 11, February 1792 – June 1792, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966, pp. 41–42.]

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