To Alexander Hamilton from Edmund Randolph, 23 June 1794
From Edmund Randolph
Philadelphia, June 23d. 1794.
Sir,
The report, which appeared in the Newspapers the other day, from a Committee to the Senate, on the Bill for advancing money to the French minister,1 has given me considerable uneasiness. I have no doubt, that the result was well considered, and is accurate. But some of the intermediate circumstances were probably unknown to the Committee, and therefore not stated. What I chiefly allude to, is, that, the account between the United States and the French Republic being unliquidated, the advances made were of a complexion less strong, than the report has spread over the affair. I am persuaded, that in the hunger of Mr. Hammond2 for peccadillos, which may swell some future manifesto, this paper has been prepared for transmission to England. Having no object more truly at heart, than peace with Great Britain, I wish, that Mr. Jay3 should be ready to encounter the intelligence, which goes from this side of the water, at the moment of its arrival. I must therefore, request the favor of you, to furnish me, as soon as you can, with all the mitigations, which really appertain to the case.
I have the honor, Sir, to be, with great respect and esteem Yo. mo. ob. serv.
Edm: Randolph
LC, RG 59, Domestic Letters of the Department of State, Vol. 6, January 2–June 26, 1794, National Archives.
1. Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet. On May 31, 1794, the House of Representatives passed an “Act providing for the payment of a certain sum of money due to the French Republic” (, II, 190). Also see “Report on Loans Negotiated in Europe Not Already Laid Before the Legislature,” May 27, 1794. In the Senate the House bill was referred to a committee consisting of Rufus King of New York, James Gunn of Georgia, and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut (, IV, 119).
The report of the committee on June 7, 1794, reads in part as follows:
“… the United States, on the first day of January, 1794, were in advance to France the sum of … $383,162 11 beyond the instalments of principal and all interest which had accrued to that period.…
“It further appears … that, since that period, there has been advanced on account of our Debt to France the further sum of seventy-one thousand two hundred and forty-two dollars and eighty-one cents.
“And it appears, likewise, from the papers referred to the committee, that the President has promised further payment upon the same account of 1,500,000 livres on the third of September next, and of 1,000,000 of livres on the 5th of November next, making together 453,750 dollars, which payments, it is understood, may be anticipated at the Bank of the United States, in the proportions and at the epochs which are desired by the Minister of the French Republic.…
“… it results that the payments which have been made, and engaged to be made, exceed those which by the terms of contract could be demanded.…
“It is the opinion of the committee … that the bill should not pass.” (, IV, 129.)
On June 7, 1794, the Senate adopted the report of the committee (, IV, 129).
The committee report was published in the [New York] Daily Advertiser on June 18, 1794.
2. George Hammond, British Minister to the United States.
3. John Jay, Envoy Extraordinary to Great Britain.