proceed at least in equal pace with the operations of discount. And to ascertain the evidence of discount which shall be receivable in lieu of money, the holders of loan office certificates shall be at liberty to carry them to the office from which they issued ; and the holders of certificates of other liquidated debts of the United States, to carry the same to the loan office of that State wherein the debt was contracted and to have the interest due thereon settled & certified to the last day of the year 1783; for which interest the loan officer shall give a certificate in such form, and under such cautions & instructions as the Superintendant of finance shall transmit to him; which certificates of interest, being parted with by the holder of the principal, shall be deemed evidence that he has received satisfaction for the same, & therefore shall be receivable from the bearer, within the same State, in lieu of money in the proportion before stated. And where loan. office certificates, issued after the 1st day of Mar. 1778, shall be presented to the loan officer, they shall be reduced to their specie value according to the resolutions of Congress of June 28, 1780. that specie value expressed on some part of the certificate, & the interest thereon settled & certified as in other cases.

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

W. MSS.

ANNAPOLIS, Mar. 31. 1784.

DEAR SIR,-Your servant delivered me your favor this morning; Capt. Barney is gone to Philadelphia and his vessel to Baltimore, having left with me one of your packages only. The persons who brought this could give me no certain account of the other package which you suppose to have been brought. This your servant now receives.

Being obliged to seize a moment in Congress of writing you these few lines, I can only mention to you that late advices from Europe mention another revolution in the British ministry, Mr. Pitt & his friends

having resigned. No new ministry was formed. This does not come however authentically.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.1

(BENJAMIN HARRISON.)

ANNAPOLIS, Apr. 2, 1784.

SIR, We have received no foreign intelligence through any authentic channel since the letter of Dr. Franklin of Dec. 25, an extract from which I formerly did myself the honour of enclosing to you. Through different ways however, such as to merit belief, we have information that the utmost confusion prevails in the British government. The House of Commons on the 16th of January came to a vote that the ministry (Mr. Pitt & his associates) neither possessed nor ought to possess the confidence of the nation. One account sais that on this Mr. Pitt resigned. Another that he had not resigned and that the doubt was whether the King would dissolve the parliament or part with his ministry. The error in the composition of the administration seems to have been the filling it from the house of lords, and taking in not enough of the men of interest and talents in the house of commons. Matters on the continent are quiet. The Emperor & Dutch have appointed commissioners to settle their differences. Whether his object was to have opened the Scheld, or whether the dispute arose about contested territory seems not very clear. I should have added to the above intelligence that the city of London were warm for Mr.

1 From the original in the possession of Mr. F. J. Dreer, of Philadelphia.

Pitt and had addressed the King to continue his favor to him.-Your letter from Mount Vernon came safely to hand. We have eleven states in Congress, and are applying ourselves solely to the important subjects. I am not without hopes that we shall be able by the first of May to adjourn till November. Nothing could prevent it but the loss of votes sometimes by divisions of the states, 8 of the 11 being represented by two members only, any three of the sixteen members can still defeat our endeavors, and your knowledge of men will suggest to you the possibility of 3 dissenting voices out of 16 on any question. Mr. Mercer, the corresponding member for the month will perhaps be able to supply any intelligence which may escape me.

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

W. MSS.

ANNAPOLIS, Apr. 6, 1784.

DEAR SIR,-I am obliged to you for your query as to the distance from New York to Cuyahoga, as it occasioned my re-examination of that matter & detection of an error of 150 miles. The distances from New York to Niagara I collect from information as follows

from N. York to Albany 164 miles

Oneida 165

From Niagara to Cuyahoga 140 this last distance I 820

collect by measuring on Hutchin's map & reducing that proportionably by the known distance from Niagara to Detroit which is 250 miles.

The public papers confirm the resignation of Mr. Pitt & his friends. A ship arrived here, & some others in Philadelphia have brought us a riddle without a key. They received their bounties & drawbacks on clearing out from London as they used to do while we were colonies without any public act authorizing it being visible. The Custom house officers tendered them, & they were not so rude as to refuse them. The prohibitory proclamation they say is eluded & connived at by government. We have II states in Congress & hope by the middle of May to adjourn to November. If anything prevents this it will be the representation of 8. states of the 11. by 2 members each, who frequently dividing retard business extremely. The inclosed letter was put into my hands with a request to forward it to you.-This will be delivered you by Mons! de Hogendorff, a relation of Mr. Van Berchel's. A very particular acquaintance with him here has led me to consider him as the best informed man of his age I have ever seen. Nature & application seem equally to have concurred in fitting him for important business. He returns to Holland, his native country, in the summer, and cannot deny himself the satisfaction of paying his tribute of respect to you.

P. S. The Minister of France arrived here to-day. I believe he is on a tour through Virginia, but I have not yet learned when he sets out. Since writing this

I learn that the Minister has declined his tour through Virginia, but thinks to go as far as your house: perhaps within a fortnight.

NOTES ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MONEY UNIT, AND OF A COINAGE FOR THE UNITED STATES.1

[April, 1784.]

In fixing the Unit of Money, these circumstances are of principal importance.

I. That it be of convenient size to be applied as a measure to the common money transactions of life.

II. That its parts and multiples be in an easy proportion to each other, so as to facilitate the money arithmetic.

III. That the Unit and its parts, or divisions, be so nearly of the value of some of the known coins, as that they may be of easy adoption for the people.

The Spanish Dollar seems to fulfill all these conditions.

I. Taking into our view all money transactions, great and small, I question if a common measure of more convenient size than the Dollar could be proposed. The value of 100, 1000, 10,000 dollars is well estimated by the mind; so is that of the tenth or the hundredth of a dollar. Few transactions are above or below these limits. The expediency of attending to the size of the money Unit will be evident, to any one who will consider how inconvenient it would be to a manufacturer or merchant, if, instead of the yard for measuring cloth, either the inch or the mile had been made the Unit of Measure.

1 See Jefferson's Autobiography (1, 73); Diplomatic Correspondence, XII, 81; and Sparks' Life of Gouverneur Morris, 1, 273.

This was printed as:

Notes / on the / Establishment / of a / Money Unit, and of a / coinage for the United States. [Paris: 1785] 8vo. pp. 14.

It was also printed in:

Propositions respecting the Coinage / of Gold, Silver and Copper. [1785.] folio. pp. 12.