That since this settlement was concluded, of which I have made exact and certified copies, and sent them to every person interested in my affairs with America, all the subsequent payments and transactions which have taken place between us have been upon the footing of that settlement; and, in short, I had neither liberty or . power to submit it now, but for the purpose of verification upon proper vouchers, not to destroy or alter it, so as to affect the validity which it receives from all the formalities which could render it authentic and perfect before all the tribunals of Europe.

Besides, said I to your Consul General, have you the power, sir, to allow me those sums for which I neither ought nor was able to procure a discharge, having thrown them away by handfull for the service of the United States? Have you power, also, to allow me the losses which I have been forced to suffer on bills of exchange, absolutely without credit in Europe, which I was obliged to negotiate at a heavy loss to save myself from ruin, being unable to wait a term of three years for the payment of advances made above six years before? Mr. Deane could regulate the insurances at the rate they then were because he was witness to the dreadful uneasiness of all my copartners when they observed none of these remittances to arrive which he had taught them so long to expect. He might, he was even obliged to give his advice to Congress on the commission suitable to be paid me, because he had observed the extraordinary labors, pains, and disinterested cares of him who, without previously making any stipulation for his generous advances, consented to become the factor of the United States solely because it was agreeable to them.

Again, if differences should arise between us on the subject in debate between us, must we not at last refer them to the determination of Congress, and will, whatever is said here, exempt me from sending my agent to America in order to conclude with the supreme power upon the terms and conditions of the payments to be made. me? Let us, then, come to a point; either verify my account which is settled upon vouchers without destroying it, or agree that I immediately send my agent to Philadelphia to humbly present to the Congress my equitable demands, this account, and all the vouchers which justify it.

Mr. Barclay, gentlemen, as well as Mr. Ridley, struck with the force of my reasons, have concluded that I should address myself to

Congress themselves, and send to the continent, by M. de Francy, these accounts with their vouchers. Since, in fact, the first question on which we were divided in opinion (viz: if the settlement made by Mr. Silas Deane in 1781 was valid or not) could only be decided by that body, and then my agent, M. de Francy, will lay before them the just motives of the opposition by my company to the destruction of the only authentic title which we possess in Europe for our debts in America.

This point being fixed I begged these gentlemen to sign and certify that the copies of the papers in support of my accounts regulated by Mr. Deane, were conformable to the originals which I presented to them, and wished to retain in France, being afraid to expose them to the dangers of the sea.

Messrs. Barclay and Ridley have preferred, even desired, that these copies be certified by a notary of Paris, and afterwards authenticated by the city magistrates. But we did not foresee, gentlemen, that by a system of our finance establishment the copies of any accounts cannot be attested by a notary public, without being subject to a particular duty called droit du contrôle, which is always proportionable to the sums contained in the accounts, and this would have cost me above twenty thousand livres. I resolved upon procuring from as many of those who had supplied me as I could find in Paris, duplicates of their general accounts and accounts current with me. They went before a notary to certify the truth of these accounts and sign them. The instrument which attests them, well authenticated, with an original duplicate of each account, will be delivered to you by M. de Francy. He will also present you with similar duplicates from those who were absent from Paris, also certified by notaries or magistrates of the places where they reside.

However, gentlemen, I will be permitted to enter seriously upon the principles of this great affair before an august body who are always subsisting; but often composed of new members to whom the nature of my demands and the justice of my complaints are not sufficiently known, if I may judge by the terms of the resolves of Congress, 20 November, 1782, which have been shown me by Mr. Barclay, your Consul General.

These claims, gentlemen, do not deviate from the profound respect which I profess for the honorable Congress, before whom I now have the honor to support them; they are, on the contrary, the strongest

proof of the great value I set upon the esteem and opinion of a brave people for whose sake I have sacrificed my all, and the greater the disparity there is between a simple individual of Europe and the illustrious nation whom you represent, so much the more the great efforts and numerous toils of that man to promote your service, have a right to your esteem, I may add to your gratitude; you cannot, I am sure, refuse a candid hearing to the first European who generously stepped forth to your assistance. Every citizen of the thirteen States was bound to sacrifice to the common cause, to his country, his life, property, and abilities. But I, gentlemen, a stranger to your pretensions and to your contest, born a French citizen, enjoying a quiet life in my own country, devoted myself for yours: ought I to have expected the disgrace I have now incurred of claiming rights too much forgotten, and troubling you with my sad complaints?

Call to mind, gentlemen, those unhappy times, when borne down by the war and British persecution, you sent secret emissaries to all the Powers of Europe, that time when you applied to the great commercial houses of the different Powers without obtaining any succors. Then I alone, gentlemen, the subject of a monarchy, and without any other incitement than my love for the liberty of mankind, and my respect for the virtuous efforts which entitled you to them, I had been laboring for two years to procure you friends in Europe by every means which persuasion and argument could furnish.

A single public paper was proper to give our nation liberal and just notions of your rights, and the wrong done to you by Britain. This was Le Courier de L'Europe. It was I, gentlemen, who solicited, who obtained its admission into France, in which there was great difficulty. It was I who composed the first articles which were there read in favor of your cause, and who established the justice of it upon principles since adopted by all sensible people in Europe.

It was I who found out your friends and secret agents in England at the risk of my person, who promised them my cares and efforts, with our Ministers, who in fact returned to plead strongly for you in France, and remind those powerful persons (who knew it better than myself, but whom your situation, and the policy and youth of the King rendered then wavering and circumspect) that the separation of England and America was the greatest interest which could occupy the French Government.

It was I who first solicited the necessary succors for your situation, in a memorial where I strongly maintained the extent of the rights of neutrality, and made application of my principles to present circumstances, and the possibility of my making use of them, in order to assist you; but which could only obtain a bare connivance, and even that very limited and confined, for the animated zeal of a company of merchants which I formed, whose measures not only were unsupported, but their efforts punished upon becoming in the least public. See, upon this subject, gentlemen, my correspondence in cyphers with one of your private agents, Mr. Arthur Lee, then in England, which will be laid before you.

At that very time your acknowledged agent, Mr. Silas Deane, arrived in France; but alone, without money, without credit, or knowledge of any person, and unable to speak French. I met with him at Bordeaux; my regard for your great undertakings attached him soon to my person. He implored my zeal and support, and coming to Paris he disclosed his powers and embarrassment. In vain did he address himself to Ministers; he returned to me, knowing my courage and frankness, and at last began with me to solicit a plan and to carry on the supplies which I have repeatedly made you, and which have been productive of nothing but pain and disappoint

ment.

But what bargain, gentlemen, do you think that this agent made with me? His application to us was by the most earnest entreaties, which we considered as orders. His promises were our only security of payment, but he held out to us the noble reward of being forever reckoned among the best friends of America, and the temptation was too strong to be resisted.

Nobody, then, gentlemen, accosted me in your name without loading me with encomiums, even excessive; every thing which could swell the pride or flatter the vanity of an ordinary man was offered to me. Above all, said they, you will forever be cherished by a virtuous people as one of the first supporters of their liberty. My respect for the cause which they pleaded, and which you supported so nobly with your arms, warming my heart and mind much more than their discourses. I gave myself up entirely to your service, and, regarding nothing else, I became the agent, the apostle, and martyr of your cause in Europe. Read my answer to the English manifesto of Gibbons, in which I was called the instrument

of the perfidy of our Ministers. But above all, read attentively my correspondence with Mr. Deane; it will give you an idea of my labors, my efforts, my disappointments, and indefatigable activity in your service. It will show what a single man could do for you—a man who now blushes to have to justify before your assembly his conduct and generous proceedings.

Surely, gentlemen, had I been only an ordinary merchant, greedy to increase his substance from your distresses, is there a single advantage which I could not then have exacted and demanded from you.

I could have fixed the profits which my avidity would have prompted me to impose, and would have obtained them. Far from me these vile motives and mercenary precautions. From a Frenchman, that I was, I became an American merchant, a politician, and a writer. I imparted my warmth to honest but timid minds, and formed a society under a name unknown; I gathered together merchandize and warlike stores in all our ports, always under fictitious names. Your agent was to have provided vessels to transport them to America, but not one could he find; and it was still I who, with double zeal and labor, succeeded in procuring them for him at Marseilles, Nantes, and Havre, paying out of my own pocket two thirds of the freight in advance, and finding surety for the remainder.

The most severe orders thwarted every where my operations. What I could not accomplish in open day was executed in the night. If Government caused my vessels to be unloaded in one port, I sent them secretly to reload at a distance in the road. Were they stopped under their proper names, I changed them immediately, or made pretended sales, and put them anew under fictitious commissions. Were obligations in writing exacted from the captains to go no where but to the West India Islands, powerful gratifications on my part made them yield again to my wishes. Were they sent to prison on their return for disobedience, I then doubled their gratifications to keep their zeal from cooling, and consoled them with gold for the rigor of our Government. Voyages, messengers, agents, presents, rewards, no expense was spared. One time, by reason of an unexpected counter order, which stopped the departure of one of my vessels, I hurried by land to Havre twenty-one pieces of cannon, which, if they had come from Paris by water, would have retarded us ten days.