equesting that you would not
suffer it to be made public. This is the money, which, in our letter,
we mentioned as raised for us by subscription.

One of the ablest sea officers of France, skilled in all the arts
relating to the marine, having offered his services to the States,
with the permission of the minister, we (enabled by the above grant)
engaged him to superintend the building of two ships of war, of a
particular construction, which, though not of half the cost, shall be
superior in force and utility to ships of sixtyfour guns. He has built
one here for the king, which, we are told, exceeds every thing in
swift sailing. He has furnished us with drafts,[30] which we send you,
that if the Congress thinks fit, others of the same construction may
be set up in America, in which case we have given him expectations of
being their Commodore. We have seen his large and curious collection
of memoirs, containing every, the minutest particular relating to the
construction and management of a fleet, with a variety of proposed
improvements, and we are persuaded that he will be found a valuable
acquisition to our country.

_April 9th._ Since writing the above, we received despatches from the
Congress, by Captain Hammond, others from Mr Morris, by Captain Bell,
and some copies by Captain Adams, via Boston, which, on many accounts,
were very satisfactory. We directly drew up and presented memorials on
the subject of those despatches; we were promised immediate
consideration, and speedy answers; for which, we detained Captain
Hammond, but we have not yet obtained them. We receive, however,
continual assurances, of the good will of this Court and of Spain. We
are given to understand, that it is by their operations, the raising
of German troops for England has been obstructed. We are paid
punctually the second five hundred thousand livres, and having
convinced the ministry of the great importance of keeping up the
credit, and fixing the value of our currency, which might be done, by
paying in specie the interest of what we borrow, or in bills upon
France, for the amount. We are now assured, that the abovementioned
quarterly payments shall be continued, (after the two millions) for
the purpose of paying the interest of the five million dollars, you
are supposed to have borrowed, which we believe will be punctually
complied with; and the effect must be, restoring to its original value
the principal for which such interest is paid,