sition, which lay within his sphere: that the Count de
Vergennes was very clearly of the same opinion, and had supported
it strongly with reasons of his own, when he transmitted it to the
Comptroller General; but that the Comptroller, in the discussions of
this subject which had taken place, besides the objections which the
Count de Vergennes had repeated to me, and which are before mentioned,
had added, that the contract with the Farmers General was now so far
advanced, that the article of tobacco could not be withdrawn from it,
without unraveling the whole transaction. Having understood, that,
in this contract, there was always reserved to the crown, a right to
discontinue it at any moment, making just reimbursements to the Farmers,
I asked M. Reyneval, if the contract should be concluded in its present
form, whether it might still be practicable to have it discontinued, as
to the article of tobacco, at some future moment. He said it might be
possible.

Upon the whole, the true obstacle to this proposition has penetrated,
in various ways, through the veil which covers it. The influence of the
Farmers General has been heretofore found sufficient to shake a minister
in his office. Monsieur de Calonne's continuance or dismission has been
thought, for some time, to be on a poise. Were he to shift this great
weight, therefore, out of his own scale into that of his adversaries,
it would decide their preponderance. The joint interests of France and
America would be an insufficient counterpoise in his favor.

It will be observed, that these efforts to improve the commerce of the
United States have been confined to that branch only, which respects
France itself, and that nothing passed on the subject of our commerce
with the West Indies, except an incidental conversation as to our fish.
The reason of this was no want of a due sense of its importance. Of that
I am thoroughly sensible. But efforts in favor of this branch would, at
present, be desperate. To nations with which we have not yet treated,
and who have possessions in America, we may offer a free vent of their
manufactures in the United States, for a full, or a modified admittance
into those possessions. But to France, we are obliged to give that
freedom for a different compensation; to wit, for her aid in effecting
our independence. It is difficult, therefore, to say what we have now to
offer her, for an admission into her West Indies. Doubtless it has its
price. But