d he supposed that I wished also to speak to him on the
subject of our affairs.

I told him that was really the case, for that the bills, which
remained to be paid, and the want of funds for the purpose, gave me
great uneasiness. He interrupted me by remarking, that he had ordered
the balance due on the one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be
paid. That the public exigencies had even rendered this payment
inconvenient, but that he was an honest man, a man of his word, and,
therefore, as he had promised me that sum, he was determined that I
should not be disappointed. That as to further aids he could promise
nothing _positively_, that he would _do his best_, and shrugging his
shoulders, intimated that he was not Minister of Finance.

I observed, that the sum now wanted was not very considerable, and
that M. Cabarrus' offer rendered the advancing of it very easy. He was
in a very good humor; and after a few hesitations, he told me
cheerfully and smilingly, that when I found myself very hard pressed,
I should desire M. Cabarrus to wait upon him.

This I considered as an implied consent to comply with M. Cabarrus'
offer, in case such a step should become absolutely necessary to save
our bills; and I imagined he chose to delay it as long as possible, in
hopes that the French Ambassador might in the meantime interpose his
credit, as he had before done on a similar occasion. I was content
that the matter should rest there, and would not hazard losing what I
thought I had gained by requiring more at present.

I thanked him for this mark of favor, and then turned the conversation
to Major Franks' arrival, and my anxiety to communicate some certain
intelligence to Congress relative to the proposed treaty, and what
they might expect on that head.

The Count went into a detail of excuses for the delays which had
ensued since our leaving St Ildefonso. His indisposition and that of
M. Del Campo, his forgetting to give M. Del Campo the papers, and M.
Del Campo's neglecting to ask for them, were the chief topics from
which these excuses were drawn. He said the Ambassador of France had
talked to him about the matter eight days ago; and he promised me that
the conferences should begin at Aranjues, to which place the Court
would soon remove. He authorised me to communicate this to Congress,
adding, that pressing business obliged him to postpone it till then,
though I might now begin to speak on the subject to M. Del Campo if I