vessel about to
sail from Havre, to communicate the whole transaction to you, and to
express my wish that you will be pleased to give an answer to Fiseaux.
I enclose to you his letters to me on the subject. From what I can
learn, I suspect that if there were a cordial understanding between the
Willincks and Van Staphorsts, if the former had been as well disposed
as the latter, the matter would have been settled with Fiseaux. I have
the honor to be, with much respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and
most humble servant.

TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, December 31, 1787.

SIR,--Since the receipt of the letter of Monsieur de Calonnes, of
October the 22d, 1786, I have several times had the honor of mentioning
to you, that I was endeavoring to get the substance of that letter
reduced into an _Arret_, which, instead of being revocable by a single
letter of a Comptroller General, would require an _Arret_ to repeal or
alter it, and of course must be discussed in full Council, and so give
time to prevent it. This has been pressed as much as it could be with
prudence. One cause of delay has been the frequent changes of the
Comptroller General; as we had always our whole work to begin again
with every new one. Monsieur Lambert's continuance in office for some
months, has enabled us, at length, to get through the business; and I
have just received from him a letter, and the _Arret_ duly
authenticated; of which I have the honor to send you a number of
printed copies. You will find that the several alterations and
additions are made, which, on my visit to the sea-ports, I had found to
be necessary, and which my letters of June the 21st and August the 6th,
particularly mentioned to you. Besides these, we have obtained some new
articles of value, for which openings arose in the course of the
negotiation. I say _we_ have done it, because the Marquis de La Fayette
has gone hand in hand with me through this business, and has been a
most invaluable aid. I take the liberty of making some observations on
the articles of the _Arret_, severally, for their explanation, as well
as for the information of Congress.

Article 1. In the course of our conferences with the Comptroller
General, we had prevailed on him to pass this article with a
suppression of all duty. When he reported the _Arret_, however, to the
Council, this suppression was objected to, and it was insisted to
re-establish the duties of seven livres and ten sous, and of ten sou