from hence some days since, and I hope is with you by this time, and that he will, with your assistance, be able to settle every thing relating to the goods. I have received a long letter from Messrs. Neufville, the purport of which is, that they are willing for their part to deliver the goods to you, but that they cannot control the other owners of the ships, who have a right, by the laws and customs of Holland, to detain the goods for the damage done by Captain Gillon’s refusing to sign the charter parties, and hope that I will not, on account of the conduct of the other owners, refuse to pay the bills, especially as such a refusal would be derogatory to the honor of the United States.
I may be wrong, but my present thoughts on the subject are that, if by the laws of Holland our goods may be detained in the hands of the ship-owners for the fault of Mr. Gillon, by the same laws the property of one of these owners may be detained in our hands for the fault of his partners; and that it as much concerns the honor of Holland, that our goods should be delivered to us, as it concerns the honor of America, that we should pay for them when delivered. And I further think that, if a merchant in Holland, happening to have any of my property in his possession, may, by the laws of his country, detain the same till I pay him whatever he shall please to demand, as indemnification for an injury supposed to be done him by some other person, Holland is by no means a safe country for Americans to trade with, nor a Dutch merchant a safe depository for the property of a stranger, or to be the consignee of merchandise sent into his country.
You desire a copy of the terms on which he offered to borrow money for us. At present, I only send you an extract of the principal points, much of the writing being matter of form. The first proposition is: “That, for the security of this loan of two millions of guilders, Holland currency, we engaged and hypothequed [his words] to Messrs. John de Neufville & Son, of Amsterdam, or their representatives, as we do engage and hypotheque to them in the name of the whole Congress of the Thirteen United States of North America, generally, all the lands, cities, territories, and possessions of the said Thirteen States, which they may have or possess at present, and which they may have or possess in the future, with all their income, revenue, and produce, until the entire payment of this loan and the interests due thereon.” My observation upon this was, that it demanded an extravagant security for a trifling sum, that it was lending little more than a guilder on each inhabitant’s estate, and that it was absurd to require a mortgage on my estate for the loan of a guilder. He answered that this was usual in all loans made in Holland to foreign states, and that the money could not otherwise be obtained.
The second proposition was (verbatim, as the first): “That out of the produces again through all those Thirteen States of America, shall be sent over and shipped to Europe, and chiefly, or as much as possible, to the port of Amsterdam, during the ten years of this loan, the double of one tenth part of this loan to the value of four hundred thousand guilders, which, as far as is possible, they will come to Amsterdam, shall be sold there by Messrs. John de Neufville & Son, and what goes to other ports, by their correspondents, and the money kept at their disposal for the use of Congress, at least during the first five years; and, during the last five years of this loan, one half of this money is to serve to discharge every year one tenth part of the money borrowed, engaging that, before the end of the tenth year, there will be remitted in such a manner, and left in the hands of said John de Neufville & Son, of Amsterdam, a sufficient sum of money to discharge this whole loan, with the interest due thereon.”
You will observe that this article is obscurely expressed. I was obliged to demand an éclaircissement in conversation. The conversation was also difficult to understand, M. de Neufville’s English not being then of the clearest. But from the whole, after much discourse, I gathered that we were to send over every year for the first five years in tobacco, rice, indigo, codfish, oil, etc., etc., the value of four hundred thousand guilders, to be sold by Messrs. John de Neufville & Son for our use, on a commission of five per cent., and that the money was to remain in their hands to enable them to pay off in the last five years the principal of the loan, though one half of it was to remain in their hands till the end of the term. A subsequent article also provides that one hundred thousand guilders more should be annually sent over in produce to them, and sold, to discharge the interest.
My objections were, that if we were able to purchase produce in value two millions of guilders to lodge in the hands of Messrs. de Neufville & Son, we might use that sum in our affairs at home, and should have no occasion to borrow it in Holland; and that, if we were to buy up this value of produce with the money borrowed, and to lodge it in the hands of those gentlemen, it would be borrowing money to give them the use of it for a number of years without interest, while we were paying interest for it ourselves.
One would think this project, if it could take, might be sufficiently profitable for these gentlemen; but in another paper, part French, part English, proposed for me to sign, it was to be stipulated that, after exchanging for the new promises all those transacted by Messrs. Fizeau & Grand to the amount of forty or fifty thousand guilders, which exchange was to be made without charge; “pour le reste de cet emprunt il leur (Messrs. de Neufville et fils) sera alloué, outre les conditions d’intérest, etc., contenues dans les termes y stipulés, un per cent. d’intérest, savoir, dix per cent. une seule fois sur les sommes qu’ils négocieront; et en outre deux per cent. encore, y compris toutes les allouances ordinaires et extraordinaires, fraix à faire, et toute commission, sans qu’ils pourront jamais rien exiger de plus à ce sujet.”
Very gracious terms these! by which, after stopping a tenth part of the sum borrowed, they would be content with two per cent. upon the rest to defray charges.
Besides this, I was led to understand that it would be very agreeable to these gentlemen if, in acknowledgment of their zeal for our cause and great services in procuring this loan, they would be made by some law of Congress the general consignee of America, to receive and sell upon commission, by themselves and correspondents in the different ports and nations, all the produce of America that should be sent by our merchants to Europe. On my remarking the extravagance and impossibility of this proposition, it was modestly reduced to the following, wherein I am supposed to say and sign:
“Je veux bien encore, pour les engager (Messrs. de Neufville et fils) à suivre avec le même zèle qu’ils y ont employé jusqu’ici pour les intérests de l’Amérique, appuyer de mes recommandations leur solicitations auprès du Congrès, pour qu’il leur soit accordé pour la suite le titre de Commissioners for trade and navigation and Treasurers of General Congress, and every private State of the Thirteen United States of North America, through the Seven United Provinces; dont il leur sera alloué commissions regulières et usitées de commerce, payement, et emprunt, tels que d’honnêtes, négociants pourront les passer sans en pretendre jamais d’autre appointement. Donné à Passy, le, etc.”
By this time, I fancy, your Excellency is satisfied that I was wrong in supposing John de Neufville as much a Jew as any in Jerusalem, since Jacob was not content with any per cents, but took the whole of his brother Esau’s birthright, and his posterity did the same by the Canaanites, and cut their throats into the bargain; which, in my conscience, I do not think Mr. John de Neufville has the least inclination to do by us while he can get any thing by our being alive. I am, with the greatest esteem, etc.,
B. Franklin.
MXI. TO WILLIAM ALEXANDER
Passy, 15 December, 1781.
Dear Sir:—
I thank you for informing me of your intended journey. You know so well the prevailing sentiments here, and mine in particular, that it is unnecessary for me to express them; and, having never been believed on that side of the water, it would be useless. I will say, however, that I think the language you mention very proper to be held, as it is the truth; though the
