NOTES OF DEBATES.

WEDNESDAY, JAN! 1ST, 1783.

The decision of the controversy between Con and Penn was reported.

The communications made from the Minister of France, concurred with other circumstances in effacing the impressions made by Mr. Jay's letter and Marbois's inclosed. The vote of thanks to C Rochambeau passed with unanimity and cordiality and afforded a fresh proof that the resentments against France had greatly subsided. THURSDAY JANY 2d

Nothing requiring notice.

FRIDAY, 3o JANY

The vote of thanks to the Minister of France which passed yesterday was repealed in consequence of his having expressed to the President a desire that no notice might be taken of his conduct as to the point in question & of the latter's communicating the same to Congress. The temper of Congress here again manifested the transient nature of their irritation agst France.

The motion of Mr. Howel put on the Secret Journal gave Congress a great deal of vexation. This expedient for baffling his schemè of raising a ferment in his State and exposing the foreign transactions was adopted only in the last resort; it being questioned by some whether the articles of Confederation warranted it.

The answer to the note of the French Minister passed unanimously and was a further testimony of the abatement of the effects of Mr. Jay's letter &c.

The proceedings of the Court in the dispute between Con & Pa were after debates as to the meaning of the Confederation in directing such proceedings to be lodged among the acts of Congress entered at large on the Journals. It was remarked that the Delegates from Cont particularly Mr. Dyer were more captious on the occason than was consistent with a perfect acquiescence in the decree.

845

MONDAY, JAN! 6TH.

The Memorial from the Army was laid before Congress and referred to a grand Committee. This reference was intended as a mark of the important light in which the memorial was viewed.

Mr. Berkley [Barclay] having represented some inconveniences incident to the plan of a Consular Convention between France and U. S., particularly the restriction of Consuls from trading and his letter having been committed, a report was made proposing that the Convention should for the present be suspended. To this it had been objected that as the convention might already be concluded such a step was improper; and as the end might be obtained by authorizing the Minister at Versailles to propose particular alterations that it was unnecessary. By Mr. Madison it had been moved that the report should be postponed to make place for the consideration of an instruction and authority to the sa Minister for that purpose; and this motion had in consequence been brought before Congress. On this day the business was revived. The sentiments of the members were various, some wishing to suspend such part of the convention only as excluded Consuls from commerce; others thought this exclusion too important to be even suspended; others again thought the whole ought to be suspended during the war; & others lastly contending that the whole ought to be new modelled; the Consuls having too many privileges in some respects, & too little power in others. It was observable that this diversity of opinions prevailed chiefly among the members who had come in since the Convention had been passed in Congress; the members originally present adhering to the views which then governed them. The subject was finally postponed; 8 States only being represented, & 9 being requisite for such a question. Even to have suspended the convention after it had been proposed to the Court of France, & possibly acceded to would have been indecent and dishonorable; and at a juncture when G. B. was courting a commercial intimacy, to the probable uneasiness of France, of very mischievous tendency. But experience constantly teaches that new members of a public body do not feel the necessary respect or responsibility for the acts of their predecessors, and that a change of members and of circumstances often proves fatal to consistency and stability of public measures. Some conversation in private by the old members with the most judicious of the new in this instance has abated the fondness of the latter for innovations, and it is even problematical whether they will be again urged.

In the evening of this day the Grand Committee met and agreed to meet again the succeeding evening for the purpose of a conference with the Superintend of Finance.

See the Journals.

TUESDAY, JAN! 7TH, 1782 [1783].

He

In the evening the grand Committee had the assigned conference with Mr. Morris who informed them explicitly that it was impossible to make any advance of pay in the present state of the finances to the army and imprudent to give any assurances with respect to future pay until certain funds should be previously established. He observed that even if an advance ca be made it w be unhappy that it s appear to be the effect of demands from the army; as this precedent could not fail to inspire a distrust of the spontaneous justice of Congress and to produce repetitions of the expedient. said that he had taken some measures with a view to a payment for the army which depended on events not within our command, that he had communicated these measures to Gen! Washington under an injunction of secrecy, and that he could not as yet disclose them without endangering their success; that the situation of our affairs within his department was so alarming that he had thoughts of asking Congress to appoint a Confidential Committee to receive communications on that subject and to sanctify by their advice such steps as ought to be taken. Much loose conversation passed on the critical state of things, the defect of a permanent revenue, & the consequences to be apprehended from a disappointment of the mission from the army; which ended in the appointment of friday evening next for and audience to General McDougall, Col. Brooks and Col. Ogden, the Deputies on the subject of the Memorial, the Superintend to be present.

WEDNESDAY JAN! 8, THURSDAY JANY 9th, AND FRIDAY JAN! 10.

1

On the Report 1 for valuing the land conformably to the rule laid down in the federal articles, the Delegates from Connecticut contended for postponing the subject during the war, alledging the impediments arising from the possession of N. Y., &c., by the enemy; but apprehending (as was supposed) that the flourishing State of Connecticut compared with the Southern States, would render a valuation at this

1 This proposed to require the States to value the land and return the valuations to Congress. The above to be a marginal note. [Note in Madison's hand.]

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crisis unfavorable to the former. Others, particularly Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Madison, were of opinion that the rule of the confederation was a chimerical one since if the intervention of the individual States were employed their interests would give a bias to their judgments, or that at least suspicions of such bias wa prevail, and without their intervention, it could not be executed but at an expense, delay & uncertainty which were inadmissible; that it would perhaps be therefore preferable to represent these difficulties to the States and recommend an exchange of this rule of dividing the public burdens for one more simple easy & equal. The Delegates from S. Carolina generally & particularly Mr. Rutledge advocated the propriety of the constitutional rule & of an adherence to it, and of the safety of the mode in question arising from the honor of the States. The debates on the subject were interrupted by a letter from the Superintendent of Finance; informing Congress that the situation of his department required that a committee sa be appointed with power to advise him on the steps proper to be taken; and suggesting an appointment of one consisting of a member from each State, with authority to give their advice on the subject. This expedient was objected to as improper, since Congress w thereby delegate an incommunicable power, perhaps, and would at any rate lend a sanction to a measure without even knowing what it was; not to mention the distrust which it manifested of their own prudence and fidelity. It was at length proposed & agreed to, that a special committee consisting of Mr. Rutledge Mr. Osgood and Mr. Madison, should confer with the Superintend of Finance on the subject of his letter and make report to Congress. After the adjournment of Congress this Comittee conferred with the Superintend who after being apprized of the difficulties which had arisen in Congress, stated to them that the last account of our money affairs in Europe shewed that contrary to his expectations and estimates there was 3 Million of livres short of the bills actually drawn; that further drafts were indispensable to prevent a stop to the public service; that to make good this deficiency there was only the further success of Mr. Adams' loan and the friendship of France to depend on, that it was necessary for him to decide on the expediency of his staking the public credit on these contingent funds by further drafts, and that in making this decision he wished for the sanction of a committee of Congress; that this sanction was preferable to that of Congress itself only as it w confide the risk attending bills drawn on such funds to a smaller number, and as secrecy was essential in the operation as well to guard our affairs in

general from injury, as the credit of the bills in question from debasement. It was supposed both by the Superintend & the Comittee that there was in fact little danger of bills drawn on France on the credit of the loan of 4 million of dollars, applied for, being dishonored; since if the negociations on foot were to terminate in peace, France would prefer an advance in our favor to exposing us to the necessity of resorting to G. B. for it; and that if the war s continue the necessity of such an aid to its prosecution would prevail. The result was that the Committee should make such report as would bring the matter before Congress under an injunction of secrecy, and produce a resolution authorising the Superintend to draw bills as the public service might require on the credit of applications for loans in Europe. The report of the Committee to this effect was the next day accordingly made & adopted unanimously. Mr. Dyer alone at first opposed it as an unwarrantable & dishonorable presumption on the ability & disposition of France; being answered however that without such a step or some other exped! which neither he nor any other had suggested, our credit would be stabbed abroad and the public service wrecked at home; and that however mortifying it might be to commit our credit, our faith & our honor to the mercy of a foreign nation, it was a mortification weh cd not be avoided without endangering our very existence; he acquiesced and the resolution was entered unanimously. The circumstance of unanimity was thought of consequence as it wa evince the more the necessity of the succour and induce France the more readily to yield it. On this occasion several members were struck with the impropriety of the late attempt to withdraw from France the trust confided to her over the terms of peace when we were under the necessity of giving so decisive a proof of our dependance upon her. It was also adverted to in private conversation as a great unhappiness that during negotiations for peace, when an appearance of vigor & resource were so desirable, such a proof of our poverty & imbecility could not be avoided.

The conduct of Mr. Howel &c. had led several & particularly Mr. Peters into an opinion that some further rule & security ought to be provided for concealing matters of a secret nature. On the motion of Mr. Peters a committee composed of himself Mr. Williamson &c. was appointed to make a report on the subject. On this day the report was made. It proposed that members of Congress should each subscribe an instrument pledging their faith & honor not to disclose certain enumerated matters.