"I have received the letter you did me the honor to write me the 27th instant. I shall not enter into an examination of the successive variations and augmentations of your demands on me for funds to meet your payments. I shall merely remark, that whenever you shall consider yourself fully authorised to dispose of the proceeds of the Dutch loan, on behalf of Congress, I will propose to M. de Fleury to supply you with the million required, as soon as it shall have been paid into the royal treasury. But I think it my duty, Sir, to inform you, that if Mr Morris issues drafts on this same million, I shall not be able to provide for the payment of them, and shall leave them to be protested. I ought also to inform you, that there will be nothing more supplied than the million abovementioned, and if the drafts, which you have already accepted, exceed that sum, it must be for you to contrive the means of meeting them. I shall make an exception only in favor of those of Mr Morris, provided they shall not exceed the remainder of the Dutch loan, after deducting the million, which shall be placed at your disposal, and the expenses of the loan. "I have the honor to be, &c. DE VERGENNES. "_P. S._ I remit to you herewith the letter of Mr Grand." Although this letter of Dr Franklin does not in express terms promise me the aid I had desired, yet the general tenor of it, together with the grant of the million mentioned by the Count de Vergennes, led me to suppose, that on the receipt of it he would be able to make me the necessary advances. Under this idea I returned the following answer to the Doctor's letter. "Madrid, January 30th, 1782. "My dear Sir, "I had yesterday the satisfaction of receiving your favor of the 15th instant. You will find by a letter, which I wrote you on the 11th instant, that I imputed your silence to its true cause, being well persuaded, that the same attention you have always paid to the public affairs in general, would not be withheld from those, which call for it in this kingdom. "I am happy to find, that you have a prospect of terminating the difficulties, which the bills drawn upon me have occasioned, and though I cannot but observe, that Count de Vergennes' letter is peculiarly explicit and precise, yet I must confess, I should not have been surprised if it had been conceived in terms still less soft. Would it not be well to transmit a copy of it to Congress? France has done, and is still doing so much for us, that gratitude, as well as policy, demands from us the utmost moderation and delicacy in our applications for aids; and considering the very singular plan of drawing bills at a venture, I think we have no less reason to admire the patience, than to be satisfied with the liberality of our good and generous allies.