Of this order, made at Bernis, his Excellency, Count de Vergennes, was pleased to honor me with a communication, by a letter of the 30th of May, 1786; desiring that I would publish it as well in America as to the American merchants in France.  I did so; communicating it to Congress at the same time.  This order, thus viewed, with the transactions which produced it, will be seen to have been necessary; and its punctual and candid execution has been rendered still more so, by the speculations of the merchants, entered into on the faith of it.  Otherwise it would become the instrument of their ruin instead of their relief.  A twelvemonth has elapsed some time since; and it is questioned, whether the Farmers General have purchased, within that time, the quantity prescribed, and on the conditions prescribed.  It would be impossible for the merchants to prove the negative; it will be easy for the Farmers General to show the affirmative, if it exists.  I hope that a branch of commerce of this extent, will be thought interesting enough to both nations to render it the desire of your Excellency to require, as I deem it my duty to ask, a report of the purchases they have made, according to the conditions of the order of Bernis, specifying in that report, 1.  The quantities purchased; 2. the prices paid; 3. the dates of the purchase and payment; 4. the flag of the vessel in which imported; 5. her name; 6. her port of delivery; and 7. the name of the seller.  The four first articles make part of the conditions required by the order of Bernis; the three last may be necessary for the correction of any errors, which should happen to arise in the report.

But the order of Bernis was never considered but as a temporary relief.  The radical evil will still remain.  There will be but one purchaser in the kingdom, and the hazard of his refusal will damp every mercantile speculation.  It is very much to be desired, that before the expiration of this order, some measure may be devised, which may bring this great article into free commerce between the two nations.  Had this been practicable at the time it was put into Farm, that mode of collecting the revenue would probably never have been adopted:  now that it has become practicable, it seems reasonable to discontinue this mode, and to substitute some of those practised on other imported articles, on which a revenue is levied, without absolutely suppressing them in commerce.  If the revenue can be secured, the interests of a few individuals will hardly be permitted to weigh against those of as many millions, equally subjects of his Majesty, and against those, too, of a nation allied to him by all the ties of treaty, of interest, and of affection.  The privileges of the most favored nation have been mutually exchanged by treaty.  But the productions of other nations, which do not rival those of France, are suffered to be bought and sold freely within the kingdom.  By prohibiting all his Majesty’s subjects from dealing in tobacco,