there.  I am sensible how irksome this must be to you, in the moment of your departure.  But it is a great interest of the United States, which is at stake, and I am sure you will sacrifice to that your feelings and your interest.  I hope to shake you by the hand within twenty-four hours after you receive this; and in the mean time, I am, with much esteem and respect, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and humble servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER CXXIX.—­TO JOHN JAY, March 16, 1788

TO JOHN JAY.

Amsterdam, March 16, 1788.

Sir,

In a letter of the 13th instant, which I had the honor of addressing you from this place, I mentioned in general terms, the object of my journey hither, and that I should enter into more particular details, by the confidential conveyance which would occur through Mr. Adams and Colonel Smith.

The board of treasury had, in the month of December, informed me and our bankers here, that it would be impossible for them to make any remittances to Europe for the then ensuing year, and that they must, therefore, rely altogether on the progress of the late loan.  But this, in the mean time, after being about one third filled, had ceased to get forward.  The bankers who had been referred to me for advice, by Mr. Adams, stated these circumstances, and pressed their apprehension for the ensuing month of June, when two hundred and seventy thousand florins would be wanting for interest.  In fine, they urged an offer of the holders of the former bonds, to take all those remaining on hand, provided they might receive out of them the interest on a part of our domestic debt, of which they had also become the holders.  This would have been one hundred and eighty thousand florins.  To this proposition, I could not presume any authority to listen.  Thus pressed between the danger of failure on one hand, and this proposition on the other, I heard of Mr. Adams being gone to the Hague to take leave.  His knowledge of the subject was too valuable to be neglected under the present difficulty, and it was the last moment in which we could be availed of it.  I set out immediately, therefore, for the Hague, and we came on to this place together, in order to see what could be done.  It was easier to discover, than to remove, the causes which obstructed the progress of the loan.  Our affairs here, like those of other nations, are in the hands of particular bankers.  These employ particular, and they have their particular circle of money-lenders.  These moneylenders, as I have before mentioned, while placing a part of their money in our foreign loans, had at the same time employed another part in a joint speculation, to the amount of eight hundred and forty thousand dollars, in our domestic debt.  A year’s interest was becoming due on this, and they wished to avail themselves of our want of money for the foreign interest, to obtain payment of the domestic.  Our