raising money during the war, resorted to his notorious and desperate device of writing drafts on American diplomatic agents in France and Spain, in the hope that by the time the drafts were presented, loans from these countries would have been obtained. The total of moneys advanced to Jay by the Spanish Government for this purpose was reported to the Governor of Rhode Island, January 4, 1783, by Robert Livingston, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, as $150,000.1 Jay gave receipts for the amounts received by him, but only after much importunity on the part of the Spanish Ministers. There is evident no stipulated promise to pay. In 1790 Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington, began his program of paying off the debts of the United States at home and abroad. Within two years the credit of the United States at the world money market at Amsterdam rose from the worst in the world to the best. In the case of the debt to France there were definite obligations indicating the loans, with rate of interest, and a fixed schedule of payments on principal, beginning in 1785, according to the terms of the funding agreements with that power in 1782 and 1783 which had been ratified by Congress. Under Hamilton's administration of the treasury the United States succeeded in borrowing money from private bankers at Amsterdam with which 1 Wharton, VI, 195. Livingston stated: "I have reason to believe that no money has since then been obtained on account of the United States in Spain." * Expediente on "aids (soccorros) given to the Americans," A. H. N., Est. Leg., 3884, Expediente 4. it proceeded to take up the arrears due on the French debt since 1785, together with accumulated interest, and thenceforth continued regularly to meet payments on principal and interest as fixed by the schedule of payments of the funding agreements. In the case of Spain there had been no such agreements. They would in fact have implied a recognition of American independ ence. Through the courtesy of the State Department Hamilton in 1792 directed Carmichael, United States chargé at Madrid, to apprise the Spanish Government of the desire of the United States to pay any debts it owed to Spain and to inquire what amount was owed. Carmichael could get no reply more definite than a promise to consult records and submit a statement as promptly as possible, which statement was never forthcoming.* From the records in the Treasury Department Hamilton calculated that the United States owed to Spain $174,011, with interest at five per cent from date of loan. The agent of the United States who transacted 5 * A. Aulard, La dette Americaine envers la France, Revue de Paris, 15 mai, 1 juin, 1925. • Carmichael to Aranda, Madrid, Sept. 19, Nov. 2, 1792. Gardoqui to Aranda, Nov. 2 (two letters), 1792; Aranda to Carmichael, Nov. 5, 1792; Aranda to Gardoqui, Nov. 7, 1792, A. H. N., Est. Leg. 3889 bis, Expedte. 1. Through the courtesy of the Honorable the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, I was permitted in February, 1926, to make an inspection of the archives of the department in an effort to locate material bearing on this subject. These archives are not complete for this early period, are ill arranged and cared for, and are scattered in several improvised repositaries the Dutch bankers' loans for payment of arrears on the French debt was William Short, then minister of the in various parts of Washington. With the assistance of the appropriate attachés of the Department, I was unable to find anything on the Spanish debt, aside from the statements referred to hereafter. The notation of $174,011 as owed to Spain and paid in full, Aug. 21, 1793, with total interest, to Dec. 31, 1792, of $99,007.89, is recorded in American State Papers, Financial Affairs, I, 672, (same item repeated elsewhere in ibid.). This is followed in Bayley's National Loans of the United States and DeKnight, History of the Currency and Loans of the United States, both of them official government publications. Below is reproduced in print a letter of Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury, to Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, October 9, 1792, setting forth the status of the United States debt to Spain. ("Estimates and Statements, 1791 and 1792," Old Loan Office, Treasury Department, Washington): Sir, "Treasury Dept., Registers Office 9 Octo: 1792. I have the Honor to enclose certifyd Copies from the Treasury Books of an Act. depending betwixt His mo. Catholic Majesty and the United States, for monies recd. on Loan.* I have the Honor to be Sir Your mo: ob: hb: Servt. Hon: Alexr. Hamilton Esq: * I cannot find that this Loan has been recognized on the Journals of Congress in a like manner with the French and Dutch Loans. It is founded on a settlement made by the late com. for settling the foreign accts. entitled Loans from the Court of Spain. This money was paid to the Hon: James Gardoqui and has been regularly accounted for by him, having been expended in the purchasing of cloathing, and in the payt. of Bills of Exc. United States at The Hague, who, without any experience in such matters, performed that rather compli drawn by order of Congress. The principal sum recd. was 174,011 drs. Dr. His mo. Catholic Majesty in a/c with the united States Cr. By the following Sums paid to the Hon: James Gardoqui of Madrid viz: 1781 January 1. For so much recd. of the Court-- 17,892 By Int. on 17,892 dollars from January 1781 to 31 decr. 1792 is 12 Years at 5% 10,735.20 do. on 32,000 do. from 28 Feby. 1781 to do. is 11.10.3 at do....... 18,946.67 do. on 9,036 do. from 28 April 1781 to do. cated business in a highly creditable way. Short was also empowered by Hamilton to pay off the Spanish cts. The principal sum received was Drs. 174,011. To which add Interest thereon to the 31 Dec. 1792. 99,007.89 Total Amt. of Principal & Int. a. of Statement 273,018.89 Altho' there is no Recognition of this Debt on the Journals of Congress, by a Copy of the original Contract or otherwise, yet in all the Estimates made by the late Government the annual appropriations have been made for the payment of its Int. and in the various Reports from Committees of Congress it has been notic'd as an Existing Claim due from the United States, There is an Acct. opened in the Treasury Books under the Title of Don Carlos Dildephonso Rico Hombre D'Espagne a copy of which I inclose. This I have understood from Mr. Lee is to be received as a Gratuity and not as a Loan I have the Honor to be Sir with Real Respect Your mo: ob: & mo: hb: Serv. J. N." This does not agree with Livingston's statement of 1783 that the loans from Spain were $150,000 and that this was all used for making up debts. The investigator can do no more than lay out these documents. How much of the $174,011 was used for drafts and how much for clothing, cannot be told, but Jay's correspondence suggests that all the money received by him, total not indicated by him, was used for drafts (see Wharton, IV and V, and index). I have been unable to reconcile the two totals of $150,000 and $174,011. A search in the Treasury Archives, which are by no means complete, has failed to reveal the account of "Don Carlos |