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arrived, without news of him, I expect Mr. Adams will concur with me in sending some other person to treat with the Barbary States. Mr. Barclay is willing to go, and I have proposed him to Mr. Ad ams, but have not yet received his answer. The peace expected between Spain and Algiers, will probably not take place. It is said, the former was to have given a million of dollars. Would it not be prudent to send a minister to Portugal ? Our commerce with that country is very important; perhaps more so than with any other country in Europe. It is possible, too, that they might per mit our whaling vessels to refresh in Brazil, or give some other in dulgences in America. The lethargic character of their ambas sador here, gives a very unhopeful aspect to a treaty on this ground. I lately spoke with him on the subject, and he has promised to interest himself in obtaining an answer from his court.
I have waited to see what was the pleasure of Congress, as to the secretaryship of my office here ; that is, to see whether they proposed to appoint a secretary of legation, or leave me to appoint a private secretary. Colonel Humphreys occupation in the dis patches and records of the matters which relate to the general commissions, does not afford him leisure to aid me in my office, were I entitled to ask that aid. In the mean time, the long papers which often accompany the communications between the ministers here, and myself, and the other business of the office, absolutely require a scribe. I shall, therefore, on Mr. Short s return from the Hague, appoint him my private secretary, till Congress shall think proper to signify their pleasure. The salary allowed Mr. Franklin, in the same office, was one thousand dollars a year. I shall presume that Mr. Short may draw the same allowance from the funds of the United States, here. As soon as I shall have made this appointment, I shall give official notice of it to Mr. Jay, that Congress may, if they disapprove it, say so.
I am much pleased with your land ordinance, and think it im proved from the first, in the most material circumstances. I had mistaken the object of the division of the lands among the States. I am sanguine in my expectations of lessening our debts by this fund, and have expressed my expectations to the minister and others, here. I see by the public papers, you have adopted the dollar as your money unit. In the arrangement of coins I pro posed, I ought to have inserted a gold coin of five dollars, which, being within two shillings of the value of a guinea, would be very convenient.
The English papers are so incessantly repeating their lies about the tumults, the anarchy, the bankruptcies and distresses of Ame rica, that these ideas prevail very generally in Europe. At a large
