The presumption is, therefore, that they will make an
establishment of some sort on the northwest coast of America.
I trouble you with the copy of a letter from Schweighauser and Dobree,
on a subject with which I am quite unacquainted. Their letter to
Congress of November the 30th, 1780, gives their state of the matter.
How far it be true and just, can probably be ascertained from Dr.
Franklin, Dr. Lee, and other gentlemen now in America. I shall be glad
to be honored with the commands of Congress on this subject. I have
inquired into the state of the arms, mentioned in their letter to
me. The principal articles were about thirty thousand bayonets, fifty
thousand gunlocks, thirty cases of arms, twenty-two cases of sabres, and
some other things of little consequence. The quay at Nantes having been
overflowed by the river Loire, the greatest part of these arms was under
water, and they are now, as I am informed, a solid mass of rust, not
worth the expense of throwing them out of the warehouse, much less that
of storage. Were not their want of value a sufficient reason against
reclaiming the property of these arms, it rests with Congress to decide,
whether other reasons are not opposed to this reclamation.
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