Be assured, my
Dear Sir, that no such idea ever entered my head. On the contrary, it is
a business which would be the most disagreeable to me of all others,
and for which I am the most unfit person living. I do not understand
bargaining, nor possess the dexterity requisite for the purpose. On the
other hand, Mr. Adams, whom I expressly and sincerely recommend, stands
already on ground for that business, which I could not gain in years.
Pray set me to rights in the minds of those, who may have supposed me
privy to this proposition. _En passant_, I will observe with respect to
Mr. Dumas, that the death of the Count de Vergennes places Congress more
at their ease, how to dispose of him. Our credit has been ill treated
here in public debate, and our debt here deemed apocryphal. We should
try to transfer this debt elsewhere, and leave nothing capable of
exciting ill thoughts between us. I shall mention in my letter to Mr.
Jay, a disagreeable affair which Mr. Barclay has been thrown into,
at Bordeaux. An honester man cannot be found, nor a slower, nor more
decisive one. His affairs, too, are so embarrassed and desperate, that
the public reputation is, every moment, in danger of being
compromitted with him.
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