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.
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