The capture of three French merchant ships by the Algerines, under
different pretexts, has produced great sensation in the seaports of this
country, and some in its government. They have ordered some frigates
to be armed at Toulon to punish them. There is a possibility that
this circumstance, if not too soon set to rights by the Algerines, may
furnish occasion to the States General, when they shall have leisure to
attend to matters of this kind, to disavow any future tributary treaty
with them. These pirates respect still less their treaty with Spain, and
treat the Spaniards with an insolence greater than was usual before the
treaty.
The scarcity of bread begins to lessen in the southern parts of France,
where the harvest has commenced. Here it is still threatening, because
we have yet three weeks to the beginning of harvest, and I think there
has not been three days' provision beforehand in Paris, for two or three
weeks past. Monsieur de Mirabeau, who is very hostile to Mr. Necker,
wished to find a ground for censuring him, in a proposition to have
a great quantity of flour furnished from the United States, which he
supposed me to have made to Mr. Necker, and to have been refused by him;
and he asked time of the States General to furnish proofs. The Marquis
de la Fayette immediately gave me notice of this matter, and I wrote him
a letter to disavow having ever made any such proposition to Mr.
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