During the fluctuating state of the assignats of France, I must ask
the favor of you to inform me, in every letter, of the rate of exchange
between them and coin, this being necessary for the regulation of our
Custom-Houses.
Congress closed its session on the 2nd instant. You will see their acts
in the newspapers forwarded to you, and the body of them shall be sent
as soon as the octavo edition is printed. We are to hold a treaty with
the western Indians in the ensuing month of May, but not under very
hopeful auspices.
You will perceive by the newspapers, a remarkable fall in the price of
our public paper. This is owing chiefly to the extraordinary demand for
the produce of our country, and a temporary scarcity of cash to purchase
it. The merchants holding public paper are obliged to part with it at
any price, to raise money.
I sent you, by the way of London, a dozen plans of the city of
Washington in the federal territory, hoping you would have them
displayed to public view where they would be most seen by those
descriptions of men worthy and likely to be attracted to it. Paris,
Lyons, Rouen, and the sea-port towns of Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, and
Marseilles, would be proper places to send some of them. I trust to Mr.
Taylor to forward you the newspapers by every direct occasion to France.
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