not, on any account, transpire, that the public would interest themselves for their redemption.  This was rendered the more necessary, by the declaration of the Dey to the Spanish consul, that he should hold him responsible, at the Spanish price, for our prisoners, even for such as should die.  Three of them have died of the plague.  By authorizing me to redeem at the prices usually paid by the European nations, Congress, I suppose, could not mean the Spanish price, which is not only unusual but unprecedented, and would make our vessels the first object with those pirates.  I shall pay no attention, therefore, to the Spanish price, unless further instructed.  Hard as it may seem, I should think it necessary, not to let it be known even to the relations of the captives, that we mean to redeem them.

I have the honor to inclose you a paper from the admiralty of Guadaloupe, sent to me as a matter of form, and to be lodged, I suppose, with our marine records.  I enclose, also, a copy of a letter from the Count de Florida Blanca to Mr. Carmichael, by which you will perceive, they have referred the settlement of the claim of South Carolina for the use of their frigate, to Mr. Gardoqui, and to the Delegates of South Carolina in Congress.

I had the honor to inform you in my last letter, of the parliament’s being transferred to Troyes.  To put an end to the tumults in Paris, some regiments were brought nearer, the patroles were strengthened and multiplied, some mutineers punished by imprisonment:  it produced the desired effect.  It is confidently believed, however, that the parliament will be immediately recalled, the stamp tax and land tax repealed, and other means devised of accommodating their receipts and expenditures.  Those supposed to be in contemplation, are, a rigorous levy of the old tax of the deux vingtiemes, on the rich, who had, in a great measure, withdrawn their property from it, as well as on the poor, on whom it had principally fallen.  This will greatly increase the receipts:  while they are proceeding on the other hand, to reform their expenses far beyond what they had promised.  It is said these reformations will amount to eighty millions.  Circumstances render these measures more and more pressing.  I mentioned to you in my last letter, that the officer charged by the ministry to watch the motion of the British squadron, had returned with information that it had sailed westwardly.  The fact was not true.  He had formed his conclusion too hastily, and thus led the ministry into error.  The King of Prussia, urged on by England, has pressed more and more the affairs of Holland and lately has given to the States General of Holland four days only to comply with his demand.  This measure would, of itself, have rendered it impossible for France to proceed longer in the line of accommodation with Prussia.  In the same moment, an event takes place, which seems to render all attempt at accommodation idle.  The Turks have declared war against the