Sir:
Your Excellency's Letters respecting the debt due from this State to the Government of Martinique I have done myself the honor to lay before the General Assembly at their last Session: enclosed is their Resolution on that Subject, which I shall comply with as soon as I am enabled out of the funds they have appropriated for this purpose: the monies recd. for 1783 in taxes are expended, the impost laid this Assembly and taxes for 1784 will take some time to come into hand; but the first collections shall be set apart to reimburse this money agreeable to your Excellency's further advice.
As the principal collection of money will be in paper some produce of the State must be purchased with the same and a remittance made to Martinique or Philadelphia as will be thought most advisable by your Excellency, this however will be attended with some delay, for which your Excellency's indulgence is requested. That part of the Resolution respecting M. DeBretigny's Agency is a matter between the State and that Gentleman and cannot interfere with the debt he has contracted and which the State is bound to honor.