Pha. Decr 4th. 1781
Sir,
We have the honor to enclose an extract from the communications lately made by the Minister of France to Congress,1 & request to be informd of the quantity of arms, & military Stores you have orderd, and of any other circumstances relative to this subject you may see proper.
We have, the honor to be, with great respect, your Excellency’s most Obt Servts, John Hanson
Danl. Carroll
"The Count de Vergennes in a letter dated the 7th of Sepr. mentions, that in consequence of applications from the States of Virginia, & Maryland, the King had orderd a number of arms, & military Stores to be shipd to them, Subject however to the order of Congress: that these were to be paid for out of the Loan-negotiating in Holland, which he had reason to think wou’d be compleated."
Receiver’s copy, Maryland State Papers (Red Books), Maryland Hall of Records Commission, Annapolis. Written by Carroll and signed by Carroll and Hanson.
1 On November 23, 1781, the secretary for foreign affairs, Robert R. Livingston, laid before Congress the transcript of a "verbal communication" made to him by the French minister, La Luzerne, which summarized, in part, a September 7 letter from the comte de Vergennes. The communication was entered by Secretary Thomson in the secret foreign journal under the date January 25, 1782, apparently because a plan of a convention concerning consular powers was adopted that day, but was printed by Gaillard Hunt under the date it was received. See JCC, 21:1137 - 40; PCC, item 5, 2:617 - 20; and Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, 4:859 - 60.