2089. DEBTS DUE BRITISH, Interest on.—
It is a general sentiment in America that
the principal of these debts should be paid, and
that that alone is stipulated by the treaty. But
they [the British] think the interest also
which arose before and since the war, is
justly due. They think it would be as unjust
to demand interest during the war. They urge
that during that time they could not pay the
debt, for that of the remittances attempted,
two-thirds on an average were taken by the
nation to whom they were due; that during that
period they had no use of the money, as from
the same circumstances of capturing their produce
on the sea, tobacco sold at 5s. the hundred,
which was not sufficient to bear the expenses
of the estate; that they paid taxes and other
charges on the property during that period, and
stood its insurers in the ultimate event of the
war. They admit, indeed, that such individual
creditors, as were not engaged in privateering
against them, have lost this interest; but that
it was the fault of their own nation, and that
this is the case where both parties having lost,
each may justifiably endeavor to save himself.
Setting aside this portion of the interest, I am
persuaded the debts in America are generally
good, and that there is an honest intention to
pay them.—
To Alexander McCaul.
Ford ed., iv, 203.
(L.
1786)
