no acknowledgment of the receipt of any of mine, since that of August
the 11th, 1788. Since that period, I have written to you of the
following dates. 1788. August the 20th, September the 3rd, 5th, 24th,
November the 14th, 19th, 29th. 1789. January the 11th, 14th, 21st,
February the 4th, March the 1st, 12th, 14th, 15th, May the 9th, 11th,
12th, June the 17th, 24th, 29th. I know, through another person, that
you have received mine of November the 29th, and that you have written
an answer; but I have never received the answer, and it is this which
suggests to me the fear of some general source of miscarriage.

The capture of three French merchant ships by the Algerines, under
different pretexts, has produced great sensation in the seaports of this
country, and some in its government. They have ordered some frigates
to be armed at Toulon to punish them. There is a possibility that
this circumstance, if not too soon set to rights by the Algerines, may
furnish occasion to the States General, when they shall have leisure to
attend to matters of this kind, to disavow any future tributary treaty
with them. These pirates respect still less their treaty with Spain, and
treat the Spaniards with an insolence greater than was usual before the
treaty.

The scarcity of bread begins to lessen in the southern parts of France,
where the harvest has commenced. Here it is still threatening, because
we have yet three weeks to the beginning of harvest, and I think there
has not been three days' provision beforehand in Paris, for two or three
weeks past. Monsieur de Mirabeau, who is very hostile to Mr. Necker,
wished to find a ground for censuring him, in a proposition to have
a great quantity of flour furnished from the United States, which he
supposed me to have made to Mr. Necker, and to have been refused by him;
and he asked time of the States General to furnish proofs. The Marquis