I just read in the Gazette de Berne, No. 20, dated the 10th of March from The Hague, that your Excellency is currently in Holland occupied in raising a loan of 1 million florins for the United States of America. I suspected that such an operation was taking place so I had the honor to write to Doctor Franklin on the 7th of this month, a copy1 of which I take the liberty of enclosing here, in order that your Excellency can determine whether my proposal would not be better received by the public than a loan at 5 percent. If this is the case, I will send the proposal, or better still, I can come immediately to Holland to confer with your Excellency because these sorts of negotiations are better served through conversation than through correspondence, especially since the enclosed letter contains only a succinct extract. I believe that Your Excellency will be pleased with the novelty and appeal of my plan: there are 10 years of annuities, nine years of annuity interest which are in coupons payable to the bearer, and the twentieth lasts until the death of the lenders. While awaiting orders, I have the honor to be very respectfully, your very humble and very obedient servant