We have the honor of your letter of this date, and shall give the earliest attention to its contents.
We apprehend there would be no impropriety at all in your application to his Excellency the Count de Vergennes, concerning the subject of a loan in Genoa, and we wish that you would apply. As we wish however to do everything in our power to procure you success, we shall do ourselves the honor to propose the subject to his Excellency the first time we see him, which will probably be tomorrow, when we shall make an application to him also upon the other subject of your letter, the interposition of His Majesty with the Emperor of Morocco, and with the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and every other power on the coast of Barbary.
We have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN,
ARTHUR LEE,
JOHN ADAMS.
P. S. August 27th. Since writing the foregoing, we have spoken of the Genoese loan to Count de Vergennes, who gave us no encouragement to hope that France would engage for us in that affair. The other matter will be the subject of a proposed written memorial.
TO THE ABBÉ NICCOLI.
Paris, September 1st, 1778.
Dear Sir,
Your favor of the 28th of July affords no very flattering prospects to us from Tuscany. My expectations and hopes from that quarter were high, and I confess that I am disappointed. All Europe appears to me to be interested in the success of our cause, and Italy will certainly receive no inconsiderable share of the benefits resulting from the establishment of the independence of the United States; it is, therefore, not a little to be wondered at, that she should refuse to stir a finger towards the accomplishment of that event. I am well aware, that the revenues of the Grand Duke are not equal to those of the King of France; something, however, is certainly in his power; and we are taught by Scripture to set a proper value on a single mite, when it is proportioned to the ability of the donor.