Gentlemen ー

As we have business of very great importance to lay before you, which we think will merit the consideration of the Representatives of the United Colonies we are fortunate in meeting with the present opportunity for its conveyance by Mr Hindson who has promised not only to deliver our dispatches into your own hands but also to communicate a verbal message which cannot be so well imparted in any other manner.

Recent transactions of a most dangerous tendency in the interior parts of this Colony, the treachery of our Governor who has been pursuing the Steps of Mr. [Josiah] Martin nearly as his situation would allow him, our late intelligence respecting the Indians & the unhappy differences which now subsist among the Inhabitants of Charles Town render this application for your advice & assistance absolutely indispensible. We had for some time entertained suspicions of the conduct of L. Wm. Campbell, but a late circumstance has furnished us with positive proof of his disengenuity & intention to undo us by stealth. His Lordship had not only shown a fair face when waited upon, but had in the most condescending terms invited Gentlemen to call on him in order to give him opportunity for expressing his good wishes to the Colony while he was at the same time privately spiriting up the people on our Frontiers to oppose our Association & to hold themselves in readiness to act in Arms against the Colony ー after having received reiterated accounts of the increasing discontents of those people, together with assurances that they were instigated by the Emissaries of the British Administration & supported by the promises of Royal favour, this Council judged it expedient to send proper persons to_ explain to them, the causes & nature of the dispute subsisting between Great Britain & the Colonies to endeavour to reconcile their minds to an Union in defence of their common rights; for these good purposes The Honble. Mr [William Henry] Drayton & the Reverend Mr [William] Tennent were sent into those parts where the disaffected were most po'werful & most numerous & although their progress has been attended with many salutary effects yet particular characters and their abettors continued so irrectionable that it was found necessary to abandon the mild modes of persuasion & to have recourse to the use of Arms which they had first taken up ー we have now 1200. men of the Regiment of Rangers & Militia under the direction of Mr. Drayton at Ninety Six we hope he will be able to suppress all opposition or at least to drive away the ringleaders of it. ー among the head of our opponents was Capt Moses Kirkland who may with great justice be denominated a Traitor. ー he had actually taken a Commission in the service of the Colony, & had enlisted a Company of Rangers whom he afterwards incited to Mutiny & Desert. this Man after having threatened the destruction of Augusta & Recapture of Fort Charlotte in vain attempted to make a stand with his adherents & being closely pursued fled in disguises to Charles Town, which he entered by night took sanctuary in the Governor's House & was by His Lordship's means conveyed on board the Tamar Sloop of War. ー A report of this fact was soon brought to the Gen. Committee which happened to be sitting & a discovery was made of a person who had been one of Kirkland's Company of Rangers & had attended him in his flight, this person being Committed to the Guard was made use of by some of the Officers of our Troops to carry on a stratagem the result of which you will learn from one of the inclosed papers marked "Minutes of a Conversation." The Committee upon this discovery demanded a sight of the Letters which the Governor had just received from Administration by the Swallow Packet. His Lordship preemptorily refused to comply but in the course of conversation acknowledged that Ships & Troops were to be sent from England to all the Colonies & might be shortly expected; the next Evening he gave orders for dismantling Fort Johnson which was in part performed by men from on board the Tamar who dismounted all the Guns on the lower Battery & broke many of the Carriages, after which His Excellency dissolved the Assembly & without assigning any reasons in public, retired on board that Man of War where he has ever since remained & from certain circumstances we believe he means to remove his family to the same place. ー fortunately the Seamen neglected to spike the Cannon we have therefore taken possession of the Fort & remounted them ー the Garrison now consists of about 400. of our new raised Troops commanded there by Callo [Isaac] Motte we intend to persevere in repairing the Fort & will put it in the best posture of defence. We also intend to fortify the Harbour as effectually as our circumstances will admit of ー tis possible the Man of War may interrupt our proceedings, in such Case we shall be under a necessity of attempting to take or destroy her. ー here we are at a loss to know to what lengths each Colony will be warranted by the Voice of America in opposing & resisting the King's Officers in general & the British Marine, tho' such opposition should be necessary for the very existence of a Colony & support of the Common Cause. ー

Our Provincial Congress in June last Resolved that Officers in the two Regiments of Foot in Colony Pay should when acting in Conjunction with Officers of the Militia of equal Commissions take Rank & precedence of these without regard to dates of Commissions ー this Regulation gave no Umbrage till lately, when we judged it necessary to Issue an Order for compelling many delinquents to do equal duty with their fellow Citizens in the Militia then a general Clamour was raised, petitions & Remonstrances from the "12 United Companies" of Volunteers were sent in, to this board & to the General Committee & the dispute was carried to so great a height as to threaten an overthrow of our Association, temperate measures have however pacified many of the well meaning honest people who have been misled by the contrivances of false friends, nevertheless there remains no inconsiderable degree of ferment & dissatisfaction ー to this untoward circumstance add, the unfavourable accounts which we have received from the Indians, the danger which we are always exposed to & more especially at this time from domestic Insurrection the expectation of British Troops & Ships of War with other incidents hereafter to be mentioned & you will agree that we have before us a very unpleasant prospect. We have been informed that you have granted 1000 Men to North Carolina on Accot. of the disturbance in that Colony, be that as it may surely we in this weaker part stand more in need of an Army of Observation & General Officers to Command all our forces, at the general charge of the Colonies: we would if time had permitted have applied to North Carolina & Georgia to have joined us in an application for such an Army, & we now recommend it to your serious consideration & enjoin you to Address the General Congress upon this subject & to use your endeavors for obtaining such defence for us, without which Carolina & Georgia will be involved in such difficulties as may & probably will greatly injure the common Interests of America. We particularly request you to consider of proper measures for Regulating the Militia & to procure a strong recommendation on this head from the Congress.

the Judges have refused to do business in their departments, hence the Courts are shut up, the Custom House may soon follow the example & we rather suspect it from an application which Mr Haliday has made for leave to retire from the province altho' he has assured us that he will leave a Deputy. We have used our utmost endeavours & gone to very great expence for procuring amri:mnition, we were stimulated to the Act upon Lofthouse's Vessel at Augustine Bar by our hearty desire to supply the common Stock on your side, we rejoice to learn that you now have abundance We have also in our Magazine enough to serve our present purposes & no bad prospect of receiving additional quantaties very speedily ー but none to spare ー Nothing would be more acceptable to us than two or three thousand stand of good Arms is it possible to obtain such & so many from Philadelphia? if it is, we recommend it as a most essential service ー

Your letter of the 3d August with Resolutions of the 1st came duly to hand, perhaps after a Post Office is established, the Congress will find it necessary to open the American ports to Foreigners & to pursue the most vigorous measures in our Infant state, by Sea as well as Land neither of which in our opinion can be effected if the Doctrine of abandoning our Sea Coasts should prevail ー & We must not conclude without intreating you to consider of proper measures for the keeping the Militia in due subordination & procuring a strong recommendation, on this head from the Congress. ー By order of the Council of Safety.

Henry Middleton
Thomas Lynch
Chris. Gadsden
John Rutledge
Ed. Rutledge Esquires, Delegates for So Carolina in General Congress Philad.

[P.S.] We have just received a private Information that Moses Kirkland is to be put on board this Sloop after she is over the Bar ー he is to proceed to General [Thomas] Gage & apply for Men & Ammunition to enable him to recover his ground & to distress us in the back Country —— We have laid a plan for having him safely landed at George Town if that should fail, the Committee or Council of Safety at New York will be informed of his arrival & of his intended Schemes we hope in such case they will detain him for your directions & that you will give such as shall put it out of his power to do us any further mischief ー to return him to Carolina in order to be tried by a Court Martial will be best. ー Inclosed you will find a Copy of our late Order concerning the Militia