[Extract]
p Swallow Packet

. . . the Six days past Since my arrival here have been almost wholly taken up in receiving the kind compliments of my friends & in return paying my respects to them & before this Ceremony is quite over I have a Call to the Country Some 30 Miles distance, where my favorite Overseer lies dangerously Ill, & of course the Contents of the Barn in danger of delapedations from the ungoverned Gentry around him ー you will not wonder then that I Say very little on the State of Trade or politics I have penetrated into neither ー in general I learn that upwards of half a Million pounds weight of Indigo has already been exported of the late or present Crop that more than the Same quantity remains unshipped ー that the 13 United Colonies are determined to adhere Steadily to their late association & Resolutions in opposition to the measures adopted for enslaving us, & in this Colony particularly there appears a Spirit & firmness beyond expectation ー If Administration on your Side Should, unhappily for both, continue firm in persecuting us, we Shall be a Set of ragged patriots before the expiration of '75 an assurance that we suffer for righteousness Sake will conduct us through the trial with patience & our cheerfulness, & in '76 we shall begin to deck our Selves in Woolen Cotton Linen & Silk of our own manufacture