(No 1.)

My Lord, It is with great Satisfaction that I avail myself of the first Opportunity that has occurred since I entered upon Office to express to your Lordship The King's Approbation of the great Zeal your Lordship has manifested for His Service, & of the Fortitude with which you have not only resisted but repelled the Insults which had been offered to You by His Majesty's Rebellious Subjects in Virginia.

What your Lordship states in your Dispatches of the 22d Octr of the disposition that had appeared in many Persons to take an open part against the Rebells, encourages me to hope that upon the Arrival of the Liverpoole with the Store Ship under her Convoy, & which might have been expected very soon after the date of your Letter, you would have been enabled to exert with a greater Effect that Activity in support of Legal Government which has already done you so much Honour.

Your Lordships will probably have heard of the Armament that has been prepared here for the purpose of reducing the Southern Provinces to Obedience, & of obtaining with the assistance of the Friends of Government, the Restoration of the public Tranquility. That Armament consists of 7 Battalions which go out under the Command of Lord Cornwallis, but will upon their Arrival in America be commanded by Major General Clinton: It also consists of a Naval force under the Command of Sir Peter Parker composed of a Fi£ ty Gun Ship, Six Frigates, & one Sloop and the Thunder Bomb; and as every thing for the Embarkation of the Troops is now in great Forwardness, I hope it will arrive upon the Coast of America, as soon as this Letter can reach Your Lordship.

The Place of its immediate & first Destination is Cape Fear River in North Carolina, from whence it will proceed either to Virginia, or South Carolina, as the General shall, upon such Information as he can collect upon the Spot, judge most advisable; for as this Expedition has been formed (in great Measure at least) upon the Assurances given, with equal Confidence, from each of the Southern Provinces, that the bare Appearance of a Military Force would encourage the Friends of Government to shew themselves, the particular Direction of that Force must consequently be left to the Discretion of the Commander in Chief.

Whatever Intelligence Your Lordship may be able to transmit to General Clinton cannot but be very useful; and I am particularly commanded by the King to recommend to Your Lordship, to give every Assistance in your Power to an Expedition, from which we entertain so well grounded Hopes of Success. I am &ca