[Extract]
No 7

My Lord. By Admiral Shuldhams arrival on the 30th December I had the Honor of your Lordships Dispatches of the 22d October;... Also a Copy of a Letter from your Lordship of the 22d September to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in which you are pleased to intimate that the Stores of Provisions, contracted for by Messrs Mure Son & Atkinson by the Lords of the Treasury, are intended as well for the Fleet as the Army; whereas from their not being any Mention made of the Fleet sharing these Stores, either in your Lordships Letters to me, from the Lords of the Treasury, or the Merchants, the Cargoes arriving before Admiral Shuldham were distributed solely to the Army; but since the Sight of your Lordships Letter, that I might not appear to neglect the Fleet, I have, tho' without a direct Order from your Lordship, given a Proportion of Porter to the Ships: At the same Time, I beg leave to observe, the Deliveries of Provision to the Soldiers for some Weeks past being without Pease or Rice, the Want of Bedding, & the unavoidable Exposure to the Weather from the Nature of the Duty, which has been very severe, without enumerating further Reasons, make them require these Refreshments more than the Seamen, who are better provided.

I enclose for your Lordships Information an Account of the Deficiencies in the Provision Contract, with the Commissary's Letter thereupon, & I shall send another to the Lords of the Treasury. ー Having heard from Governor Tryon that there is a Prospect of getting some Provisions on the Side of New York I have dispatched a Vessel to endeavour to procure it; and the Victuallers for the Navy, lately arrived could conveniently afford us a Supply for six Weeks if necessary, which relieves me from the Necessity of putting the Troops to short Allowance, more especially as I am hopeful that the Vessels mentioned in my Dispatch of the 19th December, may return from the West Indies & Georgia before the Provisions in Store, as [p] State, are consumed; so that our Dependence is not wholly on the Contractors Ships, one of which got in the 13th Instt with Oats Flour and Pease, the last Article affording a most seasonable Relief.

The necessary Arrangements being made for the Departure of Major General Clinton to Cape Fear, in consequence of your Lordships Dispatches of the 22d October, he is ready to sail in the Mercury Ship of War, with the Falcon Sloop & two Transports, having on board two Companies of Light Infantry, & some Highlanders: The latter, I hope, may be useful in getting Men in North Carolina if Governor Martin is not deceived in his Expectations, of which I do not presume to judge, ha:ving received no direct Intelligence from thence since General Gage's Departure, nor have I received Governor Martins Letter referred to in your Lordships Letter of 22d October. It is much to be wished that the Troops had sailed from Europe in Time to have arrived at their Destination by the Middle or latter End of November; But I am free to own my Opinion to your Lordship, which has been to leave the Southern Provinces in the fullest Persuasion of their Security, until the Rebels should have been defeated on the Side of New York, which Event appears to me, more clearly than ever, of so much consequence, that our utmost Strength should be exerted to accomplish it before Designs of less Importance are taken up, inconsistent with the general Plan of Operations for the ensuing Campaign; and it is to be presumed the southern Rebels would have been less able to defend themselves, had they not been roused by the Conduct of their Governors, who have not, I fear, the Power of suppressing them, or of reestablishing the Interest of Government in any Degree ー It is remarkable that the Destination of the Regiments to the Southward was promulgated here by private Letters from England, that came in the same ship with your Lordships Dispatch relative to them, & I make not a Doubt of the Rebels being in Possession of the Intelligence very soon after it arrived ー General Lee I hear is gone from the Army in consequence of it.