[Extract]
p Eagle Packet

from the bad opinion everybody entertains of a Vessel called the Wilhelmina I am induced to trouble you with duplicate of a Letter which I wrote the 30th Ulto & delivered to the care of her Capt. Williams . . . Since that date a bold enterprize has been carried into Execution by Some of the Friends of America & about Seven Tons of Gunn powder acquired²  while people were flushed with Success, a Report prevailed that an Armed Vessel having 120 Soldiers on board was arrived within a few Miles of the Spot where the powder was lodged ー I wont attempt to describe the effect which it produced ー but I am convinced that a false alarm now & then, would do no harm ー . . .

I informed you Some time ago that one Company of our Regiment of Rangers had disbanded themselves, that was Capt. M[oses] Kirkland's who was himself at the bottom of the plot & we have made Such discoveries as will probably bring him to Death if he can be Seizedー