My Lord,

The Communication of Intelligence, of any sort indeed, from America to England, as must be well known by your Lordship being so difficult ー I hope I stand in need of no further Apology for not having wrote oftener, than adding that, 'till lately, I have had nothing material from this Province to communicate, which was not in common with what regarded the proceedings of the Continental Congress, and what Your Lordship would have the fullest Information of, in the Common Prints & General Accounts from the Northward. Having now a safe Opportunity, by a Ship of my Brothers, (The Annapolis, Captn Hanrick) I shall endeavour to lay before your Lordship two or three late Occurrences in this Province, which have given me great Uneasiness, but which I had no power to prevent, altho' I had Influence enough to prevent the Excesses, at first proposed, being carried into Execution, in some Instances, and more especially with Regard to the Snow Adventure, Captn Henzell, belonging to Mr Farness, in London, that came to this City with about seventy indented Servants, and the Captain, it seems, had brought out 200 Dozen of Porter, several Chaldrons of Coal, & some Ct of Cheese, under a Pretence, as alledged, of stopping at Madeira, and disposing of them there; The Committee therefore, thinking such a proceeding a premeditated Infringement of the Association, ordered'him to return to England, Servants and all. I contrived to have the Barbarity of such a Measure, where it so greatly affected the Servants and Passengers, represented; and the Committee, on meeting again, thought proper to allow the Servants to be landed, and the Vessel to take in Water and Provisions for the passage home; but the Captain by being too long in availing himself of that Indulgence was in some Danger of the Conflagration that Mr Gildarts Ship (of Liverpoole) met with, for the particulars of which I must beg Leave in this place to refer Your Lordship to the enclosed papers, No. 1, from me to the Officers of the Customs here, & No. 2, their Answer.

. . . We have neither Troops nor Ships of War to support those who would (and I can assure Your Lordship there are many such) if they had such support to fly to, have long ago asserted the Rights of Great Britain, and their own Liberties ー and are still ready, many of them, waiting only for such an Opportunity. . . . I have entrusted this to the Care of Mr Lloyd Dulany, who is leaving a considerable Estate here to escape with his Life from the persecution he has long been under, for having withstood every insidious and violent Attempt to draw him into Connections with men whose Measures he abhors and has resolutely opposed from the very first . . . Many other Gentlemen of property, Character, & Family are leaving America, and I should be unjust to a particular Friend of mine, were I to omit mentioning and recommending to Your Lordship the Revd Mr [Jonathan] Boucher, who is driven from his parish and possessions here, and goes home in the Choptank Frigate from Patowmack, in about ten days. he has ever been a firm Supporter of the Church as well as of Government, and being particularly connected with me, can communicate to Your Lordship the Principle Occurrences in this province for some time past; and knows very well every thing relative to all the great Men in Virginia ー He is a very sensible and intelligent Man, meriting the Patronage of Government to which he is steadily attached, and Your Lordship will find his Abilities very usefull.