Sir

Your Letters of 4th & 5th May² addressed to Andrew Allen & Robert 

Morris Esquires were laidbefore the Congress by the latter whereby we are informed that your new Governor Don Bernard de Galvez is much disposed to favour the. Commercial interest of the United States of America, and as we are appointed by the Honorable Congress to superintend the Management of such Trade as is necessary to be carried on for public Account we do ourselves the Honor of addressing a Letter to his Excellency on this Subject, it is here inclosed and you will please to deliver and if needful translate the same for him—

The good Disposition you discover to our Cause and the Character you bear has determined us to employ you as our commercial Agent in New Orleans in full Confidence that your Conduct in our Affairs will be such as will intitle you to our Approbation and future Favours, and should it at any Time be your Misfortune to fall into the hands of our Enemies as you have suggested, you have Liberty to claim the Protection of the United States of America as their commercial Agent resident at New Orleans and may depend that Congress will redeem you by Exchange or retaliate any Injuries or Indignities that may be offered you, and they have always a sufficiency of Prisoners in their Power to do this with Effect if our Enemies dare to treat ill those Persons that are entitled to our Protection—

Thus much we have said that you may produce if ever it becomes necessary, and now for Business of another kind. We learn from Capt LeMere [James LeMaire] and his Passenger that there is Plenty of Blankets, Shrouds and other dry Goods in New Orleans suitable for the Use of our Army, the Difficulties we meet in our attempts to import a sufficiency of those Things induces us to look for them in every Quarter and we have engaged Capt LeMere to return directly back to New Orleans with this Letter and to return from thence for this Coast with a Cargo of such Goods as you may ship by him for our Account. You will find herein inclosed a List of the kinds of Goods that will best suit us and we hereby authorise you to purchase and ship the Value of forty or fifty thousand Dollars in those Articles but we would have these Goods come by three or four different Conveyances each Cargo of the Value of ten or twelve thousand Dollars. We depend on you to purchase these Goods on the best Terms you can obtain them and we authorise you to charter or buy three or four fast sailing suitable Vessels to bring the Goods to a safe Port on this Coast, observing however that we prefer chartering to buying, and would rather have them brought in french or spanish Bottoms than any other, particularly we wish to have Capt LeMere employed in this Business because he knows the Coast, and is acquainted with a proper Inlet where. the Cargo may be safely landed. In order that you may be able to procure suitable Vessels on the best Terms on charter We agree that you may have each Vessel you charter valued by honest impartial Men Judges of such things and you may on behalf of the United States of America insure on each Vessel the Sum she is valued at against all Risques of Seizure or Capture by the British &c—

You will agree the Freight on the most moderate Terms you can either by the Month or by the Voyage, securing us Liberty to load the Vessels back to you laden with Flour if it can conveniently be done and we hereby agree to pay the Freights you agree for and the Losses (if any) that may arise on the Insurances you agree to make for Account of the Owners of said Vessels, butif after all these Powers you should find it still out of your Power to charter suitable Vessels you may in that Case purchase on the best Terms in your power, one, two, three or four-small fast sailing Vessels suitable to bring the Goods observing that if you cannot get the Goods or cannot get Masters & Men to navigate the Vessels, in either of these Cases none must be bought, but we can hardly suppose such Impediments to arise, therefore if you do purchase, let the Vessels be well fitted & found, get good Masters & dispatch them soon as you can inclosing by each Invoice & Bill Lading of the Goods shipped in each Vessel, and duplicates thereof by other good Conveyances — You will take care to have the goods properly embaled or packed in Bales Casks &c so as to secure them as much as possible from Damage and proper Precautions must be taken to prevent any Danger of Seizure by British armed Vessels in the River Mississippi. We doubt not but your Governor & Officers in New Orleans will concur in doing what may be necessary for this purpose and we judge it might be best that the Goods should be shipped on board of Spanish Bottoms and cleared out as bound for the Havanna or Teneriffe, and if shipped on french Bottoms that the[y] should be cleared out for Martinico or St Pierres & Miquilon altho the latter place is become much suspected, and therefore most dangerousto be used.

the Governor & Officers we suppose will readily grant the necessary Certificates & Passports and you will consult with them & seek their Concurrence in all that may be needful — We think also that you should make it a point not to let it be known that you have any orders to buy Goods on our Account — Capt LeMere will deliver all the Letters he carries to you andyou need not give them out till your Business is done — When the Vessels are chartered or bought it should be kept perfectly secret if possible where they are bound, these precautions being necessary to prevent the Enemy getting Intelligence of what you are doing — In short you must buy the Goods we want, cheap as possible, ship them to us soon and on as good Termsasyoucan, and avoid all in your Power letting it be known what you are about—

Mr Morris has shewn us the Accounts you have rendered to Willing Morris & Co down to 15th Nov. 1776 when the Balance in their favour amot to about 40 M say 42,000 Dollars, and he has Reason to think this Balance has rather increased than decreased since that time, and as he is willing to accomodate us with these Funds for the purpose of making the Purchases, we now inclose you said Willing Morris & Co draught of this Date at thirty Days Sight for fifteen thousand Dollars and one other their Draught at Sixty Days Sight for fifteen thousand Dollars indorsed payable to yourself, both which Sums you will place to our credit — Mr Morris also agrees that you may apply the remainder of his Houses Money in your Hands to our use to execute the Orders given you³ for Amount whereof your Draughts on us in their favour shall be punctually paid, or if it so happens that you have remitted any part of their Effects, so as to lessen the Balance due them, you may draw on us in favour of whom you please with equal Assurance that your Draughts will be paid and besides this we shall ship you Cargoes of Flour back in the Vessels and make you other Remittances to provide for future Purchases, because if we find you execute the present Order to Satisfaction we shall lay our Account in getting from you hereafter very considerable Supplies of useful & necessary Goods, and probably we may find it convenient to lodge Flour at the Cape to be sent you from thence in French Bottoms, respecting which be pleased to give us your Opinion and tell us also on what terms you can sell Bills on France or Spain, if we should' authorise you at any time to draw on Madrid or Paris for Sums that may be necessary to execute our Orders — When you dispatch the Vessels with the Goods we have ordered, you will direct the Captains to avoid all Vessels at Sea and if examined by the British Ships of War on their Voyages they should have a feasible Story to tell them to which the Log Book & Journals should be suited, and ultimately they are to push into any Port or Inlet on this Coast where they can get in most safely — The small Inlets between Cape Henlopen & Cape Charles of which there are several are most safe, there are also good Inlets between New York & Cape May and many in North Carolina wherever they arrive let them send an Express to us with their Letters and an Account of their Arrival advising the Place and such other Circumstances as they may think necessary and we shall immediately return the needful Instructions — You will instruct the Masters of the Vessels to keep all the Letters & english Papers constantly slung with a Weight ready for sinking so that they may throw them overboard rather than let them fall into the Enemies Hands —

We observe you mention to have paid Monies for the good of the Cause of which you have kept no Account, but that you propose charging such in future — You'll please to be cautious in such transactions, as any Monies you may disburse for the Service of the United States which they in Justic ought to pay, they will pay, but should you or any of their Agents judge improperly and pay away Money under a Notion of serving the States which they in Justice are not liable, it may be difficult for you in such Cases to obtain Reimbursement all of which we mention for your Government—

It is not unlikely but at some future Day an Expedition may become necessary in your Neighbourhood, and when that is the Case Congress will no doubt avail themselves of the Governor's favourable Disposition and of your Services so that you have every inducement to recommend yourself to their Friendship by your good Management of our present orders & not doubting but that will be the case We remain &c.