My lord, In conformity with the instructions you sent to M. de la Porte in your dispatch of 31 May last, I fruitlessly made the most rigorous investigation in order to discover the Dutch ships which sailed recently from Amsterdam with a cargo of 40 thousand pounds of gunpowder destined for New England according to the English Minister Plenipotentiary.

Since the instructions which you had sent previously to this port, we took scrupulous care in order to prevent any ship from New England to take on war supplies of any kind. I shall be twice as careful in this matter and I shall keep a watchful eye on the destination of gunpowder which might be brought here by Dutch ships. I have the honor to be &ca.

[Endorsed] Copy of a letter written to M. de Sartine by M. de Lombard, Navy Commissioner in Bordeaux, 11 June 1776.²