My Lord,

I have the honor to inform you at the request of Mylord Rochford that, as a result of the protests I made in your name to this Minister, the Court of London deeming this matter important enough to take new precautions, has sent with dispatch to its sea officers on duty in America the most positive orders to use the greatest care in avoiding to give us the smallest ground for complaint.

I believe it is my duty to forward to you also the most positive assurance I have received since then from Mylord Sandwich and Mylord Suffolk in this matter. Both have confirmed to me in the strongest terms that all the orders we might have wished for have just been given not to interfere with the navigation of our ships under any pretence. In brief, all the ministers have assured me that they were perfectly at ease at present and that we certainly would not have any reason to complain.

It is not possible, My lord, to carry guarantees any further and give them a more sincere and persuasiye accent. Indeed, I confess that I have not the slightest doubt that we can rely absolutely upon them. I made the remark to Mylord Suffolk that our foresight in this respect is a convincing proof of our good intentions and our endeavour to avoid as much as it is within our power any ground for dispute between us. This minister answered me that he had interpreted our request only in this sense and that he was obliged to us. It was agreed that we would have behaved quite differently if it had been our intention to take advantage of our neighbours' embarrassing situation.

Indeed, My lord, you will have rendered an essential service to both Nations by this act of caution at a time when one could not give too much attention in holding back officers whose ideas lean naturally toward war and booty and would become inflamed by reason of the operations of which they will have charge. The only reproach these ministers might incur is that they waited to take these measures, as important to them as they are to us, until we brought the need to their attention. But in their position, it is difficult to think of everything; and their intentions are so peaceful that it never came to their minds to suspect those of their subordinates.

I had one more order from you to carry, My lord: that one consisting in the denial of the assertion relative to so-called French ships being loaded at Fort l'Orient for the English Colonies. I asked Mylord Sandwich yesterday if he had presented this assertion to the House of Lords. He admitted so. Whereupon I explained to him the nature of my orders; that I believed I should warn him in complete honesty that I could not exempt myself from carrying them out. He told me that he had received this reliable information from l'Orient and from Bordeaux and that it had been confirmed to him by the London underwriters; that, anyway, it was a speculation on the part of our merchants occupied in smuggling and not a State affair. I answered that we did not consider either this matter as such; and that, since no question on this matter had been put to us, we wished to express our conviction out of pure friendship that he most certainly had been poorly informed. Today, I also spoke of this to Lord Suffolk who attaches no importance to this affair. He told me that you had said in jest to their Ambassador that Mylord Sandwich was not well informed by his spies.

Mylord Suffolk assured me also at the meeting we had yesterday that Mr Shuldham, former Governor of Newfoundland, had deemed equitable the statement of losses by our fishermen, such as I presented it and that this affair would be settled at any moment to my satisfaction and according to my desire, At the point where we stand now, I was to expect the fairness of this procedure, the only one that could be consistent with the manner in which they recognised and confessed on their own the misbehavior on the part of a few of their fishermen. I took this opportunity to mention the essential point concerning a new agreement on the distribution of the coastline where we fish. I presented the same arguments as those I reported in my letter of 1 July of last year, No. 206. Since they had been approved then, and since this letter describes in detail the aspects of the problem concerning fishing in Newfoundland, I beg you, Mylord, to have it presented to you again. It might influence you to give me more specific instructions in this regard. Mylord Suffolk advised me that he did not think it was impossible to come to a certain agreement before the new Governor, who has just been appointed, leaves for Newfoundland; however, the tremendous amount of work at the Ministery would prevent it at this very moment. One of Lord North's friends took the initiative to relate to him my observations on the eleventh paragraph of his Bill. I am told that he listened with the greatest attention. We will soon see the results. After what I have heard, especially the explanations given by the Committee of the City Merchants at the House of Commons, I am inclined to believe that the fishing interdiction concerning the New Englanders will not go into effect this year yet. These explanations seemed to be interesting enough that I should bring them to your attention. I enclose a translation in this letter.

The province of New York answered the Government's expectations. You will see, My lord, the speech delivered by the Governor of this province at the opening of the Assembly. A member having suggested to consider before anything else the resolutions of the general Congress, this motion was rejected by the majority of one voice only. I took the liberty to tell Mylord Suffolk that this one voice was worth one million in pounds Sterling. The Assembly, therefore, decided to search for other ways by which to redress its grievances. It further decided unanimously to present a petition to His British Majesty, a memorandum to the House of Lords and a remonstrance to the House of Commons. The contents of these documents, which have not arrived yet, will show the ministers how far they can depend on the intentions of this Colony which occupies a very advantageous position in as much as it forms a vital link in the line of communications between New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. However, since several Committees assembled in various parts of the Province have agreed to conform exactly to the resolutions of the Congress jointly with the other ten Colonies belonging to it, the Government will send four regiments to the Province of New York in order to protect and encourage those who display their good intentions and have themselves asked for troops.

Since I had not received the authorization to request the orders sent recently to the Commodore of the English Squadron concerning our ships, I refrained from doing it of my own initiative. Furthermore, I confess I deem them to be so favorable that the ministers might fear to expose themselves to an accusation of timidity by showing them to us in their entirety.

I am, respectfully, &c.