[Extract]
. . . Dr Franklin is now sailed for France, either to solicit Assistance, or (what is more probable) to secure his own Retreat. All Accounts agree, that the People in general are tired of their new Governors & their Proceedings, and that Parties are forming who begin to speak plainly against them.
We have had Information of Genl Carleton's Success upon Lake Champlain through the Rebels, for we have as yet no other Communication. Your Lordship will see by one of the inclosed Newspapers (which are published here under my own Inspection) what that Success amounts to; and we have not yet quitted all Hope of seeing that Army at New York before Winter, or of hearing at least that it is quartered about Albany ready for an early Junction in the Spring.
We have heard of the Capture of many of our trading Vessels; and some of our Ships are gone and others are preparing to get out, in order to prevent further Depredations of the Rebels by Sea. Many Ships can now be spared from the Service here, which could not have been spared before; for their Complements of Seamen have been of most essential Service in conveying the Troops backward and forward ovet the large Inlets of Water, which abound near New York, and which it was necessary to pass and repass to come at the Enemy. The Rebels themselves are astonished at the Alacrity and Dispatch, with which they have been hunted, and at their being driven from Places which they judged almost inaccessible, and where, for that Reason, they had prepared Barracks and the necessary Arrangements for Winter-Quarters. Their Army is in a wretched Plight indeed: Most of them have no other Covering than a Rifleman's Frock of Canvas over their shirt, and are diseased and covered with Vermin to a loathsome Degree.
New York, Novr 7th 1776./
