Gentlemen

I arrivd here this morning with a determination to comply with your orders & not to suffer Captn Cunningham to sail but as a merchant vessel returning with merchantable property to his own country. I found the parties concernd Disposd, of themselves, to comply with this disposition, heartily sick of having ever attempted other projects & resolvd for the future to seek other scenes of action, where they might more effectually serve themselves & Country. From doing this they are prevented by an order from Court, which disables them from sailing unless they give security not only that they shall not make prizes in the present voyage, tho' they should do it in consequence of being attackd by the Enemy, but such is the tenor of the order (as I am informd) that the security will be liable to be calld upon in case even after the arrival of their paltry little vessel in America any other Person should purchase it for a privateer. Strangers unknown, & as it seems in the Eyes of the inhabitants here, unprotected, can never hope to find security against such remote consequences. So that unless Administration grants these unfortunate sufferers the same privilege that is taken every day by our Enemies in this port, they must give up the property imbarkd in the adventure & return, each one execrating french timidity, partiality & politics, to his own Country, or seek happier fortune in the shore opposite to this. To sell their vessel will be impossible, as no one will venture to buy a vessel so circumstanc'd, & their goods that make up the Cargo will inevitably be disposd of to vast loss. I beg you to represent this in a proper place & manner. The Manifest, spoken of, would have been sent up in a few days, had not this unexpected order arrivd, & you would have heard no more on a subject that has given you, Gentlemen, so much uneasiness & has so much exposd us in the eyes of the world. Our Countrymen that escape from Captivity in England fly to this place as an asylum. Could they be incouragd here we should soon have not only many of them, but many English sailors who fly from the Press or desert the service, & from hence we could send them to other ports less offensive to England. I shall do myself the honor to write you more fully next post. I am Gentlemen [&c.]