[Extract]

I can give you little or no news. Two of our vessels have been brought too by a Man of War at sea, and the masters taken as they were told before Lord Howe, who told them he was bound directly to Philadelphia to settle with the Congress the unhappy dispute. He dismissed both the vessels and gave them paper to protect them against any or all cruizers, haveing first reprimanded one of them for the violation of the Acts of Parliament in the illicit trade at St. Petres, from which place he then came with French commodities.² Our coast is clear. I hear of no Cruisers at present to interrupt the passage of vessels. Last Saturday was the first time I have been in this Town since the flight of the Invincible British Troops. I can't describe the alteration and the gloomy appearance of this Town. No Business, no Busy Faces but those of the Physicians. Ruins of buildings, wharfs, &c., &c., wherever you go, and the streets covered with grass. I have just heard that an honest man from St. Petres in twenty-five days says they had there intelligence of a declaration of War between Spain and Portugal. This is neither impossible or improbable, and may account for Lord Howe's being in a single ship, as we are told he had arrived at the Hook.