[Extract]
No 2.
Sir
From the Account you gave of publick Transactions in the Islands under your Governmt., in your Letters to me by Mr [Thomas] Lyttelton, and from the Apprehensions you expressed in those Letters, of the Consequences of such Transactions, I thought myself precluded from all Consideration of any Civil Arrangements, in respect to which it was apparent, from what you stated of the Temper & Disposition of the People, that any Orders or Instructions from the King would only be exposed to Insult & Indignity.
My Attention therefore was confined to the Consideration of such Measures as might be judged. proper for the Security of so important a Possession; and as it appeared clearly to me that the only rational Mode of providing for that Object would be the having a Ship of War stationed there, I did in pursuance of the King's Commands, signify His Majesty's Pleasure to the Lords of the Admty on the 6th of Janry last, that they should send thither a Frigate or 20 Gun Ship, so soon as one could be got ready, and on the 27th of that Month I again urged to their Lordships the Necessity of carrying those Orders into Execution, acquainting them with the Intelligence I had recd from you, of the Defection of the Inhabitants, and that an armed American Vessel had appeared off the Islands.
From the Inquiries I have made, respecting the Steps which have been taken in consequence of those Orders, I have the Satisfaction to find that, notwithstanding all the Difficulties of procuring Ships for the Variety of Services that present themselves in the present Emergency, this Object has not been neglected; and that there is good ground to hope that the Steps which the Lords of the Admiralty have taken have prevented the Rebels, in any designs they might have had, to possess themselves of the Bermuda Islands .
. . . as the Station of one of His Majestys Ships at the Bermuda Islands will occasion an Intercourse with the Admiral Lord Howe at New York, you will have a safe Opportunity of conveying your Letters to me; which I desire may contain a full & particular Account of the actual State & Condition of Your Government . . .
