Sir,

Without the aid of any secretary, armed as I am with truth, I can enter the lists even with Mr. William Henry Drayton, when his weapons are sophistry, falsehood, and the grossest misrepresentation.

On after consideration, I did not think Mr. Laurens' letter worthy a written answer, as I never directly or indirectly harboured the run-away slave of any person; and I will answer for the gentleman who commands the Cherokee, that his conduct has been exactly similar to mine in these matters. It is not my business to enter into any detail of the treatment, the King's Representatives and the other servants of government have met with, from those assemblies which you have dignified with the name of the public; but, I have prevailed on his Excellency to favour me with an extract of his letter to Governor Tonyn at St. Augustine, which I now enclose; as it will enable the people of this Province, to form a judgment of Captain Wanton's worth and gratitude, as well as of your candour and veracity. As I have some reason to think the original is in your custody, or in that of your emissaries, you will hardly dispute its authenticity.

But, to the main purport of my letter, while I command the King's ships here, I will procure provisions by every means in my power; if the methods I am under a necessity of taking for that purpose, should subject his Majesty's faithful and loyal people in this Province to any inconveniency, I shall be extremely sorry; but, they are to impute it entirely to those who have plunged this late unhappy country into misery and distress, and not to me, who have always protected it to the utmost of my power.

I am to acknowledge Walker was not your prisoner on the late occasion ー he is returned; in that point, I was misinformed. I shall only add, that I am here determined to drop this correspondence; which, is a very disagreeable one to me: and, I shall only expect a speedy and explicit answer. I am, Sir, [&c.]

[Enclosure]

Extract of a Letter from His Excellency the Right Hon. Lord William Campbell, to Governor Tonyn, of St. Augustine.

————The bearer of this, is a man who says he was bound from Newport in Rhode-Island, to Nantucket, in a small sloop which he had freighted but in a hard gale of wind was drove to the southward, without either chart or quadrant, and with only two landsmen and a boy on board; by a kind of miracle he made this harbour yesterday, and pushed in at a venture. The poor man's dreadful situation fully proved the truth of his story, although he had no clearance from Newport; and the unfeigned joy he expressed when he found himself in safety, left no doubt of the reality of the distresses he has suffered.

By the late acts of parliament, he might be considered as a legal prize; but Captain Thornbrough of the Tamer, and Mr. Fergusson (who commands the Cherokee) had too much humanity to think of that, though we were all a good deal difficulted what to do with him. Return he could not and it would have been highly improper, as well as impolitic, to have suffered him to go to Charlestown, in the present situation of affairs there; as he had been only nine days from Newport, and not above a month ago, was in the rebel's camp near Boston. I therefore proposed sending him to St. Augustine, which Captains Thornbrough and Fergusson readily agreed to; at the same time generously offering to supply his little wants; and the man most cheerfully and with great thankfulness acquiesced  This arrangement gave me the more satisfaction, as it enabled me to furnish your Excellency with many particulars you will be anxious to know, of the state of affairs to the northward by means of this Skipper; who you will find sensible and intelligent: his cargo consists of cider, apples, and cheese; and I shall be happy if it proves a seasonable supply of those articles to your Province, at this juncture. Captain [Alexander] Innis has given him a few lines to a friend of his in the mercantile way, to assist him in making the most of it, and procuring some employment for his bark till the summer; before which time he cannot venture to return home. To assist in navigating this vessel, and at the same time to prevent any attempt to run her into any of the little harbours on this coast, I have directed the gunner of Fort Johnson, one Walker, an old seaman, and a poor man who has been cruelly treated by the Charlestown people, to go in her to [St.] Augustine; and your Excellency will be so obliging as to send him back by the first opportunity.