Sir

I have the honour to acquaint Your Excellency of my Arrival here in His Majys Ship the Scorpion the 17th of last Month. As I have Orders to dispatch that Ship for Boston to join Admiral [Samuel] Graves, I could not neglect so favorable an Opportunity of conveying my Compts & best Wishes to your Excellency, & imagining that Sir James Wright, & Governor [Josiah] Martin would be desirous of embracing so safe an Occasion of transmitting their letters, I wrote to both; Sir James's Answer I expect every hour, & I have desired Mr [John] Tollemache who commands the Scorpion, to call at Cape Fear for Governor Martin's Dispatches.

It was with equal Surprize, & concern, I found the People of this Province did not yeild to any of their Northern Brethern in the violence of their measures, & contempt of all Legal Authority. The Provincial Congress had been sitting above a Fortnight before my Arrival, & had come to several Resolutions of a very daring, & dangerous nature. They fabricated an Association absolutely treasonable, which has been signed by every one in the Province, the Kings officers, & a very few others excepted; tho I am convinced it was much against the inclination of great Numbers, who were obliged to comply, or expose their persons, & properties to all the fury of a desperate, and vindictive Mob. ー The Congress has also order'd a Body of Troops consisting of two Re,qs of foot of 500 men each, & a Regt of Horse of 300, to be immediately raised. One hundred & fifty Thousand pounds Sterling will it is thought, be necessary to carry this wise Scheme into execution, including Subsistence &ca for a year: paper money is to be issued by the Authority of the Congress to any Amount, so that the ruin of this late flourishing Province seems at no great distance. A few days before my Arrival they chose a Committee of 17 which is called the Council of Safety, to whom they have delegated the most unlimited powers, & who in fact have taken the whole Government of the Province into their hands. ー On the 22d they adjourned, after presenting me one of the most extraordinary Addresses that ever was offer'd to a Kings Governor, & a new Congress is to be chosen in August. ー In this state have I found the Province of S. Carolina, & Your Excellency can hardly conceive a more distress'd, & or embarras'd situation than the one I am at present in. The Lieut Governor instead of giving his Assistance on this Emergency, has fairly abandon'd Government, not having once appeared since my Arrival, but remains at his Country House an unconcerned Spectator of the Distractions that at present prevail in his unhappy Country. All these disagreeable circumstances are greatly increased by the difficulty, if not absolute impossibility of carrying on any correspondence by Land with Your Excellency, & the Admiral, to whom alone we can at present look for Protection, or Support, as well as for Authentick Information of what passes to the Northward. In our present forlorn situation it will be of the last consequence to His Majys Service to have a constant, & regular intercourse kept up between Your Excellency & the Southern Provinces, & very full as well as early accounts transmitted to the Governors, of every event of any moment that may happen in the Massachusets; this can only be done by Sea, I therefore have requested both Sir James Wright, & Governor Martin to join in my application to Admiral Graves, & I flatter myself we shall have your Concurrence. ー As we have reason to think the Admiral as well as Your Excellency is by this time strongly reinforced from England, we may hope this part of the Continent will at last be thought of. Two Regts in this Town, & a couple of Frigates in the harbour, would certainly have prevented much mischief both here, & in Georgia: I fear it is now too late for a small body of troops to be of much service could they even be spared, but at all events the Frigates with some small vessels to scour the Coast would be of the [greatest] use; they would check Smuggling, which is now carrie[d on] to a great extent in the most barefaced manner, as I am informed, & at the same time the appearance of a force would give some countenance to the friends of Government, who really look upon themselves as absolutely abandon'd Did the Fate of this part of His Majys Dominions entirely depend upon my employing a Advice Boat, I assure your Excellency I do not beleive I could possibly procure one in Charles Town Harbour, so absolutely are we under the command of Councils, & Committees.ー

Lady William joins me in best Compts to Your Excellency & Mrs Gage. I have the Honor to be with the most profound Regard, & Esteem, Sir, [&c.]

N. B. Mr [John] Stuart the Superintendent for the Southern District, having fallen under the displeasure of our present Governors by his attention to Your Excellency's directions with regard to the Indians in their Allegiance, has been obliged to quit Georgia & take refuge in [St.] Augustine.ー

I beg to recommend to the Care of your Excellency a Packet for Lord Dartmouth.ー

I was just going to Seal up this when I recd a message from Mrs Stuart wife to the Superintendent that a Mr W. Henry Drayton from the Committee & Council of Safety had obliged her to give up some dispatches of a public Nature She had recd since the Departure of her husband to such a height are we arriv'd here, & to crown the whole they have Seized 26 Packets directed on His Majys Service that had come by the Packet Boat just arrived for Lt Govr Ball Sir Jas Wright Govr Martin & Lt Govr Moultrie.

W C