[Extract]

I wrote to you 6th Inst by a Ship bound to London, but wh Is not yet sailed desiring Insurance on 32 hhds on board the Marlborough. I have put two [hhds of Tobacco] on Board Clarke, & am in Hopes I shall be able to furnish him with 8 more in a few Days. The 22 marked E L K you will find uncommonly neat, & heavier than usual. The critical Situation of American Disputes, & the very small Probability there is of a speedy Accomodation must in a few Months render Tobo a very valuable & scarce Article in G Britain. You will be pretty well able to judge of the Complexion of the Times from our News Papers, altho' it may not be amiss to appri[se] you that both Parties do not relate Transactions, or represent Temper with that Candor, wh ought ever to distinguish the Actions of Men in publick Sphere. I am afraid all Parties have not exerted a benevolent Influence to accomodate this Dispute ー in every Convulsion of this Kind the Minds of Men will be prejudiced, & some will be apt, perhaps, to chalk out, in Idea, Schemes more suitable to their own Wishes, than the Welfare of the Community ー Such Persons become dangerous, & are most frequently catched in their own Snare ー I hope, as yet, we have none such amongst us, but if this unhappy Dispute shd continue much longer, as I am afraid it will, it is not improbable but some aspiring Genius may be tempted to swerve from the Line of their Duty, & thereby plunge their Fellow Citizens into an Abyss of Misery . . .