[Extract]

(No 1)

(Duplicate)

My Lord It gives me great comfort, in the very unhappy situation which I am left, to think that my Conduct meets with his Majesty's Approbation. I can assure your Lordship, were it not for that, and the earnest desire I have to serve him, no earthly consideration could induce me to continue in this wretched State, where there is not a hope of gaining either honor, Credit, pleasure, or Profit. No! my Sole comfort is that I am doing my utmost to serve the best of Sovereigns.

What your Lordship observes in my dispatches of the 22d of October, of the disposition of many of the People here to take an open part against the Rebels, is exactly as I had the honor to inform your Lordship, and I realy beleive now, had the Liverpool Arrived (as your Lordship had reason to expect) about that time, I am well Satisfied it would have made a wonderfull change on the face of Affairs in this Country, but, my Lord, She did not Arrive here till the 19th of December, two Months after that, as your Lordship will have seen by my Subsequent Dispatches.

Common fame has long since informed me, that an Armament was preparing for the Southern part of This Continent, and many a pleasing Idea it gave me in the midst of my distress, the hopes that I should soon have relief, and your Lordship, however Sensible your feelings may be, will not easily conceive what I felt on the receipt of yours, which informs me that, notwithstanding all my Applications, representations, Sufferings and the Efforts I had made with two incompleat Companies of the 14th Regiment, that Notwithstanding all I had said or done, no Attention was paid to it, but am left, in the first Colony on the Continent for Riches, Power, and extent, without the smallest assistance, and the preference given to a poor small insignificant Province, which has not a Safe Harbour with depth of Water that will admit half the fleet that is sent there, and as I am informed, should the Army Land, they must wade through a Sandy Pine Barren for many Miles before they reach the Inhabited part of the Country.

General Clinton in his way to North Carolina, called here and Stayed with me two or three days, when I gave him every information in my power relative to the Situation of this Colony, and his Majesty may be assured, should the General return here, he shall have every assistance that one most Zealously devoted to His Majesty's Service can give him.

Your Lordship will observe by my Letter No 34, that I have been endeavouring to raise two Regiments here, one of White People, the other of Black. The former goes on very slowly, but the latter very well, and would have been in great forwardness, had not a fever crept in amongst them which carried off a great many very fine fellows, the Medical People here thought, and I beleive with reason, that it proceeded from their being much Crowded on Board the Ships, and want of Cloathing, both of which we have now provided against, the first by Landing and taking possession of a Small Neck of Land, which I have fortified in the best manner our Abilities and Circumstances would admit of, and I think tho' we have now several thousands of the Rebel Army in our Neighbourhood, who frequently come and take a few Shot at us, and retire, yet I am satisfied they will not willingly give us any disturbance there, tho' they threaten it much; We have in this little Fort four Ovens, and pretty good Barracks for our Ethiopian Corps, have bought a large Quantity of Oznaburgs, of which I am making Summer Cloathing for our Garrison.

My Lord in my dispatch No 34, I had frequent Occasion to mention a Family of the Name of Goodrich, Natives of this Colony, this is a Spirited, Active, industrious Family, and it has cost me much trouble and pain (knowing the Service they would be of to which ever Party they joined) to secure them in His Majesty's Service; The Male part consist of a Father and Seven Sons, five of which are Arrived to the Age of Manhood, who are now most Zealously engaged in His Majesty's service, four of them are perfectly well acquainted with every River, Creek or Branch within this Bay. I have now five of their Vessels employed constantly running up the Rivers, where they have orders to Seize, burn or destroy every thing that is Water Born, that they can get at; they often Land and take off what Provisions they can get, which keeps the Rebels in constant motion, and I generaly send a few of the 14th Regiment with them, they Land only when they are not likely to meet with opposition, and have orders to retire on Board so soon as they see any force coming against them. I mention this Family to your Lordship, for two reasons, the first is, least any of their Vessels of which they have many, in various parts of the World should fall into the hands of any of our Ships of War, that they may have that Attention Shewn to them that I think them so well entitled to. ー My second reason is, that shouldwe ever see better times in this Quarter (which I pray God we may soon) that His Majesty may Shew them such marks of His favour as he thinks their Services are deserving of. ー They have all left their Houses, Negroes, Plantations, Stock, and every thing else at the Mercy of the Rebels, and are now with their whole Familys Water Born in this Fleet.

I have received the late Act of Parliament with your Lordships Dispatches, which I have hardly yet been able to look into, but should be glad to have your Lordships opinion whether the Word "not", in the 217 Page and 18 line, standing between the words Provinces and herein, is meant to be part of the Bill, or is only an error in the Press. If it is part of the Act, it then restrains every Governor, Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief, of any of His Majesty's Colonies or Provinces now in Rebellion, from sending Vessels to Supply themselves or those under their protection, with the Necessarys of Life, which I hope could never be meant.

Since writing the above, I have been reading the Act with more attention than I had leisure to do before, and I must observe to your Lordship, if my Construction of it is right, it will be impossible to be complied with, for the Act says, in the 222d Page, that "the Prizes .ilre not to be carried into any of the Colonies herein particularly mentioned." Now all come under that Predicament, Nova Scotia and the Floridas excepted, so that every Vessel as soon as taken must be sent to one or other of these places, which would take them near three Months to go and return, in which Vessel they must send an Officer and a Number of Men, according to the Size of the Vessel, was this to be the case, there is not a Man of War on this Station, that would have ei- ther Officers or man left in her in a Month; were they even to detain them in the Fleet, where such Captor was made, they must leave so many Men in them, that in a very Short time their Ships would be so weak that they would not be fit to go to Sea, which was the Case here for sometime, and having no Judge of the Admiralty here to try them, I was obliged to find a remedy for this inconveniency, which was this; I appointed five Gentlemen in the Fleet to Act as Commissioners, who are empowered to take Depositions and Enquire fully into the Circumstances of any Captors made by the Men of War, or the Tenders, if in their opinion, the Vessel and Cargo were Seizable, they then appointed Sworn Appraisers to put a Value on the Vessel and Cargo, and the Vessel and Cargo were Sold to the highest bidder at Publick Auction, and the Monies arising from such Sales are deposited in the hands of responsible People, either till His Majesty's pleasure should be known, or if a Judge of the Admiralty should afterwards be appointed, and the Owners of the Vessels were not satisfied with the Judgment of the Commissioners, the Cause might be tried by the Judge of the Admiralty from the

Deposition &c. taken by the Commissioners, of which they are required to keep regular Books properly Authenticated. This was the mode I thought requisite to adopt rather than His Majesty's Service should suffer by employing the Sailors in taking care of Prizes, and to prevent the goods from perishing and being tottally lost, and probably the Vessel also; indeed, most of these Prizes have been Loaded with Provisions, which we should ere this have been in the greatest want of, had we not been so fortunate as to have taken them. I am [&c.]

Dunmore

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