Your Excellency: The Consul of His Britannic Majesty in Malaga, suspecting that an Anglo-American sloop, which entered that port enroute from Barcelona to New York, carried on board a quantity of rifles, sought the help of the Captain-General of the Coast of Granada in a search of the vessel. The Consul had been informed that the rifles had been bought in Barcelona. As a consequence, the Captain-General complied with the request and searched the vessel, but he did not find on boarc:l the sloop anything of which the Consul had spoken.

The King, being advised of this, wishes that Your Excellency be informed of it in order that you may manifest to the Ministry that, as a consequence of the excellent harmony which His Majesty wishes to reign between the two monarchies, not only is as much assistance given here as the English Consuls solicit, but also that the royal orders, not to make available to the American rebels any military equipment, are observed with the greatest scrupulousness. God grant [&c.]

The Prado, 5 February 1776. Marquis de Grimaldi