(no 21)
My Lord Your Lordship's dispatches of the 1st & 15th of May have been received and laid before the King, and it is with the greatest Satisfaction that I transmit to your Lordship His Majesty's Approbation of the Spirit and Fortitude with which you resisted the Attempts to compell you by force to restore the Gunpowder which your Lordship so prudently and properly had put on board the Fowey.
Your Lordship's Conduct on this trying Occasion does you the greatest honor, but it is impossible to reflect upon the distress it has occasioned to Lady Dunmore & the rest of your Family without very painfull feelings.
The Madness of the People of Virginia exceeds all bounds, & leaves no room for any other Consideration than that of the means of suppressing by the most vigorous efforts a Rebellion which (united as all America is against Us) threatens to overturn the Constitution.
We have the Satisfaction to find that General [Thomas] Gage had, upon your Lordship's Application, taken Steps for giving Your Lordship every Assistance which his Situation would afford. It is upon him alone that Your Lordship must now depend for any small body of Troops, but I have not failed to take the proper measures for sending you, by a Ship that will be ready in a few days 2000 Stand of Arms and Ammunition in proportion.
I shall write more fully to Your Lordship by that Ship, in the mean time it is proper I should acquaint Your Lordship that it is the King's firm Resolution that the most vigorous Efforts should be made, both by Sea and Land, to reduce his Rebellious Subjects to Obedience, & the proper measures are now pursuing, not only for augmenting the Army under General Gage, but also for making such Addition to Our Naval Strength in No. America as may enable Admiral [Samuel] Graves to make such a disposition of his Fleet as that, besides the Squadron necessary for the New England Station, there may be separate Squadrons at New York, within the Bay of Delaware, in Chesapeake Bay, & upon the Coast of Carolina.
After what has passed there can be no doubt what ought to be the plan of Operations for the Squadron upon the New England Station, & I think it necessary to acquaint you, for your own Information, that Admiral Graves will be instructed to exert the most vigorous Efforts for suppressing the Rebellion now openly avowed & supported in that Country, & to seize and detain all Ships & Vessels belonging to the Inhabitants thereof, such only excepted as are the Property of persons who are friends of Government, & have shewn an Attachment to the Constitution.
There is still some room to hope that the Colonies to the Southward may not proceed to the same lengths with those of New England, It is however His Majesty's Intentions that the Commanders of the separate Squadrons I have mentioned should be instructed to prevent all Commerce between the Colonies within their respective Stations & any other places than Great Britain, Ireland, or His Majesty's Islands in the West Indies; That they should receive on board & give protection to, any Officers of the Crown who may be compelled by the Violence of the People to seek for such an Asylum, & to proceed, as in the case of the Town in actual Rebellion, against such of the Seaport Towns, being accessible to the King's Ships, as shall hereafter offer any Violence to the King's Officers, or in which any Troops shall be raised, or military works erected, other than by His Majesty's Authority, or any Attempts made to seize or plunder any public Magazine of Arms or Ammunition.
With regard to the Plan of Operations to be adopted by General Gage, it must depend upon his own Judgment & the Opinion of the able Generals with him, & therefore I have only to add that it is His Majesty's express Command that you do exert every Endeavour & employ every means in your power to aid & support him & Admiral Graves in all such Operations as they may think proper to undertake for carrying the King's Orders into full Execution, and restoring the Authority of His Majesty's Government. I am &ca.
