[Extract]
Your Excellency

I have the honor to report to you that M. de Grasse sent me the lugger le Coureur, M. de Martinet, to inform me of the report he is send­ing you of the encounter that he had with a brigantine belonging to the King of England which was cruising along our coasts. This is the third time that my Ships have discovered her and she has always promised to put out to sea. I even suspect that it is she who entered the river at Bordeaux in which she took prizes at the point where the trade is heavy. Give me orders on this matter if they meet with her another time. You have precisely stated what I must do concerning the privateers of all nations, but nothing was said about the ships of the King of England. I would be strongly for treating them like the others. . .

at Brest 19th Septr 1777