Sirs

This serves to Inclose you Copy of what I had the Honour to write you Via Martinico the 6^th Ult^o. to which I beg leave to Refer.¹ since this Captⁿ James Willing Arriv'd here in the prize Ship Rebeca Cap^n. Cox Commander² and was fitted out from London as A letter of Mark Mounting 16 Guns with 20 men on Board and is the Ship mention'd in my last taken by Lieu^t. Tho^s M^cIntyre & his party of only Ten men³ which Cap^n. Willing had sent down before him She's A Compleat Vessell and will make A fine Ship of warr by taking off her upper Deck. She will carry Twenty Six pounders and Cap^n. Willing & Cap^n. Pickles⁴ are both of Oppinion it will be Agreable to you to have her fitted Out on your Account, this I shall think more Seriously of and advise with the G⁵ and if I find A sufficiency of Cash to put your first Orders in Execution this shall be done Afterwards as she will Really make an Excellent Ship properly fitted out which I can have done here on verry moderate terms, and then she will ans^r. for Convoying or Carrying Valuable Cargoes from here to any Port of your Continent this fall or be sent out from here on A Cruize as you may Judge proper, but as its uncertain what time I can have your Orders on this Subject in all Probability I will put one or Other in Execution as soon as Possible 

The Amount of all the prizes made by Cap^n. Willing in his Route down I believe will be D^rs. 25,000 or thereabouts but it would been much more Considerable had his party been only double the number, as there was A Great many Sav'd themselves by flying to this Goverment which he has laid open for both parties for protection, and further Insists that the British shall not make Captures on us or we on them from the Entrance of the Balize to Manchak⁶, though this point we have not and will not Give up till Such times as the Court of Great Britain Returns to the Court of Spain the Vessells & Effects taken from Us in this River by the Sloop of war Nam'd the Diligence⁷ as youll see by Copy of A letter sent by Capⁿ Willing to the Governor⁸ though it is neither his wish or our Interest to Enter into any Altercation yet as its His desire, and may in future be of service by Establishing the same Right in this River which the English Claim'd & took our Vessells under their Guns here, which however I must Inform you this Governor Condemn'd as also all the Officers of the Custom, and declar'd their Sentiments to the former Governor Unzaga⁹ as being A weak Act of his own, which the[y] say the Court will bring him to an Account for Suffering, But till this happens, or that we Get some Satisfaction for the Injury done between them, I desire this Governor that he may permit me to dispose of the prizes so taken from the Balize up to Manchak, & let the proceeds be deposited in his own Treasury till that is done or Otherwise till the Court of Spain and you may determine the point—This I don't know whether he will agree to or no But we shall Equally Reap the benefit Even if I am obliged to Give them up, as he will not suffer the English to make any Seizure on our Vessells or in short any American property within the same limits which he has already wrote the Captain of A sloop of war sent from Pensacola to demand the Sloop Rebeca & all the prizes &c^a brought in here by Capⁿ Willing,¹⁰ but in place of Granting him that, he has Given us leave to dispose of Every thing taken above Manchak Either on the River or the English Teritories—and luckily the Ship Rebeca is one of these prizes, I have also the pleasure to Inform you that the Number of Tories that was settl'd on Baton Rouge which had form'd A plan for Cutting off our Boats in Going up we have totally Routed, and have taken about One Hundred of their Slaves which Cap^n. Willings officers & men have bro^t down here, which I have sold at D^rs 140 Each Round for Ready Cash fifty of them I have deliver'd and the Remainder I am to deliver in four or five Days, this I can assure you is verry Hurtfull to the Enemy, as the[y] have been Suplying Jamaica Constantly with Lumber & Pensacola with provisions, Ever since the Commencement of the warr, But the Inhabitants of the Natchez is in Generall friend to the American Cause for which I wish Sincerly you would send them some protection only Sufficient to Guard against the Indians will do for the present, as it is not in their power to send any Troops there from Pensacola, but I am afraid the[y] will set the Savages to work Against them for declaring their Sentiments to Capⁿ Willing on his Arrivall. Nay theres severall of them has Joined him, and I Expect he will have A party of Two Hundred men with him by the time he setts off from here as there Coming to him Every day, but as our funds here is but small I am determin’d to let no more in the Service than what is Really wanted to take up the Boats—as the Governor has no Orders from the Court of Spain to Supply me with any money, I am afraid he will be slow in assisting me Indeed he tells me he Cant take upon himself to lend out the Kings money which he has Receiv'd for the Use of the Province which he would be Oblig'd to ans^r for in particular in Case of A Rupture with Great Britain, he will want all the Cash he has here for the Use of the Militia which he would be Oblig'd to Raise to defend the Colony. However he has Assur'd me of Advancing A little in Case of Necessity which of Course I must have Recourse to Comply with your Orders, in Sending the quantities of Goods you want, I was Getting Everything in Order for Capⁿ Willing & his party to send off directly but he tells me its of no Use Going from here till Next month or Even the month of June as theres no such thing as passing the falls upon the Ohio till the begining of October, therefore I come to the Ressolution of dispatching Two Batoes under Spanish Colours deeply loaded with Sundry Merchandize for which this serves now to Inclose you Invoices & bill of Loading Invoice Mark'd S.U.S. Amounting to Twenty Five Thousand & Sixty Three Dollars Four Rials—¹¹ which sum I have here put to your debit and Credited by the Court of Spain the prices the Governor had fix'd here by Impartiall Judges in order to make an Estimate of them so that you may know at least near the Value of them for your Goverment in making the payment in flour here which will be agreable to him to Receive without you have Otherwise provided for it at the Court of Spain, this mode he only points out, it lays with you Intirely how far you may think it Convenient to Comply with. The Invoice mark'd U:S.¹² is Goods I partly purchas'd here at Vendue belonging to the prizes brought in by Capⁿ Willing and the Greatest part I purchas'd here at the first hands, and though theres some of the Articles Rather high youll upon Examining find them in Generall well laid in at this market, I have paid down half Cash for them & the Other half Engag'd to pay the latter End of this year for this and many Other sums I shall have to pay them for account of the States; I shall Expect large Supplys of flour or if this is not practicable A Credit fixt on France or Spain and this once Establish'd you may be Assur'd of having Constant Supplys of all Sorts of Goods you Chuse to Order. This Invoice with the Charges paid by me for the freight of them &c the Goods I have Shipt belonging to the states furnish'd by the Court of Spain Amounts to 35970 Dollars 6 Ryals—which sum I have also debited the states for & if found Right youll please note Accordingly I have about Eight thousand Dollars worth more of verry fine French Goods purchas'd which I keep in Readiness by the time Capⁿ Willing will Set off, which shall be as soon as he thinks he can pass the falls on the Ohio, or Even A little sooner as he may lay thereabouts with his people at less Expense than here and in the mean time I shall Order them to have five or Six Batoes Ready and buy up about Twenty thousand Dollars worth of more Goods fit for your market and dispatch the whole Under his Command as you direct. Those Good[s] which I have sent up under the Spanish Colours I have Order'd to be Stor'd at the Spanish Fort, under the Care of the Commandant there and M^r. Robert George whom is a verry Carefull and fit person to take Care & Keep the Goods from any damage or Embezlement of the Batoe men, The Commadant & George have Orders to deliver Said Goods to your Orders therefore if you find it necessary you Can Send for them Imedy after this Comes to hand which I am in hopes this or the Duplicates which I shall forward by sea will Reach you, so as you may have Batoes there Ready to Receive them pretty near by the time the[y] Get to the Illinois Country and if your flour is Ready you can send it down the Ohio at the same time & Ship it in Spanish Boats from there here, but youll please Observe Boats is not always to be Got there However I have Given Orders for one of those to Remain there till Capⁿ Willing Calls there whom will take the whole of the Goods with him from that, Unless sent for by you before he Gets up, theres another sloop of warr Arriv'd from Pensacola Nam'd the Hound¹³ to Relieve the one here now which I am told Intends Going up as high as Manchak, and I suppose will be Station’d there to prevent our Boats Getting past. But perhaps we may Contrive some method of taking her before she can do much Damage as the fate of the Rebeca will now put them more on their Guard this will not be so Easily Accomplish'd But we must at least Guard Against his Cutting off our Boats or if theres no other Chance I must Endeavour to dispatch them as I have done the Rest. I purchas'd A small schooner for One thousand Dollars which I dispatch in about Ten Days for the Continent under Spanish Colours Command'd by Capⁿ Lafite with A small Assortment of Goods which I shall advise you of in due time.¹⁴ Capⁿ Pickles Arriv'd here about Two weeks ago and deliver'd me the packet with that to the G which you did me the Honour of sending and for which I beg leave to Return you my Sincere thanks. The people belonging to the Vessell Rais'd on him & the Captain & took the schooner from them & put them on Shore at Havana where the[y] have been well treated, and Came Passengers down in the spanish packet here.¹⁵ I have Pickles Employ'd in taking care of the Rebeca & if I determine fitting her out shall Give him the Command of her as I believe him Capable & steady to our Cause—16 youll Observe to the Commanding Officer that you may send down with the flour or upon any other Expedition that he must be Carefull in Comming down the River for fear of an Attack from the Indians, or perhaps some of the British sloops of warr or Other Arm'd Vessells the[y] may Station at or Even above Manchak and to Avoid any Surprise or danger he will do well to Call in at the spanish Posts where I shall have the Nec[e]ssary Instructions lodg'd for his Information, and if Necssary I will desire the G to lodge Orders for the Boats to be put under Spanish Colours, the first post is the Arkansaws after coming into the Mississippi, and the second Point Coupee, where he may Get Every Inteligense Necssary of the Enemy, this I only mention for your Goverment as I believe the[y] will be no Great danger, you desire my Oppinion with Respect to lodging flour at the Cape¹⁷ for this Market. In ans^r. thereto I have to Inform you the whole Supplys for this place now Comes from there and provided you can only send it there with any degree of safety the Risk is Intirely Ours & the Expense of its Comming from there here may be Obtain on moderate terms as the Vessells in the Trade Generally Comes half loaded from there— But should you be so Circumstanc'd as not to have this in your power or find that the Expenses high, by sending Supplys of flour Either this way or Via the Ohio River you must Establish me A Credit on France or Spain Otherwise procure Orders from the Court of Spain to this Gov^r to Supply me with Cash in proportion to the quantitys of Goods youll want and the Expences I will have to be at in forwarding them &c^a though I can pass my Bills when you Authorise me to draw, yet if you Cant send me no Supplys of flour, it will be necssary to have A little Cash here for paying the Charges. I thought it nec[^e]ssary to have another conference with the G before I concluded this letter and am Just now come from Him, and he Agrees to Supply me with some Indian Goods say Strands & blankets & A number of other Articles that will ans^r but in this Expedition he Expects A Concern for his advances which will be advantageous for us, as it will Enable me to send more goods than I otherwise could, and at same time make a begining for A larger Concern in some Other Expedition particularly if this turns out well, But as those Goods in all probability will be Scarce here next fall as I dont suppose there will be any more Imported from London the sooner you Order Supplys from France this way the better terms youll have your Goods on. The money I mention'd having laid out for the Use of the States was Chiefly on account of forwarding your letters an Exact account of which I shall furnish you with the Copy of the Journals, I kept here since the Commencement of this warr, and upon Examination if you think the states should pay it well, if not I shall be fully Satisfied with my own Good Intent of serving the Cause, and the Honour you have already Confer'd on me. This Goes Inclos'd in the Governor's letter to which I Refer¹⁸ and am with profound Respect [&c.]