Matthew Ridley to Arthur Lee, May 22, 1778

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May the 22^d 1778¹

Sir

I shall make no Apology for troubling you with this Letter, as I am sensible any appearance of good disposition towards America will, with you be a sufficient excuse even if attended with trouble. Some little stir here and intimations give by Ministry of their suspicions of particular Persons makes every one cautious either in speaking or writing The intention of this Letter is to put you upon your guard—Believe me you cannot be too cautious to whom you write or communicate any thing here Traitors there are on both sides the Water—A few days will probably give an opportunity of knowing some here. when known you shall hear of them. In the mean time it is necessary to detect some on your Side the Water; and I know not a more proper Person than yourself for the purpose.—By some means or other Ministry get acquainted with your proceedings—the nature of the Informations leaves no room to doubt they must come from pretended Friends.—² You will be surprized when I tell you Ministry have got a Copy of Jones’s instructions with the Names of the Persons by whom they were signed—³ They have also Copies of other Instructions for a like purpose—I am informed it is in consequence of having procured these that the present vigorous preparations are makeing for defending the Sea Coasts—I am also credibly informed that Ministry pretend to know even the private dispositions and conversations from with you. Excuse me then for again urging to be guarded and watchfull over all who are about you, or come near you—

I wrote some time ago about some Surgeon’s Instruements belonging to the State of Virginia, which were in the Musquitto Privateer: & desired to know in what manner I should dispose of them. They were pledged at Portsmouth and when there I redeemed them as they are worth much more than the money I paid about 50/- —As they belong to your Province I shall be glad of your Instructions about them.⁴

We have nothing new here. Burgoyne has not yet opened—⁵ The K-g certainly refuses to see him It is said an American Vessell came to Portsmouth with him & that she ran into the midst of the fleet with the 13 Stripes flying.—⁶ It is also said eleven Ships of the Line are sailed from Spithead; tho’ they do not or affect not to be believe the Toulon fleet are out of the Gut.⁷

I beg leave to add it is not myself only but several of your Friends who have desired me to put you on your guard & beg’d me to write I mention no names for fear of accidents I am [&c.]

The inclosed is from a Friend. This will be delivered you by Capt. Solomon Townsend a Native of America who is very desirous of serving his Country—I believe he is very trusty & may be made an useful hand.—The fleet sailed from Spithead it is said are gone to Plymouth to join some others.—It is said with certainty that the Randolph is sunk by the Yarmouth.—⁸ The Randolph in the Night Mistook the Yarmouth & fired into her—the Yarmouth returned the fire: killed 5 & wound 12 of the Randolphs Men. The Yarmouth then fired 7 of her lower deck Guns when part of the Randolph sunk part blew up & every Person but 4 out of upward of 300 Perishd—By the Men saved they learn the Randolph with some others were going to plunder the Island of Tobago, tho that of Tortola had been given out—I now inclose you the Ledger which has a particular acc^t. of the Randolph–⁹ You have also the Gen^l. Advertiser from E.I.¹⁰ The Later inclosed will I suppose inform you who send the intercepted Letter—You must excuse the uncorrectness of mine as I write just as things occur.

L, MH-H, Arthur Lee Papers, vol. IV, no. 130. Neither the writer of the letter nor the intended recipient is identified in the letter. Internal evidence indicates that it was sent to Arthur Lee. An early cataloger listed the author as “Ridlay,” which was undoubtedly Matthew Ridley, an English merchant who had spent five years in Baltimore before returning home in 1775. Living in London, Ridley was an active member of a committee to aid American prisoners of war.

1. Ridley lived in London, which is where this letter undoubtedly originated.

2. The spy was Edward Bancroft, secretary to the American Commissioners in France.

3. See American Commissioners in France to Capt. John Paul Jones, 16 Jan. 1778, NDAR 11: 917.

4. Virginia Navy brig Musquetto, Capt. John Harris, commander, had been captured by H.M. frigate Ariadne, Capt. Thomas Pringle, commander, on 4 June 1777. Musquetto’s surgeon John McNickal had been confined in Forton Prison in Portsmouth. NDAR 11: 893.

5. Upon his return to England from captivity in America, Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne was met with a storm of outrage that culminated in the introduction in the House of Commons of a motion “to condemn the state and condition of the army which surrendered at Saratoga.” Burgoyne defended himself in an able speech in Parliament on 26 May and thereafter became a vocal critic of Lord North’s administration and its handling of the war. Richard J. Hargrove, Jr., General John Burgoyne (Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1983), pp. 221–27.

6. Since Burgoyne returned to England in H.M. storeship Grampus, Comdr. Ambrose Reddall, commander, this story is obviously false.

7. This was the fleet commanded by Vice Adm. John Byron; as seen later in Ridley’s letter, it had gone to Plymouth. While there was uncertainty among British military and political leaders whether the fleet of Comte d’Estaing, based in Toulon, had gone to Cadiz, Spain, North America, or the West Indies, any of those destinations would have required the French fleet to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar, or “Gut.”

8. On the destruction of Continental frigate Randolph in an engagement with H.M.S. Yarmouth, see NDAR 11: 683–84, 837–38, 1175–77.

9. That is, The Public Ledger, a London newspaper.

10. That is, The General Advertiser, a newspaper published in Liverpool, England. The meaning of “E.I.” is unclear.

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Date

1778 May 22

Volume

Volume 12

Series

European Theatre from April 1, 1778 to May 31, 1778

Naval Documents of the American Revolution

Matthew Ridley to Arthur Lee, May 22, 1778

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