[Extract]
My Lord I had the honour to write to your Lordship about three weeks ago: nothing very material has occurred since. The battalion of marines are getting the better of their drunkenness. I hope we sha 11 be all well soon. I assure you my Lord I have had a disagreeable time of it: I have lived almost night and day amongst the men in their barracks for these five or six weeks past, on purpose to keep them from that pernicious rum. I would not have your Lordship think from this that we are worse than the other battalions here, the rum is so cheap that it debauches both navy and army, and kills many of them. Depend on it my Lord, it will destroy more of us than the Yankies will.
The Admiral distresses me much. He keeps fifty of the best men that came out with me; forty of them are from the Chatham division, both the men and the non-commissioned officers belonging to them were volunteers, and who I was exceedingly desirous of having as they would take care of the rest and be an example to them. I have great use for such men, for those sent me from Plymouth are by no means good in any respect. This my Lord is not the only thing wherein the Admiral behaves strangely to me. Yesterday morning he sent for me and told me that I must embark such a number of marines on board the Asia. I told him that I should do it with the utmost pleasure, if it was in my power, but I was absolutely under the command of General Gage and could order nothing but as he directed me; that if I did, I was liable to be tried and broke for it. It is needless for me to tell your Lordship how he talked to me and what he said; but be assured that nothing he says or does shall make me deviate from the rules of politeness and the respect due to an admiral and commander of a squadron. I waited on the General and told him what had passed: he was greatly surprised at it and could scarce believe me. He told me the Admiral was with him the day before, asking for those men; that he told him he could not spare them, administration had wrote to him that there were five hundred marines sent as a reinforcement to him, and that he had not got four hundred; and as he was every day threatened with being attacked by many thousands, he could not part with any of his troops. I should not have troubled your Lordship with this affair if the Admiral had not threatened to represent me to the Board; and as he may, I thought it necessary in this private letter to make you master of the whole story. Permit me once more, before I have done with this affair, to assure your Lordship that nothing shall make me behave with incivility or want of respect to any admiral or commanding officer.
Orders are anxiously expected from England to chastise those very bad people. The General had some of the Great Wigs, as they are called here, with him two days ago, when he took that opportunity of telling them, and swore to it by the living God, that if there was a single man of the King's troops killed in any of their towns he would burn it to the ground. What fools you are, said he, to pretend to resist the power of Great Britain; she maintained last war three hundred thousand men, and will do the same now rather than suffer the ungrateful people of this country to continue in their rebellion. This behaviour of the General's gives great satisfaction to the friends of Government. I am satisfied that one active campaign, a smart action, nd burning two or three of their towns, will set everything to rights. Nothing now, I am afraid, but this will ever convince those foolish bad people that England is in earnest. What a sad misfortune it was to this country, the repealing of the Stamp Act; every friend to Government here asserts in the strongest terms that this has been the cause of all their misfortunes.
The General had intelligence that there was at Salem some brass field pieces. He sent Colonel Leslie with four companies of the 64[th] in a transport to Marblehead. The Colonel landed, and marched with great expedition to Salem: the people beat their drums, rung their alarm bells; but the Colonel saw none in arms but five, and those took care to get out of the way as fast as they could. The people behaved as I suppose they will ever do, made a great noise when there is nobody to oppose them, but the moment they see us in arms and in earnest they will talk very differently. The Colonel found no guns ー it is supposed a false information. He marched back to Marblehead and embarked for this place. The moment he left Salem, I am told the people got arms and paraded about, and swore if he had stayed half an hour longer they would have cut him to pieces. If he had continued there till now, none of them would have dared to have appeared in arms.
I am &c.
