Sir

Please to Send me by Captn [Dudley] Saltonstall as good an Account ofthe Guns and Stores left in your hands as you can get, and likewise should be glad you will send me an Account of your Schooners Cargo, which Captn[Nicholas] Biddle retook² as the Officers blame me for delivering her till she was Tryed ー should be glad to Satisfy them that they will receive no Injury by that Step ー

I congratulate you on being Appointed by the Congress Agent of theFleet, and all Prizes sent into your Government, which I have Receiv'd anAccount of ー Expect you will Act as such whether you have Receiv'd the Order or not, and get the three Prizes Libelled and Condemn'd as soon as possible; and as to your Schooner I make no doubt but you will Satisfy the Officers and People without a Tryal ー

I now have the Gentlemen here from the Committee of Safety of Philadelphia,³ but I expect will not be able to get more Cannon here than they did, or I expected they would at New London ー What will be the Event of their not Succeeding, I can't at present tell! I am well Convinced theSending them away, will be of very ill Consequences to the Continent ー Andtheir not going will have no other bad Effect but on me, who had better Suffer than the Community ー I am with great Respect [&c.]