[Extract]
(No 9)
Sir, I have received your Dispatches numbered 1 & 2, and your Letter of the 27th of March and have laid them before the King.
The Information you had received, of the Arrival of so considerable a Body of Troops at St Domingo was a just ground of Alarm, and His Majesty very much approves of the prudent Measures you took for the safety of the Island, without interrupting it's Commerce, or exciting too strong Apprehensions of Danger to the Inhabitants.
Mr [Charles] Cobb's Letter contains so exact a State of the Military Forces in the Island, as leaves no room to suspect that the Count d'Ennery has any Instructions to employ it in any hostile Enterprises; but at the same time you cannot, in the present Circumstances, be too much upon your Guard, and every Precaution that can be taken without exciting Jealousy, or creating Alarm ought to be made use of, to prevent any Surprise, and to obtain constant & exact Information of what is passing, in both the French & Spanish Islands, and His Majesty relies upon that Zeal & Attachment for his Service, which has hitherto distinguished your Conduct, for exerting you to continue your Attention to these important Objects.
