[Extract]

The dispatches which we expect directly from General Gage have not arrived yet. A few ships which came from Virginia and New York have confirmed the first news. We learned also that, prior to the engagement that took place on the 19th, they had received at Boston the formal addresses which both Houses of Parliament presented to the King of England early last February as well as the answer of His British Majesty. We learned further that Boston was surrounded by the insurgents and that 4,800 sailors seeing they were going to be deprived of their fishing rights, deserted their ships and joined their compatriots under arms. The supporters of the Government in the Province of Massachussett have abandoned this Colony; several of them took refuge in Halifax and more than sixty embarked on the ship awaited by the Government. It is certain that as soon as it was learned in New York what had happened in the Province of Massachussett on the 19th, the inhabitants of this city unloaded by force two ships that were in their port carrying supplies for General Gage and ready to sail. The next ships which will arrive from Boston will tell us more about the state of affairs. . . .

The ship Romney with 50 guns and the corvette Marin have just sailed from Portsmouth for Newfoundland.