My Lord

I received the honour of your orders & instructions of the —— [12th of April] by Capt. [Cornthwaite] Ommaney the [20th] of May, to the senior officer here. I acquainted you by letter of [17th May] by his Majs Schonr the Gaspee, of my arrival at Quebec, & inclosed my orders from the Lords of the Admiralty; & informed you of my instructions till I should have the honour of receiving your commands: in consequence of which Anxious to comply with yr Lordships wishes that as few ships as possible might remain inactive here, & at the same time to avoid any blame might fall on my head in case the expedition across the Lakes should require further assistance, agreable to yr instructions I again consulted Sr Guy Carleton; to know whether the Apollo could serve here any assistance that in case she was not I should leave the com[mand] to [Richard] Pearson to w[at]ch the Lakes he assurd me as the command of the army was in Genl Burgoyne, not to leave the river on any acct till I had his sanction for it; having before been desired by him to see me before he embark; I imm[ediately] set out for St John in order as soon as possible to get his determination on the seamen already on that service; [it] was that he did not think he had sufficient cause to detain his Majs Ship Apollo as a fresh supply of men would be at hand on the arrival of the Blonde in case he should want them—I therefore End[eavor]ed to put that part of the instructions into execution relative to &c., &which having done I shall lose no time in joinn you at NewYork.—