[Extract]
(No 30)
My Lord, I received yesterday a Letter from Lord Dunmore of which I transmit your Lordship a Copy; His Situation appears so very alarming that I fear the Assistance in my Power to give him will avail but little I have however Sent him an Order for the Company of the 14th Regiment at [New] Providence, and most part of the Remainder of said Regiment at St Augustine, as he thinks any Assistance tho' small, might be of some use to him; and we hear by a private Letter that a Declaration his Lordship had made, of Proclaiming all the Negroes free who should join him, has startled the Insurgents. From what can be learned it is not found that one Province is in a better Situation than another, the People called Friends of Government are few in all, and those Moderate Men, who abhor violent Proceedings and wish for Peace and quiet; the opposite Party numerous, active and violent.
Two hundred and twenty Six Marines with their Officers under the Command of Major Tupper landed this Morning from two Transports; so that we may expect the remainder of that Corps daily, the Sooner the other Reinforcements intended for this Place arrive, the better it will be.