ceeded to sa Island & found he had disposed of the Cargoe, a part delivered, took the Necessary steps, Got possesion of the vessell & that part of Cargo on board, with thiss obliged to be satisfy-put a crew on board, ordered her to Martinique. 16th We Left palma, Went on a cruze to the N W. N. E & S° made some prizes retaken & others no account of. those seas covered by British Cruzers of every description and orders from their Govermt to follow the revenge into any harbour she might be in & destroy her. for prizes none could be Got in, the cruze being finished put into Corruna-thear was orders from spanish Goverm' that we should not be protect or admitt General O'Neal the Comm Officer was friendly to us, Also the Cause of our Country-Gave us Liberty to proceed to punto-dema a private harbour in Gallicia & refit & be supplyd in future to avoid the ports in Gallicia, every difficulty in our Way by British influence at Court & infamous representations of their Consuls the Agents by order Commis°" made the Advances

17th rec'd a Letter from Arthur Lee Esq. informing he was sole commiser for Spain. I wrote him in Answer & Gave him the same information as I had the commisers at paris, viz. the Names & firms of those houses the prizes were orderd or would arrive & he might direct as he saw fit-and he did Write the agents & orderd. 17th On the arrival of prizes my directions to the prize masters & agents they should advise the Commis" & take their orders in disposal of the property, Arthur Lee Esq did write the Agents that all prizes made by Continental vessells; the funds to be held at his disposal, the revenge, no other vessell had any prizes or funds, to the contrary continental vessells of War putting into ports in Gallicia in want of repairs & supplysAlso citizens of the US of America, captured in those seas put on shore coast of Gallicia, Vigo & elswhere in the Greatest distress by british cruzers-also his excellency John Adams on his way to paris reed Moneys at Corruna and at Bayone, All those expenses & charges from the funds of the revenge, cutter, will be found to be no small amount, not a word from the Commis" of any funds or Credit being or

dered to pay any expences that might occur, without considering the Great Expense attending a cruzer, and at that day our flag under many difficulty. 18th We left puntodema, the Consul Lazonere settled with the crew in 1778, under articles of agreement same as the last & proceeded for the West Indies, advising the Commis" of the difficultys we Laboured under-Arrived at Martinique, made no prizes-William Bingham Esq AM. agent theare disposed of P. cutter revenge as a publick vessell-viz. the crew engaged for a cruze, bounty advanced them, to be deductted from their prize money & settled with when finished in same manner as at bilboa and had continued in, made several cruzes to Windward & among the Islands-made some prizes of little value, protected several AM. merchantmen & convoyed others clear of the Island. Kept the British privateers in Good order in those seas, Captured two of them

"19th left Martinique in 1779 arrived shortly after in Febry. phila-the Navy board took the direction of P. Cutter & sold her at public sale by an act of Congress 12' March '79I petition Congress for a settlement of my Acct & they referd to Alexander Hamilton Esq' Sect of State my accounts & vouchers of every description, and he promised should be reportted on first session of Congress-he did not, petition after petition to Congress time after time to dec2 26th 1797 to no Effect.

"20th Some time after peace by an order of Congress a commercial Agent was appointed to settle every account relative to the public in Europe & did call or Write to every house or agent Concerned with the revenge, cutter, for that purpose, through the Agency of William Carmichal at Madrid.

66

"GUSTAVUS CONYNGHAM.

By a resolve of Congress, that the Capt of any single ship or armed vessel have two twentieth parts of his share, but if more ships or armed vessels be in Company when a

prize is taken then the two twentieth parts to be divided amongst all the said Captains;

"I went on a voyage from Phila' in the Brig charming peggy to Europe to procure Munition' of War of every description-arrived at dunkirk after circuitious route, here we could not accomplish in any way our object-the Agent Jon Nesbett Went to holland & procured every article desired & ordered in philaa our vessell could not take such a cargoe on board there, if possible no person would or could undertake it—such must be procured in holland the only alternative to ship P. goods on board two dutch vessells in the Texel-the powder-saltpetter & such in one vessell, the other vessell Arms-flints medecine, cloathing & to avoid accidents to be put on board our vessell Nieuport roads, on our getting there the dutch men as usuall had not arrived, a Gale came on were obliged to slip our Cables & run into the Canal leading to Nieuport about 2 miles from the town 4 days after the dutch men arrived We took out their Cargoes, detained by contrary winds in a canal & other difficulty' at the entrance of the canal its requisite to have a fair wind-the tide so rapid otherwise carry on the sand banks, here I am sorry to say an Irishman sailor on board the name of brackenridge is father usher to a school in Londonderry under a Mr Ewing-dezertted & Got to Ostend informed the British Consul of every particular in consequence we were stop arrested, a guard put on board in 3 days after a light air wind & fair in our turn We put the Guard under arrest took their arms proceeding out, fell calm air of Wind came right in our case became desperate -took to our boats left the agent to claim as he did not appeare to have any hand in it, a deception should we failebreaking an arrest under that despotick Govermt not to be trifled wh that verry guard ma Oath that the agant was in same state as themselv" after this a long & tedious business took place the vessell & Cargoe damaged through ignorance of the balief; burgomaster, fisherman W Embezzlement a valuable cargo & vessell turned out to nothing when solde from the different charges costs & by that corrupt Goverm

LETTERS OF RICHARD HENRY LEE, OF VIRGINIA.

[The following letters of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, are addressed to his friend, Hon. William Whipple, of New Hampshire.]

"DEAR GENERAL

"CHANTILLY IN VIRGINIA June 26th 1779.

"I wish this may find you as happy at Philadelphia as we are at Chantilly-nothing but the want of rain disturbs us, we have neither wicked, perverse or foolish Politicians here whose misconduct makes us fear for the safety of the Country. I have frequently admired the philosophic ease with which you have contemptuously viewed the proceedings in Congress which I own shocked me exceedingly. I suppose you have fixed your opinion with Mr. Pope 'what ever is, is right.' I believe indeed the wisdom and goodness of the Creator does not frequently deduce from evil, yet I am exceedingly chagrined when I see wicked and weak men have session in and misconduct the public councils. I understand that our excellent friend Sam Adams has left Congress-I am truly sorry for I well know that his ability and integrity will be missed from any assembly, but indispensable from the one from which he went. As you are the oldest member & the most skilled in Marine matters, I take it for granted that you are now Chairman of the Marine Committee. But whether so or not let me intreat you that you prevail with the Committee to order two Frigates into Chesapeak Bay if it is only for a few days-The Confederacy & the Boston can with infinite ease destroy the enemies vessels that are doing us so much injury, causing us so much expence by frequent calls for Militia-They have already burnt several private houses and one public warehouse with between 2 & 300 hhds of Tobo. and carried off much plunder & many negroesSoon as they see the Militia gathering they embark and go to another unguarded place. They have 6 Vessels, Otter 16, Harlem 12 Guns Kings Vessels-Dunmore 16, Schooner Hammond 14, Lord North 12 Guns & Fin Castle 2 three pounders. The 4 last are Guntridges Pirates. They say the orders are to burn and destroy all before them-an Eastern Man whom they had captured and claimed escaped from them when they were burning the Warehouse and gave us the above account of their force, which is confirmed by others--They land between 60 & 70 men when they mean to do mischief-I do not think I can be charged with excess of opinion in favor of our Navy when I say that the frigates already mentioned could destroy these Pirates and return to their Stations after thus relieving our water bound Country and removing the cause of great expence. The frigates by calling at Hampton can get the best intelliVOL. XXII.-32

thing in the power of man for their releive. We took on board the ship hanibal 95 as we posible could and the crew 35 men no Wages, Landed them at phila, Without any charge to them or the Goverm' thiss verry differ from the Conduct of many other AM Vessells in that port & other ports in france at that time"G. CONYNGHAM."