and Vessels employed, and to be employed in NORTH-AMERICA, &c. &c.,

Permit the sloop Rainbow, Lemuel Perkins, Master, with his crew, consisting of two hands, to pass from the harbour of Boston to Damascotta, in ballast.

Given under my hand, on board His Majesty's ship Chatham, off Boston,15th February, 1776.

M. SHULDAM.

To the respective Captains and Commanders of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels in North-America.

By command of the Admiral:

EDWARD BRAGGE.

Boston, April 25, 1776.

SIR: Enclosed is a letter and a deposition which General Ward received last evening; but, as the General thinks it is a matter most properly cognizable by the civil authority, he refers it to the honourable Council.

I am, sir, with great respect, your most obedient, humble servant,

JOSEPH WARD, Aid-de-camp.

To the Honourable Moses Gill, Esq.

In Council, May 1, 1776: Read and sent down.

JOHN LOWELL, Dep. Secretary P. T.

Portsmouth, April 20, 1776.

SIR: I think it my duty to enclose the deposition of John Cochran, boatswain's mate of the Continental armed schooner the Lynch, under my command, to you, as Captain Perkins is now in Salem.

Your most obedient, humble servant,

JOHN AYRES

To General Ward.

I, John Cochran, now boatswain's mate of the Continental armed schooner called the Lynch, commanded by Captain John Ayres, testify that I was a seaman on board the Fowey, man-of-war, four months, immediately preceding the departure of the troops from Boston; and while the Fowey lay at her station by Cat-Island, the last Winter, two men came in a row-boat alongside the Fowcy, and brought with them a quarter of beef, weighing about one hundred and eighty pounds, which, was received on board the Fowey, the Captain of which paid them therefor.

About a fortnight after this, and while the Fowey lay at her station off Baker's Island, the same two men came again in a row-boat to the Fowey, and brought with them three quarters of beef and several quarters of mutton, which the Captain of the Fowey bought of them.

It was now said, on board, that one of the said two men was Captain, and the other Mate of a sloop or schooner belonging to Salem, and that the Captain's name was Perkins. I saw him each lime of his bringing the beef, and I judge he was about twenty-seven years of age. He wore a brown surtout, and appeared to be about five feet nine or ten inches high. Each time the beef was brought in the night. The first time they brought a compass with them, which I saw. I think, also, that they brought a compass the second time with them in the boat.

About three weeks after bringing the last beef, a sloop came in the night up towards the Fowey, as she lay off Baker's Island. All hands were ordered to their quarters, but, before a gun was fired, the Captain hailed the sloop and ordered her to bring to. The sloop answered that she was coming with design to bring to, and then dropped anchor alongside the Fowcy.. By daybreak a midshipman and four hands were put on board the sloop, and proceeded with her to Boston.

When Captain Perkins brought the last beef, he told the Captain of the Fowey, as I heard the midshipman say, that he (said Perkins) was going to the eastward for wood to carry to Boston; that he would come up towards the Fowey with it, and upon the firing a gun from the Fowey he would bring to. When Perkins came with his sloop alongside the Fowey it was about midnight. He came on board the Fowey, and afterwards the midshipman said, in my hearing, that the sloop had on board her fifty cords of wood, and I saw one goose, and about fifty pounds of beef, which were the same night brought on board the Fowey. The sloop was almost new, and I heard the midshipman say, that Perkins said he went into Cape-Ann harbour with the privateers which the Foivey chased into Cape-Ann near about a week before, and would then have followed the Fowey, but that Captain Manly ordered him into Cape-Ann.

JOHN COCHRAN,

ESSEX, ss., April 12, 1776.

Then John Cochran, above-named, made oath to the truth of the foregoing deposition by him subscribed, before

TIMOTHY PICKERING, JUN.,

Justice of the Peace.

JOHN PAGE TO RICHARD HENRY LEE.

Williamsburgh,February 20, 1776.

DEAR SIR: I have just received yours of the 15th instant, and have snatched a moment to write a few lines in answer to it, I approve much of your plan of publishing the hand-bill, and would, before this, have executed it if my indisposition and Mrs. Page's illness, added to an incessant round of business, had not prevented me.

The method you mention for removing the spikes from cannon, is certainly good; but it is said the cannon at Nor-folk is rendered useless by being broken at their trunnions and butts. I will endeavour, sir, to prevail on our Committee to send you, regularly, authentick accounts of every material occurrence here, and of the state, of the enemy's strength. I wrote you yesterday an account of the arrival of another man-of-war, and a transport or two; this report has not been contradicted, nor have we yet heard from whence or what these ships are. Captain Hammond, of the Roebuck, we are well assured, has behaved with great politeness and humanity to several of our people. Lord Dun-more had written a letter to Colonel Corbin, in which he offers to go to England to negotiate peace; he professes the warmest attachment to this country, and says that be lays hold on the last sentence in the King's speech to offer his services to procure a lasting, speedy, and honourable accommodation. No one, but Lord Dunmore, could have applied that sentence in the manner lie has. I will send you a copy of the letter by the post. Colonel Corbin laid the letter before the Committee of Safety, and received a letter from the Committee, which I will also send you. In it we told the Colonel, that we were neither empowered nor inclined to intermeddle with the mode of negotiation; that we looked to the Congress for the management of this important matter; but added, we would lay his letter beore the Assembly, which is to meet on their adjournment, and that Lord Dunmore might manifest his good intentions by suspending hostilities. Colonel Corbin set out this morning to Hampton, with orders to Colonel Grayson to send him with a flag of truce to Lord Dunmore. We gave him to understand, that his Lordship should deliver up the slaves now with him immediately. The old gentleman went off in great hopes of procuring a month's truce at least, and seemed determined to give Captain Hammond a true statement of Lord Dunmorc's conduct. Since writing my letter of yesterday, the Committee have ordered down the saltpetre which had been sent to Petersburgh, to be worked up by Buckstrout. I hope, from this, that they will at length encourage him, and enable him to carry on the manufacturing of gunpowder to a considerable extent. The report of the burning of Portsmouth was entirely without foundation.

I am, dear sir, your affectionate, humble servant,

JOHN PAGE.

To Richard Henry Lee, Esq., of Chantilly.

P. S. I think you had better attend the Assembly. You will be more wanted here than at the Congress. J. P.

COLONEL CORBIN'S MISSION TO LORD DUNMORE.

Williamsburgh, March 1, 1776.

On Monday, the 19th February, the Honourable Richard Corbin, Esq., laid before the Committee of Safety a Letter he received from Lord Dunmore, in the words following:

"Ship Dunmore, Elizabeth River, January 22, 1776.

"SIR: Notwithstanding the many cruel and false invectives thrown out against me, as an enemy to this Colony; conscious to myself, however, of my firm attachment to this country, in general, and this Colony in particular, I am well convinced, (though the present rulers may have thought