Office of Finance, August 15th, 1781.
Sir,
Enclosed you have a list of sundry bills of exchange drawn on you. I wrote you relatively to these bills on the 29th day of July last, with sundry enclosures explanatory of my letter. I am now to inform you, that the advices contained in that letter must, from particular circumstances, be totally disregarded. Should any of the bills, mentioned in the enclosed list, come to your hands, you will be pleased to protest them, and assign, if you please, as a reason therefor, that you have express instructions to that purport. The uncertainty, whether you have received my cypher, prevents my using it on this occasion. The importance of the subject obliges me to write, and as I send many copies, the risk of capture and inspection is too great to be more particular.
The gazettes will furnish you with our latest intelligence. That of New York announces the arrival of near three thousand Hessian troops, and the capture of the Trumbull frigate. Neither of these is a very agreeable circumstance. However, we must wait the course of events, and struggle, as well as we can, against adverse fortune. Our affairs to the southward wear no unpleasing aspect. And, although it is impossible, at this distance, to determine what effect European movements may have on American politics, our government acquires daily a firmness and stability, which will not easily be shaken.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT MORRIS.
JAMES LOVELL TO JOHN JAY.
Philadelphia, August 15th, 1781.
Sir,
Herewith you will receive according to the resolution of Congress of the 10th, such information relative to the surrender of Pensacola, and the subsequent arrival of the garrison at New York, as I have been able to obtain, which you will make use of according to your discretion, and the spirit of the enclosed resolution.