Baltimore 3 Feby. 1777
Honble Gentlemen,
The number and vigilance of our enemies hath prevented us hitherto from sending the enclosed Despatches through these southern ports And since it is of the last importance to the American Cause that these letters should reach their destination with all possible dispatch, We beg the favor of you, Gentlemen, to cause the quickest Sailing vessel that to be directly engaged on continental account to carry the Packet No. 1 directly to France. We wish the Captain to be a man of secrecy and discretion, that without disclosing to any one his destination or his business, he may immediately on his arrival repair by post to Paris, deliver the letters with his own hand to the Gentlemen they are intended for, or to any one of them, receive their answer, and be governed by their directions touching his return and the port he is to come to.1
We meet with so much difficulty in the business of Remittance, that we are desirous this vessel should take with her such Merchandize as she can conveniently without injuring her sailing, but by no means occasion any delay. For this purpose the Secret Committee send a letter to their Agent which You will please to convey to him,2 that he may while the vessel is fitting, prepare a small cargo for her.
The Merchants in Nantes on whom we send a letter of credit for the Captain, will inform him where to find either, or all of the Gentlemen, to whom the letters are addressed in Paris. Your drafts on the Congress committee of Secret Correspondence for the expense incurred in this business shall be duly honored.
The Packets No. 2 are duplicates, and we wish may be sent by any vessel going to France, but under the care of a discreet person employed by you at Continental expense to go passenger; and to repair immediately with his dispatchs to Paris, and deliver them himself to the gentlemen they are intended for. He will as in the other case take his directions from the gentlemen as to the time of his return.
You will please, Gentn, to direct the person to whose care these Packets are committed to have them sealed up in a Bag with weights ready to be sunk in the sea, if there should be a certainty of their being taken by the enemy, as it may be attended with the worst consequences should the enemy get possession of them.
Yrs &ca.
B. Harrison
R.H. Lee
W Hooper
File copy, Papers of Continental Congress, item 79, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
1 The Massachusetts Council replied indirectly to this letter through Robert Morris as chairman of the Secret Committee. Responding to a now missing February 7 letter from Morris, Jeremiah Powell notified him that the council had met with John Bradford and that he would fit out a ship. Powell concluded that "as soon as she is ready we shall Transmit the dispatches we have received from the Committee of Secret Correspondance in the method they have directed." PCC, item 65, 1:187 - 88. See also Robert Morris to John Bradford, January 23 and February 7, 1777.
2 Not found.