Letter from the Portsmouth Committee to the New-Hampshire Committee of Safety

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Portsmouth, July 19, 1776.

GENTLEMEN: Captain Roach, in the schooner Polly, having cleared from this port to the eastward, with a cargo consisting of two hogsheads of salt, twenty bushels of corn, three hundred pounds of tobacco, three barrels of rum, and three barrels of cider, sundry of the inhabitants of this town have made application to us to forbid his departure, supposing the risk too great at this time. We have had Captain Roach before us, and he acquaints us that he intends to go to St˙ Peter' s, and to carry with him, exclusive of the above articles, cash sufficient to purchase a cargo there of such commodities as he supposes will be suitable for this market. We think it our duty to inform you of this matter, and have desired Captain Roach to wait on you, and request your opinion thereon.

I am, by order of the Committee of Safety, gentlemen, your most obedient servant,
H˙ WENTWORTH, Chairman.

To the Honourable the Committee of Safety, at Exeter.