Manuscripts and Special Collections
Ne C 2606 : Letter from General Sir Henry Clinton, to H.F.C. Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle under Lyne; 3 July 1779
our Port, and our whole little force must be
assembled to protect us. I tremble for the Cork
Fleet of victuallers. At Boston they are starving,
such a Captine will save them; that which they
made in April last going to Savanah under
Convoy of a Privateer (as no ship of war could
be spared) snatched them from distruction:
in short if I may give my opinion freely
we attend rather too much to pinzermaking.
I heartily wish Lord Howe was at the head
of the Ad---y [Admiralty]; he knows how the Navy
on this station and in this war ought to be conducted, and
he would direct accordingly. Privateering
is one of the chiefs supports
to a drooping lance, and so far from being
able to stop up their posts, I am told we
have scarcely sufficient to protect our own
