treaty is so express that goods so
circumstanced shall be restored without delay, and upon demand; and as
Mr Izard apprehends he ought not to be put to the trouble, delay, and
expense of a lawsuit on this occasion, we have thought it our duty to
write again to your Excellency on the subject.

We are sensible, that his Majesty has granted the whole of the
property, which shall be taken from the enemy and shall be lawful
prize, to the captors, and the encouragement of adventurers in this
way is of so much importance to our country, as well as to this, that
we wish them to enjoy all the profits and advantages of their prizes.
But the captors in this case must be sensible, that the goods belonged
to a friend, not an enemy, and therefore not included in his Majesty's
grant.

We beg leave to lay another subject before your Excellency. There are,
we are informed, on board the Fox and the Lively, as there are in
almost every ship in Admiral Keppel's and Lord Howe's fleets, numbers
of American seamen, who abhor the service into which, by one of the
most extravagant flights of tyranny and cruelty that ever was heard of
among men, they have been forced and compelled to fight against their
country and their friends. These seamen we should be glad to deliver
from the prisons in this kingdom, and from a misery and captivity
infinitely more detestable on board of British men of war. We,
therefore, beg leave to propose to your Excellency, that an inquiry be
made, and a list taken of the natives of America among the crews of
the Fox and Lively, and the men delivered to us. This would be
attended with many happy consequences. It would relieve many of our
countrymen from present confinement, and the most dismal prospects,
and would furnish our vessels with a number of excellent sailors. It
may be proper to inform your Excellency, that before this war began,
one third part of the seamen, belonging to the then whole British
empire, belonged to America. If we were able to command the services
of all the sailors, it would be of great importance to the common
cause; it would take away one third of the whole; those employed in
the American service would be able to fight another third remaining to
Great Britain, and consequently would leave to France no more than one
third of the seamen, belonging to the British empire before the war,
for France to contend with. But alas, this is not the case. Various
causes, too many to be here explained, ha