r to be, sir,

Your most obed^t & hum. ser^t
JOHN BLACKBURN.

Scots Yard, 22^nd Dec^r, 1773.
Mr. Wm. Settle.

_Extract of a Letter from a merchant in New York, to Wm. Kelly, of
London, dated 5^th Nov^r, 1773:_

"The introduction of the East India Company's tea is violently opposed
here, by a set of men who shamefully live by monopolizing tea in the
smuggling way."

_Extract of a Letter from Abraham Lott, Esq^r., of New York, to Wm.
Kelly,[40] of London, dated New York, 5^th Nov^r., 1773, & received with
the above mentioned Extract of Mr. Kelly, 22^d Dec^r., 1773:_

"Herewith you will receive several papers relating to the importation of
the India Com^y's tea. If it comes out free of a _duty here_ on
importation, things I believe may go quiet enough, tho' you will
observe much is said against it even on that supposition. But if it
should be subject to a duty here, I am much in doubt whether it will be
safe, as almost every body in that case speaks against the admission of
it, so that, altho' I am well assured that the Governor will not suffer
the laws to be trampled on, yet there will be no such thing as selling
it, as the people would rather buy so much poison, than the tea with the
duty thereon, calculated (they say) to enslave them and their posterity,
and therefore are determined not to take what they call the nauseous
draft. A little time will determine how matters will terminate, that is,
if the tea comes out. If it does, I hope it may come free of duty, as by
that means much trouble and anxiety will be saved by the agents. I do
assure you they have all been very uneasy, tho' at the same time
determined to do their duty, but in the most prudent & quiet manner. It
is now two o'clock, P.M., when I received the paper signed Cassius, in
which you will find Mr. L---- R----de handsomely complimented, and
yourself severely handled, on a supposition that you should have spoken
words to the import, as asserted in the paper. Mr. R----e's name is not
mentioned, but there is no doubt but he is the person alluded to, as
upon the arrival of the London ships, who refused to bring the tea. It
was currently reported that he had wrote his partner nearly in the same
words as mentioned in the paper. You are the best judge of the truth of
the assertion, but whether true or not, his conduct is ungenerous and
mean. If the paper sp