I had the honour of receiving your favour this morning, and have now to add, to the former intelligence, [. . . .] man who had sollicited Mowbray to assist in a forgery, is in custody [in] our town gaol. He went to Mowbray repeatedly on Saturday evening, & was so urgent to have some notes worked off, that he proposed their working all night, for he fixed on going to assist Mowbray, saying that he had some little knowlege of the business, (tho’ he appeared in the habit of a seaman,) and added that they must take off a thousand copies of such Carolinian notes before morning. And indeed he always spoke of the number of notes wanted, in this large way.— Sir John Carter, the brother of Mr. Wm. Carter, being come home from a journey, had him apprehended & examined, & this matter will now be transacted before Sir John, (so far as it can be transacted,) as he is the Mayor of the town. the man says his name is Moor, or rather I think Mure, & that during the last war he sailed out & in, as belonging to an American port. He was short & shy in his answers; but pleaded his cause before Sir John with a language & sagacity much beyond his appearance, saying “that he could not see what the magistracy of this country had to do with his proceedings, as it affected only the country beyond the Atlantic.” He offered to deliver up all his papers types & implements provided they would burn and destroy them before him, & set him at liberty. This was not granted him, and his papers that were found abt. him are all in the possession of Sir John or Mowbray, & will remain Sir for your directions. He says that he has for these few days lodged at Mrs. Darts on Portsmouth Common, which is a suburb to this garrison, so large, that Mrs. Dart is not yet discovered, tho’ it is probable she may. If any more papers are found at his lodgings they will be kept with the others. This man has not been rambling abt. the country to meet with a printer whose appearance he should like. But he came down from London, & went directly to Mowbray, a man of considerable abilities in his trade, & of narrow circumstances. And when a small piece of border block is wanting, he engages to have it down from London in two days, which is as soon as any person could have it, & proves that it was in London ready cut. It is evident to me that he has sevl. associates in London, & that he is aiming to be a large dealer, both which circumstances should I think excite the attention & enquiries of our 54 government. From the number & variety of the Notes of the United States which he had in his possession, & the large edition which he meant to print, I think it is probable that he has been employed in America in some branch of that department, in which he now manifests but too much skill. He is not a sailor by profession.— Care is taken that he does not want good suffiency of provisions, but he is not allowed pen ink & paper, nor any visitor whatever except the head gaoler. W. Mowbray was to have sent me up an account of the papers & things left with him, or found on the man, but if it does not come soon I must omit sending it till next post.

I am Sir your most obedient / & most humble Servant

Upon the Receipt of the first of the inclosed Letters from Dr Wren and Mr Mawbrey, by Express, I made Application to Government.—1 Lord Sidney was absent and Lord Carmarthen Sick: but Mr Fraser the Under Secretary of State, took up the subject with Integrity and Politeness. He discovered a real desire to do every Thing that the Laws would permit, to crush in the Beginning this villainous Attempt to counterfeit American Paper Currencies. He told me that a 56 parrallel complaint had been lately made by the Danish Ambassador, of an Attempt to counterfeit, the Bank Notes of Denmark: and that upon consulting their most experienced Magistrates and Law Officers, they were all of Opinion that untill the Counterfeit was compleated and the Names Signed, it could not be a Capital Crime tho an Attempt might be a misdemeanor. He advised me to advise with Sir Sampson Wright the most considerable Magistrate in Westminster. Sir Sampson engaged in the Business with particular Attention and agreed to write to Sir John Carver2 at Portsmouth. Upon the whole it Seemed to be necessary, that, Some one, Should go to Portsmouth and as Col. Smith set out on the twenty fourth of this Month for Lisbon, I took asked Mr Cutting to accompany me to Portsmouth.— We had the Man brought out of the Prison, to our Lodgings. His Name he says is Robert Muir, born in Scotland, but lately arrived from North Carolina.— He is an Artful, Shrewd Fellow but with a mean, hungry desperate Appearance, Suitable to any kind of Attrocious Villainy. We wished to discover his Accomplices, but he would not answer.— The Grand Jury found a Bill, and at my desire, the Man is continued in Prison, till next Term in July. His Types and Stamps and Implements are all Secured.— In July however he will be set at Liberty, for the Crime could not be compleat, without the signature, if it could without passing the Bill.

It is with a very high Pleasure, that I am able to Say, that the Government, And the Magistrates both here and at Portsmouth, have upon this Occasion conducted with perfect Propriety, and Politeness.— The Crime is Said to be an offence against the Law of Nations, against Commerce, against private & public Property, against the whole World &c and all this is true. but still the Laws are so vague in this Case, and every Punishment short of Death in Such a Crime in this Country, would be treated with Ridicule, it may be most prudent to dismiss the fellow in July, destroying or at least detaining his implements

Congress will determine, what Measures Should be taken to advertise the People of America that they may be upon their Guard.— I suppose this is the same Scot, who a few Weeks ago Applied to Mr Carpenter an Ingraver in London, to engrave a Plate for him, of which Carpenter had the Honesty to inform me, and as you have been told in a former Letter.

With great Regard, I have the Honour to be / dear sir, your most obedient and most / humble servant