Answers Secretary of State's secret letter of 6 May; reports that he is urging every...

Answers Secretary of State's secret letter of 6 May; reports that he is urging every exertion in the Military Department to put the islands within the limits of his command in state of defence; has pressed the Governor of Barbados to use his influence to 'procure a more vigourous aid of Negro labour [enslaved labour], and a consent to purchase the land necessary for the works'; has also directed him to vigorously proceed with the Barracks for present garrison and construct others for the reception of 4,000 men, and to 'hire Negro labour' and purchase the land neccesary; reference to works and accommodation in Grenada; states that defences are weaker at St. Vincent than any of the other islands; inhabitants of Antigua; intelligence regarding Spanish and French affairs in the West Indies; encloses two newspapers: Gazette de la Martinique, 17 June 1790 in French; Lowndes', Charibbean Register, 19 June 1790 in English and French; a letter from M. L'Abbé Metrail [French]; some observations by a 'gentleman' of Grenada on the present state of Havana; and a copy of a letter regarding a Spanish frigate recently seen in 'these seas', which it is supposed was carrying dispatches from the Spanish Court to Havana.

Edward Mathew, Grenada, Folios 88 - 97.