Medical Department, are intitled annually to draw Cloathing from the Stores of the Cloathier General in the same Manner & under the same Regulations as are establishd for officers of the Line by a Resolution Novr 25, 1779—­ such Cloathing to be deliverd by the Cloathier General or any sub Cloathier in the State in which the officer to receive the Cloathing shall reside.  I have sent the Journals of the Dates above mentiond, and wish Mr Davis or some other of my Friends would speak to Mr Ruggles, who I think is the Sub Cloathier in the State, in Behalf of my Son.  I hope however that the Matter is already settled, & he gone to Newport.  I am uneasy at his being absent from his Station any length of Time; for however necessary it may be, it may be turnd to the Disadvantage of his Character, which if I am not flatterd, he has hitherto kept unsullied.  In this virtuous & important Struggle, he will remember that all of us must ruff it as well as we can.——­The medical Committee inform me that it is the Duty of the State Cloathier to furnish him without the intervention of the Commander in Chiefe or Board of War.

Pray let Mrs Fogs know that Mr Level & I have done all we could for the Release of her Son who was made a Sea Prisoner & carried to New York.  Our officers have some of them been sent to England, but not any of the Seamen, so that it is hoped he is still there.  Many of them have died.  They have lately been better treated than they were some time ago.  The British Sea Officers are retaind in close Confinement here till we hear what is become of ours.  We are in hopes there will soon be an Exchange of the whole.

Remember me to Friends——­Adieu.

ARTICLE, UNSIGNED.

[Boston Gazette, April 2, 1781; a draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.1]

Extract of a Letter from the Southward.

“As we have a Constitution which is admired for its genuine Principles, I have been sollicitous to know, whether our Countrymen at large partook of the Spirit of those who formed it.  I have conceived strong Hopes, that in organizing their Government and electing Persons to fill the important Places of Trust, no Consideration would avail, to govern their Suffrages in Favour of any Candidate, unless he was possessed of those Qualities which are necessary, to enable him to perform the Duties of the Office to be filled, to the Advantage of the Publick.  I have flattered my self, that both the Governors and the Governed would have lain aside the gawdy Trappings of Monarchy, and put on that Simplicity which is the Ornament and Strength of a free Republick.  How far it has been done, I am not able to judge at this Distance.  It is a great Satisfaction to me to be informed, that some of the best Men in the Commonwealth have been elected into the Principal Departments of Government.  Men, who will dignify the Character of our Country—­who will revive and disseminate