Transcription of the following letter:

The Collector of the customs being absent in the Country for the benefit of his health, I have the honor of receiving your Excellency’s communication respecting a british ship said to be preparing for Spain[?] in an offensive situation inconsistent with the tenor of the President’s proclamation, and the mutuality of the United States.

I presume that the ship Trusty John A. Hall master[?], is the vessel alluded to; the arrival at this Port from Barbados on the first day of March and cleared for the same island on the fourteenth of the present month, her cargo consisting of flour and lumber.

Mr. Garland has informed me that she mounts four small [UNK] and that her crew consisted of twenty men when she arrived, and that she has not more than fourteen on board when she cleared: she is upwards of three hundred tons [UNK].

Vague report however differing from the preceeding amount, I determined to go on board for the purpose of obtaining accurate information, but was prevented by her getting under way and proceeding on her intended voyage down the river.

I have the honor to be Your Excellency’s very humble servant,
Signed, D. Delozier. Dep. Col.

His Excellency
Thomas S. Lee, Esquire
Governor of Maryland