September 28, 1776

In early September, a ship arrived in Dartmouth, Massachusetts from France. The newspaper in Newport, Rhode Island, shared the ship captain’s report that American ships were welcome in French ports, and moreover,  “the French only waited for a Declaration of Independence” before striking “some capital blow” against the British in North America. The captain also had news of “Mr. Dean, from the Honourable the General Congress.” Silas Deane, the Congress’s secret agent in Paris, had been “at the French court,” and the ship that arrived in Dartmouth had “letters for the Congress from him.”

The Pennsylvania Ledger: Or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New-Jersey Weekly Advertiser
Printed by James Humphreys, Jr.

NEWPORT, September 16.

The sloop —, Captain Lever, belonging to New-York, arrived at Dartmouth last Thursday in seven weeks from France, by whom we learn that American vessels find a very free trade there, and that the French only waited for a Declaration of Independence from the country, when they were determined to strike some capital blow.

We learn by the above vessel, that the carpenters were so closely engaged in the ship yards, she could not procure a single hand to do one day’s work on her; that Mr. Dean, from the Honourable the General Congress, was at the French court; and that letters for the Congress from him came in this vessel, which were despatched forward last Friday morning.