I am, gentlemen, Your most obed't & very humble serv't, FRED'K PIGOU, Jun^r. Mark Lane, 1st June, 1773.
To the Hon'ble the Court of Directors of the United East India Company.
I intended to have made a purchase of teas at your present sale to have exported to America, but the candid intimation given by you of an intention to export them to the Colonies on account of the Company, renders it disadvantageous for a single house to engage in that article.
I now beg leave, gentlemen, to make a tender to you of the services of a house in which I am a partner, Richard Clarke and Sons,[29] of Boston, New England, to conduct the sale of such teas as you may send to that part of America, in conjunction with any other houses you may think proper to entrust with this concern; altho' I have not the honor of being personally known to many of you, I flatter myself our house is known to the principal merchants who deal to our Province, and are known to have always fulfilled our engagements with punctuality & honor, and trust I shall procure you ample security for our conducting this business, agreeable to the direction, we may from time to time receive from you.
In soliciting this favor, I beg leave to avail myself further of the circumstance of our having for a long time been concerned in the tea trade, and to greater extent than any house in our Province, with one exception. Of the disappointment I have met with in my intended adventure, by which we are deprived of a very valuable branch of our business, and on my being on the spot to take such instructions from you as may be requisite in disposing of what you may send. And give me leave to add my assurances that the interest of the East India Company will always be attended to by the house of Richard Clarke & Sons, if you think fit to repose this confidence in them.
I am, very respectfully, gentlemen, Your most obed't & humble servant, JONATHAN CLARKE.
To the Hon'ble Directors of the East India Company.
Mr. Clarke also enclosed two letters in his favor; one from Messrs. Henry & Thos. Bromfield, the other from Mr. Peter Contencin, merchants.
The bearer, Mr. Barkly, is the person whom I took the liberty of recommending to you as a person able and qualified to give you information touching the quantity of tea that is now consumed in America, and to serve the Company in that part of the World in case the Directors shall judge it proper to make any establishment there for selling tea on the Company's account, & I am, sir,