May it please your Excellency,
This will be handed you by Capt. Ingram, at present Com'r of the Washington. As he is a stranger to you, I must beg leave to recommend him to your Excellency, as a very proper person to have the command of the said vessel of war, he being very capable of the same, by his vigilance and the attention he pays to his duty; and has ever appeared a warm friend to the American cause. To himself I refer for his other business.