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VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[May, 
The city of New- York has the honour of having sent the first 
vessel to Canton, and the particulars of the voyage, as given by 
her supercargo to the Hon. John Jay, at that time secretary of 
state, is so full of interest, and so different from the first voyages 
of other nations to that part of the world, that we cannot refuse 
to our readers the gratification of its perusal. 
Letter from Samuel Shaw to John Jay, 
"New- York, May 19, 1785. 
"Sir,— 
The first vessel that has been fitted out by the inhabitants of 
the United States of America, for essaying a commerce with 
those of the empire of China, being by the favour of Heaven safe 
returned to this port, it becomes my duty to communicate to you, 
for the information of the fathers of the country, an account of 
the reception their subjects have met with, and the respect with 
which their flag has been treated in that distant region ; especially 
as some circumstances have occurred which had a tendency to 
attract the attention of the Chinese towards a people of whom 
they have hitherto had but very confused ideas ; and which 
served, in a peculiar manner, to place the Americans in a more 
conspicuous point of view than has commonly attended the intro- 
duction of other nations into that ancient and extensive empire. 
" The ship employed on this occasion is "about three hundred 
and sixty tons burden, built in America, and equipped with forty- 
three persons, under the command of John Green, Esquire. The 
subscriber had the honour of being appointed agent for their 
commerce, by the gentlemen at whose risk this first experiment 
has been undertaken, 
" On the twenty-second of February, seventeen hundred and 
eighty-four, the ship sailed from New- York, and arrived on the 
twenty-first March at St. Jago, the principal of the Cape de Verd 
Islands. Having paid our respects to the Portuguese viceroy, and 
with his permission taken such refreshments as were necessary, 
we left those islands on the twenty-seventh, and pursued our voyage. 
After a pleasant passage, in which nothing extraordinary occurred, 
we came to anchor in the Straits of Sunda on the eighteenth July, 
It was no small addition to our happiness on this occasion, to meet 
there two ships belonging to our good allies the French. The com- 
