Extract of a Letter to a Gentleman in London, Dated Philadelphia, August 1, 1775

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You would hardly conceive, without seeing it, to what a height the political fury of this Country is arrived. I most heartily wish myself at home among free-born Englishmen, not among this tyrannical and arbitrary rabble of America. They have made many protestations of respect for England, and of their desire of union with the Mother Country, but you may take my word for it, my dear friend, it is the meanest and basest hypocrisy that ever was assumed. I have had occasion to spend, for a few years past, much of my time in this Province, and you may depend upon it, (and I am sure I have neither interest nor wish to deceive you,) that the present breach with England is not the device of a day, and has not arisen with the question about taxation, (though that has been a favourable plea,) but is part of a system which has been forming here, even before the late war. You would feel the indignation I do every day, when I hear my King and Country vilified and abused by a parcel of wretches who owe their very existence to it. I am amazed at the stupor and supineness of your Admiralty. For God' s sake, what are you doing in England? Are the friends of Great Britain and their property to be left exposed at this rate to the dictates of an inhuman rabble? I expect, with many others, if I do not join in the seditious and traitorous acts in vogue, to be hauled away and confined in a prison, with the confiscation of all I have in the world. Words cannot paint the distress of sober people who have property, and wish for peace and quietness. Where is the boasted Navy of our Country, that only one poor sloop is stationed here? whereas, if we had but three ships-of-war, one of fifty, and two of forty guns each, this place would not only be kept in awe, and the friends of Government secured, but a sufficient quantity of provisions might be had at all times for your Fleet and Army, which, we are informed, are half starved at Boston. As to the sloop we have here, the Nautilus, I fear she will soon go to the shades; for our good friends are building above fifty row-boats, of large dimensions, which are to have a twenty-four pounder in the stern sheets, several swivels in the sides, and plenty of muskets for the people on board, and all for the purpose of attacking the King' s Ships that may arrive here. But if Government would order the Navy to sink all these vessels to the bottom, wherever they met with them, a few examples of such timely severity would keep them on shore. I must not forget to tell you, that they are smuggling from the French West-Indies, in pilot-boats, all the ammunition they can get; but two or three cruisers off the Capes would soon put an end to that business. We have also the rarest coiners alive; for we issue our thousands and tens of thousands upon paper, for which we are obliged to part with our little specie or property, or suffer the vengeance of the omnipotent mob.

Constant news arrive here daily almost, which keep up the mad enthusiasm of the people; namely, that an insurrection of thousands has begun in England; that Lord North is fled for his life to France or Italy; that Wilkes, Burke, Governour Johnstone, Lord Effingham, Arthur Lee, and others, at the head of an armed multitude, had destroyed the Parliament-House, and several members of Administration. You would be amazed at the present rejoicings here upon this account. We are told, likewise, that the Dutch have above fifty millions in our funds, and that they are about to demand them immediately, which will occasion a total bankruptcy to Great Britain. Every body here believes this, and a hundred times as much more, for gospel; which, I am well informed, is sent them by a set of people among you whom humanity should teach not to sport thus with the lives and fortunes of these poor people here. All this increases the arrogance and ferment; and nobody dares to doubt it, unless he chooses to risk his life and substance; at least, he must keep his doubts to himself. If this be liberty, good Lord deliver me from all such liberty! I am sure no tyranny, not even of Spain and Turkey; can exceed it. If our last petition be discarded, which they who made it know will be the case, we are resolved to set open our Ports to the French, Dutch, and Danes. We have already invited them to send their produce here under convoy of ships-of-war, which, we reckon, will be opposed by the British Fleet; and so we joyfully expect you to be embroiled in a war with one or other of these Powers. Many Frenchmen are here, and though the most of them appear but in a low mode, if I may guess by their mien, they are not all common people. We profess loudly, that we would join with French, Spaniards, or any Nation, to send you all to the devil. We had a schooner, a few days since, who brought a considerable quantity of Gunpowder stowed under Molasses, and when she arrived she hoisted in bravo a French jack, ensign and pendant. If Government mean to do any thing, they must do it quickly, or the contest will be the stronger. I am surprised you do not take and stop all the ships going in or coming out of these Ports. Conceal my name; or I should run a great risk of my life and property, were it discovered here that I had sent you any account of these proceedings. Indeed, I incur some danger in writing at all; nor should I, if I could not confide in my conveyance.

Extract of a Letter from Philadelphia to a Gentleman in London. The Arbitrary Rabble of America do not Desire an Union with the Mother Country, the Present Breach is Part of a System Formed Here Before the Late War. [1775-08-01] Anonymous. [S4-V3-p0003] [Document Details][Complete Volume]