Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies. John Dickinson
as a Body, it is in our Power to bestow, by admitting you, as we hereby do, a Member of our Society.
When that destructive Project of Taxation, which your Integrity and Knowledge so signally contributed to baffle about two years ago, was lately renewed under a Disguise so artfully contrived as to delude Millions, You, sir, watchful for the Interests of Your Country, perfectly acquainted with them, and undaunted in asserting them, Alone detected the Monster concealed from others by an altered Appearance, exposed it, stripped of its insidious covering, in its own horrid Shape, and, we firmly trust by the Blessing of God on Your Wisdom and Virtue, will again extricate the British Colonies on this Continent from the cruel Snares of Oppression; for we already perceive these Colonies ROUSED by your strong and seasonable Call, pursuing the salutary Measures advised by You for obtaining Redress.
Nor is this all that you have performed for Your native Land. Animated by a sacred Zeal, guided by Truth and supported by Justice, You have penetrated to the Foundations of the Constitution, have poured the clearest Light on the important Points, hitherto involved in a Darkness bewildering even the Learned, and have established with an amazing Force and Plainness of Argument, the TRUE DISTINCTIONS and GRAND PRINCIPLES, that will fully instruct Ages YET UNBORN, what Rights belong to them, and the best Methods of defending them.
To Merit far less distinguished, ancient Greece or Rome would have decreed Statues and Honours without Number: But it is Your Fortune and your Glory, Sir, that You live in such Times, and possess such exalted Worth, that the Envy of those, whose Duty it is to applaud You, can conceive no other Consolation, than by withholding those Praises in Public, which all honest Men acknowledge in Private that you have deserved.
We present to you, sir, a small gift of a Society not dignified by any legal authority; But when you consider this gift as expressive of the sincere Affection of many of your Fellow Citizens for Your Person, and of their unlimited Approbation of the noble Principles maintained in your unequalled Labours, we hope this Testimony of our Sentiments will be acceptable to you.
May that all-gracious Being, which in kindness to these colonies gave your valuable Life Existence at the critical Period when it will be most wanted, grant it a long Continuance, filled with every Felicity; and when your Country sustains its dreadful loss, may you enjoy the Happiness of Heaven, and on Earth may your Memory be cherished, as we doubt not it will be, to the latest Posterity.
The box was finely decorated, and the Inscription neatly done in Letters of Gold. On the Top was represented the Cap of Liberty on a Spear, resting on a Cypher of the Letters I. D. Underneath the Cypher in a semicircular Label – Pro Patria – Around the whole the following words:
The Gift of the Governor and Society of Fort St. David's to the Author of the Farmer's Letters, in grateful Testimony of the very eminent Services thereby rendered to this Country, 1768.
On the Inside of the Top —
On the Inside of the Bottom —
On the Outside of the Bottom – A sketch of Fort St. David's.
Gentlemen,
I very gratefully receive the Favour you have been pleased to bestow upon me, in admitting me a Member of your Company; and I return you my heartiest Thanks for your Kindness.
The "Esteem" of worthy Fellow Citizens is a Treasure of greatest Price; and as no man can more highly value it than I do, Your Society in "expressing the Affection" of so many respectable Persons for me, affords Me the sincerest Pleasure.
Nor will this Pleasure be lessened by reflecting, that you may have regarded with a generous Partiality my Attempts to promote the Welfare of our Country; for the Warmth of your Praises in commending a Conduct you suppose to deserve them, gives Worth to these Praises, by proving your Merit, while you attribute Merit to another.
Your Characters, gentlemen, did not need this Evidence to convince Me, how much I ought to prize Your "Esteem" or how much You deserved Mine.
I think myself extremely fortunate, in having obtained your favorable Opinion, which I shall constantly and carefully endeavor to preserve.
I most heartily wish you every Kind of Happiness, and particularly that you may enjoy the comfortable Prospect of transmitting to your Posterity those "Liberties" dearer to You than your Lives, "which God gave to you, and which no inferior Power has a Right to take away."
The potter's art, which from time immemorial has been the means of transmitting history, furnishes the other illustration and also perpetuates the estimate of Dickinson's character held by William Duesbury, England's greatest manufacturer of porcelain. It pictures a porcelain statuette of Mrs. Catherine Macaulay, a well-known historian, whose "History of England from the Accession of James the First to that of the Brunswick Line" and other historical writings met with great approval among the Whig party in England and whose decided approval of the stand taken by the colonies, gave her great popularity in America. This statuette, measuring 131⁄2 inches in height, is modeled to a certain extent after the statue of this lady which was erected in 1777 in the Church of St. Stephen, Walbrook, London. Mrs. Macaulay appears leaning upon her "Histories of England," which rest on the top of a pedestal, on the front of which is the inscription, "Government a Power Delegated for the Happiness of Mankind conducted by Wisdom, Justice and Mercy." Beneath are the words, "American Congress." On the side of the pedestal the name of Dickinson appears, preceded by the names of those noble writers, England's great advocates and expounders of Constitutional liberty, Sydney, Hampden, Milton, Locke, Harrington, Ludlow and Marvel. This beautiful porcelain statuette was moulded at the Chelsea factory in 1777, the same year in which Boswell chronicles Dr. Johnson's visit there, noting, "The china was beautiful, but Dr. Johnson justly observed it was too dear, for he could have vessels of silver as cheap as were here made of porcelain."
The space at my disposal prevents my quoting many a "Letter to the Printer" appealing for justice for the Colonials as well as numerous contributed articles which appeared during the next few years in the English press, the contents of which clearly show how strongly Dickinson's arguments had influenced their respective authors. While it is true that these sentiments were attacked both at home and abroad, the attacks soon lost their vehemence. Strange as it may seem, more protests against the course of the ministry than denunciations of the doings of the colonial Assemblies are found in the columns of the English press of the period. The demand for the arguments contained in the "Farmer's Letters" was not lessened by subsequent events as their popularity demanded the publishing of another London edition in 1774.
Certainly to John Dickinson for his masterly defence of the rights of the Colonies America owes an everlasting debt of gratitude. The logic of his claims and his warnings as to what must be the ultimate result of the ministerial encroachments upon the liberties of Englishmen did much to win over to the American cause in England that strong ally, the support of a large body of thoughtful Englishmen. These men actively condemned the ministerial actions and during the war which followed caused the course of the government to be bitterly opposed by an influential and constantly growing minority in Parliament. Through their efforts was fostered a public sentiment which caused the war to be prosecuted in a half-hearted manner and obliged a power-loving King to fill the depleted ranks of his army with German mercenaries, so impossible was it to force a sufficient number of his own liberty-loving subjects to fight against their kindred living in the land so happily alluded to by a contributor to the London "Chronicle" (June 3-6, 1769), in the following poem:
Who'd know the sweets of Liberty?
'Tis
The Name at length.