Note 207 — Chapter I · (continued 2)

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the inhabitants of the British Colonies (Philad., Boston, New York, 1768). They originally appeared in twelve numbers in the Penna. Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, between Dec. 2, 1767, and Feb. 15, 1768. When reprinted in London (1768) Franklin added a preface, and they were again printed there in 1774. (Cf. Sparks's Franklin, i. 316; iv. 256; vii. 391, x. 433; Bigelow's Franklin, i. 566; Sabin, v. nos. 20,044-20,052; Haven, p. 594; Carter-Brown, iii. 1,620, 1,621.) They are included in Dickinson's Political Writings (Wilmington, 1801, vol. ii.). Lecky (iii. 419) calls these letters "one of the ablest statements of the American case." Cf. Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, p. 208, and Shea's Hamilton, p. 255. For Boston's letter of gratitude to Dickinson, see Record Com. Rept., xvi. p. 243. Lecky (iii. 320, 348) thinks the ablest presentation of the case against the colonies is The Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies (London, 1769; Boston, 1769), written to offset the Farmer's Letters. Bancroft says that Grenville himself wrote the constitutional argument in it, and the Board of Trade furnished the material. The pamphlet itself is usually ascribed to William Knox, the Under-Secretary of State, though the names of Whately, Israel Mauduit, and John Mein have been sometimes preferred. (Cf. Carter-Brown, iii. no. 1,666; Sabin, x. p. 532.)