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Letter to Editor
March 29, 1776
The Virginia Gazette
Williamsburg, Virginia
What is this article about?
A Virginian letter urges American colonists to immediately instruct delegates to negotiate a military and trade alliance with France against British invasion, proposing exchanges of goods and rejecting delays in breaking ties with Britain to avoid ruin and enslavement.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
My dear countrymen,
enable ourselves to make a proper and successful resistance against the cruel invaders of our rights and liberties. It has been proposed to call on the French for their assistance, and to allow them the privilege of trading with us, to make them amends for the expense they must incur by engaging in a war for our sakes. It has been proposed to invite them to come and bring us cloth, linen, blankets, nails, guns, powder, &c: in return for our commodities; and their gold and silver they will exchange for our tobacco, wheat, &c. &c. as well as furnish us with teas, spices, rum, sugar, molasses, from their East and West India settlements. But this proposal will not be made soon enough, to save our country from ruin, unless you instruct your delegates to make it immediately, and lose no time in negotiating a treaty necessary to the liberty and happiness of your country: I would advise every county to give such instructions, and check at once that ridiculous notion which has prevailed in one or two Conventions to the northward, "that we ought not to break off with Great Britain." We shall be ruined without a trade, and be enslaved without the assistance of arms, ammunition, and a fleet from France.
A VIRGINIAN.
enable ourselves to make a proper and successful resistance against the cruel invaders of our rights and liberties. It has been proposed to call on the French for their assistance, and to allow them the privilege of trading with us, to make them amends for the expense they must incur by engaging in a war for our sakes. It has been proposed to invite them to come and bring us cloth, linen, blankets, nails, guns, powder, &c: in return for our commodities; and their gold and silver they will exchange for our tobacco, wheat, &c. &c. as well as furnish us with teas, spices, rum, sugar, molasses, from their East and West India settlements. But this proposal will not be made soon enough, to save our country from ruin, unless you instruct your delegates to make it immediately, and lose no time in negotiating a treaty necessary to the liberty and happiness of your country: I would advise every county to give such instructions, and check at once that ridiculous notion which has prevailed in one or two Conventions to the northward, "that we ought not to break off with Great Britain." We shall be ruined without a trade, and be enslaved without the assistance of arms, ammunition, and a fleet from France.
A VIRGINIAN.
What sub-type of article is it?
Persuasive
Political
What themes does it cover?
Politics
Military War
Commerce Trade
What keywords are associated?
French Alliance
British Resistance
Colonial Trade
Delegate Instructions
American Liberty
What entities or persons were involved?
A Virginian.
Countrymen
Letter to Editor Details
Author
A Virginian.
Recipient
Countrymen
Main Argument
colonists must immediately instruct delegates to negotiate a treaty with france for military aid, arms, ammunition, fleet, and trade privileges in exchange for commodities to resist british invasion and secure liberty, rejecting notions of not breaking with britain.
Notable Details
Proposes French Assistance In War And Trade Of Cloth, Linen, Blankets, Nails, Guns, Powder For Tobacco, Wheat; French Gold/Silver And East/West India Goods Like Teas, Spices, Rum, Sugar, Molasses.
Criticizes Northern Conventions' Idea That 'We Ought Not To Break Off With Great Britain.'