Fairhill July [? 1775]1
Dear Sir,
Before this comes to Hand, You will have receiv’d, I presume, the Petition to the King. You will perhaps at first be surpriz’d, that We make no Claim, and mention no Right. But I hope [on] considering all Circumstances, You will be [of] opinion, that this Humility in an address [to] the Throne is at present proper.
Our Rights [have] been already stated - our Claims made - [War] is actually begun, and We are carrying it on Vigor[ously.] This Conduct & our other Publications will shew, [that our] spirits are not lowered. If Administration [be] desirious of stopping the Effusion of British [blood] the opportunity is now offered to them [by this] unexceptionable Petition, praying for [an] Accommodation. If they reject this appl[ication] with Contempt, the more humble it is, [the more] such Treatment will confirm the Minds of [our] Countrymen, to endure all the Misfortunes [that] may attend the Contest.
I do not know what [is] thought in London of the several Engagements near Boston. But this You may be assured [of] everyone of them has been favorable to Us - & particularly that of Bunker’s Hill on [the] 17th of last month, when a mere Carnage was [made] of the Royalists - tho they gained our Intrench[ments].
I am Sir, your very affectionate hble [servant.]
(John Dickinson)
Receiver’s copy, Harvard University Libraries. In the hand of John Dickinson; signature inked out.
1 Although Peter Force assigned this mutilated letter the date July 7, it was undoubtedly written some time later. Am. Archives, 4th ser. 2:1604. Dickinson wrote a brief letter to Lee from Philadelphia on July 7 and must have written this one from his Fairhill estate a few days after the signing of the petition to the king on July 8.