February 5, 1776
Newspaper printers often relied on private correspondence to give their readers a sense of what was happening in other places. In this case, a printer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shared an extract of a letter from a man in the West Indies to his friend in Falmouth, Massachusetts (now Maine). The town was bombarded by British ships in October 1775 and burned. Evidently, the news of this destruction made its way to the Caribbean, as this gentleman wrote that he was “anxious—very anxious” to hear from his friend in Falmouth. He followed this with a statement that would have resonated with many people trying to keep up transatlantic correspondence during wartime: “Don’t think that because we know little, we care little about you.”
This letter suggests that there was significant support for “the Americans in their present glorious struggle for the restoration of such of their natural and stipulated liberties as have been wrested from them.” That was the reason why the printer chose to publish this extract—to give people a sense of international support for what Americans, and especially people in Massachusetts, were enduring. Interestingly, the letter also comments on the institution of slavery. Writing from the West Indies, “a land where slavery is not only tolerated, but productive of the greatest wealth and affluence to the masters and proprietors,” the letter writer was adamant that he was one of “many staunch friends” in the colonists’ fight for freedom from tyranny.
Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet or, the General Advertiser
Printed by John Dunlap
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in the West-Indies to his friend in Falmouth, Casco-Bay.
“We are anxious—very anxious, to hear from you.—Don’t think because we know little, we care little about you; for though you have many enemies, you have also many staunch friends, who, though living in a land where slavery is not only tolerated, but productive of the greatest wealth and affluence to the masters and proprietors, yet retain such a sense of freedom, as openly to defend her cause, and with zeal and warmth side with the Americans in their present glorious struggle for the restoration of such of their natural and stipulated liberties as have been wrested from them; and the preservation of such as yet remain. The conquest of America by all the troops Britain has or can send from her island, appears to me the most idle and chimerical plan ever adopted by a minister, with less than half Lord North’s abilities. I can’t help thinking the minister, before this, must be convinced that Americans not only can, but will fight; and in order to enforce the present measures, a much greater force than they have or can send, will be necessary; and therefore he induced to propose some method of accommodation, not unworthy AMERICANS to accede to. That you will finally succeed, I not only hope, but believe.
