Dear Sir,
I answered your last letter immediately. I now enclose you several pamphlets, which contain such an authentic state of facts, and such arguments on the American question, as will enable its advocates with you to maintain their ground against the pensioner of this Court. I beg particularly, that you will send some of them to the gentleman who has answered Pinto, the pensioner of this Court.
The pamphlet entitled the Rights of Great Britain, &c. is full of the grossest falsehoods. A very material one is exposed by the enclosed extracts from the acts of Parliament, granting bounties upon American produce, which proves by their own words, that those bounties were given for their own interests only. Yet that pamphlet has given a long list of the amount of those bounties, and charged it to the Colonies. The fact is, as Dr Smith, a Scotchman, and an enemy to American rights, has stated it, in his late labored and long expected book on the Wealth of Nations. "Whatever expense," says he "Great Britain has hitherto laid out in maintaining this dependency, has really been laid out in order to support their monopoly." Speaking of the debt incurred last war, he says,—"This whole expense is, in reality, a bounty, which has been given in order to support a monopoly. The pretended purpose of it was to encourage the manufactures, and to increase the commerce of Great Britain." The operation of this monopoly against the Colony he states thus,—"The monopoly of the Colony trade, therefore, like all the other mean and malignant expedients of the mercantile system, depresses the industry of all other countries, but chiefly that of the Colonies."
When you write to the Congress it would be well, I think, to mention that as all the evils have been produced by Scotch counsel, and those people prosecute the business with more rancor and enmity, a distinction ought to be made between the treatment of them and other people, when made prisoners.
We expect every day some decisive news from New York. The last gazette gives us no reason to fear anything but the chance of war, against which no prudence can provide. We have certain intelligence from Canada, that it will be the last of August before the boats will be ready upon Lake Champlain for the Ministerial army; so that there is no possibility of their joining Howe. They are putting eleven ships of the line in commission, here, which is kept very secret, or it would shake the stocks exceedingly.
Adieu,
ARTHUR LEE.
SILAS DEANE TO C. W. F. DUMAS.
Paris, August 18th, 1776.
Sir,