Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies. John Dickinson

the Affection" of so many respectable Persons for me, affords Me the sincerest Pleasure.

      Nor will this Pleasure be lessened by reflecting, that you may have regarded with a generous Partiality my Attempts to promote the Welfare of our Country; for the Warmth of your Praises in commending a Conduct you suppose to deserve them, gives Worth to these Praises, by proving your Merit, while you attribute Merit to another.

      Your Characters, gentlemen, did not need this Evidence to convince Me, how much I ought to prize Your "Esteem" or how much You deserved Mine.

      I think myself extremely fortunate, in having obtained your favorable Opinion, which I shall constantly and carefully endeavor to preserve.

      I most heartily wish you every Kind of Happiness, and particularly that you may enjoy the comfortable Prospect of transmitting to your Posterity those "Liberties" dearer to You than your Lives, "which God gave to you, and which no inferior Power has a Right to take away."