the effecting of which Design, he had before thought himself, or
endeavord to make Administration believe he was entitled to so
great a Share of Merit. It has been publishd in most of the
Newspapers in the Continent & engages much of the Attention of
the other Colonies. This, together with ye proceedings of a
CONTEMPTIBLE Town meeting, has awakned the Jealousy of all, & has
particularly raised ye Spirit of the most ancient & patriotick
Colony of Virginia. Their manly Resolves have been transmitted to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives in a printed Sheet of
their Journals; and our Come of Correspondence have circulated
Copies of them into every Town & District through the Province.1

I wish I could hear more of Lord D. to qualify him for his high
office, than merely that he is a GOOD Man. Goodness I confess is
an essential, tho too rare a Qualification of a Minister of
State. Possibly I may not have been informd of the whole of his
Lordships Character. Without a Greatness of Mind adequate to the
Importance of his Station, I fear he may find himself embarrassd
with his present Connections. It can easily be conceivd what
principle induced Lord North to recommend to that Department a
Nobleman characterized in America for Piety; but what could
prevail on his Lordship to joyn with such Connections, unless he
had a Consciousness that his own Abilities were sufficient to
defeat the plans of a corrupt Administration, I am not able to
conceive. It might be well for his Lordship to be assured, that
there is now a fairer prospect than ever of an Union among the
Colonies, which his predecessor did & had reason to dread, tho he
affected to despise it. Should the Correspondence proposd by
Virginia produce a Congress; and that an ASSEMBLY OF STATES, it
would require the Head of a very able Minister to treat with so