right to command the king and Parliament in London to desist from
legislation, as they or you have to command the Congress. Only
suppose how laughable such an edict would appear from us, and then,
in that merry mood, do but turn the tables upon yourself, and you
will see how your proclamation is received here. Having thus placed
you in a proper position in which you may have a full view of your
folly, and learn to despise it, I hold up to you, for that purpose,
the following quotation from your own lunarian proclamation.- "And we
(Lord Howe and General Howe) do command (and in his majesty's name
forsooth) all such persons as are assembled together, under the name
of general or provincial congresses, committees, conventions or other
associations, by whatever name or names known and distinguished, to
desist and cease from all such treasonable actings and doings."

You introduce your proclamation by referring to your declarations of
the 14th of July and 19th of September. In the last of these you sunk
yourself below the character of a private gentleman. That I may not
seem to accuse you unjustly, I shall state the circumstance: by a
verbal invitation of yours, communicated to Congress by General
Sullivan, then a prisoner on his parole, you signified your desire of
conferring with some members of that body as private gentlemen. It
was beneath the dignity of the American Congress to pay any regard to
a message that at best was but a genteel affront, and had too much of
the ministerial complexion of tampering with private persons; and
which might probably have been the case, had the gentlemen who were
deputed on the business possessed that kind of easy virtue which an
English courtier is so truly distinguished by. Your request, however,
was complied with, for honest men are naturally more tender of their
civil than their political fame. The interview ended as every
sensible man thought it would; for your lordship knows, as well as