Remarks on this Letter by Mercator

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Williamsburgh, Va˙, June 17, 1775. — It was with great surprise, and, I must confess, with a good deal of concern, that I observed in Mr˙ Purdie' s Gazette, of the 9th instant, an extract of a letter from London, dated the 10th of March last, which mentions, "that the Merchants of Glasgow, upon the present unhappy differences subsisting betwixt Great Britain and her American Colonies, sent up a very spirited Petition to Parliament, but at the same time let Lord North know, by their Member, Lord Frederick Campbell, that they did not mean any opposition by it, but only to get credit in America." The writer of this letter must have either been greatly misinformed, or actuated by interest or resentment; for from the most certain intelligence, I can assure the good people of, this Colony that the Latter part of the paragraph mentioned is equally false as it is injurious to the Merchants of the City of Glasgow, and the gentlemen with whom they are connected in this Colony, No part of the British Nation have exerted themselves with greater warmth, and I may truly add, with greater sincerity, than the Merchants of Glasgow, for a restoration of that happy union so ardently wished for by every true friend to America or Great Britain; and I am fully convinced that every Merchant in this Colony views with the greatest abhorrence the very idea of such villanous, disingenuous, and unmanly conduct, as the writer of the above letter charges them with.

The greatest unaimity, gentlemen, is essentially necessary at this period, in this as well as every other Colony in America. Surely, then, our publick Printers should be extremely careful to promote, by their publications, an object of such importance, and avoid, with the greatest caution and resolution, everything that may have a contrary effect.

MERCATOR.