Autograph letter in third person : "Hayes" [London], to Sheriff Lee, 1774 Sept. 24.

Concerning instructions received from America, relations between England and America over trade laws in dispute; thanking him for "communicating the Instructions from Philadelphia. a true friend and affectionate well-wisher to America cannot but lament extremely, that zeal over-heated by persecution, has carried a suffering People, much, as I conceive, beyond the mark; to be restored to their Charters, and to give as they judge proper, their own money, were, it was thought the essential objects. declining as they now do to recognize the Supreme authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to bind America by Laws of Trade and Navigation, must if persevered in, disarm their Friends here, while it multiplies and strengthens their Enemies; over-strained Authority on this side, has united America in one Common Cause. Pretensions and Claims pushed to excess on the part of the Americans, may dispose and unite England to resist even their most just demands. the Cause of America which I have sincerely at heart, will I fear lose ground apace, on this side of the Atlantic as soon as these unadvised Instructions come to be more publicly known."