[Extract]
No. 288

I can only approve, Sir, your views on America and England. You understand what goes on and you cunningly anticipate what will happen as if you were there; a destroyed or worthless America is what England seeks. I agree with you, Sir, and it is in this line of thought that the Council of the King must face the present events and determine its plans for the future. I do not doubt for one moment, from what I overheard among the Ministers of the King of England, that the decision has been made at the Council of this Prince to annihilate America if they cannot subdue her, to burn the cities, the ships, the forests and to turn this country into a desert. This plan would be carried out in a spirit of revenge and out of spite; it would even be the outcome of a barbaric policy indeed, but the only one which in the present situation could serve the interest of England, since it is established that henceforth America will hardly be her slave, never her ally, and for ever her enemy. This principle must govern all the resolutions which will be adopted by this power . . . .

We have received no interesting news from Boston unless it has been made a secret. The Ministers claim that they received letters dated on the 27th of June and that at that time nothing had happened since to Charles Town affair. I am certain that they will stand on the defensive until next year and I would not be surprised if that campaign began in New York since Boston is some sort of a box of which it is very difficult to come out. But what an enormous expense for England! A considerable sum of money will have to be voted during the next session of Parliament, and it will hardly be less expensive for England to wage war on her Colonies than on France. This comparison of facts should become the subject matter of important discussions.