The  ship  so  commanded  is  sometimes  called  by
the  same  name.  The  word  marh  (frontier)  was
used  by  the  Germans  to  denote  the  right  of  cajit-
nriug  property  beyond  the  frontiers  of  another
province.  Sometimes  the  commissiou  to  iiriva-
teers  is  called  "  Letter-of-Marque  and  Reprisal.''
(See  Sejyrisal,  The  Privateei:')

Letters  of  a  Pennsylvania  Farmer.  When
Charles  Townsheud's  obnoxious  taxation  bills
became  laws,  the  Americaus,  believing  with  Otis
that  taxes  on  trade,  if  designed  to  raise  a  reve-
nue, are  just  as  much  a  violation  of  the  rights
of  people  uurepreseuted  as  any  other  tax,  acted
accordingly.  The  colonial  newspapers,  then
about  thirty  in  number,  had  begun  to  be  trib-
unes for  the  people,  and  teemed  with  essays  on
the  exciting  topics  of  the  day.  Tbe  most  pow-
erful of  these  productions  were  a  series  of  es-
says on  taxation  and  kindred  subjects,  entitled,
Letiets  of  a  Farmer  of  Pennaylvania  to  the  Inhahi-
toiiteo/t/ie-Cntis/iCoJowieg,  written  by  John  Dick-
inson, an  able  lawyer  of  Philadelphia.  They
were  written  in  a  style  of  great  vigor  and  ani-
mation, and  were  published  in  the  Fennayhania
Chronicle  during  the  summer  of  1767.  These  let-


LEWIS  AND  CLAEKE'S  EXPEDITION    783


LEWIS


tere  were  potential  iu  forming  and  leading  pnb-
lio  opinion  in  opposition  to  tlie  oppressive  meas-
ures of  tbe  British  government,  and  they  were
•widely  read  and  admired.  At  a  pnhlic  meeting
in  Boston  the  author  was  tliankud  in  a  resoln-
tion.  The  Society  of  Fort  St.  David,  in  Phila^
delphia,  presented  an  address  to  Mr.  Dickinson
iu  a  "  box  of  heart  of  oak,"  appropriately  in-
scribed. On  the  top  was  represented  the  cap
of  liberty  on  a  spear,  resting  on  the  cipher  "  J.
