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Lot 199: Frederick Lord North Signed Letter

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Lot  199: Frederick Lord North Signed Letter
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Lord North Revolutionary War Autograph Letter Signed</b>

<b>FREDERICK, LORD NORTH.</b>
Autograph Letter Signed 'North,' November 8, 1782, Bushy Park, 2 pages, 9' x 7.5', Very Fine. To an unidentified correspondent, recommending Mr. Mayor for a pension of £800 per year. In part: '...The service he did in suggesting & planning the alterations of the duty on paper cost him much time & troubles. Without him it could never have been done; The Commissioners of Excise, who knew that the revenue on paper was defective, were little acquainted with the cause of the defect, & still less with the proper remedy. The whole arrangement was Mr. MayorÕs; a considerable increase of revenue has been the consequence.... That he deserves some remuneration for this service can not be doubted....' Written on laid paper, watermarked with a crown and the king on the throne, with docketed integral address leaf. As prime minister under George III (1770-82), North supported the American stamp tax and TownshendÕs tea duty. His stern response to the Boston Tea Party helped unite the colonists against England. The laws adopted by the British parliament under his leadership in 1774, which limited the political freedoms of the colonists, became known as the Intolerable Acts and triggered the First Continental Congress that year. North resigned in 1782 upon hearing of CornwallisÕ surrender.