Page "Letters to the inhabitants of Canada" Paragraph 16

At the time of the letter's writing, the Congress was already aware that Governor Carleton had called the people to arm themselves to defend their new King from the invasion.

The letter warned the population of the danger of being sent to fight against France were it to join the war on the side of the Americans ( which it eventually did in 1778 ).

If the Congress insisted again on treating the Canadians as friends sharing common interests with the other colonists, it however warned the people not to " reduce us the disagreeable necessity of treating you as enemies.