George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 7, 4th edition.

On the fifth of December, the new house of commons debated the same subject. Fox, Burke, and others, spoke warmly. The results of the congress had not yet arrived, for the vessel which bore them had, after ten days, put back to New York in distress. Lord North could therefore say that America had as yet offered no terms; at the same time he avoided the irrevocable word rebellion. Some called the Americans cowards; some questioned their being in earnest; and though Barre declared the scheme of subduing them ‘wild and impracticable,’ the minister was sustained by a very great majority.

The victory brought no peace of mind to Lord North. He had neither originated nor fully approved the American measures, which he had himself brought forward. Constantly thwarted in the cabinet by his colleagues, he vainly struggled to emancipate himself from a system which he abhorred, and for which the real authors were neither legally nor ostensibly answerable, and he sought an escape from his dilemma by proposing to send out commissioners of inquiry. But the king promptly overruled the suggestion.

Friends of Franklin were next employed to ascertain the extent of his demands for America; and without waiting for the proceedings of congress, he wrote ‘hints on the terms that might produce a durable union between Great Britain and the colonies.’ Assuming that the tea duty act would be repealed, he offered payment for the tea that had been