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Chapter 17:
He king Rejects the offers of congress.
December, 1774—January, 1775.
‘it will be easy to sow division among the delegates
to the congress,’ said
Rochford to Garnier, ‘they will do nothing but bring ridicule upon themselves by exposing their weakness.’
Their firmness, moderation, and unanimity took the ministry by surprise, when just before the adjournment of parliament their proceedings reached
England.
‘It is not at all for the interests of
France that our colonies should become independent,’ repeated
Rochford.
‘The English minister,’ reasoned Garnier, ‘thinks, that after all they may set up for themselves.’
Franklin invited the colonial agents to unite in presenting the petition of congress, but he was joined only by those who were employed by
Massachusetts.
Dartmouth received it courteously, and laid it before the king, who promised that after the recess it should be communicated to parliament.
Barrington, the
military secretary, was the first to confess the weakness of his department and to remonstrate
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against war. British industry made every
able-bodied man of so much value, that considerable enlistments at home were out of the question; rank in the army was bestowed by favor, or sold for money, so that even boys at school sometimes held commissions; and under the corrupt system, not one
general officer of that day had gained a great name.
Aristocratic selfishness had unfitted
England for war, unless under a minister who could inspirit the nation.
Barrington, therefore, who had in advance advised, ‘that the seven regiments in
Boston should be directed to leave a place where they could do no good, and without intention might do harm,’ and who was persuaded that the navy by itself was able to worry
Massachusetts into ‘submission without shedding a drop of blood,’ once more pressed his opinions upon the government.
‘The contest,’ said he, ‘will cost more than we can gain by success.
We have not strength to levy internal taxes on
America; many amongst ourselves doubt their equity; all the troops in
North America are not enough to subdue the
Massachusetts; the most successful conquest must produce the horrors of civil war. Till the factious chiefs can be secured, judicial proceedings would confer the palm of martyrdom without the pain;’ and he urged an immediate withdrawal of the troops, the ‘abandonment of all ideas of internal taxation,’ and such ‘concessions’ as could be made ‘with dignity.’
Lord North was disquieted.
He rejected the propositions of congress, which included the repeal of the act regulating
Massachusetts, but he was ready to negotiate with the
Americans for the right to tax
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themselves.
Franklin appeared as the great agent
of the continent; and it was believed that his secret instructions authorized him to modify the conditions proposed for conciliation.
Lord Howe undertook to ascertain the extent of his powers.
The name was dear to
Americans.
The elder Lord Howe had fallen on their soil, as their companion in arms, and
Massachusetts raised to him a monument in
Westminster Abbey.
His brother,
William Howe, who had served with
Americans in
America, was selected as the new colonial commander-in-chief; and his oldest surviving brother, now Lord Howe, also honored in
America as a gallant and upright naval officer, was to be commissioned as a pacificator.
‘No man,’ said Lord Howe to
Franklin at their first interview on Christmas-day evening, ‘can do more towards reconciling our differences than you. That you have been very ill-treated by the ministry, I hope will not be considered by you. I have a particular regard for
New England, which has shown an endearing respect for my family.
If you will indulge me with your ideas, I may be a means of bringing on a good understanding.’
At the unexpected prospect of restoring harmony, tears of joy wet
Franklin's cheeks.
He had remained in
London at the peril of his liberty, perhaps of his life, to promote reconciliation, and the only moment for securing it was now come.
With firmness, candor, and strict fidelity to congress, he explained the measures by which alone tranquillity could be restored; and they included the repeal of the regulating act for
Massachusetts.
Lord Howe reported the result of the interview
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to Dartmouth and
North; but as they had no hope
of inducing their colleagues, or the king, or parliament to concede so much, they trusted to the plan of commissioners who should repair to
America and endeavor to agree with its leading people upon some means of composing all differences.
Every prospect of preferment was opened to
Franklin, if he would take part in such a commission.
With exact truth and frankness, he pointed out, as the basis for a cordial union, the repeal of the acts complained of; the removal of the fleet and the troops from
Boston; and a voluntary recall of some oppressive measures which the colonists had passed over in silence; leaving the questions, which related to aids, general commerce, and reparation to the India company, to be arranged with the next general congress.
The assembly of Jamaica at their session in December endeavored to interpose.
They affirmed the rights of the colonies, enumerated their grievances, enforced their claims to redress, and entreated the king as a common parent to become the mediator between his
European and American subjects, and to recognise the title of the
Americans to the benefits of the
English constitution as the bond of union between the colonists and Britain.
At the same time they disclaimed the intention of joining the
American confederacy; ‘for,’ said they, ‘weak and feeble as this colony is, from its very small number of white inhabitants, and its peculiar situation from the incumbrance of more than two hundred thousand slaves, it cannot be supposed that we now intend, or ever could have intended, resistance to
Great Britain.’
The vast commercial importance of
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the island gave them a claim to be heard; but their
petition, though in due time received by the king and communicated to the house of commons, had no effect whatever.
‘It is plain enough,’ thus reasoned
Vergennes, ‘the king of
England is puzzled between his desire of reducing the colonies, and his dread of driving them to a separation; so that nothing could be more interesting than the affairs of
America.’
As the king of
France might be called upon to render assistance to the insurgent colonies, the conduct of the
English in their support of the Corsicans was cited as a precedent to the
French embassy at
London, and brought before the cabinet at
Versailles.
To Louis the Sixteenth
Vergennes explained, that the proceedings of the continental congress contained the germ of a rebellion; that while the
Americans really desired a reconciliation with the mother country, the ministry from their indifference would prevent its taking place; that Lord North, no longer confident of having
America at his feet, was disconcerted by the unanimity and vigor of the colonies; and that
France had nothing to fear but the return of
Chatham to power.
The interests of Britain required
Chatham's return; for he thoroughly understood the policy of the
French as well as the disposition of the colonies.
In his interview with
Americans he said without reserve: ‘America under all her oppressions and provocations, holds out to us the most fair and just opening for restoring harmony and affectionate intercourse.’
No public body ever gained so full and unanimous a recognition of its integrity and its wisdom,
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as the general congress of 1774.
The policy
which its members proposed sprung so necessarily out of the relations of free countries to their colonies, that within a few years it was adopted even by their most malignant enemies among the
British statesmen, for three quarters of a century regulated the colonial administration of every successive ministry, and finally gave way to a system of navigation, yet more liberal than the American congress had proposed.
The day after
Franklin's first conversation with Lord Howe,
Chatham received him at
Hayes.
‘The congress,’ said he, ‘is the most honorable assembly of statesmen since those of the ancient
Greeks and
Romans in the most virtuous times.’
He thought the petition to the king ‘decent, manly, and propperly expressed.’
He questioned the assertion, that the keeping up an army in the colonies in time of peace, required their consent; with that exception he admired and honored the whole of the proceedings.
‘The army at
Boston,’ said
Franklin, who saw the imminent hazard of bloodshed, ‘cannot possibly answer any good purpose, and may be infinitely mischievous.
No accommodation can be properly entered into by the
Americans, while the bayonet is at their breasts.
To have an agreement binding, all force should be withdrawn.’
The words sank deeply into the mind of
Chatham, and he promised his utmost efforts to the
American cause, as the last hope of liberty for
England.
‘I shall be well prepared,’ said he, ‘to meet the ministry on the subject, for I think of nothing else both night and day.’
Like
Chatham,
Camden desired the settlement
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of the dispute upon the conditions proposed by con-
gress; and from the temper, coolness, and wisdom of most of the
American assemblies, he augured the establishment of their rights on a durable agreement with the mother country.
To unite every branch of the opposition in one line of policy,
Chatham desired a cordial junction with the
Rockingham whigs.
That party had only two friends who spoke in the house of lords, and in the house of commons was mouldering away.
And yet
Rockingham was impracticable.
‘I look back,’ he said, ‘with very real satisfaction and content, on the line which I, indeed, emphatically I, took in the year 1766; the stamp-act was repealed, and the doubt of the right of this country was fairly faced and resisted.’
Burke, like his patron, pursued
Chatham implacably, and refused to come to an understanding with him on general politics.
Neither did he perceive the imminence of the crisis; but believed that the
Americans would not preserve their unanimity, so that the controversy would draw into great length, and derive its chief importance from its aspect on parties in
England.
At the very moment when
Burke was still fondly supporting his theory of the omnipotence of parliament over the colonies, he blindly insisted, that
Chatham himself was the best bower anchor of the ministry.
With far truer instincts,
Chatham divined that peril was near, and that it could be averted only by a circumscription of the absolute power of parliament.
To further that end, the aged statesman paid a visit to
Rockingham.
At its opening,
Chatham's countenance beamed with cordiality; but
Rockingham had
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learned as little as the ministers, and with a per-
verseness equal to theirs, insisted on maintaining the declaratory act. ‘The
Americans have not called for its repeal,’ was his reply to all objections; and he never could be made to comprehend the forbearance of congress.
So nothing remained for
Chatham but to rely on himself.
The opposition, thus divided, excited no alarm.
The king was inflexible; and the majority of the cabinet, instead of respecting Lord North's scruples, were intriguing to get him turned out, and his place supplied by a thorough assertor of British supremacy.
A cabinet council was held on the twelfth of January, and the current of its opinions drifted the minister into the war, which he wished to avoid.
His col-
leagues refused to find in the proceedings of congress any honorable basis for conciliation.
It was therefore resolved to interdict all commerce with the
Americans; to protect the loyal, and to declare all others traitors and rebels.
The vote was designed only to create division in the colonies, but it involved a civil war.
