LORD NORTHS CONCILIATORY BILLS.
It is a singular fact that while Lord North sternly advocated war, he was at this time so adverse to a continuation of the contest that he had expressed a wish to the king to resign office. This appears from a letter addressed to him by his majesty on the 31st of January, in which, after appealing to Lord North’s personal affection for him, he writes: —“You must remember that before the recess I strongly advised you not to bind yourself to bring forward any plan for restoring tranquillity to America; not from any absurd ideas of unconditional submission, which my mind never harboured; but from foreseeing that whatever can be proposed will be liable, not to bring America back to her attachment, but to dissatisfy this country, which so cheerfully and handsomely carries on the contest, and has a right to have the struggle continued, till convinced that it is vain. Perhaps this is the minute when you ought to be least in a hurry to produce a plan, from the probability of a declaration of war from France.” It is evident from this letter that Lord North had proposed some plan of conciliation which did not meet with the monarch’s views; and it seems clear, also, that his lordship, in expressing a wish to retire, had urged the impossibility of obtaining unconditional submission, which he erroneously thought was the only ground on which his majesty would listen to terms of peace. But though it was the king’s opinion on the last day of January that no conciliatory measures should be adopted or proposed out of deference to the views of the people, yet his opinion soon changed. On the 9th of February, when a war with France had become inevitable, he wrote to his minister again, urging him not to “delay to bring in his proposition,” before “the veil was drawn off by the court of France.” Lord North lost no time in complying with this his majesty’s command. On the 17th of February, he brought in two bills tending to reconciliation with the colonists: one was expressly designed to remove all apprehension from their minds concerning taxation by the British parliament, whilst it repealed the act imposing a duty on tea; and the other enabled his majesty to appoint commissioners to consult and agree on means of quieting the disorders subsisting in certain colonies, plantations, and provinces of North America. In introducing these bills, Lord North asserted that he had been uniformly disposed to pacific arrangements; that he had tried conciliatory measures before the sword was unsheathed, and would gladly try them again; that he had conceived his former propositions were equitable, and still thought so, though they had been misrepresented both at home and in America; that he never expected to derive any considerable revenue from the colonies; that he had originated none of the American taxes; that he found such as existed when, unfortunately for his own peace of mind, he came into office; and that, as for the act enabling the East India Company to send out teas with the drawback of the entire duty, which led to the Boston riots, it was a relief rather than oppression, since it actually gave the colonists their teas at a cheaper rate than before. Lord North then explained the principles of his two bills. The first, he said, was intended to quiet the minds of the Americans on the subject of taxation—to dispel all fears that parliament would ever tax them again, by a distinct renunciation of the right itself. The second bill, he remarked, would give the royal commissioners far more ample powers than those formerly entrusted to Lord Howe and his brother. They would be authorized to treat with congress as if it were a legal body, and competent by its acts and negociations to bind all the colonies; they would be empowered to treat with the conventions or provincial assemblies, or colonial congresses, and with individuals in their actual civil capacities or military commands, without any cavil as to allowing them and addressing them by the rank they held under congress: and they would have the power of suspending hostilities, intermitting the operation of laws, granting pardons, rewards, and immunities, restoring charters and constitutions, and nominating governors, judges, magistrates, &c., till the king’s pleasure should be known. The stumbling-block of independence was removed very skilfully by Lord North. This act declared that should the Americans make this claim at the outset of the treaty, they would not be required to renounce it until it was ratified by the British legislature. The commissioners were to be instructed to negociate for a reasonable and moderate contribution toward the common defence of the empire when reunited, but they were not to insist even on this slight contribution as indispensable. In conclusion, Lord North contended that these concessions ought not to be deemed the results of defeat or weakness, since they were substantially the same as he should offer in the hour of victory. The events of the war, he frankly acknowledged, had not corresponded to his expectation, but he denied that there was any truth in the representations of a factious opposition. But for faction, England was as fertile in resources as ever: she was in circumstances to prosecute war, raise new armies, and to increase her navy, so as to be enabled to meet her accumulated foes.
Burke says that on hearing these proposals the whole house was overclouded with astonishment, dejection, and fear. This may be exaggeration, but it is certain that the ample concessions proposed by the minister—concessions far outstripping those which had been brought forward by Mr. Burke and Lord Chatham, and which were opposed by government—were highly distasteful to the country gentlemen, and to the whole Tory party. Expressions of loud disapprobation were heard on their side of the house, and some bitterly complained that deception had been practised against them relative to American taxation. On the other hand, while the opposition contended that the season was gone by when such a plan would have succeeded, it was generally approved by them. They yet hoped, they said, that there might be a chance of conciliation, and therefore they would give the minister their support. At the same time, Lord North was severely reprehended by some of the opposition members. Fox said his arguments “might be collected into one point, and his excuses comprised in one apology, or rather in one word, ignorance; a palpable and total ignorance of America: he had expected much, and had been disappointed in every thing; necessity alone had compelled him now to speak out.” In the course of his speech, Fox informed the house that there was a report abroad that within the last ten days France had signed a treaty with America, acknowledging their independence, and entering into a close alliance with the colonists. He called on Lord North to afford the house satisfaction on so important a point, and that minister reluctantly acknowledged that such a treaty was in agitation, though as it was not authenticated by our ambassador he could not say that it was concluded. The motion for bringing in the bill was carried by a majority of about two to one, and on the first reading some of the Tory members expressed their disapprobation of our wholly renouncing the right of taxing the colonists. In reply, Lord North declared that the not exacting the renunciation of independence by the Americans did not imply that we intended to yield that point; that the commissioners would not be empowered to concede thus much; and that the Americans would be expected to treat as subjects, and not as a sovereign state. The bills were passed, and when brought up to the lords, the opposition was renewed. The Duke of Richmond read the American declaration of independence, and asked ministers whether they meant to subscribe to assertions such as these:—“That the king is a tyrant,”..... “that his majesty has lost the affection of his American subjects by the insolent, daring, perfidious and unconstitutional language of ministers, etc.” His grace said these bills, instead of regaining the affections of the Americans, would sound the trumpet of war to all nations; that they were at once ignominious and ineffectual; that they meant nothing or worse than nothing; that they were better calculated to divide than conciliate; and that they empowered commissioners to treat with America, and then called them back again to consult parliament. His grace also stated as a notorious fact that ministers had sent persons over to Paris to tamper with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, and that these American agents had rejected their offers, together with the terms of the new bills, in scorn. Lord Temple opposed the bills on different grounds. He denounced them as mean and truckling, and as tending to prostrate the king, the parliament, and the people of Great Britain at the feet of Franklin and Silas Deane, to whom ministers had paid homage in sackcloth and ashes. The people, he said, had recovered from the shock occasioned by Burgoyne’s reverses, and ministers were now going to depress their newly-awakened animation by succumbing to an arrogant enemy. Lord Shelborne also opposed the bills as tending to separate the two countries. He never would consent, he said, that America should be independent of England, and he represented that his idea of the connexion between the two countries was, that they should have one friend, one enemy, one purse, and one sword; that Britain, as the great controlling power, should superintend the whole; and that both the countries should have but one will, though the means of expressing it might be different. This, he said, might have been obtained long ago without bloodshed or animosity. The bills passed without a division: a protest was entered against them, but it was only signed by one solitary peer, Lord Abingdon.