The Marquis of Rockingham, in the Lords, February 16, 1778, exclaimed:—
"He was determined to serve his country by making peace at any rate."
At last, in the Lords, March 23, 1778, the Duke of Richmond brought forward a motion for the withdrawal of the forces from America.
The same question was presented again in the Commons, November 27, 1780, on a motion to thank General Clinton and others for their military services in America, when Mr. Wilkes laid down the true rule.
"I think it my duty to oppose this motion, because in my idea every part of it conveys an approbation of the American War,—a war unfounded in principle, and fatal in its consequences to this country.... Sir, I will not thank for victories which only tend to protract a destructive war.... As I reprobate the want of principle in the origin of the American War, I the more lament all the spirited exertions of valor and the wisdom of conduct which in a good cause I should warmly applaud. Thinking as I do, I see more matter of grief than of triumph, of bewailing than thanksgiving, in this civil contest, and the deluge of blood which has overflowed America.... I deeply lament that the lustre of such splendid victories is obscured and darkened by the want of a good cause, without which no war, in the eye of truth and reason, before God or man, can be justified."
Mr. Fox followed in similar strain.
"He allowed the merits of the officers now in question, but he made a distinction between thanks and praise. He might, admire their valor, but he could not separate the intention from the action; they were united in his mind; there they formed one whole, and he would not attempt to divide them."
Mr. Sheridan joined in these declarations.