Then under date of 6th July, 1777:—
“My humble opinion is, that we shall never recover America, and that France will take care that we shall never recover ourselves.”[354]
“Friday night, late,” 5th December, 1777, he breaks forth:—
“Send for Lord Chatham! They had better send for General Washington, Madam,—or at least for our troops back.… No, Madam, we do not want ministers that would protract our difficulties. I look on them but as beginning now, and am far from thinking that there is any man or set of men able enough to extricate us. I own there are very able Englishmen left, but they happen to be on t’other side of the Atlantic. If his Majesty hopes to find them here, I doubt he will be mistaken.”[355]
“Thursday night,” 11th December, 1777, his feelings overflow in no common language:—
“Was ever proud, insolent nation sunk so low? Burke and Charles Fox told him [Lord North] the Administration thought of nothing but keeping their places; and so they will, and the members their pensions, and the nation its infamy. Were I Franklin, I would order the Cabinet Council to come to me at Paris with ropes about their necks, and then kick them back to St. James’s.
“Well, Madam, as I told Lord Ossory t’other day, I am satisfied: Old England is safe,—that is, America, whither the true English retired under Charles the First: this is Nova Scotia, and I care not what becomes of it.… Adieu, Madam! I am at last not sorry you have no son; and your daughters, I hope, will be married to Americans, and not in this dirty, despicable island.”[356]
All this is elevated by his letter of 17th February, 1779, where he says:—