With prophetic eloquence the Lord Mayor, Mr. Wilkes, exclaimed:
"This I know, a successful resistance is a revolution, not a rebellion.... Who can tell, sir, whether in consequence of this day's violent and mad Address to his Majesty, the scabbard may not be thrown away by them as well as by us?... But I hope the just vengeance of the people will overtake the authors of these pernicious councils, and the loss of the first province of the empire be speedily followed by the loss of the heads of those ministers who advised these wicked and fatal measures."[4]
Lord Chatham in his motion to withdraw the troops from Boston, said:
"As an American I would recognize to England her supreme right of regulating commerce and navigation: as an Englishman by birth and principle I recognize to the Americans their supreme unalienable right in their property; a right in which they are justified in the defence of to the last extremity."[5]
The Corporation of the City of London passed a vote of thanks to Chatham, and to those who supported him for having offered to the House of Lords a plan to conciliate the differences with America.[6]
When Lord North's unfriendly proposition for conciliating America was introduced, it naturally found an advocate in the loyal and courtly Gen. Burgoyne—courtly but courageous; loyal ever to his King but not blind to the merits of the claims of the Colonists. While modestly pledging his loyalty to the Crown, he could not refrain from adding:
"There is a charm in the very wanderings and dreams of liberty that disarms an Englishman's anger."[7]
In the debate on the bill for restraining the Trade and Commerce of the English Colonies, Lord Camden asked:—
"What are the 10,000 men you have just voted out to Boston? Merely to save General Gage from the disgrace and destruction of being sacked in his entrenchments. It is obvious, my Lords, that you cannot furnish armies or treasure, competent to the mighty purpose of subduing America.... It is impossible that this petty island can continue in dependence that mighty continent."[8]