The merchants of Bristol, September 27, 1775, held a meeting and passed resolutions deprecating the war, and calling upon the king to put a stop to it. The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Livery of London, September 29th, issued an address to the Electors of Great Britain, against carrying on the war. A meeting of the merchants and traders of London was held October 5th, and moved an address to the king "relative to the unhappy dispute between Great Britain and her American Colonies," and that he should "cause hostilities to cease." The principal citizens, manufacturers and traders of the city of Coventry, October 10th, addressed the sovereign beseeching him "to stop the effusion of blood, to recommend to your Parliament to consider, with all due attention, the petition from America lately offered to be presented to the throne." The mayor and burgesses of Nottingham, October 20th, petitioned the king in which they declared that "the first object of our desires and wishes is the return of peace and cordial union with our American fellow-subjects," and humbly requested him to "suspend those hostilities, which, we fear, can have no other than a fatal issue." This was followed by an address of the inhabitants of the same city, in which the king was asked to "stay the hand of war, and recall into the bosom of peace and grateful subjection your American subjects, by a restoration of those measures which long experience has shown to be productive of the greatest advantages to this late united and flourishing Empire." The petition of the free burgesses, traders and inhabitants of Newcastle-upon-Tyne declared that "in the present unnatural war with our American brethren, we have seen neither provocation nor object; nor is it, in our humble apprehension, consonant with the rights of humanity, sound policy, or the Constitution of our Country." A very great majority of the gentlemen, clergy and freeholders of the county of Berks signed an address, November 7th, to the king in which it was declared that "the disorders have arisen from a complaint (plausible at least) of one right violated; and we can never be brought to imagine that the true remedy for such disorders consists in an attack on all other rights, and an attempt to drive the people either to unconstitutional submission or absolute despair." The gentlemen, merchants, freemen and inhabitants of the city of Worcester also addressed the king and besought him to adopt such measures as shall "seem most expedient for putting a stop to the further effusion of blood, for reconciling Great Britain and her Colonies, for reuniting the affections of your now divided people, and for establishing, on a permanent foundation, the peace, commerce, and prosperity of all your Majesty's Dominions."
It is a fact, worthy of special notice, that in both England and Ireland there was a complete absence of alacrity and enthusiasm in enlisting for the army and navy. This was the chief reason why George III. turned to the petty German princes who trafficked in human chattels. There people were seized in their homes, or while working the field, and sold to England at so much per head. On account of the great difficulty in England in obtaining voluntary recruits for the American war, the press-gang was resorted to, and in 1776, was especially fierce. In less than a month eight hundred men were seized in London alone, and several lives were lost in the scuffles that took place. The press-gang would hang about the prison-gates, and seize criminals whose sentences had expired and force them into the army.
"It soon occurred to the government that able-bodied criminals might be more usefully employed in the coercion of the revolted colonists, and there is reason to believe that large numbers of criminals of all but the worst category, passed at this time into the English army and navy. In estimating the light in which British soldiers were regarded in America, and in estimating the violence and misconduct of which British soldiers were sometimes guilty, this fact must not be forgotten." In Ireland criminals were released from their prisons on condition of enlisting in the army or navy.[145]
The regular press-gang was not confined to England, and it formed one of the grievances of the American colonists. One of the most terrible riots ever known in New England, was caused, in 1747, by this nefarious practice, under the sanction of Admiral Knowles. An English vessel was burnt, and English officers were seized and imprisoned by the crowd; the governor was obliged to flee to the castle; the sub-sheriffs were impounded in the stocks; the militia refused to act against the people; and the admiral was compelled to release his captives. Resistance, in America, was shown in many subsequent attempts to impress the people.
The king and his ministers felt it was necessary to sustain the acts of parliament in the American war by having addresses sent to the king upholding him in the course he was pursuing. Hence emissaries were sent throughout the kingdom who cajoled the ignorant into signing such papers. The general sentiment of the people cannot be estimated by the number of addresses for they were obtained by the influence of the ministers of state. Every magistrate depending upon the favor of the crown could and would exert his influence as directed. Hence there were numerous addresses sent to the king approving the course he was bent upon. When it is considered that the government had the advantage of more than fifty thousand places and pensions at its disposal, the immense lever for securing addresses is readily seen. From no section of the country, however, were these addresses so numerous as from Scotland.
It is one of the most singular things in history that the people of Scotland should have been so hostile to the Americans, and so forward in expressing their approbation of the attitude of George III. and his ministers. The Americans had in no wise ever harmed them or crossed their path. The emigrants from Scotland had been received with open arms by the people. If any had been mistreated, it was by the appointees of the crown. With scarcely an exception the whole political representation in both Houses of Parliament supported lord North, and were bitterly opposed to the Americans. Lecky has tried to soften the matter by throwing the blame on the servile leaders who did not represent the real sentiment of the people:
"Scotland, however, is one of the very few instances in history, of a nation whose political representation was so grossly defective as not merely to distort but absolutely to conceal its opinions. It was habitually looked upon as the most servile and corrupt portion of the British Empire; and the eminent liberalism and the very superior political qualities of its people seem to have been scarcely suspected to the very eve of the Reform Bill of 1832. That something of that liberalism existed at the outbreak of the American war, may, I think, be inferred from the very significant fact that the Government were unable to obtain addresses in their favor either from Edinburgh or Glasgow. The country, however, was judged mainly by its representatives, and it was regarded as far more hostile to the American cause than either England or Ireland."[146]
A very able editor writing at the time has observed:
"It must however be acknowledge, that an unusual apathy with respect to public affairs, seemed to prevail with the people, in general, of this country; of which a stronger proof needs not to be given, that than which will probably recur to every body's memory, that the accounts of many of the late military actions, as well as of political procedings of no less importance, were received with as much indifference, and canvassed with as much coolness and unconcern, as if they had happened between two nations with whom they were scarcely connected. We must except from all these observations, the people of North Britain (Scotland), who, almost to a man, so far as they could be described or distinguished under any particular denomination, not only applauded, but proffered life and fortune in support of the present measures."[147]
The list of addresses sent from Scotland to the king against the Colonies is a long one,—unbroken by any remonstrance or correction. It embraces those sent by the provost, magistrates, and common (or town) council of Aberbrothock, Aberdeen, Annan, Ayr, Burnt-Island, Dundee, Edinburgh, Forfar, Forres, Inverness, Irvine, Kirkaldy, Linlithgow, Lochmaben, Montrose, Nairn, Peebles, Perth, Renfrew, Rutherglen, and Stirling; by the magistrates and town council of Brechine, Inverary, St. Andrews, Selkirk, Jedburgh, Kirkcudbright, Kirkwall, and Paisley; by the magistrates, town council and all the principal inhabitants of Fortrose; by the provost, magistrates, council, burgesses and inhabitants of Elgin; by the chief magistrates of Dunfermline, Inverkeithing and Culross; by the magistrates, common council, burgesses, and inhabitants of Dumfries; by the lord provost, magistrates, town council and deacons of craft of Lanark; by the magistrates, incorporated societies, and principal inhabitants of the town and port of Leith; by the principal inhabitants of Perth; by the gentlemen, clergy, merchants, manufacturers, incorporated trades and principal inhabitants of Dundee; by the deacon convenier, deacons of fourteen incorporated trades and other members of trades houses of Glasgow; by the magistrates, council and incorporations of Cupar in Fife, and Dumbarton; by the freeholders of the county of Argyle and Berwick; by the noblemen, gentlemen and freeholders of the counties of Aberdeen and Fife; by the noblemen, gentlemen, freeholders and others of the county of Linlithgow; by the noblemen and gentlemen of the county of Roxburgh; by the noblemen, justices of the peace, freeholders, and commissioners of supply of the counties of Perth and Caithness; by the noblemen, freeholders, justices of the peace, and commissioners of the land-tax of the counties of Banff and Elgin; by the freeholders and justices of the peace of the county of Dumbarton; by the gentlemen, justices of the peace, clergy, freeholders and committee of supply of the county of Clackmanan; by the gentlemen, justices of the peace and commissioners of land tax of the counties of Kincardine, Lanark and Renfrew; by the freeholders, justices of the peace and commissioners of supply of the counties of Kinross and Orkney; by the justices of the peace, freeholders and commissioners of land tax of the county of Peebles; by the gentlemen, freeholders, justices of the peace and commissioners of supply of the county of Nairn; by the gentlemen, heretors, freeholders and clergy of the counties of Ross and Cromarty; by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; by the ministers and elders of the provincial synod of Angus and Mearns; also of the synod of Glasgow and Ayr; by the provincial synod of Dumfries, and by the ministers of the presbytery of Irvine.