the letters, to the very minute, is characteristic of the painstaking but petty habits of mind of the king. 386. Extracts Lord North: from the letters of Lord North (1768-1783) Though entirely confiding in your attachment to my person, George III to as well as in your hatred of every lawless proceeding, yet I think it highly proper to apprize you that the expulsion of Mr. Wilkes appears to be very essential, and must be effected; and that I make no doubt, when you lay this affair with your usual precision before the meeting of the gentlemen of the House of Commons this evening, it will meet with the required unanimity and vigour. . . . April 25, 1768 November 18, 1774, 48 min. p't M. February 8, min. 1775, 50 p't 11 A.M. November 4, 1776 February 24, 1777 If there is any man capable of forgetting his criminal writings, I think his speech in the Court of King's Bench, on Wednesday last, reason enough for to go as far as possible to expel him; for he declared "Number 45 author ought to glory in. a paper that the Six years after the Wilkes affair we find the king engaged in the rising conflict with the American colonies. Lord North: I am not sorry that the line of conduct seems now chalked out, which the enclosed dispatches thoroughly justify; the New England governments are in a state of rebellion; blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent. Lord North: The proposed answer to the address is highly proper, as it conveys the sentiments that must be harboured by every candid and rational mind. This language ought to open the eyes of the deluded Americans; but, if it does not, it must set every delicate man at liberty to avow the propriety of the most coercive measures. I trust the rebel army will soon be dispersed. The accounts from America are most comfortable. The surprise and want of spirit of the Hessian officers as well as soldiers at Trenton is not much to their credit, and will undoubtedly elate the rebels who, till then, were in a state of the greatest despondency. I wish Sir W. Howe had placed none but British troops in the outposts; but I am certain, by a letter I have seen from Lord Cornwallis, that the rebels will soon have sufficient reason to fall into the former dejection. The intelligence from Mr. Thornton of the discontents March 6, 1778 among the leaders in America, if authentick, will not only greatly facilitate the bringing back that deluded country to some reasonable ideas, but will make France reconsider whether she ought to enter into a war when America may leave her in the lurch. You cannot be surprised that the degree to which you have March 26, pressed to resign during the space of the last three months has 1778 given me much uneasiness, but it has never made me harbour any thought to the disadvantage of your worth. I am not surprised Lord North feels disgusted at the fatigue March 8, 1781 he undergoes: he may be certain I feel my task as unpleasant as he can possibly find his, but both of us are in trammels, and it is our duty to continue. On one material point I shall ever coincide with Lord G. January 21, Germain, that is, against a separation from America, and that 1782 I shall never lose an opportunity of declaring that no consideration shall ever make me in the smallest degree an instrument in a measure that I am confident would annihilate the rank in which this British Empire stands among the European states, and would render my situation in this country below continuing an object to me. Lord North cannot be disappointed at my being much hurt February 28, at the success of Mr. Conway's motion, though in some degree 1782 prepared by what he said yesterday. Lord North may easily conceive that I am much hurt at the March 9, 1782 appearance of yesterday in the House of Commons, and at his opinion that it is totally impossible for the present ministry to continue to conduct public business any longer. March 19, 1782 March 20, 1782 387. The king's speech to parliament (December 5, 1782) Lord North: After having yesterday in the most solemn manner assured you that my sentiments of honour will not permit me to send for any of the leaders of opposition and personally treat with them, I could not but be hurt at your letter of last night. Every man must be the sole judge of his feelings; therefore whatever you or any man can say on that subject has no avail with me. Lord North: At last the fatal day has come which the misfortunes of the time and the sudden change of sentiments of the House of Commons have drove me to, of changing the ministry. . . . I ever did and ever shall look on you as a friend as well as a faithful servant. G. R. General Conway's motion, referred to by the king in his letter of February 28 to Lord North, was a resolution passed by the House of Commons, after receiving news of the defeat at Yorktown, protesting against any further effort on the part of the English government to put down the revolt of the American colonies. The king, under pressure of military defeat in America and parliamentary defeat in England, was thus forced to an acknowledgment of American independence, the policy which he had so long resisted, but which he thereafter carried out loyally, as he declared in the following speech to parliament at its opening session in December, 1782. My Lords and Gentlemen: Since the close of the last session I have employed my whole time in that care and attention which the important and critical conjuncture of affairs required of me. I lost no time in giving the necessary orders to prohibit the further prosecution of offensive war upon the continent of North America, Adopting, as my inclination will always lead me to do, with decision and effect, whatever I collect to be the sense of my parliament and my people, I have pointed all my views and measures, as well in Europe as in North America, to an entire and cordial reconciliation with those colonies. Finding it indispensable to the attainment of this object, I Acknowledgdid not hesitate to go the full length of the powers vested in ment of independence me, and offered to declare them free and independent states, by an article to be inserted in the treaty of peace. Provisional articles are agreed upon, to take effect whenever terms of peace shall be finally settled with the court of France. In thus admitting their separation from the crown of these kingdoms, I have sacrificed every consideration of my own to the wishes and opinion of my people. I make it my humble and earnest prayer to Almighty God that Great Britain may not feel the evils which might result from so great a dismemberment of the empire; and that America may be free from those calamities which have formerly proved in the mother country how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of constitutional liberty. Religion, language, interest, affections may, and I hope will, yet prove a bond of permanent union between the two countries: to this end, neither attention nor disposition on my part shall be wanting. The first minister from the new independent government in America presented himself two years later, in June, 1785. The circumstances are told in the following letter from John Adams, the American minister, to John Jay, the American secretary of state. first Ameri At one on Wednesday the master of ceremonies called at 388. Presenmy house, and went with me to the secretary of state's office, tation of the in Cleveland Row, where the marquis of Carmarthen received can minister me and introduced me to his undersecretary, Mr. Fraser, who to the king has been, as his lordship told me, uninterruptedly in that office, of England through all the changes in administration, for thirty years, 1785) having first been appointed by the earl of Holderness. After a short conversation upon the subject of importing my effects (May 30, Address of to the king from Holland and France free of duty, which Mr. Fraser himself introduced, Lord Carmarthen invited me to go with him in his coach to court. When we arrived in the antechamber, the ail de bœuf of St. James', the master of ceremonies met me and attended me, while the secretary of state went to take the commands of the king. While I stood in this place, where it seems all ministers stand on such occasions, always attended by the master of ceremonies, the room very full of ministers of state, lords, and bishops, and all sorts of courtiers, as well as the next room, which is the king's bedchamber, you may well suppose I was the focus of all eyes. I was relieved, however, from the embarrassment of it by the Swedish and Dutch ministers, who came to me and entertained me in a very agreeable conversation during the whole time. Some other gentlemen whom I had seen before came to make their compliments, too, until the marquis of Carmarthen returned and desired me to go with him to his Majesty. I went with his lordship through the levée room into the king's closet. The door was shut, and I was left with his Majesty and the secretary of state alone. I made the three reverences, one at the door, another about halfway, and a third before the presence, according to the usage established at this and all the northern courts of Europe, and then addressed myself to his Majesty in the following words: "Sir: "The United States of America have appointed me their the minister minister plenipotentiary to your Majesty, and have directed me to deliver to your Majesty this letter which contains the evidence of it. It is in obedience to their express commands that I have the honor to assure your Majesty of their unanimous disposition and desire to cultivate the most friendly and liberal intercourse between your Majesty's subjects and their citizens, and of their best wishes for your Majesty's health and happiness and for that of your royal family. The appointment of a minister from the United States to your Majesty's court will form an epoch in the history of England |