Chapter XVIII: Letter VII: London, June 7, 1777

FRIEND G.

Mr. Sayre sued lord Rochford, in the court of Common Pleas, about this time twelvemonth, for illegal imprisonment; the jury granted him a thousand pounds damages, subject to the opinion of the court upon a point of law. Thus ended an affair, which in the commencement occasioned a great bustle among the people.

An unaccountable indifference possessed the nation, through the last summer. When at length the American cruisers, not only scoured the Atlantic, but spreading over the European seas, brought alarm and hostility to our doors—when the destruction which befel the homeward bound richly laden West-India fleets, poured equal ruin upon the planters in the islands, and the merchants at home—even in that state of public loss and private distress, an unusual phlegm prevailed, and the same tranquil countenance was preserved, by those who had not yet partaken of the calamity.

Administration had acquired such an appearance of stability, as seemed to render them, for some considerable time to come, superior to the frowns of fortune. Supported by an irresistible majority in parliament, they were already armed with every power which they were capable of desiring for the establishment of their American system. But the conduct of the French and Spaniards gave them just cause of alarm.——The French and Spanish ministry not only connived at the encouragement given to the American privateers, but filled the ports of both kingdoms with such indications as denoted that objects of far higher and more dangerous importance were in contemplation. The naval preparations carried on by the house of Bourbon, became at length so formidable, that sixteen British ships of the line were suddenly put into commission; [Oct. 25.] and the unusual methods taken for manning them by a very hot unexpected press, and the opening houses of rendezvous for such seamen, as would enter voluntarily upon the proffered bounty. Some days after a proclamation was issued for a general fast through England and Wales, to be observed the 13th of December following.

The news of gen. Howe’s success on Long-Island, gave the highest satisfaction to administration, and the strongest hopes of the most decisive good consequences, The messenger of the operations had been but two days in London, before a title and badge of honor was bestowed upon the general.

On the last of October, the session of parliament was opened. The royal speech seemed to breathe indignation and resentment against the people of America; and the receipt of assurences of amity from the several courts of Europe was still acknowledged. When the address of the house of commons in answer to it was produced, an amendment was moved for by lord John Cavendish, and supported by a speech perhaps the most remarkable of any that had been delivered since the commencement of the troubles, for the freedom and pointedness with which it was expressed. It entered into a comprehensive view of the conduct of the British ministry respecting America; and approached them with the pursuits of schemes formed for the reduction and chastisement of a party, supposed to consist of some inconsiderate and factious men, but which had in the issue, driven thirteen large colonies into an open and armed resistance. Every act of parliament, it said, proposed as a mean of procuring peace and submission, had proved, on the contrary, a new cause of opposition and hostility. The nation was now almost inextricably involved in a bloody and expensive civil war, which threatened to exhaust the strength of the British dominions, and to lay them open to the most deplorable calamities. No hearing had been given to the reiterated petitions of the colonies, nor any ground laid for a reconciliation, the commissioners nominated for the purpose of restoring peace, not being furnished with sufficient powers to bring about so desirable an end. It observed, that it must have been expected, that the American seamen and fishermen, being indiscriminately prohibited from the peaceable exercise of their occupations and declared open enemies, would betake themselves to plunder, and wreak their vengeance on the commerce of Great-Britain. After a variety of other observations, it concluded with declaring—“We should look with the utmost shame and horror, upon any events that would tend to break the spirit of any part of the British nation, and to bow them to an abject, unconditional submission to any power whatsoever, to annihilate their liberties, and to subdue them to servile principles and passive habits, by the force of foreign mercenary arms; because amidst the excesses and abuses which have happened, we must respect the spirit and principles operating in these commotions. Our wish is to regulate, not to destroy them; for though differing in some circumstances, those very principles evidently bear so exact an analogy with those which support the most valuable part of our own constitution, that it is impossible, with any appearance of justice, to think of wholly extirpating them by the sword, in any part of the British dominions, without admitting consequences, and establishing precedents the most dangerous to the liberties of this kingdom.” Debates pro and con succeeded. It was the same in the house of lords, where the royal speech underwent a no less severe scrutiny. Since the declaration of independence, the debates in parliament are less interesting to the Americans than formerly, brevity in the account of them will therefore be most acceptable. The opposition said—“What can ministers mean by assurances of friendly and pacific sentiments from abroad? Poor politicians must they be, who depend upon such assurances, in the best of times, from those quarters whence they now come. Old grudges are not so easily forgotten; and this nation has every thing to apprehend from those to whom it has done so much mischief in the last war. Resentment and ambition will go on hand in hand upon this occasion, and will not lose so fair an opportunity of revenge, as that which is opened by this fatal quarrel between Great-Britain and her colonies. The preparations, of those powers who speak so friendly a language are no secret; their partiality to the Americans shows their intentions to this country; their encouragement to the privateers, which are capturing the British merchantmen, is a sufficient carnest of the designs that are uppermost in their councils, and is but a prelude to what we are to expect, as soon as circumstances have brought their plans to maturity. A war with the whole house of Bourbon, and perhaps with other powers, will be the inevitable consequence of continuing hostilities in America; but such a war at present, will no longer resemble those who have formerly waged with the princes of that family. Powerful as they were at that time, they will still be much more formidable now that the strength of America will be thrown into their scale. It is a sorrowful, but a true reflection, that one half of the British nation is become an instrument in the hands of our natural enemies, with which most effectually to distress the other. Impelled with these cogent reasons, it is the duty of every man who feels them, to oppose an address approving of measures which must, if persisted in, terminate in calamities that will give such deadly wounds to Britain, as may prove incurable, and bring her to such a state of debility as will, from one of the first powers in the world, reduce her to hold but a secondary rank among the European nations.”

Administration urged in favor of the address—“Nothing is recommended by it that tends to oppose the Americans; no more is required of them than a return to the same obedience which every other subject is bound to pay. Is it consistent with the wisdom of the nation, to throw away the fruits of the infinite cares and expences it has bestowed upon the colonies, while any hope remains of reclaiming them from their defection? To give them up, will be to resign the wealth, the strength and the importance of Great-Britain; these are evidently at stake in the present contest; should the issue of it be contrary to what is hoped by all well-wishers to their country, its fall and degradation will be the necessary consequence. The season for arguing is over. The Americans have bid us defiance, and are become our enemies; the sword is therefore to decide; it is now to be seen whether we can reduce them to obedience by superior force. It is time to assert our national dignity and supremacy; we are in full strength and vigor; the resources of the country are far from being exhausted. They cannot be employed upon a more critical and necessary occasion than the present. The successes of the last campaign in America, afford a well grounded prospect of settling affairs to our satisfaction. A spirited prosecution of the business in hand will speedily conclude it. Much is threatened from abroad, and great terrors are held out, and we are told that occasion will be taken from these unhappy broils, to do Great-Britain irreparable damage. But the prudence of government has fully obviated these objections. A sufficient force is preparing to face all dangers at home; and the prosperity of our arms abroad has, it is well known, cast a damp on all the partisans of the Americans throughout Europe. However well they may wish them, the most inveterate of our foes will not venture to engage in so distant a quarrel, until they see better signs of its terminating to the advantage of our opponents. We are now in the career of victory; and it will betray weakness to be driven out of it by mere apprehensions. The people at large are now greatly alienated from the Americans; however they might once have been inclined to favor them, they are full of resentment at their late conduct. The declaration of independence has entirely altered their opinion of the colonists.”

The conclusion of the debates was the carrying of the address in the house of lords by 91 votes to 26; and in the house of commons by 232 to 83. The declaration of independence lost the Americans many advocates; but the great bulk of those who had hitherto espoused their cause, dreaded the success of ministerial measures against them, from an apprehension of the danger which would result from it to the liberties of this country. They were therefore, before and after the opening of the session, indefatigable in representing the necessity of putting an end to a dispute, which they considered as ruinous, in every shape, whether the British arms did or did not prevail.

[Nov. 6.] A motion was made in the house of commons by lord John Cavendish, for a revisal of all those acts by which the colonies thought themselves aggrieved. It was grounded on a paragraph in the declaration of the commissioners, given at New-York, the 19th of September, in which mention is made of “the king’s being most graciously pleased to concur in the revisal of all acts by which his subjects in the colonies may think themselves aggrieved.” The motion was opposed with great warmth; and in the sequel of the debate, it was asserted by ministry, that until congress had rescinded the declaration of independence, no treaty could be entered into with America. Such an assertion was severely censured by opposition, as being no less than a denunciation of war, and all its calamities, unless the Americans implicitly admitted the principal point in litigation, without any preliminary stipulation. The motion was rejected by a majority of 109 to 47. This rejection exasperated the minority so violently, that a part of them avowedly withdrew whenever any questions relating to America were proposed, and from this period left the house to the full and undisturbed possession of the majority.

They justified this secession, by alledging that an attendance on these matters was nugatory; the weight of numbers was irresistible, and baffled all arguments. It was a degrading office alway to contend with a certainty of being defeated. There was a time when reasoning was listened to, and had its due influence; but as experience had shown, that time was no more, it was wiser to acquiesce in silence than to undergo the fatigue of a fruitless opposition. The season was not yet come for the nation to be undeceived. It was the interest of so many to continue the deception, that it would last till an accumulation of calamities had oppressed the public so as to be felt by all degrees. Such amazing numbers were benefitted by the measures of ministry, that till defeats, disappointments and losses of every kind, had disabled them from pursuing their schemes any longer, they were sure of a ready support from those whom they employed in their execution. For these reasons they judged it necessary to refuse their presence to transactions which they disapproved, and could not hinder; but whenever they perceived that adversity had, as usual, opened the eyes of men, they would then come forth anew, and endeavor, if possible, to remedy the evils which it was not at present in their power to prevent.

The strength of ministry was now so decisive, that whatever was proposed, was immediately approved and carried, without any opposition or debate.

A bill was brought in for granting letters of marque and reprisals against the Americans. This was followed by another to empower the crown to secure such persons as were accused or suspected of high treason (committed either in America or at sea) or of piracy. By the provisions of this bill, they were liable to be detained in custody without bail or trial, while the law continued in force; it was reserved solely to the privy council to admit them to either. His majesty was also empowered by warrant, to appoint one or more places of confinement within the realm, for the custody of such prisoners.

This bill spread a general alarm through the metropolis; and a petition was presented by the city against it, condemning the measures proposed in it, as violent and unconstitutional, subversive of the sacred and fundamental rights of the people, subjecting them to the most cruel oppression and bondage, and introductive of every species of mischief and confusion. The petition was ordered to lie upon the table; but probably made way for the introduction of a provisional clause, enacting “that no offences shall be construed to be piracy within the meaning of the act, except acts of felony committed on the ships and goods of his majesty’s subjects, by persons on the high seas.”

The bill however, did not pass without opposition and severe animadversion. It was said, that it armed ministers with an unconstitutional and dangerous power. A mere pretended suspicion or foolish credulity in a mercenary tool of a ministerial magistrate, might render the inhabitants of above half the empire liable to imprisonment without bail or mainprise. It did not require an oath, nor that the parties should be heard in their own justification, nor confronted with the witnesses, nor that two witnesses should be deemed necessary for the colourable ground of a commitment. The few who opposed it, contended that no lawful or obvious reason subsisted for investing the crown with so unusual a power. Such an extraordinary measure could only be tolerated in cases of great domestic danger, when the realm or constitution were immediately threatened; but neither of these could be pleaded in the present instance. After a long debate, the bill passed by a majority of 195 to 43. The oppostion would have been stronger, but the seceding party would not afford their assistance.

“Before this act, every man putting his foot on English ground, every stranger, even a negro slave, became as free as every other man who breathed the same air with him. As things now stand, every man in the West-Indies, every inhabitant or these unoffending provinces on the American continent, every person coming from the East-Indies, every gentleman who has travelled for his health or education, every mariner who has navigated the seas, is, for no other offence, under a temporary proscription.”[46]

The two bills received the royal assent on the third of March.

Toward the close of the last year, and in the beginning of the present, much confusion, apprehension and suspicion, was excited by the machinery of a wretched enthusiast and incendiary, since well known by the appellation of _John the Painter_, but whose real name was James Aitkin, born at Edinburgh, and bred a painter——a most profligate and abandoned villain.

After having committed the most attrocious crimes, he shipped himself off for America, where he continued about two years, and from whence he returned in March 1775. The violence of the language and sentiments then held in political matters, by the people among whom he lived, gave birth to that enthusiastic madness which afterward became so dangerous.——Under its baneful influence he returned to England with the most dreadful antipathy to the government and nation; and adopted the design of subverting, in his own single person, that power which he so much abhorred, by setting fire to the dock-yards, and burning the principal trading cities and towns, with their shipping, of whatsoever sort, so far as it could possibly be done. He constructed fire-works, machines and combustibles for the purpose, but was strangely unsuccessful in all his attempts.——Owing to this failure in his machines, the nation was providentially saved from receiving some dreadful or irretrievable shock. He however succeeded in setting fire to the rope-house in the yard at Portsmouth, the beginning of last December. The next month, while party and political disunion prevailed among the inhabitants of Bristol, he attempted, first to burn the shipping, and afterward the city. He succeeded only so far as to set fire to some ware-houses near the quay, six or seven of which were consumed. He was soon after his departure from Bristol, taken up on some suspicious circumstances; and being circumvented by one Baldwin, another painter, the whole scene of iniquity was brought to light. Baldwin pretended to sympathize with him under his misfortunes, and to hold principles similar to his own; and often visited him, till he at length obtained his confidence, and drew from him the history of his crimes. He told Baldwin that he had been in France, and seen Mr. Silas Deane, who had given him some money, and encouraged him to set fire to the dock-yards at Portsmouth, Plymouth, &c. as the best means of distressing Great-Britain, and had promised to reward him according to the service he should do to the American cause. He said that Deane, as an earnest of what should follow, had given him a recommendation to, and bills upon a merchant in London, to the amount of £.300, which however, he had found it necessary to burn, to prevent a discovery; and that in consequence of this encouragement he procured a passport from the French king. He was condemned at Winchester assizes, and executed at Portsmouth dock gate, the tenth of March, and then hung in chains. While he lay at Winchester, after condemnation, and before taken away to execution, he denied his having recommendations and bills, and burning the same. It was while working at Titchfield, in Hampshire, that he conceived the idea of setting fire to the dock-yards. He then went, as he said, to France, and applied to Mr. Deane, who told him that when the work was done he should be rewarded. He added, that on his return, and after setting fire to the ropeyard at Portsmouth, he went to London, and waited on Dr. Bancroft, to whom he had a verbal recommendation from Mr. Deane, but that the doctor gave him no countenance, and did not approve of his conduct.

When general Lee’s capture came to be known by the gazette of February the 25th, the rejoicing in Great-Britain on the occasion, was great. Personal animosities contributed not a little to the triumph and exultation it produced. But the same gazette furnished more than a counterpoise to the joy, in the accounts it contained of general Washington’s successes at Trenton and Princeton.

The name of Lee reminds me of Mr. Arthur Lee. The latter received timely notice of the acts of congress, so as to withdraw and get to Paris a few days after Dr. Franklin’s arrival. While in England he was particularly commissioned by a certain body, and that under every sacred promise of secrecy, to make discoveries and transmit them to America; he was also personally consulted by Monsieur _Caron de Beaumarchais_, upon a project which the latter had formed, of establishing a commercial house, sufficiently powerful and spirited to hazard the risks of the sea and enemy in carrying stores and merchandise for the American troops. A correspondence was afterward opened between them; and on the 21st of June, 1776, Mr. Lee, under the name of Mary Johnson, wrote in cyphers to Mr. Beaumarchais, that the army of Great-Britain in America, would consist of forty thousand men, and their fleet of a hundred ships, and but two only of seventy-four guns. He advised the dispatching secretly ten large ships of war to the Cape or Martinico; and their joining the American fleet, scouring the American coast, and destroyiag the whole British fleet, dispersed as it would be, upon which success the land army could be easily defeated. “By this stroke,” says he “the English fleet will be mortally wounded. Do you fear that this will kindle a war between the two nations? But how will England be able to support a war without fleets, without colonies, without seamen, without resources? On the contrary, if you suffer America to fall again under the dominion of England, the latter will be forever invincible.” If this proposal was communicated to the French minister, it was adjudged too venturous to be prosecuted. Though France must, for her own interest, wish to have the American states perpetually separated from Great-Britain, yet the court will be cautious of risking a war with this country till the prospects of success are extremely encouraging. This accounts for the French king’s issuing out, about the month of February, a proclamation, prohibiting the sale of English prizes taken by American privateers, in any of the ports of France; but as the purchase of them is not prohibited, and the sale of them only in the ports, the Americans will find no difficulty in disposing of them to Frenchmen. The police of France is so well constructed, that they can easily convey to the extremities of the kingdom, the views and sentiments of the court, and secure a ready compliance with them. It is only for the minister to give the farmers-general his instructions, and for them, through their lines of connection with every province, city, town and village, to distribute their directions; on which the inhabitants of the most distant parts will think, speak and act mechanically, in unison with their betters at Versailles.

On the 20th of February, the British ambassador at the Hague, presented a memorial to their high mightinesses, containing various complaints; and closing with an express demand of a formal disavowal of the salute by Fort George at St. Eustatia, to the American flag, and of the dismission and immediate recal of the governor; followed by a further declaration, that till that satisfaction was given, they were not to expect that his majesty would suffer himself to be amused by mere assurances, or would delay one instant to take such measures as he should think due to the interests and dignity of his crown. Their high mightinesses disdaining the spirit and manner of the complaint, passed by the ambassador (Sir Joseph Yorke) and slso the secretary of state, and commanded their minister at London, the count de Walderen, to address himself directly to the king, and to deliver their answer into his own hands; which was done March the 26th. They complained of the reproaches contained in the ambassador’s memorial, and the menacing tone which reigns in it, strained beyond what ought to take place between two sovereign and independent powers. They did not disguise the poignant sensation with which it had impressed them. They afterward mentioned their having ordered the governor home to give the necessary information of what had passed, and their resolution to disavow every act or mark of honor that actually tended in the least degree to recognise the independence of the North-American colonies. On the 10th of April, lord Suffolk, by letter, assured the court, that his majesty accepted with satisfaction, the memorial he had addressed to him; but that his majesty could not perceive in Sir Joseph Yorke’s memorial, any thing contrary to what ought to take place between sovereigns and independent powers in the weighty circumstances in question.

In February and April, Messrs. Franklin and Deane sent to lord Stormont, two letters on the subject of an exchange of British seamen, prisoners in the hands of the captain of an American frigate, for an equal number of American seamen, prisoners in England; and of the cruel treatment the American prisoners meet with in Europe, in being ether compelled by chains, stripes and famine, to fight against their friends and relations, or sent to Africa and Asia, remote from all probability of exchange. They had for answer—“The king’s ambassador receives no applications from rebels, unless they come to implore his majesty’s mercy.” They pronounced it an _indecent_ paper, and returned it for his lordship’s more mature consideration. The news of gen. Clinton’s being created a Knight of the Bath, will be no otherwise important to the Americans, than as a direction how to address him in future.

A fresh effort was made in the house of lords, to bring about a reconciliation between Great-Britain and her colonies, as they are here still called. The earl of Chatham had been prevented of late, by his advanced age and infirm state of health, from taking an active part in the disputes of the house. But viewing with concern the dangers which menaced the kingdom, he determined again to come forth from his retreat, and endeavor to influence the contending parties to listen to terms of accommodation. On the 30th of May he entered the house, wrapped in flannel, and bearing a crutch in each hand. His lordship, sitting in his place and with his head covered, delivered a speech, herein he explained the grounds of the motion he was about to make. He recapitulated and reprobated the measures which had been taken with the Americans, from the voting away of their property without their consent, to the attempting of their conquest by the aid of German mercenaries. He endeavored to show the absurdity of relying longer on the force of arms, and very pathetically pressed the necessity of a speedy conciliation. After speaking for fifty minutes, he moved for an address to the throne, “most humbly to advise his majesty to take the most speedy and effectual measures, for putting a stop to hostilities, upon the only just and solid foundation, namely, the removal of accumulated grievances; and to assure his majesty, that the house will enter upon this great and necessary work with cheerfulness and dispatch, in order to open to his majesty the only means of regaining the affection of the British colonies, and of securing to Great-Britain the commercial advantages of those invaluable possessions; fully persuaded that to heal and redress will be more prevalent over the hearts of generous and free born subjects, than the rigors of chastisement and the horrors of civil war, which have hitherto served only to sharpen resentments and consolidate union, and if continued, must end finally in dissolving all ties between Great-Britain and the colonies.”

This brought on an interesting and animating debate, which terminated in the question’s being put, when lord Chatham’s motion was rejected by a majority of 99 to 28. The ministry had obtained all they wanted from parliament; were confident in their own conceit and in the success of their measures; and would attend to no remonstrances of reason.

The general assembly of the church of Scotland, in an address to his majesty, among many expressions of loyalty, declared that, sensible of their own felicity, they observed with concern, the first appearance of a turbulent and ungovernable spirit among the people of North-America; that they had with astonishment contemplated its alarming progress, and beheld fellow-subjects, who enjoyed in common with them, the blessings of his majesty’s mild administration, take up arms in opposition to lawful authority, disclaim the supremacy of the British legislature, reject with disdain the means of reconciliation, and labour to erect their unlawful confederacy into separate states. They then, with reverence and gratitude to Divine Providence, offer their congratulations for the success which has attended the fleets and armies, that have been employed to oppose the violence of rebellious, subjects, and to reclaim them to a sense of their duty: and conclude with acknowledging it their immediate duty, in the present situation of public affairs, to increase their diligence, not only in confirming the people under their care in sentiments of loyalty, but by inciting them to such reformation in their hearts and lives, as will avert from their country those judgments which their iniquities justly deserve.

[June 6.] His majesty went to the house of peers, and after giving his royal assent to a number of bills, closed the session with a speech which finished with saying, “My lords and gentlemen, I trust in Divine Providence, that by a well-concerted and vigorous exertion of the great force you have put into my hands, the opperations of this campaign, by sea and land, will be blessed with such success as may most effectually tend to the suppression of the rebellion in America, and to the re-establishment of that constitutional obedience which all the subjects of a free state owe to the authority of the law.”

In the beginning of May, a captain Cunningham, in a privateer fitted out from Dunkirk, took and carried into that port the British packet going to Holland. Not understanding thoroughly the business on which he was sent, and being hurried, he was not careful to secure insantly, upon the capture of the vessel, the packet intrusted with the king’s messenger, which he therefore missed of; but the mail was taken and forwarded to the American commissioners at Paris. Adieu.