CHAPTER XLIX. CHAP. Aug. THE KING AND THE SECOND PETITION OF CONGRESS. AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, IN EUROPE. THE zeal of Richard Penn appeared from his 1775. celerity. Four days after the petition to the king had been adopted by congress, he sailed from Philadelphia on his mission. He arrived in Bristol on the thirteenth of August, and made such speed that he was the next day in London. Joint proprietary of the opulent and rapidly increasing colony of Pennsylvania, of which he for a time was governor, long a resident in America, intimately acquainted with many of its leading statesmen, the chosen suppliant from its united delegates, an Englishman of a loyalty above impeachment or suspicion, he singularly merited the confidence. of the government. But not one of the ministers waited on him, or sent for him, or even asked him, through subordinates, one single question about the state of the colonies. The king, on whose decision neither the petition nor its bearer had the slightest XLIX. influence, would not see him. "The king and his CHAP. cabinet," said Suffolk, "are determined to listen to nothing from the illegal congress, to treat with the 1775. colonies only one by one, and in no event to recog nise them in any form of association." "The Americans," reasoned Sandwich, "will soon grow weary, and Great Britain will subject them by her arms." Haldimand, who had just arrived, owned that "nothing but force would bring the Americans to reason." Resolvedly blind to consequences, George the Third scorned dissimulation, and eagerly "showed his determination," such were his words, " to prosecute his measures, and force the deluded Americans into submission." He chid Lord North for "the delay in framing a proclamation declaring the Americans rebels, and forbidding all intercourse with them." He was happier than his minister; he had no misgivings that he could be in the wrong, or could want power to enforce his will. The colonists who pleaded their rights against the unlimited supremacy of the king in parliament, were to him false to the crown and the constitution, to religion, loyalty, and the law; in his eyes, to crush their spirit and punish their disobedience was a duty and a merit. In the indulgence of his anger he sought to impose an authority which the colonists never could endure, and which promised no advantage to Britain. The navigation acts, of which it already began to be seen that the total repeal would not diminish British trade, were not questioned; the view of a revenue from America had dissolved; the unwise change in the charter of Massachusetts weakened the influence of the crown by irritating the people; the most per Aug. XLIX. Aug. CHAP. fect success in reducing the American colonies to unconditional submission, would have stained the glory 1775. of a nation whose great name was due to the freedom of its people, and would, moreover, have been dangerous, if not fatal, to her own liberties. Yet the word of the king would be irrevocable; for to what power in England could the colonies look for interposition in their behalf? Not to the landed aristocracy, which would not suffer the authority of parliament to be questioned; not to the electors, for they had just chosen a parliament, and thus exhausted their power of mediation; not to the city of Bristol, which bounded its political liberality by its commercial interests; not to the city of London, for with the unprincipled Wilkes as its Lord Mayor, it could offer no support beyond a noisy remonstrance; not to the public opinion of England, for though it really preferred that the colonies should be tolerably governed, it never showed forbearance when the imperial supremacy of England was assailed. Conscious that his will was unrestrained, the king made his decision without a moment's hesitation in. conformity with his own nature; and he wished the world to know that his will could not change. To render retreat impossible, on the twenty third of August, two days after receiving a copy of the petition of congress, he made a proclamation for suppressing rebellion and sedition. It set forth, that many of his subjects in the colonies had proceeded to open and avowed rebellion, by arraying themselves to withstand the execution of the law, and traitorously levying war against him; but its menaces were chiefly directed against men in England. "There is reason, XLIX. so ran its words, "to apprehend that such rebellion CHAP. hath been much promoted and encouraged by the traitorous correspondence, counsels, and comfort of 1775. Aug. divers wicked and desperate persons within our realm;" not only all the officers civil and military, but all subjects of the realm, were therefore called upon to disclose all traitorous conspiracies, and to transmit to one of the secretaries of state "full information of all persons who should be found carrying on correspondence with, or in any manner or degree aiding or abetting the persons now in open arms and rebellion against the government within any of the colonies in North America, in order to bring to condign punishment the authors, perpetrators, and abettors of such traitorous designs." This proclamation, aimed at Chatham, Camden, Barré, and their friends, and at the boldest of the Rockingham party, even more than against the Americans, was read without the customary ceremonies at the Royal Exchange, where it was received with a general hiss. The ministry could no longer retrace their steps without resigning their places; war was menaced against the remnant of a popular party in England. As to the colonies, the king would perish rather than consent to repeal the alterations in the charter of Massachusetts, or yield the absolute authority of parliament. The progress of these discussions was closely watched by the agents of France. Its ambassador, just after Penn's arrival, wrote of the king and his ministers to Vergennes: "These people appear to me in a delirium; that there can be no conciliation we have now the certainty;" "Rochford even Aug. CHAP. assures me once more, that it is determined to burn XLIX. the town of Boston, and in the coming spring to 1775. transfer the seat of operations to New York. You may be sure the plan of these people is, by devastations to force back America fifty years if they cannot subdue it." Vergennes had already said: "The cabinet of the king of England may wish to make North America a desert, but there all its power will be stranded; if ever the English troops quit the borders of the sea, it will be easy to prevent their return." An Vergennes could not persuade himself that the British government should refuse conciliation, when nothing was demanded but the revocation of acts posterior to 1763; and in his incredulity he demanded of the ambassador a revision of his opinion. "I persist," answered De Guines, "in thinking negotiations impossible. The parties differ on the form and on the substance as widely as white and black. English ministry in a case like this can yield nothing, for according to the custom of the country it must follow out its plan or resign. The only sensible course would be to change the administration. The king of England is as obstinate and as feeble as Charles the First, and every day he makes his task more difficult Sept. and more dangerous." Vergennes gave up his doubts, saying: "The king's proclamation against the Americans changes my views altogether; that proclamation cuts off the possibility of retreat; America or the ministers themselves must succumb." Nov. In a few weeks the proclamation reached the colonies at several ports. Abigail Smith, the wife of John Adams, was at the time in their home near the |