rom the probability of a
declaration of war from France." It is evident from this letter that
Lord North had proposed some plan of conciliation which did not meet
with the monarch's views; and it seems clear, also, that his lordship,
in expressing a wish to retire, had urged the impossibility of obtaining
unconditional submission, which he erroneously thought was the only
ground on which his majesty would listen to terms of peace. But
though it was the king's opinion on the last day of January that no
conciliatory measures should be adopted or proposed out of deference
to the views of the people, yet his opinion soon changed. On the 9th of
February, when a war with France had become inevitable, he wrote to his
minister again, urging him not to "delay to bring in his proposition,"
before "the veil was drawn off by the court of France." Lord North lost
no time in complying with this his majesty's command. On the 17th of
February, he brought in two bills tending to reconciliation with the
colonists: one was expressly designed to remove all apprehension from
their minds concerning taxation by the British parliament, whilst it
repealed the act imposing a duty on tea; and the other enabled his
majesty to appoint commissioners to consult and agree on means of
quieting the disorders subsisting in certain colonies, plantations,
and provinces of North America. In introducing these bills, Lord North
asserted that he had been uniformly disposed to pacific arrangements;
that he had tried conciliatory measures before the sword was unsheathed,
and would gladly try them again; that he had conceived his former
propositions were equitable, and still thought so, though they had been
misrepresented both at home and in America; that he never expected
to derive any considerable revenue from the colonies; that he had
originated none of the American taxes; that he found such as existed
when, unfortunately for his own peace of mind, he came into office; and
that, as for the act enabling the East India Company to send out teas
with the drawback of the entire duty, which led to the Boston riots,
it was a relief rather than oppression, since it actually gave the
colonists their teas at a cheaper rate than before. Lord North then
explained the principles of his two bills. The first, he said,
was intended to quiet the minds of the Americans on the subject of
taxation--to dispel all fears that parliament would ever tax them again,
by a distinct renunc