Nor did they
stay away for a few days only. The absence was for weeks or even
months.
It is to the credit of Whig leaders in England, landowners and
aristocrats as they were, that they supported with passion the
American cause. In America, where the forces of the Revolution
were in control, the Loyalist who dared to be bold for his
opinions was likely to be tarred and feathered and to lose his
property. There was an embittered intolerance. In England,
however, it was an open question in society whether to be for or
against the American cause. The Duke of Richmond, a great
grandson of Charles II, said in the House of Lords that under no
code should the fighting Americans be considered traitors. What
they did was "perfectly justifiable in every possible political
and moral sense." All the world knows that Chatham and Burke and
Fox urged the conciliation of America and hundreds took the same
stand. Burke said of General Conway, a man of position, that when
he secured a majority in the House of Commons against the Stamp
Act his face shone as the face of an angel. Since the bishops
almost to a man voted with the King, Conway attacked them as in
this untrue to their high office. Sir George Savile, whose
benevolence, supported by great wealth, made him widely respected
and loved, said that the Americans were right in appealing to
arms.
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