By the middle of July the two brothers were at New York. The
soldier, having waited at Halifax since the evacuation of Boston,
had arrived, and landed his army on Staten Island, on the day
before Congress made the Declaration of Independence, which, as
now we can see, ended finally any chance of reconciliation. The
sailor arrived nine days later. Lord Howe was wont to regret that
he had not arrived a little earlier, since the concessions which
he had to offer might have averted the Declaration of
Independence. In truth, however, he had little to offer. Humor
and imagination are useful gifts in carrying on human affairs,
but George III had neither. He saw no lack of humor in now once
more offering full and free pardon to a repentant Washington and
his comrades, though John Adams was excepted by name* in
repudiating the right to exist of the Congress at Philadelphia,
and in refusing to recognize the military rank of the rebel
general whom it had named: he was to be addressed in civilian
style as "George Washington Esq." The King and his ministers had
no imagination to call up the picture of high-hearted men
fighting for rights which they held dear.
* Trevelyan, "American Revolution", Part II, vol. I (New Ed.,
vol.
Pages:
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100