North had taken a sharp turn. The Whig clothes had been stolen by
a Tory Prime Minister and if he wished to stay in office the
Whigs had not the votes to turn him out. His supporters would
accept almost anything in order to dish the Whigs. They swallowed
now the bill, and it became law, but at the same time came, too,
the war with France. It united the Tories; it divided the Whigs.
All England was deeply stirred. Nearly every important town
offered to raise volunteer forces at its own expense. The
Government soon had fifteen thousand men recruited at private
cost. Help was offered so freely that the Whig, John Wilkes,
actually introduced into Parliament a bill to prohibit gifts of
money to the Crown since this voluntary taxation gave the Crown
money without the consent of Parliament. The British patriot,
gentle as he might be towards America, fumed against France. This
was no longer only a domestic struggle between parties, but a war
with an age-long foreign enemy. The populace resented what they
called the insolence and the treachery of France and the French
ambassador was pelted at Canterbury as he drove to the seacoast
on his recall. In a large sense the French alliance was not an
unmixed blessing for America, since it confused the counsels of
her best friends in England.
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