" Lord North might well be agitated for the news meant
the collapse of a system. The King was at Kew and word was sent
to him. That Sunday evening Lord George Germain had a small
dinner party and the King's letter in reply was brought to the
table. The guests were curious to know how the King took the
news. "The King writes just as he always does," said Lord George,
"except that I observe he has omitted to mark the hour and the
minute of his writing with his usual precision." It needed a
heavy shock to disturb the routine of George III. The King hoped
no one would think that the bad news "makes the smallest
alteration in those principles of my conduct which have directed
me in past time." Lesser men might change in the face of evils;
George III was resolved to be changeless and never, never, to
yield to the coercion of facts.
Yield, however, he did. The months which followed were months of
political commotion in England. For a time the ministry held its
majority against the fierce attacks of Burke and Fox. The House
of Commons voted that the war must go on. But the heart had gone
out of British effort. Everywhere the people were growing
restless. Even the ministry acknowledged that the war in America
must henceforth be defensive only.
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