STATE OF FEELING IN ENGLAND 325 



Wesley, though he disapproved of their measures of resist- 

 ance, implored Lord Dartmouth to desist from forcible 

 repression. " For God's sake," he wrote, " for the sake 

 of the king, of the nation, remember Rehoboam ! Re- 

 member Philip the Second ! Remember king Charles the 

 First ! " * The Whig party made a good show in debate 

 in both Houses of parliament during the winter of 1774-75 ; 

 the ministry were subjected to a searching criticism and 

 plain words were spoken on both sides. Pitt, now become 

 Earl of Chatham, had long been the foremost upholder 

 of the rights of America ; he had lately recovered from 

 his long mental illness, and the thunders of his eloquence 

 were never heard to greater effect than during t this 

 session, when Burke also delivered the finest of his 



P 



speeches in the same cause. The star of Fox had not 

 yet risen. 



No thinking man, unless blinded by ignorance or 

 prejudice, could fail to see how imminent was the crisis. 

 Some members of the ministry were uneasy and desired 

 conciliatory measures. This was the case with the prime 

 minister himself, Lord North, a good-natured man, able, 

 versatile, disinterested and witty, but weak in resolution. 

 The publication of George III.'s letters in 1867 has 

 changed the verdict of history, and has made it clear that 

 the coercion of America was no choice of the minister's. 

 Loyalty to his insistent king prevailed over all else, and 

 it is North's sad record, that for five long years he carried 

 on a war of which in his heart he disapproved, and that 

 to the end of his days he bore in silence the reproach that 

 belonged to his ungrateful master. The secretary for 

 the colonies, Lord Dartmouth, a kindly and pious man 

 " the most amiable man I ever saw," wrote Governor 

 Hutchinson had, like his chief, no firmness of character 

 to stand up against his unbending colleagues in the 

 cabinet. Yet he knew the strength of American feeling, 

 being well informed by such correspondents as Joseph 



1 June 14, 1775. Dartmouth MSS. Hist. MSS. Comm. xi. App. v. 378 ; 

 George III. op. cit. i. 269 note. Priestley wrote his Address to Dissenters on 

 the subject of the Differences with America at the request of Franklin and 

 Fothergill. Mem. Priestley, 1904, p. 40. 



