CHESS-PARTY CONFERENCES 329 



communicated by Barclay to Lord Hyde, who " saw 

 some light " in them, and by Fothergill to Lord Dart- 

 mouth. It is almost certain that they reached other 

 members of the Cabinet as well, including Lord North. 1 

 Fothergill showed the paper also to the Speaker, Sir 

 Fletcher Norton, 2 who was very anxious for a reconcilia- 

 tion. He thought the terms humiliating to Britain, but 

 the doctor told him she had been unjust, and ought to bear 

 the consequences and alter her conduct ; the pill might be 

 bitter, but it would be salutary and must be swallowed. 



In the meantime (Dec. 18) the Petition of the Congress 

 which met at Philadelphia in September arrived, pleading 

 " the cause of liberty and mankind," still with " affec- 

 tionate attachment to your Majesty's person " ; but it 

 received no more attention than its predecessors. A 

 rumour of the negotiations reached the London money 

 market, and stocks which had fallen three or four points 

 showed some recovery. Meantime the chess-party con- 

 ferences at Mrs. Howe's were going on, and Franklin was 

 there introduced to Lord Howe, the naval admiral, who 

 took a copy of the " Hints for Conversation " from his 

 pocket, but said the terms were thought inadmissible. 

 Could Howe, it was suggested, be sent over as a commis- 

 sioner to negotiate ? He would like, he said later, to 

 take Franklin with him, and he should not lack for 

 emoluments. Franklin declined any such favours. Howe 

 was however genuinely desirous of a reconciliation, and 

 continued to keep in touch with the American until near 

 his departure. 



But Fothergill's own information as to the views of 

 ministers gave him little hope of success. " I am afraid," 

 he writes to his friend Pemberton, January 3, 1775, 

 " they will pursue, in one shape or other, the same de- 

 structive plan at least it appears so to me that no 

 abatement of any consequence will be made, no material 

 alterations or concessions. Of course if you are as 



1 See Appendix A, No. II. Letter from Hyde. 



2 He also was Fothergill's patient : the question of his retirement in 1780 

 on account of gout was left to the decision of Fothergill and Percivall Pott. 

 Ford, List of Franklin Papers in Lib. of Congress, 1905, No. 591. 



