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THE
LOYALISTS OF AMERICA
AND
THEIR TIMES:
FROM 1620 TO 1816.
BY EGERTON RYERSON, D.D., LL.D.,
_Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada from 1844 to 1876._
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS, 80 KING STREET EAST;
JAMES CAMPBELL & SON, AND WILLING & WILLIAMSON.
MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS.
1880.
ENTERED, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
One thousand eight hundred and eighty, by the REV. EGERTON RYERSON,
D.D., LL.D, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
ALLIANCE BETWEEN CONGRESS AND FRANCE NOT PRODUCTIVE OF THE
EFFECT ANTICIPATED; EFFORTS OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR
RECONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES 1-16
Alliance deferred twelve months by France after it was
applied for by Congress, until the King of France was assured
that no reconciliation would take place between England and
the Colonies 1
Lord Admiral Howe and his brother, General Howe, Commissioners
to confer with Congress with a view to reconciliation; their
power limited; Congress refuses all conference with them,
but the vast majority of the Colonists in favour of reconciliation 2
Reasons of the failure of the two Commissioners 4
New penal laws against the Loyalists 5
Three Acts of Parliament passed to remove all grounds
of complaint on the part of the Colonists, and the appointment
of five Commissioners; Lord North's conciliatory speech;
excitement and opposition in the Commons, but the bills were
passed and received the royal assent 6
Lord North's proposed resignation, and preparations for it 8
Opinions of Lords Macaulay and Mahon as to the success
of a commission; proposed terms of reconciliation if
appointed and proposed by the Earl of Chatham 8
The large powers and most liberal propositions of the
five Royal Commissioners for reconciliation between the
Colonies and the Mother Country 11
The refusal of all negotiation on the part of Congress;
bound by treaty to the King of France to make no peace with
England without the consent of the French Court 12
The three Acts of Parliament, and proposals of the five
Commissioners of all that the Colonists had desired before
the Declaration of Independence; but Congress had transferred
allegiance from England to France, without even consulting
their constituents 12
Appeal of the representative of France to the Canadians
to detach Canada from England (in a note) 12
Sycophancy of the leaders of Congress to France against England 13
The feeling of the people in both England and America
different from that of the leaders of Congress 14
The war more acrimonious after the alliance between
Congress and the Kingof France and the failure of the
British Commissioners to promote reconciliation between
Great Britain and the Colonies 16