r to give credit to those who all along have
opposed the measure of ministers, than to throw themselves wholly on the
mercy of their bitter, uniform, and systematic enemies. It is, indeed,
the victorious enemy that has the terms to offer; the vanquished party
and their friends are, both of them, reduced in their power; and it is
certain that those who are utterly broken and subdued have no option.
But, as this is hardly yet the case of the Americans, in this middle
state of their affairs, (much impaired, but not perfectly ruined,) one
would think it must be their interest to provide, if possible, some
further security for the terms which they may obtain from their enemies.
If the Congress could be brought to declare in favor of those terms for
which one hundred members of the House of Commons voted last year, with
some civility to the party which held out those terms, it would
undoubtedly have an effect to revive the cause of our liberties in
England, and to give the colonies some sort of mooring and anchorage in
this country. It seemed to me that Franklin might be made to feel the
propriety of such a step; and as I have an acquaintance with him, I had
a strong desire of taking a turn to Paris. Everything else failing, one
might obtain a better knowledge of the general aspect of affairs abroad
than, I believe, any of us possess at present. The Duke of Portland
approved the idea. But when I had conversed with the very few of your
Lordship's friends who were in town, and considered a little more
maturely the constant temper and standing maxims of the party, I laid
aside the design,--not being desirous of risking the displeasure of
those for whose sake alone I wished to take that fatiguing journey at
this severe season of the year.

The Duke of Portland has taken with him some heads of deliberation,
which were the result of a discourse with his Grace and Mr. Montagu at
Burlington House. It seems essential to the cause that your Lordship
should meet your friends with some settled plan either of action or
inaction. Your friends will certainly require such a plan; and I am sure
the state of affairs requires it, whether they call for it or not. As to
the measure of a secession with reasons, after rolling the matter in my
head a good deal, and turning it an hundred ways, I confess I still
think it the most advisable, notwithstanding the serious objections that
lie against it, and indeed the extreme uncertainty of all political