n every other British hand, it would afford no proof that in
Chatham's they might not have thriven and borne fruit.

"But what at the same period was the position of Congress? Had that
assembly shown of late an enlightened zeal for the public interests, and
did it then stand high in the confidence and affection of its
countrymen? Far otherwise. The factions and divisions prevailing at
their town of York (in Virginia, where they removed from Baltimore), the
vindictive rigour to political opponents, the neglect of Washington's
army, and the cabals against Washington's powers, combined to create
disgust, with other less avoidable causes, as the growing depreciation
of the paper-money, the ruinous loss of trade, and the augmented burdens
of the war. Is the truth of this picture denied? Hear then, as
witnesses, the members of Congress themselves. We find in this very
month of March (1778), one of them write to another on the necessity of
joint exertions to "revive the expiring reputation of Congress." (Letter
from William Duer, of New York, to Robert Morris, dated March 6th, 1778,
and printed in the Life of Reed, Vol. I., p. 365.) We find another
lamenting that 'even good Whigs begin to think peace, at some expense,
desirable.' (General Reed to President Wharton, February 1, 1778.)

"When such was the feeling in America, both as regarded Lord Chatham and
as regarded the Congress, it would not certainly follow that any
overture from the former would be rejected on account of the
disapprobation of the latter. The provinces might, perhaps, have not
been inclined to the deliberations, or even cast off the sway of the
central body, and make terms of peace for themselves. At any rate, all
such hope was not precluded; at least some such trial might be made.

"Nor does it appear to me, as to Mr. Macaulay, that there was any, even
the slightest, inconsistency in Lord Chatham having first pronounced
against the conquest of America, and yet refusing to allow her
independence. After the declaration in her behalf of France, Lord
Chatham had said, no doubt, that America could not be conquered. Had he
ever said she could not be reconciled? It was on conciliation, and not
on conquest, that he built his later hopes. He thought the declaration
of France no obstacle to his views, but rather an instrument for their
support. He conceived that the treaty of alliance concluded by the
envoys of the Congress with the Court of Versailles might tend