George III. and the American Revolution: The beginnings

Burke said, "than that Englishmen beyond the seas should claim the full rights of Englishmen."

How it was that the voice of Burke, as well as of Chatham and other English champions of the rights of the colonists, was unavailing in a Parliament of "King's Friends" and placemen, who little thought that a day would dawn when descendants of these same colonists would come marching through London in their tens of thousands as comrades-inarms of sons of the old Motherland in a later fight for freedom, will be seen in the following pages. The present work does not profess to furnish the historian with much new material, though certain of the letters are now printed for the first time. It is simply an attempt to illustrate the character and times of George III. and the early years of his reign, and re-tell the story of the American Revolution through its first phase, by the method which I have adopted in earlier volumes in my series of "History in Contemporary Letters "—allowing the leading actors in the drama to state their case as far as possible in their own words.

The record will, it is hoped, be completed in a subsequent volume, and some day, perhaps, fall into its place in the series in which it is proposed to illustrate the whole course of English history. Whether such a method may be profitably applied to a period so prolific in its correspondence as the eighteenth century, I must leave to the judgment of others. To my mind these letters invest the story of the American Revolution, as well as contemporary affairs in the Motherland, with a vivid human interest which only those who had lived and moved among the scenes depicted could impart. Letters written with no view to publication, as Stuart Reid said in quoting from the correspondence of the Duke of Marlborough, are like unsuspected doors which, when opened, throw new light on the pages of history." Though most of the correspondence now brought together from many different sources may be familiar to practised historians, much of it will be new to most British readers, who, to tell the truth, know comparatively little of American history, notwithstanding the noble library of scholarly works on the subject. American readers who, according to Lord Bryce,

know the history of their country better than the English know that of England, will, it is hoped, find in the present compilation, with its impartial selection of witnesses both for and against, something of service towards that better understanding between the two great English-speaking peoples which is the chief hope for the future peace of the world.

Most of the portraits now printed have been selected from the collection in the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait of the 3rd Earl of Bute is in the possession of the Earl of Wharncliffe and is reproduced by his permission from "Historical Portraits," Fletcher and Walker (Oxford University Press, 1919).

Acknowledgments are due to the Controller of His Majesty's Stationery Office for permission to reprint the letters now selected from the publications of the Historical Manuscripts Commission; to Mr. Murray for extracts from the following books which he publishes : Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox," edited by the Countess of Ilchester and Lord Stavordale; and "Autobiography and Political Correspondence of the 3rd Duke of Grafton," edited by Sir W. R. Anson; to Mr. Lewis Melville for the text of the letter from Princess Charlotte to Frederick the Great, from his life of "Farmer George," published by Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons; Professor Hosmer for a brief letter from his life of "Samuel Adams," published by David Douglas; and Messrs. Putnam for the letter quoted from W. Farrand Livingston's life of "Israel Putnam." My indebtedness to the works of other authors has, I hope, been made sufficiently clear in the course of the following narrative.

July 4th, 1923.

FRANK A. MUMBY.

MANUSCRIPT SOURCES, OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS, AND OTHER WORKS FROM WHICH LETTERS HAVE BEEN SELECTED.

Dartmouth MSS. Historical MSS. Commission.

MSS. of Miss M. Eyre Matcham. Historical MSS. Commission.
Fortescue Papers. Historical MSS. Commission.

MSS. of Captain H. V. Knox. Historical MSS. Commission.
Ellis's Original Letters, 4th series.

Correspondence of George III. with Lord North. 1867.
"Memoirs of George III." J. H. Jesse. 1867.

"Farmer George." Lewis Melville. 1907.

"Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox." Countess of Ilchester and Lord Stavordale.

Edited by the

1901.

Walpole's Letters. Edited by Peter Cunningham. 1857-59. Correspondence of Chatham. 1838-40.

Correspondence of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.

1842-46.

Autobiography and Political Correspondence of the 3rd Duke of Grafton. Edited by Sir W. R. Anson.

1898.

Correspondence of Edmund Burke. Edited by Earl Fitzwilliam and Sir R. Bourke. 1844.

The Grenville Papers. Edited by W. J. Smith. 1852-53.
The Letters of Junius. Edited by J. Wade. 1850.
George Selwyn and his Contemporaries. J. H. Jesse. 1843-44.
Memoirs of Rockingham and his Contemporaries. 1852.

Letters of Lord Chesterfield. Edited by Lord Mahon. 1845-53.

History of England from Accession of George III. to 1783. John Adolphus. 1805.

Washington Writings, with Life, Notes, etc. By J. Sparks.

1833-39. (Collated with the later and more accurate text edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford.)

Benjamin Franklin's Works. With Notes and Life by J. Sparks. 1840.

Letters of Thomas Hutchinson, Andrew Oliver, etc. Printed at Boston. 2nd edition. 1774.

"Israel Putnam." William Farrand Livingston. 1901.

Samuel Adams."

Professor Hosmer. 1886.

Prior Documents.

American Archives, 4th series. 1837-46.

1777.