and rejoicing in the display of public spirit which the national disasters had evoked, Lord North did not conceal from himself the gravity of the situation. On the 17th of February he introduced two Bills, absolutely renouncing everything for which England had been contending since 1763. The first abandoned the right to impose any tax upon the American Colonies, except for the purpose of regulating trade; the second enabled the King to appoint Commissioners with powers to treat with Congress as a lawful and representative body. A difficulty it was foreseen might arise, should the Americans claim their independence in the outset of the negotiation. Shelburne advised the Ministers to try to avoid a decision, and to treat the question as was done with the preamble of Bills, which are always postponed till the clauses are agreed to.[1] North accordingly announced that the Commissioners were not to insist on the Americans renouncing independence, till the treaty should receive a final ratification by the King and Parliament of Great Britain. Nor was Shelburne blind to the difficulty of keeping up the taxes imposed for the purpose of regulating trade, of the intense hatred of which in America he had been informed when Secretary of State by Maurice Morgann in 1768. "What has come from the American Congress," he wrote to Price, "opens a new and important field for discussion, by separating regulations of trade from the consideration of a revenue. How far the riches and prosperity of a country need such regulations as we have been accustomed to see enforced by Custom House officers, at a great expense and occasioning great corruption, this is one I conceive of many subjects which must now be decided, however indisposed the Ministry may be for obvious reasons."[2]
The speech in which North announced his concessions was received with a "dull melancholy silence," and men expected "something more extraordinary and alarming than yet appeared."[3] Nor had they long to wait; for in a few days it became known that a treaty had been signed between the Court of France and the American
