Yield, however, he did.The months which followed were months of political commotion in England.For a time the ministry held its majority against the fierce attacks of Burke and Fox.The House of Commons voted that the war must go on.But the heart had gone out of British effort.Everywhere the people were growing restless.Even the ministry acknowledged that the war in America must henceforth be defensive only.In February, 1782, a motion in the House of Commons for peace was lost by only one vote; and in March, in spite of the frantic expostulations of the King, Lord North resigned.The King insisted that at any rate some members of the new ministry must be named by himself and not, as is the British constitutional custom, by the Prime Minister.On this, too, he had to yield; and a Whig ministry, under the Marquis of Rockingham, took office in March, 1782.Rockingham died on the 1st of July, and it was Lord Shelburne, later the Marquis of Lansdowne, under whom the war came to an end.The King meanwhile declared that he would return to Hanover rather than yield the independence of the colonies.Over and over again he had said that no one should hold office in his government who would not pledge himself to keep the Empire entire.But even his obstinacy was broken.On December 5, 1782, he opened Parliament with a speech in which the right of the colonies to independence was acknowledged."Did I lower my voice when I came to that part of my speech?" George asked afterwards.He might well speak in a subdued tone for he had brought the British Empire to the lowest level in its history.
In America, meanwhile, the glow of victory had given way to weariness and lassitude.Rochambeau with his army remained in Virginia.Washington took his forces back to the lines before New York, sparing what men he could to help Greene in the South.
Again came a long period of watching and waiting.Washington, knowing the obstinate determination of the British character, urged Congress to keep up the numbers of the army so as to be prepared for any emergency.Sir Guy Carleton now commanded the British at New York and Washington feared that this capable Irishman might soothe the Americans into a false security.He had to speak sharply, for the people seemed indifferent to further effort and Congress was slack and impotent.The outlook for Washington's allies in the war darkened, when in April, 1782, Rodney won his crushing victory and carried De Grasse a prisoner to England.France's ally Spain had been besieging Gibraltar for three years, but in September, 1782, when the great battering-ships specially built for the purpose began a furious bombardment, which was expected to end the siege, the British defenders destroyed every ship, and after that Gibraltar was safe.These events naturally stiffened the backs of the British in negotiating peace.Spain declared that she would never make peace without the surrender of Gibraltar, and she was ready to leave the question of American independence undecided or decided against the colonies if she could only get for herself the terms which she desired.There was a period when France seemed ready to make peace on the basis of dividing the Thirteen States, leaving some of them independent while others should remain under the British King.
Congress was not willing to leave its affairs at Paris in the capable hands of Franklin alone.In 1780 it sent John Adams to Paris, and John Jay and Henry Laurens were also members of the American Commission.The austere Adams disliked and was jealous of Franklin, gay in spite of his years, seemingly indolent and easygoing, always bland and reluctant to say No to any request from his friends, but ever astute in the interests of his country.Adams told Vergennes, the French foreign minister, that the Americans owed nothing to France, that France had entered the war in her own interests, and that her alliance with America had greatly strengthened her position in Europe.France, he added, was really hostile to the colonies, since she was jealously trying to keep them from becoming rich and powerful.Adams dropped hints that America might be compelled to make a separate peace with Britain.When it was proposed that the depreciated continental paper money, largely held in France for purchases there, should be redeemed at the rate of one good dollar for every forty in paper money, Adams declared to the horrified French creditors of the United States that the proposal was fair and just.At the same time Congress was drawing on Franklin in Paris for money to meet its requirements and Franklin was expected to persuade the French treasury to furnish him with what he needed and to an amazing degree succeeded in doing so.The self interest which Washington believed to be the dominant motive in politics was, it is clear, actively at work.In the end the American Commissioners negotiated directly with Great Britain, without asking for the consent of their French allies.On November 30, 1782, articles of peace between Great Britain and the United States were signed.They were, however, not to go into effect until Great Britain and France had agreed upon terms of peace; and it was not until September 3, 1783, that the definite treaty was signed.So far as the United States was concerned Spain was left quite properly to shift for herself.
