A Circular, a Declaration, and a Letter from the King’s Commissioner
Off the coast of Massachusetts, on board His Majesty’s Ship Eagle, Lord Howe wrote a letter to the colonial governors and a declaration to the American people at large. He was one of the commissioners appointed by King George III to restore peace in America — and he was also the new commander of the British fleet in America. (The other commissioner was his brother, Sir William Howe, who was also the commander-in-chief of British troops in America.) It was June 20, 1776; Lord Howe was just arriving from England, and he hoped to send the letter and publish the proclamation as soon as possible. But the weather didn’t cooperate, and he didn’t actually reach his destination — Sandy Hook, near New York, where a number of British ships were already stationed — until three weeks later, on July 12. By that time, the Continental Congress had already declared independence, and it was a bit late to offer pardons in hopes of getting the rebellious Americans to lay down their arms and “return to their duty”. The declaration didn’t really offer much else; in substance, it simply said that if the Americans stopped rebelling, then all would be forgiven, and those who helped to restore the peace would be rewarded. That sort of talk wasn’t likely to change many people’s minds at this point in the war.
Here, for your reading enjoyment, is the full text of the declaration:
Whereas, by an act passed in the last session of Parliament to prohibit all trade and intercourse with the Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower Counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, and for other purposes therein mentioned, it is enacted, that “it shall and may be lawful to and for any person or persons, appointed and authorized by his Majesty, to grant a pardon or pardons to any number or description of persons, by Proclamation, in his Majesty’s name; to declare any Colony or Province, Colonies or Provinces, or any County, Town, Port, District, or place, in any Colony or Province, to be at the peace of his Majesty; and that from and after the issuing of any such Proclamation in any of the aforesaid Colonies or Provinces, or if his Majesty shall be graciously pleased to signify the same by his Royal Proclamation, then, and from and after the issuing of such Proclamation, the said act, with respect to such Colony or Province, Colonies or Provinces, County, Town, Port, District, or place, shall cease, determine, and be utterly void.
And whereas the King, desirous to deliver all his subjects from the calamities of war, and other oppressions which they now undergo, and to restore the said Colonies to his protection and peace, as soon as the constitutional authority of Government therein may be replaced, hath been graciously pleased, by letters patent under the great seal, dated the 6th day of May, in the sixteenth year of his Majesty’s reign, to nominate and appoint me, Richard Viscount Howe, of the Kingdom of Ireland, and William Howe, Esq., General of his Forces in North-America, and each of us, jointly and severally, to be his Majesty’s Commissioner and Commissioners for granting his free and general pardons to all those who in the tumult of and disorder of the times may have deviated from their just allegiance, and who are willing, by a speedy return to their duty, to reap the benefits of the Royal favour, and also for declaring, in his Majesty’s name, any Colony, Province, County, Town, Port, District, or place, to be at the peace of his Majesty;—I do, therefore, hereby declare that due consideration shall be had to the meritorious services of all persons who shall aid and assist in restoring the publick tranquillity in the said Colonies, or in any part or parts thereof; that pardons shall be granted, dutiful representations received, and every suitable encouragement given for promoting such measures as shall be conducive to the establishment of legal Government and peace, in pursuance of his Majesty’s most gracious purposes aforesaid.
Given on board his Majesty’s ship the Eagle, off the coast of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, the 20th day of June, 1776.
Letter to Franklin
On the same day, Howe wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin. The two had become friends while Franklin was in England, and Howe expressed his hopes of “promoting the reestablishment of lasting Peace and Union with the Colonies.” But he didn’t quite get the response he was looking for.
Sources
- American Archives, Fourth Series, 6:1001-1002.
- “To Benjamin Franklin from Lord Howe, 20 June[–12 July 1776],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0282. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 22, March 23, 1775, through October 27, 1776, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London:: Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 483–484.]