On the shore at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, a British officer stepped out of his boat to meet three American civilians. They were members of the Continental Congress, sent as a committee to talk with the British admiral — at his invitation — about the possibility of peace. The officer who met them was a sort of hostage: while the three crossed over to Staten Island to meet with Admiral Howe, he would stay behind as security for their safe-conduct. It was understandable for Admiral Howe to send the officer, but the three Americans considered a hostage unnecessary, and they insisted that the officer accompany them to meet the admiral on Staten Island.
Admiral Lord Richard Howe and his brother, General Sir William Howe, in addition to being the commanders of the British navy and army in America, were “peace commissioners”: that is, they had been given a mission to try to talk the Americans into ending the war, and had been authorized to grant pardons to those who had rebelled. But since the time when they were given that mission, the Americans had declared independence, which made the situation much more difficult: even before the declaration of independence, the British couldn’t negotiate with the Continental Congress, because that would be acknowledging the Congress as a legal body; and after the declaration, negotiating with them would be acknowledging the United States as independent — which the British could not do without giving up the war. As a result, the meeting was somewhat unofficial.
It was Lord Howe who had asked for the meeting. The majority of Congress had eventually agreed to it — some because they hoped that some good might come of it, and some because they thought it would at least show that the Americans were willing to listen to what the British had to say. But many didn’t think that anything would really come of it.
Now, on September 11, 1776, the three Americans were rowed over to Staten Island on Admiral Howe’s barge. The admiral met them at the beach and expressed his appreciation for the fact that they trusted him enough not to think they needed a hostage. One of them, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, had known Howe while in England, and he introduced the other two: John Adams of Massachusetts, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina.
In an abandoned house nearby that had been spruced up for the occasion, Howe treated his visitors to a good meal, and then they fell to talking for about three hours. Howe told them he was in a rather delicate situation; “he was rather going beyond his Powers” by meeting with members of Congress. They assured him that they would not misrepresent anything he said, that he could consider them “in any view he thought proper…and that the Conversation might be held as amongst friends”.
But what could Howe possibly accomplish? If the colonies would give up their idea of independence, he said, then things could probably still be patched up somehow, because the king wanted peace. But Franklin replied that they had already petitioned the king for peace, and had gotten war as an answer: “Forces had been sent out, and Towns destroyed—that they [Americans] could not expect Happiness now under the Domination of Great Britain—that all former Attachment was obliterated“. Adams added that it wasn’t merely the Continental Congress who had declared independence: it was their constituents who had asked them to do so, and they couldn’t reverse that decision. And Rutledge pointed out that the new United States might be more valuable to Britain as allies than they had ever been as colonies. At one point, Franklin made one of his subtly brilliant strokes of wit:
During the conversation Ld. Howe said it wou’d make him very uneasy to see America plunder’d and laid waste. Doctr. Franklin assured his L[or]dship we were taking the most effectual measures to save him that uneasiness.
What came of the conference? Nothing, really:
Lord Howe said, that if such were their Sentiments, he could only lament it was not in his Power to bring about the Accommodation he wished—that he had not Authority, nor did he expect he ever should have, to treat with the Colonies as States independent of the Crown of Great Britain—and that he was sorry the Gentlemen had had the trouble of coming so far, to so little purpose…
Their conversation over, the three Americans started their return journey to Philadelphia to report to Congress, and Lord Howe prepared for his next attack on the American army at New York.