The Carlisle Commission: A Reexamination

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The Carlisle Commission: A Reexamination"

Denis Jefferson
5 years ago
Views:

1 The Carlisle Commission: A Reexamination Joseph P. Cunningham HI-411: Historian s Craft May 9, 2017

2 Dr. Robert Smith of Worcester State University is responsible for my becoming aware of the need for a study of the diplomatic mission to the United States by Britain in When discussing possible subjects for a capstone thesis, the need for a study of the primary effort towards reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies was advanced as a subject in need of more in depth analysis and study. This mission is known most familiarly as The Carlisle Commission. For a subject that produced such heated debate by the statesman on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean during the revolution to be so ignored by historians past and present, with just a few exceptions, is perplexing. Perhaps so little is written on this subject because the effort was a complete failure as far as diplomatic missions are judged. Hubris, suspicion, mistrust, poor timing and a failure to even meet with each other are a few of the ingredients needed for total diplomatic failure. When considering the failure of the Carlisle Commission, and it was an utter failure, two of the most often cited opinions divide along the lines of British insincerity or American Hubris. In reality, it was both. British historians have paid little attention to the attempt at reconciliation between the King and his Colonies perhaps due to their realization that more aggressive military force against their wayward American cousins from the beginning might have prevented a separation later. On the American side, peace commissions somewhat get in the way of the narrative of a tyrannical King, a non-representative, out of touch Parliament and condescending ruling class out to dismiss and swipe aside American grievances and take away American freedoms and rights to self-rule. Both sides appear somewhat to blame for the outcome. As the Mother country, Britain never should have let things get to the point where they had so alienated the population of her greatest possession. Once hostilities began, but not yet full blown war, the offers of a return to peace through reconciliation needed to come from what at the

3 time was the greatest military power on earth, Great Britain. The Americans would simply need to reject or accept. England had more to lose and America more to gain. Britain s choice was preservation of the existing order or loss of her Crown Jewel. For America, the choice was continuation of the status quo under the King, or the possibility of Independence and national self-identity. Before 1776, the majority in both America and England felt a reunion the wisest course. Most Americans still thought of themselves as subjects of the Crown. By 1778, three full years after Lexington and Concord, and six months after the Americans had defeated Burgoyne at Saratoga, peace initiatives were probably doomed from the start. Washington s Army was still struggling just to survive but Saratoga had bolstered morale. Americans had the Declaration of Independence to look to for spine stiffening. The Franco-American alliance was about to happen and this would create any number of headaches for England, militarily as well as financially. Reconciliation with America might be the most politically expedient thing to do in order to head off any such alliance but would the Americans now be able to see this as sincere. If there was a peace commission, an olive branch from the King and his Prime-Minister Lord North, who would they send? Would it be some friendly group of avuncular diplomats familiar with the American people and their spirit, or would it be cold, calculating agents of Lord North determined only to pursue British self-interest. As part of this study, examination must be undertaken of earlier peace initiatives by Britain towards its former American Colony. We know through our history books of General Howe and of Admiral Howe, two brothers that played a large part for England in the revolutionary war, but few are aware of their roles as peace commissioners of high reputation

4 early in the war but with little power with which to negotiate peace terms acceptable to the Americans The reinvestigation of the Carlisle Commission and all that is connected with it, the motives, the timing, the economics, Parliament, The Continental Congress, and the Armies on both sides all will come alive as well as the key players; King George III, Lord North, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, Gouverneur Morris. It will introduce the three Carlisle Commissioners Anthony Eden, Lord Carlisle, and George Johnstone, and lastly it will attempt to ask why this unexplored chapter in Anglo- American diplomacy remains so. Adams, William Howard Gouverneur Morris - An Independent Life. 1st ed. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. Gouverneur Morris may not be a household name to any but students of history and the American Revolution. Like the Carlisle Commission that he so strongly opposed, Morris is somewhat obscure and underappreciated, in fact, it may be his actual name, Gouverneur Morris that he his most known for as most people want to pronounce it as Governor. William Howard Adams brings Morris to life in Gouverneur Morris: An Independent Life. Morris was one of this nation s prominent and important contributors in a number of crucial arenas during our revolutionary war years and beyond. Just 23 when shots rang out at Lexington and Concord, Morris would be elected first to the New York State Provincial Congress and later was a signer of the Articles of Confederation as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress. Post-War he would have many high-profile positions in the public service but perhaps

5 no role that he would ever play was more important than the one he would play in his leadership in opposing the Carlisle Peace Commission. A close friend of George Washington, it was to Morris that Washington first turned to when he learned of Lord North and Parliament s plan to offer conciliation to the Colonies. Washington saw this as the ploy to weaken American resolve in the public s mind. In Congress and in the military. It was to Gouverneur Morris that not only Washington, but Congress as well, turned to for preparing a defense against what they felt was a duplicitous scheme by Britain created to fend off a potential Franco-American alliance. Brown, Gerald Saxon The American Secretary: The Policy of Lord George Germain Toward the American Revolution, st ed. Ann Arbour: University of Michigan Press. This work is significant in that although Lord George Germain did not play a direct role in the Carlisle Peace Commission, he was passionately anti-american and therefore he wanted no part in seeing a conciliatory peace offering on the part of Britain towards the Americans. His was a life of ups and downs. Born to privilege, he rose to a position in both the Army and in politics despite being driven out of the military and being censured as unfit during the 1750 s. It was Germain s good fortune that the only friend that remained loyal to him was the Prince of Wales, later to become King George III. Germain was responsible for the execution of the war and in doing so, faithfully executed the orders of his King. The problem was that Germain often gave unclear orders to his Generals 3,000 miles away and most of the major British losses in North America, beginning with General

6 Burgoyne at Saratoga and ending with Cornwallis at Yorktown could directly point back to Germain and his bungling. It is key to understand his role and his poor relationship with the Commissioners in order to see one more reason that the Commission failed. Brown, Weldon A., and Ralph A. Brown Empire or Independence: A Study in The Failure of Reconciliation st ed. Port Washington: Kennikat Press, Inc. This work by Weldon A. Brown is the seminal work on the Carlisle Commission and all things related to it. Written in 1941, on the brink of World War II, Brown makes a valid point in his introduction about diplomacy and being aware of what unintended wars may bring and ensuring that all avenues for preventing a war are explored before they happen. Obviously, he relates his point to whether or not England had done all it could have to prevent the separation with its Colonies in America. In this book is the most extensive work on the Carlisle Peace Commission to this point, even though written some 75 years ago. Brown covers all of the players from the American side as well as the British to include the King, the Prime Minister Lord North, Lord Germain the American Secretary, the Howe brothers and all of the Generals fighting in America. Just about every major work written on the subject of the Carlisle Commission References Empire or Independence by Weldon A. Brown and that is why it plays such a crucial role in my paper.

7 Cook, Don The Long Fuse - How England Lost the American Colonies, st ed. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. There is an element of international intrigue in the study of the Carlisle Peace commission. Much of that intrigue involved Benjamin Franklin in Paris and his attempts to secretly enter in to an Alliance with King Louis XVI and the French. Franklin would often have to switch carriages multiple times in order to successfully meet with key players in the French hierarchy. Not much is found about Franklin s role in the Carlisle Commission but it was his work at luring in the French that is one of the key elements of this examination. The Long Fuse is rife with personal anecdotes as to what some of the key players in France and England thought and whispered about each other that gives the whole story a human element as well as a good foundation as to the who s who of players involved. Ferling, John E Almost A Miracle: The American Victory In The War Of Independence. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press. This work covers in depth all aspects of the revolutionary war from the battles and major engagements to the Generals and politicians that all played a role in this 8year period of war and separation. This is a very well researched and in depth look at the revolution that not only covers the great events but portrays the everyday soldier on both sides and what life was like not only for our citizen soldiers but for those British conscripts and Hessian Mercenaries as well. One key contribution this work makes to the examination of the Carlisle Commission is the revelation of a British plan discussed in Parliament that would become known as the

8 Southern Plan. The southern plan was the brainchild of Charles Jenkins, a veteran undersecretary in the British Treasury, who had been credited in the past with some of the most unpopular British policies as they related to the colonies. This plan would call for consolidating all British possessions below New York. It was put proposed that by cutting loose everything in New England and capitalizing on the loyalist populations in the south, The dominance of the Anglican church which was the only church in the south, and exploiting the fears of colonists in Georgia that desired a strong central government for protection against hostile Indian attacks, most of their American prize could be saved. Laurens, Henry. Letters of Delegates to Congress, June 1, September 30, Volume 10, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, ( ). (accessed May 8, 2017) Henry Laurens served as President of the Continental Congress from early 1777 until the end of This was during some of the most trying times of our nations early days and the period on which this work is based, the Carlisle Peace Commission. In several of his letters, Laurens staunchly rejects the tone and authority of the Carlisle Commission as well as the integrity of one member in particular, George Johnstone, a former Governor of West Florida who in these letters is being accused of attempting to bribe members of congress to be favorably disposed to the Carlisle Commissions overtures of reconciliation. Laurens tolerates no hypocrisy from the Commissioners and does a very effective job of excoriating them through his letters while at the same time giving backbone to his fellow

9 congressman. It was the leadership of Henry Laurens that directed there would be no meeting with the Carlisle Commission. Manifesto and Proclamation, Of the Carlisle Peace Commission: Wm. Thomas Sherman, Editor: Free Download & Streaming: Internet Archive. Internet Archive. (Accessed May 8, 2017) Having arrived in America within six months of the British defeat at Saratoga and at just about the same time as the British evacuate from Philadelphia, the Carlisle Commission had arrived in early June and were informed through back channels as well as Henry Laurens letter of 17 June 1778, that there would be no meeting with the Commission face to face unless the British immediately withdrew all troops from the colonies and granted full independence. These obviously were concessions that the Earl of Carlisle was not authorized to grant. The Manifesto is a last gasp effort at one last attempt to deliver a message of reconciliation. In the Manifest the Commission appeals to some basic constituencies such as Congress, local state legislatures, the religious clergy and the merchants affected by the war. It was to no avail. Morris, Gouverneur. Letters of Delegates to Congress, June 1, September 30, Volume 10, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, ( ). (accessed May 8, 2017) Gouverneur Morris was as straight forward and adamant that this Commission was an insincere fraud as anyone in America. Originally brought in to the fray by a letter from

10 Washington in which he points out the danger that this Commission posed to his fledgling army s support from the Congress as well as the general population, Morris took charge in the attack on the motives of the Commissioners. Especially interesting is Morris s destroying of the reputation of George Johnstone for attempting to bribe members of congress.

1- England Became Great Britain in the early 1700s. 2- Economic relationships Great Britain imposed strict control over trade.

1- England Became Great Britain in the early 1700s 2- Economic relationships Great Britain imposed strict control over trade. Great Britain taxed the colonies after the French and Indian War Colonies traded