Carlisle Peace Commission
Encyclopedia
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
negotiators who were sent to North America in 1778, during the American War of Independence
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, with an offer to the rebellious Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
, who had declared themselves to be the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, of self-rule within the British Empire. The Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
, aware that British troops were about to be withdrawn from Philadelphia, insisted on demanding full independence, which the commission was not authorised to grant. The Peace Commission marked the first time the British government formally agreed to negotiate with Congress; a previous attempt at negotiation
Staten Island Peace Conference
The Staten Island Peace Conference was a brief meeting held in the hope of bringing an end to the American Revolution. The conference took place on September 11, 1776, at Billop Manor, the residence of Colonel Christopher Billop, on Staten Island, New York...
in 1776 took place despite lacking that formality.
Background
The first attempt at negotiation between Great Britain and the rebellious Thirteen ColoniesThirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
after the outbreak in April 1775 of the American War of Independence took place in September 1776, when a committee from the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
agreed to meet with Admiral Lord Richard Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...
, who had been given limited powers to treat with colonies individually. The limited authority given to both Howe and the American negotiators made it a virtual certainty that nothing would come of the meeting. The meeting
Staten Island Peace Conference
The Staten Island Peace Conference was a brief meeting held in the hope of bringing an end to the American Revolution. The conference took place on September 11, 1776, at Billop Manor, the residence of Colonel Christopher Billop, on Staten Island, New York...
was a failure, in part because the Congress had recently declared independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
from Britain, something Howe was not authorised to recognise, and because the American commissioners had no substantive authority from Congress to negotiate.
After the British defeat at Saratoga
Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, south of Saratoga, New York...
in October 1777, and fearful of French recognition of American independence, the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Lord North, had Parliament repeal such offensive measures as the Tea Act
Tea Act
The Tea Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. Its principal overt objective was to reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses. A related objective was to undercut the price of tea smuggled into Britain's...
and the Massachusetts Government Act
Massachusetts Government Act
The Massachusetts Government Act was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain and became a law on May 20, 1774. The act is one of the Intolerable Acts , designed to suppress dissent and restore order in the Province of Massachusetts Bay...
, and sent a commission to seek a negotiated settlement with the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
. The commission was empowered to offer a type of self-rule that Thomas Pownall
Thomas Pownall
Thomas Pownall was a British politician and colonial official. He was governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1758 to 1760, and afterward served in the British Parliament. He traveled widely in the North American colonies prior to the American Revolutionary War, and opposed...
had first proposed a decade earlier (and which later became Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
status). The fact that the commission was authorised to negotiate with the Continental Congress as a body also represented a change in official British government policy, which had before then been to treat only with the individual states.
Historian David Wilson is of the opinion that the war could have been avoided if the terms it proposed had been offered in 1775. Historian Peter Whiteley, however, notes that King George was unlikely to agree to make such an offer then.
Commission
William Eden organized and served on the commission, but it was headed by the Earl of CarlisleFrederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle
Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, KG, KT, PC was a British diplomat and the son of Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle and his second wife Isabella Byron....
, and also included George Johnstone who had previously served as Governor of West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
. Walpole
Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He is now largely remembered for Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south-west London where he revived the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors,...
remarked that Carlisle, then a young man, was "very fit to make a treaty that will not be made" and that he "was totally unacquainted with business and though not void of ambition, had but moderate parts and less application." Richard Jackson
Richard Jackson (colonial agent)
Richard Jackson, K.C. , nicknamed "Omniscient Jackson", was a British lawyer and politician. A King's Counsel, he acted as official solicitor or counsel of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, owner of lands in New England, and colonial agent of Connecticut.Jackson was called to the...
declined to serve after it became known that the United States and France had signed a Treaty of Alliance
Treaty of Alliance (1778)
The Treaty of Alliance, also called The Treaty of Alliance with France, was a defensive alliance between France and the United States of America, formed in the midst of the American Revolutionary War, which promised military support in case of attack by British forces indefinitely into the future...
. The commissioners also learned of the Franco-American alliance
Franco-American alliance
The Franco-American alliance refers to the 1778 alliance between Louis XVI's France and the United States, during the American Revolutionary War. Formalized in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, it was a military pact in which France provided arms and money, and engaged in full-scale war with Britain. ...
before they set out in April.
One thing the commissioners did not learn before their departure was that General Sir Henry Clinton
Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)
General Sir Henry Clinton KB was a British army officer and politician, best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence. First arriving in Boston in May 1775, from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America...
had been ordered to evacuate Philadelphia, even though his orders had been issued one month before they left. Carlisle was of the opinion that the administration had done this intentionally, since they might not otherwise have gone at all. Carlisle wrote to his wife of the situation, "We all look grave, and perhaps we think we look wise. I fear nobody will think so when we return ... I don't see what we have to do here." Upon learning of the planned withdrawal, Carlisle appealed to Clinton to delay it, but Clinton cited his orders to act without delay in rejecting the appeal. This prompted Carlisle to observe that the administration wanted the commission to be "a mixture of ridicule, nullity, and embarrassments." Eden was upset that he wasn't told of Clinton's orders, since the British intent to withdraw further stiffened American resolve. On June 13, the commissioners sent a package of proposals to Congress, which was then holding sessions in York, Pennsylvania
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
. Congress replied insisting that either American independence be recognised, or that all British forces first withdraw from the states, terms the commission was not authorised to accept. The commission attempted to appeal to public opinion, with warnings of widespread destruction, but was unsuccessful. Johnstone tried to bribe some Congressmen, and the Marquis de Lafayette challenged Carlisle to a duel over some anti-French statements he had made.
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
wrote several essays against the proposals. The Commissioners circulated a Manifesto, which was printed in the Hartford Courant, October 10, 1778. The Marquess of Rockingham
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, KG, PC , styled The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750 and The Earl Malton in 1750, was a British Whig statesman, most notable for his two terms as Prime...
, a leading opponent of the war, objected to the threats in the Manifesto, and moved to disavow it.
Aftermath
Johnstone sailed to Britain in August, and the other commissioners returned in November 1778. The British, being unable to bring Washington to a decisive engagement, resumed the military campaign, and turned to a "Southern Strategy"Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War
The Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central area of operations in North America in the second half of the American Revolutionary War. During the first three years of the conflict, the primary military encounters had been in the north, focused on campaigns around the...
as their next attempt to win the war in North America. There were no further substantive peace overtures until after the American victory at Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
in 1781.