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ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND

203

CHAPTER XXV

A TIME OF SEPARATION

Arrival of Sir Francis Bernard in England and his Reception by George III.— The Petition of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts impeaching Sir Francis presented to the King-Sir Francis resigns the Governorship -His Treatment by the British Government-His promised PensionLord North's Cabinet-Benjamin Franklin appointed Agent for Massachusetts-A scurrilous Report in the 'Boston Gazette '-Lady Bernard and her Children-A 'Black List' of Importers-The Boston Massacre '-Sale of Sir Francis's Furniture, &c., in Massachusetts-Death of young Francis.

SIR FRANCIS BERNARD, as already stated, sailed from Boston on August 1, 1769. He reached England after a favourable voyage of thirty-one days.1

While he was still tossing on the Atlantic Ocean, another anniversary of the Stamp Act Riots had been honoured in Boston,

at which there were present, besides Otis, Adams, and Hancock, John Adams and visitors from Philadelphia, with whom the Bostonians had sympathetic converse. Two tables were laid in the open field, by the barn near Robinson's Liberty-Tree Tavern at Dorchester, and there were three or four hundred plates. Three large pigs were 'barbecued'; there were toasts and thunders of cannon; Francis Bernard and the Commissioners-'infamous calumniators of North America '-were denounced as worthy of condign punishment; 'strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp were spoken of as appropriate for the taskmasters' of America; and all was life, patriotism, and jollity. . . . Hancock led the procession in his chariot on this occasion, and the line extended a mile and a half behind him.2

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To return to the Governor in England. His son Thomas, who accompanied him, states that he was gra

'Life of Sir Francis Bernard.

* Gilman, The Story of Boston, xxi., ‘In the Grip of the Army.'

ciously received by King George III., and that the Earl of Hillsborough treated him, not as a mere functionary, but as a valued friend. He also implies that Lord Barrington was at hand to welcome him, and to promise him support through the difficulties he still had to encounter. All this, however, took time. According to the tenor of the following letter, he had not seen either of these noblemen at the time when he had an interview with Mr. Whately, apparently on September 21; after which Mr. Whately wrote to Mr. Grenville :

I have seen Sir F. Bernard, and had a longer conversation with him than any of the Ministers; he has been admitted to none, I understand, but the Duke of Grafton; he did not see his Grace till Wednesday last, and then only for ten minutes. The Duke told him that as Lord Hillsborough was in Ireland he would not detain him from an excursion into the country for a fortnight, so indifferent are the Ministers to the information they might receive from this gentleman.

Sir Francis said to me that all the heats in America might still be quieted, but it must be by Acts, not resolves, of Parliament; that the party at Boston when he came away were very alert and triumphant; the inanity of our resolves and the concessions of the circular letter from Lord Hillsborough were the grounds of their joy; and that he doubts whether, having now none but Americans in office, the resistance on the part of Government will be so firm as when he was there. I do not give him so much credit for his personal importance as he assumed, and have myself great reliance on the temper and steadiness of Hutchinson.1

It has been seen that Mr. Hutchinson was sometimes in favour of conciliation or acquiescence, when Sir Francis believed that such a course would only embolden the Opposition. This may have been a general tendency of officials reared in America, and was very natural. It was also natural that some persons in England should favour the same view. Mr. Whately adds: 'Sir Francis is very happy in the approbation which all Ministers have shown of his conduct, and he expressed himself as greatly obliged

'Letter from Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville,' September 22, 1769, in The Grenville Papers, vol. iv.

A RIDICULOUS STORY

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to you for the honourable testimony you had given of it in the House.'

It is probable that Sir Francis employed the 'fortnight,' suggested by the Duke of Grafton as suitable for a trip to the country, in visiting Nether Winchendon, with his son, to embrace the two daughters he had left in England. Many stirring tales must he have told there of his American experiences, which seem still to haunt the place with memories of suffering and ingratitude. It is said that their good foster-mother, Mrs. Beresford, gently reproached him with not having been created a baronet as Sir Francis Bernard of Nether Winchendon,' instead of 'Nettleham,' although he knew that she intended to leave him her house and land; to which he replied that he could not suggest the name of a locality in which he had no interest at the time.

The Governor may have found it possible to pay Lord Barrington a visit, either in Berkshire or Essex, about this date, or he may have met him in London on his return. The following paragraph must have been written soon after, in a letter to Mr. Grenville, by Mr. Knox,1'a zealous supporter of British authority against America,' and, the following year, Under-Secretary for the American Colonies:

A ridiculous story is told about town as coming from Sir Francis Bernard. He says he was ordered to come home with the utmost expedition, as he was told that no colony measure could be taken till he was consulted with, and that everything was suspended on that account. He says he has now been here six weeks, and he has not yet seen the Secretary of State for America, nor has he had one conference with the Ministers upon any public measure.2

1 Note by the Editor of The Grenville Papers (Mr. W. J. Smith) to a Letter of November 25, 1765, from Mr. Knox to Mr. Grenville' (in The Grenville Papers, vol. iii.). Of this Mr. Knox it is stated, in the note, that 'His principal performance was a tract entitled The Present State of the Nation.' He also wrote 'A Letter to a Member of Parliament, wherein the Power of the British Legislature and the Case of the Colonists are briefly and impartially considered.' The same note mentions that Mr. Knox became Under-Secretary of State to Lord Hillsborough. See also vol. iv. of The Grenville Papers.

2 Letter from Mr. Knox to Mr. Grenville,' dated 'London, October 18, 1769.' in The Grenville Papers, vol. iv.

The Petition of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay to the King's Most Excellent Majesty,'1 impeaching Sir Francis Bernard for misgovernment, seems to have reached England at the same time as the Governor. It was published in the London paper on September 4, and presented to the King on the 14th. 'Sir Francis Bernard petitioned His Majesty to appoint a day for the hearing, and the 27th of January, 1770, was appointed.' This fresh ordeal he seems to have awaited with calmness and confidence. From friends in America he received cheering letters and messages.

On November 15 Secretary Oliver wrote from Boston:

Sir, I had this day the pleasure of receiving your letter by Captain Bruce, who brought me the first intelligence of your arrival in England, and I sincerely congratulate you on the gracious reception you met with from His Majesty, which your friends here look upon as an omen of future favours. A number of us dined to-day with Judge Auchmuty at Roxbury, where we drank your health, and there appeared to be a cordial remembrance of you. The Lieutenant-Governor tells me he sends you the newspapers, by which you I will see that you and others, servants of the Crown, continue to be abused.

...

Mrs. Oliver and I drank tea with Lady Bernard the day before yesterday, and found her very well. I delivered your letter for her by Bruce to your son, Mr. John Bernard. My brother, Judge Oliver, is now with me, and desires his respectful compliments may be presented to you.2

On November 21 the Secretary writes to Sir Francis:

It gives me the greatest pleasure to observe that things fall out so much to your wish, and that you are so ready to encounter the Remonstrance which has been presented against you. I think you will not want living witnesses on the spot to invalidate some of the articles alledg'd [sic], while others of them defeat their own purpose. I shall rejoice to hear of a happy issue.

The loyalists of Massachusetts were now reviving in

Life of Sir Francis Bernard.

? Hutchinson (Governor), Diary and Letters, vol. i. ch. i., from which the four successive extracts from letters immediately following are taken.

THE IMPEACHMENT OF SIR FRANCIS

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spirit, and no doubt rejoiced in imparting their hopes to the citizens of other colonies. Secretary Oliver, on the 22nd, announces to Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, that '. . . our Governor was got home, and had been admitted twice to conference with the King, by whom he was graciously received.' And on December 26, when the time for hearing the Petition was approaching and the Governor's enemies were becoming desperate, he writes to some person not named:

The Lieutenant-Governor tells me he forwarded my letter from Rutland by way of some outport. The principal occasion of my writing it was to inform you that the Speaker had a letter by Captain Hull to Mr. De Berdt, dated in September last, telling him that if the province could prove any acts of oppression Governor Bernard had been guilty of, or could make out any damages they had sustained thereby, and would send him over a power of attorney, he would prosecute him now he was in England. It was by accident I heard this letter read the evening it came to hand, but have heard no more of it since; and it betrays such a falling off, or doubt concerning the validity of what has been transmitted that I question whether it will be made public or not.1

The subsequent history of the Petition was as follows:

On the 17th of January [1770] the agent petitioned for further time; his request was granted, and the 28th of February appointed, which was afterwards confirmed as the day for hearing, notwithstanding the agent for the prosecution had preferred a second petition for further time.

The seventeen heads of the Petition have all been touched upon in the course of the preceding chapters; they may be shortly summed up as follows: 2

As the preceding letter was addressed to Peyton Randolph, and there is no intimation in the Diary and Letters of this being intended for a different person, it might be taken as written to him; but it is hardly the sort of communication that Secretary Oliver would make to a Whig like Randolph, Speaker of the Virginian House of Burgesses and First President of the Continental Congress in September 1774. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., Epoch iii. ch. iii. and xi.; Fiske, The Critical Period of American History.

2 This account is abridged from 'The Petition of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay to the King's Most Excellent Majesty.'

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