On This Day In 1776, Washington And Franklin Rejected Britain’s Pardon Offer

This entry is part 19 of 32 in the series ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

It was Saturday, July 20, 1776.

A British emissary came ashore under a flag of truce and met George Washington face to face. After two British letters had failed to recognize Washington’s military rank, Lt. Col. James Patterson called him “Excellency” throughout the meeting.

Patterson still placed the same disputed letter on the table, now addressed to “George Washington, &c. &c. &c.” Washington refused it.

Then Patterson described the peace powers given to Lord Richard Howe and Gen. William Howe, including the authority to offer pardons. Washington answered that “those who had committed no fault wanted no pardon.”

That same day, Benjamin Franklin sent Lord Howe a written answer to the same premise. Britain still approached Americans as rebels who could submit and receive forgiveness. Washington and Franklin answered as leaders of an independent country.

The DX Brief

Lt. Col. James Patterson met Washington under a flag of truce on July 20, 1776.
Patterson addressed Washington as “Excellency” but brought the same letter that omitted his public rank.
Washington said “&c. &c. &c.” could imply everything or anything and declined the letter.
Washington told Patterson that Americans defending what they considered an indisputable right needed no pardon.
Benjamin Franklin rejected Lord Howe’s “Offers of Pardon upon Submission” in a July 20 letter.
Congress authorized Franklin to send his answer and thanked the Americans who had repulsed the British attack on South Carolina.
Congress advanced prisoner exchanges, foreign-treaty planning and supplies for troops in the Flying Camp.
Washington’s General Orders remitted the punishment of a soldier convicted of desertion after favorable circumstances appeared in his case.

The letter still lacked a general

As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Washington’s headquarters had already refused British letters addressed to “George Washington Esqr.” rather than to him as commander in chief.

Patterson tried to move past the dispute during the July 20 meeting. The official memorandum recorded that he addressed Washington as “Excellency” and said the Howes did not intend to diminish his rank.

But the letter itself still failed to identify Washington’s public office. Patterson placed it on the table with the address “George Washington, &c. &c. &c.” and argued that the added abbreviations implied every title that should follow.

Washington replied that the letters “implied everything, and they also implied anything.” A message concerning his public station needed to identify that station, he said, and he would continue to reject correspondence addressed to him as a private person.

Patterson did not press the point further. Britain had finally spoken Washington’s title in the room, but it still would not put that title on the page.

Americans needed no pardon

The discussion moved from titles to peace. Patterson said the king’s “goodness and benevolence” had led him to appoint the Howe brothers as commissioners with broad powers to resolve the conflict.

Washington drew a firm boundary. He told Patterson that Congress had not authorized him to negotiate a reconciliation. From what the Americans had seen, the Howes could offer pardons, but they could not recognize American independence or negotiate peace on that basis.

Washington then delivered the sentence that defined the meeting: “those who had committed no fault wanted no pardon.” The Americans, he added, were defending what they considered their “indisputable right.”

The two men also discussed the treatment and exchange of prisoners, including British Gen. Richard Prescott, Ethan Allen and American officers held in Boston. Patterson remained courteous before Washington’s officers escorted him back to his boat.

The conference had opened a channel of communication. It had not narrowed the political distance between the two sides.

Franklin answers Howe in writing

Franklin made the same argument more sharply in a July 20 letter to Lord Howe.

Howe had written Franklin personally and forwarded official dispatches. Franklin answered that those papers offered only “Offers of Pardon upon Submission,” calling Howe’s mission “so hopeless a Business.”

The offer reversed the roles of injured party and offender, Franklin argued. Britain had burned towns, brought foreign troops to America and inflicted the injuries that destroyed the colonists’ remaining attachment to their former country.

Franklin had spent years trying to preserve what he called “that fine and noble China Vase the British Empire.” Once broken, he warned, a perfect reunion could scarcely be expected.

He still left one narrow door open. If Britain could treat America as distinct states at war, Franklin believed peace might remain possible before the United States entered foreign alliances. He immediately added that he did not believe Howe possessed that power.

Congress did not adopt Franklin’s letter as an official declaration. It resolved that he “may, if he thinks proper,” send the answer. The decision allowed Franklin to speak in his own voice while making clear that Congress did not object.

Congress prepares for war, not submission

John Adams told Abigail Adams that news of the American victory at Sullivan’s Island had arrived from South Carolina. He also sent her Lord Howe’s letter and proclamation, writing that they had “let the Cat out of the Bag” and that “These Tricks deceive no longer.”

Samuel Adams reached the same conclusion in a letter to Boston clergyman Samuel Cooper. Britain’s effort to build support for reconciliation had come too late, he wrote, because “The American States have declared themselves no longer the Subjects of the British King.”

The rest of Congress’ July 20 record showed how little confidence lawmakers placed in British pardon offers.

Congress thanked Maj. Gen. Charles Lee, Col. William Moultrie, Col. William Thomson and the troops who had repulsed the British attack on South Carolina on June 28. It also empowered departmental commanders to negotiate prisoner exchanges and ordered the proposed plan of foreign treaties printed for congressional use.

Lawmakers directed five tons of powder toward South Carolina, ordered supplies for Maryland troops in the Flying Camp and told Col. John Haslet to march his Delaware troops to Philadelphia. A committee also reported on ways to expand the Flying Camp.

Those actions pointed in one direction. Congress was honoring battlefield resistance, preparing foreign relations and moving men and supplies. It was not organizing a return to British rule.

Mercy without submission

Washington’s July 20 General Orders recorded a different kind of mercy inside the Continental Army.

A court-martial had convicted Daniel Grimes of desertion. But “some favourable Circumstances” appeared on his behalf, and Washington remitted the punishment. The provost marshal was ordered to place Grimes in a regiment so he could perform duty until the army could return him to his own unit.

The contrast was clear. Britain’s pardon offer treated the colonies as collectively guilty and required political submission. Washington’s order addressed an individual offense after a military trial and returned the soldier to service after considering the facts of his case.

Washington rejected the idea that America needed forgiveness for defending its rights. He still reserved the authority to show mercy when a soldier’s circumstances justified it.

Why it mattered

July 20, 1776, exposed the central failure of Britain’s peace effort.

The Howes approached the conflict as a rebellion that might end through pardons and submission. Washington and Franklin treated it as a war between Britain and states that had declared themselves independent.

Washington would not accept official correspondence that erased the command Congress had given him. He would not negotiate a reconciliation without authority from Congress. And he would not ask forgiveness for defending what Americans believed to be their rights.

Franklin’s answer reached the same conclusion from another direction. He had once worked to preserve the British Empire, but he now believed Britain had shattered the relationship and lacked the power to offer the only peace Americans could consider: peace between distinct states.

The British came offering pardons.

The Americans answered that independence was not a crime.

Tomorrow on Road to Independence

July 21, 1776: Washington told his army about the American victory at Charleston, demanded discipline and vigilance, and urged his soldiers to match the courage of men who had repulsed the British fleet.

Read the July 14 installment: Washington Refused A British Letter That Would Not Call Him General.

Follow the full Road to Independence series here.