The American commissioners agreed, finally, that no future
confiscations should take place, that imprisoned Loyalists
should be released, that no further persecutions should
be permitted, and that creditors on either side should
'meet with no lawful impediment' to the recovery of all
good debts in sterling money. But with regard to the
British demand for restitution, all they could be induced
to sign was a promise that Congress would 'earnestly
recommend to the legislatures of the respective states'
a policy of amnesty and restitution.

In making this last recommendation, it is difficult not
to convict the American commissioners of something very
like hypocrisy. There seems to be no doubt that they knew
the recommendation would not be complied with; and little
or no attempt was made by them to persuade the states to
comply with it. In after years the clause was represented
by the Americans as a mere form of words, necessary to
bring the negotiations to an end, and to save the face
of the British government. To this day it has remained,
except in one or two states, a dead letter. On the other
hand it is impossible not to convict the British
commissioners of a betrayal of the Loyalists. 'Never,'
said Lord North in the House of Commons, 'never was the
honour, the humanity, the principles, the policy of a
nation so grossly abused, as in the desertion of those
men who are now exposed to every punishment that desertion
and poverty can inflict, because they were not rebels.'
'In ancient or in modern history,' said Lord Loughborough
in the House of Lords, 'there cannot be found an instance