now we can see, ended finally any chance of reconciliation. The
sailor arrived nine days later. Lord Howe was wont to regret that
he had not arrived a little earlier, since the concessions which
he had to offer might have averted the Declaration of
Independence. In truth, however, he had little to offer. Humor
and imagination are useful gifts in carrying on human affairs,
but George III had neither. He saw no lack of humor in now once
more offering full and free pardon to a repentant Washington and
his comrades, though John Adams was excepted by name* in
repudiating the right to exist of the Congress at Philadelphia,
and in refusing to recognize the military rank of the rebel
general whom it had named: he was to be addressed in civilian
style as "George Washington Esq." The King and his ministers had
no imagination to call up the picture of high-hearted men
fighting for rights which they held dear.

* Trevelyan, "American Revolution", Part II, vol. I (New Ed.,
vol. II), 261.


Lord Howe went so far as to address a letter to "George
Washington Esq. &c. &c.," and Washington agreed to an interview
with the officer who bore it. In imposing uniform and with the
stateliest manner, Washington, who had an instinct for effect,
received the envoy. The awed messenger explained that the symbols
" &c. &c." meant everything, including, of course, military
titles; but Washington only said smilingly that they might mean
anything, including, of course, an insult, and refused to take
the letter. He referred to Congress, a body which Howe could not
recognize, the grave question of the address on an envelope and