of February, and the time of the assemblies meeting to deliberate
upon it? Degrading and famous as that motion was, there is
nevertheless reason to believe that the king and his adherents were
afraid the colonies would agree to it, and lest they should, took
effectual care they should not, by provoking them with hostilities in
the interim. They had not the least doubt at that time of conquering
America at one blow; and what they expected to get by a conquest
being infinitely greater than any thing they could hope to get either
by taxation or accommodation, they seemed determined to prevent even
the possibility of hearing each other, lest America should disappoint
their greedy hopes of the whole, by listening even to their own
terms. On the one hand they refused to hear the petition of the
continent, and on the other hand took effectual care the continent
should not hear them.

That the motion of the 20th February and the orders for commencing
hostilities were both concerted by the same person or persons, and
not the latter by General Gage, as was falsely imagined at first, is
evident from an extract of a letter of his to the administration,
read among other papers in the House of Commons; in which he informs
his masters, "That though their idea of his disarming certain
counties was a right one, yet it required him to be master of the
country, in order to enable him to execute it." This was prior to the
commencement of hostilities, and consequently before the motion of
the 20th February could be deliberated on by the several assemblies.

Perhaps it may be asked, why was the motion passed, if there was at
the same time a plan to aggravate the Americans not to listen to it?
Lord North assigned one reason himself, which was a hope of dividing
them. This was publicly tempting them to reject it; that if, in case