The currents of the past are too swift and intricate to be measured exactly by the observer who stands on the shore of the present, but it is arguable that the Whigs might soon have brought about peace in England had it not been for the intervention of France.

No serious person any longer thought that taxation could be enforced upon America or that the colonies should be anything but free in regulating their own affairs.

George III himself said that he who declared the taxing of America to be worth what it cost was "more fit for Bedlam than a seat in the Senate." The one concession Britain was not yet prepared to make was Independence.

But Burke and many other Whigs were ready now for this, though Chatham still believed it would be the ruin of the British Empire.
Chatham, however, was all for conciliation, and it is not hard to imagine a group of wise men chosen from both sides, men British in blood and outlook, sitting round a table and reaching an agreement to result in a real independence for America and a real unity with Great Britain.
A century and a quarter later a bitter war with an alien race in South Africa was followed by a result even more astounding.

The surrender of Burgoyne had made the Prime Minister, Lord North, weary of his position.
He had never been in sympathy with the King's policy and since the bad news had come in December he had pondered some radical step which should end the war.