ABSTRACT
The conflict with America gave rise to intense, if intermittent, discussion in the parliamentary opposition of the Rockingham Whigs and the followers of the Elder Pitt. From the outset there was little in principle to distinguish the policy of the parliamentary opposition from that of successive governments. Ever since the Townshend duties of 1767 the Rockingham Whigs had adopted a circumspect attitude towards the colonists. Their reaction to North's tea duty of 1773 was entirely typical. In true Rockinghamite fashion, Edmund Burke advocated the retention of British sovereignty, but forebore to exercise it in the interests of imperial harmony. The plan affirmed British sovereignty while offering a number of important concessions to colonial opinion. The conciliation plans of Burke and Chatham were overtaken by events, not least the outbreak of fighting on 19 April in Lexington. The War of American Independence became a war in several continents and threatened to be a prolonged danger to Britain.
