February 21, 1776

In his speech at the opening of Parliament in October 1775, King George III mentioned that he would be giving authority to “certain persons” to “grant general or particular pardons and indemnities” to the colonists, “and to receive the submission of any Province or Colony which shall be disposed to return its allegiance.” This promise of commissioners left the colonists wondering who they might be and when they might arrive. This article, reprinted in the Pennsylvania Gazette from a London newspaper, speculated that the royal governors would be appointed, along with others amounting to thirty-six total commissioners. The stated “reason of sending so many” was that the commissioners would be dispatched to each colony, “separately.”

A question that lingered through the spring was whether the king’s commissioners would work with the Continental Congress and, in doing so, acknowledge their authority within the colonies. According to this report, the Congress would not be part of the negotiations happening at the provincial level. Some of the delegates in Philadelphia were hopeful that the commissioners could bring about a reconciliation with Great Britain. But other delegates, especially John Adams, remained skeptical. In a letter to Mercy Otis Warren in April, Adams wrote: “The Story of Commissioners is a Bubble. Their real Errand is an Insult.”

The Pennsylvania Gazette
Printed by Hall and Sellers

The following paragraph is taken from the London Gazetteer of December 6.

Most of the American Governors will be appointed Commissioners, and the reason of sending so many Commissioners (36) to America, is, to treat with each province separately about an accommodation, and so dispatch the business:—They are not now to treat with the Congress, as was first reported.