Howe interrupted him. Britain did “not require unconditional submission,” he said. Dr. Franklin and his colleagues ought “not go away with such an idea.” Finding no agreement possible after three hours of palaver, Howe walked his guests back to his barge and watched impassively as they glided through late afternoon shadows toward the far shore. In a note to Washington a few hours later, Rutledge reported that “our conference with Lord Howe has been attended with no immediate advantage.” Adams wrote Abigail that Howe “is a well-bred man but his address is not so irresistible.… His head is
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