1 May 1769 the cabinet, on North's motion, decided by a majority of one to retain Charles Townshend's American tea duty. This decision, which rendered war inevitable, was confirmed by the House of Commons on 5 March 1770 by 204 votes to 142 (ib. i. 483–500, and the Duke of Grafton's Memoirs quoted in Mahon's History of England, v. 365 and xxxi.). Meanwhile North, at the earnest entreaties of the king, had become first lord of the treasury on Grafton's resignation in January 1770.
North's assumption of office seemed a forlorn hope. He had to face an opposition led by Chatham, Rockingham, and Grenville, and to rely for his chief support on placemen, pensioners, and the Bedfords. There was, however, no real union between the parties of Chatham and Rockingham, and after Grenville's death in November 1770, his followers, under the Earl of Suffolk, joined the ministerial ranks. In November 1770, and again in February 1771, North made an able defence of the negotiations with France and Spain in reference to the Falkland Islands, a dispute concerning which had nearly led to war (Cavendish, Parliamentary Debates, ii. 75–9, 296–9). The session of 1770–1 was mainly occupied by the attempt of the House of Commons to prevent the publication of its debates and the consequent quarrel with the city of London. At the instigation of the king North, contrary to his own convictions, committed the blunder of making a ministerial question of the matter. During the riots which ensued he was assaulted on his way down to the house, his chariot demolished, and his hat captured by the mob (Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III, iv. 302). To North was addressed the fortieth ‘Letter of Junius’ (22 Aug. 1770), on the subject of Colonel Luttrell's appointment to the post of adjutant-general of the army in Ireland. Luttrell resigned the post in September. In 1772 and the two following years North successfully opposed the propositions which were made for the relief of the clergy and others from subscription to the Thirty-nine articles, arguing that ‘relaxation in matters of this kind, instead of reforming, would increase that dissoluteness of religious principle which so much prevails, and is the characteristic of this sceptical age’ (Parl. Hist. xvii. 272–4, 756–7, 1326). In 1772 and 1773 he allowed bills for the relief of dissenters to pass the commons, preferring to leave the odium of rejecting them to the lords (ib. xvii. 431–46, 759–91). The Royal Marriage Act (12 George III, c. 11), which was passed in 1772, was supported by North with considerable reluctance. In the same year North, who desired to banish the discussion of Indian affairs from the House of Commons, consented to the appointment of two select committees. Their reports resulted in an act which allowed the East India Company to export tea to America free of any duty save that which might be levied there (13 George III, c. 44), and in the Regulating Act (13 George III, c. 63). In May 1773 North supported a motion censuring Clive's conduct in India, but he did not make the question a government one, and subsequently changed his opinion on the subject (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. Append. 397). On 16 Dec. 1773 the ships carrying the tea exported by the East India Company under the act previously mentioned were attacked in Boston harbour. Though the news of this outrage had not arrived, North was fully conscious of the gravity of the situation, and was the only member of the privy council who did not join in the laughter and applause which greeted Wedderburn's famous attack upon Franklin (Dr. Priestley in the Monthly Magazine for February 1803, p. 2). In March 1774 North introduced the Boston Port Bill and the Massachusetts Government Bill, which were passed by large majorities. He was now firmly established in power, and on 6 March 1774 Chatham expressed the opinion that ‘North serves the crown more successfully and more sufficiently upon the whole than any other man now to be found could do’ (Chatham Correspondence, iv. 332–333). On 20 Feb. 1775 North carried a resolution that, so long as the colonies taxed themselves, with the consent of the king and parliament, no other taxes should be laid upon them. The debate on this proposal, which was very unpopular with the Bedfords, is graphically described by Gibbon in a letter to Holroyd (Miscell. Works, 1796, i. 490). The concession, however, came too late, and the skirmish at Lexington on 19 April 1775 made peace impossible. After Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga (17 Oct. 1777), and the failure of the commission appointed to treat with the colonists, North lost all hope of success, and repeatedly asked permission to resign (Correspondence of George III with Lord North, ii. 125, et seq.) The king refused to accept his resignation, though he allowed negotiations to be opened with Chatham to induce him to join the government, on the understanding that he should support ‘the fundamentals of the present administration’ (ib. ii. 149). This and subsequent attempts to strengthen the ministry failed, and North remained in office against his better judgment, a course
