Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle.
The Carlisle Proposals were a set of proposals presented to the Second Continental Congress by a commission headed by the Earl of Carlisle designed to end the North American Rebellion and return the rebellious colonies to British rule.
The substance of the proposals was agreed upon at a secret Cabinet meeting called by Lord North on the evening of 16 February 1778. All present agreed that many of the laws passed for the governance of the American colonies between 1763 and 1775 had been unwise. However, too much British blood and treasure had been spent on the Rebellion to allow the Americans an easy peace. The leaders of the rebellion must be punished, but otherwise those who supported the rebellion would be granted amnesty.
Lord North then raised the subject of the government of the colonies, praising the Galloway Plan of Proposed Union as a potential form of government. Although there were serious objections by a few of those present, a majority agreed that the Galloway Plan would be acceptable as long as it was seen as originating in Britain rather than America. North was able to win approval for such a plan, and on 16 March the Carlisle Commission departed for America.
Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania.
By the time Carlisle's commissioners met with the Congress in York in early May, many of the delegates hesitated to accept the proposals. In the aftermath of the Battle of Saratoga, they knew that the Rebellion had failed, but they feared the reaction from the people if they accepted peace on Carlisle's terms. In the end the continuing desertions from the Continental Army forced their hands. The Rebellion could not continue, and the Congress had no choice but to agree to the proposals. Joseph Galloway succeeded Henry Laurens as President of the Congress on 23 May, and agreed to ask Lord North for an armistice based on the proposals four days later. Carlisle informed Generals John Burgoyne, Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir William Howe of Galloway's agreement, and negotiations continued until 12 June 1778, when Carlisle and Galloway signed the formal articles of armistice.
Sobel's source for the Carlisle Proposals is Warner Jones's Lord North: The British Richelieu (Mexico City, 1958).