There was opposition and sympathy for the Americans in some sectors, even in the government of the United Kingdom. For example, William Pitt the Elder spoke against the war, and in an oft-quoted part of a speech he delivered in the House of Lords, said this:

"If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms, never! never! never!"

(William Pitt, The Speeches of the Right Honourable the Earl of Chatham in the Houses of Lords and Commons: With a Biographical Memoir and Introductions and Explanatory Notes to the Speeches (London: Aylott & Jones, 1848), pp. 150-6.)