The five British commissioners appointed in 1778 kneel on the right before the personification of America, an Indian woman seated to the left on barrels and bales, labelled "Tobacco for Germany", "Indico for Spain", "Rice for France," etc. She wears a feathered headdress, and holds a staff with the Cap of Liberty. Each of the commissioners, Admiral Lord Howe, General William Howe, Lord Carlisle, William Eden, and Commodore George Johnstone make supplicatory speeches given in text ribbons above their heads: "We have block'd up your ports, obstructed your trade, with the hope of starving ye, & contrary to the Law of Nations compelled your sons to war against their Bretheren ... We have ravaged your lands ... We have profaned your places of Divine worship ... We have ravish'd, scalped, and murdered your people ... For all which material services, we, the Commissioners ... doubt not your cordial duty & affection towards us, or willingness to submit yourselves again to recieve [sic] the same, whenever we have power to bestow it on ye.