Some suggest that the war for American independence was not inevitable, that the British empire could have been saved. Do you agree?

We should also point out that the fall of the British
Empire and the loss of the American colonies following the Revolution were not
necessarily inter-related nor in the same time frame.

At
the time of Lexington and Concord, barely more than 1/4 of the colonists seriously
supported independence, while at least an equal number were actively loyal to the
Crown.  Clearly, this was not a black and white sentiment on either side, and had things
been handled differently by the King, perhaps independence would have come much
later.

I actually believe King George III showed quite a
bit of patience until 1773.  He was wiser and more pragmatic than many historians give
him credit for, in my opinion.  His subsequent overreaction, however, to the Boston Tea
Party (with the Coercive Acts) and his refusal to negotiate with the cooler colonial
heads following Lexington and Concord (when they offered the Olive Branch Petition)
would mean Britain's eventual imperial undoing in North America.  That is, the King and
Parliament ignored the voices of reason among them, such as Edmund Burke, and in
reacting aggressively and sending an army and navy, further pushed the colonists in
support of a revolution.

While I still feel independence
would have been inevitable in the long run, under what terms would it have come?  Like
those of Canada, far in the future and much more peacefully?  Would it have come in
fragments, with sections of colonies breaking away while others stayed with the Crown? 
Would the French Revolution have occurred when it did, had the American Revolution not
taken place at that time?  Thought provoking questions.