USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 4
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2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 52.
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kins, representative to the General Court was instructed to cast his vote and use his influence to preserve inviolate " the rights and privileges of this province." After commenting on the liberality of the English Constitution, and the right of the people to instruct their representatives, the duty and necessi- ty of resisting the enforcement of unjust laws is clearly set forth, in the concluding paragraphs of the instructions as fol- lows :-
We have the most loyal sentiments for our gracious king, and his illustrious family ; we have the highest reverence and esteem for that most august body, the Parliament of Great Britain; and we have an ardent affection for our brethren at home ; we have always regarded their interests as our own, and esteemed our own prosperity as necessarily united with theirs. Hence it is that we have the greatest concern at some measures adopted by the late ministry, and some late acts of Parli- ament which we apprehend in their tendency, will deprive us of some of our essential and high prized liberties. The Stamp-act in a peculiar manner we esteem a grievance, as by it we are subjected to a heavy tax, to which are annexed very severe penalties : and the recovery of forfeitures, in- curred by the breach of it, is in a manner which the English Constitu- tion abhors, that is, without a trial by jury, and in a court of admiralty. That a people should be taxed at the will of another, whether of one man or many, without their own consent, in person or by representative, is rank slavery.
That these measures are contrary to the constitutional right of Britons cannot be denied : and that the British inhabitants of America are not in every respect entitled to the priveleges of Britons, even the patrons of the most arbitrary measures have never yet advanced.
We have been full and explicit on this head as it seems to be the fundamental point in debate : but was the tax in itself ever so constitu- tional, we cannot think but at this time it would be very grievous and bur- densome.
The embarassments of our trade are great, and the scarcity of cash arising therefrom is such, that by the execution of the Stamp-act we should be drained in a very little time of that medium : the consequence of which is, that our commerce must stagnate, and our laborers starve.
These, sir, are our sentiments on this occasion; nor can we think that the distresses we have painted are the creatures of our own imag- ination.
We therefore the freeholders and other inhabitants of this town, being legally assembled, take this opportunity to declare our just expec- tations from you, which are :
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That you will, to the utmost of your ability, use your influence in the General Assembly that the rights and privileges of this Province may be preserved inviolate ; and that the sacred deposit we have re- ceived from our Ancestors may be handed down, without infringement, to our posterity of the latest generations :
That you endeavor that all measures, consistent with our loyalty to the best of kings, may be taken to prevent the execution of the above grievous innovations : and that the repeal of the Stamp-act may be ob- tained by a most dutiful, and at the same time most spirited remonstrance against it.
That you do not consent to any new or unprecedented grants, but endeavor that the greatest frugality and economy may take place in the distribution of the public monies, remembering the great expense the war has involved us in, and the debt incurred thereby, which remains undischarged :
That you will consult and promote such measures as may be neces- sary, in this difficult time, to prevent the course of justice from being stayed, and the commerce of the Province standing still :
That, if occasion shall offer, you bear testimony in behalf of this town against all seditious and mobbish insurrections, and express our abhorence of all breaches of the peace; and that you will readily con- cur in any constitutional measures that may be necessary to secure the public tranquility."I
The stamp act was repealed by parliament March 18, 1766. On the twentieth day of May following the news reached Newburyport. A town meeting was called "by beat of drum & word of mouth," and Daniel Farnham, Esq., was chosen moderator.
Voted to illuminate the upper part of the town house, and to author- ize the use of six half barrells of gunpowder in public rejoicings : one half by Mr John Harbert who is to have the care of the Guns at the upper long wharf & the other half part by Capt Gideon Woodwell who is to have the care of the Guns at the lower long wharf.
Also, voted, that it is the Desire of the Town that the Inhabitants hereof do not illuminate their own Houses this evening inasmuch as the Town House is to be illuminated at the Town's expense.2
At a meeting held July 22, 1766, Dudley Atkins, Esq., moderator, Mr. Benjamin Greenleaf, representative to the Gene-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 53.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 81.
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ral Court, was instructed to favor, by his vote and influence, "the payment of the losses sustained by the sufferers in the late tumults in Boston, by a draft on the public treasury of the Province."I
In 1767, parliament in the exercise of its right to levy and collect taxes imposed a heavy duty on paper, glass, tea and other articles of merchandise imported into the province of Massachusetts Bay. The leading merchants of Boston, in order to defeat the purpose for which the law was enacted, agreed to import no more goods from England and urged the merchants of other towns to take such steps as might be necessary to prevent the sale of merchandise upon which the objectionable duties had been paid.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Newburyport, held De- cember 17, 1767, a committee consisting of John Lowell, Jr., Esq., Benjamin Greenleaf, Esq., Tristram Dalton, Esq., Mr. Ralph Cross, Capt. Patrick Tracy, Mr. Nathaniel Carter, and Mr. Jonathan Jackson, was appointed to prepare an answer to a letter from the selectmen of Boston in regard to the super- vision and temporary control of the foreign trade. The com- mittee reported as follows :-
This Town has been in a great measure supported, for many years past by the building of ships which have been purchased mostly by the Inhabitants & for the use of Great Britain. The manner in which we have been paid for our ships has been mainly by british manufactures so that the Importation & purchase of these & our Staple Business if we may so express it, have been almost inseparably united.
It is with the greatest Difficulty that a number of people who have for the most part of their Lives been used to a particular employment can suddenly strike into a new Channel & carry on a Business to which they have always been strangers.
Hence tho' we highly respect the Town of Boston for its zealous at- tachment to the Liberties of the Country & are ready to assist them in all measures to which Prudence may direct, we cannot think it can con- sist with the Prudence & Policy of this Town to join in their particular Resolutions relating to the importations & purchase of the enumerated articles of british Manufacturies, and not only from this Principle but from one less selfish we cannot wish that the frequent & mutual Inter-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 83.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
course which has hitherto subsisted between Great Britain & us should abate. Tis but of late Date that we regarded Great Britain with all the re- spectful affection of a Child to its Parent, and tho by some late measures which we conceive to be highly misjudged there seems to have arisen a cloud which obscures the true Interests of the Nation from the eyes of those at the Helm we cannot but expect as well as impatiently desire that it will be soon removed and a Mutual Confidence be established on the firmest Foundation.
In the mean Time as Jealousy in a Constitution like the British is the great preserving Principle, we think it necessary to be watchfull against any Encroachments on our Rights as Englishmen or Freemen and to be uniformly & resolutely determined that these shall not be infringed while our Fortunes or even our Lives Continue. I
This report, written probably by John Lowell, Jr., Esq., was accepted and adopted March 18, 1768. Although the proposed non-importation agreement was considered a little premature at that date, the spinning of yarn and the sale of goods of home manufacture was warmly commended and en- couraged, as the following newspaper item indicates :-
Newburyport, April 21, 1768. Yesterday the young women of the Presbyterian Congregation, and some others, assembled at the Minis- ter's House and generously gave Mrs. Parsons the spinning of two Hundred and Seventy skeins of good Yarn. They took Labradore Tea and coffee for their support and finished their work so long before night that Rev. Mr. Parsons gave them an Exhortation from Prov. 31 : 19, and concluded his Exercise by Daylight. A laudable Example for young Women of other Congregations to Copy after.2
The announcement that English troops were on their way to Boston to aid the royal governor in enforcing the revenue laws created great excitement in Newburyport. Riotous and disorderly men and boys paraded the streets at night and com- mitted many acts of violence. Joshua Vickery, a ship-car- penter of Newbury, who was suspected of giving information to the collector of customs in regard to the movement of vessels engaged in smuggling, was seized in the day time by a
' Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 121.
2 Boston Gazette, May 9, 1768 (in the State library, Boston), " Labradore or Hyperion tea" was advertised for sale by Boston merchants at that date and is still to be found at some of the wholesale drug stores in that city.
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mob, put in the public stocks and afterwards dragged in a cart through the streets of the town with a rope about his neck. In a statement published in the newspapers of that day he declared, in substance as follows :-
That on Saturday the tenth of September current, he was in a riotous manner asaulted in the King's Highway in Newbury-Port, seized and carried by Force to the public stocks in the said Town, where he sat from three to five o'clock, in the afternoon, most of the Time on the sharpest stone that could be found, which put him to extreme Pain, so that he once fainted :- That he was afterwards taken out of the Stocks, put into a cart and carried thro' the Town with a Rope about his Neck, his Hands tied behind him until the Dusk of the Evening, during which time he was severely pelted with Eggs, Gravel and Stones, and was much wounded thereby ; he was then taken out of the Cart, carried into a dark Ware-houfe, and hand-cuffed with Irons, without Bed or Cloathing, and in a Room where he could not lay strait, but made the Edge of a Tar Pot serve for a Pillow, so that when he arofe the Hair was tore from his Head ; he was confined to this Place the whole of the Lord's Day, with a Guard that prevented any of his Friends visiting him, excepting his wife, who with Difficulty obtained Liberty to speak to him :- On Monday the 12th in the Forenoon he was taken out, and the Rioters upon their being well satisfied of his being innocent of what was laid to his Charge Com- pelled him only to lead a Horse Cart about the Town, with Francis Magno therein, who was stripped naked, tarred and then Committed to Gaol for Breach of the Peace."I
In an affidavit annexed to the above statement and published at the same time, Vickery declared " that he never did, direct- ly or indirectly, make or give Information to any Officer of the Customs, nor to any other Person, either against Capt John Emmery or any other man whomsoever." Francis Magno evidently gave the information that led to the arrest of Cap- tain Emery for violating the revenue laws. The suspicion that Vickery was concerned with him arose from the fact that he accompanied Magno to Portsmouth on the day that Capt. Emery arrived there.
In order to preserve the peace and protect the inhabitants of Newburyport from violence the town voted, September
1 Essex Gazette, Sept. 20-27, 1768. (Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.).
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19, 1768, to appoint watchmen, such as justices and other officers could appoint, "to prevent Disorders in the Night and other Inconveniencies,"1 and the same day voted to allow Capt. William Davenport six pounds and six shillings toward the payment of his bill for liquor " delivered to a number of People who resorted to his House [September 26, 1765] in the Time of the Stamp act."I
At the same meeting, Benjamin Greenleaf, Esq., was chosen a delegate to a convention to be held in Boston September 22, 1768, to confer with delegates from other towns in regard to the adoption of measures necessary "at this critical Time for his Majesty's service & the peace & safety of his Subjects in this Province."I
At the close of the convention the merchants and traders of Boston agreed to unite, with the merchants of other towns in the province, in an effort to stop the importation of mer- chandise from England and prevent, if possible, the use and sale of foreign tea.
On the nineteenth day of October, 1768, Rev. Christopher B. Marsh was ordained pastor of the Second Congregational church and society in Newburyport. In the afternoon of that day tea, made from a plant or shrub grown in Pearson- town, about twenty miles from Portland, Me., was served to a circle of ladies and gentlemen, in Newburyport, who pro- nounced it nearly, if not quite, equal in flavor to genuine Bohea tea. A communication, published in the Boston Ga- zette, giving the facts above stated, closes as follows : -
So important a Discovery claims, especially at this Crisis, the Atten- tion of every Friend of America. If we have the Plant nothing is want- ing but the Process of curing it, to have TEA of our own Manufacture. If a Receipt cannot be obtained, Gentlemen of Curiosity and Chymical Skill would render their Country eminent Service, if by Experiments they would investigate the best method of preparing it for use.2
September 4, 1769, the inhabitants of Newburyport voted
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 125.
2 Boston Gazette, November 21, 1768 (State library, Boston, Mass.).
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to approve the agreement made by the merchants and traders of the province in regard to the non-importation of goods, and also " voted that every Person who shall buy of any Importer contrary to the spirit of said agreement shall be deemed an Enemy to the Liberties of his Country."' On the twentieth day of September following, the selectmen were authorized " to return the Thanks of the Town to the Merchants & others of Boston for their patriotic resolution [in regard to] the non-im- portation of Goods from Great Britain untill January, 1770, or untill the Revenue Act be repealed,"2 and March 23, 1770, the inhabitants of Newburyport voted that the agreement in regard to the non-importation of goods should be continued in force, and appointed a special Committee consisting of William At- kins, Esq., Benjamin Greenleaf, Esq., Mr. Nathaniel Carter, Capt. James Hudson and Mr. Ralph Cross, to send a certified copy of the vote to the merchants of Boston. It was also voted at the same meeting not to use or buy foreign tea and so far as possible to discourage its use by others.3
On the third day of April following, it having been reported that a wagon load of tea had been brought into the town, sur- reptitiously, a committee was appointed to ascertain the facts and publish to the world, if they could be discovered, the names of the persons who had violated the non-importation agreement, " to the intent that they may be known & avoided as ye Pests of society & enemies of ye Country & that such measures may be taken with them as ye Town shall think proper."4 A new agreement was prepared and signed by those who were determined not to buy, sell, or use India tea of any kind whatsoever, and the committee was instructed to report to the town clerk, to be subsequently submitted to the free- holders of the town, the names of those who refused to sign.
In the excitement that followed the Boston massacre, March 5, 1770, the English troops were removed from the town of Boston to the Castle in the harbor, and the General Court was
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 132.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 134.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 140.
4 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 143.
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convened by Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, to meet in Cambridge a few days later. The magistrates and represen- tatives assembled at the time and place designated, but declined to consider the ordinary business of the session, claiming " that the Town House in Boston is by law established as the only place for holding the assembly." After a short session, dur- ing which only a few unimportant bills were passed, the Gen- eral Court was dissolved.
The next year the dispute between Hutchinson, who had been promoted to the office of governor of the province, and the representatives was renewed. A serious conflict seemed to be impending. March 13, 1771, the selectmen of Newbury- port were directed to examine the guns and ammunition on hand and provide an additional supply if necessary.1 The threatened contest, however, was averted, and the right of the governor to convene the General Court at any place that he might think proper was ultimately admitted.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Newburyport held May 21, 1771 the following vote was passed :-
It is the Opinion of this Town that it is fitting and best for the House of Representatives to proceed to do the common and ordinary Business as usual at the approaching Session and thro' the year, notwith- standing their sitting in the Town of Cambridge and that our Represen- tative is hereby instructed to use his Endeavors for that purpose.2
In December, 1772, at the urgent solicitation of Samuel Adams, a committee of correspondence was established in Boston to communicate with men of influence in other towns and urge upon them the necessity for uniting in a vigorous effort to maintain the political rights and privileges of the province. The formation of this committee was the begin- ning of the end of the struggle for American independence. It stimulated and encouraged the weak and wavering and brought the inhabitants of remote towns into close and friendly rela- tions with the prominent merchants of Boston.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 150.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 153.
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EVENTS CULMINATING IN THE REVOLUTION
In Newburyport, a committee, consisting of Capt. Patrick Tracy, Mr. Jonathan Jackson, Mr. Benjamin Greenleaf, Mr. Nathaniel Carter, Capt. James Hudson, Mr. Jonathan Parsons, Jr., Mr. Moses Bradstreet, Mr. Edmund Bartlet, Mr. Ralph Cross, Mr. Jonathan Ward, Capt. William Coombs, and Doctor John Sprague, was appointed, December 23, 1772, to consid- er the critical condition of public affairs and to advise what action should be taken to secure redress of public grievances.I
At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town, held January 1, 1773, the following letter was read, and Stephen Sewall, town clerk, was instructed " to send a certi- fied copy thereof to the committee of correspondence of the town of Boston."
NEWBURY-PORT, January 1, 1773.
Gentlemen
The freeholders and other inhabitants of Newbury-Port in town-meet- ing legally affembled the firft of January 1773, have read and confidered a letter from the inhabitants of Bofton of the 20th of November, together with the other proceedings of that town at a late meeting, and thank them for the free communication of their fentiments on matters fo greatly interefting and important. We admire the vigilance and perfeverance of our friends there in the caufe of liberty notwithftanding the obftruction they have met with by the indifference of fome and the oppofition of others : and we highly efteem them for it.
The rights of this province as they have ftated them undoubtedly belong to us. The laws of God and the conftitution have invefted us with them-And in our opinion no power on earth can juftly deny us the free and full exercife of them. But, unhappily for us, we are denied this glorious privilege by the operation of inftructions and certain acts of parliament, which have brought upon us thofe great and diftreffing grievances which they have pointed out ; and fome others that might be mentioned tending to involve this country in certain ruin. Which is to us a very melancholy and alarming confideration, with regard to our pof- terity as well as ourfelves. We fhould rejoice could we be in any meafure inftrumental in extricating our country from this unhappy situa- tion and to this end we trust we shall always be ready to exert our utmost abilities in all legal and constitutional ways.2
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 161.
2 Essex Gazette, January 12-19, 1773 (Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.).
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At the same meeting the patriotic measures adopted by the General Court were endorsed and the following vote was passed :-
That Capt Jonathan Greenleaf, our representative, be acquainted that it is the desire and expectation of this town, that he will persevere, with steadiness and resolution, in conjunction with his brethren in the Honor- able House of Representatives, to use his utmost endeavors to procure a full and complete redress of all our public grievances ; and to do every thing in his power in order that the present and succeeding generations may have the full enjoyment of those privileges and advantages, which naturally and necessarily result from our glorious constitution. This we esteem a matter of the highest concernment, and we recommend it to him to join with his brethren in the Honorable House at the approach- ing session, if they shall think it proper to lay before Lord Dartmouth, one of his Majesty's Secretaries of State, in a decent, respectful address, a full statement of our publick Grievances ; and to intreat his Lordship's Favour and Influence in Behalf of an injured and oppressed People.1
November 28, 1773, the ship Dartmouth, with one hundred and fourteen chests of tea, arrived in Boston. The inhabitants of the town, hastily summoned by the ringing of the church bells, assembled in Faneuil hall but soon adjourned to the Old South meeting house, where, after an exciting debate, a committee was appointed to take such steps as might be ne- cessary to prevent the landing of the cargo. A few days later two other ships arrived loaded with tea. The consignees were urged to send them back, but they replied that the consent of the owners in England must first be obtained, and without orders from them they could not comply with the request.
In Newburyport a meeting was called, December 9, 1773, to consider the serious condition of public affairs. After a brief discussion, the spirit and temper of the people found expression in the following vote :-
We have taken into consideration the late proceedings of the town of Boston relating to the importation of tea by the East India Company in- to America and do acquiesce in their proceedings and are determined to give them all the assistance in our power even at the Risque of our Lives & Fortunes.2
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 161.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 176.
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On the fifteenth day of December, a party of men and boys, disguised as Indians, boarded the ships moored at Griffin's wharf, near the foot of Pearl street, in Boston, broke open the hatches, and threw into the water of the harbor the contents of three hundred and forty-two chests of tea.
The news of this memorable event was quickly conveyed by post-riders to the seaport towns in the province. At a meet- ing held in Newburyport, December sixteenth, a committee, consisting of Capt. James Hudson, Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf, Capt. Charles Hodge, Mr. Jonathan Titcomb and Mr. Stephen Cross, was appointed " to consider what may be proper for the Town to do under the Difficulties that at present Attend our public affairs."1 This committee was also instructed to co- operate with the committee of correspondence in Boston and unite with them in demanding a repeal of the revenue laws.
At the same meeting the following vote, protesting against the importation of tea, and renewing the pledge, previously made, " to use their utmost endeavors to prevent it ", was passed unanimously :-
Voted that this Town will use their utmost Endeavours to prevent the Landing of any Tea sent by the East India Company to this province whilst the same is subject to a Duty Impos'd by the British parliament.I
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