USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey, from its discovery by Europeans, to the adoption of the federal Constitution > Part 25
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This was a subject of angry discussion, between the governor and As- sembly, for nearly two years longer; in which the former was encouraged, by the discovery of a gang of counterfeiters and forgers, one of whom, it was probable, from the evidence of his accomplices, had perpetrated the rob- bery of the treasury. At length, the treasurer, who had repeatedly, but in vain, prayed the Assembly to cause a suit to be instituted against him, re- signed his commission; and an act was passed by the Legislature, directing
* May we not here properly remark, that a clause in our republican constitutions, prohibiting the removal of public officers, without good and sufficient cause, would pro- tect useful publie servants against the arbitrary and despotic temper, which some- times actuates governors and presidents, as well as that capricious disposition. and proscriptive spirit of party, which too often prevails in popular assemblies? Officers of state are created for the service of the people, as the state itself is constituted for their benefit. The individual emolument which arises from the maintenance of the officer, is an accident, not the object, of the creation. Yet, a fatal misconstruction of the maxim, that offices are created for the people, has been so widely spread through- out our republics, as to threaten their safety and duration. Leaders of parties, in high stations, proclaim " rotation in office," to be republican; that all citizens are entitled to participate in official emoluments, and are competent to the performance of of- ficial duties. Such doctrines have a demoralizing effect, tending to discourage industry, and to create numerous anxious, idle, venal, expectants of office. Their absurdity becomes apparent, by following them out to their proper results. Even, if we limit the position, by saying, that all men duly qualified, are entitled to participate in official emoluments, it will be obvious that an attempt to reduce it to practice, however impossible, would produce a change every hour, in every office of the country. The truc principle is, that public officers are agents of the people, to be appointed, directly or indirectly, by the people, as they shall in their wisdom deter- mine; and should be changed, only, when the public interests require. Like other agents they should receive a moderate, but just, compensation for their services, with the assurance of its continuance, whilst those services are, faithfully, rendered. Towards their public servants, the whole people, the state, should pursue the course which each individual possessing common sense, adopts in his own affairs. No prudent man discharges a competent, experienced, and faithful servant, to receive others in quick succession, who enter his service with a view solely to the wages, and whose capacity for service is to be acquired at his expense.
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his successor to sue for the balance. One good effect resulting from this contest, was the requisition on future treasurers, to give adequate security to the province for the faithful disbursement of public moneys .*
XIII. Governor Franklin seems to have been truly solicitous to promote the welfare of the colony, by increasing its agricultural and commercial pro- ducts. At his instances, which in the present season of political quiet, he earnestly renewed, the Assembly established bounties for the growth of hemp, flax and silk ; considerable efforts were made to diffuse the culture of the mulberry tree, and had not this simple branch of industry been prostrated by the war, silk would soon have become a staple commodity of the country. At the suggestion of the governor, also, means were taken by the Assembly, to obtain a full census, and statistical account of the province; but these were rendered ineffective by the scenes of political disquiet which soon after arose.
XIV. Previous to the year 1772, the House of Representatives consisted of twenty members. The cities of Perth Amboy and Burlington, and the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Somerset, Bergen, Gloucester, and Cape May, each sending two representatives, whilst Salem and Cumberland jointly, sent only two, and Hunterdon, Morris, and Sussex jointly, the same number. But in that year, an act of Assembly for increasing the number of represen- tatives, had been approved by the King, and seems to have been a cause of gratulation between the governor and Assembly. By this act, each county was entitled to two representatives, and the whole number was increased to thirty. The representation which appears to have been based upon ter- ritorial divisions, merely, without regard to the essential principle of popu- lation, was, thus, continued upon an erroneous basis, and has not been fully corrected, even at the present day.
XV. Governor Franklin, on the part of the province, contrary to the policy which it had hitherto pursued. attended two conferences with the northern Indians. The first was in 1769, at Fort Stanwix, at which he was accom- panied by the chief justice; and where the Six Nations having agreed upon a general boundary line, between them and the northern colonies, (the object of the meeting) publicly acknowledged the repeated instances of the justice of the province, in bringing murderers to condign punishment; and declared that they had no claim, whatever, upon the province, and in the most solemn man- ner conferred upon the government of New Jersey, the distinguishing name of Sagorighiriyogstha, or the great arbiter, or doer of Justice.
* See note B B.
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CHAPTER XI.
Comprising Events from the year 1773, to 1776 .- I. Committees of Correspondence established in the several Colonies .- II. The British Ministry encourage the ship- ment of Teas to America, by the East India Company .- III. Alarm of the Colo- nists-Consignees of the India Company compelled to forego their appointments .-- IV. Measures pursued in New Jersey .- V. Reception of the Tea in Anierica .--- VI. Indignation of the King and Parliament .- VII. Violent measures adopted against Boston .- VIII. Alarming Act of Parliament, relative to the Provincial Government of Canada .- IX. Proceedings of the Inhabitants of Boston-General commiseration of their fate .-- X. New Jersey appoints Members to Congress .-- XI. Congress assemble at Philadelphia-Their proceedings .- XII. The Assembly of New Jersey approve the Proceedings of Congress. and appoint Delegates to the next Convention-Instructions .- XIII. The Provincial Governors instructed to impede the Union of the Colonies-Efforts of Governor Franklin .- XIV. Reply of the House .- XV. Rejoinder of the Governor-Address of the Council .- XVI. The Assembly petition the King .- XVII. Reception of the Proceedings of Con- gress in London .- XVIII. Proceedings of Parliament-Conciliatory Propositions of Lord North .- XIX. Sense of New Jersey upon this proposition .- XX. State of . the Dispute with England .- XXI. Second New Jersey Convention called-En- courages Political Associations-Organizes the Militia, and providesfunds .- AXII. Meeting of Congress at Philadelphia-Its Measures .- XXIII. Appointment of Commander-in-Chief and subordinate Generals .- XXIV. Congress again petition the King-Ungracious reception of the petition .- XXV. Address their fellow- subjects of Ireland, &c .- XXVI. New Jersey Convention re-assembles-Proceed- ings-Provision for the continuance of a Provincial Congress-Committee of Safety appointed .- XXVII. Meeting of the Assembly-Address of Governor Franklin -- He claims assurance of protection for himself and others, the King's officers .- XXVIII. Reply of the Assembly .- XXIX. Act authorizing the issue of Bills of Credit, for £100,000, approved by the King.
I. It is not our purpose to detail all the remote causes and immediate mo- tives that led to the revolution, which dissolved the connexion between Great Britain and her North American colonies; but to keep up such a connected narrative of circumstances pertaining to that great event, as will enable us to exhibit the part which New Jersey bore in the contest. We do not, there- fore, enter upon the various causes of dissatisfaction in Massachusetts, and the measures resulting therefrom, which preserved there a spirit of opposition to the crown, whilst a general calm was elsewhere pervading the continent. It may be proper, however, to note, that, from the commencement of the con- test, Massachusetts was particularly solicitous of uniting all the colonies in one system of measures. In pursuance of this object, she devised the plan of electing committees in the several towns for the purpose of corresponding with cach other, and with the other colonies, which was adopted by the other provinces. The honour of originating the Legislative committees of correspondence in the several colonies, which afterwards became so essen- tially useful, is claimed, by Mr. Jefferson, for Virginia.
11. The general state of quiet which had been induced by the prudence of the European and American parties, the one forbearing to ship, and the other to order teas, was, after three years' continuance, terminated by the impolitic avarice of the British ministry. The East India company, the most daring, ambitious, and successful of commercial associations, had became embarrassed by lavish expenditure, the peculations of their servants, and the diminution of their trade in consequence of the American quarrel. Applying to the government for assistance, they proposed, that the duty of three pence per pound, payable on teas imported into the colonies, should be abolished, and U
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that six cents per pound should be imposed on the exportation. This fa- vourable and honourable mode of removing the occasion for dispute between the parent and her offspring was, we cannot, now, say, unfortunately, rejected by the administration ; who, as it'by extraordinary stimulus to accelerate the coming contest, proposed and carried a bill authorizing the company to ex- port their teas altogether free of duty. Lord North, says the English histo- rian, recommended this measure to Parliament with a twofold view; to relieve the India Company and to improve the revenue. The latter was to be accomplished by tempting the Americans to purchase large quantities of teas at a low price. But the Company would not venture to ship, until assured by the ministry, that in no event they should suffer loss.
III. The export of tea to America, under these circumstances, was, in itself, sufficient to arouse opposition. But the occasion was eagerly seized by those whose interests would be promoted by popular resistance. Mer- chants in England, whose profits were endangered by this operation of the India Company, and cis-atlantic smugglers, whose trade was threatened with extinction, laboured with the patriot, to convince the people of the im- mutable determination of the parent state to tax the colonies; and for that purpose, to compel the sale of the tea, in despite of the solemn resolutions, and oft declared sense of the inhabitants. The cry of endangered liberty . was again heard from New Hampshire to Georgia. Town meetings were held in the capitals of the different provinces, and combinations formed to obstruct the sale of the fatal weed. The consignees of the Company were, generally, compelled to relinquish their appointments, and substitutes could not be procured.
IV. The most determined spirit of resistance displayed itself, in New Jersey, upon the first favourable opportunity. On the eighth of February, 1774, the Assembly, on the proposition of Virginia, appointed from its mem- bers, a standing committee of correspondence,* whom they instructed to obtain the most carly and authentic intelligence of all the acts and reso- lutions of the Parliament of Great Britain, or the proceedings of the adminis- tration, which might affect the liberties and privileges of his Majesty's sub- jects, in the British colonies of America ; to maintain a correspondence with the sister colonies, respecting these important considerations, and to inform the speakers of the several continental Assemblies of this resolution, request- ing, that, they would submit them to their several Houses. They gave thanks, also, to the burgesses of Virginia, for their early attention to the liberties of America.
V. On the approach of the tea ships destined for Philadelphia, the pilots in the Delaware were warned not to conduct them into harbour; and their captains, apprized of the temper of the people, deeming it unsafe to land their cargoes, consented to return without making an entry at the custom house ; the owners of goods, on board, cheerfully submitting to the inconvenience of having their merchandise sent back to Great Britain. The captains of ves- sels addressed to New York, wisely, adopted the same resolution. The tea sent to Charleston was landed and stored, but not offered for sale; and being placed in damp cellars, became rotten, and was entirely lost. The ships de- signated for Boston entered that port, but before the tea could be landed, a number of colonists, disguised as Indians, pursuant to a concerted plan, entered the vessels, and without doing other damage, broke open three hun- dred and forty-two chests, and emptied their contents into the sea. Such
* Consisting of James Kinsey, Stephen Crane, Hendrick Fisher, Samuel Tucker, John Wetherill, Robert Friend Price, John Hinchman, Jobn Mehelm, and Edward Taylor.
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way the union of sentiment among the people, and so systematic their oppo- sition, that not a single chest of the cargoes, sent out by the East India Company, was sold for their benefit. .
VI. The conduct of the colonists, generally, in relation to the tea ships, and, especially, the daring trespass at Boston, gave great umbrage to the King. In his message * to Parliament, he characterized the coloniai proceedings as obstructing the commerce of Great Britain, and subversive of her constitu- tion. High and general indignation was excited in that body. His Ma- jesty's measures were almost unanimously approved, and pledges were given to secure the due execution of the laws, and the dependence of the colonies. To maintain that dependence, the whole nation seemed disposed to approve and support the severest measures of the ministry. All consideration for the just rights of the colonists, was lost in the desire to punish their audacity ; and, for the moment, the patriot forgot his principles, and the merchant his interest, whilst fired with indignation at the bold resistance to the will of the parent state.
VII. Upon Massachusetts the vials of wrath were first poured out. Before the magnitude of her guilt the offences of other colonies became insignificant. By one act of Parliament the port of Boston was closed, and the custom house and its dependencies transferred to the town of Salem, until compen- sation should be made to the East India Company, and until the King in council, should be satisfied of the restoration of peace and good order in the town of Boston : By another act, the charter of Massachusetts was subvert- ed; the nomination of counsellors, magistrates, and other officers, being vested in the crown, during the royal pleasure: By a third, persons indicted in that province, for any capital offence, if an allegation were made on oath to the governor, that such offence had been committed, in aid of the magistracy in the suppression of riots, and that a fair trial could not be had in the province, might be sent to any other colony, or to Great Britain, for trial. A bill was also passed for quartering soldiers upon the inhabitants. But these penal bills were not wholly unopposed, in cither house of Parlia- ment; in the Lords, the minority entered their protest against cach.
,
VIII. An act passed simultaneously with the foregoing, making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, excited as much indignation and more dread among the colonies, than the severe mea- sures against Massachusetts. The latter might be palliated as the result of indignation, violent, but not causeless; while the former, vesting the legisla- tive power in a council dependent on the crown, and subjecting the whole revenue to the King's disposal, bore strong indications of the resolution of the ministry to take from the colonies, generally, the right of self-government. Had sympathy failed to unite the other provinces to the fate of Massachusetts, regard to their common safety, so openly threatened, would have rendered their union indissoluble. Both were intensely felt.
IX. The inhabitants of Boston had foreseen the present crisis, and they met it with undaunted spirit. Information of the passage of the port act was received on the tenth of May, and on the thirteenth, the town resolved, "that if the other colonies would unite with them to stop all importations from Great Britain and the West Indies, until that act should be repealed, it would prove the salvation of North America and her liberties ; but should they con- tinue their exports and imports, there was reason to fear that fraud, power, and the most odious oppression, would triumph over justice, right, social hap- piness, and freedom." A copy of this resolution was transmitted to the other colonies, the inhabitants of which expressed deep sympathy in the sufferings
* 7th March, 1774.
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of their brethren in Boston, endured in the common cause; and concurring in opinion with them on the propriety of convening a provincial Congress, delegates for that purpose were generally chosen.
Throughout the continent, the first of June, the day on which the Boston port act was to take effect, on the resolution of the Assembly of Virginia, was adopted as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to implore the divine interposition to avert the heavy calamity which threatened destruc- tion to their civil rights, and the evils of civil war, and to give one heart and one mind to the people, firmly to oppose every invasion of their liberties.
X. Early in the month of July, the inhabitants of the several counties of New Jersey, assembled at their respective county towns, and adopted reso- lutions strongly disapprobatory of the course of the ministry and of the late acts of Parliament, closing the port of Boston, invading the charter rights of the province of Massachusetts, subjecting supposed offenders to trial in other colonies and in Great Britain, and sending an armed force to carry these in -. jurious measures into effect: They nominated deputies, to meet in conven- tion, for the purpose of electing delegates to the general Congress, about to convene at Philadelphia. The Convention, consisting of seventy-two mem- bers, selected from the most intelligent and respectable citizens of the colony, among whom were many members of Assembly, met at New Brunswick on the twenty-first of July, 1774; and choosing Stephen Crane, chairman, and Jonathan D. Sergeant, clerk, proceeded to reiterate the sentiments of their constituents, and to nominate James Kinsey,* William Livingston, John De Hart, Stephen Crane, and Richard Smith to represent them in Congress, and the following gentlemen as a standing committee of correspondence:t Wil- liam Peartree Smith, John Chetwood, Isaac Ogden, Joseph Borden, Robert
* Kinsey left Congress in November, 1775, refusing to take the republican oath of allegiance .- Journal of Congress, 2d December, 1775. He was highly esteemed not- withstanding the course he took at this time. " He is a very good man," says Go- vernor Livingston, in a letter to Samuel Allinson, of the 25th of July, 1778, " though not the best hand on deck in a storm." To Kinsey himself the governor wrote, 6th of October, of the same year: " As I find myself engaged in writing to my old friend, I cannot help embracing this opportunity to express my concern at your standing so much in your own light, as to forego your practice rather than submit to a test, which all governments ever have, and ever will, impose upon those who live within the bounds of their authority * . Your voluntary consent to take the test prescribed by law, would soon restore you to the good opinion of your country, (every body allowing you, notwithstanding unaccountable political obliquities, to be an honest man) and your way to the magistracy would, doubtless, be easy and unineumbered." Some years afterwards Mr. Kinsey became chief justice. He died about 1801 .- Sedgwick's Life of Livingston. p. 100.
We find the following minute in the votes of the Assembly, November 17, 1775. " Mr. Kinsey and Mr. De Hart, two of the delegates appointed by this House, to at- tend the continental Congress, applied to the House for leave to resign their said ap- pointments, alleging that they are so particularly circumstanced, as to render their attendance, exceedingly, inconvenient to their private affairs." On the 22d November, their resignations were accepted, and the three remaining delegates, or any two of them, were empowered to represent the colony in Congress.
t Mr. De Hart appears to have soon grown weary in the race. On the organization of the state government he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court, but refused the office. Mr. Smith held out inneh longer, but his course was equivocal. He was a representative from Burlington, in the first legislative council, but did not attend its session. Upon a requisition to perform his duties, by the council, he tendered his re- signation, which was rejected, on the ground that the constitution did not warrant its acceptance. Persevering in his refusal, the council, on the seventeenth of May, 1727, resolved, " that he had neglected and refused to performin the duties of his station, as a member of that House, in divers instances, and, particularly, by contumaciously withholding his attendance at that sitting, though duly and repeatedly summoned ; and that he be expelled." He was re-elected to council in the succeeding October, but it does not appear that he served. He was elected state-treasurer, in joint meet- ing, September 5th, 1726, and performed the duties of that station for about six months.
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Field, Isaac Pierson, Isaac Smith, Samuel Tucker, Abraham Hunt, and Hendrick Fisher.
XI. The delegates from eleven provinces assembled at Philadelphia, on the fourth of September; those from North Carolina did not appear until the fourteenth .* On the fifth, Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was unanimously chosen president, and Charles Thompson elected secretary. As the Con- gress was composed of men who gave tone to the sentiments of the provinces which they respectively represented, it was in course, that the prominent acts of the colonies should be supported and enforced with the ability and dignity pertaining to their joint endeavours. Still there was a chivalrous disregard of self, in the prompt and energetic approbation of the highest measures of Massachusetts, which history rarely discloses among a temperate and calcu- lating people, even amid the excitements of political revolution ; and which leads us to believe, that even at this time, independence of Great Britain was a foregone conclusion, in the bosoms of most members of the Congress, which yet, they scarce dared acknowledge to themselves, still less breathe to others.
Whilst expressing "their sympathy in the sufferings of their countrymen of Massachusetts, under the late unjust, cruel, and oppressive acts of the British Parliament," Congress approved of the resolve of the county of Suf- folk, in which Boston lies, "that no obedience was due from that province to such acts, but that they should be rejected as the attempts of a wicked administration." They resolved, that contributions from all the colonies, for supplying the necessities, and alleviating the distresses of their brethren at Boston, ought to be continued in such manner, and so long, as their occa- sions might require. They requested the merchants of the several colonies to refuse new orders for goods from Great Britain, and to suspend the execu- tion of such as had been sent, until the sense of Congress, on the means to be adopted for the preservation of the liberties of America, should be made public. And soon after, they adopted resolutions prohibiting the importa- tion, the purchase, or use, of goods from Great Britain, or Ireland, or their dependencies, after the first day of the succeeding December; and directing that all exports to Great Britain and the West Indies, should cease on the tenth of September, 1775, unless American grievances should be sooner re- dressed. An association, corresponding with these resolutions, was then framed, and signed by every member present. " Never," says Mr. Mar- shall, " were laws more faithfully observed, than were the resolves of Con- gress at this period, and their association was, of consequence, universally adopted."
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