USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. I > Part 28
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baggage, unless their arrears were paid up. Colonel Schuyler at once despatched a messenger to President Hamilton, to lay the facts before him, and ascertain what could be done in the matter to avert so dire a disaster. The president recommended to the assembly, to provide for the pay, but the house having expended more than twenty thousand pounds in equipping, transporting and subsisting the troops, declined to make any further appropriations, and they were detained in the service chiefly by the generous aid of the colonel, who supplied the wants of the soldiers, by advancing many thousand pounds from his own private funds. The proposed attack on the French possessions in Canada originated with Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, who prevailed upon the ministry to undertake the expedition. A squadron of ships of war, having on board a body of land forces, commanded by Sir John St. Clair, was, as early as the season would permit, to join the troops of New England at Louisburg, from whence they were to proceed by the St. Lawrence to Quebec. Those from New York, and the more southern provinces were to be collected at Albany, and to march thence against Crown Point and Montreal. So far as this plan was concerned, it was carried out with promptness and alacrity, upon the part of the colonies. The men were raised, and waited impatiently for employment, but neither general, troops, nor orders arrived from England, and therefore the provincial forces continued in a state of inactivity, until the en- suing autumn, when they were disbanded. This affair was one of the thousand instances of incapacity and misrule, which the parent state inflicted upon her dependent American progeny. No further material transactions took place in America during the war, and on the 30th of April, preliminary articles of peace were signed, but hostilities continued in Europe and on the ocean, until October, 1748, when the final treaty was executed at Aix-la-Chapelle, in which the great object of the war was wholly disregarded, the right of the British to navigate the American seas free from search, being unnoticed. The island of Cape Breton, with Louisburg, its capital, so dearly purchased by provincial blood and treasure, was given up under the stipula- tion, that all conquests should be restored, and the Americans
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had great cause to condemn the indifference or ignorance, which exposed them to future vexation and renewed hostilities by neglecting to ascertain the boundaries of the French and English territories on the American continent.
President Hamilton, whose health was in a very precarious state at the time the government devolved upon him, died about the middle of the summer of 1747, and was succeeded by John Reading, Esq., the next oldest counsellor, who was soon after displaced by the appointment of Jonathan Belcher, Esq., by the crown. General harmony prevailed between him and the legislature for the space of ten years. In his administration he manifested entire submission to the wishes of the assembly, where they did not interfere with his instructions from the crown. When acts of the assembly did so interfere, he pre- ferred rather to throw himself back on the royal will, than to take issue with them.
He was a man who used few words of his own, but when re- quired to communicate to the house, preferred using those of the ministry, or the petitioner or agent, as the case might be, rarely adding any comments of his own, or expressing any preference upon the subject.
If charged with a failure in his duty, he never resented it in such a way as to create resistance. He was not imperturbable, and though sometimes severely tried by the assembly, by suspension of his salary, he was unmoved.
Two questions arising out of proprietary interests, vexed the whole term of his administration, and though he earnestly en- deavored to avoid becoming a party to them, he was made a sufferer in the contests between the council and assembly. There had been no important controversy between the grantees of Carteret and the Elizabethtown claimants, under the Indian title, for more than thirty years. But this peace was occasioned by Carteret not enforcing his title or endeavoring to collect the rents. A large quantity of East Jersey lands, under Carteret's title, had got into the hands of Robert Hunter Morris, and James Alexander, Esquires, both of whom held important offices in the province, the one being Chief Justice, the other Secretary, and both had been members of the council. These gentlemen,
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with other extensive proprietors, during the life of Governor Morris, and towards the close of his administration, commenced actions of ejectment, and suits for the recovery of quit-rents against many of the settlers.
They immediately resorted to their Indian title for defence, and formed an association consisting of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the eastern part of Middlesex, the whole of Essex, part of Somerset, and part of Morris counties, and by their union and violence, they were enabled to bid defiance to the law, to hold possession of the lands which were fairly within the Indian grant, and to add to their party a great many persons who could not, even under that grant, claim exemption from proprietary demands. The prisons were no longer sufficient to keep those whom the laws condemned to confinement, for in the month of September, 1745, the associators broke open the jail of the county of Essex, and liberated a prisoner, committed at the suit of the proprietors ; and during several consecutive years, all persons confined for like cause, or on charge of high treason and rebellion for resisting the laws were released at the will of the insurgents, so that the arm of government was in this respect wholly paralyzed. Persons who had long held under the pro- prietaries were forcibly ejected, others were compelled to take leases from landlords, whom they were not disposed to acknowl- edge ; and those who had courage to stand out, were threatened with, and in many instances, received personal violence.
The council and the governor were inclined to view these unlawful proceedings in the darkest colors, and to treat the dis- turbers of the peace, as insurgents, rebels and traitors, and to inflict upon them the direst severity of the laws. They pre- pared and sent to the assembly a riot act, modeled after that of Great Britain, making it felony without benefit of clergy,* for
* Benefit of the clergy, in English law, originally, the exemption of the persons of clergymen from criminal process before a secular judge ; a privilege which was extended to all who could read, such persons being in the eye of the law, "clerici," or clerks. But this privilege has been abridged and modified by various statutes. [See Blackstone, 4 b. ch. 28.] In the United States no benefit of clergy exists; for our common and public schools contem- plates that every person should read and write.
Previous to 1672, the benefit of clergy was prayed for and allowed as in
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twelve or more tumultuously assembled together, to refuse to disperse upon the requisition of the civil authority, by proclama- tion, in form set forth by the act.
The assembly not only rejected this bill, but sought to give a more favorable color to the offences of the associators. The council of the proprietors sent a petition to the king, signed by Andrew Johnson, their president, and dated December 23d, 1748, setting forth, " that great numbers of men taking advantage of a dispute subsisting between the branches of the legislature of the province, and of a most unnatural rebellion at that time reigning in Great Britain, had entered into a combination to subvert the laws and constitution of this province, and to obstruct the course of legal proceedings ; to which end they endeavored to infuse into the minds of the people, that neither your majesty nor your noble progenitors, Kings and Queens of England, had any right whatever to the soil or government of America, and that their grants were void and fraudulent ; and having by these means associated to themselves great numbers of the poor and ignorant part of the people, they, in the month of September, 1745, began to carry into execution their wicked schemes ; when in a riotous manner, they broke open the goal of the county of Essex, and took from thence a prisoner, there confined by due process of law ; and have since that time, gone on like a torrent, bearing all down before them, dispossessing some people of their estates, and giving them to accomplices ; plundering the estates of others who do not join with them, and dividing the spoil among them ; breaking open the prisons as often as any of them are committed, rescuing their accomplices, keeping daily in armed numbers,
England. In one instance, the entry of the minutes of the Court of Oyer and Terminer is, "the prisoners being asked if they had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed on them, according to the verdict found against them, prayed the benefit of clergy; the court being of the opinion that they were entitled to the benefit of their clergy, their judgment is that they be branded in the brawn of the left thumb with the letter T, immediately in the face of the court, which sentence was executed accordingly ; and ordered that they be recommitted till their fees are paid, and they each enter into recognizance in one hundred pounds, to be of good behaviour for one year."
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and traveling often in armed multitudes to different parts of the province for those purposes ; so that your Majesty's government and laws have, for above three years last past, ceased to be that protection to the lives and properties of the people here, which Your Majesty intended they should be.
" These bold and daring people, not in the least regarding their allegiance, have presumed to establish courts of justice, to appoint captains and officers over Your Majesty's subjects, to lay and collect taxes, and to do many other things in contempt of Your Majesty's authority, to which they refuse any kind of obedience.
" That all the endeavors of the government to put the laws in execution, have been hitherto vain ; for, notwithstanding many of these common disturbers stand indicted for high treason, in levying war against Your Majesty, yet such is the weakness of the government, that it has not been able to bring one of them to trial and punishment. That the petitioners have long waited in expectation of a vigorous interposition of the legislature, in order to give force to the laws, and enable Your Majesty's officers to carry them into execution. But the house of assembly after neglecting the thing for a long time, have, at last, refused to afford the government any assistance, for want of which your petitioner's estates are left a prey to a rebellious mob, and Your Majesty's government exposed to the repeated insults of a set of traitors."
The assembly knew nothing of this petition of the proprietors, until they had received a copy of it by the agent of the province, and in October, 1749, they sent a counter petition to the King, in which they vindicated their conduct, and declared, " that the proprietories of East New Jersey had, from the first settlement, patented and divided their lands by concession among them- selves, in such manner, as from thence many irregularities had ensued, which had occasioned multitudes of controversies and law suits, about titles and boundaries of land. That these con- troversies had subsisted between a number of poor people on the one part, and some of the rich, understanding and powerful on the other part ; among whom where James Alexander, Esq., a great proprietor, and an eminent lawyer, one of your Majesty's
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council, and surveyor general for this colony, although a dweller in New York, and Robert Hunter Morris, Esq., Chief Justice, and one of your Majesty's council in said colony. That the said Alexander and Morris, not yielding to determine the matter in contest by a few trials at law, as the nature of the thing would admit, but on the contrary, discovering a disposition to harass those people, by a multiplicity of suits, the last mentioned became uneasy (as we conceive) through fear, that those suits might be determined against them, when considered, that the said Chief Justice Morris was son of the then late Governor Morris, by whose commission the other judges of the supreme court acted, and by whom the then sheriffs throughout the colony had been appointed ; and should a multiplicity of suits have been determined against the people, instead of a few only, which would have answered the purpose, the extraordinary and unnecessary charges occasioned thereby, would have so far weakened their hands as to have rendered them unable to appeal to Your Majesty in council, from whom they might expect im- partial justice. That these are, in the opinion of the house, the motives that prevailed on these unthinking people, to obstruct the cause of legal proceedings, and not at any disaffection to Your Majesty's person or government."*
If the council of proprietors, supported by the legislative council, was disposed to aggravate the offences of the insurgents into high treason, it is apparent that the assembly were not less resolved, to consider them of a very venial character, and their conduct, upon this occasion, was highly disingenious. The house could not refuse from time to time, to condemn in strong terms, the conduct of the rioters ; but, no representation of the governor or council, could induce them, either to pass the riot act, or to arm the executive with military force, to capture the rioters, guard the prisons, or protect the public peace. If, indeed, the insurgents possessed a colorable title to the lands, and had been. oppressed by a multiplicity of suits, which they were disposed to render unnecessary by submission to the law as apparent on the decision of a few; if they had been content
* Votes of assembly.
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with defending their own possessions, without disturbing those of others, the representations of the assembly might have been less reprehensible. But the title of the insurgents was, on its merits, wholly unsustainable in an English court of justice, where a mere Indian right could never prevail against the grant of the King. The true solution of the course taken by the assembly will be found, most probably, in their sympathy for the rioters, and their hostility towards the leading members of the council, who were large proprietors. The public peace, from this cause, continued unsettled for several years.
The administration of Governor Belcher, was also perplexed by a difference between the council and assembly, on a bill for ascertaining the value of taxable property in each county, for the purpose of making a new apportionment of their respective quotas. Among other property directed to be returned by this " Quota bill," as it was termed, was " the whole of all profitable tracts of land held by patent, deed, or survey, whereon any improve- ment is made." To this cause the council took exception on two grounds, first, that it was in contravention of the royal instruction prohibiting the governor from consenting to any act to tax unprofitable lands; and second, that it would be gross injustice, by taxing lands according to their quantity, and not according to their quality. Since tracts of lands might, and probably would be deemed profitable, when the greater number of acres were wholly unproductive. The council, therefore, proposed to amend the act, by declaring that nothing therein was intended to break in upon the royal instructions, or to warrant the asses- sors to include any unprofitable lands in their lists. The house roused by this attempt to modify what they deemed a money bill, denied the right of the council to amend such bill, and refused themselves to alter it, so as to remove the objection. The failure to pass the " Quota bill," deprived all the state officers of their salaries during the year.
A few extracts from the messages between the council and assembly, will show the manner in which these bodies treated each other, and also show the form and color of the times. Thus the council, in their address to the assembly, February 19th, 1750, says: 1
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" The assembly in their message, and in their address to his excellency, accuse us of having taken liberties upon us ; as to which we think we have taken none, but what were our just right to take. But the liberties the assembly have taken with His Majesty, with his excellency our governor, with the magis- trates of this and other counties, and with us, by those papers, and during this and former sessions, (as will appear by their minutes), and by spreading base, false, scandalous, and injurious libels against us, we believe all sober and reasonable men will think unjustifiable-God only knows the hearts and thoughts of men. They have, it seems to us, even not left this province uninvaded, for they take upon them to suggest our thoughts to be not out of any great regard to His Majesty's instruction, that we have been lead to make our amendment, but to exempt our large tracts of land from taxes,* when they well knew, that a majority of this house, are not owners of large tracts of land, and those who have such, do declare they never had the least thought of having their lands exempted from taxes, consistent with reason and His Majesty's instructions."
The house, in their democratic pride, did not deign to reply directly to this reproach. But they ordered an entry to be made upon their minutes, declaring-
" That it would be taking up too much time at the public ex- pense, for the house to make any particular answer thereto, nor indeed is it necessary, when considered, that the message itself will discover the council's aim, in having the improved part only, of tracts of land, taken an account of, in future taxation, which, if admitted, would exempt the unimproved parts of such tracts from paying any part of the public tax. So that, should ยท a gentleman be possessed of a tract of ten thousand acres of land, in one tract, worth ten thousand pounds, and only fifty acres of it improved ; and a poor freeholder should be possessed of a tract of one hundred acres only, worth but one hundred pounds, and fifty acres of it improved, the poor freeholder must pay as much as the gentleman, and this we may venture to
* Some of the council of proprietors were large land holders in the province.
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say, (without invading the province of God, which the council are pleased to charge us with,) would be the obvious consequence of the bill in question, if passed in the manner the council in- sist ; and why a poor man, worth only one hundred pounds, should pay as much tax as a gentleman worth ten thousand pounds, will be difficult for the council to show a reason, but at present, we may set it down as a difficult and surprising ex- pedient, indeed to favor the poor."
They accused the council, "instead of making it appear that they had a right to amend the bill, as they have repeatedly re- solved they had, unhappily fallen into the railing language of the meanest class of mankind, in such a manner, that had it not been sent to this house by one of the members, no man could imagine that it was composed by a deliberate determina- tion of a set of men who pretend to sit as a branch of the legislature. For towards the close of the above said message, they charge us with having taken liberties with His Majesty, with his excellency our governor, with the magistrates of this, and other counties, and with our having spread false, scandalous, and injurious libels against them, the said council ; which they say they believe all sober and reasonable men will think unjustifiable.
" What liberties we have taken with His Majesty, otherwise than to assert our loyalty to him, in cur address to the governor, we know not. What liberties we have taken with the governor, unless it be to tell him the true reason of the government being so long unsupported, and to represent the public grievances to him, for redress, we know not.
"What liberties we have taken with the gentlemen of the coun- cil, other than to tell them the truth, in modest plain English, we know not. What liberties we have taken with the magistrates of this and other counties, unless it be to inquire into their conduct, upon complaints, and after a fair and impartial hearing, to represent their arbitrary and illegal proceedings, for redress, we know not :' and wherein we have been guilty of spreading false, scandalous and injurious libels against the council, we know not.
" Therefore, it will be incumbent on them to point out, and
Y
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duly prove some undue liberties we have taken, and libels sprend, before any sober and reasonable men will be prevailed on to condemn our proceedings, as unjustifiable ; which we think they will not do upon the slender authority of the council's insulting message to this house ; which, in our opinion, is so far from being likely to prevail on any sober and reasonable men, to believe the false, scurulous, and groundless charges therein alleged against us. That it will rather discover the council to be men at least under the government of passion, if not void of reason and truth, until they recover the right use of their reason again, it will be fruitless for this house to spend time in arguing with them."
While these important branches of the government, ceased to treat each other with ordinary respect, it was impossible that the public business could be carried on, and the governor wisely dissolved the assembly.
On the 20th of May, 1751, the new house met, and consisted of a majority of new members, and being disposed to despatch the affairs of the province, they passed the quota bill, in a form which dissipated the objections formerly urged against it, classifying lands according to their quality, and making all which could in any way be deemed profitable, liable to taxation, at a rate depending on their actual value.
This difficulty was however scarcely removed, before another, partaking of the same character, arose. In adopting a new act . for the support of the government, to the principles furnished by the quota act, the council assumed the right to amend the bill, although such right had always been peremptorily denied them by the house, in relation to all money bills, and in the present case their amendments were unanimously rejected. The assem- bly in their determination to maintain their point, in this respect, sought to get over the difficulty by making the governor a party to the bill in their favor, and for that purpose, after it had been returned by the council, they sent it up directly to him, that he might place it again before that body, together with his in- fluence, in order to secure its passage. This course, if carried out, would have brought the form of administering the govern- ment back to that which it possessed before the alteration made
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by Governor Morris, when the governor had a seat with, and debated with council. But Governor Belcher declined to re- ceive their bill, and the house being unable to further continue, it was prorogued, and the public treasury still continued empty. It was not until the month of February, 1752, after near four years' delay, that a bill for the support of government-received the sanction of the different branches of the legislative powers of the government.
The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which, in Europe, was but a hollow truce, was scarce regarded by the French in America, for, eager to extend their territories and to connect their northern possessions with Louisiana, they projected a line of forts and military positions from the one to the other, along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. They explored and occupied the land upon the Ohio, buried in many places through the country, metal plates with inscriptions, declaring their claims. They caressed and threatened the Indians by turns ; scattered liberal presents, and prepared to compel by force what was refused by kind- ness.
The enterprise and industry of the French with the Indians, were in strong contrast with the coldness and apathy of the English. After the peace of 1748, the English discontinued their attentions, even to those Indians they had induced to take up arms. They suffered the captives to remain unransomed ; their families to pine in want, and utterly disregarded the children of the slain ; while the French proved themselves attentive to the interest of their allies, dressed them in finery, and loaded them with presents. They might have exercised a still greater in- fluence over them, had they not sought to convert them to the Roman Catholic faith; for the Indians in their simplicity fancied that the religious ceremonies were arts to reduce them to slavery. By this policy the French had succeeded in estranging the Indians on the Ohio, and in dividing the councils of the Six Nations ; drawing off the Onondagoes, Cayugas and Senecas. Their progress with these tribes were rendered still more dangerous by the death of several chiefs, who had been in the English interest, and by the advances of the British in the western country without the consent of the aborigines.
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