USA > New York > A history of New York, for schools. Vol. I > Part 13
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John. Poor fellows ; how they must have longed to reach the shore !
Un. The boats being secured, they made an at- tempt to land by means of a raft, but were turned back and confined to the ship.
John. But this was hard, sir.
Un. It is thus that individuals must sometimes suffer when the welfare of a nation or community is at stake. This was now the case. These English sailors were supplied with every thing needed for the safe navigation of the ship home again. But go they must. In the mean time another affair called for the interference of our citizens. You will re- collect that it was said all the American captains of ships had refused to take the tea.
John. Yes, sir ; and that the East India Compa- ny had chartered English ships. Such, I suppose, was the Nancy.
Un. The Sons of Liberty received information that one of the New York ship-captains, notwith- standing his profession that he would not receive the obnoxious article, had shipped eighteen chests of it in London, that he had already arrived at the Hook, and that his ship was on her way to the town. The pilots had no orders to stop this ship, as her commander, Captain Chambers, was known, and had made such professions of patriotism. The pi-
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lot that boarded him inquired if he had any tea, and he denied.
Mary. O, for shame !
Un. The ship arrived at the wharf, and was im- mediately boarded by the citizens.
Wm. Captain Sears at the head, I will warrant !
Un. Captain Chambers was again questioned, and again denied. Thus one falsehood leads to another, and the guilt and shame are doubled. He was told that they had unquestionable information that he had tea on board; and that they would search every package in the ship until they found it. See- ing their resolution, he confessed; but said it was not the East India Company's tea: that it was a private venture, shipped and owned by himself. This paltry equivocation did not save him from censure, or his tea from destruction. The hatches were ordered to be opened; the eighteen chests were found and hoisted to the deck; then, very deliberately, emptied into the salt water of the bay. After which the people quietly dispersed; and Cham- bers was suffered to withdraw, covered with contempt, when probably he had anticipated a covering of tar. John. What was done with Lockyier, sir ?
Un. Every thing being ready for his departure, ship, cargo, and all, a day was. appointed and an- nounced to the people. The bells were ordered to be rung. The Sons of Liberty met the captain of the English Nancy by appointment at the Coffee- house. Hither the citizens flocked in greater num- bers than ever before was known. The house was in Wall street at the corner of Water street, and opposite the Tontine Coffee-house of more recent construction. It was then kept by Mrs. Ferari, who removed to it in 1772, from the old Coffee-house, which was on the ground afterward occupied by the Tontine. The crowd filled the street. The com-
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mittee brought out Lockyier into the balcony. He was received with cheers, and a band of musick play- ed "God save the king." With all these unwel- come honours the English captain was escorted by the "Sons of Liberty" to the wharf at the foot of Wall street, where seeing him on board the pilot boat that was to convey his vessel off, they " wished him a good voyage" home, and then with the people dis- persed. 'The committee of vigilance still attended upon his ship at the Hook, and guarded his tea and
his crew. Captain Chambers, under protection of another committee, embarked on board Lockyier's ship. She sailed; the bells rang; the flag was hoisted on the liberty pole, and every ship in the harbour displayed her colours in token of triumph.
Wm. Well done, the good people of New York!
Un. But a more serious business was yet to be done.
John. What was that, sir ?
Un. To elect good men and true, to meet in con- gress at Philadelphia.,
John. They found them, sir !
Un. They did, boy. But the Sons of Liberty had to struggle hard to carry the election ; for many in New York (besides the downright tories or sup- porters of tyranny) were afraid of the measures ad- vocated by the champions of our rights ; while oth- ers conscientiously adhered to the mother country, and believed that she would remedy the grievances complained of, if conciliatory means were used. In this state of the publick feeling, on the 19th of May, 1774, (shortly after Chambers's tea had been thrown into the Coffee-house slip, at the bottom of Wall street, and Lockyier and his cargo had been sent to report that New York was as rebellious as Boston,) a great meeting was called at the Coffee- house, to take into consideration the state of their
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fellow-countrymen at Boston, who, as I have said, were deprived of the means of prosecuting their commercial business, and many of them reduced to , immediate want by the arbitrary act of parliament called the Boston port-bill.
John. Intended to punish the Boston folks, and thinking that the other people would be quiet and look on.
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Un. If they thought so they greatly mistook. Every colony felt the injury as done to itself; and that which perhaps was intended to produce dis- union, became a bond to unite all the genuine provincials from one end of the continent to the other. At this great meeting in May, a committee of fifty-one were appointed who were to deliberate for the citizens. Many of this committee were, to my knowledge, tories : but the majority were friends to America, yet not willing to oppose the measures of parliament. Most of these last described were merchants, and a portion of them never served.
Wm. Was Captain Sears on this great commit- tee, sir ?
Un. Yes, your favourite was one, and Captain Mc Dougal another. On their first meeting they appointed a committee of correspondence, consisting of Alexander Mc Dougal, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay. Letters from various parts were read. The project of a congress to meet at Philadel- phia was considered, agreed to, and delegates nomi- nated. This great committee had too many of the cold or disaffected to suit the ardent leaders, and on the 6th of July, another general meeting of citizens was called, and Mr. Mc Dougal placed in the chair. This was afterward called "the great meeting in the fields." Here a number of resolutions were passed, more congenial to the spirit of the times. They approved the conduct of the Bostonians,
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and resolved to' support them. They opened a subscription for their relief. They entered into non-importation agreements; and determined upon a plan for the election of delegates to that congress which they foresaw would be the bond of future union for the colonies.
John. These were the best men !
Un. The next day the committee of fifty-one met, and Mr. Thurman moved a resolution, which was , seconded by Mr. McEvers, disapproving of the meet- ing of the day before, and of their proceedings. This was carried by a large majority. Upon which all the true American whigs requested their names to be struck from the committee of fifty-one. Whe- ther they eventually seceded, I know not, but, on the 25th of July, the polls were opened at the dif- ferent wards for the election of delegates to a con- gress to meet at Philadelphia, and Philip Livings- ton, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay, were chosen.
John. Were these good men, sir ?
Un. Yes. Some of them very good. One of them pre-eminently so.
John. Ah, I know that was Mr. Jay.
Un. When the time arrived for the delegates to proceed to Philadelphia, the people assembled in vast crowds to attend them to the place of embark- ation, and took leave of them with every demonstra- tion of confidence in their abilities and patriotism. The congress of this year laid the foundation of American self-government. Messrs. Jay and Liv- ingston of New York, with Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, were appointed a committee to draw the declaration of rights. The composition is attributed to John Jay. It belongs to the general history of our country, and must be read by you all. But I will cits one passage which dwells on my memory
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as particularly applicable to the state of the contro- versy at this period, and placing the question at issue between England and America on its true ground. The passage I allude to is this. After speaking in strong terms, and almost harshly, of the conduct of Great Britain, as " forging chains for her friends and children," and becoming the " advocate of sla- very and oppression," the declaration says, "know then, that we consider ourselves, and do insist that we are, and ought to be, as free as our fellow-sub- jects in Great Britain ; and that no power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent." And again, "We claim to be free as well as our fellow-subjects of Great Britain : and are not the proprietors of the soil of Britain lords of their own property ? Can it be taken from them without their consent ? Will they yield it to the ar- bitrary disposal of any man or number of men what- ever ? You know they will not."
John. How was this declaration received, sir ?
Un. By Americans with enthusiastick pleasure. By Englishmen as the height of insolence. The parliament of Great Britain, and most of the people, (if they thought at all on the subject,) looked on the colonies as I have before shown you, merely as their property ; and upon the provincials as infe- riour beings,-creatures only existing by their per- mission and protection ; to be guided, and fleeced, as, flocks by their shepherds.
John. I remember, sir, that whatever low opinion they had of the colonists, they were afraid of their union.
Un. Yes; by making an artful distinction in the laws intended for their punishment, they hoped to divide them.
Wm. But the colonists were as wise as the Indi-
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ans you told us of; and knew that the bundle of ar- rows was stronger than one arrow alone.
Un. Very true, my good boy. But what has be- ยท come of Philip and Mary ?
John. Mary has left us; and Philip is making a boat.
Phil. Here I am, Uncle. But I am tired of what you are talking about; besides I don't understand it. And you promised us more stories.
Un. Come here. I will tell you a story. But as the place in which the events happened of which I am going to speak was New Jersey; and as New Jersey was part of Neuw Nederlandts, that is, of New York, at the beginning of our history, I will say a few words generally of that province before I begin my story.
John. If you please, sir.
Un. But not till we meet again.
CHAPTER XVI.
Un. Now, children, I will talk to you of New Jer- sey. At the peace of Breda, the Dutch surrendered the New Netherlands to the English, and received . in exchange a country called Surinam. In conse- quence of this surrender, all the territory from Con- necticut river to the Delaware was considered as the property of the Duke of York; and he sold New Jersey (that is, the land, bays, and rivers, from the Delaware to the Hudson) to Lord Berkely and Sir George Carteret. These two agreed upon a divi- sion ; Berkely taking as his half the western part, bounded on the Delaware, and Carteret that portion bounded on the Hudson; thenceforth the one is called
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East Jersey, and the other west. The early pur- chasers and settlers of New Jersey, in 1680, ex- pressed so fully and admirably the rights they pre- served as Englishmen, although they had come to America, and those they had acquired by their pur- chase from James, Duke of York, that I will read a few passages to you from Samuel Smith's history, to prove in'what light they viewed the Indians; and to show likewise that they used the same argu- ments respecting their own liberty and property, which their descendants brought forward in 1775. They insisted upon the right of self-government ; and say, "to give up this (the power of making laws) is to resign ourselves to the will of another ; and that for nothing: for, under favour, we buy no- thing of the duke, if not the right of an undisturb- ed colonizing, and that as Englishmen, with no diminution, but expectation of some increase of those freedoms and privileges enjoyed in our own coun- try ; for the soil is none of his, 'tis the natives', and it would be an ill argument to convert them to Christianity, to expel instead of purchasing them out of those countries."
John. Why, sir, this is as beautiful as if William Penn wrote it.
Un. These men, Edward Billinge, Samuel Jen- nings, Gawin Lawrie, and their associates, were the friends of William Penn ; and like the Puritans of Plymouth, true democrats in principle. They say, again, "we have not lost any part of our liberty by leaving our country," and it is evident that the hope of self-government was their leading motive. You see likewise, my children, that however admirable the declaration of rights may be esteemed which the congress of 1774 drew up, these New Jersey men expressed the same notions and supported them by the same arguments, quite as well.
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John. And I like what they say respecting the Indians.
Wm. Were the Indians in New Jersey a part of the Five Nations ?
Un. No. They were generally of the Lenni- Lenape, or Delawares. And now, as I think you have had enough on the subject of laws and rights for one. lesson, I will tell you something of these New Jersey Indians. . There were many tribes, and each had its own name, as Mingo, Anastaka, Chi- chequas, and so on. 'The chief man of the tribe was called a sachem, but the English settlers called them all kings, although as unlike kings in authority as they were in appearance. They were leaders, only as they were the wisest and best of the tribe. They were an inferiour people in some respects to the Iro- quois or Five Nations, who held them in contempt; but they were more disposed to peace, and in sin- cerity, hospitality, and gratitude to their Creator, they were at least equal to any of the natives. The historian of New Jersey says that they believed in a God and immortality : that they " seemed to aim at publick worship," sitting in circles, one circle within another, and singing, jumping, shouting, and dancing." They said the Great Being that made them, "dwelt in a glorious country to the south- ward," and " that the spirits of the good should go there." " Their most solemn worship was the sac- rifice of the first fruits; in which they burnt the first and fattest buck, and feasted together upon what else they had collected."
John. This, sir, is like what Mr. Webster, the in- terpreter, told you of the Five Nations of New York.
Un. I do not doubt, my son, that all the Indians, or red men of this northern continent, were origi- nally from one stock. Thomas Budd, one of the first settlers of New Jersey, published a pamphlet,
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in which he says that the Indians had been very serviceable to the English in supplying them with food and skins. That in their publick meetings of business, "they have excellent order, one speaking after another ; and while one is speaking all the rest keep silent, and do not so much as whisper one to another." On the subject of keeping peace, he gives a speech of one of the chiefs. In their figurative language he said, "We are willing to have a broad path for you and us to walk in, and if an Indian is asleep in this path, the Englishman shall pass by and do him no harm; and if an Englishman is asleep in this path, the Indian shall pass him by, and say, he is an Englishman, he is asleep; let him alone, he loves to sleep. It shall be a plain path ; there must not be in this path a stump to hurt our feet." On the subject of intoxicating drink their language was, "The strong liquor was first sold to us by the Dutch ; and they were blind, they had no eyes, they did not see that it was for our hurt. The next people that came among us were the Swedes;" "they likewise were blind, they had no eyes, they did not see it to be hurtful to us"-" we are so in love with it that we drink it, though we know that it makes us mad; we throw each other into the fire, we kill each other. Those people that sell it are blind ; but now there are a people come to live amongst us that have eyes; they see it to be for our hurt, and we know it to be for our hurt: they are willing to deny themselves the profit of it, for our good." You will observe the delicacy, in not at- tributing the selling of this poison to them by the Dutch and Swedes to evil motives, but merely to an ignorance that it would do harm; and they compli- ment the English settlers by attributing to them su- periour knowledge; and disinterestedness in conse- quence of knowledge. As you have mentioned Web-
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ster, the interpreter, I will give you a story told by another interpreter, to show the sense which the In- dians have of the goodness of the Giver of Life in the preservation of his creatures from evils of their own creating.
John. What interpreter was this, sir ?
Un. The historian does not give his name. "I write this," he says, "to give an account of what I have observed among the Indians, in relation to their belief and confidence in a Divine Being." He says that he was sent by the governor of Virginia to Onondaga, in the month of February ; a journey of more than five hundred miles through a wilderness, where there was neither road nor path; at a season when the earth was covered with snow and "no creatures could be met with for food." He was ac- companied by "a Dutchman and three Indians." They arrived at a narrow valley encompassed with high mountains " on which the snow lay three feet deep. In this pass ran a stream so rapid as to be unfrozen, and in places extending from one side of the gorge to the other, obliging the travellers to climb on the steep sides of the mountain to avoid wading in the water. They were forced to cut through the frozen surface of the snow to make holes for their feet that they might not slip down the mountain. " Thus," he says, "we crept on. It happened that the old Indian's foot slipped, and the root of a tree by which he held, breaking, he slipped down the mountain as from the roof of a house; but happily was stopped in his fall, by the string which fastened his pack, hitching to the stump of a small tree. The two Indians could not come to his aid, but our Dutch fellow-traveller did; and that not without visible danger to his own life."
Wm. So the brave Dutchman saved him !
Un. He rescued him from his perilous situation,
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and they all descended into the valley ; then they saw that if the Indian had slipped four or five paces further, he would have fell over a rock one hundred feet perpendicular upon craggy pieces of rock be- low." When the Indian saw the extent of the dan- ger from which he had been saved by the string of his pack hitching over a small piece of a projecting stump, and that there he had been suspended on the brink of an awful eternity, "he turned quite pale," says the narrator, "and, stretching out his arms, said with great earnestness, ' I thank the great Lord and Governor of this world, in that he has had mercy upon me, and has been willing that I should live longer.' "'
Phil. I like that Indian, and that story, Uncle.
Un. Let us remember it, boy. And remember to be thankful every hour of our lives: for we are thus suspended, though not so obviously, every mo- ment that we live. To-morrow, " if the great Lord and Governor of this world" is willing, we will go on with our history.
CHAPTER XVII.
John. Will you please to tell us something more of New Jersey, sir ?
Un. Willingly; and I have a New Jersey tale of robbers and counterfeiters to tell you.
John. Was Sir George Carteret the first governor ?
Un. Sir George Carteret did not come to Amer- ica, but sent his brother Philip, to govern ; for it ap- pears that the proprietors held the right of appoint- ing governors. So in 1631, for the first time in West Jersey, a form of government was regularly
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established. The governor agreed with the peo- - ple that there should be a free assembly chosen by them, once a year, to make laws for the good government of the province. The governor not to have the power of annulling these laws, and not to make war or raise troops without the consent of the assembly. In fact the whole power was reserved by the people to themselves, and they proclaimed perfect " liberty of conscience" in matters of religion. It was to East Jersey that Sir George Carteret had appointed his brother Philip as governor, and you remember that Sir Edmund Andros, the Duke of York's governor of New York, had him seized at Elizabethtown and brought to New York as a pris- oner, charging him with usurping his authority. Carteret, however, could show as good title as An- dros, and the affair was soon settled. Philip Car- teret remained governor until 1681. In the mean time Sir George died, and ordered the province to be sold to pay his debts. William Penn and eleven others bought it; and soon after sold out half to twelve others, and to these twenty-four the duke renewed the grant with power to appoint a govern- or and other officers. Accordingly the proprietors appointed Robert Barclay, (the author of the Apol- ogy for Quakerism which you will one day read,) governor for life. He did not continue to rule as long as he lived, for in two years from his appoint- ment, that is, in 1683, Lord Neil Campbell, uncle to the Duke of Argyle, came over as governor, and in 1698, Sir Thomas Lane was governor of East Jersey.
John. It would appear, sir, that the government of East Jersey, was not so democratick as that of West.
. Un. You are right; for in West Jersey the people not only chose the assembly, but the assembly (the people's representative) chose the governor and
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council. Their first choice was Samuel Jennings, (in 1683,) and next year Thomas Olive. This pow- er appears to have been exercised by the people dur- ing a dispute between them and the proprietors, which being adjusted, they agreed to the appoint- ment of John Skeine as governor. Dr. Cox, hav- ing purchased a great many shares of the property, was appointed governor next ; but appears to have been so anxious that the people should be satisfied, that he consulted with them, to know whether they wished to have a share in the choice of governor and council, and on other matters, in the spirit of true benevolence. In a few years the contending inter- ests of the proprietors threw the government of both Jerseys into confusion. In 1692, the proprietors of West Jersey appointed Andrew Hamilton their gov- ernor, and subsequently governor of both East and West Jersey ; but in 1701 appeared Jeremiah Bass with a commission from part of the proprietors, said to be approved by the king, and he superseded Ham- ilton; this commission was soon after disputed, and Hamilton again seated in the chair of government : but these disputes ended in an agreement of the pro- prietors of both Jerseys, East and West, to surrender their right of government, in 1702, to Queen Ann; and she, in council, on the 17th day of April, 1702, did accept the same, and appointed her cousin, Ed- ward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, governor over both parts, declaring them to be one province.
Wm. Why this is the same fellow that was gov- ernor of New York, and would not pay his debts because he was a lord, and a queen's cousin, and a governor : but when the government was taken from him his creditors in New York threw him into jail, and so got their money.
Un. Yes. He was governor of both provinces at the same time; and it was in consequence of the
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representations of New Jersey that he was supersc- ded. You will some day read in Mr. Samuel Smith's History, the instructions given him by Queen Ann, for his rule over both colonies: among other things he is enjoined to permit " liberty of conscience to all persons, (except Papists.)" Cornbury came to New Jersey in 1703, and his conduct was such that in 1707 the assembly remonstrated with him and stated their grievances, at the same time that they petitioned the queen for his removal. There were at this time bold and able men who advocated the rights of the people, and among them Mr. Lewis Morris was conspicuous. He owned iron works in Shrewsbury, and came originally from Barbadoes. Cornbury, in his answer to the assembly, imputes their dissatisfaction principally to Morris, and is very intemperate; he takes the opportunity to abuse the Quakers, as people pretending to be Christians, and denying their Saviour. In their rejoinder the assembly take a tone as high as the governor's : they tell him his favourites are the pests of the country ; that he does not obey the queen's instructions in re- gard to liberty of conscience, and many other mat- ters: that when residing (as he does the greater part of the time) at Fort Ann, in New York, there is no deputy in New Jersey to do justice. In
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