USA > New York > New York City > A history of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the city of New York > Part 5
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* Jones "N. Y. in Rev.," Vol. II, p. 4.
t "Rivington's Gazette," January 12th, 1775.
# It should be noted that in what follows no separation is attempted between members of the Wall Street and members of the New Church congregations. We possess, in fact, no means of distinguishing between
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In the first place, although, as we shall see, the institutional life of the church completely ceased soon after the war began, public worship being per- force discontinued and the whole machinery of the church's work coming to a stand-still-even the building being soon in the hands of the enemy-never- theless the church life did not come to an end. It was interrupted only. It was immediately renewed as soon as the opportunity arrived. And the contin- uity between the new and the old was preserved by the fact that the old members took up again the new work. In them the church had remained alive. In them the spirit, which animated the church both before and after, lived through the war; and we cannot properly understand the church's history, its interruption or its renewal, unless we are more or less familiar with the record of the men whose hearts were her tabernacle in the period of exile.
But there is a still clearer reason for regarding their personal conduct in the war as a part of the church's history. Their contemporaries very gener- ally believed that there was a direct and vital con- nection between their Presbyterian faith and their republican politics. In New York, in those days, if a man was known to hold to the one, it was assumed, almost as a matter of course, that he held to the other also. In the literature of the day, and especially
them, for no separate lists are in existence. We must rest content, there- fore, with the assumption that a fair proportion of those whose service is mentioned in the text belonged to the New Church. Mr. Daniel Lord, in- dee 1 (in the "Br. Ch. Mem.," p. 153,), claims that in the Revolution the New Church was the more democratic and "patriotic," the Wall Street Church the more Tory and "conservative," but we possess no contem- porary evidence to prove this.
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among the Tories, you will frequently find the word Presbyterian used almost as though it had a dis- tinctly political significance.
Of course, this means chiefly that in practical ex- perience Presbyterian patriots were found to be noticeably common, and also, on the other hand, that at least in New York City, the loyalists were observed to be most often members of the English Church. For this there may have been some merely superficial reason, or it may be that the representa- tive form of government, which is characteristic of Presbyterianism, had exerted a direct influence upon the political views of its members. But what- ever the cause, the fact is that Presbyterians had come to be closely identified with outspoken devo- tion to colonial liberty.
As early as 1752, a club had been formed in New York called the Whig Club, in which we may discern the beginnings of an organized resistance to British aggression, and in it the three most prominent mem- bers, William Livingston, William Smith, the younger, and John Morin Scott,-"the Triumvirate," as they were called,-besides others less active, were closely identified with the Presbyterian Church. Livingston was a member, while Smith and Scott, though not on the list of communicants, were trustees. Judge Jones, indeed, the loyalist historian, states incor- rectly that they were all Presbyterians by profession and uses that statement to explain their activities on the side of "anarchy and confusion."
These three men were all of good family. The name of Livingston was one of the most highly honored in the province. William Smith was the son
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of a prominent member of the New York bar .* John M. Scott was a descendant of the baronial family of the Scotts of Ancram, Scotland .; They were all lawyers, and had been educated at Yale College, another cause of their perversity, thinks the loyalist, who describes the New Haven institution as "a college remarkable for its persecuting spirit, its republican principles, its intolerance in religion, and its utter aversion to Bishops and all earthly Kings." "A nursery of sedition, of faction, and of republican- ism," he calls it elsewhere.į
These three able men had early devoted them- selves to the cause of liberty, and had already won a certain position as leaders, when the Stamp Act, in 1765, at length aroused the people to decisive action. Livingston, Smith and Scott were then the organ- izers in New York of the "Sons of Liberty," that patriotic society which sprang up everywhere, to
* Fiske in "The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America" (Vol. II, p. 285), says: "This William Smith, son of the accomplished lawyer in the Zenger case, was himself one of the few literary men of the province, the author of a 'History of New York to the Year 1732,' which is sturdy and racy, but so full of partisan bitterness that Smith himself admits it 'de- serves not the name of history.' As literature, however, it has decided merits."
The following is from the diary of John Adams, afterward second President of the United States. The date is Monday, August 22d, 1774:
"This morning we took Mr. McDougal into our coach and rode three miles out of town to Mr. Morin Scott's to breakfast. Mr. Scott has an elegant seat there, with Hudson's River just behind his house and a rural prospect all around him. Mr. Scott, his lady and daughter, and her husband, Mr. Litchfield, were dressed to receive us. We sat in a fine, airy entry till called into a front room to breakfast. A more elegant breakfast I never saw,-rich plate, a very large silver coffee-pot, a very large silver teapot, napkins of the very finest materials, toast and bread and butter in great perfection. After breakfast a plate of beautiful peaches, another of pears, and another of plums, and a muskmelon were placed on the table." ("Works of John Adams," Vol. II, p. 349.)
į See Jones "N. Y. in Rev.," pp. 3, 5.
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voice the instantaneous opposition of the colonists to the hated tax. So largely were the Presbyterians represented in this organization that in New York it was known, we are told, as "The Presbyterian Junto." *
In the opinion of their opponents, the Sons of Lib- erty were a group of hot-headed rebels, eager, on the slightest provocation, to sever connections with the mother country. As a matter of fact, the idea of separation was, at this time, repugnant to all of them, and was destined, as it gradually came to the front, to find them by no means of one opinion. The strikingly divergent careers of the three leaders, for instance, in whom as Presbyterians we are espe- cially interested, well illustrates this.
Livingston, together with his ardent love of liberty, showed a strong conservative tendency. No one was more staunch than he in his insistence upon the rights of Americans, but he most decidedly desired to maintain those rights by such means as would avoid anything bordering upon revolution. As events developed, we find him one of those who with reluctance perceived that loyalty to America and loyalty to England were incompatible; one of those, therefore, whose leadership, when in the crisis he did come out strongly on the patriot side, was felt to be peculiarly trustworthy, free as it was from the in- fluence of hasty passion. His honorable career in New Jersey, whither he moved in 1773, and where he held the offices, first of General of Militia and afterward of Governor, was proof of the confidence he inspired.
* Bancroft's "Hist. of the U. S.," Vol. IV, p. 326.
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William Smith was also a conservative. To him, too, the break with England, toward which the advancing patriotic sentiment gradually pointed, was a thing by all means to be avoided. From a choice between the two allegiances he most decidedly shrank. But in his case the result of this attitude was a state of uncertainty and vacillation at the crucial moment which left him in an unenviable po- sition. Up to a certain point, all had gone well with him. When Washington took command in New York in April, 1776, Mr. Smith put his house at the General's disposal, and after the occupation of the city by the British he was found among the patriots at some distance up the Hudson. But he could not remain in hearty sympathy with those who were now entering into open conflict with England. When called upon to take the new oath of loyalty, by which he would cease to be a British subject, he declared himself unable to do so. He was therefore ordered to leave the patriot territory and returned to New York, "forced out of his inglorious neutrality," as the patriots expressed it .* In their view, it was no time for a nice balancing of opinions. Though sus- pected in much the same way by some of the loyal- ists, he was received by the British authorities and was later made Chief Justice of New York, and after the war he held the same office in Canada. Yet at the beginning of the agitation and, indeed, down to the actual outbreak of the war, the cause of liberty found in him a strong and able supporter. So long as the opposition was to the British ministry, but not to Great Britain herself, he was a willing leader in it.
* "Pennsylvania Packet," September 15th.
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John Morin Scott, on the other hand, was natu- rally of a bolder and more aggressive temperament than either Smith or Livingston, and, as the history proceeds, is found to ride ever upon the crest of the advancing wave, his eloquent tongue putting courage into many who were waiting only for a determined summons. We shall hear much more of him as we proceed.
From the period of the Stamp Act, Scott was ably supported, and, indeed, at length surpassed in en- ergy, by another man of the same type-Alexander McDougal. He, also, was a Presbyterian, not only an attendant like Scott, but a communicant; the men of three generations in his family were members of the Presbyterian Church. In his case we have a man of poor and obscure origin, one whose sympa- thies were by experience, as well as from conviction, with the people. We are told that he had followed the sea in his youth, starting as a boy before the mast and ending his nautical career as captain of a vessel. At a later period he had built up a good business as merchant in New York. In short, he was a man of parts, and when the occasion called, he soon rose to the top .*
There were among the Sons of Liberty, and at first influential among them, men still more radical, such as Isaac Sears; but none of these having been
* Of both Scott and McDougal John Adams, in his journal for the year 1774, gives an estimate. Of the ability of both he speaks in high terms; " sensible," he calls them, by which, no doubt, he means that their political views coincided more or less closely with his own. Personally he found McDougal the more acceptable, speaking especially of his openness: "he has none of the mean cunning which disgraces so many of my country- men." Of Scott he says, bluntly, that he was "not very polite." (John Adams "Works," Vol. II, pp. 345-347.)
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Presbyterians, we are not concerned to follow their fortunes. Scott and McDougal, who did represent the Presbyterian congregations among the more ardent patriots, were, moreover, of more importance in the final issue. Though they, also, were certainly passionate in their love of liberty, impatient of the counsels of prudence and compromise and often sus- picious of those who offered them, inclined to violent utterance, and clamorous for decisive action, they did not, like Sears, for instance, get completely out of touch with the moderates. When at length the issue was clearly defined, they and the moderates were found acting again together as they had at the very outset. Meantime these more radical patriots played a part whose importance can hardly be overestimated. It is not too much to say that except for their constant and spirited agitation, and especially their organiz- ing of the common people and voicing of the popular demands, the strong loyalist element in New York might easily have gained control of the situation. The conservatives, even when they rejected the definite proposals of "the Presbyterians," were themselves supported and emboldened by the popular enthusiasm which "the Presbyterians" had aroused.
The Stamp Act went into effect on October 31st, 1765. The next day the inhabitants of New York, at the call of the Sons of Liberty, came together in in- dignant meeting on the Common. During the pre- ceding years, and still more in the stirring years that were to follow, the Common * was New York's rec-
* It will be remembered that this open space then included not only the present City Hall Park but the site of the post-office.
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ognized place of popular meeting. When there was need of giving expression either to great indignation or to great rejoicing, the Common was invariably the scene of the demonstration. It was on the Common that, at critical junctures, the will of the people was made known in no uncertain tones to obstinate gov- ernors or timid committees. In short, this open space at the north end of the city was, as has been well said, the Faneuil Hall of New York.
Now, directly adjoining the Common, it will be remembered, was the land which, in February, 1766, was secured for that New Church whose history we are tracing. The same men who, out there on the Common, were making American history, were here, on the "Vineyard lot," building their Presbyterian Church. It is agreeable to know that the same staunch qualities were going into both enterprises, and to be thus reminded that the patriots owed much to their Presbyterianism and the Presbyterians much to their patriotism. The walls of the New Church, rising while the American nation was com- ing into existence across the way, and her windows, looking quietly,-one might say approvingly,-at the momentous events which there ushered in the Revolution, may be taken as fitting symbols of the part which the church, as a living force in the hearts of her members, played in the events of those mem- orable years.
One might almost tell the rest of the story of this period under the title "What the New Church Saw from the Edge of the Green." First, there were the battles about the Liberty Pole, a flag-staff originally erected at the great rejoicing over the Stamp Act's
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repeal, and designed to carry a flag inscribed "The King, Pitt, and Liberty." That was in June, 1766. Every few weeks, from that time on, the pole would be cut down by the soldiers, who acted as agents of the alarmed and outraged loyalists, and immedi- ately restored by the indomitable Sons of Liberty. The fourth pole was standing when the New Church was dedicated. Its life was longer than that of its predecessors, but when it finally fell in January, 1770, the church witnessed a great commotion: three thousand angry and determined citizens assembled on the Common to devise means of overwhelming the pestilent soldiery and the still more hated power behind them.
In all these doings the Presbyterians, McDougal and Scott, had been leaders. In February, 1770, a very foolish attempt was made by the exasperated authorities to rid themselves of McDougal, by charging him with the authorship of certain alleged libels that had recently appeared. As might have been expected, his popularity increased vastly with persecution. While imprisoned in the New Gaol (on the Common), he was so besieged by callers that he was forced, or humorously gave out that he was forced, to set an hour for visits, namely, "from three o'clock in the afternoon till six." A notice to this effect was inserted in the newspapers.
Because of a similarity to the case of John Wilkes, in England, among whose followers the number "45" was used as a sort of watchword, the press accounts of McDougal's prison life were given in such arithmetical form as the following: "Yesterday, the 45th day of the year, 45 gentlemen . . cordial
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friends to Captain McDougal and the glorious cause of American liberty, went in decent procession to the New Gaol, and dined with him on 45 pounds of beefsteak, cut from a bullock 45 months old,* and with a number of other friends, who joined them in the afternoon, drank a number of toasts expressive, not only of the most undissembled loyalty, but of the warmest attachment to liberty, its renowned advo- cates in Great Britain and America, and the freedom of the press." t The prisoner was indicted and tried, but finally, for lack of evidence, was discharged after an imprisonment of several months.
In 1774, when the conflict was rapidly nearing, McDougal still held his place among the mass of the people as hero and leader, but many of the more con- servative patriots were beginning to fear the effects of his headlong enthusiasm. The question had plainly arisen whether he and others like him should seize the entire control of the movement, or should rather play the part of inspirers and energizers, while the helm was held by more cautious hands.
A committee of fifty (afterward fifty-one), chosen by the inhabitants of New York on May 16th, 1774, in response to certain proposals from Boston on the subject of the importation tax, included men of all types, and in it the contest between conservatives and radicals began at once. The conservatives, as it proved, were in the majority. When, in July, John M. Scott and Alexander McDougal were nominated as delegates to the General Congress, they were de-
* Judge Jones, in his account of this episode, gives, among the donations to the prisoner, "From the two Presbyterian Parsons, Rodgers and Treat, 45 lbs. of candles."
t "N. Y. Journal," February 15th, 1770.
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feated, and the committee chose instead a group of moderates and loyalists.
The people were greatly dissatisfied with this, and with other acts of their representatives. On July 6th they met in great numbers on the Common, "the Great Meeting in the Fields," it was afterward called. Alexander McDougal presided and the action taken was an emphatic rebuke to the committee of fifty-one. For several days the contest raged, but without a decisive issue at that time. The chosen delegates, having made a solemn profession in writing of their devotion to liberty, were finally accepted by the people; but the real differences, which the inci- dent revealed, remained as a problem of the future .* It was no doubt wise that a moderate policy should, at that juncture, prevail, though the protestors were right, as events proved, in their suspicion that many of the moderates were men who, in the last division, would choose the side of Great Britain against the Colony. At the same time, the best men in the mod- erate party, and happily those who gained and held control in it, were true patriots, seeking in their more cautious way the same great ends to which Scott and McDougal and their comrades were devoting themselves with noble and unselfish enthusiasm.
* Among the Presbyterians who, at this time, were active in urging and voicing the popular protests were McDougal, Scott, Joseph Hallet, P. V. B. Livingston, and John Broome. Mr. Livingston is described by John Adams, in 1774, as "a sensible man and a gentleman. He has been in trade, is rich, and now lives upon his income." ("Works," Vol. II, p. 351.)
CHAPTER V IN THE REVOLUTION: 1775-1783
"Little did we think of such an event as this, when we began the struggle for our invaded privileges. The growing injustice of the British Administration-their accumulated injuries-opened it upon us, and forced us into the measure, as the only alternative to save our oppressed land. It was this or the most abject slavery. A dread alternative, indeed, . .. but which an all-governing Providence has wisely overruled for our salvation."-JOHN RODGERS, "The Divine Goodness Displayed in the American Revolution," p. 11.
"If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord, toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name; then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause."-1 Kings 8 : 44 f.
O N Sunday, April 23d, 1775, when the stirring news from Lexington reached the city, the inadequacy of the conservative policy be- came suddenly evident and, for a time, the sway of the ardent patriots again increased. A party of them under the leadership, we are told, of Peter R. Livingston, a Presbyterian, seized at once upon a sloop loaded with lumber for the barracks in Boston and threw the cargo into the harbor, the people at the same time being urged to arm themselves by an attack upon the arsenal. In the meeting of His Maj- esty's Council at the house of the Lieutenant Gov- ernor, that afternoon, William Smith, of whom we read in the last chapter, took the position that the excitement then prevailing was general throughout the city, and that it was not without due cause in the obstinate injustice of the British Ministry. He op-
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posed strongly the purpose of the extreme loyalists to call out the militia and read the riot act.
The most definite evidence, however, of the re- newed influence of the more pronounced patriots, is found in the abandonment of the old "Committee of Fifty-one" at this time, and the selection by the in- habitants, on May 1st, of a new committee of one hundred. The conservative element was still strongly represented in it, but the proportions of influence had been somewhat changed. The committee de- clared its resolve, in the most explicit manner, to stand or fall with the liberty of the Colonies, and at its first meeting, held without delay, a motion, offered by Scott and seconded by McDougal, was passed, providing for an association which should engage, by all the ties of religion, honor, and love of country, to submit to the Colonial Congress, to withdraw support from British troops, and at risk of lives and fortunes to repel every attempt at enforc- ing taxation by Parliament.
Nine at least of the Committee of One Hundred were Presbyterians,* and five of these t were among the twenty-two delegates selected to meet deputies of the other counties in the Provincial Congress on May 22d. The contemporary loyalist historian,¿ describing the reception tendered at this time to the delegates sent from New England to the second Continental Congress, as they passed through New York on their way to Philadelphia, speaks in the bitterest terms of "the Presbyterian faction" who
* P. V. B. Livingston, McDougal, Scott, Joseph Hallet, Thomas Smith, John Broome, Samuel Broome, John Lasher, John White.
t The first five in the above list.
# Judge Jones. See Jones "N. Y. in Rev,"
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took the lead in the matter. He gives a list of them, which includes their two ministers, Rodgers and Treat, besides most of the others with whom we are now familiar. He tells us that the escorting com- pany of grenadiers was commanded by John Lasher, the Presbyterian shoemaker ("of the lowest extrac- tion," he adds) and he ends by classing all these persons with "other fomenters and demagogues of rebellion." Yet in spite of these uncomplimentary remarks, it is certain that these men were now tak- ing more and more a position of command in New York.
In June, John Morin Scott appeared in a pict- uresque incident not without significance .* The British soldiers, whose position in New York after Lexington was anything but comfortable, were leaving the city by permission of the Committee of One Hundred, when it was observed that they were taking with them a cartload of extra arms. Marinus Willett, a patriot, endeavored to stop them, on the ground that the committee had not authorized this act, but he found a strong supporter of the soldiers in another bystander, no less a person than Mr. Gou- verneur Morris. At this point, Scott happened to make his appearance, himself "an influential mem- ber of the committee," says Willett, in his narrative of the event, and one "whose reputation for talents was as great as any in the city." Taking in the situation at a glance, he exclaimed in a loud voice, "You are right, Willett; the committee have not given them permission to carry off any spare arms," and in spite of Mr. Morris, the wagon was turned into a
* "New York in the Revolution," p. 63.
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side street, while the soldiers proceeded without it to the wharf.
It was a time of curious confusion in which these New Yorkers were then living. Regiments of sol- diers were being raised by the colonists for a pur- pose that could not be disguised, while the very men active in this work claimed, and with per- fect sincerity, that they were loyal subjects of King George.
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