USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V.1 > Part 18
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arise in the bosom of every individual. It then spoke of the impositions upon the credulity of the people by the misrepresentations of artful and designing men. " Let it be your concern," it continued, "to undeceive the deluded, and, by your example, bring back to a sense of their duty those who have been misled, that nothing which can carry with it the least resemblance of former heat and prejudice may be suffered to prevail, and the minds of those who are too easily agitated be again disposed to a cheerful obe- dience to the laws, and to sentiments of respectful gratitude to the mother country." Their attention was next directed to the care of those unfortunate persons who had suffered from the " licentiousness of the populace for their defer- ence to the British Legislature," and they were requested to make full and ample compensation for the goods and effects of the sufferers that had been destroyed. This latter suggestion was owing to circular letters from the minister to the provincial governors, requesting the colo- nial Assemblies to show their "respectful gratitude for the forbearance of Parliament," by indemnitying those who had suffered injury in attempting to execute the late act. In connection with the opening speech, petitions were handed in by Lieutenant-Governor Colden and Major James, praying the Assembly to make good their losses by the recent riots. These petitions were thereupon referred to a committee of the whole House, who reported favorably upon the claims of Major James, but passed over in silence those of the Lieutenant-Governor-very much to the chagrin of the latter, who forthwith wrote a letter to Conway, begging him to lay his case before the King, that his losses might be recompensed by a pension.
The Governor now ventured again to request of the Assembly its compliance with the demands of the Minis- try in relation to the quartering of troops, a large body of whom was shortly expected from England. But although
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the House had joined with the council in an humble address to the King, thanking him for the repeal of the Stamp Act, and although, moreover, it was perfectly will- ing to vote statues to his majesty and William Pitt, it was no more disposed to comply with this demand, now that Parliament had yielded to its wishes, than it was at the previous session, when the Stamp Act was in full force. The House accordingly voted a series of resolutions simi- lar in tone to those passed November, 1765, and postponed further discussion on the subject until the troops had arrived. A second message, however, from Sir Henry Moore, induced it to alter its determination so far as to state that the appropriations of 1762 were at his disposal, and might be. applied toward providing barracks, fire- wood, and candles, for two battalions and one company of artillery, for one year. Beyond this, however, it would not go; and the Governor, while he was obliged to be content with this decision, wrote at the same time to the Lords of Trade, that its partial compliance was more the result of compulsion than of gratitude for recent favors ; and that, in his opinion, every act of Parliament, unless backed by a sufficient power to enforce it, would meet with the same fate.
Meanwhile, troubles had arisen in Dutchess county, which, although in no way connected with the issues between the colonies and the mother country, at first threatened serious consequences. In the beginning of 1766, the Stockbridge Indians, feeling aggrieved by the intrusions, as they claimed, of some of the people of Dutchess upon their lands, broke into the houses of the alleged trespassers, and turned their families out of doors. As is generally the case on such occasions, several of the vagabond class of whites, very ready for a fray, joined the rioters, and committed acts of violence throughout the
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country. The excitement now extended into Albany County; and the mob, now grown to formidable dimen- sions, threatened to attack New York city, and, indeed, actually began their march thither. In this exigency, General Gage (at that time commander-in-chief of his majesty's troops in America) ordered up, to meet the insurgents, the Twenty-eighth regiment, which had just arrived from England. The appearance of the troops soon brought the rioters to reason ; and having succeeded -though not without bloodshed-in restoring order, they returned to New York with the chief ringleaders of the rebellion.
"In 1766, the Methodist denomination was first organ- ized in the city by Philip Embury and others; and in 1767, the first church of this sect was erected upon 1766. the site of the present one in John, near Nassau 1767. Street, and, like it, christened Wesley Chapel. In the same year, also, the first medical school was established, which eventually became the New-York Hospital. Sev- eral new streets were opened about the same time-among others, Cliff Street and Park Place. For the better pre- vention of fires, an ordinance was passed directing that all the roofs in the city should be covered with slate or tiles. For some years, however, tiles alone were used, the first building roofed with slate being, it is said, the City Hotel, in Broadway, erected about 1794 .??
The joyous feelings which had followed the repeal of the Stamp Act were not of long continuance. Hardly had the first gratulations of victory passed and sober reflection taken their place, when the Declaratory Act, in all its omi- nous proportions, loomed up, overshadowing the public mind with gloomy forebodings. The persistent attempt, moreover, to force the province into a compliance with the Mutiny Act-an act which, to thinking men, seemed
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intended to provide the nucleus of a standing army- alarmed all classes; and secret leagues were at once formed in most of the colonies, the object of which was to further union of counsel in resisting oppression. The partial compliance of the Assembly with the requisition of the Governor for quarters had been exceedingly distaste- ful to the Sons of Liberty, who, upon the arrival of the troops, made no disguise of their feelings. Mutual ani- mosities accordingly arose between the citizens and sol- diery, which soon culminated in open acts of hostility. On the 10th of August, 1766, some of the troops, exasperated at the people, to whose influence they attributed the action of the Assembly in depriving them of liquor, cut down the flag-staff, which, with so much apparent unanimity, had been dedicated to " Pitt and Liberty." The following evening, while the citizens were preparing to re-erect the pole, they were assaulted by the soldiers with drawn bay- onets, and several of them, among whom was Isaac Sears, were wounded. Governor Moore, who heartily wished the troops away, attempted, with General Gage, to restrain these outrages, and, to some extent, succeeded; but the officers, intent upon gratifying their private malice, winked at the conduct of their men, who, thus encouraged, became more violent than ever. Several dwellings of the poorer class, situated in the suburbs of the city, were broken into on the 23d of October; and, on the 3d day of November, the domestic sanctuary of an honest drayman was entered by a soldier, who, while he wounded its occupant, hesitated not to hamstring his horse, upon which he relied for his daily bread.
These licentious proceedings were not calculated to dis- pose the Assembly any more favorably to the attempt to quarter the obnoxious red-coats at their expense. Accord- ingly, when, on the 17th of November, Governor Moore laid before that body instructions from the Minister in-
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forming them of the King's displeasure at their conduct, their absolute duty to obey the acts of Parliament, and of his wish that provision for the troops should be imme- diately made, they refused outright to make further pro- vision, choosing to interpret the act as referring solely "to soldiers on the march." On this refusal, Governor Moore waited upon the House, and endeavored to prevail upon them to alter their determination. His efforts, however, were unavailing; and having, by the defiant attitude thus assumed, no other alternative left, he prorogued the Assem- bly on the 19th of December.
Already the British Cabinet regretted the repeal of the Stamp Act, and the project of taxing America was again resumed. The extravagant demonstrations of delight manifested by the colonists at the repeal had been regarded by British statesmen with ill-concealed disgust ; and when, in May, 1767, the news was 1767. received that Georgia, following the example of New York, had also declined obedience to the Mutiny Act, the chagrin at having yielded became open and undis- guised. Accordingly, in the same month, Townshend introduced a bill into the House of Commons, imposing a duty on all paper, glass, tea, and painters' colors, imported into the colonies. In its passage through Parliament, the bill met with scarcely any opposition ; and, on the 28th of June, it received the cordial assent and signature of the King. This was shortly followed by another, " to estab- lish Commissioners of Customs in America," and also by one "to compensate the stamp-officers who had been deprived by the people." But by far the most important in its consequences was another, which received the royal assent on the 20th, and which declared that the functions of the Assembly of New York were henceforth annulled-the Governor and council being forbidden to give their assent to any act passed by that body, "until the Mutiny Act
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was unequivocally acknowledged and submitted to." The rebellious people of the colonies, said the authors of this act, must be brought to unqualified submission, and the supremacy of Parliament be maintained.
This latter act-by far the deadliest blow that had yet been struck at their liberties-excited the utmost con- sternation throughout the American provinces. It was at once seen that if Parliament could, at pleasure, disfran- chise a sister colony, the same fate might, at any time, overtake the others. "This act," wrote Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, " hangs like a flaming sword over our heads, and requires, by all means, to be removed." The · citizens of Boston, sympathizing deeply with the people of New York, expressed, in no measured terms, their indig- nation at what they styled ministerial tyranny. Tyranny it indeed was, and of the most inexcusable kind, inasmuch as it was not, as some have supposed, a tyranny into which the British Ministry were led blindly, or through ignorance of the consequences. "It is strange," says an elegant English writer, "that the British Government should not have been apprehensive of the great and increasing danger in which its colonial dominion was involved." * It is not strange. The British Government did it with open eyes, and clearly foresaw the results toward which its colonial policy was fast tending; for while, in the spring of this year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was pushing forward his schemes of taxation, General Gage was putting Fort George, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point on a thorough war footing; and Carleton, the Lieutenant-Governor of Canada, was adding new defenses to Quebec. " These measures," wrote the latter to the Commander-in-Chief, " will link these two provinces- New York and Quebec-so strongly together as will add great security to both, and will facilitate the transfer of
* Graham.
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ten or fifteen thousand men, in the beginning of a war, from one to another, as circumstances may require ;" and in the same letter the writer suggests that a "place of arms" should be immediately established in New York, " for," he adds, "no pains, address, nor expense, is too great, that will give security to the King's magazines ; divide the Northern and Southern colonies ; and afford an opportunity of transporting our forces into any part of the continent."
The Assembly having expired by its septennial limita- tion on the 6th of February, 1768, writs were issued for a new election, returnable on the 22d of the follow- ing month. Owing, however, to the Governor hav- 1768. ing no special business to lay before the House, the new Assembly was not convened until the 27th of October. The opening speech of the Governor related chiefly to the Indian trade, which his majesty had been pleased hence- forward to confide to the colonies " The advantages," said the Governor, " arising, not only from the intercourse of trade with the Indians, but from the maintenance of that tranquility among them which subsists at present, are so obvious as to require no arguments to enforce them. I shall, therefore, only recommend to you that, to avoid any future cause of dissatisfaction or jealousy being given, you will, by the most effectual laws, prevent any settle- ments being made beyond the line which shall be agreed on by the Indians." In its reply, on the 3d of Novem- ber, the House expressed its willingness to co-operate with the Governor in any measures for the better regulation of the Indian trade; and, indeed, for the first two weeks of the session, nothing occurred to ruffle the general har- mony of its proceedings. The critical posture of the province. to the mother country, however, forbade that this state of quiescence should be lasting; and it was not
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long before a direct issue arose between the Governor and his Assembly.
. The right of Parliament to tax America was still dis- cussed with great freedom in all the colonies, but in none with more vigor than in Massachusetts. In February, the Assembly of that province had addressed a circular letter, drafted by Samuel Adams, to her sister colonies, in which the " great evils to which the inhabitants of Amer- ica were subjected from the operation of several acts of Parliament imposing taxes upon them," were set forth, and their co-operation solicited in obtaining redress. This pro- ceeding, as may readily be imagined, gave great offense to the Ministry ; and Lord Hillsborough forthwith addressed a letter upon the subject to the several colonial Governors, requesting that their Assemblies should treat the circular letter with- silent contempt. But the resentment of the mother country toward Massachusetts was not satisfied. It was determined to still further disgrace her, by detach- ing a strong military force to occupy her capital The rumor that such a step was meditated by the Crown caused considerable comment ; and when, on the 28th of September, two British regiments, accompanied by seven men-of-war, arrived at Boston from Halifax, the indigna- tion, not only in Massachusetts, but in those colonies that sympathized with her, became intense. In Connecticut, numerous town-meetings were held, in which it was resolved, first, "to seek the Lord, by general fasting, prayer, and humiliation, and then to call a convention of ninety-two persons, to determine what was to be done in the present difficulties and distress." In New York city, especially, the Sons of Liberty felt deeply the indignity offered to their sister colony; and, in their first ebullition of anger, indignation meetings were held, and Governor Bernard and his sheriff burned in effigy.
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Such was the state of public sentiment, when, on the 14th of November, Sir Henry Moore laid before the House the Earl of Hillsborough's letter forbidding corre- spondence with Massachusetts, and called upon it to ren- der a cheerful obedience to the wishes of the Secretary. This action of the Governor was met by a warm remon- strance from the Assembly; and when, a few days after, the former threatened to dissolve it, in case of its not complying, it unhesitatingly refused obedience. The bold stand thus assumed was warmly seconded by public opin- ion, as appears conspicuously in the newspapers and private correspondence of the day. A series of articles, which had recently appeared under the title of "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies," had paved the way for a fearless utter- ance against ministerial oppression. "Let these truths," said the leaders of the people in New York, " be indelibly impressed upon our minds, that we cannot be free without being secure in our property ; that we cannot be secure in our property if, without our consent, others may, as by right, take it away ; that taxes imposed by Parliament do thus take it away ; that duties, laid for the sole purpose of raising money, are taxes; and that attempts to lay such should be instantly and firmly opposed."
While, however, the Assembly was thus firm in main- taining its constitutional rights and privileges, it evinced no disposition to countenance acts of lawless violence ; and, in reply to a message from the Governor on the 23d, asking its aid in bringing to punishment the ringleaders in a recent riot, it reported a series of resolutions which distinctly set forth, that, although it felt deeply the course of Parliament toward them, yet, so far from approving of any violent proceedings, it would on all occasions endeavor to support the dignity and authority of government. The riot to which allusion is here made, had cecurred on the
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14th of November, and had been the result of new exac- tions, by way of imposts, of the Parliament upon the colonies ; and while the reply of the House, as intimated, strongly censured the rioters, yet it also condemned the new duties in terms equally severe. This address gave little satisfaction to the representative of the Crown; and on the last day of the year it was followed by a series of strong constitutional resolutions, among which was one declaring that it was the opinion of the committee " that the House had an undoubted right to correspond and con- sult with any of the neighboring colonies on any matter, ' subject, or thing whatever, whereby they should conceive the rights and liberties of the House to be in any way affected."
These resolutions gave high displeasure; and Sir Henry Moore, having convened the Assembly in the City
Hall on the afternoon of the 3d of January, 1769, 1769. dissolved it by a speech of evident irritation, yet of affected regret and sorrow at the occasion demanding the summary measure. Writs for a new election were immediately issued, returnable on the 14th of February. The people, however, sustained the action of their repre- sentatives, and all the former members, with the excep- tion of six, were returned by overwhelming majorities. Such was the result of the first direct appeal of the Crown to the people on the subject of the great constitutional principles of liberty, which were now beginning to agitate the political waters to their deepest fountains.
Notwithstanding, however, the fact that most of the old members were returned, the election was hotly con- tested. "I hear," wrote Sir William Johnson, jocularly, to a friend in New York, " that you are likely to have a hot election, and probably there will be work for shilla- lahs." Nor was the writer far out in his conjecture. At no time for many years had the excitement been more
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intense, and every means and device was made use of to secure votes. In New York city, especially, the contest was between the church party and the dissenters *- the former being led by the De Lanceys, and the latter by the Livingstons. "It is surprising," writes Peter Van Schaak to his brother Henry, under date of January 27th, 1769, " what trifles can be turned to the greatest advantage in elections, and be made to captivate the passions of the vulgar. A straw, a fire-brand, have severally answered this purpose in a recent instance. It was said, during the last election, that T. Smith had said that the Irish were . poor beggars, and had come over here upon a bunch of straw. The whole body of Irishmen immediately joined, and appeared with straws in their hats. Mr. Kissam, who summed up the evidence for Mr. Scott in the late charge against Mr. Jauncey, happened to say that the passions of the Germans were fire-brands. A whole con- gregation were, in consequence of that, resolved to vote with them in their hands; but, being dissuaded, they, however, distinguished themselves by the name of the Fire-brands. These gentlemen have also made themselves remarkable by a song in the German language, the chorus of which is :
" Maester Cruger, De Lancey, Maester Walton and Jauncey.'
" 'Twas droll to see some of the first gentlemen in town joining in singing these songs, while they con- ducted the members to the Coffee-house." "I arrived here St. John's Day," writes another person, at the same time, from New York to a friend, "when there was a grand procession of the whole Masonic fraternity, and a
* And not between the lawyers and the merchants as such, as stated by Miss Booth. This writer also makes the prorogation of the Assembly, by Gov- ernor Moore, occur in 1768, a year previous. This is, however, probably a
. typographical error.
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very excellent sermon preached by Dr. Auchmuty, at Trinity church, on the occasion. At the same time a col- lection was made for the city, which I think amounted to £200. Would you think it, but it is true, that the Pres- byterians immediately labored to convert this charitable affair to the disadvantage of the Church of England and
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the part which they take in the election ensuing ? Will. Smith and W. Livingston got an old rascally sermon. called ' MASONRY, THE SURE GUIDE TO HELL,' reprinted, and distributed it with great assiduity, * and there is - this day an extraordinary Lodge held on the occasion, in order to consult means to resent the affront." The church party, having the support of the mercantile and
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Masonic interests, was triumphant; and John Cruger, James De Lancey, Jacob Walton, and James Jauncey, were elected by the city.
On the 4th of April, 1769, the new Assembly met. John Cruger was immediately chosen speaker, and it was not long before another proof was afforded of the strength of the church party in the House. "The De Lancey inter- est," wrote . Hugh Wallace, a member of the council, to Sir William Johnson, " prevails in the House greatly, and they have given the Livingston interest proof of it by dismissing P. Livingston the House as a non-resident." The Livingstons, however, were not entirely crushed, for the same writer adds: "It is said he will be returned again and again, and so become another Wilkes."
The opening speech of Governor Moore contained not the remotest reference to the difficulties which had caused the recent dissolution, but referred only to the manner in which the colony's agent in London was appointed ; a mode which his excellency thought objectionable, he being of the opinion that the appointment of an agent should be made by an act of the Governor, Council, and Assembly, specially passed for that purpose, as had for- merly been the case. The change in the manner of appointing the colonial agent was first introduced during the administration of Governor Clinton, in 1747, in the appointment of Robert Charles, without the former's privity or consent. Clinton complained bitterly at the time of the innovation, but without effect; it was, therefore, not likely that the Assembly, having had their own way in this matter for upward of twenty years, would now yield. Accordingly, in their reply, they utterly declined adopting the mode which his excellency had recommended. This, of course, gave great dissatisfac- tion to the Governor, who, on the 20th of May, prorogued the Assembly to the month of July ; not, however, until
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that body had voted, with a very ill grace, £1,800 for the support of his majesty's troops quartered in the colony.
The death of Sir Henry Moore, on the 11th of Sep- tember, 1769, threw a gloom over the entire city. His polished manners, courteous address, and genial disposi- tion had endeared him to many in the colony. Although forced oftentimes, as the representative of the Crown, to come in collision with the popular sentiment, yet such occasions were evidently so distasteful to him that many who were his bitter political enemies regarded him with cordial good-will. By his death, the reins of government fell, for the third time, into the hands of Doctor Colden, who, as Lieutenant Governor, opened the fall session of . the Assembly on the 22d of November.
Appearances seemed to indicate a stormy session. Massachusetts had just passed a series of spirited resolu- tions against the military and naval force stationed at her capital. The Assembly of Virginia, late in the spring, had been dissolved by the new Governor, Lord Botetourt, for its presumption in sending Massachusetts words of encour- agement and support. The refusal, moreover, of the House of Commons, in March, to receive the representative of the New York Assembly, excited the apprehensions of those of the colonists who had hitherto been warmly attached to the Crown. "I must confess," wrote Sir Wil- liam Johnson, in September, "that the aspect of affairs at home is very unpleasing, and ought to give concern to every well-wisher of his country, because, whatever reason or justice there may be in the late steps, there is a proba- bility of their being carried further than a good man can wish for."
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