USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 16
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" Resolved therefore, That the General Assembly of this colony have the sole right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such power in any person or persons whatever, other than the General Assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom." [Nearly at the same time the As- sembly of Massachusetts adopted similar resolves.]
In the city of New York the stamp-act was printed, under the title of " The folly of England, and the ruin of America," and thus hawked about the streets. When it became known that co- lonial assemblies were evincing hostility to the law, the timid be- came more bold and the tendency to mobocracy could not be re- strained. In many parts of Connecticut and Rhode-Island, mobs to oppose the law were collected, while in Boston the populace wantonly destroyed the buildings and property of the stamp offi- cers. In June the Legislature of Massachusetts proposed the ex- pediency of calling a Continental Congress, to meet in New York the following October. Nine of the colonies sent delegates. The esult of their deliberations was, a declaration of rights, in which
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they claimed the exclusive right to tax themselves, and the privi- lege of trial by jury, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a pe- tition to the King, and Commons. Colonies prevented by the pro- roguing power of their governors from sending delegates to the convention, expressed their earliest possible approbation of the proceedings. On the first day of November, when the stamp-act was to take effect, sadness was manifest in all the colonies. In Boston the workshops and stores were closed, and while the bells tolled as for a funeral, effigies of the friends of the act, were marched in solemn procession through the streets, to a gallows on Boston neck, where, after the hang-man had done his duty, they were cut down and destroyed. At Portsmouth, public no- tice was given to the friends of liberty to attend her funeral-a coffin was prepared, upon which was inscribed in large letters the word Liberty. This was followed by a numerous procession, while the bells were tolling and minute guns were firing, to the grave. There an oration was pronounced, in which it was hinted, that the deceased might possibly revive. The coffin was then dis- interred, the word Revived conspicuously added to the inscription, after which the bells rang a merry peal. Printers boldly printed and circulated their papers, without the required stamp. Asso- ciations were formed from Maine to the Mississippi, entitled the "Sons of Liberty," composed of the talent and wealth of the people ; pledging their fortunes and their lives to defend the liberty of the press, and put down the stamp-act. The scheme of continental alliance, which afterwards followed, sprang from these associations. Nor were the males alone patriotic-females of the highest rank, and bred to luxurious ease, became members in all the colonies, of societies, resolving to forego luxuries, and to card, spin, and weave their own clothing. Fair reader ! a suit of home-spun, was then a mark of popular distinction. Such was the spirit of opposition, to a favorite measure of the British minis- try. Parliament again convened in January, 1766 ; when a mul- titude of petitions, from all parts of England and America, were presented for the repeal of the stamp-act. Some changes had taken place in the English Cabinet, more favorable to the colonial
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cause, but Mr. Grenville still retained a place in it. After the speech of the King had been read, Mr. Pitt, the great champion of equal rights, occupied the floor. He briefly censured the acts of the late ministry, after which he thus expressed himself.
" It is a long time, Mr. Speaker, since I have attended in Par- liament : when the resolution was taken in this House to tax Ame- rica, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have been car- ried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the con- sequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testimony against it. It is my opinion, that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the colo- mies. At the same time, I assert the authority of this kingdom to be sovereign and supreme in every circumstance of government and legislation whatsoever. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power ; the taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the Commons alone. The concurrence of the Peers and the Crown is necessary only as a form of law. This House represents the commons of Great Britain. When in this House we give and grant, therefore, we give and grant what is our own, but can we give and grant the property of the Commons of America ? It is an absurdity in terms. There is an idea in some, that the colonies are virtually represented in this House. I would fain know by whom ? The idea of virtual representation is the most contemptible that ever entered into the head of man :- It does not deserve a se- rious refutation. The commons in America, represented in their several Assemblies, have invariably exercised this constitutional right of giving and granting their own money; they would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed it. At the same time this kingdom has ever professed the power of legislation and commer- cial control. The colonies acknowledge your authority in all things, with the sole exception that you shall not take their money out of their pockets without their consent. Here would I draw the line-quam ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum"-[right forbids you to go beyond or fall short of it.]
Mr. Grenville, the prime mover of all the mischief, arose to de- fend his measures. He compared the tumults in America to an open rebellion-said he feared the doctrine that day promulgated would lead to revolution. He justified the right of taxing the colonies, &c. Said he --
" Protection and obedience are reciprocal. Great Britain pro- tects America, America is therefore bound to yield obedience. If not, tell me, when were the Americans emancipated ? The sedi- tious spirit of the colonies, owes its birth to the factions in this House. We were told we trod on tender ground ; we were bid to
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expect disobedience ; what is this but telling America to stand out against the law ? To encourage their obstinacy with the expecta- tion of support here ? Ungrateful people of America! The nation has run itself into an immense debt to give them protection; bounties have been extended to them ; in their favor the act of navigation has been relaxed : and now that they are called upon to contribute a small share towards the public expense, they re- nounce your authority, insult your officers, and break out, I might almost say, into open rebellion."
Mr. Grenville took his seat, and Mr. Pitt, with permission of the House, rose, with indignation visible in his countenance, to reply.
" Sir," [addressing the Speaker,] " a charge is brought against gentlemen sitting in this House, for giving birth to sedition in America. The freedom with which they have spoken their senti- ments against this unhappy act, is imputed to them as a crime ; but the imputation shall not discourage me. It is a liberty which I hope no gentleman will be afraid to exercise ; it is a liberty by which the gentleman who calumniates it, might have profited. He ought to have desisted from his project. We are told America is obstinate-America is almost in open rebellion . Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted ... Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to have made slaves of all the rest." [After a very happy reply to some old law passages cited by Mr. Grenville ; he thus continued]-" ' When,' said the honorable gen- tleman, 'were the colonies emancipated ?' At what time, say I in answer, were they made slaves? I speak from accurate know- ledge when I say, that the profits to Great Britain from the trade of the colonies, through all its branches, is two millions per an- num. This is the fund which carried you triumphantly through the war; this is the price America pays you for her protection ; and shall a miserable financier come with a boast that he can fetch a pepper-corn into the exchequer, at the loss of millions to the na- tion ? I know the valor of your troops-I know the skill of your officers-I know the force of this country ; but in such a cause your success would be hazardous. America if she fell, would fall like the strong man : she would embrace the pillars of the State and pull down the Constitution with her. Is this your boasted peace ? Not to sheathe the sword in the scabbard, but to sheathe it in the bowels of your countrymen ? The Americans have been wronged ; they have been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned ? No: let this country be the first to resume its prudence and temper ; I will pledge myself for the colonies, that on their part animosity and resent- ment will cease. The system of policy I would earnestly adopt in
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relation to America, is happily expressed in the words of a favo- rite poet :
" Be to her faults a little blind, Be to her virtues very kind, Let all her ways be unconfined And clap your padlock on her mind."
Upon the whole I beg leave to tell the House, in a few words, what is really my opinion. It is that the stamp-act be repealed, ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY AND IMMEDIATELY.
In addition to the information contained in the numerous peti- tions laid before Parliament, Doct. Franklin was called to the bar, and questioned freely as to the real state of feeling existing in the colonies towards the act. By a division of the House a large majority were in favor of not enforcing; and shortly after a bill passed for repealing the law. The news of its repeal produced joy throughout England and America. Illuminations and deco- rations took place in the former, while in the latter country, public thanksgivings were offered in the churches-non-importation re- solutions rescinded, and the home-spun apparel given to the poor. The difficulty between the two countries would soon have been healed, had not the repeal of the stamp-act been followed with the " Declaratory Act," which was, " that Parliament have, and of right ought to have, power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." In this the right to tax was still maintained : in addition to this probe to open the wound anew, a law remained unrepealed, which directed that whenever troops should be march- ed into any of the colonies, necessary articles should be provided for them at the expense of the colony. The Assembly of New York refused obedience to this law, and Parliament, to punish that body, suspended its authority. The alarm occasioned by this act, considered by the people despotic, had not time to die away, before a new and aggravated cause of grievance was added, by the passage of a law imposing duties on the importation of glass, tea, and other enumerated articles, into the colonies, provision by the act being made for the appointment of commissioners of the customs, to be dependent solely on the Crown. About the same time Gov. Bernard of Massachusetts who had received private in-
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structions to see that the colony made provision to remunerate the losses of those who had honored the stamp-act, being already very unpopular with the people, assumed, in his message to the As- sembly, a tone of haughty reproach. This message produced a sarcastic and indignant reply. From this time the friends of liberty daily increased, and the court party correspondingly de- clined. The joy felt in the colonies for the repeal of the stamp- act, was of very short duration. The non-importation agreements were revived-looms and cards once more set to work-the spin- ning-wheel, the piano of the times, was heard buzzing in the dwellings of the rich-articles of domestic manufacture became again, with patriots, the fashion of the day-petitions and re- monstrances were drawn up and circulated-and India tea, yield- ed its place on the tables of its fond drinkers, to a decoction of sassafras, sage, or a glass of cold water.
In 1768, troops were stationed in New York and Boston, to awe the people into submission to the acts of Parliament. Early in the same year, Massachusetts addressed a circular letter to the legislatures of the sister colonies, to have them unite in advising what course it was best to pursue. A series of essays, published in a Philadelphia newspaper at this period, entitled, "Letters from a farmer in Pennsylvania to the inhabitants of the British Colonies," from the pen of that enlightened patriot, John Dick- inson, Esq., augmented the spirit of union. In 1769, resolutions were adopted in Parliament reprobating in strong terms the con- duct of the people of Massachusetts, and directing that pliant tool of oppression, Governor Bernard, to make strict inquiry into all treasonable acts committed in that province since 1767, that per- sons thus guilty might have their offences investigated, and their fate decided upon within the realm of Great Britain.
The House of Burgesses of Virginia, which met shortly after, adopted, with closed doors, from fear of being prorogued by the Governor, resolutions expressive of their sense of the injustice and unconstitutionality of transporting criminals for trial among strangers, believing it to be highly derogatory to the rights of British subjects. Soon after this public manifestation of popular
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displeasure, the general court of Massachusetts convened at Cam- bridge, the public buildings in Boston being filled at that time with British soldiers. Governor Bernard wished them to provide funds to defray the expenses of quartering his Majesty's troops- no notice, however, was taken of the request : and he shortly af- ter left the province-unhonored and unlamented. He had for some time been a pliant tool for the British ministry, and his sys- tem of espionage had won for him the curses of the Union, which was then forming. Had the colonies been governed by men who were more willing to redress known grievances, and less anxious to please a ministry three thousand miles distant, it is possible the separation of the colonies from the mother country might have been delayed, if not prevented. Governor Trumbull of Connec- ticut, it should be observed, was an exception to the general rule.
Nothing occurred in 1769, to avert the impending storm. The mass of the people, in the mean time, were properly investigating the causes which were agitating the country, and which were fast approaching a crisis. Non-importation agreements were now as- suming a form, and producing an effect which told on the mother country. In June of that year, delegates from the several coun- ties in Maryland met at Annapolis and adopted spirited resolves : in one of which they took measures to secure to the country the article of wool, by agreeing not to kill any ewe lambs.
The troops quartered in New York and Boston were a constant source of irritation and difficulty with the inhabitants. On the second day of March, 1770, a quarrel took place at Boston, be- tween a British soldier and a man employed at a rope-walk. This quarrel was renewed by the citizens on the evening of the fifth, when a part of Captain Preston's company, after having been pelted with snow-balls, derided, and dared to, fired upon the mul- titude, killing three and wounding five others. The ringing of bells, the beating of drums and the shout to arms! by the peo- ple, soon brought together thousands of citizens. A body of troops, sent in the mean time to rescue Preston's men, would doubtless have been massacred, had not Governor Hutchinson and some of the leading citizens, among whom was Samuel Adams,
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interfered. The Governor promised that the matter should be amicably adjusted in the morning ; and the mob dispersed. The anniversary of this first martyrdom in the cause of American lib- erty, was celebrated by the Bostonians until the close of the war. The immortal Warren delivered two of the anniversary orations. In the first, which he delivered in 1772, on alluding to the events of that memorable evening, he thus speaks :
" When we beheld the authors of our distress parading in our streets, or drawn up in a regular battalia, as though in a hostile city, our hearts beat to arms; we snatched our weapons, almost resolved, by one decisive stroke, to avenge the death of our slaugh- tered brethren, and to secure from future danger, all that we held most dear : but propitious heaven forbade the bloody carnage, and saved the threatened victims of our too keen resentment, not by their discipline, not by their regular array,-no, it was royal George's livery that proved their shield-it was that which turned the pointed engines of destruction from their breasts." [In a note of reference to the forgoing extract, he thus adds :] "I have the strongest reason to believe that I have mentioned the only circum- stance which saved the troops from destruction. It was then and now is the opinion of those who were best acquainted with the state of affairs at that time, that had thrice that number of troops, belonging to any power at open war with us, been in this town, in the same exposed condition, scarce a man would have lived to have seen the morning light."
Three days after the massacre, the obsequies were solemnized. Every demonstration of respect was manifested. The stores and work-shops were closed-the bells of Boston, Charlestown and Roxbury were tolled, and thousands followed the remains to their final resting place. The bodies were all deposited in one vault. This unhappy event and its annual observance, tended greatly to widen the breach between the colony of Massachusetts and the mother country. In New York, quarrels also arose between the citizens and soldiers. Liberty poles, erected by the former, were cut down by the latter.
While such events were transpiring, an attempt was made in England to repeal the laws for raising a revenue in America. The duties were removed from all articles except tea, it being thought necessary by Parliament, to have at least one loaf constantly in the oven of discord. The repeal of a part of the obnoxious law
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produced little effect in the colonies, except to modify the non- importation agreements so as to exclude only tea from the coun- try ; and those patriots who had not before substituted, instead of tea, a cold water or herbaceous beverage, did now.
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CHAPTER VI.
The reader will perceive that the Revolution had, for several years, been progressively taking place : he is now approaching that period, when, by the clashing of steel, it was to be main- tained.
In 1772, his Majesty's revenue cutter Gaspee, while giving chase to the Providence, a packet sailing into Newport, and sus- pected of dealing in contraband wares, ran aground in Providence river, and was burned by the merchants and citizens in the vicinity. This was a bold act, and the sum of five hundred pounds was offered for the discovery of the offenders, and full par- don to any one who would become state's evidence : but in this case, as in that of Andre's capture, gold had no influence.
In 1773, provinces not exposed to the acts of a lawless soldiery, were fast breathing the same spirit manifested by those which were : propitious gales wafted it to the remotest parts. The ta- lented Patrick Henry, who made human nature and human events his study, prophesied, during this year, that the colonies would become independent. Virginia, in March of 1773, again took the lead in legislative resolves, against tyrannic oppression. The le- gislatures of New England and Maryland responded cordially to them. Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts, who succeeded Mr. Bernard, by a system of espionage similar to that carried on by the latter, became to the people of that commonwealth very odious. During this year, standing committees were appointed in the colonial assemblies, to correspond with each other. At this period, town committees had been formed in almost every town in
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some of the colonies, which had for their chief object, the speedy communication of important information, there being then but few printing presses in the country. Some time in this year, Doctor Franklin obtained in London several original letters, written by governor Hutchinson and others at Boston, to members of the British Parliament ; stating that the opposition to the laws, were, in Massachusetts, confined to a few factious individuals : recom- mending at the same time, the abridging of colonial rights, and the adoption of more vigorous measures. These letters were transmitted to America, and their contents being soon known in every hamlet in New England, the popular indignation was great- ly increased. The legislature of Massachusetts, in an address to his Majesty, demanded the recall of the governor and lieut. gov- ernor. This legislative proceeding was the cause of much oppro- brium being cast upon Franklin in England.
Owing to the rigid observance of the non-importation resolves, the East India company now found their tea accumulating in vast quantities in their ware-houses. They were therefore under the necessity of petitioning Parliament for relief. Permission was granted them to import it on their own account : and they accord- ingly appointed consignees in several American sea· ports, and made heavy shipments to them. They intended, no doubt, to land it free of duty to the American merchant, but the law im- posing the duty yet remained on the statute book of England ; and the popular voice decided, that while the right to tax was maintained, the tea should not be landed. In Philadelphia, the consignees declined their appointment. In New York, hand-bills were circulated, threatening with ruin those who should vend tea ; and warning pilots, at their peril, not to conduct ships into that port laden with the article. In Boston, inflammatory handbills were also circulated, but the consignees, being in favor with the governor, accepted their appointments. This excited the whole colony of Massachusetts, and enraged the citizens. In the mean time, several ships, containing thousands of chests, arrived on the coast. So determined were the people not to allow the tea to be landed, that ship after ship was compelled to return to England,
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without unlading a single chest. Philadelphia took the lead, and was nobly sustained by New York. In Charleston, it was landed but not permitted to be sold. On the twenty-ninth of November, the Dartmouth, an East India ship, laden with tea, entered the harbor of Boston. At a numerous meeting of the citizens, held to consult on the course to be pursued, it was resolved, " that the tea should not be landed, that no duty should be paid, and that it. should be sent back in the same vessel." To enforce the resolu- tions, a vigilant watch was organized to prevent its being secret- ly landed. The captain was notified to return with his cargo ; but Governor Hutchinson refused to sanction his return. In the mean time, other vessels, laden with tea, arrived there. On the sixteenth December, the citizens of Boston and vicinity assembled to determine what course to adopt. On the evening of that day, when it was known that the governor refused a pass for the ves- sels to return, a person in an Indian's dress gave the war whoop in the gallery of the Assembly room. At this signal, the people hurried to the wharves ; when a party of about twenty men, dis- guised as Mohawks, protected by thousands of citizens on shore, boarded the vessels, broke open and emptied the contents of three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the ocean, without tu- mult or personal injury. What a tea party the fishes and sea- serpent must have had that night.
These violent proceedings greatly excited the displeasure of the British government. Early in 1774, an act was passed in Par- liament, levying a fine on the town of Boston, as a compensation to the East India company for the tea destroyed the preceding De- cember. About the same time, an act closing the port of Boston, and removing the custom house to Salem : and another depriving the colony of Massachusetts of her constitution and charter, were passed : and to cap the climax of oppression, a bill was introduced making provision for the trial in England, instead of that colony for capital offence ; which passed the same year. A few indivi- duals strenuously opposed those measures, believing that the colo- nists would be driven to acts of desperation ; but they were passed by large majorities. When the bill for blockading the town of
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