History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 91

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 91

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Four days after the Resolutions of the Convention

8 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Mercurii, 9 ho., A.M., June "5, 1776."

4 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die Jovis, 9 ho., A.M., June 6, "1776."

With this simple record of one of the coldest specimens of polite disa- greement with another, on record, hefore him, the reader will hardly he prepared to read what Bancroft has written of the reception of the Res- olutions from Virginia and of John Jay's treatment of them. llis words were these: " But early in June, the New York Congress had to pass "upon the Virginia proposition of Independence. This was the moment "that showed the firmness and the purity of Jay ; the darker the hour, "the more he stood ready to cheer; the greater the danger, the more "promptly he stepped forward to guide. lle had insisted on the doubt- " ful measure of a second Petition to the King with no latent weakness of " purpose or cowardice of heart. The hope of obtaining redress had "gone; he could, now, with perfect peace of mind, give free scope to the "earnestness of his convictions. Though it had heen necessary for him " to perish as a martyr, he could not and he would not swerve from his "sense of duty."-(History of the United States, origiual edition, viii., 439 ; the same, centenary edition, v., 305.)

The entire reply to the Couvention of Virginia, excluding the date aud the signature, occupies twelve lines of a narrow column, including the half-lines of two paragraphs. All which it contained, concerning Inde- pendence, was a formal acknowledgment of the receipt of the letter and of the Resolutions, "which were immediately communicated to the Con- " gress of this Colony, and will be considered by them with all the de- " liberation due to the importance of the subject." Nothing more than that was said or done, on the subject of Independence, in connection with the Resolutions from Virginia, nor in connection with anything else, relative to that subject, until the Congress was crowded into a considera- tiou of it, hy an entirely different agency, several days afterwards.

Yet this is "history," as Bancroft understands the meaning of that termn.

361

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

of Virginia had been thus quieted, [June 10, 1776,] the Provincial Congress was further vexed, on the growing subject of Independcuce, by the receipt of the following brief note from those of the Delegates of the Colony who were, then, in Philadelphia :

"PHILADELPHIA, June 8, 1776. "DEAR SIR :

"Your Delegates, here, expect that the question of "Independence will, very shortly, be agitated in "Congress. Some of us consider ourselves as bound "by our instructions uot to vote ou that question ; "and all of us wish to have your sentiments thereon.

"The matter will admit of no delay; we have, "therefore, sent an express who will wait your " orders.

"We are, Sir, with the greatest respect, " Your most obt. hum. servts. " WILLIAM FLOYD, " HENRY WISNER, " ROBT. R. LIVINGSTON, "FRANS. LEWIS.

"To NATHANIEL WOODHULL, ESQ., PREST. "OF THE HON. THE CONVENTION OF NEW-YORK." 1

This letter was received, early in the morning, and the Provincial Congress, very leisurely, read it, in secret Session ; and, notwithstanding the urgency for speedy action which accompanied it, that was all which was done, concerning Independence, at that Ses- sion.2 Late in the afternoon, the Congress very lei- surely returned to the subject ; and, then, it indulged itself by hearing the reading of the letter, a second time; by listening, while the Clerk read the powers of the Provincial Congress, which were very briefly presented in the Resolution's calling for the election of its members ; 3 and by hearing the same stately official read the powers of the Delegates of the Colony in the Continental Congress,4 closing its desperate

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Luna, 9 ho., A.M., June 10, " 1776.""

2 1 bid.

3 It was stated iu the Credentials of the Deputies from Orange-county that the Resolutions of the secoud Provincial Congress, providing for the election of the third Provincial Congress and defiuing its authority, were adopted on the twelfth of March preceding ; but there is no mentiou of the adoption of any Resolutions whatever, on that subject, on that or any otherday, ou the published Journal of the second Provincial Congress.

Again : we have not found on that Journal, any definition of the au- thority of the third of those Congresses-that authority which, in the text, the Secretary is said to have read, on the afteruoon of the tenth of Juue-but the Credentials of the Deputies from Kings-county, compared with those of the Deputies from Orange-county, indicate that the author- ity sought to be delegated to that third Provincial Congress by its cou- stitueut Counties, under the Resolutions providing for their election, included "full powers, in behalf of the said County, to appoint Delegates "to represent the Colony in the Continental Congress, and to make such " orders and take such measures as they shall judge necessary, not repug- "nant to or inconsistent with any Rules or Orders of the Continental " Congress, for the preservation of the Rights, Liberties and Privileges of " the inhabitants of this Colony."

These, or their equivalents, were, undoubtedly, what the Secretary read to the Provincial Congress, as stated in the text.

4 "The powers of the Delegates at Coutineutal Cougress," which until it became convenient to refer to theui in order to promoto a selfish end.

effort to make haste slowly, in spending " some time, "in the consideration of the letter" of the Delega- tion,5 without, however, taking any action whatever, on it or on the subject to which it referred.

Nothing whatever was done by the Provincial Con- gress, concerning the letter of the Delegates nor con- cerning Independence, on the following morning, [June 11, 1776;]6 but, during the afternoon of that day, with that peculiar disregard for those with whom he was associated which invariably distinguished John Jay from all others, that Deputy presented "several Resolutions on the subject of Independ- "euce," which were seconded by Colonel Henry Remsen, of the City of New York, "again read by " paragraphs, amended, and agreed to, and are in the "words following, to wit : 7

"RESOLVED, UNANIMOUSLY, That the good people "of this Colony have not, in the opinion of this "Congress, authorized this Congress or the Delegates "of this Colony in the Continental Congress to de- "clare this Colony to be and continue independent of "the Crown of Great Britain.

" BUT WHEREAS the perseverance of the British " King and Parliament, in an unjustifiable attempt to "subjugate and enslave these United Colonies, may " render a determination on that and many other im- " portant points highly necessary and expedient, and "a recurrence to the people at large, for their senti- "ments on every great question that may occur in "the course of the present contest would be very " inconvenient to them, and probably be attended " with dangerous delay :

" RESOLVED, UNANIMOUSLY, therefore, That it be " and it is hereby earnestly recommended to all the " Freeholders and other Electors in this Colony, at "the ensuing Election to be held in pursuance of a " Resolution of the Congress of the thirty-first day of " May last past, not only to vest their Representa- "tives or Deputies with the powers therein muen- " tioned, but also with full power to deliberate and " determine on every question whatever that may " concern or affect the interest of this Colony, and to " conclude upon, ordain, and execute every act and "measure which, to them, shall appear conducive to " the happiness, security, and welfare of this Colony ; " and that they hold and exercise the said powers until " the second Tuesday of May next, or until a regular "form of Government for this Colony shall be estab-

had remained unnoticed, were recited in their Credentials, in tho follow- ing few words : * * * "to meet the Delegates from the other Colo- "nies, and to concert and determino upon such measures as shall be "judged most effectual for the preservation and re-establishment of " American rights and privileges, and for the restoration of harmony "between Great Britain and the Colonies," (Journal of the Provincial Convention. " Die Sabbati, 11 hora, A.MI., April 22, 1775; Journal of the Continental Congress, "Thursday, May 11, 1775.")

6 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Slonday, 5 P. M., June 10, 1776." 6 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Tuesday morning, New-York, June "11, 1776.""

" Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Tuesday, P.MI., Juno 11, 1776."

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

"lished, in case that event shall sooner take place. " And it is further recommended to the said Free- " holders and Electors, by instructions or otherwise, " to inform their said Deputies of their sentiments " relative to the great question of Independeney and "such other points as they may think proper." 1

It needs very little of knowledge in the seience of polities to distinguish, in these Resolutions, a pro- posal that those of the Colonists, in New York, who were not already proseribed and enslaved by the Resolutions of the Provincial Congress adopted on the fifth of June, six days preceding the adoption of these Resolutions,2 should debase themselves and voluntarily become unqualified serfs, before, and en- tirely subject to, as absolute and unbridled a despot- ism as ever existed ; and that knowledge will serve, also, to distinguish the author and supporters of such Resolutions, notwithstanding the gauzy masks which ill-supported their shallow pretensions to personal and politieal integrity, as nothing else than monareh- ists of the most pronounced sehool of absolutism, provided, always, they should, themselves, be seated very near to the throne. There was an appendage to those Resolutions, which rendered the entire move- ment still more remarkable; and the facts are not the less significant because those who have written of the Resolutions and of those who wrote them and pro- moted their passage through the Provincial Congress, have studiously eoneealed not only the license for a despotism which they contained, but, also, that secret appendage which made entirely inoperative all the provisions which they contained on the subject of the proposed Independence of the Colonies from the Mother Country.

The controlling appendage, to which we allude and which has not been heretofore noticed by any histori- eal writer, was an Agreement which was made be- tween the members of the Provincial Congress who were then present, John Jay having been of the number and unquestionably the leader in the move- ment, "That the publishing of the aforegoing Resolves

1 By inuendo, if not directly, Bancroft, by making no mention of the letter of the Delegation of the Colony in the Continental Congress, leads his readers to suppose that these Resolutions were the outcome of the Resolutions of the Convention of Virginia, which had been disposed of, as we have seen, several days previously and in a lesser number of words.

The same writer describes these Resolutions, after the rhetorical flour- ish, concerning the author of them, which we have elsewhere quoted, as " calling upon the Freeholders and Electors of the Colony to confer " on the Deputies whom they were about to choose full powers of admin- " istering Government, framing a Constitution, and deciding the great " question of Independence," (History of the United States, original edition, viii., 440; the same, centennial edition, v., 305.)

The venerable author saw nothing of that absolute despotism, involv. ing "every question whatever," civil or ecclesiastical or military, affect- ing not only individuals but the aggregate hody of the inhabitants of the eutire Colony, which those Resolutions clearly and definitely established ; and his eyes saw nothing whatever of that Agreement which was appended to them, which entirely dispose of his rhetoric, and, as we shall present- ly see, present John Jay in a somewhat different light.

2 Vide pages 343-347, ante.

" be postponed until after the Election of Deputies "with powers to establish a new forın of Govern- "ment "3-that is to say, they were not to be made known to the Freeholders and other voters, until after the Election at which the subject of the proposed Independence, was, by virtue of these Resolutions, to be submitted to the Eleetors, at the Polls, should have been held.

A reference to the Resolutions will show to the reader that, although the question of Independence formed the basis as well as the top-stone of the strue- ture, they were so contrived that, notwithstanding that question seemed to have been submitted to the judgment of the Electors, at the Polls, that grave sub- jeet was really made dependent, among the various other matters of government of which the Eleetors were audaciously asked to divest themselves, on the unrestrained, despotie will of the Provincial Congress itself; and, at the same time, the entire subject was made " a rider," as parliamentarians eall sueh motions, which was to be " saddled " on an Order which had been already made, for an Election, and for an entirely different purpose. All these, because they were open and intelligible to every sensible Elector, were well enough; and every such Eleetor, under the closing paragraph of the last Resolution, might be reason- ably expected, “ by instructions or otherwise, to in- " form his Deputy of his sentiments relative to the " great question of Independeney and such other "points as he might think proper," the aggregate of which " instructions " might be regarded as a reason- able indieation of the will of those who had given thein, on the great questions of a new form of Gov- ernment and of Independence, without, however, possessing any controlling power over the oligarehic Provincial Congress, who might, nevertheless, regard or disregard that expressed will of its constituents whenever and to whatever extent it own unrestrained will should determine, the Resolutions themselves, meanwhile, affording a lieense to those Delegates who remained in the Continental Congress, to continue to withhold the assent of the Colony of New York to whatever action should be taken, relative to Inde- pendenee, in that body. We say, all these were well enough, because they were open and intelligible ; and if the question of Independence had been, thereby, submitted, even indireetly and insufficiently, to the arbitrament of the Eleetors, there would have been an appearance, at least, of fairness and consisteney ; but John Jay had no such intention-he aimed, mainly, to hoodwink those, in the Continental Congress, who were anxiously desiring the support of New York in their effort to crowd the question of Independence throughi that body, by a seeming fairness on that subject ; while, at the same time, by a seeret Agreement (an action, by a parliamentary body, which was unknown to parliamentary law, and without a precedent,) all

3 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Tuesday, P.M., June 11, 1776."

363

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

that he and the Provincial Congress had done or pre- tended to have done, thereon, was made inoperative, by withholding from the Electors, until after the Election at which the Resolutions were ordered to be submitted to the judgment of those Electors, all knowledge of the existence of any such Resolutions !

If the Provincial Congress possessed no authority, legal or revolutionary, "to declare this Colony to be "and continue independent of the Crown of Great " Britain," as both common sense and history, as well as the first of John Jay's serics of enabling Resolu- tions, unquestionably determined, those enabling Res- olutions, carefully concealed and rendered entirely inoperative by the Agreement which was subsequently appended to them, assuredly did not supply nor pro- vide for a supply of that peculiar authority which John Jay and the Provincial Congress, then, regarded as necessary, for a warrant for such a declaration ; and, consequently, that Congress was, and would ne- cessarily continue to be, as it had previously been, without the slightest authority, legal or revolution- ary, to take any action whatever, which tended to- ward a separation of the Colony from the Mother Country. The carefully concealed Agreement accom- plished the evident purposes of its treacherous au- thors, however; and the Delegation of the Colony in the Continental Congress, at the same time, was en- abled, by it, to make its opposition, in that body, to the Resolution and the Declaration of Independence, less offensive to the majority of that Congress and to the revolutionary elements throughout the Continent; but, notwithstanding these successes, those Resolu- tions, as well as the Agreement which was appended to them, were deceptive and fraudulent in their char- acter, and intended by their author and promoters for nothing else than for the advancement of decep- tive and fraudulent purposes. The reader will see, very soon, with what little respect the declaration which formned the basis of those Resolutions, as well as the Resolutions themselves, was regarded by the same John Jay and by nearly the same Provincial Congress-then as deficient in authority " to declare " this Colony to be and continue independent of the "Crown of Great Britain," as it had been, twenty- eight days previously-when, on the ninth of July succeeding, they actually did declare this Colony to be and continue independent of the Mother Country, their acknowledged want of authority, from any source, to do any such action, to the contrary not withstanding.

Were there any doubt, in any mind, concerning John Jay's entire capability of practising the most refincd deccit and of being most unqualifiedly treacherous, whenever his own selfish or partisan purposes could be most successfully promoted by deceit and treachery, such a doubt would be surely removed by a knowledge of that remarkable transaction-the adoption of a series of Resolutions, for the seeming promotion of a specific purpose, while, secretly, at the same time, he !

entered into an Agreement with other persons, by ineans of the provisions of which Agreement, secretly executed, the Resolutions were made inoperative, and the seeming support which they appeared to extend to the question of Independence, at the same time, was converted into an illusion and a cheat-which we have described. John Jay and all those with whom he was associated, in the great political questions of that period, were aiming at something else than Inde- pendence, at something which was directly antagon- istic to Independence; and he and they felt at liber- ty, under the license of that unholy ambition which controlled them, to resort to and to employ whatever means, of whatever character, which would promote their controlling purpose of keeping the Colony of New York out of the current which was evidently setting toward Independence, and in a continued po- litical and commercial dependence on Great Britain. Whether others will justify either the fraud or those who perpetrated it, is a matter in which we have no concern.

Having thus disposed of its unwelcome guest, the Provincial Congress appointed John Jay and "Col- " onel a Committee to draft an answer to the "letter of the Delegates in the Continental Congress," which had been the basis of all the proceedings which are now under consideration ; and it is probable that such an answer, conveying a copy of the Resolutions, but evidently not one of the Agreement, was sent to the Delegates, on the afternoon of the day on which the Resolutions were adopted, although no mention was made of any such answer in the Journal of the Provincial Congress-the files of that body, however, contain a letter from the Delegates, dated on the sev- entecnth of June and addressed to the President of the Provincial Congress, acknowledging the receipt of two letters, of different dates, in one of which " the " sentiments of the Hon. the Convention relative to " the important subject on which we thought it our "duty to ask their opinion," had been transmitted, was duly acknowledged.1

No further action, of any kind, concerning Inde- pendence, was taken by the Provincial Congress ; and, guided by the restricted authority expressed on its Credentials and by the Resolutions which are now under consideration, without having been told of the treacherous Agreement, the Delegation in the Conti- nental Congress continued to withhold the assent of New York to the Resolution of Independence, adopted by that body, on the second of July, and to the Declaration which it approved, two days afterwards.

During the very brief period of the existence of the third Provincial Congress, besides those general enactments in which its conservative farmers were more than ordinarily interested, Westchester-county was, sometimes, made the especial object of the

1 Francis Lewis, Robert R. Livingston, John Alsop. William Floyd, and Henry Wisner to Hon. Nathaniel Woodhull, President, etc., " PHILADELPHIA, "17 Jnne, 1776 .**

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

attentions of that body. An instance of that class of special doings may be seen in the Order which was made by the Provincial Congress, on the twenty-first of May, in these words: "ORDERED, That Colonel ' Ritzema send such prudent Officer as he shall think " proper, to Westchester-county, to apply to the "Chairman of the County Committee and to the re- " spective Sub-committees, in that County, for such " good Arms, fit for soldiers' use, as they may have " collected by disarming disaffected persons, in that " County ; and the respective Committees are hereby " requested to deliver such of those Arms as are fit "for the Army, to such Officer, taking and preserving " his receipts for the same : that the said Committees, " respectively, take care that all such Arms be "appraised, and an account of the value of each kept " agreeable to the directions heretofore given for that " purpose ; and such Officer as Colonel Ritzcma shall "send to collect those Arms is hereby directed to de- " liver all such Arms as he shall so receive, to Colonel "Curtenius, that they may be repaired, where it may " be necessary." 1

It is not now known how many Arms were thus trans- ferred to the Provincial Storekceper ; nor from whom they had been impresscd; nor what disposition was subsequently made of them. But, because the Third Regiment of the New York Linc in the Continental Army, which was commanded by Colonel Ritzema, was one of those, under General Alexander McDougal, who were engaged with the Royal Army, on Chatter- ton's Hill, a few months afterwards, and because Colonel Ritzema's Regiment was undoubtedly sup- plied with Arms, as far as they went, from those which had been "impressed " in Westchester-county and were thus called in-although the Provincial Congress had disallowed the Resolution of the Com- mittee of Safety, under which these Arms had been forcibly taken from their respective owners, it will be seen that the Arms which had been thus seized were not returned to those from whom they had been taken- there was evidently a master-hand so skilfully direct- ing the progress of events that those Arms which had been thus violently and illegally and wrongly taken from the farincrs of Westchester-county were taken back to that County, to be employed in the defense of it, against the assaults of the common encmy.

On the twenty-ninth of May, Colonel Thomas Thomas informed the Provincial Congress that Elijah Hunter, who had been Second Lieutenant in Captain Mills's Company, from Bedford, during the Campaign of 1775,2 and who was a member of the County Com- mittee of 1776-77,3 representing that Town, was desir- ous of raising a Grenadier Company, to be attached to the Regiment of Westchester-county Militia, of

which Thomas was the Colonel ; and it was intended that, of that Compauy, Elijah Hunter should be the Captain ; 4 Richard Sackett, the First Lieutenant ; 5 Silas Miller, the Second Lieutenant; 5 and Jeremiah Lounsberry the Ensign.5 The Colonel also solicited Commissions for all these aspirants to official author- ity, although there was not the slightest pretense that a single Private had been eulisted; and, of course, since a Thomas had made the request, the Commis- sions were "immediately issued to those gentlemen." 6

On the first of June 1776, the Continental Con- gress made a requisition for six thousand men from the Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, and New York, “ to be employed to reinforce " the Army in Canada and to keep up the courmuni- "cation with that Province ; "7 on the third of June, a second requisition was made, by the same Congress, for thirteen thousand, eight hundred men from the Colonics of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, aud New Jersey, "to be employed to reinforce the "Army at New York ; "8 the eleven Battalions al- ready "raised and ordered to be raised for the protec- "tion of the four New England Colonies," were declared to be "sufficient," for that purpose ; 9 and a third requisition was also made for ten thousand men from the Colonies of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, "for a Flying Camp, to be immediately " established in the Middle Colonies." 10

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 91

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354