USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. I > Part 49
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On the 23d of June, the Assembly of New York voted thanks and a piece of plate to John Sargent, of London, for his services as special agent, during the existence of the stamp act. And they resolved, in token of the singular benefits derived from his majesty, George the Third, to make provision for an equestrian statue to be erected in the City of New York, to perpetuate to the latest poste- rity the deep sense the colony had of his goodness. Mr. Cruger · moved for a statue of Lord Chatham, and it was resolved accord- ingly. The representatives from the city at this time, were John Cruger, Philip Livingston, Leonard Lispenard, and William Bay- ard ; and to them a committee of their constituents had addressed
* Among the many important effects of the stamp act, it was not the least, that the American colonists had fully experienced the necessity and benefit of united counsels, and the facility of conducting opposition by conventions and committees of correspondence : and, although Great Britain succeeded, during the next ten years, in her scheme of disuniting or creating a division of individual opinion throughout the continent, the practice above mentioned, and its effects, were never lost sight of by the representatives of the people and the sages who watched the insidious movements of the politicians of England.
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LIBERTY POLIS.
a publick call, to procure a statue of William Pitt. The names of. the committee who made this call, were James De Lancey, William Walton, Henry White, John Harris Cruger, and Isaac Low .- , Where were these names during the war of the revolution?
Already had the first liberty-pole been erected in the fields. The "Sons of Liberty" and the people triumphed that the opposition to the stamp act had caused its repeal. They were blind to the insolent declaration, " that the parliament had a right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." Sir Henry Moore had policy enough to unite the rejoicings for a victory obtained by the people, with the usual demonstrations of loyalty and attachment to his mas- ter, always evinced on the king's birth-day. By this means, he could with propriety join with the people in demonstrations of joy. Accordingly, on the 4th of June, a mast, as it was then called, was erected in the fields, inscribed "to his most gracious majesty, George the Third, Mr. Pitt, and Liberty." It is recorded that an ox was roasted on each side of the common ; a large stage was built up, on which were placed twenty-five barrels of strong beer, a hogshead of rum, with sugar and other materials to make punch ; at another part of the fields, or common, were preparations for a · bonfire ; twenty-five cords of wood surrounded a pole, to the top of which were affixed twelve tar-barrels. At the upper end of the fields were placed five-and-twenty pieces of cannon ; a flag dis- played the colours of England, and a band of musick played "God
save the king." The governour, his council, the magistrates, with their civil and military officers, celebrated the day at the fort, in all probability, as was customary, by feasting and drinking loyal toasts, to the sound of martial musick, and discharges of artillery. After this display of patriotism and loyalty in the fields, the people retired and left the mast standing, with the inscription to the King, Pitt, and Liberty ; and they soon had a proof that the rejoicings of the military, and king's officers of every kind, on the 4th of June, were not for the repeal of the stamp act, or the triumph of the rights of the people.
On Sunday night, the 10th of August, the mast was cut down by some of the soldiers of the twenty-eighth regiment, quartered in the barracks. This was meant as an insult to the inhabitants, and felt as such; but they at first only showed their determination, by meeting on the 11th, and preparing to erect another pole, in place of that which had been taken down the night before ; to this, their would-be-masters objected, and interfered. A party of sol- diers rushed in among them, with their bayonets in their hands, some sheathed and some unsheathed, and as the depositions of several persons state, " cutting and slashing every one that fell in their way-the people retreating, and followed by the soldiers as far as Chapel street ;" that is, Beekman street, which was called VOL. I. : 55
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OUTRAGES OF THE SOLDIERY.
Chapel street for many years after the building of St. George's chapel.
Captain Isaac Sears was a leader of the Sons of Liberty. He was one who had received wounds from the soldiers, on the pre- ceding attack. He saw, as did the most obtuse, that the king's officers and their satellites, felt every demonstration of triumph in the people, as rejoicing for the discomfiture of that which they wished had taken place. Sears encouraged the people to set up another mast-such was the appellation given at that time to the tree of liberty.
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The people, however, re-erected the mast to the King, Mr. Pitt, and Liberty ; and the military (probably overawed by the threats of the populace, and restrained by the policy of their supe- riours,) suffered it to stand until the night of the 1Sth of March, 1767, when, after the citizens had celebrated the day as the anni- versary of the repeal, and retired to rest, the soldiers cut down the second mast. The next day, the inhabitants, (or that portion of them now distinguished as the " Sons of Liberty,") erected ano- ther, more substantial, and secured with iron hoops to a consid- erable height above the ground. The night after this was set up, attempts were made to overthrow it, but without success. On Saturday night, the 21st of March, there was an attempt to blow it up, by boring a hole and filling it with gunpowder ; but this also failed. Next night, a strong watch was set. A small company of soldiers appeared, with their coats turned, and armed with blud- geons and bayonets ; but finding that they were expected, they sneaked off. The next evening, about six o'clock, a party of armed military marched to the post ; and as they passed the tavern at which the repeal of the stamp act had been celebrated, they fired their muskets, two of which were pointed at the building. One ball passed through the house, and another lodged in a piece of its timber. This outrageous attempt at murder probably alarmed their superiours, who had encouraged them before; for on the next Tuesday, as the soldiers were proceeding to the pole with a ladder, taken from a building then erecting, they were turned back by an officer. The governour now issued orders for restraining the sol- diery, and the attempts ceased for a time.
Although the stamp act was repealed, and the people triumphed, they soon found that many other causes of dissatisfaction remained. In the assembly of 1766, Sir Henry Moore had promulgated his instructions, by which it had been found that compliance was required from the legislature of the province to the act of parlia- ment called " the Mutiny act," which directed that barracks and certain necessaries should be found by the colony, for any troops his majesty might choose to quarter at any place within said colony. Already the regular troops had been increased at New York,
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DUTIES IMPOSED ON TEAS, ETC.
ostensibly because of the seizure and burning of the stamps found by the people on ship-board. More troops were expected, as General Gage, the commander-in-chief, made New York his head- quarters.
Repeated messages had passed to and fro, when, on the 23d of June, 1766, the assembly told the governour that they would fur- nish the barracks of New York and Albany with bedding, firewood, candles, and utensils for cooking, for two battalions not exceeding five hundred men each, and they would do no more.
The governour wrote to the ministry, expressing his surprise, that instead of the gratitude he expected for the signal favours they had received, the Assembly of New York evaded the demand made upon them for the troops, and only complied in part, " through fear of the ill consequences which would attend their refusing." The ministry wrote to Sir Henry Moore, requiring cheerful obedience to the act of parliament for quartering his majesty's troops. Sir Henry repeated his demand upon the assembly, and was answered that they had done as much as they could do.
On the 24th of June, Lieutenant-governour Colden, wrote to Secretary Conway, that Sir Henry Moore had laid before the as- sembly of New York his majesty's commands, that compensation should be made for losses sustained in the late riot. The lieuten- ant-governour sent in his account for his chariot, and other things, burnt at that time, amounting to £195 3s. He says, that Major James had petitioned on the same ground, and the whole was re- ferred to a committee, who had reported in favour of others, but had passed over the writer's account in silence. He afterwards wrote to Shelburne, that the assembly had refused to compensate They resolved that the loss the lieutenant-governour had sustained, was owing to his own misconduct .*
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1767 The contumacy of New York was highly resented by the parliament of England. A resolution was adopted to prohibit the legislature from the passage of any law, until the mu- tiny act was complied with, which passed the houses of parliament almost unanimously. The supremacy of England was not doubted by the people ; and the prospect of drawing a revenue from the colonies, could not be given up. Mr. Charles Townsend, chan- cellor of the exchequer, in an administration formed by Lord Chat- ham, brought forward and carried through, almost unanimously, a bill for imposing certain duties on tea, glass, paper, and painters colours, imported into the colonies from Great Britain.
The threats used in regard to New York, alarmed all the colo-
* Almon's Register.
436
OUTRAGES OF THE SOLDIERY.
nies : for if one could be deprived of the power of legislation, others might. The bill for raising a revenue by taxing certain ar- ticles was seen in its true light. The merchants petitioned par- liament, and their petition was laid on the table. They entered into non-importation agreements, but that unanimity which appeared at the time of the stamp act, did not reappear, and the agreement was in many instances evaded or broken.
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1768
The letters of Mr. John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, had great effect in causing an unanimity of the colonies, in their opposition to the pretensions and acts of the British parliament. His essays were called " The Pennsylvania Farmers Letters," and were republished throughout the colonies.
The assembly of New York not only adopted petitions to the king, lords, and house of commons, but passed resolutions that the authority of the provincial legislature could not be con- stitutionally suspended, abridged or annulled, with the exception of the prerogative of the crown, as ordinarily exercised in proro- gation or dissolution : that the house had a right to correspond with their fellow subjects of other colonies ; and that a committee should during the recess of the house, correspond with any of his majesty's subjects.
The reader has seen already some of the contests between the Sons of Liberty, or the people of New York, and the officers of the king's government, and the soldiers who were made their ready instruments. The writer will pursue the subject of liberty poles in this place, throwing together incidents of various dates.
The mast, now called the liberty pole, seems to have caused no commotion, until the 4th of June, 1767, the day annually cele- brated as that, on which his most gracious majesty George III was born. On this memorable day, when the royal salute was fired from the fort, it was answered by twenty-one guns from the liberty-pole, (now so called,) on which was suspended a flag indicative of loyalty. The liberty-pole stood in proud defi- ance of the soldiers and their abetters, until the 13th of January 1770; when a number of men belonging to the sixteenth regi- ment made an attempt to overthrow the liberty pole, by sawing off the spurs around it, and by explodnig gunpowder in a hole bored in the wood. The attempt failed, and they then attacked some citizens who were near Mr. Montanye's publick house-the place usually selected for celebrating the repeal. The citizens retired into the house, the soldiers broke the windows and entered the tavern, bayonet in hand. A thrust was made at a citizen, was par- ried, and he received a slight wound in his forehead ; some officers interposed, and the ruffians retired to the barracks. Three days after, these fellows succeeded better ; for they cut down the pole. The next day, the 17th of January 1770, a great meeting of the
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LIBERTY POLES,
inhabitants congregated in the fields, on the spot where the liberty pole had stood, and resolutions were adopted, that any soldiers who should be found out of their barracks after the roll was called, should be treated as enemies to the peace of the city. The instiga- tors of the soldiers caused a handbill to be printed, in which they ·made a scurrilous reply to these resolves, and it was attempted to be put up at the corners, but this was resisted, and several affrays took place in consequence. In one of these, between the Fly market and Burling slip, it is said, one man was run through the body, and another had his scull split, but the soldiers were defeated.
The inhabitants now wished to have the authority of the corpo- ration for erecting a new liberty pole; so, on the Sth of February, a committee of five gentlemen waited on the magistrates, in common council, with a petition for authority to erect anew, the pole sacred to constitutional liberty. They stated, that the military had made war upon the rights of the people by destroying the monument of gratitude to his majesty and the British patriots, and the people had re- peatedly re-erected others of more stability in the place where, by the approbation of the corporation, the first had been fixed. They now requested the sanction of the common council to set up another, more permanent and better secured, in the same spot. This petition was rejected ; probably the magistracy were willing to remove the cause of disquiet, and therefore refused the publick land for this use. This did not defeat the intentions of the sons of liberty. They found a piece of ground eleven feet wide and one hundred feet long, (near the first spot) that was private property- this they purchased. Here a hole was dug twelve feet deep, to receive a mast prepared at the ship-yards. This piece of timber of great length, they cased all around with iron bars, placed length- wise and riveted with large flat rivets, so as to extend near two- thirds of the height from the ground ; and over these bars they encircled the mast with iron hoops, near half an inch thick, and when finished they had it drawn through the streets by six horses, decorated with ribands, and three flags flying inscribed with the words, "Liberty and Property." The pole was raised without accident, amidst the shouts of the people, while a band of French- horns played, "God save the King." This mast was strongly secured in the earth by timbers and great stones. On the top was raised another mast twenty-two feet in heiglit, with a gilt vane, and the word liberty, in large letters.
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Captain, afterwards General McDougal, was at this time in prison, as I shall have to relate, for opposition to the legisla- ture, but was upheld by the people, and on the day devoted to the celebration of the repeal of the stamp act, the inhabi- tants paid a publick compliment to the imprisoned patriot. A great number dined at Montanye's publick house, near the liberty. pole, which tavern they called " Hampden Hall."
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LIBERTY, POLES.
After dinner the company marched from Hampden Hall to the liberty pole, and thence down Beckman street, and through Queen street to the coffee-house ; thence up Wall street to Broadway, and to the liberty pole again, where they dispersed. This cele- bration seems to have roused the ire of the royal party, and on Monday the 24th of March, they encouraged their tools, the sol- diers, to attack the liberty pole again. Near midnight they at- tempted to unship, that is, to unfasten, the topmast ; but our citi- zens discovered them and alarmed others, who repaired to the consecrated spot ; these the soldiers attacked and drove off, but more arrived ; the soldiers were reinforced from the barracks : the citizens rung the chapel bell; on which, and seeing the num- ber of inhabitants increasing, the soldiers retreated, and a guard was kept up at the pole all night. This was the last attack that was made by these English mercenaries, who had sworn, it is said, to carry part of it with them on their voyage to Pensacola, for which place they embarked a few days after .*
The liberty pole is not recorded as an object of notice until March, 1775, I presume on the day of the annual celebration of the repeal, when the citizens being called to the pole, or in the field, were attacked or offended by Cunningham, an Irish bully, who afterwards figured as Captain Cunningham, the king's Pro- vost Marshall. Cunningham was maltreated and bade to abjure -the king : he however persisted in crying, " God bless King George," and was finally rescued by the interference of some peace officers. Cunningham revenged himself in the year 1776, by cutting down the liberty pole, and by wreaking his ire upon many a wretched rebel cast helpless to his keeping in the jail of New York, then called the Prevost.
From this digression, if it may be called one, we will return to the year- 1768. It is justly remarked by Mr. T. Gordon, that although by the revenue act of Townsend, the rights. of the colo- nists were exposed to violation, yet their preservation depended upon themselves since, while no duteable commodity was purchased, no duty was paid. And while the necessaries were procured by cheap and evasive means, a state of political quiet ensucd ; while the ministry in England by degrees repealed the duties, until in 1770, the whole were abolished except the duty on teas.
* Gazeteer of the State of New York.
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CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Some causes of the war of the revolution-the Gaspec-Informers -Impressment.
As the reader approaches to the crisis when the consent by arms took place which separated the colonies from Great Britain, we will look to the causes which rendered the appeal to arms unavoidable, on the part of America.
When England deprived New York of the power to make laws until she obeyed the orders for quartering and providing for any troops that the king might send to be in readiness to enforce his orders, it alarmed all the provinces; for, they said, if this is done to New York, it may be done to us. So the people entered into resolutions not to import goods from Great Britain until their gricv- ances were redressed. They complained of many unjust prohibi- tions. Their country was full of iron, and they were prohibited from manufacturing it for their own use, or of making it into steel ; they were obliged to send it to England and bring it back again, at a great unnecessary expense : and so of the hats they wore, they mr.ust send the material home, for the benefit of English hatters ; if they made any woollen goods, they were prevented carrying them from one province to another. Articles that they could sell to foreign countries, they were obliged to carry first to England ; and other things, that they bought of foreign nations, they were forced to carry to some port in Great Britain and pay duties on them, before they could bring them to their real homes for sale or use. But above all they complained that the jails of England were emptied upon them-making the colonies a receptacle for English rogues and villains-their traitors and felons.
A calm-such as portends a storm, a quiet-such as precedes an earthquake, reigned in the colonies at the period preceding 1770. The colonists deprived themselves of many articles which would have added to their comfort, rather than by paying a duty on them, to raise a revenue for Great Britain. Tea, from being a luxury, had become a necessary ; yet they ceased to drink that beverage, rather than pay a duty upon it for the benefit of those whom they began to look upon as foreigners, though residing at what they still fondly called home. But that did not suit England; for it reduced the profits of the East India Company, a great body of
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AFFAIR OF THE GASPEE.
merchants, who were bound to pay to the treasury £400,000 ster- ling a year, as long as their profits amounted to a certain sum. So, as America would not import tea, the ministry gave the mer- chants permission to send it to the colonies, that the duty might be paid in England, and the profits of the East India Company kept up to that amount which required them to pay the £400,000.
Resistance to the measures taken by England to force the Ame- ricans to drink tea, and pay the duty imposed upon the article, was the signal for storm-the beginning of the disturbances which showed that the previous state of quiet was not the repose of content. But before recounting the transactions immediately connected with open hostility, we will still further show the causes that led to a final separation of the colonies from Great Britain.
- The insolence of English officers, both of the land and sea ser- vice, has been noticed. The token of inferiority insisted upon by his majesty's vessels of war, was a constant source of irritation .- In every harbour, some armed sea-boat exacted the lowering of the flag from all coasters or others not in his majesty's service, who , approached the vessel commissioned to assist in collecting the cus- toms. If accident occasioned the due notice of inferiority to be · neglected, the sound of a cannon, or the more cogent requisition of a cannon-ball, commanded obedience. The affair of a shot being fired into the pleasure-boat of Mr. Ricketts and killing the nurse of his child, while holding the infant, and in the midst of the domestic circle, as they crossed the harbour of New York on their way to Elizabethtown, has been mentioned: and the declaration of the governour, that he could not notice the transaction, because his commission did not give him jurisdiction on the water. Many must have been the injuries and insults of the citizens of Provi- dence, Rhode Island, before they were aroused to take vengeance on the Gaspee and her commander.
It is difficult to conceive that those who destroyed an armed ves- sel, commissioned and owned by the government of Great Britain, would have run such imminent risks unless some other cause induced them, than merely the token of submission which had been long cus- tomary. But the practice of evading the revenue laws by smuggling, had been so long winked at by the receivers-general, and consid- ered as necessary to the prosperity of the colonies, that when addi- tional duties and coercive measures were returned by England as a reward for the exertions which had given her Canada, the colo- nists felt irritated to madness by the interference of vessels of war and their officers in the usual affairs of the custom-house. The armed schooner, Gaspee, was stationed in the Providence River, and exacted the lowering of the pennant from the packet which carried passengers to and from Newport and Providence, by firing a gun. This not being noticed, the man-of-war fired a shot. In vain-the Yankee kept on his way, as if heedless of command, nor
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lowered his colours; but stood in close to the shore, while the schooner gave chase, occasionally repeating her shot. The Eng- lish captain followed the intended object of his vengeance for in- sulted dignity, or search for smuggled goods, until his vessel ran aground, and he had the mortification of seeing the insolent Yan- kee proceed in triumph on his way. As the Gaspee and her cap- tain had long been noted for this mode of requiring submissive deference and exercise of his right, the tidings of the chase and its result was no sooner known at Providence, than it was resolved to destroy the obnoxious vessel. Brown, a merchant, and Whipple, a ship-master, were joined by a resolute body of armed men, and embarking in whale-boats, proceeded deliberately to attack the British cruiser. They boarded the Gaspee so suddenly, that no resistance was made. No one was hurt but the captain. A part of the boarders conveyed him and his effects on shore, and likewise the crew and their property. The remainder set fire to the Gaspee and destroyed her, with all her stores.
The British government offered a reward of £500, together with pardon to any accomplice, for the discovery and apprehension of any person concerned in this act. Persons were named, to try the offenders. No informer came forward. No trial took place.
That smuggling was connected with this high-handed and illegal transaction, there can be little doubt. The laws originated in a country, which the mass of provincials no longer considered as home. Men who did not represent the people of America, made laws which affected their property, without consulting them. To evade these laws, was not considered criminal by the colonists. Smug- gling, a detestable and disgraceful crime against enactments passed by the people of a country, had come to be considered in the pro- vinces as no crime ; but rather a matter of course. Informers, so meritorious as supporters of the law, when passed by the people for their own benefit, were here, and throughout the colonies, on the contrary, considered infamous and detestable. This gave rise . to the practice of " tarring and feathering," and other abuses upon individuals, at the will of the mob, which were subversive of all government, peace, safety, order or morality. The first instance of tarring and feathering that I have met with, is in Michaud's History of the Crusades, and was practised upon a man by order of Richard-coeur-de-Lion, on ship-board, in his voyage to Pales- tinc. Here the decree of a king was cqual to the will of a mob. This has of late, in our country, been called " Lynching," or tor- turing by " Lynch-law," and ought to be held in detestation, as subversive of all that man holds dear. Where the law emanates from the people, the law-breaker is the enemy of mankind. But the laws in America, at the time we are considering, came from a foreign source, and for purposes foreign to the good of the people. VOL. I. 56
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