USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 24
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In the following month, Sandy Hook lighthouse was lighted for the first time. About the same time, a ferry was established between Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, and Miesier's Dock, just opposite on the New York shore ; a convenience which had long been needed, and which proved a great accommodation to the people of New Jersey. Another ferry was also established
between Staten Island and Bergen. Considerable improvement, indeed, had been made in travelling arrangements ; a mail went regularly twice a week from New York to Philadelphia, and packet-boats and stages plied between the same places, making the journey in the space of three days. These packet-boats run from the Battery to Perth Amboy, where a stage-wagon received the goods and passengers and conveyed them to Burlington. Here they were again transferred to a packet-boat, and thus at length reached the place of their destination. The journey was also frequently performed
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by crossing the bay in a scow to Staten Island, and thence to the Jersey shore, then taking the inland route across the intermediate rivers to the Quaker City. Another route was now established by the way of Paulus Hook, whence travellers made their way over the Jersey marshes to the Hackensack River, and blowing a horn, which hung against a tree, summoned a ferryman to carry them across the stream ; then, journeying in short stages to the Passaic, the Raritan, the Delaware, and the Schuylkill, were ferried across in the same primitive manner, and arrived in three days at Philadelphia. Such were the simple modes of travelling in the olden time.
During the same year, 1764, the John street Metho- dist church was erected-one of the few buildings which has escaped the successive conflagrations which have swept away the landmarks of old New York, and come down to us as relics of "auld lang syne." Several new streets were opened and regulated about the same time, among others, Cliff street and Park place. For the better prevention 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.
A riot of the British soldiers about this time occasioned some excitement in the city. These worthies conceived the sudden freak of setting the prisoners free, and marching to the new jail, now the Hall of Records, they broke open the door and demanded the keys of the keeper. These being refused them, they fired through
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the door, grazing the ear of Major Rogers, one of their officers who had been imprisoned for debt and whose release was really the chief object of their attack ; then, forcing the door, they told the prisoners that they were at liberty, and attempted to carry off their major in triumph. The prisoners not seeming disposed to quit the jail, the soldiers attempted to drive them out by force, and were only stopped by the arrival of the city militia, who had been summoned in haste to the scene of the combat. The riot was soon quelled and some of the offenders arrested, who declared, upon trial, that they had been instigated by Rogers ; the affair, however, was passed lightly by, like most of the offences of the British soldiery.
But we have anticipated events. The deceitful calm of 1762 became strangely troubled ere the end of the year, and in 1763, the clouds gathered thickly in the horizon, foreboding the coming tempest. Towards the close of the last-named year, Monckton abandoned the government for more congenial pursuits, and returned to England, leaving Cadwallader Colden again at the head of affairs. The sequel of his administration is too important to be introduced at the close of a chapter.
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Methodist Church in John Street in viden times.
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Brick Church in Beekman Street, first opened for service in 1768.
CHAPTER XIV.
1763-1769.
Passage of the Stamp Act-Organization of the Sons of Liberty-First Colonial Congress in the City of New York-Non-Importation Agreement of the Merchants-Repeal of the Stamp Act-The Liberty Pole-Tax on Tea.
CADWALLADER COLDEN had truly taken the helm of pub- lic affairs in the face of a gathering tempest. The contest between Great Britain and the colonies was fast drawing on. The people were daily growing more bitter against their rulers, while the latter grew more persistent in enforcing their rigorous policy. While the colonies had been poor and struggling for existence, Great Britain had been fully contented to let them alone. New Amsterdam, indeed, had owed somewhat to the care of its Holland patrons, but the pioneers of the British colonies had been driven out like Ishmaelites into the wilderness to contend with a rigorous climate and a savage foe, with no other aid than their own scanty resources, backed by indomitable perseverance and courage. But no sooner had the Dutch settlement grown, through the industry of its founders, into a rich and flourishing province, than England contrived by
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. mingled force and intrigue to wrest it from the hands of its rightful owners ; then, consolidating the colonies and establishing over them a government of her own, she wrung from them a rich revenue in the shape of imposts and taxes, and compelled them to support and to be ruled by adventurers of her own choosing, whose sole interest in public affairs lay in the amount of money that could be extorted under divers pretexts from the purses of the people.
The truth is that Great Britain contemptuously regarded the colonists as rich barbarians, the chief end of whose existence was to furnish an ample revenue to the mother-country. Their interests were wholly disre- garded in the government councils, and the restrictions imposed on them were rigorous in the extreme. The English parliament claimed the right of regulating the trade of the colonies, and, under cover of this pretext, levied heavy duties upon imports, ostensibly for the pur- pose of defraying custom-house expenses, and, at the same time, sedulously suppressed all attempts at home manufactures. By a series of navigation acts, the colo- nists were forbidden to trade with any foreign country, or to export to England any merchandise of their own in any but English vessels. The country was full of iron, but not an axe or a hammer could be manufactured by the inhabitants without violating the law. Beaver was abundant, but to limit its manufacture, no hatter was permitted to have more than two apprentices, and not a hat could be sold from one colony to another. Of the wool which was sheared in such abundance from the flocks, not a yard of cloth could be manufactured except
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for private use, nor a pound exported from one town to another ; but the raw material must all be sent to Eng- land to be manufactured there, then to come back as imported cloths, laden with heavy duties. Imposts were also levied upon sugar, molasses, and all articles of foreign luxury imported into the colonies, and America was, in fact, regarded only as a place from which to raise money.
Notwithstanding, the colonists had patiently submitted to this manifest injustice. They had evaded the pay- ment of the duties by living frugally and dispensing with the luxuries which could only be obtained at such a cost. They had accepted the royal governors, profligate and imbecile as they often were, and had contented them-
selves with opposing their unjust exactions. In the French and Indian wars, they had acted nobly, and by lavish expenditure of their blood and treasure, had secured to England the possession of a rich and long- coveted territory. These wars, which had added such lustre to the crown of Great Britain, and had secured the broad lands of Canada to her domain, had cost the colonies thirty thousand of their bravest soldiers, and left them burdened with a debt of thirteen millions of pounds. But, insatiable in her desires, in return for this, she required still more. The country which had been able to contribute so largely in the intercolonial wars, had not, she thought, been taxed to the utmost, and, in order to wring from it a still larger revenue, new means were proposed by the British ministry for establishing a sys- tem of parliamentary taxation-a right which the colo- nists had ever persistently denied.
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In 1763, it was proposed by Lord Grenville, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to raise a permanent rev- enue from the colonies by direct taxation ; to be accom- plished by taxing various articles of foreign produce, and by establishing stamp duties in the Anglo-American possessions. It was also proposed to maintain a stand- ing army of ten thousand men, ostensibly for the defence of the colonies, but in reality to overawe them and coerce them to obedience. The following year, Lord Grenville became prime-minister, and these schemes were brought before the notice of parliament. It was immediately decided that the mother country had an undoubted right to tax her colonies, and, though the passage of the stamp act was delayed for a season, a sugar act was passed at once, which, while it lessened the duties formerly imposed upon sugar and molasses, levied new taxes on articles hitherto free, and gave increased power to the admiralty courts and the royal collectors of customs.
The news of these proceedings fell like a thunderbolt upon the colonists, and they rose to a man in open opposition to this new tyranny. Meetings were held throughout all the colonies, and petitions forwarded to the parliament, protesting against the proposed stamp duties and praying for the repeal of the recent sugar act. New York was foremost in these demonstrations. On the 18th of March, 1764, the Assembly adopted and forwarded a memorial to the ministry, protesting against this invasion of their rights. But this document was couched in terms so decided that no member of the syc- ophantic parliament was found bold enough to present it,
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and the daring province was afterwards forced to pay the penalty for this and other acts of audacity in the total suspension of legislative power. The petitions of the sister colonies, feebler in tone, were received and considered, then rejected by parliament ; and on the 22d of March, 1765, the celebrated Stamp Act was finally passed. By the provisions of this act, all legal and mer- cantile documents and contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, etc., were required to be written or printed on stamped paper, upon which a duty was imposed, and which was to be sold only by agents appointed by the British government.
The news of these arbitrary enactments reached New York early in April, where it was received with the deepest indignation. Copies of the Stamp Act with a death's head affixed were hawked about the streets under the title of "The Folly of England and the Ruin " of America." The citizens assembled, and resolved that no stamped paper should be used among them. On the 21st of September, a new paper, called the Consti- tutional Courant, made its appearance, bearing for its device a snake divided into eight pieces, with the motto, " Join or Die," and the device was caught up and re- peated from one end of the country to the other .*
* The appearance of this paper, which was circulated largely in the city, excited great commotion, and efforts were made by the governor and council to discover the author and printer, but without success. It was a half sheet of medium size, with the imprint, "Printed by Andrew Marvel, at the sign of the Bribe Refused, on " Constitution Hill, North America, and containing matters interesting to Liberty, " and in nowise repugnant to loyalty," and was dated Saturday, September 21, 1765. The device occupied the centre of the title. It was really printed at Parker's print- ing house in Burlington, N. J., by William Goddard, the fictitious Andrew Marvel.
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Nor was this the first demonstration of the spirit of the citizens. In the preceding spring, they had given his majesty's officers some preliminary lessons which should have warned them of the temper of the men with whom they had to deal. The system of impress- ment was still in vogue, and the naval officers regarded American sailors as lawful prey. In April, 1764, the ship Prince George arrived from Bristol, and the sailors, seeing the Garland man-of-war lying in the har- bor, took possession of the ship and steered up the bay. No sooner were they perceived by the Garland, than a boat was dispatched to board the vessel and bring back some new recruits for his majesty's service. The sailors were armed and in readiness for their visitors, who were beaten off with little difficulty. Seeing the defeat of his men, the captain of the Garland opened a fire on the merchantman, and sent another boat's crew to the assistance of the first, but the sailors triumphantly pur- sued their way, and brought their vessel safely into the harbor, while their discomfited assailants returned to the man-of-war, vowing revenge on the audacious rebels.
Aggressions of this sort, in truth, were frequent, and one, which occurred in the ensuing July, aroused the populace to a public demonstration. Four fishermen who supplied the New York markets were seized by a press-gang, and carried aboard a tender from Halifax, then lying in the harbor. The next morning, the captain came on shore in his barge, but no sooner had the boat touched the shore, than it was seized by the people, who
But a single number was issued ; a continuance was never intended .- See Isaiah Thomas' " History of Printing," vol. ii. p. 322.
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bore it off in triumph to their rallying-place, the Com- mons. The terrified officer offered at once to release the fishermen, and, going to the Coffee-House, hastily wrote an order for their release. Armed with this paper. a party of the Sons of Liberty repaired to the tender and soon returned in triumph with the prisoners ; but, in the meantime, the people had burnt the barge. The city magistrates, who had vainly endeavored to restrain the populace, met in the afternoon to take cognizance of the affair, but no one knew anything of the authors of the mischief. The magistrates did not press the investiga- tion, and the affair ended satisfactorily to all but the unlucky captain of the tender. Yet the British ministry failed to profit by these lessons, and in the face of such marked and spirited demonstrations, dared to pass an act which could not fail to root out all lingering affection for the mother country from the hearts of the colonists. and estrange them from her forever.
The 1st of November was the day appointed for the Stamp Act to take effect. The stamps were to be pre- pared in England, then sent to agents in the colonies accredited by parliament to receive them. James McEvers was appointed Stamp Distributor for New York. These agents at once became objects of distrust to the people, who were resolved that this distribution never should take place. The association of the Sons of Liberty, founded in the stirring days of the Zenger trial by Wil- liam Smith, William Livingston and John Morin Scott, for the protection of popular rights, threatened by the attempt of Cosby to make the judges and council sub- servient to the crown by issuing their commissions " dur-
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"ing the pleasure of the king," instead of " during good " behavior" as before, now revived, and circulated its principles by means of colporteurs and auxiliary associa- tions throughout the entire middle and eastern colonies. Of this association, Isaac Sears, John Lamb, Alexander McDougall, Marinus Willett, Gershom Mott, Francis Lewis, Hugh Hughes, William Wiley, Thomas Robinson, Flores Bancker, and Edward Laight were the leaders, all men of tried patriotism and stanch courage. Through their London correspondent, Nicholas Ray, they received intelligence of the movements of the British parliament, and thwarted them by every means in their power. The Assemblies, on their part, projected a general union of the colonies for mutual protection, and summoned a congress of delegates from the several provinces to meet at New York on the 7th of October, 1765, to consult together in respect to the proposed con- federation.
On the day appointed, the first colonial congress, con- sisting of twenty-eight delegates from New York, Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, . Maryland, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, assembled for deliberation in the City Hall in Wall street. The Assemblies of Virginia and North Carolina having adjourned before the adoption of the measure, no depu- tation was in attendance from either of these colonies, though they sympathized warmly with the objects of the meeting. Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger, Philip Livingston, William Bayard, and Leonard Lispenard composed the New York delegation. Previously to the meeting, a deputation waited on Lieutenant-Governor
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Colden to solicit his sympathy and aid. "Your congress " is unconstitutional, unprecedented and unlawful, and I " shall give you no countenance," was his sole reply, as ' : ordered the fortifications to be strengthened, and everything to be put in readiness for the reception of the stamps.
Nothing daunted by this harsh repulse, the congress commenced their deliberations. Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts was chosen president. The session lasted three weeks, during which time a declaration of rights was adopted, embodying the claims and grievances of the colonies. First enunciating the principle that taxa- tion without representation was tyranny, the daring colo- nists went on to prove, that, as distance rendered this representation impossible to them in the English parlia- ment, this right was vested only in the colonial legisla- tures ; and therefore that the Stamp Act, with all others of its kind, was a tyrannical grievance which at once must be abolished. A respectful address to the king and a memorial to both houses of parliament was drawn up and signed by most of the members.
The papers of the day, both royalist and democratic, were filled with inflammatory articles. Handbills were circulated among the people by the Sons of Liberty, and the New York Gazette, or Weekly Post Boy, now published by John Holt,* became the vehicle of the popular party.
* At this time, three papers were issued in the city; the New York Gazette, or Weekly Post Boy, established by James Parker upon the discontinuance of Brad- ford's paper in January, 1742-3, and now published by John Holt; the New York Mercury, first issued in August, 1752, by Hugh Gaine; and the New York Gazette, published in February, 1759, by William Weyman. In November of the following year, Parker resumed the publication of the Gazette and Post Boy, and continued
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On the morning of the 31st of October, the day before that on which the obnoxious act was to take effect, the last-named journal made its appearance in mourning, headed by the following prologue :
" A Funeral Lamentation on the DEATH OF LIBERTY, Who finally Expires on this 31st of October, in the year of our Lord MDCCLXV., And of our Slavery I."
The discourse which followed was worthy of the open- ing. In the evening, the merchants of the city who were engaged in the importation of English goods met at Burns' Coffee House, now the Atlantic Gardens, and adopted the following resolutions :
1. To import no goods from England until the Stamp Act be repealed.
2. To countermand all orders already sent for spring goods.
3. To sell no goods from England on commission.
it until his death in 1770; while Holt issued a new paper under the title of the New York Journal, or General Advertiser, which remained the organ of the Liberty Party until the capture of the city in 1776. Holt then removed to Esopus where he set up his press; then, upon the burning of the village in October, 1777, he trans- ferred it to Poughkeepsie, where he continued its publication until the close of the war. In the autumn of 1783, it was again printed in the city of New York under the title of the Independent Gazette, or the New York Journal Revived. Upon the death of Holt, in the following year, the paper was continued by his widow and Eleazer Oswald until January, 1787, when it passed into the hands of Thomas Greenleaf, who merged it into two papers-a weekly, entitled Greenleaf's New York Journal and Patriotic Register, and a daily, with the title of the New York Journal and Daily Patriotic Register, afterwards the Argus, or Greenleaf's New Daily Advertiser. Such was the origin of the first daily paper of New York.
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Burns' Coffee House (now Atlantic Garden House), in which the first non-importation agreement of the colonies was signed on the 31st of October, 1765, by the merchants of the city of New York.
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4. To abide by these resolutions until they shall be rescinded at a general meeting called for the purpose.
These resolutions were signed by more than two hun- dred merchants. The retailers, on their part, bound themselves to buy no goods of any person that should be shipped after the first day of January unless the Stamp Act should be repealed. To the merchants of New York city belongs the credit of having been the first to sacrifice their commercial interests to the cause of liberty. At the same meeting, a non-importation association was organized, and a committee appointed, consisting of John Lamb, Isaac Sears, William Wiley, Gershom Mott and Thomas Robinson-all prominent members of the Sons of Liberty-to correspond with the other colonies with a view to the universal adoption of similar measures. A reward of five hundred pounds was offered for the detec- tion of any villain who should presume to make use of the stamped paper, on which the law required that every valid instrument should be drawn-marriage licenses, business contracts, shipping clearances and legal docu- ments of all kinds.
On the 23d of October, 1765, while the congress was still in session, the stamps arrived from England in a ship commanded by Captain Davis, but the accredited stamp distributor was nowhere to be found; and, not daring to retain them on board his own ship, the captain transferred them to a man-of-war lying in the harbor. Fearing the fury of the excited populace, McEvers, a few days before, had resigned his commission to the lieutenant-governor. " McEvers is intimidated, but I " am not afraid, and the stamps shall be delivered in 27
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" due time," said Colden, as he ordered them to be brought on shore and deposited in the fort for safety. But so great was the fear inspired by the people that no official dared touch the papers, and after some delay they were finally conveyed by Captain Davis to the governor's house in Fort George ; and on the 31st of October, while the patriots were threatening vengeance on all who should dare to distribute the papers, Colden took oaths to carry the Stamp Act into effect.
No sooner had the stamps been landed than handbills appeared as if by magic in the streets, forbidding any one at his peril to make use of the obnoxious paper. In the evening, the citizens assembled in large numbers and marched to the fort, where they were ordered by the governor to disperse. Without heeding his com- mand, they fell into line and marched in silence through the principal streets of the city-a funeral cortege, mourning their lost liberty-then separated at midnight and returned quietly to their homes.
The next day was the dreaded first of November-the day on which the British parliament had decreed that the Stamp Act should take effect. In the course of the day, more of the mysterious placards appeared in the streets, but the day wore away without other demon- stration than the appearance from time to time of more of the mysterious handbills, posted by an unknown hand. The grand celebration of the festival was deferred until evening. Soon after sunset, two organized companies, composed in great part of the Sons of Liberty, appeared in the streets. The first of these repaired directly to the Commons, where they proceeded
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to erect a gallows, on which was suspended an effigy of Cadwallader Colden, with a stamped paper in his hand, a drum at his back, and a label on his breast bearing the inscription, The Rebel Drummer of 1745 .* By his side hung an effigy of the devil with a boot in his hand, designed as a satire upon the Earl of Bute, at whose instigation they had the charity to believe that he had acted. The other party, meanwhile, proceeded to the fort, carrying an effigy of Colden, seated in a chair, and attended by torch-bearers. The procession was followed by a crowd of citizens. They broke open the stable of the lieutenant-governor, and, taking out his chariot, placed the effigy in it, then returned in triumph to rejoin their comrades, who were just raising their gallows to take up their march to the city. Both companies imme- diately mingled into one, the strictest orders were given that not a word should be spoken or a stone thrown, and the long procession set out for the fort, where they found the soldiers drawn up on the ramparts ready to receive them, and the muzzles of the cannon aimed directly at their ranks. But, notwithstanding this threatening demonstration, Gage, who was then the British com- mander, prudently restrained his troops from firing, well knowing that their first volley would be followed by the instant destruction of the fort. The rioters knocked at the gate for admission, which, of course, was denied them ; then, proceeding to the Bowling Green, they tore down the wooden palisades about it, and kindling a fire,
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