USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 23
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Even while New York was thus sending back her tea ship in the most public manner, the bill was maturing at the Court of George III. which
was to punish Boston for her misbehavior. On the same day that May 10. Louis XVI. of France, then not twenty years of age, and the still more youthful Marie Antoinette found themselves at the head of the French nation, Boston learned her fate. On the 1st of June the June 1. · slow torture was applied which was to force her into submis- sion; her port was closed, the Board of Customs removed to Marblehead and the seat of government to Salem. General Gage was the military
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THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTY-ONE.
executor of the law. There was one spontaneous outburst of sympathy from every town and hamlet in America. In Philadelphia the bells of the churches were muffled and tolled throughout the entire day when the cheerful industry of Boston came to an end. In Virginia the people fasted and prayed in the churches. Ships all along the seaboard hoisted their colors at half-mast.
New York writhed under the wrong inflicted upon Boston. When the copy of the Port Act was first received, the city stood, like one man, astonished that all Parliament had assented to such cruelty. Then followed a whirlwind of indignation and dismay. The bill was May 12. cried through the streets as a " barbarous murder," and there was such an uprising of the people, with nightly processions and effigy burnings, that the more substantial part of the community feared serious riots, and resolved to guide the movement ; hence a meeting was called at Fraunces' Tavern, which proved so large, comprising men from all ranks, - com- merce, politics, and the professions, - that it was necessary to adjourn to the Exchange. Isaac Low occupied the chair. The proposition to choose a committee of control and correspondence was well received. But in the choice of the committee two parties battled for precedence. It was the old story, men striving for individual preferment. The radical leaders of the Sons of Liberty were determined to retain the direction of affairs, and when public sentiment decided in favor of the opposite ticket, May 17. comprising, as it did, a greater number of names and a wider range of interest, they were intensely bitter in their denunciation of every movement not in harmony with their preconceived notions of the meth- ods by which oppression should be resisted.
The Committee of Fifty-One organized, on the 23d, with the appoint- ment of Isaac Low chairman, and John Alsop deputy-chairman. One of the first propositions was a congress of the Colonies, which should regulate the subject of non-importation. Isaac Low, John Jay, May 23. James Duane, and Alexander McDougall were chosen to draft a letter to suffering Boston, and a clear, concise, straightforward document was pre- pared and signed the same evening. "The cause is general," it said, "and concerns a whole continent who are equally interested with you and with us; .... we foresee no remedy can be of any avail unless it proceeds from the joint act and approbation of all."
This letter, preserved in the New York Historical Society, settles the question as to the origin of the Continental Congress of 1774. It was not an "achievement of the Sons of Liberty," -that organization hav- ing been invested with no power beyond the disposal of the tea, - but a result of the calmer judgment of the much misrepresented Fifty-One,
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
who not only vividly remembered how New York had been allowed to keep former non-importation agreements alone, but regarded the matter as too grave and important at this crisis for individual colonial action. There was no "refusal to adopt stringent measures against the parent government." On the contrary, there was a cordial pledge, frankly. stated in a subsequent letter dated June 5, to agree to any measure which should be adopted by a general congress. A complication in the correspondence with the Boston committee, which has misled nearly every historian who has since written of the action of New York in the spring of 1774, was brought about through a letter of condolence (dated May 14), written in the heat and heedlessness of excitement by certain members of the old committee of the Sons of Liberty, which announced the meeting in contemplation to choose a new commit- tee, and pledged the organization in advance to non-importation. The Fifty-One knew nothing of it until Boston took them to task for not suspending trade. Of course the pledge was pronounced "unofficial"; and in return the Fifty-One were accused of seeking " to evade decisive action." It is very evident, however, while scanning events through the light of a century, that had New York adopted the weak measure, on the start, so earnestly desired by Boston, there would have been no congress at that time, if ever. It was only when Boston found that. New York would be satisfied with nothing less than a congress of the Colonies that she consented.
When the concurrence of the other Colonies had also been obtained, and Philadelphia named as the place, and September the time, for the meeting of the Congress, New York proceeded to choose delegates. July 4. The Fifty-One nominated Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay, three merchants and two lawyers. Isaac Sears, noisy and headstrong, labored to procure the nomination of John Morin Scott and Alexander McDougall, in which he was ably seconded by the sagacious and inflexible Peter Van Brugh Livingston ; not suc -. ceeding, an opposition ticket appeared the next day whereon the names of McDougall and Leonard Lispenard were substituted for James Duane and John Alsop. A meeting called in the Fields, July 6, was presided over by McDougall himself,1 and a violent effort was made by the dis- satisfied to form a party sufficiently strong to control the election. The people were exhorted to beware of the tameness of the Fifty-One, and to imitate Boston in her devotion to rigid non-intercourse. Resolutions
1 Compare Bancroft, VII .; Leake's Life of John Lamb ; Letter from Colden to Dartmouth, June 1, 1774 ; Colden to Dartmouth, July 6, 1774 ; Handbills in New York Historical So- ciety , Stevens's Chamber of Commerce Records. See also Appendix C.
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THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS OF 1774.
were passed to that effect, and, with an account of the proceedings of the meeting, were despatched to Boston.
In the committee-room of the Fifty-One the next morning, the irregu- lar meeting in the Fields, and the questionable propriety of the course of McDougall in acting as its chairman while one of their own num- ber, were discussed with much warmth. A vote was finally passed, July 7. censuring the proceedings as unauthorized and as tending to cast odium upon the committee and create disunion in the city. A minority of nine, among whom were Sears, McDougall, Lispenard, and Peter Van Brugh Livingston, immediately withdrew in high temper. In the strife which followed the Fifty-One firmly adhered to its nomination, and were in- vincible to every assault made upon its purity of purpose and integrity. A card was finally addressed to the nominees, asking whether they would support the Massachusetts resolves in the approaching Congress. They replied promptly and publicly that such a course would be in accordance with their individual opinions, which gave such universal satisfaction that when the question was submitted, July 28, to the voters of the city, all differences were for the time healed.
Few events in the history of America have so deeply moved the public mind as the meeting of this first Congress. Men were everywhere weigh- ing the issues. The vision of possibly establishing an independent re- public on American soil was vague, and the prudent knew that it was a doubtful experiment. There was no precedent from which to borrow models. And if successful in breaking away from England, there was danger of falling into bloody dissensions among themselves. August was a memorable month. The delegates from Massachusetts to the Congress were escorted and fêted on their way as if they had been princes of the realm. They spent a few days in New York. John Adams wrote in his journal that John Morin Scott was a lawyer of fifty, living in an elegant country-seat three miles out of the city on the Hudson, and that he was " a sensible man, and one of the readiest speakers on the continent, but not very polite "; McDougall " was talkative, and appeared to have a thor- ough knowledge of politics," he lived handsomely, and had a charming wife and daughter; Peter Van Brugh Livingston " was an old man, extremely stanch in the cause, and very sensible "; William Smith (the historian) " was a plain, composed man, a little turned of forty "; John Jay "was young, a hard student of the law, and a good speaker"; James Duane was about forty-five, "very sensible and very artful, and had a sly, sur- veying eye "; Isaac Low " was a gentleman of fortune, and in trade, and his wife was a beauty." They were treated by the Fifty-One with dis- tinguished consideration, and were attended into New Jersey August 29.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
The New York delegates commenced their journey September 1, with the exception of John Jay, who crossed to Elizabethtown, August 29, and, in company with his father-in-law, William Livingston, proceeded to the Quaker City. Isaac Low was escorted to the ferry stairs at the foot of Cortlandt Street by a great number of the inhabitants, with banners and music and huzzas. At the water's edge he took leave, with a brief speech ; a few persons accompanied him and his lady to the New Jersey shore, the band playing "God save the King." The inhabitants then returned, so say the papers of the day, to testify the like respect to the other three gentlemen, Philip Livingston, James Duane, and John Alsop, who em- barked at the foot of Broad Street. When the procession reached the
Exchange, Duane thanked the people, " in a very affectionate and moving manner," for the honor conferred, and declared that he and his brother delegates should do all in their power to bring relief to this once happy but now aggrieved country. They were saluted as they crossed the water by several pieces of cannon, and loud huzzas rent the air ; after which a number of gentlemen celebrated the event at St. George's Ferry, dating the salvation of America from that hour, and resolved at the risk of all they held dear to respect the resolutions which Congress should think necessary to adopt for the good of the common cause.
As the distress of Boston was hourly increasing, one of the earliest acts of this first Congress was to approve the opposition of Massachusetts to the execution of the late acts of Parliament. It presently adopted a Decla- ration of Rights, in which the repeal of eleven acts of Parliament were specified as necessary to the restoration of harmony between the Colonies and Great Britain. It also unanimously resolved to import no merchan- dise from Great Britain after the first day of the coming December, unless American grievances were redressed. It ended, October 26, with a petition to the king, which, however, made no impression upon George III. other than to confirm him in his purpose of exacting obedience; but its mem- bers, with keen political foresight, provided for the holding of another Congress in Philadelphia on the 16th of the coming May, which proved, indeed, the immortal Congress that declared the independence of America.
The New York Committee of Fifty-One, having accomplished its object, appointed a day for the choice, by the freeholders of the city, of a " Com- mittee of Observation," numbering sixty, to enforce in New York the Non-Importation Act of the late Congress; and when this new com- mittee was duly elected and organized, with Isaac Low as chairman, the Fifty-One was dissolved.
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APPENDIX.
A.
THE inscription upon the Schuyler vase is as follows : -
Presented by ANNE QUEEN OF ENGLAND to COL PETER SCHUYLER OF ALBANY In the Province of New York April 19, 1710. To commemorate his visit to England by request of the Provincial government, accompanied by five sachems of the MOHAWKS.
Page 480.
B.
The inscription upon the old bell in Dr. Ludlow's church is as follows : -
Me fecerunt De Gravæ et N. Muller, Amsterdam, Anno 1731, ABRAHAM DE PEYSTER, geboren (born) den 8 July, 1657, gestorven (died) den 8 Augustus, 1728. Een legaat aan de Nederduytsche Kerke, Nieuw York. (A legacy to the Low Dutch Church at New York.)
C.
At a meeting at the Exchange, 16th May, 1774, ISAAC Low chosen CHAIR- MAN : -
Ist Question put. Whether it is necessary, for the present, to appoint a committee to correspond with the neighboring Colonies on the present important crisis ?
Carried in the affirmative by a great majority.
2d. Whether a committee be nominated this evening for the approbation of the public ?
Carried in the affirmative by a great majority.
3d. Whether of fifty be appointed, or twenty-five ?
Carried for fifty by a great majority.
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APPENDIX.
The following persons were nominated : -
John Alsop.
Thomas Pearsal. Elias Desbrosses.
Gerardus Duyckinck. Peter Van Schaick. Henry Remsen.
Theophylact Bache.
William Walton.
Peter Van Brugh Livingston.
Richard Yates.
Hamilton Young.
Philip Livingston.
George Bowne.
Isaac Sears.
Peter T. Curtenius.
David Johnston.
John Thurman.
Peter Goelet.
Charles McEvers.
John Jay. John Broom.
Abraham P. Lott.
Alexander McDougall.
Benjamin Booth.
David Van Horne.
Captain Thomas Randall.
Joseph Hallet.
Gerardus W. Beekman.
John Moore.
Charles Shaw.
Abraham Duryee.
Isaac Low.
Alexander Wallace.
Joseph Bull.
Leonard Lispenard.
James Jauncey.
William McAdam.
Jacobus Van Zandt.
Gabriel H. Ludlow.
Richard Sharpe.
James Duane.
Nicholas Hoffman.
Thomas Marston.
Edward Laight.
Abraham Walton.
The name of Francis Lewis was afterward added, making the number fifty-one.
Handbill in New York Historical Society.
D.
The Committee of Sixty, known as the "Committee of Observation," elected November 22, 1774, were as follows : -
Isaac Low.
Henry Remsen.
Hercules Mulligan.
Philip Livingston.
Peter T. Curtenius.
John Anthony.
James Duane.
Abraham Brasher.
Francis Basset.
John Alsof.
Abraham P. Lott.
Victor Bicker.
John Jay.
Abraham Duryee.
John White.
Peter Van Brugh Livingston. Joseph Bull.
Theophilus Anthony.
Isaac Sears.
Francis Lewis.
William Goforth.
David Johnston.
John Lasher.
William Denning.
Charles Nichol.
John Roome.
Isaac Rosevelt.
Alexander McDougall.
Joseph Totten.
Jacob Van Voorhees.
Thomas Randall.
Samuel Jones.
Jeremiah Platt.
Leonard Lispenard.
John De Lancey.
William Ustick.
Edward Laight.
Frederick Jay.
Comfort Sands.
William Walton. John Broom. Joseph Hallett.
John B. Moore. George Janeway.
Robert Benson. William W. Gilbert. John Berrian.
Charles Shaw.
Rodolphus Ritzema.
Gabriel H. Ludlow.
Nicholas Hoffman.
Lindley Murray.
Nicholas Roosevelt.
Abraham Walton.
Lancaster Burling.
Peter Van Schaick.
Thomas Ives.
Edward Flemming. Lawrence Embree.
Force's American Archives, p. 330.
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William Bayard.
John De Lancey. Miles Sherbrook.
Abraham Brasher.
Charles Nichol.
William W. Ludlow.
APPENDIX.
771
E.
THE Mayors of New York City before the Revolution were : -
Thomas Willet, 1665, 1667.
Thomas Delavall, 1666, 1671, 1678.
Cornelis Steenwyck, 1668 - 1670, 1682, 1683. Philip French, 1702, 1703. Matthias Nicolls, 1672.
John Lawrence, 1673, 1691. William Dervall, 1695.
William Peartree, 1703 - 1707. Ebenezer Wilson, 1707 - 1710. Jacobus Van Cortlandt, 1710, 1711, 1719, 1720. Caleb Heathcote, 1711 - 1714.
Nicholas De Meyer, 1676. Stephanus Van Cortlandt, 1677, 1686, 1687. John Johnson, 1714 - 1719.
Francis Rombouts, 1679.
William Dyer, 1680, 1681.
Gabriel Minvielle, 1684.
Robert Walters, 1720 - 1725. Johannes Jansen, 1725, 1726. Robert Lurting, 1726 - 1735. Paul Richards, 1735 - 1739.
Nicholas Bayard, 1685.
Peter de la Noy, 1689, 1690.
John Cruger, 1739 - 1744. Stephen Bayard, 1744 -1747.
Abraham de Peyster, 1692 - 1695.
William Merritt, 1695- 1698.
Johannes de Peyster, 1698, 1699.
David Provoost, 1699, 1700.
Edward Holland, 1747 - 1757. John Cruger, 1757 - 1766. Whitehead Hicks, 1766 - 1776.
F.
THE Governors and Acting Governors of New York before the Revolution were : -
Peter Minuet.
Henry Sloughter.
Rip Van Dam.
Wouter Van Twiller.
Richard Ingoldsby.
William Corby.
Wilhelm Kieft.
Benjamin Fletcher.
George Clarke.
Peter Stuyvesant.
Earl of Bellomont.
Admiral George Clinton.
Richard Nicolls.
Abraham de Peyster.
Sir Danvers Osborne.
Francis Lovelace.
John Nanfan.
James De Lancey.
Sir Charles Hardy.
Admirals Evertzen & Binckes. Lord Cornbury. Anthony Colve. Lord Lovelace.
Cadwallader Colden.
Sir Edmund Andros.
Dr. Gerardus Beekman. 1
Robert Monckton.
Anthony Brockholls.
Robert Hunter.
Sir Henry Moore.
Thomas Dongan.
Peter Schuyler.
Earl of Dunmore.
Francis Nicholson. Jacob Leisler.
William Burnet.
Sir William Tryon.
John Montgomery.
Isaac de Riemer, 1700, 1701. Thomas Noell, 1701, 1702.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XXXI.
1775.
THE THRESHOLD OF THE REVOLUTION.
VARIOUS CURRENTS OF HUMAN THOUGHT. - CONFLICTING OPINIONS IN ENGLAND. - PE- TITION OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. - CHATHAM'S ARGUMENT. - THE MINISTRY COURTING NEW YORK. - DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. - INDIAN WAR ON THE OHIO RIVER. - ACTION OF THE NEW YORK ASSEMBLY .- NEW YORK REPUBLICAN IN SENTIMENT. - ACTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF SIXTY. - THE REVOLUTIONARY CONVEN- TION. - DELEGATES TO THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. - THE TREE OF FREE- DOM. - NEWS OF THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. - THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT POWERLESS IN NEW YORK. - THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED. - REPUBLICANISM. -- PRESIDENT MYLES COOPER OF KING'S COLLEGE. - JOHN HOLT, THE PRINTER .- CAPTURE OF TICON- DEROGA. - THE NEW YORK CONGRESS. - THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. - WASHING- TON IN NEW YORK. - THE "ASIA." - CONDITION OF THE CITY. - EXPLOIT OF ISAAC SEARS. - GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER. - GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY. - THE INVASION OF CANADA.
A S we enter upon a conflict which wrought one of the greatest tri- umphs in history, -the founding of a powerful nation, - it is interesting to trace the various currents of human thought in regions widely remote from each other which stamped their influence upon com- ing events. We have noted the high sense of political justice which prevailed in New York, and the intelligence and energy with which her citizens in every decade asserted hereditary rights. A certain vital force, gathered unconsciously through the sharp discussion of knotty questions and the resolute sitting in judgment upon the edicts of the royal govern- ment, with roots far in the past, and a long genealogy, needed only signal occasion to ignite and become purely Roman and regal. But, with all her ceaseless internal agitations, New York was scarcely more divided in opinion than England herself. And nearly in the same ratio with New York, whose extensive frontier was at the mercy of innumerable tribes of VOL. II.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
war-loving Indians, loyal to the crown, the higher intelligence of Great Britain was appalled at the prospect of an armed struggle.
In the House of Lords one peer pronounced the military coercion of America impracticable. Another recommended the cutting of the colo- nies adrift, " to perish in anarchy and repentance." Many ridiculed the idea of open rebellion in America. "How can a people without arms, ammunition, money, or navy, dare to brave the foremost among the great powers of the earth ?" they asked. Camden exclaimed, "Were I an American, I would resist to the last drop of my blood." Sandwich, then at the head of the Admiralty, answered with clever witticisms concerning American cowardice, causing uproarious laughter. " I tell you," he said, " that Americans are neither disciplined nor capable of discipline." George III., to all suggestions, scornfully replied, "Blows must decide whether the Colonists are to be subject to this country or to be inde- pendent."
The new Parliament spent the entire month of December in profitless
1774. discussions. Just before its adjournment for the holidays, the
proceedings of the first Continental Congress reached England. The petition to the king was dignified in tone and forcible in expres- sion ; even the crowned head was filled with surprise ! The Colonies asked only security in their ancient condition ! The appeal was simply for justice. For equal rights with British subjects who dwelt upon home soil. One passage, as an illustration : -
" You have been told that we are impatient of government and desirous of independency. These are calumnies. Permit us to be as free as yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happiness. But if you are determined that your ministers shall wantonly sport with the rights of mankind ; if neither the voice of justice, the dictates of law, the principles of the Constitution, or the suggestions of humanity, can restrain your hands from shedding human blood in such an impious cause, we must then tell you that we will never submit to any ministry or nation in the world."
George III. read, and shrugged his shoulders. He did not lose sight of the fact that he had on his side the block and the gallows. He had never loved the Colonies. He had no sympathy with the lofty spirit which in- spired such significant language. He could not or would not see that the suspension of trade was the most disinterested expression of a deep sense of wrong. British commerce would be distressed to a certain degree, but England could seek other markets; while the American merchant sacri- ficed nearly his whole business. Neither did the blind king reflect upon the weak condition of his own war department. British industry at that
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CHATHAM'S ARGUMENT.
epoch rendered every able-bodied man of value; hence enlistments in the army were rare. Rank was bestowed by favor, or sold for money. Boys at school not infrequently held commissions. The corrupt system pre- vailed to such an extent that scarcely a general officer of the day had gained a great name.
Barrington, the military secretary, knowing all this, remonstrated warmly against war. "The contest will cost more than we can gain by success ; we have not military strength enough to levy taxes on America," he said. With masterly eloquence, he advised that the troops be at once removed from Boston. A conference was finally arranged between Lord Howe and Franklin, the agent of the Colonies, to learn the best terms of reconciliation with America. Franklin, true to his principles and faithful to Congress, declared, as the only basis of possible harmony, that certain specified obnoxious acts be repealed, and Boston freed from her ignominy. Lord Howe repeated his words to Dartmouth and North, who agreed in the opinion that neither the king nor Parliament would concede so much.
At the opening of Parliament after the holidays the aged Chatham rose, and moved to address the king for "immediate orders to re- 1775. move the forces from the town of Boston." He was keenly alive Jan. 20. to the imminence of the crisis, and his argument teemed with sound logic. He said : -
" My Lords, the means of enforcing thraldom are as weak in practice as they are unjust in principle. General Gage and the troops under his command are penned up, pining in inglorious inactivity. You may call them an army of safety and of guard, but they are in truth an army of impotence ; and to make the folly equal to the disgrace, they are an army of irritation. But this tame- ness, however contemptible, cannot be censured ; for the first drop of blood, shed in civil and unnatural war, will make a wound that years, perhaps ages, may not heal. Their force would be most disproportionately exerted against. a brave, generous, and united people, with arms in their hands, and courage in their hearts, - three millions of people, the genuine descendants of a valiant and pious ancestry, driven to those deserts by the narrow maxims of a superstitious tyranny. And is the spirit of persecution never to be appeased ? Are the brave sons of these brave forefathers to inherit their sufferings as they have inherited their virtues ? Are they to sustain the infliction of the most oppressive and un- exampled severity ? They have been condemned unheard. The indiscriminate hand of vengeance has lumped togetlier innocent and guilty ; with all the for- malities of hostility, has blocked up the town of Boston, and reduced to beggary and famine thirty thousand inhabitants. . . This resistance to your arbitrary system of taxation might have been foreseen from the very nature of things and from mankind; above all, from the Whiggish spirit flourishing in that country. The spirit which now resists your taxation in America is the same which 205
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
formerly opposed loans, benevolence, and ship-money in England ; the same which, by the Bill of Rights, vindicated the English Constitution ; the same which established the essential maxim of your liberties, that no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent. .... For myself, I must avow, that in all my reading, - and I have read Thucydides and have studied and admired the master-states of the world, - for solidity of reason, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion under a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia. The histories of Greece and Rome give us nothing equal to it, and all attempts to impose servitude upon such a mighty continental nation must be in vain."
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