USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 31
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distressing need of the Colonies, war materials, assumed tangible form. Wisner erected three powder-mills, one in Ulster County, placed in charge of his son Henry, and two in Orange County, and despite innumerable obstacles, and the risks of being blown into the air through early crude processes of manufacture, as well as the threatened torch of the Tories, he succeeded in providing the essential, gunpowder, in quantities largely exceeding the whole product of American enterprise in this line of all the other Colonies combined. He was warmly encouraged in the work by the New York Congress, and through his energetic proceedings in the making of, not only powder, but spears, gunflints, and better roads for the transportation of necessaries to the American army, he was roundly abused and called an " Old Tyrant " by the Tory newspapers. Wisner was in attendance at the Continental Congress and voted with that body for American Independence.
In March a boyish-looking youngster of twenty, of small stature and self-confident bearing, had obtained through McDougall an appointment from the New York Congress as captain of a company of artillery. He had recently, in Columbia College, formed an amateur corps among his fellow-students for the culture of pyrotechnics and gunnery ; and had for months been engaged in military gymnastics, and the study of ancient works relating to politics and war. One bright June morning, while drill- ing his men in a field on the outskirts of the city (now City Hall Park), he attracted the notice of General Nathaniel Greene, who, quick to detect any gleam of military art, invited him to his quarters, catechised him as to his education and opportunities, and introduced him to Washington. The youth thus brought under the special notice of the commander-in- chief was Alexander Hamilton.
The month of June was one of perpetual excitement in New York. It was rumored that the Tories were banding together for co-operation with the British army upon its arrival, intending to blow up the magazines, spike the guns, and seize and massacre Washington and his officers. Con- gress and its " Committee on Conspiracy " knew no rest. The facts de- veloped that persons had secretly been enlisted and sworn to hostile acts. The lower order of liquor dealers were in numerous instances implicated and incarcerated, as well as multitudes of their customers. The private administration of justice kept the city in commotion and the members of Congress on the alert to prevent riots and disturbances therefrom. June 13. Peter Elting wrote to Captain Richard Varick, June 13: " We had some grand Tory rides in this city this week, and one in particular yester- day ; several of them [the Tories] were handled very roughly, being carried through the streets on rails, their clothes torn from their backs, and their
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bodies pretty well mingled with dust."1 Under the date to which refer- ence is made (June 12), the following minutes were entered upon the journals of the New York Congress : -
" Resolved, That this Congress by no means approve of the riots that have hap- pened this day ; they flatter themselves, however, that they have proceeded from a real regard to liberty and a detestation of those persons who, by their language and conduct, have discovered themselves to be inimical to the cause of America. To urge the warm friends of liberty to decency and good order, this Congress assures the public that effectual measures will be taken to secure the enemies of American liberty in this colony ; and do require the good people of this city and colony to desist from all riots, and leave the offenders against so good a cause to be dealt with by the constitutional representatives of the colony."
It was shortly discovered beyond further question that Tryon, from his safe retreat on shipboard, was working through agents on shore. Suspicion fell upon the mayor, David Matthews, and he was accordingly seized at June 22. his residence in Flatbush, Long Island, by order of Washington,
at one o'clock on the morning of June 22, but the most vigilant search failed to discover treasonable papers in his possession ; and nothing was subsequently proved against him except that he had disbursed money for Tryon, who had offered a bounty to all who would engage in the con- spiracy.2 James Matthews, the brother of the mayor, residing at Corn- wall, Orange County, was also seized in the same manner, but he was willing to take the oath prescribed, and gave bonds to Haring, president of Congress pro tem, to the amount of five hundred pounds sterling, to keep the peace, and was consequently released.
On the same evening of Mayor Matthews' arrest, the Committee met
1 " There has lately been a good deal of attention paid the Tories in this city. Some of the worst have been carried through the streets at noonday on rails." - Solomon Drowne, M. D., to Solomon Drowne, Senr., June 17, 1776. New York in the Revolution, 97.
" I have been cruelly rode on rails, a practice most painful, dangerous, and till now peculiar to the humane republicans of New England." - Letter from Staten Island, August 17, 1776.
2 Mayor Matthews was imprisoned for a few days in New York, and then conveyed to Litchfield, Connecticut, and consigned to the care of Major Moses Seymour, a relative of his
wife, Sarah Seymour Matthews. He was confined in the Seymour house, but was allowed the privilege of the village. One day, while taking his customary walk, he omitted to return, and, making his way to New York as best he could, placed himself under the protection of the British flag. Fletcher Matthews, a brother of David and James Matthews, had married into the Woodhull family, and resided in New York City. The three brothers were the sons of Vincent Matthews and Catalina Abeel (daughter of Mayor Abeel of Albany), and the grand- sons of Colonel Peter Matthews, who came to this country as an officer under Governor Fletcher, in 1692. They had one sister, who married Theophilus Beekman. James Matthews married Hannah Strong, and they were the parents of General Vincent Matthews, who died at Rochester in 1846, at the head of the bar in Western New York.
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at Scots Tavern in Wall Street to examine ex-Mayor Whitehead Hicks, who had been summoned before them. They desired him to show cause why he should be considered a friend to America. He said he had shown nothing by his conduct which could be interpreted as against his country ; that he had for many years held honorable and lucrative Crown offices, unsolicited, and that he had repeatedly sworn allegiance to the Crown. For that reason he was not willing to take up arms for America. And as his father and brothers and some of his near relations were strongly attached to or absolutely engaged in the Colonial cause, he should never take up arms against America. He said one of his servants had joined the Continental troops as a volunteer without the least interference on his part. He was asked by the chairman whether in his opinion the British Parliament had a right to tax America, and replied that he should be very unwilling to be taxed by the British Parliament. He was asked whether he thought defense by arms justifiable, and said such a course should, in his view of the case, be the last resort, and he had not fully examined or considered whether every other necessary expedient had been previously used. After a series of similar questions and answers, it was unanimously resolved to accept his parole, and a copy was given him to sign, which he begged leave to consider for a day or two, as he feared it might interfere with his oath of office as a judge, but declared he had no other objection to it. He was allowed to take it away with him, but he returned it with his signature.
Several others were examined on the same occasion with less agreeable results. The Committee continued their investigations far into the night. Mayor Matthews was arraigned before them on the 23d, and Counselor William Axtell on the 24th, who was, however, released on parole, as was also Dr. Samuel Martin. John Willett, of Jamaica, was compelled to give a bond of two thousand pounds sterling as a pledge of good behavior. On the 25th a warrant was issued under the signatures of John Jay and Gouverneur Morris, and placed in the hands of Wynant Van Zandt, a lieu- tenant in Colonel Lasher's battalion, for the apprehension of Nicholas Connery, the keeper of an inn, who had been detected in selling gun- powder to the conspirators. By the 27th the plot was so far traced that Thomas Hickey, one of Washington's body-guard, an Irishman who had been a deserter from the British army, was known to have enlisted for the king, and to have used great exertions towards corrupting his com- rades. He was tried by a court-martial, found guilty of mutiny, sedition, and treachery, and at ten o'clock, on the morning of the 28th, hanged in a field near the Bowery, in the presence of at least twenty thousand persons. This was the first military execution of the Revolution.
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Its effects were salutary, but the arduous duties of the Committee were by no means ended. The prisons were full of persons awaiting trial, while petitions for clemency or release poured in from every quarter in one con- tinuous stream. Sir William Howe was already at Sandy Hook, having arrived on the 25th ; and he was joined by the whole British fleet June 28.
and forces from Halifax on the 28th. Philip Livingston, on the morning of the same memorable day, reached the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, and taking his seat again in that body, explained the peculiar and imperative necessity for his colleagues to remain at their posts in New York while the city was in such peril ; immediately following which the draft of the Declaration of Independence was first submitted by Jefferson.
William Livingston had been in December appointed a brigadier-gen- eral over the militia of New Jersey, and on the 5th of June, while acting upon a committee of the Continental Congress, of which he was an impor- tant member, for the establishment of expresses to transmit intelligence between the Colonies with more celerity, events had hurried him to Elizabeth to assume command. At this juncture he was alive with bounding energy in the raising of troops for the defense of the exposed borders of both New York and New Jersey. He was in daily com- munication with his son-in-law, John Jay, and cognizant of all the meas- ures and movements of the New York Congress and "Committee on Conspiracy." New Jersey rejoiced in a new Congress fresh from the people with ample powers for deciding her course - a Congress which or- ganized itself June 11, and was opened with prayer by the great theologi- cal politician, Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, President of Princeton College.1 On the 22d a resolution had been adopted to form a state government ; two days later a committee was appointed to draft a constitution, which was reported on the 26th, and confirmed July 2. William Livingston was the first choice for a governor of the new State, and, as the reader will learn in future pages, was soon transferred to the executive chair.
His residence in Elizabeth, familiarly known as " Liberty Hall," 2 was the scene henceforward of many startling and romantic incidents. It was a shining mark for the enemy, for no bolder or more aggravating patriot wielded pen or power than its owner, who was styled an "arch-fiend "; and it was pointed out to the belligerent foe from over the water as the resort of the " formidable " John Jay, whose beautiful young wife spent much time with her mother and sisters within its walls. It was here that Jay's afterwards distinguished son, Peter Augustus Jay, was born, in January, 1776. The wonder is, not that the British sought the destruc-
1 See Vol. I. 751, 752, note.
2 See Voi. I. 758.
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GOVERNOR WILLIAM LIVINGSTON.
tion of the dwelling, but that it escaped their designs unharmed. "If the British do not burn 'Liberty Hall,' I shall think them greater rascals than ever, for I have really endeavored to deserve this last and most luminous testimony of their inveterate malice," wrote Livingston to his daughter Kitty. The original structure, with its spacious apartments, high ceilings, and narrow doors, remains intact to the present day. The upper story of the sketch has been added, as well as extensions to the rear of the edifice
"Liberty Hall." Residence of Governor William Livingston.
to meet the requirements of later occupants ; modern glass has taken the place of small panes in many of the windows ; and the deep fireplaces are framed with marble mantels of a recent generation ; but the innumerable little cupboards and artful contrivances in the paneling of the walls are still cherished, the old staircase proudly bears the cuts left by the angry Hessian soldiery when thwarted on one occasion in the object of their visit, and the flavor and sacredness of antiquity generally is preserved. The house stands on elevated ground some rods from the street (the old Springfield turnpike), and retains its ancient body-guard of lofty shade- trees. The larger tree in the foreground of the picture was planted by Miss Susan Livingston, the elder daughter of the Governor, in 1772. Mrs. VOL. II.
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Livingston was a handsome, animated woman, possessing many of the strong characteristics of her notable ancestors, Philip French, Lieutenant- Governor Brockholls, and Frederick Phillips. She took a deep interest in the country's affairs, ably seconding her husband's scoffing ridicule of kingly threats ; and their daughters became full-fledged politicians long ere they had attained complete physical stature. The knotty problems of the hour, and the methods and details of solving and settling them, were discussed daily at their table. Even in the most familiar correspondence with his children at school the subject uppermost in Livingston's thoughts occu- pied the chief space. As, for instance, in a letter to one of his boys who had written home of something which appeared in his lessons about ghosts, he said : " Should the spectre of any of the Stuart family, or of any tyrant whatsoever, obtrude itself upon your fancy, offer it not so much as a pipe of tobacco; but show its royal or imperial spectrality the door, with a frank declaration that your principles will not suffer you to keep company even with the SHADOW of arbitrary power." It was in this republican family that Alexander Hamilton made his first acquaintances upon arriv- ing in America in 1772, a pale, delicate, blue-eyed boy of fifteen years, from the West Indies ; he brought letters to Livingston from Dr. Hugh Knox, a clergyman who had become interested in his welfare in Santa Cruz, where he had been placed in the counting-house of Nicholas Cruger (formerly of New York) by his father some three years before. Through Living- ston's advice he entered the school of Francis Barber in Elizabeth, but " Liberty Hall " was always open to him, and it was in listening to the table-talk of its guests, among whom were the Ogdens, Stocktons, Boudi- nots, and the learned Dr. Witherspoon, that he obtained his first lessons in statesmanship.1 When his school year was ended he applied for ad- mission to Princeton, but he desired to overleap certain details in the college course which Dr. Witherspoon esteemed incompatible with the usages of the institution, and he was admitted to Columbia instead.
Thus must we penetrate occasionally beneath the surface of historical narrative into the privacy of domestic life and behind the scenery of events, if we would trace springs of action to their source and analyze the separate parts of the great tide, which, swelling with its tributaries at every turn, was soon to overleap all barriers in its flow into the sea of substantial achievement.
1 Many of the youth who were to become emphatically the men of the new generation were in the classes of the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon at Princeton ; among whom were James Madison, Aaron Burr, Samuel Stanhope Smith, the future accomplished divine, Philip Freneau, the verse-maker of the Revolution, Hugh Henry Breckinridge, the author of " Modern Chivalry," and four future governors of States, - John Henry of Maryland, Morgan Lewis of New York, Aaron Ogden of New Jersey, and Henry Lee of Virginia.
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THE LAWYERS OF AMERICA.
Under the hot June skies of 1776, in town and country, in the forum and in the farm-yard, in congressional halls and in rural town-meetings, in newspapers, pamphlets, and in conferences of committees, in the pulpit, and in social gatherings, the question which was to decide the chief event in modern history was the all-absorbing topic. On one point all were agreed, -- independence could only be obtained at enormous expense of life. The new political creed of the sovereignty of the people was the most heterodox of theories to the English mind; the erection of an inde- pendent empire on this Continent a problem of far greater magnitude than any which had affrighted former legislators. Nothing is more remark- able at this juncture than the superiority in argument which the legal debaters in America displayed over their contemporaries in England whenever they touched upon the professional points of the controversy. The lawyers shared with the clergy the intellectual influence of the time ; they were generally well-read and accomplished men, and not infrequently men of letters. All their addresses to the powers beyond the seas reflected a depth of thought and a wide acquaintance with the principles of com- mon and international law which astonished acute observers. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and a score of others who had been educated in the strictest notions of rank and caste, were trained jurists, with clear conceptions of the rights of mankind, and ready for the tremendous stride in human progress which was to terminate artificial dis- tinction and secure freedom and self-control for a nation ; the Clintons, Morrises, Livingstons, Schuyler, John Jay, James Duane, and their asso- ciates of New York, reasoned with singular calmness and force, standing like a bulwark of independence between the conflicting political theories of England and America, fully prepared to dispense with the customs of centuries, abandon entails, break down the Colonial aristocracy of which they were a part, and create a republic in which the people should be the only rulers. Their wisdom exceeded the wisdom of Cromwell and his adherents, for the monarchical principle was ostracized. Their conceptions, drawn from the only free and republican government then existing, were so much broader than the source from which they sprung that no rules of action could be borrowed. Their understanding of the English law in- spired them with both caution and confidence. James Duane, in Con- gress at Philadelphia, pledged New York to independence, at the same time declaring that he could not legally vote on the question unless em- powered by further instructions from his constituents. William Floyd said he had no hope of peace through the commissioners en route for America, and believed the only solid foundation for government was in the consent of the people. Robert R. Livingston (afterwards Chancellor)
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pointed out in clear, elegant diction the error of attempting to form alliances with foreign nations at peace, while in such a disjointed condi- tion. John Jay, summoned from the higher Congress to the legislative councils of New York, advocated implicit obedience to the popular will. With rare legal acumen he pointed out the breakers ahead should the representatives by their acts exceed the authority in them vested, and promptly suggested close investigation ; hence a committee was appointed for the purpose, who, after earnest consideration, reported a serious existing " doubt " concerning the power conferred upon this Congress in the late election as to the matter of a total dissolution of all connection with Great Britain, and solemnly recommended a formal vote of the whole Colony. The New York Congress, therefore, in accordance with a motion made by John Jay (June 11), called for a new election of deputies who should be invested with full powers for administering the government, framing a constitution for New York, and determining for her the impor- tant question of the hour.
There is no more strikingly beautiful feature in the history of New York than her honorable attitude at this moment toward her own intelli- gent and liberty-loving population, and toward the country of which she was the great cardinal factor. With menacing horrors on every hand, Canada teeming with military preparations, savages aroused through all her wilderness frontiers, and the chief naval power of the world in posses- sion of her harbor, threatening her entire commerce and chief city with ruin and desolation, and with the pressure of unmerited accusations of cow- ardice and Toryism from her neighbors added to the perpetual clamnor for stringent measures by the improvident and reckless within her own bor- ders, she tested the public mind, giving free scope to the expression of the latest wishes of her inhabitants, and awaited the result. The election, turning on the pivot of independency, occurred June 19; nearly all of the former members were returned, specially charged to vote for an abso- lute separation from the Crown ; but this decision could not be formally announced until the organization of the new Congress. Therefore, on the first day of July, when the illustrious fifty-one doubtful and divided men assembled in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, to consider the " reso- lution respecting independency," although every Colony was represented, the delegates from New York had not yet received full power, and were excused from action.
Meanwhile men grew fierce and uncompromising, and were restrained with difficulty from the committal of overt crimes. The old feud between the Presbyterians and Episcopalians was lighted afresh and caused many incidents of a riotous character. Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, the rector of Trinity
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Church, was an invalid, and had removed for the summer to New Brunswick, New Jersey. The care of the parish in his absence devolved upon the oldest assistant, Rev. Charles Inglis, who was forbidden by the citizens to pray for the king and royal family ; then he was accosted and insulted wherever he went in the streets ; and finally his life was threatened if he did not desist from using the liturgy according to the text. To officiate publicly and abstain from the mention of England's monarch in his sup- plications was to violate his oath and the dictates of his conscience. His embarrassment was very great. One Sunday morning a company of one hundred and fifty men marched into the church with drums beating and pipes playing, and bayonets glistening in their loaded guns. The audience were terror-stricken, and several women fainted. It was supposed that. if Mr. Inglis should read the collects for the king and royal family he would be shot in the sacred desk. But he went on boldly to the end, omitting no portion of the service, and although there was restless and hostile demonstration, he escaped injury. The vestry interfered, and compromised the matter by agreeing to close the Episcopal churches for the present; and they were not opened again for public worship until the city was occupied by the British.
The lines of demarcation between friend and foe were daily becoming more distinctly drawn, and people were compelled to show their colors. Neutrality could not be tolerated. Men who withheld their aid and countenance were treated as enemies. Loyalists were pronounced traitors, and pursued with merciless rancor. In reference to these it seemed as if the most ordinary feelings of compassion were for the time suspended. It was unsafe to breathe a syllable against the American cause. Men secreted in the woods, swamps, and other hiding-places, with designs of joining the British as soon as they should land, were hunted like wild beasts.
An incident illustrating the spirit of the times is told of Richard Van Wyck, one of the judges of Dutchess County. A young farmer was dragged before him one morning charged with assault and battery; the cause of the assault shown on trial was the crying of " God save the king " by the person assaulted. The judge said to the accused, " You have violated the law, and it is my duty, as a magistrate, to fine you, and the sum shall be one penny." Then, putting his hand in his pocket, con- tinued, " I will pay the fine ; and the next time that man cries " God save the king," you give him a good thrashing and I will pay you for doing it." 1
1 Cornelius Barents Van Wyck came to America in 1660 from Wyck, a town on the river Teck, in Holland. He settled near Flatbush, Long Island, and married Anna, daughter of
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