USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 20
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shape, and now also the precaution of secrecy ceased to be observed. The leaders of the New York Sons of Liberty were men of force in several ways. We find familiar names among them. Among the more moderate men were William Smith and William Livingston, the former the son of the lawyer disbarred in the Zenger case. John Morin Scott, another lawyer, and also a graduate of Yale, as were the others, was the author of several treuchant articles in the news- papers, nsnally signed " Freeman," boldly deducing the logical ne- cessity of independence from existing conditions. He leaned to- ward the more violent counsels. A picturesque character was Cap- tain Isaac Sears: he came to be called " King Sears " in connection with his exploits as a leader among the Sons of Liberty. In 1759, when in command of a privateer sloop of only fourteen guns, he fear- lessly attacked a French ship of twenty-four. Ile grappled with his superior quarry three times, when they were separated by a gale. A man of such resolution would be apt to engage in enterprises re- quiring courage, and the times offered many such. John Lamb was another leader, who championed their cause as member of the As- sembly; and still another hero was Alexander McDougall, of whom more anon. Among the earliest enterprises indicating organization among the Sons of Liberty in New York was the rescue of some im- pressed seamen. The practice of impressmeut, as we have had occa- sion to mention more than once, was always hotly resented by the people of New York. At the present time it was but adding fuel to the flames to engage in such attempts. In 1764 four fishermen were one day taken from their boat iu the Bay, and compelled to enlist on board of a British man-of-war lying in Harbor. The next evening the captain of the ship came ashore, doubtless without the least thought of being molested. He soon discovered his mistake. A party of men met him at the wharf, took quiet possession of his person, and marched him to the Merchants' Coffee House in Wall Street, where he was compelled to sign an order for the discharge of the four fisher- men. Another party had in the mean time dragged the captain's boat on shore and bearing it in triumph to the green on the Commons, they made a bonfire of it there.
The summer of 1765 passed away and November 1 was drawing near apace, when on Monday, October 7, gathered in the Assembly Chamber of the City Hall at New York the Stamp Act Congress called for that date. Twenty-eight members took their seats. The dele- gates had in most cases been appointed by the Colonial Assemblies. Virginia and North Carolina had none present, because their Assour- blies had been prorogued. The Governor of Georgia had forbidden the Assembly to send delegates. New Hampshire was not able to send any. The New York Assembly was not called together by C'olden and could not appoint representatives, but the committee that had been in correspondence with other colonies were admitted as
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members of the Congress. These were John Cruger, just retired from the Mayor's chair; Robert R. Livingston, Philip Livingston, William Bayard, and Leonard Lispenard. Thus nine of the thirteen colonies were represented, the number that was later required to make valid the Federal Union. Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was chosen chairman, and the sessions were held with closed doors. A commit- tee appointed to draft a " Declaration of Rights and Grievances," re- ported on October 19, and their report was adopted. Thereupon three committees were appointed: one to prepare a petition to the King; a second to prepare one to the House of Lords; a third one to the House of Commons. On three successive days these petitions were discussed and adopted, and on a fourth a resolution was passed calling upon the several colonies to appoint agents in England to present the petitions and to seek relief. Strangely enongh the Chair- man and one member from New Jersey declined to sign these peti- tions. Exactly three weeks after the beginning of the session, or on Monday, October the 28th, the Congress adjourned. It had not met with any recognition from the Lieutenant-Governor, as might be expected.
It is not quite certain who was the first to suggest the Stamp Act Congress, probably Massachusetts. But there is no doubt whence came the sug- gestion of the " Non-importa- tion Agreement." No measure BURNS'S COFFEE HOUSE. was more effective in thwart- ing the purposes of the Stamp Act; indeed, it was this which led to its prompt repeal as the result of clamors by Englishmen at home. It was fitting that this "agreement " should originate in New York, even then to so great a degree the commercial center of the Atlantic border. The New York Gazette contained a call in its issue of October 31, inviting the merchants of the city to meet that evening in the Long Room of Burns's Coffee Ilouse, at No. 9 Broadway, opposite the Bowling Green. There, on " Hallow E'en," the evening before All Saints' Day, November 1. 1765, the fateful day when the Stamp Act was to go into effect, two Iindred or more gentlemen engaged in commercial pursuits met. and subscribed to these drastic agreements: 1. To import no goods from England until the Stamp Act be repealed. 2. To countermand all orders already sent, on the same condition. 3. To sell no goods on commission sent from England after January 1, before which date notice of the agreement might be expected to have reached the ship- ping merchants there. 4. To abide by the agreement until abrogated
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at a general meeting called for that purpose. As a corollary to these resolutions retail merchants agreed to sell no goods after January 1, unless the Act were repealed. This " Non-importation Agreement " was soon adopted by the merchants of other cities: in Philadelphia on November 7; in Boston on December 3. Even in November it was estimated that the value of the goods countermanded would reach the enormous sum of £700,000. It was most religionsly kept at New York, although its merchants were the heaviest sufferers. No com- mittee was appointed to enforce it, but the Sons of Liberty in an unofficial way were constantly on the alert to prevent infringements. One merchant, Theophylaet Bache, having his residence and store on the south side of Hanover Square, received notice of the arrival of a ship on May 24, 1766, with a cargo of goods consigned to him from Bristol. They were of course shipped after January 1. Mr. Bache had no knowledge of its coming, and cheerfully acquiesced when the Sons of Liberty, led by " King Sears," went on board the ship, and. stamping its papers with the arms of New York, sent it back to Eng- land. A feature of the times during which the Agreement was in force was the wearing of nothing but homespun clothing by the men. The New York Gazette printed in large type on its first page the patriotie sentiment: " It is better to wear a homespun coat than to lose onr liberty." Under the brick arches of the Royal Exchange, foot of Broad Street, a sort of fair or market was held for home-made goods exclusively.
While the Stamp Act Congress was still in session the vessel carry- ing stamped paper for use in New York arrived in the Bay. The paper had reached Boston in September, and Philadelphia on October 5; it reached New York on October 23, 1765. Lientenant-Governor Colden apprehended trouble, and had requested Captain Kennedy, of the man-of-war " Coventry," to watch for the arrival of the ship bear- ing the stamps. They came in the " Edward " in ten packages, stowed promisenonsly among the cargo, withont mention in the bill of lad- ing. and. it was claimed, withont the knowledge of the Captain. The Edward was conducted in state up the Bay between the Coventry and a smaller war vessel, and anchored under the guns of the fort. C'annon were fired to announce the important arrival, perhaps to defy the excited people. Two days later Colden summoned his Con- cil; only three attended. They advised that a sloop be hired to carry the paper on shore. Not one could be obtained for the purpose. Then the Captains of His Majesty's ships agreed to unload and land the unwelcome packages. They were brought ashore and lodged care- fully within the walls of the fort, either in Colden's mansion, or the Secretary's office. Sir Henry Moore was expected at any moment, and the packages were not to be opened until he arrived.
Everything was as yet quiet. On the arrival of the " Edward " all the merchant ships had half-masted their colors. On the morning of
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October 31 the New York Gazette displayed mourning lines and types. It contained a funeral oration, or sermon, headed as follows: " 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."
A week before, on the night of the 24th, when the " Edward" had been in port one day, and was not yet discharged of her papers, manuscript placards in large letters were pinned on the doors of public buildings, and on street corners, bearing the words:
" Pro Patria.
The first Man that either distributes or makes use of Stampt Paper, let him take Care of his House, Person & Effects.
Vox Populi; We dare."
So something was evidently brewing. Colden remained in a fool's paradise, and was certain he could put the law in force on November 1. His son, David Colden, solicited the office of Stamp Distributer, Pro Patria The first Man that either distributes or makes use of Stampt Paper let him take Care of his House, Person, & Effects. Vox Populi; The game which McEvers, the original in- cumbent, had prudently resigned as the result of some unmistakable representations by the Sons of Lib- erty. In writing for this appoint- ment on October 26, young Colden informed the Commissioners in London that "the Act would be qui- etly submitted to in a few days." LIBERTY BOYS' PLACARD. The prediction was hardly borne out by the events. The Lieutenant-Governor felt safe in his fort, repaired and strengthened, with one hundred men from a royal regiment of artillery back of the ramparts. A Major James commanded the gar- rison. He, too, had to have his say about the people and their recep- tion of the Act. He boasted that " he would cram the stamps down their throats with the end of his sword, and if they attempted to rise he would drive them all out of town for a pack of rascals, with four and twenty men." It was fine language, and the response to it could wait, but it was not for long. The day for the Stamp Act to go into effect at last dawned, and intimations of trouble began to fill the air. Toward evening a great crowd had gathered in the " Fields " (City Hall Park). Here was to be seen a portable gallows upon which were suspended two figures. One was an effigy of the unpopular Colden. Acting-Governor, bearing the inscription, " The rebel drummer of 1715," a bitter reminder of Colden's past disloyalty to the present reigning house, which he served with such unseemly zeal against his
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fellow-colonists. The other was a representation of the devil, carry- ing a boot, a somewhat lame pun on the name of the King's favorite minister, Lord Bute, to whom was traced most of the advice for op- pressing the colonies. While the people were gazing upon these sug- gestive effigies, a procession carrying six hundred lights came in sight. in the midst of which was a sailor carrying a chair on his head, in which was seated a figure of Colden in paper. Marching down Fair (Fulton) Street to Queen (Pearl), through Queen and past the Fly Market to Wall, they turned into Wall, receiving encouraging shouts from the company gathered in the Merchants' Coffee House on the corner, and giving three cheers for MeEvers for having resigned the stamp agency, as they passed his house. On approaching the City Hall the Mayor and Common Council met the procession, attended by constables with their staves. But the leaders, with perfect good humor, yet unmistakable firmness, commanded the city authorities to make way for the Provincial Chief Magistrate. The order was obeyed, and soon the procession turned into Broadway and so down to the Bowling Green, stopping in front of the fort gate. Here were the artillerymen under James, and a force of marines and sailors un- der Captain Kennedy, drawn up upon the ramparts. Loaded guns were pointing their muzzles directly at the people. Some were for breaking down the fort gate, and many tauntingly dared the soldiers to fire into the crowd. The people were prevailed upon not to storm the fort gate, but it was impossible to prevent all acts of violence. They broke open Colden's coach-house, which was outside the fort. dragged forth his coach, placed the paper effigy within it, and with the sailor, who had carried it, on the driver's seat, the torchlight procession marched back along Broadway to the Fields. On the way they met the party who had charge of the gallows with the two effigies upon it. A halt was made, a loud voice proclaimed that no stones should be thrown, nor windows broken, nor bodily harm be done to any person. Then the torchlight crowd turned about, and the whole multitude marched back to Bowling Green. Here the gallows was planted, around it were piled the pickets and planks of the fence, and upon this heap of improvised faggots was drawn the coach, still occupied by the Lieutenant-Governor in paper. The torch was then applied to the pile and a lusty bonfire soon lit up the November sky. consuming gallows and coach and effigies and all. Not very gentle, or perhaps proper, proceedings these, but vet pretty moderate for a mob excited by the threat of a grinding injustice, and the suppression of their dearest liberties. It is a pity that there now followed an act of wan- ton rowdyism; but Major James had not had his answer yet, and the sight of him upon the ramparts in impotent rage, may have reminded the populace that they had a score to settle with him. At any rate. after the holocaust of coach and gallows and effigies. a section of the mob rushed up Broadway back to the Fields, and then down Warren
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Street to its terminus at the river. Here stood an elegant villa, sur- rounded by a beautiful garden, with trellises and arbors and summer- houses. It was owned, or occupied, by Major James, who must have been a man of means and of literary and scientific tastes, as well as a braggart, for it contained a library, costly sets of mathematical instruments, fine furniture, and no end of good wines and liquors. By two o'clock that morning there was nothing left of all this but the charred remains of the house, a ruined garden, and scattered wine casks. It was the one blot upon New York's resistance to the Stamp Act. The Major was afterward compensated for his losses by the British Government.
The stamped paper packages were all this time behind the ram- parts of the fort. Colden and his Council wanted to remove them to Captain Kennedy's frigate, but that officer had a wholesome fear for his many valuable houses in the city, inherited through his wife, who belonged to the Watts family. He declined to touch the papers. The people meantime were not content to let the hated paper remain be- yond its reach. To avert worse violence than had hitherto been committed. the corporation resolved to request that it be placed in their custody. The Mayor, accompanied by all the Aldermen, and followed by a great mul- titude of people, loudly cheering, repaired to the fort, and desired of Col- den that the packages be PONWILL deposited in the City Hall. Taking a receipt KENNEDY AND WATTS HOUSES, 1 AND 3 BROADWAY. for them Colden readily handed over the dangerous material. This occurred on Novem- ber 5. On November 13 Sir Henry Moore arrived in the Minerva, but no consignment of stamps was aboard this ship. although it was fully expected that this would be the case. Not till January did a vessel arrive with the second installment. The Sons of Liberty at once boarded her, compelled the delivery of the ten packages of stamped paper she had on board, carried them from Cruger's Wharf to one of the shipyards further up along the East River shore, and burned them in tar-barrels. Everything was conducted in the most orderly manner. Meantime the resistance to the use of stamps which the people had imposed upon themselves tested their patriotism severely. Tradespeople and day laborers felt the stagnation of business as a heavy drain upon their seanty income.
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The merchants lost great sums, but had plenty to fall back upon. Yet all was borne cheerfully and patiently, with 'no infringement of the non-importation agreement. The boycotting of stamped paper affected family life in other ways: as no marriage license could be issued without a stamp, marriages were performed withont licenses, the bans being proclaimed publicly in church. But the peo- ple were getting a powerful ally across the water in the distress eansed in Great Britain by the non-importation agreement. Manu- facturers and merchants besieged Parliament with complaints of the ruinous falling off of exports to the colonies. At last. on February 22, 1766, a date to become auspicious in American history, and at that time celebrated only at Mt. Vernon, the motion for the repeal of the Stamp Act was first made in Parliament. Pitt, in agony from the gout, made out to get to his place in the Commons to speak in favor of the motion, which he said was a debt owing " to the liberty of un- represented subjects," and should prevail " in gratitude to their hav- ing supported England through three wars." At midnight, March 4, the motion was carried; on March 17, the House of Lords confirmed the action, and on March 18, the King gave his assent, but not with very good grace. The repeal was greeted with joy in London. It may be imagined with what delight the news of it was received in Ameri- ca. Premature accounts reached New York at various times, even as early as April 4. But not till May 20 did authentic information of the happy event get to this city by an express sent from Boston. where one of John Hancock's vessels had brought it from England. The Sons of Liberty were at once on hand with a celebration. There was a dinner at Howard's Tavern in the Fields, salutes of guns, aud in the evening bonfires and illuminations galore. But the joy was re- served for its most effusive expression until June 4, King George's birthday. A banquet was spread for three hundred and forty of the best citizens, very nearly the present " 400 " already, as it appears. For the more plebeian citizens an ox was roasted whole on the Com- mons, flanked on either side by platforms bearing twenty-five barrels of beer. A hogshead was made the receptacle for rum, sugar. water, and other ingredients for a huge supply of punch. Twenty-five cords of wood were piled about a tall pole bearing on top twenty-five kegs of tar, and a fine blaze the whole made at night. The houses in every street were illuminated. Twenty-five guns were planted on the Con- mons, for firing salutes; and everywhere the people shouted them- selves hoarse over the rather dubious title: " Long live the King, the darling of his people." As this peculiar darling was twenty-eight years old in the year 1766, one wonders why " twenty-five " prevailed so much in the celebration instead of the other figure. A more per- manent form of recognition was an appropriation by the Assembly for statues of the King and Pitt, the great friend of America. Four years later they arrived: that of George III. was of lead, richly gilt.
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It was placed in the center of Bowling Green, and became useful for making bullets which served the cause of patriotism in 1776. It was unveiled August 16, 1770. On September 7, Pitt's statue, of marble, was placed in Wall Street at its intersection with Smith (William). The British soldiers dealt severely with it in the later war, and its headless remains are treasured among the relies of the New York Historical Society, at Second Avenue and 11th Street.
The Stamp Act was repealed, the dagger was drawn out of the na- tion's heart, but a twist was given in the very act of withdrawal. Even Pitt himself not only had assented to, but insisted upon the right of Parliament to tax the colonies, and to make laws binding on the colonies " in all cases whatsoever." Accordingly in May, 1767, the British Ministry was at work again providing a measure of taxa- tion without representation for America, not in the way of stamped paper this time, but by means of port-duties on wine, oil, and fruit when carried directly from Spain and Portugal; and on various other articles of every-day use, such as glass, paper, lead, painters' colors, and tea. In somewhat ominous combination with this action of Par- liament, an act was passed forbidding the Governor of New York to consent to the legislation of its Assembly, thus disfranchising that body. Neither the one action nor the other was likely to assure the colonists that they might now give up all resistance to the mother country. There was a meeting of citizens at Boston which resolved to act with regard to the articles mentioned as the colonists had done before with regard to all goods until the repeal of the Stamp Act. But there was no great concerted movement again all along the line until 1769, when was formed the second non-importation agreement. As in the former one two calls for a meeting were necessary to bring the New York merchants together. They gathered at a place to be- come historic later, and which still bears the name that has made it SO. A tavern called the Queen's Head was kept at the corner of Broad and Dock (Pearl) streets, by two men in partnership. Later it was bought by Samuel Frannce, who had a place somewhere near the Fields at this time. Fraunce's Tavern still bears its old name on the old spot. A committee was appointed to arrange for making the agreement general among the colonies. Goods of all kinds, with but few exceptions, were forbidden to be bought or sold on one's own account or on commission, if imported from England .- after October. 1769,-until the Act of Parliament imposing duties on glass, paper, painters' colors, tea, and other articles, was repealed. A provision was attached that Boston and Philadelphia merchants should join in the agreement, before June 1st. Somehow these other cities did not so quickly fall into line as desired. Importers at New York signed the paper almost to a man. As the merchants of the two other cities seemed ready toward autumn, another meeting was held at New York on August 25, when the previous action was confirmed, forti-
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fied by the actual signatures now collected. By September 5 the Bos- ton merchants and traders had signed, and on September 22 a meet- ing of merchants was called at Philadelphia. The agreement as now made set the time for the non-importation from January 1, 1769, to January 1, 1770. . It was carried on into the year 1770, and then when Lord North had become Prime Minister, its effect became apparent in the repeal of the duties on all the specified articles except tea. In July, 1770, the New York merchants sent letters to those of Boston and Philadelphia stating that they would cease to hold themselves to the non-importation agreement. It was thought that this action was due to the withdrawal of the duties from all but the one article, and New York was bitterly denounced then by both Boston and Philadel- phia for breaking faith while one of the specified items still remained in the Act. But New York had another reason, which so philosophical and usually so fair a historian as Prof. John Fiske seems to miss strangely. Bancroft is more just, and declares: " New York alone had been true to its engagements it was impatient of a sys- tem of voluntary renunciation which was so unequally kept." Bos- ton and Philadelphia merchants while openly making a boast of ad- herence had shamelessly broken it in secret. An appeal to figures will show the facts in the case. While in New England imports had fallen off from £419,000 in 1767-8, to £207,000 in 1768-9; and in Penn- sylvania from £432,000 to £199,000. in New York was realized the enormous reduction from £482.000 to £74.000. It was no wonder New York men were tired of carrying the sacrifice on their shoulders alone. Lord North, in his speech on the repeal of all duties except on tea, in March, 1770, informed the House that " New York has kept strictly to its agreements, but the infractions of them by the people of Boston show that they will soon come to nothing." And it was the opinion of one of the American agents in England that the whole of the tax,-that on tea also, -- would have been removed if " the non- importation agreement had been as virtuously observed throughout America as it had been in New York." With such plain statements within easy reach it is somewhat discouraging to read what some men make of history.
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