USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume II > Part 46
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After the dismissal of Lamb from the bar of the house, the author- ities arrested James Parker, the supposed printer of the libelous placard. He was examined by the lieutenant-governor and council at the fort, and on certain information obtained from him Alexander McDougall was arrested as the author of the paper. Taken before the chief justice, he refused to give bail, and was committed to prison in the new jail on the common. His case was somewhat similar to that of John Wilkes, whose imprisonment as the author of the famous article in the "North Briton" had aroused the attention of England and of all her dependencies. The number of the "North Briton" in which his paper appeared was forty-five. It had already become a watch- word in America. McDougall was hailed as the American Wilkes. Crowds gathered at the jail, and on being asked their names, announced themselves as the forty-five. Such was the enthusiasm that the pris- oner had to issue a public card giving the hours of three to six in the afternoon as those on which he would receive his friends. On March 19, the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act was celebrated in accordance with the calls; at the new tavern of the Sons of Liberty Wilkes and McDougall were toasted, forty-five toasts were drunk, and after dinner the whole company marched in procession to the jail and saluted the martyr to the liberty of the press with forty- five cheers. This was the forty-fifth day of his confinement.
A few nights after (Saturday, March 24), about eleven o'clock, a party of fifteen soldiers was discovered attempting to unship the top- mast and the vane from the liberty pole. Some youths, interfering, were driven from the green. The news spreading through the city, some fourteen or fifteen citizens appeared on the green, but were forced to retreat to the tavern of the Sons of Liberty; they were fol-
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lowed by a part of the soldiers, who attempted to force an entrance, but were successfully resisted by the keeper, Captain Bicker, with his bayonet, till the house was made fast. The ringing of the chapel bell precipitated the retreat of the soldiers, and Colonel Robertson, their commanding officer, watched through the night at the barracks to prevent further mischief. A guard was now set about the pole and watch kept till May 3, when the sixteenth regiment sailed in trans- ports to Pensacola. They had sworn to carry off some part of the pole as a trophy, but their purpose was frustrated. On ORTH March 13 the Cham- ber of Commerce XON . MDCC was granted a char- ter by Lieutenant- PR : CAN Governor Colden. .BARO: FR The members of this GOSSET body mainly sym- THE LORD NORTH MEDAL. SU:ÆR pathized with the views of the Friends of Liberty and Trade, who met at La Montanye's, but the name of Colden was not admissible as a toast at Hampden Hall. At the April term of the court, Mc- Dougall, who had been indicted by the grand jury for libel, was brought to the bar, pleaded not guilty, and was admitted to bail.
While, under the vigilant eyes of the Sons of Liberty, the non-im- portation agreement was strictly enforced in New-York, rumors came in of its infringement by the neighboring colonies. A London letter of October 3, 1769, said : "For seven years past there had not arrived so many commodities of British fabric as in the present year." On March 5, 1770, Lord North stated in the House of Commons, in the de- bate on the petition of the merchants and traders of the city of Lon- don trading to North America: "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." A distinguished American, in a letter from London on April 16, wrote that "had the non-importa- tion agreement been as virtuously observed throughout America as it had been in New-York, the whole of the revenue act would have been repealed this Session of Parliament"; and still another letter of April 14 confirms the view: "Happy would it have been had the other colonies imitated the firmness and integrity of New-York, who it does not appear have in any respect infringed their agreement." Lord North was right. New-York could not long endure the unequal sacrifice. On May 15 the Philadelphia committee announced their intention of relaxing the agreement, and considered that the taking off by parliament of the duties on paper, glass, and paints was a
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favorable juncture to show a friendly spirit to the mother-country. On the 18th following, the Albany committee announced their in- tention to void their articles of non-importation entered into the preceding summer, except as to tea.
New-York, whose cardinal policy had always been the security of American liberty by the union of the colonies in a general congress, now by the committee of correspondence addressed circular letters to the several cities of the colonies, inviting them to send six deputies to Norwalk, Connecticut, to meet the same number from New-York, Boston, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and such other places as chose to be represented; the delegates to have power "to adopt one general system for the benefit of the whole." New-York had seen the folly of agreements without the existence of some power to enforce them alike upon all. Here was the germ of the American Union and our present govern-
ment. The congress was called for June 18. HELL GATE. (FROM AN OLD DUTCH PRINT.) The proposal was read in Boston on June 7, and again debated on the 9th, when they unani- mously resolved to adhere to the non-importation agreement and to decline sending delegates to the proposed congress. The merchants of Providence followed the action of Boston; those of Philadelphia preferred the old plan of committees of correspondence; those of Essex, New Jersey, regretted that the proposal had been made be- cause of the non-importation resolutions.
Failing in this effort, and soured by the defection from the reso- lutions, especially at Boston, a number of merchants, on June 11, waited on the New-York committee and desired that the sense of the city should be taken by subscription as to whether "the agreement should continue to apply to all articles, or only to tea and other goods subject to duty." The subscription was taken, when a great majority (3000 to 1154) appeared for the proposed alteration, pending the response of Boston and Philadelphia, when in case of non-agree- ment the sense of the city was to be again taken. On July 5 answers were received from these cities refusing to amend the agreement.
The committee of inspection in New-York at this time was com- posed of Isaac Low, Thomas William Moore, Henry Remsen, Jr., John Harris Cruger, John Thurman, Jr., Thomas Walton, Peter T. Curtenius, Hubert Van Wagenen, Joseph Bull, Edward Laight, Charles McEvers, James Desbrosses, Jr., John Alsop, John Broome,
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William Neilson, Theodorus Van Wyck, Walter Franklin, John Mur- ray, Jacob Walton, Theophylact Bache, Thomas Franklin, Jr., Samuel Verplanck, Isaac Sears, and Peter Van der Voort. Sears and Van der Voort, dissatisfied with the decision of the committee, resigned their positions on June 14, and on the 20th proposed a declaration of adherence to the original agreement. Sears was the recognized rep- resentative of the New England interest in the city. On July 9 the answers of Boston and Philadelphia were made public and the sense of the city again taken, when it was resolved to adhere to their resolution of June 11. Mes- Geral Harlingener sengers were at once sent to Boston and Phil-
adelphia, that the merchants of those cities might avail themselves of the London packet to sail from New-York on July 14, or that for Liverpool of the same date. Nothing could be more fair.
Thus New-York withdrew from the second non-importation agree- ment. Philadelphia and Boston passed indignant resolutions charg- ing New-York with "a desertion and betrayal of the common cause." To all this outcry New-York turned a deaf ear. To Boston her com- mittee replied that "instead of entering into a number of ostentatious resolutions to religiously observe their agreements those gentlemen would have been more commendably employed had they taken effec- tual measures to carry those resolutions into execution, and that it would have been better for them if they had acted up to the prin- ciples they had pretended to avow, and if instead of resolving what to do they had done what they resolved." Philadelphia followed the example of New-York, and resolved on September 24 to renew impor- tations except on dutiable goods. Boston still held out, but at last, on October 11, came into the general resolution to resume importation of everything except tea. So ended the second non-importation agreement, except as to tea. History has vindicated the conduct of New-York and the correctness of the judgment of Lord North. Mr. Bancroft, in his third volume, says: "Canada, Carolina, and Georgia, and even Maryland and Virginia, had increased their importations, and New England and Pennsylvania had imported nearly one half as much as usual. New-York alone had been perfectly true to its en- gagements; and its imports had fallen off more than five parts in six. It was impatient of a system of renunciation which was so unequally kept; and the belief was common that if the others had adhered to it as strictly all the grievances would have been redressed."1 Yet in the failure of this commercial scheme the colonies learned the lesson of union, and the experience of 1770 prepared the way for a general acquiescence in the assumption of power by the Continental Congress, by which alone American independence was finally achieved.
1 " History of the United States," 3 : 386 (ed. 1883).
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It was during this exciting period that the memorial statues ordered by the assembly were received from London. The equestrian statue of George III. was set up with great ceremony in the Bowling Green, opposite Fort George, on August 16, the anniversary of the birthday of Frederick, the Prince of Wales. This statue was of lead richly gilt. It was thrown down and broken to pieces on July 9, 1776, by the citizens and American troops on the proclamation of independence. On September 7, 1770, the statue of Pitt was set up on the pedestal prepared for it in Wall street, at the junction of that street and Smith (now William) street. This was mutilated, the head being removed by the British troops during the occupation of the city. Both were con- sidered fine works of art, and were executed, as has been stated, by the noted sculptor Joseph Wilton of London.
While these ceremonies were carried on, the arrival of John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, who had been appointed governor of the New-York province on the death of Sir Henry Moore, was daily expected. He reached the city in his Majesty's ship Tweed on October 18, and was greeted with an expression of general joy. Dinners and balls were given, and the city was illuminated. Even the "gentlemen of Hampden Hall," as the Sons of Liberty were now styled, joined in the festivities, and celebrated the event with a great bonfire on the com- mon, attended by the largest concourse of citizens ever gathered in the city.1 Thus closes another episode in the long official life of Lieutenant-Governor Colden. The aged functionary again drops the reins of government, but still maintains his correspondence with the home authorities, adhering to the last, with true Scotch tenacity, to autocratic rule and the king's prerogative.
The Earl of Dunmore, on October 24, 1770, advised the Earl of Hillsborough, secretary of state for American affairs, of his arrival. He said that he had the greatest reason to be pleased with the recep- tion he had met with, and from the good humor that now appears he conceived hopes of an easy and peaceful administration. Only a few days before his arrival, Lieutenant-Governor Colden, who was never easily satisfied, had written to the same dignitary "that now all kinds of rioting is greatly discouraged "; and that he hoped to deliver up the administration not only in tranquillity, but with a prevailing disposi- tion in the people to support the government. Colden's next letter, of November 10, was more characteristic. The king had authorized Dunmore to take a "moiety of the perquisites and emoluments of the government of New-York from the date of his Commission to the time
1 The earl landed at the Whitehall about three in the afternoon. He was accompanied by Sir William Draper, Lord Drummond, the commander of the Tweed, and Captain Foy, his lordship's secretary. Holt's journal announced the marriage
of Sir William Draper, Knight of the Bath, to Miss Susanna, daughter of Oliver De Lancey. Esq., on October 13. The presumption is that Sir William met the earl at the Hook or the Whitehall ferry stairs.
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of his arrival." Such a demand had not been made in fifty years. Governor Monckton had made no such claim, nor yet Sir Henry Moore. The old gentleman was quite prolix in his protest and his dissatisfaction that he had not been "suffered to continue to admin- ister the affairs of the province after his long and often dangerous service." In reply to Colden's refusal to "stand and deliver" the moiety already received by him, Lord Dun- more ordered the attorney-general to file a bill in chancery, in the king's name, for the recovery; the earl, in his communication with the home gov- ernment, taking the position that if Col- den be allowed to retain any part of the money, it should be as a reward from his Majesty. Dunmore, according THE RUTHERFORD AND AXTELL HOUSES. to Colden, acted by the advice of William Smith, the younger, in bring- ing the suit in equity, the governor himself being the sole judge in the chancery court. The case was heard in Dunmore's own house, in Jan- uary. The attorney-general and Mr. Smith supported the bill; James Duane appeared for Colden with a demurrer. Arguments were closed in March, and a day set by Dunmore for the rendering of a decree. Before the day set arrived the governor called in the four judges of the Supreme Court and asked their opinion.1 The learned judges sus- tained the demurrer in a written opinion. Dunmore was persistent, and Colden himself was not satisfied. Colden sent the arguments in the case to Dr. William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, who was then in London, for representation to the ministry, and in the transmittal designated the governor as "a capricious ignorant Lord." Dunmore declared his intention of doing the same thing; neither party was in favor of the Earl of Hillsborough's proposal of a compromise. After Dunmore's transfer to Virginia in the autumn, the matter seems to have been dropped, Colden judiciously stopping all further action in the matter of petition or otherwise in London, preferring to let the subject sleep rather than awaken the ire of Dunmore's friends in the ministry. In any other case he would, without any doubt, have fought for the very last shilling.
There was assuredly no exaggeration in the accounts of the gov- ernor and lieutenant-governor of the harmony which prevailed in the
1 Horsmanden, though very infirm, was still chief justice. The three associate or puisne judges were: David Jones, Robert R. Livingston, and George Duncan Ludlow. Livingston and Ludlow were very particular in their opinions, which de- clared salaries to be recompense for labor per-
formed, and not bounties by the king, and fixed by law ; and that the king can do nothing contrary to law. This was the true American doctrine. John Taber Kempe was at this time attorney- general for the province.
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city. Even the gentlemen of Hampden Hall (the Sons of Liberty), at a dinner given on his arrival, toasted the earl with the sentiment, "a total abolition of all party-spirit by the just and equal adminis- tration of the Earl of Dunmore." The same night the gentlemen of the town dined at Bolton's.' The various religious persuasions, with- out exception, made haste to welcome the new ruler. On the same day (October 25) addresses were presented by the rector and inhabi- tants of the city of New-York in communion with the Church of Eng- land; the ministers, elders, and deacons of the United Presbyterian churches in the city of New-York in communion with the Church of Scotland; the ministers, elders, and deacons of the Reformed Pro- testant Dutch Church; and the ministers and churchwardens and vestrymen of the ancient Lutheran Church. In the daily increasing divergence between those of the Church of England faith and the dis- senting element, there was as yet no difference in the extent of their loyalty to the king as chief of the state. The chamber of commerce in a body, the president, Hugh Wallace, at their head, waited on the new governor with a loyal address of congratulation.
That on the withdrawal of Colden to his country-seat, as was his wont on the arrival of each new governor, he was bidden farewell by all respectable branches of the community, there is his own direct testimony. To his administration, after Sir Henry Moore's death, he ascribed the rescinding of the non-importation agreement, and he wrote Hillsborough in December, 1770, that "after Lord Dunmore's arrival the principal and most respected merchants, to the number of fifty-six, when they knew that I intended to retire to the country, came in a body and thanked me for my administration. By the in- fluence of these merchants the resolution to import from Great Britain was carried. The Ministers, Church Wardens, Vestry, and other prin- cipal members of the Church of England in the city did the like; and since I left the town I have been informed that other distinguished bodies designed to have made me the like compliments had I not left the place sooner than was expected."2 There is no doubt that Col- den's abilities were held in high esteem, and that he had the respect of the community as well as their veneration for his age and long ser- vice in high station; but there is no justification for his complacent assertion that his influence was of any avail in the resolution to rescind the non-importation agreement. The lieutenant-governor was not given to underrating himself.
1 Bolton had dissolved his partnership with Si- gell in May preceding, leaving the Queen's Head to Sam Fraunces, who at once refitted it. He (Bol- ton) had succeeded George Burns in the Province (or City) Arms on the Broadway.
2 The merchants, grateful for Colden's gift of a royal charter in the spring of 1770, ordered a
full-length portrait of him for their new hall of the chamber of commerce in the Royal Exchange, painted by Matthew Pratt. a pupil of Benjamin West, at a cost of £37. This specimen of colo- nial art adorns the hall of the chamber at the present time, after many vicissitudes, but in per- fect preservation.
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Dunmore on his arrival found the assembly prorogued to November 7, and by advice of the council further prorogued it to December 11. In his address opening the session he congratulated himself on his appointment to the command of the province "whose example has been the happy means of renewing that mutual intercourse between the Mother Country and her colonies which is so much the interest of both to preserve uninterrupted." He added: "This salutary reconcil- iation effected by the people of this province cannot fail of endearing them in a particular manner to our most gracious Sovereign." The principal business to which he invited their attention was the very probable de- claration of war by Great Britain against Spain, whose subjects had forcibly dispos- THE SCEPTER AND SEAL OF GEORGE III. sessed the Englishmen of their settlement at Fort Egmont in the Falk- land Islands, and the consideration of what was required for the pro- tection of New-York against a sudden attack. The assembly replied with a dutiful address by their speaker, John Cruger, engaging them- selves to early measures for the protection desired.
Lord Dunmore reported the city to be in a most defenseless state; the works which from time to time had been erected for its protection "as so injudiciously constructed that were they still in good repair they would afford but little security to the place; and though there is a considerable number of cannon in a disorderly manner laying on these works, no care having been taken of them, many of them must be unfit for service, and their carriages are all entirely useless." He had already consulted with the council, but it had been decided that the frosts had been too severe for any labor on the earthworks, and it was held that the same extreme weather would prevent any approach of the enemy. In December, the Earl of Hillsborough notified all the governors in America of the orders of parliament to increase the army by an additional light company to every battalion, and of twenty men to every company, on the British establishment, and urged the utmost energy and despatch in the recruitment. Before these instruc- tions arrived, however, New-York was, as usual when a war was in prospect, in a military fever. In January, 1771, a body of German Protestants, animated, no doubt, by hatred of the pope as well as by zeal for the reformed religion, tendered their services as soldiers.
On February 28 the December packet brought out the king's repeal of four acts passed by the New-York assembly in 1767, 1768, and 1769. Dunmore wrote home that he had published the disallowance, but
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that the "whole Province except the lawyers express great dissatisfac- tion." These acts were : 1st, that of December, 1767, declaring that the several acts of parliament passed since the establishment of the New- York legislature extended to this colony. It will be remembered that the claim of the British ministry was that parliament had the right to rule the colonies by exceptional laws. G The immediate offense was in the billeting act, which was not applied to other parts of the empire. 2d, that of December, 1768, empowering the city authorities to try causes under ten pounds value; and 3d, for preventing suits being brought in the Supreme Court GUINEA OF GEORGE III.1 for sums under fifty pounds. This was satisfactory to the lawyers, but the people preferred the practice to which they were accustomed, and especially with regard to petty ac- tions. The 4th act disallowed by the king was of a different nature. The act of May, 1699, regulating elections of representatives in gen- eral assembly, expressly declared that "they which shall be chosen shall be dwelling and resident within the cities, counties and manors" which they were to represent. At the election of February, 1769, Philip Livingston was returned for the manor of Livingston. He had been the speaker of the last assembly, and as such had signed the bold declarations and petitions to the king and parliament for which that assembly was dissolved by Governor Moore. He had taken his seat, and was the only representative of this powerful and popular family. In April he was dismissed by the assembly as a non-resident of the manor, notwithstanding the remonstrance and petitions of the free- holders of the manor. On the motion of Livingston, while yet al- lowed his seat, a bill had been introduced to vacate the seat of every present or future member of the assembly who should accept of any post or place of honor, profit, or trust, after his being elected to serve in general assembly. When the bill came up it was radically changed, and it was unanimously resolved (May 17, 1769) that "whereas it is not constitutional in England for the judges of either England or Scotland to sit or vote in the House of Commons, therefore that no judge of the Supreme Court shall for the future have a seat or vote as a member of the house." A motion of Colonel Schuyler, that "no mem- ber, present or future, holding any such post of profit or honour shall have a seat," was postponed. The objection of the assembly was the power of the judges, through use or abuse of their official position on the bench, to secure their election and continuance in their seats : an- other instance of the deep-rooted idea of the separation of government
1 The above is copied from a golden guinea issued in 1771, and in that year presented by an ancestor of the Editor on the occasion of his en- gagement, in accordance with a custom which pre-
vailed at that time. Almost a century later it was again used for the same purpose by his de scendant, the Editor of this work.
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into three distinct fundamental parts, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
During this session the assembly declined to vote the arrearages for the supply of the troops, but granted one thousand pounds for the gen- eral repairs to the fort and the battery, pending further news as to hostilities with Spain. The house, however, granted two thousand pounds for the troops quartered for the year, and as usual voted an allowance to the governor for his yearly salary of two thousand pounds. But on hearing of this proceeding, Lord Dunmore sent in a message to the effect that, the king having appointed him a salary out of his treasury, he was not at liberty to receive it from the assembly. The action of the assembly does not appear to have greatly disturbed the Earl of Hills- borough, except as to the arrearages, though by the time the acts reached him the war scare was over. On February 16, the assembly, having com- pleted necessary legislation, were anxious for a recess, but Dunmore, uncertain as to the war issue, preferred their ad- journment. They met again on February 25, and finally, on March 4, were prorogued, first to March 11, and again to August 7, before which time a GOVERNOR CLINTON'S RESIDENCE. 1 change took place in the government of the province. The Decem- ber packet, which had brought over the general instructions to the governors, also brought to the Earl of Dunmore the pleasing intel- ligence that he had been promoted by the king to the government of Virginia, to fill the post vacant by the recent death of Lord Botetourt. He looked upon it as a signal mark of favor. Dunmore was invited to dine with the chamber of commerce, and it is presumable that the feast was held, as all the dignitaries of the province were included in the invitation. The sixth regiment of infantry was on duty, and its officers, Colonel John Scott (with the rank of major-general), Lieuten- ant-Colonel D. Templer, and Major Charles Preston, were also present.
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