USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 3 > Part 9
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In the middle and southern colonies, the irritation against the mother country, appears to have subsided in a considerable de- grec-and no disposition was manifested to extend their oppo- sition further than to defeat the collection of the revenue, by entirely preventing the importation of tea. Their attention was a good deal taken up by an insurrection in North Carolina, where a number of ignorant people, supposing themselves to be aggrieved by the tea bill, rose in arms for the purpose of shutting up the courts of justice, destroying all officers of go- vernment and all lawyers, and of prostrating government itself. Governor Tryon marched against them, and having, in a deci- sive battle, totally defeated them, the insurrection was quelled, and order restored.
In Massachusetts, where very high opinions of American rights had long been imbibed ; and where the doctrine that the British Parliament could not rightfully legislate for the Amer- icans was already maintained ; a gloomy discontent with the existing state of things was every where manifested. The le- gislature had been removed from Boston to Cambridge, where the governor still continued to convene them. They remon- strated against this as an intolerable grievance, and for two ses- sions refused to do business.
When assembled in September, the general court was inform- ed by the governor, that his Majesty had ordered the Provincial garrison in the castle to be withdrawn, and regular troops to succeed them. This they declared to be so essential an altera- tion of their constitution as justly to alarm a free people.
From the commencement of the contest, the people of Mas-
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sachusetts appear to have deeply felt the importance of uniting all the colonies in one system of measures, and in pursuance of this, a committee of correspondence was, at this session elected, to communicate with such committees as might be appointed by other colonies; similar committees were soon after chosen by the different towns throughout the province. The example was afterwards followed by other colonies.
1772 .- Although the governor, judges, and other high co- lonial officers, had been appointed by the crown, they had hitherto depended on the provincial legislatures for their sala- ries; and this dependence had always been highly valued, as . giving to the colonies an important influence on their conduct. As a part of the new system, it had been determined, that the salaries of these officers should be fixed by the crown and paid, without the intervention of the legislature. 'This measure was adopted in relation to all the royal governments. It gave high offence, and was declared, by the house of representatives, to be an infraction of the rights of the inhabitants, granted to them by charter.
1773 .- About this time a discovery was made, which greatly increased the discontents already so prevalent in New England. Doctor Franklin, the agent for several of the colonies, and among others, for Massachusetts, by some unknown means, ob- ' tained possession of the letters which had been addressed by Governor Hutchinson, and by Lieutenant-governor Oliver, to the department of state. . These letters he transmitted to the general court.
The opposition was represented to be confined to a few fac- tious inen, whose conduct was by no means generally approved, and who had been emboldened by the weakness of the means used to restrain them. More vigorous measures were recom- mended, and several specific propositions, peculiarly offensive to the colony, were made, among which was the alteration of their charters, and the rendering the high offices dependant solely on the crown for their salaries.
Inflamed by these letters, the assembly unanimously resolved, that their tendency and design was to overthrow the constitu-
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tion of the government, and to introduce arbitrary power into the province. At the same time, a petition to the King was voted, praying him to remove Governor Hutchinson and Lieu- tenant-governor Oliver, for ever, from the government of the colony. This petition was transmitted to Dr. Franklin, and laid before the King in council, where it was heard; and in a few days the lords of the council reported, that the petition in question was founded upon false and erroneous allegations, and that the same was groundless, vexatious, and scandalous, and calculated only for the seditious purposes of keeping up a spirit of clamour and discontent in the province. Hutchinson, how- ever, was afterwards removed, and General Gage was ap- pointed.
The determination of the colonies not to import tea from England, had so lessened the demand, that a very considerable quantity had accumulated in the stores of the East India Com- pany. They urged the minister to take off the import Ameri- can duty, of three pence per pound, and offered, in lieu of it, to pay double that sum. This fair opportunity for accommoda- tion was rejected ; they, however, were allowed drawbacks on . tea exported to the colonies.
After these encouragements had been held forth, the com- pany proceeded to make shipments to the colonies on their own account. Large quantities were consigned to agents in Bos- ton, New-York, Philadelphia, Charleston, &c.
The crisis now approached ; and the conduct of the colonies was to determine whether they would be taxed by the Parlia- ment, or meet the consequences. If the tea should be landed, it would be sold, the duties would be paid, and the precedent for taxing them established. The same sentiment on this sub- ject pervaded all the colonies. This ministerial plan of im- portation was every where considered as a direct attack on the liberties of the people, which it was the duty of all to oppose. The consignees were generally compelled to relinquish their appointments.
At Boston the people, in a meeting, adopted the spirited re- solutions which had before been entered into in' Philadelphia.
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A second large meeting, was held, where it was voted, that the tea should not be landed ; that no duty should be paid ; and that it should be sent back in the same bottoms. With a fore- boding of the consequences of the measure about to be adopt- ed, and with a wish that those consequences should be seriously contemplated, Mr. Quincy thus addressed the meeting :
" It is not, Mr. Moderator, the spirit that vapours within these walls, that will defend us ; instead of it, we must gird on armour. The exertions of this day will call forth events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation.' Whoever supposes that hosannas will terminate the trials of the day, entertains a childish fancy. We must be grossly ignorant of the importance and value of the prize for which we contend ; we must be equally ignorant of the power of those who have , combined against us, we must be blind to that malice, invete- racy, and insatiable revenge, which actuate our enemies, pub- lic and private, abroad and in our bosom, to hope, that we shall end this controversy without the sharpest, sharpest con- flicts ; to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular ha- rangues, popular acclamations, and popular vapour, will van- quish our foes. Let us look to the end. Let us weigh and consider, before we advance to those measures, which must bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this country ever saw."
The question was again put and passed, without a negative.
The meeting was then dissolved. An immense crowd re- paired to the quay. Here a number of the most resolute, dis- guised like Mohawk Indians, boarded the vessels, and in about two hours broke open three hundred and forty-two chests of tea, and discharged their contents into the ocean.
These proceedings of the colonists were laid before Parliament, in a message from the King, and a very high and general indig- nation was excited. They expressed, almost unanimously, their approbation of the measures adopted by his Majesty, and gave the most explicit assurances, that they would not fail to exert every means in their power to provide for the due execution of the laws, and to secure the dependence of the colonies. A bill
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was soon brought in for discontinuing the lading and shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise at Boston, or the harbour thereof, and for the removal of the custom to Salem. This bill . was to continue in force, not only till compensation should be made to the East India Company, but till the King in council should declare himself satisfied as to the restoration of peace and good order in the town of Boston. It passed both the houses without a division, and almost without opposition.
Soon after a bill was brought in, for better regulating the government of the province of Massachusetts. By this act the charter was totally subverted, and the nomination of counsel- lors, and of all magistrates and officers vested in the crown. This bill was also carried through both houses by great majori- ties, but not without vigorous opposition.
The next measure proposed, was a bill for the impartial ad- ministration of justice in the province of Massachusetts. It provided, that in case any person should be indicted in that province for murder, or any other capital offence, and it should appear to the governor that the fact was committed in the ex- ercise or aid of magistracy in suppressing riots, and that a fair trial could not be had in the province, he should send the per- son so indicted to any other colony, or to Great Britain, to be tried. This was to continue in force four years.
A bill was also passed for quartering soldiers on the inhabi- tants, and the system was completed, by an act for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec.
Amidst these hostile measures, one single conciliatory pro- position was made. Mr. Rose Fuller moved, that the house resolve itself into a committee to take into consideration the duty on the importation of tea into America, with a view to its repeal. This motion was seconded by Mr. Burke, and sup- ported with all the splendour of his eloquence ; but it was lost by a great majority. The Earl of Chatham made his appear- auce again in the house of lords. But his efforts were una- vailing.
On receiving the first intelligence of the Boston port bill. « meeting of the people of that town was called.
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Resolutions were passed, expressing their opinion of the it- policy, injustice, inhumanity and cruelty of the act, from which they appealed to God and the world ; and also inviting the other colonies to join with them, in an agreement to stop all im- ports and exports, to and from Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies, until the act should be repealed, as the only means remaining for the salvation of America and her liberties.
Addresses were soon received from every part of the conti- nent, expressing sentiments of sympathy in their sufferings, exhorting them to resolution and perseverance, and assuring them that they were considered as suffering in the common causc.
Associations were entered into by the members of the assem- bly of Virginia, and resolutions were passed, in which they de- clared, that an attack on one colony, to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack on all. They, therefore, recom- mended to the committee of correspondence, to communicate with the several other committees, of the other provinces, on the expediency of appointing deputies from the different colonies, to meet annually in general congress, and to deliberate on those measures which the united interests of America might, from time to time, render necessary. This measure had already been proposed in town-meetings, in the provinces of New-York and Massachusetts.
While the people of Boston were yet employed in the first consultations, which took place on hearing of the bill directed against their town, General Gage arrived.
In a few days, the general court was assembled, and had notice from the governor, that their place of session would be chang- ed, and that they would be called together on the first of June, at Salem. To evade this measure, they endeavoured to com- plete the business before them, prior to that day, which being made known to his excellency, he hastily adjourned them to the eleventh of June, then to meet at Salem.
Soon after assembling, the house of representatives, mindful of the importance of combining the wisdom of America in one grand council, passed resolutions, declaring the expediency of
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a meeting of committees from the several colonies, for the pur- poses therein specified, and appointing five as a committee, on the part of Massachusetts.
The colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia, adopted this measure.
The governor having obtained information of the manner in which the house was employed, sent his secretary to dis- solve it.
Soon after, drafts of the remaining bills, relative to the pro- vince of Massachusetts, as well as that of the quartering troops in America, were received at Boston, and circulated through the country. These served to confirm the wavering and render the moderate indignant.
An agreement was framed by the committee of correspon- · dence at Boston, entitled a solemn league and covenant, where- in the subscribers bound themselves to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, until the Boston port bill, and the other obnoxious laws, should be repealed. They also bound themselves, not to consume or purchase from any other, any goods whatever, which arrived, and to break off all commerce and dealings with any who did. They also renounced all connexion with those who should refuse to subscribe to that covenant, or to bind themselves by some similar agreement.
General Gage published, against this covenant, a proclama- tion, in which it was termed, an unlawful, hostile and traitorous combination, contrary to the allegiance due to the King, de- structive of the legal authority of Parliament, and of the peace, good order and safety of the community. All persons were warned against incurring the pains and penalties due to such dangerous offences, and all magistrates were charged to appre- hend and secure such as should be guilty of them.
It was every where declared, that the cause of Boston was that of America; that the late acts, respecting that devoted town, were unjust, tyrannical and unconstitutional ; that the op- position to this ministerial system of oppression, ought to be universally maintained ; and that all intercourse with the parent state, ought to be suspended.
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The committees of correspondence selected Philadelphia for the place, and the beginning of September for the time of the meeting.
On the fourth of September, 1774, the delegates from eleven provinces, appeared at the place appointed, and the next day they assembled at the Carpenter's Hall, when Peyton Ran- dolph was chosen president.
Committees were appointed to state the rights claimed by the colonies, which had been infringed by acts of the British Parliament, passed since 1763, to prepare a petition to the King, and addresses to the people of Great Britain, to the in- habitants of the province of Quebec, and to the colonies re- presented in Congress.
Among other resolves, a declaration of rights was agreed to, at a very early period of the session. It merits attention, because it states the ground now taken by America :-
" When," say they, in their address to the people of Great Britain, " a nation led to greatness by the hand of liberty, and possessed of all the glory that heroism, munificence and hu- manity can bestow, descends to the ungrateful task of forging chains for her friends and children, and instead of giving sup- port to freedom, turns "advocate for slavery and oppression, there is reason to suspect she has either ceased to be virtuous, or been extremely negligent in the appointment of her rulers.
" In almost every age, in repeated conflicts, in long and bloody wars, as well civil as foreign, against many and power- ful nations, against the open assaults of enemies, and the more dangerous treachery of friends, have the inhabitants of your island, your great and glorious ancestors, maintained their in- dependence, and transmitted the rights of men, and the bless- ings of liberty to you their posterity.
" Be not surprised, therefore, that we, who are descended from the same common ancestors, that we, whose forefathers participated in all the rights, the liberties, and the constitution you so justly boast of, and who have carefully conveyed the same fair inheritance, to us guaranteed by the plighted faith of government, and the most solemn compacts with British sov-
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reigns, should refuse to surrender them to men, who found their claim on no principles of reason, and who prosecute them with a design, that by having our lives and property in their power, they may, with the greater facility, enslave you.
" We claim to be free as well as our fellow-subjects of Great Britain, and are not the proprietors of the soil of Great Bri- tain, lords of their own property ? Can it be taken from them without their consent ? Will they yield it to the arbitrary dis- posal of any men, or number of men whatever? You know they will not.
" Why then are the proprietors of the soil of America less lords of their property than you are of yours, or why should they submit it to the disposal of your Parliament, or any other Parliament or council in the world, not of their election? Can the intervention of the sea that divides us, cause disparity in rights, or can any reason be given why English subjects, who live three thousand miles from the royal palace, should enjoy less liberty than those who are three hundred miles distant from it ?
" Reason looks with indignation on such distinctions, and freemen can never perceive their propriety.
" At the conclusion of the late war -- a war rendered glo- rious by the abilities and integrity of a minister, to whose efforts the British empire owes its safety and its fame ; at the conclu- sion of this war, which was succeeded by an inglorious peace, formed under the auspicies of a minister of principles, and of a family unfriendly to the protestant cause, and inimical to liberty ; we say, at this period, and under the influence of that man, a plan for enslaving your fellow-subjects in America, was con- certed, and has ever since been pertinaciously carrying into execution."
The former relative situation of the two countries is then stated, &c. The transactions, since the conclusion of the war, are passed in solemn review ; and they add, "this being a true state of facts, let us beseech you to consider to what end they lead.
"Admit that the ministry, by the powers of Britain, and the
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aid of our Roman Catholic neighbours, should be able to carry `the point of taxation, and reduce us to a state of perfect humili- ation and slavery ; such an enterprise would doubtless make some addition to your national debt, which already presses down your liberties, and fills you with pensioners and placemen. We presume also, that your commerce will somewhat be diminished. However, suppose you should prove victorious-in what con- dition will you then be ? What advantages or what laurels will you reap from such a conquest? May not a ministry, with the same armies, enslave you ?"
The resources which the subjugation of America would place in the bands of the crown, are then expatiated on, and the address proceeds : " we believe there is yet much virtue, much justice, and much public spirit in the English nation. To that justice, we now appeal. You have been told, that we are seditious, impatient of government, and desirous of indepen- dency. Be assured that these are not facts, but 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 hap- piness-we shall ever be ready to contribute all in our power, . to the welfare of the empire-we shall consider your enemies as our enemies, and your interest as our own.
" But if you are determined that your ministers shall wan- tonly sport with the rights of mankind-if neither the voice of justice, the dictates of the law, the principles of the constitution, nor 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 be hewers of wood or drawers of water, for any ministry or nation in the world.
" Place us in the same situation that we were at the close of the last war, and our former harmony will be restored."
The committee that drafted this eloquent address, were John Jay, Esquire, late governor of the State of New-York, Mr. Livingston, late chancellor, and a Mr. Lee.
The petition to the King states briefly the grievances com- plained of, and then proceeds :-
" Had our Creator been pleased to give ns existence in a
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land of slavery, the sense of our condition might have been mi- tigated by ignorance and habit. But thanks be to His adorable goodness, we were born the heirs of freedom, and ever enjoyed our right under the auspices of your royal ancestors, whose family was seated on the British throne, to rescue and.secure a pious and gallant nation from the popery and despotism of a superstitious and inexorable tyrant. Your Majesty, we are con- fident, justly rejoices that your title to the crown is thus founded on the title of your people to liberty ; and therefore, we doubt not, but your royal wisdom must approve the sensibility, that teaches your subjects anxiously to guard the blessing they re- ceived from Divine Providence, and thereby to prove the per- formance of that compact, which elevated the illustrious House of Brunswick to the imperial dignity it now possesses.
" The apprehension of being degraded into a state of servi- tude, from the pre-eminent rank of English freemen, while our minds retain the strongest love of liberty, and clearly foresee the miseries preparing for us and for our posterity, excites emo- tions in our breasts, which, though we cannot describe, we should not wish to conceal. Feeling as men, and thinking as subjects, in the manner we do, silence would be disloyalty. By giving this faithful information, we do all in our power to promote the great objects of your royal cares-the tranquillity of your government, and the welfare of your people.
" Duty to your Majesty, and regard for the preservation of ourselves and our posterity, the primary obligations of nature and society, command us to entreat your royal attention ; and as your Majesty enjoys the signal distinction of reigning over freemen, we apprehend the language of freemen cannot be displeasing. Your royal indignation, we hope, will rather fall on those designing and dangerous men, who daringly inter- posing themselves between your royal person and your faithful subjects, and who, for several years past incessantly employed to dissolve the bonds of society, by abusing your Majesty's author- ity, misrepresenting your American subjects, and prosecuting the most desperate and irritating projects of oppression, have at length compelled us, by the force of accumulated injuries,
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too severe to be any longer tolerable, to disturb your Majesty's repose by our complaints.
"These sentiments are extorted from hearts that much more willingly would bleed in your Majesty's service. Yet so great- ly have we been misrepresented, that a necessity has been alleged of taking our property from us, without our consent, to defray the charge of the administration of justice, the sup- port of civil government, and the defence, protection and se- "curity of the colonies.
" Yielding to no British subjects in affectionate attachment to your Majesty's person, family and government, we too dearly prize the privilege of expressing that attachment by those proofs that are honourable to the Prince that receives them, and to the people who give them, ever to resign it to any body of men upon earth.
" We ask but for peace, liberty and safety. We wish not diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favour-your royal authority over us, and our connexion with Great Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously endeavour to support and maintain." 1
" Permit us then, most gracious sovereign, in the name of all your faithful people in America, with the utmost humility to implore yon for the honour of Almighty God, whose pure reli- gion our enemies are undermining, for your glory which can be advanced, only by rendering your subjects happy, and keeping them united, for the interests of your family, depending. on an adherence to the principles that enthroned it ; for the safety and welfare of your kingdom and dominions, threatened by almost unavoidable dangers and distresses, that your, Ma -- jesty, as the loving father of your whole people, connected by the same bonds of law, loyalty, faith and blood, though dwell- ing in various countries, will not suffer the transcendent relation formed by these ties, to be further violated in uncertain expec- tation of effects, that if attained, never can compensate for the calamities through which they must be gained."
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