Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution, Part 10

Author: Dawson, Henry B. (Henry Barton), 1821-1889. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Morrisania, New York City : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 592

USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 10

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Like the similar Meeting, at Rye, this Meeting also waited, apparently without adjourning, until its Committee was formally organized, by the appoint- ment of James Ferris, Esq., as its Chairman, and while that Committee considered the various political questions of the period-" the very alarming Situa- "tion of their suffering Brethren, at Boston, occa- "sioned by the late unconstitutional, arbitrary, and "oppressive. Act of the British Parliament, for " blocking up their Port, as well as the several Acts "imposing Taxes on the Colonies, in order to raise a " Revenue in America "-and had prepared the fol- lowing Resolutions expressive of the result of its deliberations on those very grave questions :

" FIRST, Resolved, That we do and will bear true " Allegiance to His Majesty, George the Third, King " of Great Britain, &c., according to the British " Constitution.

"SECOND, That we coincide in opinion with our " friends of New York and of every other Colony, " that all Acts of the British Parliament, imposing " Taxes on the Colonies, without their Consent, or by " their Representative, are arbitrary and oppressive, " and should meet the abhorrence and detesta- "tion of all good men; That they are replete with " the purpose of creating Animosities and Dissensions "between the Mother Country and the Colonies; " and thereby tend to destroy that Harmony and " mutnal Agreement which it is so much the Interest "of both, to Cherish and Maintain.

"THIRD, That we esteem it our Duty, and think it "incumbent on all the Colonies in America, to con- "tribute towards the Relief of the poor and distressed " People of Boston ; and that a Person of this Bor- "ongh be appointed to collect such charitable Dona- "tions, within the same, as may be offered for their "Support.

"FOURTH, That as a Division in the Colonies " would be a sure means to counteract the present "Intention of the Americans, in their Endeavours to " preserve their Rights and Liberties from the Inva- "sion that is threatened, we do most heartily recom- "mend a Steadiness and Unanimity in their Meas- "ures, as they will have the happy Effects of averting " the Calamity that the late tyrannical Acts of the " British Parliament would otherwise most assuredly "involve us in.

"FIFTH, That to obtain a Redress of our Griev- "ances, it has been thought most advisable, in the "Colonies, to appoint a general Congress, we will take "Shelter under the Wisdom of those Gentlemen who "may be chosen to represent us, and cheerfully ac- "quiesce in any Measures they may judge shall be " proper, on this very alarming and critical Occasion."

These Resolutions were duly presented to the Meeting ; and the official record of the proceedings of that Meeting tells, to all comers, they "were unani- "mously agreed to;" after which the Meeting was dissolved.2

Because the numerous tenants and other depend- ents on the Morris family werc residents of Westches- ter, and not distant, there is reason for the supposition that the Meeting was well-attended; and there can be no reasonable doubt that the proceedings were con- dueted with entire propriety and good order. But, like the Meeting at Rye, of which mention has been made, that at Westchester was evidently controlled by a single master-spirit ; and, like the former, the latter was, also, unquestionably convened and con- ducted, not as much for the clear expression of the uncontrolled and intelligent opinions of "the Free- "holders and Inhabitants" of the Town, on the grave questions which were submitted to them, or for the honest promotion of the best interests of the Colony, as for a preparation of the way for the return of the Morris family to place, and authority, and influence in the political affairs of the Colony, from which, through the controlling power of the De Lanceys, it had been, for many years, entirely excluded.

It is probable that the other Towns throughout the County, if any such Towns, really or apparently, re- sponded to the invitation of the Committee of Cor- respondence in New York, either contented themselves, like those of Bedford and Mamaroneck, with only the elections of Delegates to the proposed Convention - of the County, without any further expression of their sentiments, or, if they expressed such sentiments or any others, that, in the absence of all other than merely local agitators, they did not crowd those sentiments . before a people who were already surcharged with such wordy manifestations ; and it remains only for us to record the additional

' I'ntil 1946, the Borough Town of Westchester included, within its hundaries, the more modern towns of Westchester, West Farms, and Morrisania.

"Official record of the proceedings of the Meeting, in Gaine's New- York Gazette: and the Weekly Mercury, No. 1194, New York, Monday, August 29, 1774, and in Rivington's New- York Gazetteer, No. 72, NEW- Yonk, Thursday, September 2, 1774.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

· facts that, on Monday, the twenty-second of August, 177%, a Convention of Delegates from the several Towns and Districts of Westchester county, or from a number of them, was assembled in the Court-house, at the White Plains; that Colonel Frederic Philipse, Lord of the Manor of Philipseborough and a Member of the General Assembly of the Province, represent- ing the County of Westchester in that body, was in the Chair of that Convention ; 1 that it was determined to authorize a Delegation to represent the County, in the and that Isaac Low, Philip Livingston, Jantes Duane, John Alsop, and John Jay, who had been elected to represent the City and County of New York, in that Congress, should be duly authorized, also, to represent the County of Westchester, therein."

proposed Congress of the Continent, at Philadelphia; general movement, in favor of the proposed Congres-,

By that determination and action of its nominally authorized Convention, the County of Westchester, in history, if not in fact, 3 placed itself abreast of the most advanced advocates for the autonomy of the British Colonies in America ; aud no one can success- fully dispute the fact that the Delegates whom, the records say, the County authorized to represent it, iu the consultations and discussions and votes of the

1 " Card to the Public," reprinted in Force's .Imerican Archives, Fourth Series, i., 1188, 1189.

: Credentials of the Delegates from New-York, Journal of the Congress, " Monday, September 5, 1-74."

" The subsequently published disclaimer . f inhabitants of Rye and oth- er circumstances of the same tendency, incline ns to the belief of what Lieutenant-governor Colden informed the Earl of Dartmouth, ou that general subject, in bis Despatch of October 5, 1774, that "a great deal of 'Pains has been taken to perswade the Counties to chase Delegates for "the Congress or to adopt those sent by this City. Several of the Coun- "ties have refused to be concernedl in the Measures. In Queene County " where I have a House & reside the summer Season six Persons have not " been got together for the Purpose and the Inhabitants remain firm in "their Resolution not to join in the Congress. In the Counties that have "joined in the Measures of the City, I am informe'd the Business has "been done by a very few Persons who took upon themselves to act for "the Freeholders. A Gentleman who was present when the Delegates "were chosen in Orange County says, there were not twenty Persons "present at that Meeting the' there are above 1000 Freeholders in that "County : and I am told the case was similar in other Counties that it "is said have joined in the Congress."

In the same connection, Joseph Galloway, when he was examined be- fore the House of Commons, testified, that "I don't think that one-fifth " part have, from principle and choice, supported the present Rebellion." * * * "The last Delegation to Congress, made by the Province of "Pennsylvania, and the appointment of all the Officers of that State, was "made by less than two hundred Voters, although there are at least "thirty thousand mien intitled to Vote, by the Laws of the Province. "One instance more I beg leave to give. One of the Delegates from the " Province of New York, (with whom I sat in Congress in Url repre- "senting a considerable District in that Province, was chosen by himself "and his clerk only, and that clerk certified to the Congress that he was "unanimously appointed !" In a foot-note to this portion of that testi- miony, Galloway added: "The people of Kings County so much diap- "proved of the sending any Members to the Congress, that, although "due notice was given of the time and place of Election, only two of "them met : Mr. Simion Boerum appointed his friend Clerk, and the " Clerk appointed Mr. Boerum a Delegate in Congress, who was the only " Representative for that large County."-( Examination, 16 June, 1779- The Ecumination of Joseph Galloway, Exq., before the House of Commons, London : 1779, 10, 11.1

See, also, Galloway's Letters to a Nobleman, Second Edition, London : 1779, 21.

proposed Congress, no matter what, in the Congress or elsewhere, the doings of those who composed that Delegation may have been, were gentlemen of the highest social standing; that some of them were gentlemen of the highest intellectual powers; and that all possessed what, at that time, either consist- ently or inconsistently, honestly or dishonestly, they publicly assumed to have been the highest regard for the welfare of the Colony and of the Continent. It appears, however, notwithstanding that apparently among the farmers of Westchester-county, or, at least, a general acquiescence therein, that there was a very important portion of them, individually respectable and respectable in numbers, who had not been thus influenced; who, therefore, had not joined in the reported election of Delegates to the Convention ; and who were without any sympathy with those who were promoting the call for a Congress of the Conti- nent, even for consultation and mutual advice. There is reason, also, for supposing that there were many such cautious or timid conservatives, in each of the Towns, if, indeed, the great body of the inhabitants of each was not thus disposed to maintain the conserva- tism of the past; that they were not confined to any particular class of the inhabitants of those Towns ; and that they included holders of freehold properties and of the right of suffrage at the Polls as well as holders of leasehold properties, Tenants on the Manors, who held no such political right-all of them men of intelligence and respectability. A specimen of the dissent referred to, may be seen in the follow- ing disclaimer, which was published in the news- papers of the day : +

"RYE, NEW YORK ; September 24, 1774.

"We, the Subscribers, Frecholders and Inhabitants "of the Town of Rye, in the County of Westchester, "being much concerned with the unhappy Situation "of public Affairs, think it our Duty to our King and "Country, to Declare that we have not been con- "cerned in any Resolutions entered into or Measures " taken, with regard to the Disputes at present sub- "sisting with the Mother Country; we also testify "our dislike to many hot and furious Proceedings, in " consequence of said Disputes, which we think are " more likely to ruin this once happy Country, than "remove Grievances, if any there are.

" We also declare our great Desire and full Reso- " lution to live and die peaceable Subjects to our " Gracious Sovereign, King George the Third, and his " Laws.

" Isaac Gidney, . William Armstrong,

"Abraham Wetmore, James Hains,

" John Collum, Thomas Thaell,

"Henry Bird, Dennis Lary,

Rivington'a New-York Gazetteer, No. Te, New-YORK, Thursday, Octo- ber 13, 1774.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

" Robert Merrit,

Roger Purdy, Gilbert Brundige,

" Roger Merrit,

" Lane Anderson,

Joseph Clark, Jame- Gedney,

"John Willis,

" Nehemiah Sherwood,

" William Crooker,

" Andrew Carhart,

" Seth Purdy,

" Disbury Park,

" Major James Horton,

" Nathaniel Sniffen,

"Sol. Gidney,

" Bartholomew Hains,

" Gilbert Hains,

"Joshua Purdy,

"James Wetmore,

" William Brown,

" Joseph Purdy,

"Jonathan Budd,

" Ebenezer Brown, Jun.,

" Henry Slater,

" Andrew Knitfen,

"Thomas Wilson,

Joseph Merrit, Jun.,

"Timothy Wetmore, Esq., Jonathan Gedney,

" Daniel Erwin,

" Roger Park,

" Roger Kniffen,

"John Hawkins,

Hack. Purdy,

" Andrew Merrit.

Charles Thaell, E=q.,

" Archibald Tilford,

" Adam Seaman,

John Park,

" Rievers Morrel, Joshua Gedney,

" Abraham Miller,

Ebenezer Brown.

" Jonathan Kniffen,

John Slater,

" Jolin Buvelot,

Benjamin Kniffen,

"Gilbert Thaell,

Nehemiah Wilson,

. " Isaac Brown,

" Peter Florenee."

Those who are acquainted with the methods which are very often employed by audacious partisans or by those more insidious supporters of a questionable proposition, for the instruction of an opponent in what way to do or to say what, if left to himself, he would not think of either saving or doing, in any manner, will be very likely to concur in the suspicion which prevails, that the following papers, each of them supplementary to the above-recited disclaimer and declaration, were the reasonable results of such, not always gentle, social or political or ecclesiastical or financial pressure as is, very generally, seen among the methods to which reference has been made.

"RYE, October 17th, 1774.

"We, the Subscribers, having been suddenly and "unwarily drawn in, to sign a certain Paper pub- "li-hed in Me, Rivington's Gazetteer, of the 18th "instant; and being now, after mature deliberation, "fully convinced that we acted preposterously, and " without adverting properly to the Matter in dispute

"between the Mother Country and her Colonies, are, "therefore, sorry that we ever had any concern in " said Paper ; and we do by these Presents utterly "disclaim every part thereof, except our expressions "of Loyalty to the King and Obedience to the con- "stitutional Laws of the Realm.

" Abraham Miller, William Brown,

" Adam Seaman, Isaac Anderson,

Willian Crooker,

" Andrew Carehart, " John Carehart, Andrew Lyon,

" Gilbert Brundige, John Buflot,

" John Willis,

Jolin Slater,

" James Jameson,

Israel Seaman,

The following very cautiously worded Card, ap- pended to a full copy of the disclaimer and declara- tion, dated on the twenty-fourth of September, which bore the signature of Timothy Wetmore, Esquire, was published, forty days afterwards :

"The above Paper, like many others, being liable " to miseonstruetion, and having been understood, by "many, to import a Recognition of a Right in the " Parliament of Great Britain, to bind America, in all " eases whatsoever, and to signify that the Colonies " labour under no Grievances, which is not the Sense "I meant to convey, I think it my Duty to explain "my Sentiments upon the Subject, and thereby pre- " vent future Mistakes

"It is my Opinion that the Parliament have no "Right to Tax America, tho' they have a Right to "regulate the Trade of the Empire. I am further of "Opinion that several Acts of Parliament are Griev- "ances ; and that the execution of them ought to be " Opposed, in such Manner as may be Consistent with "the Duty of a Subject to our Sovereign ; tho' I can- "not lielp expressing my Disapprobation of many " violent Proceedings, in some of the Colonies.

" Dated the 3d of November, 1774.

" TIMOTHY WETMORE." 2

The organization of the Congress of the Continent, and its Proceedings, as far as it permitted those Pro- ceedings to be made public, and the series of papers which it sent forth, in behalf of the complaining Colo- nies, form important portions of the world's history which need not be repeated, in this place. It will not be improper, however, to notice, in this connection, the fact that two, if no more, of the Delegates who represented the revolutionary portion of the inlab- itants of Westehester-county, in that Congress, were actively associated with Joseph Galloway, whom history has regarded as a "volunteer spy for the "British Government," 3 in a measure, proposed in the

1 Rirington's New- York Gazetteer, No. 79, New- York, Thurslay, Octo- ber 20, 1774.

Rivington's New York Gazetteer, No. 82, NEW-YORK, Thursday, Juvetus- ber 1 , 1774.

3 Bancroft's History of the Baited States, original edition, vii., 196; the stine, centenary eition, iv., 392.

Jannes Purdy, John Adee,

Nathaniel Purdy, Joseph Wilson,

Benjamin Willson,

James Hart,

Silemon Halsted,

James Budd,

Thomas Kniffen,

Gilbert Merrit, E.q. John Carhart,

Israel Seaman,

William Hall,

Capt. Abraham Bush,

Andrew Lion,

James Jamisson, Thomas Brown,

Gilbert Thaell, Jun.,

John Guion,

. Elijah Hains, John Affrey,

John Knid'en,

Gilbert Morris, Jr.,

" Gilbert Merrit." 1

WESTCHESTER COUNTY

interest of the Crown, which the Congress not only rejected, with contempt, but would not permit to be laid on its table nor to be recorded on its published Journal; ' that one of those two Delegate, was subse- ! quently discovered to have been quite as deeply im-

from the censures of history and to regard bim as peculiarly pure and virtuous. as a man and a- a poli- tician ; but, as has been well-said by another. " there "are no trick- in plain and simple faith."

It will not be improper to notice, also, in this con- plicated in a perfidions communication of the secret | nection, that the proceedings and the recommenda- proceedings of the Congress, with quite as earnest a sympathy for the King and the Government, as Jo-eph Galloway is known to have been ; ? and that the other Delegate referred to signalized himself, throughout the entire period occupied by the Congress, not only by his earnest advocacy of "the insidious proposi- "tion " of Joseph Galloway, offered and supported in the interest of the Crown, but by his unceasing oppo- sition to every assertion of republican principles and by his equally untiring support of whatever sustained the existing power of the aristocracy and the time- hallowed prerogatives of the Crown and the Parlia- ment 3 -- he has not, indeed, been found to have been, directly, in the service of the Colonial Government ; but he is known to have been the willing associate and confidential friend of those who were actively employed in that service ; and in their loyal labors, in behalf of their recognized Sovereign, he is known, also, to have been their open and untiring and most distinguished co-worker,' concealed from the light of open day, however, by the vote of secrecy which his friends and associates did not hesitate to disregard, in the presence of the official representative of the Crown, who was, also. their political master. It has been usual to screen the latter of the two Delegates tions of the Congress were not, by any means, nuani- mously accepted and approved, either by the several Colonial :Assemblies, or by the several Towus through- ont the Colonies, or by the Inhabitants of the Towns, individually ; and that, in many instances, that dissent was made known to the world, in terms which could not be mistaken. Indeed, no intelligent person can arise from a careful and dispassionate examination of the unquestionable authorities which have come down to ns, concerning the origin of that Congress, the expressed purposes for which it was called, its organi- zation, the extent of authority which was delegated to the several Delegations of which it was composed, and the action of those Delegations, within the Con- gress, without having been entirely convinced that the Congress was not a legally constituted body, cre- ated in pursuance of Law, and entitled to recognition, in law or in fact, by any individual Colonist or by any legally organized body, of any class ; 5 that, on the contrary, it was nothing else than a voluntary associa- tion, in which, every member acted entirely on his individual responsibility, without possessing or acquir- ing the slightest right, in law, to exact obedience from any, beyond what each, for himself, had already spe- cifically consented to yield; that it was proposed and 1 " With a heart full of loyalty to my sovereign, I went into Congress- 'and from that loyalty I never deviated, in the least. I proposed a Plein " of Accommodation in the Congress, agreeable to my Instructions ;- some " of the best men, and men of the best fortines. espon-ed the Plant, and " drew with me."-(Examination of Joseph Guilloway before the House of Commons, 18 June, 1779, Londen : 1772, +7-54.) organized only for consultation and advice and united action, within the well-defined limits of the Law of the Land; that no authority was vested in it, by its several constituencies, to assume and exercise any legislative functions whatever, to publish decrees " His scheme " framed " in secret concert with the Governor of New " Jersey and with Colden of New York, " " held out a hope of Continental " Union, which was the long cherished policy of New York ; it was sec- "onded by Duane and advocated by Jay, but opposed by Lee of Vir- "ginia."- Bancroft's History of the United States, originaledition, vii., 140, 141 ; the some, centetiary edition, iv., 402.) equivalent to Statutes, to require obedience to such decrees, nor to order the infliction of penalties where there sliould be any disobedience to its enactments; that, to the extent of its action beyond the letter of the authority which had been delegated to it and as " The scheme was intended to perpetuate the dependence of the Colo- " nies on England : and was proposed with the approbation of the loy. "alist Governors, Franklin of New Jersey, and Colden of New York. "Galloway urged it in an elaborate speech ; and it was supported by "Duane, Jay, and Edward Rutledge. It was not only rejected, however, " but the menbers came at last to view it with so much onium that the "Motions in relation to it were ordered to be expunged from the how- " wale. This result was an end to the loyalist influence in Congress."- (Frothingben's Now of the Republic, Boston: 1-72, 307. 308.) far as that action was in violation of existing Statutes, it acted in open violation of the clearly expressed loyalty of its several constituencies, of its own osten- tacious pretensions of fealty to the Sovereign, and of that obedience to the fundamental Laws of the King- dom, an alleged violation of which fundamental Laws, by the Parliament and the Ministry, constituted see, also, Hildreth's History of the United States, First Serie- iii., 16; Within's History of the Failed states, i., 294, 300 ; Jones's History of Mac York during the Revolutionary Wier, il., 199 ; etc. the gravamen of its denunciations of the Government, and the spirit of its own existence ; that, to that extent, 2 Vide pages 20, 27, ante. also, it was revolutionary ; and, to that extent, there- fore, it gave reasonable cause for discontent, and dis-

3 John Jay opposed some of the extremely democratic utterance of Pat- rick Henry, very properly ; but he opposed, ala, the utterance of Roger Sherman, when that plain man " deduced allegiance from consent, " as he continued to oppose that democratic dogma, throughout his entire life. The aristocratic Richard Henry Lee was in harmony with him ; but the democratic element of the Congress was widely opposed to him, in all hi- fundamental propositions.

4 Vide the extracts from Galloway's Erantination, Bancroft's History of the United States, and Frothinghand's Re- of the Republic, in Note 1, page 34, above.

5 Although this is not likely to be disputed, by any one, it may be proper to state that it was not claimed to have been so, by those whe promoted the call for it-" it is allowed by the most Intelligent among " them, that these a sou boligs of the People are illegal and may be langer- "ous, but they deny that they are unconstitutional when a national " grievance cannot otherwise i removed."-(Lieutenant governor Cold-" to the Earl of Dartmouth, " New YORK Ist June, 1774.")

1757819

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

rent, and alarm, among those who had not been prom- posed Congress of the Colonies, honestly or dishonest- ly, was said to have been one-were sustained and ad- vanced, within those business centres, with an ahnost ised such a result ; among those wh , were not inclined to be crowded into insurrection, without their consent ; and among those whose best interests and whose | entire unanimity among their inhabitants and with families' best interests rested on a continued peace throughout the Colonies and on a due attention to their own affairs.

The purposes of this work afford no warrant for a ! more extended narrative than we have given of the really varied designs of those, in other Colonies than in that of New York, who promoted the assembling of a Congress of the Colonies ; nor of the intrigues of those who, some for one purpose and some for another, desired to become members of that body ; nor of the objeets for which it was specially invited and con- vened; nor of the influences which controlled it, after it was convened, and which transformed it from that instrument for securing a peaceful redress of those grievances of which the Colonists had complained, that Reeoneiliation with the Mother Country which was "most ardently desired by all good men," that Harmony and good Will between Great Britain and her Colonists which only a very few revolutionists, in some of the Colonies, did not anxiously hope for, and that general Peace which would have restored pros- perity and happiness to both the Colonists and the inhabitants of Great Britain, for securing all of whieb and for no other purpose whatever it had been speeiti- cally invited and convened, into an instrument for the violation of the rights of individuals and of property, previously regarded as sacred, and for the promotion of Insurrection and of Revolution and of Rebellion, of War and of Devastation and of Ruin, and these for nothing else than for the advancement of individ- ual and seetional interests, for none of which latter purposes was there more than a handful of reekless advocates, in any of the Colonies, and against which, with the exception of the handful of "fire-eaters " of that period, to whom we have referred, there was, in each of the Colonies, nothing else than a firm and un- divided opposition, in which every sect and every fac- tion and every party were sincerely united. All these must be left for elucidation by other hands, in other works; but we may be permitted to say, bere, in brief, that, since what were regarded as grievances, of which complaints had been made and which were sought to be redressed, were peculiarly of a commercial or mer- cantile character, the disaffection of the Colonists, in New York, because of those alleged grievances, was confined to the commercial and mercantile centres, the two Cities of New York and Albany, without af- feeting or disturbing the peace of or, indeed, exciting any particular interest within, the rural Counties, within the Colony; that, in consequence, whatever means were resorted to, by those of the commercial and mercantile classes, within those business centres and among those who were or who supposed they were aggrieved, for the purpose of obtaining a redress of their alleged grievances-of which means the pro-

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Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution, Part 10

Author: Dawson, Henry B. (Henry Barton), 1821-1889. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Morrisania, New York City : [s.n.] Number of Pages: 592

Author: Dawson, Henry B. (Henry Barton), 1821-1889. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Morrisania, New York City : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 592