USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 12
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of the opposite and less comely faction of the party of the Opposition, with whom the majority of its members, by a formal vote, had already declined to affiliate-that its mission was completed, and that its original authority and power, through corrupt in- fluences with which it was not unacquainted, had passed into other hands. It had, indeed, asserted and successfully maintained those conservative poli- tical principles, directly antagonistie to the more revolutionary political principles which the mien of Boston had asserted and insisted on, which it believed to have been better adapted for the promotion of "the "common cause " and for that of the best interests of the Colonies ; and, for the further promotion of " that "common cause," conseiously or unconsciously, it had unselfishly prepared a way for the advancement of those, within itself, who eoveted place and its pre- rogatives, by nominating them for seats in the Con- gress of which it had been the originator and the un- yielding promoter. It had seen, however, the nomi- nees of its selection, with one exception, barter that fundamental principle which it had especially cherished, for the votes, at the Polls, of those whom it had previously declined to recognize as parties in the struggle ; it had subsequently seen those nomi- nees, after their election, as members of the Delega- tion from New York, concur in the adoption of measures which it had already declined to approve and which were nothing if they were not aggressive and revolutionary ; and, at last, it had seen the party of the Opposition crowded toward Rebellion, by the Congress of its own ereation; and its own whilom master-spirits in conservative exclusiveness, anxious for a further advancement in place-holding and for the promotion of that particular purpose, joining hands with the principal supporters of what was, very clearly, only democratic and revolutionary. There was a fitness, therefore, that those of the Committee who had honestly and unselfishly opposed the ag- gressions of the Home Government, should eease to allow their names and whatever influence those names might possess, to be used by those who had betrayed the confidence which had been reposed in then, directly, for the advancement of their own per- sonal ends, and, indirectly, for the promotion of Revo- lution, if not for that of Rebellion ; and there was a peculiar fitness, also, that, whatever those conservative members of the Committee of Fifty-one should do or decline to do, in the interests of the Colonists and of the Colony, they should not remain, associated with, if ! not controlled by, those of the opposite faction of the vonfederated party of the Opposition, whose ultimate object, very clearly, was nothing else than the ad- vanrement to place and political authority of those who were its leaders, even if that advancement should by made at the cost of h Revolution and of a Civil War. The Committee of Correspondence did well,
The result of the interview which the Committee of Correspondence had thus invited-one of the high contracting parties rapidly approaching its own disso- lution, with only twenty-three of its fifty-one mem- bers present, and with eight of the twenty-three predestinated by their associates to an early retire- ment : the other of the two parties to the conference flushed with that most recent and most important of its victories over the aristocracy of the City-was a determination to nominate sixty persons who should be agreeable to both the Committee of Correspondence and the Committee of the Mechanics, all of whose names should be submitted to the Freeholders and Freemen of the City, at a Meeting to be called for that purpose, at the City Hall, for their approval and election ; ' all of which was evidently done and eom- pleted, on the twenty-second of November, exactly in conformity with the programne which the two poli- tieal "rings" of that period, consolidated for the purpose of promoting their mutual political interests, had already prepared and promulgated."
There is abundant evidence concerning the peculiar zeal of that new-formed Committee of Inspection -- sometimes styled " THE COMMITTEE OF SIXTY," and at others, " THE COMMITTEE OF OBSERVATION "-in the discharge of its self-imposed duties ; but, generally, the purposes to which this work is specially devoted do not require a more extended notice of them, in this place. Those purposes require, however, that men- tion shall be made of the fact, in this connection, that whatever the Circular ,Letters which were sent to Westchester-county, by the Committee of Corres- pondenee or by any other body, for the purpose of
1 Proceedings of the Conference with the Committee of Mechanics, in the Mantes of the Committee of Correspondence, " NEW YORK, November 15, "1774 .**
" Holt's New-York Journal, No. 16nt, New-York, Thursday, November 24, 1771; and Ricington's New York Garder, No. Si, NEW-YORK, Thuis- day, November 21, 1775.
"The first Thing done by the People of this place in consequence of "the Resolutions of the Congress, was the Dissolution of the Committee " of St, in order to choose a new Committee of Inspection, to carry the " Measures of the Congress into effect. A Day was appointed by Adver- "tisement for choosing sixty Persons to form this Committee. About 30 "or 40 Citizens only appeared at the Election, & chose the GO who had " byen previously nan.ed by the former Committee. I can no otherwise "my LorI account for the very small number of People who appeared on " this occasion, than by supposeing that the Measures of the Congress "are generally bisrelished."-(Lieutenant governor Colden to the Earl of Dartmouth, No: 9, " NEW YORK, December 7th, 1774.")
& Lieutenant governor Golden to Goplata Montage, "NEW-YORK, & Fety, "1775;" te same to famed Gange, " NEW Your, 20th Febry, 1175;" the " oume to the Earl of Dartmouth, "NEW York, Ist March, 1775 ;" Jours's History of New York during the Revolutionary War, i., 36; Leake's Mom or of General John Lands, 97 ; etc.
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enlisting her farmers in the support and execution of the Association of of any other of the measures of recommendations of the recent Congress, may have been or may have proposed, they were evidently en- tirely disregarded; and that, at least as recently a- the early Winter of 1774-75, there was not sufficient interest, friendly to the revolutionary movements which were so deeply exciting the inhabitants of the neighboring City, within any portion of that rural County, to do even the paltry service of circulating those Circular Letters throughout the Towns; al. though there were a few, a very few, who were begin- ning to look favorably on those movements, and to talk and write, in the support of them. We shall notice all of these earlier demonstrations of which we possess any information, since they were the small beginnings of that Revolution, within the County of Westchester, of which so much has been said and written.
The first of these was a Letter, in support of the revolutionary movements and in answer to the tracts of " A. W. Farmer," which had made so much excite- ment, throughout the Colonies. It was written by a Weaver and published in Holt's New- York Journal, No. 1668, NEW-YORK, Thursday, December 22, 1774. The Editor assured his readers that it was actually written by a working Weaver, who lived in Harri- son's Purchase ; 1 and it was in these words :
" To the city and country inhabitants, of the province of New York. " Friends, and fellow mortals,
"TOHLE division between Britain, and her Colo- nies, is very alarming; but what I think " would be more alarming, is a division between the in- " habitants of the colonies ; the effect of which wehave " from holy writ, that a house divided against itself, " cannot stand. I have seen a pamphlet printed by " Mr. Rivington, entitled the Country Farmer, which " seems to be calculated to throw all into confusion, " & to no other end ; and artfully to gain his point. " as a Farmer, he addresses himself to the Fanners, " and their wives ; he tells the latter, they cannot " treat a neighbour with a dish of tea ; aud that will " be a dreadful thing indeed ; to the former, he saith, " their produce will rot on their hands, and they can- " not pay their weaver, &c. Being a Ware myself, " and tho' they be generally poor, still they are as " useful a set of men, as any in the world, and so will " remain, as long as, from the King to the pea-ant, " all are born naked. I therefore, would beg leave
"'to say a word in answer to our pretende l Farmer, " and make no doubt but the lowness of stile I shall " speak in, will be excused, when it is considered that " a mian may be a profound Weaver, and no gram- " marian ; and being a useful branch of mankind as " above, ought to have the privilege of speaking in " his own stile. If so, then my first answer to our " Farmer is, that we Weavers, and I believe I may " say most of other trade. too, cannot live without " meat, bread and clothing, all which I shall gladly " take in exchange for my labour; and If I could " earn more at the year's end, than a supply for my " family, I would be content, (at this troublesome " period, which our Farmer sets up for such a terror) " to have my employer say to my creditor. I ore " the Wearer so much, which I will engage to pay to you, " when I can sell iny produce. It may be my creditor " may answer, the produce will suit me, and then all " will be well ; but it not, the promise will answer at " this time, with every creditor that hath any spirit of " patriotism. Now to the wires, I would address my- " self as follows, viz. to remember when their parents " were first placed in the garden, that it was said to " the woman, yen, hath God said ye shall not eat of " every tree of the garden? but the woman was pre- " vailed on by a deceiver, to disobey the command, " and to eat. But O! the consequence ! and so like- " wise, a deceiver now says to you what ! are you de- " nied the pleasure of drinking tea ? But I beg of you " not to be now deceived, nor prevailed on to bring " ruin and slavery on your country and posterity, by " tasting of that detestable herb, which hath already " been the cause of so much confusion. But if you " will not be entreated, but will persist in using it, " you will find your case similar to that of Eve, she " lost her innocence, and plunged all her descendants " into everlasting misery ; you will lose liberty. and " plunge your descendants into everlasting slavery. " The Farmer too, complains bitterly about not " transporting sheep. I wish to God, the congress " had let us send away our black sheep; for then per- " haps this pretended Farmer. might have been frons- " ported before he could have made such a bleating.
" Now I would beg leave to say a few words on his " clamour against our delegates. He calls them trait- " ors, which name, he had much better have takeu " on himself, where it might have been applied " with propriety. I cannot see any room for this vil- "est of mankind, to insinuate, that those men would " attempt to betray their country. Besides their nn- . spotted characters, are they not men of extensive "interests in America? have they estate in any other " country? No, what then should induce them to " betray America, seeing that if America falls, they " must fall with it ? This consideration alone, is suf- " ficient to clear them from our Farmer's aspersion. " But in my opinion, a still stronger security for their " integrity and faithful discharge of the trust reposed " in them, is, the unblemished character they have
1 "The public may be assured. that the following letter i- the produc- "tion of a real, and not a fictitious weaver in West Chester. It is the "off-pring of an honest warmth in the cause of his country : abd tho' "his sentiments, and remmaks, appear in a homespun dress, they lever- "thele -- are not without force, and we pre-ntue, will contribute to the "entertainment of our readers." -Editorial. adendirectory to the letter of the Worse.)
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"ever supported; not in this do I trust alone to " common fame, having known Mr. Jay, from his " early youth, and had some acquaintance with Mr. " Duane, from which I have had so minch reason to " confide in them, that I could contentedly trust them " to contend for my liberty, or my life. And on the " whole, I think that it would be well for na farmers, ". and mechanicks to consider whether it is not likely " that each colony took as mneh care in choosing " their delegates, as we did. That is, to send men of " knowledge, men of interest, and men of honour. If " so, we must look on our farmer to be a man wholly " given to ridicule, misrepresentation, and malevo- " lence; for he hath declared that most honourable " and never to be forgotten congress, to be either a " set of ignorant men, or else to be traitors!
" I would now recommend to the notice of every " reader of Rivington's Farmer, that it is the usual " practice of evil minded persons, when they would " disturb the quiet of any man, or body of men, " against whom they can find ro just canse of com- " plaint, to raise against them, without any evidence, " the highest clamours, suggest the most criminal de- " signs, and if possible, represent even their most " laudable actions in an odious light : The best char- " acters and most commendable actions, are no secur- " ities against attacks like these of the Farmer, to " which the best of men are most exposed; but it is " a proof against them, that they are unsupported by " reason, or by credible evidence ; when, if either had " existed, they would certainly have been produced " by the same malevolence that raised the clamour " without them. I would only desire the reader to " consider the Farmer's elamour, invectives and " abuse, calmly and dispassionately, give them their " due weight and no more. I would not even desire to " turn them upon his own head, and cause him, like " Hainan, to be hanged ou his own gallows-I only " desire that, unjust and unreasonable as they are, " they may have no weight with the reader, or raise " amy prejudice in his mind against the cause of truth " & his country, or against any man or body of men, " especially those worthy men who have nobly stood " forth and exerted themselves to save their country " from slavery and destruction.
" I come now to consider his clamour against the " citizens, in which he declares, at a certain time, " there was no magistrate with virtue enough to do " his duty ; and that there is no merchant he would " trust. I don't recollect any thing said of the law- " yers, but he hath been severe upon the mayor and " commonalty, on account of the suipe act, with " which aet, it he had gone a little further, he would " amply have justified our struggle, with the mother " country.
" I would ask, why does not that act continue in " force to this day ?
" The answer is, because the country people were " very unanimens in opposition to it; though it was
" to the loss of individuals, myself for one, still they " stood out; which caused the framers of that act to " consider closely the consequences which would at- " tend its continuanee-and so it was thought best to " make it void. Here we may see the effect of a " steady opposition to ar odious law: and similar " canses will produce similar effects. We may assure " ourselves that a steady and firme opposition to the " late acts of Parliament, will cause our sovereign to " examine into the state of the case with great atten- "tion ; and when he finds he has been led into un- " warrantable acts by diabolical counsellors, he will " dismiss them from their offices, by which they have " wickedly devised to throw the nation all into con- " fusion, and thereby to dethrone the King.
" Therefore my fellow mortals, let me beseech you, " as you value your liberty, and the liberty of your " posterity, take the advice of the ever to be adruired " and revercd Congress, stiek close to the nou-con- " sumption agreement, and lay aside those unneces- " sary diversions, which but too often end in the de- " struction of both soul and body. If it should seem " grievous for the present, we have this for our con- " solation, that as good men as you and I, have been " afflicted: The devil was permitted to afflict Job " worse than wicked Ministers, or Counsellors of " state can you and me; and let us take patern by " his stability, when his friends eame and clamoured " against him, as bad as our Farmer doth in this day, " against the best men we have among us ; and when " his wife advised him to curse God and die, what was " the effect ? why nothing at all, for it was full eonso- " lation for him to say, I know that my redeemer lir- " eth; and in another place, all the days of my ap- " pointed time will I wait, till my change come.
" This is an amiable example of stability, which, " may Americans imitate. May they join corre- " sponding actions to fervent prayers, that they may be " enabled to maintain their rights and liberties! That " the British arms may never be employed but in a " just cause,-to protect the weak and innocent from " wrong, and to be the terror of oppressors and evil " doers. That the illustrious house of Hanover inay " continue to be the defenders of true religion and " virtue, the faithful guardians of our freedom and " property ! That our sovereign, George the third, " may discover every wicked design, that any of his " Ministers, or others, have conceived against him, or " any of his people ! That he may be endowed with " wisdom and virtue to become a blessing to his peo- " ple, and a terror only to his enemies! That his " days may be prosperous and many, and his end " peaceful and happy ! And may all the subjects of " him and his snecessore, be ever watchful and reso- " lute to prevent the least eneroachment upon their " rights and liberties, on the preservation of which, " the happiness of both King and people depends !
" And as a powerful means of preserving the bless- " ings of freedom, may we be all duly sensible of the
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" importance of choosing proper persons to represent 'reasons, retracted what he had uttered in the above- " us in our legislative assembly, and of being ex- recited Deleting and we have carefully copie " tremely careful in our choice. - All which are the from Holt's New- York Journal, No. 1681, NEW- " fervent wishes of A WEAVER, in Harrison's Pur- " chase, West Chester County."
About the same time that this letter appeared, there was a movement, in the vicinity of the White Plains, to obtain a nominal approval, if no more, of the action, the revolutionary action, of the Committee of the City of New York; but if what was said of the result of the effort by those who were opposed to the movement, without contradiction, may be believed, only " three or four persons in the White Plains " participated in it; and, practically, it was a failure.
Very soon after the end of the movement referred to, however, there was a counter-movement, in the same vicinity, in which a Declaration was cirenlated and signed by the Freeholders and principal Inhabit- ants, in which the conservatism of those who signed it was distinctly asserted. As a part of the earlier literature of the Revolution, in Westchester-county, we have thought that Declaration possesses sufficient of interest to entitle it to a place in this narrative. It was in these words, very carefully copied from the original publication, in Rivington's New-York Gazet- teer, No. 91, NEW-YORK, Thursday, January 12, 1775:
"To the PRINTER.
" Sir, 'W E the subscribers, freeholders and inhabit- " ants in the White Plains, in the county "of Westchester, think it our duty to our King and "country, to declare, that we have never given our " consent to any Resolves touching the disputes with " the mother country, nor are we any ways concerned "in any measures entered into relative to them. We "are rather induced to do this, because we under- "stand, that three or four persons in the White " Plains, have taken upon them to declare to the "Committee' at New-York, the consent of the "inhabitants of the White Plains to the resolutions "entered into, in New-York, and their acquiescence "with the measures taken there; when the major "part of the few people who attended the meeting, " did not choose to be concerned in the matter. We "also testify our disapprobation of many hot and " furious proceedings against the measures taken by ".thre mother country, as, in our opinion, they will " rather tend to ruin this once happy continent, than "remove grievances. We also declare that we desire " to live and die peaceable subjects to our gracious " Sovereign King GEORGE the Third and his laws. " This is to inform the public, that the above declara- "tion was signed by forty-five freeholdlers and in- " habitants, in the small precinct of the White " Plains, against the proceedings of the New- York " Committee, besides Miles Oakley."
A few weeks afterwards, Miles Oakley, one of those who had signed it, undoubtedly, for good and sufficient
YORK, Thursday, March 23, 1775, what he said on that latter occasion. It was in these words :
" Westchester County, White Plains.
6. HEREAS, there was a petition published in "Rivington's paper, some time past, that "forty five of the freeholders and inhabitants, be- " sides Miles Oakley, did sign a petition-I did sign "a petition, something like it, by being misled ; and "afterwards being informed into the right state of " the matter, I got the petition, and struck my name "out, and forwarned the Esq. A. H-not to return "my name and he swore by God he would; and "many others that signed it, has told me, they was " sorry they had any concern in signing the petition.
" MILES OAKLEY, and " DANIEL HORTON."
There was no portion of the County of West- chester, in which the conservatism of the inhabitant - was so general and so decided in its character, as in the Manor of Cortlandt; 2 and, during the Winter
1 On the 8th of May, 1775, Miles Oakley was appointed a member of the County Committee. (ride page -, puis ; ) soon afterwards, he received a Warrant for Second Lieutenant in Captain Mille's Company ; (rile page -, post ; ) and be served in that office, under Colonel Holmes. in the bloodtess Campaign of 1,75; leaving the service, when the Campaign closed .- (Historical Mutuscripts, etc. : Military Committee, XXV., 94.,
Daniel Horton, whose name accompanied that of Miles Oakley, on the disclaimer now under notice, was a resident of Rye; and in the re-or- ganization of the Militia of the County, he was made Second Lieutenant of the Rye and Mamaroneck Company, commanded by Captain Robert Bloomer.
2 Illustrative of the statement nuule in the text, is the following. taken from the Upeatt Clippings. iv., 297, in the Library of the New York Historical Society : " It is -aid that at least three-fourths of the people "in Cortlandt's Manor, New York, have declared their unwillingness to "enter into the Congressional measures : that a great number of the " people in general in Westchester County are preparing to do the like : "and that the Iserciation against the Continental Congress has been "signed by three hundred persons in the neighborhood of Ponel:keepsie "only. Many lists are sent ahont Dutchess County, on which also " many hundreds have subscribed."
As far as it related to Westchester-county, the above was copied from Gaine's Non- York Ghicette; and the Weekly Mercury, No. 129, NEW- YORK, Monday, February 27, 1775.
It must not be supposed, however, that the farmers in Westchester- county supported the Home Government, in its Colonial policy : on the contrary, neither it. the well-known Declaration and Prob et, nor eler- where, as far as we have knowledge, was there the slightest leaning in. that direction-they did no more, at any time, than to prefer and accept that opposition to the Honte Government which had been mate by the General Assembly of the Colony of New York, instead of that which was made by the Continental Congress of ITTt; and, at no time, as the reader will hereafter learn, was the great body of them inclined to sup. port the Royal Cause, with their persons and their properties. There were some who were starting under the outrages which had been in- Hi ted on them or on their friends, by local and other despots, of high or low degree ; and these were, sometimes, compelled to find refuge in protection within the lines of the Royal Army ; and there was a dont ing, vicious class, within the County, which the lawlesshe's of the revo- Intionary faction and the succeeding War hud produced-ready to enlist on that side which offered the greater inducement-but the great July of the farmers was patient, law-abiding, peacefully inclined, shivers at lame, holn-trivas, and severely conservative.
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. of 1774-75 and early in the Spring of the latter year, there was considerable activity, among the farmers on that particular Manor, in opposition to the revolu- tionary spirit which was seeking to force iselt on them. An Association, referred to in the Note 2, on page 42, ante, had been prepared and numerously signed in Duchess-county ; and copies of it had been also circulated and signed within Westchester- county, especially within the Manor of Cortlandt, which adjoined the Duchess-county of that period ; 1 and, about the same time, an Address, accompanied with an _Association adapted to that particular local- ity, was prepared and widely circulated; and the Association was numerously signed. That very inter- esting and very important Address and the Association which accompanied it,-the latter, generally known, among those who favored the revolutionary faction. as " The Loyalist's Test"-because they formn very important specimens of the literature of revolutionary Westchester-county, and because of their importance as reliable authorities for the guidance of the student of the history of that County, during that eventful period, may properly find a place iu this narrative; and we have carefully copied them from Rivington's New- York Gazetteer, No. 96, NEW-YORK, Thursday, February 16, 1775. They were in the following words :
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