USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 36
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2 We are not insensible of the fact that it is said that Mr. Scabury's Memorial was laid before the General Assembly, and referred to a Special Committee of seven members, of which William Samnel Johnson was the Chairman, and anto whom the Letter from the Provin- cial Congress of New York had been a'rauly referred, fBeardsley's Life and Correspondence of Rt. Rer. Samuel Sudbury, D. D, 43; but in his recital of the circumstances, in his letter to the Venerable Society, on the twenty-ninth of December, 1776. Mr. Seabury made mention of nothing else than of his "pnfing in a Memorial to the General Assono- "bly," (Ibil, 15;) and Mi. Himman, who was Secretary of State, with the original Journals before him, in his carefully-made synopsis of the doings of the General Assembly, from the opening of the May Session, 1774, until the clos . of the February Session 1758, stated that the Special Session of the General Assembly, which was assembled by special order of the Governor, on the fourteenth of December, 1775, closed its busi- ness, and was adjourned by Proclamation, on the same day ; that the Special Committee of which Mr. Johnson was Chairman, was appointed for an entirely different purpose ; and that the Session of the General Assembly which next succeeded that which was adjourned on the four- teenth of December, 1775, Was Dot commenced until the ninth of May, 1776. (Historical Collections of the part sustained by Connectiont in the War of the Revolution, 198, 200.) General Peter Force, who diligently re- printed all the Journal of the General Lesembly, in his elaborate hurrican Archires, made no mention of a Session of the General Assembly, be- tween that which was dissolved on the fourteenth of December, 1775, and the ninth of May, 1776, as stated by Hinman.
What mockery there was in that grace of the banditti. therefore, when it favored its captive with permission to memorialize an Assembly which had been dissolved, six days before the Memorial was written.
3 Memorial of Samuel Sonbury to the General Assembly of Connection, December 20, 1770 ; Simmel Senbary to the Vom rabie Society, " NI.W - YORK, " December 29, 1776" ; Jones's History of New York during the I. colutionary Wer, i., 65, 68.
" Besides the unceasing attempts to encroach on the territory of New York, and, in other ways, to invade the Rights of the Colouists, in that Colony, which Connecticut and men from Connecticut were constantly making; Isaac Sears, on the occasion now under notice, with the evident purpose of throwing all the titles of properties, in New York, and all the domestic and business relations, therein, into confusion and under- tainty, in order to make the inroads of depredators more certain of snc- cos, "intimated his design speedily to revisit this Province with a more "mimerons body of the Connecticut Rioters, and to take away the " Records of the Province." (Governar Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth, No. 22, "ON BOARD THE SHIP DETURESS Of GORDON NEW-YORK HAR- " BOL R, 6tb Decr 1775.")
The declarations of Colonel Waterbury and Isaac Scars, on the same subject, subsequently, will be noticed hereafter.
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ocenpied the harbor and commanded all the ap- proaches to the City, by water, and by whom a large armed force could have been thrown into the City, to protect the inhabitants from such outrages as that which is now under consideration, meanwhile. re- maining, apparently unconcerned, without raising a hand or firing a gun for that principal purpose of their presence in the Colony.
In the evening of the day on which the outrage on James Rivington was committed, [ Thursday, Norem- ber 23, 1775,] Lancaster Burling and Joseph Totten, members of the General Committee for the City and County of New York, offered a Resolution, in that body, citing Isaac Sears, Samuel Broome, and John Woodward to appear before it, to answer for their conduct in entering the City, on that day, with a number of horsemen, in a hostile manner, which the movers of the Resolution considered a breach of the Association ;1 but on the following evening, probably because it was distasteful to the greater number, Mr. Burling withdrew the Resolution," rather than to see it ignominiously defeated.
Three days after the event, John Jay, with more self-respect and, certainly, with more respect for the honor of the Colony, notwithstanding he, also, ap- peared to take no interest in any other portion of the general subject, wrote a letter to the President of the former Provineial Congress, in which he warmly con- demned the proceeding ;3 bnt, as has been stated, there was, then, no Provincial Congress to receive and to consider his protest.
On the fifth of December, the General Committee of the City and County of New York returned to the subject and adopted a well-written Petition to the Pro- vincial Congress praying that that body would take measures to protect the inhabitants of the Colony from a renewal of such aggressions.4
.
I Juntes of the General Committee for the City and County of New York, " Thursday, November 23, 1775."
2 Minutes of the General Committee, etc., " Friday, November 24, 1775." 3 The following are his words, on the subject of the mid :
* * * "The New-England exploit is much talked of, and conjec- " tures are numerous as to the part the Convention will take relative to " it ; some consider it as an ill compliment to the Government of the " Province, and prophesy that you have too much Christian meckness " to take any notice of it. For my own part, I don't approve of the " feat ; and I think it neither argues much w edom er much bravery ; at "any rate, if it was to have been done, I wish our own people, and not "strangers, had taken the liberty of doing it.
" I confess I am a little jealous of the honour of the Province, and " am persuaded that its reputation can not be maintained without some " little spirit being mangled with its prudence."
4 Minutes of the General Committee of the City and County of New York, The record is in these words :
" Tuesday evening, December 5, 1775."
" A Draft of a Petition to the houonrable the Provincial Congress for "the Provluce of New- York, was read and is as follows, viz. :
"'Ty THE HONOURABLE THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS FOR THE PROV- "INCE OF NEW- YORK.
"The Petition of the General Committee for the City and County of "' New-York, humbly shewith :
""That a body of troupe, * frout a neighbouring Colony, did lately
* It is evident, from these words, that it was, then, supposed to have
Three days afterwards, [ December 8, 175} the? vigorous demand for protretion, made by the Ical revolutionary Committee of the City of New York- the Committee of Westchester-county made no such movement, nor any other, in the matter-was pre- wanted to the Provincial Congress, by which body. after some thine had been spent " in debates thereon," it was sent to a special Committee, of which John Morin Scott was the Chairman, with instructions to "report thereon with all convenient speed." 5
Four days subsequently, [December 12, 1775,] a Report was made by the Committee, with a draft of a letter to be addressed to the Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, "on the subject matter of the Gen- "tral Committee's Petition," both of which were violently opposed by those who were most revolution- ary in their inclinations. The debates were continued through two Sessions of the Congres-, and various amendments were made in the letter, when it was adopted, Colonel Gilbert Drake and Stephen Ward, Deputies from Westchester county, opposing the motion, and Colonel Lewis Graham, also a Deputy from that County, supporting it.6
"'make their publick entry into the City, at noon-day, and did seize ""and carry off the types belonging to one of the puldick Printers of " * this Colony, without any authority from the Continental or this Con- .''gress, your Petitioners, or any other body having power to grant "' such authority. And being apprehensive that such Incur-ions, "' should they be repeated, will be productive of many great and evil con- "'sequences to the Inhabitants of much place wherein they may be here- ' 'after miude, your Petitioners do therefore conceive it highly necessary, "' in the present situation of publick affairs, as well for the sake of inter- "'nal peace and harmony of each Colony as for the maintenance of the "'general union of the Continent, now happily subsisting, and so essen- ". tial, at this juncture, that each of the associated Colonies on the Con- "'tinent should have the sole management and regulation of its publick "'matters by ita Congress or Committee, unless otherwise directed by "'the honourable the Continental Congress.
"" Your Petitioners do therefore most humbly pray, that this hononi - "'able Horse of Delegates would be pleased to take the premises into "'their consideration, and devise some expedient to prevent, for the "'future, the Inhabitants of any of the neighbouring Colonies "'coming into this, to direct the publick affairs of it, or to destroy the "'property or invade the liberty of its Inhabitants, without the direc- "'tion of the Continental or this Congress, or the Committee of safety, "'or the Committee of the County into which such Inhabitants may "'come, or of the Continental Generals, unless there should be at Inva- "'sion made into this Cokery.
"' And your Petitioner-, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc. " . By order of the Committee.' "ORDERED, That the same be fairly copied, and signed by the Chair- "man of this Conunittee, and delivered to the Chairman of the Cop- " gress."
5 Journal of the Provincial Congress. "Friday morning, December 2, "1775."
" Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Martis, 10 ho., A.M., Decell- "ber 12, 1775;" and the sunie, "Die Martie, 3 ho., P. MI., Decr. 12, "1775."
The following is a copy of that very iniportant letter : "IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, " NEW-YORK, 12th Decr .. 1775.
" It gives us concern that we are under the necessity of addressing
been a regular military operation : that the fact was, then, unknown, that it was only an inread of banditti, winked at, it is true, but without any authority, legal or revolutionary: that the Committee did not even suspect that the raiders were only an organized band of robbers, com- posed only of the floating population of another Colony.
135
WESTCHESTER COUNTY,
The tinvernor of Connecticut, regarding with ren- wy alle contempt the feeble, if not the hypocritical, outpourings of such a bashful, if not such a double- faced,1 body as the Provincial Congress of New York then was-at the very moment when it was consider- ing the proposition to send a letter to him, on the subject of the raid which is now under notice, it was also balancing on the tight-rope of loyalty to the King and reconciliation with the Home Government,
"you on a subject that has given great discontent to the inbalatants of " the City aml County of New- York.
.. We are inforwed by a Petition from the Gene al Committee, that a " Inwly of trooja from your Colony lately made a public entry into this "Vity, at noonday, and seized and carried of the types belonging to one "of the pubhe printers, without any authority from the Contine .tal or "this Congress or their Committee.
" While we consider this conduct as an insult offered to this Colony, we "are disposed to attribute it to an imprudent though well-intended zeal " for the public cause ; and cannot entertain the most distant thought "that your Colony will approve of the measure. It is unnecessary to "use arguments to show the impropriety of a proceeding that has a "mamfest tondebey to interrupt that harmony and union which, at "present, happily subsists throughout, and is so essential to the interest "of the whole Continent. It is our earnest desire that you would take "the most effectnal steps to prevent any of the people of your Colony " from entering into this, for the bike purposes, unless invited by one " Provincial Congress, a Committee of Safety, or the General Commit- "tee of one of our Counties, as we cannot but consider such intrusions "as an invasion of our essential rights, as a distinct Colony ; and com- " mion justice obliges us to request that you will give orders that all the "types he returned to the Chairman of the General Committee of the "City and County of New-York. We beg you will not consider this re- "quisition as an attempt to justify the man from whom the types were "taken : we are fully sensible of his demerits ; but we earnestly wish " that the glory of the present contest for Liberty may not be sullied by "an atteinpt to restrain the Freedom of the Press.
" The same body of troops, we are informed, seized the Mayor of the " Borongh of Westchester, the Hector of that Parish, and one of the " Justices of the County, and carried thein to your Colony. Mr. Seabury, " we are informed, is still detained. If such should be the case, we must "entreat your friendly interposition for his immediate discharge ; the " more especially as, considering his ecclesiastical character, which, per- "haps, is venerated by many friends to Liberty, the severity that has "been used towards him may be subject to misconstructions prejudicial "to the common cause, and the more effectually to restrain such incur- " sions which, if repeated, may be productive of mischief of the most se- " rious consequence ; and, as we would be exceedingly sorry to give "room for jealousies among individuals in your Colony that we are "desirous to damp the spirit of Liberty or countenance any of its "enemies among us, we propose 'to apply to the Continental Congress, " not by way of complaint, but for such a general regulation, on this "subject, as may as well prevent such Jealousies as any future incur- " sions by the inhabitants of either Colony into the Other, for the appro- " hending or punishing any enemy of supposed eaemy to the canse of ". Liberty, without application to the Congress, the Committee of Safety, "or the Committee of the County within the jurisdiction of which such "persons ;hall reside, or command of the Continental Congress.
" Wa are, Sir, with the utmost respect and esteein, " Your mo. obr. servts.
" By order of the Provincial Congress.
"To the Hopble JOSA. TRUMBULL, "NATH'L WOODHULL, Pres't. " Got. of the Colony of Connecticut."
1 It is proper to say, in this conaection, that the insincerity of the Pro vincial Congress was never more boldly presented than in its Order con- errning the disposition which was to be made of the letter which it had just ordered to be written to the Governor of Connectient, in the matter of the rand of Connectient's ruthiata-instead of or lering it to be forwarded to the Governor, it " ORDERED, That the said letter he engrossed and signed " by the President, so as to be ready to be transmitted, WILEN DIRE TED." Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die Martis, 3 ho., P. M., Decr. 12, >1175.")
Just when the Congress "directed" it to be "transmitted," is not known.
under the leadership of Thomas Smith, one of the distinguished body of political acrobats of that name" -made no reply whatever to its letter, until the fol- lowing June, when he adroitly turned the scale against the complaining Provincial Congress, by re- minding it that the leader of the banditti was a resident of the City of New York,3 doing business in that City, and, also, a member of the complaining Provincial Congress; that he was, therefore, amena- ble, directly, to the Congress itself, for what he had done; and that it was not expedient, then, to call the rest of the banditti to account '-a conclusion which was perfectly reasonable while the complaining Con- gress complacently permitted the leader of the party, who was the principal offender, to go at large, within its own jurisdiction, without question concerning it. The long process of intercolonial diplomacy, on what, in this instance, would have been an inter- esting topic, had the parties in that diplomatic correspondence been honest and consistent, might have been productive of useful results; but they were neither consistent nor honest; and, like the greater part of other diplomacy, it consisted of little else than empty words, really meaning nothing and, really, producing nothing.3
While that feeble demonstration of her "independ- "ence and dignity " was being presented by the revo- lutionary authorities in New York, and there was no other demonstration, by either the Colonial Govern- ment or the armed force which occupied the harbor and commanded the City, the Rector of the Parish of Westchester, as has been already stated, remained in captivity, in the hands of the banditti who had seized
2 Vide page 141, post.
3 The notice of the raid which was published in The Connecticut Journal, already copied into this narrative, clearly indicated that Isaac Sears was only a temporary sojourner at New Haven, when he made that raid.
4 Guerraor Trumbull to the President of the Provincial Congress of New York, " HARTFORD, June 10th, 1776."
5 The Provincial Congress evidently called the attention of the Delega- tion in the Continental Congress to the subject, as it promised to do, in its letter to Governor Trumbull ; and on the eleventh of January, 1776, the Delegation wrote, in reply : " We highly applaud the spirit, " and, at the same time, respectful manner in which you have supported "the dignity and independence of our Colony, and demanded reparation "un the subject of the Commecticut iaroad. An interposition., su rash, "officions, and violont JAye us great anxiety, as it was not only a high "insult to your authority, but bad a direct tendency to confirm that fatal "spirit of jealousy and distrust of our eastern brethren which has done " so much injury to our cause, and which every wise and virtuons patriot "should study to suppress The Government of Connecticut, we are " persuadled, will not only do you the justice which you have required, "but adopt effectual uweans to restruin their inhabitants from similar at. "tempts in future. In this expectation, we shall take the liberty " to defer the ath tication to Congress which you direct, until we are " favoured with a copy of Governor Trumbull's answer to your letter." (Philip Livingston, James Duane, Johan.Jag, Henry Misur, tad Williams Floyd to the Provincial Congress, "PmLADurata, 5th January, 1776.")
The Governor of Connectiont having, meanwhile, taken no notice whatever of the letter which the Provincial Congress lidl written to bim, in the preceding December, on the 8th of March, 156, the latter informed the Delegation from New York in the Continental Congress, of that fact. (Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Di Velletis. " 10 ho., A.M., March 8, 1756 ;") but there seems to have been no ac- tion, ou that subject, in the former lody. then or at any other time.
130 +
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
him and carried him from his home; and he was thus held by that law-defying gang of ruffians, in que of the Capital-towns of Connectient, in which the Legislature was, then, in session, without the slightest attempt, by the legally constituted Government of " brought to this town and carried in triumph through that Colony, to interfere, either for the rescue of the !" a great part of it, accompanied by a large number "of men on horsback and in carriages, chiefly armed. " That the whole company arranged themselves before "the house of Captain Scars. That after firing two "cannon and huzzning, your Memorialist was sent
captive or for the vindication of the Law of the land, which had been indisputably violated by those who held him. As has been stated, the captive was not permitted to hold a free intercourse with his friends ; the use of pen, ink, and paper, unless for the : " under a guard of four or five men to the house of purpose of writing to his family, was interdicted; and his correspondence with his family was subjected to examination by his captors .. As a matter of favor, however, he was permitted to memorialize the General Assembly of the Colony within which he was held in captivity, although that Assembly had been dissolved by Proclamation of the Governor, six days previously; and, because that Memorial is a portion of the revolu- tionary literature. of Westchester-county, to say nothing of its importance as an authority in history. a place for it may be properly found in the text of this narrative.1 It was in the following words : "Mrs. Lyman, where he has ever since been kept "under guard. That during this time your Memor- "jalist hath been prevented from enjoying a free inter- "course with his friends ; forbidden to visit some of " them, though in company with his gnard ; prohibited " from reading prayers in the church, and in perform- "ing any part of divine service, though invited by "the Rev. Mr. Hubbard so to do ; interdieted the use "of pen, ink, and paper, except for the purpose of " writing to his family, and then it was required that " his letters should be examined and licensed before "they were sent off; though on Friday last, Captain " TO THE HONORABLE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE " GOV. AND COMPANY OF THE COLONY OF CON- " Sears condescended that your Memorialist should "be indulged in writing a Memorial to this Hon. "Assembly. That your Memorialist hath received - " NECTICUT, NOW SITTING IN NEW HAVEN, IN "SAID COLONY, BY SPECIAL ORDER OF HIS " HONOR, THE GOVERNOR. "but one letter from his family sinee he has been "under confinement, and that was delivered to him "open,though brought by the post.
"The Memorial of Samuel Seabury, Clerk, A.M., "Rector of the Parish of West Chester, in the County " of West Chester and Province of New York, humbly "showeth :-
"That on Wednesday, the 223 day of November "last, your Memorialist was seized at a house in " West Chester where he taught a grammar school, by "a company of armed men, to the number, as he "supposes, of about forty ; that after being carried to "his own house and being allowed time to send for " his horse, he was forced away on the road to Kings- "bridge, but soon meeting another company of "armed men, they joined and proceeded to East " Chester.
"That a person styled Captain Lothrop ordered "your Memorialist to be seized. That after the two "companies joined, the command appeared to your " Memorialist to be in Captain Isaac Sears, and the " whole number of men to be about one hundred. " That from East Chester your Memorialist, in com-
1 A portion of this notable paper was published by Hinman, in bis Historical Collections of the part sustained by Connecticut during the War of the Revolution, (page4 748-351.) Rev. E. E. Beardsley, D. D. in his Life and Correspondence of the Right Reverend Samuel Seabury, D. D., (second Edition, 36-42,) published as nearly a complete and accurate copy of it as those who printed his book would permit him to give to his renders. It is believed that, with his kind avvistance, we have the privilege of laying an entirely accurate atul complete copy of the origina! manu- script before our readers, from the copy of that original which was fur- nished to him by Charles J. Howlley, the Librarian of the State Library, at Hartford, the custodian of that pujer.
pany with Jonathan Fowler, Esq., of East Chester. "and Suhl. Underhill, Esq., of West Chester, was " sent under a guard of about twenty armed men' to " Horeneck and on the Monday following was
" Your Memorialist begs leave further to represent, " that he hath heard a verbal account that one of his " daughters was abused and insulted by some of the "people whou at his house on the 22d of November. "That a bayonet was thrust through her eap, and her " cap thereby tore from " [her] "head. That the " handkerchief abont her neck was pierced by a bay- " onet, both before and behind. That a quilt in the "frame on which the daughters of your Memorialist " were at work was so ent and pierced with bayonets " as to be rendered useless. That while your Memo- "rialist was waiting for his horse, on the said 22d day " of November, the people obliged the wife of your " Memorialist to open his desk, where they examined "his papers, part of the time in presence of your " Memorialist. That he had in a drawer in the desk " three or four dollars and a few pieces of small sil- "ver. That he hath heard that only an English "shilling and three or four coppers were found in the . " drawers after he was brought away. That your " Memorialist thinks this not improbable, as Jonathan " Fowler, E-q., informed him that a new beaver bat. a "silver-mounted horsewhip, and two silver spoons were "earried off from his house on said day. Mr. Meloy, "also, of this town, informed your Memorialist that
" It will be observed that Mr. Sentmiry dil not regard his captors as "troops" or " Light Hope" or military men, of any class: he evi- dently considered thein as what are known as " irregulars;" and, for that reason, called them only "armed men."
3 Horse Neck of that period is West Greenwich of this.
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