USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 47
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3 . To do justice even to rebels, let it here be mentioned that * * * My, " so far were they from interfering with the law, that the Magistrates " continued in full pression of the Misil power - and the Counts of Jus- " tire were open in the usnad manger until the Declaration of Indepen- "dence. In April Term, 1776, several rebel soldiers were indigtal for " some Pelty Laurenies, tried, convicted, and punished by order of the "Conrt without any interference of the Military ; their Officeis at- "tended the trials, heard the evidence, and upon their conviction de- "clared that nurple justice was done them, and thanked the Juulgy for " his candor and impartiality, during the conese of the trial -. "-Jours'e History of New York during the Revolutionary War, 1., 137.
Judge Jones, the winter of the above paragraph, was, at that how, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Colony, and personally arquainted with the facts stated. His practice was, in matter, in which he was personally concerned, to mention no name ; and the conl. At cer. tainly seems to indicate that the Trial war in the City of New York ; but ! the learned Editor of that rem rkable work, has stated, in the luder, (i., 691.) undoubtedly on competent authority, that the Comt referred to was held at the White Plains, in Westchester county ; and that the pre- siding-Judge of that Court was Thomas Jones, the writer of the work from wluch this paragraph was taken.
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have been unwittingly, to establish as the formal been of a diferent tenor ; but Jola Moris - 3 enactments of that revolutionary body.'
As we have said, the letter which Ezekiel Hawley, in behalf of the Committee of the Town of Salem, wrote to the Provincial Congress, was laid before that body, on Saturday evening, the eighth of June ; when it was read and filed." On the following morning; [ Sunday, June 9, 1775, ] the Congress directed the fol- lowing answer to be made to that remarkable letter :
" IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, " NEW-YORK, June 9, 1776.
"SIR :
" Your letter by Mr. Chapman, of the 5th inst., was "laid before the Congress, who are of opinion that " the contents require the most serious consideration, " and have directed me to acquaint you that whenever " several matters of importance for the general defense " and preservation of the Colony, now under consider. "ation, are despatched, the Committee of Salem may " be assured a proper attention will be made on their " application, the Congress not doubting that Commit- "tee will still persevere, with zeal in the cause of "their country.
" By order, " NATHANIEL WOODHULL, President. "To EZEKIEL HAWLEY, ESQR., Chairman "of the Committee of Salem, Westchester." 3
Had Gouverneur Morris or John Jay been present, when the Provincial Congress received or when it answered that letter, the answer would probably have
1 The question of the extent to which the several Provincial Con- greses, uninfluenced by the outside pressure of homemade partisan demonstrations or by the inside domination of those who assumed to social or intellectual superiority, would have given their authority for the etincluent and execution of such violent measures, against those of their fellow Colonists who did not conenr in all which was done by the Conti- nental Congress of 1771, as we have noticed, is worthy of the examina- tion which it will some day receive nt the bands of an intelligent, indus- trions, and fearless student.
If we do not mistake, and we incline to the belief that we do not, when that examination shall have been male, very much of the responsibility for the multitude of attocions acts which were done in behalf of " the cause of America " and of " the Liberties of America," will be shifted from the shoulders of sensible, but undlest and less eur- getic, men, where it now rests, to those of men whoare low represented as having been inenpabloof such enormities.
History tellsof more than one instance in which & mere handhd of enderits, more or less honest in their protessious, has fastened it-elf ou a great political party which entertained zone of these enthusiastic dogmas which the others assumed to believe and maintain, and which, having thus fastened itself on the larger lowly, taking advantage of favoralde qurtunities, artfully adapting ibelf to existing tempers and circonstances, and persistently -sometimes, impudently-thonsting it self into every seat of influence and authority to which it could parsibly gain access, has succeeded in re-moulding the policy of the party which it has invaded ; ampl made il appear to be what, originally, it was not ; to maintain opinions whit b, originally, it disclaimed und oggreed ; sol to do, or peraut to be done, in its name, what, originally, it would have honestly shrunk from, as improper and unjust. Such an inoltre, if we do not mistake, ocenried in this Colony, in 1775 amd 1736 : we were per- somually acquainted with a similar instaure, vastly more important in its consequences than the other, which occurred withio the United states, at n comparatively recent date.
2 Vale junge 175, ante.
3 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Sunday morning, June 9, 1776."
was present on loith orrations, and where to ... mind probably controlled, wisely halted, and evident; induced the Congress to halt, in the work of pro- posed perseention and devastation and ruin. The Committee of Salem was coldly dismissed. withont even a word of sympathy ; and the Provincial Con- gress paid no further attention to the subject.
With at persistency which was worthy of a better purpose, notwithstanding the rebuke which the I'm- vincial Congress had thus administered, the Commit- tre at Salem was not disposed to be thins relegated to the obscurity of a rural Town ; and, subsequently, two other letters, relating to the same general subject of " the disaffected persons who were umler bonds to "that Committee," were addressed by it, to the Cou- gress. The first of these letters is in these words :
" GENTLEMEN :
" As our civil and religious privileges all lie at "stake, we that are friends thereto desire to lend a " lifting hand in trying to preserve them ; and as the " tories grow more and more disaffected, and are daily " going off on to Long island-four men last week " from my neighborhood, several more from other "parts. Capt. Theal and his son John Lobdin, and "Stephen Delance" [ De Lancey ?] " soute of them " laid under 2500. bouds and also the solemnity of an "oath-but they regard not any thing the Commit- " tee does with them, so long as they have their lib- "erty. It is supposed numbers are concealed on "Long island. Please to take it into your wise con- "sideration, whether or no it will not be best to send "and purge Long island; and as I wrote to you a "little back by Mr. Chapman, one of the members of " Salem Committee, to know what we should do with " those that forfeit their bonds, and how we should " get pay for the last, as there is since many more, we " should be glad of an answer.
" By order of the Committee, " EZEKIEL HAWLEY, Chairman. "SALEM, June 220, 1776.
'TO THE HONOURABLE THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS "OF NEW-YORK."''
Two days after that fetter was written, [June 24. 1776.] the Sub-conduitees of Cortlandt and Salem united in the following letter, also addressed to the Provincial Congress ; and in order to expedir the consideration of the subject to which it was devoted. by that body, Ezekiel Hawley was formally directed to forward it. " with all convenient speed."
"SALEM, 24th of June, 1776.
" GENTLEMEN :
" Whereas sundry persons of note have lately ab- "sconded from our part of the country, and we have "reason to think, from several ciremmistances, are "(with numbers of others) assembling together on
+ Journal of the Provincial Rouges: Correspondence, i., 10, 17.
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WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
" Long island, with a view to join the Ministerial ! those proportions which entitled it to respect, how- " Army, we beg the Congress would take the matter ever, on the eighteenth of June, three days after the Resolution, on the subject : " under consideration, and adopt such measures as to , organization of "the Committee to detect Conspir- "you shall appear most proper for the removal of such | "acies," the Provincial Congress adopted the following " dangerons assemblages, who we fear are forming ! "a combination to aid and assist the Ministerial Army " when an opportunity shall permit.
"ORDERED, That the same be forwarded with all " convenient speed by Mr. Ezekiel Halley.
" By the joint order of the Sub-committees of the " manor of Cortlandt and Salem.
" EZEKIEL HALLEY, " JOSEPH BENEDICT, ยท Chairmen.
" TO THE HONOURABLE THE PROVINCIAL CON- GRESS." 1
These two letters were presented to the Provincial Congress, on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth of June; read before that body ; and ordered " to remain " for further consideration; " 2 and there, as far as we have knowledge, they have remained, from that day until this-the Provincial Congress certainly paid no further attention to them.
Closely connected with it, if it was not really the basis of that policy of proscription and persecution and devastation which peculiarly distinguished the entire series of Provincial Congresses and Committees of Safety of the Colony of New York, as well as the early Conventions and Legislatures of the State, after the Colony had ceased to exist, was the series of Tests, known as Associations, which were enacted, first, by. the Continental Congress of 1774 and, subsequently. in various forms, by the Provincial Congresses of New York, by the latter of whom and by their several Committees of Safety they were, also, rigidly en- forced, as we have seen, in other portions of this narrative.
One of these Tests, or Associations, adopted by a Provincial Committee of Safety, was proved to have been so entirely subversive of the personal Rights of those to whom it was offered, that numbers who had previously favored or acquiesced in the Rebellion, peremptorily declined to sign it, preferring rather to be considered as disaffected and to be disarmned, as such,3 and to suffer all the other pains and penalties and insults to which those who were known as " dis- " affecte l" were continually subjected.
The disaffection referred to must have been quite extended, scriously impairing the prospects of a polit- ical uniformity throughout the Colony, to which the leaders of the Rebellion had constantly aspired, or the Provincial Congress would not have turned aside from its daily routine to have noticed it. As it had reached
1 Journal of the Provincial Congress : Correspondence, i., 197.
2 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Monday afternoon, June 21. "1776."
3 Recital in the Preamble of the new association, adopted by the Pro- vincial Congress, on the twentieth of June, 1776.
" WHEREAS doubts have arisen respecting the true " construction of a certain teoriation ordered by the " late Committee of Safety of this Colony, to be pre- " sented for subscription to the inhabitants thereof : " RESOLVED, That all doubts respecting the true " construction of the said Association ought to be re- " moved; and that a Committee be appointed to " prepare and report a Resolution for that purpose." "
On the twentieth of June, the Committee which had been appointed to consider the subject-a Com- mittee contposed of Thomas Tredwell and John Sloss Hobart, of Suffolk, and John Jay, of the City of New York, all of whom were distinguished for their rigid and intense partisan feelings-submitted its Report, evidently the work of John Jay, by whom it was pre- sented. As it was intended to be submitted to the inhabitants of Westchester-county, and to be em- ployed as the basis of fresh ontrages against their persons and properties, it may properly find a place in this narrative:
" IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, " NEW-YORK, June 20, 1776. " WHEREAS, the Continental Congress, on the " fourteenth day of March last, did recommend to the " several Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils or " Committees of Safety of the United Colonies, im- " mediately to cause all persons to be disarmed within " their respective Colonies, who were notoriously dis- " affected to the cause of America, or had not associ- " ated, and refused to associate to defend, by arms, " these United Colonies, against the hostile attempts " of the British Fleets and Armies :
" AND, WHEREAS, the late Committee of Safety of " this Colony did, thereupon, on the twenty-seventh " day of March aforesaid, recommend it to the Com- " mittces of the several Cities, Counties, Manors, " Townships, Precinets, and Districts in this Colony, " forthwith, to cause to be disarmed, all persons " within their respective districts, who were known " to be disaffected to the cause of America, and also " all such persons as should refuse to sign the follow- "ing _Association, viz. :
" . We, the subscribers, inhabitants of
"'in the County of , and Colony "'of New York, do voluntarily and solemnly engage, "' under all the ties held sacred among mankind, at "' the risk of our lives and fortunes, to defend, by "Farms, the United American Colonies, against the
..
hostile attempt- of the British Fleets and Armies,
"'until the present unhappy controversy between " " the two Countries shall be settled."
Jouend of the Provincial Congress, "Tuesday morning, June Is, 1776."
18
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WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
"AND WHEREAS it hath been objected to the said " firm of an Association, that, by obliging the sub- "surilk is ur as ww iators, in such general and express "terms, to defend the United Colonies, by arms, "against the hostile attempts of the British Fleets "nnd Armies, it deprived them of the Rights reserved "by the Militia Regulations, and imposed on them the "necessity of marching to the most distant of the "Colonies, whenever called upon, which construction " of the said _fwsociation, however nice and casuistical, "is inconsistent and fallacious, it being manifest that " the Militia Regulations could, by no rules of construe- "tion, be supposed to be repealed and abrogated by " any subtle implications drawn from the said Associ- "tion. But, as some of the friends to the American " cause have been influenced, by this objection, to "refuse signing the said Association, and, in conse- " quence thereof, been disarmed, it hath become ex- "pedient that the said Association should be so ex- " plained as to render it free from specious as well as "solid objections; and, therefore,
" RESOLVED, UNANIMOUSLY, That nothing in the " said tosociation contained, shall extend or be eon- "strued to extend to deprive those who have sub- "scribed it of any Rights reserved to them, in and by " the said Militie Regulations ; and to the end that all " the Freemen of this Colony may associate for the "preservation of American liberty, in a form entirely " unexceptionable ;
" RESOLVED, UNANIMOUSLY, That the following "form of an Association be and it is hereby recom- " mended to them, viz. :
"' We, the subscribers, inhabitants of "'in the County of .
-
. , and Colony of New "' York, do most solemnly declare that the claims of "' the British Parliament to bind, at their discretion, "'the people of the United Colonies in America, in "'all cases whatsoever, are, in our opinions, absurd, "'unjust, and tyrannical; and that the hostile at- "'tempts of their Fleets and Armies to enforce sub- ""mission to those wicked and ridiculous claims "'ought to be resisted by arms.
"" And, therefore, we do engage and associate, "'under all the ties which we respectively hold "' sacred, to defend, by arms, these United Colouies, "'against the said hostile attempts, agreeable to such "' Laws and Regulations as our Representatives in "'the Congresses or future General Assemblies of "' this Colony have or shall, for that purpose, make " 'and establish.'
" And that all persons who have been disarmed for " refusing to associate with their countrymen, for the " defense of the United Colonies, in the form pre- "scribed by the late Committee of Safety, as afore- "said, may have no pretenee to complain of injus- " tice, and that they may have a fair opportunity of " convincing the public that their refusal to sign the " said Association did not arise from a disinclination " to defend the Rights of America, but merely from
" objections to sign to the form of the said . Association, " and thereby be restored to the privilege of bearing "arms in support of a cause so important and so " glorious ;
" RESOLVED, UNANIMOUSLY, That all persons, "other than those whom the Committees of the sev- " eral Counties shall adjudge to be notoriously disaf- " fected to the American cause, who have not asso- " ciated in the form prescribed by the late Committee "of Safety, as aforesaid, be called upon, by persons " to be appointed by the said Committees of the sev- " eral Counties, and requested to subscribe the Asso- " ciation contained and recommended in and by these " Resolutions. And
" RESOLVED, FURTHER, That all such of the said " persons as shall subscribe the same, other than " notoriously disaffected persons, as aforesaid, ought "to be considered and treated as friends to their " country ; and that all arms taken from them and " not disposed of to the Continental troops, be re- "stored to them; and that care be taken that they " respectively be paid the full price allowed, for such "of their arms as may have been delivered to the " Continental troops, as aforesaid.
" AND FURTHER, that all sueli of the said persons "as shall refuse to subscribe to the same, together " with all notorious disaffected persons, be forthwith, "if not already done, disarmed, and required on cath " to declare and discover whether the anns so to be "taken from them be all the arms they respectively " have or had, and if not, where the residue thereof, " to the best of their knowledge and belief, are depos- "ited and may be found; and that such of them as " shall refuse to take such oath, be committed to safe " eustody till they will consent to take it.
" RESOLVED, UNANIMOUSLY, That it be and it is " hereby recommended to the Committees of the scy- "eral Counties in this Colony, to carry the aforesaid " Resolutions into execution, with diligence and " punctuality."!
It is said that the Report and Resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Provincial Congress. evidently without the slightest consideration of their characters and probable result, and certainly during the latter portion of an afternoon session of the Cou- gress, in which, both before and after the presenta- tion of them, that body was crowded with other and very important matters of business ; and it is said to have ordered, at that time, that the Resolutions should be printed in all the newspapers which were theu published in the City of New York and in hand- bills; and "that the Resolutions be read to every " person to whom the Association thereby recom- "mended shall be offered for subscription." 2
Whatever the real motives of those who had de-
I Journal of the Provincia Congress, "Thursday Afternoon, June 20, ** 1776." : Ibid.
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WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
. hned to sign the Association which the Committee of Saty had prescribed, had been, they were such as 2.al led the Provincial Congress to notice them, respectfully, and to lead that body to move for the re- moval of the objections which had been thus reasona- by raised against that Association, by those whom the Provincial Cougress's Committee was constrained to recognize as "friends to the American cause; " and it ill became John Jay, therefore, to display so inany of the idiosynerasies of his generally unamiable character, in the contemptuous and singularly insult- ing words which he applied to those of his fellow " friends of the American cause" who had presumed to take their knowledge of the legal obligations con- tained in that objectionable Association from some oue else than from himself and his Congressional con- frerie ; and an impartial examination of the two forms of Association, and a careful comparison of that revised forin, which he induced the Provincial Con- gress to substitute for that against which the objee- tions had been raised, with the latter, will clearly indicate to the reader that the writer of that revised form had permitted his evil passions to get the better of his personal integrity, when he belittled himself by reporting au Association which was even more objectionable in its provisions than that which had been objected to, dressed and decorated with a meaningless. Preamble, evidently intended for the beguilement of the unwary, but without containing a single word of provision, either in the Preamble or in the Association itself, that the signers of that revised instrument, by that act, would not deprive themselves of their Rights as Militia, and subject themselves to be taken beyond the limits of the Colony, even to the extent of the most distant of the confederated Colonies, whenever some body, over whom they could exercise no control, should ineline to order them thither. Indeed, instead of relieving the Maso- ciation which the Committee of Safety had recom- mended, from the uncertainties of its provisions, the only duty which had been assigned to John Jay and his two rustic associates, these astute partisans, in the bitterness of their animosities, did nothing else, in the way of the duty which had devolved on them, than to indulge in contemptuous sneers and inuen- does against those who had objected to the terms of the Committee of Safety's Association, without includ- ing, in their revised form, the provisions of safety which the Provincia! Congress had evidently intended to have inserted ; and, by the addition of words which were not in the former, they actually made the signers of the revised Association, more than before, the helpless subjects of two absolutely despotic bodies, over neither of whom could they bring any, even the slightest, restraining influence, no matter how objectionable and oppressive the Orders and enactments of either or both of those bodies might be.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is; and it will be difficult, in the light of such actions as this,
to convince any honest man that, whatever he may have been after he had reached that place in the office-bearing ranks of his countrymen which he so greatly coveted and of which he was so exceeling fond, while John Jay was still struggling for place, it mattered little under what master, he was neither more nor less upright, in what he said and did for the advancement of his individual or his party's purposes, than are office-seekers of our own day, with whom the end in view is generally made to justify the means.
On the twenty-sixth of June, the Provincial Con- gress received a letter from the President of the Continental Congress, dated on the preceding day, and enclosing a Resolution of that body,' the latter of which, because of its remarkable character, is entitled to a passing notice, in this place. The Reso- lution referred to was in these words :
"IN CONGRESS, June 24, 1776. "RESOLVED, That all persons abiding within any "of the United Colonies and deriving protection from "the Laws of the same, owe allegiance to the said " Laws and are members of such Colony ; and that all " persons passing through, visiting, or making a tem- " porary stay in any of the said Colonies, being en- "titled to the protection of the Laws during the time "of such passage, visitation, or temporary stay, owe, " during the same time, allegiance thereto.
"That all persons, members of or owing allegiance "to any of the United Colonies, as before described, " who shall levy war against any of the said Colonies, "within the same, or be adberent to the King of Great "Britain or others, the enemies of the said Colonies, or "any of them, within the same, giving to him or them "aid or comfort, are guilty of treason against such "Colony.
"That it be recommended to the Legislatures of " the several United Colonies to pass Laws for punish- "ing, in such manner as to them shall seein fit, such "persons, as before described, as shall be proveably "attainted of open deed, by people of their condi- "tions, of any of the treasons before described.
"That it be recommended to the Legislatures of " the several United Colonies, to pass Laws for pun- "ishing, in such manner as they shall thiuk fit, per- "sons who shall counterfeit, or aid or abet in coun- "terfeiting, the Continental Bills of Credit, or whe "shall pass any such Bill, in payment, knowing the " same to be counterfeit.
" By order of Congress, " JOHN HANCOCK, President." ?
The Journal of the Continental Congress tells us that this remarkable paper formed a part of the Report of the Committee on Spies, to that body ; and that Com-
1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Wednesday morning, June 20, " 1776."
: Jourand of the Provincial Congress : Correspondence, il., 196.
See, also, Journal of the Continental Congress, "Monday, June 21. 4 1776."
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