of a more conservative character, averse to deeds of vio- | tical measure leading to the redress of grievances, the lence, inclined to trust to policy and negotiation, yet maintenance of a universal non-importation agreement. utterly unwilling to submit the interests and legitimate It was at this meeting that the voice of Alexander Hamilindependence of the colonies to the powers or caprices of ton, then a youth recently from the West Indies, pursuParliament. These, also, were for concerted action. The ing his studies at King's College, was first heard in public movement, which was inevitable, was hastened by the affairs. His logical mind had even then grasped the action of Parliament in closing the Port of Boston, as a principles of the existing controversy; while his ardent penalty to the merchants for their conduct in respect to eloquence was displayed in picturing the successful rethe tea-ships. Gage was sent as General Commander, and sistance of the colonies to the power of England should also as Governor of Massachusetts. The Government the conflict be pushed to its extremity. The delegates, was gathering soldiers to enforce its repressive and vin- chosen by a vote of the taxpayers of the city, were: dicatory measures by armed interference. In the fate of Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane Massachusetts the other colonies read their own. The and John Jay-the first three, merchants; the others, plan of a general non-importation agreement was revived. lawyers; and all Episcopalians except Livingston. By The Sons of Liberty in New York would have indorsed it shrewd management on the part of the new Committee, at once, but they were in a measure superseded by a new two, who were entitled to the position as true and Committee of Fifty-one, appointed by the more conserva- courageous representatives of the people, McDougal and tive classes of the community, who declined to give it the accomplished lawyer John Morin Scott, whose pen their support, but suggested for the consideration of the had ever been at the service of the popular cause, were common welfare a general congress of provincial depu- excluded. ties, to be held at the intimation of the Boston Committee. The General Court, the representative body of Massachusetts, appointed the 1st of September, and Philadelphia, as the time and place of meeting. The Summer was passed in preparation for the assembly. There was much discussion in New York as to the mode of election of the delegates. The popular party, fearing lest a tone of weakness or irresolution should prevail, in July called a general meeting in the Fields to express, in no unequivocal manner, the voice of the city. The patriotic McDougal presided, and introduced a series of resolutions, setting forth with uncompromising hostility the violation of the liberties of the country by the Boston Port Bill, and urging in the most emphatic manner, as a prac We have some notices of the city and its leading men at this time, in the entertaining Diary kept by John Adams in his journey from Boston to the Congress at Philadelphia. He reached New York by the usual New England route, through Westchester, on the morning of the 20th of August, and was presently in private lodgings with Mr. Tobias Stoutenberg, "in King Street, very near the City Hall one way, and the French Church the other." Here he is called upon by the patriot McDougal, who made a very favorable impression upon him. "He is a very sensible man, and an open one; he has none of the mean cunning which disgraces so many of my countrymen." After dinner, McDougal takes him to every part of the city; to the Fort, where he sees "the ruins of that magnificent building, the Governor's House," BURNS'S COFFEE HOUSE, BROADWAY, THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE "SONS OF LIBERTY," IN LATER TIMES CALLED 60 ATI ANTIC GARDEN." and admires the fine prospect from the parade, with its After gathering these and various other ideas concernriver-views, and on the inner side, "in a beautiful ellipsising the state of the Province at banquets, where the style of land railed in the solid iron, a statue of His Majesty, on horseback, very large, of solid lead, gilded with gold, standing on a pedestal of marble, very high "; thence "up the Broad Way, the old church and the new church" -Trinity and St. Paul's-the college, the prison, and "two sets of barracks "; thence to the shipyards on the East River, where "a Dutch East India ship was building, of 800 tons burden "; thence by the markets to the Coffee House, in Wall Street, where he was introduced to Morin Scott, "a lawyer, of about fifty years of age, a sensible man, but not very polite, said to be one of the readiest speakers upon the continent." and equipages offered an unceasing wonder, Adams rather ungraciously regrets that his time has been so taken up with "breakfasting, dining, drinking coffee, etc., about the city," and absolutely concludes with the remark that "with all the opulence and splendor, there is very little good-breeding to be found. We have been treated with an assiduous respect; but I have not seen one real gentleman, one well-bred man, since I came to town. At their entertainments there is no conversation that is agreeable; there is no modesty, no attention to one another. They talk very loud, very fast, and altogether. If they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer they will break out upon you again and talk away." From all which we infer that good listeners were somewhat in request for the young New England lawyer, accustomed to interminable disquisitions on religion and politics, which the quick business intellects of New York were accustomed to dispose of dogmatically in very few words.* At the Congress in September all the thirteen colonies were represented except Georgia. It was an assembly of notables. Samuel and John Adams, Roger Sherman, William Livingston, Galloway, Rodney, Chase, the Rutledges and Gadsden, with the conspicuous Virginians, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry and George Washington. The chief measures of this, the first Continental Congress, were, the formation of an American Association to carry out a general system of com From the conversation at the Coffee House, Adams learns that "the two great families in the Province, upon whose motions all their politics turn, are the Delanceys and Livingstons. There are virtue and abilities, as well as fortune, in the Livingstons, but not much of either of the three in the Delanceys, according to McDougal," who, it must be remembered, was speaking, at a time of high party feeling, on the popular side. Of Morin Scott's politeness, Adams probably thought better after the morning entertainment which, in company with McDougal, he received at that gentleman's country-seat, three miles out of town, on the Hudson. "A more elegant breakfast I never saw; rich plate, a very large silver coffee-pot, a very large silver tea-pot, napkins of the very finest materials, toast, and bread and butter in great perfection. After breakfast a plate of beautiful peaches, another of pears, and another of plums, and a musk-mercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, until the exmelon." Adams's first impressions of his brother-delegates to Congress from New York are unhesitatingly recorded in this Diary. "Philip Livingston is a great, rough, rapid mortal. There is no holding any conversation with him. He blusters away; says, if England should turn us adrift, we should instantly go to civil wars among ourselves to determine which colony should govern all the rest; seems to dread New England, the leveling spirit, etc." In another sentence Adams calls him "a downright straightforward man." "Mr. Alsop is a soft, sweet man. Mr. Duane has a sly, surveying eye, a little squint-eyed; between forty and forty-five, I should guess; very sensible, I think, and very artful. Mr. Low, the Chairman of the Committee of Fifty-one, they say, will profess attachment to the cause of liberty, but his sincerity is doubted." Subsequently says Adams, "We breakfasted with Mr. Low, a gentleman of fortune and in trade. His lady is a beauty." "Mr. Jay is a young gentleman of the law, about twenty-six; Mr. Scott says, a hard student and a good speaker." It is an important illustration of our subject to present the views, frankly uttered in the freedom of conversation, of the political parties of New York held by so shrewd and patriotic an observer as McDougal. "He gave a caution," says Adams, "to avoid every expression here which looked like an allusion to the last appeal. He says there is a powerful party here who are intimidated by fears of a civil war, and they have been induced to acquiesce by assurances that there was no danger, and that a peaceful cessation of commerce would effect relief. Another party, he says, are intimidated lest the leveling spirit of the New England colonies should propagate itself into New York. Another party are prompted by Episcopalian prejudices against New England. Another party are merchants largely concerned in navigation, and therefore afraid of non-importation, non-consumption and non-exportation agreements. Another party are those who are looking up to Government for favors." isting difficulties should be removed; and the dignified assertion of the principles at stake, in a series of able state papers, a declaration of rights, a petition to the King, and several addresses, one of which, "To the People of Great Britain," remarkable for its force and directness, was the work of the New York delegate, John Jay. Congress closed after a short session, having made provision for the call of another, should circumstances require it, the ensuing May. The The New York Assembly, fast approaching final dissolution, refused to commit itself to the acts of the Congress when a resolution was brought in, by the patriotic Woodhull of Long Island, thanking the delegates for their services, the House being divided, fifteen to nine. In the minority were George Clinton, Philip Schuyler and Philip Livingston, who were soon to have the opportunity of transferring their exertions to a more splendid field of action. The Assembly, however, sent petitions and memorials of its own to England, to be presented to Parliament by the agent of the colony, Edmund Burke. Their remonstrances, inadequate as they were thought by the New York patriots, proved too strongly worded to be received by Lord North. A popular Committee of Sixty meantime vigilantly guarded the enforcement of the non-importation agreement. As Spring advanced the need of a new Congress, to adopt more efficient measures for the protection of the colonies, became apparent. As the New York Assembly would appoint no delegates, the matter again fell into the hands of the people, who, at an imposing meeting at the Exchange, on the 6th of April, resolved upon the appointment of deputies, to meet others from the counties; who should, out of the whole body, send representatives to the Congress. This assembly, the first Provincial Congress of New York, met a fortnight after, and elected the delegates, at one of the meetings in the Fields, which "Works of John Adams," II., 315-353. were now held with the old result of greatly strengthen- | pointed Washington Commander-in-Chief, and two days ing the popular cause. An incident occurred which subsequent events caused too well to be remembered. One William Cunningham, a "rough" of great brutality, having given some offense at the liberty-pole, a mêlée ensued, in which he was severely handled. He was compelled, it is said, to kneel down and kiss the pole. He had not long to wait for his revenge, being appointed Provost Martial by the British, on their occupation of the city, in charge of the American prisoners confined in the jail near the very spot where he had felt the force of the stout arms of the Liberty Boys. A month after this affair, Captain Sears was arrested for an inflammatory speech at the liberty-pole, in which he called upon the people to arm, after which he proceeded to stop the sailing of a sloop laden with straw and lumber, intended for the use of the British troops at Boston. Refusing to give bail, Sears was being taken to prison, when he was rescued by the populace and conducted in triumph through the city. The news of the battle of Lexington came quickly upon these events, and was followed by the most decided action on the part of the patriots of New York. They seized upon the arms at the City Hall, and, led by Lamb, Sears and others, detained all vessels bound to the eastward, and took possession of the Custom House. A Committee of Safety of One Hundred was appointed, whose first duty was to look after the cannon and firearms in the city, to prevent their being used against the people. So little effort had there been on the part of the authorities at the Fort to compel submission, that when, in January, the last of the garrison were ordered to Boston, and were about taking their departure with a quantity of arms in boxes, the latter were seized by a party of the Sons of Liberty, headed by Marinus Willett, and carried back to the deserted Fort George. It was about this time, on the night of the 10th of May, that Myles Cooper, the President of King's College, who had become obnoxious to the popular party by his writings and personal efforts on behalf of the Crown, was visited at the college by a mob, intent on revenge. He would doubtless have been roughly handled had not time been gained for his escape by a speech from the steps by Alexander Hamilton, then a student. Half dressed, he wandered about the shores of the Hudson the remainder of the night, till, at morning, he found shelter in the old Stuyvesant mansion in the Bowery, whence he was taken at evening on board the Kingfisher, a vessel-of-war in the harbor, in which he escaped to England. On the anniversary of the event, the next year, Cooper, who was an accomplished wit, told the story in verse in the Gentleman's Magazine. He never returned to America. After a residence at Oxford he officiated at Edinburgh, where he died in 1785. Governor Tryon being at this time in England, Lieutenant-governor Colden, now in extreme age, nearing his departure, nominally held the authority. The Provincial Congress, formed rather for deliberation than for war, was compelled by the rapid progress of events to act; there was some effort at enlistment, and fortifications were projected at Kingsbridge and at the Highlands. General Wooster, of Connecticut, who commanded 1,800 militia at Greenwich, summoned to the defense of New York, came and encamped at Harlem. A portion of his troops occupied the Common. Government military stores at Turtle Bay were seized upon by an adventurous party directed by the leaders of the Sons of Liberty. The Revolution was rapidly being organized. after was fought the battle of Bunker Hill. On the 25th the Provincial Congress were in something of a dilemma. The arrival of two distinguished persons was expected in the city, each of whom the perplexed Congress, slow to read the signs of the times, was ready to receive with friendly ceremonial. George Washington was on his way to join the National Army at Cambridge, and Governor Tryon was returning to his Province from England. The fear was lest they should both arrive together, when a choice between the two would be imperative. The militia were ordered to receive the first comer and "wait on both, as well as circumstances would allow." Happily, Washington arrived before the Governor, and received the first attention. Tryon came some hours later, in the evening, and was welcomed with the customary congratulations, the last echo of the old shouts of loyalty. Washington remained a day in the city, and was presented with a neat address by the Provincial Congress, in which, with some cautious words of compliment, the expression was conveyed of "the fullest assurances that whenever this important contest shall be decided by that fondest wish of every American soul, an accommodation with our mother country, you will cheerfully resign the important deposit committed into your hands, and reassume the character of our worthiest citizen." Nothing could have been more after Washington's own heart than the last suggestion-it was quite unnecessary. Accepting the attention, Washington responded, kindly saying that "when we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen," and, careful not to impart the idea of independence, substituted for "accommodation with our mother country" the promise that his exertions would be given "to the re-establishment of peace and harmony between the mother country and these colonies." An address to Governor Tryon, breathing something of the old spirit of loyalty and affection, was prepared by the Common Council, but its delivery was forbidden by the Provincial Congress, so there was no formal presentation, as had been proposed. A copy, however, had been left with the Governor by Whitehead Hicks, the successor of Cruger in the Mayoralty, to which a reply was made. A few days after, Tryon reported to the Earl of Dartmouth the "most degraded situation in which the general revolt had put His Majesty's Civil Governors." No aid was to be expected from the usual local administration. Everything was now referred to the Continental Congress. Of one thing he was fully assured: the country would maintain the main issue of the struggle. "Oceans of blood," he writes, may be spilt, but, in my opinion, America will never receive Parliamentary taxation."* He was now concerned for his personal safety. Three days after, on the 7th, he applies to the earl for discretionary leave to return to England-"It being very probable I may either be taken prisoner as a state hostage, or obliged to retire on board one of His Majesty's shipsof-war to avoid the insolence of an inflamed mob." The Fort being without a garrison, there was no military control of the city save by the ship-of-war Asia, commanded by Captain George Vandeput, the only Royal vessel at the time in the harbor. On the 13th of July one of her boats was seized and set on fire, an outrage which seems to *Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth, 4th July, 1775. On the 15th of June the Continental Congress ap- Col. Doc. VIII., 589. BISHOP SEABURY. have been lamented alike by Common Council, General Committee, and Provincial Congress. A new boat, to be given in restitution, was partly finished, when it was cut in pieces in the night.* * In the following month the Asia was brought into direct conflict with the people. Lamb, who had been commissioned a captain of artillery, was sent on the evening of the 23d to remove the cannon from the battery below Fort George. He was accompanied on this service by part of an independent corps, under Colonel Lasher, and a body of citizens led by the ever-ready Sears. Young Hamilton also was with them, with a number of his fellow-students in the college, whom he had been engaged in drilling. On their arrival at the battery the party found a barge and crew of the Asia lying under the Fort, evidently in expectation of the movement. From the boat a musket was fired upon the citizens, which was met with a volley, killing and wounding several. The barge then returned to the Asia, which opened a heavy cannonade upon the party; several were wounded, and houses in the vicinity, among others Sam Fraunces' tavern, in Broad Street, were injured by the shock. The city bells were rung, there was a general alarm as if the city were to be destroyed, numbers fled to the country; but in the midst of the confusion the original object, the removal of the twenty-one pieces of ordnance at the battery, was deliberately accomplished. After this it was not to be wondered at * Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth, 7th August, 1775, JAMES DUANE, SON OF LIBERTY." that provisions for the Asia were to be obtained with great difficulty. Tryon complains that a boat "carrying only some milk on board," was burnt on her return to shore; and a country sloop, for a similar offense, shared the same fate. The Governor, warned by the unruly spirit of the day, in October entered into correspondence with Mayor Hicks respecting his personal safety in the city. The Common Council, with the General Committee, assured him that there was no danger in remaining, the latter entreating that "his Excellency would continue his residence among the people, who have the most grateful sense of his upright and disinterested administration." Tryon, however, thinking these good words insufficient for his security, went on board the Halifax packet in the harbor, whence he presently removed to the ship Duchess SAM FRAUNCES' TAVERN, STRUCK BY THE "ASIA." of Gordon, where he received the friends of Government, who entertained him with favorable views of the situation. "It is certain," he writes to the Earl of Dartmouth, on the 11th of November, "that within this fortnight the spirit of rebellion in this Province, especially in the city, has greatly abated, and we wait now for only 5,000 regulars to open our commerce and restore our valuable constitution." As a sedative to these cheerful anticipations, he has presently, in another dispatch, to communicate "a fresh outrage from the Connecticut people"; how "near one hundred of their horsemen, with Isaac Sears, Samuel Broom, and other turbulent fellows, at their |