Diary of the American revolution from newspapers and original documents |
| I. | DIARY OF THE REVOLUTION. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| 1 | VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
 | DIARY OF THE REVOLUTION. Diary of the American revolution |  |
DIARY OF THE REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER I.
January 1.—The chief troubles of our Israel[1]
are the Philantrops,
the Hazlerods, the Sir
Froths, the Tims, the Bens,
and the Bobs. These are men, who, for large
to do wickedly. The barbarians who have been aiding
and assisting bad governors and abandoned ministers, in all
their attempts to subjugate and enslave these once happy colonies:
the hireling prostitutes who have been constantly
representing to ministry that the friends of liberty were a
small, insignificant, divided faction; that the people had not
virtue to sacrifice any parts of the profits of their trade, or the
luxury of their living for the sake of their country; or spirit
to withstand the least exertion of power. These are traitors
who were for none but licensed town-meetings,[3] and gave administration
the outlines of the execrable Boston Port Bill and
the other detestable bills for destroying the charter,[4] and those
sacred compacts which Americans once thought were of some
value, the faith of kings being the security. These are the
unblushing advocates for pensioned governors, dependent
judges, hired attorneys, and sheriff created jurors, that the
people might, under color of law, be stript of their property,
without their consent, and suitably punished if they should
dare to complain: the odious rebels, who, for the support of
these hateful measures, have invited the troops and ships,
that are now distressing the inhabitants of Boston, and alarming
when almost every event has turned out contrary to their predictions,
and when it might be reasonably expected that the
union of the colonies, the resolutions of the Continental Congress,
and the late associations and preparations to withstand
all hostile attempts upon our persons or properties, might lead
administration to suspect at least the policy or safety of pushing
this people to extremities; we find this infamous cabal
playing over the old game of ministerial deception, and Timothy
Ruggles[5] with a gravity peculiar to himself and an owl,
asserting in the public prints—"that though
many of the people had for some time past been
arming, their numbers would not appear in the field so large
as imagined, before it was known that independeney was the
object in contemplation;"[7] and further, that since that time,
many associated in divers parts of the province, to support
what he calls "Government."—But the views and designs of
these pensioned prostitutes of Massachusetts,—in all that they
say or write, are perfectly kenned by the most short-sighted
amongst us. In vain are their scare-crows, raw-head and
bloody bones, held up to deter us from taking the most effectual
means for our security. The little scribbling, illiberal
will not lessen the Continental Congress in our
esteem; or retard the measures they have recommended,
notwithstanding the sums paid to effect it. These
writers, and their attempts to encourage or mislead, are
treated with ineffable contempt by their countrymen. It has,
however, been unhappy for both countries that the representations
and projects of such men as these have been heeded
and adopted on the other side of the Atlantic; men whose
very livings have depended upon the continuation of those
measures which Americans have so long complained of, and
sought to have redressed. If these unnaturals should succeed
in their present misleading attempts, to the preventing a
speedy close to our differences, we shall then have good reason
to conclude that blindness has happened to Britons, that the
fulness of American Liberty might come in.[10]
January 3.—This morning, Mr. John Case, an old man of
near sixty years of age, from Long Island, was entreated by an
acquaintance of his
to go to the house of Jasper Drake, tavern-keeper
near Beekman's Slip, where he was told Captain
McD—l,[11]
Captain S—s,[12]
and others wanted to converse
with him on politics. He went, and soon entered
into conversation
with Captain McD—l, who attempted to convince
him that he was in an
error, but not being able to effect it,
politely left him. Captain S—s, with
several
of their eloquence and noise, but Case said he was an unlearned
man, and but of few words,—that he could not reply
to above one. That he judged, however, the fairest way to
come at the truth would be to recur to the origin of the present
contest between Great Britain and the Colonies, and to
trace from the time of the stamp act, the encroachments of
ministerial power, and the increasing demands for provincial
privileges. This was objected to by Captain S—s, as it
would require too much time and attention to discuss. He
whether the king had not violated his coronation oath? Mr.
Case replied, that he thought he had not, and reasoned on this
and other matters in as cool a manner as possible, in order not
to irritate Captain S—s, who, however, soon grew warm,
and branded Case with the appellation of Tory, and told him
that if he was in Connecticut government he would be put to
death. S—s then demanded of Case whether, if the Bostonians
were to take up arms, he would fight for the king?
Case answered, that if he fought on either side, he would certainly
fight for no one else, as he conceived King George to
be his lawful sovereign, for the minister a few days before
prayed for our rightful sovereign Lord King George the Third,
on which S—s replied he was sorry that he had turned
churchman, where such prayers were used; Case replied,
these expressions were delivered the preceding Sunday by
Dr. Rodgers[14] at the Presbyterian meeting, for he himself was
a Presbyterian. After a few more queries and replies of a
similar nature, S—s told him that he would not suffer a
Tory to sit in company with gentlemen, placed a chair in the
chimney corner, caught Case by the arm, and forced him into
it. He then called for a negro boy, who belonged to the
house, and ordered him to sit along with him; for that he
(Case) was only fit to sit in company with slaves; but the
negro had too much understanding to comply. Mr. Case then
called for some wine, and offered it to the company, but
S—s refused to accept of it, pushed him down in the chair
where he before had placed him, and ordered the rest not to
drink with a Tory; and further, that whoever spoke to Case,
should forfeit a bowl of toddy, which was exacted by him
from two persons who happened to disobey his mandates.
S—s then told Case that his age protected him, for if he
was a young man, he would have placed him on a red-hot
gridiron; and after he had detained this old man as long as
he thought proper, he dismissed him.[15]
January 5.—The professorship lately instituted by our
most gracious sovereign, at King's College in New York, is to
be held by a tutor of
the college, at the same time
be to deliver annual lectures in defence of the Christian, and
on the principles of natural religion. His title, the Regius
Professor of Divinity, with a salary from the Crown. An incontestable
evidence this, of his Majesty's desire of supporting
the Christian religion in America, as it is in England, by
annual lectures in its defence.[17]
January 8.—A letter from London of a late date, says,
Lord North behaves with the greatest firmness and composure,
and is resolutely
determined to carry his point
any tales of congresses and combinations in America. The
Duke of Richmond has positively declared his
opinion, that the colonies have proceeded to such
unjustifiable lengths, their pretensions cannot any longer be
supported; and that the constitutional authority of Parliament
over them must be maintained; and that this is the language
of most people of England.[20]
January 9.—A writer in England gives the following advice
to administration with respect to America: "Let authority
give way to prudence; dignity is supported
thousand manufacturers is of more importance than a shadowy
authority; the lives of our fellow-subjects, descended from
ourselves, and though born in a distant climate, are dear to
us. One passionate resolve may sacrifice a million of British
subjects, and subject this nation and its dependencies to ruin,
and those who framed it to everlasting infamy. More is at
stake than many comprehend; those who say otherwise are
ignorant, or foes in disguise."[22]
January 10.—This evening was married by the Reverend
Doctor Auchmuty, Mr. Joseph Dillon, son of Captain Dillon,
to Miss Joanna Van Horne, daughter of Mr. Garret
Van Horne, late an eminent merchant of this city; a very
amiable and truly deserving young lady.[24]
The people of Marblehead, Massachusetts, met to-day and
resolved, that, as a great number of the inhabitants of that
the charter and constitution of that province,
as well as the rights and liberties of all America, in order
thereto it is necessary that they should be properly disciplined
and instructed in the art of war; they also ordered that
a committee of fifteen be appointed to attend to the conduct
of the ministerial tools and Jacobites in that town, and to report
their names to the town, that effectual measures may be
taken to silence them in the future, or expel them from the
community.[26]
January 12.—This day, his Majesty's frigate, the Kingfisher,
Captain Montague, went up to Turtle Bay to lay
there
for the winter season.[27]
At a late meeting of exotics, styled The Sons of Liberty, in
New York, the pamphlet entitled "Farmer A. W.'s View of
the controversy between Great
Britain and the Colonies," &c.,
published last week by Mr. Rivington, was
introduced by one
of the mushrooms, and after a few pages being read to the
company, they agreed nem. con. to commit it to the flames,
without
the benefit of clergy; though many, very many indeed,
could
neither write nor read; however, their common
executioner immediately threw it into the
fire, where it was
consumed, and its spiritual part ascended in vapor, to the
even in idea.[28]
January 17.—The Provincial Congress of South Carolina
met on the 11th instant, and have continued in session, Sundays
not excepted, until to-day. They have shut up the courts
of law; no process is to
issue in civil cases, and all proceedings
had, since the return day, September 20, 1774, are to be
staid. This is such a step
as no other province has yet taken.[29]
A correspondent says:—"The violent party in Philadelphia
are greatly crest-fallen; they see with inexpressible chagrin
the numbers of their former adherents which they lose
every day. The Pennsylvania
Farmer, a gentleman of great
discernment, and possessed of a very large estate, has
deserted
them, greatly alarmed at the length our committee are carrying
matters; he has declared he will not meet them any more,
and he does not declare
alone."[30]
Another writer observes, that the cause of the enemies of
American liberty must needs be in a most desperate condition,
since they have recourse to the most infamous acts and
falsehoods to carry their
point. Of these he instances a long
catalogue, among which are the
following:—That the people
in several colonies are deserting the cause of their
country and
joining its enemies to enslave it. That several of the most
eminent
patriots had deserted the cause, particularly the
Philadelphia farmer—who
remains the same invariable friend
he has ever been to his country and mankind, and is
now one
of the delegates for the province of Pennsylvania, to meet
next May in
general Congress."[31]
January 19.—The Governor of Connecticut called his
counsel together on the 4th instant; their deliberations are
kept very secret; but we are
told they have ordered three
3 John Dickinson.
hundred barrels of gunpowder, and lead in proportion, to be
purchased at the public
expense. The militia in the whole
colony is mustered every week, and in most towns they
have
a deserter from his Majesty's forces, by way of drill sergeant.
Nothing but a
spirit of independence would suffer matters to
be carried to such extremities, as make
all prudent inhabitants
fear that our parchment will soon totter.[32]
January 20.—A little after ten o'clock this evening, two
young men passing down Milk street, near the entrance into
in the English, but as they supposed in another
language, which they did not understand; they asked him
what he meant; he replied he meant to tell them to go about
their business. They had not gone far before the officer called
to them to stop. They stopped till he came up to them, and
angry words ensued. The young men, however, parted from
him the second time, and went on their way towards their
homes. The officer followed and overtook them near the head
of the lane, and stopped them again, telling them he supposed
they were stiff Americans; to which one of them said he
gloried in the character. Here again words ensued, and the
officer drew his sword, flourished it and struck one of the
young men on the arm, who immediately seized him. At this
juncture, three or four of the town watch, who were upon the
patrol, came up and separated them, advising them to go
home. The two young men did so, but the officer refused,
saying he was prisoner of the watch and would go with them;
they told him he was not their prisoner, but might go where
he pleased, and if he desired it, they would see him safe home:
but he insisted upon it that he was their prisoner. The watchmen
went down the lane towards their head-quarters in King
street, where they had been going before, and the officer accompanied
them. In the way they met with several persons,
whom they took to be servants of officers, who, supposing the
officer to be in custody of the watch, attempted to rescue him,
were his friends, and he would go with them. They then
went forward, and in Quaker Lane, which leads into King
street, they were met and assaulted by more than twenty
officers of the army, who took several of their watch poles
from them, and wounded some of them.[34]
January 23.—This morning a detachment of about one
hundred and twenty soldiers from the army in Boston, under
the command of Captain
Balfour, were embarked
from that place. We are at a loss for the occasion of this extraordinary
manœuvre, as all of our accounts from Marshfield
injury had been offered any of the Tories. A few persons
there, it is said, who have rendered themselves disagreeable
and contemptible to their neighbors, have taken it into their
heads to make complaint to General Gage for military protection.
In this they have engaged a number of idle young fellows,
and some negroes to join them. The letters from thence
state that the numbers and quality of the petitioners are despicable.
Some inhabitants not unfriendly to the Tory cause,
signified their disapprobation of this measure. The sending
soldiers alarms and irritates the country; but what service the
Tory cause is to receive from this step, time will discover.[37]
January 25.—A despicable pamphlet lately published in
Boston, now commonly called the "Grey Maggot," has as-
made for the conduct of the Continental Congress
in adopting the Suffolk resolves, was that they came into this
vote immediately after drinking thirty-two bumpers of Madeira,
of which the next morning, when their heads were cool,
they were ashamed, and then prudently determined not to do
the business till after dinner for the future!" If it would not
offend the characters of that truly august assembly to take so
much notice of this most impudent and false assertion, as
seriously to contradict it, we would say, that it appears from the
minutes of the Congress, that as they sat till late in the afternoon,
they never did any business after dinner, and that the
Suffolk resolves were acted upon Saturday, in the forenoon.
From this instance the public may see to what an astonishing
height of unblushing falsehood and the basest calumny against
the most respectable characters, the enemies of our common
rights have now attained; and how ready they are to perform
any dirty drudgery for the sake of procuring or preserving a
titled or lucrative place.[39]
Saturday last, after a few days' illness, died at Philadelphia,
in the fifty-fourth year of his age, universally lamented,
and for some time mayor of that city, which
offices he filled with unsullied reputation. In
short, benevolence marked his character, and virtue in him
wore her most amiable dress, being constantly exercised in
love towards his family, uprightness in his dealings, sincerity
in his friendships, cheerfulness in his conversation, and an
earnest desire to promote peace and happiness around him.
This day his remains were deposited in the family vault in
Christ' church burying-ground, attended by a very large
number of respectable citizens. The funeral was conducted
agreeable to the resolves of the Continental Congress.[41]
"Those who have turned the least part of their attention to
history," says a writer in England, "will find a strong similitude
between us at the present time and the
period were more luxurious, dissipated, and fanciful in dress,
equipage, arts, &c., than at any other time—so are we. Suicide
more peculiarly marked that era—so it does ours. Their
emperors held the dignity of government in such open contempt
that they frequently made their horses consuls. Ours,
in this last point, goes beyond them, by making asses senators;
yet with all this, the form of government was supported.
—Alas! ours at present is nothing but a form."[43]
January 27.—In the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts,
eleven persons were chosen to observe the actions of the Tories,
and make report from
time to time, what they can hear and
observe.[44]
January 28.—Yesterday the house, barn, and barrack of
Jacob Van Binschola, of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, was
The villainous action was perpetrated by a negro fellow belonging
to the family, who some time before had been corrected
by his master. Confessing his guilt, he has been tried and
burnt to-day.[45]
February 1.—This day the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts,
met at Cambridge, and the Hon. John Hancock
was
chosen president.[46]
Fasting and prayer, appointed by authority, throughout
the
colony of Connecticut, "to implore the divine mercy at this
dark and critical time." A number of Tories belonging
to the town of Stamford, in that colony,
met at a certain tavern to spend the day in regaling themselves,
and, as their manner commonly is upon such occasions, testifying
their loyalty to the king, by disobeying the proclamation
of his Governor. They received intelligence of some casks
of powder, which a carman was entrusted with, for the use of
the colony. Of this they gave immediate information to an
under officer of the customs, who seized the powder, and
ordered it to his own house.[48]
February 3.—A number of men from a distant town
having heard of the seizure of the powder at Stamford, went
manner to the house where the powder was
lodged, which they entered without opposition, and having
found it, rode off with the casks, without any bad consequences,
saving a plentiful discharge of Billingsgate from the
mortified disappointed faction, and the no small consternation
of the informers, who upon the first news of the company's
approach, ran off with great trepidation, and hid themselves
until all was over.[50]
February 9.—Yesterday some gentlemen were dining
together at a house in New York, and in the course of the
conversation, one of the
company frequently used
they dined, asked him, `Pray, Mr. —, what is a Tory?'
He replied, `A Tory is a thing whose head is in England, and
its body in America, and its neck ought to be stretched.'[52]
February 16.—On Thursday morning, the 2d instant, the
ship James, Captain Watson, arrived at New York from
Glasgow, with a cargo of coals and dry goods, but
by the tenth article of the association of the Continental Congress,[54]
a strict watch was constantly kept, by some of the subcommittee,
and a number of inhabitants, to prevent the landing
of any goods, in a clandestine manner; and the captain
was requested to procure such necessaries as he might stand in
need of, and immediately quit the port. With this request,
hope from the assurances of a number of ministerial tools, who
promised to support him, that his cargo would be landed; for
which purpose they employed a few vagrants to go on board
the ship, which then lay in the harbor, and bring the colors
on shore, with a view of raising a posse, to assist in landing
the goods; but the banditti that were collected for this purpose
were soon suppressed by the inhabitants, who are for
supporting the association, and who began to assemble in great
numbers; upon which the captain, conceiving the ship to be
in great danger, sent the mate on shore, requesting assistance
to get her under sail, as the seamen refused to do that duty.
This request being complied with, they immediately got her
under weigh, and fell down about four miles below the city,
where she remained, attended by a boat, with a member of the
committee and some of the townsmen on board, till last Thursday
night (9th), when she was again brought into the harbor,
by an officer and a number of men belonging to his Majesty's
ship King Fisher; which ship it is supposed came down from
Turtle Bay expressly for the purpose of protecting her, and
intimidating the inhabitants.
As soon as it was known that the ship was coming up
again, the people, highly
exasperated, began to assemble together
in great numbers, and immediately went to the captain's
lodgings; seized him, and after conducting him through
many of the principal
streets, attended by a prodigious concourse
of people, he was, without suffering the least hurt or
injury, put on board a boat,
with some hands to row him, and
sent off. His ship then lying at anchor ten miles below
the
town, he went on board the man-of-war, which lay in the harbor,
where his own ship did not arrive until the next morning,
when she
came to anchor under the cannon of the King Fisher.
In this situation matters remained
until Saturday, when they
began to unmoor the ship, intending to get under sail, but
were prevented by the lieutenant of the man-of-war, who
hailed the ship, and
demanded if they had a clearance. Being
assured in the negative he ordered them not to
unmoor. This
obstruction greatly exasperated a number of people that were
captain of the King Fisher, to know by what authority he
detained the ship, but they could not meet with him; he was,
however, soon after waited upon, by one of the gentlemen to
whom the ship was consigned, and on being informed of the
lieutenant's conduct, and asked his reasons for detaining her,
he replied that he had nothing to do with her, and immediately
gave orders to let her pass. Accordingly she got
under sail the next morning about ten o'clock, accompanied
by a boat, with two of the committee and a number of inhabitants
on board; which boat, after taking out the pilot, left her
at two o'clock P. M., about a league to the southward of Sandy
Hook, with a fresh gale, and at half-past four o'clock she was
out of sight.
As every artifice has been used, and a variety of manœuvres
put in practice,
by a set of ministerial hirelings, to procure the
landing of the cargo of this ship, it
must give real pleasure to
every lover of his country to observe that the good people of
New York are determined to support the association of the
general Congress at all
events.[55]
It appears that the inhabitants of Maryland are all in
motion;
forming county meetings, choosing committees of
observation to carry into effectual
execution,
recommended by the grand Continental Congress, and forming
companies to learn the art military. Anne Arundel county,
including the citizens of Annapolis, have resolved that every
person who should refuse to contribute to the purchase of
arms and ammunition for the use of that county, before the
first of this month (Feb.), shall be deemed an enemy to
America, and his name published in the Maryland Gazette.
The General Assembly of New Jersey have approved of the
proceedings of the Continental Congress, and instructed their
delegates to propose and agree to every reasonable and constitutional
measure for the accommodation of the unhappy differences
at present subsisting between the mother country and
the colonies.[57]
The members of the Philadelphia committee of correspondence
deny the rumors reflecting on their patriotism.[58]
While the county delegates were in session at Fairfield,
Connecticut, the day before yesterday, the following toast
town:—Addition to Whigs; Subtraction to
Tories; Multiplication to the friends of Liberty, and Division
to the enemies of America.[60]
February 17.—It is said that at least three-fourths of
the people in Cortlandt's manor, New York, have declared
measures,[62] that a great number of the people
like, and that the association against the Continental Congress
has been signed by three hundred persons in the neighborhood
of Poughkeepsie only. Many lists are sent about Dutchess
county, on which also many hundreds have subscribed.[63]
On Friday last, at Messrs. Sharp and Curtenius's furnace,
in
New York, a cylinder was cast for the steam-engine of the
waterworks now in course of
erection in that city. This is
the first performance of the kind ever attempted in
America,
and allowed by judges to be extremely well executed.[64]
February 18.—A few days ago a riot occurred at Elizabethtown
in Jersey. The scene opened between twelve and one
o'clock, with seizing a poor
Staten Islander, for
ever loyal island were supposed to have been ready to assist
in landing some goods from Captain Watson's Scotch ship,
which lately left New York, and is departed with his cargo
for Jamaica, having arrived at New York after the first of
February, the day limited by the Congress for the importation
of goods. The man's boat was dragged ashore, and his oysters
distributed to the hungry vagabonds, who were visibly
headed in the centre of the town, by Jonathan
Hampton, a Justice of the Peace, a Judge of the
county court, and chairman of the committee. Hampton was
the man who attempted lately to obstruct the passage of his
Majesty's royal regiment of Ireland, over the ferries, and prevented
wagons from carrying their baggage; this same
Hampton was the man who raised a riot lately in Sussex county,
attacked a peddler, and destroyed his property. About four
o'clock, when the mob discharged the poor oyster man, they
proceeded to abuse all the people in the town who were
known to be well affected to the constitution; they erected a
gallows, in order more particularly to insult them, and fixed
up a liberty pole in the middle of the town. It must be observed,
that the worshipful Judge, Jonathan Hampton, was,
the honor of the police, it must be recorded, that two of the
aldermen, Messrs. Blanchard and Dayton, exerted themselves
greatly to suppress those violences, but they were only able to
check them. Two of the Delegates contributed towards a collection
that was made for their ever-staunch friends the mob.
Mr. Alderman Blanchard ordered the gallows to be demolished,
after it had existed two hours; and their deity, the liberty
pole, was struck by an order from the committee, without the
consent of that exemplary and able guarantee of American
freedom, the righteous and immaculate Judge Jonathan Hampton.
This was a glorious day to the sons of licentiousness; and
it was also a glorious day
to the sons of loyalty; for it has
made in Elizabethtown more proselytes to the side of
order
and government, than all the other endeavors that have been
exerted to abate
the fever of the times.[67]
Last night, Mr. John Schoonmaker, being in bed at his
house in
Ulster county, New York, overheard the follow-
and a negro named Joe, belonging to Mr. Johannes
Schoonmaker. "York. How many?—Joe. A great
many.—York. From where?—Joe. From Keyserick, Hurley,
and Kingstown.—York. How much powder have they?—Joe.
Two pounds.—York. That is not enough, they should have
more to get through with it, and drums enough to prevent
hearing the cries. They will begin two at your house, two at
John De Puis, and in proportion, more at other houses. It
will be put in execution between this and Wednesday night.
When once begun we must go through with it. We are to
set fire to the houses, and stand at the doors and the windows
to receive the people as they come out."[69]
February 20.—The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts
Bay has resolved: that the great law of self-preservation calls
upon the
inhabitants of that colony, immediately
made to attack them by surprise. And, upon serious deliberation,
most earnestly recommended to the militia in general,
as well as the detached part of it in minute-men, that they
spare neither time, pains, nor expenses, at so critical a juncture,
in perfecting themselves forthwith in military discipline;
and that skilful instructors be provided for those companies
which are not already provided therewith. It also recommends
to the towns and districts in that colony, that they encourage
such persons as are skilled in the manufactory of fire-arms and
bayonets, diligently to apply themselves there for supplying
such of the inhabitants as shall be deficient.
They have since adjourned to the twenty-second of next
month, then to meet at Concord,
an inland town, about eighteen
miles from Boston.[71]
February 23.—Some time ago a Presbyterian minister, not
far distant from North Haven, Connecticut, applied to a lieutenant
of the militia to step into the market and
performing the manual exercise; the officer declined it, but
being repeatedly pressed to a compliance, consented. The
minister declared he had practised the military exercises with
an intention of going to Boston against the King's troops, if
there should be occasion for his service. Having taken post
in the market, he shouldered, faced, marched, and performed
all the motions with much exactness, to the great delight of a
this part of the world,[73] and on all occasions insults the name and
government of our most gracious sovereign, and bids defiance
to the law. This republican thanked the divine for his fine
performance, applauded his gallant resolutions, and conducted
him to enjoy a mug of flip, at his own house. A gentleman
passing by, whilst the puritan was exhibiting à la militaire,
asked him if he had quite forsaken his spiritual for a soldier's
profession, on which the crowd menaced him with the discipline
of tar and feathers, but the former secured himself by a
precipitate retreat.[74]
It appears that the upper House of the Georgia Assembly,
though they say they disapprove of some of the measures
maintain their rights and liberties; while the
lower House declare, "they should be insensible not to feel
their numerous grievances and wish them redressed, and that
they only contend for the enjoyment of their constitutional
rights and liberties, which soften every care of life, and render
existence itself desirable."[76]
February 27.—Some time ago, Dr. Clarke, of Reading, a
gentleman distinguished by a firm attachment to the king and
Hartford, Connecticut, and to the indelible digrace
of their police, carried upon a rail about the parish,
under which cruelty he several times fainted. When dismissed
by his tormentors, and examined by Dr. Tidmarsh, he
was found to be injured in a manner unfit for description.
The doctor was menaced with the same treatment for his humanity
to the sufferer, whose only crime was speaking in
terms of respect of the king, and of his government.[78]
February 28.—Last Sunday an attempt was made by a
regiment of the king's troops, under Colonel Leslie, to seize
some brass cannon which
General Gage had
The troops were sent to Marblehead in a transport, apparently
manned as usual. Between two and three o'clock
in the afternoon, as soon as the people had gone to meeting,
the decks were covered with soldiers, who having loaded, and
fixed their bayonets, landed with great despatch; and instantly
marched off. Some of the inhabitants suspecting they were
bound to Salem, to seize some materials there preparing for an
artillery, despatched several messengers to give information of
it. These materials were on the north side of the North River,
and to come at them it was necessary to cross a bridge, one
part of which was made to draw up to let vessels pass. The
inhabitants kept a look out for the appearance of the troops.
The vanguard arrived, and took their route down town as far
as the long wharf; perhaps to decoy the inhabitants thither,
away from the place to which the main body was destined.
The main body arrived soon after and halted a few minutes by
the town-house. It is said inquiry was immediately made by
some of the officers, for a half-brother of Colonel Browne,[80] the
in the Colonel's car, in the front of the regiment, and
when he parted from the Colonel, the regiment marched with
a quick pace towards the north bridge; just before their entering
upon which the bridge was pulled up. The regiment,
however, pushed on till they came to the bridge, not observing
(as it seemed) that it was drawn up. The Colonel expressed
some surprise, and turning about, ordered an officer to face his
company to a body of men standing on the wharf on the other
side of the drawbridge, and to fire. One of the townsmen[81]
(who had kept along side of the colonel from the time he
marched from his own house) told him he had better not fire,
that he had no right to fire, without further orders, and if you
do fire (said he) you will all be dead men. The company
neither faced nor fired.
The Colonel then retired to the centre of his regiment, assembled
his officers, and held a consultation; which being
ended, he advanced a little, and
declared he would maintain
his ground, and go over the bridge if it was a month first.
The same townsman replied, he might stay there as long as he
pleased, no one cared
for that. The half-brother before mentioned
(it is said) made towards the bridge, but seeing the
drawbridge
up, he said, "It is all over with us." He has
since disappeared. Meanwhile two large
gondolas that lay
aground (for it was low water) were scuttled, lest
they should
cross the channel in them. But whilst one gentleman with
his assistants
was scuttling his own gondola, a party of about
twenty soldiers jumped into it, and with
their bayonets
charged against the unarmed townsmen (some of whom they
pricked), and compelled them to quit it; but before this a
sufficient hole was
made in the bottom. This attack of the
soldiers, and some other occurrences, occasioned a
little bickering,
disputes subsided.
At length some gentlemen asked the Colonel what was his
design in making this movement,
and why he would cross the
bridge? He said he had orders to cross it, and he would
cross it if he lost his life with the lives of all his men; and
asked why the king's
highway was obstructed? He was told
it was not the king's road, but the property of the
inhabitants,
who had a right to do what they pleased with it. Finally the
Colonel
said he must go over; and if the bridge was let down
so as he might pass, he pledged his
honor he would not march
above thirty rods beyond it, and then immediately return.
The regiment had now been at the bridge about an hour
and an half, and every thing
being secured, the inhabitants
directed the bridge might be let down. The regiment immediately
passed over, marched a few rods, returned, and with
great expedition went back to
Marblehead,[82]
where they went
on board the transport without delay.[83]
It is regretted that an officer of Colonel Leslie's acknowledged
worth should be obliged, in obedience to his orders, to
were spread abroad respecting the troop; the
country was alarmed, and one company arrived in arms from
Danvers, just as the troops left the town. Messengers were
immediately despatched to the neighboring towns, to save them
the trouble of coming in; but the alarm flew like lightning
(and fame, doubtless, magnified the first simple reports),
so that great numbrs were in arms, and some on their march,
before the messengers arrived.[85]
A correspondent says:—"You may be assured there is a
most amazing change of
sentiments in the people of the
province of Pennsylvania. The Quakers, high and low
Dutch,
the Baptists, &c., are warmly opposed in their opinions to the
violent and independent measures lately adopted, and wish for
others more moderate,
prudent, and rational. And there is
the greatest prospect, that in a little time that
province will
recover its at present lost character for wisdom, moderation,
and
firmness."[86]
March 1.—The following "Petition" came to my hand by
accident; whether it is to be presented to the Assembly now
Committee, I cannot say. But it is certainly
going forward, and must convince every thinking person
that the measures of the late Congress were very weak,
wicked, and foolish, and that the opposition to them is much
more considerable and respectable than perhaps many have
imagined:
The Petition of divers Old Women of the
city of Philadelphia;
humbly sheweth:—That
your petitioners, as well spinsters
of tea, fear it will be utterly impossible for them to exhibit so
much patriotism as wholly to disuse it. Your petitioners beg
leave to observe, that, having already done all possible injury
to their nerves and health with this delectable herb, they shall
think it extremely hard not to enjoy it for the remainder of
their lives. Your petitioners would further represent, that
coffee and chocolate, or any other substitute hitherto proposed,
they humbly apprehend from their heaviness, must destroy
that brilliancy of fancy, and fluency of expression, usually
found at tea tables, when they are handling the conduct or
character of their absent acquaintances. Your petitioners are
also informed, there are several old women of the other sex,
laboring under the like difficulties, who apprehend the above
restriction will be wholly insupportable; and that it is a sacrifice
infinitely too great to be made to save the lives, liberties,
and privileges of any country whatever. Your petitioners,
therefore, humbly pray the premises may be taken into serious
consideration, and that they may be excepted from the resolution
adopted by the late Congress, wherein your petitioners
conceive they were not represented; more especially as your
petitioners only pray for an indulgence to those spinsters,
whom age or ugliness have rendered desperate in the expectation
of husbands; those of the married, where infirmities and
ill behavior have made their husbands long since tired of
them, and those old women of the male gender who will most
naturally be found in such company. And your petitioners
as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.[88]
March 2.—It is said that some people in Dutchess county,
New York, and others on the opposite side of Hudson river,
are engaged in a scheme
for establishing a port
in contemplation, where they say a few hundred pounds,
properly bestowed, in building docks and quays, will accommodate
fifty top-sail vessels. This plan, it seems, was projected
A suspicion, that the misconduct of the city merchants, under
the influence of the Congress, may soon cause the only port of
the province to be shut up, has now revived it. Should we
bring upon ourselves this punishment, it is imagined there
will be no difficulty in obtaining the privilege of a custom
house for the river; the consequence of which will be, that all
the country beyond it will be much benefited, and all the
estates within twenty miles of it will be vastly increased in
their value, and New York will finally and irrecoverably
lose one-half of its commerce. A large majority of the inhabitants
of the upper counties are well affected to government,
and it is thought that the above-mentioned scheme will soon
make proselytes of all the rest.[90]
Nothing has surprised people more than the Virginians
and
Marylanders joining, with so much warmth, with the New
ancient constitution, which has been the glory of
an Englishman in every part of the world. As there are
certainly no nations under the heavens more opposite to each
other than the inhabitants of these colonies, it would be very
difficult to account for it on the principles of religion or
sound policy, had not the Virginians plainly discovered their
indifference to both; so highly revered by their illustrious
ancestors.[92]
March 2.—New York, after being one of the most refractory
cities on the continent, is become the most submissive and
barracks for the army, but also supply the
troops with every necessary of life. Lately the Assembly
voted money for the current year, and, notwithstanding the
passing the Stamp Act, and duties on paper, glass, painters'
yet that very assembly, when afterwards suffered to meet, immediately
granted fifteen hundred pounds to be invested in an
equestrian statue of his Majesty, on the arrival of which it was
erected on a square near the fort.[94] Yesterday being the anniversary
day of its erection, Governor Colden, with his
wretched council and assembly, the mayor, and aldermen,
with the military, went in procession to the spot, where, after
surrounding the leaden horse and his rider, the common crier
made proclamation for the whole company to be uncovered,
when an oration was made by the town clerk, in which he
recited the many blessings they enjoy under this pious reign,
after which they drank his Majesty's health, and returned to
their respective homes amidst the hisses of the people.
The wretches above mentioned met in council and assembly,
have by a majority voted not to obey the General Congress
resolution, but to protest against and oppose all the continent
of America, who are making so noble a stand in defence
of their liberty, while the
people wish to do the same. But
they are unhappily in the hands of dependent placemen,
contractors,
informers, a refugee Roman Catholic family,
and
others, the veriest reptiles on earth. New York, therefore, is
the only colony
on which the British junto must rely to enslave
America.[95]
A few days ago, as the thirty-eighth regiment were marching
out of Boston, by way of exercising their men, a countryman
drove his horses right across the street in front of the
ranks. One of the officers
(Lieutenant House) putting his
hand to the horses' heads to turn them,
the countryman made
a blow at him, missed him, and struck one of the soldiers.
On
their march back, the soldier seeing the same man, returned
his compliment with the soft end of his firelock, upon
which the fellow, bleeding
like a pig, roared out, "Gentlemen,
you see what I suffer for the cause of liberty."[96]
March 4.—Last evening a number of persons who disapprove
of the proposal made by the committee for the city and
De la Montagnie, in that place, and after choosing
Mr. John Thurman chairman, proposed attempting to get
the business intended for next Monday, postponed until the
twentieth of April; and published a hand-bill desiring those
who were of their sentiments to meet them there on Monday
the sixth instant, at ten o'clock, and to proceed from thence to
the Exchange. A number of the friends of constitutional liberty,
hearing of the manœuvre, and apprehending a scheme
was on foot to defeat the design of sending delegates to the
Congress, met this evening and determined to support the
committee, of whose virtue and patriotism they have had
ample experience.[99]
MARCH 6.—This day[100]
the old South Meeting-house in Boston
was crowded with mobility and some
gentlemen. The select-
others, assembled in the pulpit, which was covered
with black, and we all sat gaping at one another above
an hour expecting! At last a single horse chair stopped at
the apothecary's opposite the meeting, from which descended
the orator of the day, (Warren,) and entering the shop, was
Toga, &c. Having robed himself, he proceeded across
the street to the meeting, and being received into the pulpit,
was announced by one of his fraternity to be the person appointed
to declaim on the occasion. He then, putting himself
into a Demosthenian posture, with a white handkerchief in his
right hand, and his left in his breeches, began and ended without
action. He was applauded by the mob, but groaned at
by the people of understanding. One of the pulpiteers
(Adams) then got up, and proposed the nomination of another
to speak next year, on the Bloody Massacre, (the first time
that expression was mentioned to the audience,) when some
officers cried, Oh fie, fie, fie! The gallerians apprehending
fire, fire, bounced out of the windows, and swarmed down the
gutters, like rats, into the street. The forty-third regiment returning
accidentally from exercise, with drums beating, threw
the whole body into the utmost consternation. There were
neither pageantry, exhibitions, processions, or bells tolling as
usual, and to-night is remarked for being the quietest these
many months past.[102]
Early this morning preparations were made for the meeting
at the Exchange in New York. A union flag with a red
field was hoisted on the
liberty-pole, where at
having got into proper readiness, about eleven began their
march to the Exchange. They were attended by music, and
two standard-bearers carrying a large union flag, with a blue
field, on which were the following inscriptions: On one side,
George III. Rex, and the Liberties of America; No Popery.
On the other, The Union of the Colonies, and the Measures
of the Congress.
Some time after they had arrived at the Exchange, came
also another company who had met
at the widow De la Montagnie's,
among whom were some
officers of the army and
navy, several of his Majesty's council, and those members of
consideration the proceedings of the Congress; together with
the officers of the customs, and other dependents on the court.
Soon after the parties met, some confusion arose, but it subsided
without any bad consequences.[104] The chairman of the
committee then proceeded to explain the design of the meeting;
after which he proposed the following questions: First,
Whether a certain number of persons shall be appointed and
authorized to meet such deputies as the counties may elect,
and join with them for the sole purpose of appointing out of
their body on the twentieth of April next, delegates for the
next Congress? Second, Whether this meeting will authorize
the committee to nominate eleven deputies for their approbation?
Both of which were carried in the affirmative.[105]
The meeting and the majority which determined these
questions are supposed to have been
the most numerous and
of any public proposal. The business of
the day being finished, the friends of freedom paraded
through one of the principal streets, to the liberty pole, and
then dispersed in the most quiet and orderly manner.[107]
This afternoon, at New York, as William Cunningham and
near the liberty-pole, to see a boxing match, but
had not stood long, when Cunningham was struck
at by Smith Richards, James Vandyke, and several others;
called Tory, and used in a most cruel manner by a mob of
above two hundred men. Mr. Hill coming up to his assistance,
was beaten and abused most barbarously, though neither
of them gave the least offence, except being on the king's
side of the question at the meeting this morning. The leaders
of this mob brought Cunningham under the liberty pole, and
told him to go down on his knees and damn his Popish king
George, and they would then set him free; but on the contrary,
he exclaimed, "God bless King George." They then
dragged him through the green, tore the clothes off his back,
and robbed him of his watch. They also insisted on Hill's
damning the king, but he refusing, was used in the same manner,
and were it not for some of the peace officers, viz., Captain
Welsh, John Taylor, William Dey, and Joseph Wilson,
together with — Goldstream, who rescued them from the
violence of this banditti, and brought them to the jail, for the
security of their persons from further injuries, they would
inevitably have been murdered.[109]
March 8.—A writer in Boston[110]
addresses the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts as follows:—
"Your assuming the government of Massachusetts Bay,
makes it unnecessary for me to make
any apology for address-
acquainting you that it is to represent to you the
distresses of some of those people, who, from a sense of their
duty to the king, and a reverence for his laws, have behaved
quietly and peaceably; and for which reason they have been
deprived of their liberty, abused in their persons, and suffered
such barbarous cruclties, insults, and indignities, besides the
loss of their property, by the hands of lawless mobs and riots,
The courts of justice being shut up in most parts
of the province, and the justices of those courts compelled by
armed force, headed by some who are members of your Congress,
to refrain from doing their duties, at present it is rendered
impracticable for those sufferers to obtain redress, unless
it be by your interposition, or the aid of military force, which
will be applied for in case this application fails. A particular
enumeration of all the instances referred to, is apprehended
unnecessary, as many of your members are personally knowing
to them, and for the information of any of you who may
pretend ignorance of them, the following instances are here
mentioned. In August last, a mob in Berkshire forced the
justices of the court of Common Pleas from their seats, and
shut up the court-house. They also drove David Ingersoll
from his house, and damaged the same, and he was obliged to
leave his estate; after which his enclosures were laid waste.
At Taunton, Daniel Leonard[112] was driven from his house, and
bullets fired into it by the mob, and he obliged to take refuge in
Boston, for the supposed crime of obeying his Majesty's requisition
as one of his council for this province. Colonel Gilbert,
of Freetown, a firm friend to government, in August last
being at Dartmouth, was attacked at midnight by a mob of
about an hundred, but by his bravery, with the assistance of
the family where he lodged, they were beaten off. The same
night Brigadier Ruggles was also attacked by another party,
who were routed after having painted and cut the hair off of
one of his horse's mane and tail. Afterwards he had his arms
taken from his dwelling-house in Hardwick, all of which are
not yet returned. He had at another time a very valuable
English horse, which was kept as a stallion, poisoned, his family
disturbed, and himself obliged to take refuge in Boston,
after having been insulted in his own house, and twice on his
way, by a mob. The chief justice of the province in Middleborough,
was threatened to be stopped on the highway in
going to Boston court, but his firmness and known resolution,
intimidated the mob from laying hands on him; he
was also threatened with opposition in going into court, but
the terror of the troops prevented. The whole bench were
hissed by a mob as they came out of court. In September,
Mr. Sewall, his Majesty's Attorney-General for Massachusetts
Bay, was obliged to repair to Boston for refuge. His house
at Cambridge was attacked by a mob, and his windows were
broken, but the mob was beaten off by the gallant behavior
and bravery of some young gentlemen of his family. About
the same time the Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, president of
his Majesty's council, was attacked at Cambridge, by a mob
of about four thousand, and was compelled to resign his seat
at the board, since which, upon further threats, he has been
obliged to leave his estate, and take refuge with his family in
Boston. At Worcester, a mob of about five thou-
sand collected, prevented the court of Common
Pleas from sitting, (about one thousand of them had fire-arms,)
and all drawn up in two files, compelled the judges, sheriffs,
and gentlemen of the bar, to pass them with cap in hand, and
read their disavowal of holding courts under the new acts of
parliament, not less than thirty times in their procession.
Daniel Oliver, Esq., of Hardwick, was disarmed by a mob,
and has been obliged to take refuge in Boston, to the total loss
of his business. Colonel Phips, the very reputable and highly
esteemed sheriff of the county of Middlesex, by a large mob
was obliged to promise not to serve any processes of courts,
and to retire to Boston for protection from further insults.
Colonel Saltonstall, the very humane sheriff of the county of
Essex, has been obliged to take refuge in Boston, to screen himself
from the violence of the mob. The court of Common Pleas
was forbidden to sit at Taunton, by a large mob, with a justice
acting as one of their committee. At Middleborough, Peter
Oliver, Esq., was obliged to sign a paper, not to execute his
office, under the new acts. At Springfield, the
courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of
the peace, were prevented sitting by a large mob, who kept the
justices from entering the court-house, and obliged them, the
from holding any courts. Colonel Edson, one of his Majesty's
council, has been driven from his house in Bridgewater, and
kept from it ever since last August, for being a friend to government,
and accepting his Majesty's appointment as counsellor.
"The courts of General Session of the Peace and inferior
courts of Common Pleas for the
county of Plymouth, have been
shut up. In August, Colonel Putnam of Worcester, a firm
friend to Government, had two fat cows stolen and taken from
him, and a very
valuable grist-mill burnt, and was obliged
to leave a fair estate in Worcester, and
retire to Boston, where
he has been ever since, for his protesting against riots,
&c.
Colonel Murray, of Rutland, one of his Majesty's council, has
been
obliged to leave a large estate in the country, and repair
to Boston to save himself from
being handled by the mob, and
compelled to resign his seat at council board. His house
has
been attacked, his family put in fear. Colonel Vassall, of
Cambridge, from
intolerable threats, and insolent treatment by
mobs of his friends and himself, has left
his elegant seat there,
and retired to Boston, with his amiable family, for protection.
John Borland, Esq., is in the same predicament with Colonel
Vassall. Honorable John
Chandler, Esq., judge of probate,
&c., for the county of Worcester, has been
obliged to retreat
to Boston for protection, and leave his business, and a numerous
family of hopeful youths behind him, with great reluctance,
and who, before he came away, was ordered by the
mob to hold his
office till further orders.
"The Plymouth protesters, addressers, and military officers,
were compelled by a mob of
two thousand, collected from Plymouth
and Barnstable counties, to recant and resign their military
commissions. Thomas Foster, Esq., an ancient gentleman,
was obliged to run into the woods, and had like to have
been lost, and the mob,
although the justices, with Mr. Foster,
were sitting in the town, ransacked his house,
and damaged
his furniture. He was obnoxious as a friend to government,
and for that
reason they endeavored to deprive him of his
business, and to prevent even his taking the
acknowledgment
of a deed. Richard Clark, Esq., a consignee of the tea, was
his son Isaac went to Plymouth to collect debts, but in the
night was assaulted by a mob and obliged to get out of town
at midnight. Jesse Dunbar, of Halifax, in Plymouth county,
bought some fat cattle of Mr. Thomas the counsellor, and
drove them to Plymouth for sale; one of the oxen being
skinned and hung up, the committee came to him, and finding
he bought it of Mr. Thomas, they put the ox into a cart, and
fixing Dunbar in his belly, carted him four miles, and there
made him pay a dollar, after taking three more cattle and a
horse from him. The Plymouth mob delivered him to the
Kingston mob, which carted him four miles further, and forced
from him another dollar, then delivered him to the Duxborough
mob, who abused him by throwing the tripe in his face,
and endeavoring to cover him with it to the endangering his
life. They then threw dirt at him, and after other abuses
carried him to said Thomas's house, and made him pay another
sum of money, and he not taking the beef, they flung it in the
road and quitted him. Daniel Dunbar, of Halifax, an ensign
of militia there, had his colors demanded by the mob, some of
the selectmen being the chief actors. He refused; they broke
into his house, took him out, forced him upon a rail, and after
keeping him for two or three hours in such abuses, he was
forced to give his colors up to save his life. A constable of
Hardwick, for refusing to pay his collections, directly contrary
to the oath of his office, was bound and confined six and thirty
hours, and threatened with being sent to Simsbury mines.[115]
His wife being dangerously ill, he was released after signing a
something which one of the mob had prepared for him. The
mob committee of the county of York, ordered that no one
should hire any of Sir William Pepperell's estates, buy no
wood of him, or pay any debts due to him. In February, at
Plymouth, a number of ladies attempted to divert themselves
at their assembly room, but the mob collected, (the committee
having met previous thereto,) and flung stones which broke
the shutters and windows, and endangered their lives. They
to their own homes. After this the ladies diverted themselves
by riding out, but were followed by a mob, pelted and abused,
with the most indecent Billingsgate language. These things
happened at the time when some of the people of Plymouth,
in conjunction with the committee men from other towns in
that county, aided and assisted by four dissenting clergymen,
were presenting to General Gage, by their memorial, the peaceable
state they were in before the arrival of a party of soldiers[116]
at Marshfield, in that county.
"The Honorable Israel Williams, Esq., one who was appointed
of his Majesty's new council, but had declined the
office through infirmity of
body, was taken from his house by
the mob in the night, carried several miles, put into a
room
with a fire, the chimney at the top, the doors of the room
closed, and kept
there for many hours in the smoke, till his
life was in danger; then he was carried home,
after being
forced to sign what they ordered, and a guard placed over
him to
prevent his leaving the house.
"To recount the suffering of all from mobs, rioters, and trespassers,
would take more time and paper than can be spared
for that
purpose. It is hoped the foregoing will be sufficient
to put you upon the use of proper
means and measures for
giving relief to all that have been injured by such unlawful
and wicked practices."[117]
March 9.—Colonel Leslie's ridiculous expedition to Salem,
Massachusetts, on the twenty-sixth of last month, occasioned
such an alarm, that
the people of all the neighboring towns, as
well as those of thirty and forty miles
distant, were mustering,
and great numbers actually on their march for that place; so
that it is thought that not less than twelve or fifteen thousand
men would have
been assembled in that town within twenty-four
hours after the alarm, had not the precipitate retreat of
the troops from the
drawbridge prevented it.[118]
A letter in Messrs. Mill's and Hick's paper,[119]
signed, "A
Son of New England," appears to be the produce of a distempered
brain, which, like many others in Boston
a word they have got by rote like a parrot, without
knowing the meaning of it; and when Massachusettensis,[121] or
any other unprejudiced writer, endeavors to make them sensible
of their error, and clearly prove it is not liberty but licentiousness
they are running after, they immediately fly into
abuse, calling them the enemies of their country, not considering
that they themselves, the imaginary supporters of liberty,
are the real enemies of this country, by spiriting up the
people, by every delusive method, to forfeit every thing that
is dear to them in this world, and to merit the curses of their
children from generation to generation.
It is to be hoped that there are very few who think that
the fate of Britain depends on
the liberties of America, or that
the mother country will ever suffer the colonies to
dictate to
her. She has been long tender of the rod, but be assured the
time
approaches when she will exercise it with severity, and
show the stubborn sons of New
England that she will not any
longer bear with their degenerate behavior. If every man
had thought for himself, and not been led by the nose by a
Cooper[122]
or an Adams,[123]
all might have been happy; but these
inconsiderate people have made themselves
idols, viz., liberty
trees, newspapers, and congresses, which by blindly worshipping
have so engrossed their minds, that they give not the
least attention to their
several occupations, but attend at
taverns, where they talk politics, get drunk, damn
king, ministers,
and taxes, and vow they will follow any
measures proposed
to them by their demagogues, however repugnant to
religion, reason, and common
sense.
It is a remark that the high sons of liberty consist but of
two sorts of men. The first
are those who by their debaucheries
and are happy in finding a subsistence, though it is even on
the destruction of their country; for on the turbulence of the
times, and the heated imaginations of the populace, depends
their existence. The latter are the ministers of
the gospel, who, instead of preaching to their
flocks meekness, sobriety, attention to their different employments,
and a steady obedience to the laws of Britain, belch
from the pulpit liberty, independence, and a steady perseverance
in endeavoring to shake off their allegiance to the
mother country. The independent ministers have ever been,
since the first settling of this colony, the instigators and abettors
of every persecution and conspiracy.[125]
March 9.—As the populace of Boston have thought fit to
repeal the tarring and feathering act, the king's troops have
consequence of such a determination, to-day they
gave us a specimen of a royal mob. The soldiers have been
encouraged by their officers to take every method of tricking
the unwary. Yesterday, an honest countryman was inquiring
for a firelock, when a soldier hearing him, said he had one he
would sell. Away goes the ignoramus, and after paying the
soldier very honestly for the gun, (which was only an old one
without a lock,) was walking off when half a dozen seized him
and hurried the poor fellow away under guard, for a breach
of the act against trading with the soldiers. After keeping
him in duress all night, this morning, instead of carrying him
before a magistrate, who on complaint would have fined him,
(as has been the case in several instances,) the officers condemned
him without a hearing, to be tarred and feathered,
which sentence has been executed.
After stripping him naked and covering him with tar and
feathers, they mounted him on a
one-horse truck, and surrounding
accompanied with all the drums and fifes of the regiment,
(forty-seventh,) and a number of officers, negroes, and sailors,
exhibited him as a spectacle through the principal streets of
the town. They fixed a label on the man's back, on which was
written American Liberty, or a Specimen of Democracy; and
to add to the insult they played Yankee Doodle:—Oh Britain,
how art thou fallen! Is it not enough that British troops,
who were once the terror of France and Spain, should be made
the instruments of butchering thy children! but must they
descend also to exploits too infamously dirty for any but the
meanest of the mobility to practice? What a wretched figure
will the Boston expedition hereafter make in the historic page![127]
March 10.—Among numerous misrepresentations in Mr.
Rivington's Gazetteer of yesterday, are many notorious ones,
mixed with sundry absolute
falsehoods, in a para-
and John Hill are affixed as subscribers. In this extraordinary
paragraph, above two hundred men of New York are
represented as having united in abusing those two inoffensive
gentlemen, and in that disorderly, riotous company, two inhabitants
of that city[129] are particularly mentioned by name, and
positively charged, not only with abusing the two harmless
innocents before mentioned, but with robbery and high
treason.
On reading this account we were naturally led, by several
circumstances, to inquire
into the characters of the two persons
accused, and of their accusers. The two first we find to
be citizens, bred if not
born in New York, peaceable, inoffensive
men of property, and of irreproachable characters. The
two last strangers here,
(especially Cunningham,) almost entirely
unknown, except by the little specimens they have
lately exhibited of their
characters, which are not much in
their favor. As to Hill, we have heard, and therefore
shall
say but little about him. He has brought himself upon the
volunteer with him in the glorious expedition, wherein their
defeat has afforded them an opportunity of making conspicuous
figures in Rivington's Gazetteer. As to Cunningham,
his former character is unknown to us, but we may reasonably
suppose it was not inconsistent with the specimen he has
given us during the short space of time we have been favored
with his company. His first exhibition was in the character
of a Son of Liberty; that is, a friend and asserter of the
rights of the people, and the English Constitution, a warm
patriot, and opposer of the tyrannical acts and pretensions of
the British Parliament. But in a few days, touched, not with
Ithuriel's spear, but with an impulse from a spirit of a quite
opposite nature, he starts up at once in his true character, a
finished emissary of tyranny, officiously distinguishing and
thrusting himself forward, to execute the orders and promote
the designs of the enemies of his country, to destroy its constitution,
and reduce it to a state of slavery.
His first appearance that we have heard of, was to interpose
in preventing the departure of the Scotch ship, and
thereby cause a violation of
the solemn association of the British
American colonies, agreed on last year by the delegates in
general Congress at
Philadelphia. But in this being unable
to effect any thing, except showing his principles
and disposition,
fame had little to say of him, till this exploit in the
fields,
except that he has often been heard blustering in behalf
of the ministry, and that his behavior had recommended
him to the favor of several
men of eminence, both in the military
and civil departments—that he has often been seen, on
a footing of
familiarity, at their houses, and parading the
streets on a horse belonging to one of the
gentlemen, who,
doubtless, is not displeased with the conduct of the rider.
We did not know until we saw this account in Rivington's
paper that these same gentlemen helped to make up the
group of woful countenances
of the minor party at the Exchange
on the memorable sixth of March; a day which our
heroes doubtless intended to make
as famous by their achievements
in the afternoon, as it was by the defeat in the morning
account for their conduct at the liberty-pole, as well as
their design in going there, where they say they were so cruelly
attacked by a mob of about two hundred men.
Messrs. Hill and Cunningham appeared and made part of
the minority at the Exchange on
the sixth. Their business
was to prevent the execution of the measures recommended
by the Continental Congress for the preservation of our constitutional
rights and liberties, and consequently to promote
the designs of the British
Ministry, in subjecting America and
all the British empire to a despotic government. And
these
men for thus appearing, or perhaps bullying a little, have the
modesty to
pretend that they appeared on the king's side,
though opposed to the very principles on
which he holds his
crown. As a further proof of their modesty they call upwards
of two hundred men, assembled at the liberty-pole, who
were probably part of the
respectable majority from the Exchange,
a mob.[130]
A great body of the majority from the Exchange returned
to the liberty-pole, when
Cunningham and Hill came among
them. The behavior of this majority at the Exchange demonstrated
their peaceable disposition; and having succeeded in
all they intended, they were
in high good humor, and less disposed
to quarrel than before. It is therefore highly improbable
that they should have been the aggressors in quarrelling
with Cunningham and Hill,
or have used them in the unfair,
abusive manner they have represented. These two men, on
the contrary, having shared in the disappointment of their
party, were probably
soured in their temper, and went among
the other party with a design to quarrel and raise
disturbance.
When upon such an occasion and in such a company they
began a quarrel,
it is no wonder they were roughly treated,
but rather that they escaped so well. They
have, in their
improbable, inconsistent account, expressly charged two of the
company with robbing them of a watch, and requiring them
hand, it is said suits are commenced against them, and ample
damages will doubtless be recovered; as from a great number
of depositions of creditable persons who were present, it appears
that the report against Messrs. Richards and Van Dyck
is entirely groundless. It is said that Cunningham has declared
that he should not have published the account, if he
had not been urged to it by one or more gentlemen of the
minor party.[131]
March 11.—This day the "freeholders of Botetourt," in
Virginia, instructed their representatives[132]
as follows: "We re-
quire you to represent us with hearts replete with
the most grateful and loyal veneration for the
race of Brunswick, for they have been truly our fathers; and
at the same time the most dutiful affection for our sovereign,
of whose honest heart we cannot entertain any diffidence, but
sorry we are to add, that in his councils we can no longer confide.
A set of miscreants unworthy to administer the laws of
Britain's empire, have been permitted impiously to sway.
How unjustly, cruelly, and tyrannically they have invaded
our rights we need not now put you in mind.
"We only say, and we assert it with pride, that the subjects
of Britain are one, and when the honest man of Boston, who
has broken no law, has
his property wrested from him, the
hunter of the Alleghanies must take the alarm, and as
a freeman
of America, he will fly to the representatives, and thus
instruct them: `Gentlemen,
my gun, my tomahawk, my life,
I desire you to tender to the honor of my king and country;
but my Liberty to range these woods upon the same terms
my father has done, is not mine to give up. It was not purchased
by me, and purchased it was. It is entailed upon my
son, and the tenure is sacred.
Watch over it, gentlemen, for
to him it must descend unviolated, if my arm can defend it;
but if not, if wicked power is permitted to prevail against me,
"That our countrymen, and the world may know our disposition,
we choose that this be published. And we have one
request to add, that is, that the
Sons of Worth and Freedom,
who appeared for us at Philadelphia, will accept our most
ardent grateful
acknowledgments. And we hereby plight
them our faith, that we will religiously observe
their resolutions,
and obey their instructions, in
contempt of power and
temporary interest; and should the measures they have wisely
calculated for our relief fail, we will stand prepared for every
contingency."[134]
A trial about a disputed horse race that has been run on
Rye
flats, came on to-day before Peter Guion, Esq., at Besley's
tavern, at New Rochelle. One
of the parties de-
a process. A number of the inhabitants were summoned and
appeared, but unanimously refused to be sworn, declaring that
as horse-racing was contrary to the Association of the Congress, [136]
they would never serve as jurors in any such cause,
and that if the judge thought proper to commit them, they
would go to jail. In short, the justice was obliged to try the
cause himself.[137]
March 13.—A few days ago, a certain Byrns, a young
man lately from England, who has acted in the capacity of a
tax-gatherer, near
Georgetown, Pennsylvania, but
spent the money, stopped two wagons, on their way from
Duck Creek, Cross Roads, to the head of Chester, and seized
them as forfeited to the king, for reasons best known to himself,
and made their drivers follow him with them to Downes,
tavern. Stepping in there to get a drink, he presently came
and was returning, when several young men met him, knocked
up his heels, and then took his gun, laid it in the road, and
made the wagons drive over it twice or thrice, till they had
rendered it entirely useless. They then tied a grape vine, provided
for that purpose, about his neck, and dragged him to a
mill, not far distant, where they primed him over a little, not
having a sufficient quantity of varnish to give him a complete
gloss, then gently sprinkling the feathers of an old pillow over
that, they led him into Georgetown, where they drenched him
with Newberry rum and water, taken from a duck-hole, until
it began to work unpleasantly. They then led him like a victim,
unto a duck-hole, where they launched him in with such
swiftness, that the other shore brought him up. In this situation
they had him some time; at last they made him fast with
a grape vine, and brought him to a confession. He damned
Bute, North, and all their brethren and followers, and said
that the Americans were a generous, spirited, and much injured
people. They then gave him a terrestrial absolution
on condition that he would immediately transport himself
to Europe, and there speak the sentiments now delivered;
which being agreed to, he set out the same evening for
Boston.[139]
March 14.—Yesterday afternoon several riotous and disorderly
persons, to the number of between eighty and ninety,
in the province of New York.[141] They took possession
of the court house, with an avowed intent of preventing
the court from being held. Many of them had arms, and
those who were unprovided for, collected arms and ammunition
with all possible despatch. Many of the magistrates
being present, it was thought advisable that the sheriff should
make the usual proclamation against riotous assemblies, and
demand possession of the court house and jail, which being
refused several times, about nine o'clock at night a party assembled
the sheriff and some magistrates to the court house, where
proclamation was again made by the sheriff for the rioters to
disperse, and sundry attempts were made to get in, without
using fire-arms, but this proving ineffectual, three guns were
fired over the door, in hopes the rioters would be intimidated
and retire; but so determined were they in their undertaking,
that the fire was immediately returned from the court house,
by which one of the magistrates was slightly wounded, and
another person shot through his clothes. The magistrates
seeing the imminent danger they were in, so well exerted
themselves that they forced the front door, and after a very
smart engagement, wherein one of the rioters was killed,[142] and
many persons on both sides wounded, the court house was
cleared, and proper measures were taken to preserve the
peace. This morning all was tumult and disorder; the judges,
however, opened the court at the usual hour, and adjourned
till three o'clock this afternoon; but by that time the body of
rioters beginning to assemble in large parties, from New
Hampshire and places adjacent, and particularly from Bennington,
in the neighboring county of Albany, with a hostile
appearance, the court, foreseeing no probability of being able
to proceed to business, adjourned till next June term. The
body of rioters, which soon amounted to upwards of five
hundred, surrounded the court house, took the judges, the
justices, the sheriffs, the clerk, and as many more of their
friends as they could find, into close custody, and sent parties |
Son to Mr. Nathaniel French, who
Was Shot at Westminster, March ye 13th,
1775, by the hands of Cruel Ministereal tools,
of Georg ye 3d, in the Corthouse at a 11 o'Clock
at Night in the 22d, year of his Age.
For Murder his Blood for Vengance cries.
King Georg the third his Tory crew
tha with a bawl his head Shot threw.
For Liberty and his Country's Good,
he Lost his Life his Dearest Blood."
out, who are returning with more prisoners. The roads
and passages are guarded with
armed men, who indiscriminately
lay hold of all passengers, against whom any of
the party intimates the least
suspicion, and the mob, stimulated
by their chief leaders to the utmost fury and revenge,
breathe nothing but blood
and slaughter against the unfortunate
persons in their power; the only thing which suspends
their fate, is a difference
of opinion as to the manner of destroying
them. And from the violence and inhumanity of the
disposition apparent in the
rioters, it is greatly to be feared
that some of the worthy men in confinement will fall
a sacrifice
to the brutal fury of a band of ruffians, before timely aid
can be brought to their
assistance.[143]
March 16.—A writer in England says: "This is the
important crisis which will determine the fate of America.
The bold resolves of your
Congress have pushed matters to an
extremity, and render a complete decision of the
dispute inevitable.
Whether America shall be independent
of, or subordinate
to Parliament, is now the question. I wish the prospect
was clearer of an amicable settlement. The leaders of
government were heartily
disposed to fall in with any proposals
of accommodation which might have secured your
liberties and
preserved the sovereignty in the British legislature, which is
essential to the welfare of the empire; but hot men among
you have extended your claims
so far as to make it impossible
for Parliament to comply, without relinquishing every
shadow
of its authority. The merchants have met on the subject.
They are to
petition Parliament for redress; but are neither
to find fault with the late measures,
nor to propose any mode
for your relief, but to submit it entirely to Parliament. This
intelligence is from two respectable merchants, who are of the
committee.
What particular measures will be adopted by Parliament,
this may be depended on, that there will be no relaxation with
respect to Boston.
The strongest hope which we have yet left, is, that the
assembly of New York will
firmly and dutifully state their
grievances, unembarrassed with points foreign to the
subject,
and free from an undistinguishing approbation of the measures
of others.
Such a petition will assuredly be honorably received,
and in
all probability open the way for a lasting accommodation
of the present differences. How little do they
seem sensible of the uncertainty and
miseries of a civil war,
which would plunge headlong into violence rather than sacrifice
a punctilio![144]
March 19.—Since the army have found the season has
passed for nature's forming a bridge from Boston, they become
abusive and insulting. They
are now finishing
side. Thursday last being recommended by the Provincial
Congress to be a day of fasting and prayer, on the morning of
that day the society at the west end of Boston were greatly
disturbed by a party of officers and soldiers of the fourth or
the king's own regiment. When the people were assembling,
they brought two marquee tents, and pitched them within ten
yards of the meeting house, then sent for three drums and
three fifes, and kept them beating and playing till the service
was over.
In the evening of the next day, Colonel Hancock's elegant
seat, situated near the
common, was attacked by a number of
officers, who, with their swords, cut and hacked the
fence before
his house in a most scandalous manner, and behaved very
abusively, by breaking
people's windows, and insulting almost
every person they met.
Yesterday the Neck guard seized a quantity of musket
cartridges with ball, (we
suppose through the information of
some dirty scoundrel, many of which we now have among
us,)
and about three thousand pounds of ball, which were being
owner applied to the General first, but he absolutely refused
to deliver it. They abused the teamster very much, and run
a bayonet into his neck. The same evening a number of
officers heated with liquor, (as it is said,) with drawn swords
ran through the streets, like what they really were, madmen,
cutting every one they met. The stage coach just arrived
from Providence, passing by, they attacked it, broke the glass,
and abused the passengers. The driver being a smart fellow,
jumped off his seat, caught one of them, Captain G.,[146] and some
blows passed, when the officer retired not much to his credit.
To-day Colonel Hancock was again much insulted by a
number of inferior officers and
privates, who entered his inclosures,
and refused to
retire after his requesting them so to
do; telling him that his house, stables,
&c., would soon be
theirs, and then they would do as they pleased. However, on
his application to the General, he immediately sent one of his
aide-de-camps to the
officer of the guard at the bottom of the
common, to seize any officer or private who
should molest
Colonel Hancock, or any inhabitant, in their lawful calling.[147]
March 20.—It is said that General Gage has four hundred
of Rivington's papers regularly sent him every week by the
navy, and such others as are thought most proper
to promote the infamous plan of enslaving this country. These
papers are, doubtless, paid for out of the American revenue.
Thus, Americans, you already begin to see your own money
employed for enslaving yourselves and your children.[149]
We are constantly agitated by hoaring complaints from different
persons of the more than savage barbarity of the soldiers
in Boston, encouraged and
often joined and headed by the
officers. They are now become so insolent that it is
hardly
safe to walk the streets at noonday, and there seems to be no
by their superiors, in their lawless outrages. They
appear to be a banditti of lawless freebooters, just let loose upon
us, for the innocent and laudable purposes of robberies, rapes,
and murders; nor can we at present see any prospect of avoiding
these calamities, but by a general evacuation of the town.
The late news seems to increase their insolence, which was barely
tolerable before. The reason is obvious. The common soldiers
and their wives have frequently and loudly complained of
the fallacy and injustice of the officers, who promised them
fine houses, rich plunder, and a thousand other gratifications,
which they hoped to be in possession of long before this.
These expectations have undoubtedly prevented the desertion
of hundreds. But they grow more and more impatient, so
that we fear violence will, sooner or later, take place, let what
will be the determinations in England, unless some method
can be adopted to prevent or restrain them, tantamount to
leaving the town, as the people in general do not seem inclined
to go out.[150]
March 21.—A few friends of liberty at Poughkeepsie,
New York, met at the house of Mr. John Bailey, about three
miles out of that town, and
erected a pole on his
King, and on the other, The Congress and Liberty; but the
sheriff of Dutchess county, attended by a judge of the inferior
court, and two of his Majesty's justices of the peace, and a constable,
with some others, friends to constitutional liberty and
good order, cut the same down as a public nuisance.[152]
The method lately used in New York to post up inflammatory
handbills, was the same used in England at the time of
the Pretender. It was done
by a man who car-
while he leaned against the wall, as if to rest himself, the boy
up again, the man took the proper occasion to walk off to
another resting place.[154]
March 28.—This evening was married, at the White
Plains, Westchester County, New York, Mr. Gabriel Purdy,
youngest son of Mr. Samuel
Purdy, to the agreeable Miss
Charity Purdy, daughter of Mr. Joseph Purdy, both of that
loyal town. What particularly is remarkable in the affair, is
this, the guests
consisted of forty-seven persons; thirty-seven
of whom were Purdys, and not a single Whig
among them.[155]
By the late proceedings in Boston, it seems that those sent
over to repeal, or make null and void, the good and wholesome
law of tarring and
feathering, and to establish a new-fangled
form of government in the Massachusetts Bay,
strange to tell,
have adopted the very laws they were sent to abolish! Is it
possible that the omnipotent King, Lords, and Commons of
Great Britain should send a
powerful fleet and army, three
thousand miles, at the expense of millions of money, only for
the purpose of tarring and feathering a poor, harmless countryman?[156]
On the report of a design to form an army in Canada, to
join
the king's regular forces in fighting against, and enslaving
the other British colonies, the Canadians were greatly
alarmed, and took the best
method in their power to secure
themselves from the service. And as, by the laws of
France,
married men cannot be compelled to serve in the militia, the
Canadians
considered marriage as a protection, to which, since
their new laws, they have so
universally had recourse, that, it
is said, there is hardly an unmarried man to be found
in all
the country.[157]
March 30.—This morning at daylight, the troops at Boston
Percy at their head. It was supposed they were
going to Concord, where the Provincial Congress
is now sitting. A quantity of provisions and warlike stores
are lodged there. Several expresses were immediately sent
away to give notice of their marching. Important consequences
were apprehended; but, happily, they only went a
few miles out, and then returned. The town and country
were alarmed, and many of them got equipped for a march.
It has given such uneasiness, that committees from twelve of
the near towns have met upon it; and intend sending a petition
to the Provincial Congress, representing this affair to
them, and desiring they will take up the matter, and remonstrate
with the General upon it. The troops went out of the
common road, marched over the people's land, where their
grain was sown, and through their gardens; broke down their
fences, walls, &c., and did other injuries. It is thought such
proceedings will bring on bad consequences, if not prevented.
The late conduct of the regulars in Boston, in tarring and
feathering a countryman,
headed by one of their colonels, and
other officers, and the spirited remonstrance it
occasioned from
the selectmen of the town of Billerica, to General Gage, has
made
much talk.[159]
The military spirit and resolution prevailing
is astonishing. We hope we shall soon have some good
news from home, to prevent any breaking out, which we begin
to fear, especially if the troops continue their marchings out.
It is said that forty or fifty of the troops were so fatigued by
their march, that they could not keep up with their fellow-soldiers,
on their return. It is also said they are intending
to go out again soon.[160]
It has been intimated to some considerable merchants in
England, that the "ministry will be ready to meet any conciliatory
measures that may be proposed with respect to
America."—It is nonsense to
talk of proposing conciliatory
measures. The Americans have no terms to propose, nor can
they hear any. They only insist upon the enjoyment of their
inherent rights, and
cannot give up a tittle of them, without
being absolute slaves, which they are determined
never to be,
so long as they have hearts to feel, and hands to fight.[161]
The sloop Charming Peggy, Captain Tilley, sailed for Bristol.
In this vessel was transmitted by the Honorable the
General Assembly of New York, an humble, firm, dutiful,
and loyal petition to his
Majesty; as also a memorial to the
Lords, and a representation and remonstrance to the
Commons
of Great Britain, requesting their mutual endeavors for a settlement
of the present disputes subsisting between the mother
country and the colonies.[162]
The Chief Justice of the province of Massachusetts Bay. See statement and
plan of
association, published by Judge Ruggles in most of the Boston papers,
Dec. 23-27, 1774,
and reprinted in Gaines' New York Gazette, Jan. 9, 1775.
An assertion as false as it is impudent and injurious, first uttered by a hireling
priest,[8]
in the New York Freeholder, who at the same time declared that
he had
rather be under the government of Roman Catholics than Dissenters—a
declaration
truly characteristic of the doctor, and his little club of malignants.—The
people of Massachusetts have hitherto acted purely on the defensive; they have
only opposed those new regulations which were instantly to have been executed,
and
would have annihilated all our rights. For this absolutely necessary and
manly step
they have received the approbation of the Continental Congress, one
of the most
respectable assemblies in the world. They aim at no independency,
nor any thing new,
but barely the preservation of their old rights. They have
referred their cause to the
whole continent, and are determined to act only in free
consultation, and close union
with their brethren. This is indeed the safety of
all.—Editor of the Journal.
Dr. Myles Cooper, the President of King's, now Columbia, College, a vigorous writer in
favor of the crown.
This account was published in Rivington's Gazette, Jan. 12, in the form of a
deposition, witnessed by Mr. Case.
Edes and Gills' account, as published in Rivington's Gazette, Feb. 9. The
same paper
contains the following "Other Side of the Question:"—You have
read in that
fund of lies and sedition, Edes and Gill,[35]
of a "high-handed riot."
There have been five field officers on a court of
inquiry, to inspect into the conduct
of the officers concerned on that occasion. It commenced by Lieutenant
Myers,
38th Regiment, being, without the smallest cause, insulted by two townspeople,
who not only called him a Tory, rascal, scoundrel, &c.,
but damned the
king, governor, army, and every friend to government; the former he put
up
with, the latter resented, by knocking the person down. He was immediately
surrounded by the watch; and though he immediately surrendered, and gave his
sword to a
Mr. Winslow, who came up at the time, (a private gentleman,) and
informed them, and this gentleman, of the cause of the quarrel, they treated
him with
every indignity possible; not only allowed the two men to knock him
down in the midst
of them, but they themselves kicked and beat him all the way
to the watch-house, a
little short of a quarter of a mile. The noise about the
watch-house brought together a
few officers, whom Mr. Myers requested not to
interfere, concealed from them the cruel
treatment he had met with, and insisted
on remaining in custody. The insolence of the
watch to those gentlemen occasioned
a fresh riot, when the interposition of a party from the main guard prevented
any bad consequences. Immediately after, Myers was released, by order
from the
governor. Complaints were immediately lodged against the officers,
and bail is to be
given to-morrow for their appearance. I cannot quit this subject
without observing, that the high-flyers are much disappointed in the event
of
this riot; not only at the little mischief done, but at the ready submission of
every
officer concerned, to the laws of the country.
The spirit of the people here seems to subside a little; and we have every
reason to
believe, that, in order to keep it up, the vagabonds of the town are
employed to insult
the troops, which they do daily, in hopes of bringing about
another massacre.
Gaines' Mercury, Jan. 30.—On the 20th October, 1774, the Continental Congress,
in their Articles of Association, resolved, that,
"on the death of any relation
or friend, none of us, or any of our families, will go into any further mourning-dress
than a black crape or ribbon on the arm or hat, for gentlemen; and a
black ribbon
and necklace for ladies; and we will discontinue the giving of gloves
and scarfs at
funerals."—Journals of Congress.
Holt's Journal, Feb. 16.—Rivington, in his Gazette of the 9th Feb., publishes
the following: One day last week, seven half barrels of gunpowder were
seized by
William Hubbard, Esq., at Stamford, in Connecticut, on its way from
New York to New
Haven, over land.
We have just received advice, that the house of the collector of Stamford
was, the
day after the seizure of the gunpowder, attacked by a number of Liberty
lads, who took
possession of the powder, and carried it off on horses to Fairfield.
They were headed
by one Bartram, a quondam sergeant in the provincial service.
A party from Hartford,
with Colonel Wyllys, Captain Alcott, two of the Messrs.
Bull, thirty of them in all,
marched to Fairfield, took possession of the powder,
and lodged it in the loyal town of
Hartford.
Association, Article 10.—In case any merchant, trader, or other person, shall
import any goods or merchandise, after the first day of December, and before the
first day of February next, the same ought forthwith, at the election of the
owner, to
be either re-shipped, or delivered up to the committee of the county or
town wherein
they shall be imported, to be stored at the risk of the importer,
until the
non-importation agreement shall cease, or be sold under the direction
of the committee
aforesaid; and in the last-mentioned case, the owner or owners
of such goods shall be
reimbursed out of the sales, the first cost and charges, the
profit, if any, to be
applied towards relieving and employing such poor inhabitants
of the town of Boston, as are immediate sufferers by the Boston Port Bill;
and a
particular account of all goods so returned, stored, or sold, to be inserted
in the
public papers; and if any goods or merchandise shall be imported after
the said first
day of February, the same ought forthwith to be sent back again,
without breaking any
of the packages thereof.—Journals of Congress.
Holt's Journal, Feb. 23.—At the meeting of the delegates, every town in
the
county was represented except Ridgefield and Newton. In the evening of the
day the
meeting was held, "two of the inhabitants of a place lately known and
called by the name of Ridgefield, put up at a public house in Weathersfield, Conn.,
and entering into conversation, boldly justified the vote of the said late town of
Ridgefield, in disapproving of the doings of the Continental
Congress; and proceeded
far in supporting Court doctrines of passive obedience to Parliament, &c.
This was taken notice of by a number of gentlemen present, who considered it,
in
effect, as a direct breach of the Association of the said Congress, and therefore
voted, that, `in their opinion, it was proper that those persons should be returned
the
way from whence they came, under safe conduct, from town to town, to the
said place lately known by the said name of Ridgefield:' and, that all honest and
true men to this country might know and avoid them, proper persons were appointed
instantly to attend them on their return as far as Farmington, and there
to
acquaint the inhabitants of their behavior, and leave them to their further
transportation, as is usual; and as by law is provided, in cases of strolling idiots,
lunatics, &c. A letter was accordingly written to the gentlemen at Farmington,
representing their unhappy and desperate situation, which was signed by the
principal
gentlemen present; and the unhappy men, properly escorted, set off at
nine o'clock,
amidst the hisses, groans, &c., of a respectable concourse of people,
the
populace following them out of town, beating a dead march."—Clift's Diary,
and Holt's Journal, Jan. 23.
This rumor is denied by "a gentleman of undoubted veracity," as follows:
"There are
not any of the landholders in said manor, except one C—y, a miller,
at
Peekskill, and a few interlopers of his kidney, that are of that perverse sentiment.
The proprietors of the manor of Cortlandt,
together with all the other
landholders, except the above miller and his few adherent
Tories, are unanimous
in favor of the Congress measures."—Holt's Journal, March 2.
Gaines' Mercury, March 6.—This account having been deposed before a
magistrate, the two negroes were committed to gaol, and, together with several
other
negroes, examined before four magistrates who met for that purpose, but
no further
discoveries could be made.
Another account names Marbletown, as well as the three above mentioned;
and that the
negroes were to be divided into parties, to fire the houses, cry Me!
and kill the people as they came out. The motive for this conspiracy was the
recovery of their freedom. A large quantity of powder and ball was found with
several
negroes; and besides this, there are said to be advices in town, that besides
the two negroes before mentioned, seventeen or eighteen have been committed
to gaol.
A report has likewise been current, that these negroes were to be joined by
five or
six hundred Indians; but it does not appear that there is any good foundation
for the report.—Pennsylvania Journal, March 8.
Colonel John Sargent. He was a merchant of Salem. His name is at the
head of those
who addressed Governor Gage on his arrival in Salem, in June,
1774; in which address
they acknowledge they "are deeply sensible of His
Majesty's paternal care and affection to this Province in the appointment of a person
of His Excellency's experience, wisdom, and moderation in these
troublesome
and difficult times." This was pronounced a most contemptible "Tory production,"
which disgraced the public prints. Sargent was
a notorious Tory, and was
proscribed in the banishment act of 1778, and went to
England.
Colonel William Browne was one of the most prominent inhabitants of Salem,
and
previous to the troubles which led to the Revolution, enjoyed great popularity;
but by espousing the cause of the mother country, he forfeited all
claim to
the favorable consideration of the people. He was one of the "infamous seventeen"
rescinders in 1768,—signed the address
to Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and
accepted office under Governor Gage. Upon the
breaking out of the Revolution
he became a refugee, and was included in the act of
banishment of 1778, and the
conspiracy act of 1779. His landed estates, which were
numerous and valuable,
were all confiscated to the use of the Government; and in 1779
his homestead, in
Salem, was sold to the late Elias Hasket Derby, senior, where, in
1799, he erected
his princely mansion at an expense of eighty thousand dollars, which
was taken
down in 1815, and near its site now stands the City Market House. Colonel
Browne, after leaving the country, was appointed Governor of Bermuda, and died
in
England in 1802, aged sixty-five. He was a graduate of Harvard College, of
the class of
1755.—Endicott's Account.
"There were eighty military companies in Marblehead at that time, comprising
nearly the whole male population, between sixteen and sixty years of age.
They
were all promptly assembled under Colonel Orne, and ordered to station
themselves
behind the houses and fences along the road, prepared to fall upon
the British on their
return from Salem, if it should be found that hostile measures
had been used by them;
but if it should appear that no concerted act of violence
upon the persons or property
of the people had been committed, they were
charged not to show themselves, but to
allow the British detachment to return
unmolested to their transport.—John Howard's Account: Upham's Address.
The following "translation" appeared in the Massachusetts Spy, March 2:—
"Cæsar, though celebrated for an heroic mind, was liable to be betrayed by the villainous
toad-eaters at his table, into low freaks; in the prosecution of
which he
would sometimes disgrace even his most worthy officers,—for such
undoubtedly was
Caius Lessala. This brave, sensible, polite man, was despatched from
Castellinum
two hours after sunset, on the 5th of the Kalends of March,
(answering to
our 25th of February,) with near
300 picked men in a galley, under verbal orders
to land at
Marmoreum, and proceed to Saleminum, while the inhabitants of both
places were engaged
in celebrating a solemn institution. Lessala was not to open
his
written instructions till he reached the causeway. He conducted the affair
with a
despatch and propriety worthy of his character, expecting to find he had
been sent to
surprise one of Pompey's fortified magazines. But great indeed was
his chagrin, when he read that his errand was only to rob a
private enclosure in
the North-Fields of that village. He suddenly returned to
Castellinum, mentioned
some obstruction of a Fly-Bridge, and with not a little resentment in his
eyes,
told Cæsar that the `geese were flown.' The base courtiers
enjoyed the
Hum, which they had contrived against the veteran; and laid their
heads together
for a new scheme to dupe
Cæsar.—Vi. Cæs. Eds. Americ. Fol.
1775."
Remarks on the late manœuvres in America, by a real friend to his King
and
country; and an American.—Rivington, March 2.
The following is the advertisement referred to:—"To the freeholders and
freemen of the city and county of New York: As the last Congress held at Philadelphia,
recommended that another Congress should be
convened at the same
place on the tenth day of May next, and the election of delegates
ought not to
be longer delayed, most of the other colonies having already appointed
them:
And as the committee has no power, without the approbation of their constituents,
to take any measures for that purpose: They
therefore requet that the
freeholders and freemen of the
city and county of New York, will be pleaed to
assemble at
the Exchange on Monday, the sixth instant, at twelve o'clock, to signify
their sense of the best method of choosing such delegates; and whether
they will
appoint a certain number of persons to meet such deputies as the counties
may elect for that purpose, and join with them in appointing, out of their
body,
delegates for the next Congress.—Holt's Journal, March
2.
The anniversary of the Boston Massacre occurring this year on Sunday, the
commemoration of it was postponed until the next day, the 6th.
Dr. Gordon says of this meeting: "When assembled in a body, there was a
confused cry
of `Congress or no Congress?' After much altercation, the Tories
had a recourse to
compulsive reasoning, and began dealing about their lows.
The Whigs were in the worst situation, not being provided with similar argument,
till two of their party repaired to an adjoining cooper's yard, from whence they
drew
forth to the assistance of their friends a number of hoop-sticks, which they
reduced to
a proper length, and forwarded to the combatants. The Whigs, being
thus supplied, soon
carried the day by club law, and beat their opponents off the
ground. The Tories being
worsted, and not a little terrified, lest the fry of Cap
tain Sears (whom they termed, in a way of reproach, `King') should lead him
to head a mob, and do them some capital injury, promoted a provincial convention,
which otherwise would not have existed."—Hist. Amer.
Revolution, vol. i. p. 318.
The following are the names of the gentlemen nominated by the committee:
Philip
Livingston, John Jay, James Duane, John Alsop, Isaac Low, Francis Lewi,
Abraham Walton,
Abraham Brasher, Alexander McDougall, Leonard Lispenard,
and Isaac
Roosevelt.—Upcott, iv. 299.
Article in Rivington's Gazette, March 9, signed by William Cunningham and
John Hill.
See page 45.
Author of a series of articles in defence of the Crown, under the signature,
Massachusettensis.
Rivington's Gazette, March 9.—This piece was published with the following
note:—"Mr. Rivington: Sir,—By inserting the following letter in your
paper,
which was refused admittance in a paper in Boston, you will much oblige your
humble servant, Belisarius."
What they might be when these two gentlemen came amongst them, we
shall not pretend
to say; but before that, we believe they deserved a more respectful
appellation.—Author of the Article.
William French. The following record may be seen at this day (1859) upon
a simple slate stone, in the old burial-ground at Westminster, Vermont:
Essex Gazette, March 21; New York Journal, March 23; Gaines' Gazette,
March 27. The
persons taken into custody were conveyed to the jail at Northampton,
Mass.; but upon their application to the Chief Justice of New York,
they were released from confinement, and returned home.—Jones's Narrative.
Extract of a letter from Boston.—Newport Mercury, April 3,
and Pennsylvania
Journal, April 12.
The following is the remonstrance presented to General Gage:—May it
please
your Excellency:—We the selectmen of the town of Billerica, beg leave to
remonstrate to your Excellency, that on the Eighth of March last, one Thomas
Ditson, an
inhabitant of said town of Billerica, was tarred and feathered and
very much abused by
a party of His Majesty's forty-seventh regiment, under the
command of Lieut.-Col.
Nesbitt. As guardians for said town, and from a regard
for the liberties and properties
of its inhabitants, we cannot but resent this procedure.
Your Excellency must be sensible that this act is a high infraction on
that personal security which every Englishman is entitled to; and without which
his boasted constitution is but a name. It is sufficiently unhappy for us that we find
troops quartered among us for the purpose of enforcing obedience to acts of Parliament,
in the highest sense iniquitous, cruel, and
unjust. It is still more unhappy,
if these troops, instead of preserving the character
which British troops once had,
should pour in additional insult, and be guilty of the
most brutal outrages. * * *
Lieutenant-Colonel Nesbitt is an officer under your
Excellency's command. Of
you, therefore, we Demand satisfaction for
the insult committed by him. We
think it is in your power. We beg your Excellency that
the breach now too wide
between Great Britain and this Province, may not by such
brutality still be increased.
We assure you, sir, it
always has been, and still is, our sentiment and
prayer, that harmony may be restored,
and that we may not be driven to the last
distress of nations:—But may it
please your Excellency, we must tell you, we are
determined, if the innocent
inhabitants of our country towns must be interrupted
by soldiers, in their lawful
intercourse with the town of Boston, and treated with
the most brutish ferocity, we
shall hereafter use a different style from that of
petition and complaint. If the grand
bulwarks of our constitution are thus violently
torn away, and the powers on earth prove unfriendly to the cause of virtue,
liberty, and humanity, we are still happy. We can appeal to Him who judgeth
righteously; and to Him we cheerfully leave the event.—Holt's
Journal, March 30.
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