1775. Jan.

the timid were incessantly alarmed by stories that "the undisciplined men of America could not withstand a disciplined army;" that "Canadians and unnumbered tribes of savages might be let loose upon them;" and that, in case of war, "the Americans must be treated as vanquished rebels." The assembly of New York, which had been chosen six years before during a momentary prejudice against lawyers and Presbyterians, had been carefully continued. New York, too, was the seat of a royal government, which dispensed commissions, offices, and grants of land, gathered round its little court a social circle to which loyalty gave the tone, and had for more than eight years craftily conducted the administration with the design to lull discontent. It permitted the assembly to employ Edmund Burke as its agent. In the name of the ministry, it lavished promises of favor and indulgence; extended the boundaries of the province at the north to the Connecticut River; and, contrary to the sense of right of Lord Dartmouth, supported the claims of New York speculators to Vermont lands against the populous villages which had grown up under grants from the king's governor of New Hampshire. Both Tryon and Colden professed, moreover, a sincere desire to take part with the colony in obtaining a redress of all grievances and an improvement of its constitution; and Dartmouth was made to express the hope "of a happy accommodation upon some general constitutional plan." Such a union with the parent state, the New York committee declared to be the object of their earnest solicitude; even Jay "held nothing in greater abhorrence than the malignant charge of aspiring after independence." "If you find the complaints of your constituents to be well grounded," said Colden to the New York assembly in January, pursue the means of redress which the constitution has pointed out. Supplicate the throne, and our most gracious sovereign will hear and relieve you with paternal tenderness."

66

In this manner the chain of union was to be broken, and the ministry to win over at least one colony to a separate negotiation. The royalists were so persuaded of the suc

cess of their scheme that Gage, who had a little before written for at least twenty thousand men, sent word to the secretary, in January, that, "if a respectable force is seen in the field, the most obnoxious of the leaders seized, and a pardon proclaimed for all others, government will come off victorious, and with less opposition than was expected a few months ago."

1775. On the twenty-sixth of January, the patriot AbraJan. 26. ham Ten Broeck, of the New York assembly, moved to take into consideration the proceedings of the continental congress; but, though he was ably seconded by Nathaniel Woodhull, by Philip Schuyler, by George Clinton, and by the larger number of the members who were of Dutch descent, the vote was lost by a majority of one. Of the eleven who composed the majority, eight had been of that committee of correspondence who, in their circular letter to the other colonies, had advised a congress; and Jauncey, a member of the committee of fifty-one, had been present when their letter of May, in favor of a congress, was unanimously approved.

The assembly, now in its seventh year, had long since ceased to represent the people; yet the friends to government plumed themselves on this victory, saying openly: "No one among gentlemen dares to support the proceedings of congress;" and Colden exclaimed: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." "That one vote

was worth a million sterling," said Garnier to Rochford with an air of patronage, on hearing the news; while he explained to Vergennes that the vote was to the ministry worth nothing at all, that New York was sure to act with the rest of the continent.

The royalists hoped for a combined expression of opinion in the central states. In January, the Quakers of Pennsylvania published an epistle, declaring that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world, and that they would religiously observe the rule not to fight; and the meeting of the Friends of Pennsylvania and New Jersey gave their "testimony against every usurpation of power and authority in opposition to the laws of government." But the

legislature of Pennsylvania had, in December, unreservedly approved the proceedings of the continental congress, and to the next congress in May elected seven delegates, of whom Galloway, resisting the urgency of Dickinson, refused to serve. In the popular convention of the same province, Joseph Reed, its president, publicly and privately opposed taking steps towards arming and disciplining the province, and from general disinclination the measure was laid aside; but the members pledged their constituents at every hazard to defend the rights and liberties of America, and, if necessary, to resist force by force. They also recommended domestic manufactures, and led the way to a law "prohibiting the future importation of slaves."

"Do not give up," wrote the town of Monmouth in New Jersey to the Bostonians; "and, if you should want any further supply of bread, let us know." On the twenty

fourth of January, the assembly of that colony, without a dissenting voice, adopted the measures of the last general congress, and elected delegates to the next. Three weeks later, it was persuaded, like New York, to transmit a separate petition to the king; but its petition enumerated the American grievances without abatement.

1775.

The assembly of New York would neither print letters of the committee of correspondence, nor vote thanks to the New York delegates to the congress, nor express satisfaction that the merchants and inhabitants of the province adhered to the continental association. On the twenty-third of February, it was moved to send delegates to the general congress in May. Strenuous debates arose, Schuyler and Clinton speaking several times on the one side, Brush and Wilkins very earnestly on the other; but the motion was defeated by a vote of nine to seventeen.

Feb. 23.

The vote proved nothing but how far prejudice, corruption, pride, and attachment to party could make a legislative body false to its constituents. The people of New York were thrown back upon themselves, under circumstances of difficulty that had no parallel in other colonies. They had no legally constituted body to form their rallying point;

and, at a time when the continental congress refused to sanction any revolutionary act even in Massachusetts, they were compelled to proceed exclusively by the methods of revolution. Massachusetts was sustained by its elective council and its annually elected assembly; New York had a council holding office at the king's will, and an assembly continued in existence from year to year by the king's prerogative. Yet the colony was sure to emerge from all these obstacles; and its first legitimate organ was the press.

Charles Lee denied the military capacity of England, as she could with difficulty enlist recruits enough to keep her regiments full; and, contrary to his real opinion, he insisted that in a few months efficient infantry might be formed of Americans.

Feb.

A pamphlet from the pen of Alexander Hamilton 1775. had been in circulation since December; in February, when the necessity of the appeal to the people was become more and more urgent, the genial pilgrim from the south again put forth all his ability, with a determined interest in the coming struggle, as if he had sprung from the soil whose rights he defended. Strong in the sincerity of his convictions, he addressed the judgment, not the passions, aiming not at brilliancy of expression, but justness of thought, severe in youthful earnestness. "I lament," wrote Hamilton, "the unnatural quarrel between the parent state and the colonies; and most ardently wish for a speedy reconciliation, a perpetual and mutually beneficial union. I am a warm advocate for limited monarchy, and an unfeigned well-wisher to the present royal family; but, on the other hand, I am inviolably attached to the essential rights of mankind, to the true interests of society, to civil liberty as the greatest of terrestrial blessings."

"You are quarrelling for threepence a pound on tea, an atom on the shoulders of a giant," said the tories; and he answered: "The parliament claims a right to tax us in all cases whatever; its late acts are in virtue of that claim; it is the principle against which we contend."

"You should have had recourse to remonstrance and petition," said the time-servers. "In the infancy of the

1775.

Feb.

present dispute," rejoined Hamilton, "we addressed the throne; our address was treated with contempt and neglect. The first American congress in 1765 did the same, and met with similar treatment. The exigency of the times requires vigorous remedies; we have no resource but in a restriction of our trade, or in a resistance by arms."

"But Great Britain," it was said, "will enforce her claims by fire and sword. The Americans are without fortresses, without discipline, without military stores, without money, and cannot keep an army in the field; nor can troops be disciplined without regular pay and government by an unquestioned legal authority. A large number of armed men might be got together near Boston, but in a week they would be obliged to disperse to avoid starving." "The courage of Americans," replied Hamilton, "has been proved. The troops Great Britain could send against us would be but few; our superiority in number would balance our inferiority in discipline. It would be hard, if not impracticable, to subjugate us by force. An armament sufficient to enslave America will put her to an insupportable expense. She would be laid open to foreign enemies. Ruin like a deluge would pour in from every quarter." "Great Britain," it was said, "will seek to bring us to a compliance by putting a stop to our whole trade." can live without trade," answered Hamilton; "food and clothing we have within ourselves. With due cultivation, the southern colonies, in a couple of years, would afford cotton enough to clothe the whole continent. Our climate produces wool, flax, and hemp. The silkworm answers as well here as in any part of the world. If manufactures should once be established, they will pave the way still more to the future grandeur and glory of America, and will render it still securer against encroachments of tyranny."

"We

"You will raise the resentment of the united inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland," objected his adversaries. "They are our friends," said he; "they know how dangerous to their liberties the loss of ours must be. The Irish will sympathize with us and commend our conduct."

The tories built confidently upon disunion among the