Jan. CHAP. to petition the king separately, in the hope that XIX. some one of them would offer acceptable terms. 1775. Especially crown officers and royalists, practised every art to separate New York from the general union. The city of New York, unlike Boston, was a corporation with a mayor of the king's appointment. There the president of the chartered college taught, that "Christians are required to be subject to the higher powers; that an apostle enjoined submission to Nero;" that the friends of the American congress were as certainly guilty of "an unpardonable crime, as that St. Paul and St. Peter were inspired men." There the Episcopal clergy fomented a distrust of the New England people, as "rebellious republicans, hairbrained fanatics; intolerant towards the church of England, Quakers, and Baptists; doubly intolerant towards the Germans and Dutch." There a corrupt influence grew out of contracts for the army. There 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. XIX. Jan. It permitted the assembly to employ, as its own CHAP. agent, Edmund Burke, whose genius might inspire hope to the last. In the name of the ministry, it 1775 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 New Hampshire grants, under which populous villages had grown up. 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 himself 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." 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 success 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 VOL. VII. 18* XIX. CHAP. most obnoxious of the leaders seized, and a pardon proclaimed for all others, government will come off Jan. victorious, and with less opposition than was expected a few months ago." 1775. Jan. 26. On the twenty-sixth of January the patriot Abraham 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 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 XIX. Jan. that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world, CHAP. and that they would religiously observe the rule not to fight; and the meeting of the Friends of Pennsyl- 1775. vania 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 elected seven delegates to the next congress in May. The popular convention of that colony, supported by the inflexibility of Thomson, and the vivacity and address of Mifflin, now pledged their constituents at every hazard to defend the rights and liberties of America, and, if necessary, to resist force by force. Unanimously adhering to the resolves of the congress, 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 presented the American grievances without abatement. 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 CHAP. association. On the twenty-third of February, it was XIX. moved to send delegates to the general congress in 1775. May. Strenuous debates arose; Schuyler and Clin23. ton speaking several times on the one side, Brush Feb. and Wilkins very earnestly on the other; but the motion was defeated by a vote of nine to seventeen. 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 year to year by the king's prerogative. Yet the patriotism of the colony was sure to emerge from all these obstacles; and its first legitimate organ was the press. from Charles Lee denied the military capacity of England, as she could with difficulty enlist recruits enough to keep her regiments full; and he insisted that in a few months efficient infantry might be formed of Americans. A pamphlet from the pen of Alexander Hamilton, 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 |