No More Learning

151.
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? 476
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
1775 the Continental Association was rapidly losing its
original character. The military purposes to which the
machinery of the Association was turned became increas-
ingly important, so that by September 10, 1775, when the
non-exportation was to begin, the character of that measure
had also to be changed. Thus, the bold experiment, in-
augurated by the First Congress -- to establish the several
self-denying regulations of the Association through the
mobilizing of public opinion--was brought to a premature
close by the call to arms.
Certain generalizations may be made with reference to
the workings of the Association before taking up the prac
tice of the provinces separately, [in Massachusetts, where
the war fever was high, and, to a lesser extent, in the
neighboring provinces, the committees and conventions felt
called upon to concern themselves with military preparations
even before the outbreak of warj Every province without
exception availed itself of the suggestion made in the Asso-
ciation that such further regulations should be established
by the provincial conventions and committees as might be
deemed proper to enforce the Association. Non-importa-
tion and sumptuary regulations occupied the entire attention
in the period before the opening of hostilities, save for the
non-exportation of sheep, inasmuch as the general non-
exportation was not to become effective until September 10,
1775. For the present, the period of enforcement prior to
the outbreak of war will be considered.
Almost the first collective action taken in Massachusetts
to strengthen the Continental Association locally was an
agreement, signed by forty-one blacksmiths of Worcester
County on November 8, 1774, that they would refuse their
work to all persons who did not strictly conform to the
Association. They agreed further that they would not
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
477
perform any kind of work, after December 1, for persons
of Tory leanings, particularly Timothy Ruggles of Hard-
wick, John Murray of Rutland, James Putnam of Worces-
ter, their employees and dependents. 1 By this latter re-
solve hung a tale, for Timothy Ruggles and his friends,
with the active co-operation of Governor Gage, were seek-
ing to promote a loyalist association for the purpose of de-
feating the Continental Association. By the terms of this
association the subscribers pledged themselves to defend,
with lives and fortune, their "life, liberty and property"
and their "undoubted right to liberty in eating, drinking,
buying, selling, communing, and acting . . . consistent
with the laws of God and the King. " "When the person
or property of any of us shall be invaded or threatened by
Committees, mobs, or unlawful assemblies," said one por-
tion of the paper, "the others of us will, upon notice re-
ceived, forthwith repair, properly armed, to the person on
whom . . . such invasion or threatening shall be, and will
to the utmost of our power, defend such person and his
property, and, if need be, will oppose and repel force with
force. "1
This brave pledge of opposition failed to win signers, for
the reason that every signer of the paper at once exposed
himself to the swift wrath of the radicals. The provincial
congress on December 9 recommended to the committees of
correspondence to give " the earliest notice to the publick
of all such combinations, and of the persons signing the
same, . . . that their names may be published to the world,
their persons treated with that neglect, and their memories
transmitted to posterity with that ignominy which such un-
1 Bos. Go*. , Nov. 28, 1774.
tMass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Dec. 26, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i,
pp. 1057-1058.
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? 478 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
natural conduct must deserve. " 1 It was under influence of
this resolution that, a few weeks later, a mob of people at
Wrentham coerced five loyalists to plead, with heads un-
covered, the forgiveness of Heaven, and to pledge unde-
viating adherence to the Continental Association. 2 Marsh-
field was the only town where as many as one hundred and
fifty men signed the loyalist association, and the associators
discreetly sent a hurry-call fo Gage for troops for their
protection. 8 Gage complained that the "considerable
people" of Boston were "more shy of making open dec-
larations," notwithstanding that they were in a fortified
town, than the people in the country. 4 The failure of the
loyalist association way fl"* tn fhp . ^pyrW nr^n\7f^nn of
f*lg radJTalg rattlfT than tn ]prl o. f support f^T it.
The provincial congress, meeting in late November and
early December, 1774, passed a number of resolutions to
supplement and strengthen several portions of the Conti-
nental Association. They also recommended that the min-
isters of the gospel throughout the province instruct their
congregations to cleave to the Association; and in a fervent
address directly to the inhabitants of the province they
urged the organization of minute-men as a protection
against Gage's troops who would certainly be employed to
defeat the Association. 6
There was unmistakable evidence that the non-importa-
tion regulation was strictly enforced. In accordance with
Article x, importers of merchandise which arrived between
December 1, 1774, and February 1, 1775, were given the
1 Bos. Gas. , Dec. 19, 1774; . also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1004. Vide
also the resolution of April 12, 1775; ibid. , pp. 1360-1361.
1 N. Y. Ga*. , Jan. 23, 1775.
84 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1177-1178. 1249-1251.
4 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 1634; vide also ibid pp. 1046-1047.
6 Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 1000, 1005-1006.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 479
choice of immediately re-shipping the goods, storing the
goods with the local committee, or having them auctioned
off under direction of the committee. In the last case, the
owner was reimbursed to the extent of his actual invest-
ment and the profits were devoted to the uses of the Boston
needy. The provincial congress provided that such sales
must be advertised in the Boston and Salem papers at least
ten days in advance, and that the goods should be sold to
the highest bidder. 1 The newspapers related many in-
stances of each course of procedure; and even the loyalist
writings did not seek to represent otherwise. The chief
centers of activity were Marblehead, Salem and Plymouth.
Many, perhaps most, importers preferred to offer their
goods at committee auction than to tie up their capital for
an indefinite period by storing the goods--a choice which,
by the way, afforded them an opportunity to buy back their
own goods.
As an example of such sales, the committee of inspection
at Marblehead offered at auction on December 26 such part
of the cargo of the London ship Champion as had then
been delivered to the committee, consisting of Russia duck,
osnaburgs, ticklinburgs, baizes, hemp, linens, hats, books,
women's hose, nails, needles, calicoes, velvets and medi-
cines to the value of ? 2410 sterling; and also the entire
cargo of the Falmouth brigantine Polly, consisting of
lemons, wines, raisins and figs. The rest of the goods im-
ported in the Champion were disposed of in January. 2 The
complete cargoes of the schooners Lynn, Britannia and
Adventure, all from Falmouth, were sold a few weeks
later. * As the result of their enterprise, the Marblehead
1 Mass. Spy, Dec. 16, 1774.
'Salem Gas. , Dec. 23. 1774; Essex Gas. , Jan. 3, 1775: Bos. Gas:. ,
Jan. 23.
*Moss. Spy, Feb. 9, 1775.
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? 48o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
committee of inspection derived profits amounting to ? 120,
which they turned over to Boston. 1 Meantime, the Salem
Committee were disposing of importations from Bristol,
London, Falmouth, Jamaica and Dominica. Their method
of sale was indicated by their advertisement that: "Each
invoice will be put up at the sterling cost and charges, one
per cent advance, and half per cent each bidder. " z Their
contribution to Boston, as a result of the sales, amounted
to ? 109 9s. 5d. 8 In the same period the Plymouth com-
mittee of inspection made profits for Boston amounting to
? 31 58. 6/2. "
After February 1 few vessels arrived in Massachusetts
ports as compared with former and better days. When they
did come, the cargoes were almost invariably re-shipped
without breaking bulk. 5 One instance of defiance occurred
at Falmouth in March, when a small sloop arrived from
Bristol with rigging, sails and stores for a vessel which
Thomas Coulson was in the process of building. The com-
mittee of inspection resolved that the materials should be
returned by the same vessel; but Coulson would conform
to their demands only in part. He brought on his head the
condemnation of the Cumberland County convention, which
shortly after assembled at Falmouth; and as Coulson con-
tinued obdurate, the committee of inspection published him
as a violator of the Association. *
Few efforts were made to violate the regulation for the
non-exportation of sheep. In December, Captain Hamilton
1Bos. Gas. , Mch. 13, 1775.
? Mow. Spy, Jan. 5, 1775-
1 Essex Gas. , Apr. 11, 1775.
4 Bos. Gas. , Mch. 27, 1775.
? E. g. , a cargo of molasses arriving at Vlarblehead from Dominica
on March 2; Essex Journ. , Mch. 15, 1775.
? 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 3>>-313; Bos. Eve. Post, Apr. 3, 1775-
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 481
at Salem planned to send thirty sheep to Jamaica; but when
the committee of inspection explained that he would be
violating the Association, he readily desisted. 1 The com-
mittee later stopped another consignment. The regulations
concerning non-consumption were harder to administer,
because of the practical difficulty of distinguishing between
goods which might properly be bought and those which
could not. The committee at Newburyport met this diffi-
culty by requiring shopkeepers to produce a certificate from
some committee of inspection, testifying that the wares
offered for sale had been imported before December I or,
if later, that they had been disposed of according to Ar-
ticle x. 2 The provincial congress simplified the situation
for the future by passing a sweeping resolution forbidding
the sale, after October 10, 1775, of goods which fell under
the ban of the non-importation regulation, even if the goods
were unsold stock remaining from the period prior to De-
cember 1. 8
The most frequent infractions of the non-consumption
regulation occurred with reference to the article of tea. An
example of the vigilance of the committees of inspection
was afforded by the prompt apprehension of Thomas Lilly,
of Marblehead, for the purchase of a pound and a quarter
of tea from Simon Tufts, a Boston dealer, after March 1,
1775.
When Lilly had burnt the tea in the presence of a
large crowd, and had signed a confession, which read in
part: " I do now in this publick manner ask their pardon,
and do solemnly promise I will not in future be guilty of a
like offence," the Marblehead committee announced that he
might "be justly entitled to the esteem and employ of all
1 Essex Gas. , Dec. 13, 1774.
1 Essex Journ. , Dec. 28, 1774.
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 998-999. This resolution was repealed on
Sept. 30, 1775, however, before it became effective. Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 1445.
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? 482
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
persons as heretofore. " The Boston committee examined
into Tufts' action and secured from him a statement, made
under oath before a justice of the peace, that the tea had
been sold to Lilly by the clerk without the knowledge or
consent of himself and that in the future his conduct should
not be open to misconstruction. 1 Some difficulty arose from
the practice of peddlers and petty chapmen going through
the country towns and selling teas and other East India
goods which, there was reason to suspect, had been im-
ported after December t. On February 15, 1775, the pro-
vincial congress urged the committees of inspection to pre-
vent such sales, and recommended to the inhabitants not to
trade with peddlers for any article whatever. 2
Some effort was made by the provincial congress to stim-
ulate local industry, although it hardly went beyond an ex-
hortation to the people to form societies for the purpose of
promoting manufacturing and agriculture. A number of
articles were named, whose production should be encour-
aged -- such as nails, steel, tin-plates, buttons, paper, glass
and hosiery, gunlocks, saltpetre and gunpowder. A few
months later, the provincial congress asked every family in
the province to save rags in order that a paper mill erected
at Milton might have a sufficient supply. The people were
also asked to refrain from killing sheep except in cases of
dire necessity. 8 Local manufacturers made some progress
if one may judge from the advertising columns of the
Massachusetts Spy in January, 1775. Fish-hooks, made at
Cornish, were offered for sale by Lee & Jones. Enoch
Brown advertised sagathies, duroys, camblets, calamancoes
and shalloons of Massachusetts-make, and decanters, cruets
1 Essex Gos. , Mch. 28, 1775, and Bos. Gas. . Apr. 3; also 4 Am. Arch. ,
vol. ii, p. 234.
1Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 1339-1340.
* Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 1001-1002, 1334; vol. ii, p. 1514; vol. iii, p. 329.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 483
and other glassware imported from Philadelphia. Boston-
made buttons could be purchased from John Clarke.
Tendencies toward a greater frugality were to be found
in other respects as well. The Marblehead committee of
inspection voted unanimously that " the meeting of the in-
habitants of this town in parties at houses of entertainment,
for the purposes of dancing, feasting, &c. , is expressly
against the Association," and that future offenders should
be held up to public notice. 1 The regulation with reference
to simplicity in mourning seems to have been well ob-
served,2 although the committee of inspection at Newbury-
port felt it necessary to declare that: " If any should . . .
go into a contrary practice, they may well expect that their
friends and neighbours will manifest their disapprobation
. . . by declining to attend the funeral. " *
In New Hampshire the enforcement of the Association
depended in large degree on the faithfulness and energy of
the Committee of "Forty-Five" at Portsmouth, the only
port of entry. This committee proved equal to its respon-
sibilities. Before news of the adoption of the Association
reached Portsmouth, Captain Pearne, a merchant, had com-
missioned a brig to proceed to Madeira for a cargo of
wine; but before the vessel sailed the provisions of the
Association were learned and the merchant agreed to send
her to the West Indies instead. 4 The committee also
stopped Captain Olivers who was on the point of exporting
fifty sheep to the West Indies; and he was forced to dis-
pose of them otherwise at some loss to himself. 5 On De-
cember 2 Governor Wentworth wrote that most people
1 Essex Gas. , Jan. 17, 1775; also Salem Gas. . Jan. 20.
* Mass. Spy, Nov. 24, 1774.
1 Essex Journ. , Dec. 28, 1774.
*AT. H. Gas. , Nov. 18, 1774.
4 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1013; N. H. Gas. , Nov. 18, 1774.
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? 484 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
accepted the regulations of Congress "as matters of obe-
dience, not of considerate examination, whereon they may
exercise their own judgment. " 1 When sixty pounds of
dutied tea was found in possession of a shopkeeper on Jan-
uary 18, the culprit exhibited the better part of valor by
burning it in the presence of a large crowd. 2 On February
10 the committee recommended that all who furnished
accommodations for cards and billiards should discontinue
their unjustifiable proceedings at once. * So energetic was
the committee that the conservatives endeavored to set on
foot an association in opposition to the Continental Asso-
ciation; but the movement came to nought. 4
In the towns outside of Portsmouth, the greatest diffi-
culty was experienced in dealing with country peddlers and
chapmen. These men were accused of contravening the
non-importation and non-consumption regulations and also
of "tempting women, girls and boys with their unneces-
sary fineries. " The town of Exeter voted to permit no
itinerant traders to sell wares there. 8 A town meeting at
Epsom established the same regulation "upon no less
penalty than receiving a new suit agreeable to the modern
mode and a forfeiture of their goods. " * The committees at
Kingstown, New Market and Brentwood announced that
the provincial law prohibiting peddling would now be
rigidly enforced. 7 When a provincial convention met on
January 25, they endorsed this last method as the most
effective way of coping with the difficulty. 8 The conven-
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1013.
1 N. H. Gas. , Jan. 27, 1775.
* Ibid. , Feb. 10, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1223.
4 Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 251; also N. H. Gas. , Mch. 31, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Jan. 6, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1105-1106.
? Ibid. , vol. i, p. 1105; also N. H. Gas. , Jan. 20, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Jan. 13, 1775-
1Ibid. , Feb. 3, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1182.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 485
tion also issued an address to the inhabitants in behalf of
the Association and, among other things, recommended the
immediate and total disuse of tea whether dutied or smug-
gled. The people were also urged to promote home manu-
factures and shun all forms of extravagance. It was not
until the provincial congress met in May that the subject
of local production received further attention. Then linen
and woolen manufactures were mentioned as being partic-
ularly worthy of encouragement, and farmers were enjoined
to kill no lambs before the first of August following. 1
The non-importation regulation appears to have been
well enforced in Rhode Island. Several vessels intending
for the African coast were actually laid up at Newport be-
cause they could not be gotten ready to depart by Decem-
ber 1. 2 The Newport committee remitted to Boston the
sum of ? 5 15s. 3d. sterling as the profits of sales of im-
portations prior to February 1, 1775. 8 Late in January,
the committee at Providence auctioned off a quantity of
merchandise, valued at ? 1200 sterling, imported from
Liverpool by way of New York, and derived a profit of
? 16 6s. 1d. for the relief of Boston. 4 Particular attention
was given in Rhode Island to the regulations for the non-
exportation of sheep. In November, 1774, the Providence
committee exhorted obedience to these regulations; a few
days later they sent to Boston, as a gift, one hundred and
thirty-six sheep that had originally been intended for ex-
portation to the West Indies but which the town had bought
instead.