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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
boycott and publish any offenders against it. On Saturday,
August 26, 1769, a meeting of the principal freeholders of
the county approved and unanimously signed the compact. 1
Apparently no action was taken by the other counties on
the Delaware.
On October 18, the members of the House of Assembly of
New Jersey passed a vote of thanks to the merchants and
traders of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania " for
their disinterested and public spirited Conduct in withhold-
ing their Importations of British Merchandize. " 2 The
only other evidence of formal action on the part of the in-
habitants came at mass meetings in Essex county and at New
Brunswick in June, 1770, when loyalty to non-importation
was pledged and a sentence of boycott pronounced upon all
importers and their allies. 8
On April 26, 1769, the Committee of Merchants at New
York wrote a letter to the merchants at New Haven, the
chief trading place in Connecticut, appealing to them to
adopt the same measures that Boston, New York and Phila-
delphia had united upon. 4 The merchants of New Haven
met for that purpose on July 10, and agreed neither to
receive nor purchase any goods from Great Britain until
the Townshend duties should be repealed, with the exception
of certain specified articles and such commodities as were
excluded by the Boston and New York agreements. Delin-
quent subscribers were to be boycotted as " enemies to their
Country. " 5 In August the merchants at New London
and Groton adopted regulations of a similar tendency. *
1 Pa. Journ. , Aug. 31, 1769; also S. C. Gas. , Oct. 12.
1 Pa. Gas. , Oct. 26, 1769; also / N. J. Arch. , vol. xxvi, p. 546.
1 N. J. Journ. , June 7, 28, 1770; also I N. J. Arch. , vol. xxvii, pp. 169-
172, 186-189.
* Conn. Cour. , July 30, 1770; also N. Y. Gas. & Post-Boy, Aug. 6.
4 Bos. Eve. Post, Aug. 7, 1769; Conn. Cour. , July 30, 1770.
? Bos. Chron. , Aug. 28, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
The support of the farmers of the province was manifested
in a resolution passed, on October 12, by the House of
Representatives, a body which they entirely controlled.
High approval was expressed of the merchants of Con-
necticut and the other provinces for stopping importation
from Great Britain. 1 On Christmas day, a town meeting
at Wethersfield congratulated the merchants on their con-
duct, and voted to use no goods debarred by the merchants'
agreement. Silas Deane, a local merchant in the West
Indian trade, had worked actively for these resolutions and
was made chairman of the committee of enforcement. 1
Norwich followed the example of Wethersfield a month
later. *
Now occurred a moveme1it_t^^taftdMdtgfc4lumg? eements
of the various towns; and a call was sent forth for a meet-
ing of the principal merchants and traders at Middletown
on February 20, 1770, to take proper measures. The mer-
cantile convention met at the appointed time and there were
also " a Number of the respectable Inhabitants " in attend-
ance. After a three days' session, the meeting formulated
a program of action, designed to free the province from
the economic domination not only of England but of the
neighboring provinces as well. A uniform agreement of
non-importation was drawn up. 4 Old prices were to con-
tinue; violators of the non-importation, whether merchants
or others, were to be boycotted; and a similar treatment was
to be visited on any provinces that did not observe non-
importation. A project was launched for a "society for
1 N. Y. Gas. & Merc. , Nov. 20, 1769.
'Bos. Eve. Post, Jan. 22, 1770.
'Ibid. , Feb. 5, 1770.
4 About thirty articles were permitted to be imported, most of which
were useful for local manufacturing. This list was further extended
at a general meeting of September 13. Conn. Cour. , Sept. 17, 1770.
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? 152
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the purpose of promoting and extending the arts, agricul-
ture, manufactures, trade and commerce of this colony;"
and a committee was appointed to float the enterprise by
means of popular subscriptions. 1 Another committee was
instructed to seek preferential treatment from the legis-
lature for the exportation of Connecticut flour in Con-
necticut vessels, for local ships in the fisheries, and for the
establishment of a glass factory. The convention further
resolved that, in view of the extreme scarcity of cash, they
would urge the legislature at its May session "to make
notes of hand negotiable with us, under proper regula-
tions, as they are in Great Britain, and in some of our
sister colonies. " 2
At first thought, it may seem strange that the merchants
of Rhode Island were not abreast of Boston and New York
in opposition to the trade restrictions of Parliament. With
the course of these greater towns their true interest un-
doubtedly lay; but the temptation in hard times {o turn the
self-denial of their neitrhhnrs to thpir mv>>]
Moreover, they had so long
1 This society was duly organized; and, at its first meeting, on May
22, 1770, it offered premiums for domestic wheat, wool, textiles, stock-
ings and nails. New-London Gas. , June 15, 1770. But the breakdown
of the non-importation movement later in the year prevented this soci-
ety from accomplishing its purpose.
1Conn, Journ. , Jan. 19, 1770; Conn. Cour. , Feb. 26.
1 Thus, newspapers in New York and Boston alluded to recent "large
Importations of British Goods into 'Rhode Island with Intent to take
an Advantage of the Sister Colonies. " N. Y. Journ. , June 29, Nov. 30,
1769; Mass. Gas. , July 10. Vide also R. I. Commerce, vol. i, p. 246.
In August, 1769, two British manufacturers, who had been expelled
from Charleston, S. C. , and later from New London, Conn. , for trying
to sell imported British wares, journeyed on to Newport and quickly
disposed of their goods there. Bos. Chron. , Aug. 28, 1769; N. Y. Gas.
6- Post-Boy. Aug. 28. In December, a trader in "a Country Town
Southward of Boston" complained that the trade of the western part
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
153
accustomed themselves to defiances of the trade regulations
of Parliament that it violated no moral scruple to ignore
the extra-legal ordinances of nearby provinces. The mer-
chants of Newport, the leading town, were the chief of-
fenders. As one observer put it, the merchants there " have
been pretty unanimous in disputing fees with their Col-
lector &c. " but have failed to adopt non-importation meas-
ures. "They have been busy in killing flies while they
should have been destroying wolves and tygers! " *
After some preliminary agitation on the part of the local
merchants, a town meeting at Providence on October 24,
1769 resolved not to import or purchase any of the com-
modities listed in the old town agreement of December 2,
1767. ' This, it should however be noted, was an ex-
tremely liberal form of non-importation regulation in com-
parison with the agreements in the other commercial prov-
inces. As the snow Tristram was soon expected from
London with goods forbidden by the agreement, the various
importers, some of whom had been unmoved before, arose
in the meeting and agreed to store the goods with a com-
mittee of the town. Later, precaution was taken to prevent
inhabitants from buying goods, which local merchants were
forbidden to sell, from strolling vendors, all purchasers
being warned that their names would be publicly advertised. 5
of Massachusetts was being absorbed by Rhode Island merchants, be-
cause prices at Newport were twenty per cent cheaper than at Boston.
Mass. Gas. & News-Letter, Dec. 21, 1769. "A Bostonian" charged in
the Boston Chronicle, Feb. 5, 1770, that Providence had developed a
considerable trade with western Massachusetts. In like vein, the
Chronicle, Dec. I1, 1769, reported that twenty chests of tea had been
brought overland from Rhode Island within the fortnight.
1 N. Y. Journ. , Nov. 9, 1769.
? Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Oct. 16, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Oct. 30; Mass.
Gas. & News-Letter, Nov. 2, Dec. 14. Vide supra, p. 111.
'Mass. Gas. & News-Letter, Nov. 17, 1769.
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154
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The Newport merchants were more refractory. A letter
of October 21, 1769 from the Philadelphia Merchants' Com-
mittee notified them that a plan was under way to sever
commercial relations with them unless they united in the
measures- of the other provinces. 1 A Boston newspaper
announced that " all intercourse with Rhode Island is nearly
shut up, as if the plague were there;"2 and the South
Carolina Gasette of November 14 asserted that similar meas-
ures were about to be adopted at Charleston. Under this
outside pressure, the body of Newport merchants met on
October 30, and agreed to import no British manufactures or
East India goods after January 1, 1770. 8 Their design
was quickly detected. The Philadelphia Merchants' Com-
mittee informed them that the agreement was unsatisfactory
in two respects: by confining themselves to British and East
India goods, they still were at liberty to import from Great
Britain German, Russian and other European commodities;
and, by postponing the operation of the agreement until
the first of January, they might import vast quantities of
goods, ordered especially for the interval. Unless these
matters were rectified and a "determinate answer" given
by December 10, they were told that Philadelphia would
boycott them. 4 At New York, the merchants instituted an
immediate boycott, subject to removal when the Newport
merchants conformed to conditions somewhat similar to
those imposed by Philadelphia. 5 The Newport merchants
now adopted a new agreement, which was acceptable in
every respect, save that the imports lately arrived were not
1 Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 31-34.
1 Mass. Gas. & News-Letter, Oct. 5, 1769.
1 N. Y. Gas. & Merc. , Nov. 13, 1769.
4 Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 43-45.
6 Mass. Gas. & News-Letter, Nov. 23, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
155
to be stored. 1 Although not entirely satisfied, the Phila-
delphia merchants, upon strong assurance of strict observ-
ance in the future, determined to continue trade relations;
and, some weeks later, the New Yorkers re-opened trade
with Newport. 2 Nevertheless, the equivocal course of the
Newport merchants did not promise well for the future
conscientious performance of pledges reluctantly given.
The inaction of New Hampshire was due, for the most
part, to causes of a different character. The province was
in the midst of a period of unusual prosperity, and taxes
were lower than they had been for years. * The predomin-
ant interests of the province were agricultural; and, lacking
a first-rate trading-town, there was no aggressive mer-
cantile class to disturb the general complacency. Moreover,
most of the seats of power in the province were occupied
by relatives of Governor Wentworth, the royal appointee. 4
Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that Governor
Wentworth was able to write to the home government as
late as February 18, 1770: " There are not any non-impor-
tation committees or associations formed in this province,
tho' daily solicited. " He added that some Scotch merchants
had now sent their European importations there and were
carrying on their business " without the least molestation. " ?
No steps were taken in New Hampshire to join the union
ot the other provinces until the alarming news arrived of
the Boston Massacre. "
1 Bos. Gaz. , Jan. 29, 1770; also Pa. Journ. , Feb. 15.
1N. Y. Journ. , Jan. 25, 1770; N. Y. Gas. & Merc. , Jan. 29.
2 Fry, W. H. , New Hampshire as a Royal Province (Col. U. Studies,
vol. xxix, no. 2), p. 420.
* It would appear that, of the nine members of the council, eight were
connected with the governor by blood or marriage ties; Judge Atkin-
son of the Superior Court was the governor's uncle; and the clerk of
the Superior Court was the judge's nephew. Bos. Eve. Post, June 25,
1770.
* Brit. Papers ("Sparks Mss"), vol. iii, p. 205.
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? CHAPTER IV
ENFORCEMENT AND BREAKDOWN OF NON-
IMPORTATION (1768-1770)
J3v the autumn of 1760 non-importation agreements
had been adopted in every province save NewHampshire.
But if these paper manifestoes were to accomplish their
purpose of coercing the mother country, they must be
accompanied by a firm enforcement. It is appropriate,
therefore, to inquire to what extent the boycott against
Great Britain was actually executed. Certain difficul-
ties, inherent in the inquiry, will render dogmatic con-
clusions impossible. Thus, the agreements of the sev-
eral provinces went into operation at different times,
some being separated by long intervals of time. Their
provisions varied widely in their comprehensiveness.
Furthermore, the evidence, upon which conclusions
must be based, is voluminous in the case" of some pro-
vinces, and very scanty for others. Custom house
figures are of doubtful assistance in gauging the earn-
estness of the non-importers, since they do not indicate
whether the goods imported were allowed or proscribed
by the agreements, and they do not at all take into ac-
count the peculiar obstacles with which the non-impor-
ters may have had to contend in any particular locality.
In no province were the difficulties of enforcement
greater than in Massachusetts. The actual good faith
of the merchant body of Boston was impugned by many
156
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? NON-IMPORTATION
people at the time; and the writers of history have found
it easy to follow this example since. 1 But the story of the
enforcement at Boston will show that the merchants were
laboring earnestly, and with a large measure of effec-
tiveness, to establish the non-importation against un-
usually heavy odds. "I wonder for my part," wrote a
Boston merchant in 1770 to a New York friend, "how
we have been able to continue and so strictly to adhere to
the agreement as we have done. " Besides the usual
obstacles, "we have had a governor, together with a
board of commissioners, with their train of officers and
dependants who have exerted every nerve to render
abortive the non-importation agreement," and they have
had support from the military power. "We have had a
government on each side of us who have imported as
usual without the least restraint;" and "we have six or
seven ports within our government to attend to besides
our own. " * The writer might have added that the Bos-
ton merchants were the first on the continent to adopt
a non-importation agreement and had anticipated the
action of most of the provinces by many months. Finally
and not least, he should have noted that the opponents
of non-importation had a giant of strength on their side
in the person of the shrewdest and most pertinacious
controversialist in British America, John Mein of the
Boston Chronicle.
The merchants' agreement went into effect on January
I, 1769. On April 21, a meeting of the merchants ap-
pointed a committee to inspect the manifests, or official
cargo lists, of vessels which were then arriving from
lE. g. , editorial note in Dickinson, Writings (Ford), vol. i, p. 436;
Becker, N. Y. Parties, 1760-1776, p. 85.
* N. Y. Journ. , July 5, 1770.
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? 158
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Great Britain with spring shipments and to report back
to the body the names of merchants who had imported
in defiance of the agreement. 1 On the twenty-seventh,
the merchants heard the report: six subscribers of the
agreement had received a few articles, the residue of
former orders, and six or seven, who were not signers,
had imported small quantities of prohibited articles.
The former had readily agreed to store their importa-
tions with the committee, while the committee was in-
structed to confer further with the latter. 2 An inspired
statement a few days later informed the public that the
merchants' agreement had been "strictly adhered to"
by its signers, and that there had not been imported "in
all the ships from England more Goods than would fill
a Long-Boat. "3
A campaign that was destined to continue through
many months was begun to discredit utterly those who
violated the merchants' agreement. On May 8, the
Boston town meeting expressed its high satisfaction over
the scrupulous conduct of the merchants and recom-
mended to the inhabitants to withdraw their patronage
from "those few persons" who had imported goods
contrary to the agreement. 4 Within the next two weeks,
some thousands of handbills were dispersed through
Massachusetts and the neighboring provinces, advising
1 Bos. Gaz. , Apr. 24, 1769; also N. Y. Journ. , May 4.
*Hos. Gas. , May 1, 1769. This account contained no names. The
complete report of the committee, with the names of the importers,
etc. , maybe found in M. H. S. Ms. , 91 L. , p. 42. There were actually
twenty-eight importers who were non-signers, but the contents of their
orders were not known in most instances.
*J5os. Gas. , May I, 1769; also N. Y. Gas. & Merc. , May 8.
*Bos. News-Letter, May 11, 1769; also Bos. Town Recs. (,1758-1769),
p. 289.
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? NON-IMPORTATION
159
all people to shun the shops of the following firms as
men who preferred private advantage to public welfare:
William Jackson, Jonathan Simpson, J. and R. Selkrig,1
John Taylor, Samuel Fletcher, Theophilus Lillie, James
McMasters & Co. , Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, and
Nathaniel Rogers. 2 Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, it
should be noted, were sons of the lieutenant governor
and carried on a business of tea importation in which
the elder Thomas himself was interested. 8 Nathaniel
Rogers, another of the proscribed men, was a nephew of
the lieutenant governor. All these men were respected
merchants of the city; and so far as any records would
indicate, none of them were interested in illicit traffic or
even in the West Indian trade. No doubt most of them,
like the Hutchinsons, were conducting lawful businesses
which throve best under the regulations of Parliament;
and a number of them had friends and relatives among
the official class. They were not Tories in any political
sense, and neither then nor afterwards did they hold
posts under the government. They were men who, how-
ever, objected as fiercely to a direction of their affairs by
the populace as the smugglers of 1761 did to an inter-
ference with their business by a governmental writ of
assistance.
The effort to inaugurate a boycott against these men
brought to their defense the doughty champion, to whom
reference has already been made. John Mein. a co-pub-
1 Also spelled Selkridge and Selking.
1A''. Y. Journ. , June 29, 1769.
1 Vide infra, p. 282. I have found no evidence to support William Pal-
frey's allegation, made in a private letter to John Wilkes, October 30,
1770, that the elder Hutchinson, after graduation at Harvard, "was for
many years in the Holland trade, where he constantly practised all the
various methods of smuggling. " Palfrey, J. G.