No More Learning

1 A few days later the com-
mittee of inspection at Farmington in the same county ob-
tained from James Percival, a local dealer, a written con-
fession of his guilt in violating this regulation and a
promise to deposit his surplus profit with the committee for
use of the Boston unfortunate. 5 The same action with re-
spect to prices was taken by the counties of New Haven.
Fairfield and Litchfield. All these counties also directed
attention to the importance of improving sheep, raising flax
and encouraging manufactures. *
As Connecticut possessed no commercial metropolis,
special effort was made in that province to standardize the
practice of trying persons accused of transgressing the
Association in the several small river and coast towns. The
movement was set on foot, it would appear, at the meeting
of the committees of inspection of Hartford County on
January 25. In executing the Association, it was there
agreed that proceedings against an accused should be con-
ducted in an "open, candid and deliberate manner:" that
formal summons should be served upon him. containing the
nature of the charge, with an invitation to defend himself
before the committee at some time not sooner than six days
later; that witnesses and other evidence should be " openly,
fairly and fully heard;" and that no conviction should be
1 Conn. Cour. , Jan. 30, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Feb. 13, 1775.
'Ibid. , Feb. 27, 1775; Conn. Journ. , Mch. 8.
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? 488 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
made " but upon the fullest, clearest and most convincing
proof. " * The same mode of procedure was adopted by the
counties of New Haven, Fairfield and Litchfield. 2
Trials of offenders by the committees of inspection bore
every evidence of being fair and impartial hearings, al-
though mistakes were occasionally made. In March three
men failed to appear before the Fairfield committee who
had been summoned to answer charges; and upon an ex
parte examination the committee held unanimously that the
accused were guilty of a breach of the Association and
should forfeit all commercial connections with the com-
munity. Five weeks later, two of the men came before the
committee, proved their innocence and were restored to
public favor. 5 At Guilford Captain Griffin appeared be-
fore the committee and demanded that his character be
cleared of the aspersions cast upon it by a letter from
Martinique, which had been printed in the Journal and
which accused him of having violated Article vii by taking
fourteen sheep to Martinique. After investigation the
committee decided that Griffin was not guilty and recom-
mended him to the favorable consideration of the . public. 4
In general, the view expressed by Thomas Mumford of
Groton to Silas Deane in October, 1775, may be accepted
as correct: "This Colony universally adheres to all the
Resolves of Congress. " 5 Even in Fairfield County, where,
it will be recalled, the greatest disaffection existed, the
principal towns were actively engaged in executing the
Association.
1 Conn. Cour. , Jan. 30, 1775.
* Ibid. , Feb. 27, 1775; Conn. Journ. , Mch. 8.
1 Conn. Gas. , Apr. 4, May 12, 1775.
4 N. Y. Gas. , Apr. 3, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 222.
? Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, p. 310. Vide also 4 Am. Arch. , vol.
ii, pp. 252-253.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 489
In New York province the responsibility of enforcing
the non-importation regulation rested with the Committee
of Sixty at the port of entry. However, the first occasion
for enforcement of the Association was the attempt of an
inconsiderate citizen to ship some sheep to the West Indies.
The shipment was prevented through the energy of a group
of inhabitants who acted without consulting the Committee
of " Fifty-One," then still in office. 1 A few days later the
distillers of the city signified their hearty approval of the
pending non-importation by resolving to distill no molasses
imported from the British West Indies or Dominica nor to
sell any rum for the purpose of carrying on the slave
traffic. 2 In the two months prior to February 1, 1775, the
Committee of Sixty showed a record of astonishing activ-
ity. Their official report testifies that they conducted auc-
tions for the sale of goods imported in twenty-one vessels,
as well as for the sale of a trunk of calicoes imported from
London by way of Philadelphia. 5 These cargoes were
made up of a variety of articles representing many quarters
of the globe and evidencing the colorful romance of colo-
nial commerce. A great deal of space was taken up in the
newspapers by announcements of sales. The greatest profit
arose from the sale of merchandise brought in the large
London ship Lady Gage, from which ? 182 18s. was cleared
for Boston. In a number of cases the selling price covered
merely the first cost and charges. The total profits from all
sales amounted to ? 347 4s. 1d.
After February 1 the Sixty displayed equal diligence in
returning cargoes without breaking bulk. For the purpose
of facilitating this work a sub-committee was appointed to
supervise the arrival of all vessels. 4 The most difficult case
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 963; also N. Y. Journ. , Nov. 10, 1774.
1 Ibid. , Nov. 10, 1774.
1 Ibid. , Apr. 27, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii. pp. 342-343.
4 AT. Y. Journ. , Feb. 2, 1775.
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? 490
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
of enforcement proved to be that of a vessel that arrived on
the second day of the new dispensation. This was the ship
James, commanded by Captain Watson and bringing a
cargo of coal and drygoods from Glasgow. The captain
was promptly warned by the sub-committee not to enter at
the custom house and not to delay in departing with his
cargo unbroken. But the loyalists were determined to
make this a trial of strength; and although the consignees
refused to appeal to the authorities for aid, they obtained
the not unwilling ear of Captain Watson and employed men
to go aboard and bring the colors ashore with a view to
raising a posse to assist in landing the goods. A great mob
assembled on the shore; and the captain, much alarmed,
dropped down about four miles below the city, where he
remained several days attended by a boat containing repre-
sentatives of the committee. On Thursday evening, the
ninth, the ship reappeared in the harbor escorted by an
officer and some men belonging to the royal vessel King-
Usher, which had just come on the scene. The people again
assembled in great numbers, seized the captain who was
lodging in town, and paraded him about the streets until
he was glad to flee to the man-of-war. After two days of
sober reflection he prepared to depart with his ship, but was
now ordered to desist by an overzealous lieutenant from the
Kingfisher. Again the people collected; and the captain of
the Kingfisher, hearing of the unauthorized act of the lieu-
tenant, permitted the departure of the James. That vessel
was watched far beyond Sandy Hook, as she swept out to
sea. by the committee's boat. 1
The vigilance of the Sixty was again tested later in the
month upon the arrival of the Beulah from London. After
lying at anchor for almost three weeks in an effort to elude
1N. Y. Journ. , Feb. 9, 16, 1775; Pa. Jourt1. , Feb. 8; Colden, Letter
Books, vol. ii, p. 389.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
49 1
the watchfulness of the committee's boat, the vessel fell
down to Sandy Hook to await a favorable wind for the
return voyage. After two days' delay, she put to sea.
Word quickly reached the Sixty that, under shelter of dark-
ness, a boat from Elizabethtown, New Jersey, had taken off
some goods while the ship lingered at the Hook. Investi-
gation was at once undertaken by the Elizabethtown com-
mittee, and the truth of the case was being ferreted out
when Robert and John Murray, merchants of New York,
appeared before the Sixty and confessed that they were the
principals in the affair. The return of the Beulah with an
unbroken cargo meant great financial loss to them, but it is
evident that they feared the blast of the boycott even more
greatly. They made a sworn statement of the goods that
had been landed and promised to re-ship them in seven
days' time. Finally, to propitiate public feeling, they sub-
scribed ? 200 for the repair of the hospital, recently dam-
aged by fire. The Sixty published these facts without com-
ment; and the Elizabethtown committee proscribed John
Murray, and his son-in-law of that town -- the actual par-
ticipants in the affair -- as violators of the Association. 1
The Sixty exhibited less concern about the advancing of
prices. While the First Continental Congress was yet in
session, the old " Fifty-One" had taken cognizance of the
discontent arising from " the exorbitant price to which sun-
dry articles of goods, particularly some of the necessaries
of life," had advanced in anticipation of non-importation:
and they had induced a meeting of importers at the Ex-
change to agree to maintain prices at the usual level, dis-
courage engrossing, and to boycott retailers who acted con-
1 N. Y. Journ. , Feb. 23, Mch. 9, 23, Apr. 6, 1775. The son-in-law
was restored to public favor, after public contrition, by act of the
New Jersey provincial congress, Oct. 24, 1775. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii.
p. 1232. For the later history of the Murrays, vide infra, p. 565 and n. 1.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
492
trariwise. 1 Nevertheless, by January, claims were made in
the leading loyalist organ that prices had actually risen.
Thus, coarse osnaburgs were said to have advanced a full
third in the hands of the wholesaler; the price of coarse
linens and Russia sheetings had increased also. 2 These
allegations may not have fairly represented the situation, or
else the committee may have thought it_yjaw. ige_to. supervise
the merchants too. -ClQseJxjQD- this-point. In any case the
Sixty paid no attention to the charges.
An obvious effort was made to simplify the standard of
living. When Mrs. Margaret Duane died early in January,
her remains were interred in accordance with the directions
of Article viii. 8 The London ship Lady Gage brought two
puppet shows to New York; and in the midst of their first
performances, a committee of citizens stopped the proceed-
ings and, while the audiences dispersed in much confusion,
secured the promise of the managers not to show again. 4
The project of establishing In^al manufacturers on some
systematic plan attracted little interest at first. When, how-
ever, some enterprising Philadelphians established a manu-
facturing company a few months later, the Sixty decided
to make use of the same plan, under the name "The New
York Society for employing the Industrious Poor and Pro-
moting Manufactory. " The object was to manufacture
woolens, linens, cottons and nails; but subscriptions for
stock failed to materialize, and it was not until January,
1776, that a partial trial of the scheme was made possible
by a subsidy granted by the committee of safety at New
York city. 6 This was too late to be of any practical use
because of the British occupancy of the city soon after.
1 N. Y. Gas. , Oct. 10, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 328.
*tf. Y. Gasetteer, Jan. 19, 26, Apr. 6, 1775.
*AT. Y. Gas. , Jan. 16, 1775. 4 N. Y. Journ. , Dec. 15, 1774.
*4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, pp. 1263-1264, 1424-1426; C,'1txtituti,1nal Gas. ,
Jan. 27, 1776.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 493
Apart from the three rural counties of Albany, Ulster
and Suffolk, the outlying districts were not at this time
sufficiently organized to enforce the non-consumption reg-
ulations. It should be noted, however, that the energy and
intelligence of the Sixty at the metropolis reduced the im-
portance of such enforcement, inasmuch as foreign wares
seldom, if ever, penetrated that far. Probably the worst
infractions occurred in the matter of tea drinking after
March 1, when no tea either dutied or smuggled was to be
consumed. On April 7, Jacobus Low of Kingston in Ulster
County was proscribed by the Kingston committee as the
only dealer in town who would not refuse to sell tea. A
long and somewhat abusive controversy ensued; but at the
end of two months Low appeared before the committee and
made all the concessions they required. 1
Since the mercantile houses of New York city were the
feeders for the country stores of Connecticut and New Jer-
sey, the inviolability of the non-importation in the metrop-
olis was trebly important. That it was well kept the fore-
going incidents testify. A group of conservatives in
Dutchess and Westchester Counties sought to promote a
loyalist association for personal liberty, modeled on Briga-
dier Ruggles's association in Massachusetts; but it made no
headway. 2 Lieutenant Governor Colden, who had orig-
inally been skeptical of the success of the Continental Asso-
ciation, uttered a dependable judgment when he wrote on
March I: "the non importation association of the Con-
gress is ever rigidly maintained in this Place. " *
The spirit of the New Jersey associators has already been
suggested by the conduct of the Elizabethtown committee
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 298, 448, 548, 917.
1Ibid. , vol. i, p. 1164; N. Y. Gas. , Mch. 20, 1775.
1 Letter Books, vol. ii, p. 389. Vide also ibid. , pp. 369-370, 373.
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? 494
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
in the Murray affair. On December 6, 1774, Governor
Franklin informed the home government that: "Altho' the
Proceedings of the Congress are not altogether satisfactory
to many of the Inhabitants of the Colonies, yet there seems
at present little Reason to doubt but that the Terms of
Association will be generally carried into Execution, even
by those who dislike Parts of it. But few have the Courage
to declare their Disapprobation publickly, as they all know,
if they do not conform, they are in Danger of becoming
Objects of popular Resentment, from which it is not in
the Power of Government here to protect them. " l The
public meetings of Gloucester County and of Woodbridge
Township in Middlesex County expressly instructed their
committees of observation that they should "as carefully
attend to and pursue the rules and directions for their gov-
ernment . . . set forth in the said association, as they
would if the same had been enacted into a law by the legis-
lature of this province. " 2
The committees had to devote very little time to the pre-
vention of importation because of the absence of any good
ports. However, a consignment of merchandise, which
had come by way of New York in the Lady Gage, was sold
at auction at New Brunswick; and another importation
from Bristol in the Fair Lady via the same port was sold
at Elizabeth town. 8 An effort was made to land secretly a
quantity of dutied tea at Greenwich in Cumberland County.
The consignment was seized by some inhabitants; and while
the committee of observation was gravely deliberating as to
its disposition, Indians a la Boston made a bonfire of it. 4
1 / N. J. Arch. , vol. x, p. 503.
1 Pa. Gas. , Dec. 21, 1774; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1102-1103.
1 N. Y. Journ. , Jan. 19, 26, 1775.
4 Pa. Packet, Jan. 19, 1775; Andrews, F. D. , Tea-Burners of Cumber-
land County (Vineland, N. J. , 1908).
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 495
In February the committees of observation of Elizabeth-
town and Woodbridge suspended commercial intercourse
with the obdurate inhabitants of nearby Staten Island, who
had neglected to join the Association. 1
Of the various committees that passed resolutions in be-
half of economy and home production, the Hanover com-
mittee in Morris County established the most comprehen-
sive regulations. They promised to take note of all horse-
racing, cock-fighting and gambling and to prosecute the
offenders in accordance with the law. To Article vii of the
Association they added the requirements that no sheep
should be taken from the county without the committee's
permission and that no sheep should be killed until it was
four years old. They recommended the wide cultivation of
flax and hemp, and inveighed against any dealers who
should advance prices. 2
An illustration of the effectiveness of the boycott was
accorded by the action of Silas Newcomb, a member of the
Cumberland County committee, in announcing voluntarily
on March 6 that he had been drinking tea in his family
since March 1 and that he proposed to continue the prac-
tice. All dealings were thereupon broken off with him;
and on May 11 he appeared before the committee and made
an abject apology for his offense: that body accepted his
"recantation. " *
In Pennsylvania the chief obstacle to a perfect execution
of the Association was the hostility of the Quaker merchant
aristocracy at Philadelphia, the only port of entry. These
men were too shrewd to expose themselves to the rigors of
1 N. Y. Journ. , Feb. 16, Mch. 9, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp.
1234-1235, 1249.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 1240-1241; also Ar. Y. lourn. , Feb. 23, 1775.
14 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 34-35.
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? 496 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the boycott through personal infractions of the Association;
but, being wealthy and influential members of the Society
of Friends, they were able to conduct a campaign against
the Association by controlling the official utterances of that
organization.
As early as May 30, 1774, the day before the Boston
Port Act became effective, the several meetings of the soci-
ety in Philadelphia joined in declaring that, if any Quakers
had countenanced the plan of suspending all business on
June 1, " they have manifested great inattention to our re-
ligious principles and profession, and acted contrary to the
rules of Christian discipline established for the preservation
of order and good government among us. " * In the follow-
ing months the constant effort of the Quaker leaders, in
striking contrast with earlier years, was to keep the members
of the society clear of radical activities. "This has occa-
sioned no small care and labor," wrote James Pemberton
on November 6, " but has been so far of service that I hope
it may be said we are generally clear; tho' there have been
instances of some few who claim a right of membership
with us that have not kept within such limits and bounds
as we could wish. " 2 Joseph Reed, fixed in his singleness
of purpose, seriously impugned their sincerity. They " act
their usual part," he wrote on the same day as Pemberton's
letter. "They have directed their members not to serve on
the Committee, and mean to continue the same undecisive,
neutral conduct until they see how the scale is like to pre-
ponderate. . . . But American Liberty in the mean time
must take her chance with them. " *
Finally, on December 15, a meeting for sufferings at
Philadelphia appointed a committee to wait on the Quaker
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 365-366.
* Sharpless, Quakers in Revolution, p. 108.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 963-964.
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