No More Learning

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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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
497
members of the provincial assembly and reprimand them
for having given their votes to a resolution ratifying the
doings of the Continental Congress five days earlier. 1 This
was preliminary to the action taken by the meeting for
sufferings for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, held at Phila-
delphia on January 5, 1775. At this meeting disapproval
was expressed of the measures which were being prosecuted
against Great Britain, and all members of the society were
earnestly requested to avoid joining in such measures as
inconsistent with their religious principles. 2 A gathering
of Quaker representatives from the two provinces later in
the month was even more explicit in their "testimony"
against "every usurpation of power and authority in op-
position to the Laws and Government, and against all Com-
binations, Insurrections, Conspiracies and Illegal Assem-
blages. " ?
Many members differed with the official utterances of the
society, some perhaps because they had increased their
stocks in anticipation of the non-importation, many others
because they could not see why they should abstain from
extra-legal activities at this juncture inasmuch as Quakers
had been leaders in commercial combinations against Great
Britain during Stamp Act times. A contemporary noted
that the Quakers were divided; that many of them disap-
proved of the Testimony, just alluded to, and indeed that
the Testimony had been adopted by a gathering of only
twenty-six people. 4 "B. L. ," writing in the Pennsylvania
Journal of February 1, 1775, reasoned blandly that the
Testimony could not have been directed against extra-legal
1 Sharpless, op. cit. , p. 107.
*N. Y. Gas. , Jan. 30, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1093-1094.
1Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 1176-1177; also Pa. Jottrn. , Feb. 8, 1775.
44 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1270.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
measures, since that supposition would condemn the very
meeting which had issued the paper, and since James Pem-
berton, the secretary of the meeting, was well known as an
active participant in the selection of the committee last
summer. The upshot was that the Society of Friends was
not able to fasten an official stigma on the radical measures
nor to control the actions of all of its members, although it
continued to seek to do so.
The Committee of Sixty-Six at Philadelphia made care-
ful arrangements for the enforcement of the non-importa-
tion regulation. The membership of the committee was
divided into six districts, and one person from each district
was required to attend every morning at the London Coffee
House to inspect the arrival of vessels. 1 All importers after
December 1 were warned to consult with this sub-committee
as to whether new merchandise should be stored, auctioned
off, or re-shipped. Detailed regulations were laid down for
public sales, such as, for instance, that in ordinary cases no
lots worth more than ? 15 sterling nor less than ? 3 sterling
should be offered for sale. 2
Unfortunately no record has been found in the news-
papers or elsewhere of the performance of the committee in
the first two months of the non-importation; but that the
committee was faithful to its trust there can be no doubt.
"There seems to be too general a disposition every where
to adhere strictly to the Resolutions of the Congress," wrote
Deputy Governor Penn on December 31. 8 The Sixty-Six
declared on February 16, 1775, that they had "not met
with the least impediment or obstruction in carrying into
execution any one Resolution of the Continental Congress,"
lPa. Gas. , Dec. 7, 1774; also N. Y. Journ. , Dec. 15.
* Pa. Gas. , Dec. 14, 1774; also Essex Joitrn. , Dec. 28.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1081.
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? IN THE COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
499
although, like in every community, there were persons who,
placing private interest against public good, had a malig-
nant pleasure in stirring up dissension. 1 "The Non Im-
portation is Strictly adheard to . . . ," wrote Eliza Far-
mar on February 17; "all ships that came in after the
first of Deer, the goods were deliverd to the Commities to
be sold by Auction agreeable to the order of the Congress. " 2
After February 1 the newspapers from time to time
published instances of the return of cargoes without break-
ing bulk. So, with some pipes of Madeira wine that arrived
early in February; and so, also, with a large consignment
of Irish beef which arrived in April. 8 "All Ships with
goods after the 1st of this month are not Sufferd to un-
load," reported Eliza Farmar in the letter noted above;
"several have been obliged to go to the West Indies.