CHAPTER LVIII. СНАР. Jan. BRITAIN BEATS UP FOR RECRUITS IN AMERICA. JANUARY FEBRUARY, 1776. THE disbanded Highlanders, who had settled in LVIII. the valley of the Mohawk, were reported as disposed 1776. to rally once more under the king's standard; to prevent their rising, Schuyler at Albany, in January, 1776, following the orders of the general congress, called out seven hundred of the New York militia, and sending an envoy in advance to quiet the Mohawks of the Lower Castle, marched upon Johnstown, in what was then Tryon county. He was joined on the way by Herkimer and the militia of that district, till his force numbered more than two thousand, and easily overpowered Sir John Johnson and his party. The Indians, as mediators, entreated the personal liberty of Johnson, and Schuyler, whose ingenuous mind would not harbor the thought, that a man of rank could break his word of honor, was contented with exacting his parole to preserve neutrality, and confine himself within carefully prescribed bounds. LVIII. Jan. The quantity of military stores that he delivered up, CHAP. was inconsiderable; on the twentieth, at noon, between two and three hundred Highlanders marched 1776. to the front of the invading force, and grounded their arms. In the two following days, Herkimer completed the disarmament of the disaffected, and secured six Highlanders as hostages for the peaceable conduct of the rest. Schuyler and his party were rewarded by the approbation of congress. After the death of Montgomery, the active command in Canada was reserved for Schuyler, to whom it properly belonged. His want of vigorous health, and the irksomeness of controlling the men of Connecticut, had inclined him to leave the army; the reverses, suffered within his own district, now placed him in a painful dilemma: he must either risk the reproach of resigning at the news of disasters, or retain his commission, and in the division of his department leave to another the post of difficulty and danger. Unwilling at such a moment to retire, yet too "weak and indisposed" to undertake the campaign in Canada, he continued as before to render auxiliary services. The general congress acquiesced in his decision, and invited Washington to propose in his stead an officer to conduct the perilous warfare on the St. Lawrence. The position of New York gave great advantage to the friends of the royal government; for the British men-of-war were masters of the bay, the harbor, the East River, and Hudson River below the Highlands; neither Staten Island nor Long Island could prevent the landing of British troops; the possession of Long Island would give the command of Manhattan Island, which had not as yet accumulated ma Jan. CHAP. terials for defence. In Queen's county, where a large LVIII. part of the population was of Dutch descent, and 1776. among the English there were churchmen and very many Quakers, the inhabitants, by a vote of more than three to one, refused to send delegates to the provincial congress; and it was only after long delays that the inhabitants of Richmond county made their election. In West Chester, Morris of Morrisania and Van Cortland were unwavering in their patriotism; but the Delanceys and Philipse, who owned vast tracts of land in the county, bent their influence over their tenants in favor of the king with so much effect, that the inhabitants were nearly equally divided. In the city the popular movement was irresistible; but a large part of the wealthy merchants were opposed in any event to a separation from Britain. The colony of New York, guided in its policy by men of high ability, courage, and purity, had pursued with unvarying consistency a system of moderation, at first from a sincere desire to avoid a revolution, if it could be done without a surrender of American rights; and when that hope failed, with the purpose of making it manifest to all, that the plan of independence was adopted from necessity. In this manner only could they stand acquitted of the guilt of needlessly provoking war, and unite in the impending struggle the large majority of the people. It was also obviously wise to delay the outbreak of actual hostilities till warlike stores could be imported, and the women and children of a rich and populous city be removed from danger. This system was maintained alike by the prudent and the bold; by Livingston and Jay, by John Morin Scott and Macdougall. LVIII. Jan. A sort of truce was permitted; the British men-of- CHAP. war were not fired upon; and in return the commerce of the port was not harassed, so that vessels laden 1776. with provisions, to purchase powder in St. Eustatia, went and came without question. A small party in the city, insignificant in numbers and in weight of character, clamored at this forbearance; and with rash indiscretion would have risked ultimate success for the gratification of momentary passion. Of these the most active was Isaac Sears, who, as a son of liberty, had merited high praise for his fearlessness. Vexed at his want of influence, impatient at being overlooked, and naturally inclined to precipitate counsels, he left the city for Connecticut, and returned with a party of mounted volunteers from that colony, who rode into the city and rifled the printing house of the tory Rivington. The committee of New York and its convention censured the riot, as an unwise infringement of the liberty of the press, and a dangerous example to their enemies; but as the unsolicited intermeddling of New England men in New York affairs, without concert with the New York committee and even without warning, it was resented by the Dutch, and universally by all moderate men. Jay and his colleagues were anxious, lest this high insult to the authority of the New York committee should confirm that jealous distrust of the eastern colonies, which the wise and the virtuous studied to suppress. Disowned and censured by every branch of the popular representation of New York, vexed at not receiving a high appointment in the American navy, Sears repaired to the camp in Cambridge, and there found a hearer in Lee, to whom he represented that LVIII. CHAP. the city and colony of New York were in imminent danger from the tories; and that large bodies of un1776. paid volunteers from Connecticut would readily march to disarm them. Jan. Meantime the New York provincial convention, in spite of many obstacles and delays, met in sufficient numbers to transact business; explained to the general congress the expediency of delaying the appeal to arms in their city till better preparations could be made; and requested that body to undertake the disarming of the disaffected on Long Island. All their suggestions were approved, and made general in their application. After the report of a committee, consisting of Samuel Adams, William Livingston, and Jay, the several colonial conventions or committees were authorized to disarm "the unworthy Americans who took the part of their oppressors;" and were carefully invested with full authority to direct and control the continental troops who might be employed in this delicate service. Colonel Nathaniel Heard of Woodbridge, New Jersey, and Colonel Waterbury of Stamford in Connecticut, were then directed, each with five or six hundred minute men, to enter Long Island, and disarm every man in Queen's county who voted against sending deputies to the New York congress. On second thought, the march of the minute men from Connecticut was countermanded and the service assigned to the Jersey men alone, who, before the end of the month, aided by Lord Stirling's battalion and in perfect harmony with the New York committee of safety, executed their commission. Early in January the commander in chief ascer |