ants of the county of Cumberland to reinstate and maintain the due administration of justice in that county, and for the suppression of riots." The Speaker having resumed the chair, the chairman of the committee presented his report, whereupon Crean Brush moved, "that the sum of one thousand pounds be granted to his majesty, to be applied for the purposes enumerated in the report." A stirring debate ensued, but the motion was finally carried, twelve voting for and ten against it. Every Whig member present, and several of the ministerial party, voted against the measure, and in the majority of two the vote of the Speaker was included.

On the 3d of April, the last day of the last session of the General Assembly of the province of New York, the Treasurer of the Colony, on a warrant from the Lieutenant-Governor or the Commander-in-Chief, and by the advice of the Council, was directed to pay the sum which had been voted for the benefit of the people of the county. Soon after this appropriation had been made, some of the officers of the court presented an account of the expenses which had been incurred by them and persons in their employ, in suppressing the disturbances in the month of March previous. By an order of the Council, the sum of one hundred and ninety-two pounds nineteen shillings and one farthing, the amount claimed, was paid to Samuel Wells, William Paterson, and Samuel Gale. This was the first draft made upon the funds which had been set apart for such purposes. Although a few of the sufferers were reimbursed by the appropriation, yet the general effect upon the county, as far as the control of the conduct of the inhabitants was concerned, was scarcely perceptible.

In presenting to Lord Dartmouth an account of his official conduct, contained in a report dated April 5th, LieutenantGovernor Colden referred to the course he had pursued in endeavoring to protect the rights of the crown in Cumberland county, in these words: "It was necessary for me, my Lord, to call upon the Assembly for aid, to reinstate the authority of government in that county, and to bring the atrocious offenders to punishment. They have given but one thousand pounds for this purpose, which is much too small a sum; but the party in the Assembly who have opposed every measure that has a tendency to strengthen or support government, by working on the parsimonious disposition of some of the country members, had too much influence on this occasion. I am now

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waiting for an answer from Generai Gage, to whom I have wrote on this affair in Cumberland. By his assistance I hope I shall soon be able to hold a court of Oyer and Terminer in that county, where I am assured there are some hundreds of the inhabitants well affected to government; and that if the debts of the people who have been concerned in this outrage, were all paid, there would not be a sixpence of property left among them."

In answer to the request of Colden, it was commonly reported at the time, that Gage, who was then at Boston, sent a number of arms to New York by a vessel named "the King's Fisher." Whatever may have been the fact, "the affair at Lexington" diverted the attention of government from the proposed method of re-establishing the authority of the crown in the interior of the province, and led to a different disposition of the bayonets, at whose point obedience and submission were to have been secured.*

Inasmuch as the inhabitants of Bennington and the vicinity who held under New Hampshire, had for some years previous been engaged in quarrels with the New York settlers, there are those who have supposed that the doings at Westminster must have originated in disputes regarding the titles of land. This opinion is very erroneous. Less than a month from the time of the affray, Colden, in his official dispatches to Lord Dartmouth, commenced an account of the "dangerous insurrec tion," by declaring that a number of people in Cumberland county had been worked up by the example and influence of Massachusetts Bay, "to such a degree, that they had embraced the dangerous resolution of shutting up the courts of justice." After a concise description of attending circumstances, he concluded in these words: "It is proper your Lordship should be informed, that the inhabitants of Cumberland county have not been made uneasy by any dispute about the Title of their Lands. Those who have not obtained Grants under this governm*, live in quiet possession under the grants formerly made by New Hampshire. The Rioters have not pretended any such pretext for their conduct. The example of Massachusetts Bay is the only reason they have assigned. Yet I make no doubt they will be joined by the Bennington Rioters, who will endeavor to

* London Documents, in office Sec. State N. Y., vol. xlv. Doc. Hist. N. Y. iv. 915.

make one common cause of it, though they have no connection but in their violence to Government." An opinion like this, and from such a source, is sufficient to show that the causes which incited the "Bennington Mob" to deeds of violence, were in no respect identical with those which determined the people of Cumberland county to prevent the sittings of the court.

The events of the 13th of March have been styled in these pages a mob, a riot, and an affray, names chosen by the crown adherents to express their idea of the nature of the transactions of that day. The term "massacre" was the more dignified title employed by the Whigs to convey their own notions of the same proceedings. A more correct conception is conveyed in the word insurrection. The people rose against civil and political authority, and in so doing were justified on principles which do not admit of dispute. An examination of facts will show that in the history of Cumberland county-a type of the history of the colonies-there were present the three conditions which alone can justify an insurrection. First, there was oppression on the part of the government against which resistance was finally made; secondly, every peaceable means, by petitions and remonstrances, for removing this oppression, had been tried, but in vain; thirdly, forcible measures were not resorted to until the probability of success had become so strong as to amount, for the time being, almost to a certainty. Trusting thus to the justice of their cause, and to the favor of Him who is ever ready to succor the oppressed, these determined men resolved to achieve for themselves the blessings of independence, and laid the foundations of those institutions which are the characteristics of a republican govern

ment.

In claiming for William French the title of the proto-martyr to the cause of American liberty and of the Revolution, it may chance that but few will be found willing to allow him such an honor. Lexington and Concord point with pride to their battlegrounds, and Charlestown boasts of her Bunker Hill, on whose top towers the symbol of our national strength, the personification of the genius of America. But amid these noble memories it should never be forgotten, that on the plains of Westminster the cause of freedom received its first victim, and that in his grave were buried all hopes of reconciliation with the mother country.

When the Grecian warrior consulted the oracle at Delphi,

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wishing to know whether the Athenians or Spartans would conquer in battle, the priestess gave answer that the army would be victorious in which a soldier was first slain; for she well knew that his comrades would not tire in the struggle until the death of the first martyr had been avenged by the defeat of his and his country's foes. And thus, when on the side of Liberty and the American Colonies the proto-martyr fell, every wound in his body became a mouth which called for vengeance, and from every drop of blood there sprang forth a hero, not in embryo, but armed, to battle bravely for his country.*

See Appendix I.

CHAPTER X.

THE FIRST YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION.

The "Friends of Liberty"-Patriotism of the "Guilfordites"-The Westminster Resolutions The New York Provincial Congress-" County Congress" at Westminster-Deputies from Cumberland County-Proceedings in Gloucester County-Town Associations in Behalf of Freedom-Efforts to Increase the Military Force of New York-Convention at Westminster-The Militia of Cumberland and Gloucester Counties-Troubles Incident to the Choice of Officers-Efforts to allay Discontent-Dorset Convention-Loan from the Provincial Congress Jacob Bayley chosen Brigadier-General-Methods of Government adopted in the absence of Fixed Laws-Powers of the Committee of Safety of Cumberland County-Instructions to Delegates-Letter to the New York Provincial Congress-July Meeting of Cumberland County Committee of Safety-Name of New York Provincial Congress changed-Supplies of Gunpowder, Lead, and Flints-Value of Lead-Rangers-Joab Hoisington's Commission as Major of the Rangers-Under-Officers Nominated-Proposition to make the "Grants" a Separate District-Views of the Inhabitants of Cumberland County on the Subject-Stevens and Sessions's Declarations in the New York Convention-Report upon the Condition of Cumberland County-Preparations to meet Gen. Carleton-Divisions in the Cumberland County Committee of Safety-Separation from New York inevitable.

THE events of the 13th of March were an expression of the dislike of the majority of the inhabitants of Cumberland county to the policy of Great Britain. The determination manifested on that occasion they were not prepared to alter in the least, unless sufficient reason for a change should be given. The governmental representatives of the mother country on their part evinced no conciliatory disposition, and, thenceforth, opposition to oppression was the guiding principle of the "Friends of Liberty." Meetings were held in many of the larger towns, at which the conduct of those who had been prominent in stopping the courts at Westminster was highly applauded. A spirit of hearty coöperation, the earnest of success, was every where apparent. Though the path of revolution was often