American History Told by Contemporaries/Volume 2/Chapter 27
CHAPTER XXVII — THE LOYALISTS
166. A Tory's Recantation (1775)
BY R. H. AND A COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE
This piece shows some of the processes applied to the refractory to make them adhere to the measures of the majority, and discloses one of the functions of the committees of correspondence. — Bibliography of the loyalists : Tyler, Literary History of the Revolution, I, chs. xiii-xvii, xxii; L. Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists, Introduction; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VII, 185-214; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 141.
I ACKNOWLEDGE to have wrote a piece, and did not sign it, since said to be an extract of a letter from Kent county, on Delaware, published in Humphreys' Ledger, No. 3. It was not dated from any place, and is some altered from the original. I folded it up and directed the same to J. F. and Sons. I had no intention to have it published ; and further, I let them know the author thought best it should not be published ; nor did I think they would. — I am sincerely sorry I ever wrote it, as also for its being published, and hope I shall be excused for this, my first breach in this way, and I intend it shall be the last.
R. H.
To the committee of correspondence for Kent county, on Delaware. May 2d, 1775.
Sir. — The president of the committee of correspondence, by and with the advice of such other of the members of that committee as he was able to collect and consult, this day laid before the committee of inspection for this county, your letter wherein you confess yourself to be the author of the Kentish letter (commonly so called) published in 3d No. of Humphreys' Ledger.
The committee took the same into consideration, and have unanimously resolved that it is unsatisfactory, and you are requested to attend the committee at their next meeting on Tuesday the 9th inst. at French Battell's, in Dover, and render such satisfaction to the committee, as will enable them to clear the good people of this county from the aspertions of that letter, and justify them in the eyes of the public. Signed by order of the committee.
To R. H.
Gentlemen. — With sorrow and contrition for my weakness and folly, I confess myself the author of the letter, from which an extract was pub lished in the 3d No. of Humphreys' Ledger, said to be from Kent county, on Delaware ; but at the same time to declare it was published without my consent, and not without some alterations.
I am now convinced that the political sentiments therein contained, were founded on the grossest error; more especially that malignant insinuation, that "if the king's standard were now erected, nine out of ten would repair to it," could not have been suggested, but from the deepest infatuation. True indeed it is, the people of this county have ever shewn a zealous attachment to his majesty's person and government, and whenever he raised his standard in a just cause, were ready to flock to it : but let the severe account I now render to an injured people, witness to the world, that none are more ready to oppose tyranny or to be first in the cause of liberty, than the inhabitants of Kent county.
Conscious that I can render no satisfaction adequate to the injury I have done my country, I can only beg the forgiveness of my countrymen, upon those principles of humanity, which may induce them to consider the frailty of human nature — and I do profess and promise, that I will never again oppose those laudable measures, necessarily adopted by my countrymen, for the preservation of American freedom : but will co-operate with them to the utmost of my abilities, in their virtuous struggle for liberty (so far as is consistent with my religious principles.)R. H.
THO'S. NIXON, Jr. Clerk.
May 9th, 1775.
Gentlemen. — Whatever the public opinion may be of what I have heretofore said respecting the contest between Great Britain and the colonies, I do solemnly assure you that I have never had any thing in view, but a reconciliation between them, upon the full establishment of all the constitutional rights and privileges of America. Which rights and privileges I am determined to defend with my life and property against all invasions whatsoever. This you will please to make known to my brethren in this county.
I am, gentlemen, with great respect, your humble servant, R. S. [H]
To the committee of observation for Kent county, on Delaware.
H[ezekiah] Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore, 1822), 260-261.
167. The Arrest of a Loyalist Parson (1776)BY REVEREND JONATHAN ODELL
Odell was a New Jersey man, of old New England stock, and was rector of Burlington. He escaped to New York, became chaplain of a loyalist regiment, and wrote many satirical poems against the Revolution. — Bibliography: Tyler, Literary History of the Revolution, II, ch. xxix. — See No. 1 66 above.
YOU may possibly have heard that I attempted to send a Letter to you above a twelve month since, and that my Letter being intercepted embarassed me not a little with Committees and Conventions, who were willing to find offence where none was intended. I told them and have had several occasions of telling them since, a very honest truth, that I did not mean to dissemble my sentiments concerning the measures of Congress, but that I had made it a Rule to myself from the beginning of our troubles, not to interfere directly or indirectly in Public Affairs, and tho' I neither could nor would make any sacrifice of my principles or duty, either as a Loyal Subject or a Minister of the Church of England, yet my political conduct should be inoffensive, if they would allow a passive conduct to be so, and in short that I presumed it reasonable in me to expect I should be indulged in the unmolested enjoyment of my private sentiments so long as I did not attempt to influence the sentiments or conduct of other men, and that private sentiments ought not to be made matter of public notice, much less of public censure. I concluded such a tenor of conduct in our situation was not only necessary but at the same time becoming the characters of Clergymen and especially of Missionaries and therefore would be approved of by the Society. But this specific system did not screen me in particular from much jealousy and misrepresentation.
A Parole was demanded of me, limiting me to within 8 miles of Burlington & binding me to forbear all political correspondence on the subject of the public dispute, not to furnish any provisions nor to give any intelligence to the Kings Troops. After giving this Parole I remain'd unmolested at home till about the middle of last Month, when a Body of Hessians under the command of Count Donop came to Burlington intending to take Post with us for the Winter. Some of my Neighbours thought it advisable to meet the Commandant on his approach to the Town and to request him to spare the Inhabitants from Insult and their property from pillage, they requested me to go with them & assist in this charitable Address as an Interpreter. I did so and had the pleasure to find that I had a pretty good prospect of being of real service to my peaceable Neighbours. But five Gondolas lying in the River began to cannonade the Town in order to prevent the Troops taking Quarter with us. Many Houses were damaged but nobody hurt. The Hessian Commandant however having with him no heavy Cannon thought proper to retire that Night to Bordentown intending to return with Artillery sufficient to make good his quarters. In the mean time tho' I believe every candid man will wonder why we should be punished for having been left defenceless and for having solicited safety from the Kings Troops in our defenceless condition, even supposing us to have assented to those measures which had brought the Troops into the country & even to our Doors ; yet true it is, that as soon as it was known on board of the Gondolas that the Troops had left us, the Town was cruelly insulted and from day to day kept in Alarm by those River Tyrants. Mr Lawrence, young Mr Hawlings & myself were in particular pursued by two captains & a number of armed men. We made our escapes & were under the necessity of taking refuge among the King's Troops, and as the design of taking Post at Burlington was soon after given up, I have been obliged to leave my wife & 3 children (the youngest not five weeks old) and to ramble as a Refugee God knows when to return.
In this situation I take the liberty to request that you will communicate the contents of this Letter to the Society ; perhaps I ought rather to have written to the Secretary, but my little narrative seemed to require a stile of more minute freedom than one can well use, unless to an inti mate acquaintance and I hope the Society will admit of this apology. I suppose it can hardly be necessary to tell you what I presume you will take for granted that I among most of my Brethren thought it my duty to shut up my Church and discontinue my attendance on the Public Worship from the fatal day of the Declaration of Independency.
Public news I need not give you as you will receive better intelligence from others. I shall only mention that if the Kings Troops on their arrival at Trenton had crossed the River Delaware (which notwithstand ing the want of Boats was most undoubtedly practicable) they would certainly have taken possession of Philadelphia without any opposition. You will oblige me by informing the Society that I lost almost all the Fence round the Point Lot last Winter by the Soldiers quartered in the Barracks at Burlington, who made Fuel of the Rails and it has cost me ₤36 to renew the Fence, which after all will probably be again destroy'd this Winter. Two years Rent of the Glebe Land near Prince Town amounting to ₤60 I expect to lose and indeed there is no prospect of my getting any Rent from that quarter nor any Salary from my Parishioners in future, until this unnatural War is happily terminated, and when that will be God only knows, though I hope it may be nearer than many are apt to imagine.
George Morgan Hills, History of the Church in Burlington (Trenton, 1876), 314-316.
168. Vengeance on the Tories! (1779)
BY "A WHIG"
The fierce hatred between patriots and tories is shown in this extract, which voices the sentiments of most of the patriots. — Bibliography as in No. 166 above.
JUNE 1. — Among the many errors America has been guilty of during her contest with Great Britain, few have been greater, or attended with more fatal consequences to these States, than her lenity to the Tories. At first it might have been right, or perhaps political ; but is it not surprising that, after repeated proofs of the same evils resulting there from, it should still be continued? We are all crying out against the depreciation of our money, and entering into measures to restore it to its value ; while the Tories, who are one principal cause of the depreciation, are taken no notice of, but suffered to live quietly among us. We can no longer be silent on this subject, and see the independence of the country, after standing every shock from without, endangered by internal enemies. Rouse, America ! your danger is great — great from a quarter where you least expect it. The Tories, the Tories will yet be the ruin of you ! 'Tis high time they were separated from among you. They are now busy engaged in undermining your liberties. They have thousand ways of doing it, and they make use of them all. Who were the occasion of this war? The Tories! Who persuaded the tyrant of Britain to prosecute it in a manner before unknown to civilized nations, and shocking even to barbarians? The Tories! Who prevailed on the savages of the wilderness to join the standard of the enemy? The Tories! Who have assisted the Indians in taking the scalp from the aged matron, the blooming fair one, the helpless infant, and the dying hero? The Tories! Who advised and who assisted in burning your towns, ravaging your country, and violating the chastity of your women? The Tories! Who are the occasion that thousands of you now mourn the loss of your dearest connections? The Tories! Who have always counteracted the endeavors of Congress to secure the liberties of this country? The Tories! Who refused their money when as good as specie, though stamped with the image of his most sacred Majesty? The Tories! Who continue to refuse it? The Tories! Who do all in their power to depreciate it? The Tories! Who propagate lies among us to discourage the Whigs? The Tories! Who corrupt the minds of the good people of these States by every species of insidious counsel? The Tories! Who hold a traitorous correspondence with the enemy? The Tories! Who daily sends them intelligence? The Tories! Who take the oaths of allegiance to the States one day, and break them the next? The Tories! Who prevent your battalions from being filled? The Tories! Who dissuade men from entering the army? The Tories! Who persuade those who have enlisted to desert? The Tories! Who harbor those who do desert? The Tories! In short, who wish to see us conquered, to see us slaves, to see us hewers of wood and drawers of water? The Tories!
And is it possible that we should suffer men, who have been guilty of all these and a thousand other calamities which this country has experienced, to live among us! To live among us, did I say? Nay, do they not move in our Assemblies? Do they not insult us with their impudence? Do they not hold traitorous assemblies of their own? Do they not walk the streets at noon day, and taste the air of liberty? In short, do they not enjoy every privilege of the brave soldier who has spilt his blood, or the honest patriot who has sacrificed his all in our righteous cause? Yes — to our eternal shame be it spoken — they do. Those very men who wish to entail slavery on our country, are caressed and harbored among us. Posterity will not believe it ; if they do, they will curse the memory of their forefathers for their shameful lenity. Can we ever expect any grateful return for our humanity, if it deserves that name? Believe not a spark of that or any other virtue is to be found in the Tory's breast ; for what principle can that wretch have who would sell his soul to subject his country to the will of the greatest tyrant the world at present produces? 'Tis time to rid ourselves of these bosom vipers. An immediate separation is necessary. I dread to think of the evils every moment is big with, while a single Tory remains among us. May we not soon expect to hear of plots, assassinations, and every species of wickedness their malice and rancor can suggest? for what can restrain those who have already imbrued their hands in their country's blood? Did not that villain Matthews, when permitted to live among us at New York, plot the assassination of General Washington? He did ; he was detected, and had he received his deserts, he would now have been in gibbets, instead of torturing our unfortunate friends, prisoners in New York, with every species of barbarity. Can we hear this, and still harbor a Tory among us? For my own part, whenever I meet one in the street, or at the coffee house, my blood boils within me. Their guilt is equalled only by their impudence. They strut, and seem to bid defiance to every one. In every place, and in every company, they spread their damnable doctrines, and then laugh at the pusillanimity of those who let them go unpunished. I flatter myself, however, with the hopes of soon seeing a period to their reign, and a total end to their existence in America. Awake, Americans, to a sense of your danger. No time to be lost. Instantly banish every Tory from among you. Let America be sacred alone to freemen.
Drive far from you every baneful wretch who wishes to see you fettered with the chains of tyranny. Send them where they may enjoy their beloved slavery to perfection — send them to the island of Britain ; there let them drink the cup of slavery and eat the bread of bitterness all the days of their existence — there let them drag out a painful life, despised and accursed by those very men whose cause they have had the wickedness to espouse. Never let them return to this happy land never let them taste the sweets of that independence which they strove to prevent. Banishment, perpetual banishment, should be their lot.
Pennsylvania Packet, August 5, 1779 ; reprinted in Frank Moore, Diary of the American Revolution (New York, etc., 1860). II, 166-168.
166. The Lot of the Refugee (1775-1779)
Curwen was a man of education and social position, a resident of Salem, Massachusetts. He was Judge of Admiralty at the beginning of the war, but became a refugee and lived in England till the war terminated. Other refugees who left journals or letters are Van Schaack and Hutchinson. — Bibliography as in No. 120 above.
LONDON, July 4 [1775]. Arrived at the New England coffeehouse, Threadneedle-street, at 7 o'clock P.M. — July 5. Met my townsman and friend Benjamin Pickman, which rejoiced me ; we walked to Westminster Hall, in Chancery saw Sir Thomas Sewell, master of the rolls, sitting with his hat on, — at Common Pleas saw Judge Blackstone and Sergeant Glynn ; and the King's Bench, Lord Mansfield and Mr. Sergeant Wedderburne. Lord Mansfield s manner is like the late Judge Dudley's of Massachusetts. His peering eyes denote a penetration and comprehension peculiarly his own. Mr. Wedderburne spoke, but at no great length.
July 9, 1775. Went to old Jewry meeting-house, where I met Gov. Hutchinson, his son and daughter, — a cordial reception and invitation to visit him. Mr. Isaac Smith and Mr. Deberdt sat in the pew next me. . . .
Dec. 31. . . . May the afflictions I have suffered the past year, in an unhappy banishment from my family, friends and country, be the means of increasing my reliance on, and submission to the all-disposing hand of the wise and righteous Governor of the universe.
January 1, 1776. May the events of the following year, however unfavorable to the pride of my heart, be productive of more moral improvement than the last. . . .
April 1, A. M. At Gov. Hutchinson's ; he was alone, reading a new pamphlet entitled " An Inquiry whether Great Britain or America is most in fault." I accepted an invitation to return to dinner : taking leave for the present, I departed, walking through the palace and park to Mr. Bliss's lodgings, where I met Judge Sewall, Mr. Oxnard and Mr. Smith ; returned to the governor s, with whom only young Oliver and myself dined. From thence, in passing through Leicester-square, I called in at Mr. Copley's to see Mr. Clarke and the family, who kindly pressed my staying to tea ; and in the mean time amused myself by seeing his performances in painting. He was then at work on a family piece containing himself, Mr. Clarke, his wife and four children, of all of whom I observed a very striking likeness. At tea was present Mr. West, a Philadelphian, a most masterly hand in historic painting ; author of the well-known and applauded piece, now in print, called "West's Death of Wolfe," and taken from his painting. He is now at work on a piece called the "Death of Stephen" for the king, and for which he is to have one thousand pounds. Mr. West is the king's history-painter, and was kind enough to put me into a way of obtaining a sight of the queen's palace, which he tells me contains, except Houghton Hall, the finest collection of capital paintings of any house in England. Returned with Mr. Clarke, who was going to see his son Jonathan, sick. . . .
May 7. Attempted to get into Drury Lane theatre, to see Mr. Garrick in the character of Archer, but the crowd so great, that after suffering thumps, squeezes, and almost suffocation for two hours, I was obliged to retire without effecting it. Went to Mr. Silsbee s lodgings to tea. . . .
[June 6.] London, my favorite place of abode, is, as the peasant said, "a sad lickpenny" and truly one cannot breathe the vital air without great expense. The numerous applications to the treasury by Americans whose pretensions are so much beyond mine, exclude the most distant hope of relief for me, should inadvertence or more unjustifiable principles of conduct reduce me to the necessity of asking a favor, which I am determined at all events to defer to the longest period, if it please the great Disposer of events to prolong my uneasy abode ; in this country of aliens for many days yet to come. . . .
[June 10.] I find my finances so visibly lessening, that I wish I could remove from this expensive country, (being heartily tired of it,) and old as I am, would gladly enter into a business connection anywhere consistently with decency and integrity, which I would fain preserve. The use of the property I left behind me I fear I shall never be the better for ; little did I expect from affluence to be reduced to such rigid economy as prudence now exacts. To beg is a meanness I wish never to be reduced to, and to starve is stupid ; one comfort, as I am fast declining into the vale of life, my miseries cannot probably be of long continuance. . . .
[Oct. 31.] By a letter from Mr. Danforth I was informed some of my countrymen were about to apply to the administration for relief. — As my residence has been much longer than the most, and the suddenness of my departure from home rendering it morally impossible for me to become possessed of much money, and my pretensions, for aught I know, being as good as any and better than many, I presume I shall not be the only exile left in a forlorn condition if any provision be made ; and if never made, forlorn I shall truly be, my finances every day very sensibly lessening. Had I received Mr. Deberdt's letter in time I should have returned to London, but it was otherwise ; and if my presence now can be dispensed with, it will be more agreeable, as I live pleasantly enough among a few acquaintances, at the rate of twenty guineas a year, in a state of rigid economy that I never before was reduced to the necessity of putting in practice. . . .
[Dec. 31.] My little bark is in imminent hazard of being stranded unless the wind shifts quickly, or some friendly boat appears for its relief. In plain English, my purse is nearly empty ; — which circumstance has of late frequently reminded me of an emblematical device in the beginning of Fuller s History of the Holy Wars, wherein on the right is a purse distended with gold and standing upright, on the left the same turned upside down, in a lank condition, emptied wholly of its contents, with these words under the former, "we went out full" and under the latter, "we returned empty." I do not know but I am departed from my country, family and friends, on as foolish and fantastic grounds as the misguided devotees of that time did to rescue the Holy Land from infidels, though on opposite principles, I confess ; they to fight, I to avoid fighting. I now begin to tremble lest the same fate awaits me that befell them. I dislike the motives of the chief agents in America, and their whole system from its first small beginnings to its full monstrous growth of independency ; and I trust from a very just motive, love of my country ; which this place I am convinced has no tendency to promote the welfare of. But what of that? It is my duty, and sure the state is not to reward the loyalty of every subject ; the court in this case would have more than enough to do to satisfy the demands of all claimants.
I cannot foresee what I may hereafter do, but easily that I must suffer hunger and nakedness in the comfortless mansions of the wretched. These ideas I have not been accustomed to associate. . . .
Exeter, March 7 [1777]. I received a letter from London informing me of my wife's health and welfare in November last, and that she had been obliged to pay ten pounds sterling to find a man for the American army in my stead. . . .
March 10. Walked out to Judge Sewall's, he having the day before engaged to accompany me to the Treasury, where after a compliment I received information of a hundred pounds down, and a hundred per annum during the troubles in America, which I esteem as a providential provision procured by the friendship of my respected friend Judge Sewall. I received an order on the bank ; accompanied by him and Mr. Thomas Danforth, I took a note at the cashier s office for seventy pounds payable to myself on demand, and thirty pounds in cash, departing very joyous and I hope grateful to that Being who has, by friends, been pleased in the midst of gloomy prospects to set my feet on firm ground and establish my goings : may I wisely improve this gracious indulgence. . . .
Dec. 31. The lenity shown to General Burgoyne and his army is allowed on all hands to do more honor to America, than the laurels, reaped by the Howes, can bring to this distracted country. God knows what is for the best, but I fear our perpetual banishment from America is written in the book of fate ; nothing but the hopes of once more revisiting my native soil, enjoying my old friends within my own little domain, has hitherto supported my drooping courage ; but that prop taken away leaves me in a condition too distressing to think of; however, amidst the increasing evils of old age I have this consolation, that, mortifying as my lot is, severe as my sufferings may be, their continuance cannot be lasting. . . .
Exeter, Sept. 6 [1779]. Am informed that I am suspected to be an American spy, disaffected to government ; this was reported by one Calhier, a violent hater of the inhabitants of the American continent and of all its friends and well-wishers : his malice I despise, and his power to injure me with government I defy. Exeter has become the seat of scandal, pride, inhospitality, foppery ; an awkward imitation of London manners, to their folly, prevails.
Samuel Curwen, Journal and Letters (edited by George Atkinson Ward, New York, etc., 1842), 30-221 passim.