was terrified," he (Colden) was "resolved to have the stamps distributed." But, alas! "the whole city of New York rose up as one man in opposition." The memorable first of November was ushered in by the tolling of muffled bells, and flags at half-mast. Placards threatening the life of the Lieutenant-Governor if the stamps were used, appeared upon every street corner. Colden remained within the fort, "fortified as if he had been at Bergen-op-Zoom, when the French besieged it with a hundred thousand men," wrote one of his counselors. In the evening a vast torchlight procession animated the streets, and Colden hanging in effigy upon a movable gallows was borne aloft by the formidable mob, which shaped its course through Wall Street, and halting in front of the house of McEvers gave three cheers. It then proceeded to within eight or ten feet of the fort, knocked at its gate, and planted the gallows, with the effigy swinging thereon, under the very eyes of the garrison. The reading public is familiar with the riotous events of this night, and the imperative demand of the people in the days following, that resulted in the final surrender of the stamps to the custody of the mayor and corporation of the city. "A prodigious concourse of people of all ranks" attended the ceremony of the transfer. Mayor John Cruger, in whom the citizens had the utmost confidence, giving Colden a certificate of receipt. The packages were then conveyed from the citadel to the city hall, in Wall Street, the crowd cheering at every step vociferously. Tranquility was thereby restored to New York.
It would be instructive as well as interesting to follow the masterly papers that emanated from the Stamp Act Congress across the seas, and note their effects upon the parliamentary mind. They were read, and then re-read. They provoked all manner of scathing criticism. The Congress itself was derided as "a federal union, assembled without any requisition on the part of the supreme power." Earl Pitt replied: "It is the evil genius of this country (England) that has riveted among them the Union, now called dangerous and federal." We all know how the question of the repeal of the Stamp Act agitated the kingdom, as it was argued and re-argued by the statesmen of the realm during the winter following, and of the victory achieved in the end. The news reached New York, May 20, 1766, and the whole city ran riot with gladness. Such was the gratitude and good feeling, that in June the city petitioned the Assembly, in the City Hall, to honor with a statue the great champion of the repeal, William Pitt. Money was appropriated, the skilled services of Hilton, the celebrated London statuary, secured, and in due course of time a white marble figure of great beauty was erected in Wall Street, at the intersection of
