Hampden Hall

In May, 1767, Bolton and Sigell moved into the house of Samuel Francis, near the Exchange, lately kept by John Jones, known as the Queen’s Head Tavern, and, as strangers, solicited the favor of the public. This tavern shortly after, and for some time, was the scene of much of the excitement connected with the period.

In January, 1768, the committee appointed at a meeting of the inhabitants of the city on the 29th of December just past to consider the expediency of entering into measures to promote frugality and industry and employ the poor, gave notice that they would be ready to make their report on the matter on Monday evening, the 25th, at five o’clock at Bolton and Sigell’s, and the people were requested to attend in order to receive the report and consider the matter. The proposed meeting was adjourned for a week, when, on February 2d, the report was delivered, approved, and directions given for carrying it into execution.

On March 31, 1768, a meeting was called at Bolton and Sigell’s to answer letters from the merchants of Boston. This meeting not being well attended, a second was called for April 7. This resulted in the second non-importation agreement by the merchants of the city who came to “an agreement not to import any goods from Great Britain that shall be shipped there after the first of October next, until a certain Act of Parliament is repealed, provided the Merchants of Philadelphia and Boston come into the same Measures.”

It is more than likely that the merchants of New York had for some time been aware of the necessity or advantage of some sort of organization among themselves for the benefit of trade. In March, 1764, we find that a call was issued, earnestly requesting the merchants of the city to meet at the Queen’s Head Tavern, near the Exchange, on business of great importance to trade; and on May 5, 1766, the merchants of the city were requested to meet at the house of George Burns, the New York Arms, at four o’clock in the afternoon on business for the good of this province and continent in general. Following the Stamp Act and the non-importation agreement there was great political excitement; money was scarce; business was depressed; and foreign trade was unsettled and uncertain. In this situation the merchants of New York, having seen the success of union in the non-importation agreement, met in the Long Room of the Queen’s Head Tavern, kept by Bolton and Sigell on April 8, 1768, and there formed themselves into a society which they styled the New York Chamber of Commerce, which has been in existence since that date, the oldest mercantile organization in America. The twenty-four members who then constituted the society elected John Cruger president, Hugh Wallace vice president and Elias Desbrosses treasurer.

A meeting of the New York merchants was called at Bolton and Sigell’s on August 25, 1768, to further consider the non-importation agreement, which had been signed very generally in the city, and in November, in consequence of reports in circulation, the principal merchants and traders of the city were waited on, and report was made that it appeared that they had in general inviolably adhered to the true spirit of their agreement in making out their orders. The subscribers to the agreement met at Bolton and Sigell’s on Monday, March 13, 1769, when a “committee was appointed to inquire into and inspect all European importations, in order to a strict compliance with the said agreement and also to correspond with the other colonies.” The assembly in April passed a vote of thanks to the merchants for their patriotic conduct, and instructed the speaker to signify the same to them at their next monthly meeting. John Cruger, the speaker of the house, was also president of the Chamber of Commerce, and this vote of thanks was delivered to the merchants at the first meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in their new quarters, the large room over the Royal Exchange, their previous meetings having been held in the Long Room of the Queen’s Head Tavern.

The second anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act was celebrated on Friday, the 18th of March, by a numerous company of the principal merchants and other respectable inhabitants of the city, “Friends to Constitutional Liberty and Trade,” at Bardin’s tavern opposite the Common on Broadway and at Jones’s tavern which was said to be nearly adjoining. The meeting at Jones’s was called by the “Friends of Liberty and Trade,” who requested those inclined to celebrate the day to give in their names by Wednesday at farthest to John Jones inn-holder in the Fields or to the printer, and receive tickets for the occasion. There were many who, although zealous in every measure for the repeal of the Stamp Act, now leaned to the side of moderation. They styled themselves Friends of Liberty and Trade, as distinct from the more orthodox or more radical Sons of Liberty. The two factions on this occasion seem to have met in perfect harmony, although later there appeared considerable feeling between them. Union flags were displayed and an elegant dinner was served at each place. A band of music was provided for the occasion and in the evening some curious fireworks were played off for the entertainment of the company. Among the toasts drunk were: “The Spirited Assembly of Virginia in 1765,” “The Spirited Assembly of Boston” and “Unanimity to the Sons of Liberty in America.”

On Monday, November 14, 1768, a report was current in the city that the effigies of Bernard, the obnoxious governor of Massachusetts, and Greenleaf, the sheriff of Boston, were to be exhibited in the streets that evening. At four o’clock in the afternoon the troops in the city appeared under arms at the lower barracks, where they remained until about ten o’clock at night, during which time parties of them continually patrolled the streets, in order, it is supposed, to intimidate the inhabitants and prevent the exposing of the effigies. Notwithstanding this vigilance on the part of the soldiers, the Sons of Liberty appeared in the streets with the effigies hanging on a gallows, between eight and nine o’clock, attended by a vast number of spectators, and were saluted with loud huzzas at the corner of every street they passed. After exposing the effigies at the Coffee House, they were publicly burned amidst the clamor of the people, who testified their approbation and then quietly dispersed to their homes. The city magistrates had received notice of what was intended, and constables were sent out to prevent it, but either deceived or by intention they did not reach the scene of action until all was over. This seems strange, as the Coffee House was not far from the City Hall, and the lime tree in front of it, the scene of the burning, was in full view.

The letter which the assembly of the Massachusetts colony had sent to her sister colonies in the early part of the year 1768, inviting united measures to obtain redress of grievances, was denounced by the Earl of Hillsborough, then lately appointed secretary of state for America, “as of a most dangerous and factious tendency.” The colonies were forbidden to receive or reply to it, and an effort was made to prevent all correspondence between them. This was ineffectual. Committees were appointed to petition the King and to correspond with Massachusetts and Virginia. Some of the assemblies, for refusing to comply with the demands of Hillsborough, were prorogued by the governors. A great public meeting was called in New York for Thursday, November 24, at which instructions to the city members of the assembly were adopted and signed by many of the principal citizens. The instructions called for the reading in the assembly of the Boston letter, which had fallen under the censure of Hillsborough, and to which he had forbidden the colonies to make reply. That these instructions were delivered is more than probable. Whether influenced by them or not, the assembly, in committee of the whole on December 31, declared for “an exact equality of rights among all his Majesty’s subjects in the several parts of the empire; the right of petition, that of internal legislature, and the undoubted right to correspond and consult with any of the neighboring colonies or with any other of his Majesty’s subjects, outside of this colony, whenever they conceived the rights, liberties, interests or privileges of this house or its constituents to be affected,” and appointed a committee of correspondence. These resolutions could not be tolerated by Governor Moore. He dissolved the assembly. This caused a new election which was attended with considerable excitement. It was called for Monday, January 23, 1769. The Church of England party put up as candidates, James DeLancey, Jacob Walton, John Cruger and James Jauncey. These were the former members, with the exception of John Cruger, who took the place of Philip Livingston, who declined the office. A meeting in the interest of the above candidates was called at the house of George Burns, the New York Arms, for Saturday, the 21st, at five o’clock in the evening. They were elected and on Friday the 27th, after the closing of the polls, they were escorted from the City Hall with music playing and colors flying down Broadway and through the main street (now Pearl Street) to the Coffee House. The windows along the route were filled with ladies and numbers of the principal inhabitants graced the procession. It was “one of the finest and most agreeable sights ever seen in the city.” The four gentlemen elected generously gave two hundred pounds for the benefit of the poor.

Saturday, March 18, 1769, being the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the Liberty Colors, inscribed with “G. R. III, Liberty and Trade,” were hoisted on the ancient Liberty Pole, and at the house of Edward Smith, on the corner of Broadway and Murray street, the Genuine Sons of Liberty dined and drank toasts appropriate to the occasion, one of which was to “The ninety-two members of the Massachusetts assembly who voted the famous Boston letter.” There was another meeting to celebrate the day at the house of Vandewater (“otherwise called Catemut’s”), which was conducted in much the same manner and where similar toasts were drunk.

By common consent the taverns on Broadway, fronting on the Common or Fields, near the Liberty Pole, were the places selected for celebrating the anniversaries of the important events connected with the stamp act period. It was on Wednesday, November 1, 1769, that a number of the Sons of Liberty met at the house of Abraham De La Montagnie to celebrate “the day on which the inhabitants of this colony nobly determined not to surrender their rights to arbitrary power, however august.” De La Montagnie had succeeded Bardin, and was now the landlord of the house which Edward Bardin had occupied for some years, fronting on the Common. Here the entertainment was given and after dinner appropriate toasts were drank “in festive glasses.” Among the first of these was “May the North American Colonies fully enjoy the British Constitution.”

CORNER OF BROADWAY AND MURRAY STREET, 1816

On the night of January 13, 1770, an attempt was made by the soldiers to destroy the Liberty Pole by sawing off the spurs or braces around it and by exploding gunpowder in a hole bored in the wood in order to split it. They were discovered and the attempt was unsuccessful. Exasperated at this, they attacked some citizens near, followed them into the house of De La Montagnie with drawn swords and bayonets, insulted the company, beat the waiter, assaulted the landlord in one of the passages of the house and then proceeded to break everything they could conveniently reach, among other things eighty-four panes of glass in the windows. Officers appearing, they quickly withdrew to their barracks. Three days after this, in the night of January 16, the soldiers succeeded in destroying the pole completely, which they sawed into pieces and piled before De La Montagnie’s door. The next day there was a great meeting in the Fields, where the pole had stood, when it was resolved by the people that soldiers found out of barracks at night after roll-call should be treated as enemies of the peace of the city. In reply to these resolves a scurrilous placard was printed, signed “The Sixteenth Regiment of Foot,” and posted through the city. Attempts to prevent this was the cause of several serious affrays, the principal one of which took place a little north of the present John street, a locality then called Golden Hill, in which one citizen was killed and several severely wounded. Many of the soldiers were badly beaten. This affair has been called the Battle of Golden Hill, and it has been claimed that here was shed the first blood in the cause of American Independence.

At the meeting in the Fields on the 17th, a committee had been appointed who, as instructed, petitioned the corporation for permission to erect a new pole on the spot where the one destroyed had stood or if preferred, opposite Mr. Vandenbergh’s, near St. Paul’s Church, a small distance from where the two roads meet. It was stated in the petition that if the corporation should not think proper to grant permission for erecting the pole, the people were resolved to procure a place for it on private ground. The petition was rejected and purchase was made of a piece of ground, eleven feet wide and one hundred feet long, very near to the place where the former pole had stood. Here a hole was dug twelve feet deep to receive the pole which was being prepared at the shipyards. The lower part of the mast was covered to a considerable height with iron bars placed lengthwise, over which were fastened strong iron hoops. When finished the pole was drawn through the streets by six horses, decorated with ribbons and flags. Music was supplied by a band of French horns. The pole was strongly secured in the earth by timbers and great stones, so as to defy all further attempts to prostrate it. On the top was raised a mast twenty-two feet in height with a gilt vane and the word Liberty in large letters.

Abraham De La Montagnie had suffered his house to become the resort of many who belonged to the moderate party or the Friends of Liberty and Trade, who, early in the year 1770, engaged his house for the celebration of the anniversary of the repeal. The Sons of Liberty in the early part of February invited those who wished to celebrate the anniversary to join them at De La Montagnie’s tavern, whereupon De La Montagnie issued a card, stating that his house had been engaged by a number of gentlemen for that purpose, and that he could entertain no others. The indications are that this was then the only tavern near the Liberty Pole that was available, Jones and Smith having left the neighborhood, but the more radical Sons of Liberty, not to be thus frustrated, purchased the house which had been formerly occupied by Edward Smith, and gave notice, inviting all those in sympathy with them to join them there in the celebration. They called the house they had purchased Hampden Hall, and it remained their headquarters for some time. It was managed by Henry Bicker as its landlord.

The 18th of March being Sunday, the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act was celebrated on Monday the 19th. At the tavern of De La Montagnie, while the Liberty Colors (ascribed to G. R. III, Liberty and Trade) were hoisted on the Liberty Pole, two hundred and thirty citizens, Friends to Liberty and Trade, sat down to an elegant dinner prepared for them. Appropriate toasts were drunk, one of which was “Liberty, Unanimity and Perseverance to the true Sons of Liberty in America.” On the same day “in union and friendship” with these a number of gentlemen celebrated the day by a dinner at the house of Samuel Waldron, at the ferry on Long Island, where, it is said, the toasts drunk were the same as at De La Montagnie’s. The radical party of the Sons of Liberty celebrated “the repeal of the detestable stamp act” at Hampden Hall, on which colors were displayed, as well as on the Liberty Pole opposite to it. The company, it is said, numbered about three hundred gentlemen, freeholders and freemen of the city, who met to celebrate “that memorable deliverance from the chains which had been forged for the Americans by a designing and despotic Ministry.” An elegant dinner had been provided, but before they sat down the company “nominated ten of their number to dine with Captain McDougal at his chambers in the New-Gaol,” where a suitable dinner had also been provided. Captain McDougal was being held in jail for libel as the author of a paper signed “A Son of Liberty,” addressed “to the betrayed inhabitants of New York,” which reflected the severest criticisms of the assembly for voting supplies to the King’s troops. This paper was held by the assembly to be an infamous and scandalous libel. He was also accused of being the author of another paper signed “Legion,” describing the action of the assembly as “base, inglorious conduct,” which the assembly resolved was infamous and seditious. After dinner, a committee was appointed to send two barrels of beer and what was left of the dinner to the poor prisoners in the jail, which were received with great thanks. Many appropriate toasts were drunk as usual, and a little before sunset the company from Hampden Hall, joined by a number of people in the Fields, with music playing and colors flying, marched to the new jail, where they saluted Captain McDougal with cheers. He appeared at the grated window of the middle story, and in a short address thanked them for this mark of their respect. The company then returned to the Liberty Pole and as the sun was setting hauled down the flag. They then marched down Chapel Street to the Coffee House and back up Broadway to the Liberty Pole and quietly dispersed.

A. McDougall

The celebration of the anniversary of the repeal apparently caused some bitterness of feeling between the factions which dined at De La Montagnie’s and that which dined at Hampden Hall, if it did not previously exist. An article appeared in the newspaper declaring that the statement that about three hundred persons dined at Hampden Hall was not true, that only about one hundred and twenty-six dined there and paid for their dinners, including boys, and that the first toast which these loyal Sons of Liberty actually drank was not “The King,” as reported in the newspapers, but “May the American Colonies fully enjoy the British Constitution.” The writer also took exception to many other statements in the account which was given in the papers. A reply was made to this in which affidavit was made by Henry Bicker that on the occasion there dined at his house, according to the best of his judgment, about three hundred persons, and that the assertion that there were no more than about one hundred and twenty-six was absolutely false. In the matter of the toasts, as showing in a measure how such affairs were conducted, we think it best to give the explanation in full as follows: “The truth of the Matter is just this. Several Gentlemen drew up a set of Toasts proper for the day, and to save the trouble of copying them, got a few printed to serve the different tables. When the committee who were appointed to conduct the business of the day came to peruse the toasts, they altered the one and transposed the one before dinner, and I do assert that they were drank in the manner and order they were published in this, Parker’s and Gaine’s papers; for the truth of this I appeal to every gentleman who dined at Hampden Hall that day.”

The house which Bicker occupied had always been used as a tavern. When the lease of the property, having eleven years to run, was offered for sale in 1761, it was described as “two lots of ground on Trinity Church Farm, on which are two tenements fronting Broadway and a small tenement fronting Murray Street; the two tenements fronting Broadway may be occupied in one for a public house.” It was purchased by John Jones, and when he offered it for sale in 1765, he stated that there was a very commodious dancing room adjoining, forty-five feet long, which was probably in the building fronting on Murray Street. Jones moved out of the house in 1766 to the Queen’s Head, but returned when the Queen’s Head was taken by Bolton and Sigell, and occupied for a time either a part of the house or the whole. It was purchased in 1768 by Roger Morris. When the Sons of Liberty purchased the lease, it had only a short time to run, not more than one or two years.

About eleven o’clock on Saturday night, the 24th of March, fourteen or fifteen soldiers were seen about the Liberty Pole, which one of them had ascended in order to take off and carry away the topmast and vane. Finding they were discovered they attacked some young men who came up and drove them from the green and then retired. Soon after, about forty or fifty of them came out armed with cutlasses and attacked a number of people who had come up to the pole on the alarm given. A few of these retreated to the house of Mr. Bicker, which was soon besieged by the soldiers, who endeavored to force an entrance. Bicker, thinking himself and family in danger, stood with his bayonet fixed, determined to defend his family and his house to the last extremity, declaring that he would shoot the first man who should attempt to enter. He succeeded in getting the doors of the house closed and barred, when the soldiers tried to break open the front windows, one of which they forced open, broke all the glass and hacked the sash to pieces. They threatened to burn the house and destroy every one in it. Some citizens who had been on the ground, gave the alarm by ringing the Chapel bell, upon hearing which, the soldiers retreated precipitately. The men of the 16th regiment swore that they would carry away with them a part of the pole as a trophy, but a watch was kept by the people and they sailed away in a few days for Pensacola, without accomplishing their design. This was the last effort of the soldiers to destroy the Liberty Pole, which remained standing until prostrated by order of the notorious Cunningham, Provost Marshal of the British army in New York in 1776.

To encourage the home manufacture of woolen cloth the Sons of Liberty met on Tuesday, April 6, 1769, at the Province Arms, and unanimously subscribed an agreement not to purchase nor eat any lamb in their families before the first of August next.

The Freemasons met at Burns’ tavern on May 27, 1769, at five o’clock in the afternoon, and from thence marched in procession to the John Street Theater, to witness the special performance of The Tender Husband, given here for the first time.

In March, 1770, the partnership of Bolton and Sigell was dissolved, Bolton alone continuing in the Queen’s Head, but only for a short time, for in May the place of George Burns, as landlord of the Province Arms, was taken by Richard Bolton, who moved in from the Queen’s Head. Bolton, in his announcement, states that the house has been repaired and greatly improved and that the stables with stalls for fifty horses are let to James Wilkinson, “whose constant attention will be employed to oblige gentlemen in that department.” These large stables had probably been built by the De Lancey family when they occupied the house. Lieutenant Governor James De Lancey, who once owned it, supported a coach and four, with outriders in handsome livery, and several members of this family became widely known as patrons of the turf.

On Thursday, October 18, 1770, the Earl of Dunmore, who had been appointed by the Crown to succeed Sir Henry Moore, who had died very much lamented by the people of New York, arrived in his Majesty’s ship, The Tweed, and was received on landing and escorted to the Fort with the usual salutes, and with all the honors due his station. From the Fort, accompanied by Sir William Draper, Lord Drummond, the commander of the Tweed, and Captain Foy, his lordship’s secretary, his excellency proceeded to the New York Arms; and there they were entertained at a dinner given by Lieutenant Governor Colden, where the usual numerous toasts were drunk. The next day, Friday, after the new governor’s commission had been read in council, and published at the City Hall, as was the custom, his excellency the Governor, General Gage, Sir William Draper, Lord Drummond, the members of his majesty’s council, the city representatives, the gentlemen of the army and navy, the judges of the supreme court, the mayor, recorder, attorney general and other public officers, and many of the most respectable gentlemen of the city were entertained at another elegant dinner given by the lieutenant governor at the New York Arms. In the evening his lordship was pleased to favor the gentlemen of the army and navy “with his Company at a Ball, which consisted of a splendid and brilliant appearance of Gentlemen and Ladies.”

While Bolton was in possession of the Province Arms the political excitement somewhat abated. The long room in the old tavern continued to be the favorite dancing hall of the city, and in many of the notices of concerts given here for charity or for the benefit of musicians, etc., are announcements that they will be followed by balls. The young people of New York at that time must have been extremely fond of dancing.

On Tuesday, April 23, 1771, the anniversary of St. George was celebrated with unusual ceremony. “A number of English gentlemen, and descendants of English parents, amounting in the whole to upwards of one hundred and twenty, had an elegant Entertainment at Bolton’s in honor of the Day.” John Tabor Kempe, Esq., his majesty’s attorney general, presided, and the guests of honor were the Earl of Dunmore, General Gage, the gentlemen of his majesty’s council, etc. The company parted early and in high good humor.

When Richard Bolton left the Queen’s Head for the New York Arms, Sam Francis came back into his own house. In announcing his return, he states that when he formerly kept it, the best clubs met there, and the greatest entertainments in the city were given there, and that he flatters himself that the public are so well satisfied of his ability to serve them that it is useless to go into details. Francis was not only successful as a tavern-keeper in satisfying the needs of the public, but he was also successful financially, for he was the owner of both the Queen’s Head and Vauxhall. While he was the landlord of the Queen’s Head in 1765, the New York Society held their meetings there. It was announced that at a stated meeting to be held at the house of Mr. Francis on Monday, the first of April, at six o’clock in the evening, after some business before the society should be dispatched and the letters and proposals received since last meeting examined, the consideration of the questions last proposed on the paper currency and the bank statements would be resumed. This indicates that this was a society or club for the discussion of financial and economic subjects.

Francis speaks of his house being the resort of several clubs, but we have detailed information of only one; this was the Social Club, the membership of which indicates that it must have been one of the best, if not the best, in the city. In possession of the New York Historical Society is a list of the members of the Social Club which was found among the papers of John Moore, a member of the club, and presented to the society by his son, Thos. W. C. Moore. It contains remarks about the members which are very curious and interesting. We give it in full.

“List of Members of the Social Club, which passed Saturday evenings at Sam Francis’s, corner of Broad and Dock streets, in winter, and in summer at Kip’s Bay, where they built a neat, large room, for the Club-house. The British landed at this spot the day they took the city, 15th September, 1776.

Members of this club dispersed in December, 1775, and never afterwards assembled.

In the fall of the year 1770, a club was formed by the principal lawyers of the city of New York, for the discussion of legal questions, which they called The Moot. The first meeting was held on Friday, the 23d of November. According to their journal, the members, “desirous of forming a club for social conservation, and the mutual improvement of each other, determined to meet on the evening of the first Friday of every month, at Bardin’s, or such other place as a majority of the members shall from time to time appoint,” and for the better regulating the said club agreed to certain articles of association, one of which was that “No member shall presume upon any pretence to introduce any discourse about the party politics of the province, and to persist in such discourse after being desired by the president to drop it, on pain of expulsion.” William Livingston was chosen president and William Smith vice-president. This first meeting was, no doubt, held at the King’s Arms Tavern on the lower part of Broadway, now Whitehall Street, which was in 1770 kept by Edward Bardin. From the character of the members their discussions were held in great respect. It was said that they even influenced the judgment of the Supreme Court, and that a question, connected with the taxation of costs, was sent to The Moot by the chief justice expressly for their opinion. Some of the members of this club were afterwards among the most prominent men of the country.

The articles of association were signed by

Benjamin Kissam,
David Mathews,
William Wickham,
Thomas Smith,
Whitehead Hicks,
Rudolphus Ritzema,
William Livingston,
Richard Morris,
Samuel Jones,
John Jay,
William Smith,
John Morine Scott,
James Duane,
John T. Kempe,
Robert R. Livingston, Jr.,
Egbert Benson,
Peten Van Schaack,
Stephen De Lancey.

On March 4, 1774, John Watts, Jr., and Gouverneur Morris were admitted to the Society. In the exciting times preceding the Revolution the meetings became irregular, and the members of the Moot came together for the last time on January 6, 1775.

A number of gentlemen were accustomed to meet as a club at the house of Walter Brock, afterwards kept by his widow, familiarly called “Mother Brock,” on Wall Street near the City Hall. It was probably a social and not very formal club. One of the most prominent of its members was William Livingston.

In May, 1773, Francis offered Vauxhall for sale, when it was described as having an extremely pleasant and healthy situation, commanding an extensive prospect up and down the North River. The house, “a capital mansion in good repair,” had four large rooms on each floor, twelve fireplaces and most excellent cellars. Adjoining the house was built a room fifty-six feet long and twenty-six feet wide, under which was a large, commodious kitchen. There were stables, a coach house and several out houses, also two large gardens planted with fruit trees, flowers and flowering shrubs in great profusion, one of which was plentifully stocked with vegetables of all kinds. The premises, containing twenty-seven and a half lots of ground, was a leasehold of Trinity Church, with sixty-one years to run. The ground rent was forty pounds per annum. It was purchased by Erasmus Williams, who, the next year, having changed the name back, “with great propriety,” to Mount Pleasant, solicited the patronage of the public, particularly gentlemen with their families from the West Indies, Carolina, etc., and such as are travelling from distant parts, either on business or pleasure.

Francis also offered the Queen’s Head for sale in 1775. It was then described as three stories high, with a tile and lead roof, having fourteen fireplaces and a most excellent large kitchen; a corner house very open and airy, and in the most complete repair. Although Francis desired to sell his house, he stated that “so far from declining his present business he is determined to use every the utmost endeavor to carry on the same to the pleasure and satisfaction of his friends and the public in general.” He did not succeed in selling the house and continued as landlord of the Queen’s Head until he abandoned it when the British army entered the city.

MERCHANTS’ COFFEE HOUSE AND COFFEE HOUSE SLIP

On May 1, 1772, Mrs. Ferrari, who had been keeping the Merchants’ Coffee House on the northwest corner of the present Wall and Water Streets, which had been located there and been continuously in use as a coffee house since it was opened as such about the year 1738 by Daniel Bloom, removed to a new house which had recently been built by William Brownjohn on the opposite cross corner, that is, diagonally across to the southeast corner. Mrs. Ferrari did not move out of the Merchants’ Coffee House, but she took it with her with all its patronage and trade. On opening the new house she prepared a treat for her old customers. The merchants and gentlemen of the city assembled in a numerous company and were regaled with arrack, punch, wine, cold ham, tongue, etc. The gentlemen of the two insurance companies, who likewise moved from the old to the new coffee house, each of them, with equal liberality regaled the company. A few days later the newspaper stated that the agreeable situation and the elegance of the new house had occasioned a great resort of company to it ever since it was opened. The old coffee house which had been occupied by Mrs. Ferrari before she moved into the new one was still owned by Dr. Charles Arding, who purchased it of Luke Roome in 1758. He offered it for sale in July, 1771, before Mrs. Ferrari moved out of it and again in May, 1772, after she had left, when it was occupied by Mrs. Elizabeth Wragg, but did not succeed in making a sale. If it was any longer used as a coffee house, its use as such was of short duration. It was soon taken by Nesbitt Deane, hatter, who occupied it for many years, offering hats to exceed any “in fineness, cut, color or cock.” John Austin Stevens, who has written very pleasantly and entertainingly of the old coffee houses of New York, speaking of the early history of the Merchants’ Coffee House, says: “Its location, however, is beyond question. It stood on the southeast corner of Wall and Queen (now Water) Streets, on a site familiar to New Yorkers as that for many years occupied by the Journal of Commerce.” Although so positive on this point, Stevens was, no doubt, mistaken, as can be easily proven by records. However, this was the site occupied by the Merchants’ Coffee House subsequent to May 1, 1772. Stevens says that Mrs. Ferrari moved out of this house into a new house on the opposite cross corner, whereas she moved into it from the old coffee house on the opposite cross corner, and carried the business of the old house with her.

In the early part of 1772, Robert Hull succeeded Richard Bolton and continued in possession of the Province Arms some time after the British army entered the city. In the fall of 1772, the two companies of the Governor’s Guards, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger and Major William Walton, dressed in their very handsome uniforms, paraded in the Fields, where they were reviewed. They were very much admired for their handsome appearance, and received much applause from the spectators for the regularity and exactness with which they went through the exercises and evolutions. After the parade they spent the evening at Hull’s Tavern, where a suitable entertainment had been provided.

On the King’s birthday, Friday, June 4, 1773, the governor gave an elegant entertainment in the Fort, as was usual on such occasions, and, in the evening, the city was illuminated. General Gage, who was about to sail for England, celebrated the day by giving a grand dinner to a great number of the merchants and military gentlemen of the city at Hull’s Tavern. He had been in command for ten years in America, and this dinner was made the occasion of a flattering address presented to him by the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of New York. In February, 1774, a grand dinner was given at Hull’s Tavern by the members of his majesty’s council to the members of the assembly of the province, and the next month the governor gave a dinner to both the gentlemen of the king’s council and the gentlemen of the general assembly at the same place. Shortly after this, on Monday evening, April 4, there was a grand ball given in Hull’s assembly room at which there was “a most brilliant appearance of Ladies and Gentlemen,” the occasion being on account of the departure of the governor and Mrs. Tryon for England. The different national societies held their anniversary celebrations at Hull’s Tavern. The Welsh celebrated St. David’s day, the Scotch St. Andrew’s day, the Irish St. Patrick’s day and the English St. George’s day.

By 1770, the obnoxious duties had been abolished on all articles except tea, and soon after the non-importation agreements of the merchants of Boston, New York and Philadelphia were discontinued, except as to tea, the duty on which had been retained. The New York merchants seem to have been the first to propose the discontinuance of the agreement. The Sons of Liberty met at Hampden Hall to protest against it; the inhabitants of Philadelphia presented their compliments to the inhabitants of New York, in a card, and sarcastically begged they would send them their Old Liberty Pole, as they imagined, by their late conduct, they could have no further use for it; and the Connecticut tavern-keepers, it is said, posted the names of the New York importers and determined that they would not entertain them nor afford them the least aid or assistance in passing through that government. Although Boston and Philadelphia were at first very strongly opposed to any relaxation in the agreements, they soon joined in terminating them; but the merchants and people alike determined that no tea should be imported liable to duty. The captains of ships sailing from London refused to carry tea as freight to American ports.

On Friday morning, October 15, 1773, a printed handbill was distributed through the town calling a meeting of the inhabitants at twelve o’clock that day at the Coffee House to consult and agree on some manner of expressing the thanks of the people to the captains of the London ships trading with the port of New York and the merchants to whom they were consigned, for their refusal to take from the East India Company, as freight, tea on which a duty had been laid by parliament payable in America. At this meeting an address was accordingly drawn up which was unanimously approved by those present. In this address it was declared that “Stamp Officers and Tea Commissioners will ever be held in equal estimation.”

For two or three years the political situation had been uneventful, but early in the year 1773 it became apparent that an effort was about to be made to bring the question of taxation to an issue. The East India Company, acting as the instrument of the British parliament, arranged to send cargoes of tea to the ports of Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia and Charleston, at which places they appointed commissioners for its sale.

The times were portentous. The people realized that Great Britain was about to test her power to tax the colonies by forcing the importation of tea through the East India Company in order to establish a precedent, and preparations were made to resist. The Sons of Liberty again organized in November, 1773, and prepared for action. They drew up a number of resolutions which expressed their sentiments and which they engaged to faithfully observe. The first of these was, “that whoever should aid or abet or in any manner assist in the introduction of Tea from any place whatsoever into this Colony, while it is subject by a British act of parliament to the payment of a duty for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, he shall be deemed an enemy to the Liberties of America.” On the back of a printed copy of these resolutions was written a letter of appeal, signed by the committee of the association, addressed to the Friends of Liberty and Trade, inviting an union of all classes in a determined resistance, and urging harmony.

At a meeting held at the City Hall on the 17th of December by the Sons of Liberty to which all friends of liberty and trade of America were invited, it was firmly resolved that the tea which was expected should not be landed.

In Boston the consignee of the tea refusing to return it to England, the vessels were boarded by a number of men disguised as Indians, the chests of tea broken open and the contents cast overboard in the water. This occurred on the 16th of December, 1773.

At a meeting held at the tavern of Captain Doran a committee was appointed to wait on the merchants who had been appointed commissioners for the sale of the East India Company’s tea and ask their intentions. They replied to the committee that, finding that the tea will come liable to American duty, they have declined to receive it. Thomas Doran had been captain of a small but fast sailing privateer, and did good service in the late French war. He had since been keeping a tavern on the new dock near the Fly Market. His house had been the usual place of meeting of the Marine Society for many years. In May, 1774, notice was given that a committee of the Chamber of Commerce would meet at the house of Thomas Doran to receive claims for bounty on fish brought into the city markets. The assembly, in 1773, had granted the sum of five hundred pounds per annum for five years, “for the encouragement of fishery on this coast for the better supplying of the markets of this city with fish,” to be paid to the treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce, and the awarding of the premiums was entrusted to that association. This was the first distribution of premiums.

The tea-ship for New York, long overdue, was anxiously expected. In March, 1774, the Sons of Liberty were notified to meet every Thursday night at seven o’clock at the house of Jasper Drake till the arrival and departure of the tea-ship. The ships for the other ports had arrived at their destinations and been disposed of. No tea had been allowed to be sold. The ship Nancy, Captain Lockyer, with the tea for New York on board, driven off the coast by contrary winds, did not reach the port until April 18th, and the pilot, advised of the situation, refused to bring her up to the city. The people had resolved that the tea should not be landed. The captain was allowed to come up on condition that he would not enter his vessel at the custom house. He was received by a committee of the Sons of Liberty and conducted to the consignee, who, declining to receive his cargo, he at once made preparation to return. On Friday, April 22, handbills were distributed, stating that although the sense of the people had been signified to Captain Lockyer, nevertheless it was the desire of many of the citizens that, at his departure, he should see with his own eyes their detestation of the measures pursued by the ministry and the East India Company to enslave this country. Accordingly, on Saturday morning, about eight o’clock, all the bells in the city rang as a notice to the people that the tea which had been brought over in the Nancy was about to be sent back without allowing it to be landed. About nine o’clock the people assembled at the Coffee House in greater numbers than ever before known, Captain Lockyer came out of the Coffee House with the committee and was received with cheers, while a band provided for the occasion played “God Save the King.” He was then conducted to Murray’s Wharf, at the foot of Wall Street, where, amid the shouts of the people and the firing of guns, he was put on board the pilot boat and wished a safe passage. He joined his ship, the Nancy, at the Narrows, and the next morning put to sea.

On Friday, amidst all the excitement, Captain Chambers, who from information received from different sources was suspected of having tea on board his ship, the London, arrived at the Hook. The pilot asked him if he had any tea on board and he declared that he had none. Two of the committee of observation went on board, to whom he declared that he had no tea. When the ship came to the wharf about four o’clock in the afternoon she was boarded by a number of citizens and Captain Chambers was told that it was in vain for him to deny having tea on board his ship for there was good proof to the contrary, whereupon he confessed that he had on board eighteen chests. The owners of the vessel and the committee immediately met at Francis’ Tavern to deliberate over the matter where Captain Chambers was ordered to attend. Here he stated that he was the sole owner of the tea. The Mohawks were prepared to do their duty but the people became impatient and about eight o’clock a number entered the ship, took out the tea, broke open the chests and threw their contents into the river. The resentment of the people was so great against Captain Chambers, whom they had considered a friend of their rights and deserving of their confidence, that it was thought that if he could have been found, his life would have been in danger. He was, however, concealed and succeeded the next day in getting on board the Nancy with Captain Lockyer and sailed away to England.

The news of what had been done by the little tea-party in Boston Harbor, December 16, 1773, reached England on the 22d of January, 1774, and created intense excitement in London. On March 7 the King sent a special message to parliament on the American disturbances and soon after a bill was prepared providing for the closing of the port of Boston to all commerce on June 1, at the King’s pleasure, and ordering indemnification to be made to the East India Company for the tea destroyed. This bill passed both houses of parliament without a dissenting vote. The news of its passage came to New York by the ship Samson, Captain Coupar, which arrived May 12, twenty-seven days from London. By the same packet came news that General Gage, commissioned governor of Massachusetts, had engaged with four regiments to reduce Boston to submission and was to sail for his government on April 15.

In consequence of the alarming news from England, a notice was posted at the Merchants’ Coffee House inviting the merchants to meet at the tavern of Samuel Francis on Monday evening, the 16th, to consult on measures proper to be taken. Accordingly, a large number of merchants and other inhabitants appeared at the appointed place. The object was to appoint a committee of correspondence. There appeared some differences of opinion as to the number and composition of this committee, but the result was that fifty names were nominated, fifteen of the number to be sufficient to do business. To confirm the choice of this committee or to choose others, it was resolved before adjournment that the inhabitants of the city should be requested to meet at the Merchants’ Coffee House on Thursday, the 19th, at one o’clock.

In the interim Paul Revere, the famous post-rider and express, arrived on the 17th with a message from the people of Boston, urging a cessation of all trade with Great Britain and the West Indies until the port bill should be repealed. In the evening of the same day there was a large meeting of the mechanics at Bardin’s Tavern. Bardin had come to the neighborhood where he formerly lived and was keeping the house at one time kept by John Jones in the Fields, and known after that as Hampden Hall. The mechanics sided with the radical party.

At the meeting called at the Merchants’ Coffee House the merchants prevailed, as they had done at the previous meeting. The name of Francis Lewis was added to the committee and it was known as the committee of fifty-one. Gouverneur Morris, writing to Penn, said: “I stood on the balcony and on my right hand were ranged all the people of property with some few poor dependents, and on the other all the tradesmen, etc., who thought it worth their while to leave daily labor for the good of the country.” There was some opposition to the committee named, but after the meeting those who had opposed it, for the sake of union, sent in their agreement to the choice. The mechanics also sent a letter to the committee concurring in the selection.

The committee of fifty-one met at the Merchants’ Coffee House on Monday morning, the 23d, at ten o’clock for business, and after appointing a chairman, secretary and doorkeeper, and agreeing upon sundry rules for the conduct of business, the letters from Boston and Philadelphia were read. A committee composed of Messrs. MacDougal, Low, Duane and Jay was appointed to draw up an answer to the first and report at eight o’clock in the evening, to which time the meeting adjourned. At the appointed time the committee appointed to draw up an answer to the Boston letter made report of a draft of such letter, which was unanimously agreed to and ordered to be engrossed and forwarded with the utmost dispatch. On Tuesday it was delivered to Paul Revere, the express from Boston, who had been as far as Philadelphia and was now on his way back to Boston. He immediately set out on his return. A copy was ordered to be transmitted to the Committee of Correspondence of Philadelphia. “The letter proposed to the people of Boston that a Congress of the colonies should be convoked without delay to determine and direct the measures to be pursued for relief of the town of Boston and the redress of all the American grievances,” a recommendation which was accepted and resulted in the Congress which met at Philadelphia in September.

Monday evening, June 6, the Committee of Correspondence met and read and answered the dispatches brought from Boston by the express rider, Cornelius Bradford, and on Monday, the 13th, the New York Mercury stated that they were to meet again that night, when, it was hoped, their proceedings would be made public, saying “the times are critical and big with interesting events.” On Wednesday, June 15, the day on which the harbor of Boston was closed by act of parliament, a great number of the friends of American liberty in the city procured effigies of Governor Hutchinson, Lord North and Mr. Wedderburn, persons who were considered most unfriendly to the rights of America, and after carrying them through the principal streets of the city took them to the Coffee House, “where they were attended in the evening of that day, it is thought, by the greatest concourse of spectators ever seen on a similar occasion, and there destroyed by sulphurous Flames.”

The Committee of Correspondence held their meetings at the Merchants’ Coffee House during the summer. It was the center of most of the political agitation and unrest which pervaded the community. On the evening of Wednesday, July 13, the committee met and drew up a set of resolutions on the alarming situation of affairs, which were printed in handbills and distributed about the town the next morning, for the approbation of the people who were to assemble at the Coffee House at twelve o’clock on the 19th to approve or disapprove of them. It had been settled that there should be a Congress of the colonies, to meet at Philadelphia in September, and the people were at the same time to testify their approbation of the five gentlemen nominated by the committee to attend as delegates. These were James Duane, Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Low and John Jay. There was so much controversy that the men nominated declined to accept the trust until confirmed by the people. Accordingly, on the 24th an election was ordered in the ordinary manner by a poll in the several wards which was held on the 28th, resulting in the unanimous choice of the five gentlemen above named as delegates.

About the first of September there was much excitement on account of the departure of the delegates for Philadelphia and the arrival of delegates from the New England colonies, passing through the city. On Monday, the 29th of August, John Jay quietly set out for Philadelphia to attend the congress, and on Thursday, September 1st, the four other delegates left the city for the same laudable purpose. Isaac Low, accompanied by his wife, who wished to go by way of Paulus Hook, was escorted to the ferry stairs at the foot of Cortlandt Street by a large number of citizens, with colors flying, and with music. A few accompanied him over the river with musicians playing “God Save the King.” The people then returned to the Coffee House in order to testify the same respect for the other three delegates, James Duane, John Alsop and Philip Livingston. The procession began about half past nine o’clock. When they arrived at the Royal Exchange, near which they embarked, James Duane, in a short speech, thanked the people for the honor they had conferred upon them and declared for himself and for his fellow delegates “that nothing in their Power should be wanting to relieve this once happy but now aggrieved Country.” As they left the wharf, “they were saluted by several Pieces of Cannon, mounted for the occasion, which was answered by a greater Number from St. George’s Ferry. These Testimonials and three Huzzas bid them go and proclaim to all Nations that they, and the virtuous People they represent, dare defend their Rights as Protestant Englishmen.”

The Massachusetts delegates, Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine and John Adams, set out on their journey from Boston in one coach on the 10th of August and arrived in New York on the 20th. John Adams, in his diary, says: “We breakfasted at Day’s and arrived in the city of New York at ten o’clock, at Hull’s, a tavern, the sign of the Bunch of Grapes.” The arms of the province on the old sign must have been pretty well weatherbeaten to have been taken for a bunch of grapes. The best tavern in Boston and the best tavern in Hartford each hung out this sign and Adams was thus easily led into an error.

The congress at Philadelphia passed a non-exportation act to take effect on September 15, and a non-importation act to be put in force on December 1. A committee of observation or inspection was appointed in New York city to secure the strict observance of these acts. In the spring of 1775 deputies were elected in New York to a provincial congress which met on April 20, and the next day appointed delegates to represent the province in the Continental Congress which was to assemble at Philadelphia in the following May. News of the battle of Lexington, forwarded by express riders from Watertown, Massachusetts, reached the chambers of the New York committee of correspondence at four o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday, April 23. It was war. The news reached Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 28, and on the next day Alexander Purdie published it in an extra of his Gazette. In commenting on the situation his closing words were: “The sword is now drawn and God knows when it will be sheathed.”

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