[
283]
its convention, which met on the third of April, were
Chap. XXVI.} 1775.
April. 10. |
expressing a perfect agreement with the general congress; and were heartily seconded by its assembly.
New York was the pivot of the policy of minis-10.
ters. The defection of its assembly from the acts of the general congress was accepted as conclusive proof that the province would adhere to the king.
But if
Rivington's gazette quoted texts of Scripture in favor of passive obedience,
Holt's paper replied by other texts and examples.
The New York mer-
chants who furnished supplies to the
British army at
Boston, were denounced at the liberty pole as enemies to the country.
When
Sears, who moved that every man should provide himself with four and twenty rounds, was carried before the mayor and refused to give bail, he was liberated on his way to prison, and with flying colors, a crowd of friends, and loud huzzas for him and for
Macdougall, was conducted through
Broadway to a meeting in the Fields.
If the assembly, by a majority of four, refused to forbid importations, the press taunted them for taking gifts, and when they would have permitted a ship to discharge its cargo, the committee laughed at their vote and enforced the association., As they refused to choose delegates to another congress, a poll was taken throughout the city, and against one hundred and sixty-three, there appeared eight hundred and twenty-five in favor of being represented.
The rural counties co-operated with the city; and on the twentieth of April, forty-one delegates met in
convention, chose
Philip Livingston unanimously their president; re-elected all their old members to Congress, except the lukewarm Isaac Low; and unanimously
