leak in which damaged the ceiling of the room. How so many windows needed glazing is not explained, but the breakage seems to have been a continuous performance.

The Chamber continued to occupy the room in the Royal Exchange Building till the beginning of the Revolution in 1775. While the members of the Chamber were all at this time loyal subjects of the British crown, they were strenuous and inflexible opponents of taxation without representation. Their first President, John Cruger, was the author of the celebrated "Declaration of Rights and Grievances of the Colonists in America," which had been addressed by the first Congress of the colonies to the British Government in 1765. His name and that of many other members of the Chamber appeared in the list of two hundred New York merchants who bound themselves by solemn agreement on October 31, 1765, to trade no more with Great Britain till the Stamp Act was repealed. As Mayor of New York, he had received from the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, Cadwallader Colden, the consignment of stamps sent out to the colonists and surrendered by Colden to the city council after an infuriated mob had assembled before his house, torn up the palings about the Bowling Green and created with them a bonfire in which they burned his carriage with his effigy in it.

When, therefore, early in the year 1769, the British Parliament passed an act imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, etc., professedly for revenue, it was inevitable that Mr. Cruger and his fellow merchants should renew the protest and reaffirm the action that they had taken in 1765. They did so as merchants rather than as members of the Chamber of Commerce, but it is very clear from the records that its members were leaders in the proceedings, for there appears in them, under date of May 2, 1769, this entry:

Mr. President reported that the Honourable House of Assembly had directed him to signify their thanks to the merchants of this

Reproductions from Original Stamps Used Under the Stamp Act
Passed by the British Parliament, March 22, 1765.

A box of these stamps (each amounting to 2/ sterling) was found in the ruins of the old Houses of Parliament when they were destroyed by fire in 1834. These specimens with others were sent out about that time to the late Mr. James Brown, of New York, one of the founders of Brown Brothers, merchant bankers, by his brother, the late Sir William Brown, M. P. from South Lancashire, England.

City and Colony for their Patriotic conduct in declining the Importation of Goods from Great Britain at this juncture, which being read, was in the words following:

GENTLEMEN:

I have it in charge from the General Assembly to give the Merchants of this City and Colony the Thanks of the House for their repeated disinterested, publick spirited and patriotic conduct in declining the importation or receiving of goods from Great Britain, untill such Acts of Parliament as the General Assembly had declared unconstitutional and subversive of the Rights and Liberties of the People of this Colony, should be repealed.

It was ordered by the Chamber that a committee be appointed to "prepare and deliver a draught of thanks to the Honorable House for the particular notice they have taken of the Merchants that compose this Chamber." Mr. Cruger was Speaker of the Assembly as well as President of the Chamber at the time.

CHAPTER III

ROYAL CHARTER FOR THE CHAMBER

VICISSITUDES OF THE SEAL AND OF GOVERNOR COLDEN'S

PORTRAIT

1770-1774

ON February 15, 1770, a petition was approved by the Chamber requesting the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony to grant a charter incorporating the society. When this was presented to Governor Colden he expressed his willingness to grant the request by saying: "I think it a good institution, and will always be glad to promote the Commercial Interests of this City, and shall deem it a peculiar happiness that a society so beneficial to the General good of the Province is incorporated during my administration."

The royal charter was granted under date of March 13, 1770. On March 24 an address approved by the Chamber and signed by Mr. Cruger, as President, was read to Governor Colden, thanking him for the grant, and declaring: "We beg leave to assure your Honour that our utmost Ambition is to approve ourselves useful members of the Community, submissive to the Laws, zealous for the Support of Government, and our happy Constitution, and firmly attached to our most Gracious Sovereign; and that we will exert ourselves on all occasions to promote the General Interest of the Colony, and the Commerce of this City in particular; that the Utility of the Institution and the Wisdom of its Founder may be equally applauded by the latest Posterity."

The charter, which is published in full in the Appendix, embodied the articles previously adopted by the Chamber