CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS.

N the great distance of time, while the silken furls of the Stars and Stripes and the old British standard greet each other daily along the shores of Staten Island, and comn.on interests govern the two great nations which they represent as perhaps none others are governed, we approach this subject with a spirit of profound fairness. We shall deal with it only as a matter of history, with no desire to reawaken the animosities and sectional hatred that were left as a legacy of the Revolution.

Nations, as well as individuals, are creatures of circumstances. The people of Staten Island had lived for more than a century as subjects to the English government, and the word loyalty to them had no other meaning than honest friendship for England's king and English institutions. In fact the social and political leaders of Staten Island were fit representatives of royalty, and the people were taught to be subservient, under all circumstances, to whatever measure the parent government thought proper to impose.

It is safe to assume that the people of no other section of the country were similarly situated. They were threatened with death and loss of property by the Americans if they should favor the British cause, and they were met with the same condition of affairs by the British should they favor the rebellion and aid the Americans.1 No wonder they hesitated to cast their fortunes with either side under those trying circumstances! Scores of leading citizens, however, when the news came from Bunker Hill, decided to strike a blow for liberty, and many enrolled themselves in the cause of freedom. But when the magnificent army of the king took possession of the Island, and glittering promises were held out, and vengeance threatened if they failed to accept, they reasoned that it was discretion to remain loyal to England and its cause. How different would have been their position in history had the British arms been successful!

Some light may be thrown upon this subject by the following extract from a letter addressed by Governor Tryon to "Christopher

1 Tories who were so strong in their sentlments as to make a residence among the friends of independence undesirable, were frequently coming over to the Island to join the British army or to take advantage of its protection. Some Quakers, whose peculiar principles forbid their taking any active part in

warlike transactions, fled to the Island as an asylum from the appeals of their active Whig neighbors. Sullivan, in his raid on the Island, claimed to have taken twenty-eight Tories in addition to his other trophies; but the a counts from the other side represent that they were not Tories but peaceable Quakers."

Billopp, Esq., Colonel of Militia of Richmond County, Staten Island," dated May 19th, 1777, which appeared in Rivington's Gazette on June 9th, with the annexed remarks by the editor of that paper:

"It is my earnest recommendation, that the inhabitants of Richmond County, who had the first opportunity of testifying their loyalty to the Prince, and fidelity to the British constitution, on the arrival of the King's troops, and which was most graciously accepted by his Majesty, should, on this occasion, eagerly follow the approved example of the militia of Kings County, by liberally raising a sum of money for the comfort and encouragement of the Provincial troops raised in this province. I enclose the form of the instrument which is adopted for the inhabitants of the city and county to subscribe; copies of which will be sent to Queens and Suffolk counties, for a similar purpose. Any suggestions of fears and apprehensions from circumstances of situation, must, and assuredly will be construed into a lukewarmness at this crisis, to the king and the old constitution. Therefore, let the loyal subjects now distinguish themselves by free

donations, and dare the worst from men who have struck at the root of their liberty and property."

The Gazette also contains the following editorial remarks on the subject:

"We have the pleasure to inform the Public, that the loyal inhabitants of STATEN ISLAND have already subscribed Five Hundred Pounds for the Encouragement of the Provincial Corps of this Colony, and transmitted the same to our worthy Governor, to be applied to that laudable Purpose. The Subscription in other Parts meets with great Success among his Majesty's loyal Subjects, both in this City and County, and in the Counties upon Long Island, almost

every one being desirous to give this Test of Loyalty and Love of constitutional Freedom. Trimmers and some doubtful Characters, it is expected, will be made manifest upon this occasion, and of course be properly noticed."

In connection with this we notice that in March, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, by proclamation, gave permission to any loyal subjects of the king to enclose and cultivate for their own benefit portions of the cleared woodlands and other uncultivated lands of persons who had left their homes on Staten Island and Long Island, and were not under the protection of the government, and such loyal subjects were also permitted to erect temporary habitations upon such lands.

Immediately after the encampment of the British army here, Staten Island became practically the headquarters for tories. A band of desperadoes was organized, with Captain Cornelius Hatfield as the leader. There were more than a hundred men under his command. Some writers claim that he had fully three hundred. He was given a roving commission and held accountable only to the commander-in-chief. He established his headquarters in the old Bull's Head Tavern, in Northfield, (destroyed by fire a few years since), while one of his Lieutenants, Van Buskirk, occupied a building, still standing, but remodeled, opposite the Woodrow M. E. Church. The devilish deeds which the Hatfields and their companions committed will forever blacken their memory. Murder, robbery and arson were their delight. Men, women and children were their victims. Nothing was too sacred to escape their fiendish practices. Old friends had no claim upon their mercy. Day and night they prowled over the Island, committing depredations upon persons and property which they had on their "black list," until they became a terror to all those with whom they were not immediately connected. It is due to this subject and to the people whom it affects, however, that this chapter be not treated other than with the profoundest consideration and fairness. Hence we appeal for assistance and guidance to the faithful historians of the trying times in which the American Loyalists acted their part in the great political drama.2 "Of the reasons which influenced, of hopes and fears which agitated, and of the miseries and rewards which awaited the Loyalists; or, as they were called in the politics of the time, the Tories of the American Revolution, but little is known." Such are the words of Sabine, in his history of the American Loyalists. "The best intellect, the

2 The war, brought thus to their very doors, had wrought a great change in the society of the town. A large number of the best men of the place had taken up arms, either in the militia, or in the service of Congress, and so were of uncertain residence. Intercourse between families had become much more reserved, as no one knew at what time he might be betrayed to the one or the other party,

nor which party might presently be in the ascendant. With the vast host of disciplined troops on Staten Island, the very flower of the British army, and daily increasing in numbers by the arrival of reinforcements, the tories had great reason to expect to be shortly restored to their homes and estates, and in turn to vex and dispossess their patriot neighbors.-Hetfield's History of Elizabeth.

best informed among us, confess the deficiency of knowledge. The reason is obvious. Men, who, like the Loyalists, separated themselves from their friends and kindred, who are driven from their homes, who surrender the hope and expectation of life, and who become outlaws, wanderers and exiles-such men leave few monuments behind them. Their papers are scattered and lost, and their very names pass from human recollection. To weave into concrete and continuous narrations the occasional allusions of books and State Papers; to join together fragmentary events and incidents; to distinguish persons of the same surname or family name when only that name is mentioned, and to reconcile the disagreements of various epistolary and verbal connections, has seemed at times utterly impossible. There are some who can fully appreciate these and other difficulties which beset the task."

It is interesting to note that while so large a proportion of the people of the Province of New York preferred to sever their connection with the mother country, very many of them entered the British army and fought in deference of their principles. Indeed, whole battalions, and even brigades, were raised by the great landholders, and continued organized and in pay throughout the struggle. It is a lamentable fact that New York was really the Loyalists' stronghold, and contained more of them than any other colony in all America. "I will not say that she devoted her resources of men and of money to the cause of the enemy," says Sabine; "but I do say that she withheld many of the one, and much of the other, from the cause of the right.” Massachusetts furnished 67,907 men for the Continental army between the years of 1775 and 1783; while New York supplied but 17,781. In adjusting the war balances, after peace was established, Massachusetts, as was then ascertained, had overpaid her share in the sum of $1,248,801 of silver money; but New York was deficient in the large amount of $2,074,846. New Hampshire, though almost a wilderness, furnished 12,496 troops for the Continental ranks, or quite three-quarters of the number enlisted in the Empire State.

Unless Galloway, the historian, was mistaken, the Loyalists of the Middle Colonies were ready to enter the military service of the Crown in large numbers. His statement is, that, "had Sir William Howe issued a proclamation when in Philadelphia, 3,500 would have repaired to his standard; that, in that city, in New Jersey, and in New York, he could have embodied quite 5,000; that upwards of fifty gentlemen went to his camp to offer their services in disarming the disaffected, but failing to obtain even an interview, retired in disgust, and that, under Sir William's successor, 5,000 actually appeared in arms for the defense of the city of New York." 3

3 The patriot cause appeared to be utterly hopeless. It seemed impossible for Congress to retrieve the disaster that, since the fatal field of Flatbush, had come upon the country.

The Declaration of Independence seemed now but an idle boast. It was regarded as certain that the authority of King George would soon be re-established in all the States. Such was

"I affirm," adds Sabine, "that the Whigs and their opponents did not always meet in open and fair fight, nor give and take courtesies; and observe the rules of civilized warfare; but that on the contrary they murdered one another! General Greene and Chief Justice Marshall are my authorities. The amenities between the Whigs and Tories,' wrote the first, render the situation truly deplorable. The Whigs seem determined to extirpate the Tories, and the Tories the Whigs. Some thousands have fallen and the evil rages

with more violence than ever. If a stop can not be put to these homicides the country will be depopulated in a few days, as neither Whig nor Tory can live.'"

"The people of the South, too," remarked Marshall, in his Life of Washington, "felt all the miseries which are adopted by war in its most savage form. Being about equally divided between the two contending parties, reciprocal injuries had gradually sharpened their resentments against each other, and had aroused neighbor against neighbor, until it had become a war of extermination. As the parties alternately triumphed, opportunities were alternately given for the exercise of their vindictive passions."

Let us glance at the various claims which influenced the men then prominent in the colonies. First, consider those who held office. Nearly all the officials of all grades adhered to the Crown. This was to have been expected. Men who lived in ease, who enjoyed all the consideration and deference which rank and station invariably confer, especially in monarchies, and who, therefore, had nothing to gain, but much to lose, by a change, viewed the discensions that arose between themselves and the people in a light which allowed their self-love and their self-interest to have full play. In obeying the instructions of the Ministry to enforce the statutes of the realm, they did but perform common acts of duty!

These were the arguments, and they were neither the first nor the last persons in office who have reasoned in the same manner, and who have kept their places at the expense of their patriotism. Beside, they affected to believe that the Whig leaders were mere ready office hunters, and that the contests between them were in some measure personal.

The church played its part in the drama. In the early settlement of the country the duty of the ministers was not confined to instructions in things spiritual; but embraced matters of temporal concern. On questions of pressing public exigency their counsel and advice were eagerly sought and implicitly followed. This deference to their office, and to their real or supposed wisdom, though less general than at former periods, had not ceased; and clergymen, both Whigs and Tories, often made a recruiting house of the sanctuary. Some of

the confident expectation and boast of the Loyalists at New York, on Long Island, on Staten Island, and in every place occupied by

the British troops. Even the most sanguine of patriots spoke and wrote in the most despondent terms.-Irving's Life of Washington.