The year 1759 began with correspondence between Colden and William Smith, Jr., who would remain Colden's forceful antagonist throughout the decade, in spite of the friendship that had existed between Colden and Smith's father. A week after Colden read The History of the Province of New-York, from the First Discovery to the Year MDCCXXXII (1732) by William Smith, Jr., which was published in London in 1757, he took up his pen to vent his ire. Smith had included in the final chapter titled “From 1720 to the administration of Cosby” a consideration of Captain Campbell's attempt to procure land for himself and groups of immigrants whom he sponsored in the province in 1737 (see chapter 3, pp. 61 and 62). Although Colden's name was not mentioned, his involvement, in concert with Lt. Governor George Clarke, was obvious.
Colden stated in a letter to Smith, “It is in the principal part absolutely false & an egregious calumny of the persons, who at the time had the administration of Government in their hands…. The public defamation being an egregious injury to the public faith & honour of the Government of New York you know the proper method for redress that may be taken.”1
Smith was adamant in affirming his interpretation of the event, which he admitted took place when he was merely a boy. Two weeks after receiving Colden's letter, he wrote, “Your letter of the 15 January, which came to me unsealed, contains such a heavy Charge of Misrepresentation, Falsehood and Calumny, that I am almost inclined, to think myself relieved of the Obligation, which your Age, Rank, Character and particularly your professed Friendship to my Father, would otherwise undoubtedly, have laid me under, to take Notice of every Thing, wherein you might conceive yourself in the least Degree concerned.”2
Smith's evidence was purely hearsay. It came to him from Campbell's wife by way of her son, who, in turn, gave it to James Alexander, who had been a member of the Council at the time of the event in 1737. In a letter written as a follow-up to Smith's correspondence, Colden correctly pointed out that the heads of the families who came over with Campbell refused to settle under his auspices, and that Campbell did not have the personal finances to purchase the 30,000 acres. As far as Alexander's personal interpretation was concerned, he completely absolved Colden and pointed out that Colden was not involved with the Council at the time of the event, almost twenty years previously.3
In a letter to his son Alexander, Colden expanded his remarks concerning Smith's History of New York. In that letter, Colden indicated that during his period of relative detachment from political affairs he was preparing his memoirs of the government of New York. He criticized Smith for attributing the removal of Colonel Schuyler and Mister Philipse from the Council to their opposition to the continuance of the Assembly. Rather, Colden stressed that the reason for their dismissal was that Schuyler had committed the king's seal to Philipse, who received it into his custody—a criminal act (see chapter 2, pp. 29 and 30).
In the letter, Colden continued with a chronicle of events that occurred during Governor Burnet's tenure. Colden recounted Burnet's refusal to qualify James Delancey after he had been elected a member of the Assembly. Delancey, based on his French and Dutch ancestry, was designated not to be a naturalized foreigner, which would have precluded his service. This generated intense party struggles that continued over the years. Colden described the Assembly at that time as consisting of individuals who deemed themselves to be unaccountable to any other authority and who were prone to spread slander and calumny. Colden concluded that “It is not fit that Mr. Smith's history should pass for a chronicle of New York” because “He is so assuming in his manner, especially in giving Characters, often unfair, allwise partial whether his characters be favorable or otherwise, continually biased by his connections, either as to family, political party or religious sect, that some resentment is unavoidable.”4
While Colden remained in Flushing at the house he had rented in 1757, relatively disengaged from political activities throughout 1759 and the first nine months of 1760, the British forces continued on their victorious course over the French. On June 26, 1759, Fort Ticonderoga was taken by Major General Jeffrey Amherst, who replaced General James Abercromby as the commander-in-chief of all British forces in North America. The French commandant of the fort ordered the fortifications destroyed and the troops to withdraw to the Isle-au-Nuits in Lake Champlain. On August 1, Amherst learned that Crown Point had been abandoned. Troops were stationed there and the French withdrew completely from Lake Champlain. The formidable Fort Niagara also fell without a battle on July 25. The British took possession of forts at Venango, Le Boeuf, and Presque Isle, leaving Fort Pontchartrain at Detroit as the only fort in the Lake Erie area under French control.
The most definitive battle of the French and Indian War took place on the morning of September 13, 1759, and lasted about fifteen minutes. The British engaged and soundly defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec. The articles of capitulation were signed on September 18. A year later Montreal surrendered without a battle, and, a week after that event, the British flag was raised at the Detroit fort, thereby gaining for Great Britain sole control of North America.
In 1760, Colden penned an essay directed at his nephew who was to embark on a new educational endeavor. The essay entitled “An Introduction to the Study of Phylosophy” summarized Colden's views on both philosophy and science. He emphasized the need to expand one's knowledge in the context of society. Colden paints a self-portrait of his intellectual profile in his conclusion. “The gentleman, who proposes to be generally useful in society, ought not to fix his thought single on one branch of science, but to have a competent knowledge of the principles of every branch…. While he reads and thinks by turns, he should in the intervals, cultivate his intellectual faculties by general conversation, where he may obtain more useful knowledge than can be learned from books.”5
On June 10, 1760, the Assembly, under the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Delancey passed several bills, the most significant of which was the regulation of the practice of “Physic and Medicine.”6 Colden is generally credited with being the force behind the passage of that bill, in which it was specified that an exam was required by those aspiring to practice. This was the first act in the colonies to regulate the practice of medicine, but it was limited to the City of New York and contained a grandfather clause, excusing all those currently practicing medicine.7
On July 29, Delancey engaged in interviews with several politicians on Staten Island and returned that evening. The following morning he was found gasping in a chair at home and died, presumably as a result of asthma of which he suffered for years. Smith's assessment of Delancey's contributions to the colony was most complimentary. Smith wrote, “Upon the whole, his accomplishments rendered him an ornament to the country which gave him birth. None of his predecessors possessed natural talents superior, if equal to his….”8
Colden's life underwent an immediate and dramatic change. In his seventy-third year, he came out of retirement and took up residence in Government House at Fort George (currently, the location of the National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan), as president of the Council. Colden assumed the title of President of the Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New York.
He received congratulatory letters from several of the colonial governors, including James Hamilton of Pennsylvania, Francis Fauquier of Virginia, Horatio Sharpe of Maryland, and William Bull of South Carolina. He also received congratulatory correspondence from Alexander Garden and Benjamin Franklin, who was in London at the time. In a letter, written from his encampment site on the shore of the St. Lawrence River near Isle Royale, Major General Amherst offered condolences for the death of Delancey, and wrote, “Sir, it some what Alleviates my Grief to find that the Reins of Government have devolved on a Person of so much Experience as Yourself, not doubting but I shall find the same Zeal in You that I have always met with in your Predecessor….”9
Colden used his position to advance his sons. This is evidenced in a letter from the Earl of Halifax to Peter Collinson dated October 12, 1760. The earl wrote, “I was pleased that upon the Death of Lieutenant Governor Delancey, the Administration, of Governmtdevolved upon Mr Colden, whose experience, public service and Integrity I have been long Acquainted with. My only doubt was whither his Age might not make it burthensome to him…. I should be very glad to oblige both him and you by making his Son one of the Council, but, when I state then to you, I am Satisfied you will be Sensible of the Weight of the Objections there are to it at present….”10
On October 22, Colden addressed the Assembly in his new position for the first time. He assured the members that he would concur with them in “every measure conducive to the prosperity of the colony.”11 One week later, the General Assembly issued a formal response, in which the members asserted that they “shall cheerfully contribute our utmost assistance to every measure conducive to the ease of your administration, & the true Interest of the People we represent.”12 The session lasted until November 8, when Colden signed the nineteen proposed bills without a single objection, including one that provided him a salary of 1,800 pounds per year.13
King George II died on October 25 and his grandson, George III, rose to the throne. In November the City of New York received Major General Amherst as a triumphal hero, and, with much pomp and circumstance, presented him with the “freedom of their municipality.”14 Throughout the winter, self-congratulations over the recent victory, accompanied by pervasive optimism and patriotism, dominated. This temporarily obscured the previous political polarization. But the arrival of the spring would be accompanied by the early harbingers of a storm that would eventuate in the elevation of Colden to an unenviable position as the most vilified individual in the history of colonial New York, if not in all of the colonies.
The year of 1760 represented a watershed in Colden's life. The most contemporary report of the administrations of Lieutenant Governor Colden and Governor Monckton covered the period between 1760 and 1762, and was written by William Smith, Jr., for the second volume of his The History of the Province of New-York. The chronicle is obviously biased because Smith had been and continued to be one of Colden's severest critics. Smith was a member of the legal profession, for which Colden had little regard and a distinct antipathy. At the time, the three legal leaders in the New York colony were Smith, John Morin Scott, and William Livingston. Smith and Livingston had been educated together at Yale, and they were joined by Scott in Smith's father's law office. They were populists who were opposed to absolute rule by the monarchy. They organized the Whig Club in 1752, and held weekly meetings at the King's Arms Tavern, where the walls reverberated with words of independence and the leveling of society, an absolute anathema for Colden.15
After George II died and the new king was crowned, the New York lawyers invoked an unwritten law that mandated the dissolution of extant assemblies and the election of new members. An election took place and little change in the membership resulted. In May, there was a two-week session of the new Assembly, during which the members voted that the laws enacted between the death of the late king and the receipt of notification by the Assembly required legalization. Colden objected because it was contrary to royal and parliamentary instructions, and that it was absurd to restrain a lawful act based on lack of knowledge, which was impossible to attain at the time. He added that the bill would have given lawyers an overriding power.16
The second and more contentious bill indicated that the selection of judges should be independent of the Crown and that the judges of the Supreme Court were to be appointed on the basis of their good behavior. Colden continued his loyalty to the Crown, and offered the chief justice's position to Smith, Sr., who refused. Colden then declared that the renewal of the other positions was dependent upon the Crown. Smith, Jr., in his history, deemed Colden's action to be “universally disgustful.”17 Other unpopular actions of Colden included the curtailment of the illicit trade that had taken place for many years between New York merchants and the French West Indies, and the overturning of land patents that he contended had been granted in violation of instructions from the Crown.18
Although local antagonism toward Colden intensified, he was rewarded by the king with the long-desired position of lieutenant governor. The commission that was dated April 14, 1761, stated,
GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith &c2 To Our Trusty and Well beloved Cadwallader Colden Esquire GREETING, WE, reposing especial Trust and Confidence inn your Loyalty, Integrity and Ability, do by these Presents constitute and appoint you to be Our Lieutenant Governor of Our Province of New York and the Territories depending thereon in America, in the room of James Delancey Esquire deceased.19
On May 12, 1761, Colden leased a 120 acre farm, located about a mile and a half south of the village of Flushing, Long Island, from John and Thomas Willet. A year later, Colden purchased the land and over the ensuing two years built a mansion, which he named Spring Hill (fig. 9).20
Figure 9. “Spring Hill” in Flushing, Long Island. Photo taken 1924. Courtesy of New York Historical Society.
On October 19, 1761, the British warship Alcide arrived in New York with the commission for the new governor, Major General Robert Monckton. The thirty-five-year-old Monckton had a distinguished military career in the War of the Austrian Succession and, more recently, in the Seven Years (French and Indian) War. In 1755, he led the siege that captured Fort Beauséjour, and was named lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia after that victory. He held that position for three years. In 1759, he was appointed second in command to General James Wolfe for the battle of Quebec. On the Plains of Abraham, Monckton commanded the British right flank and sustained a chest wound. He was reassigned to New York for convalescence. In 1760, he was appointed commander of the British forces in the provinces south of New York.
At the time of his appointment as governor of New York, Monckton was in command of troops stationed at Staten Island in anticipation of an expedition to the West Indies. The process of the swearing in of the new governor provided a new occasion for Colden's reputation to be compromised by his political foes. The process called for the governor-elect to formally produce his commission and instructions in Council, after which he was sworn in. On the day, which Monckton had selected for his inauguration, Colden became acquainted with the fact that the instructions had not arrived, and he called for a delay. Colden's persistent nemesis, William Smith, Jr., told Monckton that Colden had known of the absence of the instructions previously and was using the situation to delay the taking of the oath.21 The inauguration proceeded on the originally designated day.
Nineteen days later Monckton sailed with an expeditionary force under his command directed for the capture of Martinique, which surrendered on February 3, 1762. Colden governed New York during Monckton's absence. Monckton returned to New York in June, and assumed his leadership role. He held the position of governor until June 1765 despite leaving New York permanently in June 1763.
Before Monckton left for Martinique, he wrote Colden that in his absence Colden should receive “one full moiety [i.e., half] of the Salary, and of all Perquisites,” which the governor would have received, during his absence.22 Colden informed Monckton that he disagreed and that Governor Burnett, during his tenure, had indicated to him that “the Lieutenant Governor, President of the Council &c, exercising the Administration of Government, upon the Absence or the Death of the Governor in Chief, should have one half of the Salary, and all Perquisites & Emoluments of Government.”23 Monckton maintained his original assertion that “half” rather than “all” perquisites was appropriate.24
Colden solicited the assistance of John Watts, a member of the Council. They conjointly drew up an agreement by which half the profits of government were to be paid to Colden and half to the deputy-secretary in trust for Monckton. Monckton countered with the proposal that, while Colden was in charge, everything was to be paid to the deputy-secretary until Monckton's return. At that time, if specific instructions indicated that the profits were to be divided, Monckton would comply; if not, he would keep all. Colden ignored this, considering it an insult to his character. Smith then drew up an agreement that, if Colden's contention proved to be correct, he would be paid, but was required to submit an accounting under oath, which even Monckton thought was not necessary. Smith's action added to Colden's consideration of his antagonist as “a crafty, malicious smooth-tongued hypocrite.”25
Five days after Monckton's departure for the West Indies, Colden opened a new session of the Assembly with a passionate plea for expediting justice and reducing the expense, thereby allowing him the opportunity to focus on one of his criticisms, that of the bench and the bar. The Assembly sarcastically responded with the statement, “As the complaints your honor mentions probably arise from the want of a legal establishment of fees, we cannot help thinking a general establishment of the fees of all the officers of the government will put a stop to these, as well to several other complaints of the like nature.”26
One bill, which granted salaries to the judges on condition of their acceptance during good behavior, Colden amended to provide fixed salaries for the judges appointed under the new tenure. It was eventually approved. The bill, legalizing the acts of the legislature between the death of George II and its announcement in America was not brought up for reconsideration. A bill authorizing the partition of land grants and the establishment of provision, similar to one that Colden had successfully proposed forty years previously, was introduced. Colden signed a compromised bill after his amendments were added.
Smith ended the final chapter in his History, on “The Administrations of Colden and Monckton” with a parting barb:
Mr. Hardy…who by renewing the judge's commissions during good behavior, taught this colony to believe that it was choice and some sinister motive, and not a dread of administration that prompted Mr. Colden to stickle for a dispensation of justice under the control of the Crown. It was therefore with a malignant pleasure that the public soon after the session discovered Mr. Colden's late promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Governor was not the reward of merit, but the effort of low craft and condescension and fraud. To gain an interest with Mr. John Pownall, a clerk to the Board of Trade, who had the ear of the earl of Halifax, and to raise the idea of his being able to influence the Assembly, he offered him the agency of the colony—a bait to which the minister could not be indifferent.”27
The year 1762 was one of great personal loss for Colden. In March his wife of forty-seven years died at Government House, and in June his thirty-one- yearold unmarried daughter, Catherine, also died.28 The year was relatively non-confrontational for Colden.
The correspondence of the next year was initiated by a letter from Benjamin Franklin, who reported on the discovery that Quicksilver was a melted metal, that cooling could be effected by evaporation, that he was experimenting with magnetism, and that, while in England, he had invented a new musical instrument [the glass armonica].29 In September a letter from the Earl of Halifax expressed concern over an argument between two New York merchants named Mr. Forsey and Mr. Cunningham that resulted in Cunningham stabbing Forsey. Colden was instructed to report if a trial resulted in a conviction. If conviction ensued, Colden was instructed to delay judgment and execution until the Crown considered the matter.30
Cunningham had previously lost a civil action suit for assault and battery against Forsey. Cunningham was then turned down by the Supreme Court for a review. John Tabor Kempe, who served at the last attorney general for the province of New York (1759–1782), wrote Colden that “On the whole Sir as I humbly conceive the Kings Intent to be, that only Errors in the Law and not matters of Fact tried on Appeal, I think a Writ of Error only should issue to bring the proceedings before your Honor and the Council….”31 Daniel Horsmanden, the chief justice of the province, stated, “An Attempt then to re-examine the Verdict of a Jury, is repugnant to the Laws both of England and this Colony.”32
Colden, however, stayed the court's judgment and asked the chief justice to send him the proceedings, arguing that the case was poorly managed. The case was resolved in 1765 when the New York Assembly supported the Supreme Court decision, and the Board of Trade agreed. The constitutional controversy intensified the alienation of Colden by the moderate party and the conservative merchant coalition. The entire populace detested Colden for his unwavering support of the Crown and it was stated that “the old Body was always dislik'd enough, but now they would prefer Beelzebub himself to him.”33
Most of the correspondence during 1764, as incorporated in Colden's Papers, is related to Indian affairs and emanated from the pen of Sir William Johnson, who served as the British superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern colonies, and, after emerging as the hero of the Battle of Lake George in 1755, was the first colonial to be made a baronet. The Treaty of Paris was signed at Versailles on February 10, 1763. Although it declared that France surrendered all her possessions east of the Mississippi River, the Indians remained hostile. In April 1763, several tribes banded together under the leadership of Pontiac. In an effort to regain control of the Ohio Valley, they harassed the frontiersman and their families and took possession of several forts and outposts. Forts Pitt and Detroit were blockaded.
In August troops commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet defeated the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run, thus ending the blockade of Fort Pitt. The Indians lost their enthusiasm for battle and Pontiac capitulated on October 31, 1763. On April 3, 1764, at Johnson Hall in the Mohawk Valley, Johnson signed a peace treaty with the Seneca nation. In August Johnson wrote Colden that he had met with about two thousand Indians including all the chiefs of the Western Nations with the exception of Pontiac and the Six Nations. Many of their disputes with each other and with the provincials were settled.34 The Assembly deliberated on the validity of the patents for land in the colony and the fairness of previous purchases from the Indians, but determined that they could make no change.35
During that year, Colden's correspondence attested to the efficacy of Franklin's lightning rod. The steeple of Trinity Church in New York was struck with lightning and no damage resulted. By contrast, lightning also struck one of the corners fifty to sixty feet below the top of the spire, and this caused an urn below that corner, which was not furnished with a conducting rod, to shatter.36
On April 5, 1764, during the time that the colonies were in the midst of an economic depression, Parliament passed the Sugar Act, which taxed sugar and also lumber that could be sent only to Great Britain. The New York Assembly wrote Colden: “We hope your Honour will join us, in an Effort to secure that great Badge of English Liberty, of being taxed only with our Consent; to which, we conceive, all His Majesty's Subjects at home and abroad equally entitled, and also in pointing out to the Ministry, the many mischiefs arising from the Act, commonly called the Sugar Act, to both us and Great Britain.”37 Colden refused to sign. The act was repealed in 1766.
In August Colden received this first notification of the act, which would lead to his vilification. The Earl of Halifax, secretary of state for the Northern Department, sent a communiqué dated August 11, 1764, stating,
The House of Commons having, in the last session of Parliament, come to a resolution by which it is declared that towards defraying the necessary Expenses of defending, protecting & securing the British Colonies & Plantations in America, it may be proper to charge certain Stamp Duties in the said Colonies & Plantations, It is His Majesty's Pleasure, that you should transmit to me without delay, a List of all Instruments made use of in publick Transactions, Law Proceedings, Grants, Conveyances, Securities of Land or money, within your Government with proper & sufficient descriptions of the same, in order that if Parliament should think proper to pursue the Intention of the aforesaid Resolution, they may thereby by enabled to carry it into Execution, in the most effectual & least bothersome Manner.”38
In October, on learning of the proposed Stamp Act, the New York Assembly sent a petition to Parliament that was so forceful and argumentative that no member of Parliament would introduce it.39
The year 1765 is identifiable as the period that sealed Colden's reputation as the ultimate Loyalist and the major enemy of the populace. The events of that year moved his intellectual contributions backstage to a point of insignificance. His participation in the year's political processes would eventually erase any positive appreciation on the impact he made during an unrivaled longevity of service to the province of New York. He would emerge from the fray as a reviled historical irritant that provided yet another stimulus for independence and democracy.
Colden's correspondence that year began, emblematically, with an extensive written opinion on legal appeals. In answering the question, “Whether the King by the 32d Article of Instructions to his Captain General hath given an appeal to all Civil Courses from the Courts of Common Law to his Governor and Council and whether his Majesty by his said Instruction constituted his Governor and Council a Court for hearing and determining of such appeals,” Colden drew from English history, beginning with the Magna Carta, to support his stance in the Forsey/Cunningham case.40 Colden's legal action sensitized the public and indirectly fanned the flames that would erupt nine months later.
In his role as lieutenant governor he continued his efforts at achieving peace with the Indians and fairness for them in their land negotiations with settlers. He was in constant contact by means of mail with the agent for Indian affairs, William Johnson, with whom Colden shared a common goal. Peace was formalized with the Delaware and Susquehanna tribes. Colden also continued cooperating with Major General Amherst by providing support for the troops stationed in New York as protection for the population.
The history of events leading up to Colden's ultimate crisis can be dated to 1763. That year, George Grenville became the prime minister of Great Britain, which was confronted with significant financial problems consequent to the cost of the French and Indian War and the need to maintain a large peaceful establishment in its American colonies. The Crown and Parliament expected the colonists to contribute to the cost of their own defense. The first tax to raise the required money was the Sugar Act of 1764. The colonists objected for economic reasons, but, initially did not invoke the issue of taxation without representation.
The Sugar Act was replaced by the Stamp Act, which was passed by Parliament on March 22, 1765, with an implementation date of November 1. The highest tax was placed on attorney's licenses. Papers related to court proceedings and land grants were also taxed, as were newspapers, pamphlets, and cards. The stamps had to be purchased with scarce hard currency rather than more available colonial paper currency. Admiralty courts, which were controlled by England, were given jurisdiction over violators. The tax brought into focus the issue of taxation without representation. Before the year ended, all of the colonies except North Carolina and Georgia sent protests from their Assemblies to Parliament, often emphasizing the issue of taxation without representation.41
When the act was passed stamp distributors were appointed for each of the colonies. On August 14, 1765, Andrew Oliver, Massachusetts's distributor, was hanged in effigy and his house was looted. He resigned the next day.42 Within days, James Evers, New York's distributor of stamps, resigned for fear of “the greatest risk of my Person and Fortune…to Prevent the same Cruel Fate Mr Oliver met with at Boston.”43
The Council of New York met on September 4, 7, and 9 relative to the Stamp Act.44 At the first meeting, Evers's letter of resignation was presented by Colden. At the second meeting, in response to a query from General Gage, commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in North America, regarding the need for military support, the Council indicated that there was no need for alarm that riots would develop in the colony. At the third meeting, the city's mayor affirmed the Council's opinion that no precaution was necessary. In September the governor of Connecticut indicated to Colden that he had no desire to receive that stamps that were allocated to his colony,45 and the governor of New Jersey followed suit.46 On October 23, the Council was informed that the ship bearing the stamped paper had arrived at New York Harbor and the next day it anchored in the North River. On October 31, Colden took an oath, which was administered by the Council, to uphold “An Act for granting and applying certain Stamp Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America, towards defraying the Expenses of defending protecting and Securing the same….”47
On Friday evening, November 1, an anonymous notice was delivered to Colden at Fort George. It stated,
“Sir,
The People of this City & Province of New York, have been inform'd yt you bound yourself under an Oath to be the Chief Murderer of their Rights & Privileges, by acting as an Enemy to your King and Country to Liberty & Mankind in the Inforcement of the Stamp-Act which we are unanimously determined shall never take Place among us, so long as Man has Life to defend his injured Country – Thus wicked men of old conspired agt Paul an Apostle of J. Christ, and bound themselves under a Curse, that they would neither eat nor drink, till they killed him; but God defeated their Bloody Purposes, as we trust he'll do yours, and Paul was deliver'd. How it fared with his intended assassins History does not certainly inform us; but we can with certainty assure you of your Fate if you do not this Night Solemnly make Oath before a Magistrate & publish to the People, that you never will, directly nor indirectly, by any Act of yours or any Person under your Influence, endeavor to introduce of or execute the Stamp-Act, or any Part of it, that you will to the utmost of your power prevent it taking Effect here, and endeavor to obtain a Repeal of it in England. So help you God.
We have heard of your Design of Menace to fire upon the Tow, in Case of Disturbance, but assure yourself, that, if you dare to Perpetrate and such murderous Act, you'll bring tour grey Hairs with Sorrow to the Grave, You'll die a Martyr to your own Villany, & be Hang'd, like Porteis [Porteous] upon a Sign-Post, as a Memento to all wicked Governors, and that every Man, that assists you, Shall be, surely, put to Death. 48
At a meeting of the Council on November 2, Colden reported that, on the previous night, his two sleighs, his sedan chair, his own and several other carriages in the stables adjacent the fort were taken and burned by the mob.49 Colden was hanged in effigy and the elegant home of Major Thomas James, the commander of the garrison at Fort George, was sacked. The Council, which had previously received word that Sir Henry Moore was appointed governor of the province, was unanimously in favor of temporizing any related action until the new governor could act. On November 5, the stamps were deposited in the City Hall to be guarded by the City Watch.50 Anarchy was stemmed and relative calm returned.
Governor Moore arrived at New York on November 13. Colden immediately turned over the command as well as the residence and moved to the house of his grandson, Stephen Delancey, where he remained for five days. He then took a ferry to Spring Hill in Flushing. Moore, immediately, sought to establish his popularity and distanced himself from Colden. In February 1766, Colden wrote Henry Seymour Conway, secretary of the Northern Department, that Moore had totally neglected him “as could not but shagreen a person who had immediately preceded him in the chief command, and having ordered the Fort to be dismantled without consulting me, I thought it proper for me to retire to the Country…. My tiring seemed very agreeable to him & I took my leave.”51
In December 1765, the lawyers of New York proceeded to execute their business without the use of stamps. On December 13, Colden sent a summation, entitled “State of the Province of New York,” to the secretary of state and Board of Trade. In the document, he indicated that there were four classes— great land owners, lawyers, merchants, and farmers. He described their relationships with one and other, and with the provincial government and Great Britain. Colden also offered his conclusions regarding the controversies of his administration and his judgment of the Stamp Act.52 That year, Colden published his Treatise on Wounds and Fevers, considered to be his most notable medical contribution and the authoritative work at the time.53
In February 1766, Colden was surprised to receive a letter from Henry Seymour Conway, secretary of state, who had been an opponent of the Stamp Act, in which he expressed the king's and Parliament's disapproval of Colden's decision to act on the previous November 2 and await the arrival of Governor Moore.54 On February 21, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and the king gave his assent on March 17. It was replaced by the face saving Declaratory Act, which affirmed Parliament's right to tax the colonies. An extension of the 1765 Quartering Act, which required the provision of lodgings and supplies for British troops in America, was also passed in 1766. The New York Assembly refused to comply. In November, one year after the riot, Colden was still awaiting words of commendation and payment for his losses. He composed a detailed report of vindication that he sent to Collinson, requesting that 120 copies be printed, twenty to be sent to Colden and the remainder to be sent to members of Parliament.55
During the next two years, Moore continued to actively oversee the political activities of New York while Colden remained in Flushing, devoid of significant influence or impact. In compliance with the Parliament's Septennial Act that mandated elections every seven years, a new Assembly was constituted. The Whig interests of the legal profession and city merchants were reduced. Judge Livingston's influence was also minimized. Colden's grandson was elected as the representative from Westchester.
In December Judge Livingston read to members of the Assembly from an anonymous printed pamphlet entitled “The Conduct of Cadwallader Colden, Esquire, Late Lieutenant Governor of New York, relating to the Judges Commissions, Appeals to the King and the Stamp Act.” Livingston strongly censured the contained criticism, and a joint committee of the Council and Assembly was appointed to investigate. The committee reaffirmed Livingston's censure and stated that the document contained, “the most malignant aspersion upon the inhabitants of this colony in general,” and it contributed “to destroy[ing] the Confidence of the people in two branches of the legislature and in the officers concerned in the due administration of justice; to render the government odious and contemptible; to abate due respect to authority, which was so necessary to peace and good order; to excite disadvantageous suspicions and jealousies in the minds of the people of Great Britain against his Majesty's subjects in this colony; and to expose the colony in general to resentments of the Crown and both houses of parliament.”56
New York's economy was depressed, and there was an insufficient supply of circulating money. Embezzlement by the treasurer was discovered and counterfeiting was widespread. The New York Chamber of Commerce was established in 1768, and it immediately attempted to regulate the circulated currencies.57
In July the recently appointed secretary of state, the Earl of Hillsborough, directed Governor Moore to compensate Colden for losses sustained during the disturbances in New York. Hillsborough referred to Colden as “a Meritorious old Servant of the Crown.”58The same month the past prime minister, George Grenville wrote Colden,
The attack which you complain of as made upon yourself, seems to me to be a Severe one, & if owing to the Causes you asking for it, deserves to be enquired into, but as on the one hand you have the strongest Title to be supported for doing your Duty, so on the other those you complain of have a Right to be heard before They are censur'd. Your Behavior during the former Disturbances appeared to me to be highly meritorious & I have more than once declared to the House of Commons my Opinion concerning it. This Sir, is a Justice due to you, which as far as it depends upon me, I should always be ready to pay, & I am therefore very Sorry that you have felt so much uneasiness at a Time of Life which should naturally call, as you truly observe, for Quiet & Retirement, after so many years spent in public service.”59
Moore complied with Hillsborough's order and presented Colden's account to the new Assembly. They voted to only provide Colden with his unpaid salary, but they refused to compensate him for his personal losses.