Documents in Early American History
 

Samuel Seabury, Letters of a Westchester Farmer (1774-75) (Excerpts)

My Friends and Countrymen,
Permit me to address you upon a subject, which, next to your eternal welfare in a future world, demands your most serious and dispassionate consideration. The American Colonies are unhappily involved in a scene of confusion and discord. The bands of civil society are broken; the authority of government weakened, and in some instances taken away: Individuals are deprived of their liberty; their property is frequently invaded by violence.
From this distressed situation it was hoped, that the wisdom and prudence of the Congress lately assembled at Philadelphia, would have delivered us. The eyes of all men were turned to them. We ardently expected that some prudent scheme of accommodating our unhappy disputes with the mother country, would have been adopted and pursued. But alas! they are broken up without even attempting it: they have taken no one step that tended to peace: they have gone on from bad to worse, and have either ignorantly misunderstood, carelessly neglected, or basely betrayed the interests of all the Colonies.
[I] point out to you some of the consequences that will probably follow from the Non-importation, Non-exportation, and Non-consumption Agreements, which they have adopted, and which they have ordered to be enforced in the most arbitrary manner, and under the severest penalties. On this subject, I choose to address myself to you the farmers of the province of New York, because I am most nearly connected with you, being one of your number, and having no interest in the country but in common with you; and also, because the interest of the farmers in general will be more sensibly affected, and more deeply injured by these agreements, than the interest of any other body of people on the continent.

Consequences of the Association for the Empire

Let us now consider the probable consequences of these agreements, supposing they should take place, and be exactly adhered to. The first I shall mention is, clamors, discord, confusion, mobs, riots, insurrections, rebellions, in Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies. This consequence does not indeed immediately affect You, the farmers of New York; nor do I think it a probable one: But the Congress certainly intended it should happen in some degree, or to the effect they propose from these agreements cannot possibly take place. They intend to distress the manufacturers in Great Britain, by depriving them of employment--to distress the inhabitants of Ireland, by depriving them of flaxseed, and of a vent for their linens--to distress the West India people, by withholding provisions and lumber from them, and by stopping the market for their produce. And they hope, by these means, to force them all to join their clamors with ours, to get the acts complained of, repealed. This was the undoubted design of the Congress when these agreements were framed; and this is the avowed design of their warm supporters and partisans, in common conversation.
But where is the justice, where is the policy of this procedure. The manufacturers of Great Britain, the inhabitants of Ireland, and of the West Indies, have done us no injury. They have been no ways instrumental in bringing our distresses upon us. Shall we then revenge ourselves upon them? Shall we endeavor to starve them into a compliance with our burnouts? Shall we, without any provocation, tempt or force them into riots and insurrections, which must be attended with the ruin of many--probably with the death of some of them? Shall we attempt to unsettle the whole British Government--to throw all into confusion, because our self-will is not complied with? Because the ill-projected, ill-conducted, abominable scheme of some of the colonists, to form a republican government independent of Great Britain, cannot otherwise succeed?--Good God! can we look forward to the ruin, destruction, and desolation of the whole British empire, without one relenting thought? Can we contemplate it with pleasure; and promote it with all our might and vigor, and at the same time call ourselves his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects?
Whatever the gentlemen of the Congress may think of the matter, the spirit that dictated such a measure, was not the spirit of humanity.

Consequences of the Association for the North American Colonies

Next let us consider the policy, or rather impolicy of this measure. Instead of conciliating, it will alienate the affections of the people of Great Britain. Of friends it will make them our enemies; it will excite the resentment of the government at home against us; and their resentment will do us no good, but, on the contrary, much harm.
The first distress will fall on ourselves: it will be more severely felt by us, than by any part of all his Majesty's dominions; and it will affect us the longest. The fleets of Great Britain command respect throughout the globe. Her influence extends to every part of the earth. Her manufactures are equal to any, superior to most in the world. Her wealth is great. Her people enterprising, and persevering in their attempts to extend and enlarge and protect her trade. The total loss of our trade would be felt only for a time.
Her merchants would turn their attention another way. New sources of trade and wealth would be opened: New schemes pursued. She would soon find a vent for all her manufactures in spite of all we could do. Our malice would hurt ourselves only. Should our schemes distress some branches of her trade, it could be only for a time; and there is ability and humanity enough in the nation to relieve those that are distressed by us, and to put them in some other way of getting their living.
The case is very different with us. We have no trade but under the protection of Great Britain. We can trade no where but where she pleases. We have no influence abroad, no ambassadors, no consuls, no fleet to protect our ships in passing the seas, nor our merchants and people in foreign countries. Should our mad schemes take place, our sailors, ship-carpenters, carmen, sail-makers, riggers, miners, smelters, forge-men, and workers in bar-iron, etc. would be immediately out of employ--and we should have twenty mobs and riots in our own country, before one would happen in Britain or Ireland.
The next thing I shall take notice of, is the advanced prices of goods, which will, not only probably, but necessarily, follow, as soon as the non-importation from Great Britain shall take effect. This is a consequence that most nearly concerns you; nor can you prevent it. You are obliged to buy many articles of clothing. You cannot make them yourselves; or you cannot make them so cheap as you can buy them. You want woolens for your winter clothing. Few of you have wool enough to answer the purpose. For notwithstanding the boasts of some ignorant, hot-headed men, there is not wool enough on the continent, taking all the colonies together, to supply the inhabitants with stockings. Notwithstanding all the home-spun you can make, many of you find it difficult, at the year's end, to pay the shopkeeper for what the necessities of your families have obliged you to take up. What will you do when the prices of goods are advanced a quarter, for instance, or an half? To say that the prices of goods will not be raised, betrays your ignorance and folly. The price of any commodity always rises in proportion to the demand for it; and the demand always increases in proportion to its scarcity. As soon as the importation ceases in New York, the quantity of goods will be daily lessened, by daily consumption; and the prices will gradually rise in proportion. "But the merchants of New York have declared that, they will demand only a reasonable profit." Who is to judge what a reasonable profit is? Why, the merchants. Will they expose their invoices, and the secrets of their trade to you, that you may judge whether their profits are reasonable or not? Certainly they will not, and if they did, you cannot understand them; and consequently, can form no judgment about them. You have therefore nothing to trust to in this case but the honor of the merchants.
Let us then consider how far we have reason to trust to their honor. Not to raise the price of a commodity when it is scarce, and in demand, is contrary to the principles and practice of merchants. Their maxim is, to buy as cheap, and sell as dear, as they can. Will they let you have a piece of goods for twenty shillings, which will fetch twenty five? When the stores and shops are full, and a price is demanded which you think unreasonable, you will ask an abatement. If you are refused, you will look elsewhere. But when there are few goods and many buyers, no abatement can be expected. If you won't give the price, your neighbor perhaps is in greater necessity, and must give it. Besides, the merchant knows that no more goods can be imported. He knows that the necessities of the country are increasing, and that what you refuse now at twenty shillings, you will be obliged to take, by and by, at twenty five....
Should the government leave us to ourselves, the little trade that would be open, would never keep these articles at such a price, as to make it worth while to raise more of them than we want for our own consumption.
Look well to yourselves, I beseech you. From the day that the exports from this province are stopped, the farmers may date the commencement of their ruin. Can you live without money? Will the shopkeeper give you his goods? Will the weaver, shoemaker, blacksmith, carpenter, work for you without pay? If they will, it is far more than they'II do for me. And unless you can sell your produce, how are you to get money? Nor will the case be better, if you are obliged to sell your produce at an under-rate; for then it will not pay you for the labor and expense of raising it. But this is the least part of the distress that will come upon you.
Unhappily, many of you are in debt, and obliged to pay the enormous interest of seven pounds on the hundred, for considerable sums. It matters not whether your debts have been contracted through necessity, or carelessness: You must pay them, at least the interest, punctually; the usurer will not wait long; indeed you cannot expect he should: You have had his money, and are obliged, in justice, to pay him the principal and interest, according to agreement. But without selling your produce, you can neither pay the one, nor the other; the consequence will be that after a while, a process of law will be commenced against you, and your farms must be sold by execution; and then you will have to pay not only principal and interest, but sheriff's fees, lawyers' fees, etc. Nor, under these circumstances, will your farms fetch half what they cost you.
What is a farm good for, the produce of which cannot be sold? Had matters continued in their old course, some one of your neighbors, who knew the value of your farm, might have been willing and able to have given you a reasonable price for it, had you been disposed, or obliged to sell; but he has more wit than to buy a farm, when he cannot sell its produce. Your creditor, then, or some rich merchant, or usurer, must take it at their own price: To you it is of no consequence who takes it; for you are ruined, stripped of your farm, and very probably of the means of subsistence for yourself and family.
Glorious effect of Non-exportation! Think a little, and then tell me when the Congress adopted this cursed scheme, did they in the least consider your interest? No, impossible! They ignorantly misunderstood, carelessly neglected, or basely betrayed you.

Consequences of Associations instead of Courts

Rouse, my friends, rouse from your stupid lethargy. Mark the men who shall dare to impede the course of justice. Brand them as the infamous betrayers of the rights of their country. The grand security of the property, the liberty, the lives of Englishmen, consists of the due administration of justice. While the courts are duly attended to, and fairly conducted, our property is safe. As soon as they are shut, everything is precarious: for neither property, nor liberty, have any foundation to stand upon.
Tell me not of Delegates, Congresses, Committees, Riots, Mobs, Insurrections, Associations--a plague on them all. Give me the steady, uniform, unbiased influence of the Courts of justice. I have been happy under their protection, and I trust in God, I shall be so again. But after all, some of you, I fear, look forward with pleasure to those halcyon days of security, when the Courts shall be shut. Undisturbed by the clamors of creditors, undismayed by the sight of the sheriff, you think to pass your lives in quietness and peace. But ah! my friends! trust not the fatal, the ill-judged security. You would not, I hope, be so dishonest as not to do your utmost endeavor to pay your debts; besides, while the Courts of Justice are shut, you will be apt to be careless. You will neglect paying your interest, your debts will accumulate, your creditors will be irritated; and as soon as a legal process can be commenced, you will be ruined before you can look about you.
Some of you are indebted to the loan-office. You have your money, it is true, at a low rate: You pay only five per cent: But if you cannot sell your produce, you can no more pay five per cent than seven. The shutting up of the Courts of justice can here give you no relief. By virtue of the act which regulates the Loan-Office, your farms, if you fail to pay the interest, will be sold in a limited time, without any judicial process at all.
Some of you, also, are tenants at will; and if you fail in paying your rents, you may be turned off, with little or no warning. Consider now the situation you will be in, if Great Britain, provoked by your Non-Importation Agreement, should shut up our ports; or should the Non-Exportation agreed to by the Congress, take effect.
In that case you will not be able to sell your produce: you cannot pay even the interest of the money you are indebted for; your farms must be sold, and you and your families turned out, to beggary and wretchedness. Blessed fruits of Non-Importation and Non-Exportation! The farmer that is in debt, will be ruined: the farmer that is clear in the world, will be obliged to run in debt, to support his family: and while the proud merchant, and the forsworn smuggler, rot in their ill-gotten wealth, the laborious farmers, the grand support of every well-regulated country, must go to the dogs together. Vile! Shameful! Diabolical Device!
Let us now attend a little to the Non-Consumption Agreement, which the Congress, in their Association, have imposed upon us. We … are not to purchase or use any East-India Tea whatsoever; nor any [newly imported] goods, wares, or merchandise from Great Britain or Ireland … nor any molasses, syrups, &c. from the British plantations in the West-Indies … nor wine from Madeira….
Will you submit to this slavish regulation? You must. Our sovereign Lords and Masters, the High and Mighty Delegates, in Grand Continental Congress assembled, have ordered and directed it. They have directed the Committees in the respective colonies, to establish such further regulations as they may think proper, for carrying their association, of which this Non-consumption agreement is a part, into execution….
The Committee of New York … to carry the Association of the Congress into
execution [will] inspect the conduct of the inhabitants, and see whether they violate the Association--among other things, whether they drink any tea or wine in their families … or wear any British or Irish manufactures; or use any English molasses, &c…. If they do, their names are to be published in the Gazette, that they might be publicly known, and universally condemned, as foes to the Rights of British America, and enemies of American Liberty. And then the parties of the said Association will respectively break off all dealings with him or her. In plain English, they shall be considered as out-laws, unworthy of the protection of civil society, and delivered over to the vengeance of a lawless, outrageous mob, to be tarred, feathered, hanged, drawn, quartered, and burnt. 0 rare American Freedom!
Probably, [the committee, then,] will issue mandate to the supervisors in the several counties, as [was done] about the choice of delegates, and direct them to have committees chosen in their respective districts, for the same laudable purpose.
Will you be instrumental in bringing the most abject slavery on yourselves? Will you choose such committees? Will you submit to them, should they be chosen by the weak, foolish, turbulent part of the country people? Do as you please: but, by Him that made me, I will not. No, if I must be enslaved, let it be by a king at least, and not by a parcel of upstart lawless committee-men. If I must be devoured, let me be devoured by the jaws of a lion, and not gnawed to death by rats and vermin.
Did you choose your supervisors for the purpose of enslaving you? What right have they to fix up advertisements to call you together, for a very different purpose from that for which they were elected? Are our supervisors our masters? And should half a dozen foolish people meet together again, in consequence of their advertisements, and choose themselves to be a committee, as they did in many districts, in the affair of choosing delegates, are we obliged to submit to such a committee?
You ought, my friends, to assert your own freedom. Should such another attempt be made upon you, assemble yourselves together: Tell your supervisor, that he has exceeded his commission, that you will have no such committees, that you are Englishmen, and will maintain your rights and privileges, and will eat, and drink, and wear, whatever the public laws of your country permit, without asking leave of any illegal, tyrannical Congress or Committee on earth.
But however, as I said before, do as you please: If you like it better, choose your committee, or suffer it to be chosen by half a dozen fools in your neighborhood, open your doors to them, let them examine your tea canisters, and molasses-jugs, and your wives' and daughters' petty-coats, bow, and cringe, and tremble, and quake, fall down and worship our sovereign Lord and Mob. But I repeat it, by Him, I will not. No, my house is my castle: as such I will consider it, as such I will defend it, while I have breath. No king's officer shall enter it without my permission, unless supported by a warrant from a magistrate. And shall my house be entered, and my mode of living inquired into, by a domineering committeeman? Before I submit, I will die: live you, and be slaves.

[From Clarence H. Vance, ed., Letters of a Westchester Farmer by Samuel Seabury, in Publications of the Westchester County Historical Society (1930) 8:43-62]