The union of States none can sever—
The union of hearts—the union of hands—
And the Flag of our Union forever.
George P. Morris.
New York Sons of Liberty.—In 1767, in the eighth year of the reign of George III. there was issued a document in straightforward Saxon, and Sir Henry Moore, Governor-in-Chief over the Province of New York, offered fifty pounds to discover the author or authors. The paper read as follows: "Whereas, a glorious stand for Liberty did appear in the Resentment shown to a Set of Miscreants under the Name of Stamp Masters, in the year 1765, and it is now feared that a set of Gentry called[page 29] Commissioners (I do not mean those lately arrived at Boston), whose odious Business is of a similar nature, may soon make their appearance amongst us in order to execute their detestable office: It is therefore hoped that every votary of that celestial Goddess Liberty, will hold themselves in readiness to give them a proper welcome. Rouse, my Countrymen, Rouse! (Signed) Pro Patria."
In December, 1769, a stirring address "To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and County of New York," signed by a Son of Liberty, was also published, asking the people to do their duty in matters pending between them and Britain. "Imitate," the writer said, "the noble examples of the friends of Liberty in England; who, rather than be enslaved, contend for their rights with king, lords and commons; and will you suffer your liberties to be torn from you by your Representatives? tell it not in Boston; publish it not in the streets of Charles-town. You have means yet left to preserve a unanimity with the brave Bostonians and Carolinians; and to prevent the accomplishment of the designs of tyrants."
Another proclamation, offering a reward of fifty pounds, was published by the "Honorable Cadwalader Colden, Esquire, His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New York and the territories depending thereon in America," with another "God Save the King" at the end of it. But the people who commenced to write Liberty with a capital letter and the word "king" in lower case type were not daunted. Captain Alexander McDougal was arrested as the supposed author. He was imprisoned eighty-one days. He was subsequently a member of the Provincial Convention, in 1775 was appointed Colonel of the first New York Regiment, and in 1777 rose to the rank of Major-General in the U. S. Army. New York City could well afford a monument to the Sons of Liberty. She has a right to emphasize this period of her history, for her citizens passed the first resolution to import nothing from[page 30] the mother country, burned ten boxes of stamps sent from England before any other colony or city had made even a show of resistance, and when the Declaration was read, pulled down the leaden statue of George III. from its pedestal in Bowling Green, and moulded it into Republican bullets.
And not a verdant glade or mountain hoary,