Key to the Northern Country by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 3408756
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2013-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

As with most of the information in Thomas about the Robertsons, the above comments were not found in the first edition and are not wholly accurate. The Minutes of the Albany Committee of Correspondence 1775–1778 provide some additional information on the Robertsons' activities before 1777. Furthermore, in 1784, James Robertson presented a sworn statement to the British Commission of Enquiry into the Losses and Services of the American Loyalists. His statement, which is admittedly prejudiced, remains the only primary source of information on the Robertsons' final years in Albany.

James's statement before the British Commission starts at the beginning of the war. He explains that at that time they were settled in both the City of Albany and the Town of Norwich. The Norwich newspaper provided what he called “a very handsome profit,” but he and his brother, as explained above, felt compelled to end their partnership with Trumbell.35 They returned to Albany, where “they imagined they could be of more immediate Service to Government,” which presumably means the British government.36 By this account, then, sometime after May 1776, the Robertsons concentrated their printing activity in Albany. In 1776, Robertson continues, they were employed by a Colonel Edmeston, who was being held in jail in Albany, “to print and circulate such papers as might have tendency to promote the interests of Great Britain.”37 Robertson does not mention that during this period they also published as a broadside “The Tory Act,” which was part of the resolves of the Continental Congress. The act alerted the patriots that “divers honest and well meaning, but uniformed people in these colonies …” do not fully understand the American cause and they were admonished to “treat all such persons with kindness and attention.”38 No doubt the Robertsons hoped for such understanding and consideration.

Robertson's admission would seem to confirm the charge that Isaiah Thomas said was placed against them, of publishing and distributing “highly obnoxious handbills, etc., in support of the royal cause.” Furthermore, there was a resolution presented before the Committee of Correspondence on October 18, 1776, “That Major Edmunston be immediately taken into Custody.”39 This could very well be the officer that James Robertson named as “Colonel Edmeston.” Whether the Robertsons were printing leaflets for the Loyalists or not, it is certain that they were doing printing for the Patriots. There are eight references in the committee's minutes to bills for printing done by the Robertsons which were all ordered paid. The first bill was in September 1775, followed in 1776 by two in June, one each in July, September, October, and November, with the final payment on June 7, 1777. If they were printing for both the British and the Americans, it is difficult to know whether they were serving in the role of impartial printer or were simply out for economic gain.

The confrontation over the printing and circulation of Loyalist handbills finally reached a climax in early February 1777. On February 3, the Committee of Correspondence appointed a committee “to examine the Printing Office in this City, and also to take & seize all such papers as they shall deem necessary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.