Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 231
expressed their own opinions, usually in their own houses, and
however obnoxious such opinions may have been to others, a
sound policy did not demand the arrest or imprisonment of such
men. Treason should be nipped in its bud ; but perfect freedom
to debate on matters of policy is the unalienable right of a free
people.
The "Crocker Quarrels."
Almost every evening, in these exciting times, the whigs met
at their headquarters in the Sturgis tavern, to hear the news, and
discuss current political events, and words often ran high. One
evening a large company had assembled, Capt. Samuel Crocker,
and his brothers Cornelius and Josiah were present, Col.
Nathaniel Freeman of Sandwich, the late Capt. Samuel Taylor of
Yarmouth, and others were present. The sub.iect of the conversation
was politics. The principal speakers were Col. Freeman
and Capt. Samuel Crocker. The latter was a whig, and one of
the most efficient of the party in Barnstable, being frequently on
Committees, and was a very able and intelligent man. He
opposed the system of espionage which had been established, not
only as useless, but as calculated to do injury to the cause of the
country. Inquiring of the aged whether they had tea concealed
in their houses, and of. young ladies whether they were whig or
tory, he said was a duty not required of the patriot or the statesman.
Others of the company opposed both Capt. Crocker and Col.
Freeman. Words ran high. The Colonel was ardent and
zealous—of a nervous temperament and opposition kindled his
ii'e. Capt. Crocker, when excited, was earnest and irascible, and
would not submit to be told that the moderate measures that he
advocate^ was toryism in disguise. Crimination lead to re-crimination,
and re-crimination to personal violence. Some of the
company vented their spleen against the Crockers by breaking
down the fence in front of the house.
Opprobious epithets never make proselytes ; like the overcharged
gun, they are apt to recoil. The violent political discussions
of those days, prove no more this, that the convictions of
the people were deep—that they were in earnest and that in their
earnestness they sometimes over-stepped the bounds of prudence.
If the difficulties between the Crockers and the Freemans had
ended as they begun, only in the use of intemperate language,
the remembrance of their dissentions would have long since been
buried in oblivion.
Not long afterwards the militia company paraded on the
Court House Green. Cols. Nathaniel Freeman and Joseph Otis
were both present. They were both unpopular with the soldiers.