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Gc 974.702 N422van v. 2 411564
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01145 2049
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofcityofn02vanr
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY VOL. II
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO
LONGE
ISLE LAND .
"The Duke's Pan:
A . DESCRIPTION OFTHE ma TOWNEOF MAN NADOS OR. NEW.AMSTERDAM,,
664
Duernours Gerden
The Bale ut Bouw Hundred yourles is for the Jeune
THE . MAINE LAND
"THE DUKE'S PLAN" OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 1661 Much reduced from a copy in the New York Public Library (See Vol. I, page 458)
HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK
IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
BY
MRS. SCHUYLER VAN RENSSELAER 2 ..
AUTHOR OF "ENGLISH CATHEDRALS," "HENRY HOBSON RICHARDSON AND HIS WORKS," ETC.
VOL. II NEW YORK UNDER THE STUARTS
New Work THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1909
All rights reserved
1974.7 V35
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped.
Published May, 1909,
Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co. - Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVI
RECONSTRUCTION. 1664-1666 (GOVERNOR NICOLLS)
PAGE
Mistakes of historians with regard to the seizure of New Netherland. - The news of it reaches Europe. - War between England and Hol- land. - The status of the English colonies. - The Navigation Acts ; the 'mercantile system.'-New Amsterdam's Articles of Surrender. - Governor Nicolls establishes his government at New York; and secures the rest of the province. - He demands an oath of allegi- ance. - He settles boundary lines with Connecticut. - Reconstruc- tion. - The Duke's Laws : the courts; taxes ; freedom of conscience ; ecclesiastical arrangements. - General Stuyvesant returns to Hol- land. - Nicolls reorganizes the city government. - The mayor and aldermen installed ; Thomas Willett the first mayor of New York. - The mayor's court. - New Harlem receives a town char- ter. - Alienation of New Jersey. - John Scott's part therein. - Governor Carteret sets up his government in the new province .
1
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CHAPTER XVII
THE EARLY YEARS OF NEW YORK. 1665-1673 (GOVERNOR NICOLLS, GOVERNOR LOVELACE)
The war in Europe ; France engages in it. - Trade annihilated in New York. - Governor Nicolls in New England. - Needs of New York. -Trouble in the Esopus region. - Murmuring on Long Island. - Renewal of land grants. - The Canadians attack the Iroquois. - Nicolls asks in vain for aid from New England. - The French covet New York. - Necessitous condition of city and province. - Nicolls begs for more freedom in trade. - Peace in Europe. - The Treaty of Breda: Holland resigns New Netherland to England. - General Stuyvesant accused by the West India Company. - He returns to New York. - Departure of Governor Nicolls. - His excellent ad- ministration. - His successor, Colonel Francis Lovelace. - Hopes of freedom in-trade extinguished. - The coasting trade revives. - The Duke of York sends gifts to the city ; its new seal. - Trade ; the currency. - City improvements. - Lovelace establishes a postal
nedrick 1.25
vi
CONTENTS
PAGE
service with New England. - Church affairs. - The courts. - Trial of Angle Hendricks. - Stately funeral of the governor's nephew. - Earliest list of the householders in the city. - The Roosevelt family. - Staten Island bought again of the Indians. - Immigration from Barbadoes. - Emigration to Carolina. - Horse-races on Hempstead Plain. - Manorial estates. - Discontent on Long Island. - The governor's varied difficulties ended by a Dutch invasion .
44
CHAPTER XVIII NEW ORANGE. 1672-1674 (GOVERNOR LOVELACE, GOVERNOR COLVE)
Death of Peter Stuyvesant. - Why he has been so well remembered. - War again between England and Holland. - Death of Colonel Nicolls ; his monument. - Apprehension of a Dutch attack upon New York. - Evertsen and Binckes. - Their instructions. - Their squadrons approach Manhattan. - John Sharpe's account of the surrender. - Other accounts. - The city renamed New Orange. - Reorganization of the province. - Captain Anthony Colve installed as governor. - Connecticut threatens war ; hostilities on Long Is- land. - The feeling in Massachusetts. - Colve's strict administra- tion. - He restores the city government to its Dutch form. - Taxes. - Measures of defence. - The English government urged to retake the province. - Arrangements made for the province by the Dutch government. - Peace in Europe. - The Treaty of Westminster : Holland cedes New Netherland to England. - Dissatisfaction on Manhattan. - Arrival of Governor Andros. - Colve turns over the government to him. - Dissolution and reorganization of the West India Company. - The colonies of modern Holland · 92 .
CHAPTER XIX
DUTCH AND ENGLISH IN NEW YORK
Changes worked in New York by death and removal; John Underhill ; Thomas Willett. - After career of John Scott. - Denton's Brief Description of New York. - Other publications relating to the province. - Vitality of Dutch blood and persistence of Dutch influ- ence in New York. - Dutch surnames ; societies ; geographical names. - Dutch words that survive in New York. - Influence on our Christmas festival of the St. Nicholas festival of the Dutch ; Santa Claus. - Democratic temper of New York. - Dutch influence on its political arrangements. - The township-county system ; its extension in the western States. - Three great services rendered by New York to the colonies at large. - Its general influence upon them
131
vii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XX REORGANIZATION AND DISCONTENT. 1674-1681
(GOVERNOR ANDROS) PAGE
England's title to New York. - The Duke of York obtains a new patent. - His vain effort to retain New Jersey. - Governor Andros; his character. - His assistants in the government ; William Dyre. - The duke's pacific instructions. - The governor's proclamations. - Trial of Captain Manning for surrendering New York to the Dutch. - Fate of Colonel Lovelace. - Andros orders the people to take an oath of allegiance. - Eight Dutch burghers refuse. - The case of Domine Van Rensselaer. - Trial of the eight burghers. - Domine Van Rensselaer in trouble with the church authorities. - Jacob Leisler. - Jacob Milborne. - New York desires an assembly. - King Philip's War; Andros aids the New Englanders in spite of their enmity. - He asserts for the first time the claim of the king of England to sovereignty over the Iroquois. - He visits England. - European affairs. - Andros returns to New York as Sir Edmund. - A French privateer wrecked in the harbor of New York. - John Rhoade and the Dutch in Acadia. - Fears of war between Eng- land and France. - Andros asserts the duke's authority in West Jersey ; and in East Jersey. - Trial of Governor Carteret. - The duke recalls Sir Edmund and sends a special agent to New York. - Charges against Andros. - His departure
CHAPTER XXI
A GROWING CITY; A CITY IN REVOLT. 1674-1683 (GOVERNOR ANDROS, COMMANDER BROCKHOLLS)
Thriving condition of city and province. - City improvements. - Debts of the city. - City ordinances. - The Bolting Acts. - The shipping of New York. - The Navigation Acts. - Andros asks in vain for more freedom in trade. - The currency. - Fisheries ; the first stock company in the colonies. - The first labor strike in New York. - The first trade union. - Slavery in New York and in New England. -The first appeal from the New York courts to the king in coun- cil. - The first and only ordination of a clergyman. - Church affairs. - Wolley's Two Years' Journal in New York. - The Laba- dist Fathers ; their Journal ; their colony in Maryland. - Affairs in England. - The spirit of revolt in New York; the merchants refuse to pay customs dues. - They accuse of high treason Mayor Dyre, the king's collector. - The court of assizes refers the case to the home authorities ; sends Dyre to England ; pledges Samuel Winder to prosecute him there. - The grand jury presents the lack of an assembly to the court as a grievance. - The court accordingly
166
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CONTENTS
PAGE
petitions the Duke of York. - Virtual collapse of the duke's gov- ernment. - Andros and Dyre acquitted of evil deed and intent. - Why Winder did not appear to prosecute Dyre. - Their after histo- ries. - The duke decides to grant his province an assembly. - Wil- liam Penn obtains part of the territories of New York. - Captain Baxter assaults Mr. Graham. - The people still pay no taxes. - Colonel Thomas Dongan appointed governor of New York. - Na- ture of the victory won by the New Yorkers . . 209
CHAPTER XXII
THE FIRST ASSEMBLY. 1683-1685
(GOVERNOR DONGAN)
Governor Dongan ; his history; his character. - His arrival in New York. - Orders of the Duke of York in regard to an assembly. - The first assembly of New York convenes. - Its first enactment : the Charter of Liberties and Privileges. - It passes a revenue act ; divides the province into counties; regulates taxation and the judi- cial system ; provides for the naturalization of aliens. - Its other enactments. - Dongan grants the city new privileges. - He settles boundary lines with Connecticut. - Boundary disputes with East Jersey. - The duke ratifies the acts of the assembly but does not send them to be promulgated in New York. - Reaction in England in favor of King Charles. - The charter of Massachusetts can- celled. - Character of the Duke of York. - First election of mu- nicipal officers in New York. - The second session of the first assembly. - Death of Charles II. - Accession of the Duke of York as James II. - Observations on the Charter of Liberties drawn up by his advisers. - James II proclaimed in New York. - The Dela- ware region confirmed to William Penn. - James consolidates some of the New England colonies. - Dongan issues writs for a new elec- tion. - The second assembly . . 253 .
CHAPTER XXIII
THE DONGAN CHARTER. 1684-1687 (GOVERNOR DONGAN)
Land patents and quit-rents. - Growth of landed estates. - Robert Livingston. - Governor Dongan gives the city its first charter. - The Dongan Charter. - The city seal. - Albany also secures a municipal charter. - Dongan and the question of fees. - His acqui- sition of lands. - King James forms all the New England colonies into the Territory and Dominion of New England ; and commissions Sir Edmund Andros as governor-general. - He reestablishes arbi- trary government for New York ; and repeals its Charter of Liber-
ix
CONTENTS
PAGE
ties. - Dongan accordingly dissolves the second assembly. - A new provincial seal. - Dongan's most important service : his dealings with the Canadian French and the Indians. - He secures from the Iroquois an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the king of Eng- land. - His correspondence with Denonville. - He urges upon the authorities in England more aggressive measures. - A Treaty of Neutrality in America concluded between England and France. - Denonville attacks the Iroquois. - Dongan tries to secure the an- nexation of Connecticut to New York. - He spends the winter at Albany. - Peace for a year prescribed for the English and French colonies. - Dongan's expenditures . . 294
CHAPTER XXIV
A TIME OF CHANGES. 1684-1689
(GOVERNOR DONGAN, GOVERNOR-GENERAL ANDROS)
Condition of city and province. - Church affairs. - Jews. - Quakers. - A classical school established ; and a postal service. - Wall Street laid out. - City ordinances. - Shipping and exports. - A port established in East Jersey. - Ill conduct of English naval officers. - Dangers threatening New York. - Relative wealth of the counties. - James II annexes New York and the Jerseys to the Dominion of New England; and recalls Governor Dongan. - The king's councillors. - Governor-General Andros takes over the government from Dongan ; and breaks the provincial seal. - The Great Seal of New England. - The flag of New England. - Distress and anger of the New Yorkers. - Advantages and disadvantages of consolidation. - News of the birth of a prince. - Ruinous condition of the defences of New York. - Andros returns to Boston ; leaves Captain Nicholson as his deputy in New York. - Revolution in England ; landing of the Prince of Orange. - William and Mary king and queen of England and Scotland. - Orders for the colonies. - They do not reach New England or New York. - The revolution in New England ; in Maryland ; in the other colonies. - The up- rising in New York difficult to name; and difficult to describe im- partially . . 331
CHAPTER XXV
THE UPRISING IN NEW YORK. 1689 (LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR NICHOLSON)
Jacob Leisler's position in 1689. - His chief supporters. - His chief opponents. - His education and character. - New York especially affected by the revolution in England. - Danger from the French. - A new-born dread of Catholics. - The news of the revolution
X
CONTENTS
PAGE
arrives. - Cautious attitude of the king's councillors. - They call 'general meetings.' - Uprisings on Long Island. - The people of the city distrust their magistrates. - Lieutenant-Governor Nichol- son gives them further cause of alarm. - They demand the keys of the fort. - Declaration of the 'Inhabitants and Soldiers.' - Colo- nel Bayard refuses to lead the militia. - Leisler and the militia in control of the fort. - News of the accession of William and Mary arrives. - The revolutionists in New York address the new sov- ereigns. - Nicholson departs for England. - The mendacious letters confided to him. - The chief documents relating to this period. - Their exaggerations. - Connecticut sends envoys to encourage the revolutionists. - Leisler proclaims their Majesties. - Riot in the custom-house. - Bayard retires to Albany . 368
CHAPTER XXVI
THE RISE OF LEISLER. 1689 (JACOB LEISLER, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF)
No authority exercised on Manhattan except by the militia. - A com- mittee of safety formed. - Its members. - Abraham Gouverneur. - The envoys of Connecticut applaud Leisler and his friends. - The committee of safety appoints him captain of the fort. - He repairs the fortifications. - The committee of safety appoints him commander-in-chief. - Despatches sent to the king and queen. - The course of affairs at Albany. - A convention assumes control there. - It refuses to join with the Leislerians. - Mohawk attack upon Canada. - Elections held on Manhattan. - Last remnant of the government set up by the Stuarts in 1664 expires. - Leisler buys lands for Huguenots in Westchester. - Jacob Milborne sent to demand the fort at Albany. - His domineering behavior there. - Excuses for the conduct of both factions. - Leisler encouraged in his dread of papists. - Position of William III. - He sends in- structions to New York ; and to Massachusetts. - Leisler secures the king's packets. - He declares himself lieutenant-governor ; and acts as such. - An early description of the Ohio country . 403
CHAPTER XXVII
LEISLER'S ADMINISTRATION. 1689, 1690
(JACOB LEISLER, ACTING LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR)
Border dangers. - Colonial disunion. - Colonel Sloughter appointed governor of New York. - Leisler's envoy burlesques his mission in England. - List of king's councillors proposed for New York. - Leisler reports to the home authorities his assumption of power. - Intercepted letters of his opponents. - Bayard and Nicolls im-
xi
CONTENTS
prisoned. - The Modest and Impartial Narrative. - Bayard humbly petitions Leisler. - Andros and his subordinates sent to England. - His after life. - A French attack upon New York : the Schenec- tady Massacre. - Bayard again petitions Leisler. - Colonel Dongan returns to England. - His after life. - Leisler on bad terms with Connecticut. - He secures control at Albany. - An invasion of Canada proposed. - Leisler calls an intercolonial convention. - He summons an assembly. - Its proceedings. - The first intercolonial convention meets at New York. - Its proceedings. - Anti-Leis- lerians petition the king. - The Canadians attack New England settlements. - Massachusetts sends with success an expedition against Acadia. - Leisler assaulted on the street. - The treatment of prisoners in New York and in Boston. - Leisler's coercive meas- ures. - His accounts
PAGE
441
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE FALL OF LEISLER. 1690, 1691
(JACOB LEISLER, ACTING LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR)
Leisler consents that Winthrop of Connecticut shall command the ex- pedition against Canada. - Leisler's enemies fancy that he means to abscond. - His confident attitude. - French privateers. - Dis- putes and difficulties regarding the troops at Albany. - The first American army. - It marches toward Montreal. - Defection of the Iroquois. - Failure of the enterprise. - Leisler unjustly blames Winthrop. - Massachusetts sends a naval expedition against Que- bec. - It fails disastrously. - The New York ships ; their success- ful raids. - The Leislerian assembly meets again. - The Leislerians appeal again to the king. - They reorganize the local government at Albany ; and suppress a revolt in Queen's County. - Leisler's difficult position. - Governor Sloughter's departure from England delayed. - Attitude of the authorities there toward the factions in New York. - Governor Sloughter, Major Ingoldsby, and two com- panies of regulars sail for New York by way of Bermuda. - The ships part company. - Ingoldsby and his troops reach New York. - He demands possession of the fort. - Leisler's reasons for refus- ing. - Both factions call the militia to their aid. - Proclamations and counter proclamations. - Marriage of Milborne and Leisler's daughter. - The anti-Leislerians urge Ingoldsby to action. - Both parties write to Sloughter at Bermuda urging his speedy advent. - Ingoldsby invests the fort. - Each party fires upon the other. Governor Sloughter arrives . 481
xii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIX THE DEATH OF LEISLER. 1691
(GOVERNOR SLOUGHTER)
PAGE
Governor Sloughter's character. - His commission. - Rights of assem- bly granted to New York. - Sloughter's tempestuous voyage ; his experiences at Bermuda. - His arrival at New York. - He demands the fort. - Leisler's reasons for delay. - He surrenders ; and is thrown into jail. - Other arrests ; harsh treatment of the citizens. - Reorganization of the city government. - Proceedings against the prisoners. - Character of the court constituted to try them for high treason. - Extant reports of the trials. - State trials in Eng- land. - Leisler, Milborne, and seven others indicted. - The trials. - Abraham Gouverneur convicted of murder ; Leisler, Milborne, and five others of high treason; Delanoy acquitted ; Samuel Ed- sall also tried and acquitted. - Gouverneur sentenced to be hanged ; the other seven to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. - Character of the juries. - Later accounts of the trials. - Trial of a Dutchman accused of a riot. - The assembly convenes. - Its members. - Its proceedings. - Sloughter's despatches to England ; he desires the execution of Leisler and Milborne. - Popular feeling ; petitions on behalf of the condemned. - Both houses of the legislature support the governor's wish to execute Leisler and Milborne. - He signs the death-warrant. - The execution ; dying speeches of Leisler and Milborne. - Various accounts of the tragic event. - Who were re- sponsible for it. - The 'Leisler Medal.' - Death of Governor Sloughter. - Immediate effect of Leisler's execution. - Its later effects. - Leisler's character. - Persistent feuds and factions in New York. - Their evil results. - Their one good result : a party always in opposition to the king's government 523
BIBLIOGRAPHY
. 571
INDEX
· · 609
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY VOL. II
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
CHAPTER XVI
RECONSTRUCTION
1664-1666
(GOVERNOR NICOLLS)
I never said nor thought you had not work enough. The bare hearing of impertinences without the framing of laws, the ordering of the soldiers, the gaining of the Dutch, the governing of the English, the regulating of the trade, and the providing of necessaries . . . must needs be thought by all men work enough for any one man. - Colonel Cartwright to Governor Nicolls. 1665.
SCORES of contemporaneous documents, easily accessible in print, explain how New Netherland was taken from the Dutch in 1664. Nevertheless, almost all English historians, of our own as of earlier times, say that it was captured with- out orders by Robert Holmes after he had accomplished what the Royal African Company sent him to do on the Guinea coast. When this is believed, the second naval war between England and Holland is not fully understood, for the long negotiations that prefaced and accompanied it turned partly on the fact that the king of England had per- sonally authorized the seizure of a Dutch province in a time of peace. In reality, Robert Holmes assaulted and captured African posts belonging to the West India Company, crossed over to the West Indies and did the Dutch some damage there, and then returned to England. He never approached or tried to approach New Netherland.
Unfortunately Colonel Nicolls's own report upon his cap- ture of New Amsterdam was lost at sea. From the hand of his ducal master a brief record of the event remains. One VOL. II. - B 1
2
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
[1664-
of the extracts from autobiographical notes written by James which Macpherson prefixed to his collection of documents called Original Papers speaks, under the date 1664, of Holmes's expedition and then says that the king gave the duke
. . . a patent for Long Island, in the West Indies, and a tract of land between New England and Maryland, which always belonged to the crown of England since first discovered, and upon which the Dutch had encroached during the rebellion, and built a town and some forts to secure the beaver trade to themselves. The Duke of York, borrowing of the king two ships of war, sent Sir Richard Nicho- las, groom of the bed-chamber and an old officer, with three hundred men to take possession of the country; which the Dutch gave up on composition, without being blockaded. ... Colonel Nicholas re- mained there in peaceable possession of the country; and then called it New York and the Fort of River Albany. All this happened before the breaking out of the first Dutch war.
This passage, with the exception of the last sentence, may also be found in Clarke's life of James II for which he used the same material that Macpherson drew upon. The Eng- lish, it may be explained, long called their second naval war with the Dutch their first, ignoring the one of which Crom- well and his captains had worn the glory. 'Nicholas' in- stead of 'Nicolls' is merely one among constantly recurring proofs of the fact that proper names long remained fluid in form.
When the exploits of Robert Holmes were known in Hol- land, a fleet then in the Mediterranean under command of Admiral De Ruyter was secretly ordered to retake the Guinea posts. When this move was suspected George Downing de- clared it an 'absolute breach' of the treaty of 1662 which bound each government not to avenge without negotiation wrongs committed by the subjects of the other.
Early in October the Dutch ambassador wrote from Eng- land that an English skipper who had recently touched at 'the Manhattes' on his way from Virginia reported that the English had taken Long Island 'by one Captain Schot'
3
RECONSTRUCTION
1666]
acting under orders from the Duke of York and were pre- paring to subjugate the rest of the province, but that Gov- ernor Stuyvesant was making 'good preparation' and had enrolled as many as two thousand fighting men. The next news, told in London on October 14, was that a Dutch ship had recently arrived at Mount's Bay - the most westerly of English havens, just inside of Land's End - carrying three hundred soldiers 'beaten by the English out of Am- sterdam in New Netherland.' Evidently this was the slave- ship Gideon upon which most of Stuyvesant's troops had been sent home. It had made a quick voyage, and from Mount's Bay it must have gone on at once to Holland; for on the same day that the news was told in London, which was October 24 by the Dutch calendar, the West India Company informed the States General that a fleet sent from England by the Duke of York and aided by the forces of New England had captured the city of New Amsterdam with 'the whole of New Netherland province' and subjected it to England, changing its name at once to New York. In those days of slow travelling it might well, of course, take as long for the news of a ship's arrival at Land's End to reach London as for the ship itself to reach Holland.
Soon the Dutch ambassador in England wrote again, say- ing that the ship Valmuyden had brought the same story with the additional information that the inhabitants of Long Island had been conveyed away. The truth was quickly spread about by what the West India Company called the 'licentious prating' of the soldiers from the Gideon and by broadsides bearing a translation of the Articles of Surrender. It would not respect these Articles, said the Company; and in November it despatched a ship to bring General Stuyvesant home, hoping to get 'more comfort' from his words than it had from his letters.
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