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GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 03578 9160
Gc 973.001 N41n, v.1 Military minutes of the Council of appointment of the State of New York, 1783-1821
MILITARY MINUTES
OF THE
COUNCIL OF APPOINTMENT
OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK,
1783-1821.
COMPILED AND EDITED BY HUGH HASTINGS, State Historian. HENRY HARMON NOBLE, Chief Clerk.
PUBLISHED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Volume I.
Albany : JAMES B. LYON, STATE PRINTER. 1901.
1
ILLUSTRATIONS.
No. 1-THE OLD CAPITOL AT ALBANY, CONSTRUCTED 1806, RAZED 1879- Frontispiece.
.
No. 2-BIRTHPLACE OF THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK AT KINGS- TON-Opposite page 32.
No. 3-THE SENATE HOUSE, KINGSTON, 1777-opposite page 63. No. 4-TEMPORARY CAPITOL AT ALBANY, 1797-1807-opposite page 450.
.
CHAPTER I.
THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK DURING COLONIAL TIMES.
F OR many years after the settlement of the colonies the inhab- itants bestowed but little thought and attention upon the proposition of self-government. The duties of citizenship con- cerned them but remotely. Fictitious ideas prevailed and exagger- ated rumors were circulated over Europe concerning the wealth and the possibilities of America, which, united with the air of mystery and of romance that enveloped the new country, attracted the curiosity and aroused the cupidity of the most wayward and most reckless classes of the old world. These early colonists dis- played conspicuous courage in crossing the great trackless waste in their tiny shallops and in facing and braving the unknown dangers they encountered during the voyage and the multitudinous priva- tions after their arrival. As developers of the new country, however, they were pronounced failures, for as a rule they were shiftless, indo- lent, dependent and irresponsible. What a discouraging outlook is given on the arrival of Director General Kieft in New York in 1638! The official records report that many of the farms were devoid of tenants and of cultivation or had been thrown into common, that trading vessels with one exception were in bad condition, that the houses were out of repair, that only one sawmill out of three was in operation, that the fort in New Amsterdam lay in a state of dilapidation and decay, and that the site of the magazine was scarce discoverable. In 1656 Van der Donck paints a different picture. He states that people of property had now settled in New York, that
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good buildings had been erected, fine farms cultivated and excellent pasturage and orchards maintained, whereas before this period the emigrants were adventurers, who had brought in little, carried away much and thought nothing of the common good. Before the West India Company began to exercise the arbitrary prerogatives granted by its articles of incorporation, the settlements of New Netherland consisted merely of a few trading posts, with surround- ing forts that had been erected for their protection. Military as well as civil authority was vested in the commandant of these forts.
As a creature of the States-general, the West . India Company, the declared rival of the French for the Canadian fur trade, managed affairs in the colony with an iron hand. Scant consideration was given the settler. The policy of the company was purely com- mercial, and in the furtherance of that policy the powers of govern- ment, executive, legislative and judicial, were delegated to a director- general or a governor and his council; the latter consisting of an indefinite number of persons, generally not exceeding six, who were appointed by the governor. The official acts of the governor were subject to the approval of the company, and the company was subordinate to the States-general, who exercised general super- vision and in whom was vested the ultimate sovereignty. The colonial government and colonial laws closely followed those of the fatherland, but an indulgence was conceded to a citizen across the sea that was withheld from the settler in the colony.
Severe as were the restrictions, political and religious, under the Dutch, the colonists enjoyed life far more advantageously under the rule of the English. Ostensibly they exercised all the freedom of Englishmen, under the declaration of Governor Fletcher "there are none of you but are big with the privileges of Englishmen and Magna Charta," but, in reality, they had no voice in governing
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themselves-the King and his Council dictating, often framing and systematically executing all laws.
Liberty of action was restrained as arbitrarily as liberty of speech was suppressed. To successive governors the Crown issued the same sort of repressive instructions. "Allow no person to use a printing press on any occasion whatever " was one of the orders received by Governor Dongan, of New York, and by Lord Effing- ham, one of Virginia's early governors; while the sentiments of those in authority during the time of Cromwell are reflected in the expressions of Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, who declared for King Charles II and who gave thanks to God that there were no free schools nor printing; " for learning has brought heresy and disobedience and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. God keep us from both!" The damage to history by this barbaric policy is irreparable and incalculable. The political and legislative history of the province of New York under the proprietary government of James, Duke of York, is buried under the prejudices and bigotry of the age; for the acts of the governors and the transactions of the councils were intrusted to the uncertain care of manuscripts which, by constant handling and frequent mutilation, have become de- fective, imperfect and consequently worthless. Viewed from the standard of ethics, morals and liberty of the twentieth century, the meek submission and the refulgent humility of the colonists of the seventeenth century are as inexplicable as their willingness to con- tribute cheerfully and generously to the support of the home gov- ernment was admirable. The steadily developing prosperity of the colonies became a source of unfeigned jealousy to England, whose exchequer was often stripped and laid bare through the extrava- gances of the reigning monarchs. With the growth and expansion
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of the colonies. however, and with a keen appreciation of their political dependency and helplessness, there was born the perfectly natural ambition to participate in the responsibilities of government to secure a voice in the disbursement of moneys to which the colonists in part contributed, particularly in the imposition and in the collection of taxes. In the first charter of freedoms and exemp- tions the colonists were allowed the hollow concession of appoint- ing a deputy, who was permitted under certain conditions to give information to the director-general and Council. The duties of the deputy fell far short of the dignity of advisory. His knowledge of the colony and of the Indians was technical and thorough, and was utilized to supply the deficiencies of the governor and Council whenever a crisis occurred; but when he presumed to suggest re- forms or propose remedies for existing evils and abuses, he was promptly removed from office, for leading to " dangerous conse- quences."
Charles II in one of his impulsive humors had granted representa- tive government to Connecticut and Massachusetts. It was not, however, until the arrival of Colonel Thomas Dongan that New York obrained a semblance of representative government. Of the early governors of New York, Dongan seems to be the broadest gauge and the most enlightened and progressive. He was an avowed Papist, and was sent by his royal master, James, Duke of York, who had received from Charles II the grant of territory com- prising New Jersey and New York, to introduce papacy in a coun- try where more hostility existed against it than sympathy for it. Like a good soldier, in the enemy's country, Dongan moved cau- tiously and conservatively. He had arrived in New York in August, 1683, eleven months after his appointment, and had been received by the colonists with marked tokens of honor. James had ordered
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him to call an assembly of representatives, and accordingly on October 17, 1683, the representatives of the people of New York miet, for the first time, in assembly in New York City. The sessions continued until November 3d. This assembly enacted laws in effect that the supreme authority under the king and duke "shall for- ever reside in a governor, council and the people met in general assembly;" the exercise of the chief magistracy shall be vested in a governor, assisted by a council. who is to govern according to law; the oldest of the council shall act in the absence of the governor; assemblies shall be held triennially; the legislative power shall rest with the governor and council and twenty-one representatives and as many more as his Royal Highness shall deem necessary; the representatives shall appoint their times of meeting and to adjourn from time to time at their will-to be sole judges of the qualifica- tions of their own members-to be free from arrest while "sitting and going and coming; " no tax shall be imposed but by consent of the three powers, governor, council and representatives; bail allowed except for treason and felony; no freeman compelled to receive soldiers into his house but in time of war; no court shall have power to issue execution against any man's land, to be sold or otherwise disposed of without the owner's consent: all persons professing faith in God by Jesus Christ, to have free and full liberty, unmolested to exercise the mode of worship agreeable to them, pro- vided they do not disturb the good people; and that all the Christian churches in the province shall enjoy the same privileges as heretofore.
The province was divided into shires and counties-New York, Westchester, Ulster, Albany, Dutchess, Orange, Richmond. Kings. Queens, Suffolk; and Dukes and Cornwall counties, which lay beyond the boundaries of the province. Equally important was
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
the act determining the jurisdiction of the courts of justice-town and county, courts of Oyer and Terminer; and a court of Chancery to be regarded as the Supreme Court. During the sessions of 1685 and 1686 charters were granted to the cities of New York and Albany respectively. The hope of the colonists for better things was short-lived, however. The Assembly promised by the Charter of Liberties and Privileges never convened; for in February, 1685, Charles II died, his brother James ascended the throne, and as James the King repudiated many acts of James the Duke; the charter was promptly vetoed and the Assembly was abolished. The governor returned to the monopoly of executive, legislative and judicial au- tocracy. .
At this juncture Louis XIV of France was recognized as the most powerful sovereign in Europe. James on his accession to the throne had promised "to preserve the government both in church and state as it is now by law established "-a statement that com- pletely disarmed his people of any suspicion that might have been entertained regarding his Catholic proclivities. The declaration had scarcely been known ere he attempted to make a religious coalition with the House of Bourbon. His campaign was well under way before his people discovered his duplicity. In England, Scotland and Ireland Protestant officials were summarily ejected from office and were succeeded by Catholics; officers of high rank in the army were removed for no other reason than that they refused to bow to the Church of Rome. The King's headstrong, obstinate course soon involved him into a network of difficulties that threatened dis- aster. In America Dongan fell under the royal displeasure by his failure to establish the church on a durable footing. Whether the clear-headed Irishman yielded to local sentiment and influence, or whether he foresaw where the King's tyrannical course would bring
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STATE HISTORIAN.
him, he procrastinated under the argument that the hostility of the Five Nations to the Jesuits of Canada was the best safeguard for New York.
New York had not escaped the wave of religious intolerance that had been rolling over Europe during the past half century. As early as 1640, the Dutch records carry an ordinance prohibiting the exercise of all other religions except the " Reformed as it is at pres- ent preached and practiced by public authority " in the United Netherlands. The following year, however, the phlegmatic Dutch revoked this arbitrary mandate and "allowed the good number of respectable English people" "the free exercise of their religion." The spirit of the times hardly justified freedom of worship. The power of the state was systematically and often unprincipally exerted in promoting and maintaining the religious denomination of that state. The persecution of the English by the Dutch in 1640 was no more sinister or reprehensible than the persecution of the Jews by the Catholic rulers and the persecution of the Catholics and the Jews subsequently by the Church of England. As far back as 1641, the great and good Father Jogues, the first Catholic mission- ary to New York, found that the colony harbored Catholics, English Puritans, Quakers, Lutherans, Anabaptists called Mnistes [Mennists or Mennonites as they are known to-day], and Dutch Reformers, and that an order was in force denying "public worship " to all but Calvinists. And yet in 1700 the statute book was defaced by a law which ordered that every popish priest who came into the prov- ince voluntarily should be hanged, recalling the forty-four years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, during which thirty priests and five sympathizers were executed.
Peter Stuyvesant had exacted from his conquerors the stipulation that liberty of conscience and church government should prevail then and forever-a stipulation that Governor Dongan was not dis-
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posed to repudiate. His royal master, with overweening confidence
. in his ecclesiastical supremacy, disregarded every obligation that a just and honest monarch would recognize and honor, and was finally undone by the rallying cry for William and Mary, "a free Parliament and the Protestant religion!" With the fall of James the common contest against Catholicism ended, but hardly had William and Mary assumed the reins of government ere the ques- tions of religious toleration and freedom of worship began to be agitated anew. To attain this end, royal patronage was prostituted in a manner and for purposes that, even in these days of alleged corrupt politics, would excite a prodigious cry of condemnation. The colonial governors in the main were blundering, worn- out, and incompetent soldiers, or poor and worthless scions of nobility, whose contempt for the colonists was only equaled by their ignorance of the country they were sent to govern. As a rule they allied themselves with the so-called aristocratic party of the colony-the time-servers of the Crown.
No better illustration of the subserviency of that class to royal influence can be found than in the address which the House of Rep- resentatives made April 18, 1691, to Governor Henry Sloughter, the notorious and contemptible creature who was responsible for the disgraceful episode, known as the Leisler-Milborne murder. "In all most humble manner " the representatives " heartily con- gratulate your Excellency's arrival in this government " that as in their " hearts we do abhor and detest all the rebellious, arbitrary and illegal proceedings of the late usurpers; " " so we do from the bottom of our hearts with all integrity acknowledge and declare, that there are none that can, or ought, to have right to rule and govern their majesties' subjects here;" " and therefore we do sol- emnly declare, that we will with our lives and fortunes, support and
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STATE HISTORIAN.
maintain the administration of your Excellency's government." One of the laws passed this year, ordained that no person or per- sons " which profess faith in God, by Jesus Christ, his only sonn, shall at any time be any wayes, molested, punished. disturbed or disquieted, or called in question for any difference in opinion or mat- ter of conscience in Religious Concernment who doe not under that pretence disturb the civil peace of the province;" that all persons were entitled to meet freely at convenient places to worship accord- ing to their respective persuasions "always provided that nothing herein mentioned or contained shall extend to give Liberty for any persons of the Romish Religion to exercise their manor of wor- shipp contrary to the Laws and Statutes of their majesties King- dom of England." Under the guise that "prophaneness and Liscen- tiousness hath of late overspread this province," it was ordered that " good sufficient " Protestant ministers should officiate in the city of New York and the counties of Richmond, Westchester and Queens, and that the cost of maintenance should fall upon the province.
Captain Richard Ingoldesby, who became involved in the Leisler affair, Benjamin Fletcher, who succeeded Sloughter, and Lord Corn- bury were no improvement over the early type of governor, for they represented an aggregation of executive incompetency blended with irrepressible rapacity unequaled in the history of colonial America. Fletcher and Cornbury surpassed all their predecessors in their determination to strengthen the Church of England in the province, the former openly advocating the establishment of a dio- cese in charge of the bishop of London. Discovered in a scheme to enrich himself by fraudulent practices, and accused of being a part- ner of pirates on the coast, charges were preferred against him, and were sustained. As an official Fletcher stretched the patience of even the debauched home government and he was recalled.
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
" The true nursing father of the church," Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, was preceded to this country by his reputation-that of a spendthrift and bankrupt. He had squandered his patrimony, been dunned by his creditors, and hounded by money-lenders until his cousin, the Queen, Anne-whose father, James II, married the sister of Cornbury's father-sent him to America to retrieve his shattered income. The grandson of the notorious Edward Hyde, the first Earl of Clarendon, chief legal adviser to Charles I, and Lord Chancellor of England under Charles II, impeached as such and driven in disgrace from England, Cornbury inherited many vices and by environment acquired more. He met with as much resist- ance as his predecessors in his plans to promote the church, but sur- passed them all in high-handedness. His arbitrary seizure of a Pres- byterian parsonage at Jamaica, Long Island, and his complacency in presenting it to the Episcopal church, started the clashes between the Assembly and the Governor that grew fiercer as time went on and as the financial exactions shifted from the oppressive to the tyrannical. Nor was he content to stop here. Personal liberty was trampled under foot repeatedly by this degenerate son of the nobility. Two Presbyterian ministers from Virginia had preached in New York without a license. They were thrown into prison by order of the Governor. At their trial the judge instructed the jury to return a special verdict until the law on the subject could be determined; but the jury, keenly sensitive of the blow that was struck at the liberty of their countrymen, promptly acquitted the prisoners. Not satisfied with contracting heavy debts to every tradesman who would trust him, Cornbury degraded the dignity of his high position by using its vast resources repeatedly to defy his creditors. The Assembly had acted most liberally toward him. He was allowed £1,800 for the defence of the frontier
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and a gift of f2,000 to defray the expenses of his voyage, but his un- checked extravagance finally forced him to embezzle large sums of money that had been appropriated for public works and for the pro- tection of the frontier. With these facts publicly known, he threw the Assembly into a state of panic by spurious intelligence of a con- templated French invasion, and under this ruse succeeded in filch- ing £1,500 more of the public money that had been confided to his charge.
When the Assembly remonstrated against his practices, threat- ened to establish a board to regulate and control public expendi- tures, and insisted upon scrutinizing his accounts, they were met by their governor in an angry speech and warned not to provoke him to exercise " certain powers " which the Queen had vested in him. He advised them to let him hear less about the rights of the house, as the house had no rights beyond those permitted through the grace and good pleasure of her Majesty. The majority of the Assem- bly-constituting the aristocratic party-which had served him with unswerving loyalty, he now found opposed to him; and though he repeatedly dissolved mutinous assemblies, one after another, it was to find in the end that each succeeding body was more obstinate than its predecessor. Eventually the Assembly refused point blank to vote an appropriation for the support of government. until the Gov- ernor rendered an accounting of his stewardship-the colonists un- selfishly denying themselves the necessary concomitants of govern- ment rather than countenance and encourage a corrupt and profli- gate administration.
In the successive administrations of mismanagement, misgovern- nent and corruption, where turbulence and warfare were the rule between the governors and the House of Assembly, where the rights of the colonies were disregarded and the privileges of the colonists
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
ignored, there are three bright particular stars, whose lustre strengthens with years, the administrations of the Irish Lord, Rich- ard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, Robert Hunter and William Burnet. No governor ever assumed office with so thorough a knowledge of his predecessor's shortcomings or was expected to accomplish more reforms than Bellomont. The Assembly welcomed him warmly, "being well assured from the zeal which hath been so eminently conspicuous in your lordship in Europe for the best religion and best constitution of laws." They hoped to lay the foundation of a " lasting happiness to this province by uniting the minds of the peo- ple, supporting the dignity of the government and establishing such a constitution of laws as may forever exclude popery and slavery."
Bellomont found " the whole government out of frame." He de- plored the legacy which his predecessor left liim. "The fortifica- tions, even the governor's house," were "much out of repair." He laments "the difficulties " which he had " to struggle with; " " a di- vided people, an empty treasury, a few miserable, naked, half- starved soldiers, not half the King allowed, pay." Where Fletcher tried to destroy, Bellomont attempted to construct. The former retarded the development of the province, the latter by his enlight- ened and progressive policy materially improved it. Enjoying the unlimited confidence of his sovereign, Bellomont, during his short term as governor, exercised a most wholesome and salutary influ- ence over the colonists. A library was established, shipping pro- moted, printing encouraged, and education, which had been neglected, stimulated. Unfortunately, however, Bellomont diec before the many reforms he had in contemplation were given an opportunity to assume tangible or practical shape.
Robert Hunter, who came out in 1710 as governor, belonged to a different type of man from any of his predecessors. He had de
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scended from an old Scottish family and arisen from an apothecary's apprentice to a major-general in the English army, having served under the late King William and the Duke of Marlborough. His marriage to a peeress had brought a fortune and political power to him. He had been appointed successor to Lord Lovelace, governor of New York, having previously been nominated lieuten- ant governor of Virginia, but was captured in transit by a French privateer and carried back to Europe. He was a man about town, thoroughly equipped as a French scholar-many of his letters on file in the State Library at Albany bearing testimony to that effect- an accomplished writer, a trained diplomatist. a courtier, liberal in his ecclesiastical views, with a pardonable prejudice in favor of the Church of England. America had already become the haven of the persecuted of all countries. In the eighteen years between 1678 and 1696, the population of New York City had nearly doubled, ad- vancing from three thousand four hundred to six thousand, while the population of the province had swelled to thirty thousand per- sons. The infamous practice of transporting felons to America and the detestable slave trade which had now been substantially estab- lished, produced upon the cause of labor the most pernicious effects, stamping it with the stigma of disgrace in the one instance and in- volving a contraction of wages in the other.
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