A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 14

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

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In 1670 the Governor, who had the legal right, according to the patent of his appoint- ment, to impose customs duties and other in- direct taxes agreeably to his own pleasure, ordered a direct tax to be levied for improve- ments on the fort at New York. When the effort to enforce this impost was commenced the freeholders were aroused and the tax was denounced as being a dangerous precedent, if allowed, and a direct contravention of the un- disputed rights of British subjects. The op- position was, in reality, the first move in the struggle against taxation without representa- tion which was destined to go on for a cen- tury and to end in the loss of the Colonies to Great Britain. Meetings were held all over Long Island to consider the situation. Ja- maica declared that any law which compelled the people to pay money without their con- sent was a direct violation of the British con- stitution, forgetting, however, the important fact that they were not living under the Brit- ish constitution but in a private territory which, by the Duke's charter, was held under the same laws as the "manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent." This fine point, however, was not apparent to the freeholders of Long Island, although it was not forgotten by Love- lace and his immediate circle of advisers. The people of Huntington flatly refused to pay be- cause they were "deprived of the liberties of Englishmen." The towns of Southold, South- ampton and Easthampton held a joint meeting

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

and decided against the tax, and so did town meetings at Hempstead, Flushing and others. Some of the resolutions adopted at the town meetings were laid before the Court of Ses- sions of the West Riding, at Gravesend, Dec. 21, 1670, when Matthias Nicolls, who presided, declared them "scandalous, illegal and sedi- tious," and in his turn, fortified by this legal opinion, the Governor ordered the official cop- ies of the resolutions to be burned. He had a peculiar theory that the best way to keep people from grumbling over taxes was to make the amount so large that there was no time to spare for any thought but how to pay them.

The sudden capture of the Province by the Dutch in August, 1673, summarilv ended the authority of Lovelace, suspended "The Duke's Laws" and introduced practically a condition of governmental anarchy. On Long Island, Governor Colve attempted to reform every- thing on a Dutch basis exactly as in the time of Stuyvesant. The eastern towns declined to accept the new Government, declaring they had never been subject to the Dutch, and when Colve's commissioners reached Southold they found the people not only in arms but decid- edly ready to use them against any attempt to. impose Dutch rule. In this they were backed up by Connecticut, which renewed its old claim of jurisdiction over the eastern half of the island, and on Nov. 26, 1673, in support of that claim, it boldly declared war on the Dutch. It seems very likely the island would have had a few battle-fields added to its historic treas- ures had not the trend of affairs in Europe again restored New Netherland to English rule.

When the news of the treaty of Feb. 19, 1674, reached America, the people of the En- glish towns were in a quandary. They did not wish a return of the Duke's government, and in the eastern half of Long Island a petition was prepared to the King, asking that the ter- ritory be declared under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. It was too late, however, for any such change being made, even had the home authorities so desired, which is doubtful.

The Duke of York, on June 27, 1674, had for- tified his title by securing a fresh patent and had appointed Sir Edmund Andros as his Dep- uty Governor. Soon after he arrived in New York, Oct. 31, 1674, Andros re-established the Duke's laws and bluntly ordered the eastern Long Island towns to return to the rule of his Royal Highness. For a time they held out. Southold, on Nov. 17, by the vote of a town meeting, formally declared that it still adhered to Connecticut, and the others followed suit ; but such opposition, as might be expected, proved without avail, and before the year was out the rule of the Duke was again supreme.

Andros continued in power until 1683 and seemed to have brought the iron hand into con- stant operation without any effort at assuming the velvet disguise. He enforced the laws zealously and arbitrarily, suspended of his own volition meetings of courts and at times even caused citizens to be imprisoned without trial . and without offense being charged. Isaac Platt, Epenetus Platt, Samuel Titus, Jonas Wood and Thomas Wicks, all of Huntington, were among those thus deprived of liberty, their only offence being attendance at a meet- ing to consider how to obtain redress for pub- lic grievances. It is to the honor of Hunting- ton that another meeting decreed that their law costs and living expenses should be paid while their imprisonment went on. These meetings seem to have been very numerous and to have increased in intensity and in the scope of their demands; but the records of all which have come down to us show that the main grievance was the question of taxation- taxation of the people without their consent.

But no redress could be obtained from An- dros, and the appointment of Thomas Don- gan as his successor was hailed with a feeling of relief. That official was neither a strong nor a capable executive, and simply kept within easy touch of the leading strings which con- nected him with the home authorities, and con- tinued Matthias Nicolls as his chief local ad- viser. Yet, under Dongan the colonists were destined to make more definite progress on the

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way to self-government than they had hitherto been permitted. The longer the "Duke's laws" continued to be enforced with the op- portunities for tyranny and favoritism they afforded such men as Andros, the more bitterly were they resented by the colonists, and effort after effort, by appeal or otherwise, was made for a new code, while the existing laws or their results were more or less roundly denounced at many town meetings. The murmurs against Andros had led to a commissioner being sent out to investigate, and although the result was a coat of official whitewash for that official, the fact that such an enquiry was made, was, in the circumstances, a gain for the complain- ants. It was during the absence of Andros, and while Brockholles, his commander-in- chief, was in executive charge, that the great- est advance was made. Roberts, in his "His- tory of New York," says :

Trouble befell Brockholles at once because the customs duties had expired by limitation and had not been renewed. The merchants on this ground refused to pay any duties on imports. The Council advised Brockholles that he had no authority to collect them with- out orders from the Duke. Dyer, collector of the port, was exercising "regal power and au- thority" because he tried to hold goods to en- force payment. He appealed to the courts at home, but without trial finally received prac- tical approval of his course by appointment as Surveyor General of Customs in America. The jury, on the other hand, declared to the Court of Assizes that a Provincial Assembly was needed. Sheriff John Youngs, of Long Island, was designated to draft a petition to the Duke of York for "an assembly to be duly elected by the freeholders as is usual within the realm of England and other of his Maj- esty's plantations." The demand was urgent, because the inhabitants "were groaning under inexpressible burdens of an arbitrary and ab- solute power" by which "revenue had been exacted, their trade crippled and their liber- ties enthralled." Disaffection was open and pronounced, especially on Long Island. Lieut. Gov. Brockholles laid the case before the Duke and was censured for not promptly renewing

the order for the duties and enforcing their collection.

The pressure for money led the Duke to intimate that he would condescend to the de- sires of the colony in granting them equal privileges in choosing an Assembly and so forth, as the other English plantations in America have, but this was on the supposition that the inhabitants will agree to raise money to discharge the public debts and to settle such a fund for the future as may be sufficient for the maintenance of the garrison and govern- ment ! James had previously disapproved of any movement for an Assembly as fraught with dangerous consequences, while he pointed to the Court of Assizes as adequate to hear and remedy any grievances. Now he declared, March 28, 1682, that he "sought the common good and protection of the colony and the increase of its trade" before any advan- tages to himself, and he promised that what- ever revenues the people would provide should be applied to the public uses suggested.

But he was in no hurry over the gathering of the Assembly. Brockholles received no in- structions, and although Dongan, who arrived Aug. 27, 1683, was instructed to summon the Assembly, he did not issue the proclamation until Sept. 13, and it was almost a month later, Oct. 17, before it met in New York, in the old fort in the Battery. Matthias Nicolls, prob- ably at the instigation of the Governor, was appointed Speaker. The acts of that assembly were of the utmost importance. By the char- ter of liberties it was declared that under the King and the Duke the supreme legislative authority shall forever be and reside in "the Governor, Council, and the people met in a General Assembly ;" and it expressly provided that no tax should be imposed without the con- sent of the Governor, Council and Assembly. Many of the details of the Duke's laws were repealed. Entire freedom in religion was de- clared, and free elections were provided for. Duties were regulated as follows :

Imports: Rum, brandy and distilled liq- uor, 4d a gallon. Sherry and all sweet wines, 40s a pipe. Lead, 6s a cwt. Guns or gun bar- rels, with lock, 6s each. General merchandise

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

not otherwise stated, 2 per cent. ad valorem. Merchandise intended for India trade, 10 per. cent.

Exports: Beaver skins, 9d each. All other skins exported were liable to duty.

Excise : Beer and cider sold in less quan- tities than five gallons, 6d a gallon. All other liquors, 12d a gallon.

The courts were thoroughly reorganized. For every town a court was designated to meet once a month and try cases of debt and tres- pass under forty shillings and without a jury unless one was demanded. A Court of Ses- sions was to be held yearly in each county to meet for three days and try all sorts of causes with a jury of twelve men. A court of gen- eral jurisdiction, called the Court of Oyer and Terminer and jail delivery, was also estab- lished, and the Governor and Council were ap- pointed a Court of Chancery, from whose de- cisions an appeal could only be made to the sovereign. By act of a later session (Oct., 1684) the Court of Assizes was abolished. From a historical point of view, this assem- bly is memorable as that which divided the Province of Colony into counties and abol- ished the old ridings with the first mix-up of Long Island with Westchester and Staten Island. The act was passed Nov. 29, 1683, and apportioned Long Island as follows :

Queens County-to conteyne the severall towns of Newtown, Jamaica, Flushing, Hemp- stead and Oyster Bay, with the severall out- farms, settlements and plantacons adjacent.

Kings County-to conteyne the severall towns of Boshwyck, Bedford, Brooklyn, Flat- bush, Flatlands, New Utrecht and Gravesend, with the severall settlements and plantacons adjacent.

Suffolk County-to conteyne the severall towns of Huntington, Southfield, Brookhaven, Southampton, Southold, Easthampton to Mon- tauk Point, Shelter Island, the Isle of Wight, Fisher's Island and Plum Island, with the sev- eral out-farms and plantacons adjacent.

Dongan summoned a fresh assembly to meet in September, 1685, but it accomplished

little. By the time it met the Duke of York had become James II, and as soon as possible thereafter the new sovereign withdrew the in- structions by which the Royal Governor had called the Assemblies and determined that his appointees should alone rule, with the aid of his instructions and the rules of his Privy Council. Amid all these changes the discon- tent of the people seemed to increase, and after James became King and the Assembly had become a dead letter murmurs reached the royal representative from every side. Tax- ation steadily increased all round, and especi- ally in Suffolk County, the furthest removed from the center of Government, there was found the greatest difficulty in the collection of the revenue. Indeed, Dongan on one oc- casion wrote that "the people of Long Island, especially toward the east end, are of the same stamp with those of New England, refractory and very loath to have any commerce with this place (New York), to the great detriment of his Majesty's revenue and the ruin of our merchants." Smuggling was common from Connecticut and New England, the laws were violated in many ways, and though the Gov- ernment zealously applied itself to remedy mat- ters, it failed of accomplishment. Indeed, the only result of the rigid attempts to enforce obnoxious laws was the stoppage of immigra- tion. The Governor indeed admitted that for seven years not over twenty families from Eng- land had moved into the Province of New York, while from Long Island a constant stream of good people was moving over into Connecticut. On Aug. 11, 1688, Andros again became Governor, in addition to his charge in New England, and personally held the execu- tive chair until Oct. 9 following, when he ap- pointed Francis Nicholson his Lieutenant Governor and returned to Boston. Two months later King James himself was a fugitive, bereft of throne and country, and. William of Orange resigned in his stead.

There is no doubt that the accession to power of King William was hailed with joy in New Netherland. The Dutch citizens natur-

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ally regarded him as one of themselves and anticipated much from what they considered would be but a natural partiality, while the English, heartily tired of James and his domi- neering and greedy representatives, looked for- ward to a promulgation of a constitution for the territory, worthy of freemen. It was not until the middle of April, 1689, that the news of the "Glorious Revolution" reached this side of the Atlantic and the first result was the capture of Fort James by Jacob Leis- ler. This man was a native of Germany, a Protestant, and had acquired considerable wealth in trading with the Indians. While a resident of Albany he had incurred the dis- pleasure of Andros by his opposition to the spread of Roman Catholicism. but under Don- gan he became one of the Commissioners of the Court of Admiralty in New York and soon acquired a large measure of popularity among the citizens. He became captain of one of the five companies of militia of the city. When the news of the Revolution reached New York it was understood that the office-holders of the fallen regime would be summarily turned out, and on a report that those who adhered to the deposed monarch were preparing to establish themselves in the fort and to massacre the Protestants, a popular demand arose that Leis- ler and his troops should take action to estab- lish the authority of the new sovereign. He took possession of the fort, which contained all the funds and archives of the local govern- ment, and announced his intention to hold it "for the present Protestant power that reigns in England."

Then, in answer to requests from Leisler, a Committee of Safety of ten citizens, includ- ing one representative from Kings and one from Queens, assumed the role of a Provis- ional Government, elected Leisler its execu- tive chief and authorized him to act as "Cap- tain of the fort." Suffolk County declined to take any share in the committee, basing its hopes upon being reunited to Connecticut. Fearing for his own safety, Lieut. Gov. Nichol- son, when the trouble began, went aboard a

ship lying in the harbor and set out for Eng- land, and most of his prominent adherents- then retired to Albany, leaving Le'sler in full control. He strengthened the fort and as- sumed entire charge of local affairs.

In December a letter was received from the new authority in London directed to "Fran- cis Nicholson, or, in his absence, to such as for the time being take care for preserving the peace and administering the laws in their Majestie's Province of New York in Amer- ica," authorizing him to take chief command and to appoint to the various offices such free- holders and inhabitants as he should see fit. Leisler, in the absence of Nicholson, consid- ered all this as his own appointment as Lieu- tenant Governor. So he summarily dismissed the Committee of Safety, swore in a new Coun- cil and assumed all the prerogatives of the high office in which he had placed himself. He summoned a General Assembly, which met in New York, but accomplished nothing. Long Island was not represented and, indeed, Hun- tington was the only town which for a time seems to have fully recognized his authority and aided him with troops. In fact, the island, it may be said, was in a condition of actual re- bellion against him, and on Feb. 15, 1690, he brought about the arrest of ex-Gov. Dongan and ordered Col. Thomas Willett, Capt. Thomas Hicks, Daniel Whitehead and Edward Antill to be brought before his Council. A few days later he ordered Dongan and others to be carried as prisoners to New York. The struggle continued all through the island, and in October Leisler sent his son-in-law, Major Millbourne, to suppress the disaffected and suspended the meeting of the Kings County Court of Oyer and Terminer. But the dis- affection continued and grew daily more open and pronounced, so much so that on Oct. 30 he formally declared Long Island in a state of rebellion. On Nov. 7 the freeholders of Hempstead, Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown met and drew up a paper, which was sent to the Secretary of State in London, in which they told of their oppressed condition and en-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

larged at length and in minute detail on Leis- ler's tyrannical and cruel acts.

So matters passed along, the whole prov- ince drifting in a perilous condition in spite of Leisler's able management of affairs gener- ally until, in January, 1691, Major Richard Ingoldsby arrived in New York with some troops, announced that Henry Sloughter had been appointed Governor and himself Lieu- tenant Governor, and demanded in the name of his chief possession of the fort. This Leisler peremptorily refused. When Sloughter ar- rived, March 19, 1691, Leisler continued to hold out until Gov. Sloughter had sworn in his Council, when he accepted the inevitable, gave up the stronghold and resigned his com- mands. Sloughter at once placed Leisler and nine of his adherents under arrest. All of these were soon liberated excepting Leisler and Millbourne, who were tried for high trea- son and murder, found guilty, and, on May 16, 1691, both were hanged near what is now the New York entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.

As regards the merits of this dispute, or the story of the parties of Leislerites and Anti- Leislerites in which New York long revelled, we do not propose to enter. The passing of Leisler on the gallows virtually ended the trouble so far as Long Island was concerned. We are rather concerned with the commission of Henry Sloughter, for, as Thompson says, "it constituted the foundation of the Colonial Government after the Revolution in England, and continued as it was then settled, with few innovations, until the American Revolution." Practically it was the same as that under which Gov. Dongan acted, with the difference that it was honestly enforced and the Assembly ac- quired a full measure of power as an integral part of the Government. It is not likely that Sloughter's administration would have been marked by any extraordinary performance, for he was one of the weakest of all the royal Gov- ernors, addicted to many vices, and a drunkard to wit. But his advent in New York was a relief, for the people everywhere in the prov- ince felt that he represented a stable govern-

ment. He died suddenly July 23, 1691, and Major Ingoldsby filled his office until Aug. 30, 1692, when Governor Benjamin Fletcher arrived and assumed the executive chair, being welcomed with a "treat costing 20 pounds."

Fletcher was a soldier, a stanch supporter of the Established Church in England and a brave as well as a capable man. He estab- lished annual agricultural fairs in the three Long Island counties, and it was under his regime that an act was passed by the Assembly, April 10, 1693, changing the name of the island to "Island of Nassau," which, however, never passed into current use, and soon be- came obsolete. The courts were again re- organized, and practically two new tribunals were instituted-the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Sessions ; an act for settling a ministry and raising a fund for the main- tenance of the clergy gave rise to general dis- satisfaction, especially when it was discovered that its main object was the setting up in the Province of a State Church, and that the Episcopalian, which had then very few ad- herents outside of New York City. Still Fletcher seems to have determined it should be enacted and become effective, with the re- sult of raising up a standing grievance in the community for some time to come. He had, in fact, as it was, a good deal of trouble with contumacious and unsympathetic assemblies. In spite of his devotion to clerical interests, Fletcher was obliged to retire from his post in April, 1698, in disgrace, under charges of malfeasance and of being in partnership with pirates ; but such charges remained unproved.

It was to put down the pirates who infested the seas that the Earl of Bellomont was ap- pointed to the Governorship in succession to Fletcher, and entered upon his duties April 13, 1698. In another chapter we will refer more particularly to his work in that line, and practically with that story his connection with Long Island began and ended. His successor as Governor, the notorious Lord Cornbury, was equally a cipher although lie contributed a disgraceful chapter to the clerical

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history of the village of Jamaica. He was recalled in 1708 and Lord Lovelace became Governor for a few months. During the in- terregnum caused by the arrivals and de- parture of these nonentities the executive chair was often filled for brief intervals by local men, such as Col. William Smith, Col. Abraham de Peyster, Gerardus Beekman and Peter Schuyler.

Gov. Hunter, a scion of an old Scottish family, entered upon the duties of the Gov- ernorship June 14, 1710. Like all of his pred- ecessors, he had accepted the office with a view of adding to his private fortune, but un- like most of them he had a conscience that prevented him from seeking to increase his wealth by means which were in direct variance to the welfare of the community over which he was appointed to rule. After about a year's experience in the Province he saw that the development of the territory could only be hastened by adding to its population through encouraging and facilitating immigration, and having conceived a scheme about the manu- facture of naval stores by which he might enrich himself and afford employment to many workers he proceeded to develop the re- sources of the country and increase his own wealth by the introduction of some 3,000 Ger- man laborers from the Palatinate. These peo- ple were settled in five villages on the banks of the Hudson River, and were to produce tar and turpentine. Their passage money was to be repaid out of their earnings and on the same terms they were to be supplied at first with the necessaries of life. As might be expected the scheme was a failure. The immi- grants were virtually contract slaves and were soon so dissatisfied with their lot that they refused to work; and when at length he washed his hands of the whole scheme and left the immigrants to shift for themselves "but not outside of the province," the Governor was very seriously crippled financially. His great- est claim to remembrance is his establishing of a complete Court of Chancery in the colony ; and although he doubtless saw in such a court

a rich harvest of fees and opportunities for patronage, the good accomplished by a tribunal of that description, especially in a developing colony where new and intricate questions were daily demanding decisions, decisions, which, were for all time to rank as precedents, should not be ignored. In many ways Governor Hunter was a model ruler. In questions of religion he was extremely tolerant and he be- lieved in every man being permitted to wor- ship as he thought best. He indulged in no wild-cat schemes unless his importation of workers from the Palatinate be so regarded, and encouraged 110 extravagant outlay of pub- lic money. He understood the art of manag- ing men, and was on equally good terms with all the parties in the colony. Very popular he was not and never could be, for he repre- sented a sovereign power in the person of the King, while all around him in New York was slowly but surely developing the theory that the source of all power, even the power to name Governors and Judges, should be tlie people concerned; still he preserved intact tlie supremacy of his royal master and maintained peace or the appearance of harmony in the province, although he foresaw very clearly that a struggle between Britain and the Amer- ican Colonies was certain sooner or later. "The Colonies were then infants at their mother's breast," he wrote in 1711 to Lord Bolingbroke, then British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; "but such as would wean themselves when they came of age."

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 14

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188