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History of Trinity Church
[1709
structed it was that the Government would not give us leave, and which was almost the only cause that none of your Churches have throve better in this province. The ffleet are just upon Sailing, and I am in a very great hurry in concluding my Letters, that I must begg leave to refer you to my next and remain
" Worthy sir "V' affect Humble Servant " CALEB HEATHCOTE."
(The letter mentioned in the preceding one.)
"New York, June 6th, 1709.
"Honor'd Sir
"Since it is by your Charitable Assistance and Concurrence that the Company of New Rochelle find themselves provided with the Min- istry that your prudence & wise management hath hitherto composed & aswaged our difficulties about these matters of Church Settlement we have thought that it was our duty and that it should be your pleasure of Charity to Assist us with your presence and directions that we may come to some terms of Resolution for to have our Church in full con- formity with the national Church of England, and for to have the Pro- tection and assistance of the Rulers and encouragers of the same, that the service of God may be establish'd in our place according to that holy rule and the weakness of our place considered that she may be enabled to support the charges of the ministry, as your Honor knows enough our circumstances be upon that trust of your Candour, sincerity and charity for refuge Protestants, well meaning in the duties of our holy Religion, we remain
" Honor'd Sir " Your most humble & Dutyful Servts " ELIAS BADEAU " ANDREW RENEAU " J. LEVILLAINE." (Signed by 26 others.) 1
The administration of Governor Lovelace was brief ; he died May 6, 1709. His funeral sermon was preached by Mr. Vesey, May 12th, in Trinity Church. This ser- mon has been reprinted by the N. Y. Historical Society (Collections, 1880, p. 323). As it is the only one of Mr.
I N. Y. Gen. Conv. MSS., i., 187-190.
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Death of Lord Lovelace
1709]
Vesey's that has come down to us, a few observations upon it may be considered in place. The title runs thus :
" A Sermon Preached in Trinity Church in New York, in America, May 12, 1709. At the funeral of the Right Honourable John Lord Lovelace, Barron of Hurley, Her Majesties Capt. General and Govern- our in Chief of the Provinces of New York & New Jersey, and the Territories and Tracts of Land depending thereon in America, and Vice-Admiral of the same. By William Vesey, A. M. and Rector of the City of New York. Printed and Sold by William Bradford at the sign of the Bible in New York 1709."
The text was, " Mark the perfect and behold the up- right, for the end of that man is peace." The composition is conceived in the style of a Harvard Master of Arts of the period. It opens as follows :
" Death, Elegantly call'd, The End of Man, is naturally represented to us in such Grim and Ghastly Idea's, as render our Expectations of his Approach, full of Horror, full of Misery, as surrounding our Life with an Army of Deseases, causing violent Agonies, trembling Limbs, distorted Eyes, Fallen Jaws, horrid Convulsions, lamentable Groans, mortal Pangs, and finally separating the Soul from the Body, determin- ing the fate of the Soul in Eternal Happiness or Misery, leaving the Corps to be attended in Funereal Pomp to the House appointed for all Living, with a solemn Train of Mourners, toled along the streets with the doleful Moan of a Bell, and at last to be buried in the dark and si- lent Grave, and turned into Rottenness and undistinguishable Dust."
In his sermon he gives a fair discussion of the Character of the Perfect Man, at the end saying :
" And now to accommodate all to this Mournful Occasion of this Day's Solemnity.
"Almighty God has been pleased, in a suddain and surprizing manner, to remove by Death, the Right Honourable Fohn Lord Love- lace, Barron of Hurley our Excellent Governour, who, no doubt, was a Pattern of Christian Perfection."
Upon the death of Lovelace,' the cares of the State de- 1 Of Lord Lovelace Lewis Morris wrote, " He was a blessing too great for this country." N. Y. Gen. Conv. MSS., i., 154.
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History of Trinity Church
[1709
volved on Richard Ingoldsby, her Majesty's Lieutenant- Governor. During his administration, which lasted only about eleven months, he approved himself as an able and worthy officer, though incurring odium in various quarters.
Mr. Vesey supplemented his duties at this time by serving as chaplain to the ships of war visiting the port. In a letter to Col. Riggs, December 2, 1709, referring to these services, he says :
" I deserve some encouragement as well as others, haveing served the Church 12 years with success, that when the people belonging to the men of War have been sick on shore, have visited them and done offices for them, tho' their chaplains have officiated as ministers of Parishes at Boston Philadelphia, and towns very remote from New York, and received the profits ; and also that in the absence of the Chaplain of the Fort, I have taken care of sick soldiers and their fami- lys, baptised their children and buried their dead ; and all this without any consideration, except that for about two years I was chaplain to the Triton prize, which is now gone."1
During the year 1709 military operations were di- rected against Canada, and General Nicholson was ap- pointed to lead the forces of New York and New Jersey by the old Lake routes towards the north. The army reached the southern end of Lake Champlain, at Woods Creek, when it was found that the English fleet which should have co-operated by ascending the St. Lawrence had been sent to Portugal. Hence the expedition failed.
Colonel Lewis Morris, though far from desiring to force the Church upon the people, and taking very mod- erate views of the establishment, appears to have been
' N. Y. Col. Docs., v., 466.
A reference to the Triton is found in a letter of the Lords of Trade, ad- dressed to Cornbury and dated February 4, 1706, in which they say: "Two Friggats vitz The Lowestaff, a fifth rate of 32 Guns and 145 Men Capt". George Fane Com- mander and the Trittons Prize a sixth rate of 30 Guns and 115 Men, Capt". Thomas Miles Commander, having some time since been sent to attend the service of New York; We doubt not but that they will be sufficient to protect the coast of New York from the French Privateers." See N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 1172.
1
1709]
The Church at Harlem 177
interested about this time in the subject of Church exten- sion in the upper part of the island of New York, where the Rev. Mr. Vesey had no following, and probably no voice in religious affairs. Morris wrote to the Society, May 30, 1709, under the above date, saying, " I have used some endeavours to persuade the Dutch in my neighbor- hood into a good opinion of the Churches of England, and have had that success that they would I believe join a great part of them in the Sacraments and Worship had they Dutch Common Prayer Books and a man that under- stood their Language."1 Accordingly, when the Dutch Church in Harlem was left without a "Voor leser," the Rev. Henricus Beyse, formerly the Dutch minister at Esopus, was induced to go there, having conformed to the Church of England and accepted Episcopal Ordina- tion. This created some feeling, and attempt was made by parties among the Dutch to blacken his character. For a year or two, with the encouragement of the Propagation Society, he continued to serve, but the field was not ready for the harvest, and the work was abandoned, while the Dutch clergyman in the city took the oversight of the place .?
I N. V. Gen. Conv. MSS., i., 160.
9 Volume viii., No. If, of the Society's Archives contains testimonials in favor of Mr. Beyse ; and No. 12 contains the memorial of this person proposing " to serve ye vacant Church in New Harlem to pave the way for introducing the Liturgy of the Church of England." He was regularly appointed in 1712 ; and the papers of the Society afford material for an interesting monograph on this episode. See Riker's Harlem, 458, 459, 472. 12
CHAPTER XI.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR HUNTER.
Troublous Days for the Church-Points at Issue between the Governor and the Rec- tor-Sacrilegious Invasion of the Parish Church-The Chapel in the Fort-Threat- ened Schism-Controversy about the Act for Maintaining the Ministry-Public Agitation-Projected Invasion of Canada-Intended Insurrection by the Negroes- Absurd Accusations against the Church-Plans of Mr. Vesey for Promoting Christian Education-Presentation of Plate by Queen Anne-Mr. Vesey compelled to go to England for Relief from Assaults of his Enemies-Accomplishes his Object and Re- turns in Triumph-Submission of the Governor-Mr. Vesey Appointed Commissary to the Bishop of London-Settlement of the Contest about the Chapel in the Fort- Story of the Indian Pow-wow at Stratford, and how it was Quelled by the Rector- Comment of the Puritan Party at his Success.
W HATEVER other troubles Mr. Vesey may have endured during his rectorship of nearly half a century, they were slight compared with those which be- fell him under the administration of Governor Hunter. For lack of full contemporaneous records, it is hard to as- certain the real reason for the quarrel between them ; but it was long and bitter ; it covered a wide range of affairs, personal, political, theological, and parochial ; and finally drove the rector to England, to obtain that favorable con- sideration of his case which it could not receive in New York. Many episodes of an unpleasant and exasperating nature were connected with this administration ; and this is the more to be deplored, because of Hunter's strong claims to respect and favorable regard. Beginning as an apothecary's apprentice, he left his master and entered the army, where he rose to honorable distinction, and ultimately married a lady of high rank. In 1707, having
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1
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Arrival of Governor Hunter
1709]
now the grade of Colonel, he was appointed Lieutenant- Governor of Virginia; but, on his way out, was made prisoner by a privateer, and carried back to Europe. He was next appointed Governor of New York and New Jer- sey, and, as such, superseded Ingoldsby in September, 1709. He was not only a soldier of merit and gallantry, but also a man of literary taste and culture, the associate of Swift, Addison, and other literary men of his time. But he seems to have been an indifferent Churchman, with the penchant for Dissenters which marked Lord Bellomont ; moreover, he had an intense prejudice against the rector and Corporation of Trinity Church, founded on an impres- sion that Mr. Vesey entertained an ill opinion of him be- fore his arrival, which was probably the case, so that the troubles between him and the rector antedated the begin- ning of his administration.
Hunter's instructions were dated December 27th, and were accompanied by " Additional Instructions," making, together with his commission, a formidable mass of man- uscript. In the instructions relating to ecclesiastical matters, the Church of England in New York is recognized as the established Church, a fact taken for granted in all the royal instructions from the beginning.
Upon the arrival of the Governor, June 16, 1710, the Wardens and Vestry presented him with an address drawn up in the usual complimentary style, referring to " the great and good character of your Excellency," which, with no great foresight, they say, presages " a happy and auspi- cious administration." They also say, " We are given to understand that amongst the many great benefits and bountys your Excellency brings along with you to this Province from her most Sacred Majesty is her Royal and particular gift to our church of a noble set of plate for our Communion Table, for which we are infinitely obliged to
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[1709-
her Majesty for that bounty."1 The Board afterwards "attended his Excellency at the Fort, where they were kindly received."?
It is now in order to take up the points at issue between the Governor and the rector, and to remark upon some of the troubles which arose during this administration. The Church was growing steadily, but in the face of strong opposition, which sometimes took the form of dastardly outrages ; the assaults on her might be classified under the heads of low brutality, secular interference, and dissenting jealousy. In the early part of the year 1713, a sacrilegious invasion of the parish church occurred. On the night of February 13th it was broken into and shockingly desecrated : vestments were torn to rags, service books scattered about, windows smashed, and beastly outrages were committed, of which decency prohibits a description. The account reminds us of the desecration of churches and cathedrals in England during the great Rebellion, and the circun- stances indicate that the same spirit was at work in both cases. The outrages referred to were committed by in- dividuals hostile to the rector, and to the religious system which he represented. In his petition to the Governor he speaks of their acts as evidently intended, from their peculiar character, to be " the greatest outrage and most Villanous indignity they cou'd offer to the Church of England and her holy Priesthood, & in defiance of God and all Religion." 3 The Vestry also, in their address, call it "a sacrilegious affront done to the Church of England
1 " Resolved that Mr. Reimer, at the charge of the publick, be remitted a hogs- head of the best Maderia wine for his expense and trouble in soliciting for the Com- munion Plate of the Church." Records, i., 77. Also that "the Church Wardens purchase a piece of Holland for surplices for the use of the Church," and £22.6 was ordered to be paid for fencing the church yard, while Mr. Hobbs was to have five pounds " for working the model of the spire for the steeple."
'Records, i., 77.
$ Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 270.
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Sacrilegious Acts
1719]
and all Religion," and they further say, addressing her Majesty's Council :
"We beg leave to observe to yo' Honble Board, that notwith- standing his Excellencies Proclamation against Immorality & profane- ness, the great diligence of the Magistracy of this City in their several Stations, there are some Busey mockers & scoffers of Religion, who Ridicule both sacred things & Orders by their profane Lampoons, thereby vilifying the Ministers of Christ & Exposing them and their Holy Function to Reproach & contempt ; and it is with ye greatest Concern that we find these vices so Flagrant, that ye Innocent & un- blameable Life & Conversation of our Reverend Rector for many Years among us, have not been able to Protect him from ye false Calumnies and Barbarous Reproaches & Threatenings of such Irreligious & wicked persons, which we humbly conceive hinders the Word of God, & natu- rally tends to Infidelity and Atheism." 1
The matter was taken up warmly by the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and the Reformed Protestant French Church, both of which bodies expressed their cordial sympathy with the rector and Vestry of Trinity Church and their abhorrence of the sacrilege, and offered handsome rewards for the discovery of the perpetrators of the outrage. A proclamation was issued by the Governor for the discovery and conviction of the authors of "that impiety" in due course of law ; but it does not appear that the Governor entered into the affair with much heart, and a contemporary writer, in a letter to General Nicholson, remarks that :
" His Excellency, notwithstanding the unexampled affront to relig- ion, has neither sent, writ, nor spoke to Mr. Vesey, that I can learn, on this affair ; so that you'll be pleased to judge, Sir, what favor or pro- tection he is to hope for of our church by the treatment of our minister. I have always looked on Mr. Vesey to be a religious, good man ; valua- ble to his parishioners and inoffensive in his conversation, and if a testimonial of this were required his parishioners in general would be desirous to do him justice."?
1 Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 274. 2 Ibid., iii., 277.
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[1709-
The strife about the chapel in the Fort next deserves attention. When Governor Fletcher pulled down the old and dilapidated church which had stood there since the days of William Kieft, he built a chapel on its site, for the use of the garrison and the Governor and his family. Af- ter the new church was erected, this chapel, being no longer needed, was used as a storehouse for wood, a work- house, a bear garden, and other like purposes, while the soldiers went on Sundays to the church, where their chap- lain assisted the rector. Governor Hunter undertook the restoration of the chapel, refitted it, and directed the Chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Sharp, to hold services there for the garrison. Now, there chanced to be persons who, either because they could not find satisfactory accommo- dations in the church, or because they shared the Govern- or's dislike for Mr. Vesey, availed themselves of the garrison chapel, and took to going there regularly, much to the satisfaction of Governor Hunter, and greatly to their own, as they had no pew-rent to pay. Of this the rector com- plained and with justice, alleging that it involved the sin of schism, and defeated the intent of the act of incorpora- tion, by which the parish was made co-extensive with the city, and that no chapel could be established without the consent of the Corporation of Trinity Church. It looks as if the Governor's idea, in his zealous restoration of the chapel, was to provide a place of worship for malcontents, beyond the direct jurisdiction of the rector, while the rector naturally regarded such a proceeding as calculated to rend and divide the Church.1
' There is a considerable amount of literature on this vexed question, which the reader, if desirous to pursue the subject, may find in the New York Colonial Docu- ments, v., 320, and the Documentary History, iii., 267. It includes letters from Hunter, Col. Lewis Morris, and others, and abounds in specimens of sharp controver- sial writing. There is plenty of evidence of a most unpleasant state of feeling be- tween these dignitaries. In a letter addressed to the Bishop of London and dated March 1, 1712, the Governor, after repeating the old and stale charges that Mr. Vesey
183
The Church at Jamaica
1719]
Fresh difficulties arose on the subject of Church exten- sion beyond the limits of the city. The Governor, it ap- pears, had granted induction to the Church at Jamaica to the Rev. Mr. Poyer ; the Dissenters, however, had posses- sion of the manse house, and the collectors refused to pay him his stipend. The Governor desired Mr. Vesey to commence a suit against them, offering to pay all the costs ; but for some reasons not ascertained the rector declined to co-operate with the Governor, as requested ; and this was taken by him in such bad part, that he went so far as to say : " I believe there had at this time been a much better position, had there been no act in favour of the was " formerly an independant Minister in New England," and accusing him of being in the front rank of a portion of the clergy dominated by " Faction, Pride, Malice and blind Zeal," proceeds to commend himself in high terms for Christian forbearance towards the rector and even for helping him to finish his steeple. N. Y. Col. Docs., v., 311. In a letter addressed to John Chamberlayne, the Governor, referring to the gravamen of the chapel in the Fort, says :
" But to lay the Mistery of this Iniquity, for so it is, a little more open, the Rev- erend Person so often mentioned in whose eyes my best actions were crimes, took much exception at my putting in repair Her Majesty's Chappell in the Fort, & sent me by M. Sharp some messages about that matter, which for the reverence I bear his wholy function I choose not to repeat. When I first entered upon that design I ac- quainted him with it, and he made not then the least objection to it, which made those messages the more surprizing. I sent for him and reasoned with him on that head, from the Decency, Expediency and necessity of it, that Chappell being one of the Oldest Houses of Prayer in the place, tho' for some time past a Bear Garden, I urged that the Souldiers had no room nor place in the Church neither was it safe to march the Garrison so far from the Fort,' and that her Majesty paid a Chaplain for that par- ticular purpose, and had graciously bestowed Plate, Books & other Furniture for the use of it, but all this served only to plunge him into a fit of Passion @ me into a deep astonishment. I referred him to the Right Revd the Lord Bishop of London ; that most worthy Prelate in a letter to me injoyned me to bear with his Infirmities whilst he endeavored to set him right, which is the conduct I have hitherto nicely observed with relation to that Gentleman, he having received advice from my Lord of London declared to everybody he was blamed by that Bishop in everything or (in his own words) that he was cast in the Bishop's Court, but that if the Bishops of England were of the same opinion wth that noble Prelate, he would be of his own still but for the future would not meddle with the Chappel or any other of the Governors affairs." ?
1 The French ships were hanging near New York.
' N. Y. Col. Docs., v., 315. See Col. Lewis Morris's defence of Hunter and blame thrown upon Mr. Vesey ; also Hunter's address to clergy and their reply. N. Y. Col. Docs., v., 318-329.
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History of Trinity Church
[1709-
Church ; for in the Jerseys and Pennsylvania where there is no act there are four times the number of churchmen that there are in this Province of New York." From this expression an idea can be formed of the irreconcilable dif- ferences in the views on either side of this and similar ecclesiastical questions.
To proceed to another controverted question : that of the maintenance of the ministry in New York. The salary for the minister named in the Act of 1693 was provided for in that Act ; but there was always more or less difficulty in carrying out its provisions. A portion of the sum allowed to the rector, as his salary, was raised by taxation ; but another part came from the rents derived from the "Queen's Farm." Although the title of the Church to the property had been confirmed by Queen Anne, the Corporation felt anxiety on the subject, desiring, as appears from their Records, such further action as might stop all objection to the title, and silence envious malcontents. We have seen how, at Jamaica, the collectors refused to pay the clergyman at that place, though regularly inducted ; the same reluctance was ex- hibited from time to time in New York, with an evident disposition to nullify the Act on that point ; while many felt angry that the Church should be in possession of a property which might, in time, increase greatly in value, and would have gladly robbed her of her endowment and put the proceeds into their own pockets.
Here were causes enough to stir up bitter feelings and produce a situation which at last became intolerable ; until, as we shall see, the rector was forced into a deter- mination to cross the ocean-then a perilous undertaking -in order to lay the matters in controversy before the home government, and to obtain redress, by a final settle- ment in favor of the Church.
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185
Conspiracy of the Negroes
1719]
In illustration of the relation between the fortunes of the Church and the state of public affairs, we may refer to the transactions of the year 1712. The time was one of intense excitement. An expedition had been made to un- dertake the conquest of Canada. General Nicholson was in command of a detachment which moved by the way of the lakes ; but no sooner had he reached Lake George with his 4,000 men than he learned the failure of a move- ment on Quebec, under General Hill. The conduct of affairs was such as to impress the Swedish traveller, Kalm, with the idea that England was not in earnest in the at- tempt to drive the French from the continent, as such a course, if successful, would render the Americans too powerful and dispose them towards assertion of independ- ence of the mother country. The disastrous reverses which befell Nicholson and Hill plunged the inhabitants of New York into gloom. The Indians also were waver- ing in loyalty, and there were rumors of an attack by a French fleet. The Governor and the Assembly were at issue ; the former demanding means to carry on the gov- ernment, the latter sullenly refusing them. It was at that time that rumors of an intended insurrection of the blacks began to be heard, and the whole community was agitated with unspeakable alarm. A murder, by blacks, on Long Island added to the terror ; and a riot followed, with an arrest of negroes, nineteen of whom were executed for alleged conspiracy to massacre the whites. The panic- stricken populace made this the occasion of a demonstra- tion against the unfortunate Neau, who had been diligently engaged in teaching the blacks ; and his school was nearly broken up by the useless and absurd accusation, that to instruct the negro was to make him dangerous. Mr. John Sharp, the Chaplain to the Forces, wrote on this subject to the Secretary of the S. P. G. as follows :
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