USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 2 > Part 8
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1 New- York Packet and American Advertiser, July 22, 1784.
2 Records, liber i., folio 4ST. 3 Ibid., folio 4$2. 4 Ibid., 484.
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History of Trinity Church [1784
There was much trouble in securing the wherewithal to pay the salaries of the Assistant Ministers; the Vestry seem to have relied on personal subscriptions, to ensure the success of which plan of raising money they adopted a heroic measure, passing an ordinance that every mem- ber of the Vestry should sign the subscription paper be- fore it went out.
" The board resumed the Consideration of the mode of soliciting subscriptions for the Assistant Ministers, wlien after some time spent in debates thereon,
"Resolved : That the members comprising the Corporation do first sign the subscription roll for the salaries of the Assistant Ministers and that it then be presented to the other members of the Congregation for signing
"Resolved : That if the said subscription after being compleated by the members of the Congregation shall not be so General and Effectual as to meet the Approbation of the Vestry that then the same be null and void.
" Resolved : That the members of the Congregation do meet on Monday next for the purpose of signing said subscription Roll." 1
This resolution was passed on June 24th; but, alas for human expectations ! the Rector reported some two months later that he laid the subscription roll for the sal- aries for the Assistant Ministers before the Board, as it had been returned to him by Mr. Alsop, who had been unable to procure any signatures to it in addition to those of the members of the Vestry !?
Mention is continually made of St. Paul's during this period, because it had been used as the Parish Church while Trinity lay in ruins after its destruction by fire in September, 1776. The walls remained standing, but they were a constant menace to passers-by ; and the Ves- try, May IS, 1784,3 directed the Committee on Repairs
1 Records, liber i., folio 475.
2 Ibid., folio 477.
3 Ibid., folio 445.
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Ruins of Old Trinity
1784]
to engage workmen to pull down the remaining part of the tower.
The following account, a fair example of the news- paper English of that period, and one which might elicit the applause of the modern city editor, no doubt refers to the execution of this order. The New York corre- spondent of the Pennsylvania Packet thus finely expresses himself :
"NEW YORK, June 16.
"Yesterday morning about three o'clock, a large part of the ruins of that venerable and hallowed pile, Trinity Church, the sacred metropolitan of New York, fell down. The preceding day, a number of workmen had been employed to effect the means of bringing them to prostration, and they were greatly facilitated by an excellent miner from Cornwall, in old England. The condition of these walls had long been objects of terror to the inhabitants, who are as greatly relieved from the apprehension of danger, occasioned by the critical situation of these impending and awful remains, as they were terrified by the tre- mendous report produced from the shock given to Mother Earth ; all pronouncing it a violent subterraneous concussion. Yesterday after- noon another part of the walls likewise fell down. It is said that the Church will with all convenient dispatch be rebuilt, as there is a very respectable fund for executing that righteous intention." 1
Although the dangerous state of the ruins of the old Trinity Church compelled the Corporation to have the walls taken down, nothing was done in the erection of the new edifice for more than a year. The disorganized state of the finances of the Corporation, the heavy losses in- curred owing to the war, the demands made on it on every side by those within and without its threshold, the contest in the Legislature, the exodus of the Loyalists who left the Church poorer not only in numbers but by the loss of a select band, ever given to acts of zeal, devotion, and generos- ity, the unavoidable struggle for the Rectorship between the friends of the old order and those of the new, and the
1 The Pennsylvania Packet and General Advertiser, June 22, 1784. VOL. 11 .- 6
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History of Trinity Church
[1785
separatist attitude assumed by the Loyalists who remained in the country,-these were chief among the determining causes which delayed the rebuilding of the ruined Church.
At last, at the close of the year 1785, the Corporation, taking a courageous initiative,
" Resolved, unanimously : That measures be forthwith taken for the rebuilding of Trinity Church.
" Resolved : That three commissioners be appointed to manage and superintend the work and that they propose a plan of the building and report the same to this board for approbation.
"Resolved : That subscriptions be solicited from the members of the Congregation for the above purpose.
" Resolved : That the Committee on Leases be directed to select those lotts of ground which are most proper, to be sold in case the sub- scriptions for the rebuilding of Trinity Church should not be adequate for the purpose." 1
About this time a petition was sent to the Legislature, requesting that the name of the Corporation be changed to that of
"The Rector and inhabitants of the City of New York in com- munion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York." ?
The Clerk communicated to the Board, on March 26th following, that the Legislature had granted their petition and had passed an act changing the title of the Corpora- tion as desired. The act was passed on the ioth of March, 1789.3
1 Records, liber i., folio 4SI. 2 Ibid., folio 502.
3 Chap. 66 of the Laws of the State of New York, vol. ii., p. ISo. Printed by Thomas Greenleaf, 1792.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TITLE TO THE KING'S FARM.
Resolution of the House of Assembly to Examine into the Title of the King's Farm -- Report of Committee-Resolutions of the House Adverse to the Corporation of Trinity Church-Resolution of the Corporation-Letter of the Rector to the President of the Senate-Memorial and Remonstrance from the Vestry to House of Assembly- Presented to the Senate and Lower House-Report of Committee of House of Assembly on the Memorial-Vote of the House-" Some Remarks on the Memorial."
N Part I., Chapter IX., of this History, a brief state- ment will be found relating to the attempts made from time to time to take possession of the property of the Corporation of Trinity Church in the City of New York, and of the failure of those attempts, whether originating in the State Legislature, or among individuals desirous of enriching themselves by plundering the Parish. I shall now proceed to relate in full the history of one of those efforts, made in 1784, at Albany, to seize upon the Church estate and apply it to public and secular uses. The reader should remember that the title to that estate was derived from the Crown of Great Britain ; that nothing occurred during the Colonial period to cast any cloud upon it ; that it remained unimpaired by the changes wrought by the Revolution ; and that after the acknowledgment of the in- dependence of the Colonies an Act was passed by the Legislature of New York, confirming all the titles acquired prior to that time during the Colonial period. Neverthe- less an attempt was made to reverse this action in the case of Trinity Church ; the history of which attempt, and of its failure, forms the subject of the present chapter.
83
84
History of Trinity Church [1784
The assault began by the passage of a resolution, November 23, 1784, in the Assembly appointing Messrs. P. W. Yates, Denning, Adgate, Goforth, and Pell a Committee to examine into the laws and records of the State of New York, concerning the right and title of the King's Farm and Garden.1 Their report is set forth in full length in the Appendix .?
This report gives extracts from the various Acts rela- ting to the Farm from 1699 to 1733, and ends with the following recommendation :
"From this State of facts, the said Committee reported,
"That it appears to them, that the right and title to the said lands, called the King's Farm and Garden, were by right, before the late revo- lution, vested in the King of Great Britain, and now belong to, and are by right vested in the people of this State." 3
The report having been read and considered, the Speaker put the question, "whether the House did concur with the Committee in the said report ; and it was carried in the affirmative, in the manner following." ‘
There were 33 votes in the affirmative, and only 6 in the negative, Messrs. Dunscomb, Livingston, Randall, Remsen, Corsen, and John Lawrance voting against the proposition.
Whereupon it was
" Resolved, that a Committee be appointed to consider of, and report the mode of Establishing the right of the people of this State to the lands aforesaid ; and, that the Committee who reported the State of facts aforesaid, be a Committee for the purpose in this resolution mentioned."
On Feby. 17, 1785, the Committee reported:
"That it is the opinion of the said Committee, that a bill should be
1 P. 66 of the Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York, for 1784.
? Appendix VIII.
3 P. 26 of the Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York, for 1785.
4 Ibid.
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Adverse Action of the Legislature
1785]
brought in, authorizing and requiring the Attorney General of the State, to proceed without delay in recovering possession of the said land, and establishing the claim of the people to the same, according to the laws of this State." 1
Which report of the laws being read, the question as to whether the House should concur in the report was put to the House. For the affirmative there were 37 and for the negative 6-Messrs. J. Sands, Dunscomb, Livingston, Randall, Remsen, and John Lawrance constituting the minority.
The Committee were thereupon ordered to prepare and bring in a bill to give effect to the resolution :
These proceedings naturally alarmed the Corporation, who after due consideration of the action of the House of Assembly passed the following resolution :
" Resolved : That the minutes of the House of Assembly of the 7th instant relative to the title of the Church Estate be referred to a Committee, and that they be directed to prepare a Remonstrance to the Hon'ble the House of Assembly against the dangerous Precedent of the Legislative authority passing an opinion in cases of property, which by the Constitution of this State can only be cognizable in a court of Law and praying to Shew Cause why the same should not appear on their minutes.
" Resolved : That the said Committee prepare a Respectfull peti- tion to be presented to the Hon'ble Senate, praying to be heard in Case the Resolutions of the House of Assembly of the 7th instant should be sent up for concurrence.
" Resolved : That it be an instruction to the said Committee to consider with deliberation the Resolution of the Assembly, and to pre- pare under the Authority of this Corporation such strictures on the same as they think best calculated to prevent the ill Consequences which may accrue from an attempt to prejudice the Public Judgement and that they publish the same in case the Resolutions of the Assembly should be permitted to remain on the Journals of that House.
" Resolved : That Mr. Duane, Mr. Duer, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Rutherfurd be the Committee for the above purpose."
1 P. 41 of the Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York, for 1785.
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History of Trinity Church [1785
The Rector notified the President of the Senate of the intention of the Corporation to present their petition, in the following letter, preserved in the State Records at Albany.
" Sir,
"I have the honor to inform you at the wish of the Corporation of Trinity Church that they intend to present a petition to the Honor- able House in which you preside between the Hours of ten and eleven o'clock next Monday Morning.
"I am Sir " with the greatest Respect "Your most obedient "and very humble Servant "SAM'L PROVOOST. "February 18, 1785." 1
The letter bears the following address :
" The Honorable " ABRAHAM YATES Esqr. "President of the Senate."
Owing to some delay the Vestry were unable to present their petition on the day named, and accordingly the Rector wrote making another appointment :
" Sir,
"From the absence of some of their members the Corporation of Trinity Church are obliged to postpone presenting their petition to the Senate until next Thursday Morning.
"I am Sir, "with the greatest respect "Your most obedient "and very humble Servant "SAM'L PROVOOST. "February 21 1785.""
Addressed to :
"The Honorable ABRAHAM YATES Esqr. " President of the Senate."
1 Document 2412.
2 Document 2413.
87
Petition of the Vestry
1785]
According to the minutes of the Corporation, it was on February 26, 1785, that the Committee laid before the Vestry a draft of the proposed memorial and remonstrance to be presented to the House of Assembly ; whereupon it was
" Resolved : That this Corporation do approve of the said Petition and Memorial and Remonstrance : that the Seal of the Corporation be affixed to them : that they be signed by the Clerk of this Board and be presented to the Hon'ble the Senate and the House of Assembly this day.
"Resolved : That copies of said Petition and Memorial be regis- tered by the Clerk of this board." 1
Thus it appears that the method adopted for their de- fence by the Vestry was the preparation of a petition to the Senate, a memorial to both Houses of Legislature, and a remonstrance to the Assembly. These three documents are referred to in the following extracts from the proceed- ings in the Vestry, the Senate, and the Assembly : their effect was satisfactory and brought the attack to an end. This is the text of the petition :
SEAL
OF
CORPORATION
"To the Honorable the Senate of the State of New York The Petition of the Corporation of Trinity Church .? " Respectfully Sheweth
" That your Petitioners find on the Jour- nals of the House of Assembly of the seventh Instant a report of a Committee of that body concurred in by the House, in which after stating several circumstances relative to the title of the lands in the City and County of New York formerly called and known by the name of the King's farm and garden, it is declared that the title to the said lands, called the King's farm and garden, was by right before the Revolution, vested
1 Records, liber i., folio 471.
2 State Records, Albany. Document 244.
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History of Trinity Church
[1785
in the King of Great Britain and now belongs to, and is of right vested in the People of this State.
" Your Petitioners beg leave to observe, with all due deference to the Honorable body who have come to the determination, that they conceive this mode of enquiry into the right of property, is not war- ranted by the spirit of our happy Constitution, and that it tends to sap that grand bulwark of private right, the trial by Jury, which it is de- clared shall remain inviolate for ever.
"Your Petitioners though confident in the Stability of their claim to the lands in question, forbear to enter into a vindication of the same, before your Honorable House, who they are fully convinced will never destroy these barriers which the wise framers of the Constitution have raised betwixt the Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches of the Government.
" They content themselves with praying, that in case the report of the Honorable House of Assembly relative to the lands in question, or any law which may affect the right of the long established and respect- able community, of which your Petitioners are the Trustees, should be brought into your Honorable House, due notice may be given to your Petitioners of the same, and they be permitted to be heard at the bar of your House, before any measure be taken on the premises.
" And your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray, etc.
"By order of the Corporation. " JOHN RUTHERFURD, Clk."
The official endorsement on the petition reads as follows :
"Petition of the Corporation of Trinity Church praying that in case a certain Resolution of the Hon. Assembly of the 7th inst respecting King's Farm and garden or any laws respecting the same should be sent for concurrence they may be permitted to be heard at the Bar of the Senate.
"In Senate Feby. 24th 1785 read and committed to a Committee of the whole."
The Petition and Memorial were presented to the As- sembly on Feb. 25, 1785, by John Rutherford, and were referred to Messrs. Livingston, Vischer, Humfrey, and Burley.1
1 P. 52, Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York, for 1785.
89
The Memorial and Remonstrance
1785]
This Petition can also be found in Loudon's New- York Packet for February 28, 1785; but in our transcript we have carefully followed the text of the original preserved at Albany.
We have not come across the original Memorial and therefore make our transcript from the reprint in Loudon's New-York Packet of the 28th February, 1785.
"To the Honorable THE REPRESENTATIVES of the PEOPLE of the STATE of NEW YORK, in Assembly convened.
(L. S.) The Memorial and Remonstrance of the CORPORATION of TRINITY CHURCH in the CITY of NEW YORK.
"Respectfully Shew,
" That your Memorialists on examining the Journals of your honora- ble body, find that a Committee was appointed on the twenty-second of November last, to examine the laws and records of the State, con- cerning certain lands in the City and County of New York, formerly called and known by the name of the King's Farm and Garden ; which lands so called were in the year 1705 granted by Queen Anne, by let- ters patent under the great seal of the then colony of New York, to the rector and inhabitants of the City of New York, in Communion of the church of England ; who have been in possession of the same from that period to the present day, and have regularly paid the quit rents reserved therein to the year 1768, as will appear by the indorsements on the said letters patent, signed by the different Receivers General of the King of Great Britain. That the said Committee on the seventh instant made a report to your honorable House, in which, after Stating certain circumstances, relative to the title to the lands called by the name of the King's Farm and Garden, they infer, 'that the title to the said lands called the King's Farm and Garden, was of right, before the revolution, vested in the King of Great Britain, and now belong to, and is of right, vested in the people of this State ;' with which report your honorable House was pleased to concur.
"Your Memorialists, not only as Trustees of a respectable religious community, but as citizens, jealously attached to the principles of the late glorious revolution, are constrained with regret to observe ; that they conceive the mode of the enquiry and the concurrence of your honorable Body, not warranted by the spirit of our happy institutions, whose wise framers have studiously separated the legislative, judicial,
·
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History of Trinity Church
[1785
and executive functions of government-that it tends by giving an undue influence on the public mind, to weaken and render inefficacious, the trial by jury, that grand bulwark of the rights and property of the subjects, which the voice of the constitution has declared shall remain inviolate forever. Notwithstanding the confidence which your Memo- rialists derive of the stability of their claim to the lands in question, from the opinion of the ablest law sages in Europe, as well as in this country, they wave entering into it before your honorable Body, from a respect to the principles of our free constitution, and that they may not involve you by such an enquiry, in that predicament so painful to the mind of a true patriot, of rendering himself at once the party and judge.
"In duty however to their constituents, they are bound to ob- serve, that if the Committee appointed by your honorable Body, had thought proper to call on your Memorialists, for such evidence in the premises as they from their official character were best qualified to give, the conclusion drawn from such an investigation, would have been far different from that which at present appears in your journals.
"With that deferent boldness which freemen have a right to use to the representatives of a free people, your Memorialists beg leave to observe, that it is the right of the citizen to be heard in all cases which may affect his life, his liberty or property, in whatever mode such an en- quiry may be conducted. They therefore trust, that an application for this purpose cannot be refused to a long Established Corporation, whose political weight and attachment to the present government, claim the public attention.
"In this confidence your Memorialists in behalf of themselves and those whose interests are committed to their charge, request that they may be permitted to shew cause at the bar of your honorable House, why the report of the Committee of the seventh instant, relative to the King's Farm and Garden, should not appear of record on your journal.
" By order of the Corporation, "Fohn Rutherford, Clerk."
The Remonstrance of the Corporation addressed to the Lower House is couched in much more forcible language. They refuse to appear before that House to vindicate their claims to the lands in question, and boldly call on the House to erase from its records the report of its Committee which called in question the report of the
91
Vote of the House
1785]
Corporation to its legal ownership of the King's Farm and Garden.
On March 14th, the Committee, to whom had been referred the Memorial and Remonstrance of the Corpora- tion of Trinity Church,
"requesting that they may be permitted to shew cause why the report of the Committee, of the 8th day of February last, relative to the King's- Farm, and King's-Garden, should not appear on record on the Jour- nals of this House, reported, that it is the opinion of the Committee, that it would be improper to expunge a report agreed to and entered on the Journals ; and that the request of the said Corporation cannot, consistent with the rules of this House, be granted." 1
After debate, the House concurred with the Committee on a vote of 33 to 10, the ten being Messrs. J. Sands, Dunscomb, Livingston, Randall, Mersereau, C. Sands, Jeffrey Smith, John Lawrance, P. W. Yates, and Thomas.
This seems to have been the end of the matter, as there is nothing further of record. "Mr. Livingston," who voted steadily on behalf of the rights of the Corporation, was not the Warden of the Parish-but most probably the rep- resentative from New York, Peter Van Burgh Living- ston. The Warden Robert R. Livingston was the Chancellor.
While the matter was pending before the House, a vitu- perative pamphlet was issued anonymously and without the imprint of any publisher or printer. It is now very rare, but there is a copy of it in the Library of the New York Historical Society. It is entitled "Some Remarks on the Memorial and Remonstrance of the Corporation of Trinity Church ; addressed to the Honorable the Repre- sentatives of the People of the State of New York, in Assembly Convened.
" Humbly offered to the Public."
1 P. 87, Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York, for 1785.
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History of Trinity Church [1785
This pamphlet takes the side of the opponents of the Corporation, and consists of abuse rather than of argu- ment. In the latter part the writer goes off into a discus- sion and defence of the Bogardus claims, to which we shall call the attention of the reader in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BOGARDUS CLAIMANTS.
Brief Review of the Position of the Claimants-Their Petition to the Council for the Government of the Southern Part of New York State-Petition Rejected-Attempt to Intimidate Lessees-Formal Notice Issued by Trustees of Trinity Corporation- Counter-Statement of Claimants-Special Committee Appointed by Corporation- Notice Issued by Bogardus Heirs-Corporation Employ Counsel-Claimants Invade and Erect Fence on Church Lands - Protest of Claimants against Sale of Church Lands-Balthazer de Hart-His Discovery and its Effect-Summary by Mr. Nash- Discomfiture of the Claimants.
F ROM the narrative of attacks on the title of the Church in the Legislature, the transition is direct to those made by private individuals. As may be con- jectured, the change of government afforded a ready ex- cuse to restless persons calling themselves heirs of Anneke Jans Bogardus to try conclusions afresh with the Corpo- ration. Accordingly, as soon as the Revolutionary cause was triumphant, and had established a government of its own, the heirs petitioned for an allotment to them of the Church lands, claiming them as of right their own. And here the reader should be reminded of certain facts which must be kept in view in order to have an intelligent under- standing of the position of the claimants.
I cannot do better than to present, before proceeding, the clear and able summary of Mr. Stephen P. Nash, who devoted a very long time to the study of the matter, and explored it to its inmost depths. He says :
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