USA > New York > Colonial records of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1768-1784 : with historical and biographical sketches > Part 33
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At the middle of the last century the commerce of New York was yet in its infancy. It was in May, 1763, that the Sandy Hook light-house was lighted for the first time. It was in November, 1769, that the latitude of Fort George was cast for the Chamber. 27
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MR. CRUGER retained the office of President of the Chamber until it had received its charter from the Crown and its permanent existence was secured. In the following May, 1770, he retired. As an instance of the faithfulness with which he performed the trusts reposed in him, it may be noticed that during the two years of his presidency he was absent from his seat on two occasions only, on one of which he is excused upon the minutes as "not well;" and during all the period of his connection with the institution he was one of the most punctual and regular of all the members in his attendance.
In all the early difficulties of the Chamber which sprung from differences of opinion with regard to the taking of " Jersey currency," he clung steadily to the Chamber, and manfully contended for its true interests; but a sea of trouble was soon to sweep over the commerce of the Col- ony, compared with which all minor differences were but as ripples on the wave.
JOHN CRUGER appears to have exercised his great influ- ence to moderate the passions of his fellow-men and to har- monize the widely differing opinions of the opposing par- ties. His course during the stormy spring of 1775, when patriotic blood was boiling at fever-heat upon the news of the Lexington outrage, was marked by calm and dignified self-reliance and courage. His opinions remain on record in two able letters, the one addressed to the Committee of Safety on the 3d, and the other to General Gage on the 5th May of that year.
In the first, signed jointly with Jacob Walton, one of his colleagues in the Assembly, he declines to subscribe to the Articles of Association entered into by the citizens of New York 29th April, 1775, "to adopt and carry into execu- tion whatever measures may be recommended by the Con-
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tinental Congress or by the Provincial Convention for the purpose of preserving our constitution, and opposing the execution of several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament," presented to him for signature, in these forcible words : "Because, as we were elected Representa- tives in General Assembly for the City and County of New York, we conceive that the faithful performance of that im- portant trust requires of us a free, unbiased exercise of our judgment. To submit this to the control of any power on earth would, in our opinion, be deserting that trust; but to engage implicitly to approve and carry into execution the regulations of any other body, would justly expose us to the reproach of our own consciences, the censure not only of our constituents, but of the whole world. In our legislative capacity (he continues) we have already transmitted to the King and both Houses of Parliament representations of our grievances. Upon mature reflection, and after revolving our conduct with the most impartial deliberation, we cannot but approve what we have done, and will, therefore, patiently wait for the event, which will, we hope, be pro- ductive of much benefit, not only to this Colony, but to the cause of AMERICAN liberty in general. As the signing of this Association, therefore, would, in effect, be to deprive ourselves of our legislative powers, we cannot but suppose, from the tenor of it, an exemption of us is implied in it." And he concludes with an expression "of the most anxious concern for the distresses of the inhabitants of the Massa- chusetts Bay, and the most sincere wishes for the relief, and the liberty and prosperity of all the colonies."
Yet that he was not personally indifferent to the wishes of the General Committee is evident from the fact of his liberal contributions to its funds.
In a letter to General Gage, headed and doubtless
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drawn by himself, and signed by fourteen members of the Assembly, on the 5th May of the same year, just two days subsequent to that last quoted, he urges that officer, then commanding the British forces in America, " that, as far as consistent with his duty, he would immediately order a ces- sation of public hostilities until his Majesty can be apprised of the situation of the American colonies," and expresses the wish "that no military force might land or be stationed in this province."
But in that day, as in our own, the logic of events brought more rapid conclusions than "the resources of statesmanship," and in a few months the Revolution had swept away the old landmarks. A little later the British army took possession of the city, and Washington fell back with the American troops upon White Plains.
MR. CRUGER retired, before the occupation, to Kinder- hook, on the Hudson. In a letter to the Council of Safety, dated at Kinderhook, Nov. 2, 1777, he states, “it is over nineteen months since I left New York with my sister and family; since which both she and myself have suffered many inconveniences by reason of our age and bodily infirmities and the want of necessities to which they have exposed us," and asks for a pass to return to the City " for himself and family and what little furniture he has at Kinderhook." It seems that this pass was not granted, for he continued to reside at Kinderhook until the close of the war.
Through his long public career MR. CRUGER ever upheld a manly independence of character. His life presents a rare combination of moderation and firmness. Twice his judg- ment saved the city from violent outbreak and bloodshed. Fearless of kingly power, he resisted with a like courage the pressure of angry popular opinion. Once, when in 1747 he counselled the people against useless resistance to military
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exaction ; again, when in 1765 he persuaded the Government to yield to the imperative popular demand.
MR. CRUGER appears the central figure of the later Colonial period, and around him are grouped the principal personages of this historic canvas. What more dramatic scenes than those which opened and closed his career as Mayor of the City. What finer instance of ' time's revenges' than that of the Magistrate, who had endured in silence the insolence of Loudon, receiving in his person a vindication of the outraged dignity of his station on the surrender to him of the stamps, by the courteous but not less arbitrary Colden.
Had fortune cast his lot a few years later in time, this early, constant choice of the people, and able advocate of American liberties, had, perchance, left a revolutionary his- tory as brilliant as any of those eventful days; but at sixty- six years of age JOHN CRUGER had no longer the youthful vigor to plunge into the thick of the terrible struggle, and he appears to have taken no further part in public affairs.
Returning to the city, after the peace of 1783, he lived with his nephew, Nicholas Cruger, who continued in the third generation this eminent race of merchants; and here, on Tuesday, the 27th day of December, 1791, at the ripe age of eighty-two years, he died.
A notice of his death in the "New York Journal and Patriotic Register" has the touching phrase :
" It may be truly said of him, that he was The upright man, Beloved of all his friends, And of whom an enemy (If he had one) Could speak no evil."
The CRUGERS were large ship-owners and engaged in
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general trade, chiefly with Bristol and the West Indies. Their place of business was on Cruger's Wharf, which lay on the east side of White-Hall Slip, on the East River. The great fire of 1776, so fatal to the interests of the city for many years, broke out here. Six buildings belonging to JOHN and HENRY CRUGER were destroyed.
JOHN CRUGER never married. The name is now sus- tained by the descendants of his brother Henry, also a dis- tinguished man in his day, an eminent merchant, a repre- sentative of New York for many years in the Assembly, and a member of the King's Council for this Province. He died at Bristol, February 8th, 1780, and was buried within the precincts of the cathedral in that city. Of the nephews of JOHN CRUGER, sons of this brother, John Harris Cruger was one of the earliest members of the Cham- ber ; before the Revolution he was Chamberlain of the city. In the struggle he clung to the side of the Crown, and be- came a distinguished officer in Delancey's brigade. Henry Cruger was the colleague of Edmund Burke for Bristol in the British Parliament, and a staunch defender of American rights. He was afterwards Mayor of Bristol. He died in New York, in 1827, and is still remembered by many of the older citizens. Nicholas Cruger was a successful merchant in the West India trade. It was under his patronage that the illustrious Hamilton, then an adventurous boy, came to this country. Nicholas Cruger was a strong patriot and an intimate personal friend of Washington.
The engraving which prefaces this sketch is from a por- trait in the possession of the Chamber of Commerce, admir- ably enlarged by Mr. Thomas Hicks, of New York, from a small but exquisitely painted miniature owned by Miss Eliza Cruger, daughter of the distinguished Member of Parliament above named.
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HUGH WALLACE.
SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
1770-1771.
N the early part of the last century New York was a favorite resort of the adventurous from all parts of the British Dominions. Many of its most distinguished Merchants were born without the Colony. Among those whom its growing trade drew to this then far- off shore were two brothers of the name of WALLACE, the elder of whom soon became a leading man in the Province, and rose to high places of honor and trust. They were of Irish origin, but from what part of the island is not now known. HUGH WALLACE, the elder brother, was probably originally the agent of some of the great linen factories which had already gained celebrity by the fineness of their textures. His name first appears in an advertisement of goods of this character in the "New York Mercury," of Monday, October 23d, 1753: "Just Imported a large Assortment of Irish Linnens, and to be sold cheap by HUGH WALLACE, at his Store in New-Dutch-Church Street." He did not, however, confine himself to any one branch of business, as his occasional notices show; on the 31st July, 1758, he informs the public that there was " To be sold at Private Sale, by HUGH WAL- LACE, The Snow La Faveur, lately a French Privateer, with or without her Guns and Warlike Stores as the Purchaser
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pleases. If said Vessel is not sold before she will be sold at Publick Vendue at the Merchants' Coffee House on Tues- day, the 8th of August next. Said WALLACE has a large Parcel of Fyall Wines to dispose of which he will sell reason- ably." In the same year he applies for commissions for Cap- tains of the Ship Terrible, 10 guns, and the Snow Montresor, also of 10 guns. In January, 1762, (Gaines' “New York Mercury," 18th inst.,) he advertises a cargo of Coals for sale, and again, on the 29th March, of the same year, he announces a curious variety of articles, common enough at that period, but now never found on the shelves of any one merchant : " HUGH WALLACE sells on very reasonable Terms Madeira, Mountain, Sherry, and benecarlo Wines; Rum, Molasses, White and Muscovado Sugar, Oranges and Lemmons, Sallad Oil, Olives, Capers and Anchovies, Gold and Silver Lace, Men's Shoes and Pumps, Boots and Spatterdashes, Silk Handkerchiefs, Scots Carpets, Men's and Women's Gloves, Irish Linnens and sundry European Goods."
Thriving in business, he seems to have resolved to make the new country his permanent residence. The "New York Mercury," of May 12th, 1760, notices, as an item of inter- esting news, that "Last week MR. HUGH WALLACE, of this City, Merchant, was married to Miss Sally Low, daughter of Cornelius Low, of Rariton, in New Jersey, an agreeable Young Lady endow'd with every Qualification requisite to render the Marriage State happy." In those days the family incidents of the high in station were presumed as of right to interest the general public. By this marriage MR. WAL- LACE connected himself with some of the most distinguished families of the Colony. The Lows were among the earlier English settlers, and had intermarried with the Gouverneurs, and the Cuylers, who were second to none in the aristocracy of the New York Province.
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Strengthened by these alliances and his growing wealth and influence, MR. WALLACE now seems to have looked to political preferment. In 1760 he was evidently an agent . of the Government, and in October of that year was authorized to impress Vessels to carry troops to Halifax. He does not appear to have filled any minor stations, but to have reached at once the higher honors. On the retire- ment of Mr. Walton he was called to the King's Council, a body of twelve, which acted as the advisers of the Gov- ernor, and held powers somewhat analogous to those of the modern Senate. On the 21st January, 1769, as Gov. Moore informs the Earl of Hillsborough, "MR. WALLACE took the oaths and his seat at the Board." This position he continued to hold until the downfall of the King's power in the Colony. His name last appears upon the minutes of a meeting of the Council held 11 March, 1776, on board the Ship Dutchess of Gordon in the Harbour, in which Governor Tryon had taken refuge.
But while thus occupied with the grave affairs of State, MR. WALLACE was not indifferent to his business or his call- ing. He was one of the founders of the Chamber of Com- merce in 1768, and its first Vice-President. On the retire- ment of Mr. Cruger, in 1770, he was chosen President of the Institution.
Near this period Alexander Wallace first appears in this country. He had no doubt been led hither by the success of the elder brother, and a business house was formed be- tween them. A notice of this connection appears in Gaines' "New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury," July 24th, 1769 : " To be sold a handsome Chariot, the Box made to take off occasionally, with Harness for four Horses. Enquire of MESSIEURS HUGH & ALEXANDER WALLACE." This is curious
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as showing the state which the grandees of the Colonial days maintained.
This partnership of the two brothers, whose interests were still more closely allied by the marriage of Alexander with a sister of the wife of HUGH, continued until the close of the revolutionary war. Their advertisements, as general importers, always include a notice of "large assortments of low priced yard-wide Irish Linen by the Box."
MR. WALLACE upheld the dignity of his station, and his mansion was the resort of the great dignitaries of the Province. It is recorded in Rivington's "Gazette," of June 29th, 1775, that Governor Tryon, who came passenger by the Ship Juliana, Capt. Montgomery, landed that even- ing at New York, "and was conducted to the house of the HON. HUGH WALLACE by an immense number of the principal people of that city."
In the struggle between the Colonies and the Crown HUGH WALLACE stood steadfast to his allegiance, and con- trolled the great influence of his connections in the interest of the Mother Country. Born in Great Britain and a Coun- cillor of the King in the Colony, no other course could be expected of him. And he maintained his loyalty as firmly in the dark as in the bright hours-nor did he desert his post. On the 4th February, 1776, he was invited to appear before the Committee of Safety and inform them what he knew of the intentions of the British fleet. It had been announced that the Mercury Frigate and two other transports were below. MR. WALLACE replied that he in- tended to go on board of the Governor's Ship that after- noon, and would give information of "anything of import- ance to the City."
Early in August, 1776, on the 17th, so runs the account given in the Upcott Coll. : iv. 383, of the conversation of a
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gentleman who had made his escape from the City to the British forces on Staten Island, the two brothers, HUGH and ALEXANDER WALLACE, with other persons of mark, " were committed to gaol for having refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Congress." MR. HUGH WALLACE Was ordered to Connecticut by the military authorities, but the confinement of Alexander was of short duration.
The fact of his imprisonment is confirmed in a letter of Governor Tryon to Lord George Germaine, dated New York, 24th September, 1776, which gives a melancholy ac- count of the state of the King's Government in the Colony, and reports "MR. HUGH WALLACE and Mr. James Jauncey prisoners with the Rebels."
MR. WALLACE was now to undergo something of the hard- ships of war. His wife remained in New York under the care of Alexander. A letter written by Mr. Alexander Wallace to a friend and influential patriot, Gouverneur Morris, 28th December, 1776, gives an account of the losses to which he was at this time subjected : " Mrs. Hugh Wal- lace is pretty well in health, but very unhappy about her husband being kept so long from her, and what adds to her distress is the very heavy loss she has met with about ten days ago in losing all her plate. She sent it to Mr. Richard Yates last summer at Aquacknock, to be kept there as a place of safety; but upon his leaving that place he had the box which contained the plate put on board a brig, commanded by Capt. Roche, bound to this place. About five miles below Hackinsack the brig was seized by a party of your army, and all the goods taken out. The plate cost upwards of £1500, this currency. She thinks the gentlemen belong- ing to the Convention, when they know it belongs to her, will order it to be sent to her immediately, as it would be very hard indeed to send her husband away to Connecticut
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and allow her property to be plundered. I must request the favour of you to get this affair settled as soon as pos- sible. Enclosed is an inventory of the plate ; it was all in one box. My papers are in much better order than I ex- pected ; but my brother and I shall suffer greatly by being sent away from our property. I have sent your letter to your mother, who is very well, as is all your friends. I shall go and see your mother in a few days. General Robinson assured me all the women and children who have a mind to go to their husbands or friends have liberty to go by this flag, or any other way they think proper."
He adds in a postscript : " Please deliver the enclosed letters ; give the one for HUGH WALLACE to Mr. Samuel Loudon, to be sent by post. My brother has lost all his clothes in the Jerseys. Mrs. Wallace sent them there."
The inventory alluded to gives the contents of the box of plate : 1 tea urn, 1 epergne, 1 very large bowl, 4 candle- sticks, 1 large pudding dish, 2 large salvers, 3 small salvers, 1 large tankard, 1 coffee pot, 1 pitcher, 1 cruet stand, 4 long handled spoons, 4 scalloped spoons, 6 dozen table spoons, 1 dozen desert spoons, 1 sugar dish, 1 funnel, 1 fish trowel, 6 salts, 2 mustard pots with spoons, 6 skewers, 2 milk pots, I tea chest with cannisters, 1 sugar tongs, 4 labels for bottles, 4 tumblers, 4 rummers, 2 black jacks, 1 large soup ladle, 1 marrow spoon .- (Correspondence of Prov. Cong., Vol. 2, P. 237.)
With the family of Gouverneur Morris there was also a connection through the Gouverneurs: the second wife of Colonel Lewis Morris and mother of Gouverneur Morris was Sarah Gouverneur.
Meanwhile MR. WALLACE was not long detained in durance. He and his fellow captives were released upon the following written obligation :
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WHEREAS, we, HUGH WALLACE, Fred Philipse, James Jauncey, and James Jauncey, Jun'r, Esqr., and Gerard Walton, William Jauncey and John Miller, all of the City and Province of New York, have for some time past resided at Middletown, in the State of Connecticut, being appre- hended and sent thither by His Excellency General Wash- ington as suspected of disaffection to the United States of America; and whereas, upon our application, His Honour Jona Trumbull, Esq., Governor of the said State of Con- necticut, hath permitted us to return to our families in New York and reside there till otherwise ordered, we do hereby pledge our faith and words of honour to the said Governor Trumbull, that we will neither bear arms, nor excite or en- courage others to bear arms, against this or any other of the United States of America ; and that we will not do any- thing in prejudice of the interest or measures of this or any of the said United States; and that we will give no intelli- gence to the enemies of the United States of any of the councils of war or other the Transactions of this or any of the said States ; and that we will return to any place in this State when required by His Honour Governor Trumbull, the General Assembly of Connecticut, or His Excellency the General of the armies of the said United States for the time being.
In witness whereto we have hereunto set our hands, this 23d day of December, A.D. 1776.
HUGH WALLACE, FRED PHILIPS, JAS. JAUNCEY, JAS. JAUNCEY, JUN'R, GERARD WALTON, WILLIAM JAUNCEY, JOHN MILLER.
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Governor Tryon, in a letter to Lord George Germaine, of date New York, 31 Dec., 1776, alludes to the return of the prisoners. "Last Sunday evening MR. WALLACE and Mr. Jauncey, two of his Majesty's Council of this Province, with several other Inhabitants thereof, came to town from Connecticut, having been discharged by Gov. Trumbull from their confinement upon the express obligation of not taking up arms against America, and to return to captivity if required."
The brothers Wallace remained in New York during the war. The newspapers of 1782 and 1783' contain a standing advertisement that "HUGH and ALEXANDER WAL- LACE have for sale, on reasonable terms, a Quantity of good sweet Flour, old Lisbon Wine, a large quantity of Queens- ware in Crates, Glass and China in Boxes, Cannon, 4, 6 and 9 pounders, Shot, Swivel guns of newest construction." They were also constantly favored by the military authorities, and were agents of the Government for the payment of prize-money to the British men of war. On May 5, 1783, they give notice in Gaine's N. Y. Gazette and Mercury that they will pay the prize-money for the cap- tures of His Majesty's Ship Cyclops.
The property of HUGH WALLACE was confiscated by the Provincial Legislature on the 22d October, 1779. The confiscated Estates were sold under a further act of the State Legislature of 12 May, 1784.
HUGH WALLACE did not remain to witness the new order of things, but left with the army in 1783. He re- turned to Great Britain, and died at Waterford in Ireland in the year 1788. No portrait of Mr. WALLACE is known to exist in this country.
ELIAS DESBROSSES.
THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
1771-1772.
T what period the family of DESBROSSES came to the New York Colony is now unknown. They have been called of Huguenot extraction-a view to which their warm attachment to the Protestant faith gives color ; but this name is not found in the Colonial records at the time when the chief part of this emigration reached the New World. The town of New Rochelle, in Westches- ter County, was settled as early as 1681 by French refugees, who had fled to England to avoid the persecutions which preceded the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The name of DESBROSSES does not appear on the lists of free- holders of the new settlement of 1708 or 1724.
The name is first met with in an advertisement in William Bradford's "New York Gazette," September 12th to 19th, 1737, giving notice of "Choice Good Canary Wine to be sold at Three Shillings and six pence per Gallon by the five Gallons at the WIDOW DESBROSSES, in Hanover Square."
ELIAS DESBROSSES was born (probably in this city) in the year 1718. The family appears, in 1737, to have consisted of the widow, her sons ELIAS and James (and perhaps Ste- phen, whose name appears later), and her daughters Mag- dalen and Elizabeth.
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He first comes into notice in the famous report, by Horsmanden, of the Negro Plot of 1741. It was the belief of the time that the negroes were set on by Catholic priests. The shade of Guy Fawkes yet lurked near every burning house. His testimony before the Court on the 24th July, 1741, is thus given : "ELIAS DESBROSSES, of New York, Confectioner ; John Ury, the popish priest, now in jail, came with one Webb, a carpenter, to him, and asked if he (deponent) had any sugar bits or wafers, &c., (the bits are usually made as the deponent apprehends in imitation of Spanish silver coin.) This deponent showed the said Ury some confectionary in imitation of dogs, hawks, owls, lambs, and swans, supposing that he wished them to give away to please children, but told him he had no bits or wafers." At this time Catholic worship was punished as a crime, and all magistrates were sworn to maintain the Protestant re- ligion. This Ury was convicted, and executed on the 29th of the same month.
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