USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. I > Part 31
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Though it might be the policy of the Indians to keep up what used to be called the natural enmity of the French and English- not give too much assistance to either, and rejoice at the miseries they inflicted on each other-yet, in my opinion, if the English had succeeded, and had entered Canada at this time, the Iroquois would have indulged their much praised heroic propensity, without any reference to the balance of power, or the impolicy of render- ing the French too feeble to oppose the English, and that they would have scalped or tomahawked as many French women and children as was consistent with their own safety.
Grievous was the disappointment of the provincials at this fail- ure, on the part of Great Britain ; for the wise and far-sighted among the colonists saw that the present safety and future existence of the colonies, as protestant communities of men, knowing and estimating their rights, depended upon conquering Canada, and re- moving that power which was seizing every opportunity to extend a chain of forts and garrisons from the St. Lawrence to the Missis-
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SCHUYLER'S VISIT TO ENGLAND.
sippi. They knew that the power of England must be exerted for this purpose.
Peter Schuyler was one of these far-seeing colonists ; and he knew that the movements of great nations are often caused by the veriest trifles in existence. He had seen in his own day thousands of Huguenots driven from France by the religious whim of a wo- man ; and the fleets of the great naval nation of Great Britain, the power of a protestant people, exerted for the destruction of the Dutch, (another naval and protestant people,) at the com- mand of the French monarch, a papist, and the enemy of both nations ; but the source from whence Charles II received treasure for the support of his mistresses. Secing and knowing all this, the Mayor of Albany conceived the project of moving the court of Queen Anne to the annihilation of the French power in America, by means of exhibiting five Indian chiefs in their barbarick costume to the people, the nobles, and the majesty of Britain.
At his own expense did this patriot persuade (for it cost some- thing to persuade an Indian, even of Peter Schuyler's time,) five chiefs of the Iroquois to accompany him to England, that by their exhibition and his eloquence, he might persuade the queen, her husband, and the other men in power, to assist the colonies in throwing off the palpable incubus which was weighing upon them to extinction.
Colonel Schuyler, knowing how important the Five Nations were to the welfare of New York, had used every means to gain their confidence. They saw in him a brave and wise soldier, as well as magistrate ; and he did not spare either himself or his ample fortune to gain that influence which he possessed over them. He frequently went among them ; and when they came to Albany, his house was open and his table spread for them. The measure pro- posed, of sending their chiefs with Schuyler to England, was pleas- . ing to the Iroquois, and the individuals considered theinselves as the deputies of an independent people in alliance with the monarch of Great Britain.' All this proves the fallacy of the story, that the Indians purposely poisoned the waters to destroy the New York soldiers.
As Schuyler predicted, the English were delighted by the exhi- bition of five Indian chiefs. The people ran in crowds to admire five Indians - and kings too - for so they were called, and such their finery denoted them .* The guards were reviewed in Hyde Park, for their amusement, the theatres were put in requisi-
* Their blankets and breech-clouts, bracelets and nose jewels, were justly ad mired: but the court went into mourning for some European prince, and American kings were dressed in black breeches and vests, with a mantle of scarlet cloth trimined with gold lace as a substitute for their former royal blanket. They were
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ROBERT HUNTER GOVERNOUR.
tion for their edification ; they were received at court, and made speeches to the queen, which nobody understood, and which were dictated by Schuyler, and translated as he directed. The assem- bly of New York had written an address, praying assistance, and entrusted it to the Mayor of Albany. His scheme succeeded, and England engaged to send a sufficient armament for the conquest of Canada.
Madame Maintenon, or the widow Scarron, banished and persecuted to death thousands, by the revocation of the edict of Nantes : Charles II, to gratify his patron, Lewis XIV, caused a bloody war between England and Holland ; and Peter Schuyler, by exhibiting five Indians, brought a fleet and army from England to the river St. Lawrence. The colonists again expected the power of Britain to be exerted for their protection. Again they prepared to do their part, and again their hopes were disappointed. The New England forces, when despairing of succour from England, invaded Acadie, (Nova Scotia,) took Port Royal, and in compli- ment to the queen, called it Annapolis.
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Ingoldsby, who had shared the favour and infamy of Sloughter, Fletcher, and Cornbury, might have now governed the province, only the representations of New Jersey and New York caused his dismissal from office before this period. Robert Hunter was ap- pointed governour ; and until his arrival, Gerard Beekman as the president of the council, officiated. .
Hunter was born in Scotland ; and when a boy, had been put apprentice to an apothecary. "He left his master," says William Smith ; that is, ran away, and entered the army.
Education, superiour to common soldiers, ambition, and a handsome person, we may suppose, gave Hunter his first pre- ferment : personal beauty and a military garb, gained the affec- tion of Lady Hay; she married him, and in 1707 we find him appointed Lieutenant-governour of Virginia. On his voyage, he was captured by a French privateer, and carried back to Europe. When exchanged, and again at St. James's, he was appointed to succeed Lovelace as Governour of New York and New Jersey. Such is the honourable story of Brigadier Hunter, proving that he had merit as well as good fortune to enable him to ascend the lad- der of military and court promotion rapidly and steadily. A fur- ther proof of his talents, was his intimacy with Swift, Addison, and the other wits of the day.
The council, on the arrival of Governour Hunter, was composed
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tricked off by " the dressers" of the theatre, and conducted to St. James' in two coaches, by a noble courtier, where the lord chamberlain waited to introduce them to the royal presence of their sister, Queen Anne, to whom they gave some strings of wampum, for which the country paid full dearly.
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IMMIGRATION OF GERMANS.
of Gerardus Beekman, Rip Van Dam, Colonel Rensselaer, Judge Montpesson, Mr. Barbarie, and Mr. Phillipse. Beekman was one of the rich possessors of city property, and perhaps other lands. His orchard, occupied what is now the space between John street and Beekman street, (within my memory known as Chapel street, after the building of St. George's Chapel :) beyond the present chapel was the swamp, to the north and east of Beekman's Orchard. Rip Van Dam, though a Dutchman and a merchant, had worked his way up to a seat in the council, and was one of the rich. The family of Van Rensselaer is well known. Montpesson stood high as a lawyer. Barbarie was a rich Huguenot of distinction. Phil- lipse seems only distinguished for wealth, and attachment to the English government. The last of the race possessed Phillipsburg, in Westchester county.
Although the two great parties which had convulsed New York, were in a manner reunited in opposition to the vices and follies of Cornbury, the leader of the aristocracy, still that party governed ; and were strengthened by the accession of Hunter, who, though one of the people originally, had by his reception among the great, become as decidedly an opponent to the people's rights, (to manage their own property for their own benefit,) as any of the peers in England, or gentry in New York.
With the governour came a number of Germans, driven from their native country, the Palatinate, which had been laid waste by the inhuman policy of Lewis XIV, and were now, to the amount of near 3,000, transported at the expense of Great Britain, to become valuable colonists of America. Many of these Germans stopped in the city of New York, where they built the Lutheran Church, almost adjoining Trinity, which was burnt in the great fire of 1776. The site is now occupied by Grace Church. Great numbers of these Ger- mans, (called palatines) settled on Livingston's manor: the place was once called the Camp, and is now known as Germantown. Pennsylvania had a share of these emigrants, who have been more distinguished for their agriculture, than for their improvement in science or literature, with some well known exceptions.
Hunter visited the government of New Jersey, and gained the assistance both there and in New York, of Lewis Morris, the chief justice, a man of extraordinary talents and influence. Morris was appointed to be one of the council in New Jersey, as well as Wil- liam Pinhorne, and Judge Montpesson, both of the New York council.
The uncle of Lewis Morris, above mentioned, was an officer in the army of Cromwell,* and after the return of the Stuarts fled to America, in the garb of a quaker. He seated himself in New York,
* Chief Justice Smith's History of New York.
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LEWIS MORRIS.
and purchased that tract of land which the family still possess, and which he called Morrisania : though married he left no children .* Lewis Morris tells us in the preamble to his will, that his " mother · died when" he " was about six months old," and his "father not long after, in New York," where he " was left an orphan, entirely in the hands of strangers, who were appointed by the government to take care of him." He thus lost his parents, (who were proba- . bly English, avoiding the restoration of kingly government in that country,) when Francis Lovelace was governour of New York, and between the years 1667 and 1673, when the province was again ' surrendered to the Dutch, and the boy " put by their magistrates into the hands of the trustees, by them appointed to take care of him, and of what effects their soldiers had left unplundered ; and after the surrender of New York to the English," by the peace of 1674, his " uncle came into these parts of America, and kindly took care of him, until he came to mans' estate."
Mr. Sparks, in his biography of Governour Morris, tells us that the father of the boy, thus left an orphan, by the death of his parents in New York, between 1667 and 1673, was called Richard, and had been an officer in Cromwell's army, had arrived in New York from the West Indies, and purchased ten miles square near Har- lem, invested by the governours grant, "with manorial privileges, and called Morrisania." He further states, that the said Richard, the first proprietor of Morrisania died in 1673. He says, that 'not long afterwards, Lewis, the brother of Richard, came to America and settled at Morrisania ; and that there was a contract dated the 10th of August, 1670, where Richard is styled a merchant in New York, and Lewis a merchant in Barbadoes. It follows that Richard was in Barbadoes in 1670, and contracted to come to New York, purchase this grant of Morrisania for his himself and brother Lewis, who was to follow, and settle on it; but that he did not come, until the peace of 1674, when he found the son of his brother an orphan, took him under his protection, and built at Morrisania.
Chief Justice William Smith, makes the uncle the person who had been in Cromwell's army, who, after the restoration, disguised himself under the profession of quakerism, and settled on a fine farm, within a few miles of the city, called after his own name Mor- risania. Mr. Sparks, no doubt, as he had access to every infor- mation possessed by the family, must be relied upon.
Chief Justice William Smith, fills up the interval, " until he came to mans' estate," by informing us, that young Lewis was a headstrong boy, and " frequently gave offence to his uncle" of Morrisania, and on one occasion left him and strolled into Virginia,
* Samuel Smith's History of New Jersey.
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LEWIS MORRIS.
from whence he found his way to Jamaica, in the West Indies, where he supported himself as a scrivener. As a proof of his boyish propensities, we are told that when a pupil to Luke Coppathwait, a quaker, Lewis hid himself in a tree by which his teacher was to pass, and in a feigned voice with great solemnity called upon Luke, (from above of course,) and ordered him to go and preach the Gos- pel among the Mohawks. Luke considered the bidding miracu- lous, and prepared to obey, when either by compunction of the boy or other means, he was undeceived. After several years passed in the West Indies, the wanderer returned to Morrisania, and was received by his uncle with forgiveness and joy. To settle him for life, the uncle brought about a marriage between Lewis and Miss Graham.
The biographical " will" tells us, that the uncle " dying, what he had, fell" into the hands of the person who has occasioned this notice, " being his sole and only heir," and that there had been " articles of agreement and partnership entered into between his uncle and his father, that if either of them died without issue, the survivor, or issue of the survivor, if any, should take the estate."
Before Governour Hunter's arrival, Lewis Morris had been one of the council of New Jersey, (where he possessed estates as well as in New York,) and was a judge of the supreme court in that province in 1692. Upon the surrender of New Jersey to Queen Anne, by the proprietors, Morris had been named by them for governour, but the Queen chose to appoint her cousin, the infa- mous Cornbury, in his stead. When Cornbury was removed, Morris drew up the complaints of New Jersey, and carried the address to England.
To this gentleman, Governour Hunter was indebted for support, both in New Jersey and New York. In the latter province he secured the attachment likewise of Nicoll, the speaker of the house of assembly, Livingston, and De Lancey, who though a foreigner from Caen in Normandy, had by his personal merits, and the influence of Van Cortlandt's family, into which he had married, already attained great weight in the province.
Jacobus Van Cortlandt was at this time mayor of New York, and one of the most successful and opulent merchants of the city. I presume him to have been the son and successor of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, so conspicuous in the aristocratick or anti-Leislerian party, in 1639 and afterwards. The reader will see, that the leading or most conspicuous families for political agitation of New York, at this time were all in union with the English government, and occasionally in opposition to the people. The Bayards, Phil- lipses, Van Cortlandts, and De Lanceys, were sixty years after ranged on the king's part ; while the Morrises of Morrisania, the
VOL. I.
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HUNTER'S ADMINISTRATION.
Livingstons, the Schuylers, were leaders on the part of the peo- ple. The champions of the people in 1710 are little noticed by the courtly historian.
The De Lanceys of the present day, and of the king's army during our revolutionary struggle, derive their American origin from this Pierre De Lancey, who married a Van Cortlandt, in the eighteenth century : but the reader will find Stephen De Lancey in New York, and an alderman, in the year 1691. Pierre, one of those Huguenots who escaped from the tyranny and bigotry of Louis XIV, was aided in his flight by a protestant mother, who not only gave him the passports of education for his safety, but jewels, which enabled him in Holland to procure what was neces- sary to appear in New York as a wealthy merchant ; and we see him now a representative in the assembly of the province. 1710 Peter Schuyler had returned in safety with his Iroquois chieftains, and the colonies were again called upon to assist in the conquest of Canada. Governour Hunter met the deputies of the Five Nations at Albany, and took measures to secure them and their constituents, in the interest of the province he governed ; but declined, though urged so to do, using his influence for the purpose of engaging the Iroquois in warfare with the French Indians, who at this time carried their destructive warfare into the New England settlements. It was the policy of the Governour of New York, to preserve quiet on his own frontiers, by means of the neutrality sub-isting between the Five Nations and the French.
Returning to New York city, he found the assembly averse to placing the public funds at the disposal of the governour, they wishing to guard against the misapplications before experienced. Hunter had secured the council, who endeavoured to amend the money bills, and the two houses were at issue. Hunter prorogued the assembly on the 25th of November, not choosing to oppose them until he had definite instructions from the ministry and the board of trade, which he took the proper measures to procure according to his wish. During the winter, the governour was armed by the board for directing the affairs of the plantations, and by her gracious majesty, with such instructions as enabled him to take part openly with the council, and when he met the 1711 assembly in the spring, he told them it was her Majesty's tenderness to them, which made her urge a permanent revenue for the government ; for when they were left to themselves, they made too great gifts of money to their governours, by acts of assembly : whereas, her majesty, by fixing the salaries of officers, of which she was a better judge than they could be, and prohibit- ing the making any presents to their governours, took more and better care of their property, than they knew how to do. He hoped they had come to provide a support for her majesty's go-
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HUNTER'S ADMINISTRATION.
vernment, in the manner she has been pleased to direct. He, there- fore, asked them, whether or not they would support her majesty's : - government in the way she had been pleased to direct-pay the debts due to officers and others-and provide for the defence of the frontiers ?
The assembly could not be persuaded that her majesty, the board of trade, the ministry, the governour, on any others, were better qua- lified to judge of the necessity or propriety of giving money for the support of the province, than they were : they passed a money bill, which the governour's council again attempted to amend. The right to amend a money bill was denied by the assembly, and the bill de- feated. The governour told the assembly, in May, that he would pass no bill, until provision was made for the government.
In the mean time, Nicholson, with the forces furnished by the eastern provinces, had seized upon Acadie, and aspired to the con- quest of Canada. Great Britain persuaded by the eloquence of Peter Schuyler, backed by the exhibition of five kings of the Five - Nations, made preparations for the relief of her provinces, from the annoyance of their French neighbours, and called upon them again to assist in this salutary measure. To this call New York cheer- fully responded, and the assembly created a debt of £10,000, by issuing treasury bills, to be redeemed by taxation, in five years.
By orders from home, (as England was then always called,) a congress was held of all the colonial governours from New Jersey to Massachusetts, both included. Two regiments were raised by Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, to join the British armament, when it should arrive at Boston.
Nicholson was appointed to command the provincials, and mus- tered at Albany 4,000 men, under Colonels Schuyler, Ingoldsby, and Whiting ; these were raised in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut ; New York seconded by every means this attack upon Canada, and spared no exertions for building batteaux, collecting provisions, and forwarding the enterprize. The influence of Schuy- ler procured 600 Iroquois, in adddition to the other forces of New York.
While these preparations were eagerly forwarded by the pro- vinces, twelve men of war, forty transports, and six store ships, with frigates and bomb vessels, bearing the regiments of Kirk, Hill, Windress, Clayton, and Kane, summoned from Flanders, toge- ther with Seymour's and Derney's regiments, and a battalion of marines, from England, the whole commanded by General Hill, a relation of Mrs. Masham, who had superseded the Duchess of Marborough as the queen's favourite, sailed amply provided with artillery and stores, and arrived at Boston early in the summer.
Nicholson and his army marched by the former route from Albany,
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ANOTHER EXPEDITION AGAINST CANADA
being intended against Montreal, by the way of Wood Creek and Lake Champlain. But the general remained at the fort, awaiting news from the fleet. Admiral Sir Housdon Walker and General Hill, with a fleet of upwards of seventy, carrying 6,463 troops, sailed from Boston for Quebec, on the 30th of July. On the 18th of August, the fleet anchored in Gaspee Bay, to take in wood and water. In ascending the St. Lawrence, the armament was entangled amid rocks and islands on the northern shore.
To oppose this overwhelming force advancing by land and water upon the two extremities of his province, Vaudreuil, ordered the Sieur de Beaucourt, to hasten the fortifications of Quebec, and hold the troops, regulars and militia, in readiness to march when the enemy appeared. Indians were collected at Montreal, and emissaries sent to detach the Iroquois from the English standard.
The Jesuits, Longueil, and Jonceau, were sent, the one to Onondaga, the other to the Senecas, and prevailed on many to hold back from Schuyler, and to preserve their neutrality with France, although Abraham Schuyler, as Charlevoix tells us, had been through the Five Nations, endeavouring to make them take up arms. No effort appears to have been omitted by Vaudreuil, to prevent the Iroquois from joining with the provincials in the in- tended attack upon Montreal. The force of Canada appears to have been inadeqate to resist the armies that were directed against it.
Walker and Hill, seem to have been equally unfit for the trusts they had over a fleet and army sent to conquer a country they were unacquainted with. Contrary to the advice of the American pilots the fleet weighed anchor, on the 23d of August, in a fog, and eight transports, with SS4 men, were wrecked and lost.
A council of sea officers decided that it was impracticable to proceed, until the fleet had returned to a safe harbour, to refit, and on the 14th of September, they anchored in Spanish River Bay. Here a council of war was held, and after the loss they had sustained of near 900 officers, soldiers, and seamen, and considering that they had but ten weeks provision, and none nearer than New Eng- land, they unanimously concluded to make no further attempt, sent a recall to Nicholson, who had advanced as far as Fort George, and sailed with all dispatch for Great Britain. To add to the misfortunes of this fleet, on their arrival at Portsmouth, in England, a seventy gun ship was blown up, and all on board perished.
The French historian says, that the boats sent out by the Cana- dians, after the news of the wreck of part, and departure of the remainder of the English fleet, found the hulks of eight great ships, and near 3,000 drowned men on the shores. Among them were recognized two entire companies of the queen's guards, known and distinguished by their red helmets; and several Scotch families, intended to people Canada. They likewise found the queen's
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manifesto, which General Hill had caused to be printed at Boston, by B. Green, dated 1711.
The New England troop's arrived at Boston : Nicholson led back his army to Albany - the Iroquois, as Charlevoix says, having deserted him even before they knew of the failure of the fleet.
, The ministry were censured by the opposition for the conduct of this attempt upon Canada, and foreigners wondered that the French should be allowed to remain in that country, to the con- tinual annoyance, and prevention of the growth of the English colo- nies. The Swedish traveller, Kalm, thought that England "was not earnestly disposed to drive that power from the continent, pre- ferring to retain it as a check upon the colonists, who, they feared, would otherwise become powerful and independent." Easy as I am of belief in the depravity of statesmen, and knowing the very early jealousy of England, I do not agree with the Swedish botanist.
The forces of Canada were all disposed of for the reception of Nicholson, and the news of his retreat caused an exultation in that country, which seemed to be protected by both the favour of heaven and the folly of man. The Iroquois sent to renew their neutrality with Vaudreuil, and his power was encreased in proportion to the failures of his enemies.
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