USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 10
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While the war scare was on, Governor Nicolls was in momentary expecta- tion of an attack by the Dutch which should wrest New York from the English. He made all efforts he could to get the city in order to repel a possible invasion. But, until late in 1666, he had received no support from the home government, either in supplies or soldiers; the only English ships that had entered the harbor had come from Virginia or New England. In the fall season of 1666 Nicolls received some supplies, which had been sent by way of Boston, for his soldiers, and also received from the king a gift of £200.
Even before the war began, Nicolls had expressed a desire to be relieved of his province, the cares and conflicts of which he found to be a heavy burden. In many ways he had succeeded admirably. He had gained the
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personal respect of the Dutch residents, and where his acts did not please them they were the outcome of the limitations placed upon his power by the policies of the duke, his master. Representative government he could not give them, because, like the other Stuarts, James, Duke of York, was opposed to every semblance of democracy. But his selections of officers were carefully made, and gave satisfaction in spite of the autocratic method of their appointment. He had done everything, consistent with his instructions, which an English governor could do, for these Netherlanders; and those in Manhattan had become extremely well affected toward him. At Esopus and Albany he had not gained so strong a hold upon the people; although even there, after a personal visit, he made friends. But when England and Holland were on a war footing Nicolls felt that the Netherlanders would not let their personal feeling for him outweigh their patriotic regard for the Fatherland, and that, in case of a Dutch invasion, they would probably be with the enemy.
They had no reason to feel otherwise; for no benefits had come to them from English rule. Stuyvesant had originally been a martinet and was always somewhat autocratic in his bearing, but through numerous petitions and remonstrances the people of New Netherland had obtained a fair measure of self-government, which had been wiped out by the English conquest. Neither had there been any improvement in trade. The English navigation laws were very strict in their protective policy to keep trade between the colonies and European countries confined to English bottoms; but while the war went on, only one or two English ships found their way to Manhattan. Even the coastwise trade with Virginia and New England had practically ceased because of the depredations of privateers, and the fear of an expected Dutch fleet. In June, 1667, the Dutch fleet found its way to Vir- ginia and, sailing into the James River, captured a large number of tobacco- laden merchant ships. So large was the booty that it required all the effort of the fleet to take the vessels to Holland; and this fact, doubtless, saved New York from its greatly dreaded visitation.
For want of aid during this period of great need, Nicolls spent all of his own money, used his credit to its limit in New York and Boston, and drew bills of exchange amounting to £2000 against his English estate. He often asked to be recalled, doubting his own ability as an executive, and the suffi- ciency of his resources, for he was not a rich man. The official announce- ment of the peace treaty of Breda reached Colonel Nicolls at the same time with a royal order releasing him from his office when his successor should arrive.
With the news of the peace, Peter Stuyvesant returned to New York. He went to Amsterdam before the war began, and had meanwhile been
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STUYVESANT BEFORE THE STATES-GENERAL
engaged in a controversy with the Dutch West India Company before the States-General, in regard to his action in permitting the surrender of the city and fort of New Amsterdam. The Breda treaty ended the controversy, in which, now that New York had been definitely ceded to England, the Dutch West India Company displayed no further interest. Stuyvesant, who had felt the proprieties would not permit him to live in New York under the English while his own action in the surrender of New Amsterdam was under fire, was relieved of all scruples now that the English possession of the province was confirmed by the new treaty; and he determined to return to New York and make his home there. He went to England and in behalf of himself and the Dutch residents of New York asked that the Articles of Surrender be confirmed by the Duke of York and the king in council, and especially Article VI of that document, which guaranteed free trade between Manhattan and Holland; and in reply received permission from the king and duke that three Dutch ships might freely trade with the province of New York for a period of seven years. He carried this welcome news to New York, where his wife and family had remained during all the troublous times, and where he remained a distinguished citizen until his death.
The official proclamation of the peace was made on New Year's day, 1668, in front of the Stadt Huis. About the same time, Governor Nicolls allowed it to be known that his term as governor would soon end. The news was heard with deep regret by Dutch as well as English. He had ably dis- charged his duties, which were difficult, because he had to conform to instructions which ran counter to the desires of both the Dutch and English residents; but with all his limitations he won the confidence and affections of the people.
In the early summer, the new governor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, came to New York. Nicolls remained for a few months to help his successor learn the situation, and August 26, 1668, Colonel Nicolls sailed for England.
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NEW YORK UNDER GOVERNOR LOVELACE RECAPTURE BY THE DUTCH FORT ORANGE
Colonel Francis Lovelace, the second governor of New York, was of a good English family, although his parentage is a matter about which the statements of the historians vary. Most of the earlier accounts speak of him as a son of that Sir Richard Lovelace who was elevated to the peerage by Charles Baron Lovelace, of Hurley, in Berkshire; but later and probably more accurate accounts point to him as a son of Sir William Lovelace, of Woolwich, Kent, who was killed in the war with the Netherlands, and of Anne, daughter of Sir William Barnes, also of Woolwich. Sir William had six children, five sons and one daughter, of whom Colonel Lovelace was the second son, his elder brother being Richard Lovelace, the poet.
Samuel Maverick, who was the chief adviser to Clarendon in colonial matters, had recommended Lovelace to head the expedition undertaken by Nicolls in 1664. When Nicolls' wish to be relieved of his duties was received, King Charles advised his brother James to appoint Lovelace to the place.
Lovelace, as a strong royalist, had left England during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and had lived for a time on Long Island. After Oliver's death he returned to England, and his activity as a partisan of the Stuarts led to his incarceration in the Tower, by order of Richard Cromwell. On the Restoration he became a participant in royal favor, and was appointed by Charles II to be a groom of the bedchamber. He had few resources, and one of the principal reasons for his recommendation to appointment was the hope of Charles that he might retrieve his fortune in New York; for the colonies were looked upon as a legitimate field of exploitation by the favorites of the court.
Lovelace was by no means so strong a character as Governor Nicolls; but his disposition was kindly, and he patterned his administration as nearly as possible after that of his predecessor. When he took office he retained Matthias Nicolls as secretary of the province and Van Ruyven as collector of the port. His council was composed of Secretary Nicolls, Cornelis Steenwyck, mayor of the city, and Thomas Willett, former mayor for two terms. Between Willett's two terms Thomas Delavall had served a term as mayor.
Trade improved in New York after the close of the war by the treaty of Breda. Samuel Maverick, who had been a member of the Royal Com- mission of 1664, settled in New York City in 1666. The property of the
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LOVELACE ESTABLISHES THE MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE
West India Company, which lay along the Heere Weg, the name of which Governor Nicolls had changed to Broadway, had been confiscated, and Nicolls had secured from the duke, in behalf of Maverick, a deed to a house and grounds on that thoroughfare. Some of Maverick's correspondence with Nicolls after the latter had returned to England, is published in the Colonial Documents, and gives a valuable insight into the doings in New York under the Lovelace administrations. Among other things he records the building of two ships, one of 120 tons, on Manhattan Island named the Good Fame of New York, for Governor Lovelace, and another of 70 tons at Gravesend; and also tells of the discovery of cod-banks about two or three leagues from Sandy Hook "on which in a few hours, four men took eleven or twelve hun- dred excellent good cod the last time they were out," which early fish story still holds good, for the fishing banks mentioned continue to be a valuable source of supply.
In 1671 Governor Lovelace issued an order that each Friday, between eleven and twelve o'clock, all merchants and artificers of the city should meet near the bridge across the canal (Heere Gracht), assembling there as in an exchange, to confer about their several affairs; and ordering that they should gather and disperse at the sound of a bell, and without disturbance. It is an interesting fact, that this first business exchange in New York used for its place of assembly the identical spot where the "curb market" now creates excitement day by day.
Governor Lovelace ordered that a "sworn postman" should start once each month for Boston, going by way of Hartford and returning within the thirty days, carrying letters and other small portable packs. The first trip was to have begun January 1, 1673, but there was a long wait for letters from Albany and it was January 22 before he finally started from the secretary's office at the fort, and mounted his horse for the first official postal trip out of New York. The route began up Broadway and from thence over what is now known as Park Row, the Bowery, Fourth Avenue to Union Square, Broadway to Madison Square, thence by an irregular road to the Harlem River at Third Avenue and 130th Street, and along a route which was approximately identical with the present Third Avenue to 163d Street and continuing along the thoroughfare still called Boston Road. The whole of this route was for many years known as the Boston Post Road. At the fort letters were received, postage being prepaid, and were kept in a locked box until the postman started on his next trip.
Domine Megapolensis died in 1670, after twenty-seven years of faithful service as minister of the Dutch Church, and his son went to Holland; so the care of the Dutch Church was in the hands of Domine Drisius, who was in failing health, and all the help he had was that given by ÆEgidius Luyck,
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a young man who was teacher of the Latin school which had been established during the governorship of Governor Stuyvesant. So urgent were the pastoral needs, that the city magistrates offered a salary of one thousand guilders and a convenient house to a competent preacher, and this offer went to the Classis of Amsterdam with the guarantee of Governor Lovelace; and in response, Rev. Wilhelmus van Nieuwenhuysen was sent out. The "Duke's Laws," promulgated by Governor Nicolls, provided that the majority vote of a town should select the church which should be supported by general taxation; and this, in New York, was the Dutch Church. There was, however, toleration for all denominations; all of the Protestant sects freely practised their religious rites, and even George Fox, the Quaker, preached without hindrance at Flushing, in 1672.
Commerce fell off in New York during the administration of Governor Lovelace, not through any fault of his, but because of the restrictions imposed by the English navigation laws. There was also much dissatisfaction in the towns of Long Island, where the English towns were composed of people who had come from New England, where the democratic "town meeting" system gave every man a voice in local affairs; and these people complained of the lack of freedom imposed by the operation of the "Duke's Laws." The eastern towns of Long Island were so dissatisfied that they petitioned the king to let them become a part of Connecticut.
Lovelace had much of his attention focused on the affairs of the province outside of Manhattan. In 1672, when war began between England and Holland, he received a warning from the home government to put the province in a state effective for defense. The declaration of war was read on July 6, 1672, at the gate of Fort James and the City Hall and a considerable amount of work was done upon the fortification of the city. On January 22, 1673, when the first trip of the official postman was started from New York for Boston, he carried a letter from Governor Lovelace to Governor Winthrop, at New Haven, in which was mentioned a report that the Dutch, with forty sail and well armed, had started for the West Indies; and suggesting that if it was true it would be "high time for us to buckle on our armor." In March, when the governor was away on business in Westchester, leaving Captain John Manning, as usual, in charge of Fort James during his absence, he was called back to the fort on the rumor that the Dutch were coming. He found the English residents in a state of semi-panic; and therefore, although the alarm proved to be premature, he sent orders to the garrisons up the Hudson and on the Delaware River to send their troops to Fort James. They did so, augmenting the forces in the fort to three hundred and fifty, but the scare soon subsided, and Lovelace dispersed the troops again, retaining only about seventy men at the fort.
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DUTCH DEMAND NEW YORK'S SURRENDER
In July, 1673, little suspecting that an invading fleet had already reached the Chesapeake, Governor Lovelace again left Captain Manning in charge of the fort and went to New Haven, for a conference with Winthrop, taking with him Secretary Nicolls and three servants.
The fleet, which approached New York, was under the command of Cornelis Evertsen the younger, son of the great Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, who had lost his life in battle in 1666. The fleet consisted of twenty-one sail, including nine men-of-war; and twelve prize ships which had been captured in West Indian and Virginian waters. The fleet carried sixteen hundred soldiers and seamen, and besides the admiral there was in joint command, Captain Jacob Benckes, who had started out with four of the ships and had joined Evertsen in the West Indies. He was a veteran of the previous war with England and of the raid into the Thames. In the force were a hun- dred and fifty mariniers (marines) under command of Captain Anthony Colve.
There are varying reports in regard to the manner of the attack on New York, but the accounts agree in stating that the Dutch fleet sailed into the bay July 29, 1673. The morning after the Dutch ships had anchored, Captain Manning sent Thomas Lovelace, Carr and Sharpe as messengers to the ships, to inquire why they came in such a hostile manner to disturb His Majesty's subjects in this place. These messengers, without communication, passed another boat, carrying a trumpeter, sent by the Dutch commanders to the English officer in command, with a message reading as follows:
"Sir: The force of war now lying in your sight is sent by the High and Mighty States and His Serene Highness the Prince of Orange for the purpose of destroying their enemies. We have sent you therefore this letter, together with our trumpeter, to the end that upon sight hereof you surrender unto us the fort called James, promising good quarter ; or, by your refusal, we shall be obliged to proceed, both by land and water, in such manner as we shall find to be most advantageous for the High and Mighty States.
Dated in the ship Swanenbergh, anchored betwixt Staten and Long Island the 9th of August (July 30, Old Style), 1673.
CORNELIS EVERTSEN JACOB BENCKES"
Captain Manning answered this document by stating that he had already sent messengers to communicate with the fleet, and upon their return he would give a definite answer to the summons. Thereupon the ships weighed anchor, stood up the bay and anchored opposite the fort, and word was sent to Manning giving him half an hour to answer the Dutch summons to sur- render. Manning asked time until the following morning at 10 o'clock; but word was sent back that only half an hour would be given before opening fire upon the fort, and that the hourglass would be immediately turned up.
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The specified time expiring without word from the fort, a heavy cannonading against the fort was begun, and several men were killed and wounded. Soon after, the Dutch landed six hundred men, under command of Captain Anthony Colve, and he marched toward the fort, sending a trumpeter ahead to ask whether it would surrender. Manning sent Captain Carr, of Delaware, and two other messengers under indefinite instructions, to make the best terms they could, and Colve, holding two of the messengers as prisoners, sent Carr to inform Manning that he could have fifteen minutes to make definite proposals. Captain Carr, instead of carrying the message, rode out of the city and made his escape. Much incensed at apparent indifference, Captain Colve resumed the march, but was met by an officer who offered to surrender the fort, with all military arms and ammunition, on condition that officers and men should march out with their arms, drums beating, colors flying, bag and baggage, without hindrance or molestation.
Captain Manning had to bear the brunt of the general displeasure of the English inhabitants of New York and of all the New England colonies; but the force against him was so overwhelming that he could have done no better, and might have caused great destruction by holding out.
The Dutch commanders, in order to reorganize the government, commis- sioned Captain Anthony Colve as governor, and changed the name of the fort to Fort William Henry, and of the city to New Orange; issued a proc- lamation restoring the form of government as it was when it was New Amsterdam; and getting nominations from the members of the existing council, chose the following, all Netherlanders, for officers of the city: Anthony de Milt, schout; Johannes van Brugh, Johannes de Peyster and Ægidius Luyck, burgomasters; and Willem Beeckman, Jeronimus Ebbingh, Jacob Kip, Laurens Vanderspeigle and Geleyn Verplanck, schepens.
Governor Colve became active in efforts to place the city on a defensive footing, and after the fleet had left, he organized the burgher guard; repaired the city palisades and the works of the fort; razed several buildings, paying the owners and giving them lots further removed from the fort, and he made various ordinances relative to local government. The Treaty of Westminster, of peace between England and Holland, made February 9, 1674, restored the country to the English. The Dutch remained, however, until November 10, following. Meanwhile the Duke of York secured from his brother, Charles II, a confirmation of his former title to the country, and appointed Major Sir Edmund Andros as governor of the Province of New York.
Andros arrived on November 1, 1674, on the frigate Diamond in com- pany with the frigate Castle. Previous to that, on October 16, a frigate from Holland had arrived, bringing instructions to Colve to surrender and vacate
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NEW ORANGE BECOMES NEW YORK
his province. Andros also brought credentials from the States-General, recognizing his appointment as the British governor of New York, which, the day after his arrival, he sent to Governor Colve. The latter asked for eight days in which to prepare for orderly evacuation, and this was granted; Major Edmund Andros, in the meanwhile, receiving delegations from the city magistrates and other local bodies, asking certain securities in regard to future government of the province; and receiving the assurances of the governor that Dutchmen and Englishmen should be alike in liberties and privileges, and that he had been instructed to act with justness and kindness. Governor Colve called the civil and military officials to a meeting, at which he formally bade them farewell, and absolved them from their oaths; and the magistrates pre- sented him with two hundred and fifty guilders for his services as governor.
In the court records of New Orange, the last entry made under Dutch government in the city says: "On the 10th November, Anno 1674, the Province of New Netherland is surrendered by Governor Colve to Governor Major Edmund Andros in behalf of His Majesty of Great Britain." The English called the day, which was Saturday, October 31; as the New Style calendar had not yet been adopted by Great Britain, and on that day Governor Colve and his troops retired to the Dutch frigate. Governor Andros wrote from the fort, renamed Fort James, wishing Captain Colve a good voyage, and thanking him for the gift of his coach and three horses.
Governor Colve's administration had been short, but creditable. The record of Dutch government in New York was not blackened by any of his acts. Governor Stuyvesant, the former Dutch governor, had died a year before the Dutch recapture, and as a British subject. Lovelace, the English governor whose province was taken from him in his absence, had come back to New York during the early part of Colve's year of administration, and before the Dutch fleet left. He was terribly in debt, and was arrested at the suit of several merchants. He was finally permitted to sail with Admiral Benckes to Holland. His property, which was considerable, for he had not neglected his personal interests, was confiscated by Colve.
In securing his properties, he had borrowed from the duke's exchequer, and for this reason the duke, who claimed Lovelace owed him £7000, kept him from further public employment, and instructed Andros to hold his estate until that sum was satisfied. Lovelace died before his estate was fully inven- toried, January 29, 1679.
The matter of his debts is the chief count in any indictment to be brought against Lovelace. His absence from the fort was ill-judged, but if he had been there he could have helped matters little. He was clothed with despotic power, but was in no degree offensive, and while lacking the diplomacy of Nicolls, was a friendly and a kindly man.
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NEW YORK UNDER SIR EDMUND ANDROS AND "THE DUKE'S LAWS"
Major Edmund Andros, who became the first governor of New York after the final extinction of Dutch authority by the Treaty of Westminster, was born in London, December 6, 1637. His family, which had been very prominent for years in the Island of Guernsey, was attached to the fortunes of the House of Stuart. His father was a minor officer in the royal household, under Charles I, and as a reward for his faithful service, the son was appointed a gentleman-in-ordinary to Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia; and had been brought up at court, becoming a favorite of King Charles II, and his brother James, Duke of York.
Adopting the military profession, he served in the regiment of foot, sent to America in 1666, and in 1672 was commander of the forces in Barbadoes. Later in the same year he was made a major in the dragoon regiment of Prince Rupert, notable as the first English regiment to be armed with the bayonet. Early in 1674 his father died, and he became seigneur of the fiefs of Saumarez, and succeeded his father in the office of Bailiff of Guernsey. He had strengthened his relations with the court by marrying Mary Craven, who was daughter of Sir Thomas Craven, a sister of Sir William Craven, and a cousin of Lord Craven-one of the most influential courtiers in the court of Charles II-through whose influence Major Edmund Andros had obtained a large grant of land in Carolina.
Major Andros, who was much at court, was chosen for the post of governor of New York by the Duke of York, not only on the ground of friendship, but also because he possessed many of the qualifications for the place. His military experience was valuable, he had considerable knowledge of America, and of colonial, administration, and he was familiar with the Dutch and French languages. Besides these qualifications, there was no question about his devotion to the royal family; and the duke felt that his interests would be safe in his hand.
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