USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 14
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While Dongan was thus winning popularity abroad among his savage allies, a growing feeling of discontent was springing up among his subjects at home. The citizens were mostly Protestants, and bitterly opposed to the Catholic religion ; many of them Waldenses and Huguenots, who had fled from the religious persecutions in Europe, and crossed the ocean to seek protection umder the tolerant Dutch government. On the cession of the province to the English, they fell under the direct rule of the Duke of York, a zealous Catholic, and an avowed opponent to the Protestant religion. On his accession to the throne, he awakened their distrust still
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more by surrounding himself with those of his creed, and elevating them to most of the posts of honor and profit in the kingdom. It was evidently and naturally his settled purpose to encourage the growth of Catholic- ism in his dominions, and though his plans for the con- version of the Indians were thwarted by the policy of Dongan, the Protestants saw his designs maturing in the city. Roman Catholics began to emigrate rapidly ; the collector of customs with several other prominent officials were avowed Papists, and the minister of the church of England, with many others, was suspected of secretly favoring the same religion. The people grew jealous of the Catholic influence, and murmured loudly at the spread of the obnoxious faith. Governor Dongan, who was still popular, despite his creed, used every effort to soothe their discontent by choosing the majority of his council from among the stanchest Protestants, and showing the greater possible religious toleration. But his judicious policy displeased his royal master, and, in the midst of his politic measures, he was suddenly recalled from the government. Resigning his command to Francis Nicholson, the deputy of Sir Edmund Andros, who had been appointed royal governor both of New England and New York, he set sail for Europe. He afterwards returned, and took up his residence on an estate on Staten Island, for which he had previously procured a patent, and which continued for many years in the pos- session of his family.
Nicholson took possession of the government during the month of August, 1688. On the 24th of the same month, Andros issued a proclamation for a general
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thanksgiving for the birth of a prince, the heir to the English crown. The next English mail brought start- ling intelligence. The Prince of Orange had invaded England, the people had everywhere flocked to his standard, James had abdicated the throne and fled to the continent in despair, and William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, had been proclaimed King and Queen of England.
CHAPTER VII.
1689-1692.
Revolution of 1689-Affair of Leisler.
THE news produced an instant revolution in the colo- nies. The Prince and Princess of Orange were known as stanch Protestants, and their accession to the throne was hailed with delight. But a knotty point arose in the administration of affairs. The commissions that had been granted by James II. became null and void on the receipt of this intelligence. The new sovereigns, involved in the perplexities of home affairs, and hardly, as yet, seated firmly on the throne, had found no time to for- ward instructions to their distant colonies, who were thus left without legal authority. Uncertain how to act, they determined to act for themselves. The Bostonians rose in arms, seized Sir Edmund Andros and his officers, sent them to England, and resumed their former popular government. The New Yorkers were not thus united. While they recognized the supremacy of William and Mary, a small party insisted that the colonial govern- ment had not been overthrown by the late revolution, but remained vested in the lieutenant-governor and his
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council until further advices should arrive from England This party consisted chiefly of the wealthiest and most aristocratic portion of the citizens, and was headed by Stephanus Van Cortlandt, mayor of the city, Nicholas Bayard, colonel of the city militia, Frederick Philipse, * a wealthy citizen, and Joseph Dudley ; all of whom were members of the council, holding their commissions from Dongan, the royal governor.
The mass of the people, on the other hand, maintained that the whole government had been overthrown by the deposal of James II., and that, as no one could longer legally hold power from the late authorities, the people themselves must rule until the arrival of the newly com- missioned governor. The greatest excitement prevailed
throughout the city. Nicholson and his party, though openly acknowledging the supremacy of the new gov- ernment, were suspected of being still in the interests of the late king. Rumors of every sort were abroad. Nicholson himself was known to be an adherent to the Catholic faith, as well as many of his party; and this fact increased the distrust of the people. A rumor was spread that the Papists had plotted to attack the Protestants while at church in the fort, massacre them all, take possession of the government, and erect the standard of the Pope and King James.
These extravagant rumors seem to have been ground- less, but they, nevertheless, excited general consterna- tion. The people of Long Island deposed their magistrates and chose others in their stead ; and also
* See Appendix, Note H.
.From
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dispatched a large body of militia to New York, "to "seize the fort, and to keep off popery, French invasion " and slavery."
The militia force of New York at this time consisted of five train-bands, of which Nicholas Bayard was colonel, and Jacob Leisler, senior captain. Of Bayard, we have already spoken. Jacob Leisler, who became in this struggle the hero of one of the most eventful epochs in the history of New York, was one of the oldest and wealthiest of the ancient Dutch burghers. He emi- grated from Frankfort to New Amsterdam in the ship Otter, in the year 1660, as a soldier in the service of the West India Company. Soon after his arrival, he married Elsje Loockermans, widow of Cornelius Vanderveer, and thus became uncle of Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Nicholas Bayard, the foes who afterwards brought him to the scaffold. He engaged at once in commerce, and soon became one of the leading shipping merchants of the city. On the cession of the city to the English, he took oaths of allegiance to the new government, and was among those who contributed, in 1692, towards the repairs of Fort James. Two years after, he was appointed one of the commissioners for the forced loan levied by Colve, at which time his property was valued at fifteen thousand guilders. In 1678, on a voyage to Europe, he was taken prisoner by the Turks, and forced to pay a heavy ransom for his liberty. On his return, in 1683, he received the appointment of Commissioner of the Admiralty from Governor Dongan. He had two chil- dren, Jacob and Mary, the latter of whom married Jacob Milborne, the companion of her father's prosperity and
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misfortunes, and, after his death, Abraham Gouverneur ; his son grew up to vindicate his father's memory, and to wring a tardy justice from the hands of his judges. He was well known as a zealous opponent of the Catholic faith. In Albany, in 1675, he had been imprisoned by Andros for his opposition to Rensselaer, an Episcopal clergyman and suspected Papist, who had been sent to the province by the Duke of York, and had thus won the confidence of the Protestant party, who in this emer- gency, naturally chose him as their leader.
The public money, amounting to £773 12s., had been deposited for safe keeping in the fort, which was gar- risoned by a few soldiers, under the command of a Catholic ensign. Anxious to secure the control of this treasure, the citizens assembled on the 2d of June, 1689, and marching in a body to the house of Leisler, requested him to lead them to the seizure of the fort ; then, upon his refusal, proceeded thither, headed by Ensign Stoll, and entered the fortress without resistance. On learn- ing of this capture, Leisler repaired to the fort with forty-seven men, where he was welcomed by the citizens and acknowledged their leader.
The people were now openly divided into two parties -the democratic and aristocratic,-the Leislerian and anti-Leislerian. The former met together, and chose a Committee of Safety, consisting of Richard Denton, Samuel Edsall, Theunis Roelofse, Pieter Delanoy, Jean Marest, Mathias Harvey, Daniel Le Klercke, Johannes Vermilye, Thomas Williams and William Lawrence, for the immediate government of the province. This com- mittee appointed Jacob Leisler captain of the fort, with
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full power to preserve the peace and to suppress any rebellion until the arrival of instructions from England.
In the meantime, the city militia had joined the popu- lar party, and it was agreed that the fort should be held by each of the five train-bands in turn. On the evening of the capture, it was resigned by Leisler to Captain Lodowick and his company. The next morning, a rumor was circulated that three ships were coming up the bay, upon which the train-bands hastily assembled in the fort, where the five captains and four hundred men, together with seventy volunteers from Westchester, signed an agreement to hold the fort for William and Mary.
Nicholson and his party, meanwhile, had not been idle. No sooner had Leisler entered the fort than, hastily calling together the city officials, they resolved them- selves into a convention in opposition to the Committee of Safety, and resolved to take measures to counteract the revolutionists. Thinking the public money unsafe in the fort, they determined to remove it to the house of Frederick Philipse ; but Leisler refused to deliver it to their order. They next made an effort to secure the custom-house revenues. The people had already refused payment of duties to the collector, Matthias Plowman, under the pretext that he was a Catholic. Nicholson now dispatched Nicholas Bayard and three others to take his place. On arriving at the custom-house, they found it guarded by militia. The Committee of Safety had already appointed their own collector, and armed men were sent on board all vessels arriving in port.
Foiled in this quarter, Colonel Bayard repaired to the fort to look after his refractory train-bands. He found
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them assembled on the Bowling Green, and ordered them to disperse. They refused to obey. Unable to enforce his commands, he returned to the City Hall at Coenties Slip, where Nicholson had assembled the rest of the council. It was not long before Captain Lodo- wick, the captain of the day, came to demand the sur- render of the keys of the fort. Nicholson, finding that the militia had declared against him, and that resistance would be in vain, reluctantly resigned them ; and hastily breaking up his council, fled to a ship in the harbor, and set sail for England, leaving the government in the hands of Leisler and his party. Bayard took refuge at Albany with Colonel Peter Schuyler,* the mayor of that city, who also refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Leisler. Van Cortlandt, who still claimed to act as mayor, remained in New York.
On the 16th of August, the Committee of Safety authorized Leisler to act as commander-in-chief of the province until further instructions should arrive from England. The neighboring colonies did not delay to recognize his authority. Massachusetts approved his conduct, and the General Court of Connecticut dis- patched two deputies to congratulate him upon his suc- cess, and to promise him assistance if necessary. These deputies brought news of the proclamation of the new sovereigns in England, upon which Leisler immediately ordered them to be proclaimed at the sound of the trumpet at the fort and the City Hall. He then went energetically to work to restore order to public affairs.
* See Appendix, Note I.
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Knowing that the French court had espoused the cause of the deposed king, and that a war with France must ensue, he set about repairing the fortifications and providing for the public safety. He stockaded the fort and erected a battery of seven guns to the west of it, strengthened the fortifications on the land side, and placed a garrison of fifty men in the fort, besides a com- pany of militia that mounted guard every night, after which he dispatched a private letter to the king, relating the particulars of the seizure of the fort, and accounting for the expenditure of the public money, the most of which had been swallowed up in the repairs.
On the 29th of September, 1689, by order of the Committee of Safety, the people assembled in their wards and elected their aldermen and councilmen, and for the first time, their mayor also. Pieter Delanoy was chosen mayor, Johannes Johnson, sheriff, and Abraham Gouverneur, clerk. Mr. Delanoy was a native born Hol- lander, who had emigrated to New Amsterdam in the days of Stuyvesant, and engaged in trade with signal success. He was warmly attached to the popular party, and clung faithfully to it through its changing fortunes. On the 14th of October, 1689, he was proclaimed mayor by Leisler, and on the same day he took the oaths of office, together with the Common Council, at the City Hall at Coenties Slip, now in the possession of the popu- lar party.
The city was emphatically divided against itself. Each party had its mayor and common council, who claimed to administer the city affairs, and each met and transacted the business of the city, wholly ignoring
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the existence of the other. Delanoy, on one side, had possession of the City Hall ; Van Cortlandt, on the other, held the charter, books, seals and papers. The newly- elected mayor sent to demand the latter, but without avail, and so the matter rested.
The election increased instead of allaying the popular agitation, and Bayard, still at Albany, fomented it by every means in his power. On the 20th of October, he addressed a letter to the militia, declaring that Jacob Leisler and his associates had illegally invaded their majesties' fort and subverted all lawful authority, and commanding the train-bands as their colonel to refuse all aid to these usurpers, and to continue to obey the civil government established by Sir Edmund Andros, which was still in full force, and was the only legal authority. This letter was productive of no effect. The soldiers and the majority of the citizens continued faith- ful to Leisler. Long Island, Westchester and Orange Counties also recognized his authority, but the Albanians continued to regard him as a usurper, and to obey the authorities established by the late monarchy.
In the meantime, war had broken out on the frontier. France, espousing the cause of the exiled king, had declared war against England, and the French in the Can- adas, with their Indian allies, the Hurons, threatened the little settlements that had sprung up along the northern frontier with speedy destruction. Terrified at the dan- ger, the Albanians resolved to seek assistance from New York ; and in September, a convention of the civil authorities dispatched a messenger to Leisler to entreat him to furnish them with men, ammunition and money.
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Leisler made no reply to the convention, who held their commissions from James II. He sent some powder and guns to the military officers, but refused them any sol- diers, on account of some alleged slight which his people had received in Albany ; and urged the Albanians to send deputies to New York to consult with him for the public good. This they refused to do, and asked assistance from Connecticut, which two months after, sent them eighty-seven men.
About the same time, Leisler dispatched his son-in-law and secretary, Milborne, who had arrived from England the preceding summer, with a force of fifty men to their aid ; but the Albanians, suspecting that this expedition was covertly designed to gain possession of the fort and overthrow the existing government, determined that they should not be permitted to take command in the city. The force, indeed, was too small for any such purpose, but Milborne doubtless entertained the design, and relied on the aid which he might receive from the citizens. The latter, however, were averse to a change, and, yield- ing to the persuasions of their officers, had already pledged themselves at a public meeting to maintain the present authorities. The troops, on their arrival, were not suffered to land, but Milborne was invited to come alone into the city. He repaired to the City Hall, and at once commenced to harangue the people, telling them that their present charter was null and void, and urging them to depose their officers and choose new ones in their stead, as they now had a right to govern themselves. He also declared that he was authorized by the Commit- tee of Safety of the province to administer affairs at
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Albany ; and, by virtue of this authority, he demanded that an account should be furnished him of the arms and stores in the fort, and that an election should be held for both civil and military officers. The convention refused to acknowledge his commission, and forbade him to come within the gates of the city unless he would consent to submit to their authority. He next attempted to force an entrance, when the guns of the fort were turned upon him, and seeing that, with his small force, he could effect nothing, he wisely determined to return to New York.
In the month of December, a packet arrived from Eng- land, addressed to Francis Nicholson, or to those who, for the time being, administered the government in the province of New York. This packet contained a com- mission empowering the person who was then at the head of the government to appoint a council and to act as lieu- tenant-governor until further orders. Hearing of the arrival of this precious document, Nicholas Bayard came secretly to New York, and seeking out Riggs, the bearer of the packet, endeavored to persuade him that Leisler was a usurper, and that it rightfully belonged to himself and Philipse as members of the late council. His argu- ments failed to satisfy Riggs, who, finding that Leisler had been conducting the government for nearly seven months with the consent of the people and in behalf of William and Mary, delivered the papers to him as their rightful possessor. Leisler showed them to the Com- mittee of Safety, and, by their advice, assumed the title of lieutenant-governor, and appointed a council of eight persons to assist him in administering the government. This council consisted of Pieter Delanoy, Samuel Staats,
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Hendrick Jansen, Johannes Vermilye, Gerardus Beek- man, Samuel Edsall, Thomas Williams and William Lawrence.
Thinking himself now the legal governor of the pro- vince and sure of his position, Leisler resolved to restore order by energetic measures. The party of his enemies was constantly increasing. His fellow-citizens were jealous of his sudden elevation, and the leaders of the aristocratic faction used every effort to foment this feeling, and to stir them up to open rebellion. They even raised a street riot, from which he narrowly escaped with his life. The drums were beat and the military called out, and for a few minutes the result of the struggle seemed doubtful. The riot was finally quelled, several of the combatants were thrown into prison, and warrants were issued for the arrest of Bayard, Van Cort- landt and several others who had been implicated in the affair. Van Cortlandt escaped, but Bayard and William Nichols were arrested and imprisoned in the cells at the City Hall, which then served also as the city prison, and a court was summoned to try them for treason. Terrified at his danger, Bayard sent a submissive petition to the governor, acknowledging his errors, and entreating par- don in the humblest terms. His supplication stayed the proceedings and saved him from death, although it did not obtain his release. He remained in prison fourteen months until the arrival of Governor Sloughter, then emerged to wreak a terrible vengeance upon his jailer. Meanwhile, his party did not slacken their zeal, but stirred up a powerful opposition to Leisler.
A new event occurred to attract the public notice
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The frontier warfare still continued, with its scenes of savage barbarity. In February, 1690, it reached its climax. A party of French and Indians fell at midnight upon the little village of Schenectady, and transformed the peaceful settlement into a scene of ruin. Men, women and children were shot, scalped or carried into captivity ; the village was plundered and set on fire, and but one house escaped the general conflagration. A few escaped half-naked through the snow to carry the news to their neighbors at Albany.
This fearful catastrophe opened the eyes of the Alban- ians to their folly in rejecting the aid of New York at a time when union was so much needed, and in wasting their time in disputing the legality of commissions which would so soon be settled by direct instructions from England. The most natural conclusion in the existing state of affairs was, certainly, that when the authority of James II. ceased, the authority of his officers ceased also, and the government reverted to the people until further instructions should be received from the new powers. Such was the interpretation of the mass of the people. But the officials who had been commissioned by the late government naturally availed themselves of every quibble whereby to retain their powers, and being rich in means, though poor in numbers, they were, at least, partially successful. It was a combat between the aris . tocrats and the people. In New York, the democracy triumphed ; in Albany, the aristocracy. Leisler, who now considered himself lieutenant-governor, by virtue of the royal commission, again sent Milborne with a strong body of troops to force Albany to submit to his authority.
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The citizens, terrified at the massacre of Schenectady, no longer attempted resistance, but quietly surrendered the fort into his hands.
Having thus succeeded in gaining control of the pro- vince, Leisler summoned a convention of delegates from Massachusetts and Connecticut to meet him at New York to consult together on the common danger. This con- vention assembled on the 1st of May, 1690, and deter- mined to fit out an expedition against the Canadas. Leisler promised to join with Connecticut in dispatching a force of nine hundred men to attack Montreal, while Massachusetts pledged herself to send a fleet and an army against Quebec. The expeditions were immediately fitted out, but both proved signally unsuccessful.
The enemies of Leisler, in the meantime, had used every effort to asperse his motives and actions to the king. Though he had always administered the government in the name of William and Mary, he was represented as in a state of actual rebellion, and denounced to the English court as a hypocrite and arch-traitor. Much of this calumny was due to Francis Nicholson, who had been received with favor on his return, and who had avenged himself on Leisler for his forcible expulsion from the government by intriguing against him in the English court. Immediately upon his accession to the government, Leisler had dispatched a memorial and pri- vate letter to the king, informing him of the whole affair ; but these papers, written in imperfect English-a language which Leisler both wrote and spoke badly- were wrongly construed. Nicholson did not cease to represent Leisler to the king as an ambitious usurper,
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who had acted from aversion to the Church of England and with an eye to his own private interests, rather than from any devotion to the Prince of Orange. Misled by these reports, the king made no reply to Leisler, although ·he returned thanks to the colonies for their fidelity ; and soon after appointed Henry Sloughter governor of New York. This was a most injudicious choice. It is true that the appointment of a new governor was needed to restore harmony among the contending factions, but a worse one than Sloughter could hardly have been found. According to the admission of one of the king's own officers, he was "licentious, avaricious and poor,"-a broken-down adventurer who came to repair his wasted fortunes from the revenues of the office without thought or care for the welfare of his subjects. But the enemies of Leisler rejoiced at the appointment. They felt them- selves sure of the new governor, whose `necessities would bind him to the wealthiest party, and saw that the star of their adversary was near its setting.
In 1690, Governor Sloughter set sail from England with several ships and a considerable body of troops. By some accident, the vessels parted company, and the first ship that arrived was the Beaver, commanded by Major Richard Ingoldsby, who had received the appoint- ment of lieutenant-governor. The Beaver arrived in January, 1691. Ingoldsby at once announced the appoint- ment of Sloughter, and in his name demanded that the fort should be surrendered to him for the accommodation of his soldiers. Leisler, in reply, offered quarters for his men, but refused to surrender the fort into his hands until he had first produced the royal commission. This was
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