USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
252
HISTORY OF THE
the period of the Revolution, its inmates numbered more than a hundred and sixty thousand. The old graveyard of the Dutch burghers in Broadway above Morris street, had, in 1677, been cut up into four build- ing lots and sold at auction to the highest bidder. In 1703, the King's Farm was granted to the church by Queen Anne, thus becoming the celebrated Trinity church property. The church was enlarged in 1735, and again in 1737, to meet the increasing wants of the con- gregation, and thus remained until it fell a victim to the conflagration of 1776, which laid waste the greater por- tion of the city. It lay in ruins until 1788, when it was again rebuilt, and consecrated by Bishop Provost in 1791. In 1839, it was again demolished to make room for the present edifice, which was opened in 1846.
The parish was afterwards made to include St. George's in Beekman street, erected in 1752 ; St. Paul's in Broadway, erected in 1766; St. John's in Varick street, erected in 1807, and Trinity Chapel in Twenty- fifth street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, erected in 1854, all chapels, dependent upon Trinity as the parish church.
The frontier warfare had continued meanwhile, and Fletcher's conduct in this had been characterized with decision and promptness, thanks, in part, to the advice of Peter Schuyler, who knew the Indians intimately, and who had advised Fletcher on his arrival to form a firm league with the Iroquois, who formed a powerful barrier between the English settlements and the Canadas. It was the policy of the French government to extermi- nate these tribes as the greatest obstacle in the way of
253
CITY OF NEW YORK.
their designs, then to seize Albany, and, proceeding down the river, take possession of New York, and thus make themselves masters of the province. For this pur- pose, they dispatched Frontenac with a large army in 1696 to invade the territory of the Iroquois. The expe- dition proved unsuccessful, and before it could be renewed, a treaty of peace was concluded at Ryswick between France and England which definitively put an end to the war.
The city had long suffered from the rapacity of govern- ment officials and the reflected horrors of a distant war- fare ; it had now another scourge to encounter. The system of privateering had long been in existence, and had not only been connived at but openly encouraged by the European governments, who deemed it an excellent means of annoying their enemies' commerce without trouble or expense to themselves. The adventurous privateers, emboldened by their successes, soon ripened into buccaneers, and, bearing down upon ships of all nations, plundered them of their cargoes, then scuttled and sunk them, that none might escape to tell the tale. The American coasts were infested by pirates, no vessel was safe upon the waters, and the ocean commerce was almost destroyed. New York suffered especially from these depredations. Her merchant vessels were rifled and burnt within sight of her shores, and the pirates even entered her harbors and seized her ships as they lay at anchor. Complaint to the authorities availed nothing ; nearly every government official was impli- cated in the nefarious trade, and it was suspected, almost ยท with certainty, that Fletcher himself was confederated
254
HISTORY OF THE
with the pirates and a sharer in their booty. The corsairs boldly entered the ports, sure that their money would purchase protection, and many of the merchants, finding legal trade suspended, were tempted to embark in the traffic and to lend assistance to the successful buc- caneers.
The interruption to commerce at length grew so alarm- ing that the English government found it necessary to interfere in the matter, and to take vigorous measures for the suppression of piracy. Fletcher, who was accused on every side of protecting the corsairs, was recalled, and Lord Bellamont was appointed in his stead, with instructions to extirpate the pirates from the seas. He received his appointment in 1695,-although he did not enter upon the duties of his office until nearly three years after-and immediately began to take measures to follow out his instructions. He first urged the govern- ment to fit out an armed force to cruise against the buc- caneers, but as all the naval force was needed in the war with France, which was not yet ended, the request was refused. He then organized a stock company, in which the king himself, the Duke of Shrewsbury, Lord Chan- cellor Somers, the Earls of Oxford and Romney, Robert Livingston and several others, became shareholders, for the purpose of fitting out a privateering expedition against the pirates. Six thousand pounds were soon raised for the enterprise. The Adventure Galley, a fine ship, manned with sixty sailors and thirty guns, was at once fitted out, and the command of it intrusted to Captain William Kidd, a New York sea-captain, who happened to be in London at the time, and who had been
255
CITY OF NEW YORK.
warmly recommended to Bellamont by Robert Living- ston, and, to stimulate him further in the pursuit of his prey, one fifth of the proceeds of the expedition was promised him as his share in the enterprise. Kidd had previously commanded a privateer in the West Indies, and had, for some years, been captain of a packet ship, which plied between New York and London. He was a resident of the city of New York, where he owned a house and lot in Liberty street and passed for a worthy and respectable citizen. In 1691, he had married Sarah Oort, the widow of one of his fellow captains and a woman of the highest respectability, by whom he had one daughter. His house was one of the most com- modious and best furnished in the city ; he moved among the best circles of society, and nothing in his previous conduct or mode of life indicated the terrible career that followed the fitting out of this fatal expedition.
On taking command of the ship, Kidd immediately repaired to New York, and, shipping ninety additional men, sailed for the Indian seas in quest of pirates. The sequel of his career is already too well known to be repeated in detail. He succumbed to temptation, joined the band which he had been sent to destroy, and became one of the most daring and successful pirates that ever hoisted the black flag on the seas. His career was short, embracing only two years, yet, during that time, he plun- dered scores of ships, amassed countless treasure, and made his name a terror on the seas and a by-word for future generations. Grown daring by his success, he exchanged his ship for a frigate that he had captured, and, in 1698, returned to New York. But Bellamont was
256
HISTORY OF THE
now governor, and protection was no longer vouchsafed to pirates. Passing up Long Island Sound, he landed at Gardiner's Island and buried a portion of his treasure ; then, dividing his spoils with his crew, he discharged them and repaired to Boston, where he quietly took up his residence under an assumed name. Here he was met by Bellamont, who at once recognized and arrested him. He was sent to England for trial, found guilty of piracy, sentenced to death, and executed on the 12th of May, 1701, His wife and daughter continued to reside in New York after his death in the strictest seclusion. Search was made by the authorities for the buried trea- sure, and a large box of gold, silver, and jewels was found at the place of deposit on Gardiner's Island. This inflamed the imagination of the gold-hunters ; rumors of immense sums buried on Long Island and the shores of the North River circulated eagerly from mouth to mouth, and every likely and unlikely locality was mined in search of the hidden treasure. The faith has even come down to our own times, and the words "Kidd's treasure," still suggests to some credulous minds visions of untold wealth lying almost at their doors, awaiting the touch of the spade and mattock.
The result of this enterprise caused great excitement and indignation, both in America and in England, and Bellamont, Livingston, and even the king himself, were openly accused of having secretly connived at it and shared in the spoils. A motion was made in the House of Commons that all who had been interested in the adventure should be deprived of their official positions, and this motion being lost by a large majority, the noble-
265
CITY OF NEW YORK.
majority, declared that a temporary chairman must be elected, as had previously been done after the death of Sloughter. In the midst of the discussion Nanfan arrived, and opportunely assumed the direction of the government.
Nanfan was as warm a Leislerian as Bellamont, though less judicious in his course of policy, and his first Assembly was imbued with the same spirit. In the late contest, the claims of Smith to the chair had been warmly supported by Peter Schuyler and Robert Liv- ingston, the latter of whom had been one of Leisler's bitterest foes, and had been denounced by Milborne in his dying words upon the scaffold. The time had now come for him to pay the penalty. The new Assembly removed him from his office of Secretary of Indian Affairs and Collector of Customs, and demanded his accounts, which he could not furnish, as the Assembly well knew, for they were at this time in the hands of Lady Bellamont. Upon his failure to produce them, he was pronounced a defaulter, and expelled from the council, and his property was confiscated for the public benefit.
Not less was the confusion in the city affairs. At this time, the municipal government was composed of a mayor, recorder, six aldermen, and six assistants, the mayor having the casting vote. In the fall election of 1701, Thomas Noell, a merchant and an anti-Leislerian, was elected mayor, and Abraham Gouverneur, a Leislerian and the husband of the widow of Milborne, recorder. The Dock Ward returned Philip French and Robert Lurting, both anti-Leislerians, as alderman and assistant.
266
HISTORY OF THE
In the Out Ward, Martin Clock and Abraham Messier, and, in the North Ward, Jacob Boelen and Gerrit Oncle- berg, all Leislerians, were elected to the same offices. These returns were not disputed. In the other wards the Leislerians also claimed to have gained the victory, but the contest was so close that they were apprehensive that the new mayor would refuse to receive their oaths, denying their election, and to meet this exigency, they determined to be sworn in by the retiring mayor, De Riemer, who was one of their party, which was accord- ingly done. Johannes de Peyster, alderman, and Abraham Brasier, assistant, of the East Ward ; David Provoost, alderman, and Peter William Roome, assist- ant, of the West Ward ; and Nicholas Roosevelt, alderman, and Hendrick Jallisen, assistant, of the South Ward, were the members elect of the disputed dis- tricts.
On the 14th of October, Mayor Noell took the oaths of office before the governor at the fort, then proceeded with the Common Council to Trinity Church to listen to the annual sermon, according to the usual custom. This done, he proceeded to the City Hall, and, having proclaimed his commission, proceeded to swear in the the members elect, but all refused to take the oaths except French and Lurting, alleging that they had been
sworn in by the retiring mayor. On hearing this, he pro- ceeded to swear in Brandt Schuyler, John Hutchins and William Morris as aldermen, and Johannes Jansen, Robert White, and Jeremiah Tuthill as assistants of the disputed wards. This proceeding caused so great an excitement, that Noell was finally compelled to dismiss
267
CITY OF NEW YORK.
the assembly, without having sworn in the new city officials.
The city remained thus without a government until the 11th of November, when Noell again proceeded to the City Hall to swear in Schuyler, Hutchins, Morris and their assistants. The Leislerian members were already there in their places as members of the common council. Regardless of their protests, the mayor proceeded to swear in their antagonists, when the whole twenty took their seats together, each fully determined to share in the administration of the government. Finding that nothing could be done with so intractable an assembly, Noell ended by dismissing them all for a fortnight, and availed himself of the recess to appeal to the Supreme Court, which settled the matter by giving seats to Schuy- ler and Hutchins, and their assistants of the anti-Leisle- rian, and De Peyster and his assistant of the Leislerian party. The board thus stood equally divided, but the balance of power remained in the hands of the anti-Leis- lerians, the mayor having the casting vote. The affair occasioned the most intense excitement, and was one of the most turbulent elections ever witnessed in the city.
News soon arrived that Lord Cornbury had been appointed as Lord Bellamont's successor, and Bayard, anxious to gain him over to his party, forwarded ad- dresses to him and to parliament, denouncing the Leisler- ians, and especially Nanfan, whose administration he vili- fied in the most odious terms. News of this proceeding coming to Nanfan's ears, he arrested and imprisoned Bay- ard, together with John Hutchins, one of the newly elected aldermen, who had taken an active part in procuring sig-
268
HISTORY OF THE
natures to the obnoxious addresses. The prisoners were tried by a special court, under the very act which Bayard himself had procured to secure the condemnation of Leis- ler. This act, which was the first passed by Sloughter's assembly, provided "that any person who should " endeavor by any manner of way, or upon any pretence, " by force of arms or otherwise, to disturb the peace, "good and quiet of the province, should be esteemed "rebels and traitors, and should incur the pains and " penalties which the laws of England had provided for " such offence."
As little fairness as had been shown in the trial of Leisler was now accorded to Bayard; who was indicted for rebellion and treason, for inciting the soldiers in the fort to rebellion, and for persuading them to sign libels against the existing government. The majority of the judges were Dutch, and were well known as his declared foes. Atwood, the chief-justice, pressed the charge in the most violent manner, and, despite all the efforts of the prisoner's friends and of the counsel, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Hutchins was also tried and condemned. Thus far the cases of Bayard and Leisler were parallel ; but the former received leniency which had not been accorded to the latter-a reprieve was granted him until the king's pleasure should be known. Suddenly, the arrival of Cornbury changed the aspect of affairs. Bayard was released and promoted to honor, the Leislerian party fell into disgrace, Atwood was forced to flee the country, and the new governor declared himself at the head of the anti-Leislerians.
.
CHAPTER IX.
1702-1720.
Cornbury in New York-Public Improvements-First Negro Plot in the City-Admin- istration of Robert Hunter.
IN May, 1702, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, eldest son of the Earl of Clarendon, arrived, charged with the administration of the government of New York and the Jerseys. These provinces had been divorced for a considerable time, but, difficulties having arisen between the proprietors of the latter, they had finally ceded their patents to Queen Anne as the easiest method of settling affairs and ridding themselves of a dignity which they had found to be an expensive luxury. Upon this retrocession, the queen placed both provinces under the command of Lord Cornbury, a near kinsman of her own, and they remained thus reunited until 1738, though each preserved a distinct legislative assembly. Cornbury was a reckless adventurer, profligate and unprincipled, who had fled from England to escape the demands of his creditors, and whose sole claim to this important command rested on his kindred to royalty. Eager to acquire wealth from his new subjects, and
269
270
HISTORY OF THE
wholly regardless of their wishes or interests, he soon completely alienated their affections and became the object of universal detestation. Cornbury had received a long list of instructions from the queen. By these, he was enjoined to rule the two provinces with impartiality, to grant liberty of conscience to all except papists, to consider Quakers eligible for offices of public trust and to receive their affirmations instead of oaths ; yet, while tolerating all religions, to endeavor to make the Church of England the established church of the land ; to keep the churches that were already built in repair, to build more as occasion required, and to furnish each minister with a house and glebe at the common charge ; to pun- ish drunkenness, swearing, and vice of all kinds ; to encourage trade and traders, particularly the Royal African Company of England, and to recommend to the said Company to see that the colony had a constant and sufficient supply of merchantable negroes at moderate rates. He was also instructed to endeavor to get a law passed for restraining inhuman severity to Christian ser- vants and slaves, and to make the willful murder of Indians and negroes an offence punishable with death. The spirit of these instructions conveys a fair idea of the state of popular feeling at this time in respect to slaves and slavery. These degraded beings were held in the most abject bondage, and the strictest laws were passed for restraining their liberty. Not more than four were allowed to assemble at a time, nor were they permit- ted to pass the city gates without the permission of their master. The use of weapons was not permitted them, they were not suffered to own either houses or
271
CITY OF NEW YORK.
land, and their masters were forbidden to set them free under penalty of a heavy fine. As time wore on, their burdens grew still heavier. In 1711, a public market for slaves was established at the market-house at the foot of Wall street slip, where all negroes or Indians who were to be hired were ordered to stand in readiness for bidders. In the following year, a city ordinance was passed, providing that any negro or Indian slave who should presume to appear in the streets after nightfall without a lantern with a lighted candle in it should be committed to jail, to remain there until released by the payment of a fine of eight shillings by his master, and as an equivalent, the authorities pledged themselves that the culprit should receive thirty-nine lashes at the public whipping-post, should his master desire. But the negroes did not submit tamely to these despotic regulations. From time to time, an outbreak warned the whites of the strength of the power which they were endeavoring to repress, and of the deadly peril which was brooding among them. Such an instance occurred in 1707 at Newtown, on Long Island, where a Mr. Hallet, with his wife and five children, was mur- dered one night in cold blood by two of his slaves. The murderers were seized, tried, condemned, and executed with the most horrible tortures. They con- fessed the crime, saying that they had committed it in revenge, because they had been forbidden to go out on Sunday. The punishments inflicted for this and similar deeds were terrible. The wretched crimi- nals were chained to the stake and burned alive, broken on the wheel, or suspended to the branches of
272
HISTORY OF THE
trees and left there to perish. A negro suspected of a crime was tried at once under a special act of the Assem- bly by a court composed of three justices and five free- holders, and invested with authority to try, convict and sentence to immediate execution. An old newspaper now before us, of the date of January 28, 1733, records the case of a negro who was seized on Monday, tried on Tuesday, and burned on Thursday in the presence of a crowd of witnesses. Truly, we seem to be not very far off from the barbaric ages !
Upon his arrival, the new governor immediately attached himself to the anti-Leislerians, and openly avowed himself at the head of the party. Through his efforts, the first Assembly that met after his coming was composed chiefly of the same faction. Anxious to win a continuance of his favor, they voted him a revenue for seven years, increased his salary from six to twelve hun- dred pounds, and presented him with two thousand pounds to defray the expenses of his voyage. Nor were Mayor Noell and the corporation less profuse in their demonstrations of affection and fidelity. A public din- ner was given in honor of his arrival ; he was presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box, and a con- gratulatory address was tendered him by the civic authorities. In honor of the opening administration, the members of his suite were also made freemen, toge- ther with the soldiers of the garrison, and all citizens who were too poor to purchase their freedom. At this time, the freedom of the city was not an empty name -- it conveyed the right to trade, to vote and to be voted for, and to share in all other municipal privileges, and was
2
257
CITY OF NEW YORK.
men were impeached and forced to undergo the form of a trial for their lives ; but the charges against them could not be sustained and all the accused were honorably acquitted.
As we have already said, Fletcher continued to admin- ister the government for more than two years after he had been superseded by Bellamont. During this time, various public improvements were made and municipal ordinances enacted, indicating the growth of the city. Soon after the departure of Kidd from the port of New York in 1696 on his piratical expedition, the erection of Trinity Church as well as that of the new Dutch Church -- known to us by tradition as the Old Dutch Church- in Garden street, was commenced. Both were completed in the course of the following year. It was also deter- mined to build a new City Hall, the old "Stadt-Huys" at Coenties Slip having become so dilapidated that the mayor and corporation, finding it impossible to meet there any longer, had been compelled to remove to the house of George Reparreck, next door. A consultation was held as to the most available means for raising the necessary funds, and it was decided to sell the old stadt- huys and grounds, and to mortgage the ferry-lease for fifteen years. It was also resolved that the new hall should be completed within a twelvemonth, and a com- mittee was appointed to select a site and make the neces- sary estimates, but it was not until 1699 that the site at the junction of Wall and Broad streets was actually selected, and the old stadt-huys sold at public auction. This was purchased by a merchant named John Rodman, together with the grounds and all the appurtenances, with
17
.
258
HISTORY OF THE
#
The Stuyvesant Mansion (see page 153).
the exception of the bell and royal arms, for the sum of nine hundred and twenty pounds sterling, the city reserving the use of it for a jail a month longer. The first building in the city used for a jail was at the corner of Dock street and Coenties Slip. The new City Hall was built in the form of an L, and open in the middle. The dungeons for criminals were in the cellar. The first story had two large staircases, and two large and two small rooms. The middle of the second story was occu- pied by the court room, with the assembly room on one side, and the magistrates' room on the other. The debtors' cells were in the attic.
In 1696, Maiden Lane was regulated, and Captain Teunis Dekay was permitted to make a cartway through Nassau street-designated in his petition as "the street " that runs by the pie-woman's, leading to the city com- " mons,"-receiving the soil in compensation for his labor. A cartway was also made along Hanover Square, or "Burger's Path," as it was then called. A contract
259
CITY OF NEW YORK.
was made for cleaning the streets at thirty pounds ster- ling per annum-a work which had hitherto been done by the citizens themselves, every man being required to keep the street clean before his own door.
In 1697, the first attempt at lighting the streets was made. This was done by hanging out a lantern and candle upon the end of a pole from the window of every seventh house, on the nights when there was no moon ; the expense being divided equally among the seven houses. The first regular night watch, consisting of four men, was established during the same year.
Two persons in each ward were also appointed by the corporation to inspect every chimney and hearth once a week, the better to secure the city against fire. At this time the city numbered six hundred houses, and about six thousand inhabitants.
Great scarcity of bread prevailed in the city during this year. None was to be had of the bakers, who declared that it was impossible to purchase flour at rates reasonable enough to supply their customers at the prices fixed by law. The matter was taken into public consideration, and a census ordered to be taken of all the wheat, flour and bread then within the city. Seven thousand bushels of wheat were found-not more than a week's provision for the six thousand inhabitants. The scarcity was at once attributed to the repeal of the bolting act, which had enabled the planters to grind their own flour and to hold it back from the general market for private specu- lation, and an address was at once forwarded to the king, complaining of the famine to which the city was reduced, and earnestly entreating him to restore the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.