USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 17
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monopoly. Meanwhile an assize of rye bread was estab- lished ; a five-pound loaf being valued at four pence- half penny, and the price of rye being fixed at three. shillings and threepence per bushel.
On the 2d of April, 1698, Lord Bellamont arrived at New York, accompanied by his wife and his cousin, John Nanfan, who was also his lieutenant-governor, and was received by the citizens with demonstrations of delight. Johannes de Peyster, the brother of Abraham de Pey- ster, the mayor of 1691, was at this time mayor of the city, having succeeded William Merritt, who had filled the mayoralty for the past three years. The cor- poration at once gave a public dinner to the governor and tendered him a complimentary address, and the people were not backward in seconding the welcome. Bellamont, who was diametrically opposed to the policy of Fletcher, at once attached himself to the Leislerian party. He had already espoused the same cause in England, and had aided young Leisler in pro- curing the reversion of his father's attainder. He
molded his council to suit his own views. Bayard, Philipse and the rest of their party, resigned or were removed, and a new council was appointed, consisting chiefly of the Leislerian party. A new Assembly was convened on the 18th of May, 1699, in which the same element preponderated. Bellamont's opening speech augured well for the future. He spoke of the disorderly state of the province, left. as it was with a divided people, an empty treasury, ruined fortifications and a few half-naked soldiers, and branded with the stigma of being a rendezvous for pirates. "It would be hard,"
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said he, "if I, who come before you with an honest " heart and a resolution to be just to your interests, " should meet with greater difficulties in the discharge " of his majesty's service than those who have gone " before me. I shall take care that there shall be no "more misapplication of the public money; I shall " pocket none of it myself, neither shall there be any "embezzlement of it by others ; but exact accounts " shall be given you when and as often as you "require."
The members of the Assembly, rejoiced at the pledges of their new governor, passed a warm vote of thanks for this welcome speech, and voted him a revenue for six years. In compliance with his suggestions, they passed several wholesome acts for the suppression of piracy, for the regulation of the elections, and for the indemnifi- cation of those who had been excepted from the general pardon of 1691. Under this act, the families of Leisler and Milborne recovered their estates. The time had now come for the exaltation of these martyrs. Their remains were disinterred with great ceremony, and after lying in state for some weeks, were conveyed under guard of a military escort to the Dutch church in Garden street, and buried there. An immense concourse of citizens attended the funeral, which was honored by the presence of the governor himself.
Soon after the arrival of Bellamont, the mayor and corporation waited on him, and entreated his assistance in the recovery of the coveted bolting monopoly. They also raised the sum of fifty pounds sterling for the pur- pose of dispatching a special agent to the English govern- 1
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ment to represent to them the misery which the repeal of this act had occasioned in the city, and a memorial was addressed to the king, depicting the prevailing famine in glowing colors, and prophesying utter ruin to New York, unless this privilege, which constituted the life of the city, should at once be restored to it. But their prayers and petitions were of no avail ; the act of the Assembly was not repealed ; yet New York continued to thrive without the aid of the bolting monopoly.
In 1699, David Provoost was appointed mayor. Mr. Provoost was the son of one of the ancient Dutch burg- hers, and a popular man among his fellow-citizens. His administration was marked by several public improve- ments. Two new market houses were erected, one at. Coenties Slip and the other at the foot of Broad street, and King, now William street, was filled up and regulated. Public scavengers were employed to clean the streets, and all persons were directed to pave before their houses under penalty of a fine of twenty shillings. A hospital was established for the poor in a house hired for the purpose-no institution of the kind was built until three-quarters of a century after. The ferry was farmed out for a term of seven years at a rent of a hun- dred and sixty-five pounds sterling per annum. By the conditions of the lease, the lessee was required to keep two large boats for corn and cattle, and two smaller ones for passengers. The rates of fare were fixed at eight stuyvers in wampum or a silver twopence for single per- sons, or half that sum for each of a company ; a shilling for a horse, twopence for a hog, a penny for a sheep, etc. The city engaged to build a substantial ferry-house
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on Nassau or Long Island, which the ferry-man was required to keep in repair. The dock was also leased to Philip French at an annual rent of forty pounds sterling ; the lessee being required within a year to clean the dock and slip till a sandy bottom should be found, and to keep it, and the wharves about it, clean in the future. A variety of municipal ordinances were passed the same year, the general tendency of which was to restrain all public excesses and to promote the welfare of the city. The firing of guns within the precincts of the city was strictly forbidden. A powder-house was ordered to be built for public use, and all persons were interdicted from keeping more than fifty pounds of powder in their houses at one time. An impost was levied upon all flour and bread brought into the city, for the benefit of the public treasury ; this tax, however, proved unpopular, and was annulled a few weeks after.
In 1700, Isaac de Riemer, a merchant of Holland origin was appointed mayor. He was a descendant of one of the oldest families of the city, and a nephew of the well-known Cornelius Steenwyck, the former mayor.
Bellamont, in the meantime, had gone to Boston, hav- ing been appointed governor of Massachusetts as well as of New York, to look after the interests of the Board of Trade, as he had especially been instructed to do. This board, consisting of a president and seven members, had been instituted in 1696, just after the appointment of Bellamont as governor, and the commerce of the colo- nies placed under its supervision. The acts of trade restricting this commerce had been made still more strin- gent, and courts of Vice-Admiralty established in all
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the colonies, invested with supreme authority in all cases pertaining to the admiralty or revenue. The colonists protested bitterly against this measure, but the English government sustained the courts, and imposed oaths upon the colonial governors to enforce the acts of trade. The people however rebelled against the new author- ities, and the revenue laws were constantly violated, especially in New England. Bellamont's address and manners soon made him popular among his Boston subjects, but they strenuously resisted his efforts to enforce the navigation acts, and he returned to New York, having effected nothing. Here, he soon became involved in a new controversy with the New York . merchants, who complained of him to the Board of Trade and to Parliament. But before the affair could be inves- tigated, the proceedings were suspended by the sudden death of the governor. He was buried with funeral honors in the chapel of the fort, and a few days after- wards, his coat of arms was carried in great state and placed in front of the City Hall in Wall street, together with that of his successor, John Nanfan. Here they remained until the arrival of Cornbury and the accession of the anti-Leislerian party in 1702, when they were torn down and contemptuously broken in pieces.
The authority now devolved upon Lieutenant-Governor Nanfan until the appointment of a new governor, but, he being absent in Barbadoes, a violent contest took place in respect to the temporary administration of the gov- ernment. The anti-Leislerians insisted that it belonged of right to Colonel William Smith, the senior member of the council, while the Leislerians, who were in the
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indeed more pregnant with meaning than is the present act of naturalization. A census of the inhabitants was ordered to be made, and the population was found to amount to 5,250.
Hitherto, there had been no free grammar school in New York. Various private schools had been set up from time to time under the supervision and with the permission of the government, and Ægidius Luyck had founded a flourishing classical school in the days of Stuyvesant, which had grown into a flourishing institu- tion and attracted many pupils from the distant settle- ments. But, owing to the frequent changes in the government and the internal disorder of the city, this had been broken up ; and though various individuals had essayed from time to time to play the pedagogue, their efforts had met with moderate success, and at this time education was at a very low ebb in the city. At length the corporation took the matter in hand, and, at a meeting held soon after Cornbury's arrival, resolved that there ought to be and must be a free grammar school in the city, and that, as there was no teacher to be had in New York who was capable of taking charge of one, steps should immediately be taken to procure one from Eng- land. A petition was accordingly addressed to the Bishop of London, entreating him to send them a native-born English teacher, of good learning, pious life and conversation, and a mild and even temper ; and Lord Cornbury was urged to back this petition by his influence, and to recommend it to the notice of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; and likewise to appropriate to it part of the
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proceeds of the King's Farm. This petition was repeatedly urged by the citizens upon the notice of the governor, but it was not until 1705 that the school was finally established, and Andrew Clarke appointed master.
Soon after the arrival of Lord Cornbury, a disease, strongly resembling the yellow fever, was imported from St. Thomas into the city. The infection spread rapidly, nearly every one attacked with it died in a few hours, and the epidemic was long remembered as "the great " sickness of New York." The frightened inhabitants fled in terror from the infected city to the Jersey and Long Island shores. Lord Cornbury, with his council, also fled from the pestilence, and took up his quarters at Jamaica on Long Island. This village was under the control of the Presbyterians, who, a short time before, had erected a pretty little church, and had pur- chased a house and glebe for the use of their minister. This parsonage was decidedly the best house in the town, and, on hearing of the coming of the governor, Mr. Hub- bard, the minister, removed with his family to a neigh- boring cottage, and courteously tendered it for his
excellency's accommodation. The hospitality was accepted, and requited in a somewhat peculiar manner. Like Fletcher, Cornbury had for his aim the establish- ment of the Episcopal church in the province. The handful of Episcopalians in Jamaica had long looked with an envious eye on the prosperity of their Presbyte- rian neighbors ; now, sure of receiving the protection of Cornbury, they determined on reaping the fruits of their labors. The church had been erected by a vote of the town, and no provision had been made for securing it
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to the use of any particular denomination. Knowing this, and arming themselves with the acts of Fletcher's Assembly, the Episcopalians entered the church one Sun- day between the hours of morning and afternoon service, and took possession of the building. A scene of vio- lence ensued, both parties disputed possession of the church, the pews were torn out in the contest, and the struggle was only ended by the interference of the gov- ernor, who sustained the claims of Episcopal party. A long and tedious litigation followed, but the Episcopalians retained possession until 1728, though but two of the denomination had contributed a dollar towards the build- ing of the edifice. Nor was this all ; the sheriff seized upon the glebe, and leased it for the benefit of the Epis- copal party ; and as a crowning act of perfidy, Cornbury, on his return to New York, instead of restoring the par- sonage to his hospitable host, basely surrendered it into the hands of the Episcopal clergyman, who occupied it henceforth as his place of residence.
It must certainly be admitted that, in encouraging the establishment of the Episcopal religion, Cornbury carried out his instructions to the very letter, and it was unfortunate for the popularity of the church that its earliest patrons in the province should have con- sisted of men of his stamp. In 1703, he induced the city authorities to donate a cemetery to Trinity Church, now the established church of the city. In the same year, the King's Farm, which had originally been the property of the Dutch West India Company, and which had been increased in 1671 by the purchase of a large tract of land from the heirs of Aneke Jans,
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was presented by Queen Anne to Trinity Church. Thus was laid the foundation of the immense revenues which the church still continues to enjoy, and which place it in wealth as well as in antiquity, at the head of the Episco- pal church in America. The schools were also placed under the control of the same denomination, and an ordi- nance was enacted, forbidding any person to teach school in the province who had not first received a license from the Bishop of London.
About this time, war was proclaimed by England against France and Spain, and the Assembly that met in 1703, deeming it expedient to increase the fortifications, voted an appropriation of fifteen hundred pounds for the erection of two batteries at the Narrows, adding that it should be used for no other purpose whatever. This sum was raised by a poll-tax, the conditions of which were curious enough to be worth recording. Every member of the council was required to pay forty shillings ; an assembly man, twenty shillings ; a lawyer in practice, twenty shillings ; every man wearing a periwig, five shillings and sixpence; a bachelor of twenty-five years and upwards, two shillings and three- pence ; every freeman between the ages of sixteen and sixty, ninepence ; and the owners of slaves one shilling for each. The required sum was raised in this manner ; but, regardless of the conditions on which it was given, the governor drew it from the treasury and applied it to his own use, refusing to account to the Assembly for its expenditure. Exasperated at such a gross violation of trust, the Assembly at once demanded a treasurer, and refused to make any further appropriations until one
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should be appointed, declaring that they were English- men, and had a right to control the expenditure of their own money. "I know of no right that you have, " except such as the queen is pleased to allow you," was the curt reply of the governor, as he angrily dis- solved the Assembly.
The new Assembly that was convened in 1705 was not much more pliable. Money was needed, for the war was still carried on, and the city was almost defenceless. A French privateer had already entered the harbor and terrified the inhabitants, and they had no security against other and more dangerous visitants ; but they remembered that they had already paid for two batteries at the Narrows, the first stone of which was not yet laid, and they were loth to make another such investment of their money. Seeing the real need of fortifications, however, they at length voted three thousand pounds to be applied to their erection and to the maintenance of a company of scouts on the frontiers, but only on con- dition that it should be disbursed by a person of their own choosing. To this, Cornbury reluctantly con- sented as the only means of raising the money, then immediately prorogued the Assembly. In 1706, it was again convened, but, being more refractory than ever, was speedily dissolved by the governor.
The municipal authorities, awake to the danger of the city, joined in the demand for fortifications, and, on the appropriation of the money, summoned all the citizens to aid in the work of strengthening the town. The resi- dents of the six city wards were ordered to work. in turn upon the fortifications, either in person or by sub-
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stitute, whenever summoned by the mayor. The town- crier went through the streets of each ward in turn, and, calling the inhabitants by the sound of a drum, pro- claimed the time and place of rendezvous for the next morning's labor. The citizens repaired to the forti- fications, armed with picks and shovels, and strengthened the palisades, repaired the half-ruined artillery-mounts, mounted the guns, and placed the city in a defensive posture. From two to four hundred men were employed daily upon the works; and the inhabitants were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to appear in arms at the . first alarm to repel the French fleet that was hourly expected. But their fears were groundless-no attack was made on the city.
Meanwhile, the governor had spared nothing which might render him odious in the eyes of his people. Not content with his previous infringement of their civil and religious rights, he pushed his despotism so far as to for- bid the Dutch congregation to open their church or to listen to their preacher. He imprisoned two Presby- terian ministers for preaching without his license, and practised the most shameless fraud and peculation in the discharge of his official duties. Not content with this, to render himself still more contemptible, he plunged into debaucheries and extravagances of every sort, parading the fort in the dress of a woman, and carousing and revelling in the most shameless manner. He was deeply involved in debt ; but, protected as he was by the insignia of his office, none of his creditors dared to molest him. Wearied at length beyond endurance with this detestable tyranny, the citizens of New York
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and New Jersey joined in a petition to the queen for his removal. It was but the repetition of the numerous complaints which had long been sounding from across the water ; and Anne, finding it impossible longer to turn a deaf ear to the prayers of the colonists, reluctantly yielded, and revoked her kinsman's commission. Hardly had she done this when his hungry creditors seized upon their prey, and threw him into the debtor's prison in the upper story of the new City Hall in Wall street, where he remained until the death of his father, the Earl of · Clarendon, raised him from his cell to the peerage of Great Britain.
Having thus followed the profligate nobleman through his brief but dissolute career, let us take a retrospective view of the prominent events in municipal affairs during the time of his administration. It is not our purpose to record dry documents, or to catalogue city ordinances which would fill folios with but little interest to the general reader ; yet we wish to note the milestones in the progress of the city which may serve to indicate its steady and rapid growth.
We have already noted the large donations of muni- cipal privileges by which the corporation ushered in the administration of Cornbury. At the same time, the rates for purchasing the freedom of the city were changed to twenty shillings for a merchant or trader, and six shillings for a mechanic. New ordinances were passed in respect to cleaning the streets-a matter in which the primitive New Yorkers seem to have experienced a foretaste of the trouble endured by their descendants. The previous ordinances having failed of effect, it was enacted in 1702
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that all the inhabitants should sweep the dirt in heaps in front of their doors on Friday morning, and have it con- veyed away and thrown into the river or elsewhere before Saturday night under penalty of six shillings. This, the cartmen were required to carry away at the rate of three cents per load, or six, if they loaded their carts themselves ; and were subjected to heavy fines in case of a refusal. A pound was instituted for the keeping of stray cattle, and a pound-master appointed, who was to retain one-half of the fees as his due, and to pay the remaining half into the city treasury. The fees were fixed at ninepence for a horse, fourpence-halfpenny for neat cattle, and threepence for sheep and swine. It was also made lawful for any person to kill swine found running at large south of the fresh water. In 1706, a widow by the name of Rebecca Van Schaick received the appointment of city pound-keeper.
In the autumn succeeding Lord Cornbury's arrival, Philip French, a merchant, and one of the leaders of the anti-Leislerian party, was appointed to the mayoralty. Mr. French was the son-in-law of Frederick Philipse, the richest man in the province and one of Leisler's bitterest foes, and he warmly seconded the quarrel of his father. He had been among the most active in circulat- ing the addresses which, during the administration of Nanfan, had so nearly cost Nicholas Bayard his life, and had been forced to flee to preserve his own liberty. On the arrival of Cornbury, the scale turned, and, from an outlaw, he came suddenly to the head of the municipal government. Before his term of office expired, he was forced to make a journey to Europe on business, and
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resigned the charge of affairs into the hands of Sampson Broughton, the city recorder.
In 1703, William Peartree, a West India merchant and trader, was chosen mayor, and continued in the office for the ensuing four years. He was active and efficient, somewhat fond of military life, and a fitting magistrate to superintend the fortifications rendered necessary by the exigencies of war during his administration. He had a house and grounds on Beaver street, between New street and Broadway, where he resided for a long time, and died in 1713, leaving one daughter, who married William Smith, a New York merchant.
During the first year of his administration, the French Protestant church Du Saint-Esprit was built in Pine street by the Waldenses and Huguenots, many of whom had settled in New York and its vicinity. The Rev. James Laborie was the first pastor, and the church soon numbered a flourishing congregation. The Waldenses had a settlement at Staten Island ; a large number had also settled in Brooklyn. The Huguenots had founded a settlement at New Rochelle in 1689 on lands pur- chased for them by Jacob Leisler ; and, on Saturday night, after finishing their week's work, the zealous exiles would walk down to their church at Manhattan, and, spending the night with their brethren of New York, walk back to their distant settlement the next night after service, singing their hymns by the way, to be in time to commence their tasks on Monday morning. This church is one of the monuments of olden times which, resisting age, and the more destructive fire which has swept away so many of our landmarks, has come down
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to our own times to speak to us of a distant past. The descendants of its people now congregate in Franklin street, where service is still performed in the language of the Huguenots.
French Church in Pine street, erected in 1704.
During the same year, a catechising school for negroes was opened by the Rev. William Vesey, the rector of Trinity Church-the first attempt made in the city towards providing any kind of instruction for this degraded people. It was from this clergyman that Vesey . street derived its name. He remained in the city for several years, then returned to England to become the commissary of the Bishop of London. Church, Chapel and Rector streets also owe their names to the same clerical origin.
About the same time, Beekman's Swamp, the abode of the tanners of olden times and of the leather-dealers of to-day, was leased to Rip Van Dam, a member of the council, for twenty-one years at a yearly rent of twenty shillings. Of this swamp, more anon. Not many public improvements were made during Cornbury's administra- tion ; he cared but little for the growth of the city, and
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the occurrence of the war diverted the thoughts of the citizens from works of this kind to those of public defence.
In the autumn of 1705, a riot occurred which occa- sioned considerable excitement. Three English priva- teers brought a Spanish man-of-war of twenty guns as a prize into the harbor of New York. She had only been captured after a desperate conflict, and was heavily laden with a rich cargo. Elated by their victory, the privateers- men were roaming through the streets of the city, when they came by some accident into collision with the sheriff, with whom they had a violent quarrel. Exasperated by some words which incautiously escaped him, they sur- rounded his house and assaulted and beat back those who came to his rescue ; then, encouraged by this success, and incensed by a rumor that the soldiers of the garrison had been called out to suppress them, they next attacked two army officers, and wounding one severely, stabbed Lieu- tenant Featherstonehaugh, the other, through the heart. The murder excited general alarm; the drum was beat to arms, and a detachment of soldiers, backed by a party of marines from the ships of war in the harbor, quickly charged upon the mutinous privateersmen, and, killing one and wounding several others, forced the whole party to surrender. Erasmus Wilkins, the murderer of the officer, was arrested, tried, convicted and executed.
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