USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 27
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Jan. 1. day of January, 1673, and on the first Monday of every following month, a sworn messenger would be dispatched to convey letters and small packets to Boston, taking Hartford and other places on his way. A change of horses would be furnished to the messenger at Hart- ford on his journey to and from Boston. He was to be paid a small salary, and all the letters were to be free of postage. He was instructed to form a post-road by marking trees, " that shall guide other travelers as well." Lovelace wrote to Winthrop, asking him to give the man advice as to the best route to pursue, and in the same letter informed Winthrop
1 In the Ampthill church, Bedfordshire, England, is a monument to Richard Nicolls, on which is represented a cannon-ball with the inscription "Instrumentum mortis et immortali- tatis." Brodhead, II. 186. Basnage, II. 192-209. Sylvius, I. 191 - 208, 243 - 249. Eve- lyn, I. 335 - 409. Pepys, II. 361.
2 Captain Richard Morris was an English gentleman of fortune, who had been one of the adherents of Cromwell. He came to New York while it was yet a Dutch province, and bought over three thousand acres of land near Harlem. He obtained a grant with baronial privileges and called his property Morrisania. His wife died in 1672. He himself died shortly after his appointment recorded above, leaving an infant son, Lewis, a year old. The administration of his estate was granted to Secretary Nicolls. An elder brother of the deceased, Lewis Morris, afterwards removed to Morrisania from Barbadoes, and assumed the guardianship of the boy, who became the famous Governor Morris.
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LOVELACE IN HARTFORD.
of the latest news from England ; namely, that the Dutch Republic had actually lost three of its provinces, and that there were no tidings of peace. Forty well-equipped men-of-war had just been dispatched from Holland to the West Indies. "It is high time we begin to buckle on our armor," he added.
While the snow was yet upon the ground, Lovelace paid a March. visit to the manor of Thomas Pell, near " Annie's Hoeck," for the purpose of settling some question about the new postal route. An ex- press followed him from Captain Manning, to announce the appearance of a supposed Dutch squadron off Sandy Hook. He hurried back to the city, and, finding no enemy, was inclined to ridicule the false alarm. However, he summoned the soldiers from Albany, Esopus, and Delaware, and mustered one hundred or more enlisted men. The weeks went quietly by, there was a general training, and, as the Indians were menacing the outposts, the garrisons were sent back to their sta- May. tions, leaving about eighty soldiers in Fort James.
Lovelace had for months been intending to visit Winthrop on July 20. business of importance, and, seeing no special reason to hinder, set out for Hartford on the 20th of July, leaving Manning as before in charge of the fort. He had been gone but a few days, when several ships were discovered lying near the present quarantine ground. Man- July 29. ning immediately dispatched a messenger in hot haste to Lovelace, put the guns of the fort in order, caused drums to be beaten through the streets for volunteers, and seized provisions wherever they could be found. But New York was divided against itself. There were Dutch citizens who visited the hostile fleet and revealed the weakness of the defenses. The Dutch militia even spiked the guns of the new battery, in front of the City Hall. Manning tried to gain time until the governor should return. He sent Captain John Carr, who was accidentally in the city, Counselor Thomas Lovelace, and Attorney John Sharpe to demand "why the fleet had come in such a manner to disturb his Majesty's subjects in this place." A boat passed them on the way, with a messenger from the two admirals, Evertsen and Binckes, bearing an order for the surrender of New York. "We have come to take the place, which is our own, and our own we will have," they said.
Captain Carr informed Captain Manning, on his return, that the enemy were too strong to be withstood, and that the Dutch flag must be hoisted within half an hour or they would fire upon the fort. Meanwhile the fleet had moved nearer, so that the foremost ships were within musket-shot. Sharpe was sent promptly back to ask for a cessa- July 30. tion of hostilities until the next morning, that advice might be obtained
17
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
from the mayor and aldermen. But Admiral Evertsen had already writ- ten a letter to the city magistrates, guaranteeing to all men their estates and liberties, and this had been read aloud to the citizens from the City Hall. The commanders would grant but one more half-hour, " and the glass was turned up."
At the end of that time, the ships fired a broadside into the fort, killing and wounding several of the garrison, and the fire was returned. At the same moment six hundred men were seen landing just above the " governor's orchard," on the river shore, back of the present Trinity Church. They paraded in the old graveyard adjoining. Manning, at Carr's instigation, ordered a flag of truce to be exhibited ; but Carr, ex- ceeding his orders, struck the king's flag at the same time. Carr, Love- lace, and Gibbs were sent to make the best conditions possible with the invading force. The two latter were detained as hostages, and Carr was sent back to demand the surrender of the garrison in fifteen minutes, as prisoners of war. Carr never delivered the message, but sought his per- sonal safety in another direction. Manning sent Sharpe to meet the col- umn which was rapidly advancing down Broadway, to ask permission to march out of the fort with the honors of war. It was about seven o'clock, on a summer evening. Captain Anthony Colve, who was in command of the Dutch, readily acquiesced. He formed his men in a line in front of the fort, and waited, while Manning marched through the gates, at the head of the garrison, with colors flying and drums beating. They grounded their arms, and were committed to prison in the church, while the Dutch quietly took possession of the citadel. The three-colored en- sign of the Dutch Republic rose to its old place on the flag-staff, and New York became once more New Netherland.
This was an absolute conquest by an open enemy in time of war. Every circumstance in connection with it differed from those which had stood out conspicuously when the place was captured by the English, nine years before. A province was annexed to the Dutch Republic ; but the effete West India Company had had nothing whatever to do with the transaction. The old corporation had gone into liquidation soon after the conquest of the place in 1664, and the new company had taken no interest in its recapture. It had greatly increased in value under the English ; the population had more than doubled ; and now the direct authority of the States-General and the Prince of Orange was hailed by all who had a drop of Dutch blood in their veins, and by many others, with un- bounded enthusiasm. The city was called New Orange, in honor of the young prince, and the fort received the name of William Hendrick.
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ADMIRAL EVERTSEN.
CHAPTER XV.
1673-1678.
ADMIRAL EVERTSEN.
ADMIRAL EVERTSEN. - THE NEW MUNICIPAL OFFICERS. - THE CONQUERED TERRITORY. - TAKING THE OATH. - LOVELACE'S PRIVATE LOSSES. - GOVERNOR ANTHONY COLVE. - RUMORS OF WAR WITH NEW ENGLAND. - AUSTRIA AND SPAIN TO THE RESCUE OF HOL- LAND. - THE FAMOUS TEST ACT. - MARY OF MODENA. - THE MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF YORK. - THE SACRIFICE OF NEW NETHERLAND. - THE TREATY OF WESTMINSTER. SIR EDMUND ANDROS. - LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS .- NEW JERSEY. - LONG ISLAND. - GOVERNOR COLVE'S FAREWELL. - THE RECEPTION OF GOVERNOR ANDROS. - DOMINIE VAN RENSSELAER. - FREDERICK PHILIPSE. - CAPTAIN MANNING. - STRINGENT MEASURES. - IMPRISONMENT OF LEADING CITIZENS. - INDIAN WAR IN NEW ENGLAND. - ROBERT LIVINGSTON. - ANDROS AND THE CONNECTICUT DELE- GATES. - CITY IMPROVEMENTS. - TANNERIES ALONG MAIDEN LANE. - STEPHANUS VAN CORTLANDT. - THE CELEBRATED BOLTING ACT. - INDIAN AND NEGRO SLAVES.
HE two Dutch admirals, Evertsen and Binckes, were obliged to
T r assume the responsibility of governing their conquest until di- rections should come from the Hague. Never was the Dutch Republic more ably represented than by the cool, honest, and sagacious Admiral Evertsen. He was the eldest son of the renowned Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, who was killed in a battle with the English, in 1666. He had with him in the New York harbor about twenty English prizes, which he had captured in Virginia and else- where, and a large number of pris- oners. But it was a delicate matter to select from his inferior officers a governor for New Amsterdam.
Portrait of Evertsen.
Captain Anthony Colve was the best fitted among them for such a
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
command. He was accordingly appointed, by the admirals, and a com- mission was issued for him similar in phraseology to those issued by the crown of England. He was a short, stout, dark-complexioned man, abrupt in his manners, coarse in his language, and of a rough, passionate nature, which had not been improved by military service. He possessed undoubted qualifications for rulership, but he was vain, gluttonous, and excessively given to wine. He put on princely airs, spent money extravagantly, and lived ostentatiously. In the latter respect he outdid any of the governors who had preceded him.
The admirals determined to keep their ships in the harbor until the new government should be firmly established. They evidently dis- trusted the ability of Colve in many particulars. They sent for Oloff S. Van Cortlandt, Johannes De Peyster, Cornelis Steenwyck, and a few others of the prominent Dutch citizens, and advised with them as to proper persons for official trusts. Nicholas Bayard acted as register of their proceedings, and was finally made secretary of the province. The old form of municipal government was restored, and the commonalty convoked to elect a new board of burgomasters and schepens. The bur- gomasters were Johannes Van Brugh, Johannes De Peyster, and Ægidius Luyck. The schepens were William Beekman (who had returned from Esopus), Jeronimus Ebbing, Jacob Kip, Lawrence Van der Spiegel, and Gulian Verplanck.
They were from among the wealthiest citizens, and of the Dutch Re- formed religion. Jeronimus Ebbing was a man of large property, whose business for seventeen years or more had been along the Hudson River, chiefly at Esopus and Albany, which he visited at stated intervals, to gather and ship to Holland furs and other articles from the Indians. He was by profession a lawyer, and his wife was the daughter of De Laet, the Dutch historian. She was a lady of great personal beauty, and possessed in her own right a large estate, comprising, amongst other prop- erty, the tract of land which her father had acquired near Albany, when he was one of the directors of the West India Company. Gulian Ver- planck was the son of Abraham Verplanck, who lived on the east side of the town near the river. Gulian was, for many years, the clerk of Allard Anthony, but, about 1656, he went into business for himself and became very prosperous. He married Hendrica Wessells, the belle of New Amsterdam. The venerable Allard Anthony, who, as sheriff, had been so exacting and severe that the common people called him the " hangman," was now removed from that office, and Anthony De Milt was appointed in his place. The latter was a baker, living on the corner of Whitehall and Beaver Streets. He was well known and possessed the
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THE CONQUERED TERRITORY.
good-will of the entire community. His three daughters, Maria, Anna, and Sarah, were at one period the best Latin scholars in the city. He had two sons, Isaac and Pieter, from whom the numerous families of that name are descended.
The new magistrates were duly sworn into office, and the late mayor surrendered the gowns, mace, and seal which the Duke of York had given to the city. These were at once carefully deposited in the fort. The admirals issued a proclamation, confiscating all Aug. 8. the property and debts belonging to the kings of France and England, and requiring every person to report such property to Secretary Bayard. The estates of Lovelace, Delavall, Carteret, Manning, Willett, Derval, and others were attached, and those unfortunate officers left penniless.1 The dwellings of Lovelace and Manning had been plundered by the Dutch troops in the first heat of conquest; and that of John Lawrence, the mayor, would have suffered the same fate, but for the timely inter- ference of some of his Dutch neighbors. Van Ruyven, who was the Receiver-General of the Duke's revenues, was required to render a strict account of all the property in his possession.
The conquered territory, as described in the commission to Governor Colve, extended from fifteen miles south of Cape Henlopen to the east- ern end of Long Island, thence through the middle of the Sound to Greenwich, and so northerly according to the boundary made in 1650, including Delaware Bay and the intermediate territory, as possessed by the Duke of York. As soon as the city was secured, two hundred men were sent up the river in vessels, to reduce Esopus and Albany. They encountered no opposition, the places were surrendered "at mercy," and the soldiers held as prisoners of war. New Jersey submitted peaceably, and the countries on the Delaware followed her example. Some of the Long Island towns came forward with alacrity, to bring their English flags and adopt the colors of Holland; but others were not disposed to yield so easily. Southampton appealed to Hartford for advice and assistance. Connecticut was cautious. Her own affairs were in a critical condition : two delegates from the General Court were just upon the eve of starting for New Orange, with a letter of remonstrance to the Dutch commanders against their arbitrary treatment of British subjects. The admirals gave them a strictly military reception, and replied in writing to their appeal, that it was very strange their enemies should object to the results of war, and that prompt punishment would be visited upon "all who should strive to maintain the said villages in their injustice." While the Con- necticut delegates were still at the fort, deputies from Southampton,
1 William Derval to Mr. R. Wolley, September 20, 1673 ; Col. Doc., III. 206.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Easthampton, Southold, Brookhaven, and Huntington arrived. Nathan- iel Sylvester came also from Shelter Island, and advised his Long Island neighbors by all means to submit. This they finally decided to do. Sylvester asked and obtained a confirmation of the privileges which Nicolls had granted to Shelter Island in 1666. David Gardiner shortly after took the oath and was confirmed in the possession of Gardiner's Island with all its manor privileges. But there were so many Aug. 9. English prisoners that the situation became embarrassing, and three ships were sent to convey them to Europe.
While these events were following each other in rapid succession, Gov- ernor Lovelace had completed his stay in Hartford and was leisurely returning on horseback through the woods, when he was met near New Haven by an excited messenger, who reported that the Dutch squadron was in the bay. He pushed on as rapidly as possible, but learned at Mamaroneck that the fort had already been taken. Still hoping, how- ever, to retrieve the disaster, he crossed to Long Island for the purpose of arousing the people and raising militia. At the house of Justice Corn- well, near Flushing, he met Secretary Matthias Nicolls, who advised him " to keep out of the enemy's hand." Some of the Dutch ministers gave him counter-advice ; and, having at stake private interests of moment, he finally decided to visit the fort for three days. Admiral Evertsen, having been informed of this, went over in his barge to Long Island, received the superseded governor with courtesy, and conducted him to the city, where he was handsomely entertained by its new masters. Before the expira- tion of the three days, he was arrested by his creditors for debts which the confiscation of his property left no means for paying. He wrote to Win- throp : " Are you curious to know the extent of my losses ? it was my all whichever I had been collecting ; too greate to misse in this wilderness." Soon after he sailed for Europe in Admiral Binckes's vessel, accompanied by Thomas Delavall.
By the hand of Van Ruyven, who left for Holland about the same time, the city magistrates wrote to the States-General an eloquent letter, representing the urgent need of reinforcements as soon as the squadron should leave the bay. Finding that Admiral Evertsen proposed sailing sooner than had been anticipated, the citizens laid before him an urgent
Aug. 31. petition that two ships of war, commanded by superior officers, should be left behind, to prevent the Duke of York from attempt- ing to recover his possessions. This request was granted.
The Indians were attracted by the magnificent vessels in the harbor, and some of the sachems visited the fort and congratulated the Dutch upon the recovery of their colony. They said, " We have always been as
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RUMORS OF WAR WITH NEW ENGLAND.
one flesh ; if the French come down from Canada, we will join the Dutch, and live and die with them." These words of amity were confirmed with a belt of wampum.
When Governor Colve was at last installed in office, he set up a coach, drawn by three horses. Cornelis Steenwyck was his first counselor. Secretary Bayard was efficient in all business matters, and on important occasions the burgomasters and schepens of the city were consulted. When questions arose about the treatment of foreigners or their property, Captain Knyff and Captain Epesteyn, of the Dutch infantry, were added as a council of war.
Everything assumed a military air. A guard was stationed near Sandy Hook, to send the earliest information to the governor of the arrival of ships. Strangers were not allowed to cross the ferries into the city with- out a pass ; and whoever had not taken the oath of allegiance was ex- pelled from the city. The insecure condition of the fort was improved ; and twenty-one houses that pressed too closely upon the citadel Dec. were removed, the owners being compensated with lots in other
localities. The Lutheran church which had just been built " without the gate " was demolished, and the Lutherans were allowed to build an- other at the corner of Broadway and Rector Street, on the site of what was afterwards Grace Church.
Serious difficulties arising about this time with New England, and hos- tilities having been threatened, it was ordered that no person should enter or depart from New York except through the city gate, on pain of death. At sundown the gates were closed, and a watch was set until sunrise. Citizens were forbidden to harbor any stranger, or to hold any correspond- ence whatever with the people of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
To bring the city more directly under the governor's authority, 1674. a " Provisional Instruction " was issued, which authorized Captain Jan. 16. Knyff to preside over the Court of Burgomasters and Schepens. The honest magistrates rebelled at this; whereupon Colve pompously threatened to dismiss them and appoint others, and they finally Feb. 1. yielded under protest.
To provide for the " excessive expenses," a tax was levied upon every inhabitant of the city worth over one thousand guilders. As it must necessarily take some time to collect this tax, every person who had been assessed more than four thousand guilders was ordered to advance . a loan. As it was generally supposed that the Duke would at- tempt the recapture of the province, precautions were taken on March 17. all sides to prevent a surprise.
Meanwhile, a series of remarkable events, affecting the whole future of
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
New York, were taking place across the water. The movements of the king of France had roused Austria to arms, and the Roman Catholic dynasty of Spain had hastened to support the Protestant Dutch Republic against the common danger. Louis found himself all at once compelled to contend with half of Europe, and was consequently in no condition to furnish funds for England. Parliament was convoked, and both houses reassembled in the spring of 1673. But they doled out money sparingly, considered the war with Protestant Holland unjustifiable, disliked the king's alliance with Roman Catholic France, and suspected the orthodoxy of the Duke of York. The Commons, as the only condition upon which they would vote supplies, extorted the unwilling consent of Charles to a celebrated law known as the Test Act, which continued in force down to the reign of George IV. It required all persons holding office, civil or military, to take the oath of supremacy, and publicly receive the sacra- ment according to the rites of the Church of England. The Duke of York, who had secretly been a Roman Catholic, was obliged to candidly declare his religious faith, and, in a flood of tears, he resigned all the offices which he held under the Crown, including that of Lord High Admiral. But, as the act did not extend to Scotland and Ireland, or to the American Plantations, his admiralty jurisdiction over the latter remained unchanged.
The king of Spain made it one of the conditions of his signing an alli- ance with Germany and the United Netherlands, that the latter should consent to a peace with England upon the basis of a mutual restoration of conquests. The House of Commons, having obtained one victory over the king in the matter of the Test Act, declared that no more supplies should be granted for the war, unless it should appear that the enemy had obstinately refused to consent to reasonable terms of peace. Charles then cajoled the nation by pretending to return to the policy of the Triple Alliance. He summoned Sir William Temple from his retirement and sent him again as minister to Holland. The latter, of all the official men of that age, had preserved the fairest character, never having taken any part in the politics which had dictated the war. Through his efforts, a separate treaty of peace was, in course of time, concluded with the United Provinces. The States-General submitted to hard terms, for they were forced to succumb to a political necessity. It was two months before they knew of the conquest of New Netherland, and one month before that . important event had actually occurred, that they yielded to the dictation of Spain so far as to promise to sign articles of peace with England.
Never before were two allies by circumstance greater enemies at heart than the uncertain king of England and the statesmen of the Dutch Re- public. Charles and the Duke of York both wished, for many reasons, to
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THE MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF YORK.
remain in favor with the French king. Mary of Modena, the beautiful Ro- man Catholic princess, had been selected as the wife of the Duke, and the future queen of England. Charles approved the match, and Louis gave the bride a splendid dowry. Perhaps the Duke would have been just then more pleased with ships and men and money for the recovery of New York ; and the ruined merchants of England would certainly have been better satisfied with some indemnity for their losses, as the priva- teers of Holland and Zealand had captured twenty-seven hundred British vessels, to say nothing of other property destroyed. But it was a wed- ding instead.
Mary of Modena was fifteen years of age; tall, and womanly, and beautiful. She read and wrote Latin and French with ease, had some taste in painting, could dance well, and excelled in music. Of history, geography, and the royal sciences, she knew nothing. When her mother announced to her that she had been sought in marriage by the Duke of York, she asked, with great simplicity, who the Duke of York was. When told that he was brother to the king of England and heir-presump- tive to that realm, she inquired the whereabouts of England. As for her prospective husband, when she found that he was in his fortieth year, she burst into a fit of weeping, declaring that she would rather be a nun, and implored her aunt to marry the man herself. James, smarting doubly from the consequences of the Test Act and the loss of New York, paid very little attention to his marriage festivities. Instead of choosing a person of his own faith to act as his proxy in France, he sent a member of the Church of England, and the ceremony was performed by an English priest, not only without a dispensation from the Pope, but in defiance of his interdict.
James was in the drawing-room, laughing and chatting with some ladies and gentlemen, when the French ambassador came to him with the news that the marriage service had been concluded. " Then I am a mar- ried man," he exclaimed, gayly. He sent a message the same evening to his daughter Mary, that he " had provided a playfellow for her." As for the bride, she cried and screamed two whole days and nights as the time drew near for her to commence her journey to England. She would not be pacified until her mother promised to accompany her. She em- barked at Calais on the 21st of November, 1673. The Duke gallantly awaited her on the sands at Dover, and, like his royal father, many years before, received his French bride in his arms. He was charmed with her grace and loveliness, and, though she betrayed a childish aversion to him, he was too well versed in the art of playing the successful wooer to ladies of all ages to notice it, and lavished upon her the most courtly attentions.
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