USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 28
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
From that hour, it became evident that New Netherland was the pivot upon which affairs were likely to turn. The States-General had com- mitted themselves with Spain to a mutual restoration of conquests, while yet ignorant of their recent American acquisition. With the news of their unexpected good fortune came a sense of painful embarrassment. Peace was desirable; and finally they determined upon the sacrifice, and, through the Spanish ambassador at London, offered to restore New Netherland. Charles charged the Dutch with insincerity ; but Parliament was alive to the probable consequences of the Duke's marriage, and informed the king that the treaty was inevitable. Perceiving that his lords were bent, upon keeping him poor and without an army, Charles suddenly accepted the terms, although he said, "it went more against his heart than the losing of his right hand." When he had committed himself too far to recede, Louis offered him five million and a half dollars and forty ships of war to break off negotiations. James tried to accomplish the same result, for he would have greatly preferred to recover his losses by force Feb. 9.
of arms. The treaty was signed, however, at Westminster, on the. 9th of February, 1674, and peace was soon after proclaimed at. London and at the Hague. Thus England escaped a disastrous war, and the Dutch were rendered less apprehensive of Louis, their more dreaded foe.
The news reached New Netherland early in June. Governor Colve received instructions from the States-General to restore the prov- June 7. ince to any person whom the king of England should depute to receive it. The wise heads at the Hague had been denied even one brief moment of exultation in the prospect of rearing the offspring of their offspring, - the child of the selfish corporation which they them- selves had fostered. Whatever dreams they may have indulged of build- ing a great empire midway between the Royalist and Puritan colonies of England, to teach the world lessons in civil and religious liberty and patriotic devotion, were now dissipated forever. But the spirits of a few men had already infused into the character of the people elements of greatness destined never to die out, and laid the foundations of a com- munity on principles of freedom and virtue which, through all the muta- tions of time, will increase the purity and power of the nation.
Sir Edmund Andros was the newly appointed English governor. He had been brought up in the king's household, of which his father was the master of ceremonies. He had distinguished himself in the army, and, by the recent death of his father, had succeeded to the office of bailiff of Guernsey, and become hereditary seigneur of the fief of Sausmarez. The proprietor of Carolina had also made him a landgrave, and granted
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LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS.
him four baronies in that province. He was about thirty-seven years of age ; well informed in the politics of the time, educated in history and language and art, and, as events subsequently developed, possessed of great capacity for statesmanship. His private character, moreover, was without blemish. His wife, Mary, to whom he had been married about three years and who accompanied him to this country, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Craven. His commis- sion authorized him to take posses- sion of New York, in the name of Charles II. He arrived in October.
An interesting question arose at Whitehall, touching the Duke's title to New York. The most eminent lawyers in England were taken into council, and it was finally decided that all subordinate right and juris- diction had been extinguished by Portrait of Andros. the Dutch conquest; the king alone was proprietor of New Netherland by virtue of the treaty of Westminster.
Charles therefore issued a new patent to his brother, conveying the same. territory as before, with absolute powers of government. And the Duke gave elaborate instruc- tions to Andros, which formed the temporary political constitution of New York.
Anthony Brockholls was appointed lieutenant-governor. He was a Roman Catholic; but the Test Act, which would have excluded him from office in England, did not reach these shores. The Duke, still writh- ing under Protestant intolerance, was thus able to illustrate his own ideas of freedom of conscience.
It is a curious fact, that the king's new patent to the Duke read as if no previous English patent had ever existed. It conveyed, ostensibly for the first time, a territory, which the Netherlands, after conquering and holding it, had by treaty restored. New Jersey was once more the prop- erty of James, together with all the territory west of the Connecticut River, Long Island and the adjacent islands, and the region of P.emaquid.
Boundary dissensions, litigations, fines, and heart-burnings were all to begin at the original starting-place and be lived over again. Berkeley and Carteret were slightly moved to anger when they found their former purchases annulled. Berkeley had sold his undivided half of New Jer- sey for one thousand pounds ; and John Fenwick, the buyer, thought he
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
had secured a bargain. Sir George Carteret was vice-chamberlain of the royal household, and a resolute, domineering courtier. These gentlemen suddenly found themselves without any legal right whatever to New Jersey, and were not slow or moderate in their complaints. Carteret wielded the greater influence of the two; and, within three weeks after the commission to Andros was issued, the Duke directed Thomas Wynning- ton, his attorney-general, and Sir John Churchill, his solicitor-general, to prepare a grant to Carteret, in severalty, of a part of the portion which, ten years before, he had conveyed to Berkeley and Carteret jointly.1
Whatever may be said of the scope of this instrument, its history is remarkable. Before he granted it, James hesitated and demurred. Charles had insisted that something must be done to keep Sir George in a good-humor. And when James at last affixed his signature to the grant, it was after carefully noting that it contained no clause by which the imperious Carteret could claim the absolute power and author- ity to govern. The commission to Andros comprehended New Jersey, and it was not altered. Yet Carteret, esteeming himself sole propri- etor, drew up a paper distinctly recognizing the annihilation of this old right by the Dutch conquest and the recent fresh grant from the Duke, and at the same time commissioned his cousin Philip Carteret as governor over his possessions, and procured his passage in the same vessel with Andros. Lord Berkeley seems to have been ignored alto- gether.
The Duke, not quite at ease about his title to Long Island, as he had never paid Lord Stirling the sum agreed upon in 1664, negotiated a life pension of three hundred pounds a year for him on condition that he would yield all pretense to right and title. This was satisfactory ; and Lord Stirling agreed that, if the Duke would procure for him any employ- ment of the like value, he would release the grant of his annuity.
The frigates Diamond and Castle, with the gubernatorial party, Oct. 22. anchored off Staten Island, October 22, 1674. Andros sent Gov- ernor Carteret, with Ensign Knafton, to notify Governor Colve of his
1 This grant was described as the tract of land " westward of Long Island and Manhattan Island, bounded on the east partly by the main sea and partly by Hudson's River, and ex- tends southward as far as a certain creek called Barnegat, being about the middle between Sandy Point and Cape May ; and bounded on the west in a strait line from Barnegat to a certain creek in Delaware River next to and below a certain creek called Rankokus Kill ; and from thence up the Delaware River to the northermost branch thereof which is forty-one degrees and forty minutes of latitude ; and on the north crosses over thence in a strait line to Hudson's River in forty-one degrees of latitude ; which said tract is to be called by the name of New Jersey." Brodhead, II. 267. Whitehead, 64. Leaming and Spicer, 49. Chalmers, I. 617. Col. Doc., III. 229, 240.
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GOVERNOR COLVE'S FAREWELL.
arrival, and of his readiness to receive the scepter of command. The latter, by advice of his council, and the burgomasters and schepens, asked for eight days, in which to complete some necessary preliminaries. Cor- nelis Steenwyck, Johannes Van Brugh, and William Beekman were appointed to pay a visit of welcome to Andros on board the Diamond, and to request certain privileges for the Dutch inhabitants of New York. They were courteously received, invited to dine, treated to the choicest of wines, and assured that every Dutch citizen should participate in all the liberties and privileges accorded to English subjects. To the several arti- cles, relating chiefly to the settlement of debts, the validity of judgments during the Dutch administration, the maintenance of owners in the pos- session of their property, the retention of church forms and ceremonies, etc., Andros replied that he would give such answers as were desired as soon as he had assumed the government. And all his promises were hon- orably fulfilled.
On the 9th of November, Governor Colve assembled at the old City Hall the burgomasters and schepens, together with all officers,
civil or military, who had served under him, and, in a short speech, Nov. 9. absolved them from their oaths of allegiance to the States-General and the Prince of Orange, and announced that on the morrow he would sur- render the fort and province to the new English governor, who repre- sented the king of England. The cushions and the tablecloth in the City Hall were placed in charge of Johannes Van Brugh until they should be claimed by superior authority. Then, with a few words of farewell, he dismissed the assembly.
The next day was Saturday. Andros landed with much ceremony and was graciously greeted by the Dutch commander. The final Nov. 10. transfer of the province took place, and the city on Manhattan Island became once more and for all the future up to the present time, NEW YORK. One of the most friendly incidents of the occasion occurred just as the setting sun was tinting the western horizon. Ex-Governor Colve sent his coach and three horses with a formal, flattering message, as a gift to Governor Andros.
A quiet Sabbath followed. Dominie Van Nieuwenhuysen was assisted in the morning service, at the old Dutch church in the fort, by Nov. 11. Rev. Nicolaus Van Rensselaer, a younger son of the patroon, and one of the late arrivals by the Diamond.1 He was an ordained clergyman,
1 Dominie Van Rensselaer had fortunately prophesied to Charles II., when the latter was an exile at Brussels, that he would be restored to the throne. When that event occurred, the dominie accompanied the Dutch ambassador, Van Gogh, to London, as chaplain to the embassy ; and the king, remembering his prediction, gave Van Rensselaer a gold snuff-box
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
and had been recommended by James to fill one of the Dutch churches in New York or Albany, whenever a vacancy should occur. Andros, who was a member of the Church of England, attended divine service in the afternoon in the same sanctuary, as had been the custom of his prede- cessors.
Early on Monday morning, Andros wrote a polite note of acknowledg- ment to Colve for his many courtesies, and thanked him cordially for his unexpected present. He likewise returned the articles which had been submitted to him, nearly all of which had been agreed to, and certified by the newly sworn secretary of the province, Matthias Nicolls. The latter was made one of the governor's chief counselors and also mayor of the city.
Andros appointed the common council by special commission. John Lawrence was made deputy-mayor; and William Derval, Frederick Philipse, Gabriel Minvielle, and John Winder, aldermen. They were to hold their offices until the next October. Thomas Gibbs received the appointment of sheriff; and Captain Dyer, formerly of Rhode Island, that of collector of the revenues.
Frederick Philipse was known, for a full quarter of a century from this time, as the richest man in New York. He was a native of Friesland, and came to this country to seek his fortune, when New York was in her feeblest infancy. He brought no money across the water, as has been generally sup- posed. He was a penniless youth, of high birth, with extraordinary tact and talent for business, and a smattering of the carpenter's trade. He worked at the latter until he could measure and master the situation. It is said that he was employed on the old Dutch church in the fort, and actually made QUOD TIBI FACIAS the pulpit with his own hands. He finally started in trade and was successful, particu- VIS FIERI larly with the Indians. He was persistently Philipse's Coat of Arms. industrious and rose rapidly into notice. He is spoken of as a well-to-do merchant, in 1662. From that time his
with his portrait on the lid, which is still preserved by the family at Albany. After Van Gogh left London, in 1665, because of the Dutch war, Van Rensselaer received Charles's. license to preach in the Dutch church at Westminster, was ordained a deacon in the English Church by the Bishop of Salisbury, and was appointed lecturer in Saint Margaret's, Lothbury. Van Nieuwenhuysen's Letter to Cl. Amst., May 30, 1676; Col. Doc., III. 225. Doc. Hist. N. Y., III. 526. O'Call., I. 122, 212 ; II. 552. Holgate, 52. Smith, I. 49, 388. Brodhead, II. 272. New York Christ. Intell., Nov. 2, 1865. Hist. Mag., IX. 352.
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FREDERICK PHILIPSE.
advance was rapid. The wealthy Peter Rudolphus De Vries died; and Philipse, marrying the widow, acquired her estate. The lady, however, was strong-minded, quite competent to manage her own affairs, and altogether opposed to taxation without representation. She bought and traded in her own name, and often went to Holland as supercargo in her own ships. She took her children to Europe, and gave them a liberal education. The world pronounced her able, but not amiable. The world sometimes errs in judgment, and may have done so in this instance, for there is no evi- dence of domestic infelicity in the Philipse family. On the contrary, Mrs. Philipse seems to have been in sympathy with all her husband's plans and projects, and to have greatly advanced his mercantile interests.
He became one of the largest traders with the Five Nations, at Albany ; he sent his own vessels to both the East and West Indies ; he imported slaves from Africa ; and (as we shall see hereafter) there were audible whisperings, when piracy was at its zenith, of his being engaged in un- lawful trade with the buccaneers at Madagascar. The latter accusation, however, if true, was never proven. By a fortuitous chain of circum- stances, the united avails of several large individual fortunes centered in this one man. After the death of his first wife (about the time of the advent of Governor Sloughter), he married, in 1693, another rich widow. This was Catharine, the daughter of Oloff S. Van Cortlandt, and, besides the large estate bequeathed by her father, she had received from her deceased husband a still more extensive property. She was, moreover, young and attractive, had a sweet disposition, many accomplishments, and charming manners.
Frederick Philipse secured to himself, by purchase of the Indians and grants from the government, all the "hunting-grounds " between Spuy- ten-Duyvil and the Croton River. In 1693, this vast estate was formally erected by royal charter into a manor, under the style and title of the manor of Philipseborough, with the customary privileges of a lord- ship, such as holding court-leet, court-baron, exercising advowson, etc. It embraced the romantic site of the present ambitious city of Yonkers, which extends six miles along the Hudson River by three miles inland, and in the very heart of which may now be seen the pioneer manor- house erected in 1682. It was enlarged and improved in 1745, but the practiced eye can readily determine where the products of the two cen- turies were joined in one harmonious whole. There still swings in the center of the southern front a massive door, which was manufactured in Holland in 1681, and imported by the first Mrs. Philipse in one of her own vessels. It is as dark as ebony, and shows where the upper and lower halves, which formerly opened separately, were fastened together.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
This old manor-house has had an eventful history, and finally, in the year 1867, it was purchased by the corporation of Yonkers and converted into a City Hall. Philipse was, for more than twenty years, a member of the governor's council, and on terms of intimacy with all the royal gov- ernors, from Andros to Bellamont. His enormous wealth entitled him to constant consideration ; yet he was no favorite with the magnates of his time. He was grave, even to melancholy, and talked so little that he was often pronounced excessively dull. He was not a man of letters, or of any special culture. He was intelligent, apt, a close observer of men and things, and shrewd almost to craftiness. Although an official adviser to the king's commander-in-chief, he never advised. In the political con- troversies which were more deadly bitter in that remote period than they have ever been since, he never meddled, but laid his hand upon his purse, and waited to see which party was likely to win. He was tall and well proportioned, with a quiet gray eye, which always seemed to hide more than it revealed, a Roman nose, and a mouth expressive of strong will. His movements were slow and measured. He dressed with great care and precision, wearing the full embroidery, lace cuffs, etc., of the time, and his head was crowned with that absurd and detestable monstrosity, - a periwig with flowing ringlets.
The governor and his council were to meet at nine o'clock every Fri- day morning for the transaction of State business. The first mayor's court was convened on the Wednesday following the surrender. Nov. 13. It was ordered that the records be henceforth kept in English, and that every paper offered to the court be in the same tongue, except in case of poor people who could not afford the cost of translation. This introduced more of the English form into legal proceedings than had heretofore obtained, but it was several years before the custom was well established.
Captain Manning returned to New York with Governor Andros in the Diamond. He had sailed for England shortly after the recapture of New York by the Dutch, and, suffering the affliction of losing his wife on the voyage, had arrived in London while the Treaty of Westminster was yet in suspense. The Duke summoned him into his presence, and, after listening to his account of the surrender of New York to the Dutch, cen- sured him severely. The next day, he was closely examined in Lord Arlington's office by the king and the Duke. " Brother," said Charles to James, "the ground could not have been maintained by so few men." Manning was dismissed without reprimand, and the Duke, after a time, paid his expenses from Fayal.
But some of those who had lost heavily by the surrender to the Dutch
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STRINGENT MEASURES.
were disposed to attribute the disaster to the officer in command. Al- derman Derval, who was the son-in-law of Thomas Delavall, was very bitter in his denunciations of Manning. Andros was finally compelled to arrest the latter ; and he was tried by a court-martial, composed of the governor and council, Captains Griffith, Burton, and Salisbury, and the mayor and aldermen of the city. Six charges were brought against him, involving neglect of duty, cowardice, and treachery. A number of wit- nesses testified against him; and, although he endeavored to explain his conduct, rejected indignantly the idea of treachery or cowardice, and finally threw himself upon the mercy of the court, he was found guilty of all save treachery, and pronounced deserving of death. As he had seen the king and the Duke since the crime was committed, he was allowed the benefit of the proverb, " king's face brings grace," and his life was spared. His sentence was to have his sword broken over his head in front of the " City Hall," and to be rendered incapable of holding any station of trust or authority under the government. He had, before this, purchased a large island in the East River, whither he retired, and where it would seem his disgrace did not disturb his phi- losophy, for he entertained largely and was one of the most facetious and agreeable of hosts. He settled the island upon Mary, the daughter of his wife by a former husband. This lady married Robert Blackwell, from whom the island received the name it has borne to the present time.
Andros, by the Duke's order, seized the estate of Lovelace, and required all persons possessing any portion of it to render an account. He thus obtained possession of the "Dominie's Bouwery," which was added to the Duke's farm adjoining. He visited in person the towns on the eastern part of Long Island, and soothed the ruffled temper of the people, who prudently avoided any direct opposition to his authority. He after- wards wrote to Winthrop that Connecticut had done well for the king by her interference against the Dutch during the past year, but signifi- cantly hinted that henceforth New York would be quite able to stand without neighborly assistance. The town clerk of Newtown was kept an hour upon the whipping-post, in front of the City Hall of the capital, with a paper pinned to his breast, stating that he had signed seditious letters against the government, because he replied to the governor's proclama- tion reinstating the old town officers, with a frank statement of former grievances under Lovelace.
In March, Andros issued an order requiring every citizen of the March 13. province to take the usual oaths of allegiance and fidelity. The mayor and aldermen appointed Monday, March 13, for the purpose, and the mayor's court was in session at an early hour. Some of the
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
leading men, including several of the city magistrates, requested that before they proceeded with the business, Andros should confirm the pledge of Governor Nicolls, " that the capitulation of August, 1664, was not in the least broken, or intended to be broken, by any words or expressions in the said oath." As they understood it, this capitulation had been confirmed by the sixth article of the Treaty of Westmin- ster; and such seems to have been the opinion of the Duke himself. The mayor, Matthias Nicolls, claimed to know nothing of any such pledge on the part of the former governor, and evinced much surprise when a copy was produced. The gentlemen declared that they only wished to be assured of future freedom of religion, and exemption from the duty of fighting against their own nation in time of war. But Andros fancied he detected something of covert mutiny, and haughtily required them to take the oath without qualification. There- upon a petition was drafted, asking the governor to accept the oath in the manner and form approved by Nicolls, or to allow the parties con- cerned to dispose of their estates and remove elsewhere with their families. It was signed by Cornelis Steenwyck, Johannes Van Brugh, Johannes De Peyster, Nicholas Bayard, Ægidius Luyck, William Beek- man, Jacob Kip, and Anthony De Milt. It was promptly rejected by Andros, without discussion, and its eight signers were immediately arrested and imprisoned, on a charge of trying to foment rebellion. Their examination took place in the presence of Andros and his council, Governor Carteret of New Jersey, and Captains Griffith and Burton, of the English frigates. Their case was turned over to the next Court of Assizes, and meanwhile they were released on bail. When their trial came on, De Peyster was acquitted, through the taking of the oath ; the other seven were convicted of a violation of the act of Parliament in having traded without taking the oath, and their goods were accordingly forfeited ; but eventually the penalties were remitted by the prisoners taking the required oath, and thus the difficulty ended.
About the first of May, Andros wrote to Winthrop, claiming for the May 1.
Duke of York the country west of the Connecticut River, and sending copies of the Duke's patent and his own commission. The General Court of Connecticut replied that their charter came from the king, and that they should rest upon the boundary arrangement of 1664. Andros demanded possession, which was flatly refused. He then June 28. equipped an armed force and sailed up the Sound, anchoring just off Saybrook Point, with the intention of reducing the fort. But he found the people prepared for a determined resistance, and was July 8. unwilling to take the responsibility of bloodshed.
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