USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 29
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ROBERT LIVINGSTON.
He sent one of his sloops to Boston, with supplies for the aid of the New-Englanders, who were fighting the Indians. And, to prevent mis- chief nearer home, he crossed Long Island on horseback, disarming the Indians everywhere, and reviewing the militia. Upon reaching New York, he sent for the Long Island and New Jersey sachems, and renewed with them the old treaty of peace. The intrigues of the French mis- sionaries among the Iroquois having created disturbance, Andros visited Albany, Schenectady, and the warlike tribes one hundred miles beyond. He was entertained by the savages everywhere, and created a strong sentiment in favor of the English. The sachems, in the happiest temper, renewed their former alliance. Before he left Albany on his homeward journey, he organized a local board of commissioners for Indian affairs, of which he appointed Robert Livingston the secretary.
This gentleman was a scion of an ancient and honorable Scotch family, whose lordly ancestors had drunk wine from king's goblets for cen- turies. His father was Rev. John Livingston, whose name ranks high in the Scotch Church, and who was one of the commissioners appointed by Parliament to negotiate with Charles the terms of his restoration to the throne, but who was afterward prosecuted with vigorous rancor for non-conformity, and obliged to take ref- SPERO MELIORA uge in Rotterdam.
Robert Livingston was a bold and adven- turous young man, and had been in the coun- try about a year. His ability and promise were so marked, that, within a week after his arrival, he had been made town clerk of Al- bany. He acquired great influence over the Indians, and retained the office which he re- ceived from Andros for a long series of years. He married, in 1683, Alida, the widow of Rev. Nicolaus Van Rensselaer and daughter of Philip Pietersen Schuyler. He was a man Livingston Coat of Arms. of strongly marked individuality, of original conceptions, of irrepressible opinions, of obstinate determination, of untiring acquisitiveness, and, for the age in which he lived, of no mean culture. He was, in short, a man to be remembered on his own account, independent of birth or connection. Yet his birth and connection gave him social position in the Old World, and were not without their advantage to him in the New ; for, on his frequent visits to England, in after years, the state policy of the colonial government or his own private interests were not in- frequently the better served through his standing in the society, and his
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
influence with the ruling classes, of the mother country. He was tall, and well developed in figure, with a somewhat cloudy complexion, brown hair, and dark, inscrutable eyes. He was polished in his manners, but careless of giving pleasure and indifferent to giving pain ; and withal, so icily impertinent at times as never to attain popularity in New York. He was of infinite value to the colony, for his energy and activity set in motion many a wheel which otherwise would have been long in turning.
In October of the same year, the burning of Hadley, Deerfield, North- field, and Springfield induced Andros to seriously contemplate
Oct. 19. engaging the Iroquois to go to the aid of New England against the murderous Indians within her borders. Connecticut declined the offer of such assistance, insinuating certain reflections upon the Dutch, and upon the conduct of Andros. The latter replied satirically and demanded explanations. Samuel Willys and William Pitkin were sent by Connecticut to hold a personal interview with Andros at the 1676. fort. They asked permission to talk with the Iroquois at Albany. They were told that it was strange that a colony so jealous about their own concerns should seek to treat with separate portions of another gov- ernment. Andros, however, expressed his willingness to do all in his power to procure peace between New England and her Indian enemies. It was a time of great tribulation throughout the whole country. Pema- quid was, shortly after, burned, and Andros dispatched a sloop to Boston to bring the sufferers to New York. But Philip, the great Indian Aug. 12. chief who had instigated the war, was suddenly slain in a swamp, and these barbarous hostilities came to an end.
The Connecticut boundary was still unsettled. The Duke wrote to Andros that he was willing things should rest as they were for the pres- ent. As to assemblies - for which New York had petitioned - he said they were useless and dangerous, apt to assume to themselves too many privileges, and hazardous to the peace of the government ; but he added, " Howsoever, if you continue of the same opinion, I shall be ready to consider any proposals you shall send, to that purpose."
Since the Peace of Westminster, American affairs had been restored to the immediate control of the crown, through the dissolution of the Coun- cil for Plantations and the transfer of the records to the Privy Council. It was the intention to strictly enforce the navigation and custom laws in the colonies. This caused, for a time, a cessation of trade between New York and Boston (since no European goods might be imported from one place to the other without the payment of customs in England), and produced misunderstandings and heartburnings between the two colonies.
277
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
Andros took an active personal interest in city affairs. He advised and suggested laws for correcting morals, suppressing profanity and intemperance, and punishing Sabbath-breakers. The city gates were closed at nine o'clock and opened at daylight. Every citizen was re- quired to possess a musket, with a small quantity of powder and ball, and to take part in the night watch, when called upon. Masters of vessels coming into port must always furnish the mayor with a full list of their passengers, under penalty of fine. Peddling was prohibited, as freemen and burghers only were allowed to sell goods in the city. A number of good dwellings were erected, and all owners of vacant lots were ordered to improve them, under penalty of having them sold at public auction. Nicholas De Meyer was the mayor in 1676. He was a merchant and an old resident ; his wife was the daughter of Hendrick Van Dyck. He was so ambitious for the prosperity of New York, and projected so many improvements, that Andros laughingly called him the " new broom," and charged him with sweeping all the rubbish into the ditch at Broad Street. That famous canal was, during the year, filled and made level with the rest of the land about it. The tan-pits which it had hitherto contained, and which had been complained of as a nuisance by the dwellers in the vicinity, were removed and established along Maiden Lane, where there was a marshy valley and a similar influx of water. One company, con- sisting of four shoemakers who were also tanners, bought a piece of land bounded by Maiden Lane, Broadway, Ann Street, and a line between William and Gold Streets, and prosecuted a flourishing business. Slaughter-houses were ordered out of the city limits, and were afterwards located over the water at "Smit's Vly," which was so called from a blacksmith who set up a forge on the corner of Maiden Lane and Pearl Street, and intercepted the custom of the Long Island farmers on their way to the city. Six wine and four beer taverns were licensed. No grain was allowed to be distilled unless unfit for flour. Everybody was allowed to cut wood on the island, at a distance of one mile from a house. The fort was repaired. Andros removed the kitchen of the governor's house, over which was the old armory, because the roof was leaky and rotten. Presently arose a new building in its place. He removed the tiles from the roof of the main edifice and substituted shingles. He set stockades around the fort, to protect it from animals, and closed the gate upon the water side. He also placed the arms of the Duke of York over the Broadway entrance.
In 1677, Stephanus Van Cortlandt was appointed mayor. He 1677. was the son of Oloff S. Van Cortlandt, and the first native-born citizen who had filled the office. He was some thirty-four years old, of
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
fine presence, with commanding countenance and courtly bearing. He had been trained under a learned tutor in the severe and thorough men- tal culture which distinguished his parents, and was, in many respects, a brilliant character. His wealth was enormous. His wife - whom he married in 1671 - was the beautiful Gertrude Schuyler of Albany, one of the few chosen friends of Lady Andros. They lived in a handsome and well-furnished house, on the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets, and sub- sequently built the Cortlandt manor-house on the Hudson.
It was he who carried into execution the digging of the first public wells in the city. They were six in number, each located in the middle of a street. Water was not plentiful in them, and that little was brack- ish. But they were esteemed a security against fires, if of no greater value. The same year, a new dock was built, at the expense of the property- owners. The old graveyard on the west side of Broadway was sold off in building-lots, each one of which extended to the river's edge. At this date, there were sixty-five dwellings on Broadway. Francis Rombouts's home, upon or near the site of Trinity Church, was the handsomest of them all. It had been lately enlarged and beautified, and its pictu- resque gardens and grounds extended even to the water below. Rom- bouts was an educated Frenchman, of high birth and large wealth. In the year following Van Cortlandt's mayoralty he was appointed mayor.
This was the year noted for the passage of the celebrated " Bolting Act," which secured to the citizens of New York the exclusive 1678. right of bolting flour, and exporting it from the province, - an act which, during the sixteen years of its existence, trebled the wealth of the city. It created great dissatisfaction in the inland towns, and, through their united efforts, it was finally repealed, in 1694. But meanwhile six hundred houses had been erected, land had increased to ten times its former value, and the shipping had multiplied into sixty full-sized vessels, which were in constant use for the transportation of the golden fruits of the monopoly.
The most important measure of the year 1679 had reference to Indian
slaves. Many of the natives of the Spanish West Indies were 1679. held in bondage, and also some of the Indians of New York. It was resolved, that " all Indians here have always been and are free, and not slaves, except those brought from foreign parts. But if any shall be brought hereafter into the province within the space of six months, they are to be disposed of out of the government as soon as possible. After the expiration of six months, all that shall be brought here shall be as other free Indians."
Andros spent the winter of 1678 in England, by special permission.
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NEGRO SLAVES.
He told the Duke that the greatest want in New York was that of servants. Few negro slaves had been brought in of late, and their value was greatly increased. They cost from thirty to thirty-five pounds each. He said the value of the estates in the province amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. A merchant having five hundred or a thousand pounds was thought substantial ; and a planter worth half that in movables was accounted rich. "Ministers were scarce and re- ligions many ; but there were no beggars in New York, and all the poor were cared for."
During the absence of Andros, Lieutenant-Governor Brockholls acted as commander-in-chief. Secretary Nicolls was next him in authority, both being instructed to consult, on extraordinary occasions, with the mayor of the city. Lady Andros was invested with a power of attorney to manage the governor's private affairs, and she fulfilled her task with credit.
" At the first interview they stood so appalled as if the ghosts of Luther and Calvin had suffered a transmigration." - Page 284.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XVI.
1678-1683.
EUROPEAN AFFAIRS.
EUROPEAN AFFAIRS. - PRINCE OF ORANGE IN LONDON. - MARRIAGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY. - PEACE BETWEEN HOLLAND AND FRANCE. - JACOB LEISLER. - THE CLIMATE OF NEW YORK. - THE MINISTER'S SUPPER. - CONVERSATION IN LATIN. - ECCLESI- ASTICAL TROUBLES. - HUNTING BEARS BETWEEN CEDAR STREET AND MAIDEN LANE. - THE TWO LABADISTS. - JEAN VIGNE. - THE TRAVELERS ON LONG ISLAND. - SLEEP- ING IN A BARN. - THE FIRST CLASSIS IN AMERICA. - MOVEMENT TO BUILD A NEW CHURCH. - THE UNEASY INDIANS. - NEW JERSEY. - ARREST AND TRIAL OF GOVERNOR CARTERET. - EAST AND WEST NEW JERSEY. - FAULTY DEEDS. - IMPERI- OUSNESS OF ANDROS. - WILLIAM PENN'S SOPHISTRY. - OPINION OF SIR WILLIAM JONES. - COMPLAINTS AGAINST ANDROS. - FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. - RECALL OF ANDROS. - CLAMOR FOR AN ASSEMBLY. - LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR BROCKHOLLS. - ALMOST A COLONIAL REVOLUTION. - LONG ISLAND. - INSUBORDINATION. - AN ASSEM- BLY GRANTED. - THOMAS DONGAN. - THE TRIUMPHAL MARCH.
THE constitution of England had recently been violated for the pur- pose of protecting the Roman Catholics from the penal laws. It created the general fear that a blow was about to be aimed at the Protes- tant religion ; and the public mind was in such temper, that every move- ment on the part of the king was regarded with suspicion, as leaning towards Rome.
Louis, still at war with Holland, carefully fomented these jealousies. As a neutral between the two fighting nations, England engrossed the principal commerce of the world. The Dutch, seeing their commerce lan- guish, while that of England flourished, naturally longed for peace with France. The Prince of Orange visited London, to enlist his uncle, the king, in the important undertaking, while negotiations were opened at Nimeguen on the Rhine.
Charles received William cordially and affectionately ; and the young prince remained some weeks at Whitehall, talking with his two uncles about the proposed treaty. He was about to depart for Holland, when the king said to him, "Nephew, it is not good for man to be alone; I will give you a helpmeet,"-and thereupon offered him the hand of
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MARRIAGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY.
his cousin Mary in marriage. James, who had been hitherto bitterly opposed to giving his daughter to a heretic, and who was ambitious withal to marry her to the Dauphin of France, gave his consent with seeming heartiness. William smiled grimly, showing no disposition, as on a former occasion, to decline the splendid alliance. "Nephew," added Charles, "remember that love and war do not agree well to- gether."
The news of the intended marriage spread through the court. All, except the French and the Roman Catholic party, were much pleased with it. Barillon, the French ambassador, was amazed, and predicted that such a son-in-law would be the ruin of James. He sent a courier to the Court of France with the tidings, and Louis was moved more seriously than he would have been by the loss of an army.
The marriage followed quickly. It took place on the 4th of Novem- ber, William's twenty-seventh birthday. The bride was fifteen 1677. the preceding April. She had been educated with her sister Nov. 4. Anne at the Richmond palace, knew something of science and accom- plishments, spoke and wrote French well, sketched a little, read history attentively, and possessed some musical skill. Her chief faults, as a child, were love of eating and gambling. The latter amusement she persistently indulged in on Sunday evenings, to the great distress of her tutor. She had been confirmed in the Church of England by the Bishop of London, in obedience to the orders of the king. When first in- formed of her future prospects, she wept piteously in her father's arms. The ceremony was performed at nine o'clock in the evening, in her bedchamber, in the presence of the king and queen, the Duke and Duchess of York, and a few official attendants. Bishop Compton offi- ciated, while Charles gave away the sobbing Mary, and, at the same time, little foreseeing the momentous consequences of such Dutch and British nuptials, attempted to overcome her dejection by noisy joviality.
Two days later, Mary was deprived of her position as heiress pre- sumptive to the crown of England by the birth of a son to the Duke of York, and William was complimented with the office of sponsor to the unwelcome relative. But the little life was not destined to be of long duration. The bridegroom might have spared his pretty young bride the unhappiness of seeing him in constant ill-humor during the honeymoon. The whole court was surprised and indignant that she was rarely seen except in tears; and, to add to her griefs, her sister Anne was lying dangerously ill of small-pox. On the 19th of Novem- ber, Mary sailed with William for Holland, Charles and James accom-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
panying them as far as Erith, where they bade them an affectionate farewell.
The conference at Nimeguen progressed briskly after William's mar- riage. Parliament voted supplies for a possible war with France, and recalled all English soldiers and sailors who had been on duty under Louis. But the chief source of anxiety was at home. Religious con- venticles had just then reached an insufferable pitch, and wild doctrines were being sown in all parts of the kingdom. The Titus Oates perjuries wellnigh produced a convulsion ; and presently the sight of James so inflamed the populace, that the king sent him, with his wife and daugh- ter, to Brussels. Mary met her father with the first sunny face she had worn since her gloomy wedding. He was soon ordered to Scot- land, and she accompanied him on the journey as far as the Maesland sluice, parting from him in an agony of sorrow. How, at that moment, she would have recoiled, could the future have been unrolled to her vision !
Peace was at length covenanted between the French and the Dutch. 1678. Andros watched with interest the progress of events. He reached Aug. 1. England in January, and was at once knighted by the king; after which he took a short holiday, to look after his private affairs at Guernsey. Upon his return to court, he attended the meetings of the Privy Council. Two agents from Massachusetts were present, and in great tribulation because of the seeming ill-favor of their colony at Whitehall. Andros took occasion to add still further to their trials by exposing the behavior of the Puritan colonies towards New York, particu- larly in connection with the late Indian war, - a subject which was imme- diately investigated by this supreme tribunal. He also gave a full and specific account of the internal administration of New York. The Duke required him to return immediately to his government, and he May 27. sailed May 27, commissioned as Vice-Admiral over all the Duke's territory, and authorized to appoint a Judge, Register, and Marshal in Admiralty, to hold office during his pleasure.
He made it his first business to order that none but New-Yorkers Aug. 8. should trade with the Indians at Albany ; also, that no inland Aug. 24.
towns should "trade over sea," and that all flour must be in- spected in the metropolis.
During this month, news having been received that Jacob Leisler, while on a trading voyage to Europe in one of his own vessels, had been Aug. 17. captured by the Turks, the governor issued an order that the
church officers should collect money of well-disposed persons in the province for his redemption. Leisler himself paid two thousand
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THE CLIMATE OF NEW YORK.
Spanish dollars towards the fund, and was soon after released, together with those who were in captivity with him.1
The first Judge in Admiralty appointed by Andros was Mayor Stephanus Van Cortlandt. The aldermen of the city were to be assistants of the Provincial Court of Admiralty. Samuel Leete, the city clerk, was ap- pointed register, and Sheriff Thomas Ashton, marshal, of the court. This organization, substantially, existed for several years.
Some gentlemen crossed the ocean with Andros, on his return voyage, who were destined to become prominent in public affairs ; among them were William Pinhorne, James Graham, and John West. Rev. James Wolley, a recent graduate of Cambridge University, came also as chaplain to the British forces in New York. He was called by his contemporaries " a gentleman of learning and observation ; sociable of habit and charita- ble in feeling." He published, after his return to England, "A Two Years' Journal in New York," which was highly appreciated. Despite its pedantry, and the fact that it gives a more detailed account of the Indians than of the European settlers, the work abounds in valuable in- formation. One paragraph, in relation to the climate of New York, is too curiously characteristic to be omitted. It is as follows : -
" It is of a sweet and wholesome breath, free from those annoyances which are commonly ascribed by naturalists for the insalubriety of any Country, viz. South or South-east Winds, stagnant Waters, lowness of Shoars, inconstancy of Weather, and the excessive heat of the Summer ; it is gently refreshed, fanned, and allayed by constant breezes from the Sea. It does not welcome Guests and Strangers with the seasoning distempers of Fevers and Fluxes, like Virginia, Maryland, and other Plantations; nature kindly drains and purgeth it by Fon- tanels and Issues of running waters in its irriguous Valleys, and shelters it with the umbrellas of all sorts of Trees, from pernicious Lakes ; which Trees and Plants do undoubtedly, tho' insensibly, suck in and digest into their own growth and composition those subterraneous Particles and Exhalations, which otherwise wou'd be attracted by the heat of the Sun and so become matter for infectious Clouds and malign Atmospheres. .... I myself, a person seemingly of a weakly Stamen and a valetudinary Constitution, was not in the least indisposed in that Climate, during my residence there, the space of three years."
Speaking of the temperature, he says : -
"New York lieth 10 Degrees more to the Southward than Old England ; by which difference according to Philosophy it should be the hotter Climate, but on
1 Ord. Warr. Passes, III. 219. Council Min., III. (II.), 178. Gen. Ent., XXXII. 65. Mass. Rec., V. 289. Col. Doc., III. 717. Doc. Hist., II. 2 ; III. 253. Laws of Maryland, 1681.
18
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
the contrary, to speak feelingly, I found it in the Winter Season rather colder for the most part ; .... it is adjacent to and almost encompassed with an hilly, woody Country, full of Lakes and great Vallies, which receptacles are the Nurseries, Forges and Bellows of the Air, which they first suck in and contract, then discharge and ventilate with a fiercer dilatation."
The inhabitants of New York he called " a clan of high-flown Religion- ists "; yet he said they were very hospitable and often invited him to their houses and tables, the last overture usually including a generous bottle of Madeira. He made a personal endeavor to promote good feeling among the clergymen of the different denominations in the city. He says : -
"There were two other Ministers, or Dominies as they were called there, the one a Lutheran, or High-Dutch, the other a Calvinist, or Low-Dutchman, who behaved themselves one towards another so shily and uncharitably as if Luther and Calvin had bequeathed and entailed their virulent and bigoted Spirits upon them and their heirs forever. They had not visited or spoken to each other with any respect for six years together before my being there, with whom I being much acquainted, I invited them both with their Vrows to a Supper one night unknown to each other, with an obligation, that they should not speak one word in Dutch, under the penalty of a bottle of Madeira, alledging I was so imperfect in that Language that we could not manage a sociable discourse. So accordingly they came, and at the first interview they stood so appaled as if the Ghosts of Luther and Calvin had suffered a transmigration, but the amaze soon went off with a salve tu quoque, and a Bottle of Wine, of which the Calvinist Dominie was a true Carouzer, and so we continued our Mensalia the whole evening in Latine, which they both spoke so fluently and promptly that I blushed at my- self with a passionate regret that I could not keep pace with them ; and at the same time could not forbear reflecting upon our English Schools and Universi- ties (who indeed write Latine elegantly) but speak it, as if they were confined to Mood and Figure, Forms and Phrases, whereas it should be their common talk in their Seats and Halls, as well as in their School Disputations and Themes. This with all deference to these repositories of Learning. As to the Dutch Language, in which I was but a smatterer, I think it lofty, majestic and emphatical, especially the High-Dutch, which as far as I understand it is very expressive in the Scriptures, and so underived that it may take place next the Oriental Languages, and the Septuagint." 1
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