USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 30
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The Calvinist minister referred to was Dominie Nieuwenhuysen, who died in 1681, and the Lutheran was Dominie Bernhardus Frazius. They were both men of vast scholastic acquirements. The language of Rome
1 Wolley's Journal, 55, 56.
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ECCLESIASTICAL TROUBLES.
had not then lost its " imperial " character, and to speak it well was much more common than in later times. But the literary accomplishments of the Englishmen of that generation seem to have been less solid and profound than at either an earlier or a later period. Dominie Nieuwen- huysen was an excellent pastor, notwithstanding that, outside of his own flock, he sometimes exhibited more zeal than charity. He took excep- tions to the clerical conduct of Dominie Van Rensselaer, whom Andros sent to Albany as colleague to Dominie Schaats, and openly declared that a minister ordained in England by a bishop was not qualified to administer the sacrament in the Reformed Dutch Church. He even went so far as to forbid Dominie Van Rensselaer to baptize children, which occasioned much ill-feeling; but, at the trial of the latter before the governor, Nieuwenhuysen was obliged to admit the validity of English Episcopal ordination. Fresh ecclesiastical troubles broke out the next year (1676), when Jacob Leisler, one of Dominie Van Nieu- wenhuysen's deacons, accused Dominie Van Rensselaer of " false preach- ing " and of uttering " dubious words." Van Rensselaer was arrested and brought to New York for trial; but he was acquitted, and Deacon Leisler and Jacob Milborne were ordered to pay all costs for "giving the first occasion of difference." 1
Between Cedar Street and Maiden Lane there was an orchard, owned by John Robinson. On one occasion, we are told, Mr. Wolley put off his clerical dignity and went out with a party to hunt bears in that locality. They pursued one until he finally betook himself 1679. to a tree, and crouched upon a high bough. A boy with a elub was sent up, who, reaching an opposite branch, knocked away at the paws of Bruin until he came growling down, and fell, with a tremendous thump, to the ground.
Mr. Wolley and his wife were frequent guests of Lord George Russell (then residing in New York), a brother of the celebrated Lord William Russell, who was beheaded in 1683. He speaks also in his Journal of Frederick Philipse, and his great wealth. He says skating was very much in vogue ; and he gives some pleasant glimpses into the exchange of presents on New Year's day. On his return to London, he took with him, as American curiosities, "a Gray Squirrel, a Parrot, and a Rac- coon:" He sailed in a ship commanded by George Heathcote, a Qua- ker ; the same who was imprisoned by the governor of Massachusetts, in 1672, for delivering to his Excellency a letter without taking off his hat.2
1 Council Min., III. 54 - 59. Doc. Hist. N. Y., III. 526, 527. Brodhead, II. 288, 300.
2 George Heathcote made numerous voyages to New York. At his death, he liberated
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
In 1679, Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, two travelers, appeared in New York, who had been sent from Europe by a religious sect, called Labadists, to find some suitable spot for a colony. The founder of the sect was Jean De Labadie, a native of Bordeaux, and he had made many converts to his doctrines among persons of learning. His public decla- ration that he was inspired and specially directed by Christ filled the clergy with dismay, and caused him and his followers to be driven to Westphalia and afterwards to Denmark. De Labadie died in 1674, at Wieward in Friesland, where the community had at last found per- manent quarters. Three years later, some of his disciples removed to Surinam, but did not remain there long.
The two envoys to New Amsterdam were passengers on the Charles, one of Mrs. Frederick Philipse's vessels. Some of their experiences and observations are interesting enough to be recited. They landed about four o'clock on a September afternoon, and were invited to supper by a Sept. 23. fellow-passenger, at the house of his father-in-law, Jacob Swart. The table was loaded with delicious peaches, pears, and apples. They were invited to spend the night, and graciously accepted the invitation. They went to walk in the fields, and saw trees laden with divers kinds of fruit in such overflowing abundance as they had never seen in Europe in the best seasons. Upon their return to the house in the evening they were regaled with milk and peaches, and retired to rest and sleep, and dream of peaches on the morrow. The next day was Sunday, and, after partak- ing of an appetizing breakfast of fish and fruit, they went to church, "to avoid scandal,"- as they said. They were not pleased, however, with the personal appearance of the minister, or with his manner of explaining the Bible; and as for his congregation, it was "too worldly." In the after- noon they were escorted by Mr. and Mrs. Swart and Mr. Van Duyne to a tavern, where a daughter of the old people lived; but they found the place " uncongenial," and walked in the orchard "to contemplate the inno- cent objects of nature." They found a mulberry-tree, with leaves as large as a plate. Towards evening they called upon one of Mr. Swart's neigh- bors. His name was Jean Vigne. He was the first male child born in New York of European parents. The date of his birth, according to these travelers, must have been 1614, the very earliest period of white settle- ment.1 His mother owned a farm near Wall and Pearl Streets. He was,
three negro slaves, and gave to Thomas Carlton five hundred acres of land near Shrewsbury, New Jersey, to be called "Carlton Settlement." He also constituted his nephew, Caleb Heathcote, residuary legatee. Will, dated Nov., 1710, Surrogate's Office, N. Y.
1 This statement does not in any manner conflict with the record which confirms Sarah de Rapalje as the first born "Christian daughter " in New Netherland. Long Island Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 113. Benson's Memoir in N. Y. H. S. Coll., II. (Second Series) 94.
287
THE TRAVELERS ON LONG ISLAND.
at this time, in possession of the old homestead, and kept an ancient wind-mill constantly at work upon the hill back of his house. He was a brewer, as well as a farmer; and he was one of the great burghers of the city. He filled the office of schepen in 1663, in 1655, and in 1656. Of his three sisters, Maria married Abraham Verplanck, Cristina was the wife of Dirck Volckertsen, and Rachel the second wife of Cornelis Van Tienhoven. Jean Vigne Upper left no children; but View of the Water Gate (present Wall Street). (From a pencil-sketch by Dankers and Sluyter ) the descendants of his sisters are scattered through the country.
On the 29th the explorers made a journey to Long Island. They describe their route from the ferry as "up a hill, along open Sept. 29. roads and woody places, and through a village called Breuckelen, which has a small ugly church standing in the middle of the road"! Peach-trees were everywhere numerous, and laden with fruit; in some instances actually breaking down with their treasures. They visited the oldest resident, a woman who had lived in this country over half a century, and who had seventy children and grandchildren. They spent one night at the house of Simon De Hart, where they supped on raw and roasted oysters, a roasted haunch of venison, a wild turkey, and a goose, and sat before a hickory fire blazing half-way up the chimney, all the chilly autumn evening. The house is still standing, having been in the possession of the descendants of Simon De Hart ever since.
In the morning they went out through the woods to what is now Fort Hamilton, where the Najack Indians resided upon land which Jacques Cortelyou had long since bought of the sachems, and at pres- ent rented to them for twenty bushels of corn yearly. They rambled along the shore to Coney Island, and from one Indian village to another, eating peaches and wild grapes by the way, and coming every now and then upon "great heaps of watermelons." They visited New Utrecht, and were kindly entertained by Jacques Cortelyou. The town and everything in it had been burned a short time before; but some good stone houses had been rebuilt, and among them this of Cortelyou's. He had two sick sons, and, with his wife, was so occupied in attending to
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
them, that he had little time to devote to his visitors. He invited them to stay as long as it was convenient ; but the only place to sleep he could offer them was in the barn. So, after supper, they took up their quarters for the night upon some straw spread with sheep-skins, "in the midst of the continual grunting of hogs, squealing of pigs, bleating and cough- ing of sheep, barking of dogs, crowing of cocks, and cackling of hens "; much to their discomfort, as would appear from their journal, although they were less disposed to complain when they discovered that they were occupying the usual bed of one of Cortelyou's sons, who had crept into the straw behind them. They said Cortelyou was a mathematician, a sworn land-surveyor, and a doctor of medicine.
View of North Dock. (From a pencil-sketch by Dankers and Sluyter.)
After an extended tour over Long Island, they returned (October 4) to Oct. 4. New York, and remained in the city about a month. On Sunday, October 15th, they attended the Episcopal service in the Dutch church in the fort, conducted by Mr. Wolley. There were not above Oct. 15. twenty-five or thirty people present. They said, "after the
prayers and ceremonies, a young man went into the pulpit, who thought he was performing wonders : he had a little book in his hand, out of which he read his sermon, which was about a quarter of an hour long. With this the services were concluded, at which we could not be sufficiently astonished."
They evidently worked with great zeal to make converts to their own faith, and scattered their admonitions loftily among the sinners of the country. The peculiarity of their movements attracted the attention of the better class of the inhabitants, of whom they had seen but little ; 1680. and when, in January, they returned from Westchester and adja- Jan. 3. cent towns, they were summoned before the mayor to give an account of themselves, and to explain the object of their travels. This done, they were dismissed with the caution not to attempt to go to
Albany without a passport from the governor. After obtaining Feb. 20. this document, they sailed, on the 20th of February, up the Hud-
THE FIRST CLASSIS IN AMERICA. 289
son. They also traveled through New Jersey and the Delaware Bay region. And they persuaded many persons (among whom were Ephraim Heermans and Peter Bayard) to leave their wives and join the Labadists. In June they sailed for Europe. Their journal was published, in 1867, by the Long Island Historical Society, under the supervision of Hon. Henry C. Murphy, who procured the original manuscript in Holland. It is deeply to be regretted that the portion relating chiefly to the me- tropolis has been hopelessly lost.
ELEMENT
SC
View of New York from the North. (From a pencil-sketch by Dankers and Sluyter.)
The first classis ever held in America consisted of Dominies Nieuwen- huysen and Schaats, Dominie Van Zuuren of Long Island, and Dominie Van Gaasbeeck of Esopus. It was formed in 1679, at the suggestion of the Episcopal governor, and for the purpose of examining and ordaining a young licensed Bachelor in Divinity, Peter Tesschenmaeker, who had been called to the church at Newcastle. This novel proceed- June 30. ing was approved by the supreme ecclesiastical judicature at Amsterdam.
The church edifice in the fort having become too small to accommodate the congregation, a meeting was called at the suggestion of Andros, in June, 1680, to consider the best measures for building a new one. Several members of the Council and other leading citizens were present, together with the Dutch and English clergymen. It was voted to raise money by " free-will or gift," and not by public tax ; and it was cordially agreed that the new church should be a quarter larger than the old one. The mayor and aldermen appropriated certain fines towards the fund.1
1 Doc. Hist. N. Y., III. 244, 265. Gen. Ent., XXXII. 65. Col. Doc., III. 315, 415, 717. Letter of Dominie Selyns to Classis, October 28, 1682. Brodhead, II. 331. Records of Collegiate Dutch Church, Liber A, 161, 162.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Meanwhile, the English claim of sovereignty over the Iroquois, which had been asserted by Andros, roused the French king, Louis. In the unsettled condition of European politics, he could not take a decided stand with respect to his interests in America; hence he resorted to intrigue. The Jesuit missionaries were the instruments of his purpose. They made presents to the Indians and sought to incline them towards the French; while, to prevent this, Andros was compelled to increase his watchfulness. About this time, one of the French ministers argued long and earnestly with his sovereign that a war with New York and New England must redound to the advantage of Canada.
The governor of Maryland wrote to Andros that "strange Indians " were doing mischief along the Susquehanna; the governor of Virginia complained of " unknown Indians " committing thefts and murders with- in his jurisdiction ; and, in the depth of winter, the New York governor sent two Indian interpreters through the snows and storms to summon the Iroquois to a conference in Albany. The difficulty was settled for the time; but, the next season, it broke out afresh in a still more com- plicated form, and again Governor Andros was compelled to meet the Iroquois warriors, and discuss with them the question of mutual relations and the duties of the future.
New Jersey for a while carried on a direct trade with England. But Andros saw fit to put into rigid execution the Duke's order, that all vessels trading within his original territory should enter at the New York custom-house. Thereupon the Assembly of East Jersey passed an act to indemnify any ship which might be seized by the government of New York for entering and clearing at Elizabethtown. An interesting quarrel was at once inaugurated.
Andros and Carteret were kinsmen, and socially intimate. Carteret was in the habit of attending Sabbath service in the fort, and of dining often at Sir Edmund's table. The wives of the two gentlemen were as devoted to each other as sisters. All at once a chill fell upon this friendly intercourse. Andros seized every Jersey-bound vessel and ex- acted duties before allowing it to proceed from Sandy Hook to Elizabeth- town. Carteret claimed to be the supreme governor of his province, and complained to Sir George. Andros sent Collector Dyer to England, to justify his past course and to ask instruction for the future.
The political storms in his immediate horizon prevented James from giving proper attention to his American possessions. He was, at this moment, absent from England. His secretary admonished Andros to continue the maintenance of the Duke's prerogative throughout his territory. As soon as Dyer returned with the order, Andros notified
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ARREST AND TRIAL OF GOVERNOR CARTERET.
Carteret that he should erect a fort at Sandy Hook; and Carteret replied, that he should resist such a proceeding to the last. Andros sent Secretary Nicolls into New Jersey with a proclamation, forbidding Car- teret to exercise any further authority within the Duke's province, and demanding the surrender of his person. Carteret appealed to the king. But the people of New Jersey sustained Carteret, to whom they were much attached, and Andros was deterred by their loyalty from resorting to extreme measures.
The latter went over to New Jersey, and the rumor of his coming induced Carteret to collect a large force for defense. But Andros making his appearance unattended by soldiers, he was invited to Car- teret's house, where the contending parties dined together and held a long conference over their difficulties. Each produced papers and patents in support of the righteousness of his course, and both were undoubtedly actuated by the honest motive of obedience to superiors. Yet they arrived at no amicable understanding.
Three weeks later, Andros caused the arrest of Carteret. The un- guarded country-house of the latter was entered, in the night, by
a band of armed men, who dragged him naked from his bed, and April 7. carried him in this condition to New York, where, after being furnished with clothes, he was thrown into prison. The charge against him was that of "unlawfully assuming jurisdiction over the king's subjects." He was tried before a special Court of Assizes, over which Andros presided in great state. The prisoner was allowed to plead his own cause; and he did so with lawyer-like skill and learning. In the first place, he denied the power of such a court to settle a question which involved the right of a king, and, indeed, refused to acknowledge its juris- diction. He was quite willing, he said, to have his actions thoroughly investigated ; and, expressing his astonishment that Andros should pretend to have never recognized him as governor of New Jersey, he produced several letters addressed by Sir Edmund to himself under that title.
Andros responded quickly, that the letters had been so addressed because Carteret had generally been styled governor, not because he was so in fact. "But," said Carteret, " the king has made me governor, and you, as well as all the world, have acknowledged me as such." The royal commissions to the two men were produced, and it was found that the one to Carteret was older than the one to Andros. " Mine, therefore, should be preferred," said Carteret. "By no means," exclaimed Andros, "mine being the younger, yours is annulled by it." "That remains to be shown," rejoined Carteret; and he produced letters from Charles himself, directed to the governor of New Jersey. The honest verdict
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
of a New York jury set Carteret free; but he was obliged to give security, that, if he was allowed to return home, he would assume no authority, civil or military, until his case was decided in England. Governor and Lady Andros, accompanied by a number of personal friends, escorted Carteret to Elizabethtown, with distinguished ceremony ; and Andros proceeded to commission civil and military officers in the principal towns of East Jersey.
West Jersey was under the control of Quakers, who complained most bitterly of Andros and his high-handed proceedings. The root of the trouble was at Whitehall. When Lord Berkeley parted with his undi- vided interest in New Jersey, he could give only a doubtful title. When William Penn and his associates sent an agent to take possession, Andros, without in any way exceeding his instructions, directed that, as no proper authority had been produced, the parties concerned were not to be treated as proprietors of lands, and all duties were to be collected from them as from other English subjects. Fenwick, the agent, was arrested for diso- beying orders, and tried before a special Court of Assizes. The affair created a stir in London; and James persuaded Sir George Carteret to consent to a quinquepartite deed, in partition with Penn and his partners, by which they agreed upon a dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to the most northerly branch of the Delaware River. The two provinces were to be called henceforward East and West New Jersey. This famous instrument was the most remarkable for extraordinary faults of all the extraordinary and faulty parchment deeds in the early American annals.1 The Duke's secretary wrote to Andros, that his master had no intention of parting with any of his prerogative by this arrangement, but wished to make a show of favor to the imperious Sir George.
The co-proprietors of West New Jersey at once appointed commis- sioners to look after their government matters, and Fenwick in particular. These commissioners embarked on board the ship Kent. As the vessel was lying in the Thames, King Charles came alongside in his pleasure- barge, and, seeing a large number of passengers, and learning where they were bound, asked if they were all Quakers, and gave them his blessing. When they arrived at Sandy Hook, the commissioners left the vessel, and went up to the city in a barge to pay a visit to Andros, who received them graciously and inquired if they had brought any orders from the Duke, his master. They replied that they had not, but quoted the transfer of the soil, with which the government of West Jersey was also conveyed.
"That will not clear me," replied Andros, with emphasis, "if I
1 Dixon's Penn., 138. Whitehead, 67, 68. Gordon, 38. Leaming and Spicer, 61 -72. Proud, I. 142. Brodhead, II. 304.
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IMPERIOUSNESS OF ANDROS.
should surrender without the Duke's order, it is as much as my head is worth. But if you had but a line or two from the Duke, I should be as ready to surrender it to you, as you would be to ask it."
The commissioners strenuously asserted their independence, and con- tinued to argue their case, until Andros, losing all patience, sprang to his feet, with head erect and flashing eyes, and, clapping his hand upon his sword, exclaimed, " I shall defend my government against you until such time as I am ordered by the Duke to surrender it."
He softened, however, almost instantly, and assured the commissioners that he would do all in his power to make them easy until they could send to England for instructions ; and in the mean time he would com- mission them to act as magistrates under him, in order that they might proceed to the transaction of business. Fenwick was released from con- finement and allowed to proceed with them to the Delaware, on condition that he should report himself in New York in the following October.
The news produced a sensation at Whitehall. James, already threat- ened with exclusion from the throne on account of his Romish faith, was moody and obstinate. He said that West New Jersey had no right to set up a distinct government. It was amenable to the laws established in New York. The English Secretary of State was consulted, and many of the most astute lawyers in the kingdom. William Penn elaborately argued his own case, and that of his Quaker associates. He insisted that, in Lord Berkeley's conveyance, powers of government were distinctly granted. Then, aware of the impossibility of proving the assertion, he hastened to allude to the Duke's present distressing circumstances and the jealousies of the people, and to suggest that kindness and justice now shown to Englishmen in America would seem to forecast the character of his Royal Highness's administration, in the event of his accession to the throne, and could not fail to enhance his popularity. Penn's peculiar fascination of manner, together with his feint of passive obedience, bound him closely both to the gracious Charles and the arbitrary James. He was much more skillful in reading their characters and practicing upon their weaknesses than they were in penetrating his specious purposes. Besides, he had a special hold on both. His father, Sir William Penn, had been Admiral of England ; and, at his death, the crown was in debt to his estate some sixteen thousand pounds. His subtle sophistry might have turned the scale, had truth been on his side. But, before the ques- tion was settled, the furious hate of the populace drove James again into Scotland, and, in his strait, he referred the whole matter to Sir William Jones, " the greatest lawyer in England," but a determined opponent of the " Tories," as the king and his friends were styled.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Jones was a wary Parliamentarian advocate. Believing that an Eng- lish Parliament had the right, though the sovereign had not, to tax an unrepresented colony, he gave his opinion with great caution. He said, "I am not satisfied by anything I have yet heard that the Duke can legally demand duties from the people of those lands ; and, to make the case stronger against his Royal Highness, these inhabitants claim that, in the original grant to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, there is no reservation of any profit, or so much as jurisdiction." 1
It was an ingenious report for a referee wishing to evade a decision or to becloud the truth. Several of the material facts in the case 1680. were wholly ignored. For instance, Jones cited only the Duke's first grant, in 1664, and left out of the discussion both the Dutch con- quest of 1673 (which annihilated that grant) and the king's second patent to his brother, in 1674. But James had neither time nor inclination to contest the matter, and, without waiting for his own counsel to approve,
Aug. 6. he executed a deed the more firmly to convey West New Jersey to its purchasers, granting them all the powers which were ever intended to be granted to himself by the king.
Scarcely was this accomplished, when Lady Carteret, the widow of Sir Sept. 10. George (who had recently died), having received letters from Gov- ernor Philip Carteret, giving a detailed account of the treatment he had suffered from Andros, complained to the worried Duke ; and he, having just released all claim to the government of West New Jersey, and believing that he could do no less by East New Jersey, ordered a deed to that effect to be prepared.
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