USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 39
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1 One of the curiosities of historical research in New York is the confusion of orthography in the matter of proper names. There was no standard orthography in the old Dutch lan- guage at that early period. Each individual seemed to spell according to his own fancy. Dutch names became Anglicized in part, and Dutch, English, and French were often blended together. It is sometimes almost impossible to trace family names. We have an instance in Gerritsen Van Schaick. In some of the old documents his name is written Gosen Van Schaick; in others, Goose Van Schaick ; and in very many, Gerrits Goose. A hundred in- stances of a similar character might be cited within as many pages.
371
THE KING'S LETTER.
his surrender of the packet. Philipse was sent for, but Van Cortlandt was out of town, too far away to be reached that night.
Early the next morning, before it was possible for the counselors to meet, Leisler sent a company of armed soldiers to convey Riggs from his lodgings to the fort. He had no alternative but obedience, yet he de- tained the escort under pretence of finishing his breakfast until he could dispatch an earnest request to Philipse to come with Van Cortlandt (who had been sent for during the night) to the fort and meet him in Leisler's presence. There was no time lost, and the two counselors arrived almost as soon as himself. They were warmed into violent excitement by the importance of the case, and sharply asserted that they were the persons to whom the packet was addressed. Leisler denied their claim. He held the reins of government, of which fact the king was aware, and to him, and to him alone, the address referred. Hot words accomplished nothing. Leisler's corollary was a weak one, and yet under the circum- stances beyond refutation. Besides, he had the advantage of present power. The counselors were conscious of being in the right, but their exasperation only aggravated previous acrimony. New York long groaned under the complication of miseries which resulted from that singular interview.
Riggs gave Leisler the king's packet, and Leisler gave Riggs a written receipt for it. Leisler then turned upon Philipse and Van Cortlandt, and called them "popishly affected dogs and rogues," and ordered them to " be gone." As for the people who rallied wildly around their supposed democratic chief, they were kept entirely in the dark as to the contents of the king's letter to Nicholson. It never was read openly during Leisler's rule.
Leisler proceeded to announce publicly that he had received a com- mission from the king to be the lieutenant-governor of the province. He assumed the station and the title. He appointed a council, consisting of Peter De Lanoy, Hendrick Jansen, Dr. Gerardus Beekman, Samuel Edsall, Thomas Williams, and William Lawrence, administering the usual oaths. He made Milborne Clerk of the Council and Secretary of the province, and with great ceremony and military parade he caused Wil- liam and Mary to be proclaimed anew.
There was no seal for the province of New York, as Andros had broken that of 1687, when New England was consolidated ; hence Leisler
ingeniously manufactured one by altering the Duke's coronet in Dec. 11. his old seal of 1669, placing the crown of England upon his head. When Sunday morning came, Leisler with devout ostentation walked into the old Dutch Church, where he had so long been one of the deacons, and
372
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
took his seat in the governor's pew. His new council seated themselves in the pew set apart for that august body of men. Angry breezes seemed to blow through the length and the breadth of the sacred edifice that day, and never in the memory of the oldest church-goer did Dominie Selyns find it so difficult to hold the attention of his congregation.
Leisler, transformed into a royal chief, sternly inculcated the doctrine of passive obedience. The larger portion of the intelligent class of in- habitants knew that his extraordinary assumption had no foundation in fact, and that his acts under the circumstances could not be sustained by law. He issued a proclamation that the customs and excise Dec. 16. duties settled by the Colonial Act of 1683 remained in force. The Act had been disallowed by James, but the duties it levied had been continued by the order of Dongan. Leisler had been the very first man to refuse to pay duties under that order. He had called it a "popish Act," and had made more noise and trouble in relation to it than any other merchant in New York. Now he was about to enforce it by his own arbitrary decree. It was the death-blow to democratic theories in the popular mind.
There was a bristle of opposition, and an outburst of rage that was something fearful. At first it was vented upon the proclamation itself ; it was torn down and a paper declaring its illegality affixed in its place. The next day a duplicate of the proclamation was posted, together with an order forbidding any person to deface or take it away. But as the shades of night fell over the city it met with the same fate as its prede- cessor. Several persons were arrested under suspicion of having done the mischief and were thrown into the prison in the fort. They were seized and dragged into confinement without the slightest opportunity for self-defense. Among them were two lads, one of whom was Cornelis, the younger brother of Captain Abraham De Peyster. Upon investigation it was found that the proclamation was undisturbed at the time of their commitment, but they were kept in custody, and refused bail, until their friends petitioned for their release, addressing Leisler as lieutenant-gov- ernor.
An Indian slave belonging to Philip French was arrested and impris- oned on suspicion of having a part in tearing down the proclamation. French was highly indignant, and expressed his opinion in contemptuous terms of the " self-styled lieutenant-governor." He was quickly arrested and thrown into the fort dungeon. He offered bail, but it was not ac- cepted. The small high windows of his cell were nailed carefully, and a strict watch kept outside. His friends were not permitted to see him ; even his lawyer was denied access, and he was treated more barbarously
373
THE JAILS AND PRISONS FILLED.
than a convicted felon. About the middle of February a message was surreptitiously conveyed to him that one of his vessels (he was a large shipping-merchant), containing a valuable cargo, was wrecked on the rocks near New London, and the urgent necessity for giving personal attention to the matter induced him to bend, and address a humble petition to Leisler, according him the title of lieutenant-governor, and asking for release upon the consideration of five hundred pounds bail. In a few days he was set at liberty.
Leisler was quick of superficial apprehension and acted with re- markable promptitude. He possessed the elements of administrative capacity, but ignorance and inexperience in matters of state effectually clogged his pathway. His proceedings were all attended with vexation, and with more or less danger. Many who hailed him in the first in- stance as their protector from the evils of despotism and popery were disappointed and became his bitterest opponents. His dogmatism bore him with the swiftness of an arrow into blunders which no after repent- ance could retrieve.
He issued new commissions, making justices, sheriffs, and military officers in the various counties of New York. Then he ordered all per- sons holding commissions from former governors to surrender them to the nearest magistrates. This last was in a multitude of instances openly and sneeringly disregarded. Officers prowled about the country arresting those who rebelled, and the prisons were soon found too small to hold such an army of captives. The jails and prisons were enlarged, and all rendered more secure. To try the prisoners Leisler commissioned courts of oyer and terminer, and to compel the payment of customs and excise duties he erected a court of exchequer. Thomas Clarke, a thorough Eng- lish lawyer, appeared before this tribunal, and boldly declared that no member had a commission from the reigning king to be a baron of his exchequer.
Leisler wrote a long letter to King William, explanatory of his con- duct ; but it was a clumsy document. He said he had acted upon the royal letter to Nicholson, " although two of Sir Edmund Andros's council pre- tended thereunto." He stated that his course had given great satisfac- tion to most of the people in the province. At the very moment he was penning those lines, his son was acting the part of a spy, to prevent the transmission of a different style of communications from Philipse, Van Cortlandt, and others. When Leisler learned that Andros and his fellow- prisoners were about to be sent to London, he determined to prevent any letters from disaffected persons reaching Boston, to be conveyed by them to England, and caused the arrest of the post-rider, John Perry, about
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374
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
one fourth of a mile beyond the house of Colonel Lewis Morris in West- chester, where it was known he frequently stopped for postal matter. The mail-bag was opened, and found to contain private letters from Bayard, Van Cortlandt, Brockholls, Morris, Nicolls, Reed, and many others. All criticised Leisler and his associates virulently and unspar- ingly. The post-rider was thrown into prison, from which he was not released for many months. Leisler announced that he had detected a " hellish conspiracy " against the government. He issued warrants for the apprehension of each of the gentlemen who had written to White- hall.
Colonel Bayard was the first on the list, and the most rancorously pur- sued. The soldiers swore that they had orders to take him "dead or alive." They broke in the doors of his house, destroyed furniture as they went from room to room, and were profane and insolent to Mrs. Bayard and other members of his household. Bayard had secreted himself in the cellar of a cooper in the rear of his dwelling, where they found him at last, and dragged him in a most abusive manner to the fort. He was immediately manacled with irons, and the ponderous door of the prison closed upon him.
Van Cortlandt's house was broken open in the same riotous manner, but he had made his escape, and his wife, dreading a repetition of former scenes, had fled with him. Some weeks elapsed before Mrs. Van Cort- landt ventured to return, and even then her liberty was threatened and her children insulted. A serious illness broke out in her family and one beloved child died, but the husband and father could only learn of his affliction in his refuge at Hartford, and at the same time grieve that his loyalty was misinterpreted, his honor stained, his credit blasted, and his large estate running to decay.
William Nicolls, after escaping the soldiers through various stratagems, was finally seized at the Long Island ferry-house, and cast into the ill- ventilated dungeon beside Colonel Bayard. He was a spirited young man of thirty-three, the son of Matthias Nicolls, the former secretary of the province. Like his father, young Nicolls was an aristocrat ; and he had been conspicuous in his denunciations of Leisler, whom he called a "German upstart." He was the attorney-general of the province (since 1687), and his character for courage and professional ability stood high. He was also a justice of the peace, and the chief ground of his imprison- ment was his refusal to surrender his commission under Leisler's edict. He was a bachelor, but three years later married Anna, daughter of Jere- mias Van Rensselaer.1
1 Van Cortlandt to Sir Edmund Andros, May 19, 1690. Robert Livingston to Sir Edmund
375
PURSUIT OF ROBERT LIVINGSTON.
It was rumored that both Bayard and Nicolls were to be tried for trea- son. Meanwhile Bayard was very sick in prison. His life was in imminent danger unless he could obtain medical attention and 1690. physical comforts. He therefore penned a humble petition to Leisler, addressing him as " lieutenant-governor," and after promising respect and deference for the future, asked for pardon and release. Leisler was in- mensely gratified with the concession. But Bayard was too dangerous an enemy to be allowed to run at large with impunity, and the petition was denied. Abundant bail was offered and refused. Both Bayard and Nicolls were kept in miserable cells for thirteen months, until the arri- val of Sloughter.
In spite of all these rigorous measures Leisler found that much of the fruit of leadership was exceedingly unpalatable. He could command little respectful consideration save at the point of the sword. He was called " Lieutenant Blockhead," "Deacon Jailor," " Governor Dog-driver," and other uncomplimentary epithets. Those who were fearless in the use of their tongues were unsparingly punished. Sometimes pardon was obtained through a deferential oath; though such was the exception, not the rule. Christopher Gere was imprisoned for being heard to say that he was "just as much lieutenant-governor as Mr. Leisler."
Robert Livingston incurred Leisler's wrath, and was pursued until he was obliged to escape from the province to avoid prison fare. He found refuge in Hartford with his brother-in-law Van Cortlandt. Both gentle- men were made welcome at the hospitable home of Governor Treat. Livingston's offense was disloyalty to Leisler. His influence in the Albany Convention, and his great wealth and resolute character, made him a formidable adversary. Leisler charged him with being a “ Jacob- ite," and the ground of the accusation was his having been heard to say, in the early part of the disturbance, that " a parcel of rebels had gone out of Holland into England with the Prince of Orange at their head." Liv- ingston's lands were seized for taxes which he defiantly refused to pay. And all this time Albany stood out against Leisler, notwithstanding that he issued a commission to Captain Staats with an order to take posses- sion of Fort Orange.2 Mayor Schuyler and the Convention demanded
Andros, April 14, 1690. Mr. Newton to Captain Nicholson, May 26, 1690. John Clapp to Secretary of State, November 7, 1690. The Address of New York Merchants to William and Mary, May 19, 1690. William Nicolls to George Farewell, June 24, 1690. " A Modest and Impartial Narrative." Doc. Hist. New York, Vol. II. Col. Doc., Vol. III. New York Hist. Soc. Coll. (1868). Chalmers' Political Annals. Brodhead, II. Dunlap. Smith. Leisler's Memorials to William and Mary.
2 Captain Jochim Staats married for his second wife Francina, the younger daughter of Jacob Leisler.
376
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
sight of the king's letter to Nicholson. As it was withheld they declined to acknowledge Leisler as lieutenant-governor.
Events, however, were close at hand which were likely to subordinate for a time all minor considerations. The orders received by Count Frontenac to commence hostilities against New England and New York " afforded him," so he wrote, " considerable pleasure, and were very neces- sary for the country." He immediately organized three different detach- ments, "to attack those rebels at all points at the same mnoment, and thus punish them for having protected the Mohawks." One of these ravaged Maine and destroyed the village of Salmon Falls, now Berwick in New Hampshire, and then, in conjunction with the second, burned Portland, alarming the whole eastern frontier of New England.
The third and most important of the detachments marched towards Albany. It was composed of two hundred and ten men, ninety-six of whom were savages, from the northern tribes of the Iroquois, and the rest were " the best qualified Frenchmen for the purpose." 1 When some five or six days out, a council was called to determine the route they should follow. The Indians demanded of the French what was their intention. Upon being informed they objected. They said it was rash and desperate, for Albany was stronger than the French supposed, and the attacking party was too weak. It was finally decided to first destroy Schenectady. After a severe tramp over an intensely cold and moun- tainous country covered with snow, the expedition halted within six miles of the doomed town on four o'clock of Saturday afternoon. A reconnoiter- ing party soon reported its defenseless condition, and a little before mid- night the benumbed and exhausted Canadians proceeded to their fiendish task with barbaric ferocity.
The town was in the form of a parallelogram, and contained upwards of eighty well-built and well-furnished houses. It was surrounded by a palisaded wall, and could be entered only by two gates. These gates were open, for no one apprehended the approach of an enemy from Canada in such bitter weather. Besides, Indian scouts were stationed in the vicin- ity of Lake Champlain, and they had seen nothing to occasion any alarm. And, saddest of all, the town within was divided against itself, and in no condition to make a defense. Leisler had been trying to clinch his author- ity there as well as in Albany, and some were for him and some were against him. The magistrates had lost their authority, and Leisler's new officers had not been able to establish their own. Talmage and his gar- rison were half starving for the want of supplies which it was the busi- ness of the town to furnish, and by withholding which the Leisler faction were determined to bring them to submission.
1 Paris Documents. Doc. Hist. New York, I. 297-302.
377
BURNING OF SCHENECTADY.
All unguarded the people slept, when with one war-whoop - a long, piercing, indescribable yell - the miserable work was begun. Schuyler, in writing of the massacre, said, " Neither pen nor tongue can express the horrors of that cruel night." There was little or no resistance. The fort was the only place under arms; it was set on fire, and Talmage and his men mercilessly slaughtered. The sack of the town lasted two hours. Sixty persons were killed, and about an equal number taken prisoners. It was ordered that the minister, Dominie Terschenmacker, should be taken alive, for the purpose of obtaining information from him, but he was slain and his papers burned before he was recognized, and afterwards his head was put upon a pole and carried to Canada. Twenty-five almost naked survivors made their escape from their burning homes, and pushed their way half frozen through the snow to Albany. Some thirty Iroquois who were lodging in the village were spared, as it was a part of the policy of the French to win over the remainder of the savages through kindness, and the striking of audacious blows against the English.
Some half-mile above the village lived the chief magistrate of Schenec- tady, Captain Alexander Glen. He was one of the members of the Albany Convention, and Leisler's partisans had threatened to burn his house. At daybreak a party of French visited him, and, finding that he had no inten- tion of surrendering, but was putting himself on the defensive with his servants and some Indians, they assured him that in consequence of cer- tain favors formerly received at his hands, he and his people and property should be safe from violence. He accordingly laid down his arms on parole, entertained the officers in his private fort, and finally accompanied them to the burning town. Several women and children who claimed affinity with him were released from captivity. The Canadian savages muttered because their prisoners were reduced so greatly in numbers, and said, " Every one seems to be a relation of Captain Glen !" The next day the conquerors set out on their homeward journey, taking with them con- siderable plunder, including fifty good horses. They suffered from cold, hunger, and disease on the way, ate thirty-four of the horses, were several times attacked by Indian war-parties, losing many of their tired warriors, and finally, with a mere remnant of the expedition, reached Montreal, to report a victory which was a lasting disgrace to the French nation.
The appalling news was carried to Albany by Simon Schermer- horn, who, wounded himself, and on a lame horse, entered the Feb. 9. town Sunday morning. Schuyler at once ordered the guns of the fort to be fired to summon the people together. There was no church-going that day. All was hurry of preparation for carnage. An express was sent through the deep snow to Esopus, and to Claverack for assistance, it being
378
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
supposed Albany would be next attacked. It was soon discovered, how-
ever, that the enemy had departed for Canada. A party of men Feb. 10. were sent to Schenectady to bury the dead on Monday. The Con- vention then wrote to the governments of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, and to "the civil and military officers of New York," proposing that all should join in an attempt to take Quebec by water in the spring. Thus from Albany in her distress came the first suggestion of a union of the English colonies to attack the French.
Schuyler sent for the Mohawk sachems, who came and mourned Feb. 25. over the calamity that had befallen Schenectady. They promised to join the English in an effort to ruin the French country and bring the war to an end.1 The consolidation of American strength to intimidate the foe at the north by this means received inspiration, as the savages were worth a dozen armies such as the colonies could furnish. Leisler was up and doing as soon as he heard of the massacre. He made it his first busi- ness to disarm and imprison about forty officers who held commissions from Governor Andros. He also issued warrants for the arrest of Ex-Gov- ernor Dongan, Ex-Mayor Willett, Thomas Hicks, and several others, under the pretended supposition that they were in league with the French. Dongan was obliged to leave his home, and fly into New Jersey, and from there to Boston. Several New Jersey gentlemen, among whom were William Pinhorne and Andrew Hamilton, dared not venture within the precincts of New York. Leisler imagined that " cabals " were being held and plans matured to annihilate his authority, and rested upon military force to preserve his power.
The ugly aspect of French affairs led him to send ambassadors to the various colonies to confer on measures for public safety. For immediate protection he raised a force of one hundred and sixty men and sent them to Albany. As it was a moment of extreme danger, the Convention allowed them to enter the fort peaceably. De Bruyn, Milborne, and Pro- voost were in command. Leisler's authority was thus established. He immediately proceeded to confirm the mayor and other city officers in their places, and to command all persons to respect and obey them. He also ordered that " no one asperse or reproach another under penalty of the breach of the peace." A common danger is the most potent of har- monizing influences.
In April Leisler called an assembly for the purpose of raising money
1 Robert Livingston's Verbatim Account. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1869), 165-186. Millet's Letter of July 6, 1691. Doc. Hist. N. Y., II. 91-95. Colden, I. 123-127. Smith, I. 105, 106. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., II. 105- 109. N. Y. Col. MSS., III. 692-710. Brodhead, II. 609-613. Munsell's Alb. Col., III.
379
THE FIRST COLONIAL CONGRESS IN AMERICA.
for the proposed expedition against the French. It met at the house of Alderman Robert Walters, Leisler's son-in-law. An act was passed to tax property real and personal. But before other business April 24. could be accomplished petitions came pouring in like hail-stones for the release of the suffering prisoners in the fort. Such was the excitement, and the number of people who gathered about Walters' house, that a riot seemed inevitable. Leisler was not in the humor for a popular inqui- sition, and hastily prorogued the Assembly until September.
He next convened a congress of the several colonies in New May 1. York. At Livingston's suggestion, Massachusetts had already called a New England meeting at Rhode Island. This, however, was abandoned; and the first North American Colonial Congress met at New York on the call of Leisler. The delegates from Massachusetts were Wil- liam Stoughton and Samuel Sewall; from Plymouth, John Walley ; from Connecticut, Nathan Gold and William Pitkin; and New York was rep- resented by Leisler and Mayor De Lanoy. It was agreed that New York should furnish four hundred men, Connecticut one hundred and thirty- five, Massachusetts one hundred and sixty, Plymouth sixty, while Mary- land promised one hundred. Rhode Island could not send men, but would raise money in reasonable proportion. Leisler at once, and with commendable vigor, fitted out three vessels for the capture of Quebec, - one a privateer of twenty guns, another a brigantine belonging to Captain Abraham De Peyster, and the third a Bermudan sloop. Two other sloops were also sent to cruise about Block Island, and to see that Long Island Sound was kept clear of the French. Schuyler at Albany had meanwhile apprehended the French agents who had been sent to treat with
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