USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 40
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the Mohawks, and despoiled them of their letters and presents. May 27. Four Frenchmen were given to the savages, who burned two of them. D'Eau was sent to New York. Among his papers was the Latin letter of Lamberville to Millet, which contained certain expressions of good-will toward Dominie Dellius of Albany, which resulted in Leisler's charging that clergyman with " treasonable correspondence with the enemy."
In the midst of all this commotion Stoll arrived from London with information which greatly troubled Leisler. The king had taken no notice of him, and had appointed Nicholson lieutenant-gov- May 20. ernor of Virginia. There was significance in the fact. Leisler saw too that the tide of popular feeling was setting against him. There was a great outcry about the taxes. The right of an assembly called by Leisler to impose them was stoutly denied. Presently the demands for the re- lease of Bayard and Nicolls assumed a black and threatening aspect. Leisler was one day assaulted in the street, and but that he never ven- 24
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
tured out without a guard, he would probably have been killed. The assailants were quickly mastered, and some twenty or more of them were secured in irons. Leisler then issued a proclamation, that all who would not sign a declaration of fidelity to him, as representing King William, should be esteemed enemies to the king and be treated accordingly. Through marvellous strength of will Leisler was enabled to go on per- forming the most unjustifiable acts of cruelty, and at the same time succeeded in convincing his adherents that he was in the conscientious discharge of a pious duty.
Complaints were not wholly checked with all his caution. An address to William and Mary, signed by the French and Dutch Dominies, May 19. several elders and deacons, and many leading citizens, was dated May 19, and sent across the water. It stated that New York was ruled by the sword, "at the sole will of an insolent alien, assisted by those who formerly were not thought fit to bear the meanest office, sev- eral of whom can be proved guilty of enormous crimes ; . .. . and they imprison at will, open letters, seize estates, plunder houses, and abuse the clergymen."
The expedition against Canada was well conceived. Leisler intended to command it himself, but was defeated by the Albany Convention. He then appointed Milborne commander-in-chief, which offended New England, where Milborne had a very undesirable reputation. Win- throp was the choice of the army, and the influence was so strong in his favor that Leisler revoked his unfit appointment and issued a commission July 14. to the more popular general. All things being ready, Winthrop marched with the Connecticut forces to Albany, accompanied by Livingston, who was acquainted with the route, and from his long expe- rience in diplomacy with the Indians, one of the most valuable counselors in the whole matter. Winthrop was a guest in Livingston's family dur- ing his stay at Albany. Winthrop wrote to Treat that the whole design was " poorly contrived and in confusion." Milborne was acting as com- missary, and was self-sufficient and incompetent. The quotas of men were not equal to those promised at the Congress. After many days
spent in frivolous disputes the troops went north as far as the Aug. 7. head of Lake Champlain. But word followed them that Milborne could furnish no more provisions from Albany, and while they were try- ing to construct canoes to cross the lake, small-pox broke out in Aug. 15. the camp, and they were obliged to return to Albany.
Leisler was furious at this failure, and hastened to Albany. Milborne charged it all to the interference of Livingston and the imbecility Aug. 27. of Winthrop. Leisler went through the mere form of an exami-
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NEW ROCHELLE.
nation, and placed Winthrop and his principal officers in irons. This so outraged the Connecticut soldiers and the Mohawks, that Leisler in alarm set his prisoners at liberty, but he ordered Winthrop to appear in New York and make his defense. Connecticut at once administered a cutting rebuke. Her governor wrote to Leisler : "If you are concerned, so are we, since the army is confederate; and if you alone judge upon the gen- eral's and council of war's actions, it will infringe our liberty. A prison is not a catholicon for all state maladies, though so much used by you."
One masterly achievement blunted the edge of disappointment as Canada escaped her threatened danger. Captain John Schuyler, a young man of twenty-two, led a band of forty Englishmen and one hundred and twenty Indians to La Prairie, opposite Montreal, where every house and haystack was burned, one hundred and fifty head of cattle destroyed, six men killed, and nineteen prisoners taken. Thus was Schenectady avenged.
A great naval expedition from Boston, under the command of Sir William Phipps, sailed the 9th of August. It consisted of thirty
vessels, the largest of which carried forty-four guns. But the men
Aug. 9.
who had been sent over from England were newly raised and badly ap- pointed, and, owing to the want of pilots and the autumn storms, it did not reach Quebec until the 8th of October. It was then winter, or nearly, the expedition encountered a long list of disasters, and returned with heavy losses and without spoil. During the summer and early autumn, however, Leisler's vessels had been on privateering voyages, and brought into New York several French prizes.
The Assembly did not meet in September, owing to Leisler's absence in Albany. He accordingly issued writs, summoning it at a later
day. When it came together it enacted a law requiring all per- Sept. 18. sons who had left the province to return within three weeks from the time of its publication, under pain of being " esteemed disobedient to the government." Another law levied a new tax for the sup- Oct. 4.
Oct. 2. port of the garrison in the fort. A third law declared that any person refusing to accept a civil or military commission from Leisler should be fined seventy-five pounds ; and that any one leaving Albany or Ulster without permission from Leisler should be fined one hundred pounds; and that all persons who had left those counties must return within fourteen days, " at their utmost perils." It would be difficult to find in the annals of legislation more despotic enactments.
New Rochelle was founded that summer by a colony of French Hugue- nots. They purchased the land of Leisler, who had bought it of Mr. Pell. They were called upon almost immediately to pay taxes. They
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
resented such a measure, as it was the first year of their sojourn upon the property, and sent petitions to Whitehall to be relieved from such in- sufferable duties.
The people of Queens County declared against the government of Leisler; and Milborne, who had been withdrawn from Albany, was sent to subdue "with violence all such as were refractory." Edsall and Williams were commissioned to assist him in searching houses and vessels and in securing suspected persons. Dominie Varick of Flatbush was arrested and imprisoned for too much freedom of speech. An at- tempt was made to imprison Dominie Dellius of Albany, for praying for the crown and not for the King of England, but he escaped to Boston. Dominie Selyns offered bail for Dominie Varick, and was grossly abused. Dominies Perret and Daillé, the French clergymen, were threatened for withholding their approval of these high-handed proceedings.
The last letter which Leisler wrote to the king was dated Octo- Oct. 20. ber 20, 1690. He charged the failure of the Canadian campaign to the perfidy of New England, the treachery of Livingston, and the cow- ardice of Winthrop. Not far from the same date the aggrieved Nov. 7. inhabitants of Hempstead, Jamaica, Flushing, and Newtown, met, and wrote to the king's Secretary of State. They dwelt with bitter em- phasis upon their oppressed condition, and upon the tyrannical acts of the " bold usurper," and his accomplices. They said Milborne, who was famous for nothing but infamy, had in "a barbarous and inhuman man- ner plundered houses, stripped women of their apparel, and sequestered estates." They begged of the king "to break this heavy yoke of worse than Egyptian bondage," and said the crimes which Leisler had com- mitted would force him to take shelter under Catiline's maxim, "the ills. that I have done cannot be safe but by attempting greater."
The new year dawned gloomily. The rising wrath of the peo- 1691. ple of the metropolis was held in check by the fort. They dared say, however, that much of the plunder which had been obtained from houses, shops, cellars, and vessels was shipped to the West Indies and elsewhere and sold at a high price. The most extreme measures were. resorted to for the collection of taxes; even Leisler's friends were aghast at his hot-headed and rancorous persecutions. But they could not hinder them. He was deaf and blind to the common dictates of humanity, and heeded no advice, save that which was in harmony with his own severe notions. It is probable that fear had much to do with his con- duct, as he saw no other way to hold the chair of state but by mere brutal force. Milborne insinuated himself into the good graces of Leis- ler's family, and kept their feelings lashed into fever-heat by declaim-
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WEDDING OF LEISLER'S DAUGHTER.
ing against the aristocrats. He came every day with some new and dismal skeleton, which was to alienate them more effectually from their relatives and friends. He was always glowering, and how he came to win the affections of the gentle, fair-haired, blue-eyed Mary Leisler must always remain a mystery. They were married in the early part of the year, and all the circumstances in connection with the wedding were of a depressing instead of a joyous character. Dominie Selyns, who had been their pastor for a long series of years, and who married Catharine Leisler to Robert Walters in 1685, was not invited on this occasion. A few friends only, and not those who had formerly been most welcome in the household, were present; and there was heaviness in the air, and little light in the sunshine. That very evening came letters from Boston to Leisler, counseling him "to temper justice with moderation and mercy, since the king's own settlement of the matter was so near." Governor Sloughter was indeed upon the water and might arrive at any moment. But the very dread of his coming seems to have made Leisler more hard and implacable.
William had been brought to a sense of the condition of New York through the addresses and petitions which claimed his attention. The frigate Archangel and three smaller vessels were fitted, after much delay, to convey Sloughter to his government. Richard Ingoldsby, who had just returned from victorious service under William in Ireland, was commissioned lieutenant-governor. Two companies of soldiers accom- panied these officers to America.
William was no less fond of sovereignty than James, but he took broader views, and was much the more politic of the two. He ordained a government for New York which continued substantially in operation for nearly a century. It consisted of a governor and council appointed by the crown, and an assembly elected by a majority of the freeholders in the several counties of the province. In their mimic sphere these authorities shadowed the king, lords, and commons of England. Slough- ter's commission was in form like the one James gave Dongan and Andros, with the exception of the permitted Assembly. In case of the governor's death or absence, his duties were to be executed by the com- mander-in-chief, if the king should appoint one, or by "the first coun- selor," who was to act as "President." William's instructions were similar to those of James to his governors. The former order respecting the Church of England was renewed, by which the Bishop of London was to have ecclesiastical jurisdiction in New York. Liberty of conscience, which James had granted to all peaceable inhabitants, was restricted by William to all such persons "except papists." The liberty of printing was limited in the same language used by James.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
William honorably discharged Andros and his fellow-prisoners, (who had been sent from Boston), finding no just cause of complaint against them. He also showed his appreciation of the former officers of the colo- nial government by appointing Frederick Philipse, Stephanus Van Cort- landt, Nicholas Bayard, William Smith, Gabriel Minvielle, Chidley Brooke, William Nicolls, Nicholas De Meyer, Francis Rombouts, Thomas Willett, William Pinhorne, and John Haines, as counselors to the new governor. Joseph Dudley of Massachusetts was subsequently added to this council, and also made chief justice of the province. James Grahame was ap- pointed recorder and attorney-general.
The name of Leisler was not mentioned, and the sting was destined to be incurable. All the papers which had been received from Leisler, and the petitions from the inhabitants, were referred by the king and his Privy Council to Sloughter, with orders to examine strictly and impar- tially into the case, and return a true and perfect account.
The fleet was a long time on the ocean. The vessels separated Jan. 29. in a storm, and three, under the command of Ingoldsby, were the first to reach New York. They were at once visited by Philipse, Van Cortlandt, and several other gentlemen, who, impatient of delay, urged In- goldsby to land and take possession of the fort. He accordingly prepared to do so, and sent a message to Leisler demanding the citadel for the king's soldiers and their stores. But Ingoldsby was only commissioned to obey Sloughter, and of this technical dilemma Leisler took advantage. He refused to yield the fort unless Ingoldsby should produce written orders from the king or governor. He sent Milborne, accompanied by Mayor De Lanoy, to the vessel to inspect Ingoldsby's documents, and to offer the City Hall for the use of the king's forces. Ingoldsby was indig- nant ; he knew that William had never recognized Leisler's author- Jan. 30. ity, and in high temper he issued a mandate to Captain Samuel Moore of Long Island for aid against the " rebels " who opposed the king. Jan. 31. Leisler issued a "protest," and a call to the neighboring militia to assist him in enforcing orders.
A day or two passed, when Ingoldsby, learning that " malicious Feb. 2. rumors " were afloat concerning his movements, issued a proclama- tion that he had not come to disturb but to protect the people. The next day Leisler proclaimed that he was ready to obey Sloughter Feb. 3. when he should arrive, but forbade all persons from obeying In- goldsby, who had no orders. It was not long before Ingoldsby was well assured that the current of popular favor was in his behalf; he therefore landed his troops with as much caution as if he had been making " a de- scent into the country of an enemy," and quartered them in the City Hall.
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BLOODSHED IN NEW YORK.
He then sent a message to Leisler with an order to release Bayard and Nicolls, who were named as counselors by the king. This was the rough- est blow which had as yet descended upon the misguided man. " What !" he exclaimed, white and trembling with passion, " those Feb. 14. popish dogs and rogues !" The answer which was taken back to Ingolds- by was to the effect that they must remain confined " until his Majes- ty's further orders arrive."
Time moved on slowly. Where was the missing frigate, and Governor Sloughter ? The soldiers on both sides were unruly. A story was circu- lated that Ingoldsby and his party were "papists " and disaffected persons fled from England, holding only forged commissions. Armed men and supplies of provisions were constantly arriving at the fort. Leisler for- bade the king's soldiers from going the rounds, and issued voluminous threats. The city was in a great tumult. Six of the counselors named in Sloughter's commission met and tried to straighten matters. They finally issued a call for the neighboring militia, to prevent any " outrageous and hostile proceedings " on the part of Leisler.
March 4. Leisler replied with a proclamation, declaring that he was constrained to take up arms in defense of "their Majesties' supremacy," and denounced the illegal proceedings of the king's own officers. He also wrote a flatter- ingly worded letter to Governor Sloughter, who, it was supposed, had stopped at Bermuda, expressing the hope that " his Excellency " might speedily arrive.
Matthew Clarkson, the new secretary, who had come on the ves- March 11. sel with Ingoldsby, wrote, by request of the counselors, to the gov- ernment of Connecticut for advice. A response came quickly from Treat and Allyn, who advised that anything "tolerable and redressible " had better be borne from Leisler until the arrival of Sloughter. At the same time they wrote to Leisler, urging him to " so act and demean himself as not to violate the peace and safety of the country." Dr. Gerardus Beek- man, who had been a stanch friend of Leisler through his entire rule, was alarmed at the course the latter was pursuing, and foresaw bloodshed ; he assembled the people of King's and Queen's Counties, who framed a peace address, and he took it upon himself to confer personally with Leisler and attempt to dissuade him from such " base and imprudent proceedings."
It was of no use. Leisler was obtusely stubborn. He prepared
March 16. a long declaration against Ingoldsby and the counselors, and or- dered them to disband their forces, - which they had collected to the num- ber of several hundred, - otherwise they would be pursued and destroyed. He demanded an answer within two hours. It came; they said they wished to preserve the peace, and whoever should attack March 17.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
them would be "public enemies to the Crown of England." It would seem as if the judgment of Leisler was wholly unbalanced just at this crisis. He probably acted under the most intense excitement. He had not the slightest intention of disobeying his royal master, and yet he placed himself in the direct attitude of rebellion. Within half an hour after he received Ingoldsby's temperate message he fired one of the guns of the fort at the king's troops as they stood on parade. This was followed by several shots at a house where some of them lodged. Several were wounded, and two killed, one of whom was an old soldier, Josiah Bowne. Consterna- tion spread through the city. The guns of the fort were answered, but, safely en- trenched behind the breastworks, Leisler's Beekman Arms. party did not suffer. Leisler ordered the block-house at Smit's Vlye to support the fire from the fort. The com- mander, Brasher, seeing Ingoldsby's soldiers preparing to attack him, went to the fort for further orders, and was imprisoned for not firing at once. In his absence the burgher-guard at the block-house laid down their arms and went to their houses.
This defection disheartened Leisler. The next day he fired a few more shots, which did no harm. Ingoldsby held his men on the defen- March 18. sive, expecting a sally from the fort at any moment. To distin- guish his men from those attached to Leisler he directed them to wear white bands on their left arms.
At this distressing moment word came that the Archangel, with the March 19.
governor on board, had anchored just below the Narrows. She had been nearly wrecked on the Bermuda rocks, and detained for repairs. The counselors hastened in a small boat to welcome the long- expected and much-desired commander-in-chief. As soon as he learned the state of affairs, he came at once to the city in the ship's pinnace. . It was evening, but he proceeded to the City Hall, the bell was rung, and his commission read before a large assemblage. The shouts of joy and the noisy uproar made Leisler tremble. Sloughter took the oath of office, as did also the counselors who were present. Notwithstanding the late- ness of the hour (it was eleven o'clock), Ingoldsby was sent with his troops to demand entrance to the fort. Leisler refused, but sent Stoll to Sloughter for "orders under the king's own hand directed to himself." Stoll with coarse effrontery expressed his gratification that "Governor
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ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR SLOUGHTER.
Sloughter was the same man whom he had seen in England," and received the quick and tart reply : "Yes, I have been seen in England, and intend now to be seen in New York." No further notice was taken of Stoll. Ingoldsby was sent back to the fort to order Leisler, and such as were called his council, to report themselves at the City Hall, and to release Bayard and Nicolls immediately from their confinement. Presently In- goldsby returned, accompanied by Milborne and Mayor De Lanoy. Leis- ler said the fort could not be surrendered in the night-time according to military rules, and had sent the two last-named gentlemen to explain. They were not allowed to speak at all, but were committed to the guards. Ingoldsby was sent to the fort the third time with the same order, and was the third time " contemptuously " refused. It was now past mid- night, and the governor directed the council to meet him early the next morning. And thus ended that eventful day.
The gentlemen assembled promptly on Friday morning at the City Hall. Leisler had prepared an apologetic letter, tendering the fort and government in the best English he could use, promising March 20. to give " an exact account of all his actions and conduct." His egotism on points which he did not clearly understand, not disloyalty, was what gave him the appearance of trying to capitulate. But Sloughter's plans were all matured before the document was received, and it was laid on the table unnoticed. He sent Ingoldsby to require the men in the fort to ground their arms and march out, promising pardon to all save Leisler and his council. The latter, having " been found in actual rebellion," were conducted to the City Hall, and committed to the guards. The great prison door was opened, and Bayard and Nicolls freed from their long confinement. They were brought to the City Hall, looking aged and emaciated; they were hardly able to stand upon their feet. They took the oaths of office amid warm congratulations ; and a little later Leisler was conveyed to the same dungeon which they had occupied, and the chain which Bayard had worn was put upon his leg.
Sloughter at once took possession of the fort, which he named William Henry. He issued writs the same day for the election of representatives to an Assembly to meet on the 9th of April. He commissioned John Lawrence mayor of the city,1 William Pinhorne recorder, and Thomas
1 John Lawrence was seventy-two years of age, and few men of his time were held in higher esteem ; his letters evince remarkable energy and decision of character, and are evidently the production of a man of superior intellect and liberal education. His nephew, William Lawrence, was one of Leisler's council, a man already past middle life. Although so widely separated in their political views there was great confidence and affection existing between the uncle and nephew, and it was a painful position indeed when the one was appointed to the commission for trying the political offenders, and the other was one of those offenders.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Clarke coroner. Thomas Newton was made attorney-general of the province.
The following Sunday was the first time in months that the church- going community had breathed freely. The clergymen thanked March 22. God fervently for present blessings. Dominie Selyns preached from the twenty-seventh Psalm, his text being, "I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living." His sermon, penned through the fulness of joy at the turn events had taken, may have been a libel upon the Christian theory of mercy to a fallen foe, but it was the outpouring of a heart which had been sorely tried, and the reasonings of a spirit which had calmly reviewed the situation. It had its effect upon public opinion, and stimulated the demand which was everywhere rending the air for the punishment of the author of the wrongs which had been visited upon the community. Not a ray of pity for the mistakes of the humiliated Leisler seemed to penetrate the cell where he sat in a state of the most abject despond- ency.
On Monday a committee was appointed to examine the prisoners. It consisted of Chief Justice Dudley, Van Cortlandt, and Brooke. March 23. They were committed for trial. Owing to certain recent transac- tions, Sloughter declined hearing the case, and ordered a special court of March 24. oyer and terminer. Dudley and Thomas Johnson were appointed
judges in admiralty, together with Sir Robert Robinson, the former governor of Bermuda, Colonel William Smith, Mayor John Lawrence, Recorder Pinhorne, Captain Jasper Hicks of the frigate Archangel, Lieu- tenant-Governor Ingoldsby, John Younge, and Isaac Arnold. It was said that they were gentlemen most capable of discerning the truth, and the least prejudiced against the prisoners. Bayard, Van Cortlandt, and Pinhorne were directed to prepare the evidence. William Nicolls, George Farewell, and James Emott were assigned as king's counsel, to assist Attorney-General Newton, who was then reputed the best lawyer in America.
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