USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 45
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426
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
The year 1696 was distinguished by the repeal of the Bolting and Bak-
ing Acts in New York, which had added so many coffers to the 1696. city's purse. The mayor and common council resisted to the last, but all to no purpose. Commerce in bread and flour was thrown open to all competitors. An alarming scarcity of bread soon began to prevail. The bakers declared they could not buy bread cheap enough to supply their customers at former prices. An account of stock was taken of the wheat, flour, and bread within the city, and only about a week's provision discovered for the seven thousand inhabitants. The repeal of the Bolting Act had enabled the farmers throughout the country to grind their own flour, and it had been sold largely to the pirates as a private speculation. A famine was actually threatened. A petition was signed by a majority of the citizens, and despatched to the king, asking for a restoration of the monopoly.
The first opening of Nassau Street occurred in June. Teunis De June. Kay successfully petitioned the mayor and common council for the privilege of making a cartway through " the street that runs by the pie woman's leading to the city commons," and the land alongside was given to him as a compensation for his labor. About the same time the corpor- ation of the city of New York appropriated the first dollar ever expended upon the cleaning of the streets. The amount set apart was £ 20.
The following spring the streets were first lighted. The nov- 1697. elty of the decree issued by the corporation gives it a peculiar flavor : -
" The Board taking into consideration the great inconvenience that attends this city, for want of lights in the dark time of the moon, in the winter season, it is therefore ordered that the housekeepers of the city shall put out lights in the following manner, viz, every seventh house shall cause a lantern with a candle in it to be hung out on a pole, the charges to be defrayed equally by the inhabitants of the said seven houses."
The institution of the first night-watch was equally characteristic of the times : -
" Four good and honest inhabitants of the city shall be appointed whose duty it shall be to watch in the night-time from the hour of nine in the evening till break of day, until the 25th of March next ; and to go round the city each hour of the night with a bell, to proclaim the season of the weather, and the hour of the night."
1698. The arrival of Lord Bellomont was the great event of the spring of 1698.1 He arrived on the 2d of April. He was met at the
1 Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont and Baron of Coloony, was the son of Sir Richard
427
THE EARL OF BELLOMONT.
wharf by prominent gentlemen from both political parties, and crowds of people. The corporation burned four barrels of gunpowder in their salute of welcome. He went through the usual forms of April 2. publishing his commission, and that of his lieutenant-governor, John Nanfan, a cousin of Lady Bellomont, who had crossed the ocean with them ; and then the new governor administered the oaths to the members of the executive council, who were continued without change.
A pretentious dinner was given to Bellomont by the corporation, ac- cording to the ancient custom.2 Johannes De Peyster was the mayor, and he could preside over a banquet with as much grace as his distinguished brother Abraham. A loyal address had been prepared which greatly pleased the new executive, and he was delightfully affable to everybody.
Bellomont was a genuine nobleman. He was also a master of the art of politeness, and knew how to make even the commonest man or woman feel that they were the objects of his special regard. He was of attrac- tive, commanding presence, large-sized, somewhat above the ordinary height, with finely shaped and well-poised head, a face stamped with iron firmness, dark, magnetic, kindly, expressive eyes, and small, soft white hands. His voice was low and musical, but capable of great modulation. No one could tell a story with more humor, or enjoy a hearty laugh better than he. And yet he was not cheerful as a rule, and his countenance was apt to wear an expression of painful thought. It was only at rare intervals that vivacity sparkled forth like foaming nectar, and then it was so charming that the memory of it remained whatever clouds fol- lowed. He bore himself with a certain dignity that was much admired. He sat in his saddle with an ease which equestrians tried in vain to imi- tate. His dress was a model of elegance and good taste, and it was a matter which no mental disturbance ever induced him to neglect. His table was filled with the choicest viands, and it was served with as much ceremony as William's own. His equipage was magnificent.
Coote, who on the restoration of Charles II. was made a peer of the realm with the title of Baron of Coloony. The family is of French extraction, and settled originally in Devonshire. From a branch of the family, which afterwards possessed large estates in Norfolk and Suffolk, those of Ireland are descended. Lodge's Irish Peerage, I. 299. History of Ireland, II. 83 ; III. 145. Nichols's Irish Comp., 1735. Upon the death of the elder Baron of Coloony, July 16, 1683, Richard succeeded to his titles and estates. In March, 1689, he was one of the first to espouse the cause of the Prince of Orange, and was soon after appointed treasurer and re- ceiver-general to Queen Mary. William advanced him to the dignity of the Earl of Bello- mont. He married in 1660 Catharine, daughter and heiress of John Nanfan of Birch Morton, and had two sons, Nanfan and Richard, who successively inherited their father's titles. Sketch of the Earl of Bellomont by Moore, in Stryker's American Quarterly Register. Vol. I. 434.
2 One hundred and fifty persons dined with the new governor on this occasion, the bill of fare embracing venison, turkey, chicken, goose, pigeon, duck, and other game, mutton, beef, lamb, veal, pork, sausages, with pastry, puddings, cakes, and the choicest of wines.
428
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
He was sixty-two years of age, but might easily have passed for fifty. Lady Bellomont was much younger, as he had married her when she was only twelve. He was very fond as well as very proud of her. A series of stately dinner-parties were given by the leading New York families, and the first few weeks of their American life were more pleasant than any which ever came afterwards.
Bellomont had from his youth up been accustomed to see power con- stantly associated with pomp, and found it difficult to believe that the substance existed unless people were dazzled by the trappings. Preju- dice, not vanity, was his besetting sin. He took his measure of men with the eye instead of the rule, and was as sincere in his friendship as he was inflexible in his aversions. He had a sound heart, honorable sympathies, and an honest desire to do justice to the oppressed. But he formed opin- ions too hastily, and they were the result of impulse rather than reason. They were apt to be colored by the first hearing of a case. Thus the good he might have done was warped and defeated. And he, instead of preserving a steady mean between the two great party extrenies, was car- ried swiftly into the political whirlpool. He indulged in the most impla- cable antipathy towards Fletcher, even long before he crossed the ocean. He had listened to the aspersions cast upon the character of the latter by the Leislerians at the court of William, and had never doubted the truth of the same. He came prepared to pronounce wholesale condemnation upon all the acts of his predecessor. Evidence was an after consideration in his mind. It would have been the part of wisdom to have sifted the grains of fact from the vast amount of fiction, but Bellomont was as pre- cipitate as he was sincere.
The hopes of the Leislerians were greatly stimulated by his appoint- ment, for he had openly declared in England that in his opinion the execution of Leisler was a judicial murder. His ears were consequently filled at once with exaggerated complaints. And things certainly had a singular look. Trade seemed to be traveling on a tangent. Arabian gold and East India goods were everywhere common. New York was getting rich at a most extraordinary rate.
Bellomont with characteristic conscientiousness charged all irregulari- . ties to the account of his predecessor, and then set about overturning the stones which hid the pool of corruption. It was not so easy to prove as to guess who had been immersed within it. He discovered something akin to green mould hanging from the garments of several of the landed lords, who represented the aristocratic party. The members of his council were reticent, and he soon learned that they were meeting daily at the lodgings of Fletcher, who had not yet sailed for England. They were
429
BELLOMONT'S REFORMS.
owners of merchant-vessels, - at least many of them were, - and their friendship for Fletcher had an aroma of complicity. Besides, they did not come up manfully, in the eyes of the new executive, to his assistance when he attempted to enforce the laws of trade, and some of them ex- pressed surprise that they must needs have such an unexpected dis- turbance.
Fletcher was quite determined to have his accounts with the govern- ment audited before he departed, that he might take his proofs and vouch- ers to the Lords of Trade, as he was confident that he could clear himself from all the charges which had been made against him. He said that after having held commission under the Crown of England for thirty-five years without the least reproach or impeachment of his reputation, he did not think he " should become a castaway in the rear of his days."
Bellomont had been in New York scarcely three weeks before he issued a writ of restitution to put Leisler's and Milborne's families in pos- session of their estates, which had hitherto been a tardy process through various obstacles. It created a popular tumult, for the property had passed through several hands, and innocent parties were obliged to vacate houses and stores to which they held title-deeds obtained in good faith. But a still greater excitement was caused by the seizure of ships and goods under the new administration. Chidley Brooke was the collector of customs and receiver-general. He was a blood relative and had been brought up in the home of the father of Bellomont. His first employ in the government had been through the influence of the late Baron of Coloony. Bellomont treated him haughtily, however, and in the execu- tion of his duties, now more sharply defined than ever, granted him no quarter. He ordered him to seize a cargo of East India goods, and be- came very angry when Brooke showed a disposition to hold back by declaring that it was not his business, and that he had no boat with which to visit the vessel. He was compelled to obey orders finally, but he delayed the accomplishment of the task for some days, and then captured only a small portion of what the ship contained, the remainder being secreted. Bellomont was in high temper, but the merchants outrivalled him in that particular, and almost raised a mutiny over his proceedings ; he was enraged at Brooke for what he styled " negligence " in allowing unlawful trade to get such headway, and said it would cost so much more trouble now to put it down.
Meanwhile the stories about Fletcher were thriving in New York as well as England. It was said in connection with his having issued commissions to piratical commanders, that he had received large sums of money for protecting pirates whenever they chose to land in New
430
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
York to dispose of their spoils. It was said that one pirate had given him a ship which he had sold for £ 8,000 to Caleb Heathcote. It was also currently reported that the great merchant-vessels of New York, which went to Madagascar for negroes, bought goods of the pirates, and that the owners of those vessels had money interest in the pirate vessels. There was no end to the gossip. William Nicolls was charged with having been Fletcher's chief broker in the matter of protections, and the place of rendezvous where he had often held interviews with piratical captains on the Long Island shore was confidently pointed out to Bellomont. The earl never gave the question the benefit of a doubt. With swift impetuosity he suspended his counselor without even a hear- ing in his own defense. Then he wrote to the Lords of Trade under date of May 8, 1698 :-
"Colonel Nicolls ought to be sent with Colonel Fletcher a criminal prisoner to England for trial, but the gentlemen of the council are tender of him, as he is connected by marriage to several of them, and I am prevailed upon to accept £ 2,000, for his appearance here when demanded. He is a man of good sense and knowledge in the law, but has been a great instrument and contriver of unjust and corrupt practices."
Bellomont dissolved Fletcher's late Assembly and issued writs for a new one. The election stirred up the old feud, but the Leislerians through the country were as yet not fairly awake to this possible deliver- ance and did not win a majority in the House. The new Assembly met as early as possible, and Philip French was chosen speaker. Bellomont's opening address was a review of the condition of public affairs. His legacy, he said, was a divided people, an empty purse, a few miserable, , half-starved, naked soldiers, ragged fortifications, a tumble-down gov- ernor's house, and, in short, a whole government out of frame. The prospect was certainly anything but cheerful. Bellomont said he should pocket none of the people's money, and all his accounts should be fur- nished for inspection when and as often as desired. He declared against free elections, against piracy, against illegal trade, against dis- orders of whatever nature, and in favor of reducing the salaries of the officers of the government. He said the revenue which had been raised for five years was nearly expiring and must be renewed. He said that immediate provision must be made to pay the debts of the government.
Until now the Assembly had consisted of nineteen members. Bello- mont warmly advocated the passage of a bill to increase the number to thirty, and to provide against the abuses attending elections. It created so much ill-natured discussion that no other business was attempted for
431
THE ACTS OF TRADE.
a month, and finally six of the members seceded from the Assembly altogether. The only thing which had really been accomplished was an address to the king, and Bellomont dissolved the body in disgust.
The trouble with the merchants grew into such proportions, and it be- came so necessary to have officers who would execute justice promptly, that Bellomont peremptorily dismissed Brooke from all his positions, and appointed Hon. Stephanus Van Cortlandt with Mr. Monsay, searcher of customs, to act as commissioners until a new receiver-general should receive the sanction of the king. Two or three days afterwards some goods were to be seized, and each of three constables who were sent for in turn to perform the duty was missing. A report was communicated to Bellomont the same afternoon, to the effect that the sheriff himself was concerned in the receipt of some East India goods, and that a large quan- tity was concealed in his house. The earl sprang to his feet and sent an order to Mr. Monsay and Mr. Everts to seize them at once. They entered the sheriff's house without opposition, but while they were pack- ing the goods for removal to the Custom-House, the doors were locked upon them, leaving them prisoners in a close, unventilated garret, where they were obliged to remain until they were nearly stifled. It was nine o'clock in the evening before Bellomont heard of their incarceration. He at once sent his own servants with three files of soldiers, who broke in the doors and liberated the gentlemen.
The next day Mr. Monsay was called upon to seize more goods, but he declined to serve longer in that vocation. Bellomont was surprised, for Monsay had been searcher of the customs for six years, and this late office advanced him an extra £ 200 in the way of salary. Brooke was accused of having influenced Monsay. But as the latter could not be persuaded to come in collision again with the angry merchants, who had threatened his life, the son of Sir George Hungerford, another relative of the Earl, was appointed in his place.
William Pinhorne disapproved of Bellomont's arbitrary proceedings, particularly in regard to the merchants, and took occasion to express his opinions in strong language. He was immediately removed from the council by the governor, on the ground of having used disrespectful words against the king. He retired to his plantation near Snake Hill on the Hackinsack River, and was appointed judge of the Supreme Court in New Jersey, and a member of the governor's council in that State.
A record of the various encounters of Bellomont in his efforts to en- force the Acts of Trade would fill a volume. He wrote to the king : -
"I am obliged to stand entirely upon my own legs, my assistants hinder me, the people oppose me, and the merchants threaten me. It is indeed uphill work."
432
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
That such was the case is no matter of wonder. Those Acts of Trade were despotic in their nature and contradictory to the rights of humanity. They were everywhere evaded. New York was not alone. The city had become a nest of pirates, it is true, but it was the English nation which fed and fostered them. Piracy did not originate in New York. The place was simply chosen on account of its central geographical position, and its nearness to the open sea. A brief review of the Acts of Trade will enable the reader to better judge why no voice of conscience declared their vio- lation a moral offense, and how respect for them resolved itself into a mere calculation of chances ; it is to be taken into account also that New York was a city chiefly of aliens, owing allegiance to England and to other European powers, and without the bonds of common history or tongue.
No commodities might be imported into any British settlement in Asia, Africa, or America, or exported thence, but in vessels built in England or in her colonial plantations, and navigated by crews of which the master and three fourths of the sailors were English subjects. The penalty was forfeiture of ship and cargo. No one but a natural-born subject of the English crown or person legally naturalized could exercise the occupa- tion of merchant or factor in any English colonial settlement. No sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, or dye-stuffs produced in the colonies should be shipped from them to any other country than England, and ship-owners were required at the port of lading to give bonds with security proportioned to tonnage. The prohibited articles were called enumerated, and as soon as any new articles were brought into notice through the ingenuity and industry of the colonists, they were added to the list. It forbade also the importation of any European articles into the colonies save in vessels laden in England and navigated as above. It was the policy of nations to keep the trade of colonies confined to the parent country. Charles II. imposed a tax of five per cent on all goods imported into or exported from any of the dominions of the crown. Par- liament went a step farther and taxed the trade which one colony carried on with another.
The peace of Ryswick had interrupted hostilities between the French and English, but Count Frontenac was still pursuing the Iroquois with unabated vigor. Bellomont sent two agents, Captain John Schuyler and Dominie Dellius, to Montreal to confer with the French commander. The latter claimed that the Iroquois were French not English subjects and he must bring them to terms. An interesting controversy at once ensued. Bellomont took a very high and arrogant tone in his correspondence, and Count Frontenac was equally resolute and opinionated. Bellomont, al-
433
CONTENTION IN THE COUNCIL.
though seriously ill with the gout, hurried to Albany to meet the Indians themselves. Before any settlement was reached in the matter the Count died at the advanced age of seventy.
When Bellomont returned to New York he found the gentlemen of his council sullen and estranged. He invited them to dine with him, and fancied he detected signs of displeasure when he drank the king's health, as was his custom. He made a lame effort to conciliate the merchants, who were grumbling more loudly than ever, by giving them a general invitation to come to his dinner-table at any time; but they never came. Brooke had gone to England to obtain redress for his grievances. He had sailed during the governor's absence in Albany, and had been visited by great numbers of prominent persons before his departure, and crowds of people attended him to the vessel. Bellomont discovered that petitions had been extensively signed, asking for his recall, and sent by Brooke to Whitehall.
The great bone of contention in the council was piracy. All were agreed in the necessity for its suppression. But as to its actual extent there was a vast difference of opinion. Bellomont was informed that Colonel Bayard had assisted Fletcher in giving protection to pirates. He proclaimed it with emphasis. He also startled his associates by making known his suspicions in regard to several others among their number, who had unquestionably been concerned in the encouragement of depredations upon the sea. The retort was in the very nature of things inevitable. It was now well known that Captain Kidd had raised the black flag; and the possible complicity of Bellomont himself was on men's lips all over the world. The iron entered the noble soul. But the Earl would not allow any such misrepresentations to come between him and the execu- tion of what he considered his duty. He was trying to purify a corrupt government, and suspected men must not be allowed to stand in high places. He therefore proceeded to remove Colonel Bayard, Gabriel Min- vielle, Thomas Willett, Richard Townley, and John Lawrence from the council. The following morning Frederick Philipse resigned.
The excitement was intense. Rumor distorted facts, and the displaced gentlemen were accredited with the darkest deeds. A beautiful diamond worn by Mrs. Bayard was said to have been taken from the finger of an Arabian princess, and romance quickly wove the story into a bloody murder. It was reported to have been the price paid to Bayard for ob- taining the murderer's protection. It was for a time currently believed that Minvielle possessed a large box of Arabian gold pieces obtained in a similar manner. John Lawrence was said to have often entertained the freebooters at his house on Long Island. Frederick Philipse was the 28
434
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
subject of much speculation. He owned several great merchant-vessels, and it was said that three or four were coming in from Madagascar laden with jewels and costly wares; and that his son Adolphe Philipse had gone out in a small ship to meet them and conceal the treasures. This last story was the only one which had any tangible foundation. Adolphe Philipse did go out as reported, though his object was never made known. When the vessels were at last entered, the depositions of the crew sub- stantiated the original statement of Philipse that the goods had been bought at low prices from African traders instead of pirates.
Bellomont wrote to the Lords of Trade in reference to the changes made in the council, without repeating the charges which he had so im- pulsively preferred. He said that Townley lived in East Jersey and never came to the meetings; that Philipse resigned on account of his great age, being seventy-two years old; that Lawrence was also super- annuated, being eighty-two years of age; and that the other gentlemen were disposed to promote illegal trade. David Jamison, the clerk of the council, was removed because of grave impertinence, and the governor in excusing such a stringent course, said that Jamison had once been con- demned to the gallows in Scotland for blasphemy and burning the Bible, but in mitigation of the sentence had been transported to America; and, also, that he had two wives, - one left behind him, and one in New York.
The new counselors appointed to fill the vacancies were Robert Living- ston, Colonel Abraham De Peyster, Thomas Weaver, Dr. Samuel Staats, and Robert Walters.1 Bellomont had reviewed Fletcher's action against. Livingston and reinstated the latter in all his offices. The Leislerian faction were thus in the ascendant in the council, and the whole party took courage. Some went so far as to broach the subject of demanding a retrospect of all the events and quarrels during the period of the Revolution.
On the other hand, Colonel Bayard was so indignant with the treat- ment which he had received, that he made a voyage to England at once, and personally laid the subject before the Lords of Trade and the king. William Nicolls stood guard over party interests in New York. Clubs and " cabals " were held at stated intervals, and an uneasy time it was for the governor. The latter came into collision with William Brad-
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