USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 46
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1 Dr. Samuel Staats married, while holding some appointment in India obtained for him by William of Orange, an East Indian " Begum " or princess, with whom and his children he returned to Holland and thence to New York. His daughter Catharine married Lewis Morris, and was the mother of the celebrated Staats Long Morris. Gouverneur Kemble; New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, January, 1876, p. 17.
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JAMES GRAHAM.
ford, who was printing for the government, and high words many times ensued. Bradford's salary was cut down in the general reduction of gov- ernmental expenses, and he several times told the Earl he might do his own printing.
Bellomont, from all he could learn, was convinced that much of the wealth of the New York aristocracy had been dishonorably obtained. The enormous landed estates haunted his mind. Small men could not obtain a foothold in the province. Every acre of government land had been granted away to feudal lords; in many instances, in tracts from twenty to forty miles square. It had a ruinous outlook. He finally leveled a fierce blow at the great landholders by an attempt to break all existing grants, and the shaping of a bill, which should be approved in England, to prohibit any one person from holding over one thousand acres under any circumstances.
Meanwhile a new Assembly was in contemplation. For months prior to the election, the country was canvassed by conspicuous leaders of both parties. They rode night and day, defied cold and fatigue, 1699. and encountered snow-storms and freshets. William Nicolls slept more than once under a haystack, and Robert Walters twice swam a swollen stream when the ice was breaking. Bellomont removed the sheriffs in the different counties, and appointed new ones, such as leaned towards the party which he represented, in their stead. The struggle was the sharpest ever known at that time in America. In many places on the day of election there was fighting and broken heads at the polls. The Leislerians were victorious. When some one said to Bellomont, " The new members all seem to be Englishmen," he replied with a sarcastic smile, " There is Johannes Kip, Rip Van Dam, and Jacobus Van Cort- landt ! Their names speak Dutch, and the men scarcely speak English." Johannes De Peyster and Jeremias Van Rensselaer were also among these elected.
James Graham was one of those who attached themselves to Bellomont, and the warm-hearted Earl placed implicit confidence in him for a time. With all his democratic notions the nobleman governor had great respect for birth and blood. Graham was the son of the Earl of Montrose, who, although a Scotchman, was well known and highly esteemed in England. That was his first recommendation. Then, too, he was endowed with brilliant intellectual qualities, was witty, chivalrous, communicative, overflowed with anecdote, in short, was a man after the Earl's own heart, and he enjoyed such society. But Graham was not a friend who could be trusted, and a more cautious and less sincere man than the impulsive Bellomont would have sooner found him out. He was the attorney-gen-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
eral of the province, and had consequently drawn up all the necessary papers for Fletcher's land-grants. Inconsistent as it appears, he was one of the very first to suggest their illegality. If such was the fact, then he alone was responsible, for he understood the forms and methods of the province and Fletcher left the whole matter entirely to him. He was apparently in entire sympathy with the projects of the Earl, vouchsafed much information, said the grants were destructive to the best interests of the people, and ought to be broken. He recommended, however, that a few should be shattered at first, "as a sort of essay to see how it would be borne," and the rest destroyed afterwards. It was serious business, but Bellomont was undismayed and plunged straight into the fire. Graham knew how, like many another adviser since his time, to throw fuel into the flames and protect himself.
He had been chosen speaker of the House, and was ordered to prepare the bill for vacating the grants. The first estates under condemnation were, two of Dominie Dellius, one of Colonel Bayard, one of Captain Evans, one of Caleb Heathcote, and one belonging to Trinity Church. Before the subject was brought into the council for formal approval, Bellomont sent an invitation for Graham to dine with him one day, and remarked, among other things, that Colonel William Smith seemed very much averse to the passage of such a bill. Graham, to the Earl's astonishment, said the thing could not be done at all; that civil war would ensue should it be attempted. The following day Graham called upon the Earl, and told how he had found a quarter of meat significantly laid across the sill of his door on the previous evening, which none of his servants could ac- count for, and which was undoubtedly a menace, meaning that he was to be quartered. Bellomont laughed at such nonsensical fears. The same day the bill was brought before the council. Three members were for it, and three against it, and, as there were only six present, Bellomont gave the casting vote. He wrote to the Lords of Trade that the three who were against it were the largest landholders in New York, except Dominie Dellius. He, with singular honesty of purpose, caused the bill to be so worded that his own and all future governors' hands were tied from grant- ing any more, or even so much as leasing the demesne of the governor for more than his own time in the government. The House added a clause to deprive Dominie Dellius also of his benefice at Albany, to which the council agreed. While it was being discussed in the Assembly Graham opposed it, which greatly annoyed Bellomont, since it had been framed through his direct instrumentality. It passed the House, however, with a large majority.
The remainder of the grants were shortly to be attacked. Prominent
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DOMINIE DELLIUS.
among the landgraves was the chief justice of the province, and counselor, Colonel William Smith, of St. George's manor, near Brookehaven. It was said that he owned over fifty miles of sea-beach, and that his land crossed the whole breadth of Long Island. He was influential, and Bellomont apprehended that he would prove a formidable antagonist, but was fully determined to meet the issue. Personally he had no affinity for the cold, taciturn, self-righteous ex-governor of Tangier. He did not even respect his abilities. He admitted that Smith " had more sense, and was more gentlemanlike than any man whom he had seen in the province, but that did not make him a lawyer, and he really knew very little about law with all his legal pretensions."
While Bellomont was maturing his policy of grading the hills and building up the vales, a terrible commotion was being fomented. Dom- inie Dellius had sailed for England, carrying certificates of his piety and good life, and a purse for his expenses filled by the members of his church in Albany. He went in all confidence to the king, expecting to get the Act annulled which deprived him of his broad pastures. At the same time the church-wardens and vestry of Trinity Church appealed to the Bishop of London in the most ear- nest manner, asking his interference with the Lords of Trade to prevent Bellomont from wresting from them their property and rights. They par- ticularly commended the great zeal, generous liberality, and indefatigable industry of Fletcher, who they said was the " sole founder, the principal promoter, and the most liberal bene- factor " of the church; and they prayed that the destruction planned by one who was a communicant and constant attendant might be averted. Rev. Mr. Vesey esteemed himself per- sonally aggrieved in the matter. He Will. Vesey. had been on agreeable terms with Bellomont, had dined with him often, and had driven with him in his coach- Portrait and Autograph of Rev. William Vesey. and-six. The good divine at once left the governor and family out of his prayers altogether. And what was more, he prayed for Dominie Dellius by name each Sunday in the sanctu-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
ary, desiring God to give the latter a safe and prosperous voyage and great success with the king.1
Bellomont was confounded. He had not intended to injure the wel- fare of the church, only to recover the gubernatorial conveniences which the church enjoyed. He had, with the consent of the council, settled £ 26 per year upon the minister for house-rent; and it was his intention to propose to the Assembly a further settlement of £ 50 per year upon Mr. Vesey, and all his successors in that cure. As things stood he could no longer attend divine service in his accustomed place, and he wrote to the Bishop petitioning that Mr. Vesey be immediately deprived of his benefice in New York.
As for Dominie Dellius it is hardly probable that he obtained his In- dian lands fraudently. He had been an agent among the savages, and during the long years of wars and alarms had been of great service to the government. At one time he had, in connection with Peter Schuyler and one or two others, petitioned Fletcher for liberty to trade with the Mo- hawks. Fletcher saw no objection, since the practice of buying large estates for a few knives and tobacco-pouches had been in vogue ever since New York was first settled; and, besides, he had been instructed by the king to use his own discretion in such matters. A short time subse- quently, permission was granted to Dominie Dellius to make a second purchase, in which no one was concerned but himself. The sachems accepted the price offered, and signed and sealed the instrument of con- veyance in the same solemn manner that other Indians had done before them. But as soon as Fletcher had gone and Bellomont began his re- formatory movements, these treacherous men of the forest complained, and said they had been cheated and deceived. Dellius had been an active opponent of Leisler, hence appearances were made to tell seriously against him by the party in power. Not only his religion, but his morals were assailed. The customary epithets of the times, such as "incendi- ary " and "liar " and " proud person," were heaped upon him, and it was asserted that he did not pray for the king, only for the Crown of England.
The aristocracy of that decade sustained the clergy, and the clergy sus- tained the aristocracy ; and the merchants sustained both the clergy and' the aristocracy. Their grievances were of a kindred nature. Their cry of rage vibrated on one chord. Each sent angry petitions across the water asking for Bellomont's recall.
The Lords of Trade were worse confounded than Bellomont himself. With petitions as above filling up their tables, and with the indignant
1 Vesey Street was named from this clergyman. Church, Chapel, and Rector Streets have the same clerical origin.
439
BELLOMONT'S CHAGRIN.
Bayard, Brooke, and Dellius standing boldly before them in defense of rights civil and political, the trial of Fletcher came on and occupied some days. The charges against him proved less formidable than had been expected before they were subjected to the light of careful analysis. Evi- dence was entirely wanting to convict him of any intentional wrong-doing. The result of the trial was only an expression of mild disapproval con- cerning some of his proceedings.
Bellomont was deeply chagrined; the more so when he received a friendly caution from the king to beware lest he encourage the Leislerians so far that they demand reparation for damages sustained during the Revolution. Such a course would involve property interests and drive many important families from the province. Bellomont responded quick- ly that he had no idea of such a foolish step. "You must think me out of my wits," he said. At the same time he defined his policy, that since many men of the Leislerian party in New York were competent to hold office, it was only fair to promote them.
The Act for breaking the grants was laid on the table for future con- sideration by the Lords of Trade, and that was another mortifying cir- cumstance. Bellomont wrote as if stung by an asp. He said he had only carried out the instructions of the crown, and if he was not sus- tained in his course he should resign. He did not desire to have the Act to break the two grants of Dellius approved, unless he should be abundantly authorized to go on and break the others, meaning Schuyler's, Van Rensselaer's, Livingston's, Van Cortlandt's, Philipse's, - both father's and son's, - Smith's, Nicolls's, Beekman's, Morris's, etc. He asked the recall of Matthew Clarkson, the secretary of the province, saying that he was a "weak man, incapable of business," and that he was heartily tired of him. He declared that there was not a man in New York whose skill and integrity he could trust, and recommended that George Tollet be sent from England to fill the vacancy. He complimented the Dutch citizens of New York for their honesty, but said the English were quicker in accounts and more ready with their pens. As for himself, he said he was perpetually in business from nine o'clock in the morning until ten at night, except during meals, and that it was wearing upon his health and strength.
The Assembly settled the revenue upon the governor for six years, but it was not until after a long and tedious dispute. Graham several times waited upon Bellomont in the hope of persuading him to accept it for three years, and was haughtily rebuked for his pains. A bill passed the House during the same session for the building of a poorhouse. Bello- mont smiled ironically when the news came to him, and remarked that
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
there was no such thing as a beggar in city or country. And it is a sig- nificant fact that in no other part of the king's dominions at that time was there so rich a population as in New York.
About this time Abraham Gouverneur married Mary Leisler, the widow of Jacob Milborne. He was a member of the House, and drew up a re- monstrance, addressed to the king, which arraigned all the proceedings against Leisler and Milborne. His intention was to compel Graham, the speaker, who had been one of the judges at their trial, and who was es- teemed a two-sided politician, to proceed to the council-chamber, attended by the whole Assembly, and deliver the document to the governor; in case of his refusal, he was to be thrown out of the body. Dr. Staats told Bellomont what was in contemplation. A few moments later Graham himself appeared, and with considerable agitation said that he had just heard the paper read, and "would sooner be torn in pieces than bring it up and read it at the head of the House, for it would be in effect cutting his own throat." Bellomont resorted to an artifice to save Graham; he sent for the Assembly, saying he had orders from the king to make Gra- ham one of his council, and that they must choose a new speaker. Gou- verneur was at once elected to the chair by general acclamation, and presented the remonstrance in due form. This movement did not accom- plish its object; but it resulted in the disinterment of the remains of Leisler and Milborne, and with funeral honors they were given Christian burial in the Dutch Church. The service was performed at midnight, in presence of twelve hundred or more persons, and in the midst of a storm which was only equaled in fury by the one which deepened the gloom at the time of the execution. Order was maintained by a large detach- ment of soldiery.
At the same moment the Dutch Church was tottering upon its foun- dation. Bellomont had made an effort to annul the charter on the ground of its having been obtained through bribery. The only proof shown was that the consistory had on one occasion made Fletcher a present of a piece of plate. The charter itself was not agreeable to the Leislerians, because it gave the power of calling ministers to the minister and consistory. They battled for their old right of congregational vote." They carried their quarrels before the Classis of Amsterdam with such vigor that the first candidate who was called to act as colleague to Domi- nie Selyns declined the honor. The accomplished pastor, under whose ministration, since his return from Holland, the church had increased from four hundred and fifty to six hundred and fifty members, was growing old and must have assistance. The charter prevailed in the end, and the Rev. Mr. Du Bois accepted a call, and reached New York in the summer
441
BELLOMONT IN BOSTON.
of 1699. The death of Dominie Selyns occurred shortly afterward, and his loss was deeply mourned. He was one of the acknowledged founders of the Dutch Church in America, and probably did more during his long, interesting, and honorable career to determine its position for all the future than any other man.
The time came at length when Bellomont must attend to that part of his commission which constituted him governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He made the tiresome overland journey to Boston, while overwhelmed with care and perplexity, and suffering acutely with the gout in his right hand. He was accompanied by Lady Bellomont and a large retinue of servants. He found in each of the Eastern colonies two powerful parties, and the Acts of Trade violated and the collection of customs at loose ends. He found, too, that Boston was the seat of learning and fanaticism, and wondered how the two came to go hand in hand. Opposition to his measures was not so manifest as in New York, owing to the fact of there being less business done. New England was peopled with intellectual men of small means who wrung their subsist- ence from the earth. In the rural districts there was a general appear- ance of social equality. Bellomont had never seen anything like it, and contrasted it with the manors of New York, -the lords amid their ten- antry and negro slaves, and their gilded trappings, coats-of-arms, and coaches-and-six. He was running over with democratic theories at the same time that all his tastes and habits of life were of the opposite char- acter. But democracy was as yet imperfectly understood.
Boston was charmed with Bellomont. His noble bearing and easy ele- gant manners were everywhere admired. Crowds followed him through the streets. As in New York, his dinner-table was the resort of politi- cians. He instituted and encouraged their visits, but was oftentimes dreadfully bored. On one occasion, when his dining-hall was filled with Assemblymen from the country who were shabbily dressed and rough- mannered, he remarked aside to Lady Bellomont, "We must treat these gentlemen well; they give us our bread."
A larger revenue was voted to him in New England than had ever before been given to a governor. He favored the party in Massachusetts which opposed Dudley. There was comparative harmony in the Gen- eral Court when he presided. We are told by historians that he was unparliamentary ; he never, it seems, hesitated to propose business, rec- ommend committees, or even leave his chair and mingle in the debates. In New Hampshire he quarreled with the lieutenant-governor (whom he had never liked) about having sent ship-timber to Portugal. At the time of the appointment of the latter he had said to Sir Henry 28
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Ashurst, at whose instance it was done, " You seem to have a strong bias for carpenter-governors."
Bellomont kept his New York affairs constantly in mind during his stay in Boston. In one of his letters 1 to Colonel De Abraham Peyster he said :-
" I wish you would tell Mr. Leisler that I can't move the king to get his father's debt ordered to be paid for want of government's and other people's testimony, on oath, that they saw Captain Leisler's books and that there was such a sum due as Dr. Staats and Gouverneur told me; but the sum they men- tioned I have forgot. Let this be done immediately, if they are able to swear to it ; it must be drawn up handsomely, that I may transmit it to England."
A little later he wrote, telling De Peyster, who had been in Boston with him for a short time, how high he (De Peyster) stood in the favor and good opinion of the New England people, and how much he was missed by everybody. He urged the latter "to get Mr. Leisler, Dr. Staats, Mr. Walters, and Mr. Gouverneur together and see if they cannot refresh their memories in the matter of the government debt. It will be ridiculous to ask the king to refund a debt when I do not know the amount." Lady Bellomont corresponded with several of the New York ladies while in Boston. At one time we find her desiring Mrs. De Peyster to buy her a pearl necklace if she could get one good and cheap.
Bellomont succeeded in arresting Captain Kidd before he left Boston. He had long felt that his honor and that of his government was deeply involved, and that the apprehension and punishment of the audacious pirate was essential to exculpation in the eyes of the world. Kidd had several times visited the American shores. He had buried a portion of his treasures on Gardiner's Island, which had afterwards been discovered. He fell directly into the trap which Bellomont had laid for him. He was sent to England for trial; he was found guilty ; and he was executed on the 12th of May, 1701. His wife and daughter remained in New York, and lived in the strictest seclusion. The rumors of buried gold created a panic among the dwellers all along the Atlantic coast, and for years there was much digging and occasional " clicks of box-lids." But the fever at last died away, as have the wild romances and weird legends concerning Kidd.
When Bellomont returned to New York he wrote to the king that he should greatly prefer an honest judge and a trustworthy attorney-general to two ships-of-war. He said Graham "had changed his note and turned tail "; that " Mr. Graham in the afternoon was always opposed to
1 Lord Bellomont to Colonel Abraham De Peyster, August 3, 1699. Miscellaneous Works of General J. Watts De Peyster, p. 130.
443
THE HANGING OF POPISH PRIESTS.
Mr. Graham in the morning," and that he never knew when to depend upon his opinions, and was often led into ridiculous follies by him ; that Graham never had rendered him any assistance only in the matter of hunting up testimony against Fletcher. He also said that piracy was on the wane, but he expected New York would be flooded with gold upon the arrival of one of Philipse's ships, which was expected.
About this time the new City Hall was built upon the site (donated by Colonel Abra- ham De Peyster), of the present Treasury building, Wall Street, oppo- site Broad. David Provoost, who was the mayor in 1699, laid the corner- stone. The build- ing cost about £ 3,000. The arms of the king, also the arms of Bello- ment and of Nan- fan, decorated the front. The old City Richor Hall, which was in City Hall, Wall Street.
an advanced state of decay, was sold to John Rodman for £ 920.
Public scavengers were first instituted this year, and two new market- houses were erected. Of the latter, one was on the corner of Coentis Slip and the other at the foot of Broad Street. A powder-house was built by the corporation, and in view of the recent Act of the Assembly in pro- viding for a poor-house, a small building was hired where sick paupers might go for care and medical attention. The Brooklyn ferry was in- spected and re-leased for seven years, and a ferry-house decided upon, which was subsequently erected. The rate of fare was established by law : it was eight stuyvers in wampum, or a silver twopence for a single person ; half that sum each, when a number of persons traveled in com- pany ; one shilling for a horse ; twopence for a hog (same as for a man) ; one penny for a sheep; and after sunset double ferriage for all. The dock was leased to Philip French for £ 40 per annum.
The Assembly met in the summer of 1700, but the business was un- important and the session a short one. One law was enacted, however,
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
which will never be read but with abhorrence. It was to hang every. Popish priest who came voluntarily into the province of New York.
Cruel and unaccountable as it appears, we have but to review 1700. the situation and dwell for a moment upon the bloody wars to the north, and the supposed tampering of the Jesuit emissaries with the Indians, to find cause for a measure rather of state policy than persecu- tion. In directing severe penalties against the priests, the legislators fancied they were warding off the blows of the tomahawk.
The Board of Trade, consisting of a president and seven members, (the first in New York, and which had been established about three years,) should have exercised an immediate supervision over the commerce of the colony. It made the attempt, but the persistent violation of the revenue and other laws drove it to stringent measures, and it conse- quently became as odious to the merchants as Bellomont himself. The latter interposed so many obstacles in the way of business that the Lon- don merchants were aroused and petitioned the king in behalf of the aggrieved people of New York. While it was under consideration an- other petition, praying to be reinstated in peace, safety, and prosperity, appeared, signed by thirty-three New York merchants, among whom were Nicholas Bayard, Philip French, Gabriel Minvielle, Rip Van Dam, Charles Lodwyck, Stephen De Lancey, Brandt Schuyler, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, David Jamison, and Elias Boudinot. There were thirty-two distinct accusations against Bellomont. The thirty-second was to the effect that the governor, in order to justify his arbitrary proceedings, had vilely slandered eminent and respectable persons ; he had accused them of piracy and of trading with pirates, which was wholly false. The only ground he had ever had for such suspicions was that some of the rich gentlemen of New York owned ships which went to Madagascar for- negroes, and sometimes met with India goods which they could buy at easy rates, but always gave true account of the same.
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