USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 49
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Nanfan made arrangements to remove to Barbadoes, but the course of his career did not run smoothly. His wife and children were safely em- barked on the vessel, when he was arrested on a charge of not having accounted for the public money which had been in his hands; and also on another charge for having countenanced and abetted arbitrary ar- rests while in power. He was thrown into prison, and his family pro-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
ceeded to their destination without him. He remained in close confine- ment one year and a half. The Lords of Trade finally ordered his release on bail. Plans were matured to re-arrest him, and he only escaped by taking refuge on a man-of-war in the harbor, and proceeded in a shabbily clad and despondent condition to England. Fraud was never proven in his case ; he suffered the disgrace with none of the perquisites. No one pretended to hold him responsible for the atrocious proceedings of the last few months. He was young and inexperienced, and very much under the influence of Atwood and Weaver. Even Cornbury exonerated him from blame, and fixed the stigma upon the flying ex-chief-justice and certain members of the council.
The Lords of Trade were astonished when they learned that the New York Assembly had passed the Leisler Act for reparation of damages claimed to have been sustained during the Revolution! They July 14. immediately sent Cornbury their former instructions to Bello- mont, which they had intended should be a guide to Nanfan as well, and ordered, peremptorily, that no such irregular proceeding should be al- lowed. They also forwarded the queen's order in council for the restora- tion of Attorney-General Broughton to the execution of his official duties, the queen deeming it unfit that any person should be punished for giving his opinion in matters which had been referred to him. Brough- ton was subsequently made one of the governor's council.
About the same time Cornbury received a formal commission to govern New Jersey, the proprietors having surrendered all their powers to the queen. East and West New Jersey were henceforth united into one prov- ince. Counselors were named from among the most prominent inhabitants. An Assembly was elected by the majority of freeholders, as in New York, which was to sit first at Perth Amboy, then at Burlington, and afterwards alternate between the two places. All voters must possess at least one hundred acres of real estate, or personal property to the amount of £ 50. Liberty of conscience was granted to all persons except papists, and the solemn affirmation of the Quakers was to be taken instead of an oath. Cornbury was directed to take special care "that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served," and that ministers of the Church of England should be furnished with a parsonage and glebe at the common charge. He was also instructed to encourage traffic in merchantable negroes, which the African Company in England would furnish at moderate rates.
Even during that summer of distress (1702) while Cornbury was in the cosey enjoyment of the Jamaica parsonage, the elections were stirring up the old strife through the length and breadth of the province. Philip French
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DEATH OF FREDERICK PHILIPSE.
was chosen a member of the new Assembly,1 and in October of the same year appointed mayor of the city. Stephen De Lancey, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and Henry Beekman were also elected to the Assembly, and William Nicolls was chosen speaker. The House met at Jamaica, and accomplished no little business. It continued the revenue for seven years ; voted £1,800 for the defense of the frontiers; 2 raised £ 2,000 as a present to Cornbury towards defraying the expenses of his voyage ; passed an Act for disciplining slaves who had become insolent and unman- ageable ; an Act for destroying wolves in New York; an Act for settling the militia ; an Act to appoint commissioners to examine the accounts and debts of the province; an Act for maintaining the poor of the city ; an Act for establishing a free grammar school in the city; an Act to enable the city to supply the vacancy when officers should be removed by death; and an Act for repealing some of the previous Acts of the Assembly. In reference to the money raised as a present for Cornbury, it is worthy of note that within the next twelve months the queen issued an order forbidding any similar gifts to governors in any part of the British dominions.
Colonel William Smith resumed his seat in the council, and was again made chief justice of the province. One of the first acts of Mayor
French was to cause the arms of the late Lord Bellomont and of Dec. 23. Nanfan to be torn from the wall of the new City Hall on Wall Street, and broken in fragments by the city marshal.
The very next morning the Garden Street Church bell solemnly tolled the intelligence that Frederick Philipse had suddenly died at Philipse Manor. He was in the seventy-seventh year of his age. For more than half a century he had been intimately associated with every event of any note in city or province. He was called the " Dutch millionaire." But although classed among the "grandees," he had incurred comparatively little political enmity, and was not denounced as a wholesale foe to all the rights of humanity, as were many of his contemporaries. Philipse- borough (or Philipse Manor), where he resided the greater part of every year, was under high cultivation. At the time he obtained the royal charter (in 1693) which gave him all the privileges and powers of a lord, the ferry, island, and meadow had been confirmed to his property,
1 The Act of the late Assembly outlawing Philip French had been annulled by the English Lords.
2 The raising of this money was as follows : each of the royal council must pay a poll-tax of 40 s. ; each member of the House, 20 s. ; every lawyer in practice, 20 s. ; every man wearing a periwig, 5 s. 6 d. ; every bachelor over twenty-five years of age, 2s. 3 d. ; every freeman between sixteen and sixty years, 9 d. ; owners of slaves for each, 1 s.
30
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
also the right to build a bridge over "Spiken-devil ferry," as it was then called, and collect toll from passengers. The bridge was named Kings Bridge. Philipse commanded the same respect in New York which was accorded to men of his standing in England. He presided with baronial ceremonies in the administration of justice among his tenantry. He had two great rent-days, on which he feasted his people, - one at the Yonkers
Philipse Manor-house.
portion of Philipseborough and the other at Sleepy Hollow. His manor- house was a grand edifice for the times, although it was enlarged subse- quently. Its rooms were spacious, with richly ornamented ceilings, and its hall immensely broad, with an imported staircase, which is still in existence. A beautiful lawn sloped gradually to the very edge of the Hudson, which was dotted with fine specimens of foreign trees brought from the different climes by the great merchant's vessels. A fine park was stocked with deer; and gardens, filled with fruits, shrubs, and flow- ers, extended to a great distance to the north and south of the dwelling. At the time of Philipse's death the household embraced over forty negro slaves. Forty-five years later, the servants or slaves required to keep the princely establishment in running order numbered fifty.
When Bellomont set his face like steel against the tendency to feudal- ism in New York, he had no personal dislike to Philipse. They met in social intercourse, and were friendly. Bellomont suspected Philipse of trading with the pirates, but he had no grounds upon which to frame an accusation. He never attempted to do so except on one occasion, and then with characteristic reticence and cold resentment Philipse retired from any further part in public affairs. Bellomont was almost a mono- maniac in the matter of curtailing landed estates, because he firmly be- lieved that great wealth in a few men was not conducive to the prosperity
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FREDERICK PHILIPSE'S WILL.
of an infant colony. There is more than one light in which to regard that question. As for New York, it is very apparent that she is indebted largely for her present commercial importance to the tireless activity and remarkable energy of those men who accumulated private fortunes prior to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Modern improvements and business facilities were not yet introduced into our country ; the services of these same stirring men were constantly required in the administration of govern- ment ; and they were liable with every turn of the political wheel to be thrown into the slough. They were obliged also to perform military duty, and wars and rumors of wars were perpetual. Their money in a multi- tude of instances saved the credit of the colony. Advances were constantly needed, for taxes were collected with difficulty at all times, and the expenses of a long-drawn- out war can never be properly estimated. Castle Philipse. (Tarrytown.) The contents of well-filled purses encouraged the tradespeople, having a similar effect to rain upon growing crops; a drouth is always fatal, but a shower is a blessing even if it cause a freshet occasionally when and where water is not needed. The same wise power which gathers the mists loosens the rain-clouds and distributes the drops. New York re- ceived her mercantile impetus through the spirit which Bellomont found so formidable, when he began to question the motives and investigate the means by which men enrich themselves.
Frederick Philipse left by his will a valuable house and lot in the city, and a mortgage of Dominie Selyns, to his daughter Eve, who was the wife of Jacobus Van Cortlandt; another daughter was the wife of Philip French, who received a house and lot in the city, and an estate in Ber- gen. An immense tract of land at the Upper Mills in Westchester County, and other real estate was given to his son Adolphe Philipse; and the manor of Philipseborough descended to his grandson, Frederick Phil- ipse, whose father, Philip Philipse, had died some two years before.
The winter was spent by Cornbury in examining into the resources of the province, and answering the inquiries of the Lords of Trade. But he lacked the persistent industry of his two predecessors, was 1703. given to frivolous amusements, would often dress himself in women's clothes to show his remarkable resemblance to Queen Anne, and he spent many hours of each day at cards. He was excessively prodigal in the use of money, and he was negligent about paying his debts. The gen-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
tlemen of the council had counted upon his ability and good sense, and were mortified and disgusted with his exhibition of weakness and eccen- tricity.
When the Assembly met in the spring, Cornbury proposed the raising of a sum of money for the purpose of erecting two stone batteries at the Narrows, where the sea is not quite a mile broad. It would render the port safe from a hostile attack by water, since no ship could pass that point, and the logic was unanswerable. The House voted £ 1,500, but the question of appointing a treasurer to hold the money separate from the other public funds was argued at considerable length, greatly to the dis- comfiture of the governor. The reflection upon his honor met with a sharp rebuke. The House responded courteously through its speaker, William Nicolls, giving a diagnosis of the money accounts during the year past ; these had been examined from time to time by the legislators, according to the queen's directions, and the result was the discovery that considerable sums which had been raised by the people for the defense of New York had been otherwise appropriated. Nicolls, in behalf of the As- sembly, explained the situation and cautiously added, " Your lordship will no doubt take care to see those mistakes rectified." He then went on to disclaim any desire of introducing innovations, but, the House having been entrusted by the people of the province with the care of their natural and civil liberties as Englishmen, it was a high duty to obey their wishes and protect their property rights, particularly when these same people " had literally outdone all mankind, and it was feared themselves, by the con- stant paying of taxes for the prosecution of the tiresome war."
One of the Acts passed at this session of the Assembly prohibited the distilling of rum, and the burning of oyster-shells or stone into lime with- in half a mile of the City Hall in Wall Street, as it was believed that business had much increased the mortality of the preceding summer. Another Act, of same date, enabled the French Church to erect a suitable edifice for public worship; which was accomplished the following year. It was located in Pine Street, and was called Du Saint Esprit.1 The first pastor was Rev. James Laborie. The Huguenots who had settled upon Staten Island came over in frail canoes to attend Sabbath worship, as did many from Long Island until such time as they were strong enough to build churches of their own.
William Peartree was the mayor of the city in 1703, and re- 1704. tained the position until 1707. He was an English West Indian merchant, who removed to New York in 1700 from Jamaica, W. I. His place of business was on Beaver Street, where he also built a fine resi-
1 See page 329 for a sketch of this church.
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THE NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLY.
dence. He was a man of education, and interested himself in the estab- lishment and improvement of institutions of learning. A free grammar school had been for a long time in contemplation, and Peartree was chiefly instrumental in its final accomplishment ; Andrew Clarke was employed as teacher. About the same time the first effort was made in New York for the instruction of negro slaves. A catechizing school was opened for them by Rev. Mr. Vesey. The jail was remodeled during the winter and rendered more secure for felons ; and a debtors' prison was arranged in the upper story of the City Hall. It was a rough room with coarse board partitions, without chairs, warmth, or comforts of any sort whatever. It remained substantially in the same condition for three fourths of a cen- tury. The punishment for a petty thief was to burn into the left cheek near the nose the letter "T."
The people of New Jersey were disappointed in Cornbury, as well as those of New York. His rather handsome face and bland manners at- tracted them at first, but his demand for an annual salary of £ 2,000 per annum for twenty years produced a sudden shock, like that of an earth- quake. The stiff Quaker, Samuel Jennings, turned abruptly upon him with the quaint remark, "Then thee must be very needy."
The New Jersey Assembly had been accustomed to raise only moderate sums for the support of the government, and, after much debate, voted £ 1,300 per annum for three years. Cornbury was very angry, and when he found that he could not manage affairs, he dissolved the body. A new Assembly was elected, which was more pliable, and granted the £ 2,000 salary, but cautiously, for two years. This partial triumph would hardly have been accomplished had not Cornbury refused to admit three of the most important and intelligent of the newly elected members to their seats, on the feigned ground that their estates were not as large as the royal instructions required.
Lewis Morris was one of the members of Cornbury's New Jersey coun- cil. He had spent some time in England, where he had been one of the warmest advocates for the surrender of the proprietary government to the crown. The Lords of Trade were so much pleased with him that he re- ceived the first nomination for the governorship of New Jersey. But the original intention of giving the province an executive of its own was abandoned, and New Jersey was placed with New York under the admin- istration of Cornbury.
Lewis Morris was at this time a dashing and somewhat erratic young man of thirty-three. His life had been a singular one. His father, Rich- ard Morris, had been active in the service of Cromwell, and found refuge in New York upon the restoration of Charles II .; he obtained through
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Governor Stuyvesant, about the year 1661, a grant of over three thou- sand acres of land upon the northern side of the Harlem River, with baronial privileges, and built a comfortable homestead. The property was called Morrisania. When his only and infant son Lewis was six months of age, his wife sickened and died, and he shortly followed her. The orphan babe was thus left to the care of entire strangers, and the government of New York assumed charge by appointing guar- dians to protect his interests. In 1674 Colonel Lewis Morris, an elder brother of Richard Morris, removed from Barbadoes to New York, and became the guardian of his nephew. He resided in Morrisania, but he purchased some four thousand acres of land in Monmouth County, New Jersey, upon which he located iron-mills ; he also built a manor- house, and various buildings for his dependents, who in 1680 numbered seventy or more. Upon his death in 1691, this property fell to young Lewis, which, together with the large estate of his father, made him a very rich man.1
He had been a willful and capricious boy, given to all manner of mis- chievous pranks, and had been renowned for playing practical jokes upon his best friends. He had defied the restraints of schools and tutors, and finally ran away, and supported himself for some time in the capacity of a scrivener on the island of Jamaica. At twenty he was in New York again, and in full assumption of the airs and graces of manhood was paying court to Isabella, the beautiful daughter of Hon. James Graham. They were married on the 3d of November, 1691.
Where Lewis Morris studied law is unknown. His first appearance in public life was as one of the judges of the Court of Common Right in East New Jersey. He was also one of the counselors of Governor Hamilton. He was gifted with a certain amount of discernment into men's characters and springs of action, which subsequently won him a brilliant reputation at the bar. He possessed a mind of more than ordi- nary vigor and originality, which, in connection with great peculiarity of temper, bluntness of speech, and curtness of manner, rendered him as attractive to his friends as he was obnoxious to his enemies. He was an adept in the wily intrigues of colonial politics. His opinions were always advanced with emphasis and maintained with spirit.
From the day that Lewis Morris first met Lord Cornbury he enter- tained for him the most scornful contempt. When measures were in-
1 "Mr. Mompesson, our chief justice, is dead. I have commissioned Lewis Morris, Esqr. in his room for these reasons amongst others, that he is a sensible, honest man, and able to live without a salary, which they will most certainly never grant to any in that station, at least sufficient to maintain his clerk. - Postscript of a letter from Governor Hunter to the Lords of Trade, March 28, 1715. Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. V. p. 400.
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CHIEF JUSTICE ROGER MOMPESSON.
troduced into the council which Morris conceived prejudicial to the interests of the province, he assailed them in a determined manner, and oftentimes with the most stinging ridicule, until Cornbury, finally, in sheer self-defense suspended him from office.
Ingoldsby returned to New York in the early part of 1704, with a commission as lieutenant-governor under Cornbury. But the two did not agree. And, one complaint after another reaching the Lords of Trade, they at last revoked the appointment.
Meanwhile Queen Anne had given her attention to the condition of Trinity Church. The king's farm, which had created so much 1705. painful disturbance through the generous granting of its use by Fletcher to the struggling corporation, was augmented by the addition of the Anetje Jans estate, and formally presented by deed patent, signed by Lord Cornbury, to this church. It was only a farm at the time, and comparatively of little value, but it has long since become a compact portion of the city.
Colonel William Smith died at St. George Manor, just after the open- ing of the new year. He had retired from the office of chief justice nearly two years before, but had continued to meet with the governor's council until within a few weeks. Dr. Bridges succeeded him as chief justice ; but he filled the office only for a brief period, his death occurring not far from that of Colonel Smith.
Roger Mompesson (the seventh chief justice of New York) was ap- pointed in his stead. He was a new arrival. He was an English lawyer of ability, who had been recorder of Southampton, and a member of two Parliaments. He was descended from Rev. William Mompesson, who was Rector of Eyam, Derbyshire, during the plague of 1666. He became involved through engagements to pay some of his father's debts, and found it convenient to accept a judicial appointment which would bring him to America. He was sworn into the New York council, and con- tinued a member of that body until his death. He was appointed chief justice of New Jersey as well as New York, and held the office, with the exception of the few months of Lord Lovelace's administration, also until his death. In 1706 he was sworn chief justice of Pennsylvania, but it does not appear that he sat on the bench of that colony. His wide ex- perience and sound legal acumen enabled him to do more than almost any other man towards molding the judicial system of both New York and New Jersey.1 John Barbarie and Adolphe Philipse were appointed to fill vacancies in the council, and a little later Mayor William Peartree
1 Roger Mompesson married Martha, the daughter of Judge William Pinhorne, of Snake Hill, New Jersey. He had one son, Pinhorne Mompesson.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
was added to the number in place of Attorney-General Broughton deceased.
The great excitement of the summer of 1705, was the discovery of an enormous tooth in the side of a hill near Claverack on the Hudson. It weighed four and three-fourths pounds, and had the appearance of having been taken from a human skull. Other bones were found, which, how- ever, crumbled on exposure to the air. One, supposed to be a thigh bone, measured seventeen feet in length. The event was recorded as the first discovery of a mammoth in America. Eighty years afterwards the bones of the great beast were found in Ulster County, and Charles William Peale formed his skeleton for the museum.
Hardly had the sensation died away created by the marvelous tooth when a riot occurred which was something startling. Captain Cleaver, a noted privateer, brought a Spanish man-of-war into port which he had captured after a desperate struggle. The crew were elated by their vic- tory, and under the influence of poor wine paraded the streets singing songs and uttering coarse and vulgar jests. The sheriff attempted to check them, and they fell upon him with drunken fury. He escaped to his house, which they surrounded, and, not being able to force an entrance, they assaulted every person who came to his assistance. Two army offi- cers, who were in advance of the soldiers dispatched from the fort, were attacked and one killed, while the other was dangerously wounded. The soldiers put the sailors to flight, leaving one of their number dying in the street. The sailor who killed the officer was arrested, tried, and executed for the murder.
In the midst of these scenes a French privateer suddenly entered the harbor. The city was thrown into a great state of consternation. The batteries at the Narrows, which were to prevent such a catastrophe, had not been erected, notwithstanding the appropriation of £ 1,500 two years before ! "Misappropriation " rang in Cornbury's ears. He highly re- sented the imputation, and said the money had never been collected. There was almost a panic. The mayor and common council petitioned the Assembly for help in the work of fortifications, and Cornbury himself talked forcibly on the subject. The House, meanwhile, was having a tempest within itself. Some of the members declared that the body was invested with the same powers as the House of Commons. They even went so far as to deny the right of the governor and council to amend a money bill. They clamored for a treasurer of their own. Risks could not be afforded. The province was impoverished by the increasing ex- penses of the government, and by the diminution of ocean commerce in consequence of the war. It was convenient party capital to be always
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DEATH OF LADY CORNBURY.
prepared to accuse former administrators of having devoured the public funds, but the time had come when it was better to provide against mis- chief than complain of it. Cornbury contended to the last against the implied spot upon his honor, but he wielded little influence over the iron Assembly of 1705, and was obliged to submit the matter to the queen and her lords.
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