USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 11
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The Assembly, however, regarded the Ticonderoga project with cold- ness. Success is, in public estimation, the criterion of an able chieftain. Fair and plausible as it appeared upon paper, its author had invariably failed in all his military undertakings, and it was not thought worth while to appropriate money for the purpose. Shirley returned to Boston where his wounded pride was soothed by an ovation similar to the one with which New York welcomed Sir William Johnson.
1 Johnson's baronetcy was dated November 27, 1755.
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The speaker of the Assembly about this time requested assistance in the necessary correspondence, concerning boundary and other questions, with the agent at the Court of Great Britain, and the city members, - Paulus Richard, William Walton, Henry Cruger, and John Watts, - were ap- pointed a committee for the purpose.
John Watts, as will be remembered, was the son of Robert Watts, and the brother-in-law of Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey. He was married in 1742; and in 1747 (November 13) bought the Rosehill farm, of some one hundred and thirty acres, bounded on the south by Twenty-First Street, on the east by the East River, and, reaching over Madison Square, (which was then a pond of water affording skating facilities in winter,) it stretched along the post-road a considerable distance to the north. It was named from the ancestral estate of the Watts family in Scotland. A handsome mansion-house rose upon a prominent site, from which a broad avenue, lined with graceful elms, extended westerly to the post-road, the gateway being at about the present corner of Twenty-Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue.1 It was a charming nook, and during its occupancy by the family in summer-time was the favorite resort of the gay aristocracy of the metropolis. Indeed, John Watts and his beautiful wife were so connected with the leading families as to fill an important niche in. society.
Their city home (subsequently) was No. 3 Broadway, next the Kennedy mansion near the glacis of Fort George. It was a great old-time edifice, destined to be one of the historic landmarks of the city when nearly all its contemporaries should have passed away. It was elegant in its appointments, and in subsequent years, when large entertainments were given by either family, the rooms of the second story were connected with the Kennedy apartments by a staircase and bridge in the rear. The gar- den extended to the water, and was overlooked by a broad piazza, which was often kissed by the salt spray in a high wind.2
Watts was forty years of age in 1755. He was a master of political economy, a scholar of no ordinary attainments, and a brilliant logician. His letters, while upon the committee of correspondence, were among the finest productions of that decade. His ready mind could meet and solve knotty problems, and his sound judgment was invaluable in the straight-
1 John Watts purchased the Rosehill property of James De Lancey. It was conveyed to the latter, June 24, 1746, by Anna Pritchard. It was originally a portion of the Stuyvesant property, partition having taken place (by writ) between Gerardus Stuyvesant and his sister, Anna Pritchard, April 20, 1742 ; William Jamison being at that time sheriff of the city and county of New York, and James De Lancey chief justice of the Supreme Court, and this tract. falling to the share of Anna Pritchard.
2 See sketch, page 732.
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ening of crooked paths. He grew constantly in importance. He was soon appointed to the Council, and in matters of moment his advice was oftener sought by the governor than that of any other member of this august body. He possessed a remarkably cheerful temper, which no dis- appointment could disturb, and a brain, amid subsequent reverses, full of resource.
His daughter Ann married Archibald Kennedy, afterwards eleventh Earl of Cassilis, and member of the House of Lords. He was the son of
Kennedy Mansion, No. I Broadway, before the Revolution.
Hon. Archibald Kennedy, the venerable counselor. He rejoiced in a handsome private fortune which he saw fit to expend in a manner suited to his refined and cultivated tastes. He built No. 1 Broadway (now the Washington Hotel), fashioning it after the most approved English model.1 It had a broad, handsome front, with a carved doorway in the center,
1 The impression that Sir Peter Warren built No. 1 Broadway is wholly without founda- tion. The property in 1742 (the year in which Stone says Sir Peter Warren built the man- sion) belonged to the Bayards. In 1745 (June 7) Eve Bayard, the widow of Peter Bayard, sold the lots Nos. 1, 2, and 3 Broadway to Archibald Kennedy, the witnesses to the sale being Philip Van Cortlandt and Peter Schuyler. Neither house was built until some years after this. Abstract of Title in Book of Deeds (commenced in 1739), in possession of Major-General J. Watts de Peyster.
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wide halls, grand staircases, and spacious rooms; the parlor was about fifty feet in length, with a graceful bow opening upon a porch large enough for a cotillon-party. The banqueting-hall was a magnificent apartment. Aside from its extraordinary dimensions, its walls and ceilings were elab- orately decorated. Captain Kennedy's eldest son was born in this man- sion, who became not only the twelfth Earl of Cassilis, but the first Mar- quis of Ailsa.
Richardson NY.
Fraunces' Tavern. (The old De Lancey Mansion. ) For description see page 759.
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LETTER OF JAMES ALEXANDER.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1755 - 1764.
THE FRENCH WAR.
LETTER OF JAMES ALEXANDER. - SHIRLEY IN BOSTON. - VICTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW YORK. - DECLARATION OF WAR. - THE EARL OF LOUDOUN. - MAYOR JOHN CRUGER. - NEW YORK OPPRESSED. - BOUNDARY JANGLES. - RIOTS AT LIVINGSTON MANOR. - GOVERNOR HARDY RESIGNS. - BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. - THE IMMORTAL KITE. - THE POSTAL ROUTES OF AMERICA. - LOSS OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY. - LOUDOUN AND HIS CABBAGES. - RECALL OF LOUDOUN. - CHANGE IN THE ENGLISH MINISTRY. - CAPTURE OF FORT DU QUESNE. - DEFEAT AND RECALL OF ABERCROMBIE. - GENERAL WOLFE. - CAPTURE OF QUEBEC. - GENERAL AMHERST. - WILLIAM WALTON. - THE WALTON HOUSE. - DEATH OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR DE LANCEY. - DR. CADWALLADER COLDEN LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. - GOVERNOR MONCKTON. - DEATH OF GEORGE II. - GEORGE III. - THE EARL OF BUTE. - RESIGNATION OF PITT. - SANDY HOOK LIGHTHOUSE. - SIR JAMES JAY. - THE JAY FAMILY. - JOHN JAY IN COLLEGE. - CONQUEST OF HAVANA. - TREATY OF PEACE. - ENGLAND IN TRIUMPH.
I T was a peculiar winter. No great military event transpired. But every week brought intelligence of some fresh horror in the remote districts. Cruelties were perpetrated in Orange and Ulster Coun- ties. There were murders committed in Duchess County ; and 1755. there were disturbances at Livingston Manor. Beyond Albany all was terror and confusion. James Alexander wrote to Peter Van Brugh Liv- ingston in December: "The manner of beginning this war must have surprised the nations of Europe, as it has the American colonies, but the way in which it has been carried on is still more surprising. General Braddock was sent over as commander-in-chief, and how the Ministry came to intrust full powers to such a man has perplexed us all; a man of no knowledge, civil or military, who by all accounts had spent his life in the most profligate manner, made no pretensions to morals, and the loose indecency of his conversation showed what company he had been accustomed to frequent. From such an officer nothing could have been expected but disgrace to the British arms." 1
1 Rutherford Papers. (In possession of the family, Newark, N. J.) In the same collec- tion is an interesting letter from James Alexander to Peter Van Brugh Livingston, dated
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Shirley was keeping Boston in commotion. His theories were magnifi- cent, but there was always something in the way of their proving success- ful. Troops were raised for the half-matured spring campaign, and vari- ous detachments were sent to posts along the frontiers. Ann Shirley wrote to a lady in New York: "The young ladies are beginning to hold down their heads and look melancholy; and, indeed, I don't wonder, for by Friday night we sha'n't have a beau left. Poor Boston ! what a falling off! But New York will fare no better, for the handsome fellows must all march to the war." The same writer added in a postscript : "Last Sun- day I attended Miss Shirley (that was) to church, and according to cus- tom there were a great many people to look at the bride. Her dress was a yellow lutestring silk, trimmed with silver, with one flounce at the bottom, which was esteemed by everybody to be very genteel, and I was not a little pleased with it, as it was in a great measure my taste." 1
The government at New York was occupied with boundary tangles, debt-bills, and conflicting opinions respecting the course to be pursued in 1756. the conflict with France. Speaker Jones wrote to the agent in Feb. 23. London, under date of February 23: "We are sitting still. The principal money bill, which is for paying the debts of the government for the time past, has passed the Council, but has not yet received the governor's assent, and is therefore in suspense. By the next packet I may be able to inform you further, particularly with respect to the Jersey line, which is still under consideration."
The bill for meeting the salaries of the ensuing year was framed in direct defiance of the repeated demand of the crown, and the governor was greatly perplexed. The House refused to proceed with any further business, or make the necessary appropriations for the conduct of the war, until his decision should be known. De Lancey suggested to Hardy that the exigency of affairs on the frontier would exculpate him in the eyes of the Ministry, should he concede the point, which was accordingly done. The governor passed the bill, and the victory won by the people
February 11, 1756, in which he speaks tenderly of the recent loss of the "good mother " of his correspondent (the widow of the late Philip Livingston). He writes : "Her very sudden death must have surprised you all, as it did me. I heartily sympathize with you. She was a good woman, and a very kind mother. Few women that I have been acquainted with equalled her in sweetness of temper and good sense. Whatever changes her death may occa- sion in the family, I hope it will not lessen the union and harmony. Let me recommend you to see each other often, and cultivate intimacy, for, believe me, the credit, the power, and interest of families depend chiefly on this. Interest often connects people who are entire strangers, and sometimes separates those who have the strongest natural ties. Whatever matters of property are to be settled, the sooner it is done the better, and I hope it will be satisfactory to all concerned."
1 Rutherford Papers.
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over the crown on privilege proved to be lasting. Henceforward the Ministry gave up insisting upon an indefinite support, and in the autumn the House had the supreme satisfaction of hearing from the lips of Hardy himself, that the crown had virtually repealed the instructions to Sir Danvers Osborne which had caused such intense indignation.
England finally declared war against France. There is something novel in this announcement after the record of the past two years. The Ministry seem to have clung to the hope that peace might May 17. be established on an amicable footing. On the other hand, the French hardly believed England would come out boldly and endanger her Hano- verian possessions, and continued to claim American territory by force of arms.
Shirley was recalled, and the Earl of Loudoun, one of the sixteen peers of Scotland, appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America.1 Governor Hardy announced this fact to the Assembly on the 29th of June. Major-General Abercrombie was placed June 29. second in command, and with General Webb and two battalions, sailed in April for this country. Loudoun did not arrive until July.
Abercrombie stationed himself at Albany. He began his career by sowing discord among the troops, who were waiting to push forward into the country of the enemy. He announced that all regular officers would be over those of the same rank in the provincial service. The conse- quences were such that General Winslow advised his superior that any attempt to enforce the rule would be disastrous ; and the latter yielded, it having been agreed that the regulars should remain and do garrison duty in the forts, while the provincials under their own officers should advance against the French.
As soon as this matter was arranged, Abercrombie proceeded to quarter his troops upon the citizens of Albany. It excited intense disgust. "Go back again," said the mayor of Albany, in behalf of the citizens, - " go back ; we want no such protectors, we can defend our frontiers ourselves."
1 John Campbell, fourth Earl of Loudoun, Baron Mauchlane, one of the sixteen peers of Scotland, and F. R. S., was born in the year 1705. He succeeded to his title on the death of his father in 1731. When the Pretender landed in Scotland in 1745, Lord Loudoun re- paired to Inverness and raised a regiment of Highlanders for the crown. On the approach of the enemy, however, he abandoned his position, and retired to the Isle of Skye, with scarcely a show of resistance. This regiment having been broken in 1748, he was made colonel of the Thirtieth Regiment of Foot in 1749. He was appointed major-general in 1755. In February, 1756, he was commissioned governor of Virginia, and was also intrusted with the supreme command of the British forces in North America. His career was not satisfactory to the Ministry, and he was recalled in 1758. Entick's History of the War, II. 393. In 1763 or 1764 he was appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle. He died, unmarried, at Loudoun Castle, Ayrshire, April 27, 1782, aged seventy-seven years.
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But the troops remained in their comfortable quarters, and fattened at the tables of their helpless hosts.
Nor did relief attend the coming of Loudoun. Governor Hardy fol- lowed the pompous general to Albany, accompanied by De Lancey and Judge Chambers. But Loudoun was incapable of grasping the exigencies of the situation, and he was too self-conceited to receive advice. He cautioned Hardy without even a show of courtesy, against meddling with military affairs.
The Marquis de Montcalm had succeeded Dieskau as commander of the French army in America, and while Loudoun was fussing and hurry- ing, and driving everybody, and really frittering away his time in doing nothing in general or particular, the active energetic French nobleman was on his unobstructed way to invest Oswego. After a brief action the garrison surrendered as prisoners of war. The French Indians, long used to deeds of blood, paid no heed to the terms of capitulation, and with terrific yells and wild leaps, were springing upon their prey to indulge in their customary pastime of horrid butchery, when Montcalm (to his undying honor be it spoken) ordered out a file of soldiers and commanded them to fire upon the infuriated Indians who had disobeyed orders. Six fell dead in the next instant, and the remainder sulkily put up their knives and skulked to their quarters. The garrison, numbering sixteen hundred men, were conveyed safely to Montreal. The two fortresses, Ontario and Oswego, were levelled so completely that hardly a mark of their ever having existed remained to be seen.
The loss of Oswego, instead of stimulating Loudoun to efficient action, had the contrary effect. He did indeed bluster and converse in elevated tones about annihilating Crown Point, but that was all. He sneered at Sir William Johnson's water-bubble, as he styled savage aid, and damned the Indian interest whenever the subject was broached in his hearing.
The speaker of the House wrote to the London agent about the middle of October :1 " Our disappointment is greater than that of last year, for, instead of taking Crown Point, the enemy have mastered Oswego and carried away all the armed vessels, two hundred whale-boats, cannon, provision, and warlike stores. O shameful behavior of our forces ! We have now no footing on Lake Ontario; it is all in the uninterrupted possession of the enemy, who will doubtless dispossess us of whatever we have remaining if not suddenly stopped. As for our forces on the
1 This letter was the production of the committee of city members, - John Watts, Henry Cruger, William Walton, and Peter De Lancey (the latter had recently taken the place of Paulus Richard), - and is supposed to have been drafted by Henry Cruger, who was subse- quently a member of the British Parliament.
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LORD LOUDOUN AND MAYOR CRUGER.
northern frontier, both regulars and provincials, we shall probably hear of no action by them unless the enemy force them to it. If some more vigorous resolutions are not made in England, and seasonably executed, we must inevitably fall a prey to the prevailing power of France. We live in hopes that a vigorous push will be made for the reduction of Canada, which seems the only measure that can secure us. I told you, in my letter of July 2, that you should have a just estimate of the ex- penses of this year. I cannot at present enumerate particulars, neither does it appear necessary. We emitted £ 52,000 bills of credit last spring, to be redeemed by taxes on estates, real and personal, which I expect will all be expended in the pay of our forces, and other necessaries attending this state of warfare, before the end of the year. Our governor has acquainted us with the alteration of the instruction relating to the permanent salary ; but at the same time insists upon a larger allowance than his predecessors have had, under pretense of the alteration in the value of our currency. How far this may occasion differences between him and the Assembly I cannot yet foresee ; perhaps my next may in- form you. Inclosed you have a note of thanks to Messrs. Hamburg and Tomilson, merchants in London, for their extraordinary care with respect to the money granted by Parliament, and you are desired to wait on those gentlemen with it. The Assembly is now sitting, and when the session ends I shall write further to you."
Loudoun visited two or three of the northern forts, admired the autum- nal forests with their gorgeous hues, expressed in forcible expletives his deep disgust at the want of decent roads, took cold in a November storm, and returned to Albany to dismiss the militia to their firesides for the winter, and provide quarters for the regulars.
Of the latter he sent two thousand four hundred to New York with orders for the corporation to billet them upon the citizens. John Cruger (son of the former mayor, and brother of Henry Cruger) had just been appointed to the mayoralty. The message from Loudoun was read in the Common Council, and neither its style nor import relished. The soldiers were crowded into the barracks, and the officers (about fifty) left to find lodgings for themselves.
Loudoun came to New York in December in a towering rage. He summoned Mayor Cruger before him, and demanded that his officers, of every rank, should have free quarters in the city. Cruger remonstrated, and in behalf of the citizens pleaded their rights as Englishmen. Lou- doun checked him with an oath, and told him such was the custom every- where, and if difficulties were raised he would convene all the troops in America and himself billet them upon the people.
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Cruger asked for time to consult the aldermen. The death of his sister made it necessary to delay an answer until her funeral obsequies were performed. Loudoun insisted upon speedy attention to his orders. The
Mayor John Cruger, afterward one of the founders and first president of the Chamber of Commerce.
citizens raved. The mayor and aldermen were at their wits' ends concern- ing the course to be pursued. They hurried to the governor for counsel. He was reticent. They called a meeting of the judges of the Supreme Court, and the city members of the Assembly, to investigate the laws upon the subject. Chief Justice De Lancey declined to give an extra- judicial opinion. John Watts spoke his mind in favor of the people with remarkable force; he said that free quarters were against the common law. Henry Cruger manfully asserted that the arbitrary conduct of the commander-in-chief was illiberal and illegal. Yet it was not clear how far opposition might be persisted in without danger of prosecutions. Two committees were appointed, - one to present a memorial to the governor asking his mediation, the other to visit Loudoun. Of the latter only the mayor was admitted to the lordly presence. As soon as Loudoun caught the spirit of the object of the committee, he exclaimed, "God d-n my blood ! if you do not give my officers free quarters this day, I will order
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here every man under my command and billet them upon the city." He immediately quartered six upon Oliver De Lancey. This was too much for the high-strung aristocrat, who attempted to turn them out of doors. Loudoun immediately sent half a dozen more to add to the measure of De Lancey's wrath. The latter threatened to leave the country if they were not removed. "I shall be glad of it," replied the merciless poten- tate, " for then the troops will have your whole house." The excitement was intense. But there was no help at hand, and, as the citizens declined being hospitable, a private subscription remedied matters for the time, while the oppressor was regarded with supreme abhorrence.
Speaker Jones wrote to the agent at the English Court : "What the next summer will produce the Almighty only knows. I assure you our situation is extremely distressing. New York, as you know, is the prin- cipal seat of the present war, and is harassed and burdened in all shapes ; soldiers quartered upon us without pay, our horses and carriages used at pleasure, some broken, and others burned and destroyed by the enemy, our militia forced to make long marches in every direction, and our peo- ple unable to attend to their usual occupations. To this may be added another heavy expense, namely, the great number of French sent here from Acadia by Governor Lawrence, and the prisoners taken at the battle of Lake George, in September, 1755, with many others brought in by pri- vateers. Our £52,000 are all used, and we are breaking in upon the present made us by Parliament, which in this expensive state of things cannot last long. Unless we have further aid from England we must sink under the weight of these excessive pressures."
Loudoun summoned a congress of governors to meet him in New York just prior to the winter holidays, and with offensive arrogance charged the disasters of the war to the negligence and stinginess of the colonies. He talked airily about the next year's campaign, and demanded additional troops and supplies, which were provided. He afterwards proceeded through Connecticut to Boston, much to the relief of the people of New York, who detested him to such a degree that his very presence in the city was almost intolerable.
Hardy convened the Assembly on the 16th of February, with a view to meet the requisitions of Loudoun, and also to communicate the in- 1757. telligence that the crown was about to send additional reinforce- Feb. 16. ments to the aid of the colonies. Other weighty matters demanded im- mediate attention. The disputes with Massachusetts and New Jersey concerning boundaries were assuming proportions only secondary to the snarl between England and France. The commotions among neighbors along the borders were lamentable in the extreme. Livingston Manor
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had been the scene of several startling riots. And just now news came that the sheriff in the discharge of his duty had been roughly handled, and a man whom he called to his aid instantly killed. The Stockbridge Indians were taking sides. They had, in many instances, sold lands twice over to interested parties, in disregard of former patents. They had car- ried off one of Livingston's tenants that a Sheffield farmer might possess himself of the premises upon the strength of one of their doubtful titles. Mrs. Livingston wrote to her husband (who was one of the members of the House) in New York, that the family were in constant fear of some hostile movement on the part of the savages, who sneaked about among the tenants of the manor in bands, mysteriously, and not infrequently came into the grounds of the manor-house and gesticulated in a threaten- ing manner. Livingston petitioned the government for a company of soldiers to guard his possessions. Hardy recommended that commission- ers at the public expense be at once appointed to settle the chronic con- troversy.
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