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264
GOVERNOR COSBY.
bers of the home government in their dealings with colonial matters, had procured an order upon Mr. Van Dam to pay over to him one half of the fees and emolu- ments of the office during his late exercise of the chief authority; and accordingly, soon after his arrival, he made a demand upon Mr. Van Dam for payment of that propor- tion. The latter, however, refused to comply with the demand; alleging, in addition to the evident partiality of the order of the home government, that even if it were legal, yet it could only be construed as an order to divide the emoluments of the office during the time he exercised its functions; and inasmuch as Colonel Cosby had, while in England, and before assuming his duties, been allowed the receipt of a very considerable amount of fees, in antic- ipation of his actual incumbency of the office, that these should be included with the ordinary salary, as the emolu- ments of the office-in which point of view he claimed a balance, due to himself, of a large sum of money.
The pertinacity with which both parties maintained their positions soon found a responsive feeling among the people, and Mr. Van Dam was fully supported by the pub- lic sympathy. The issue was at once recognized to be between the favoritism of the British court, and the prop- erty of their colonial subjects; and it was suggested that if, by an ex post facto order, the government could divest any of its colonial officers of the salary earned and already appropriated to individual use, and direct its amount to be divided with one who had never performed any service for it, there was little stability in the rights of British sub- jects. But the great and fundamental basis of the popular feeling on this subject, was the manifest distinction thus made between inhabitants of the colonies and those of
265
ZENGER'S WEEKLY JOURNAL.
England; the inferiority of the former, in the estimation of the home government, being too glaring to be glossed over or concealed from the public apprehension.
It is needless to follow the course of the legal proceed- ings consequent upon this dispute. It is sufficient to say that by suppressing the ordinary avenues of justice, and other equally violent acts on the part of the governor and his friends, the cause of Van Dam was lost, and he was decreed to pay the half of his salary to Colonel Cosby. ' Popular feeling, however, was too strongly excited to be allayed by the mere termination of the controversy; and in every possible manner the people expressed their con- tempt of the government, ridiculed and lampooned their chief officials, and circulated ballads, of a libelous charac- ter, upon them.
At that period there were two newspapers published in this city; one in the interest of the court party, called the New York Gazette, and the other in the interest of Van Dam, called Zenger's New York Weekly Journal. The latter was, of course, the vehicle of much vituperation of the opposite party, and furnished a weekly entertainment to the public, which was eagerly relished. So much did the government feel the effect of these paper bullets, that it was resolved, in council, that Zenger's papers Nos. 7, 47, 48, 49, and also two certain printed ballads, were de- rogatory to the dignity of his majesty's government, and that they should therefore be burnt by the common hang- man; further ordering the mayor and magistrates of the city to attend the ceremony. The corporation, however, refused to comply with this order, and the edict was car- ried into effect with but a meagre assemblage of spectators. The provincial assembly was also equally averse to joining
266
TRIAL OF ZENGER.
the governor in his warfare upon his paper adversaries; and, upon the whole, the latter were not only in full vigor, but the enemy seemed, for a time, to be disconcerted, and at a loss how to stem the tide so strongly setting against them.
In this emergency it was resolved to crush the editor of the paper under a weight of legal proceedings; and accordingly seizing him upon the charge of libel, he was lodged in jail, where he continued upward of eight months. Preparatory to his trial, which took place in the year 1735, the court party took every possible measure to pro- cure a conviction, and even went so far as to dismiss his eminent counsel from the bar. The other party were equally active on their own behalf, and secretly engaged Mr. Andrew Hamilton, an eminent barrister of Philadel- phia, who, on the day of trial, unexpectedly made his appearance by the side of the prisoner.
The trial came on before a court and jury, the former of which were deeply allied with the government, and the latter were chosen from the body of the people. The libel complained of was an article of the following substance : " The people of this city and province think, as matters now stand, that their liberties and properties are precari- ous; and that slavery is like to be entailed on them and their posterity, if some past things be not amended." There was no issue as to the fact of the publication of the article, that being admitted. The theory then maintained by the prosecution was, that the jury must give a verdict against the prisoner; but Mr. Hamilton insisted that he might justify the libel by giving the truth in evidence. This, however, was ruled against him by the court, and there being no evidence in the case, he proceeded to sum
267
DEATH OF GOVERNOR COSBY.
up on behalf of his client; his great point being to impress upon the jury the conviction that they were judges of the law as well as the fact, and that they were not to be guided by the court as to the condition of the law, but were left the sole arbiters of the whole case. The counsel for the prosecution, on the other hand, labored to convince the jury that it was only for them to find the fact whether the words were published or not, leaving the court to deter- nine whether the words so published were libelous in law.
The speech of Mr. Hamilton was a remarkable display of eloquence, and completely confirmed a jury, probably already strongly impressed with the prevailing sentiment of public opinion, who rendered a verdict of not guilty, amidst the cheers of the multitude. The city corporation honored Mr. Hamilton with a public entertainment, and presented him with the freedom of the city, in a gold box.
It was at this period that the dawnings of a revolution- ary spirit began to be observed, in an intense though latent fire, in the body politic.
Soon after the decision in the case of Zenger, Governor Cosby was taken ill; and after a lingering sickness, he ex- pired on the 7th of March, 1736. Previous to his dissolu- tion, he called the members of his council together, in his sick-room, and declared the suspension of Mr. Van Dam, as a member of the council.
This proceeding-the effect of which, if legal, was de- signed to oust Mr. Van Dam from the succession to the executive authority, occasioned another serious clash be- tween the two parties in which the people were divided, and, for a time, the adherents of each section presented an opposing front to each other; and both Van Dam and
268
THE NEGRO PLOT.
George Clarke, upon the latter of whom the mantle of government had fallen by the late proceedings, assumed the exercise of the chief authority, each appointing per- sons of their own party to the several subordinate offices. A collision, however, was happily avoided, until the arri- val of a despatch from England, which confirmed the authority of Mr. Clarke.
The administration of Lieutenant Governor Clarke con- tinued until the year 1743. The most exciting event which occurred in the city, during his administration, was the negro insurrection of 1741, designated at the time as the " diabolical plot of the black seed of Cain, to destroy this city and set themselves up as its rulers."
The imaginations of the citizens of New York had long been in the custom of indulging in apprehensions of a rising of the slaves, and other colored people in this city, against the whites. Some evidences of an attempt of this kind were furnished in 1712, at which period several ne- groes were executed on the charge of insurrection, and since that period, as well as previously, stringent laws had been enacted, to prevent assemblages of the negroes in any considerable numbers, and restraining them from com- binations with each other for insurrectionary purposes. These laws, however, were not, it seems, sufficient to effect their object, and the negroes, with their characteristic impulsiveness and imaginative hopes, were accustomed to indulge in dreams of bettering their condition by placing themselves in the condition of their masters, with all the enjoyments of independence, wealth and unbounded license in the gratification of their desires. It is, therefore, not surprising that with such inadequate proof, so great a panic should have been produced among the white inhabit-
269
THE NEGRO PLOT.
ants, as we are about to relate, and such direful and ter- rible retribution visited upon a great many poor blacks, some at least of whom were innocent.
The development of this affair arose out of the follow- ing circumstance. On the 28th of February, 1741, a rob- bery was committed at the house of a merchant named Robert Hogg, on the present corner of Broad and South William streets. In the efforts of the police to detect the perpetrator suspicions were directed to one John Hughson, who kept a low negro groggery, from the circumstance that a servant girl, named Mary Burton, hinted to a neighbor that her employer was in the habit of receiving stolen goods in his house from negroes. Upon this suspi- cion Hughson was arrested, and Mary Burton, having been promised a reward for appearing against him, was detained as a witness.
Hughson kept a notorious bad house; among other inmates, being a white woman, commonly called Peggy Cary, who was used to entice the negroes to that house, and was rewarded by the blacks with valuable presents, which doubtless they had to steal. This depraved woman was also arrested, and it was proved against her that a black, named Cæsar, belonging to Mr. Vaarck, had left in Peggy's room several articles of dry goods, and also some money. It was satisfactorily proven, in fact, that Cæsar was one of the robbers. He was therefore arrested, as was also another negro named Prince; and Hughson then confessed that he had received a part of the stolen goods.
Thus the matter stood on the 18th of March, the prison- ers being fully committed for trial on the charge of bur- glary and receiving stolen goods. On that day, about noon, the governor's house in the fort was discovered to be on fire;
270
THE NEGRO PLOT.
and that building, together with the chapel and other build- ings in the fort, were all burnt. It was supposed by the governor, that the fire was accidental, and arose from the carelessness of a plumber. The next fire in the city was that of Warren's house, near the fort, which arose from the chimney having first caught, and a spark falling on the roof. This, however was soon extinguished. The follow- ing week the store-house of Mr. Van Zandt took fire, as is stated, from a smoker's carelessness. No material damage, however, ensued. Within the following three days, two alarms of fire occurred, but no harm was done. These accidents were certainly sufficiently remarkable, in a small town, to attract attention. No less than five fires within two weeks, although in no one could the occurrence be traced to incendiarism. It was sufficient, however, to excite remark; and some suspicion was fixed upon some Spanish negroes, formerly sailors on a Spanish ship, which had been taken as a prize and brought into New York, where the negro sailors were condemned, and sold to slavery among the inhabitants.
Soon after, another chimney took fire, and also the house of Mrs. Hilton, near the Fly Market, was discovered to be on fire in the roof, but was soon extinguished. The commotion and excitement in the town now became intense, and was increased by the burning of the roof of Philipse's store-house. The magistrates were now called together, and the general feeling being against the negroes, many were arrested and thrown into prison.
On the 11th of April the common council offered a reward of one hundred pounds and a full pardon to any conspirators for the discovery of the incendiaries, for it was now sufficiently manifest that there was some mis-
271
THE NEGRO PLOT.
chievous cause for this singular coincidence of accidents. Meantime many people removed, with their goods and valuables, from the city, and amid the general consternation it is not surprising that the negro population, thus brought under the ban of suspicion, and observant of the general consternation, should have conceived, in their simple habit of thought, that indeed a revolution was effected, and that the common property was open to their plunder, as the lawful spoils of victory; so that there is little question that great thefts occurred, and that several other incen- diary attempts were made by them in this city, and in other parts of the country in this vicinity.
In this condition of things, a Grand Jury met on the 21st of April, 1741, who were especially charged to un- ravel the mystery, and search out the persons in the conspiracy. Several negroes were already in jail on suspicion; many, in the height of terror, proposed to make revelations accusing others, under the hope of thus speedily procuring their own release, and there seemed a prospect of learning something of importance. The girl, Mary Burton, now remembered several circumstances which took place at her master's house, in conversation among the negroes and other frequenters, and gave her testimony that Cæsar, Prince and Cuffee used frequently to meet at Hughson's and talk about burning the fort, and then the whole town; that Cæsar should be governor, and Hughson king; that a great many people had too much money and others too little, and that a fair distribution should be made; that they would fire the town in the night, and when the white people came to extinguish it they would kill and destroy them.
After this girl had given her testimony, the Grand Jury
272
THE NEGRO PLOT.
called in Peggy Cary. She, however, said that she knew nothing, "and if she should accuse any body of any such thing, she must accuse innocent persons and wrong her own soul." She was, however, soon after tried for receiving the stolen goods, and convicted. She thereupon asked to be examined again, and then said, that in the previous December, at another tavern, where she then resided, she saw meetings of negroes, and named Cuffee, (Philipse's;) Brash, (Jay's;) Dick, Cæsar, (Pintard's;) Patrick, (English's;) Jack, (Brestede's;) Cato, (Moore's;) who, she says, swore to burn the fort, to steal, rob and bring the plunder to the tavern-keeper, whose name was Romme. This story, when the wretched woman was afterward brought to the gal- lows, she averred to be a fabrication, and it does not seem to have received credit among the people.
All the negroes, named by Peggy, were arrested, and denied their guilt, and being brought before Mary Burton, she acquitted them of being among those whom she had seen. They were, however, locked up, and in this state of jeopardy, the negroes began to accuse each other, each hoping thereby to save himself.
The first victims to the gallows were Cæsar and Prince, who were hanged on the 11th of May, upon a gibbet, erected on a small island in the Collect, or Fresh Water Pond, in the rear of the present Chambers street and Park. They died very stubbornly, without confessing any thing about the conspiracy, but denying all knowledge of it.
A trial was then had of Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Cary, all whites, on an indictment for conspiring to burn the town, etc. The principal witness against them was Mary Burton, who swears, in addition to the testimony
273
THE NEGRO PLOT.
she had before given, that she saw a negro give Hughson twelve pounds, in Spanish money, to buy guns, which he did and hid them away in the garret of his house, but they could not be found or traced. The prisoners were con- victed and hanged on the 12th of June.
Two negroes, Quack and Cuffee, were tried, a negro boy named Sawney appearing as evidence against them. He stated that Quack asked him to set the fort on fire, and Cuffee told him he would set fire to one house, Curacoa Dick to another, and so on until the whole town was burnt-that their object was to kill all the gentlemen and take their wives. A negro named Fortune also appeared as a witness, and stated that Quack, some time previously, took him to the fort, and told him that he intended to burn it, and after the fire, the last witness, (Sawney) told him he was the one who set fire to the fort. Sawney was thereupon called up again, and admits that he was frightened into a promise to burn the slip market, and that he was, among others, sworn to secrecy. Quack and Cuffee were convicted, and were sentenced to be burnt alive.
On the 3d of May, about 3 o'clock, they were brought to the stake, surrounded with piles of wood. The specta- tors were very numerous. They at first refused to make any confession, but upon being questioned by their masters, they said that Hughson was the contriver of the plot; that the confederate negroes had voted Quack to be the proper person to set fire to the fort, as his wife was a ser- vant there, which he had accordingly done with a lighted stick.
On the 6th of June seven other negroes, named Jack. Cook, Robin, Cæsar, Cuffee, Cuffee and Jamaica, were tried, found guilty, and executed the following day, excepting
18
274
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Jack, who promised further disclosures, and was pardoned. He implicated fourteen others.
On the 11th of June three negroes, named Francis, Al- bany and Curacoa Dick, were sentenced to be chained to a stake and burnt to death. On the 15th of June, Ben and Quack were condemned to be burnt, and three others hanged. Five of the Spanish negroes were also convicted.
A proclamation of pardon to all who would confess and discover, was now made by the authorities, and many negroes availed themselves of the promised indemnity to unfold the details of the conspiracy.
But now, another white man was brought forward upon the charge of joining in the conspiracy. The person thus implicated was Ury, a Catholic priest, who had been en- gaged in school teaching in this city. An indictment was found against this person, in which he was charged with having counseled, procured, &c., a negro slave, Quack, to set fire to the king's house in the fort. Also, that being a priest made by the authority of the pretended See of Rome he did come into this province and city of New York, after a time limited by a law against Jesuits and Popish priests, and did there remain for the space of seven months, &c. Ury pleaded not guilty. Upon his trial, which took place in July, 1741, Sarah Hughson deposed that she had often seen him at her father's house; that she had seen him make a ring with chalk on the floor, and make all the negroes then present stand round it, and he used to stand in the middle of the ring, with a cross in his hand and swear the negroes. It was proven by a confectioner that Ury had inquired of him for wafers. It was also proven that he could read English and Latin; and other evidence of a similar character was taken against him. The result
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THE NEGRO PLOT.
was a conviction, and he was hanged on the 29th of August 1741.
The execution of Ury was the last recorded of the long series of capital punishments inflicted upon the real and pretended participators in this conspiracy; and the 24th of September was set apart for a thanksgiving, for the escape of the citizens from destruction.
During the progress of this affair, one hundred and fifty-four negroes were committed to prison; of whom fourteen were burnt at the stake; eighteen hanged; seventy- one transported, and the rest pardoned or discharged for want of proof. Twenty white persons were committed, of whom four were executed.
" At this time," says an intelligent writer of that period, "New York contained a population of about twelve thousand souls, of whom one sixth were slaves. If a plot in fact existed for the destruction of the city and the mas- sacre of its inhabitants, and if that plot was conducted by Ury, it certainly betrayed greater imbecility of intellect and want of caution and arrangement, together with less union of action, than could have been expected from one who was evidently, if we believe his own account, a man of classical education and profound erudition. It seems, in- deed, probable that the evidence of Mary Burton, by whom many of the prisoners were implicated, was little to be re- lied on; and had the prosecution continued much longer, she would perhaps have accused many more of the white citizens of New York as being concerned in the plot. Daniel Hors- manden, Esq., recorder of the city, published at the time a history of this conspiracy, and labored hard to prove its existence and extent. But it is evident that the hostility to Catholicism, which the British government so industri-
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THE NEGRO PLOT.
ously inculcated, tinctured his mind, and gave it a bias unfriendly to the fair development of truth, or to the full and impartial examination of facts and circumstances. The negroes were without defence; all the counsel of the city were arrayed against them, and volunteered their ser- vices, on behalf of the crown, on the trial of these unfor- tunate slaves. The want of education and utter ignorance of these infatuated wretches, easily made them the victims of craft and imposition; the hopes of life and the promise of pardon influenced some of them to make confessions. Yet falsehood was so ingeniously and artfully blended with truth that it was not an easy task to separate one from the other. It must, however, be admitted that many circumstances aided the opinion that the plot in fact ex- isted; and if the people were mistaken in this, it was an error into which they might naturally fall at the moment of confusion and distress, and under the attending circum- stances."
The places of execution of these convicts were as fol- lows : The gibbet of John Hughson and his companions was erected on the East river shore, about the present cor- ner of Cherry and Catharine streets; where, according to the popular belief of that day, their "spooks" or spirits were sometimes seen by travelers in the night. The stakes at which the negroes were burnt were set up in a hollow, affording a full view from the surrounding hills, in the vicinity of the present Five Points. The common gallows of that time, where most of the negroes were hanged, was on a small island in the Fresh Water Pond, in the present vicinity of the corner of Centre and Pearl streets.
The Rev
was fourmed
Boas & Henry
Hinished 1731
for D I Valentine's History of N. Y
To the Honourable
RIP VAN DAM ESO
President of the Majesty's Council for the Province of New York. Thus View of the New Dutch Church, is most humbly dedicated by your Honour's most obedient Serve Wm Burgess.
This Church
Walter Du
IA D1777 and
Boel Ministers
CHAPTER XX.
PROGRESS OF THE CITY IN THE EARLY PART OF THE LAST CENTURY.
IN previous chapters we have followed the growth of the city prior to the year 1700, at which period the streets had been laid out as high as Maiden lane. The property between the present Broadway and Pearl street, on the west and east sides, and between Maiden lane and near the present line of Fulton street, on the south and north sides, was then in fields, and embraced two estates; one commonly called "The Shoemakers' Land," and the other, " Vandercliff's Orchard."
The " Shoemakers' Land" was bounded very nearly by the present Maiden lane, Ann street, Broadway, and a line on the east, between William and Gold streets. The origin of the name by which it was thus commonly distinguished, arose from the circumstance previously referred to; that an exclusion of all tan-pits from within the limits of the city was ordered, by reason of which the settlement of tanners and shoemakers, who had almost exclusively oc- cupied the old swamp grounds along the present Broad street, above Beaver street, were driven to other quarters, and seeking the nearest convenient locality, beyond the city walls, established their tan-pits along Maiden lane, which was a marshy valley. An association of four shoe-
278
THE SHOEMAKERS' LAND.
makers (at that time tanning their own leather,) purchased the property now referred to, and carried on their trade in this vicinity. The increasing extent of the city calling for a survey and division of these lands into town lots, a map was made, of which the following is a copy :
DIVISION MAP OF THE SHOEMAKERS' LAND.
Fair St.
BROADWAY
.
Vacant
St.
A. Street
.
Nassau
John St.
William
Maiden
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