USA > New York > History of the state of New York. Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 2
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After procuring a letter from the king declaring his pat- 2 April. ent, Penn appointed his kinsman, William Markham, to be 10 April. his deputy governor, and dispatched him to take possession Markham of his province. Andros, who was now in London, was also America. directed by Werden to notify his subordinates in New York 12 May. of the Pennsylvania charter. Markham sailed at onee to Boston, and, on reaching New York, received from Brock- 21 June. Brockholls holls instructions to the duke's officers within the limits of relinquishi-
es Penn-y !. Pennsylvania to obey the government of its actual owner. vania to The surrender was accordingly completed; preliminary Markham covenants were made with the savages ; and Markham, in september. an interview with Lord Baltimore, found that a vexatious question of boundaries was to be settled between the pro- prictors of Maryland and Pennsylvania.+
Meanwhile, Philip Carteret, informed of the Duke of York's action in regard to East Jersey, had issued a proc- 2 March. lamation disowning the authority of the Governor of New York. A few weeks afterward Brockholls sent to Carteret 14 April. a copy of Warden's notification, and promised that when and East Carteret the duke's deeds were produced he would respect them. Jersey.
Until then he required Carteret to desist from meddling is April. with the government.#
" The Charter of Pennsylvania is printed at length in Colden, ii., 164-182; Proud, i., 171-187; Hazard's Register, i., 203-297; Annals, 483-423; Colonial Rec. Penn., i., 17-26; Chalmers, i., 636-639.
t Hazard's Register, i., 305: iii., 33; Annals, 501-516, 524, 538; Upland Records, 195, 196; Chalmers, i., 640. 641 ; Proud, i., 182-196; Dixon, 191; Colonial Doc., iii., 256, 200; Col. MSS., xxi., 148, 144; Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii1. 49, 50. Andros reached Portsmouth from New York on 1 March, 1651: Ord., Warr., etc., xxxiik., 46.
# Leaming and Spicer, 635, 656 ; Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii}{, 41, 42, 43; Whitehead's Last Jersey, 75, 76; ante, 342. Philip Carteret now followed the example of his kinsman, James, in 1673 (ante, 190, note), by wedding a New York wife. On the 26th of March, 1651. he ob- tained a license from Brockholle to marry Mary Elizabeth Smith, widow of William Law-
350
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CuAr. VII.
1651. Carteret claims Staten I-1- and.
About the middle of July Secretary Bollen returned from London with the desired papers, and with orders from Lady Carteret "to lay claim to Staten Island, as I ... longing to us, according to His Royal Highness's grant." This was an ill-founded pretense. As early as 1669 Staten Island had been " adjudged to belong to New York." This judgment had been respected by all parties; and in 1670 Lovelace had bought the island for the Duke of York from its savage claimants. With a knowledge of these facts, Sir George had obtained from the duke, in 1674, a new grant of New Jersey to himself, in severalty. Yet now his widow. seeing that James was exiled in Scotland, thought that she might win Staten Island if she made a bold push. Accord- ingly, Bollen, in behalf of the dowager, submitted various papers to Brockholls; claimed Staten Island for her as a part of East Jersey, and demanded its surrender. No no- tice being taken of this demand, Bollen was sent again to Fort James with more documents. These, being examined in the New York Council, were found insufficient to enable Carteret " to act in or assume the goverment of New Jer- sey," and Brockholls required him to desist until he should, agreeably to his parole, "produce and show a sufficient au- thority." No allusion was made to the claim of Staten Island on the part of its deceased proprietor's dowager; but in writing to Andros and to Werden, Brockholls de- clared that he would not part with that island unless by special orders from the duke."
21 July.
EG July.
31 July. 30 July. OS July.
Carteret naturally complained of Brockholls's " uncivil answer," and acquainted the grasping widow that the New York authorities would not surrender to her Staten Island. which, he pronounced, "is as much your Honor's due as 30 Juty. any other part of this Province." Brockholls, however. while denying Carteret's authority, did not disturb his local 23 July. government. An East Jersey Assembly was quietly held at Elizabethtown, which voted the proceedings of Andros illegal. Nevertheless, the old spirit of discord broke out 2 Novem.
19 October to again. In the autumn, the Assembly quarreled with Car-
rence, of Flushing, on Long Island, and the wedding took place the next month : Ord . Warr., etc., xxxii, 30; Thomp-oa's Long Island, il .. 364, 365; Whitehead, 8%; Hatfi l'. 195; Col. Doc., ii., GUT, no'e.
* Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii1., 53, 54. 51, 57; Col. Doc., ill., 296; Leaming and Spirer, (~). Whitehead, 77, 216; Masa. II. S. Coll., xxxvii., 315; ant, 149, 106, 203, 334.
£
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ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
teret and his council, respecting the right of the proprietors CHAP. VII. to alter their " concessions," and the governor dissolved his refractory Legislature. This was Philip Carteret's last im- 1681. portant public act. East New Jersey soon passed into other hands, and its first governor gave up the authority he had so long exercised."
The recall of Andros, the presence of Lewin, and the in- capacity of Brockholls, meanwhile produced insubordina- Insubord :- tion throughout New York, which was weakly attempted New York. lution in to be checked. At length, provincial trouble culminated in the metropolis. In the hurry of his departure, Sir Ed- mund, as has been told, neglected to renew, by a special order, the Duke of York's customs' duties, which had ex- pired, by their three years' limitation, in November, 1680. This oversight being " publicly known to the merchants," they refused to pay any duties to the duke on what they The mer- imported into his province. It does not appear that the chants re- recusants abated a farthing from the prices of the goods dutie. they sold to consumers; but they nevertheless seem to have thought-as, perhaps, modern smugglers and cheats often think-that any compensatory evasion of the revenue laws of a country is a proper, if not a patriotic felony. This seems to have been the moral philosophy of the " mer- chants" of New York in the spring of 1681. While Brock- holls was at Albany, looking after Indian affairs, and Col- lector Dyer lay "ill of a fever" in the metropolis, a pink from London came into port, and her cargo was taken to 9 May. the warehouses of her consignees, who "absolutely" refused to pay any customs' duties to the duke's provincial officers. In this quandary, Brockholls, when he got back to town, summoned his council. Wanting the guidance of the ex- perienced Secretary Nicolls, that body decided that there H4 M.y. was "no power or authority" to continue expired taxes Bark. " without orders from His Royal Highness." This may Come. have been convenient shirking, but it was not even provin- cial statesmanship. James himself thought so when this
* Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii1g, 57; Leaming and Spicer, 197, 188, GST ; Col. Doc., fii., 203-200; Chalmers, i., 620; Gordon, AS; Whitehead, 80, 192-195; Hatfield, 195, 210, 211, 212. It would seem that Lady Carteret did not know or recognize the conveyance to Cremer and Pocock of 6 March, 1650 ( inte, 342, note ) ; and Philip Carteret (who knew all the facts alenit staten Island belonging to New York) may have been sarcastic when he told her lady-hip that it was as much her " due" as any part of New Jersey : compare ant, 14), 159, 16; ais ; Ilist. Mag., x., 207-209 ; N. J. HI. S. Proc., x., S3-158; i. (ii.), 31-56.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VII. " seruple" was reported to him. Yet the pusillanimity of 1681. Brockholls and his council made a colonial revolution. Their inaction may have been caused by the recent opin- ion of Sir William Jones, and the consequent freedom of trade which was already prospering New Jersey at the ex- pense of New York."
20 June.
Dyer, who, besides being collector, was a counselor and the mayor of the city, was immediately sued in the ordi- nary courts, where he was " cast," for detaining goods for customs, and forced to deliver them without payment. 31 May. Dyer sued, ed with high trea- son. This was decisive. An accusation of high treason was and charg- quickly brought in the mayor's court by Samuel Winder, of Staten Island, against Dyer, for having levied the duties he had recently taken. Thereupon the aldermen and court "intimated" the case to the commander and his council, who committed Dyer for trial at the next general assizes. But, upon his request, a special court was summoned. It met accordingly ; a grand jury was sworn; witnesses were examined; and an indictment for traitorously exercising "regal power and authority over the King's subjects," con- trary to Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, and the Stat- utes of England, was found against the duke's collector. Ile was taken into custody at once by High Sheriff Younge, and Brockbolls demanded from him the seal of the city and his commission as mayor. These Dyer refused to sur- render, because he had received them from their common superior, Andros.
30 June.
1 July. Dyer tried, and his case refer- red to the king.
1
The next day Dyer was arraigned. Instead of demur- ring, he pleaded " not guilty" to his indictment. A jury was sworn, and twenty witnesses were examined for the prosecution. The defendant then required to know "the authority and commission by which the court sat; saying if they proceeded by His Majesty's Letters Patents to llis Royal Highness, he had the same authority ;- and one part could not try the other." After consultation, the unlearned court decided that, as Dyer had questioned their authority, he should be sent to England, " to be proceeded against as his Majesty and Council shall direct." Samuel Winder. his accuser, was also required to give five thousand pounds'
* Col. MSS., xxx .. 96, 27; Ord, Warr., etc., xxxii}., 31, 43-46, 53 ; Col. Doc., iii., 246, 253. 202, 319; Doc. Hist., ill., 593, 534; Chalmere, i., 5$2; Wood's L. I., 99; Council Journais, i., Introd., viii .; ante, 341, 244.
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rater
353
ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
security to prosecute Dyer in England. West, the clerk of CHAP. VII. the court, excused its irregular action because of the nov- elty of the charge of high treason, " and the present confu- 1681. sion and discord in the government here." Yet these pro- ceedings against the duke's collector "had the greatest effect in laying in ruins that system of despotism which had so long afflicted the people." Trade was now substan- tially free ; and the absence of both the governor and the secretary of the province gave an opportunity to utter free- ly the voice of the people of New York."
This opportunity was helped by the recent visit of Penn's 21 June. deputy, Markham, to the metropolis. It was soon noised sylvania The Penn- that in the last English-American province established by helps the charter its sovereign, no laws could be passed, nor revenue levied, movement in New York. without the assent of a majority of colonial freemen rep- resented in a local assembly. The popular sentiment of New York, which, from the days of Kieft and Stuyvesant, had maintained the Dutch principle of "taxation only by consent," was emboldened. The metropolitan jury which indicted Dyer accordingly presented to the Court of Assizes 29 June. the want of a Provincial Assembly as a " grievance." Upon ment of the Present- grand jury. this, Jolm Younge, the High Sheriff of Long Island, was appointed to draft a petition to the Duke of York, and his work was adopted by the court. It represented that the Petition of inhabitants of New York had for many years " groaned of Assizes the Court under inexpressible burdens, by having an arbitrary and duke. absolute power used and exercised" over them ; whereby a revenue had been exacted against their wills, their trade burdened, and their liberty enthralled, contrary to the priv- ileges of a royal subject; so that they had become "a re- proach" to their neighbors in the king's other colonies, "who flourish under the fruition and protection of Ilis Majesty's unparallelled form and method of government in his realm of England." The duke was therefore be- sought that his province might, for the future, be ruled by a Governor, Council, and Assembly-" which Assembly to be duly elected and chosen by the freeholders of this, Your Royal Highnesses' Colony ; as is usual and practicable with- in the realm of England, and other of his Majesty's planta-
* Colonial Doc., ill., 297, 993, 289, 991, 318, 890, 354; Or1 , Warr., etc., xxxii), 49, 53, 54; Chalmers, Ann .. i., 5:2, 583, 619, 627; Rev. Col., i., 144; Wood's L. I., 150; Whitehead's East Jersey, 121; Contributions, etc., SI.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VII. tions." This allusion to the king's "plantations," outside
1681. of his insular sovereignty, could hardly have 'meant his corporation of Massachusetts, where it was notorious that not "freeholders," but only puritanical church members (with rare exceptions) could vote for local magistrates. The examples of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, in which no such sectarian exclusiveness existed, were probably in the minds of these early New York Dem- ocrats. The old Dutch province having never been gov- erned by a royal English corporation, her people could not believe that a colonial minority should rule the roost .*
The New York idea of colonial govern- ment.
The same ship which took Dyer to England conveyed 21 July. Brock- plaints to England. this action of the New York Court of Assizes. In writing holis's com- to Werden, Brockholls attributed to want of orders from the duke the disorder of his province. "Authority and magistracy is grown so low that it can scarce maintain the public peace and quiet of the government ; seurrilous per- sons daily laying charges of Treason against the magis- trates, thereby to destroy authority, and bring all into con- fusion." * * * " I shall never make a perfect good settle- ment, 'till orders from His Royal Highness for the more strengthening and continuance or alteration of the Govern- ment as established, which is much disliked by the People, who generally cry out for an Assembly, and to that end a Petition was ordered to be drawn up and sent to His Royal Ifigliess, from and in the name of the Court of Assizes." In his letter to Andros, Brockholls reported that the cus- toms were " wholly destroyed." No revenue was left but the rates on Long Island, which the people might not pay ; and the insolence of those who accused the magistrates of violating the English Magna Charta caused disorders in New York.t
21 July.
2 May. Order from Andros. Meanwhile, Andros, on reaching London, had authorized Brockholls to act as receiver general of all the duke's pro- 10 August. Vincial revenues. Brockholls, hoping to give effect to this 17 August. direction, sent orders to Delavall at Esopus, and Livingston 3 Septent.
at Albany. But Sir Edmund's after-thought was too late.
* Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii)., 40, 50, 54 ; S. Hazard's Ann. Penn., 490, 4.5, 504, 515; Wood's L. I., 35, 99, 100, 150, 178, 119; Thompson's L. ! , i., 160; Smith's N. Y., i., 67; Chalmers's Ann., i., 553; Rev. Col., i., 145; ante, i., 436, 442, 473. 572; il., 349. The Petition of the New York Court of Assizes, of June, 1651, is in Appendix, Note D., p. 653.
t Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii}}, 53, 54, 55; Council Journals, i., Introd., ix.
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ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
The whining commander-in-chief reported to Andros : CHAP. VII. "Nothing is paid in by any; and though since, I have done what was possible to get the excise kept up, my en- 17 septem. 1681. deavors therein have proved ineffectual-the merchants Brockholls taking advantage of Courts, who, being scared, refuse to to Audros. justify and maintain my orders. * * * Here it was never worse. A Government wholly overthrown, and in the greatest confusion and disorder possible. Orders from the Duke for general material things, in your absence, are ex- tremely wanting ; nothing continuing as they were, nor can be again settled without it, which I hope shall not be long." To add to his other difficulties, Brockholls had been obliged to suspend Dervall from the council for misbehavior; and, in the absence of Nicolls and Dyer, his only advisers were the " small number" of Phillipse and Van Cortlandt .*
Long Island appeared to be the chief scene of disaffec- tion. Persons had already been arrested at Huntington and elsewhere. It was accordingly ordered in council that 27 Sept. Long 1-1. the magistrates on Long Island should prevent any disor- and disaf- derly meetings, arrest such as might attend them, and keep fected. the peace and quiet of the government as now established from any innovation or disturbance.t
At the regular session of the Court of Assizes, an order 6 October was made "against persons exhibiting and preferring divers of Assizes
The Court causeless and vexations accusations and indictments into di-affec- rebukes the Courts within this Government, against magistrates and tion. others concerned in the public affairs of the Government, thereby causing great trouble and disturbance." At the same court it was directed that "rude and unlawful sports. to the dishonor of God, and profanation of his holy day," which had become common among the negro and Indian slaves at their meetings on Sundays, should be prevented.#
In spite of the Court of Assizes, the eastern towns of Long Island would be, what Brockholls thought, " seditious." Josi- 1 Novem. Sedition in ah Hobart, of Easthampton, who was accused of stirring up Ner York. the people of Southold to oppose his administration, was ar- 50 Decem.
* Ord., Warr., etc., xxxiiJ6, 59, 60, 62, 63, 60, 70, 73, 74; Col. Doc., iii., 250, note. Andros seems to have determined not to return to New York, for his wife now sailed in the ship Beaver to join him in England : Ord., Warr., etc., xxxiix4, 74, 93; Hough's Pemaquid Pa- pers, 49; Whitmore's Andros, 21, 22.
t Ord., Warr., etc., xxxiik, 74, 75; Woo1, 99; an'e, 331.
* Colonial MSS .. xxx., 36; Minutes of Common Council, i., 162-164; Dunlap, ii. ; App., c.xxix .; S. Hazard, 531; Newcastle Records.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chr. VII. rested and bound over to be tried at the next assizes. The
1681. feeling of discontent spread to Esopus, where Delavall was
10 Novem. directed to prevent " all undue and unlawful meetings of the people without authority." Much of this sentiment of in- subordination arose out of the duke's own action in recall- ing Andros, and in sending over Lewin as his agent. Lewin showed himself unequal to his duty, and by his stupidity 15 Septem. must have disappointed his patron. The city authorities The me- tropolis re- of New York took occasion, in his own presence, to protest bukes Lew- against Lewin's unlawful proceedings, in taking private oaths and complaints, to the " scandal, blemish, and dispar- agement of several of his Majesty's servants." Well might 14 Decem. Brockholls end his correspondence for the year with Andros at London by a devout prayer for "speedy orders and direc- tions for better settlement.""
in.
Meanwhile Andros remained in London, without seeing the Duke of York, who was still in Scotland. Sir Edmund Andres an- Was annoyed by complaints of some he had offended in New noyed in London. York; and a verdict of forty-five pounds was recovered against him by Milborne, whom he had imprisoned in De- cember, 1678.+
From Edinburgh, James, in answer to Brockholls's re- S August. The Duke of Yo:k's orders to) Brockhells port of affairs in New York, reproved him for not renewing the customs' rates, which, with the advice of the council, he had the power to do, adding, "I wonder you should thus long have left so material a point undetermined ; and I ex- pect you should settle and continue by some temporary or- der, the same payments of customs and other public duties, as have been lately established and collected, until further orders from me, who at the present have several things in my thoughts which I hope may conduce much to the good and satisfaction of all the inhabitants and traders within 27 August. that government." Brockholls was also authorized by the duke to continue all subordinate officers in their places.+
Not long afterward, Dyer reached England, a prisoner. 14 Septem. and, while the duke was absent in Scotland, his case was Dyer set free.
heard before the king in Privy Council. It was ordered
* Col. MISS., xxx., 47, 48, 49, 50; Ord., Warr., etc., xxxii)6, 85, SG, ST, SS, 59. 93. 54. 15 Minutes of N. Y. Common Council, i., 155-153; S. Hazard's Ann. Penn., 481, 503, 531; Co !. Doc., ili., 302-316.
t Col. Doc., iff .; 286, 291, 300, 301, 621, 650, 227; K. B. Rep. ; ante, 321, 342.
# Col. Doc., iii , 201, 292; Commissions, i., 25; Ord., Warr., xxxiikg, ii.
357
ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
that the defendant should go free upon his giving security Cuar. VII. to appear when summoned to answer the charge for which he had been prosecuted by Winder." 1681.
December.
At length Lewin returned to London, and submitted an Lewin's unskillful report to the duke's commissioners. A copy of 24 Decem. report. it was given to Andros, who answered its charges. Both parties were then heard by Churchill and Jeffreys, the 1682. duke's attorney and solicitor general. After examining January. Dyer, Nicolls, and others, they reported that Andros had Report of not "misbehaved himself, or broken the trust reposed in commis- the duke's him by his Royal Highness, in the administration of liis sioners. Government, nor doth it appear that he hath any way de- frauded or mismanaged his revenue." Dyer, they thought, "has done nothing amiss." Both he and the governor ap- peared to "have behaved themselves very well in their several stations."+
Andros being thus cleared of blame, and complimented on his administration, was made a gentleman of the king's Privy Chamber, which post, of course, required him to live in or near London.# Werden accordingly instructed Brock- 11 Feb'y. holls " to keep all things within that government of New ders to 'York and its dependencies in quiet and good order," and hinted that the duke would " condescend to the desires of that colony in granting them equal privileges in choosing an Assembly et cet, as the other English Plantations in America have. But if this be, it will be upon a supposi- tion that the inhabitants will agree to raise money to dis- charge the public debts, and to settle such a fund for the future as may be sufficient for the maintenance of the gar- rison and government there." On this " great point" Brock- holls was farther instructed " privately to sound the inclina- tions of the principal inhabitants there."§
After much hesitation, the king had meanwhile resolved to stand up boldly against those of his subjects who plotted to exclude the Duke of York from the throne. Charles therefore dissolved the Parliament which he had summon- ed at Oxford, and determined to govern without any.
* Col. Doc., ill., 318, 320; ante, 552.
t Col. Doc., ili., 302-316; Chalmers's Ann., i., 582 ; ante, 300.
# Col. Doc., ii., 741. In 1653 the island of Alderney was granted, on a long lease, to An- dros and his wife, and he spent much time there and in Guernsey, of which he was bailiff: Hatch. Coll., 542; Whitmore's Andros, 92 ; ante. 262.
$ Col. Doc., iii., 317; Chalmers's Ann .. i., 583, 004.
Farther or-
Brockholls.
358
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VII. James now returned from Scotland, and the royal brothers 1682. 11 March. James in England again. met at Newmarket. While there, the duke considered the affairs of New York. He saw that no revenue could be collected in his province at present, unless he yielded to the wishes of its people for an Assembly; and James did not like popular gatherings. He had expressed his distrust of them to his provincial governor. But it was now a mere question of finance whether New York should be a drain on his purse, as it was, or whether he should sell it. Pem's closet-advice seems to have determined James to keep his province and give it some franchises .*
2S March. So the duke, at Newmarket, instructed Brockholls, his The duke's representative in New York, " In confirmation of what my Brockholls Secretary lately wrote to you, I send this to tell you that I intend to establish such a form of Government at New York as shall have all the advantages and privileges to the inhab- itants and traders there which His Majesty's other Planta- tions in America do enjoy ; particularly in the choosing of an Assembly and in all other things, as near as may be agreeable to the laws of England. But I shall expect that the country of New York and its dependencies shall pro- vide some certain funds for the necessary support of the government and garrison, and for discharging the arrears which are or shall be incurred, since the obstructions that have lately been to the collection of the public revenue there. Wherefore you are to use all diligence to induce the people there of best note and estate to dispose them- selves and their friends to a cheerful compliance in this point ; and you may assure them that whatsoever shall be thus raised shall be applied to those public uses. For I seek the common good and protection of that country, and the increase of their trade, before any advantages to myself in this matter."+
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