USA > New York > History of the state of New York. Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 20
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An event had occurred, however, which gave uneasiness to the Dutch people of New York. For almost half a gen- eration they had looked with hope to the time when the wife of the Prince of Orange-the stadtholder of their fa- therland, and their own chief magistrate fourteen years before -- would become the Queen of England. Joyfully would they have mingled cries of " ORANJE BOVEN" with " Long live the Queen." But divine Providence bid them wait. James the Second had married a Roman Catholic second wife, who, after due proclamation of her condition, 10 June. Birth of the Prince of Wales. bore him a son on the tenth of June, 16SS. That son was at once declared Prince of Wales, and, if all went regular- ly on, he would become King of England on the death of his father. The news came from the Privy Council to Bos- ton, with directions for Andros "to appoint such days, as well for a solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God for this inestimable blessing, as for such other expressions of public rejoicings suitable to this great occasion," as he should judge fit. Nicholson sent "the happy news" by express to his 23 August. chief at New York, where, the same evening, it " was sol- Rejoicings in New York. emnized with all demonstrations of joy and gladness for so great a blessing." The hilarity waxed so boisterous that the Dutch Mavor Van Cortlandt "sacrificed his hat, peruke, &e." This exuberant manifestation of loyalty was afterward ob- jected against the genial magistrate when the.reminiscence 24 August. Was very inconvenient. The next day, Andros, with the ad- vice of his Council, issued his proclamation for a general thanksgiving, " to be observed within the City of New York
" Chalmers's Ann., i., 500 ; Smith, i., 90; Council Min., vi., 17; Doc. Hist., ii., 14, 1% : fi., . 73 ; Bayley's Sketch, 19-99 ; Mass. M. S. Coll, xxxv., 101, 150; MISS. letter of Selyns to Chi- eis, 10 October, 1653; ante, 457.
· .
517
SIR EDMUND ANDROS, GOVERNOR GENERAL.
and dependencies on Sunday the Second day of September Cuar. X. next coming, and fourteen days after in all other parts of this Dominion." At this time New York was undoubted- 16SS. ly the " seat of Government" of James the Second's "Do- minion of New England.""
Indian affairs now required the governor's careful atten- tion. The day he reached New York, he announced his ar- 32. Aug. rival to Denonville, and claiming the Five Nations as Brit- ish subjects, in obedience to his Instructions, requested that they should not be injured by the French. Word soon aft- erward came " that all was not well" with the Iroquois, and it was resolved that Andros should go to Albany. This he did, accompanied by Counselors Baxter, Mason, Van Cort- 80 Angust Andros at
landt, and others, in a sloop, which also conveyed fifty sol- Albany. diers and ammunition to supply the fort. At Albany he was joined by Nicholson, whom he had summoned from Bos- ton, and who came overland by way of Springfield.t
The Five Nations, warned by " Aric," or Viele, sent del- egates, who had a stately interview with Andros in the town- 18 Sept. house of Albany. Sindacksegie, the Mohawk orator, in the name of the Five Nations, welcomed their "Brother Cor- laer" as " the same person which did us the kindness to be called Corlaer when you was Governor formerly." The next day Andros named the Iroquois " Children," as Dongan 19 Sept. had, and told them that they " need have no other regard calls the Andros to the French, nor hearken to them, than, as they are our " Chil- Iroquois friends, to do them no harm." But they should be on their guard, and call back those of their nations who had gone to settle near Montreal; and "'twill be your own.faults if you do not eat, drink, and sleep in safety." Another con- ference followed, when the Mohawks, dropping the " Broth- 20 Sept. er," said, " Corlaer, we are exceeding glad to see you here, who was formerly in Tionondoge, our third Castle ; and are assured of your good inclinations towards us, because we have experienced your goodness heretofore. For you was pleased to accept the name of a man that was of good dis-
* Col. Doc., ill., 354, 655; Council Min., v., 223; Min. of N. Y. Com. Council, i., 330; Dun- lap, ii., App. cxxxvi. ; N. Y. H. S. Coll., iii., 353 (1565), 399 ; Penn. Arch., i., 106; Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 443; Palfrey, iii., 561, 562 ; Kennett, iii., 454; ante, 203, 218, 315, 504.
t Col. Doc., iii., 548, 353, 551, 555, 556, 502, 563, 569, 722 ; ix., 394; Quebec MSS. (ii.), v., 502. Andros's letter of 11 August was carried to Canada by John Smith, "the quaker from Albany." Col. Doc., iff., 5,66; Force's Tracts, iv., No. 9, p. 52; Andros Tracts, i., 146; La Jlontan, i. 125; Charlevoix, i., 356.
·
518
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Cor. X. positions and esteemed deare amongst us, to wit, The old Corlaer." They promised to have no correspondence with
16SS. the French, but would treat them as friends, as Andros had The old C'orlaer. proposed. Dongan had asked them about places for fort., Salmon River. and they had named Salmon River, or the Oswego, and they understood that he would build a fort " at the. end of Cor- Ticondero- laer's Lake [Champlain] at a place called Onjadarakte, [Ti- ga. conderoga] and put great guns in the same." But they did The Mo- hawks wish to remain " Breth- ren." not insist on this being done. "Let the old covenant that was made with our ancestors be kept firm. Then we were called Brethren, and that was also well kept; therefore let that of Brethren continue, without any alteration." Some of the Iroquois warriors, " whose names are known like the Sun," had not yet been sent back from France; neverthe- less, " we keep to that which was done by the two great Kings beyond the Seas." But a Cayuga, speaking for that nation and the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Senecas, address- The West- ed Andros as "Father Corlaer," and accepted " the name ern Iro-
quois ac- cept the name of " Chil- dren."
of Children." Only they desired the return of their twen- ty-eight countrymen, prisoners in France. "The Governor of Canada," they said, " is pleasant with his eye, and speaks fair with his lips; but his heart is corrupt, and we find that the old covenant made with this government has been kept inviolated." Andros answered these several speeches adroit- ly :- " You take notice of the word Brethren, and Children; --- But leave it to me :- They are both words of relation and friendship; but Children the nearer." On the following day, the conference with the Five Nations was ended by Andros promising them to do all he could to get back their "people that were carried beyond sea." He also wrote to Denonville, charging him with being the author of the late murders by the Canadian savages near Springfield and Northfield, and hoping that the French had evacuated Ni- agara. This last mentioned step, as has been seen, had al- ready been taken, chiefly at Dongan's solicitation."
Andres's answer.
21 Sept.
&& Sept.
* La Hontan, i., 125; Charlevoix, if., 386; Col. Doc., iii., 413, 455, 455, 535, 557-502, 508, 775; ix., 392, 393, 402 ; Col. MS., xxxv., 172-151; Colden, i., 105, 106, 132 ; Quebec MSS. (ii.), v., 507; Chalmers's Ann., i., 428 ; Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 445, 449 ; ante, vol. i., 18, 42, 55, 67, 88, 422 ; vol. ii., 257, 453, 405, 500. Some of the Massachusetts Puritans objected again -: Andros in 1001 that he did not keep the Iroquois in hostility to the French, because "it was very advantageous to the English interest to have it so;" and they charged that th .. peace which he made those savages promise at Albany strengthened the French an I weak- ened the English : Rev. in N. E. Justified, in Force's Tracts, iv., No. 9, 40, 41 ; Andres Tracts, i., 113; il., 207, 218; Col. Doc., ill., 650, 651.
1
.
£
519
SIR EDMUND ANDROS, GOVERNOR GENERAL.
Leaving Baxter in command of Fort Albany, with Thom- CHAP. X. as Sharpe as his lieutenant, and a company of soldiers, An- dros returned to New York. On his way down the Hud- .1688. . son he had an interview with the Esopus and other savages, whom he admonished to be at peace with the neighboring Christians. At Kingston, Colonel Robert Mason, of New Hampshire, one of the Council who had accompanied An- dros, died, and was buried, in his fifty-ninth year."
Denonville had meanwhile waited in vain at Montreal until after the August moon had waned for the promised return of the Iroquois delegates. These had been chosen at Onondaga, and were about setting out, when Viele sum- moned the Five Nations to meet Andros at Albany. This they did, as has been seen. But Dekanesora, or Teganis- Dekaneso- soren, the Onondaga chief, who seemed to have succeeded way to ra on his Montreal. Garakontié as the most unwavering Iroquois friend of the French, went on with a small party to meet Denonville, ac- cording to promise, at Montreal. When they reached La Famine, or Salmon River, on Lake Ontario, they were sur- prised and captured by a band of Hurons, led by their chief Adario, or Kondiaronk, whom the French called "The Rat." He was the bravest, most subtile, and most accom- The Rat. plished savage they had ever known in Canada, and well deserved to be called " The Machiavel of the Forests." He had come down from Michilimackinac to join the French in their war against the Iroquois, upon condition that these common enemies should be exterminated. At Fort Fron- tenac Adario learned that Denonville had just made a peace with them, and was awaiting at Montreal the return of their ratifying deputies. Seeing that his own nation had been betrayed, the wily Huron concealed his chagrin, and pre- tended to return home. But from Cataracouy he quietly went across Lake Ontario to La Famine, by which route he knew that the Onondagas must go to Montreal. After ly- ing in wait for several days, the Rat captured the aston- The Iro- ished Iroquois ambassadors, and told them that he had done gates cap- so by order of Denonville. The artifice was worthy of the Adurio. tured by most refined European policy in wickedness. Both parties protested against the supposed double treachery of Onnon-
* Col Doc., iii., 509, 300, 610; iv., 202; Doc. Ilist., ii., ST, 244; Hutch., i., 305; Belknap, i., 191.
quois dele-
£
520
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Cukr. x. tio. Addressing Dekanesora and his companions, darin "said, " Go, my brethren ; I untie your hands, and send you 1668. home again, although our nation is at war with yours. It is the French governor who has made me commit an art so black that I shall never be consoled until the Five Na. tions have taken a just vengeance." The false Iluron's words were uttered on the very spot where the Onondaga Grande-gueule had humbled De la Barre four years before. Like his then, they served their turn now. Each savage party returned to its own home; and, full of anxiety at the mysterious absence of the delegates he had chafed for so vainly, Denonville went down the chilly Saint Lawrence to Quebec .*
Denonvill bafileJ.
i'd Oct.
13 Oct. From Quebec the Canadian governor wrote to Andros, in reply to his letters from New York and Albany, alluding spitefully to Dongan; announcing the withdrawal of the French garrison at Niagara, and complaining of the recent violence offered by the English to Castin at Penobscot, for which satisfaction was required. But the birth of the Prince of Wales had been the signal for rejoicing through- 10 August. out " the whole country of Canada." In his dispatches to Seignelay, Denonville attributed the safety of New France Callières sent to France. "to God alone." Ile therefore sent Callières to France, that he might explain matters more fully. A treaty should be made between England and France, by which the Iro- quois should be " ceded" to one or the other European pow- er. "But," Denonville added, " in order to make peace, it will be necessary to return to Canada the Iroquois who have been sent to the galleys;" and proposed that they should " be dressed somewhat decently."+
Indian troubles.
On his return from Albany and Kingston, Andros learn- ed that the savages in Maine had been disorderly near Cas- co Bay, and that men had been raised in Boston and sent
' Col. Doc., ix., 178, 191, 183. 130, 192, 527, 391, 393, 894, 402, 404, 465; La Hontan, i., 117, 125, 180-192; Charlevoix, ii., 353-380; Colden, i., 88, 59, 90; Smith, i., 87, SS; Raynal, vill., 81, 52; Garneau, i., 263, 270 ; Shea's Mission4, 326, 332; ante, 364, 508. La Hontan-whom Colden follows and Smith repeats, instead of trusting the more accurate Charlevoix-errs in placing the scene of Adario's exploit on the cascades of the Saint Lawrence instead of at the mouth of the Salmon River. Compare Col. Doc., ix., 391 ; Charlevoix, ii., 354.
t Col. Doc., ill., 555, 557, 569-571 ; ix., 393- 398, 401 ; Quebec MSS. (ii.), v., 511-560; Chal- mer's Ann., i., 428. Charlevoix, il .. 391, 393 (who is followed by Garneau, i., 271), supports that Collieres went to Paris with a scheme of his own for the conquest of New York by the French. But it seems to me that this iden did not occur to him natil he reached France, and found that a revolution had happened in England. See Col. Doc., ix., 401-404.
YHOTeHT
521
SIR EDMUND ANDROS, GOVERNOR GENERAL.
thither without his orders. This intelligence obliged the CHIP. X. governor to decide on an immediate overland journey to 16SS. Boston, by way of Hartford and Springfield, " to prevent a 1 October. second Indian war.""
Nicholson was accordingly directed to remain in New Nicholson York, at the head of its affairs, to be assisted by. the local New York. left chief in counselors Phillipse, Bayard, Van Cortlandt, Younge, and Baxter, the latter of whom was stationed in command of the fort at Albany. As it was most convenient for the gov- ernor general to make Boston his head-quarters for the pres- ent, such of the New York records as were thought neces- sary to have at hand were taken there. Accompanied by Brockbolls, Randolph, West, and others, Andros hastened ? October. castward from New York, supposing that the revenue for turns to Andros re- Boston the support of his government amounted to about twelve with New thousand pounds a year, and that " all places were well and ords. York rec-
quietly settled, and in good posture."t
After the departure of Andros from New York, Dongan retired to his farm at Hempstead, on Long Island. Nich- olson, with Van Cortlandt, Bayard, Plowman, Beckman, and Minvielle, under the governor's own warrant, made an ex- amination of the city fortifications, and drew up a detailed 15 Novem. report of their condition. The fort was found to be " ex- of Fort Condition traordinarily out of repair," and carpenters were employed New York. James at to make the barracks weather-tight until the spring, when every thing was intended to be put in good order. A dep- osition of one of these workmen, afterward taken, declared that there was " great joy" among some at New York when Andros came from Boston, because they were delivered from a "Papist Governor," and had Nicholson as deputy in the fort, " who would defend and establish the true re- ligion." It was thought that all images erected by Dongan in Fort James would be taken away; but Nicholson order-
" Col. Doc., ifi., 508, 569 ; Col. Rec, Conn., fii., 449 ; Force's Tracts, iv., No. 9, p. 35, 58; No. 10, p. 10; Palmer's Impartial Account, 33, 34 ; Chalmers, Ann., ii., 50; Andro; Tracte, i., 54. t Col. Dec., iii., 568. 560, 590, 655, 656, 711, 722, 723, 761, 760 ; v., 83 ; Col. Rec. Conn., ili., 449-452; Doc. Ilist., ii., 3, 15, 23, 103, 125, 244 ; Chalmers's Ann., i., 421, 500; Palfrey, iii., 563, 564. In N. Y. Pass Book, iv., there is a memorandum of the records taken to Boston by Randolph, some of which do not appear to have been restored. In 1735, Judge Samuel Jones, of New York, saw at Boston, "on the Noor in an upper room of a public building, ainong a parcel of loose paperz, several parchment rolls, containing copies of act- of the Leg. islature of New York," supposed to have been taken away by order of Andros, who was "a great lover of method and dispatch in all sorts of business." N. Y. H. S. Coll., iii., 362; Burk, ii., 316; Hutch. Mass., i., 354; Coll., 575.
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MACIEL 5112
£
522
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. x. ed the workmen to assist the priest John Smith to remove
to " a better room in the fort," and arrange every thing for
1688.
Priest John him " according to his will." This gave great offen-e to Smith. the Protestants, and no doubt helped to injure Nicholson. During the winter the lieutenant governor directed Mayor Van Cortlandt to send orders to every county to exercise the militia and see them well equipped, which was gener- ally done. In the city of New York "he did the same, and was well beloved amongst the people.""
On returning to Boston after an absence of eleven 90 October. weeks, Andros, disapproving what his subordinates there Action of Andros at had donc, issued his proclamation requiring the Indians to Boston release their captives, and surrender the murderers of the colonists. But this was not heeded by the savages ; and the governor sent castward most of the regular soldiers in gar- rison, with necessary stores and vessels to secure the coast. 1 Novem. It was also ordered in Council that a considerable force of militia should be raised out of the several colonies, and An- dros offered the command of the expedition, "upon very good terms," to Fitz John Winthrop, of Connecticut, one of Winthrop and others decline service in Maine. his counselors. But Winthrop, pleading illness, declined the duty, and the governor's offer was repeated to others, who "absolutely refused the service." Indeed, the Connecticut and Massachusetts colonists did not wish to do hardy work in the wilds of Maine during the cold winter; and many of them, asserting that Brockholls was a "Popish command- cr," imagined that the expedition was a plot "to bring them low," and made it a pretext for poltroonery. Seeing that none in New England were willing to take the command, Andros, by the advice of his Council, determined to do it himself. "The Governor's proposal to the Council about luís going to the eastward met with no opposition, lest some of the military men there should have been bound in hon- our to have taken that imployment upon themselves." Aft- Andros gres to er dispatching MacGregorie with another message to De- Maine him- nonville at Quebec, Andros, at the head of some eight hun- golf as gen- eral,
dred men levied in the New England colonies, t according-
* Col. Doc., ill., 590, 321, 520, 531, 613, 655, 718; iv., 197, 213; Doc. ITist .. ii., 14, 17, 147: iii., 73; Bayley's Sketch, 19, 22; Smith, i., 90; N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1568), S7, SS; Col. Rec. Conn., ili., 451, 455; N. Y. Surrogate's Rec., Wills, iv., 1-15; Valentine's Manual, 1835, 351- 053; ante. 405, note, 457.
t According to the return in New England Papers, v., 202, quoted by Chalmers, Aun., fi .. 83; N. Y. H. S. Coll., 1868, the militia force of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Plymu-
523
SIR EDMUND ANDROS, GOVERNOR GENERAL.
ly went to Maine, in the depth of winter, sharing all the CHAP. X. hardships of the troops. Many of them died from fatigue and exposure in marches "above one hundred miles into 16SS. the desart, beyond any Christian Settlement." But the at- tempt to capture the savages was like a project to " hedge in the cuckoo." Many canoes were destroyed, and two In- dian forts were burnt. The savages were driven into re- mote retreats, where they were reduced to great straits, and "were ready to submit at mercy," had not "some mer- Traitorous chants in Boston," during the governor's absence, sent a ves- merchants. Boston sel, meanly cleared for Bermuda, with supplies of ammuni- tion and provisions, to trade with them and the French be- tween Port Royal and Penobscot.
As he could not capture nor destroy its natives, Andros established some eleven garrisons for the protection of Maine. At Fort Charles, in Pemaquid, thirty-six regulars Garrisons and sixty militia were placed under the command of Cap- in Maine tain Brockholls and Lieutenant Weems. MacGregoric and Lockhart, of New York, were stationed at other forts. By presents and good treatment, the governor endeavored to win the chiefs of the savages. But all he did was miscon-' strued at Boston, where it was reported that he had en- gaged the Mohawks to attack New England in concert with the French, with other equally absurd stories. During the winter he caused a sloop to be built at Pemaquid for gor- ernment service ; but before it was completed, unexpected events happened .*
Among James's instructions to Andros and to Dongan was one to suppress " all Pirates and Sea rovers." These depredators had become so bold that Sir Robert Holmes was sent with an English squadron to the West Indies, in the autumn of 1687, to quench them effectually. From the time of Cicero, all civilized nations had denounced pirates as "enemies of the human race." In 1630, these outlaws took possession of the island of Tortuga, near Hispaniola ; and many of them having been originally engaged in the
outh, Rhode Island, and Connecticut was 13,520. That of New York was probably 2000. Col. Doc., 1v., 22, 135, 197, 213; Chalmers, Rev. Col., i., 229; Arnold, i., 520.
* Col. Rec. Conn., ill., 449-453; Hutch., i, 365, 370, 371 ; Coll., 500; Col. Doc., iii., 551, 581, 711, 723, 724, 769; Chalmers's Annals, i., 425, 429 ; il., 20, 50, 51; Force's Tracts, iv., No. 9, 28-31, 35, 53, 50; No. 10, 11: Palmer's Impartial Acc., 34, 35; Andros Tracta, 1., 54, 55: IL., 193, 216 ; Mather's Mag., L., 178, 179; il., 5%> ; Maine II. S. Coll., i, 125, 1º6 ; v., 20, 203, 200, 971 ; Mass. I. S. Coll., xxL., S5-ST; Williamson, 1., 650, 500 ; Palfrey, ill., 597-560.
established
by Andros.
524
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Con. x. honest business of "boucaning," or smoking fish and mirst. after the manner of the Carib savages, they and their pirat
Hurranders or pirates.
1658. ical comrades were generally known in Europe as " Bae- caneers." By the Hollanders they were named " Zee Rov- ers;" by the French and Spaniards, "Flibustiers"-which word modern usage has corrupted into "Filibusters" -- while the English generally called them " Adventurer." and "Free-booters." The sack of Panama by the Well !! Henry Morgan, in 1671, gave the command of the Pacific to the buccaneers, who enriched themselves with the spoils of captured Spanish towns and galleons. Charles the Sec- ond had vainly attempted to repress the outrages of these bold scoundrels. Unlawful private expeditions were con- tinually fitted out in the British American plantations, where many buccaneers found refuge and encouragement. The Carolinas, Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, and Mas- sachusetts all share the odium of the scandalous renown; and the peremptory commands of James were not issued too soon .*
In obedience to these orders, Nicholson imprisoned at 51 August. Boston several supposed pirates in the summer of 16SS. prisoned by They had been commanded by " one Petersen ;" and they Pirates Im- at Boston, remained in the common jail of Boston until the next Nicholson spring, when they were liberated by another authority: The efforts of Andros and his officers to suppress piracy met with little sympathy among the chief men of Massachu- setts. "Since the vacating their charter," wrote Randolph from Boston, "they have been kept from the breach of the Acts for Trade and Navigation, encouraged by their former government ;" and "they are restrained from set- ting out privateers who, for many years together, robbed the Spanish West Indies and brought great booties to Bos- ton ; and also, they durst not, during the Governor's time, harbour pirates. This place was the common receptacle of pirates of all nations." Palmer also -- in answer to com- plaints that Andros had taken measures to "damp and spoil" the commerce of Massachusetts-declared that " their constant and profitable correspondence with Foreigners and
* Col. Doc., ill., 374, 490, 491. 547, 3 2 ; ix., 120, 503: Chalmers's Annals, i., 516, 547 ; Cic. in Verr., v. ; Coke's Institutes, ili., 113; Hunt's Merchant's Magazine, xiv., 39, 4); Valen- tine's Manual, 1857, 455-461.
.
525
SIR EDMUND ANDROS, GOVERNOR GENERAL.
Pirates" had been " diligently obstructed" by the governor, CHAP. X. "which was very disagreeable to many persons who had even grown old in that way of trade." The chief attrac- 1688. tion of the freebooters to Boston seems to have been the colonial mint, established in 1652, of which Samuel Sewall had been the last master. This "encouraged pirates to The old bring their plate hither, because it could be coined and con- mint coing Boston veyed in great parcells, undiscovered to be such." If the plate. abrogation of the Massachusetts charter had so fatally af- fected these illicit commercial interests, it had still more Restora- tion of re- gravely concerned the ministers of Puritanism and their ligious oli- sectarian flocks ; and it is not surprising that all these com- sired by
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