USA > New York > History of the state of New York. Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 28
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12 Sept.
with the royal dis- Patches.
Riges re- turns to to John Riggs, who had brought over the letter of Nichol- New York son and his council of the previous May. Nicholson, how- ever, reached London before Riggs set out; but as it was supposed that the dispatches to him as lieutenant governor would be opened and acted upon by Phillipse, Bayard, and Van Cortlandt, the royal counselors whom he had left in charge, no alteration was made, and the messenger went on with his letters to New York.t
Informed by Nicholson in person of the actual condition 21 Angust. of the province, the Plantation Committee moved the king "that a Governor be forthwith sent to New York, with such a Commission and Instructions as are intended for the oth- er Plantations, and that a ship of strength be appointed to carry the Governor;" also that presents be sent to the five Iroquois nations, who "may be very useful to the English against the French ;" and that two new foot companies be sent to the province, in place of those dispersed " by the º Sept. Stoachter appointed ( verner late disorder." The king, in Council, approved these rec- ommendations, and declared Colonel Henry Sloughter to be his Governor of New York. Nicholson strove to obtain York. the post, " but had not interest to carry it." The appoint- ment of Sloughter was probably secured by some of the cor- rupt courtiers of William ; for the colonel, although praised by London merchants trading to New York for his " integ- rity, courage, and conduct," has been deliberately pro- nounced " utterly destitute of every qualification for gov- ernment, licentious in his morals, avaricious, and poor."+
* Col. Doc., iff., 605, 606, 648, 075; Smith, i., 94; Dunlap, i., 166; Chalmers's Annals, ii., 20, 30, 05; Palfrey, iii., 450, note.
t Col. Doc., ill., 63.3, 643, 646, 654. 650, 044, 675; Doc. Ilist., if., 38, 246; N. Y. I. S. Coll. (1563), 200-209; Andros Tracts; Mais. IT. S. Coll., xxxv., 206, 210; Hutch., i., 392; Macau- lay, iii., 414; ante, 515.
# Col. Doc., fif., 615, 619, C33, 051 ; Smith, 1., 100 ; Colden, i., 128; Hutch., i., 805; Dualap,
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THOTan
0
595
JACOB LEISLER, ACTING COMMANDER.
To strengthen his government, Sloughter proposed that CHAP. XII. New York, "so advantageously sitnate between the colony of New England and Virginia," should include Connecticut, 1689. the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania; but, as the Connecticut char- ter had not been legally surrendered or adjudged void, that colony escaped annexation. It was then proposed to add Plymouth to New York, and Secretary Blathwayt actually included it in the draft of Sloughter's commission. But Mather, who had returned to London, with "industry and discretion" persuaded the governor that the addition of Plymouth would be of "little service" and rather an "in- convenience" to New York, and so it was stricken out again. The providential illness of young Samuel Mather thus prevented the annexation of Plymouth to New York. At length the revised draft of Sloughter's commission was approved by the king and ordered to pass the great seal. 14 Novem. The same day Nicholson was consoled by being appointed Nicholson lieutenant governor of Virginia, under Lord Howard of Ef- fingham, who had returned to London. Phipps, who knew the ways at Whitehall, afterward asserted that Nicholson " was recommended by some that were about their Majes- ties, who for money got in many that were not for the King's interest ;" but his appointment by William to such an important colonial office was certainly an emphatic ap- proval of his administration in New York."
There was every reason why Sloughter should go at once to his government. It was known that the French had a design upon New York, and, if successful, would "put to the torture" some two hundred Huguenot families then in the province. The Bishop of London was appealed to in 30 Decem. their behalf, and urged to procure from the king authority for Leisler to secure New York until Sloughter should come, who would not be ready until the spring. But no such au- thority was given to Leisler. A number of London mer- chants trading to the American colonies earnestly petition- i., 196; Chalmers's Annals, i., 504; ii., OS ; Rev. Col., i., 242; Tindal, iii., 92-99 ; Macaulay, iii., 60-62.
* Col. Doc., ili., 622-629, 651, 719; iv., 8, 9, 10 : Doc. Hist., ii., 127 ; N. Y. H. S. Froc., 1942, 106; Coll., 1868, 298 ; Mass. H. S. Coll., xxxv., 210, 211, 226, 229, 231, 248, 276; Magnalia, i., 195; Hutch. Masa., i., 392, 305, 405-407 ; if., 451 : Coll., 536; Davis's Morton, 412-476 ; Plym- outh Ree., vi., 250; Burk's Virginia, ii., 310; Chalinerea Ann., i., 293, 347, 350 ; fi., 14, 90 ; Rev. Col., 211, 243, 261 ; Trumball, i., 3-8. 3ST, 537-540; Grahame, 1, 109, 271 ; Bancroft, iii., 66; Andros Tracts. Sloughtet's commission did not pass the great seal until 4 Jan- uary, 1000: Commissione, ii., 3; Col. Doc., lit., 623; Smith, 1., 109 ; post, p. COT.
lieutenant governor of Virginia.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
tave xi. ed the king to dispatch a large force at once to protect New York, which was " the center of all English Plaza-
16-2. tions in North America, and if lost, it will become a nest of French pirates." The campaign in Ireland, however. New York, and the wretched condition of the English navy, prevented duc attention being given to the situation of New York. which, of all William's American Plantations, most needed his promptest action."
While Sloughter's commission and instructions were vot 9 Novem. Stoll in London. under consideration, Ensign Jacob Stoll reached London and presented Leisler's dispatches of August to the king, who referred them to Secretary Shrewsbury. In a pomp- 16 Novem. ous memorial Stoll burlesqued his own great services, while he asked the approval of all Leisler's proceedings and a suspension of the governor's commission. Stoll's exertions, however, were of no avail. The boastful New York " dram- man" was foiled by the presence in London of Nicholson and Innis, who exposed the true character of Leisler's trans- actions ; and, as Sloughter was appointed governor, the af- fairs of the province must thenceforth pass through his hands. But Matthew Clarkson, who had come over with Stoll, fared much better. By a patent under the privy seal, the office of "Secretary of New York in America" was cre- ated and granted to Clarkson during the royal pleasure and his own residence in the province, with power to appoint deputies.+
6 Decem. appointed Secretary of New York.
After a long voyage Riggs arrived in Boston, and hasten- ed with his important dispatches to New York. On reach- ing there late on Sunday night, he called at Bayard's house, where Phillipse having come, Riggs exhibited his packets to them, and declared that, as in Nicholson's absence, they belonged to his council, being in answer to their letters of May, he would deliver them to the three counselors when- ever Van Cortlandt should join his colleagues in town; add- ing that he did not believe that Leisler would receive and * Col. Doc., Ill., 000-053 ; Macaulay, iii., 432-435; Chalmers's Annals, ii., 63, 91 ; Hist. Mag., xi., 333.
t Cel. Doc., ill., 597, 614, 616, 629-633, 731; viii., 321; Commissions, ii., 17, 13; Smith, i., 03; N. Y. H. S. Coll. (1968), 299 ; ante, 576. Secretary Clarkson came out to New York, a3 a young man, in 1656, probably at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, Captain Lodwyck. He was a son of the Reverend David Clark-on, of Yorkshire, England, an eminent noncon- formist divine (Neal's Puritans, ii., $52). In January, 1032, Matthew Clarkson was married to Catherina, daughter of Captain Gioven Gerritsen van Schaick, deceased, of Albany, and became the ancestor of the very respectable New York family now bearing his name.
8 Decem. Riggs re- turns to New York.
597
JACOB LEISLER, ACTING COMMANDER.
open them if they should be tendered to him. But before CHAP. XII. the three counselors could meet together the next morning, Leisler sent a lieutenant and two sergeants to convey Kiggs 9 Decem. 1689. to the fort. At Riggs's request, Van Cortlandt and Phil- lipse attended him thither. Leisler peremptorily demand- ed the English packets. Phillipse and Van Cortlandt, on the other hand, claimed them as addressed to them, being royal counselors deputed by the lieutenant governor "to preserve the peace during his absence and until his Majes- ty's pleasure should be known." Leisler then told Riggs that they had nothing to do with the government, that they were papists, and that the packets belonged to and were di- rected to him, who was commander-in-chief under the com- mission of the Council of Safety, which he exhibited. Upon this Riggs surrendered his dispatches to Leisler, who gave The dis. him a receipt, and, turning to the two counselors, called ; patches iven to them "Popishly affected, Dogs and Rogues," and, with Leisler. "many opprobrious words," ordered them out of the fort, " for they had no business there."*
These dispatches from England which Icisler thus seized were certainly intended for Nicholson, or, in his absence, Intention for the three counselors whom he had Jeft in charge of the of them. province. William's letter of 30 July meant Francis Nich- olson, and no one else, as his "Lieutenant Governor and commander in chief" of New York, and authorized him to perform the duties of that office. In Nicholson's absence, those duties were to be executed by " such as for the time being take care for preserving the peace," ete., in the prov- ince; and this duty William expected would be done by his resident counselors Phillipse, Van Cortlandt, and Bay- ard, of whom the first named was to act as " president," ac- cording to the commissions given by his predecessor to Don- gan and Andros, the words of which were followed in that which he himself gave to Sloughter. The king's letter, therefore, was intended for, and ought to have been deliv- ered to, the oldest counselor, Frederick Phillipse, who should then have acted as President of New York.t.
* Col. Doc., iii., 633-635, 643. 643, 654. 656, 664, 675, 676, 750; Doc. Hist., ii., 28, 88, 926, 232, 246; Smith, i., 94; Dunlap, i., 166, 167; Wood, 106 ; N. Y. H. S. Coll. (1865), 229, 326, 360, 27S.
+ Col. Doc., ill., 352, 512, 505, 000, 629, 623, 64), 673, 655, 750 ; iv., 1019; ante, 570. Dun- lap, i., 100, alters the address on the king's letter from such as "take care," etc., to such as " takes care," and argues that " thus the person at the head of the Government," mean-
£
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
But Leisler had now gotten the king's letter in his hands. It was the first royal letter he had seen. It was a sort of '. (rodsend, and he determined to use it for his own advan- tage. The train-band captain was in possession of the fort of New York; and in August, ten of his tools, calling them- selves a "Committee of Safety," had signed a commission appointing him to be " commander in chief" of the whole. ! I-ler's province. This impudent assumption of authority had been rejected by all the counties of the province except those near the guns of Fort William. But the German dema- gogne, who had hitherto pretended that "the people" of New York had given him power, now changed his tactics. Leisler saw that the time had come when he might, with equal right, pretend that he was the royal instead of the democratic chief of New York, and he acted boldly, yet cunningly. He carefully concealed William's letter to Nicholson from all except his own adherents, because he knew that it had not been meant for him; but he anda- ciously declared that " he had received a commission to be their Majesties' Lieutenant Governor, and that all their ac- tions were well approved of."" Finding that this false- hood was believed, Leisler unwarrantably " esteemed his own authority to have received the royal sanction." He at once assumed the station and the title of "Lieutenant 10 Decem. Governor" of New York, and he caused William and Mary to be proclaimed anew, according to the form which the English Privy Council had directed Nicholson, or his coun- 11 Decem. selors, to follow. The next day Leisler called together De la Noy, Edsall, Beekman, and others of his friends, to ad- vise who should be his council. The king's directions to Nicholson were that these counselors should be "the prin- cipal freeholders and inhabitants." . Among these were as- suredly Phillipse, Van Cortlandt. Bayard, and Minvielle, of New York : Smith. Nicolls, and Younge, of Long Island ; Schuyler, Wessels, Bleecker, Van Schaick, Van Rensselaer, and Livingston, of Albany-all of them good Protestants. But the devotees to himself whom Leisler selected as his advisers were Peter de la Noy, Samuel Staats, Hendrick
ing Leisler, "was empowered to take the chief command" of the province, which was not the case. C. F. Hoffman reiterates Dunlap : Sparky's Am. Bing., xiii., 210.
* Col. Doc., ill., 606, 676, 764. William's letter to Nicholson "was not openly communi- cated" to the people during Leider's rule: Doc. Hist., il., 202, 221.
599
JACOB LEISLER, ACTING LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.
Jansen, and Johannes Vermilye, for New York; Gerardus CHAP. XII. Beekman, for Kings; Samuel Edsall, for Queens; Thomas Williams, for Westchester; and William Lawrence, for Or-
1689. ange. Most of these had been members of the late "Com- counselors. Leisler's mittee of Safety," and all of them were now chosen by Leisler to be his royal counselors, because he knew they were " for his turn." Jacob Milborne was appointed sec- retary of the province and clerk of the Council, and he, with De la Noy, Staats, and Edsall, formed Leisler's "root," or cabinet. On Sunday the German usurper took his seat in the governor's pew in the old Dutch church, "with a large carpet before him," while his new advisers sat in the Council's pew ; and thus a vulgar vanity was gratified."
As the king's provincial seal for New York of 1687 had been broken by Andros in 1688, another was manufactured Leisler by altering the Duke of York's coronet in his old seal of seal for makes & 1669, and placing the crown of England in its stead. Thus New York. a royal prerogative was boldly, perhaps ignorantly, usurped by Leisler. It was also ordered and proclaimed that the 16 Decem. customs and excise duties settled by the colonial act of 1683 remained in force, and should be collected. The act Duties to had been disallowed by King James, but the duties it levied ci. be collect- had been continued by order of Dongan and his Council. Leisler himself had refused to pay duties under that order; but now he attempted to enforce, by his own arbitrary de- cree, an act of a " Popish Governor," which bis inconsistent logic had, up to this time, argued to be " null and void."t
The people, however, objected to Leisler's proclamation, which was torn down from the door of the custom-house, and another paper affixed in its place showing its illegality. Upon this Leisler issued another proclamation, forbidding 20 Decera. any person to deface or take away any paper affixed "by object. the authority of this Province or city." Several persons were soon arrested under this order, and imprisoned in the 23 Decem. fort during Leisler's will and pleasure. Others were arrest- ed, and bail was refused until they would petition the usurp- ing captain for release under the title of "Lieutenant Goy- ernor."#
The people
' Col. Doc., ili., 605, 606, 636, 654, 676, 504: iv., 1111; Doc. ITist., ii., 26, 27, 23, 246; Chal- mers's Ann., i., 592; Rev. Col., i., 213; Smith, 1., 94; Bancroft, ilf., 52 ; Dunlap, i., 166, 163. + Col. Doc., ill., 251, 370, 676, 6:1, 658 ; iv., 1015 ; Dse. Ili t., ii., 20, 30; iv., 14, 2'; ante, 157,512, 559.
$ Dọc. Ilist .. il., 30; Col. Doc., ill., 678-691.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
New commissions were quickly issued by Leisler, making his friends justices, sheriffs, and military officers in the va- rious counties of New York. But as those issued by Don- gan and Andros were generally esteemed to be in full force, an order was issued requiring all persons holding them to surrender them to the nearest magistrate, and all who re- fused were "to be deemed and esteemed as persons ill-af- fected to this government, and unfit for bearing office, or having any trust reposed in them whatsoever, and to be re- garded as the case shall require."*
1690. 11 Jan. 15 JAL
90 Jan. Jeister's Courts.
Courts of Oyer and Terminer were also commissioned for New York and Queens county. Finding that the peo- ple would not obey his order establishing custom and ex- cise duties, Leisler erected a Court of Exchequer. This tri- bunal quickly summoned the recusants, and compelled pay- ment by distresses, notwithstanding Thomas Clarke, in be- half of the defendants, objected that no member of the pre- tended court had a commission from King William to be a baron of his exchequer.t
' A Jar. Liter's lettera to the king
Leisler now wrote to the king that he had acted on the royal letter addressed to Nicholson, " although two of Sir Edmund Andros's Council pretended thereunto;" and he declared that his conduct was "to the great satisfaction of the generality" of his majesty's liege subjects in the gov- ernment. Another letter, signed by Leisler and some of his Council, was addressed to Bishop Burnet, of Salisbury, setting forth in greater detail what had just been done in New York. Both these letters were sent by way of Bos- ton, and were evidently drawn up by Jacob Milborne, the secretary of the province under Leisler's appointment."#
As it was known that the king had ordered that Andros, Randolph, West, Farewell, and the others whom the Boston insurgents had imprisoned should be sent to London, letters to some of them were written by Bayard, Van Cortlandt, Nicolls, and others, which were given by Colonel Lewis Mor- ris to the post-rider, John Perry, as he passed his house in Westchester. Fearing that the truth would be made known
* Doc. ITist., ii., 32, 196-199.
f Col. Doc., fil., 613, 673, 653 ; Col. MSS., xxxvi., 142; Doc. Hist., il., 36. The members of Lei-ler's Court of Exchequer were Samuel Edeall, Benjamin Blagge, Johannis Provoost, Hendrick Jansen, and John Couwenhoven.
: Cel. Doc., ilt., 653-657, 700, 331; Dec. Iist., il., 80, 247.
$3 lecom.
1
601
JACOB LEISLER, ACTING LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.
in England, Leisler declared that he had " detected a hell- CHAP. XII. ish conspiracy" to subvert the king's government in New York, and ordered Lieutenant Daniel Terneure to arrest 3 Jan. 1690. the postman to Boston, and bring him, with his papers, to the fort. Perry was accordingly brought before Leisler, who opened and read the letters he carried, and put him in 16 Jan. Perry's let- prison. As they reflected on him very severely, Leisler or- ters seized. dered their writers, Bayard, Van Cortlandt, Brockholls, Mor- Their writ- 17 Jan, ris, Nicolls, and Recd, to be apprehended and brought be- apprehend- ers to be fore him for " writing execrable lies and pernicious false- ed. hoods." Private correspondence, proverbially sacred, was thus violated to serve a partisan despotie power. Leisler now declared " that he was invested with such a power as in a little time he could command the head of any man in the Province, and it would be forthwith brought him." Bayard and Nicolls were soon arrested and imprisoned in Bayardand the fort ; but Van Cortlandt escaped. The low spite of the prisoned. Nicolls im- German demagogue was chiefly manifested against his old colonel, Bayard, whom, with brutal triumph, he caused to be carried in chains around the ramparts of Fort William. Ill in body, and dejected in spirit, Bayard was obliged to :4 Jan. ask freedom from his upstart persecutor under his assumed style of "Lieutenant Governor" of New York. Even this submission produced no effect. Abundant bail was offered and refused, and for thirteen months Bayard and Nicolls were kept in close confinement, while their houses were pil- laged to gratify the vulgar malice of Leisler and his fol- lowers."
The usurper at New York had meanwhile been greatly 1689. troubled that Albany would not submit to him. Acquaint- ed by Milborne with the characters of the principal men there, Leisler acted with prompt decision. Ile issued his 28 Decem. own commission to Captain Jochim Staats to take posses- letters to Leisler's sion of "the fort Orange," and command it until farther Albany.
* Doc. Ilist., ii., 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 101, 246. 247 ; N. Y. IT. S. Coll. (1869), 379 ; Col. Doc., iil., C57, 661-603, 082-634, 702, 716, 721; Dunlap, 1., 168, 169, 171, 172; ante, 503. An ac- count of Leisler's proceedings to the 21st of January, 1620, was drawn up-probably by Bay- ard and Nicolle, and their friends-which they meant to have presented to the Mayor's Court of New York on the 25th of January, But the "fury and rage" of Lei-ler prevent- ed this, and their paper, under the title of "A modest and Impartial Narrative," etc., was printed at Roston, and afterward reprinted at London: Col. Doc., ill., 605-664; Dunlap, i., 167, 109. It is written with acrimony, and perhaps is somewhat unju-t; yet, without it< help, a fair account of New York affairs at that time could not now be given. This pamphlet was not printed et New York, as its title-pige states, for there was no press there in 1690.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Ke xi orders. Leisler also wrote to the Albany magistrates and to Staats, directing "a free election" to be made for a may- or and aldermen; but he carefully named the persons he was " willing to have chosen, if the people will elect them.""
1600. 4 protion
1. Jan.
Seksyler
pretell- elons.
When these letters reached Albany, Schuyler assembled the Convention, which called on Staats to produce his or- ders, and show that Leisler had been made lieutenant gov- ernor by the king, in which case they would cheerfully obey. Staats, however, only exhibited the orders sent him by Leis- ler, but not the king's letter to Nicholson. The next day the officers of the county of Albany were convened to give their opinions whether Leisler should be acknowledged as lieutenant governor. Schuyler, the mayor, voted " that he can not acknowledge the said Captain Leisler to be Lieu- tenant Governor and Commander in Chief of this Prov- ince, nor obey his orders, 'till he hath shown that he hath lawful authority from his most sacred majesty, King Wil- liam, so to be." This was plain good sense. The other officers were " of the same opinion with the mayor," except Captains Wendell and Bleecker, who could not " compre- hend" the matter. The opinions of Captain Bull and En- sign Bennet, of the Connecticut forces, being asked, they said that for any thing that yet had been seen or heard, they had " no reason to conclude that Captain Jacob Leis- jer is either Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief of the Province of New York." Leisler's cunning in " not openly communicating" the king's letter to Nicholson thus served " his turn," but it was a sad calamity to the prov- ince.+
M'. adell Livet ker "rompre-
13 Jan. Albany Irlara
The Albany Convention now issued the ablest document which had been written in New York since the imprison- ment of Andros. It declared that "Jacob Leisler, of the City of New York, merchant," with "restless and ambitious spirit," had assumed unlawful power and the title of lieu- tenant governor of the province, "without the least shadow of orders or anthority so to do from his most sacred maj- esty King William," and that the king's letter to Nicholson was as much directed to them in Albany as it was to Leis- ler in New York. Moreover, in this juncture Leisler had
* Doc. ITist., ii., 80, 31. 51.
+ Col. Doc., ill., 606, 676, 364; Doc. ITist., li., $2, 83, 202, 221 ; Dunlap, i., 162, 170.
£
603
JACOB LEISLER, ACTING LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.
made " new confusion when peace and unity is most requi- CHAP. XII. site," by sending his commissions and seditious letters, " so that great part of the time must be spent to defeat the said 1690. Leisler's pernicious and malicious designs which otherwise could be employed to resist upon all occasions the common enemy." Staats was therefore prohibited from disturbing the peace, under Leisler's pretended authority, " upon pain of rebellion." This protest was published with great for- mality "in English and Dutch" before the church and at the fort. It was signed and sealed by all the county offi- cers except Captains Wendell and Bleecker, who would " have nothing to doe with the Protest, when they heard it read."
The logie of this manifesto could not be confuted; but events were now at hand which subordinated all provincial jealousies. Suspecting that the French intended to invade New York, the Convention employed the Mohawks to keep 20 Jan. Mohawk
scouts on Lake Champlain, and report any hostile move- scouta. ment at once. This they faithfully promised to do; but 21 Jan. they were not vigilant enough."
Upon receiving his instructions, Frontenac, accompanied 1689. by Callières, had set out from Paris full of hope, anticipat- June. ing a rapid conquest of New York. But, owing to various mischances, it was not until the middle of September that september. he reached Acadia, whence he went on to Quebec, after at Quebec. Frontenac ordering Caffinière, who commanded the ships, to cruise be- fore New York until the tenth of December, when he was to return to France if no news reached him from the land side. Crowds welcomed " the Redeemer of Canada" as he is Oct. landed at Quebec. The news of the late irruption of the Iroquois at Montreal obliged him to hasten thither, where 33 Oct. he found Denonville in great embarrassment. Frontenac quest of The con- at once saw that the projected conquest of New York must abandozed. New York be abandoned. The Iroquois and the English were both on their guard, and the Canadians reduced to the defensive. Even his favorite fort at Cataracouv, which bore his own name, had been evacuated. Frontenac had reached Canada fully three months too late.t
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