USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 12
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Whether in spite of his declared leaning to the other party, he was still desirous of placating the people, and if possible reconcile the factions by concessions, he certainly in one important partienlar hon- ored the adherents of the defeated Leisler. In 1691 Abraham De Peyster had been appointed Mayor by Sloughter. In two successive years, 1692 and 1693, he was reappointed by Fletcher, and in 1694 Charles Lodowick received the appointment. We at once recognize these names as among those six captains of militia who shared with Leisler the responsibility of deposing Nicholson and his council. In- deed, Lodowick was the one to whose lot it fell to demand the keys of fort and city from the Lieutenant-Governor. . For the remainder of Fletcher's term the Mayoralty was intrusted to Captain William Merritt, who was appointed three years in succession. He was an Englishman who gave up the sea and became a merchant in New York in 1671. His store and residence were on Broad street between Stone and Marketfield streets, thus almost op- posite the outdoor ex- 5 change on the bridge over the canal, as long as it was held there. He once [1687] represented the Ont Ward as Alder- man, living then about where Chatham Square is now. But in 1691 he is back in the Dock CORNER BROAD STREET AND GARDEN STREET ( EXCHANGE PLACE). Ward. It is said that he belonged to the anti- Leisler party. but no one can complain that partiality made the Gov- ernor select him for Mayor after the two previous appointees to the office.
A curions and characteristic feature of life in New York came to its culmination during the period we have now under consideration. New York was pre-eminently a seaport ; from its situation it could not well be anything else. All that belonged to sea-life in those days found ample reflection in the pursuits and ambitions of her citizens. There was no encouragement for manufacturers. Enterprise in this direction was systematically repressed. Every attempt was met by a stubborn refusal for many generations. "The prejudice of our manufactories at home " rose up constantly before the minds of the statesmen of the mother country; and the people of the colonies must not be allowed to do anything that would have such a baneful effect. Yet in 1708 three-quarters of the linen stuffs of the coarser sort in use
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in the colony of New York were made by the people themselves. Doubtless the home work of the women could not be so easily stran- gled. But when one of the Provincial Conneil asked leave to engage in ship building, and showed to how great advantage to England it could be carried on, he received a flat refusal. The same policy of taxes and restrictions on the colonists, to the advantage of England, prevailed in the matter of commerce and trade. The colonies were permitted to engage in trade with England only, in ships built in England, commanded by English or colonial captains. The people here had to pay a tax of 5 per cent. on all goods exported or imported; there was also a tax on trade between the colonies themselves; ex- ports to countries other than England were forbidden altogether. Now in the course of the frequent wars among the several European powers, it had come to be a practice to fit ont privateers. The New York merchants engaged enthusiastically in this business. A priva- teer might get itself sent to the bottom; but then also it might return with the spoils of several valuable prizes, and in such a case the profits on the original investment were enormous. So the risks were frequently taken. But when war languished profits grew less. It was then that the privateers ventured upon more questionable pro- ceedings. They still brought in valuable cargoes of all sorts, and it soon began to be whispered abont that the privateers had become pirates. No very searching inquiries were made. The captains who brought home rich prizes, on which vast profits were made by the merchants who sent them ont, were treated with great consideration by all classes of citizens. The crews often gave trouble and occa- sioned riots in the streets, but this only added pignancy and stir to the life of the seaport. But in order to realize the greater profits, it was necessary to evade the custom-house officers, and so a brisk career of smuggling was added to the other accomplishments of the mer- chant marine. Cooper's " Waterwitch " makes us acquainted with one of those gallant skippers, who might be privateer, pirate, and smuggler combined. Many of the younger sons of merchants had gained experience of a varied kind on the ships of their sires. The most approved course usually pursued was to load a ship with goods for exchange or sale on the island of Madagascar. Rum costing two shillings per gallon in New York would fetch fifty to sixty shillings in Madagascar. A pipe of Madeira wine costing nineteen pounds in New York could be sold for three hundred pounds in that distant island. Not that just so much specie would be given for these articles there. But here was the rendezvous of the pirates or buccaneers of the Indian ocean, and the goods they offered in exchange were ex- tremely costly. Frederick Philipse and others of his rank and class found great returns in such investments, and many a ship was fitted ont by them for the Madagascar trade.
So open had been the countenance given to these questionable
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transactions by Governor Fletcher, that it resulted in his recall, and the Earl of Bellomont was made his successor with express instrue- tions to suppress them. It is in connection with this nobleman that our history comes upon that interesting and romantic individual, Captain William Kidd, the hero of legend and myth, of haunted shores and phantom ships. The story begins in a manner sufficiently prosaie. In order to rid the seas of the pirates that infested them in every direction, Captain Kidd, known as a bold and skillful mariner, was provided with a good ship at a generons expense, so that she might be well equipped for her perilous service. Several individuals shared the burden of this ontfit, among them' no less a person than King William III. The Earl of Bellomont, not as yet Governor, some other English noblemen, and Robert Livingston, of the New York colony, also formed a part of this unique company. Of course the treasures Kidd should recover from the vanquished pirates would serve as a return for their investment in this laudable enterprise. Captain Kidd did fine work. He started in October, 1696, and for a while captured pirate after pirate on the Atlantic, duly reporting his achievements from time to time. But it was a fatal moment for him when he went into the Indian ocean and breathed the air of Mada- gascar. lle now changed vessels and became a pirate himself. It may be suspected he had had a taste of that profession before, and that because a thief was set at catching thieves, the original plan appeared so feasible. On his return to America it was his fate to be captured by one of the partners in the enterprise as first conceived. The Earl of Bellomont was now Governor of New York and Massa- chusetts, and before him, at Boston, Kidd was brought on July 6, 1699. Ile had sought to evade arrest by hiding among the bays of Long Island Sound. At Block Island and Gardiner's Island he had spent some time, and met with friends or relatives. Before he finally made up his mind to cast himself upon the mercy of Bellomont, it is said he buried his treasure on Gardiner's Island. He made no secret of it before the proper authorities, and the treasure was duly removed later. But the rumors of this proceeding went through the colonies, and down to this day anxions searchers have hoped to find pots of gold and silver coins anywhere along the northern or southern shores of the Sound. Kidd's piracy was too clearly proved to leave a doubt of it, or to make it possible for the great people who had sent him forth upon an honest quest to save him from the gallows. Hle was exeented in May, 1701.
It is pleasant to turn from this somewhat exciting topic of the pirates, involving in discredit the most noted and highly placed citi- zeus as well as Governor Fletcher himself, to an act that was entirely meritorions. Fletcher was Governor of Pennsylvania as well as of New York, and he had at one time been called to Philadelphia to ex- ercise judicial functions at the trial of a Philadelphia printer, Will-
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iam Bradford, who had printed something to the distaste of the Quaker authorities. Fletcher seized the opportunity to invite Brad- ford to settle in New York City, transferring his presses and work- men thither. At Fletcher's instance he was offered a salary of forty ponnds per ammim, over and above what he might earn at the exer- rise of his trade. This was a very commendable proceeding. While printing had been introduced at Boston and Philadelphia long before this, it was here first that it was encouraged by government aid, and that the printer who established himself was recognized as an official of the colony. The council's resolution creating the office was dated Pont of Themay Styrty Pin Greivin Jos LOW Promp of now short, the Sum of Two Domat Eight, Rilangy and Sid for sundries un Supplyed for his offer With firmy Reino tour March. 1693. In April Brad- ford had already begun his work, establishing his shop on Hanover Square, corner of William Street, and sev- eral pamphlets and placards proceeded from his press during this year. He lived to a good old age, as we shall FAC-SIMILE LETTER OF BRADFORD. have occasion to note in fol- lowing chapters. Thirty-two years after his settlement in our city. he began the issue of the first New York newspaper. In 1693 he was just thirty years of age.
It was during Fletcher's time that the " Bolting " monopoly, granted under Andros sixteen years before, and enlarged by Dongan. was finally abolished, against the strennons opposition of the city fathers. They showed what prosperity had come to the city from the monopoly, and presaged disaster from its abolishment. But the measure bore too heavily against the ontlying towns, and New York has managed to survive and prosper withont it. New streets were added abont this time. In 1696 Maiden Lane was laid ont, the first street to be ventured on ontside of Wall street ; and at the same time Nassau Street was begun as a cartway. It was indicated by a rather lengthy description: " the street that runs by the piewoman's, lead- ing to the city commons." The name of Kip Street was first applied to it. The first bridge that over connected this island with the main- land, or other islands, was built in 1693 by Frederick Philipse. Pro- vided he would build a substantial drawbridge over the Spurten Duyvil creek, connecting his manor of Philipseburg with Manhattan, the Common Council permitted him to charge certain specified fares for passsengers, wagons, and cattle. From time to time proclama- tions would be issued by the Governor in English and Dutch, per- mitting collections of money to be made for the ransom of citizens from the hands of Turks, Moors, or pirates. In apprehension of an ineursion of French and Indians from Canada, the old palisades on Wall Street were again repaired, and a part of the Battery Park
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filled in, so as to make a platform for the planting of cannon in front of the fort, whence both the East and the North rivers could be com- manded. In 1697 the important matter of lighting the streets was first attended to. At every seventh honse a pole was projected over the roadway, from which was suspended a lantern with a can- dle. When there was a " light. moon " the lantern was not hung ont; and the expense was further lightened by each of the seven houses sharing the burden of it. A night-watch of four men, carrying the ok rattle as of yore, patrolled the streets at night, to render the shim- bers of the citizens more secure.
New York during the earlier years of Governor Fletcher's term had a population of about four thousand souls. It was natural that it was thought the time had come for more extensive church accom- modations. Still did the Dutch and English congregations repair to the old church in the fort, and take their turns at worship in the now somewhat dilapidated edifice, which had attained the venerable age of half-a-century. As soon as it was vacated Governor Fletcher spent 900 pounds for repairs in order to put it into good condition for use as a Chapel for the garrison. It was therefore a matter of necessity much more than one of pride which induced the Dutch con- gregation to think of building a new Church,-its appearance to be somewhat more in accord with their increased wealth, and its size more adapted to their increased numbers. In April, 1688, with this object in view, the Board of Elders and Deacons had requested Gov ernor Dongan that, " under the name and style of the Minister or Min- isters, Elders, and Deacons of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church," he would grant them incorporation, so that they as a body might be " capable in law to have, hold, and enjoy lands and tenements." For it was necessary to go outside of the fort, and land must be acquired for the new Church. Where should they go? There was a new street parallel to Wall, and south of it, branching off from Broad just at the point where the head of its canal used to be. It was called Garden Street, for there were not many honses on it yet, mostly gardens. The widow of Domine Drisius had an orchard there, and for a merely nominal sum she offered a piece of ground sufficient for the Church. But it was objected that it was too far uptown! The majority of the officers or people, however, determined to build there. It was pos- sible the town might grow up around the vicinity of the Church: it was possible it might grow even beyond that distant region! So in that wild hope the widow's land was bought in 1690. But the con- struction was not begun till some time after, for the church was not ready for services till 1693, and even then it was not quite finished. Fortunately there is a record of its cost and of its exact appearance, matters of no small interest as we consider that this church was the first specimen of ecclesiastical architecture that is worthy of the name in our city, now adorned by so many structures that may well
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challenge the admiration of the world. Its total cost as estimated in 1695 when it was fully done, was 64,178 florins of $27,671, and a contemporary manuscript furnishes the following description of it: " It was an oblong square, with three sides of an octagon on the east side. In the front it had a brick steeple, on a large square foundation. so as to admit a room above the entry for a consistory room. The win- dows of the church were small panes of glass set in lead. The most of them had coats of arms of those who had been elders and magis- trates." It is said the church would seat twelve hundred people and Domine Selyns's preaching was so much liked that the pews were filled every Sunday. He was getting along in years, so that he needed an assistant : but no additional pastor was called until 1699, two years before his death, when Domine Gualterns (Walter) Du Bois began a pastorate which was destined to exceed half a century. Selyns was a man of various parts; an eloquent speaker; a poet of some merit both in Dutch and Latin; and he had a keen eye for the temporal interests of the church. It was dne to his efforts that the Dutch Church obtained a charter in 1696; and that charter saved it -- and every other Dutch Church that secured one in imitation of New York's example from serious annoyance if not actual destruc- tion. Fletcher had come over to America full of the idea of establish- ing the Church of England. Ile repeatedly sought to force an act through the Assembly which would have compelled the appointment of vestrymen and wardens in every community, and enforced the col- lection of tithes for an established ministry. Had this gone through the members of Dutch, French, Lutheran and other Churches would have had to support ministers of the English Church, as well as their own, and this double support of the Gospel could hardly have been long kept up. Domine Selyns saw the danger ahead, prepared and secured his charter before the act was passed ; and by virtue of it the Dutch Church was enabled to hold property, and could collect tithes from its members for the support of their own ministers, thereby ex- eluding such demands for ministers of any other Church.
If the Dutch people began to find the Church in the fort unsuitable. so did the English congregation. Hence steps were soon under way for the erection of a building for the services of the Church of Eng- land. A petition for aid in the matter was addressed to Governor Fletcher, and he granted permission to collect moneys, and also gave the petitioners a piece of land to derive an income from for seven years beginning with August, 1697. In 1704 this land was given out and out. It was the property called the King's Farm, formerly the West India Company's Farm or Garden, and it is in the possession of Trinity Church to this day. Thus encouraged the petitioners be- gan to build a church on the site now so well known, opposite Wall Street on Broadway, still further uptown than the Dutch church. But it was now 1697, four years since the other was completed. Be-
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fore Trinity Church was done a rector was called, the Rev. William Vesey. Meanwhile occasionally the English congregation had wor- shiped in the Garden Street church, and here when Mr. Vesey had been duly ordained by the Bishop of London, he was indueted into the rectorship Christmas day, 1697, by the aid of Domine Selyns, and one other Dutch minister, Domine Nucella, summoned from Kingston for that purpose by the Governor. In Febru- ary, 1698, the first of Trinity's edifices was ready. It was altered and on- larged in 1737, and stood until de- stroyed by fire in 1776. It had a very tall steeple, which is said to have been badly con- structed, and " fell by its own weight " in 1708. The chapel in the fort was now reserved for the garrison only, and the Rev. John Miller was the chaplain there.
In 1688 the numbers of the French refugees had so increased that they put up a small building in Marketfield Street for GARDEN STREET (EXCHANGE PLACE) CHURCH, 1693. their religious services, this leaving the church-in-the-fort to the Dutch and English. But prospering as the years went by, a next advance was made by the building of a substantial elmirch of quarry stone in Pine Street near Nassau. A square tower like a campanile stood up against the side wall, a little octagonal extension by its side giving access to the interior. The cornerstone was laid on July 8, 1704. So that at the close of the period of which we are now treating, New Yorkers rejoiced in the possession of three church edifices of quite re- spectable appearance, besides the renovated chapel in the fort.
It is worthy of remark that three of the governors who ruled the Province and resided at New York during the period to which we have restricted ourselves in this chapter, belonged to the peerage of Great Britain: the Earl of Bellomont, Viscount Cornbury (who be- came Earl Clarendon before he left the country), and Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurley. Of these the first and third were men of the highest character. Bellomont was in hearty sympathy with popular rights, and sided strongly with the Leislerian party. His integrity was full proof against the temptations to condone piracy and custom-house
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evasions, to which Fletcher had succumbed. But of course his faith- fulness to duty in these particulars hardly conduced to his popu- larity. Yet on his death in March, 1701, there was a universal expres- sion of grief and appreciation of his real worth. In New England a fast day was appointed. The Earl was buried in a leaden coffin in the chapel in the fort, and in 1790, when the fort was taken down finally, the coffin was removed to St. Paul's churchyard. It is a enri- ons coincidence that Lord Lovelace also met with his death at his post. He arrived in the winter of 1708-9, one of the severest in the history of our country and of Europe. His vessel having been driven up into Buzzard's Bay by a storm, he came down the Sound toward New York. But the ice in the East River was so solid that he was compelled to land at Flushing, take a long, slow ride through drifts of snow over Long Island roads to the ferry, and spend a tedions and chilling time crossing the ice-choked river. He was accompanied by his wife and three sons. Before five months were gone two of these sons and Lord Lovelace himself had fallen victims to some pulmonary complaint, perhaps pneumonia, contracted during these wintry ex- periences.
Of these three peers, of whom the two just mentioned were among the best governors ever sent over, Lord Cornbury enjoys the distinc- tion of being by far the worst as Governor and the unworthiest as a man, who ever ruled this province. In 1702 King William III. was succeeded by Queen Anne, and Anne's mother was the sister of Lord Clarendon, Cornbury's father. This close relationship with royalty made him excessively vain. It had not prevented him from shame- lessly deserting his muele, James 11. le exhibited the same utter absence of gratitude and common decency soon after his arrival. During the first summer of his residence in New York a pestilence visited the city. It is supposed to have been the earliest infliction of the yellow fever scourge so often destined to deplete our population, a ship from the island of St. Thomas in the West Indies spreading the contagion. Cornbury and family and all the Council tled to Jamaica, 1. I. The pastor of the Presbyterian Church there, the Rev. Mr. Inb- bard, at once vacated his commodious parsonage to accommodate the Governor, contenting himself with more inconvenient quarters. A year or more later Cornbury gave orders to the Sheriff to dispossess the pastor and people of church and manse and glebe, and turn them over to the use of the Episcopal Church, on the ground that " the Church and Parsonage having been built by Public Act,"-i.c., the AAssembly under Fletcher having given them permission, like the Dutch Church, to collect tithes from their members to finish the building and pay the minister,-" it could belong to none but the Church of England." It was not till 1728 that the Presbyterians got back their own again permanently. Of a piece with this exhibition of conscienceless bigotry was the imprisonment of two Presbyterian
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ministers in New York in 1707. The Revs. John Hampton of Mary- land and Francis Makemie of Virginia passed through the city on their way to Boston. The Presbyterians had as yet no church in New York, but held their services in private houses. But no sooner did the Dutch and French people learn of the presence in town of these two divines, than they at once offered them the use of their churches to preach in on the next Sunday, provided they would obtain the Governor's consent. As they were licensed to preach in their respec- tive provinces they declined to ask permission. Makemie preached at a private house in the city, and Hampton in the church at Newtown, 1. I. For this they were cast into prison by Cornbury. Their trial resulted in their acquittal, but not till after they had suffered seven weeks of confinement. The proceeding wrought up the citizens of every persuasion to such a pitch of indignation that the cowardly Cornbury took fright, and sought to justify himself for his action be- fore the Lords of Trade in England.
But the people of New York had far more serious complaints against their " noble" Governor. He was thoroughly corrupt in money matters. Funds raised by subscription among the citizens to erect fortifications at the Narrows and other points in the harbor, were fraudulently diverted by Cornbury to his own use. Ile con- tracted debts right and left, which he could not be made to pay while in office. Immediately upon his recall his creditors caused his arrest and imprisonment; but that is all the satisfaction they obtained; for while thus in prison his father died, making him Earl of Clarendon and a member of the House of Lords. He was now exempt by Eng- lish law from being held for debt; and he took advantage of this law to leave the country without paying those whom he owed. Judge William Smith, a contemporary, in his history of New York sums up Cornbury's career in the following unmistakable terms: " We never had a Governor so universally detested, nor any who so richly de- serves the public abhorrence. In spite of his noble descent, his be- havior was trifling, mean, and extravagant. It was not uncommon for him to dress in a woman's habit, and then to patrol the fort in which he lived. Such freaks of low humor exposed him to the univer- sal contempt of the whole people. Their indignation was kindled by his despotie rule, savage bigotry, insatiable avarice and injustice, not only to the public, but even his private creditors."
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