USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 13
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In 1700, the closing year of the seventeenth century, New York had a population of about forty-two hundred sonls. The bounds formerly set to it by the palisades along Wall Street, had now been exceeded from time to time. Along Broadway, and Maiden Lane, and Nassan Street, honses were going up. And the appearance of these houses was very attractive. They were now mostly built of brick, of various colors sometimes, and tastefully or enriously arranged in blocks, or squares, or diamonds, of different hnes. Garden Street Church and
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Trinity on Broadway lent dignity to the growing city; and it was now felt that a municipal building of some pretension should take the place of the old City Hall which had done service since 1653, and was built for a tavern or hotel as long ago as 1642. It had become unfit for use, and the Courts and Council were accustomed to meet at the house of a private citi- zen next door. Ex-Mayor Abraham De Peyster owned several lots on the north side of Wall Street, and he donated to the city one facing Broad for the purpose of erecting a City Hall upon it. Funds were raised by selling the old build- ing (bought by one John Rod- man for 920 pounds) and mort- gaging the ferry lease for fif- CITY HALL, 1700. teen years. Work was begun in 1699 and completed in 1700. It stood on the site now occupied by the Sub-Treasury Building, was honored in being used as the first Capitol for the sessions of the Congress of the Republic, and here Washington was inaugurated in 1789. The original building was two stories high, with a portico between two projecting wings. On the second story were the rooms for the Common Council and the Provincial Council in either wing, while the court-room was in the central part. In the cellar were cells for the imprisonment of offenders.
Scarce was this building a year old when it became the scene of a serious municipal contest, growing out of the division of the citizens into the two parties of the Leislerians and anti-Leislerians. In the year 1700 Isaac De Riemer was Mayor. He was connected by an- cestry with the Gouverneur family, and was himself of the Leisler party. In 1701 Thomas Noell, an anti-Leislerian, received the ap- pointment of Mayor, and Abraham Gouverneur, now the husband of Mrs. Milborne, Leisler's daughter, was made Recorder. The election for Aldermen and Assistants in the various wards resulted in the un- disputed election of anti-Leislerians in the Dock Ward, and of Leis- lerians in the Out Ward and North Ward. The results in the other three wards were doubtful and the returns close. The Leislerian can- didates claimed the election, but fearing that the new Mayor would refuse to concede it and decline to administer the oaths, they had themselves sworn in by the retiring Mayor, who was of their party. Mayor Noell as promptly administered the oaths to the anti-Leisler- ian candidates of the disputed wards. Thus there were two sets of Councilmen who claimed to be duly inducted. No business could be done at the first session in October. In November matters had not
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grown more pacific; twenty members instead of the proper twelve took their seats in the Council room, and business was again at a standstill. The Mayor now gave the decision into the hands of the Provincial Conrt, and the Chief Justice allayed the trouble in Decem- ber by seating the Leislerian candidates of the East Ward, and the anti-Leislerians of the West and South Wards, leaving the Council evenly divided between the two parties.
Another echo of the fatal clash of parties earlier in this period was heard after the death of Bellomont. The Earl had taken decisive ground against the enemies of Leisler, and had himself honored by his presence the reburial of Leisler's and Milborne's remains in the Garden Street churchyard. But his hand was strong enough to re- strain excessive reactionary vengeance on the part of those now in power. No sooner was he dead than the Leislerian majority in the Council and Assembly seized the opportunity to do violence to their old opponents. Robert Livingston was expelled from the Council, and his property confiscated, while Nicholas Bayard was arraigned for treason on the ground of a law he had himself been the means of enacting in order to condemn Leisler. On March 9, 1701, Bayard was convicted and sentenced to death. Yet it must have been intended to frighten him rather than really destroy him. The trial was allowed to linger on. A reprieve was granted so the King could be heard from, but yet not until a humiliating confession had been forced from him. There can be no doubt that Bayard was a coward, which may account for his cruelty in the case of Leisler. He cringed to the latter when his life seemed in danger in 1690, and was pardoned; he did the same thing now under the influence of terror and to save himself from death. The reprieve meant his eventual safety: for Cornbury came armed with instructions to release and restore him immediately upon his arrival in the province.
At the close of this period we have reached the end of the first full century since the discovery of the Hudson in 1609. Enormons as is the difference in conditions between 1710 and 1897, yet surely during that first round century great changes had also taken place. The lonely wilderness, echoing only to the song of birds of the whoop of the savage, now possessed evidences of civilization and cultivation in every direction. Upon Manhattan Island a compact town with nearly a thousand houses had established itself, containing a pop- ulation of nearly six thousand souls, carrying on a brish trade which filled her one dock or basin with small craft, and lined her yet limited shores with many a larger vessel. Encroachments upon the river had already commenced, and Water Street ran from Old Ship to John Street, rendering the old "Strand " along Pearl an inland thoroughfare, with houses on both sides. The paving of the streets began to be attended to. Usually broad, flat, and very red bricks were laid as a sidewalk nearest the houses. Then followed, on the same
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level, the pavement of cobble stones for the ruder traffic of wagons. The gutter was thereby placed in the middle of the street, conveying the rain to the fire-wells or cisterns in the center of Broad Street, Broadway, and Wall Street. While hogs were useful as scavengers. and served the city thus till far into the nineteenth century, yet even at this time the problem was also intrusted to human ingenuity, and men appointed (a woman, too, at one time) to see that garbage was re- moved. With comfort in travel by pavements, and cleanliness in looks, came also the desire for beauty, and people were permitted and encouraged to plant trees in front of their residences; but they must not endanger travel in the dark by putting up tie-posts. Against fire. protection was sought not only by the seven large cisterns, but fire wardens were appointed who were to keep a watchful eye on chim- neys, and to take a look at the hearths inside the people's homes. These hearths, by the way, are worth a moment's attention. One who had access to many New York homes in 1704 writes of them with en- thusiasm and admiration. " The Hearth is of Tyles and is as farr ont into the Room at the Ends as before the fire, wch is Generally Five foot in the Low'r rooms, and the piece over where the mantle tree should be is made as onrs with JJoyner's work, the hearths were laid wth the finest tile that I ever see. and so are the walls of the Kitchen wch had a brick floor." The price of building lots was abont thirty pounds, and gradually the farms beyond Wall Street were being ent up into these. The city had not come quite as far as the Collect Pond yet, but a point of land jutting ont into this deep and clear water was purchased by someone in 1703 for one hun- dred pounds. Ere the solitude was here broken the place was the resort of anglers or idlers or lovers of nature. The ferry to Long Island was a source of revenne to the city: it was usually leased for a term of years, and yielded a sum of from one to two hundred pounds per year. A ferry-honse was built by the city at the landing-place on Long Island.
It was under Kieft in 1638 that negro slaves were first brought to New York City. There was hardly a family that did not have from half a dozen to a dozen or more in their service, as may be seen from a census of the year 1703. At the death of Frederick Philipse, the richest citizen, in 1702, an inventory showed that his household slaves counted forty. " White slaves" were also found in plenty; men or women who served ont their passage money, or had bound themselves to service without pay for some other reason. Freqnent cases of ernelty occurred against these: negroes and Indians were often wan- tonly ont to death, so that royal governors were repeatedly instruct- ed to forbid such murders and punish them with death. Negro slaves cost from thirty to thirty-five pounds at this period. The slave trade was made part of the pretext for sending ont ships to Madagascar or on piratical errands. A slave-market was established at the foot of
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Wall Street, in an old blockhouse, in 1709. It is greatly to the credit of Rector Vesey, of Trinity, that he opened a catechising school for negroes in 1704. Kindness, however, was not often resorted to. The citizens knew they were introducing a dangerous element into their midst, constituting nearly one-sixth of the population. Rules were made to hold the danger in check. Negroes and Indians were not allowed to collect in groups of more than three or fonr. They must not go abroad after dark without a lantern. It was to be expected that an outbreak would one day occur as it did some thirty years later, but many smaller acts of vengeance presaged the coming storm.
Educational interests were advanced by the establishment of a school among the English. The Bishop of London was petitioned to send ont a schoolmaster, and in 1705 Andrew Clarke came over, part of the proceeds of the King's Farm being devoted to his support. But previously Cornbury and the Assembly had appointed George Mnir- son to the position. Other English teachers conducted private schools, and at least two schoolmasters are found among the French, one of whom also taught English. The bigotry of Cornbury led him to attempt interference with the Dutch in their maintenance of schools and appointment of teachers, but they had the subject too deeply at heart to be easily moved from their purpose in going on with that work. They appealed to their charter, and its provisions amply covered the case.
Many merchants and professional men had now accumulated a competence. They had fine residences on Broadway, or Broad Street, or Wall; even the vicinity of the fort was still fashionable. In Stone Street resided John Harpending, the leather merchant, who gave a large tract of land to the Dutch Church, running from Broadway to- ward the East River between Fulton and John Streets, the latter a reminder of his Christian name. Augustus Jay, the grandfather of the great John Jay, a native of France, was living in town, having married the daughter of Balthazar Bayard. Caleb Heathcote, son of the Mayor of Chester in England, had come to this " wild country " to assnage a heartache, and found consolation in the love of the danghter of William Smith, called Tangier Smith to distinguish him from Judge William Smith. These, with many a Dutch merchant or patroon, dwelt in comfortable style in their old colonial mansions: not so closely packed together but that space was permitted to gar- den, or orchard, or lawn sloping down to the river's edge. They lived in a style of elegant abundance and generous hospitality. Strangers were ever welcome, the wide halls always open to receive them. and the boards groaning with cheer, five or six dishes ready to be served at any meal, choice beer and wine and cider to wash down the eat- ables. The Sabbath was not too strictly kept, yet decently, except perhaps in the suburbs, whither went forth the young rakes and rois- terers, mayhap the wild crews of privateers or slavers or buccaneers,
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who recked little of the laws of God or man. There some anxious observers saw not the "least footsteps of religion " ; and Sabbaths were spent " in vain sports and lewd derision." But even in the city, the gentlemen and ladies, the tradespeople and their dames, might be seen on fine Sunday afternoons walking out into the woods near the Collect Pond (where the Tombs Prison recently stood), or down around the fort, to view the verdant shores of JJersey or Staten or Long Island, across the gleaming waters of the Bay. And as the pedestrians passed through the streets, they would see the residents seated on the stoops, ready for a chat or a genial word of cordial friendship. The women loved finery, their fingers being beset with rings, and rich pendants of gold or jewels hanging from their ears, as in the fatherland. Sunday would be the day to display these choice possessions and adornments. And what harm? Without so much ostentation of piety as was thrust into view in other colonies, there was a greater moral soundness at the core. No better commen- tary can be desired on the genuine worth of these men and women of New York than the testimony of one who lived among them and had ample opportunities of comparing them with others. Not so strict in keeping the Sabbath, but- they " seem to deal with great exactness as farr as I see or Deall with."
CHAPTER V.
IMMIGRATION AND JOURNALISM.
T may seem somewhat irrelevant to make a point of immigra- tion as marking any period in our city's history. Without the immigration of Europeans New York would never have been founded. It had of course grown to be what it was now at the epoch we have reached by reason of it. Hitherto, how- over, the influx of settlers had been from but two countries mainly:
THE COLLECT POND.
Holland and England. If Walloons or Huguenots had also come it was really through these two mother countries of the New York colony that they had first passed, having become denizens or citi- zens of these first. But now it becomes necessary to notice an im- migration of a different sort: not from either of the two countries which might be expected to send forth colonists to a possession
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of their own. It was more like modern immigration; indeed the first wave of that which has since attained the proportions of a deluge, and from one of those many foreign countries that have sent their myriads to these shores during the present century. Ger- many, Ireland, Italy have successively and generously bestowed their subjects upon us, supplying our Republic in general with millions of more or less valuable citizens, aiding us in drawing forth our natural resources and converting them into wealth; and at the same time these tides of immigration have left large deposits upon the soil of Manhattan Island and vicinity. It is as the advance guard of that German immigration which has made Greater New York a city of the first rank among those with German populations, that the hitherto unprecedented number of immigrants suddenly precipitated within a brief period upon the colony and city early in the 18th century, be- comes interesting and noteworthy.
These people all came from one province or section of Germany, the Pfalz or Palatinate. Any one who has stood before the gaping side of the " Gesprengte Thurm," or Blown-up Tower, of Heidelberg Castle, looks upon one of the evidences of that vandalism and devasta- tion which drove forth the Palatines from their homes. Louis XIV bears the unenviable responsibility for much of the ruin of the splen- did pile at Heidelberg. He laid waste the country in 1688. It had scarce recovered from the blow when war again raged throughout this region, until in 1704 the victory at Blenheim enabled Marl- borough to force the French to retreat from Germany. The Palati- nate was utterly exhausted and impoverished. For scores of years, until after the Revolution, the churches of Pennsylvania founded by these people had to be supported out and out by the churches of Hol- land. And in the midst of the war of the Spanish succession, " Queen Anne's War," with England at the head of the combined powers in their assault on France, it was natural that the suffering Palatines should look to England for relief. Thousands went over to England, and most of these asked to be transported to her colonies in America.
In June, 1708, a petition to that effect was laid before Queen Anne, signed by the Rev. Joshua Kochertal in behalf of many followers. Lord Lovelace had just been appointed Governor of New York, and fifty-five of these people, twenty-nine adults and twenty-six children, were bestowed among the three ships which formed the Governor's outfit for his journey. In 1709 some hundreds were sent over at a cost of from three to four pounds each for passage, besides being also sup- plied by the English Government with agricultural implements and building tools at the rate of forty shillings a piece.
When Governor Hunter arrived on July 14, 1710, he was accom- panied by several vessels carrying a multitude of these Palatine refu- gees. Three thousand had embarked with him, distributed over ten vessels. They all sailed together from the harbor of Plymouth, but
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they were soon scattered by a fierce storm, and they arrived at un- equal times in New York Bay. Sickness of a contagious nature broke ont on several vessels; three hundred and thirty people were ill on one vessel at one time; four hundred and seventy died before port was reached. Indeed, the Mayor and Common Conneil were so apprehen- sive of disease breaking ont in the city from the landing of these peo- ple, that they requested the Provincial Conneil to order them to be placed on Governor's Island. Carpenters were hastily set at work building huts for their accommodation, and for quite a while the Palatines were kept in a sort of quarantine on this convenient spot. A month later Governor Hunter established courts there for their protection. A ship carrying tools, tents, and other supplies for these poor people was wrecked off Montauk Point. Thus it seemed as if disaster was bound to attend the enterprise from beginning to end. Ultimately the greater portion of this immigration was distributed among the river counties, Orange and Ulster and Dutchess. In course of time several forced their way into Schoharie County. But a great number also remained in and around New York. Sixty-eight young boys and girls were apprenticed to trades in New York and on Long Island. The large access of fellow-countrymen also enabled the Lutherans to build another church in lieu of the one Captain Colve had demolished. It was erected almost under the shadow of Trinity. on the corner of Rector Street and Broadway, where afterward Grace
NEW YORK IN BURNET'S DAY.
Church was built. When we reflect that the largest number of immi- grants arriving at one time before this was one hundred in one ship. and that during the years 1657 to 1664, a period of nuusually brisk immigration, the whole number of arrivals reached only 1,132, we can easily imagine that this sudden advent of three thousand persons at once must have created quite a sensation in the little town of six thousand inhabitants. In the proportion of population to immigra- tion, such a startling accession has never taken place in our day, enor- mous as are the numbers that arrive from year to year.
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It is curious to note that in Cooper's " Waterwitch," Governor Hun- ter-carefully designated by Cornbury as Mr. Hunter-is mentioned as the immediate successor of that disgraced and incarcerated peer. Evidently the short incumbency of the unfortunate Lord Lovelace had escaped the novelist altogether. But Cornbury's execrably bad conduct had had one good effect. It had unified parties in a common opposition to a government which disgusted and threatened all alike. Parties indeed divided again upon other lines, but not with memories so bitter and with hatred so deadly as had been the case when Leisler- ians and anti-Leislerians stood opposed to each other. A definite line of battle gradually marked itself out upon the question of granting supplies or salaries by the Assembly. The popular party insisted upon granting supplies of money only from year to year and with ap- plications specified, thus fixing the salaries for Governor and other officials only per annum and by name, so that obnoxious persons were in danger of being left unpaid. The Governor's or Court Party wanted supplies granted in bulk and for a number of years at once. It was the beginning of the struggle which culminated in the resist- ance to the Stamp Act; it was the rooting in the thoughts and habits of the people of the principle, " No Taxation Without Representa- tion," which had its issue in the Revolution and Independence. The refusal to grant supplies for government expenses or for defenses, was often particularly annoying to the Royal Governors, because during several terms expeditions were regularly fitted out to attempt the con- quest of Canada. Leisler's plan of campaign, which embraced the assembling of the colonial forces on the upper Hudson, and penetrat- ing to the Canadian frontier along Lakes George and Champlain, was usually the one adopted in subsequent efforts. But these were uni- formly unsuccessful, even when the plan was made to include a naval expedition up the St. Lawrence. Such a campaign was organized with much celat under Lord Lovelace, and undertaken immediately after his death. Again under Governor Hunter another one was entered upon. And then the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 put a stop to hostilities for a time. In all these military enterprises New York City bore her part well, sending men to the front and contributing moneys as required. In connection with these events occurred the first intro- duction of paper money into the city. Smins of ten or twelve thousand pounds were occasionally voted by the Assembly, and bills of credit issued for future redemption.
Like every other governor, General Hunter found that his posi- tion was not a bed of roses; at least the thorns were quite enough in evidence to snit him. But he possessed a pleasant wit, and was never more happy in his sallies, as he wrote to his friend Dean Swift or others, than when he was most annoyed. At one time he and Chief- Justice Lewis Morris, a congenial spirit, composed a farce together entitled " Androborns," which hit off the peculiarities of some of their
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opponents in a lively fashion. Hunter was a self-made man in many ways, typical of American public men in later times. Hle was an apothecary's apprentice when the notion took him to enter the army. He did so with no money or influence, as a private, but rose by merit and condnet and the charm of his mental and social qualities from the ranks, attaining the grade of Brigadier-General. He had no mean literary aptitudes, and corresponded on terms of intimacy with some of the foremost wits of the day. He was a decided accession to the social life of the city, and added much to its intellectual tone. But in this he was exceeded by his successor, Governor William Burnet. He was the son of the famous Bishop Burnet, favorite of William III. While not educated for the church, Governor Burnet was very fond of theological studies. He ventured upon disputes with theologians with great temerity, promulgated in book form some theories as to the interpretation of Daniel's prophecies, and took it upon himself to judge of the fitness of young men desiring a license to preach. He would give them a text and shut them up in a room to evolve a ser- mon ont of it in a given time, and if they did not come up to the mark, he would refuse to pass them. But his tastes were also seien- tific; he possessed a telescope and prepared papers on astro- nomical subjects, and by care- ful observations fixed the exact latitude and longitude of Fort George. While thus mentally equipped, he was none the less fond of society, and the Gover- nor's mansion became the cen- ter of much social activity. This was the more naturally the case, in that the Governor had placed himself in very intimate rela- tions with the families of his capital. He came to New York a young, unmarried man. Soon after his arrival he met and fell MRS. WILLIAM BURNET. in love with the daughter of one of the prominent and wealthy Dutch merchants, Miss Anne Marie Van Horne. Her father was Abraham Van Horne, whose residence and store were located in Wall Street, and her mother was a daughter of David Provoost, who was Mayor of the city in 1699, and whose wife was a daughter of Johannes De Peyster. Thus the Governor allied himself to the very cream of the Dutch and Hngnenot element. and no doubt there was much re- joicing among them when in the early summer of 1721 the marriage
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