USA > New York > New York City > Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City, Vol. II > Part 16
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CONDITION OF NEW YORK IN 1757.
The foundation of early New York history, as every one knows who has examined the subject, was for a long time Smith's His- tory. Since the printing of the documents obtained in Holland, France and England by Brodhead, and the researches made by O'Callaghan in the different State and city offices, its value has relatively diminished, and it is no longer so important as it was when Grahame referred to it as almost his sole authority. We therefore make no apology for giving an account of the province at that time, drawn from his pages. He says :
The province of New York, at present, contains Long Island, Staten Island, and the lands on the east side of. Hudson's River, to the bounds of Connecticut. From the division line between that colony and the Massachusetts Bay, northward, to the line between us and the French, we claim an extent to Connecticut River. On the west side of Hudson's River from the sea to the latitude of 41° lies New Jersey. The line of partition between that province and this, from that latitude to the other station on Delaware, is unsettled. From thence, wheresoever it may be fixed, we claim all the lands, on the east side of Delaware, to the north line of Pennsylvania ; and all the territory, on both sides of the Mohawks River, and westward to the isthmus of Niagara ; in a word, all the country belonging to the crown of Great Britain, not already granted ; for we are to consider New York, among her sister colonies, to borrow a law phrase, as a residuary legatee.
Hence we have, from the beginning, Been exposed to controver- sies about limits. The New Jersey claim includes several hun- dred thousand acres, and has not a little impeded the settlement of the colony. The dispute with the Massachusetts Bay is still more important and, for several years past, occasioned very con- siderable commotions. The New Hampshire pretensions have, as yet, exposed us to no great trouble. But when all those claims are settled, a new controversy will probably commence with the proprietaries of Pennsylvania.
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Condition of New York in 1757.
This province was, in 1691, divided by an act of Assembly into twelve counties, which I shall describe in their order.
CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK.
The city of New York, at first, included only the island called, by the Indians, Manhattans. Manning's island, the two Barn islands and the three oyster islands were in the county. But the limits of the city have since been augmented by charter. The island is very narrow, not a mile wide at a medium, and about fourteen miles in length. The southwest point projects into a fine spacious bay, nine miles long, and about four in breadth, at the confluence of the waters of Hudson's River and the strait between Long Island and the northern shore. The Narrows at the south end of the bay is scarce two miles wide, and opens the ocean to full view. The passage up to New York from Sandy Hook, a point that extends farthest into the sea, is safe, and not above five and twenty miles in length. The common navigation is between the east and west banks, in two or three and twenty feet water. But it is said that an eighty gun ship may be brought up through a narrow, winding, unfrequented channel, between the north end of the east bank and Coney Island.
The city has, in reality, no natural basin or harbor. The ships lie off in the road, on the east side of the town, which is docked out, and better built than the west side, because the freshets in Hudson's River fill it, in some winters, with ice.
The city of New York, as I have elsewhere had occasion to mention, " consists of about two thousand five hundred buildings. It is a mile in length, and not above half that in breadth. Such is its figure, its center of business, and the situation of the houses, that the mean cartage from one part to another does not exceed above one quarter of a mile, than which nothing can be more ad- vantageous to a trading city."
It is thought to be as healthy a spot as any in the world. The east and south parts, in general, are low, but the rest is situated on a dry, elevated soil. The streets are irregular, but, being paved with round pebbles, are clean, and lined with well built brick houses, many of which are covered with tiled roofs.
No part of America is supplied with markets abounding with
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greater plenty and variety. We have beef, pork, mutton, poultry, butter, wild fowl, venison, fish, roots, and herbs, of all kinds, in their seasons. Our oysters are a considerable article in the sup- port of the poor. Their beds are within view of the town; a fleet of two hundred small craft are often seen there at a time when the weather is mild in winter; and this single article is computed to be worth annually 10 or 12,0007.
This city is the metropolis and grand mart of the province, and, by its commodious situation, commands also all the trade of the western part of Connecticut, and that of East Jersey. "No sea- son prevents our ships from launching out into the ocean. Dur- ing the greatest severity of winter, an equal, unrestrained activity . runs through all ranks, orders, and employments."
Upon the southwest point of the city stands the fort, which is a square with four bastions. Within the walls is the house in which our governors usually reside; and opposite to it brick barracks, built, formerly, for the independent companies. The Governor's house is in height three stories, and fronts to the west; having, from the second story, a fine prospect of the bay and the Jersey shore. At the south end there was formerly a chapel, but this was burnt down in the negro conspiracy of the spring 1741. According to Governor Burnet's observations, this fort stands in the latitude of 40° 43' N.
Below the walls of the garrison, near the water, we have lately raised a line of fortifications, which commands the entrance into the eastern road and the mouth of Hudson's River. This battery is built of stone, and the merlons consist of cedar joists, filled in with earth. It mounts ninety-two cannon, and these are all the works we have to defend us. About six furlongs southeast of the fort lies Notten * Island, containing about one hundred or one hun- dred and twenty acres, reserved by an act of Assembly as a sort of demesne for the governors, upon which it is proposed to erect a strong castle, because an enemy might from thence easily bom- bard the city, without being annoyed either by our battery or the fort. During the late war a line of palisades was run from Hud- son's to the East River, at the other end of the city, with block houses at small distances. The greater part of these still remain
* Should be Nutten, that is, Nut Island. It contains only seventy acres.
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as a monument of our folly, which cost the province about 8,0001. The inhabitants of New York are a mixed people, but mostly descended from the original Dutch planters. There are still two churches in which religious worship is performed in that lan- guage. The old building is of stone and ill built, ornamented within by a small organ loft and brass branches. The new church is a high, heavy edifice, has a very extensive area, and was com- pleted in 1729. It has no galleries, and yet will perhaps contain a thousand or twelve hundred auditors. The steeple of this church affords a most beautiful prospect, both of the city beneath and the surrounding country. The Dutch congregation is more numerous than any other, but as the language becomes disused it is much diminished, and unless they change their worship into the English tongue must soon suffer a total dissipation. They have at present two ministers: the reverend Messieurs Ritzema and De Ronde, who are both strict Calvinists. Their church was incorporated on the 11th of May, 1696, by the name of the min- ister, elders and deacons, of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the city of New York, and its estate, after the expira- tion of sundry long leases, will be worth a very great income.
All the low Dutch congregations, in this and the province of New Jersey, worship after the manner of the Reformed Church of the United Provinces. With respect to government, they are in principle Presbyterians; but yet hold themselves in subordina- tion to the classis of Amsterdam, who sometimes permit, and at other times refuse, them the powers of ordination. Some of their ministers consider such a subjection as anti-constitutional, and hence, in several of their late annual conventions at New York, called the Cotus, some debates have arisen among them ; the majority being inclined to erect a classis, or ecclesiastical ju- dicatory, here for the government of their churches. Those of their ministers who are natives of Europe are in general averse to the project. The expense attending the ordination of their candidates in Holland, and the reference of their disputes to the classis of Amsterdam, is very considerable; and with what con- sequences the interruption of their correspondence with the European Dutch would be attended, in case of a war, well de- serves their consideration.
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Condition of New York in 1757.
There are, besides the Dutch, two Episcopal Churches in this city, upon the plan of the established church in South Britain. Trinity Church was built in 1696, and afterwards enlarged in 1737. It stands very pleasantly upon the banks of Hudson's River, and has a large cemetery on each side, inclosed in the front by a painted paled fence. Before it a long walk is railed off from the Broadway, the pleasantest street of any in the whole town. This building is about one hundred and forty-eight feet long, including the tower and chancel, and seventy-two feet in breadth. The steeple is one hundred and seventy-five feet in height, and over the door facing the river is the following inscription :
PER ANGUSTAM.
" Hoc Trinitatis Templum fundatum est Anno Regni illustris- simi, supremi Domini Gulielmi tertii, Dei Gratia, Anglia, Scotia, Francis et Hibernia Regis, Fidei Defensoris, &c. Octavo, Annoq. Domini 1696.
" Ac voluntaria quorundam contributione ac Donis Ædificatum, maxime autem, dilecti Regis Chiliarchae BENJAMINI FLETCHER, hujus provincia stratæci et Imperatoris, Munificentia animatum et auctum, cujus tempore moderaminis, hujus Civitatis incolæe, Religionem protestantem Ecclesia Anglicana, ut secundum Le- gem nunc stabilitæ profitentes, quodam Diplomate, sub Sigillo Provincia incorporati sunt, atque alias plurimas, ex Re sua fa- miliari, Donationes notabiles eidem dedit."
The church is within ornamented beyond any other place of public worship among us. The head of the chancel is adorned with an altarpiece, and opposite to it, at the other end of the building, is the organ. The tops of the pillars which support the galleries are decked with the gilt busts of angels winged. From the ceiling are suspended two glass branches, and on the walls hang the arms of some of its principal benefactors. The aisles are paved with flat stones.
The present rector of this church is the Rev. Mr. Henry Bar- clay, formerly a missionary among the Mohawks, who receives 100l. a year, levied upon all the other clergy and laity in the city, by virtue of an act of Assembly procured by Governor Fletcher. He is assisted by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Auchmuty.
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This congregation, partly by the arrival of strangers from Europe, but principally by proselytes from the Dutch churches, is become so numerous, that though the old building will contain two thousand hearers, yet a new one was erected in 1752. This, called St. George's Chapel, is a very great edifice, faced with hewn stone and tiled. The steeple is lofty, but irregular; and its situ- ation in a new, crowded, and ill built part of the town.
The rector, churchwardens, and vestrymen of Trinity Church are incorporated by an act of Assembly, which grants the two last the advowson or right of presentation ; but enacts that the rector shall be instituted and inducted in a manner most agreeable to the King's instructions to the Governor, and the canonical Sright of the Bishop of London. Their worship is conducted after the mode of the Church of England ; and with respect to government, they are empowered to make rules and orders for themselves, being, if I may use the expression, an independent ecclesiastical corporation.
The revenue of this church is restricted, by an act of Assem- bly, to 5007. per annum; but it is possessed of a real estate, at the north end of the town, which, having been lately divided into lots and let to farm, will, in a few years, produce a much greater income.
The Presbyterians, increasing after Lord Cornbury's return to England, called Mr. Anderson, a Scotch minister, to the pastoral charge of their congregation ; and Dr. John Nicol, Patrick Mac- Knight, Gilbert Livingston and Thomas Smith purchased a piece of ground and founded a church, in 1719. Two years after- wards they petitioned Colonel Schuyler, who had then the chief command, for a charter of incorporation, to secure their estate for religious worship, upon the plan of the church in North Britain ; but were disappointed in their expectations, through the opposition of the Episcopal party. They shortly after renewed their request to Governor Burnet, who referred the petition to his council. The Episcopalians again violently opposed the grant, and the Governor in 1724 wrote upon the subject to the Lords of Trade for their direction. Counsellor West, who was then consulted, gave his opinion in these words : " Upon consideration of the several acts of uniformity that have passed in Great Bri-
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tain, I am of the opinion that they do not extend to New York, and consequently an act of toleration is of no use in that prov- ince ; and, therefore, as there is no provincial act for uniformity according to the Church of England, I am of the opinion that by law such patent of incorporation may be granted as by the petition is desired. Richard West, 20 August, 1724."
After several years solicitation for a charter, in vain, and fear- ful that those who obstructed such a reasonable request would watch an opportunity to give them a more effectual wound, those among the Presbyterians who were invested with the fee simple of the church and ground "conveyed it, on the 16th of March, 1730, to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the commission thereof, the moderator of the presbytery of Edinburgh, the principal of the College of Edinburgh, the professor of divinity therein, and the procurator and agent of the Church of Scotland, for the time being, and their successors in office, as a committee of the General Assem- bly." On the 15th of August, 1732, the Church of Scotland, by an instrument under the seal of the General Assembly, and signed by Mr. Neil Campbell, principal of the University of Glasgow, and moderator of the General Assembly and commission thereof ; Mr. James Nesbit, one of the ministers of the gospel at Edinburgh, moderator of the presbytery of Edinburgh ; Mr. William Hamilton, principal of the University of Edinburgh ; Mr. James Smith, professor of divinity therein ; and Mr. William Grant, advocate procurator for the Church of Scotland, for the time being ; pursuant to an act of the General Assembly, dated the 8th of May, 1731, did declare, " that notwithstanding the afore- said right made to them and their successors in office, they were desirous that the aforesaid building and edifice and appurtenances thereof be preserved for the pious and religious purposes for which the same were designed ; and that it should be free and lawful to the Presbyterians then residing, or that should at any time thereafter, be resident in or near the aforesaid city of New York in America, or others joining with them, to convene in the foresaid church for the worship of God in all the parts thereof, and for the dispensation of all gospel ordinances; and, generally, to use and occupy the said church and its appurtenances, fully
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Condition of New York in 1757.
and freely in all times coming, they supporting and maintaining the edifice and appurtenances at their own charge."
Mr. Anderson was succeeded in April, 1727, by the Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton, a man of polite breeding, pure morals, and warm devotion, under whose incessant labors the congregation greatly increased, and was enabled to erect the present edifice in 1748. It is built of stone, railed off from the street, is eighty feet long and in breadth sixty. The steeple, raised on the south- west end, is in height one hundred and forty-five feet. In the front to the street, between two long windows, is the following inscription, gilt and cut in a black slate six feet in length :
Auspicante Deo Hanc ædem Cultui divino sacram In perpetuum celebrando, A. D. MDCCXIX. Primo fundatam ; Denuo penitus reparatam et Ampliorem et ornatiorem A. D. MDCCXLVIII Constructam, Neo-Eboracenses presbyteriani In suum et suorum usum Condentes, In hac votiva tabula DDDQ. * Concordia, amore Necnon fidei cultus et morum Puritate Suffulta, clariusq. exornata, Annuente Christo, Longum perduret in ævum.
Mr. Alexander Cumming, a young gentleman of learning and singular penetration, was chosen colleague to Mr. Pemberton in 1750, but both were dismissed at their request about three years afterwards; the former through indisposition, and the latter on account of trifling contentions, kindled by the bigotry and igno- rance of the lower sort of people. These debates continued till
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Condition of New York in 1757.
they were closed in April, 1756, by a decision of the synod, to which almost all our Presbyterian Churches, in this and the southern provinces, are subject. The congregation consists, at present, of twelve or fourteen hundred souls, under the pastoral charge of the Reverend Mr. David Bostwick, who was lately translated from Jamaica to New York by a synodical decree. Ile is a gentleman of a mild, catholic disposition, and being a man of piety, prudence and zeal, confines himself entirely to the proper business of his function. In the art of preaching he is one of the most distinguished clergymen in these parts. His dis- courses are methodical, sound and pathetie in sentiment, and in point of diction singularly ornamented. He delivers himself without notes, and yet with great ease and fluency of expression, and performs every part of divine worship with a striking solem- nity.
The French Church, by the contentions in 1724, and the disuse of the language, is now reduced to an inconsiderable handful. The building, which is of stone, is nearly a square, plain both within and without. It is fenced from the street, has a steeple and a bell, the latter of which was the gift of Sir Henry Ashurst, of London. On the front of the church is the following in- scription :
ÆDES SACRA GALLOR. PROT. REFORM. FVNDA. 1704. PENITVS REPAR. 1741.
The present minister, Mr. Carle, is a native of France, and suc- ceeded Mr. Rou in 1754. Ile bears an irreproachable character, is very intent upon his studies, preaches moderate Calvinism, and speaks with propriety, both of pronunciation and gesture.
The German Lutheran Churches are two. Both their places of worship are small; one of them has a cupola and bell.
The Quakers have a meeting house, and the Moravians, a new sect among us, a church, consisting principally of female prose- lytes from other societies. Their service is in the English tongue.
The Anabaptists assemble at a small meeting house, but have as yet no regular settled congregation. The Jews, who are not
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inconsiderable for their numbers, worship in a synagogue erected in a very private part of the town, plain without, but very neat within.
The City Hall is a strong brick building two stories in height, in the shape of an oblong, winged with one at each end, at right angles with the first. The floor below is an open walk, except two jails and the jailor's apartments. The cellar underneath is a dungeon, and the garret above a common prison. This edifice is erected in a place where four streets meet, and fronts to the southwest, one of the most spacious streets in town. The eastern wing, in the second story, consists of the Assembly chamber, a lobby, and a small room for the Speaker of the House. The west wing, on the same floor, forms the council room and a library, and in the space between the ends the Supreme Court is or- dinarily held.
The library consists of a thousand volumes, which were be- queathed to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, by Dr. Millington, a rector of Newington. Mr. Humphreys, the society's secretary, in a letter of the 23d of Sep- tember, 1728, informed Governor Montgomerie that the society intended to place these books in New York, intending to estab- lish a library for the use of the clergy and gentlemen of this and the neighboring governments of Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, upon giving security to return them ; and desired the Governor to recommend it to the Assembly to provide a place to deposit the books, and to concur in an act for the preservation of them and others that might be added. Governor Montgomerie sent the letter to the Assembly, who ordered it to be laid before the city corporation, and the latter, in June, 1729, agreed to pro- vide a proper repository for the books, which were accordingly soon after sent over. The greatest part of them are upon theolog- ical subjects, and, through the carelessness of the keepers, many are missing.
In 1754, a set of gentlemen undertook to carry about a sub- scription towards raising a public library, and in a few days col- lected near 6007. which were laid out in purchasing about seven hundred volumes of new, well chosen books. Every subscriber, upon payment of 5l. principal, and the annual sum of 10s., is en-
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titled to the use of these books. His right by the articles is as- signable, and for non-compliance with them may be forfeited. The care of this library is committed to twelve trustees, annually elected by the subscribers on the last Tuesday of April, who are restricted from making any rules repugnant to the fundamental subscription. This is a beginning of a library which in process of time will probably become vastly rich and voluminous; and it would be very proper for the company to have a charter for its security and encouragement. The books are deposited in the same room with those given by the society.
Besides the City Hall, there belong to the corporation a large almshouse or place of correction, and the Exchange, in the latter of which there is a large room raised upon brick arches, generally used for public entertainments, concerts of music, balls and as- semblies.
Though the city was put under the government of a mayor, etc., in 1665, it was not regularly incorporated till 1686. Since that time several charters have been passed ; the last was granted by Governor Montgomerie on the 15th of January, 1730.
It is divided into seven wards, and is under the government of a Mayor, Recorder, seven aldermen, and as many assistants or common councilmen. The Mayor, a Sheriff and Coroner are an- nually appointed by the Governor. The Recorder has a patent during pleasure. The aldermen, assistants, assessors and collec- tors are annually elected by the freemen and freeholders of the respective wards. The Mayor has the sole appointment of a deputy, and, together with four aldermen, may appoint a chamberlain. The Mayor or Recorder, four aldermen, and as many assistants, form "the Common Council of the city of New York;" and this body, by a majority of voices, hath power to make by-laws for the government of the city, which are binding only for a year, unless confirmed by the Governor and council. They have many other privileges relating to ferriages, markets, fairs, the assize of bread, wine, etc., and the licensing and regula- tion of tavern keepers, cartage and the like. The Mayor, his deputy, the Recorder and aldermen, are constituted justices of the peace ; and may hold not only a court of record once a week, to take cognizance of all civil causes, but also a court of general
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quarter sessions of the peace. They have a common clerk, com- missioned by the Governor, who enjoys an appointment worth about four or five hundred pounds per annum. The annual revenue of the corporation is near two thousand pounds. The standing militia of the island consists of about twenty-three hun- dred men, and the city has in reserve a thousand stand of arms for seamen, the poor and others, in case of an invasion.
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