USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume II > Part 25
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1715. Delamontagnie, John, Jr.
1698. Gouverneur, Isaac
1698. Cock, Jacobus
1707. Gasherie, John
1698. Clock, Albert
1721. Dyer, John
1713. Graham, John
1698. Couwenhoven, Cornelius
1714. Garland, Thomas
1698. Crigier, Martin
1699. Couwenhoven Joh's
1726. Delamontagnie, Isaac
1728. De Witt, John
1727. Gomez, Daniel
1700. Cooper, ('aleb
1730. De Peyster, Isaac
1728. Gilbert, Thomas
1700. Cozens, Barne
1728. Groesback, John
1701. Cholwell, John
1701. Cornelisen, Johannes
1702. Cebra, James
1734. De Foreest, Isaac
1734. Grant, William
1702. Cruger, John
1735. De Riemer, Steenwyck
1735. Goelet, Raphael
1702. Crawford, Patrick
1735. De Foreest, Nicholas
1735. Gombauld, Moses
1711. Chardavoyne, Stephen
1735. De Boogh, John
1735. Garnier, Isaac
1734. Carr, William
1735. Davy, James
1736. Gale, William
1736. Gilbert, Aaron
1735. Cregier, Simon
1735. De Foreest, Jesse
1728. Gouverneur, Nicholas
1731. Goelet, Philip
1734. Gardiner. Isaac
1702. Cornbury Viscount
1734. De Foreest, Henry 1734. Dobbs, Adam
1721. Glover, William
1726. Goelet. Jacob
1699. Crosevelt, Bay
1731. Delancey James 1731. Duychinck, Gerardus
1735. Farmer, Jasper 1736. Field, Thomas
1739. Bailey, Nicholas
1739. Bedlow, Isaac
1700. D'Harriette, Benjamin
1638. Frazier, Thomas
1700. De Witt, Daniel
1638. Fleming, Thomas
1702. Denne, Christopher
1702. Davis, William
1712. Dugdale, William
1695. Clarkson, Matthew
1698. Delamontagnie, John
1734. Fell, Christopher
1738. Bartlett, William
1738. Clopper, Cornelius
1738. Elsworth, Theophilus
1738. Cohen, Abraham M.
1739. Ebbets, Richard
1738. Charlton, James
1739. Elsworth, George
1738. Cregier, John
1739. Edmonds, William
1737. Bant, Peter Jr.
1729. ('hanning. William
1737. Euwatse, John
1730. C'lock, Martin
1737. Elsworth, John
1734. Cox, John
1737. Eastham, John
1739. Bell, Samuel
1737. C'lopper, Andrew
1737. C'annon. Peter
1700. Ebbets, Daniel
1739. Bogert, John. Jr.
1735. Campbell, James
1738. Dever, William
1736. Cavalier, John
1739. Dobbs, William
1736. Child, Francis
1739. Dobbs, Charles
1692. Droilhet, Paul
1698. De Peyster, Johannes
1717. Duane, Anthony
1724. De Foreest, Barent 1726. Dart, Thomas
206
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
1698. Kip, Isaac 1698. Morris, William
1698. Kiersted, Jacobus
1698. Messier, Abraham
1698. Kiersted, Hans
1698. Meyer, Hermanus
1702. Kiersted, Jacobus
1698. Meyer, Johannes
1710. Kearney, Thomas 1698. Mesier, Peter J.
1692. Heathcote, Caleb
1695. Hamilton, Andrew
1695. Honan, Daniel
1730. Kip, Samuel
1734. Moore, Benjamin
1734. Meyer, Jacob
1734. Kip, Petrus
1735. Miller, Caleb
1735. Keeling, James
1735. Marrell, Robert
1735. Kip, Jacob
1735. Meyer, Andrew
1735. Kermer, Henry
1737. Kip, Richard
1737. Koning, Johannes
1737. Kiersted, Jacobus
1739. Kingston, John
1739. Kiersted, Luke
1699. Montagnie, Thomas
1708. Mompesson, Roger
1710. Martindale, James
1712. Maxwell, James
1735. Hinman, John
1698. Ling, Matthew
1714. Matthews, Fletcher
1735. Hays, David
1698. Le Chevalier, John
1696. Lansing, Garret
1698. Lewis, Leonard
1698. Lewis, Thomas
1736. Hardman, Jonathan
1698. Low, Albert
1698. Hardenbrook, Bernardus
1698. Low, Peter
1730. Moore, John
1699. Heermans, Folkert
1701. Leisler, Jacobus
1734. Marston, Nathaniel, Jr.
1734. Marshall, John
1737. Milliner, William
1710. Hunter Robert
1708. Lyndsey, John
1714. Holland, Henry
1709. Livingston, Robert
1716. Livingston, Gilbert
1737. Maerschalck, Francis
1738. Mann, John, Jr.
1738. Mills, Abraham
1738. Myer, Johannes
1738. Mears, Judah
1737. House, William
1737. Hayward, Thomas
1737. Hazard, Nathaniel
1731. Lurting, Robert
1683. Nessepot, Jasper
1737. Hyer, Aaron
1731. Lamb, Anthony
1698. Noell, Thomas
1737. Hyer, Garret
1734. Lynch, Peter
1698. Nerberry John
1737. Hyer, Walter
1737. Hyer, Frederick
1738. Houghton, Richard
1735. Legrange, Johannes, Jr.
1735. Lynsen, Gideon
1715. Noxon, Thomas
1722. North, William
1738. Ham, Uriah
1735. Lamberts, Lawrence
1736. Langdon, Richard
1737. Hitchcock, William
1737. Lynsen, Daniel
1727. Noble, John
1739. Harris, Richard
1737. Letellier, Lawrence
1730. Nicolls, Richard
1695. Jamain, Nicholas
1737. Leslie, John, Jr.
1734. Norwood, Richard
1695. Janeway, William
1738. Leisher, Charles
1736. Noble, Thomas
1696. Jamison, David
1738. Lyell, William
1799. Noble, Richard
1700. Jay, Augustus
1702. Johnson, John
1738. Lawrence, Stephen
1698. Onclebagh, Gerrit
1731. Jamison, William
1738. Lane, William
1701. Outman, Johannes
1732. Jay, Peter
1738. Lane, Henry, Jr.
1713. Oostrander Johannes
1734. Johnson, Simeon
1738. Lawrence, Henry
1739. Le Roux, Bartholomew
1739. Lloyd, John
1695. Matthews, Peter 1695. Morris, John
1683. Paulding, Joost 1695. Phipps, Benjamin
1738. Jones, James
1695. Monsey, Thomas
1698. Palmer, Thomas
1738. James, Thomas
1695. Mills, James
1698. Pell, Thomas
1695. Kemble, John
1696. Morehead, William
1698. Provoost, Benjamin
1698. Kiersted, Cornelius
1698. Merritt, William
1698. Provoost, David
1698. Kip, Petrus
1698. Merritt, John
1698. Paxton, Alexander
1696. Hooghland, Adrian 1698. Hyer, Walter 1698. Hyer, Gerrit 1698. Hyer, William 1698. Hooghland, Johannes 1698. Hardenbrook, Johannes
1698. Hardenbrook, Johannes
1731. Harrison, Francis
1734. Huggeford, Thomas
1734. Hawkshurst, William
1734. Hanus, Joseph
1739. Killmaster, James
1734. Harris, Robert
1739. Ketchum William
1735. Hopson, Samuel
1688. Le Boyteaux, Gabriel
1714. Minvielle, David
1716. May William
1724. Messier, Peter
1728. Montgomery, John
1728. Murray Joseph
1708. Hammond, William
1708. Lynch, Anthony
1708. Harrison, Francis
1708. Lovelace, Lord
1714. Hyat, John
1719. Harrison, Robert
1725. Hays, Jacob
1729. Hunt, Obadiah, Jr.
1729. Hillyer, John
1737. Henley, Charles
1730. Lucas, Friend
1738. Maguire, Matthew
1730. Lindesay, John
1738. Murphy, Nicholas
1739. Machade, Aaron
1700. Nisbett, Robert
1701. Nanfan John
1738. Hibon, Peter
1738. Ham, Anthony
1735. Lyne, James
1724. Nixon, Thomas 1725. Nesbitt, James
1738. Lush, John
1698. Olpherts, Suert
1734. Jacobs, Samuel 1736. Jarratt, James
1737. Oates, Samuel 1738. Owen, Jeremiah
1737. Jenkins, Henry
1737. Johnson, Jacobus
1737. Maerschalck, John
1737. Morss, Gerrit H.
1722. Le Roux, John
1724. Le Roux, Charles
1727. Lowry James
1728. Lurting, George
1730. Lodge, Abraham
1734. Legrange, Christian
1699. Nessepot, Jasper, Jr.
1735. Lewis, Samuel
1735. Mattock, Isaac
1735. Maerschalck, Abraham
1735. Meyer, Andrew
1735. Ming. Thomas 1735. Mills, James
1737. Gilbert, John 1738. Gardner, Daniel 1738. Gasherie, John
1739. Gilbert, William, Jr.
1683. Holland, Samuel
1720. Kip, Isaac
1698. Maerschalck, Andries
1724. Kip, Jacobus
1734. Maerschalck, Peter
1734. Kip, Abraham
1735. Hays, Judah
1735. Hartell, Christian
1736. Hayes, William
1737. Hogg, Robert
1732. Oothout, John
207
THE CITY UNDER GOVERNOR JOHN MONTGOMERIE
1698. Provoost, Jonathan
1733. Rynders, Barent
1737. Symes, Lancaster
1698. Provoost, Johannes
1734. Roome, William
1737. Smith, Josiah
1698. Pell, William
1734. Rutgers, Hermanus, Jr.
1737. Steward, John
1698. Provoost, Jacob
1734. Rutgers, Henry
1737. Smith, John S.
1710. Peck, Benjamin
1734. Richardson, William
1737. Schultz, Benjamin
1716. Paulding, Abraham
1734. Roome, Luke
1737. Stevens, John
1724. Pennyman, Joseph 1725. Pintard, John Lewis
1735. Row, Henry 1735. Rout, Thomas
1737. Sebring, Cornelius 1737. Snyder Jacobus P.
1732. Perot, Philip
1735. Roome, Lawrence
1737. Sayre, John
1732. Phoenix, Alexander
1736. Richard, John
1738. Rigby, Thomas
1739. Sprainger, Charles
1739. Scott, Francis
1735. Paulding, Joseph
1735. Pell, Samuel
1736. Parcell, William
1736. Peeck, William
1739. Roome, Arnout
1695. Toose, Michael
1737. Peisley Jonathan
1739. Roosevelt, Nicholas
1695. Tuder, John, Jr.
1737. Perfect, James
1739. Richards, Samuel
1695. Tuder, Nicholls
1737. Peffer, John
1740. Roosevelt, Nicholas
1698. Tiebout, Tunis
1698. Phoenix, Jacob
1691. Staats, Samuel
1698. Tuder, John, Sr.
1699. Provoost, William
1695. Sharpas, William
1698. Ten Eyck, Dirck
1699. Parmyter, Parenlis
1695. Smith, Joseph
1698. Ten Broeck, Hendricks
1701. Peartree, William
1695. Schuyler Aaron
1698. Ten Eyck, Conraet, Sr.
1701. Parkinson, Robert
1696. Stevens, John
1698. Ten Eyck, Conraet, Jr.
1737. Proctor, William
1698. Suert, Olpherts
1699. Tiebout, Johannes
1737. Phoenix, Jacob, Jr.
1698. Sickles, Zachariah
1699. Turnbull, Thomas
1737. Pelletrau, Paul
1698. Sanders, Robert
1701. Thong, Walter
1737. Provoost, David, Jr.
1698. Sinkam, Peter, Jr.
1702. Thong, Benjamin
1737. Provoost, John
1698. Schenck, Johannes
1732. Tienhoven, Cornelius
1737. Provoost, Giddes
1701. Smith, William
1734. Tiebout, John
1737. Popelsdorf, William
1701. Symes, Lancaster
1735. Turck, Asueris
1737. Plowman, Peter
1702. Schuyler, Garret
1735. Tittle, Edward
1737. Price, John
1702. Scott, John
1737. Troup, Robert
1738. Provoost, Robert
1702. Stuckey, Andrew
1737. Tillou, Peter
1738. Parcell, Abraham
1707. Sharpas, Charles
1737. Ten Eyck, John
1739. Provoost, Peter Praa
1708. Staples, John
1737. Ten Eyck, Richard
1739. Peet, William
1708. Stevens, John
1738. Ten Eyck, Samuel
1739. Parent, Lewis
1712. Salisbury, Humphrey
1738. Thomas, Nicholas
1734. Quey, Edward
1715. Sebring, Frederick
1738. Tiebout, Albertus
1737. Quackenbush, Benj., Jr.
1719. Schermerhorn, Arnout
1738. Taylor, Moses
1737. Quick, Abraham
1721. Smith, William, Jr.
1739. Tanner, John
1739. Quick, John
1691. Reade, Lawrence
1726. Scott, John
1708. Tudor, Thomas
1696. Rutgerson, Harman
1696. Randell, William
1728. Seymour, John
1716. Ten Eyck, Conraet
1696. Rodriques, Isaac
1737. Sickles, Thomas
1724. Teller, Andrew
1698. Roosevelt, Nicholas
1738. Smith, Patrick
1739. Ten Eyck, Andrew
1698. Roos, Gerrit Jansen
1739. Ten Eyck, Jacob
1698. Roome, John Willemse
1738. Schultz, John
1739. Thorne, James
1699. Rutgers, Anthony
1738. Smith, Peter
1739. Turner, James
1700. Robertson, William
1739. Saunders, John
1698. Viele, Cornelius
1708. Regnier, Jacob
1729. Stevens, John
1698. Van Horne. Abraham
1708. Robinson, Joseph
1731. Smith, William
1698. Van Hornei, John
1710. Roy. John
1732. Slidell, Joshua
1698. Vandewater, Elias
1710. Reill, Joseph
1698. Van Nostrand, Jacob
1712. Robinson, Robert
1734. Schuyler, Myndert
1698. Van Vorst, Johannes
1736. Rice, Lawrence
1734. Scott, Robert
1698. Van Gelder, Abraham
1737. Roosevelt, John, Jr.
1735. Sands, Nathaniel
1698. Van Gelder, Johannes
1737. Ruston, Peter
1735. Stoutenburgh, John
1713. Van Clyff, Habrant
1738. Rhuel, Gustavns
1735. Stoutenburgh, Peter
1719. Van Borsum, Philip
1738. Rodriques, Isaac R.
1735. Swan, Richard
1723. Verplanck, Gulian
1738. Roome, Lawrence
1735. Shatford, Daniel
1724. Van Gelder, Hermanus
1738. Roberts, John
1735. Shadwick, Israel 1735. Schuyler, Peter
1724. Vanderspiegel, Henry 1724. Vandam, Richard
1738. Ratsey Robert
1735. Schuyler, Adoniah
1725. Van Borsum, Egbert
1724. Roos, Garret
1736. Sackett, Joseph, Jr.
1728. Van Solinger, Johannes
1725. Rutgers, Petrus
1736. Shurmer, John
1730. Van Zandt, Johannes
1728. Robinson, Charles
1736. Smith, John
1731. Van Wyck, Abraham
1732. Robins, John
1737. Sloan, Andrew
1732. Varian, Isaac
1735. Pepper, Mark
1735. Palmer, Thomas
1738. Richardson, William, 1738. Rutgers, Anthony, Jr.
1739. Sipkins, John
1738. Rousby, William
1738. Ruffhead, James
1739. Somersdyck, Jacob 1695. Trowbridge, Caleb
1738. Quick, James
1724. Santford, Cornelius 1725. Schuyler, Dirck
1739. Thompson, John
1702. Targee, James .
1728. Schuyler, Harmanus
1710. Teller, Charles
1738. Scandling, Patrick
1733. Symes, John
1738. Redding, Jeremiah
1739. Sloover, Jacob
208
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
1733. Vandiegrist, Henry
1739. Van Dam, Isase
1735. Williams. Richard
1734. Van Horne, Abraham. Jr.
1739. Van Horne. George
1736. Wallace, John
1734. Van Duersen, Peter
1739. Vanderboven, Cornelius
1737. Witts, George
1735. Vanderspiegel, Lawrence
1739. Van Wyck, Theodorus
1737. Wyley. James
1735. Van Wyck, Johannes
1695. Willett, Richard
1725. Willemse, Frederick
1735. Van Gelder. Henry
1698. Wynkoop. Benjamin
1726. Wynkoop. Cornelius
1735. Van Hook, Cornelius
1698. Walton, William
1726. Wendover. Thomas
1735. Fredenbergh. Isaac
1698. Walters, Robert
1731. Warren, Peter
1699. Vandewater, William
1699. Wessells. Francis
1737. Wilson. Joseph
1699. Vandewater, Cornelius
1699. Weaver, Thomas
1737. Walter. John F.
1701. Van Cortland. Oloff
1702. Waldron, Johannes
1737. Wessells. Peter
1701. Van Naerden. Johannes P.
1702. Waldron, Samuel
1738. Wood. William
1701. Van Horne, John
1702. Wooley, Charles
1738. Wells, Obadiah
1701. Vanderspiegel, Jacobus
1722. Weaver. Samuel
1738. Wilson, Alexander
1702. Van Laer, Abraham
1722. Weeks. James
1737. Waldron. Daniel
1735. Van Duersen, Gilbert
1735. Van Wagenen. Garret
1735. Van Duersen, William
1724. Walter. John
1737. Warner. Thomas
1736. Van Gelder. David
1734. Wessells. Wessell
1738. Ware, Thomas, Jr.
1734. Williamse. John
1738. White. Anthony
1737. Vredenburgh, John
1734. Waldron, William
1738. Wright, James
1737. Vonek. Cornelius 1737. Van Gelder. Abraham
1735. Wood, Isaac
1738. Walton, William, Jr.
1737. Van Vorst, John
1735. Ward. Joseph
1696. Young. Thomas
1737. Van Norden. Peter
1735. Willett, Thomas
1735. Young, James
1738. Vandewater. Hendrick
1735. Wessells, Lawrence
1736. Yelverton, Anthony
1738. Van Duersen, John
1735. White, Peter
1723. Zenger. John Peter
1738. Van Ranst, Cornelius
1735. Waldron, Peter
1737. Watts, John
1723. Walton, John
1724. Warner. Gilbert
1737. Wortendyke, Cornelius
1737. Vanderspiegel. John
1734. Waldron. John, Jr.
1738. Wyley, James
CHAPTER VII
WILLIAM COSBY AND THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 1732-1736
O governor seemed more acceptable to the citizens of New-York than Colonel William Cosby. He had appa- rently shown his care for their interests by remaining in London for more than six months after his appointment to prevent the passage of the sugar bill, a measure that would have affected injuriously the colonial trade. He had succeeded in defeat- ing it in the House of Lords. He was an officer of high rank in the army, and had been governor of Minorca. He was brother-in-law to the Earl of Halifax, and had the powerful patronage of the Duke of Newcastle. The son of the Duke of Grafton was soon to marry one of his daughters; and the gay people of New-York were already fond of noble names and royal lineage, however tainted or impure. Cosby, too, was popular in his manners, fond of entertaining company, and not unwilling to please. His dinners and his balls at the fort were the favorite means, his opponents said, of seducing a grand juror from his duty or winning over a hostile voter. Everything promised him a peaceful and successful rule. Under the prudent administra- tion of Rip Van Dam the fierce political contests of the colony had ceased : there was no longer any apparent cause of enmity between the governor and the governed. Several oc- currences, too, tended to subdue the violence of party and unite the people. One was the fearful prevalence of the smallpox, which not long before had carried off five hundred of the inhabitants, and might at any moment return.
Another was the fear of the French. The occupation of Crown Point and Ticonderoga by the French forces opened for them an easy passage to Albany and even threatened New-York. It was evident that they were drawing close to the English settlements, and should war break out, as it seemed quite likely to do, might easily lead an army to the sack of the ill-defended towns. The fate of Schenectady was never forgotten by the colonists; while at any moment a French fleet could enter New-York harbor and rob it of its wealth.
VOL II .- 14. 209
210
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
As a soldier, therefore, Colonel Cosby was welcomed by the citizens as a protector and a friend. After a voyage of seven weeks from England, he arrived by way of Madeira at Sandy Hook, and landed in New-York about ten in the evening of a fair August day. Several gentlemen met him at the waterside, we are told, and attended him to the fort. The next morning, between eleven and twelve, he walked in state to the City Hall, a company of foot-soldiers and a troop of horse leading the way. Behind came the gentlemen of the council, the corporation, and a great number of citizens and merchants. The streets were lined on each side with soldiers. The people crowded the sidewalks and houses along Broadway and Wall and Broad streets. At the City Hall, which stood in Wall street, at the head of Broad, the new governor read his commission, assumed his office, and then returned to the fort at the Battery, escorted as before by the military and the city officials. Here the militia drew up in line and fired three times a parting salute. It was no doubt a spectacle of rare interest and excitement to our ancestors: the military pomp, the crowded streets, the dignified procession, the governor in his uniform, seemed to give promise of future harmony and security to the re- joicing city. The house in which the governor lived was within the walls of the fort. This was a square earthwork of considerable size, lined with a stone facing inside, and mounting perhaps forty guns. It stood on the rising ground above what is now the Battery, and was, after the Revolution, converted into a government house for Wash- ington, the first President. Then it became the residence of the gov- ernors of New-York, was afterward used as a custom-house, and was then taken down and the ground sold in lots for some of the finest houses in the early city. This was in 1815. They looked in front upon the Bowling Green, and were occupied by some of the wealthiest merchants of that day. But in Cosby's time the walls of the fort were no doubt rude and imperfect. A brackish well just out- side supplied it with water. Inside were a small chapel, the barracks, and also the house in which the governor and his family lived. This was a building of three stories, built of brick; it was evidently of sufficient size to entertain the large number of guests the governor was fond of asking to his parties, and from its top or the upper story was obtained a fine view of the bay and the opposite shores. A gate- way opened in the wall of the fort, and over its paved walk passed the gay coaches and the crowds of the fair and the brave who were summoned to the governor's balls. Here Cosby brought his wife, his son, and his two daughters, and here passed on the four stormy years in which he essayed to govern New-York.
The city and the province had not grown as rapidly as their neigh- bors east and south. In the second century of its existence (1730-
WILLIAM COSBY AND THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 211
1736) New-York was still a small town clinging to the southern end of its island, and having a population of not more than seven or eight thousand souls. Twenty-five years later it had reached only about twelve or thirteen thousand, of whom more than two thousand were negro slaves.1 A modern city, a Chicago, gathers its million in half a century. The growth of New-York was so slow in the first hundred years or more from Stuyvesant to the Revolution, that it had added to its population only at the rate of perhaps one hundred and fifty an- nually. The province was equally slow in its progress. Immigrants turned away from it to seek the rich fields of Pennsylvania and the rising settlements of New Jersey. Connecticut, the historian Smith complains, in 1756 had already a population of one hundred and thirty-three thousand, while in all New-York there was scarcely one hundred thousand. Yet there were richer lands along the Hudson than any the east could boast of, and the fair and mighty river gave advantages to the New-York farmer that Pennsylvania and the in- terior of New Jersey could never afford. The historian attributes this slow growth to the unwise policy of England. The common punish- ment of English criminals was to be banished to the colonies. Here came the thieves, homicides, and all the disreputable part of the popu- lation of the mother-country. New-York was a Botany Bay, and the honest emigrant refused to come to a land where he must consort with the vile and the infamous. Many of these criminals were sold as bond-slaves. The newspapers have frequent advertisements of Welsh and English slaves for sale, as well as negroes. Here is one in the "New-York Gazette," September 11, 1732: "Just arrived from Great Britain, and are to be sold on board the ship Alice and Elizabeth, Capt. Faire, commander, several likely Welsh and English servant men, most of them tradesmen." They are to be seen "at Mr. Hazard's in New-York, where also is [sic] to be sold several negro girls and a negro boy, and likewise good Cheshire cheese." Besides these unwel- come immigrants, New-York had several other disadvantages. It was a frontier colony. To the north and west the savages and the French drove away the farmers into the safer settlements of New Jersey. Some large estates, too, that still continued, with their feudal usages and tenantry, engrossed much of the good land on the banks of the Hudson. Free laborers refused to sink to the level of European serfs. In their place white and negro slaves filled the streets of New-York and the plantations of Long Island. There was an active slave- market at the foot of Wall street, and the newspapers are filled with offers of rewards for runaway slaves. Slavery, with all its intense corruption and degradation, weighed upon the infant city. Young
1 By the census under Van Dam, in 1731, the city had about 9,000 inhabitants; the province about 50,000.
212
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
and old felt its demoralizing taint. Labor was held to be dishonor- able. The frequent rumors of slave insurrections and the conscious- ness of their own guilt drove the whites often to deeds of insane cruelty. Negroes for serious crimes were often burned alive. The horrible punishment was constantly inflicted upon those who rose in revolt. It is not necessary to repeat the well-known story. But the chief obstacle to the growth of New-York was its want of self-govern- ment. It always remained a court colony. England had sent out its worthless or disreputable adventurers to rule almost by force over its murmuring people. Sloughter, who caused the execution of Leisler, was a drunkard and a rogue; Cornbury, a dissolute and shameless tyrant; Fletcher, but little better ; even the cultivated Burnet wanted
THE BROOKLYN FERRY.
at times discretion. Only Montgomerie had shown a wise tolerance in his short administration. And the tyranny of the royal governors had already produced in New-York a party not far removed from com- plete republicanism and independence. Long before the Revolution, Professor Kalm and the Rev. Mr. Burnaby assure us, the people were already looking forward to a separation from their distant parent land. All the vices of a tyranny invaded the infant city. Syco- phants, who flattered and preyed upon the officials; the faithful fol- lowers of the powerful, who justified all their acts; the lovers of rank and the rivals for precedence; the persecuting churchmen; the cor- rupt lawyers and judges - all appear in the period of a Fletcher or a Cornbury. The reputation of New-York sank low, and its
213
WILLIAM COSBY AND THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
morals and its manners were inferior to those of its sister colonies. Pirates had settled on the streets of the city, and divided their prey with the wealthy merchants; slavers, but little better than pirates, sailed to the coast of Africa and brought back their hapless cargoes of men and women. Luxury and gross vices came in. Jewels, silks, brocades, the plunder of some Indian trader, were sold openly. The strong wines of Madeira and great bowls of fiery punch were con- sumed in excessive quantities at every entertainment, and even at funerals. It was an age of coarse manners, gross vices, and few traces of a dawning refinement.
Cosby, after the first few days of congratulations and pleasant impressions, began to show the less agreeable traits of his character. He was evidently one of those needy, unscrupulous retainers of the English court who were sent over to New-York to enrich themselves at the cost of the provincials. Even before leaving England, he had received twenty-four hundred pounds for his services in the affair of the sugar bill. He now made a new demand upon the colonial as- sembly for a larger compensation. But the province was poor, embar- rassed by debts incurred in defending itself against the French; trade had declined, and the revenue was decreasing. The assembly hesi- tated; the governor renewed his demand almost in the tone of a master. He evidently fancied that he had come over to deal with an inferior people, over whom he was authorized to exert a despotic power. The house yielded with some murmurs, and gave him one thousand pounds. He was so displeased at the smallness of the sum that he spoke of it with contempt.1 In addition the house fixed his salary at one thousand five hundred pounds, besides allowing him various expenses and perquisites. It is not possible to estimate ex- actly the cost of an English governor to the colony; but Cosby re- ceived an income of over ten thousand dollars-an excessive salary in these early days. He had, besides, his house in the fort, and ap- parently increased his gains, according to charges or calumnies of his enemies, by taking bribes and selling offices. In this he would only have followed the example of his patrons in England, Walpole, Hali- fax, and Newcastle. Yet the expenses of the office were very con- siderable. The governor was to live in a manner suitable to his rank. The effects of the late governor, Montgomerie, were sold at auction after his death, and give us some conception of the decorations and furniture of a New-York home in 1730. There were fine beds and bedsteads, blue cloth for liveries, silver-handled knives and forks, "a very fine medicine chest with great variety of valuable medicines," some good Barbados rum, horses, coaches, a state barge handsomely
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