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 9
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1 The route usually taken at this time from New-York to Philadelphia was to cross the bay from the foot of Whitehall street to Staten Island in a pirogue, commonly called a periagua, a little open boat with lee-boards, and steered by one man. Reaching the island, the traveler pro- ceeded to the ferry at "Arthur Rolls'" Sound, crossed in a scow to New Jersey, and shortly reached the "Blazing Star" Inn, near Wood- bridge. Journeying slowly to the Raritan River. the site of New Brunswick was reached by a scow, and in the same manner the site of Trenton on the Delaware, until (by boat), by the third
or fourth day, the "City of Brotherly Love" made its appearance. As Cornbury reached Phil- adelphia on June 23, it will be seen that his journey was performed in four days.
? Writers upon this period have made this action of Cornbury take place in the summer of 1702. but such is not the fact.
3 " When His Excellency [Cornbury] retired to Jamaica, one Hubbard, the Presbyterian Minister, lived in the best house in the town, and his lord- ship begged the loan of it for the use of his own family. and the clergyman put himself to no small inconvenience to favor the Governor's re-
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nearly all composed of New England Puritans, had raised sufficient money by individual subscriptions to purchase the ground and build a portion of the foundation of the church. At this point, finding themselves unable to complete the building, they procured, in 1691, the passage of an act by the assembly (called the "Ministerial Act") by which the edifice was finished and the yearly salary of the min- ister paid. Hence, as the act was passed principally, though not wholly,2 for the benefit of the Presbyterians in Jamaica, a fact which at the time was not disputed, they were clearly in the right in resisting the arbitrary order of the governor. Might, however, in this instance as in so many others, made right; for on the Presby- terians endeavoring, one Sabbath afternoon, to maintain possession of their church edifice, a party of Episcopalians, encouraged by Corn- bury, broke down the doors and drove the rightful occupants into an adjoining orchard, where the minister finished his rudely interrupted discourse. The Rev. Mr. Urquhart, a Church of England clergyman, was at once put into possession, the Presbyterian pastor's salary being paid to him. "This short method," as Governor Lewis Morris of New Jersey, writing to a friend in England, naïvely observes, "might be some service to the Minister, but was very far from being any to the church, as no such unaccountable step can ever be!"' Upon the death of the Rev. Mr. Urquhart, in October, 1709, his daughter married a dissenting minister and placed him in possession of the parsonage, which he continued to occupy until 1711. In that year, the Episcopalians, threatening to petition the throne for his recall, persuaded Governor Hunter to place the parsonage again in pos- session of a clergyman of the Anglican Church ; and thus, for many years, with varying successes on each side, the wrangling continued until 1728, when the church edifice, parsonage, and glebe were per- manently restored to the Presbyterians, the colonial courts, after a vast amount of litigation, deciding in their favor.
In July of the year 1702, Cornbury, not deeming it prudent to return to the city permanently until the abatement of the epidemic, which had already carried off nearly seven hundred of its citizens, took this opportunity to visit Albany and confer with the Five Nations.
quest; but, in return for the generous benefac- tion, his lordship perfidiously delivered the parson- age-house into the hands of the Episcopal party, and encouraged one Cardwel, the sheriff, a mean fellow, who afterward put an end to his own life, to seize upon the glebe, which he surveyed into lots, and farmed for the benefit of the Epis- copal Church." William Smith's "History of New-York " (first edition, pp. 104 -106).
1 Smith says that at the time of the erection of the Presbyterian church and the passage of the Act of 1691, there was not a single Episcopalian in the town.
? This same act also provided for the building of a church in the city of New-York in which was to be settled a "Protestant minister," the word Prot- estant being tacitly understood to mean Episco- pal. This was the origin of Trinity Church, which was begun in 1696, and finished and opened for public worship February, 1698, under the aus- pices of the Rev. William Vesey. The church itself, which was a very insignificant building, resembled its present namesake in nothing save in having a very tall spire.
3 "Documents relating to the Colonial History of New-York," 5: 321.
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The war between England and France, known here as "Queen Anne's War," had just begun; and it was justly feared that unless that power- ful confederacy were placated, the French and Indian raids, which, with firebrand and scalping-knife, were desolating the borders and even the interior of the New England colonies, would also be turned upon the province of New-York. Even the terrors of the halter were insufficient to deter the Jesuits from communicating with the Five Nations, nor were their artful dealings with them persisted in with- out partial effect. These indications were indeed such in this year (1702) as in the opinion of the gov- ernor to require an appropriation that would enable him to meet them in council and conciliate them with the needful presents. Accordingly, the assembly having made an ap- propriation for this purpose, the governor, on July 1, set out for Albany, and his journey up the Hudson to that town may fairly be considered, in the language of the present day, a "junketing tour." In the MS. archives still pre- served in the office of the secre- tary of state at Albany, N. Y., there is to be seen a bill rendered him by his liquor-merchant for large quan- tities of wine and beer consumed upon this excursion; these liquors being for his own personal use, and not including many additional barrels of beer and rum specially intended as gifts for the Indian sachems. The governor, with his suite and his "man Friday " (Sec- retary Homan), arrived at Albany late in the evening of the 5th,1 and on the 10th and 15th he held an informal conference with the Twig- twees and some minor Canadian tribes. It was at this preliminary meeting that a Marquase sachem (administering thereby a severe, though probably not an intentional, reproof to the governor) begged that the rum their brother Corlaer' had brought up for them from New-York might be lodged in some safe place until the conference was over, since, as the speaker said, "if his people should fall a-drink- ing, they would be unfit for business." The request was complied
1 Writers have given this date as July 10. but Cornbury's letter to the lords of trade, a copy of which is contained in the MS. Collection of Documents at Albany (Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y .. 1: 97. distinctly says that while the Indians ex-
pected him on the 10th. he arrived several days before that date. that is, on the 5th of the month. : The name given by the Five Nations to the colonial governors of New-York. (See Chapter on Andros, Vol. I.)
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with, and the rum, which gave so much solicitude to the Indian chief, was safely stored away in the cellar of Robert Livingston.
This conference was, however, merely preliminary to the great council which was held with the chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy, and which was opened July 17, lasting until the 23d of the same month. On this occasion, Major Peter Schuyler and Robert Living- ston acted as interpreters. The former Governor Cornbury had taken into his council, and he was, so far, at least, as a man of his arrogant disposition could be, guided by his superior knowledge in dealing with Indian affairs. This selection was most wise. No man under- stood those affairs better than Major Schuyler, and his influence over the fickle red men was so great that whatever Quider,1 as they called him, either recommended or disapproved, had the force of law. This power over them was supported, as it had been obtained, by repeated offices of kindness, and his signal bravery and activity in the defense of the colony .? Through the influence of Quider, therefore, Cornbury was placed upon the best footing with the Indians, and was thoroughly prepared to treat with them in such a manner as would best serve the welfare of the colony. The conference continued for five days, during which time the governor listened patiently to the various complaints of the different tribes, and, by presents from his mistress, "the great Queen of England," "rubbed off the rust which had lately gathered upon the chain of Friendship." These gifts consisted of those usual on such occasions, viz .: guns, blankets, kettles, knives, powder, lead, hats, rum, and tobacco. If the Five Nations and the other tribes of Indians, their allies, would but remain firm to their pledges with the English, preserve a strict neutrality, and thus constitute a barrier against the incursions of the French, the governor promised to build, with all expedition, a fort at Albany and one at Schenectady, into which they might send their wives and children in case of danger.3 If, however, added the governor in conclusion, "you suffer yourselves to be deluded by the French, or make war upon us or any that we are in alliance with, you must expect to lose not only ye benefit of these forts, but also ye benefit of ye peacable Hunting which you so much value; but we will al joyn to destroy those that shall first take up ye hatchet to kill any of ye Brethren that are linked in our covenant-chain." The
1 Quider is the Indian pronunciation of Peter. Having no labials in their language, they could not say " Peter."
2 Major Schuyler, for example, upon learning of the massacre and burning of Schenectady by the French in February, 1693, immediately took the field at the head of the militia of Albany, and harassed the enemy sharply during their retreat. Indeed, but for the protection of a snow-storm, and the accidental resting of a cake of ice upon the river, forming a bridge for their escape, the invaders would have been cut off to a man. VOL. II .- 5.
3 It was in pursuance of this same policy that a stone chapel was built, in 1711, by Queen Anne for the Mohawks at Fort Hunter, N. Y. This build- ing, known as " Queen Anne's Chapel," and used in the Revolution as a fort by the residents of the Mohawk Valley. was demolished in 1820 to give place to the Erie Canal; the stone in it being used to construct guard-locks near its site. The English Episcopal Missions to the Mohawks appear to have begun as early as 1702, and continued down to the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
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effect of this speech, due unquestionably to the advice and tact of Major Schuyler, was entirely satisfactory ; and this celebrated council broke up with an assurance, on the part of the Indians, that " Brother Corlaer need not doubt but that we will comply with all his wishes, being very desirous to continue in the peace and tranquillity we now enjoy." The promises thus made were faithfully kept; and during the entire war, which lasted for eleven years, or until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the province of New-York enjoyed a complete im- munity from all Indian and French barbarities.1
On the 23d the governor held another council with the River In- dians at Schenectady; after which, passing again through Albany, he went down the Hudson as far as Esopus, where, on account of the embers of the epidemic being still alive in New-York, he tarried until the middle of November, when he returned to the city. While at Esopus, he addressed a letter to the lords of trade, in which, after giving the results of the late conference at Albany, he proceeded to lay before them a plan for the conquest of Canada. This plan con- templated the sending from England of a body of fifteen hundred troops, well disciplined and officered, to be augmented by thirty-five hundred men raised in the colonies. Of this force he proposed that three thousand men, with eight frigates and one gunboat, should start from Boston early in the coming spring and attack Quebec by way of the St. Lawrence River ; while, simultaneously, a force of two thousand troops should march from Albany by way of Lake Cham- plain upon Montreal. In this way Canada, he thought, would be easily and surely conquered. This plan, in all its essential details, was precisely similar to the one pursued in 1776, when Arnold de- scended the Chaudière, and Montgomery the St. John, each having Quebec for his objective point. Cornbury's arguments in favor of it were most cogent; and the advantages which, in case of success, would accrue to England were lucidly set forth. These were, first, the securing of the peltry trade for England, the duties upon which article would in a very short time reimburse the government for all the expenses of the expedition; and secondly, the attaching of the Indians permanently to the British crown, thus not only saving the great expense of constant gifts to the Indians, but securing peace to the frontiers. This latter result, moreover, he pointed out, would greatly increase the agricultural wealth of the colonies, since the
I While this conference was in motion, an incident occurred which at first threatened to neutralize all of the governor's eforts. This was the killing of a sachem of the River Indians by four negro slaves owned by two citizens of Albany. The nexture who were at once wierd. tried, and condemned on the spot. would all have been hung had not the Indians come in a tasty In the governor and inferreded for
their lives, saying that the celerity of the trial had satisfied them of the governor's desire to have justice done. The latter granted their request so far at least as to hang only one of the negroes and respite the other three. This incident is recom- mended to the attention of those who can see in the red man nothing but treacherous and cruel traits
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people, no longer in constant dread of the scalping-knife, would be able thoroughly to cultivate their fields, a restful feeling taking the place of perpetual terror and alarm. In fact, concluded the governor, " the people of the Province are so sensible of these things that I believe there is scarce a man in it that would not leave his family and his business to give a helping hand to this undertaking." It were bootless, perhaps, to inquire too curiously, knowing the supine and superficial character of the man, whether these suggestions were not inspired by Schuyler or Livingston, or both. Still, as there is not an atom of evidence in favor of this conjecture, to Cornbury is to be given the entire credit of this plan. As it was, his letter was laid before the queen, referred to the Duke of Nottingham, and the scheme finally smothered in its inception. Very probably the home government, taxed to its utmost to sustain the Duke of Marlborough in his continental campaigns, had no money to spare for the reduction of Can- ada. At any rate, this is the last that is heard of a plan grand and able in conception, ANCIENT TANKARD. 1 and in no wise impracticable in execution; and had it been adopted at this time, the conquest of Canada by the English might have been anticipated by sixty years, almost to a day.
Before leaving Esopus, Cornbury received by express from New- York a formal commission from the lords of trade to govern New Jersey - the proprietors of that province having surrendered all their powers to Queen Anne. Henceforth East and West Jersey were united under one government, an assembly being elected by the majority of freeholders which was to sit, first at Perth Amboy, then at Burlington, and afterward alternately at those two towns. "Liberty of conscience was granted to all persons except Papists ; and the solemn affirmation of the Quakers was to be taken instead of an oath." In his instructions, Cornbury was especially directed to take care that "God Almighty was devoutly and duly served," and that ministers of the Anglican Church should be furnished with a
1 Sarah Jansen de Rapalje was the first girl born of white parents in New Netherland, on June 6, 1625. Her father moved from Staten Island to Long Island at the Walloon Bay (Wae-
len Bogt-Wallabout) in the spring of that year. The tankard illustrated above was presented to her at her marriage, and the inscription alluded to the circumstance of her birth. EDITOR.
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parsonage and a glebe "at the common charge." He was likewise strictly enjoined "to encourage traffic in merchantable negroes," which, it was stated, the African Company in England "would fur- nish at moderate rates."
But while Cornbury was enjoying himself in Ulster County, trouble was preparing for him at home. It will be remembered that his first official act, on his arrival in New-York, had been to dissolve an assembly that had been, as it was thought, especially elected in con- sonance with his views. This sudden dissolution had the effect of opening the eyes of the people at. once to the narrow-minded and despotic character of their new governor. Hence the writs which were immediately issued for a new election had the effect of stirring Phillip French up a bitter partizan strife throughout the province. In the elections which followed, Philip French was chosen a member of the new legislature, but did not take his seat, since on the following October, 1702, he was appointed mayor of the city.1 Stephen De Lancey, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and Henry Beek- man were also elected to the assembly, and William Nicolls was cho- sen speaker. The new assembly met in Jamaica, April 13, 1703. At first its opposition to the governor was not pronounced; on the con- trary, it welcomed him in a eulogistic address, voted him two thou- sand pounds to reimburse him for the cost of his voyage, together with a double salary, and provided a public revenue for seven years in advance. It also voted eighteen hundred pounds for the defense of the frontiers. Other acts were passed in the interest of the city's health, and among them one which, though well intentioned, illus- trates the ignorance of sanitary laws existing at that day, viz .: "An Act to prohibit the burning of oyster shells into lime within half a mile of the City Hall in Wall street, since to that cause is to be attrib- uted, in a large measure, the prevalence of the malignant fever of the previous summer."" Two other creditable acts were likewise passed :
1 Philip French was mayor in 1702. He was born in Kelshall, Suffolk County, England, where his family formed a part of the wealthy landed gentry. He began life as a merchant in his native country, but finally settled in New-York, although even here his connections were mainly with Eng- land. His brother John commanded a merchant vessel, and also came to settle in New-York city. Philip French married Anneken, a daughter of Councilor Frederick Philipse. This connection alone would have cast his sympathies in the scale against Leisler's party. He resided on Broad street, near Exchange Place, and his household embraced seven slaves. Toward the close of Bellomont's rule, exasperated by the favor shown the popular party, French allowed himself to be carried into opposi- tion beyond the bounds of prudence. As has been noticed in the text in the previous chapter, he united with Nicholas Bayard in a violent address,
in which the lieutenant-governor and the chief justice were charged with bribery. There was enough ground in this document for a trial for high treason, but while Bayard actually underwent the trial, and came near being hanged, French escaped to England. Lord Cornbury restoring the anti- Leislerians to favor and power, French returned, and in 1702 was appointed mayor by the governor. His business affairs requiring his presence in Eng- land before his year was out, he left the govern- ment and seals in charge of the recorder. He died in 1707, three children, all daughters, surviv- ing him. The city now numbered about forty-four hundred inhabitants. EDITOR.
2 It is a well-known fact that the vicinity of lime-kilns is always remarkably healthy, the fumes arising from the burning of the limestone being almost as good a disinfectant as the lime itself.
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one for the maintenance of the poor of the city, and the other, of even greater importance,' for establishing a free grammar-school; the power for carrying out the provisions of this law being vested in the corporation of the city. Cornbury, who, like Berkeley of Vir- ginia, heartily disliked anything that tended toward the education of the masses, appears at first to have given the project an extremely lukewarm support, if, indeed, he did not directly oppose it; and it was only through the persuasion of the Rev. William Vesey, the rector of Trinity Church, for his day a liberal-minded man, that he was finally prevailed upon to disguise his repugnance, and with every outward show of willingness to sign the act creating the school .? Mr. Vesey took advantage of this opportunity to carry out a project he had long contemplated, the opening of a catechizing- school for the instruction of Indians and negro slaves; and when, two years later, he was succeeded as catechist by Mr. Elias Neall, he freely offered Trinity Church to that gentleman for the use of the school on stated days.
Meanwhile the people of the entire province, and particularly of the city, were thrown into a panic (known afterward as the "French Scare") by rumors to the effect that the French fleet were about to transfer their operations from the West Indies to the seaports of the English colonies, especially that of New-York. The fear of such an event taking place seems to have so greatly permeated the minds of the people, almost to the exclusion, at this time, of other topics, that it is singular that scarcely any writer upon the colonial history of New- York at this period should have even alluded to it; yet it was a ques- tion that, during the entire administration of Governor Cornbury, deeply exercised the community. This is manifest by the different measures continually taken by the colonial government to avert such a catastrophe. A board of admiralty, to encourage privateering by providing that there should be no delay in the distribution of prize- money, was established ; the fort was placed in a tolerable condition of defense; and a line of stockades run from the North to the East River, at which point a large breastwork was erected extending along the river-side. Three batteries were also raised upon the East River, one of twenty-two, one of seven, and one of three guns; three batteries on the North River, one of nine, one of five, and one of three guns; and one battery, consisting of eleven guns, upon a point of rock under the fort. As there were not enough cannon to supply all of these batteries, the deficiency was made up by borrowing eighteen pieces
1 I say " of even greater importance " advisedly : for the education of the people is, perhaps, the surest method of preventing pauperism.
" In view of the antecedents of Rev. William Vesey (who, by the way, was a graduate of Har- vard), his intimacy with, and his influence over,
Governor Cornbury are somewhat singular. For instance, Lord Bellomont says in a letter from Boston, September 11, 1699, that his [Vesey's] father was "try'd, convict [sic] and pillory'd here at Boston, for being the most impudent and avowed Jacobin that has been known in America."
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from a Scotch man-of-war that lay at Amboy, and by some merchants who dealt in ordnance making up, as a loan, the remainder.1 An appropriation of fifteen hundred pounds was also voted by the legis- lature, nemine contradicente, for fortifying the Narrows. So far, there- fore, as the passage of laws for the defense of the city was concerned, the assembly did its duty ; and consequently, the complaint of the governor to the lords of trade, under date of October 3, 1706, that he " wished the assembly here might be convinced how reasonable a thing it is that they should raise funds for the providing arms and ammunition for the defense of the country, but he much feared it," was most unjust. Indeed, that body cannot fairly be charged with the least parsimony when the interest either of the city or the province was at stake.
It was, therefore, with intense anxiety, mingled with deep chagrin, that, on the appearance, on July 26, 1706, of a French privateer of seventeen guns off Sandy Hook,2 it was found that no fortifications had been erected at the Narrows, the fifteen hundred pounds which had been appropriated for this purpose having been used by the governor to build a country-seat on Nutten or Governor's Island for himself and his successors. Nor was the alarm of the citizens lessened when, simultaneously with the appearance of this privateer, advices were received from the governor of Maryland that several French vessels were hovering off the capes of Virginia, and, having captured seven merchantmen, were evidently bound for the harbor of New-York. This rumor at length grew to such proportions that it was said the privateer off Sandy Hook was one of those vessels, and that her crew, having already landed at that point, were plundering the inhabitants and devastating the surrounding country. In this emergency no time was to be lost; and accordingly, while all the able-bodied citizens young and old labored, as in the war of 1812, day and night with pick and shovel, throwing up earthworks for the defense of the city,' Captain Richard Davis was sent out with a French man-of-war lately captured by the English and rechristened the Triton's Prize, to find and engage the French privateer. At the same time, another vessel, under Captain Evertse, with one hundred citizens, who had volunteered as marines, was also sent out to meet the enemy. This vessel, however, accomplished nothing, for the crew, on coming in sight of the French- man twenty miles outside the Hook, refused to work the ship, which was thus forced to return to the city, thereby plunging the citizens into still deeper despondency. Captain Davis, however, was more
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