USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 17
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nor to " dispose of such money, Wampum or Jewells to any stranger or person whatsoever, who should carry them out of " the "Government."
It was also ordered "that no Indian Trader whatso- ever" should, on and after the twenty-fifth of March, 1687, "directly or indirectly in his own name, or in ye name of any other persons living in or Import from Eng- land or any oyr part of Europe or ye West Indies into " the city or its liberties any Indian goods or merchan- dises such as "duffells, rom, strouds, blanketts, plains, half-thicks, woolen stockings, white ozenbridge, ketles, hatchetts, hoes, red lead, vermillion, cotton, red kersey Indian haberdashery, or any oyr Indian goods." As the selling of certain small Indian wares afforded "a com- fortable livelyhood to severall people " in the city, "whose mean stocks " or small means did not permit their " deale- ing in Commodities of greater value," and as these per- sons had been "obstructed by ye constant resort of y e Indians to such persones as sell all sorts of goods," the common council to protect the small dealers and to make "a more equall distribucon of ye Indian Trade amongst ye Inhabitants " of the city, ordered that no Trader, who sold "Duffells, Strouds, Blanketts, and other Indian goods of value," should sell such small wares as "Knives, Looking Glasses, Painting stuff, Boxes, Aules, Tobacco Pipes, Tobacco, Tobacco Boxes, flints, Steels, Sizers, [scissors ?] Wire of any sort, Ribboning, Bottles, Thread, Salt, Sugar, Prunes, Apples, Razins, Juiseharps, Bells, Thimbles, Beedes, Indian Combs, and Needles."
It was also ordered that no Indian trader should in- duce by words or presents any Indian or Indians to take their guns to particular gunsmiths and gun-stock makers to be mended.
The person or persons who should transgress any of
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these orders, rules and regulations made by the common council were to be subject to various penalties, such as fines and forfeitures.
To defray the expenses "in obtaining ye charter," the common council meeting in "ye Citty Hall," resolved on the twenty-sixth of October, 1686, "to dispose off and sell some lotts of grounde upon ye Plain lying on ye south side of ye citty for gardens, as also ye land lying on both sides of [the] Rutten kill for two pastures," and appointed Gerrit Ryerse and Luykas Gerritse, assistant aldermen together with Claes Riper and Jacob Meese, carpenters, "to lay out ye same in lotts, and to number them," which lots were to be sold " at a publike vendu or outcry in ye city hall on Wednesday ye first day of December." The town-clerk was ordered to "put up bills at ye citty hall door and ye church to give notice to all persones that they may come at ye day appointed."
The common council at this meeting nominated and appointed Dirk Wessells, the recorder, and Robert Living- ston, "gentlemen," to go "with two other fitt persons " to view the "tract of land above Schinnechtady, upon ye Maquaas river, of a thousand acres, called Tiononder- oga, and ye other land thereunto adjoining, * in order to purchase ye same of ye Indians."
The common council at this meeting "ordered that ye fyremasters goe about and visite each respective house in ye citty to see if there chimneys and fyrehearths be sufficient, and also that care be taken that ye ladders and fyre hooks be upon there places and in repare."
At the next meeting of the common council, it was ordered that no person whatsoever should "for ye future rense clothes or throw water or any sort of filth in or near any of the wells or fountains" in the city, "nor water any horses out of ye pale " that hung "at ye same,
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or draw water with any fowle or dirty pale, upon pain of forfeiture of ye somme of 12s. for each offence."
Some of the cartmen and other persons in the city had taken so much sand away from the top of the hill, at "ye old burying place," that the coffins were exposed to view. To protect the graves from such public invasion, the common council further ordered that "no carman or other person " should thereafter "fetch or digg any sand on ye north side of ye Shennechtady path."
Some of the regulations made for the city were appar- ently exacting : "That if any stranger or strangers what- soever shall att any tyme hereafter come into any wards and divisions of this Citty and Libertyes thereof and shall there Reside and Inhabit by the space of fforty days and a list or account of his [or] their names shall not be- fore that time be given to the Mayor or Eldest Alder- man
By the Constable of such ward or divis- ion and any charges doe fall on this Citty thereby, such charges shall bee particularly borne and defrayed By that ward or division wherein such stranger or strangers shall so Reside and Inhabit as aforesaid. And the Constable for his neglect shall forfeitt and pay the sum of Twenty shillings."
"That all and everye keeper of publique houses, tapp houses or ordinaryes * * that shall Receive any person or persons to Lodge or Sojourn In their houses above two days shall before the third day after his or their comeing thither give knowledge to the Constable of the ward or division where such person or persons shall bee so Received of the name, surname, dwelling place, profession, and trade of life and place of service of all such person or persons, and for what cause hee or they came to Reside there."
"That the [five] Carmen appoynted for this Citty
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shall * fill up, amend and repair the breaches in the streets and highways in and about this Citty when Required by the Mayor, gratis. That the said Carmen shall -* on every Saturday In the afternoon carry and carte the dirte out of all the streets and lanes within the Citty and Convey the same to some convenient place where the same shall be appointed to be layed."
"That noe Negroe or other Slave [shall] * drive any carte within this Citty under the penaltye of Twenty Shillings to be paid by the owner of such slave for each offence."
" All persons within this Citty are on Every Saturday morning when the season of the year and the Weather will permit to clean the streets and sweepe ye dirte before their houses Into heaps and cause the same to be Loaden and putt Into the Cartes which are appoynted to carry away the same."
"That if any person shall suffer his Chimney to be on ffire he shall pay the summe of 15 shillings."
" That no person or persons [shall] harbour, entertayne or countenance any Negro or Indian slave In their houses or otherwyse, or sell or delyver to them any wine, Rumm, or other strong Liquor without Leave from the master or Receave or take from them any money or other goods on any other accott whatsoever."
"That noe person or persons [shall] be per- mitted to exercise any handicraft, trade or other imploy- ment untill he shall have served as an apprentice to some burger of this citty of such respective employment for and during the term of ffour whole years unless such person or persons shall have otherwayes been sufficiently qualified." 1
On the twenty-fourth of February, 1687, as it was 1 City Records, 1686.
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" very requisite yt *
* * fyre-wood " should be "rid to ye indian houses for ye indians accommodation " as the traders were "founde negligent in rideing ye same according to former custome," the high constable was ordered "to charge and command all ye indian traders of" the "citty, that in ye space of 14 days they [should] ride wood according to ye list wh " should "be made by John Johnse Bleeker, Jan Lansing, Robt. Sanders, and Arent Schuyler." 1
Governor Dongan, in February 1687, in his explana- tions to the Privy Council, thus adverted to the efforts of the French to obtain the control of the Indian tribes of Northern New York : "They have fathers [priests] still among the five Nations, * * * the Maquaes, the Sinicaes, Cayouges, Oneides, and Onondagues, and have converted many of them to the Christian Faith and doe their utmost to draw them to Canada, to which place there are already 6 or 700 retired and more like to doe, to the Great prejudice of this Government if not pre- vented. I have done my endeavors and have gone so far in it that I have prevailed with the Indians to consent to come back from Canada on condition that I procure for them a peace of Land called Serachtague lying upon Hudsons river above 40 miles above Albany and there furnish them with Priests.
"Thereupon and upon a petition of the people of Albany to mee setting forth the reasonableness and con- veniency of granting to the Indians their requests, I have procured the land for them, altho it has been formerly patented to people at Albany, and have promised the In- dians that they shall have Priests & that I will build them a Church & have assured the people of Albany that I would address to his Maty as to your Lops [Lordships] 1 City Records, 1687.
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that care may bee taken to send over by the first five or six, it being a matter of great consequence.
"These Indians have about ten or twelve castles (as they term them) & those at a great distance one from an- other, soe that there is an absolute necessity of having soe many priests, that there bee three always travelling from Castle to Castle, & the rest to live with those that are Christians. By that means the French Priests will bee obliged to retire to Canada, whereby the French will bee divested of their pretence to ye Country & then wee shall enjoy that trade without any fear of being di- verted. * *
"The great difference between us is about the Beaver Trade, and in truth they have the advantage of us in it & that by noe other meanes than by their Industry in making discoveries in ye Country before us.
"Before my coming hither noe man of our Governmt ever went beyond the Sinicaes Country. Last year some of our people went a trading among the farr Indians called the Ottowais, inhabiting about three months' journey to the West & W. N. W. [west north-west] of Albany from whence they brought a good many Beavers. They found their people more inclined to trade with them than the French, the French not being able to protect them from the arms of our Indians with whom they have had a continued warr, soe that our Indians brought away this very last year a great many prisoners.
"Last week I sent for some of our Indians to New York, where when they came I obtained a promise from them that some of themselves would goe along with such of our people as goe from Albany and Esopus to these far Nations, and carry with them the captives they have prisoners in order to the restoring them to their liberty & bury their Hatchetts with those of their enemys,
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by which means a path may bee opened for these far Indians to come with safety to Trade at Albany, our people goe thither without any let or disturbance."
"The five Indian Nations are the most warlike people in America, & are a bulwark between us & the French & all other Indians. They goe as far as the South Sea [Gulf of Mexico], the North-West Passage [Mississippi River], & Florida to Warr. New England in their last Warr with the Indians had been ruined, had not Sr Ed- mund Andros sent some of those Nations to their assis- tance. And indeed they are soe considerable that all the Indians in these parts of America are Tributareys to them. I suffer noe Christians to converse with them any where but at Albany and that not without my licence."
Governor Dongan also, in these explanations to the Privy Council, speaks of the buildings in Albany, and says they "are generally of Stone & brick. In the Coun- try the houses are mostly new built, having two or three rooms on a floor." 1
While he was in Albany, as he further relates, he made "Robert Livingstone Collector and Receiver, with order to acct wth [with] & pay into Mr Santem? wt money he sho'd receive, for which he was to have 1s Pr Pound of all such monys as should pass through his hands, & alsoe made him Clerk of the Town, that both places to- gether might afford him a competent maintenance." 3
Early in the month of September, 1687, information was brought to Albany that the French were making preparations to invade the province of New York to ex- terminate the Mohawks and the other Indians of the five nations. When this news was communicated to the gov- ernor and council, they, on the ninth of September, com-
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 393, 394, 395.
2 Lucas Santem, the collector of his majesty's revenues in the province.
3 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 491.
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manded that the mayor and magistrates should send orders " to the five Nations to bring Down [to Albany] their Wives, Children and old men least ye ffrench come uppon them in the Winter " and that none should " stay in the Castles but ye young men." They also ordered that the Indians who left their villages should be settled tem- porarily at Catskill, Livingston's land, and along the river, where they could be near assistance should they need help. The Indians were also ordered to bring with them all the corn except that which was needed by the young warriors remaining in the castles. The people of Albany are described as being " in great Consternation thro ap- prehension that ye ffrench " would " come down uppon them."
To defend Albany, the government forthwith ordered that "Every tenth man of all ye Militia troupes & Com- panys within the Province Except those who were out ye last yeare a whaling be Drawn out to go up thither." The governor, attended by the Rev. Alexander Innis, of the Church of England, chaplain of the garrison of Fort James, in the city of New York, and Father Henry Har- rison, an English Jesuit, went to Albany, in October, to take command of the troops quartered there.
The authorities, to preserve the peace of the city dur- ing its occupation by the military forces of the province, prohibited the sale of "any strong drink, beer, syder, or other liquor to any person whatever after ye Taptoo."
The governor, writing from Albany, on the nineteenth of February, 1688, to the earl of Sutherland, president of his majesty's privy council, says : "I have been here all this winter with foure hundred foote and fifty horse and Eight hundred Indians ; the French nor there Indians have [not] done us any hurt as yett ; wee are at great chardges, * not to reckon this Extraordinarij
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Expense, and when I come to N. Yorke to impose an- other Tax upon ye people, I am afraid they will desert the Province and goe to other Plantations."
The extraordinary expense referred to by the governor, was the disbursement £2,067 6s. 4d., from August 11, 1637, to June 1, 1638, by Robert Livingston, for the sup- port and pay of the troops, for gifts to the Indians, and the needs of the French prisoners. The city and county of Albany were assessed for £240 of this expenditure. In March, Governor Dongan returned to New York.
By the annexation of the colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut, and the province of New York, and the Jerseys to the other English provinces and colonies, on the fifth of April, 1688, by James II., the province of New York became a part of the territory called New Eng- land placed under the governorship of Sir Edmund An- dros. On the eleventh of August, Governor Andros came to New York, and received the seal of the province from Governor Dongan. On the thirtieth of August, Governor Andros with a number of his counselors and a company of soldiers embarked for Albany.
On the eighteenth of September, at the conference with the sachems of the five Indian nations, the governor was thus addressed by Sindachsegie, a Mohawk chief :
"Brother Corlaer, we are come from all the five nations, * * to bid you welcome in this place, not only you but your council likewise, and we return thanks to the magistrates of Albany who acquainted us of your coming hither, and that you were governor-general of all these territories, and the same person which did us the kindness to be called Corlaer when you were formerly governor. Thereupon we resolved not to come slowly but to run with all speed to see and bid you welcome." 1
Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 558.
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The governor-general, having placed Captain Jervis Baxter in command of Fort Albany, returned to New York about the end of September. Having made Boston the seat of the government of New England, Governor Andros shortly afterward proceeded thither, taking with him some of the records of New York.
The city authorities, having been complained to by some of the inhabitants that the bakers sold wheat-bread at " dear rates, notwithstanding ye cheapness of ye corn," it was ordered, in December, 1688, that the bakers and other persons who sold bread should " take no more than one penny, half-penny or five stuyvers zewant for a loaf of fine wheat-bread, which " should " weigh one pound English weight " and of the "same fineness as hitherto."
Those persons who should "presume to cutt down any of ye townes old stockadoes till ye spring when new ones " were "to be putt in ye room," were to pay a fine of ten shillings.
Divers persons having assumed "to themselves ye lib- erty to make use of ye towne ladders for their owne occa- sion * so much that verry few" were "to be found in their places, where they were first ordained," it was ordered by "the mayor and aldermen yt ye fyremas- ters " should "inspect into ye condition of sd ladders and fyrehooks yt they " were "in good condition and repaire, and yt in some convenient place of each ward there " were " at least 2 good ladders of 25 foot, and 2 of 15 foot with iron hooks fast to ye ladders, and 2 fyrehooks, which " would "make 12 ladders and 6 hooks for ye 3 respective wards. Whatever ladders or hooks " should " be founde over and above ye sd number, ye fyremasters " were "to take care that they " were " hung at ye church." 1
1 City records. 1688.
CHAPTER XI.
FRENCH HOSTILITIES.
1689-1692.
The unsuccessful attempt of King James II. of Eng- land to make the Roman Catholic Church dominant in his dominions and his subsequent flight to France, on the eleventh of December, 1688, were followed by a series of events peculiarly disturbing to the people of the English provinces in America. The French, having for a long time contemplated the project of obtaining possession of the territory of New York, now began to consider the most feasible way of accomplishing the undertaking. Sieur Chevalier Hector de Callières Bon- nevue, the governor of Montreal, wrote as follows to the Marquis de Seignelay, in January, 1689 :
"The plan is to go directly to Orange, [Albany], the most advanced town of New York, one hundred leagues from Montreal, 1 which I would undertake to get pos- session of and to proceed thence to seize Manathe, [New York City,] the capital of that colony situated on the sea-coast ; on condition of being furnished with supplies necessary for the success of the expedition.
"I demand for that only the troops at present main- tained by his majesty in Canada. * * These troops number thirty-five companies which, at fifty men each,
1 Montreal is about two hundred and thirty miles from Albany.
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ought to give seventeen hundred and fifty. *
* I propose to select the best of them to the number of fourteen hundred and to add to these the choice men of the militia to the number of six hundred. I propose to embark the two thousand men with the supplies necessary for their subsistence in a sufficient number of canoes and flat boats. * Му design is to conduct them by the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain as far as the carrying place, which is within three leagues of the Albany [Hudson] River that runs to Orange. I shall conceal this expedition, which must be kept very secret, by saying that the king has commanded me to proceed at the head of his troops and militia to the Iroquois country to dictate peace to the Iroquois on the condition it has pleased his majesty to grant them without the interference of the English, in- asmuch as the Iroquois are his true subjects, without letting any one know our intention of attacking the English until we have arrived at the point whence I shall send to tell the Iroquois by some of their nation that I am not come to wage war against them but only to reduce the English.
" As the batteaux cannot proceed farther than the carrying place, my intention is to erect there a small log-fort, which I shall build in three days, and to leave two hundred men in it to guard the batteaux ; thence to march direct to Orange, embarking our supplies on the [ Hudson ] River in canoes ; which we shall bring and which can be convoyed by land, we marching with the troops along the river as an escort.
"I hope to seize in passing some English villages and settlements where I shall find provisions and the con- veniences for attacking the town of Orange.
" This town is about as large as Montreal, surrounded
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by pickets, at one end of which is a fort of earth de- fended by palisades, and has four bastions. There is a garrison of one hundred and fifty men of three com- panies in the fort and some pieces of cannon. The town of Orange may contain about one hundred and fifty houses and three hundred inhabitants capable of bear- ing arms, the majority of whom are Dutch, besides a number of French refugees and some English people.
"After having invested the town and summoned it to surrender with the promise not to pillage it, if it capitulate, I propose in case of resistance to cut or burn the palisades, in order to afford an opening, and enter there sword in hand and seize the fort. These palisades, which are only about fourteen feet high, can easily be scaled by means of the conveniences we shall find when masters of the town, or [ the place may be entered] by blowing in the gate with a few petards or two small field- pieces which may be of use to me and which I shall find the means of conveying there.
" After I shall have become master of the town and the fort of Orange, which I expect to accomplish before the English can furnish it any succor, my intention is to leave a garrison of two hundred men in the fort with sufficient supplies which I shall find in the city, and to disarm all the inhabitants, granting, at his majesty's pleasure, pardon to the French deserters and inhabitants I shall find there, that they may follow me.
"I shall seize all the vessels, batteaux, and canoes that are at Orange to embark my force on the river which is navigable down to Manathe, and I shall forward with the troops the necessary provisions and ammunition, and some pieces of cannon taken from Fort Orange to serve on the attack on Manathe. * *
"It is necessary for the success of this expedition
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that his majesty shall give orders to two of the ships of war destined this year to escort the merchantmen going to Canada and Acadie, or the fishermen going for cod to the Great Bank, that after having convoyed the merchantmen to come toward the end of August into the bay of Manathe and cruise there during the month of September, as well to prevent succor from Europe which may arrive from England or Boston, as to enter the harbor when on my arrival I shall give the signal agreed upon, so as to aid us in capturing the fort, which may be cannonaded from aboard the ships while I attack it on land.
" After we shall have become masters of the city and the fort of Manathe, I shall cause the inhabitants to be disarmed and shall send my Canadians back to Orange by the Albany River on their way to their batteaux." 1
Meanwhile the Protestants of the provinces in America were much concerned for the continuance of their relig- ious privileges. When it was learned that Prince Wil- liam of Orange, the stadtholder of the United Netherlands, had landed, on the fifth of November, 1688, at Torbay, in Devonshire, England, "to maintain the Protestant re- ligion and the liberties of England," the alarmed Pro- testants in America at once dismissed their fears and secretly began to devise plans to free themselves from the authority of the officers appointed by King James. These rebellious premeditations were soon manifested in the action of the disaffected people. On the eighteenth of April, Governor Andros was asked by a delegation of the citizens of Boston to " surrender and deliver up the government " of New England. Unwilling to comply with this unwarranted demand, Governor Andros was forthwith imprisoned by the presumptious leaders of the
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. ix. pp. 401-408.
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excited people. When the intelligence of the uprising in Boston reached New York, on the twenty-sixth of April, it caused no little alarm among the officers of the government. The next day the report that France had declared war against England increased the excitement so that there was "a great fret and tumult " in the city. Lieutenant-governor Francis Nicholson, who had com- mand of Fort James, conferred with the officers of the militia respecting the protection of the city. It was de- termined that Fort James should be guarded thereafter by the soldiers of the garrison and by daily details from the five companies of the militia then under the com- mand of Colonel Nicholas Bayard. On the thirtieth of April, instructions were sent to the authorities of Albany "recommending them to keep the people in peace" and the militia " well exercised and equipped."
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