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 18
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The report that Governor Andros had given per- mission to the French authorities of Canada to extirpate the Indians of the five nations made the members of the tribes apprehensive of some act of treachery on the part of the officers of James II. Pieter Schuyler, the mayor of Albany, wrote to Lieutenant-governor Nicholson that "the Indians were very jealous," and if their suspicions were not soon removed that they would "cause great mischief." The lieutenant-governor immediately replied to the mayor's letter, saying that the report " was utterly false " that his excellency the governor of New England "had made an agreement with the French to cut them off." He therefore advised that the city officers should "endeavour to hinder the Indians going to Canada," to assure them of the friendship of the officers of the English government, "and to present each nation with a barrel of powder."
The general ignorance of the people of Albany re-
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specting the progress of the revolution in England and the immediate purposes of the French government in the prosecution of the war caused them much uneasi- ness of mind. Aware that the French would make the period of hostilities an occasion to dispossess them of the friendship and trade of the Indians of the five na- tions, the burghers were much concerned respecting the consequences of King James's sudden abdication of the
throne of England. Some intolerant Protestants also began to regard Major Jervis Baxter, who was a Roman Catholic, as a very dangerous person to have command of Fort Albany. Therefore they manifested in various ways their mistrust of his fealty to the prince of Orange should he become. king of England.
This was the condition of affairs when Captain Jona- than Bull of Connecticut arrived in Albany, on Satur- day, the eighteenth of May, 1689. This officer with several commissioners from Boston had been sent there to join with the people of Albany in making a league with the Indians of the five nations. Captain Bull, in his report to Colonel John Allyn, secretary of the gen- eral court of Connecticut, speaks of the disquietude of the people, and of the anxiety of the city officers to learn the news of the progress of the revolution in Eng- land. He immediately on his arrival was invited to meet the magistrates and the aldermen who were in- quisitive for the news. However, as Major Baxter was present, whom he knew to be a Roman Catholic, he did not disclose to them the latest intelligence contained in the newspapers, "both as to foren nues and tranceactions at Boston." He afterward showed the papers to Captain Jan Jansen Bleecker, who did not agree with the mayor in withholding the news from the people. Pieter Schuy - ler, he says, thought that if the people should learn the
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news of the day, that "it wolde make them run all madd." "I answered yt [that] I thought he did not consult his owne interest in goeing about to hide yt from the people, yt was so publick, for yt it must needs worke in them a gelosie of his faithfullness to them; and also of them yt were active with him in so doing; in yt it was very proper yt all good Christians protistants should be acquainted with these things ; to which he answered litle, but seemingly went away satisfied.
"The next day being the Saboth, the mayor sent to me for the papers which I readyly sent to him, & in the evening discorsing with diuers gentlemen of the citty, who being earnest for nues, I tolde them I sholde not be wanting to impart wt [what] neus I had to them, but the papers yt I brought [I] had lent * *
to the mayor. One of them reply'd yt he inquire'd of the mayor since noone & he said he had not heard nor seen any papers, & yt there was none com, whereupon they concluded they sholde neauer see them. I informed them the substance as neer as I colde, & and also yt they sholde have a sight of them to morrow, at which they seemed much tranceported, and vowed there shold be no Roman Catholick in the Castle [fort] twelve hours longer ; their zeall growing higher and higher for purge- ing all places of & disarming all Papists. Major Bax- ter hearing of this gaue out yt he wolde [would] be gon in 3 or 4 days, and accordingly did ; after which som of the miletary officers informed me yt now thay had taken charg of the castle & all the keys into their owne hands, and kept 25 men of the towne to watch & ward in the Fourt, day and night, att which the people were much satisfied.
"I was then speaking of returning home, but the
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mayor & diuers others aduised me to stay and hear the result of the Makques sachems of their buysnes, whome they ecspected eauery day."
Captain Bull then describes the conference with the Indians. He says : "The Maquaes were ready to make their propositions in the Court house, with a present of Beavers and other furs, as I judged to the value of twenty pounds or more, which they brought and layed doune in the house, and haueing chose their speaker, he began, riseing up with two or thre beaver in his hands, the rest all silent, not one word to be heard fro them all the while. The speaker spoke as foloweth, being the 24th May, 1689:
"1. Breatheren, we are now com as our grandfathers used to doe, to renew our unity & friendship and cou- enant made between us & you.
"2. We desier yt this house being the covenant & proposition house, may be kept clean, yt is, yt we may keep a clean, single, not a double heart.
"3. We do renue the former covenant or chain yt has been made between us & you, yt is to say, New England, Vergenia, Mereland, & all these parts of America, yt it may be kept bright on eauery side, yt it may not rust nor be forgot.
"When the sachems heard," says Captain Bull, "how maters were circumstanced, & wt nues was com to hand, they seem to be glad & rejoyce at wt thay heard & wholly layd aside their intended meeting [at Onondaga,] promising nether to speak with the French nor hear the French speak to them." 1
As related by Captain Bull, the disaffection of the people of Albany caused Major Baxter to quit the place
1 Captain Jonathan Bull's report from Albany. The public records of the colony of Connecticut. May, 1678,-June, 1689. Hartford, 1859. pp. 460-463.
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and go to New York, where he received permission from Lieutenant-governor Nicholson to leave the province. It would seem that the action of the people of Albany in obtaining possession of the fort incited some of the "factious and rebellious " inhabitants of New York City to conspire together to dispossess Lieutenant-governor Nicholson of the command of Fort' James, for, on the afternoon of the thirty-first of May, he was informed that most of the city-militia were in rebellion and that they would neither obey his orders nor those of their com- manding officer, Colonel Bayard. On the night of the second of June, the malcontents with noisy demonstra- tions gathered in front of the house of Jacob Leisler, the captain of one of the militia-companies, and led by him, marched with beating drums to Fort James and took possession of it.
The next day, Captain Leisler published a declaration in which he asserted that his intention in taking com- mand of the garrison was only for "the preservation of the Protestant religion and the fort," and that he would retain command of the fortification until the arrival of ships from England with orders from the prince of Orange for the government of the country. In the after- noon copies of the English papers were received from London containing the news of the elevation of Prince William and the Princess Mary to the throne of England, on the thirteenth of February, and the proclamation that they were king and queen of England and Ireland. When Captain Leisler's declaration was received and read by the disaffected people of Connecticut, the German leader's conduct was enthusiastically approved by them. John Allyn, the secretary of the General Court of Con- necticut, wrote from Hartford, on the thirteenth of June, to Captain Leisler and his partisans, saying :
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"Considering what you have don, we doe advise that you keep the forte tenable and well manned for the de- fence of the protestant religion," and "that you suffer no Roman Catholicke to enter the same, armed or with- out armes, and that no Romish Catholick be suffered to keep armes wth in that government or Citty, and that those who shall be betrusted with the government or command of your forte be trusty persons whom you may confide in.
" And that we may know your prsent state and what may be necessary for us to contribute towards your wel- fare, we have appointed the Honrd Major Nathan Gold and Capt. James Fitch Esqrs to give you a vissit, and to give their best advice to you in any thing wherein they may be helpfull to you."
On the twenty-first of June, the two delegates from Connecticut arrived in New York City, bringing with them some English newspapers in which was the procla- mation to proclaim King William and Queen Mary sovereigns of England and Ireland. When Captain Leis- ler the next day saw the proclamation, he "had the drum beaten and the king and queen proclaimed in the forenoon'" in Fort William, as Fort James was called by him, and in the afternoon, at. the town-hall, in the city. The unwillingness of the city officials to take part in these demonstrations of loyalty greatly incensed Captain Leisler and his supporters, who called the mayor, Stephanus Van Courtlandt, a traitor and a papist. Later in the day, while Captain Leisler was with Major Gold and Captain Fitch in Fort William, the turret of the church inside the fortification was discovered to be on fire in three places, and as the magazine near by con- tained about six thousand pounds of powder, there was the wildest excitement until the flames were extin-
15
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guished. Whether an incendiary act or not, the cause of the fire was declared to be " a papistical design," "hellishly wicked and cruel," to destroy Captain Leis- ler, the garrison, and the delegates from Connecticut. The latter, before returning home, advised Captain Leis- ler not to permit any papist to enter the fort, and re- minded him of the warning he had of the ill-will of the Roman Catholics when "ye terrett in ye fort was fyred in three places," on the day King William and Queen Mary were proclaimed. In their written advice to Cap- tain Leisler and his officers, dated the twenty-sixth of June, the Connecticut emissaries added these concluding words : "Your friends pray God to encourage yor hearts and strengthen yor hands and patiently waite for ye dis- pose, [disposition, ] orders, and commands of yors & our most gracious, never equalled, commended, & admired King Willyam, ye very best this lower world knowes, whome God preserve long to Reign." 1
The rancor of Leisler and his followers became more malignant toward the mayor and the members of the common council when the latter met on the twenty- fourth of June, and ordered the proclamation of King William and Queen Mary to be read to the citizens in front of the town-hall, which directed that all sheriffs, justices, collectors, in office, on the first of December, 1688, were to continue in the discharge of their respect- ive duties. The officers of the city government, however, did not carry out these orders, but deposed Matthew Plowman, the collector, who was a Roman Catholic, and appointed as commissioners of the customs, Colonel Nicholas Bayard, Paulus Richards, Thomas Wenham, and John Haynes. When they undertook to discharge the duties of their office, Captain Leisler proceeded to the
1.Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 10, 11.
1
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custom-house with a number of soldiers and forcibly ejected them, and installed Peter de la Noy as collector. Colonel Bayard to protect himself from personal injury was compelled to depart from the city in a boat with the utmost secrecy and to make Albany his home for a time.
The accession of Prince William and the Princess Mary to the throne of England occasioned great joy in Albany. The following record discloses the action of the people on the first of July, 1689, when they learned that these distinguished personages had been made king and queen :
" The Proclamation for Proclaiming there Majs King William and Queen Mary King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland &c., being brought hither from N. Yorke Imediately upon ye Receit thereof ye Mayr & Recorder caused ye Court of Aldermen and Common Council to assemble who attended accordingly and having considered of ye greatest Solemnity yt could be used in so short a Time, appointed ye Citizens to be in arms about 12 oclock which having done they went in ordr from ye City Hall up to there Majts Fort where there Majts were proclaimed in solemn manner in English and dutch, ye gunns fyreing from ye fort & volley of small arms, ye People with Loude acclamations crying God Save King Wm. & Queen Mary, afterwards they marched doune to ye City hall where there Majts were again Proclaimed, ye night Concluding wth ye Ringing of ye Bell, Bone- fyres, fyreworks, and all oyr Demonstrations of joy."
Unwilling to acknowledge Jacob Leisler's assumed government of the province, the municipal officers, the justices of the peace, the military officers of the city and county of Albany assembled in convention on the first of August, and resolved that "all public affairs for the preservation of their majesties' interest " should be man-
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aged by the mayor, the aldermen, the justices of the peace, and the other commissioners of the city and the county, until orders should be received from King Wil- liam and Queen Mary. It was also resolved, the news of war between England and France having been received, that each person in the convention should "bring a gunn with { lb of Pouder and Bale equivalent to be hung up in ye church in ye space of three days & yt ye Traders and oyr Inhabitants be Persuaded to doe ye same to make up ye number of 50 to be made use off upon oc- casion." 1
A few days afterward, when it was learned that a number of persons having heard that the French were about to invade the province were making preparations to leave the county, a proclamation was published that no person or persons (except masters of vessels), fit and able to bear arms should be allowed to go away without a written permit from one of the justices of the peace.
Meanwhile Louis XIV., king of France, had instructed Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac, an old lieutenant- general in the French army, to proceed to Canada and to carry out the plans submitted by Chevalier de Callières. This officer, on the seventh of June, 1689, was ordered by the king " to act as far as possible in such a manner" that the people of Albany might "not be advised of his march, so that he" might "surprise this first post" and afterward "secure the number of vessels" required "to 1 descend on Manathe."
Although Captain Leisler had made several attempts to obtain from the authorities of the city of Albany an official recognition of his right to administer the govern- ment of the province, they evinced their disapprobation of his acts by a cautious reserve and an unexplained
1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp. 11-13, 46-50.
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silence. However, they resolved in a convention held in the city-hall on the fourth of September, that such was the "eminent danger threatened by the French of Canada and their praying Indians " who were about to come into Albany county "to kill and destroy their majesties' subjects," that an express should immediately be sent to Captain Leisler and the rest of the militia- officers of the city and county officers of New York for one hundred or more men to protect their majesties' fort and the frontier plantations in the county, and also for money and munitions of war.
The messenger sent to New York returned and re- ported to the convention, on the seventh day of Septem- ber, that Captain Leisler had said that he had nothing to do with the civil power and had sent a letter to Cap- tains Johannes Wendell and Jan Jansen Bleecker. When the communication was read, it was found to contain the information that Leisler had sent them four small guns, some forty pounds of match from their majesties' stores and two hundred pounds of powder be- longing to certain merchants of Albany. He desired the two captains of the Albany militia to induce the common people to send two men to New York to repre- sent them in the government. He also wrote that he and his council had not received any public moneys and that it was not in their power to send them troops, alleg- ing that the ill-treatment which the people of New York had received from the officials of Albany had made them unwilling to send the requested assistance. He sug- gested that the people of Albany should send representa- tives to consult with his council, which could then de- termine what should be done for the public good.
The convention then resolved that as no assistance was to be expected from New York nor sufficient money
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could be raised to obtain men to defend the city and the frontier that letters should be addressed to the governor and convention of Boston and also to the governor and general assembly of Connecticut for two hundred soldiers to defend the city and frontier during the win- ter.
Lieutenant Sharpe and the soldiers in the fort, having taken the oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary on the nineteenth of October, the command of the garrison was given to the former, who was to obey such orders and instructions as he should from time to time receive from the convention of the city and county of Albany, until the commands of their majesties should be known.
When it was learned that Jacob Leisler had been de- clared commander in chief of the province by his follow- ers and that Jacob Milborne was to be sent to Albany with a company of soldiers to take possession of the fort, the convention on the twenty-sixth of October, took the fol- lowing action :
"Resolved, since we are informed by Persons coming from New Yorke, that Captain Jacob Leisler is designed to send up a Company of armed Men, upon Pretence to assist us in this County, who intend to make themselves Master of their Majesties fort and this City, and carry divers Persons and chief Officers of this City Prisoners to New York, and so disquiet and disturb their Majesties liege People, that a Letter be writ to Alderman Levinus van Schaic, now at New York, and Lieutenant Jochim Staets, to make narrow Enquiry of the Business, and to signify to the said Leisler, that we have received such information ; and withal acquaint him, that notwith- standing we have the Assistance of ninety-five Men from our Neighbors of New England, who are now gone for,
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and one hundred Men upon Occasion, to command, from the County of Ulster, which we think will be sufficient this Winter, yet we will willingly accept any such As- sistance as they shall be pleased to send for the Defence of their Majesties County of Albany : Provided, they be obedient to, and obey such Orders and Commands, as they shall, from Time to Time, receive from the Conven- tion ; and that by no means they will be admitted, to have the Command of their Majesties Fort or this City ; which we intend by God's Assistance, to Keep and pre- serve for the Behoof of their Majesties, William and Mary, King and Queen of England, as we hitherto have done since their Proclamation ; and if you hear, that they persevere with such Intention, so to disturb the In- habitants of this County, that you then, in the Name and Behalf of the Convention and Inhabitants of the City and County of Albany, protest against the said Leisler, and all such Persons that shall make Attempt, for all Losses, Damages, Blood-shed, or whatsoever Mis- chiefs may ensue thereon ; which you are to communi- cate with all Speed, as you perceive their Design." 1
The messenger sent to New York returned and re- ported that he had heard Captain Leisler say among other things, that the authorities of Albany should bring their charter to New York, and that Lieutenant Sharpe and Rogers were papists.
On the eighth of November, it was deemed expedient "to prevent all jealousies and animosities," that Pieter Schuyler, the mayor, should be placed in command of the fort, and that Lieutenant Sharpe should be his subordinate officer.
"This being Published by Bell-Ringing ye members of ye Convention went to ye Mayers house, and told him
1 The history of the province of New York. By William Smith. London, 1757. p. 62.
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they were come to waite upon him and Conduct him up to ye fort, being accompanied with some of ye Principle Burgers went up and [took] Possession of sd fort after ye usuall Ceremonies was Delivered, & ye sd Mayr with all cheerfullness [was] Received by ye officers and sould- iers of there Majes garrison."
Captain Leisler, having failed in his first attempts to extend his authority over the people of the city and county of Albany, sent Jacob Milborne with a force of soldiers to Albany to garrison the fort and to secure a recognition of his claims as commander in chief of the province. When on the ninth of November three sloops were seen coming up the river, the members of the con- vention in the city assembled at the city-hall, and dele- gated Captain Wendell, Captain Bleecker, Johannes Cuyler, and Reynier Barents to go aboard the vessels and to inquire of the person in command of them his object in coming to the city. This they did and learned from Jacob Milborne that it was his purpose to obtain possession of the fort. The latter, having been invited by the committee to the city-hall, when he per- ceived the large assemblage of people collected there, instead of addressing his words to those in author- ity at once began to speak to the "Common People in a long oration with a high Stile & Language, telling them That now it was in there powr to free themselfs from yt Yoke of arbitrary Power and Government under which they had Lyen so long in ye Reign of yt Illegall king James, who was a Papist, Declareing all Illegall whatever was done & past in his time, yea the Charter of this Citty was null & void Since it was graunted by a Popish kings governour & that now ye Power was in the People to choose both new Civill and Military officers as they Pleased."
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Dirck Wessells, the recorder, replied to this seditious emissary, saying that he had " addessed his Discourse to ye wrong People Since there were no arbitrary Power here ; God had Delivered them from that yoke by there Majesties now upon ye throne, to whom we had taken ye oath of allegiance, for we acted not in King James name but in King William & queen Marys & were there Subjects."
"Jacob Milborne Desyred that ye Mayr Might be Present in ye Convention who was Twice Sent for, but answered yt he could not leave his Post which was to keep good watch in there Majts fort, Referring ye sd Mil- borne to ye Gentn that were Conveined together and yt he would call ye Convention together to morrow after ye 2d Sermon when they would Discourse the Case further with him, this was Communicated to Jacob Milborne who answered that ye Recordr Represented ye Mayr in his absence, and Delivered ye Convention a letter Signed by 25 Persones which was Read."
This communication, dated "ye 28 Octobr 1689," was signed by Jacob Leisler and his principal partisans, who spoke of themselves as the "Committee or members chosen by ye free and open Elections of ye freemen in ye Respective Counties of this Province and Councill of warr." They wrote that they had "given full Power" to their "Trusty and Beloved friende, Jacob Milborne gentn, to treat with, Consult, order, doe, and Performe all things that " should "be Requisite for his Majes Ser- vice " and the safety of the people of Albany, who, as they desired, should give him credence and should treat him amicably so that the enemy should not scandalize them or take any advantage of the disputes and differ- ence between them and the people of Albany.
After the letter had been read, Dirck Wessells, the
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recorder, asked Jacob Milborne if he wanted to have the troops aboard the sloops quartered that night in the city. He answered that he did not but that he would accept of some provisions, which were given him.
The special mission of Milborne in coming to Albany is disclosed by the following manifesto sent by him to Schenectady, a copy of which was obtained by Pieter Schuyler, on the tenth of November :
"Whereas I am authorized by the Honble Delegates or Members elected at a Free and Public Election of the Freemen and Respective counties of the Province of N. York and Military Council thereof to arrange and settle the affairs of the City and County of Albany according to the Constitution of the other Counties of the Province aforesaid pursuant to the interest of His Majesty our Sovereign Lord & King and the Welfare of the Inhabit- ants of Said Counties.
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