USA > New York > The history of the late province of New-York, from its discovery, to the appointment of Governor Colden, in 1762. Vol. I > Part 16
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the due execution of his office; and, every quarter, account to the governor and council for the sums he might receive. That the creditors of the govern- ment should, every three months, deliver in their demands to the governor and council; when, if that quarter's revenue equalled the amount of such debts, the governor, by the advice of council, should draw for it; but if the revenue for that quarter should fall short of the governor's demands, then the war- rants were to be drawn for so much only as remained, and the creditors should afterwards receive new drafts for their balances in the next quarter. That no warrant should be issued until the quarterly account of the revenue was given in; but that then they should be paid in course, and an action of debt be given against the receiver-general in case of refusal. That he should account also to the assembly when required, and permit all persons to have recourse to his books. The house turned a deaf ear to this plausible project, and displeased with a letter from the lords of trade, favouring the council's claim to amend money bills, they agreed upon an address to the queen, protesting their willingness to support her government, complaining of misapplications in the treasury, intimating their suspicions that they were misrepresented, and pray- ing an instruction to the governor to give his consent to a law for supporting an agent to represent them at the court of Great Britain. Provoked by this con- duct, and to put an end to the disputes subsisting between the two houses, his excellency dissolved the assembly.
Before the meeting of the next assembly, the
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peace of Utrecht was concluded, on the 31st of March, 1713. A peace, in the judgment of many, dishonourable to Great Britain, and injurious to her allies. I shall only consider it with relation to our Indian affairs. The reader doubtless observed, that lord Bellomont, after the peace at Ryswick, con- tended with the governor of Canada, that the Five Nations ought to be considered as subjects of the British crown, and that the point was disputed even after the death of count Frontenac. It does not appear that any decision of that matter was made between the two crowns, till the treaty of Utrecht, the fifteenth article of which is in these words :
" The subjects of France inhabiting Canada, and others, shall hereafter give no hindrance or molesta- tion to the five nations or cantons of Indians, sub- ject to the dominion of Great Britain, nor to the other nations of America who are friends to the same. In like manner, the subjects of Great Britain shall behave themselves peaceably towards the Ameri- cans who are subjects or friends to France ; and on both sides they shall enjoy full liberty of going and coming on account of trade; also the natives of these countries shall, with the same liberty, resort, as they please, to the British and French colonies, for pro- moting trade on one side and the other, without any molestation or hindrance, either on the part of the British subjects, or of the French. But it is to be exactly and distinctly settled by commissaries, who are, and who ought to be, accounted the subjects of Britain or of France."
In consequence of this treaty, the British crown became entitled, at least for any claim that could
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justly be interposed by the French, to the sovereignty over the country of the Five Nations, concerning the extent of which, as it never was adjusted by commissaries, it may not be improper to say a few words.
When the Dutch began the settlement of this country, all the Indians on Long-Island and the northern shore of the sound, on the banks of the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers, were in subjection to the Five Nations ; and within the memory of persons now living, acknow- ledged it by the payment of an annual tribute .* The French historians of Canada, both ancient and modern, agree that the more northern Indians were driven before the superior martial prowess of the confederates. The author of the book entitled " Relation de ce qui s'est passé de plus remarquable aux Mission de Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus, en la nouvelle France," published with the privilege of the French king, at Paris, in 1661, writes with such singular simplicity, as obviates the least suspicion of those sinister views so remarkable in the late French histories. He informs us that all the northern Indians, as far as Hudson's Bay, were harassed by the Five Nations: "Partout (says he, speaking in the name of the Missionaries) nous trouvons Iroquois, qui comme un phantome importun, nous obsede en tous lieux." In the account he gives of the travels of a father, in 1658, we are told that the banks of the upper lake were lined with the Algon- quins, " ou la crainte des Iroquois leur a fait cher-
* A little tribe settled at the Sugar Loaf mountain, in Orange county, to this day make a yearly payment of about £20 to the Mohawks.
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cher un asyle." Writing of the Hurons, "La nation la plus sedentaire et la plus propre pour les se- mences de la foy," he represents them as totally destroyed by the confederates. Charlevoix, whose history of New France is calculated to countenance the encroachments of the French, gives the follow- ing description of the territory of the confederates.
" The country of the Iroquois (says he) extends itself between the 41st and 44th degrees of north latitude, about 70 or 80 leagues from east to west, from the head of the river bearing for its name that of Richelieu and Sorel ;* that is, from lake St. Sacra- ment to Niagara, and a little above 40 leagues from north to south, or rather north-east and south-west, from the head of the Mowhawks' river to the river Ohio. Thus the last-mentioned river and Penn- sylvania bound it on the south. On the west it has lake Ontario; and lake Erie on the north-west; St. Sacrament and the river St. Lawrence on the north; on the south and south-east, the province of New- York. It is watered with many rivers. The land is in some places broken, but generally speaking, very fertile."
In this partial description, the jesuit is neither con- sistent with his geographer or several other French authors ; and yet both his history and Mr. Bellin's maps, in 1744,t which are bound up with it, furnish
* The river issuing from lake Champlain, is called Rivieres des Iroquois de Richelieu and Sorel, but the last is now most commonly used.
+ Mr. Bellin published a new set of maps in 1745, the first plate being thought too favourable to our claims, especially in the protraction of the north side of the bay of Fundy, for Nova-Scotia, which, in the second plate, was called " the south part of New France." General Shirley, one of the British com- missaries for settling the disputed limits, took occasion to speak of this altera- tion to Mr. Bellin at Paris, and informed him that 100 copies of his first maps were dispersed in London, upon which he discovered some surprise ; but instead VOL. T .- 29
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many strong evidences in favor of the British claims. I will point out a few instances. The ancient coun- try of the Hurons is laid down on the north side of lake Erie, by which we are ascertained of the extent of territory to which the Five Nations are entitled by their conquest of that people. The right of the confederates to the south side of that lake, is also established by their dispersion of the Cat Indians, to whom it originally belonged. The land, on both sides of the lake Ontario, is admitted to be theirs by this geographer, who writes on the north, "Les Iro- quois du Nord," and on the south side, "Pays des Iroquois." Hennepin, La Hontan, and Delisle, all concur with Bellin in extending the right of the Five Nations to the lands on the north side of lake Ontario. The first of these, besides what appears from his map, speaking of that lake, has these words, " There are likewise on the north side of these Iro- quois villages, Tejajahon, Kente, and Ganneousse," every one of which is laid down even in Bellin's, and almost all the maps I have seen of that country, whether French or English. What renders Hen- nepin's account the more remarkable is, that these villages were there in 1679, seven years after the erection of fort Frontenac. From whence it may fairly be argued, that their not opposing those works, - was by no means a cession of the country to the
of urging any thing in support of the variation in his new draft, said, smiling, " we in France must follow the command of the monarch." I mention this to show, that since the French government interposes in the construction of their maps, they are proper evidence against them. Among the English, Dr. Mitchel's is the only authentic one extant. None of the rest, concerning America, have passed under the examination, or received the sanction of any public board ; and, for this reason, they ought not to be construed to our prejudice .. Add, that they generally copy from the French.
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French ; and indeed Charlevoix himself represents that matter as carried on by a fraud, for, says he, " Under pretext of seeking their advantage, the governor had nothing in view, que de les tenir en bride."
To these attestations, which are the more to be depended upon, because they are given by the French writers, whose partiality leads them to con- fine the Five Nations to contracted limits,* we may add, that our Indians universally concur in the claim of all the lands not sold to the English, from the mouth of Sorel river, on the south side of the lakes Erie and Ontario, on both sides of the Ohio, till it falls into the Mississippi; and on the north side of those lakes, that whole territory between the Outa- wais river and the lake Huron, and even beyond the straits between that and lake Erie. This last tract, and the land on the north side of the lakes Erie and Ontario, were contained in their surrender to king William, in 1701, of which I took notice in its proper place : and, doubtless, to that and lord Bellomont's contest with count Frontenac, we must ascribe it, that the Five Nations were afterwards so particularly taken notice of in the treaty of Utrecht.
The British title to fort Frontenac, and the lands on the north-west side of Cadaraqui river, has of late been drawn into question by some, who from jealousy, or other motives equally shameful, were
* Mr. Bellin was engineer of the marine, and tells us, that Charlevoix per- formed his travels in this country, by order of the French court; that he was a man of attention and curiosity, and had a determined resolution to collect all possible intelligence, which he designed to make public. To give the greater credit to the jesuit's history and his own map, he adds, that Charlevoix was never without the instruments proper for a voyager, " partout la boussole a la main."
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bent upon finding fault with every measure planned by general Shirley. The advocates for the French claim relied much on a late map of the middle British colonies, and two pamphlets published by Lewis Evans.
" The French, says he, being in possession of fort Frontenac at the peace of Ryswick, which they attained during their war with the confederates, gives them an undoubted title to the acquisition of the north-west side of St. Lawrence river, from thence to their settlement at Montreal." The writer adds, "It was upon the faith and honour of king William's promise (by the fourth article of the treaty of Ryswick) of not disturbing the French king in the free possession of the kingdoms, coun- tries, lands, or dominions he then enjoyed, that I said the French had an undoubted title to their acquisition of the north-west side of St. Lawrence river, from Frontenac to Montreal."
Whether the treaty ought to be considered as having any relation to this matter, is a question which I shall not take upon me to determine. The map-maker supposes it to be applicable, and for the present I grant it. The twelfth article of this treaty is in these words :- " The most christian king shall restore to the king of Great Britain all countries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, which the English did possess before the declaration of the present war. And in like man- ner the king of Great Britain shall restore to the most christian king, all countries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, which the French did possess before the said declaration of war." If
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therefore the British subjects were in possession of fort Frontenac at the commencement of the war, the French, who attained it during its continuance, according to this treaty, ought to have surrendered it to the British crown.
Whatever the French title to fort Frontenac might have been antecedent to the year 1688, in which the island of Montreal was invaded by the Five Nations, it is certain that it was then abandoned, and that the Indians entered it, and demolished a great part of the works .* But the author of the map affirms, " that the English did not possess fort Frontenac before the declaration of war terminated by the peace of Ryswick." To which I reply, that the Indians acquired a title in 1688, either by con- quest or dereliction, or both ; and that the crown of Great Britain had a right to take advantage of their acquisition, in virtue of its sovereignty over the Five Cantons. That they were our dependents, was strongly and often insisted upon by governor Dongan and lord Bellomont, and the point remained sub judice till the treaty of Utrecht Then a deci- sion was solemnly made in our favour, which looks back, as the determination of all disputes do, at least as far as the first rise of the controversy; posterior to which, and prior to king William's war, his Indian subjects obtained the possession of the fort in ques- tion.t Whence I think it may be fairly deduced, if we take the treaty of Ryswick for our rule, that fort Frontenac, which was regained by the French during
* Le fort de Catarocouy étoit évacué et ruiné .- Charlevoix.
t The Five Nations entered the fort in 1688, and the war against France was not proclaimed till May, 1689.
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their war with us, ought to have been surrendered to the British crown. Every public transaction between the French and the Five Nations, without the participation of the government of Great Britain, since the Indians were claimed as our dependents, is perhaps absolutely void, and parti- cularly the treaty of peace made between the Indians' and the chevalier De Callieres after the death of count Frontenac .*
The possession of any part of the country of the Five Nations by the French, either before or since the close of queen Anne's war, cannot prejudice the British title, because the treaty of Aix la Chapelle renews and confirms that executed at Utrecht in 1713, and expressly stipulates, that the dominions of the contracting parties shall be in the same con- dition " which they ought of right to have been in before the late war." Commissaries were soon after appointed to adjust the controverted limits, who accordingly met at Paris, and continued the negotia-
* Evans's map and first pamphlet, or analysis, were published in the summer 1755, and that part in favour of the French claim to Frontenac was attacked by two papers in the New-York Mercury, in January, 1756. This occasioned his publication of the second pamphlet the next spring, in which he endeavours to support his map. He was a man in low circumstances, in his temper precipitate, of violent passions, great vanity, and rude manners. He pretended to the knowledge of every thing, and yet had very little learning. By his inquisitive turn, he filled his head with a considerable collection of materials, and a person of more judgment than he had, might, for a few days, receive advantages from his conversation. He piqued himself much upon his two maps, which are how- ever, justly chargeable with many errors. His ignorance of language is evident, both in them and the two pamphlets of his analysis, the last of which is stuffed with groundless aspersions on general Shirley, who deserves so well from these colonies, that on that account, and to weaken the authority of a map prejudicial to his majesty's rights, I beg the reader's excuse for this infraction of the old rule, de mortuis nil nisi bonum. He died at New-York, June 12, 1756, under an arrest for a gross slander, uttered against Mr. Morris, the governor of Pennsyl- vania:
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tion till the French king perfidiously seized upon several parts of Nova-Scotia, or Acadia, the settle- ment of the bounds of which was part of the very business of the commissaries. This gave rise to the present operations, and the longest sword will deter- mine the controversy.
Brigadier Hunter was disappointed in his expec- tations upon the late dissolution, for though the elec- tions were very hot, and several new members came in, yet the majority were in the interest of the late assembly, and on the 27th of May, 1713, chose Mr. Nicoll into the chair. The governor spoke to them with great plainness, informing them that it would be in vain to endeavour to lodge the money allotted for the support of government, in any other than the hands of the queen's officers. "Nevertheless, (says he) if you are so resolved, you may put the country to the expense of a treasurer, for the custody of money raised for extraordinary uses." He added, that he was resolved to pass no law till provision was made for the government. The members were therefore reduced to the dilemma of passing a bill for that purpose, or breaking up immediately. They chose the former, and the governor gave his assent to that and an excise bill on strong liquors, which continues to this day, producing into the treasury about one thousand pounds per annum. After a, short recess, several other laws were enacted in the fall; but the debts of the government still remained unnoticed, till the summer of the year 1714. A long session was then almost entirely devoted to that single affair. Incredible were the numbers of the public creditors ; new demands were every day
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made. Petitions came in from all quarters, and even for debts contracted before the revolution. Their amount was nearly twenty-eight thousand pounds. To pay this prodigious sum, recourse was had to the circulation of bills of credit to that value. These were lodged in the hands of the province treasurer, and issued by him only, according to the directions of the act.
The news of the queen's death arriving in the ensuing fall, a dissolution ensued of course ; and a new house met in May, 1715, which continued only to the 21st of July; for the governor being now determined to subdue those whom he could not allure, again dissolved the assembly. He succeeded in his design, for though Mr. Nicoll was re-elected into the chair on the 9th of June, 1716, yet we plainly perceive by the harmony introduced between the several branches of the legislature, that the majority of the house were now in the interest of the governor.
An incontestible evidence of their good under- standing appeared at the session in autumn, 1717, when the governor informed them of a memorial which had been sent home, reflecting upon his administration. The house immediately voted an address to him, which was conceived in terms of the utmost respect, testifying their abhorrence of the memorial as a false and malicious libel. It was supposed to be written by Mulford, a representative for Suffolk county, who always opposed the mea- sures that were taken to preserve the friendship of the Five Nations, and foolishly projected a scheme to cut them off. It was printed in England, and
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delivered to the members at the door of the house of commons, but never had the author's intended effect.
It was at this meeting the council, on the 31st of October, sent a message by Mr. Alexander, then deputy secretary, to the house, desiring them " to appoint proper persons for running the division line between this colony and the province of New- Jersey, his excellency being assured the legislature of the province of New-Jersey will bear half the expense thereof." The assembly had a bill before them, at that time, which afterwards passed into a law, for the payment of the remaining debts of the government, amounting to many thousand pounds; in which, after a recital of the general reasons for ascertaining the limits between New-York and New- Jersey on the one side, and Connecticut on the other, a clause was added to defray the expense of those services. Seven hundred and fifty ounces of plate were enacted " to be issued by warrant, under the hand and seal of the governor of this province for the time being, by and with the advice and con- sent of his majesty's council, in such parts and por- tions as shall be requisite for that service, when the survey, ascertaining, and running the said line, limit, and boundary, shall be begun, and carried on, by the mutual consent and agreement of his excellency and council of this province, and the proprietors of the soil of the said province of New-Jersey." According to this law, the line " agreed on by the surveyors and commissioners of each colony was to be con- clusive." Another sum was also provided by the same clause, for running the line between New- VOL. I .- 30
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York and Connecticut; and in the year 1719, an act was passed for the settlement of that limit, of which I shall have occasion to take notice in a succeeding administration.
Whether it was because Mr. Nicoll was disgusted with the governor's prevailing interest in the house, or owing to his infirm state of health, that he desired, by a letter to the general assembly, on the 18th of May,1718, to be discharged from the speaker's place, is uncertain. His request was readily granted, and Robert Livingston, esq. chosen in his stead. The concord between the governor and this assembly was now wound up to its highest pitch. Instead of other evidences of it, I shall lay before the reader his last speech to the house on the 24th of June, 1719, and their address in answer to it.
" Gentlemen, I have now sent for you, that you may be witnesses to my assent to the acts passed by the general assembly in this session. I hope that what remains unfinished, may be perfected by to-morrow, when I intend to put a close to this session.
" I take this opportunity also to acquaint you, that my late uncertain state of health, the care of my little family, and my private affairs on the other side, have at last determined me to make use of that license of absence, which has been some time ago so graciously granted me, but with a firm reso- lution to return to you again, if it is his majesty's pleasure that I should do so : but if that proves otherwise, I assure you that whilst I live, I shall be watchful and industrious to promote the interest and welfare of this country, of which I think I am under
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the strongest obligations, for the future, to account myself a countryman.
" I look with pleasure on the present quiet and flourishing state of the people here, whilst I reflect on that in which I found them at my arrival. As the very name of party or faction seems to be for- gotten, may it forever lie buried in oblivion, and no strife ever happen amongst you, but that laudable emulation who shall approve himself the most zealous servant and most dutiful subject of the best of princes, and most useful member of a well esta- blished and flourishing community, of which you, gentlemen, have given a happy example, which I hope will be followed by future assemblies. I men- tion it to your honour, and without ingratitude and breach of duty I could do no less,"
Colonel Morris and the new speaker were the authors of the answer to this speech, though it was signed by all the members. Whether Mr. Hunter deserved the eulogium they bestowed upon him, I leave the reader to determine. It is certain that few plantation governors have the honour to carry home with them such a testimonial as this :
" Sir :
" When we reflect upon your past conduct, your just, mild, and tender administration, it heightens the concern we have for your departure, and makes our grief such as words cannot truly express. You have governed well and wisely, like a prudent. magistrate, like an affectionate parent ; and where- ever you go, and whatever station the divine provi- dence shall please to assign you, our sincere desires
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and prayers for the happiness of you and yours, shall always attend you.
" We have seen many governors, and may see more ; and as none of those who had the honour to serve in your station, were ever so justly fixed in the affections of the governed, so those to come will acquire no mean reputation, when it can be said of them, their conduct has been like yours.
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