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 9
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Before this house proceeded to pass any acts, they unanimously resolved, " That all the laws consented to by the general assembly, under James,
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duke of York, and the liberties and privileges therein contained, granted to the people, and declared to be their rights, not being observed, nor ratified and approved by his royal highness, nor the late king, are null and void, and of none effect ; and also, the several ordinances made by the late governors and councils, being contrary to the constitution of Eng- land, and the practice of the government of their majesties' other plantations in America, are likewise null and void, and of no effect, nor force, within this province."
This vote was on the 24th of April, 1691, and preceded by an entry in these words : "Upon in- formation brought into this house by several mem- bers of the house, declaring that the several laws made formerly by the general assembly, and his late royal highness James, duke of York, and also the several ordinances, or reputed laws, made by the preceding governors and councils, for the rule of their majesties' subjects within this province, are reported among the people to be still in force."-
The reader, who will find no law to repeal the acts passed before the revolution, may, perhaps, impute to ignorance what ought to be ascribed to art, unless he is informed that one of those acts . gave a perpetual revenue to the crown, and that every subsequent assembly wished to conceal what a bill to repeal it would draw from under the veil, which this resolve had concealed, from the eye of a weak governor, or concerning which they made it his interest to be silent, by the new temporary act for establishing a revenue.
Among the principal laws enacted at this session,
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we may mention that for establishing the revenue, which was drawn into precedent. The sums raised by it were made payable into the hands of the receiver-general, and issued by the governor's war- rant. By this means the governor became, for a season, independent of the people, and hence we find frequent instances of the assemblies contending with him for the discharge of debts to private per- sons, contracted on the faith of the government.
Antecedent to the revolution, innumerable were the controversies relating to public townships and private rights ; and hence, an act was now passed, for the confirmation of ancient patents and grants, intended to put an end to those debates. A law was also passed for the establishment of courts of justice, though a perpetual act had been made to that purpose in 1683, and the old court of assize entirely dissolved in 1684. As this enacted in 1691, was a temporary law, it may hereafter be disputed, as it has been already, whether the present establish- ment of our courts, for general jurisdiction, by an ordinance, can consist even with the preceding act, or the general rules of law. Upon the erection of the supreme court, a chief justice, and four assistant judges, with an attorney-general, were appointed. The chief justice, Joseph Dudley, had a salary of £130 per annum ; Johnson, the second judge, £100, and both were payable out of the revenue ; but William Smith, Stephen Van Courtlandt, and Wil- liam Pinhorne, the other judges, and Newton, the attorney-general, had nothing allowed for their services.
It has, more than once, been a subject of animated
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debate, whether the people in this colony, have a right to be represented in assembly, or whether it be a privilege enjoyed through the grace of the crown. A memorable act passed this session, vir- tually declared in favour of the former opinion, upon that and several other of the principal and distinguishing liberties of Englishmen. It must, nevertheless, be confessed, that king William was afterwards pleased to repeal that law, in the year 1697 .*
Colonel Sloughter proposed, immediately after the session, to set out to Albany, but as Leisler's party were enraged at his imprisonment, and the late sentence against him, his enemies were afraid new troubles would spring up in the absence of the governor ; for this reason, both the assembly and council advised that the prisoners should be imme- diately executed. The sufferers under their govern- ment, stated their oppressions to the assembly. who unanimously resolved on the 17th April, 1691, that their services were tumultuous and illegal, and against the rights of the new king and queen; that they had illegally and arbitrarily thrown divers protestant subjects into doleful nauseous prisons ; proscribed and forced others out of the colony ; that the depredation upon Schenectady was im- putable to their usurpations. That they had ruined merchants and others by seizures of their effects ; levied money and rebelliously raised forces ; and that their refusal to surrender the fort was rebel- lion. The council concurred with the resolves
* It was entitled, " An act declaring what are the rights and privileges of their majesties' subjects inhabiting within their province of New-York."
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on the next day. The assembly at first waved an answer to the governor's question, respect- ing the propriety of reprieving the convicts ; he urged them again for an explicit answer three weeks after (11th May) whether they ought, or ought not to be executed; and within eight days after this the council consented to the execution and the assembly declared their approbation. Sloughter, who had no inclination to favour them in this request, chose rather to delay such a violent step, being fearful of cutting off two men, who had vigorously appeared for the king, and so signally contributed to the revolution. Nothing could be more disagreeable to their enemies, whose interest was deeply concerned in their de- struction; and, therefore, when no other measures could prevail with the governor, tradition informs us, that a sumptuous feast was prepared, to which colonel Sloughter was invited. When his excel- lency's reason was drowned in his cups, the entrea- ties of the company prevailed with him to sign the death-warrant, and before he recovered his senses, the prisoners were executed. Leisler's son after- wards carried home a complaint to king William, against the governor. His petition was referred, according to the common course of plantation affairs, to the lords commissioners of trade, who, after hearing the whole matter, reported on the 11th of March, 1692, "That they were humbly of opinion, that Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne, deceased, were condemned, and had suffered ac- cording to law." Their lordships, however, inter- ceded for their families, as fit objects of mercy, and
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this induced queen Mary, who approved the report on the 17th of March, to declare, " That upon the humble application of the relations of the said Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne, deceased, her majesty will order the estates of Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne, to be restored to their families, as objects of her majesty's mercy." The bodies of these un- happy sufferers were afterwards taken up, and interred with great pomp, in the old Dutch church, in the city of New-York. Their estates were re- stored to their families, and Leisler's children, in the public estimation, are rather dignified, than disgraced, by the fall of their ancestor.
These distractions in the province, so entirely engrossed the public attention, that our Indian allies, who had been left solely to contend with the com- mon enemy, grew extremely disaffected. The Mohawks, in particular, highly resented this con- duct, and, at the instance of the Caghnuagas, sent a messenger to Canada, to confer with count Frontenac about a peace. To prevent this, colonel Sloughter had an interview at Albany, in June, with the other four Nations, who expressed their joy at seeing a governor again in that place. They told him, that their ancestors, as they had been informed, were greatly surprised at the arrival of the first ship in that country, and were curious to know what was in its huge belly. That they found Christians in it, and one Jacques, with whom they made a chain of friendship, which they had preserved to this day. All the Indians, except the Mohawks, assured the governor at this meeting, of their resolution to pro- secute the war. The Mohawks confessed their
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negociations with the French, that they had received a belt from Canada, and prayed the advice of the governor, and afterwards renewed their league with all our colonies.
Sloughter soon after returned to New-York, and ended a short, weak, and turbulent administration, for he died suddenly on the 23d of July, 1691. Some were not without suspicions that he came unfairly to his end, but the certificate of the physician and surgeons, who opened his body by an order of council, confuted these conjectures, and his remains were interred in Stuyvesant's vault, next to those of the old Dutch governor.
At the time of Sloughter's decease, the govern- ment devolved, according to the late act for declaring the rights of the people of this province, on the council, in which Joseph Dudley had a right to preside ; but they committed the chief command to Richard Ingolsby, a captain of an independent company, who was sworn into the office of president on the 26th of July, 1698. Dudley, soon afterwards, returned to this province from Boston, but did not think proper to dispute Ingolby's authority, though the latter had no title nor the greatest abilities for government, and was besides obnoxious to the party who had joined Leisler, having been an agent in the measures which accomplished his ruin To the late troubles, which were then recent, and the agreement subsisting between the council and as- sembly, we must ascribe it that the former tacitly acknowledged Ingolsby's right to the president's chair; for they concurred with him in passing
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several laws, in autumn and the spring following, the validity of which have never yet been disputed.
This summer major Schuyler,* with a party of Mohawks, passed through the Lake Champlain, and made a bold irruption upon the French settle- ments at the north end of it.t De Callieres, the governor of Montreal, to oppose him, collected a small army of eight hundred men, and encamped at La Prairie Schuyler had several conflicts with the enemy, and slew about three hundred of them, which exceeded in number his whole party. The French, ashamed of their ill success, attribute it to the want of order, too many desiring to have the command ; but the true cause was the ignorance of their officers in the Indian manner of fighting. They kept their men in a body, while ours posted them- selves behind trees, hidden from the enemy. Major Schuyler's design, in this descent, was to animate the Indians, and preserve their enmity against the French. They, accordingly, continued their hosti- lities, and, by frequent incursions, kept the country in constant alarm.
In the midst of these distresses, the French governor preserved his sprightliness and vigour, animating every body about him. After he had served himself of the Utawawas, who came to trade at Montreal, he sent them home under the care of a captain and one hundred and ten men; and to
* The French, from his great influence at Albany and activity among the Indians, concluded that he was governor of that city ; and hence, their historians honour him with that title, though he was then only mayor of the corporation. " Pitre Schuyler (says Charlevoix) etoit un forte honnête homme."
+ Dr. Colden relates it as a transaction of the year 1691, which is true ; but he supposes it was before Sir William Phips's attack upon Quebec, and. thus falls into an anachronism of one whole year, as I have already observed.
VOL. J .- 16
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secure their attachment to the French interest, gave them two Indian prisoners, and, besides, sent very considerable presents to the Western Indians in their alliance. The captives were afterwards burnt. The Five Nations, in the meantime, grew more and more incensed, and continually harassed the French borders. Mr. Beaucour, a young gentleman, in the following winter, marched a body of about three hundred men, to attack them at the isthmus at Niagara. Incredible were the fatigues they underwent in this long march over the snow, bear- ing their provisions on their backs. Eighty men of the Five Nations opposed the French party, and bravely maintained their ground, till most of them were cut off. In return for which, the confederates, in small parties, obstructed the passage of the French through Lake Ontario and the river issuing out of it, and cut off their communication with the Western Indians. An Indian, called Black Kettle, commanded in these incursions of the Five Nations, and his successes, which continued the whole sum- mer, so exasperated the count, that he ordered an Indian prisoner to be burnt alive. The bravery of this savage was as extraordinary, as the torments inflicted on him were cruel. He sung his military achievements without interruption, even while his bloody executioners practised all possible barba- rities. They broiled his feet, thrust his fingers into red-hot pipes, cut his joints, and twisted the sinews with bars of iron. After this his scalp was ripped off, and hot sand poured on the wound.
In June, 1692, captain Ingolsby met the Five Nations at Albany, and encouraged them to persevere
1
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in the war. The Indians declared their enmity to the French in the strongest terms, and as heartily professed their friendship to us. " Brother Corlear," said the sachem, " we are all the subjects of one great king and queen ; we have one head, one heart, one interest, and are all engaged in the same war." The Indians at the same time did not forget, at this interview, to condemn the inactivity of the Eng- lish, telling them that the destruction of Canada would not make one summer's work against their united strength, if vigorously exerted.
Colonel Benjamin Fletcher arrived, with a com- mission to be governor, on the 29th of August, 1692, which was published the next day, before the follow- ing members, in council :
FREDERICK PHILIPSE, CHUDLEY BROOKE, STEPHEN VAN COURTLANDT, WILLIAM NICOLL, NICHOLAS BAYARD, THOMAS WILLET,
GABRIEL MIENVILLE, THOMAS JOHNSTON.
William Pinhorne, one of that board, being a non-resident, was refused the oaths ; and Joseph Dudley, for the same reason, removed both from his seat in council and his office of chief justice. Caleb Heathcote and John Young succeeded them in coun- cil; and William Smith was seated, in Dudley's place, on the bench.
Colonel Fletcher brought over with him a present to the colony of arms, ammunition, and warlike stores; in gratitude for which, he exhorted the council and assembly, who were sitting at his arrival, to send home an address of thanks to the king. It consists, principally, of a representation of the great
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7
expense the province was continually at to defend the frontiers, and praying his majesty's direction, that the neighbouring colonies might be compelled to join their aid for the support of Albany. The following passage in it shows the sense of the legis- lature, upon a matter which has since been very much debated. " When these countries were pos- sessed by the Dutch West-India Company, they al- ways had pretences (and had the most part of it within their actual jurisdiction) to all that tract of land (with the islands adjacent) extending from the west side of Connecticut River to the lands lying on the west side of Delaware Bay, as a suitable portion of land for one colony or government ; all which, including the lands on the west of Delaware Bay or River, were in the duke of York's grant, from his majesty king Charles the second, whose gover- nors also possessed those lands on the west side of Delaware Bay or River. By several grants, as well from the crown as from the duke, the said province has been so diminished, that it is now decreased to a very few towns and villages ; the number of men fit to bear arms, in the whole government, not amount- ing to 3,000, who are all reduced to great poverty."
Fletcher was by profession a soldier, a man of strong passions and inconsiderable talents, very ac- tive, and equally avaricious. Nothing could be more fortunate to him than his early acquaintance with major Schuyler at Albany, at the treaty for confir- mation of the Indian alliance, the fall after his arri- val. No man, then in this province, understood the state of our affairs with the Five Nations better than major Schuyler. He had so great an influence over
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them, that whatever Quidder," as they called him, recommended or disapproved, had the force of a law. This power over them was supported, as it had been obtained, by repeated offices of kindness, and his singular bravery and activity in the defence of his country. These qualifications rendered him singu- larly serviceable and necessary, both to the province and the governor. For this reason, Fletcher took him into his confidence, and, on the 25th of October, raised him to the council board. Under the tutelage of major Schuyler, the governor became daily more and more acquainted with our Indian affairs ; his constant application to which, procured and preserv- ed him a reputation and influence in the colony. Without this knowledge, and which was all that he had to distinguish himself, his incessant solicitations for money, his passionate temper and bigoted prin- ciples, must necessarily have rendered him obnoxi- ous to the people, and kindled a hot fire of conten- tion in the province.
The old French governor, who found that all his measures for accomplishing a peace with the Five Nations proved abortive, was now meditating a blow on the Mohawks. He accordingly collected an army of six or seven hundred French and Indians, and supplied them with every thing necessary. for
a winter campaign. They set out from Montreal on the 15th of January, 1693; and after a march, attended with incredible hardships, they passed by Schenectady on the 6th of February, and, that night, captivated five men and some women and children, at the first castle of the Mohawks. The
* Instead of Peter, which they could not pronounce.
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second castle was taken with equal ease, the Indian inhabitants being in perfect security, and, for the most part, at Schenectady. At the third, the enemy found about forty Indians in a war dance, designing to go out upon some enterprise the next day. Upon their entering the castle a conflict ensued, in which the French lost about thirty men. Three hundred of our Indians were made captives in this descent ; and, but for the intercession of the savages in the French interest, would all have been put to the sword .*
The Indians were enraged, and with good reason, at the people of Schenectady, who gave them no assistance against the enemy, though they had notice of their marching by that village; but this was atoned for by the succours from Albany. Co- lonel Schuyler voluntarily headed a party of two hundred men, and went out against the enemy. On the 15th of February, he was joined by near three hundred Indians, ill armed, and many of them boys. A. pretended deserter, who came to dissuade the Indians from the pursuit, informed him, the next day, that the French had built a fort, and waited to fight him : upon which he sent to Ingolsby, the commandant at Albany, as well for a reinforce- ment as for a supply of provisions; for the greatest part of his men came out with only a few biscuits in their pockets, and at the time they fell in with the enemy, on the 17th of the month, had been several days without any kind of food. Upon approaching the French army, sundry skirmishes ensued ; the
* Dr. Colden, and the Jesuit Charlevoix, are not perfectly agreed in the history of this irruption. I have followed, sometimes the former, and at other times the latter, according as the facts more immediately related to the conduct of their respective countrymen.
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enemy endeavouring to prevent our Indians from felling trees for their protection. Captain Syms, with eighty regulars of the independent companies and a supply of provisions, arrived on the 19th, but the enemy had marched off the day before, in a great snow storm. Our party, however, pursued them, and would have attacked their rear, if the Mohawks had not been averse to it. When the French reached the north branch of Hudson's River, luckily a cake of ice served them to cross over it, the river being open both above and below. The frost was now extremely severe, and the Mohawks fearful of an engagement; upon which Schuyler, who had retaken about fifty Indian captives, desisted from the pursuit on the 20th of February, four of his men and as many Indians being killed, and twelve wounded. Our Indians, at this time, were so dis- tressed for provisions, that they fed upon the dead bodies of the French ; and the enemy, in their turn, were reduced, before they got home, to eat up their shoes. The French in this enterprise lost eighty men, and had above thirty wounded.
Fletcher's extraordinary dispatch up to Albany, upon the first news of this descent, gained him the esteem both of the public and our Indian allies.
The express reached New-York on the 12th of February, at ten o'clock in the night, and in less than two days the governor embarked with three hundred volunteers. The river (which was hereto- fore very uncommon at that season) was open .*
* The climate, of late years, is much altered, and this day (February 14, 1756,) three hundred recruits sailed from New-York for the army under the command of general Shirley, now quartered at Albany, and last year, a sloop went up the river a month earlier.
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Fletcher landed at Albany, and arrived at Sche- nectady the 17th of the month, which is about one hundred and sixty miles from New York; but he was still too late to be of any other use than to strengthen the ancient alliance. The Indians, in commendation of his activity on the occasion, gave him the name of Cayenguirago, or, The Great Swift Arrow.
Fletcher returned to New-York, and, in March, met the assembly, who were so well pleased with his late vigilance, that, besides giving him the thanks of the house, they raised £6000 for a year's pay of three hundred volunteers and their officers, for the defence of the frontiers.
As the greatest part of this province consisted of Dutch inhabitants, all our governors, as well in the duke's time as after the revolution, thought it good policy to encourage English preachers and school- masters in the colony. No man could be more bent upon such a project than Fletcher, a bigot to the episcopal form of church government. He, ac- cordingly, recommended this matter to the assembly, on his first arrival, as well as at their present meet- ing. The house, from their attachment to the Dutch language, and the model of the church of Holland, secured by one of the articles of surrender, were entirely disinclined to the scheme, which occasioned a warm rebuke from the governor, in his speech at the close of the session, in these words : " Gentlemen, the first thing that I did recommend to you, at our last meeting, was to provide for a ministry, and nothing is done in it. There are none of you, but what are big with the
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privileges of Englishmen and Magna Charta, which is your right; and the same law doth provide for the religion of the church of England, against sabbath-breaking and all other profanity ; but as you have made it last, and postponed it this session, I hope you will begin with it the next meeting, and do somewhat toward it effectually."
The news of the arrival of the recruits and ammu- nition at Canada, the late loss of the Mohawks, and the unfulfilled promises of assistance made from time to time by the English, together with the inces- sant solicitations of Milet the Jesuit ; all conspired to induce the Oneidas to sue for a peace with the French. To prevent so important an event, Fletcher met the five nations at Albany, in July 1693, with a considerable present of knives, hatch- ets, clothing, and ammunition, which had been sent over by the crown for that purpose. The Indians consented to a renewal of the ancient league, and expressed their gratitude for the king's donation with singular force. "Brother Cayenguirago, we roll and wallow in joy, by reason of the great favor the great king and queen have done us, in sending us arms and ammunition at a time when we are in the greatest need of them ; and because there is such unity among the brethren." Colonel Fletcher pressed their delivering up to him Milet the old priest, which they promised, but never performed. On the contrary, he had influence enough to per- suade all but the Mohawks to treat about the peace at Onondaga, though the governor exerted himself to prevent it.
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