USA > New York > The history of the late province of New-York, from its discovery, to the appointment of Governor Colden, in 1762. Vol. II > Part 19
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* There has never been any process of outlawry in this colony, nor for want of the proper courts of law, as I can learn, in any of the rest ; and yet, till the 16th of February in this year, we had no law to oblige a single partner to answer for a joint debt without his fellow-contractors. By the act now, he is compellable to plead ; and if the plaintiff prevails, he recovers against the com- pany's lands and goods, but cannot have execution against the bodies of the absent partners, nor touch their seperate estates. That this novelty came into our code at so late a day, and has been since seldom practised upon, is a proof, especially considering the scant limits of the province, of the narrow sphere of our commerce, or of the uprightness of our merchants.
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and the house voted to raise and supply them : but halting to know the fate of these bills, and doing little for several days, while their party bills were in suspense in the upper house, sir Charles, on the 16th of February, animadverted upon their delays and pressed for powers to detach the militia, if volunteers did not offer. It was three days after that before the quota bill made its appearance in the house : and when it had a second reading, they desired leave to adjourn from week to week, de- claring that they could not proceed further, till they knew the resolution of the other colonies concern- ing the intended enterprise.
In this situation the governor withheld the war- rants for levying the troops; and being moved by the distresses on the frontiers of Ulster and Orange, ravaged by the Indians, he earnestly demanded their support for a force in conjunction with New- Jersey, to give security to those borders. To gain time, the turn given to this message was a resolu- tion to pay what may be deemed to be our quota of an army of one thousand men, to be raised by us, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania, towards an expedi- tion against the Indians ; and he was desired to concert what was proper with those governments.
4
Sir Charles, the next day, repeated his instances for their despatch of what respected the joint de- signs against Crown Point, and informed them that Massachusetts and Connecticut were levying men far beyond their proportions, that the service might not suffer by the defaults of any of the southern provinces ; and he now insisted upon the augmen- tation of their intended levy of one thousand men.
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From the 4th to the 16th of March, the assembly artfully met only to adjourn, and then voted seven hundred and fifteen men in addition to the one thousand, but that four hundred of these should be employed in an offensive war against the Indians ; and ordered proper clauses for these purposes to be added to the bill which they had so long retarded, under pretence of waiting for the co-operation of the other colonies respecting the Crown Point expedition, and which, by uniting the provision for both objects in one bill, was still longer delayed.
The cruelties in the mean time perpetrated in Orange and Ulster, excited clamours in that quar- ter, and compassion, every where else, and the house was censured by a publication in the Gazette. of the 15th of March. Doctor Colden, who lived in Ulster, being suspected to be the author, the printers were summoned; but the obnoxious composition being traced to Mr. Watkins, the wrath of the house vanished into smoke ; for he being an episco- pal clergyman, and the dissention running high between church and dissenter concerning the college, he was not even sent for to be reproved till the next autumn, though the two printers were ordered to be committed. This attack, however, quickened their motions; for on the 20th of March they sent up their quota bill for raising seventeen hundred and fifteen men.
It lay eleven days with the council, where it was opposed by Mr. Smith and Dr. Colden, who came to town during the alarms occasioned by the Indian eruptions into Ulster. Before this time, the debt
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bill was in the governor's hands,* but stigmatized by the protest of Messrs. Smith and Colden in so pointed a manner, that sir Charles was fearful of giving it his assent. This was at length forced by the management of the house, who allowed a bounty of five pounds per man for the volunteers against Crown Point, but provided only thirty shil- lings for those who were to act in the harder service against the Indians; and besides those troops were to be disbanded in forty days, and not at the governor's discretion-a confidence reposed by the province of New-Jersey in governor Belcher. The majority of the council adhered to the objec- tions of Doctor Colden, who spoke both his own and the governor's sentiments. Mr. Delancey, in this delicate situation of affairs, thought proper to absent himself; but finding means, by a member of the assembly, to inform the governor that this bill might be altered, if the debt bill was passed, his excellency, pressed by the advanced season of the year, engaged to pass the debt bill ; and the other being sent down, privately amended so as to take away his own and the objections of the council, the governor sent for both houses the next day, and passed all the bills ready, both parties being so well pleased with the late barter, as to part on an adjournment to the 27th of April.
* "We are sitting still. The principal money bill which is for paying the debts of the colony, and, among others, the salaries for the several officers of government for the time past, has passed the council, but has not yet received the governor's assent, and is therefore as yet in suspense. By the next packet, I may perhaps be able to inform you further, particularly with respect to the Jersey line, which is still under consideration." Mr. Jones's letter to the agent, 23d February, 1756. And on the 20th of July, 1756, he adds, " I have now the pleasure to acquaint you, that he has passed it."
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The opposition to the debt bill cost Mr. Alexan- der his life. He ventured out for that purpose in a paroxysm of the gout, took cold, and died the day after the session : and from that time the governor, who had such a demonstrative proof of the devotion of the assembly to the lieutenant-governor, as to obstruct the levies for the service until his interest was secured, in defiance of an instruction, and at the risk of the royal resentment, tamely resigned himself into his hands.
It must, in justice to Mr. Delancey, be added, as the sequel will evince by his policy, the colony obtained a victory over the government as well as the governor ; for after that day, the ministry gave up their objections to the popular project of the anti-Cosbian patriots, for holding the officers de- pendent upon the annual support of the assembly. But this assembly were nevertheless culpable, for slighting one of the most favorable opportunities for settling our contested limits, which have since produced such scenes of confusion and distress. Sir Charles, on the first of January, communicated to the house an instruction, urging a provision for one-half of the expense for adjusting the partition line with Jersey by commissioners; and at the same time informed them of general Shirley's readiness to procure the consent of Massachusetts bay, over which he then had a prevailing interest, to join in a like commission for ascertaining our eastern boundary. Intoxicated by the spirit of party, they lost an opportunity to give peace and safety to thou- sands, by a provision for terminating that and the controversy we had also with New-Hampshire : but VOL. II .- 36
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it was Mr. Delancey's ambition rather to create than to lessen dependencies on his will; and the neglect of education left a hard, wicked colony, exposed to his arts.
The delay occasioned by the late stratagem, and the hourly expectation of the general from Boston,* obliged the governor to call upon the assembly before the end of the month, for power to supply the want of volunteers by detachments, while the clog upon the operations of the four hundred men who were to be employed against the Indians by the quarrels between governor Morris and the Penn- sylvania assembly, prevented even the issuing of the military warrants for those recruits. Sir Charles therefore, asked for authority to detach men, that the four hundred might be joined to the quota for the Crown Point expedition, that provisions might be collected for troops expected from England, the rates of land carriage ascertained, and the northern militia relieved from unequal burdens in the general service.
Within five days, laws were enacted to expedite the levies, and prevent the exportation of provisions, and the bill setting the price of transportation, brought in by Mr. Watts on the 4th of May, was the same day sent up to the council, and on the next passed by the governor-a velocity of proceeding, which if it demonstrates zeal for the service, proves that it sprang from very recent causes, which are left to the conjectures of the reader.
1
* He arrived here 20th April, and sailed the 2d of May for Albany. Sir Charles's message was on the 29th of April.
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But this ardour to facilitate sir Charles's zeal, shortly after abated, upon the disgust he gave to the merchants, by his measures against the illicit commerce which had been long driven with Ham- burgh and Holland, and several seizures were now made by his order, which they ascribed to his loss of one of the independent companies. Nor was the dependence upon him so necessary, it being re- ported that the crown had relinquished the project of an indefinite support. Besides this, he was eclipsed by the new lustre of general Johnson,* who was knighted for his services, and our forces were abated by the arrival of general Webb on the 7th of June, and the royal American officers on the 15th, with general Abercrombie, the two regiments of Otways, and the Highlanders.
On the 29th of June, sir Charles informed the assembly that the earl of Loudon was coming out to take the command of the army, and called upon them for aid in recruiting the two regular regiments with soldiers, who were to be discharged at the end of the war, and have each two hundred acres of land, free from quit-rent for ten years.
He added, that the sum of one hundred and fif- teen thousand pounds was given by parliament to be distributed by the king among the New-England colonies, this, and the province of New-Jersey; that his majesty expected fresh aids of men for the operations of the year ; the reimbursement of mas-
1 * His majesty has ordered £15,000 to New-York, £5,006 to major general Johnson, for his services, to whom likewise a commission is issued for the superintendancy of the Indian affairs, with a salary of £600 per annum .- Vide agent's letter, 13th March, 1756.
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ters for servants enlisting in the army, and the prohibition of commerce with, and all supplies to, the enemy.
The house resolved, that the colony had exerted itself, by furnishing its proportion for the Crown Point expedition, the defence of the western fron- tiers, the march of many thousands of the militia on the attack of baron Dieskau, and this year on alarms to support the king's troops, posted to the westward, where a party was cut off ;* and again to preserve fort William Henry when on the point of being abandoned by the garrison, composed of Massachusetts and Connecticut troops. That we raised first eight hundred, then five hundred, and afterwards four hundred men; that £20,000 had been granted for fortifying the capital ; that a com- mon fund ought to be established. That we had given £5,000 to Virginia, and as much to be dis- posed of by general Braddock, and that till such an establishment, the colony was unable to do more. But they nevertheless approved of the payment for enlisted servants, and were for continuing the laws against supplies to the French, and these resolves they ordered to be published in the Gazette.
About the same time sir Charles proposed to them an act for vacating the patents of Kayaderosseros, Cannojohary, and Oriskany, which has been repre- sented by the lords of trade, as obtained of the Indians by fraud, and that the declension of the In- dian interest was owing to their want of satisfaction.
* A small garrison at a block-house, under lieutenant Bull, at the Oneida portage, where fort Stanwix was afterwards erected, was abandoned in March.
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Upon this subject they suspended any resolution till after this next meeting, considering it as a matter requiring most mature deliberation ; and the day after (9th July) they adjourned, leaving a committee empowered to welcome the earl of Loudon, who was daily expected, to thank him for engaging in the service, and to provide for his honourable reception.
This attack on the patents was ascribed to sir William Johnson, and gave general offence, and it was fortunate for the proprietors, that the Delancey family were interested in Oriskany, a very valuable tract embracing the banks of the Mohawk river, near the great transportation to the waters of the Wood creek.
When the new generals arrived at Albany, Mr. Shirley returned on the 4th of July to New-York, and sir Charles on the 11th went up the river with Mr. Delancey and Mr. Chambers. Three days after the news arrived that war had been declared against France. Mr. Shirley waited till the arrival of the earl of Loudon on the 23d, who brought Mr. Pownal with him, and repaired to Albany on the 26th ; and on the Ist of August, Mr. Shirley sailed to Providence for Boston, and thence to England, and was followed a fortnight afterwards by Mr. Pownal, who had the promise of his government.
Sir Charles returned to the metropolis on the 15th of August, disgusted with the earl of Loudon, who had checked his intermeddling in ' military concerns, and denied his request of two indepen- dent companies for his guards.
About this time Oswego was besieged, and lost to
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the general alarm of the colonies : general Webb, who was then posted at the Oneida carrying-place, was in such consternation, that he ordered trees to be filled in Wood creek to obstruct the progress of the enemy, if they should attempt to penetrate that way, and the earl, in equal terror at Albany, pushed on sir William Johnson with the militia to sustain Webb, and ordered large drafts of others to follow him from Albany and Ulster, and importuned even the southern colonies for recruits. The panic was universal, and from this moment it was manifest that nothing could be expected from all the mighty preparations made for that campaign.
It was at this juncture (24th September,) sir Charles administered the consolation he had for some time secreted, that the crown had in effect repealed the instruction to sir Danvers Osborn, which had given so much offence.
Upon communicating the address of the 9th De- cember last, the lords were ordered to write, and did write, that the king, conceiving the present assembly unwilling to revive old claims and pre- tensions, and declaring that they did not mean to assume a share in the executive, but as he had represented were willing to promote the service of the crown, was now pleased to allow him to assent to their temporary bills for the support of government conformable in other respects to the instructions respecting the disposition of public money.
He had before put into the treasury the share of the parliamentary' donation of £15,000 sterling ;*
* It was great negligence to omit upon the first advice of £15,00, the proper representations for the due distribution of it. When Mr. Jones complained of
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and now asked for an augmentation of salaries, a compensation for the militia on the late alarms, quarters for the troops, admitting the grants ob- jected to by the Indians, and recommended, as Mr. Delancey had done before, a stamp duty, an excise upon tea, and a poll tax upon negroes, with such others as the inhabitants could bear with the least inconvenience.
The session continued with the utmost harmony to the 1st of December, when eleven acts were passed for a revenue by duties on imports, an excise on spirituous liquors and tea, to prolong the currency of the bills of credit, for billeting the troops, erect- ing a stamp office and a new jail, clothing the provincial levies, appropriating the college funds, paying off the last year's arrears of the officers of the government, and providing for the next.
To reward the governor, and elude the instruc- tion and his receiving presents, they added £240 to the old allowance of £1560, assigning for a pretext the difference of exchange between the time of its first establishment as an equivalent for £1000 sterling, and the present day, and though the inde- pendent companies were now embodied with the army, they put into his pocket £400 more, under
it, the agent pertinently replied, 13th of August, 1756: "How was it possible to set this matter right without proper documents to show when the account was exaggerated ? I am not insensible of the present circumstances of New- England; that want of commerce and employment has made them soldiers, that they are, in some measure, become the Swiss of the continent, in which quality they are not unacceptable here, and that they understand how to value their services. But as the military operations of the continent will require the further aids of this country, I cannot doubt that the account will be stated according to the service done and expense incurred, without any undue preference."
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the name of fuel and candle money for the fort, and by both the support bills gave Mr. Delancey a salary of £300 a year as chief justice.
To find an apology for the governor's disregard of the instruction respecting the prolongation of the paper money, a committee of both houses put into his hands an argumentative address, assigning five reasons for the necessity of that act. Upon the strength of their victory in the establishment of the annual support, by which the governor was now bridled, having therefore no dread of an immediate dissolution, the house ventured implicitly to confirm, or rather to rid themselves of all further disputes respecting the college, which had kindled such a flame, that several thousands had petitioned* to be heard against any confirmation of the charter, which the lieutenant-governor had formerly passed in its favour. That corporation had not only hopes of procuring a law to vest them with the sums raised by the lottery and excise, but of obtaining further aids, and a legislative confirmation of their charter. The consent of the assembly alone was wanting, for the new governor had, soon after his arrival, shown his favourable intentions by a donation of £500 to Mr. Delancey's institution. Its opposers therefore shrewdly conjectured that they could have no hope of erecting a university on the plan exhi- bited by the bill formerly proposed, printed, and slighted, and being contented to allow the college half of the money in bank, if the remainder was applied to any other public use. It was agreed in
* Vide Journals of the assembly, 18th of December. 1755.
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the lobby to repeal the acts by which the whole was engaged for a college, and to divide the stock raised between the college party and the city cor- poration, for the purpose of erecting a jail, and providing a lodgment for crews of infected vessels. When Mr. Smith was asked in council for his voice on this bill, he said jestingly, " It rids us of a bone of contention by dividing it between the two pest houses." Both parties triumphed. The friends of . the college wanted the money for the erection of the edifice, and their antagonists believed that having stigmatised its illiberal constitution, it would never in future receive any legislative support. Mr. Delancey, who proposed this partition to cement his party in the house, hoped also to repair the breaches upon his popularity without doors, and with the same view, or with a disgust at the impor- tunity of his friends, to whom he gave the charter unwillingly, he never afterwards would assist in forwarding the design; often saying, when sum- moned to their meetings, "that he had contributed enough to it by the loss of his reputation."
If sir Charles had not been in the scheme of passing the bill, for prolonging the currency of the bills, by which £1800 was applied towards the pay- ment of the officers of the government, of which he had a share, he might have answered the objection of this want of funds, by pointing to the several thousands now given for a college, a jail, and a pest- house ; but it was expedient that he should " believe all our funds were exhausted, and the £15000 given to the colony, already in part applied for the support . of its troops."
VOL. II .- 37
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The speaker's letter to the agent, of 13th Octo- ber, written with the assistance of a committee of the city members, Mr. Watts, Mr. Watson, Mr. Cruger and Mr. Delancey, who took Mr. Richard's place on the 9th November, holds up a picture of that day. "I acquainted you (2d July) that we were in great expectation of a successful campaign. But as our disappointment is rather greater than that of the last year, for instead of taking Crown Point, the enemy have made themselves masters of the important fortress of Oswego, taken the whole garrison prisoners of war, demolished all the forti- fications, carried away all the armed vessels, two hundred whale boats, cannon, provisions and war- like stores ; and this, it is said, they did in a few days time-a dishonour to the British name. Oh shame- ful behaviour of our forces ! We have now no foot- ing on Lake Ontario ; all is left to the uninterrupted possession of the enemy, who will doubtless dispos- sess us of all that we have remaining, if not sud- denly stopped. As for our forces on the northern frontier, both regulars and provincials, I expect to hear of no action by them, unless the enemy force them to it. If some more vigorous resolutions are not made in England, and seasonably executed, we must inevitably fall a prey to the prevailing power of France. We live in hopes that a vigorous push will be made for the reduction of Canada, which seems to be the only measure that can secure us. I told you in my letter 2d July, that you should have a just state of the expenses this year. I can- not at present enumerate any particulars, neither does it appear necessary. We emitted £52,000
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bills of credit last spring, to be redeemed by taxes on estates, real and personal, which I expect will all be expended in the pay of our forces, and other necessaries attending this state of warfare, before the end of the year. Our governor has acquainted us with the alteration of the instruction relating to the permanent salary; but at the same time insists upon a larger allowance than his prede- cessors have had, under pretence* of the alteration in value of our currency. How far this may occa- sion differences between him and the assembly I cannot yet foresee ; perhaps my next may inform you. Enclosed you have a note of the general assembly giving their thanks to Messrs. Hanburg and Tomlinson, merchants in London, for their ex- traordinary care with respect to the money granted by parliament, and you are desired to wait on those gentlemen with it. The assembly are now sitting, and when the session ends, I shall write further to you."
The earl of Loudon, after the loss of Oswego, appeared intent upon proceeding to Crown Point.
* The house the very next day, voted on the 14th October, to his excellency the salary of £1560, and added these words-" which from the strictest inquiry, appears to be originally given as an equivalent for £1000 sterling, and in con- sideration of the difference in the value of the present currency of this colony, from what it was when the aforesaid salary was first settled, the further sum of £240." As this was the first article of a long report then perfected for all the salaries of the year, the speaker's expression is singular, after such a point had been carried in a committee of the whole house, and gives reason for the suppo- sition, that this correspondence is not always to be depended upon. Flushed with the success against the scheme of an indefinite support, and the necessity of the concurrence of the colony in the measures of the war, it was expedient to raise a belief that harmony depended upon the will of the idol of the party for securing his interest ; and the whole letter was doubtless written to make impres- sions disadvantageous to Mr. Shirley, who sailed from Boston on the preceding 28th September.
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Sir William Johnson was called to muster the Indians, to co-operate in that enterprise, but whether from an aversion to that new kind of warfare, or from motives of deep and remote policy, these tribes were languid, and but forty-two could be collected. Ashamed of such a handful, thirty-five of whom were the domiciliated Indians of Stockbridge, recruited by Mr. Wraxall, the secretary for Indian affairs, and just rewarded as captain of a company of indepen- dents, for his services as aid-de-camp at the action at lake George, and to whose blazoned accounts, sir William owed his knighthood, they were led to fort Edward by the private route of Sacondaga. The earl despised their succours, damned the Indian interest as a bubble, and retired to Albany for the winter cantonment of his troops.
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