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 20
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Of these he sent a thousand to New-York, dis- persed others in the neighbouring provinces, and left a surcharge in Albany, insisting upon new quarters, which gave rise to loud clamours.
The magistrates of the capital had crowded the privates into the barracks, and left the officers, about fifty, to find lodgings for themselves. When the earl came down in December, he sent for Mr. Cruger, the mayor, and insisted that the officers of every rank should be exempted from expense, and to sooth him alleged that this was every where the custom; and that he had in consideration of our efforts, put the army to inconveniences by so wide a dispersion, but signified, that if he made difficul- ties, he would convene all his troops here and billet them himself.
The mayor desired time to consult the body over
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which he presided. The death of his sister made it necessary to apologise for the delay of the answer until her funeral obsequies were performed. But his lordship insisted upon a speedy compliance, and told the committee he would meet them on the subject ; and to convince them that free quarters were every where usual, he would assert it upon his honour, " which (says he) is the highest evidence you can require." The demand took air; the citizens raved, and the corporation, consisting gene- rally of elective officers, were at their wit's ends, concerning the course to be pursued. They flew to the governor, but he answered them with reserve, caution, and duplicity : they called a meeting with the judges and city members :- Mr. Delancey did not attend till the second convention, and excused himself from giving an extra judicial opinion, but it was supposed that Mr. Watts spoke his mind in favour of the people. The act lately passed, gave authority to billet first upon inns, and the surplus upon private houses ; but supposing the inhabitants were to be paid, authorized the magistrates to rate the allowance : beyond that, the magistrates durst not interfere through dread of prosecutions. A com- mittee was appointed to his lordship, and another to present a memorial to the governor, imploring his mediation, and asserting that free quarters were against the common law, and the petition of rights, the stat. 21. Car. II. and the mutiny and desertion act; and that the colonists were entitled to all the rights of Englishmen. The governor escaped, for as soon as the earl saw the opinion of the corpora- tion, he replied to the mayor, who alone was ad-
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mitted to his presence, "God d-n my blood ! if you do not billet my officers upon free quarters this day, I'll order here all the troops in North America under my command, and billet them myself upon this city." The magistrates, countenanced by the conscious dread and impotency of the citizens, promoted a subscription to defray the expense, and a calm ensued ; but with a general abhorrence of the oppressor, who soon after proceeded through Connecticut to Boston.
That the minister may not impute the loss of Oswego to the colony, Mr. Jones writes to the agent : "You have doubtless by this time heard of the unaccountable loss of Oswego; since which the enemy have made no further attempts upon us, nor we upon them; so that Crown Point fort remains still in their hands, and both sides are drawn into winter quarters. What the next summer will pro- duce, the Almighty only knows. I assure you, our situation is now extremely distressing. This province being the principal seat of the present war in America, is harassed and burdened in all shapes : soldiers quartered upon us without pay- our horses and carriages, some broke, some burned and destroyed by the enemy-our militia frequently harassed by alarms, now necessitated to make large marches, some to support the army on the north, others to repel the Indians from the western fron- tiers. Thus harassed, our people cannot attend to their usual occupations, and numbers are soon likely to be great sufferers, and to become a burden to the rest. To this may be added another heavy article of expense, viz. the great number of French
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sent here from Nova Scotia by governor Lawrence, and the prisoners taken at the battle of lake George, in September, 1755, with a number of others brought in here, as well by the Nightingale man of war, as by privateers. The expense attending all articles, you will easily see must be very great. Our fifty-two thousand pounds are all called for, and we are obliged to break in upon the present made us by parliament, which, in this expensive state of things, cannot last long ; and unless we have the further aid of our mother country, we must sink under the weight of these excessive pressures. Our session is tolerably well ended, the support bill being put in the usual manner."
On the 16th February, 1757, sir Charles inform- ed his assembly at Flatbush, that reinforcements were coming out; that the people of the Massa- chusetts bay were to contribute, and pressed the immediate levying of our quota; renewed his im- portunity for money to settle the partition line with New-Jersey and the Massachusetts bay, blood having been lately spilled in the manor of Living- ston ; and pursued his object for the vacating of the patents, which he was pleased to call exorbi- tant grants. They promised their proportion for the prosecution of the war, to avoid the imputation of being instrumental in their own ruin by tedious de- lays and resolutions, or an ill-timed parsimony ; but waived any provision for the settlement of lines* till
" A long memorial, drafted by Mr. Scott, to urge the assembly to make the controversy with New-Jersey a provincial charge, and presented the 13th of February, 1756, was now printed, on the motion of Mr. Oliver Delancey, who was not then become interested as a proprietor of New-Jersey.
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they could say with propriety that we had lands to divide : intimated that the quit-rents were a proper fund to defray that expense; and respecting the grants, informed him that they were purchased by considerable sums, paid not only to the Indians, but the officers of government, in fees equal often to the value of the land granted; that what he urged was a proceeding harsh and dangerous, and now not necessary, as the Indians were not ob- structed in the use of the land; and that they thought it of more consequence to lay out a line of townships on the frontiers, to be given to settlers without fee or reward ; and, as the small-pox then compelled them to sit out of town, they wished to attend only to what respected the war.
They continued together only ten days, and pro- vided for levying one thousand men, to act with four thousand from the Massachusetts bay, under his lordship's command, " which," says the speaker, 26th February, "is our full proportion, according to the plan of union, and was all his lordship demanded."
The amount appropriated for this purpose, was twenty-one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine pounds, twelve shillings and two-pence; and the parliamentary present of fourteen thousand three hundred and twenty-three pounds, fifteen shillings and three-pence, sterling, which I mention as a detection of the artifices in the reasons given by both houses for passing the late bill for prolonging the paper currency, and the speaker's suggestions of the distress of the colony.
THE
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE ABSENCE OF SIR CHARLES HARDY, ON AN EXPEDITION AGAINST MARTINICO, TO THE SECOND ASSUMPTION OF THE ADMINISTRATION BY LIEUTE- NANT-GOVERNOR DELANCEY.
THIS was sir Charles's last interview with the assembly ; for after that, he hoisted his flag as rear admiral of the blue, with a command in the expedi- tion against Louisburg. He embarked on the 2d of July, at midnight, and left the government in the hands of Mr. Delancey, who took the oaths the next morning. The inattention of the assembly at this time to the boundaries of the colony, was very inex- cusable. The Jersey proprietors took advantage of it and urged their contempt of the royal instruction as a reason for ordering a temporary line, according to the observations of 1719, as the partition, until this colony provided a moiety of the expense for settling the boundaries by commissioners.
For the operations in this quarter, his lordship left an army of five or six thousand men, under the VOL. IT .- 38
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command of General Webb ; two thousand three hundred of these were posted at the south end of Lake George, fifteen hundred at fort Edward, and the residue were scattered at Saratoga, Stillwater, Albany, Mount Hanson, and at Herkimer, in the country of the Mohawks. There were some who censured his leaving the frontiers in so weak a state of defence, and still more the wide dispersion of the troops; conceiving that they all should have been divided between the two great carrying-places on the north, from Hudson's river to Lake George, and between the Mohawk river and Wood creek on the west, prepared for either of the two entrances of the enemy by Ontario or Champlain.
Mr. Webb knew in July, that Mr. Montcalm, who succeeded baron Dieskau, had collected several thousand men and three hundred flat boats at St. Johns, and that the enemy were daily filing off from Crown Point to Ticonderoga, and communicated this intelligence to Mr. Delancey, adding, that he expected an attack. Ten days afterwards, (3d August) an express arrived with the further advice that the enemy were on the 30th July within twelve miles of fort William. On the 5th Mr. Delancey embarked for Albany, and the day after we learnt that the fort was invested on the 2d, and complaints were made from above of the dilatory motions of the militia. Mr. Delancey arrived at Albany the 8th, and from thence issued orders for detachments from below. The New-York militia was drawn out for that purpose on the 13th. The horse and volunteers marched the same day, but the main body of seven hundred did not embark till some days after. While
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these things were transacting on the sea coast, the garrison capitulated on the 9th, engaging not to bear arms in eighteen months.
Lord Howe got to fort Edward on Saturday, the 7th, but the besieged had no assistance, for the enemy came, 11,000 strong, and our whole force in the lines about fort Edward did not amount, till the 10th, to more than 6,000.
Mr. Fitch, the governor of Connecticut, had no intelligence of this descent till the 6th of August ; but then ordered every fourth man of the colony to march up : 4,000 were to be detached from New Jersey ; and Mr. Kilby, the contractor, arriving at New-York on the 14th, for provisions to support the multitudes who were on the way to Albany, it was conjectured that Mr. Webb meant to take that op- portunity of advancing immediately to Crown Point, till Mr. Oliver Delancey, who had been despatched that day from Albany, arrived on the 18th at New- York, and had stopped the progress of the reinforce- ments, and on the 22d the lieutenant-governor returned to the metropolis.
Mr. Webb's letter to colonel Munroe, of the 4th, advising him to make the best terms he could, and that he was unable to help him, through the tardy motions of the militia, was intercepted by the enemy and not sent until the 7th. When the garrison ca- pitulated, the trenches were opened almost up to the east bastion of the fort, and by the bursting of a cannon colonel Munroe had but four left, with a mortar and only seventeen shells, and a very small quantity of powder.
The garrison were to march out with the honours
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of war, their whole regiment and one piece of ordnance, and to protect them from the Indians, were to be escorted two miles by five hundred men, and these renewed by as many from fort Edward. But the baggage was afterwards given up by Mr. Montcalm's advice, to satisfy the French Indians, and yet they were so unmanageable after the plun- der as to butcher our negroes, and to attack even the soldiers. After the demolition of the fort, the French retired to Ticonderoga, and Mr. Webb then dismissed the twenty thousand men he had collected at fort Edward, before his countermand of the provincial reinforcements.
While the regulars and militia mutually reproach- ed each other for the late disaster, there were some who blamed Mr. Delancey for slighting general Webb's first intimations, and others who insisted that the general was strong enough to march to the besieged forty-eight hours before the surrender. The general being supported by the British troops, and the lieutenant-governor apprehending conse- quences unfriendly to his interest on the other side of the water, naturally looked to his assembly, and the instant he arrived, despatched circular letters for their convention ; and, on the 2d, sent them a message historical of his conduct. Having alleged that the king had permitted sir Charles Hardy to resign his government, and having noticed his de- parture, he proceeds in these words :
"Soon after which, apprehending a visit from the enemy on our northern frontiers, I thought it ne- cessary to take all the measures in my power to strengthen general Webb; and for this purpose I
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sent out my orders to the colonels of the militia of Albany, Dutchess, Ulster, and that part of Orange county above the mountains, to march with their regiments to the assistance of general Webb, upon his requisition, and to obey his orders, of which I gave him notice by letter. In the night of the 3d August last, I received a letter from general Webb, of the 30th July, advising me that the enemy were within twelve miles of fort William Henry, that he should immediately call in the troops at the different posts on Hudson's river, and gave orders for the militia of the counties to march, and desiring my presence at Albany to forward them. I set out for that place on the 5th, which was as soon as I pos- sibly could, and arrived there the 8th. On the 10th I had advice of the surrender of fort William Henry, and as it was reasonable to think the enemy, with so formidable an army and such a train of artillery as they were said to have, would endeavour to penetrate farther into this country, I sent orders for a detachment of five hundred men from the city of New-York, and West-Chester, who showed a very becoming spirit on this occasion. Those above the highlands had marched in consequence of my former orders, on general Webb's requisition, and many proceeded to fort Edward, but after a short stay, general Webb informed me that all the militia except those from the county of Albany, had united in a mutinous manner. I did all I could to stop them, but with little success. This step, whether arising from cowardice or disgust, or whatever other motive, deserves a very severe animadversion, more especiaily as it was taken up at a time when the
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enemy were still at fort William Henry, (only four- teen miles distant from fort Edward,) the most advanced post we had in that quarter of the country. I shall order a strict inquiry to be made into the behaviour of the militia, and cause the law to be put into execution against all delinquents. I left Albany the 21st, and as soon as I came to New- York, I ordered circular letters to be sent, to call you together as soon as possible; one of the reasons of which was, to recommend to you the completing the regiments in the pay of this province with the utmost speed, general Webb having written to the other governments to complete theirs, as the troops under his command were very much lessened : this was a measure apparently necessary at that time; but as his excellency the right honourable the earl of Loudon, commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in North America, is arrived here with a body of troops, the necessity of this measure ceases. The other reason of my calling you is, to recommend to you a further provision for the subsistence of the New-York regiments."
The house only gave a vote of credit the next day, to provide after the first of November for pay due after that period, and adjourned.
The agent by his despatches of the 16th Feb- ruary, had communicated a copy of the New-Jersey petition for a temporary line, and the report of the board of trade upon it of the 27th January, 1757, advising an order for running the line prayed for ; and first, that the governors of the two provinces be commanded to suppress and prevent all tumults on the borders :- second, that all possessions remain in
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statu quo :- third, that the governor of New-York issue patents for vacant lands on the north side of the temporary line, and that the proprietors grant on the south, making a deposit of the profits :- and fourth, that six months be allowed to New-York to provide for the expense of a final line. The re- port recited that the allegations of the proprietors had been verified by sir Charles Hardy, and that Mr. Charles, styling himself agent for the assembly of New-York, owned that he had no authority to join in the expense of a commission, and therefore, had submitted to such directions respecting a temporary line, as to his majesty should seem proper. The agent wrote, "I prayed for further time before their lordships proceeded upon the petition, in hopes of hearing the resolution of your house, touching the method you proposed for the division of this matter, as I have repeatedly applied to you for explicit and positive directions herein, but remaining hitherto without any instruction on that head, and reflecting that by the act passed in your colony, (though disallowed here) you had left the establishment of the line of property, as well as of jurisdiction, to the direction of his majesty, it was not practicable for me to oppose a temporary line of jurisdiction, or to prevent the issue this affair has taken."
Nor was the assembly at the same time unapprised of the expediency of some alteration of the eastern boundary, disputed by the Massachusetts bay ; for Mr. Charles, on the 11th of May, added, " I am now to acquaint you, that upon the representation of sir Charles Hardy to the lords of trade, of divers outrages committed on the borders, between your
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colony and the Massachusetts bay, by his letter of the 22d December last, accompanied with a report of your commissioners at Albany, in 1754, and a map of the country, all which have been communicated to the respective agents, and having attended their lordships on the subject, where I endeavoured to show the inclinations of your pro- vince to bring this matter to an amicable accom- modation ; first, by imparting to the governor of the Massachusetts bay, the claims of New-York, as stated in the report of the committee of your council, of the 28th February, 1753, which were rejected by the commissioners of the Massachusetts bay, without any reason assigned, or their stating their own claims and pretensions, their lordships delivered their opinion of a boundary line, proper to be established between the two governments, as contained in an extract of their lordships' journal, whereof I send a copy enclosed, touching which it is probable I may receive the sentiments of your colony before the report of the board obtains the sanction of the king in council."
The extract was in these words-" Extract of the journals of the proceedings of the lords on Tuesday, the 27th March, 1757.
" Their lordships took into consideration the papers relating to the dispute between the province of New-York and Massachusetts bay, concerning their boundary line; and the agents attending as de- sired, were called in, and their lordships after having heard what they had to offer, and read and consi- dered the grant to the duke of York, in 1663-4, and the Massachusetts charter, granted in 1691, and
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also a letter from colonel Nicholls, governor in New- York, to the duke of York, dated in November, 1665, to hear and determine certain points in dis- pute among the New-England governments, which papers are upon record in this office; delivered it to be their opinion that a straight line, to be drawn northerly from that point where the boundary line between New-York and Connecticut ends, at twenty miles distance from Hudson's river, to another point at the same distance from the said river, on that line which divides the provinces of New-Hamp- shire and Massachusetts bay, will be a just and equitable line of division between the said province of New-York and the Massachusetts bay; and Mr. Bollan being asked if he had any objections thereto, desired time to consider of it, and that he might have their lordships' opinion in writing, and also copies of their authorities upon record, on which that opinion was founded, which was agreed to by their lordships, and that copies should be likewise given to Mr. Charles, agent for New-York, and then the agents withdrew. Governor Nicholls' letter was this :
" I have formerly rendered account of the divi- sion and settlement of bounds between your royal highness and the patent of Connecticut, made by his majesty's commissioners and the governor and council of Connecticut, wherein five towns were re- linquished in Connecticut by virtue of their former grant from his majesty ; although the said tracts of land were given to your royal highness to the utter ruin of that colony, and a manifest breach of their letters patent, which determination was a leading VOL. II .- 39
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case of equal justice, and of great good conse- quence in all the colonies ; and therefore we were assured would be acceptable service to your royal highness, so that to the east of New-York and Hudson's river, nothing considerable remains to your royal highness, except Long Island and about twenty miles from any part of Hudson's river. I look therefore upon all the rest as empty name, and places possessed forty years since by former grants, and of no consequence to your royal highness, except all New-England could be brought to submit to your royal highness's patent."
The report of the commissioners appointed in 1664 to visit the New-England governments, relat- ing to the bounds of the Massachusetts colony, was also transmitted by the agent, running thus :
" This colony, which has engrossed the whole trade of New-England, is therefore the richest ; hath many towns, but not one regularly built within its just limits ; which the commissioners find to be Siwanet brook on the south-west, and Merrimack river on the north-east; and two right lines drawn from each of those two places, till they come within twenty miles of Hudson's river, for that river is already planted and given to his royal highness."
The speaker's letter of September 12th, acknow- ledges the receipt of these letters, adding, "I am to acquaint you that you are fallen greatly under the censure of the general assembly, for not object- ing to the line of the year 1617, being the tempo- rary line of jurisdiction between this colony and that of New-Jersey, as you were long since well informed that this colony always rejected that line.
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A committee is appointed to examine and consider the New-Jersey petition on that head, and to give proper instructions upon it." This is proved by the journal. But why another was not charged with the care of the proprietors, affected by an opinion of the lords of trade, I leave to the reader's con- jectures, after remarking that the Delancey family, who were interested in the New-Jersey controversy, had not the same motives to stimulate their attention to that with the Massachusetts bay, and were per- haps disinclined to counteract Mr. Secretary Pow- nal, who, to ingratiate his brother with the people over whom he was set, discovered a great desire to abridge the old claim of New-York to all the country between this twenty mile line and Connecticut river. Mr. Jones, indeed, leads Mr. Charles to expect a letter upon this subject, from the New- York commissioners, but the journal does not war- rant his suggestion. The committee on the other subject were the interested members of New-York and Orange county, who sharply reprehended the agent for not opposing the report respecting a tem- porary line, in a letter drafted by Mr. Scott, 25th October : but the house would have better consulted the interests of the colony, by bills providing for the expense of commissioners for settling all their contested limits, though the session, instead of two, had been prolonged ten days.
The board of trade shortly after changed their opinion, and adopted a still more disadvantageous one to this colony, as appeared by the following extract from their journals of 10th May, 1751 :
" The secretary acquainted their lordships, that
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having, in consequence of their orders, communi- cated to Mr. Bollan, agent for the Massachusetts bay, their resolution of the 27th March last, with res- pect to the boundary line between the said province and New-York ; he acquainted him that upon con- sideration thereof, and of the papers relating to the adjustment of the line between the province of New- York and Connecticut, he had found that though it did appear to have been the primary intention in that settlement, that the line should be twenty miles from Hudson's river, yet the province of New-York, having agreed that Connecticut should continue in possession of the town of Greenwich, and a tract of land adjacent thereto, at the south end of the line, the province of Connecticut had, in consideration thereof, yielded to them a tract of land lying upon the northern part of said line, commonly called the Ob- long ; so that in his apprehension, the said boundary line was at more than twenty miles distance from the said Hudson's river ; and therefore he submitted whether the drawing the boundary line between New-York and Massachusetts bay from the north end of the said Connecticut line, as described in the board's resolution of the 27th March, would not be in some measure inconsistent with the facts and evidence upon which that resolution was founded, and thought it necessary to have their lordships' sentiments upon this matter, before he could form any opinion upon the general proposition.
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