FLETCHER AFFRONTED; ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. ful frame of mind, balked at making any appropriation devoted exclusively to warfare, and it was only by the use of his most persuasive powers that Fletcher secured a small appropriation, a stipulation being added to the appropriation that it "should not be dipped in blood." Shortly after this, in October, 1693, Fletcher attempted to secure aid from Connecticut. The Assembly at the time was in session, and Fletcher attempted to use his authority to overawe the members into granting his demands and said that he would not leave the province until the royal orders had been obeyed. He then directed the trained bands to be assembled and his com mission to be read to the Assembly. According to tradition, the senior captain, Wadsworth, walked up and down in front of the troops, to all appearances simply engaged in giving general orders, but instead he told the drummers to beat their drums the minute Fletcher's officer began to read the royal commission. When Fletcher commanded his officer to read, Wadsworth gave the word to his drummers, and the voice of the speaker was drowned by the noise. Fletcher passionately ordered the drummers to desist, but Wadsworth ordered them to continue, and turning to Fletcher he said: "If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment!" As the governor saw that to continue the dispute any longer was useless, he swallowed the affront and de 5 parted.* Shortly afterward, FitzJohn Winthrop, who had recently been sent to England by the colony to protest against the violation of the charter, returned with a royal concession, that, under ordinary circumstances, the command of the militia belonged to the respective states. Connecticut then promised to send 120 men to aid in the defence of New York. For many years thereafter Connecticut enjoyed a most happy condition of society. In 1698 FitzJohn Winthrop became governor, to be followed in 1708 by Gurdon Saltonstall, in 1725 by Joseph Talcott, in 1742 by Jonathan Law, in 1751 by Roger Wolcott, in 1754 by Thomas Fitch, and in 1766 by William Pitkin. In 1695 Rev. John Miller wrote a letter to the Lord Bishop of London, in which he gives an interesting account of the ecclesiastical and moral conditions in New York. He says that there were at this time a Dutch Reformed Church and an Episcopal chapel in the fort; and in the city a large French Protestant congregation, a smaller one of Dutch Lutherans, a Jewish synagogue, and a number of English Dissenters who had no There were also meeting house. * Trumbull, History of Connecticut, vol. i., pp. 331-332 (1898 reprint). Fiske, however, (Dutch and Quaker Colonies, vol. ii., pp. 218-219), says that this familiar tradition rests on no good authority and seems improbable. Trumbull, History of Connecticut, vol. i., p. 332 et seq. Hildreth, History of the United States, vol. ii., pp. 189-193. в INDIAN BARBARITIES; BELLOMONT GOVERNOR. Dutch Reformed churches at Albany and Kingston, and meeting houses in almost every town on Long Island. The statements made by Mr. Miller show that New York at this time was much divided in religious sentiment.* Frontenac had now become an old man, and the war between the French and the Five Nations was carried on in a rather desultory manner. On both sides there were shocking and savage barbarities, a sample of which is given in LaPotherie's History of North America: "The prisoner being first made fast to a stake, so as to have room to move around it, a Frenchman began the horrid tragedy, by broiling the flesh of the prisoner's legs, from his toes to his knees, with a red-hot barrel of a gun. His example was followed by an Utawawa, who, being desirous of outdoing the French in their refined cruelty, split a furrow from the prisoner's shoulder to his garter, and filling it with gunpowder, set fire to it. This gave him exquisite pain, and raised excessive laughter in his tormentors. When they found his throat so much him on the head. After this every one cut a slice from his body, to conclude the tragedy with a feast." * The treaty of Ryswick in 1697, however, put an end to these outrages for a time. In 1695 Lord Bellomont was appointed governor of the colony, but he did not arrive until 1698. Upon his arrival he immediately investigated Fletcher's conduct, began to enforce the act of trade, to suppress piracy, etc., according to his instructions. In the Leisler dispute Bellomont took the opposite side to that which Fletcher had favored, and it was principally due to him that the Assembly granted granted Leisler's son £1,000 in payment for damages resulting from proceedings against his father. Parliament reversed the bill of attainder and Leisler and Milborne were reburied in the Dutch Church. Another indication of his parched that he was no longer able to gratify leaning toward the Leisler side was their ears with his howling, they gave him water, to enable him to continue their pleasure longer. But at last his strength failing, an Utawawa flayed off his scalp and threw burning hot coals on his scull. They then untied him, and bid him run for his life. He began to run, tumbling like a drunken man. They shut up the way to the east, and made him run westward, the country, as they think, of departed miserable souls. He had still force left to throw stones, till they put an end to his misery by knocking * On May 6, 1697, a royal grant was made of a certain church, in the city of New York, and a piece of ground adjoining, on Broadway, known as Trinity Parish. In 1705 the Queen's farm on the west side of Manhattan Island - from St. Paul's Church to Christopher street- -was donated to Trinity Church.- See Dr. Berrian, History of Trinity Church, pp. 14-15; Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., pp. 421-422. the dismissal of the chief councillors (against some of whom charges were * See also Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., p. 417. Smith, History of New York, pp. 105, 139, 140; N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. iv., pp. 523, 620. "This year, [1700] no fewer than a thousand Scottish fugitives from the unfortunate and illused Scottish colony of Darien arrived at New York in various ships, during the absence of Lord Bellomont at Boston. [John] Nanfan, the lieutenant governor, in conformity with instructions from England, refused even the slightest relief or assistance to these unhappy adventurers. Two years before, the royal governors of New York and New England had issued proclamations, forbidding all correspondence with, or assistance to, the Scottish colony." Oldmixon and Holmes, quoted by Grahame, vol. i., p. 453. INTOLERANCE OF JESUITS; CORNBURY GOVERNOR. brought) and the calling of Leisler's friends about him.* Bellomont also originated a Court of Chancery,† which the colonists afterward looked upon with a jealous eye. He also succeeded, by voting twice himself, in securing the passage of an unnecessary, intolerant and extremely unwise act against the Jesuit priests who were laboring among the Indians. In order to protect the Iroquois who he assumed to be English subjects, against the "Jesuit priests and popish missionaries [who] had lately come into, and for some time, had had their residence in remote parts of the province, to excite hostility against the English government," Bellomont caused the act to contain the provisions that every priest in the colony "after the 1st of November, 1700, be deemed an incendiary, disturber of the public peace, and enemy of the Christian religion," perpetual imprisonment being the penalty, and in case of escape and recapture, death. The colonists were threatened with heavy fines and the pillory for harboring a priest, but the very ignorance and absurdity of the act were so apparent to the colonists that the law was flagrantly violated without punishment.‡ In his speech to the Assembly in May, Bellomont said: * Roberts, New York, vol. i., p. 223. For these events see Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, vol. ii., pp. 227-231. See Shea, American Catholic Missions, pp. 329-330; Acts of the Assembly, p. 42. 7 "I cannot but observe to you what a legacy my predecessor has left me, and what difficulties to struggle with; a divided people, an empty purse, a few miserable, naked, half-starved soldiers, not half the number the king allowed pay for; the fortifications, and even the governor's house, very much out of repair; and, in a word, the whole government out of frame. * It would be hard if I, that come among you with an honest mind, and a resolution to be just in your interest, should meet with greater difficulties in the discharge of his majesty's service than those that have gone before me. I will take care there shall be no misapplication of the public money. I will pocket none of it myself, nor shall there be any embezzlement by others; but exact accounts shall be given you, when, and as often, as you shall require." * On March 5, 1701, Lord Bellomont died suddenly,† leaving the government to be administered by John Nanfan, the lieutenant governor, who proceeded with some haste and violence against Robert Livingston and Bayard, who had been active in the anti-Leislerian party In 1702, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, arrived in New York as governor, and he immediately put a stop to these proceedings, espousing the views of those opposed to the Leislerian party. There is little good that can be said of Lord Cornbury. Being a profligate and unprincipled man, he had been sent to the colony by the home authorities more for the purpose of getting rid of him than because he possessed any fitness for the position *See Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., p. 430. His mortal remains are now in St. Paul's churchyard. See Lamb, City of New York, vol. P. 446. i., For details see Doyle, Middle Colonies, p. 257 et seq.; Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., pp. 449458. 8 CORNBURY'S RAPACITY RESULTS IN HIS RECALL. of governor. He was deeply in debt, * * * Bancroft says that "happily for New York, Lord Cornbury had every vice of character necessary to discipline a colony into selfreliance and resistance."- United States, vol. ii., p. 41. See also Doyle's characterization, Middle Colonies, pp. 255-256. † Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., pp. 462, 474. For details see Bancroft, vol. ii., p. 41 et seq. See also Doyle, Middle Colonies, p. 263 et seq.; Roberts, New York, vol. i., p. 229 et seq.; Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., pp. 468, 472. serious charges against the governor. In these the Assembly clearly asserted its rights and indicated its determination to uphold them by every means. One of the resolutions clearly indicated the turn of political opinion, which finally led to the Revolution. It is as follows: "Resolved, That the imposing and levying of any moneys upon her Majesty's subjects of this colony, under any pretence or color whatsoever, without consent in General Assembly, is a grievance, and a violation of the people's property." Thus New York was the first colony absolutely to claim the right of self-taxation. The people in New Jersey disliked Cornbury equally as much as those in New York, and in 1707 the New Jersey Assembly joined that of New York in making a formal complaint against Cornbury to the queen.‡ While Cornbury was her cousin, the queen did not hesitate for a moment to dismiss him from office as she would not countenance oppression on the part of any of her appointees no matter if they were of her own family or not. Shortly after his dismissal, Cornbury was arrested on the complaint of his creditors and thrown into prison, but soon afterward his father died and he became Earl of Clarendon. He was then discharged from *Doyle, p. 269; Roberts, p. 231. For some of his acts see Lamb, vol. i., p. 469. POST OFFICE ESTABLISHED; GERMAN EMIGRANTS. arrest and returned to England.* In the spring of 1708 Cornbury was succeeded by John Lovelace, nephew of the governor who succeeded Nicolls, but he did not arrive in the colony until late in the year. He gave promise of administering the affairs of the colony in a very acceptable manner, but early in 1709 he died, and Ingoldsby again assumed charge of the government. While Ingoldsby was acting governor, an attempt to reduce Canada was made, 500 soldiers being raised and bills of credit being issued to provide ammunition, etc. In an endeavor to induce Parliament to aid the colonists, Schuyler went to England, taking with him a number of Mohawk chiefs, and they were favorably received by the Queen.† Aid was promised, but as the English armies were experiencing reverses in Spain, the home government expended all her energy in subduing the latter, and the preparations which were being made. in the colonies went for nothing.‡ Meanwhile the patent of Thomas Neale for colonial posts had expired, and Parliament passed an act extending the British post office system to America. "A chief office was established at New York [in 1710] to which letters were to be conveyed by regular packets across the Atlantic. The same act regulated the rates of postage to Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, vol. ii., pp. 236-241. † Doyle, Middle Colonies, p. 272 et seq. Fiske, pp. 241-242; Lamb, City of New York, vol. i., pp. 478-479. 9 be paid in the plantations, exempted the posts from ferriage, and enabled postmasters to recover their dues by summary process. A line of posts was presently established on Neal's old routes, north to the Piscataqua, and south to Philadelphia; irregularly extending, a few years after, to Williamsburg, in Virginia, the post leaving Philadelphia for the south as often as letters enough were lodged to pay the expense. The postal communication subsequently established with the Carolinas was still more irregular." * In 1710 Lovelace was succeeded in the governorship by Robert Hunter, a Scotchman. During his term of office, he caused to be brought over to the colony 3,000 Germans,† who had been compelled by the ravages of war to leave their homes on the Rhine. They settled on the banks of the Hudson River. These colonists were indentured to the Queen, but the experiment proved unsuccessful, as the cost of maintaining them was greater than the revenue derived from the sale of their products; but when the colonists. became free citizens, they became. thriving and industrious denizens, occupying what is known as the German Flats on the upper waters of the * Hildreth, History of the United States, vol. ii., p. 262. This number is differently given by various authorities, some saying between 3,000 and 4,000; Nicholson states it to have been 3,200; while statistics show that 2,227 settled on the banks of the Hudson and 357 remained in New York. Roberts, New York, vol. i., p. 235. |