■0^ O " ; 1 .'V ^ ■:^^ V* V*- \^ 1 ° ^^^ c*^' N^ y .^^ ^^. .<^ * '' O^, A A V- -^ ^;^^%^* ^ "^ ^^ « «■ AJ-T- V n' ^\ o " o ^ ^/-> 'x^/\ o *.j.-t^^ ' A^ \ \. I » * 4 • ks, r^ * .-^ r\ ' o • » * ,G^ ^o_ *' . . s O . *■ „ ^^^ - e, „ o - ^'<- \^ v\ 'V <^. o ♦ j. ,^ 0^ - ^ .0^, A ^^ % ever returned to New York. Un. So we have no farther to do with his history. John. But we know that he was sent by the Eng- lish on his fourth voyage, and discovered Hudson's Bay, and that he was set adrift in a boat by his crew, and was never heard of more. Un. True ; and there are particulars of this mu- tiny which were published by a man who was on board the ship, which I have read, and think you ought to know. It was the 17th of April, 1610, when Hudson sailed on his fourth voyage of dis- covery. Before he weighed anchor, it had been Lis misfortune, as it proved, to be applied to for charity by a young man of the name of Henry Green, a Kentish youth of good familj'- and educa- cation, who had fallen into evil company and courses 2 14 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. in London ; had spent all his properly, and so dis- gusted his friends and relatives, that they turned him away as a worthless vagabond. He pretended repent- ance, and by his art gained the good will of Hud- son, who took him to his house, and gave him em- ployment, and, when he sailed, took him along as his clerk or bookkeeper. Green proved both a hy- pocrite and a reprobate. He gained Hudson's fa- vour, and ill used the officers and men of the ship. The Captain's partiality created great dissatisfaction among the mariners, which was increased by the hardships they underwent among the ice and snow of the polar regions, and was brought to a mutiny by the failure of their provisions and the arts of Green. W7n. I remember that Green was the rmgleader in the mutiny, as Uncle Philip told us ; but how could he be so, if he quarrelled with the sailors and was a favourite with the Captain. Un. He was an unworthy favourite, a man of evil habits, in a word, children, he was selfish ; and the selfish are ready to destroy others for the grati- fication of their own ambition or vanity. Such are the great heroes and conquerors you read of, who, to accomplish their schemes, sacrifice the friends they mislead, the dependants who look to them for support, and the peaceful inhabitants of foreign countries ; who are denominated enemies, or here- ticks, or infidels, or by any name that can deceive the soldiers who are led on to murder their fellow men : such have been all the great conquerors of the earth. Mary. Uncle, I don't understand you. Un. My feelings have made me forget that my auditors are children. Wm. I think I understand. John. I know I do ; for I have read of Alexander HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 15 and Cesar; but I never thought of the miseries you speak of: then, Bonaparte — ah! I remember now what I read of the wounded men at Leipsic — and the poor soldiers in Russia ; thousands on thou- sands freezing and dying. Phil. But Washington was a conqueror, and I am sure he was good. Tin, He was victorious in defence of his country ; in repelling those who, if successful, would have been conquerors. The conquering hero is one who carries blood and devastation over other countries than his own; the victorious patriot defends the property, lives, and liberties of his countrymen. But we have left poor Henry Hudson in the ice, sur- rounded by mutinous, half-starved sailors, and ex- posed to the arts of the selfish Henry Green. This man became the enemy of Hudson apparently for a very trifling cause. The gunner of the ship died ; and, as is customarj'-, his clothing was sold by auc- tion, that the sailors might buy what they wanted, and the money be kept for the heirs of the deceased. Green coveted a particular garment ; but Hudson justly sold it to the highest bidder, a man who chose to give more than Green. This was the ostensible cause of Green's enmity to his benefactor ; but the real cause was the wicked disposition he had ac- quired while a debauched spendthrift in London. It is in vain that you give to the selfish: they require all ; if you refuse the last thing coveted by the sel- fish man, yoii make an enemy of him, because he seeks his own gratification, rather than the welfare of his fellow. I have dwelt upon this, my children, because I shall show you in the history of New York, and could point out in all other history, just such men as Henry Green, seeking their own gra- tification at the expense of others. John. I shall remember, sir ; and when you speak 16 HISTORY OF NEW YORK of a selfish man, I shall think of Green. But Green destroyed Hudson, the man to whom he owed so much. Phil. And to whom we owe New York. Mary. And Hudson's river. Un. The wicked do not always prevail to the de- struction of the good ; and when they do, they do not gain happiness for themselves, though their prosperity may flatter them for a time. Green, like many selfish men, could make himself agreeable by pretending to act for the good of others, and by flat- tering personal attentions to those he wished to gain. Green finding Hudson's ship in difficulty, sur- rounded by ice, provisions short, and the Captain still bent on pursuing his voyage for the benefit of his employers, paid his court to the sailors, and soon persuaded them that he was their friend, and that Hudson, for his own private views, kept them m these inhospitable seas, where their lives were m constant jeopardy. He told them that only fourteen days' provisions remained, and that they must take command of the ship and seek their safety, or starve; that by getting rid of Hudson, and some others, particularly the sick men, they would in- crease the share of provisions and the chance of escape ; that the Captain had concealed bread and other necessaries in his cabin, for his own private usO; while they were starving ; that self-preservation was the first law of nature, and to save themselves they must turn the Captain and the sick men adrift in the shallop. Mary. Uncle, how do you know that he said all this? Un. Well asked, my little girl. Like other his- torians, I make my personages speak my owti lan- guage. But the substance of this is recorded by on» who was of the crew, and witnessed the transaction. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 17 His name was Habakkuk Pricket. He heard this said ; at least he told the world so. John. Pray, go on, sir. Tin. The mate had, for misconduct, been de- graded, and another appointed. The boatswain and others, who had been punished or reprimanded for misdeeds, entered into the conspiracy. So, on Sun- day, the 22d of June, 1610, (which we may consider as the day of Hudson's death,) upon his coming out of his cabin at the call of Juett the discarded mate, two conspirators, John Thomas and Eennet Ma- thews, seized him by the collar, and Wilson, the boatswain, stood ready to tie his hands behind him. He asked what they meant. They answered, " You will know when you are in the shallop." They drove all the sick people upon deck, and then forced them and the Captain into the small boat, which they had ready to receive them. John King, the carpenter, and John Hudson, the Captain's kinsman, who would not join the conspirators, but rather chose to share the fate of the honest and innocent^ were added to the devoted crew of the boat ; and thus were nine persons, assuredly the best of the ship's company, including the intelligent and hon- est Henry Hudson, committed in an open shal- lop to the merciless sea, without compass to guide, or food to sustain their strength. Phil. Oh, Uncle, I cannot but think of Henry Hudson, when he landed among the Indians of New York, and they thought a God was come to bless them. Un. The contrast is great, my boy. John. But though he and his companions perish- ed, I would rather be with them than with Green and his murderous crew. Uncle Philip told us that they suffered much ; that Green was killed in attempting to land somewhere; and that those who lived to 2* 18 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. reach England, were wasted by famine and suffer- ing to mere skeletons ; but he did not know whether the scoundrels were hanged or not. Poor Hudson! that was the last we know of him. CHAPTER n. Ufl. Now, John, tell me what happened in con- sequence of Hudson's discovery of New York. Joh7i. Why, sir, the Dutch finding that they could get furs nearer than the East Indies, sent out an- other ship to New York to trade with the 'Indians ; and in 1614, the Dutch government encouraged a company of merchants, and licensed them as the West India Company, and they sent out two ships, commanded by Adrian Block and Hendrick Chris- tiansee. Block came first, and he sailed both up the Hudson and the East river, and called the last Helle-gaat river. Phil. That is, Hell-gate. Un. I must tell you, children, this name is vari- ously given by writers. Some say hurl or whirl gate, from the boiling of the water at a certain time of tide ; some Hell-gate, because of the danger of getting on the rocks. Mary. And what do you call it, Uncle ? Un. I am willing to let the popular or vulgar name stand, Hell-gate : though I believe that the Dutch, when they entered the beautiful strait be- tween New York Island and Long Island, called it the Helder or Helle-gaat, which is the bjight pas- sage or strait. And so says Judge Benson in his Memoir. Phil. Push on, John ; I want to come to where Uncle Philip left off HISTORY OF NEW YORK, 19 Tin. You will remember, children, that Block sailed through the sound, and joined Christiansee to the eastward ; that they discovered many places and returned to our bay and river. Did they then settle New York ? John. O no, sir. They went up the Hudson and built a fort on Castle Island, just below Albany ; and here Christiansee remained to trade. And trade, sir, appears to have been the object of all the dis- coverers ; for when, in 1615, they made a fort on Manhattan Island, and erected some few huts or houses, they only intended to trade with the Indians. Un. True, boy ; the desire for wealth, the thirst for gold, has led men to the discovery and settle- ment of empires ; and thus it is, that although the motive for action may be sordid, or worse. Provi- dence works out good from e\'il. I do not mean that trading is evil. New York was begun by traders, and it now flourishes by trade ; but what a difference ! Then, a stockade fort, or a stone wall, a few huts, a single ship, (to which an Albany sloop is a floating palace,) beads and shells for money, and otter skins and green tobacco for merchandise. Now, thousands of palaces, and thousands of ves- sels, whose long-boats might vie with the half-decked shallop of Columbus, banks, mints, bills of credit, and specie; wuth the manufactures of both hemis- pheres as the articles of commerce ! But, my boy, where was the first Dutch fort ? John. Uncle Philip said above the Bowling Green. I don't know where. Un. I think it was behind Trinity church. The water, then, came up to the site of Lombard street ; and the bank of the river was where now the west wall of the churchyard is. In the year 1751, some workmen digging on the bank, back of Trinity church, discovered a stone wall, which occasioned 20 HISTORY OF NEtV YORK. great wonder ; for already the first fort and its site was forgotten. It Jias been objected, that the early- traders would only have a pallisade, or a wcoden wall; but though brick were long after brought from Holland, Manhattan Island furnished plenty of stones ; and a stone fort or battery was easily made. Go on. John. In 1621, the Dutch government gave the New Netherlands (that is, New York and all their possessions hereabout) ^o their West India Com- pany; and in 1623, Capt. Mey was sent out, and found the people who had been left here by the traders almost starving ; but as he came to make a settlement, or found a colony, he brought all necessa- ry supplies with him. New Netherlands extended, according to the Dutch, from Delaware river to Cape Cod. See here on the map, Philip. Phil. I see Cape May, and Uncle Philip said that was meant for his name. Wi. You remember that this year, 1623, the Dutch buiJt two other forts, and more houses, which may be considered as the commencement of both New York and Albany ; but the places were called after the forts : the one on our island, Amsterdam ; and that, near the place where Albany now stands, was fort Orange. Mary. And the new fort was where the beautiful battery now is. Un. No. Where we now can walk and view the bay, the islands, and the shipping, v^as one field of rock, or water ; the rocks were covered, in part, at flood tide, but bare and black when the water ebbed ; so I remember it for many years. Phil Why is it called the Battery ? Un. Because, many years ago, a battery was huilt on the Copsey rocks, as they were called ; which ioitiiication was almost as far from the outer walk HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 21 of our battery, as the west side of State street; above that, and extending to Pear] street, (southeast,) was a mound of earth, or bluffj overlooking the rocks and the bay. On this mound, fort Amsterdam was built ; and it was enlarged and strengthened in after times ; so that when you hear of the fort, or fort James, or fort George, you must remember it was on this bluff; which, on the land side, descended gradually to what was called the green, and after- ward the Bowling Green. You remember who was the first governor of New Amsterdam ? John. Yes, sir ; Peter Minuit. Un. He arrived in 1625. The Dutch called him " Director General," but " Governor" answers as well. At this time Bradford was governor of New England, and the English and Dutch began to quarrel. John. Yes, sir, but trade increased at New York ; for it is a capital place for trade, everybody says. Gov. Minuit built a house for himself in fort Am- sterdam, and store houses, and many houses in the town. U71. I will show you the fashion of the Dutch houses, which were the only kind in New York for many years. I remember the greater part of Broad street being so built, and some of them have only been removed within a few years. This was erect- ed in 1689, and was a famous house in its time, I wish I could tell you the history of the owner. Wm. Perhaps it was old Governor Stuyvesants' house ? Un. O no. His estate lay in the Bowery ; and the old Stuyversant house was only removed a few years ago. I will show you a picture of that, by and by. The old Governor, however, had a town house, and the one I shall show you, was his coun try residence. 3 22 HISTORY OF NEW Y3RK, Wm. What a strange looking building ! It stands end foremost. Un. It is certainly very unlike the five story houses that have taken its place. Go on, John. Johii. In 1629, the Dutch government gave chart- ers to several persons, and grants and privileges to plant colonies. These men sent out Wouter Van Twiller to purchase lands for them, as their agent. HISTORY OF NEW \ORK. 23 and each became what is called a patroon ; but none are left now, except Mr. Van Rensselaer, whose land was purchased near Albany. In 1683, Peter Minuit returned home, and Wouter Van Twiller, who had been agent for the patrocms, arrived as governor. Un. In the mean time, you know, colonization had been going on in Canada by the French ; and the English had settled both north and south of our Dutch progenitors : of this we will talk and read another day; but I must mention one arrival on the continent, and one man who led the way to great events. Phil. I don't remember any great general, sir. Un. This man brought with him an art, some- times called the black art — an art that has revolu- tionized the world. John. I don't remember, sir. Un. In the year 1530, Samuel Green arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and brought with him this wonderful art, and his implements of power. He was a printer, boy, and his press was the first in North America. Phil. I wish that New York had had that hon- our. Un. We must praise, and not be jealous of our neighbours. We should love our neighbours as ourselves. Well, John, what did Governor Van Twiller do? John. He built the first church in New Amster- dam, and encouraged the people to build houses, which they did close under the fort, mostly in that part of Pearl street adjoining the Battery, at present. Un. Yes ; I do remember when the fort, on its mound, overhung the houses in Pearl street: John. In the mean time, the Dutch settled the south end of Long Island, by degrees, and some of 24 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. them, called Walloons, fixed themselves about Brooklyn; and, it is said, from them comes the name of WallaJjout, where the Navy Yard now is. Governor Kiefl came next, in 1638, and he had troubles enough with the English, and with the In- dians. Un. You hold in mind, children, that the Dutch claimed as their own all the country from Connecti- cut river on the east, to the Delaware river on the west ; and as the English claimed not only the coun- try on each side, but the whole of the Dutch New Netherlands, quarrels were likely to ensue. The Dutch had their fort or trading house on Connecticut river, where Hartford stands, and called it Huys van goede hope : the house of good hope. The English were too mnny for the Dutch, and encroached both in Connecticut and on Long Island, until a line of de- marcation was agreed upon : and to the westward it was the same, until finally the whole, as we shall see, was yielded to the English. John. And Governor Kieft had his troubles, too, with the Indians. Un. Yes ; and as you may remember, he fought a hard battle with them, and could scarcely claim the victory. Well, what governor of the colony, or director of the traders, came next ? John. Governor Peter Stuyvesant ; and he was the last Dutch governor, and his family are here yet. Un. You have a memorandum of the years in which the governors began to rule New York. John. Yes, sir. He came in 1647, and he gov- erned New Netherlands till 1664, And Uncle Philip told us he had trouble with the Swedes, who claimed the country to the south on the Delaware river, and because they had seized the Dutch fort Cassimir where Newcastle is now ; and so Govern- or Stuyvesant finding that a Swedish ship had come HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 25 o the Raritan river, (here, by Amboy,) he seized, her, and then went and retook fort Cassimir. Wm. That was right. Well done Governol Stuyvesant. i/n. Did the brave old governor remain master of all this country ? John. No, sir; for Charles the Second, of Eng- land, claimed all this territory ; and England being very powerful, she took the whole. tin. You, John, have been reading the History of England. John. Yes, sir ; and I think Charles was a very scandalous man. U71. You say England was very powerful in his reign. John. Ay ; but not by his means. I think he proved unworthy of being a king, for he was so fond of indulging himself, that he became a pen- sioner to the king of France ; — no, sir, the power of England was owing to the wisdom and courage of Oliver Cromwell, as I think. Un. So I think, too. Well, Charles took all this country from the Dutch: and what did he do with it? John. He gave it to his brother, the Duke of York ; and a fleet came out here, too strong for Governor Stuyvesant, and he was obliged to give up the place : but he made a good capitulation, and he and most of the Dutch people staid under the English government. Un. The names of the country, and the towns, and the forts, were changed. John. Yes, sir. The Duke named every thing almost after himself New Amsterdam became New York, and the fort was called James ; and as he had the titles of Albany and Ulster, as well as York, he called fort Orange (the Dutch trading 3 26 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. house up the river) Albany, and one of the counties of the colony Ulster. Mary. But is that any harm, Uncle % Vn. No, not much, my dear. A greater man than any king has said, "A rose by any name would smell as sweet;" and Albany, or New York, or Ulster, do not now partake of the infamy of Charles the Second, or his brother James. Well, John, what next ? John. Nichols governed New York for three years, and then Col. Francis Lovelace succeeded him, as English governor, and he ruled from 1667 to 1673; and then England and Holland being at war, a Dutch fleet came here, and while they lay at Staten Island, John Manning sent them a mes- sage that he was governor of the fort, and would give it up to them; I suppose, for a good round sum ; and so they came up, and Manning gave them the fort, and they had the town again ; and they chose Anthony Colve for governor: but next year, 1674, England and Holland made a peace, by which the Dutch gave up New York, and Sir Edmund An- dros came out as governor, and he disgraced Man- ning and broke his sword over his head. Wm. That must have broke his head, too, I guess. Un. O no. The sword was held over his head, and broke ; not broke on his head. Wm. Well, I wish it had been ! the scoundrel ! Un. Well, John, you know Sir Edmund Andros was sent to be governor of Massachusetts. Who succeeded him here in New York? John. Col. Thomas Dongan, sir. He arrived in 1683, and as the people complained that they had no part in making laws for the colony, he called upon them to send representatives to a general as- "sembly ; and so the people had a voice, as it is called, in making laws for themselves, as it ought to be. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 27 Wm. I think they ought to have all the voices. How many voices were there, Uncle ? Un. I am afraid you are too young to understand me, on this subject. Wm. I will try. Un. Well, boy, at present, that is, after (and in consequence of) the revolutionary war, of which We are to talk, the people secured to themselves all the voices, as you call it; so that now they elect the three distinct branches of the government, which make the laws for reo-ulatins: their actions and se- curing their property. They eJect their own gov- ernor ; and a senate, or upper house of representa- tives; and an assembly, or lower house of represen- tatives ; and, in this city, their mayor, aldermen, and assistants. Joh7i. Why, sir, was not one house of representa- tives enough? U71. Because, my boy, although the people might choose the best and wisest men to represent them, they were still but men, and liable to mistakes, and to the influence of passion ; and if they, made a law when they were angry, or frightened, it might do their constituents harm instead of good: but by making it necessary that another assembly, or the senate, should deliberate upon the law passed by the first, time is gained, fright and anger may have less or no influence ; and if both assemblies agree, and it is sanctioned by the third voice, or the governor, the people may be pretty sure that it is right. Do you understand me? Wm. I think I do, sir. John. Yes, sir. And before Governor Dongan called the people together to elect an assembly of representatives, they were ruled altogether by men who were not chosen by themselves. Un. That is it, boy. The Duke of York sent out 28 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. a man to take care of his province for him ; and that man chose his friends as magistrates, or as a council, and his business was to make as much money for himself as he could, without incurring the displeasure of his master. Now, about the time Dongan came out, the people had become strong enough, as well as wise enough, to feel that all was not right ; so to satisfy them, he instituted the representative assembly : but that, as you know, was only one part in three j and, until the revolu- tion, the governors and their council may be con- sidered as the creatures of a foreign country, look- ing upon the people as inferior beings, to be managed for the gratification and the interest of the rulers, and those who commissioned them. But, by de- grees, the people's representatives grew stronger and bolder ; and the people saw that they were con- sidered only as the property of England, to be nursed or oppressed at the will of foreigners ; then, the one voice, or house of assembly, opposed the other two, and, finally, came on those times we are to talk about, by and by. Wm. Well, go ahead, John. I want to come to the time when the people would not be ruled by foreigners, and would do as they pleased. That's what I like. Un. But you are not wise enough, and have not learned enough, to be trusted to do as you please. And so it was, and is, with the people. You are willing to let me direct you, and sometimes control you, — and so the people chose, and continue to choose, men to make laws, which they submit to for their own good. Now, John, let us proceed — but not till to-morrow. We will now go to breakfast. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 29 CHAPTER III. Vn. We will now proceed with our recollec- tions. John. Uncle Philip was good enough to tell us about the wars with the French and Indians. Un. I had rather go on with the history of New York ; and speak of Canada, and the French and Indians, by and by. '^he Duke of York succeed- ed to the crown of England, and was called James the Second. Now, he was a Roman Catholick, and he had sent Governor Dongan to New York, because Dongan was a Roman Catholick also ; and he intro- duced men of the same persuasion into the offices of the government. Now, John, you know that the people of England had great dread of this religion, and had suffered much from the Pope, who is the head of it, and had determined to believe and think for themselves ; and the people of New York were of the same opinion. John. Yes, sir ; Protestants. Uji. So, James having offended his subjects in England, by avowing his Roman faith, he was de- throned, and William, Prince of Orange, a Pro- testant, put in his place. The people of New York saw that Dongan was doing here as James did in England, and they consulted together to preserve their right of judging for themselves in religious matters. They therefore concluded that the govern- ment of James must be overthrown here; but his officers held all the posts of profit, and his soldiers were in possession of the fort. One man among the people deserves to be remembered on this occasion. John. You mean Jacob Leisler, sir. Un. I do. He was a captain of militia, a Dutch- man by descent, and a man of property, and his 3* 30 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. company were attached to him. He took the op- portunity of Dongan's resigning the government to Mr. Nicholson, the lieutenant-governor, and when he had embarked for England, Leisler enter- ed the fort with his militia, and took it by surprise. The whole town then declared for William the Third, and Leisler was considered and acted as governor. But as he was a man of low origin, in the estimation of the gentry, as they were called, (that is, those families who had beep counsellors, or of the king's council, and the officers, civil and military, sent out from England,) all these people were op- posed to Leisler, and refused to sign a declaration proposed by him in favour of the Prince of Orange. However, notwithstanding the lieutenant-governor's threats, and the influence of the English officers, the people prevailed. John. Why, Uncle, this was like democrats and aristocrats. TJn. Right, John ; and we shall find that the few, or the aristocracy, and the many, or the people, were from this time forward in opposition to each other ; but the few were supported by the power of Eng- land : and even Leisler was put down by the Eng- lish court, although he had seconded their views in displacing James, and proclaiming William. Wm. That was strange. Tin. No : for Leisler had acted against royal au- thority, and the aristocracy of England might fear to lose their profitable pickings in the colonies, if the people, or their leaders, were suffered to rule. You must know, and will see as jrou go on, that the offices of governor, lieutenant-governor, coun- sellor, judge, chief-justice, collector of the customs, and other profitable places, were given by the kings, or the ministers of England, to their relations, or favourites, or others whom they wanted to pay for HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 31 services ; or whose importunities they wished to get rid of, without touching their own purses. If sent to the colonies, they might get as much as they could from the provincials, provided they obeyed those who sent them. John. Poor colonists, I remember, sir, that Leis- ler sent one Stoll with a letter to King William, but Nicholson, and a clergyman in his interest, got to England first, and Stoll was sent back with thanks, but no appointment for Leisler ; and his enemies, the great people, went up to Albany, and declared for King William, but against Leisler ; and he had to go up there, and take that fort by force. Un. No; he sent his son-in-law, Milborne, who after some difficulty succeeded. But you recollect there were many troubles about this time, and the Indians and French burnt Schenectady, and mur- dered many people; and in the midst of these com- motions. Governor Sloughter was sent out from England, in 1691, and he made Leisler and Mil- borne prisoners, and brought them to a mock trial, for the judges referred the matter to the governor and his council, who, of course, condemned them ; but Sloughter was afraid to execute him, although he had, by calling an assembly, so pleased the peo- ple, or gained their representatives, that they aban- doned Leisler, and asked for his death. The ene- mies of Leisler are said to have obtained an order for hanging him while Sloughter was intoxicated, at a feast given him, previous to his going on a voy- age to Albany. Mary. A governor intoxicated, Uncle ! I thought only blackguards did so. Un. Drunkenness is now, my dear, considerea by all people who have just sentiments of religion, or even worldly honour, as a low and despicable, as well as destructive vice ; — it was not always so. A 32 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. governor, appointed by the king of Great Britaift. signed a deatli warrant when drunk, which he dared not sign when in his senses. Leisler and his son- in-law were hanged like murderers, and their pro- perty seized for the government. Wm. And the people suffered them to be hanged ! If I was a man! — Un. The people have often suffered their friends to be persecuted by their enemies ; but, at this time, the people feared the power of England, and they saw that Leisler had been abandoned by William the Third, in whose cause he had risked his life. John. But the English government afterward or- dered the estates of Leisler and Milbourne to be re- stored ; and the people had their bodies taken up and buried with great ceremony in the old Dutch church in Garden street, Un. True, John ; and the street has lost its name, and the church is demolished, and the bones of Leisler have been thrown into the highway. Such are the revolutions of opinion, and of churches, ci- ties, and states. John. And Sloughter died very suddenly, and was buried in old Governor Stuyvesant's vault, at St. Mark's church, near good Peter Stuyvesant. 1 think he did not deserve the honour. Our next gov ernor's name was Fletcher; he came in 1692. Un. True. What do you remember of him ? John. That his name was Benjamin, He was a military man, and brought over a supply of arms to the province. He had heard that he should have trouble with the Indians; and he had also heard that Col. Peter Schuyler knew how to manage them better than anybody else, and so he applied to him for advice and assistance. Mary. I remember, the Indians had a funny HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 33 name for him : they called him Quidder, because they couldn't say Peter. ijn. Col. Schuyler was a friend to the Five Na- tions ; and they were wise enough to be guided by him. He repulsed the Canadians and French in an expedition which they undertook against the Indians; and Fletcher went from New York to Albany to the assistance of Schuyler and the Five Nations, But a voyage from New York in those days was almost as arduous and tedious as crossing the Atlantick now. ' \ John. Thanks to poor Mr. Fitch, (though he failed,) and to Chancellor Livingston, and, above all, to Mr. Fulton, we now go there in a iew hours. It was well for the Indians that Col. Schuyler lived so near them. Well, sir, I believe Governor Fletch- er did not do much for New York. Tin. No, my son, he did worse than nothing — he did wrong. He quarrelled with the representatives of the people, and, of course, became unpopular. He consulted his own mercenary views. This, children, was the natural consequence of the gov- ernor being a stranger, with interests of his own, (and of those who sent him,) not only different from, but at variance with, the interests of the peo- ple he was sent to rule over. Fletcher was governor until 1697, at which time the war with the French ceased, by what is called the Treaty of Ryswick, because made in a Dutch town of that name. Du- ring Fletcher's rule, several things of importance happened. The Dutch church in Garden street was built ; that street which you know as Exchange Place, and which, with the church, was burnt the other day, in the great fire of December, 1835. And the first Trinity church was built in the place where one of the same name now stands. But, above all, the first printing press was set up in New York ; 34 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. and the man's name who brought it here, and di- rected it, is more worthy of remembrance than that of a conqueror of armies and overthrower of empires. Wm. Who was it, sir ? Vn. William Bradford. He had exercised his art in Philadelphia, a place which, though not as old as our city, had the honour of possessing this wonderful machine before New York. John. But why did they not keep it ? Vn. Bradford got himself into trouble by print- ing a pamphlet, which was in opposition to the wishes of the people ; and he fled to New York to avoid a lawsuit, or its consequences, and thus he was the first printer in both cities. Wm. And had the people of Philadelphia no- body to print a newspaper for them ? Un. My good boy, the people of Philadelphia and New York had no newspapers then. Boston was the first town of our country that had a news- paper. It was printed once a week, and its size was not much more than my two hands put together. W7?i. And now we have papers almost as big as tablecloths, and twenty of them every day. Un. It must be difficult for you, my children, to keep in mind what New York w^as at the time of which we are speaking, because you are accustomed to see it in its present improved and enlarged state. But I would have you remember, that at the peace of Ryswick, of which we have just spoken, that is, in 1697, the city only contained about 4300 inhabit- ants, and now 300,000 ; that of these 4300, a third perhaps were slaves, and could not read, as was likewise the case with many who thought them- selves free ; and that now scarce a person can be found, born in America, but can and does read. You must remember that we are now speaking of a little town that was all within a palisaded fence. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 35 built to keep off Indians, and extended only from the Battery to Wall street; and that then there were three or four places of worship, and now one hun- dred and fifty.^ Wm. But what did the poor people who could read do for newspapers and books, sir ? Un. They depended for them, and every thing else, almost, upon Europe. The Dutch inhabitants got their books, and their bricks to build houses, from Holland ; and the English looked to England for the same. Johii. I should like to know, sir, something more about the first printing presses and printers. Un. There is a book, called Thomas's History of Printing, which you must have ; but, in the mean time, I will mention a few circumstances respect- ing these engines of mighty power, these protectors of all we hold dear ! for it gives me pleasure, my boy, that you should be interested in the subject. The first printing press sent out to North America, ar- rived in Massachusetts, in 1638. John. Who was so good as to send it, sir. Un. I am pleased by the question. It was sent by Mr. J. Glover — I wish I knew whether his name was John, Jacob, or Jonathan ; but it was Glover, and he was an English dissenting clergyman. This important machine was set in operation the next year after it arrived, by Stephen Day. A printer had come to Cambridge eight years before ; this was Samuel Greene, and he became the successor of Mr. Day. It was in 1667 that John Forbes estab- lished a printing press in Boston, and in 1687 Wil- liam Bradford set up the first press in Pennsylva- nia ; and the first sheet printed by him was an alma- nack. It is worth remembering, that his press was situated in Kensington, and near the tree caAea the •• Treaty tree," where William Penn made his pur- 86 HISTORY OF* NEW YORK. chase of soil from the Indians. In 1689, Bradford printed a pamphlet, which was the first book printea in Pennsylvania ; and, unhappily, it was an offensive controversial affair, written by George Keith, teacher of the first school established in the province ; and as Keith undertook to teach the Quakers, who had employed him to teach their children, it caused a quarrel, in which Bradford was involved, and, as we have seen, forced to fly to New York. Wm. And then the New York people had news- papers ! Un. O no. There was yet no newspaper printed anywhere in the colonies. But in 1704, Bartholo- mew Greene, the son of the Samuel Greene we have seen printing at Cambridge, established a weekly paper in Boston, and called it the " News Letter.'* John. I should like to see the first newspaper printed in America. Wm. So should I. Un. You may see one impression by applying to Mr. Forbes, the librarian of the City Library. We will all go and look at it. Joh7i. Yes, sir. On what day of the year was it printed, sir? Un. Mr. Thomas says the 24th of April ; but you will see that the first number was printed on the 17th of April, 1704. It is on a half sheet of what Mr. Thomas calls "pot paper," a little affair, of two pages ; but it grew larger, like you, as it grew old- er, and it lived till 1776. In 1719, another news- paper was printed in Boston, called the " Boston Ga- zette ;" and about the same time, Andrew Bradford, the son of William, established the first newspaper in Philadelphia, and called it the " American Week- ly Mercury." Wm. And none yet in New York ? Un. Not yet. The next newspaper was estab HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 37 lished in Boston, in 1721 — three, before our folks had one — this was called the " New England Cour ant," and was printed by Franklin. Wm. Yes ! Benjamin ! Vn. No ; his elder brother, James, to whom Ben- jamin was an apprentice. Four years after, this Wil- liam Bradford, our old friend, began to publish a newspaper in New York, in 1725. Wm. At last. Well, I don't care, we have enough of them now. Tin. Perhaps too many. And yet that can hardly, be, if conducted by honest men. Wm. Was this New York paper printed every day, sir ? Un. No ; only once a week. It was called " The New York Gazette." As to a daily paper, there was not one printed in New York until after the Revolution — and that reminds me, children, that it is about the revolutionary war that I was to tell you, and we are lagging sadly by the Avay. John. Not sadly, sir. And I am sure I shall un- derstand the better what you are going to tell us, for what you have been so good as to say to us. Shall I proceed with my recollections and memorandums of the history of our city, sir ? Un. Let us now walk to the Library, and look at the first newspaper printed in our country. It is al- ways best to examine a subject at the time when our minds are interested in it. To-morrow we will re- sume our history. CHAPtTER IV. Un. Now go on, John. Who succeeded Gov- ernor Fletcher ? 4 38 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. JohTh, Lord BeUamont. Richard, Earl of Bella- mont. Un. Did any remarkable person come with him? John. Yes ; he brought out his lieutenant-govern- or. I suppose, sir, he was afraid to trust a provin- cial. Un. 1 see, boy, you understand me. He brought out John Nanfan as his lieutenant-governor, doubt- less that his Majesty's Council might be the more loyal, subservient, and profitable. What do you remember of Lord Bellamont? Johri. He apprehended Kidd, the pirate. Un. Before we go into the story of Kidd, I will mention some things that appertain to this time and to New York. When the city had grown so great as to burst the bounds of the palisaded wall, (which was situated where Wall street is now built,) the houses began to be erected over a marsh, on the East river side, from the Half Moon, a little fort at the termina- tion of the palisades, to the site of the present Fulton market. This marsh was bounded on the west by the high ground of Golden Hill, and was called the Vly, being an abbreviation of valley ; and from its owner it was denominated Smees Vly, soon changed by the English into "Smith's Fly." Now, during Lord Bellamont's government, the Magde Padje, ox "Maiden Lane," which commenced on the high ground, or "at the Broadway," was continued through the Vly, and a " slip" formed, which was called" the " Countess's Slip," in compliment to the governor's lady, the Countess of BeUamont. At this slip, was afterward placed the Fly Market. We must remember, too, in connexion with this period of our history, some circumstances which influ- enced the feelings and opinions of the people then, and for years before, and after. Our highly distin- guished fellow-citizen, Gulian Cromline Verplanck HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 39 (a name that appears in the early records of New York with honour) has truly remarked, that it was between 1682 and 1688 that William Penn estab- lished a refuge for the oppressed in Pennsylvania, and Louis the Fourteenth (Penn's contrast in all things) drove 300,000 protestant families from France, many of whom took refuge in New York, " and brought with them a most valuable accession of intelligence, knowledge, and enterprise." John. We cannot wonder that the people of that time had a dread of the influence of popery. Wm. Where was Golden Hill, sir 1 ' Un. The Gouden Bergh, as the Dutch called it, is now only remembered by Gold street ; but " Cliff street" retains the name of Dirk Van der Cliff; and "John street," a part of which was called " Golden Hill," has still its original denomination, derived from John Harpendingh, who gave to the Dutch congregation the ground on which the North church is built, and whose escutcheon is there preserved. Now, John, what of Kidd the pirate 1 John. Lord Bellamont with certain others fitted out a vessel in England to take the pirates of New- York, and they ordered Captain Kidd to do it. Un. The intention of equipping this vessel was not to seek pirates in New York alone, but to suppress piracy in the East Indies and elsewhere ; and Col. Livingston, of New York, being in Eng- land, recommended William Kidd, as a good and bold seaman ; consequently, a fine ship was fitted out in England, and Kidd came here to get his full complement of men. He then sailed to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, and instead of put- ting down the sea robbers, turned pirate himself. He returned to America, was supposed to be very rich, and was seized at Boston by Lord Bellamont, and sent with seven of his crow to England, where they 40 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. were tried, coiidemned, and hanged. As lie did not use his treasures to save his life, it was supposed that he buried them in America, and the whole coast, with the islands, and even many parts of the interior, have been dug for Kidd's money, by those who were too idle to dig for potatoes. John. But they found none, sir, XJn. It is strange that men should rather labour m hope of hidden treasure, than with the certainty of the reward which agricultural industry ensures. Yet it is said that a pot containing 1800 dollars, in Spanish pieces of eight, was found upon the place oalled Martha's Vineyard, not two years ago, by a person who was ploughing his cornfield. Kidd is supposed to have frequented all the coast and bays as you enter Long Island Sound from the east. Tra- dition says, that " Sachem's head" and the Thimble islands were his favourite haunts; places at that time little known. Wm. Where is Sachem's head, sir ? I suppose it was called by that name in memory of some In- dian king. Un. It was ; and perhaps from some fanciful re- semblance to the head of an Indian chief. It is a rocky peninsula, jutting from Long Island into the Sound, near the town of Guilford. Stories of Kidd, his piracies, murders, and treasures, abound in this region; and many believe that "lots of gold" have been found, and may yet be found, about Sachem's head and the Thimble islands. These rocky islets are in the Sound, and near the above named penin- sula. One of them is called Kidd's Island ; this is the largest of the group ; and here is a cave, where, it is said, the pirates used to sleep. This place is now visited by the curious, who look upon the ini- tials, R. K., which are cut on the face of the rock within the cave, as undoubted testimonials that this HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 41 was the private hiding place, and the letters the sign manual of Robert Kidd. John. But, sir, this pirate's name was William. Un. Ah, that's unfortunate : for I think it would be hard to make R stand for William. However, there are two ways of getting over that difficulty : one is by asserting that there were two brothers, and both pirates ; and the other, that the noted Kidd some- times called himself William and sometimes Rob- ert — that he lived Robert, and was hanged at Exe- cution Dock as William. But there are other testimonials in this wonderful cave, proving that it was the resort of this famous robber. A hole in the rocky floor of the place is supposed to have been chiselled out with great labour by him and his men. It is capable of containing a barrel of liquid; and this is " Kidd's punch bowl;" a flat stone is called his table; and, doubtless, his bedstead and easy chair may be seen. Another of these little islets is called " Money Island." This has been dug up most industriously, but I never heard of any har- vest resulting from the labour, John. There must have been several piratical vessels committing: robberies alonof the American coast, sir ; for I have read of Blackboard, and the people called bucaniers. tin. Yes, piracies were very frequent at this pe- riod; and those miscreants who prowled along the coast of South America, and swept our shores, from the gulf of St. Lawrence to that of Mexico, occa- sionally ran into the ports of Boston, Newport, and New York. In the latter place, it is said, they had sometimes appeared openly, and there is good rea- son to believe that they were countenanced by Gov- ernor Fletcher. John. A governor of New York encourage pi^ rates! 4# 42 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Un. A king's governor, not a governor chosen by the people ; and at a period when New York was a very insignificant place, and the colonists only valued for the profit to be made from them. Ni- chols, one of Fletcher's Council, (called his Ma- jesty's Council,) has the honour of being handed down to us, by tradition, as the agent for the pirates ; paid by them to further their views, and occasion- ally to stand between them and those they had in- jured. The English government tardily gave ear to the complaints made of the piratical depredations both in America and the East Indies, and when Lord Bellamont was appointed governor, he was in- structed to remedy the evil. It happened that Col. Livingston, of New York, saw Bellamont in Lon- don, where Kidd then was, who had previously dis- tinguished himself, as a privateer's man against the French inthe West Indies. Livingston recommended him as a fit man to cruise against the pirates of the east and west. A number of noblemen and gentle- men subscribed to fit out a gallant vessel, and called her the Adventure Galley. Bellamont and Living- ston were partners, and Kidd had five shares. He came to New York and shipped men for his cruise, being commissioned against the French, and against pirates ; but, as we have seen, he turned pirate him- self We have no certain knowledge of his rob- beries on the American coast, but he was convicted of many acts of piracy, and of aiding other pirates, in the east. On his return to America, he is said to have plundered along the Spanish coast, and pa.. - ing New York, he ran into the Sound, and landed on Gardiner's Island ; where he buried a portion of his wealth, making Mr. Gardiner a confidant of the place of deposite, with promises of reward for the safe keeping, and threats of vengeance if unfaithful. It is to be presumed that Gardiner supposed the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 43 treosure to be the legal spoils of successful warfare. It appears that Kidd then went to Boston, and Bel- lamont there met him in the dress of a landsman and gentleman. As he could give no good account of the Adventure Galley, of which Bellamont was part owner, and moreover Kidd having been heard of as a pirate, the governor made him prisoner, and pro- cured as much of his plunder as he could. The deposite on Gardiner's Island was discovered, and surrendered to Bellamont. A schedule of the gold and jewels is in the hands of the heirs of Mr. Gardi- ner to this day. Now, go on with our history. John. Lord Bellamont died, and left Nanfan gov- ernor ; but another soon came. Un. Yes ; there was always some poor nobleman, or minister's tool, ready to catch the office ; and now King William sent Lord Cornbury (who couldn't pay his creditors in London) to fatten upon the peo- ple of New York, because he w^as son to Lord Clarendon. When Q,ueen Anne succeeded to the throne, she continued him, and gave him likewise the government of New Jersey. His conduct was so unjust, and his rapacity so great, that the assem- bly of New Jersey sent a complaint to the queen against him. John. Yes, sir ; and she took the government of both provinces from him, and then the people of New York put him in jail, to make him pay his debts. And then out comes another lord, as I re- member, to be governor, and his name was a fine one for a lord — Lord Lovelace — but he died very soon, and left Mr. Ingoldsby, who once before was governor for a little while, to be the ruler ; and by this time there was war again, I can't think why the people of New York had so many wars ! JJn. Truly, boy, the surprise is natural. But these were not wars on their own account, or quar- 44 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. rels entered into by them ; but as they were subjects of England, whenever the government that was so ■ kind as to send them governors, and other officers, to live upon and despise them — whenever the king, or the queen, or the ministry, declared war against any nation, that nation was ready to rob the colo- nists. So, the people of England thought they might rob the colonies by taxing them without their consent, because they belonged to England, and were called "his majesty's plantations:" and the enemies of England- robbed and murdered them for the same reason — because they belonged to the English. The French being the government that was generally in quarrel with England, on such oc- casions, vexed the people of New York, from their possessions in Canada; and now, as at other times, the colonies wished to take that country from the French : but all their efTorts failed, until, as you re- member — Phil. O yes ! General Wolfe took Gluebec ! Jo/m. Mr. Ingoldsby was superseded, long before Wolfe's victory, by Col. Hunter; and during his time Queen Anne sent out forces to conquer Canada, and they were joined by troops from New York and New Jersey; and Col. Peter Schuyler, (who had been to England, and carried some of his Indians to show there,) he, too, 'was ready ; but the fleet from England was wrecked in the river St. Lawrence, and all this preparation went for nothing. Phil. Uncle Philip said worse than nothing ; and I think so, too. Un. Well, peace bemg again made between the European powers, the poor colonists who had noth- ing to do with their quarrels, but every thing to suf- fer, were iefl for a while at rest. This peace of 1713 was made at Utrecht, and called by that name. Soon after, Queen Anne died, and the Elector of Han* HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 45 over was called from Germany to be king over a people whose language he could scarcely speak or understand. Wm. Uncle, why, if the English would have a king, did they not make a good Englishman king? Uii. My boy, if I was to attempt to give the rea- sons assigned, I should fatigue myself and you, without, perhaps, making myself understood ; there- fore we will wait some years for such questions, and push on. Wm. Ay. Go ahead, John. John. Governor Hunter left New York, and left many friends; and Col. Schuyler ruled until Gov- ernor Burnet came out. He, Uncle Philip said, was one of the best of the governors, and did much to secure New York from the French of Canada. In his time, Oswego was begun, and a fort built; but then the French built another at Niagara, and the people were not satisfied, I think. Un. No. The governor contended for a salary independent of the assembly, and the assembly very wisely chose to keep the strings of their own purse in their own hands; and so, as John says. Governor Burnet went to rule in Massachusetts, and there the same difficulties occurred. Do you remember any event of great consequence to America that happen- ed before Governor Burnet left New York. Jo/m. No, sir. U71. Well, then, I will tell you. The second American Congress met at Albany. Phil. O, you mistake. Uncle, we had no con- gress then. Un. These early congresses were gentlemen sent from the different provinces, to meet and consult upon measures for the benefit of the whole. The first took place so long ago as 1643, to contrive means of deieace against the Indians; but in 1722 5 46 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. a more general cong-ress met at Albany, not in op» position to the king, (for many of the gentlemen were the king's governors,) but what made these meetings of great importance, was, that the colonists learned how to unite in council, for their own good, by sending deputies to some one place for delibera- tion; and we shall see that, by and'by, this practice caused that union of the colonies, under the recom- mendations of the Co7itinental Congress, which en- abled them to resist the power of England, when she attempted to enforce her unjust laws on the coun- try. I only mention this, children, 7iow, that you may see how easily the people fell into that way of governing themselves when it became necessary to throw off the authority of the king's governors. Well, John, what king's-governor succeeded Mr. Burnet? Jo/m. Mr. John Montgomerie, sir. He came in 1728, and died two years after; and Mr. Van Dam, who was president of the council, became the ruler of the colony. About this time the French govern- or of Canada built a fort at Crown Point. See, Mary, on the map ; here, at Lake Champlain. U?i. The French Avere gradually extending a line, or chain, of forts, from the river St. Lawrence to the Mississippi ; and if they had not been broken up by the success of the English, assisted by the peo- ple of the provinces, all that part of the United States, which you see there on the map, (the greater part of the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Vir- ginia,) with all the western states to the great South Sea, would have belonged to the French, for any thing we can now know. This fort at Crown Point was one link in the chain. Go on, John. John. Mr. William Crosby came out as governor, and that ended Mr. Van Dam's rule. Un. Coshy^ not Crosby. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 47 John. Uncle Philip said Crosby. Un. He made a mistake. This man, whose name is infamous in our history, had no connexion with the name of Crosby, by which many of our respectable citizens are designated. Cosby not only caused tur- moils during his administration, but, at his death, in 1736, left a fruitful cause of mischief For although the government properly devolved on Mr. Van Dam, (the man whom the people wished to rule over them,) Cosby, as if on purpose to do evil, even after death, arbitrarily suspended, or removed, Mr. Van Dam from the council, and left as the president of that body an Englishman like himself, of the name of Clarke. John. Yes, sir ; but Mr. Van Dam, the American, did not give it up so ! Un. No. He considered the act of Cosby, in sus- pending him, as illegal ; and he would not submit to Clarke, who was supported by the aristocratick or- English party. Phil. But the old Dutch and Americans were on Van Dam's side. Un. Yes ; and they would have supported him, al- though Clarke threatened to resort to arms. Yiovj- ever, they did not get so far as in Leisler's time, for despatches came from their master. King George the Second, which decided the affair in favour of the Englishman, and Van Dam and the people sub- mitted. But before we leave Mr. Cosby, I will tell you one story about him and his wife. Mary. I wish, Uncle, you would tell us more stories. Phil. About Indians. Wm. About war. Un. By and by. But this is about a wedding. In the year 1732, a lord arrived at New York; and our people, even the democrats, seemed to have a 48 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. wonderful propensity to worship the lords of this earth. This was a young man with a fine name, such as we read of in novels ; he was called the Lord Augustus Fitzroy, and was son to his grace, the Duke of Grafton. What does the mayor, and re- corder, and common council, on being told that the Lord Augustus Fitzroy had come, and was with Governor Cosby at the fort, but they all waited upon the lord, " in a full body," and the recorder made him a speech, and thanked him for the honour of his presence, and presented him with the freedom of the city in a gold box. Phil. What good did that do him ? John. Then he was free to trade with the Indians, or to make shoes and sell them. Un. Even you, children as you are, laugh at this now ; but then, the grave men of our city played such fantastick tricks; and they were honoured by a gracious speech from the Lord Augustus Fitzroy, who in secret laughed at them. Mary. But, Uncle, tell us of the wedding. JJn. You must know, Mrs. Cosbyi the governor's wife, had some young lad j?" daughters; and she find- ing that the Lord Augustus was a foolish young man, not much more than a great lubberly boy, con- trived to make up a match between him and Miss Cosby. Cosby, who was in the plot, knew it would be offensive to the boy's family, and pretended igno- rance of the scheme. So, it was contrived, that a parson was introduced over the fort walls, and the managing mother had the young folks married as if by stealth. Such were the great folks sent by King George to govern the good people of New York. Cosby died, as we have seen, and Mrs. Cosby with her lady daughter went home, where the. lord]s father, his grace the duke, and all his family, disowned the daughter from New York, HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 49 and, as is generally the case, the reward of duplicity was disgrace. But although Cosby' s rule was evil, some good came out of it. The first free school in New York was established during his reign. Only think, my children, now we have so many in the city, and all over the state. Mary. How funny it must have been for the cler- gyman to climb over the wall ! I think he could not have been like one of our clergyman, or he would not have done it, Un. True, my good girl. JoJm. So many schools, colleges, books, newspa- pers ! Uncle, we ought to be better now than the people were formerly. tin. So we are, boy John. Yet people talk of the good old times. Un. I think they speak unadvisedly, my son, John. I dare say, sir, that you are right ; yet I read and hear of a great many very bad people and wicked actions. Un. I believe that there were more, in propor- tion to the number of the people, then than now. More bad actions and fewer good. Pirates roamed the ocean, and were received in the seaports, and entertained by those who profited by them. Slavt ships were fitted out publicly, with chains and hand cuffs to bring the people of Africa to our markets ; where, those who did not die on the passage, in con- sequence of the horrid and pestilential air engen- dered in the dungeons in which they were packed together, or who were not thrown overboard alive^ if infected with a contagious disease, were openly sold like cattle on board the ships that brought thera, or at auction in Wall street. To encourage by pur- chasing, or to avow the practice of this legalized murder by advertising for sale, does not appear to have been thought criminal by the most pious and 5 60 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. virtuous people, a few called Quakers only except* ed. Even the Indians, the aboriginal lords of the soil, were in man}'- instances reduced to a state of slavery ; and the poor ignorant savages enticed to drunkenness by civilized and Christian men, were induced to sell their children for rum. The crime of drunkenness was more prevalent than now. I think that any one who reads the advertisements in the newspapers — who sees the rewards offered for runaways, white, red, or black ; English, Scotch, Irish, Indian, and negro ; who sees the slave de- scribed as having the initials of his master's name branded, that is, children, burnt, on his breast or shoul- der ; any one who recollects that criminals, even women, were whipped, on the bare body at the " cart's tail," through the streets, and that negroes were frequently burnt alive ; will be convinced that there is an improvement in the manners and feelings of the people, and, of course, that they are better. But I tire you, children. John. Not me, sir. But, sir, surely the first set- tlers of our country were good men. Un. Many, my boy ; and many continued to cher- ish the love of liberty, virtue, and true religion; but the mother country, from whose intolerance and bad government they had sought a refuge, still claimed them as her own. In vain did the wiser among the colonists protest against having slaves sent among them, and evince their repugnance to receiving the felons who were reprieved from the gallows, and sent " to people his majesty's planta- tions." We see the authentick record of thousands sent from the jails of London, and Dublin, and other towns, to ships appointed by the English govern- ment to bear them to " his majesty's plantations in America," and frequently they were mingled in the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 51 same ship with the poor who came voluntarily to this country as redemptioners. John. Redemptioners! What's that? Un. They were poor people, who, to better their condition, agreed with ship captains, or ship own- ers, to be sold for a certain number of years, instead of paying for their passages. Such people, if hon- est, might be corrupted by being shut up for weeks in the same place w'ith the felons from the jails. O, I could tell you some curious stories connected with this practice. Mary. O do. Uncle ! Un. To pay you for remembering so much, I will tell you a story. Mary. A true story, Uncle ? Un. To the best of my knowledge and belief, Mary. It runs thus : A captain of a brig carried a cargo of rum to Dublin, and having sold the poison, (probably enough to fill half the jails of the city with criminals,) he received by contract with the mao-istrates, a 2:reat number of the wretches al- ready condemned for crimes, from the jails and dun- geons, to poison " his majesty's plantations in North America." Mary. Poison, sir? Un. Moral poison. John. I understand you, sir. The rum poisoned the Irish people by making them drunkards, and keeping them poor ; and the Irish criminals poison- ed the colonies by the vices they brought with them. Un. Just so, boy. With these criminals from the jails, this West India captain, who was a planter in Barbadoes, received in his vessel a number of poor people, who were to be sold, as I explained to you, for their passage. The brig was bound to Maryland. On the voyage, the felons corrupted the honest pas- sengers, persuading them it would be better that they 62 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. should make themselves free by seizing on the vessel, and landing in the country without being sold as ser- vants. To do this, they must murder the captain, and such of the crew as would not join them. So completely had the poor passengers become crimi- nals, by being mingled with criminals, that they agreed to this dreadful proposal, and it was carried into execution. The rum-dealing captain and most of his sailors were murdered, and the murderers ran the brig on shore upon the coast of Nova Sco- tia, and then separated, each to secure himself, or herself, with such spoil from the wreck as he otshe could carry off Among the criminals was a wo- man, who had the remains of beauty, and the ad- vantage of an education superiour to the rest. She had been one of the unfortunate femnles who are seduced from the paths of virtue, by those who are called gentlemen ; and being abandoned, as usual, had sunk to such practices as reduced her to the fate and company of this crew of murderers. She had had address enough to gain from the captain his history, and an account of his estate or planta- tion in Barbadoes ; and on being found alone in the woods of Nova Scotia, she said she was Mrs. John- son, the wife of the captain of the brig: told a la- mentable tale of the murder of her husband, and of her own sufferings, and excited the compassion of those who found her, to such a degree, that she was carried, with all the tenderness due to one in the situation she described, to Annapolis Royal, and introduced to the governor. Her appearance, her address, and her story, gained her the confidence of the governor and principal inhabitants. She told them, that on arriving at Barbadoes, she should take possession of her late husband's plantations, and that she would repay, with thanks, the kindness, and with money or produce the sums now loaned her. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 53 To return to Barbadoes, it was necessary to go to New York, and, if no passage offered to the West Indies, to London. The governor procured her a passage to our city, and supplied her amply with money. She arrived safe here, and sailed for Lon- don, Avhere, amidst the profligates of that great city, she disappeared, and was no more heard of Wm. She would take care not to go to Dublin, sir. Un. Probably she remained in London. In that great city, she might escape any search. John. It appears that the wicked triumphed in this story; and the good were deceived and injured. Un. It may often so appear, my son ; but we do not see the reality, or know the end of the wicked. This planter and navigator, who was willing to traffick in poison, found his own death in the trade of destruction. The good people of Annapolis Royal had the consolation of upright intention. The erring woman most probably, unless she repented, ended a life of crime by a death of misery. 5* 54 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. CHAPTER V. JJn. Well, my good children, we will now go on with our history of New York, after you have look- ed at the picture of old Governor Stuyvesant's house : which, according to my promise, I now show you. Mary. Tell us another story, Uncle, about olu times. Un. If I tell you stories, we shall never get through : but John will tell us, by and by, what he remembers of the negro plot, which is as extraordi- nary an event as any true or invented story I ever heard. When did that happen, John? John. In 1741, sir, and during Governor Clarke's reign. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 55 Un. A number of people were committed to jail as incendiaries, kept in dungeons for some months, (amidst the crowd of people confined upon suspi- cion, or upon the accusations of Mary Burton and others who thought to thrive by turning accusers,) and finally condemned to be hanged. John. Can this be true, sir 1 Un. We could scarcely have believed it, if one of the magistrates of the time had not recorded it. Mr. Horsemanden, the Recorder of the city, says, many people had such terrible apprehensions on the subject that several negroes, some of whom had assisted to put out the fires, were, when met in the streets, hurried away to prison ; and when once there, they were continued in confinement because the magistrates could not spare time to examine them. Peggy Carey, finding that Mary Burton was to be rewarded, turned informer too ; and ac- cused whoever she wished ill to, or whoever she thought it would please the magistracy to accuse as a conspirator ; but Peggy was too late, she could not save herself; and with Hughson, and his wife, she was hanged. But before the executions took place, the jail was crowded so full as to produce fears of another kind in the people: they were alarmed at the thought of pestilence; for the re- ceivers of stolen goods, the thieves, and the sup- posed conspirators ; whites, Indian slaves, negroes, (English-bred, Dutch, and Spanish,) were all crowd- ed together, in the same building where the com- mon council, magistrates, judges, and lawyers, met every day to receive information, examine and con- demn. The fear of a jail-fever did not drive ofi'the fear of conspirators, but it hastened the executions by w^ay of making room in the dungeons. Wm. I remember the jail, which is now a very handsome building", and called the Record ofiice. 56 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Un, That jail was not built in 1741. At the lime we speak of, the only jail was in the lower part of the old city hall, in Wall street, where the custom house now stands ; or rather where part of the custom house stands, for that building covers more ground than ten city halls of the time we are speaking of John. Was this the old Dutch city hall ? Un. No. It was the first city hall built by the English ; and continued in the state I now describe iVitil the adoption of the Federal Constitution, when it was very much enlarged and remodelled for the reception of the first congress under the present sys- tem of government. Wm. Had the Dutch a city hall. Uncle 1 Un. They had : but it was called the Slaclt Huys by them. It was built in 1637. Wm. In Wall street ? Un. O no. Wall street was then (as you ought to remember) the line of the city wall or palisade, with gates that were locked every evening at the set- ting of the watch, when the bell rung ; and opened again at daylight. The first city hall or stadt huys was at the head of Coenties' slip, and in what was called Dock street, now forming a part of Pearl street. Here is a picture of it. Wm. Thank you, sir. I should like to know when this old Dutch city hall was destroyed, and the first English city hall in Wall street built. Un. If you will read this memorandum, made from the records of the corporation, (begun in the old stadt huys, and continued in the second city hall,) you will know all that is now to be learned on the subject. Wm. "On the 25th day of May, 1699, Johannes Depeyster, being mayor, James Graham, recorder, Messrs. Boelen, Lewis, Walters, Wenham, and Cortlandt, aldermen, present. The board taking HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 57 into consideration the necessity of building a new citty hall, doo unanimously resolve, (Alderman Cort- landt only dissenting,) that a new citty hall shall be built with all convenient expedition, and that the same be erected and built at the upper end of the Broad street within the said citty." It was further resolved, that " the materials of the old citty hall be exposed to sayle, and the ground belonging to the same be lett to farme for the terme of ninety-nine years." Thus while deliberating in this old stadt huys, they decree its destruction, and the erection of a greater one in Wall street, fronting Broad street. Wm. " And on the 17th of August following, the old stadt buys, or city hall, was exposed to sale, by public outcry,^^ " with all and singular the appurten- ances belonging thereunto, (the bell, king's arms, and iron works belonging to the prison excepted.)" •' The cage, pillory, and stocks, standing before the 58 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. same," were ordered to be removed within twelve months, and the slip to remain for ever for the use of the city. The corporation however reserved for one month the use of-the jail within the old house ; and on these conditions, John Rodman, merchant, bought it, with the ground and appurtenances. On the 16th of October, 1699, the corporation (David Provoost, being mayor) ordered an estimate to be made of materials for the intended city hall, in Wall street ; and that the same committee view " the block house, by the governor's garden," to know if it will answer for a prison. On the 1st November, following, the estimate of materials was reported as above ordered. It was 1150Z. 18s. 3^.; and it was ordered that the materials be furnished before the 25th of March, 1700; and that the money for build- ing the new city hall be raised before that day. On the 16th day of January, 1700, a committee was appointed to superintend the building of the new hall. On the 2d of November, 1700, ordered, " that the common council sit at the city hall, on the last Saturday in every month ;" therefore I conclude that the new city hall, in Wall street, was ready for their reception ; the old stadt buys having been long be- fore taken down." Un. Now I resume my story. John. I wish, sir, that you would be as particu- lar about this negro plot as is agreeable to you; I tried to read the book, although 1 could not un- derstand it: I thought that all the negroes and others who were hanged and burnt must have been very wicked, though I could not believe that they deserved such cruel treatment. Un. I will endeavour to give you a clear notion of this affair, at least as I understand it according to the representation of Mr. Horsemanden himself; al- ways^remembering that he must Jiave felt interested HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 59 in justifying proceedings in which he was an actor ; for, my children, we are prone to the excusing of ourselves for acts which we are afraid may appear wrong in the eyes of others ; and the greater our doubts of the propriety of our conduct may he, the more strenuous we are in our endeavours to con- vince ourselves, and others, that we were right. Wm. But, sir, the negroes confessed that they intended to set fire to the city, and murder the peo- ple. Vn. Listen, and I will endeavour to explain. Many of these poor ignorant creatures were taken up on suspicion, and, as I have said, crowded to- gether, when the weather was very hot, in dungeons; they suffered terribly., and believed that they were to be burned, or at least hanged. They heard the accusations against them. They saw the conster- nation of the inhabitants ; which was such, that the people removed their furniture and sought safety in flight from the city ; giving any price for carts, wagons, or boats ; and for labourers to assist them in their flight. This confusion gave an opportu- nity for thieves to plunder ; and all robbery was charged upon the negroes and their accomplices. The magistrates ordered that each alderman, as- sistant, and constable, should make search in his ward for strangers ; and the militia was turned out under arms, and sentries were posted at every avenue. Fhil. Why, Uncle, this was as bad as Major Drum. Vn. It produced the same kind of eflect, but in a greater degree. When the inhabitants saw and heard all this — ^the militia paraded — the aldermen and constables searching for incendiaries — the ne- groes seized a.nd hurried to jail, and the justices sit- ting day after day to examine the prisoners ; how could they but think that they were in imminent danger % ■60 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Every black face and every strange visage appeared as that of an enemy; and it was in vain the negroes protested that they knew nothing of any plot. Mary Burton, who had been promised money and her lib- erty for her discovery of a 'plot, said there was one ; and the magistrates said the same. No strangers or suspicious persons were discovered when the great search w^as made ; but one alderman found in the possession of Robin, the negro of Mr. Chambers, and in possession of Cuba, his wife, "some things," says the recorder, " which he thought unbecoming the condition of a slave :" that is, too good for such people, " and he committed" Robin and his wife to jail. Wm. All this is very strange, sir. JJn. You must bear in mind, that it had been proved that robberies had been committed by some negroes, and that some white men were concerned with them ; receiving the stolen goods and encour- acfinsr them to steal ; and that slaves were from their very condition liable to temptation, and without the safeguards possessed by other men. John. What do you mean, sir ? Un. I mean that not being capable by law of holding property, they were tempted to purloin that of their masters ; and having no hope of better con- dition, they were without the incitements to well- . doing which freemen possess ; they knew they were suspected of thieving, and of secretly meeting to- gether. Their masters suspected them of evil de- signs ; and the affair at Hughson's — the fires — and some discoveries of the blacks having secret meet- ings, convinced the people while in this state of pan- ick, that all the negroes had conspired to burn the town, and murder the inhabitants. Wm. Go on with the story, if you please, sir. TJn. While the trials of Hughson and his wife HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 61 were in progress for the receiving stolen goods, and the conviction and execution of several of the negroes took place, proclamations were made, offer- ing pardons to the free who should make discove- ry of the plot, or accuse others ; and pardon and liberty to the slaves- who should do the same ; and rewards in money to both. The consequence was, that the negroes who were in jail accused them- selves, and others, hoping to save their own lives, and obtain the promised boons. What one poor wretch invented, was heard and repeated by ano- ther ; and by degrees the story assumed the shape of a regular plot, instigated by Hughson and his wife, joined in by their daughter and the depraved Peggy Carey, with a multitude of negroes, until the historian exclaims : " This evidence of a con- spiracy, not only to burn the city, but also to destroy and murder the people, was most astonishing to the grand jury." They were astonished that the blacks should be so wicked, but "that any white people should confederate with slaves," was, as he says, " very amazing." The only whites accused by Mary Burton, (the principal and, for a time, the only witness,) were the Hughsons; but by and by she implicated others, and, as I said, a schoolmaster, by the name of Ury, who was an English clergy man, and had left his country in consequence of persecution, he having refused the oaths required by the government. John. Such were called non-jurors. 1171. Right. It appeared by witnesses, irreproach- ^ able, and by this poor man's diary, that he had taught school in Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; that he came to New York and was employed to teach ; and finally entered into a partnership with another schoolmaster, one Campbell ; and they hired the house which Hughson and wife had been re- 6'2 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. moved from, when accused of receiving stolen g-oods, but found tlie daughter there, and they re- proved her for her profanity. She was a witness against him. It appears to me, that the magistrates were ashamed of the accusation of conspiracy with the negroes, and they therefore added one of pope- ry; which, at that time, was a capital crime in a priest of the Roman Catholick religion, if found in the province. Wm. I can't understand, sir. XJn. The history of England, of that time, will explain it to you. I must finish the story of poor John Ury. The pretence that he conspired with negroes to burn the town was so absurd, that even the panick-struck court and jury could not have ad- mitted it ; but a person was found who testified that he made a kind of a desk for Ury, which was con- strued into being an altar ; and another person swore that he had applied to him to make wafers ; supposed to be such as Romish priests use. At this time England, and of course the colonies, were involved in war with Spain ; and the people believed that Romish priests and Jesuits were sent to America for the purpose of instigating the slaves to revolt and murder ; in short, the court and jury were convinced that Ury was a Romish priest, and worthy of death, upon testimony that none but peo- ple frantick with fear would have listened to, John. What was it, sir ? Un. I must first mention that one Kane, a sol- dier, of the most loathsome character, had (in the_ course of the trials) given testimony on oath, that he had seen negroes sworn to burn the town ; and described the ceremony as taking place at Hugh- son's tavern : the negroes bemg placed on a circle, made with chalk, and mother Hughson standing in the centre, with a punch bowl, and administering HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 63 the oath. This absurd fable was a hint for Hugh- son's wretched daughter ; and she described Ury as making a circle on the floor with chalk, placing the negroes on the chalk, and standing in the mid- dle with a crucifix, instead of a punch bowl ; and baptizing and swearing them. This must have been too palpably absurd ; but lo ! Elias Desbrosses, a confectioner, deposed, that Ury came to his shop, with one Webb, a carpenter, and wanted sugar bits, or wafers : and asked him, " Whether a minister had not his wafers of him? or, whether that 'paste, which the deponent showed, was not made of the same ingredients as the Lutheran minister's?" "or, something to that purpose." And he told Ury that, if he wanted such things, a joiner could make him a mould; and asked him, "if he had a congrega- tion ; but Ury waived giving him an answer." Webb, the carpenter, who accompanied Ury to the confectioner's, was examined, and his whole testi- mony amounted to Ury having told him that he had written a book, in England, which was called treason, although he did not mean it so ; and that a friend, a great man, got him off; that on reli- gious subjects, the carpenter could not " ahoays understand him ;" that, as to negroes he had a very despicable opinion of them ; and, that after Campbell removed to the house which Hughson had occupied, Ury went thither, and the deponent likewise went to the place three times, and heard Ury read prayers in the manner of the Church of ' England ; but in the prayer for the king he did not mention the name ; that, he preached against drunk- enness, debauchery, and deists ; admonishing every one to keep to his own minister ; and that he said, " he only gave a word of admonition at the request of the family where he was." He has heard him say that such and such a day, " was his sacrament 64 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. day;" and thinks he has heard him say, "that he must administer the sacrament, but cannot be posi- tive." Upon such testimony, and that of the worth- less wretch, Sarah Hughson, whose story was ab- surdity itself, yet was believed ; upon such testi- mony, (enforced by a letter to the governor, saying, that the Spaniards were sending Jesuits disguised as schoolmasters and dancing-masters to cause re- volts among the negroes,) was Ury, after a masterly defence, (made by himself,) convicted, condemned, and hanged. Wm. Oh, Uncle ! could it be ? John. It is terrible to think of, sir. Phil. But they burnt the negroes ; tell us of that, sir. Un. There were thirteen blacks burned alive — tied or chained to stakes, and thus tortured to death, while surrounded by a crowd of people calling, and believing, themselves Christians. Eighteen blacks were hanged ; seventy were transported to the West Indies, or other places ; Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Carey, were hanged. Several of the ne- groes declared that they had accused themselves and others, because they had been told that was the only way to save their lives. One poor wretch is described, " lifting up his leg," as he sat with his back to the stake, to which he was fast bound, and laying it down on the fire, as he lifted up his eyes and cried aloud on those who had advised him to confess that of which he knew nothing. But let us close this story of guilt, terrour, and horrour. Wm. What became of the vile woman who told so many falsehoods ? Un. She was rewarded by being made free, and comparatively rich ; for she received 81/., in Sep tember, 1742, (having been all the time of the tri- als, from early in 1741, maintained by the magis- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 65 trates,) with 191. previously paid, making- in the whole, the lOOl. reward promised. In this interval, from September, 1741, to the same month, 1742, alarms and accusations had occasionally occurred, and a little before the last mentioned period, the Re- corder, (Horsemanden, the historian of the plot,) charges the grand jury to search into all dram shops, tippling houses, &c. ; for "notwithstanding, great pains and industry (as it should seem) had been taken to bring the notion of a plot into contempt," he tells them he has no doubt but popish emissa- ries are at work " like moles in the dark," in the shape of dancing-masters, schoolmasters, physi- cians, and such-like, to accomplish the work of the devil." He therefore charges them that if they "find any such obscure persons," they shall present them to the court " to be apprehended and examined according to law." Such a charge is a specimen of the "good old time," that you so often hear of; and of the style, as well as mind, of Mr. Recorder Horsemanden. It appears further, that people be- gan to cry out against Mary Burton, and her testi- mony, and she on her part began to accuse people of some consequence in the city; this broke the spell; the magistrates were afraid to permit accusa- tions which might affect even themselves; the search for conspirators ceased, and we hear no more of Mary Burto7i. John. Is it not very strange, sir, that a person should be thought to merit death, because he was a priest of the Roman Catholick faith? Un. It would now, my son, be not only strange, but criminal, abominable, and absurd. But at that time there was a cause in England which made it reasonable and perhaps right, that such a law should exist. Do you remember any thing more that happened during Governor Clarke's administration? 6* 66 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. John. Yes, sir. Mr. Clarke went up to Albany to rieg-otiate with the Indians of the Five Nations for a tract of land, called Irondequot, somewhere near Oswego, but he was disappointed. And I remem- ber another of his acts : the French, you know, sir, had a fort at Crown Point, which commanded Lake Champlain, and it was said that they were about to build another at Wood creek ; and Mr. Clarke con- ceived a scheme to bring over a large body of Scotch highlanders, and to settle them as a kind of ad- vance-guard against the French encroachments. Un. The plan was a good one, but it is supposed that it was defeated by the Governor's mingling his own mercenary schemes with it. John. Yes, sir. He promised Mr. Campbell, who was their leader, thirty thousand acres of land, and upon this Mr. Campbell brought out eighty- three families at his own expense and sold his pro- perty in Scotland. When he arrived Clarke did not fulfil his engagement ; the colonists were oblig- ed to shift for themselves, an! Campbell could only purchase a farm, and become a cultivator in a strange and wild country. Many of these high- landers enlisted in the expeditions against Cuba and Carthagena. Un. And some of their descendants, with other Scotch emigrants, joined Sir John Johnson, and his Indians, in devastating the frontiers of New York in the war we are to speak of John. The war of independence. And I remem- ber, sir, that Clarke told the legislature that the En- glish government even then had jealousies that the colonies wished to throw off their dominion and become independent. Un. Now let us go and walk in the fields, over at Hoboken; and to-morrow we will resume the stories of old time. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 67 W?)i. But, Uncle, you might tell us something more of the French wars. Un. There is an incident in the history of the province of New York that ought to be mentioned in detail, but it happened in 1690. Wm. O, never mind that, sir. Un. Mr. G. F. Yates, of Schenectady, is prepar- ing for the press a work called " Antiquarian Re- searches, and Olden Time Reminiscences of the Mo- hawk Valley," and being in correspondence with him he has permitted me to show you a beautiful picture painted for him by Mr. Chapman, of our city, and engraved by Mr. Adams, representing the burning of Schenectady by the French and Indians; and we will read the account he has published of this dread- ful scene : — '* The inhabitants of Schenectady were not ignorant of the designs of their remorseless foes, the French of Canada and their savage allies. Often when we think danger is the farthest off, it is near at hand. It was so on this occasion. The guard which had been kept for many a weary night, was at this time intermitted. The truth is, it was not supposed to be practicable, at such an inclement season of the year, for any body of forces to march through a wilderness which was hardly passable in the summer, with no covering from the heavens, or any provisions except what they carried about their persons. " Such was the restless spirit of the French, that it became a necessary policy v/ith their commander, the Count de Frontignac, to keep in action the most daring of them and revive their flagging spirits. He accordingly projected three expeditions against the English colonies. Of these the surprising of Schen- ectady was one. This was committed to the super- intendence of Monsieur de Herville. *' Near midnight they entered the guard-gates of 68 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. the town unperceived, and silently divided themselves into small parties, that they might make a simulta- neous attack on all the inhabitants. The war-whoop was raised, the signal for destruetion. Like demons loosened ' from their kindred hell,' they broke open every dwelling and murdered all they met, without distinction of age, sex, or condition ; and at the same time, to complete the havock, applied the blazing torch to every building. The slumbering inhabit- ants started from their sleep, bewildered, frantick. Some hid themselves and remained secure, until the flames drove them from their lurking places ; whea they fell beneath the tomahawk or were taken pris- oners. Others ran half-naked and barefoot into the- adjoining woods, v/hence a few escaped after extreme sufferings to Connestigiuna and Albany, and others perished miserably on the way. Surprised, unarm- ed, and defenceless, resistance was in vain. Courage and cries for mercy were alike unavailing. The same fate awaited the craven and the brave. To some of the inhabitants, however, this assault was not altogether unexpected, and they had for some time previously taken the necessary precautions to prevent surprise. Among those who made a suc- cessful defence and kept the foe at bay, was Adam Vrooman, w^hose building is represented on the right of the engraving. Being well supplied with am- munition, and trusting to the strength of his build- ing, which was a sort of fort, he formed the desperate resolution to defend himself to the last extremity ; and if it should prove to be his fate to perish m the iiames of his own domicil, to sell his own life and that of his children as dearly as possible. Seconded in his efforts by one of his sons, who assisted in load- ing his guns, he kept up a rapid and continuous fire upon his assailants, and with the most deadly effect. His house was soon filled with smoke. His wif^ HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 69 nearly sufTocated with it, cautiously, yet imprudent- ly, placed the door ajar. This an alert Indian per- ceived, and firing through the aperture killed her. In the mean time one of his daughters escaped through the back hall-door with his infant child in her arms, as depicted in the engraving. They snatched the little innocent from her arms, and dashed out its brains ; and in the confusion of the scene the girl escaped. Their triumph here was, however, of short duration ; Mr. Vrooman succeeded in securely bolting the door, and preventing the intrusion of the enemy. On witnessing Mr. Vrooman's courage, and fearing greater havock among their chosen band, the enemy promised, if he would desist, to save his life and not set fire to his building. Th'is promise they fulfilled, but carried oflT two of his sons into captivity. " Mark how vividly the engraver has depicted the confusion of men and things. Observe the sullen darkness of the heavens — no light is there save that proceeding from the conflagration : with the sparks of fire, we think we see the flakes of snow commin- gle. As the flashes of light fall upon the faces of the men they wear an unearthly aspect. The Schen- ectidians, wild in their attire, are seen flying, they know not whither ; or lying slaughtered with their cattle in the streets. The newly fallen snow is clot- ted with the blood of infants torn from their mothers' agonizing embrace. The young props round which had gathered ' the tendrils of aged fathers' hearts,' are rudely wrenched away — and along the encrimr soned snow the stiffened corses of young and old alike are strewed. " The news of this dreadful massacre reached Al- bany next day. The Albanians were exceedingly alarmed, and many resolved to go to New York. The Mohawk sachems, when~they came to condole 70 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. with them on the 25th of March thereafter, address- ed them in a set speech, and persuaded them to re- main. From this speech we make the following extract, which may serve to give some idea of the Indian genius : " ' Brethren, be not discouraged, we are strong enough. This is the beginning of your war, and the whole house have their eyes fixed upon you at this time, to observe your behaviour. They wait your motion, and are ready to join in any resolute measures. We, as to our parts, are resolute to con- tinue the war. We will never desist so long as a man of us remains. Take heart, do not pack up and go away; this will imbolden a dastardly enemy. {A belt is given.) *' ' Brethren, three years ago, we were enga- ged in a bloody war with the French, and you en- couraged us to proceed in it. Our success answer- ed our expectation; but we were not well begun when Corlear stopped us from going on. Had you permitted us to go on, the French would not have been able to do the mischief they have done. We would have humbled them effectually, but now we die. The obstructions j'^ou then made now ruin us. Let us after this be steady, and take no such false measures for the future, but prosecute the war vig- orously. — [Giving a beaver skin.) " ' The brethren must keep good watch ; and, if the enemy come again, send more speedily to us. Don't desert Schenectady. The enemy will glory in seeing it desolate: it will give those courage who had none before. Fortify the place — it is not well fortified now : the stockades are so short; that the In- dians can jump over them. — [Gives a beaver ski?i.) '"Brethren, the mischief done at Schenectady can- not be helped now; but for the future when the ene- my appears anywhere let nothing hinder you from 1 1 HISTORY OF NEW YORK, 71 sending" to us expresses, and fire great guns, that all may be alarmed. We advise you to bring all the river Indians under your subjection, to live near Al- bany, that they may be ready on all occasions. •' ' Send to New England, and tell them what has happened to you. They will undoubtedly awake, and lend us their helping hand. It is their interest as much as ours to push the war to a speedy con- clusion. Be not discouraged, the French are not so numerous as some people talk. If we but heart- ily unite to push on, and mind our business, the French will soon be subdued.' " Before the day dawned the foe retreated home- ward, having murdered about seventy of the inhab- itants, and secured about fifty as prisoners. Of these, twenty were liberated out of gratitude to Captain, Alexander Glen, a noted gentleman who resided in the neighbourhood of Schenectady, on the north side of the Mohawk river, and who has given name to the present town of Glenville in this county. Mr. Glen had, on previous occasions, manifested much kindness to several Frenchmen, who had been taken captive by the Mohawks ; and had saved them from torture and death. A few Mohawks found in Schen- ectady, were also set free ; in order no doubt to con- ciliate their nation, and make them less eager to re- taliate. In this, however, they were disappointed. " The Mohawk nation had four towns located in the valley of the Mohawk, besides a small village about one hundred miles west of Schenectady. These were called by the whites, ' castles,' or for- tresses, as they were all fortified. They were num- bered according to their distances from Schenectady, the nearest being called ' the first Indian castle.' The aboriginal names were as follows: Cahhaniaga, (probably the same as Caghnawaga,) Canagora, Canajorha, and Tionoiidaga, The Indians of the 72 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. three first castles were, during the enactment of the dreadful tragedy we have attempted to describe, ab- sent on a hunting expedition to their western territo- ries. Several days necessarily elapsed before the Tionondaga band were notified of the massacre by the messenger despatched for the purpose. On hear- ing the news, they hastened to Schenectady ; whence they sent a hundred of their young warriours in pursuit of the enemy, who overtook them, and killed or made captive twenty-five of their number. The old chiefs remained to comfort the inhabitants, and assist them in burying their dead." HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 73 CHAPTER VI. Un. Let us now proceed with our history. Mr. Clarke, I think, did not rule much longer, after the affair with Mr. Campbell and the Scotch highland- ers. John. No, sir ; the people did not like him, and the assembly let him know it ; and that they were glad another Governor was coming. U71. But he had accomplished that which English governors and other officers were sent to the colo- nies for. He had sent home money and purchased an estate. He retired with a fortune of a hundred thousand pounds ; and who came next? John. Governor Clinton. Phil. Why he was governor a little while ago ; wasn't he ? U71. The same name, and said to be of the same family originally. We have had two governors Clinton, during and since the war of independence; men chosen by the people, serving the people, and beloved by them ; but the man who succeeded Clarke, was a younger son of an English lord, and was sent out to make, or mend, his fortune, as others of the same description had been. Joh?L I remember, sir, tPiat during his rule in New York, there was war again with the French and Indians. This was in the reign of George the Second; and because they quarrelled in Europe, the people here had to suffer for it. The French, from their fort at Crown Point, invaded New York with their Indians ; and the people of Saratoga and Hoosac were murdered, as were those of other places. And I remember that the colonies sent troops to Louisburg, and took it. 7 74 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Un. Right, boy: but we will not enter into tlie details of that war. In the histories of the time you will find an account of the taking of Louis- burg, and the ineffectual attempts to take Canada from the French. Wm. That was done afterward by the brave Gen- eral Wolfe. Un. We must return to Governor Clinton, the first of the name, and very different from those who afterward made the name to be loved. This En- glish governor was received with great joy by the people because they wanted a change, but they were as glad to get rid of him in a few years. He was a man of indolence, fond of wine, and of course unfit for the duties of a man, public or private. His wife and his favourites governed, until the as- sembly were tired of the impositions laid on them. John. But peace was restored to the country be- fore he went. Un. Yes. The people in Europe concluded a peace, called from the place at which it was agreed upon, the peace of Aix la Chapelle ; so as England and France (or rather the kings, and nobles, and their mistresses) chose to make their quarrels up, the people of America were permitted for a short time to be unmolested by brutal soldiers and savage Indians, or insulted by the assumed superiority of insolent English officers. John. But all the English officers were not inso- lent to Americans, sir. Un. Certainly not. Yet there was a general feeling of that kind pervading the whole. The provincials were considered as inferiours, and de- pendants; and it was the treatment they met witn from both the civil and military officers sent out by England, which, when added to the usurpations of the parliament, created and nursed the spirit among HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 75 the people that eventually produced resistance, war, and independence. Well, John, go on; who suc- ceeded this English Governor Clinton ? John. Sir Danvers Osborne. Wm. O, I remember him, because of his strange death. John. He arrived in October, 1753, and was re- ceived with great rejoicings. Governor Clinton was not at the new house that had been built in the fort, so Sir Danvers went to Mr. Murray's house, who was one of the council. Next day Mr. Clin- ton came from Flushing, and having made Mr. Delancey lieutenant-governor, he resigned the gov- ernment to Mr. Osborne. But while all the people were rejoicing, the new governor was melancholy. He arrived, I remember, on the 7th, and in the morning of the 12th, was found' dead, suspended by a handkerchief to the fence of Mr. Murray's gar- den. It was afterward known that he had been deranged before he left England. He must have been very unhappy, sir. Un. Most true, my son. This unfortunate gen- tleman had lost his wife, and had been, from the time of her death, very much depressed in spirit. His friends had hoped that by sending him to New York, the change of scene, and employment, would have cured him of the evident mental disease under which he laboured ; but on his arrival he found that if he obeyed the instructions of the English ministry, he should be as odious to the people as his predecessor ; the nature of his malady made the difficulties of his situation appear insurmount- able — madness ensued, and he became a self- murderer. Mr. Delancey, who had been chief- justice, being now lieutenant-governor, was the head of the government until England sent out another ruler, in Sir Charles Hardy ; who was 76 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. by profession a sailor, knew nothing of the country he was sent to govern, and was guided by Mr. De- lancy, during his stay in the colony, which was about two years ; when he hoisted his flag as admi- ral, and left the province entirely to Delancey. All this time the country was disturbed by wars, of which you remember the principal events, doubtless. John. Yes, sir. General Braddock and an army was defeated near Fort Pitt, and General Abercrom- bie at Ticonderoga ; and Mr. Johnson defeated the French under General Baron Dieskau, and Gen- eral Wolfe took Quebec. Vn. The complicated events of this vmx, can only be understood by reading the general histories of the time. The last event you have mentioned over- threw the power of the French in America, frus- trating their great plans of encircling the colonies of England by a chain of forts and garrisons, from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. John. I remember, sir ; and it appears to me that the rulers of that nation had great designs in re- spect to this country, and that they were executed by great men. Wm. But, Uncle, you do not tell us any thing about the Indians. Uncle Philip used to tell us all about their war dances, their scalps, and their w^ay of killing their enemies, and their prisoners. JJii. By and by, we will have one " long talk,''^ (as the Indians say,) about all that : for the war of our independence had Indians in it as well as other savages, and I would wish you to understand the people who possessed all this great continent before the white men came to disturb them. • Phil. But, Uncle, General Washington was in this French war ; and I love to hear of him. Un. Yes ; he was a provi-ncial officer at Brad- dock's defeat; and had done good service to his HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 77 country before : but the English officers, as I have said, despised the provincials, and they suffered for it t}ie7i, as they did afterioard. There was an En- glish officer under Braddock-at that time, with whom ViTo shall have a great deal to do by and by ; he was then a captain, and a young man, and only had a subaltern's share in the misfortunes of the day. Major Washington probably then became acquainted with him for the first. Mary. I want to know all about Washington ! _ XJn. We shall have to talk much of him, in due time — but I must get you Mr. Paulding's book about him ; and when you are older you will read all his letters, which give the best history of him. John. But who, sir, was the Englishman you spoke of, that was with Braddock? Un. Captain Horatio Gates. Wm. O, the great and famous General Gates ! XJn. I will tell you who he was ; but not yet. We are now coming to the troublesome times that produced the war of which you wish to hear ; but I must endeavour to make you understand the causes. You, John, are old enough to appreciate the value of those rights for which the colonies con- tended, first by arguments and remonstrances, and then by the sword. Wm. And I know that the English king treated us very ill. Phil. And I too. Mary. But you promised us more stories. Un. I will perform my promise by telling you one, that could only have happened in a country like ours at that time, where tile governors and offi- cers all came from another hemisphere, and had no interest in the welfare of the people; a country that was considered by the king of England and his ministers as a place on which to disgorge the crim 7 78 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. inals they wished to get rid of, without the aid of the gallows; and by the people as a market for their manufactures, and for the slaves they could buy or steal upon the coast of Africa. You remember the story of the Irish woman who made the governor of Annapolis-Royal believe she was the widow of a rich West India planter ? Mary. Oh, yes ; she was one of the people sent from the jail of Dublin to be sold, but who murder- ed the captain and ran away with the ship — I re- member. Vn. Well, I will tell you of another woman, a lady by birth and education ; an Englishwoman, who was sent to the colonies and sold for a slave. Phil. A white slave, Uncle ? TJn. Yes, boy; there are a great many white slaves — ^the worst are those who are slaves to their passions, their vices, and their evil habits. This woman had become such a slave, before she was sentenced by the laws of England to be a slave to an American colonist. Wm. Tell us her history, sir. Vn. I will ; not only for your amusement, but to show the state of society in the times before the country was independent — the " good old times" that some people still talk of. This English lady was named Sarah Wilson. You know, in coun- tries where there are artificial ranks or classes in so- ciety — where there are people who are called great, however little and mean they may be, because great riches descends to them from their ancestors, who are prohibited by law from suffering their es- tates tc gc to any but the oldest son, or the heredi- tary successor of the family. — Do you understand % John. As the crown and the kingdom belongs, in England, to the oldest son of the former king IJn. And so of other estates; for in the "good old HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 79 times" the people were onlj^ considered, by kings, as part of their property. Wei], where such arti- ficial distinctions exist, the great folks, to show their superiority to others, have servants of an order above common people. The king is served by lords, and the queens and princesses by ladies ; so this lady, Miss Sarah Wilson, was among the lady-ser- vants to the honourable Miss Vernon, who was a servant, or maid of honour, of the queen. Unfor- tunately, Miss Wilson was not a maid of honour or \i honesty ; for she, ahhough a favourite of the hon- ourable Miss Vernon's, and an intelligent young lady herself, coveted the diamonds, and other finery, which glittered in her eyes ; and having an acci- dental opportunity, when on an errand to her ma- jesty, opened a casket and stole the queen's picture, richly set in diamonds, with several other jewels, which she secreted about her person, and carried off. Mary. What! a lady, and steal ? do you believe it, sir? Un. A lady by birth, but not a lady in principle, my dear; a real lady, truly honourable and truly religious, could not have done this, or even have wished to possess the property of another. But this unhappy woman, who perhaps had never yielded to temptation before, was not duly instructed in her eternal or wordly interests. Had she been truly a lady-, these jewels, however beautiful or however costly, would have possessed no temptation for her. But she had been educated in vanity, and the love of dissipation, although destined to poverty; be- cause the property of her parents w^as appropriated to the oldest son of the famity. She saw deference paid to the possessors of splendour ; and after cher- ishing the desire to possess these glittering toys that seemed to constitute the worth of the wearer, fihe, in an unhappy moment, yielded to the tempta- 80 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. tion which opportunity presented, and became — a thief. Phil. Now, Uncle, I do believe you are making this story, as you go along, all out of your own head. Un. Why do you think so, Philip? Phil. Because, how could you know what Sarah Wilson thought? Un. You love to hear me tell stories. I will tell you such as are connected with the history of the people of the colonies. The principal incidents relative to this Sarah Wilson are facts ; but I must add to them some supposed facts, and motives, to account for part of her real story that would otherwise appear improbable. But I will distin- guish between that which I suppose, and that which is known. John. Don't interrupt the story, sir ; let us guess at that part which is your invention. Un. Well, boy, be it so. But you will find that the real is sometimes more improbable than the sup- posed or fictitious. Phil. I don't see how that can be. Mary. Philip, I wish you wouldn't interrupt Uncle! Un. This poor young woman, although accom- plished, as it is called, had been badly taught, and had bad examples before her. The jewels were after a time missed, but no suspicion fell upon Miss Wilson. In such cases suspicion often falls upon the innocent, and they perhaps suffer. After a time one of the jewels was olTered by a jeweller for sale; it was known to have been the queen's. Inquiry was made after the person who sold it to the dealer, and although Miss Wilson had been very cunning, as she thought, the fact of selling the jewel was traced to her. The very circumstance of her being dis- guised when she sold the article was a proof of her guilt, and served to convict her. She was taken HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 8 np, tried, and condemned, according to the laws of England, to suffer death. Mary. O, dear! U71. Only think what she must have suffered; even before detection how miserable she must have been ; living in constant fear because of her con- sciousness of guilt. But, although her parents had caused her to be poor, by giving all their property to her brother that he might do honour to the family name, as is customary in Europe, they now sought to save themselves from the disgrace of having a child public kly executed as a felon ; and Miss Ver- non, whose attendant she had been, (and who had been attached to her,) likewise exerted herself to prevent the sad catastrophe. In short, she was re- prieved ; that is, the execution was put off — and af ter a time, she was sentenced to be transported to the colonies, and sold as a servant, or slave, for life. John. As people like her have since been sent to Botany Bay. 1771. Yes. A practice still continued by the En- glish. John. But did she restore the other jewels, and the queen's picture? Un. The most surprising part of her story, and recorded as a fact, is, not that she restored them, but that she persisted in declaring herself innocent, and had such consummate art as to conceal and carry away with her the picture and the remain- der of the stolen property. This can only be ac- counted for from the favour shown her by her for- mer lady. Miss Vernon ; for if she had been searched with the rigour used in the cases of common crimi- nals, the jewels must have been found. JohTi. But, sir, was she sent out to America and actually sold? Un. Yes. With other convicts, she was trans- 82 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. ported to Maryland, and purchased by Mr. Duval, of Bush creek. It is to be supposed that she was ilot treated as a common servant, perhaps her em- ployment was that of a nurse, or if she could make her master and mistress believe that she had been unjustly condemned, she might iiave been intrusted as a teacher to the children of the family. Be that as it may, she had now become an adept in deceit, and she formed a bold plan to obtain liberty, and make use of the property she had concealed. We must imagine that by the favour shown her, she had been suffered to bring with her the clothing in which she had officiated as Miss Vernon's attendant. By what means she escaped from Mr. Duval's is not recorded ; and we are left to suppose that having gained the confidence of the family, she might have been left in charge of the house, when the master and mistress made some distant visit. Certain it is that she escaped to Virginia, and there appeared in a fictitious character ; and that she was received and treated as the princess Susannah Carolina Ma- tilda, and sister to the queen of England. John. That does appear almost impossible, sir. Un. To make my story probable, I must intro- duce another character ; a most finished rogue, well known in his time, by the name of Tom Bell. This vagabond had been likewise sent from an English prison to add to the value of his majesty's planta- tions, for so the people of England used to call all this country. Phil. How could a rogue add to the value of a country, sir? Un. Well asked, boy. But such was the way the English people talked. They sent slaves and infamous convicts among the people who had fled to this continent to avoid slavery and the conta- gion of European vices. This was called policy; HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 83 to increase the population, and by so doing, create a demand for English manufactures. For the colo- nists were prohibited from making many things for themselves, and were not allowed if possible to buy them from any other country but England. Re- member this when we come to talk of the causes of the American war. Mary. But, Uncle, what had Tom Bell to do with Sarah Wilson? Un. Ah, the story ! You may imagine that it would be difficult for this woman, however artful, to pass herself off for a princess, and impose on the people of Virginia, as is recorded, if she had not been assisted by some cunning confederate. Such a one was Tom Bell. This accomplished scoun- drel had been sold to a trader or- shopkeeper, in Burlington, New Jersey, and gained the good will of his master so far that he was intrusted to carry goods about the country as a pedler. Yoil may suppose he cheated the confiding owner, and by de- grees accumulated some money from the gains of his pack. He then decamped, pack and all, and by various artifices got off to Virginia. You must re- member that at that time the country was thinly in- habited, the roads bad, newspapers scarcely known, in comparison to our days, and although Tom was advertised, he eluded detection. He fell in with Sarah Wilson, and recognised, in her, one who had been tried at the same assizes with himself, al- though they had been shipped for America by sepa- rate vessels, and to different colonies. As they were known to each other, they were obliged to trust each other ; and Tom communicated to her a bold plan of imposture, after inducing her to confess that she had possession of some money, as well as him- self, and (what suggested the scheme to him) a good wardrobe, rich jewels, and the queen's picture. 84 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. John. Ah ! I begin to see how it might be done. Mary. Hush, John ! Un. The story they agreed upon was probably this. That she should declare herself to be the princess Susannah Carolina Matilda, sister to the queen of England, and he was to personate her betrothed lover, Mr. Edward Sothway, a private gentleman of fortune ; for the love of whom she had been in- duced to fly to America, as her royal relations for- bade their union. That she had lately received letters which rendered further incognito unnecessa- ry ; despatches by which they had certainty of being recalled, and the marriage permitted ; he being first elevated to the rank of an earl, by his gracious ma- jesty, at the intercession of his royal consort. As proofs of her high rank she was to produce the jewels, and above all, the picture of her august sister. Phil. Can the king make earls? Un. He can make any factitious titulary person- age, and can bestow the riches of the country, to give any blockhead the dignity derived from splen- dour ; but he cannot make either a learned or an honest man. The king is called, in England, the source of honour ; thus, to my simple notion, usurp- ing the attribute of Deity. It is only the Most High, my children, who can bestow true honour, which alone belongs to talents united with virtue. John. But, sir, many dukes and lords have been good men — noble men ! Un. Certainly ; but, although they received their fortunes and titles from ancestry or from the king, they must have received their real nobility from their Creator. Wm. Is it possible. Uncle, that this lying woman and impudent man could make people believe them ? Un. Yes. It is recorded, and it is undoubted, that this Sarah Wilson, now become familiar with HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 85 deceit and crime, (for it is the nature of guilt, my children, to strengthen by practice, one crime lead- ing to another,) it is certain that this woman was received and entertained in Virginia, and in both the Carolinas, as a princess ; that she imitated the \ manners she had seen at court, and although she received presents and borrowed money from the gentlemen she imposed upon, she affected the state of royalty, and graciously extended her hand to be kissed by her visiters. In the colonies at that time, you must remember that the people received their rulers from England ; those who desired offices of tr-ust and profit looked to England for them ; they called England, ho?nej as if America was only a place of exile; they had the prejudices in favour of hereditary monarchy and nobility belonging to the country their fathers came from ; they were told by every act of the mother cou7itr2/'iha.t they were de- pendant and inferiour; and some, at this time, seem- ed to believe that they were debased by their situa- tion. It is hardly yet believed by some among us, that a plain honest democrat without title can be equal to a titulary European. Wm. And did people really kiss the hand of this lying woman — this thief? Un. Sarah Wilson and Tom Bell, having digest- ed their plan of operations, separated for a time, to put it in execution. It was necessary that he should appear as a gentleman, and at that time the apparel of a gentleman was very costly. He must have a wig, which must be dressed every day ; he must have several suits of apparel, of cloth, silk, or velvet, trimmed with gold or silver lace ; silk stockings ; gold or paste knee and shoe buckles ; a gold laced hat, and a sword with a richly orna- mented hilt. All this, Tom was obliged to pur- chase, and, moreover, several negroes to attend him 8 r 86 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. and the pretended princess. She made her appear ance at the head inn of one of the principal towns of Virginia, in the dress and character of a great English lady, who was to be joined in a few days by a gentleman of distinction ; he arrived, the hon- ourable Mr. Sothway; curiosity was excited, and the story of the princess and her betrothed lover was buzzed abroad. She was waited upon; con- fided her pretended history to tiiose who were eager to hear it. She told her visiters that she had assu- rances from home, that all the indiscretion of her flight was forgiven ; a ship of war was to be sent for her; and on her return to St. James', her mar- riage would take place as soon as the honourable Mr. Edward Sothway had been elevated to the peer- age. Hints, however, were given that funds ran low ; but great remittances were expected. Those who kissed the royal hand of the princess, were promised governments, and other high offices, if civilians ; if military men, promotion in the army ; if in the navy, ships. Any sums her " royal high- ness" required were forthcoming; all was in train, and the capital laid out in clothes, equipage, and attendants was likely to be returned with usurious interest. She was received, says a printed account, as "a sprig of royalty" from house to house, and condescendingly permitted the masters to kiss her hand. They entertained her with honours, and she repaid the honours with compliments, and the cash with promises. So stood affairs when, one day, the princess's betrothed, with the usual cere- mony, requested a private interview ; (for Tom was icept at most respectful distance ;) and the request bemg granted, he exhibited a newspaper to her roy- al highness with the following advertisement : " Bush Creeks Frederick County^ Maryland^ Oc* HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 87 toher iUh, 1771. Run away from the subscriber, a convict servant maid, named Sarah Wilson, but has changed her name to lady Susannah Carolina Matilda, which made the publick believe that she was his majesty's sister. She has a blemish over the right eye, dark rolled hair, stoops in the shoulders, makes a common practice of writing and marking her clothes with a crown and a B. Whoever se- cures the said servant woman, or takes her home, shall receive five pistoles, besides all costs and charges. Wm. Duval. I entitle Michael Dalton to search the city of Philadelphia, and from thence to Charlestown, for the said woman, Wm. Duval." You, John, will remark that this is very badly written. Mary. What is meant by rolled hair, Uncle ? Un. In those days, ladies wore what were called rolls, or sometimes cushions, over which, to a con- siderable (and ofttimes to a preposterous) height, the hair was combed and fastened with wire pins. It has appeared to me that in this headdress, the artful woman might have concealed the jewels she brought away with her. John. Well, sir, w^as she seized in consequence of this advertisement ? TJn. Tom Bell secured the only paper that had found its way into that part of Virginia. But the confederates thought it was time to move farther from Philadelphia, Avhere the advertisement was published. They pretended a journey to the north, and took leave as for a few days of their dupes ; but soon separated ; and by concert met again in South Carolina, where they played over the same game with equal success. She, however, changing her title to the " Princess Augusta de Waldegrave." Dalton, however, pursued them; and Tom, hearing 88 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. of his arrival at Charlestown, robbed the princess, and left her to be claimed as a runaway convict ; and conveyed ignominiously back to Maryland, Mary. And is this the end of Sarah Wilson's story, Uncle ? JJn. No. For in the year 1773, 1 find her in New- York ; but that must serve for another story. When we meet again, we must go on with the history of publick men and publick events. Phil. But do tell us, sir, what became of Tom Bell. Un. Another time. We shall meet Tom again. CHAPTER VII. Un. Now% children, let us proceed. We left oflf at the death of Sir Danvers Osborne in that most fearful manner, by self-murder; and as Governor Clinton had made Chief-Justice Delancey lieutenant- governor, he of course was the ruler of the province after the death of Osborne. What followed ? John. Uncle Philip then told us of the French war. Un. I will here give you my knowledge of the origin of this war of 1754. It was a war to pro- tect English traders who had a fort on the Ohio, which the French seized, and otherwise infringed the right which England claimed, to supply the Indians with British manufactures. The English likewise quarrelled with the French about the lim- its of Canada, (then, you know, a French province.) and the limits of Nova Scotia, belonging to Eng- land, In this war the Americans Avere involved and suffered. After Braddock's defeat in 1755, the French and Indians attacked the frontiers of the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 89 colonies, The Americans had to raise soldiers to the amount of twenty-four thousand men or more. Joh7i. Uncle Philip told us of a meeting of the governors of the provinces at Albany, and that a plan was proposed by Doctor Franklin for joining the colonies together ; and that the Americans re- jected the plan, because it would give too much power to the king of England ; and that the Eng- lish did not like it, because the king thought it would give too much power to the Americans. Now, sir, I do not understand this. Un. There is no possibility for you to understand the cause of difference between this country and Eng- land without speaking to you of taxes and taxation. Doctor Franklin says, that apian vvas proposed at that meeting of governors at Albany, by which they, the governors of the colonies should assemble, in case ' of war, and levy troops, build forts, and provide mil- itary stores; and for the expense of all these prepa- rations draw upon England for the money, making themselves debtors for the am.ount, to be repaid, by money raised in the colonies from a general tax, to be laid on them by act of parliavient. This, you see, was granting to England the right to tax the colonies for defending themselves against the ene- my raised up by quarrels not of her own, but origi- nating in Europe. Even then, Dr. Franklin tells us, that the general opinion in America was, that England had no right to tax Americans, nor could constitutionally do it : because, the colonies were not represented there. Now remember this ; for it was the cause of the war we are coming to. And it was the cause that the plan offered at Alba- ny was objected to by Americans. They were rep- resented in their own assemblies, and those assem- blies granted the money wanted for defence or other purposes. 9,* 90 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. John. Uncle Philip told us that the French es- tablished military posts from their province of Can- ada to Detroit, and seemed to intend a line of fort to their province of Louisiana. Un. I believe that was the great plan of the French politicians ; and then, you see by the map, that they would have had the greatest part of what is now the United States, besides the great country that England noio owns. It was in resisting these encroachments that the English nnd provincials sus- tained so many losses; until the battle of the plains of Abraham, when Wolfe succeeded in defeating Montcalm, and then Canada, and all the French posts remained in the possession of England ; and in consequence of the success of the colonies in the war with England, to which we are slowly ap- proaching. Independent America extends to the South Sea, and to the Gulf of Mexico. Now go on. John. In the year 1755, the same year in which Braddock was defeated, Sir Charles Hardy came as governor of New York. I believe he did nothing. Un. He was unfit for governor, but he suffered himself to be guided by Mr. Delancey, the chief- justice, who ruled before he came, and again after he hoisted his admiral's flag, and departed : for he was a mere sailor. John. It seems to rne, sir, that the English thought anybody might be a governor here. Un. I don't wonder that such an opinion gen- erally prevailed, when so great a man as Lord Chatham said in parliament, that " there was not a company of English foot-soldiers sent to America but could furnish a man fit to govern a colony." John. Did Lord Chatham say so ? Un. I am not certain of the very words, but he did give such an opinion ten years after Admiral Hardy was governor of New York. In July, HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 91 1757, Sir Charles departed and left the government of New York to the American Lieutenant-gov- ernor Delancey, who, in fact, governed both prov- ince and governor before. On the death of this gentleman, in July, 1759, Doctor Cadwallader Col- den, who was president of the council, succeeded to the administration of the government by virtue of that office; and two years after, that is, the 17th July, 1761, the old gentleman managed, very much against the wishes of the people, to procure the commission of lieutenant-governor from England. John. I remember, about this time, New York and New Hampshire quarrelled about that coun- try which is now the state of Vermont, and the peo- ple who purchased their land of New Hampshire seized upon it by force. Un. Yes ; Governor Wentworth of New Hamp- shire, notwithstanding that he had agreed to refer the dispute to the king, and notwithstanding that the king had decided as was just, that the province of New York extended to Connecticut river, yet he sold or made grants of this land, and if the great quarrel between all the colonies and Great Britain had not come on, there would have been war be- tween these settlers on the disputed land, and the government of New York. John. There was, sir, almost. For the sheriff and his officers had to fire on the men who took possession of a courthouse and prevented the judges from holding court; and the New Hampshire men were headed by Ethan Allen, a desperate kind of man, and Seth Warner ; and the governor of New York offered a reward for the seizing of these men, and some others. Un. Your memory is good. These troubles were forgotten, and the men from New Hampshire were left to govern themselves in. this part of the 92 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. New York province, while all the continent became enraged at the attempt of Great Britain to tax the colonies by passing the celebrated stamp act. The resistance to this act was the true commencement of the American revolution. But before the passing of the stamp act, General Robert Monckton, who had been with Wolfe at the taking of Quebec, was sent out as governor, in 1762 ; but he interfered lit- tle with Governor Golden ; for he took command of the troops collected and encamped on Staten Island, and soon embarked for Martinique, with them, and took it from the French. Captain Horatio Gates went with him as his aid-de-camp, and was sent with the news of success to England, which procured him the rank of major. Monckton came back and resumed for a short time the government of New York. But in June, 1763, he returned to England and left Mr. Golden in the chair. Before his departure a cessation of hostilities had been pro- claimed, and New York, for a time, was not troubled by French or Indians. Mary. But, Uncle, you have not told us any thing about Indians. Un. What does a little girl want to know of Indians? Mary. I love to hear of strange things — don't you? Un. I believe we all do, my dear. We must have some morning set apart for the Indians, I think ; but in the mean time I will tell you an ad- venture that happened at Kinderhook; and it ap- pears strange to us, that places anywhere between this city and Albany, could be subject to the incur- sions of hostile savages, within the memory of peo- ple now living — but so it was. When men went into the field to plough, to sow, or to reap, they car- ried their guns with them ready loaded ; they lived in perpetual dread of hearing the Indian war- whoop, or, of receiving the deadly ball from the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 93 hidden enemy, even before the sound reached thero from the explosion of the powder, or any warning from the fearful yell. Thus, in the day, they pur- sued their labour in fear, and at night, slept the broken slumber of those who know they may be awakened by the flames of their houses or the shrieks of their wives and children. One occur- rence at Kinderhook, is recorded as happening a short time before the cessation of hostilities. Four white men, two boys, and a negro, having their fire- arms near them, were hoeing corn, when six Indi- ans and a Frenchman got near enough, unperceiv- ed, to fire on them. You must remember that in those days the country was covered with woods, and the cornfield might be in what was called a char- ing ; an open space cleared of all but stumps, and surrounded by a thicket. Mary. And did they kill the boys. Uncle ? Tin. They, perhaps, fired at too great distance, for they only wounded one white man and one boy. The neo-ro, the un wounded boy, and the two other men, threw down their hoes and ran off But one man, of more courage, instead of flying for safety bethought him of the loaded guns brought for de- fence. He ran to the place where they had depos- ited their fire-arms. This man's name was Gardner. Wm. He was a fine fellow. Un. The Indians and the Frenchman seeing but one man on his feet, advanced from their hiding place ; and Gardner had fair aim at an Indian, and shot him down — he seized a second gun, and a second Indian fell — a third gun was already raised, when an Indian sprang on him, before he could discharge it, and, at the same time, the Frenchman struck Gardner with his musket and knocked him down. While he was insensible, from the blow he had re- ceived, the Indian drew his knife and scalped him ; 94 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. but fearing more white men might arrive, the party fled without killing him. Mary. And the wounded boy, and man — ? U71. The account says nothing of them ; but we may suppose that they crawled off, while the brave Gardner was fighting. John. And he, sir — ? Un. When he recovered from the blow, bewil dered, covered with blood — hardly knowing what he did, he dragged himself painfully to the house of his friends ; and did not know, it is said in the ac- count, that he had been scalped by his savage enemy. Mary. What is scalping ? John. I have read that it was done very quickly. Un. Yes. The Indians wore, when they went to war, one lock of hair only, the rest being cut off; that one was left, as if in defiance of their enemies: as much as to say, " scalp me if you can." If an Indian scalped an Indian, he lifted up the skin and flesh on the top of the head, by this defiance-lock, and with his knife made an incision quite round the scull ; this being done, he tore off all within the circle. If he scalped a white person, he took hold of the hair, gathered up in his hand, and proceeded in the same way, to perform the operation. Mary. Oh, horrible ! I am glad white folks never did so. Un. I wish I could say that they never encour- aged the barbarous practice, or even that they did not in some instances practise it themselves ; but I would have you know the truth, children. John. The French used to join with the Indians, dress like them, imitate them in their mode of war- fare, and even in this savage way of carrying off trophies of their success. Un. My children, Englishmen have done the same, and Amerioans are not free from the charge. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 95 War is only justifiable in defence of life and liberty ; but even then, its consequences on those who are engaged in it, unless of very superiour moral worth, are evil : hardening the heart, and leading to licen- tiousness. Even great commanders, governors, and statesmen, have encouraged this barbarous mode of warfare by giving rewards for scalps, as evidences of death inflicted on the enemy. It was customary with the French rulers of Canada to do so; and I have now in my pocketbook a memorandum which brings the charge nearer home ; here it is : I will read it to you — "July 7th, 1764. The Governor of Penn- sylvania offers for the scalp of every male Indian enemy above the age of ten years, one hundred and thirty-four dollars; and for the scalp of every female Indian enemy, above the age often years, produced as an evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight." John. Surely, sir, we should not do so now. Un. I hope not; those good old times, as some people call them, are past. Here is a memorandum which may serve to change the subject : " May 16th, 1763, King's College received a donation of twelve hundred volumes, from Doctor Bristow of England." Wm. Some o-ood thing-s did come from Enfrland. Un. Many ! many ! my boy. Those notions of government, law, liberty, and right, which bless us, were brought hither hy the repvMicans of England, who could not fully enjoy them at home. Litera- ture, arts, science, philosophy, and religion, came hither from England. The poets, philosophers, and divines of England, were the countrymen and bro- thers of our English parents. And though, as it should seem, the rulers of England for a time for- got this — we never forgot it ; and the blessings our fathers brought with them, they were determined to preserve for us. Here is another memorandum-- 96 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. " At the commencement of King's College, May 23d, 1763, Messrs. Depeyster, Cuyler, Verplanck, Livingston, Watts, Bayard, Wilkins, Hoffman, and Marston, took degrees. These are names which education has preserved among the honoured to this day." I will show you one more advertisement from among the many that I have copied, before we go to the consideration of the causes, and of the commencement, of that war which severed us from Great Britain. You may read my memorandum. John. " To be let, the play-house, at the upper end of Beekman street, very convenient for a store, being upwards of ninety feet in length, nigh forty feet wide. Inquire of William Beekman. April 16th, 1764. The next year, during the excitement created by the stamp act, a mob tore this building down. Its situation was a little below the junction of Nassau and Beekman streets, on the south or southwest side of the latter. Its demolition was principally accom- plished by boys, set on by men ; one of these boys is now living, (1836,) and he was the only person injured on the occasion." Un. He had his scull fractured, which, for any thing I know to the contrary, improved his intellect and prolonged his life. When we meet again I will endeavour to make plain to you, the cause of the war between America and Great Britain, to which we are now fast approaching. John. What, the stamp act ? TJn. We must talk of some things before the stamp act. Wm. And before Captain Sear's time? TJn. No. For to give you a just notion of Cap- tain Isaac Sears, I must tell you who he was, and what he did before the time of the stamp act. So to-morrow I will begin with King Sears. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 97 CHAPTER IX. Un. In our last walk to the Battery, I promised, in passing- through Broad street, to give you an idea of the appearance of that place in former times ; here is a picture of some of the houses near Flat- tenbarick hill. Mary. I should not think of Broad street when looking at this picture. John. Thank you, sir. Wm. You promised to tell us about Captain Sears, Uncle. Un. Mr. Sears is first mentioned as a captain of a trading-vessel ; but appears to have commanded a privateer, sailing out of the port of New York, in 1759. I would here remark that at one period twen- ty such armed vessels belonged to that port, wheiB Philadelphia and Boston, each fitted out but one. 98 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. This may prove the greater commerce of New York at the period ; whether it is a proof of the greatel morality of the place may at least be doubted. John. I should like to know your opinion, sir, of privateering. Un. Theoretically I condemn it, and place a pri- vateersman very little higher in a moral scale than a pirate. But practically he may be a gallant pa- triot, or a detestable sea-robber, according to cir- cumstances. I will endeavour to convey my mean- ing by stating cases. When the American colo- nies entered into warfare with a powerful nation, capable, as Lord Chatham said, " to crush them to atoms ;" and that nation had a great navy and Amer- ica had none ; — when that nation by means of ships of war, and innumerable transports and store-ships, poured her armies on the country and supplied them by sea with reinforcements, and provisions ; then to fit out a privateer, and to command or sail in one, might well be deemed the act of a patriot. But when two nations, each having navies, carry on war upon the ocean, a private armed ship fitted out by a citizen of either, to prey upon unaimed vessels, or traders who merely arm in self-defence, appears to me little better than a pirate. In the greater number of instances privateering is practised with a view alone to plunder. Yet, as it is sanctioned by the custom of nations, v/e must not judge too harshly of those who have practised this mode of obtaining wealth by seizing it forcibly from the de- fenceless. John. I see, sir, you have not an exalted opinion of privateersmen. JJn. Not very, I must confess. I detest all war except for defence, and the privateersman's is gene- rally^ an offensive one, and for gain alone. To re- turn to Captain Isaac Sears : ha had been a sea- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 99 commander and a trader ; when war occurred be- tween England and France, his business as a peace- able sailor was interrupted : the war against the colonies was aggressive. He might think that to in- flict injury on Frenchmen was meritorious; and certainly when in presence of a French ship of su- periour force to his own sloop, the Belle Isle, he act- ed like a brave captain and gallant seaman. W7n. O, tell us of the battle, Uncle. XJn. In September, 1759, as he was cruising with his sloop ' the Belle Isle, of ten guns, w^ell manned, he fell in with a large French ship of twenty-four guns, and eighty men, and attacked her without hesitation. They cannonaded each other for two hours, when the Belle Isle was obliged to withdraw to refit, having ha'd three men wounded, and several shots between wind and water ; that is, when the cannon balls make holes in the vessel which let the sea pour in, and in this case the American sloop had already three feet water in the hold. John. It was time to withdraw. Vn. But Captain Sears did not give wp. While he repaired his vessel by stopping the leaks and mending his rigging, the French ship made off*; at six in the evening the Belle Isle was in state to give chase, and he pursued the ship all night. In the morning the privateer came up with her intend- ed prize, and Sears prepared his men to lay her alongside and board; but the Frenchman by a lucky shot carried away the wheel, by which, you know, the helmsman manages the rudder ; of course the Belle Isle was again disabled. Sears, however, soon got a tiller — you know what a tiller is, boys ? Wm. What they move the rudder with. Tin. He got a tiller rigged in the cabin, so that he commanded his sloop again, and then, in spite of her heavy cannonade, he clapped the French ship 100 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. aboard, and grappled her by the main shrouda Thus they lay side by side — the privateer's men trying to gain the ship's deck, and her crew, more numerous, driving them back. Several times the Americans were upon the Frenchman's gunnel, but were beat back by bayonets and lances. At length the grappling being cut, or giving way, the little sloop sheered off, having nine men killed and twenty-two wounded, of whom, two died of their wounds. The shrouds of the Belle Isle had been cut away, and the boltsprit disabled, so that she was unmanageable until again repaired. Her antagonist, though crippled, made off, and before Sears was in condition to renew the fight, a gale sprung up which effectually separated the vessels ; and the privateer with difficulty got into New- foundland, where she refitted for another cruise. Wm. Well done, brave Captain Sears ! John. And no doubt many men killed and crip- pled on board the French ship, who only fought in her own defence. And what a scene of blood on board the sloop ! nine men dead ; twenty-two groan- ing in agony — two dying ! Mary. O terrible ! I don't want to hear such stories. Un. Alas, my little girl, then you must not hear of war. Wm. Brave Captain Sears! I hope he had bet- ter luck with other ships. Un. I presume he had, yet I know he had some hardships and losses subsequent to this sea-fight ; for on the 22d of September, 1761, he returned home from a voyage after having been shipwrecked on the Isle of Sables, and losing all except his life and the lives of his crew ; but in a few years after I find him as a merchant in New York, and with the office of inspector of potash. But now, as we HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 101 have had fighting enough for the present, I will endeavour to give you a clear view of the causes of the war of 1776. John. If you please, sir. Un. The first Englishmen who came to live in this country, left their native homes that they might enjoy the liberty of worshipping according to the dictates of their consciences, and making laws for their own government ; or for bettering their condition by trade or otherwise. You all un- derstand that the continent was in possession of those savage or wild people we call Indians when first visited by Europeans. The navigators of dif- ferent nations discovered different parts of the coast, and claimed each for his own country the right to trade on that part ; and the right to purchase the land from the natives. Thus the French claimed the right to buy or conquer Canada on the north and Louisiana on the south; while the English claimed the same privilege for New England on the east and Virginia on the south; and the Dutch for Nieuw Nederlandt, extending from Delaware bay to Connecticut river. They did not pretend that this land was their property, but that they had the only right to buy it of the original owners. John. I think I understand this better than I did before. Un. The sovereigns of the European nations made gifts, or grants, or sales, to individuals ; di- viding the land so claimed by the nation ; and these indivfduals then claimed the right to trade and buy- land of the natives. Thus,' for example, Lord Balti- more became proprietor of Maryland ; William Penn owned Pennsylvania; the Duke of York (after conquest by the English) claimed Nieuw Nederlandt ; and the Carterets, by grant from the Duke, were the proprietors of East Jersey. The 9 102 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. English colonists who settled in this wild country- underwent wonderful hardships, and had to defend themselves against the natives when quarrels hap- pened ; and while they were poor and struggling for existence the government of England let them alone — " they grew by her neglect." When they became rich enough to exchange their commodi- ties for goods manufactured in England, she was not satisfied with the benefit of the commerce, but having by degrees established governors and other officers over the colonies, she sent out collectors of revenue, opened custom-houses, and laid duties on the goods she sold, and if she permitted the colo- nists to buy of other nations, taxed such goods still higher. Wm. What right had England to do this? I would not have allowed it. Un. The colonies thought proper to submit, be- cause they were weak — the weak, in old times, sub- mitted to the strong, as well as in modern days. John. I understand, sir, that the colonies were governed in various ways ; some governors appoint- ed by the proprietors, and some by the king. Un. New York, under the Dutch, was govern- ed by directors-general, who were little more at first than agents for traders, and afterward for the Dutch West India Company. When the English conquered it, the king, as you remember, gave it to his brother James, Duke of York, who appointed governors; one governor serving for New York and New Jersey, after the division took place. When James succeeded his brother on the throne, New York became a king's government, and in 1688, went with the kingdom of England to William of Nassau and his successors. Joh7i. William the Third, sir. Un. Yes. As I have said, by degrees, England HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 103 imposed duties on articles imported into the colo- nies, and they suhmitted. But the impositions greio ; and as the colonies greio they became discontented. Individuals practised smuggling — that is, they con- trived ways to land goods without the knowledge of the English collectors, and by avoiding to pay the du- ties which were to go to the government of a distant country, they increased their profits, and some made great fortunes. Smuggling was not considered infa- mous, as it is now, and must be always when duties are laid on importations by the people themselves, for their own purposes. It was thought of only as an evasionof a burden imposed by a foreign government; submitted to by a kind of compromise from neces- sity. This practice of smuggling was of course complained of by the English collectors, and the king's ministry ordered their armed vessels in great- er numbers to cruise upon our coast, and commis- sioned their commanders as custom-house officers. These men were rapacious, and under colour of zeal for his majesty's service, they vexed the commerce of the country by seizures that were illegal, and for which no redress could be obtained but by applica- tion to a distant country, more injurious to the suf- ferer than the original wrong. John. This must have irritated the people, sir. Un. It did. And it caused the serious and cool to think of remedies for the future. In addition to the vexation from illegal seizures, was the insolence of English navy-officers, and the encouragement given to informers. John. What is your opinion of informers, sir? TJn. When, as in the United States, the laws are made by the people, and for their own good, to in- form against g.ny breach of them, is meritorious. But at the time we are speaking of, it was felt that the revenue laws were made for the ben jfit of others 104 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. and that an informer could only be actuated by the hope of reward, for an injury inflicted on an Ameri- can, and a benefit bestowed on a foreigner. The consequence was the introduction of the vile prac- tice of tarring and feathering, by mobs impelled to revenge injuries for which there was no legal rem- edy. Where is little Mary? Mary. I am feeding the canary bird. Un. Come here, I am going to tell a story. Joh7i. But, sir, the revenue officers appointed by England for the colonies were not all bad men. ijn. Far from it, my son. They acted probably in most cases conscientiously ; that is, according to their judgment. Some of them we know were good men. I find the names of Lambert Moore of New York, and John Barberie of Perth Amboy, annexed to advertisements threatening smugglers ; and Mr. John Temple, and the amiable Andrew Elliot, were receivers of his majesty's customs. But these gen- tlemen felt as Englishmen^ not as Americans. Phil. Uncle, what story are you going to tell ? Un. I will refer to my memoranda for a tale of the consequences of these restrictions upon Ameri- can commerce for the benefit of England. Read it. JoJm. " Kelly, an oysterman, and Kitchener, a tavern keeper, having informed against the mate of a vessel who had invested the savings of his wages in a few casks of wine, and had secretly landed them, the populace of New York, after a long search, (for the informers secreted themselves,) seized both the poor wretches, bound them with cords, placed them in carts, and paraded them through a great part of the city; 'many thousands attending them with in- sults, huzzas, and sprinkling of tar and feathers.' ' They besmeared their faces and clothes with tar, and showered feathers on them,' says another writer. The magistrates in vain interposed ; these wretchect HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 105 men were not released ' until the populace had in some measure satiated their resentment.' " Un. This, as you see, happened in New York; and about the same time, in Newport, Rhode Island, the people seized a man for a similar offence, and after ducking him, they set him in the pillory, be- smeared him with tar and poured feathers over him. The writer says, that the inhabitants "expressed their satisfaction at seeing a people so justly sensi- ble of the injury that such a detestable wretch must be to the traders of this place." And here is a memorandum of what happened at Boston about the same time. Read it, John. John. I thought the Boston folks would not be behindhand in showing their uneasiness under im- positions, restraints, and injuries inflicted by the country that drove their fathers from home, to seek a dwelling on the rocks of Plymouth. " A person who arrived at Boston from Rhode Island, having informed the custom-house officers, that the sloop in which he came, had a cask or two of wine in her, and caused her seizure, was himself seized by the populace, placed in a cart, stript, 'and his naked skin well tarred and feathered.' ' He was carried from the town hall to the liberty tree, bearing in his hand a large lanthorn, that people might see the doleful condition he was in.' " Wm. Had they liberty poles then ? TJn. I should have informed you that this was after the repeal of the stamp act, but I have men- tioned these tarrings and featherings all together as proceeding from another cause. John. Pray, sir, was this strange mode of punish- ing invented in America? Un. No. The first instance that I have met with, was inflicted by order of Richard Ca3ur de Lion, upon a crusader, convicted of theft. You will find I06 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. It in Michaud's History of the Crusades, in French; if I recollect aright, it took place on ship-board, and the head of the man was shaved, the tar poured on it, and then feathers strewed over the tar. Wm. So, what was invented by a king was prac- tised by a mob. Un. Another source of irritation w^as the conduct of English men-of-war when in our harbours ; they required of all. the sloops and boats that passed them to strike their colours, as if in token of servitude ; and an instance is on record of a ship of war, an- chored in this harbour, firing a cannon ball into the pleasure-boat of a gentleman going from Whitehall to Elizabethtown with his friends, his wife, and his children, because this ceremony happened to be ne- glected. The ball struck the nurse, who had an in- fant in her arms, and instantly killed her. The gentleman, Mr. Ricketts, immediately returned to New York and complained ; the coroner pronounced it a case of murder : but no redress could be obtain- ed short of an application to Great Britain ; for the governor of the province by his commission was prohibited from all jurisdiction in any of the har- bours, bays, &c. Thus an insolent officer on ship- board, or a drunken sailor, might sink a boat tra- versing our harbour for business or pleasure, sacri- fice the lives of men or w^omen, and the murderer could only be punished or called to an account three thousand miles off Wm. And did Americans bear all this ? Un. No, my boy, we shall see that they did not; but the time had not yet arrived. At the period of which we speak other grievances were goading the people to madness; and the rulers in Great Britain at the same time accused America of ingratitude, and talked of favours bestowed upon her. In addi- tion to the insolence of the officers and soldiers HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 107 spread through the country, (governors and revenue oiRcers in our seaports, custom-house officers on shore and on ship-board,) we had to suffer the out- rage of impressment, or resist at the peril of life. It is true that an act of parliament had been passed in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, (1707,) by which, for the encouragement of trade in Amer- ica, it was enacted that "no person serving as a mar- iner on board any privateer or trading vessel should be impressed, unless such person shall have desert- ed from a ship of war." I find this act of parliament quoted by the inhabitants of Boston, in town-meet- ing, June, 1768, in consequence of an attempt to press men for an English ship of w^ar. The in- habitants looked to the English governor, Bernard, for redress ; and he answered, as if ignorant of the statute, that it was the custom at home, and he could not interfere, Wm. A pretty fellow for a governor, if he did not know of the existence of laws made on purpose for the place he was sent to govern ! Un. Always let us remember, my good boy, that the great Mr. Pitt, Lord Chatham, as I said beforei, and may repeat again, gave as his opinion that " no company of foot-soldiers sent by his majesty to Ameri- ca, but could furnish a man fit for the governor of a colony.' ' But before this affair at Boston, which was in 1768, and even before the stamp act, I find it re- corded that •' four fishermen, who supplied the New York market, in the month of June, 1764, were seized by a press-gang in the harbour and carried on board a tender, to be taken to Halifax for his majesty's service." But the captain of the tender, as ignorant as Governor Bernard or any other colo- ny governor, thinking that he had done his duty, (and either not knowing that the people of the town had heard the fate of their fishermen, or, perhaps. 108 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. little dreaming that they would dare oppose hfs ma- jesty's officer,) went on shore in his barge with the usual man-of-war imposing appearance. But n(? sooner had he landed, than the populace (I will not call them mob) seized the boat, without offering any injury to the captain or crew. The gallant officer found that he was off (if not out of) his element, and' offered to restore the fishermen. But the people were now up, and away they went with the barge. The officer, probably by the advice of some gentlo' men of the town, repaired to the coffee-house and wrote an order for the release of the impressed men, which was delivered to some one present, and 8 party went from the coffee-house, took a boat, board- ed the tender with the captain's order, and returned in triumph with the four prisoners. Wm. I dare say Captain Isaac Sears was of that party. Un. It may be; or Alexander McDougal, or some other spirited patriot. Phil. What became of the barge, Uncle? Un. While this peaceable transaction was going on at the coffee-house, which was near the bottom of Wall street, the people had dragged the boat to- the green in the fields, where the park is now, and there they kindled a fire and burnt her. The ma- gistrates met, but before they could interfere the poor barge was sacrificed to liberty. In the after- noon the court assembled to take cognizance of the affair; "but," says the record, "they were not able to discover any of thepersons concerned in the mischief" Phil. I guess the English men-of-war did not think of pressing men in our harbour after that. Un. But they did though. However, they kept clear of the shore. On the 24th of April, 1764, tho ship Prince George arrived from Bristol, and find- ing that there was a man-of-war in the harbour. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 109 they took the command of the vessel from the offi- cers, (probably with the captain's consent,) and steer- ed up our beautiful bay, prepared to resist any at- tempt to enslave them. As they expected, off came a boat, strongly manned from the Garland man-of-war, and soon came along- side the merchantman, think- ing to board, but they found the crew armed and forbidding the visit. The officer's orders were dis- regarded, and his efforts to gain the deck in vain ; he and his aen were beat off, while the Prince pur- sued her vjAj. Seeing this opposition to his gracious majesty's pleasure, the captain oi the Garland fired on the merchantman, and sent another boat to aid the first ; but the rebellious sailors kept on their way, and the baffled press-gangs returned, after following almost to the wharves of the town, where they saw indications of a reception that induced them rather to brave the frowns of the disappointed captain of the Garland. But the affair in Boston harbour was one of more consequence, and resistance was there made which terminated in death to one of the in- vaders of the people's rights. An attempt ensued, on the part of the English officers of government on shore, to sanction the invasion and punish the legal and authorized defenders of their liberty, by the sen- tence due to murderers. This happened in 1769, and although after the excitements occasioned by the stamp act, I tell it to you now in connexion with similar events at New York. John. Please, sir, go on. We shall understand all the evils that the Americans suffered from this particular cause the better. Un. That is what I wish. Mr. John Adams, then a young lawyer, and long the friend and servant of his country, has recorded the transaction in a letter to the Rev. Doctor Morse. A lieutenant, a midshipman, and a press-gang were sent from an English frigate 10 110 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. called the Rose, lying in Boston harbour, as the Garland did in that of New York, to board a ship coming in from the sea. This was an American vessel, and they boarded her and ordered all the crew to appear on deck. The lieutenant doubting that all were before him, ordered a search, and the midshipman and gang found four men in " the fore peak." These Americans seeing their invaders armed with pistols and cutlasses, gave them warn- ing by their spokesman, Michael Corbett, that they would resist — it was in vain ; pistols were fired, and Lieutenant Panton fell dead, shot by the man who had warned him to desist from the attempt. A re- inforcement was sent for from the frigate, the four American seamen were overpowered and made pris- oners, one of them bleeding from a pistol ball. A spe- cial Court of Admiralty was called to try these four American seamen for piracy and murder. All the great officers of Great Britain were arrayed against them: the governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Bernard and Wentworth ; with Auch- muty, judge of admiralty; the commodore of the station. Hood ; the noted Hutchinson ; and counsel- lors from several provinces. Some patriotic lawyers volunteered to defend them, and John Adams stood ready with the book of the statutes at large, show- ing, by the act of parliament above mentioned, that the assault on these men was illegal and the killing Panton justifiable. But the court seemed afraid of the trial, although apparently ignorant of the law relative to impressments in America. They ad- journed, again and again — held secret conclaves, and at length the prisoners were placed at the bar. The facts were stated by the English sailors, and were not denied by the Americans. Mr. Adams stood ready to produce the statute of Anne, express- ly prohibiting the impressment of seamen in Amer- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Ill ica. He told the court that the action of killing Lieutenant Panton could only be construed into jus- tifiable homicide. At these words, Hutchinson again started up and moved that the prisoners be remanded ; the court adjourned to the council room, sat all that day, and the next the prisoners were again brought lo the bar. The town and the country rushed around the court, and when the excited multitude expected the solemn trial to proceed, Bernard arose, and pro- nounced that the opinion of the court was, that the act amounted only to justifiable homicide. Auch- muty said such was the unanimous opinion of the court. The prisoners were pronounced to be ac- quitted, and accordingly discharged. Such was the conduct of the officers of Great Britain in the col- onies both before and after the passing and repeal of the stamp act. Johji. You have told us, sir, that the colonists seemed content to submit to the English laws reg- ulating their trade, and to paying duties on the goods they imported; what occasioned England to lay on the additional tax by the stamp act ? And w^hat great- er objections had America to that than to the paying duties on imported goods 1 Un. As to the first question, it seemed that Eng- land considered the colonies as her property. Eng- lishmen did not speak of Americans as " our fellow subjects,^' but as our colonists. The parliament looked only to America with a view to raising mo- ney. On the 10th of March they laid heavy duties on articles imported by the colonists from the West Indies, and resolved upon imposing stamp duties ; and the March following, in 1765, they passed the stamp act. To this all America rose up in opposi- tion as one man. It had no advocates but the king's governors, their tools, and the officers appointed to receive and deal out the stamps; and ihe^/ were 112 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. afraid to receive them, or were obliged to renounce their appointments. You ask me why the people who submitted to duties on the goods they imported, should resist this act. As I have said, they in their weakness submitted to necessity, and said, " we can avoid paying these duties, unless we can afford, and choose, to buy the articles imported. They are not absolutely necessary to life, and if we pay these ex- ternal taxes to Great Britain, it is only paying so much more for luxuries. But to pay for stamps to render valid every legal proceeding, every bill of sale and receipt, every license for marriage, and every will of the dying, is paying an internal tax ; such a tax there is no avoiding ; and internal tax- ation once begun, will be continued. Our property maybe taken from us without our consent, and that is not only contrary to every principle of good gov- ernment, but of natural justice, and violates at once and totally our rights as English subjects ; who are never taxed but by their own consent given by their representatives. Now, as we cannot be represented in England, we are represented in our assemblies, and when they impose taxes, either for our own af- fairs, or to comply with any requisition from Eng- land, it is our own grant; but to be taxed at th^ will of an English parliament reduces us to positive slavery." John. Was not this the truth, sir ? Tin. I think so — and so all America thouo-ht. Now we will see how this act was received in New York. It wes passed in March, and as early as .A pril it was haw^ked about the streets of our city, with this title, " The folly of England and the ruin of America." Wm. Uncle Philip mentioned that, and he said that a congress of many of the people met in New York to talk about the stamp act, and to determine HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 113 what was to be done ; and that men were sent to that congress from, I believe, all the colonies. Tin. This congress of deputies from nine of the colonies met in New York, October, 1765. Before their meeting, the legislature of Massachusetts had echoed the words of James Otis, solemnly denying the right of parliament to tax the colonies; and Vir- ginia had repeated the same. All the lawyers of the supreme court of New Jersey, held at Perth Amboy, had declared to the chief-justice, .that in their law proceedings they would not use the stamps, but rather suffer any consequences of refusal. John. How did Governor Golden behave when this first colonial congress met at New York? Tin. The delegates from Connecticut waited upon him, and he told them that " such a congress was unconstitutional, unprecedented, and unlawful, and that he should give them no countenance." Win. And didn't they laugh at him? John. 1 suppose, sir, that these Connecticut gen- tlemen waited upon him merely to show him the respect which they thought due to his office as gov- ernor of the province of New York. Tin. This congress elected Timothy Ruggles their president ; but James Otis was the soul of the meeting. Their resolutions were similar to the sen- timents I have given you, and these sentiments were imbodied in a very respectfully worded address, by a committee of three, two of whom were great men, Robert R. Livingston and Samuel W. Johnson. This was an address to the king. Wm. Uncle Philip told us that the people of New York made Mr. McEvers give up his com- mission, or appointment, for selling the stamps ; and that Mr. Colden took possession of them. Un. He had them brought to the fort. This en- raged the people, who disliked him very much before; 10* H4 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. and, as you know, they showed their resentment pret- ty violently. You are now older than when my brother talked to you on this subject, and as it is one particularly belonging to New York, I will give you a more minute account of the transactions in our city on the memorable first of November, 1765, the day on which the stamp act was to have taken effect, which would have opened the way for that system of internal taxation the parliament of Great Britain- had declared they had a right to impose upon their colonists. John. Do, sir, if you please ; for I wish to know all about my native city, and I cannot find any book to inform me. Un. We know that even at that early period New York was of considerable importance in the eyes of the English ministry, and was looked up to, in a commercial point of vieAV, by the neighbouring col- onies. There was a military force kept up there ; it was the head-quarters of his majesty's American army. The fort was a place of some strength; and in the harbour were several men-of-war. Opposi- tion to the distribution of stamps, it was known, would be made, and preparations for their security seem to have been concerted between Governor Col- den and the officers of the land and sea forces. On the 23d of October, the stamped paper arrived in one of the London ships, commanded by Captain Davis. Immediately on the arrival of these import- ant papers, they were placed for safe-keeping on board one of the ships of war in the harbour. As McEvers, the stamp oiRcer, was afraid to touch them, they were landed with due precaution, and received by Colden in the fort, where, you know, he resided. Phil. We know — ^the fort was on high ground, between the Bowling Green and the Battery. Un. The fort had been repaired by order of Col- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 115 len, ammunition accumulated, and guns mounted, as if to intimidate the people. Immediately after the stamped paper was landed, handbills appeared in the streets, threatening" any one who received or delivered a stamp. On the 31st of October, th@ merchants had a meeting, and resolved not to im- port goods from England. Wm. Captain Sears was a merchant then. Un. In the evening of that day the people assem- bled, and a large party or company marched through the streets to Fort George, as if to bid defiance to the governor. They paraded the streets, and when commanded by the magistrates to disperse, they re- fused ; but did no mischief, and at their own time, quietly dispersed. Wm. Why, Uncle, this was pretty like the be- ginning of war. U71. Very like it, boy; and so were the declarations of parliament on one side, and of the congress that met at New York on the other. For the first, declared their right and intention to tax the colonies ; and the second, denied that right in positive terms ; and if the parliament had not repealed this act, and there- by retracted, war would have commenced ten years before it did. John. Well, sir, what happened on the first of November ? Vn. More handbills were put up next day threat ening vengeance on the protectors of the stamps; and in the evening, about seven o'clock, two com- panies appeared who acted as if by concert. Wm. Captain Sears was with one, I dare say. Un. One company proceeded to the fields, where the park now is, (then out of town,) and they very soon erected a gallows, on which they hung an ef- figy, previously prepared, to represent Colden, " in his hand a stamped paper;" "at his back a drum; il6 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. on his breast a label ;" "by his side they hung with a boot in his hand" a figure to represent the devil. While this was going on in the open space, now the park, the other company, with another figure repre- senting Golden, seated in a chair, carried by men, preceded and surrounded by others carrying lights, and attended by a great multitude, paraded the streets, and in this order advanced to the fort, the gates of which were shut, the sentinels placed, and the cannon on that side pointed on the town. Un- fortunately for the lieutenant-governor, though he was safely ensconced within the ramparts, his coach- house and carriage were without the gates. The populace broke in, and brought forth the chariot upon which they fixed the chair and effigy. They then proceeded with great rapidity to the fields, about the same time that the other party were pre- paring to move to the fort with the gallows, its ap- pendages, and several lanterns affixed to it. When the two parties met, silence was ordered. The or- der was obeyed. Proclamation was made " that no stones should be thrown, no windows broken, and no injury off*ered to any one." Strict attention was paid to this injunction. The multitude then repair- ed to the fort, and found the soldiers on the rampart. They marched to the gate — knocked, and demanded admittance. This was of course refused. They then, after showing some indignities to the representative of the governor, retired to the Bowling Green, "still," says the writer, " under the muzzles of the guns." Phil. The iron railing would prevent them from getting in. Tin. That iron fence which you have been accus- tomed to see was not there at this time. It was erected five years after for a purpose connected with this present excitement. The Green was then en- closed wilii v»?ooden palisades, which the people tore HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 117 down, and piling them up in the centre of the Green, they kindled a fire, adding planks from the fence at- tached to the fort. On this pile they immolated the governor's carriage and effigies; and soon, the coach and gallows, the effigies of man and devil, were reduced to ashes. While some attended to the bonfire, others, "making a passage through the other side of the palisades," that is, up Broadway, " repaired," says the w^riter, " to the house lately known by the name of Vauxhall, and now in the occupation of Major James of the royal regiment of artillery." Here with the blind fury of intoxi- cated savages they destroyed every article of this gentleman's property they could find; books, math- ematical instruments — thino;s which men in their senses would venerate and cherish ; but the people had been exasperated by expressions he had used — they were now wrought to madness, and showed by their excesses the danger of setting a mob in mo- tion. On this occasion the inhabitants began with a degree of order to execute a preconcerted scheme of insult and defiance to a man they disliked ; their numbers would be increased by idlers, vagabonds, blackguards, and thieves; and their order would terminate in brutal violence. John. Did Mr. Golden do any thing next day, sir ? Un. Yes. Handbills appeared, dated November 2d, — this is a copy. Read it. Jolm. " The lieutenant-governor declares he will do nothing with the stamps, but leave it to Sir Henry Moore, to do as he pleases on his arrival." "By order of his honour. Signed, Geo. Banyar, D. C. Coun." Un. Mr. Moore was the new governor that was coming from England. In the next newspaper ap- peared the following : " The governor acquainted Judge Livingston, the Mayor, Mr. Beverly Robin- 10 il8 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. son, and Mr. John Stevens, this morning, being Monday, the 4th of November, that he would not issue, nor suffer to be issued, any of the stamps, now in Fort GeorgeP Signed, Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger, Beverly Robinson, John Stevens. Another notice appeared without any signatures : " The freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of this city, being satisfied that the stamps are not to be issued, are determined to keep the peace of the city, at all events, except they should have other cause of complaint." John. This, I suppose, satisfied the people. Un. No. They declared that the stamps should " be delivered out of the fort, or they would take them away by force." So, after much negotiation, it was agreed that Captain Kennedy should be re- quested to take them on board his majesty's ship Coventry, and if he refused, that they should be de- livered to the corporation. Kennedy declined re- ceiving them ; and they were delivered to the mayor and common council, and deposited in the city hall, in Wall street. It is said that while the people were in this commotion, the cannon on Copsey Bat- tery, and in the king's yard, were all spiked up, as were also many belonging to the merchants, in or- der to prevent any use being made of them, for ob- taining the stamps. Copsey Battery was below the fort, and so called as being erected on the Copsey or Capsey rocks, an Indian name. John. Uncle Philip told us that some people who were in favour of the stamp act read a paper to the inhabitants, persuading them to put down such riot- ous proceedings. Un. I do not believe, that except officers, civil and military, and a few Englishmen, there were any people in favour of this detested act. Many HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 119 moderate men were opposed to, and ashamed of, the late violent proceedings. John. But he told us that many justified them, and that Captain Sears said that that paper had been read to them to prevent them from getting pos- session of the stamped papers. Un. I have no doubt that Mr. Sears and his as- sociates dictated the resolutions which brought Mr. Golden to deliver up the papers as I have related to you. They had no confidence in Golden. It was known that many acts of his administration had been for selfish ends, and selfish men are never to be trusted. Even the intrigue by which he obtained his commission was known to have been founded on misrepresentation. So great was the dislike to Golden, that when, after the repeal of the stamp act, when the assembly of New York made compensa- tion to Major James and others for property destroy- ed, they refused to pay Mr. Golden, though he made out his account and sent it to them. They said that what he had suffered was owing to his own miscon- duct. Wm. That was right, John. I suppose, sir, all was quiet now, for a time. TJji. In a little time. Sir Henry Moore came ; he was a man of prudence, and was very well received ; but in January, 1766, another parcel of these stamped papers caused another more moderate exertion of the people's power, though very decisive and sum- mary. A party of the inhabitants went at midnight, armed, to the wharf where the brig lay, on board of which it was known stamped papers sent for New York and Gonnecticut had been shipped. They entered the brig, demanded the keys, struck a light, and searched until they found ten boxes filled with these tokens of the affection of Great Britain to America. They were soon removed from the brig 120 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. to a small boat, and rowed up the East river to the shipyards, which were then where Catharine street now comes to the water. Here the party broke open the boxes, and making a flame with some tar barrels, the stamps were added to the bonfire, and their ashes distributed to the winds. This done, the men returned quietly to town and dispersed. Wm. Uncle, where was Major Gates at this time? Un. He was in his native land with his friend and patron General Monckton, soliciting still farther promotion. By and by, I will give you a sketch of his history up to the time that General Wash- inofton recommended him to con Duress for the office of adjutant-general. At present we must see what Sir Henry Motre the new governor did in the year 1766. John. Uncle Philip told us that he did very little for New York ; indeed he said little about him. Un. Yet the transactions of that time are well worth your knowing, and remembering. The new ruler arrived, I think, early in December, but be- fore he reached America, Major James, whose pro- perty had been burned, went to England to tell his story, and Mr. Golden wrote by him to the minis- try ; to his letter he was answered, that Sir Henry Moore was then on his way to New York with in- creased powers; among others, to suspend members of the council. The minister says, " such times as these may require the exercise of that power," and that it is expected governors " should not want firm- ness to use it boldly, whenever it may seem useful to the king's service and publick peace." This puts me in mind of some letters I have seen in MSS., from William Smith, son of the historian of New York up to the year 1762 ; a high king's man ; and afterward chief-justice of Lower Canada. He wrote several times to Major Gates, who was in England HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 121 during 1763 and '64. In one letter he says, "We in America loant aid, not to maintain the dependen- cy of the colonies, for you know, saucy as we are, there is nothing to fear on that accountP He rep- robates the cowardly expedient of removing gov- ernors, because the people don't like them. He says, " the first error is on your side of the water." Governor Boone of New Jersey had been recalled. Smith says the cause *' was his contest with a pro2id licentious assembly.'''' "We area great garden — constant cultivation will keep down the weeds; re- member they were planted by liberty and religion near a hundred years ago. There are strong roots that will despise the gardener's utmost strength." He then calls for governors and judges of spirit and abilities; as it would seem, to keep down these w^eeds planted by liberty and religion. It was thus these civil and military officers of England talked among themselves of America ; and it was by such representations that Great Britain was encouraged to persevere in her attempts to make the colonies submit to taxation by an English parliament. Wm. But they found themselves mistaken, sir ! Un. Happily, boy, they did, — happily for Amer- ica, for England, and for the world. In March, 1766, that parliament repealed the stamp act, not because it was unjust, but because they saw that they could not enforce it, and that it was necessary to de- fer their plans of subjugation for a time. You have now, I presume, a sufficient knowledge of the op- position to the stamp act, and the rejoicings at the repeal. John. Oh yes, sir, and of Lord Chatham, that friend to America. U)i. So Americans considered him ; but he never was in the true sense a friend to America. He was a friend to what he considered the interests and glo* n 122 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. ry of Great Britain ; and only opposed the stamp act because he saw that it could not be carried into effect. He advocated the doctrine which declared the British parliament sovereign over the colonies in all cases whatsoever — he died exerting his last spark of life in opposition to American independ- ence; and yet Americans, having been once per- suaded that he was their friend, have continued to this day so to call him. The assembly of New York had a statue of him made in Europe and set up here in Wall street ; the British, wlien they took the city, knocked off the head and one hand — the Americans, when they returned to the city, removed the trunk. Yet it is but a few months, since some, calling themselves Americans, and supposed to un- derstand the history of their country, would have replaced the statue of William Pitt, Earl of Chat- ham, in our high places, as the representation of a friend to American liberty ! John. Indeed, sir, I thought he was. Till. You are excusable, my son ; I dare say you were taught so in your school books. But men of education should know better. John Adams did not think so. He has written and authorized these words to be published : " The resistance in Amer- ica was so universal and determined, that Great Britain, with all her omnipotence, dared not attempt to enforce her pretensions — she saw she could do nothing without her Chatham ; he was called in to command the forlorn hope ; and at the same time to invent the ruse de guerre^ The stamp act \vj3 repealed, and the statute passed, that " Parliament was sovereign over the colonies, in all cases what- soever." The repeal of an act, by which they were taxed for stamps upon all legalized contracts, blinded them to the assertion which announced that they were slaves to the people of Great Britain. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 123 Mr. Adams says of Chatham, " He died a martyr to his idol. He fell in the house of lords, with the sovereignty of parliament in his mouth." Yet, boys, you and other children have been taught to call this effort to rouse his countrymen to war to the death against this country, a speech in favour of American liberty ! John. Indeed, sir, I see the truth now. But it is hard that we should be taught so many falsehoods. Un. It is, my good boy ; but our remedy must be to examine and judge for ourselves ; determined to find the truth, and when we have found it, to tell it boldly. The undeserved reputations of individu- als w^ill suffer, but the names of the worthy will shine more bright ; and the cause of truth will gain in lustre. John. Is it known, sir, what the inscription was on the statue of Chatham, or on its pedestal ? Un. Yes : I have preserved a copy of it for the benefit of the curious. Here it is : Read it. John. " A marble pedestrian statue of Lord Chat- ham was erected in Wall street, on the 7th of Sep- tember, 1770. The statue was in a Roman habit; the right hand holding a scroll partly open, on which was inscribed, ' Ariiculi MagncE Chartce Liberta- turn.'' The left hand is extended, in the attitude of one delivering an oration. On the south side of the pedestal is the following inscription cut in marble : * This statue of the right honourable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was erected as a publick testimo- ny of the grateful sense the colony of New York retains of the many eminent services he rendered to America, particularly in promoting the repeal of the stamp act. Anno Dom. 1770.' " Un. Now we will adjourn until to-morrow. 124 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. CHAPTER X. John. Now, sir, please to go on : for the better I understand our history the greater is my anxiety to know more of it. Tin. That is the nature of all knowledge. The greater our acquirements, the more delightful is all subsequent study. Thus knowledge is "twice bless- ed." The people of America were so delighted by the repeal of the stamp act that they took no notice of the declaration of parliament accompanying it. They had resisted; Great Britain had retracted — they tri- umphed. But of all places New York seemed to rejoice most. We have seen that they erected a statue to Pitt, but they likewise set up an image of his most gracious majesty George the Third ! They ordered these statues to be made in Europe, during the ebullition of gratitude for not having the collar and chain put on, seeming to forget that fear alone prevented the attempt to rivet the irons by force. These statues were ordered ; but before they were set up the eyes of most men in America were freed from the films created by European jugglers. Still the people believed then, and long after, that Lord Chatham was their friend, and huzzaed when the image was placed at the junction of William and Smith streets, in Wall street ; but when the Bow- ling Green was prepared by the iron railing, still standing, and the equestrian statue of George the Third appeared in the centre, mounted on a marble pedestal, the event was celebrated only by his officers and their dependants ; it was soon tumbled to the dust, and has been so forgotten, that grave writers have said, " the statue that once stood in the Bowling Green of New York, was that of George the Second." ^ HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 125 John. While on the subject, please, sir, to tell us the history of this image of royalty. Un. That it may not interrupt the chain of more interesting events, I will. The people, as you have heard, were so delighted with the success of their opposition to the stamp act, that they could not (or would not) see the meaning of the declaration that the British parliament had a right to bind the colo- nies in all cases whatsoever ; their triumph dazzled their eyes, and they saw in Mr. Pitt and his master, two friends and benefactors. The assembly of New York voted money for an equestrian statue of the king, and a pedestrian representation of his minister. About three years after the statues of Pitt and his roy- al master were ordered, they arrived. The necessary preparations were made for erecting them, and the place of honour, the Bowling Green in front of Fort George, was selected for his sacred majesty's image, on the spot where the people had burnt the effigy of Governor Golden. It was pompously announced that this monument was intended to perpetuate the memory of the gratitude of his loyal subjects to the best of kings. It lasted five years. I suppose all was not ready on the 4th of June, the day annually celebrated as the happy epoch of his birth, therefore the 21st of August, 1770, was selected for placing the horse and his rider on the pedestal prepared for their reception. John. Why that day, sir ? Un. It being the birthday of his deceased father, Frederick, Prince of Wales. Wm. O yes, the son of George the Second. Un. He died, you know, without ascending the throne. One of our oldest citizens has told me that he helped, as a journeyman wheelwright, to make the truck on which this ponderous effigy was dragged to the Bowling Green, ** and the weight tore up the 11 126 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. pavement as it went along," said he. Even the gilded image of royalty was burdensome and inju- rious. Here is a memorandum of the ceremony, cut from a newspaper of the time ; first premising that the corporation of the city and members of {sev- eral incorporated institutions waited on Lieutenant- governor Golden, by invitation, at the fort. Wm. What became of Sir Henry Moore, sir ? U?i. O, he had been long gone and Golden had ruled, after him and Dunmore had come and gone, all in this short time, and now the old gentleman presided, at the elevation of his master on the spot selected by the people, formerly, for a very different exhibition. John. " His majesty's health and other loyal toasts were drank, under a discharge of thirty-two pieces of cannon from the Battery, accompanied with a band of music. This beautiful statue is made of metal." Un. The writer did not like to say lead. John. " Being the fijst equestrian one of his pres- ent majesty, and is the workmanship of that cele- brated statuary, Mr. Wilson, of London. We learn that in a few days a marble pedestrian statue of Mr. Pitt, will be erected in Wall street." Tin. Of that we have already spoken. This equestrian statue of George the Third stood until the summer of 1776, and then was overthrown, and (tradition says) converted into musket balls by the provincials to resist his majesty's soldiers. I saw this statue in 1775, and the pedestal stood in the centre of the Bowling Green, as a kind of monu ment of departed royalty, and of the plain plat' form-simplicity of democracy, for some years after the revolution ; and I wish it had remained there still, that the memory of the statue it once bore, its elevation, and its fall, might have been recalled by HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 127 the question of every stranger, " What is the mean- ing of that vacant pedestal?" But come, boys, (for I see Mary has deserted us to-day,) we must go back to 1766, and the arrival of Sir Henry Moore. This gentleman was the more acceptable from the unpop- ularity of Golden, and affairs were quiet here for a short time. But men of discernment saw the de- claration of parliament of their sovereignty over the colonies, and risfht to " bind them in all cases what- soever," hanging like the sword of Damocles over their heads, suspended by a hair. Wm. I remember Damocles, sir, in my ancient history. Un. A man named Charles To^vnsend cut the hair, and the sword fell in the shape of an act of parliament levying duties on painters' colours, paper, glass, and several other articles, and taking off the duties on teas in England, which had there been a source of revenue, and levying three pence per pound upon all kinds that should be in future pur- chased in the colonies. To add to the alarm occa- sioned by this additional taxation, the colonists found that their governors and judges appointed^ by Eng- land, were to be paid from the revenue raised from Americans without their consent, and thus made m- dependent, as it respected salaries. _ Another griev- ance v/hich had been partly submitted to was in- creased ; this was the quartering of troops on the provinces. A denial to obey the orders of the min- istry, promulgated by Sir Henry Moore, caused an act of parliament suspending New York from all powers of legislation, until she complied. This, you understand, was annihilating the assembly, the representatives of the people, by a stroke of a min- isterial pen. Wm. But our people did not submit to this ! Un. As a part of our own history I must relate 128 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. some particulars of the transactions of the time. Sir Henry Moore had declared his instructions, and repeated messages and answers had passed to ana fro, when on the 23d of June, 1766, the assembly told the governor that they would furnish the bar- racks of New York and Albany with bedding, fire- wood, candles, and utensils for cooking, for two bat- talions, not exceeding five hundred men each, and they would do no more. Wm, And too much, for soldiers to lord it over them ! Un. So Mr. McDougal, and Mr. Sears, and many others thought ; but Sir Henry and his employers thought otherwise, as you shall see. The governor wrote to the ministry expressing his surprise, that instead of the gratitude he expected for the signal favours they had received, the assembly of New York evaded the demand made upon them for the troops, and only complied in part, " through fear of the ill-consequences which would attend their re- fusing." The ministry wrote to Sir Henry Moore requiring cheerful obedience to the act of parlia- ment for quartering his majesty's troops. Sir Henry repeated his demand upon the assembly, and was answered that they had done as much as they could do. So early next year the bill was passed to pun- ish New York for disobedience, prohibiting the en- actment of any law whatsoever in the colony. The consequence of this was universal alarm through all the colonies, and resolutionsnot to import European goods. Before mentioning any other matters that agitated the colonies generally, and New York in particular, I will speak of some further troubles arising from the quartering of English soldiers, though they happened in 1769. A notice appeared in .he newspapers censuring the assembly for grant- ing 200/. for quartering troops; and calling a meet- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 129 mg of the people. Accordingly, on the 18th of De- cember, about fourteen hundred of the people met in the fields ; resolves were read to them by Mr. John Lamb, (afterward a captain in the expedition under Montgomery, and long known here as General Lamb,) and they announced their dissatisfaction with the grant of money abovementioned; and further, that they would not grant any thing for the quartering and supporting of troops among them. On the 20th, Mr. Golden (for Sir Henry Moore died September 11th, 1769) issued his proclamation, saying that the assembly had by resolve declared the paper pub- lished on the 16th instant, calling the meeting of the 18th, to be an infamous libel, and offering a reward of 501. for the discovery of the author, Philip Schuyler was alone in the minority on this question ; he then took a stand that he never quitted. At the meeting in the fields a committee was ap- pointed to wait upon the representatives of the city in the general assembly, and to communicate these resolutions to them; Mr. Lamb, Mr. McDougal, and Captain Sears were on this committee. They executed their office, were received civilly, but were told that the majority of the people approved the act of the legislature ; and it was too late to reconsider it. Meantime Mr. Lamb was ordered to appear be- fore the house of representatives to answer for hav- ing proposed the resolutions in the fields. The committee immediately announced that they were all equally answerable, and Mr. Lamb was dis- missed. It was well known that Alexander McDou- gal was the writer of the offensive paper ; and he was subsequently called before the assembly to answer to this charge. He refused; as the house had already declared the writing a libel. This was con- strued *'a contempt," and he was committed, that is, put in jai) ; and remained in prison several months. 130 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Thus the assembly appeared in opposition to the people. When we next meet I will give you an ac- count of the New York liberty pole, and the trou- bles the people had to defend it from the attacks of the soldiers, whom they were taxed to support in idleness, to answer the purpose of their enemies in the English parliament. CHAPTER XL Wm. Now, Uncle, remember your promise to give us the history of the New York liberty pole. John. Was the one in New York the first ever known, sir? Un. Perhaps the first 7nast or -pole that received that appellation. You have read in the history of Switzerland that the governor sent by Austria to rule in Uri, triumphantly erected a pole, placed a hat on it, and ordered the citizens to do homage to the emblem of tyranny. Wm. That was a tyranny pole ; but brave Wil- liam Tell would not bow to it. Un. It was erected to celebrate the triumph of despotism ; here the good people of New York tri- umphantly raised a mast in the fields, which, you know, was the place of all their great meetings, and has been used for like purposes since it has had the name of park, because enclosed and ornamented. They were delighted that the opposition to the stamp act had caused its abrogation ; and were blind to the insolent declaration which accompanied the repeal, " that the parliament had a right to bind the colo- nies in all cases whatsoever.''^ It was enough for the moment that Great Britain had been forced to HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 131 retract. The news of the repeal, which took place in March, reached New York in May. Prepara- tions were made for celebrating the event, and Sir Henry Moore had policy enough to unite the re- joicings for a victory obtained by the people with the usual demonstrations of loyalty and attachment to his master always evinced on the king's birthday. By this means he could with propriety join with the people in demonstrations of joy. Accordingly on the 4th of June, a mast, as it was then called, was erected in the fields, inscribed " to his most gra- cious majesty George the Third, Mr. Pitt, and Lib- erty." It is recorded that an ox was roasted on each side of the common ; a large stage was built up, on which was placed twenty-five barrels of strong beer, a hogshead of rum, with sugar and other materials to make punch ; at another part of the fields, or com- mon, were preparations for a bonfire, twenty-five cords of wood surrounded a pole, to the top of which was aflixed twelve tar-barrels. At the upper end of the fields were placed five and twenty pieces of cannon, a flag-staff displayed the colours of England, and a oand of musick played " God save the king." The governor, his council, the magistrates, with their civil and military officers, celebrated the day at tho fort, in all probability, as was customary, by feast- ing, and drinking loyal toasts to the sound of mar- tial musick, and discharges of artillery. After this display of patriotism and loyalty in the fields, the people retired and left the mast standing with the inscription to the I^ing, Pitt, and Liberty; and they soon had a proof that the rejoicings of the mil- itary, and king's officers of every kind, on the 4th of June, were not for the repeal of the stamp act, or the triumph of the rights of the people. John. How, sir? Un. On Sunday night, the 10th of August, the 132 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. mast " was cut down by some of the so.diers of the twenty-eighth regiment, quartered in the barracks." This was meant as an insult to the inhabitants, and felt as such ; but they at first only showed their de- termination by meeting on the 11th and preparing to erect another " post" in place of that "which had been taken down the night before;" to this their •would-be-masters objected, and interfered. A party of soldiers rushed in among them, with their bayo- nets in their hands, some sheathed and some un- sheathed, and as the depositions of several persons state, " cutting and slashing every one that fell in their way; the people retreating, and followed by the soldiers as far as Chapel street ;" that is, Beek- man street, which was called Chapel street for many years after the building of St. George's chapel. W7)i. Was there no one to fight these soldiers ? Where was Captain Sears ? U71. He was at his post, encouraging the people to set up another pole ; but he was unarmed, and was one that received wounds from the insolent sol- diers. The people, however, re-erected the mast to the " King, Mr. Pitt, and Liberty;" and the military (probably overawed by the threats of the populace and restrained by the policy of their superiours) suf- fered it to stand until the night of the 18th of March, 1767, when after the citizens had celebrated the day as the anniversary of the repeal, and retired to rest, the soldiers cut down the seco7id "mast." The next day the inhabitants (or that portion of them now distinguished as the "Sons of Liberty") erected another, more substantial, and secured with iron hoops to a considerable height above the ground. The night after this was set up, attempts were made to overthrow it, but without success. On Saturday night, the 21st of March, there was an attempt feo HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 133 blow it up, by boring a hole and firnng it with gun- nowder; but this also failed. Win,. Why didn't the liberty boys keep watch, and blow them up? Vn. Next night a strong watch was set. A small company of soldiers appeared, with their coats turn- ed, and armed with bludgeons and bayonets ; but finding that they were expected, they sneaked off The next evening about six o'clock a party of armed military marched to the post; and as they passed the tavern at which the repeal of the stamp act had been celebrated, they fired their muskets, two of which were pointed at the building. One ball passed through the house, and another lodged in a piece of its timber. This outrageous attempt at murder probably a.larmed their superiours, who had encouraged them before, for on the next Tuesday, as the soldiers were proceeding to the pole, with a lad- der, taken from a building then erecting, they were turned back by an officer. The governor now issued orders for restraining the soldiery, and the attempts ceased for a time. Johji. For how long, sir? Un. Certainly till the next celebration of the king's birthday ; for I find it recorded that on the 4th of June, 1767, when the "royal salute was fired from the fort, it was answered by twenty-one guns from the "liberty pole," (now so called,) "on which," says the record, " was suspended a union." Wm. What is that, sir ? Un. A flag so called, which indicated the union of England and Scotland. It appears that the " lib- erty pole" stood in proud defiance of the soldiers and their abetters until the 13th of January, 1770. You will remember that I have mentioned the dif- ficulties respecting quartering the soldiers, and the meeting in the fields, at which the legis'lature wa« 12 134 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. censured for granting money to find accommodations for the king's troops; and that Mr. Lamb had been brought up before the assembly, and Mr. McDougal imprisoned for the same affair. JoJm. We remember, sir. Un. All this, and many other insolent attempts to subdue the spirit of the people, made them more determined ; and their opposition excited the rage of the king's officers, and of their tools, the soldiers. So, on the 13th of January, 1770, a number of men belonging to the sixteenth regiment made an at- tempt to overthrow the liberty pole, " by sawing off the spurs round it," and by exploding gunpowder in a hole bored in the w^ood. The attempt failed, and they then attacked some citizens who were near Mr. Montanye's publick house, (the place usually selected for celebrating the repeal.) The citizens re- tired into the house, the soldiers broke the windows and entered the tavern bayonet in hand. A thrust made at a citizen was parried, and he received a slight wound in the forehead; some officers inter- posed, and the ruffians retired to their barracks. Three days after, these fellows succeeded better ; for they cut down the pole. The next day, the 17th of January, 1770, a great meeting of the inhabitants congregated in the fields, on the spot where the lib- erty pole had stood, and resolutions were adopted that "any soldiers who should be found out of their barracks after the roll was called, should be treated as enemies to the peace of the city." The instiga- tors of the soldiers caused a handbill to be printed in which they made a scurrilous reply to these re- solves, and it was attempted to be put up at the cor- ners, but this was resisted, and several affrays took place in consequence. In one of these, between the Fly market and Burling slip, it is said one man was HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 135 "run through the body, and another had his scull split," but the soldiers were defeated. John. Why, Uncle, this was a civil war in the heart of our city. Un. Very like it, my son. Wm. If I had been a man then — John. Hush: it did not end there, sir ; did it? Vn. No. The inhabitants now wished to have the authority of the corporation for erecting a new liberty pole ; so, on the 8th of February, a committee of five gentlemen waited on the magistrates, in common council, with a petition for authority to erect anew, the "pole sacred to constitutional liberty." They stated, that as the military had made war upon the rights of the people by destroying " the monument of gratitude to his majesty and the British patriots," the people had repeatedly re-erected others of more stability in the place where, "by the approbation of the corporation, the first had been fixed." They now requested the sanction of the common council to set up another, more permanent and better secured, in the same spot This petition was rejected; proba- bly the magistracy were vv^illing to remove the cause of disquiet, and therefore refused the publick land for this use. This did not defeat the intentions of the " sons of liberty." They found a piece of ground eleven feet wide and one hundred feet long (near the first spot) that was private property — this they purchased. Here a hole was dug twelve feet deep, to receive a mast prepared at the shipyards. This piece of timber, of great length, they cased all around with iron bars, placed lengthwise and riveted with large flat rivets, so as to extend near two-thirds of the"^ height from the ground; and over these bars they encircled the mast with iron hoops, near half an inch thick, and when finished they had it drawn'through the streets by six horses, decorated 136 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. with ribands, and three flags flying inscribed with the words, " Liberty and Property." The pole was raised without any accident, amidst the shouts of the people, while a'^band of French-horns play- ed " God save the king." This mast was strong- ly secured in the earth by timbers and great stones. On the top was raised another mast twenty-two feet in height, with a gilt vane, and the word Lib- erty, in large letters. Wm. So all they got by cutting down the others was, that the people dropped Mr. Pitt and the king. I dare say Captain Sears was at the head of this. But was Mr. McDougal in jail all the while ? Un. At this time he was still in confinement, but the people paid him every honour in testimony of their approbation, and not only the gentlemen, but the ladies of the city thronged to the prison to cheer him and show their opposition to the ruling powers. A few days after the setting up of the great liberty pole, forty-five gentlemen went in procession to the new jail and dined with Captain McDougal, having forty-five pounds of beefsteak, and observing the number forty-five in every thing brought on the table. Wm. Why, Uncle 1 " John. I know ; you will read about Wilkes and his ''North Briton.''' Un. Number forty-five of a paper written by John Wilkes was presented as a libel in England, and was popular : this made a resemblance between Captain McDougal's case and Mr. Wilkes's. At the next celebration of the repeal of the stamp act, the inhabitants again paid a publick compliment to the imprisoned patriot. A great number dined at Mon- tanye's publick house, near the liberty pole, which tavern they called " Hampden HaJl," after the great Hampden who opposed Charles the First. John. I know, sir. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 137 Vn. On the top of Hampden Hall, and on the liberty pole, they had colours flying. The compa- ny at dinner was three hmidred, and they nomi- nated ten of their number to dine with Captain Mc- Dougal at his chamber in the jail. Wm. That was right. Tin. After dinner the company marched from Hampden Hall to the liberty pole, and thence down Beekman street, and through Glueen street to the Coffee-house ; thence up Wall street to Broadway, and to the liberty pole again, where they dispers- ed. This celebration seems to have roused the ire of the royal party, and on Monday the 24th of March, they encouraged their tools, the soldiers, to attack the liberty pole again. Near midnight they attempted to unship, that is, to unfasten, the topmast ; but some citizens discovered them and alarmed others, who repaired to the consecrated spot ; these the soldiers attacked and drove off, but more ar rived ; the soldiers were reinforced from the bar racks : the citizens rung the Chapel bell ; on which, and seeing the number of inhabitants increasing, the soldiers retreated, and a guard was kept up at the pole all night. This was the last attack that was made by these English mercenaries, who had sworn, it is said, to carry part of it with them on their voyage to Pensacola, for which place they em- barked a few days after ; a riot took place in 1775, at which time, first appears in our story the no- torious Provost Cunningham ; but of that, here- after. Wm. But when, sir, did Captain McDougal get out of jail ? Un. On the 30th of April, this same year, 1770, the grand jury found a bill against him for a libel, to which he pleaded not guilty, and was adniitted to bail; himself in 500Z.,and two sureties each in250Z. 12* 138 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. John. What, sir, were all the ruling men against him? Un. It would seem so ; for you have heard that no one of the house of assembly opposed the perse- cution of this gentleman but Col. Philip Schuyler. Wm. Brave Colonel Schuyler ! I shall love him as much as I always did Colonel Peter Schuyler that the Indians called Gluidder. Un. When I come to speak to you of Philip Schuyler's actions, you will find that you ought to love him even more. But now we must go back again to the year 1766. Mary. Uncle, you promised to finish the story of the princess. U71. True. And as I know little more about her, I will tell it now : first I must remind you that part of what I told you respecting her was only my own conjecture to account for her being able to de- ceive people as she really did. John. You explained that, sir. Was there such a person as Tom Bell ? Un. O, yes. But I do not know that he ever met with Sarah Wilson. All I know further of the latter, is soon told. In Rivington's Gazette of May 13th, 1773, I found (besides the advertise- ment of Michael Dalton offering a reward for Sarah Wilson) the story of her robbing Miss Vernon, being condemned to be hanged, being transported and sold, running away from Dalton and carrying off* clothes and jewels ; and of her passing herself off* for the Princess Susanna Carolina Matilda, and promising governments and offices to such as did her homage and lent her money. Then again, in September, appeared the following paragraph. I copied it. Read it : John. " September 2d, 1773; on Tuesday last ar- rived in this city, a person who styles herself the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 139 Marchioness de Waldegrave, and is supposed to be the same mentioned in the papers as Saraii Wilson, alias, the Lady Carolina Matilda. She still insists on her high pretensions, and makes the same im- pressions on many as she did in the south." This is very curious, sir. Vn. I think so. You observe that in October, 1771, she is advertised as a runaway slave; is pur- sued ; and one account says that Dalton arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in pursuit of her short ly after she had departed on a visit to a plantation. Yet here she appears again in New York, two years after, making the same high pretensions, but under another name and title. John. How could she escape 1 What curious adventures she must have had during those two years ! Wm. Is this all you know of her. Uncle? Un. Not quite. I have made many inquiries both here and in Philadelphia, in vain. But being in company with a lady whose age entitled her to remember something of the year 1773, I asked her if she had ever heard of such a person. She im- mediately replied, " What, the princess ? O, yes ! I remember her well. When I was a little girl I met her at the house of a gentleman in New York, and she attracted my attention by her appearance and manners. It so happened that I was going to Perth Amboy, and from thence to South Amboy ; she hearing this, made an appointment to go with me, and the family at whose house I met her arranged that it should be so. She had an introduction to a gentleman at Perth Amboy ; but whether from her troublesome manners, or some suspicions that at this time attached to her, she was coldly received, and insisted on accompanying me to South Amboy, there to take the stage for Philadelphia. She required a 140 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. great deference to be paid her, and made all the femily at South Amboy attend upon her devotions, she reading prayers to them ; but what annoyed me most, she insisted upon my sleeping with her, and I had such dread of, or dislike to, her, that I stole out of bed when she fell asleep, and made my escape to the lady of the house. The next day she departed for Philadelphia. I had quite forgotten the prin- cess, and perhaps should never again have thought of her, if you had not asked me the question." Thus, Mary, ends the story of the princess, for I never heard more of her. Wm. Perhaps she gained her liberty from her master; perhaps she repented and was a good woman. U?i. Perhaps so : we will hope so. To-morrow we will resume our history of New York. CHAPTER XII. Un. You have already heard from me the events that agitated our city during the disputes relative to quartering troops ; and the riots arising from the insolence of the soldiers in cutting down the liberty pole. Wm. Was it not unaccountable, sir, that the mil- itary should dare to insult the citizens as they did? Ifn. No. For they saw that the colonists were considered and spoken of by the great men of Eng- land, not only as inferiours, but as a kind of proper- ty. They saw that governors were sent out merely to serve the purposes of Great Britain, and to make fortunes as rewards for services done at home ; no'; only governors, but other officers. It was notorious that two successive chief-justices of New Jersey HISTORY OF NEW YORK. HI were, the one incompetent, the other infamous. The military officers of England looked with con- tempt on the provincials, whether holding his majes- ty's commission in the army, or as private citizens : {the latter were called by them Mohairs:) the soldiery of course caught the same opinions from their com- manders. John, read this extract from a letter writ- ten by a friend to Major Horatio Gates. It is a specimen of the diseasedly arrogant feeling which generated the American war, and was cured by it. Major Gates was at the time at Pittsburg, and his brother officer writes as it was the custom of these English military gentlemen to speak. Jolm. " I send you a copy of Mr. Hughs's impu- dent letter, by which you may judge to what degree of insolerice the rabble of this country loill raise if they are not brought down, from home. This fel- low was a baker lately, then a wagoner, and now, as an assemblyman, he thinks himself entitled to write to me in this style. Such letters should be answered with a stick, if the necessity of the service did not tie our hands." Un. Thus one of those subalterns spoken of by Mr. Pitt as fit for governors of any of the colonies, writes to another, when mentioning a member of a provincial assembly, " the rabble of this country." John. If such was the way gentlemen talked and acted, it accounts for the insolence of the English soldiers. About the time of which you are giving us a history, I believe, sir, the unhappy disputes between New York and Massachusetts respecting their boundaries took place. Un. True, and with New Hampshire: for the governor of that province persisted in claiming and selling the country, now Vermont, even after refer- ring the dispute to the king, and after his decision in favour of Now York, At this time too, our 12 142 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. neighbour, New Jersey, was much troubled oy a desperate band of counterfeiters, and by the robbery of the treasury, which for a time was involved in great mystery ; but it was afterward found that the same gang of forgers and counterfeiters were like- wise the robbers. John. You have mentioned to us a great many causes of discontent which existed before the quar- rel with England came to a positive and open war, but I confess I do not understand the subject fully. Win. I wish we had come to the story of the war. Tin. Ah, boy, you are like many that are older; but war is always a sad story. It is necessary that you should know the cause of the bloody conflict of which I am to speak, that your feelings may be enlisted on the side of justice. When England deprived New York of the power to make laws until she obeyed the orders for quartering and pro- vidmg for any troops that the king might send to be in readiness to enforce his orders, it alarmed all the provinces ; for they said if this is done to New York, it may be done to us. So the people entered into resolutions not to import goods from Great Britain until their grievances were redressed. They complained of many unjust prohibitions. Their country was full of iron, and they were prohibited from manufacturing it for their own use, or of making it into steel ; they were obliged to send it to England and bring it back again, at a great unne- cessary expense ; and so of the hats they wore, they must send the material home, for the benefit of Eng- lish hatters; if they made any woollen goods, they were prevented carrying them from one province to another. Articles that they could sell to foreign countries they were obliged to carry first to Eng- land; and other things, that they bought of foreign nations, they were forced to carry to some »prt in HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 143 Great Britain and pay duties on them before they could bring them to their real homes for sale, or use. But above all, they complained that the jails of England were emptied upon them ; making the colonies a receptacle for the English rogues and villians — their traitors and felons. Wm. Tom Bells and Sarah Wilsons. John. What was the particular cause of quarrel about the tea, sir ? TJn. Simply this. To raise a revenue, the Eng- lish parliament laid a tax of so much a pound on the article, if Americans imported it from Great Britain ; and they were prohibited bringing it from China. So they said, "Well, we will do without it." But that did not suit England ; for it reduced -he profits of the East India Company, a great body of merchants, w^ho were bound to pay to the treasu- ry 400,000^. sterling a year, as long as their profits amounted to a certain sum. So, as America would not import tea, the ministry gave the merchants permission to send it to the colonies, that the duty might be paid in England, and the profits of the East India Company kept up to that amount which required them to pay the 400,000/. John. Now I understand, sir. And the Ameri- cans determined not to have the tea forced upon them by this scheme of the English parliament, to get a duty on it, and at the same time save the 400,000/. sterling a year. Un. Just so. I shall say as little as possible about the transactions at Boston, because you have read, and must read, in every history of America the details respecting throwing the tea into the harbour, and the other events of that time. We will confine ourselves as much as possible to New York. Some of the stories I have told you of what happened respecting informers, and in consequence 144 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. of attempting to press sailors, took place in 1768 and 1769, and there were many violent movements among the people that grew out of the resolutions not to import goods ; for some merchants tried to introduce English manufactures contrary to the agreement they had entered into ; and the people in some instances seized the articles and made their owners send them back. During all these troubles Sir Henry Moore was governor, that is, from 1765 to September the 1 1th, 1769, at which time he died; and although he, as a matter of course, endeavoured to carry into effect the orders of his masters in Eng- land, he conducted himself with a degree of pru- dence that caused his death to be regretted, espe- cially as Lieutenant-governor Golden was very un- popular, and the government of course devolved again on him. It was soon after this, that Mr. McDougal was put in prison, as I have told you, for calling the people together in the fields when they censured the assembly for voting 200Z. to find accommodations for the English soldiers. In this iffair Captain Sears was a prominent man, and to punish him, he was accused of neglecting his duty \s inspector of potash. He desired to be heard in his defence, but the majority in the house of assem- bly refused to attend to his petition. At this time two distinguished patriots were in a small minority of the assembly, and their votes in favour of Mr. Sears were of no avail. In consequence, he pub- lished several affidavits contradicting the charges made against him, and resigned the office of in- spector of pot and pearl ashes. John. Who were the gentlemen you mean, sir, that were in the minority? Vn. Philip Schuyler, and George Clinton ; both glorious names in the war that followed. Nathan- iel Woodhull acted with them at this time, and after; HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 145 but a great majority of the house of assembly were against them. John. The people would have a poor chance when the majority of their representatives were opposed to them, for the council and governor being appointed by the king would be sure to be enemies to liberty. Un. But you will soon see, (as was the case about the stamp act,) that when oppression becomes too barefaced and heavy, the people will be too strong for any set of men placed over them by for- eign influence. I see, boy, you have a clear view of the government of the old colony, when two parts out of three were the creatures of the king or ministry of Great Britain. The only security which the third part had was the power of origi- nating all money bills and grants for the salaries of governors, judges, and other officers; and it was the constant endeavour of these governors, and of the ministry of Great Britain to wrest this (their only) security from them. The governors endeavoured to force the assemblies to give them a permanent salary instead of that granted annually ; and the ministry used art and coercion to impose taxes, one purpose of which was to establish a treasury in America, therewith to make the king's governors, and other officers, independent of the assembly. Now I think you have attended long enough to these affairs, and deserve to hear of something con- nected with our history that will be more enter- taining. Wm. O, the Indians ! the Indians ! Un. First I will give you something of a famous mountebank. John. What, a mountebank in America, sir ? Tin. We have had many men deserving the appellation, but about the time of which we are 13 146 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. speaking there appeared here, and travelled through most of the provinces, a real European mountebank quack-doctor ; selling nostrums from a moveable stage, and accompanied by a clown to play tricks and talk nonsense, (such as circus-riders have to amuse the vulgar,) and a tumbler to astonish by his postures. John. Such a person would not be tolerated now, sir, I think. Un. No. The very rabble would hoot him from his stage, and pelt him with pebbles instead of buy- ing his pills. I mention him to show you the dif- ference between the feelings of the publick at that time and this. When I was a little boy like you, Philip, the mountebank I speak of, Doctor Yeldal, came once a year to the town I lived at in New Jersey, and to my great delight mounted his stage dressed in a handsome suit according to the fashion of that time, with a powdered wig, laced ruffles, and small-sword. A man dressed in a fantastick clownish habit, with a fool's cap on his head, amu- sed the crowd of villagers by asking questions of the doctor respecting the cures he performed, and occasionally making remarks to excite the laughter of the audience. The doctor praised his medicines and exhibited a number of pill boxes, assuring the people that in one of them was a gold ring, so that some person among the purchasers would not only possess the invaluable medicine, but a valuable piece of gold, and all to be obtained at the cheap rate of two shillings. While the doctor pocketed the money of his dupes, the clown, who was ad- aressed as " Mister Merryman," continued his an- ticks, and had an auxiliary to aid his attraction in Mr. Quicksilver, the tumbler, — a very beautiful youth, who walked on his hands, threw somersets, and showed other feats of dexterity and activity. HISTORY OT NEW YORK. 147 Mar^. What is a somerset, Uncle ? Un. Throwing one's self heels over head, and ap- pearing erect again without having, apparently, touched the floor or ground, is called by tumblers *' throwing a somerset," Joh7i. In this way, sir, I suppose the quack-doctor made a great deal of money. Un. No doubt ; and gave me, as a child, great amusement. This was a short time before the rev- olution. I always remembered this extraordinary exhibition, but for many years heard nothing more of Doctor Yeldal, Mr. Merryman, or Quicksil- ver; but not long since, I found in an old paper, "Holt's New York Journal," of 1771, this para- graph. Read it. Joh7i. " A stranger, lately arrived here, who calls himself Doctor Anthony Yeldal, and sells medi- cines from a stage, who, by his harangues, the odd tricks of his Merry Andrew, and the surprising feats of activity of his little boy, highly diverts the people ; he has for several weeks past exhibited at Bruklyn." Brooklyn is spelt here Vith a u instead of double 0. Un. Perhaps a mistake of the printer. Go on. John. "Bruklyn on Long Island, to which place, It is said, several thousand of people, mostly from this city, have flocked to see him every day of his exhibition. On Monday last, a great multitude, as usual, havinof attended him, on their return to cross the ferry, the boats being insufficient to carry them all, were prodigiously crov/ded ; every one got in as soon as he could, and when the boat was " Here, sir, the paper is torn offi and what more hap- pened is lost. Un. So, so ! I have worn it out in ray pocket, and my memory must supply the rest. These idle peoplcj many of whom, as is still too much the cus- 148 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. torn, being- from home had drank strong liquors at the tavern and ferry-house, and all elated by the holyday-show they had seen, crowded belter skel- ter into the ferry'boat ; until finding that if more jumped in she would be too deeply laden, they pushed off from the shore without the boatmen, and immediately found themselves hurried away at the mercy of the tide, which, as you know, is very strong and rapid between the city of New York and Brooklyn. Away they went — men, women, and children, crying, screaming, shouting, and quar- relling ; in this helpless state the boat struck on a rock, and a hole was broken through the bottoia, into which the water poured rapidly ; she passecj over the first and struck on another rock — John. Were the passengers drowned, sir ? Un. They had neither skill nor energy to save themselves, and it being evening, the people on shore thought their cries were a continuation of the un- ruly noises they had made while embarking, until they saw them throwing out water with their hats to prevent the boat from sinking ; then, some skilful men, m other boats, put off to their assistance and saved them from the effects of their folly. Wm. What became of this mountebank and his Merryman and Quicksilver ? Un. I have heard that Yeldal purchased an estate m the northeastern part of this province. Of the beautiful boy Quicksilver, I know nothing; but Mister Merryman makes his appearance again in another newspaper paragraph and in another char- acter ; he enlisted as a soldier in one of the conti- r>ental regiments, and was the delight of his fellow- soldiers as a companion; but he and some of his comrades having the spirit of licentiousness, in addi- tion to that of Jamaica rum, too strong upon them, attempted to rob a farmer near their encampment. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 149 who making resistance lost his life; the conse- quence was, that Mr. Merry man's last appearance before the publick was on a gallows. Wm. Poor Mr. Merryman ! he made a sad end. John. In former times, executions must have been frequent. tin. Yes. The humane institutions of prisons for preventing crimes, or reforming criminals, had not been introduced. The pillory, the whipping-post, lashes at the cart's-tail, branding with a hot iron, and cropping the ears, were inflicted as punishments when the aid of the gallows and the stake were not called in. John. Some of the pirates that infested the Amer- ican seas, must have been caught and punished in this city, I should think? Un. Certainly. I will give you one instance, the circumstances of which were somewhat remark- able. About the time we have been speaking of, that is, in May, 1769 or '70, the court of admiralty of the province of NeAv York, consisting of the gov- ernor and council, the judge of admiralty, and some others, tried and condemned Joseph Andrews as a pirate, for the murder of Captain Ruluff Duryee, and several sailors, on the coast of Africa, on board Durj'-ee's vessel, in the month of September, 1766. And on the meeting of the court a few days after, for the purpose of trying Stephen Porter, another pirate, for the murder of the captain and crew of a Bristol ship, on the coast of Guinea, when the pris- oner was sent for he was found dead, having hanged himself (by the string which supported his irons) to a bar of the prison window. A coroner's inquest being held, pronounced the deed "self-murder," and he was sentenced to be buried "at the upper end of the Bowery lane, with a stake stuck through the body, which sentence was executed accordingly." 13* 150 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. As to Andrews, he was "hanged in chains on a high gallows, on the most conspicuous part of Bed- low's island." Such spectacles as these were often exhibited to the people in "the good old times." Now, children, to your books. To-morrow when we meet I will talk to you of the Indians of the Six Nations. CHAPTER XIII. Wm. Now, Uncle, you will tell us of the Indian wars. Un. I will endeavour to give you a notion of this strange people before commencing the history of the revolutionary war ; and to do it, we must look back again to the early times of New York. First 1 will mention to you that New York, among other proofs that its boundary line was the west side of Connecticut river, and that the province extended northward to the St. Lawrence or Canada line, averred, that the Five Nations, the Mohav/ks, Onei- das, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, had been subdued, and had submitted to the governors of New York, by treaties, as early as 1683. These Five Nations were, by the French, called Iroquois. They were a powerful confederacy of distinct tribes, and had conquered the other native tribes from the great lakes to the ocean. New York claimed, from their submission, the exclusive right to purchase their lands from them, and to have jurisdiction over the country when purchased and settled. The country on both sides Lake Champlain belonged to the Five Nations ; and in the ancient maps, that water is called Lake Iroquois. New York, you know, likewise claimed ail this country as being surrendered to HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 15 England by the Dutch, and granted by the king to the Dake of York; and the contending claims of the New England colonies caused jealousies be- tween them and New York, that unhappily remained to the time of our revolution, and proved very inju- rious to Philip Schuyler, who was a patriotick mem- ber of the New York assembly at the time of these disputes ; and one of the best of men. Of this con- troversy, and of the wars of the French with the Five Nations, you are informed in some measure, and must read more by and by. John. Yes, sir. But please to tell us of the trou- bles with the Indians afterward; and of their history. Un. I will endeavour to give you some ideas re- specting this interesting race, that in the course of our history, you may better understand the events in which they were actors. You know, John, when Europeans discovered that there was such a continent as America, and such islands as those we call the West Indies, a people essentially different from the whites and from the negroes were found on both. The discoverers were in search of the East Indies, and they chose to call these savages Indians. You, John, have read the voyages of Columbus, and the Conquest of South America by the Spaniards. Wm. And so have I, Uncle. JJ71. Very well. Our business is only with that division of these widely extended nations which is adjacent to our own state; and more particularly those who were inhabitants of the province of New York. I would not, if I could, burden your memo» lies with the names of every tribe, or even with the various appellations given by writers to any one portion of this race. We will call the Indians who were scattered over the middle provinces, the DeU awares, (and they are likewise called the Leni-le- nape;) and those of New York, Long Island, and 152 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. the neighbourhood, Mohegans. Now it happened that a distinct portion of the savage race came from the north and west, long before the white people began to settle in the country, who were greater warriours than the Delawares or the Mohegans, and they conquered all the country from Montreal, up the river St. Lawrence, and about lakes Ontario and Erie, and to the Ohio river ; and all that is now the state of New York, almost to the seashore; per- haps quite, for the Indians of Long Island paid them tribute. John. This people was the Iroquois, Un. So called by the French ; and by the Eng- lish the Six Nations. As we shall have more to do with them than most others, we must remember the name of each tribe, or nation, and the places occu- pied by them within our state. Five of these na- tions formed a confederacy, and carried on their plans of conquest in conjunction; which shows an advance in civilization and policy. John. The names of these five, sir, I remember. They were the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. iln. The Mohawk river marks the situation of the first, who extended to Johnstown, Avhere the agent for the English, Sir William Johnson, lived among them ; they are now altogether removed from us ; but some of them remain in Canada. The name of Oneida county, tells us where that tribe lived. Onondaga-Hollow contains still a portion of the Onondagas ; Cayuga lake and river, which 3^ou see on the map, informs us who lived there ; and a few Senecas occupy a part of their old sta- tion near Lake Erie. The Five Nations were in the height of their power and pride about the time that the Dutch built their trading-houses at New York and Albany. It was long after this, perhaps HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 153 m 1712, that another nation were driven from the south, and having some similarity of language with the Five Nations, they were received and incorpo rated among them as a sixth ; therefore we wiL call the confederacy, the Six Nations. This last mentioned tribe was the Tuscarora, a few of whom I found twenty years ago on the Niagara near Lew istown. Phil. O, Uncle, have you been among the Indians? Tin. Yes, my son, among the remains of this once powerful confederacy, now a poor, despised, dir- ty remnant of outcasts. John. It appears surprising to me, sir, that peo- ple in a savage state should have formed a kind of federal republick. Is there any tradition of the causes that led to it? Un. When I was among the Indians (as Philip says) I became acquainted with a man named Web- ster, residing near the Onondaga river, who had been in childhood, and long before the American revolution, carried from a settlement on the frontiers, and adopted into an Indian family. He grew up among this people, learned their language, their customs, and was educated in all things as one of them. He said that the happy thought of union for defence originated with an inferiour chief of the Onon- dagas : who perceiving that although the five tribes were alike in language, and had by co-operation conquered a great extent of country, yet that they had frequent quarrels and no head or great council, to reconcile them; and that while divided, the west- ern Indians attacked and destroyed them ; seeing this, he conceived the bright idea of union, and of a great council of the chiefs of the Five Nations : this, he said, and perhaps thought, came to him in a dream ; and it was afterward considered as coming from the Great Spirit. He proposed Xhh plan ia 154 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. a council of his tribe, but the principal chief op- posed it. He was a great warriour, and feared to lose his influence as head man of the Onondagas. This was a selfish man. The younger chief, who we wall call Oweko, was silenced : but he determin- ed in secret to attempt the great political work. This was a man who loved the welfare of others. To make long journeys and be absent for several days while hunting would cause no suspicion, be- cause it was common. He left home as if to hunt ; but taking a circuitous path through the woods, for all this great country was then a wilderness, he made his way to the village or castle of the Mo- hawks. He consulted some of the leaders of that tribe, and they received the scheme favourably : he visited the Oneidas, and gained the assent of their chief; he then returned home. After a time he made another pretended hunt, and another; thus, by degrees, visiting the Cayugas and Senecas, and gain- ing the assent of all to a great council to be held at Onondaga. With consummate art he then gained over his own chief, by convincing him of the ad- vantages of the confederacy, and agreeing that he should be considered as the author of the plan. The great council met, and the chief of the Onondagas made use of a figurative argument, taught him by Oweko, which was the same that we read of in the fable, where a father teaches his sons the value of union by taking one stick from a bundle, and showing how feeble it was, and easily broken, and that when bound together the bundle resisted his ut- most strength. Win. I remember it, sir. But how did the In- dian know the fable. Un. He did not know it. But this mode of il- lustrating a truth would readily occur to a man of acutennss in a savage state ; and might be suggested HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 155 10 various persons who know nothing of the thoughts of each other. John. Is this the generally received opinion of the origin of this famous confederacy? U7h. I know not of any generally received opin- ion. Some authors say it existed from time imme- morial; others tell us that the five tribes lived origi- nally about the Grand river in Canada, and were dependants on a greater people, and by forming a confederacy liberated themselves, and became con- querors of nations to the south ; but my friend Web- ster's account is as good as any, for any thing I see. He had it from the people, among whom he lived as one of themselves ; it was a tradition, and of the early history of such people tradition is all we can have. Wm. Uncle, was Mr. Webster like an Indian ** How was he dressed? Un. He had been long restored to his place among white men, and Christians ; and was, in appearance, like other cultivators of the soil. He lived in the Onondaga valley, on his own land, near to the re- mains of that tribe; and was beloved by them. He was their interpreter in all communications with the whites, and they looked up to him as to a father. When his corn was ripe they came and gathered it in : at the time of haymaking they flocked to his meadows to assist ; and the women were as eager as the men to aid him and his family in all their agricultural labours. John. But the women do all the labour among their own people. Un. That's true; when they are in the hunter state. I will tell you how Webster apologized for this. The man is expected to traverse mountain and valley in pursuit of game, and to bring home the spoils of the chase. The woman does the work 156 HISTORY OF NEW YORK, at home ; she plants and gathers the corn, prepares the food, attends to the children and instructs them until a certain age, if boys ; if girls, to maturity. The man is a warriour as well as a hunter, and must always be ready to defend his family, or to attack an enemy. " You have noticed," said Webster, " a woman loaded with her child, and per- haps a basket tied to her back almost as big as her- self, and filled with corn or other produce, and a man walking before her unencumbered, bearing nothing but a bow and arrows or a gun and ammunition ; this, remains of their old customs; for though these people about me are no longer hunters or warriours, they appear, on a journey, in the manner of their ancestors ; the woman bearing the burden, and the man stalking on before, as her guardian. Wm. Uncle, I wish you would tell us more of what you learned from Mr. Webster, for he must have known these people better than men who only visited them for a few days. Un. If I talk about what the Indians now are, how shall we get on with our history of their for- mer wars, and of what happened in our state during the revolution? John. As the customs of the people remain in many respects the same, and were very little changed when Webster resided among them, that which he told you will give us a clearer notion of the transactions belonging to our history. What did he say of their religion, sir ? U?i. He represented them as believers in one God ; called by them the Great Spirit, from whom all good comes to men. They have no distinct no- tion of any revelation from him except in dreams ; and occasionally some one among them, more artful <:han the rest, pretends to an intercourse with the (-ueal opirit by this medium, and gains thereby HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 157 great influence for good and evil. It is said that formerly most of the Indians believed likewise in an evil spirit, and propitiated him by sacrifices. But a native of the Tuscaroras who had been educated among the whites, and has published a book since I saw Mr. Webster, tells us that they have, subsequent to their intercourse with civilized men, in a great measure, abandoned that belief and practice. Web- ster told me that they observed four annual religious meetings, at which they offered burnt sacrifices. One was at the time of planting their corn ; one when it was fit for eating in its green, or soft, or milky state — Wm. The time we have " hot corn" cried in the streets. Un. Yes ; and when w^e make suckafash, by boil- ing it with beans, which is a delicious dish, that we owe to the Indians. Their third reliafious celebra- tion, which appears to be, like the last, a meeting for thanksgiving, is when the corn is hard and fit for gathering in as winter food ; and the last is in the winter, and if I remember aright, is to ask for success in their hunting. They have a belief in a future state, and in rewards and punishments after death. Some of their ceremonies have induced peo- ple to think that they are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. John. Do you think so, sir ? Un. As far as I have any definite opinion on so dark a subject, I attribute their origin to the Tar- tars, a people they resemble more than any other. John. They are celebrated for hospitality. Un. All nations in a savage state are hospitable. John. And does refinement, knowledge, civiliza- tion, and riches, make men hard-hearted and inhos- pitable ? Un. No. The rich and enlightened inhabitant 13 158 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. of New York is in every respect better than the savage. But he cannot receive into his house every stranger that knocks at his door. The state of so- ciety forbids. The stranger that comes to a great city finds a home with a relative or friend ; or at a house open and prepared for his reception, called a boarding-house or a hotel. But remove the rich inhabitant of the city to a place distant from society, on a plantation abounding with wealth, and his doors will be as open to the wanderer as those of any Arab of the desert, or Indian of the wilderness. John. But, sir, are not the poor more disposed to relieve the distresses of others than the rich ? TJn. That is a question distinct from hospitality. Riches are sore temptations. And those who expe- rience poverty may have a fellow-feeling for the poor. Yet poverty may, when united to ignorance, harden the heart ; and riches may lead to that know- ledge which teaches to love our neighbour as our- selves ; and that our neighbour is every creature endowed with worth or oppressed by misfortune. Both poor and rich may have this salutary know- ledge ; without which both are poor. Wm. But, Uncle, I want to hear more of the Indians. Un. Ay, boy, let us go on. John. You said, sir, that these pretended pro- phets, or impostors, made use of their influence fo^ good and for evil. Can good come from deceit? Un. Well questioned, my son. A temporary good we know has been occasionally produced by such base and unworthy means ; unworthy of the good cause, and liable to be the forerunner of last- ing- evil : for falsehood is sooner or later unveiled, and those who have been deceived into doing good may return with redoubled force to the practice of evil. There is no sure foundation for good, but HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 159 truth. Mr. Webster told me of good produced by the commands of a pretended prophet who said that the Great Spirit forbade the drinking of any- intoxicating liquors. You know that the white peo- ple introduced this practice among the Indians ; and the Onondagas as well as others had been reduced to the degraded state of drunkards, whenever they could procure the poison that was destroying them. They listened to this man, who with good intent told falsehood to recommend truth. He told them that the use of spirituous liquors was destroying them: that the whites made them drunk to cheat them ; this was truth. But he enforced it by pre- tending that the Great Spirit appeared to him and ordered him to speak to his favoured Ononda- gas. They obeyed, and strictly refrained. The consequence was better health, more industry, and a reputation for truth and honesty, which contrasted with the character of their neighbours the Oneidas, who were so conscious of their own inferiority, that if a stranger asked one of them to what nation he belonged, he would answer " Onondaga." John. Then it seems, sir, that good proceeded from falsehood. Un. For a time; yes. But see, children, it was like a good house erected on a foundation of sand. Falsehood is always detected sooner or later. We may suppose that this people, deceived to their ben- efit, should be convinced that their prophet had abused their credulity: they would perhaps again yield to the temptations of their appetites, and those of the mercenary traders around them, and become even worse than before : but if this man had per- suaded them by arguments alone, and convinced their reason by words of truth, then, reformation would have been like the wise man's house you read of, that was founded on a rock ; and their good i60 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. conduct would be as steadfast against temptation as that house was immoveable, when the floods and the winds assailed it in vain. John. But the Indians are noted for deceitfulness. Un. If they should possess every vice that men calling themselves Christians practise, they would be more excusable than those who have had better instruction and education. Wm. Have they any education, sir % Tin. They are neither taught to read nor to write, but they are taught to run, to swim, to bear pain with fortitude, to shoot with the bow or the rifle, to make their own clothing, ornaments, utensils, and original arms, to be eloquent in council, polite in debate, and to tell the truth. Education of the best kind is given to us in infancy, before we are taught to read; I mean, children, the education your good mother gave you before you could speak the name of father. Wm. Polite, sir? An Indian polite? JJn. Yes, they are polite. In their councils, (and every tribe is governed by its council like true re- publicans, every man having a voice, and the whole only yielding to the influence of age and wisdom,) and in the great council of the Six Nations, held at Onondaga, they never interrupt each other, and never rudely contradict. This I call politeness in debate, and worthy of imitation. John. You said they were taught to speak truth; yet they are very treacherous. Un. War, the curse of mankind, justifies in their eyes, and unhappily in those of men better taught, every species of deceit, falsehood, and treachery, for the destruction of their enemies. It is true that among men calling themselves civilized, there are certain rules or laws of warfare, which in many cases miti- gate the evil. The Indian, who has not been taught HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 16 4 to love his enemy, and to return good for evil, op/enly indulges his thirst for revenge, and believes it right to do so. The Christian, so called, when he follows the example, or teaches the lesson, knows that he is doing wrong. Jolm. There always have been wars, sir. Is all war wrong? Un. All, in my opinion, except for defence : and then no further injury should be inflicted than ne- cessity requires. The war of the American revo- lution was a war of defence ; for to oppose the de- struction of the laws on which my happiness de- pends is as justifiable as to defend my life against the stroke of the assassin. John. Had the Indians any laws ? Un. Certainly, Man cannot exist in society with- out them. Their laws were traditions : the cus- toms of their ancestors, handed down from father to son ; the memory of them preserved in some in- stances by strings of wampum. Wm. What is wampum, Uncle ? Un. The Indians called by that name, pieces of clam and oyster, and other shells, which they con- trived to cut out and string together ; they used them for ornament, money, and remembrancers of facts or laws. Europeans made them a substitute for money when they first came to this continent. You will perceive, by what I have said, that the Indians had a definite notion of property. Each in- dividual claimed his cabin or wigwam, the arms he possessed or fabricated, the skins or food he procu- red by hunting, and the clothing he made of those skins. For you know until Europeans brought them blankets and cloth, they wore nothing but the skins of the beasts they slew. The blankets and other clothing supplied by the whites served them instead, and the skins were more valuable to the 14* 162 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Dutch and other traders ; so that each gained by the exchange. John. But, sir, how did the v/hites get all the In- dian land? Un. Because the Indians had not a just notion of the value of the soil, not being an agricultural people. Every nation claimed property in a great portion of wilderness, but it was principally valued as hunting ground. If a man, or family, raised a field of corn or pumpkins, it was considered his while he occupied it, and he enjoyed the produce ; but if he removed, it then fell into the common stock. This caused the Indians to set little value on their land compared to what Europeans did ; and they sold large tracts of country for what was in their eyes of more value, a few guns, some powder, lead, hatchets, knives, and, unhappily, rum. The same cause operated in the gifts they made to white men. The well known story of the manner in which Sir William Johnson obtained a great tract of land from the Mohawks will elucidate the subject. Phil. How was it, Uncle ? JJn. John will tell you. John. This Johnson was an Englishman, who at first settled upon a snug farm in the Mohawk country, and having been appointed Indian agent for the colony of New York, gained great influence over the Six Nations ; and in one of the wars with the French he had the good fortune with a party of provincials and Indians to defeat a large detach* ment of the enemy. For this the king of Eng- land made him a knight, called him Sir William, and sent him ribands and stars, and fine coats. The Indians are very fond of finery, and the chief of the Mohawks coveted Sir William's scarlet coat trimmed with gold lace. So he told Johnson that he "dreamed a dream;" and it was, that the knight HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 163 gave him this fine red coat. Sir William knew it was necessary to his popularity that he should com- ply, and the chief received the garment instantly. But a short time after, Sir William " dreamed a dream." Wm. Oho! John. And it was, that the chief and his council gave him a large tract of land, from such a tree to such a rivulet. The chief said " Hoh!" The gift ivas made by the tribe. But the old chief said, " Sir Vv lUiam, I no dream any more : you dream better ihan Indian." tin. There is a story told of the mode in which khe first settlers of this island obtained land from liie natives, which, if true, evinces something of trickery in the Dutch traders, and shows likewise that the Indians valued their soil very lightly. John, how does Virgil or his commentators say the land was obtained on which Carthage was founded or commenced ? John. The owners agreed to give or sell to Queen Dido as much as would lie within the compass of a bull's hide ; and tjje cunning lady cut the hide so as to form one long strip with which she encircled land enough for the fortress which was the commence- ment of the city. U'/i. It is said that one of the Dutch traders re- membered his Virgil, and gained the same advan- tage over the Indians of Manhattan. They admi- red his ingenuity ; and were only the more pleased with their visiters. I will tell you another, and a less known instance of the ease with which this people gave away their soil. On Long Island there long existed two families of the name of Smith, one of which was distinguished for years as being of the "bull-breed," from the manner in which their ancestor gained his farm. He had made himself 164 HISTORY OF NEW Y^ORK. popular with the Mohegans, and for some service done them, they offered him as much land as he could ride round in a given time upon the back of a bull. Smith mounted ; and the bull, not used to such treatment, ran : the Indians shouted — and, by follow- ing, with their clamour urged on the animal. Thus a great circuit was made through wood, marsh, and bramble; and Smith by keeping his seat on the bull's back, in despite of bush or brier, secured a large landed property, and a name to his posterity. W7n. Why, Uncle, the bull's' hide served Mr. Smith without being cut into strips. I like this sto- ry best of the three : the bull kept his hide and the man gained his farm. Un. I think now we may return to our history, for yoa must know pretty well all that is necessary of the customs of the Six Nations. John. I know how they eat the green corn ; but how do they manage with that which is hard, as they have no mills to grind it ? tin. The women pound the grains in a kind of mortar made of the stump of a hard-wood tree. When I was at the Onondaga castle I saw on the ground a piece of wood about four feet long, and taking it up, found that it was solid and heavy, but. tapering at one end. I asked its use, and was in- formed by a laughing Indian that it was their grist mill. It was the pestle used with the mortar for breaking their corn either for hommy or bread. Wm. Uncle, you have not told us any thing of the burial of their dead. Un, I questioned Mr. Webster on that subject, and he answered that when a death occurred in a fam- ily the women commenced a kind of howling monot- onous lamentation, which called the neighbouring females to the wigwam, who joined in the mournful song. . This is continued until the body is buried ; HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 165 find sometimes for days after. The corpse is car- ried to the grave by men ; others following, without apparent distinction or order. The women remain in the wigwam continuing their lament. The body of the deceased is deposited by the side of the last of his tribe who had been buried, and some ornaments are usually thrown into the grave. The relations of the deceased do not follow the corpse to its place of intended rest. In the township of Pompey is a very extensive cemetery where the bones of the aborigi- nes lie in rows, side by side, for acres. The present owners of the soil frequently, when ploughing, turn up parts of the human skeleton, and occasionally some articles of dress, or instruments of war. The head that guided the council, and the arm that wield- ed the tomahawk, are scattered upon the surface with as little ceremony, as is used in our city when levelling a graveyard to make way for a street, or making an excavation for the cellar of a storehouse. It is observed that the wandering Indians assiduous- ly avoid this township. They feel that not only their land has passed from them, but the resting- place and bones of their ancestors, Wm. I am sorry for the Indians: are not you, sir? U7i. I cannot but lament their fate; but I rejoice to see those tracts of country which they devoted to the chase, and to the savage conflicts of extermi- nating war, now teeming with food for thousands and covered with the habitations of civilized men. John. The Indians found some friends among the whites, sir, U71. Many, Among those who endeavoured to save them from the arts of the wicked, or their own ignorance, I could speak of many Christian philan- thropists. The best friends of the whites, the men who taught freedom of inquiry, equality of rights both civil and religious, and interchange of good 14 166 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. offices to all, were the men who were the friends of the Indians. Among them, William Penn and Roger AVilliams stand conspicuous. Phil. You have not told us any thing ahout the way in which the Indians fight ; and how they tor- ture their prisoners ; and how their prisoners defy them. Un. When we speak of the revolutionary war, we may have an opportunity of mentioning the mode of savage warfare ; and the tortures of both white and red prisoners. Let us now go on with our story. John. You have told us nothing of their language, sir. Un. Because I know nothing of it. By and by, you will read what has been written on the sub- ject. Webster, and others, have told me that among the Six Nations there were two languages : one, the vulgar tongue ; and the other much more refined. The latter is only in use among their chiefs and orators. I have looked over vocabularies of Indi- an words, with their English significations, but I remember very few. I know that Onondaga means "Swamp under the hill;" powow, a dance; wig- warn, a house ; and so of some other words that are known to everybody. " Swamp under the hill," is descriptive of the situation of the Onondaga village or castle. To-morrow I will tell you what hap- pened in New York as the troubles increased in our country. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 169 CHAPTER XIV. JJn. Well, my good children, you have come to hear the continuation of events in our city. Con- nected with its history is the improvement in pub- lick buildings. In our last walk I pointed out to you the beauty of the new French church : now look at the picture of that which preceded it. As great, it may be said, are the advances generally in our architecture. Shall I now proceed? John. If you please, sir, and can spare time from your more important occupation. U71. My boy, I know of no occupation more im- portant than teaching. I know no office more hon- ourable than that of the teacher. I believe you have a pretty clear notion of the cause of that war with Great Britain which ended in the happy inde- pendence of our country, and the establishment of a government essentially democratick. There are some transactions particularly belonging to the histo- ry of our city, with which I must make you acquaint- ed, before we come to the period in which actual 168 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. hostilities commenced. But having- anticipated sev- eral events of the years 1769 and '70, 1 must pro- ceed to those of Governor Tryon's administration in 1771. An occurrence of a private nature is record- ed worthy of our attention before we enter on the subject of the opposition to the introduction of the East India Company's tea : I mean an instance of the extinction of life by what is called spontaneous combustion. John. That is, I believe, sir, when any material takes fire of itself, without any apparent cause. I remember reading of a gentleman who took off his silk stockings when he went to bed and threw them on the floor, and next morning found in their stead a handful of ashes. Un. There are many such instances on record ; but this I am to mention is more rare, wonderful, and awful. We can imagine without great effort that electricity or some other natural cause should produce the ignition of a piece of dry cloth or silk, but that a living body, in apparent health, replete with blood and other animal fluids, should so take fire and be consumed, appears to be among the most strange and terrifick of natural phenomena. Wm. And have such things happened, sir ? Un. Yes. The instances are rare, but the facts undoubted. I have never heard of but one in our city, and that occurred on the new-year's eve of Jan- uary, 1771. The person who suffered by a death so dreadful to our imaginations, w^as a woman of large dimensions, masculine person, coarse manners, notorious in the neighbourhood for her boldness, hrJoituat intemperance, and the vices allied to, and engendered by it. She lived in the upper part of a house, and by herself; access to her apartment be- ing by a stairway on the outside of the building. A person who had left this woman in apparent HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 169 health, on the evening of the 3 1st of December, but, as usual, intoxicated, came by appointment on busi- ness in the morning of the new year, and found her door fastened on the inside. No answer was made to the knocking. A window was within reach, and could be opened. Through this opening entrance was made; and a strange spectacle presented itself In the centre of the room, on the floor, a part of the unconsumed body of the wretched woman was seen, mingled with cinders, calcined bones, and ashes. In the floor a hole was burnt, where the victim of inebriation had fallen. The ceiling over this part of the room was black from the loathsome fumes of the sacrifice. Such was the awful end of a drunkard. John. But, sir, have not the temperate experi- enced this fate ? Un. I know of no instance. But I know that the intemperate have in many instances been thus cut off' by the effects of alcohol. Such a death is more striking, but not more dreadful than the usual end of the inebriate. John. This, sir, you say happened in January, 1771 : that was before Governor Tryon came to New York. Un. True. Who was the governor then ? John. Lord Dunmore. Infamous afterward for raising the slaves of the South and arming them against the planters. Un. True; and Governor Tryon was at the time of which we speak engaged in North Carolina, quelling an insurrection of certain unruly loyal sub- jects of his majesty. Before we enter upon more important matters, I will read to you a memoran- dum I made from a newspaper of certain property of the late Governor Montgomerie, which was sold about this time at vendue. The articles will at least convey a liotion of the wardrobes of that day ; and 15 170 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. particularly of the style of the governor's livery servants. " On the 12th of October, the furniture, &c.,of the late Governor Montgomerie, will be sold at the fort." A catalogue of the property is given, which, though curious, I did not copy, but made a memorandum that among a variety of articles are •' some blue cloth lately come from London for liv- eries; some white drap cloth, with proper trimming, and some gold lace." Wm. A gentleman, in those days, must have looked very fine, with his laced ruffles, and gold laced clothes and hat, Un. The old portraits appear very stiff and en- cumbered by their finery : and one of the uses of portrait painting is, that it transmits to posterity the real appearance of the men and women of times past. We will now turn our thoughts to the political his- tory of the time. On the 17th of January, 1771, the assembly of New York voted 2000Z. as a salary to Lord Dunmore for the year ensuing, and he re- turned a message refusing it : saying that '♦ the king had appointed him a salary out of his treasury, and he wished this allowance omitted." John. What was the meaning of this, sir? Un. To make the governor altogether independ- ent of the colonists, and dependant upon the king. John. But then the English government lost 2000Z. a year by this ; and if the same method was taken in other provinces it would amount to a great deal. Un. It was not intended that England should pay this. What is called his majesty's treasury was to be filled by taxes imposed upon the colonists. They were to pay his majesty's servants, who were to be their masters. The same offer was afterward made to Tryon and other colonial governors, and the same answer returned. Governor Tryon arrived here HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 171 the 8th of July, 1771, with his wife and daughter, who were very much beloved in North Carolina. The people of New York received him with the usual formalities. The magistrates went in proces- sion to the city hall: his commission was read: and the usual feasting and illuminations took place. And soon after Lord Dunmore departed to govern Virginia. Wm. I should like to know how that Dunmore looked. Un. It is a natural desire: and this it is that makes the portraits of individuals so valuable. 1 have only a slight idea of the appearance of this *' noble earl," and that was given me by a very old gentleman who' had frequently seen him. We were talking of the governors remembered by him, and his recollection of names having been impaired by age, when he wished to mention this nobleman, he said, "that little felloic, who raised a rebellion among the negroes in Virginia." Wm. And an ugly little fellow, I dare say, he was, though he was a lord. Un. We cannot judge, my son, by outward ap- pearances of the good or evil dispositions of men : although a long course of depravity will leave its marks on the bad man : still it is better to judge of the tree by its fruit than by its leaves or blossoms ; and we know that it is not the tallest which gives the best. What happened after Mr. William Try- on's arrival? John. The disputes between New York and New Hampshire became very bitter. Un. Yes : Governor Tryon issued a proclama- tion in December, 1771, saying that disorderly per- sons had defied the authority of New York, pre- tending claims to lands within seventeen miles of Hudson's river to the east: that they had burnt 172 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. houses, and driven away persons who were seated on farms held by titles from New York. That these violent persons pretended authority from the govern- or of New Hampshire, although he had " disclaim- ed such allowance and recommended implicit obe- dience to the laws." Tryon states the limits of the province, and calls upon justices and other officers to keep the peace. John. I remember that New York claimed to the west side of Connecticut river. Un. Yes : and Wentworth, the governor of New Hampshire agreed to refer the dispute to the king who decided, as was just, in favour of New York ; notwithstanding which, Wentworth granted and sold these lands under titles from New Hampshire, and by so doing caused feuds and bloodshed, and an ill- will towards the people of New York which lasted for many years after the disputed lands had been given up, and even after they were erected into an independent state. Thus you see that the disorders or outrages committed by the men of New Hamp- shire must be charged to the misconduct of Govern- or Wentworth. As late as March 5th, 1774, I find a report of a committee to the assembly of New York of facts respecting outrages committed by law ess persons " calling themselves the Bennington mob," who "have assumed military command anc judicial powers." The committee name as ring- leaders Etha7h Allen, Seth Warner, and six others. These men acted under the authority of Wentworth, inasmuch as he sold and granted the lands which they were determined to retain, honestly believing that he had a right to sell them. Governor Tryon endeavoured in vain to accommodate this feud. John. Uncle Philip said that Governor Tryon was "a base man." Un. I think the charge too harsh. We must HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 173 judge him by his actions ; always remembering that he was an Englishman, an officer commissioned by the king, and might think, not only that it was his duty to oppose the wishes of the people, but that it was for their good so to do. John. So we might excuse many others, sir. Un. Certainly, We will take Lieutenant-gov- ernor Golden for example, who might think he was doing right, notwithstanding the people were very much exasperated against him, I am far from justify- ing his political conduct in all respects; but we must remember that he was one of the most exemplary students and learned men of his time; the friend and correspondent of Linnaeus, Gronovious, and most of the men of science then in Europe. Wm. Well, sir, the people knew best for them- selves for all that. 1171. So it has proved, boy, and I am heartily glad of it. John. My information relative to this period, sir, is so imperfect that I must beg of you to be particular. Un. Before I commence the details respecting the rejection of the tea, I will notice one circumstance immediately connected with the prosperity of the city. On the 2d of September, 1773, Governor Tryon laid the first stone of the New York Hospi- tal. This building was then far out of town, A part of the present hospital was that commenced in 1773. Before it was completed, an accidental fire destroyed the interiour, and retarded the work for a considerable time. We will now proceed to the business of the tea ; the introduction of which was intended as the test of the spirit possessed by the col- onists to defend their rio-ht of seif-g-overnment, I have explained to you the scheme of the ministry. John. Yes, sir ; to raise a duty or tax on the col- ©nies, and by taking one off from the East India 15* 174 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Company, continue a claim on them for 400,000/. sterling a year. Un. The intention and its consequences were duly appreciated by the colonists, and, as you know, the Bostonians, (in whose harbour the article first ar- rived,) when they could not prevail to have it sent back, threw it into the sea. One immediate conse- quence of this was a law of the English parliament prohibiting all entries or shipments of goods at Bos- ton. This is what is known in history as the Boston port-bill. We shall now see how these proceedings of the British parliament were received in New York. On the 16th of December, 1773, an adver- tisement appeared, stating that "the members of the association of the sons of liberty, are requested to meet at the city hall to-morrow, (being Friday,) on business of importance ; and every friend to the lib- erties and trade of America are hereby most cordial- ly invited to meet at the same place." Accordingly, on the 17th, a numerous company assembled, and Mr. John Lamb addressed them. He said several letters had been received from the committees of correspondence of Boston and Philadelphia on the subject of the East India Company's tea. The let- ters were called for and read. They invited the colonies to unite in resisting the insidious intentions of Great Britain. A committee of fifteen was cho- sen to answer these letters. The object of the as- sociation was explained to the publick, and the in- tention of the parliament in imposing the duty on tea. It was stated that the captains of the Ameri- can ships had refused to take this obnoxious article; but that the East India Company had chartered vessels to receive it, and that it might be soon ex- pected to arrive ; therefore the subscribers had as- sociated to support their rights, under the title of " The Sons of Liberty of New York," and had re- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 175 solved, that whoever aided in the introduction of tea into the country in any way whatsoever, should be considered as an enemy. The persons assembled were invited to join in the resolution, and. the ques- tion being put by Mr. Lamb, it was adopted unani- mously. In this stage of the business, the mayor and recorder entered, and announced a message from the government. The citizens agreed to hear it. Whitehead Hicks, esquire, the mayor, assured them from the governor, that on the arrival of the tea it would be taken into the fort at noon-day; and pledged his honour that it should continue there, until the council should advise it to be delivered out; or until the king's order, or the proprietors' order, should be known : and then it should be delivered out of the fort at noon-day." John. Did that satisfy the people, sir ? Un. No. They had made up their minds that it must be returned forthwith in the ships that brought it. And when the mayor asked, " Gentlemen, is this satisfactory to you?" there was a unanimous answer of " No ! No ! No !" Mr. Lamb read the act of parliament, and pointed out that the duty must be paid if the article was landed. The question was put, " Shall the tea be landed?" and answered in the negative. Wm. That's right ! U;i. Resolutions were then passed approving the conduct of the people of Boston and Philadelphia; and the meeting adjourned " till the arrival of the tea-ship." In the mean time another event happen- ed that must be remembered as belongfinof to the history of our good city. John. What was it, sir ? Un. You all remember that at the beginning of the affair called the negro plot, in 1741, the govern- or's house in the fort was burnt. 176 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Wm, O yes, sir. When Governor Clarke lived there. Phil. When Major Drum frightened the people. Un. Aigother house was built by the province in the same place, and it is sometimes called the prov- ince house, and sometimes the governor's. At this time it was occupied by Governor Tryon and his family. A few days after the meeting of the Sons of Liberty, which you will remember was on the 17th of December, 1773, while the town was free from agitation, or even noise, at the hour of mid- night, the governor's house was discovered to be on fire. This happened on the 29th of December. So sudden and furious was the conflagration, that Mr. Tryon and his wife with difficulty escaped from the flames through an unfrequented door, on the east side of the building, which led to the ramparts of the fort. Their daughter saved herself by leaping out of a window of the second story. The nouse and furniture were destroyed ; and the adjoining buildings, within the fort, were only saved owing to their roofs being covered with snow, and by the strenuous exertions of the citizens. But they did not save what was of more worth. A servant girl of sixteen years of age, either too timid to follow the example of Miss Tryon, or sleeping in an upper chamber, perished miserably without the possibility of rescue. The name of this girl, Elizabeth Garret, is preserved. Two days after the fire, the great seal of the province was raked out of the ashes, and found to be uninjured. On the 12th of January, 1774, the governor in his speech to the assembly tells them, that " with the utmost agony of mind for the -safety of his family, he lately beheld his own interest and the province house involved in one com- mon ruin." Particularly, he says, after their liberal grant for the repairs of the building. He tells them HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 177 that the boundary line between New York and Mas- sachusetts had been settled by the commissioners appointed for that purpose, but with Canada it had not yet been, determined. He likewise informed them that, in consequence of the outrages committed by the New Hampshire men on the settlers under the New York government, he had been ordered to England. John. He meant that disputed land, now the state of Vermont. Un. Yes. In consequence of the fire at the fort, the governor at this time resided in Broad street. Both houses of the legislature condoled with him on his loss, regretted that he should be called home, and passed a law granting him 5000Z. in considera- tion of his loss by the burning of the province house. Joh7i. Did he go away then ? Un. He departed for England on the 8th of April, and if we were to judge by the compliments paid him on the occasion, we should say he was very much beloved. Many of the gentlemen of the city gave him a publick dinner. General Haldimand, the commander of the king's troops, gave a ball on the occasion. Addresses were poured in by corpora- tions and societies ; and King's College made him a doctor in civil law. Wm. Was he a lawyer, Uncle? Un. No. But that is not considered when col- leges wish to flatter. However, Doctor Tryon de- parted, and left the government once more to old Doctor Colden, who, as a man of literature and sci- ence, had a claim to that title, as well as from his having had the education of a physician. John. I am afraid, sir, that Mr. Colden had as hard a time with the Sons of Liberty now, about the tea, as he had in 1765, about the stamps. Un. We shall see. I rather think that Doctor 178 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Tryon was well pleased to get out of the way of Messrs. Sears, Sands, Scott, and McDougal : and to turn over Nathaniel Woodhull, George Clinton, and Philip Schuyler, (with some other true Americans who now began to show themselves,) to the manage- ment of Dr. Golden. John. Were there not other conspicuous names in our city, sir? Un, The names of Delancey and Livingston are conspicuous in the history of New York. The families had long been rivals. James Delancey you may remember as the lieutenant-governor ap- pointed by the English Governor Clinton, and he was long a man of influence in the province ; the time had now arrived when the name of Livingston became ascendant as one of the constellation that guided the people to liberty; and the Delancey, lean- ing upon the power of England, sunk on the horizon of the west. You will now hear of Jay, Morris, Schuyler, and Clinton. And I must mention two names less brilliant, and borne by men as dissimilar m character as any leaders of the two great political parties that now divided the province of New York, James Rivington and Christopher CoUes. The first, issued proposals, in March, for publishing a weekly gazette, and printed the first number on the 22d of April, 1773. The second, one year after, delivered lectures on natural philosophy; and projected water- works (which were begun to be executed) for sup- plying New York with good and wholesome water. John. I thought, sir, that the Manhattan works were the first in point of time for that purpose. Un. The first ever put in operation. But Mr. CoUes's water-works have priority of intention. I remember the basin of earth raised to receive the water, on a high ground to the east of the new road ; that is, on the east side of Broadway, near HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 179 the present intersection of Leonard street ; and the water was to be raised from a lake or pond farther to the east, extending- from what is now a part of Pearl street, to what is now Canal street. All, then, out of the city. This was the fresh-water, or kolk, or collect, of former days. Rivington will long be remembered as the "king's printer" at the time of our revolution ; and there is a street in this city named after him : but the only memorial of Chris- topher Colles, (a learned, meek, and benevolent gentleman,) is the portrait of a little old man, paint- ed by John Wesley Jarvis, now hanging in the li- brary of the Historical Society. Come, let us go and look at it before we talk of the troubles that preceded the war. t80 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. CHAPTER XV. Wm. Why is that old street we passed in our walk to-day, called New? Vn. I can give no other reason than that it was new when named. Here is a picture of a house, such as all the buildings were when it was really a New street. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 181 John. Now, sir, we shall be glad to hear you on ,he subject of our city's history. Un. We have arrived at a period of great impor- tance. The press teemed with essays in favour of the measures of Great Britain on one part, and in defence of the rights of America on the other. It is to be remarked, although it in no way affects the merits of any religious system at the present day, that the Avarmest advocates of England were clergy- men of the Episcopal church. At the head of these must be placed Doctor Cooper, the president of the college, a man of science, literature, and wit. His coadjutors were Doctors Inglis, Seabury, and Chand- ler, and the Reverend Messrs. Wilkins and Vardill. But their cause was bad, and they had to contend with genius wielding the arms of truth. William Livingston, afterward the republican governor of New Jersey, with Morris, Jay, McDougal, and (al- though but a youth of seventeen) Alexander Ham- ilton, were the champions of America. Schuyler, Clinton, and John Morin Scott, were not idle. The associated Sons of Liberty stood ready for action un- der their well known leaders, Sears, McDougal, and Lamb. At length, on the 2ist of April, 1774, the long expected tea-ship, the Nancy, Captain Lockyier, arrived. The pilots of the port received their instruc- tions from the comniiftee, and refused to bring her farther than the Hook. The captain came up to town, and was met by a deputation of the Sons of Liberty, and informed that he must return forthwith with his ship to London, and deposile his cargo with those who shipped it. To this command he of course saw that no opposition would avail. He desired to see the consignee of his lading, Mr. Henry White, an Englishman, and, either then, or shortly before, one of his majesty's council for the province. The deputies escorted Captain Lockyier to the intended 15 182 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. agent of the East India Company, who was too well informed of the state of things to hesitate in his answer. He renounced his agency, and refused to receive that which he had long desired, but was now far beyond his reach. The ship Nancy was de- tained at Sandy Hook until Lockyier was ready to depart, and was closely guarded by a committee of vigilance from the Sons of Liberty, who prevented the sailors (necessary for navigating her back to England) from leaving the vessel. John. Poor fellows ; how they must have longed to reach the shore ! Un. The boats being secured, they made an at- tempt to land by means of a raft, but were turned back and confined to the ship. John. But this was hard, sir. Un. It is thus that individuals must sometimes suffer when the welfare of a nation or community is at stake. This was now the case. These English sailors were supplied with every thing needed for the safe navigation of the ship home again. But go they must. In the mean time another affair called for the interference of our citizens. You will re- collect that it was said all the American captains of ships had refused to take the tea. John. Yes, sir ; and that the East India Compa- ny had chartered English ships. Such, I suppose, was the Nancy. IJyi. The Sons of Liberty received information that one of the New York ship-captains, notwith- standing his profession that he would not receive the obnoxious article, had shipped eighteen chests of it in London, that he had already arrived at the Hook, and that his ship was on her way to the town. The pilots had no orders to stop this ship, as her commander. Captain Chambers, was known, and had made such professions of patriotism. The pi- HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 183 lot that boarded him inquired if he had any tea, and he denied. Mary. O, for shame ! XJn. The ship arrived at the wharf, and was im- mediately boarded by the citizens. Wm. Captain Sears at the head, I will warrant ! Un. Captain Chambers was again questioned, and again denied. Thus one falsehood leads to another, and the guilt and shame are doubled. He was told that they had unquestionable information that he had tea on board; and that they would search every package in the ship until they found it. See- ing their resolution, he confessed ; but said it was not the East India Company's tea: that it was a private venture, shipped and owned by himself This paltry equivocation did not save him from cenj-'ire, or his tea from destruction. The hatches were ordered to be opened ; the eighteen chests were found and hoisted to the deck ; then, very deliberately, emptied into the salt water of the bay. After which the people quietly dispersed; and Cham- bers was suffered to withdraw, covered with contempt, when probably he had anticipated a covering of tar. John. What was done with Lockyier, sir 1 Un. Every thing being ready for his departure, ship, cargo, and all, a day was appointed and an- nounced to the people. The bells were ordered to be rung. The Sons of Liberty met the captain of the English Nancy by appointment at the Coffee- house. Hither the citizens flocked in greater num- bers than ever before was known. The house was in Wall street at the corner of Water street, and opposite the Tontine Coffee-house of more recent construction. It was then kept by Mrs. Ferari, who removed to it in 1772, from the old Coffee-house, which was on the ground afterward occupied by the Tontine. The crowd filled the street. The com- 184 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. raittee brought out Lockyier into the balcony. He was received with cheers, and a band of musick play- ed "God save the king." With all these unwel- come honours the English captain was escorted by the " Sons of Liberty" to the wharf at the foot of Wall street, where seeing him on board the pilot boat that was to convey his vessel off, they " wished him a good voyage" home, and then with the people dis- persed. The committee of vigilance still attended upon his ship at the Hook, and guarded his tea and his crew. Captain Chambers, under protection of another committee, embarked on board Lockyier's ship. She sailed; the bells rang; the flag was hoisted on the liberty pole, and every ship in the harbour displayed her colours in token of triumph. Wm. Well done, the good people of New York ! U71. But a more serious business was yet to be done. John. What was that, sir ?■ Un. To elect good men and true, to meet in con- gress at Philadelphia. John. They found them, sir ! V?i. They did, boy. But the Sons of Liberty had to struggle hard to carry the election ; for many in New York (besides the downright tories or sup- porters of tyranny) were afraid of the measures ad- vocated by the champions of our rights ; while oth- ers conscientiously adhered to the mother country, and believed that she would remedy the grievances complained of, if conciliatory means were used. In this state of the publick feeling, on the 19th of May, 1774, (shortly after Chambers's tea had been thrown into the Coffee-house slip, at the bottom of Wall street, and Lockyier and his cargo had been sent to report that New York was as rebellious as Boston,) a great meeting was called at the Coffee- house, to take into consideration the state of theif HISTORY OF NEW YORK. IS6 fellow-countrymen at Boston, who, as I have said, were deprived of the means of prosecuting- their commercial business, and many of them reduced to immediate want by the arbitrary act of parliament called the Boston port-bill. John. Intended to punish the Boston folks, and thinking that the other people would be quiet and look on. Un. If they thought so they greatly mistook. Every colony felt the injury as done to itself; and that which perhaps was intended to produce dis- union, became a bond to unite all the genume provincials from one end of the continent to the other. At this great meeting in May, a committee of fifty-one were appointed who were to deliberate for the citizens. Many of this committee were, to my knowledge, tories : but the majority were friends to America, yet not willing to oppose the measures of parliament. Most of these last described were merchants, and a portion of them never served. Wm. Was Captain Sears on this great commit- tee, sir ? U71. Yes, your favourite was one, and Captain McDougal another. On their first meeting they appointed a committee of correspondence, consisting of Alexander McDougal, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay. Letters from various parts were read. The project of a congress to meet at Philadel- phia was considered, agreed to, and delegates nomi- nated. This great committee had too many of the cold or disaffected to suit the ardent leaders, and on the 6th of July, another general meeting of citizens was called, and Mr. McDougal placed in the chair. This was afterward called " the great meeting in the fields." Here a number of resolutions were passed, more congenial to the spirit of the times. They approved the conduct of the Bostonians, 16* 186 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. and resolved to support them. They opened a subscription for their relief. They entered into non-importation agreements ; and determined upon a plan for the election of delegates to that congress which they foresaw would be the bond of future union for the colonies. John. These were the best men ! Un. The next day the committee of fifty-one met, and Mr. Thurman moved a resolution, which was seconded by Mr. McEvers, disapproving of the meet- ing of the day before, and of their proceedings. This was carried by a large majority. Upon which all the true American w^higs requested their names to be struck from the committee of fifty-one. Whe- ther they eventually seceded, I know not, but, on the 25th of July, the polls were opened at the dif- ferent wards for the election of delegates to a con- gress to meet at Philadelphia, and Philip Livings- ton, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay, were chosen. John. Were these good men, sir ? Un. Yes. Some of them very good. One of them pre-eminently so. Joh7i. Ah, I know that was Mr. Jay. Un. When the time arrived for the delegates to proceed to Philadelphia, the people assembled in vast crowds to attend them to the place of embark- ation, and took leave of them with every demonstra- tion of confidence in their abilities and patriotism. The congress of this year laid the foundation of American self-government. Messrs. Jay and Liv- ingston of New York, with Richard Henry- Lee of Virginia, were appointed a committee to draw the declaration of rights. The composition is attributed to John Jay. It belongs to the general history of our country, and must be read by you all. But I will cite one passage which dwells on my memory HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 187 as particularly applicable to the state of the contro- versy at this period, and placing the question at issue between England and America on its true ground. The passage I allude to is this. After speaking in strong terms, and almost harshly, of the conduct of Great Britain, as " forging chains for her frienas and children," and becoming the " advocate of sla- very and oppression," the declaration says, " know then, that we consider ourselves, and do insist that we are, and ought to be, as free as our fellow-sub* jects in Great Britain ; and that no power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent." And again, "We claim to be free as well as our fellow-subjects of Great Britain : and are not the proprietors of the soil of Britain lords of their own property ? Can it be taken from them without their consent ? Will they yield it to the ar- bitrary disposal of any man or number of men what- ever? You know they will not." John. How was this declaration received, sir ? Un. By Americans with enthusiastick pleasure. ^Y Englishmen as the height of insolence. The parliament of Great Britain, and most of the people, (if they thought at all on the subject,) looked on the colonies as I have before shown you, merely as their property ; and upon the provincials as infe- riour beings, — creatures only existing bj'' their per- mission and protection ; to be guided, and fleeced, as flocks by their shepherds. John. I remember, sir, that whatever low opinion they had of the colonists, they were afraid of their union. XJn. Yes ; by making an artful distinction in the laws intended for their punishment, they hoped to divide them. Wm. But the colonists were as wise as the Indi* 188 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. ans you told us of; and knew that the bundle of ar« rows was stronger than one arrow alone. Un. Very true, my good boy. But what has be- come of Philip and Mary ? Johii. Mary has left us; and Philip is making a boat. Phil. Here I am, Uncle. But I am tired of what you are talking about ; besides I don't understand it. And you promised us more stories. Un. Come here. I will tell you a story. But as the place in which the events happened of which I am going to speak was New Jersey ; and as New Jersey was part of Neuw Nederlandts, that is, of New York, at the beginning of our history, I will say a few words generally of that province before I begin my story. John. If you please, sir. Un. But not till we meet again. CHAPTER XVI. Un. Now, children, I will talk to you of New Jer sey. At the peace of Breda, the Dutch surrenderee the New Netherlands to the English, and received in exchange a country called Surinam. In conse- quence of this surrender, all the territory from Con- necticut river to the Delaware was considered as the property of the Duke of York; and he sold New Jersey (that is, the land, bays, and rivers, from the Delav/are to the Hudson) to Lord Berkely and Sir George Carteret. These two agreed upon a divi' sion ; Berkely taking as his half the western part, bounded on the Delaware, and Carteret that portion bounded on the Hudson; thenceforth the one is called HISTORY OF NEW YORK. ' 185 East Jersey, and the other west. The early pur- chasers and setiiers of New Jersey, in 1680, ex- pressed so fully and admirably the rights they pre- served as Englishmen, although they had come to America, and those they had acquired by their pur- chase from James, Duke of York, that I will read a few passages to you from Samuel Smith's history, to prove in what light they viewed the Indians; and to show likewise that they used the same argu- ments respecting their own liberty and property, which their descendants brought forward in 1775. They insisted upon the right of self-government ; and say, " to give up this (the power of making laws) is to resign ourselves to the will of another ; and that for nothing : for, under favour, we buy no- thing of the duke, if not the right of an undisturb- ed colonizing, and that as Englishmen, with no diminution, but expectation of some increase of those freedoms and privileges enjoyed in our own coun- try; for the soil is none of his, His the natives\ and it would be an ill argument to convert them to Christianity, to expel instead of purchasing them out of those countries." John. Why, sir, this is as beautiful as if William Penn wrote it. Un. These men, Edward Billinge, Samuel Jen- nings, Gawin Lawrie, and their associates, were the friends of William Penn ; and like the Puritans of Plymouth, true democrats in principle. They say, again, " we have not lost any part of our liberty by leaving our country," and it is evident that the hope of self-government was their leading motive. You see likewise, my children, that however admirable the declaration of rights may be esteemed which the congress of 1774 drew up, these New Jersey men expressed the same notions and supported them "by the same arguments, quite as well. 190 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. John. And I like what they say respecting the Indians. Wm. Were the Indians in New Jersey a part of the Five Nations 1 Un. No. They were generally of the Lenni- Lenape, or Delawares. And now, as I think you have had enough on the subject of laws and rights for one lesson, I will tell you something of these New Jersey Indians. There were many tribes, and each had its own name, as Mingo, Anastaka, Chi- chequas, and so on. The chief man of the tribe was called a sachem, but the English settlers called them all kings, although as unlike kings in authority as they were in appearance. They were leaders, only as they were the wisest and best of the tribe. They were an inferiour people in some respects to the Iro- quois or Five Nations, who held them in contempt; but they were more disposed to peace, and in sin- cerity, hospitality, and gratitude to their Creator, they were at least equal to any of the natives. The historian of New Jersey says that they believed in a God and immortality : that they " seemed to aim at publick worship," sitting in circles, one circle within another, and singing, jumping, shouting, and dancing." They said the Great Being that made them, " dwelt in a glorious country to the south- ward," and " that the spirits of the good should go there." " Their most solemn worship was the sac- rifice of the first fruits ; in which they burnt the first and fattest buck, and feasted together upon what else they had collected." John. This, sir, is like what Mr. Webster, the in- terpreter, told you of the Five Nations of New York. Un. I do not doubt, my son, that all the Indians, or red men of this northern continent, were origi- nally from one stock. Thomas Budd, one of the first settlers of New Jersey, published a pamphlet. HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 19- in which he says that the Indians had been very- serviceable to the English in supplying them with food and skins. That in their publick meetings of business, " they have excellent order, one speaking after another ; and while one is speaking all the rest keep silent, and do not so much as whisper one to another." On the subject of keeping peace, he gites a speech of one of the chiefs. In their figurative language he said, " We are willing to have a broad path for you and us to walk in, and if an Indian is asleep in this path, the Englishman shall pass by and do him no harm; and if an Englishman is asleep in this path, the Indian shall pass him by, and say, he is an Englishman, he is asleep ; let him alone, he loves to sleep. It shall be a plain path ; there must not be in this path a stump to hurt our feet." On the subject of intoxicating- drink their language was, " The strong liquor was first sold to us by the Dutch ; and they were blind, they had no eyes, they did not see that it was for our hurt. The next people that came among us were the Swedes ;" " they likewise were blind, they had no eyes, they did not see it to be hurtful to us" — " we are so in love with it that we drink it, though we know that it makes ns mad ; we throw each other into the fire, we kill each other. Those people that sell it are blind; but now there are a people come to live amongst us that have eyes; they see it to be for our hurt, and we know it to be for our hurt : they are willing to deny themselves the profit of it, for our good." You will observe the delicacy, in not at- tributing the selling of this poison to them by the Dutch and Swedes to evil motives, but merely to an ignorance that it would do harm ; and they compli-- ment the English settlers by attributing to them su- periour knowledge; and disinterestedness in conse- quence of knowledge. As you have mentioned Web* i92 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. ster, the interpreter, I will give you a story tolcl by another interpreter, to show the sense which the In- dians have of the goodness of the Giver of Life in the preservation of his creatures from evils of their own creating. John. What interpreter was this, sir ? Un. The historian does not give his name. " I write this," he says, " to give an account of what I have observed among the Indians, in relation to their belief and confidence in a Divine Being." He says that he was sent hj the governor of Virginia to Onondaga, in the month of February ; a journey of more than five hundred miles through a wilderness, where there was neither road nor path ; at a season when the earth was covered with snow and " no creatures could be met with for food." He was ac- companied by "a Dutchman and three Indians." They arrived at a narrow valley encompassed with high mountains " on which the snow lay three feet deep. In this pass ran a stream so rapid as to he unfrozen, and in places extending from one side of the gorge to the other, obliging the travellers to climb on the steep sides of the mountain to avoid wading in the water. They were forced to cut through the frozen surface of the snow to make holes for their feet that they might not slip down the mountain. "Thus," he says, "Ave crept on. It happened that the old Indian's foot slipped, and the root of a tree by which he held, breaking, he slipped down the mountain as from the roof of a house; but happily was stopped in his fall, by the string which fastened his pack, hitching to the stump of a small tree. The two Indians could not come to his aid, but our Dutch fellow-traveller did; and that not without visible danger to his own life." Wm. So the brave Dutchman saved him ! Un, He rescued him from his perilous situation, HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 193 and they all descended into the valley ; then they saw that if the Indian had slipped four or five paces further, he would have fell over a rock one hundred feet perpendicular upon craggy pieces of rock be- low." When the Indian saw the extent of the dan- ger from which he had been saved by the string of his pack hitching over a small piece of a projecting stump, and that there he had been suspended on the brink of an awful eternity, "he turned quite pale," says the narrator, " and, stretching out his arms, said with great earnestness, ' I thank the great Lord and Governor of this world, in that he has had mercy upon me, and has been willing that I should live longer.' " Phil. I like that Indian, and that story, Uncle. Un. Let us remember it, boy. And remember to be thankful every hour of our lives : for we are thus suspended, though not so obviously, every mo- ment that we live. To-morrow, " if the great Lord and Governor of this world" is willing, we will go on with our history. CHAPTER XVIL John. Will you please to tell us something more of New Jersey, sir 1 Un. Willingly ; and I have a New Jersey tale of robbers and counterfeiters to tell you. John. Was Sir George Carteret the first governor? Un. Sir George Carteret did not come to Amer- ica, but sent his brother Philip, to govern ; for it ap- pears that the proprietors held the right of appoint- ing governors. So in 1681, for the first time in West Jersey, a form of government was regi'Iarly ir 194 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. established. The governor agreed with the peo- ple that there should be a free assembly chosen by them, once a year, to make laws for the good government of the province. The governor not to have the power of annulling these laws, and not to make war or raise troops w^ithout the consent of the assembly. In fact the whole power was reserved by the people to themselves, and they proclaimed perfect " liberty of conscience" in matters of religion. It was to East Jersey that Sir George Carteret had appointed his brother Philip as governor, and you remember that Sir Edmund Andros, the Duke of York's governor of New York, had him seized at Elizabethtown and brought to New York as a pris- oner, charging him with usurping his authority. Carteret, however, could show as good title as An- dros, and the affair was soon settled, Philip Car- teret remained governor until 1681. In the mean time Sir George died, and ordered the province to be sold to pay his debts. William Penn and eleven others bought it ; and soon after sold out half to twelve others, and to these twenty-four the duke renewed the grant with power to appoint a govern- or and other officers. Accordingly the proprietors appointed Robert Barclay, (the author of the Apol- ogy for duakerism which you will one day read,) governor for life. He did not continue to rule as long as he lived, for in two years from his appoint- ment, that is, in 1683, Lord Neil Campbell, uncle to the Duke of Argyle, came over as governor, and in 1698, Sir Thomas Lane was governor of East Jersey. Joh7i. It would appear, sir, that the government of East Jersey, was not so democratick as that of West. Un. You are right; for in West Jersey the people not only chose the assembly, but the assembly (the people's representative) chose the governor and I HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 193 council. Their first choice was Samuel Jennins-s, (in 1683,) and next year Thomas Olive. This pow- er appears to have been exercised by the people dur- ing- a dispute between them and the proprietors, which being" adjusted, they agreed to the appoint- ment of John Skeine as governor. Dr. Cox, hav- ing purchased a great many shares of the property, was appointed governor next ; but appears to have been so anxious that the people should be satisfied, that he consulted with them, to know w^hether they wished to have a share in the choice of governor and council, and on other matters, in the spirit of true benevolence. In a few years the contending inter- ests of the proprietors threw the government of both Jerseys into confusion. In 1692, the proprietors of West Jersey appointed Andrew Hamilton their gov- ernor, and subsequently governor of both East and West Jersey ; but in 1701 appeared Jeremiah Bass with a commission from part of the proprietors, said to be approved by the king, and he superseded Ham- ilton ; this commission was soon after disputed, and Hamilton again seated in the chair of government : but these disputes ended in an agreement of the pro- prietors of both Jerseys, East and West, to surrender their right of government, in 1702, to dueen Ann; and she, in council, on the 17th day of April, 1702, did accept the same, and appointed her cousin, Ed- ward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, governor over both parts, declaring them to be one province. Wm. Why this is the same fellow that was gov- ernor of New York, and would not pay his debts because he was a lord, and a queen's cousin, and a governor : but when the government was taken from him his creditors in New York threw him into jail, and so got their money. Un. Yes. He was governor of both provinces at the same time; and it was in consequence of the 196 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. representations of New Jersey that he was superse- ded. You will some day read in Mr. Samuel Smith's History, the instructions given him by Queen Ann, for his rule over both colonies : among other things he is enjoined to permit " liberty of conscience to all persons, (except Papists.)" Cornbury came to New Jersey in 1703, and his conduct was such that in 1707 the assembly remonstrated with him and stated their grievances, at the same time that they petitioned the queen for his removal. There were at this time bold and able men who advocated the rights of the people, and among them Mr. Lewis Morris was conspicuous. He owned iron works in. Shrewsbury, and came originally from Barbadoes. Cornbury, in his answer to the assembly, imputes their dissatisfaction principally to Morris, and is very intemperate; he takes the opportunity to abuse the Quakers, as people pretending to be Christians, and denying their Saviour. In their rejoinder the assembly take a tone as high as the governor's : they tell him his favourites are the pests of the country ; that he does not obey the queen's instructions in re- gard to liberty of conscience, and many other mat- ters: that when residing (as he does the greater part of the time) at Fort Ann, in New York, there is no deputy in New Jersey to do justice. In short, they accuse him of every species of mal-ad- ministration. Lord Lovelace succeeded Cornbury in 1708, but died in a short time, and was succeeded by Ingoldsby, the lieutenant-governor, who ruled until the arrival of Governor Hunter, in 1710. The enumeration of governors for New York are those for New Jersey at this time. Burnet succeeded Hunter in 1720; Montgomerie followed; and dur- ing his administration New Jersey applied to Eng- land for a distinct governor from New York. Cosby, the next governor of both province,?, prorxiised the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 197 people to second their views in respect to haTing a governor to themselves. John. We have seen that there was not much re- liance to be placed upon him. Where was the seat of government of New Jersey, sir ? Un. First at Burlington, and subsequently the governors resided and the assemblies met, alternate- ly there and at Perth Amboy. John. That's a very pleasant place, sir; a beauti- ful situation for a city. What was the origin of the town, and of the name ? Un. I will tell you something of both ; and the more willingly, as the story I promised of the rob- bers and counterfeiters of money, is immediately con- nected with the place. The name of the point upon which Perth Amboy stands, (having the Raritan riv- er on one side and the waters dividing the town from Staten island on the other,) appears from the propri- etor's books to have been originally " Ompoge," and to have been changed to Ompo, Ombo, Ambo, and finally to Amboy. Perth was added in compliment to James, Earl of Perth, one of the second set of pro- prietors, received as partners by William Penn and others, who purchased of Sir George Carteret's widow. The land on which this city is built was bought of the Indians, in the same honest way that Penn negotiated for his territory. The first deed on record relative to " Ompoge point" was given by the Indians to Augustine Herman, and it is dated the 26th of December, 1651. The bounds of the grant were as follows. Read the memorandum. John. "From the mouth of the Raritan creek westerly unto a creek at the uppermost end of the great marsh called Mankackewahky — " Un. Now called the Raritan great meadows. John. "Which runs northwest into the countrv, 16 ^ 198 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. and then from the mouth of the Raritan creek afore- said, northerly up along the river — " tfn. The sound between Perth Amboy and Staten Island. John. " Along the river behind States isle, unto the creek Pechciese, namely, from the point called Ompoge unto Pechciese, the aforesaid creek." tin. Now Elizabethtown point creek. John. " And so up the said creek to the very head of it; and from thence direct westerly thro we the land until it meet with the aforesaid creek and mead- ow ground called Mankackewahky." Un. I put this memorandum in your hands to show the manner in which these purchases were described. The whole of this territory was included in a larger grant made by other Indians to another person, and the conflicting claims caused a suit in chancery. It was found necessary to prohibit by law any purchases from the Indians unless sanction- ed by the proprietors ; that is, by those who held the grant from Berkely or Carteret. Finally this Ompoge point and the tract above mentioned was purchased by the twenty-four proprietors of East Jersey; and they laid out a town on the point, which was then called Ambo, and in compliment to the Earl of Perth, (one of the twenty-four,) they named it Perth Ambo, which was soon changed to Perth Ambop. John. It seems strange to me, sir, that these plain republicans should have such a reverenco for titled people. Un. It is very difficult to get rid of old habits. This makes it so necessary that no habits but those which are good, should be acquired ; and shows the value of earli/ education. Europeans were habit- uated to paying undue respect to titled nobility; ond the descendants of the English, and other na* HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 19^ tions, in this country, even to this day are slaves to the prejudice. John. Not all, sir. Un. Certainly not. And even at the time Perth Amboy was so called, there were many who knew the distinction between a nobleman of nature's form- ing and the titulary creation of a tyrant or of chance. Amboy was commenced on a plan drawn by Gawin Lawrie, a proprietor, and at one time the deputy- governor of the province. His scheme was adopted by the council, and the city was divided into one hundred and fifty lots, each of ten acres ; the price to those who purchased before the 25th of Decem- ber, 1682, was fixed as 15/. sterling, and one year after at 201. Four acres were reserved for a mar- ket-square. It was in 1709 that Glueen Ann per- mitted New Jersey to issue paper money, and al- though it used to be printed W'ith,the words "to counterfeit is death," many spurious'bills were soon circulated. They were manufactured in Dublin, and agents sent hither with them. But the great band of robbers and counterfeiters, were detected and dispersed only a short time before the revolu* tion, and during the rule of William Franklin. John. There must have been many governors be- fore him and after Cosby, who was the last you men- tioned. U?i. Yes ; they succeeded each other very rapid- ly, Morris, Belcher, Boone, and Josiah Hardy, pass before us like the figures that you have seen in the magick lantern ; or the blossoms you see year by year on the Lombardy poplar trees in our streets, fading and falling without leaving a trace of good behind them. And so flit away the rulers of the earth elsewhere. Josiah Hardy arrived in October, 1761, and was succeeded by William Franklin, in 1763. Franklin was the last of the king's govern- 200 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. ors ; and was not removed until the events of the revolution displaced him. It was during his ad- ministration that the detection of the gang of robbers and counterfeiters took place, whose story I am to tell. John. Were there any remarkable men in Perth Amboy in early days ? Un. Several. I will only mention Barclay, the apologist for Quakerism, and Doctor Lewis Johns- ton, an eminent physician and student of nature. He received his education at Leyden, and after re- turning home corresponded with Gronovius and other learned men of Europe. It deserves likewise to be remembered that a magazine was edited at this place as early as 1759, by Samuel Neville, an Eng- lish gentleman w^ho lived and died there. Phil, Uncle, I have been waiting so long for the story ! John. Hush ! If you have attended to what has been said you will understand the story better. IJyi. In those days, that is, sixty or seventy years ago, some parts of New Jersey were as wild as the western Avildernesses now are, with here and there a solitary farm-house and patch of pumpkins and Indian corn. In such a place lived an Englishman of the name of Ford. He w^as occasionally seen at Morristown, Elizabethtown, and even at Amboy and Burlington; he appeared as an honest thriving yeo- man, but although the owner of a considerable por- tion of land, little of it was cultivated, and no one knew how Ford could appear so "well off^" and do so little work. The tract he owned remained a wil- derness, and several extensive swamps were situated on it, near Avhich neither road nor path approached. His only companion was one of fiis countrymen named King, who was in appearance a hired labour- er; but no fruits of his labour appeared. After a time Ford was missing altogether. King said he had HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 201 g-one home, on the death of his father, to take pos- session of property that he inherited in consequence. *' Then he will not come back, perhaps ?" " Oh yes ; he prefers this country, and will certainly return." He did return ; and now I will tell you what he went to England for, and what he and King had been doing for a Jong time before. Wm. 1 guess, he had been making counterfeit money. Un. No. He came out at first as agent for the Dublin counterfeiters ; but conceived a plan for ma- king the bills on the spot. He had been successful in circulating the false bills, and purchased the land that he thought would suit his purpose. King was his confidential agent ; and with the utmost secrecy they constructed a den, part cave and part house, in the depths of a swamp, to which neither ingress nor egress was known or could be effected, except by these two villains. Ford then went to London, made himself somewhat acquainted with engraving, and procured the types, ornamental cuts, portable print- ing presses, tools and moulds for coining, and all the materials he wanted for his secret abode and labora- tory. He returned, and commenced his operations with the materials and the skill acquired in London. Accomplices were necessary for the distribution of his manufacture, and he had the art to seduce many of the farmers and respectable yeomen of the sur- rounding country into the practice of buying his spurious money and circulating it, and that without communicating the secret of his workshop or the hidden path that led thereto. John. Is it possible, sir, that people enjoying rep- utation among the colonists could be so base as to aid these men? Un. This, the most incredible part of the story is strictly true; men having landed property, re- 202 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. spectable connexions, wives and children, were se- duced by the desire of possessing wealth without labour (that desire which ruins so many) to become the accomplices of two artful scoundrels in this nefa- rious traffick, so injurious to their country, and so dangerous as well as debasing to themselves. They continued their iniquitous trade for several years, and became bolder from success. But in 1773, ano- ther gang of confederated counterfeiters and coin- ers arrived from New England, and spread them- selves in the towns and villagfes from Woodbridgfe o o to Middletown. Two of them, pretending to be sil- versmiths, set up business in Perth Amboy. The quantity of base coin and counterfeit bills excited the vigilance of government, and it is believed that this new set of confederated rosfues led to the detec- tion of Ford, King, and Company. In the mean time the publick being on their guard, the agents of Ford among the people ceased their operations, and as business had become dull in the way of passing off bills, he conceived the bold design of making up all deficiencies by robbing the treasury. Johii. Did he succeed, sir ? Un. Yes. And for a long time was not even sus- pected of the robbery. The treasurer of the prov- ince, Stephen Skinner, esquire, lived in Perth Am- boy, and the treasury was in his house ; the money in bills was kept in an iron chest in the office. In 1768, the office was found to have been entered in the night, the iron chest opened, and upwards of 6000Z. carried off It was not till six years after, that the perpetrators were known to be Ford, King, Cooper, and three soldiers belonging to a regiment quartered in the barracks at the time of burglary. In 1774, Cooper being convicted of counterfeiting, and under sentence of death, confessed that he as- sisted Ford in accomplishing the robbery of the trea* HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 203 sury, and received 300Z. for his share. He said tho plan was Ford's; that he procured the necessary information as to the situation of the chest, the man ner in which the treasurer secured the key in his chamber, the mode of obtaining access to the chest, and if necessary to the treasurer's bed-room, and as- signed to each the part he was to act in the business. They were to remove the chest if possible ; if not, they were to break it open in the office ; if that fail- ed, they were determined to enter the bedchamber, murder the inmates and secure the key. John. And was Ford hanged for this robbery, sir ? Un. No. Long before the confession was made, several of the counterfeiters had been apprehended, and one who had been intrusted with the secret of the hidden path to the den of the coiners and coun- terfeiters, betrayed the secret. The officers of jus- tice were led to the place, and entered the swamp by a passage that only admitted one man at a time, and that by creeping for some distance in a posture that rendered him helpless. But Ford and King were taken by surprise, detected at their dark work, and surrounded by the evidences of their guilt. John. Then I suppose, sir, they were hanged for counterfeiting. Un. You shall hear. Their detection led to the discovery of their accomplices, the agents concerned in the circulation of the base coin and forged bills. John. What, sir, the farmers and reputable people of the country? Un. Even so. And you may judge of the con- sternation of the publick, and the wretchedness of the wives, the parents, and other relatives, of these do' luded men, when five or six highly respectable free* holders, (among them a physician, and a justice of the peace,) were apprehended, imprisoned, tried, and convicted of the crime of passing false money, design* 204 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. edly and in concert with the vilest rogues. During their trials the country was in a state of agitation be- yond description. The prison and the court of justice were thronged with their friends and their wretched fathers, mothers, wives, and children. Some of these unhappy men had seen their errour and ceased from the practice long before. One of them was so re- spected by the congregation to which he belonged that they had elected him a deacon ; and upon his being accused and imprisoned, the clergyman of the parish publickly prayed " that he might be de- livered from false accusers ;" and a report having been spread that the accused was released, thanks were returned in the church. But they soon knew that he had confessed his guilt. These unhappy criminals were all sentenced to be executed. Think of six fathers of families, hitherto respected, being doomed as felons to the gallows. John. Dreadful ! Un. In the mean time Ford and King, the arch villains, being both confined in Morristown prison, contrived, by the aid of one of their accomplices who was still at liberty, to break jail and escape ; and notwithstanding proclamations of reward and the most active pursuit, they were never taken ; while Richardson, the fellow who assisted them, was ap- prehended, convicted, and hanged. Another of the coiners suffered death; but the miserable misled men who had been seduced to be accomplices, by aiding in the circulating of the forged bills, were first respited, and finally pardoned. Wm. O, I am glad of it ! I think they would never do so again. Vn. It is probable that they truly repented. Sure- ly they suffered even more than the mere agony of death. And it is more than probable that the two rinp-leaders in mischief, only fled from justice^ at HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 205 this time, to experience misery, and a violent end, after a life of shame, and unceasing fear of retribu- tive justice. To-morrow, when we meet I will bring our story down to the famous year, 1775. CHAPTER XVIII. John. You have told us, sir, something of the in- troduction of printing into our country, but there is another art of which you say nothing. Un. What do you mean ? John. Painting. »^ Wm. "We all know that America has produced a great many fine painters. John. What artist had we first, sir ? Un. In point of time, a man little known. Mr. John Watson, a Scotch gentleman, who settled at Perth Amboy. He came to this country as early as 1715. In Dunlap's History of the Arts of Design in America, you will find all that is known of the painters who first visited this country ; but as con- nected with our subject, I will mention some of them and say a few words of the earliest native painters. In 1728, a great and good man, Dean Berkeley, came to America with the benevolent view of pro- moting literature, arts, and sciences: and knowing the happy influence of the fine arts upon society, he brought with him Mr. John Smybert, an artist of considerable knowledge and skill. He lived and died in Boston. Other European painters followed; but the first American painter in point of time and excellence is Benjamin West, 18 206 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Wm. He painted the Death of Wolfe. 1 have seen it. Un. You have seen the print engraved from it. John. And you took me to see his great pic- ture of Christ Rejected. Did he ever paint in New York ? Un. Yes. He was born in Chester county, Penn- sylvania. His early attempts attracted attention and encouragement, and almost without teaching he be- came a painter. As early as 1759 he visited New York and painted several portraits : being the first native American artist who exercised his pencil in our city. The second was John Singleton Copley. He painted many excellent portraits in New York in the year 1773. JoJm. Better than West's, sir ? Un. Much better. At the time he painted in New York he had practised the art ten or more years with great success and industry, in Boston. West, when he was here, was a youth, and a tyro ; Copley a well-studied painter of mature age. Both these great artists found employment and a home in Eng- land, and both died there. John. Pennsylvania produced West, and Massa- chusetts gave us Copley ; did no one distinguished artist spring up in our city? Un. None in early times. Rhode Island, too. can boast of her Gilbert Stuart of the days before the rev- olution: but New York was without a native pamt- er for many years after. The beautiful picture of the Studious Boy, which 1 have given you, with a little book intended for your instruction, proves that, though late, our state is not last in the race. William Sid- ney Mount, the painter of that truly fine picture, is yet a young man, and has produced compositions of still more masterly achievement since painting the Studious Boy. The engraving, which is the front- HISTORY OF NEW YORK, 207 ispiece of the little book I gave you, is a master- piece in that branch of art, by Mr. J. A. Adams, whose talents do honour to the country, and of whom we boast as a native. In the work on Artists above- mentioned, you will find more concerning Mr. Wil- liam Sidney Mount. I will only mention that he was born at Satauket on Long Island, in the year 1807, and until the age of seventeen was employed, to use his own words, "as a farmer's boy." You know that the word farmer in our country has a dif- ferent signification from that it bears in England. An American farmer, is the cultivator of his own soil, a free and independent yeoman. Such was the father of Mr. Mount. I shall take another opportuni- ty to speak to you of the progress of the fine arts in our country; now I will only say that New York city can boast of another native artist of the first or- der in Mr. Robert W. Weir ; and the state of two, no less in merit, Mr. Vanderlyn, and Mr. Inman. After our historic lesson to-day, we will walk to the hon- ourable Gulian C. Verplanck's, and ask permission to look at Mr. Weir's fine painting of the Landing of Henry Hudson. I likewise show you this wood engraving by Mr. Mason, from a copy of Mr. Wier's picture, made by Mr. Brown, an artist recently ar- rived in our city. Though New York cannot boast of her painters or engravers in the early pe- riod of her existence, she can now vie with any city of America. And, when speaking of our native artists, we must not forget Doctor Anderson, who, although educated as a physician, preferred the pro- fession of an engraver, and taught himself the art of embossing on wood, thereby becoming the first, in point of time, who practised wood-engraving in America. In excellent artists — painters, architects, and engravers, natives of New York, or from the neighbouring states, and from Europe — our city now 208 HISTORY OF NEW YORK abounds ; but at the period of which our story treats, she was " poor indeed." Now we will return to the history of our city. And I must introduce you more particularly to Mr. James Rivington, an English gentleman who had for some years been a booksel- ler in New York, and who, as I told you, com- menced publishing a weekly gazette, in the year 1773. John. Was that the only newspaper in the city, sir? Un. O, by no means. Through all the prece- ding controversies, papers had been published by Weyman, Parker, Loudon, Holt, Gaine, and oc- casionally by others ; but at this period the three conspicuous editors were Holt, Rivington, and Gaine. The first a decided whig, the second a violent tory, and the third a time-server. By a whig, at this time, was understood an American " Son of Liber- ty," and by a tory an advocate of English preten- sions. Rivington's paj^er was supported by men of talents; and his own paragraphs, with the essays of Cooper, Inglis, and others I have mentioned, gave it great currency with his party, and rendered him ex- ceedingly obnoxious to the resentment of the Amer- ican people generally. A riotous proceeding hap- pened in March, 1775, of which Mr. Rivington pub- lished this account, which I have transcribed from his paper. Read it. John, " Messrs. Cunningham and Hill coming from the North river stopped, near the liberty pole, to see a boxing match, when Cunningham was struck by one Smith Richards, James Vandyk, and several others, called tory, and used in the most cruel manner by a mob of above two hundred men. Hill came to the assistance of Cunningham, and was beat and abused most barbarously, though neither of thera gave the least offence, except being on the HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 209 king's side of the question this morning." What does tbat mean, sir ? Un. I can only suppose that there had been some popular resolutions passed that day, and that Cun- ningham and Hill had opposed them. Read on. Cunningham was the tory bully. John, " The leaders of the mob brought Cun- ningham to the liberty pole, and told him to go dowa on his knees and damn his popish King George, and they would set him free ; but on the contrary he exclaimed " God bless King George !" They then tore the clothes off his back, and robbed him of his watch. Hill was requested to damn the king, and refusing, was served in the same manner. They were rescued by some peace officers and taken to jail for safety." Wm. Do you believe this story, sir ? Un. Not as here related. But at this time the feelings of the two parties were extremely hostile. The people of New York felt the injuries and in- sults inflicted on the country generally, and partic- ularly on their brethren of Boston, where already an army of king's troops had been collected to over- awe that spirit which Massachusetts displayed. 1 presume that on this day the people of New York had been assembled in "the fields" near the liberty pole, and had been irritated by the opposition of the tories. This outrage took place afterward, and un- fortunately at such assemblies many add the fuel of strong liquor to the fire of patriotism. Cunning- ham and Hill, as it appears, were known to be to- ries ; they returned to the place of meeting, and, it cannot be doubted, gave offence by some insult to the people, or to the emblem of liberty, which had become so dear to them. This does not justify the personal violence used; but accounts for it. I should not dwell on this riotous incident so long, but that I 18» 210 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. believe it immediately connected with events of greater consequence, and that it added to the suffer- ings of many Americans, who never heard of it. Americans, who, in the course of the war, when captured by the British, were committed to the charge of this bully and blackguard ; who, as a re- ward for his sufferings when the champion of royal- ty, was appointed provost marshal, and avenged his disgrace and bruises on the innocent and powerless. Cunningham had this ofHce conferred on him by the English commander-in-chief As you have had Rivington's account of this affray, 1 will give you another. In an essay respecting the " old jail," or " provost," published in the New York Mirror, our fellow-citizen Mr. John Pintard gives the following account of this affair. Read it. John. " This modern Bastile was memorable dur- ing the occupation of the city by the British forces from 1776 to 1783, as the provost, under the super- intendence of the noted Captain Cunningham, pro- vost marshal, and his deputy, Sergeant Keefe. The former lived in New York previous to 1776, and during the conflicts between the whigs and tories, the ' liberty boys' and the ' loyalists,' was the bul- ly and champion of the latter in the many battles fought in ' the fields,' now the park ; in the front of which and near the present Bridewell, the whigs set up their liberty poles, which were successively demolished by the tories, until one was erected so completely cased with iron bars and hoops as to set all attacks at defiance ; and Avhich remained, it is believed, until the British took possession of the city on the 15th of October, ('September') 1776. On one occasion Cunningham, a stout, double-fisted Irishman, after a bloody scuffle, was compelled by the ' liberty boys' to kneel down and kiss the lib- erty pole ; an indignity that rankled in his heart; I HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 211 nnd was afterward avenged with unrelenting sever- ity on the American prisoners ; when, as a reward for his loyalty, he was dignijitd with the post of provost marshal. A more cruel tyrant could not be found, except in his deputy, Sergeant Keefe, who was one of the most cold-blooded monsters that ever ex- isted." I suppose, sir, this may be depended upon. Un. Mr. Pintard, in his youth, had an opportu- nity of personally knowing these men, and in his old age he wrote and published this character of them. John. What do you mean by provost marshal ? Z7?i. The jail was called "the provost," and the keeper was " Provost Cunningham." His cruelties to American prisoners are proverbial, and he was so conscious of the enmity his conduct had produced, that he made an application to Sir Henry Clinton, and was commissioned as a captain of his majesty's ar- my, to protect him, in case he should be kidnapped or otherwise made prisoner by the Americans. 1 be- lieve that the office of provost marshal and com- mission of captain, were rewards for his adherence to the king of his native country. I shall again mention this man and his treatment of American prisoners. John. I have heard of this man, sir. Wm. But, Uncle, had not the war begun in Boston? Un. Not quite. I must refer you to books for the transactions there, only mentioning those which are necessary to be known, as accounting for what took place in New York. What was called the Boston Massacre, (an unhappy affair in which the soldiers fired on, and killed, some of the inhab- itants,) was annually brought to mind by an oration; and about this time, Mr. Rivington endeavoured to turn the people and the orator, the celebrated Doc- tor Warren, into ridicule. The meeting took place 212 HISTORY OP NEW YORK. in the " Old South" on the 5th of March, and the writer represents the Adamses, Hancock, Cooper, and others waiting in the church for Warren ; who arrives at " last in a single horse chaise at the apoth- ecary's opposite the meeting, and entering the shop, is followed by a servant with a bundle in which were the Ciceronian Toga, &c." Having robed himself at the apothecary's, he is described by Riv- ington as proceeding " across the street" to the Old South, where he is received, conducted to the pulpit, and announced "by one of the fraternity," as the orator of the day. He goes on to represent him as " applauded by the mob, but groaned at by people of understanding." Adams is represented as getting up and proposing " the nomination of another, to speak next year, on the Bloody Massacre, when some q^c^^rs cried 'Fy! Fy!' which being mista- ken for a cry of ' fire!' put the whole mob to rout." But it is added, " The 43d regiment, returnmg ac- cidentally from exercise with drums beating, threw the whole body into the utmost consternation." This and similar passages procured to Mr. Rivington a singular honour, at this time, and the destruction of his types, a year after. John. Procured him honour, did you say, sir ? TJn. Yes. For on the 8th of March, 1775, in committee chamber, it was ordered " that Philip Liv- ingston and John Jay be a committee to wait on Mr. James Rivington, and request of him to acquaint this committee by whose information or by what author- ity he published the following paragraph in his ga- zette : ' Last Monday the committee of observation met ; it was proposed that they should nominate del- egates to the continental congress for the approba- tion of the city and county, but being opposed, the final determination of the committee was postponed until their next meeting.' The same paragraph HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 213 Deing entirely and wholly false and groundless. And also to inform Mr. Rivington that in printing the notice of the committee of the 27tli of Febru- ary, 1775, respecting the non-consumption of India tea being then soon to take place, it was inserted, 7ion- importation, in capitals, instead of non-consumption, and desire him to correct the mistake in his next paper." Messrs. Livingston and Jay reported that Rivington said, in answer, that he printed from cotto- mon report ; that he would be more careful in fu- ture, and that he had corrected the last mistake. The committee of observation resolved, that common report was not sufficient authority for misrepre- senting them ; that their sittings were open, and the truth forthcoming. Rivington was bold in the sup- port of the tories, and he replied — that the commit- tee assumed legislative authority; and signed his name to the reply, with the addition, " a persecuted printer." John. Was the general assembly of New York in session, sir ? Un. Yes. And I am sorry to say that the ma- jority, at this time, was wavering, tame, and unpa- triotick. In fact they did not respond to the call of the colonies or of the people they represented. When the brave Colonel Woodhull of Long Island, whose name ought ever to be held in honour by us of New York, moved that "the thanks of the house be given to the representatives of the province for their services in the continental congress the previ- ous September," it was denied; the house being di- vided fifteen to nine. John. I shall not forget the name of the delegates from our city, Livingston, Jay, and Duane. Who was it, sir, that would not thank the men who had done New York honour? Un. We will forget their names. But here is a 17 214 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. memorandum of the minority. Read it; and re member their names with gratitude. John. " George Clinton, Col, WoodhuU, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Boerum, Capt. Seaman, of Long Island, Col. Ten Broeck, Mr. De Witt, Col. Philip Schuyler, and Col. Philip Livingston. This mi- nority moved for thanks to the merchants and inhab- itants of New York for their firm and faithful con- duct in adhering to the association recommended hy -he congress of 1774; and that the sense of the house be td^en on appointing delegates to the next continental congress ; but both these motions were overruled by the timid, or tory majority. Colonel Schuyler, however, by his eloquence, carried reso- lutions, declaring a number of the acts of parlia- ment to be grievances, and particularly those which were aimed to punish and oppress the province of Massachusetts. In manuscript notes before me, communicated by Chancellor Kent, he says, 'the leading patriots of the day were Col. Sciiuyler, Col. Woodhull, and Mr. Clinton.' But the tory (or timid) majority carried several resolutions, de- claring that the people of the colony owe obedience to the king of Great Britain ; that they owe obedi- ence to all acts of parliament calculated for the gen- eral weal of the empire ; but asserting that they were entitled to the same rights as the other sub- jects of Great Britain, and could only be taxed by their representatives. On the 24th March, 1775, on debating the form of an address to the king, Col. Schuyler, Col. Woodhull, and Mr. De Witt, moved sundry amendments, but were overruled by the ma- jority. Chancellor Kent, in the manuscript above alluded to, says, ' The addresses to the King, th« House of Lords, and the House of Commons, by the general assembly, passed March 25, 1775, were tame, ridiculous, and very loyal ; but they as8er;ed I HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 215 the rights and stated the grievances contained in the above resolutions.' That is, the resolutions previ- ously carried. He adds, ' The assembly adjourned on the 3d of April, and I believe never met again.' " Phil. Brother, I hope you are done reading. Un. Ah, my little boy, you want to hear of the conflicts which followed this war of words. I must now mention some of the events which took place at a distance from New York, that we may under- stand our story the better. John. But, sir, you say that the assembly never met again. U71. Never as dependant upon a foreign nation. But as the representatives of a free and sovereign state, with the patriot George Clinton as its gov- ernor ; and Philip Schuyler a leader of its army, I am sorry to add, not until the brave Colonel Woodhull had been murdered, when a prisoner, by the soldiers of an invading army. Shortly after the dissolution of the provincial assembly of New York, on the 19th of April, hostilities commenced, and the British troops were driven by the despised provin- cials from Concord and Lexington into the town of Boston, where their assembled forces were cooped up; and on the 17th of June was fought the battle of Bunker's hill, ever famous in the annals of America. Wm. Do, sir, tell us all about that ! Un. The blood shed at Lexington was the signal for thousands to seize their muskets, and the leading spirits, as if by concert, flew to those points at which they COM A annoy the enemy or best protect the coun- try. An army was raised in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to invest Boston. Connecticut was not backward in sending her sons to the same point. And several bold fellows pushed towards Lake Cham- 216 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. plain, knowing the importance of the posts on that quarter. Wm. But, Uncle, we have come to the time when the brave General Warren commanded, fought, con- quered, and died, at Bunker's hill. Un. Dr. Warren, a distinguished patriot, fought and died at that place; he had been appointed a gen- eral the day before, but was not commissioned, had no command, and acted as a private volunteer under the veteran Colonel Prescott, who was the provin- cial commander on that glorious day. The suppo- sition that Dr. Warren (a great man and true pa- triot) was the leader in this first trial of the supposed invincibility of English regular soldiers when op- posed to provincials, is not the only misapprehen- sion which has been incorporated with the story of the battle of Bunker hill. But before we go into the details of that transaction, so important in its effects upon the future events of the war then so se- riously commenced, let us take our usual walk, and reflect upon the moral duty which we owe our fel- lov/-men. Let us remember that while we strive not to forget any of the occurrences of past times, it is our duty, and a source of happiness to ourselves, sincerely to forgive the authors of the injuries which were inflicted upon our country in a struggle which resulted in ihe acknowledged right of self-govern ment. END OJF VOLUBf E ONEi I, i ^4 ' *•' H 99 78 -m ^^ .4 c z;"' o » "o 1 y • I '^ s /XWy -v'^ C ° " " -• '<^^ *>. '" A* ... ^^^ ?l ^0^ ^oV '^v. Q^' ^0' V^ s • • » 'j:*. ^ .-^.w '^' « -•