CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, a Genoese, employed by Ferdinand and Isabel, king and queen of Castile, was the first discoverer of America^* He failed from St. Lucar, in August, 1492 and made sight of one of the Bahama islands, on the eleventh of October following. Newfound­land, and the main continent, were discovered five years after, by Sebastian Gaba [...]o, a Venetian, in the service of Henry VII. of England, from the 38th to the 68th degred of north latitude.

On the tenth of April, 1606, king James I. for plant­ing two colonies, passed the great North and South Virgi­nia patent. To sir Thomas Gates and others, leave was gi­ven to begin a plantation, at any place on the continent, they should think convenient, between the 34th and 41st degrees of latitude: and all the lands extending 50 miles, [Page 14]on each side, along the coast, 100 miles into the country, and all the islands within 100 miles, opposite to their plan­tations, were granted in fee, to be called the first colony. By the same patent, a like quantity was granted to Tho­mas Henham, esq and others, for a plantation between 38 and 45 degrees of latitude, under the name of the second colony. The first began a settlement in the great bay (Ches­apeak) in 1607. The latter was planted at Plymouth in New-England, 1620.

Henry Hudson, an Englishman, according to our au­thors, in the year 1608^*, under a commission from the king his master, discovered Long Island, New-York, and the river which still bears his name; and afterwards sold the country, or rather his right, to the Dutch. Their writers contend, that Hudson was sent out by the East-India com­pany, in 1609, to discover a north-west passage to China; and that having first discovered Delaware Bay, he came hither, and penetrated up Hudson's river, as far north as the latitude of 43⁰. It is said, however, that there was a sale, and that the English objected to it, though they for some time neglected to oppose the Dutch settlement of the country.

In 1610, Hudson sailed again from Holland to this coun­try, called by the Dutch, New-Netherlands; and four years after, the states general granted a patent to sundry merchants, for an exclusive trade on the North river, who in 1614 built a fort on the west side, near Albany, which was first commanded by Henry Christiaens. Captain Argal was sent out by sir Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia, in the same year, to dispossess the French of the two towns of Port royal and St. Croix, lying on each side of the bay of Fundy, in Acadia, then claimed as part of Virginia^†. In his return, he visited the Dutch on Hudson's river, who, be­ing unable to resist him, prudently submitted for the pre­sent to the king of England, and under him to the governor [Page 15]of Virginia. The very next year, they erected a fort on the south-west point of the island Manhattans; and two others, in 1623—one, called Good-Hope, on Connecticut river, and the other Nassau, on the east side of Delaware bay. The author of the account of New-Netherland^‡ as­serts, that the Dutch purchased the lands on both sides of that river in 1632, before the English were settled in those parts; and that they discovered a little fresh river, farther to the east, called Varsche Riviertie, to distinguish it from Connecticut river, known among them, by the name of Varsche rivier, which Vanderdonk also claims for the Dutch.

Determined upon the settlement of a colony, the states general made a grant of the country, in 1621, to the West-India company. Wouter Van Twiller arrived at fort Am­sterdam, now New-York, and took upon himself the go­vernment, in June, 1629. His style, in the patents granted by him, was thus, "We, director and council, residing in New-Netherland on the island Manhattans, under the government of their high mightinesses, the lords states general of the united Netherlands, and the privileged West-India company." In his time, the New-England planters extended their possession westward as far as Connecticut river. Jacob Van Curlet, the commissary there, pro­tested against it, and in the second year of the succeeding administration, under

William Kieft^*, who appears first in 1638, a prohibi­tion was issued, forbidding the English trade at fort Good-Hope; and shortly after, on complaint of the inso­lence [Page 16]of the English, an order of council was made for send­ing more forces there, to maintain the Dutch territories. Dr. Mather confesses, that the New-England men first formed their design of [...]ettling Counecticut river, in 1635, before which time, they esteemed that river, at least 100 miles from any English settlement; and that they first seat­ed themselves there, in 1636, at Hartford, near fort Good, Hope, at Weathersfield, Windsor, and Springfield. Four years after, they seized the Dutch garrison, and drove them from the banks of the river, having first settled New-Haven in 1638, regardless of Kieft's protest against it.

The extent of New-Netherland was to Delaware, then called South river, and beyond it; for I find, in the Dutch records, a copy of a letter from William Kieft, May 6, 1638, directed to Peter Minuit^†, who seems, by the tenor of it, to be the Swedish governor of New Sweden, assert­ing, "that the whole South river of New-Netherlands, had been in the Dutch possession many years above and be­low, beset with forts, and sealed with their blood." "Which," Kieft adds, "has happened even during your administration in New-Netherland, and so well known to you."

The Dutch writers are not agreed in the extent of No­va Belgia, or New-Netherland; some describe it to be from Virginia [...]o Canada; and others inform us, that the arms of the [...] general were erected at Cape Cod, Connecticut, and Hudson's river, and on the west side of the entrance into Delaware bay. The author of the pamphlet mention­ed in the notes, gives Canada river for a boundary on the [Page 17]north, and calls the country, north-west from Albany, Ter­ra Incognita.

In 1640, the English, who had overspread the eastern part of Long Island, advanced to Oysterbay. Kieft broke up their settlement in 1642, and fitted out two sloops to drive the English out of Schuylkill, of which the Mary­landers had lately possessed themselves. The instructions, dated May 22, to Jan Jansen Alpendam, who commanded in that enterprise, are upon record, and strongly assert the right of the Dutch, both to the soil and trade there. The English from the eastward shortly after sent deputies to New-Amsterdam, for the accommodation of their disputes a­bout limits, to whom the Dutch offered the following con­ditions, entered in their books exactly in these words:

"Conditiones a D. Directore gen. senatus Novi Belgil, Dominis Weytingh atque Hill, Delegatis a nobili senatu Hartfordiensi, oblatae:

"Pro agro nostro Hartfordiensi, annuo persolvent prae­potentiff. D. D. Ordinibus Foed. Provinciarum Belgica­rum aut corum vicariis, decimam partem reventus agro­rum, tum arat [...]o, tum ligone, aliove cultorum medio; pomariis, nortis (que) oleribus dicatis, jugerum Hollandium non excedentibus exceptis; aut decimarum loco, pretium nobile postea constituendum, tam diu quam diu possessores ejusdem agri futuri erunt. Actum in arce Amstelodamensi in novo Belgio, die Julii 9, anno Christi 1642."

We have no account, that the English acceded to these proposals, nor is it probable, considering their superior strength, that they ever did: on the contrary, they daily extended their possessions; and, in 1642, the colonies of the Massachuset's bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New-Haven, entered into a league both against the Dutch and Indians, and grew so powerful as to meet shortly after, upon a design of extirpating the former. The Massachuset's bay declined this enterprise, which occasioned a letter to Oliver Cromwell, from William Hooke, dated at New-Ha­ven, November 3, 1653, in which he complains of the Dutch, for supplying the natives with arms and ammuni­tion, begs his assistance with two or three frigates, and that letters might be sent to the eastern colonies, command­ing them to join in an expedition against the Dutch colony, Oliver's affairs would not admit of so distant an attempt^* [Page 18]but Richard Cro [...]well afterwards drew up instruction to his commanders for subduing the Dutch here, and wrote letters to the English American governments for their aid; copies of which are preserved in Thurloe's collection, Vol. I. p. 721, &c.

Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch governor; and though he had a commission in 1646, he did not begin his administration till May 27, 1647. The inroads, and claims upon his government, kept him constantly employed. New-England on the east, and Maryland, on the west, alarmed his fears by their daily increase; and about the same time, captain Forrester, a Scotchman, claimed Long Island for the dowager of Stirling. The Swedes too were perpetual­ly incroaching upon Delaware. Through the unskilfulness of the mate, one Deswyck, a Swedish captain and supercar­go, arrived in Raritan river. The ship was seized, and him­self made a prisoner at New-Amsterdam. Stuyvesant's rea­sons were these. In 1651, the Dutch built fort Casimir, now called Newcastle, on Delaware. The Swedes, indeed, claimed the country, and Printz, their governor, formally protested against the works. Risingh, his successor, under the disguise of friendship, came before the fortress, fired two salutes, and landed 30 men, who were entertained by [Page 19]the commandant as friends: but he had no sooner disco­vered the weakness of the garrison, than he made himself master of it, seizing also upon all the ammunition, houses, and other effects of the West-India company, and compel­ling several of the people to swear allegiance to Christina, queen of Sweden. The Dutch, in 1655, prepared to retake fort Casimir. Stuyvesant commanded the forces in person, and arrived with them in Delaware, the 9th of September. A few days after, he anchored before the garrison, and landed his troops. The fortress was immediately demanded as Dutch property: Suen Scutz, the commandant, desired leave to consult Risingh, which being refused, he surrender­ed the 16th of September on articles of capitulation. The whole strength of the place consisted of four cannon, four­teen pounders, five swivels, and a parcel of small arms, which were all delivered to the conquered. [...]ort Christina was commanded by Risingh. Stuyvesant came before it, and Risingh surrendered it upon terms, the 25th of Septem­ber. The country being thus subdued, the Dutch governor issued a proclamation, in favour of such of the inhabitants, as would submit to the new government, and about 30 Swedes swore, "fidelity and obedience to the states general the lords directors of the West-India company, their subalterns of the province of New-Netherlands, and the director general then, or thereafter, to be established." Risingh and one Elswych, a trader of note, were ordered to France, or England, and the rest of the Swedish inhabi­tants to Holland, and from thence to Gottenberg. The Swedes being thus extirpated, the Dutch became possessed of the west side of Delaware bay, now called the Three lower counties.

This country was afterwards under the command of lieutenant-governors, subject to the controul of, and com­missioned by, the director general at New-Amsterdam. Jo­han Paul Jaquet was the first vice director, or lieutenant-governor, of South river. His successors were Alricks, Hino­jossa, and William Beekman. The posterity of the last re­mains amongst us to this day. These lieutenants had power to grant lands, and their patents make a part of the ancient titles of the present possessors. Alricks' commission, of the 12th of April, 1657, shows the extent of the Dutch claim on the west side of Delaware at that time. He was appoint­ed "director general of the colony of the South river of New-Netherlands, and the fortress of Casimir, now called Niewer Amstel, with all the lands depending thereon, according to the first purchase and deed of release of the [Page 20]natives, dated July 19, 1651, beginning at the west side of the Minquaa, or Christina kiln, in the Indian language named Suspecough, to the mouth or the bay, or river, cal­led Bompt-Hook, in the Indian language, Cannaresse; and so far inland as the bounds and limits of the Minquaa­land, with all the streams, &c. appurtenances and de­pendencies." Of the country northward of the kiln, no mention is made. Orders in 1658 were given to William Beekman to purchase Cape Hinlopen from the natives, and to settle and fortify it, which, for want of goods, was not done till the succeeding year.

In the year 1659, fresh troubles arose from the Maryland claim to the lands on South river: and in September, colo­nel Nathaniel Utie, as commissioner from Fendal, lord Balti­more's governor, arrived at Niewer Amstel from Maryland. The country was ordered to be evacuated, lord Baltimore claiming all the land, between 38 and 40 degrees of lati­tude, from sea to sea. Beekman and his council demanded evidence of his lordship's right, and offered to prove the states general's grant to the West-India company, their payment to them, for the land and possession; and upon the whole, proposed to refer the controversy [...]o the repub­lics of England and Holland, praying, at the same time, three weeks to consult Stuyvesant, the general. The com­missioner, notwithstanding, a few days after, warned him to draw off, beyond latitude 40°: but Beekman disregard­ed the threat. Colonel Utie thereupon returned to Mary­land; and an immediate invasion was expected.

Early in the spring of the year 1660, Nicholas Varleth, and Brian Newton, were dispatched from fort Amsterdam, to Virginia, in quality of ambassadors, with full power to open a trade, and conclude a league, offensive and defensive, against the barbarians. William Berckley, the governor, gave them a kind reception, and approved their proposal of peace and commerce, which sir Henry Moody was sent here to agree upon and perfect. Four articles, to that pur­pose, were drawn up, and sent to the governor for confir­mation. Stuyvesant artfully endeavoured, at this treaty, to procure an acknowledgment of the Dutch title to the country, which Berckley as carefully avoided. This was his answer.

Governor Stuyvesant was a faithful servant to the West-India company: this is abundantly proved by his letters to them, exciting their care of the colony. In one, dated April 20, 1660, which is very long and pathetic, represent­ing the desperate situation of affairs on both sides of the New-Netherland, he writes, "your honours ima­gine, that the troubles in England will prevent any at­tempt on these parts: alas! they are ten to one in num­ber to us, and are able, without any assistance, to deprive us of the country when they please." On the 25th of June, the same year, he informs them, "that the demands, encroachments, and usurpations, of the English, give the people here great concern. The right to both rivers, says he, by purchase and possession, is our own, without dispute. We apprehend, that they, our more powerful neighbours, lay their claims under a royal patent, which we are unable hitherto to do in your name^* Colonel [Page 22]Utie being unsuccessful the last year, in his embassy for the evacuation of the Dutch possessions on Delaware, lord Balti­more, in autumn 1660, applied, by captain Neal, his agent, to the West-India company, in Holland, for an order on the inhabitants of South river, to submit to his authority, which they absolutely refused, asserting their right to that part of their colony.

The English, from New-England, were every day en­croaching upon the Dutch. The following letter, from Stuyvesant to the West-India company, dated July 21, 1661, shows the state of the colony at that time, on both sides. "We have not yet begun the fort on Long-Island, near Oysterbay, because our neighbours lay the boundaries a mile and a half more westerly, than we do; and the more, as your honours, by your advice of December 24, are not inclined to stand by the treaty of Hartford, and propose to sue for redress on Long Island and the Fresh Water river, by means of the states' ambassador. Lord Sterling is said to solicit a confirmation of his right to all Long Island, and importunes the present king, to confirm the grant made by his royal father, which is affirmed to be already obtained. But more probable, and material, is the advice from Mary­land, that lord Baltimore's patent, which contains the south part of South river, is confirmed by the king and published in print: that lord Baltimore's natural brother, who is a rigid papist, being made governor there, has received lord Baltimore's claim, and protest to your honours in council, (where with he seems but little satisfied) and has now more hopes of success. We have advice from England, that there is an invasion intended against these parts, and the country solicited of the king, the duke and the parliament, is to be annexed to their dominions; and for that purpose, they desire three or four frigates, persuading the King, that the company possessed and held this country under an unlaw­ful title, having only obtained of king James, leave for a watering place on Staten Island, in 1623."

In August 1663, a ship arrived from Holland at South river, with new planters, ammunition, and implements of husbandry. Lord Baltimore's son landed a little after, and was entertained by Beekman at Niewer Amstel. This was Charles, the son of Cecilius, who in 1661, had procured a grant and confirmation of the patent, passed in favour of [Page 23]his father in 1632. The papistical principles of the Balti­more family, the charge of colonizing, the parliamentary was with Charles I. and Oliver's usurpation, all conspired to impede the settlement of Maryland, till the year 1661. And these considerations account for the extension of the Dutch limits, on the west side of Delaware bay.

While the Dutch were contending with their European neighbours, they had the art always to maintain a friend­ship with the natives, until the war which broke out this year with the Indians at Esopus, now Ulster county. It con­tinued, however, but a short season. The five nations never gave them any disturbance, which was owing to their con­tinual wars with the French, who settled at Canada, in 1603. I have before observed, that Oliver Cromwell was applied to, for his aid in the reduction of this country, and that his son Richard took some steps towards accomplishing the scheme. The work was however reserved for the reign of Charles II. an indolent prince, and entirely given up to pleasure, who was driven to it, more, perhaps, by the dif­ferences then subsisting between England and Holland, than by any motive that might reflect honour upon his prudence, activity, and public spirit. Before this expedition, the king granted a patent, on the 12th of March, 1664, to his brother the duke of York and Albany, for sundry tracts of land in America, the boundaries of which, because they have given rise to important and animated debates, it may not be im­proper to transcribe.

"All that part of the main land of New-England, begin­ning at a certain place, called or known by the name of St. Croix, next adjoining to New-Scotland in America, and from thence extending along the sea coast, unto a certain place called Pemaquie, or Pemequid, and so up the river thereof, to the furthest head of the same, as it tendeth northward; and extending from thence, to the river of Kimbequin, and so upwards, by the shortest course, to the river Canada, northward: and also all that island, or islands, commonly called by the several name or names of Meito­wacks, or Long Island, situate and being towards the west of cape Cod, and the narrow Higansetts, abutting upon the main land, between the two rivers, there called or known by the several names of Connecticut and Hudson's river, together also with the said river, called Hudson's river, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut river, to the east side of Delaware bay, and also, all those several islands, called or known by the names of Martin's Vineyard, or Nan­tuck's, otherwise Nantucket: together, &c."

[Page 24] Part of this tract was conveyed by the duke, to John Lord Berkley, baron of Stratton, and sir George Carteret, of Sal­trum, in Devon, who were then members of the king's council. The lease was for the consideration of ten shil­lings, and dated the 23d of June, 1664. The release, dated the next day, mentions no particular sum of money, as a consideration for the grant of the lands, which have the fol­lowing description.

"All that tract of land, adjacent to New-England, and lying and being to the westward of Long Island, and bound­ed on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river; and hath, upon the west, Delaware bay, or river, and extendeth southward, to the main ocean as far as Cape May, at the mouth of Delaware bay: and to the north­ward, as far as the northermost branch of the said bay or river of Delaware, which is forty one degrees and forty minutes of latitude: which said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name, or names, of Nova Caesarea, or New-Jersey."

Thus the New Netherlands became divided into New-Jersey, so called after the isle of Jersey, in compliment to sir George Carteret, whose family came from thence; and New York, which took its name in honour of the duke of York.

The Dutch inhabitants by the vigilance of their governor, were not unapprised of the designs of the English court against them; for their records testify, that on the 8th of July, "the general received intelligence, from one Thomas Willet, an Englishman, that an expedition was preparing in England, against this place, consisting of two frigates of 40 and 50 guns, and a fly boat of 40 guns, having on board 300 soldiers, and each frigate 150 men, and that they then lay at Portsmouth, waiting for a wind." News arrived also from Boston, that they had already set sail. The burgomas­ters were thereupon called into council. The fortress was ordered to be put into a posture of defence, and spies sent to Milford and West-chester for intelligence. Boston was in the secret of the expedition; for the general court had, in May preceding, passed a vote for a supply of provisions, to­wards refreshing the ships on their arrival. They were four in number, and resolved to rendezvous at Gardener's island, in the Sound, but parted in a fog, about the 20th of July. Richard Nicolls, and sir George Carteret, two of the com­missioners, were on board the Guyny, and fell in first with Cape Cod. The winds having blown from the south west, the other ships, with sir Robert Carr, and mr. Mavenick, [Page 25]the remaining commissioners, were rightly concluded to be driven to the eastward. After dispatching a letter to mr. Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut, requesting his as­sistance, col. Nicolls proceeded to Namasket, and thence to Boston. The other ships got into Piscataway. John Endicot, a very old man, was then governor of Boston, and incapa­ble of business. The commissioners, therefore, had a con­ference with the council, and earnestly implored the as­sistance o [...] that colony. Col. Nicolls and sir George Carteret, in their letter from Boston, to sir H. Bennet, secretary of state, complain much of the backwardness of that province. The reasons urged in their excuse, were poverty and the season, it being the time of harvest; but perhaps disaffec­tion to the Stuart family, whose persecuting fury had driven them from their native country, was the true spring of their conduct. The king's success in the reduction of the Dutch, evidently opened him a door, to come at his ene­mies in New-England, who were far from being few^*; and whether this consideration might not have given rise to the project itself, I leave to the conjectures of others.

On the 27th of July, Nicolls and Carteret made a formal request in writing, "That the government of Boston would pass an act to furnish them with armed men, who should be­gin their march to the Manhattans, on the 20th of August ensuing, and promised, that if they could get other assistance, they would give them an account of it." The governor and council answered, that they would assemble the general court, and communicate the proposal to them.

From Boston, a second letter was written to governor Winthrop, in Connecticut, dated the 29th of July, in which he was informed, that the other ships were then arrived, and would sail with the first fair wind; and he was desired to meet them at the west end of Long-Island.

One of the ships entered the bay of the North river, se­veral [Page 26]days before the rest; and as soon as they were all come up, Stuyvesant sent a letter, dated ⅓ 9/0 of August, at fort Anil, directed to the commanders of the English fri­gates, by John Declyer, one of the chief council, the rev. John Megapolensis, minister, Paul Lunder Vander Grilft, major, and mr. Samuel Megapolensis, doctor in physic, with the utmost civility, to desire the reason of their approach, and continuing in the harbour of Naijarlij, without giving notice to the Dutch, which (he writes) they ought to have done.

Col. Nicolls answered the next day with a summons.

Mr. Stuyvesant promised an answer to the summons the next morning, and in the mean time convened the council and burgomasters. The Dutch governor was a good soldier, and had lost a leg in the service of the states. He would willingly have made a defence; and refused a sight of the summons, both to the inhabitants and burgomasters, lest the easy terms offered, might induce them to capitulate. The latter, however, insisted upon a copy, that they might communicate it to the late magistrates and principal burghers. They called together the inhabitants at the stadt­house, and acquainted them with the governor's refusal. Governor Winthrop, at the same time, wrote to the di­rector and his council, strongly recommending a surrender. On the 22d of August, the burgomasters came again into council, and desired to know the contents of the English message from governor Winthrop, which Stuyvesant still refused. They continued their importunity; and he, in a fit of anger, tore it to piecee: upon which they protested against the act, and all its consequences. Determined upon a defence of the country, Stuyvesant wrote a letter in an­swer to the summons, which, as it is historical of the Dutch claim, will doubtless be acceptable to the reader. The fol­lowing is an exact transcript of the record.

These articles, favourable as they were to the inhabitants, were however very disagreeable to the Dutch governor; and he therefore refused to ratify them, till two days after they were signed by the commissioners.

The town of New-Amsterdam, upon the reduction of the island Manhattans, took the name of New-York. It consist­ed of several small streets, laid out in the year 1656, and was not inconsiderable for the number of its houses and in­habitants. The easy terms of the capitulation, promised their peaceable subjection to the new government; and hence we find, that in two days after the surrender, the Boston aid was dismissed, with the thanks of the commis­sioners to the general court. Hudson's and the South river were, however, still to be reduced. Sir Robert Carr com­manded the expedition on Delaware, and Carteret was commissioned to subdue the Dutch at fort Orange. The garrison capitulated on the 24th of September, and he cal­led it Albany, in honour of the duke. While Carteret was here, he had an interview with the Indians of the five na­tions, and entered into a league of friendship with them, which remarkably continues to this day^*. Sir Robert Carr was equally successful on South river; for he compelled both [Page 36]the Dutch and Swedes, to capitulate and deliver up their garrisons the first of October, 1664; and that was the day in which the whole New-Netherlands became subject to the English crown. Very few of the inhabitants thought proper to remove out of the country. Governor Stuyvesant him­self held his estate, and died here. His remains were inter­red in a chapel, which he had erected on his own farm, at a small distance from the city, now possessed by his grandson Gerardus Stuyvesant, a man of probity, who has been elect­ed into the magistracy, above thirty years successively. Jus­tice obliges me to declare, that for loyalty to the present reigning family, and a pure attachment to the protestant religion, the descendents of the Dutch planters, are per­haps exceeded by none of his majesty's subjects.

RICHARD NICOLLS being now possessed of the country, took the government upon him, under the stile of "deputy-governor under his royal highness the duke of York, of all his territories in America." During his short continuance here, he passed a vast number of grants and confirmations of the ancient Dutch patents, the profits of which must have been very considerable. Among these, no one has occasioned more animated contention, than that called the Elizabethtown grant, in New-Jersey; which, as it relates to another colony, I should not have mentioned, but for the opportunity to caution the reader against the representation of that controversy contained in Douglass's summary. I have sufficient reasons to justify my charging that account with partiality and mistakes; and for proofs, refer to the printed answer in chancery, published in the year 1751.

Besides the chief command of this province Nicolls had a joint power^* with sir Robert Carr, Carteret, and Mave­rick, [Page 38]to settle the contested boundaries of certain great pa­tents. Hence we find, that three of them had a conference with several gentlemen from Connecticut, respecting the limits of this and that colony. The result was an adjudica­tion, in these words:

[Page 39] At the time of this determination, about two thirds of Long Island were possessed by people from New-England, who had gradually encroached upon the Dutch. As to the settlement between New York and Connecticut on the main, it has always been considered by the former, as founded upon ignorance and fraud^*. The station at Mama­roneck was about 30 miles from New York, from Albany 150. The general course of the river is about north 12 or 150 east: and hence it is evident, that a north-north-west line will soon intersect the river, and consequently leave the Dutch country, but a little before surrendered to col. Carteret, out of the province of New-York. It has been generally esteemed, that the Connecticut commissioners in this affair, took advantage of the duke's agents, who were ignorant of the geography of the country.

About the close of the year, the estate of the West-India company was seized and confiscated, hostilities being ac­tually commenced in Europe as well as America, though no declarations of war had yet been published by either of the contending parties. A great dispute between the inhabi­tants of Jamaica on Long Island, which was adjusted by col. Nicolls, on the 2d of January, 1665, gave rise to a salutary institution, which has in part obtained ever since. The con­troversy respected Indian deeds; and thenceforth it was ordained, that no purchase from the Indians, without the governor's license, executed in his presence, should be valid. The strength and numbers of the natives rendered it ne­cessary to purchase their rights; and to prevent their fre­quent selling the same tract, it was expedient, that the bar­gain should be attended with some considerable solem­nity.

Another instance of col. Nicolls's prudence, was his gra­dual introduction of the English methods of government. It was not till the 12th of June, this year, that he incorpo­rated the inhabitants of New York, under the care of a mayor, five aldermen, and a sheriff. Till this time, the ci­ty was ruled by a scout, burgomasters, and schepens.

In March preceding, there was a great convention, be­fore the governor at Hempstead, of two deputies from every town on Long Island, empowered to bind their con­stituents. The design of their meeting was to adjust the li­mits [Page 40]of their townships for the preservation of the public peace.

The war being proclaimed at London, on the fourth of this month, Nicolls received the account of it in June, with a letter from the lord chancellor, informing him, that de Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, had orders to visit New York. His lordship was misinformed, or the admiral was diverted from the enterprise; for the English peaceably held the possession of the country during the whole war, which was concluded on the 21st of July, 1667, by the treaty of Broda. Some are of opinion, that the exchange made with the Dutch for Surinam, which they had taken from us, was ad­vantageous to the nation: but these judges do not consider, that it would have been impossible for the Dutch to have preserved this colony against the increasing strength of the people in New-England, Maryland, and Virginia.

After an administration of three years, Nicolls returned to England. The time, during his short residence here, was almost wholly taken up in confirming the ancient Dutch grants. He erected no courts of justice, but took upon him­self the sole decision of all controversies whatsoever. Com­plaints came before him by petition; upon which he gave a day to the parties, and, after a summary hearing, pro­nounced judgment. His determinations were called edicts, and executed by the sheriffs he had appointed. It is much to his honour, that notwithstanding all this plenitude of power, he governed the province with integrity and mode­ration. A representation from the inhabitants of Long Island, to the general court of Connecticut, made about the time of the revolution, commends him as a man of an easy and benevolent disposition: and this testimonial is the more to be relied upon, because the design of the writers, was by a detail of their grievances, to induce the colony of Con­necticut to take them under its immediate protection.

Francis Lovelace, a colonel, was appointed by the duke, to succeed Nicolls in the government of the province, which he began to exercise in May, 1667. As he was a man of g [...]eat moderation, the people lived very peaceably under him, till the re-surrender of the colony, which put an end to his power, and is the only event, that signalized his ad­ministration.

The ambitious designs of Louis XIV. against the Dutch, gave rise to our war with the states general in 1672. Charles II. a prince sunk in pleasures, prosligate, and poor, was easily detached from his alliance with the Dutch, by the intrigues and pecuniary promises of the French king. The [Page 41]following passage from a fine writer^*, shows that his pre­tences for entering into the war, were perfectly groundless and trifling.

"The king of England, on his side, reproached them with disrespect, in not directing their fleet to lower the flag be­fore an English ship: and they were also accused in regard to a certain picture, wherein Cornelius de Witt, brother to the pensionary, war painted with the attributes of a conque­ror. Ships were represented in the back ground of the piece, either taken or burnt. Cornelius de Witt, who had really had a great share in the maritime exploits against England, had permitted this trifling memorial of his glory: but the picture, which was in a manner unknown, was deposited in a chamber wherein scarce any body ever entered. The English ministers, who presented the complaints of their king against Holland, in writing, therein mentioned certain abusive pictures. The states, who always translated the me­morials of ambassadors into French, having rendered abu­sive, by the words fautifs trompeurs, they replied, that they did not know what these roguish pictures (ces tableaux trompeurs) were. In reality, it never in the least entered into their thoughts, that it concerned this portrait of one of their citizens; nor did they ever conceive this could be a pretence for declaring war."

A few Dutch ships arrived the year after, on the 30th of July, under Staten island, at the distance of a few miles from the city of New York. John Manning, a captain of an independent company, had at that time the command of the fort, and by a messenger, sent down to the squadron, treach­erously made his peace with the enemy. On that very day, the Dutch ships came up, moored under the fort, landed their men, and entered the garrison, without giving or re­ceiving a shot. A council of war was afterwards held at the stadt house, at which were present

Cornelius Evertse, jun, Jacob Benkes, commodores. An­thony Colve, Nicholas Bowes, Abraham Ferd. Van Zyll, captains.

All the magistrates and constables from East Jersey, Long Island, Esopus, and Albany, were immediately summoned to New York; and the major part of them swore allegiance to the states general, and the prince of Orange. Col. Love­lace was ordered to depart the province, but afterwards ob­tained leave to return to England with commodore Benkes. [Page 42]It has often been insisted on, that this conquest did not ex­tend to the whole province of New-Jersey; but upon what foundation, I cannot discover. From the Dutch records, it appears, that deputies were sent by the people inhabiting the country, even so far westward as Delaware river, who, in the name of their principals, made a declaration of their submission; in return for which, certain privileges were granted to them, and three judicatories erected at Niewer Amstel, Upland, and Hoer Kill. Colve's commission to be governor of this country is worth printing, because it shows the extent of the Dutch claims. The translation runs thus:

The Dutch governor enjoyed his office but a very short season; for on the 9th of February, 1674, the treaty of peace between England and the states general was signed at Westminster; the sixth article of which, restored this coun­try to the English. The terms of it were generally, "that whatsoever countries, islands, towns, ports, castles, or forts, have or shall be taken on both sides, since the time that the late unhappy war broke out, either in Europe or elsewhere, shall be restored to the former lord and proprietor, in the same condition they shall be in, when the peace itself shall be proclaimed; after which time, there shall be no spoil nor plunder of the inhabitants, no demolition of fortifica­tions, nor carrying away of guns, powder or military stores, which belonged to any castle or fort, at the time when it was taken."

The lenity, which began the administration of col. Ni­colls, was continued under Lovelace. He appears to have been a man, rather of a phlegmatic than an enterprising disposition, always pursuing the common road, and scarcely ever acting without the aid of his council. Instead of taking upon himself the sole determination of judicial controver­sies, after the example of his predecessor, he called to his assistance a few justices of the peace. This, which was cal­led the court of assizes^*, was the principal law judicatory in those times. The legislative power under the duke, was vested entirely in the governor and council. A third estate might then be easily dispensed with, for the charge of the [Page 44]province was small^†, and in a great measure defrayed by his royal highness, the proprietor of the country.

Upon conclusion of the peace in 1674, the duke of York, to remove all controversy respecting his property, obtained a new patent^* from the king, dated the 29th of June, for the lands granted in 1664, and two days after commissioned major, afterwards sir Edmond Andross to be governor of his territories in America. After the resignation of this pro­vince, which was made to him by the Dutch possessors, on the 31st of October following, he called a court martial, to try Manning for his treacherous and cowardly surrender. The articles of accusation exhibited against him, were in substance,

I. That the said Manning, on the 28th of July, 1673, hav­ing notice of the approach of the enemy's fleet, did not en­deavour to put the garrison in a posture of defence; but, on the contrary, slighted such as offered their assistance.

II. That while the fleet was at anchor under Staten Island, on the 30th of July, he treacherously sent on board to treat with the enemy, to the great discouragement of the gar­rison.

III. That he suffered the fleet to moor under the fort, forbidding a gen to be fired, on pain of death.

[Page 45] IV. That he permitted the enemy to land, without the least opposition.

V. That, shortly after he had sent persons to treat with the Dutch commodores, he struck his flag, even before the enemy were in sight of the garrison, the fort being in a condition, and the men desirous, to fight.

VI. And lastly, that he treacherously caused the fort gates to be opened, and cowardly and basely let in the enemy, yielding the garrison without articles.

This scandalous charge, which Manning on his trial con­fessed to be true, is less surprising, than the lenity of the sentence pronounced against him. It was this, that though he deserved death, yet because he had, since the surrender, been in England, and seen the king and the duke, it was adjudge [...] that his sword should be broke over his head in public, before the city hall, and himself rendered incapa­ble of wearing a sword, and of serving his majesty for the future, in any public trust in the government.

This light censure is however no proof, that sir Edmond was a man of a merciful disposition; the historians of New-England, where he was afterwards governor, justly trans­mit him to posterity, under the odious character of a syco­phantic [...]l to the duke, and an arbitrary tyrant over the people committed to his care. He knew no law, but the will of his master: and Kirk and Jefferies were not fit­ter instruments than he to execute the despotic projects of James II.

In the year 1675, Nicholas Renslaer, a Dutch clergyman, arrived here. He claimed the manor of Renslaerwick, and was recommended by the duke to sir Edmond Andross for a living in one of the churches at New-York, or Albany, probably to serve the popish cause^*. Niewenhyt, minister [Page 46]of the church at Albany, disputed his right to administer the sacraments; because he had received an episcopal or­dination, and was not app [...]oved by the classis of Amsterdam, to which the Dutch churches here hold themselves subordi­nate. In this controversy, the governor took the part of Renilaer, and accordingly summoned Niewenhyt before him, to answer for his conduct. This minister was treated wi [...]h such singular contempt, and so frequently harrassed by fruitless and expensive attendances before the council, that the dispute became interesting, and the greater part of the people resented the usage he met with. Hence we find, that the magistrates of Albany, soon after imprisoned Ren­slaer, for several dubious words (as they are called in the record) delivered in a sermon. The governor, on the other hand, ordered him to be released, and summoned the ma­gistrates to attend him at New York. Warrants were then issued to compel them to give security in 5000l. each, to make out good cause for confining the minister. Leisler, who was one of them, refused to comply with the warrant, and was thrown into gaol. Sir Edmond, fearful that a great party would rise up against him, was at last compelled to discontinue his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and to refer the controversy to the determination of the consistory of the Dutch church at Albany. It is perhaps not improbable, that these popish measures sowed the seeds of that aversion to the duke's government, which afterwards produced those violent convulsions in the province under Leisler, at the time of the revolution, in favour of the prince of Orange.

If sir Edmond Andross's administration at New-York, appears to be less exceptionable, than while he commanded at Boston, it was through want of more opportunities to show himself in his true light. The main course of his pub­lic proceedings, during his continuance in the province, was spent in the ordinary acts of government, which then principally consisted in passing grants to the subject, and presiding in the court of assize, established by col. Lovelace. The public exigencies were now in part supplied by a kind of benevolence; the badge of bad times! This appears in an entry on the records, of a letter of May the 5th, 1676, from governor And [...]oss, to several towns on Long Island, desiring to know, what sums they would contribute to­wards the war. Near the close of his administration, he thought proper to quarrel with Philip Carteret, who in 1680, exercised the government of East Jersey, under a commission from sir Geo [...]ge Carteret, dated the 31st of Ju­ly, 1675. Andross disputed his right, and seized and brought [Page 47]him prisoner to New-York; for which it is said he lost his own government; but whoever considers that sir Edmond was immediately preferred to be governor of Boston, will rather believe, that the duke superseded him for some other reasons.

Before I proceed to the succeeding administration, in which our Indian affairs began to have a powerful influence upon the public measures, it may not be improper to pre­sent the reader with a summary view of the history and character of the five nations^*. These, of all those innumer­able tribes of savages, which inhabit the northern part of America, are of most importance to us and the French, both on account of their vicinity and warlike disposition. Before the late incorporation of the Tuscaroras, a people driven by the inhabitants of Carolina from the frontiers of Vir­ginia, they consisted of five confederate cantons^†. What in particular gave rise to this league, and when it took place, are questions which neither the natives, nor Europeans, pretend to answer. Each of these nations is divided into three families, or clans, of different ranks, bearing for their arms, and being distinguished by the names of, the tortoise, the bear, and the wolf^‡.

No people in the world, perhaps, have higher notions than these Indians, of military glory. All the surrounding nations have felt the effects of their prowess; and many not only became their tributaries, but were so subjugated to their power, that without their consent, they durst not commence either peace or war.

Though a regular police for the preservation of har­mony within, and the defence of the state against invasions from without, is not to be expected from the people of whom I am now writing, yet perhaps, they have paid more attention to it than is generally allowed. Their government is suited to their condition. A people whose riches consist [Page 48]not so much in abundance, as in a freedom from want^‡— who are circumscribed by no boundaries, who live by hunt­ing, and not by agriculture—must always be free, and therefore subject to no other authority, than such as con­sists with the liberty necessarily arising from their circum­stances. All their affairs, whether respecting peace or war, are under the direction of their sachems, or chief men. Great exploits and public virtue procure the esteem of a people, and qualify a man to advise in council, and execute the plan concerted for the advantage of his country: thus whoever appears to the Indians in this advantageous light, commences a sachem without any o [...]her ceremony.

As there is no other way of arriving at this dignity, so it ceases, unless an uniform zeal and activity for the common good, is uninterruptedly continued. Some have thought it hereditary; but that is a mistake. The son is, indeed, re­spected for his father's services; but, without personal me­rit, he can never share in the government; which, were it otherwise, must sink into perfect disgrace. The children of such as are distinguished for their pa [...]riotism, moved by the consideration of their birth, and the perpetual incitements to virtue constantly inculcated into them, imitate their fa­thers' exploits, and thus attain to the same honours and in­fluence; which accounts for the opinion that the title and power of sachem is hereditary.

Each of these republics has its own particular chiefs, who hear and determine all complaints in council; and, though they have no officers for the execution of justice, yet their decree [...] are always obeyed, from the general reproach that would follow a contempt of their advice. The condition of this people exemp [...]s them from factions, the common disease of popular governments. It is impossible to gain a party amongst them by indirect means; for no man has either honour, riches, or power to bestow^*.

[Page 49] All affairs, which concern the general interest, are deter­mined in a great assembly of the chiefs of each canton, usually held at Onondaga, the centre of their country. Up­on emergencies, they act separately; but nothing can bind the league, but the voice of the general convention.

The French, upon the maxim, divide et impera, have tried all possible means to divide these republics, and some­times have even sown great jealousies among them. In con­sequence of this plan, they have seduced many families to withdraw to Canada, and there settled them in regular towns, under the command of a fort, and the tuition of missionaries.

The manners of these savages are as simple as their go­vernment. Their houses are a few crotched stakes thrust into the ground, and overlaid with bark. A fire is kindled in the middle, and an aperture left at the top for the con­veyance of the smoke. Whenever a considerable number of those huts are collected, they have a castle, as it is cal­led, consisting of a square without bastions, surrounded with pallisadoes. They have no other fortification: and this is only designed as an asylum for their old men, their wives, and children, while the rest are gone out to war. They live almost entirely without care. While the women, or squaws, cultivate a little spot of ground for corn, the men employ themselves in hunting. As to clothes, they use a blanket girt at the waist, and thrown loosely over their shoulders; som of their women, indeed. have besides this, a sort of a petticoat, and a few of their men wear shirts; but the greater part of them are generally half naked. In winter, their legs are covered with stockings of blanket, and their feet with socks of deer skin. Many of them are fond to or­naments, and their taste is very singular. I have seen rings affixed, not only to their ears, but their noses. Bracelets of silver and brass round their wrists, are very common. The women plait their hair, and tie it up behind in a bag, per­haps in imitation of the French beaux in Canada. Though the Indians are capable of sustaining great hardships, yet they cannot endure much labour, being rather fleet, than strong. Their men are taller than the Europeans, rarely [Page 50]corpulent, always beardless,Because they pluck out the hairs. The French writers, who say they have naturally no beards, are mistaken; and the reasons they assign for it are ridiculous. straight limbed, of a tawny complexion, and black, uncurled [...]. In their food, they have no manner of delivery; for though venison is their ordinary diet, yet sometimes they eat dogs, bears, and even snakes. Their cookery is of two kinds, boiled or roasted; to perform the latter, the meat is penetrated by a short sharp stick set in the ground, inclining towards the fire, and turned as occasion requires. They are hospitable to stran­gers; though few Europeans would relish their highest fa­vours of this kind; for they are very nasty both in their governments and food. Every man has his own wise, whom he takes and leaves at pleasure: a plurality, however, at the some time, is by no means admitted among them. They have been generally commended for their chastity; but I am informed by good authority. that they are very las­civious, and that the women, to avoid reproach, frequently destroy the foetus in the womb. They are so perfectly free, that unless their children, who generally assist the mother, may be called servants, they have none. The men frequent­ly associate themselves for conversation, by which means they not only preserve the remembrance of their wars, and treaties, but diffuse among their youths, incitements to military glory, as well as instruction in all the subtilties of war.

Since they became acquainted with the Europeans, their warlike apparatus is a musket, hatcherHence, to take up the hatcher, is with them a phrase signifying to declare war; as, on the contrary, to bury it denotes the establishment of a peace., and a long knife. Their boys still accustom themselves to bows and arrows, and are so dextrous in the use of them, that a lad of six­teen, will strike an [...] English shilling five times in ten, at twelve or fourteen yards distance. Their men are excellent marksmen, both with the gun and hatcher; their dexterity at the latter is very extraordinary; for they rarely miss the object, though at a considerable distance. The hatcher in the flight perpetually turns round, and yet always strikes the mark with the [...]dge.

Before they go out, they have a feast upon dogs' flesh, and a great war dance. At these, the warriors, who are frightfully painted with vermillion, rise up, and sing their [Page 51]own exploits, or those of their ancestors, and thereby kin­dle a military enthusiasm in the whole company. The day after the dance, they march out a few miles in a row, ob­serving a profound silence. The procession being ended, they strip the bark from a large oak, and paint the design of their expedition on the naked trunk. The figure of a canoe, with the number of men in it, determines the strength of their party; and by a deer, a fox, or some other emblem painted at the head of it, we discover against what nation they are gone out.

The five nations being devoted to war, every art is con­trived to diffuse a military spirit through the whole body of their people. The ceremonies attending the return of a party, seem calculated in particular for that purpose. The day before they enter the village, two heralds advance, and, at a small distance, set up a yell, which, by its modula­tion, intimates either good or bad news. If the former, the village is alarmed, and an entertainment provided for the conquerors, who, in the mean time, approach in sight: one of them bears the scalps stretched over a bow, and elevated upon a long pole. The boldest man in the town comes out, and receives it, and instantly flies to the hut where the rest are collected. If he is overtaken, he is beaten unmercifully: but if he out-runs the pursuer, he participates in the ho­nour of the victors, who, at their first entrance, receive no compliments, nor speak a single word till the end of the feast. Their parents, wives, and children, then are admit­ted, and treat them with the profoundest respect. After these salutations, one of the conquerors is appointed to re­late the whole adventure, to which the rest attentively lis­ten, without asking a question, and the whole concludes with a savage dance.

The Indians never fight in the field, or upon equal terms; but always sculk and attack, by surprise, in small parties, meeting every night at a place of rendezvous. Scarcely any enemy can escape them; for by the disposition of the grass and leaves, they follow his track with great speed any where but over a rock. Their barbarity is shocking to human nature. Women and children they generally kill and scalp, because they would retard their progress; but the men they carry into captivity. If any woman has lost a relation, and inclines to receive the prisoner in his stead, he not only escapes a series of the most inhuman tortures, and death itself, but enjoys every immunity they can be­stow, and is esteemed a member of the family into which he is adopted. To part with him would be the most igno­minious [Page 52]conduct, and considered as selling the blood of the deceased; and for this reason it is not without the greatest difficulty, that a captive is redeemed.

When the Indians incline to peace, a messenger is sent to the enemy with a pipe, the bowl of which is made of soft, red marble; and a long reed beautifully painted, and a­dorned with the gay plumage of birds, forms the stem. This is his infallible protection from any assault on the way. The envoy makes his proposals to the enemy, who, if they approve them, ratify the preliminaries to the peace, by smoking through the pipe, and from that instant a general cessation of arms takes place. The French call it a calume [...]. It is used, as far as I can learn, by all the Indian nations up­on the continent. The rights of it are esteemed sacred, and have been only invaded by the flat heads; in just indigna­tion for which, the confederates maintained a war with them for near thirty years.

As to the language of the five nations, the best account I have had of it, is contained in a letter from the reverend mr. Spencer, who resided among them in the year 1748, be­ing then a missionary from the Scotch society for propaga­ting christian knowledge. He writes thus:

The art of public speaking is in high esteem among the Indians, and much studied. They are extremely fond of method, and displeased with an irregular harangue, because it is difficult to be remembered. When they answer, they repeat the whole, reducing it into strict order. Their speeches are short, and the sense conveyed in strong meta­phors. In conversation they are sprightly, but solemn and serious in their messages, relating to public affairs. Their speakers deliver themselves with surprising force and great propriety of gesture. The fierceness of their countenances, the flowing blanket, elevated tone, naked arm and erect stature, with a half circle of auditors seated on the ground, and in the open air, cannot but impress upon the mind, a lively idea of the ancient orators of Greece and Rome.

At the close of every important part of the speech, rati­fying an old covenant, or creating a new one, a belt is ge­nerally given, to perpetuate the remembrance of the trans­action. These belts are about four inches wide, and thirty in length. They consist of strings of conque shell beads fas­tened together^*.

[Page 54] With respect to religion, the Indians may be said to be under the thickest gloom of ignorance. If they have any, which is much to be questioned, those who affirm it, will find it difficult to tell us wherein it consists. They have nei­ther priest, nor temple, sacrifice nor altar. Some traces, in­deed, appear, of the original law written upon their hearts; but they have no system of doctrines, nor any rites and modes of public worship. They are sunk, unspeakably be­neath the polite pagans of antiquity. Some confused no­tions, indeed, of beings superior to themselves, they have, but of the Deity and his natural and moral perfections, no proper or tolerable conceptions; and of his general and particular providence they know nothing. They profess no obligations to him, nor acknowledge their dependence up­on him. Some of them, it is said, are of opinion, that there are two distinct, powerful beings, one able to help, the other to do them harm. The latter they venerate most, and some allege that they address him by a kind of prayer. Though there are no public monuments of idolatry to be seen in their country, yet the missionaries have discovered coarse imagery in wooden trinkets, in the hands of their jugglers, which the converts deliver up as detestable. The sight of them, would remind a man of letters, of the lares and penates of the ancients; but no certain judgment can be drawn of their use. The Indians sometimes assemble in large numbers, and retire far into the wilderness, where they eat and drink in a profuse manner. These conventions are called Kenticoys. Some esteem them to be debauched revels or Bacchanalia: but those who have privately fol­lowed them into these recesses, give such accounts of their conduct, as naturally lead one to imagine, that they pay a Joint homage and supplication to some invisible being. If we suppose they have a religion, it is worse than none, and raises in the generous mind, most melancholy ideas of their depraved condition. Little has been done to illuminate these dark corners of the earth, with the light of the gos­pel. The French priests boast, indeed, of their converts, but they have made more proselytes to polities than reli­gion. Queen Anne sent a missionary among them, and gave him an appointment out of the privy purse. He was a man [Page 55]of a good life, [...]ot slow parts, and his success very inconsi­derable. The reverend mr. Barclay afterwards resided among the Mohawks; but no suitable provision being made for an interpreter, he was obliged to break up the mission. If the English society for propagating the gospel, that tru­ly venerable body, instead of maintaining missionaries in rich christian congregations along the continent, expended half the amount of their annual contributions on the evan­gelists among the heathen, besides the unspeakable reli­gious benefits that would, it is to be hoped, accrue to the natives, such a proceeding would conduce greatly to the safety of our colonies, and his majesty's service. Much has been written upon this subject in America^*; and why no­thing to purpose has yet been attempted in England, to­wards so laudable a design, can only be attributed to the amazing falsehoods and misrepresentations, by which some of the missionaries have long imposed upon benevolent: minds in Great Britain^†.

[Page 56] As to the history of the five nations, before their acquain­tance with the Europeans, it is wrapt up in the darkness of antiquity. It is said that their first residence was in the country about Montreal; and that the superior strength of the Adirondacs, whom the French call Algonquins, drove them into their present possessions, lying on the south side of the Mohawks river, and the great lake Ontario^*. To­wards the close of those disputes, which continued for a [Page 57]great series of years, the confederates gained advantages over the Adirondacs, and struck a general terror into all the other Indians. The Hurons on the north side of the lake Erie, and the [...]t Indians on the south side, were totally conquered and [...]ispersed. The French who settled Canada in 1603, took [...]brage at their success, and began a war with them, which had well nigh ruined the new colony. In autumn 1665, m. Courcelles, the governor, sent, out a party against the Mohawks. Through ignorance of the country, and the want of snow-shoes, they were almost pe­rished, when they fell in with Schenectady. And even there the Indians would have sacrificed them to their barbarous rage, had not Corlear, a Dutchman, interposed to protect them. For this seasonable hospitality, the French governor invited him to Canada, but he was unfortunately drowned in his passage through the lake Champlain. It is in honour of this man, who was a favourite of the Indians, that the governors of New York, in all their treaties, are addressed by the name of Corlear. Twenty light companies of foot, and the whole militia of Canada, marched the next spring into the country of the Mohawks: but their success was vastly unequal to the charge and labour of such a tedious march of 700 miles through an uncultivated desart; for the Indians, on their approach, retired into the woods, leaving behind them some old sachems, who preferred death to life, to glut the fury of their enemies. The emptiness of this parade on the one hand, and the Indian fearfulness of fire arms on the other, brought about a peace in 1667, which continued for several years after. In this interval, both the English and French cultivated a trade with the natives, very profitable to both nations. The latter, however, were most politic and vigorous, and filled the Indian country with their missionaries. The sieur Pe [...]ot, the very year in which the peace was concluded, travelled about 1200 miles west-ward, making proselytes of the Indians every where to the French interest. Courcelles appears to have been a man of art and industry. He took every measure in his power for the defence of Canada. To prevent the irruptions of the five nations, by the way of lake Champlain, he built seve­ral forts in 1665, between that and the mouth of the river Sorel. In 1672, just before his return to France, under pre­tence [Page 58]of treating with the Indians more commodiously, but in reality, as Charlevoix expresses it, "to bridle them," he ob­tained their leave to erect a fort at Cadaraqui, or lake Onta­rio, which count Fromenac, his successor, completed the fol­lowing spring, and called after his own name^*. The com­mand of it was afterwards given to m [...]de la Salle, who, in 1678, rebuilt it with stone. This enterprising person, the same year, launched a bark of ten tons into the lake Ontario, and another of sixty tons, the year after, into lake Erie; about which time he enclosed with pallisadoes, a lit­tle spot at Niagara.

Though the duke of York had preferred col. Thomas Dongan to the government of this province on the 30th of September, 1682, he did not arrive here till the 27th of August, in the following year. He was a man of integrity, moderation, and genteel manners, and, though a professed papist, may be classed among the best of our governors.

The people, who had been formerly ruled at the will of the duke's deputies, began their first participation in the legislative power under col. Dongan; for shortly after his arrival, he issued orders to the sheriffs, to summon the free­holders for choosing representatives, to meet him in assem­bly on the 17th of October, 1683. Nothing could be more agreeable to the people, who, whether Dutch or English, were born the subjects of a free state; nor, indeed, was the change of less advantage to the duke, than to the inhabi­tants. For such a general disgust had prevailed, and in par­ticular in Long Island, against the old form which col. Ni­colls had introduced, as threatened the total subversion of the public tranquillity. Col. Dongan saw the disaffection of the people at the east end of the island, for he landed there on his first arrival in the country; and to extinguish the fire of discontent, then impatient to burst out, gave them his promise, that no laws or rates for the future should be imposed, but by a general assembly. Doubtless, this altera­tion was agreeable to the duke's orders, who had been strongly importuned for it^†, as well as acceptable to the [Page 59]people; for they sent him, soon after, an address, expres­sing the highest sense of gratitude, for so beneficial a change in the government. It would have been impossible for him much longer to have maintained the old model over free subjects, who had just before formed themselves into a co­lony for the enjoyment of their liberties, and had even al­ready solicited the protection of the colony of Connecticut, from whence the greatest part of them came. Disputes, re­lating to the limits of certain townships at the east end of Long Island, sowed the seeds of enmity against Dongan, so deeply in the hearts of many who were concerned in them, that their representation to Connecticut, at the revolution, contains the bitterest invectives against him.

Dongan surpassed all his predecessors, in a due attention to our affairs with the Indians, by whom he was highly esteemed. It must be remembered to his honour, that though he was ordered by the duke, to encourage the French priests, who were come to reside among the natives, under pretence of advancing the popish cause, but in reality to gain them over to the French interest; yet he forbid the five nations to entertain them. The jesuits, however, had no small success. Their proselytes are called praying Indi­ans, or Caghnuagaes, and reside now in Canada, at the fall of St. Lewis, opposite to Montreal. This village was begun in 1671, and consists of such of the five nations, as have formerly been drawn away by the intrigues of the French priests, in the times of Lovelace and Andross, who seem to have paid no attention to our Indian affairs^*. It was owing to the instigation also of these priests, that the five nations about this time, committed hostilities on the back parts of Maryland and Virginia, which occasioned a grand conven­tion at Albany, in the year 1684. Lord Howard of Effing­ham, the governor of Virginia, was present, and made a covenant with them for preventing further depredations, towards the accomplishment of which, col. Dongan was ve­ry [Page 60]instrumental^†. Doctor Colden has published this treaty at large: but as it has no immediate connexion with the affairs of this province, I beg leave to refer the reader for a full account of it, to his history of the five nations.

While lord Howard was at Albany, a messenger from de la Barre, then governor of Canada, arrived there, complain­ing of the Seneca Indians, for interrupting the French in their trade with the more distant Indians, commonly in­cluded among us by the general name of the far nations^‡. Colonel Dongan, to whom the message was sent, communi­cated it to the Senecas, who admitted the charge, but justi­fied their conduct, alleging, that the French supplied arms and ammunition to the Twightwies^*, with whom they were then at war. De la Barre, at the same time, medita­ting nothing less than the total destruction of the five na­tions, proceeded with an army of 1700 men to the lake Ontario. Mighty preparations were made to obtain the de­sired success: fresh troops were imported from France, and a letter procured from the duke of York to col. Dongan, commanding him to lay no obstacles in the way. The offi­cers posted in the out forts, even as far as Messisimakinac, were ordered to rendezvous at Niagara, with all the wes­tern Indians they could engage. Dongan, regardless of the duke's orders, apprised the Indians of the French designs, and promised to assist them. After six weeks delay at fort Frontenac, during which time a great sickness, occasioned by bad provisions, broke out in the French army, de la Barre found it necessary to conclude the campaign with a treaty, for which purpose he crossed the lake, and came to the place, which, from the distress of his army, was called la Famine. Dongan sent an interpreter among the Indians, by all means to prevent them from attending the treaty. The Mohawks and Senecas accordingly refused to meet de la Barre: but the Oneydoes, Onondagas, and Cayugas, influenced by the missionaries, were unwilling to hear the interpreter, except before the priests, one la Main, and three other Frenchmen, and afterwards waited upon the [Page 61]French governor. Two days after their arrival in the camp, monsieur de la Barre addressing himself to Gar [...]ngula, a [...] Onondaga chief, made the following speech, the Indians and French officers at the same time forming a circle round about him.

"The king, my master, being informed, that the five na­tions have often infringed the peace, has ordered me to come hither with a guard, and to send Ohguesse to the Onondagas, to bring the chief sachems to my camp. The intention of the great king is, that you and I may smoke the calumet of peace together; but on this condition, that you promise me, in the name of the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Mohawks, to give entire satisfaction and reparation to his subjects, and for the future, never to mo­lest them.

"The Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneydoes, and Mohawks, have robbed and abused all the traders that were passing to the Illinois and Miamies, and other Indian nati­ons, the children of my king. They have acted, on these occasions, contrary to the treaty of peace with my prede­cessor. I am ordered, therefore, to demand satisfaction, and to tell them, that in case of refusal, or their plundering us any more, I have express orders to declare war. This belt confirms my words. The warriors of the five nations have conducted the English into the lakes, which belong to the king, my master, and brought the English among the nati­ons that are his children, to destroy the trade of his sub­jects, and to withdraw these nations from him. They have carried the English thither, notwithstanding the prohibi­tion of the late governor of New York, who foresaw the risque that both they and you would run. I am willing to forget those things, but if ever the like shall happen for the future, I have express orders to declare war against you. This belt confirms my words. Your warriors have made se­veral barbarous incursions on the Illinois and Umameis; they have massacred men, women, and children, and have made many of these nations prisoners, who thought them­selves safe in their villages in time of peace: these people, who are my king's children, must not be your slaves; you must give them their liberty, and send them back into their own country. If the five nations shall refuse to do this, I have express orders to declare war against them. This belt confirms my words.

"This is what I have to say to Garrangula, that he may carry to the Senecas, Onondagas, Oneydoes, Cayugas, and Mohawks, the declaration which the king, my master, has [Page 62]commanded me to make. He doth not wish them to force him to fend a great army to Cadarackui fort, to begin a war, which must be fatal to them. He would be sorry that this fort, that was the work of peace, should become the prison of your warriors. We must endeavour, on both sides, to prevent such misfortunes. The French, who are the brethren and friends of the five nations, will never trouble their repose, provided that the satisfaction which I demand, be given, and that the treaties of peace be here­after observed. I shall be extremely grieved, if my words do not produce the effect, which I expect from them; for then I shall be obliged to join with the governor of New-York, who is commanded by his master, to assist me, and burn the castles of the five nations, and destroy you. This belt confirms my words."

Garrangula heard these threats with contempt; because he had learnt the distressed sta [...]e of the French army, and knew that they were incapable of executing the designs with which they set out: and therefo [...]e, after walking five or six times round the circle, he answered the French go­vernor, who sat in an elbow chair, in the following strain:

Then Garrangula, addressing himself to monsieur la Main, said, "Take courage, Ohguesse, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing, tell all that your brethren and friends say to Yonnondio, your governor, by the mouth of Garrangula, who loves you, and desires you to accept of this present of bever, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This present of bever is sent to Yonnondio, on the part of the five nations."

Enraged at this bold reply, de la Barre, as soon as the peace was concluded, retired to Montreal, and ingloriously finished an expensive campaign, as dr. Colden observes, in a scold with an old Indian.

De la Barre was succeeded by the marquis de Nonville, colonel of the dragoons, who arrived with a reinforcement of troops in 1685. The marquis was a man of courage and an enterprising spirit, and not a little animated by the con­sideration, that he was sent over to repair the disgrace, which his predecessor had brought upon the French colony. The year after his arrival at Quebec, he wrote a letter to the minister in France, recommending the scheme of erect­ing a stone fort, sufficient to contain four or five hundred men, at Niagara, not only to exclude the English from the lakes, but to command the fur trade and subdue the five na­tions. Dongan, who was jealous of his designs, took um­brage at the extraordinary supplies sent to fort Frontenac, and wrote to the French governors, signifying, that if he at­tacked the confederates, he would consider it, as a breach [Page 65]of the peace subsisting between the two crowns; and to prevent his building a fort at Niagara, he protested against it, and claimed the country as dependent upon the province. De Nonville, in his answer, denied that he intended to in­vade the Five Nations, tho' the necessary preparations for that purpose were then carrying on; and yet Charlevoix commends him for his piety and uprightness, "egalement estimable (says the jesuit) pour sa valour, sa droiture, & so pieté." Colonel Dongan, who knew the importance of our Indian alliance, placed no confidence in the declarations of the marquis, but exerted himself in preparing the confede­rates for a war; and the French author, just mentioned, does him honour, while he complains of him as a perpetual obstacle, in the way of the execution of their schemes. Our allies were now triumphing in their success over the Chic­taghics, and meditating a war with the Twightwies, who had disturbed them in their bever-hunting. De Nonville, to pre­vent the interruption of the French trade with the Twight­wies, determined to divert the Five Nations, and carry the war into their country. To that end, in 1687, he collected 2000 troops and 600 Indians at Montreal, and issued orders to all the officers in the more westerly country, to meet him with additional succours at Niagara, on an expedition against the Senecas. An English party, under one M'Gregory, at the same time was gone out to trade on the lakes, but the French, notwithstanding the peace then subsisting between the two crowns, intercepted them, seized their effects, and imprisoned their persons. Monsieur Fonti, commandant a­mong the Chictaghics, who was coming to the general's ren­dezvous at Niagara, did the like to another English party, which he met with in lake Erie.^* The Five Nations, in the mean time, were preparing to give the French army a suitable reception. Monsieur Companie, with two or three hundred Canadians, in an advanced party, surprised two villages of the confederates, who, at the invitation and on the faith of the French, seated themselves down about eight leagues from lake Fadarackui, or Ontario. To prevent their escape with intelligence to their countrymen, they were carried to the fort, and all but thirteen died in torments at the stake, sing­ing with an heroic spirit, in their expiring moments, the perfidy of the French. The rest, according to the express [Page 66]orders of the French king, were sent to the galleys in Eu­rope. The marquis, having embarked his whole army in canoes, set out from the fort at Cadarackui, on the 23d of June, one half of them passing along the north and the other on the south side of the lake; and both arrived the same day at Tyrondequait, and shortly after set out on their march towards the chief village of the Senecas, at about seven leagues distance. The main body was composed of the regulars and militia, the front and rear of the Indians and traders. The scouts advanced the second day of their march, as far as the corn of the village, and within pistol-shot of too Senecas, who lay upon their bellies undiscovered. The French, who imagined the enemy were all fled, quickened their march to overtake the women and old men. But no sooner had they reached the foot of a hill, about a mile from the village, than the Senecas raised the war shout, and in the same instant charged upon the whole army both in the front and rear. Universal confusion ensued. The battalions divided, fired upon each other, and flew into the wood. The Senecas improved the disorder of the enemy, till they were repulsed by the French Indians. According to Charlevoix's account, which may be justly suspected, the enemy lost but six men, and had twenty wounded in the conflict. Of the Senecas, he says, sixty were wounded and forty five slain. The marquis was so much dispirited, that he could not be persuaded to pursue the enemy that day; which gave the Senecas an opportunity to burn their village, and get off. Two old men remained in the castle to receive the general, and regale the barbarity of his Indian allies. After destroying the corn in this and several other villages, the army retired to the banks of the lake, and erected a fort with four bas­tions, on the south-east side of the streights at Niagara, in which they left 100 men, under the command of Le Cheva­lier de la Troye, with eight months provisions; but these being closely blocked up, all, except seven or eight of them, who were accidentally relieved, perished thro' famine^* Soon after this expedition, colonel Dongan met the Five Nations [Page 67]at Albany. To what intent, appears from the speech he made to them on the 5th of August, which I choose to lay before the reader, to show his vigilance and zeal for the in­terest of his master, and the common weal of the province committed to his care.

Not long after this interview, a considerable party of Mo­haws and Mahikanders, or river Indians, beset fort Chambly, burnt several houses, and returned with many captives to Albany. Forty Onondagas, about the same time, surprised a few soldiers near fort Frontenac, whom they confined in­stead of the Indians sent home to the gallies, notwithstand­ing the utmost address was used to regain them, by Lamber­ville, a French priest, who delivered them two belts, to en­gage their kindness to the prisoners, and prevent their join­ing the quarrel with the Senecas. The belts being sent to colonel Dongan, he wrote to De Nonville, to demand the reason of their being delivered. Pere le Vaillant was sent here about the beginning of the year 1688, under colour of bringing an answer, but in reality as a spy Col. Dongan told him, that no peace could be made with the five nations, unless the Indians sent to the gallies, and the Caghnuaga proselytes were returned to their respective cantons, the forts at Niagara and Frontenac raised, and the Senecas had satisfaction made them, for the damage they had sustained. The jesuit, in his return, was ordered not to visit the Mo­hawks.

Dongan, who was fully sensible of the importance of the Indian interest to the English colonies, was for compelling the French to apply to him in all their affairs with the Five Nations; while they, on the other hand, were for treating with them independent of the English. For this reason, a­mong others, he refused them the assistance they frequent­ly required, till they acknowledged the dependence of the confederates on the English crown. King James, a poor, bigotted, popish, priest-ridden prince, ordered his governor to give up this point, and to persuade the Five Nations to send messengers to Canada, to receive proposals of peace from the French. For this purpose, a cessation of arms and mutual delivery of prisoners was agreed upon. Near 1200 of the confederates attended this negociation at Mon­treal, and in their speech to De Nonville, insisted with great resolution, upon the terms proposed by colonel Dongan to father le Vaillant. The French governor declared his wil­lingness to put an end to the war, if all his allies might be included in the treaty of peace, if the Mohawks and Sene­cas would send deputies to signify their concurrence, and the French might supply fort Frontenac with provisions. The confederates, according to the French accounts, acced­ed to these conditions, and the treaty was ratified in the field. But a new rupture not long after ensued, from a cause en­tirely unsuspected. The Dinondadies had lately inclined to [Page 71]the English trade at Missilimakinac; and their alliance was therefore become suspected by the French. Adario, their chief, thought to regain the ancient confidence, which had been reposed in his countrymen, by a notable action against the Five Nations; and for that purpose put himself at the head of 100 men: nothing was more disagreeable to him, than the prospect of peace between the French and the confederates; for that event would not only render the a­mity of the Dinondadies useless, but give the French an op­portunity of resenting their late favourable conduct towards the English. Impressed with these sentiments, out of affec­tion to his country, he intercepted the ambassadors of the Five Nations, at one of the falls in Cadarackui river, killed some, and took others prisoners, telling them that the French governor had informed him, that fifty warriors of the Five Nations were coming that way. As the Dinonda­dies and confederates were then at war, the ambassadors were astonished at the perfidy of the French governor, and could not help communicating the design of their journey, Adario, in prosecution of his crafty scheme, counterfeited the utmost distress, anger, and shame, on being made the ig­nominious tool of de Nonville's treachery, and addressing himself to Dekanesora, the principal ambassador, said to him, "Go, my brethren, I untie your bonds, and send you home again, though our nations be at war. The French go­vernor has made me commit so black an action, that I shall never be easy [...]ter it, till the Five Nations shall have taken full revenge." This outrage and indignity upon the rights of ambassadors, the truth of which they did not in the least doubt, animated the confederates, to the keenest thirst af­ter revenge; and accordingly 1200 of their men, on the 26th of July 1688, landed on the south side of the island of Mon­treal, while the French were in perfect security; burnt their houses, sacked their plantations, and put to the sword all the men, women, and children, without the skirts of the town. A thousand French were slain in this invasion, and twenty six carried into captivity, and burnt alive. Many more were made prisoners in another attack in October, and the lower part of the island wholly destroyed. Only three of the confederates were lost, in all this scene of mi­sery and desolation^*.

[Page 72] Never before did Canada sustain such a heavy blow. The news of this attack on Montreal no sooner reached the gar­rison at the lake Ontario, than they set fire to the two barks, which they had built there, and abandoned the fort, leaving a match to 28 barrels of powder, designed to blow up the works. The soldiers went down the river in such precipi­tation, that one of the battoes and her crew were all lost in shooting a fall. The confederates in the mean time seized the fort, the powder, and the stores; and of all the French allies, who were vastly numerous, only the Nepicirinians and Kikabous adhered to them in their calamities. The Utawawas and seven other nations instantly made peace with the English; and but for the uncommon sagacity and address of the sieur Perot, the western Indians would have murdered every Frenchman among them. Nor did the dis­tresses of the Canadians end here. Numerous scouts from the five nations, continually infested their borders. The fre­quent depredations that were made, prevented them from the cultivation of their fields, and a distressing famine raged through the whole country. Nothing but the ignorance of the Indians, in the art of attacking fortified places, saved Canada from being now utterly cut off. It was therefore unspeakably fortunate to the French, that the Indians had no assistance from the English, and as unfortunate to us, that our colonies were then incapable of affording succours to the confederates, through the malignant influence of those execrable measures, which were pursued under the infa­mous reign of king James the second. Colonel Dongan, whatever his conduct might have been in civil affairs, did all that he could in those relating to the Indians, and fell at last into the king's displeasure, through his zeal for the true interest of the province.

While these things were transacting in Canada, a scene of the greatest importance was opening at New-York. A general disaffection to the government prevailed among the people. Papists began to settle in the colony, under the smiles of the governor. The collector of the revenues, and several principal officers, threw off the mask, and openly avowed their attachment to the doctrines of Rome. A Latin school was set up, and the teacher strongly suspected for a jesuit. The people of Long-Island, who were disappointed in their expectation of mighty boons, promised by the go­vernor on his arrival, were become his personal enemies; and in a word, the whole body of the people trembled for the protestant cause. Here the leaven of opposition first be­gan to work. Their intelligence from England, of the de­signs there in favour of the prince of Orange, blew up the [Page 73]coals of discontent, and elevated the hopes of the disaffected. But no man dared to spring in action, till after the rupture in Boston. Sir Edmond Andross, who was perfectly devoted to the arbitrary measures of king James, by his tyranny in New-England, had drawn upon himself the universal odium of a people, animated with the love of liberty and in the defence of it resolute and courageous; and therefore, when they could no longer endure his despotic rule, they seized and imprisoned him, and afterwards sent him to England. The government, in the mean time, was vested in the hands of a committee for the safety of the people, of which mr. Bradstreet was chosen president. Upon the news of this event, several captains of our militia convened themselves to concert measures, in favour of the prince of Orange. A­mong these, Jacob Leisler was the most active. He was a man in tolerable esteem among the people, and of a mo­derate fortune, but destitute of every qualification necessary for the enterprise. Milborne, his son-in-law, and Englishman, directed all his councils, while Leisler as absolutely influ­enced the other officers.

The first thing they contrived, was to seize the garrison in New-York; and the custom, at that time, of guarding it every night by the militia, gave Leisler a fine opportunity of executing the design. He entered it with forty nine men, and determined to hold it till the whole militia should join him. Colonel Dongan, who was about to leave the province, then lay embarked in the bay, having a little before resigned the government to Francis Nicholson, the lieutenant gover­nor. The council, civil officers, and migistrates of the city, were against Leisler, and therefore many of his friends were at first fearful of openly espousing a cause disapproved by the gentlemen of figure. For this reason, Leisler's first de­claration in favour of the prince of Orange, was subscribed only by a few, among several companies of the trained bands. While the people, for four days successively, were in the utmost perplexity to determine what part to choose, being solicited by Leisler on the one hand, and threatened by the lieutenant governor on the other, the town was alarmed with a report, that three ships were coming up, with or­ders from the prince of Orange. This falsehood was very seasonably propagated to serve the interest of Leisler; for on that day, the 3d of June 1689, his party was augmented by the addition of six captains and 400 men in New-York, and a company of 70 men from East Chester, who all subscribed a [Page 74]second declaration^*, mutually covenanting to hold the fort for the prince. Colonel Dongan continued till this time in the harbour, waiting the issue of these commotions; and Nicholson's party being now unable to contend with their opponents were totally dispersed, the lieutenant governor himself absconding, the very night after the last declaration was signed.

Leisler being now in complete possession of the fort, sent home an address to king William and queen Mary, as soon as he received the news of their accession to the throne. It is a tedious, incorrect, ill-drawn narrative of the grievances which the people had endured, and the methods lately ta­ken to secure themselves, ending with a recognition of the sovereignty of the king and queen over the whole English dominions.

This address was soon followed by a private letter from Leisler to king William, which, in very broken English, in­forms his majesty of the state of the garrison, the repairs he had made to it, and the temper of the people, and con­cludes with strong protestations of his sincerity, loyalty, and zeal. [...]ost Stoll, an ensign, on the delivery of this let­ter to the king, had the honour to kiss his majesty's hand; but Nicholson the lieutenant-governor, and one Ennis, an episcopal clergyman, arrived in England before him; and by falsely representing the late measures in New-York, as proceeding rather from their aversion to the church of Eng­land, than zeal for the prince of Orange, Leisler and his party missed the rewards and notice, which their activity [Page 75]for the revolution justly deserved. For though the king made Stoll the bearer of his thanks to the people for their fidelity, he so little regarded Leisler's complaints against Ni­cholson, that he was soon after preferred to the government of Virginia. Dongan returned to Ireland, and, it is said, succeeded to the earldom of Limerick.

Leisler's sudden investiture with supreme power over the province, and the probable prospects of king William's ap­probation of his conduct, could not but excite the envy and jealousy of the late council and magistrates, who had refu­sed to join in the glorious work of the revolution; and hence the spring of all their aversion, both to the man and his measures. Colonel Bayard, and Courtland the mayor of the city, were at the head of his opponents, and finding it impossible to raise a party against him in the city, they very early retired to Albany, and there endeavoured to foment the opposition. Leisler, on the other hand, fearful of their influence, and to extinguish the jealousy of the people, thought it prudent, to admit several trusty persons to a par­ticipation of that power, which the militia on the 1st of July had committed solely to himself. In conjunction with these, (who, after the Boston example, were called the com­mittee of safety) he exercised the government, assuming to himself only the honour of being president in their councils. This model continued till the month of Decem­ber, when a packet arrived with a letter from the lords Carmarthen, Halifax, and others, directed "To Francis Nicholson, esq or in his absence, to such as for the time be­ing, take care for preserving the peace and administering the laws, in their majesties' province of New-York in Ame­rica." This letter was dated the 29th of July, and was ac­companied with another from lord Nottingham, dated the next day, which, after empowering Nicholson to take upon him the chief command, and to appoint for his assistance as many of the principal freeholders and inhabitants as he should think fit, requiring also "to do every thing apper­taining to the office of lieutenant-governor, according to the laws and customs of New-York, until further orders."

Nicholson being absconded when this packet came to hand, Leisler considered the letter as directed to himself, and from this time issued all kinds of commissions in his own name, assuming the title, as well as authority, of lieute­nant-governor. On the 11th of December, he summoned the committee of safety, and agreeable to their advice, swore the following persons for his council: Peter de Lanoy, Samuel Staats, Hendrick Jansen, and Johannes Vermilie, for New-York. Gerardus Beekman, for King's county. For [Page 76]Queen's county, Samuel Edsel; Thomas Williams for West-Chester, and William Lawrence for Orange county.

Except the eastern inhabitants of Long Island, all the southern part of the colony chearfully submitted to Leis­ler's command. The principal freeholders, however, by re­spectful letters gave him hopes of their submission, and thereby prevented his betaking himself to arms, while they were privately soliciting the colony of Connecticut, to take them under its jurisdiction. They had, indeed, no aversion to Leisler's authority, in favour of any other party in the province, but were willing to be incorporated with a peo­ple, from whence they had originally colonized; and therefore as soon as Connecticut declined their request, they openly appeared to be advocates for Leisler. At this junc­ture the Long Island representation was drawn up, which I have more than once had occasion to mention.

The people of Albany, in the mean time, were determi­ned to hold the garrison and city for king William, inde­pendent of Leisler; and on the 26th of October, which was before the packet arrived from lord Nottingham, form­ed themselves into a convention for that purpose. As Leis­ler's attempt, to reduce this country to his command, was the original cause of the future divisions in the province, and in the end brought about his own ruin, it may not be improper to see the resolution of the convention, a copy of which was sent down to him at large.

Taking it for granted, that Leisler at New-York, and the convention at Albany, were equally affected to the revolu­tion, nothing could be more egregiously foolish, than the conduct of both parties, who, by their intestine divisions, threw the province into convulsions, and sowed the seeds of mutual hatred and animosity, which, for a long time after, greatly embarrassed the public affairs of the colony. When Albany declared for the prince of Orange, there was no­thing else that Leisler could properly require: and rather than sacrifice the public peace of the province, to the trifling honour of resisting a man who had no evil designs, Albany ought in prudence to have delivered the garrison into his hands, till the king's definitive orders should arrive. But while Leisler, on the one hand, was inebriated with his new-gotten power, so on the other, Bayard, Courtland, Schuyler, and others, could not brook a submission to the authority of a man, mean in his abilities, and inferior in his degree. Animated by these principles, both parties pre­pared, the one to reduce, if I may use the expression, the other to retain, the garrison of Albany. Mr. Livingston, a principal agent for the convention, retired into Connecti­cut, to solicit the aid of that colony, for the protection of the frontiers against the French. Leisler, suspecting that they were to be used against him, endeavoured not only to prevent these supplies, but wrote letters, to have Living­ston [Page 78]apprehended, as an enemy to the reigning powers, and, to procure succours from Boston, falsely represented the convention, as in the interest of the French and king James.

Jacob Milborne was commissioned for the reduction of Albany. Upon his arrival there, a great number of the in­habitants armed themselves, and repaired to the fort, then commanded by mr. Schuyler, while many others followed the other members of the convention, to a conference with him at the city-hall. Milborne, to proselyte the crowd, de­claimed much against king James, popery, and arbitrary power; but his oratory was lost upon the hearers, who, after several meetings, still adhered to the convention. Milborne then advanced with a few men up to the fort, and mr. Schuyler had the utmost difficulty to prevent both his own men, and the Mohawks, who were then in Albany, and perfectly devoted to his service, from firing upon Mil­borne's party, which consisted of an inconsiderable num­ber. In these circumstances, he thought proper to retreat, and soon after departed from Albany. In the spring, he commanded another party upon the same errand; and the distress of the country, on an Indian irruption, gave him all the desired success. No sooner was he possessed of the garrison, than most of the principal members of the conven­tion absconded. Upon which, their effects were arbitrarily seized and confiscated, which so highly exasperated the suf­ferers, that their posterity, to this day, cannot speak of these troubles, without the bitterest invectives against Leisler and all his adherents.

In the midst of those intestine confusions at New-York, the people of New-England were engaged in a war with the Owenagungas, Ourages, and Penocoks. Between these and the Schakook Indians, there was then a friendly communi­cation, and the same was suspected of the Mohawks, among whom, some of the Owenagungas had taken sanctuary. This gave rise to a conference, between several commission­ers from Boston, Plymouth, and Connecticut, and the five nations, at Albany, in September 1689, the former endea­vouring to engage the latter, against those eastern Indians, who were then at war with the New-England colonies. Tabajadoris, a Mohawk sachem, in a long oration, an­swered the English message; and, however improbable it may seem to Europeans, repeated all that had been said the preceding day. The art they have in assisting their memo­ries is this. The sachem who presides, has a bundle of sticks prepared for the purpose, and at the close of every principal article of the message delivered to them, gives a [Page 79]stick to another sachem, charging him with the remem­brance of it. By this means the orator, after a previous conference with the Indians, is prepared to repeat every part of the message, and give it its proper reply. This cus­tom is invariably pursued in all their public treaties.

The conference did not answer the expectation of the people of New-England, the five nations discovering a great disinclination to join in the hostilities against the eastern Indians. To atone for which, they gave the highest pro­testations of their willingness to distress the French, against whom the English had declared war, on the 7th of May preceding. That part of the speech ratifying their friend­ship, with the English colonies, is singularly expressed. "We promise to preserve the chain inviolably, and wish that the sun may always shine in peace, over all our heads that are comprehended in this chain^*. We give two belts. One for the sun, and the other for its beams. We make fast the roots of the tree of peace and tranquillity which is plant­ed in this place. Its roots extend as far as the utmost of your colonies; if the French should come to shake this tree, we would feel it by the motion of its roots, which extend into our country. But we trust it will not be in the gover­nor of Canada's power to shake this tree, which has been so firmly, and long planted with us."

Nothing could have been more advantageous to these co­lonies, and especially to New-York, than the late success of the five nations against Canada. The miseries to which the French were reduced, rendered us secure against their in­roads, till the work of the revolution was in a great mea­sure accomplished; and to their distressed condition, we must principally ascribe the defeat of the French design, about this time, to make a conquest of the province. De Callieres, who went to France in 1688, first projected the scheme^†; and the troubles in England encouraged the [Page 80]French court to make the attempt. Caffiniere commanded the ships, which sailed for that purpose from Rochefort; sub­ject, nevertheless, to the count de Frontenac, who was ge­neral of the land forces, destined to march from Canada, by the route of Sorel-River and the lake Champlain. The fleet and troops arrived at Chebucta, the place of rendez­vous, in September; from whence the count proceeded to Quebec, leaving orders with Caffiniere, to sail for New-York, and continue in the bay, in sight of the city, but be­yond the fire of our cannon, till the 1st of December; when, if he received no intelligence from him, he was ordered to return to France, after unlading the ammunition, stores, and provisions at Port-Royal^*. The count was in high spi­rits, and fully determined upon the enterprise, till he ar­rived at Quebec; where the news of the success of the five nations against Montreal, the loss of his favourite fort at lake Ontario, and the advanced season of the year, defeat­ed his a [...]ms, and broke up the expedition. De Nonville, who was recalled, carried the news of this disappointment to the court of France, leaving the chief command of the country in the hands of count Frontenac. This gentleman was a man of co [...]ge, and well acquainted with the affairs of that country. He was then in the 68th year of his age, and yet so far from consulting his ease, that in a few days af­ter he landed at Quebec, he re-embarked in a canoe, for Mon­treal, where his presence was absolutely necessary, to ani­mate the inhabitants, and regain their Indian alliances. A war, between the English and French crowns, being broke out, the count betook himself to every art, for concluding a peace between Canada and the five nations; and for this purpose, the utmost civilities were shown to Taweraket and the other Indians, who had been sent to France by de Non­ville, and were now returned. Three of those Indians, who, doubtless, were struck with the grandeur and glory of the French monarch, were properly sent on the im­portant message of conciliating the friendship of the five na­tions. These, agreeable to our alliance, sent two sachems to Albany, in December, with notice, that a council for that purpose was to be held at Onondaga. It is a just reflexion upon the people of Albany, that they regarded the treaty [Page 81]so slightly, as only to send four Indians and the interpreter with instructions, in their name, to dissuade the confederates from a cessation of arms; while the French, on the other hand, had then a jesuit among the Oneydoes. The coun­cil began on the 22d of January, 1690, and consisted of eighty sachems. Sadekanaghtie, an Onondaga chief, open­ed the conference. The whole was managed with great art and formality, and concluded in showing a disposition to make peace with the French, without perfecting it; guard­ing, at the same time, against giving the least umbrage to the English.

Among other measures to detach the five nations from the British interest, and raise the depressed spirit of the Cana­dians, the count de Frontenac thought proper to send out several parties against the English colonies. D'Aillebout, de Mantel, and le Moyne, commanded that against New-York, consisting of about two hundred French and some Caghnu­aga Indians, who being proselytes from the Mohawks, were perfectly acquainted with that country. Their orders were, in general, to attack New-York; but pursuing the advice of the Indians, they resolved, instead of Albany, to surprise Schenectady, a village seventeen miles north-west from it, and about the same distance from the Mohawks. The peo­ple of Schenectady, though they had been informed of the designs of the enemy; were in the greatest security; judg­ing it impracticable, for any men to march several hundred miles, in the depth of winter, through the snow, bearing their provisions on their backs. Besides, the village was in as much confusion as the rest of the province; the officers, who were posted there, being unable to preserve a regular watch, or any kind of military order. Such was the state of Schenectady, as represented by colonel Schuyler, who was at that time mayor of the city of Albany, and at the head of the convention. A copy of his letter to the neigh­bouring colonies, concerning this descent upon Schenectady dated the 15th of February 1689-90, I have now lying be­fore me under his own hand.

After two and twenty days march, the enemy fell in with Schenectady, on the 8th of February; and were reduced to such streights, that they had thoughts of surrendering themselves prisoners of war. But their scouts, who were a day or two in the village entirely unsuspected, returned with such encouraging accounts of the absolute security of the people, that the enemy determined on the attack. They entered, on Saturday night, about eleven o'clock, at the gates, which were found unshut; and, that every house might be invested at the same time, divided into small par­ties [Page 82]of six, or seven men. The inhabitants were in a pro­found sleep, and unalarmed, till their doors were broke open. Never were people in a more wretched consterna­tion. Before they were risen from their beds, the enemy en­tered their houses; and began the perpetration of the most inhuman barbarities. No tongue, says colonel Schuy­ler, can express the cruelties that were committed. The whole village was instantly in a blaze. Women with child ripped open, and their infants cast into the flames, or dash­ed against the posts of the doors. Sixty persons perished in the massacre, and twenty seven were carried into captivity. The rest fled naked towards Albany, through a deep snow which fell that very night in a terrible storm; and twenty-five of these fugitives lost their limbs in the flight, through the severity of the frost. The news of this dreadful tragedy reached Albany, about break of day; and universal dread seized the inhabitants of that city, the enemy being report­ed to be one thousand four hundred strong. A party of horse was immediately dispatched to Schenectady, and a few Mohawks then in the town, fearful of being intercept­ed, were with difficulty sent to apprise their own castles.

The Mohawks were unacquainted with this bloody scene, till two days after it happened; our messengers being scarce able to travel through the great depth of the snow. The ene­my, in the mean time, pillaged the town of Schenectady till noon the next day; and then went off with their plunder, and about forty of their best horses. The rest, with all the cattle they could find, lay slaughtered in the streets.

The design of the French, in this attack, was to alarm the fears of our Indian allies, by showing that we were in­capable of defending them. Every art also was used to con­ciliate their friendship; for they not only spared those Mo­hawks who were found in Schenectady, but several other particular persons in compliment to the Indians, who re­quested that favour. Several women and children were also released at the desire of captain Glen, to whom the French offered no violence; the officer declaring he had strict or­ders against it, on the score of his wife's civilities to cer­tain French captives, in the time of colonel Dongan.

The Mohawks, considering the cajoling arts of the French, and that the Caghnuagas who were with them, were once a part of their own body, behaved as well as could be rea­sonably expected. They joined a party of young men from Albany, fell upon the rear of the enemy, and either killed or captivated five and twenty. Several sachems, in the mean time, came to Albany, and very affectingly addressed the inhabitants, who were just ready to abandon the coun­try; [Page 83]urging their stay, and exciting a union of all the Eng­lish colonies against Canada. Their sentiments concerning the French appear from the following speech of condo­lence. "Brethren, we do not think, that what the French have done can be called a victory: it is only a farther proof of their cruel deceit: the governor of Canada sent to Onondaga, and talks to us of peace with our whole house; but war was in his heart, as you now see by woful experi­ence. He did the same, formerly, at Cadaraqui, and in the Seneca's country. This is the third time he has acted so de­ceitfully. He has broken open our house, at both ends; formerly in the Seneca's country, and now here. We hope however to be revenged of them."

Agreeable to this declaration, the Indians soon after treated the chevalier d'Eau and the rest of the French mes­sengers, who came to conclude the peace proposed by Taweraket, with the utmost indignity; and afterwards delivered them up to the English. Besides this, their scouts harrassed the borders of the enemy, and sell upon a party of French and Indians, in the river, about one hundred and twenty miles above Montreal, under the command of Lou­vigni, a captain who was going to Missilimakinac, to pre­vent the conclusion of the peace, between the Utawawas and Quatoghies, with the five nations. The loss in this skirmish was nearly equal on both sides. One of our prison­ers was delivered to the Utawawas, who ate him. In re­venge for this barbarity, the Indians attacked the island of Montreal at Trembling Point, and killed an officer and twelve men; while another party carried off about fifteen prisoners taken at Riviere Puan [...]e, whom they afterwards slew, through fear of their pursuers; and others burnt the French plantations at St. Aeurs. But what rendered this year most remarkable, was the expedition of sir William Phips against Quebec. He sailed up the river with a fleet of thirty-two sail, and came before the city in October. Had he improved his time and strength, the conquest would have been easy; but by spending three days in idle consultations, the French governor brought in his forces, and entertained such a mean opinion of the English knight, that he not only despised his summons to surrender, but sent a verbal answer, in which he called king William an usurper, and poured the utmost contempt upon his subjects. The mes­senger, who carried the summons, insisted upon a written answer, and that within an hour; but the count de Frontenac absolutely refused it, adding, "I'll answer your master by the mouth of my cannon, that he may learn that a man of my condition is not to be summoned in this man­ner." [Page 84]Upon this, sir William made two attempts to land below the town, but was repulsed by the enemy, with con­siderable loss of men, cannon and baggage. Several of the ships also cannonaded the city, but without any success. The forts at the same time returned the fire and obliged them to retire in disorder. The French writers, in their accounts of this expedition, universally censure the conduct of sir William, though they confess the valour of his troops. La Hontan, who was then at Quebec, says, he could not have acted in a manner more agreeable to the French, if he had been in their interest^*.

WHILE our allies were faithfully exerting themselves against the common enemy, colonel Henry Slough­ter, who had a commission to be governor of this province, dated 4th of January, 1689, arrived here, and published it on the 19th of March, 1691. Never was a governor more necessary to the province, than at this critical conjuncture; as well for reconciling a divided people, as for defending them against the wiles of a cunning adversary. But, either through the hurry of the king's affairs, or the powerful in­terest of a favourite, a man was sent over, utterly destitute of every qualification for government, licentious in his mo­rals, avaricious, and poor. The council present at his arri­val were

• Joseph Dudley,
• Frederick Philipse,
• Stephen Van Courtlandt,
• Gabriel Mienvielle,
• Chudley Brook,
• Thomas Willet,
• William Pinhorne.

If Leisler had delivered the garrison to colonel Slough­ter, as he ought to have done, upon his first landing, be­sides extinguishing, in a great degree, the animosities then subsisting, he would, doubtless, have attracted the favoura­ble notice, both of the governor and the crown. But being a weak man, he was so intoxicated with the love of power, that, though he had been well informed of Sloughter's ap­pointment to the government, he not only shut himself up [Page 86]in the fort with Bayard and Nichols, whom he had, before that time, imprisoned, but refused to deliver them up, or to surrender the garrison. From this moment, he lost all credit with the governor, who joined the other party against him. On the second demand of the fort, Milborne and Delanoy came out, under pretence of conferring with his excellency, but in reality to discover his designs. Slough­ter, who considered them as rebels, threw them both into goal. Leisler, upon this event, thought proper to abandon the fort, which colonel Sloughter immediately entered. Bayard and Nichols were now released from their confine­ment, and sworn of the privy council. Leisler having thus ruined his cause, was apprehended with many of his adhe­rents, and a commission of oyer and terminer issued to sir Thomas Robinson, colonel Smith, and others, for their trials.

In vain did they plead the merit of their zeal for king William, since they had so lately opposed his governor. Leisler, in particular, endeavoured to justify his conduct, insisting, that lord Nottingham's letter entitled him to act in the quality of lieutenant-governor. Whether it was through ignorance or sycophancy, I know not: but the judges, instead of pronouncing their own sentiments upon this part of the prisoner's defence, referred it to the go­vernor and council, praying their opinion, whether that letter "or any other letters, or papers, in the packet from White-hall, can be understood, or interpreted, to be and contain, any power, or direction to captain Leisler, to take the government of this province upon himself, or that the administration thereupon be holden good in law." The an­swer was, as might have been expected, in the negative; and Leisler and his son were condemned to death for high treason. These violent measures drove many of the inhabi­tants, who were fearful of being apprehended into the neighbouring colonies, which shortly after occasioned the passing an act of general indemnity.

From the surrender of the province, to the year 1683, the inhabitants were ruled by the duke's governors and their councils, who, from time to time, made rules and orders, which were esteemed to be binding as laws. These, about the year 1674, were regularly collected under alphabetical titles; and a fair copy of them remains, among our records, to this day. They are commonly known by the name of the duke's laws. The title page of the book, written in the old court hand, is in these bald words,

Those acts, which were made in 1683, and after the duke's accession to the throne, when the people were ad­mitted to a participation of the legislative power, are for the most part rotten, defaced, or lost. Few minutes relat­ing to them remain on the council books, and none in the journals of the house.

As this assembly, in 1691, was the first after the revolu­tion, it may not be improper to take some particular notice of its transactions^*.

It began the 9th of April, according to the writs of sum­mons issued on the 20th of March preceding. The journal of the house opens with a list of the members returned by the sheriffs.

• James Graham,
• William Merrett,
• Jacobus Van Courtlandt,
• Johannes Kipp.

• Derrick Wessels,
• Levinus Van Scayck,

• Henry Beekman,
• Thomas Garton.

• Nicholas Stillwell,
• John Poland.

• Elias Dukesbury,
• John Dally,

• John Pell.

• Henry Pierson,
• Mathew Howell,

• John Bound,
• Nathaniel Percall.

The members for Queen's county, being quakers, were afterwards dismissed, for refusing the oaths directed by the governor's commission; but all the rest were qualified be­fore two commissioners appointed for that purpose.

[Page 88] James Graham was elected their speaker, and approved by the governor.

The majority of the members of this assembly were a­gainst the measures, which Leisler pursued in the latter part of his time; and hence we find the house, after consider­ing a petition signed by sundry persons against Leisler, un­animously resolved, that his dissolving the late convention, and imprisoning several persons, was tumultuous, illegal, and against their majesties' right, and that the late depre­dations on Schenectady, were to be attributed to his usur­pation of all power.

They resolved against the late forcible seizures made of effects of the people, and against the levying of money on their majesties' subjects. And as to Leisler's holding the fort against the governor, it was voted to be an act of rebellion.

The house having, by these agreeable resolves, prepared the way of their access to the governor, addressed him in these words.

Before this house proceeded to pass any acts, they unani­mously resolved: "That all the laws consented to by the general assembly, under James duke of York, and the liber­ties and privileges therein contained, granted to the people, and declared to be their rights, not being observed, nor ratified and approved by his royal highness, nor the late [Page 89]king, are null and void, and of none effect; and also, the several ordinances, made by the late governors and councils, being contrary to the constitution of England, and the practice of the government of their majesties' other plantations in America, are likewise null and void, and of no effect, nor force, within this province."

Among the principal laws enacted at this session, we may mention that for establishing the revenue, which was drawn into precedent. The sums raised by it, were made payable into the hands of the receiver-general, and issued by the governor's warrant. By this means the governor became, for a season, independent of the people; and hence we find frequent instances of the assemblies contending with him for the discharge of debts to private persons, contracted on the faith of the government.

Antecedent to the revolution, innumerable were the con­troversies relating to public townships and private rights; and hence, an act was now passed, for the confirmation of an­cient patents and grants, intended to put an end to those de­bates. A law was also passed for the establishment of courts of justice, tho' a perpetual act had been made to that purpose in 1683, and the old court of assize entirely dissolved in 1684. As this enacted in 1691, was a temporary law, it may hereafter be disputed, as it has been already, whether the present esta­blishment of our courts, for general jurisdiction, by an or­dinance, can consist even with the preceding act, or the general rules of law. Upon the erection of the supreme court, a chief justice, and four assistant judges, with an at­torney general, were appointed. The chief justice, Joseph Dudley, had a salary of 130l. per annum: Johnson, the se­cond judge, 100l. and both were payable out of the revenue: but William Smith, Stephen Van Courtlandt, and William Pinhorne, the other judges, and Newton, the attorney-gen­eral, had nothing allowed for their services.

It has, more than once, been a subject of animated debate, whether the people, in this colony, have a right to be re­presented in assembly, or whether it be a privilege enjoyed, thro' the grace of the crown. A memorable act, passed this session, virtually declared in favour of the former opinion, upon that, and several other of the principal and distin­guishing liberties of Englishmen. It must, nevertheless, be confessed, that king William was afterwards pleased to re­peal that law, in the year 1697^*.

[Page 90] Colonel Sloughter proposed, immediately after the ses­sion, to set out to Albany; but as Leisler's party were en­raged at his imprisonment, and the late sentence against him, his enemies were afraid new troubles would spring up in the absence of the governor; for this reason, both the assembly and council advised that the prisoners should be immediately executed. Sloughter, who had no inclination to favour them in this request, chose rather to delay such a violent step, being fearful of cutting off two men, who had vigorously appeared for the king, and so signally con­tributed to the revolution. Nothing could be more disagree­able to their enemies, whose interest was deeply concerned in their destruction. And therefore, when no other mea­sures could prevail with the governor, tradition informs us, that a sumptuous feast was prepared, to which colonel Sloughter was invited. When his excellency's reason was drowned in his cups, the intreaties of the company pre­vailed with him to sign the death warrant, and, before he recovered his senses, the prisoners were executed. Leisler's son afterwards carried home a complaint to king William, against the governor. His petition was referred, according to the common course of plantation affairs, to the lords com­missioners of trade, who, after hearing the whole matter, reported on the 11th of March 1692, "That they were hum­bly of opinion, that Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne de­ceased, were condemned and had suffered according to law." Their lordships, however, interceded for their families, as fit objects of mercy: and this induced queen Mary, who approved the report, on the 17th of March, to de­clare, "That upon the humble application of the relations of the said Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne deceased, her majesty will order the estates of Jacob Leisler and Jacob Mil­borne; to be restored to their families, as objects of her ma­jesty's mercy." The bodies of these unhappy sufferers were afterwards taken up and interred, with great pomp, in the old Dutch church, in the city of New-York. Their estates were restored to their families; and Leisler's children, in the public estimation, are rather dignified, than disgraced, by the fall of their ancestor.

These distractions, in the province, so entirely engrossed the public attention, that our Indian allies, who had been loft solely to contend with the common enemy, grew ex­tremely disaffected. The Mohawks, in particular, highly resented this conduct, and, at the instance of the Caghnu­agaes, sent a messenger to Canada, to confer with count Frontenac about a peace. To prevent this, colonel Slough­ter had an interview at Albany, in June, with the other [Page 91]four nations, who expressed their joy at seeing a governor again in that place. They told him, that their ancestors, as they had been informed, were greatly surprised at the ar­rival of the first ship in that country, and were curious to know what was in its huge belly. That they found christians in it, and one Jacques, with whom they made a chain of friendship, which they had preserved to this day. All the Indians, except the Mohawks, assured the governor at this meeting, of their resolution to prosecute the war. The Mo­hawks confessed their negociations with the French, that they had received a belt from Canada, and prayed the ad­vice of the governor, and afterwards renewed their league with all our colonies.

Sloughter soon after returned to New-York, and ended a short, weak, and turbulent administration; for he died suddenly on the 2 [...]d of July 1691. Some were not without suspicions, that he came unfairly to his end: but the cer­tificate of the physician and surgeons who opened his body, by an order of council, confuted these conjectures; and his remains were interred in Stuyvesant's vault, next to those of the old Dutch governor.

At the time of Sloughter's decease, the government de­volved, according to the late act for declaring the rights of the people of this province, on the council, in which Jo­seph Dudley had a right to preside: but they committed the chief command to Richard Ingolsby, a captain of an inde­pendent company, who was sworn into the office of presi­dent on the the 26th of July 1698. Dudley, soon afterwards, returned to this province, from Boston, but did not think proper to dispute Ingolsby's authority, though the latter had no title, nor the greatest abilities for government, and was besides obnoxious to the party who had joined Leisler, having been an agent in the measures which accomplished his ruin. To the late troubles, which were then recent, and the agreement subsisting between the council and as­sembly we must ascribe it, that the former tacitly acknow­ledged Ingolsby's right to the president's chair; for they concurred with him, in passing several laws, in autumn and the spring following, the validity of which have never yet been disputed.

This summer, mayor Schuyler^*, with a party of Mohawks, [Page 92]passed through the lake Champlain, and made a bold irrup­tion upon the French settlements, at the north end of it.^† De Callieres, the governor of Montreal, to oppose him, collected a small army, of eight hundred men, and encamp­ed at la Prairie. Schuyler had several conflicts with the enemy, and slew about three hundred of them, which ex­ceeded in number his whole party. The French, ashamed of their ill success, attribute it to the want of order, too many desiring to have the command. But the true cause was, the ignorance of their officers in the Indian manner of fighting. They kept their men in a body, while ours posted themselves behind trees, hidden from the enemy. Major Schuyler's design, in this descent, was to animate the Indi­ans, and preserve their enmity with the French. They, accordingly, continued their hostilities against them, and, by frequent incursions, kept the country in constant alarm.

In the midst of these distresses, the French governor pre­served his sprightliness and vigour, animating every body about him. After he had served himself of the Utawawas, who came to trade at Montreal, he sent them home under the care of a captain and one hundred and ten men; and to secure their attachment to the French interest, gave them two Indian prisoners, and, besides, sent very considerable presents to the western Indians, in their alliance. The cap­tives were afterwards burnt. The five nations, in the mean time, grew more and more incensed, and continually har­rassed the French borders. Mr. Beaucour, a young gentle­man, in the following winter, marched a body of about three hundred men to attack them at the isthmus, at Niaga­ra. Incredible were the fatigues they underwent in this long march over the show, bearing their provisions on their backs. Eighty men, of the five nations, opposed the French party, and bravely maintained their ground, till most of them were cut off. In return for which, the confederates, in small parties, obstructed the passage of the French through lake Ontario, and the river issuing out of it, and [Page 93]cut off their communication with the western Indians. An Indian, called Black Kettle, commanded in these incursions of the five nations, and his successes, which continued the whole summer, so exasperated the count, that he ordered an Indian prisoner to be burnt alive. The bravery of this savage was as extraordinary, as the torments inflicted on him were cruel. He sung his military achievements without in­terruption, even while his bloody executioners practised all possible barbarities. They broiled his feet, thrust his fingers into red hot pipes, cut his joints, and twisted the sinews with bars of iron. After this his scalp was ripped off, and hot sand poured on the wound.

In June 1692, captain Ingolsby met the five nations, at Albany, and encouraged them to persevere in the war. The Indians declared their enmity to the French, in the strong­est terms, and as heartily professed their friendship to us. "Brother Corlear," said the sachem, "we are all subjects of one great king and queen: we have one head, one heart, one interest, and are all engaged in the same war." The Indians, at the same time, did not forget, at this in­terview, to condemn the inactivity of the English, telling them, that the destruction of Canada would not make one summer's work, against their united strength, if vigorous­ly exerted.

Colonel Benjamin Fletcher arrived with a commission to be governor, on the 29th of August, 1692, which was pub­lished the next day, before the following members, in council:

• Frederick Philipse,
• Stephen Van Courtlandt,
• Nicholas Bayard,
• Gabriel Mienvielle,
• Chudley Brooke,
• William Nicoll,
• Thomas Willet,
• Thomas Johnston.

William Pinhorne, one of that board, being a non-resi­dent, was refused the oaths; and Joseph Dudley, for the same reason, removed, both from his seat in council, and his office of chief justice. Caleb Heath [...]ote and John Young succeeded them in council: and William Smith was seated, in Dudley's place, on the bench.

Colonel Fletcher brought over with him a present to the colony, of arms, ammunition, and warlike stores; in grati­tude for which, he exhorted the council and assembly, who were sitting at his arrival, to send home an address of thanks to the king. It consists, principally, of a representa­tion of the great expense the province was continually at to defend the frontiers, and praying his majesty's direction, that the neighbouring colonies might be compelle [...] to join their aid, for the support of Albany. The following pas­sage [Page 94]in it shows the sense of the legislature, upon a matter which has since been very much debated. "When these countries were possessed by the Dutch West-India company, they always had pretences (and had the most part of it with­in their actual jurisdiction) to all that tract of land (with the islands adjacent) extending, from the west side of Connecti­cut river, to the lands lying on the west side of Delaware bay, as a suitable portion of land for one colony or govern­ment; all which, including the lands on the west of Dela­ware bay or river, were in the duke of York's grant, from his majesty king Charles the second, whose governors also possessed those lands on the west side of Delaware bay or river. By several grants, as well from the crown, as from the duke, the said province has been so diminished, that it is now decreased to a very few towns and villages; the number of men fit to bear arms, in the whole government, not amounting to 3000, who are all reduced to great po­verty."

Fletcher was by profession a soldier, a man of strong pas­sions, and inconsiderable talents, very active, and equally avaricious. Nothing could be more fortunate to him, than his early acquaintance with major Schuyler, at Albany, at the treaty, for confirmation of the Indian alliance, the fall after his arrival. No man, then in this province, understood the state of our affairs with the five nations better than ma­jor Schuyler. He had so great an influence over them, that whatever Quider^*, as they called him, recommended or disapproved, had the force of a law. This power over them was supported, as it had been obtained, by repeated offices of kindness, and his singular bravery and activity in the defence of his country. These qualifications rendered him singularly serviceable and necessary, both to the province and the governor. For this reason, Fletcher took him in­to his confidence, and, on the 25th of October, raised him to the council board. Under the tutelage of major Schuy­ler, the governor became daily more and more acquainted with our Indian affairs; his constant application to which, procured and preserved him a reputation and influence in the colony. Without this knowledge, and which was all that he had to distinguish himself, his incessant solicitations for money, his passionate temper and bigotted principles, must necessarily have rendered him obnoxious to the peo­ple, and kindled a hot fire of contention in the province.

The old French governor, who found that all his measures for accomplishing a peace with the five nations, proved abor­tive, [Page 95]was now meditating a blow on the Mohawks. He ac­cordingly collected an army of six or seven hundred French and Indians, and supplied them with every thing necessary for a winter campaign. They set out from Montreal, on the 15th of January, 1693; and after a march attended with incredible hardships, they passed by Schenectady, on the 6th of February, and, that night, captivated five men and some women and children, at the first castle of the Mo­hawks. The second castle was taken with equal ease, the Indian inhabitants being in perfect security, and, for the most part, at Schenectady. At the third, the enemy found about forty Indians in a war dance, designing to go out, up­on some enterprise, the next day. Upon their entering the castle a conflict ensued, in which the French lost about thir­ty men. Three hundred of our Indians were made captives, in this descent; and, but for the intercession of the savages in the French interest, would all have been put to the sword^*.

The Indians were enraged, and with good reason, at the people of Schenectady, who gave them no assistance against the enemy, though they had notice of their marching by that village. But this was atoned for by the succours from Al­bany. Colonel Schuyler voluntarily headed a party of two hundred men, and went out against the enemy. On the 15th of February, he was joined by near three hundred Indians, ill armed, and many of them boys. A pretended deserter, who came to dissuade the Indians from the pur­suit, informed him, the next day, that the French had built a fort, and waited to fight him; upon which he sent to In­golsby, the commandant at Albany, as well for a reinforce­ment as for a supply of provisions; for the greatest part of his men came out, with only a few biscuits in their pockets, and at the time they fell in with the enemy, on the 17th of the month, had been several days without any kind of food. Upon approaching the French army, sundry skirmishes en­sued; the enemy endeavouring to prevent our Indians from felling trees for their protection. Captain Syms, with eighty regulars of the independent companies, and a sup­ply of provisions, arrived on the 19th; but the enemy had marched off the day before in a great snow storm. Our party [Page 96]however pursued them, and would have attacked their rear, if the Mohawks had not been averse to it. When the French reached the north branch of Hudson's river, luckily a cake of ice served them to cross over it, the river being open both above and below. The frost was now extremely severe, and the Mohawks fearful of an engagement; upon which Schuy­ler, who had retaken about fifty Indian captives, desisted from the pursuit on the 20th of February; four of his men and as many Indians being killed, and twelve wounded. Our In­dians, at this time, were so distressed for provisions, that they fed upon the dead bodies of the French; and the ene­my, in their turn, were reduced, before they got home, to eat up their shoes. The French in this enterprise lost eighty men, and had above thirty wounded.

Fletcher's extraordinary dispatch up to Albany, upon the first news of this descent, gained the esteem both of the public and our Indian allies.

The express reached New-York on the 12th of February, at ten o'clock in the night, and in less than two days, the governor embarked with three hundred volunteers. The river, which was heretofore very uncommon at that season, was open^*. Fletcher landed at Albany, and arrived at Schenectady, the 17th of the month, which is about one hundred and sixty miles from New-York: but he was still too late to be of any other use than to strengthen the anci­ent alliance. The Indians, in commendation of his activity on the occasion, gave him the name of Cayenguirago, or, the great swift arrow.

Fletcher returned to New-York, and, in March, met the assembly, who were so well pleased with his late vigilance, that besides giving him the thanks of the house, they raised 6000l. for a year's pay of three hundred volunteers, and their officers, for the defence of the frontiers.

As the greatest part of this province consisted of Dutch in­habitants, all our governors, as well in the duke's time, as after the revolution, thought it good policy to encourage English preachers and schoolmasters in the colony. No man could be more bent upon such a project than Fletcher, a bi­got to the espiscopal form of church government. He, ac­cordingly, recommended this matter to the assembly, on his [Page 97]first arrival, as well as at their present meeting. The house, from their attachment to the Dutch language, and the mo­del of the church of Holland, secured by one of the arti­cles of surrender, were entirely disinclined to the scheme, which occasioned a warm rebuke from the governor, in his speech at the close of the session, in these words; "gentle­men, the first thing that I did recommend to you, at our last meeting, was to provide for a ministry, and nothing is done in it. There are none of you, but what are big with the privileges of Englishment and magna charta, which is your right; and the same law doth provide for the religion of the church of England, against sabbath-breaking, and all other profanity. But as you have made it last, and post­poned it this session, I hope you will begin with it the next meeting, and do somewhat toward it effectually."

The news of the arrival of the recruits and ammunition at Canada, the late loss of the Mohawks, and the unfulfill­ed promises of assistance, made from time to time, by the English, together with the incessant solicitations of Milet, the jesuit, all conspired to induce the Oneydoes to sue for a peace with the French. To prevent so important an event, Fletcher met the five nations at Albany, in July 1693, with a considerable present of knives, hatchets, clothing, and ammunition, which had been sent over, by the crown, for that purpose. The Indians consented to a renewal of the ancient league, and expressed their gratitude, for the king's donation, with singular force. "Brother Cayenguirago, we roll and wallow in joy, by reason of the great favour the great king and queen have done us, in sending us arms and ammunition at a time when we are in the greatest need of them; and because there is such unity among the bre­thren." Colonel Fletcher pressed their delivering up to him Milet, the old priest, which they promised, but never per­formed. On the contrary, he had influence enough to per­suade all, but the Mohawks, to treat about the peace at Onondaga, though the governor exerted himself to prevent it.

Soon after this interview, Fletcher returned to New-York; and, in September, met a new assembly, of which James Graham was chosen speaker. The governor laboured, at this session, to procure the establishment of a ministry throughout the colony, a revenue to his majesty for life, the repairing the fort in New-York, and the erection of a chapel. That part of his speech, relating to the ministry, was in these words: "I recommended to the former assem­bly, the settling of an able ministry, that the worship of God may be observed among us; for I find that great and first [Page 98]duty very much neglected. Let us not forget that there is a God, that made us, who will protect us, if we serve him. This has been always the first thing I have recommended, yet the last in your consideration. I hope you are all satisfi­ed of the great necessity and duty, that lies upon you to do this, as you expect his blessing upon your labours." The zeal with which this affair was recommended, induced the house, on the 12th of September, to appoint a committee of eight members, to agree upon a scheme for settling a ministry, in each respective precinct, throughout the pro­vince. This committee made a report the next day; but it was recommitted till the afternoon, and then deferred to the next morning. Several debates arising about the report, in the house, it was again "recommitted for farther considera­tion." On the 15th of September, it was approved, the es­tablishment being then limited to several parishes in four countries, and a bill ordered to be brought in accordingly; which the speaker (who, on the 18th of September, was appointed to draw all their bills) produced on the 19th. It was read twice on the same day, and then referred to a com­mittee of the whole house. The third reading was on the 21st of September, when the bill passed, and was sent up to the governor and council, who immediately returned it with an amendment, to vest his excellency with an episco­pal power of inducting every incumbent, adding to that part of the bill near the end, which gave the right of the presenta­tion to the people, these words "and presented to the go­vernor, to be approved and collated." The house declined their consent to the addition, and immediately returned the bill, praying, "that it may pass without the amend­ment, having, in the drawing of the bill, had a due re­gard to that pious intent of settling a ministry, for the be­nefit of the people." Fletcher was so exasperated with their refusal, that he no sooner received the answer of the house, than he convened them before him, and in an angry speech broke up the session. I shall lay that part of it, relating to this bill, before the reader, because it is characteristic of the man.

The violence of this man's temper is very evident in all his speeches and messages to the assembly; and it can only be attributed to the ignorance of the times, that the members of that house, instead of asserting their equality, peaceably put up with his rudeness. Certainly they deserved better usage at his hands. For the revenue, established the last year, was, at this session, continued five years longer than was originally intended. This was rendering the governor for a time independent of the people. For, at that day, the as­sembly had no treasure; but the amount of all taxes went of course into the hands of the receiver-general, who was appointed by the crown. Out of this fund, monies were only issuable by the governor's warrant; so that every officer in the government, from mr. Blaithwait, who drew annually five per cent, out of the revenue, as auditor-general, down to the meanest servant of the public, became dependent, sole­ly, of the governor. And hence we find the house, at the close [Page 100]of every session, humbly addressing his excellency, for the trifling wages of their own clerk. Fletche [...] was, notwith­standing, so much displeased with them, that, soon after the prorogation, he dissolved the assembly.

The members of the new assembly met, according to the writ of summons, in March 1694, and chose colonel Peirson, for their speaker, mr. Graham being left out at the election for the city. The shortness of this session, which continued only to the latter end of the month, was owing to the dis­agreeable business the house began upon, of examining the state of the public accounts, and in particular the muster rolls of the volunteers, in the pay of the province. They, however, resumed it again in September, and formally en­tered their dissatisfaction, with the receiver-general's ac­counts. The governor, at the same time, blew up the coals of contention, by a demand of additional pay, for the king's soldiers, then just arrived, and new supplies for detachments in defence of the frontiers. He at last prorogued them, af­ter obtaining an act for supporting one hundred men upon the borders. The same disputes revived again in the spring 1695; and proceeded to such lengths, that the assembly ask­ed the governor's leave to print their minutes, that they might appeal to the public. It was at this session, on the 12th of April 1695, that upon a petition of five church wardens and vestrymen of the city of New-York, the house declared it to be their opinion, "That the vestrymen and church­wardens have power to call a dissenting protestant minster, and that he is to be paid and maintained as the act directs." The intent of this petition was to refute an opinion, which prevailed, that the late ministry act was made for the sole benefit of episcopal clergymen.

The quiet, undisturbed state of the frontiers, while the French were endeavouring to make a peace with the five na­tions, and the complaints of many of the volunteers, who had not received their pay, very much conduced to the back­wardness of the assembly, in answering Fletcher's perpetual demands of money. But when the Indians refused to com­ply with the terms of peace demanded by the French go­vernor, which were to suffer him to rebuild the fort at Ca­daraqui, and to include the Indian allies, the war broke out afresh, and the assembly were obliged to augment both their detachments and supplies. The count Frontenac now le­velled his wrath, principally against the Mohawks, who were more attached, than any other of the five nations, to our interest: but as his intentions had taken air, he pru­dendy changed his measures, and sent a party of three hun­dred men, to the isthmus at Niagara, to surprise those of [Page 101]the five nations, that might be hunting there. Among a few that were met with, some were killed, and others taken prisoners, and afterwards burnt at Montreal. Our Indians imitated the count's example, and burnt ten Dewagunga captives.

Colonel Fletcher and his assembly having come to an open rupture in the spring, he called another in June, of which James Graham was chosen speaker. The count Frontenac was then repairing the old fort at Cada [...]aqui; and the intel­ligence of this, and the king's assignment of the quotas of the several colonies, for an united force^* against the French, were the principal matters which the governor laid before the assembly. The list of the quotas was this.

• Pennsylvania, £ 80
• Massachusetts-Bay, £ 350
• Maryland, £ 160
• Virginia, £ 240
• Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, £ 48
• Connecticut, £ 120
• New-York, £ 200

As a number of forces were now arrived the assembly were in hopes, the province would be relieved from raising any more men for the defence of the frontiers; and, to obtain this favour of the governor, ordered £ 1000. to be levied, one half to be presented to him, and the rest he had leave to distribute among the English officers and soldiers. A bill for this purpose was drawn; but though his excellency thank­ed them for their favourable intention, he thought it not [...] his honour to consent to it. After passing several laws, the session broke up in perfect harmony, the governor, in his great grace, recommending it to the house, to appoint a com­mittee to examine the public accounts against the next ses­sions.

[Page 102] In September, Fletcher went up to Albany, with very considerable presents to the Indians; whom he blamed for suffering the French to rebuild the fort at Cadaraqui, or Fron­tenac, which commands the entrance from Canada, into the great lake Ontario.

While these works were carrying on, the Dionandadies, who were then poorly supplied by the French, made over­tures of a peace with the five nations, which the latter readi­ly embraced, because it was owing to their fears of these In­dians, who lived near the lake Missilimachinac, that they ne­ver dared to march with their whole strength against Ca­nada. The French commandant was fully sensible of the importance of preventing this alliance. The civilities of the Dionandadies to the prisoners, by whom the treaty, to pre­vent a discovery, was negociated, gave the officer the first suspicion of it. One of these wretches had the unhappiness to fall into the hands of the French, who put him to the most exquisite torments, that all future intercourse with the Dionandadies might be cut off. Dr. Colden, in just re­sentment for this inhuman barbarity, has published the whole process from la Potherie's history of North America, and it is this:

"The prisoner being first made fast to a stake, so as to have room to move round it; a Frenchman began the hor­rid tragedy, by broiling the flesh of the prisoner's legs, from his toes to his knees, with the red-hot barrel of a gun. His example was followed by an Utawawa, who, being desi­rous to out do the French in their refined cruelty, split a fur­row from the prisoner's shoulder to his garter, and filling it with gun-powder, set fire to it. This gave him exquisite pain, and raised excessive laughter in his tormentors. When they found his throat so much parched, that he was no longer able to gratify their ears with his howling, they gave him water, to enable him to continue their pleasure longer. But at last, his strength failing, an Utawawa fleated off his scalp, and threw burning hot coals on his scull. Then they untied him, and bid him run for his life. He began to run, tumbling like a drunken man. They shut up the way to the east, and made him run westward, the country, as they think, of departed miserable fouls. He had still force left to throw stones, till they put an end to his misery by knocking him on the head. After this every one cut a slice from his body, to conclude the tragedy with a feast."

From the time colonel Fletcher received his instruction, respecting the quotas of these colonies, for the defence of the frontiers, he repeatedly, but in vain, urged their com­pliance with the king's direction: he then carried his com­plaints [Page 103]against them home to his majesty, but all his ap­plications were defeated by the agents of those colonies, who resided in England. As soon, therefore, as he had laid this matter before the assembly, in autumn 1695, the house appointed William Nicol, to go home in the quality of an agent for this province, for which they allowed him £ 1000. But his solicitations proved unsuccessful, and the instruc­tion, relating to these quotas, which is still continued, re­mains unnoticed to this day. Fletcher maintained a good correspondence with the assembly, through the rest of his administration: and nothing appears, upon their journals, worth the reader's attention.

The French never had a governor, in Canada, so vigilant and active as the count de Frontenac. He had no sooner re­paired the old fort, called by his name, than he formed a design of invading the country of the five nations with a great army. For this purpose, in 1696, he convened at Montreal, all the regulars, as well as militia, under his command; the Owenagungas, Quatoghies of Loretto, Adi­rondacks, Sokakies, Nipiciriniens, the proselyted praying Indians of the five nations, and a few Utawawas. Instead of waggons and horses, which are useless in such a country, as he had to march through, the army was conveyed, through rivers and lakes, in light barks, which are porta­ble, whenever the rapidity of the stream and the crossing an isthmus rendered it necessary. The count left la Chine, at the south end of the island of Montreal, on the 7th of July. Two battalions of regulars, under the command of le Chevalier de Callieres, headed by a number of Indians, led the van, with two small pieces of cannon, the mortars, grenadoes, and ammunition. After them followed the pro­visions; then the main body, with the count's household, a considerable number of volunteers, and the engi­neer; and four battalions of the militia commanded by monsieur de Ramezai, governor of Trois Rivieres.

Two battalions of regulars and a few Indians, under the chevalier de Vaudrueil, brought up the rear. Before the army went a parcel of scouts, to descry the tracks and am­buscades of the enemy. After twelve days march, they ar­rived at Cadaraqui, about one hundred and eighty miles from Montreal, and then crossed the lake to Oswego. Fifty men marched on each side of the Onondaga river, which is narrow and rapid. When they entered the little lake^*, the [Page 104]army divided into two parts, coasting along the edges, that the enemy might be unce [...]tain as to the place of their land­ing; and where they did land they erected a fort. The Onondagas had sent away their wives and children, and were determined to defend their castle, till they were in­formed by a deserter, of the superior strength of the French, and the nature of bombs, which were intended to be used against them; and then after setting sire to their village, they retired into the woods. As soon as the count heard of this, he marched to their huts in order of battle; being himself carried in an elbow chair, behind the artillery. With this mighty apparatus he entered it, and the destruc­tion of a little Indian corn was the great acquisition. A brave sachem, then about a hundred years old, was the only person who tarried in the castle to salute the old ge­neral. The French Indians put him to torment, which he endured with astonishing presence of mind. To one who stabbed him with a knife, "you had better," says he," "make me die by fire, that these French dogs may learn how to suffer like men: you Indians, their allies, you dogs of dogs, think of me when you are in the like condition^*." This sachem was the only man, of all the Onondagas, that was killed; and had not thirty-five Oneydoes, who waited to receive Vaud [...]ueil at their castles, been afterwards basely carried into captivity, the count would have returned with­out the least mark of triumph. As soon as he began his re­treat, the Onondagas followed, and annoyed his army by cutting off several batteaus.

This expensive enterprise, and the continual incursions of the five nations, on the country near Montreal, again spread a famine through all Canada. The count, however, kept up his spi [...]its to the last; and sent out scalping parties, who infested Albany, as our Indians did Montreal, till the treaty of peace, signed at Ryswick, in 1697.

Richard, earl of Bellamont, was appointed to succeed colonel Fletcher, in the year 1695; but did not receive his commission till the 18th of June, 1697: and as he delayed his voyage till after the peace of Ryswick, which was signed the 10th of September following, he was blown off our coast to Barbadoes, and did not arrive here before the 2d of April, 1698.

[Page 105] During the late war, the seas were extremely infested with English pirates, some of whom sailed out of New-York; and it was strongly suspected that they had received too much countenance here, even from the government, du­ring Fletcher's administration. [...]is lordship's promotion to the chief command of the Massachusett's bay and New-Hampshire, as well as this province, was owing partly to his rank, but principally to the affair of the pitates; and the multiplicity of business, to which the charge of three colonies would necessarily expose him, induced the earl to bring over with him John Nanfan, his kinsman, in the qua­lity of our lieutenant-governor^*. When lord Bellamont was appointed to the government of these provinces, the king did him the honour to say "that he thought him a man of resolution and integrity, and with these qualities more likely than any other he could think of, to put a stop to the growth of piracy."

Before the earl set out for America, he became acquainted with Robert Livingston, esq ^† who was then in England, soliciting his own affairs before the counc [...]l and the treasury. The earl took occasion, in one of his conferences with mr. Livingston, to mention the scandal the province was under on account of the pi [...]ates, The latter, who confessed it was not without reason, brought the earl acquainted with one Kid, whom he recommended as a man of integrity and courage, that knew the p [...]ates and their rendezvous, and would undertake to apprehend them, if the king would employ him in a good sailing frigate of 30 guns and 150 men. The earl laid the proposal before the king, who con­sulted the admiralty upon that subject: but this project drop­ped, through the uncertainty of the adventure, and the French war, which gave full employment to all the ships in [Page 106]the navy. Mr. Livingston then proposed a private adventure against the pirates, offering to be concerned with Kid, a fifth part in the ship and charges, and to be bound for Kid's faithful execution of the commission. The king then ap­proved of the design, and reserved a tenth share, to show that he was concerned in the enterprise▪ Lord chancellor Somers, the duke of Shrewsbury, the earls of Romu [...]y and Oxford, sir Edmond Harrison and others, joined in the scheme, agreeing to the expense of 6000l. But the manage­ment of the whole affair was left to lord Bellamont, who gave orders to Kid to pursue his commission, which was in common form. Kid sailed, from Plymouth, for New-York, in April, 1696; and afterwards turned pirate, burnt his ship, and came to Boston, where the earl apprehended him. His lordship wrote to the secretary of state, desiring that Kid might be sent for. The Rochester man of war was dispatch­ed upon this service; but being driven back, a general suspi­cion prevailed in England, that all was collusion between the ministry and the adventurers, who, it was thought, were unwilling Kid should be brought home, lest he might dis­cover that the chancellor, the duke, and others, were con­federates in the piracy. The matter even proceeded to such lengths, that a motion was made, in the house of commons, that all who were concerned in the adventure, might be turned out of their employments; but it was rejected by a great majority.

The tory party, who excited these clamours, though they lost their motion in the house, afterwards impeached se­veral whig lords; and, among other articles, charged them with being concerned in Kid's piracy. But these prosecu­tions served only to brighten the innocency of those, against whom they were brought; for the impeached lords were honourably acquitted by their peers.

Lord Bellamont's commission was published in council, on the day of his arrival; colonel Fletcher, who still re­mained governor under the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and lieutenant governor Nanfan, being present. The mem­bers of the council were,

• Frederick Philipse,
• Stephen Van Cortlandt,
• Nicholas Bayard,
• Gabriel Mienville,
• William Smith,
• William Nicoll,
• Thomas Willet,
• William Pinhorne,
• John Lawrence.

After the earl had dispatched captain John Schuyler, and Dellius, the Dutch minister of Albany, to Canada, with the account of the peace, and to solicit a mutual exchange of [Page 107]prisoners; he laid before the council the letters from secre­tary Vernon and the East-India company, relating to the pirates; informing that board, that he had an affidavit, that Fletcher had permitted them to land their spoils in this province, and that mr. Nic [...] bargained for their protec­tions, and received for his services 800 Spanish dollars. Nicoll confessed the receipt of the money for protec­tions, but said it was in virtue of a late act of assembly, al­lowing privateers on their giving security; but he denied the receipt of any money from known pirates. One Weaver was admitted, at this time, into the council-chamber, and acted in the quality of king's council, and in answer to mr. Nicoll, denied that there was any such act of assembly as he mentioned. After considering the whole matter, the council advised his excellency to send Fletcher home, but to try Nicoll here, because his estate would not bear the expense of a trial in England. Their advice was never carried into execution, which was probably owing to a want of evidence against the parties accused. It is nevertheless certain, that the pirates were frequently in the sound, and supplied with provisions by the inhabitants of Long Island, who, for many years afterwards, were so infatuated with a notion, that the pirates buried great quantities of money along the coast, that there is scarce a point of land, or an island without the marks of their auri sacra fames. Some credulous people have ruined themselves by these researches, and propagated a thousand idie fables current to this day, among our country farmers.

As Fletcher, through the whole of his administration, had been entirely influenced by the enemies of Leisler; no­thing could be more agreeable to the numerous adherents of that unhappy man, than the earl's disaffection to the late governor. It was for this reason, they immediately devoted themselves to his lordship, as the head of their party.

The majority of the members of the council were Fletch­er's friends; and there needed nothing more to render them obnoxious to his lordship. Leisler's advocates, at the same time, mortally hated them; not only because they had im­brued their hands in the blood of the principal men of their party, but also because they had engrossed the sole confi­dence of the late governor, and brought down his resent­ment upon them. Hence, at the commencement of the earl's administration, the members of the council had every thing to fear; while the party they had depressed, be­gan once again to erect its head under the smiles of a gover­nor, who was fond of their aid, as they were solicitous to conciliate his favour. Had the earl countenanced the ene­mies, as well as the friends of Leis [...]er, which he might have done, his administration would doubtless have been easier [Page 108]to himself and advantageous to the province. But his in­flexible aversion to Fletcher prevented his acting with that moderation, which was necessary to enable him to govern both parties. The [...] of his temper appeared very early, on his suspending mr. Nicoll from the board of council, and obliging him to enter into a recognizance in 2000l. to answer fo [...] his conduct relating to the protections. But his speech to the new assembly, convened on the 18th of May, g [...]ve the fullest evidence of his abhorrence of the late ad­ministration. Philip French was chosen speaker, and waited upon his excellency with the house, when his lordship spoke to them in the following manner:

"I cannot but observe to you, what a legacy my prede­cessor has left me, and what difficulties to struggle with; a divided people, an empty purse, a few miserable, naked, half-starved soldiers, not half the number the king allowed pay for: the fortifications and even the governor's house very much out of repair, and, in a word, the whole go­vernment out of frame. It hath been represented to the go­vernment in England, that this province has been a noted receptacle of pirates, and the trade of it under no restricti­on, but the acts of trade violated by the neglect and con­nivance of those, whose duty it was to have prevented it."

After this introduction, he puts them in mind that the revenue was near expiring. "It would be hard, says he, if I that come among you with an honest mind, and a reso­lution to be just to your interest, should meet with greater difficulties, in the discharge of his majesty's service, than those that have gone before me. I will take care there shall be no misapplication of the public money. I will pocket none of it myself, nor shall there be any embezzlement by o [...]hers; but exact accounts shall be given you, when, and as often as you shall require."

It was customary with Fletcher, to be present in the field, to influence elections; and as the assembly consisted, at this time, of but nineteen members, they were too easi­ly influenced to serve the private ends of a faction. For that reason, his lordship was warm in a scheme of increasing their number, at present, to thirty, and so, in proportion, as the colony became more populous; and hence we find the following clause in his speech. "You cannot but know, what abuses have been formerly in elections of members, to serve in the general assembly, which tends to the subversion of your liberties. I do therefore recommend the making of a law to provide against it."

The house, though unanimous in a hearty address of thanks to the governor for his speech, could scarce agree [Page 109]upon any thing else. It was not till the beginning of June, before they had finished the controversies relating to the late turbulent elections; and even then six members seceded from the house, which obliged his excellency to dissolve the assembly on the 14th of June, 1693. About the same time, the governor dismissed two of the council; Pinhorne, for disrespectful words of the king, and Brook, the receiver-general, who was also turned out of that office, as well as removed from his place on the bench.

In July, the disputes with the French, concerning the ex­changing of prisoners, obliged his excellency to go up to Albany. When the earl sent the account of the conclusion of the peace to the governor of Canada, all the French pri­soners, in our custody, were restored, and as to those among the Indians, he promised to order them to be safely escort­ed to Montreal. His lordship then added, "I doubt not, sir, that you; on your part, will also issue an order to re­lieve the subjects of the king, captivated during the war, whether christians or Indians."

The count, fearful of being drawn into an implicit ac­knowledgment, that the five nations were subject to the English crown, demanded the French prisoners, among the Indians, to be brought to Montreal; threatening, at the same time, to continue the war against the confederates, if they did not comply with his request. After the earl's in­terview with them, he wrote a second letter^* to the count, informing him that they had importunately begged to con­tinue under the protection of the English crown, professing an inviolable subjection and fidelity to his majesty; and that the five nations were always considered as subjects, which, says his lordship, "can be manifested to all the world by authentic and solid proofs." His lordship added, that he would not suffer them to be insulted, and threatened to exe­cute the laws of England upon the missionaries, if they con­tinued any longer in the five cantons. A resolute spirit runs through the whole letter, which concludes in these words: "if it is necessary, I will arm every man in the provinces, under my government, to oppose you; and redress the in­jury that you may perpetrate against our Indians." The [Page 110]count, in his answer, proposed to refer the dispute to the commissaries, to be appointed according to the treaty of Ryswick^† but the earl continued the claim, insisting that the French prisoners should be delivered up at Albany.

The French count dying while this matter was contro­verted, monsieur de Callieres, his successor, sent ambassa­dors, the next year, to Onondaga, there to regulate the exchange of prisoners, which was accomplished without the earl's consent; and thus the important point, in dis­pute, remained unsettled. The jesuit Bruyas, who was up­on this embassage, offered to live at Onondaga; but the Indians ref [...]sed his belt, saying that Corlear, or the gover­nor of New-York, had already offered them ministers for their instruction.

Great alterations were made in council, at his excellency is return from Albany. Bayard, Mienvielle, Willet, Townly, and Lawrence, were all suspended on the 28th of Septem­ber; and colonel Abraham Depeyster, Robert Livingston, and Samuel Staats, called to that board. The next day, Fre­derick Philipse resigned his seat, and Robert Walters was sworn in his stead.

The new assembly, of which James Graham was chosen speaker, met in the spring. His excellency spoke to them on the 21st of March, 1699.

As the late assembly was principally composed of Anti-Leis [...]erians, so this consisted, almost entirely, of the opposite party. The elections were attended with great outrage and tumult, and many applications made, relating to the re­turns; but as Abraham Governeur, who had been secretary to Leisler, got returned for Orange county, and was very active in the house^*, all the petitions were rejected with­out ceremony.

Among the principal acts, passed at this session, there was one for indemnifying those who were excepted out of the general pardon in 1691; another against pirates; one for the settlement of Milborne's estate; and another to raise fifteen hundred pounds, as a present to his lordship, and five hundred pounds for the lieutenant-governor, his [Page 111]kinsman. Besides which, the revenue was continued for six years longer. A necessary law was also made for the regu­lation of elections, containing the substance of the English statutes of 8 Hen. VI. chap. VII. and the 7 and 8 Will. III.

This assembly took, also, into consideration sundry ex­travagant grants of land, which colonel Fletcher had made to several of his favourites. Among these, two grants to Delli [...]s, the Dutch minister, and one to Nicholas Bayard, were the most considerable. Dellius was one of the com­missioners for Indian affairs, and had fradulently obtained the Indian deeds, according to which the patents had been granted. One of the grants included all the lands within twelve miles on the cast side of Hudson's river, and extend­ed twenty miles in length, from the north bounds of Sa­raghtoga. The second patent, which was granted to him in company with Pinhorne, Bancker, and others, contained all the lands, within two miles on each side of the Mohawks river, and along its banks to the extent of fifty miles, Bayard's grant was also for lands in that country, and very extravagant. Lord Bellamont, who justly thought these great patents, with the trifling annual reservation of a few skins, would impede the settlement of the country, as well as alienate the affections of our Indian allies, wifely pro­cured recommendatory instructions from the lords justices, for vacating those patents, which was now regularly ac­complished by a law, and Dellius thereby suspended from his ministerial function.

The earl having thus carried all his points at New-York, set out for Boston in June, where, after he had set­tled his salary, and apprehended the pirate Kidd, he re­turned here again in the fall.

The revenue being settled for six years, his lordship had no occasion to meet the assembly till the summer of the year 1700, and then indeed little else was done, than to pass a few laws. One for hanging every popish priest that came volun­tarily into the province, which was occasioned by the great number of French jesuits, who were continually practising upon our Indians. By another, provision was made for erect­ing a fort in the country of the Onondagas; but as this was repealed a few months after the king's providing for that purpose, so the former continues, as it forever ought, in full force to this day.

The earl was a man of art and polite manners, and being a mortal enemy to the French, as well as a lover of liberty, [Page 112]he would doubtless have been of considerable service to the colony; but he died here on the 5th of March in 1701, when he was but just become acquainted with the co­lony.

The earl of Bellamont's death was the source of new troubles; for Nanfan, the lieutenant-governor, being then absent in Barbadoes, high disputes arose among the coun­sellors, concerning the exercise of the powers of govern­ment. Abraham de Peyster, Samuel Staats, Robert Walters, and Thomas Weaver, who sided with the party that ad­hered to Leisler, insisted that the government was devolved upon the council, who had a right to act by a majority of voices; but colonel Smith contended that all the powers of the late governor were devolved upon him, as president, he being the eldest member of that board. Colonel Schuyler and Robert Livingston, who did not arrive in town till the 21st of March, joined mr. Smith, and refused to appear at the council-board, till near the middle of April. The assem­bly, which was convened on the 2d of that month, were in equal perplexity; for they adjourned from day to day, waiting the issue of this rupture. Both parties continuing inflexible, those members, who opposed colonel Smith, sent down to the house a representation of the controversy, assigning a number of reasons for the sitting of the assem­bly, which the house took into their consideration, and on the 16th of April resolved, that the execution of the earl's commission and instructions, in the absence of the lieute­nant-governor, was the right of the council by majority of voices, and not of any single member of that board; and this was afterwards the opinion of the lords of trade. The disputes, nevertheless, continuing in the council, strenuously supported by mr. Livingston, the house, on the 19th of April, thought proper to adjourn themselves to the first Tuesday in June.

In this interval, on the 19th of May, John Nanfan, the lieutenant-governor, arrived, and settled the controversy, by taking upon himself the supreme command.

Upon mr. Nanfan's arrival, we had the agreeable news, that the king had given two thousand pounds sterling, for the defence of Albany and Schenectady, as well as five hundred pounds more for erecting a fort in the country of the Onondagas. And not long after an ordinance was issued, agreeable to the special direction of the lords of trade, for erecting a court of chancery, to sit the first Thursday in every month. By this ordinance the powers of the chan­celor [Page 113]were vested in the governor and council, or any two of that board: commissions were also granted, appointing masters, clerks, and a register: so that this court was com­pletely organized on the 2d of September, 1701.

Atwood, who was then chief justice or the supreme court, was now sworn of the council. Abraham de Peyster, and Robert Walters were his assistants on the bench; and the former was also made deputy auditor-general, under mr. Elaithwait. Sampson [...]helton Broughton was the attorney-general, and came into that office when Atwood took his seat on the bench, before the decease of lord Bel­lamont. Both these had their commissions from England. The lieutenant-governor, and the major part of the board of council, together with the several officers above named, being strongly in the interest of the Leislerian party, it was not a little surprising, that mr. Nanfan dissolved the late assembly on the 1st of June last.

Great were the struggles at the ensuing elections, which, however, generally prevailed in savour of those who joined Leisler at the revolution; and hence, when the new assem­bly met on the 19th of August 1701, Abraham Governeur was elected for their speaker. Dutchess was thought here­tofore incapable of bearing the charge of a representation; but the people of that county, now animated by the heat of the times, sent Jacob Rutsen and Adrian Garretsen to re­present them in assembly.

Mr. Nanfan, in his speech to the house, informs them of the memorable grant made to the crown, on the 19th of July, by the five nations, of a vast tract of land, to prevent the necessity of their submitting to the French in case of a war; and that his majesty had given out of his exchequer two thousand five hundred pounds sterling, for forts, and eight hundred pounds to be laid out in presents to the In­dians; and that he had also settled a salary of three hun­dred pounds on a chief justice, and one hundred and fifty pounds on the attorney-general, who were both now arrived here.

The fire of contention, which had lately appeared in the tumultuous elections, blazed out afresh in the house, Nicoll, the late counsellor, got himself elected for Suffolk, and was in hopes of being seated in the chair: but Abraham Governeur was chosen speaker. Several members contended, that he, being an alien, was unqualified for that station. To this it was answered, that he was in the province in the year 1683, at the time of passing an act to naturalize all the free inhabitants, professing the christian religion; and that [Page 114]for this reason, the same objection against him had benn-over-ruled at the last assembly. In return for this attack, Governeur disputed Nicoll's right of sitting as a member of that house; and succeeded in a resolve, that he and mr. Wessels, who had been returned for Albany, were both un­qualified according to the late act, they being neither of them residents in the respective counties for which they were citosen: This occasioned an imprudent secession of seven members, who had joined the interest of mr. Nicoll; which gave their adversaries an opportunity to expel them, and introduce others in their stead.

Among the first opposers of captain Leisler, none was more considerable than mr. Livingston. The measures of the convention at Albany were very much directed by his advice; and he was peculiarly obnoxious to his adversaries, because he was a man of sense and resolution, two qualifi­cations rarely to be found united in one person at that day. Mr. Livingston's intimacy with the late earl, had till this time, been his defence, against the rage of the party which he had formerly opposed: but as that lord was now dead, and mr. Livingston's conduct in council, in favour of colonel Smith, had given fresh provocation to his enemies, they were fully bent upon his destruction. It was in execution of this scheme, that as soon as the disputed elections were over, the house proceeded to examine the state of the pub­lic accounts, which they partly began at the late assembly.

The pretence was, that he refused to account for the public monies, he had formerly received out of the excise; upon which, a committee of both houses advised the passing a bill to confiscate his estate, unless he agreed to account by a certain day. But instead of this, an act was afterwards passed to oblige him to account for a sum amounting to near eighteen thousand pounds. While this matter was transacting, a new complaint was forged, and he was sum­moned before another committee of both houses, relating to his procuring the five nations to signify their desire that he should be sent home to solicit their affairs. The crimi­nality of this charge can be seen only through the partial optics, with which his enemies then scanned his behaviour. Besides, there was no evidence to support it, and therefore the committee required him to purge himself by his own oath. Mr. Livingston, who was better acquainted with English law and liberty, than to countenance a practice so odious, rejected the insolent demand with disdain; upon which the house, by advice of the committee, addressed the lieutenant-governor, to pray his majesty to remove [Page 115]him from his office of secretary of Indian affairs, and that the governor, in the mean time, would suspend him from the exercise of his commission^*.

It was at this favourable conjuncture, that Jacob Leisler's petition to the king, and his majesty's letter to the late ea [...]l of Bellamont, were laid before the assembly. Leister, dis­pleased with the report of the lords of trade, that his fa­ther and his brother Milborne had suffered according to law, laid his case before the parliament, and obtained an act to reverse the attainder. After which, he applied to the king, complaining that his father had disbursed about four thou­sand pounds, in purchasing arms, and forwarding the re­volution; in consequence of which he procured the follow­ing letter to lord Bellamont, dated at Whitehall the 6th of February 1699/1700.

As soon as this letter and the petition were brought into the house, a thousand pounds were ordered to be levied for the benefit of mr. Leisler, as well as several sums for other persons, by a bill for paying the debts of the government; which, nevertheless, did not pass into a law, till the next sessions. Every thing that was done at this meeting of the assembly, which continued till the 18th of October, was un­der the influence of a party spirit; and nothing can be a ful­ler evidence of it, than an incorrect, impertinent address to his majesty, which was drawn up by the house, at the close of the session, and signed by fourteen of the members. It contains a tedious narrative of their proceedings, relating [Page 116]to the disputed elections, and concludes with a little incense, to regale some of the then principal agents in the public affairs, in these words:

"This necessary account of ourselves and our unhappy divisions, which we hope the moderation of our lieutenant-governor, the wisdom and prudence of William Atwood, esq our chief justice, and Thomas Weaver, esq your ma­jesty's collector and receiver-general, might have healed, we lay before your majesty with all humility, and deep sense of your majesty's goodness to us, lately expressed in sending over so excellent a person to be our chief justice."

The news of the king's having appointed lord Cornbury to succeed the earl of Bellamont, so strongly animated the hopes of the Anti-Leislerian party, that about the com­mencement of the year 1702, Nicholas Bayard promoted se­veral addresses to the king, the parliament, and lord Corn­bury, which were subscribed at a tavern kept by one Hutch­ins, an alderman of the city of New-York. In that to his majesty, they assure him, "That the late differences were not grounded on a regard to his interest, but the corrupt designs of those, who laid hold on an opportunity to en­rich themselves by the spoils of their neighbours." The petition to the parliament says, that Leisler and his ad­herents gained the fort at the revolution without any op­position; that he oppressed and imprisoned the people without cause, plundered them of their goods, and com­pelled them to f [...]ee their country, though they were well affected to the prince of Orange. That the earl of Bella­mont appointed indigent sheriffs, who returned such mem­bers to the assembly as were unduly elected, and in his lordship's esteem. That he suspended many from the board of council, who were faithful servants to the crown, introducing his own tools in their stead. Nay they denied the authority of the late assembly, and added, that the house had bribed both the lieutenant-governor and the chief justice; the one to pass their bills, and the other to defend the legality of their proceedings. A third address was prepared, to be presented to lord Cornbury, to congra­tulate his arrival, as well to prepossess him in their favour, as to prejudice him against the opposite party.

Nothing could have a more natural tendency to excite the wrath of the lieutenant governor, and the revenge of the council and assembly, than the reflexions contained in those several addresses. Nanfan had no sooner received intelligence of them, than he summoned Hutchins to deliver them up to [Page 117]him, and upon his refusal committed him to jail, on the 19th of January. The next day Nicholas Bayard, Rip Van Dam, Philip French, and Thomas Wenham, hot with party zeal, sent an imprudent address to the lieute­nant-governor, boldly justifying the legality of the ad­dress, and demanding his discharge out of custody. I have before taken notice, that upon Sloughter's arrival in 1691, an act was passed, to recognize the right of king William and queen Mary to the sovereignty of this province. At the end of that law, a clause was added in these words, "That whatsoever person or persons shall by any manner of ways, or upon any pretence whatsoever, endeavour by force of arms or otherwise, to disturb the peace, good, and quiet of their majesties' government, as it is now established, shall be deemed and esteemed as rebels and traitors unto their majesties, and in [...]ur the pains, penalties, and forfeitures, as the laws of England have for such offences made and pro­vided." Under pretext of this law, which Bayard himself had been personally concerned in enacting, mr. Nanfan is­sued a warrant for committing him to jail as a traitor, on the 21st of January; and lest the mob should interpose, a company of soldiers for a week after, constantly guarded the prison.

Through the uncertainty of the time of lord Cornbury's arrival, mr. Nanfan chose to bring the prisoner to his trial, as soon as possible; and for that purpose issued a commission of oyer and terminer, on the 12th of February, to William Atwood, the chief justice, and Abraham De Peyster and Robert Walters, who were the puisne judges of the su­preme court; and not long after Bayard was arraigned, indicted, tried, and convicted of high treason. Several reasons were afterwards offered in arrest of judgment; but as the prisoner was unfortunately in the hands of an enraged party, Atwood over-ruled what was offered, and condemned him to death on the 16th of March. As the process of his trial has been long since printed in the state trials at large, I leave the reader to his own remarks upon the conduct of the judges, who are generally accused of par­tiality.

Bayard applied to mr. Nanfan for a reprieve, till his majesty's pleasure might be known; and obtained it, not without great difficulty, nor till after a seeming confession of guilt was extorted. Hutchins, who was also convicted, was bailed upon the payment of forty pieces of eight to the sheriff: but Bayard, who refused to procure him the gift of a farm, of about fifteen hundred pounds value, was not released from his confinement, till after the arrival of [Page 118]lord Cornbury, who not only gave his consent to an act for reversing the late attainders, but procured the queen's con­firmation of it, upon their giving security, according to the advice of sir Edward Northey, not to bring any suits against those who were concerned in their prosecution; which the attorney-general thought proper, as the act ordained all the proceedings to be obliterated.

After these trials, Nanfan erected a court of exchequer, and again convened the assembly, who thanked him for his late measures, and passed an act to out-law Philip French, and Thomas Wenham, who absconded upon Bayard's com­mitment; another to augment the number of representa­tives, and several others, which were, all but one, after­wards repealed by queen Anne. During this session, lord Cornbury being daily expected, the lieutenant-governor suspended mr. Livingston from his seat in council, and thus continued to abet Leisler's party, to the end of his admini­stration.

Lord Cornbury's arrival quite opened a new scene. His father, the earl of Clarendon, adhered to the cause of the late abdicated king, and always refused the oaths both to king William and queen Anne. But the son recommended himself at the revolution, by appearing very early for the prince of Orange, being one of the first officers that desert­ed king James's army. King William, in gratitude for his services, gave him a commission for this government, which upon the death of the king, was renewed by queen Anne, who at the same time, appointed him to the chief command of New-Jersey, the government of which the proprietors had lately surrendered into her hands. As lord Cornbury came to this province, in very indigent circumstances, hunt­ed out of England by a host of hungry creditors, he was bent upon getting as much money, as he could squeeze out of the purses of an impoverished people. His talents were, perhaps, not superior to the most inconsiderable of his predecessors; but in his zeal for the church he was surpassed by none. With these bright qualifications he began his ad­ministration on the 3d of May, 1702, assisted by a council consisting of the following members:

• William Atwood,
• William Smith,
• Peter Schuyler,
• Abraham de Peyster,
• Samuel Staats,
• Robert Walters,
• Thomas Weaver,
• Sampson Shelton Broughton,
• Wolfgang William Romar,
• William Lawrence,
• Gerardus Beekman,
• Rip Van Dam.

His lordship, without the least disguise, espousing the [Page 119]Anti-Leislerian faction, Atwood, the chief justice, and Weaver, who acted in quality of solicitor-general, thought proper to retire from his frowns to Virginia, whence they sailed to England: the former concealing himself under the name of Jones, while the latter called himself Jackson. Colonel Heathcote and doctor Bridges succeeded in their places at the council board.

The following summer was remarkable for an uncommon mortality, which prevailed in the city of New-York, and makes a grand epoch among our inhabitants, distinguished by the "time of the great sickness^*." On this occasion lord Cornbury had his residence and court at Jamaica, a plea­sant village on Long-Island, distant about twelve miles from the city.

The inhabitants of Jamaica consisted, at that time, partly of original Dutch planters, but mostly of New-England emigrants, encouraged to settle there, after the surrender, by the duke of York's conditions for plantations, one of which was in these words: "That every township should be obliged to pay their own ministers, according to such agreements as they should make with him; the minister being elected by the major part of the householders and in­habitants of the town." These people had erected an edi­fice for the worship of God, and enjoyed a handsome dona­tion of a parsonage-house and glebe, for the use of their mi­nister. After the ministry act was passed, by colonel Fletcher, in 1693, a few episcopalians crept into the town, and view­ed the presbyterian church with a jealous eye. The town vote, in virtue of which the building had been erected, con­tained no clause to prevent its being hereafter engrossed by any other sect. The episcopal party, who knew this, form­ed a design of seizing the edifice for themselves, which they shortly after carried into execution, by entering the church between the morning and evening service, while the pres­byterian minister and his congregation were in perfect security, unsuspicious of the zeal of their adversaries, and a fraudulent ejectment, on a day consecrated to sacred rest.

Great outrage ensued among the people; for the conten­tion, being pro aris & focis, was animating and important. The original proprietors of the house tore up their seats, [Page 120]and afterwards got the key and the possession of the church, which were shortly after again taken from them by force and violence. In these controversies the governor abetted the episcopal zealots, and harrassed the others by numberless prosecutions, heavy sines, and long imprisonments; thro' fear of which, many, who had been active in the dispute, fled out of the province. Lord Cornbury's noble descent and education should have prevented him from taking part in so ignominious a quarrel: but his lordship's sense of ho­nour and justice was as weak and indelicate, as his bigotry was rampant and uncontroulable; and hence we find him guilty of an act complicated of a number of vices, which no man could have perpetrated without violence to the very slightest remains of generosity and justice. When his ex­cellency retired to Jamaica, one Hubbard, the presbyterian minister, lived in the best house in the town. His lordship begged the loan of it for the use of his own family; and the clergyman put himself to no small inconvenience to fa­vour the governor's request: but in return for the generous benefaction, his lordship perfidiously delivered the parson­age-house into the hands of the episcopal party, and encou­raged one Cardwel, the sheriff, a mean fellow, who after­wards put an end to his own life, to seize upon the glebe, which he surveyed into lots, and farmed for the benefit of the episcopal church. These tyrannical measures justly in­flamed the indignation of the injured sufferers, and that again the more embittered his lordship against them. They resented, and he prosecuted; nor did he confine his pious rage to the people of Jamaica. He detested all who were of the same denomination; nay, averse to every sect except his own, he insisted that neither the ministers nor school­masters of the Dutch, the most numerous persuasion in the province, had a right to preach or instruct without his gu­bernatorial licence: and some of them tamely submitted to his authoritative rule. A general account of his lordship's sin­gular zeal, is preserved under the title of the Watch Tower, in a number of papers published in the New-York Weekly Mercury, for the year 1755.

While his excellency was exerting his bigotry, during the summer season, at Jamaica; the elections were carrying on, with great heat, for an assembly, which met him, at that village, in the fall. It consisted principally of the party which had been borne down by the earl of Bellamont and his kinsman; and hence we find Philip French, who had lately been out-lawed, was returned a representative for New-York, and William Nicoll elected into the speaker's [Page 121]chair. Several extracts from my lord's speech are proper to be laid before the reader, as a specimen of his temper and designs. "It was an extreme surprise to me (says his lord­ship) to find this province, at my landing at New-York, in such a convulsion as must have unavoidably occasioned its ruin, if it had been suffered to go on a little longer. The many complaints that were brought to me, against the per­sons I found here in power, sufficiently proved against them —and the miserable accounts I had of the condition of our frontiers—made me think it convenient to delay my meeting you in general assembly, till I could inform myself, in some measure, of the condition of this province, that I might be able to offer to your consideration, some few of those things, which will be necessary to be done forthwith, for the de­fence of the country."

He then recommends their fortifying the port of New-York, and the frontiers; adding, that he found the soldiers naked and unarmed: after which he proposes a militia bill, the erection of public schools, and an examination of the provincial debts and accounts; and not only promises to make a faithful application of the monies to be raised, but that he would render them an account. The whole speech is sweetened with this gracious conclusion: "Now, gentlemen, I have no more to trouble you with, but to as­sure you, in the name of the great queen of England, my mistress, that you may safely depend upon all the protec­tion that good and faithful subjects can desire or expect, from a sovereign whose greatest delight is the welfare of her people, under whose auspicious reign we are sure to enjoy what no nation in the world dares claim but the sub­jects of England; I mean, the free enjoyment of the best religion in the world, the full possession of all lawful liber­ty, and the undisturbed enjoyment of our freeholds and properties. These are some of the many benefits which I take the inhabitants of this province to be well entitled to by the laws of England; and I am glad of this opportunity to assure you, that as long as I have the honour to serve the queen in the government of this province, those laws shall be put in execution, according to the intent with which they were made; that is, for the preservation and protecti­on of the people, and not for their oppression. I heartily re­joice to see, that the free choice of the people has fallen upon gentlemen, whose constant fidelity to the crown, and unwearied application to the good of their country, is so universally known."

[Page 122] The house echoed back an address of high compliment to his lordship, declaring, "That being deeply sensible of the misery and calamity the country lay under at his arrival, they were not sufficiently able to express the satisfaction they had, both in their relief and their deliverer."

Well pleased with a governor who headed their party, the assembly granted him all his requests; eighteen hun­dred pounds were raised for the support of one hundred and eighty men, to defend the frontiers, besides two thou­sand pounds more, as a present, towards defraying the ex­penses of his voyage. The queen, by her letter of the 20th of April, in the next year, forbid any such donations for the future. It is observable, that though the county of Duchess had no representatives at this assembly, yet such was then the known indigence of that now populous and flourishing county, that but eighteen pounds were appor­tioned for their quota of these levies.

Besides the acts above-mentioned, the house brought up a militia bill, and continued the revenue to the 1st of May, 1709; and a law passed to establish a grammar-school, ac­cording to his lordship's recommendation. Besides the great harmony that subsisted between the governor and his as­sembly, there was nothing remarkable, except two re­solves against the court of chancery erected by mr. Nanfan, occasioned by a petition of several disappointed suitors, who were displeased with a decree. The resolutions were in these words: "That the setting up a court of equity in this colony, without consent of general assembly, is an in­novation without any former precedent, inconvenient and contrary to the English law." And again: "That the court of chancery, as lately erected, and managed here, was and is unwarrantable, a great oppression to the subject, of pernicious example and consequence; that all proceed­ings, orders, and decrees in the same, are, and of right ought to be, declared null and void; and that a bill be brought in, according to these two resolutions," which was done: but though his lordship was by no means disinclined to fix contempt on Nanfan's administration, yet, as this bill would diminish his own power, himself being the chancel­lor, the matter was never moved farther, than to the order for the engrossment of the bill upon the second reading.

Though a war was proclaimed by England on the 4th of May, 1702, against France and Spain, yet as the five nations had entered into a treaty of neutrality with the French in Canada, this province, instead of being harrassed on its [Page 123]borders by the enemy, carried on a trade very advantage­ous to all those who were concerned in it. The governor, however, continued his solicitations for money, with unre­mitted importunity, and by alarming the assembly, which met in April 1703, with his expectation of an attack by sea, fifteen hundred pounds were raised, under pretence of erecting two batteries at the Narrows, which, instead of being employed for that use, his lordship, notwithstanding the province had expended twenty two thousand pounds during the late peace, was pleased to appropriate to his pri­vate advantage. But let us do him the justice to confess, that while he was robbing the public, he at the same time consented to several other laws for the emolument of the clergy.

Whether it was owing to the extraordinary sagacity of the house, or their presumption that his lordship was as lit­tle to be trusted as any of his predecessors, that, after voting the above sum for the batteries, they added, that it should be "for no other use whatsoever," I leave the reader to determine. It is certain they now began to see the danger of throwing the public money into the hands of a receiver-general, appointed by the crown, from whence the gover­nor, by his warrants, might draw it at his pleasure. To this cause we must assign it, that in an address to his lord­ship, on the 19th of June, 1703, they "desire and insist, that some proper and sufficient person might be commis­sioned treasurer, for the receiving and paying such monies now intended to be raised for the public use, as a means to obstruct misapplications for the future." Another address was sent home to the queen, complaining of the ill state of the revenue, through the frauds which had formerly been committed, the better to facilitate the important de­sign of having a treasurer dependent on the assembly. The success of these measures will appear in the sequel.

Tho' our frontiers enjoyed the profoundest tranquillity all the next winter, and we had expended thirteen hundred pounds, in supporting one hundred fuzileers about Albany, besides the four independent companies in the pay of the crown, yet his excellency demanded provisions for one hun­dred and fifty men, at the next meeting of the assembly, in April, 1704. The house having reason to suspect, that the several sums of eighteen and thirteen hundred pounds, lately raised for the public service, had been prodigally expend­ed or embezzled, prudently declined any farther aids, till they were satisfied that no misapplication had been made. For this purpose they appointed a committee, who reported. [Page 124]that there was a balance of near a thousand pounds due [...] the colony. His lordship, who had hitherto been treated with great complaisance, took offence at this parsimonious scrutiny, and ordered the assembly to attend him; when af­ter the example of Fletcher, whom, abating that man's su­perior activity, his lordship mostly resembled, he made an angry speech, in which he charges them with innovations never attempted by their predecessors, and hopes they would not force him to exert "certain powers" vested in him by the queen. But what he more particularly took notice of, was their insisting in several late bills, upon the title of "general assembly," and a saving of the "rights of the house," in a resolve agreeing to an amendment for prevent­ing delay; with respect to which, his lordship has these words: "I know of no right that you have as an assembly, but such as the queen is pleased to allow you." As to the vote, by which they found a balance due to the colony, of nine hundred and thirteen pounds, fifteen shillings, "it is true (says his lordship) the queen is pleased to command me in her instructions, to permit the assembly, from time to time, to view and examine the accounts of money, or va­lue of money, disposed by virtue of the laws made by them: but you can in no wise meddle with that money; but if you find any misapplication of any of that money, you ought to acquaint me with it, that I may take care to see those mistakes rectified, which I shall certainly do."

The house bore these rebukes with the utmost passiveness, contenting themselves with little else than a general com­plaint of the deficiency of the revenue, which became the subject of their particular consideration in the fall. The governor, on the one hand, then proposed an additional duty of ten per cent. on certain goods, not immediately im­ported from Europe, to which the assembly, on the other, were utterly averse, and as soon as they resolved against it, the very printer, clerk, and door-keeper, were denied the payment of their salaries. Several other demands being made for the public debts, the house resolved to address his lordship for an exact account of the revenue, which, to­gether with their refusal, to admit the council's amendment to a money bill, gave him such high provocation, that he was induced to dissolve an assembly, whose prodigal liber­ality had justly exposed them to the resentment of the peo­ple. The new assembly, which met on the 14th of June, 1705, neglected the affair of the revenue and the additional duty, though his lordship strongly recommended them both. Among the principal acts passed at this meeting, is that for [Page 125]the benefit of the clergy, who were entitled to the salaries formerly established by colonel Fletcher; which, though less than his lordship recommended, was doubtless a grateful offering to his unceasing zeal for the church, manifested in a part of his speech at the opening of the session, in these words: "The difficulties, which some very worthy minis­ters of the church of England have met with, in getting the maintenance settled upon them, by an act of the general assembly of this province, passed in the year 1693, moves me to propose to you the passing an act explanatory of the forementioned act, that those worthy good men who have ventured to come so far for the service of God in his church, and the good and edification of the people, to the salvation of their souls, may not for the future be vexed, as some of them have been; but may enjoy in quiet, that maintenance, which was by a law provided for them^*. I farther re­commend to you, the passing an act to provide for the main­tenance of some ministers, in some of the towns at the east end of Long-Island, where I don't find any provision has been yet made for propagating religion."

Our harbour being wholly unfortified, a French priva­teer actually entered it in 1705, and put the inhabitants into great consternation. The assembly, at their session in June, the next year, were not disinclined, through the im­portunity of the people, to put the city in a better posture of defence for the future; but being fully convinced, by his lordship's embezzlement of 1500l. formerly raised for two batteries at the narrows, and near 1000l. levied for the protection of the frontiers, that he was no more to be trust­ed with public monies, offered a bill for raising 3000l. for fortifications, appointing that sum to be deposited in the hands of a private person of their own nomination; but his excellency did not pass it till their next meeting in the fall, when he informed them that he had received the queen's commands, "to permit the general assembly to name their own treasurer, when they raised extraordinary supplies for particular uses, and which are no part of the standing and constant revenue; the treasurer being accountable to the three branches of the legislature, and the governor always acquainted with the occasion of issuing such warrants".

[Page 126] His lordship's renewing the proposal of raising fortifi­cations at the Narrows, which he had himself hitherto scan­dalously prevented, is a proof of his excessive effrontery and contempt of the people: and the neglect of the house, to take the least notice, either of that matter, or the revenue, occasioned another dissolution.

Before I proceed to the transactions of the new assembly, which did not meet till the year 1708, it will not be im­proper to lay before the reader, the account of a memor­able proof of that persecuting spirit, which influenced lord Cornbury's whole administration.

The inhabitants of the city of New-York consisted, at this time, of Dutch Calvinists, upon the plan of the church of Holland; French refugees on the Geneva model; a few English episcopalians; and a still smaller number of Eng­lish and Irish presbyterians; who, having neither a minister nor a church, used to assemble themselves, every Sunday, at a private house, for the worship of God. Such were their circumstances, when Francis M'Kemie and John Hampton, two presbyterian ministers, arrived here in January, 1707. As soon as lord Cornbury, who hated the whole persuasion, heard that the Dutch had consented to M'Kemie's preach­ing in their church, he arbitrarily forbid it; so that the public worship, on the next sabbath, was performed, with open doors, at a private house. Mr. Hampton preached, the same day, at the presbyterian church in New-Town, distant a few miles from the city. At that village both these ministers were two or three days after apprehended, by Cardwel, the sheriff, pursuant to his lordship's warrant, for preaching without his licence. From hence they were led in triumph a circuit of several miles through Jamaica to New-York. They appeared before his lordship with an un­daunted courage, and had a conference with him, in which it is difficult to determine, whether my lord excelled in the character of a savage bigot, or an ill-mannerly tyrant. The ministers were no lawyers, or they would not have founded their justification on the supposed extent of the English act of toleration. They knew not that the ecclesi­astical statutes had no relation to this colony; and that its religious state consisted in a perfect parity between protes­tants of all denominations. They erroneously supposed, that all the penal laws extended to this province, and relied, for their defence, on the toleration, offering testimonials of their having complied with the act of parliament in Virgi­nia and Maryland, and promised to certify the house, in which M'Kemie had preached, to the next sessions. His lord­ship's [Page 127]discourse with them was the more ridiculous, because he had Bickley, the attorney-general, to assist him. Against the extension of the statute, they insisted, that the penal laws were limited to England, and so also the toleration act, because the sole intent of it was to take away the penalties formerly established. But grant the position, and the con­sequence they drew from it, argues that my lord and mr. at­torney were either very weak, or influenced by evil designs. If the penal laws did not extend to the plantations, then the prisoners were innocent; for where there is no law, there can be no transgression; but according to these in­comparable sages, if the penal laws and the toleration were restricted to the realm of England, as they contended, then the poor clergymen, for preaching without his licence, were guilty of a heinous crime, against his private, unpub­lished instructions; and for this cause he issued an informal precept to the sheriff of New-York, for their commitment to jail, till further orders. They continued in consinement, through the absence of Mompesson, the chief justice, who was in New-Jersey, six weeks and four days; but were then brought before him, by writ of habeas corpus. Mom­pesson being a man of learning in his profession, and his lordship now apprised of the illegality of his first warrant, issued another, on the very day of the test of the writ, in which he virtually contradicts what he had before insisted on, at his conference with the prisoners. For according to this, they were imprisoned for preaching without being qualified as the toleration act required, though they had of­fered themselves to the sessions during their imprisonment. They were then bailed to the next supreme court, which began a few days after. Great pains were taken to secure a grand jury for the purpose, and among those who found the indictment, to their shame be it remembered, were several Dutch and French protestants.

Mr. M'Kemie returned to New-York, from Virginia, in June; and was now come to his trial on the indictment found at the last court: As to mr. Hampton, he was discharg­ed, no evidence being offered to the grand jury against him.

Bickley, the attorney general, managed the prosecution in the name of the queen; Reignere, Nicoll, and Jamison appeared for the defendant. The trial was held on the 6th of June, and being a cause of great expectation, a nu­merous audience attended. Roger Mompesson sat on the bench as chief justice, with Robert Milward and Thomas Wenham, for his assistants. The indictment was, in sub­stance, that Francis M'Kemie, pretending himself to be a [Page 128]protestant dissenting minister, contemning and endeavour­ing to subvert the queen's ecclesiastical supremacy, unlaw­fully preached without the governor's licence first ob­tained, in derogation of the royal authority and preroga­tive: that he used other rites and ceremonies, than those con­tained in the common-prayer book. And lastly, that being unqualified by law to preach, he nevertheless did preach at an illegal conventicle: and both these last charges were laid to be contrary to the form of the English statutes. For it seems that mr. attorney was now of opinion, that the penal laws did extend to the American plantations, though his sentiments were the very reverse at the first debate be­fore his excellency: but Bickley was rather remarkable for a voluble tongue, than a penetrating head, or much learning. To support this prosecution, he endeavoured to prove the queen's ecclesiastical supremacy in the colonies, and that it was delegated to her noble cousin, the governor; and hence he was of opinion, that his lordship's instructi­ons relating to church matters, had the force of a law. He, in the next place, contended for the extension of the sta­tutes of uniformity, and, upon the whole, was pleased to say, that he did not doubt the jury would find a verdict for the queen. Reignere, for the defendant, insisted, that preaching was no crime by the common law; that the sta­tutes of uniformity, and the act of toleration did not ex­tend here; and that the governor's instructions were not laws. Nicoll spoke to the same purpose, and so did David Jamison, but M'Kemie concluded the whole defence in a speech, which sets his capacity in a very advantageous light. The reader may see it in the narrative of this trial, which was first published at the time, and since reprinted at New-York in the year 1755. The chief justice, in his charge, ad­vised a special verdict, but the jury found no difficulty to acquit the defendant, who, through the shameful parti­ality of the court, was not discharged from his recogni­zance, till they had illegally extorted all the fees of his prosecution, which, together with his expenses, amounted to eighty-three pounds seven shillings and six pence.

Lord Cornbury was now daily losing the favour of the people. The friends of Leisler had him in the utmost abhor­rence from the beginning; and being all spies upon his conduct, it was impossible for his lordship to commit the smallest crime unnoticed. His persecution of the presby­terians very early increased the number of his enemies. The Dutch, too, were fearful of his religious rage against them, as he disputed their right to call and settle ministers, [Page 129]or even schoolmasters, without his special licence. His ex­cessive avarice, his embezzlement of the public money, and his sordid refusal to pay his private debts, bore so heavily upon his reputation, that it was impossible for his adherents, either to support him, or themselves, against the general opposition. Such being the temper of the people, his lord­ship did not succeed according to his wishes in the new as­sembly, which met on the 19th of August, 1708. The mem­bers were all against him, and William Nicoll was again chosen speaker.

Among the several things recommended to their consider­ation, the affair of the revenue, which was to expire in May following, and the propriety of making presents to the In­dians, were the chief. The house were not insensible of the importance of the Indian interest, and of the infinite arts of the French to seduce them from our alliance: but suspi­cious that his lordship, who heretofore had given himself little concern about that matter, was seeking a fresh oppor­tunity to defraud the public, they desired him to give them a list of the articles of which the presents were to consist, together with an estimate of the charge, before they would provide for that donation.

With respect to the revenue, his lordship was not so suc­cessful, for the assembly resolutely refused to continue it; tho' they consented to an act to discharge him from a con­tract of 250l. and upwards, which he had made with one Hanson for the public service. Thomas Byerly was at that time, collector and receiver-general; and by pretending that the treasury was exhausted, the debts of the govern­ment were unpaid. This gave rise to many petitions to the assembly to make provision for their discharge. Colonel Schuyler, who had expended large sums on the public cre­dit, was among the principal sufferers, and joined with se­veral others in an application to the house, that Byerly might be compelled to account. The disputes, relating to this mat­ter, took up a considerable part of the session, and were litigated with great heat. Upon the whole, an act was passed for refunding 700l. which had been misapplied.

The resolutions of the committee of grievances, approved by the house, show the general objections of the people to his lordship's administration. These were made at the be­ginning of the session; and yet we find this haughty lord subdued by the opposition against him, and so dispirited thro' indigence, and the incessant solicitations of his credi­tors, that he not only omitted to justify himself, but to show even an impotent resentment. For after all the censures of [Page 130]the house, he tamely thanked them, for passing the bill to discharge him from a small debt, which they could not, in justice, have refused. The resolutions were in these words:

"Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that the appointing coroners in this colony, without their being chosen by the people, is a grievance, and contrary to law^*.

"Resolved, That it is, and always has been, the un­questionable right of every freeman in this colony, that he hath a perfect and entire property in his goods and es­tate.

"Resolved, That the imposing and levying of any mo­nies upon her majesty's subjects of this colony, under any pretence or colour whatsoever, without consent in general assembly, is a grievance, and a violation of the people's pro­perty.

"Resolved, That for any officer whatsoever, to extort from the people, extravagant and unlimited fees, or any money whatsoever, not positively established and regulated by consent in general assembly, is unreasonable and unlaw­ful, a great grievance, and tending to the utter destruction of all property in this plantation.

"Resolved, That the erecting a court of equity, with­out consent in general assembly, is contrary to law, without precedent, and of dangerous consequence to the liberty and property of the subjects.

"Resolved, That the raising of money for the govern­ment, or other necessary charge, by any tax, impost, or bur­den on goods imported, or exported,—or any clog, or hindrance, on traffic or commerce,—is sound by experience to be the expulsion of many, and the impoverishing of the rest of the planters, freeholders, and inhabitants of this co­lony; of most pernicious consequence, which, if continued, will unavoidably prove the ruin of the colony.

"Resolved, That the excessive sums of money screwed from masters of vessels trading here under the notion of port-charges, visiting the said vessels by supernumerary of­ficers, and taking extraordinary fees, is the great discourage­ment of trade and strangers coming among us, beyond the precedent of any other port, and without colour of law.

[Page 131] "Resolved, That the compelling any man upon trial by a jury, or otherwise, to pay any fees for his prosecution, or any thing whatsoever, unless the fees of the officers whom he employs for his necessary defence, is a great grievance, and contrary to justice.^*."

Lord Corubury was no less obnoxions to the people of New-Jersey, than to those of New-York. The assembly of that province, impatient of his tyranny, drew up a com­plaint against him, which they sent home to the queen.

Her majesty graciously listened to the cries of her injured subjects; divested him of his power, and appointed lord Lovelace in his stead; declaring that she would not coun­tenance her nearest relations in oppressing her people.

As soon as my lord was superseded, his creditors threw him into the custody of the sheriff of New-York; and he re­mained here till the death of his father, when succeeding to the earldom of Clarendon, he returned to England.

We never had a governor so universally detested, nor any who so richly deserved the public abhorrence. In spite of his noble descent, his behaviour was trifling, mean, and extra­vagant.

It was not uncommon for him to dress himself in a wo­man's habit, and then to patrole the fort in which he resided. Such freaks of low humour exposed him to the universal contempt of the people; but their indignation was kindled by his despotic rule, savage bigotry, insatiable avarice, and injustice, not only to the public, but even his private credi­tors. For he left some of the lowest tradesmen in his em­ployment unsatisfied in their just demands.

John lord Lovelace, baron of Hurley, was appointed to this government, in the spring, 1708, but did not arrive here till the 18th of December following. Lord Cornbury's oppressive, mean administration had long made the people very desirous of a change; and therefore his successor was re­ceived with universal joy. Having dissolved the general as­sembly, soon after his accession to the government, he con­vened a new one on the 5th of April, 1709, which, consist­ing of members of the same interest with the last, re-elected William Nicoll, the former speaker, into the chair. His lord­ship told them, at the beginning of the session. "That he had brought with him large supplies of soldiers and stores of [Page 132]war as well as presents for the Indians," than which nothing could be more agreeable to the people. He lamented the great­ness of the provincial debts, and the decay of public credit; but still recommended their raising a revenue, for the same term with that established by the act in the 11th year of the last reign. He also pressed the discharge of the debts of the government, and their examination of the public accounts, "that it may be known (says he) what this debt is, and that it may appear hereafter to all the world that it was not con­tracted in my time." This oblique reflexion upon his pre­decessor, who was now ignominiously imprisoned by his creditors, was displeasing to no body.

Tho' the assembly, in their answer, heartily congratu­lated his lordship's arrival, and thanked the queen for her care of the province, yet they sufficiently intimated their disinclination to raise the revenue, which the governor had requested. "Our earnest wishes (to use the words of the address) are, that suitable measures may be taken, to en­courage the few inhabitants left, to stay in it, and others to come. The just freedom enjoyed by our neighbours, by the tender indulgence of the government, has extremely drain­ed and exhausted us both of people and stock; whilst a dif­ferent treatment, the wrong methods too long taken, and severities practised here, have averted and deterred the usual part of mankind from settling and coming hitherto." Towards the close, they assure him, "That as the begin­ning of his government gave them a delightful prospect of tranquillity, so they were come with minds prepared to con­sult the good of the country and his satisfaction."

The principal matter, which engaged the attention of the assembly, was the affair of the revenue. Lord Cornbury's conduct had rendered them utterly averse to a permanent support for the future; and yet they were unwilling to quarrel with the new governor. They however, at last, a­greed on the 5th of May, to raise 2500l. to defray the charges of the government to the 1st of May ensuing; 1600l. of which was voted to his excellency, and the remaining sums towards a supply of firewood and candles to the several forts in New-York, Albany, and Schenectady; and for pay­ment of small salaries to the printer, clerk of the council, and Indian interpreter.

This new project of providing, annually, for the support of government, was contrived to prevent the mischiefs, to which the long revenues had formerly exposed us. But as it rendered the governor, and all the other servants of the crown dependent upon the assembly, a rupture, between [Page 133]the several branches of the legislature, would doubtless have ensued: but the very day, in which the vote passed the house, his lordship died of a disorder contracted in crossing the ferry at his first arrival in the city of New-York. His lady continued here, long after his death, soliciting for the sum voted to her husband; but though the queen interposed, by a letter, in her behalf, nothing was allowed till several years afterwards.

LORD Lovelace being dead, the chief command devolv­ed upon Richard Ingolsby, the lieutenant-governor, the same who had exercised the government several years before, upon the decease of colonel Sloughter. His short ad­ministration is remarkable, not for his extraordinary talents, for he was a heavy man, but for a second fruitless attempt against Canada. Colonel Vetch, who had been, several years before, at Quebec, and sounded the river of St. Lawrence, was the first projector of this enterprise. The ministry ap­proved of it, and Vetch arrived in Boston, and prevailed upon the New-England colonies to join in the scheme. After that, he came to New-York, and concerted the plan of o­perations with Francis Nicholson, formerly our lieutenant-governor, who, at the request of Ingolsby, the council, the assembly, Gurdon Saitonstal, the governor of Connecticut, and Charles Gookin, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, accepted the chief command of the provincial forces, in­tended to penetrate into Canada, by the way of lake Cham­plain. Impoverished as we were, the assembly joined heartily in the enterprise. It was at this juncture, our first act for issuing bills of credit was passed; an expedient without which we could not have contributed to the expedition, the trea­sury [Page 136]being then totally exhausted. Universal joy now bright­ened every man's countenance, because all expected the complete reduction of [...]anada before the ensuing fail. Big with the pleasing p [...]ospect of an event, which would put a period to all the ravages o [...] an encroaching, merciless enemy, extend the British empire, and augment our trade, we exerted ourselves to the utmost▪ for the success of the expedition. As soon as the design was made known to the house, twenty ship and house carpenters were impressed into the service for building batteans. Commissioners also were appointed to purchase provisions and other necessa­ries, and empowered to break open houses for that purpose, and to impress men, vessels, horses, and waggons, for trans­porting the stores. Four hundred and eighty seven men, besides the independent companies, were raised and dis­patched to Albany, by the 27th of June; from whence they advanced, with the main body, to the Wood Creek. Three forts were built there, besides many block-houses and stores for the provisions, which were transported with great dis­patch. The province of New-York (all things considered) has the merit of having contributed more than any of [...] neighbours towards this expedition. Pennsylvania ga [...] no kind of aid; and New-Jersey was only at the expense of 3000l. One hundred batteans, as many birch canoes, and two of the forts, were built entirely, and the other fort, for the most part, at the charge of this government. All the provisions and stores for the army, were transported at our expense; and besides our quota of volunteers and the in­dependent companies, we procured and maintained six hundred Indians, and victualled a thousand of their wives and children at Albany, during the campaign.

Having thus put ourselves to the expense of above twenty thousand pounds towards this enterprise, the delay of the arrival of the flee [...] spread a general discontent through the country; and ea [...]ly in the fall, the assembly addressed the lieutenant-governor, to recall our forces from the camp. Vetch and Nicholson soon after broke up the campaign, and retired to New-Port in Rhode-Island, where there was a congress of governors. Ingolsby, who was invited to it, did not appear, in compliance with the inclination of the assembly, who, incensed at the public disappointment, har­boured great jealousies of all the first promoters of the de­sign. As soon, therefore, as lord Sunde land's letters, which arrived here on the 21st of October, were laid before the house, they resolved to send an address to the queen, to lay before he a true account of the manner, in which this pro­vince exerted itself in the late undertaking.

[Page 137] Had this expedition been vigorously carried on, doubt­less it would have succeeded. The public affairs at home were conducted by a wise ministry. The allied army tri­umphed in repeated successes in Flanders; and the court of France was in no condition to give assistance to so distant a colony as Canada. The Indians of the five nations were engaged, through the indefatigable solicitations of colonel Schuyler, to join heartily in the attempt: and the eastern colonies had nothing to fear from the Ouwenagungas; be­cause those Indians had, a little before, concluded a peace with the confederates. In America, every thing was ripe for the attack. At home, lord Sunderland, the secretary of state, had proceeded so far, as to dispatch orders to the queen's ships at Boston, to hold themselves in readiness, and the British troops were upon the point of their embark­a [...]ion. At this juncture, the news arrived of the descat of the Portuguese, which reducing our allies to great streights, the forces intended for the American adventure were then ordered to their assistance, and the thoughts of the ministry entirely diverted from the Canada expedition.

As we had not a man in this province, who had more extended views of the importance of driving the French out of Canada, than colonel Schuyler, so neither did any per­son more heartily engage in the late expedition. To pre­serve the friendship of the five nations, without which it would be impossible to prevent our frontiers from becom­ing a field of blood, he studied all the arts of insinuating himself into their favour. He gave them all possible encour­agement and assistance, and very much impaired his own fortune, by his liberality to their chiefs. They never came to Albany, but they resorted to his house, and even dined at his table; and by this means, he obtained an ascendency over them, which was attended with very good consequen­ces to the province; for he could always, in a great degree, obviate or e [...]dicate the prejudices and jealousies, by which the French jesuits were incessantly labouring to debauch their fidelity.

Impressed with a strong sense of the necessity of some vi­gorous measures against the French, colonel Schuyler was extremely discontented at the late disappointment; and re­solved to make a voyage to England at his private expense, the better to inculcate on the ministry, the absolute neces­sity of reducing Canada to the crown of Great-Britain. For that purpose, he proposed to carry home with him five Indian chiefs. The house no sooner heard of his design, than they came to a resolution, which, in justice to [Page 138]his distinguished merit, I ought not to suppress. It was this:

"Resolved, nemine contradicento, that the humble ad­dress of the lieutenat-governor, council, and general assem­bly of this colony to the queen, representing the present state of this plantation, be committed to his charge and care, to be presented by himself to her sacred majesty; he being a person, who, not only in the last war, when he commanded the forces of this colony in chief at Canada, but also in the present, has performed faithful services, to this and the neighbouring colonies; and behaved himself in the offices, with which he has been entrusted, with good reputation, and the general satisfaction of the people in these parts."

The arrival of the five sachems in England, made a great bruit through the whole kingdom. The mob followed wherever they went, and small cuts of them were sold among the people. The court was at that time in mourning for the death of the prince of Denmark: these American kings^* were therefore dressed in black underclothes, after the English manner; but instead of a blanket, they had each a scarlet-in-grain cloth mantle, edged with gold, thrown over all their other garments. This dress was direct­ed by the dressers of the playhouse, and given by the queen, who was advised to make a show of them. A more than or­dinary solemnity attended the audience they had of her majesty. Sir Charles Cotterel conducted them, in two coaches, to St. James's; and the lord chamberlain introduced them into the royal presence. Their speech, on the 19th of April, 1710, is preserved by Oldmixon, and was in these words:

While colonel Schuyler was at the British court, captain Ingolsby was displaced, and Gerardus Beekman exercised the powers of government, from the 10th of April, 1710, till the arrival of brigadier Hunter, on the 14th of June following. The council then present were,

• Mr. Beekman,
• Mr. Van Dam,
• Colonel Renslaer,
• Mr. Mompesson,
• Mr. Barbarie,
• Mr. Philipse.

Hunter was a native of Scotland, and, when a boy, put apprentice to an apothecary. He left his master, and went into the army; and being a man of wit and personal beau­ty, recommended himself to lady Hay, whom he after­wards married. In the year 1707, he was appointed lieu­tenant-governor of Virginia, but being taken by the French in his voyage to that colony, he was carried into France, and upon his return to England, appointed to succeed lord Lovelace in the government of this and the province of New-Jersey. Dean Swift's letter to him, during his captivity, shows that he had the honour of an intimacy with mr. Addi­son and others, who were distinguished for their good sense and learning; and perhaps it was by their interest, he was advanced to this profitable place.

Governor Hunter brought over with him near three thou­sand palatines, who, the year before, fled to England from the rage of persecution in Germany. Many of these people seated themselves in the city of New-York, where they built a Lutheran church, which is now in a declining condition. [Page 140]Others settled on a tract of several thousand acres, in the manor of Livingston. Their village there, called the camp, is one of the pleasantest situations on Hudson's river: right opposite, on the west bank, are many other families of them. Some went into Pennsylvania, and by the favourable ac­counts of the country, which they transmitted to Ger­many, were instrumental to the transmigration of many thousands of their countrymen into that province. Queen Anne's liberality to these people, was not more beneficial to them, than serviceable to this colony. They have behav­ed themselves peaceably, and lived with great industry. Many are rich. all are protestants, and well affected to the government. The same must be said of those who have lately settled amongst us, and planted the lands westward of Al­bany. We have not the least ground for jealousy with res­pect to them. Amongst us they are few in number, com­pared to those in Pennsylvania. There they are too numer­ous, to be soon assimilated to a new constitution. They re­tain all the manners and principles which prevail in their native country, and, as many of them are papists, some are not without their fears, that, sooner or later, they will be­come dangerous to our colonies.^*

The late attempt to attack Canada proving abortive, ex­posed us to consequences equally calamitous, dreaded, and foreseen. While the preparations were making to invade it, the French exerted themselves in cajoling their Indian al­lies to assist in the repulse, and as soon as the scheme drop­ped, numerous parties were sent out to ha [...]rass the English frontiers. These irruptions were, principally, made on the northern parts of New-England, where the most savage cruel­ties were daily committed. New-York had, indeed, hither­to escaped, being covered by the Indians of the five nations; but the danger we were in, induced governor Hunter, soon after his arrival, to make a voyage to Albany, where he met [Page 141]the confederate chiefs, and renewed the old covenant. While there, he was strongly solicited, by the New-England governments, to engage our Indians in a war with those who were daily ravaging their borders: but he prudently declined a measure, which might have exposed his own province to a general deva [...]cation. A treaty of neutrality sub­sisted, at that time, between the confederates and the Canada French and their Indians; which, depending upon the faith of lawless savages, was, at best, but precarious, and yet the only security we had for the peare of our borders. A rup­ture between them would have involved us in a scene of mi­sery, at a time, of all others, most unseasonable. However the people of New-England might censure the governor, it was a proof of wisdom to refuse their request. For besides a want of men and arms to desend us, our forts were fallen down, and the treasury exhausted.

The new assembly met, at New-York, ou the 1st of Sep­tember. Mr. Nicoll, the speaker, mr. Livingston, mr. de Lancey, and colonel Morris, were the members most dis­tinguished for their activity in the house. Mr. de Lancey was a protestant refugee, a native of Caen in Normandy; and by marrying a daughter of mr. Courtlandt, connected with a family, then, perhaps, the most opulent and exten­sive of any in the province. He was an eminent merchant, and, by a successful trade, had amassed a very considerable fortune. But of all these colonel Morris had the greatest in­fluence on our public affairs. He was a man of letters, and though a little whimsical in his temper, was grave in his manners, and of penetrating parts. Being excessively fond of the society of men of sense and reading, he was never wearied at a sitting, till the spirits of the whole company were dissipated. From his infancy, he had lived in a man­ner best adapted to teach him the nature of man, and to fortify his mind for the vicissitudes of life. He very early lost both his father and mother, and fell under the patron­age of his uncle, formerly an officer, of very considerable rank in Cromwell's army; who, after the restoration, dis­guised himself under the profession of quakerism, and set­tled on a fine farm, within a few miles of the city, called, after his own name, Morrisania. Being a boy of strong pas­sions, (the general indications of a fruitful genius,) he gave frequent offence to his uncle, and, on one of these occasi­ons, through fear of his resentment, strolled away into Vir­ginia, and thence to Jamaica in the West-Indies, where, to support himself, he set up for a scrivener. After several years spent in this vagabond life, he returned again to bi [Page 142]uncle, who received the young prodigal with joy; and, to reduce him to regularity, brought about his marriage with a daughter of mr. Graham, a fine lady, with whom he lived above fifty years, in the possession of every enjoyment, which good sense and polite manners in a woman could af­for [...]. The greatest part of his life, before the arrival of mr. Hunter, was spent in New-Jersey^*, where he signalized himself in the service both of the proprietors and the assem­bly. The latter employed him to draw up their complaint against my lord Cornbury, and he was made the bearer of it to the queen. Though he was indolent in the management of his private affairs, yet, through the love of power, he [...] always busy in matters of a political nature, and no man in the colony equalled him in the knowledge of the law and the arts of intrigue. From this character, the reader will easily perceive, that governor Hunter showed his prudence, in taking mr. Morris into his confidence, his talents and ad­vantages rendering him either a useful friend or formidable foe. Such were the acting members of this assembly. When brigadier Hunter spoke to them, he recommended the set­tling a revenue, the defence of the frontiers, and the resto­ration of the public credit, which lord Cornbury had almost entirely destroyed. To stifle the remaining sparks of our ancient feuds, he concluded with these words: "If any go about to disturb your peace, by reviving buried parties or piques, or creating new ones, they shall meet with no countenance or encouragement from me; and I am sure they deserve as little from you." The address of the house was perfectly agreeable to the governor. They promised to provide for the support of government, and to restore the public credit, as well as to protect the frontiers. In answer to the close of his speech, they declare their hope, "That such as excited party contentions, might meet with as little credit, and as much disgrace, as they deserve." This una­nimity, however, was soon interrupted. Colonel Morris, for some warm words dropped in a debate, was expelled the house; and soon after a dispute arose, between the council and assembly, concerning some amendments, made by the former, to a bill "for the treasurer's paying sundry [Page 143]sums of money." The design of it, in mentioning the par­ticular sums, and rendering them issuable by their own of­ficer, was to restrain the governor from repeating the mis­applications which had been so frequent in a late adminis­tration. The council, for that reason, opposed it, and ad­hered to their amendments; which occasioned a prorogati­on, on the 25th of November, after the passing of several other necessity laws.

Mr. Hunter cautiously avoided entering, publicly, into the dispute between the two houses, till he knew the sen­timents of the ministry, and then he opened the spring ses­sions with a speech too singular not to he inserted.

Perplexed with this remarkable speech, the assembly, af­ter a few days, concluded, that as his excellency had pro­rogued them in February, while he was at Burlington, in the province of New-Jersey, they could not sit and act as a house; upon which, they were the same day dissolved.

The five Indian kings, carried to England by colonel Schuyler, having seen all the curiosities in London, and been much entertained by many persons of distinction, re­turned to Boston, with commodore Martin and colonel Nicholson; the latter of whom commanded the forces de­signed against Port-Royal and the coast of Nova-Scotia. In this enterprise the New-England colonies, agreeable to their wonted courage and loyalty, lent their assistance; and the reduction of the garrison, which was then called Annapo­ [...]is-Royal, was happily completed on the 2d of October, 1710. Animated by this, and some other successes in New-foundland, Nicholson again urged the prosecution of the scheme for the reduction of Canada; which, having been strongly recommended by the Indian chiefs, as the only ef­fectual means to secure the northern colonies, was now again resumed.

Towards the execution of this project, five thousand troops from England and Flanders, were sent over under the command of brigadier Hill, the brother of mrs. Masham, the queen's new confidant, on the disgrace of the duchess of [Page 145]Marlborough. The fleet of transports, under the convoy of sir Hoveden Walker, arrived, after a month's passage, at Boston, on the 4th of June, 1711. The provisions, with which they expected to be supplied there, being not provid­ed, the troops landed. Nicholson, who was to command the land forces, came immediately to New-York, where in [...]. Hunter convened the assembly, on the 2d of July. The re­election of the same members, who had served in the last, was a sufficient proof of the general aversion to the establish­ment of a revenue. Robert Livingston, junior, who married the only daughter of colonel Schuyler, came in for Albauy; and, together with mr. Morris, who was again chosen for the borough of West-Chester, joined the governor's interest. Brigadier Hunter informed the assembly of the intended expedition, and the arrival of the fleet and forces; that the quota of this province, settled by the council of war, at New-London, was 600 private centinels and their officers: besides which, he recommended their making provision for building batteaus, transporting the troops and provisions, subsisting the Indians, and for the contingent charges: nor did he forget to mention the support of government and the public debts.

The house was so well pleased with the design upon Ca­nada, that they voted an address of thanks to the queen, and sent a committee to Nicholson, to congratulate his ar­rival, and make an honourable acknowledgment of his "se­dulous application to her majesty for reducing Canada." In a few days time, an act was passed for raising forces; and the assembly, by a resolution, according to the governor's advice, restricted the price of provisions to certain particu­lar sums. Bills of credit, for forwarding the expedition, were now also struck, to the amount of 10,000d. to be sunk in five years, by a tax on estates real and personal. After these supplies were granted, the governor prorogued the assembly; though nothing was done relating to the ordi­nary support of government.

While these preparations were making at New-York, the fleet, consisting of twelve men of war, forty transports, and six store-ships, with forty horses, a fine train of artillery and all manner of warlike stores, sailed for Canada, from Bos­ton, on the 30th of July; and, about a month afterwards, Nicholson appeared at Albany, at the head of an army of four thousand men, raised in this and the colonies of New-Jersey and Connecticut: the several regiments being com­manded by colonel Ingolsby, colonel Whiting, and colonel [Page 146]Schuyler, the latter of whom procured 600 of the five na­tions to join our army.

The French, in Canada, were not unapprised of these designs. Vandreuil, the governor general, sent his orders, from Montreal, to the sieur de Beaucourt, to hasten the works he was about at Quebee, and commanded that all the regulars and militia should be held in readiness to march on the first warning. Four or five hundred Indians, of the more distant nations, arrived at the same time at Montreal, with messieurs St. Pierre and Tonti, who, together with the Caghnuaga proselytes, took up the hatchet in favour of the French. Vaudreuil after dispatching several Indians and two missionaries among the five nations, to detach them from our interest, went to Quebec, which Beaucourt, the engineer, had sufficiently fortified to sustain a long siege. All the prin­cipal posts below the city, on both sides of the river, were prepared to receive the British troops in case of their land­ing. On the 14th of August, sir Hoveden Walker arrived with the fleet in the mouth of St. Lawrence river; and fear­ing to lose the company of the transports, the wind blow­ing fresh at north-west, he put into Gaspy bay, and con­tinued there till the 20th of the same month. Two days af­ter he sailed from thence, the fleet was in the utmost dan­ger, for they had no soundings, were without sight of land, the wind high at east-south-east, and the sky darkened by a thick fog. In these circumstances, the fleet brought to, by the advice of the pilots, who were of opinion, that if the shipe lay with their heads to the southward, they might be driven by the stream into the midst of the channel: but instead of that, in two hours after, they found themselves on the north shore, among rocks and islands, and upon the point of being lost. The men of war escaped, but eight transports, containing eight hundred souls, officers, sol­diers, and seamen, were cast away. Two or three days being spent, in recovering what they could from the shore, it was determined, at a consultation of sea officers, to return to some bay or harbour, till a further resolution could be taken. On the 14th of September, they arrived at Spanish-River bay, where a council of war, consisting of land and sea of­ficers, considering that they had but ten weeks provision, and judging that they could not depend upon a supply from New-England, unanimously concluded to return home, without making any farther attempts; and they according­ly arrived at Portsmouth on the 9th of October, when, in addition to our misfortunes, the Edgar, a 70 gun ship, was [Page 147]blown up, having on board above four hundred men, be­sides many persons who came to visit their friends.

As soon as the marquis de Vaudreuil, by the accounts of the fishermen and two other ships, had reason to suspect that our fleet was returned, he went to Chambly, and formed a camp of three thousand men to oppose Nicholson's army, intended to penetrate Canada, at that end. But he was soon informed that our troops were returned, upon the news of the disaster which had befallen the fleet, and that the peo­ple of Albany were in the utmost consternation.

The new ministry are generally censured for their con­duct in this expedition by the whigs, who condemn both the project and the measures taken towards its execution. The scheme was never laid before the parliament, though it was then sitting; but this, it is said, was for the greater secrecy, and for the same reason, the fleet was not fully victualled at home. They relied upon New-England for sup­plies, and this destroyed the design. For the ships tarried at Boston, till the season for the attack was over.

According to lord Harley's account of this expedition, the whole was a contrivance of Bolingbroke, Moore, and the lord chancellor Harcourt, to cheat the public of twenty thousand pounds. The latter of these was pleased to say, "No government was worth serving, that would not admit of such advantageous jobs."

Apprehensive that the enemy would fall upon our bor­ders, as they afterwards really did, in small parties, upon the miscarriage of [...]at enterprise; governor Hunter pressed the assembly, in autumn, to continue a number of men in pay the ensuing winter, and to repair the out-forts. After the house had passed several votes to this purpose, his ex­cellency, during the session, went up to Albany, to withdraw the forces of the colony, and give orders for the necessary repairs.

The public debts, by this unfortunate expedition, were become greatly enhanced, and the assembly, at last, enter­ed upon measures for the support of the government, and sent up to the council several bills for that purpose. The latter attempted to make amendments, which the other would not admit, and a warm controversy arose between those two branches of the legislature. The council assigned instances, that amendments had formerly been allowed: and, besides this argument, drawn from precedent, insisted that they were a part of the legislature, constituted as the assembly were, "by the mere grace of the crown;" adding that the lords of made had determined the matter in their [Page 148]f [...]o [...]. The house nevertheless, adhered to their resolutions, and answered in these words:

"'Tis true, the share the council have (if any) in the le­gislation, does not flow from any title they have from the nature of that board, which is only to advise; or from their being another distinct state, or rank of people in the consti­tution, which they are not, being all commons; but only from the mere pleasure of the prince, signified in the com­mission. On the contrary, the inherent right the assembly have to dispose of the money of the freemen of this colony, does not proceed from any commission, letters patent, or other grant from the crown; but from the free choice and election of the people, who ought not to be divested of their property (nor justly can) without their consent. Any former condescensions, of other assemblies, will not pres­cribe to the council, a privilege to make any of those amend­ments, and therefore they have it not. If the lords com­missioners for trade and plantations, did conceive no reason why the council should not have right to amend money bills, this is far from concluding there are none. The assem­bly understand them very well, and are sufficiently con­vinced of the necessity they are in, not to admit of any en­croachment so much to their prejudice."

Both houses adhered obstinately to their respective opini­ons: in consequence of which, the public debts remained unpaid, though his excellency could not omit passing a bill for paying to himself 3750 ounces of plate.

Upon the return of the fleet, Dudley, Saltonstal, and Cranston, the governors of the eastern colonies, formed a design of engaging the five nations in a rupture with the French, and wrote on that head to mr. Hunter; who, sus­picious that his assembly would not approve of any project that might increase the public debts, laid their letter before the house, and, according to his expectations, they declar­ed against the scheme.

About this time colonel Hunter, by the advice of his council, began to exercise the office of chancellor, having, on the 4th of October, appointed messieurs Van Dam and Philipse, masters, mr. Whileman, register, mr. Harrison, examiner, and messieurs Sharpas and Broughton, clerks. A proclamation was then issued, to signify the sitting of the court on Thursday in every week. This gave rise to these two resolutions of the house.

"Resolved, that the erecting a court of chancery, with­out consent in general assembly, is contrary to law, with­out [Page 149]precedent, and of dangerous consequences to the liberty and property of the subjects.

"That the establishing fees, without consent in general assembly, is contrary to law." The council made these votes the subject of part of a long representation, which they shortly after transmitted to the lords of trade, who, in a letter to the governor, in answer to it, approved of his e­recting a court of equity, and blamed the assembly; adding, "That her majesty has an undoubted right of appointing such, and so many courts of judicature, in the plantati­ons, as she shall think necessary for the distribution of justice."

At the next meeting, in May 1712, colonel Hunter strong­ly recommended the public debts to the consideration of the assembly, informing them, that the lords of trade had signified their opinion, with respect to the amending money bills, in favour of the council. The house neglected the matters laid before them, and the governor broke up the session by a short prorogation of three days. After which they soon passed an act for paying his excellency 8025 ounces of plate. Our public affairs never wore a more melancholy aspect than at this juncture.

Among the five nations many emissaries from the French were daily seducing them from the British interest, and our late ill success gave such a powerful influence to their solici­tations, that the Indians even at Catt's Kill sent a belt of Wampum to those in Duchess county, to prepare for a war. The Senecas and Shawanas were also greatly disaffected: and it was generally apprehended that they would fall upon the inhabitants along Hudson's river. An invasion was strongly suspected, by sea, on the city of New-York, where they had been alarmed, in April, by an insurrection of the negroes; who, in execution of a plot to set fire to the town, had burnt down a house in the night, and killed several people who came to extinguish the fire, for which nineteen of them were afterwards executed. But distressed as the co­lony then was, the assembly were inflexibly averse to the establishment of a revenue, which had formerly been wickedly misapplied and exhausted. At the ensuing session, in the fall, colonel Hunter proposed a scheme to the assem­bly, which was, in substance, that the receiver-general should give security, residing in the colony, for the due execution of his office; and, every quarter, account, to the governor and council, for the sums he might receive. That the creditors of the government should, every three months, [Page 150]deliver in their demands to the governor and council; when, if that quarter's revenue equalled the amount of such debts, the governor, by the advice of council, should draw for it; but if the revenue for that quarter, should fall short of the governor's demands; then the warrants were to be drawn for so much only as remained, and the creditors should afterwards receive new drafts for their balances in the next quarter. That no warrant should be issued, until the quarterly account of the revenue was given in; but that then they should be paid in course, and an action of debt be given against the receiver-general in case of refusal. That he should account also to the assembly when required, and permit all persons to have recourse to his books. The house turned a deaf ear to this plausible project, and, dis­pleased with a letter from the lords of trade, favouring the council's claim to amend money bills, they agreed upon an ad­dress to the queen, protesting their willingness to support her government, complaining of misapplications in the treasury, intimating their suspicions that they were misrepresented, and praying an instruction to the governor to give his con­sent to a law, for supporting an agent to represent them at the court of Great Britain. Provoked by this conduct, and to put an end to the disputes subsisting between the two houses, his excellency dissolved the assembly.

Before the meeting of the next assembly, the peace of Utrecht was concluded, on the 31st of March, 1713. A peace, in the judgment of many, dishonourable to Great-Britain, and injurious to her allies. I shall only consider it with relation to our Indian affairs. The reader doubtless observed, that lord Bellamont, after the peace at Ryswick, contended with the governor of Canada, that the five na­tions ought to be considered as subjects of the British crown, and that the point was disputed even after the death of count Frontenac. It does not appear that any decision of that matter was made between the two crowns, till the trea­ty of Utrecht, the XVth article of which is in these words:

"The subjects of France inhabiting Canada, and others, shall hereafter give no hindrance or molestation to the five nations, or cantons of Indians, subject to the dominion of Great-Britain, nor to the other nations of America who are friends to the same. In like manner, the subjects of Great-Britain shall behave themselves peaceably towards the A­mericans, who are subjects or friends to France; and on both sides, they shall enjoy full liberty of going and coming on account of trade. Also the natives of these countries shall, [Page 151]with the same liberty, resort, as they please, to the British and French colonies, for promoting trade on one side and the other, without any molestation or hindrance, either on the part of the British subjects, or of the French. But it is to be exactly and distinctly settled by commissaries, who are, and who ought to be, accounted the subjects of Britain or of France."

In consequence of this treaty, the British crown became entitled, at least for any claim that could justly be interpos­ed by the French, to the sovereignty over the country of the five nations, concerning the extent of which, as it never was adjusted by commissaries, it may not be improper to say a few words.

When the Dutch began the settlement of this country, all the Indians on Long-Island, and the northern shore of the sound, on the banks of Connecticut, Hudson's, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers, were in subjection to the five nati­ons; and, within the memory of persons now living, ac­knowledged it by the payment of an annual tribute^*. The French historians of Canada, both ancient and modern, agree, that the more northern Indians were driven before the superior martial prowers [...] confederates. The au­thor of the book entitled, Rel [...] [...]ee qui s' est passe de plus remarquable aux mission de peres de la compagnie de Jesus, en la nouvelle France, published with the privilege of the French king, at Paris, in 1661, writes with such singular sim­plicity, as obviates the least suspicion of those sinister views, so remarkable in the late French histories. He in­forms us, that all the northern Indians, as far as Hudson's bay, were harrassed by the five nations. "Partous (says he, speaking in the name of the missionaries) "nous trouvons Iroquois, qui, comme un phantome importun, nous obsede en tous lieux." In the account he gives of the travels of a fa­ther, in 1658, we are told, that the banks of the upper lake were lined with the Algonkins, "ou la crainte des Iroquois leur a fait chercher un asyle." Writing of the Hurons, "la nation la plus sedentaire & la plus propre pour les semences de la foi," he represents them as totally destroyed by the con­federates. Charlevoix; whose history of New France is cal­culated to countenance the encroachments of the French, [Page 152]gives the following description of the territory of the con­federates.

"The country of the Iroquois (says he) extends itself be­tween the 41st and 44th degrees of north latitude, about 70 or 80 leagues from east to west, from the head of the river, bearing for its name that of Richlieu and Sorel^†; that is, from lake St. Sacrament to Niagara, and a little above forty leagues from north to south, or rather north east and south­west from the head of the Mohawks river to the river Ohio, Thus the last mentioned river and Pennsylvania bound it on the south. On the west it has lake Ontario; and lake Erie on the north-west; St. Sacrament and the river St. Lawrence on the north; on the south and south-east, the province of New-York. It is watered with many rivers. The land is in some places broken, but, generally speaking, very fertile."

In this partial description, the jesuit is neither consistent with his geographer, nor several other French authors; and yet both his history and mr. Bellin's maps, in 1744^*, which are bound up with it, furnish many strong evidences in favour of the British claims. I will point out a few in­stances. [Page 153]The ancient country of the Hurons is laid down on the north side of lake Erie, by which we are ascertained of the extent of territory, to which the five nations are enti­tled by their conquest of that people. The right of the confederates to the south side of that lake, is also establish­ed by their dispersion of the Cat Indians, to whom it origin­ally belonged. The land, on both sides of the lake Ontario, is admitted to be theirs by this geographer, who writes on the north, "Les Iroquois du nord," and on tthe south side, "Pays des Iroquois." Hennepin, la Hontan, and Delis [...]e, all concur with Bellin, in extending the right of the sive nations, to the lands on the north side of lake Ontario. The first of these, besides what appears from his map, speaking of that lake, has these words, "There are likewise on the north side, these Iroquois villages, Tejajahon, Kente, and Ganneousse;" every one of which is laid down even in Bellin's, and almost all the maps I have seen of that country whether French or English. What renders Hennepin's ac­count the more remarkable, is, that these villages were there in 1679, seven years after the erection of fort Frontenac. From whence it may fairly be argued, that their not oppo­sing those works, was by no means a cession of the country to the French; and indeed Charlevoix himself represents that matter as carried on by a fraud, for, says he, "under pretext of seeking their advantage, the governor had no­thing in view, que de les tenir en bride."

To these attestations, which are the more to be depended upon, because they are given by the French writers, whose partiality leads them to consine the five nations to contracted limits^*, we may add, that our Indians universally concur in the claim of all the lands, not sold to the English, from the mouth of Sorel river, on the south side of the lakes Erie and Ontario, on both sides of the Ohio, till it falls into the Mississippi; and on the north side of those lakes, that whole territory between the Outawais river and the lake Huron, [Page 154]and even beyond the streights between that and la [...]e Erie. This last tract, and the land on the north side of the la [...]es Erie and Ontario, were contained in their surrender to king William, in 1701; of which I took notice in its proper place: and doubtless to that, and lord Bellamont's contest with count Frontenac, we must ascribe it, that the five nati­ons were afterwards so particularly taken notice of in the treaty of Utrecht.

The British title to fort Frontenac, and the lands on the north-west side of Cadaracqui river, has of late been drawn into question by some, who, from jealousy, or other motives equally shameful, were bent upon finding fault with every measure planned by general Shirley. The advocates for the French claim, relied much on a late map of the middle British colonies, and two pamphlets published by Leves Evans.

"The French," says he, "being in possession of fort Frontenac, at the peace of Ryswick, which they attained during their war with the confederates, gives them an un­doubted title to the acquisition of the north-west side of St. Lawrence river, from thence to their settlement at Montreal." The writer adds; "It was upon the faith and honour of king William's promise (by the fourth article of the treaty of Ryswick) of not disturbing the French king in the fire possession of the kingdoms, countries, lands, or dominions he then enjoyed, that I said the French had an undoubted title to their acquisition of the north-west side of St. Lawrence river, from Frontenac to Montreal."

Whether the treaty ought to be considered, as having any relation to this matter, is a question which I shall not take upon me to determine. The map-maker supposes it to be applicable, and, for the present, I grant it. The XIIth article of this treaty is in these words: "The most christian king shall restore to the king of Great-Britain, all countries, islands, forts, and colonies, whereseoevr situated, which the English did possess before the declaration of the present war. And in like manner, the king of Great-Britain shall restore to the most christian king, all countries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, which the French did possess before the said declaration of war." If therefore the British subjects were in possession of fort Fron­tenac at the commencement of the war, the French, who attained it during its continuance, according to this treaty, ought to have surrendered it to the British crown.

Whatever the French title to fort Frontenac might have been, antecedent to the year 1688, in which the island of [Page 155]Montreal was invaded by the sive nations, it is certain, that it was then abandoned, and that the Indians entered it, and demolished a great part of the works^*. But the author of the map assirms, "that the English did not possess fort Fron­tenac before the declaration of war terminated by the peace of Ryswick." To which I reply, that the Indians acquired a title in 1688, either by conquest, or dereliction, or both: and that the crown of Great-Britain had a right to take ad­vantage of their acquisition, in virtue of its so vereignty over the five cantons. That they were our dependents, was strongly and often infisted upon by governor Dongan and lord HeHamont, and the point remained sub judice, till the treaty of Utrecht. Then a decision was solemnly made in our favour, which looks back, as the determination of all dis­putes do, at least as far as the first rise of the controversy; posterior to which, and prior to king William's war, his Indian subjects obtained the possession of the fort in questi­on^† Whence I think it may be fairly deduced, if we take the treaty of Ryswick for our rule, that fort Frontenac, which was regained by the French during their war with us, ought to have been surrendered to the British crown. Every public transaction between the French and the five nations, without the participation of the government of Great-Bri­tain, since the Indians were claimed as our dependents, is perhaps absolutely void, and particularly the treaty of peace made between the Indians and the chevalier de Callieres, after the death of count Frontenac^‡.

[Page 156] The possession of any part of the country of the five nati­ons by the French, either before or since the close of queen Anne's war, cannot prejudice the British title, because the treaty of Aix la Chapelle renews and confirms that execut­ed at Utrecht in 1713, and expressly stipulates that the dominions of the contracting parties shall be in the same condition, "which they ought of right to have been in be­fore the late war." Commissaries were soon after appointed to adjust the controverted limits, who accordingly met at Paris, and continued the negociation, till the French king persidiously seized upon several parts of Nova-Scotia, or A­cadia, the settlement of the bounds of which, was part of the very business of the commissaries. This gave rise to the present operations, and the longest sword will determine the controversy.

Brigadier Hunter was disappointed in his expectations upon the late dissolution; for though the elections were very hot, and several new members came in, yet the majori­ty were in the interest of the late assembly, and on the 27th of May, 1713, chose mr. Nicoll into the chair. The gover­nor spoke to them with great plainness, informing them, that it would be in vain to endeavour to lodge the money allotted for the support of government, in any other than the hands of the queen's officers. "Nevertheless," says he, "if you are so resolved, you may put the country to the expense of a treasurer, for the custody of money raised for extraordinary uses." He added, that he was resolved to pass no law, till provision was made for the government. The members were therefore reduced to the dilemma of passing a bill for that purpose, or breaking up immediately. They chose the former, and the governor gave his assent to that, and an excise bill on strong liquors, which continues to this day, producing into the treasury about one thousand pounds per annum. After a short recess, several other laws [Page 157]were enacted in the fall. But the debts of the government still remained unnoticed, till the summer of the year 1714. A long session was then almost entirely devoted to that single affair. Incredible were the numbers of the public creditors. New demands were every day made. Petitions came in from all quarters, and even for debts contracted before the revolution. Their amount was near twenty eight thousand pounds. To pay this prodigious sum, recourse was had to the circulation of bills of credit to that value. These were lodged in the hands of the province treasurer, and issued by him only, according to the directions of the act.

The news of the queen's death arriving in the ensuing fall, a dissolution ensued of course; and a new house met in May, 1715, which continued only to the 21st of July. For the governor being now determined to subdue those, whom he could not allure, again dissolved the assembly. He succeeded in his design, for though mr. Nicoll was re-elect­ed into the chair on the 9th of June, 1716, yet we plainly perceive, by the harmony introduced between the several branches of the legislature, that the majority of the house were now in the interest of the governor.

An incontestible evidence of their good understanding, appeared at the session in autumn, 1717, when the governor informed them of a memorial, which had been sent home, reflecting upon his administration. The house immediately voted an address to him, which was conceived in terms of the utmost respect, testifying their abhorrence of the memorial, as a false and malicious libel. It was supposed to be written by Mulford, a representative for Suffolk county, who always opposed the measures that were taken to pre­serve the friendship of the five nations, and foolishly pro­jected a scheme to cut them off. It was printed in England, and delivered to the members at the door of the house of commons, but never had the author's intended effect.

It was at this meeting, the council, on the 31st of Octo­ber, sent a message by mr. Alexander, then deputy secreta­ry, to the house, desiring them "to appoint proper per­sons, for running the division line between this colony and the province of New-Jersey, his excellency being assured the legislature of the province of New-Jersey will bear half the expense thereof." The assembly had a bill before them, at that time, which afterwards passed into a law, for the payment of the remaining debts of the government, amount­ing to many thousand pounds; in which, after a recital of [Page 158]the general reasons, for ascertaining the limits between New-York and New-Jersey on the one side, and Connecti­cut on the other, a clause was added, to defray the expense of those services. Seven hundred and fifty ounces of plate were enacted "to be issued by warrant, under the hand and seal of the governor of this province for the time being, by and with the advice and consent of his majesty's council, in such parts and portions as shall be requisite for that service, when the survey, ascertaining, and running the said line, limit, and boundary, shall be begun, and carried on, by the mutual consent and agreement of his excellency and coun­cil of this province, and the proprietors of the soil of the said province of New-Jersey." According to this law, the line "agreed on by the surveyors and commissioners of each colony was to be conclusive." Another sum was also provided by the same clause, for running the line between New-York and Connecticut; and in the year, 1719, an act was passed for the settlement of that limit, of which I shall have occasion to take notice in a succeeding adminis­tration.

Whether it was because mr. Nicoll was disgusted with the governor's prevailing interest in the house, or to his infirm state of health, that he desired, by a letter to the general assembly, on the 18th of May, 1718, to be discharg­ed from the speaker's place, is uncertain. His request was readily granted, and Robert Livingston, esq chosen in his stead. The concord between the governor and this assembly, was now wound up to its highest pitch. Instead of other evi­dences of it, I shall lay before the reader his last speech to the house on the 24th of June 1719, and their address in answer to it.

Colonel Morris and the new speaker were the authors of the answer to this speech, though it was signed by all the members. Whether mr. Hunter deserved the eulogium they bestowed upon him, I leave the reader to determine. It is certain that few plantation governors have the honour to carry home with them such a testimonial as this:

"Sir, when we reflect upon your past conduct, your just, mild, and tender administration, it heightens the concern we have for your departure, and makes our grief such as words cannot truly express. You have governed well and wisely, like a prudent magistrate, like an affectionate parent; and wherever you go, and whatever station the divine pro­vidence shall please to assign you, our sincere desires and prayers for the happiness of you and yours, shall always at­tend you.

"We have seen many governors, and may see more; and as none of those, who had the honour to serve in your sta­tion, were ever so justly fixed in the affections of the go­verned, so those to come will acquire no mean reputation, when it can be said of them, their conduct has been like yours.

"We thankfully accept the honour you do us, in calling yourself our countryman: give us leave then to desire, that you will not forget this as your country, and, if you can, make haste to return to it.

"But if the service of our sovereign will not admit of what we so earnestly desire, and his commands deny us that happiness; permit us to address you as our friend, and give [Page 160]us your assistance, when we are oppressed with an adminis­tration the reverse of yours."

Colonel Hunter departing the province, the chief com­mand devolved, the 31st of July, 1719, on Peter Schuyler, esq then the eldest member of the board of council. As he had no interview with the assembly during his short ad­ministration, in which he behaved with great moderation and integrity; there is very little observable in his time, except a treaty, at Albany, with the Indians, for confirming the antient league; and the transactions respecting the par­tition line between this and the colony of New-Jersey: concerning the latter of which, I shall now lay before the reader a very summary account.

The two provinces were originally included in the grant of king Charles to the duke of York. New-Jersey was after­wards conveyed by the duke to lord Berkley and sir George Carteret. This again, by adeed of partition, was divided into East and West Jersey, the former being released to sir George Carteret, and the latter to the assigns of lord Berkley. The line of division extended from little Egg harbour to the north partition point on Delaware river; and thus both those tracts became concerned in the limits of the province of New-York. The original rights of lord Berkley and sir George Carteret, are vested in two different sets, consisting each of a great number of persons, known by the general name of the proprietors of East and West Jersey, who, though they surrendered the powers of government to queen Anne, in the year 1702, still retained their property in the soil. These were the persons interested against the claim of New-York. It is agreed on all sides, that the deed to New-Jersey is to be first satisfied, out of that great tract granted to the duke, and that the remainder is the right of New-York. The proprietors insist upon extending their northern limits to a line drawn from the latitude of 41° 40′ on Delaware, to the latitude of 41°, on Hudson's river; and allege, that before the year 1671, the latitude of 41°, was reputed to be fourteen miles to the northward of Tappan creek, part of those lands being settled under New-Jersey till 1684. They farther contend, that in 1684 or 1685, Dongan and Lawrie, (the former, governor of New-York, and the latter, of New-Jersey), with their respective councils, agreed, that the latitude on Hudson's river was at the mouth of Tappan creek, and that a line from thence to the latitude of 41° 40′ on Delaware should be the boundary line. In 1686, Robin­son [Page 161]Wells, and Keith,^* surveyors of the three several pro­vinces, took two observations, and found the latitude of 41° to be 1′ and 25′ to the northward of the Yonker's mills, which is four miles and forty five chains to the southward of the month of Tappan creek. But against these observa­tions the proprietors offer sundry objections, which it is not my business to enumerate. It is not pretended by any of the litigants, that a line, according to the stations settled by Dongan and Lawrie, was actually run; so that the limits of these contending provinces, must long have existed in the uncertain conjectures of the inhabitants of both; and yet the inconveniences of this unsettled state, through the in­fancy of the country, were very inconsiderable. In the year 1701, an act passed in New-York, relating to elections, which annexed Wagachemeck, and great and little Mini­sink, certain settlements near Delaware, to Ulster county. The intent of this law was to quiet disputes before subsist­ing between the inhabitants of those places, whose votes were required both in Orange and Ulster. The natural con­clusion from hence is, that the legislature of New-York then deemed those plantations not included within the New-Jersey grant.

Such was the state of this affair till the year 1717, when provision was made by this province for running the line. The same being done in New-Jersey the succeeding year, commissions for that purpose, under the great seals of the re­spective colonies, were issued in May, 1719. The commis­sioners, by indenture dated the 25th of July, fixed the north station point on the northermost branch of Delaware, call­ed the Fish-Kill; and from thence a random line was run to Hudson's river, terminating about five miles to the north­ward of the mouth of Tappan creek. In August, the sur­veyors of East-Jersey met for fixing the station on Hudson's river. All the commissioners not attending through sick­ness, nothing further was done. What had already been transacted, however, gave a general alarm to many persons interested in several patents under New-York, who before imagined their rights extended to the southward of the random line. The New-York surveyor afterwards declined proceeding in the work, complaining of faults in the instru­ment, which had been used in fixing the north station on Delaware. The proprietors, on the other hand, think they [Page 162]have answered his objections, and the matter rested, with­out much contention, till the year 1740. Frequent quarrels multiplying after that period, relating to the rights of soil and jurisdiction southward of the line in 1719, a proba­tionary act was passed in New-Jersey, in February, 1748, for running the line ex parte, if the province of New-York refused to join in the work. Our assembly, soon after, di­rected their agent, to oppose the king's confirmation of that act; and it was accordingly dropped, agreeably to the advice of the lords of trade, whose report of the 18th of July, 1753, on a matter of so much importance, will doubtless be acceptable to the reader.

WILLIAM BURNET, esq took upon him the govern­ment of this province, on the 17th of September, 1720. The council named in his instructions, were

• Colonel Schuyler,
• Colonel Depeyster,
• Captain Walter,
• Colonel Beekman,
• Mr. Van Dam,
• Colonel Heathcote,
• Mr. Barbarie,
• Mr. Philipse,
• Mr. Byerly,
• Mr. Clarke,
• Dr. Johnston,
• Mr. Harison.

Mr. Burnet was a son of the celebrated bishop of that name, whose piety and crudition, but especially his zeal and activity, for the glorious revolution and protestant suc­cession, will embalm his memory to the most distant ages. The governor was a man of sense and polite breeding, a well-read scholar, sprightly, and of a social disposition. Being devoted to his books, he abstained from all those ex­cesses, into which his pleasurable relish would otherwise have plunged him. He studied the arts of recommending himself to the people, had nothing of the moroseness of a scholar, was gay and condescending, affected no pomp, but [Page 168]visited every family of reputation, and often diverted him­self in free converse with the ladies, by whom he was very much admired. No governor, before him, did so much busi­ness in chancery. The office of chancellor was his delight. He made a tolerable figure in the exercise of it, though he was no lawyer, and had a foible very unsuitable for a judge I mean his resolving too speedily, for he used to say of [...] ­self, "I act first, and think afterwards." He spoke, how­ever, always sensibly, and by his great reading was able to make a literary parade.—As to his fortune, it was very in­considerable, for he suffered much in the south sea scheme. While in England, he had the office of comptroller of the customs at London, which he resigned to brigadier Hunter, as the latter, in his favour, did the government of this and the colony of New-Jersey. Mr. Burnet's acquaintance with that gentleman gave him a fine opportunity, before his ar­rival, to obtain good intelligence both of persons and things. The brigadier recommended all his old friends to the favour of his successor; and hence we find that he made few changes amongst them.^*. Mr. Morris, the chief justice, was his principal confidant. Dr. Colden and mr. Alexander, two Scotch gentlemen, had the next place in his esteem. He showed his wisdom in that choice, for they were both men of learning, good morals, and solid parts. The former was well acquainted with the affairs of the province, and particularly those which concerned the French in Canada and our Indian allies. The latter was bred to the law; and though no speaker, at the head of his profession for sagaci­ty and penetration; and in application to business) no man could surpass him. Nor was he unacquainted with the affairs of the public, having served in the secretary's office, the best school in the province, for instruction in matters of government; because the secretary enjoys a plurality of offices, conversant with the first springs of our provincial economy. Both those gentlemen mr. Burnet soon raised to the council board, as he also did mr. Morris, jun. mr. Van Horn, whose daughter he married, and mr. Kennedy, who succeeded Byerly, both at the council board, and in the of­fice of receiver-general.

[Page 169] Of all our governors, none had such extensive and just views of our Indian affairs, and the dangerous neighbour­hood of the French, as governor Burnet, in which mr. Li­vingston was his principal assistant. His attention to these matters appeared at the very commencement of his adminis­tration; for in his first speech to the assembly, the very fall after his arrival, he laboured to implant the same senti­ments in the breasts of the members; endeavouring to a­larm their fears, by the daily advances of the French, their possessing the main passes, seducing our Indian allies, and encreasing their new settlements in Louisania.

Chief justice Morris, whose influence was very great in the house, drew the address in answer to the governor's speech, which contained a pa [...]age manifesting the confi­dence they reposed in him. "We believe that the son of that worthy prelate, so eminently instrumental, under our glo­rious monarch, William the third, in delivering us from arbitrary power, and its concomitants, popery, supersti­tion and slavery; has been educated in, and possesses, those principles, that so justly recommended his father to the council and confidence of protestant princes; and suc­ceeds our former governor, not only in power, but inclina­tion to do us good."

From an assembly, impressed with such favourable senti­ments, his excellency had the highest reason, to expect a submissive compliance, with every thing recommended to their notice. The public business proceeded without suspi­cion or jealousy, and nothing intervened to disturb the tranquillity of the political state. Among the most remark­able acts, passed at this session, we may reckon that, for a five years support; another for laying a duty of two per cent. prime cost, on the importation of European goods, which was soon after repealed by the king; and a third, for prohibiting the sale of Indian goods to the French. The last of these was a favourite act of the governor's, and though a law very advantageous to the province, became the source of an unreasonable opposition against him, which continued through his whole administration. From the conclusion of the peace of Utrecht, a great trade was carried on between Albany and Canada, for goods saleable among the Indians. The chiefs of the confederates wisely foresaw its ill consequences, and complained of it to the commissioners of Indian affairs^*, who wrote to mr. Hunter, [Page 170]acquainting him of their dissatisfaction. The letter was laid before the house; but no effectual step taken to pre­vent the mischief, till the passing of this act, which sub­jected the traders to a forfeiture of the effects sold, and the penalty of one hundred pounds. Mr. Burnet's scheme was to draw the Indian trade into our own hands; to obstruct the communication of the French with our allies, which gave them frequent opportunities of seducing them from their fidelity; and to regain the Caghnuagas, who became interested in their disaffection, by being the carriers be­tween Albany and Montreal. Among those who were more immediately prejudiced by this new regulation, the im­porters of those goods, from Europe, were the chief; and hence the [...]ring of their opposition to the governor.

All possible arts were used, both here and at home, to preserve the good temper of the assembly. Brigadier Hunter gave the ministry such favourable accounts of the members, that colonel Schuyler, during his presidentship, had orders from mr. secretary Craggs, neither to dissolve them him­self, nor permit them to be dissolved; and at the spring session, in the year 1721, mr. Burnet informed them, that his continuance of them, was highly approved at home. [Page 171]Horatio Walpole, the auditor-general, who had appointed mr. Clarke for his deputy, thought this a favourable con­juncture, for procuring five per cent. out of the treasury. But the house was averse to his application; and on the 2d of June, Abcaham Depeyster, jun. was appointed trea­surer by the speaker's warrant, with the consent of the go­vernor, in the room of his father, who was infirm; upon which he entered into a recognizance of 5000l. to the king, before a judge of the supreme court, for the faithful execution of his trust, which was lodged in the secretary's office. The house at the same time, in an address, declared their willingness that the treasurer should account; but utterly refused to admit of any drafts upon the treasu­ry, for the auditor-general, who was constrained to de­pend entirely upon the revenue, out of which he received about 200l. per annum.

Mr. Burnet being well acquainted with the geography of the country, wisely concluded, that it was to the last de­gree necessary to get the command of the great lake Onta­rio, as well for the benefit of the trade, and the security of the friendship of the five nations, as to frustrate the French designs, of confining the English colonies to narrow limits, along the sea coast, by a chain of forts on the great passes from Canada to Louisania. Towards the subversion of this scheme, he began the erection of a trading house at Oswe­go, in the county of the Senecas, in 1722; and recom­mended a provision for the residence of trusty persons a­mong them, and the Onondagas, which last possess the cen­tre of the five cantons. This year was remarkable for a con­gress of several governors and commissioners, on the renew­al of the ancient friendship with the Indians at Albany, Mr. Burnet prevailed upon them to send a message, to threaten the eastern Indians with a war, unless they concluded a peace with the English, who were very much harrassed by their frequent irruptions. On the 20th of May, in the year following, the confederates were augmented by their reception of above eighty Nicariagas, besides women and children, as they had been formerly, by the addition of the Tuscaroras. The country of the Nicariagas was on the north side of Missilimakinack; but the Tuscaroras possessed a tract of land near the sources of James's river, in Virginia, from whence the encroachments of the English induced them to remove, and settle near the south-east end of the Oneyda lake.

The strict union subsisting, between the several branches of the legislature, gave a handle to mr. Burnet's enemies to ex­cite [Page 172]a clamour against him. Jealousies were industriously sown in the breasts of the people. The continuance of an assembly, after the accession of a new governor, was represented as an anti-constitutional project: and though the affairs of the pub­lic were conducted with wisdom and spirit, many were so much imposed upon, that a rupture between the governor and the assembly was thought to be absolutely necessary for the weal and safety of the community. But this was not the on­ly stratagem of those who were disaffected by the prohi­bition of the French trade. The London merchants were induced to petition the king for an order to his governor, prohibiting the revival of the act made against it, or the passing any new law of that tendency. The petition was referred to the board of trade, and backed before their lord­ships, with suggestions of the most notorious falsehoods. The lords of trade prudently advised, that no such direc­tions should be sent to mr. Burnet, till he had an opportuni­ty of answering the objections against the act. They were accordingly sent over to him, and he laid them before his council. Dr. Colden and mr. Alexander exerted themselves in a memorable report in answer to them, which drew upon them the resentment of several merchants here, who had first excited the London petition, and laid the foun­dation for a variance between their families, which has manifested itself on many occasions. In justice to mr. Bur­not's memory, and to show the propriety of his measures for obstructing the French trade, I cannot refrain the re­publication of the council's report at full length.

Governor Burnet transmitted this report to the board of trade; and it had the intended effect. About the latter end of the year 1724, and unfortunate dispute commenced in the French church, of which, because it had no small influ­ence on the public affairs of the government, I shall lay be­fore the reader a short account.

The persecutions in France, which ensued upon the re­vocation of the edict of Nantz, drove the protestant sub­jects of Louis XIV. into the territories of other princes. Many of them fled even into this province: the most opu­lent settled in the city of New-York; others went into the country, and planted New Rochelle; and a few seated themselves at the New Paltz in Ulster county. Those, who resided in New-York, soon erected a church, upon the principles and model of that in Geneva; and by their growth and foreign accessions, formed a congregation, for numbers and riches, superior to all but the Dutch. They had two ministers; Rou, the first called, was a man of [Page 183]learning, but proud, pleasurable, and passionate. Mouli­naars, his colleague, was most distinguished for his pacific spirit, dull parts, and unblameable life and conversation. Rou despised his fellow labourer, and, for a long time, commanded the whole congregation, by the superiority of his talents for the pulpit. The other, impatient of repeat­ed affronts and open contempt, raised a party in his fa­vour, and this year succeeded in the election of a set of el­ders, disposed to humble the delinquent. Rou, being suspi­cious of the design, refused to acknowledge them duly elected. Incensed at this conduct, they entered an act in their minutes, dismissing him from the pastoral charge of the church, and procured a ratification of the act under the hands of the majority of the people. Governor Burnet had, long before this time, admitted Rou into his familiarity, on the score of his learning: and that consideration encourag­ed a petition to him, from Rou's adherents, complaining a­gainst the elders. The matter was then referred to a com­mittee of the council, who advised that the congregation should be admonished, to bring their differences to an ami­cable conclusion. Some overtures, to that end, were at­tempted; and the elders offered to submit the controver­sy to the Dutch ministers. But Rou, who knew that the French church in this country, without a synod was unor­ganized, and could not restrain him, chose rather to bring his bill in chancery before the governor.

Mr. Alexander was his council; and mr. Smith^*, a young lawyer, of the first reputation as a speaker, appeared for the elders. He pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court, in­sisting that the matter was entirely ecclesiastical, and, in the prosecution of his argument, entered largely into an ex­amination of the government of the protestant churches in France. According to which, he showed, that the consistory were the proper judges of the point in dispute, in the first instance; and that from thence an appeal lay to a collogue, next to a provincial, and last of all to a national synod. Mr. Burnet nevertheless over-ruled the plea; and the defen­dants, being fearful of a decree, that might expose their own estates to the payment of Rou's salary, thought it ad­viseable [Page 184]to drop their debates, reinstate the minister, and leave the church.

All those, who opposed Rou, were disobliged with the governor: among these mr. de Lancey was the most con­siderable for his wealth and popular influence. He was very rigid in his religious profession, one of the first builders, and by far the most generous benefactor, of the French church; and therefore left it with the utmost reluctance. Mr. Burnet, before this time, had considered him as his enemy, because he had opposed the prohibition of the French trade; and this led him into a step, which, as it was a personal indignity, mr. de Lancey could never recol­lect without resentment. This gentleman was returned for the city of New-York, in the room of a deceased member, at the meeting of the assembly in September 1725. When he offered himself for the oaths, mr. Burnet asked him how he became a subject of the crown? He answered, that he was denizened in England: and his excellency dismissed him, taking time to consider the matter. Mr. de Lancey then laid before the house an act of a notary public, certi­fying that he was named in a patent of denization, grant­ed in the reign of James the second—a patent of the same kind, under the great seal of this province, in 1686—and two certificates, one of his having taken the oath of alle­giance, according to an act passed here in 1683, and another of his serving in several former assemblies. The governor, in the mean time, consulted the chief justice, and trans­mitted his opinion^* to the house, who resolved in favour of mr. de Lancey. Several other new representatives came in, at this session, upon the decease of the old members; and Adolph Philipse, who was sometime before dismissed from the council board, was elected into the speaker's chair, in the absence of mr. Livingston. The majority, however, continued in the interest of the governor; and consented to the revival of the several acts, which had been passed for prohibiting the French trade; which, in spite of all the restraints laid upon it, was clandestinely carried on by the people of Albany. Oswego, nevertheless, grew [Page 185]considerable for its commerce: fifty-seven canoes went there this summer, and returned with seven hundred and thirty-eight packs of beaver and deer skins.

Nothing could more naturally excite the jealousy of the French, than the erection of the new trading house at the mouth of the Onondaga river. Fearful of losing a profitable trade, which they had almost entirely engrossed, and the command of the lake Ontario, they launched two vessels in it in 1726, and transported materials, for building a large store-house, and repairing the fort at Niagara. The scheme was not only to secure to themselves the entrance into the west end of the lake, as they already had the east, by the fraudulent erection of sort Frontenac, many years before; but also to carry their trade more westerly, and thus render Oswego useless, by shortening the travels of the western Indians, near two hundred miles. Baron de Lon­guiel, who had the chief command in Canada, on the death of the marquis de Vaudreuil, in October 1725, was so in­tent upon this project, that he went, in person, to the On­ondaga canton, for leave to raise the store-house at Nia­gara: and as those Indians were most of all exposed to the intrigues of the jesuits, who constantly resided amongst them, he prevailed upon them by fraud and false repre­sentations, to consent to it, for their protection against the English. But as soon as this matter was made known to the other nations, they declared the permission granted by the Onondagas to be absolutely void; and sent deputies to Nia­gara, with a message, signifying that the country, in which they were at work, belonged solely to the Senecas; and required them immediately to desist. The French, notwith­standing, were regardless of the embassage, and pushed on their enterprise with all possible dispatch, while Joncaire exerted all his address among the Indians, to prevent the demolition of the works. Canada was very much indebted to the incessant intrigues of this man. He had been adopted by the Senecas, and was well esteemed by the Onondagas. He spoke the Indian language, as Charlevoix informs us, "avec la plus sublime eloquence Iroquoise," and had lived amongst them, after their manner, from the beginning of queen Anne's reign. All these advantages he improved for the interest of his country; he facilitated the missiona­ries in their progress through the cantons, and more than any man contributed to render their dependence upon the English, weak and precarious. Convinced of this, colonel Schuyler urged the Indians, at his treaty with them, in [Page 186]1719, to drive Joncaire out of their country; but his en­deavours were fruitless^*.

The jesuit Charlevoix does honour to mr. Burnet, in de­claring that he left no stone unturned, to defeat the French designs at Niagara. Nor is it much to be wondered at. For besides supplanting his favourite trade at Oswego, it tended to the defection of the five nations; and in case of a rup­ture, exposed the frontiers of our southern colonies to the ravages of the French and their allies. Mr. Burnet, upon whom these considerations made the deepest impression, laid the matter before the house—remonstrated against the proceedings to Longuiel in Canada—wrote to the ministry in England, who complained of them to the French court—and met the confederates at Albany, endeavouring to convince them of the danger they, themselves, would be in, from an aspiring, ambitious neighbour. He spoke first about the affair, privately to the sachems, and afterwards, in the public conference, informed them of all the encroach­ments which the French had made upon their fathers, and the ill usage they had met with, according to la Potherie's account, published with the privilege of the French king, at Paris, in 1722. He then reminded them of the kind treat­ment they had received from the English, who constantly fed and cloathed them, and never attempted any act of hostilities to their prejudice. This speech was extremely well drawn, the thoughts being conceived in strong figures, particularly expressive and agreeable to the Indians. The governor required an explicit declaration of their senti­ments, concerning the French transactions at Niagara; and their answer was truly categorical. "We speak now in the name of all the six nations, and come to you howling. This is the reason why we howl, that the governor of Canada encroaches on our land, and builds thereon." After which they intreated him to write to the king for succour. Mr. Burnet embraced this favourable opportunity to procure from them a deed, surrendering their country to his majes­ty, to be protected for their use, and confirming their grant in 1701, concerning which there was only an entry in [Page 187]the books of the secretary for Indian affairs^*. It happened very unfortunately, that his excellency's hands were then more weakened than ever, by the growing disaffection in the house. The intrigues of his adversaries, and the fre­quent deaths of the members, had introduced such a change in the assembly, that it was with difficulty he pro­cured a three years support. The clamours of the people ran so high without doors for a new election, that he was obliged to dissolve the house, and soon after another disso­lution ensued on the death of the king. The French, in the mean time, completed their works at Niagara: and mr. Bur­net, who was unable to do any thing else, erected a fort, in 1727, for the protection of the post and trade at Oswego. This necessary undertaking was pregnant with the most im­portant consequences, not only to this, but all our colonies; and though the governor's seasonable activity deserved the highest testimonials of our gratitude, I am ashamed to con­fess, what I am bound to relate, that he built the fort at his private expense, and that a balance of about 56l. principal, though frequently demanded, remains due to his estate to this very day.

Beauharnois, the governor of Canada, who superseded Longuiel, was so incensed at the building of the fort, that he sent a written summons in July, to the officer posted there, to abandon it; and though his predecessor had done the same, a little before, at Niagara, in the country of the Senecas, the acknowledged subjects of the British crown^†, [Page 188]yet, with a singular effrontery, he dispatched de la Chas­saigne, a man of parts, and governor of Trois Rivieres, to New York, with the strongest complaints to mr. Burnet upon that head. His excellency sent him a polite, but re­solute answer, on the eighth of August; in which he re­futed the arguments urged by the French governor gene­ral; and remonstrated against the proceedings of the last year at Niagara.

The new assembly met in September 1727, and consisted of members all ill affected to the governor. The long continuance of the last, the clamours which were excited by several late important decrees in chancery, the affair of the French church, and especially the prohibiting the Cana­da trade, were the causes, to which the loss of his interest is to be ascribed. Mr. Philipse, the speaker, was piqued at a decree in chancery against himself, which very much affected his estate; no wonder, then, that the members, who were very much influenced by him, came, on the 25th of November, into the following resolutions. Colonel Hicks, from the committee of grievances, reported, "That as well by the complaints of several people, as by the general cry of his majesty's subjects inhabiting this colony, they find that the court of chancery, as lately assumed to be set up here, renders the liberties and properties of the said sub­jects extremely precarious; and that by the violent mea­sures taken in, and allowed by it, some have been ruined, others obliged to abandon the colony, and many restrained in it, either by imprisonment or by excessive bail exacted from them not to depart, even when no manner of suits are depending against them: and therefore are of opinion, [Page 189]that the extraordinary proceedings of that court; and the exorbitant fees and charges, countenanced to be exacted by the officers and practitioners thereof, are the greatest grievance and oppression this colony hath ever felt: and that for removing the fatal consequences thereof, they had come to several resolutions, which being read, were ap­proved by the house, and are as follow:

"Resolved, that the erecting or exercising, in this colo­ny, a court of equity or chancery (however it may be term­ed) without consent in general assembly, is unwarrantable, and contrary to the laws of England, and a manifest op­pression and grievance to the subjects, and of pernicious consequence to their liberties and properties.

"Resolved, that this house will at their next meeting prepare and pass an act to declare and adjudge all orders, ordinances, devices, and proceedings, of the court, so as­sumed to be erected and exercised as abovementioned, to be illegal, null, and void, as by law and right they ought to be.

"Resolved, that this house, at the same time, will take into consideration, whether it be necessary, to establish a court of equity or chancery, in this colony; in whom the jurisdiction thereof ought to be vested; and how far the powers of it shall be prescribed and limited."

Mr. Burnet no sooner heard of these votes, than he cal­led the members before him, and dissolved the assembly. They occasioned, however, an ordinance in the spring fol­lowing, as well to remedy sundry abuses in the practice in chancery, as to reduce the fees of that court, which, on account of the popular clamours, were so much diminished, that the wheels of the chancery have ever since rusted upon their axes, the practice being contemned by all gentlemen of eminence in the profession.

We are now come to the close of mr. Burnet's admini­stration, when he was appointed to the chief command of the Massachusett's bay. Though we never had a governor, to whom the colony is so much indebted as to him; yet the influence of a faction, in the judgment of some, rendered his removal necessary for the public tranquillity. Insensible of his merit, the undistinguishing multitude were taught to consider it as a most fortunate event; and till the ambiti­ous designs of the French king, with respect to America, awakened our attention to the general welfare, mr. Bur­net's administration was as little esteemed, as that of the meanest of his predecessors.

He was very fond of New-York, and left it with reluc­tance. [Page 190]His marriage here connected him with a numerous family; and, besides an universal acquaintance, there were some gentlemen, with whom he contracted a strict intimacy and friendship.

The excessive love of money, a disease common to all his predecessors, and to some who succeeded him, was a vice, from which he was entirely free. He sold no offices, nor at­tempted to raise a fortune by indirect means; for he lived generously, and carried scarce any thing away with him, but his books. These, and the conversation of men of let­ters, were to him inexhaustible sources of delight. His astro­nomical observations have been useful; but by his comment on the apocalypse, he exposed himself, as other learned men have before him, to the criticisms of those who have not abilities to write half so well.

John Montgomerie, esq received the great seal of this province from mr. Burnet, on the 15th of April 1728, having a commission to supersede him here and in New-Jersey. The council board consisted of

• Mr. Walters,
• Mr. Van Dam,
• Mr. Barbarie,
• Mr. Clarke,
• Mr. Harison,
• Dr. Colden,
• Mr. Alexander,
• Mr. Morris, jun.
• Mr. Van Horne,
• Mr. Provoost,
• Mr. Livingston,
• Mr. Kennedy.

The governor was a Scotch gentleman, and bred a sol­dier; but, in the latter part of his life, he had little con­cern with arms, having served as groom of the bedcham­ber, to his present majesty, before his accession to the throne. This station, and a seat he had in parliament, pa­ved the way to his preferment in America. In his talents for government, he was much inferior to his predecessor; for he had neither strength nor acuteness of parts, and was but little acquainted with any kind of literature.

As in the natural, so in the political world, a violent storm is often immediately succeeded by a peaceful calm; tired by the mutual struggles of party rage, every man now ceased to act under its influence. The governor's good humour, too, extinguished the flames of contention; for being unable to plan, he had no particular scheme to pur­sue; and thus by confining himself to the exercise of the common acts of government, our public affairs flowed on in a peaceful, uninterrupted stream.

The reader will, for this reason, find none of those [Page 191]events in col. Montgomerie's short administration, which only take rise under the superintendency of a man of ex­tensive views. Indeed, he devoted himself so much to his ease, that he has scarce left us any thing to perpetuate the remembrance of his time.

The two rocks upon which the public tranquillity was shipwrecked in the late administration, he carefully avoid­ed; for he dissolved the assembly, called by his predeces­sor, before they had ever been convened: and as to the chan­cery, he himself countenanced the clamours against it, by declining to sit, till enjoined to exercise the office of chan­cellor by special orders from England. He then obeyed the command, but not without discovering his reluctance, and modestly confessing to the practisers, that he thought himself unqualified for the station. Indeed the court of chancery was evidently his aversion, and he never gave a single decree in it, nor more than three orders; and these, both as to matter and form, were first settled by the coun­cil concerned.

Mr. Philipse was chosen speaker of the assembly which met on the 23d of July, and continued sitting in perfect harmony till autumn. After his excellency had procured a five years support, and several other laws to his mind, of less considerable moment; he went up to Albany, and, on the 1st of October, held a treaty with the six nations, for a renewal of the ancient covenant. He gave them great presents, and engaged them in the defence of Oswego. Nothing could be more seasonable than this interview; for the French, who eyed that important garrison, and our in­creasing trade there, with the most restless jealousy, pre­pared, early in the spring following, to demolish the works. Governor Burnet gave the first intelligence of this design, in a letter to colonel Montgomerie, dated at Boston the 31st of March 1729. The garrison was thereupon im­mediately reinforced by a detachment from the indepen­dent companies; which, together with the declared reso­lution of the Indians, to protect the fort; induced the French to desist from the intended invasion^*.

[Page 192] Thus far our Indian affairs appeared to be under a tole­rable direction; but these fair prospects were soon obscur­ed by the king's repealing, on the 11th of December, 1729, all the acts which mr. Burnet, with so much labour and opposition, procured for the prohibition of an execrable trade between Albany and Montreal. To whose intrigues this event is to be ascribed, cannot be certainly determined. But that it was pregnant with the worst consequences, time has sufficiently evinced. Nothing could more naturally tend to undermine the trade at Oswego, to advance the French commerce, at Niagara, to alienate the Indians from their fidelity to Great Britain, and particularly to rivet the defection of the Caghnuagas. For these, residing on the south side of St. Lawrence, nearly opposite Montreal, were employed by the French as their carriers; and thus became interested against us, by motives of the most prevailing na­ture. One would imagine, that after all the attention be­stowed on this affair in the late administration, the objec­tions against this trading intercourse with Canada, must have been obvious to the meanest capacity; and yet, so as­tonishing has been our conduct, that from the time mr. Burnet removed to Boston, it has rather been encouraged than restrained. This trade, indeed, was subject to duties; but that at Oswego always was, and still is, exposed to the same incumbrance; while the French trade, in the interval between the years 1744 and 1750, was perfectly free: and as the duty, by the law then made, is laid only on goods sold in the city and county of Albany, the trader, to elude the act, is only exposed to the trouble of transporting his merchandise, beyond the scant district of the city, ascer­tained in the charter. But how much soever our inattention to this matter may deserve censure, I cannot, in justice to my countrymen, help observing, that from the severest scrutiny I could make, our people are free from the charge of selling ammunition to the French, which has so unjustly [Page 193]exposed the inhabitants of Albany, to the odium of all the colonies in New England^*.

The year 1731 was distinguished, only by the complete settlement of the disputed boundary between this province and the colony of Connecticut. An event, considering the late colonizing spirit, and extensive claims of the people of New England, of no small importance, and concerning which it may be proper to give a succinct account.

The partition line agreed upon in 1664, being consider­ed as fraudulent, or erroneous; a second agreement, sus­pended only for the king's and the duke's approbation, was concluded on the 23d of November, 1683, between colonel Dongan and his council, and Robert Trent, esq then go­vernor of Connecticut, and several other commissioners ap­pointed by that colony. The line of partition, then agreed to be established, was to begin at the mouth of Byram brook, "Where it falleth into the sound, at a point called Lyon's point, to go as the said river runneth, to the place where the common road, or wading place, over the said river is; and from the said road, or wading place, to go north north-west into the country, as far as will be eight English miles from the foresaid Lyon's Point; and that a line of twelve miles, being measured from the said Lyon's point, ac­cording to the line or general course of the sound eastward: where the said twelve miles endeth, another line shall be run from the sound, eight miles into the country, north north-west; and also, that a fourth line be run (that is to say) from the northermost end of the eight miles line, be­ing the third mentioned line, which fourth line, with the first mentioned line, shall be the bounds where they shall fall to run; and that from the eastermost end of the fourth mentioned line (which is to be twelve miles in length) a line parallel to Hudson's river, in every place twenty miles distant from Hudson's river, shall be the bounds there, between the said territories or province of New-York, and the said colony of Connecticut, so far as Connecticut colo­ny doth extend northwards; that is, to the south line of the Massachusetts colony: only it is provided, that in case the line from Byram brook's mouth, north north-west eight miles, and the line, that is then to run twelve miles to the [Page 194]end of the third fore-mentioned line of eight miles, do di­minish or take away land, within twenty miles of Hudson's river, that then so much as is in land diminished of twenty miles of Hudson's river thereby, shall be added out of Con­necticut bounds unto the line aforementioned, parallel to Hudson's river, and twenty miles distant from it; the ad­dition to be made the whole length of the said parallel line, and in such breadth, as will make up, quantity for quantity, what shall be diminished as aforesaid."

Pursuant to this agreement, some of the lines were ac­tually run out, and a report made of the survey, which, on the 24th of February 1684, was confirmed by the governor of each colony, at Milford in Connecticut. Here the matter rested, till a dispute arose concerning the right of juris­diction over the towns of Rye and Bedford, which occa­sioned a solicitation at home; and on the 28th of March 1700, king William was pleased to confirm the agreement in 1683.

Nineteen years afterwards, a probationary act was passed, empowering the governor to appoint commissioners, as well to run the line parallel to Hudson's river, as to re­survey the other lines, and distinguish the boundary. The Connecticut agent opposed the king's confirmation of this act, totis viribus; but it was approved on the 23d of Janu­ary 1723. Two years after, the commissioners and surveyors of both colonies met at Greenwich, and entered first in­to an agreement, relating to the method of performing the work.

The survey was immediately after executed in part, the report being dated on the 12th of May 1725; but the com­plete settlement was not made till the 14th of May 1731, when indentures, certifying the execution of the agreement in 1725, were mutually signed by the commissioners and surveyors of both colonies. Upon the establishment of this partition, a tract of land, lying on the Connecticut side, consisting of above 60,000 acres, from its figure called the Oblong, was ceded to New-York, as an equivalent for lands near the sound, surrendered to Connecticut^*.

The very day after the surrender, made by that colony, a patent passed in London to sir Joseph Eyles and others, in­tended to convey the whole Oblong. A grant, posterior to the other, was also regularly made here, to Hauley and [Page 195]company, of the greatest part of the same tract, which the British patentees brought a bill in chancery to repeal. But the defendants filed an answer, containing so many objec­tions against the English patent, that the suit remains still unprosecuted; and the American proprietors have ever since held the possession. Mr. Harison, of the council, so­licited this controversy for sir Joseph Eyles and his part­ners, which contributed, in a great degree, to the troubles, so remarkable, in a succeeding administration.

Governor Montgomerie died on the 1st of July 1731; and being a man of a kind and humane disposition, his death was not a little lamented. The chief command then devolv­ed upon Rip Van Dam, esq he being the oldest counsellor, and an eminent merchant, of a fair estate, though distin­guished more for the integrity of his heart, than his capa­city to hold the reins of government. He took the oaths before

• Mr. Alexander,
• Mr. Van Horne,
• Mr. Kennedy,
• Mr. de Lancey^†, and
• Mr. Courtlandt.

This administration is unfortunately signalized by the memorable encroachment at Crown Point. An enemy des­pised at first for his weakness, generally grows formidable for his activity and craft. This observation is true, applied to private persons, religious sects, or public states. The French, in Canada, have always been jealous of the in­creasing strength of our colonies; and a motive of fear led them, naturally, to concert a regular system of conduct for their defence. Confining us to scant limits along the sea coast, is the grand object they have long had in view; and seiz­ing the important passes from Canada to Louisania, seducing our Indian allies, engrossing the trade, and fortifying the routes into their country, were all proper expedients to­wards the execution of their plan. By erecting fort St. Fre­deric, they secured the absolute command of lake Cham­plain, through which we must pass, if ever a descent be made upon Canada, either to conquer the country, or har­rass its out-settlements. The garrison was, at first, situated [Page 196]on the east side of the lake, near the south end; but was afterwards built upon a commodious point, on the opposite side. Of all their infractions of the treaty of Utrecht, none was more palpable than this. The country belonged to the six nations: and the very spot, upon which the fort stands, is included within a patent to Dellius the Dutch minister of Albany, granted under the great seal of this province in 1696. Besides, nothing could be more evident than the danger to which it exposed us. Through this lake the French parties made their ancient bloody incursions upon Schenectady, the Mohawks' castles, and Deerfield; and the erection of this fort was apparently adapted, to facilitate the inroads of the enemy, upon the frontiers of the colo­nies of New-York, Massachusetts bay, and New Hampshire; for it served not only as an asylum to fly to, after the per­petration of their inhumanities, but for a magazine of pro­visions and ammunition; and though it was much above 120 miles from the very city of Albany, yet by the conveyance through Sorel river and the lake, it may be reinforced from Montreal in three or four days^*.

The Massachusetts government foresaw the dangerous consequences of the French fort at Crown Point, and gover­nor Belcher gave us the first information of it, in a letter from Boston to mr. Van Dam. He informed him of the vote of the general court, to bear their proportion of the charge of an embassage to Canada, to forbid the works, and press­ed him to engage the opposition of the six nations. Van Dam laid the letter before his council, on the 4th of Febru­ary 1732; who, with singular calmness, advised him to write to the commissioners of Indian affairs, at Albany, or­dering them to enquire, whether the land belonged to the confederates or the river Indians. That mr. Van Dam ever wrote to the commissioners, I have not been able to discover; nor whether any complaint of the encroachment was sent home, according to the second advice of council, on the 11th [Page 197]of February; who, besides the first step, were now pleased to recommend his transmitting governor Belcher's letter and the Boston vote to the several south-western colonies.

The passiveness we discovered, on this impudent and dangerous invasion of his majesty's rights, is truly astonish­ing; and the more so, as the crown had, at that time, four in­dependent companies, which had long been posted here for our protection, at the annual expense of about 7500l. ster­ling. A very good scheme, in some measure, to repair this shameful misconduct, was afterwards projected, by settling the lands near lake George, with loyal protestant highlan­ders from Scotland. Captain Laughlin Campbel, encourag­ed by a proclamation to that purpose, came over in 1737, and ample promises were made to him. He went upon the land, viewed and approved it; and was intreated to settle there, even by the Indians, who were taken with his high­land dress. Mr. Clarke, the lieutenant governor, promised him, in a printed advertisement, the grant of 30,000 acres of land, free from all but the charges of the survey and the king's quit-rent. Confiding on the faith of the government, captain Campbel went home to Isla, sold his estate, and, shortly after, transported, at his own expense, 83 protestant families, consisting of 423 adults, besides a great number of children. Private faith and public honour loudly de­manded the fair execution of a project, so expensive to the undertaker and beneficial to the colony. But it unfortu­nately dropped, through the sordid views of some persons in power, who aimed at a share in the intended grant; to which Campbel, who was a man of spirit, would not con­sent.

Captain Campbel, afterwards, made an attempt to redress himself, by an application to the assembly here, and then to the board of trade in England. The first proved abortive, and such were the difficulties attending the last, that he left his colonists to themselves; and with the poor remains of his broken fortune purchased a small farm in this province. No man was better qualified than he, for the business he had engaged in. He had a high sense of honour and a good un­derstanding: was active, loyal, and of a military disposi­tion. For upon the news of the late rebellion in Scotland, he went home, fought under the duke, returned to his fa­mily, and soon after died; leaving a widow and several children, who still feel the consequences of his disappoint­ments.

Mr. Van Dam finished his administration, on the 1st of [Page 198]August 1732; when William Cosby, esq arrived, with a commission, to govern this and the province of New-Jer­sey. The history of our public transactions, from this pe­riod, to the present time, is full of important and enter­taining events, which I leave others to relate. A very near relation to the author had so great a concern in the public controversies with colonel Cosby, that the history of those times will be better received from a more disinterested pen. To suppress truth on the one hand, or exaggerate it, on the other, are both inexcusable faults, and perhaps it would be difficult for me to avoid those extremes. Besides, a writer, who exposes the conduct of the living, will inevitably meet with their fury and resentment. The prudent historian of his own times will always be a coward, and never give fire, till death protects him from the malice and stroke of his enemy.