time to time as a vacancy happens, be chosen and recommended by the Common Council of the said city for the time being, in order to be licensed and approved by the Right Honorable, the Bishop of London, for the time being, or the Governor or Commander in Chief of this province for the time being, anything herein contained to the contrary thereof in any ways notwithstanding." 187. Approved, and sent down to the House. 187-8. Enacted 189. AN ACT FOR ENCOURAGEMENT OF A GRAMMER FREE SCHOOL IN (Passed, November 27, 1702.) The Mayor, Aldermen and Comonaity of the City of New York having Represented unto the General Assembly of this Province the great necessity there is of having a Free-School in the said City, for the Educacon and Instruction of Youth and Male Children; That such Pious and Necessary work may receive due encouragement, Be it Enacted by his Excellency the Governour and Council, and Representatives Convened in General Assembly, and by Authority of the Same, that there shall be hereafter Elected, Chosen, Lycensed, Authorized and appointed one able Skillfull and Orthodox person to be School-Master, for the Education and Instruction of Youth and Male Children of Such Parents as are of French and Dutch Extraction, as well as of the English, may come and be Instructed in the Languages, or other Learning usually taught in Grammar Schools. And for the Encouragement of Such School-Master. Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That henceforward Annually there shall be in the said City Assessed, Leveyed, Collected and paid for the Space or term of Seven yeares, the Sum of fifty pounds Current money of New York, for the Maintainance of the said School Master, which sald sum of fifty pounds shall be Assessed, Leveyed, Collected and paid by Such Persons, at Such times, in Such Manner, and proportions, and under such penaltyes Respectively as is provided for the Assessing, Leveying, Collecting and paying of the Sum of one hundred pounds P Ann for the Minister of New York, by an Act of Assembly, Intituled, an Act for Settling a Ministry, and Raising a Maintainance for them in the City of New York, County of Richmond, West Chester and Queens County, made in the fourth year of King William and Queen Mary. Provided alwayes, that Such School-Master shall, from time to time, as a vacancy happens, be Chosen and Recomended by the Comon Council of the said City for the time being, in order to be Lycensed and approved by the Right Honorable the Bishop of London or the Governor or Comander in Cheif of this Province, for the time being, anything herein Contained to the Contrary thereof in any ways notwithstanding.- Colonial Laws of New York, Vol. 1. pp. 516, 517. AN ACT FOR THE BETTER SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE (Passed, November 27, 1702.) Whereas the Mayor, Aldermen and Comon Council of the City of New York, have Represented unto the General Assembly of this Province, that in the late Calamitous Distemper, which it please Almighty God to afflict the Inhabitants of the said City, the number and necessitys of the Poor were much increased; and the Sum of Money raised for the maintenance of the Poor in the said City, was farr short of giving them a necessary Support in this Emergency, for Remedy whereof and for the better Support and maintainance, for the future. Be it Enacted by his Excellency the Governor and Council and Representatives Convened in General Assembly, and by Authority of the Same. That hence forth it shall and may be Lawful for Such persons as are Impowered to Raise and provide for the Maintainance of the Minister and the Poor of the said City, Annually in the Month of January, upon any such Emergency, or whensoever a necessary Support or Supply for Maintainance of the Poor of the said City, shall be wanted, at any other time, throughout the 1702 1702 whole year to Assemble and meet together, and make Such further necessary requlsite supply by a Tax upon the Inhabitants of the said City, for the use of the Poor, as they shall Judge Sufficient not Exceeding three hundred pounds money of this Colony for one year to be leveyed, Assessed, Collected and paid by Such persons, & in Such manner, and under like penaltyes respectively, as are provided in the Act of Assembly of this Province, Entituled, An Act for Settling a Ministry and raising a Maintainance for them in the City of New York etc. made in the fourth Year of King William and Queen Mary, anything in the said Act, or any other to the Contrary thereof in any wayes notwithstanding. Provided, That this Act, nor anything therein Contained, shall be of force any Longer than for the Space and time of two years from the publishing hereof.— Colonial Laws of New York, Vol. 1. pp. 507, 508. REV. GEO. KEITH TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION Of the GOSPEL. (1702.) Last Sunday I preached here at New York in the forenoon before his Excellency, Lord Cornbury, at the desire of Mr. Vesey, minister of the Church of England here. My Lord Cornbury invited us to dine with him at Fort Henry, as accordingly we did after sermon, and at several other times at his desire we dined with him. There is a brave congregation of people belonging to the Church here, as well as a very fine fabric of a church, and the Rev. Mr. Vesey very much esteemed and loved both for his ministry and good life, and the like I can say of all the other ministers of the Church, where I have travelled as at Boston, at Rhode Island, and Philadelphia. For an instance of his Excellency, my lord Cornbury, his good and cordial affections to the Church, and to us as ministers thereof, I send to your lordships the inclosed recommendations he has been pleased to give me to all the Justices of the Peace in his government, occasioned by the late abusive entertainment I mett from the Quakers in their meeting at Flushing on Long Island, concerning which I complained to his Excellency. Before we go out of this province, we design to visit the Quakers again att Flushing, and in some other parts, and to try what influence my lord's recommendation will have upon them to give me a hearing without interruption.- Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. iii. p. 251. New York, 29 November, 1702. CERTIFICATE IN FAVOR OF MR. PAUL VAN VLECK. Kinderhook the 30th November, Anno Domini 1702. In the first year of the Reign of her Majesty Anne, Queen of England, Scotland, Ireland and France, Defender of the Faith, We the undersigned inhabitants of Kinderhook patent acknowledge and Declare that Paulus Van Vleg during the whole of the time that he hath resided here and since he was accepted as Precentor and schoolmaster of our church hath truly comported himself to the great content of our congregation, and that, in all the time he was forbidden to preach he hath never preached in house or barn or in any place in Kinderhook, but that he performed the office of precentor as one Hendrick Abelsen, before his death, hath done at Kinderhook; We have received said Paulus van Vleg because one Joghem Lamersen (who was our precentor here) hath resigned the precentorship and frequently complained that he could not perform its duties any longer. We further declare that the above named Paulus van Vleg never took away the key of our church, but that we brought it to him in his house. 10 December 1702 Ordered that the above parties attend the Council to answer all matters to be objected against them.- Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. iii. p. 539. REV. PETER PEIRET'S PETITION. (1702.) To his Excellency Edward Viscount, Cornbury, Governor Generall and Commander in Chief of the Province of New York etc. The humble petition of Peter Peiret,* Minister of the french Congregation in this City. Humbly Sheweth That Milord Bellomont in Council taking in Consideration how little both Mr. Vezey and your Petitioner did receive from their Congregations for their annual maintenance did order that a sume should be paid to them both out of the revenues of this Province every year as an help to themselves and family to keep up the said ministers in a capacity better to serve their said Congregations not Considerable enough by themselves to allow the said Ministers sufficient annuall salary. .That in pursuance to that order both Mr. Vezey and your Petitioner were granted Warrants for a yearly pension ending on the 1st of May 1699. But time and minds altering a little while after the said pension was stopped, and your petitioner deprived of the seme. Your petitioner therefore most humbly represent to your Excellency that by his great age and numerous family being in greater necessity than ever of such succours he most humbly and most earnestly desire your Excellency to use him with de same bounty he doth hear Mr. Vesey has been allouing the same pention for & from the very same time. And your petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray. Read in Council 10 December 1702 and warrants issued for sixty pounds.- Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. ii. p. 250. LORD CORNBURY TO THE LORDS OF TRADE ON LEISLER'S AT 1702 TAINDER. December 12, 1702. One of the things which has the most buoyed up that party (I mean Leisler's faction) is the Act of Parliament passed in England in the year 1695 Intituled The Rev. Mr. Peiret of whom mention is made in Vol. ii. p. 247, and from whom there is a petition dated October 1697, was allowed a pension of twenty pounds per annum until his death, which occurred about the forepart of 1705. He left a widow and five children. He was succeeded, it would appear, by the Rev. Mr. Laborie in May 1706. See Corwin's Manual, 4th edition. 1703 An Act for revising the Attainder of Jacob Leisler and others, By which Act they pretend that Leisler was intituled to the Government of this Province by an Act of General Assembly and that he was since confirmed in the same by the late King's letter dated the 13th day of July 1698. But the persons that solicited that Act in England had not ingenuity enough to acquaint the two houses of Parliament that the Assembly which gave him that Authority was an Assembly called by himself, after he had by violence disposest the King's Lieutenant Governour that then was; So that the Authority he claimed was derived from a body of men authorized by himself who had no power to call them together, consequently an illegal Assembly; And I conceive no illegal Assembly can grant a lawful Authority. I say more upon this head than I should have done, were I not well convinced that the aforementioned Act of Parliament is the main foundation that faction builds upon, and I doe really believe that if an Act of Parliament were passed in England to explain the above mentioned Act of 1695, it would contribute more to the quieting the disturbances here, than any thing else can doe; for till then they say that Leisler was a lawful Governour, and that the Parliament of England have declared him so; though I am pretty well assured that the Parliament of England certainly intended not to justify the plain open Rebellion of the Father, but only to do an Act of favour to the son, who was not guilty of the father's crime But another use has been made here of that Act.Col. Docs. N. Y. iv. 1018. CONVERSION OF THE INDIANS. SIX MISSIONARIES NEEDED. 46 A ...... memorial was received by the Society P. G. in 1703, from Robert Livingstone, Secretary of Indian Affairs in the Province of New York, asking for the appointment of six men, of youth, learning, and orthodoxy, to go as missionaries to the Indians, and suggesting that each should have a couple of youths with him to learn the language and assist in the work, and that a house should be built for each minister at each of the Indian Castles ".- Hawkins, 264. Gen. Epis. Con. MSS. i. 24. Col. Docs. N. Y. iv. 1074-77. DUTCH CHURCH OF NEW YORK. Jan. 7, 1703. Whereas it was Resolved by the Ruling Elders and Deacons on March 17, 1701; that the so-called Poor house and Ground in "Schape Wytye," between Jesse Kip and Adrian ver Plank, should be sold by the Deacons to the highest bidder; and the same was sold by them to Franz van Dyk; therefore, notwithstanding all the documents and papers pertaining thereto are not now in hand, the entire Consistory of Elders and Deacons have Resolved, That the Deacons should make out a deed in proper form, and that the Elders and Deacons and their successors, all qualitate qua, agree to free the purchaser from any subsequent claims, for all time. Thus done on Thursday, Jan. 7, 1703. On the same day the Church Masters, being present in Consistory, requested that body, inasmuch as they had no orders to direct them, to give proper orders to them. The Consistory replied that inasmuch as they were Church Masters, and so by nature, not church servants, they should henceforth receive no orders from the Consistory respecting the Church Building, or what relates to its maintenance and repair - except matters pertaining to the edification of the congregation. On the other hand, the Consistory leave it henceforth to the Church Masters to make such orders or repairs as they may deem expedient. All this shall hold good, provided they be first approved and ratified by the Consistory. Done in our Church Meeting, Jan. 7, 1703. 1703 -Lib. B. p. 39. LORDS OF TRADE TO LORD CORNBURY. Eastchester not to be a distinct Parish. 1703, Jan. 26. P. S. Since the writing of this letter, upon consideration of the Act for declaring the Town of East Chester to be a distinct Parish etc. And of the reasons offered to us against it by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London, We have prepared a report to be laid before her Majesty with Our humble opinion that the same be disallowed. [See Aug. 1, 1701.] Col. Docs. N. Y. iv. 1026. ORDER FOR THE PROSECUTION OF MR. JUSTICE TALMAN, FOR In Councill, 28th January, 1702 [1703?] His Excellency was pleased to Communicate to this board two affidavits taken before a Justice of the Peace of Queens County which were read, the one accusing John Tallman one of the Justices of the said County of saying that the Scriptures were not the rule they being wrote by sinfull men of the like passions as we are and the other accusing the said Tallman for saying that the holy scriptures was a Rule but not the Rule we should walk by. On consideration whereof his Excellency Declares his Resolution of Removing the said Tallman from being one of the Justices of The Peace of the said County And on further Consideration thereof his Excellency & Councill are of opinion that the said Tallman be further prosecuted and so direct the Att. Generall to prosecute the said Tallman for the same at the next Supreme Court of Judicature.Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. ii. p. 124. |