1704 to their All papers tion of any Church-Warden, by Death or otherwise the preceding Church-Warden and property to be or Wardens of the said Church, shall deliver over to their Successors, in that transferred Office all Deeds, Charters, Evidences, Books, Matters, and things whatsoever, successors. belonging to the said Church, in their Custody by Indentures containing an Inventory of them, interchangeably under their Hands, which Indentures shall be exhibited and shewn to the Vestrymen at first Meeting, next after such annual Election, or other alteration happening. Rector may appoint Clerk, Sexton, etc. This Act to strued most But nothing herein shall interfere with Act of Toleration of England of 1689. VII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the Rector for the Time being, of the said Church upon avoidance of such Officers, to nominate and appoint a Clerk, Sexton, or Sextons for the said Church; and that the Clerk, Sexton or Sextons of the said Church be, and continue in their respective Offices during their natural lives, unless they voluntarily surrender, becoming incapable of serving by sickness or other infirmity, or misbehave themselves, in which case it shall be in the Power of the Rector of the said Church for the Time being, with Advice and Consent of the ChurchWardens, or one of them, and Vestrymen, or major part of them to displace or remove such Officer or Officers so misbehaving themselves, and not otherwise. VIII. And lastly, be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That this present Act, and the several Powers, Privileges and Liberties therein and thereby granted to the Rector and Inhabitants aforesaid, in Communion as aforesaid, and their Successors forever be, and shall be construed and understood most favorably for the benefit of said Church, according to the true intent and meaning of his Excellency the Governor, and Council and Assembly aforesaid. IX. Provided. Nevertheless, That this present Act of General Assembly, nor anything therein contained, shall be construed or understood to extend to abridge or take away the Indulgency or Liberty of Conscience, granted or allowed to other Protestant Christians, by an Act of Parliament, made in the first year of the late King William and Queen Mary of blessed memory, entitled An Act for exempting their Majestie's Protestant subjects dissenting from the Church of England, from the penalty of certain Laws or by any other Law or Statute of the Realme of England or this Plantation; anything in this present Act contained or miscon strued to the contrary thereof in any ways notwithstanding. See Colonial Laws of New York i. 564-9. Also Col. Docs. N. Y. iv. 1064, 1114-15, 1167-8; v. 2. Council Journal, 213, 220. Am. Ch. Hist. Series, viii. 121, 124. Corwin's Manual, 4th ed. 1902, pp. 94-100. LORD CORNBURY TO THE LORDS OF TRADE. 1704, June 30. Bellomont's Administration. Trinity Church. Fletcher's Grants. To the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners for Trade and My Lords: Having received your Lordships commands to give my opinion of certain Acts of the General Assembly of this province passed since the 2nd of March 1698, I ordered copy's of the list You were pleased to send me to be delivered to every member of Her Majesty's Council here, that is in the province, and at last they have made a Report to me upon those Acts, which I here send inclosed to your Lordships; by which it will appear, that the two first Acts mentioned in the list, and in their Report, they are of Opinion should be confirmed; the reason they give for it is, because they think the same may tend to the peace and quiet of this province; in this I agree with them, though I must observe, that there are some persons Indemnifyed by that Act, who have always been the disturbers of the peace in this country, and are now, and always will be (as far as they are able) irreconcilable Enemies to an English Government; particularly one Samuel Staats, and one Abraham Governeur - the first is a Surgeon who was born in this province of New Yorke in the time of the Dutch Government, went into Holland to learn his trade, and returned hither again, and was here at the time the Dutch surrendered this province to the English; Upon which surrender articles were agreed upon, by which those of the Dutch nation, who had a mind to remain here, were to qualify themselves by certain Oaths, and there was a certain time limited, beyond which they were not to have the benefit of those Articles, if they did not qualify themselves. Accordingly this Samuel Staats stayed here till the time allowed was very nearly expired, and then rather than endeavor to make himself an Englishman, he left this Province and went to Holland, where he remained till a very little time before the Revolution; then he came hither, and joined with Mr. Leisler, was one of the most active men in this Country, and will never cease his endeavors, till he brings this to be a Dutch Government again, if he can. 1704 The seventh act is repealed, by the act above mentioned, and the chief reason that induced me to consent to the repealing of that act, was, because by it, the Church was st(r)ipped of a Lease granted for seven years by Coll. Fletcher under the rent of sixty bushels of wheat, and soon as that act was passed, My lord Bellomont granted the same farm to a Dutchman under the same rent. 1704 It is true several grants repealed, or vacated, by the Act passed in My lord Bellomont's time, were very exorbitant grants and I think ought to be vacated, particularly that to Capt. Evans (which contains near three hundred thousand acres of land) and that for two reasons, first because the quit rent reserved, bore no manner of proportion with the grant, Secondly because the granting so vast Tracts of land to one single person, has notoriously hindered the settling of this Country. I must say the same of the Grants to Dellius, Pinhorn, Banker etc. and to Bayard, all these grants contain vast Tracts of land, and some of them, some of the best land in the Country. My Lords. Your Lordships most faithful humble servant (signed) Cornbury. Col. Docs. N. Y. iv. 1111-12. New Yorke June the 30th 1704. The General Assembly of this Province have lately satt and passed some Acts which I herewith transmit to your Lordships, with duplicates of some others formerly sent; the Acts last past were these: first, an Act granting sundry privileges and powers to the Rector and Inhabitants of the city of New Yorke, of the Communion of the Church of England as by Law established, .... The reason for my ascenting to the first of these Acts is because the Rector and Vestry of Trinity Church have a Charter from Coll. Fletcher, when he was Governor here, and they have been told that Charter is defective, so they applyed to me for one that might be more sufficient; I told them I did not perceive that by my Commission I have any power to grant Charters of incorporation, and that I would not venture to do it without such a power; some time afterwards they came to me again, and desired I would give them leave to offer a Bill to the General Assembly to be passed into an Act for settling the Church; I told them I did consent to it, because by that means the Queen would have the matter fairly before her, and I most humbly intreat Your Lordships favourable representation of that Act to Her Majesty that it may be confirmed; The fourth is an Act I readily consented to because till this time the Assembly has always sat in a Tavern, which I thought was a scandalous thing, and therefore I did several times recommend it to some of the members of the Assembly to think of some method to provide a place fit for them to sit in; this is now done by this bill, and I hope Her Majesty will be pleased to confirm it. 1704 Thus I have given your Lordships an account of the Acts past this last Sessions, which has been longer than it needed have been; through the endeavours of some ill affected persons who had a mind to push the Assembly to such extravagant proceedings, as might move me to dissolve them, hoping by that means to get a Dutch Assembly; These methods did prevail with the Assembly to offer at some things which I thought not proper for them to meddle with; however having told them my mind of those things, I thought it more proper to adjourn them, than to dissolve them, hoping they will grow wiser when the hot weather is over; .... 1704 CORNBURY'S SEIZURE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PARSONAGE AT JAMAICA, L. I. Lord Cornbury's Order to Rev. Mr. Hubbard to Vacate the Parsonage House. By his Excellency Edward Viscount Cornbury Captain General and Governour in chief of the Province of New Yorke, New Jersey, etc., etc. You are hereby required to deliver the Possession of the house Lands and premisses whereon you now dwell and which belongs to the Church of Jamaica in Queens County to ye high sheriffe of the said County after a reasonable time for removing your goods and stock from the premisses and hereof you are not to fail at your perill. Given under my hand att fort Anne in New Yorke this fourth day of July 1704. To Mr. John Hubbard These. Cornbury. -Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. iii. p. 128. AN ORDER TO THE SHERIFF TO EJECT REV. MR. HUBBARD FROM HIS HOUSE IN JAMAICA. By his Excellency Edward Viscount Cornbury Capt. General and Governour in Whereas by my order under my hand dated herewith I have ordered Mr. John Hubbard to deliver the Possession of the house land premises whereon he now dwells and which belongs to the church of Jamaica in Queens County to you after a reasonable time for removing his goods and stock from the premisses. You are therefore hereby required to deliver the possission of the said premisses after you have received it from the said Hubbard to Mr. William Urquhart and if it happen that ye said Hubbard shall in contempt of my said order refuse to deliver ye possession of the premisses to you as aforesaid, then and in such case you are hereby required impowered to enter on ye Premisses, and possession so taken to deliver to the said Mr. Arquhart and all Justices of the Peace and others her Majesty's offi cers both civil and military are hereby required to be aiding and assisting unto you as the execution hereof. Given under my hand att fort Anne in New Yorke this fourth day of July 1704. To Tho. Cardle, Esq. High Sheriffe of Queens County. Endorsed "An order to the Cornbury. High Sheriffe of Queens County." Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. iii. p. 128. |