The council referred the matter to a committee of which Joseph Reade was Chairman. On March 24, 1767, the committee reported as follows (Doc. Hist. N. Y. III, 503–506): May It Please Your Excellency In Obedience to your Excellency's Order in Council of the 4th ultimo, referring to us a Letter of the 29th July last, from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Planations; and requiring our Advice and Information on the Petition therein inclosed, lately presented to his Majesty, by the "Present Ministers of the Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, praying to be incorporated by a Charter under the Seal of the Province of New York, for the Purposes set forth in the said Petition." The Committee have duely considered the same, and beg leave to represent to your Excellency: That on the 8th February 1759, a Petition was preferred to Lieutenant Governor De Lancy by the Minister, Elders and Deacons of the Lutheran Church of the City of New York" praying to be incorporated; and afterwards on the 14th March following, reported by the Committee to whom it was referred, and a Charter advised to be granted to the Petitioners That on the 30th March 1759, a like Petition was presented to Mr. De Lancey by the "Minister Elders Deacons and Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of the City of New York" and referred to a Committee That on the 9th February 1763, an Application of the same Nature was made by the "Minister, Elders and Deacons of the reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the Township of Orange" and referred to a Committee That on the 16th March 1763, a Petition of the "Minister, Elders, and Deacons of the French Protestant Church, of the City of New York," praying to be incorporated, was read in Conneil; and likewise referred to a Committee And that on the 9th September 1763, the Lutherans by a second Petition, prayed a Warrant might Issue to the Attorney General, to prepare a Draft of the Charter ordered on their former Petition; both which Petitions, the Council advised Mr Colden to transmit to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations That Mr Colden, whose Reasons will appear by his Letters on this Subject, did transmit the said two Petitions; and received their Lordships Answer, by their Letter of the 15th July 1764, wherein is the following Paragraph. "We have attentively considered the Petition of the Minister, Elders and Deacons of the Lutheran Church, praying for a Charter of Incorporation; and though we shall be at all Times desirous of concurring in any Measure, that may contribute to the Satisfaction of every pious Community, the principles of which are not adverse to the Religious Constitution of these Kingdoms: Yet it does not appear to us from any thing set forth in their Petition, that such an Incorporation is at present Necessary or Expedient." Except the Charters granted to the Church of England, all the Instances of such Incorporations within this Province, (four only in Number) are confined to the Dutch, whose Claims to this Distinction, are, the Committee apprehend, grounded on one of the Articles of Capitulation, on the Surrender of the Colony in the year 1664, by which it is declared "that the Dutch here, shall enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences in Divine Worship, and Church Discipline." In the Petition now under Consideration, it is asserted as an Inducement to the Royal Grant; "That his Majesty's Subjects of the Province of New York, Dutch and English of the Presbyterian Perswasion, are a great majority of the whole Number of its Inhabitants": This Suggestion, though it should be allowed in respect to Numbers, cannot be admitted, as to the Connection it supposes between the People of those two Denominations; The Dutch were originally part of the Church of Holland, and conform themselves to the Doctrine Worship and Discipline approved by the National Synod at Dordrecht; Whereas the Prayer of the Petitioners, is to be incorporated by the "Name and Stile of the Ministers, Elders, Deacons and Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of the City of New York, according to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and Directory, agreeable to the present established Church of Scotland." - In regard to the other Allegations in the Petition, the Committee discover no essential or material Difference in the Circumstances of the Petitioners, and the other Protestant Congregations, not of the Communion of the Church of England, whereon to ground any Preference But it is asserted by the Petitioners, That "the old English Statutes of Uniformity, do not extend to America;" Whether these Statutes, or that of the 5th Anne Cap: 5, which is made an essential part of the Act of Union; do or do not extend to the Plantations; is a Question of which the Committee do not conceive themselves competent Judges; and which appears necessary to be determined on the highest authority, previous to any final Resolution on the Petition; lest such Incorporations might be considered as repugnant to the provisions of those Statutes. City of New York 24th March 1767. All which is humbly submitted By Order of the Committee. As might have been expected from this report, the petition had little prospect of success, and on August 26, 1767, the King's Order in Council dismissed it. The record reads as follows (Doc. Hist. N. Y. III, 506–508): (Seal) At the Court of St. James's The twenty sixth day of August 1767 Present The Kings Most Excellent Majesty Arch Bishop of Canterbury Lord President Duke of Grafton Earle of Shelburne Viscount Falmouth Whereas there was this Day read at the Board a Report from the Right Honoble the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation affairs, dated the 24th of this Instant, in the Words following vizt "Your Majesty having been pleased, by your Order in Council of the 28th May 1766, to direct the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to Consider and report their Opinion to this Committee, upon petition of the present Ministers, Elders, Deacons and Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of New York, humbly praying, for the reasons therein contained, that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to create them a Body Politick and Corporate, by the Name and stile of the Ministers, Elders, Deacons and Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of the City of New York, according to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Catechisms and Directory, agreeably to the Present Church of Scotland, and that they and their Successors may be thereby enabled, under the Great Seal of the Province, to hold and enjoy the said Church and Ground belonging to the same, and to acquire and hold a further Estate and enjoy such other Powers and Privileges as may be necessary for the Encouragement of Religious Worship; and that Your Majesty would be graciously pleased to grant them such other Aid, Protection and Contenance, as to Your Royal Wisdom should seem meet And the said Lords Commissioners having, in obedience to Your Majesty's said Order of Reference, reported to this Committee, that it appearing, as well upon the face of the said Petition itself, as from other papers in possession of that Board, that many Proceedings had been had before the Council of New York, touching an application of the Presbyterian Church there, for a Charter of Incorporation, it was thought advisable to transmit a Copy of the said Petition to the Governor there, with Directions to communicate the same to the Council for their Advice and Information thereupon, and to report in the fullest manner, the present State and condition of this Protestant Establishment, and also all the proecedings upon a Petition to the same Effect presented to them during the Administration of Lieutenant Governor Colden, and the Reasons why such application did not succeed at that time. That in Return to this Reference to the Governor of New York he had lately transmitted to the said Lords Commissioners a report made to him thereupon by a Committee of Your Majesty's Couneil there, wherein is set forth not only a true Account of the Proeeedings and Precedents to which the Petition to Your Majesty refers, but a doubt is likewise stated of great weight and Importance in this Question Vizt. Whether Your Majesty consistent with the Obligation you are under by Your Coronation Oath, founded on the Act of the 5th of Queene Anne Cap 5, Intituled An Act for securing the Church of England as by Law established,' can create such an Establishment in favour of the Presbyterian Church as is now requested? Which Question the said Lord Commissioners conceive to be of too great Importane, for them to decide upon, but upon the fullest Consideration of what is stated in the Report of the Council of New York, they are of Opinion, that Independent of the objection arising out of this Question, it is not expedient upon Principles of General Policy to comply with the Prayer of this Petition, or to give the Presbyterian Church of New York, any other Privileges and Immunities than it is entitled to by the Laws of Toleration - The Lords of the Committee having maturely considered the Whole of this Matter, do agree in Opinion with the said Lords Commissioners, and therefore humbly Report to your Majesty that the said Petition ought to be dismissed." His Majesty taking the said Report into Consideration, was pleased with the Advice of his Privy Council to approve thereof. and to Order, as it is hereby Ordered, that the said Petition of the Ministers, Elders, Deacons and Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of New York, be dismissed this Board-whereof the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Province of New York, for the time being and all others whom it may concern, are to take Notice, and govern themselves accordingly. W. BLAIR. VI THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH The First Offshoot of the Wall Street Church By the year, 1766, the Wall street church had so completely outgrown its accommodations that it was under the imperative necessity of doing something to relieve the situation. The building of another meeting house was decided upon; but while the congregation was large in numbers, it was small in financial resources. It therefore decided to petition to the corporation of the City for a grant of land at a nominal rental. After looking around, it chose the triangular plot now bounded by Park Row, Printing House Square, Nassau street and Beekman street. This was absolutely virgin land so far as previous ownership and the erection of any buildings were concerned. The Wall street property was almost primeval land, for although the old city wall had run across it, no building had ever stood on the site before the first church. But there had never been anything on the site selected for the new church. It was part of the Commons or Green, of which the present City Hall Park is the remnant. It was bounded on the south by the tract known as the Governor's Garden or the Vineyard (which latter was bounded by Park Row, Beekman street, Nassau street, and a line parallel with and a little south of Ann street), but it was not a part of the Vineyard, as is frequently stated by historical writers. To the north and to the west as far as Broadway, across the site now occupied by the Postoffice building, the land was open, the main part of the town being to the southward. The congregation therefore petitioned the Common Council for this site. The record appears in the Common Council Minutes of February 19, 1766, as follows: The Petition of the Ministers, Elders, Deacons, Trustees, Communicants and others, members of the English Presbyterian Church, of the City of New York was preferred to this Board and Read setting forth Among other things that they are possessed of a Spacious and Convenient Edifice for the Publick Service of Almighty God and the Administration of Divine Ordinances According to their Wholesome and Approved form of Discipline and worship. Yet By their Great and Continual Growth that Building is Rendered Altogether Incapable of Containing the |