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kindness, and his single bravery and activity in the defense of his country.'

."* Through the influence of Quider, therefore, Colonel Fletcher was placed upon the best footing with the Indians, by whom was conferred upon him the name of Cayenguinago, or "The Great Swift Arrow," as a compliment for a remarkably rapid journey made by him from New York to Schenectady on a sudden emergency.†

Desparing, at length, of accomplishing a peace with the Five Nations, Count Frontenac determined to strike a blow upon the Mohawks in their own country-which purpose was securely executed in the month of February, 1693. For once this vigilant race of warriors were taken by surprise, two of their castles being entered and captured without much resistance—the warriors of both having been mostly absent at Schenectady. On assailing the third, or upper castle, however, the invaders met with a different reception. The warriors within, to the number of forty, were engaged in a war-dance, preparatory to some military expedition upon which they were about entering; and though inferior in force, yet they yielded not without a struggle, nor until thirty of the assailants had been slain. About three hundred of the Mohawks were taken prisoners in this invasion, in respect to which the people of Schenectady have been charged with bad conduct. They neither aided their neighbors, nor even apprised them of the approach of danger, although informed of the fact in due season themselves. But Quider, the fast friend of the Indians, took the field at the head of the militia of Albany, immediately on hearing of the invasion, and harassed the enemy sharply during their retreat. Indeed, but for the protection of a snow-storm, and the accidental resting of a cake of ice upon the river, forming a bridge for their escape, the invaders would have been cut off.

Fletcher was by profession a soldier, a man of strong passions and inconsiderable talents; very active, and equally avaricious. His administration was so energetic and successful the first year, that he received large supplies, and a vote of special thanks from the Assembly. He was a bigot, however, to the Episcopal form of church government, and labored hard to introduce into the province the English language, to encourage English churches and schools. On this account he was soon involved in a violent controversy with the Assembly, who were at first inclined rather to favor the Dutch churches. But in 1693 an Assembly was found, who, more pliant, passed an act "Providing for the building of a church in the City of New York, in which was to be settled a Protestant minister"-the word Protestant being tacitly understood to mean Episcopal. This was the origin of Trinity Church, which was forthwith

* Smith's History of New York.

+ Colden's Six Nations.

This church was destroyed by fire in 1776, and lay in ruins until 1788, when it was rebuilt. In 1839 it was torn down to build the present edifice, which was

opened in 1846.

begun in 1696, and finished and opened for public worship in February, 1697, under the auspices of the Rev. William Vesey. The church itself, which was a very insignificant building, resembled its present namesake on the same site in nothing save in having a very tall spire. Certainly it did not resemble the present Trinity in having set apart in it (as it did) a pew for the Mayor and Common Council, to whom a sermon was annually preached, on the day of the city election. What a pity it is, however, that this good old custom cannot be revived-for, of all persons, who need religious instruction more than our worthy Mayors and Aldermen? Was the setting apart of this pew intended as a delicate piece of sarcasm, or were the city officials of that day really men of a different stamp?

Fletcher was succeeded by Richard, Earl of Bellamont, who was appointed Governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, in May, 1695, but did not arrive in New York until May, 1698. He was appointed by King William with a special view to the suppression of piracy in the American seas-New York, at that time, having been a commercial depot of the pirates, with whom Fletcher, and other officers in the colony, had a good understanding. Kidd was fitted out with a ship by Bellamont, Robert Livingstone, and others, including several English noblemen. Turning pirate himself, Kidd was afterward arrested in Boston by the Earl, and sent home for trial. The Earl was a nobleman of polite manners, a great favorite of King William, and very popular among the people both of New York and Boston. He had been dissipated in his youth, but afterward became penitent and devout. He died in New York, in March, 1701.

On the death of Earl Bellamont, the government devolved upon Mr. Nanfan, the Lieutenant-Governor, until the appointment of Lord Cornbury, in 1702. A public dinner was given in honor of his arrival; he was presented with the freedom of the city, in a gold box; and a congratulatory address was tendered him by the city authorities. It was not long, however before his true character appeared. He was a very tyrannical, base, and profligate man, and was appointed to the government of New York by King William, as a reward for his desertion of King James, in whose army he was an officer. He was a savage bigot and an ungentlemanly tyrant. He imprisoned several clergymen who were dissenters, and robbed the Rev. M. Hubbard, of Jamaica, of his house and glebe. He was wont to dress himself in women's clothes, and thus patrol the fort. His avarice was insatiable, and his disposition that of a

savage.

The only things worthy of note during his administration are: First, the establishment by the corporation of the city of a free grammarschool; and second, the raging of a malignant epidemic, which strongly resembled the yellow-fever. The terror-stricken citizens fled to the shores

of New Jersey and Staten Island; and Lord Cornbury, with his council, took up his quarters at Jamaica, Long Island. But the inhabitants of New York had a worse plague, than even the pestilence, in Cornbury; who, at length, becoming an object of universal abhorrence and detestation, was superseded by Queen Anne, who, in the autumn of 1708, appointed John, Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurley, in his place.

Lovelace, however, did not long enjoy either the cares or pleasures of office. He died on the 5th of May in the next year, of a disorder contracted in crossing the ferry at his first arrival in New York. On the death of his lordship, the government once more devolved upon Richard Ingoldsby, the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, until the arrival of Governor Hunter, in the summer of 1710.

Hunter was a Scotchman, and when a boy, an apprentice to an apothecary. Leaving his master, he entered the army, and being a man of wit and beauty, gained promotion, and also the hand of Lady Hay. In 1707 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, but being captured by the French on his voyage out, on his return to England he was appointed to the government of New York and New Jersey, then united in the same jurisdiction. Governor Hunter was the man who brought over the three thousand Palatines from Germany, by whom the German settlements in the interior of New York and Pennsylvania were founded. He administered the government of the colony "well and wisely," as was said to him in an affectionate parting address by the General Assembly, until the summer of 1719, when he returned to England, on leave of absence, as well on account of his health as to look after his private affairs. He intimated, upon his departure, that he might return to the government again, but did not. The chief command on his departure devolved on the Hon. Peter Schuyler, as the oldest member of the council, but only for a brief period. He, however, held a treaty with the Six Nations at Albany, which was considered satisfactory; yet it would have been more so, had his efforts to induce the Confederates to drive Joncaire, the artful agent of the French, out of their country, been successful. This Jesuit emissary had resided among the Senecas from the beginning of Queen Anne's reign. He had been adopted by them, and was greatly beloved by the Onondagas. He was incessant in his intrigues in behalf of the French, facilitating the missionaries in their progress through the country, and contributing greatly to the vacillating course of the Indians toward the English. Schuyler was aware of all this; but notwithstanding his own great influence over the Six Nations, he could not prevail upon them to discard their favorite. In other respects the government of Schuyler was marked by moderation, wisdom, and integrity.

About this period a "new market was established at the upper end of Broad street, between the City Hall and Exchange Place, and permission was given to the residents of the vicinity to erect stalls and sheds

to suit their convenience, under the direction of the Clerk of the Market. Country people were also permitted to sell meat at wholesale or retail, as they pleased, subject to the same supervision; and bakers were required to brand their loaves with their initials, under penalty of forfeiture of the bread. In the spring of the same year (1711) it was resolved that a meeting of the Common Council should be held at the City Hall on the first Friday of every month; and the treasurer was also ordered to purchase eighteen rush-bottomed chairs and an oval table for their accommodation."*

William Burnet, son of the celebrated prelate of that name who flourished in the reign of William and Mary, succeeded Hunter in the government of the colony, in the year 1720; and of all the colonial Governors of New York, with the exception of Colonel Dongan, his Indian and colonial policy was marked by the most prudent forecast and the greatest wisdom. Immediately after the peace of Utrecht a a brisk trade in goods for the Indian market was revived between Albany and Montreal, the Caughnawaga tribe of the Mohawks residing near Montreal serving as carriers. The chiefs of the Six Nations foresaw the evil and inevitable consequences to result from allowing that trade to pass round in that direction, inasmuch as the Indians would of course be drawn exclusively to Montreal for their supplies, to be received immediately at the hands of the French, and they cautioned the English authorities against it. Mr. Hunter had indeed called the attention of the General Assembly to the subject at an antecedent period; but no action was had thereon until after Mr. Burnet had assumed the direction of the colonial administration. The policy of the latter was at once to cut off an intercourse so unwise and dangerous with Montreal, and bring the entire Indian trade within the limits and control of New York. То this end an act was passed at his suggestion, subjecting the traders with Montreal to a forfeiture of their goods, and a penalty of one hundred pounds for each infraction of the law. It likewise entered into the policy of Mr. Burnet to win the confidence of the Caughnawagas, and reunite them with their kindred in their native valley. But the ties by which the Roman priesthood had bound them to the interests of the French, were too strong, and the efforts of the Governor were unsuccessful.

In furtherance of the design to grasp the Indian trade, not only of the Six Nations, but likewise that of the remoter nations of the upper lakes, a trading-post was established at Oswego in 1722. A trusty agent

* It is to this day quite a knotty question whether these "rush-bottomed chairs" were designed merely to encourage "plain Republican simplicity," or whether there was not an intention to make the damage as small as possible, in case of the members throwing them at each other's heads-as is said to have been the case within the last few months.

was also appointed to reside at the great council-fire of the Onondagas, the central nation of the Confederates. A congress of several of the colonies was held at Albany to meet the Six Nations, during the same year, which, among other distinguished men, was attended by Governor Spottswood, of Virginia, Sir William Keith, of Pennsylvania, and by Governor Burnet. At this council the chiefs stipulated that in their southern war expeditions they would not cross the Potomac, and in their marches against their southern enemies, their path was to lie westward of the great mountains-the Alleghanies meaning. Mr. Burnet again brightened the chain of friendship with them on the part of New York, notwithstanding the adverse influences exerted by the Chevalier Joncaire, the Jesuit agent residing alternately among the Senecas and Onondagas.

The beneficial effects of Mr. Burnet's policy were soon apparent. In the course of a single year more than forty young men plunged boldly into the Indian country as traders, acquired their languages, and strengthened the precarious friendship existing between the English and the more distant nations; while tribes of the latter previously unknown to the colonists, even from beyond the Michilimackinac, visited Albany for purposes of traffic.

The establishment of an English post at Oswego was a cause of high displeasure to the French, who, in order to intercept the trade from the upper lakes that would otherwise be drawn thither, and thus be diverted from Montreal, determined to repossess themselves of Niagara, rebuild the trading-house at that point, and repair their dilapidated fort. The consent of the Onondagas to this measure was obtained by the Baron de Longueil, who visited their country for that purpose, through the influence of Joncaire and his Jesuit associates. But the other members of the Confederacy, disapproving of the movement, declared the permission given to be void, and dispatched messengers to Niagara to arrest the procedure. With a just appreciation of the importance of such an encroachment upon their territory, the Confederates met Mr. Burnet in council upon the subject at Albany in 1727. "We come to you howling," said the chiefs; "and this is the reason why we howl, that the Governor of Canada encroaches upon our land and builds thereon." Governor Burnet made them a speech on the occasion beautifully expressed in their own figurative language, which gave them great satisfaction.* The chiefs declaring themselves unable to resist this invasion of the French, entreated the English for succor, and formally surrendered their country to the great king, "to be protected by him for their use," as heretofore stated. But Governor Burnet being at that period involved in political difficulties with an Assembly too short-sighted

* Smith's History of New York.

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