admin CHAPTER V.
COUNT FRONTENAC’S CAMPAIGNS – PIRACY – MISGOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK – FRENCH FRONTIER POSTS.
IN 1693 Count Frontenac set out from Montreal with an army of French and Indians, and invaded the Mohawk country, capturing their castles, killing some of the tribe, and taking about three hundred prisoners. Schuyler, with militia of Albany, hastened to the assistance of Mohawks, and pursued the enemy in their retreat, retaking about fifty prisoners. In 1696 Count Frontenac made another effort for the subjugation of the Five Nations. With an army of regular troops and Indians under his command he ascended the St. Lawrence to Cadaraqui, now Kingston; then, crossing to Oswego, made a descent upon the Onondagas, who, apprised of his coming, set fire to and deserted their principal towns. On retracing his march he found his progress obstructed by the Onondagas, and incursions into Canada by the Five Nations were again renewed. In the following year the war between France and England was terminated by the peace of Ryswick, and these barbarous hostilities ceased.
During the late war piracy had prevailed, and was believed to be encouraged by the governments, for the annoyance of the commerce of their respective enemies. Merchant vessels were destroyed within sight of the harbor of New York, the commercial depot of the pirates, some of whom had sailed from there, having a good understanding with Fletcher and other officers. The extinction of piracy was loudly demanded, and the English government found it necessary to resort to vigorous measures for this end; and consequently, in 1695 Fletcher was recalled, and Richard, Earl of Bellomont, appointed in his place, with instructions for the suppression of this evil The Earl of Bellomont, whose commission included the governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well as New York, did not arrive until May, 1698. Before leaving England, an armed vessel was fitted out by Bellomont and others, and placed under the command of Captain William Kidd, who sailed from England in 1696, and after cruising for a while turned pirate himself, and became the most bold and daring of the ocean marauders. He returned to New York with his booty and concealed portions of it on Long Island. He was subsequently arrested in Boston, by order of the governor, on a charge of piracy, sent to England for trial, and there convicted and executed. Bellomont favored the Democratic or Leislerian party, and the new Assembly in 1699 being also Democratic, an act was passed by which the families of Leisler and Milborne were reinstated in their possessions. Bellomont died in 1701, and John Nanfan, the lieutenant-governor, upon whom the government devolved, succeeded him until the arrival, in 1702, of Lord Cornbury, who was appointed by King William as a reward for his desertion of James II., in whose army he had been an officer. His administration was chiefly distinguished for its intolerance, and he received the unenviable distinction of being the worst governor under the English regime. With savage bigotry he sought to establish the Church of England by imprisoning dissenting clergymen, and prohibiting them from exercising their functions without his special license, and he even robbed one clergyman of his house and glebe. With insatiable rapacity he plundered the public treasury, and opposed every measure of the people for the security of their rights. Destitute of gratitude, licentious and base, he completed the universal contempt in which he was held by appearing in public dressed in women’s clothes. As he had become an object of abhorrence, the Queen, through the pressure of popular sentiment, felt compelled to revoke his commission. As soon as he was deposed he was thrown into prison by his creditors, where he remained until the death of his father, when he became Earl of Clarendon. Upon the death of King William his commission was renewed by the Queen, who at the same time gave him the chief command of New Jersey, the government of which the proprietor had surrendered into her hands. He was succeeded December 1 8th, 1708, by Lord Lovelace, who died on the 5th of May following, leaving the government in the hands of Lieutenant Governor Ingoldsby, whose administration is only remarkable for an unsuccessful expedition, under Colonel Nicholson, for the reduction of Canada. This failure was chiefly due to the mismanagement of Ingoldsby, who was consequently removed April 10th, 1710, and Gerardus Beekman, the oldest member of the council, exercised the’ authority of governor till June 14th, when Robert Hunter arrived with a commission as governor. This year Colonel Schuyler went to England to urge the importance of subduing Canada, taking with him the chiefs of the Five Nations, who were highly gratified with their voyage and reception.
The ensuing year another expedition for the reduction of Canada was undertaken. Four thousand troops were raised in the colonies under Colonel Nicholson, to join an English fleet and land force before Quebec. Arriving in the St. Lawrence, many of the ships were wrecked, and about a thousand soldiers lost, which put an end to the campaign. Nicholson, who had proceeded as far as Lake George, on hearing this news returned, and the expedition proved an entire failure. It had entailed a heavy debt upon the province, in consequence of which the governor’s influence was somewhat impaired, he having entered into it with much zeal. His request for a permanent appropriation for the government was refused by the Assembly, which brought him into several unhappy contests with that body. In March, 1713, the war between England and France terminated by the treaty of Utrecht, in which the English supremacy over the Five Nations was conceded by the French, and an end put to the infliction of Indian hostilities. The Five Nations being relieved from hostilities with the French, engaged in conflict with the Indians at the south. The Tuscaroras, a tribe kindred to the Iroquois, residing in North Carolina, having been greatly reduced by a war with the whites, and being unable to resist their encroachment, removed to the north and joined the confederacy. They settled near Lake Oneida, among the Five Nations, and the confederates were thenceforward called the Six Nations. Hunter remained at the head of the government until 1719, when, his health failing, he returned to England. His intercourse with the Assembly was agreeable during the latter part of his administration, and his attachment to the interest of the colony made his departure regretted.
The government devolved upon Peter Schuyler, the oldest member of the council, who successfully administered affairs until the arrival of William Burnet, September 17th, 1720. A trading post was commenced at Oswego in 1722, by Governor Burnet, in order to engross the trade of the Six Nations, and with the farther design of following it up on the lakes to the westward, to obtain the trade of the more remote tribes. A congress of several colonies was held at Albany to meet the Six Nations, whereby the chain of friendship was strengthened, and trade with remote tribes promoted. The establishment of this post at Oswego was highly displeasing to the French, and in order to intercept the trade from the upper lakes they obtained consent of the Iroquois, through the influence of the Jesuits, to rebuild their trading-house and fort at Niagara, and also decided to erect a chain of military posts to the Ohio river, so as to cut off and confine the English trade. Though not without opposition, they succeeded in erecting their fort at Niagara. Although some of the members of the Six Nations were opposed to this invasion by the French, it succeeded through the disaffection of a party of merchants and others interested in the French trading policy, who, since the peace of Utrecht, had carried on a good trade with Montreal, through the aid of Indian carriers, and were opposed to the governor’s policy. The Assembly was also strongly tinctured with the spirit of opposition, and refused a renewal of supplies except for short periods. This body was dissolved in 1727, but the next was quite as stubborn, and it was likewise dissolved, and the governor could only erect a small military defense for the post at Oswego, which, to his credit and the colony’s shame, was at his own expense. On the accession of George II., Burnet was, through the efforts of his enemies, transferred to the government of Massachusetts, and John Montgomery appointed to succeed him. He entered upon his duties April 15th, 1728. His short administration is not distinguished for any important event. In 1729 the King, against the wishes of the best citizens of the colony, repealed the act prohibiting the trade in Indian goods between Albany and Montreal. A line was surveyed and agreed upon between Connecticut and New York in 1 73 1. The establishment of this partition gave to New York a tract of land formerly on the Connecticut side, called from its figure the “Oblong,” as an equivalent for lands near the sound, surrendered to Connecticut.
Montgomery died July 1st, 173 1, and was succeeded by Rip Van Dam, whose administration was unfortunately signalized by the erection of a fort at Crown Point by the French, without resistance from the acting governor. The arrival of Colonel William Cosby, August 1st, 1732, finished his administration, and began one rendered memorable for its arbitrary proceedings and tumult, rather than for striking or important events. Among the first of Cosby’s acts was a demand that Rip Van Dam, his predecessor, should divide equally with him the emoluments of the office before his arrival. Van Dam assented, on the condition that Cosby should reciprocate by an equal division of the perquisites received by him from the colonies since his appointment and before coming to this country. This demand on the part of Van Dam was sustained by the people generally, but Cosby, despotic and avaricious, refused, and commenced a suit against Van Dam for half of his salary. As the governor by virtue of his office was chancellor, and two of the judges his personal friends, the counsel for defense took exception against the jurisdiction of the court. The exception was overruled by the judges in the interest of Cosby, even against the opinion of Chief Justice Morris, who was immediately removed from his office and Colonel Cosby’s claim ordered paid. The indignation of the people at such arbitrary proceedings found vent in squibs and ballads, aimed at the aristocracy, and placing some of the members of the legislature in a ludicrous position. The New York Weekly Journal, edited by John P. Zenger, in defending Van Dam, published some severe criticisms on the government, arraigning the officials for assumed arbitrary power and perverting their official stations to purposes of private emolument. These papers were ordered to be burnt by the common hangman, and Zenger was arrested and imprisoned on a criminal charge for publishing a seditious libel against the government When the trial came on, the publication was admitted, and proof offered for its justification, which were objected to by the attorney-general, on the ground that in a criminal proceeding for the publication of libelous matter, the truth of the facts alleged was not proper to be admitted in evidence, and he was sustained by the court, Andrew Hamilton, the counsel for the defense, resisted this decision of the court, and insisted that the jury was the judges of both the facts and the law, and it was for them to interpose between arbitrary violations of law and justice and their intended victim. The jury, after a short deliberation, gave a unanimous verdict of acquittal. Cosby, although repulsed by this verdict, persistently continued to make himself odious to the people by other arbitrary measures. A few days before his death he convened his council in his bed-chamber, and suspended Van Dam, the senior member thereof, upon whom the government would have devolved upon his decease. He died March 10th, 1736. The council convened immediately after his death, and George Clark, next senior counsellor, was declared president, and assumed the authority of governor. The suspension of Van Dam was declared illegal by a powerful party in his favor, and a struggle ensued between him and Clark for the office, both exercising authority until October 30th, when Clarke received a commission from England to act as lieutenant governor. He sought to conciliate those hostile to him, and to keep in favor with the aristocratic party at the same time, he dissolved the Assembly that had continued in existence for many years, and a new one was elected, which, to his chagrin and regret, was in sympathy with the popular party, and at its session could not be prevailed upon to grant a revenue for a longer period than one year, establishing a precedent that subsequent Assemblies did not depart from.
SOURCE: History of Wyoming County, N.Y., with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents; F. W. Beers & Co.; 1880