Death of Colonel Schuyler.
THIS year (1757) was marked by an event that not only clouded the future
life of madame, but occasioned the deepest concern to the whole
province. Colonel Schuyler was scarcely sensible of the decline of life,
except some attacks of the rheumatism, to which the people of that
country are peculiarly subject. He enjoyed sound health and equal
spirits, and had, upon the whole, from the temperance of his habits, and
the singular equanimity of his mind, a more likely prospect of
prolonging his happy and useful life, than falls to the lot of most
people. He had, however, in very cold weather, gone to town to visit a
relation, then ill of a pleurisy; and having sat awhile by the invalid,
and conversed with him both on his worldly and spiritual affairs, he
returned very thoughtful. On rising the next morning, he began the day,
as had for many years been his custom, with singing some verses of a
psalm in his closet. Madame observed that he was interrupted by a most
violent fit of sneezing; this returned again a little while after, when
he calmly told her that he felt the symptoms of a pleuritic attack,
which had begun in the same manner with that of his friend; that the
event might possibly prove fatal; but that knowing, as she did, how long
a period[14] of more than common felicity had been granted to their
mutual affection, and with what tranquillity he was enabled to look
forward to that event which is common to all, and which would be
earnestly desired if withheld; he expected of her that, whatever might
happen, she would look back with gratitude, and forward with hope; and,
in the mean time, honour his memory, and her own profession of faith, by
continuing to live in the manner they had hitherto done, that he might
have the comfort of thinking that his house might still be an asylum to
the helpless and the stranger, and a desirable place of meeting to his
most valued friends: this was spoken with an unaltered countenance, and
in a calm and even tone. Madame, however, was alarmed: friends from all
quarters poured in, with the most anxious concern for the event. By this
time there was an hospital built at Albany for the troops, with a
regular medical establishment. No human aid was wanting, and the
composure of madame astonished every one. This, however, was founded on
hope; for she never could let herself imagine the danger serious, being
flattered both by the medical attendants, and the singular fortitude of
the patient. He, however, continued to arrange all things for the change
he expected. He left his houses in town and country, his plate, and, in
short, all his effects, to his wife, at her sole disposal; his estates
were finally left to the orphan son of his nephew, then a child in the
family; but madame was to enjoy the rents during her life.
His negroes, for whom he had a great affection, were admitted every day
to visit him; and with all the ardour of attachment peculiar to that
kind-hearted race, implored heaven day and night for his recovery. The
day before his death, he had them all called around his bed, and in
their presence besought of madame that she would upon no account sell
any of them. This request he would not have made could he have foreseen
the consequences. On the fifth day of his illness he quietly breathed
his last; having expressed, while he was able to articulate, the most
perfect confidence, in the mercy of the God whom he had diligently
served and entirely trusted; and the most tender attachment to the
friends he was about to leave.
Footnote 14:
Forty years.
It would be a vain attempt to describe the sorrow of a family like his,
who had all been accustomed from childhood to look up to him as the
first of mankind, and the medium through which they received every
earthly blessing; while the serenity of his wisdom, the sweet and gentle
cast of his heartfelt piety, and the equable mildness of his temper,
rendered him incapable of embittering obligations; so that his generous
humanity and liberal hospitality, were adorned by all the graces that
courtesy could add to kindness. The public voice was loud in its
plaudits and lamentations. In the various characters of a patriot, a
hero, and a saint, he was dear to all the friends of valour, humanity,
and public spirit; while his fervent loyalty and unvaried attachment to
the king, and the laws of that country by which his own was protected,
endeared him to all the servants of government; who knew they never
should meet with another equally able, or equally disposed to smooth
their way in the paths of duty assigned to them.
To government this loss would have been irreparable, had not two
singular and highly meritorious characters a little before this time
made their appearance, and by superiority of merit and abilities, joined
with integrity seldom to be met with any where, in some degree supplied
the loss to the public. One of these was Sir William Johnson, the Indian
superintendent, formerly mentioned; the other was Cadwallader Colder,
for a very long period of years, lieutenant governor, (indeed, virtually
governor,) of New-York; who, in point of political sagacity, and
thorough knowledge of those he governed, was fully capable to supply
that place. This shrewd and able ruler, whose origin, I believe, was not
very easily traced, was said to be a Scotchman, and had raised himself
solely by his merit to the station he held. In this he maintained
himself by indefatigable diligence, rigid justice, and the most perfect
impartiality. He neither sought to be feared nor loved, but merely to be
esteemed and trusted, and thus fixed his power on the broad foundation
of public utility. Successive governors, little acquainted with the
country, and equally strangers to business, found it convenient to leave
the management with him; who confessedly understood it better than any
one else, and who had no friends but a few personal ones, and no enemies
but a few public ones, who envied his station. It was very extraordinary
to see a man rule so long and so steadily, where he was merely and
coldly esteemed; with so few of the advantages that generally procure
success in the world, without birth or alliance; he had not even the
recommendation of a pleasing appearance or insinuating address. He was
diminutive, and somewhat more than high-shouldered. The contrast betwixt
the wealth of his mind and the poverty of his outward appearance, might
remind one of Æsop, or rather of the faithful though ill-shaped herald
of Ulysses:
“Eurybutes, in whose large mind alone,
Ulysses viewed the image of his own.”
Thus it was with Colden. Among the number of governors who succeeded
each other in his time, if, by chance, one happened to be a man of
ability, he estimated his merit at its just rate; and whatever original
measure he might find it necessary to take for the public good, left the
common routine of business in the hands of that tried integrity and
experience in which he found them; satisfied with the state and
popularity of governor, on which the other had not a wish to encroach.
Colden, however, enriched his own family, in a manner, on the whole, not
objectionable. He procured from the successive governors various grants
of land, which, though valuable in quality, were not, from the
remoteness of their situation, an object of desire to settlers; and
purchased grants from many who had obtained the property of them, among
which were different governors and military commanders. He allowed this
mine of future wealth to lie quietly ripening to its value, till the
lands near it were, in process of time, settled, and it became a
desirable object to purchase or hold on lease.
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