THE COLONY OF NEW YORK.
1628-1775.
SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK BY THE DUTCH IN 1609.--NEGROES
INTRODUCED INTO THE COLONY, 1628.--THE TRADE IN NEGROES
INCREASED.--TOBACCO EXCHANGED FOR SLAVES AND MERCHANDISE.
GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY.--NEW NETHERLAND FALLS INTO THE
HANDS OF THE ENGLISH, AUG. 27, 1664.--VARIOUS CHANGES.--NEW
LAWS ADOPTED.--LEGISLATION.--FIRST REPRESENTATIVES ELECTED
IN 1683.--IN 1702 QUEEN ANNE INSTRUCTS THE ROYAL GOVERNOR IN
REGARD TO THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES.--SLAVERY
RESTRICTIONS.--EXPEDITION TO EFFECT THE CONQUEST OF CANADA
UNSUCCESSFUL.--NEGRO RIOT.--SUPPRESSED BY THE EFFICIENT AID
OF TROOPS.--FEARS OF THE COLONISTS.--NEGRO PLOT OF
1741.--THE ROBBERY OF HOGG'S HOUSE.--DISCOVERY OF A PORTION
OF THE GOODS.--THE ARREST OF HUGHSON, HIS WIFE, AND IRISH
PEGGY.--CRIMINATION AND RECRIMINATION.--THE BREAKING-OUT OF
NUMEROUS FIRES.--THE ARREST OF SPANISH NEGROES.--THE TRIAL
OF HUGHSON.--TESTIMONY OF MARY BURTON.--HUGHSON HANGED.--THE
ARREST OF MANY OTHERS IMPLICATED IN THE PLOT.--THE HANGING
OF CÆSAR AND PRINCE.--QUACK AND CUFFEE BURNED AT THE
STAKE.--THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR'S PROCLAMATION.--MANY WHITE
PERSONS ACCUSED OF BEING CONSPIRATORS.--DESCRIPTION OF
HUGHSON'S MANNER OF SWEARING THOSE HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF THE
PLOT.--CONVICTION AND HANGING OF THE CATHOLIC PRIEST
URY.--THE SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED TERMINATION OF THE
TRIAL.--NEW LAWS MORE STRINGENT TOWARD SLAVES ADOPTED.
From the settlement of New York by the Dutch in 1609, down to its
conquest by the English in 1664, there is no reliable record of
slavery in that colony. That the institution was coeval with the
Holland government, there can be no historical doubt. During the
half-century that the Holland flag waved over the New Netherlands,
slavery grew to such proportions as to be regarded as a necessary
evil. As early as 1628 the irascible slaves from Angola,[215] Africa,
were the fruitful source of wide-spread public alarm. A newly settled
country demanded a hardy and energetic laboring class. Money was
scarce, the colonists poor, and servants few. The numerous physical
obstructions across the path of material civilization suggested cheap
but efficient labor. White servants were few, and the cost of securing
them from abroad was a great hinderance to their increase. The Dutch
had possessions on the coast of Guinea and in Brazil, and hence they
found it cheap and convenient to import slaves to perform the labor of
the colony.[216]
The early slaves went into the pastoral communities, worked on the
public highways, and served as valets in private families. Their
increase was stealthy, their conduct insubordinate, and their presence
a distressing nightmare to the apprehensive and conscientious.
The West India Company had offered many inducements to its
patroons.[217] And its pledge to furnish the colonists with "as many
blacks as they conveniently could," was scrupulously performed.[218]
In addition to the slaves furnished by the vessels plying between
Brazil and the coast of Guinea, many Spanish and Portuguese prizes
were brought into the Netherlands, where the slaves were made the
chattel property of the company. An urgent and extraordinary demand
for labor, rather than the cruel desire to traffic in human beings,
led the Dutch to encourage the bringing of Negro slaves. Scattered
widely among the whites, treated often with the humanity that
characterized the treatment bestowed upon the white servants, there
was little said about slaves in this period. The majority of them were
employed upon the farms, and led quiet and sober lives. The largest
farm owned by the company was "_cultivated by the blacks_;"[219] and
this fact was recorded as early as the 19th of April, 1638, by "Sir
William Kieft, Director-General of New Netherland." And, although the
references to slaves and slavery in the records of Amsterdam are
incidental, yet it is plainly to be seen that the institution was
purely patriarchal during nearly all the period the Hollanders held
the Netherlands.
Manumission of slaves was not an infrequent event.[220] Sometimes it
was done as a reward for meritorious services, and sometimes it was
prompted by the holy impulses of humanity and justice. The most cruel
thing done, however, in this period, was to hold as slaves in the
service of the company the children of Negroes who were lawfully
manumitted. "All their children already born, or yet to be born,
remained obligated to serve the company as slaves." In cases of
emergency the liberated fathers of these bond children were required
to serve "by water or by land" in the defence of the Holland
government.[221] It is gratifying, however, to find the recorded
indignation of some of the best citizens of the New Netherlands
against the enslaving of the children of free Negroes. It was severely
denounced, as contrary to justice and in "violation of the law of
nature." "How any one born of a free Christian mother" could,
notwithstanding, be a slave, and be obliged to remain such, passed
their comprehension.[222] It was impossible for them to explain it."
And, although "they were treated just like Christians," the moral
sense of the people could not excuse such a flagrant crime against
humanity.[223]
Director-General Sir William Kieft's unnecessary war, "without the
knowledge, and much less the order, of the XIX., and against the will
of the Commonality there," had thrown the Province into great
confusion. Property was depreciating, and a feeling of insecurity
seized upon the people. Instead of being a source of revenue, New
Netherlands, as shown by the books of the Amsterdam Chamber, had cost
the company, from 1626 to 1644, inclusive, "over five hundred and
fifty thousand guilders, deducting the returns received from there."
It was to be expected that the slaves would share the general feeling
of uneasiness and expectancy. Something had to be done to stay the
panic so imminent among both classes of the colonists, bond and free.
The Bureau of Accounts made certain propositions to the company
calculated to act as a tonic upon the languishing hopes of the people.
After reciting many methods by which the Province was to be
rejuvenated, it was suggested "that it would be wise to permit the
patroons, colonists, and other farmers to import as many Negroes from
the Brazils as they could purchase for cash, to assist them on their
farms; as (it was maintained) these slaves could do more work for
their masters, and were less expensive, than the hired laborers
engaged in Holland, and conveyed to New Netherlands, "_by means of
much money and large promises_."[224]
Nor was the substitution of slave labor for white a temporary
expedient. Again in 1661 a loud call for more slaves was heard.[225]
In the October treaty of the same year, the Dutch yielded to the
seductive offer of the English, "to deliver two or three thousand
hogsheads of tobacco annually ... in return for negroes and
merchandise." At the first the Negro slave was regarded as a cheap
laborer,--a blessing to the Province; but after a while the cupidity
of the English induced the Hollanders to regard the Negro as a
coveted, marketable chattel.
"In its scheme of political administration, the West-India
Company exhibited too often a mercantile and selfish spirit;
and in encouraging commerce in Negro slaves, it established
an institution which subsisted many generations after its
authority had ceased."[226]
The Dutch colony was governed by the Dutch and Roman law. The
government was tripartite,--executive, legislative, and judicial,--all
vested in, and exercised by, the governor and council. There seemed to
be but little or no necessity for legislation on the slavery question.
The Negro seemed to be a felt need in the Province, and was regarded
with some consideration by the kind-hearted Hollanders. Benevolent and
social, they desired to see all around them happy. The enfranchised
African might and did obtain a freehold; while the Negro who remained
under an institution of patriarchal simplicity, scarcely knowing he
was in bondage, danced merrily at the best, in "kermis," at Christmas
and Pinckster.[227] There were, doubtless, a few cases where the
slaves received harsh treatment from their masters; but, as a rule,
the jolly Dutch fed and clothed their slaves as well as their white
servants. There were no severe rules to strip the Negroes of their
personal rights,--such as social amusements or public feasts when
their labors had been completed. During this entire period, they went
and came among their class without let or hinderance. They were
married, and given in marriage;[228] they sowed, and, in many
instances, gathered an equitable share of the fruits of their labors.
If there were no schools for them, there were no laws against an
honest attempt to acquire knowledge at seasonable times. The
Hollanders built their government upon the hearthstone, believing it
to be the earthly rock of ages to a nation that would build wisely for
the future. And while it is true that they regarded commerce as the
life-blood of the material existence of a people, they nevertheless
found their inspiration for multifarious duties in the genial sunshine
of the family circle. A nation thus constituted could not habilitate
slavery with all the hideous features it wore in Virginia and
Massachusetts. The slaves could not escape the good influences of the
mild government of the New Netherlands, nor could the Hollanders
withhold the brightness and goodness of their hearts from their
domestic slaves.
On the 27th of August, 1664, New Netherlands fell into the hands of
the English; and the city received a new name,--New York, after the
famous Duke of York. When the English colors were run up over Fort
Amsterdam, it received a new name, "Fort James." In the twenty-four
articles in which the Hollanders surrendered their Province, there is
no direct mention of slaves or slavery. The only clause that might be
construed into a reference to the slaves is as follows: "IV. If any
inhabitant have a mind to remove himself, he shall have a year and six
weeks from this day to remove himself, wife, children, _servants_,
goods, and to dispose of his lands here." There was nothing in the
articles of capitulation hostile to slavery in the colony.
During the reign of Elizabeth, the English government gave its royal
sanction to the slave-traffic. "In 1562 Sir John Hawkins, Sir Lionel
Duchet, Sir Thomas Lodge, and Sir William Winter"--all "honorable
men"--became the authors of the greatest curse that ever afflicted the
earth. Hawkins, assisted by the aforenamed gentlemen, secured a
ship-load of Africans from Sierra Leone, and sold them at Hispaniola.
Many were murdered on the voyage, and cast into the sea. The story of
this atrocity coming to the ears of the queen, she was horrified. She
summoned Hawkins into her presence, in order to rebuke him for his
crime against humanity. He defended his conduct with great skill and
eloquence. He persuaded her Royal Highness that it was an act of
humanity to remove the African from a bad to a better country, from
the influences of idolatry to the influences of Christianity.
Elizabeth afterwards encouraged the slave-trade.
So when New Netherlands became an English colony, slavery received
substantial official encouragement, and the slave became the subject
of colonial legislation.
The first laws under the English Government were issued under the
patent to the Duke of York, on the 1st of March, 1665, and were known
as "the Duke's Laws." It is rather remarkable that they were fashioned
after the famous "Massachusetts Fundamentals," adopted in 1641. These
laws have the following caption: "_Laws collected out of the several
laws now in force in his majesty's American colonies and
plantations._" The first mention of slavery is contained in a section
under the caption of "Bond Slavery."
"No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery, villenage, or
Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by
Authority, or such as willing have sold or shall sell
themselves, In which Case a Record of Such servitude shall
be entered in the Court of Sessions held for that
Jurisdiction where Such Masters shall Inhabit, provided that
nothing in the Law Contained shall be to the prejudice of
Master or Dame who have or shall by any Indenture or
Covenant take Apprentices for Terme of Years, or other
Servants for Term of years or Life."[229]
By turning to the first chapter on Massachusetts, the reader will
observe that the above is the Massachusetts law of 1641 with but a
very slight alteration. We find no reference to slavery directly, and
the word slave does not occur in this code at all. Article 7, under
the head of "Capital Laws," reads as follows: "If any person forcibly
stealeth or carrieth away any mankind he shall be put to death."
On the 27th of January, 1683, Col. Thomas Dongan was sent to New York
as its governor, and charged with carrying out a long list of
instructions laid down by his Royal Highness the Duke of York. Gov.
Dongan arrived in New York during the latter part of August; and on
the 13th of September, 1683, the council sitting at Fort James
promulgated an order calling upon the people to elect representatives.
On the 17th October, 1683, the General Assembly met for the first time
at Fort James, in the city of New York. It is a great misfortune that
the journals of both houses are lost. The titles of the Acts passed
have been preserved, and so far we are enabled to fairly judge of the
character of the legislation of the new assembly. On the 1st November,
1683, the Assembly passed "_An Act for naturalizing all those of
foreign nations_ at present inhabiting within this province and
professing Christianity, and for encouragement for others to come and
settle within the same."[230] This law was re-enacted in 1715, and
provided, that "nothing contained in this Act is to be construed to
discharge or set at liberty any servant, bondman or slave, but only to
have relation to such persons as are free at the making hereof."[231]
So the mild system of domestic slavery introduced by the Dutch now
received the sanction of positive British law. Most of the slaves in
the Province of New York, from the time they were first introduced,
down to 1664, had been the property of the West-India Company. As such
they had small plots of land to work for their own benefit, and were
not without hope of emancipation some day. But under the English
government the condition of the slave was clearly defined by law and
one of great hardships. On the 24th of October, 1684, an Act was
passed in which slavery was for the first time regarded as a
legitimate institution in the Province of New York under the English
government.[232]
The slave-trade grew. New York began to feel the necessity of a larger
number of slaves. In 1702 her "most gracious majesty," Queen Anne,
among many instructions to the royal governor, directed that the
people "take especial care, that God Almighty be devoutly and duly
served," and that the "Royal African Company of England" "take
especial care that the said Province may have a constant and
sufficient supply of merchantable Negroes, at moderate rates."[233] It
was a marvellous zeal that led the good queen to build up the Church
of England alongside of the institution of human slavery. It was an
impartial zeal that sought their mutual growth,--the one intended by
our divine Lord to give mankind absolute liberty, the other intended
by man to rob mankind of the great boon of freedom! But with the
sanction of statutory legislation, and the silent acquiescence of the
Church, the foundations of the institution of slavery were firmly laid
in the approving conscience of a selfish public. Dazzled by
prospective riches, and unscrupulous in the methods of accumulations,
the people of the Province of New York clamored for more exacting laws
by which to govern the slaves.[234] Notwithstanding Lord Cornbury had
received the following instructions from the crown, "you shall
endeavor to get a law passed for the restraining of any inhuman
severity ... to find out the best means to facilitate and encourage
the conversion of Negroes and Indians to the Christian religion," the
Colonial Assembly (the same year, 1702) passed severe laws against the
slaves. It was "_An Act for regulating slaves_," but was quite lengthy
and specific. It was deemed "_not lawful to trade with negro slaves_,"
and the violation of this law was followed by fine and imprisonment.
"_Not above three slaves may meet together:_" if they did they were
liable to be whipped by a justice of the peace, or sent to jail. "_A
common whipper to be appointed_," showed that the justices had more
physical exercise than they cared for. "_A slave not to strike a
freeman_," indicated that the slaves in New York as in Virginia were
accounted as heathen. "_Penalty for concealing slaves_," and the
punishment of Negroes for stealing, etc., were rather severe, but only
indicated the temper of the people at that time.[235]
The recommendations to have Negro and Indian slaves baptized gave rise
to considerable discussion and no little alarm. As was shown in the
chapter on Virginia, the proposition to baptize slaves did not meet
with a hearty indorsement from the master-class. The doctrine had
obtained in most of the colonies, that a man was a freeman by virtue
of his membership in a Christian church, and hence eligible to office.
To escape the logic of this position, the dealer in human flesh sought
to bar the door of the Church against the slave. But in 1706 "_An Act
to encourage the baptizing of Negro, Indian, and mulatto slaves_," was
passed in the hope of quieting the public mind on this question.
"Whereas divers of her Majesty's good Subjects, Inhabitants
of this Colony, now are, and have been willing that such
Negroe, Indian, and Mulatto Slaves, who belong to them, and
desire the same, should be baptized, but are deterred and
hindered therefrom by reason of a groundless Opinion that
hath spread itself in this Colony, that by the baptizing of
such Negro, Indian, or Mulatto Slave, they would become
Free, and ought to be set at liberty. In order therefore to
put an end to all such Doubts and scruples as have, or
hereafter at any time may arise about the same--
"_Be it enacted, &c._, that the baptizing of a Negro,
Indian, or Mulatto Slave shall not be any cause or reason
for the setting them or any of them at liberty.
"_And be it, &c._, that all and every Negro, Indian, Mulatto
and Mestee bastard child and children, who is, are, and
shall be born of any Negro, Indian, or Mestee, shall follow
the state and condition of the mother and be esteemed,
reputed, taken and adjudged a slave and slaves to all
intents and purposes whatsoever.
"_Provided always, and be it_, &c., That no slave whatsoever
in this colony shall at any time be admitted as a witness
for or against any freeman in any case, matter or cause,
civil or criminal, whatsoever."[236]
So when the door of the Christian Church was opened to the Negro, he
was to appear at the sacred altar with his chains on. Though
emancipated from the bondage of Satan, he nevertheless remained the
abject slave of the Christian colonists. Claiming spiritual kinship
with Christ, the Negro could be sold at the pleasure of his master,
and his family hearthstone trodden down by the slave-dealer. The
humane feature of the system of slavery under the simple Dutch
government, of allowing slaves to acquire an interest in the soil, was
now at an end. The tendency to manumit faithful slaves called forth no
approbation. The colonists grew cold and hard-fisted. They saw not
God's image in the slave,--only so many dollars. There were no strong
men in the pulpits of the colony who dared brave the avaricious spirit
of the times. Not satisfied with colonial legislation, the municipal
government of the city of New York passed, in 1710,[237] an ordinance
forbidding Negroes, Indians, and Mulatto slaves from appearing "in the
streets after nightfall without a lantern with a lighted candle in
it."[238] The year before, a slave-market was erected at the foot of
Wall Street, where slaves of every description were for sale. Negroes,
Indians, and Mulattoes; men, women, and children; the old, the
middle-aged, and the young,--all, as sheep in shambles, were daily
declared the property of the highest cash-bidder. And what of the few
who secured their freedom? Why, the law of 1712 declared that no
Negro, Indian, or Mulatto that shall hereafter be set free "shall hold
any land or real estate, but the same shall escheat."[239] There was,
therefore, but little for the Negro in either state,--bondage or
freedom. There was little in this world to allure him, to encourage
him, to help him. The institution under which he suffered was one huge
sepulchre, and he was buried alive.
The poor grovelling worm turns under the foot of the pedestrian. The
Negro winched under his galling yoke of British colonial oppression.
A misguided zeal and an inordinate desire of conquest had led the
Legislature to appropriate ten thousand pounds sterling toward an
expedition to effect the conquest of Canada. Acadia had just fallen
into the hands of Gov. Francis Nicholson without firing a gun, and the
news had carried the New Yorkers off their feet. "On to Canada!" was
the shibboleth of the adventurous colonists; and the expedition
started. Eight transports, with eight hundred and sixty men, perished
amid the treacherous rocks and angry waters of the St. Lawrence. The
troops that had gone overland returned in chagrin. The city was
wrapped in gloom: the Legislature refused to do any thing further; and
here the dreams of conquest vanished. The city of New York was thrown
on the defensive. The forts were repaired, and every thing put in
readiness for an emergency. Like a sick man the colonists started at
every rumor. On account of bad faith the Iroquois were disposed to
mischief.
In the feeble condition of the colonial government, the Negro grew
restless. At the first, as previously shown, the slaves were very few,
but now, in 1712, were quite numerous. The Negro, the Quaker, and the
Papist were a trinity of evils that the colonists most dreaded. The
Negro had been badly treated; and an attempt on his part to cast off
the yoke was not improbable, in the mind of the master-class. The
fears of the colonists were at length realized. A Negro riot broke
out. A house was burned, and a number of white persons killed; and,
had it not been for the prompt and efficient aid of the troops, the
city of New York would have been reduced to ashes.
Now, what was the condition of the slaves in the Christian colony of
New York? They had no family relations: for a long time they lived
together by common consent. They had no property, no schools, and,
neglected in life, were abandoned to burial in a common ditch after
death. They dared not lift their hand to strike a Christian or a Jew.
Their testimony was excluded by the courts, and the power of their
masters over their bodies extended sometimes to life and limb. This
condition of affairs yielded its bitter fruit at length.
"Here we see the effects of that blind and wicked policy
which induced England to pamper her merchants and increase
her revenues, by positive instructions to the governours of
her colonies, strictly enjoining them (for the good of the
African company, and for the emoluments expected from the
assiento contract), to fix upon America a vast negro
population, torn from their homes and brought hither by
force. New York was at this time filled with negroes; every
householder who could afford to keep servants, was
surrounded by blacks, some pampered in indolence, all
carefully kept in ignorance, and considered, erroneously, as
creatures whom the white could not do without, yet lived in
dread of. They were feared, from their numbers, and from a
consciousness, however stifled, that they were injured and
might seek revenge or a better condition."[240]
The Negro plot of 1741 furnishes the most interesting and thrilling
chapter in the history of the colony of New York. Unfortunately for
the truth of history, there was but one historian[241] of the affair,
and he an interested judge; and what he has written should be taken
_cum grano salis_. His book was intended to defend the action of the
court that destroyed so many innocent lives, but no man can read it
without being thoroughly convinced that the decision of the court was
both illogical and cruel. There is nothing in this country to equal
it, except it be the burning of the witches at Salem. But in stalwart
old England the Popish Plot in 1679, started by Titus Oates, is the
only occurrence in human history that is so faithfully reproduced by
the Negro plot. Certainly history repeats itself. Sixty-two years of
history stretch between the events. One tragedy is enacted in the
metropolis of the Old World, the other in the metropolis of the New
World. One was instigated by a perjurer and a heretic, the other by an
indentured servant, in all probability from a convict ship. The one
was suggested by the hatred of the Catholics, and the other by hatred
of the Negro. And in both cases the evidence that convicted and
condemned innocent men and women was wrung from the lying lips of
doubtful characters by an overwrought zeal on the part of the legal
authorities.
Titus Oates, who claimed to have discovered the "_Popish Plot_," was a
man of the most execrable character. He was the son of an Anabaptist,
took orders in the Church, and had been settled in a small living by
the Duke of Norfolk. Indicted for perjury, he effected an escape in a
marvellous manner. While a chaplain in the English navy he was
convicted of practices not fit to be mentioned, and was dismissed from
the service. He next sought communion with the Church of Rome, and
made his way into the Jesuit College of St. Omers. After a brief
residence among the students, he was deputed to perform a confidential
mission to Spain, and, upon his return to St. Omers, was dismissed to
the world on account of his habits, which were very distasteful to
Catholics. He boasted that he had only joined them to get their
secrets. Such a man as this started the cry of the Popish Plot, and
threw all England into a state of consternation. A chemist by the name
of Tongue, on the 12th of August, 1678, had warned the king against a
plot that was directed at his life, etc. But the king did not attach
any importance to the statement until Tongue referred to Titus Oates
as his authority. The latter proved himself a most arrant liar while
on the stand: but the people were in a credulous state of mind, and
Oates became the hero of the hour;[242] and under his wicked influence
many souls were hurried into eternity. Read Hume's account of the
Popish Plot, and then follow the bloody narrative of the Negro plot of
New York, and see how the one resembles the other.
"Some mysterious design was still suspected in every
enterprise and profession: arbitrary power and Popery were
apprehended as the scope of all projects: each breath or
rumor made the people start with anxiety: their enemies,
they thought, were in their very bosom, and had gotten
possession of their sovereign's confidence. While in this
timorous, jealous disposition, the cry of a _plot_ all on a
sudden struck their ears: they were wakened from their
slumber, and like men affrightened and in the dark, took
every figure for a spectre. The terror of each man became
the source of terror to another. And a universal panic being
diffused, reason and argument, and common-sense and common
humanity, lost all influence over them. From this
disposition of men's minds we are to account for the
progress of the _Popish Plot_, and the credit given to it;
an event which would otherwise appear prodigious and
altogether inexplicable."[243]
On the 28th of February, 1741, the house of one Robert Hogg, Esq., of
New-York City, a merchant, was robbed of some fine linen, medals,
silver coin, etc. Mr. Hogg's house was situated on the corner of Broad
and Mill Streets, the latter sometimes being called Jew's Alley. The
case was given to the officers of the law to look up.
The population of New-York City was about ten thousand, about two
thousand of whom were slaves. On the 18th of March the chapel in the
fort took fire from some coals carelessly left by an artificer in a
gutter he had been soldering. The roof was of shingles; and a brisk
wind from the south-east started a fire, that was not observed until
it had made great headway. In those times the entire populace usually
turned out to assist in extinguishing fires; but this fire being in
the fort, the fear of an explosion of the magazine somewhat checked
their usual celerity on such occasions. The result was, that all the
government buildings in the fort were destroyed. A militia officer by
the name of Van Horne, carried away by the belief that the fire was
purposely set by the Negroes, caused the beating of the drums and the
posting of the "night watch." And for his vigilance he was nicknamed
"Major Drum." The "Major's" apprehensions, however, were contagious.
The fact that the governor reported the true cause of the fire to the
Legislature had but little influence in dispossessing the people of
their fears of a Negro plot. The next week the chimney of Capt.
Warren's house near the fort took fire, but was saved with but slight
damage. A few days after this the storehouse of a Mr. Van Zandt was
found to be on fire, and it was said at the time to have been
occasioned by the carelessness of a smoker. In about three days after,
two fire alarms were sounded. One was found to be a fire in some hay
in a cow-stable near a Mr. Quick's house. It was soon extinguished.
The other alarm was on account of a fire in the kitchen loft of the
dwelling of a Mr. Thompson. On the next day coals were discovered
under the stables of a Mr. John Murray on Broadway. On the next
morning an alarm called the people to the residence of Sergeant Burns,
near the fort; and in a few hours the dwelling of a Mr. Hilton, near
Fly Market, was found to be on fire. But the flames in both places
were readily extinguished. It was thought that the fire was purposely
set at Mr. Hilton's, as a bundle of tow was found near the premises. A
short time before these strange fires broke out, a Spanish vessel,
partly manned by Spanish Catholic Negroes, had been brought into the
port of New York as a prize. All the crew that were Negroes were
hurried into the Admiralty Court; where they were promptly condemned
to slavery, and an order issued for their sale. The Negroes pleaded
their freedom in another country, but had no counsel to defend them. A
Capt. Sarly purchased one of these Negroes. Now, Capt. Sarly's house
adjoined that of Mr. Hilton's; and so, when the latter's house was
discovered to be on fire, a cry was raised, "The Spanish Negroes! The
Spanish! Take up the Spanish Negroes!" Some persons took it upon
themselves to question Capt. Sarly's Negro about the fires, and it is
said that he behaved in an insolent manner; whereupon he was sent to
jail. A magistrate gave orders to the constables to arrest and
incarcerate the rest of the Spanish Negroes. The magistrates held a
meeting the same day, in the afternoon; and, while they were
deliberating about the matter, another fire broke out in Col.
Phillipes's storehouse. Some of the white people cried "Negro!
Negro!" and "Cuff Phillipes!" Poor Cuff, startled at the cry, ran to
his master's house, from whence he was dragged to jail by an excited
mob. Judge Horsemanden says,--
"Many people had such terrible apprehensions on this
occasion that several Negroes (many of whom had assisted to
put out the fire) who were met in the streets, were hurried
away to jail; and when they were there they were continued
some time in confinement before the magistrates could spare
time to examine into their several cases."[244]
Let the reader return now to the robbery committed in Mr. Hogg's house
on the 28th of February. The officers thought they had traced the
stolen goods to a public house on the North River, kept by a person
named John Hughson. This house had been a place of resort for Negroes;
and it was searched for the articles, but nothing was found. Hughson
had in his service an indentured servant,--a girl of sixteen
years,--named Mary Burton. She intimated to a neighbor that the goods
were concealed in Hughson's house, but that it would be at the expense
of her life to make this fact known. This information was made known
to the sheriff, and he at once apprehended the girl and produced her
before Alderman Banker. This benevolent officer promised the girl her
freedom on the ground that she should tell all she knew about the
missing property. For prudential reasons the Alderman ordered Mary
Burton to be taken to the City Hall, corner Wall and Nassua Streets.
On the 4th of March the justices met at the City Hall. In the mean
while John Hughson and his wife had been arrested for receiving stolen
goods. They were now examined in the presence of Mary Burton. Hughson
admitted that some goods had been brought to his house, produced them,
and turned them over to the court. It appears from the testimony of
the Burton girl that another party, dwelling in the house of the
Hughson's, had taken part in receiving the stolen articles. She was a
girl of bad character, called Margaret Sorubiero, _alias_ Solinburgh,
_alias_ Kerry, but commonly called Peggy Carey. This woman had lived
in the home of the Hughsons for about ten months, but at one time
during this period had remained a short while at the house of John
Rommes, near the new Battery, but had returned to Hughson's again.
The testimony of Mary Burton went to show that a Negro by the name of
Cæsar Varick, but called Quin, on the night in which the burglary was
committed, entered Peggy's room through the window. The next morning
Mary Burton saw "speckled linen" in Peggy's room, and that the man
Varick gave the deponent two pieces of silver. She further testified
that Varick drank two mugs of punch, and bought of Hughson a pair of
stockings, giving him a lump of silver; and that Hughson and his wife
received and hid away the linen.[245] Mr. John Varick (it was spelled
Vaarck then), a baker, the owner of Cæsar, occupied a house near the
new Battery, the kitchen of which adjoined the yard of John Romme's
house. He found some of Robert Hogg's property under his kitchen
floor, and delivered it to the mayor. Upon this revelation Romme fled
to New Jersey, but was subsequently captured at Brunswick. He had
followed shoemaking and tavern-keeping, and was, withal, a very
suspicious character.
Up to this time nothing had been said about a Negro plot. It was
simply a case of burglary. Hughson had admitted receiving certain
articles, and restored them; Mr. Varick had found others, and
delivered them to the mayor.
The reader will remember that the burglary took place on the 28th of
February; that the justices arraigned the Hughsons, Mary Burton, and
Peggy Carey on the 4th of March; that the first fire broke out on the
18th, the second on the 25th, of March, the third on the 1st of April,
and the fourth and fifth on the 4th of April; that on the 5th of April
coals were found disposed so as to burn a haystack, and that the day
following two houses were discovered to be on fire.
On the 11th of April the Common Council met. The following gentlemen
were present: John Cruger, Esq., mayor; the recorder, Daniel
Horsemanden; aldermen, Gerardus Stuyvesant, William Romaine, Simon
Johnson, John Moore, Christopher Banker, John Pintard, John Marshall;
assistants, Henry Bogert, Isaac Stoutenburgh, Philip Minthorne, George
Brinckerhoff, Robert Benson, and Samuel Lawrence. Recorder Horsemanden
suggested to the council that the governor be requested to offer
rewards for the apprehension of the incendiaries and all persons
implicated, and that the city pay the cost, etc. It was accordingly
resolved that the lieutenant-governor be requested to offer a reward
of one hundred pounds current money of the Province to any white
person, and pardon, if concerned; and twenty pounds, freedom, and, if
concerned, pardon to any slave (the master to be paid twenty-five
pounds); and to any free Negro, Mulatto, or Indian, forty-five pounds
and pardon, if concerned. The mayor and the recorder (Horsemanden),
called upon Lieut.-Gov. Clark, and laid the above resolve before him.
The city was now in a state of great excitement. The air was peopled
with the wildest rumors.
On Monday the 13th of April each alderman, assistant, and constable
searched his ward. The militia was called out, and sentries posted at
the cross-streets. While the troops were patrolling the streets, the
aldermen were examining Negroes in reference to the origin of the
fires. Nothing was found. The Negroes denied all knowledge of the
fires or a plot.
On the 21st of April, 1741, the Supreme Court convened.[246] Judges
Frederick Phillipse and Daniel Horsemanden called the _grand jury_.
The members were as follows: Robert Watts, merchant, foreman; Jeremiah
Latouche, Joseph Read, Anthony Rutgers, John M'Evers, John Cruger,
jun., John Merrit, Adoniah Schuyler, Isaac DePeyster, Abraham
Ketteltas, David Provoost, Rene Hett, Henry Beeckman, jun., David van
Horne, George Spencer, Thomas Duncan, and Winant Van Zandt,--all set
down as merchants,--a respectable, intelligent, and influential grand
jury! Judge Phillipse informed the jury that the people "have been put
into many frights and terrors," in regard to the fires; that it was
their duty to use "all lawful means" to discover the guilty parties,
for there was "much room to suspect" that the fires were not
accidental. He told them that there were many persons in jail upon
whom suspicion rested; that arson was felony at common law, even
though the fire is extinguished, or goes out itself; that arson was a
deep crime, and, if the perpetrators were not apprehended and
punished, "who can say he is safe, or where will it end?" The learned
judge then went on to deliver a moral lecture against the wickedness
of selling "penny drams" to Negroes, without the consent of their
masters. In conclusion, he charged the grand jury to present "all
conspiracies, combinations and other offences."
It should be kept in mind that Mary Burton was only a witness in the
burglary case already mentioned. Up to that time there had been no
fires. The fires, and wholesale arrests of innocent Negroes, followed
the robbery. But the grand jury called Mary Burton to testify in
reference to the fires. She refused to be sworn. She was questioned
concerning the fires, but gave no answer. Then the proclamation of the
mayor, offering protection, pardon, freedom, and one hundred pounds,
was read. It had the desired effect. The girl opened her mouth, and
spake all the words that the jury desired. At first she agreed to tell
all she knew about the stolen goods, but would say nothing about the
fires. This declaration led the jury to infer that she could, but
would not say any thing about the fires. After a moral lecture upon
her duty in the matter in the light of eternal reward, and a
reiteration of the proffered reward that then awaited her wise
decision, her memory brightened, and she immediately began to tell
_all_ she knew. She said that a Negro named Prince, belonging to a Mr.
Auboyman, and Prince (Varick) brought the goods, stolen from Mr.
Hogg's house, to the house of her master, and that Hughson, his wife,
and Peggy (Carey) received them; further, that Cæsar, Prince, and
Cuffee (Phillipse) had frequently met at Hughson's tavern, and
discoursed about burning the fort; that they had said they would go
down to the Fly (the east end of the city), and burn the entire place;
and that Hughson and his wife had assented to these insurrectionary
remarks, and promised to assist them. She added, by way of fulness and
emphasis, that when a handful of wretched slaves, seconded by a
miserable and ignorant white tavern-keeper, should have lain the city
in ashes, and murdered eight or nine thousand persons,--then Cæsar
should be governor, Hughson king, and Cuffee supplied with abundant
riches! The loquacious Mary remembered that this intrepid trio had
said, that when they burned the city it would be in the night, so they
could murder the people as they came out of their homes. It should not
be forgotten that _all_ the fires broke out in the daytime!
It is rather remarkable and should be observed, that this wonderful
witness stated that her master, John Hughson, had threatened to poison
her if she told anybody that the stolen goods were in his house; that
all the Negroes swore they would burn her if she told; and that, when
they talked of burning the town during their meetings, there were no
white persons present save her master, mistress, and Peggy Carey.
The credulous Horsemanden tells us that "the evidence of a
conspiracy," not only to burn the city, but also "to destroy and
murder the people," was most "astonishing to the grand jury!" But that
any white person should confederate with slaves in such a wicked and
cruel purpose was astounding beyond measure! And the grand jury was
possessed of the same childlike faith in the ingenious narrative of
the wily Mary. In their report to the judges, they set forth in strong
terms their faith in the statements of the deponent, and required the
presence of Peggy Carey. The extent of the delusion of the judges,
jury, and people may be seen in the fact, that, immediately upon the
report of the jury, the judges summoned the entire bar of the city of
New York to meet them. The following gentlemen responded to the call:
Messrs. Murray, Alexander, Smith, Chambers, Nichols, Lodge, and
Jameson. All the lawyers were present except the attorney-general. By
the act of 1712, "for preventing, suppressing and punishing the
conspiracy and insurrection of negroes and other slaves,"[247] a
justice of the peace could try the refractory slaves at once. But here
was a deep, dark, and bloody plot to burn the city and murder its
inhabitants, in which _white_ persons were implicated. This fact led
the learned judges to conclude it wise and prudent to refer this whole
matter to the Supreme Court. And the generous offer of the _entire_
bar of New-York City to assist, in turns, in every trial, should
remain evermore an indestructible monument to their unselfish devotion
to their city, the existence of which was threatened by less than a
score of ignorant, penniless Negro slaves!
By the testimony of Mary Burton, Peggy Carey stood convicted as one of
the conspirators. She had already languished in jail for more than a
month. The judges thought it advisable to examine her in her cell.
They tried to cajole her into criminating others; but she stoutly
denied all knowledge of the fires, and said "that if she should accuse
anybody of any such thing, she must accuse innocent persons, and wrong
her own soul."
On the 24th of April, Cæsar Varick, Prince Auboyman, John Hughson,
his wife, and Peggy Carey were arraigned for felony, and pleaded not
guilty. Cæsar and Prince were first put on trial. As they did not
challenge the jury, the following gentlemen were sworn: Messrs. Roger
French, John Groesbeck, John Richard, Abraham Kipp, George Witts, John
Thurman, Patrick Jackson, Benjamin Moore, William Hammersley, John
Lashiere, Joshua Sleydall, and John Shurmer. "Guilty!" as charged in
the indictment. They had committed the robbery, so said the jury.
On the 3d of May one Arthur Price, a common thief, was committed to
jail for theft. He occupied a cell next to the notorious Peggy Carey.
In order to bring himself into favor with the judges, he claimed to
have had a conversation with Peggy through the hole in the door. Price
says she told him that "she was afraid of those fellows" (the
Negroes); that if they said any thing in any way involving her she
would hang every one of them; that she did not care to go on the stand
again unless she was called; that when asked if she intended to set
the town on fire she said no; but she knew about the plot; that
Hughson and his wife "were sworn with the rest;" that she was not
afraid of "Prince, Cuff, Cæsar, and Fork's Negro--not Cæsar, but
another," because they "were all true-hearted fellows." This
remarkable conversation was flavored throughout with the vilest
species of profanity. Notwithstanding this interview was between a
common Irish prostitute and a wretched sneak-thief, it had great
weight with the solemn and upright judges.
In the midst of this trial, seven barns were burnt in the town of
Hackinsack. Two Negroes were suspected of the crime, but there was not
the slightest evidence that they were guilty. But one of them said
that he had discharged a gun at the party who set his master's barn on
fire, but did not kill any one. The other one was found loading a gun
with two bullets. This was enough to convict. They were burnt alive at
a stake. This only added fuel to the flame of public excitement in New
York.
On the 6th of May (Wednesday) two more arrests were made,--Hughson's
daughter Sarah, suspected of being a confederate, and Mr. Sleydall's
Negro Jack,--on suspicion of having put fire to Mr. Murray's haystack.
On the same day the judges arraigned the white persons implicated in
the case,--John Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Carey. The jury promptly
found them guilty of "receiving stolen goods." "Peggy Carey," says
Recorder Horsemanden, "seeming to think it high time to do something
to recommend herself to mercy, made a voluntary confession." This
vile, foul-mouthed prostitute takes the stand, and gives a new turn to
the entire affair. She removes the scene of the conspiracy to another
tavern near the new Battery, where John Romme had made a habit of
entertaining, _contrary to law_, Negro slaves. Peggy had seen many
meetings at this place, particularly in December, 1740. At that time
she mentioned the following Negroes as being present: Cuff, Brash,
Curacoa, Cæsar, Patrick, Jack, Cato; but _her_ especial Cæsar Varick
was not implicated! Romme administered an oath to all these Negroes,
and then made a proposition to them; viz., that they should destroy
the fort, burn the town, and bring the spoils to him. He engaged to
divide with them, and take them to a new country, where he would give
them their freedom. Mrs. Romme was present during this conversation;
and, after the Negroes had departed, she and the deponent (Peggy) were
sworn by Romme to eternal secrecy. Mrs. Romme denied swearing to the
conspiracy, but acknowledged that her husband had received stolen
goods, that he sold drams to Negroes who kept game-fowls there; but
that never more than three Negroes came at a time. She absconded in
great fright. It has been mentioned that Peggy Carey had lived at the
tavern of John Romme for a short time, and that articles belonging to
Mr. Hogg had been found under the kitchen floor of the house next to
Romme's.
The judges evidently reasoned that all Negroes would steal, or that
stealing was incident upon or implied by the condition of the slave.
Then Romme kept a "tippling-house," and defied the law by selling
"drams" to Negroes. Now, a man who keeps a "tippling-house" was liable
to encourage a conspiracy.
A full list of the names of the persons implicated by Peggy was handed
to the proper officers, and those wicked persons apprehended. They
were brought before the redoubtable Peggy for identification. She
accused them of being sworn conspirators. They all denied the charge.
Then they were turned over to Mary Burton; and she, evidently
displeased at Peggy's attempt to rival her in the favor of the
powerful judges, testified that she knew them not. But it was vain.
Peggy had the ear of the court, and the terror-stricken company was
locked up in the jail. Alarmed at their helpless situation, the
ignorant Negroes began "to accuse one another, as it would seem, by
way of injuring an enemy and guarding themselves."
Cæsar and Prince, having been tried and convicted of felony, were
sentenced to be hanged. The record says,--
"Monday, 11th of May. Cæsar and Prince were executed this
day at the gallows, according to sentence: they died very
stubbornly, without confessing _any thing about the
conspiracy_: and denied that _they knew any thing about it
to the last_. The body of Cæsar was accordingly hung in
chains."[248]
On the 13th of May, 1741, a solemn fast was observed; "because many
houses and dwellings had been fired about our ears, without any
discovery of the cause or occasion of them, which had put us into the
utmost consternation." Excitement ran high. Instead of getting any
light on the affair, the plot thickened.
On the 6th of May, Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Carey had been tried
and found guilty, as has already been stated. Sarah Hughson, daughter
of the Hughsons, was in jail. Mary Burton was the heroine of the hour.
Her word was law. Whoever she named was produced in court. The
sneak-thief, Arthur Price, was employed by the judges to perform a
mission that was at once congenial to his tastes and in harmony with
his criminal education. He was sent among the incarcerated Negroes to
administer punch, in the desperate hope of getting more "confessions!"
Next, he was sent to Sarah Hughson to persuade her to accuse her
father and mother of complicity in the conspiracy. He related a
conversation he had with Sarah, but she denied it to his teeth with
great indignation. This vile and criminal method of securing testimony
of a conspiracy never brought the blush to the cheek of a single
officer of the law. "None of these things moved" them. They were
themselves so completely lost in the general din and excitement, were
so thoroughly convinced that a plot existed, and that it was their
duty to prove it in some manner or other,--that they believed every
thing that went to establish the guilt of any one.
Even a feeble-minded boy was arrested, and taken before the grand
jury. He swore that he knew nothing of the plot to burn the town, but
the kind magistrates told him that if he would tell the truth he
should not be hanged. Ignorant as these helpless slaves were, they now
understood "telling the truth" to mean to criminate some one in the
plot, and thus gratify the inordinate hunger of the judges and jury
for testimony relating to a "conspiracy." This Negro imbecile began
his task of telling "what he knew," which was to be rewarded by
allowing him to leave without being hung! He deposed that Quack
desired him to burn the fort; that Cuffee said he would fire one
house, Curacoa Dick another, and so on _ad infinitum_. He was asked by
one of the learned gentlemen, "what the Negroes intended by all this
mischief?" He answered, "To kill all the gentlemen and take their
wives; that one of the fellows already hanged, was to be an officer in
the Long Bridge Company, and the other, in the Fly Company."[249]
On the 25th of May a large number of Negroes were arrested. The boy
referred to above (whose name was Sawney, or Sandy) was called to the
stand again on the 26th, when he grew very talkative. He said that "at
a meeting of Negroes he was called in and frightened into undertaking
to burn the slip Market;" that he witnessed some of the Negroes in
their attempts to burn certain houses; that at the house of one
Comfort, he, with others, was sworn to secrecy and fidelity to each
other; said he was never at either tavern, Hughson's nor Romme's; and
ended his revelations by accusing a woman of setting fire to a house,
and of murdering her child. As usual, after such confessions, more
arrests followed. Quack and Cuffee were tried and convicted of felony,
"for wickedly and maliciously conspiring with others to burn the town
and murder the inhabitants." This was an occasion to draw forth the
eloquence of the attorney-general; and in fervid utterance he pictured
the Negroes as "monsters, devils, etc." A Mr. Rosevelt, the master of
Quack, swore that his slave was home when the fire took place in the
fort; and Mr. Phillipse, Cuffee's master, testified as much for his
servant. But this testimony was not what the magistrates wanted: so
they put a soldier on the stand who swore that Quack _did_ come to the
fort the day of the fire; that his wife lived there, and when he
insisted on going in he (the sentry) knocked him down, but the officer
of the guard passed him in. Lawyer Smith, "whose eloquence had
disfranchised the Jews," was called upon to sum up. He thought too
much favor had been shown the Negroes, in that they had been accorded
a trial as if they were freemen; that the wicked Negroes might have
been proceeded against in a most summary manner; that the Negro
witnesses had been treated with too much consideration; that "the law
requires no oath to be administered to them; and, indeed, it would be
a profanation of it to administer it to a heathen in a legal form;"
that "the monstrous ingratitude of this black tribe is what
exceedingly aggravates their guilt;" that their condition as slaves
was one of happiness and peace; that "they live without care; are
commonly better fed and clothed than the poor of most Christian
countries; they are indeed slaves," continued the eloquent and logical
attorney, "but under the protection of the law: none can hurt them
with impunity; but notwithstanding all the kindness and tenderness
with which they have been treated among us, yet this is the second
attempt of this same kind that this brutish and bloody species of
mankind have made within one age!" Of course the jury knew their duty,
and merely went through the form of going out and coming in
immediately with a verdict of "guilty." The judge sentenced them to be
chained to a stake and burnt to death,--"and the Lord have mercy upon
your poor wretched souls." His Honor told them that "they should be
thankful that their feet were caught in the net; that the mischief had
fallen upon their own pates." He advised them to consider the
tenderness and humanity with which they had been treated; that they
were the most abject wretches, the very outcasts of the nations of the
earth; and, therefore, they should look to their souls, for as to
their bodies, they would be burnt.
These poor fellows were accordingly chained to the stake the next
Sunday; but, before the fuel was lighted, Deputy Sheriff More and Mr.
Rosevelt again questioned Quack and Cuffee, and reduced their
confessions to paper, for they had stoutly protested their innocence
while in court, in hope of being saved they confessed, in substance,
that Hughson contrived to burn the town, and kill the people; that a
company of Negroes voted Quack the proper person to burn the fort,
because his wife lived there; that he did set the chapel on fire with
a lighted stick; that Mary Burton had told the truth, and that she
could implicate many more if she would, etc. All this general lying
was done with the understanding that the confessors were to be
reprieved until the governor could be heard from. But a large crowd
had gathered to witness the burning of these poor Negroes, and they
compelled the sheriff to proceed with the ceremonies. The convicted
slaves were burned.
On the 1st of June the boy Sawney was again put upon the
witness-stand. His testimony led to the arrest of more Negroes. He
charged them with having been sworn to the plot, and with having sharp
penknives with which to kill white men. One Fortune testified that he
never knew of houses where conspirators met, nor did he know Hughson,
but accuses Sawney, and Quack who had been burnt. The next witness was
a Negro girl named Sarah. She was frightened out of her senses. She
foamed at the mouth, uttered the bitterest imprecations, and denied
all knowledge of a conspiracy. But the benevolent gentlemen who
conducted the trial told her that others had said certain things in
proof of the existence of a conspiracy, that the only way to save her
life was to acknowledge that there had been a conspiracy to burn the
town and kill the inhabitants. She then assented to all that was told
her, and thereby implicated quite a number of Negroes; but, when her
testimony was read to her, she again denied all. She was without doubt
a fit subject for an insane-asylum rather than for the witness-stand,
in a cause that involved so many human lives.
It will be remembered that John Hughson, his wife, and daughter had
been in the jail for a long time. He now desired to be called to the
witness-stand. He begged to be sworn, that in the most solemn manner
he might deny all knowledge of the conspiracy, and exculpate his wife
and child. But the modest recorder reminded him of the fact that he
stood convicted as a felon already, that he and his family were doomed
to be hanged, and that, therefore, it would be well for him to
"confess all." He was sent back to jail unheard. Already condemned to
be hung, the upright magistrates had Hughson tried again for
"conspiracy" on the 4th of June! The indictments were three in number:
_First_, that Hughson, his wife, his daughter, and Peggy Carey, with
three Negroes, Cæsar, Prince, and Cuffee, conspired in March last to
set fire to the house in the fort. _Second_, That Quack (already
burnt) did set fire to and burn the house, and that the prisoners,
Hughson, his wife, daughter Sarah, and Peggy, encouraged him so to do.
_Third_, That Cuffee (already burnt) did set fire to Phillipse's
house, and burnt it; and they, the prisoners, procured and encouraged
him so to do. Hughson, his family, and Peggy pleaded not guilty to all
the above indictments. The attorney-general delivered a spirited
address to the jury, which was more forcible than elegant. He
denounced the unlucky Hughson as "infamous, inhuman, an arch-rebel
against God, his king, and his country,--a devil incarnate," etc. He
was ably assisted by eminent counsel for the king,--Joseph Murray,
James Alexander, William Smith, and John Chambers. Mary Burton was
called again. She swore that Negroes used to go to Hughson's at night,
eat and drink, and sometimes buy provisions; that Hughson did swear
the Negroes to secrecy in the plot; that she herself had seen seven or
eight guns and swords, a bag of shot, and a barrel of gunpowder at
Hughson's house; that the prisoner told her he would kill her if she
ever revealed any thing she knew or saw; wanted her to swear like the
rest, offered her silk gowns, and gold rings,--but none of those
tempting things moved the virtuous Mary. Five other witnesses
testified that they heard Quack and Cuffee say to Hughson while in
jail, "This is what you have brought us to." The Hughsons had no
counsel, and but three witnesses. One of them testified that he had
lived in Hughson's tavern about three months during the past winter,
and had never seen Negroes furnished entertainment there. The two
others said that they had never seen any evil in the man nor in his
house, etc.
"William Smith, Esq." now took the floor to sum up. He told the jury
that it was "black and hellish" to burn the town, and then kill them
all; that John Hughson, by his complicity in this crime, had made
himself blacker than the Negroes; that the credit of the witnesses was
good, and that there was nothing left for them to do but to find the
prisoners guilty, as charged in the indictment. The judge charged the
jury, that the evidence against the prisoners "is ample, full, clear,
and satisfactory. They were found guilty in twenty minutes, and on the
8th of June were brought into court to receive sentence. The judge
told them that they were guilty of a terrible crime; that they had not
only made Negroes their equals, but superiors, by waiting upon,
keeping company with, entertaining them with meat, drink, and lodging;
that the most amazing part of their conduct was their part in a plot
to burn the town, and murder the inhabitants,--to have consulted with,
aided, and abetted the "black seed of Cain," was an unheard of
crime,--that although "with uncommon assurance they deny the fact, and
call on God, as a witness of their innocence, He, out of his goodness
and mercy, has confounded them, and proved their guilt, to the
satisfaction of the court and jury." After a further display of
forensic eloquence, the judge sentenced them "to be hanged by the neck
'till dead," on Friday, the 12th of June, 1741.
The Negro girl Sarah, referred to above, who was before the jury on
the 1st of June in such a terrified state of body and mind, was
re-called on the 5th of June. She implicated twenty Negroes, whom she
declared were present at the house of Comfort, whetting their knives,
and avowing that "they would kill white people." On the 6th of June,
Robin, Cæsar, Cook, Cuffee, and Jack, another Cuffee, and Jamaica were
arrested, and put upon trial on the 8th of June. It is a sad fact to
record, even at this distance, that these poor blacks, without
counsel, friends, or money, were tried and convicted upon the evidence
of a poor ignorant, hysterical girl, and the "dying confession" of
Quack and Cuffee, who "confessed" with the understanding that they
should be free! Tried and found guilty on the 8th, without clergy or
time to pray, they were burned at the stake the next day! Only Jack
found favor with the court, and that favor was purchased by perjury.
He was respited until it "was found how well he would deserve further
favor." It was next to impossible to understand him, so two white
gentlemen were secured to act as interpreters. Jack testified to
having seen Negroes at Hughson's tavern; that "when they were eating,
he said they began to talk about setting the houses on fire:" he was
so good as to give the names of about fourteen Negroes whom he heard
say that they would set their masters' houses on fire, and then rush
upon the whites and kill them; that at one of these meetings there
were five or six Spanish Negroes present, whose conversation he could
not understand; that they waited a month and a half for the Spaniards
and French to come, but when they came not, set fire to the fort. As
usual, more victims of these confessors swelled the number already in
the jail; which was, at this time, full to suffocation.
On the 19th of June the lieutenant-governor issued a proclamation of
freedom to all who would "confess and discover" before the 1st of
July. Several Indians were in the prison, charged with conspiracy. The
confessions and discoveries were numerous. Every Negro charged with
being an accomplice of the unfortunate wretches that had already
perished at the stake began to accuse some one else of complicity in
the plot. They all knew of many Negroes who were going to cut the
white people's throats with penknives; and when the town was in flames
they were to "meet at the end of Broadway, next to the fields!" And it
must be recorded, to the everlasting disgrace of the judiciary of New
York, that scores of ignorant, helpless, and innocent Negroes--and a
few white people too--were convicted upon the confessions of the
terror-stricken witnesses! There is not a court to-day in all
enlightened Christendom that would accept as evidence--not even
circumstantial--the incoherent utterances of these Negro "confessors."
And yet an intelligent (?) New-York court thought the evidence "clear
(?), and satisfactory!"
But the end was not yet reached. A new turn was to be given to the
notorious Mary Burton. The reader will remember that she said that
there never were any white persons present when the burning of the
town was the topic of conversation, except her master and mistress and
Peggy Carey. But on the 25th of June the budding Mary accused Rev.
John Ury, a reputed Catholic priest, and a schoolmaster in the town,
and one Campbell, also a school-teacher, of having visited Hughson's
tavern with the conspirators.
On the 26th of June, nine more Negroes were brought before the court
and arraigned. Seven pleaded guilty in the hope of a reprieve: two
were tried and convicted upon the testimony of Mary Burton. Eight more
were arraigned, and pleaded guilty; followed by seven more, some of
whom pleaded guilty, and some not guilty. Thus, in one day, the court
was enabled to dispose of twenty-four persons.
On the 27th of June, one Adam confessed that he knew of the plot, but
said he was enticed into it by Hughson, three years before; that
Hughson told him that he knew a man who could forgive him all his
sins. So between John Hughson's warm rum, and John Ury's ability to
forgive sin, the virtuous Adam found all his scruples overcome; and he
took the oath. A Dr. Hamilton who lodged at Holt's, and the latter
also, are brought into court as accused of being connected with the
plot. It was charged that Holt directed his Negro Joe to set fire to
the play-house at the time he should indicate. At the beginning of the
trial only four white persons were mentioned; but now they began to
multiply, and barrels of powder to increase at a wonderful rate. The
confessions up to this time had been mere repetitions. The arrests
were numerous, and the jail crowded beyond its capacity. The poor
Negroes implicated were glad of an opportunity to "confess" against
some one else, and thereby save their own lives. Recorder Horsemanden
says, "Now many negroes began to squeak, in order to lay hold of the
benefit of the proclamation." He deserves the thanks of humanity for
his frankness! For before the proclamation there were not more than
seventy Negroes in jail; but, within eight days after it was issued,
thirty more frightened slaves were added to the number. And Judge
Horsemanden says, "'Twas difficult to find room for them, nor could we
see any likelihood of stopping the impeachments." The Negroes turned
to accusing white persons, and seven or eight were arrested. The
sanitary condition of the prison now became a subject of grave
concern. The judges and lawyers consulted together, and agreed to
pardon some of the prisoners to make room in the jail. They also
thought it prudent to lump the confessions, and thereby facilitate
their work; but the confessions went on, and the jail filled up again.
The Spanish Negroes taken by an English privateer, and adjudged to
slavery by the admiralty court, were now taken up, tried, convicted,
and sentenced to be hung. Five others received sentence the same day.
The bloody work went on. The poor Negroes in the jail, in a state of
morbid desperation, turned upon each other the blistering tongue of
accusation. They knew that they were accusing each other
innocently,--as many confessed afterwards,--but this was the last
straw that these sinking people could see to catch at, and this they
did involuntarily. "Victims were required; and those who brought them
to the altar of Moloch, purchased their own safety, or, at least,
their lives."
On the 2d of July, one Will was produced before Chief-Justice James
DeLancy. He plead guilty, and was sentenced to be burnt to death on
the 4th of July. On the 6th of July, eleven plead guilty. One Dundee
implicates Dr. Hamilton with Hughson in giving Negroes rum and
swearing them to the plot. A white man by the name of William Nuill
deposed that a Negro--belonging to Edward Kelly, a butcher--named
London swore by God that if he should be arrested and cast into the
jail, he would hang or burn all the Negroes in New York, guilty or not
guilty. On this same day five Negroes were hanged. One of them was
"hung in chains" upon the same gibbet with Hughson. And the Christian
historian says "the town was amused" on account of a report that
Hughson had turned black and the Negro white! The vulgar and sickening
description of the condition of the bodies, in which Mr. Horsemanden
took evident relish, we withhold from the reader. It was rumored that
a Negro doctor had administered poison to the convicts, and hence the
change in the bodies after death.
In addition to the burning of the Negro Will, on the 4th of July, was
the sensation created by his accusing two white soldiers, Kane and
Kelly, with complicity in the conspiracy. Kane was examined the next
day: said that he had never been to the house of John Romme;
acknowledged that he had received a stolen silver spoon, given to his
wife, and sold it to one Van Dype, a silversmith; that he never knew
John Ury, etc. Knowing Mary Burton was brought forward,--as she always
was when the trials began to lag,--and accused Kane. He earnestly
denied the accusation at first, but finally confessed that he was at
Hughson's in reference to the plot on two several occasions, but was
induced to go there "by Corker, Coffin, and Fagan." After his tongue
got limbered up, and his memory refreshed, he criminated Ury. He
implicated Hughson's father and three brothers, Hughson's
mother-in-law, an old fortune-teller, as being parties to the plot as
sworn "to burn, and kill;" that Ury christened some of the Negroes,
and even had the temerity to attempt to proselyte him, Kane; that Ury
asked him if he could read Latin, could he read English; to both
questions he answered no; that the man Coffin read to him, and
descanted upon the benefits of being a Roman Catholic; that they could
forgive sins, and save him from hell; and that if he had not gone away
from their company they might have seduced him to be a Catholic; that
one Conolly, on Governor's Island, admitted that he was "bred up a
priest;" that one Holt, a dancing-master, also knew of the plot; and
then described the mystic ceremony of swearing the plotters. He said,
"There was a black ring made on the floor, about a foot and a half in
diameter; and Hughson bid every one put off the left shoe and put
their toes within the ring; and Mrs. Hughson held a bowl of punch over
their heads, as the Negroes stood around the circle, and Hughson
pronounced the oath above mentioned, (something like a freemason's
oath and penalties,) and every negro severally repeated the oath after
him, and then Hughson's wife fed them with a draught out of the bowl."
This was "new matter," so to speak, and doubtless broke the monotony
of the daily recitals to which their honors had been listening all
summer. Kane was about to deprive Mary Burton of her honors; and, as
he could not write, he made his mark. A peddler named Coffin was
arrested and examined. He denied all knowledge of the plot, never saw
Hughson, never was at his place, saw him for the first time when he
was executed; had never seen Kane but once, and then at Eleanor
Waller's, where they drank beer together. But the court committed him.
Kane and Mary Burton accused Edward Murphy. Kane charged David
Johnson, a hatter, as one of the conspirators; while Mary Burton
accuses Andrew Ryase, "little Holt," the dancing-master, John Earl,
and seventeen soldiers,--all of whom were cast into prison.
On the 16th of July nine Negroes were arraigned: four plead guilty,
two were sentenced to be burnt, and the others to be hanged. On the
next day seven Negroes plead guilty. One John Schultz came forward,
and made a deposition that perhaps had some little influence on the
court and the community at large. He swore that a Negro man slave,
named Cambridge, belonging to Christopher Codwise, Esq., did on the
9th of June, 1741, confess to the deponent, in the presence of Codwise
and Richard Baker, that the confession he had made before Messrs.
Lodge and Nichols was entirely false; viz., that he had confessed
himself guilty of participating in the conspiracy; had accused a Negro
named Cajoe through fear; that he had heard some Negroes talking
together in the jail, and saying that if they did not confess they
would be hanged; that what he said about Horsefield Cæsar was a lie;
that he had never known in what section of the town Hughson lived, nor
did he remember ever hearing his name, until it had become the town
talk that Hughson was concerned in a plot to burn the town and murder
the inhabitants.
This did not in the least abate the zeal of Mary Burton and William
Kane. They went on in their work of accusing white people and Negroes,
receiving the approving smiles of the magistrates. Mary Burton says
that John Earl, who lived in Broadway, used to come to Hughson's with
ten soldiers at a time; that these white men were to command the Negro
companies; that John Ury used to be present; and that a man near the
Mayor's Market, who kept a shop where she (Mary Burton) got rum from,
a doctor, by nationality a Scotchman, who lived by the Slip, and
another dancing-master, named Corry, used to meet with the
conspirators at Hughson's tavern.
On the 14th of July, John Ury was examined, and denied ever having
been at Hughson's, or knowing any thing about the conspiracy; said he
never saw any of the Hughsons, nor did he know Peggy Carey. But
William Kane, the soldier, insisted that Ury did visit the house of
Hughson. Ury was again committed. On the next day eight persons were
tried and convicted upon the evidence of Kane and Mary Burton. The
jail was filling up again, and the benevolent magistrates pardoned
fourteen Negroes. Then they turned their judicial minds to the case of
William Kane _vs_. John Ury. First, he was charged with having
counselled, procured, and incited a Negro slave, Quack, to burn the
king's house in the fort: to which he pleaded not guilty. Second, that
being a priest, made by the authority of the pretended See of Rome, he
had come into the Province and city of New York after the time limited
by law against Jesuits and Popish priests, passed in the eleventh year
of William III., and had remained for the space of seven months; that
he had announced himself to be an ecclesiastical person, made and
ordained by the authority of the See of Rome; and that he had appeared
so to be by celebrating masses and granting absolution, etc. To these
charges Ury pleaded not guilty, and requested a copy of the
indictments, but was only allowed a copy of the second; and pen, ink,
and paper grudgingly granted him. His private journal was seized, and
a portion of its contents used as evidence against him. The following
was furnished to the grand jury:--
"Arrived at Philadelphia the 17th of February, 1738. At
Ludinum, 5th March.--To Philadelphia, 29th April.--Began
school at Burlington, 18th June. Omilta Jacobus
Atherthwaite, 27th July.--Came to school at Burlington, 23d
January, 1740.--Saw ----, 7th May.--At five went to
Burlington, to Piercy, the madman.--Went to Philadelphia,
19th May.--Went to Burlington, 18th June.--At six in the
evening to Penefack, to Joseph Ashton.--Began school at
Dublin under Charles Hastie, at eight pounds a year, 31st
July, ---- , 15th October, ---- , 27th ditto.--Came to John Croker
(at the Fighting Cocks), New York, 2d November.--I boarded
gratis with him, 7th November,--Natura Johannis Pool, 26th
December.--I began to teach with John Campbell, 6th April,
1741.--Baptized Timothy Ryan, born 18th April, 1740, son of
John Ryan and Mary Ryan, 18th May.--Pater Confessor Butler,
two Anni, no sacramentum non confessio."[250]
On the 21st of July, Sarah Hughson, who had been respited, was put on
the witness-stand again. There were some legal errors in the
indictments against Ury, and his trial was postponed until the next
term; but he was arraigned on a new indictment. The energies of the
jury and judges received new life. Here was a man who was a
Catholic,--or had been a Catholic,--and the spirit of religious
intolerance asserted itself. Sarah Hughson remembered having seen Ury
at her father's house on several occasions; had seen him make a ring
with chalk on the floor, make all the Negroes stand around it, while
he himself would stand in the middle, with a cross, and swear the
Negroes. This was also "new matter:" nothing of this kind was
mentioned in the first confession. But this was not all. She had seen
Ury preach to the Negroes, forgive their sins, and baptize some of
them! She said that Ury wanted her to confess to him, and that Peggy
confessed to him in French.
On the 24th of July, Elias Desbroses, confectioner, being called,
swore that Ury had come to his shop with one Webb, a carpenter, and
inquired for sugar-bits, or wafers, and asked him "whether a minister
had not his wafers of him? or, whether that paste, which the deponent
showed him, was not made of the same ingredients as the Luthern
minister's?" or words to that effect: the deponent told Ury that if he
desired such things a joiner would make him a mould; and that when he
asked him whether he had a congregation, Ury "waived giving him an
answer."
On the 27th of July, Mr. Webb, the carpenter, was called to the
witness-stand and testified as follows: That he had met Ury at John
Croker's (at the Fighting Cocks), where he became acquainted with him;
that he had heard him read Latin and English so admirably that he
employed him to teach his child; that finding out that he was a
school-teacher, he invited him to board at his house without charge;
that he understood from him that he was a non-juring minister, had
written a book that had drawn the fire of the Church, was charged with
treason, and driven out of England, sustaining the loss of "a living"
worth fifty pounds a year; that on religious matters the deponent
could not always comprehend him; that the accused said Negroes were
only fit for slaves, and to put them above that condition was to
invite them to cut your throats. The observing Horsemanden was so much
pleased with the above declaration, that he gives Ury credit in a
footnote for understanding the dispositions of Negroes![251] Farther
on Mr. Webb says, that, after one Campbell removed to Hughson's, Ury
went thither, and so did the deponent on three different times, and
heard him read prayers after the manner of the Church of England; but
in the prayer for the king he only mentioned "our sovereign lord the
King," and not "King George." He said that Ury pleaded against
drunkenness, debauchery, and Deists; that he admonished every one to
keep his own minister; that when the third sermon was delivered one
Mr. Hildreth was present, when Ury found fault with certain doctrines,
insisted that good works as well as faith were necessary to salvation;
that he announced that on a certain evening he would preach from the
text, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it; and whosoever sins ye remit, they are
remitted, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained."
The judges, delighted with this flavor added to the usually dry
proceedings, thought they had better call Sarah Hughson; that if she
were grateful for her freedom she would furnish the testimony their
honors desired. Sarah was accordingly called. She is recommended for
mercy. She is, of course, to say what is put in her mouth, to give
testimony such as the court desires. So the fate of the poor
schoolmaster was placed in the keeping of the fateful Sarah.
On the 28th of July another grand jury was sworn, and, like the old
one, was composed of merchants. The following persons composed it:
Joseph Robinson, James Livingston, Hermanus Rutgers, jun., Charles
LeRoux, Abraham Boelen, Peter Rutgers, Jacobus Roosevelt, John
Auboyneau, Stephen Van Courtlandt, jun., Abraham Lynsen, Gerardus
Duyckinck, John Provost, Henry Lane, jun., Henry Cuyler, John
Roosevelt, Abraham DePeyster, Edward Hicks, Joseph Ryall, Peter
Schuyler, and Peter Jay.[252]
Sarah Hughson had been pardoned. John Ury was brought into court, when
he challenged some of the jury. William Hammersley, Gerardus Beekman,
John Shurmur, Sidney Breese, Daniel Shatford, Thomas Behenna, Peter
Fresneau, Thomas Willett, John Breese, John Hastier, James Tucker, and
Brandt Schuyler were sworn to try him. Barring formalities, he was
arraigned upon the old indictment; viz., felony, in inciting and
exciting the Negro slave Quack to set fire to the governor's house.
The king's counsel were the attorney-general, Richard Bradley, and
Messrs. Murray, Alexander, Smith, and Chambers. Poor Ury had no
counsel, no sympathizers. The attorney-general, in an opening speech
to the jury, said that certain evidence was to be produced showing
that the prisoner at the bar was guilty as charged in the indictment;
that he had a letter that he desired to read to them, which had been
sent to Lieut.-Gov. Clark, written by Gen. Oglethorpe ("the visionary
Lycurgus of Georgia"), bearing date of the 16th of May. The following
is a choice passage from the letter referred to:--
"Some intelligence I had of a villanous design of a very
extraordinary nature, and if true very important, viz., that
the Spaniards had employed emissaries to burn all the
magazines and considerable towns in the English North
America, and thereby to prevent the subsisting of the great
expedition and fleet in the West Indies; and for this
purpose many priests were employed, who pretended to be
physicians, dancing-masters, and other such kinds of
occupations, and under that pretence to get admittance and
confidence in families."[253]
The burden of his effort was the wickedness of Popery and the
Roman-Catholic Church. The first witness called was the irrepressible
Mary Burton. She began by rehearsing the old story of setting fire to
the houses: but this time she varied it somewhat; it was not the fort
that was to be burnt first, but Croker's, near a coffee-house, by the
long bridge. She remembered the ring drawn with chalk, saw things in
it that looked like rats (the good Horsemanden throws a flood of light
upon this otherwise dark passage by telling his reader that it was the
Negroes' black toes!); that she peeped in once and saw a black thing
like a child, and Ury with a book in his hand, and at this moment she
let a silver spoon drop, and Ury chased her, and would have caught
her, had she not fallen into a bucket of water, and thus marvellously
escaped! But the rule was to send this curious Mary to bed when any
thing of an unusual nature was going on. Ury asked her some questions.
"_Prisoner_.--You say you have seen me several times at
Hughson's, what clothes did I usually wear?
"_Mary Burton_.--I cannot tell what clothes you wore
particularly.
"_Prisoner._--That is strange, and know me so well?"
She then says several kinds, but particularly, or chiefly, a
riding-coat, and often a brown coat, trimmed with black.
"_Prisoner_.--I never wore such a coat. What time of the day
did I used to come to Hughson's?
"_M. Burton_.--You used chiefly to come in the night-time,
and when I have been going to bed I have seen you undressing
in Peggy's room, as if you were to lie there; but I cannot
say that you did, for you were always gone before I was up
in the morning.
"_Prisoner_.--What room was I in when I called Mary, and you
came up, as you said?
"_M. Burton_.--In the great room, up stairs.
"_Prisoner_.--What answer did the Negroes make, when I
offered to forgive them their sins, as you said?
"_M. Burton_.--I don't remember."[254]
William Kane, the soldier, took the stand. He was very bold to answer
all of Ury's questions. He saw him baptize a child, could forgive
sins, and wanted to convert him! Sarah Hughson was next called, but
Ury objected to her because she had been convicted. The judge informed
him that she had been pardoned, and was, therefore, competent as a
witness. Judge Horsemanden was careful to produce newspaper scraps to
prove that the court of France had endeavored to create and excite
revolts and insurrections in the English colonies, and ended by
telling a pathetic story about an Irish schoolmaster in Ulster County
who drank the health of the king of Spain![255] This had great weight
with the jury, no doubt. Poor Ury, convicted upon the evidence of
three notorious liars, without counsel, was left to defend himself. He
addressed the jury in an earnest and intelligent manner. He showed
where the evidence clashed; that the charges were not in harmony with
his previous character, the silence of Quack and others already
executed. He showed that Mr. Campbell took possession of the house
that Hughson had occupied, on the 1st of May; that at that time
Hughson and his wife were in jail, and Sarah in the house; that Sarah
abused Campbell, and that he reproved her for the foul language she
used; and that this furnished her with an additional motive to accuse
him; that he never knew Hughson or any of the family. Mr. John Croker
testified that Ury never kept company with Negroes, nor did he receive
them at Croker's house up to the 1st of May, for all the plotting was
done before that date; that he was a quiet, pious preacher, and an
excellent schoolmaster; that he taught Webb's child, and always
declared himself a non-juring clergyman of the Church of England. But
the fatal revelation of this friend of Ury's was, that Webb made him a
desk; and the jury thought they saw in it an altar for a Catholic
priest! That was enough. The attorney-general told the jury that the
prisoner was a Romish priest, and then proceeded to prove the
exceeding sinfulness of that Church. Acknowledging the paucity of the
evidence intended to prove him a priest, the learned gentleman
hastened to dilate upon all the dark deeds of Rome, and thereby
poisoned the minds of the jury against the unfortunate Ury. He was
found guilty, and on the 29th of August, 1741, was hanged, professing
his innocence, and submitting cheerfully to a cruel and unjust death
as a servant of the Lord.[256]
The trials of the Negroes had continued, but were somewhat
overshadowed by that of the reputed Catholic priest. On the 18th of
July seven Negroes were hanged, including a Negro doctor named Harry.
On the 23d of July a number of white persons were fined for keeping
disorderly houses,--entertaining Negroes; while nine Negroes were, the
same day, released from jail on account of a lack of evidence! On the
15th of August a Spanish Negro was hanged. On the 31st of August,
Corry (the dancing-master), Ryan, Kelly, and Coffin--all white
persons--were dismissed because no one prosecuted; while the reader
must have observed that the evidence against them was quite as strong
as that offered against any of the persons executed, by the lying trio
Burton, Kane, and Sarah. But Mr. Smith the historian gives the correct
reason why these trials came to such a sudden end.
"The whole summer was spent in the prosecutions; every new
trial led to further accusations: a coincidence of slight
circumstances, was magnified by the general terror into
violent presumptions; tales collected without doors,
mingling with the proofs given at the bar, poisoned the
minds of the jurors; and the sanguinary spirit of the day
suffered no check till Mary, the capital informer,
bewildered by frequent examinations and suggestions, lost
her first impressions, and began to touch characters, which
malice itself did not dare to suspect."[257]
The 24th of September was solemnly set apart for public thanksgiving
for the escape of the citizens from destruction!
As we have already said, this "Negro plot" has but one parallel in the
history of civilization. It had its origin in a diseased public
conscience, inflamed by religious bigotry, accelerated by hired liars,
and consummated in the blind and bloody action of a court and jury who
imagined themselves sitting over a powder-magazine. That a robbery
took place, there was abundant evidence in the finding of some of the
articles, and the admissions of Hughson and others; but there was not
a syllable of competent evidence to show that there was an organized
plot. And the time came, after the city had gotten back to its
accustomed quietness, that the most sincere believers in the "Negro
plot" were converted to the opinion that the zeal of the magistrates
had not been "according to knowledge." For they could not have failed
to remember that the Negroes were considered heathen, and, therefore,
not sworn by the court; that they were not allowed counsel; that the
evidence was indirect, contradictory, and malicious, while the trials
were hasty and unfair. From the 11th of May to the 29th of August, one
hundred and fifty-four Negroes were cast into prison; fourteen of whom
were burnt, eighteen hanged, seventy-one transported, and the
remainder pardoned. During the same space of time twenty-four whites
were committed to prison; four of whom were executed, and the
remainder discharged. The number arrested was one hundred and
seventy-eight, thirty-six executed, and seventy-one transported! What
a terrible tragedy committed in the name of law and Christian
government! Mary Burton, the Judas Iscariot of the period, received
her hundred pounds as the price of the blood she had caused to be
shed; and the curtain fell upon one of the most tragic events in all
the history of New York or of the civilized world.[258]
The legislature turned its attention to additional legislation upon
the slavery question. Severe laws were passed against the Negroes.
Their personal rights were curtailed until their condition was but
little removed from that of the brute creation. We have gone over the
voluminous records of the Province of New York, and have not found a
single act calculated to ameliorate the condition of the slave.[259]
He was hated, mistrusted, and feared. Nothing was done, of a friendly
character, for the slave in the Province of New York, until
threatening dangers from without taught the colonists the importance
of husbanding all their resources. The war between the British
colonies in North America and the mother country gave the Negro an
opportunity to level, by desperate valor, a mountain of prejudice, and
wipe out with his blood the dark stain of 1741. History says he did
it.
FOOTNOTES:
[215] Brodhead's History of New York, vol. i. p. 184.
[216] O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands, pp. 384, 385.
[217] Brodhead, vol. i. p. 194.
[218] Ibid, vol. i. pp. 196, 197.
[219] Dunlap's History of New York, vol. i. p, 58.
[220] O'Callaghan, p. 385.
[221] Van Tienhoven.
[222] Hildreth, vol. i. p. 441; also Hol. Doc., III. p. 351.
[223] Annals of Albany, vol. ii. pp. 55-60.
[224] O'Callaghan, p. 353. N.Y. Col. Docs., vol. ii, pp. 368, 369.
[225] Brodhead, vol. i. p. 697.
[226] Brodhead, vol. i. p. 746.
[227] Ibid., vol. i. p. 748.
[228] Valentine's Manual for 1861, pp. 640-664.
[229] New York Hist. Coll., vol. i. pp. 322, 323.
[230] Journals of Legislative Council, vol. i. p xii.
[231] Bradford's Laws, p. 125.
[232] Journals, etc., N.Y., vol. i. p. xiii.
[233] Dunlap's Hist, of N.Y., vol. i. p. 260,
[234] Booth's Hist, of N.Y., vol. i. p, 270-272.
[235] On the 22nd of March, 1680, the following proclamation was
issued: "Whereas, several inhabitants within this city have and doe
dayly harbour, entertain and countenance Indian and neger slaves in
their houses, and to them sell and deliver wine, rum, and other strong
liquors, for which they receive money or goods which by the said
Indian and negro slaves is pilfered, purloyned, and stolen from their
several masters, by which the publick peace is broken, and the damage
of the master is produced, etc., therefore they are prohibited, etc.;
and if neger or Indian slave make application for these forbidden
articles, immediate information is to be given to his master or to the
mayor or oldest alderman."--DUNLAP, vol. ii. Appendix, p. cxxviii.
[236] Bradford Laws, p. 81.
[237] The ordinance referred to was re-enacted on the 22d of April,
1731, and reads as follows: "No Negro, Mulatto, or Indian slave, above
the age of fourteen, shall presume to appear in any of the streets, or
in any other place of this city on the south side of Fresh Water, in
the night time, above an hour after sunset, without a lanthorn and
candle in it (unless in company with his owner or some white belonging
to the family). Penalty, the watch-house that night; next day, prison,
until the owner pays 4_s_, and before discharge, the slave to be
whipped not exceeding forty lashes."--DUNLAP, vol. ii. Appendix, p.
clxiii.
[238] Booth, vol. i. p. 271.
[239] Hurd's Bondage and Freedom, vol. i. p. 281.
[240] Dunlap, vol. i. p. 323.
[241] Judge Daniel Horsemanden.
[242] Hume, vol. vi. pp. 171-212.
[243] Ibid., vol. vi. p. 171.
[244] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 29.
[245] As far back as 1684 the following was passed against the
entertainment of slaves: "No person to countenance or entertain any
negro or Indian slave, or sell or deliver to them any strong liquor,
without liberty from his master, or receive from them any money or
goods; but, upon any offer made by a slave, to reveal the same to the
owner, or to the mayor, under penalty of £5."--DUNLAP, vol.
ii. Appendix, p. cxxxiii.
[246] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 33.
[247] Bradford's Laws, pp. 141-144.
[248] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 60.
[249] The city of Now York was divided into parts at that time, and
comprised two militia districts.
[250] Dunlap, vol. i. p. 344.
[251] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 284.
[252] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 286.
[253] Colonial Hist. of N.Y., vol. vi. p. 199.
[254] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, pp. 292, 293.
[255] Ibid., pp. 298, 299, note.
[256] Horsemanden's Negro Plot, pp. 221, 222.
[257] Smith's Hist. of N.Y., vol. ii. pp. 59, 60.
[258] "On the 6th of March, 1742, the following order was passed by
the Common Council: 'Ordered, that the indentures of Mary Burton be
delivered up to her, and that she be discharged from the remainder of
her servitude, and three pounds paid her, to provide necessary
clothing.' The Common Council had purchased her indentures from her
master, and had kept her and them, until this time."--DUNLAP,
vol. ii. Appendix, p. clxvii.
[259] "On the 17th of November, 1767, a bill was brought into the
House of Assembly "to prevent the unnatural and unwarrantable custom
of enslaving mankind, and the importation of slaves into this
province." It was changed into an act "for laying an impost on Negroes
imported." This could not pass the governor and council; and it was
afterward known that Benning I. Wentworth, the governor of New
Hampshire, had received instructions not to pass any law "imposing
duties on negroes imported into that province." Hutchinson of
Massachusetts had similar instructions. The governor and his Majesty's
council knew this at the time.