Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5 (of 8): The English and French in North America 1689-1763
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5 (of 8): The English and French in North America 1689-1763
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
The career of Leisler is traced in the memoir by C. F. Hoffman in
Sparks’s _Amer. Biog._, xiii. (1844), and in G. W. Schuyler’s _Colonial
New York_ (i. 337). Peleg W. Chandler examines the records of the
prosecution in his _American Criminal Trials_ (i. 255). Cf. also
_Historical Magazine_, xxi. 18, and the general histories, of which
Dunlap’s gives the best account among the earlier ones.[527]
* * * * *
The student must, of necessity, have recourse to the general histories
of New York for the successive administrations of the royal governors,
and H. B. Dawson, in his _Sons of Liberty_ (printed as manuscript,
1859), has followed the tracks of the constant struggle on their part
to preserve their prerogatives.[528] Schuyler (_Colonial New York_, i.
394-460) follows pretty closely the administration of Fletcher. The
chapter on New England (_ante_, no. ii.) will need to be parallelized
with this for the career of Bellomont.
Under Nanfan, who succeeded Bellomont temporarily, Col. Bayard, who
had brought Leisler to his doom, was in turn put on trial, and the
narrative of the proceedings throws light on the factious political
life of the time.[529]
One of the most significant acts of Cornbury’s rule (1702-1708) was the
prosecution in 1707 of Francis Mackemie, a Presbyterian minister, for
preaching without a license.[530]
J. R. Brodhead, who gives references in the case (_Hist. Mag._, Nov.,
1863), charges Cornbury with forging the clause of his instructions
under which it was attempted to convict Mackemie, and he says that
the copy of the royal instructions in the State Paper Office contains
no such paragraph. “History,” he adds, “has already exhibited Lord
Cornbury as a mean liar, a vulgar profligate, a frivolous spendthrift,
an impudent cheat, a fraudulent bankrupt, and a detestable bigot. He is
convicted of having perpetrated one of the most outrageous forgeries
ever attempted by a British nobleman.”[531]
The few months of Lovelace’s rule (1708-9) were followed by a funeral
_Sermon_ when he died, in May, 1709, preached by William Vesey (New
York, 1709), which is of enough historical interest to have been
reprinted in the _N. Y. Hist. Coll._ (1880).
During 1720-1722, the Shelburne Papers (_Hist. MSS. Commission Report_,
v. 215) reveal letters of Peter Schuyler and Gov. Burnet, with various
other documentary sources.
There is a portrait of Rip van Dam, with a memoir, in Valentine’s
_Manual_ (1864, p. 713).
In 1732 and 1738 we have important statistical and descriptive papers
on the province from Cadwallader Colden.[532]
The narrative of the trial of Zenger was widely scattered, editions
being printed at New York, Boston, and London; while the principles
which it established were sedulously controverted by the Tory
faction.[533]
[Illustration]
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