Description:

Signed by two early mayors of New York, three prominent Dutch New Yorkers write to the Lords of Trade during the tumultuous governorship of Lord Cornbury, concerning the accounts of Thomas Weaver, who had recently fled the colony

(COLONIAL NEW YORK) Letter Signed, "S[amuel] Straats," "J.D: Peyster," and "I[saac] D[e] Reimer," 1 page, 7" x 8.75", New York, February 22, 1704, likely to the Lords of Trade concerning the financial accounts of the colony kept Thomas Weaver, who had recently abandoned the city after coming under fire for prosecuting Nicholas Bayard for treason in 1702.

The letter reads, in most part, with period spelling retained, "Yo[ur]s of the 24th: of May last with the Duplicates thereof Wee have received & cannot but be heartily thankfull for the good advice yo[u]r hon[o]r imparts to us relating to Mr. [Thomas] Weaver's Accmpts Altho Soon after our writing to you[u[r Hon[o]r We did comply with his Excellencyes [Governor Cornbury's] directions; Wee cannot but Say that the fault [was?] not at our Doors that that matter has not been ended a Twelf month agoe, last Spring some Gent[leme]n of the Councill with Mr. Clark were ap[p]ointed to examine the Accompts whom We attended & went thro' Some Small part thereof those Gent[leme]n promising us as soon as possible to go thro' the whole & acquainpt] us with the dayes of their meeting for that purpose but Since that time heard nothing from them tho' Wee often desired— Severall of them to dispatch, wee within Six dayes Mr Clarke Mr Hancommer being appointed We lately met three times & proceeded with intention to go on within a few dayes to bring that matter to a Period & that you[u]r Hon[o]r may receive your Inst[ructions] due which wee greatly desire, Assuring yo[u]r Hon[o]r that nothing Shall be wanting on our parts to forward the conclusion, whereof Wee thought it our duty to acquaint yo[u]r Hon[o]r by this op[p]ortunity Imploring yo[u]r Hon[o]rs favour & Intercession that no conclusion may be taken against us in England on that behalf while Wee are observing Such Directions as the Gov[ernmen]t here ascribes[?] us, who at our Request have assured us to make all possible dispatch that the report may be sent by the Virgnnia [sic] fleet..."

Thomas Weaver (c. 1641-1705) was an Oxford-educated lawyer who arrived in New York in 1698 in company with the new Governor, the Earl of Bellmont, who appointed him Collector and Receiver General of the Province in 1700, and a member of the Governor's Council the following year. In 1702 Weaver assumed the post of Solicitor-General to press the government's case in the Nicholas Bayard Treason Trial after Attorney General Broughton refused to prosecute him. When the court found Bayard guilty and sentenced to death, his supporters levied charges against Weaver, who fled the city. In November 1702, the newly-installed governor Lord Cornbury, offered Weaver protection if he would come out of hiding and put the provincial books in order. Weaver complied with the Governor's request, handed the accounts the provincial auditor, and then absconded, never to return.

The letter features three prominent New Yorkers, some of whom were clearly not favored by Governor Cornbury. All three were of Dutch background who naturally felt at odds with the growing Anglicization of the colony. Cornbury was suspicious of the Dutch elite of the town, suspecting that they sought to compromise British rule, especially in light of their associations with Jacob Liseler's rebellion. When he arrived in New York in 1704, he dissolved the Governor's Council, dominated by the Dutch, which included Samuel Staats and Johannes de Peyster's brother Abraham, replacing them with mostly Englishmen. (Journal of the Legislative Council of New York... 1691...1743, 1861, 174-175)

Samuel Staats (1657-1715) was a prominent New York physician. Cornbury, in a June 1704 letter to the Lords of Trade offered a detailed (but slanted) biography of Staats, characterizing him as among those "who have always been the disturbers of the peace of this Country, and are now, and always will be (as far as they are able) irreconcilable enemys to an English Government, particularly one Samuel Staats ... a surgeon who was born in this Province at the time of the Dutch Government, went into Holland to learn his trade, and returned hither again, and was here at the time the Dutch surrendered this Province to the English, upon which surrender Articles were agreed upon, by which those of the Dutch nation, who had a mind to remain here, were to qualify themselves by certain oaths, and there was a certain time limited, beyond which they were not to have the benefit of those Articles, if they did not qualify themselves accordingly. This Samuel Staats stayed here till the time allowed was very near expiring, and then rather than endeavour to make himself an Englishman, he left this Province, and went to Holland, where he remained till a very little time before the Revolution, then he came hither, and joyned with Mr. Leisler, was one of the most active men in this Country, and will never cease his endeavours till he brings this to be a Dutch Government again, if he can..." (Eward Hyde, Lord Cornbury to Council of Trade and Plantations, June 30, 1704, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Volume 22, 1704-1705).

Johannes de Peyster (1666-1719) served as the 23rd Mayor of New York City from 1698 to 1699 and was the brother of Abraham de Peyster, who served as the 20th Mayor of New York from 1691 to 1694 who, like Staats, was ousted from the Governor's council in 1702.

Isaac de Reimer served as the 25th Mayor of New York City from 1700 to 1701.

A superb early letter from New York, worthy of further research.

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