Series, p. 291.

[211] Hening, vol. ii. p. 517.

[212] Hening, vol. ii. p. 518.

[213] Campbell, p. 383.

[214] Chalmers's American Colonies, vol. ii. p. 7.

CHAPTER XIII.

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 CAESAR 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 eff