New York_ The Novel - Edward Rutherfurd [45]
It was one thing to send out privateers against the enemy, but it was another to rule the province. And for a while there was all kind of confusion. Up in Boston, they’d thrown King James’s governor in jail. In New York, nobody knew who was supposed to be in charge. And this was where Meinheer Leisler stepped into history. For since he was one of the leaders of the city militia, the city fathers asked him to take charge until things were sorted out.
You can imagine how pleased the Mistress was. Some of the prominent Dutchmen supported him, like Doctor Beekman and some of the Stuyvesants. The Dutch small traders and craftsmen and all of the poorest Dutch were for him, because he was Dutch. The Huguenots that were arriving by almost every ship all liked him; and he helped them to have a Huguenot settlement out at the place they named New Rochelle, after one of the French towns they’d been kicked out of. And many of the English, especially out on Long Island, liked him, because they hated Catholics in general, and he was a good Protestant. Some of the most religious ones were even saying the Glorious Revolution was a sign that the Kingdom of God was at hand.
So Meinheer Leisler was ruler of New York for a while. But it wasn’t easy for him. I remember him coming by to see the Mistress one time and saying how hard it was to keep good order. “And I shall have to raise taxes,” he said. “They aren’t going to like me after that.” I could see that his face, which was always so jaunty, was looking tired and strained. “But one thing,” he said, “I promise you I’ll never give this town over to any Catholics again.” And Meinheer Leisler was running the town for about a year and a half.
But if the Mistress was all for him, the Boss was more cautious.
I first came to understand what was in the Boss’s mind one day when we were walking down the main street that runs from the fort up to the gateway, that the English were calling Broadway. That part of the town was mostly occupied by the lesser Dutch folk—carpenters, carmen, brick-makers, cordwainers and mariners. They all loved Leisler. And I remarked to the Boss how popular Meinheer Leisler was.
“Hmm,” he said. “It won’t do him much good, though.”
“How’s that, Boss?” I asked. But he didn’t say.
Soon enough, however, you could see what the trouble was. For Meinheer Leisler started putting ordinary folk into city offices and giving them power. Even the big Dutch merchants didn’t like that. Some of the dominies started complaining about him too.
The Mistress took no account of this complaining. She spoke up for Leisler all the time. “He is Dutch, and we have a Dutch king now,” she would say.
“But he is also an English king,” I heard the Master warn her once, “and his court is in London. The big merchants have friends in the English court, which Leisler does not.” He told her to be careful what she said.
Well, as the months went by, there was so much opposition from the leading men that Meinheer Leisler started to strike at them. He arrested Meinheer Bayard; and he had warrants out for van Cortlandt and several others. The ordinary Dutch folk who loved Meinheer Leisler even attacked some of those big men’s houses. Because he was rich, the Boss was even afraid they might come and burn his. One evening he came home saying there was going to be trouble in the streets, and when I told him the Mistress was out, he said, “Come with me, Quash. We’d better make sure she’s safe.” So we went round the town. And we were just coming along Beaver Street to the bottom of Broadway when we saw more than a hundred women marching to the fort to show their support for Meinheer Leisler. And there in the front row was the Mistress. For a moment the Boss looked so angry that I thought he was going to drag her out. But then he suddenly laughed. “Well, Quash,” he said, “I reckon this means they won’t be attacking our house.”
In the end, though, it all turned out