Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont
Encyclopedia
Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont (sometimes spelled Bellamont, 1636 – 5 March 1700/1), known as The Lord Coote between 1683 and 1689, was a member of the English Parliament and a colonial governor. Born in Ireland
, he was an early supporter of William and Mary
, siding with them in the Glorious Revolution
.
In 1695 he was given commissions as governor of the provinces of New York
, Massachusetts Bay
, and New Hampshire
, which he held until his death. He did not arrive in the New World
until 1698, and spent most of his tenure as governor in New York. He spent a little over a year in Massachusetts, and only two weeks in New Hampshire. His time in New York was marked by divisive politics resulting from Leisler's Rebellion
(1689–1691), and difficult and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations to keep the Iroquois
from engaging in peace talks with New France
. Frontier issues were also in the forefront during his time in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where lumber and security from the Abenaki threat dominated his tenure.
He was a major financial sponsor of William Kidd
, whose privateering was later deemed to have descended into piracy
. Bellomont engineered the arrest of Kidd in Boston, and had him returned to England, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged.
in 1636. He was the second son, but the first to survive infancy, of Richard Coote, third son of Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet, and Mary, daughter of Sir George St George. His father was created Baron Coote of Coloony
in 1660 (on the same day as his uncle was created Earl of Mountrath
), and he succeeded his father as Baron Coote on the latter's death on 10 July 1683.
Little is recorded of his early years. In 1677 he is known to have killed a man in a duel for the affections of a young lady. He did not marry her, however, and in 1680 he married Catherine, the daughter of Bridges Nanfan and the eventual heir to Birtsmorton Court
in Worcestershire
. They had two sons.
Following the accession of the pro-Catholic James II
to the English throne, Coote, a Protestant, moved to the Continent and served as a captain of horse in the Dutch army. Because of the family's record of service to Charles II
, his absence from court eventually drew the king's attention, and he was summoned back to court in 1687. He was one of the first to join William of Orange
in the Glorious Revolution
of 1688 that brought William and Mary
to the throne. He was rewarded for this loyalty with an appointment as Treasurer to the Queen in 1689, a post he held until 1694. It also drew unfavourable attention in the Irish Parliament. That body, which was still under the influence of James, attainted him and seized his lands. As a result of this, William on 2 November 1689 created him Earl of Bellomont, and granted him over 77000 acres (31,160.8 ha) of forfeited Irish lands. The land grant was highly controversial in Parliament, and was eventually rescinded by William. He was also rewarded with the governorship of County Leitrim
.
Bellomont was Member of Parliament
for Droitwich
from 1688 to 1695. In the 1690s he became involved in the attempts by Jacob Leisler
's son to clear his father's name. Leisler had been a leading force in the New York rebellion
against the Dominion of New England
established by King James. Upon the arrival of Henry Sloughter
as governor of New York, Leisler was arrested, tried, and executed for treason, and his properties were seized. Leisler's son Jacob Jr. traveled to England to argue the case for restoration of the family properties. Bellomont sat on the Parliamentary committee that examined the evidence, and spoke in Parliament in support of the Leisler's case. He strongly stated his view that Leisler and son-in-law Jacob Milborne had been "barbarously murdered" by Sloughter's actions in a letter to Massachusetts colonial agent Increase Mather
. Young Leisler's efforts were successful: Parliament voted to reverse the attainder, and ordered that the family properties be restored.
vacated the governorship of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
. Colonial agents lobbied to select either Wait Winthrop
or Joseph Dudley
, both native sons, to replace Phips, but the king, wanting someone who would better represent crown authority, selected Bellomont. Since William wanted someone who could exert authority over more of New England, he was also given the governorships of New Hampshire
, and New York
. The major concern that Bellomont was instructed to address was ongoing problems with piracy
, including the open commerce with pirates that went on in New York City
and Rhode Island
.
Bellomont's commissions were not finalized until 1 June 1697. While they were being worked on, New York colonial agent Robert Livingston
proposed to Bellomont that a privateer
be outfitted to combat piracy, and recommended William Kidd
be its captain. This scheme received the assent of King William, who issued a letter of marque
to Kidd for the purpose, as well as a special commission for dealing with pirates. Bellomont raised £6,000 (including £1,000 of his own money, and funds from some of the Lords of the Admiralty) to outfit Kidd's ship.
, who had been appointed Lieutenant Governor of New York. The voyage was exceptionally stormy, and Bellomont's ship was blown well south, eventually putting into Barbados
before continuing on to New York. He arrived in New York City on 2 April 1698. Bellomont's stylish dress, good looks, and positive relationship with the king predisposed New Yorkers to like him, but he very quickly ran into difficulties and began making enemies. His attempts to enforce the Navigation Acts
predictably turned merchants and traders against him. These attempts were also poorly executed by colonial officials whose interests lay more with those merchants than they did with the crown. He raised the anger of Leisler's opponents by implementing the parliamentary act he had helped pass, and saw through the restoration of Leisler's properties. There was so much opposition within his council to this that he ended up purging the council of those opposed. Bellomont also approved the exhumation of the remains of Leisler and his son-in-law Jacob Milborne, which had been unceremoniously buried under the gallows from which they had been hanged. He sanctioned a proper burial, and provide an honour guard of 100 soldiers for the service.
Bellomont's support of the Leislerians proved to be costly, not just in terms of New York politics, but in Indian diplomacy as well. Benjamin Fletcher
, Bellomont's predecessor in office, had taken advantage of the long period between Bellomont's appointment and arrival to make some questionable land grants, including extended leases to properties normally allocated for the governor's use, and in territories that were still claimed by the Iroquois
. When the provincial assembly passed a law retracting all of these irregular grants, it predictably angered a number of large landowners. Land grants made in Iroquois territory to Godfridius Dellius
, the influential pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church
in Albany
, and others were a specific subject of Iroquois complaints. Even though Bellomont's law was passed, the grantees appealed to the Board of Trade, and the bill never received royal assent.
Bellomont denied Dellius and other anti-Leislerians positions of importance in dealing with the Iroquois, resulting in the loss of experienced negotiators. This affected internal Iroquois politics, since supporters of interaction with the English lost influence when their English counterparts were sidelined. This came at a particularly delicate time, when Bellomont was working to strengthen the Covenant Chain
that had been neglected by Fletcher. After the Treaty of Ryswick
ended war between the French and English in 1697, the French continued to make war on the Iroquois (primarily through their Algonquian allies in the Great Lakes
region), and inflicted significant casualties on them. The Iroquois sought the assistance of the English to combat this, threatening to make peace with the French if they did not receive help. Bellomont and French Governor General Louis-Hector de Callière
both claimed dominance over the Iroquois, and each refused to acknowledge the other's right to intercede on their behalf. When Callière summoned the Iroquois to Montreal for negotiations in 1699, Bellomont was alerted, and successfully maneouvred the Iroquois into not going by sending an emissary to Montreal and troops to Albany under Lieutenant Governor Nanfan. The English emissary was unsuccessful in swaying the French from their course of action, and French-allied Algonquians made incursions deep into Iroquois territory in 1700.
In negotiations with the Iroquois, Bellomont overlooked some of the social elements that Iroquois customs demanded, with the result that the parties ended with differing views of how successful their councils were. Bellomont believed they went well, even though it was fairly clear that the Iroquois negotiators were unhappy with how the discussion had gone. He promised them the construction of a fort at Onondaga, and even convinced the legislature to appropriate £1,000 for its construction, but the Iroquois were evasive on accepting this "gift", and never showed English engineers suitable locations for a fort. Bellomont's attempts to prevent the Iroquois from dealing with the French were negated by the French military successes of 1700, which brought the Iroquois to a peace council that resulted in the 1701 Great Peace of Montreal
.
. Bellomont spent 14 months in New England in 1699 and 1700, spending a few weeks of that time in New Hampshire and the rest in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts he was treated politely, but his attempts to implement the crown's policies ran into trouble, as they had in New York. He was refused a salary by the colonial legislature, although the "gift" of £1,000 he received was more than that typically given other governors of the province. The legislature also made repeated attempts to limit appeals to London of judicial decisions handed down by provincial courts. Bellomont, as he was required to do, forwarded laws passed by the legislature to the Board of Trade for approval; these laws were repeatedly struck down because of provisions that attempted to limit royal prerogatives. He also sided politically against Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton
, who was an ally of Joseph Dudley, a Massachusetts native who had presided over the trial of Jacob Leisler. Instead he took council with the populist leader Elisha Cooke, Sr.
Not long after his arrival in Boston, Bellomont engineered the arrest of William Kidd. Rumors had reached the colonies that Kidd had descended into piracy, and he came to be viewed by Bellomont and the other high-profile investors in Kidd's ship as a liability. In November 1698 the Admiralty issued orders to all colonial governors to apprehend Kidd. When he was informed by an agent of Kidd's in June 1699 that Kidd was in the area, Bellomont sent a message back to Kidd, promising clemency. Kidd responded that he would come, sending some of his treasures as a present to Lady Bellomont; she refused them. After Kidd's arrival in Boston on July 3, Bellomont demanded from Kidd a written account of his travels, which Kidd, after haggling over the time, agreed to deliver on the morning of July 6. When he did not do so, Bellomont issued a warrant for his arrest. It was executed as Kidd was en route to see Bellomont at midday the same day. Kidd then attempted to negotiate his freedom, using the secret locations of his treasure and a captured prize ship as bargaining chips. Although a portion of Kidd's treasure was recovered, it did not buy Kidd's freedom, and he was shipped to London in April 1700, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged. In contrast to the relative secrecy with which he conducted some of his communications with Kidd, Bellomont was scrupulous in his dealings with other potentially questionable merchant and pirate business, despite being offered as much as £5,000 to overlook illicit activities.
Matters of frontier security and the lumber trade dominated his brief administration in New England. New England was recognized as an important source of ship masts for the Royal Navy
, and the Board of Trade and the Admiralty sought to reserve suitable trees for the crown's benefit. In both provinces he encountered opposition to entrenched land and timber interests that resented the intrusion of surveyors onto their lands, and interfered with their taking of lumber from lands that had not been granted and were thus reserved to the crown.
In New Hampshire the timber dispute was overlaid by ongoing disputes between local landowners and Samuel Allen
, a London merchant who had acquired the territorial claims of the heirs of John Mason, the province's founder, and was pursuing them against those landowners. Allen, who had been commissioned governor of the province in 1692, only came to the colony in 1698 to take a direct interest in its affairs. During Bellomont's brief visit to New Hampshire in July and August 1699, Allen attempted to buy him to his side. Allen offered his daughter (with a large dowry) as a marriage match for the earl's son; Bellomont refused the offer.
The frontier situation that Bellomont encountered during his time in Massachusetts and New Hampshire was somewhat tense, because the Abenaki of northern New England (like the Iroquois in New York) had not been involved in the Treaty of Ryswick that ended King William's War. In the aftermath of the war they and the settlers of Maine and New Hampshire were extremely mistrustful of one another. The Abenaki felt threatened by English encroachment on their lands, and the settlers feared a return to significant French-inspired raiding of their settlements. Bellomont issued proclamations to distribute among the Abenaki denying plans to take their lands, but was unable to ease the underlying tensions. One reason for this was his naive assumption that Abenaki concerns were rooted in a French Catholic conspiracy. When English negotiators attempted to separate the Abenaki from their Jesuit missionaries, this upset ongoing trade negotiations, and did nothing to assuage Puritan New England concerns over the activities of "Popish Emissaries" intriguing to make war on them. The colonial legislature passed a law banning Roman Catholics from territory claimed by the province, which included Abenaki territory claimed by Governor Sir William Phips
in 1693. Bellomont also engaged in fruitless attempts to convince the eastern Abenaki to migrate west, where they would come under Iroquois influence; this was unsuccessful, in part because the Abenaki and Iroquois had a history of conflict. Despite these difficulties, he managed to achieve a precarious peace with the Abenaki in January 1699.
Abenaki relations were also complicated by misunderstandings about sovereignty. The Abenaki viewed themselves as sovereign, while the English believed them to be subjects, either to themselves or to the French. A prisoner exchange involving English held by the Abenaki and Indians held by the English was frustrated when Bellomont believed that it would be sufficient to negotiate with his counterpart in Quebec
to obtain the release of the English prisoners.
on 5 March 1700/1. He was buried in the chapel of Fort William. When the fort was dismantled, his remains were moved to the yard of St. Paul's Chapel
.
Lieutenant Governor Nanfan acted as New York's governor until the arrival of Lord Cornbury
in 1702. Nanfan, during his brief tenure, reached the peace agreement that eluded Bellomont. In an agreement negotiated later in 1701, the Iroquois signed an agreement
putting their westernmost territorial claims (spanning from present-day Erie, Pennsylvania
to Chicago
and northern Michigan
) under the English crown's protection.
. He died without male issue, and all of the titles were then extinguished.
Bellomont's rule in New York was not remembered fondly. One political opponent, noting that the provincial debt rose substantially during his tenure, wrote that the memory of Bellomont "will stink in the nostrills of all good men", and Robert Livingston reported that the debt was "a greater Debt than I had ever seen". Bellomont's personal affairs were also difficult to tie up: his creditors tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent his wife's departure from the province in order to compel settlement of his personal debts. Bellomont's financial issues were not unique in this respect. Later governors (including Nanfan and Cornbury) were arrested on charges of malfeasance and personal indebtedness at the behest of their political opponents. New York's debt problems were not resolved until the Hunter administration in 1717.
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
, he was an early supporter of William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
, siding with them in the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
.
In 1695 he was given commissions as governor of the provinces of New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
, Massachusetts Bay
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...
, and New Hampshire
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire is a name first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was formally organized as an English royal colony on October 7, 1691, during the period of English colonization...
, which he held until his death. He did not arrive in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
until 1698, and spent most of his tenure as governor in New York. He spent a little over a year in Massachusetts, and only two weeks in New Hampshire. His time in New York was marked by divisive politics resulting from Leisler's Rebellion
Leisler's Rebellion
Leisler's Rebellion was an uprising in late 17th century colonial New York, in which German American merchant and militia captain Jacob Leisler seized control of the colony's south and ruled it from 1689 to 1691. The uprising took place in the aftermath of Britain's Glorious Revolution and the...
(1689–1691), and difficult and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations to keep the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
from engaging in peace talks with New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. Frontier issues were also in the forefront during his time in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where lumber and security from the Abenaki threat dominated his tenure.
He was a major financial sponsor of William Kidd
William Kidd
William "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...
, whose privateering was later deemed to have descended into piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
. Bellomont engineered the arrest of Kidd in Boston, and had him returned to England, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged.
Early life and career
Richard Coote was born in IrelandKingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
in 1636. He was the second son, but the first to survive infancy, of Richard Coote, third son of Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet, and Mary, daughter of Sir George St George. His father was created Baron Coote of Coloony
Earl of Bellomont
The title of Earl of Bellomont was created three times in the Peerage of Ireland, but was more usually spelt Bellamont.The first time it was created on 9 December 1680 for Charles Henry Kirkhoven, who had been created Baron Wotton on 31 August 1650.The second creation was on 2 November 1689 for the...
in 1660 (on the same day as his uncle was created Earl of Mountrath
Earl of Mountrath
Earl of Mountrath was a title in the Peerage of Ireland created on 6 September 1660, along with the titles Viscount Coote and Baron Coote, for Sir Charles Coote, 2nd Baronet...
), and he succeeded his father as Baron Coote on the latter's death on 10 July 1683.
Little is recorded of his early years. In 1677 he is known to have killed a man in a duel for the affections of a young lady. He did not marry her, however, and in 1680 he married Catherine, the daughter of Bridges Nanfan and the eventual heir to Birtsmorton Court
Birtsmorton Court
Birtsmorton Court is a medieval moated manor house near Malvern in Worcestershire, in the former woodlands of Malvern Chase. The English place name element birt-, which often signifies the birches such as grow in this low-lying site, in this particular case may be a transformation of de Brute,...
in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. They had two sons.
Following the accession of the pro-Catholic James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
to the English throne, Coote, a Protestant, moved to the Continent and served as a captain of horse in the Dutch army. Because of the family's record of service to Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, his absence from court eventually drew the king's attention, and he was summoned back to court in 1687. He was one of the first to join William of Orange
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
in the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
of 1688 that brought William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
to the throne. He was rewarded for this loyalty with an appointment as Treasurer to the Queen in 1689, a post he held until 1694. It also drew unfavourable attention in the Irish Parliament. That body, which was still under the influence of James, attainted him and seized his lands. As a result of this, William on 2 November 1689 created him Earl of Bellomont, and granted him over 77000 acres (31,160.8 ha) of forfeited Irish lands. The land grant was highly controversial in Parliament, and was eventually rescinded by William. He was also rewarded with the governorship of County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
.
Bellomont was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Droitwich
Droitwich (UK Parliament constituency)
Droitwich was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of England in 1295, and again from 1554, then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918...
from 1688 to 1695. In the 1690s he became involved in the attempts by Jacob Leisler
Jacob Leisler
Jacob Leisler was a German-born American colonist. He helped create the Huguenot settlement of New Rochelle in 1688 and later served as the acting Lieutenant Governor of New York...
's son to clear his father's name. Leisler had been a leading force in the New York rebellion
Leisler's Rebellion
Leisler's Rebellion was an uprising in late 17th century colonial New York, in which German American merchant and militia captain Jacob Leisler seized control of the colony's south and ruled it from 1689 to 1691. The uprising took place in the aftermath of Britain's Glorious Revolution and the...
against the Dominion of New England
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America was an administrative union of English colonies in the New England region of North America. The dominion was ultimately a failure because the area it encompassed was too large for a single governor to manage...
established by King James. Upon the arrival of Henry Sloughter
Henry Sloughter
Henry Sloughter was briefly colonial governor of New York in 1691. Sloughter was the governor who put down Leisler's Rebellion, which had installed Jacob Leisler as de facto governor in 1689. Lieutenant Governor Richard Ingoldesby, who had served against Leisler's rebels, took over after...
as governor of New York, Leisler was arrested, tried, and executed for treason, and his properties were seized. Leisler's son Jacob Jr. traveled to England to argue the case for restoration of the family properties. Bellomont sat on the Parliamentary committee that examined the evidence, and spoke in Parliament in support of the Leisler's case. He strongly stated his view that Leisler and son-in-law Jacob Milborne had been "barbarously murdered" by Sloughter's actions in a letter to Massachusetts colonial agent Increase Mather
Increase Mather
Increase Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...
. Young Leisler's efforts were successful: Parliament voted to reverse the attainder, and ordered that the family properties be restored.
Colonial governor
The death in 1695 of Sir William PhipsWilliam Phips
Sir William Phips was a shipwright, ship's captain, treasure hunter, military leader, and the first royally-appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay....
vacated the governorship of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...
. Colonial agents lobbied to select either Wait Winthrop
Wait Winthrop
Wait Winthrop was a colonial magistrate, military officer, and politician of New England. Named Waitstill at birth, he preferred the shortened name "Wait"...
or Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...
, both native sons, to replace Phips, but the king, wanting someone who would better represent crown authority, selected Bellomont. Since William wanted someone who could exert authority over more of New England, he was also given the governorships of New Hampshire
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire is a name first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was formally organized as an English royal colony on October 7, 1691, during the period of English colonization...
, and New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
. The major concern that Bellomont was instructed to address was ongoing problems with piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
, including the open commerce with pirates that went on in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Rhode Island
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...
.
Robert Livingston the Elder
Robert Livingston the Elder was a New York colonial official, and first lord of Livingston Manor. He married Alida Schuyler in 1679. He was the father of nine children, including Philip, Robert and Gilbert...
proposed to Bellomont that a privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
be outfitted to combat piracy, and recommended William Kidd
William Kidd
William "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...
be its captain. This scheme received the assent of King William, who issued a letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
to Kidd for the purpose, as well as a special commission for dealing with pirates. Bellomont raised £6,000 (including £1,000 of his own money, and funds from some of the Lords of the Admiralty) to outfit Kidd's ship.
New York
Bellomont sailed for New York in late 1697, accompanied by his wife and her cousin, John NanfanJohn Nanfan
John Nanfan was a lieutenant governor of the Province of New York from 1698 to 1702. He served as acting governor for about a year between the death of the Earl of Bellomont and the arrival of Bellomont's successor, Lord Cornbury...
, who had been appointed Lieutenant Governor of New York. The voyage was exceptionally stormy, and Bellomont's ship was blown well south, eventually putting into Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
before continuing on to New York. He arrived in New York City on 2 April 1698. Bellomont's stylish dress, good looks, and positive relationship with the king predisposed New Yorkers to like him, but he very quickly ran into difficulties and began making enemies. His attempts to enforce the Navigation Acts
Navigation Acts
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...
predictably turned merchants and traders against him. These attempts were also poorly executed by colonial officials whose interests lay more with those merchants than they did with the crown. He raised the anger of Leisler's opponents by implementing the parliamentary act he had helped pass, and saw through the restoration of Leisler's properties. There was so much opposition within his council to this that he ended up purging the council of those opposed. Bellomont also approved the exhumation of the remains of Leisler and his son-in-law Jacob Milborne, which had been unceremoniously buried under the gallows from which they had been hanged. He sanctioned a proper burial, and provide an honour guard of 100 soldiers for the service.
Bellomont's support of the Leislerians proved to be costly, not just in terms of New York politics, but in Indian diplomacy as well. Benjamin Fletcher
Benjamin Fletcher
Benjamin Fletcher was colonial governor of New York from 1692 to 1697.Fletcher was known for the Ministry Act, which secured the place of Anglicans in New York. He was succeeded as colonial governor of New York by Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont.-References:*...
, Bellomont's predecessor in office, had taken advantage of the long period between Bellomont's appointment and arrival to make some questionable land grants, including extended leases to properties normally allocated for the governor's use, and in territories that were still claimed by the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
. When the provincial assembly passed a law retracting all of these irregular grants, it predictably angered a number of large landowners. Land grants made in Iroquois territory to Godfridius Dellius
Godfridius Dellius
Godfridius Dellius was a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church active in and around New Holland during the late 17th century, and perhaps the early 18th century...
, the influential pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
in Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, and others were a specific subject of Iroquois complaints. Even though Bellomont's law was passed, the grantees appealed to the Board of Trade, and the bill never received royal assent.
Bellomont denied Dellius and other anti-Leislerians positions of importance in dealing with the Iroquois, resulting in the loss of experienced negotiators. This affected internal Iroquois politics, since supporters of interaction with the English lost influence when their English counterparts were sidelined. This came at a particularly delicate time, when Bellomont was working to strengthen the Covenant Chain
Covenant Chain
The Covenant Chain was a series of alliances and treaties involving the Iroquois Confederacy , the British colonies of North America, and a number of other Indian tribes...
that had been neglected by Fletcher. After the Treaty of Ryswick
Treaty of Ryswick
The Treaty of Ryswick or Ryswyck was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the Nine Years' War, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces.Negotiations started in May...
ended war between the French and English in 1697, the French continued to make war on the Iroquois (primarily through their Algonquian allies in the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
region), and inflicted significant casualties on them. The Iroquois sought the assistance of the English to combat this, threatening to make peace with the French if they did not receive help. Bellomont and French Governor General Louis-Hector de Callière
Louis-Hector de Callière
Louis-Hector de Callière or Callières was a French politician, who was the governor of Montreal , and the governor of New France from 1698 to 1703. He played an important role in defining the strategy that New France followed during the Queen Anne's War.De Callière was born in Thorigny-sur-Vire,...
both claimed dominance over the Iroquois, and each refused to acknowledge the other's right to intercede on their behalf. When Callière summoned the Iroquois to Montreal for negotiations in 1699, Bellomont was alerted, and successfully maneouvred the Iroquois into not going by sending an emissary to Montreal and troops to Albany under Lieutenant Governor Nanfan. The English emissary was unsuccessful in swaying the French from their course of action, and French-allied Algonquians made incursions deep into Iroquois territory in 1700.
In negotiations with the Iroquois, Bellomont overlooked some of the social elements that Iroquois customs demanded, with the result that the parties ended with differing views of how successful their councils were. Bellomont believed they went well, even though it was fairly clear that the Iroquois negotiators were unhappy with how the discussion had gone. He promised them the construction of a fort at Onondaga, and even convinced the legislature to appropriate £1,000 for its construction, but the Iroquois were evasive on accepting this "gift", and never showed English engineers suitable locations for a fort. Bellomont's attempts to prevent the Iroquois from dealing with the French were negated by the French military successes of 1700, which brought the Iroquois to a peace council that resulted in the 1701 Great Peace of Montreal
Great Peace of Montreal
The Great Peace of Montreal was a peace treaty between New France and 40 First Nations of North America. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of New France, and 1300 representatives of 40 aboriginal nations of the North East of North America...
.
Massachusetts and New Hampshire
In May 1699 Bellomont sailed for BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Bellomont spent 14 months in New England in 1699 and 1700, spending a few weeks of that time in New Hampshire and the rest in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts he was treated politely, but his attempts to implement the crown's policies ran into trouble, as they had in New York. He was refused a salary by the colonial legislature, although the "gift" of £1,000 he received was more than that typically given other governors of the province. The legislature also made repeated attempts to limit appeals to London of judicial decisions handed down by provincial courts. Bellomont, as he was required to do, forwarded laws passed by the legislature to the Board of Trade for approval; these laws were repeatedly struck down because of provisions that attempted to limit royal prerogatives. He also sided politically against Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton
William Stoughton (Massachusetts)
William Stoughton was a colonial magistrate and admininstrator in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was in charge of what have come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, first as the Chief Justice of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the Chief Justice of the...
, who was an ally of Joseph Dudley, a Massachusetts native who had presided over the trial of Jacob Leisler. Instead he took council with the populist leader Elisha Cooke, Sr.
Elisha Cooke, Sr.
Elisha Cooke was a wealthy Massachusetts physician, politician, and businessman who was elected Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1683. He was the leader of the "popular party", a faction in the Massachusetts House that resisted encroachment by royal officials on colonial...
Not long after his arrival in Boston, Bellomont engineered the arrest of William Kidd. Rumors had reached the colonies that Kidd had descended into piracy, and he came to be viewed by Bellomont and the other high-profile investors in Kidd's ship as a liability. In November 1698 the Admiralty issued orders to all colonial governors to apprehend Kidd. When he was informed by an agent of Kidd's in June 1699 that Kidd was in the area, Bellomont sent a message back to Kidd, promising clemency. Kidd responded that he would come, sending some of his treasures as a present to Lady Bellomont; she refused them. After Kidd's arrival in Boston on July 3, Bellomont demanded from Kidd a written account of his travels, which Kidd, after haggling over the time, agreed to deliver on the morning of July 6. When he did not do so, Bellomont issued a warrant for his arrest. It was executed as Kidd was en route to see Bellomont at midday the same day. Kidd then attempted to negotiate his freedom, using the secret locations of his treasure and a captured prize ship as bargaining chips. Although a portion of Kidd's treasure was recovered, it did not buy Kidd's freedom, and he was shipped to London in April 1700, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged. In contrast to the relative secrecy with which he conducted some of his communications with Kidd, Bellomont was scrupulous in his dealings with other potentially questionable merchant and pirate business, despite being offered as much as £5,000 to overlook illicit activities.
Matters of frontier security and the lumber trade dominated his brief administration in New England. New England was recognized as an important source of ship masts for the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and the Board of Trade and the Admiralty sought to reserve suitable trees for the crown's benefit. In both provinces he encountered opposition to entrenched land and timber interests that resented the intrusion of surveyors onto their lands, and interfered with their taking of lumber from lands that had not been granted and were thus reserved to the crown.
In New Hampshire the timber dispute was overlaid by ongoing disputes between local landowners and Samuel Allen
Samuel Allen (New Hampshire)
Samuel Allen was an English proprietor and governor of the Province of New Hampshire. Born in London, he was a successful merchant, who in 1691 purchased the proprietary claims of the heirs of the colony's founder, John Mason. He was commissioned governor of the province in 1692 by William and...
, a London merchant who had acquired the territorial claims of the heirs of John Mason, the province's founder, and was pursuing them against those landowners. Allen, who had been commissioned governor of the province in 1692, only came to the colony in 1698 to take a direct interest in its affairs. During Bellomont's brief visit to New Hampshire in July and August 1699, Allen attempted to buy him to his side. Allen offered his daughter (with a large dowry) as a marriage match for the earl's son; Bellomont refused the offer.
Abenaki relations
William Phips
Sir William Phips was a shipwright, ship's captain, treasure hunter, military leader, and the first royally-appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay....
in 1693. Bellomont also engaged in fruitless attempts to convince the eastern Abenaki to migrate west, where they would come under Iroquois influence; this was unsuccessful, in part because the Abenaki and Iroquois had a history of conflict. Despite these difficulties, he managed to achieve a precarious peace with the Abenaki in January 1699.
Abenaki relations were also complicated by misunderstandings about sovereignty. The Abenaki viewed themselves as sovereign, while the English believed them to be subjects, either to themselves or to the French. A prisoner exchange involving English held by the Abenaki and Indians held by the English was frustrated when Bellomont believed that it would be sufficient to negotiate with his counterpart in Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
to obtain the release of the English prisoners.
Return to New York and death
He returned to New York in 1700, where he resumed actions against piracy and illegal shipping. Following a conference with the Iroquois at Albany in early 1700/1 (which Bellomont characterized as "greatest fatigue [I] ever underwent"), he returned to New York City, where he succumbed to a severe case of goutGout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
on 5 March 1700/1. He was buried in the chapel of Fort William. When the fort was dismantled, his remains were moved to the yard of St. Paul's Chapel
St. Paul's Chapel
St. Paul's Chapel, is an Episcopal chapel located at 209 Broadway, between Fulton and Vesey Streets, in lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan.-History and architecture:...
.
Lieutenant Governor Nanfan acted as New York's governor until the arrival of Lord Cornbury
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon , styled Viscount Cornbury between 1674 and 1709, was Governor of New York and New Jersey between 1701 and 1708, and is perhaps best known for the claims of his cross-dressing while in office.-Career:Born The Hon...
in 1702. Nanfan, during his brief tenure, reached the peace agreement that eluded Bellomont. In an agreement negotiated later in 1701, the Iroquois signed an agreement
Nanfan Treaty
Deed from the Five Nations to the King, of their Beaver Hunting Ground, more commonly known as the Nanfan Treaty, was an agreement made between the representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy with John Nanfan, the acting colonial governor of New York, on behalf of the The Crown...
putting their westernmost territorial claims (spanning from present-day Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and northern Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
) under the English crown's protection.
Family, titles, and legacy
Bellomont's eldest son, Nanfan, Lord Coloony, succeeded to the earldom on his death. His second son Richard, succeeded in turn as 3rd earl on his elder brother's death. On the 3rd earl's death without surviving male heirs, the earldom became extinct, while the barony devolved on his cousin, Sir Charles Coote, who was later also created Earl of BellomontEarl of Bellomont
The title of Earl of Bellomont was created three times in the Peerage of Ireland, but was more usually spelt Bellamont.The first time it was created on 9 December 1680 for Charles Henry Kirkhoven, who had been created Baron Wotton on 31 August 1650.The second creation was on 2 November 1689 for the...
. He died without male issue, and all of the titles were then extinguished.
Bellomont's rule in New York was not remembered fondly. One political opponent, noting that the provincial debt rose substantially during his tenure, wrote that the memory of Bellomont "will stink in the nostrills of all good men", and Robert Livingston reported that the debt was "a greater Debt than I had ever seen". Bellomont's personal affairs were also difficult to tie up: his creditors tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent his wife's departure from the province in order to compel settlement of his personal debts. Bellomont's financial issues were not unique in this respect. Later governors (including Nanfan and Cornbury) were arrested on charges of malfeasance and personal indebtedness at the behest of their political opponents. New York's debt problems were not resolved until the Hunter administration in 1717.