CHAPTER XIV.

ADMINISTRATION   OF   LIEUT.   GOVERNOR CLARKE.

Hostility to Mr. Vesey—Enlargement of the Church Edifice—Thanksgiving Day
Observed in the Province—Schick Schidit—Arrangement of Pews—Smith's Description
of Trinity Church—First Appearance of the Bogardus Claimants to Church property,
1738—Parish Library—Arrears of Quit-rents Paid to the Crown—Meeting of Clergy
in Trinity Church—Organ Provided—Death of Lady Clarke—Negro Plot, 1741—
Handsome Additions to Church Furniture.

UPON the death of Governor Cosby, the government
devolved upon George Clarke, member of the Coun¬
cil, and formerly Secretary of the Province.' He had been
associated with Cosby in office, as a kind of prime minister,
if that description may be allowed ; he had also served as
Secretary in New Jersey, whence, in 1715, he sent home a
bitter attack upon Mr. Vesey, intended, probably, to sup¬
port Governor Hunter.' His letter was quite as malignant
and unscrupulous in its contents and style as the document
sent to England by Hunter and his friends, but it had as
little weight with the Bishop of London and the authori¬
ties. By the death of Cosby, Clarke was brought into
new relations with the Rector of Trinity ; but things had
greatly changed, and the consequences which might have
been apprehended did not ensue. There is no particular
indication of the relations existing between these men ; the
Governor kept out of the rector's way, well knowing that

' Memoirs, N. Y. Col. Docs., iv.. I06g.

' See letter in N. Y. Col. Docs., v., 464, in which he accuses Mr. Vesey of being a
non-juror, fomenter of political intrigues against the administration, and guilty of
simony.

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