Emigrant Labor. 49 



of Livingston became daily more unbearable.^ He had the 

 reputation of being unscrupulous, and at the very beginning of 

 the settlement Lord Clarendon had written to a member of the 

 Board of Trade that he thought it most unfortunate that Colonel 

 Hunter had fallen into the hands of such a man ; he felt certain 

 that Livingston had contrived to ofifer the sale of his lands for 

 the sole purpose of getting the contract to feed the Pala- 

 tines." Hunter himself now declared that Livingston had be- 

 trayed his confidence and misrepresented his character. 



Discouragements multiplied. The winter of 1712 was a hard 

 one ; the ice in the river carried away part of the corn-mill and 

 the foot-bridge, and nearly broke the dam, so that it was diffi- 

 cult to get enough flour to feed the people.^ By July of that 

 year, it became necessary to retrench on beer and bread, and 

 Colonel Hunter sent word to Livingston to give the dole only 

 to the men who were actually at work, and not to their fam- 

 ilies.* The situation grew rapidly worse, and in September 

 Colonel Hunter wrote to ]\Ir. Cast that he had at last exhausted 

 all his money and credit for the support of the Palatines, and 

 had embarrassed himself with difficulties he knew not how to 

 surmount, unless his bills of exchange were paid. But, trust- 

 ing that the Queen would reimburse him, he was disposed to 

 make some sort of shift, now that the work had progressed thus 

 far. He suggested, as an expedient, that those who could sup- 

 port their families by hiring themselves out to farmers in New 

 York or Xew Jersey, should be given a ticket of leave, with the 

 understanding that it was merely a temporary arrangement 

 and that there was not the least intention to abandon the tar 

 works. The coopers and as many as it would be necessary to 

 employ under them were to be retained. Hunter expressed his 

 confident expectation that he could get his bills of exchange 

 paid by spring, and be enabled to support all the Palatines. He 



'Doct. Hist, of New York, Vol. Ill, pp. 673, 674. 

 =»Doct. Hist, of New York, Vol. Ill, p. 656. 

 'Doct. Hist, of New York, Vol. Ill, pp. 679 to 6S1. 

 ^Doct. Hist, of New York, Vol. Ill, p. 682. 



