William A iwood. possibly by the prospect, in a new country, of a future for his children, for he writes to the Lords of Trade that he had brought with him " eight in family," and did not know " where to fix them, houses in the city were so scarce and dear, and lodgings worse," ending by asking them to allow him to occupy one of the houses of Capt. Kidd, which had been forfeited to the government.' The two officials arrived in New York after a voyage of ninety days, on the 24th of July, 1701, and although the time was unpropitious, being the hottest period of the year, they were invited to numerous din ners and entertainments; every attention was shown to them, and the corporation con ferred upon each of them the freedom of the city. At this time there were two factions in the Colony, known as the Bayard party and the Leislerians, who, after Lord Bellamont's death, were struggling for supremacy, and in the interval between the death of Bellamont and the appointment of his successor, Lord Cornbury, the Leislerians were in power. They were the party that Lord Bellamont had recognized, and as it was at his request that an English barrister had been appointed to fill the office of Chief Justice, instead of being selected, as before, from the Colony, it was perhaps to be expected that the newly appointed Chief Justice would regard favorably the party that had had the confi dence of Bellamont. Atwood, moreover, in virtue of his office, was a member of the Council. As such he had duties connected with the administration of the affairs of the province, as distinguished from those that were judicial, which were discharged in a council composed exclusively of Leislerians, and under such circumstances it was not remarkable that he should be in sympathy with those whom, from the outset, he was brought in official connection. But he went far beyond that. He became the leader of the ' party, and as such one of the most 1 4 Col. Doc. 914, 253.
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active, unscrupulous, and vindictive of parti sans. Broughton the Attorney-General's course was different. In a very short time he formed a correct judgment of the two factions, " between whom," as he said, " he could not discover any more material ground for their differences, notwithstand ing the many allegations on both sides, than a desire to be distinguished," and he wrote to the Lords of Trade suggesting that they should get the King to give Lord Cornbury, who it was understood was to be Lord Bellamont's successor, special instruc tions " to use temper and moderation upon his first coming"; to treat each party with like favor and respect, by which means, he said, " after he has run some course, in such a management, he will be able clearly to discern who are true friends of his Majesty and his government here, and then it will not be difficult for him to determine how to steer himself for the future," 1 an ad vice which, if given, Cornbury never fol lowed. Atwood, in addition to his office of Chief Justice, was also commissioned as the judge in admiralty, with an extensive jurisdiction embracing the New England colonies, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Lord Cornbury, in an official communication afterward to the Lords of Trade, stated that Atwood and Thomas Weaver, who was then the collector of the port of New York, were both " persons extremely indigent," that they were " partial, unjust, violent and tur bulent," who had " contrived and complotted the ruin of the principal inhabitants, so that their estates, which were considerable, might be forfeited to the government for debts due to it." That Atwood, "in the ex ecution of his office as Chief Justice and as judge in almost all cases that came judi cially before him, by the chief report of all present, openly, notoriously and most scan dalously and with wonderful partiality, in ' 4 Col. Doc. 914.
