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HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
BY
JOHN EOMEYN BRODHEAD.
SECOND VOLUME.
FIRST EDITION.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUAKE.
1871.
^
"2^/7 3 ^.V
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 187], by
John Romevn Brodhead,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREFACE
TO VOLUME SECOND.
When this volume was begun, it was my purpose to bring its contents down to the accession of Queen Anne of England, and the chapters embracing the years between 1691 and 1702 are ready for the printer. But, by the affluence of original authorities, and the temptation to use them, perhaps, too liberally, this book, in spite of laborious condensation, may have grown unfashionably large ; and these chapters must be reserved for another volume — should the public manifest a desire to learn more of early 'New York, down to the inauguration of ^Yashington.
Descended from an. English officer who helped his king to con- quer Dutch New Netherland, as well as from a colonial Hollander who stood up manfully for his Kepublican Fatherland, I feel no partiality in telling the history of liie greatest European plantation in America. My object has ]been to exhibit the truth honestly and minutely. In doing this, I have long and carefully studied the re- ceived authorities relating to the colonial annals of our country, and also all that I have seen, recently brought to light. If I have missed my aim, let my failure be imputed to incapacity rather than to lack of industry or candor.
John Roivietn Beodhead.
Neio York, February, 1871.
CONTENTS.
C II A r T E R I. 1GG4. War at hand; Louis the Fourteenth, page 1 ; The Dutch Republic, William of Orange, and John De Witt, 2 ; England and Charles, 3 ; James, Duke of York, 4 ; The En- glish King's jNIinisters, 5 ; Downing, G ; Canada, New England, New Netherland, and Virginia, 7; Admirable Situation of New Netherland, 8, 9 ; Territorial Jealousies in North America, 10, 11 ; Charles's Policy, 12 ; English new Navigation Law, 13 ; New Netherland to be seized by England, 14 ; The Duke of York's Patent, 15, 16 ; Colonel Richard NicoUs, 17; Royal Commissioners, 18; Instractions of the Commis- sioners, 19 ; English Expedition against New Netherland, 20 ; Infatuation in Hol- land, 21 ; Swedish Complaints, 22 ; States General refuse to defend New Netherland, 23 ; New Amsterdam blockaded, 24 ; Stup-esant returns from Fort Orange, 25 ; The Metropolis defenseless, 2G ; Nicolls demands the Surrender of Jlanhattan, 27 ; Stuyvesant's Letter to the W. I. Company ; Willett and Winthrop, 28 ; Winthrop's Letter to Stuy^-esant, 29 ; Stuyvesant tears up Winthrop's Letter, 30 ; Stuyvesant's Justification of the Dutch Title, 31 ; Nicolls at Gravesend, 32 ; Submission of Long Island to the English ; New Amsterdam beleaguered, 33 ; Panic in the Metropolis, 34; English and Dutch Commissioners appointed, 35 ; Articles of Capitulation agi'ced upon, 3G ; Surrender of New Netherland to the English, 37-41.
CHAPTER IL
1GG4-1GG5.
Fort Amsterdam given up, and the English Flag hoisted, 42 ; New York and Fort James named ; Nicolls's new Goverament, 43 ; English and Dutch Church Service, 44 ; Fort Orange submits, and is named Albany ; IManning commander ; Brodhead in command at Esopus, 4G ; Oath of Allegiance requii-ed from the Dutch, 47 ; York- shire and Albania, 48 ; Nicolls's Grants of Land, 49 ; Conquest of the Delaware by the English, 50-53; Connecticut Boinidarj', 53; Long Island adjudged to New York, 54 ; Boundaries established between New York and Connecticut, 55 ; Long Island Affairs, 5G ; The Dutch Government demands Restitution of New Netheriand, 57 ; Hostihties begun by England, 58 ; Nicolls seizes the W. I. Company's Estate, 59 ; Stuy\-esant retunis to Holland ; New City Officers in New York, 60 ; Provincial Rev- enue, CI ; Royal Commissioners in New England ; Nicolls establishes a Court of As- sizes in New York, 02 ; Long Island or Yorkshire divided into Ridings, 63 ; Purpose of the Court of Assizes, 64 ; The Duke of York's Power to make Laws, 65 ; Enghsh Laws established, 66; Meeting at Hempstead; Nicolls's Code, 67, G8 ; Hempstead Address to the Duke of York, 69; "The Duke's Laws," 70-73; Race-course at Hempstead ; Albany Affairs, 74 ; City Government of New York changed, 75 ; Wil- lett Mayor, 76 ; The Dutch dissatisfied, 77 ; Holland appeals to France against En- gland, 78 ; War declared between Holland and England, 79 ; Feeling in New York,
y] CONTENTS.
80; Berkeley and Carteret, 81 ; James conveys a part of New York to tliem, and calls it "New Jersey," 82 ; The Duke's Letter to Nicolls, 83 ; Philip Carteret Gov- ernor of New Jersey, 84-86 ; Delaware and Pemaquid, 86 ; Admiralty Court in New York, 87 ; NicoUs's Instructions to Brodhead at Esopus, 88 ; Purchase of Esopus Lands ; NicoUs's new offers to Planters, 89 ; Case of Witchcraft, 90 ; Dutch Prop- erty confiscated by Nicolls ; Condition of New York, 91, 92 ; War between the Dutch and English in Em-ope, 93-96.
CHAPTERIIL
1666-1668.
France declares War against England ; Charles's Colonial Orders, 97 ; New York and Canada, 98 ; The Jesuits oppose the Liquor Trade, 99 ; De Mezy recalled, and Cour- celles Governor of Canada; Talon Intendant, 100 ; Tracy Viceroy of New France, 101 ; The Iroquois and Onnontio, 102 ; Courcelles's Expedition against the Mohawks, 103; Action of Nicolls, 104; The Delaware Territorj-, lOG; Discontent on Long Island ; Nicolls warns the seditious, 107 ; Narrative of the Hempstead Delegates ; Action of the Court of Assizes, 108 ; New Land Patents, 109 ; New York and Al- bany, 110 ; Eoyal Commissioners recalled. 111 ; NicoUs's Eeport on New York, 112, 113; Submission of the Western Iroquois to Canada, 114; The Oneidas and Mo- hawks submit to the French, 115; Tracy's Expedition against the Mohawks, 117- 119; Precautions of Nicolls, 120; Van Curler drowned in Lake Champlain, 121; Brodhead suspended from command at Esopus, 121-123 ; Naval War between the Dutch and English, 124; Great Fire of London, 125; Krynssen in Virginia, 126; New York Privateer in Acadia, 127; French Missionaries assigned to the Iroquois, 128-131; Stup-esant and the West India Company, 132, 133; The Dutch in the Thames, 134 ; Treaty of Breda ; New Netherland given up to England, 135 ; Feeling in London ; Fall of Clarendon, 136 ; Stuyvesant's return to New York, 137 ; Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, 138 ; Fisher's Island granted to Winthrop, 139 ; Delaware Affairs, 140 ; Nicolls leaves New York, 142.
CHAPTER IV.
1668-1673.
Colonel Francis Lovelace Governor, 143, 144 ; Esopus Affairs ; a Printing-press want- ed, 145; Jesuit Missions among the Iroquois, 146-148; New Jersey Affairs ; Staten Island adjudged to New York, 149, 150; The English refuse Free Trade to New York, 151; Triple Alliance, 152; Aspect of the Metropolis, 153, 154; Panic on Long Island, 155; Marbletown, Hurley, and Kingston, 156, 157 ; Provincial and City Seals, 157, 158 ; Ministiy of the Reformed Dutch Church, 159 ; Court of As- sizes, 160; The Mahicans and Mohawks, 161 ; Jesuit Explorations in the West, 162; La Salle, Dollier, and Galinc'e explore Lakes Ontario and Erie, 163 ; Delaware Af- fairs, 164, 165 ; Lovelace buys Staten Island from the Indians, 165, 166 ; Esopus and Albany Affairs, 167 ; No foreign trading Vessels on the Hudson, 168 ; Iroquois and the French, 169, 170 ; Case of Witchcraft, 171 ; Long Island To-nms seditious, 172, 173; Lutherans, 174; Reformed Dutch Church in New York, 175, 176; Captain James Carteret, 177 ; Iroquois Missions, 178 ; The French in the Northwest, 179 ; Courcelles's Voyage to Lake Ontario, 180, 181 ; North River Vessels, 182; Purchase of the "Domine's Bouwery" by Lovelace, 183; Death of Stuyvesant, 183; England and France unite against the Dutch, 184 : William Prince of Orange, 185 ; Death of Nicolls, 1 86 ; English Plantation Council, 1 87 ; New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, 188, 189 ; Mainland rebuked by New York, 190 ; George Fox in America,
CONTENTS. vii
191; Jesuit Missions, 102; Fort at .Cataracouy projected; Frontenac Governor of Canada, 193, 194 ; Law of Divorce in New York, 195 ; Post to New England estab- lished by Lovelace, 196-198; Pemaquid, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, 199; New Jersey Affairs, 200; Lovelace in Connecticut, 201 ; English " Test Act" passed ; how it atiected the Duke, 201, 202 ; War between the English and Dutch, 202 ; "Or- ange Boven;" AYilliam the Third, 203; Death of De Witt, 204; Expedition of Ev- ertsen and Binckes, 205 ; the Dutch reconquer New York, 206-208.
CHAPTER V.
1673-1674.
British Sovereignty extinguished in New York, 209 ; Province again named New Neth- erland, 210; Anthony Colve appointed Governor, 211 ; City of New York named New Orange, 211, 212; Esopus and Albany reduced, 213; Lovelace arrested, 213, 214 ; Eastern To\\iis on Long Island submit to the Dutch, 215-218 ; Ivingston named Swanenburg, and Albany Willemstadt, 218; Dutch Church again established, 219 ; Letter from New Orange to the States General, 220, 221 ; English and French Prop- erty confiscated, 223 ; Andries Draeyer Commander at Willemstadt, 224 ; Fortifica- tion of New Orange, 225 ; Long Island Affiurs, 226-228 ; The New England Colo- nies, 229 ; Connecticut and Colve, 230, 231 ; New England Vessels captured, 232 ; New Orange Regulations, 234 ; Achter Col or New Jersey, 235 ; Jesuit IMissions, 236, 237 ; Frontenac's Visit to Lake Ontario, 237-239 ; Fort Frontenac built at Ca- taracouy, 239 ; La Salle Commander, 240 ; The Upper Mississippi explored by Mai- quette and Jolliet, 240, 241 ; New Orange taxed for Fortifications, 242 ; Dutch Expe- dition to Shelter Island, 243 ; Action of the States General ; Joris Andringa appoint- ed Governor of New Netherland, 245, 246 ; England wishes to regain New York, 247 ; Marriage of the Duke of York to Mar}- of Modena, 248 ; Treaty of Westminster ; New Netherland restored to King Charles by tlie Dutch, 249-251 ; Dutch in New Nether- land disgusted, 252 ; Connecticut Boundary, 253 : Capture of French Forts in Aca- dia by the Dutch, 254 ; Reformed Dutch Church ; FeeHng against the Restoration of New Netherland to England, 255, 256 ; Major Edmund Andros commissioned to. re- ceive New Netherland for the King, 257, 258 ; Orders of the States General to Colve about the restitution of New Netherland, 259.
CHAPTER VL
1674-1G78.
Effect of the Treaty of Westminster, 260 ; Duke of York's new Patent, 261 ; Major Edmund Andros commissioned Governor of New York, 262-264 ; Anthony Brock- hoUs Lieutenant, 264; Dyer Collector of New York, 265; New Jersey Affairs, 268; Andros at New York, 270; New Netherland restored to England, 271; Andros's Proclamation, 272 ; Former Grants confirmed, 273 ; Lovelace's Estate seized for the Duke of York, 274 ; Long Island Towns submit to Andi'os, 275 ; Trial and Sentence of Manning, 276; Andros requires Oaths of Allegiance from the Dutch, 277 ; Mar- tha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Delaware, 278 ; Duke of York disapproves of popu- lar Assemblies, 279 ; Connecticut Boundary, 279, 280 ; Philip of Pokanoket and New England Policy, 281, 282; Rhode Island proposes Arbitration, 283; Philip begins War, 283 ; Andros at Saybrook, 284 ; Connecticut Protest pronounced "a Slander" by Andros, 285 ; New York offers Lands to Emigrants, 286 ; Andros named " Coi'- laer" by the Mohawks, 287; Robert Livingston appointed Indian Secretary, 287; Domine Nicolaus van Rensselaer, 288 ; Massachusetts Coopers not liked on Long Island, 289 ; Andros helps Rhode Island, which rebidies Massachusetts, 290 ; Massa-
viii CONTENTS.
(.hiisetts asperses New York, 291 ; Connecticut Agents at New York, 292 ; Duke sus- tains Andros's action about Connecticut, 293 ; Andros at Schaghticook, 29i ; Pliilip slain near ilount Hope, 295 ; Pemaquid burned, 29G ; Charles's Plantation Commit- tee ; Randolph sent to Boston, and insulted, 297, 298 ; Massachusetts Agents sent to England, 298 ; The Iroquois conquer the Andastes, 299 ; Jesuit Missionaries ; Prai- rie de la jSIadeleine ; Caghnawaga on the Saint Lawrence, 299 ; Domine Van Rens- selaer, Leisler, and Milborne; Dock in New York, 300; Delaware Affairs, 301 ; Fen- wick sails to the Delaware, and is imprisoned in New York, 302 ; Duties levied by New York on New Jersey Importations, 303 ; Quintipartite Deed for East and West New Jersey, 303, oO-l ; New York refuses New Jersey a separate Port, 30.") ; Andros and New Jersey Quakers, 305 ; Burlington founded, 306 ; Andros asserts English sov- ereignty over the Iroquois, 30G, 307 ; Hennepin among the Mohawks, 307 ; La Salle builds Barks on Lake Ontario, and returns to France, 308 ; New England called " Kinshon" by the Iroquois, 309 ; Maryland Agents in New York ; Greenhalgh sent to the Senecas, 309, 310 ; Fort Charles at Pemaquid, 310 ; New Paltz Patent, 311 ; Andros returns to England, and leaves Brockholls in charge of New Y''ork, 312 ; New- York described by Andros, 313.
CHAPTEll VIL
1G78-1G83.
William of Orange married to Mary of England, 3U, 315 ; Peace of Nimeguen, 315 ; Andros knighted by Charles, 315; Andros suggests the Consolidation of New En- gland ; His Report about New York, 31G ; The King absolves New York from the "imputation" of Massachusetts, 317; Andros returns to New York with Chaplain Wolley ; Bolting of Flour ; Population and Shipping of the iletropolis, 318 ; Leisler and other New Yorkers redeemed from the Tui-ks, 319 ; Fen wick arrested on the Del- aware and sent to New York, 320 ; Andros complains of New England ; Case of Jacob JNIilbome, 321 ; Louis authorizes La Salle to explore the Mississippi, 322 ; French at Niagara, 323 ; Hennepin among the Senecas, 324 ; La Salle builds a Ves- sel above Niagara, 325; Launches the "Griffin" above Niagara, 325; Embarks on Lake Erie or " Conty," 326 ; The Iroquois at Albany ; " Corlaer governs the whole Land," 327; Conquest of the Andastes by the Iroquois, 328 ; Virginia Agents at Al- bany, 328 ; Andros at Pemaquid, 328 ; Dutch Labadists in New York, 328 ; Dutch Ministers in New York ordain Petrus Tesschenmaekei", 329 ; Coopers fined for strik- ing in New York ; Bolting Flour ; Shoemakers, 330 ; Imported Indian Slaves de- clared free in New York, 331 ; New Dutch Church in New York, 331 ; Chaplain Wolley retui-ns to England, 332 ; Trouble between New York and New Jersey, 332 ; Andros proposes Beacons and a Fort at Sandy Hook, 333 ; Carteret seized at Eliza- bethtown, and tried and acquitted at New York, 333, 33-1 ; Pemaquid Affairs, 335 ; Andros at Boston, 336 ; Negro Slaves in jMassachusetts and New York, 337 ; Habeas Corpus Act in England ; Freedom of the English Press ; Tories and Whigs, 338 ; Penn's Argument for the New Jersey Quakers, 339 ; Sir William Jones's wary and fallacious Opinion, 310, 341 ; James releases East and West Jersey, 342 ; Andros recalled, 343 ; Lewin sent by the Duke as his Agent to New York, 343, 344 ; The great Comet of IGSO, 345; Andros leaves New York ; Brockholls Commander-in- Chief, 345; Pennsylvania chartered by Charles II., 346-348 ; Brockholls relinquishes Pennsylvania to Penn, 349 ; Carteret's Claim to Staten Island denied, 350 ; New York Merchants refuse to pay Duties to the Duke, 351 ; Collector Dyer tried and his Case refeiTcd to the King, 352 ; Petition of the Court of Assizes to James, 353, 354; Disaffection in New York, 355 ; Duke of York's orders to Brockholls, 356-358 ;
CONTENTS. ix
Perm's Frame of Government ; Kandolph again in Boston, S'jO ; Massacliusetts sends Bribes to England, 360 ; Connecticut Boundary Question referred to the Duke, 360, 361 ; Selyns returns to New York, 361 ; La Salle's Adventures in the Mississippi Val- ley, 362, 363 ; Louisiana named, 364 ; De la Barre appointed Governor of Canada, 365 ; James grants the Delaware Territory to Penn, 366 ; Philadelphia founded, 367 ; Penn's Treaty at Shackamaxon, 363 ; Rudyard succeeds Carteret as Governor of New Jersej', 368 ; Canada and New York Affairs, 369,
CHAPTER VIII.
1683-1685.
Colonel Thomas Dongan appointed Governor of New York, 370 ; Dongan's Commission and Instructions, 371-373; James allows an Assembly in New York, 374; Spragg Secretary, Santen Collector, and Gordon Chaplain in New York, 374 ; Dongan ar- rives in New York, and summons an Assembly, 375 ; Dongan, Penn, and the Susque- hanna Lands, 3 76 ; Dongan renews Andros's claim of English Sovereignty over the Iroquois, 377 ; De la Barre against the IroquoLo and La Salle, 378 ; Louis thinks La Salle's Discovery "useless," 378 ; Dongan warns Castin at Pemaquid; Jealousy in Boston, 371) ; Clergymen in New York, 380 ; Address of the Court of Assizes to the Duke, 380, 381 ; Easthampton's Address to Dongan, 381 ; A Majority of the New York Assembly Dutchmen ; Nicolls Speaker, and Spragg Clerk, 382 ; Charter of Liberties adopted by the New York Assembly, and a Revenue granted to the Duke of York, 383, 384 ; Democratic Idea in New York ; ' ' The People" the fountain of Sov- ereignty, 384, 385 ; New York divided into Counties, 385, 386 ; Courts of Justice es- tabhshed, 386; Naturahzation Law, 387; Connecticut Boundary, 387-389; New York City Government ; The City divided into Wards, 389, 390 ; Metropolitan Court of Sessions ; Bolting of Flour, 391 ; Shipping of the Metropolis, 391 ; The City's Ad- dress to the Duke ; New York and New Jersey, 392 ; Dongan opposes Penn ; James's Orders to Dongan ; The Susquehanna Lands, 393 ; Dongan's Orders for Pemaquid, 394 ; Dongan's Indian Policy finn for New York, 395 ; Lord Effingham, Governor of Virginia, visits New York, and is made a Freeman of the City, 396 ; Dongan and Ef- fingham at Albany; Effingham named "Assarigoa" by the Iroquois, 397; Duke of York's Arms put on the Iroquois Castles, 398 ; Speeches of the Iroquois to Dongan and Effingham, 399, 400 ; Dongan's Dispatches to London by Baxter, 401 ; De la Ban-e's Expedition against the Iroquois, 401, 402 ; Viele at Onondaga, 402 ; Grande Gueule opposes Corlaer ; The Iroquois free, 403 ; De la Barre at Fort Frontenac ; Goes to La Famine ; Conference there ; Grande Gueule insults De la Barre ; the French succumb and make a Treaty with the Iroquois, 403-405 ; Louis orders robust Iroquois to be sent to his Galleys, 406 ; Pemaquid ; Esopns ; Easthampton Affairs, 407 ; Josias Clarke Chaplain in place of Gordon, 407 ; David Jamison, a Scotch "Sweet Singer," comes to New York and teaches a Latin School there, 407, 408 ; Second meeting of the New York Assembly ; Provincial Navigation Law, 408 ; Coint of Oyer and Terminer established ; Rudyard Attorney General, 409 ; City Corpora- tion ; Staten Island, 410; No " innovation" on the Hudson River to be suffered; Staten Island "without doubt"' belongs to New York, 411 ; Perth's Letter to Don- gan; Dongan's reply, 412; Connecticut Boundary Commissioners appointed, 412; Colonial Post with New England established by New York, 413 ; Massachusetts and Connecticut Boundaries, 413; Rye-House Plot in England; Princess Anne of En- gland married to Prince George of Denmark, 414 ; Charles dispenses with the Test Act, and restores James to his Offices, 415 ; James signs the New York Charter, 415; Massachusetts Agents foiled in London •, Charles determines to quell that Colony, 416;
X , CONTENTS.
The Massachusetts Patent canceled, 417; Debate in the British Council; Halifax; Decision about the New England Government ; Kirke appointed its Governor ; No Assembly allowed, 417-41!) ; Duke of York suspends the New York Charter ; Hali- fax, Louis, Charles, and James ; The King and the Duke, 420.
CHAPTEE IX.
1G85-1688.
Decease of Charles II. ; Accession of James II., 421 ; New York Colonial Records sent to the King's Plantation Oifice, 422 ; New York a royal Enghsh Province ; James does not confirm its Charter, 423 ; Orders of James's Priiy Council to New York, 424 ; James II. proclaimed King in New Y''ork, 425 ; Address of the Metropolitan Coi-poration to James, 426 ; Jews in New York, 426, 427 ; Last Meeting of the New York Assembly, 427, 428 ; Thanksgiving ; Court of Exchequer, 428 ; Dongan gives Passes to New Yorkers to hunt in the West, 429 ; Conference with the Iroquois at Albany, 430 ; Louis removes De la Baire, and appoints Denonville Governor of Can- ada, 431 ; Dongan and Denonville ; New Jersey ; Reid and Scott, 432 ; James con- siders Colonial Affairs ; Co^nnecticut, Rhode Island, Jersey, and Delaware in danger, 433 ; New England regulated ; Randolph Deputy Postmaster, 434 ; Baptism of Ne- groes in the Enghsh Plantations, 434 ; Louis revokes the Edict of Nantes, 435 ; Penn gains the Delaware Territory, 435, 436 ; Press Censorship revived in England, 436 ; William Bradford begins to print in Philadelphia, 437 ; Dongan granted Lands on Long Island, 437 ; Dongan's Charter to the City of New York, 438 ; Albany incor- porated as a City, 439 ; Robert Livingston Clerk of Albany, 439, 440 ; Dongan op- poses Denonville's Policy about the Iroquois, 440-442 ; Lamberville deceived by De- nonville, 442 ; Dongan again sends Rooseboom and others to the West ; MacGregorie sent after Rooseboom, 443, 444 ; Huguenots sheltered in New York, 444 ; Palmer and West sent to Pemaquid, 444, 445 ; Dudley and Randolph installed at Boston ; Quakers unjustly taxed at Plymouth, 445, 446 ; Connecticut claimed by James ; Dud- ley and Treat against Dongan, 446, 447; Consolidation of his American Colonies the Idea of James ; Royal in place of Colonial Despotism, 447, 448 ; James commissions Sir Edmund Andros to be his Governor of New England, 448, 449 ; James allows Liberty of Conscience to "all Persons" in New England, 450; Great Seal of New England, 451 ; Its " remarkable Motto" taken from Claudian, 451 ; English Soldiers sent to Boston by James II., 451 ; Captain Francis Nicholson Lieutenant under An- dros, 451 ; James orders Pemaquid to be taken from New York and annexed to New England; Dongan in favor of the change, 451, 452 ; James gives Dongan a royal Commission, 452 ; Dongan's Instructions, 453 ; James repeals the New York Charter of Liberties, 453 ; The Church of England established in New York, 454 ; English Schoolmasters to be licensed in New York, and Liberty of Conscience declared by James, 454; "No innovation" to be allowed on the Hudson River; Royal African Company ; Conversion of Negroes and Indians in New York ; No unlicensed Print- ing in New York, 455 ; Orders of James's Plantation Committee to Dongan, 456 ; James 11. establishes the English Episcopal Church in New York ; Bishop Compton ; Ai-chbishop Sancroft, 456 ; James's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in his American Colo- nies, 457 ; Rev. Alexander Innis Chaplain at Port James, 457 ; Dongan receives his royal Commission ; His Counselors sworn ; Population of New York in 1686, 458 ; The New York Assembly dissolved by Order of James 11. , 458 ; First Laws passed by Dongan and his Council, 459 ; Kingston Patent, 459 ; Quakers in New York not exempted from Military Service, 459 ; Northern Boundary between New York and New Jersey, 459 ; Dongan complains of East Jersey, Smuggling, and Interlopers,
CONTENTS. xi
4G0 ; Dongan wishes a Tort built on Sandy Hooli to command the Channel to New York, 460; Thinks that New Jersey should be reannexed to New York, 461 ; The Mouth of the Hudson Eiver at Sandy Hook, 461 ; Inconvenience of a separate Port in New Jersey, 461 ; Collector Santen suspended and sent a Prisoner to England, 462 ; Van Cortlandt and Graham Joint Collectors in Santen's place, 462 ; Palmer and Bayard sworn Counselors, 462 ; Dongan's Report on New York sent to England, 462 ; Its interesting Details ; Militia of the Province ; Prolific Woman ; Forts James, Al- bany, and Charles, 462, 463 ; Dongan advises Pemaquid to be annexed to Massachu- setts, and Connecticut to New York, 463 ; Eight of New York to Connecticut, 464 ; English, Scotch, Irish, and French Immigrants into New Yoi'k, 464 ; Petition of French Protestants to James II., 464 ; Religious Persuasions in New York ; The Dutch Church used by Episcopalians, etc., 464, 465 ; No Beggars nor Idlers in New York, 465 ; Address of the Corporation of New York City to King James II., 465 ; Case of Stepney, a Dancing-master, 465 ; Dongan appoints a New York Postmaster, 466 ; William Nicolls made Attorney General of New York, 4G6 ; A New York Ship pillaged by Irish Pirates, 466; The Iroquois the "bulwark" of New York against Canada, 466 ; Dongan's Advice to James unheeded, 466, 467 ; Sir Edmund Andros at Boston, 467 ; Assumes the Government of New England, 467 ; Dudley Licenser of the Press, and Judges appointed in the Dominion of New England, 467 ; How An- dros's coming to New England afiected New York, 468 ; Dongan surrenders Pema- quid or Cornwall to the New England Government, 468 ; Artful Letter of Connecti- cut to Loi"d Sunderland, 408 ; Dongan sends Palmer and Graham to Connecticut, 469 ; Palmer and Graham's Report to Dongan, 470 ; Dongan's Report to Lord Sun- derland, 470 ; Assumed Submission of Connecticut to James, 471 ; Dongan reproves the Conduct of Connecticut, 472 ; Andros takes the Government of Connecticut into his hands, 473 ; The Senecas seek the Protection of Corlaer, 474 ; Whitehall Treaty of Neutrality in North America, 475 ; Vaudreuil in Canada ; Denonville's Expedition against the Senecas, 476 ; Iroquois sent Prisoners to France, 476 ; Lamberville in Danger, 477 ; The French at Irondequoit ; La Fontaine Marion shot, 478 ; Denon- ville's Advance, 479 ; French take Possession of the Seneca Country, 480 ; Denonr ville builds a Fort at Niagara, 480 ; Dongan's Conference with the Iroquois at Al- bany, 481 ; No French Priests to be allowed among the Iroquois, 482 ; Dongan sup- plies the Iroquois with Arms, 483 ; War Tax in New York, 484 ; Palmer goes to En- gland with Dongan's Dispatches, 485 ; Spanish Indian Slaves again set free, 486 ; BrockhoUs in Command at New York, 487 ; Dongan winters at Albany, 488 ; De- nonville sends Vaillant and Dumont to Albany, 489 ; James's Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, 490 ; French Protestant Refugees favored by James, 490 ; Perth Am- boy made a Port subject to New York, 491 ; New Royal Seal for New York, 491 ; Plowman appointed Collector of New York, 492 ; James's Instructions to Dongan about the Iroquois, 492 ; Agreement between James and Louis to prevent Colonial Hostilities, 493 ; The French assert Sovereignty over the Iroquois, 494 ; Negotiations of the French Agents with Dongan at Albany, 494 ; Dongan's Report to Sunderland, 495; Dongan calls on the neighboring Colonies for Help, 496 ; Address of New York to the Kiiig, 496.
CHAPTER X.
1G88-16S9.
Colonial Administration of James the Second, 497 ; Popular Representation not allow- ed in the English Colonies, 498 ; James faithful to England, 499 ; New York Con- solidated with New England, 500 ; Andros appointed Viceroy of the Dominion, 501 }
xii CONTENTS.
Jf.mes's new Commission to Andros, 502 ; Andros's Instructions, 503 ; Francis Nich- olson appointed Lieutenant Governor, 504 ; New Tax levied in New York, 505 ; The Reformed Dutch Church asks to be Incorporated, 506 ; New York, Canada, and the Iroquois, 507 ; Grande-Gueule rebukes Denonville, 508 ; Denonville makes Peace with the Iroquois, who assert their independence of England and France, 508 ; French Fort at Niagara demolished, 509 ; Indian Slaves to be set Free, 509 ; Tax Law Sus- pended, 510 ; Andros at Pemaquid, 510 ; Keturns to Boston, 511 ; Graham and Ja- mison favored by Andros, 511 ; Palmer made a New England Judge, 511 ; Andros in New Ywk ; The Seal of New York broken, 512 ; New Jersey reduced, 512 ; New York dislikes Annexation to New England, 513 ; New York and Massachusetts very different, 511: ; Laws passed at New York by Andros, 515 ; Selyns's Opinion of An- dros ; Hinckley's Opinion of Dongan, 51G ; Birth of the Prince of Wales ; Eejoicings in New York, 516 ; Andros at Albany calls the Iroquois " Children," 517 ; The Mo- hawks wish to remain "Brethren," 518 ; Adario captures the Iroquois Delegates, 519 ; Denonville baffled ; Callieres sent to France, 520 ; Andros returns to Boston, leaving Nicholson in command at New York, 521 ; Andros goes to Maine as General, 522 ; Traitorous Boston Merchants ; Garrisons established in Maine by Andros, 523 ; Buc- caneers or Pirates imprisoned by. Nicholson in Boston, 52-1 ; The old Boston Mint coins Piratical Plate, 525 ; The Massachusetts Hedge broken by Episcopal wild Beasts ; Misrepresentations of Andros, 526 ; The New York Confidents of the Gov- ernor, 527; Puritan hatred of Episcopacy ; Mather goes to London, 528; Sir Wil- liam Phipps High Sheriff of New England, 529 ; Mather kindly received by James, 529 ; Massachusetts wishes James to establish a Colonial Landed Aristocracy, 530 ; James favors Penn, 531 ; James's Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, 532 ; Trial and Acquittal of the Bishops, 532 ; Birth of the Prince of Wales, 532 ; The Prince of Orange invited to England, 532 ; The Prince's Policy, 533 ; Cornells Ev- ertsen of Zeeland ; William lands at Torbay, 533 ; James's Proclamation and Letters to the American Colonies, 53-1 ; Lovelace, Coi-nbury, and others flock to William, 53-t ; James throws his Great Seal into the Thames and goes to France, 535.
CHAPTER XL
1688-1C89.
William in London, 536 ; Orange Ribands worn, 536 ; William's first Colonial Acts, 537 ; The Prince's Circular Letter not sent to Boston, 537 ; The Convention Parlia- ment : Its Declaration of Right copied from the Dutch, 538 ; William and Mary King and Queen of England, 539 ; William's Plantation Committee, 539 ; All Persons to remain in their old Offices in the Plantations until farther Orders, 540 ; English Corporation Bill ftiils, 541 ; Phipps and Mather's Petition to William, 541 ; Wil- liam wishes to preseiTe the Dominion of New England whole, 542 ; James and Phipps, 543 ; Phipps goes to Boston, 543 ; The Plantations to be made more de- pendent on the Crown of England, 544 ; James in Ireland, 544 ; War declared between England and France, 545 ; Colonial Policy of Louis, 545 ; Iroquois Pris- oners sent home from France, 546; Callieres's Project approved by Louis, 547; Denonville recalled, and Frontenac appointed Governor of Canada, 547 ; Fronte- nac's Instructions in regard to New York, 547 ; Andros's Proclamation from Pem- aquid, 548 ; Andros returns to Boston, 549 ; A "general Buzzing" at Boston, 550; Politics of the Boston Gentlemen ; Lies circulated, 551 ; Insurrection in Boston, 552 ; Andros Imprisoned by the Boston Insurgents, 553 ; Plymouth does not like " to trot after the Bay Horse," 554; Secession triumphs, 554; Connecticut revolts, 555; Phipps's Felony at Boston, 555 ; Inconsistency of the Boston Revolt, 556 ; Virginia,
CONTENTS. xiii
Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 55G ; Nicholson Lieutenant Governor at New York, 557 ; Phillipse, Van Cortlandt, and Bayard Resident Counselors, 558 ; Convention of Officers called in New York, 559 ; Nicholson's Letter to the Boston Eebels, 560 ; Long Island in trouble, 560 ; Nicholson's Eeport to AVilliam sent by Eiggs to En- gland, 561 ; Andros's verbal Orders to Nicholson, 561 ; Baxter and Eussell suspend- ed, 562 ; Excessive Protestantism in New York, 563 ; Nicholson insulted and misrep- resented, 563 ; Jacob Leisler a German, not a Dutchman, 564 ; Dutch Influence in New York ; Leisler's Declaration, 566 ; Leisler in Fort James, 567 ; Leisler's Proc- lamation from Fort James, 568 ; Leisler's Address to William, 569 ; Nicholson leaves New York ; Letter of the Council to the English Government, 570 ; Leisler assumes the Command, 571 ; William and Mary proclaimed in New York, 572 ; Leisler's Con- vention at New York, 573 ; Committee of Safety ; Leisler Captain of the Fort, 574 ; Leisler commissioned as Commander-in-Chief by his Committee of Safety, 575 ; Leis- ler writes to William, 576 ; Jacob Milborne ; His bad Advice, 576 ; Michaelma^ Charter Election in New York, 577 ; Leisler attempts Albany, 578 ; Bleecker and Schuyler, 579; Bayard at Albany, 580; The Albany Convention, 581; Millet an Oneida Sachem, 582 ; The Iroquois ravage La Chine, 583 ; Leisler writes to Wen- dell and Bleecker at Albany, 584 ; Eival Governments in New York and Albany, 585 ; Leisler's Despotism, 586 ; Milborne sent to Albany, 587 ; Bleecker and Schuyler op- pose Milborne, who is baffled at Albany, 588 ; Connecticut sends Soldiers to Albany, 589 ; Bayard denounces Leisler, 589 ; Phillipse submits to Leisler, 590 ; The Fourth and Fifth of November Holidays in New York, 591.
CHAPTER XII.
IG89-1C91.
Trouble in London about the Colonies, 592 ; WiUiam's Letter to Massachusetts, 593 ; His Letter to'Nicholson at New York, 593 ; Eiggs brings the King's Dispatches to New York, 594 ; Henry Sloughter appointed Governor of New York, 594 ; Nicholson made Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, 595 ; Stoll foiled in London ; Matthew Clarkson appointed Secretary of New York, 596 ; Leisler seizes the royal Dispatches to Nicholson and his Council, brought by Riggs to New York, 597 ; Leisler assumes to be Lieutenant Governor, 598 ; He appoints Counselors, and makes a Seal for New York, 599 ; Leisler issues new Commissions and erects Courts, 600 ; Leisler's Letters to the King and Bishop Burnet, 600 ; Bayard and Nicholson Prisoners in the Fort, 601 ; Albany Convention declares against Leisler, 002; Frontenac at Quebec, 603; French Message to the Iroquois ; Grand Council at Onondaga, 604 ; The Iroquois stick to " Quider, " 005 ; Advice to attack Quebec, 605 ; Frontenac's Expedition against Schenectady, 606 ; Schenectady attacked, 607 ; Domine Tesschenmaeker and others killed, and Prisoners taken, 608 : Captain Alexander Glen, or Coudre, 608 ; The French return to Canada, 609 ; Albany advises an attack on Canada, 609 ; The Mohawks at Albany, 610 ; The Albany Convention sends Barentsen to New York, and Livingston, Teunissen, and Garton to New England, 61 1 ; Albany urges the union of all the British Colonies against Canada, 611 ; Leisler imprisons Andros's officers, 611 ; DonganinNew Jersey, 612 ; Leisler rebuked by Connecticut, 612 ; Leisler tries to arrest Livingston, 613; Massachusetts cold toward New York, 613; DeBruyn and others sent by Leisler to Boston ; Fort Orange surrendered to them, 614 ; Suffolk County disregards Leisler's authority, but his Assembly meets, 615 ; A Colonial Congress at New York ; Its Ac- tion, 616; New York Cruisers against the French, 617; Frontenac sends D'Eau to Onondaga, 617 ; Conference at Albany with the Iroquois, 617 ; D'Eau seized at Al- bany and sent to New York by the Iroquois; Kryn, the great Mohawk, slain, 618;
XIV CONTENTS.
StoU returns from London with bad News for Leisler, 618 ; Address of the principal Inhabitants of New York to William and Mary, G19 ; Leisler assaulted; Sends Let- ters to the King by Blagge, 619 ; Leisler appoints Milborne General, who is objected to by Connecticut and Massachusetts, 620 ; Winthrop appointed General ; Marches to Albany ; Council of War at Wood Creek, 620 ; Epidemic Small-pox ; The Army marches back to Albany ; Leisler imprisons Winthrop, and is rebuked by Connecti- cut, 621 ; Captain John Schuyler's successful Expedition against La Prairie, 622 ; Leislers intemperate Letters to Massachusetts and Connecticut, 622 ; Phipps re- pulsed at Quebec ; Massachusetts obliged to issue Paper Money, 623 ; New York Cruisers take French Prizes, 623 ; Assembly at New York ; Laws passed, 623 ; Al- bany Officers appointed, 624 ; Leisler quarrels with the Dutch and French Clergy of the Province, 624, 625 ; Huguenots at New Eochelle, 625 ; Milborne sent to subdue the opponents of Leisler on Long Island, 625 ; Clapp's Letter against Leisler to the t Secretary of State, 625, 626 ; Viele Agent at Onondaga, 626 ; Boston advises Leisler to be moderate, 626 ; Leisler's abusive Letter to Connecticut, 626 ; Last Acts of Leisler's Despotism, 627 ; William's New York Goverament, 627 ; Sloughter's Com- mission ; Assembly ; Council, 627, 628 ; Sloughter's Instructions ; Councilors, 628 ; Andros and others sent to England and discharged, 629 ; Dudley a New York Coun- cilor, 629 ; New Provincial Seal ; Soldiers for New York ; Major Richard Ingoldesby commissioned, 630 ; Blagge in London ; His Papers referred to Sloughter, 631 ; Sloughter sails for New York, and is carried to Bermuda, 631 ; Ingoldesby at New York ; Demands the Fort ; Leisler very angry at the demand ; Refuses Compliance, 631, 632 ; Leisler obstinate, 632, 633 ; Leisler opposes Ingoldesby, 633 ; Leisler keeps Councilors Bayard and Nicolls Prisoners, 633 ; Leisler's fresh Lies, 634 ; Action of the Eoyal Council, 634 ; Leisler's Proclamation, 634 ; Clarkson writes to Connecti- cut; Allyn's Advice to Leisler, 635; "'Peace Address" from Kings and Queens Counties, 635 ; William Kidd, a Privateer, 635 ; Leisler's Declaration against In- goldesby ; Reply of the Council, 635 ; The Council consider Ingoldesby chief Com- mander, 636 ; Leisler fires on the Troops ; Persons killed ; The Block-house surren- ders, 636 ; Arrival of Sloughter ; Councilors sworn, 637 ; Milborne and De la Noy imprisoned, 637 ; Leisler's Submission to Sloughter, 638 ; Leisler imprisoned, and Bayard and Nicolls set free ; An Assembly called, and Officers appointed by Slough- ter, 638 ; Domine Seljnis's Sermon, 638 ; Sloughter appoints a Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer, 639 ; The Prisoners indicted by the Grand Jury, 639 ; Leisler and Milborne refuse to plead ; Opinion of the Governor and Council on the King's Letter to Nicholson, 640 ; Eight of the Prisoners convicted ; Two acquitted ; Prison- ers sentenced and reprieved, 640 ; Blagge's Memorial answered, 641 ; Sloughter's Re- ports to England, 641 ; Jamison Clerk of the Council ; Dellius returns and is reward- ed, 641 ; The Assembly meets ; Its Members, 642 ; Speeches of Sloughter and Dud- ley to the Assembly, 642 ; Assembly's Resolutions against Leisler's arbitrary Acts,
642 ; Rebellion abhorred by the Assembly, 643 ; The Assembly resolves that the Co- lonial Laws of James are void, 643 ; The Council does not concur in this Resolution,
643 ; Assembly's Address to William and Maiy, 644 ; Assembly Bills to be drawn by the Attorney General, 644 ; Law passed to quiet Disorders, 644 ; Law declaring the Rights of the People of New York, 645 ; Courts established, and Judges appointed, 646 ; Revenue Act, 646 ; Kidd rewarded, 646 ; Amnesty Law ; Certain Exceptions, G47 ; Sloughter's Proclamation, 647 ; Petitions for Leisler's pardon ; His Execution demanded, 647 ; Resolution of the Council ; Sloughter signs the Death-warrant of Leisler and Milborne, 648 ; Leisler and Milborne executed ; Their dying Speeches, 648 ; Their Execution a Political Mistake ; Its Consequences to New York, 649.
CONTENTS. XV
f
APPENDIX.
Note A Page 651
NoteB 653
NoteC 653
NoteD 658
NoteE 659
NoteF 661
Note G 662
Note H 662
IxDEX 665
HISTORY
STATE OF NEW YORK.
_
CHAPTER I. 1664.
The year sixteen hundred and sixty-foni' found the cnAr.i. strongest powers of Europe on the brink of a fierce war. ^ , That war determined the fate of New York. war at
In France, Louis the Fourteenth was pushing up to its ^"'°'^- pinnacle the idea of absolute monarchy. The king was himself the state. Laborious and untiring, Louis had the rare faculty of choosing well his subordinates. Colbert became his minister of finance ; Lionne, of foreign affairs ; Louvois, of war. Conde, Luxembourg, and Tm-enne, his victorious generals, earned him bloody renown. The French king was a devout son of the Eoman Church. France But, above all other characteristics, he had the instinct of the Four- grandeur and the thirst for glory. " There is stuff enough ^^^ in him," said Mazarin, " to make four kings and an honest man." If Louis was not the greatest sovereign, he was " the best actor of majesty that ever filled a throne." More than any other monarch, he had " the marvellous art of reigning." Supreme in France, he wished to sway all Eu- rope, and to that end he directed his subtile diplomacy. He soon established a control over the half French king of England. "With the. United K'etherlands he made a treaty of alhance. But the system of bribeiy by which Louis succeeded almost every where else, failed when it was used against the chief servants of the Dutch BepubHc.
After the death of the second William of Orange> in XL— A
2 HISTORY OF THE STATE OE NEW YORK.
cnAP. I. November, 1650, the dignity of stadtholder had remained "77~~~ in abeyance, and the Dutch executive authority had been administered by statesmen whose political opinions were opposed to those of the deceased prince. One of these opinions was that the almost royal power which the stadt- holdera,te gave to the house of Orange was dangerous to the republic. A few days after the death of William, liis widow, who was the daughter of Charles the First of En- The Dutch gland, gave birth to a son, whom she desired to name .indwii- Charles, but who was baptized William Henry, in the Third. ^ great Dutch Church at the Hague. He succeeded liis fa- ther as William, the "Bhird Prince of Orange. This event roused the apprehensions of the Louvestein, or aristocratic party, at the head of which was the young John De Witt, a disciple of Descartes, already conspicuous for his abihty, firmness, and integrity. So highly were his talents and prudence esteemed, that he was frequently called " The wisdom of Holland." His mind was well compared with that of Richelieu. In 1653, De Witt was made Grand Pensionary of Holland, and thenceforward he became the real chief magistrate of the republic. To gratify Crom- well, he procured an act of the States excluding the Prince of Orange fi-om the office of stadtholder. Upon the resto- ration of Charles the Second to the throne of England, this act, so insulting to his nephew, was repealed. De John De Witt, nevertheless, remained at the head of Dutch affairs, wliich he directed Avith consmnmate skill and nearly regal authority. His coimtry had reached the zenith of its pros- perit}' and glojy. Domestic trade and manufactures main- tained a growing population in content and abundance; while foreign commerce, searching every shore of the globe, poured continual riches into the warehouses of Hol- land and Zealand. An alhance had secured the friend- ship of France. A similar treaty promised peace with En- gland ; and Charles, solemnly professing gratitude and af- fection toward the Dutch people, confided to the States of Holland the guardianship of his infant nephew, William of Orange. With the king apparently so Avell disposed, it seemed as if enduring fi-iendship was established between the two great Protestant nations of Europe — continental Holland and insular England.
Witt.
ENGLISH JEALOUSY OF THE DUTCH. 3
It "was an interesting circumstance that the royal family chap. i. of Great Britain was connected with the Kino; of France ""
-J OOA
and the Prince of Orange in a nearly equal degree. To- ward Louis and William, Royalist Enghshmen felt much more kindly than did the men of the Commonwealth. But Englishmen generally hated both Frenchmen and Hoi- England landers with strong national antipathies. The court poets uonai an. " praised the frivolous French, whose fashions were imitated *'p**'®'- at Whitehall, while they lampooned the honester Dutch, whose national virtues were a reproach to their king and to themselves. Even the most accomplished English schol- ars were superciliously ignorant of the literatm'e of Hol- land, .then so rich in varied learning. Yet, with all their affectation of contempt, the English were intensely jealous of the Dutch, whose enterprise, outrunning their own, had estabhshed a profitable commerce in Asia and Africa. The Ka^^gation Act of the Commonwealth, de^■ised to crip- ple the foreign trade of the Netherlands, was made more vindictive just after the Restoration. Dry den but uttered the envy of his countrymen when he wrote of the Hol- landers—
"As Cato fruits of Afiic did display, Let us before our eyes their Indies lay ; All loyal English will like him conclude, Let Ca;sar live, and Carthage be subdued. "*
Nevertheless, there was no cause of war between En- , gland and Holland. The British sovereign ostentatiously professed liis own good feeling toward the nation which charies the he allowed his corn-tiers to abuse. But there was no faith *^'^°° ' in the frivolous King of England. Of all her monarchs, Charles the Second was the meanest and most insincere. If Louis of France was the best actor of majesty, Charles of England was the greatest dissembler that ever sat on a throne. He did not lack talent, nor education, nor the training of adversity, but he did lack conscience, a sense of shame, and an honest heart. His early years had been passed in his father's palace, whence he had been driven into strange lands. Dimng the period of the Common- wealth he had wandered among princes and peoples, en- during vicissitudes of fortune which few royal personages
• Satire on the Dutch, 1G02.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
James, Duke of
York.
cuAP.i. ever had the advantage of enjoying, but profiting nothing from an experience which should have made him one of ' the greatest of kings. At the age of thii-ty years he was recalled to England and crovrned its sovereign. But Charles brought back with him from his exile no proper sense of his kingly office. Like a prodigal heir, who pos- sessed an estate after long nm'sing by a prudent guardian, he came home to Whitehall, eager to expend a splendid inheritance. His selfish heart, and easy temper, and glib tongue enabled him calmly to put by every embarrassing question of public concern, while he submitted liimself to the most degraduig influences. It followed that the reign of Charles the Second was the most execrable of any in the annals of England.
Charles had a brother, three years younger than him- self, James, Duke of York and Albany. As the king had no legitimate offspring, the duke was heir presmnptive to the British throne. Although married to a daughter of his brother's chief minister, James was a cold-blooded lib- ertine ; and, while he professed to be a Protestant, was gradually becoming a Boman Catholic. His temper was harsh and obstinate, his understanding slow, and his views narrow; but his word was sacred. He loved the details of business as much as the king detested them, and with all the method of a conscientious clerk, he seemed to work . for work's sake. To aid in supporting his dignity, the rev- enues of the post-ofiice, estimated at about twenty thousand pounds a year, were settled on the duke by an obsequious Parliament. One of the first acts of the Mng was to ap- point his brother lord high admiral of England. In exe- cuting the duties of this ofiice, which involved all the ad- ministration of the navy, James was assisted by a Board of Admiralty, of which John Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, and Admiral Sir William Penn, were commissioners. Sir George Carteret treasurer, and Samuel Pef)ys clerk. The duke's own private affairs were managed by three com-
The duke's missioners. Sir William Coventry, who also acted as his sec- retary, Henry Brouncker, and Thomas Povey, who was likewise his treasurer and receiver general.
There was at this time, properly speaking, no ministry to conduct the public affairs of England. The privy coun-
commis £iouer3,
THE ENGLISH " CABAL" AND PLANTATION COUNCIL. 5
cil were the nominal advisers of the sovereign. Each de- chap. i. partment of the government was directed by a comiselor ~ responsible for his own acts, but not for those of his asso- "
ciates, as is the modern British cabinet minister. The most important, and by far the most able of the king's Ministers servants, was the lord chancellor, Edward Hyde, Earl of the second. Clarendon, and father-in-law of the Dulve of York. The secretaries of state were Sir William Morrice and Sir Henry Bennet, afterward Earl of Arlington. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, and afterward Earl of Shaftes- bury, was president of the council, and Thomas, Earl of Southampton, lord high treasurer. These five chief minis- The En- ters were collectively called " The Cabal," or cabinet. The " cabai." affairs of the colonies and foreign plantations of England were managed by a council appointed by the king, consist- ing of the chief ofBcers of state and others, among whom were Lord Say and Sele, John Lord Berkeley, Sir George plantation Carteret, Denzil HoUis, Robert Boyle, Sir "William Cov- entry, and the poet, Edmund Waller. They were specially instructed to acquaint themselves with the condition of each colony, correspond with the governors, cause the Act of Navigation to be strictly executed, provide for the settle- ment and maintenance of " learned and orthodox minis- ters," and endeavor to bring the several colonies into more certain uniformity of government, and render " those domin- ions useful to England, and England helpful to them."*
Of all the servants of Charles the Second, the one whose influence was at this moment most pernicious was Sir George Downing, his envoy to the United Pro^dnces. Downing. Downing was a nephew of the elder John Wintlirop, and was one of the earliest, ablest, and basest graduates of Harvard College in Massachusetts. He was sent by Crom- . well ambassador to Holland, where he insulted his exiled king ; but as he was " capable of managing a bad design," he was forgiven and taken into the favor of Charles at the Restoration. Those who knew Downing best described him as " a crafty, fawning man," a " perfidious rogue," a " most ungrateful villain," and " a false man who betrayed
* Pepys's Diary (Bohn's ed.), ii.,312; iii., IGT, 328, 331 ; Letters of D'Estrades, ii., 487; Rapin, ii., 635 ; Llngard, xii., 2C6 ; Macaulay, i., 211, 212, 2T3 ; iv., 435 ; New York Colo- nial Documents, iii., 32-36; Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers, i., 492,493,494; ante, vol. i., p. 686.
1664.
6 . HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
liis trust." The renegade certainly seems to liave merited his damaging portrait. " If we may believe history, he was a scoundrel." He was "keen, bold, subtile, active, and observant, but imperious and imscrupulous ; naturally pre- ferring menace to persuasion ; reckless of the means em- ployed and the risk incuiTed in the pursuit of a proposed object ; disliking and distrusting De Witt and the Dutch, and forearmed with a fierce determination not to be foiled or overreached."*
Downing lost no opportunity to inflame English jealousy of the Hollanders. His correspondence with Lord Chan- cellor Clarendon, who seems to have as much to dp with the foreign department as the secretaries Morrice and Ben- Downing'3 net themsclvcs, oxhibits a constant desire to provoke the cnce. ' king into a war with the United Provinces. Pretexts were not wanting. The Dutch East and West India Companies were charged with colonial aggressions. Charles, howev- er,- disliked hostilities, although he hated De Witt, whom he considered the chief obstacle to the advancement of his nephew, William of Orange. The Duke of York, on the other hand, absolutely detested the Zealanders, who had punished, less promptly than he wished, the authors of some 'libels against himself. Besides,, said Clarendon, " hav- ing been, even from his childhood, in the command of armies, and in his nature inclined to the most difficult and dangerous enterprises, he was already weary of having so little to do, and too impatiently longed for any war in which he knew he could not but have the chief command." Moreover, James was the governor of the new Royal Afri- Engiishne- cau Company, which, besides selling their negro slaves "at_ gros a\e3. ^j^^ Barbados, and other the king's plantations, at their own prices," imported into England fi*om the coast of Guinea " such store of gold that administered the first occasion for Origin of the coinage of those pieces which from thence had the de- guineas. j^Qjj^jjjg^|.jQjj Qf guineas.^^ The Dutch West India Company were accused of injuring the duke's African interests ; but
* Hutchinson's Massachusetts, i., Ill, 510 ; Savage's Winthrop, ii, 240-243 ; Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., xxxvi., 536-544 ; Palfrey's New England, ii., 431 ; John Adams's Works, x., 329 ; Pepys, i., 204, 2C5; Evelyn, ii., S; Burnet, i., T9S ; Lister's Life of Clarendon, ii., 231; D'Es- trade's Letters, ii., 3G3, 304; K Y. Col. Doc., ii., 410^18 note; aii^*", vol. i.,p. 700. There is a curious narrative of an interview between Charles the Second and Do^nling at the Hague, while the latter was Cromwell's ambas-ador, in the Antiquarian Kcpertorj-, and in the Universal Magazine for November, 17T0, vol Ixv., p. 245.
EUROPEAN COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 7
even Downing could not make out a fair case against tliem. chap. i. Nevertheless, Sir Kobert Holmes was secretly dispatched with a squadron to the coast of Guinea, where he seized j-ebmary'. the Dutch fort of Cabo Corso, and committed other acts of affsression, which Lord Clarendon afterward admitted were "without any shadow of justice."^^'
Another motive influenced the mind of James, and even- tually governed the action of Charles. This arose out of the condition of affairs in ISTorth America. There, for nearly half a century, England, France, and Holland had European each, with various success, endeavored to appropriate terri- North tory and plant and rear dependent colonies. France, the '^^"'^'''• pioneer, had first pushed her adventurous way through the valley of the Saint Lawrence, and had set up the emblem of her national faith beside the banner of her king among the savage tribes which inhabited its borders. Thus arose her dominion over New France, or Canada and Acadia. Canada. Farther south, England had clung to the sea-coast, the clear waters of which were alive with the finest fish, and where commodious harbors invited her emigrants to linger near those cr)'stal waves which could roll unbroken to Land's End. Yet England had not explored nor occupied the whole of that more southern coast. Midway between Vir- virgini.i ginia and New England — in a region, the most of which no England. European eye had seen before — colonists from Holland, following the track of the Half Moon of Amsterdam, planted themselves, without question, among the native Americans, from whom they bought the soil, and thus add- New Neth- ed a New Nethekland to the Dutch Eepublic.
The progress of the various enterprises by which these several territories were first colonized has already been minutely traced. Each has its own peculiar history, event- ful, romantic, and instructive. Of none of them were the motives of the projectors or the views of the promoters ex- actly alike. Canada was peopled by Europeans, speaking the French tongue, and professing the Roman faith. New
• Pepy?, ii.,6S, 128; Clarendon's Life, ii., 232-234; Lister's Clarendon, ii., 2-11, 251, 258- 2G2; iii., 288, 290, 801, 302, 347; Basnage, i., 711 ; Aitzema, iv., 579; D'Estrades, ii, 364, 435; Lingard, xii., 165-16S ; Rapin, ii., 036; Davies's Holland, iii., 19, 20, 25; Anderson's Colonial Church, ii., 279, 280 ; Cobbett's Parliamentary History, ir., 292, 293 ; awC^, vol. i., p. 735. Anderson, in his Origin of Commerce, ii., 473, 526, seems to think that guineas were first coined in 1673. But Pepys, ii., 4S3 ; iv., 20, alludes to them, in 1606 and 1068, as al- ready at a premium in London.
8 HISTOKY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
cnAT.r. Netherland was colonized by Protestant emigrants from a fatherland which had conquered in the most glorious Motites of strife for civil and religious liberty that the world has ever ttou°^^" "^tnessed! Virginia was occupied by loyal Englishmen who admired the hierarchy ; ISTew England chiefly by Pu- ritans who abhorred prelacy ; Mainland by larger-minded Roman Catholics. But all these were Britons, who spoke the tongue of Shakspeare and Milton ; who, much as they differed among themselves respecting creeds or fashions, were the subjects of one common sovereign ; and who, ar- rogant and exclusive by nature, looked upon other races as their inferiors, and willingly combined against them as national foes. Their hereditary hatred of foreigners ac- companied the English emigrants across the Atlantic, and even burned more brightly in some parts of the wilder- ness. There was a constant tendency on their part, and English in- especially among the New England Puritans, to quarrel so ence. ^^j^]^ ^j^^ overbcar both their neighbors, the Koman Cath- olic French of Canada, and the Protestant Dutch of l^^ew Ketherland. This tendency had already resulted in the conquest of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, from the French, by order of Cromwell, in 1654. That acquisition the Pro- tector declined to restore, and made it a British province. Cromwell's His dcsigu to rcduce the Dutch possessions, which were ofxl?v'''°° the more coveted because they were so advantageously Sud!^'^' situated, was abandoned in his treaty with De "Witt, by which England virtually conceded New Netherland to Holland.'^*
The Dutch province was indeed the most admirably sit- uated region in North America. Its original limits in- cluded all the Atlantic coast between Cape Henlopen and Admirable Moutauk Poiut, and all the inland territory bounded by the of Ne'w'' Connecticut Yalley on the east, the Saint Lawrence and fani^^' Lake Ontario on the north, and the affluents of the Oliio, the Susquehanna, and the Delaware on the west and south. Within those bounds is the only spot on all the continent whence issue divergent streams which find their outlets in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Diagonally across its surface runs a
* Charlevoix, ii., 199-204; Chalmers's Political Annala, i., 18T; Pepys, iii., 120, 344; Wil- liamson's Maine, i., 301 ; Palfrey's Xew England, ii., 372 ; Proud, i., 281; Grahame (ea.lS4S), i., 406 ; Smith, i., 3ST ; ante, vol. i., p. 580.
ADMIRABLE CHAKACTERISTICS OF NEW NETHERLAND. 9
chain of the AUeghanies, through which, in two remarka- chap. i. ble chasms, the waters of the Delaware and the Hudson flow southward to the sea. At the head of its tides, the -^""*- Hudson, which its explorers appropriately named " The its physic- Great Eiver of the Mountains," receives the current of the teristics. Mohawk rushing in fi'om the west. Through the valleys of these rivers, and across the neighboring lakes, the savage natives of the country tracked those pathways of travel and commerce which civilized science only adopted and im- proved. Along their banks grew up flourishing villages, all contributing to the prosperity of the chief town, which, with unerring judgment, had been planted on the ocean-washed island of Manhattan. In addition to these superb geo- graphical peculiarities, every variety of soil, abimdant min- eral wealth, nature teeming with animal and vegetable life, and a cKmate as healthful as it is delicious, made New l^etherland the most alluring of all the European colonies in America. From the first, it was always the chosen seat of empire.*
It was an admirable decree of Pro^adence which or- dained that this magnificent region should first be occu- pied by the Bata^aan race. If originally as homogeneous influence as the English, that race had certainly become less selfish founder.'' and exclusive. The well-considered policy of Holland at- tracted to her shores many of whom their own lands were not worthy. This magnanimity was rewarded by almost unexampled national prosperity. After achieving their own independence and establishing a republic on the basis of religious toleration, the Dutch colonized the American province which they had discovered, and at the same time invited strangers of all races to come and find homes along with themselves in its temperate and attractive territory. The Batavian emigrants brought with them the liberal maxims of their fatherland. Soon, eighteen different lan- guages were spoken in New Amsterdam.f Thus, by de- grees, grew up the germ of a mighty cosmopolitan state. In spite of the stunting mismanagement of the West India Company, to wliich its government had been unwisely in- trusted, New Netherland gave early promise of coming
* Lecture on the " Topography and History of New York," by Governor Horatio Sey- mour, Utica, 1856 ; also Golden, in Col. Doc, vl, 122 ; Doc. Hist., iv., 112. t^n<e,vol. i.,p. 374.
10 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
cuAP.i. grandeur. The fatherland scarcely appreciated the trans- Atlantic dominion which its emigrants had founded. But the growing greatness of that dominion, which had long excited the jealousy of its New England neighbors, at length moved both the pride and the cupidity of the En- glish com-t to seize it as a royal j)rize.
To estimate properly the course which Charles the Sec- ond now pursued, we must consider the irreconcilable views of title to American territory which the English and the Dutch severally maintained. They may be stated thus : As Columbus had discovered the New World, which should have borne his name, in the service of Spain, the Pope granted it to the Spanish sovereigns. A few years after- ward the Cabots, under commissions of Henry the Seventh of England, discovered Newfoundland, and sailed at a dis- tance along the North American continent as far south as the latitude of Gibraltar. By virtue of these discoveries, The terri- the English sovereigns claimed dominion over all that part tionia of North America along the coast of which the Cabots Ameiica. had sailcd. But, as the previous sweeping title of Spain was in the way of the English claim. Queen Elizabeth, in 1580, annoimced the principle that " prescription without possession is of no avail ;" or, in other words, that actual oc- cupation must follow discovery in order to confer a valid right. Accordingly, England did not question the title of France to Canada and Acadia. But, as the discoveries of Yerazzano and of Gomez, farther to the south, did not lead to French or Spanish colonization, James the First granted a patent in 1606, under which the English asserted an ex- clusive right to colonize all the Atlantic coast between Cape Fear and Acadia not " actually jjossessed by any Christian prince or peoj^le." Under this patent no English mariner had searched the shore between Buzzard's Bay and the Chesapeake, when Henry Hudson, in 1609, in the servic^of the Dutch East India Company, explored " the great River of the Mountains." Tiiis gave' the Hollanders an unques- tionable title by discovery, which they soon fortified by far- ther visitation and actual occupation. In 1614, the States General granted a trading charter which recognized " New Netherland" as a Dutch territory. Six years afterward, James the First granted, in 1620, a second patent for " New
THE QUESTION OF TITLE IN AMERICA. H
England in America," which included all the region be- chap. i. tween the fortieth and the forty-eighth degrees of latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But his patent ex- pressly provided that no territory was intended to be grant- ed which was " actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or estate." This proviso clearly excepted Canada New France and New Netherland. Nevertheless, from the N^therilnd time of the landing of the first Puritan emigrants on new Ne^y En-'' Plymouth beach, the English pertinaciously insisted onfjft^ styling the Dutch occupants of New Netherland " intrud- ers" into New England. With inconsistent logic but char- acteristic assurance, they maintained their own title under the patent of James, while they denied that of the Hol- landers, which was recognized in its proviso. This they continued to do, although the House of Commons in 1621 confirmed Queen Elizabeth's doctrine, and insisted that " occupancy confers a good title by the law of nations and natture." In 1635, the grantees of the New England pat- ent conveyed to the Earl of Stirling the territory of Pema- quid, between the Saint Croix and the Kennebeck in Maine, and the island of Matowack, or Long Island. The Dutch, however, utterly denied the Enghsh claim to any part of conflicting Long Island, and expeEed Lord Stirling's agents. At length English Peter Stuyvesant, the director of New Netherland, by a "^ '*"™" treaty made at Hartford in 1650, surrendered to the En- ghsh all the territory south of Oyster Bay on Long Island, and east of Greenwich on the continent. This treaty was ratified by the States General in 1656, but no reciprocal action was taken by the British government. Cromwell, however, after directing an expedition to take New Nether- land, recognized the Dutch title by the treaty of 1654 ; and no demonstration was afterward made against what New England men pertly considered " a thorn in the side."*
Thus stood the question when Charles the Second was restored to the throne. The antipathy of the Puritan colo- nists of New England against their Dutch neighbore in New Netherland, which to some extent seems to have moved the
• Ante, vol. i., p.iges 4, 11, 3G, 63, 64, 96, 139, 250, 262, 519, 5S2, 5S3, 5S6, 621, 625, 643, 653, 6S5; Thurloe's State Papers, i., 564,721, 722; ii.,419; Mass. H. S. Coll., xxxii., 230-232; Sainsbury's Calendar, i., 204 ; Chalmers's Political Annals, i., 6, 82, 83 ; Kennett's England, ii., 4S0; Parliam. Debates, i., 250, 251 ; Smith, i., 387 ; Proud, i., 2S1 ; Palfrey, ii., 371, 372. Smith, i., 7, errs in attributing to Richard Cromwell the instructions given by Oliver in Feb- ruaiy, 1054 ; and Grahame, i., 409, follows Smith ; see ante, vol. i., p. 5S3.
12 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. Protector, had no similar influence on the king. Charles had no sympathy with the likes or the dislikes of his New Poucyof' England subjects. His restoration had been a sore disap- ^j^^^^^'^^pointment to tliem. They had received the tidings with "scrupulous incredulity." They had acknowledged him as king with a very grim austerity. Constant complaints were preferred against them at Whitehall. In the sum- mer of 1661, Henry, the fourth Earl of Stirhng, complained to the king of the " intrusion" of the Dutch upon Long Island, and petitioned that they might be subdued or ex- pelled. Lord Stirling's petition was referred to the Coun- cil of Plantations, at the head of which was Clarendon. But before any action was taken, the king granted to Jolm Winthi'op a charter for Connecticut, which appeared to cover a large part of E^ew ISTetherland, together with " the islands thereunto adjoining." The charter, however, was violently opposed; and it finally passed the great seal in April, 1662, with the understanding that the king would " send Commissioners into those parts, who upon the place should settle all differences and pretences upon the bounds of each colony." In the following September, Clarendon declared in the Plantation Committee that the king would dispatch commissioners, and the Duke of York was re- quested " to consider of the choice of fit men." Charles himself, m April, 1663, announced to the Privy Council that he intended to send commissioners speedily to New England, " to see how the charter is maintained on their part, and to reconcile the differences at present among them."*
There was another subject which was now pressed upon The En- the kiuff's attention. The Navigation Act of 1660 had been
elishNavi- ^
gationAct. opculy disregarded or clandestinely evaded in the British American plantiations. One of the chief obstacles to its execution was charged to be the existence of the Dutch province. The trade carried on between New Netherland and New England on the one side, and Maryland and Vir- ginia on the other, was alleged to be " very much to the prejudice of England, and to the loss of his majesty, in re-
• Chalmers's Pol. Ann., i., 249, 250, 253, 256, 25T, 293, 3S6, 432; Col. Doc., ii., 389 ; iii., 32, 42, 43, 55 ; vii., 431 ; Mass. II. S. Coll., xxxii., 2S4 ; Duer's Life of Stirling, 31 ; TnimbiiU's Connecticut, i., 523 ; Col. Rec Conn., i., 5S1 ; ii., 3-11 ; Palfrey, ii., 540-545, 574, 575; ante, VOL i., p. 189, 7G2, 720 ; N. Y. II. S. Coll. (1869), 1-57.
NEW ENGLISH NAVIGATION LAW. 13
spect to customs, many thousand pomids yearly." Lord cuap.i. Baltimore, the Proprietary of Maryland, promised to " do his best to prevent" this trade ; and Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor of Yirginia, was ordered to enforce the law. Still, the intercolonial traffic was continued. Parlia- New navi- ment accordingly enacted a new law in 1663, which pro-^*'*°° *^' hibited the importation of European commodities into the English plantations, except in English vessels fi-om En- gland. In June of the same year, the Privy Council or- dered all the American governors to enforce this act, which the king was determined to have " very strictly observed, in regard it much concerneth the trade of this kingdom." At last, in December, 1663, the farmers of the customs, who were paying the king nearly four hundred thousand pounds a year for their monopoly, demanded redress for the " great abuses committed and done as well by the in- habitants and planters on, as by the masters, mariners, and traders to, Yirginia, New England, Maryland, Long Island, etc., who, under pretence of fmiiishing some of those plan- tations and other his majesty's dominions, do both, by land and water, carry and convey great quantities of tobacco to the Dutch, whose plantations are contiguous, the custom whereof would amount to ten thousand poimds per annum or upward, thereby eluding the late Act of Navigation and defrauding his majesty." This brought the question to a crisis. The Navigation Law, meant to cripple the commerce of the Dutch and foster that of the English, must be main- tained. It could be enforced, and it was enforced in En- gland. It was evaded, and it could not be enforced in America as long as New Netherland existed as a Dutch plantation. New Netherland, therefore, must no longer exist.*
This convenient and characteristic logic was exactly adapted to the situation of Charles the Second. The read- England iest way to sustain it was to insist that New Netherland seizeTew was " the true and imdoubted inheritance of his majesty," land.^'^' and to subject it accordingly to English rule. It so hap- pened that three persons had just before this time come
* D'Estrades, ii., 312 ; Chalmers's Pol. Ann., i., 242, 260, 261 ; Holme?, i., 330; Anderson on Commerce, li., 475; New Haven Rec., ii., 510-512; Col. Doc, iii., 40, 44, 50, 209, 210; Lister's Clarendon, li., 453; iii., 308; Statute 15 Ch. II., cap. xvii. ;Grahame,i., 92; Bancroft, ii., 43 ; Falfrey, ii., 566 ; anle, vol. i., 685, 702, 725, 735 ; N. Y. H. S. Coll. (1869), 1-57.
14 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YOEK.
Chat. I. ovGi' to Londoii, wlio Were admirably qualified to stimulate
English animosity against the Dutch colonists in America.
Scott B^x- These persons were John Scott and George Baxter, who
ter.and cherislied no " a-ood opinion of the law" under which they
Mavenck -»
testify, liad smarted in New Netherland, and Samuel Maverick, a zealous Episcopahan who had formerly lived in tribulation in Massachusetts. All the three made universal profes- sions of loyalty. Scott, especially, was clamorous for a roy- al grant to him of the government of Long Island, nearly the third part of which he pretended to have purchased. But Lord Stirling's claim, which had not yet been acted on by the Council for Plantations, stood in his way. The three American witnesses, however, were called before the board, and ordered to draw up a statement of " the title of his majesty to the premises; of the Dutch intrusion; of their deportment since and management of that possession, and of their strength, trade, and government there ; and of the means to make them acknowledge and submit to liis majesty's government, or by force to compel them there- unto or expulse them." The result of these witnesses' la- bors and of Downing's arguments fi'om the Hague was to satisfy Lord Clarendon that N'ew JSTetherland belonged to do^a opin- *^® kii^oj ^i^d that it had been " only usurped" by the Dutch, ion. yj^i^Q i^ad " no colour of right to pretend to" its possession. The chancellor's opinion, although it was utterly inconsist- ent with truth and reason, was conclusive. The difficult point was that the Dutch were, and for half a century had been, in uninterrupted possession of the Yalley of the Hud- son and its neighborhood. How the English could best gain possession became the question.*
It was certain that the government at the Hague would not acknowledge any English pretension of right to Dutch New Netherland. The States General had, indeed, just directed their ambassador at London to insist on " the de- termination of the boundary line" between the English and Dutch possessions in North America. They also requested i| jnn'ry. the king to issue orders " for the immediate restoration of niaLtain ^ tlic to^\^ls aud places in New Netherland invaded by his rights. subjects within the aforesaid limits, and for the cessation
* Col. Doc, iii., 40, 48, 105 ; Listei^'s Clarendon, iii., 276, 347 ; Hutchinson's Massachusetts, i., 147; Collection, 380, 381; Palfrey, ii., 664-507, .583; Aspinwall, In Mass. }I. S. Proceed- ings, 1SG2, 00-73, note; N. Y. U. S. Coll. (1SG9), 19-G7 ; antr, vol. i., 579, 020, 071, 725.
ENGLAND BESOLVES TO SEIZE NEW NETHERLAND. 15
of all fui'ther usurpations." Of this action Clarendon was chap. i. promptly informed by Downing, to whom De Witt had also spoken about the "encroaching" of the English upon the Dutch in K"ew ISTetherland. " It would be good, I tliink," 15 janua- was the crafty envoy's advice to the chancellor, " after "^^ three or four months' delay, to give them for answer that his majesty -will write into those parts, to be informed of the truth 0:^ the matter of fact and right on both sides." The next month, ref e Ang to the complaints of the West 12 Febm- India Company against the aggressions of the English, he suggested "if his majesty think fit to leave that matter to me, I shall deal well enough with them."*
Yet Charles and his ministers were for some time per- plexed whether they should view the Dutch " intruders" as subjects or as aliens. At length the king's com*se was de- termined. In spite of treaties, at the risk of war, it was Engiisii resolved that the principle announced by Queen Elizabeth ordered. and afiirmed by Parliament in 1621 should be repudiated and reversed. New Netherland must be seized at all haz- ard, and the English claim by " prescription" must be main- tained against the Dutch title by actual discovery and con- tinuous occupation. An expedition " against the Dutch in 29 Febm- Kew England" was ordered. But this was kept profoundly ^^' secret, lest the States should send a squadron to aid the weak garrison at Manhattan. A quiet grant to the king's own brother would be both the readiest assertion of title and the best apology for any consequences. This, indeed, had been decided upon before Scott returned to America with the royal orders to enforce the navigation laws. Its execution was perhaps hastened by his report to Under Secretary Williamson of the condition of affairs at the western end of Long Island.f
Lord Stirling's interest was accordingly purchased by Clarendon for his son-in-law, who promised to pay for it three thousand five hundred pounds. Long Island, of The Duke which the greater portion was already subject to the crown, patent. being thus secured to the Duke of York by a color of title,
* Col. Doc., ii., 224-229; Aitzema, v., 64, 65; HoU. Merc, 1664, 13-15; Lister's Claren- don, iii., 2T6, 277, 27S ; ante, vol. i., 730.
t Ogilby's America, lfi9; Chalmers's Rev. Col., i., 116; Col. Doc, ii., 302, 024, 325, 332, 379,350,400,507; iii.,47,4S; New Haven Rec, ii., 510, 515; an^e, vol. i., 725, 72G. On the 29th of February, 1664, a waiTant for £4000 was issued on account of the expedition against New Netherland : Am. and W. I. (S. P. O.), 372.
16 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
cuAP. I. the rest of New Ketherland was added by the mere word of the Idno;. The Connecticut charter was entirely disre- garded. A patent to James was prepared, to which his father-in-law hastened to affix the great seal. The descrip- tion of the premises conveyed was framed in part from Lord Stii'ling's original grant, which Clarendon borrowed 12 March, for the purposB. By liis patent, Charles the Second grant- ed to liis brother, and to his heirs and assigns, the territory of Pemaquid, in Maine, between tile Saint Cfoix and the Kennebeck, " and also all that island or islands commonly called by the several name or names of Matowacks or Long Island, situate, lying, and being towards the west of Cape Cod and the Narrow Higansetts, abutting upon the main land between the two rivers there called or known by the several names of Connecticut and Hudson's River; together, also, with the said river called Hudson's E-iver, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut to the east side of Delaware Bay, and also all those several islands called or known by the names of Martin's Yinyard, and Nantukes,
Territorial othcrwise Nautuckett." The inland boundary most con- extent of. • 1 1 • ^ •• /rT r T 1 -I n
the Duke'3 sistent With this description was " a line from the head or Connecticut Eiver to the source of Hudson's River, thence to the head of the Mohawk branch of Hudson's River, and thence to the east side of Delaware Bay." The grant " was intended to include all the lands which the Dutch held there." These territories were to be held of the king in free and common soccage, and imder the yearly rent of forty beaver-skins, when demanded. The patent invested the Duke of York and his heirs, deputies, and assigns with "full and absolute power and authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern, and rule" all British subjects inhabiting the territory, according to such laws as he might establish, and The duke's in cascs of ncccssity according to the " good discretions" of govern- liis dcputies, providcd that such laws should be, not contra- ry, but agreeable to the statutes of England. It granted him authority to appoint and discharge all officers, execute martial law, regulate trade and the tenure of lands, send out emigrants "not prohibited or under restraint," expel all persons living under his government without his license ; and it declared that, notwithstanding any uncertainty or imperfection, or any former grants to any other persons,
THE DUKE OF YORK'S PATENT. 17
or any statute to the contrary, this patent to the Duke of cuap. l York should be " good and effectual in the law, to all in- ' ~~ tents and purposes whatsoever." This instrument, clearly '■^'' defective in many material points, was much less cumber- some than those which the kings of England had previously sealed to American proprietaries. It was the most impu- dent ever recorded in the colonial arcliives of England. But its crisp clauses warranted all that a despot could de- sire."^
The duke's parchment title now appeared to be com- plete. The next step was to give it validity by obtaining possession. James was informed that his newly-patented territory might peld him thirty thousand pounds a year, and he was anxious to enjoy his anticipated revenues, peaceably or by force. To this end, it was necessary that the person to secure and govern the prize should be well selected. The duke was singularly fortunate in the choice he made. There was at tliis time in his household Colonel Richard Mcolls, a gentleman whom he had long known, coionei and in whom he justly felt great confidence. Nicolls was nIcoUs! born in 1624, at Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, where his an- cestors had lived in great esteem. Tlis father was a barris- ter of the Middle Temple, and his mother a daughter of Sir George Bruce, ancestor of the Earl of Elgin, At the Uni- versity he distinguished himself as a scholar ; but on the breaking out of the ci\'il war in 1643, he left his college and joined the royal forces, in which he obtained the com- mand of a troop of horse. Is^icolls adhered faithfully to the royal cause, and shared its fortunes. Attaching him- self in Paris to the Duke of York, he served with him in the French army under Tureniie, and afterward on the other side under Don John of Austria and the Prince of Conde. At the Restoration NicoUs returned to England, and was made a groom of the bedchamber to the duke. His sincerity, courage, capacity, and prudence recommend- ed him for the most important trust which liis patron could now confer. Nicolls was' accordingly commissioned by the 2 Apnu
* Patent,', i., 100 ; Duer's Life of Stirling, 37, 3S ; T>' Es'trndei', iii., 334 ; Chalmers's Ann., i., 5T3, S80 ; Col. Doc, ii., 295-29S, 400, .50T ; iii., 4T, 48, 215, 215, 240, 260, 60G, 60T, T96 ; v., 330, 506; vi., 508; vii., 431, 564, 596, 597; viii., 107, 436, 440; Maine H. S. Coll., v., 2-6; Learning and Spicer's Grants and Concessions, 3-8 ; Smith's N. Y., i., 15; Thompson, ii., 303-311 ; Wood, 6, nnte ; Palfrey, ii., 53 1 ; antp, vol. i., 725, 7?6. The original patent, beau- tifully engrossed, is in the State Library at Albany; a copy is in Appendix, Note A.
II.— B
18
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1664.
Appointed
Deputy
Governor.
Royal Commis- sionera to New En- gland.
£5 April.
Duke of York to be liis deputy governor during pleasure, within his American proprietorsliip, to execute all the pow- ers granted by the patent, and obey such orders as he might receive. A set of instructions fi'om the duke was also given to Nicolls for his general guidance.*
The king now determined to send commissioners to New England, as he had announced his purpose of doing a year before. They appear to have been selected by the Duke of York. The first was Colonel Richard ]S[icolls, whom he had just commissioned to be the deputy governor of his yet unpossessed transatlantic territory. The second was Sir Robert Carr, a needy Royalist knight, of loose princi- ples, avaricious, and supercilious, and a " rank papist," who had already been talked of as governor general of JS^ew England. The third was Colonel George Cartwright, of Nottinghamshire, " naturally morose, saturnine, and suspi- cions," but clear-sighted and energetic. These three were officers in the royal army. The fourth commissioner was Samuel Maverick, an ardent Episcopalian, who had lived fi'om his youth in Massachusetts, of which he was the avowed and well-informed enemy, and who, with Scott and Baxter, had just before advised the Council of Plantations respecting the best means of subduing New Netherland. To these fom* persons a royal commission was issued, di- recting them, or any three or two of them (of whom NicoUs was always to be one), to visit the several New England colonies, and " examine and determine all complaints and appeals in all cases and matters, as well military as crim- inal and civil, and proceed in all tilings for the providing for and settling the peace and security of the said country, according to their good and sound discretion, and to such instructions as they, or the survivors of them, have, or shall from time to time receive."t
* Col. Doc, ii., 234, 400, 507 ; iii., 133, 154 ; Thompson's Long Island, ii., 325; Clarke's James II., i., 54 ; Chalmers's Pol. Ann., i.. 513 ; Lyson's Magna Britt., i., 3S ; Lister's Claren- don, !., 36S ; ii., 259 ; N. Y. H. S. Prnc, 1844, App., IIG-IIS ; Notes and Queries (2d series), iii., 214-216; Nichols's Topographer and Genealogist, iii., 539-544; Learning and Spicer, CG5-667 ; Patents, i., 14C ; aiite, vol. i., 727, 736. A copy of Nicolls's Seal is in Hist. Mag., ix., 177. A copy of Nicolls's Commission is in Appendix, Note 15. His Instructions from the Dulce, which were exhibited at Hempstead in March, 1605, are not on record at Albany, nor did I fin'1 them in the State Paper Office at London. Perhaps they were lent to Evelyn in 1071, ;>nd he may not have returned them : Pepys, iv., 221, 222 ; Evelyn, iii., 241, 240 ; jwst, p. 422, note.
t Hutch. Mass., 1,225, 230, 250, 535; Evelyn, ii., 05 ; Chalmers, i., 3S6, 432; Winthrop,
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 19
It was the duty of the secretary of state to prepare in- chap. i. structions for the commissioners. But the lord chancel- ~
lor had given minute attention to the affairs of the N^ew England colonies, and, in the plan which he drew up for their visitation, had considered them as " ah-eady well-nigh ripened to a commonwealth." To Clarendon, therefore, appears to have been assigned the task of drafting the com- missioners' instructions, of wliich there were different sets 23 Apni. relating to the several colonies. In those for their private tiona of the direction they were thus instructed : " You may inform all sl'oiieii" men that a great end of your design is the possessing Long Island, and reducing that people to an entire submission and obedience to us and our government, now vested by our grant and commission in our brother the Duke of York, and by raising forts or any other way you shall judge most convenient or necessarj^, so to secure that whole trade to our subjects, that the Dutch may no longer engross and exercise that trade which they have wrongfidly possessed themselves of ; that whole territory being in our possession before they, as private persons, and without any authority from their superiors, and against the law of nations and the good intelligence and alliance between us and their supe- riors, invaded, and have since wrongfully obtained the same, to the prejudice of our crown and dignity, and therefore ought in justice to be resumed by us, except they will en- tirely submit to our government, and live there as our good subjects under it ; and in that case you shall let them know, both by private significations and treaties, or by any public declaration set out by you in our name, that we will take them into our protection, and that they shall continue to enjoy all their possessions (forts only excepted), and the same freedom in trade with our other good subjects in those parts." It would be difficult to find in any official document of any government a more impudent falsehood than the one in this clause, that the " whole territory" of JSTew Netherland had been in the " possession" of the En-
i., 27; Mass. II. S. Coll., xxxii., 284 ; Maine II. S. Coll., i., 301 ; Barry's Mass., i., 390; Col. Doc, iii., 04,92,94; Patents, 1., 148-150; Hazard, ii., 63S; Trumbull's Conn., 1., 522; ante, vol. i., 736. Palfrey, ii., 580, note, errs in confounding Sir Robert Cavr, Knight, the com- missioner (who died at Bristol, 2d June, 1667 ; Col. Doc, ill., 161 ; Morton's Meraoi-ial, 315, note ; Smith, 1., 33, note), with Sir Robert Carr, Baronet, of Sleeford, in Lincolnshire, who married a sister of Secretary Bennet, and certainly was alive in IOCS: compare CoUins's Peerage, iv., 312, 330; Evelyn, i., 40! ; Pepys, iii., 200, 427.
20 HISTOEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. glisli crowii before the Dutch "-wrongfully obtained the same." Several other particular directions were given to * the commissioners, who, when in New England, were to avoid giving any offense in matters of religion, and even to frequent the Pm'itan churches, wliile their own Episco- palian chaplain was not to wear his sui-plice, " which, hav- ing never been seen in those countries, may conveniently be forborne at tliis time." The main object of the king, however, was to obtain such alterations in the charters of the New England colonies as would give him the appoint- ment of their governor and of the commander of their mi- litia. " We should look upon it as a good omen," said Charles, " if they might be so wrought upon at the General Assembly as that Colonel Nicolls might be chosen by them- selves for their present governom-, and Colonel Cartwright for their major general."
E-oyal letters were also addressed to the several colonies. The reasons for the visit of the commissioners were ex- plained in soothing language ; the motives for subduing the Dutch, and " the benefit and advantage which, with God's 2p Ai)rii. blessing, must accrue" to New England fi-om the reduction ters. of New Netherland, were seductively exliibited, and a full compliance with all the king's desires was required. "■ For the glory of the matter," these letters were dated on Saint George's day.*
The Duke of York, who, as lord high admiral, directed the fleet, now borrowed several men-of-war from the king. They were the Guinea, of thirty-six guns, Captain Hugli Hyde ; the Elias, of thirty. Captain Wilham Hill ; the Tiie En- Martin, of sixteen. Captain Edward Grove ; and a cliar- diiioif'^^^' tered transport, the William and Nicholas, of ten, Captain >?ew"" Morley. About four hundred and fifty of the king's vet- fm±'' eran soldiers, fonning three full companies, which were commanded by Colonels NicoUs, Carr, and Cartwright, were embarked on the squadron. NicoUs was commander-in- chief of the expedition. Among the commissioned ofiicers serving under him were Captains Matthias Nicolls, Daniel Brodhead, Robert Needliam, Harry Norwood, and Ensign Sylvester Salisbury, of the British army, some of whom,
* Col. Doc, ii., 23T; iii., 51-G3; Oldmixon, i., 23S ; Tninibtill, i., 523; Holmes, i., 333, )U>te; Hazard, ii.,30-i; Palfrey, i., 193, ?io<e; ii.,6a0, 6TS, 579, 5S2-536; iii., 23S.
THE ENGLISH EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW NETHERLAND. 21
intending to settle themselves permanently in the Dutch chap.l province after its reduction, were accompanied by their families. The forces were " exceedingly well fitted with all necessaries for waiTe, with such ingineers and other expe- dients for the forcing the strongest fortifications." Nicolls and Cartwright went on board the Guinea, wliile Carr and Maverick embarked in the Martin. The expedition set sail i§ ^^7- fi-om Portsmouth, with orders to assemble in Gardiner's Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island.*
Intelligence of these preparations soon reached the Hague. Stu}^esant had already warned the West India 29 Febiu- Company of the intended grant of Charles to the Duke of ^^' York, and that not only Long Island, biit the whole of New Netherland, would be lost, unless speedily re-enforced fi'om Holland. But the company, now on the brink of bank- ruptcy, wrote back, with mar^^elous infatuation, that the king, " being inclined to reduce all liis kingdoms under one 21 Apiii. form of government in Chm'ch and State, hath taken care that commissioners are ready in England to repair to H^ew England to install bishops there, the same as in Old En- gland ; therefore we believe that the Enghsh of the North, who mostly left England for the aforesaid causes, will not infamaiion give us henceforth so much trouble, and will prefer to live under us with freedom of conscience, rather than risk that in order to be rid of om* authority, and then again to fall under a government from wliich they formerly fled." Nev- er was the Puritan sentiment in New England more thor- oughly misapprehended than by the Dutch "West India Company. Scarcely had this absurd letter been dispatch- ed before the real pm'pose of NicoUs's expedition was bet- ter understood. In great concern, De Witt sought from Downing some explanation of the report of the English " sending to take New Netherland." The British envoy f ^ siay. replied, " I know of no such country but only in the maps ;" and he boldly insisted that " the Enghsh had the first pat- tern of first possession of those parts." The Dutch govem-
* Col. Doc., ii., 243, 372, 410, 4:3, 445, 501 ; iii., 6.5, 6C; Mass. H. S. Coll., x.xxvi., 5Q7; Smith,!., 10; Clarke's James n.,i., 400; Pepys, iv., 353 ; N. Y. General Entries, i., 2, 3, 2?, 27, 2S; Valentine's Manual, ISGO, 532; Wood, 144; a7ifc, vol. 1., 730,744, «o/e. Of the En- glish officers who accompanied Nicolls, the family of Captain Matthias NicoUs settled on Long Island, and tho.=e of Capt.iin Pnniel Brodhead and Ensign Sylvester Salisbury in L'l- efer County, in the province of New Yorlt. Numerous descendants now bear these ancestral names. See abo X. Y. II. S. Coll. (1860), 57.
22 HISTORY OF THE STATE OE NEW YORK.
cuAP.i. ment was now sufSciently warned of the danger which menaced ISTew Netherland. But a purblind confidence in the honor of Charles, and an unjust estimate of the impor- tance of its American province to the fatherland, clouded the judgment of De Witt, Prompt ordei's to De Ruyter, who was now on his way to the Mediterranean, might have hurried his squadron to Manliattan in time to assist Stuy- vesant, and give the Duke of York's expedition a memo- rable repu^lse. But, unhappily, the Dutch province was im- der the immediate government of a commercial monopoly which had but little popular sympathy. " What !" cried the commonalty at the Hague, " must we have a war for the East and West India Companies? We will rather pull them by the ears."* And so the fatherland abandoned New Il^etherland to her fate.
i^icolls's squadron worked slowly to the westward. It was nearly ten weeks before the first of his ships reached New England. In the mean time, Appleboom, the Swedish minister at the Hague, awakened from its sleep of eight l^ June, years the complaint of his king against the proceedings of com^^^^^ Stuy^^esant on the Delaware in 1655. In a well -written plaints, memorial to the States General, he demanded that the West India Company should be ordered to restore the " wrested lands" to the Swedish Company and pay all damages. This should be speedily done, because it was reported that the Dutch Company " were themselves now questioned by j^^ August, others in those parts." Two months afterward, the Am- sterdam chamber submitted a full justification of their pro- ceedings against the Swedes ; and here the question, which 9 October. ^^^^ been revived " for form's sake," was ended.f
Appleboom's suggestion was almost a prophetic sneer. The Dutch were, indeed, effectually " questioned by others" in New Netherland. In alarm at the now certain destina- 28 June ^^^^^ ^^ Nicolls's squadrou, the West India Company de- sjaiy] manded assistance from the city of Amsterdam, and asked the States General for " three hmidred soldiers as a re-en- forcement for New Netherland, and a ship of war to op-
* Lister's Clarendon, iii., SOT, 310, 318, 320, 322 ; Kennetfs England, iii., 251, 253; D'Eg- trades, ii., 435; Col. Doc, ii., 230-237, 367, 400, 408, 421, 431, 432, 492, 493, 505, 507 ; Letter of W. I. Co. to S. G., 20 June, 1664, MS., N. Y. Historical Society; Mass. Eec, iv. (ii.), 101- 110; Palfrey, ii., 576, 650,587.
t Col. Doc, i., 615; ii., 240-242, 246, 247, 258-200; Aitzema, v., 247-C40; IIoll. Merc, 1064,135-137; Lister's Clarendon, iii., 359; anfe, vol. 1., 622.
THE ENGLISH EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW NETHERLAND. 23
pose the English, designs there." But Yan Gogh, the am- CHAr. i. bassador at London, reported that the king constantly pro- ~ tested that " he would not in any way violate his alhance g^ j^^^ ' with the Dutch ;" and the States General, wishing to give lu juiy. no umbrage to England, refused the company's request for GenerlTi'n- assistance. Early in the autmmi, Yan Gogh wrote that it ^^^ ^^^^^' was rmnored that the English had taken Long Island, and i^^^*^'' intended to reduce New Amsterdam and the rest of Isew 1-3 ^^p'- jSTetherland. Soon afterward the West India Company no- g^Jc'tober tified the States General that Stuy\^esant's dispatches an- nomiced that the Duke of York had already reduced Long Island, and was about to attack ISTew Amsterdam, the cap- ital, " and thereby to erase the name of New Netherland from the map, and cause a loss of millions to the company." The same week intelligence reached London that the Dutch 29 sept. had been " beat out" of Guinea and New Xetherland, " with- ^ '^''°^'- out pubhc knowledge or reason," according to the honest notion of Pepys, the clerk of the Admiralty. The Idng did " joy mightily at it." The mask need no longer be worn. " But," said Charles to his vice-chamberlain Carteret, laugh- ing, " how shall I do to answer this to the ambassador when he comes ?"'^
Meanwliile Nicolls and Cart wrig-ht, with part of the 23 juiy.
Nicolla at
squadron, had reached Boston after a tedious voyage, and Boston. had dispatched a letter to Winthrop requiring the assist- ance of Connecticut. This was very readily given. At the suggestion of the commissioners, the Massachusetts au- thorities, with evident unwillingness, ordered two hmidred s August, volunteers to be called out to aid in reducing New Neth- erland. The West India Company, as we have seen, had cherished the absurd bebef that the Pm'itan colonists would not assist the royal forces in overthrowing the government of New Netherland, in which " freedom of conscience" was so fully recognized. But the English jealousy of the Dutch, which New England fostered, together with a cm-ious notion of loyalty to the king, prevailed over Puritan dread of epis- copacy. Nevertheless, the backwardness of Massachusetts
• Col. Doc, ii., 243-240,253,255,250; Lingard, xii., 16S; Davie3,iii., 25; Rapin, ii., 63T, 638; Parliamentary History, Iv., 29S-302; D'Estrades, ii., 453, 460, 494; Lett, of De Witt, iv., 306, 342 ; Pepys, ii., 171. It is another instance of the ignorance which English scholars fo constantly display in re.^ard to American history, that the editor of Bohn's recent edition of Pepys repeats tlie erroneous statement of Hume, vi., 3S3, ami others, that the expedition sent against New Netherland was commanded by Sir Robert Holmes.
24 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. gave NicoUs and Cartwright an opportunity to complain to Secretary Bennet. As soon as the rest of the Enojlish •0 Jul ships reached Boston, McoUs wrote again to AVinthrop at Hartford, and also to Captain Thomas Willett at Plymouth, desiring them to meet the commissioners at the west end of Long Island, whither the expedition soon afterward jgAnsust. sailed. The squadron, piloted by New England mariners, TuJf a^Ny- anchored at Nyack or New Utrecht Bay, just inside of Co- ^'^^' ney Island. Here the royal commissioners were joined by Winthrop and his son Fitz John, with Willys and sev- eral other Connecticut magistrates. Willett also appeared on behalf of the new Plymouth colony, and " greatly rec- ommended himself to the commissioners by his acti\dty and intelligence." Scott was likewise at hand, with men from New Haven, " pressed by authority," to go with him to Long Island. A number of militia, summoned fi'om Southold and the other towns at the eastern end of the island, soon appeared in arms under the command of Captain John Connect!- Youngc. Tliomas Clarke and John Pynchon also came outhfi^" from Boston with a report of its military arrangements, ^eus dde- But, as there was already an overpowering force collected, ^^^^^- the services of the Massachusetts troops were found to be
unnecessary.""' j^ August. All the approaches to New Amsterdam by land and wa- ^tOTdifm' ter were immediately blockaded, and communication be- biockaded. i^QQj^ the city and Long Island, Bergen, and Achter Cul was cut off. The block-house on Staten Island, opj)Osite the squadron, was occupied. Several coasting vessels, on their way to the South River, were captured. Tlie Long Island farmers were forbidden to furnish any supplies to the capital, on pain of destruction of their property. At 3§ Anguat. tlie samc time a proclamation was issued by the commis- sioners on board tlie Guinea, copies of which were " scat- tered broadcast" among the Dutch towns, and soon found piociama- tlicir way to the burghers of the metropolis. " Forasmuch," r!oy.i;com- were its words, " as his majesty hath sent us, by commission iuLs.^i.mei-s. ^^j^^igj. i^jg great seal, among other tilings to expel or to re-
* General Entries, i., 2-7 ; Col. Doc., ii., 235, 236, 372, 409, 410, 438, 444 ; Hi., 65, 66, 84 ; Chalmer.s, Ann., i., 386, 387, 573 ; Mass. Rec, iv. (ii.), 117-128, 141, 149, 157-lOS; Mas?. II. S. Coll., xviii., 92-94; xxxvi., 527, .'i23 ; Hutch. Mass., i., 230, 231; Barry, i., 390, 391; Pal- frey, ii., 57S, .'i86, .'591 ; iii, 236, 238; Morton'.'! Mem., 311, no^e .• New Haven Rec., ii., 550; Trumbull, i., 2CT ; Smith, 1., 17, 18 ; Wood, 27 ; Thompson, i., 127 ; ant£, vol. i., 737.
PROCLAMATION OF THE ROYAL COMIVHSSIONERS. 25
duce under his majesty's obedience all such foreigners as chap. i. have without his majesty's leave or consent seated them- selves amongst any of his dominions in America, to the prej- ■'■""*• udice of his majesty's subjects and the diminution of his royal dignity, We, his Majesty's Commissioners, declare and promise that whosoever, of what nation soever, will, upon knowledge of this proclamation, acknowledge and testify themselves to submit to this his majesty's government, as his good subjects ought to do, shall be protected by his majesty's laws and justice, and peaceably enjoy whatsoever God's blessing and their own honest industry have fur- nished them with, and all other privileges with his maj- esty's English subjects. We have caused this to be pub- lished that we might prevent all inconveniences to others, if it were possible ; however, to clear ourselves from the charge of all tliose miseries that may any way befall such as live here and will not acknowledge his majesty for their sovereign — whom God preserve." The inhabitants of the several towns on Long Island were also specially sum- moned to meet the commissioners at Gravesend on the fol- lowing Thursday.*
In the mean time, Stuy^^esant, on receiving the letter which the West India directors had written to him in April, was somewhat relieved fi'om fear of an attack by the English, although he could not refrain from ^vriting to 25 juiy. the company that the design of the royal commissioners ^ August, was rather against New Netherland than for the "imao;- ined reform of New England." Willett, of Pljnnouth, who liad originally warned him of the danger, now contradicted his previous statements, and the director incautiously went 27 j«iy. up to Fort Orange to repress some disorders among the In- |tuy?e'ant dians in its neighborhood. Upon learning the approach of oran-e the English expedition he hurried back to Kew Amster- Returns to dam, which he reached only the day before the Guinea ^terafm.'" anchored in Nyack Bay. Accordiner to the rule " in such , . . critical circumstances," the burgomasters were called into Tae city council, and every thing possible was done for the forti- t^at^eT ficatioii and defense of the city. But its condition was counciK" °
* Col. Doc, ii., 372, 410, 411, 434, 438, 443, 444, 476 ; General Entries, i., 7, 8 ; Colonial Manuscripts, x. (iii.), 290-303 ; Albany Rec, xxii., 307, 385; Smith, i., 387, 3SS ; S. Smith's New Jersey, 30, 37 ; Oyster Bay Rec, A., 10 ; O'Call., ii., 521, 522; Thompson, i., 124, 125 ; an«r, vol. i., 738 ; N. Y. II. S. Coll. (1809). 53, C3.
1664.
26 HISTORY OF THE STATE OP NEW YORK.
Chap. I. hopeless from the first. No aid could be obtained from Long Island. The regular soldiers in the garrison did not exceed one hundred and fifty ; and the burghers — of whom only two hundred and fifty were able to bear arms — thought more of protecting their own property than of de- fending the open town. The v/hole city force, placed man Defense- by man four rods apart, could not guard its breastwork. tionofthe Fort Amsterdam itself was untenable against a regular be- metropohs. ig^guering, having been originally built to resist an attack of the savages rather than an assault by European arms. Houses were clustered around its low earthen walls, which in some places were not over ten feet high, and were com- manded, within pistol-shot on the north, by much higher ground on the " Heere-weg," or Broadway. Its six hund- red pounds of serviceable powder were not suflicient for more than a few hours' firing. Long before its extremity, Stuyvesant had given his mihtary opinion, which modern judgment has only confirmed, that " whoever by water is The river mastcr of the river will be iii a short time master by land '^ '^ ■ of the feeble fortress." The contingency he dreaded had now happened, and the English squadron was in full com- mand of the harbor. Nevertheless, the director resolved to hold out to the last. At the request of the burgomas- ters, and to ascertain the condition of affairs on Long Isl- and, he sent four commissioners, representing the council If August, and the city, down to the English commanders, with a let- se*n^tr°' ter inquiring the object of their coming, and why they re- wiwre- mained at Nyack without giving notice to liim. Nicolls ^'"^^' answered them that he had come to reduce the country to the obedience of the King of England, whose commission he exhibited ; that he would not argue about his majesty's right, which he would leave to be vindicated by the king liimself ; and that, the next day, he would send a letter to New Amsterdam " over the ferry."*
Colonel Cartwright, Captain Needham, Captain Grove,
and Mr. Thomas Delavall accordingly came up to the city
gg August, on Saturday morning with a letter from NicoUs to Stuy-
• Alb. Rec, xviii., 276-29T, 311, 312; Colonial MSS., x. (iii.), 251, 299 ; xv., 140 ; Mass. Rec, iv. (ii.), 101-106; Palfrey, ii., 5T6; New Amsterdam Kec., v., 552-554, 607-570 ; Val. Man., ISGO, 592 ; ISGl, 603-605 ; Col. Doc., ii., 235, 24S, 367, 368, 371, 372, G76, G77, 40S-411, 421, 431-434, 43S, 44!\ 441, 44-3, 446, 469, 474, 4T5, 494, 499, 505, 50S; Gen. Ent., i., S, 9; Smith, i., 18 ; S. Smith, 37, 38 ; Hazard's Reg. Penn., iv., 30, 31 ; Letter of Drisius, 15 Sept., 1664 ; antr^ vol. i. , 737, 738, 741.
THE SUREENDER OF NEW NETHERLAND DEMANDED. 27
vesant, asserting the " im questionable riglit" of the English chap. i. king " to these parts of America," and requiring the sm-- render of the " town situate upon the island commonly j^.^^ig fg Ivnown by the name of Manhatoes, with all the forts there- mands the
*' , ^ ' ^ surrender
unto belonging," at the same time assuring him " and every of Maniiat- respective inhabitant of the Dutch nation that his majesty, being tender of the effusion of Christian blood, doth by these presents confirm and secure to every man his estate, Terma of- life, and hberty, who shall readily submit to his govern- ^^^ ment, and all those who shall oppose his majesty's gra- cious intentions must expect all the miseries of a war which they bring upon themselves." A copy of the proc- lamation of the royal commissioners was also sent. Fond of parade, and determined to " keep up state" to the last, the Dutch director received the English delegates with a salute of artillery which expended a large proportion of his slender stock of powder. As Kicolls had omitted to sign his summons, it was retm-ned to the delegates, and a stuyvesant delay was thus gained. StujTesant, on his part, showed nlt^s*^ '' them his commission as Director General of New jN^ether- land, and the grant of the States General to the West India Company in 1621, which, he insisted, gave as much power and authority as the King of England had given or could give to any colony in America. The municipal authorities, with some of the burghers, now assembled at the City Hall, and agreed that the city should be so fortified as to prevent a surprise, that thus " good terms and conditions" might be obtained fi'om the enemy. But, as protracted resistance was out of the question, a copy of the Enghsh communica- tion was to be demanded from the director.
On the following Monday morning, i^icolls,ha^dng signed liis summons, sent it back with a note of apology by Cap- 32Aiigii8t. tains Hill, Needham, and Matthias NicoUs. Another salute jJ^J^ was fired, and on the departure of the Enghsh deputies the ^^"'^^^
' ^ o i summons.
burgomasters asked Stuyvesant for a copy of the smnmons, to be shown to the citizens. But the director, fearing that its easy terms might lead them to capitulate at once, re- fused. The burgomasters endeavored to explain the pur- port of the summons, but the citizens insisted upon seeing for themselves. Stuyvesant then went in person to their meeting, hoping to dissuade them from their purpose.
28 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. " Sucli a coui'se," liG Said, " would be disapproved of in the fatherland : it would discourage the people, and he would * be held answerable for the surrender." At last, finding it coramuni- usoless to rosist the popular will, the director furnished the the^peopis. required copy, with a protest that he should not be held re- sponsible for " the calamitous consequences."*
With a sorrowful heart Stuyvesant now drew up a dis- patch to the West India Directors, informing them of his "perilous and very alarming" situation. "Long Island is gone and lost." The capital, threatened by Old and IsTew 22 August. England forces, could not hold out long. " The company 1 septem. ^g ggolded and cursed by the inhabitants, in regard that not- withstanding the so often renewed and successive warn- stuy^-e- ina-s and remonstrances from time to time, no attention has
sant's let-
ter to the been paid, and none of the solicited succor obtained. Yea, paiiy. ' it is loudly and openly proclaimed, to the contempt and shame of your faithful servants, that your honors by pre- meditation abandoned the inhabitants, if you did not in- tend to expose them for sale, and endeavored to devote them to slaughter." This dispatch was intended to be sent by the recently arrived ship Gideon, which was to pass that 1 night " in silence through Hellgate." But, upon considera-
tion, Stuyvesant refused to let the vessel sail, and Gelde, her master, could only protest against his detention.f
By this time Nicolls had become better informed of the state of affairs in New Amsterdam through Willett, who wiiiett was " more acquainted with the manners and customs of winthrop. the Dutch than any Englishman in the country." Win- throp had also explained to him how easily the citizens might be induced to compel Stuyvesant to surrender, if they were assured that their intercourse with Holland 22 August, would not be interrupted. NicoUs accordingly wrote to 1 septem. Wiuthrop, " As to those particulars you spoke to me, I do Nicoiis's assure you that if the Manhadoes be delivered up to his Winthrop. majcsty, I shall not hinder, but any people from the Neth- erlands may freely come and plant there, or thereabouts ; and such vessels of their owne country may freely come
• General Entries, i., 9-11; Alb. Rec, xviii., 311-317; xxli., 314, 315; Col. MSS., x. (iii), .309, 311 ; XV., 143, 144 ; Col. Doc., ii., 441, 443, 469, 4S)S ; Hazard's Reg. Penn., iv., 31, 41 ; Smith, i., lS-21 ; S. Smith, 3S, 39 ; Thompson, i., 12S ; Bancroft, ii., 314 ; O'Call., ii., 522, 523; anfc, vol. i., 738, 739.
t Alb. Rcc, xviii., 302-304; xxli., 31S-321; Col. JISS., x. (iii.), 313; xv.,141; Thompson, L, 128, 129 ; General Kntries, i , 34, 141 ; Col. Doc, ii., 22?, 430, 469, 744.
WINTHROP'S LETTER TO STUYVESANT. 29
1664.
thither, and any of them may as freely returne home in chap.i. vessels of their owne country ; and this and much more is contained in the privilege of his majesty's Enghsh sub- jects ; and thus much you may, by what means you please, assure the governor." In thus promising the people of !N^ew Il^etherland a fi'ee intercourse with Holland, in viola- tion of the English Navigation Acts, Nicolls exceeded his instructions fi-om the king, which authorized him to assure the Dutch colonists only " the same freedom in trade with our other good subjects in those parts ;" and he even as- sumed more power than his own sovereign possessed, who " could not dispense with the laws by permitting a com- merce which they had prohibited."*
Having, nevertheless, gained his point, Winthrop ad- dressed a friendly letter to Stuyvesant and his comicil, i^acpfem." urging them to "speedily accept his majesty's gracious ten- der," and adding that " otherwise you may be assured that AVintuiop-s both the Massachusett colony and Connecticutt, and all the s1,uyve- rest, are obliged and ready to attend his majestie's service; and if you should, by wilf uU protraction, occasion a gen- erall rising of the English colonies, I should be sorry to see the ill consequences which you will bring upon your people thereby, of which I hope and persuade, in reall com- passion, that you will not run so great an hazard to occa- sion a needless warre, with all the evills and miseries that may accompany the same, when nothing but peace, and lib- erties, and protection is tendered. I have, I hope, obtained of their honors this farther addition to their former free tenders for the good of yourselves, your friends, and allies, that any of your friends in Holland that will come over hither shall have free liberty to inhabite and plant in these parts, under his majestie's subjection, and to transport themselves in theire owne country ships, which (if you con- sider well) gives you such a settlement in your present con- dition, that you will find little alteration but your submis- sion to and acknowledgment of his majestie's emj)ire (for the most apparent future good of all your people), who hath imployed such persons of honor and worth that your people may be happy under their government." To this
• Gen. Ent , i., 12; Morton's Memorial, 311, note; Col. Doc, iii., 57, 1C5; Chalmera, i., 574, 590 ; OCaU., ii , 52.'! ; on'^, p. 19 ; vol. l, 739.
30 HISTOEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YOKK.
Chap. I. letter Nicolls, Carr, and Cartwright added their autograph ~ ~ approval and assent " that it be sent to the governor of the 1^^^- Manhadoes."*
Winthrop, with his son Fitz John, and Willys of Con- necticut, accompanied by "Willett of Plymouth, and Clarke and Pynchon of Massachusetts, came up the next day with 23 August, this letter from Gravesend "in a row-boat with a white wlnufrop fi^&?" ^^ t^^ ^ity wharf, whence they were " immediately at New conducted to the nearest tavern." Another salute was
Amster- dam, fired as they landed, and Stuyvesant went with his council
and the two burgomasters to greet them. The Enghsh delegates declared that they had come to offer " all the in- habitants, in the king's name, fair conditions, and, in case these were not accepted, to excuse themselves for any mis- chief that might follow — it being their business, as they bad been ordered by England's majesty, and were therefore obliged to assist General ISTicoUs." Many " speeches and answers" passed at the long conference. On taldng leave, Winthi'op handed his own sealed letter to Stuj^'esant, who, when he returned to the fort, opened and read it before the council and the burgomasters. Its effect was immediate. In a short time the burgomasters came back to the council chamber, and demanded a copy of Winthrop's letter to be communicated to the city authorities. This Stuyvesant de- cHned to allow, thinking it " rather disadvantageous than favorable to communicate such letters to the inhabitants." The burgomasters insisted that the director " ought to com- municate to the commonalty all that had any relation to the public welfare." Stuyvesant explained the disastrous consequences of so doing ; but the burgomasters persisted, and as they went away, " greatly disgusted and dissatisfied," stuyvesant the dircctor, against their protest, tore the letter in pieces, wntiZp's " in order thereby to prevent its communication." Shortly letter. aftcrward, most of the burghers assembled at the City Hall; the work on the palisades suddenly stopped; and three of the principal citizens, " not belonging to the gov- ernment," came to the council chamber and peremptorily demanded a copy of the letter. The fi'agments were shown to them, but no reasoning would satisfy ; and Stuyvesant
. • This letter was published for the first time in 1S63, from Winthrop's original drift, in Mass. II. S. Coll., xx.xvi., 527-529 ; N. Y. II. S. (Joll. (1SG9), 5S.
STUYVESANT'S JUSTIFICATION OF THE DUTCH TITLE. 31
was obliged to liasten to tlie City Hall, " to encourage and chap. i. appease the burghers, and bring them back to work." In vain did he try to pacify them; complaints against the -'•""*• company's shameful neglect of the people's representations were uttered on all sides ; and a prolonged defense of the city, without hope of relief, was declared to be impossible, "seeing that to resist so many was nothing else than to gape before an oven." In vain did the director again re- fuse a copy of the letter, because " it did not concern the commonalty, but the government," and, moreover, it had been torn up. " The letter ! the letter !" was the only re- ply. Fearing a mutiny, Stuy^^esant returned to the coun- cil chamber; and Bayard, the clerk, having made a copy a copy giv- of Winthrop's mutilated writing, gave it to the timorous duz^ns.^ burgomasters . *
Meanwhile Stuyvesant had been preparing a reply to the summons of NicoUs. It was an overwhelming argument, 23 August. tracing the history of New Netherland, denying the English gtijy'ye."' pretension, and maintaining the Dutch title by first dis- ^g"'j>4"fj.'- covery, uninterrupted possession, purchase of land fi'om the *|l^ ^"''^^^ native owners, and the recognition of the sovereignty of the States General by the articles of peace with England. For these reasons, the unsoundness of the English claim was " as manifest and palpable as the brightness of the sun at noonday." At the same time, the director proposed to re- new the agreement with Scott in the previous March, that the question of boundaries on Long Island should be ami- cably determined by the king and the States General, " in order to prevent bloodshed here and further trouble in Eu- rope," which must follow any hostile aggressions.
This letter was conveyed by four of Stuy^^esant's ablest advisers, two from the council and two from the city, who were instructed to "argue the matter" with the Enghsh 23 August. commander. But Nicolls, declining discussion, told them KicoCde- that the question of right did not concern him ; it was to cusllon.'^' be considered by the king and the States General. He must and should take the place ; and if the reasonable terms lie
• Col. Doc, ii., 308, 369, 444, 445, 469, 4T6 ; iii., 165; Alb. Eec, xxii., 316; Col. MSS., X. (iii.), 311, 313; Smith, L, 20; Trumbull, i., 26S; Bancroft, ii., 314; O'Call., ii., 523, 524; Mass. H. S. Coll., xxxvi., 528, 529 ; ante, vol. i., 739. According to Smith, Trumbull, and others, Stuyvesant tore Winthrop's letter " in a fit of anger;" according to his own account, in Alb. Rec, xxii., 316, and Col. Doc., ii., 445, " to prevent its communication" to the people.
32 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. had oifered were not accepted, he would attack the city, for which purpose, at the end of forty-eight hours, he would bring his forces up nearer. " On Thursday, the fourth," he added, " I will speak with you at the Manhattans." The Dutch deputies replied, " Friends will be welcome if they come in a friendly manner." " I shall come with my ships and soldiers," said ISTicoUs, " and he will be a bold messen- ger, indeed, who shall then dare to come on board and so- licit.terms." To their demand, " Wliat, then, is to be done ?" Nicoiis-8 He answered, " Hoist the white flag of peace at the fort, repiy.'°"^ and then I may take something into consideration." "With this imperious message the Dutch delegates returned sad- ly to New Amsterdam."'''
Seeing that Stuyvesant was disposed to hold out, Nicolls 24 August, directed Hyde, of the Guinea, " to prosecute, with the ad- Anl^ttaTk "^'ice of the captains under his command, his majesties' ordered, (^l^ii^ and iutcrest by all waj's and means as they shall think most expedient for the speedy reducing of the Dutch under his majesties' obedience." The transport ship Wil- liam and Nicholas was also " pressed" for active service, and an agreement was signed with Morley, her captain, to indemnify her owners in case she should be damaged.f At the appointed day, a great number of the inhabitants 25 August, of Long Island assembled to meet the royal commissioners Nkous at at Gravesend, Winthrop and the other Connecticut mag- oravesend. jg|;j.ates wcrc prescut. Nicolls, in their presence, pubhshed the king's patent to the Duke of York, with his own com- mission, and demanded the submission of Long Island to his authority. On the part of the inhabitants living east of the Dutch towns there was no doubt respecting alle- giance. They were already British subjects, and under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. The only question was about coming under the Duke of York's government. Winthrop, on behalf of Connecticut, declared that as the Idng's pleas- ure was now fully signified by his letters patent, the j mis- diction which that colony had claimed and exercised over Long Island " ceased and became null." Nicolls, on the part of the duke, replied that he would not displace any of
• Col. Doc, ii., 406, 411-414 ; Gen. Ent., i., 15-20 ; Alb. Kec, xviii., 319, 320; xxii., GIT ; Col MSS., X. (iil.), 313; xv., 144; Hazard's Reg. Penn., iv., 41, 42; Val. Man., ISGO, 592; Smith, i., 20-26 ; B.incroft, il , 314; O'Call., ii, 526 ; an«c, vol. i., 72S, 740.
t Gen. EDt.,i.,ai,22, 27, 28; Smith, i., 27 ; .S. Smith, 40 ; Hazard, l;eg. Penn., iv., 4^4 .
NEW AMSTERDAM BELEAGUERED BY THE ENGLISH. 33
the civil officers appointed by Connecticut, but would con- cqap. i. firm tliem to act under him "until a convenient season served to convene deputies fi-om all the towns on the isl- and, when and where laws were to be enacted and civil of- ficers estabhshed." Tliis assurance seemed to explain the vao-ue promise in the proclamation of the commissioners, that all persons submitting to the royal government should eniov " all other privileges with his maiesty's English sub- submission
J J ^ '-' • T -\ • r T oiLonglil-
iects." It was, at all events, considered satistactory. Long and to the
J ' -i-nTi 111'ii Duke of
Island, chiefly inhabited by Englishmen aheady subject to York. the crown, submitted at once to the authority of the Duke of York ; and the volunteer forces from its eastern towns, joined by those of New England, marched fi-om Amers- f oort and Midwout toward Brookl^Ti, to assist in reducing the Dutch capital.*
Observing the approach of the English forces, Stuy^'e- ^sAugust. sant m'ote once more to Nicolls, that although by his or- Ituyv'e'l"'' ders he was " obliged to defend our place," yet, to prevent l^J"^^ the shedding of innocent blood, he proposed that commis- 1"^^^°- sioners should be appointed on both sides to treat about " a good accommodation," and that in the mean time all hos- tilities should cease. The Enghsh commander replied fi-om Gravesend that he would willingly appoint commissioners 25 August. " to treat upon articles of surrender." At the desire of * '^'p"^"^'. Stuyvesant's delegates, orders were given to Commodore Hyde not to fire first on the city. But Kicolls refused their request that the troops should not be brought nearer. "To-day I shall arrive at the ferr}^," he added: "to-mor- row we can agree with one another." f
The regular soldiers, consisting of thi-ee full companies, eager for booty, were then landed at Gravesend, whence they marched up to the ferry at Brooklyn, where the auxil- tij^ Kn-^^^ iaries from Long Island and New England were abeady sta- at Brook-' tioned. Two of the ships moved up near Nooten, or Gov- ^°' ernor's Island. The other two frigates came on with full sail, and ffuns ready to open broadsides, and, passing in fi'ont Ke^ a™.
t I'TT^iTT ^Tr J. 1 sterdambe-
of Fort Amsterdam, anchored m the East Kiver. VV atcli- leaguered. ing them from the parapet as they sailed along, Stuy\-esant
* Deeds, ii., 43, 44 ; Wood, 2T, 2S, 87, 1T3, ITT; Thompson, i , 126, 127; ii., 323, 323 ; Col. Doc, ii., 407, 408, 414, 445, 501 ; Col Rec. Conn., i. 424, 42T, 429 ; ante, vol. i., T38, T34.
t Gen. Ent., 1, 13, 14, 15; Alb. Kec, xviii., 321 ; Col. MSS., xv., 144; Col. Doc, ii., 414; Hazard, Reg. Pena., iv., 31 ; Smith, i., 27 ; S. £mitl), 41, 42 ; ante, vol 1., 740.
II.-C
1664,
34 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. wRS about to Order his gunner to lire, when the two Domines Megapolensis led him away between them, imploring him not to begin hostilities. Leaving fifty men in the fort-, under the command of Fiscal de Sille, the director, at the head of one hundred of the garrison, marched into the city, in or- der to prevent the English from landing " here and there."* Panic in By this time the Dutch regular soldiers themselves had tropX. become more disposed to plunder than to defend. They openly talked of " where booty is to be got, and where the young women live who wear chains of gold." Warnings had come from Long Island that the New England auxil- iaries of Nicolls declared " that their business was not only with New Netherland, but with the booty and plunder, and for these they were called out and enrolled." The " curs- ing and talking" of these Eastern adventurers forced the citizens of New Amsterdam to look upon them as their " deadly enemies, who expected nothing else than pillage, plunder, and bloodshed." The whole population on Man- hattan Island was about fifteen hundred, of whom only two hundred and fifty were able to bear arms. Opposed to these were more than a thousand effective soldiers and sailors in the English squadron, besides the re-enforcements from New England and Long Island. Moreover, it was understood that six hundred Northern savages and one hundred and fifty French rovers, with English commissions, had offered their services against the Dutch. Seeing them- selves thus " encircled round about," with no means of de- liverance, and considering " the notorious and palpable im- possibility of being able to defend and hold the place," the city authorities, clergy, and oflficers of the burgher guard, 5 septemT ^^ ^lic suggestiou of the elder Domine Megapolensis, adopt- ijeuion- ed a remonstrance to the director and his council, implor- sufyve- ** ing them to accept the conditions offered by the English commander. His threats, it stated, " would not have been at all regarded, could your honors, or we, your petitioners, expect the smallest aid or succour. But God help us ! whether we turn for assistance to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it is all in vain." Ninety- three of the principal citizens, including all the municipal
« Col. Doc, ii., 414, 422,444, 445, 501, 502, 5 3, 5f)8, 509; Val. Man., ISGO, 592; Drisius to ClaBsls of Amsterdam, 15 Sept., 1064; ante, vol. i., 740.
eant.
STUYVESANT AGREES TO SURRENDER. 35
officers, and Stiiy vesant's eldest son, signed the paper. The cuap. i. threatening answer of JSTicoUs to the Dutch commissioners had meanwhile been spread among the people, and many -'^""*- of them, with their ^ves and children crying and prapng, besought the director to parley. To all their supplications he sturdily repHed, " I had much rather be carried out dead !" But now he was obliged to yield to inevitable ne- stuyvesant cessity, and prevent the mischiefs about to overtake, " evi- ^*^ dently and assuredly, the honest inhabitants."*
The lesson in Saint Luke's Gospel taught Stuyvesant how vain it was, with ten thousand men, to resist him that came with twenty thousand. Tet there was one balm for the director's wounded spirit. NicoUs had voluntarily pro- posed "to redeliver the fort and city of Amsterdam, in New Netherland, in case the difference of the limits of this prov- ince be agreed upon betwixt His Majesty of England and the High and Mighty States General." A full power to agree upon articles with the English commander or his 26 August., deputies was accordingly given by the Dutch director and ^ septem. his council to Counselor John De Decker, Commissary Dutch Nicholas Varlett, and Doctor Samuel Megapolensis, repre- sionera ap- senting the pro\"incial government, and Burgomaster Cor- ^™ ^ ' nehs Steenwyck, old burgomaster Oloff Stevensen van Cortlandt, and old schepen James Cousseau, representing the city. Nicolls was now encamped at the Brooklyn fer- ry, " before the Manhatans," with the royal " beleaguering" forces. On his part, he promptly named liis two col- leagues. Sir Robert Carr and Colonel George Cartwi'ight, English with John Winthrop and Samuel Willys of Coimecticut, liolTn' and Thomas Clarke and John Pynchon of Massachusetts, °^™^*^- as his commissioners. " The reason why those of Boston and Connecticut were joined in the treaty," NicoUs after- ward explained to Arhngton, " was because those two col- onies should hold themselves the more engaged with us if the Dutch had been over-confident of their strength."!
The next morning, which was Saturday, the plenipoten- "^ '^°""''^-
0 Septem.
* Alb. Rec, xviii., 320, 321 ; Col. MSB., xv., 144 ; Col. Doc, ii., 248-250, 369, 423, 444, 446, 4T6, 503 ; Driaius's Letter ; Val. Man. , 1S60, .592, 593 ; ante, vol. i. , 741.
t Col. Doc, ii., 414, 440; iii., 103 ; Gen. Ent., i., 30-33 ; Alb. Rec, xviii., 323, 323; Col. MSS., XV., 144, 145; H.izartl'3 Ann. Penn., iv., 44; O'Call., ii., 531 ; Saint Luke's Gospel, xiv., 31 ; ante, vol. i., 741, 742. Smith, i., 27, inaccurately says that Stuyvesant agreed to surrender "on condition the English and Dutch limits in America were settled by the crown and the States General."
36 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
cuAP.i. tiaries ou both sides met by agreement at Stup'esant's " Bouweiy," or farm. Their only dispute was about the • Dutch garrison, whom, as the English refused to do it, the city deputies agreed to convey back to Holland. The proc- Artidesof lamatiou of the royal commissioners and the reiterated tfon agreed promiscs of Mcolls formed the basis of the twenty - four "^°°* articles of capitulation. These declared all the inhabitants of ISTew I^etherland to be " free denizens," and secm-ed to them their property. Any persons might come from Hol- land "and plant in this country," while Dutch vessels might "freely come hither, and any of the Dutch may freely retm-n home, or send any sort of merchandise home, in vessels of their own country," For the next six months, intercom*se with Holland was to continue as before the coming of the English. The Dutch inhabitants were to " enjoy the liberty of their consciences in divine worship and Chm-ch discipline," as well as " their own customs con- cerning their inheritances." All public buildings were to continue in their existing uses, and all public records to be respected. All inferior civil officers were to remain as they were until the customary time for new elections ; and the town of Manhattan might choose deputies ^vith " fi-ee voices in all public affairs." Owners of houses in Fort Orange were to enjoy their property " as all people do where there is no fort." The articles of capitulation were to be con- sented to by Nicolls, and delivered to Stuyvesant, together with copies of the king's patent and the Duke of York's commission, by eight o'clock the next Monday morning, " at the old mill,"* Witliin two hours afterward, the fort and town " called New Amsterdam, upon the isle of Man- hattoes," were to be surrendered, and the military officers and soldiers to " march out with their arms, drmns beating and colors flying, and lighted matches."t 2s August. These very advantageous and conciliatory terms were 7 septem. ' explained to the burgher authorities at the City Hall on
" This "old mill," which wna the nenrest point on Manhattan to " the ferry" iit Brooltlyn, w.is on the shore of the East River, near what is now the foot of Roosevelt Street, but then at the outlet of a brook running out of the "Kolck," afterward vulgarly called "the Col- lect:" see Valentine's Manual, 1S53, 551, and 1SC3, C'21, and the maps appended; ante, vol. i., p. 1G7, note. We owe the recovery of these maps to the research and care of George II. Moore, the present librarian of the New York Historical Society.
t Gen. Ent., i., 23-26, 33 ; Col. Doc, ii., 250-253, 414 ; Smith, i., 27-32 ; S. Smith, 43^0 ; Hazard's Keg. Penn., iv., 43 ; HoU. Merc, 1G64, 15-3, 154; Alb. Rec, xviii., 325 ; Col. MSS., XV., 145; Chalmers's Ann., i., 574; 0'Call.,i., 532-535; ftJi^e, vol. i., 742, 762.
THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF NEW NETHERLAND. 37
Sunday afternoon, " after the second sermon." It was the chap. i. last religions service that was expected to be celebrated ~~Z under the Dutch flag in Kieft's old church in Fort Amster- ^^^^^ ^^_ dam. The next morning Stuyvesant and his council, hav- ^^e'°eo \e ing ratified the articles of capitulation, exchanged them with NicoUs, who, on his part, dehvered the stipulated doc- 29 August. uments ; and thereupon New Amsterdam was surrendered, AnideT' and " the Enghsh, without any contest or claim being be- ^fg^^^^j. fore put forth by any person to it, took possession of a fort g[f/j!^g^™gr- built and continually garrisoned about forty years at the ^^^ expense of the West India Company."*
The story of the reduction of Long Island and New Amsterdam has now been minutely told : the unexpected blockade of the port by the English ; the overwhelming force of the invaders ; the weakness of Fort Amsterdam and its garrison ; the almost solitary heroism and loyalty of Stuyvesant ; the natural resentment of the city burghers against the authorities in Holland, who had left them un- protected against surprise ; their common prudence, which preferred the easy terms offered by the English command- er to the consequences of an unavailing resistance and a capture by storm ; their reasonable dread of being plun- dered by the English colonial volunteers from the east; the inevitable capitulation of the metropolis, and the con- sequent surrender of the whole Dutch province. There was, indeed — as Stuyvesant reluctantly confessed — "■ an ab- The Dutch solute impossibility of defending the fort, much less the defense- city of New Amsterdam, and still less the country."f
On the part of England this conquest of New Nether- land was an act of peculiar national baseness. It was a scandalous outrage. It was planned in secret, and was ac- Tiie con-
, quest a
complished with deliberate deceit toward a friendly gov- scandalous ernment. None but Englishmen had the impudence to do °" '^^°' so vile a wrong. Its true motive was carefully concealed
• Col. Doc, ii , 414, 415; Alb. Eec, xviii., 323, 324, 326 ; Col. MSS., xv., 145; Gen. Ent., i., 31, 32 ; avte, vol. i., 763. Smith, i., 32, errs in stating that Stuyvesant refused, for two days, to ratify the articles, because they were "very disagreeable" to liira. The true rea- son was that a Sunday intervened, and the articles themselves provided for their due exe- • cution on Monday.
t Col. Doc, ii., 366. Tlie first dispatches which Nicolls sent home, containing an account of his transactions with the New England colonies and the surrender of New Netherland, were lost at s a in the Elias frigate, as will be stated hereafter: see OoU Doc, iii.,C8, 92, 103 ; Pepys, ii., 185 ; post^ p. 50, note.
38 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
cuAP. L in all the diplomatic statements which attempted to justify "777! the deed. The nayis-ation laws of Enojland, which were ■ chiefly meant to cripple the commerce of her great mari- time rival, could not be enforced in America as long as that rival possessed so important a province there. The intensely selfish spirit of those laws eagerly employed the most unjustifiable means to maintain them. Because En- gland coveted New Netherland, and not because she had any rightful claim, she treacherously seized it as a prize. The whole transaction was eminently characteristic of an insolent and overbearing nation. On no other principle than that which frequently afterward governed the preda- tory aggressions of England in India and elsewhere can her conquest of the Dutch province be defended.
Nevertheless, unjustifiable as was the deed, the tempta- tion to commit it 'was irresistible. Its actual execution was The event probably only a question of time. The event itself could uievi a e. ]-^^j.^i-^y havc bccu avoidcd by the Dutch government, unless all their previous policy had been reversed, and the holding of New Netherland at all hazards against any enemies been made an indispensable obligation. But this could not have been expected. Neither the West India Company — now on the brink of banki-uptcy — nor the States General adequate- ly valued their American province. It was not until toward the end of their rule that the importance of New Nether- land and the necessity of securing it seriously engaged the attention of the authorities in Holland. Even then their ap- parent indifference encouraged the mousing designs of En- gland. Charles the Second decreed that the United Neth- erlands should no longer have a foothold in North America. The decree was executed ; and the Dutch province became the easy prey of undeclared enemies, who sneaked, in time of peace, into her chief harbor. New York replaced New Netherland on the map of the world. Although wars in Europe followed, the result in America was the same. Holland retired from the unequal strife, lea\'ing France and Spain to contend for a season with England for ulti- mate supremacy in North America. What En- By the conquest of New Netherland England became ed. the mistress of all the Atlantic coast between Acadia and
Florida. On the north and west her colonies were now
THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OE NEW NETHERLAND. 39
bounded by the French possessions, on the south by those chap. i. of SjDain, on the east by the ocean. Yet, although the British American dominions thus became geographically united, they were neither homogeneous in character nor sympathetic in feeling. The Puritan colonies, while they rejoiced in the subjection of their "noxious neighbors" to the crown of England, had themselves no respect for their own ungodly sovereign. The aid which they had given to the royal commissioners was a fatal political mistake, if any purpose of independence was really cherished. They thus lost the best opportunity they ever had of securing their local governments, because the king was now master of the most advantageous position on the continent, from which he could, if necessary, direct military and naval op- erations for their reduction in case of revolt. Maryland, equally removed from Puritan severity and Cavalier license, was content that its territorial dispute should at all events be adjourned. Virginia, perhaps, felt less interest in the event, although the prompt loyalty of her people, who had hastened to proclaim their restored sovereign, was natural- ly gratified at the extension of his dominion over all the neighboring coast between Cape Henlopen and Montauk Point.
In the progress of years, a common allegiance and com- mon dangers produced greater sympathy among the Anglo- American plantations. JSTevertheless, although incorpora- ted into the British colonial empire, New York never lost Prevaiiins her social and political identity and her salutary moral in- New York. fluence. It was her lot to sustain fiercer trials, and gain a more varied experience, than any other American state. It was equally her destiny to temper the narrow character- istics of her English sister colonies with the larger ideas which slie had herself derived from Holland. Midway be- tween ]^ew England and Virginia, she stood for nearly a century guarding her long frontier against the attacks of Canada ; and at length she became the Prvox Peovestce, on which hinged the most important movements of that sublime revolt against the oppression of England, the only parallel to which was the successful struggle that the fore- fathers of her first settlers maintained against the gigan- tic despotism of Spain.
40 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. I. TliG terms of capitulation offered by Nicolls and accept- ed by Stnyvesant were, perhaps, the most favorable ever Liberal poi- g^^^nted by a conqueror. In theory, the king only resumed Duklof^ his rightful authority over a province which had been in- York. trusively occupied and improved by the Dutch. Once re- duced under his own proprietary rule, the Duke of York hoped that it would become not only profitable to himself, but a valuable accession to the colonial dominions of the crown, to which he was the presumptive heir. His policy, therefore, was to obtain peaceful possession of the territory, and at the same time induce its Dutch inhabitants to re- main there and become loyal English subjects. Indeed, the duke's patent authorized him to govern British subjects only. The most liberal inducements were accordingly of- fered to the people of New i!^etherland, with ostentatious benevolence. On the other hand, the Dutch colonists, cha- grined at the imbecility and seeming indifference of the authorities in the fatherland, and having many causes of complaint against their own provincial government, accept- ed the change of rulers calmly and hopefully, if not with positive satisfaction.
Yet, by becoming British subjects, the Dutch inhabitants The people of E"ew Nctlierland did not gain politi(;al freedom. Fresh fngby the uamcs and laws, they found, did not secure fresh liberties. ^ ■"°°' Amsterdam was changed to York, and Orange to Albany. But these changes only commemorated the titles of a con- queror. It was nearly twenty years before that conqueror allowed for a brief period to the people of ISTew York even that faint degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the three-colored ensign of Hol- land was hauled down from the flag-staff of Fort Amster- dam. New Netherland exchanged Stnyvesant, and the "West India Company, and a I'epublican sovereignty, for Nicolls, and a royal proprietor, and a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament ; nor could the voice of its people reach the chapel of Saint Stephen at Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof at tlie Hao-ue.
Nevertheless, to all the changes which befell them, the
Loyalty of Dutcli colouists of Ncw York submitted with cliaracteristic
' good faith. No more loyal subjects than they were ever
THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF NEW NETHEliLAND. 4^
brouglit under the British crown. Yet it was not pleasant cuap. i. for them to watch the red cross of England waving where the emblems of the Netherlands had floated for fifty years. To Holland they felt a deep, nnalterable, hereditary attach- ment. Nor have the yicissitndes of time extinguished that sentiment in their descendants. Two centuries have scarce- ly weakened the Teneration which citizens of New York of Dutch lineage proudly cherish toward the fatherland of their ancestors. Year by year the glorious and the genial memories of Holland are renewed by those whom long generations have separated from the country of their fore- fathers. But colonists usually retain more affection to- ward their fatherland than those who remain at home ever feel toward the emigrants who leave its shores. As years roll on, the contrast becomes more marked. Two centu- Holland ries have almost wiped out of the recollection of Holland -sll^ ^ the once familiar name of New Netherland. A few of the Ztd^^' more curious of her scholars and her statesmen may some- times, by careful search, discover the meagre paragraphs in which her ponderous histories dismiss the &torj of her an- cient trans- Atlantic province. But the people of the Low Countries scarcely know that New York was once their own New Netherland, or that they* have any right to the glory of lla^ing laid the foundations of the mightiest state in the American Union, and the metropolis of the Western World.
42 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER II.
1664-1665.
cuAP. II. On Monday morning, the twenty-nintli of August, six- ;; ~" teen hundred and sixty-four, Peter Stuyvesant, having per- 29 A^igust foi'ii'^sd his last official act as Director General of New s septem. jN^etlierlajid by ratifying the articles of capitulation, placed The Dutch himself at the head of his garrison, and marched out of of Fort Fort Amsterdam with arms fixed, colors flying, drums dam. " beating, and matches lighted. Wheeling to the left, the veteran led his sullen troops down the Beaver Street to the North River. From there they were hurried on board the "West India Company's ship Gideon, which v/as preparing to sail for Holland. This was so arranged because the Dutch soldiers were enraged at not being allowed to strike a bloAV, and the British infantry were prudently kept out of sight until they were safely embarked. In the mean time the English regulars had taken post near the old mill. The Long Island and Noav England auxiliaries, by previous agreement between Stuyvesant and Nicolls, were kept to- gether on the Brooklyn side of the river, and were not al- lowed to enter the city, because the burghers " were more apprehensive of being plundered by them than by the oth- ers." As the Dutch garrison marched out, the ensign of the United ProATinces was hauled down, and an English The En- coi'poral's guard took possession of the fort and hoisted the houted?^ British flag, which NicoUs liad borrowed from the frigate Guinea. Leaving Colonel Cartwright with his company, which was stationed at the ferry, to occupy the city gates and the City Hall, Nicolls advanced at the head of his own and Sir Robert Carr's companies, and, accompanied by the burgomasters, marched into the fort. After being formal- ly inducted by the civic authorities, wlio " gave him a wel- come reception," the Englisli governor performed his first
EICHAKD NICOLLS, GOVEENOR. 43
official act by directing that the citj of New Amsterdam chap. ii. should thenceforth be called " New York," and Fort Am- sterdam " Fort James."* ^g^ York
The surrender being thus accomplished without blood- j"^^"""' shed, NicoUs at once dismissed the Long Island and New named. England volunteers. The Massachusetts delegates were sent back, with the thanks of the royal commissioners to 29 August. her General Court. The governor also addressed a letter and°and' to Captain John Younge, of Southold, who commanded gw vJi- the Long Island militia, desiring him to make out a listdSmiKcd. of those who had taken up arms " for their king and coun- try," so that they might be suitably rewarded, and promis- ing that deputies from the several towns should, " in con- venient time and place, be summoned, to propose and give their advice in all matters tending to the peace and benefit of Long Island."t
The new provincial government was now organized. The governor's subordinate. Captain Matthias NicoUs, of Nicoiia'a Ishp, in Northamptonshire, who had accompanied him emmeat' fi'om England, and was a lawyer, was appointed secretary of the province. Captains Robert Needham and Thomas Delavall, also from England, together with Secretary NicoUs, Thomas Topping, of Southampton, and William Wells, of Southold, were named counseloi'S. On extraor- dinary occasions, Stuyvesant's late secretary, Cornehs van Euys'en, and Schepen Johannes van Brugh, were some- times called on to assist. Delavall was also appointed col- lector and receiver general of New York and its neighbor- hood.:}:
The Dutch municipal officers were continued in their places by virtue of the articles of capitulation. The day after the sm'render, the Court of Burgomasters and Sche- pens of the city of New York assembled to transact their 3q August. ordinary business, and proceeded to administer justice as if ^ ^^p^^'"*-
* Alb. Rec.jXvjii., 32G; Col. MSS., xr., 145; Gen. Ent.,i., 32, 55; Hazard's Reg. PeuD., iv., 50; NewAmst. Eec, v., 50T-5TO; Val. Man., 18G0, 592, 593; Col. Doc, ii., 250-253, 41.5, 422, 440, 44.5, 440, 501, 502, 509, 7^ ; Bushwick Eec. ; Thompson, ii., 1G5; (uitc, vol. i., 742, 743, 7G3. As the old style was used in England, it was now introduced into New York. I shall therefore follow that supputation, adding, whenever necessary, the corresponding date in the new style in a line under the old. The historical, and not the English legal year, will, however, be used between 1 January and 25 March.
t Gen. Ent.,i.,29, 30; Thompson, i., 127; Smith, i.,S2,
t Patents, i., 3; Deeds, ii,. 24; S. Wood,144; Thompson, ii., 390; Val. Man., 1847, 351, 360; 1S52, SSI; 1853, 3S0, 3S3.
44 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. II. nothiiig uiiusual had occurred. A few days afterward they wrote to the West India Company, by the ship Gid- -fi-se tem ^°^^' "^^^^^ch, with a pass from Nicolls, took home the late tjityoffi- sjarrison, under the command of Ensign Nyssen, describ- ued. ing the surrender, and adding that, " since we have no lon- ger to depend upon your honor's promises or protection, we, with all the poor, sorrowing, and abandoned commonalty here, must fly for refuge to the Almighty God, not doubt- ing but He will stand by us in this sorely afflicting con- juncture." By the same vessel Stuyvesant and his late coun- f^ septem. cil also scut the company an official account of the capitu- liouand. lation, and declared " that they would prefer to suffer ship- wreck in the empty praise and esteem of the world, than, waiting to the last moment without hope of relief, subject every thing to bloodshed, or at least to the danger of being jDlundered."* Domine Samuel Drisius, one of the coUegi- 15 Septem. ate ministers of the Dutch Church, also wrote an interest- ing letter to the Classis of Amsterdam, detailing the circum- stances of the surrender, f
For the first time, the Enghsh Episcopal service was English now celebrated in ISTew York. The articles of capitula- wmrer/ tioii oxprcssly declared that all public buildings should eemce. continue in their previous uses, and that the Dutch should enjoy their accustomed divine worship and church disci- 11 October, phue. Pro\asion was accordingly made by the burgomas- ters and schepens for the due support of the Domines Megapolensis and Drisius, until the governor should make farther arrangements. The chaplain of the English forces had, however, no proper place in which to celebrate divine service, except in the Dutch Church in the fort. It was very cordially arranged that after the Dutch had ended their own morning worship in their church, the British chaplain should read the Church of England service there to the governor and the garrison. This Avas all the footing that the English Episcopal Church had in New York for more than thirty years.:]:
* Gen. Ent., i., 34, 35, 141 ; New Amst. Eec, v., 555, E60-5T0 ; Val. Man., 1S60, 592, 5D3 ; Col. Doc , ii, 422, 504, 744; Mass. Hist. Soc , Tnimbull Tap., xx., 73 ; Col. MSS., x. (iii), 323.
t A translation of this letter, which pves several details heretofore unknown, was pnh- li^hed for the first time in the Appendix to Brodhead's Oration on the Conquest of New Netherland, delivered before the New York Historical Society on 12 Oclober, 1SG4.
X Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 265; Col. Doc, iil, 262, 415; iv., 325, 526 ; New Amst. Eec, v., 539; Hist. Mag., \. (U.), 322; Benson's Mem.,ii. N. Y. II. S. Col], (ii.), 103; Humphreys's
EICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOE. 45
Meanwhile, Fort Orange and Esopus, altliougli included chap. ii. in the capitulation, remained to be reduced under the duke's authority. Accordingly, as soon as the Gideon had 9 ggpte^ sailed for Holland with the Dutch garrison, and the safety of the capital was thus assin*ed, Ils^icoUs commissioned his colleague. Colonel Cartwright, to go up the river with his ^|Septem. company and occupy those places. The authorities and to Foit inhabitants of Fort Orange were required to aid him in "^^"^"^ obtaining quiet possession, and to obey him according to the governor's instructions, especially "in case the Mo- hawks or other Indians shall attempt any thing against the lives, goods, or chattels of those who are now imder the protection of his majesty of Great Britain." Yan Kensse- laer was also directed to bring the title j^apers respecting Kensselaerswyck down to New York for the governor's in- spection, and, in the mean time, to obey Cartwright's or- ders. In order to secure the transfer to the English of the fi'iendship which the Iroquois had cherished toward the Dutch, Nicolls requested some persons who had experience in dealing with the savages to accompany the military offi- cers of the expedition. One of these was "Willett, of Plym- outh, and the other was Captain Thomas Breedon, of Bos- ton, formerly governor of Nova Scotia, who had visited Fort Orange in 1662. Cartwi'ight's cliief mihtary subor- dinates were Captain John Manning and Captain Daniel Brodhead. Manning seems to have formerly commanded a trading vessel between New Haven and Manhattan, but was now in the regular service. Brodhead was a zealous Koyalist, of Yorkshire, England, where his family had lived " in the credit and reputation of gentlemen," and who, hav- ing a captain's commission from the king, embarked with liis household for America in the expedition of NicoUs.*
When Cart^vi-ight reached Fort Orange, he found that septemter. De Decker, one of Stuyvesant's late plenipotentiaries at the capitulation, had hurried up thither from New York,
Hist. Ace. 201 ; Thompson, ii., 205; Christian Journal, quoted in Dr. Benian's sketch of Trinity Church, 11. The names of the earliest chaplains of the English forces in New York are not knonn. The fir.^t that has come down to us is that of the Rev. Charles Wolley, a graduate of Cambridge, who officiated from Aug., 16TS, to July, IGSO: Hist. Mag , v., 153, ISO. * Gen. Ent.,i., 34, 35, Ul; Kenss. JISS. ; Col. Doc, i., 490; ii., 422, 502; iii., 80-41, 65, S^, 140, 270; ix.,75; Munsell's Ann., vii., 07; Morton's Mem , 311, no(e ; Hutch. Mass., i., 2l.\ 220, 224, 225; Mass. Kec, iv. (ii), 69, 75; Hazard, ii., 432, 463; Palfrey, i., 163; ii., 405, 525, 575; New Haven Rec, ii., 6S-75; Josselyn's Voyages, 153; ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll , i., 334; (1869), IG, 37, 57, 337, ante, vol. i, 519, 525, 579, 5S5, 704, 730, 743.
46 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. II. aiid was endeavoring " to alienate tlie minds of his majes-
ties' Dutch subjects from that happy reconcilement with-
Fortor ^^^^ bloodshcd upon articles so lately made." But the
ange sub- counsclor's efforts were vain. La Montas-ne and the masr-
mits. ... . -r •
istrates had no disposition to resist. Little change was made except in the name of the place, which was thence- Named ai- forth to be called "Albany," after the Scotch title of the ^^°^' Duke of York. All the inferior officers and civil magis- trates were continued in their places. An English garri- Manning son occupiod the little fortress, which was named " Fort com an - j^^^^^jV ^^^ placcd iu chargo of Captain Manning. Soon eptem. j^fj.gj.^g^j.j^ several Mohawk and Seneca sachems appeared First En- at the fort, and signed with Cartwright the first treaty be- with the**^ tween the Iroquois and the English. It was covenanted Iroquois, ^j^^^ ^-^^ Indians should have all the commodities from the English which they formerly had from the Dutch; that offenses should be reciprocally punished ; and that the Riv- er Indians, and those below Manhattan, should be included 25 septem. in the treaty. The next day it was farther agreed that the English should not assist the hostile Eastern tribes, that they should make peace for the Iroquois with the nations down the river, that the Iroquois should have free trade, and " be lodged in houses" as formerly, and that, if they should be beaten by the Eastern tribes, they should " re- ceive accommodation" from the English. The friendship thus established continued to be maintained with remark- able fidelity on both sides for more than a century, until the American Revolutionary War.
On his return from Albany Cartwright landed at Eso- pus. As at Albany, care was taken to conciliate the in- habitants. William Beekman was retained in his place as schout, or sheriff, while Thomas Chambers remained com- missary, and Matthys Capito secretary of the village of urodhead Wildwyck. A 2:arrison of regular soldiers occupied the
ID com- 1- o cj 1
mand at foi't, uudcr the command of Captain Brodhead. The only
Esopus. .. -I • ^ /-^ ' 1 • T -< • 1 '
opposition which Cartwright experienced during his expe- dition was from De Decker, at Albany ; and Nicolls, on
30 Septem. learning his conduct, ordered the too patriotic Hollander to leave the government within ten days. The deputies who
10 October, accompanied Cartwright from Albany agreed to written articles with JSTicolls that the inhabitants there " should en-
EICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 47
joy all the articles of surrender" made at New York, and cnAP.ii. that former local arrangements were generally to remain ~
in force. Jeremias van Rensselaer was also confirmed in jg October, his authority, on condition that a new patent should be ob- ^y"^^^^''^''" tained from the duke, and the inhabitants of Eensselaer- wyck should take the oath of allegiance.*
By the articles of capitulation, the Dutch, who were three fourths of the inhabitants, were at liberty to sell their lands, and remove with their families and personal effects t*o Holland. But NicoUs, fi'om the first, had been anxious to retain them all in their present homes, and in- duce them to become British subjects. He therefore went to the meeting of the metropolitan burgomasters and sche- u October, pens, and having sent for Stuyvesant, Van Euyven, and the Dutch ministers, invited them to take an oath to be oath of ai- true subjects of the King of Great Britain, and to obey all required. commands from his majesty, the Duke of Tork, or his gov- ernors and ofiicers, while they lived in any of his majesty's territories. This obligation did not involve any permanent renunciation of allegiance to the Dutch government. Nev- ertheless, great reluctance to take it was shown, as the ar- ticles of surrender, while they declared that " all people shall still continue free denizens," did not provide for their swearing to a new allegiance. After much debate, "all the meeting roundly declared" that they could not take such an oath unless the governor should add to it " con- formable to the articles concluded on the sm-render of this place." Their reason for insisting was that otherwise they might " nullify or render void the articles." Domine Mega- polensis and Secretary Yan Euyven, however, " saw no im- pediment" to taking the proposed oath.
A few days afterward the burgomasters called upon is October. NicoUs, with whom, in the presence of Cartwright and Willett, the matter of swearing was again discussed. To put an end to the "false and injurious aspersion" regarding it by which the minds of the inhabitants were by this time distracted, Nicolls declared in writing " that the articles of surrender are not in the least broken, or intended to be bro- ken, by any words or expressions in the said oath." This 20 October.
• Gen. Ent, 1, 36-50 ; Col. Doc, iii., 67, 6S, P4 ; Colden (ed. 1755), i., 34 ; Smith, i., 33 ; ii. N". Y. H. S. Coll., i., 384; Slunsell, vii., 97, 98 ; Val. Man., 1847, p. 370 ; Esopiis Records ; O'CaU., ii., 305, 431, 552 ; ante, vol. i., 714, 72D, 732, 744, T61.
48 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. II. answer satisfied all. Tonneman, the schout, altliough in- tending to return to Holland in the next ship, did not re-
21 October ^^^^® ^^ ^^^^® ^^® obligatioii. Ill the course of the next five 26 October ^^J^' upward of two hundred and fifty of the Dutch iiiliab- AUegiance itauts, includiiiar Stuyvesant, Yan Ruvven, the Domines
Bwoin by ' '-' "^ " '
the Dutch. Megapolensis and Drisius, Beekman, Yan Kensselaer, and others from New York, Esopus, and Albany, swore allegi- ance to Charles the Second and the Duke of York.*
The governor's statesmanship was quickly vindicated. The " Yroedschap," or great council of the city, having been
22 Novem. called togctlicr to elect a successor to Tonneman, chose Al- 12 Decern, lard Aiitlioiiy ; and NicoUs, confirming their choice, gave
the new sheriff a commission and instructions for liis guid- ance. As the soldiers had already become unruly, NicoUs
21 Novem. appointed Anthony Wharton to be provost-marshal, to keep
them fi-om interfering with the citizens, and to punish of-
22 Novem. f eudei's. Tlic city authorities testified their good will in a city'a let- letter to the Duke of York, drawn up by Burgomaster Duke of Steenwyck, praising Nicolls as a " gentle, wise, and intelli- gent" governor, under whose wings they hoped to " bloom and grow like the cedar on Lebanon." To this end they prayed that the city of ISTew York might have the same commercial privileges as the king's subjects in England, or even be as free from burdens as Boston ; in which case, in a few years, the duke would derive great revenues from a province which would be " then peopled with thousands of families, and having great trade by sea with ISTew En- gland, and other places in Europe, Africa, and America."t
Thus was an imperial territory added to the dominions of England. Specific names were now given to the acqui- sition, so as to " comprehend all the titles" of the Duke of Yorkshire York. The province itself was called " New York." Long nndAiba. ^^^^^^^ ^^^^g designated as " Yorksliire." The region be- tween the Hudson and the Delaware, of which httle was known beyond the few hamlets near Manhattan, was named " Albania."
Of all the territory of New York, Albania offered the greatest attractions to emigrants. It was considered the
• Gen. Eiit., i., 4% 50; New Amsterdam Pef., v., G14-G1S; Val. Man., 1S61, GOS-GOT ; Col. Doc, ill., 74-T7 ; II. B. Dawson's " Sons of I.iljerty in \cw York," 14-lG
t New Amat. Rec, v., G43-Gi6 ; Patents, 1 , 161-1&5; Val. -Man., ISGI, GOT, G08; Valen- tine's City of New York, 161-163.
ma.
RICHAKD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 49
most " improveable part" of the province "in respect not chap.il only to tlie quantity of the land, but to the sea-coast and ~~ Delaware River, the fertility of the soil, the neighborhood "
to Hudson's Eiver, and, lastly, the fair hopes of rich mines." Communipaw, Bergen, and Staten Island, already settled settle- by the Dutch, were now to gain new neighbors. John Albania. Bailey, Daniel Denton, and others, of Jamaica, on Long Isl- and, asked leave to buy and settle a tract of land on the 26 Sept. After Cull River,* which they had formerly intended to do, but had been " obstructed by the then ruling Dutch." McoUs, wishing to give the Long Island people some " re- ward for their fidelity" previous to the surrender, cheer- fully assented, and promised the petitioners " all due en- so Sept. couragement in so good a work." Bailey and Denton, with their associates, soon bought from the savages the 28 October. land between the jRaritan River and Newark Bay, which had been purchased thirteen years before by Augustine ^^ Heermans. The English pm'chase, however, was confirmed 2 Dec. • ' by NicoUs to Captain John Baker and John Ogden, who had bought out Denton's interest, and to Bailey and their associates, upon condition of their "doing and performing / ■, such acts and things as shall be appointed by his royal highness the Duke of York or his deputy." Before long, , ' / four famihes from Jamaica began the settlement of what , was soon afterward known as Elizabethtown.f
The mihtary and naval ofiScers who accompanied McoUs from England also became large landliolders. Captain ; James BoUen, the commissary of ammunition at Fort Grants of James, and others, received a grant on Staten Island. A 24 Dec. tract at Hackensack was granted to Captain Edward Grove, 3 October. of the Martin. To Captain William Hill, Lieutenant Hmn- y^^ \ phrey Fox, and Master Coleman, of the Elias, were sever- ''\'' ally allotted parcels of land on Staten Island. The naval grantees, however, had scarcely time to take possession of their domains ; for their ships, being no longer required for ., „ service at New York, were sent back to England with dis- •''"[
* This was an English corruption of the Dutch name " Achter Cul" (now called Newark Bay), which was given because it was achter^ or " behind" the bay of New York. The pas- sage leading to this cul was called the "Kil van Cul," and is now known as " the Kills." See ante, vol. i, 313, note.
t Col. Doc, iii., 105; Chalmers, i., 615, 624, 655; Patents, i., 20; Elizabethtown Bill in Chanceiy (174T), 25-28 ; Learning and Spicer, 66S-6T3 ; Smith's N. Jersey, 62 ; Gordon, 27 ; Whitehead's E. J., 1!), 36-39 ; Index N. J. Col. Doc, 4T ; Thompson's L. I., ii., 103 ; Den- ton's N. Y., 13, 15 : ante., vol. :., 53T, 707, 70S, 724.
IL— D
uave torv.
50 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. II. patcliGS fi'oni NicoUs amiouiicing the success of the expe- dition, and the establishment of the duke's government in ^^^^- what was lately I^ew ^N'etherland.*
An important question had been meanwhile presented for the action of the royal commissioners. The Duke of ^* Ten-i- York's patent included only the territory lying east of the Delaware, and the authority of Mcolls as governor extend- ed no farther. Yet the commissioners were instructed by the king to reduce to his obedience the Dutch wherever seated within his claimed dominions in IsTorth America. Nicolls soon learned that the Maryland people were " in some sort overawed" by the city of Amsterdam, to which the Delaware settlements belonged, and that, unless those possessions were acquired, the gaining of New York would be " of small advantage to his majesty." Without regard- ing Lord Baltimore's pretensions, the commissionei*s de- termined " to reduce the Delaware, thereby to assure this place for liis royal liighness." ... . Five days after the capitulation of Is^ew Amsterdam,
... NicoUs, with Cartwi'ight and Maverick, accordingly com- ^-j-s&j)t. missioned their colleague. Sir Robert Carr, to go with the tQ^^v^^°° Gruinea, Captain Hyde, and the William and Nicholas, Cap- ori^th "cei- *^i^^ Morley, and " all the soldiers which are not in the fort," astixic. ajj(j reduce the Delaware settlements. Carr was instructed to promise the Dutch the possession of all their property and all their present privileges, " only that they change their masters." To the Swedes he was to " remonstrate their happy return under a monarchical government, and his majesty's good inclination to that nation." To Lord Baltimore's officers in Maryland he was to declare that ^ their proprietor's pretended right to the Delaware being "a doubtful case," possession would be kept for the king " till his majesty is informed and satisfied otherwise."t Carr's expedition sailed fi'om New York just before Cart-
* Patents, i., 5, 7-9, 22 ; Col. Doc, ii., 470 ; iii,, GS, 02, 103. The Eliiis was wrecked near the Lizard, and all the letters in her sent by NicolU wore lost. For this reason, among others, th3 early records rchiting to New York in the State Paper Office are so defective. Captain Hill and a few men were saved. Hill afterward obtained another ship, was at the battle of Lowostoffa the next June, then at Barbadoes, and in the autumn of 1CG7 returned to Englaud from France, where he had been a prisoner. Captain Grove arrived safely with the .Martin, and behaved like a cowsird at Lowestoffe. He was "•reckoned a prating cox- comb and nf no courage," and was certainly an adept in the business of bribing for office : Pcpys, i., 401, 402 : iii., 294 ; Mass. II. S. Coll., xxxvii., 190.
t Gen. Knt, i., 53, 53, 59 ; Hazard's Reg. Penn., 36, 37 ; Col. Doc, ii., 296 ; iii., 52, 57, 63, G9,70; Col. MSS.,.xx.,l.
' RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 51
Wright's went up to Fort Orange. After a tedious voyage, chap. u. prolonged by the ignorance of the pilots and the shoaliness of the Delaware, the ships anchored above New Amstel. g^ g^p^ ' The Swedes were soon made fiuends. But the Dutch at lo octobei-. first were obstinate for a defense. After a long parley, Fob Oothout and five others, on behalf of the burghers, signed articles of capitulation as favorable as those which ix o='- had been agreed to by Stuyvesant. But Hinnoyossa, the city's governor, with less than fifty soldiers, resolved to de- fend the fort. The next Sunday morning the ships drop- -^^ oct. ped down, and fired two broadsides each, while a company of°°^e oei- of foot, under the command of Lieutenant John Carr, a son ^^'■^»'°- of Sir Robert, with Ensign Arthur Stock, stormed the works. The Dutch fired three volleys of musketry, but none of their ordnance, on their assailants, who did not lose a man ; while three of the garrison were killed and ten wounded. Carr now landed from the Guinea, and claimed the pillage for himself as " won by the sword." Assuming an author- ity independent of Nicolls, he claimed to be " sole and chief commander and disposer" of all affairs on the Delaware. With quick rapacity, he appropriated Hinnoyossa's farm to Kapacity cf himself, Schout Yan Sweringen's to his son John, and Peter Alricks's to Ensign Stock. To Captains Hyde and Morley he granted a tract of land in the upper part of the river, J-^ Oct called by the Indians " Chipussen," which he erected into a manor by the name of " Grimstead." The Dutch soldiers were sent into Virginia to be sold as slaves. The property of the city of Amsterdam, as well as that of the inliabitants about New Amstel, was remorselessl}^ seized. To complete the work of Carr — in such disgraceful contrast to that of Nicolls at Manliattan — a boat was sent down to the Hoar- kill, where all the city's effects were plundered, and even the inoffensive Mennonists, who formed " the Quaking So- ciety of Plocklioy," were stripped " to a very naile."
The ships were quickly sent back to New York with a M Oct. report from Carr of his proceedings, and of the hostile at- titude of the Susquehanna Indians, who were then at war with the Iroquois Senecas. But Carr himself, instead of returning to assist in executing the royal commission, would not leave the Delaware. His colleagues thought
~ Cn,rr re-
his conduct there presumptuous and disgraceful. Theytuked.
52 HISTOEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YOKK.
caAr. II. peremptorily required him to return to New York ; and Cartwright S,nd Maverick commissioned Mcolls to proceed
24 Oct ^^ Delaware Bay, " there to take special care for the good
a Movem. government of the said place, and to depute such offi- cer or officers therein as he shall think fit, for the man- agement of his majestie's affairs, both civil and military, until his majestie's pleasure be further known." In ^vl'it-
rNwem. ^^S ^0 Secretary Bennet, Nicolls rebuked Carr's conduct, and added that because of his absence, "his majestie's com- mission can not be pursued in the several colonies of New
Nicous'3 England unless I should leave New York, and thereby put
Secretary to hazard the security of all at once, contrary to the opin- ions of Colonel Cartwright, Mr. Maverick, and all the rea- son which God hath given me. For we do concur that we came to serve his majesty and not our own ends." Mcolls farther urged that merchandise for the Indian trade and the necessities of the inhabitants should be promptly sent out. By the loss of the former Dutch trade, thousands in Virginia, Maryland, and New England were deprived of their accustomed necessaries, and would not laiow how to live " without speedy care be taken from England." If Lord Baltimore should solicit the grant of Delaware to himself, the king ought to look upon his patent as forfeit- ed, for trading with the Dutch contrary to the Navigation Act. NicoUs also submitted that if the Dutch should at- tempt to recover either New York or Delaware, the king should " enjoin all his colonies, none excepted, under severe penalties, to resist and expel all such foreigners out of these his majesty's territories." With these dispatches the Guinea
26 Oct. was ordered to follow the Elias and the Martin to England. But her departure was delayed by a mutiny wliich broke out among the soldiers in the garrison of Fort James, and
22 Novem. she did not sail until nearly a month afterward. Captain Harry Norwood, whom Nicolls not long afterward recom- mended as his own successor, returned in her to England. In pursuance of the commission of his two colleagues,
NicoUs Nicolls visited the Delaware, accompanied by Captain Rob-
gosB to the •
Delaware, ert. Nccdham, whom he proposed to leave there as his dep- uty in command. Carr was severely rebuked, and obhged to give up much of his ill-gotten spoil. Nevertheless, he could not be persuaded to leave the place for some time.
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 53
1664.
The name of New Amstel was now changed to New Castle, cuap. ii. and an infantry garrison established there. As Needham's " presence at Fort James, to act as first counselor, was desir- able, Captain John Carr was appointed commander of the Delaware, in subordination to the government of New York, to which it was annexed " as an appendage ;" and thus affairs remained for several years.*
Upon the return of Nicolls to New York, the royal com- missioners proceeded to execute a very delicate duty. The Connecticut Charter of 1662 covered not only the entire territory of New Haven, but also a large part of New Boundaiy Netherland. The Dutch rejected the claims of the Hart- necucut. ford Court, and New Haven stoutly refused to yield to Con- necticut, because her charter had been surreptitiously ob- tained " contrary to righteousness, amity, and peace." The Duke of York's patent, however, not only comprehended Long Island and other neighboring islands, but the whole of New Haven, and the greater part of Connecticut, includ- ing Hartford itself. When this became known, both the wrangling Puritan colonies were seriously troubled at a specimen of majestic usurpation which outdid their own encroachments on the Dutch territory. Yet Connecticut was in no condition to oppose so powerful an antagonist as the presumptive heir to the crown. New Haven was still more helpless. Her only alternative was submission to Connecticut, or annexation to New York. After a sor- rowful debate, her General Court determined to submit to,^}^"si"'-
■ ^ 14 Septem.
Connecticut ; yet final action was postponed until it could no longer be avoided.
In this dilemma it was important to conciliate the royal commissioners. At their first meeting after the surrender of New Netherland, the Connecticut Court voted a present isoctoter. of five hundred bushels of com to NicoUs and his col- leagues. They also appointed Mathew AUyn, Nathan Gold, Agents James Richards, and Captain John Winthrop to go with New York. Governor Winthrop to New York and congratulate the commissioners, "and, if an opportunity offer itself, that they can issue the bounds between the duke's patent and
* Gen. Eut, i., 53, 55, 56, 5T, 60, 61, 62, 67 ; Coll. MSS., xx., 1 ; Col. Doc, ii., 369, 411, 421, 434, 438 ; iii., 68-74, 83, 103, 104, 109, 113, 115, 345, 346 ; Mass. II. S. Coll., xxxvii., 309-311 ; Chalmers, i., 634 ; Hazard's Reg. Penn., i., 37; iv., 56 ; Ann. Penn., 355-369 ; S. Smith's N. J., 40-50 ; Proud, i., 122-124 ; N. Y. H. S. Coll. (1869), SI ; antc^ vol. i., 717, 744.
54 HISTOEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1664.
Chap. II. oui's (so Rs ill tlieii' judgments may be to tlie satisfaction of the court), they are impowered to attend the same." John Howell and Captain John Younge, of Long Island, were desired " to attend the same service." Horses were like- wise presented by Winthrop to the royal commissioners.*
The Connecticut delegates accordingly ^dsitedl^ew York, where they were received by NicoUs, Cartwright, and Mav-
soNovem. erick. Both patents were produced, and all that could be said on each side was fully considered. The question about Long Island was soon decided. The duke's patent ex- pressly included it by name ; that of Connecticut did not. Moreover, Governor Winthrop, at Gravesend, a few days before the surrender, had declared that the jurisdiction formerly exercised by Connecticut over Long Island " ceased and became null." The commissioners, therefore, at once determined that the southern boundary of Connecticut
Loag i3i. should be the Sound, and that Long Island should be un-
judged to der the government of the Duke of York, " as is so ex- ■ pressed by plain words in the said patents respectively." But Connecticut claimed that, under her charter, her territory extended across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, the Duke of York's patent covered all her territory west of the Connecticut River, and left her only the narrow strip between the east side of that river and Rhode Island. Moreover, she had not yet obtained possession of ITew Haven. Her charter had been granted only upon Winthrop's promise of submission " to any alter- ation" in her boundaries which might be made by the king's commissioners. Their authority to declare Hart- ford itself within the jurisdiction of 'New York, as it had once been within the jurisdiction of New Netherland, could not be disputed. The original Indian deed of 8 June, 1633, to Commissary Yan Curler, of the land around Hartford, was appealed to in proof. But the commission- ers were supplicated not to enforce the duke's patent to its full extent, which would deprive Connecticut of her " very bowels and principal parts." In the judgment of JSTicoUs, such a decision would " cast dishonor upon his majesty,"
* Col. Rec. Conn., i.,415, 42T, 4."n, i?,',: iii., 480 ; New Haven Rec, ii., 4G7-4S3, 491-54S; Mass. II. S. Coll., xxxvii., .^11 ; Col. Doc, iii., 184 ; Clialmers, i., 293-200 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., i., .'304; Tnimbull, i., 249-2T2, 515-521; Palfrey, ii., 545-r)5G, 53:'-595; iii., 23G; ante, vol. i.,51!>, 702, 733.
RICHAED NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 55
and be "to the utter ruin of that colony, and a manifest chap. n. breach of their late patent." Besides, in the delicate rela- tions in which the commissioners were placed respecting all the I^ew England colonies, it was important this should be made " a leading case of equal justice." They there- fore determined that five towns, which "had been pur- Five town > chased, possessed, or gained" by Hartford, or by Newuonnecti- Haven, should be " rehnquished to Connecticut by virtue of their precedent grant from his majesty." Such a settle- ment, they " were assured, would be an acceptable service" to the Duke of York, although to the diminution of his patented bounds.
At the same time, it was distinctly understood on both sides that the dividing line should run "' about twenty miles from any part of Hudson's River." An agreement to this effect was drawn up between NicoUs and Winthrop and so Kovem. his colleagues. To define the starting-point and the com- pass direction of this boundary, an amendment was insert- Boundary- ed, describing it as running from the head of Mamaroneck main laua^ Creek to the north-north-west, until it reaches the Massa- chusetts line. The amendment seems to have been pro- posed by the Connecticut delegates, who assured NicoUs that the boundary thus described would be " twenty miles every where from Hudson's River."
Upon this basis the roj'al commissioners the next day i Deccm. signed an instrument, in which, after declaring Long Island to be under the government of the Duke of York, they or- dered " that the creek or river called Mamaroneck, which is rej)orted to be about thirteen miles to the east of West- chester, and a line drawn from the east point or side, where the fresh water falls into the salt at high-water-mark, north- Boundaries north-west to the line of the Massachusetts, be the western ed. bounds of the said colony of Connecticut ; and all planta- tions lying westward of that creek and line so drawn to be under his royal highness's government ; and all plantations lying eastward of that creek and line to be under the gov- ernment of Connecticut." Winthrop and his colleagues at the same time gave their " consent to the limit and bounds above mentioned."*
* Gen. Ent., i., TO, 71 ; N. Y. Col. MSS., xxii., 5 ; lxi.x., 1-6 ; N. Y. Senate Doc, 185T, No. 165, p. 7, 39, 41, 42, 100-104; Col. Doc, ii., 130, 140 ; iii., 55, 106, 23S; vii., 5G4, 507; Col.
56 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1664.
13 Decern.
CHAP.n. For the moment, this settlement of the dispute seemed to be satisfactory to both parties. The submission of 'New Haven to Connecticut was soon completed. But NicoUs and his colleagues were strangers, and ignorant of the ge- ography of the country. They supposed that they had adopted substantially the same boundary agreed to by the Dutch and English colonies in 1650. Unfortunately, they Trickeiy of " relied upon" the assurances of the Connecticut delegates, cut. and were deceived by " wrong information" which no hon-
est or intelligent adviser could have given. The line as- sented to and intended by Nicolls — twenty miles every where from the Hudson River — instead of starting at Mamaroneck, should have started several miles farther to the east, neal" Stamford ; and, instead of running north- north-west, it should have run due north. But the duped commissioners established a line, the starting-point of which was about ten miles from the Hudson, and which, crossing that river near Peekskill, intersected the prolong- ed southern boundary of Massachusetts near the north- west corner of the present New York county of Ulster. All the territory north and east of this line was thus ap- parently assigned to Connecticut and Massachusetts. Tlie absurd error was soon detected, and the boundary was nev- er ratified by the Duke of York or by the crown. But the pertinacity with which Connecticut clung to what looked very much like a mean deception on her part was after- ward the cause of great controversy.'^"
Long Island being now settled under the Duke of York's Long isi- authority, NicoUs, to conciliate its inhabitants, addressed a 1 Decern. " letter to Howell and Younge, who acted as tlieir represent- atives at New York. Referring to his promise when he dismissed the troops in August, after the surrender, he in- formed all persons that Long Island was declared to be under the duke's government ; that, as it was now winter, he would not trouble the inhabitants to send deputies to an Assembly in relation to the affairs of the island ; but that,
Rec. Conn., ii., 341, 570-573 ; iii., 330 ; New Haven Rec, ii., 555, 55G ; Smith, i., 3G-3S, 297; ii., 305, 300 ; Trumbull, 1., 273, 523, 525; Wood's Long Island, 28, 170, 173; Thompson, i., 126 ; ii., 323; Dunlap, ii., App. ccvi. ; ante, vol. i., P6, 1S9, 234, 235, 519.
* Col. Rec. Conn., i., 441; ii., 341, .572, 573; iii., 3.30; Neiy Haven Rec, ii, 551-5,57; Col. Doc, iii., 04, 230, 231,235, 23S, 247, 257, .3,33, 356, 406, 7G1; iv.,C25; v.,69S; vi., 125, 776, 8S5; vii.,5G3, 564,5:!6, 597; viii., 345; Hutch. Coll., 412; Smith, i.,SS; Chalmers, i., 296, 576; Trumbull, L, 274 ; N. Y. H. S. Coll. (1SC9), 76.
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 57
as soon as tlie weather should permit, he would notify cnAP.n. them of the time and place of meeting. In the mean time, the existing magistrates should remain in their places un- der the duke's government. 'No new taxes had yet been, thought of ; those laid by Connecticut should continue for a time ; but the people might " assure themselves of equal (if not greater) freedoms and immunities than any of his majesty's colonies in New England." Upon the return of Howell and Younge, a town meeting was held at East 21 uecem. Hampton, at which, " understanding that we are oE from Connecticut, and the magistrates not willing to act further on that account, that we may not be without laws and gov- ernment, it is agreed the former laws shall stand in force till we have further order from New Tork."*
In the mean time, the "West India Company had informed ki 0'=*- the States General of the English conquest of New Nether- land, by which the republic had " lost a pro^dnce, the ap- pearance whereof was wonderful to behold." The States at once directed Yan Grogh, their ambassador at London, |i oct. to expostulate with the king, and demand " prompt restitu- tion and reparation." Yan Gogh, in an audience with Charles, denounced the capture as " an erroneous proceed- g Novem" ing, opposed to all right and reason, contrary to mutual '""^^^g^^"''''* correspondence and ffood neighborhood, and a notorious i^^ent de-
J- o o 7 nounce the
infraction of the treaty lately concluded." Finding that conquest of
. , T • 1 1 NewNeth-
lie could no longer dissimulate, the king replied with the eriand and ,
(iGins.iid its
audacious falsehood that his " dependency" New Nether- restitution. land " had been settled and occupied before this by the English, who only permitted the Dutch nation at the outset to settle there, without an}'- authority having been thereby conferred upon the Dutch West India Company." The next day Clarendon wrote to Downing that the Dutch need f^^^°^^' not expect the king to restore his conquests ; " for they have no color of «-ight to pretend to New Netherland, nor is our possessing that the least violation of the treaty." Downing accordingly told De Witt that the king was not account- ^5 Novem. able to the Dutch government for what he had done in America, " no more than he should think himself obliged to let them know his mind, or to have their consent, in case
* Gen. Ent., 1., 29, 65, 66; Thompson's L. I., i., 127, 311, 382, 383; ii., 323, 324, 32T; Wood, 177 ; Dunlap, ii., App. xxxvii. ; Col. Doc, iii., 86 ; Doc. Hist., i., 452 ; ante, p. 43.
58 - HISTOEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
cuAP. II. lie should tbiiik fit to proceed against any Dutcli that live in the fens in England, or in any other part of his domin- ■ ions." Without stopping to demonstrate the transparent absurdity of this comparison, the Grand Pensionary peremp- torily replied that New ISTetherland " must be restored." ■•'
5 Decern. '^'^^ loug afterward Downing presented an insolent me- morial to the States General, in which any reference to Is^ew Ketherland was avoided. It was now clear that no redress was to be expected fi-om England. Secret orders
j3_ Decern. Were therefore sent to De Ruyter, who commanded the
De Euyter. Dutch squadrou on the coast of Afiica, to reduce the En- glish possessions there, after which he was to proceed on his voyage home, " and inflict, by way of reprisal, as much damage and. injury as possible on said nation, either at Barbadoes, IsTew IS^etherland, Newfoundland, or other isl- ands and places imder their obedience."
C4 Novem. j^^ |.|^g opeuiiio; of Parliament, the kins: laid g-reat stress
4 Decern. . 7 o &
upon the proceedings of the Dutch in Africa and the East Indies, but did not allude to his own treacherous conquest
f- Decern, of New York. A few days afterward Yan Gogh had un- satisfactory interviews with the king and the Duke of York, both of whom were evidently disposed to hostilities. With his report, the ambassador communicated to the States General, for the first time, a copy of the Idng's grant of New Netherland to the Duke of York.
1^- Decern. It was uot long before Downing informed the British government of the secret orders which the States General had sent to De Ruyter. Bennet and Coventry warmly urged hostilities against the Dutch. The Yriyj Council
Hostilities immediately directed letters of reprisal to be issued against
England. " tlic sliips, goods, and servants" of the United Provinces. According to British custom, without any formal declara- tion of war, one hundred and thirty Dutch merchant ves- sels were seized in the English ports.f
* Col. Doc, ii., 272-285 ; iii.,77-Sl; Aitzema, v., 193 ; Sec. Kes. IIoll., ii., 445; DeWitt, iv., 3S6, 387, 390, 391, 393 ; IIoll. Merc, 1G04, 178 ; D'Estrndes, ii., 530, 538 ; Lister's Clar- endon, ii., 209 ; iii., 3415-351 ; Hume, vi., 3S5.
t Col. Doc, ii., 235-298; iii., 85; Pari. Hist., iv., 2P6-303 ; Cl.arke'aJnmps II., i., 401-404; Aitzema, v., 93, 94; De AVitt, iv., 413; Sec Eos. IIoll., ii., 4,59 ; 1 1 oil. Merc, 16G4, 185,186; Lister, ii, 270 ; iii., 352-355; Basnage, i., 714; Davics, iii., 27, 28; rcp)v,ii., 18(3, 192; Mar- tin, i., 2C9. Downing stopped at nothing to gain his objects. He told I'epys "that he had BO good ppics tliat he hath had the keys taken out of DeWitt'.^ pocket when he was a-bed, and his cIoi?Gt opened, and papers l)ronght to him and left in his hands for an hour;" .and "•that he huth always had their most private debates that have boon but between two or
PJCHAED KICOLLS, GOVERNOR 59
Intelligence of the threatening aspect of affairs in Eu- cnAP.ii. rope had meanwhile reached NicoUs by way of Boston. -< (^^ i As a measure of precaution, he ordered all the estate of 13 oecem. the "West India Company in the hands of Stuy\'esant and " ^'*™' Yan Ruyven to be put under arrest. A few days after- 2t Decem. ward all persons were directed to report what they knew acUoh of about the property thus sequestrated to the benefit of the Duke of York.^-
The "West India Directors, on their part, felt the loss of ISTew ISTetherland very keenly. Stuyvesant's official report was unsatisfactory. The "licentious prating" of the sol- diers who had returned in the Gideon from New York only increased their annoyance. They determined to " disavow all the articles and capitulations" made with the English by the governor and council, and endeavor to regain New Netherland. Accordingly, they sent one of their ships to i| Novem. New York, with a dispatch to Stuy^^esant, requiring him to indiatkmi- come home and give " by word of mouth more comfort" stuyve!'^"" than his letters had afforded. They also desired Yan Ruy- ^°'^^- ven to save what he could of their property.
When these letters were received at New York, NicoUs, 1665. anxious for news, required Stuyvesant and Yan Ruyven to '^ ^^^' bring them to him. As the West India Company appeared determined to annul the capitulation and retake the j)rov- ince, he felt himself " obliged so far to abide their displeas- g^jj^^^''^.^^ m-e as to seize upon their effects, and to remit the decision Nicoiis
11 p 11 1 1 seizes the
to his majesty, whether, after such a letter, they ought to company-s claim any benefit by articles which in so contemptuous a manner they have disavowed."
Stuy\"esant, however, could not avoid going to Holland to defend his action ; and NicoUs granted him a passport x May. ' to go and return, with his son and his servants. Consider- ing the need of supplies to New York, Nicolls also licensed the West India Company's ship " Crossed Heart" to go to and return from Holland with merchandise. By her Yan Ruyven wrote to the Amsterdam directors that it was gMay"'"" " impossible to keep" New Netherland against the " vast, overwhelming force of the assailants ;" and that, if their
three of the chief of them brought to him in an hour after, and an liour after that hatli sent word thereof to the king." — Pepys, iv., 72, 73; see also Temple's Work', i., 307. * Col. Doc, iii., 84 ; Gen. Ent., i., 70, 78, 79 ; Col. MSS., x.xii., 1 ; Smith, L, 33.
60 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap, il honors had been personally present, they would, " without doubt, have considered it better and more Christian-like to agree to some conditions, than be obliged to look upon the ruin of the place and the murder of the poor people, women and children, without being able to do any thing
^2- May. to prevent it." A few days afterward Stuyvesant appear-
retm^Tto cd, f or tlio last time, in the - Court of Burgomasters and Schepens, to take his leave, and asked of them a certificate of his deportment while their governor. The city author- ities declared " that his honor hath, during eighteen years' administration, conducted and demeaned himself not only as a director general, as according to the best of our knowl- edge he ought to do, on all occasions for the best interest of the West India Company, but besides as an honest pro- prietor and patriot of this province, and as a supporter of the Reformed rehgion."*
Notwithstanding all the changes which had occurred in the province, the city magistrates of whom Stuyvesant thus took leave still exercised the same powers which he had himself conferred on them twelve years before. When their term of service expired, the burgomastei's and sche- pens named their successors, as they had done under the
2 Feb'iy. Dutch govcmment. This they did on the usual day, and in pursuance of the sixteenth article of the capitulation.
New city The ucw officcrs were confirmed by NicoUs, and announced to the commonalty after the usual ringing of the bell. They were Cornelis Steenwyck and Oloff Stevensen van Cortlandt, burgomasters ; Timotheus Gabry, Johannes van Brugh, Johannes De Peyster, Jacob Kip, and Jacques Cous- seau, schepens; and Allard Anthony, schout. An oath,
6 Feb'ry. drawu up by Nicolls, was taken by them, to do right and justice to all persons, and demean themselves in their places " according to the good and wholesome laws which are or shall be ordained by virtue of liis majesty's commis- sion to his Royal Highness the Duke of York, within this government and city of New York." A controversy soon arose between the pro^^ncial and the city authorities.
• Col. Doc, ii., 361, 365, 369, 37T, 420, 4T0, 744; iu., 164; TrumbuU Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc, XX., 73 ; Hutch. Mass., i., 231, note; Gen. Ent., i., 16S, 169, 170; New Amst. Rec, v., 755; Val. Man., 1S61, 620, 621. Stuyvesant, accompanied by ^gidius Luyck, the late prin- cipal of the grammar-school at New Amsterdam (who now returned to study theology in Holland), landed from the " Crossed Heart" at Bergen, in Norway. From there they pro- ceeded to Amsterdam, in July, 1665, in the company's yacht the Musch.
b
EICHAED NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 61
By the capitulation, the burgomasters were bound to pro- chap.ii. Yide quarters for the soldiers who could not be lodged in the fort. NicoUs therefore proposed that one hundred gg March of them should be quartered amons; the inhabitants, who sowiers
-, -, ^ . ' quartered,
were to be compensated ; and that, in consideration of this, the city should have, in addition to the great excise, the income of the scales and of the ferry. The municipal authorities endeavored to comj)ly with the governor's req- uisition ; but they were so unsuccessful that he accused e Apru. them, aj^parently without justice, of sloth. The English soldiers were quarrelsome and insolent, and the Dutch burghers were unwilling to receive them into their houses. Most of the citizens preferred to pay an assessment in money ; and the matter was finally arranged in this way, i9 April, to the satisfaction of all parties, under the supervision of Captains Delavall and Sahsbmy.*
The provincial revenue had, up to this time, been left Provincial unsettled. Two months after the surrender, ISTicolls had ''^^®"*'®- directed that the customs rates, " according to English law," should be paid to Delavall, the collector. lie now enacted that, mitil farther order, imported liquore should 2t FebTy. be taxed ten per cent., Indian goods ten, other goods eight, and English manufactm-es five per cent. These duties were to be paid in beavers, at eight guilders, or thirteen shillings and four pence each. Export duties were also laid on beaver and tobacco.f
McoUs, however, was a friend of colonial enterprise. Paulus Richards, one of the burghers at New York, in- tending to establish a vineyard at the " Little Fief" on vineyanis. Long Island, and manufacture wine, the governor granted lo jan'ry. him several special privileges. All the produce of Rich- * ards's "vdnes, if sold in gross, was to be forever free from any imposts ; if sold in retail by him in any one house in New York, his wines were to be free for thirty years ; and
* N. Y. City Rec, v., CSO, CS2, T18-T25, T37-T43 ; vi., 86, ST ; Gen. Ent., i., 83, 84 ; Col. Doc, iii., 117 ; Val. Man., 1S4S, 1'25; 1850,190; 1801,008-620; a»ite, vol. i., 548, 578,613, 640, 674, 762. Among the burghers thus assessed, Jeronimus Ebbinck, Frederick Phillipse, Peter Stuyvesant, Cornelia van Ruyven, Paulus Leendertsen van der Grist, Johannes van Brugh, and Oloff Stevensen van Cortlandt paid four guilders a week ; Allard Anthony, Jo- hannes de Peyster, Jacob Kip, Simon Jansen Koraeyn, and Carel van Brugh, tliree guilders; Jan Evertsen Bout, Evert Duyckinck, Johannes De Witt, Hans Kierstede, Jacob Leisler, and Paulus Richards, two guilders ; Isaac Bedlow, Augustine Heermans, .^Egidius Luyck, and many others, one guilder. The Dutch domines wei^e not assessed.
t Gen. Ent., i., 63, 112, 113; Thompson, i., 144.
62
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. II.
1665.
January. Uoyal com- missioners in New En- gland.
4 Feli'ry.
Policy of
Kicolls.
Court of Assizes.
any person who, during that time, should plant vines in any part of the proyince, should pay five shillings for each acre so planted to Richards, " as an acknowledgment of his being the first undertaker and planter of vines in these parts."*
Soon after the arrangement of the Connecticut bound- ary, Cartwright and Maverick went to Boston to prosecute their duties as royal commissioners. But they could do nothing- without the presence of ISTicoUs or Carr. The governor of ISTew York was too much occupied to leave his post. Carr could not be persuaded, for some time, to quit the Delaware and follow the king's commission. At length he came to JSTew York, and went on to join his col- leagues at Boston. The commissioners, finding much op- position there, detennined to visit the other colonies, and wait imtil the next Aj)ril before opening their business with Massachusetts, when they hoped that NicoUs would be able to join them. They were not deceived. Connecti- cut answered their inquiries with prudent facility. Their stumbling-block was to be Massachusetts.f
Meanwhile, the details of the system upon which he was to administer his government in IsTew York had seriously occupied the attention of McoUs. The policy of the Dulce of York was to win the Dutch, who were three quarters of the population, to become contented Enghsh subjects. To this end, as little alteration as possible was to be made in the form of administration to which they had been accus- tomed. The director general and his council had been the executive authority in IsTew I^etherland. Thq. deputy gov- ernor of the proprietary and his coifncil were now the ex- ecutive authority of New York. XicoUs accordingly " cop- ied," or rather " continued," with some modification, " what had been already established by the Dutch." He erected a " Court of Assizes," which, like its New ISTetherland proto- type, was the supreme tribunal of the province, lia^dug both common law and equity, as well as original and appellate
* Deedg, ii., ST ; Hist. Mag.,Tii., 30. New Netherland was famous for its native wines before 1C50: Col. Doc., i., 277. Lord Bellomont, in 1700, ivrote enthusiastically about the "fair clusters of grapes" which he saw about Albany; Col. Doc, iv., 7S7. Dentou, 1-1, speaks of "grapes great and small" as natural to Long Island.
t Col. Doc, iii., 64, 83, 84, 87-S9, 93 ; JIass. H. S. Coll., xx.wi., 532 ; Jlass. Rec, iv. (ii ), 141 ; Plymouth Kec, iv., 85 ; K. L Rec, ii, 60, SC-S9, 91, 93 ; Palfrey, ii., 597-606 ; Barry, i., 396 ; Arnold's Rhode Island, i., 314.
1665.
EICHAED NICOLLS, GOVEENOE. 63
jurisdiction. In this court, the governor and his counsel- chap. ii. ors possessed the same powers that had formerly been exercised by the Dutch director and his counselors. But the peculiar condition of New Yoi'k required that other members should be added to the Court of Assizes. York- shire, or Long Island, peopled chiefly by Englishmen, with Westchester and Staten Island, was erected into a shire, Ridings of and, like its English namesake, was divided into three dis- tricts or ridings. What is now Suffolk County formed the East Riding ; Staten Island, King's County, and the town of Newtown, in Queen's, the West Riding ; and the remain- der of Queen's County, with Westchester, the North Riding. The governor and council were to appoint a high - sheriff uigh-sher- every year over the whole of Yorkshire, and also justices uce" ^"'' of the peace, who were to continue in office during the governor's pleasure in each of the ridings. These justices were to hold a " Court of Sessions" in each riding three coun of times a year, in which the go^'ernor or any counselor might " preside. Besides their local duties, the high sheriff and the justices were to sit with the governor and his council in the Court of Assizes, which was to meet at New York once a year, on the last Thursday in September. This court was invested with " the supreme power of making, altering, and abolishing any laws" in the government of New York.*
The Court of Assizes thus established by Nicolls was no advance toward democracy. It was not, in any popular sense, a Legislature. It had not even the representative character .enjoyed by Stuyvesant's " Landt-dag," or Assem- The court bly. Its members were wholly dependent on the govern- not a^lt or's will, and they were expected to perform their legisla- ^®™'^^^' five function with the usual docility of a French " bed of justice." The governor and his council remained the real law-makers, as well as the interpreters of the laws they made. Before long, it is true, the Court of Assizes delib-
* Chalmers's Pol. Ann., i., 575, 596; Rev. Col., i., 117; Col. Doc, iii., ISS; N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 321, 336, 342, 259, 374, 3S5, 391 ; aiite^ vol. i., 163, 247, 276, 277, 327, 405, 414, 431, 467, 540, 548, 570-575, 729. Chalmers, in Pol. Ann., i., 575, says that NicoUs •■'■ erected," and in Rev. Col., i., 117, that he " continued," the Court of Assizes, one of " the prior customs of the Dutch." The crronpons statements of Smith, i. , 41, 47, on this point, are corrected by Chalmers, Pol. Ann., i., 536, and by Wood, 90, note. I can not doubt that the Court of As- sizes was establi.shed, if it v/as not completely organized, before March, 1665, tlie period Btated by Wood ; compare II. B. Dawson, and N. Y. ]I. S. Coll. (1869), 76.
64 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap. ii. eiated with closed doors upon the general concerns of the province, and made such changes in the laws as were • thought proper. But the Duke of York, who, by his pat- ent, had " full and absolute power," disapproved of legis- lative assemblies as inconsistent with the form of govern- ment which he had established in his province. Yet he supposed that no harm and much good might result from the justices being allowed once a year to meet with the governor and his council, and make desirable changes in the laws, which, after all, were subject to liis own approval. These justices, he complacently assumed, would be chosen by the people themselves as " their representatives, if an- purposc of other constitution were allowed," Moreover, the Court of of Assizes. Assizes was the most convenient place for the publication of any new laws, or of any business of general concern. In estabhshing that court, the duke's deputy did not con- cede any political privileges to the people. All its officers were his own subordinates ; none of them his colleagues, NicoUs was, and he continued to be, a provincial autocrat, who exercised, indeed, his delegated powers with the pru- dence and moderation which belonged to his character, but who, in adroitly allowing his official dependents apparently to share with himself the responsibility of .legislation, did not in the least cm-tail his own vast authority,*
The governor and liis council, who at present were the only members of the Court of Assizes, were early called upon to frame a body of laws for the province. Its con- dition was more anomalous than that of any other Ameri- can plantation. It had no charter hke the jSTew England colonies. It was not a royal province like Virginia. As a proprietary government, it resembled Maryland in some respects ; yet Lord Baltimore's charter was very different from the despotic patent of the Duke of York. When Charles the Second granted New Ketherland to his broth- er, he affected to consider it a resumption of British terri- tory, the possession of which England had never enjoyed, ugai effect and Holland had maintained for half a century. In re- giish con- ality, he obtained possession only by a conquest from the ques . Dntch, and upon articles of capitulation. Excepting Aca-
* Col. Doc, ii., 29C; iii., 230; Chalmers's Ann., i., 5S1, GOO; Court of Assizes, ii., 320, 325, 414; Wood, 90, 91 ; Thompson, i., 141, 142 ; post, p. 293.
KICHAED NICOLLS, GOVERNOR. 65
dia and Jamaica, New York was the first colony which the chap. n. Enghsh arms ever gained. The rights wliich the king~~~ thus acquired over the Dutch territory were those of a conqueror, limited, however, by the terms agreed upon at the surrender. This principle did not affect that part of Long Island wliich was actually British territory before the capitulation, and where, of course, the English law prevail- ed. But with respect to the Dutch possessions, the right of conquest governed; which was, that where a country- was conquered by or ceded to England, the sovereign might establish such government and laws as he should think proper, but that the ancient laws of such conquered or ceded country were to remain in force, if not contrary to the law of God, until the king should change them. Ac- cordingly, Charles authorized the Duke of York " to make. The Duke ordain, and establish all manner of orders, laws, directions, powe/^ instructions, forms and ceremonies of government and '^^ ^ '^^^' magistracy fit and necessary for and concerning the gov- ernment of the territories and islands aforesaid, so always as the same be not contrary to the laws and statutes of this our realm of England, but as near as may be agreeable thereunto, and the same at all times hereafter to put in execution, or abrogate, revoke, or change, not only within the precincts of the said territories or islands, but also upon the seas in going and coming to and from the same." The duke thereupon commissioned Mcolls as his deputy, " to perform and execute all and every the powers which are by the said letters patent granted." But, before he could obtain peaceable possession of New Netherland, Nicolls was obliged to concede special privileges to its inhabitants, which placed them in many respects upon a better foot- ing than the king's own English subjects on Long Island. Among other things, the Dutch were to enjoy their own church disciphne and customs concerning inheritances. Besides these guaranteed rights, they were, as a conquered people, entitled to be governed according to their ancient laws, which were to remain in force until changed by the actual authorities in the province.*
• Chalmers's Pol. Ann., i., 674; Rev. Col., i., 116, 117 ; Calvin's Case, 7 Coke's Bep., 17; Show. Pari. C, 31; Cowper, 204; Blackstone's Comm. ; Jacob, v., 159; Col. Doc, iL, 296; Learning and Spicer, 666 ; ante, vol. i., p. 762 ; pnsf, App. A and B. I venture, with much deference, to express my opinion that Mr. Barnard, in hia sketch of Rensselaerwyck, 136, and
II.— E
QQ HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YOEK.
Chap. II. It was nevertheless generally understood that " English ~~ lawes" were to be estabhshed in New York at the end of six months after the surrender. In writing from Boston, 4 Feb. Cartwright advised NicoUs that the Dutch "will rather take that for oppression which shall be imposed on them afterward, than for the present acknowledge your indul- gence in letting them for a while longer use their own lawes." But, if the governor hesitated at following his colleagues' advice with i*espect to the Dutch portion of the province, he had no doubt in regard to Yorkshire. Before Kngiish the surrender, in explaining at Gravesend the phrase of estebiuii-^ the proclamation that all persons submitting to the royal government were to enjoy "all other privileges with his majesty's English subjects," he had promised the people of Long Island that at a convention of delegates from their towns, " laws were to be enacted and civil officers estab- lished." A few days afterward, he told them that they should be summoned " to propose and give their advice in all matters tending to the peace and benefit" of the island. Again he assured them " of equal (if not greater) freedoms and immunities than any of his majestie's colonies in New England." These expressions appear to have been differ- ently understood by Nicolls and by the Long Island people. The latter supposed that the New England system was to be transplanted into New York, with all the machinery of royal corporations to perpetuate their benefits or abuses: Power of The governor, on the other hand, was the deputy of a pro- make Lws. pirietor who centred in himself all the delegated authority of the king possessed by any of the New England ohgarch- ies. It was his function under a royal patent, as it was theirs under royal charters, to make laws. NicoUs, how- ever, was desirous to adopt in New York all that he might find good or expedient in the several codes of the New En- gland colonies. For this purpose he aj^pears to have ob- tained copies of those of Massachusetts and of New Haven, the latter of which had been printed at London in 1656. He also applied to Winthrop for a copy of that of Connec- ticut, ^vhich existed only in manuscript ; but a transcript
Chancellor Walworth, in IT Wendell, 5S7, and Mr. Butler in ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 4n, have not ncciirntely stated tlie condition of the law in Xew York immediately after the sur- render. Certainly Long Island waa differently situated from the rest of the province.
EICHARD NICOLLS, GOVEEXOR. G7
could not be made for him in time to be of use. With the chap. ii. assistance of members of the Court of Assizes, he made it his " whole business to prepare a body of lawes" to be sub- ^^^^ p^.^;. mitted to the general meeting proposed to be held on Long "^^Ifi^^ Island. These laws were largely borrowed from those " in practice in his majesty's other colonies in New England," but with a relaxation of their severity against those who differed '' in matters of conscience and religion."*
To fulfill his promises, Mcolls ad^lressed a letter to each s Feb. of the towns on Long Island, announcing that in discharge of his "trust and duty to settle good and known lawes within this government for the future," and receive their " best advice and information in a general meetino-," he Meeting
called at
had appointed such a meeting to be held at Hempstead on Hemp- the last day of February, to which he invited each to"\ra to ^ send two deputies chosen by a majority of the tax-payers. These deputies were to be " the most sober, able, and dis- creet persons ;" and were to produce at the meeting the doc- uments showing the boundaries of their respective towns, notify the Indian sachems whose presence there might be necessary, and bring with them certificates of their due election, " with full powers to conclude any cause or mat- ter relating to their several towns." A similar letter was sent to Westchester. But no deputies were summoned fi'om New York, Esopus, Bergen, or any other town in the province.f
At the appointed day the Convention met at Hempstead. 28 Feb. It consisted of thirty-four delegates — two from each of the English and Dutch towns on Long Island, and two from Westchester. Some of them had been members of Stuy- vesant's last General Assembly of New Netherland a year before. New Utrecht sent Jacques Cortelyou and Younger Delegates. Fosse ; Gravesend, James Hubbard and John Bowne ; Flat- lands, Elbert Elbertsen and Roeloff Martense ; Flatbush, John Stryker and Hendrick Jorassen ; Bushwick, John Stealman and Guisbert Tennis ; BrookljTi, Frederick Lub- bertsen and John Evertsen ; Newtown, Richard Betts and
* Gen. Ent.,i., 23, 29, 60; Deeds, ii., 43 ; Col. Doc, ii., 251; iii, 80, 88, 114; iv., 1154; Thompson, i., 1-26, 127, 382; ii , 323, 824, 327; Dunlap, ii., App. xxxvii. ; Smith, i., 3SS; Hist. Mag., viii., 211 ; Trumbull MSS., xx., 74 ; ante, p. 25, 33, 43, 57.
t Gen. Ent., i., 93-85; Wood, 87, SS ; Thompson, i., 131, 132 ; Bolton, ii., ISO ; Journ. Leg. Council of N. Y., i.. Int., iv.
68 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Chap, il J oliii Coe ; riiisliing, Elias Doughty and Richard Cornhill ; Jamaica, Daniel Denton and Thomas Benedict ; Hempstead, • John Hicks and Robert Jackson ; Oyster Bay, John Under- hill and Matthias Harvey ; Huntington, Jonas Wood and John Ketcham; Setalcott (or Brookhaven), Daniel Lane and Roger Barton; Southold, Wilham Wells and John Younge ; Southampton, Thomas Topping and John How- ell ; Easthampton, Thomas Baker and John Stratton ; and Westchester, Edward Jessop and John Quinby.*
28 Feb. The governor opened the meeting by reading the duke's
patent and his own commission; and told the delegates that their fii'st business should be to decide some of their local differences about boundaries, which were afloat before he came to the government ; but that " he had prepared a body of general laws hereafter to be observed." These
Nicoiis's were delivered to the delegates, who, upon perusal, found
posed. ' them to be chiefly compiled from the laws then in force in New England, " with abatement of the severity against such as differ in matters of conscience and rehgion." The delegates, however, were not satisfled. Most of them rep- resented towns which had recently been under the juris- diction of Connecticut ; and they supposed that in promis- ing them " equal, if not greater fi-eedoms and immimities than any of his majestie's colonies in New England," NicoUs meant to establish in New York a government resembling those of his Puritan neighbors. The inhabitants of South- old especially had signifled their desire that all civil ofiicers should be annually elected by the freemen, that all military ofiicers should be chosen by the soldiers, that no magistrate should have "any yearly maintenance," and that taxes should be levied only by consent of a majority of the dep- uties at a General Court. But the code prepared by the governor recognized none of these points. The delegates
Objected therefore objected against some of its clauses, and proposed others. Several of their amendments were accepted by NicoUs, who moreover promised that when any realsonable