THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS
The English Government was fortunate in its first representative after
the surrender of Stuyvesant. Colonel Richard Nicolls, who had enforced
the surrender with all the energy of a soldier, afterward displayed all
the tact and wisdom of a statesman. It is true that the towns and
forts were rechristened, and New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam, and Fort
Orange became respectively New York, Fort James, and Albany in honor of
the King's brother, James, Duke of York and Albany, to whom as Lord
Proprietor the new English province was now granted; but the Dutch were
not interfered with in their homes, their holdings, or their religion,
and for nearly a year the city government at New Amsterdam went on as
of old under the control of burgomasters, _schepens_, and _schouts_.
In the following year Nicolls, according to instructions from the Duke
of York, abolished "the {138} form of government late in practice,"
appointed a mayor, aldermen, and a sheriff to rule New York, and
directed the new officials to swear allegiance to the Duke. He
continued the commercial rights of the freeman who represented the
burghers of the Dutch period, and he also introduced trial by jury,
which placated the dwellers at New York and along the Hudson.
On Long Island and in Westchester where New Englanders had settled,
Nicolls proceeded with greater vigor. This section together with
Staten Island was erected into the district of Yorkshire, where "the
Duke's Laws" were proclaimed and the machinery of English county
government was put in operation. With its three ridings, its courts of
sessions, and its court of assizes, Yorkshire soon had an unmistakable
English character even though Dutch inhabitants were numerous in
western Long Island and in Staten Island. The Duke's Laws were
compiled mainly from the laws of the New England colonies, though they
departed in many particulars from New England traditions. In the Dutch
towns _schouts_ and _schepens_ gave place to overseers and constables.
The characteristic form of town government in the province was that in
which freeholders elected {139} a board of eight overseers and a
constable for one year. Little by little English law and English
institutions were to crowd out Dutch law and Dutch political
institutions in the conquered province.
By his wise policy, his magnetic personality, his scholarly tastes, and
his social geniality, Nicolls seems to have won all hearts. Maverick,
his colleague, wrote Lord Arlington that it was wonderful how this man
could harmonize things in a world so full of strife. Entrusted by the
Duke of York with practically unlimited power, he used it with the
utmost discretion and for the good of the province. When he resigned
his post after four years of service, New York was deeply regretful
over his departure and Cornelis Steenwyck, the Dutch mayor of the city,
gave a farewell banquet in his honor.
His successor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, was a favorite at court and a
gallant cavalier who had been loyal to the King throughout his
adversity. With far less ability than Nicolls, Lovelace was at one
with him in desire to benefit and unify the colony. He established a
club where English, French, and Dutch were spoken, and he offered
prizes to be run for on the Long Island race-course. Under his rule
shipping increased and trade {140} flourished. Merchants began to hold
weekly meetings, thus laying the foundations of The Merchants'
Exchange. But his most notable achievement was the establishment of
the first mail service on the American continent.
In spite of all the sea commerce and trading up and down the river by
sloops, pinks, flyboats, ketches, and canoes, the colonies of New York
and New England demanded swifter and more frequent means of
communication, and Governor Lovelace began to consider how the bonds
could be drawn closer. In 1671 one John Archer bought part of Van der
Donck's old estate and built a village "near unto the passage commonly
called Spiting Devil" on "the road for passengers to go to and fro from
the main as well as for mutual intercourse with the neighboring
colony." Lovelace consented to make the village an enfranchised town
by the name of Fordham Manor, provided its inhabitants should forward
to the next town all public packets and letters coming to or going from
New York. The scheme evidently proved a success, for Lovelace shortly
decided on a wider extension of communication, and the year 1673 was
celebrated by the setting out of the first post between New York and
New England. It was to have started on New {141} Year's Day, but was
delayed by waiting for news from Albany. On the arrival of
communications from Albany the carrier was sworn into office,
instructed "to behave civily," to inquire of the New England
authorities as to the best post-road, and to mark it for the benefit of
other travelers. The message which Lovelace sent to Governor Winthrop
of Massachusetts on this occasion ran as follows:
I here present you with two rarities, a pacquett of the latest
intelligence I could meet withal, and a Post. By the first, you will
see what has been acted on the stage of Europe; by the latter you will
meet with a monthly fresh supply; so that if it receive but the same
ardent inclinations from you as at first it hath from myself, by our
monthly advises all publique occurrences may be transmitted between us,
together with severall other great conveniencys of publique importance,
consonant to the commands laid upon us by His sacred Majestie, who
strictly injoins all his American subjects to enter into a close
correspondency with each other. This I look upon as the most
compendious means to beget a mutual understanding; and that it may
receive all the countenance from you for its future duration, I shall
acquaint you with the model I have proposed; and if you please but to
make an addition to it, or subtraction, or any other alteration, I
shall be ready to comply with you. This person that has undertaken the
imployment I conceaved most proper, being both active, stout, and {142}
indefatigable. He is sworne as to his fidelity. I have affixt an
annuall sallery on him, which, together with the advantage of his
letters and other small portable packes, may afford him a handsome
livelyhood. Hartford is the first stage I have designed him to change
his horse, where constantly I expect he should have a fresh one lye.
All the letters outward shall be delivered gratis with a signification
of _Post Payd_ on the superscription; and reciprocally, we expect all
to us free. Each first Monday of the month he sets out from New York,
and is to return within the month from Boston to us againe. The maile
has divers baggs, according to the townes the letters are designed to,
which are all sealed up till their arrivement, with the scale of the
Secretarie's Office, whose care it is on Saturday night to seale them
up. Only by-letters are in an open bag, to dispense by the wayes.
Thus you see the scheme I have drawne to promote a happy
correspondence. I shall only beg of you your furtherance to so
universall a good work.
By trail, road, and waterway the colonists were thus drawing nearer to
each other and steadily increasing their facilities for trade, when all
was interrupted by the reassertion of Dutch sovereignty and the
reconquest of the English colony by the Dutch under much the same
circumstances as had marked the surrender of Stuyvesant in 1664. The
old habit of unpreparedness survived under the English as under the
Dutch; and the third war between England and Holland, begun in 1672 and
{143} ended in 1674, found the strategic points on the Hudson again
unprotected. One August day in 1673 a powerful Dutch fleet appeared
off Staten Island. On the next day it sailed up through the Narrows,
and Manhattan saw a repetition, with a difference, of the scene of
1664. After a brief exchange of volleys between the strong fleet and
the weak fortress, the garrison recognized that resistance was
hopeless, New York surrendered to Admiral Evertsen, and the flag of the
Dutch Republic floated once more over the fortress, which changed its
name to Fort Willem Hendrick while New York became New Orange.
Governor Lovelace was absent from the city at the moment, and the blame
of the surrender fell upon Manning, a subordinate, who was tried for
neglect of duty, cowardice, and treachery. His sword was broken over
his head and he was pronounced ineligible for any office of trust. But
no governor could have saved the situation, as nothing was ready for
defense. When the Dutch took possession, Captain Anthony Colve was
appointed Governor. He proceeded with energy to put the fort into
condition for defense, and for a time it seemed as if the Dutch might
at last hold their rich heritage along the Hudson. At the close of
hostilities, however, a {144} treaty which was signed at Westminster in
February, 1674, and proclaimed at the City Hall of New Orange in July
of the same year, stipulated that New Netherland should again become an
English province. Thus for the third time, a national flag was lowered
at the fort on Manhattan Island without serious effort at opposition.
The treaty did not restore New York to the Duke whose name it bore but
handed it over directly to Charles II, who, however, again granted it
to his brother James. Edmund Andros, a major in Prince Rupert's
regiment of dragoons, was sent out to take control of the province,
which had now changed hands for the last time. His character was
probably neither so white nor so black as it has been painted; but it
is certain that he lacked the tact of Nicolls, and he brought to his
task the habits of a soldier rather than an administrator. He never
succeeded in winning the complete confidence of the people.
From the beginning Andros showed himself hostile to popular liberty and
loyal to the interests of his patron as he saw them. But the
difficulties of his position, it must be admitted, were very great.
James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II, and, in the absence of
legitimate children of {145} the King, the heir to the throne, had, as
we have seen, been granted all rights in the conquered territory of New
Netherland in 1664. Part of this territory he promptly gave to two
court favorites, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The sagacious
Nicolls protested that this partition which surrendered to a divided
ownership the rich lands of New Jersey--so called in honor of
Carteret's gallant defense of the Island of Jersey during the Civil
Wars--was a menace to the well-being of New York. His warning, which
might not have been heeded in any case, did not reach England until the
transfer was completed.
With the Dutch occupation all titles were canceled, but under the new
treaty, James, although by this time thoroughly informed of the
complications involved, with the usual fatuity of the Stuarts now made
a grant of the eastern part of New Jersey to Carteret in severally,
taking no notice of the western part, which Berkeley had already sold
for the sum of a thousand pounds. By this grant to Carteret many
questions were at once raised. Was Sir George Carteret a lord
proprietor like the Duke himself, responsible only to the King, or was
he only a lord of the manor responsible to his master the Duke? Was
East Jersey a {146} part of New York, or was it an independent
province? As usual the importance of the questions was based on
commercial considerations. If New Jersey were a separate entity then
it might trade directly with England; if it were dependent on New York
it could trade only by permission of the Duke's representative.
Philip Carteret, a kinsman of Sir George, whom the latter had appointed
Governor of his share of New Jersey, and who went to America in the
same ship as Andros in 1674, determined to test the matter by declaring
Elizabethtown a free port, while Andros demanded that all ships bound
to or from any port in the original New Netherland must enter and clear
at New York. With equal pertinacity Andros asserted the Duke's
authority in West Jersey, haling Fenwick, one of the claimants under
the original grant of 1674, to court in New York. Fenwick's land
titles, however, were sustained, and Andros then released him upon his
explicit promise that he would not meddle with the government of West
Jersey. Taking advantage of the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680,
Andros next arrested and imprisoned Governor Philip Carteret on the
ground that he now had no authority, and then himself assumed the {147}
governorship of East Jersey. But Carteret was acquitted, the Assembly
of East Jersey sustained their Governor, and the towns refused to
submit. Meanwhile, charges of corruption had been brought against
Andros in New York, where his imperious manner and arbitrary conduct
had made enemies. He was recalled to England in 1681 to answer these
charges, and in consequence of the disaffection which he had stirred up
he was removed from office.
Colonel Thomas Dongan, the Governor chosen to succeed Andros, was a
younger son of an Irish Baronet and a Roman Catholic. The laws of
England forbade a Catholic to hold office in that country; but there
was not the same barrier in the province subject to a Lord Proprietor.
James, being of the Catholic faith, was therefore glad to appoint
people of that religion in the New World. Realizing, however, that the
feeling against Catholicism was strong in the colony, the Duke gilded
the pill by granting more liberal laws and a more popular form of
government than had previously been permitted. At the time of his
appointment Dongan received instructions from the Duke of York to call
a representative Assembly of not more than eighteen members to be
chosen by the {148} freeholders of the province. This Assembly met in
October, 1683, and passed some fifteen laws, the first and most
memorable of which was the so-called _Charter of Liberties and
Privileges_. The most notable provisions of the charter were those
establishing the principles of popular representation and religious
liberty, and those reciting the guarantees of civil rights familiar to
all Englishmen.
Before this charter could be finally ratified by the Duke of York,
Charles II died from a stroke of apoplexy, and James became King.
After fifteen minutes in his closet, where he had retired to give "full
scope to his tears," he emerged to work for three years his bigoted
will on the affairs of the realm. James the King took a different view
of many things from James the Duke. The status of New York was
similarly changed from a ducal proprietorship to a royal province. The
new charter recognized a Lord Proprietor. But that Lord Proprietor had
now become King of England, and this King found some of the enactments
of the charter so objectionable to His Majesty that he disallowed the
charter. Moreover, James did away with the Assembly which he had
previously allowed to be summoned. But the seed of popular government
had been planted in the Western {149} Hemisphere and within the next
century it was ripe for the harvesting.
In 1688 New York and New Jersey were united with the Eastern colonies
under title of "The Dominion of New England," and Sir Edmund Andros was
appointed Governor-General of a territory of imperial dimensions. But
the year of his arrival in New York marked the departure of his royal
master from England. Bigotry and tyranny had overshot the mark and the
English people had determined to dethrone James.
On the invitation of the Protestant nobility, James's son-in-law,
William of Orange, landed at Torbay in November, 1688, and rapidly won
popular support. After beginning negotiations with him, James became
alarmed and took flight to France at the close of the year. William of
Orange and his wife, James's daughter Mary, then became King and Queen
of England (February 13, 1689) and New York once more passed under the
control of a Dutch sovereign.
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