USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 5
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77
PROCEEDINGS OF ANDROS.
1678.]
had hitherto sailed. Mooring that night to a tree in front of the town, her astonished pas- sengers, on the following morning, walked ashore, with the hard frozen river beneath their feet.
CHAPTER VI.
Dispute between New York and East New Jersey-Arbitrary conduct of Andros-Claims jurisdiction over New Jersey- Carteret refuses to resign his government-His arrest --- Tried at New York and acquitted-Andros attempts to con- trol the assembly of East New Jersey-Their spirited re- sponse-Heavy tax on imports-Remonstrance of the New Jersey proprietaries-Their complaints referred to commis- sioners-The tax pronounced illegal-The Duke of York relinquishes his claim to govern New Jersey-Byllinge go- vernor of West New Jersey-Appoints Jennings deputy- governor-First legislative assembly convenes-Adoption of a constitution-Burlington erected the capital of the province -The assembly maintains its prerogative-Amendment of the constitution-Jennings elected governor-Is sent to England-Olive governor-Byllinge appoints John Skene deputy-governor-Death of Byllinge-Sale of his interest in New Jersey-Dr. Coxe claims entire executive control- A change foreshadowed.
WHILE the Quaker colony was settled under auspices which promised a fair prospect of rapid and substantial growth, difficulties were springing up in East New Jersey, that in the end, for a while, disturbed the tranquillity of the whole province.
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78
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1680.
To foster a spirit of commercial enterprise among his people, Governor Carteret prepared to open a direct trade with England, unencum- bered by custom. Opposing what he styled an infringement of his master's rights, Andros, then governor of New York, ordered that no ship should land on the Jersey shore, until it had first paid an impost duty at Manhattan. On the death of Sir George Carteret, in 1679, he took a bolder step, and claimed jurisdiction over the province. Recurring to the terms of his original commission, he called upon Carte- ret to lay down his authority. Unexpected as this demand was, the governor maintained a fearless and unshaken front. "It was by his majesty's command," he replied, " that this go- vernment was established. Without that com- mand, it shall never be resigned but with our lives and fortunes."
On the 7th of April, 1680, Andros, attended by his councillors, and a few leading merchants of New York, presented himself at Elizabeth- town. Courteously received by Carteret, he at once unfolded to him the object of his visit, and endeavoured to induce him to resign his govern- ment. Finding all his arguments vain, he some- what abruptly withdrew, warning the inhabitants that if they did not comply with his demand, the peril would rest upon them alone.
Regardless of the hospitable welcome he had
79
TRIAL OF CARTERET.
1680.]
received, Andros, on the 30th of April, de- spatched a file of soldiers to Elizabethtown, to capture Carteret. Entering the governor's mansion at a late hour of the night, they drag- ged him rudely from his bed, and carried him, bruised and maltreated, to New York, where he was kept in close confinement until the 27th of the following month.
On that day Andros summoned a special court, himself being chief justice. When placed on trial, Carteret fearlessly avowed that he had refused to surrender his authority. He then demanded his release on parole, and protested bitterly against being tried by a court, of which his accuser was also judge. When the jury re- turned with a verdict of "Not guilty," Andros, ' with violence of language, charged them anew, and ordered them to reconsider their verdict. Twice was this scene renewed ; but the jury, faithful to their duty and their honour, persisted in finding an acquittal. Carteret, however, was detained in custody until the controversy could be decided in England.
At once taking advantage of this virtual de- position, Andros again entered East New Jersey and appeared before its assembly. His power was such as to awe its members; but they evinced no disposition to yield to his arbitrary will. He endeavoured to intimidate them by exhibiting the king's patent to the Duke of
80
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1680.
York. "We are the representatives of the free- holders of this province," was their reply. " His majesty's patent, though under the great seal of England, we dare not grant to be our rule or joint safety; for the great charter of England is the only rule, privilege, and joint safety of every free-born Englishman." Their answer breathed the firmness of freemen, and the inde- pendence of New Jersey remained intact.
Andros did not confine his usurpations to the eastern province. Denying the West Jersey proprietors any right of jurisdiction, as early as 1676, he had imprisoned Fenwicke, the founder of Salem, for claiming the government of his share of the province; and had liberated him only upon his promise not to assume any autho- rity on the eastern shore of the Delaware. This outrage was repeated in 1678, it being alleged that Fenwicke had violated his word.
Other difficulties soon sprung from the same source. Pretending that the duke's authority extended over the whole of Delaware Bay, An- dros levied a tax of five per cent. on all English goods imported into the colony. The payment of these customs was rigidly enforced. No ex- emption was permitted " to the smallest vessel, boat, or person."
Provoked beyond endurance, the proprietors earnestly and often importuned the Duke of York for redress. At length, rather wearied
81
1680.] REMONSTRANCE OF PROPRIETARIES.
by the reiteration of these complaints than moved by their justice, he consented to refer the question to disinterested commissioners, who finally submitted it to the decision of Sir Wil- liam Jones, a leading lawyer of that day.
On behalf of the colonists, the Quaker pro- prietaries prepared an elaborate argument. It was worthy the founders of a free state. After deducing their title, they say :-
" An express grant of the powers of govern- ment, and that only, induced us to buy the moiety of New Jersey ; for the government of any place is more inviting than the soil ; and what is good land without good laws ? If we could not assure people of an easy, free, and safe government, liberty of conscience, and an invio- lable possession of their civil rights and free- doms, a mere wilderness would be no encourage- ment ; for it were madness to leave a free and im- proved country to plant in a wilderness, and give another person an absolute title to tax us all." Stating the tax imposed by Andros, they con- tinue :-
" For this we make our application to have speedy redress, not as a burden only, but as a wrong. Tell us by what right are we thus used ? The King of England cannot justly take his sub- jects' goods without their consent. This needs no more to be proved than a principle; it is a
82
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1680.
home-born right, declared to be law by divers statutes.
"To give up the right of making laws, is to change the government, and resign ourselves to the will of another. The land belongs to the natives ; of the duke we buy nothing but the right of an undisturbed colonizing, with an ex- pectation of some increase of the freedoms en- joyed in our own country. But what gain has it been to us, that now pay an arbitrary custom, neither known to England nor to New York, and those other plantations? We have not lost any part of our liberty by leaving our country.
" The tax is a very surprise to the planters. It is paying for the same thing twice over. Custom laid upon planting is unprecedented. Besides, there is no end of this power; for, since by this precedent we are assessed without law, and excluded from our English rights of common assent to taxes, what security have we for any thing we possess ? We can call nothing our own, but are tenants-at-will, not for the soil only, but for our personal estates. This sort of conduct has destroyed governments, but never raised one to true greatness.
" Lastly, to exact such an unterminated tax from English planters, and to continue it after so many repeated complaints, will be the greatest evidence of a design to introduce, if the crown
83
IMPORT-TAX ILLEGAL.
1681.]
should ever devolve upon the duke, an unlimited government in Old England."
Such, briefly, but in their own language, was the argument of the proprietors. It was suc-
cessful. Sir William Jones decided that the tax was illegal. His decision was sustained. The Duke of York acquiesced in it, and, in 1681, made a new and separate grant of West New Jersey to the trustees, relinquishing all claim to the territory and the government.
With this success the peace of West New Jersey seemed to be confirmed. Numerous set- tlers, mostly Quakers, continued to flock into the province. All went on smoothly.
Finding it inconvenient to leave England, Byllinge, who had been elected governor by the proprietaries, appointed Samuel Jennings, a man of some distinction already in the province, to be his deputy. On the 21st of November, 1681, Jennings convened the first legislative assembly. Having adopted a code of "Fundamental Con- stitutions," strictly in accordance with the libe- ral spirit of "the concessions," the assembly proceeded to enact six and thirty laws for the well-ordering of the province. For defraying the expenses of government, they ordered a levy of two hundred pounds, to be paid in corn, or skins, or money. A heavy penalty was imposed upon the sale of ardent spirits to the Indians. In all criminal cases-murder, treason, and
84
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1682.
theft excepted-it was provided that the person aggrieved might pardon the offender either be- fore or after condemnation.
During the following session, held in May, 1682, Burlington was erected into the capital of the province. That town and Salem were es- tablished as ports. To provide for that class of bound-servants who, to procure the means of coming to the country, had indentured them- selves to the more opulent colonists, it was en- acted that every such person might claim from his master, at the expiration of his indenture, a set of agricultural implements, necessary articles of apparel, and ten bushels of corn.
When the assembly again met, in 1683, a question of considerable importance was brought under deliberation. Byllinge, as proprietary, claimed, and had already exercised, the power of nominating the deputy-governor. From the first, his right to do so had been questioned, and the subject had excited no little discussion. As an intimation of his design to maintain this right, Byllinge appears to have resolved upon the removal of Jennings. The dissatisfaction of the colonists with a claim to any authority not springing from themselves, now came rapidly to a crisis. Besides, they were pleased with Jennings, and wished to retain him. Following the advice of Penn, the assembly amended the
85
CLAIMS OF COXE.
1687.]
constitution according to the prescribed method, and then elected Jennings as governor.
At a subsequent session, Jennings was deputed to proceed, with a coadjutor, to England, to ne- gotiate upon this subject with Byllinge. Before departing he nominated Thomas Olive as his deputy. Presently elected governor, Olive re- mained in that office until September, 1685. The mission of Jennings was only in part suc- cessful. A new and liberal charter was indeed obtained, but Byllinge would not renounce his claim. He soon afterward commissioned John Skene as his deputy. Though the assembly agreed to recognise this commission, it was with the plain reservation that they thereby lost none of "their just rights and privileges."
Byllinge dying in 1687, Dr. Daniel Coxe, of London, already largely concerned in West Jersey, purchased the interest of his heirs in the soil and government. Informing the provincial council of proprietors of what he had done, Coxe presently laid claim to the entire executive con- trol of the colony. Liberally confirming the " concessions" as a favour, he yet left nothing to the people as rights. Probably his energetic re- vival of the claim of Byllinge would have created more excitement than it did, had not a new and unexpected interference from another quarter sus- pended, for a time, the exercise of the powers of government, either by Coxe or by the people.
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86
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. -
[1682.
CHAPTER VII.
Quit-rent disputes-East New Jersey purchased by Penn and others-Extension of the partnership-Robert Barclay made governor-Appoints Thomas Rudyard his deputy-Session of the assembly-The province divided into counties-Ad- ministration of Rudyard-Gawen Laurie governor-Mixed character of population in New Jersey-Scottish emigrants -Scotof Pitlochie's book-Lord Campbell appointed deputy governor of East New Jersey-James II. violates his obli- gations-Difficulties with New York-New Jersey threaten- ed-Remonstrance of the proprietaries-Surrender of East and West New Jersey to the jurisdiction of the crown -- Andros commissioned governor-Flight of James II .- Re- sumption of the proprietary governments-Hamilton go- vernor-Land titles-Hamilton superseded by Basse-Inter- provincial disputes-Hamilton re-appointed governor-New Jersey becomes a royal province.
IN consequence of the decision of Sir William Jones, East New Jersey again reverted to the authority of Governor Carteret. But the quit- rent disputes being revived, the possession of the province seemed likely to prove more trouble- some than lucrative. Tired of their responsi- bility, the trustees of Sir George presently offer- ed his interest in the province for sale.
Encouraged by the success of their plantations on the Delaware, the Quakers of England re- solved to secure the opportunity thus offered of widening the field of their enterprise. Accord-
87
PURCHASED BY PENN.
1682.]
ingly, in the month of February, 1682, William Penn, and eleven associates of the Quaker per- suasion, became the purchasers of East New Jersey, for the sum of three thousand four hun- dred pounds.
Having prepared, for the encouragement of settlers, a brief eulogistic account of the politi- cal and natural advantages of the province, each of the twelve new proprietors chose a partner. These were principally Scotchmen, and many were not Quakers. Among them were the Earl of Perth and Lord Drummond, members of the Scottish privy council. As a majority of the five thousand inhabitants already in the colony belonged to other religious sects, this choice of partners was probably made to allay the jealousy with which it was reasonably to be expected that a government composed entirely of Quakers would be regarded. On the 13th of March, 1683, the twenty-four obtained from the Duke of York a new, special, and final patent.
Previously, the amiable and ingenious Robert Barclay, celebrated by his appellation of "the Apologist," himself one of the proprietors, had been appointed governor for life. Permitted to exercise his authority by deputy, he never visited the province. The gentleman he chose as his temporary representative, was Thomas Rudyard, an attorney of some distinction in London. In November 1682, Rudyard arrived in the pro-
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88
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1684.
vince, which he found tenanted by "a sober, professing people, wise in their generation, and courteous in their behaviour."
By the assemby, which soon after met, a num- ber of laws were enacted, slightly modifying the character, jurisdiction, and proceedings of the courts, and softening, in some degree, the se- verity of the earlier criminal and penal codes. The concessions of the late proprietaries were renewed, and the province divided into four counties, Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Mon- mouth.
Rudyard's administration seems to have been productive of considerable harmony among the divided and clashing interests that had hitherto distracted the province. But it was of brief duration. Having quarrelled with Groome, the surveyor-general, Rudyard suspended him from office. The English proprietors, however, sided with Groome ; and, though fully aware of the good Rudyard had already effected, they deter- mined upon his removal.
His successor was Gawen Laurie, a Scotch- man by birth, a member of the Society of Friends, and a merchant of London. Arriving in the province early in 1684, Laurie immediate- ly bestirred himself to build up the new town of Perth Amboy, so named in honour of the Earl of Perth. A favourite project of the pro- prietaries, this town had been laid out the
89
MIXED POPULATION.
1684.]
previous year, and already contained a few
houses. Here it was expected to raise up. a great commercial emporium, to rival New York ; but the destiny prefigured for the young city has never been realized.
New Jersey still bears evidence to the mixed character of her early population. To the Dutch colonists, New England Puritans, and English Quakers already in the province, a large accession of Scottish Presbyterians was now to be made.
The efforts of Charles II. to bring back Scot- land to Episcopacy, had met with no general op- position from the Presbyterians. Under the name of Cameronians and Covenanters, however, a few of their number still persisted in the de- termination to practise their faith. Rigorously persecuted, in consequence, and hunted like wild beasts, the despairing Covenanters occasionally rose against their oppressors. But every at- tempt to shake off the yoke of intolerance only recoiled upon themselves with redoubled violence.
In 1683, shortly after the final grant of East New Jersey to the twenty-four proprietaries, a fresh proclamation from the English government proscribed all who had ever communed with the rebellious covenanters. The lives of twenty thousand persons were thus put at the mercy of informers. The insurrection of Monmouth fol- lowed. A fearful and bloody revenge was in- 8*
90
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1685.
flicted upon the maddened insurgents. The whole Calvinistic population of Scotland was beset by proscriptions or penalties.
Writing at this time to the East Jersey pro- prietaries in England, Laurie urged them to hasten emigration. " Here wants nothing but people," he said. "Every proprietor's sending over ten people will bring all the division that hath been here to an end." Governor Barclay and others among the proprietaries were natives of Scotland. From that country efforts were immediately made to draw emigrants to the pro- vince. The persecution the people was there suffering, it was thought would induce them to accept readily an asylum beyond the Atlantic. Partial success only followed these efforts. With all they were forced to undergo, the Scots were not easily persuaded to exile themselves from their native land.
The accession of the Duke of York, as James II., to the English throne, in 1685, instead of bringing relief to the persecuted Cove- nanters, did but aggravate their sufferings. Crowded into prisons, numbers of them perished from thirst and suffocation. Hundreds of un- fortunate fugitives, after being tried by a jury of soldiers, were put to death in a body on the public ways. Women were bound to stakes set up in the sea at low water-mark, and there left to be drowned by the swelling waters.
91
SCOTTISH IMMIGRANTS.
1685.]
Wearied with persecution, the miserable Co- venanters were ready to seek peace by expatria- tion. It was at this moment that George Scot, of Pitlochie, at the instance of the proprie- taries, addressed to his countrymen a book entitled " The Model of the Government of the Province of East New Jersey in America," in which certain objections to emigration were re- futed, and the advantages offered by the province set forth in full. "It is judged the interest of the English government," he wrote, " altogether to suppress the Presbyterian principles ; the whole force of the law of this kingdom is levelled at the effectual bearing them down. The rigor- ous putting these laws in execution hath, in a great part, ruined many of those who, notwith- standing thereof, find themselves in conscience obliged to retain these principles. A retreat where, by law, a toleration is allowed, doth at present offer itself in America, and is nowhere else to be found in his majesty's dominions." Doing what he had so well advised others, the author himself, in August, 1685, embarked with his family and two hundred Scottish emi- grants, for the shores of East New Jersey.
The result of his little publication was most important and highly beneficial to the colony. Companies of Scotch Presbyterians speedily flocked into the province, in such numbers that,
92
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1686.
even at the present day, the character they then gave it is not entirely destroyed.
Still further to influence the tide of Scottish emigration, the twenty-four proprietors presently displaced Laurie, and conferred the office of deputy-governor on Lord Neill Campbell. Com- promised by some insurrectionary movements in Scotland, Campbell willingly accepted, and, in 1686, came out to the province. His stay, how- ever, was brief. In March of the following year, he sailed again for England, leaving An- drew Hamilton as his substitute.
Every thing promised well for the future of the province. But James, the king of Great Britain, was little disposed to fulfil the engage- ments he had entered into while Duke of York. Influenced by Dongan, the successor of Andros, he was preparing to wrest from the Jersey pro- prietaries the rights, powers, and privileges he had but lately, for the third time, confirmed to them. By extending his royal authority over New Jersey, his revenues would be largely aug- mented, and his cupidity speedily devised a scheme for effecting that object.
To prevent violations of the navigation laws, William Dyer had been appointed by Laurie collector of the customs in New Jersey. His appointment resulted in evil. Scarcely was his authority established, when the inhabitants found themselves obliged to enter their vessels and pay
1688.] SURRENDER OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. 93
duties at New York. Unjust as it was unpa- latable, this regulation was either slighted, or obeyed with hesitation. Dyer immediately com- plained of the opposition he encountered. With singular promptitude, the English ministry, in April, 1686, answered his complaint by ordering the issue of a writ of quo warranto against the proprietaries. New Jersey was threatened with being made " more dependent."
Aroused by this sudden stroke, the proprie- taries prepared an earnest remonstrance. But it was vain to appeal to the justice of James. Finding the king immovable, the proprietaries, in 1688, formally surrendered their claim to the jurisdiction of East Jersey, stipulating only for their right of property in the soil. Against West Jersey, where Coxe was still claiming ex- ecutive authority, a writ of quo warranto had likewise been issued. In October of the same year, the province was yielded up, on conditions similar to those stipulated by the eastern pro- prietaries. Thus all New Jersey, along with New York and New England, was brought under the jurisdiction of Andros, whom James had commissioned as governor.
. Noting the quiet compliance with which his arbitrary assumptions had been received, the king was dilatory in making good his acquisition. While the necessary grant of the soil to the pro- prietaries was yet unexecuted, the Revolution
94
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1692.
that placed William of Orange on the British throne arrested the completion of the whole design.
On the downfall of the House of Stuart, the proprietary governments of the two Jerseys were quietly resumed. In the eastern province, Ha- milton had been confirmed as deputy-governor by Andros. Doubting as to what would be his proper conduct in the changed condition of af- fairs, in August, 1689, he sailed to England, to consult personally with the proprietaries, leaving the inhabitants to the care of their town and county officers. From this period until 1692, East Jersey had no other government. Quarrel- ling among themselves, the proprietaries found it hard to exact obedience from their subjects, who rejected two successive governors, appointed after the death of Barclay-one in 1690, the other in the following year.
This difficulty, however, was arranged in 1692, by the selection of Hamilton, the former deputy, who was at the same time commission- ed as governor of the western province, where Coxe had finally abandoned all claim to au- thority.
For the following five years New Jersey en- joyed a period of comparative repose. The old dispute about land-titles, however, was recom- menced with considerable bitterness. Carried before the provincial courts, the matter was
95
BASSE APPOINTED GOVERNOR.
1697.]
decided against the claimants under the Indian title. But the subsequent annulment of this decision by a royal council, again laid the sub- ject open to discussion.
Though the administration of Hamilton had proved highly popular, the proprietaries, in 1697, were reluctantly compelled to revoke his commission, in consequence of a late parliament- ary enactment, disabling all Scotchmen from offices of public trust and profit.
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