USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. II > Part 42
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William Penn, as an active agent in the welfare of that part of New Netherlands now called New Jersey, becomes a subject for our consideration, and without going into minute details respecting his biography, I will consider some of the peculiarities of his life and character. In his political career, he endeavoured to assure to the people entrusted to him, both civil and religious liberty, yet he was the friend and favourite of the two infamous royal brothers, Charles and James. While they formed plans to deprive New England of her rights and charters, and sent their tools to execute them, they granted almost unbounded liberty to the Quaker settle- ments under William Penn.
His father had been severely treated by Cromwell, and was a friend to the restoration of the Stuarts, and they appear to have relied upon Penn and the Quakers, as the advocates of passive obedience and non-resistance in political affairs : they likewise wished to remove the sect from Great Britain, where they added numbers and strength to the nonconformists in religious discipline and the opposers of popery. They might further be satisfied, that after having deprived the New England colonists of their rights, there would be little difficulty in extending their despotick sway over the nonresisting Quakers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We shall see that in 16S6, James's governour of New York and Massa- chusetts, by his master's orders so far infringed the rights granted to the settlers of New Jersey, that Penn and his coadjutors defen- ded by remonstrance that, which James knew their principles for- bade them to defend by more effectual weapons against tyranny.
The immediate occasion of this remonstrance was a tax imposed
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by Andros, of ten per cent. on the importation of European mer- , chandize into West Jersey. I copy the greater part of this remon- strance, admirable notwithstanding its prolixity .*
"To those of the duke's commissioners, whom he has ordered to hear, and make report to him, concerning the customs demanded in New West Jersey, in America, by his governour of New York.
" 1st. The king has granted to the Duke of York a tract of land in America, consisting of several Indian countries, with such pow- ers and authorities as are requisite to make laws, and to govern and preserve the territory when planted: but with this restriction twice expressed and several times referred to, viz .- ' So always as the said statutes, ordinances, and proceedings, be not contrary, but as near as may be, agreeable to the laws, statutes, and government of this our realm of England.' In another place thus : ' And further, it may be lawful for our dearest brother, his heirs and assigns, by these presents, to make, ordain, and establish all manner of orders, laws, directions, instruments, and forms of government, and magis- trates fit and necessary for the territory aforesaid :' but still with this limitation : '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 thereto.'
" 2. The Duke of York, by virtue of this grant from the king to him, for a competent sum of money, (paid by the Lord Jolin Berkeley and Sir George Carteret) granted and sold to them, a tract of land, called now by the name of New Cesarea, or New Jersey ; and that in as ample manner as it was granted by the king to the duke.
" Thus then we come to bny that moiety which belonging to Lord Berkeley, for a valuable consideration ; and in the convey- ance he made us, powers of government are expressly granted ; for that only could have induced us to buy it ; and the reason is plain, because to all prudent men, the government of any place is more inviting than the soil; for what is good land without good laws; the better the worse. And if we could not assure people of an easy and free and safe government, both with respect to their spiritual and worldly property ; that is, an uninterrupted liberty of conscience, and an inviolable possession of their civil rights and freedoms, by a just and wise government, a mere wilderness would be no encouragement ; for it were a madness to leave a free, good, and improved country, to plant in a wilderness ; and there adven- ture many thousands of pounds, to give an absolute title to another
* Smith's History of New Jersey, pp. 117-123.
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person to tax us at will and pleasure. This single consideration, we hope, will excuse our desire of the government ; not asserted for the sake of power, but safety; and that not only for ourselves, but others ; that the plantation might be encouraged.
" 3. The Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, considering how much freedom invites, that they might encourage people to transport themselves into those parts, made and divulged certain concessions, containing a model of government. Upon these, several went, and are there planted ; the country was then pos- sessed, and the said government uninterruptedly administered by the said Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, or their deputy, for several years ; during which time no custom was demanded.
" 4. We dealt with the said Lord Berkeley, upon the sight of these concessions, and the presumption that neither he nor Sir George Carteret, would attempt to act any thing they had not power to do; much less, that they or either of them, would pretend to sell a power they never had ; since that would not only be a cheat to the people that dealt with them for it, but an high affront to the duke.
" 5. The moiety of New Cesarea, or New Jersey, thus bought of the said Lord Berkeley, we dispose of part of our interest to several hundreds of people, honest and industrious ; these trans- port themselves, and with them such household stuff and tools, as are requisite for planters to have ; they land at Delaware Bay, the bounds of the country we bought; the passage God and nature made to it ; at their arrival they are saluted with a demand of cus- tom of five per cent. and that not as the goods may be there worth, but according to the invoice as they cost before shipped in Eng- land ; nor did they take them as they came, but at pick and choose, with some severe language to boot. This is our grievance ; and for this we made our application to have speedy redress, not as a burden only, with respect to the quantum or the way of levying it, or any circumstances made hard by the irregularity of the officers, but as a wrong ; for we complain of a wrong done us; and ask yet with modesty, quo jure? Tell us the title by what right or law are we thus used ; that may a little mitigate our pain? Your an- swer hath hitherto been this : 'That it was a conquered country, and that the king, heing the conqueror, he has power to make laws, raise money, etc., and that this power jure regale, the king hath vested in the duke, and by that right and sovereignty, the duke demands that right we complain of' "
". . . . The king's grant to the Duke of York is plainly re- strictive to the laws and government of England, and that more than once, as is before expressed. Now the constitution and government of England, as we humbly conceive, are so far from countenancing any such authority, as it is made a fundamental in
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our constitution and government, that the king of England cannot justly take his subjects' goods without their consent. This needs no more to be proved, than a principle ; 'tis jus indigene, an home- born right, declared to be law by diverse statutes."
". . . To give up this (the power of inaking laws) is to change the government, to sell, or rather resign ourselves to the will of another ; and that for nothing. For under favour we buy nothing of the duke, if not the right of an undisturbed colonizing, and that as Englishmen with no diminution, but expectation of some increase of those freedoms and privileges enjoyed in our own coun- try; for the soil is none of his, 'tis the natives, by the jus gentium, by the law of nations ; and it would be an ill argument to convert to Christianity, to expel instead of purchasing them out of those countries. If then the country be theirs, it is not the duke's ; he cannot sell it; then what have we bought ? We are yet unan- swered in this point, and desire you to do it with all due regard to the great honour and justice of the duke. If it be not the right of colonizing there, which way have we our bargain, that pay an arbi- trary custom, neither known to the laws of England, nor the settled constitution of New York, and those other plantations ? To con- clude this point, we humbly say, that we have not lost any part of our liberty, by leaving our country ; for we leave not our king, nor our government, by quitting our soil ; but we transplant to a place given by the same king, with express limitation to erect no polity contrary to the same established government, but as near as may be to it ; and this variation is allowed but for the sake of emergen- cies ; and that latitude bounded with these words, for the good of the adventurer and planter."
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". . . . Besides there is no end of this power ; for since we are by this precedent, assessed without any law, and thereby ex- cluded our English right of common assent to taxes, what security have we of any thing we possess ? we can call nothing our own, but are tenants at will, not only for the soil but for all our personal estates ; we endure penury and the sweat of our brows, to improve them at our own hazard only. This is to transplant, not from good to better, but from good to bad ; this sort of conduct has de- stroyed government, but never raised one to any true greatness ; nor ever will in the duke's territories, whilst so many countries equally good in soil and air, surrounded with greater freedom and security. Whereas if the duke please to make all planters easy and safe in their liberty and property, such a just and free govern- ment will draw in other places, encourage persons to transplant into his country, and his disbursements will soon be at an end ; his reve- nues with satisfaction to the people, presently visibly augmented. Next this encourages shipping and seamen, which not only takes off abundance of idle people, but our native growth and manufac-
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ture, and the export of them ; and the import of the produce of these plantations, in a little time overflow and advance the revenue of the crown. Virginia and Barbadoes are proofs undeniable in . the case."
This remonstrance procured redress ; the commissioners were obliged to pronounce judgment in conformity with the opinion of Sir William Jones, that the legality of the taxes could not be defended.
Thus the unqualified assertion, that no taxes could be justly imposed upon them without their consent, was triumphantly as- serted by the settlers of New Jersey in 1680. Next year 16S1 the first representative assembly of West Jersey, was con- vened by Samuel Jennings. They enacted a code of fundamental constitutions, by which they were empowered to appoint and displace all persons holding offices. The governour was pre- cluded from any act obligatory on the people, without the concur- rence of their representatives, and from withholding his assent from their enactments. In all criminal cases, (except treason, murder, and theft,) the party aggrieved had power to pardon the offender, before and after condemnation. Landed property was made responsible for debt. Marriages were to be solemnized by justices of the peace. The sale of spirituous liquors to Indians was prohibited. Indented servants or redemptioners, were entitled, at the expiration of their time, to a set of implements of husbandry, ten bushels of corn, and a suit of clothes. No new settler was to be admitted, without satis- factory evidence of harmless character and sober life.
The assembly met annually, until the end of the proprietary government.
In 1631, Sir George Carteret's heirs or executors, offered East Jersey for sale, and William Penn, and eleven Quakers, 1652 purchased it in 1652 .* The population was then about four thousand, a majority not Quakers. The first twelve, soon admitted twelve others, among them the Earl of Perth, Chancellor of Scotland, and Lord Drummond of Gilston, secretary of state for Scotland. In favour of the twenty four, the Duke of York ex-
. Sir George Carteret dying in 1679, ordered the province of East Jersey to be sold to pay his debts, and William Penn with eleven others, purchased it. They added twelve others, making twenty-four, to whom the Duke renewed the grant in 1652. and they were established as a council of proprietors. with power to ap- poin: all officers necessary for the management of their property.
Shortly after, the persecution of the Presbyterians in Scotland, drove many to take refuge in New Jersey. The tyranny of James II and Landerdale, filled the jails and gibbets with conscientious religionists : they were hunted like wild beasts by the soldiers, and many, who did not fly volutarily to America, were transported thither, and sold as slaves.
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ecuted his third and last grant of East Jersey, and they appointed a council, to whom all the functions of the proprietary power were entrusted.
We have seen that from Long Island, some of the towns of East Jersey were settled. Others, English or New England-men, came from the eastern provinces. Some laws of this government are supposed to come from New England. Children striking or curs- ing their parents, were liable to the punishment of death : adul- teries, to flogging or banishment : fornication, to fine, llogging, or marriage : a thief was adjudged to restore three fold the value stolen, for the first offence ; for frequent repetition, death or slavery was the punishment. There was no law for the publick sup- port of religion, but the people of most townships had their minis- ters, and were generally sober, industrious, and thriving. Some years after it appears, that it was necessary to interdict the wear- ing of swords, pistols, or daggers .*
Governour Philip Carteret directed in his will, dated December 10th, 16S2, that his body, after death, should be deposited, if per- mission should be obtained, in the vault of Governour Stephenson, (as Stuyvesant was frequently spelt by the English of those days,) in the Bowery : otherwise liberty to be purchased to deposit it in the church at New York. His will is deposited in the eastern proprietors office. Where were his earthly remains placed ? 1633 Robert Barclay was among the proprietors of East Jer- sey, and in 16S3, was chosen governour. He was a Scotch gentleman, born at Urie : converted to Quakerism, he wrote in its defence his famous apology. He was in favour with Charles and James, perhaps for the same cause that they favoured Penn. Grahame remarks, that it appears, as a moral phenomenon, that such men as Barclay and Penn, the votaries of universal to- leration and philanthropy, should be found voluntarily associating in their labours for the happiness of an infant community, such instruments as Lord Perth, and other abettors of royal tyranny and ecclesiastical persecution in Scotland. Yet, Barclay addressed a noble admonition to Charles, where he says, after reminding him of his prosperity after adversity ; "If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give thy- self up to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condem- nation." Charles probably made a jest of this admonition, as we know the base and loathsome character of this slave to vice, and pensioner of France.
* See S. Smith's, Hist. of New Jersey.
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Many Scotch, Quakers, and others, emigrated from Barclay's native county of Aberdeen, to East Jersey during his govern- ment .*
James II. having ascended the throne, thought it beneath the king to be tied by the engagements of the duke, and he unceremoniously introduced New Jersey in his plan of annulling the charters of the American colonies, and in 16S6, writs of quo war- 16S6
runto were issued against both East and West Jersey. The proprietors of East Jersey presented a memorial to the king, in which they reminded him, that they had not received the grant of the province as a benevolence, but had bought it : and had been encouraged to make the purchase by assurances received from himself. The only answer they received from his mnost gracious majesty was, that he was determined to unite both East and West Jersey with New York, and the New England provinces, in one general government, dependant on the crown, and to be adminis- tered by Sir Edmund Andros.
16SS It appears, that the proprietors made no resistance, but abandoned the rights of the people, offering a formal sur- render of their patent, on condition that their own private property in the colonial soil, should be secured to them-but which business was in an unfinished state, when the tyrant was driven from the throne, and the people of New Jersey continued for a time longer, to go- vern themselves.
1692 The original proprietors of New Jersey had, by the year 1692, sold out: the government fell into weak or cor- rupt hands, and encouraged by William III., the governour and council of New York attempted to revive the old pretension of raising a revenue in the sister colony. The inhabitants were in- cluded in a tax laid upon those of New York. This was resisted, and with the same success as on the former occasion. New Jer- sey complained, and the lawyers to whom the case was referred, (Sir John Hawles, and Sir Creswell Levinz,) declared, that " no customs could be imposed on the people of the Jerseys, otherwise than by an act of parliament, or their own assembly." Thus, al- though the pretension of the governour of New York was defeated, a right in the English parliament was set up over these colonists for the first time.
Dissentions between different proprietors, and between them and the people, grew to such a height in the succeeding years, that the proprietors listened to the English ministers, (who to quiet the complaints made, and to increase the influence of the crown,
· For particulars see S. Smith.
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made overtures to them) and surrendered their powers of government. This was finally arranged at the commencement of the reign of Anne, and she sent her hopeful cousin, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, to govern and oppress both the Jerseys, and New York.
1702 At this time New Jersey is supposed to have had a po- pulation of from 15,000 to 20,000; Swedes, Dutch, Scotch, and English, keeping for a long time their distinctive characters. Kalm, the Swedish botanist, who found here the beautiful flower named by him, Kalmia, and amused himself with the wry faces his servants made on biting a persimmon, gives us a favourable descrip- tion of his American countrymen .*
The Dutch near the Hudson, are still Dutch, in language, sober industrious habits, and primitive dress ; the descendants of the Scotch, are only distinguishable from the English, as being less like the New Englanders. All were united by similarity of occu- pation, moral conduct, and a desire for a settled government, which they fondly hoped was obtained by the union in 1702, and the arrival of Cornbury ; for even his vices and despisable conduct, did not tend to divide the people, but rather engendered an universal spi- rit of resistance to foreign government, which grew and produced fruit in 1775. New Jersey had imbibed a love of liberty, from the early form of government, planted by the first settlers.
The surrender was made by an instrument,t headed thus : " Surrender from the proprietors of East and West New Jersey, of their pretended right of government to her majesty." This and some passages in the instrument evince a pitiable deterioration from the spirit of the first proprietors.
The instructions to Cornbury,# are drawn up carefully and with a view principally, to the interest of the mother country, at the same time, seeming to guard against the vices of the government. Slaves and slavery are recognized-Christian servants are to be armed and mustered in the militia-Quakers are exempted from oaths, and their affirmation admitted, and they are eligible to office -his utmost endeavours are to be used with the assembly, that an act be passed for raising and settling a publick revenue, for defray- ing charges of the government of the province, and a competent salary for himself, as well as all other officers-he is not to come to Europe or otherwise leave his government, (of the two provinces) without leave from the queen-he is impowered to impress seamen
* See Kalın.
t See Smith's history of New Jersey, p. 211.
+ Ibid, pp. 230 to 261.
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for English ships of war, but as complaints had been made, that captains of such ships bad, at their pleasure, made impre-sments, they are not to be permitted, but on application to him-(he is Vice Admiral, under Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark.) and is to send any captain who disobeys him, to said " dearest husband" -the acts of trade and navigation are to be strictly put in execu- tion-he is to " take especial care, that God Almighty, be devoutly and duly served throughout his government, the book of common prayer (as by law established) read each Sunday, and holy day, and the blessed sacrament administered, according to the rites of the church of England." Churches are to be built, and a com- petent maintenance assigned to the minister of each orthodox church, and a convenient house built for him, with a glebe or proportion of land. This is to be at the common charge : this means, that all the india- bitants, Quakers, Presbyterians, Dutch and Swedes, Scotch and English, are to maintain the minister of the church of England. The ministers are not to be preferred without a certificate from the Bishop of London. If any minister within his government, preaches "or administers the sacrament, without being in due orders, the go- vernour is to inform the said Bishop thereof .- My Lord Cornbmy is to discourage immorality, but is especially charged to ENCOURAGE " the Royal African Company," instituted for the purpose of stealing, kidnapping, and buying negroes from those encouraged to kidnap them, and for carrying then in chains to the plantations : and " that the said province may have a constant, and sufficient supply of merchantable negroes at moderate rates, be is to take care that payment be duly made" to these kidnappers. This is included in the service of God Almighty. The governour is to endeavour to get a law passed to prevent inhuman cruelty towards " Christian servants and slares," and against the wilful killing " of Indians and negroes," which is to be made punishable with death : and maiming, to be punished by a fit penalty. He is to find outthe best means to facilitate and encourage the conversion of negroes and Indians, to the Christain religion. He is to provide for the raising of Stocks and building of publick work-houses, "for the employment of poor and indigent people." He is to encourage the Indians to trade with England, rather than with any other country or nation. He is to dispose the assembly of New Jersey, to raise supplies for the defence of the province of New York. He is to prevent any per- son keeping a printing press, for printing, and no book, pamphlet, or other matter whatsoever, is to be printed, without his especial leave and license first obtained."
James Graham'e, considers the commission and instructions given to Cornbury, "an abstract of the political state of New Jersey, from the resumption of its charter, till the termination of its connex- ion with the British Empire."
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'The government was to consist of a governour and twelve coun- sellors nominated by the crown, and a house of assembly, consist- ing of twenty-four members elected by the people, qualified by possessing an hundred acres of land, or personal property to the value of fifty pounds.
The laws enacted by the assembly were subject to the negative of the governour : but if approved by liim, were to be transmitted to England for confirmation, or the contrary.
In 1695, the governour's salary in East Jersey was £150, in West £200. After 1702, the salary of the governour (of both united) was £600 .* As Smith mentions this sum, I conclude it was provincial currency. When Lewis Morris was governour, the salary was raised to £1,000.
The sessions of the assembly were to be held alternately at Perth Amboy, in East Jersey, and Burlington, in West Jersey.
The arbitrary rule of Cornbury I have mentioned elsewhere. Notwithstanding his notorious vices, he prevailed upon some of his counsellors, appointed by the crown, to subscribe an address to himself, beginning thus : "Your lordship has not one virtue or more, but a complete accomplishment of all perfections, and ex- pressing" says Grahame, " the most loyal abhorrence of the factious stubbornness of their fellow subjects." And this was received by the ministry for a time as sufficient testimony to prevent the 1708 effects of the complaints made against him. He was superseded in 170S, by Lovelace. As a comment on on whom, I may quote Oldmixon's words. " I confess it gives me a great deal of pain in writing this history, to see what sort of gov- ernours I meet with in the plantations."
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