USA > New York > History of the state of New York. Vol. II, Pt. 1 > Part 8
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Long Isl- and affairs. 1 Decem.
Long Island being now settled under the Duke of York's authority, Nicolls, to conciliate its inhabitants, addressed a letter to Howell and Younge, who acted as their 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., IL, 341, 570-573 ; ili., 330 ; New Haven Rec., il., 555, 556 ; Smith, i., 36-38, 207; ii., 305, 303 ; Trumbull, i., 273, 523, 525; Wood's Long Island, 23, 170, 1:3; Thompson, i., 126 ; ii., 323: Dunlap, ii., App. cevi. ; ante, vol. i., $6, 193, 234, 235, 519.
* Col. Rec. Conn., i., 411 ; il., 341, 572, 573; iii., 330 ; New Haven Rec., ii , 551-557; Col. Doc., ill., 94. 250, 231. 235, 238, 247, 257, 393, 376, 406, 761 ; iv., 625; v., 698; vi .. 125, 770, SS5; vii., 503. 561, 5'6, 507 ; vill., 345; Hutch. Coll., 412; Smith, i., 38; Chalmers, i., 296, 576; Trumbull, i., 274 ; N. Y. IL. S. Coll. (1:09), 70.
57
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
as soon as the weather should permit, he would notify CHAP. II. them of the time and place of meeting. In the mean time, the existing magistrates should remain in their places un- 1664. 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 Decem. Hampton, at which, "understanding that we are off 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 York."*
In the mean time, the West India Company had informed 34 Oct. the States General of the English conquest of New Nether- land, by which the republic had "lost a province, the ap- pearance whereof was wonderful to behold." The States at once directed Van Gogh, their ambassador at London, ¿? Oct. to expostulate with the king, and demand " prompt restitu- tion and reparation." Van Gogh, in an audience with Charles, denounced the capture as " an erroneous proceed- 27 October. 6 Novem. ing, opposed to all right and reason, contrary to mutual The Dutch correspondence and good neighborhood, and a notorious ment de- govern- infraction of the treaty lately concluded." Finding that he could no longer dissimulate, the king replied with the New Neth- andacious 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 any authority having been thereby conferred upon the Dutch West India Company." The next day Clarendon wrote to Downing that the Dutch need 25 October. 7 Novem. not expect the king to restore his conquests ; " for they have no color of right 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- it 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., 20, 65, 00; Thompson's T .. I., i., 127, 311, 382, 383: il., 823, 324, SST; Would, 11 ; Dunlap, ii., App. xxxvii. ; Col. Doc., fii., So; Doc. Hist., i., 462; ante, p. 43.
nounce the
58
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. II. he should think fit to proceed against any Dutch that live in the fens in England, or in any other part of his domin- 1664. ions." Without stopping to demonstrate the transparent absurdity of this comparison, the Grand Pensionary peremp- torily replied that New Netherland " must be restored.""
25 Novem.
Orders to De Ruyter.
5 Deceni. Not long afterward Downing presented an insolent me- morial to the States General, in which any reference to New Netherland was avoided. It was now clear that no redress was to be expected from England. Secret orders Decem. were therefore sent to De Ruyter, who commanded the Dutch squadron on the coast of Africa, 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, New Netherland, Newfoundland, or other isl- ands and places under their obedience."
24 Novem. 4 Decein.
At the opening of Parliament, the king laid great stress upon the proceedings of the Dutch in Africa and the East Indies, but did not allude to his own treacherous conquest 6. Decem. of New York. A few days afterward Van 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 king's grant of New Netherland to the Duke of York.
36 Decem.
It was not 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 Privy Council immediately directed letters of reprisal to be issued against "the ships, 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.t
Hostilities begun by England.
* Col. Doc., ii., 272-995; iii., 77-81; Aitzema, v., 193 ; Scc. Res. Holl., ii., 415 ; De Witt, iv., 386, 357, 300, 391, 893 ; Holl. Merc., 1664, 17S; D'Estrades, il., 530, 538; Lister's Clar- endon, il., 262 ; iii., 346-351 ; ITume, vi., 355.
t Col. Doc., il., 285-208 ; iii., $5; Parl. Hist., iv., 206-303 ; Clarke's ,James II. , i., 401-404; Aitzema, v., 93, 24; De Witt, iv., 413; Sec. Res. Holl., ii., 450); Holl. Merc , 1664, 155, 186; Lister, il , 200 ; il., 852-355; Basnage, i., 714; Davies, iii., 27, 28; Pepy-, il., IS6, 132; Mar- tin, i., 262. Downing stopped at nothing to gain his object. He told Pepys " that he had so gno l spies that he hath had the keys taken out of De Witt's pocket when he was a-bed, and his closet opened, and papers brought to him and left in his hands for an hour ;" and "that he hath always had their most private debates that have been but between two or
50
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
Intelligence of the threatening aspect of affairs in Eu- CHAP. II. rope had meanwhile reached Nicolls by way of Boston. 1664. As a measure of precaution, he ordered all the estate of 13 Deceni. the West India Company in the hands of Stuyvesant and 24 Decem. Van Ruyven to be put under arrest. A few days after- 27 Decem. ward all persons were directed to report what they knew Action of about the property thus sequestrated to the benefit of the Nicolls. Duke of York."
The West India Directors, on their part, felt the loss of New Netherland 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 New York, with a dispatch to Stuyvesant, requiring him to
18 Novem.
The West India Con- come home and give "by word of mouth more comfort? pany recall Stuyve- than his letters had afforded. They also desired Van Ruy- sant. ven to save what he could of their property.
When these letters were received at New York, Nicolls, 1665. anxious for news, required Stuyvesant and Van Ruyven to 25 Feb. bring them to him. As the West India Company appeared determined to annul the capitulation and retake the prov- ince, he felt himself " obliged so far to abide their displeas- 23 Feb. 5 March. ure as to seize upon their effects, and to remit the decision Moll- Prizes the to his majesty, whether, after such a letter, they ought to company . claim any benefit by articles which in so contemptuous a estate. manner they have disavowed."
Stuyvesant, however, could not avoid going to Holland to defend his action ; and Nicolls granted him a passport i 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 Van Ruyven wrote to the Amsterdam directors that it was syas. "impossible to keep" New Netherland against the "vast, overwhelming force of the assailants;" and that, if their
21 April.
20 April.
teve of the chief of them brought to him in an hour after, and an hour after that hath sent $ ? ! thereof to the king."- Pepys, iv., [2, 73; see also Temple's Works, i., 207.
' Cal. Doc., iii., S4; Gen. Ent., i., 76, 78, 79; Col. MSS., xxii., 1; Smith, i., 38.
60
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
i% May. Stuyvesant returns to Holland.
CHAP. IL honors had been personally present, they would, " without 1665. 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 to prevent it." A few days afterward Stuyvesant appear- ed, for the 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 cighteen 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 religion.""
2 Feb'ry.
New city officers.
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 burgomasters and sche- pens named their successors, as they had done under the Dutch goverment. This they did on the usual day, and in pursuance of the sixteenth article of the capitulation. The new officers were confirmed by Nicolls, 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, drawn 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 his 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 provincial and the city authorities.
6 Feb'ry.
* Col. Doc., il., 361, 365, 369, 377, 420, 470, 744; iii., 164; Trumbull Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc., xx., 73; Hutch. Mass., i., 231, note ; Gen. Ent., i., 168, 169, 170; New Amst. Rec., v., 755; Val. Man., 1-61, 620, 621. Stuyvesant, accompanied by ÆEgidius Luyek, 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.
T
€1
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
By the capitulation, the burgomasters were bound to pro- Cuar.II. vide quarters for the soldiers who could not be lodged in the fort. Nicolls therefore proposed that one hundred 1665. 28 March. of them should be quartered among the inhabitants, who Soldiers were to be compensated ; and that, in consideration of quartered. 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 comply with the governor's req- uisition ; but they were so unsuccessful that he accused 6 April. them, apparently without justice, of sloth. The English soldiers were quarrelsome and insolent, and the Dutch burglers 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, 10 April. to the satisfaction of all parties, under the supervision of Captains Delavall and Salisbury."
The provincial revenue had, up to this time, been left Provincia! unsettled. Two months after the surrender, Nicolls had revenue. directed that the customs rates, "according. to English law," should be paid to Delavall, the collector. Ile now enacted that, until farther order, imported liquors should 27 Feb'ry. be taxed ten per cent., Indian goods ten, other goods eight, and English manufactures 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.t
Nicolls, 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 Vineyarda Long Island, and manufacture wine, the governor granted 10 Jan'ry. him several special privileges. All the produce of Rich- ards's vines, 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 .. 650, 052, 718-795, 737-748; vi., S6, ST ; Gen. Ent., i., 83, 84; Col. Ter .. 01. 117: Val. Man., 1818, 125; 1850, 196; 1861, 603-620; ante, vol. i., 548, 578, 613, 443, 416, 162. Among the burghers thus assessed, Jeronimus Ebbinck, Frederick Phillipse, Fx:// Stuyvesant, Cornelis van Ruyven, Paulus Leendertsen van der Grist, Johannes van Lugo and Oloff Steven-en van Cortlandt paid four guilders a week ; Allard Anthony, Jo- à shoes de Peyster, Jacob Kip, Simon Jansen Romeyn, and Carel van Brugh, three guilders; 'as A. retten Bout, Evert Duyckinck, Johannes De Witt, Hans Kierstede, Jacob Lewler, and 14. 15% Richards, two guilders; Isaac Bedlow, Augustine Meermans, Egidius Luyck, and Bexxx them, one padder. The Dutch domines were not assessed.
" A . G. ZEL, L, 03, 112, 113; Thompson, i, 144.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Char. It. any person who, during that time, should plant vines in 1665. any part of the province, 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."*
January. Royal com- mis-ioners in Now En-
glaud.
4 Feb'ry.
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 Nicolls or Carr. The governor of New 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 New York, and went on to join his col- leagues at Boston. The commissioners, finding much op- position there, determined to visit the other colonies, and wait until the next April before opening their business with Massachusetts, when they hoped that Nicolls 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.t
Policy of Nicol!s.
Meanwhile, the details of the system upon which he was to administer his government in New York had seriously occupied the attention of Nicolls. The policy of the Duke of York was to win the Dutch, who were three quarters of the population, to become contented English 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 New Netherland. The deputy gov- ernor of the proprietary and his council were now the ex- ecutive authority of New York. Nicolls 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 Netherland proto- type, was the supreme tribunal of the province, having both common law and equity, as well as original and appellate
Court of Assizes.
" Deeds, fi., ST ; Ilist. Mag., vii., 30. New Netherland was famous for its native wines before 1650: Col. Doc., i., 277. Lord Bellomont, in 1700, wrote enthusiastically about the "fair clusters of grapes" which he saw about Albany : Col. Doc., iv., 787. Denton, 14, speaks of " grapes great and small" as natural to Long Island.
+ Col. Dee .. !!!. , 64, $3, 84, 87-59, 95 : Mass. I. S. Coll., xxxvi., 532; Mass. Rec., iv. (ii.), 141; Plymouth Bec., iv., $5; R. I. Rec., ii. 00. 86-89, 91, 93 ; Palfrey, ii., 597-606 ; Barry, i., 396; Arnold's Rhode Island, i., 314.
63
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
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 1665. the peculiar condition of New York 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, Ridingg of and, like its English namesake, was divided into three dis- Yorkshire. 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 High-sher- every year over the whole of Yorkshire, and also justices tices. iff and jus- 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 Court of times a year, in which the governor or any counselor might Sessions, 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 an At. or's will, and they were expected to perform their legisla- tive 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 inade. Before long, it is true, the Court of Assizes delib-
* Chalmers's Pol. Ann., i, 555, 596; Rev. Col., i., 117; Col. Doc., ill., 199; N. Y. H. S. CA1, 1., 321, 536, 942. 559, 374, 885, 301; ante, vol. i., 163, 247, 276, 277, 327, 405, 414, 431. 457. 540, 548, 570-375, 720. Chalmers, in Pol. Ann., i., 575, says that Nicolly " erected," and ! Rev. Col .. i., 115, that he "continued," the Court of Assizes, one of " the prior customs of the Dutch," The erroneousstatements of Smith, i., 41, 47, on this point, are corrected by 1 Lalmere. Pol. Ann., i., 546, and by Wood, 20, note. I can not doubt that the Court of As- Hex was established, if it was not completely organized, before March, 1665, the period stated by Whol ; compare I. B. Dawson, and N. Y. H. S. Coll. (1SCO), 76.
:
64
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHLAP. IT. erated with closed doors upon the general concerns of the 1665. 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 his own approval. These justices, he complacently assumed, would be chosen by the people themselves as "their representatives, if an- Purpose of other constitution were allowed." Moreover, the Court of the Court of Assizes. Assizes was the most convenient place for the publication of any new laws, or of any business of general concern. In establishing 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. Nicolls 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 curtail his own vast authority."
The governor and his 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 like the New 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 despotie patent of the Duke of York. When Charles the Second granted New Netherland to his broth- er, he affected to consider it a resumption of British terri- tory, the possession of which England had never enjoyed, Legaleffect and Holland had maintained for half a century. In re- ality, he obtained possession only by a conquest from the Dutch, and upon articles of capitulation. Excepting Aca-
of the En- glish con- quest.
* Col. Der., ii., 206 ; iii., 230; Chalmers'a Ann., i., 581, 600; Court of Assizes, il., 320, 325, 414; Wood, 20, 91 ; Thompson, i., 141, 142; 2.ost, p. 203.
65
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
dia and Jamaica, New York was the first colony which the CaAr. IL. English arms ever gained. The rights which the king thus acquired over the Dutch territory were those of a 1665. conqueror, limited, however, by the terms agreed upon at the surrender. This principle did not affect that part of Long Island which 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, power to of York's 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 Nicolls 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 discipline 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."
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