USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 9
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 9
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Be that as it may, to serve as commissioners with Richard Nicolls, the King named Sir Robert Carr, George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, their instructions being to at once take physical possession of the new grant in its entirety, in the name of the Duke of York. The expedition, which weighed anchor at Portsmouth on May 15, 1664, was composed of several ships of war and one transport carrying a force of some four hundred and fifty troops. Arriving at Boston in due course, Nicolls, who was in command, after arranging for a gen- eral mobilization of the New England colonies, sailed for New Amster- dam. Here from his ship, the frigate Guerney, he sent Stuyvesant the following ultimatum, dated August 20, 1664:
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To the Honorable the Governor and chief council at the Man- hattans. Right worthy Sirs,
I received a letter by some worthy persons instrusted by you, bearing date the 19th of August, desiring to know the intent of the approach of the English frigates; in return of which, I think it fit to let you know that his Majesty of Great Britain, whose right and title to these parts of America is unquestionable, well knowing how much it derogates from his crown and dignity to suffer any foreigners, how near soever they be allied, to usurp a dominion, and without his Majesty's royal consent to inherit in these, or any other of his Majesty's territories, hath commanded me, in his name, to require a surrender of all such forts, towns, or places of strength, which are now possessed by the Dutch under your command; and in his Majesty's name I do demand the town, situate on the island, commonly known by the name of Man- hattoes, with all the forts thereunto belonging, to be rendered unto his Majesty's obedience and protection, into my hands. I am further commanded to assure you, and every respective inhabitant of the Dutch nation, that his Majesty being tender of the effusion of Christian blood, doth by these presents confirm and secure to every man his estate, life, and liberty, who shall readily submit to his government. And all those who shall oppose his Majesty's gracious intention, must expect all the miseries of a war, which they bring upon them- selves.
I shall expect your answer by these gentlemen, George Cartwright, one of his Majesty's commissioners in America, Captain Robert Needham, Captain Edward Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall, whom you will entertain with such civility as is due to them, and yourselves and yours shall receive the same from,
Worthy Sirs, Your very humble servant, RICHARD NICOLL.
On the same day, also from the Guerney, a proclamation signed by the four commissioners was sent by special messengers to all towns on the western end of Long Island but directed more specifically to the predominantly Dutch communities which had not as yet acknowl- edged the sovereignty of Connecticut. This proclamation read :
By his Majesty's command. Forasmuch as his Majesty hath sent us by commission, under his great seal of Eng- land, amongst other things to expel or to receive to his Majesty's obedience all such foreigners as have, without his Majesty's leave and consent, seated themselves amongst any of his dominions in America, to the prejudice of his Majesty's subjects and the diminution of his royal dignity; we, his Majesty's commissioners, declare and promise, that whoever, of what nation soever, will, upon knowledge of this proclama-
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tion, acknowledge and testify themselves to submit to this his Majesty's government, as his good subjects, shall be pro- tected in his Majesty's laws and justice, and peaceably enjoy whatsoever God's blessing and their honest industry have furnished them with, and all other privileges with his Majesty's English subjects. We have caused this to be pub- lished, that we might prevent all inconveniences to others, if it were possible; however, to clear ourselves from the charges of all those miseries that may in any way befall such as live here, and will not acknowledge his Majesty for their sov- ereign, whom God preserve.
Contrary to several published versions, Governor Stuyvesant did not meekly and promptly submit to capitulation. Practically alone of his official family, he expressed a determination to resist although well aware of the hopelessness of such a course. With characteristic stubbornness, he refused to disclose the contents of Nicolls' ultimatum except, under pressure, to his fellow officials. These in turn, no doubt swayed by Nicolls' promise to respect property and individual rights as well as by their realization that adequate resistance was impossible, made public the English terms and publicly recommended their acceptance.
Further pressure came from Governor Winthrop of Connecticut who, in a message to Stuyvesant and his council, advised immediate capitulation. This document, however, got no further than Stuyvesant who, having read its contents, promptly destroyed it to the further indignation of his councilmen. Ignoring their protests, the Governor sent a reply to Nicolls in which he flatly repudiated England's claim to any part of New Netherland and reviewed the various steps by which, he contended, Dutch sovereignty had been legally established. He cited the Hartford Treaty of 1650 as "sufficient proof" of Eng- lish recognition of Dutch sovereignty. "To prevent the shedding of blood in the month of February last," stated Stuyvesant, "we treated with Captain John Scott (who reported he had a commission from his Majesty), touching the limits of Long Island, and concluded for the space of a year." And finally: "We fear nothing but what God (who is as just as merciful) shall lay upon us, all things being in his gracious disposal; and we may as well be preserved by him with small forces as by a great army."
Stuyvesant's reply did nothing to alter the plans of the English commander who had meanwhile learned that the disposition of coun- cil and inhabitants as a whole was to meet his terms. Also he had been informed that Long Islanders generally, including those under the standard of "General" John Scott, stood ready to cooperate by land with the English fleet. When word of this course of develop- ments came to Stuyvesant, belatedly he appealed to Nicolls for more liberal terms. Advised however that nothing short of surrender would stay an attack, the director-general capitulated, six days after having received Nicolls' original ultimatum. Early in the morning of the following day, at Stuyvesant's bouwery, articles of surrender, twenty-three in number, were duly signed.
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They were, in the words of Thompson, "so framed as to protect the inhabitants in their rights, civil and religious, as citizens of the new government; to remove or remain at their pleasure, and to carry on trade and commerce as British subjects; the ports to be open to the Dutch vessels for six months; public writings and documents to be carefully preserved. All persons in office to remain therein till the time of a new election; previous differences and contracts to be determined according to the manner of the Dutch; the officers, military, and soldiers to march out with their arms, drums beating, colors flying, and with lighted matches; and those disposed to continue in the country to have fifty acres of land set out for each of them."
CHAPTER IV
The English Governors
T HE English conquest of New Netherland was consummated on September 8, 1664 (new style), with the ratification of the articles of surrender. Thus New Amsterdam became New York, and Long Island for the first time came under one government throughout its length and breadth. It was to remain in England's hands for more than a hundred years, but not as a part of the colony of Connecticut by which it had been rather loosely and quite ques- tionably annexed some two years before.
One of the first official acts of Governor Nicolls upon assuming civil jurisdiction over the Duke of York's grant was to more specifi- cally define its boundaries. In so doing, his first concern was in regards to Long Island which he and his fellow commissioners, after negotiations with the Connecticut authorities, announced "is to be under the Government of his Royal Highnesse the Duke of Yorke, as is expresst by playn words, in the said patents respectively."
The instrument covering this decision and signed by Commis- sioners Richard Nicolls, George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, was dated November 30, 1664, on which day also the assent thereto was signed by John Winthrop, Nathan Gould, Mathew Allyn, James Richards and J. Winthrop, for the colony of Connecticut. In this simple manner was Long Island made part and parcel of New York, so to remain through nearly three centuries down to the present time. That Connecticut released Long Island in exchange for other terri- tory within the New York area has been established by Morton Penny- packer whose research disclosed a letter to that effect from Governor Nicolls to Governor Winthrop.
In some respects English colonial government on Long Island proved more dictatorial and certainly less amenable to public remon- strance than had the Dutch. Nicolls not only named the members of his council but shared and controlled its powers. In place of burgo- master, schepen and schout, he appointed a mayor, aldermen and sheriff. Towards consolidating the new colony, he issued a call for the election in each town of two deputies to assemble at Hempstead on the last day of February, 1665, to declare their respective towns' areas and to submit proof thereof.
Although the call, which took the form of a circular letter, asked the various towns for their "best advice and information" in order to "settle good and knowne Laws within this government for the future," prior to the meeting Governor Nicolls informed Governor Winthrop that he himself had "made it my whole business to prepare a body of laws".
In notifying Nicolls of the election of William Wells and Captain John Youngs as its delegates, Southold Town expressed its desires thus :
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1-That there may be a Law inacted that we may enjoy our Lands in free sockedge we and our heirs forever.
2-That the freemen may have their choice every year for all their officers.
3-That every trained soldier may have the free choice of their military officers yearly if they see occasion and that we may not pay to any fortification but what may be within ourselves-because we are remote from all other Towns- And that the set soldiers may not be enjoined to train with- out the precincts of the town.
4 That we may have three Courts in the Town of Southold in a year, and that there may be chosen by the free- men one or two assistants to sit in Court with those that shall be magistrates and that they may have power to try all causes and actions except Capital matters, and that they may totally end all matters to the value of five pounds without any appeals.
5-That because of the General Courts and meetings are very remote from us, that therefore we may have some mitigation in our charge.
6-That not any Magistrate may have any yearly main- tenance.
7-That there be not any Rate, Levy or Charge, or money raised but what shall be with the consent of the major part of the deputies in a general Court or meeting.
The town delegates who assembled at Hempstead on the last day of February, 1665, to adopt what were to become known as the Duke's Laws, were:
New Utrecht-Jaques Cortelleau, Younger Hope.
Gravesend-James Hubbard, John Bowne.
Flatlands-Elbert Elbertson, Roeloffe Martense.
Flatbush-John Striker, Hendrick Gucksen.
Bushwick-John Stealman, Guisbert Tunis.
Brooklyn-Hendrick Lubbertsen, John Evertsen.
Newtown-Richard Betts, John Coe.
Flushing-Elias Doughty, Richard Cornhill.
Jamaica-Daniel Denton, Thomas Benedict.
Hempstead-John Hicks, Robert Jackson.
Oyster Bay-John Underhill, Mathias Harvey.
Huntington-Jonas Wood, John Ketcham.
Brookhaven-Daniel Lane, Roger Barton.
Southold-William Wells, John Youngs.
Southampton-Thomas Topping, John Howell.
Easthampton-Thomas Baker, John Stretton.
Westchester-Edward Jessup, John Quimby.
That this historic assemblage was by no means the voice of the people, as it has been rather loosely described by some writers, may be assumed from the fact that as early as the second day it adopted
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an "address", also probably prepared in advance by Governor Nicolls, "humbly and thankfully" advising the Duke of York of "our cheerful submission to all such laws, statutes and ordinances which are or shall be made by virtue of authority to your royal Highness, your heirs and successors for ever."
Neither the Duke's Laws as a whole nor the ingratiating "address" met with approval in the Long Island towns. As Thomp-
The Duke of York
son explains: "It was quite apparent that the people were to be allowed no share in legislation, and there was no intimation or encouragement that another assembly would be convened in the colony." In a letter to Governor Winthrop immediately following the meeting, Nicolls deplored the conduct of John Youngs of Southold and John Howell of Southampton who alone of the delegates, he reported, had refused to sign the address to the Duke.
It is pointed out by Morton Pennypacker that no complete record of the proceedings of the historic Hempstead meeting has been pre- served if, indeed, there ever was one. Nor were there issued more than a very few copies of the laws there enacted. Of the few original
L. I .- I-5
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copies still preserved few are identical. It is known that following the meeting which lasted ten days Governor Nicolls began to interpret those laws as he saw fit and where broad interpretation did not suffice to bend a statute to his purpose he showed no compunction in amend- ing it or repealing it to suit his need. Declared Thompson: "The Duke's Laws making no provision for a general assembly, the people had no voice in the government; but the governor had unlimited power, executive, legislative, and judicial."
The Hempstead meeting adopted English in place of Dutch town names such as Flatbush for Midwout, Flatlands for Amersfoort, New- town for Middleborough, Jamaica for Rusdorp, Brooklyn for Breuke- len, and Flushing for Vlissengen. It erected a shire to which it gave the name of Yorkshire and divided it into three Ridings: the East consisting of what is now Suffolk County; the West, composed of Staten Island, present Kings County and the town of Newtown, and the North, taking in all the rest of Long Island as well as Westchester.
A high sheriff was appointed for Yorkshire with a deputy for each of the three Ridings, to serve one year, while town justices of the peace were appointed for indefinite terms, to serve at the Gov- ernor's pleasure. The office of deputy was abolished in 1666.
Each town was empowered to elect a constable and eight (later four) overseers who served as assessors and with the constable com- prised the town's governing body. Each town was made responsible for its own poor. The constable and two overseers constituted the town court over which a justice of the peace was privileged to preside. Overseers also served as jurors in the Court of Assizes and the Court of Sessions, which latter tribunal, composed of justices from all towns in the Riding, convened twice yearly. The courts of town, sessions and assizes, stood in relation to each other somewhat as today's jus- tice of the peace, county court and Supreme Court.
The Duke's Laws were copied to a considerable extent from those in effect in New England and Virginia. They dealt with court proce- dure, inheritance, slavery, town boundaries and common lands, mar- riages, brewing, innkeepers, burials, capital offenses, live stock, religion, children, servants, physicians, slander, and other crimes, local officials, shipwrecks, military and many other matters which the colonies had from experience made subjects of the law.
Provision was made that the Court of Assizes, which convened annually, be composed of the Governor, his council, the high sheriff, and the justices of the peace. It could make, alter and abolish laws. It must be said for Nicolls that he did not always avail himself of the dictatorial power which this group of his own appointees gave him. On the other hand, there were occasions when the Court of Assizes showed little consideration for either property or human rights. Such an instance was its enforcement of the requirement, invoked by Nicolls, that all patents must be renewed at a charge of 2s 6d for each hundred acres. Towns which demurred on the ground that they would thus be paying for land to which they already had title eventu- ally learned that the Court of Assizes would, and in the case of
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Southold and Southampton actually did, enter judgment forfeiting "all their titles, rights and privileges to the land in the said Town- ships".
It may be readily understood that such policies were no more conducive to fostering loyalty between the towns and the colonial authorities than had the policies of Peter Stuyvesant, now a private citizen living quietly on his Manhattan bowery. When on June 22, 1665, Nicolls recommended that the towns prepare to defend the colony against "a threatened invasion by the States of the United Provinces," there was little favorable response. Fortunately, no invasion was attempted at this time.
Governor Nicolls voluntarily relinquished his office in 1668 and returned to England. Four years later, he gave his life for England during a naval engagement with the Dutch. Although during his brief term as governor of New York, he undoubtedly ruled with an iron hand and did little or nothing towards promulgating a truly representative government here, it must be said that he did not attempt to exploit the colony for his own profit or for the benefit of any special interests. His assumption of the role of dictator was quite in keeping with his determination to secure and safeguard the patent of the Duke of York and the sovereignty of England. In jus- tice to his memory it must be understood that he came as a conqueror of foreign lands, prepared to crush opposition where he found it, whether from the Dutch or from those Englishmen who had pre- viously come to America to escape the very things which he repre- sented. Though crushed in England, Cromwellian ideas and ideals were still rife in the American colonies.
Without granting the people whom he had come to rule a real voice in the colonial government, Nicolls inaugurated a fiscal system whereby the locally elected overseers served as assessors and the locally elected constable as tax collector, the latter paying out moneys on the high sheriff's warrant. Each Riding likewise received its funds direct from the towns but the over-all government of Yorkshire was to be supported entirely from duties imposed on exports and imports, a provision, it would seem, for the interest of the towns.
Nicolls' successor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, who arrived in New York September 1, 1668, to assume his duties, was perhaps a fortunate choice for the people of this colony, chiefly because of a weakness of character which could not successfully cope with the sturdy Islanders whom he had been sent to rule. A man of marked indecision, his tenure was distinguished by no outstanding achievement. Other than to straighten out the title to Staten Island by making a final purchase from the Indians, he did nothing to develop the colony nor to improve the conditions under which its inhabitants lived.
When the towns of Long Island, together with Westchester and East Chester, petitioned for a voice in legislation, the lessening of certain restrictions on trade, and other modifications of existing law, Lovelace ignored all but a few minor requests which he and his coun- cil grudgingly granted. By the same token, when the governor called upon these towns to raise funds for the purpose of defraying the cost of strengthening the defenses of Manhattan Island, they refused to
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comply unless he agreed to grant the major reforms which they had asked for.
At the same time, they branded the governor's demand for a direct local tax for shire expenses as contrary not only to local laws but to those of England, and, furthermore, that the right to tax as he saw fit gave him dictatorial power. That Lovelace was indeed not above assuming the role of dictator, had he possessed the strength of purpose to make it possible, is evidenced by a letter which he wrote to Sir Robert Carr expressing his conviction that the most effective system for dealing with the towns was "to lay such taxes upon them as may not give them liberty to entertain any other thoughts but how they shall discharge them."
It may have been that the colonists, disillusioned by having failed to obtain the freedom which Col. Nicolls had assured them would result from his conquest, now saw no great calamity to themselves in a change of sovereignty. Be that as it may, when in 1672 Holland and England again went to war, Lovelace was forced to turn to Dela- ware for additional troops for the fort on Manhattan Island which had been garrisoned by only one company of regulars, under Captain Manning.
Although New York at this time was a city of only 320 buildings, mostly located within a small area at the southerly end of Manhattan, it handled a great amount of the shipping for this part of the western world. Nevertheless, its defenses had been sadly neglected by Nicolls as well as by his successor. The one fort overlooking the river which led directly from the sea had but forty-six cannon and no great store of ammunition with which to withstand a prolonged assault. With the garrison increased to some 330 men by the arrival of the Delaware contingent, however, Lovelace showed little concern when it was reported that a Dutch fleet was on its way to attack the city.
As a matter of fact, as the days went by without the enemy appearing, the English governor sent the Delaware reinforcements back home, leaving the fort with only eighty regulars, while he him- self went to Connecticut to visit Governor Winthrop. While he was away, on August 7, 1673, twenty-seven Dutch ships carrying 1600 men suddenly arrived off Staten Island. On the following morning the squadron advanced up the Hudson, passed the fort in an exchange of shots and landed six hundred men just above the city. These were joined by a body of Dutch burghers recruited for the purpose, and the combined force marched southward under Captain Anthony Colve to engage the fort by land.
The conquest of New York on August 8, 1673, was as bloodless as had been that of New Netherland nine years before. Captain Man- ning, who was in command in the absence of Governor Lovelace, accepted the inevitable and surrendered much more quickly than had Stuyvesant to Colonel Nicolls. As had the latter, following his con- quest, Captain Colve immediately assumed control of the province as well as of the city, and as governor-general directed the confiscation of the Duke of York's holdings and those of Governor Lovelace. The latter, upon his return from Connecticut, was taken into custody by Colve and sent to Holland, a prisoner.
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New York now became New Orange while Fort James was given the name of Fort William Hendrick. As for eastern Long Island, which had never been a part of New Netherland, it now found itself included as spoils of war in the Dutch province. Nevertheless, Gov- ernor Colve took nothing for granted from this quarter and immedi- ately dispatched deputies to the east end towns to obtain their oaths of allegiance. He soon learned, however, that the English inhabitants of the East Riding of Yorkshire were no more agreeable now to acknowledging Dutch control than they had been before 1664.
Oyster Bay alone subscribed to the oath, perhaps because of its previous inclusion in New Netherland, while Huntington, without actually swearing allegiance, gave written assurance of its future fidelity to the new order. Brookhaven eventually acted similarly but the towns farther east refused to either subscribe to the oath or to otherwise recognize the sovereignty of Holland.
Southampton declared : "Wee utterly deny any other Souveraigne Lord over us than his Most Sacred Majesty of England and therefore cannot in conscience sweare to any foraine power." Southold, East Hampton and Shelter Island made it equally clear that they were of similar mind, while Brookhaven temporarily added confusion to the issue by making two separate replies signed by different persons, one agreeing to submit and the other refusing.
Councillor Cornelis Steenwyck, Captain Steyn and Lieutenant Quirynsen, representing the new government, were thereupon sent to the east end on the frigate Zee-hond, commanded by Captain Cornelis Evertsen, to enforce favorable action by the recalcitrant towns. Their destination was Sylvester (Shelter) Island, strategically located in Peconic Bay between the towns of Southampton, Southold and East Hampton. Their voyage, although it had far-reaching results, was not without a ludicrous side approaching the comic opera, as the good ship's journal describes it.
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