USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. By Hiland Hall > Part 3
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When King Charles came to the throne in 1660 he found the Dutch commerce recovered from the shock of the previous war, and in a flourishing condition. In fact the Dutch had become successful commercial competitors of the English in all parts of the world. They had trading establishments in the East Indies, on the coast of Africa and in America; and by their industry and frugality were enabled to undersell the English in every market. and to retain pos- session of the most lucrative branches of commerce. This success naturally produced a hostile feeling among the English merchants. The directors of the East India company complained of their formid- able Batavian rivals. The African company of which the king's brother, James Duke of York, was governor, denounced the Dutch West India Company, which had striven to secure its trade on the
Brodh., p. 582-6. Ling., vol. 10, 379-87, and vol. 11, 30-34.
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Gold coast from the participation of the English. James, a man of narrow mind and unforgiving temper, had been libeled in Holland, and he became the advocate of his African company with the king and with parliament, and in February 1664, without any declaration of war, an expedition, with the consent of the king, was secretly dispatched by the duke against the Dutch possessions in Africa.
There were special grounds of complaint against the Dutch of New Netherland. Their right to the territory they occupied, had always been denied. They were complained of as intruders at the north by Connecticut, and at the south by Lord Baltimore, the pro- prietor of Maryland. And recently the Duke of York had become personally interested in opposition to their territorial claims, by the conveyance to him from Lord Stirling, of a supposed title to Long Island, which title the Dutch had resisted. The Dutch were also accused, and doubtless justly. of evading the navigation acts which prohibited all foreign trade with the English colonies. The farmers of the revenue complained that traders to Virginia. New England. Maryland and Long Island. were constantly conveying great quanti- ties of tobacco to the neighboring Dutch plantations, by which they alleged the revenue was defrauded " to the amount of ten thousand pounds per annum and upwards."
To remedy all these evils at once, and at the same time to strike a blow at the prosperity of a rival. the conquest of New Netherland was resolved upon. 1 charter designed to include the Dutch possessions comprising Long Island, and also other lands which had been released by Lord Stirling. was issued by the king to the Duke of York, under date of March 12. 1664. and the duke as lord high admiral was authorized to employ the necessary force to make his grant available. He accordingly detached for that service. four vessels of war. having on board about four hundred and fifty soldiers. The command of the expedition was entrusted to Colonel Richard Nicolls who had served with James on the continent and was one of the gentlemen of his bed chamber. Nicolls was also appointed to be the duke's deputy governor. after the Dutch possessions should have been reduced. With Nicolls, were associated Sir Robert Carr, Col. George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, as royal commissioners to visit the several colonies of New England. These commissioners, or any three of them. of whom Nicolls was to be one, were clothed with extensive powers, among which was authority to ascertain the limits of the several colonies and adjust disputes between them in regard to boundaries. They were furnished with detailed instructions in regard to those and other matters, and the New England governments
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were required by royal letters " to join and assist them vigorously " in reducing the Dutch to subjection.1
The expedition left England early in May, but the vessels were separated on the way, and owing to a variety of causes, which it is unnecessary to detail, the squadron was not united and ready to attack the Dutch possessions until late in the summer. On the 31st of August, Col. Nicolls, having been joined by Gov. Winthrop of Connecticut with a body of volunteers from that province, appeared before New Amsterdam and made a formal demand of Gov. Stuyve- sant for its surrender to the English crown. After a negociation of several days commissioners were mutually appointed, who agreed upon terms of submission, highly favorable to the Dutch, and New Amsterdam, with its immediate dependencies, was formally surrend- ered into the possession of the English on the Sth of September, 1664. Expeditions were sent up the Hudson, and also to the South river, and on the 24th of September Fort Orange, now Albany, capitulated, and the Dutch possessions on the Delaware were captured on the first of October, by which the conquest of New Netherland was completed .?
It is proper here to state that prior to the surrender of the charter of the council of Plymouth to the crown in 1635, that com- pany in the distribution of its favors to its members, had conveyed to the Earl of Stirling, the territory between the Kennebeck and St. Croix rivers in the present state of Maine; and also Long Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The earl's title had been pur- chased by the Duke of York, and the charter of King Charles to the duke, of March 12, 1664, was designed to confirm this purchase to him, as well as to embrace the Dutch possessions of New Nether- land.3
The operative words of the charter were as follows, viz :
"Charles the Second by the grace of God king etc. *
* * to all to whom these presents shall come greeting. Know ye that wee for divers good causes and considerations us thereunto moving have etc. * and by these presents etc. *
* * do give and grant unto our dearest brother James Duke of York, his beirs and assigns all that part of the main land of New England begin-
' Col. His. V. Y., vol. 3. 41 -56. Brodh., chap. xx.
* Ling., vol. 11, p. 271. Hume, vol. 6, p. 36. Col. IIist. N. Y., vol. 3, p. 12-65.
3 Pemaquid papers in Maine His. Col., vol. 5. N. Y. His. Col., vol. 3, p. 606. William&m's Maine, vol. 1. p. 256 -8, and 407. Massachusetts Ilis. (' ... vol. 6, 185 - 189. Thompson's Long Island, vol. 1, p. 117 - 121.
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ning at a certain place called or known by the name of St. Croix, next adjoining New Scotland in America, and from thence extending along the sea coast unto a place called Potnaquine or Pemaquid, and up the river thereof to the farthest head of the same as its breadth northwards; and extending from thence to the river Kinebequi, and so upwards by the shortest course to the river Canada north- wards, and also all that island or islands called by the several name or names of Mattowacks or Long Island sitnate lying and being towards the west of Cape Cod, and the Narrow Highgansetts, abutting upon the main land between the two rivers there called or known by the several names of Connecticut and Hudson's river together also with the said ricer called Hudson's river, and all the land, from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware Bay ; and also all those several islands called or known by the names of Martin's Vineyard and Nantukes or otherwise Nantucket."!
It will be perceived that nearly all this long description is appli- cable to territory to which the Duke of York claimed to have a previous title under the crown, which the charter was designed to confirm to him ; and that the only words which purport to convey to him steh territory are the following viz : " together with the said river called Hudson's ricer, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut ricer to the east side of Delaware bay."
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Whether this language be supposed to have been intended to comprise all the land westward from every part of Connecticut river, that is, westward from its whole length, as was afterwards contended by New York, corresponding with the length of Delaware bay, or only from the lower portion of it. it will be readily seen, from what has been before shown. that the grant must be inoperative and void for a very great portion of it. for the reason that the king had already parted with his interest in it, by granting it to Massachusetts and Connecticut ; both their charters extending west to the Pacific ocean. Even if it should be admitted that these grants of Massachu- setts and Connecticut could not legally take effect upon territory, which at the time of making them was in the possession of the Dutch, the difficulty with the charter to the duke would not be thereby removed. for there can be no pretence whatever, that the Dutch, at the dates of either of these prior grants, had any posses- sions as far eastward as Connecticut river, or even as far as twenty miles east of the Hudson, where the castern line of New York was subsequently established.
1 Col. His. N. Y., vol. 2. p. 295. U. S. Land Lairs, vol. 1, p. 80.
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But in addition to the improbability that the king would designedly grant to the duke, a large extent of territory which had already been granted to others, a great portion of it. that of Connecticut, only two years previous, and actually occupied under the charter, there are other strong, if not conclusive reasons for believing. that the river Connecticut was not intended to be a definite boundary line, but rather an outer limit within which New Netherland, the object of the grant, was supposed to be included. Upon this point the following facts and observations are submitted.
1. The language of the description in the duke's charter is so imperfect and uncertain. that it is impossible to mark out from it any definite extent of territory. It has no interior boundary to the northward, and no two persons would be likely to agree in conjectur- ing what it should be. This uncertainty does not arise from an erroneous or mistaken description of such boundary, but from the absence of all attempt to designate any. A line drawn from the source of Connecticut river to the head of Delaware bay, according to the most natural import of the language, would include " all the land between " the two, but by reference to a map it will be seen that it would cross the Hudson river some sixty or seventy miles below Albany, and would form a territory of such extreme length, narrow width, and irregular shape, as to render it quite absurd to suppose that any such boundary could have been designed. It would be much more reasonable to think it was expected that the inner boundary would be a line drawn from the head of Delaware bay to the Connec- ticut river, as nearly as might be, parallel to the sea coast. Such a conjecture would be favored by the fact that, little or nothing, was then known in England of the interior of the country, or of Con- necticut river, and that the possession and control of the bays, mouths of rivers and lands on the coast, was the great and leading object of the crown, as well as of its grantees.' If it be said that
' In a letter of instructions from the colonial assembly of New York, to Mr. Charles, the assembly's agent in England, in 1750, it is claimed that the northern boundary of New Jersey at the most was the head of Delaware bay and not at latitude 41 degree 40 minutes, north, as described in the grant of the duke of York to lords Berkley, and Carteret, "because," to use the language of the letter, "the said duke could not extend his grant to them higher ou Delaware bay or river, than was granted to him by his brother King Charles the second, the north boundary of which grant from King Charles we take to be at Reedy island, or the head of Delaware at that place where that river divides itself into two branches, commonly called the Forks of Delaware," Reedy island, which was thus properly
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" Hudson's river " formed a part of the grant and that the interior boundary should be modified by that part of the description. the difficulty will, if possible, be still further increased. How. it may be asked, shall it be modified ? Can any one tell ? Can any one mark out the lines of modification ? The natural inference from the con- fused language of the charter as well as from all the circumstances attending its issue, is, that the description was designed to point out New Netherland as the object of the grant. leaving its extent and limits, then imperfectly known to the crown. to be afterwards ascer- tained and determined. It may be added that under this view of the charter to the duke his grant may be made to extend westward to Lake Erie and northward to Ontario and Canada, covering terri- tory which was claimed by New Netherland under the Dutch. and which now forms a large portion of the state of New York. but which, upon any construction depending on the language of the charter, would be excluded from its limits.
2. But there was an all powerful reason for not describing New Netherland, as such. in the charter. The English government had never formally admitted the right of the Dutch to any part of their American possessions, but had always insisted that they were unlawful intruders upon English territory. This claim of the wrongfulness of the Dutch possessions, was strongly declared on the king's instructions to his commissioners and made the ground upon which the expedition against the Dutch was to be justified. The king could not, therefore, recognize the existence of their territory in his grant withont abandoning the habitual pretensions of his government and depriving himself of the best excuse he could possibly make for taking forcible possession of it. He was conse- quently under a controlling necessity to treat New Netherland in his charter as English territory. and this was accordingly done.1
3. But if the king had desired in his grant to designate a line as the western boundary of the New England provinces, he would have found great difficulty in accomplishing it, in a definite and satis- factory manner. A line had indeed been agreed upon at Hartford, in 1650, by treaty between the Dutch governor and the New England commissioners, which had been ratified by the States General of Holland. and was admitted by the Dutch to be their eastern boundary. They made no claim beyond it; but the line had not been recognized
claimed as the head of Delaware bay, is about 25 miles above Cape May, and 20 below Philadelphia .- Smith's Non York, vol. 2. p. 159, 160, 161.
1 Col. His. V. Y., vol. S. p. 2. ST. 175.
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EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
by the English government ; by which government the existence of any Dutch territory and consequently of its having any boundary whatever, was denied. The line of that treaty could not therefore be adopted in the charter, even by the use of new and indirect language, without impliedly conceding a right in the Dutch to the westward of it, which concession was by all means to be avoided. There was no river or other natural object between the Connecticut and the Hudson, which could be referred to as a proper boundary, and for these reasons there appears to have been an imperious ne- cessity of adopting some such comprehensive description as that found in the charter. The Dutch, by their possession of the Hudson river, had acquired a monopoly of the trade with the northern and western Indians, which was deemed of much importance, and hence the charter, so far as regards the main land, first grants " Hudson's river," and then to cover any other possessions the Dutch might have, specifies " all the land from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay," leaving the limits of New Nether- land towards New England, to be adjusted by the commissioners to out be sent met with the expedition for its conquest. ' Such adjustment it will be found was accordingly made by them.
On the 13th of October, 1664, within less than two weeks after the conquest of New Netherland had been completed, the assembly of Connectient appointed five commissioners. at the head of whom was Governor Winthrop, who had been a party to the surrender of the Dutch, to agree upon and settle with the king's commissioners the boundary line between that colony and the new province granted to the duke. These commissioners soon afterwards repaired to New York, and the king's commissioners after a full hearing made their decision and award in regard to the conflict of boundaries in the two charters, which was formally accepted and agreed to by the commissioners of Connecticut. This award is deemed of sufficient importance to justify its insertion at length. It is as follows, viz :
1 The Dutch possessions on the west side of the Delaware were treated by the Duke of York as covered by his grant though clearly beyond its limits und within the previous grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore. They were alsosubsequently, in 1681, included in that of Pennsylvania. Penn purchased of the duke his right to the territory in order to strengthen his claim. This claim of the duke and the importance which seems to have been attached to it, is additional evidence that the possessions of the Dutch, rather than the indefinite territory in the charter was understood to be the object of the grant, Douglass's Summary, vol. 2. p. 297. Hildreth, vol. 2, p. 65, 71. Bancroft, vol. 2, 885, 286. Col. His. N. Y., vol. 3, p. 290, 840, 341.
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" By virtue of his Majesty's commission we have heard the differ- ence about the bounds of the patents granted to his royal highness the Duke of York and his Majesty's colony of Connecticut ; and having deliberately considered all the reasons alleged by Mr. Allyn Senior, Mr. Gold, Mr. Richards and Capt. Winthrop appointed by the assembly held at Hartford the 13th of October, 1664, to accom- pany John Winthrop. Esq., the governor of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut, to New York, and to agree upon the bounds of the said colony, why the said Long Island should be under the government of Connecticut (which are too long to be here recited). We do declare and order that the southern bounds of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut is the sea, and that Long Island is to be under the government of his royal highness the Duke of York as is so expressed in said patents respectively.
And also by virtue of his Majesty's commission and by the con- sent of both the governors and the gentlemen above named, we also order and declare that the creek or river called Mamaroneck which is reputed to be about thirteen miles to the east of Westchester, and a line drawn from the east point or side where the fresh water falls into the salt, at high water mark, north-northwest to the line of the Massachusetts, be the western bounds of the said colony of Connec- ticut ; and all plantations lying westward of that creek and line so drawn to be under his royal highness's government, and all planta- tions lying eastward of that creek and line to be under the govern- ment of Connecticut.
Given under our hands at James Fort in New York on the island of Manhattan, this 4th day of December, 1664.
RICHARD NICOLLS. GEORGE CARTWRIGHT. S. MAVERRICK.
We the governor and commissioners of the general assembly of Connecticut, do give our consent to the limits and bounds above mentioned as witness our hands.
JOHN WINTHROP. ALLYN SENIOR.
RICHARDS.
GOLD.
JOHN WINTHROP JR. 1
At the time of the conquest of New Netherland its whole popu- lation was probably less than ten thousand, fifteen hundred of
1 Documents of the N. Y. Senate, 1857, vol. 4, No. 163, p. 102. Smith's, N. Y., vol. 1, p. 36.
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EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
of which might have been upon Manhattan, now New York island. The population of the colony of Connecticut exceeded that of New Netherland, more than three quarters of which would have been within the duke's patent, if it had been held to extend eastward to Connecticut river.
This early adjudication and agreement, by which any claim on the part of New York to extend eastward to the main part of Connecticut river was foreclosed and abandoned, is confirmatory of the reasons before given to show that that river was not named in the duke's char- ter as a definite boundary, but merely as a limit which would make its description include the Dutch possessions, and that the actual extent of his territory towards New England was intentionally left to be ascertained by the commissioners under whose superintendence its conquest was to be made.
But whatever may have been the design of the duke's patent, it was found by such commissioners upon taking possession under it, that a large portion of the territory described by its language had been long held by others under previous grants and to which the duke could have no valid claim ; and that, therefore, his interest, as well as the demands of justice, required that the Connecticut river should be relinquished as an eastern boundary and a line established towards the Hudson river ; and that such commissioners having full authority from the king and the duke to adjudicate upon the mat- ters, proceded at once to determine upon such line, corresponding very nearly with that which had been formerly claimed on behalf of New Netherland, as its eastern boundary.
The government of the Duke of York over the conquered terri- tory was entirely despotic. It was exercised through the instrumen- tality of deputy governors appointed by him and removable at his pleasure. Col. Richard Nicolls, his first governor, was succeeded at the end of about three years by Sir Francis Lovelace, whose admin- istration was brought to an abrupt termination in July 1673, by the reconquest of the province by the Dutch. Up to this period the boundary question seems to have rested where it had been left by the king's commissioners. The commission of the Dutch Governor Colve, as has been already seen, recognized the boundary described in the Hartford treaty of 1650, and thus no practical change was made in the eastern limits of the province. By the treaty of peace between the Dutch and English, New York was to be restored to the latter, and the duke, to obviate any objections which might be raised against his title in consequence of the reoccupation of the territory by the Dutch; procured from the king a second charter
4
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(June 20, 1674), describing it in precisely the same language which was used in the former charter. He appointed Edmund Andros. afterwards famous for his tyrannical conduct in New England, his new governor, who arrived in New York and received the surrender of the province in October following. The commission of Andros described the territory over which he was to preside in the words of the duke's charter, thus in terms constituting him governor over " Hudson's river, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay." disregarding alike the boundary which had been fixed upon with Connecticut by the king's commissioners, and the duke's own solemn grant of the territory of New Jersey made ten years previous, to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret. It is not improbable that the language of the commission was considered by the duke as merely formal. It was however inter- preted by Andros according to the letter, and he proceeded to de- mand of the deputy of Carteret the jurisdiction over New Jersey, and on his refusal to surrender it, sent a file of soldiers who arrested him and carried him a prisoner to New York, for which act he was said to have inenrred the displeasure of the duke. He also sent a copy of his commission and of the duke's charter to Connecticut, and demanded " of the general court that part of his royal highness's colony in their possession," which embraced more than one half the territory and not less than three-fourths of the then population of the colony. This demand not being complied with, Andros hearing of the breaking out of King Philip's war and thinking it a favorable time to enforce his claim. sailed with an armed force from New York, and appearing before Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut, summoned the place to surrender. But being prevented from pub- licly reading his commission and the duke's charter, and finding he was likely to meet with serious resistance, he retired. He afterwards falsely pretended his visit was to offer his friendly assistance to the inhabitants in their warfare with the Indians, adding that his proffers were not only refused but " a severe protest made against him as an invader of the country." The duke on being notified of this demand on the government of Connecticut, which it would seem was made without his direction or knowledge. informed his governor that he was unwilling to have him proceed further in the matter at that time, for though the boundary agreed upon by Nicolls in 1664, had never been confirmed by him, yet he approved of his prudence in not admitting Connecticut to come nearer than twenty miles to Hudson's river, adding his satisfaction with the demand Andros had made, as a means of saving his rights for the future.
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