from Charles II. a patent for the whole country between the Connecticut and the Delaware. Without regard to the rights of Holland or the West India Company, through whose exertions the valley of the Hudson had been peopled, the English monarch by this act robbed a sister kingdom of a well-earned province.

10. The duke of York made haste to secure his territory. An English squadron under command of Richard Nicolls was immediately sent to America. On the 28th of August, the fleet anchored before New Amsterdam. Governor Stuyvesant convened the Dutch council and exhorted them to rouse to action and fight. Some one replied that the West India Company was not worth fighting for. Burning with indignation, Stuyvesant snatched up the proposal of Nicolls and tore it to tatters. It was all in vain. The brave old man was forced to sign the capitulation; and on the 8th of September, 1664, New Netherland ceased to exist.

11. The English flag was hoisted over the fort and town, and the name of NEW YORK was substituted for New Amsterdam. The surrender of fort Orange, now named Albany, followed on the 24th; and on the 1st of October the Swedish and Dutch settlements on the Delaware capitulated. The conquest was complete. The supremacy of Great Britain in America was finally established. From Maine to Georgia, every mile of the American coast was under the flag of England.

RECAPITULATION.

Stuyvesant is appointed governor.-Peace established with the Indians.Free trade succeeds monopoly.-Growth of the colony.-A boundary is established between New England and New Netherland.-The Dutch again claim New Sweden.-Build Fort Casimir.-The place is captured by the Swedes.Stuyvesant conquers New Sweden.-The Algonquins rebel.-And are subdued. -The Indians burn Kingston.-Are punished.-Stuyvesant is beset with difficulties.-New Netherland lags.-The Dutch prefer English laws.-The province is granted to the duke of York.-He makes good his claim.-Conquers New Netherland.

CHAPTER XX.

NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.

ICHARD NICOLLS, the first English governor of New York, began his duties by settling boundaries. As early as 1623 Long Island had been granted to the earl of Stirling. Connecticut also claimed that part of the island included in the present county of Suffolk. The claim of Stirling was purchased by the governor, but the pretensions of Connecticut were set aside. This action was the source of much discontent until the duke of York compensated Connecticut by making a favorable change in her southwest boundary.

2. In 1664 the territory between the Hudson and the Delaware was granted to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This district, nearly corresponding with the State of New Jersey, was now taken from New York, and a separate government established by the proprietors. The country below the Delaware, called THE TERRITORIES, was consolidated with New York and ruled by deputies of that province. Finally, the name of NEW YORK was extended to all the country formerly called New Netherland,

3. The Dutch had surrendered themselves to the English government in the hope of obtaining civil liberty. But it was a poor sort of liberty that any province was likely to receive from Charles II. The promised rights of the people were evaded and withheld. The old titles by which the Dutch farmers held their lands were annulled. The people were obliged to accept new deeds from the English governor, and to pay him therefor large sums of money.

4. In 1667 Nicolls was superseded by the tyrannical Lord Lovelace. The people became dissatisfied and gloomy. The discontent

was universal. Several towns resisted the tax-gatherers and passed resolutions denouncing the government. The only attention which Lovelace and his council paid to these resolutions was to order them to be burnt before the town-house of New York. When the Swedes, a quiet people, resisted the governor's exactions, he wrote to his deputy: "If there is any more murmuring against the taxes, make them so heavy that the people can do nothing but think how to pay them."

5. In 1672 Charles II. was induced by the king of France to begin a war with Holland. The struggle extended to the colonies, and New York was for a short time revolutionized. In 1673 a small Dutch fleet sailed for America, and arrived before Manhattan on the 30th of July. Manning, the deputy-governor of New York, was frightened, and no defence was attempted. The fort was surrendered; the city capitulated; and the whole province yielded without a struggle. New Jersey and Delaware submitted. The name of New Netherland was revived; and the authority of Holland was restored from Connecticut to Maryland.

6. But the conquest was only a brief military occupation of the country. The civil authority of the Dutch was never reëstablished. In 1674 Charles II. was obliged to conclude a treaty of peace. All conquests made during the war were restored. New York reverted to the English government, and the rights of the duke were again recognized in the province. Sir Edmund Andros was now appointed governor. On the last day of October the Dutch forces were finally withdrawn, and Andros assumed control of the government.

7. It was a sad sort of government for the people. All the abuses of Lovelace's administration were revived. Taxes were levied without authority of law, and the protests of the people were treated with scorn. A popular legislative assembly was demanded, but the duke of York wrote to Andros that popular assemblies were dangerous to the government, and that he did not see any use for them.

8. In July of 1675, Andros made an effort to extend his authority over Connecticut. The assembly of that colony heard of his coming, and sent word to Captain Bull, at Saybrook, to resist

Andros in the name of the king. When the latter came in sight and hoisted the flag of England, the same colors were raised within the fort. The governor was permitted to land; but when he began to read his commission, he was ordered in the king's name to desist. Overawed by the Saybrook militia, Andros retired to his boats and set sail for Long Island.

9. The next attempt was to extend the jurisdiction of New York over New Jersey. Andros issued a decree that ships trading with that province should pay a duty at the custom-house of New York. This action was resisted. Andros attempted to frighten the assembly of New Jersey into submission, and arrested Philip Carteret, the deputy-governor. The representatives of the people, however, declared themselves to be under the protection of the Great Charter, which not even the duke of York could alter or annul. In August of 1682 the "Territories" beyond the Delaware were granted by the duke to William Penn. This little district, first settled by the Swedes, afterward conquered by the Dutch, then transferred to England, was now finally separated from New York and joined to the new province of Pennsylvania.

10. In 1683 Thomas Dongan, a Catholic, became governor of New York. For thirty years the people had been clamoring for a general assembly. At last the duke of York yielded to the demand. The new governor came with instructions to call an assembly of the freeholders of New York, by whom certain persons should be elected to take part in the government. Then, for the first time, the people of the province were permitted to choose their own rulers and to frame their own laws.

11. The new assembly made haste to declare THE PEOPLE to be a part of the government. All freeholders were granted the right of suffrage; trial by jury was established; taxes should not be levied except by the assembly; soldiers should not be quartered on the people; martial law should not exist; no person should be persecuted on account of his religion.

12. In July of 1684, the governors of New York and Virginia were met by the chiefs of the Iroquois at Albany; and the terms of a lasting peace were settled. A long war ensued between the Five Nations and the French. The Jesuits of Canada employed

every artifice to induce the Indians to break their treaty with the English; but the alliance was faithfully observed. In 1684, and again in 1687, the French invaded the territory of the Iroquois ; but the warlike Mohawks and Oneidas drove back their foes with loss and disaster.

13. In 1685 the duke of York became king of England. It was soon found that even a monarch could violate his pledges. King James became the enemy of the government which had been established in his American province. The legislature of New York was dismissed. An odious tax was levied. Printing-presses were forbidden; and all the old abuses were revived.

14. In 1686 Edmund Andros became governor of New England. It was his plan to extend his authority over New York and New Jersey. To the former province, Francis Nicholson was sent as Andros's deputy; and until the English Revolution of 1688, New York was ruled as a province of New England. When the news of the accession of William of Orange reached New York, there was great rejoicing. The people rose in rebellion against Nicholson, who was glad to escape to England.

15. The leader of the insurrection was Captain Jacob Leisler. A committee of ten took upon themselves the task of governing. Leisler was appointed commandant of New York, and afterwards provisional governor. The councilors, who were friends of the deposed Nicholson, left the city and went to Albany. Here the party opposed to Leisler organized a second provisional government. Both factions began to rule in the name of William and Mary, the new sovereigns of England.

16. In 1689 Milborne, the son-in-law of Leisler, was sent to Albany to demand the surrender of the town. But the leaders of the northern faction opposed the demand and Milborne was obliged to retire. Such was the condition of affairs at the beginning of King William's War. In the spring of 1690 the authority of Leisler as governor of New York was recognized throughout the province. The summer was spent in preparations to conquer Canada. The general assembly was convened at the capital; but little was accomplished except a recognition of the government of Leisler.