1674. 27 June. Orders of General about the of New land. in the province, the States General directed Colve “to re- CHAP. V. store and surrender the aforesaid New Netherland to Edmund Andros, or such other person as the King of Great Britain shall have deputed for that purpose; that, in case 7 July. the above-named Edmund Andros should not have as yet the States arrived yonder, and no one have order from the King of to Colve Great Britain to receive the aforesaid country, the above- surrender named Governor Colve shall, pursuant to the last Treaty Netherconcluded with the said King in February last, and agreeably to their High Mightinesses' aforesaid Resolution of the Sixteenth of last April, vacate said New Netherland, and place it-having made an inventory and obtained a receipt-in the hands of the political Government there, to the end that thus possession may be taken for the behoof of the King of Great Britain." The Dutch ambassadors at London, having communciated these orders, were informed that Andros was authorized to receive New Neth-July. erland, and would proceed thither at once, with "a number of new colonists" from England. Oct. 15 Colve's or ceived. In due time the Dutch frigate reached New Orange; and Colve announced his orders to the burgomasters and sche- ders repens, who voted him two hundred and fifty florins "for his last year's services." A few days afterward he requested 1 Oct. the court to name ten persons, from whom he would select five, "who, after his departure, shall exercise and possess the executive authority until the arrival of the expected ships and the Governor of His Majesty of England, who shall be also authorized to surrender the country to whomsoever exhibits His Majesty's Commission." Steenwyck, Oct. Bayard, Van Brugh, Beekman, Luyck, Kregier, De Pey-provisional ster, Van Cortlandt, Kip, and Rombouts were accordingly ment of nominated. But the proposed provisional government was erland. not organized. Before Colve was ready to embark the expected British frigates anchored at Staten Island; and An- 22 October. dros notified him that, pursuant to the late treaty of peace, Arrival of he was ready to receive possession for the King of England of "the New Netherland and dependances, now under" the Dutch governor's command.* * Col. MSS., xxiii., 412, 413; Col. Doc., ii., 544, 564–568, 730–733; New Orange Rec., vii., 237, 244–247; Val. Man., 1853, 489, 493, 494; Doc. Hist., iii., 45; ante, 257. 16 govern New Neth 1 Novem. Andros. 1674. Effect of of West minster. CHAPTER VI. 1674-1678. CHAP VI. By the Treaty of Westminster the United Provinces relinquished their conquest of New Netherland to the King of England. The sovereign Dutch States General had the Treaty treated directly with Charles as sovereign. A question at once arose at Whitehall about the subordinate interest of the Duke of York. It was claimed by some that James's former American proprietorship was revived. Yet, while the Treaty of Westminster re-established the Articles of Capitulation agreed to by Nicolls and Stuyvesant, who represented their sovereigns in 1664, it did not cure the imperfections subject to which the duke had for nine years governed his American province. James's patent had been sealed while the Dutch were in quiet possession of New Netherland; and no new grant was made to him after the Treaty of Breda, which confirmed to the English king his conquest of the Dutch province. Eminent lawyers “very justly questioned" the duke's pretension to the territory Defects in which England had recently recovered; because its cession to her sovereign by the Dutch government “had given no strength to original defects." James was now obliged to give up the claim of English right which he and his brother had formerly maintained. Moreover, the duke wished to regain New Jersey, which he had so foolishly squandered on Berkeley and Carteret. Besides this, the boundary agreement with Connecticut, which had never been ratified by the crown or by himself, was a sore point. The opinion of counsel having been taken, they advised that the duke's proprietorship had been extinguished by the Dutch conquest, and that the king was now alone seized of New Netherland, by virtue of the Treaty of Westminster. The postlim- "Jus Postlimini” did not obtain in New York.* James's title. No jus inii, * Col, Doc., ii., 739; iii., 166, 176, 235, 236, 237; v., 500; vii., 586, 596, 507; Eliz. Bill, 7, 1674. to the York. of A new patent to the Duke of York was therefore sealed. CHAP. VI. By it the king again conveyed to his brother the territories he had held before, and granted him anew the absolute 29 June. powers of government he had formerly enjoyed over Brit- New patent ish subjects, with the like additional authority over "any Duke other person or persons" inhabiting his province. Under the same description of boundaries, New Jersey, and all the territory west of the Connecticut River, together with Long Island and the adjacent islands, and the region of Pemaquid, were again included in the grant. The new patent did not, as has been commonly, but erroneously stated, "recite and confirm the former." It did not in any way allude to that instrument. It read as if no previous English patent had ever existed. It was a second grant; in almost the same terms with the first; and it conveyed to the duke, ostensibly for the first time, a territory which the Dutch government, after conquering and holding, had by treaty "restored to His Majesty." commis Thus James again became the proprietor of a vast American province, over which he was to domineer, until his delegated authority from the king was merged in his inherited right as successor to the crown. His private revenue continued to be managed by a board of commissioners, of which his brother-in-law, Lawrence Hyde, was one; Sir James's Allen Apsley was his treasurer and receiver general, Sir sioners and Thomas Wynnington his attorney general, and Sir John Churchill his solicitor general. In place of Matthew Wren, who had been killed at his side in 1672, the duke's secretary was Sir John Werden; although James frequent- Werden, ly wrote letters to his governors with his own hand.† secretary. As his colonial lieutenant and deputy, the duke, almost 37; Leaming and Spicer, 50; Vattel, 212, 362; Kent, i., 108-111; Douglas, ii., 224, 268; officers. the duke's 1674. Major Ed mund An dros. CHAP. VI. necessarily, appointed Major Edmund Andros, whom the king had directed in the previous March to receive New Netherland from the Dutch. Born in London in 1637, Andros had been brought up in the royal household, of which his father was lieutenant of the ceremonies. During the exile of the court, Andros began his military life in Holland, under Prince Henry of Nassau. After the Restoration he was favored by Charles; distinguished himself in the first Dutch war; and in 1669 was commissioned major in Prince Rupert's regiment of dragoons. In 1672 Andros commanded the English forces in Barbadoes, where he got reputation for skill in American affairs. The proprietors of Carolina made him a landgrave, and granted him four baronies in their province. Andros was married, in 1671, to Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Craven. On the death of his father in April, 1674, he succeeded to the office of bailiff of Guernsey, and became hereditary seigneur of the fief of Sausmarez. Like his predecessors, Nicolls and Lovelace, Andros was an English Episcopalian, but no bigot. Moreover, he was a good Dutch and French scholar. Of unblemished private character; with talents, energy, and zeal in his master's service, he was as fitting an instrument as the Duke of York could have chosen to confirm arbitrary government in his regained province. Andros was accordingly commissioned by James to be his "Lieutenant and Governor" within the territories covered by his patent; to hold office during his pleasure, and to obey all orders that he might give. Andros's commission was almost exactly similar to those of Nicolls and Lovelace.* 1 July. Andros commis sioned gov ernor of New York. 1 July. Andros's Instructions from The duke's Instructions to Andros, minute and specific, formed the temporary political constitution of New York. the duke. The governor was to satisfy the inhabitants that his coming was "for their protection and benefit, for the encouragement of planters and plantations, and the improvement of trade and commerce, and for the preservation of religion, justice, and equity among them." Strict discipline was to be maintained among the soldiers, so as to avoid all *Col. Doc., ii., 544, 740, 741; iii., 215, 224, 291, 308; ix., 403; Letter of Selyns to Cl. Amst., 10 Oct., 1688; Mem. of Penn. H. S., vii., 36, 37; Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 376; Temple, ii., 78; Pepys, i., 69; ii., 167, 231, 331; Chalmers's Aun., i., 580; ante, 18, 144; post, note B. A memoir of Andros, and an engraved portrait of him, from an original in England, has been published by the Prince Society at Boston, in Massachusetts. 1674. be encour duties. causes of complaint. None of the inhabitants were to be CHAP. VI. molested for assisting Evertsen in taking the fort, except in the case of Englishmen, whose estates might be forfeited; but the Dutch who had been active were to be observed more circumspectly" thereafter, and to be removed from places of strength. Special care was to be taken of the forts at New York and New Albany, "upon which, in a manner, wholly depend the safety and trade of the whole country." Planters of all nations, but especially English- Planters to men, were to be offered "all manner of encouragement" to aged. settle in New York, by assigning them lands according to the rules observed "by those of New England and Maryland," so that the province should, in that respect, be at least equal to "any other neighboring colony." The quitrent reserved to the duke was left to the discretion of the governor, who was directed "to settle a good correspondence with the neighboring English Plantations, as well those of New England as those of Maryland." As it was "necessary to make some abatement in the customs," James established a new "tariff," or declaration of the duties on Tariff of imports. All goods brought into New York were to pay two per cent. if shipped from England or any English plantation, and ten per cent. if coming from a foreign country. All imports, except farmers' tools going up the Hudson River, were to be charged three per cent. in addition. Wines were to pay ten shillings a pipe, and brandy or other European spirits fifteen shillings a hogshead; while rum-which came from the West Indieswas favored by the lower rate of six shillings a hogshead. All liquors sent up the Hudson River were charged double these rates. Exported beavers were to pay fifteen pence on each skin, and other peltry in proportion; while New York tobacco was charged two shillings a hogshead if sent to England, and a penny a hundred weight if sent elsewhere. The same regulations were to apply "in Delaware River as in Hudson's River." These rates were "to hold Rates to good for three years, to commence from the arrival and three years publication of them at New York." Excise and other in-lication. ternal taxes, which had been imposed by Nicolls and Lovelace, were to be temporarily continued until farther orders from the duke. All these duties were calmly laid by last for after pub |