in their interest. The English Governor also promised to assist them if necessary.

Thus by the wisdom and the strong sense of justice of Colonel Dongan, was the chain of friendship between the English and the Five Nations brightened and the most amicable relations re-established. Yet for the course he had taken, he fell under the displeasure of his bigoted master on his accession to the throne in 1685.

It is not, of course, within the purpose of this history to trace the progress of the long and cruel wars that succeeded the negotiations between Colonel Dongan and the Confederates. Briefly it may be said in respect to the expedition of M. de la Barre, that it failed by reason of sickness in his army at Cadaraqui, before crossing the lake. He was succeeded in the government of Canada by the Marquis Denonville, who invaded the Seneca country in 1687 with a powerful force, gaining, however, such a victory over the Indians in the Genessee Valley as led to an inglorious retreat. This invasion was speedily recompensed by the Confederates, who descended upon the French settlements of the St. Lawrence like a tempest, and struck a blow of terrible vengeance upon Montreal itself.

New York was at this time torn by the intestine commotions incident to the revolution which drove the Stuarts from the English throne, and ended the power of the Catholics in the colony. It was a consequence of these divisions that the English could afford the Indians no assistance in their invasion of Canada at that time, else that country would then doubtless have been wrested from the Crown of France. But the achievements of the Indians were, nevertheless, most important for the Colony of New York, the subjugation of which was at that precise conjuncture meditated by France, and a combined expedition, by land and sea, was undertaken for that purpose-Admiral Caffniere commanding the ships which sailed from Rochefort for New York, and the Count de Frontenac, who had succeeded Denonville, being the General of the land forces. On his arrival at Quebec, however, the Count beheld his province reduced to a field of devastation, and he was therefore constrained to abandon the enterprise.

Nor was Governor Dongan's administration in the government of the colony itself characterized by less wisdom than his dealings with the Indians. He was highly respected as Governor-being upright, discreet, and of accomplished manners, added to which his firm and judicious policy, and his steadfast integrity, soon won for him "the affections of his people, and made him one of the most popular of the Royal Governors." Two years previous to his arrival, the aldermen of New York, and the justices of the peace of the Court of Assize, in consequence of the tyranny of Andross, had petitioned the Duke that the people might be allowed to participate in the affairs of the government by the construction of a

General Assembly, in which they might be represented. Through the interposition of William Penn, who enjoyed the favor both of the King and the Duke, the point was yielded, and Colonel Dongan was instructed to allow the people a voice in the government. Greatly to the joy of the inhabitants, therefore, who had become turbulent, if not disaffected, under the rule of Andross, writs were issued to the sheriffs summoning the freeholders to choose representatives to meet the new Governor in assembly. He thus gave the colony its first legislative assembly, which, meeting for the first time in the City of New York, on the 17th of October, 1683, consisted of the Governor, ten councillors, and seventeen representatives elected by the people. Henceforth, and up to the period of the American Revolution, the history of New York City as the legislative capital of the province, consists, for the most part, in a series of bitter scenes between the Assembly and the Royal Governors. The first act of the Assembly was to give to the province its first "Charter of Liberties," by which it was ordained "that supreme legislative power should forever reside in the Governor, Council, and people met in General Assembly; that every freeholder and freeman might vote for representatives without restraint; that no freeman should suffer but by judgment of his peers, and that all trials should be by a jury of twelve men; that no tax should be assessed on any pretense whatever but by the consent of the Assembly; that no seaman or soldier should be quartered on the inhabitants against their will; that no martial law should exist; and that no person professing faith in God, by Jesus Christ, should at any time be in any way disquieted or questioned for any difference of opinion in matters of religion." Three assemblies, at least, were to be held every year; and should any seat become vacant, a new election was to be at once ordered by the Governor. One of the first acts of the Assembly was to divide the Province into twelve counties-New York, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Orange, Ulster, Albany, Westchester, Duchess, Dukes, and Cornwall-all of which names, with the exception of the last two, still remain at the present day.

The Assembly, also, lost no time in bettering the condition of the city itself. "New police regulations were at once established. Sunday laws were enacted; tavern-keepers were forbidden to sell liquor except to travelers, citizens to work, children to play in the streets, and Indians and negroes to assemble on the Sabbath. Twenty cartmen were licensed by the municipal authorities, on condition that they should repair the highways gratis whenever called on by the Mayor, and cart the dirt from the streets, which the inhabitants were required to sweep together every Saturday afternoon beyond the precincts of the city. The rate of cartage was fixed at three pence per load to any place within the bounds of the city; beyond which, the price was doubled. The cartmen, however, soon proved refractory, and a few weeks after, the

license system was abandoned, and all persons, with the exception of slaves, were allowed to act as cartmen.

"On the 8th of December, 1683, the city was divided into six wards. The First or South Ward, beginning at the river, extended along the west side of Broad to Beaver street; thence westward along Beaver street to the Bowling Green; thence southward by the fort to Pearl street; and thence westward along the river-shore to the place of starting. The Second or Dock Ward, also beginning at the river at the southeast corner of Pearl and Broad streets, extended along the shore to Hanover Square ; thence northward through William to Beaver street; thence along Beaver to Broad street; thence back through Broad to the river-shore. The Third or East Ward formed a sort of triangle, beginning at the corner of Pearl and Hanover Square, and extending along the shore to the HalfMoon Fort at the foot of Wall street; thence stretching along Wall to the corner of William, and thence returning along the east side of William to the river. The Fourth or North Ward, beginning at the northwest corner of William and Beaver streets, extended through the former to the corner of Wall; thence westerly along the palisades to a line a little beyond Nassau street; thence southerly to Beaver street; thence easterly along Beaver to the first-named point. The Fifth or West Ward, beginning at the junction of the Fourth Ward with Beaver street, extended northerly along the boundary line of the latter to Wall street; thence along the palisades to Broadway; thence southerly to Beaver street; thence easterly to the point of starting. The Sixth or Out Ward. comprised all the farms and plantations outside the city walls, including the Town of Harlem. Each of these wards was authorized to elect an alderman and councilman annually to represent them in the city government. The Governor and Council retained the appointment of the Mayor in their own hands; it was not, indeed, until long after the Revolution that this office was made elective by the people.

"In 1686, the Dongan Charter was granted to the city. This instrument, which still forms the basis of the municipal rights and privileges of New York, confirmed the franchises before enjoyed by the corporation, and placed the city government on a definite footing. The Governor retained the appointment of the mayor, recorder, sheriff, coroner, high-constable, town-clerk, and clerk of the market in his own hands; leaving the aldermen, assistants, and petty constables to be chosen by the people at the annual election on St. Michael's Day. This charter which was dated April 22, 1686, declared that New York City should thenceforth comprise the entire Island of Manhattan, extending to the low-water mark of the bays and rivers surrounding it.

"In the same year, the city received a new seal from the home government. This still preserved the beaver of the Dutch, with the

addition of a flour-barrel and the arms of a wind-mill, in token of the prevailing commerce of the city. The whole was supported by two Indian chiefs, and encircled with a wreath of laurel, with the motto, SIGILLUM CIVITATIS NOVI EBORACI.

"In 1687, Stephanus Van Cortlandt was again appointed Mayor. During his Mayoralty, it was determined to enlarge the city by building a new street in the river along the line of Water street, between Whitehall and Old Slip, and water-lots were sold by the corporation on condition that the purchasers should make the street toward the water, and protect it by a substantial wharf from the washing of the tide, in imitation of Waal or sheet pile street, extending along the line of Pearl street, from Broad to William streets, in front of the City Hall. It was not, however, until some years after, that this scheme was carried into effect, and the projected street rescued from the waters.

"Measures were also taken to enlarge the city still further by placing the fortifications further out, and laying out Wall street thirty-six feet wide. The fortifications, indeed, were now worse than useless. The palisades which had been erected in 1653 along the line of Wall street had fallen down, the works were in ruins, the guns had disappeared from the artillery-mounts, and the ditches and stockades were in a ruinous condition. Their immediate removal was determined on and ordered, but was delayed by the revolution which followed soon after. When war broke out between France and England in 1693, they were again repaired to be in readiness for the expected French invasion, and it was not until 1699 that their demolition was finally accomplished. Wall street, however, was laid out immediately, and it was not long before it became one of the most important thoroughfares in the city. During the same year, a valuation was made of the city property, which was estimated on the assessor's books at £78,231."

Many other municipal regulations concerning hucksters, bakers, butchers, and others, were established—then esteemed of vital importance, but a repetition of which would only weary. A single item, however, deserves notice, as illustrating the punishments practiced in olden times. A pillory, cage, whipping-post,† and ducking-stool, were set up in the vicinity of the City Hall, and hither were brought all vagrants, slanderers, pilferers, and truant children, to be exposed to the public gaze, and to receive such chastisement as their offenses might warrant. It is to be regretted, in view of the present army of such people in the City of New York, that a similar ordinance is not now in force.

Meanwhile, William and Mary had been proclaimed King and Queen

*Miss Mary L. Booth's History of New York.

A whipping-post, put up in 1630, is still standing on the Village Green, in Fairfield, Connecticut.

of England in place of James II, who, having abdicated the throne, had become a wanderer on the Continent. This change in the home government from a Catholic to a Protestant one, necessitated a corresponding change in the Governor at New York. Colonel Sloughter was, accordingly, commissioned to the government of New York in January, 1689, but did not arrive until the 19th of March, 1691. The selection of Sloughter was not fortunate. According to Smith, he was utterly destitute of every qualification for government: licentious in his morals, avaricious, and base. Leisler, who had administered the government after a fashion, since the departure of Dongan, intoxicated with power, refused to surrender the government to Sloughter, and attempted to defend the fort, in which he had taken refuge, against him. Finding it expedient, however, very soon to abandon the fort, he was arrested, and, with his son-in-law, Milburne, tried and executed for treason. Still, on the whole, the conduct of Leisler during the revolution had been considered patriotic, and his sentence was deemed very unjust and cruel. Indeed, his enemies could not prevail upon Sloughter to sign the warrant for his execution until, for that purpose, they got him intoxicated. It was a murderous affair. Sloughter's administration was short and turbulent. He died July 23d, 1691.

On the death of Sloughter, Richard Ingoldsby, the captain of an independent company, was made president of the council, to the exclusion of Joseph Dudley, who, but for his absence in Boston, would have had the right to preside, and upon whom the government would have devolved. But although Dudley very soon returned to New York, he did not contest the authority of Ingoldsby, who administered the government until the arrival of Colonel Fletcher, with a commission as governor, in August, 1692. In the preceding month of June, Ingoldsby met the Five Nations in council at Albany, on which occasion they declared their enmity to the French in the strongest possible terms. Their expressions of friendship for the English were also renewed. "Brother Corlaer," said the sachem, we are all the subjects of one great king and queen; we have one head, one heart, one interest, and are all engaged in the same war." They nevertheless condemned the English for their inactivity, "telling them that the destruction of Canada would not make one summer's work, against their united strength, if ingeniously exerted."

In conducting the Indian affairs of the colony, Colonel Fletcher took Major Schuyler into his councils, and was guided by his opinions. "No man understood those affairs better than he; and his influence over the Indians was so great, that whatever Quider,* as they called him, either recommended or disapproved, had the force of a law. This power over them was supported, as it had been obtained, by repeated offices of

* Quider, the Iroquois pronunciation of Peter. Having no labials in their language, they could not say Peter.