Cn. X.]

under a Dutch governor; but by the treaty of Westminster, concluded the following year, it was agreed that all conquests were to be mutually restored: New York consequently again passed into the hands of the English.

The Duke of York obtained a new grant, which both increased his territorial pretensions and gave him authority "to govern the inhabitants by such ordinances as he and his assigns should establish." Accordingly he sent over Major Edmund Andros, to assume the office of governor, to assert his proprietary rights, and consolidate his scattered territories under one uniform system of administration. With this view, one of the first proceedings of Andros was an expedition to Fort Saybrook, with a small force, in order to enforce the claim of the Duke to all such territory between the Hudson and the Connecticut, as had been settled by the citizens of the latter State. He was astonished at the sturdy resolution of the Connecticut men, who refused even to listen to the reading of his commission, and without violence, but by a display of power which he was unable to resist, compelled him to return disconcerted to New York. There, too, he soon found that there was quite as little disposition quietly to submit to the levying taxes by irresponsible authority, and a clear determination to obtain, if possible, the advantages possessed by the other English colonies under their chartered privileges.

The dissension that had taken place in New Jersey on the subject of the quit-rents, has been spoken of above. Carteret, the governor, who had been

91

1672.

1676.

compelled to leave the province, had gone to England, whence he shortly returned, invested with fresh powers. Soon after the taking of the province from the Dutch, Berkeley, one of the proprietors, disposed of his share of New Jersey to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Byllinge, of whom William Penn became one of the assignees. A dispute between the proprietors was settled by the arbitration of Penn, whose name now first appears in connection with American history, and Carteret soon after consented to a formal partition of the province into two parts, called East and West Jersey. The latter became a colony of Quakers, and together with liberty of conscience, democratic equality was established. Lovers of peace themselves, they readily obtained the friendly regard of the Delaware Indians; large numbers of the Quakers emigrated; and the colony soon gave evidence of growth and prosperity. In 1682, East Jersey was purchased from the heirs of Carteret, by twelve Quakers, under the auspices of Penn; and in 1683, the proprietors having increased their number to twentyfour, obtained a new patent from the Duke of York. During the two following years, East Jersey afforded refuge to numbers of Scotch Presbyterians, who had escaped for their lives from the fierce onslaught and proscription to which they had been subjected at home.

1682

1683.

Freedom of trade had been established in New Jersey: this was, however, quite obnoxious to Andros, the governor of New York, and he at

tempted to put a stop to it. He demanded payment of customs, asserted jurisdiction over New Jersey, seized and tried Carteret, and kept him in confinement until the matter could be referred to England. These high handed measures roused even the pa cific Quakers to remonstrance. Penn drew up a document, mild in tone, yet firm in asserting constitutional rights. By mutual consent, the disputed question was referred to the decision of Sir William Jones, one of the most eminent lawyers of the time. His opinion was unfavorable to the pretensions of the Duke of York, who thereupon, by a fresh instrument, resigned all claim to both West and East Jersey, which, left to develop the resources of the province freely, continued steadily to increase, and gave promise of its future rank in the colonial family.

Andros, on his first visit to England, had endeavored to convince the Duke of York that it would be necessary to concede a system of self-government to the discontented colonists. On a subsequent occasion his request was powerfully seconded by symptoms of determined opposition to the arbitrary levy of taxes under the sole authority of the Duke. A jury in New York had by their verdict, declared that they deemed this measure illegal, and the same opinion was expressed by the lawyers in England. Overwhelmed with fresh petitions from the council, court of assize, and corporation, praying that they might participate in the government, a request reinforced by Penn, whose influence with him was considerable, the Duke of York was at length com

pelled to yield, and Dongan, a Roman Catholic, was sent out as governor, empowered to accede to the wishes of the colonists, and to summon the freeholders to choose their representatives.

Accordingly, on the 17th of October, 1683, a meeting was held of the first popular assembly in the State of New York-consisting of the governor and ten counsellors, with seventeen deputies elected by the freeholders. A declaration of rights was passed; trial by jury was confirmed; and taxes henceforth were to be levied only with the consent of the Assembly. of the Assembly. Every freeholder was entitled to a vote for the representatives; and religious liberty was declared.

1684.

Such was the spirit in which the Assembly proceeded to exercise their newly acquired powers. One of their acts was entitled "The Charter of Liberties and Privileges granted by his Royal Highness to the Inhabitants of New York and its Dependencies." The following year (1684) another session was held, to the great satisfaction of the colonists; but soon afterwards the flattering prospect thus opened to them of redressing their own grievances, and of managing their own affairs, was interrupted by the accession of the Duke of York to the throne of England, under the title of James II. Dongan had a new commission granted him, by which he was authorized, with his council, to enact laws, to continue the taxes already imposed, and if he saw fit, to impose additional taxes. As in the case of Effingham in Virginia, he was specially charged to

1685.

1641.

strates, resulted in the preparation of a collection of laws, known as "Fundamentals," or "Body of Liberties." Of these, the rough draft, having been prepared by the council, was sent round and submitted, first to the local magistrates and elders, then to the freemen at large, for due consideration and improvement; and having been thus decided upon, they were at length formally adopted. After three years' trial they were to be revised, and finally established. These laws, about a hundred in number, are characteristic and curious. The supreme power was still to reside in the hands of the church members alone; universal suffrage was not conceded, but every citizen was allowed to take a certain share in the business of any public meeting. Some degree of liberty was granted to private churches, and assemblies of different Christians, but the power of veto was still vested in the supreme council, who might arbitrarily put down any proceedings which they deemed heterodox and dangerous, and punish or expel their authors. Strangers and refugees professing the true Christian religion were to be received and sheltered. Bondslavery, villanage, or captivity, except in the case of lawful captives taken in war, or any who should either sell themselves or be sold by others, were to be abolished. Injurious monopolies were not to be allowed. Idolatry, witchcraft, and blasphemy, or wilful disturbing of the established order of the state, were punishable with death. All torture was prohibited, unless whipping, ear-cropping, and the pillory, which were retained as wholesome and

necessary punishments, might be so considered. The liberties of women, children, and servants, are defined in a more benevolent spirit, in harmony with the milder provisions of the Mosaic code, so constantly referred to by those who framed the body of Fundamentals.

1643.

It

New Hampshire, still in its infancy, sought and obtained annexation, on favorable terms, to its powerful neigh| bor Massachusetts. Not long after, in 1643, the various settlements and colonies in New England, feeling the need of mutual aid and support, determined to enter into arrangements by which this end could be effectually attained. Accordingly a confederation was formed, under the name of "The United Colonies of New England. consisted of the colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. By the articles of confederation, these colonies entered into a firm and perpetual bond of friendship and amity, for offence and defence, mutual advice and succor, upon all just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel, as they interpreted it, and for their own mutual safety and welfare. Each colony was to retain its own jurisdiction and government; and no other plantation or colony was to be received as a confederate, nor any of the two confederates to be united into one jurisdiction, without the consent of the rest. The affairs of the United Colonies were to be managed by a legislature, to consist of two persons, styled commissioners, chosen from each colony. The commissioners were to meet annually in the colonies, in succession, and when

"These commissioners had power to hear, examine, weigh, and determine, all affairs of war or peace, leagues, aids, charges, and number of men for

war, divisions of spoils, and whatsoever is gotten by conquest, receiving of more confederates for plantations into combination with any of the confederates,

and all things of a like nature, which are the proper

concomitants and consequences of such a confederation for amity, offence and defence, not intermeddling with the government of any of the jurisdictions, which,

by the third article, is preserved entirely to themselves. The expenses of all just wars to be borne by each colony, in proportion to its number of male inhabitants, of whatever quality or condition, between the ages of sixteen and sixty. In case any colony

should be suddenly invaded, on motion and request of three magistrates of such colony, the other con

federates were immediately to send aid to the colony

invaded, in men, Massachusetts one hundred, and the other colonies forty-five each, or for a less num

ber, in the same proportion. The commissioners, however, were very properly directed, afterwards, to

take into consideration the cause of such war or inva

sion, and if it should appear that the fault was in the

colony invaded, such colony was not only to make satisfaction to the invaders, but to bear all the expenses of the war. The commissioners were also

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In this connection, the language of Chalmers deserves to be quoted: "The principles upon which this famous association was formed were altogether those of independency, and it cannot easily be supported upon any other. The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven had at that time enjoyed no charter, and derived their title to their soil from mere occupancy, and their powers of government from voluntary agreement. New Plymouth had acquired a right to their lands from a grant of a company in England, which conferred, however, no jurisdiction. And no other authority, with regard to the making of peace, or war, or leagues, did the charter of Massachusetts convey, than that of defending itself, by force of arms, against all invaders. But, if

no patent legalized the confederacy, neither was it confirmed by the approbation of the governing powers in England. Their consent was never applied for, and was never given. The various colonies, of which that celebrated league was composed, being perfectly independent of one another, and having no

orders in general cases of a civil nature, wherein all the plantations were interested, for preserving peace among themselves, and preventing, as much as may be, all occasions of war, or difference with others, as

about the free and speedy passage of justice, in every jurisdiction, to all the confederates equally as to their own, receiving those that remove from one plantation to another, without due certificates. It was also very wisely provided in the articles, that runaway servants, and fugitives from justice, should be returned

to the colonies where they belonged, or from which they had fled. If any of the confederates should violate any of the articles, or in any way injure any one of the other colonies, such breach of agreement, or injury, was to be considered and ordered by the commissioners of the other colonies."-Pitkin's "Political History,” vol. i., p. 51.

same crown, and as territories of the same state, might, with equal propriety and consistency, have entered into a similar compact with alien colonies or a foreign nation. They did make treaties with the neighboring plantations of the French and Dutch; and in this light was their conduct seen in England, and at a subsequent period did not fail to attract the attention of Charles II."

*Chalmers's "Political Annals," book i., chap. viii., p. 178. See also the same writer's "Introduction to