to make charges so impossible of proof. Dudley, moreover, was too valuable an instrument for the Lords of Trade to lose. He had shown his readiness to accept their policy while agent for Massachusetts; he had served creditably as president of the temporary council after the dissolution of the Company; and on Andros's arrival he had surrendered his office and taken the place of chief justice, where he had done much to make the administration an immediate success. But it was the very success of his policy which showed the colonists their true position and led to the overthrow of the government. It has been suggested that Dudley did all in his power to render the administration hateful, hoping that by its fall he might gain some advantage. From a study of his later career this does not seem probable. As his whole life shows, Dudley was a consistent adherent to the power of the crown and to its prerogatives, whether exercised directly or by deputy. As president, he asserted his own rights, and as chief justice he was equally careful of the prerogatives of Andros. He tried consistently to carry out his instructions, cost what it might. It was for this latter characteristic that he was sought as an administrator both in England and in the colonies; but this trait, together with his failings of temper, made him the most unpopular man in the Andros administration. Though he was acquitted and rewarded by the king, Dudley's record followed him throughout his life and made him the most hated man in New England; and because of this his later administration as governor of Massachusetts was rendered exceedingly difficult. CHAPTER IV SCHEMING FOR OFFICE JOSEPH DUDLEY MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR NEW YORK, 1689-1702 ALTHOUGH the charges against Dudley were dismissed, his position in England was far from enviable. Not only had he apparently lost the influence of his friends in Massachusetts, but he was so detested in that colony that he might expect its enmity to continue to pursue him. He was in the position of a discharged prisoner against whom the indictment has failed for want of evidence. It is true that he was released; but he was in London separated from his friends and relatives, on whose assistance he might count, and jealously watched by the Massachusetts agents, one of whom was Elisha Cooke, his bitter enemy. Although his conduct might escape condemnation, it was evident that William III would be unwilling to offend the colonists, just as his struggle with France was beginning, by rewarding a fallen official of James II. But Dudley had one friend at this crisis who now aided him. William Blathwayt was a power in colonial affairs. Through all the changes of sovereigns, shiftings of committees, and alterations in the personal composition of the board, Blathwayt, as one of the Lords of Trade and as clerk of the Privy Council, contrived to remain a permanent element in the direction of colonial affairs. He was probably better versed in the details of colonial administration than any one else in England, and by his superior knowledge was doubtless often able to lead the Lords to his point of view. Needy office-seekers, discontented or discredited officials, anxious promoters of colonial schemes, sought his aid and influence in many ways, some of which were not above suspicion. On his first voyage to England, Dudley had carried a letter to Blathwayt, and from that time had kept up his interest by letters, visits, presents, and possibly bribes. Blathwayt, moreover, knew the worst about Dudley, for Randolph tried to poison his mind against him; but so ready had Dudley been to carry out the policy of the Committee that Blathwayt stood his sponsor in this critical period. It is hard to determine what other friends Dudley had in England at this time, but it is known that a certain Dr. Daniel Cox was one of them. This was not the first instance of their coöperation. Cox was one of the proprietors of West New Jersey, and was evidently ready to advance his fortune in other colonies as well; for he, Stoughton, and Dudley had obtained a tidy grant of eight square miles in the heart of Massachusetts.1 Cox now came to Dudley's assistance, and by magnifying his abilities materially improved his chances for obtaining some post in the colonies. An office in Massachusetts at this crisis was out of the question, but one was obtained for Dudley in New York. How he became acquainted with Sloughter, the newly-appointed governor of that province, is not known; but on September 23, 1690, Sloughter wrote to Blathwayt that he desired Dudley to be the chief of his Council, since he knew him "to be not 1 "Andros Records," American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings, New Series, xiii. 487, December 19, 1687. 1 onely of exquisite pts but also experienced in ye affairs of that countrie." This position Dudley accepted, and before sailing wrote to Blathwayt thanking him for the favors he had shown and significantly adding, "I hope the settlement of N. Enga will at length come under consideration wherein if I may be remembered I shall attribute it to your kindness." Once again before leaving England, Dudley expressed to Blathwayt his willingness to serve New England. The occasion for this letter was the fact that Cox had offered Dudley the position of deputy-governor of West New Jersey, and had sent a letter urging the king to confirm the appointment.3 Dudley put himself and his fortunes in Blathwayt's hands and offered to resign "that & any other province if I may be thought worthy & capable of any post in the settlem* of my own country." It is thus evident that he hoped to return to Massachusetts in some official capacity, and regarded the position in New York as a temporary affair. Although Dudley might regard the position of chief of the Council of New York as a mere stepping-stone to some post in Massachusetts, he displayed the same energy in his new field that he had shown at home. He exercised the same diligence in attendance on council meetings; during his residence of a little over a year in New York, he was absent from but five of the thirty meetings that were held. The skill that 1 British State Papers, America and West Indies (Ms.), 578, No. 161. 2 Ibid. No. 180. There is a copy of a commission for Dudley as deputy-governor of West New Jersey in Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 1869-1870, p. 204. 4 Dudley to Blathwayt, November 20, 1690, British State Papers, America and West Indies (Ms.), 578, No. 186. 5 Journal of the Legislative Council of New York, i. 1-15. According to Randolph, Dudley's activities were not confined to purely administrative affairs; for he accuses "Ioseph the Jew (for so now M' Dudley is called)" of persuading Governor Sloughter to erect a court of admiralty, although he had no com he had shown in dealing with Indians in Massachusetts was recognized in New York, and he was appointed one of the Indian Commissioners;1 and he was also sent as a special agent to urge the governments of New England to aid New York with money and men. He must have been possessed of some considerable property at this time, for he advanced over a thousand pounds to Sloughter to pay the troops that came from England. He was so useful and effective that Fletcher, the successor of Sloughter, was directed to make him the first of his Council; but his activity in enforcing the prerogatives of the government and his own failings of temper made him, as was reported to the Lords of Trade, "very unacceptable to the people." 5 Dudley's unpopularity in New York was, as in Massachusetts, increased by his conduct on the bench. In New York, his stumbling-block was the trial of Leisler. Like Massachusetts, New York had an uprising, the counterpart of the revolution in England; but unlike Massachusetts she could count on no unanimity of feeling among her colonists. Aside from the racial differences which separated the English from the Dutch, there was a division over the question of religion. Dongan, the predecessor of Andros, was a Roman Catholic, and some of the important posts in the colony were held by men of that religion; while Nicholson, the deputy-governor, had shown himself not unwilling to comply with the desires mission from the admiralty, and of obtaining the appointment of one of his creatures, with whom Dudley shared the fees and fines to the hurt of the revenue of the crown. But "the People," he adds, "Were so highly Incensed ag* him. ... Upon the Crocadiles Tears Appeased the Rabble else they had soon Distroyed his judge ship” (Randolph to Blathwayt, August 16, 1692, Goodrick, Edward Randolph, 404-405). 1 New York Colonial Documents, iii. 771. * Calendar of State Papers, America and West Indies, 1689-1692, No. 1556. |