town refused to pay the tax, on the ground that they had no share in electing the authorities who levied it; and this protest led at once to the introduction of representative government into the new-born commonwealth of Massachusetts. The first John Winthrop did not represent a would-be despotic authority in England, but Governor Lovelace did. Hence the protest of Long Island in 1670 was not so successful as that of Watertown in 1631. The towns drew up a remonstrance in which they declared that they would not yield to a demand for money to repair the fort; they might next be called upon to support the garrison, and there was no telling to what lengths the affair might go. They stoutly maintained that the principle of "no taxation without representation"— which England had asserted in 1265 and the Netherlands in 1477 - was their inalienable birthright. This remonstrance was pronounced seditious, and Lovelace ordered it to be publicly burned in the street before the City Hall. It is needless to add that Long Island remained disaffected and more or less turbulent.

Alliance.

Events in Europe were fast bringing about a fresh surprise for Manhattan. After the peace of Breda, Charles II. had entered into the The Triple famous Triple Alliance with Sweden and Holland, for the purpose of curbing the aggressive power of Louis XIV. As Bishop Burnet said, this was the best thing Charles II. ever did, and had he only adhered to this sound and manly policy it would have covered him with glory. But Louis well knew his cousin Charles's weaknesses.

The blandishments of a new French mistress, and the promise of money enough to dispense with parliaments, were quite too much for the degenerate grandson of Henry of Navarre. He broke away from the Triple Alliance, scarcely two years old, and joined hands with Louis XIV. for the destruction of Holland. There followed, in rapid sequence, the fall and shameful murder of De Witt, the stride of the third William of Orange into the historic foreground, and one more wicked and terrible war between Englishmen and their Dutch cousins.

War between England and Holland.

And thus it happened that in the Christmas season of 1672, while the worthy Lovelace was setting afoot his postal scheme, a powerful Dutch fleet of fifteen ships, commanded by Cornelius Evertsen, was cruising in the West fleet. Indies to harass the English. By rein

Admiral
Evertsen's

forcements this fleet was increased to three-andtwenty warships, carrying, besides their crews, 1600 troops. After finishing their business in the West Indies, these Dutchmen, in July, 1673, visited Chesapeake Bay, destroying merchant vessels; and thence they kept on for New York, which had from the outset been their ultimate destination. Its recapture had been planned in Holland. On the morning of August 7 the ships dropped anchor off Staten Island; the next day they came up through the Narrows; the next they were ready to proceed to extremities.

The case was virtually a repetition of that of 1664. Governor Lovelace was absent on business, over on Long Island, but had he been on the spot

Capture of

the Dutch.

it would have made no difference. The garrison of Fort James numbered scarcely eighty men. There was a brief exchange of volleys between the feeble fort and the majestic fleet, and New York by a few lives were sacrificed, but resistance was hopeless. Before sunset of August 9 the ensign of the Dutch Republic floated over the fort, and the city on Manhattan passed once more under the sway of its founders. Once more there was a general change of nomenclature. The province resumed its old name of New Netherland, its eastern limit was pronounced to be that of the Hartford treaty of 1650,1 and the whole of Long Island was declared to belong to it, but no claims were made upon Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, or Pemaquid. Westward the claim took in whatever had been ruled by Stuyvesant, including New Sweden. Fort James was rechristened Fort Willem Hendrick, after the new stadholder, and the city was called New Orange. Esopus, which had exchanged its Indian name for Kingston, was now called Swanenburg. Albany received the name of Willemstadt, and its blockhouse that of Fort Nassau. As for Carteret's domain of New Jersey, it was baptized Achter Koll, or "Back Bay," from the broad sheet of water across which Elizabethtown

ernor of New

was approached. A council of war was Anthony held by the officers of the fleet, and they Colve, gov appointed Anthony Colve, a captain of Netherland. infantry, to be governor of New Netherland. All the places mentioned as within his jurisdiction submitted gracefully, and some of them very cheer 1 See above, vol. i. p. 257.

fully, except on Long Island. There the Dutch towns, such as Brooklyn and Flatbush, rejoiced in the change of rulers; even some of those towns where the English were a majority, such as Flushing and Jamaica, made no resistance. But the purely English towns in the East Riding - Southampton, Easthampton, Brookhaven, Southold, and Huntington—were extremely unwilling to yield; and although they succumbed for a moment to the inexorable situation, yet Southampton published a protest and sent it all over New England, "in order to take off any aspersion cast upon us, as though we should freely submit to this foreign government." It became necessary for Governor Colve to "admonish these froward eastern towns, but they did not cease to be thorns in the flesh. The appeal of Southampton was heard by sympathetic ears. Connecticut joined in the protest, angry letters passed between Colve and Winthrop, and presently Connecticut troops crossed the Sound. Scrimmages and reprisals on the high seas went on until Massachusetts also was aroused.

1 The "oath of fidellitj," which the inhabitants of these towns were required to take, is interesting as a quaint specimen of English written by a Dutch secretary: "Wee do sware in the presents of the Almightij God, that wee shall be true & faithfull to ye high & mighty Lords ye States Gennerall of yo united Belgick Provinces, & his Serene hignesse the Prince of Orange, & to their Governs here for the time being, and to y° utmost of our power to prevent all what shall be attempted against the same, but uppon all occasions to behave ourselves as true & faitful subiects in conscience are bound to do, provided that wee shal not be forced in armes against our owne Nation if theij are sent bij a Lawful commission from his Majesty of England. Soo help us God." New York Colonial Documents, ii. 602.

Danger of an

the New England Confederacy.

Having seen some of her own ships captured and confiscated, Massachusetts decided that "God doth call them to do something attack by in a hostile way for their own defence.' Plymouth acquiesced in this policy, declaring that "just ground of a war existed. Rhode Island, which was not a member of the Confederacy, took measures to defend her harbours against Dutch attacks; while the three confederated colonies were planning an expedition which might have threatened not only Long Island, but Manhattan itself, for Evertsen's great fleet had sailed for Europe, leaving one frigate and one sloop-of-war to sustain Colve's government.

It was indeed a precarious situation which depended upon the continued presence of a Dutch fleet in the midst of a European war that was straining Holland's resources. Fort Willem Hendrick, if good for anything, ought to be able to make it dangerous for hostile ships to enter either the East River or the North; but as an instrument of war that fortress was now but little better than on the day when Dominie Megapolensis warned Stuyvesant of the folly of using it. Houses had been built and gardens planted so close to it as to interfere with firing. Colve felt bound to make an effective weapon of it, and he decided that the offending houses must either be moved away or be pulled down. It was done as considerately as possible; and here perhaps a few extracts from the contemporary records will help to bring the situation vividly before us.

How Governor Colve pulled down

houses.

It was announced that all persons injured in their