Col. Nicolls, the deputy of the Duke of York, which accompanied his summons, the inhabitants were promised all the privileges of English subjects; and, in various ways, expectations were held out, that all the popular privileges enjoyed under the Dutch, would be greatly enlarged by the English Government.* We shall hereafter see in what manner these promises and expectations were fulfilled.

I cannot leave this part of my subject, without acknowledging my obligations to the author of the History of New Netherland; nor can I refrain from congratulating my associates and fellow citizens, and especially such of them as are of Dutch extraction, on the appearance of a work which promises to supply what has so long been due, from our favored commonwealth, to the memory and honor of its founders. The discharge of this duty, though it should not have been left to a native of Ireland, could not have fallen into better hands. It is evident from the volume already published, that Dr. O'Callaghan has applied himself to his laborious undertaking with the heartiness and zeal which belong to his own race, and with the patient diligence, the scrupulous care, and the strict integrity which distinguish the people to whose history it relates. They who have read it will, I am sure, unite with me, in the hope that the concluding volume may soon be given to the public, and that the entire work may receive its liberal patronage.

The ENGLISH rule, from the acquisition of the colony in 1664, to the era of the American Revolution, may be conveniently divided, in reference to our present subject, into two general periods. We have, first, the PROPRIETARY GOVernment, under the Duke of York, extending to 1685, when as James II. he succeeded to the crown, and the province of New York became a part of its dominions; and secondly, the ROYAL government.

The grant of Charles II. of the 12th of March, 1664, to "his dearest brother" James, Duke of York, from which the Proprietary government was derived, was founded on claim of title to the whole of New Netherland, as a part of the American continent, first discovered and occupied by the English. Treating the title of the Dutch as invalid, and their possession of half a century as a lawless intrusion on the rights of the British crown, this grant con

See the Articles and Proclamation, in Smith's Hist. of New York, edit. of N. Y. Hist. Soc. i. 25, 26.

veyed to the Duke Hudson's river and all land from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay, together with Long Island. With similar disregard of grants previously made, it included the seacoast from St. Croix to Pemaquid, and the back country "to the river of Kennebeck, and upward to the river of Canada," and the islands of Martin's Vineyard and Nantucket. These territories were granted to the Duke, his heirs and assigns forever, upon the tenure of free and common soccage, and upon the yearly rent, when demanded, of forty beaver skins. The king also grants to the Duke, his heirs, deputies, agents, commissioners and assigns, full and absolute power and authority, to correct. punish, pardon, govern and rule all subjects of the English crown inhabiting, or being, within the granted territory, according to such laws, ordinances, and directions, as the Duke or his assigns should establish; and in defect thereof, in cases of necessity, "according to the good discretions of his deputies, commissioners, officers, or assigns;" all such laws and proceedings, however, to be "as near as conveniently may be, agreeable to the laws, statutes and governments of this our realm of England."

The commission of RICHARD NICOLLS, dated in March, 1664, made him deputy governor under the Duke of York, over all the territories of his master in America; but the Duke, in the following June, conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, in fee, the tract between the rivers Hudson and Delaware, such tract to be thereafter called Nova Cæsarea or New Jersey, with all his powers of gov ernment, in and over this large and important part of the ancient province of New Netherland.†

The limits of Nicolls's government were also, soon after the surrender, defined and circumscribed on the east. With a view to the settlement of boundaries with the New England colonies, and in anticipation of the meditated assault on New Netherland, a commission was issued in April, 1664, by Charles II. to Colonel Nicolls, in conjunction with

* See the grant at length in Thompson's Long Island, ii. 308.

+ Smith, Hist. of New York, i. 15. Samuel Smith's Hist. of New Jersey, 60. The pledges given by Nicolls, before and at the surrender, were fairly complied with by Berkeley and Carteret. The grants and concessions made by them to the settlers of New Jersey, were framed in a just and liberal spirit, corresponding with the most cherished muniments of English freedom, and nearly equalling the most favored of the New England charters. Smith's Hist. of New Jersey, 60, 512. Bancroft, ii. 316, 317, 357-363. No such blessings were allotted to the inhabitants of New York. It was long before they found the capitulation a truth; and in the interval, they had abundant occasion to learn, how unsafe it is, to put one's trust in Princes.

others, to determine all differences concerning the bounds of the several charters and jurisdictions granted to the colonies of New England. These commissioners, soon after the surrender of New Amsterdam, decided that the whole of Long Island, (the eastern part of which had been claimed and exclusively held, by Connecticut,) should thenceforward belong to the Duke of York; and they settled, as the boundary between Connecticut and the Duke's government, the Mamaroneck creek or river, and a line from the east side of its mouth in Long Island Sound, north-northwest to the line of Massachusetts.*

The residue of the territory included in the grant to the Duke of York, received from Nicolls the name of New York. This name was also given by him to its metropolis, in lieu of New Amsterdam, its former name.† With the exception of Pemaquid and the adjacent country, and the islands of Martin's or Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, afterwards surrendered to Massachusetts, the boundaries of New York on the Atlantic, have ever since continued as thus fixed.I

* Smith, i. 32, 34.

+ Smith, i. 15, 36.

The starting place on Long Island Sound, and the northerly line therefrom, being complained of, a new agreement was made in 1683, with the commissioners of Connecticut, by which it was agreed that the division line between Connecticut and New York should begin at the mouth of Byram brook or river, and should run from that point as particularly described in the agreement. Smith, i, 243. This last named place is the present starting point on Long Island Sound, but the whole eastern line between New York and Connecticut was not finally established until 1731. The eastern line farther north was settled with Massachusetts at a still later date. Beyond the northwestern bounds of Massa chusetts, as claimed by New York, it extended northerly to Canada, in such a direction as to include a considerable part if not the whole of the territory which now forms the State of Vermont. For a full collection of the documents relating to the controversy between the Province and State of New York, and the settlers under the New Hampshire grants, up to the final cession of New York, and her consent to the admission of the State of Vermont into the Union, in 1790, see Slade's Vermont State Papers, published by direction of the Legislature of Vermont, in 1823.

The possessions of the Dutch on the west bank of the Delaware, though not included within the grant to the Duke of York, continued under his government, as an appendage to the Province of New York, until 1682. In that year the Duke conveyed all his right to this territory, being the same which was afterwards divided into the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, and which now forms the State of Delaware, to William Penn. Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, i. 201, 306, 358, 454.

For the boundaries of the State of New York, as now finally established, see the statutory description of them in the Revised Statutes of New York, i. 62; the note of the Revisers, Id. iii., 2d. edition, Appendix 422; the agreement with New Jersey of 1834; and the act of the Legislature of New York confirming the same. Id. iii. 175.

During the whole period of the Proprietary government, the constitutional history of the colony is involved in much obscurity. No printing presses being allowed, the official acts of the Governors, and Councils by which they were assisted, were left only in the public records and other manuscripts; and these were so defective, that when, in the middle of the last century, the colonial legislature resolved to collect and publish the acts of the Assembly, they directed the compilers to begin with the acts of 1691. Smith, our earliest historian, affirms this to be the era of legislation in the colony; and though he alludes to certain laws previously passed, says they are "for the most part rotten, defaced, or lost." From the researches of Bancroft and other modern writers, and the publications of this Society, many facts, applicable to this period, but not mentioned by Smith, may be gleaned. I shall select from these various sources, such particulars as belong to my subject, and may properly be included in my present sketch.

The powers of government granted by Charles II. to the Duke of York, were, as we have seen, limited only by the duty of conforming, in their general character and administration, to the laws and government of Englanda limitation too vague to impose much restraint on the Prince, or to afford much protection to his subjects. These powers were delegated to Nicolls, and he exercised them at pleasure; though, as it would seem, with prudence and moderation.

To give to the proprietors of lands the security of titles conforming to the English claim of original right, and to the tenure on which the Province was held by the Duke of York, NICOLLS issued letters patent in confirmation of the Dutch grants. He also published conditions inviting new planters to the Province, who were invited to make purchases of the Indians, and assured of protection and encouragement. The lands so purchased were to be held in fee, subject, after five years, to public rates and assessments. The settlers, except servants or day laborers, were to be deemed freemen; and, in their respective townships, to have the free choice of all officers, both civil and military; to make their peculiar laws; to decide all small cases within themselves; and to choose their own clergyman, who was to be paid by the township. Liberty of conscience, was, however, allowed, provided it was not con

Smith, i. 35, 41.

verted to licentiousness or the disturbance of others in the exercise of the Protestant religion.*

Besides incorporating the city of New York, with a mayor, aldermen and sheriff, he also introduced in other parts of the province, such of the English methods of government as he thought applicable. The people of eastern Long Island, being accustomed, under the charter of Connecticut, to many of these methods, and familiar with the general principles, of the English law, naturally desired their establishment in New York. In this wish, the inhabitants of the Dutch towns, and especially such of them as were of New England origin, heartily united. NICOLLS wisely complied with this general sentiment, by calling a convention of delegates to be chosen by the freemen of the several townships, both Dutch and English, in the island, for the purpose of obtaining their advice and information "in the settlement of good and known laws, within his government." They were also to bring with them evidences and draughts of the limits of their respective townships.† This Convention, which met on the 8th of February, 1665, though it did not represent the whole constituency, deserves particular notice, as the first legislative assembly in the province. The limits of the townships were adjusted, and some other local matters settled; but the most important measure which attended the meeting, was the promulgation to the Convention, and, through its members, to the people, of a body of laws for their future government, prepared by NICOLLS and his assistants, and afterwards known as "THE DUKE's Laws."

This code was compiled, for the most part, from the laws

*Smith, i. 39, edition of Hist. Soc. gives a copy of this document. It was not contained in the work as originally published, and is remarkable for the liberality of its provisions.

See the Proclamation of Nicolls, at length, in Thompson's Hist. of Long Island, i. 131.

Smith, i. 41, speaks of this Convention as confined to the adjustment of limits; and though he mentions the Duke's laws, does not speak of their promulgation through its members. But Wood, in his Historical Sketch of Long Island, p. 42, and Thompson, i. 131, 143, say, that the code was presented to the Convention, and that copies were delivered to the deputies and filed by them in the different clerks' offices. They also suppose, that at this meeting, Long Island was formed into a shire by the name of Yorkshire, and divided into three ridings, and that the names of many of the Dutch towns were then changed. These writers point out the mistake of Smith (i. 47) in supposing that Lovelace was the first who organized the Court of Assizes. This error, and others of a like nature, might easily be made in 1752, when Smith wrote, though so much nearer the time referred to; for the Duke's laws were not then printed, and having been long obsolete, were not readily accessible.