Paper money.

his own words, that the enemy might have "considerable reinforcements near at hand." From time to time, the Assembly of New York made large issues of paper money, and strenuously withstood proposals on the part of the English Government to deprive them of this privilege. They took the ground that there was not coin enough in the province to serve as currency. In 1756, it was concluded to have a permanent English army in America, and the Earl of Loudoun was appointed its general.

Character

Compared with New England, the Middle States had the advantage of a milder climate-a climate that was free alike from the extremes of heat and of of the Middle cold-and a more fertile soil. The people difStates. fered from the New Englanders in being less homogeneous. In the Middle States, except New Jersey, the population had come from different countries, yet there was a steady progress of the English toward the absorption of other elements, or, at least, that complete predominance, as regards language and customs, which finally prevailed. There was an absence in the social life of these communities of the Puritan rigor which marked the institutions and ways of New England; and with this absence, it may fairly be said, there were wanting certain intellectual and moral gains, which were the concomitants of it.

In New York, the Dutch emigration, for the most part, came to an end with the conquest by the English. But Society in although there were Huguenots in the city of New York. New York, and Palatines on the Hudson, the population of the colony was constituted mainly of the Dutch and the English. By the English, the settlements on the western border of Long Island were early made, and they continued to transplant themselves from New England. The city of New York was so situated that it

could not fail to become a centre of trade, and such it has always continued to be. The traffic in furs was a principal occupation at Albany. From the banks of the Hudson, and from Albany, settlements were gradually planted westward along the fertile and beautiful valley of the Mohawk. Agriculture was the principal occupation of the inhabitants of the colony. Manufactures, begun with considerable energy by the Dutch, did not flourish. The legal profession in New York attained to no high standing, and the medical profession was in a still lower state. In 1665, a law of the Duke of York was framed to prevent violence in the treatment of patients. The Dutch and the English dissenting ministers were worthy of respect, both for their learning and character. The Dutch clergy held the same theology as their dissenting English brethren, but were less sedate in their ways. They were fond of lively companionship, yet maintained their place as oracles in their villages. Until near the close of the seventeenth century, when the English Church adopted a different policy, toleration was generally practised, the exceptions being in the case of the Quakers, and in that of the Roman Catholics, toward whom the invasions of the French and Indians from Canada, and the influence of the Jesuits there, created a hos

The clergy.

tile feeling. Under the Dutch rule, schools Education.

had been established, and received aid from

government; but after the English conquest, the interest in popular education dwindled, and the schools were given up, or fell into decay.

Slavery existed in New York, as in the other northern colonies, but in a mild form. There was a certain prevalent antipathy to the blacks, on account of their color, and occasionally, as we have seen, in a time of panic they were cruelly handled; but generally they were well treated. Wealth, even when re

Social classes.

cently acquired, conferred social importance on such as possessed it. But there was an aristocracy in New York of a peculiar cast. Above the ordinary tradesmen and small farmers, were the great Dutch landholders, the patroons, whose vast country estates lay in the neighborhood of the Hudson, and who formed the habit of building, in the city of New York, houses to which they could resort in the winter. These grandees lived in a princely fashion, having spacious mansions, a luxurious table, a great retinue of servants, white and black; celebrating marriages and funerals with feudal magnificence, and administering justice among their numerous tenants. The manors of the Van Rensselaers, the Cortlands, and Livingstons each sent a delegate to the Assembly. Provisions were made of such a character, by will or otherwise, that large manors descended to the oldest son, as if there had been a law of entail. Thus the influence of the ruling families was perpetuated, and their political power was transmitted from father to son. The ordinary farmers were well off, they were never worn out with toil, were quiet and unambitious, and content to live comfortably from the produce of their fertile acres. The farmers of English descent on Long Island had less inertia, and were somewhat more contentious. In the city of New York, the private houses were well built and well furnished, but the public edifices were inferior. There sprung up in that city a more fashionable society than existed in other American towns. Money was freely spent in dress and entertainments. Amusements, such as dancing and card-playing, which were proscribed in New England, were favorite sources of recreation.

CHAPTER XV.

NEW JERSEY FROM 1688 TO 1756

New Jersey after the Revolution-New Jersey a Royal ProvinceCornbury and the Assembly-Hunter-Burnet-New Jersey Separated from New York-The Elizabethtown ClaimantsThe Revival in New Jersey-Social Life.

New Jersey

after the Revolution.

By the overthrow of the government of Andros, and the English Revolution, the connection of New Jersey with New York was broken off. For ten years the political condition of New Jersey bordered on anarchy; but during this period the Puritans in East Jersey, and the Quakers in West Jersey appear to have managed their affairs through their town organizations, and generally in a safe and orderly way. The authority of the proprietaries was nominally resumed, but they were not very well obeyed. In 1692, Andrew Hamilton was made Governor of both the Jerseys. The dispute with New York respecting customs was opened afresh, and by the decision in a law-suit in Westminster Hall East Jersey won its cause and obtained a separate customhouse. The case was decided during the rule of Basse, Hamilton's successor. The title of the proprietaries was called in question, the people petitioned against it, and it was surrendered by them to Queen Anne, their property in lands being secured to them. The a royal provtwo Jerseys were thus finally united in one province. The form of government which followed, with Cornbury for its first Governor, left the people with

New Jersey

ince. 1702.

ཟ

less liberty than they had been in the habit of exercising. The Councillors were to be appointed by the Crown, and might be removed by the Governor, who was to send his reasons to England for taking such a step. The members of the Lower House must each possess an estate of a thousand acres, and were to be chosen for an indefinite time. A property qualification for voters was prescribed. Religious liberty was conceded to all "except papists." There were regulations for the establishment and maintenance of the Anglican Church, but these proved inoperative by the refusal of the Assembly to make grants for the purpose. No printing of a book or pamphlet was to be allowed without the Governor's special license. The Governor and Council were to be a Court of Chancery. In practice the Governor exercised this function exclusively. There were religious conflicts in New Jersey among three parties— Quakers, Episcopalians, and the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, who acted together. Cornbury, by his Cornbury and mercenary spirit, lost the confidence of all. the Assembly. When the Assembly refused to pass his militia bills and bills for the grant of money, he removed three of its members, and thus obtained a body willing to comply with his wishes. He was confronted by the spirited opposition of Samuel Jennings, the Speaker. He dismissed Lewis Morris, an able man, from the Council. Morris presented the complaints of the colony against him to the English Secretary of State.

Lovelace, Governor after the removal of Cornbury, died soon after his appointment. With the conduct of Ingoldsby, a rash and violent man, who was

1709.

left in power after the death of Lovelace, there was no satisfaction. Yet the Assembly voted men and money for the prosecution of the war against New France. The same thing was done under Hunter.