tion of illiteracy for the seventeenth century. It has been well said that, "after 1666 the New Haven of Davenport and Eaton must be looked for upon the banks, not of the Quinnipiac, but of the Passaic. The men, the methods, the laws, the officers, that made New Haven town what it was in 1640, disappeared from the Connecticut colony, but came to full life again immediately in New Jersey." As for the aged Davenport, he moved to Boston and became pastor of the First Church there. 1 Constitu tional trou The government of New Jersey was similar in form to the earlier governments founded in Virginia, Maryland, and the New England colonies; all alike were developments from the ancient English county court. The New Jersey legislature consisted of governor, council, and representative assembly, and it was as well understood as in New England or Virginia that bles in New there could be no taxation save through Jersey. the assembly. But important constitutional questions came up at once for discussion, as in the first years of Massachusetts. The representatives of the people were annoyed at the veto power exercised over them by the governor and council, and accordingly they insisted upon meeting in joint session where their own numbers were sure to prevail. This attempt was successfully resisted by the proprietors, but the immediate result was that Governor Carteret's first assembly, which met in 1668, broke up in some disorder, and it was seven 1 Levermore, The Republic of New Haven, Baltimore, 1886, p. 120. years before there was another legal assembly. There was also the quarrel over quit-rents, which broke out in New Jersey as in so many other colonies. Quit-rents were always extremely unpopular. Carteret's colonists refused to pay them, and their opposition, organized as it was in town meetings, was too strong to be overcome. In 1671 the towns chose an illegal assembly, with James Carteret, a weak and debauched creature, a younger son of the lord-proprietor, for its president. For the moment constitutional government, according to the "Concessions," seemed overthrown, and Philip Carteret returned to England. The persistent energy of Sir George Carteret, backed by the Duke of York, presently restored order, but meanwhile Lord Berkeley lost his faith in the success of the enterprise and sold out for £1000 all his interest Lord Berke ley sells out his interest to a party of Quakers. to a Quaker, John Fenwick, in trust for another Quaker, Edward Byllinge. This panic sale from Lord Berkeley to Quakers was one of the pivotal events in American history, for it soon resulted in bringing William Penn to the New World. But before we can enter upon this eventful story we must return for a while to the island of Manhattan and see what was going on there. The peace of Breda, signed on St. Bartholomew's day, 1667, formally ceded New Netherland to the English, in exchange for Surinam in South America and the island of Poleron, one of the Banda group near the Moluccas. On New Year's, 1668, the peace was proclaimed in New York, and Governor Nicolls was able to add the welcome announcement that, for the next seven years at least, that province was to enjoy free trade with the Netherlands. Private affairs demanded Nic olls's presence in England, and the duke Departure Nicolls. accepted his resignation. In New York of Governor there was universal sorrow at his departure; seldom has a public man been so beloved. At the house of the Dutch mayor, Cornelius Steenwyck, near the Whitehall, there was a farewell banquet. The menu has not come down to us, but an inventory of the things in the house has been preserved; and one feels that in those tapestried rooms, with their carved French cabinets, their velvet and Russia leather chairs, the muslin and "flowered tabby" curtains, the tall clock in the corner, and the paintings by Antwerp masters, there were the elements of refined comfort. The Netherlanders at that time lived more luxuriously in their houses than any other people, and their habits had been carried with them to the New World. From these last pleasant scenes the right governor made his way back to England. He was soon to die a soldier's death. In the third naval war between the English and Dutch he served on the fleet and was killed at the battle of Solebay, May 28, 1672, at the early age of forty seven. up Nicolls's successor, Francis Lovelace, a man of far less distinction for character and ability, was nevertheless a worthy person, and New Francis York was prosperous under his rule. The Lovelace. year of his arrival is memorable for the aboli VOL. II. Great and small burghers. tion of the two classes of "great burghers" and "small burghers," introduced by Stuyvesant in 1657. The distinction was imitated from the custom in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities. Members of the council, burgomasters and schepens, officers of the militia, and ministers of the gospel, with their descendants in the male line, were enrolled as great burghers; and other persons could be admitted to that class on payment of 50 guilders into the city treasury. These great burghers were eligible to public offices, and in case of conviction for a capital offence were exempt from confiscation or attainder. The class of small burghers comprised all other persons born in the city, or who had dwelt there for a year and six weeks; all men who were married to the daughters of burghers; all salaried servants of the West India Company; and all persons who kept a shop or permanently transacted business in the city. Strangers temporarily in the city could be enrolled in this class by paying a fee of 25 guilders. The privileges pertaining to it scarcely extended beyond sundry facilities for trading.1 This division into classes proved very unpopular, and it was abolished in 1668 with general satisfaction. Several families from Boston now bought estates in New York and came there to live, willing perhaps, like Maverick, to escape from the saintly rule of the "lords brethren." The most important and memorable act of Lovelace's administration was the establishment of a regular monthly 1 O'Callaghan, History of New Netherland, ii. 341. mail service through southern New England between New York and Boston. This event The monthly mail be tween New York and Boston. may best be described by quoting the letter which Lovelace sent to Winthrop, at Hartford, in December, 1672: "I here present you with two rarities, a pacquett of the latest intelligence I could meet withal, and a Post. By the first, you will see what has been acted on the stage of Europe; by the latter you will meet with a monthly fresh supply; so that if it receive but the same ardent inclinations from you as at first it hath from myself, by our monthly advisoes all publique occurrences may be transmitted between us, together with severall other great conveniencys of publique importance, consonant to the commands laid upon us by His sacred Majestie, who strictly injoins all his American subjects to enter into a close correspondency with each other. This I look upon as the most compendious means to beget a mutual understanding; and that it may receive all the countenance from you for its future duration, I shall acquaint you with the model I have proposed; and if you please but to make an addition to it, or substraction, or any other alteration, I shall be ready to comply with you. This person that has undertaken the imployment I conceaved most proper, being both active, stout, and indefatigable. He is sworne as to his fidelity. I have affixt an annuall sallery on him, which, together with the advantage of his letters and other small portable packes, may afford him a handsome livelyhood. Hartford is the first stage I have designed him to change his horse, |