XVII. The dull James II., then duke of York, of a fair CHAP. complexion and an athletic frame, was patient in details, yet singularly blind to universal principles, plod- 1676 ding with sluggish diligence, but unable to conform conduct to a general rule. Within narrow limits he reasoned correctly; but his vision did not extend far. Without sympathy for the crowd, he had no discernment of character, and was the easy victim of duplicity and intrigue. His loyalty was but devotion to the prerogative which he hoped to inherit. Brave in the face of expected dangers, an unforeseen emergency found him pusillanimously helpless. He kept his word sacredly, unless it involved complicated relations, which he could scarcely comprehend. Spiritual religion is an enfranchising power, expanding and elevating the soul, a service of forms was analogous to the understanding of James; to attend mass, to build chapels, to risk the kingdom for a rosary,-this was within his grasp; he had no clear perception of religious truth. Freedom of conscience, always an ennobling conception, was, in that age, an idea yet standing on the threshold of the world, waiting to be ushered in; and none but exalted minds-Roger Williams and Penn, Vane, Fox, and Bun- 1677 yan-went forth to welcome it; no glimpse of it reached James, whose selfish policy, unable to gain immediate dominion for his persecuted priests and his confessor, begged at least for toleration. Debauching a woman on promise of marriage, he next allowed her to be traduced as having yielded to frequent prostitution, and then married her; he was conscientious, but his moral sense was as slow as his understanding. He was not bloodthirsty; but to a narrow mind fear seems the most powerful instrument of government, and he propped his throne with the block and the gallows. 406 XVII. JAMES II. AND COLONIAL LIBERTIES. CHAP. A libertine without love, a devotee without spirituality, an advocate of toleration without a sense of the natural right to freedom of conscience,—in him the muscular force prevailed over the intellectual. He floated between the sensuality of indulgence and the sensuality of superstition, hazarding heaven for an ugly mistress, and, to the great delight of abbots and nuns, winning it back again by pricking his flesh with sharp points of Life of iron, and eating no meat on Saturdays. Of the two II 56. brothers, the duke of Buckingham said well, that Burnet. Charles would not, and James could not see. James 1677. put his whole character into his reply to Andros, which Jan. 1. is as follows: James 66 "I cannot but suspect assemblies would be of dangerous consequence; nothing being more known than the aptness of such bodies to assume to themselves many privileges, which prove destructive to, or very often disturb, the peace of government, when they are allowed. Neither do I see any use for them. Things that need redress may be sure of finding it at the quarter sessions, or by the legal and ordinary ways, or, lastly, by appeals to myself. However, I shall be ready to consider of any proposal you shall send.” In November, some months after the province of Sagadahock, that is, Maine beyond the Kennebec, had been protected by a fort and a considerable garrison, AnNov. dros hastened to England; but he could not give eyes 1678. to the duke; and, on his return, he was ordered to continue the duties, which, at the surrender, had been 1679. established for three years. In the next year, the revenue was a little increased. Meantime the Dutch Calvinists had been inflamed by an attempt to thwart the discipline of the Dutch Reformed church. Yet it should be added, that the taxes were hardly three per XVII. cent. on imports, and really insufficient to meet the ex- CHAP penses of the colony; while the claim to exercise prerogative in the church was abandoned. As in the days 1678 of Lovelace, the province was "a terrestrial Canaan. The inhabitants were blessed in their basket and their store. They were free from pride; and a wagon gave as good content as in Europe a coach; their home-made cloth as the finest lawns. The doors of the low-roofed houses, which luxury never entered, stood wide open to charity, and to the stranger." The Island of New York may, in 1678, have contained not far from three thousand inhabitants; in the whole colony there could not have been far from twenty thousand. Ministers were scarce, but welcome, and religions many; the poor were relieved, and beggars unknown. A thousand pounds were opulence; the possessor of half that sum was rich. The exports were land productionswheat, lumber, tobacco-and peltry from the Indians. In the community, composed essentially of farmers, great equality of condition prevailed; there were but "few merchants," "few servants, and very few slaves." Wood, What was wanting to the happiness of the people? Prompted by an exalted instinct, they demanded power to govern themselves. Discontent created a popular 1681 convention; and if the two Platts, Titus, Wood, and 99 Wicks of Huntington, arbitrarily summoned to New York, were still more arbitrarily thrown into prison, the fixed purpose of the yeomanry remained unshaken. The government of New York was quietly maintained over the settlements south and west of the Delaware, till they were granted to Penn; over the 1 Denton's New York, printed in government, p. 19 and 20. Andros, 1670, describes it under the duke's in Chalmers, 601, &c. 408 XVII. PROGRESS OF EAST NEW JERSEY. CHAP. Jerseys Andros claimed a paramount authority. We have seen the Quakers refer the contest for decision to an English commission. 1675. In East New Jersey, Philip Carteret had, as the deputy of Sir George, resumed the government, and, gaining popularity by postponing the payment of quitrents, confirmed liberty of conscience with representative government. A direct trade with England, unencumbered by customs, was encouraged. The commerce of New York was endangered by the competition; and, disregarding a second patent from the 1678. duke of York, Andros claimed that the ships of New 10. Jersey should pay tribute at Manhattan. After long Oct. altercations, and the arrest of Carteret, terminated only by the honest verdict of a New York jury, Andros again 1680. entered New Jersey, to intimidate its assembly by the June 2 royal patent to the duke. The people of New Jersey could not, as in the happier Connecticut, plead an earlier grant from the king. But when were Puritans at a loss for arguments in favor of freedom? "We are the representatives of the freeholders of this province;" -such was the answer of the assembly;-" his majesty's patent, though under the great seal, we dare not grant to be our rule or joint safety; for the great charter of England, alias Magna Charta, is the only rule, privilege, and joint safety of every free-born Englishman."1 The firmness of the legislature preserved the independence of New Jersey; the decision of Sir William Jones protected its people against arbitrary taxation; its prosperity sprung from the miseries of Scotland. The trustees of Sir George Carteret, tired of the burden 1 Gordon's New Jersey, 47. XVII. 1682. Leam ing and Spicer's Gra &c., of N. Jer sey, 73. the Gov Modelof ernment of N. J. 146. Leaming and Spicer, 141. of colonial property, exposed their province to sale; CHAP. and the unappropriated domain, with jurisdiction over the five thousand already planted on the soil, was pur- Feb. 1 chased by an association of twelve Quakers, under and 2. the auspices of William Penn. A brief account of the province was immediately published; and settlers were allured by a reasonable eulogy on its healthful climate and safe harbors, its fisheries and abundant game, its forests and fertile soil, and the large liberties established for the encouragement of adventurers. In November, 1682. 1682, possession was taken by Thomas Rudyard,' as temporary deputy-governor; the happy country was already tenanted by "a sober, professing people." Meantime the twelve proprietors selected each a partner; and, in March, 1683, to the twenty-four, among whom was the timorous, cruel, iniquitous Perth, afterwards chancellor of Scotland, and the amiable, learned, and ingenious Barclay, who became nominally the governor of the territory, a new and latest patent of East New Jersey 1683. was granted by the duke of York. From Scotland the largest emigration was expected; and, in 1685, just before embarking for America with his own family and about two hundred passengers, George Scot of Pitlochie addressed to his countrymen an argument in favor of removing to a country where there was room for a man to flourish without wronging his neighbor. "It is judged the interest of the government "- thus he 1685 wrote, apparently with the sanction of men in power" to suppress Presbyterian principles altogether; the whole force of the law of this kingdom is levelled at the effectual bearing them down. The rigorous putting these laws in execution hath in a great part ruined many of those who, notwithstanding 1 G. P. on the Early History of East Jersey, in Newark Daily Ad52 VOL. II. vertiser, March and April, 1839. March 14. |