CHAPTER VI

[141]Bryce,American Commonwealth.

[142]Underhill,Newes from America(1638).

[143]Ibid.

[144]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 88.

[145]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 577.

[146]Ibid.

[147]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1685-1688, p. 472.

[148]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 398.

[149]Quoted by Doyle,Puritan Colonies(1887), vol. i. p. 249.

[150]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 343.

[151]Arnold,History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations(1859).

[152]Ibid.

[153]Winthrop,History of New England(1853), vol. i. p. 226.

[154]Johnson,A History of New England, etc. (1654).

[155]Ibid.

[156]Mass. Hist. Col., Series iii., vol. viii. p. 171.

[157]American Historical Review, vol. iv, No. 4, p. 683.

[158]Josselyn,An Account of Two Voyages to New England(1675).

[159]Ibid.

[160]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 315.

[161]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 348.

[162]Ibid., 1669-1674, p. 579.

[163]Josselyn,ut supra.

[164]Calendar of State Papers, 1677-1680, p. 211.

[165]Calendar of State Papers, 1677-1680, p. 488.

A new epoch in colonial history was reached when England adopted a warlike policy to obtain mastery in the West. During the Protectorate, England and Holland were for the first time engaged in desperate warfare. The numerous common interests that existed in the two countries, such as religion and republicanism, were of no avail to keep the peace. The war that brought such honour to Admiral Blake was not a war against a "natural enemy," but rather a contest between trade rivals using the same methods and having the same opinions. The spirit which animated Cromwell in naval affairs was not Puritanic; it was rather that of the Elizabethan epoch. The old naval enthusiasm which had so long slept in the stagnant days of the first Stuarts had now awakened with renewed vigour, as if its long years of drowsiness had afforded true refreshment. The celebrated Navigation Act, "the legislative monument of the Commonwealth,"[166]was the outward and visible sign of this change in 1651. "It was the first manifestation of the newly awakened consciousness of the community, the act which laid the foundation of the English commercial empire.... It consummated the work whichhad been commenced by Drake, discussed and expounded by Raleigh, continued by Roe, Smith, Winthrop, and Calvert."[167]The Dutch, "the Phœnicians of the modern world, the waggoners of all seas,"[168]were severely injured by the new law, for goods were no longer to be imported into England save in English vessels or those vessels belonging to the country of which the goods were the natural product or manufacture. This important protective enactment was reissued in the reign of Charles II., and, as on the former occasion, it was one of the main causes of embroiling England and Holland.

For the proper enforcement of the Navigation Act, the English colonies in the West required a geographical compactness which in the central period of the seventeenth century they did not possess. A formidable foreign rival held a valuable commercial settlement between the northern and southern colonies, for the Dutch possessed in New Amsterdam the very best harbour along the coast. By the reign of Charles II. the hatred of the Dutch had become a passion amongst Englishmen, and it had not only been fostered by the Cromwellian war, but by trade-jealousy both in the East and in the West. In America the rising colonies of New England, in particular, looked with greedy eyes upon the splendid waterway of the River Hudson, which was the finest route for Indian trade. They had, too, suffered at the hands of their rivals; both the settlements in Connecticut and Long Island had for many years engaged in innumerable land disputes with the Dutch, nor did the people of NewHaven forget that some of their brethren had been driven out of New Sweden, which the Dutch now held.

The Dutch had made their first settlement in 1626 as an outcome of the foundation of the Dutch West India Company five years before. In its functions this corporation very closely resembled the English East India Company, for it made a special combination of naval and commercial affairs, and almost its first work was the establishment of the New Netherland settlement on Long Island and along the River Hudson. Their chief town was planted on Manhattan Island and called New Amsterdam, the population of which soon after its foundation was 270 souls. A contemporary narrative speaks cheerfully of the probable success of the colony, and states that they had a prosperous beginning and that "the natives of New Netherland are very well disposed so long as no injury is done them."[169]But from the very first the governors were bad; it was in fact irregularities in administration and want of enterprise and courage that caused the recall of Van Twiller in 1637. His successor Kieft proved himself equally incapable, for he was arbitrary and ill-advised, earning the detestation of both Dutch patroons and English settlers. The colonists themselves were few and poor, and the methods employed by the Company lacked any trace of liberality or real knowledge of colonial affairs. Peter Stuyvesant, "that resolute soldier," came into office in 1647; he was the best governor who up to that time had been sent out, but he was nothing more than a martinet, without either sympathy or flexibility. Van der Douch in 1650 described the colonyas sadly decayed, and gave as the reasons that "the Managers of the Company adopted a wrong course at first, and as we think had more regard for their own interests than for the welfare of the country.... It seems as if from the first the Company have sought to stock this land with their ownemployés, which was a great mistake, for when their time was out, they returned home.... Trade, without which, when it is legitimate, no country is prosperous, is by their acts so decayed that the like is nowhere else. It is more suited for slaves than freemen in consequence of the restrictions upon it ... we would speak well of the government ... under Director Stuyvesant, which still stands, if indeed that may be called standing, which lies completely under foot."[170]

It may have been this complaint or feelings similar to those stated therein that forced Stuyvesant to do something that would show that his rule over the colony had a stimulating effect. He had regarded for some time with jealousy the little settlement of New Sweden, or as it was known in later years, Delaware. This colony had been established by one Minuit, who had been formerly employed by the Dutch West India Company. He was a friend of William Usselinx or Ussling, who had as early as 1624 obtained a charter from Gustavus Adolphus for a trading company "to Asia, Africa, America, and Magellanica."[171]But it was not until 1638 that Minuit's Swedish following arrived in America and erected Fort Christina, named after that extraordinary royal tomboy, the Queen of Sweden. They soonhad so far settled themselves as to be strong enough to drive out a party from New Haven, but they had not calculated on the hostility of the Dutch. Stuyvesant was determined to seize New Sweden, and set out in 1651 to exert Dutch rights, and for their protection established Fort Casimir on the site of what is now Newcastle, Del. This was merely the beginning of a larger policy of annexation, which was accomplished in 1655 when the Swedish settlement passed into the hands of the Dutch without bloodshed on the appearance of the Governor with an army of 700 men. The conquered territory was immediately sold to the city of Amsterdam and a colony was established there under the name of New Amstel. On the surface this energetic policy had much to recommend it from the Dutch point of view; but in reality the people of the New Netherlands gained but little, as in that colony there were no popular institutions, no true self-government, and not even the advantage of a really efficient despotism to give interior strength or possibilities of exterior advance. The fact was that Stuyvesant's action resulted only in harm to his colony, for in carrying out the extirpation of the Swedish settlement in Delaware he absolutely drained his own resources and left himself unprepared and incapable of resisting the onslaught of the English.

The crushing blow fell in August 1664. In the March of that year Charles II. granted to his brother James, Duke of York, all the territory then held by the Dutch, on the plea that it was really British soil by right of discovery. This was the mere reassertion of an old claim, for James I. had demanded the territory by right of "occupancy" as early as 1621, and Charles I.did the same by "first discovery, occupation, and possession"; Cromwell too had attempted to make possession a real thing in 1654, but the first Dutch War ended too soon. The action of Charles II. may well be regarded as a very practical declaration of war. Colonel Richard Nicolls was appointed to seize the New Netherlands. He was the most important of the Commissioners sent out to report on the state of the colonies, and was a good soldier, a man of great courage, but at the same time forbearing and lenient. The colony which he was ordered to attack contained a population of about 1500 souls, 600 of whom were of English stock, dwelling for the most part on Long Island, which was partially Anglicised by an influx of settlers from Connecticut and New Haven. At the end of August Nicolls arrived off New Amsterdam with four ships, and 450 soldiers and Connecticut volunteers. On September 4 he sent terms to Stuyvesant, stating that "His Majesty, being tender of the effusion of Christian blood, confirms and secures estates, life and liberty to every Dutch inhabitant who shall readily submit to his Government, but those who shall oppose his Majesty's gracious intention must expect all the miseries of a war which they bring on themselves."[172]Stuyvesant offered very little resistance, and Nicolls soon found himself in possession of New Amsterdam. The Dutch West India Company failed to see that they had been largely to blame for leaving their colony inadequately defended, and preferred to pour out the vials of their wrath upon the unfortunate Stuyvesant, who, according to the Company, "first following the example of heedless interested parties, gave himself no other concern than about the prosperity of hisbouweries, and, when the pinch came, allowed himself to be rode over by Clergymen, women and cowards, in order to surrender to the English what he could defend with reputation, for the sake of thus saving their private properties."[173]

The conquest of the main city did not leave Colonel Nicolls idle. The rest of the province had to be subdued, and by his commands the Assistant Commissioner, Cartwright, went forward, took Fort Orange, better known as Albany, and above all laid the foundations of that friendship between the English and the Iroquois which was to prove of such importance in future years. Sir Robert Carr was also sent to take the settlements along the Delaware; but his violence and rapacity in this work contrasted very strongly with the calm and firm rule of Nicolls, and Carr earned for himself unenviable notoriety for his severity, which, it has been said, was "the one exception to the humanity and moderation shown by the English."[174]There were other difficulties which presented themselves to the Governor of New York, not the least being the foundation of New Jersey. James, Duke of York, immediately after the capture of the Dutch settlements, granted all the territory from the Hudson to the Delaware to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley. The district was named New Jersey, and Philip Carteret was sent out by his kinsman to supervise his interests. Nicolls strongly disapproved of this measure; he was a man with a keen political insight, and he saw in this mangling of the province the seed of much commercial and political dispute.His warning was, of course, unheeded, but that he was right was amply proved by the later history of New Jersey. Nicolls had also to undo the ill done in Albany by his second in command, Brodhead, who had shown an extraordinary lack of administrative ability, treating the Dutch colonists as an inferior and conquered people, and making numerous arbitrary arrests upon the most trifling charges. Fortunately for the safety of the colony, news of Brodhead's action reached Nicolls and the despotic deputy was suspended.

The government of New York was no sinecure. It was probably the most cosmopolitan town in North America, and though perhaps it is an exaggeration, it has been asserted that eighteen languages could be heard in the streets of the late Dutch capital. Before its capture it had become more Anglicised, as Stuyvesant had not feared but favoured the English. The first thing done by Nicolls was to put the town in a state of defence so as to resist any attempt on the part of the Dutch to regain possession, which was essayed by De Ruyter in 1665, but without success. A far more oppressive burden to a man who really had his heart in his work was the difficulty of obtaining supplies for the soldiers. The English Governor wrote a most pathetic appeal to the Duke of York, telling him how he was paying what he could out of his own pocket, but that the people were starving. He describes how the inhabitants of Long Island were in terrible poverty, and how New York was in "a mean condition ... not one soldier has lain in a pair of sheets or on any bed but canvas and straw" since the capture of the town. He said very pluckily that he did not mind the ruin of his own fortune, but that hecould not bear the loss of his reputation; and then, probably to gain his way, he concluded with a delightful sentence of praise that ought to have won the Duke's heart, and which Nicolls no doubt intended that it should. The colony, he writes, exhibited general joy and thanksgiving for the signal victory of the Duke over the Dutch off Lowestoft in June, and for the preservation of His Royal Highness's person, "the very news whereof has revived their spirits and is antidote both against hunger and cold."[175]

Meantime representatives from the English-speaking towns met in February 1665 on Long Island; here, acting in accordance with the wishes of the Governor, a scheme of administration was drawn up; a code of laws was promulgated, and no attempt was made to interfere with the Dutch language. Every town was granted powers of assessment, and the right of choosing a church was given to the freemen who were to declare its denomination. In the cases of the two main Dutch towns of New York and Albany, Nicolls was careful not to arouse ill-feeling, and he allowed them to keep their own mayors. When the first governor retired in 1668, a tribute to his excellent work was paid him by his fellow commissioner Maverick; "he has done his Majesty very considerable service in these parts," he says, "having kept persons of different judgments and divers nations in peace, when a great part of the world was in wars: and as to the Indians, they were never brought into such a peaceable posture and fair correspondence as by his means they now are."[176]

Richard Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace, who had already acted for three years as deputy governor of Long Island. He had before him as governor of New York a far harder task. He followed a man of wonderful power, and it was now his duty to carry on Nicolls' policy and bring the preponderant Dutch population surely but quietly under the but recently established British authority. To accomplish this he adopted a paternal rule; he granted toleration to all religions; he attempted to gain the goodwill of the Indians by purchasing their lands and refraining from any action which might be regarded as aggressive. At the same time he helped the colony very considerably by opening up intercourse between New York and Massachusetts, and by the establishment of a regular post between the two capitals. On the other hand, however, Lovelace was not really suited to his post. He was a courtier of the conventional type, and regarded his stay in New York as a form of exile. He speaks of being in "Egyptian darkness," and asks in one of his letters what is stirring on the stage in "Brittang." In writing to Sir Joseph Williamson he tries to arouse his sympathy and says, "we had as well crossed Lethal as the Athlantiq Ocean." The news from home came to him far too seldom, for the conveyance of letters was as slow "as the production ofellephats, once almost in two years."[177]

Lovelace's rule soon became unpopular for he was determined to carry out his plan of paternal despotism and resisted very firmly every attempt to create popular representation, which was continually demanded. He angered the settlers by what theyregarded a severe tax for defensive purposes, and he showed his contempt for the freeholders of Long Island by ordering their protest against his actions to be burnt. It was unfortunate that this man should have so alienated both Dutch and English alike, for his period of government coincided with a most critical epoch in the world's history. In 1670 Charles had allied with Louis XIV. against the Dutch, and one of the first acts of retaliation on the part of the authorities in Holland was to retake their colony of the New Netherlands. In July 1673 the Dutch Admiral Cornelius Eversen appeared off Fort James when Francis Lovelace was away at New Haven. The settlers, instead of resisting the Dutch, remembered their hatred of the Governor, and Captain Manning, second in command, having fired one gun, surrendered, an action which was called at the time "a shame and derision to their English nation as hath not been heard of."[178]Lovelace on his return found the Dutch flag flying over the settlement, and, having no supporters, fled to Long Island, where the English towns had refused to give way, not because of goodwill towards the Governor, but because of patriotism. Here Lovelace met with a scanty welcome and within a few days was arrested, ostensibly on account of a debt owing to the Duke of York, and was sent back to England on the 30th July 1673, where he died soon after.

Weary of a war which was solely for the advantage of the French, Charles II. came to terms with the Dutch at the Treaty of Westminster, 1674. The New Netherlands once more became New York, but the English ministers made a great error in also restoringto Carteret and Berkeley their rights in New Jersey. The advice of Nicolls was again neglected, and instead of making New York a compact province, the chance of unity was lost by severing from its jurisdiction the territory of New Jersey. Sir Edmund Andros, who was now appointed governor, did his best to neutralise the effect of this by contending that New Jersey was still tributary to New York, asserting his rights with considerable vigour. But the partners in New Jersey were too great favourites at court to suffer any loss, and before the question was settled Andros was recalled in 1680. His rule was particularly wise and moderate, and during his governorship New York experienced a healthy expansion. One thing, however, he would never grant, though the settlers were always clamouring for it, and that was a clearly defined constitution with political rights and privileges similar to those in the New England colonies.

The exceptionally able Thomas Dongan succeeded Andros, but did not arrive until 1683. He was forced to contend, as will be shown later, with French aggression in the valley of the Hudson; his method being a firm alliance with the Five Nations or Iroquois. They were a wild and dangerous people, and as such have been described by one who knew them well. "They likewise paint their Faces, red, blue, &c., and then they look like the Devil himself ... they treat their Enemies with great Cruelty in Time of War, for they first bite off the Nails of the Fingers of their Captives, and cut off some Joints, and sometimes the whole of the Fingers; after that the Captives are obliged to sing and dance before them ... and finally they roast them before a slow Fire for some Days, andeat them." It is interesting to note that the writer records what must have been a great relief to his readers in the colonies, that "they are very friendly to us."[179]This amicable relationship between the English and the Five Nations was largely due to Dongan's good sense and administrative genius. He persuaded them to become so much subjects of Great Britain as to set up the arms of James II. upon their wigwams. The English king, when he heard of his governor's action, informed Louis XIV. that, as the Iroquois were now true British subjects, he expected them to be treated as such. Dongan's work did not stop here. He was well aware that the Iroquois' friendship was an uncertain prop on which to depend, and therefore palisaded the towns of Albany and Schenectady, thus beginning the famous system of frontier forts. By his actions he gained the goodwill of the New Yorkers, to whom, on behalf of the Proprietors, he granted a charter of incorporation in 1685. But this acceptance of the views of the people was only very temporary, as it was reversed in the next year, while at the same time all rights of legislation were vested in a Council appointed by the Crown.

As has already been shown, James II. amalgamated the colonies in 1685 under Sir Edmund Andros and New York became part of New England. The Governor was kept far too busy in Massachusetts to pay any attention to New York, which was placed under a deputy-governor, Colonel Francis Nicholson, with three Dutch councillors. Nicholson was a clearheaded, observant man, who had had colonial experience, and would have been a success except for the fact that he lacked moral force. His position soon becamea very awkward one, for in 1689 he heard that William III. was all-powerful in England, while he held his commission from Andros, the Stuart governor, who was in captivity at Boston. At the same time France had declared war and the Canadians might invade the colony at any moment. Unfortunately for Nicholson, although he summoned the authorities, he quarrelled with his subordinate Cuyler, and things were at a deadlock. At this point the people, seething under the restraints and burdens which had been placed upon them during the reign of James II., rose in open revolt, led by a German brewer, Jacob Leisler. Nicholson was immediately deposed; a convention met, and ten out of the eighteen representatives invested Leisler with dictatorial authority. He was a man of some cunning, and under the pretence of possessing a commission, by intercepting letters and by maltreating their writers, he succeeded in keeping himself in office for very nearly three years. His period of government was distinguished by the first Colonial Congress at Albany, to which he summoned representatives from all the colonies to discuss definite and united action against the French. Leisler himself proposed a joint invasion of Canada, and it is probable that it was only his own arrogance that prevented it. His followers soon came to be as much hated as their leader, and one indignant citizen wrote in January 1690, "never was such a pack of ignorant, scandalous, malicious, false, imprudent, impertinent rascals herded together, out of hell."[180]Careful though Leisler had been to search letters and prevent the news of his usurpation reaching England, he was unsuccessful. In 1690 the English Governmentdispatched Colonel Slaughter to take Leisler's place. The usurper was first met by a force under Major Ralph Ingoldsby, second in command to the new Governor; a slight resistance was offered, and Leisler "fired a vast number of great and small shot in the City, whereby several of his Majesty's subjects were killed and wounded as they passed in the streets upon their Lawful Occasions."[181]But Leisler had lost his former following and he was captured and hanged, together with his chief supporter Jacob Millborne.

As James II. had left New York without a constitution, a representative assembly was called in May 1691, and a declaratory act was passed which annulled Leisler's proceedings. It required that all elections in the future should be annual, that the franchise should belong to the 40s. freeholders only, and that the colony itself should be apportioned into constituencies. At the same time it laid down liberty of conscience except for Papists, allowing a declaration instead of an oath to please the Quakers. But above all it declared that no tax was to be imposed unless it was voted by the colony. The act seemed satisfactory enough, except the important reservation with regard to taxation; a reservation which was sufficient to cause the Crown to veto the whole document, and New York was again without a true and defined constitution. Such a state of affairs was particularly bad when the colony in 1692 passed under the rule of the notoriously corrupt Benjamin Fletcher. There are, however, two things to be said for this man, whose work has been spoken of as full of deceit, fraud, and subterfuge. In the first place it hasbeen proved that in military matters he showed considerable skill and activity; while in the second he undoubtedly realised before many men of his day the danger of disunion. In May 1696 he wrote, "The Indians, though monsters, want not sense, but plainly see we are not united, and it is apparent that the stronger these colonies grow in parts, the weaker we are on the whole, every little government setting up for despotic power and allowing no appeal to the Crown, but valuing themselves on their own strength and on a little juggling in defeating all commands and injunctions of the King."[182]On the other hand it must be allowed that Fletcher's methods were particularly scandalous, for not only did he practically license smuggling and piracy by levying blackmail upon those who carried on these lucrative trades, but he made personal friends of them, as for example Captain Tew, "a most notorious pirate," with whom, to the scandal of the inhabitants, he occasionally dined.

As has been shown in another chapter, the Earl of Bellomont was made governor in 1698 to prevent these nefarious undertakings, and as ruler of New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts he did such good work that he was universally and sincerely regretted when he died in 1701. He was succeeded by Lord Cornbury, who was a profligate in character and overbearing in manner. His rule was one of petty spite and conflict, and having won the especial hatred of the dissenters and generally alienated popular support, his recall in 1708 was as much a cause of rejoicing as Bellomont's death had been of lamentation.

Map of North America, 1755Map of North America, 1755

Map of North America, 1755

The first sixty years of the eighteenth century were to the inhabitants of New York years of anxiety and peril, for there was the ever present danger of the French to the north and west. The story of these years will be told elsewhere, and here only a rapid sketch can be given of the domestic history of the colony. Four governors or deputy-governors attract particular attention during this period. The first was Governor Burnet,[183]son of the celebrated Bishop, who made himself conspicuous in 1724 by writing a pamphlet in defence of paper money. The governorship of William Cosby was not without a constitutional interest, ten years later, in the prosecution of John Peter Zengler, publisher of theNew York Weekly Journal, for criticising the government. He was described as a "seditious Person, and a frequent Printer and Publisher of false News and seditious Libels."[184]The same Governor had also a hard struggle with his people, which caused him to write to the home Government for more power and patronage, for "ye example and spirit of the Boston people begins to spread amongst these Colonys In a most prodigious maner, I have had more trouble to manige these people then I could have imagined, however for this time I have done pritty well with them; I wish I may come off as well with them of ye Jarsys."[185]

It is evident that as late as 1740 the position of governor was one of lucrative importance; in that year George Clarke, junior, offered the Duke ofNewcastle £1000 if he would appoint Mr Clarke, senior, governor, instead of lieutenant-governor as he then was. But this must have been almost the last case that the post was financially desirable, for it was clearly the reverse between 1743 and 1753, when George Clinton was governor. He himself writes, "The Govern^t of New York will not be near so valuable to Gov^r Clinton as it has been to his predecessors.—The Province of New Jersey having always till now been united with New York, and under the same government, and the salary paid by New Jersey has always been £1000 besides other considerable advantages, so that the making New Jersey a separate and distinct govern^t makes New York at least £1000 a year less in value to Gov^r Clinton than it was to his predecessors."[186]There were, however, other reasons which in the near future would make the financial position of the Governor still more precarious, and Clinton could hardly be expected to foresee that the advantages gained over the French during his lifetime would in later years be one of the main causes of entire independence of official governors sent from England.

[166]Seeley,Growth of British Policy(1897), vol. ii. p. 25.

[167]Seeley,Growth of British Policy(1897), vol. ii. p. 25.

[168]Quoted by Fitchett,Fights for the Flag(1900), p. 3.

[169]Description and First Settlement of New Netherland(1888).

[170]The Representation of New Netherland(ed. 1849).

[171]Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York(1877).

[172]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 227.

[173]Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York(1858).

[174]Doyle,Cambridge Modern History(1905), vii. p. 41.

[175]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 337.

[176]Ibid., p. 606.

[177]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 111.

[178]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 525.

[179]Hazard,Historical Collections(1792).

[180]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1689-1692, p. 209.

[181]A Letter from a Gentleman of the City of New York(1698).

[182]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1696-1697, p. 5.

[183]He was also governor of Massachusetts, and died in 1729.

[184]A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zengler, etc. (1738).

[185]Document relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York(1855).

[186]Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York(1855).

There are few examples in history of the possessions of an ardent Roman Catholic passing quietly and amicably into the hands of members of the Society of Friends, but the Quaker colonies stand pre-eminent as one instance of this exceptional circumstance. The Quakers were probably the most persecuted of all religious sects in North America, and yet by the irony of fate, one of the most thriving settlements owed its origin to them; its capital Philadelphia became the most important town of the Thirteen Colonies, and for one hundred and seventeen years was regarded as the commercial, political, and social capital of the bickering and jarring states. In the history of these Quaker settlements the disunited character of the colonies is peculiarly apparent, and in no colony or group of colonies is it better exemplified than in those of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The high-handed action of Charles II. in claiming Dutch territory and granting it to his brother James, Duke of York, has already been noticed. As soon as his claim had been authenticated by the victory of Richard Nicolls, the Duke lavishly granted to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley the land from the Hudson to the Delaware, and it was renamedEast and West New Jersey. From the very first the settlers hated the Proprietors for being pronounced absentees endeavouring to exercise control over those who had already purchased the titles to their lands, and demanding an unearned increment in a most repellent form. For three years Philip Carteret, the Governor, did not call a representative assembly, and at last when he did so, imagining the spirit of the colonists to be broken, he met with a point-blank refusal from two of the towns. The colony was, in fact, in a state of mutiny. It was all very well for those in authority to refrain from claiming quit rents for five years, but this was only a sop to the settlers, who were angered by the demand that all patents of lands must be obtained from the Proprietors. The colonists therefore broke into open revolt; set up their own representative and deposed Carteret. The rebellion was soon crushed by the Proprietors, but with this state of affairs within, New Jersey was not in a condition to resist the attack of the Dutch from without, and in 1673 the old owners took possession.

The Treaty of Westminster in 1674 restored English rule, and the Duke of York claimed that all previous titles were annulled by the Conquest. The new arrangement now made was, that the Duke reserved to himself the left bank of the Delaware; Carteret was granted a tract of land on the southern bank of the Hudson; while Berkeley's share was no longer existent, for he had sold his rights to two Quakers, John Fenwick and "Edward Byllinge, of Westminster, gent, in whom the title thereunto then was."[187]Fenwick appears to have been a man ofenergy, for he endeavoured to form a settlement on the right bank of the Delaware, which was strenuously opposed by Sir Edmund Andros, as representative for the Duke of York. Fenwick, however, won in the end, and established the colony of Salem. About the same time Edward Byllinge transferred any rights he might possess to William Penn, the world-famed Quaker. He with others of the Society of Friends began to colonise on the Delaware, and their plans were still further encouraged in 1680 by a grant from the Duke of York including the new colony of Salem. As a balance to this gift to the Quakers, James, in the following year, increased the territories of the Carteret family and restored the government to Philip Carteret, who found, on his return, that his old methods were no longer possible; the proprietary power had already been considerably weakened, and the settlers had learnt to manage their own affairs. Sir George Carteret, recognising that his rights, privileges, and perquisites were practically nil, very sensibly sold this valueless property to William Penn, Gawen Laurie, and other Quakers. With that extraordinary desire for the construction of fantastic constitutions, the new Proprietors at first attempted to foist upon the settlers a scheme of government which was so elaborate that it was useless and unworkable. In a very short time they found that they were obliged to fall back upon the more simple system of a governor, council, and representative assembly.

The results of this action on the part of Carteret and Penn were on the whole satisfactory. It so happened that some of the new Proprietors were Scotsmen, and they stimulated emigration from theNorth, and New Jersey was all the better for a strong infusion of the vigorous Scottish race. The action, too, had the effect of bringing East and West New Jersey into closer contact, and so paved the way for union. In 1692 another step was taken in this direction, for the Proprietors of both colonies appointed Andrew Hamilton as joint-governor. There were, however, many difficulties to be overcome before union was possible. In the first place there were unending disputes with New York about the levying of duties; while secondly, the Proprietors' rights had now become so complicated by frequent sale and transfer that matters were in dire confusion; besides these very rights appeared to the settlers themselves as injurious to the welfare of the colony. They looked for political privileges for themselves, which would, according to the Proprietors, clash with their interests. To grant to the settlers rights which were on the surface merely political, appeared, and indeed would be, the abnegation of all proprietary territorial claims. The man who might have done so much for the union of the New Jerseys had unfortunately transferred his affections elsewhere. Penn, filled with schemes of pure philanthropy, had left his first settlement to look after itself and had brought all his energies to bear upon his new venture in Pennsylvania.

Even without Penn's assistance the union of the two Jerseys was bound to come. In 1701 it was pointed out by the Colonial Office of that day, that "by several letters, memorials, and other papers, as well from the inhabitants as Proprietors of both these provinces, that they are at present in confusion and anarchy; and that it is much to be apprehended lestby the heats of the parties that are amongst them, they should fall into such violences as may endanger the lives of many persons and destroy the colony."[188]It seemed obvious to those in London that some form of union was necessary to save the colony from this fate, and so New Jersey from the River Hudson to the River Delaware became a united province when the Proprietors surrendered all their political and territorial rights in 1702. For a short time New Jersey with New York suffered under the scandalous administration of the brainless and profligate Lord Cornbury, but his evil work was to a certain extent remedied by Governor Robert Hunter, who proved himself an able colonial administrator.

The tract of land to which Penn had transferred his philanthropic schemes lay to the south of the river Delaware. It had been taken from the Swedes and at one time had been granted to Maryland, but up to the year 1681 it had remained unoccupied. The Quaker Penn, a man of high social position, friend and favourite of James II., readily accepted this piece of territory in liquidation of a debt of £16,000 owed to him by the Crown. The agreement now drawn up between Penn and the Duke of York was remarkable for its utter indifference to all constitutional forms. Penn was appointed Proprietor, but his powers were to a certain extent limited; on all legislative matters the Crown reserved the right of veto, and in all financial affairs the newly formed colony was to be regarded as an integral portion of the realm; while, as a further hold over revenue, an accredited agent of the colony was to reside in England and was to explain any infraction of the revenue laws.

Pennsylvania, as first conceived by the Proprietor, was not a colony for one sect only. He offered no particular inducements to Quakers rather than to others. The early emigrants were a veritable olla podrida, and consisted of English Quakers, Scottish and Irish Presbyterians, German Mennonites, and French Huguenots. It was not long, however, before the Quaker element distinctly preponderated, with two obvious results. In the first place one of the strongest tenets of Quakerism was a horror of war and bloodshed, which belief was steadily upheld by the Pennsylvanians and proved in later years most baneful to the colony when the French began their aggressions. The second result was just as good as the first had been bad. The Quakers taught and believed the equality of all men before God; to them there was no distinction between settler and savage, and unlike some of the colonists in the Puritan group, offered the best of treatment to the Red Indians.

In the autumn of 1681, William Penn dispatched four commissioners to found the colony that was in later years to become so famous. William Crispen, Nathaniel Allen, John Bezar and William Heage were chosen by the Proprietor to select a site on the Delaware; Crispen, Penn's kinsman, died on the voyage, but the other three faithfully carried out their orders and selected a spot where the river "is most navigable, high dry and healthy; that is where most ships can ride, of deepest draught of water, if possible to load or unload at the bank or key (sic) side without boating or lightering of it."[189]Thomas Howe had been appointed surveyor-general and at once proceeded to lay out the city of Philadelphia upon a modificationof the plans of Penn and covering a surface area of about 1200 to 1300 acres. William Penn stands alone as the founder of a great city of which he was justly proud, and in 1683 he was able to write, "Philadelphia: the expectation of those who are concerned in this province is at last laid out, to the great content of those here who are anyways interested therein. The situation is a neck of land and lieth between two navigable rivers, Delaware and Sculkill, whereby it hath two fronts upon the water, each a mile, and two from river to river."[190]

Penn was quick to foresee a prosperous future for his colony, but he nearly ruined it at the outset by drawing up a well-intentioned but somewhat cumbersome constitution. There were to be two elective chambers: the Upper or council, consisting of 72 members, and the Lower, which was at first to contain 200, and later 500 members. This constitution, however, was impossible to manage; the Lower assembly was obviously far too large and proved superfluous; while the Upper was found to be too bulky for a Cabinet or executive government; for these reasons a few months after its conception it was radically altered. The pruning-knife was called into use and the 72 of the Upper chamber were cut down to 18; at the same time the absurd number of 200 was reduced to 26, and the right of initiating legislation was taken from the representatives. But Penn was not yet satisfied and undertook still further alterations in 1686, when he appointed five Commissioners of State, three of whom were to be a quorum, and to whom the right of veto in all legislative affairs was granted. This scheme was almost as bad as his firstconstitution, for it gave excessive powers to three or four men; fortunately for the colony it was not perpetuated.

Early in its history troubles came upon Pennsylvania, which had been founded "with the pious wish and desire that its inhabitants might dwell together in brotherly love and unity."[191]The flight of James II. was the first serious blow to Penn's colonial prosperity; it may be that he was one of the few men who sincerely and deeply regretted the fall of the last male Stuart ruler of England, for in James' misfortune Penn also suffered for a time, and his plans as a colony promoter received a severe check. At the same time Pennsylvania was torn by internal quarrels concerning what were called the "Territories" or Delaware. This district, on the south bank of the Delaware River, had been transferred from the administration of New York and placed under that of Pennsylvania. The dispute that arose had for its cause the appointment of magistrates, and it was only settled by a compromise in which Delaware was for the future to have its own executive, but there was only to be one elective chamber for the whole province. Still worse days came to Pennsylvania when the colony was included in the commission to the pirate-loving Benjamin Fletcher. As in New York, so in the Quaker settlement he proved himself arbitrary in conduct, brutal and unwise in action, immoral and corrupt in his private life. The only comfort to the Pennsylvanian settlers during his rule was that they won their right to initiate legislation.

A promise of the renewal of the good days of the past appeared when Penn succeeded in 1694 inregaining his proprietary rights, now somewhat shorn of their former privileges. The Proprietor immediately set about the restoration of his colony's prosperity, but excellent as his work was, Pennsylvania was still more fortunate in having amongst its members Gabriel Thomas, one of the brightest colonial authors of that period. He has not only left some writings of particular merit, but his name has been handed down to posterity as one who laboured hard for seventeen years to build up, firmly and strongly, the Quaker settlements in the West. Such work was necessarily slow, and Penn, when he again visited his colony, must have been much grieved with its moral condition if Lewis Morris, Governor of New Jersey, wrote the truth. "Pennsylvania is settled by People of all Languages and Religions in Europe, but the people called Quakers are the most numerous of anyone persuasion ... the Church of England gains ground in that Country, and most of the Quakers that came off with Mr Keith are come over to it: the Youth of that country are like those in the neighbouring Provinces very Debaucht and ignorant."[192]

A long series of disputes with the other colonies began in 1701, which intensified the danger already only too obvious, caused by the disunion of the American states and left them the more open to French attack. In addition to their antipathy to war, the Pennsylvanians now pleaded poverty as an excuse for refusing to assist in contributing funds towards the restoration of the fortifications of New York. Penn's common sense forced him to advocate the contribution, but all his eloquence was wasted upon his settlers, and he pleaded and remonstrated invain. A fresh dispute followed, again arising from the government of Delaware. Since the last quarrel the Assembly had met alternately at Newcastle and Philadelphia. The people of Pennsylvania, as members of the more important state, demanded that in the future any legislation passed at Newcastle should be ratified and confirmed at Philadelphia. This was naturally intolerable to the weaker side, and the outcome of the dispute was the granting of a new charter and the complete separation of Delaware in 1703.

The last official act of William Penn was the incorporation of his beloved city of Philadelphia, which had steadily increased in size and population. A contemporary in 1710, possibly Daniel Defoe, has left on record a description of the town which gives some idea of its character and importance. Philadelphia "is a noble, large and populous city, standing on as much ground as our English City of Bristol.... It is built square in Form of a Chess-Board with each Front facing one of the Rivers. There are several Streets near two Mile long, as wide as Holborn, and better built, after the English Manner. The chief are Broad Street, King-street, High-street, tho' there are several other handsome Streets that take their Names from the Productions of the Country: as Mulberry, Walnut, Beech, Sassafras, Cedar, Vine, Ash and Chestnut Streets.... The Number of the Inhabitants is generally suppos'd to be upwards of 15,000 besides Slaves.... And if I were oblig'd to live out of my native Country, I should not be long puzzled in finding a Place of Retirement, which should be Philadelphia. There the oppress'd in Fortune or Principles may find a happy Asylum, and drop quietlyto their Graves without Fear or Want."[193]Such was the happy city within thirty years of its foundation, and as a political centre it remained supreme until after the American War of Independence.

Penn retired from the colony in 1701, but continued to take the keenest interest in all that went on. At one time he remonstrated with the assembly for attacking his secretary and staunch supporter, James Logan, who acted as the Proprietor's agent during his long years of absence. As long as Penn lived he was able to exercise some control, but when he died in 1718 he left to his heirs a proprietary claim over a colony torn in pieces by disputes and factions. The brothers John and Thomas Penn were never popular, and up to the resignation of their claims in 1759 there were continual quarrels, sometimes over the Governor's salary, and sometimes because the Proprietors, who possessed three-fourths of the province, refused to allow the taxation of their lands for military operations against the French.

It is a noticeable fact that the two last colonies of the famous Thirteen were founded on philanthropic bases. The excellent William Penn established Pennsylvania as a home of toleration and peace; and the last of the original states, Georgia, was founded, upon motives that were highly creditable to their originator. The colony of Georgia owed its existence to James Oglethorpe, who, after serving a short time in the army, became a Member of Parliament and was placed upon a Parliamentary Committee to inquire into the state of the prisons, at that time conducted on barbarous lines. What he then learnt led Oglethorpe to propose the formation of a colony wheremen might honestly work and better their position instead of pining away in the horrible debtors' gaols. In addition to this, as he said, "Christianity will be extended by the execution of this design; since the good discipline established by the Society will reform the manners of these miserable objects."[194]There is, too, in his account of the advantages of the colony, a hint as to the possible pecuniary gain of the individual and of the nation, for "when hereafter it shall be well-peopled and rightly cultivated, England may be supplied from thence with raw Silk, Wine, Oil, Dyes, Drugs, and many other materials for manufactures, which she is obliged to purchase from Southern countries."[195]Tempted by these proposals, the Government readily fell in with his scheme and granted to Oglethorpe and his associates, including the famous Thomas Coram, a tract of land to the south of the Savannah River and north of the Spanish settlements in Florida, and here the debtors' colony was to serve as a barrier and rampart against Spanish aggression. The Corporation was called "The Trustees for the colonisation of Georgia," and was given full powers of administration for twenty-six years, at the expiration of which all privileges were to pass to the Crown.

In the autumn of 1732, James Oglethorpe embarked with 114 settlers; they were unsatisfactory colonists, for the men who had so hopelessly failed in England had not that grit and sturdy endurance necessary for founders of new homes in the West. The colony, however, started well, for Oglethorpe immediately won the goodwill of the natives, and made a wise selection of a site for the first settlement about twenty milesfrom the mouth of the Savannah River. The town itself was guarded on the water side by high banks, while impenetrable swamps on the land side served as sufficient barrier to any warlike incursions that might be attempted. Besides these advantages, Oglethorpe had also made friendly overtures to the neighbouring colonies, and in 1733 was able to say with satisfaction that "if the colony is attacked it may be relieved by sea from Port Royal, or the Bahamas; and the militia of South Carolina is ready to support it, by land."[196]Oglethorpe's satisfaction must have been very short-lived. From the very first the colonists grumbled, quarrelled, and disputed, and their resident minister, the Reverend Samuel Quincy, gives a horrible but exaggerated account of the colony in 1735. "Affairs here are but in an ill-condition, through the discouragements attending the settlement.... The magistrate, to whom the government of the colony was left, proves a most insolent and tyrannical fellow. Several just complaints have been sent home against him, which do not meet with a proper regard, and this has made people very uneasie.... In short, Georgia, which was seemingly intended to be the asylum of the distressed, unless things are greatly altered, is likely to be itself a mere scene of distress.... Notwithstanding the place has been settled nigh three years, I believe, I may venture to say there is not one family which can subsist without further assistance."[197]Affairs though gloomy were scarcely as black as Quincy depicted them, for in the next few years there was every sign of progress. Already in 1734 there had been a large increase of population by theimmigration of Salzburg Germans under their pastor Martin Bolzius, who had fled from the persecution of their Prince Bishop. Two years later the colony had grown sufficiently to found a second settlement, Frederica, seventy miles south of the Savannah, at the mouth of the Alatamaha River; and a party of Highlanders about the same time founded New Inverness. Trade also began to increase and a definite commercial station was established at Augusta.

In the same year as the foundation of Frederica, John Wesley, accompanied by his brother Charles, came out as chaplain to the Georgian flock. He was in residence for a year and nine months, during which period he seems to have quarrelled with many of the inhabitants and particularly with the Moravians, and proved himself both indiscreet and ill-tempered. He himself records in hisJournalthat he was told by one man, "I will never hear you any more. And all the people are of my mind. For we won't hear ourselves abused. Besides, they say, they are Protestants. But as for you, they can't tell what Religion you are of. They never heard of such a religion before. They do not know what to make of it. And then, your private behaviour—all the quarrels that have been here since you came, have been long of you. Indeed there is neither man nor woman in the Town, who minds a word you say. And so you may preach long enough; but nobody will come to hear you."[198]Wesley seems to have allowed his own personal feelings to enter into his religious life. He desired to marry a young woman of his congregation, Sophia Hankey by name, but she preferred to marry a MrWilliamson. Thereupon, apparently without any other reason than his own personal feelings, Wesley excluded Mrs Williamson from communion. Her husband very naturally regarded this as a slur upon his wife's character and brought an action against Wesley, who was forbidden to leave the colony while the question was pending. He records in hisJournalfor December 2nd what then took place. "In the Afternoon the Magistrates publish'd an Order requiring all the Officers and Centinels, to prevent my going out of the Province; and forbidding any person to assist me so to do. Being now only a Prisoner at large, in a Place, where I knew by experience every Day would give fresh opportunity, to procure Evidence of words I never said, and actions I never did; I saw clearly the Hour was come for leaving the Place: And as soon as Evening Prayers were over, about Eight o'clock, the tide then serving, I shook off the dust of my Feet, and left Georgia, after having preach'd the Gospel there (not as I ought but as I was able) one Year and nearly Nine Months."[199]In regarding Wesley's action at this time, it is to be remembered that he was a self-confident, impulsive young enthusiast, lacking knowledge of human nature, and also that he had not passed through those years of struggle and earnest work which in later times made him a man of tact and forbearance.

Meantime a serious danger threatened the colony. In 1736, the Spaniards, who had long viewed Georgia with suspicion, made an armed reconnaissance, but nothing could be done, for there was at that time no war between the two countries in Europe. It was not until 1739 that Walpole was forced by populardemand to declare war against Spain, an act which he regarded with disgust as contrary to all his principles and desires. Georgia was in a particularly exposed position with regard to Spanish aggression, and Oglethorpe decided to take the offensive as a defensive measure and carry the war into the enemy's country. Reading the signs of the times and knowing what was hatching in Europe, the English Governor collected a force of about 600 volunteers and boldly marched for Florida in October 1738. He had been partly led to this action by the fact that news had been brought that the Spanish troops had been increased in St Augustine, and that the civil inhabitants had been turned out of their houses to give quarters to the royal forces. Oglethorpe's move was an unsatisfactory one, not through want of bravery on his part, but rather because he was a poor judge of men and his soldiers were wanting in the spirit of loyalty; some had even concerted a plot with the Spanish, while others had actually deserted to the enemy. Nothing daunted, Oglethorpe spent the summer of 1739 securing the alliance of most of the neighbouring Indian tribes, and when war was formally declared against Spain the Georgian Governor was in a better position for whatever fate might have in store.

The home authorities ordered Oglethorpe to attack St Augustine, but before he could do so the Spaniards struck the first blow. Some fifty miles south of the town of Frederica, the Governor had thought it advisable to erect a military station on Amelia Island. This was the first natural object of Spanish attack, but their success was limited to the murder of two invalids. Oglethorpe, on the other hand, was more fortunate incapturing a Spanish outpost, which tempted him to risk an attack on St Augustine itself. He set out in March 1740, with a land force of about 2000 men, composed of Georgian militia and Indian allies; being supported at sea by four King's ships and a small schooner from South Carolina. This latter was practically the only help from the members of the richer colony, the generosity of which was of a very limited character; they ought really to have assisted Oglethorpe as well as they were able, for their danger from the Spaniards was almost as extreme as that of Georgia. Ill-supported as he was, the Governor captured three small fortresses, but soon found that the seizure of the capital of Florida was beyond his slender resources. The few Carolina troops deserted; his own men were struck down by fever; and his Indian allies left him in disgust because he tried to restrain their natural ferocity. In June, having realised that his attempt was hopeless, he retreated. His work, however, was not entirely unsuccessful, for although he had failed to do what he had intended, he succeeded in staving off from Georgia any serious Spanish attack for the next two years.

Back to Index Next