CHAPTER V.

DUTCH RULE, 1673-74.

NTHONY COLVE, Governor of New Netherland, 1673 to

1674.-PETER ALRICHS, Deputy Governor on west side of the Delaware.-In 1673, Louis XIV., the haughty monarch of France, declared war against the Netherlands, and moved by land for its invasion with two hundred thousand men, while England, with a powerful fleet, descended upon the Dutch coast. The aged De Ruyter and the youthful Tromp led out the Dutch fleet to meet the threatened danger, and the population, in a spirit of unexampled patriotism and devotion, abandoned their homes, and, cutting the dikes which held back the sea, invited inundation. In three desperate naval battles, fought on the 7th and 14th of June and the 21st of August, De Ruyter held the English at bay, and finally defeated his adversaries. In the meantime, a small Dutch squadron, under the command of Commodores Evertsen and Benckes, had been dispatched for the recovery of New Netherland. Arriving before the fort at New York on the 6th of August, fifteen days before the last great naval engagement upon the Dutch waters, submission of the English to the power of Holland was demanded. Governor Lovelace had just departed for New Haven, where he was to meet in council the Connecticut authorities. The fort was in command of Captain John Manning; but no preparations having been made for defence, the English power, after a brief resistance, was surrendered to the Dutch. Captain Anthony Colve, who was in command of the military forces, was placed in supreme authority. Several of the English soldiery were sent prisoners to Holland, and Governor Love

lace returned with the squadron to Europe. The entire territory of New Netherland, as it passed from the hands of Stuyvesant, was thus recovered, and, in honor of the Prince of Orange, was called New Orange.

News of the conquest soon reached the Delaware, and deputies were immediately dispatched to New York to give in their adhesion to the new power. In return for this prompt submission, liberal privileges of trade and rights under government were granted. Three courts were established, one at Nieuer Amstel, one at Horn Kill, and one at Upland, the inhabitants being required by plurality of votes to nominate for each, eight persons, from among whom justices were selected by the council at New York. Peter Alrichs was appointed Commander and Schout, and Walter Wharton, Surveyor. Alrichs was commissioned to administer the oath of allegiance to all the inhabitants on the Delaware. Property of the English government was confiscated, but the private possessions of its officers were restored.

IR

CHAPTER VI.

ENGLISH RULE, 1674-81.

SIR EDMUND ANDROS, 1674 to 1681.-CAPTAIN ED

MUND CANTWELL.-Scarcely had the authority of the Dutch on the Delaware been confirmed and settled, when, on the 9th of February, 1674, peace was concluded between England and the Netherlands, by the terms of which New Netherland was restored to the dominion of the English. That the conquest by the Dutch might in no way impair the rights of the Duke of York, King Charles renewed the grant of territory as formerly described, and Sir Edmund Andros was sent to repossess the government, surrendered by Lovelace. Colve yielded his power amicably, in compliance with the terms of the treaty, to Andros, who, on the 9th of November, 1674, issued his first proclamation, reinstating affairs throughout his dominions as they were previous to the surrender. Edmund Cantwell and William Tom were dispatched to the Delaware to take possession of the fort and all government property, and ten justices were appointed, who were to "resume their places as magistrates." Cantwell was commissioned Captain and Schout, and was empowered to administer the official oath to the justices. For his forwardness in voluntarily submitting to the Dutch the year before, Peter Alrichs was deprived of his office of judge, but was subsequently reinstated. Captain Cantwell was substantially invested with the full power of Deputy-Governor. In May, 1675, Governor Andros visited the Delaware, and, on the 14th and 15th, held a court at New Castle, in which orders were made relative to the opening of roads, the regulation of church property and the support of preaching, the prohibi

tion of the sale of liquors to the Indians, and the distillation thereof by the inhabitants.

In 1675, the ship Griffith, from London, with several families, arrived in the Delaware, the passengers settling at Salem, on the east or New Jersey side of the river,-John Fenwick, Edward, Robert, and John Wade, and Richard Noble, members of the Society of Friends, being of the number. William Edmundson, an eminent preacher of this faith, visited the colony during the same year, holding meetings at Upland, New Castle, and other places.

JOHN COLLIER.- On the 23d of September, 1676, Cantwell was superseded in chief authority by Captain John Collier, with the title of "Commander in Delaware River and Bay," and on the same day justices of the peace for the several courts, to serve for the period of one year, were appointed. Full and formal instructions were issued to these by Andros and his council, the preamble to which was in these words: "Whereas, The Last Ieare att my beeing att Delowar uppon application of the Inhabitants Representing that my p'decesso' Govern' Lovelace had begun to make a Regulacon for the due administracon of Justice according to the lawes of this Government pursuant to wich I: did appoint some majistrates and made some Rules for their proceeding the Ieare e'suing or till further order; In which haveing uppon mature deliberation, by the advyce of my Councill made some alteracon, They are to Remaine and bee in force in forme following:" Here follow twelve articles for the regulation and government of the colony. The list of taxable male inhabitants between the ages of sixteen and sixty years, made in the beginning of 1677, for Upland District, was one hundred and thirty-six, and for New Castle, three hundred and seven.

CHRISTOPHER BILLOP.-Collier, having usurped authority by sitting as judge of the court at New Castle, was deposed by Governor Andros, and Captain Christopher

Billop was commissioned to succeed him. In this year three ships arrived from England with families of emigrants, principally Quakers, who settled for the most part in West Jersey, but a portion along the western shore of Delaware. Berkeley and Carteret, to whom the Duke of York had conveyed New Jersey, finding the revenues from their possessions insignificant, and being constantly harassed with difficulties in asserting authority over them, in March, 1674, shortly after the return of George Fox from his visit to Friends in the New World, sold, for a thousand pounds, an undivided part of their territory, to John Fenwick in trust for Edward Byllinge, both members of the Society of Friends. The fortunes of Byllinge were so impaired that it became necessary to assign his property for the benefit of his creditors, and Gawen Laurie, William Penn, and Nicholas Lucas were appointed assignees. Two years later, disputes between the purchaser and proprietors having arisen, a division was effected, by which Byllinge was put in possession of West New Jersey as his share of the province. In the discharge of his trust as assignee, William Penn first became interested in settlements in America. In March, 1677, the constitution of West New Jersey, a document drawn with great care, and in a spirit of unexampled liberality, was promulgated. Numbers of the Society of Friends, fleeing from persecution at home, sought the new country.

The father of William Penn, an admiral in the British Navy, who had won distinction in the conquest of Jamaica, and in engagements with the Dutch, had died, bequeathing to his son a claim upon the English government for sixteen thousand pounds. The King, who was always harassed with debts, was disposed to listen to any proposal by which money could be realized. To the son's application for large grants of land west of the Delaware, in payment of this claim, a ready ear was given. Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland, who was kept constantly advised of the designs of Penn, threw many obstacles in his way. But, steadily pressing his suit, on the 4th of March, 1681, his desire was