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1664

New Netherlands Lost.

New

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10. These dangers were scarcely settled before a new and greater one appeared; for Charles the Second, caring nothing for the claims of the Dutch, granted to his brother, the Duke of York, all the country from the Connec- The ticut river to Delaware bay; and a fleet was sent English take to take possession of it. When the fleet appeared Netherlands. before New Amsterdam, the citizens, hoping for greater priv ileges under English rule, were unwilling to make any defense. But Stuyvesant, faithful to his trust to the last, reluctantly, and not till the English were in actual possession of the town, was compelled to march out of the fort and surrender New Netherlands. With this change of masters, New Amsterdam, having a population of fifteen hundred souls speaking eighteen different languages, changed its name to New York, and Fort Orange was presently called Albany (1664). In less than ten years after, while England was at war with Holland, the Dutch regained their former possessions, but, after fifteen months, returned them to the English.1

11. In the course of its colonial history, New Jersey passed through many ownerships. The claim of the English king Henry VII. came first, by reason of the discoveries of the

Long Island and in other parts of the country. At last he was seized and sent to England, where he suffered death for his crimes (1701). His buried treasures have been sought for at various places.

Leisler

and

Milborne.

In consequence of the arbitrary conduct of James II., a revolution took place in England; the king fled to France, and the English crown was bestowed upon William and Mary (1688-9). The news of these proceedings was received in New York with demonstrations of satisfaction. Jacob Leisler, aided by several hundred armed men, and with the general approbation of the citizens, took possession of the fort there in the name of the new sovereigns. He continued at the head of affairs, managing with prudence and energy, for more than two years, his sonin-law, Milborne, acting as his deputy. On the arrival of Governor Sloughter, bearing a commission direct from William and Mary, Leisler surrendered all authority. This would not satisfy his enemies; they were bent upon his destruction. So he and Müborne were arrested, tried on a charge of treason, and condemned to death. Sloughter, while drunk at a feast, signed the death warrant, and oth men were executed.

younger Cabot. Then, as part of New Netherlands, it was a Dutch possession. Then, by a gift from King Charles the Second, it, with New York, became the property

New Jersey. of the Duke of York. It was next sold to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret,1 receiving its name in honor of Sir George, who, as governor of the little island of Jersey, in the British channel, had defended it for the king's father, Charles I., during that monarch's contest with the parliament. Then, Berkeley selling his interest to two Quakers, New Jersey was owned by three persons. Again, for a period of thirteen months, the Dutch were in possession; and then the English. English proprietors effected a division of the territory into eastern and western portions, one of the parts being called East Jersey, and the other West Jersey. By purchase (in 1682), the province became the property of twelve Quakers, of whom William Penn was one; but twenty years of rule were twenty years of strife and trouble, and the Quakers finally surrendered their powers of government to the crown. New Jersey, as a royal province, was united to New York, and so continued for thirty-six years."

12. We have seen that the Dutch built a fort on the east bank of the Delaware, in New Jersey. A number of families, Dutch and Swedes, also made their homes in the province, the former in the eastern part, the latter in the southwestern part. But the actual colonization of New Jersey did not commence before 1664. In that year, some Puritans

1. Berkeley and Carteret were already the proprietors of Carolina. 2 In 1674, Sir Edmund Andros was appointed governor of New York, and received its surrender by the Dutch after their fifteen months' repossession of it. In 1680 he seized the government of East Jersey, depriv ing the governor, Philip Carteret, brother of the proprietor, of his office. In 1681 he was recalled to England. New England having been consolidated, he was appointed its governor in 1686. In 1688, New York and New Jersey were added to his jurisdiction. (Brodhead's History of New York, and Palfrey's of New England, treat the story of the rescue of the Connecticut Charter and its concealment in the hollow of a tree as a "tradition." Palfrey says: "No writing of the period alludes to this remarkable occurrence.

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1632

Lord Baltimore.

87

from New England, who had dwelt for a time on Long Island, left the island and established themselves at Elizabethtown, now Elizabeth; and there the first governor, Carteret, brother of the proprietor, took up his abode.1

Maryland.

13. Among the notable persons in attendance at the court of James I. was Sir George Calvert, distinguished for his learning and benevolence. Becoming a Roman Catholic, he freely confessed the same to the king, and resigned

Lord

a high office which he was holding at the time. Baltimore. Two acts of James showed that Calvert continued to be held in esteem by that monarch notwithstanding the latter's conversion to the Catholic Church. The title of Lord Baltimore was conferred upon Calvert, and to him also was given a large part of the island of Newfoundland. "How zealous Calvert was in selecting suitable emigrants for his Newfoundland colony, how earnest to promote order and industry, how lavishly he expended his estate in advancing the interests of his settlement, is related by those who have written of his life." But his efforts, owing to the severe cold of the climate“both land and sea were frozen the greater part of the time -were not rewarded with success; and he asked for an uncultivated domain in a warmer climate. This request was granted, not, however, by King James, but by his successor,

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1 The opposition of Massachusetts to the 'Navigation Act," and other obnoxious laws of Parliament, displeased the king, Charles II., and he declared her charter void. His death occurring not long after, his successor, James II., pursued the same arbitrary policy, and, in 1686, deprived Massachusetts of her charter government. In the same year Andros was appointed royal governor of New England. These proceedings on the part of King James rendered him so unpopular, that, when the news of the English Revolution and of his dethronement reached Boston, in 1689, it caused great rejoicing. Andros and his officers, whose tyranny had made them odious to the people, were seized and sent to England, when the New England colonies established their former modes of gov ernment. (See ¶ 39, p. 74.)

Charles I. The patent was duly prepared, but before it could receive the king's name and seal, Lord Baltimore died, and it was then issued to his oldest son, who by the English law of inheritance received the title as well as the estate of his father (1632).1

14. "Lord Baltimore was unwilling to take upon himself the sole risk of colonizing his province. Others joined with him in the adventure; and, all difficulties being overcome, his two brothers, of whom Leonard Calvert was ment of appointed his lieutenant, embarked themselves for colonization. the voyage in the good ship Ark, and a pinnace

Commence

called the Dove. It was not till the last week of February (1634) that they arrived at Point Comfort, in Virginia; where, in obedience to the express letters of King Charles, they were welcomed with courtesy and humanity by Governor Harvey. The governor offered them what Virginia had obtained so slowly, and at so much cost, from England: cattle, and hogs, and poultry; two or three hundred stocks already grafted with apples and pears, peaches and cherries. Clayborne, who had begun a trade in furs with the Indians under a license from the king, also appeared, predicting the hostility of the natives.

15. After a week's kind entertainment, the adventurers bent their course to the north, and entered the Potomac. Under an island, which can now hardly be recognized with certainty, the Ark came to an anchor; while Calvert, with the Dove, ascended the stream. At about forty-seven leagues above the mouth of the river, he came upon the village of Pis-cat'-a-qua, an Indian settlement nearly opposite Mount Vernon, where he found an Englishman, who had lived many

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"It was intended, it is said, that the country granted by this charter should have been called Crescentia; but when it was presented to the king (Charles I., of England) for his signature, in conformity to his majesty's wishes the name of the province was changed to that of Maryland, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria, a daughter of the great king Henry IV. of France."—Bozman's Hist. of Maryland.

1634

Commencement of Colonization.

89

years among the Indians as a trader and spoke their language well. With him for an interpreter, a parley was held with them. To the request for leave for the new comers to sit down in his country, the chieftain of the tribe would neither bid them go nor stay. They might use their own discretion.'

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16. Taking with him the trader, Calvert went down the river, examining the creeks and estuaries nearer the Chesapeake. He entered the branch which is now called St. Mary's; and, about four leagues from its junction with the Potomac, anchored at an Indian town. The native inhabitants, having suffered from the superior power of the Susquehannas, who occupied the district between that river and Delaware bay, had already resolved to move into places of more security; and many of them had already begun to migrate. It was easy, by presents of cloth and axes, of hoes and knives, to gain their good-will, and to purchase their rights to the soil which they were preparing to abandon.

17. On the twenty-fifth, the day of the Annunciation, in the island under which their great ship, the Ark, lay moored, a Jesuit priest, who was of the party, offered the sacrifice of the mass, which, in that region of the world, had never been celebrated before. This being ended, he and his assistants took upon their shoulders the great cross which they had hewn from a tree. Going in procession to the place that had been designated, the governor (Calvert) and other Catholics, and some Protestants as well participating in the ceremony, they erected the cross as a trophy to Christ the Saviour, while the litany of the holy cross was chanted humbly on their bended knees.1

18. The Indian women taught the wives of the new comers to make bread of maize. The warriors of the tribe instructed the huntsmen how rich the forests of America were in game,

The town purchased of the Indians was called by the settlers St. Mary's. It was anticipated that it would become a great city. None of the houses then built now remain, nor 13 there even a village there,

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