During the whole period of the Proprietary government, the constitutional history of the colony is involved in much obscurity. No printing presses being allowed, the official acts of the Governors, and Councils by which they were assisted, were left only in the public records and other manuscripts; and these were so defective, that when, in the middle of the last century, the colonial legislature resolved to collect and publish the acts of the Assembly, they directed the compilers to begin with the acts of 1691. Smith, our earliest historian, affirms this to be the era of legislation in the colony; and though he alludes to certain laws previously passed, says they are "for the most part rotten, defaced, or lost." From the researches of Bancroft and other modern writers, and the publications of this Society, many facts, applicable to this period, but not mentioned. by Smith, may be gleaned. I shall select from these various sources, such particulars as belong to my subject, and may properly be included in my present sketch.

The powers of government granted by Charles II. to the Duke of York, were, as we have seen, limited only by the duty of conforming, in their general character and administration, to the laws and government of Englanda limitation too vague to impose much restraint on the Prince, or to afford much protection to his subjects. These powers were delegated to Nicolls, and he exercised them at pleasure; though, as it would seem, with prudence and moderation.

To give to the proprietors of lands the security of titles conforming to the English claim of original right, and to the tenure on which the Province was held by the Duke of York, NICOLLS issued letters patent in confirmation of the Dutch grants. He also published conditions inviting new planters to the Province, who were invited to make purchases of the Indians, and assured of protection and encouragement. The lands so purchased were to be held in fee, subject, after five years, to public rates and assessments. The settlers, except servants or day laborers, were to be deemed freemen; and, in their respective townships, to have the free choice of all officers, both civil and military; to make their peculiar laws; to decide all small cases within themselves; and to choose their own clergyman, who was to be paid by the township. Liberty of conscience, was, however, allowed, provided it was not con

* Smith, i. 35, 41.

verted to licentiousness or the disturbance of others in the exercise of the Protestant religion.*

Besides incorporating the city of New York, with a mayor, aldermen and sheriff, he also introduced in other parts of the province, such of the English methods of government as he thought applicable. The people of eastern Long Island, being accustomed, under the charter of Connecticut, to many of these methods, and familiar with the general principles, of the English law, naturally desired their establishment in New York. In this wish, the inhabitants of the Dutch towns, and especially such of them as were of New England origin, heartily united. NICOLLS wisely complied with this general sentiment, by calling a convention of delegates to be chosen by the freemen of the several townships, both Dutch and English, in the island, for the purpose of obtaining their advice and information "in the settlement of good and known laws, within his government." They were also to bring with them evidences and draughts of the limits of their respective townships.†

This Convention, which met on the 8th of February, 1665, though it did not represent the whole constituency, deserves particular notice, as the first legislative assembly in the province. The limits of the townships were adjusted, and some other local matters settled; but the most important measure which attended the meeting, was the promulgation to the Convention, and, through its members, to the people, of a body of laws for their future government, prepared by NICOLLS and his assistants, and afterwards known as "THE DUKE's Laws."

This code was compiled, for the most part, from the laws

* Smith, i. 39, edition of Hist. Soc. gives a copy of this document. It was not contained in the work as originally published, and is remarkable for the liberality of its provisions.

+ See the Proclamation of Nicolls, at length, in Thompson's Hist. of Long Island, i. 131.

Smith, i. 41, speaks of this Convention as confined to the adjustment of limits; and though he mentions the Duke's laws, does not speak of their promulgation through its members. But Wood, in his Historical Sketch of Long Island, p. 42, and Thompson, i. 131, 143, say, that the code was presented to the Convention, and that copies were delivered to the deputies and filed by them in the different clerks' offices. They also suppose, that at this meeting, Long Island was formed into a shire by the name of Yorkshire, and divided into three ridings, and that the names of many of the Dutch towns were then changed. These writers point out the mistake of Smith (i. 47) in supposing that Lovelace was the first who organized the Court of Assizes. This error, and others of a like nature, might easily be made in 1752, when Smith wrote, though so much nearer the time referred to; for the Duke's laws were not then printed, and having been long obsolete, were not readily accessible.

then in force in the other English colonies, but it contains many provisions evidently new; the whole being arranged in alphabetical order. It was published only in manuscript, and as it was of considerable length, but few copies were prepared. These were deposited, one in the office of the Colonial Secretary, and others in the record offices on Long Island. After the retrocession, in 1674, it was republished by Gov. Lovelace, and two or three copies have come down to the present century. In 1809, it was, for the first time, printed by this Society, and may be found in the first volume of its collections. There is much in it to attract remark; but I can only stop to say, that it authorised the election of town officers; established town courts, courts of sessions, and a court of assize-the latter to be held once a year in New York, by the Governor and such magistrates as he should call to his assistance; that it assumed, throughout, that matters of religion, as well as of trade and politics, were subject to governmental rule; and that many of its penal regulations were exceedingly severe.*

The Duke's laws made no provision for a general assembly; the sheriff's and other principal officers were appointed by the Governor, and held at his will; and the same union of executive, legislative and judicial powers, which had given so much dissatisfaction under the Dutch rule, continued to exist. NICOLLS and his successor, LOVELACE, imposed and levied taxes, by the aid of officers appointed by themselves, and without receiving or asking the assent of the people. This system of procedure was far from satisfactory to the people. The Dutch complained of it as a

A synopsis of the civil and criminal laws contained in this code, and of the administrative arrangements made by it, may be found in Thompson's Hist. of Long Island, i, 132-143. As a specimen of the former the following may be mentioned. Persons in any wise denying the true God and his attributes, are punishable with death; so also are children above the age of sixteen, smiting their natural father or mother, unless there to forced by self preservation from death or maiming, provided the complaint be made by the father and mother, (and not otherwise,) who are to be sufficient witnesses of the fact. No minister of the gospel was to be allowed to preach unless licensed by the governor; and ministers of every church to preach every Sunday, and to pray for the King, Queen, Duke of York and the royal family; and to pray and preach on the 25th of November, the anniversary of the gunpowder treason, and on the birth-day of Charles II. and on the 30th of January, to manifest detestation of the barbarous murder of Charles I. of blessed memory; but all persons professing Christianity were to have liberty of conscience.

These laws were altered and amended at the General Assizes held in 1665, 1666, 1672, and 1676. See the original laws in Collections of N. Y. Hist. Soc. i. 307-397; and for the amendments, Id. 398-425.

+ Smith, i. 37. 42.

violation of the articles of capitulation; and the English were loud in their remonstrances. Nurtured in the spirit and accustomed to the rights, of Puritan democracy, they brooked with little patience the exercise of these arbitrary powers, and clamored for the representative assemblies and other free customs of New England.*

In this state of the public feeling, there was little disposition to aid LOVELACE, in defending the city or province, when invaded by the Dutch fleet under EVERTSE and BENKES, to whom both were surrendered, without a struggle, in August, 1673. The people, except those in the eastern part of Long Island. (who would gladly have returned to the dominion of Connecticut,) quietly submitted to the Dutch rule, until October, 1674, when the colony was again and finally transferred to the English, pursuant to the treaty of London.†

ANDROSS, the Governor to whom the colony was surrendered in 1674, (afterwards so notorious in New England,) re-established the DUKE's laws, and like his predecessors, exercised, alone or with his council and subordinates, all the powers of Government. In 1676, he endeavored, by consulting the people as to the amount of taxes they were competent and willing to render, to make the system of taxation more acceptable. But the principle which forbids. taxation except by the free vote of the people through their lawful representatives, had taken strong hold of the public mind; and the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants continued to increase. The impatience of the English extended to the Dutch; until, at length, in 1682, both united in a demand for popular representation, so plain and urgent, that the Duke, who five years before could "see no use in assemblies," yielded to the claim. THOMAS DONGAN, a military officer who shared his religious faith and enjoyed his personal confidence, was sent over in the place of ANDROSS, with directions to call a legislative assembly.

DONGAN did not arrive until August, 1683. He immediately issued orders to the sheriffs to summon the freeholders of their

Bancroft, ii. 321, 322, and the several Historical Sketches of Long Island; Wood 91; Thompson, 2d edition, i. 147.

+ To prevent doubts as to his title, the Duke of York, after the treaty, obtained from Charles II. a new grant, dated June 29th, 1674, for the same territories described in the original grant of 1664.

Dunlap, i. 133, 134. It

Smith, i. 59. Bancroft, ii. 406, 407, 415, 416. is said that the advice of William Penn, who had recently visited New York, and who knew the state of things existing there, had, on this occasion, a controlling influence with the Duke.

respective districts, to choose representatives to meet him in assembly on the 17th of October, 1683, on which day the delegates of the people convened in this city.* The event is memorable, not merely as the era of representative government in New York, but from the character of the laws which were then enacted. Three of them-the charter of liberties and privileges the act to divide the province and dependencies into shires and counties-and the act to settle courts of justice-though not printed until the present century, are now easily accessible, and well deserve attention and remark. By the first of these laws, the Supreme Legislative power under the Duke of York, Lord proprietor of the province, was declared to be vested in a Governor and Council, and in the People, met in a general assembly, to be chosen by the freeholders, once at least in every three years, by a majority of voices. The usual privileges of Parliament were conferred on the Assembly and its members; no tax was to be levied without their consent; and all the guaranties of life, liberty and property, contained in Magna Charta, in the petition of right, and the habeas corpus act-trial by jury, with entire freedom of conscience to all Christians, in matters of religion and various other beneficial provisions of the English law-were proclaimed and established as the rights, liberties, and privileges of the inhabitants of New York.t

By the second law, the province is divided into twelve counties, each of which is divided into towns; thus organizing the whole province upon that system of townships to which allusion was made under a former head of this discourse.‡

The act to settle courts of justice, established town courts, to be held by commissioners of the peace; county courts and courts of oyer and terminer, of criminal and civil jurisdiction, to be held by judges and justices; and a court of chancery, which should be deemed the supreme court of the province, to be held by the Governor and Council; with power to the former to depute a chancellor in his stead, and with a right of appeal from the courts of oyer and terminer, and from the

Smith, i. 59, 61. Bancroft ii. 416.

+ See this Charter, at length, in the Appendix to the Revised Laws of 1813, Vol. ii. Appendix iii. No. ii.

Revised Laws of 1813, ii. App. vi. No. 3. Two of these counties, Dukes, containing the island of Nantucket and the neighboring islands, and Cornwall, containing Pemaquid and the territories and islands adjacent, claimed by the Duke, was afterwards, as mentioned ante p. 30, surrendered to Massachusetts.