Next in order came the conforming of the style and manner of the city governments to the custom of England. The Dutch form was abolished, and a mayor, aldermen, and sheriff appointed. The Dutch citizens objected to this change from the habit of their forefathers, but as the preponderance of numbers was given to citizens of their nationality, the objection was not pressed, and the new authorities were quietly inaugurated, if not with acquiescence, at least without opposition or protest. These changes occurred in June, 1665. Thus in less than a single year, in a population the Dutch element of which outnumbered the English as three to one, by the moderation, tact, energy, and remarkable administrative ability of Nicolls, was the conquered settlement assimilated to the English body politic to which it was henceforth to belong, and from the hour of transmutation it was accustomed to look to Great Britain itself for government and protection. Such was the first step in the transition of the seat of the “armed commercial monopoly” of New Amsterdam, through various modifications and changes, to the cosmopolitan city of the present day.
The war which the violent seizure of New Netherland precipitated upon Europe was little felt on the western shores of the Atlantic. There was nothing in New York itself, independently of its territorial situation, to tempt a coup de main. There were “no ships to lose, no goods to plunder.” For nearly a year after the capture no vessel arrived from England with supplies. In the interval the King’s troops slept upon canvas and straw. The entire cost of maintaining the garrison fell upon the faithful Nicolls, who nevertheless continued to build up and strengthen his government, personally disposing of the disputes between the soldiers and settlers at the posts, encouraging settlement by liberal offers to planters, and cultivating friendly relations with the powerful Indian confederacy on the western frontier. While thus engaged in the great work of organizing into a harmonious whole the imperial domain to his charge, which, extending from the Delaware to the Connecticut, with the Hudson as its central artery, was of itself a well rounded and perfect kingdom, he received the disagreeable intelligence that his work of consolidation had been broken by the Duke of York himself. James, deceived as to gravity of the transaction, influenced by friendship, or because of more immediate personal considerations, granted to Carteret and Berkeley the entire territory between the Hudson River on the east, Cape May on the southward, and the northern branch of the Delaware on the west, to which was given the name of Nova Cæsarea or New Jersey. In this grant, however, the Duke of York did not convey the right of jurisdiction; but the reservation not being expressed in the document, the grantees claimed that it also passed to them, an interpretation which received no definitive settlement for a long period.[695]
While the Dutch Government showed no disposition to attempt the recovery of their late American territory by immediate attack, they did not tamely submit to the humiliation put upon them, but strained every nerve to maintain the honor of their flag by sea and land. For them as for the English race, the sea was the natural scene of strife. The first successes were to the English fleet, which, under the command of the Duke of York in person, defeated the Dutch at Lowestoffe, and compelled them to withdraw to the cover of their forts. Alarmed at the triumph of England and at the prospect of a general war, Louis XIV. urged peace upon the States-General, and proposed to the English King an exchange of the territory of New Netherland for the island of Poleron, one of the Banda or Nutmeg Islands, recently taken from the English,—a kingdom for a mess of pottage. But Clarendon rejected the mediation, declining either exchange or restitution in a manner that forced upon the French King a declaration of war. This declaration, issued Jan. 29, 1666, was immediately replied to by England, and the American colonies were directed to reduce the French possessions to the English crown. Here was the beginning of the strife on the American continent which culminated a century later in the conquest of Canada and the final supremacy of the English race on the Western continent.
While the settlers of New England, cut off from the Western country by the Hudson River and the Dutch settlements along its course, and alike from Canada by pathless forests, and in a manner enclosed by races whose foreign tongues rendered intercourse difficult, were rapidly multiplying in number, redeeming and cultivating the soil and laying the foundations of a compact and powerful commonwealth, divided perhaps in form, but one in spirit and purpose, their northern neighbors were no less active under totally different forms of polity. The primary idea of French as of Spanish colonization was the conversion of the heathen tribes. The first empire sought was that of the soul; the priests were the pioneers of exploration. The natives of the soil were to be first converted, then brought, if possible, through this subtile influence into alliance with the home government. This peaceful scheme failing, military posts were to be established at strategic points to control the lakes and streams and places of portage, the highways of Indian travel, and to hold the country subject to the King of France. Unfortunately for the success of this comprehensive plan, there was discord among the French themselves. The French military authorities and the priests were not harmonious either in purpose or in conduct. The Society of Jesus would not subordinate itself to the royal authority. Moreover the Iroquois confederacy of the Five Nations, which held the valley of the Mohawk and the lakes south of Ontario, were not friendly at heart to the Europeans. They had not forgotten nor forgiven the invasion by Champlain; yet, recognizing the value of friendly relations with a power which could supply them with firearms for their contests with the fierce tribes with whom they were at perpetual war, they welcomed the French to dwell among them. French policy had declared itself, even before England made her first move for a consolidation of her power in America. In 1663 the Old Canada Company surrendered its rights to Louis XIV., who at once sent over a Royal Commissary to organize a colonial government. The new administration established by him was not content with the uncertain relations existing with the Iroquois, which the fierce hostility of the Mohawks, the most important and powerful of the confederate tribes, constantly threatened to turn into direct enmity. A policy of conquest was determined upon. An embassy sent by the Iroquois to Montreal to treat for peace in 1664 was coldly received, and the next year the instructions of the French King declared the Five Nations to be “perpetual and irreconcilable enemies of the colony.” Strong military assistance arrived to enforce the new policy, and before the year closed, the Marquis de Tracy, the new viceroy, had erected fortified posts which controlled the entire course of the St. Lawrence. In December four of the confederate tribes,—the Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas,—alarmed at this well-ordered progress toward their territory, made submission, and entered into a treaty by which Louis was acknowledged as their protector and sovereign. The Mohawks alone were not a party to this arrangement. They refused to acknowledge subjection. To punish their obstinacy the viceroy at once despatched an expedition against their villages. Missing its way, it was attacked near Schenectady by a party of Mohawks. The news of the skirmish alarmed the English at Albany. From their pickets Courcelles, the commander of the French expedition, first learned of the reduction of the Dutch province to English rule, and, it is reported, said in disturbed mind, “that the King of England did grasp at all America.”
Thus for the first time within the limits of the New York province the English and French were confronted with each other on the territory which was destined to become the scene of a century of strife; and thus also were the Mohawks naturally inclined to the only power which could protect them against the aggressions of the French. Nicolls induced the Mohawks to treat for peace with the French. He also urged the Connecticut authorities to arrange a peace between the Mohicans and the Mohawks; and negotiations were opened in time to counteract the French emissaries, who were already tampering with the former tribe. Shortly after these successful mediations, instructions arrived from King Charles to undertake hostilities against Canada; but Connecticut refusing to join in an expedition, and Massachusetts, considering the reduction of Canada as not at the time feasible, Nicolls changed his tactics, and declared to the Canadian viceroy his purpose to maintain peace, provided the bounds and limits of his Majesty’s dominions were not invaded. Meanwhile, the Oneidas having ratified the treaty made by their colleague tribes with the French, the Mohawks were left alone in resistance, and committed outrages which the viceroy determined to punish. Leading an expedition in person, he marched upon the Mohawks, captured and destroyed their four villages, burned vast quantities of stored provisions, devastated their territory, and took formal possession of the country in the name of the King of France. Yet such was the independent spirit of this proud tribe, that it required the threat of another expedition to bring them to submission. A treaty was made by which they consented to receive missionaries. This completed the title of possession of the Western territory which the French Government was preparing against a day of need.
The war in Europe was closed by the treaty of Breda, which allowed the retention by each of the conflicting parties of the places it occupied. This provision confirmed the English in peaceful and rightful possession of their conquest of New Netherland. The intelligence was proclaimed New Year’s Day, 1668. It enabled the Duke of York to accede at last to the repeated requests of his faithful and able deputy, and permission was granted to Nicolls to return to England. His successor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, relieved him in his charge in August following.
Francis Lovelace, the successor of Nicolls, continued his policy with prudence and moderation. To him the merchants of the city owed the establishment of the first exchange or meeting-place for transaction of business at fixed hours. He encouraged the fisheries and whaling, promoted domestic trade with Virginia, Massachusetts, and the West India Islands, and took personal interest in ship-building. By his encouragement the first attempt toward a post-road or king’s highway was made. During his administration the first seal was secured for the province, and one also for the city. He appears to have concerned himself also in the conversion to Christianity of the Indian tribes,—a policy which Nicolls initiated; but as yet there was no printing press in the province to second his efforts. Of more practical benefit was his interference to arrest the sale of intoxicating liquors to the savage tribes from the trading-post at Albany.
In 1668 the policy of the English Government again veered. A treaty, known as the Triple Alliance, was signed between Great Britain, the United Provinces, and Sweden, to arrest the growing power and ambitious designs of France. Popular in the mother country, the alliance gave peculiar satisfaction to the New York province, and somewhat allayed the disappointment with which the cancellation of the order permitting the Dutch freely to trade with New York was received by its citizens of Holland descent. Throughout the Duke’s province there was entire religious toleration. None were disturbed in the exercise of their worship. At Albany the parochial Dutch church was maintained under his authority, and in New York, he authorized the establishment of a branch of the Dutch Reformed Church, and directed the payment of a sufficient salary to the minister invited from Holland to undertake its charge.