The mission of Jenings was only partially successful. The differences between Byllynge and the people were referred to the “judgment and determination” of George Fox, George Whitehead, and twelve other prominent Friends; whose award was to the effect that the government was rightfully in Byllynge, and that they could not find any authority for a governor chosen by the people. This award was made in October, 1684, but was signed by only eight of the fourteen referees, George Fox not being one of them. The document subsequently became the cause of much discussion. As late as 1699 it was printed with the addition of many severe reflections upon the action of Jenings and his friends, drawing from him equally harsh animadversions upon those from whom they emanated. In accordance with this award Byllynge asserted his claims to the chief authority over the Province, and no important concessions appear to have been made to the people.
In 1685 Byllynge appointed John Skene to be his deputy-governor; and on September 25 the Assembly, expressly reserving “their just rights and privileges,” recognized him as such, Olive continuing to act as chairman, or speaker, of the Assembly.
Harmony to a great extent prevailed for some time, Skene not attempting to exercise any authority not generally acknowledged by the people; but in 1687 Byllynge died, and Dr. Daniel Coxe of London, already a large proprietor, having purchased the whole of Byllynge’s interest from his heirs, after consultation with the principal Proprietors in England, decided to assume the government of the Province himself. But while he thus assumed, in his own person, rights which the people had claimed as theirs, he did not refrain from granting to them a liberal exercise of power, giving assurances that all reasonable expectations and requests would be complied with, and that the officers who had been chosen by the people should be continued in their several positions. It is somewhat more than doubtful if Coxe ever visited the Province at all, and indeed he probably did not; meanwhile Byllynge’s deputy, John Skene, acted for him till the death of the latter in December, 1687, when Coxe appointed Edward Hunloke in his stead.
It was during Lawrie’s administration in East Jersey that the first steps were taken to settle the boundary line between that Province and New York. The subject was discussed by him and Governor Dongan at an early date; and on June 30, 1686, a council was held, composed of the two deputy-governors and several gentlemen of both New York and New Jersey, at which the course to be pursued in running the line was agreed upon. The points on the Hudson and Delaware rivers were subsequently determined; but nothing further was done for several years, and nearly a century elapsed before the line was definitely settled.
There are some allusions made to the fact that Lawrie was much interested in West Jersey, as accounting for his dismissal by the Proprietors from his position as their deputy-governor in East Jersey; but so far as the records of the period give an insight into the motives actuating him in the administration of the affairs of the Province, there is no evidence afforded of any want of interest in its prosperity. As the result of his administration did not meet their expectations of profit, it is not surprising that they should have regarded it as due to some mistaken policy on his part. In the appointment of a successor they were evidently led by the large influx of population from Scotland to look among the Proprietors residing there for a suitable person; and they therefore selected Lord Neill Campbell, a brother of the Earl of Argyle, who was obliged to flee from Scotland in consequence of his connection with that nobleman, who had been beheaded June 30, 1685, after the unfortunate termination of his invasion of that country. He left for East Jersey with a large number of emigrants not long after that event, and reached the Province in December of the same year.
Lord Neill was appointed deputy-governor June 2, 1686, for two years, but his commission did not reach him until October, on the 5th of which month it was published; and on the 18th he announced as his council Gawen Lawrie, John Berry of Bergen, Isaac Kingsland of New Barbadoes, Andrew Hamilton of Amboy, Richard Townley of Elizabethtown, Samuel Winder of Cheesequakes, David Mudie and John Johnstone of Amboy, and Thomas Codrington of Raritan.
It is a remarkable circumstance that the great diversity existing in the characters, religions, pursuits, and political relations of the Proprietors of East Jersey should have been overcome to such an extent as to allow of harmonious action in the appointment of Lord Neill Campbell. The Earl of Perth, a prominent member of the body, was one of the jury that found the Earl of Argyle guilty of high treason; and yet, stanch adherent as he was of James, he could consent to have his interests in East Jersey taken care of by that earl’s brother. Robert Barclay, with all the peculiarities of his peaceful sect, the advocate of gentleness and non-resistance, was willing to be associated with a stanch Scotch Presbyterian soldier, and join in commissioning him as his subordinate. It is evident that private prejudices and feelings were not allowed to interfere with whatever was thought likely to conduce to the advancement of their pecuniary interests in East Jersey.
Lord Neill’s administration, however, was very brief. On December 10 of the same year, “urgent necessity of some weighty matters” calling him to England, he appointed Andrew Hamilton to be his substitute, and sailed, it is presumed, the March following, Hamilton’s commission being published on the 12th of that month.
Andrew Hamilton had been a merchant in London, and came to the Province with his family in June, 1686, as an agent of the Proprietors in London. He at first declined accepting the position tendered him, and Lawrie, who was one of the council, openly protested against his appointment, because of his unpopularity with the planters; but his authority having been confirmed by a commission from Governor Barclay in August, 1687, all open opposition thereto seems to have ceased. Hamilton appears to have been a man of intelligence, and to have acted in a manner which he conceived to be calculated to advance the best interests of the Proprietors without involving them with the people, but it is doubtful if any great cordiality existed between the governor and the governed at that period.
Before his death Charles II. had been led to call for a surrender of the charter of Massachusetts Bay, and, meeting with a refusal from the General Assembly, a writ of quo warranto was issued in 1684. The death of the King left the proceedings to be consummated by his successor, whose rapacity prompted him to subvert the liberties of all the colonies; and his pliant servant Andros, whom he had knighted, was sent over with a commission that covered all New England. Sir Edmund took up his residence in Boston, assumed the supreme authority of Massachusetts, and the following year dissolved in succession the governments of Rhode Island and Connecticut, taking to himself all power and dominion, even beyond the limits granted by his royal master.[712]