"And wee doe, by these presents, will, require, and command you to take all possible care for the Discountenance of Vice and encouragement of Virtue and good-living, that by such example the Infidels may bee invited and desired to partake of the Christian Religion."
According to this commission, the general assembly was dissolved on the 6th of August, 1685, and no other was convened during the reign of James. Notwithstanding this radical change in the organic law of the province, the mild, liberal, and judicious administration of the governor caused the exercise of arbitrary power to be but lightly felt by the people.
In 1686, Governor Dongan signalized his administration by granting, in the name and by the authority of the king, the celebrated charter of the city of New York known as the Dongan Charter, bearing date the 22d of April of that year. This document constitutes to this day the basis and foundation of the municipal laws, rights, privileges, public property, and franchises of the city. It was confirmed and renewed by Governor Montgomery, on the 15th day of January, 1730, in the reign of George II. This charter was granted on the petition of the mayor and common council of the city of New York, addressed "To the Right Honorable Colln. Dongan, Esqr., Lieutennant & Governor & Vice Admirall under his Royall Highness, James Duke of York and Albany, &c., of New York and Dependencyes in America." In this petition are recited the ancient privileges and incorporation of the city, and especially the fact that the whole island of Manhattan had been made a part of the corporation, and all the inhabitants thereof were subject to the government of the city; and praying a re-grant and confirmation of the same, and of all their ancient rights and privileges. The charter itself confirms all the ancient franchises and grants to the city, and confers many new ones upon it; it grants to the city the waste or unappropriated lands on the island, and concedes the right of local or municipal legislation, the ferries, markets, docks, etc., and covers thoroughly the whole ground of municipal government. It would seem, from an endorsement made on the petition in the office of the home government, by the secretary through whose hands it passed, that the new charter should be granted on the express condition that the old charter be surrendered; "otherwise, they may keep all their Old Priviledges by virtue of that, and take ye additions by this new one, without Subjecting their Officers, &c., to the approbation & Refusall, &c., of ye governors."
Among other public measures and acts of Governor Dongan may be mentioned, that he proposed to the home government the establishment of post-offices, or "post-houses," as they were called, all along the Atlantic coast within the English dominions, and the establishment of a mint. French Protestants, resorting to the colony for trade or business of any kind, were not to be molested. The fort was supported for one year at his private expense, during the insufficiency of the public revenue under Collector Santen. He obtained a release from the Ranseleers to the lands in Albany, and then granted a charter to that town; and he endeavored to bring about the union of New Jersey and Connecticut, under one and the same government with New York, as a measure of public safety and strength. In 1686, the governor's salary was raised from £400 to £600 per annum. The governor's residence was at the fort, and there was attached to the office the products or rents of a farm, called, at various times, the governor's, duke's, or king's farm, and of another smaller piece of land, called the queen's garden, which were subsequently granted to and remain to this day the property of the corporation of Trinity Church. It may also be mentioned, as an evidence of Governor Dongan's popularity, that there is to be found, in a list of the titles of acts passed by the general assembly in 1684, the following title, "A Bill for a present to the Governor."
We are told by the historians that "considerable improvements were made in the city in Governor Dongan's time." [Footnote 189]
[Footnote 189: Valentine.]
The city wall, erected in 1653, on the present line of Wall street, which derived its name from this circumstance, ran through the farm of Jan Jansen Damen; and from Broadway to Pearl street, the lands north of the wall were, in Governor Dongan's time, in possession of Damen's heirs, who were now induced to part with the same, so that the wall was removed and these valuable lots brought at once into the market, and were soon improved. Afterward, Governor Dongan determined still further to enlarge the city, to demolish the old fortifications, which were in a state of decay, and to erect new defences further out. Wall street was laid out on the site of the old city wall. "The street was afterwards favored by the erection of the city hall on the site of the present custom-house, and of Trinity Church, facing its westerly extremity, and soon became one of principal streets of the city." In 1687, a new street was laid out between Whitehall street and Old Slip, and the corporation sold the lots on condition that the purchasers should build the street out toward the water and protect it against the washing of the tide. These improvements were not carried into effect until several years afterward. This is the present Water street. In the second year of Governor Dongan's administration, 1684, the vessels of New York consisted of three barques, three brigantines, twenty-six sloops, and forty-six open boats; facts which convey some notion of the commerce and prosperity of New York at that time.
Governor Dongan manifested great activity and energy in the conduct of public affairs. His report on the condition of the colony is a document replete with intelligence, vigor, and practical experience, and shows that no part of the colony, however remote, escaped his attention and care; and no branch of the public service was neglected by him. Mr. Santen, the collector of the port, became a defaulter to the amount of £3000, and was the occasion of great embarrassment and loss to Governor Dongan, who, however, on his part, acted promptly in the premises, by seizing the books of the delinquent official, causing him to be arrested and brought before the council for trial, and, on his proving refractory, sending him to England. While in England, the displaced collector preferred charges against Governor Dongan, who defended himself in that able and conclusive document, or report, on the condition of the colony, addressed to the lords of the home government, to which allusion has just been made. The following extract will show how characteristically he defended himself against one of Mr. Santen's charges:
"To the Tenth: Concerning my Covetousness, as hee is pleased to term it. Here, (if Mr. Santen speaks true, in saying I have been covetous,) it was in the management of this small Revenue to the best advantage, and had Mr. Santen been as just as I have been careful, the King had not been in debt, and I had more in my pocket than now I have."
This document also shows how active Governor Dongan was to secure the beaver and other Indian trade for the province; his zeal would not stop short of confining the French to the other side of the great lakes, and William Penn and his people south of a line drawn from a point on the Delaware "to the falls in the Susquehanna." [Footnote 190]