much altercation, a line of partition between their respective territories was fixed by mutual agreement. Long Island was divided between them: the Dutch retained the lands which they occupied in Connecticut, surrendering their claim to the residue. But Charles II., denying their right to any portion of the country, determined to expel them from it. In 1664, he granted to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, all the territory between Nova Scotia and Delaware Bay; and though England and Holland were then at peace, he immediately sent three ships with 300 troops to put him in possession of his grant. The commander of the expedition, Colonel Nichols, summoned Governor Stuyvesant to surrender the town, promising to secure to the inhabitants their lives, liberty, and property. At first, he refused; but the magistrates and people, allured by the proffered terms, constrained him to consent. Fort Orange surrendered soon afterwards, to Sir George Carteret. In compliment to the Duke, the name of Manhattan was changed to New York, and that of Orange to Albany.

"In 1673, England and Holland being then at war, a few Dutch ships were despatched to reconquer the country. On their arrival at Staten Island, a short distance from the city, John Manning, who had command of the fort, sent down a messenger, and treacherously made terms with the enemy. The Dutch sailed up the harbour, and took possession of the fort and city, without firing or receiving a shot. The next year, peace was concluded, and the country was restored to the English. The Duke obtained a new patent, confirming his title to the province." * On his

Hale, pp. 97-101. It was agreed by the treaty of Westminster in 1674, that Surinam should remain the property of the Dutch for ever, in exchange for the province of New York.

accession to the throne, it of course merged in the rights of the crown.

The settlement of the minor states of New Jersey and Delaware will require but a brief notice. The first settlement within the limits of New Jersey, was made by the Danes, about the year 1624. In 1627, a number of Swedes and Finns, sent out by a Swedish company under the patronage of King Gustavus Adolphus, having purchased of the natives the land on both sides of the Delaware, made their first settlement on its western bank, near Christina creek. They re

tained possession of the country until 1655, when they were expelled by the Dutch; and New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, were comprised in the territory to which they gave the name of the New Netherlands. On its conquest by the English, the tract between the Hudson and Delaware rivers was conveyed by the Duke of York to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret; and it received the name of New Jersey in compliment to the latter, who had been governor of the island of Jersey, and had held it for Charles I. during his contest with the Parliament. After various transfers and changes, the proprietary right was surrendered to the Crown; and up to the year 1738, New Jersey and New York had the same governor, though with a separate assembly. In that year, the inhabitants petitioned the King to have a separate governor, and their request was acceded to. Delaware, which received from the original settlers the name of New Sweden, was at first considered as a part of the province of New York; but was afterwards governed, for twenty years, as a part of Pennsylvania, having been purchased by the founder of that state. At length, in 1703, it obtained the privilege of a separate assembly, but remained subject to the same jurisdiction,

+

The history of the settlement of Pennsylvania, (next to New York the largest of the Middle States,) derives peculiar interest from the character and policy of its truly illustrious founder. William Penn was the son of Admiral Sir William Penn, who, in the year 1655, rendered very important services to the English nation, by the conquest of Jamaica from the Spaniards, and by a naval victory over the Dutch. At an early period of his life, the son, to the great mortification of the Admiral, embraced the opinions of the Quakers, to whom persecution had about that period begun to attract the public attention. Of their sufferings for conscience' sake, Penn had his full share. Expelled from the University of Oxford, turned out of doors by his father, and repeatedly imprisoned for promulgating his sentiments, he displayed the most heroic constancy and fortitude; and ultimately, Sir William, convinced of his son's integrity, relented and discovered an affectionate concern for his welfare. On his death-bed, he charged him to do nothing against his conscience; and he obtained from the Duke of York, a promise to protect him as far as might be consistent.

So early as the year 1675, Penn had been chosen to arbitrate between John Fenwick of Connecticut, and Edward Byllinge, in reference to certain territories in New Jersey, which the latter had purchased of Lord Berkeley. Byllinge, being involved in debt, consented that the lands should be sold for the benefit of his creditors; and William Penn agreed to become one of the three trustees. The principal management of this concern devolving on Penn, his attention was thus drawn towards the New World. Disgusted with the vices of European society, and pained at the sufferings to which conscientious dissidents, particularly those of his own sect, were continually exposed in England, he

formed the project of founding a colony in that distant region, where the persecuted might find an asylum, and which might diffuse, by example and instruction, the light of Christianity among the barbarous nations of the New Continent. While superintending the settlement of New Jersey, he learned that there was an extensive tract of fertile, unoccupied land, lying between the territories of the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore. The Crown was indebted to his father's executors in the sum of about 16,000l.; and he petitioned that, as an acquittance for this debt, the tract might be granted to him. His request was acceded to, though not without objections being raised, particularly on the ground of his being a Quaker; and under the name of Pennsylvania, given to the province by King Charles in honour of the Admiral, the royal charter conveyed to him, in 1681, all that tract extending westward from the river Delaware 5° of longitude, northward to the parallel of 42°, and southward to a little below that of 40°. From the want of sufficient attention to former charters, this grant interfered with the claims both of Maryland and of Connecticut on the south and east; and hence arose contentions with regard to boundaries, which were not settled till a century afterwards.

Desirous of selling his lands, Penn published an account of the province, with a copy of the royal charter; and by public advertisement he set forth the advantageous terms on which he offered to part with the land to emigrants. In July 1681, he sold to a company of merchants and other persons, (chiefly Quakers,) 20,000 acres at the rate of 201. for every thousand acres; and those who rented lands, agreed to pay one penny yearly per acre. Before the emigrants embarked, certain "conditions and concessions" were

mutually agreed upon between them and the Proprietor, and subscribed by both parties. In the fall of the year, three ships, carrying out settlers, sailed for Pennsylvania. The pious and philanthropic Proprietor sent a letter to the Indians, informing them, that "the great God had been pleased to make him concerned in their part of the world, and that the king of the country where he lived, had given him a great province therein; but that he did not desire to enjoy it without their consent; that he was a man of peace, and that the people whom he sent were of the same disposition; and, if any difference should happen between them, it might be adjusted by an equal number of men chosen on both sides."* The position chosen by these emigrants for a settlement, was above the confluence of the Delaware and the Schuylkill.

In April 1682, Penn published the Frame of Government which he designed for the new colony; also, a Body of Laws which had been examined and approved by the emigrants before they left England, and which reflects the highest honour on the wisdom, disinterestedness, and philanthropy of the legislator.†

The purchase of the province of Pennsylvania by the Founder of the Colony, has been the subject of high panegyric. It is observable, however, that Penn considered himself as having a right to dispose of lands, and actually disposed of a considerable portion, before he knew whether the Indians were inclined to part with them. In purchasing the lands of the Indians, he imitated the wise and just policy of Lord Baltimore and the "Pilgrim Fathers” of New England. The right of appropriation claimed by the British Government, resting upon mere priority of discovery, assumed that the lands were unoccupied; and in fact, the Indians could scarcely be regarded as occupying the territories which formed their hunting-grounds.

† Among the laws of Penn, for which too high praise can scarcely be awarded to him, are those relative to universal toleration; the penal code, from which punishment by death was entirely excluded; and those which respected the treatment of Indians and