NEW YORK NEY. 



225 



the English, the Dutch, and the Swedes ; but these 

 are no longer subjects of interest. The first build- 

 ings erected in New York were in 1621, near the 

 junction of the East and North rivers, about White- 

 hall, and Broad street, and Coenties, and Old slips. 

 The first Dutch governor was Wouter van Twiller, 

 in 1629, who was succeeded by William Kieft, whose 

 successor was Petrus Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch 

 governors. King Charles the First having made 

 complaints of the encroachments of the Dutch on 

 New England, the states-general declared the settle- 

 ment of New Netherlands " to be only a private un- 

 dertaking of the West India company of Amsterdam." 

 The 12th of March, 1664, Charles the Second granted 

 to his brother James, duke of York, " all Matta- 

 wacks, now Long Island, all Hudson's river, and all 

 the lands from the west side of Connecticut river to 

 the east side of Delaware bay, together with the 

 royalties and rights of government." The duke sold 

 that part of the grant which comprehends New Jer- 

 sey, and the remainder, which comprehended the 

 present state of New York, was retained by him, and 

 so called in honour of the proprietor. The possession 

 was guaranteed to him by the states-general, by the 

 treaty of Breda, in 1667. Previous to this, however, 

 in 1664, the New Netherlands was taken by the Eng- 

 lish. In 1673, it was retaken by the Dutch, and in 

 1674, on the 9th of February, it again fell into the 

 hands of the English, and so remained until the 

 revolution. In 1683, the first colonial legislature was 

 convened in New York. In 1765, a congress of de- 

 puties from the colonial assemblies met at the same 

 place to consult about grievances. In 1 770, the lib- 

 erty pole, which had been set up by the citizens, 

 was cut down by the soldiers, and a new one erected, 

 secured with iron. About the same time, the assem- 

 bly gave great offence by voting 5000 dollars for the 

 supply of the king's troops quartered in the colony. 

 On this occasion, an address was published " To the 

 betrayed inhabitants of the city of New York," signed 

 " A Son of Liberty," which the assembly pronounced 

 a "a false, seditious, and infamous libel." Captain, 

 afterwards general M'Dougall, was brought before 

 the chief-justice as the publisher, refused to give bail, 

 was committed to prison, and afterwards admitted to 

 bail. He was ordered before the bar of the assembly 

 at their next meeting, refused to ask pardon, was 

 committed to prison for contempt, and there remained 

 until the assembly was prorogued, in 1771. About 

 the middle of December, 1773, seventeen chests of 

 tea, which had been brought to the city from a tea 

 ship lying at Sandy Hook, were seized by the citizens 

 and thrown into the river. In the year 1775, the 

 assembly of the province met in New York, and 

 renounced all concern in the proceedings of the con- 

 gress which convened at Philadelphia the preceding 

 year, declining choosing members to the new one. 

 At the same time, they petitioned the king, in their 

 own names, for a redress of grievances ; remonstrated 

 in behalf of the people of Massachusetts ; and con- 

 cluded by disavowing all ideas of independence. 

 This course gave great offence to the popular party 

 denominated the sons of liberty, who called a meeting, 

 March 6, which eventuated in an appeal to force, in 

 which the tories were put to flight by the sons of 

 liberty, armed with hoop-poles ; and the scale from 

 that moment turned in favour of the popular party, 

 under captain Sears, or king Sears, as he was fami- 

 liarly called. On receipt of the news of the affair at 

 Lexington, Sears, in conjunction with captain, after- 

 wards general Lamb, called a meeting, in which it 

 was resolved, that the custom-house should be closed. 

 A committee of 100 persons was appointed to pre- 

 serve order in the city, and an association enteret 

 into to stand by the continental congress. But Hit 



citizens were far from being united. There was a 

 strong party among the more wealthy, which only 

 awaited an opportunity to thwart these measures. 

 Captain Sears, who had been ordered, by the conven- 

 tion appointed to direct the affairs of the colony, to 

 remove the cannon from the battery, succeeded in his 

 object, though fired upon by the Asia seventy-four, 

 which lay off in the river. The conduct of the citi- 

 zens of New York not being quite agreeable to the 

 sons of liberty, captain Sears advised general Wash- 

 ngton to send a body of troops to secure the city ; 

 nit the general could not spare them. General Lee, 

 lowever, by the assistance of governor Trumbull of 

 Connecticut, collected a body of 1200 militia for the 

 purpose. Being detained at Stamford, he sent a part 

 )f these on under the command of captain Sears, and 

 allowed soon after. The inhabitants were greatly 

 alarmed at their arrival, the British naval command- 

 ant having declared that he would fire the city if any 

 continental troops entered it. To this Lee answered, 

 ' that if the men-of-war should set one house on fire 

 n consequence of his coming, he would chain a hun- 

 dred of their friends together by the neck, and make 

 the house their funeral pile." The 17th of March, 

 the British having evacuated Boston, Washington 

 despatched general Heath, with five regiments, and 

 shortly afterwards followed, with nearly all his army, 

 io New York. After the defeat of the Americans on 

 Long Island, and the masterly retreat of Washington 

 across the East river, he was obliged, by a series of 

 operations on the part of the enemy, to retreat across 

 Haerlem river to the continent. This left the city at 

 the mercy of the British, who accordingly took 

 forcible possession, which they retained until the 25th 

 of November, 1783, when they finally evacuated it. 

 The day has ever since been commemorated by a mi- 

 litary procession and public rejoicings. The 4th of 

 December following, Washington took leave of the 

 officers of the army, at Francis's hotel. Calling for 

 a glass of wine, he thus addressed them " With a 

 heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of 

 you, devoutly wishing that your latter days may be as 

 prosperous and happy as your former have been glo- 

 rious and honourable." The ceremony was in the 

 highest degree affecting, and few of the officers could 

 refrain from tears. In 1789, the first congress, under 

 the new constitution, met at New York, and Wash- 

 ington was sworn into the office of president of the 

 United States, by Chancellor Livingston. From this 

 period, the city, which at the time of its surrender by 

 the British, was estimated to contain little more than 

 20,000 people, has continued to advance in wealth 

 and numbers, with a pace as steady as it has been 

 rapid. 



NEW ZEALAND. See Zealand, New. 



NEW ZEALAND FLAX. See Flax, New Zea- 

 land. 



NEW ZEALAND SPINAGE (tetragonia eo-pan- 

 sa) ; a succulent trailing plant, destitute of beauty, in- 

 habiting that country whose name it bears. It has 

 lately been introduced into Europe, and also into 

 America, as a substitute for spinage, over which it 

 has this advantage, that, if watered, it will produce 

 leaves of the greatest succulency throughout the 

 whole summer. A bed of twenty plants is said to be 

 sufficient to give a daily supply for a large table. 



NEY, MICHEL, duke of Elchingen, prince of Mos- 

 cow, marshal and peer of France, grand-cross of the 

 legion of honour, knight of St Louis, and of several 

 orders in foreign countries, was born in 1769, at Sarre 

 Louis, in the department of the Moselle. He was of 

 humble origin, and, at an early age, entered the mi- 

 litary service. From a, private hussar, he rose by de- 

 grees to the rank of captain, in 1794, when his cour- 

 age and military skill were observed by genera) 

 p 



