26 CIVIL GOVERNMENV, 



abundance should have prevailed. The eastern towns made overtures to 

 Connecticut. Huntington flatly refused to pay a levy for the repairs ot 

 Fort James because "they were deprived of the liberties of EngHshmen. " 

 The brief period of Dutch conquest and rule increased the sufferings of 

 the colonists. Col. Andros, not yet knighted, brought to his post of gov- 

 ernment the most odious qualities. Extravagance, injustice, oppression, 

 relentless cruelty were characteristics of most of the colonial Governors, 

 and specially of this one. The towns were forced to accept new charters 

 and submit to onerous exactions. Taxes were levied without semblance 

 of authority and upon the personal dictation of the Governor alone, and 

 all protests of the people were treated with scorn. The Duke was hum; 

 bly petitioned for a popular legislative assembly. He replied to Andros 

 that popular assemblies were dangerous to the government and he saw 

 no use for them. Meantime, disappointed in the revenue he had confi- 

 dently expected from his American possessions, he was assailed by peti- 

 tions for redress of grievances, and by representations of the evil lot of his 

 subjects. That lot was indeed evil, and mitigated by only a single so- 

 lace. The consolations of religious faith present their greatest value in 

 the deepest affliction, and brighten most as the hours darken. The un- 

 believer is tossed upon an uncertain and stormy sea. No light assures 

 him of a haven, for there is no haven for him. Above is the blackness of 

 darkness, below the fury of the tempest, on every side the lurid flash of 

 Heaven's thunderbolt. ' The Christian discerns light through the clouds, 

 and knows that in the severest peril there is safety in the "Rock of Ages 

 cleft for him." Through the dark days of oppression undef the Duke of 

 York, the pure religious sentiments of the colonists sustained and cheered 

 them. Their welfare and the cause of civil liberty demanded resistance, 

 and they made it under prayer, and sought Divine aid in its behalf 



The Court of Assize joined in the supplication for a new form of gov- 

 ernment, and through brave John Young, of Southold, High Sheriff of 

 Yorkshire, addressed the Duke "representing the great pressure and la- 

 mentable condition of his Majesty's subjects in your Royal Highness' 

 colony, " and submissively praying that "for the redressing of the griev- 

 ances the government of this your colony may, for the future, be settled 

 and established, ruled and governed by a Governor, Council and Assem- 

 bly, which Assembly to be duly elected and chosen by the freeholders of 

 the colony. It may be well questioned if the Duke would have yielded 

 to any petition or representation from people or Court. He had recalled 

 Andros and subjected him to examination for misgovernment. Two in- 

 fluences now operated from diverse sources to procure the end desired by 

 the colonists. 



New Amsterdam had been a charge upon the West India Company, 

 and its example stood as a constant menace to the Duke's scanty purse. 

 He was in ill favor with Parliament as well as people, and could hope 

 for no relief from either. 



Thus his dread that the settlements in the New 'Wprld would be an 

 expense, inclined him to their surrender to the Crown. At this juncture 

 of critical moment to the colonies, he took counsel of one of the most 

 extraordinary men of the times. The instruments appointed to accom- 

 plish important results are frequently as unexpected as they are successful. 

 "William Penn, accomplished in the Fearning of the Universities and of 

 Lincoln's Inn, polished by foreign travel and courtly society, master of 



