Under the Lord Proprietor, 1664-1685 47 



that the inhabitants were obliged to swear allegiance to the 

 lord proprietor. 



With the full extent of the domain of the Duke we have 

 nothing to do. By commissioners appointed by Nicolls to 

 meet those of Connecticut, it was decided that the boundary 

 between the two colonies on the mainland should start from 

 a point on Long Island Sound twenty miles from Hudson's 

 River, and run northwest till it met the Massachusetts line. 

 By misrepresentations on the part of the Connecticut commis- 

 sioners, Colonel Nicolls was led to accept the Mamaroneck 

 River as the starting-point, only ten miles east of the Hud- 

 son. But the original agreement of twenty miles furnished 

 the basis of the future claims of the lord proprietor and his 

 successors. 



Immediately after proclaiming the Duke of York and 

 Albany, Governor Nicolls changed the name of the province 

 to New York and the name of the fort on Manhattan to Fort 

 James in his honor. To the section in the vicinity of Manhat- 

 tan Island, he gave the name of Yorkshire; and in accordance 

 with the local nomenclature of that county in England, 

 divided it into ridings; the east, the west, and the north. 

 That portion of the mainland east of the Bronx River was 

 within the North Riding, which also included a part of the 

 present county of Queens on Long Island. The other part 

 of the present Borough, west of the Bronx River, was within 

 the government of the city of New York and Harlem. This 

 connection between Long Island and Westchester County 

 lasted for many years, as the earlier Constitutions of the 

 State apportioned one senator to this district. As a judicial 

 district of the supreme court of the State, it lasted until 

 1906, when, by Constitutional amendment, the Westchester 

 portion of the ancient riding was joined with Putnam, 



