CHAPTER XVIII.

COLONIZATION OF NEW JERSEY.

EW JERSEY was included in the Dutch

NEW

province of New Netherlands. In 1623, Fort Nassau was built upon the east bank of the Delaware, but was soon after deserted. Previous to this; a few settlers had established themselves at Bergen, in the vicinity of New York.

But the colonization of the province did not commence in earnest until after the English conquest of the New Netherlands, in 1664. The charter granted by Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York, included the territory of New Jersey, as well as that of New York. Three months after the date of his own charter, the Duke of York conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, and their heirs and assigns, that tract of land adjacent to New England, westward of Long Island, and bounded on the east, south and west, by the river Hudson, the sea and the Delaware; on the north by the forty-first degree

and fortieth minute of latitude. In compliment to Sir George Carteret, then governor of the Isle of Jersey, the province was called New Jersey.

PON assuming the charge of the province, the first care of the proprietaries was to invite settlers to their country; and as an attraction, they hastened to frame a liberal code of laws for its government. An instrument was published, which gave assurance to all persons who should settle in New Jersey that the province should be ruled only by laws enacted by an assembly

in which the people were represented, and to which the power of making peace or war, and many other important privileges, were confided. No taxes were to be imposed without the consent of the assembly, and the freest enjoyment of religious opinion was secured. The administration of the executive power was reserved to the proprietaries. Allotments of land were offered to settlers, proportionate to the time of their arrival in the province, and the number of their servants or slaves; and for this they were required to pay a quit-rent of an half-penny per acre, and to keep one male for every hundred acres in their possession. Additions were afterwards made to this code, and it was regarded by the people of New Jersey as their great charter.

When Colonel Nichols assumed the government of New York, in 1664, he granted licenses to various persons to purchase lands from the Indians of New Jersey, not being aware of the grant to Berkeley and Carteret.

Emigrants proceeded from Long Island and founded Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, and Piscataway. Nichols was soon informed of the rights of the proprietaries, and then began disputes between the settlers and Berkeley and Carteret, which disturbed the colony for more than half a century.

N November, 1665, Nichols surrendered the government of New Jersey to Philip Carteret, who arrived from England, with thirty settlers, and established himself at Elizabethtown. Here he ruled in peace over the colony, which was gradually replenished with people from New York and New England. The Indians in the vicinity were conciliated, and

their lands purchased at a reasonable rate. The soil was fertile, and amply repaid agricultural labor, and the proprietaries, in the hope of

securing a rich reward for their exertions, not only freely circulated reports of the attractions of the country, but, from time to time, despatched vessels laden with stores and settlers from England, to reinforce and supply the wants of the people.

In March, 1670, the first demands for quit-rents was made. This excited discontent and resistance. Many of the colonists set up titles which they asserted they had obtained from Colonel Nichols, or purchased from the Indians. For two years, the governor maintained an ineffectual controversy with the inhabitants, and was then forced to return to England, by a popular insurrection. His office was given by the people to a natural son of Sir George Carteret, who had aided their cause. In 1673, New York again fell under the rule of the Dutch, and New Jersey was united to the New Netherlands. But the province was restored to Great Britain in 1674.

HE Duke of York, deeming the grant of New Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret annulled by the Dutch conquest, appointed Sir Edmund Andros to rule the province. But he soon consented to restore the country to the former proprietaries, and, in January, 1675, Philip Carteret resumed the office of governor. The inhabitants having experienced the rigorous rule of Andros, willingly received Carteret; and as he postponed the payments of the quit-rents and published a new set of concessions, confirming their privileges, peace was restored to the colony.

The only source of disquiet that occurred for several years, arose from the attempts of Andros to enforce the arbitrary pretensions of the Duke of York. He put an end to the commerce of New Jersey nearly as soon as it began, and even arrested Governor Carteret, and conveyed him a prisoner, to New York. Complaints to the Duke procured his release, but no abatement of the tyranny of Andros.

In 1676, the province was divided into East and West Jersey. Lord Berkeley had become satisfied that he could expect but little, if any, profit from his proprietorship, and therefore disposed of his share to two English Quakers, named Fenwick and Byllynge. By these gentlemen, William Penn was appointed to administer the affairs of their territory. The first care of Penn was to effect a partition of the province. This was accomplished without difficulty, the eastern part being assigned to Carteret, and the western to the assignees of Byllinge, Penn, and two other Quakers. The western proprietors then gave the settlers a free

constitution, similar to that given by Berkeley and Carteret, granting all the important civil and religious rights which are necessary to make a people happy. In 1677, four hundred Quakers arrived and settled in West Jersey. These settlers were called upon by Andros to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Duke of York, and to submit to taxation; they refused, and a controversy ensued, which was referred to the arbitration of Sir William Jones. That distinguished jurist decided in favor of the colonists, and the Duke soon after relinquished all claims to the territory and government of both East and West Jersey.

In 1681, the governor of West Jersey convoked the first representative assembly, which enacted many laws for the protection and security of personal and proprietary rights; the most remarkable law was one which provided that in all criminal cases, except treason, murder and theft, the person injured should have power to pardon the offender.

FTER the death of Sir George Carteret, his estates were offered for sale; and in 1682, William Penn and eleven other Quakers purchased East Jersey, over which Robert Barclay, well known for his works in defence of the Quakers, was appointed governor for life. During his administration, the colony received a large accession of emigrants, principally from Scotland. The new-comers were generally wealthy, but brought with them a considerable number of poor laborers, who were established on lands for a term of years.

James II. had now ascended the English throne, and carrying out his long-cherished schemes of despotism, he demanded, in 1688, the surrender of the charters of East and West Jersey, and appointed Andros governor of New York, New Jersey and New England. Barclay died in 1690, and thence till 1692 no regular government existed in New Jersey. In 1692, new proprietary governors were appointed; but their authority was disputed; and then followed a series of intrigues and disputes which kept the colony in an unsettled state for several years. An attempt of New York to establish her authority in New Jersey was successfully resisted. At length the proprietaries became satisfied that their conflicting claims kept the colonists in constant trouble, and prevented them from receiving any profit from the country, and concluded to surrender their rights to the crown. In 1702, New Jersey became a royal province and was united to New York, under the government of Lord Cornbury.

This nobleman brought with him a new constitution for New Jersey. The local government was vested in a governor and twelve councillors,