Colonel Nicolls answered the next day with a summons.

To the honourable the governour, and chief council at the Manhattans.

Right worthy sirs,

'I received a letter by some worthy persons intrusted by you, bearing date the of August, desiring to know the intent of the approach of the English frigates: in return of which, I think it fit to let you know, that his majesty of Great Britain, whose right and title to these parts of America, is unquestionable, well knowing how much it derogates from his crown and dignity, to suffer any foreigners, how near soever they be allied, to usurp a dominion, and without his majesty's royal consent, to inherit in these, or any other of his majesty's territories, hath commanded me, in his name, to require a surrender of all such forts, towns, or places of strength, which are now possessed by the Dutch, under your commands; and in his majesty's name, I do demand the town, situate on the island, commonly known by the name of Manhattoes, with all the forts thereunto belonging, to be rendered unto his majesty's obedience and protection, into my hands. I am further commanded to assure you, and every respective inhabitant of the Dutch nation, that his majesty being tender of the effusion of Christian blood, doth by these presents, confirm and secure to every man his estate, life, and liberty, who shall readily submit to his government. And all those who shall oppose his majesty's gracious intention, must expect all the miseries of a war, which they bring upon themselves. I shall expect your answer by these gentlemen, Colonel George Carteret, one of his majesty's commissioners in America; Captain Robert Needham, Captain Edward Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall, whom you will entertain with such civility as is due to them, and yourselves, and yours shall receive the same, from,

"Dated on board his majesty's ship, the Guyny, riding before Nyach, the 3 of Aug.

1664.

31

Worthy Sirs,

Your very humble servant,

Richard Nicolls.'

Mr. Stuyvesant promised an answer to the summons the next morning, and in the mean time convened the council and burgomasters. The Dutch governour was a good soldier, and had lost a leg in the service of the States. He would willingly have made a defence; and refused a sight of the summons, both to the inhabitants and burgomasters, lest the easy terms offered, might induce them to capitulate. The latter, however, insisted upon a copy, that they might communicate it to the late magistrates and principal burghers. They called together the inhabitants at the stadt house, and acquainted them with the governour's refusal. Governour Winthrop, at the same time, wrote to the director and his council, strongly recommending a surrender. On the 22d of August, the burgomasters came again into council, and desired to know the contents of the English message from Governour Winthrop, which Stuyvesant still refused. They continued their importunity; and he, in a fit of anger, tore it to pieces: upon which, they protested against the act and all its consequences."

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Determined upon a defence of the country, Stuyvesant wrote a long letter giving an historical account of the Dutch claims, and ended by saying as touching the threats in your conclusion we have nothing to answer, only that we fear nothing, but what God (who is as just as merciful) shall lay upon us; all things being in his gracious disposal, and we may as well be preserved by him, with small forces, as by a great army, which makes us to wish you all happiness and prosperity, and recommend you to his protection."

"While the Dutch governour and council were contending with the burgomasters and people in the city, the English commissioners pub

lished a proclamation in the country, encouraging the inhabitants w submit, and promising them the king's protection and all the privileges of subjects; and as soon as they discovered by Stuyvesant's letter, that he was averse to the surrender, officers were sent to beat up for volunteers in Middleborough, Ulissen, Jamaica, and Hempsted. A warrant was also issued to Hugh Hide, who commanded the squadron, to prosecute the reduction of the fort; and an English ship then trading here, was pressed into the service. These preparations induced Stuyvesant to write another letter, on the 25th of August, old style, wherein, though he declares that he would stand the storm, yet to prevent the spilling of blood, he had sent John De Decker, counsellor of state, Cornelius Van Ruyven, secretary and receiver, Cornelius Steenwick, major, and James Cousseau, sheriff, to consult, if possible, an accommodation. Nicolls, who knew the disposition of the people, answered immediately from Gravesend, that he would treat about nothing but a surrender. The Dutch governour, the next day, agreed to a treaty and surrender, on condition the English and Dutch limits in America were settled by the crown and the States General. The English deputies were Sir Robert Carr, George Carteret, John Winthrop, governour of Connecticut, Samuel Wyllys, one of the assistants or council of that colony, aud Thomas Clarke, and John Pynchon, commissioners from the general court of the Massachusetts' bay, who but a little before, brought an aid from that province. What these persons agreed upon, Nicolls promised to ratify. At eight o'clock in the morning, of the 27th of August, 1664, the commissioners, on both sides, met at the governour's farm, and there signed the articles of capitulation."

These articles, twenty-three in number, were highly favorable to the inhabitants; Stuyvesant, however, refused to ratify them, till two days after they were signed by the commissioners.

"The town of New-Amsterdam, upon the reduction of the island Manhattans, took the name of New-York. It consisted of several small streets, laid out in the year 1656, and was not inconsiderable for the number of its houses and inhabitants. The easy terms of the

It was in these words: "Forasmuch as his majesty hath sent us by commission under the great seal of England, amongst other things, to expel, or to reduce to his majesty's obedience, all such foreigners, as without his majesty's leave and consent, have seated themselves amongst any of his dominions in America, to the prejudice of his majesty's subjects, and diminution of his royal dignity; we his said majesty's commissioners, do declare and promise, that whosoever, of what nation soever, will. upon knowledge of this proclamation, acknowledge and testify themselves, to subma to this his majesty's government, as his good subjects, shall be protected in his majesty's laws and justice, and peaceably enjoy whatsoever God's blessing, and their own bonest industry, have furnished them with; and all other privileges, with his majesty's English subjects. We have caused this to be published, that we might prevent all inconveniences to others, if it were possible; however, to clear ourselves from the charge of all those miseries, that may any way befal such as live here, and will [not] acknowledge his majesty for their sovereign, whom God preserve."

capitulation, promised their peaceable subjection to the new governinent; and hence we find, that in two days after the surrender, the Boston aid was dismissed with the thanks of the commissioners to the general court. Hudson's and South River were, however, still to be reduced. Sir Robert Carr commanded the expedition on Delaware, and Carteret was commissioned to subdue the Dutch at Fort Orange. The garrison capitulated on the 24th of September, and he called it Albany, in honor of the Duke. While Carteret was here,

he had an interview with the Indians of the Five Nations, and entered into a league of friendship with them, which remarkably continues to this day. Sir Robert Carr was equally successful on South River, for he compelled both the Dutch and Swedes to capitulate and deliver up their garrisons the first of October, 1664; and that was the day in which the whole New-Netherlands became subject to the English crown. Very few of the inhabitants thought proper to remove out of the country. Governour Stuyvesant himself, held his estate, and died here. His remains were interred in a chapel, which he had erected on his own farm, at a small distance from the city, now possessed by his grandson, Gerardus Stuyvesant, a man of probity, who has been elected into the magistracy, above thirty years successively. Justice obliges me to declare, that for loyalty to the present reigning family, and a pure attachment to the protestant religion, the descendants of the Dutch planters are perhaps exceeded by none of his majesty's subjects."

The foregoing cut is copied from a lithographic engraving of

"Governor Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Rulers," in Wat son's Sketches of Olden Times in New York. He was governor of New York seventeen years-from 1647 to 1664. At his death, his remains were placed in the family vault, once con structed within the walls of the second built Reformed Dutch church, which he had built at his personal expense on his own farm. The place where this church was built is now occupied by the present church of St. Mark. The original monumental stone in memory of Gov. Stuyvesant is to be seen on the outside wall of this latter church, inscribed as follows:

"In this vault, lied buried PETRUS STUYVESANT, late Captain General and Commander in chief of Amsterdam in New Netherland, now called New York, and the Dutch West India Islands. Died in August, A. D. 1682, aged eighty years."

Negro Plot in New York.-The following, giving an account of the extraordinary excitement against the unfortunate African slaves in New York, is copied from Smith's History, (the Continuation,) published in Albany in 1814.

"A robbery, which had been committed at the house of Robert Hogg, a merchant in New-York, on the 28th of February, 1740-1, seemed to have led to the discovery of a plot, which was afterwards called the negro plot. One Mary Burton, an indented servant to John Hughson, (a man of infamous character, and to whose house slaves were in the practice of resorting to drink and gamble, and of secreting the goods they had stolen,) was the instrument, in the hands of the magistrates, for the detection and punishment of the offenders. On the 18th of March after the robbery, a fire broke out in the roof of his majesty's house at Fort George, near the chapel, consuming the house, the chapel, and some other buildings adjacent. Most of the publick records in the secretary's office, over the fort gate, were fortunately rescued from the flames. A week after, another fire broke out at the house belonging to a Captain Warren, near the long bridge, at the southwest end of the city. Both these fires were, at first, supposed to be accidental. But about a week after the last fire, another broke out at the store house of a Mr. Van Zandt, towards the east end of the town. Three days after, a fourth alarm was given, and it was found that some hay was on fire in a cow stable near the house of a Mr. Quick, or a Mr. Vergereau. The fire was soon suppressed. The people, in returning from that fire, were alarmed by a fifth cry, at the house of one Ben Thompson, next door west of a Captain Sarly's house. It appeared that fire had been placed between two beds, in the loft of a kitchen, where a negro usually slept. The next morning coals were discovered under a hay stack, near the coach house and stables of Joseph Murray, esq. in Broadway. All these circumstances having occurred in quick succession, the people were induced to believe that some designing persons intended to destroy the city by fire. What strengthened this belief, was, a seventh alarm of fire the next day, at the house of a Sergeant Burns, opposite the fort garden, an eighth alarm occasioned by a fire breaking out the

same day, in the roof of a Mr. Hilton's house, near the fly market; and again, the same afternoon, and within a few hours after, a ninth fire occurring, at Colonel Philipse's store house. This strange coin cidence of events, leaves indeed little room for doubt, that some one or more of the fires occurred through design. It was soon rumoured that the negroes were the perpetrators. One Quacko, a negro, belonging to a Mr. Walter, was said to have made use of some mysterious language and threats, indicating his knowledge of a plot. A proclamation was issued, offering rewards for the discovery of the offenders. Quacko, and several other negroes were apprehended and closely interrogated, but without effect. The supreme court, at its April term, strictly enjoined the grand jury to make diligent enquiries as to the late robberies and fires within the city. Mary Burton, who had been apprehended as a witness, relative to the robbery at Mr. Hogg's, gave the grand jury reason to believe that she was also privy to the design to set fire to the city. After some difficulty, she made a disclosure, which, in all probability, was greatly exaggerated, though some of its parts might have been true. She stated that meetings of negroes were held at her master's [Hughson.] That their plan was to burn the fort and city. That one Cæsar, [a black] was to be governour, and Hughson, her master, king! That they were to destroy the whites. That she had known seven or eight guns, and some swords, in her master's house! That the meetings at her master's house, consisted of twenty or thirty negroes at a time! Upon this evidence, warrants were issued, and many negroes committed to prison. One Arthur Price, a servant, charged with stealing goods, belonging to the lieutenant governour, likewise became informer. Being in prison himself, and having access to the negroes there committed, he received, or pretended to have received, much information from them. He was afterwards employed by the magistrates, to hold private conferences with the negroes in prison, and to use persuasion and other means to gain confessions from them. In this business he was peculiarly expert, and received the most unqualified approbation of the magistrates. Yet many of his stories are of such a chivalrous and romantic description as to excite suspicion of their truth. But every thing he related was implicitly believed. The more extravagant the tale, the more readily was it received and credited. A white woman, who was a common prostitute, and familiar even with negroes, of the name of Margaret or Peggy Salinburgh, alias Kerry, alias Sorubiero, likewise declared she could make great discoveries. The magistrates eagerly hastened to take her examination, and the consequence was, that fresh warrants were issued for the apprehension of many other negroes, not before impli cated. Informers were now rapidly increasing. Arthur Price, while in prison, was making great discoveries. Operating on the fears and hopes of the negroes, many declared themselves accomplices. The magistrates were unceasingly engaged. The grand jury were daily presenting bills of indictment against the parties accused. To be inculpated by Mary Burton, Arthur Price, or Peggy Salingburgh,