vesant.

unpopular; and the people were very glad, when, in Peter Stuy. 1647, Gov. Peter Stuyvesant was appointed in his stead.

Gov. Stuyvesant was a brave and honest man, but was so obstinate, that he was often called "Hardkoppig Piet," or "Headstrong Peter." Sometimes he was called "Old Silverleg," because he had lost a leg in war, and used to stump about on a wooden leg ornamented with strips of silver. Under his government the colony was well defended, for a time, against Indians, Swedes, and Englishmen. The trouble was, that he was quite despotic, and was disposed to let the people have as little as possible to do with the government. They did not feel that they had as much freedom as those who lived in the other colonies; and they were not so ready to fight for their patroons and for the East India Company, as were the English colonists for their own homesteads. Then the English settlers increased very fast in wealth and numbers; and the Dutchmen rather envied them, even while quarrelling with them. At last, in 1664, an English fleet, with many recruits Surrender from New England on board, appeared before New possesAmsterdam; and very soon the town was surrendered sions to the to the English by the general wish of the inhabitants, though quite against the will of "Headstrong Peter." He tore in pieces the letter from the English commodore requiring the surrender of the town; but the people made him put it together again, and accept the terms offered. From that time forth, except for one short interval of time, the English held possession of New Netherlands.

The name of the colony was then changed to New

of Dutch

English.

under the

Duke of
York.

New Jersey
made a
separate
province.

The Colony York, in honor of the king's brother, the Duke of York, to whom King Charles II. gave the province. That part of New Netherlands south of the Hudson was, however, made into a separate province, under the name of New Jersey. The Duke of York allowed his own province to hold an assembly, that the people might make their own laws; and in 1683 they obtained a charter for themselves, much like those of the colonies farther east. When the duke became king, under the name of James II., he tried to take away this charter, but never succeeded. New York remained an English province, and lost some of its Dutch peculiarities: but some of these traits lingered for a good many years; and Dutch was long the prevailing language. There were still Dutch schools, where English was taught only as an accomplishment; but there was no college till King's College (now Columbia) was founded, in Many peo- 1754. After the English had taken possession, a great New York. many immigrants came to New York, though not so mary as to Philadelphia; and these new-comers represented many different nations. Indeed, Holland itself had long been the abode of men from a great many nations, both because of its commercial prosperity, and from its offering an asylum to those persecuted for their religion. So there was an unusual variety of people in New Amsterdam from the first; and it is said that eighteen languages were already spoken there when it was transferred to the English. Thus New York seemed marked out, from the very beginning, for a cosmopolitan city, for the home of people from all parts of the globe.

ple come to

NEW JERSEY.

tlers of

When the first Dutch settlers built their fort on Man- First sethattan Island, in 1614, they also built a redoubt on New what is now the New Jersey shore, opposite; and they Jersey. afterwards claimed the whole region as a part of New Netherlands. Danish settlers also came very early, and settlers came from the English and Swedish colonies; but this the Dutch did not approve so they first used the help of the Swedes in driving out the English, and then drove out the Swedes themselves, sending most of them back to Europe. When the English got possession of New Netherlands, in 1664, and the king gave it to his brother, the Duke of York, he in turn sold the southern part of it to two English noblemen, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The latter had been governor of the Island of Jersey in the British Channel; and so he chose that name for the colony. His wife The name. was named Elizabeth; and he named a village Elizabethtown, after her. His part was called East New Jersey, and Lord Berkeley's was West New Jersey; and the colony was commonly called "The Jerseys," for many years. The whole region was gradually pur- Subsechased by the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and was tory to the chiefly settled by them. Other persecuted people came time of the there also, especially Presbyterians from Scotland. They had perfect liberty of conscience; and their charter said, "No person shall at any time, in any way, or on any pretence, be called in question, or in the least punished and hurt, for opinion in religion." At last, in 1702, the colony was given up by the proprietors to Queen Anne, that a royal governor might be appointed.

quent his

revolution.

Princeton

College.

The two provinces were then made into one, though they had separate legislatures for a long time. Free schools were introduced; and the College of New Jersey, now Princeton College, was founded in 1746. The colony remained quiet and at peace, down to the time of the American Revolution. "In all its borders," said a traveller, "there is not a poor body, nor one that wants."

CHAPTER XII.

THE FRIENDS IN PENNSYLVANIA, AND THE
SWEDES IN DELAWARE.

PENNSYLVANIA.

PENNSYLVANIA

was founded in a different way from any of the other colonies, for it was entirely planned by one great and good man, who was the proprietor of

the soil where the col

ony
was established.
His name was William
Penn. He was a young
Englishman, highly
educated, and rich.
He had studied at Ox-
ford University, and
at a college in France;
but he was expelled
from Oxford for tak-
ing part in Quaker

William
Penn.

STATUE OF PENN IN PHILADELPHIA.

meetings and in some trouble that grew out of them;

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