Under the Stuarts.   I674-1688.           49
 

CHAPTEE V.

NEW YORK UNDER THE STUARTS. 1674-1688.

Andros was a man of ability and energy, anxious to
serve his master the duke, and also anxious to serve
the duke's colony, in so far as its interests did not clash
with those of the duke himself. He was of course
a devoted adherent of the House of Stuart, an ardent
royalist, and a believer in the divine right of kings,
and in government by a limited ruling class, not
by the great mass of the people governed. Yet, in spite
of his imperious and fiery temper, he strove on the
whole to do justice to the city of mixed nationalities
over whose destinies he for the time being presided, and
it throve well under his care. But though he tried to
rule fairly, he made it distinctly understood that he,
acting in the name of his over-lord the duke, was the
real and supreme master. The city did not govern
itself; for he appointed the mayor, aldermen, and other
officers. Even some of his decrees which worked well
for the city showed the arbitrary character of his rule,
and illustrated the vicious system of monopolies and
class and sectional legislation which then obtained.
Thus he bestowed on New York the sole right to bolt
and export flour. This trebled her wealth during the
sixteen years that elapsed before it was repealed, but
it of course caused great hardship to the inland towns.

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