HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
 

CHAPTER   XVII.
 

GOVERNOIl THOMAS DONGAN.

G-OVERNOR Thomas Dongan.—Mayor William Beekman.—William Penn in New
York. — The first New York Assembly. — Laws enacted by the Assembly. —
The New York Courts. — The Acts or the Assembly. — New York contented

AND PBOSPEKOUS. — DOMINIE SeLYNS's PARSONAGE. — THE IrOQUOIS A WaLL OF DE¬
FENSE. — A Brush with Connecticut. — Plot to assassinate Charles II. and the
Duke of York. — Confusion in Exglaxd. —Arguments in the Peivt Council. —
Arbitrary Measures. ■—The City Charter. — The Sabbath Question in 168i.—
Hotels and their Guests. — Funeral Customs. — Powder Magazine. — Lord Ef¬
fingham in New York. —The Great Indian Conference. — The Auspicious New
Year. —The Sudden Revulsion. —The Death op Charles II. —Scenes and Inci¬
dents. — James II. proclaimed King of England. —The kew King's Promises. —
The Gradual Grasp of Power.—Inconsistencies of James II.— Effect upon
New York. —Juries in 1685. —Mason and Dixon's Line. —William Penn's In¬
fluence at Court. — The Dongan Charter. — New City Seal. — The Albany
Charter. —The Livingston Manor. — Philip Livingston.

r^ OVEENOE THOMAS DONG-AN was about fifty years of age, and
\CX ^ bachelor. He had broad intelUgent views on all subjects of
general interest. He was, moreover, an accompUshed poUtician. Perhaps
we do not often enough reflect how effectively the spirit of one
man, or of a few men, may decide the destiny of a state. Cool
tempers and wise heads possess great power to give direction to the com¬
mon mind. This was a remarkable period. New York was passing
through a crisis. Dongan was essentially a man for the times^ He was
a ready taUcer, bland and deferential to his associates, ^.nd fitted to in-
spire confidence in aU around him. He has been^justly classed " among
the~bes'f of our colonial governors." ^

One clause in his instructions provided for the appointment of Fred¬
erick PhiUpse and Stephanus Van Cortlandt as members of his councU.
It also required him to summon other eminent men, to the number of

^ Some years after. Governor Dongan succeeded to the Earldom of Limerick. At his death,
his estates in America were settled upon three nephews, John, Thomas, and Walter Dongan,
from whom those of the name in New York have descended.