Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/80

 48 Union of New Jersey. [1685-1702 invigorate the colony by bringing into it a number of Scottish refugees, who had fled from Scotland to avoid being coerced into Episcopacy, and by so assimilating the two provinces into which New Jersey was divided, as to prepare the way for their future union. In 1685 the Proprietors of the eastern province excited the just displeasure of Dongan by an unscrupulous attempt to annex Staten Island, to which the Duke had an indisputable claim. It was probably owing to this event and to advice given by Dongan, that the Duke in- cluded New Jersey in the consolidated province which was placed under the shortlived administration of Andros. His dealings with the refractory New Englanders left him no time for meddling in the affairs of New Jersey; and in that colony the Revolution seems to have aroused no political disturbance. In 1692 an important step was taken towards the union of the two provinces. The two separate bodies of Proprietors appointed the same governor, Andrew Hamilton, a man who more than almost any colonial official of the day was convinced of the need for more complete inter- colonial union. But the colony of New Jersey did not attain unity till it had passed through several troubled years. There were disputes as to the right of the government of New York to levy duties within the limits of New Jersey. Repeated transfers of proprietorship had invested the whole question of proprietary rights with elements of confusion and difficulty. To the settlers the political rights of the Proprietors were a standing menace, threatening interference with that system of self- government which had, as it were spontaneously, established itself. To the Proprietors these rights were valueless, and worse than valueless. To men like Penn and some of his associates, social philosophers and political enthusiasts, the task of creating a new community might be attractive. But Penn had found a sphere for his activity elsewhere. The day for attempting such work in New Jersey was past, and the only result that the Proprietors were likely to bring about by asserting their political rights would be the forfeiture of those territorial claims which to most of them were of far more value. The way out of the strait was obvious, and the Proprietors adopted it. In 1702 they surrendered their rights of sovereignty to the Crown; and the whole territory from the Hudson to the Delaware became a single province, though practically consisting of two distinct sections, separated by an unreclaimed and almost un- penetrated wilderness. As in the case of New York, the colony did not receive a charter. The constitution rested on usage and on the instructions given to successive governors. The existing system of government by a council and assembly remained unaltered. The weak rule of the Proprie- tors had, however, left behind elements of faction and almost of anarchy ; and the choice of a governor by the Crown led to no improvement in these conditions. The appointment, together with the governorship of N T ew York, was given to the Queen's cousin, Lord Cornbury, a brainless