Page:WALL STREET IN HISTORY.djvu/19

 Rh by proclamation, February 2, 1653, the governor of the province naming its first officers, and defining their exceptionally limited authority.

The inconspicuous event was duly chronicled; and the new City Fathers at once assumed an air of importance strictly in keeping with the customs of Holland, and the spirit of the age.



When Sunday morning came they met at the City Hall and marched in solemn and dignified procession to the church in the fort, preceded by the bell-ringer carrying their cushions of state—which he deposited with much ceremony in the pew set apart for their occupancy.

At the very moment when New York thus made its debut in the annals of the world, England seemed rapidly drifting into a condition of anarchy. The army had provoked the ire of Parliament; and excuses were industriously sought to overthrow the dangerous power of Cromwell.