s down the Beaver Lane to the
water-side, whence they were embarked for Holland. An English
corporal's guard at the same time took possession of the fort; and
Nicolls and Carr, with their two companies, about a hundred seventy
strong, entered the city, while Cartwright took possession of the
gates and the Stadt-Huys. The New England and Long Island volunteers,
however, were prudently kept at the Breuckelen ferry, as the citizens
dreaded most being plundered by them. The English flag was hoisted on
Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was immediately changed to "Fort
James." Nicolls was now proclaimed by the burgomasters deputy-governor
for the Duke of York, in compliment to whom he directed that the city
of New Amsterdam should thenceforth be known as "New York."

To Nicolls' European eye the Dutch metropolis, with its earthen fort,
enclosing a windmill and high flag-staff, a prison and a governor's
house, and a double-roofed church, above which loomed a square tower,
its gallows and whipping-post at the river's side, and its rows of
houses which hugged the citadel, presented but a mean appearance. Yet
before long he described it to the Duke as "the best of all his
majesty's towns in America," and assured his royal highness that, with
proper management, "within five years the staple of America will be
drawn hither, of which the brethren of Boston are very sensible."...

The reduction of New Netherlands was now accomplished. All that could
be further done was to change its name; and, to glorify one of the
most bigoted princes in English history, the royal province was
ordered to be called "New York." Ignorant of James' grant of New
Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret, Nicolls gave to the region west of
the Hudson the name of "Albania," and to Long Island that of
"Yorkshire," so as to comprehend all the titles of the Duke of York.
The flag of England was at length triumphantly displayed, where, for
half a century, that of Holland had rightfuly waved; and from Virginia
to Canada, the King of Great Britain was acknowledged as sovereign.

Viewed in all its aspects, the event which gave to the whole of that
country a unity in allegiance, and to which a misgoverned people
complacently submitted, was as inevitable as it was momentous. But
whatever may have been its ultimate consequences, this treacherous and
violent seizure of the territory and possessions of an unsuspecting
ally was no less a breach of private justice than of publi