All inferior civil officers and magistrates shall continue as now they are (if they please) till the customary time of new elections, and then new ones to be chosen by themselves, provided that such new chosen magistrates shall take the oath of allegiance to his majesty of England before they enter upon their office.

"XXI. That the town of Manhattans shall choose Deputyes, and those Deputyes shall have free voyces in all publique affaires as much as any other Deputyes."

Ry the third, eighth, eleventh, and twelfth, all Dutch grants of land under the former laws and ordinances, of the Province, and under the Roman- Dutch law, were acknowledged as valid, and the possession of them confirmed to their owners, as well as their former power of disposing of them by will, and all legal incidents thereto appertaining. This settled thequestion ofthe holdingof the lands by theirowners, at once, and proved that there would be no confiscation, or other interference with them, and no imposing of any English law of inheritance.

The sixteenth article confirmed and continued in their offices all the civil magistrates and officers of every grade in the country, from the highest to the lowest, and provided for the election of their successors, under the existing Dutch laws, conditioned only that the new officers, .should take the oath of allegiance to their new English King. No such oath was wisely demanded ofthe old ones, and the administration of justice, not only in regard to lands, but in all its forms, went on precisely as if no change of government had taken place.