Even in the formative period of the Revolution, before passions had been stirred by experience and example, and before actual emergency impelled men to put aside caution, it was distinctly apparent that the Tory party was the weaker, both numerically and in point of leadership; and at a very early period of the war, notwithstanding the loss of New York Citv to the American army and the retreat of

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

Washington into New Jersey, Toryism became an unwholesome thing throughout much the larger part of Westchester County. The influence of the Tory landlords, even upon their own tenantry, was, indeed, a constantly diminishing factor, while that of the patriotic leaders steadily grew. This could not have been the case if the weight of sentiment among the principal families of the county had not been genuinely on the side of American freedom.

CHAPTEE GENERAL

HISTORICAL

CENTURY

REVIEW

COMPLETION

TO THE

OF THE

BEGINNING

WORK

OF ORIGINAL

EIGHTEENTH

SETTLEMENT

N tracing to the beginning of the eighteenth century the history of the great land purchases and manor erections, only incidental allusion has been made to the general history of the times during the first few decades which followed the surrender of New Netherland by the Dutch, and to the coincident progress of such settlements as were not directly associated with the manorial estates. After briefly summarizing the general history of the province and the county during that period, we shall complete the account of original local settlement. The narrative as a whole will then proceed more uniformly and rapidly. Eichard Nicolls, the first of the English governors, continued in office until 1G68, when he was succeeded by Francis Lovelace. During Mcolls's administration, the old Dutch land patents throughout the province were reissued, being altered only so as to provide for allegiance to the Duke of York and the government of England, instead of the Dutch West India Company and the government of the United Netherlands; the boundary line between New York and Connecticut was provisionally established, although upon a basis soon to be totally repudiated; and the code known as "the Duke's Laws," for the general government of the province, was adopted.