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694 A. E. McKinley Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, " and all the land from the west side of Connecticutt to the east side of Delaware Bay." By this grant the King not only disregarded the rights of the friendly nation of the Dutch, but he also ignored the charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and previous grants to individuals in Maine and on Long Island. No provision was made, either, for the recognition of the property rights of Englishmen or Dutchmen already settled upon the territory ; and in political matters the Duke was to be absolute ruler, unrestrained by any popular participation in government : "We do grant unto our dearest brother James, his heires deputyes agents commissioners and assignes by these presents full and absolute power and authority to correct punish pardon governe and rule all such the subjects of us . . . that shall or doe at any time hereafter inhabite within the same according to such lawes orders ordinances direccons and instruments as by our said dearest brother or his assignes shall be estab- lished . . . soe alwayes as the said statutes be not contrary to but as neare as conveniently may be agreeable to the lawes statutes and govern- ment of this our realme of England . . ." The Duke had the further right to confine the privilege of trade with his lands to such persons as he might direct. This charter, the most despotic ever granted for the government of an English colony on the American continent, harmonized well with the political theories and later practice of the Duke of York. There was no pro- tection for the property or trade of the existing settlers ; their land- titles were not secure ; their religious establishments received no guarantee, and no consideration whatever was given to them in polit- ical affairs. The arrival of an English fleet in New York harbor, and the capitulation of New Amsterdam on September 6, 1664, were the first steps in the assumption of control by the English. The actual fact of conquest was obtained through the military superiority of the English, and, as in all conquests, it took some time for the physical superiority of the conquerors to be established in legal forms ; the military power was not immediately translated into civil terms. In the settlements on the Hudson and Delaware rivers several years elapsed before the ultimate governing powers were taken from the hands of the military officers and placed in the care of civil officials ; and in the meanwhile, it is interesting to note the progressive limitations which were placed, voluntarily or involuntarily, upon the arbitrary actions of the Duke of York or of his officials. Naturally the first of these checks is to be found in the terms of the capitulation of the Dutch, of which there were three sets of ar- ticles, drawn up respectively for New Amsterdam,' for the upper ' Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, II. 250-253. Quoted hereafter as N. V. Col. Doc.