HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 153

that they prepared and presented an address to his royal highness, abounding with expressions of loyalty and esteem. The people whom they represented, however, were far from being perfectly satisfied with some of the laws which had been adopted, and deemed the address of their deputies as too servile in its tone. So open and severe was the censure cast upon their action, that Government felt called upon to interfere; and, at a court of assize held in Fort James, October, 1666, it was decreed, “that whoever thereafter should in any way detract or speak against the deputies signing the address to his royal highness, at the next general meeting at Hempstead, should be presented to the next court of sessions, and, if the justices see cause, they should then be bound over to the assizes, to answer for the slander, upon plaint or information.”

At this Convention of 1665, Long Island and Staten Island were duly erected into a shire, called, in honor of the Duke of York, Yorkshire, which was further subdivided into separate districts, denominated Ridings;—the towns now included in Suffolk County constituting the East Riding; Kings County, Newtown, and Staten Island, the West Riding; and the remainder of Queens County, the North Riding.

Nicolls retained the government of the province until 1668, and was then succeeded by Governor Francis Lovelace.

During their terms of office, Long Island, as well as the rest of the province, enjoyed a high degree of tranquillity and prosperity, and the records of that day contain little or nothing of interest concerning the town of Breuckelen.

In September, 1665, Governor Nicolls commanded the Constable and Overseers of Breuckelen to make proper provision for the horses of such persons as might come to Breuckelen and the Ferry to attend the assizes.1

In1666, the town was directed to pay over the grain, collected for its rate, to Captain Delavall, in the city.2

February 7, 1666, the town of Jamaica having purchased3 from Indians a tract of land. called Seller's Neck, lying southwest of Jamaica, had allowed the town of Breuckelen to have one-third of

1 Council Minutes, ii. 14. 2 Ibid., 110. 3 See Annals of Newtown, p. 68.