He spent them peacefully
and happily. Now that he was no longer a ruler he lost much of his
overbearing pride, and all that was kindly in his nature showed
itself. Many who had feared and hated him came to love and admire
him. Among others he made friends with the Englishman who had
ousted him, and many a jolly evening he and Nicolls spent together
cracking jokes and listening to each other's stories of the brave
days gone by.
Peter Stuyvesant died at the age of eighty, and was buried in what
is now St. Mark's Church, where a tablet on the wall marks the spot
where he lies.
New York was now a proprietary colony like Maryland, its overlord
being the Duke of York, and when in 1685 he became King of England
New York became a Crown Colony.
The Dutch rule had been autocratic, the people having little say in
the government. They had chafed against it and had hoped that the
change of ruler would bring a change of government, and that they
would be allowed freedom like the New England Colonies. But James
was not the sort of man to allow freedom to people when he could
prevent it. So the government of New York continued as autocratic
as before.
Meanwhile New York once more changed hands. In a time of peace the
British had calmly and without a shadow of right taken the colony
from the Dutch. Nine years later when the two countries were at
war the Dutch took it back again.
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