[34] "The government of the colony was at once put on the basis on which it stood until the outbreak of the Revolution. There was a governor appointed by the king, and a council likewise appointed; while the assembly was elected by the freeholders. The suffrage was thus limited by a strict property qualification. Liberty of conscience was granted to all Protestant sects, but not to Catholics; and the Church of England was practically made the state church, though the Dutch and French congregations were secured in the rights guaranteed them by treaty. It was, then, essentially a class or aristocratic government,--none the less so because to European eyes the little American colony seemed both poor and rude."--Theodore Roosevelt, _New York_, p. 71. [35] There are varying views of Kidd's character and career. Thus Berthold Fernow writes in the _Narrative and Critical History of America_ (vol. v. p. 195): "To-day that which was meted out to Kidd might hardly be called justice; for it seems questionable if he had ever been guilty of piracy." [36] The assessment rolls of the five Dutch towns in 1675 showed the following proportions in the number of persons assessed: Breuckelen, 60; Midwout, 54; Boswyck (Bushwick) 36; Amersfoort, 35; New Utrecht, 29. [37] The peculiar methods employed by the citizens of Brooklyn at that time in electing their officials cannot be better illustrated than by the presentation of a report of one of those town meetings as follows:-- Att a towne meeting held this 29th day of April, 1699, at Breucklyn, by order of Justice Michael Hanssen ffor to chose town officers ffor to order all townes business and to deffend theire limits and bounds, and to lay out some part thereoff in lotts, to make lawes and orders ffor the best off the inhabitants, and to raise a small tax ffor to defray the towne charges, now being or hereafter to come, to receive the townes revenues, and to pay the townes debts, and that with the advice off the justices off the said towne standing the space or time off two years. Chosen ffor that purpose by pluralitie of votes. Benjamin Vande Water, Joras Hanssen, Jan Garritse Dorlant. By order off inhabitants aforesaid, J. VANDE WATER, _Clarke_. [38] Furman's _Notes_, p. 45. [39] The total assessment value of real and personal estate in Brooklyn in 1706 was £3,122 12d, or about $15,610, and the tax on the same was £41 3s 7-1/2d, or about $205. The tax levied in the County of Kings was £201 16s 1-1/2d, or about $1,005.