On the 27th of August, 1664, the Dutch Colony of New Netherland was surrendered to an English force under Col. Richard Nicolls. The King, Charles II., had already granted it, by patent dated 12 March, 1664, to his brother, the Duke of York. After it had been held by the English for over nine years, the Dutch had recaptured it, August 9, 1673; but under the terms of the treaty of peace, it was restored to its English owners. In a letter dated 7/17 July, 1674, the Dutch embassadors wrote that they had complied with the orders from the States-General to notify the King that the Province would be delivered to his agent; that Edmund Andros had been designated as the person, and was to sail before the end of the week. (N.Y. Col. Doc. ii. 733.) The Colony at that time was estimated to contain between six and seven thousand white inhabitants, to which number were to be added the English settlers on Long Island. Andros's commission, which was dated July 1, 1674, made him "Lieutenant and Governor" over that part of Maine which was styled Pemaquid, Long Island, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and the territory from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. This latter territory comprised not only the State of New York, but Delaware, New Jersey and a large portion of Connecticut; the claim of the Duke of York to which domains was by no means undisputed. Andros was at the same time commissioned as captain of a regiment of foot, raised by the Duke of York for service in the Colony, and received the necessary money for the expenses attendant upon establishing the new government. He was accused by some of the Dutch colonists of having exacted a new and unlawful oath of allegiance from them, but this difficulty seems to have speedily subsided. His instructions had been explicit that he should not disturb those colonists who desired to remain in good faith, and we see no reason to doubt that Andros fulfilled his orders. He has left an account of his administration for the first three years (N.Y. Col. Doc. iii. 254-7) from which we take the principal items.