All went well till 1670, when the demand for quit-rent would commence. The first settlers claimed exemption on the plea of having purchased their lands prior to the Duke of York’s grant, from the natives, whose right to the soil was stronger than that of any English monarch whatever. So urged the earlier settlers, and many of the later ones set up the same plea, and the payment of quit-rent was refused. Disorder and disaffection prevailed, and that to so great an extent that, in 1672, Philip Carteret was deposed, and James Carteret, a frivolous young man, the natural son of the proprietary, was elected in his place. Opposition was vain. Governor Carteret hastened to London, leaving John Berry as his deputy. The proprietaries determined to bring the colony to order, remodelled their “concessions,” and abridged the power of the people. The Duke of York expressed his dissatisfaction, and the king fixed a time within which the quit-rent should be paid. But other changes were at hand, which now for the moment turn our attention again to New York. The settlers of New Netherlands had very willingly placed themselves under British rule, in the hope of advantages which would thence accrue, but the new government conceded very little to the province. The governor, and the council of his own appointment, were possessed of the executive and higher judicial power; of popular rights there were none. Once only an assembly was held at Hempstead, on Long Island; but the governor, finding that “factious republicans” abounded, held no second. In 1667, Nichols retired from office, and was succeeded as governor by Lord Lovelace. If Nichols’ administration had been unsatisfactory, that of his successor was still more so. The very Swedes and Finns, said to be the most patient of all emigrants, were roused to resistance. Lord Lovelace’s system of government may be comprised in his own words: “the method for keeping the people in order is severity, and laying on such taxes as may give them liberty for no thought but how to discharge them.” An arbitrary tax was therefore imposed of ten per cent. on all exports and imports. This roused the colony, which, by its now eight established towns, protested against the imposition of taxes by the governor and council, they themselves having no voice whatever in the matter; but their protest was called “scandalous, illegal, and seditious,” and ordered to be burnt by the common hangman before the town-house of New York.