The government of New York was no sinecure. It was probably the most cosmopolitan town in North America, and though perhaps it is an exaggeration, it has been asserted that eighteen languages could be heard in the streets of the late Dutch capital. Before its capture it had become more Anglicised, as Stuyvesant had not feared but favoured the English. The first thing done by Nicolls was to put the town in a state of defence so as to resist any attempt on the part of the Dutch to regain possession, which was essayed by De Ruyter in 1665, but without success. A far more oppressive burden to a man who really had his heart in his work was the difficulty of obtaining supplies for the soldiers. The English Governor wrote a most pathetic appeal to the Duke of York, telling him how he was paying what he could out of his own pocket, but that the people were starving. He describes how the inhabitants of Long Island were in terrible poverty, and how New York was in "a mean condition ... not one soldier has lain in a pair of sheets or on any bed but canvas and straw" since the capture of the town. He said very pluckily that he did not mind the ruin of his own fortune, but that he could not bear the loss of his reputation; and then, probably to gain his way, he concluded with a delightful sentence of praise that ought to have won the Duke's heart, and which Nicolls no doubt intended that it should. The colony, he writes, exhibited general joy and thanksgiving for the signal victory of the Duke over the Dutch off Lowestoft in June, and for the preservation of His Royal Highness's person, "the very news whereof has revived their spirits and is antidote both against hunger and cold."[175] Meantime representatives from the English-speaking towns met in February 1665 on Long Island; here, acting in accordance with the wishes of the Governor, a scheme of administration was drawn up; a code of laws was promulgated, and no attempt was made to interfere with the Dutch language. Every town was granted powers of assessment, and the right of choosing a church was given to the freemen who were to declare its denomination. In the cases of the two main Dutch towns of New York and Albany, Nicolls was careful not to arouse ill-feeling, and he allowed them to keep their own mayors. When the first governor retired in 1668, a tribute to his excellent work was paid him by his fellow commissioner Maverick; "he has done his Majesty very considerable service in these parts," he says, "having kept persons of different judgments and divers nations in peace, when a great part of the world was in wars: and as to the Indians, they were never brought into such a peaceable posture and fair correspondence as by his means they now are."[176]