Richard Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace, who had already acted for three years as deputy governor of Long Island. He had before him as governor of New York a far harder task. He followed a man of wonderful power, and it was now his duty to carry on Nicolls' policy and bring the preponderant Dutch population surely but quietly under the but recently established British authority. To accomplish this he adopted a paternal rule; he granted toleration to all religions; he attempted to gain the goodwill of the Indians by purchasing their lands and refraining from any action which might be regarded as aggressive. At the same time he helped the colony very considerably by opening up intercourse between New York and Massachusetts, and by the establishment of a regular post between the two capitals. On the other hand, however, Lovelace was not really suited to his post. He was a courtier of the conventional type, and regarded his stay in New York as a form of exile. He speaks of being in "Egyptian darkness," and asks in one of his letters what is stirring on the stage in "Brittang." In writing to Sir Joseph Williamson he tries to arouse his sympathy and says, "we had as well crossed Lethal as the Athlantiq Ocean." The news from home came to him far too seldom, for the conveyance of letters was as slow "as the production of _ellephats_, once almost in two years."[177] Lovelace's rule soon became unpopular for he was determined to carry out his plan of paternal despotism and resisted very firmly every attempt to create popular representation, which was continually demanded. He angered the settlers by what they regarded a severe tax for defensive purposes, and he showed his contempt for the freeholders of Long Island by ordering their protest against his actions to be burnt. It was unfortunate that this man should have so alienated both Dutch and English alike, for his period of government coincided with a most critical epoch in the world's history. In 1670 Charles had allied with Louis XIV. against the Dutch, and one of the first acts of retaliation on the part of the authorities in Holland was to retake their colony of the New Netherlands. In July 1673 the Dutch Admiral Cornelius Eversen appeared off Fort James when Francis Lovelace was away at New Haven. The settlers, instead of resisting the Dutch, remembered their hatred of the Governor, and Captain Manning, second in command, having fired one gun, surrendered, an action which was called at the time "a shame and derision to their English nation as hath not been heard of."[178] Lovelace on his return found the Dutch flag flying over the settlement, and, having no supporters, fled to Long Island, where the English towns had refused to give way, not because of goodwill towards the Governor, but because of patriotism. Here Lovelace met with a scanty welcome and within a few days was arrested, ostensibly on account of a debt owing to