Letter Signed by Both of the Founders and Lord Proprietors of New Jersey, George Carteret and John Berkeley

The letter, signed by most of the King’s Privy Council as well, instructed the militia to guard the seacoast of England from attack during the Second Anglo-Dutch War

In the mid-17th century, the English and Dutch were the two great mercantile and maritime powers, and they both had colonies overseas. Each was seeking more colonies, and each was hoping to dominate trade (or at least keep the other from doing so).  Their rivalry reached the boiling point with a war that lasted from 1652-1654. The Dutch were audacious and went right into the English Channel, achieving a victory there. The English had some successes as well, and the war ended without anything really being resolved. The second Anglo-Dutch War was provoked by the English in 1664, as they calculated that economic primacy could now be seized from the Dutch. The war contained quite a few great English victories, such as James II’s taking of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands (present day New York and New Jersey) in the first year. But in a great naval battle off the coast of England in June 1666, the Dutch won a significant victory. After that, England was in a war fever, knowing that the Dutch fleet could show up anywhere. Lookouts were posted everywhere along the sea coasts, all searching for a sign of the Dutch.

Shortly after its taking, King Charles II gave his brother the Duke of York those lands that had been part of New Netherlands. The fidelity with which Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, First Baron Berkeley, had clung to the royalist cause during the English Civil War, gave them great influence at the court, and with the Duke of York particularly. Moreover, Carteret was close to the powerful Lord Clarendon, father-in-law of York, and to the Earl of Sandwich, whose daughter married Carteret’s eldest son. Carteret had, at an early date, taken a warm interest in the colonization of America, so York gave Berkeley and Carteret a tract of land to the east of the Delaware River, and extending to the Hudson and the Atlantic. The document granted: ”All of which said tract of land and premises were by indenture…bargain’d and sold by the said James Duke of York, unto the said John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret… to have and to hold all and singular the said tract of land and premises; with their, and every of their appurtenances, and every part and parcel thereof, unto the said John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, their heirs and assigns for ever…Which said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name or names of…New Jersey…”

In 1665, the Proprietors Berkeley and Carteret issued the Concession and Agreement, a document setting up the structure for the government of New Jersey and providing freedom of religion there. They also attempted to attract more settlers to move to the colony by granting sections of land. They named will forever be synonymous with New Jersey.

The Lord Lieutenant is the British monarch’s personal representative in each county of the United Kingdom. Historically the Lord Lieutenant was responsible for organizing the county’s militia, and such was the case in the 17th century. Horatio Townshend, 1st Baron and Viscount Townshend held this post in Norfolk between 1661 and 1676, and in 1666 he had a coastline to protect.

Letter signed from the King’s Privy Councillors, London, July 11, 1666, to Townsend as Lord Lieutenant, giving instructions to watch the sea coasts in his county, lest the Dutch arrive. “After our very hearty commendations to your Lordship, His Majesty having given orders for ye raising of several troops of horse for the defense and security of this Kingdom against any attempts that may be made thereupon by His Majesty’s enemies, and taking into his primary consideration the great loss and charge it will be to his subjects within ye County of Norfolk, if the militia there should be kept upon duty during this time of harvest, hath of his tender care for their relief and ease directed some of the said troops to be sent into that County for guarding the sea coasts there, which we are by His Majesty’s command to signify unto you. And we do hereby pray and require your Lordship that you give immediate orders [to] all ye militia of ye said County (except the company that lies at Yarmouth), taking account how many days they have been upon duty and transmitting ye same signed by your Lordship unto us, and giving them in charge to restore ye remainder of the month’s pay they brought with them to the respective owner’s thereof. And also strict orders to be ready at a day’s warning at such place as you shall appoint for their rendezvous in case of any sudden or descent of ye enemy upon that coast. In all which, nothing doubting of your Lordship’s care, we bid your Lordship very heartily farewell. From the Court at Whitehall…Your Lordship’s very loving friends.” The letter is signed by many of the King’s Privy Councillors, including chief minister Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (whose daughter was married to the Duke of York, later King James II); Edward Montague, Lord Manchester; Thomas, 4th Earl of Southampton, Denzil Lord Holles, who took a leading part in the Restoration; royalist Sir Charles Berkeley, Lord Fitzharding; Gilbert Sheldon, the Archbishop of Canterbury; Secretary of State William Morrice; and three others. In addition to these, the document is signed by both Carteret and Berkeley. This is the only document we have ever seen reach the market with the signatures of both of New Jersey’s founders.

The English were right to worry about the daring of the Dutch. In 1667 the Dutch bombarded and then captured the town of Sheerness, sailed right up the River Thames, and then up to Chatham, where they burned 13 English ships at port in their own docks, and towed away the Royal Charles, flagship of the English fleet. That raid led to a quick end to the second war and a favorable peace for the Dutch, who nonetheless gave up claim on their former colonies in America.