[J. Thomas Scharf (1886)] Long Island. Before 1666 his widow married Hugh O'Neal of Patuxent, Maryland, and in 1(571 she went to Maryland to live-Colendonck remained in her possession till 1667, as we shall show. But whether she carried out Van Dei Donck's building project at Spuyten Duyvil, or herself ever derived any income from the manor, cannot now be known. About this time the Dutch period closed. Charles II. of England, coming to the throne in 1(1(10, spon turned his thoughts to New Netherland, to which he regarded England as having a claim. In 1604 he patented the whole province to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, and in the same year he sent Colonel Richard Nicollsto New Amsterdam with a fleet to demand its surrender, with instruction, if this should be refused, to take it by force. The Dutch were not prepared for defense, and soon surrendered. Nine years later, in 1673, they retook the city. But in the next year a treaty between England and Hol-land gave it over conclusively to the former. So the period of Dutch rule virtually ended in 1664, and the English rule began, which continued really to the date of our Declaration of Independence, but nomi-nally even till September, 1783. At that date the treaty was signed at Versailles, in which England recognized American Independence, and from this event we strictly compute the beginning of our dis-tinct national life. Section III. Colonial and Revolutionary Period.