USA > New Jersey > A civil and political history of New Jersey: embracing a compendious history of the state, from its early discover and settlement by Europeans, brought down to the present time > Part 3
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The conditions of the patent may be considered as they related to the company, and as they affected the settlers generally. In the former respect, the grant was sufficiently favorable, in view of the objects pursued. There is reason to believe that the com- panies did not contemplate the establishment of independent and prosperous communities, so much as their own particular ad- rantage; they sought to secure for themselves, the real or imagined treasures of the new world.
Some of the provisions in relation to the settlers were such as to do honor to the royal grantor, but they were rendered of little effect from their incongruity with others. Lands were granted upon the freest tenure. All the rights and franchises of English subjects were also fully conceded, a grant however which it was scarcely necessary to make.
The liberties and franchises of Englishmen were not to be given
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or withheld at the pleasure of the king; they were secured to every one by the laws of the realm, and the claim to them was neither lessened or lost, in the remotest parts of the kingdom. In conferring them, the king did but give, what the subject had a right to enjoy, either with, or without his grant. Yet, notwith- standing this, and notwithstanding the royal concession itself, the patent, in some of its provisions, was a virtual denial of the rights and immunities of Englishmen. It established a rule in which the people had no participation, either direct or remote. The whole government was in the hands of bodies appointed by the king, and holding and using their authority at his discretion; the royal element in the English government would therefore exist in the province to the exclusion of all the others. This indeed might amount to little more than a negative evil so long as the action of government was properly bounded; so long as it continued within the limits which marked out the sphere of royal authority. But these limits were not observed. New powers were assumed, and hence the colonists were reduced to absolute dependence upon the clemency or discretion of the king, except in a few particulars.
But these objections to the charter granted at this time, were but little regarded, and it was under the authority of this instru- ment that the first permanent settlement within the limits of the British possessions was made.
: This enterprize was carried on by the South Virginia, or London Company. Three ships were sent out under the com- mand of Christopher Newport, carrying a body of emigrants, one hundred in number. The expedition arrived in the bay of Chesapeake on the 26th of April, 1607.
Presently after landing, a situation for a settlement was sought out, and the place selected was called Jamestown, in honor of the king. The colony here planted was the first to take firm root in the country. The history of its early struggles cannot here be pursued, but it would be unjust to pass on without some notice of one individual. John Smith, one of the members of the Colonial Council, was a man who from nature and from previous habits, seemed to be fitted for the time, and the place. He had great
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· energy and determination, and was accustomed to strennous effort. He shrunk from no trial or, danger, and amidst the difficulties and · perils of this period- hore up the spirits of the people, and more . than once preserved the colony from ruin. His prudence too, was equal to his vigor; whilst he boldly explored the country and kept the savages in a'we, he directed the interests of the settlers, urging them to cultivate- the lands, and to rely upon their own labor as the only sure means of success. He may be regarded as the true founder of this settlement, and indeed, as a chief leader of colonization in the new world. .
After a trial of three years, the South Virginia Company be- came dissatisfied with the state of the colony, and upon application to the king, they received on the 23d of May, 1609, a new charter containing a grant of additional priviledges and powers .. The, company was made "ono body or commonalty perpetual," and was incorporated under the name of " The Treasurer and Com- pany of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London, for the first colony of Virginia." To this body an absolute title was given to the territory extending from Point Comfort, two hundred miles to the north, and the same distance to the south, and reach- ing westwardly from sea to sea,
This grant differed from the former one in several particulars. The whole of the lands included within the limits just mentioned, were given absolutely to the company as property; before, a small portion only was thus granted. The limits also were enlarged in some directions, but were reduced toward the north ; two hundred miles from Point Comfort northwardly, would only reach to the fortieth degree of latitude, whereas the former grant extended to the forty-first degree.
The territory between the fortieth and forty-first degrees, in which more than one half of the State of New Jersey was included, fell from the time of this grant, under the sole author- ity of the Northern Virginia, or Plymouth Company. Before this, both the Virginia companies had a claim within this extent. Hence, from the time of the, second grant to the South- ern Company, the country which is here to be particularly noticed, belonged, in part to one company, and in part to the
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other, the fortieth degrees of latitude being the line of division be- tween them.9
Such was the situation of affairs when a new company of explorers made their appearance, as will be noticed in the ensuing chapter. &
'The extensive grant that had been made to the Northern Company was re- duced by the positive limitation of the second patent to the Southern one, and thus by a loss and gain between the two bodies, the limit came to be fixed as is here mentioned.
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CHAPTER III.
THE DUTCH CLAIM.
Ix the year 1609, Henry Hudson, a native of England, visited the American Continent with a view to the discovery of a north- west passage to the Indies. The discovery of a continent of almost measureless extent, and teeming with all the elements of wealth, had not lessened the desire of the people of Europe to reach and to share the riches of "the gorgeous East." To find a more direct passage to that region, was an object which continued to claim the attention and to excite the efforts of governments and of corporate bodies, as well as of private adventurers. Hudson had already been repeatedly engaged in these attempts. On his pre- sent voyage, he proceeded closely beside the American coast, and examined the appearance and direction of some of the principal streams. On the 28th of August he entered "a great Bay," the same to which the name Delaware was afterwards given.1 But he did not explore the stream to any extent, finding it to promise but little in reference to the special object he had in view, and after a brief survey, he proceeded onward in a northwardly direction. On the 12th of September he entered a bay farther north, the Bay of New York, and discovered the river which still bears his name. After exploring this stream and holding some intercourse with the natives upon its shores, the commander descended and immediately put to sea, and procceded to Europe.2
. The next year after the voyage of Hudson, Lord Delaware touched at this bay on his passage to Virginia. It is probable that either he or some of his com- Many gave his name to the bay at that time, for about two years afterwards, in May, 1612, it was mentioned by the name of Delaware Bay, in a letter written by Captain Argal, from Virginia. The letter is given in Purchas.
It is to be observed that Hudson proceeded at first. from north to south, he Afterwards changed his course and ran in an opposite direction. In the first part of his voyage-he made the land first in the latitude of fourty-four degrees, fifteen 5
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
Very different statements are given by writers as to the par- ticular circumstances connected with this voyage. It is asserted by some that Hudson had been sent out with an English com- mission, but that he afterwards sold the country he had explored, together with all his maps and charts, to a foreign people, the Dutch. Others declare that he had been employed by the Dutch, at first.
The question arising from these statements is not without im- portance. If Hudson had sailed with a commission from his own government, and was acting as an English subject, the benefit of his services must have accrued to his own sovereign. Under these circumstances, no sale to another people, had it been made, would have been of the slightest force; it would only have been a transfer of that to which the vender had no right, and having none himself, none could have been conveyed to others.
But in fact, though, IIudson had formerly been employed by a company of merchants in London, and had made two voyages of discovery on their behalf, he was not, at this time, in the English service. He had left his own country and entered into an engage- ment with a commercial company that had been formed in Hol- land, called the East India Company, and it was during his engage- ment with that body that the voyage now under notice was made.
But another difficulty has here been started. Hudson, as already stated, was a native of England, and it has been con- tended by some, that he could not transfer his allegiance as a subject so far as to give an important claim, to a foreign people. But this objection is not well founded ; it is opposed to the uniform usages of nations. According to these usages, when a discovery has been made under authority from any people or prince, the whole benefit has been claimed by the principal, without the least regard to the nativity, or the previous obligations, of the agent employed. Columbus was not a native of Spain; Cabot was not
minutes, and there went on shore. The next land he discovered was Cape Cod, which he supposed to be an island, and called it New Holland. After that he reached " Dry Cape," or Cape Charles, not far from which the English had settled three years before. On his return he examined Delaware Bay, afterwards the Bay of New York, and Hudson River.
1760761
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
an Englishman, and Verrazano did not belong by birth to France. Yet the claims of these nations have never been disputed on that ground, and there is nothing in the present case to exclude it from the operation of the general rule.3
But, whilst it is allowed that the benefit accrueing from the voyage of Hudson belongs to the Dutch alone, an important question is still to be determined. The claim such as it is, must be conceded, yet this concession is of no weight in relation to the value of the claim itself.
It may be that Hudson was the first to enter the Bay of Dela- ware, and to ascend the North River, it may be that the people with him were the first Europeans that ever set foot upon the shores of New Jersey, or New York, but this is by no means sufficient to determine the question of right to the territory.4
.The only peculiarity in the present ease is this, Hudson was not acting under the authority of government, but under the direction of a commercial company. Yet this company had been established upon a grant from its own government, and except so far as exclusive priviledges had been given to this body, the claim that was acquired must be considered as a national one.
. There is reason to believe that Hudson was not really the first to visit the country within the limits of New York. These (speaking of the French with Verrazano) were probably the first European feet that ever trod upon any part of the territory now included within the State of York .- Miller's Discourse.
The first house erected and the first soil cultivated by any Europeans within the limits of New York, and indeed the first particular examination of any part of New England, were by Bartholomew Gosnold, one year before the death of Quren Lizabeth, one hundred and ninety-five years afterwards, in 1797, Dr. Re:Lnap discovered the cellar of the house that had been built by Gosnold on one of the E. izabeth Islands, and some vestiges of it were found by a party of gentle- men who recently visited the spot .- Yates and Moulton.
In reference to the South River and the country upon it, it has also been said, " That there was of very early and ancient times, the beginning whereof is not known, a settlement and plantation on the Delaware, made, planted, and in- babited by the Swedish nation and afterwards held and inhabited in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, and for many years afterwards by christians under the dominion of the States General of Holland."-Bill in Chancery by the Penns, against Lord Baltimore, 1735.
It is also said that this place was visited before the advent of Hudson, by Sir Walter Raleigh. The Baron De la War, Sir Thomas Dale, and Sir Samuel Arga !. But most of these statements are erroneous, and others are merely con- jectural. It is not known that the country up in the Delaware, had ever been visited by Europeans before the coming of Hudson; but it is thought probable that Verrazano had touched upon the northern part of the shore of New Jersey.
جنهـ
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
The territory in question formed but a part of the country originally discovered and claimed by Cabot on behalf of the British crown. No country can be twice discovered, unless history should fail; the annals of an age or a people may perish, and thus the particulars that mark the nature of a claim, and even the claim itself, may be utterly lost from the knowledge of men. Then, in succeeding times, an entirely new claim may again arise and be successfully maintained.
It is conjectured that the Northmen had visited the shores of America long prior to the advent of Columbus and Cabot, but the fact, if fact it be, is only sustained by a faint tradition which modern nations have ceased to regard.
But such was not the case with the British discovery; it con- tinued to be known, and it was fully known to the Dutch at the time of the voyage of Hudson.
But the claims of Hudson as a discoverer have sometimes been urged upon a different ground. According to the regulations of European law, it is said, the discoverer of the mouth of the stream acquires a right to the territory connected with such stream and its branches, and hence, that the country upon the Delaware, and the Hudson, in accordance with the rule in question, would belong to the Dutch.
The regulation is acknowledged, but it does not apply to the case. It will only apply where there has been a real, original · discovery, where the coast, and the country connected with the stream have before been unknown.5 It cannot be supposed that the discovery of the outlet of a stream would give a right to the territory along its entire extent, although such territory had been known and claimed before. This would be unjust and indeed absurd. The regulations of European law give no support to such a pretence.
But another point is still to be noticed. It may be supposed that so long a period had passed from the time of the original discovery by Cabot, that the claim of the English had lapsed, and in consequence that though the claim of the Dutch as discoverers
'See p. 14.
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
should not be allowed, they yet might come in and acquire a right from occupation and use.
The duration of a claim from discovery has already been sufficiently considered.6
But, at this time, the rights of the English to this part of the American continent did not rest upon discovery alone, there had been actual appropriation and possession. Portions of territory had been granted at different times by the English sovereign, to certain individuals or bodies, and these grants had been made by formal conveyances, describing the situation and extent-of the lands so as to fix their place and extent. In this manner the very portion of country that was visited- by Hudson had been granted and conveyed. Most of it indeed had been repeatedly granted. Not to mention the ill defined conveyance to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, it had been given to Sir Walter Raleigh as a part of Virginia ; afterwards to the North and South Virginia Company, and wa's divided between them as already described, and finally, only a few months before the visit of Hudson,7 a second grant had been made to the South Virginia Company, and in this, the precise spot was included which seems to have been regarded as the starting point of the Dutch possessions.8 Upon the territory which had thus been granted, English emigrants had actually settled, and were then in possession. The possession indeed was not such as that every part of the territory was taken up; nor was this necessary. "A country," says a learned authority, "is taken possession of either in the lump or by parts. But if in a country possessed in the lump, any thing remains unassigned to private persons, it ought not therefore to be accounted vacant, for it still belongs to him who first took possession of that country, whether king or people, such as rivers, lakes, ponds, forest, and uncultivated mountains."> Portions of territory not really occu-
· Sce p. 18.
'The second patent was given to the South Virginia Company on the 23d of May, 1003.
. The Bay of the South River, (or Delaware,) was the first place of which the Men of the Half Moon took possession, before any christian had been there .- Vander Donck.
· Grotius.
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
pied, will thus be subject to the right of ownership as well as the particular parts that are actually possessed; the same right will exist throughout the whole extent.10 In the instance under notice the right of possession extended over the whole of the country that had been entered upon in pursuance of grants from the English sovereign, and was equally good throughout these limits; it was equally good on the Delaware as on the James River.
No formal claim to the country that had been examined by Hudson, was preferred at the time, either by the Dutch East India Company, or by the Government of Holland. But it was not long before the country was again visited. At this time the people of the Low Countries had but just emerged from a struggle in which they had waged a successful war with one of the oldest kingdoms of Europe. They were left with their - liberty, but with little beside. Their necessities as well as their maritime situation disposed them to commercial pursuits. No opportunity was to be neglected for extending the trade of the country, and the enterprize of Hudson was supposed to have opened a field which they were ready and eager to enter.
The furs which had hitherto been procured from remoter countries, and which formed a coveted article of trade, had been found in the new lands, and might be cheaply obtained from the simple natives.
'The very next year after the voyage of Hudson, a vessel was sent out by some merchants of Amsterdam freighted with a variety of goods, in order that a traffic might be opened with the native tribes.
The success of this adventure was such as to give encourage- ment to further attempts, and in the following year application was made to the States General, and licenses were granted to two ships, which afterwards proceeded to the Bay of New York.11
10 But under a claim from possession a vague demand may not be made extend- ing over territory not defined by ascertained limits. In the absence of a positive grant from a superior, it will be confined within such bounds as the actual knowledge and efforts of the possessors themselves have enabled them to lay down within these limits, it will be good in so far as it is good at all.
" O'Callaghan, New Netherland, p. 68.
Ł:
دة.
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
The prospect of advantage that was opened led to the adoption of measures to secure the trade of the country. Petitions were pre- sented to the States General praying that exclusive privileges might be secured to the discoverers and explorers of new lands. Accordingly, on the 27th of March, 1614, an edict was issued by "The States General of the United Netherlands," by which all and every of the inhabitants of the United Netherlands who should discover any courses, havens, countries, or places, should have the exclusive right to frequent there, for four voyages; all other persons being prohibited on pain of confiscation of ships and goods, and a fine of fifty thousand Netherland ducats.
Under the protection promised by this ordinance, a number of merchants fitted out and despatched five ships, which were under the direction of Adriaen Block, Hendrick Corstiaensen, and Cor- nelis Jacobsen Mey.
In the course of their voyage, these navigators examined a portion of the American coast with a good degree of exactness and care. Block and Corstiaensen explored the whole extent from Massachusetts Bay to the Hudson River. Mey extended his researches to the south, he examined the shores of Long" Island, and afterwards reached the Delaware Bay, to one of the capes of which his own name has been given, and which it continues to bear.
Block and Mey appear to have returned directly to Holland to render an account of their discoveries, and to aid in securing in a proper manner, the advantages of exclusive trade. The company by whom they had been employed, caused a full report of the voyages, with a map of the countries that had been explored, to be laid before the States General, with an application for the priviledges allowed in the late edict of the State, to all discoverers. Accordingly, on the 11th of October, 1614, a special grant was made in favor of the company.12 They were to have the exclu- xive right to visit and navigate the described lands "situate in America between New France and Virginia, the sea coasts of
" The persons belonging to this company were particularly named. See O Calagban, p. 71.
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
which lie between the fortieth and the forty-fifth degrees of lati- tude, and which are now named NEW NETHERLAND."13 But the privilege thus given was limited to four voyages, to be performed within the space of three years. The company to whom this grant was made assumed the name of "The United New Netherland Company."
Commander Corstiaensen, who with his people, had remained in the country,14 proceeded to make the arrangements that were required, in order that the advantages expected from the present attempt might be fully secured. A place was to be chosen for a settlement. Advancing up the Hudson, they arrived at an island which they supposed to be advantageously situated for their pur- pose, being so far up the stream as to bring them a sufficient distance within the country, and yet was not difficult of access from without. Here their first essay was made; a rude fortifica- tion was erected, to which they gave the name of Fort Orange; it was encircled with a moat and defended by several pieces of cannon. But the entire company did not long remain at this place, it is possible indeed, that the whole number may never have gone there. Previous adventurers had erected some slight defences near the mouth of the stream on the Island of Manhattan, and this circumstance, together with the manifest advantages of the position, invited to farther improvements. Here a fort was erected, and this place became the principal point of business and intercourse. The work here erected was called Fort Amsterdam.
" The limits as here given are not correct, probably the points of latitude had not been fully determined, or the precise extent to be secured, or that was afterwards claimed, had not been fully examined. It is elsewhere said that this country, the New Netherlands, begins north of the Equinoctial line thirty-eight degrees fifty-three minutes, and extends north-casterly along the sca coast to the latitude of forty-two degrees. We may safely say that we do not know how deep or how far we extend inward .- Van der Donck.
" The statements here given as to the return of Block and Mey and the stay of their associate, is founded entirely upon a comparison of the several circum- stances attending the enterprize. No distinct authority can be referred to. Cor- stiaensen was in the country at a period which almost forbids the supposition that he had returned to Holland, and again come back. During this period, no men- tion is made of either Block or Mey and the presence of the former and the absence of the two latter are hence inferred.
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THE DUTCH CLAIM.
In the following year, as it is stated, a small redoubt was thrown up on the opposite bank of the Hudson, within the limits of the present State of New Jersey.15
The immediate object in view in the undertaking directed by Corstiaensen, was the prosecution of traffic with the native tribes ; the settlement was strictly a trading establishment. .
Yet even this could not be properly conducted without order and government. The principal direction of affairs at first, fell into the hands of Corstiaensen himself, he being installed as Upper Hoofdt or Chief Commander. Next in dignity was Jacques Elckens, who performed the duties of Principal Commissary, and also acted as occasion required, as Deputy Commandant. 16
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