USA > New York > New York City > A history of New-York : from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty > Part 11
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an heiress as is a Kamtschatka damsel with a store of bear-skins, or a Lapland belle with a plenty of rein- deer. The ladies, therefore, were very anxious to display these powerful attractions to the greatest ad- vantage; and the best rooms in the house, instead of being adorned with caricatures of dame Nature, in water colours and needle-work, were always hung round with abundance of homespun garments, the manufacture and the property of the females-a piece of laudable ostentation that still prevails among the heiresses of our Dutch villages.
The gentlemen, in fact, who figured in the circles of the gay world in these ancient times, corresponded, in most particulars, with the beauteous damsels whose smiles they were ambitious to deserve. True it is, their merits would make but a very inconsider- able impression upon the heart of a modern fair ; they neither drove their curricles nor sported their tandems, for as yet those gaudy vehicles were not even dreamt of-neither did they distinguish them- selves by their brilliancy at the table and their con- sequent rencontres with watchmen, for our fore- fathers were of too pacific a disposition to need those guardians of the night, every soul throughout the town being sound asleep before nine o'clock. Neither did they establish their claims to gentility at the ex- pense of their tailors-for as yet those offenders against the pockets of society, and the tranquillity of all aspiring young gentlemen, were unknown in New-Amsterdam ; every good housewife made the clothes of her husband and family, and even the
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goede vrouw of Van Twiller himself thought it no disparagement to cut out her husband's linsey-woolsey galligaskins.
Not but what there were some two or three young- sters, who manifested the first dawnings of what is called fire and spirit-who held all labour in con- tempt; skulked about docks and market-places; loi- tered in the sunshine ; squandered what little money they could procure at hustle-cap and chuck-farthing, swore, boxed, fought cocks, and raced their neigh- bour's horses-in short, who promised to be the won- der, the talk, and abomination of the town, had not their stylish career been unfortunately cut short by an affair of honour with a whipping-post.
Far other, however, was the truly fashionable gen- tleman of those days-his dress, which served for both morning and evening, street and drawing-room, was a linsey-woolsey coat, made, perhaps, by the fair hands of the mistress of his affections, and gallantly bedecked with abundance of large brass buttons- half a score of breeches heightened the proportions of his figure -- his shoes were decorated by enormous copper buckles-a low-crowned broad-brimmed hat overshadowed his burly visage, and his hair dangled down his back in a prodigious queue of eel-skin.
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Thus equipped, he would manfully sally forth with pipe in mouth, to besiege some fair damsel's obdu- rate heart-not such a pipe, good reader, as that which Acis did sweetly tune in praise of his Galatea, but one of true delft manufacture, and furnished with a charge of fragrant tobacco. With this would
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he resolutely set himself down before the fortress, and rarely failed, in the process of time, to smoke the fair enemy into a surrender, upon honourable terms.
Such was the happy reign of Wouter Van Twiller, celebrated in many a long-forgotten song as the real golden age, the rest being nothing but counterfeit „copper-washed coin. In that delightful period, a sweet and holy calm reigned over the whole province. The burgomaster smoked his pipe in peace-the substantial solace of his domestic cares, after her daily toils were done, sat soberly at the door, with her arms crossed over her apron of snowy white, without being insulted by ribald street-walkers, or vagabond boys-those unlucky urchins, who do so infest our streets, displaying under the roses of youth the thorns and briars of iniquity. Then it was that the lover with ten breeches, and the damsel with petticoats of half a score, indulged in all the innocent endearments of virtuous love, without fear and with- out reproach ; for what had that virtue to fear, which was defended by a shield of good linsey-woolseys, equal at least to the seven bull-hides of the invincible Ajax ?
Ah ! blissful, and never to be forgotten age ! when every thing was better than it has ever been since, or ever will be again-when Buttermilk Channel was quite dry at low water-when the shad in the Hud. son were all salmon, and when the moon shone with a pure and resplendent whiteness, instead of that melancholy yellow light which is the consequence of
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her sickening at the abominations she every night witnesses in this degenerate city !
Happy would it have been for New-Amsterdam, could it always have existed in this state of blissful ignorance and lowly simplicity-but, alas ! the days of childhood are too sweet to last! Cities, like men, grow out of them in time, and are doomed alike to grow into the bustle, the cares, and miseries of the world. Let no man congratulate himself, when he beholds the child of his bosom or the city of his birth increasing in magnitude and importance-let the his- tory of his own life teach him the dangers of the one, and this excellent little history of Manna-hata con- vince him of the calamities of the other.
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CHAPTER V.
In which the reader is beguiled into a delectable walk which ends very differently from what it com menced.
IN the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun dred and four, on a fine afternoon, in the glowing month of September, I took my customary walk upon the Battery, which is at once the pride and bul- wark of this ancient and impregnable 'city of New- York. The ground on which I trod was hallowed by recollections of the past, and as I slowly wander- ed through the long alley of poplars, which, like so many birch-brooms standing on end, 'diffused a melancholy and lugubrious shade, my imagination drew a contrast between the surrounding scenery, and what it was in the classic days of our forefathers. Where the government-house by name, but the cus- tom-house by occupation, proudly reared its brick walls and wooden pillars, there whilome stood the low but substantial, red-tiled mansion of the re- nowned Wouter Van Twiller. Around it the mighty bulwarks of Fort Amsterdam frowned defiance to every absent foe ; but, like many a whiskered war- rior and gallant militia captain, confined their mar- tial deeds to frowns alone. The mud breastworks had long been levelled with the earth, and their site VOL. I. Q
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converted into the green lawns and leafy alleys of the Battery; where the gay apprentice sported his Sunday coat, and the laborious mechanic, relieved from the dirt and drudgery of the week, poured his weekly tale of love into the half-averted ear of the sentimental chambermaid. The capacious bay still presented the same expansive sheet of water, studded with islands, sprinkled with fishing-boats, and bound- ed with shores of picturesque beauty. But the dark forests which once clothed these shores had been violated by the savage hand of cultivation ; and their tangled mazes, and impenetrable thickets, had de- generated into teeming orchards and waving fields of grain. Even Governor's Island, once a smiling gar- den, appertaining to the sovereigns of the province, was now covered with fortifications, inclosing a tre- mendous blockhouse-so that this once peaceful island resembled a fierce little warrior in a big cocked hat, breathing gunpowder and defiance to the world !
For some time did I indulge in this pensive train of thought ; contrasting, in sober sadness, the present day with the hallowed years behind the mountains ; lamenting the melancholy progress of improvement, and praising the zeal with which our worthy burghers endeavour to preserve the wrecks of venerable cus- toms, prejudices, and errors, from the overwhelming tide of modern innovation-when by degrees my deas took a different turn, and I insensibly awakeu- ed to an enjoyment of the beauties around me.
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It was one of those rich autumnal days, which Heaven particularly bestows upon the beauteous island of Manna-hata and its vicinity-not a floating cloud obscured the azure firmament-the sun, roll- ing in glorious splendour through his ethereal course, seemed to expand his honest Dutch countenance into an unusual expression of benevolence, as he smiled his evening salutation upon a city, which he delights to visit with his most bounteous beams-the very winds seemed to hold in their breaths in mute atten- tion, lest they should ruffle the tranquillity of the hour-and the waveless bosom of the bay presented a polished mirror, in which Nature beheld herself and smiled. The standard of our city, reserved, like a choice handkerchief, for days of gala, hung motion- less on the flag-staff, which forms the handle to a gigantic churn ; and even the tremulous leaves of the poplar and the aspen ceased to vibrate to the breath of heaven. Every thing seemed to acquiesce in the profound repose of nature. The formidable eighteen-pounders slept in the embrasures of the wooden batteries, seemingly gathering fresh strength to fight the battles of their country on the next fourth of July-the solitary drum on Governor's Island for- got to call the garrison to their shovels-the evening gun had not yet sounded its signal, for all the regular, well-meaning poultry throughout the country, to go to roost; and the fleet of canoes, at anchor between Gibbet Island and Communipaw, slumbered on their rakes, and suffered the innocent oysters to lie for a while unmolested in the soft mud of their native
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banks !- My own feelings sympathized with the contagious tranquillity, and I should infallibly have dozed upon one of those fragments of benches, which our benevolent magistrates have provided for the benefit of convalescent loungers, had not the extra- ordinary inconvenience of the couch set all repose at defiance.
In the midst of this slumber of the soul, my atten- tion was attracted to a black speck, peering above the western horizon, just in the rear of Bergen steeple-gradually it augments, and overhangs the would-be cities of Jersey, Harsimus, and Hoboken, which, like three jockies, are starting on the course of existence, and jostling each other at the com- mencement of the race. Now it skirts the long shore of ancient Pavonia, spreading its wide shadows from the high settlements at Weehawk quite to the lazaretto and quarantine, erected by the sagacity of our police for the embarrassment of commerce-now it climbs the serene vault of heaven, cloud rolling over cloud, shrouding the orb of day, darkening the vast expanse, and bearing thunder and hail and tem- pest in its bosom. The earth seems agitated at the confusion of the heavens-the late waveless mirror is lashed into furious waves, that roll in hollow mur- murs to the shore-the oyster-boats that erst sported in the placid vicinity of Gibbet Island, now hurry affrighted to the land-the poplar writhes and twists and whistles in the blast -- torrents of drenching rain and sounding hail deluge the Battery-walks -- the gates are thronged by apprentices, servant-
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maids, and little Frenchmen, with pocket handker- chiefs over their hats, scampering from the storm- the late beauteous prospect presents one scene of anarchy and wild uproar, as though old Chaos had · resumed his reign, and was hurling back into one vast turmoil the conflicting elements of nature.
Whether I fled from the fury of the storm, or re- mained boldly at my post, as our gallant train-band captains, who march their soldiers through the rain without flinching, are points which I leave to the conjecture of the reader. It is possible he may be a little perplexed also to know the reason why I in- troduced this tremendous tempest to disturb the serenity of my work. On this latter point I will gratuitously instruct his ignorance. The panorama view of the Battery was given merely to gratify the reader with a correct description of that celebrated place, and the parts adjacent-secondly, the storm was played off partly to give a little bustle and life to this tranquil part of my work, and to keep my drowsy readers from falling asleep-and partly to - serve as an overture to the tempestuous times that are about to assail the pacific province of Nieuw- Nederlandts -- and that overhang the slumberous ad- ministration of the renowned Wouter Van Twiller. It is thus the experienced playwright puts all the fiddles, the French horns, the kettledrums, and trum- pets of his orchestra in requisition, to usher in one of those horrible and brimstone uproars called melodram.es-and it is thus he discharges his thun- der, his lightning, his rosin, and saltpetre, preparatory
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to the rising of a ghost, or the murdering of a hero, -We will now proceed with our history.
Whatever may be advanced by philosophers to the contrary, I am of opinion, that, as to nations, the old maxim, that "honesty is the best policy," is a sheer and ruinous mistake. It might have answered well enough in the honest times when it was made but in these degenerate days, if a nation pretends to rely merely upon the justice of its dealings, it will fare something like an honest man among thieves, who, unless he have something more than his hon- esty to depend upon, stands but a poor chance of profiting by his company. Such at least was the case with the guileless government of the New-Nether- lands ; which, like a worthy unsuspicious old burgher, quietly settled itself down into the city of New-Am- sterdam, as into a snug elbow-chair-and fell into a comfortable nap-while in the mean-time, its cun- ning neighbours stepped in and picked its pockets. Thus may we ascribe the commencement of all the woes of this great province, and its magnificent me- tropolis, to the tranquil security, or to speak more accurately, to the unfortunate honesty, of its govern- ment. But as I dislike to begin an important part of my history towards the end of a chapter; and as my readers, like myself, must doubtless be exceed- ingly fatigued with the long walk we have taken, and the tempest we have sustained-I hold it meet we shut up the book, smoke a pipe, and having thus refreshed out spirits, take a fair start in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER VI.
Faithfully describing the ingenious people of Connec- ticut and thereabouts-Showing, moreover, the true meaning of liberty of conscience, and a curious device among these sturdy barbarians, to keep up a harmony of intercourse, and promote popu- lation.
THAT my readers may the more fully comprehend the extent of the calamity, at this very moment im- pending over the honest, unsuspecting province of Nieuw Nederlandts, and its dubious governor, it is necessary that I should give some account of a horde of strange barbarians, bordering upon the eastern frontier.
Now so it came to pass, that many years previous to the time of which we are treating, the sage cabi- net of England had adopted a certain national creed, a kind of public walk of faith, or rather a religious turnpike, in which every loyal subject was directed to travel to Zion-taking care to pay the toll-gather- ers by the way.
Albeit, a certain shrewd race of men, being very much given to indulge their own opinions, on all manner of subjects, (a propensity exceedingly offen- sive to your free governments of Europe,) did most presumptuously dare to think for themselves in mat- ters of religion, exercising what they considered a
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natural and unextinguishable, right-the liberty of conscience.
As, however, they possessed that ingenuous habit of mind which always thinks aloud; which rides cock-a-hoop on the tongue, and is for ever galloping · into other people's ears, it naturally followed that their liberty of conscience likewise implied liberty of speech, which being freely indulged, soon put the . country in a hubbub, and aroused the pious indigna- tion of the vigilant fathers of the church.
The usual methods were adopted to reclaim them, that in those days were considered so efficacious in bringing back stray sheep to the fold ; that is to say, they were coaxed, they were admonished, they were menaced, they were buffeted-line upon line, pre- cept upon precept, lash upon lash, here a little and there a great deal, were exhausted without mercy, and without success ; until at length the worthy pas- tors of the church, wearied out by their unparalleled stubbornness, were driven, in the excess of their ten- der mercy, to adopt the scripture text, and literally " heaped live embers on their heads."
Nothing, however, could subdue that invincible spirit of independence which has ever distinguished this singular race of people, so that rather than sub- mit to such horrible tyranny, they one and all em- barked for the wilderness of America, where they might enjoy, unmolested, the inestimable luxury of talking. No sooner did they land on this loquacious soil, than, as if they had caught the disease from the climate, they all lifted up their voices at once, and
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for the space of one whole year did keep up such a joyful clamour, that we are told they frightened every bird and beast out of the neighbourhood, and so completely dumbfounded certain fish, which abound on their coast, that they have been called dumb-fish ever since.
From this simple circumstance, unimportant as it may seem, did first originate that renowned privilege so loudly boasted of throughout this country-which is so eloquently exercised in newspapers, pamphlets, ward meetings, pot-house committees and congres- sional deliberations-which established the right of talking without ideas and without information-of misrepresenting public affairs-of decrying public measures-of aspersing great characters, and de- stroying little ones ; in short, that grand palladium of our country, the liberty of speech.
The simple aborigines of the land for a while con- templated these strange folk in utter astonishment, but discovering that they wielded harmless though noisy weapons, and were a lively, ingenious, good- humoured race of men, they became very friendly and sociable, and gave them the name of Yanokies, which in the Mais-Tchusaeg (or Massachusett) lan- guage signifies silent men-a waggish appellation, since shortened into the familiar epithet of YANKEES, which they retain unto the present day.
True it is, and my fidelity as a historian will no allow me to pass it over in silence, that the zeal of these good people, to maintain their rights and priv- ileges unimpaired, did for a while betray them into
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errors, which it is easier to pardon than defend. Having served a regular apprenticeship in the school of persecution, it behoved them to show, that they ' had become proficients in the art. They accordingly. employed their leisure hours in banishing, scourging, or hanging, divers heretical Papists, Quakers, and Anabaptists, for daring to abuse the liberty of con- science ; which they now clearly proved to imply nothing more than that every man should think as he pleased in matters of religion-provided he thought right ; for otherwise it would be giving a latitude to damnable heresies. Now as they (the majority) were perfectly convinced, that they alone thought right, it consequently followed, that whoever thought different from them thought wrong-and whoever thought wrong, and obstinately persisted in not being convinced and converted, was a flagrant violator of the inestimable liberty of conscience, and a corrupt , and infectious member of the body politic, and de- served to be lopped off and cast into the fire.
Now I'll warrant there are hosts of my readers, ready at once to lift up their hands and eyes, with that virtuous indignation with which we always con- template the faults and errors of our neighbours, an to exclaim at these well-meaning but mistaken people, for inflicting on others the injuries they had suffered themselves-for indulging the preposterous idea of convincing the mind by tormenting the body, and establishing the doctrine of charity and forbearance by intolerant persecution. But, in simple truth, what are we doing at this very day, and in this very en-
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lightened nation, but acting upon the very same prin- ciple, in our political controversies ? Have we not, within but a few years, released ourselves from the shackles of a government which cruelly denied us the privilege of governing ourselves, and using in full latitude that invaluable member, the tongue ? and are we not at this very moment striving our best to tyrannize over the opinions, tie up the tongues, or ruin the fortunes of one another? What are our great political societies, but mere political inquisi- tions-our pot-house committees, but little tribunals of denunciation-our newspapers, but mere whip- ping-posts and pillories, where unfortunate individuals are pelted with rotten eggs-and our council of ap- pointment, but a grand auto de fe, where culprits are annually sacrificed for their political heresies ?
Where then is the difference in principle between our measures and those you are so ready to condemn among the people I am treating of? There is none ; the difference is merely circumstantial .- Thus we denounce, instead of banishing-we libel, instead of scourging-we turn out of office, instead of hanging- and where they burnt an offender in propria persona, we either tar and feather or burn him in effigy-this political persecution being, somehow or other, the grand palladium of our liberties, and an incontrover- tible proof that this is a free country !
. But notwithstanding the fervent zeal with which this holy war was prosecuted against the whole race of unbelievers, we do not find that the population of this new colony was in any .wise hindered thereby ;
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on the contrary, they multiplied to a degree which would be incredible to any man unacquainted with the marvellous fecundity of this growing country.
This amazing increase may, indeed, be partly as- cribed to a singular custom prevalent among them, commonly known by the name of bundling-a su- perstitious rite observed by the young people of both sexes, with which they usually terminated their fes- tivities ; and which was kept up with religious strict- ness by the more bigoted and vulgar part of the community. This ceremony was likewise, in those primitive times, considered as an indispensable pre- liminary to matrimony; their courtships commencing where ours usually finish-by which means they ac- quired that intimate acquaintance with each other's good qualities before marriage, which has been pro- nounced by philosophers the sure basis of a happy union. Thus early did this cunning and ingenious people display a shrewdness at making a bargain, which has ever since distinguished them-and a strict adherence to the good old vulgar maxim about " buy- ing a pig in a poke."
To this sagacious custom, therefore, do I chiefly attribute the unparalleled increase of the Yanokie or Yankee tribe ; for it is a certain fact, well authen- ticated by court records and parish registers, that wherever the practice of bundling prevailed, there was an amazing number of sturdy brats annually born unto the State, without the license of the law, or the benefit of clergy. Neither did the irregularity
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of their birth operate in the least to their disparage- ment. On the contrary, they grew up a long-sided, raw-boned, hardy race of whoreson whalers, wood- cutters, fishermen, and pedlers, and strapping corn- fed wenches ; who by their united efforts tended marvellously towards populating those notable tracts of country called Nantucket, Piscataway, and Cape Cod.
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CHAPTER VII.
How these singular barbarians turned out to be noto- rious squatters-how they built air castles, und at- tempted to initiate the Nederlanders in the mystery of bundling.
IN the last chapter I have given a faithful and un- prejudiced account of the origin of that singular race of people, inhabiting the country eastward of the Nieuw Nederlandts ; but I have yet to mention cer- tain peculiar habits which rendered them exceedingly obnoxious to our ever-honoured Dutch ancestors.
The most prominent of these was a certain ram- bling propensity, with which, like the sons of Ishmael, they seem to have been gifted by Heaven, and which continually goads them on, to shift their residence from place to place, so that a Yankee farmer is in a constant state of migration ; tarrying occasionally here and there; clearing lands for other people to enjoy, building houses for others to inhabit, and in a manner may be considered the wandering Arab of America.
His first thought, on coming to the years of man- hood, is to settle himself in the world-which means nothing more nor less than to begin his rambles. To this end he takes unto himself for a wife some buxom country heiress, passing rich in red ribands, glass heads, and mock tortoise-shell combs, with a white
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