USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 7
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Whether the merchants in Holland, who had thus far traded to the Manhattans, were alarmed by the intelligence of this threatening visit of the English commander, or anxious to se- cure to themselves the monopoly of a commerce the value of which they could now, in some manner, calculate, cannot be well known; but active steps were taken, early in the next year, to obtain an exclusive right to the trade of those distant 1614. countries. Petitions were accordingly presented to the States March of Holland and West Friesland, praying that the States Gen- 20.
1 Oock mede onder het oppergebeit van Uwe Hooge Moogende, alvoor den jaar 1614, daar een ofte tweede fortieren syn geleght, en met volck versien tot bescherminge van denzelven handel. Memorial of West India Comp., Hol. doc. ii., 138.
2 Heylen's Cosmography, anno 1669, b. iv., 96 ; London documents ; Beauchamp Plantagenet's New Albion ; Burke's Virginia, 173; Stith's Virg., 133; Bel- knap's America, 45. A very interesting and valuable paper, written by the Hon. Mr. Folsom, on Argal's incursion, will be found in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., new series, i., 333.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK eral be recommended to pass an ordinance conferring on I. those who may discover new lands the exclusive privilege of 1614. making six voyages thither. In compliance with this re- March quest, the following Octroy was formally passed, a few days 27. after :
" THE STATES GENERAL of the United Netherlands. To all those to whom these presents shall come, or who shall hear them read, Health ! BE IT KNOWN, Whereas, We under- stand it would be honorable, serviceable, and profitable to this country, and for the promotion of its prosperity, as well as for the maintenance of seafaring people, that the good Inhabitants should be excited and encouraged to employ and occupy themselves in the seeking out and discovery of Courses, Ha- vens, Countries, and Places which have not, before now, been discovered or frequented ; and having been informed by some traders that they intend, through Gon's merciful help, by diligence, trouble, danger, and expense, to employ themselves thereat, as they should expect to derive handsome profit there- from, if it pleased Us to privilege, octroy, and favor them, that they should alone resort and sail to, and frequent the Courses, Havens, Countries, and Places, by them newly found and discovered, for six voyages, in compensation for their out- lays, troubles, and dangers : With interdiction to all, directly or indirectly to resort or sail to, or frequent the said Courses, Havens, Countries, or Places, before and sooner than the first discoverers and finders thereof shall have completed the afore- said six voyages :-
" We, therefore, having duly weighed the aforesaid matter, and finding, as herebefore stated, the aforesaid undertaking to be laudable, honorable, and serviceable to the prosperity of the United Provinces, and wishing that the trial should be free and common for all and every of the Inhabitants of this country, have, and do hereby, invite all and every of the Inhabitants of the United Netherlands to the afore- said search, and, therefore, have granted and consented, grant and consent hereby that those who any new Courses, Havens, Countries, or Places shall from now henceforward discover, they alone shall resort to the same or cause them to be frequented, for four voyages, without any other person having the power
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to sail, resort to, or frequent, directly, or indirectly from the CHAP. United Provinces, the said newly found and discovered IV. Courses, Havens, Countries, or Places, before the first finder 1614. and discoverer thereof shall himself have made, or cause to be made, four voyages, on pain of confiscation of the ships and goods with which he shall contrary hereto make the at- tempt, and a fine of Fifty Thousand Netherlands Ducats, to the profit of the aforesaid finder or discoverer. Well under- standing that the finder, on completion of the first voyage, shall be holden, within fourteen days after his return from said voy- age, to deliver to Us a pertinent report of the aforesaid discov- ery, that. his adventures thereupon being heard, it may be adjudged and declared by Us, according to circumstances and distance, within what time the aforesaid four voyages shall be fully completed.
" Provided that We, hereby, do not understand to prejudice or in any way diminish our former Grants and Concessions ; And if within the same time, or in one year, one or more Companies find and discover such new Courses, Passages, Countries, Havens, or Places, the same shall enjoy together there Our Grant and Privileges ; and in case any differences or questions should arise concerning these, or happen other- wise to spring, or proceed from these Our Concessions, such shall be decided by Us, according to which each shall be bound to regulate himself. And in order that these our Con- cessions shall be known equally by all, have We ordered that these be published and affixed at the accustomed places in the United Countries.
" Thus Given at the Assembly of the High and Mighty Lords States General, at Gravenhague, this 27th day of March, in the year 1614."1
Shortly after this, the attempt was again renewed to com- June 21. plete and obtain the charter for the proposed West India Com- pany ; several references on the subject were made by the Aug. States General, but these eventuated in nothing decisive, and 25. the charter remained unsanctioned during the continuance of Sept. the truce between the Spaniards and the Dutch.
1 Groot Placaat Boek, i., 563; Aitzema, i., 154; Hol. Doc. i., 15, 17, 19; Vaderlandts. Hist. x., 69.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK I. In the mean time, the Ordinance of the 27th March ex- cited considerable animation and activity among adventurers. 1614. A number of merchants belonging to Amsterdam and Hoorn fitted cut and dispatched five ships : namely, the Little Fox, the Nightingale, the Tiger, and the Fortune, the two last under the command of Adriaen Block and Hendrick Corstiaensen, of Amsterdam. The fifth vessel was called the Fortune also ; she belonged to Hoorn, and was commanded by Captain Cor- nelis Jacobsen Mey.
The three last-named and now well-known navigators pro- ceeded immediately on an exploring expedition to the mouth of the Great River of the Manhattans, but Block had the mis- fortune, soon after his arrival there, of losing his vessel, which was accidentally burnt. The indomitable energy of the Dutch skipper, however, soon triumphed over a misfortune which would have arrested the further progress of many men of less perseverance. He forthwith set about constructing a yacht, thirty- eight feet keel, forty-four and a half feet long, and eleven and a half feet wide,1 which, when completed, he called the " Rest- less," significant of his own untiring industry; or, as one would be justified in concluding, of that enterprising city which now pushes its vessels into every sea, and whose commerce is known in every land. In this craft, the first specimen of European naval architecture in these waters, Skipper Block proceeded to explore the coast east of Manhat- tan Island. He sailed along the East River, to which he gave the name of "The Hellegat," after a branch of the river Scheld, in East Flanders ;2 and leaving Long Island, then
1 When his (Block's) ship was accidentally burnt in the year 1614, he con- structed there a yacht with a keel 38 feet long, 44} feet from slem to stern, and 11} feet wide. In this vessel he sailed through Hellegat into the Great Bay, (Sound,) and explored all the places thereahont, continuing his course as far as Cape Cod, where he fell in with the ship of Hendrick Corstiaensen. He after- ward returned home, and left the yacht on that coast for further use. De Laet. 2 Though the name of Hellegat is now confined to that point where the waters of the Sound unite with those of the East River, it originally belonged to the whole of the latter, which was called by the first discoverers the Hellegat River, after the branch of the Scheld sitnated between the manors of Axel and Hulst, in Flanders. A description of the Dutch " Hellegat" will be found in Martinet's Beschryv. der Nederlanden, iv., 4.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
called Metoac, or Sewan-hacky, "the land of shells," on the CHAP. south, he discovered the Housatonick, or river of the Red Mountain, and gave to the Norwalk islands the name of the Archipelagoes. Somewhat east of these, he came to the mouth of a considerable body of water flowing from the north- west. He ascended this stream as high as 41º 48', where he found an Indian village, or fort, belonging to the Nawaas. This body of water, which has since been known as the Con- necticut, he named the Fresh River. After an intricate navi- gation of some leagues, he passed into what he considered a great bay, but which is now known as the Sound, and through this gained the main ocean, and thus determined, for the first time, the insular character of Long Island. Off the eastern extremity of this island, he found two smaller islands, to one of which he gave his own name; to the other, that of his brother navigator, Hendrick Corstiaensen. He next discovered the great Narragansett bay, which he called the Bay of Nassau. He thoroughly explored this sea, determined its length and breadth, and gave to its eastern entrance the name of " An- chor ;" to its western, that of "Sloop" Bay. Here he had some intercourse with the natives, whom he called Nahicans, and whom he describes as shy of disposition. From this place, Block continued his course to Cape Cod, which Hud- son, it will be recollected, had already called New Holland, and there fell in with Hendrick Corstiaensen's ship.
While these navigators were thus engaged at the east, Cap- tain Cornelis Mey was actively employed in exploring the Atlantic coast farther south. After having examined the southern shore of Long Island, and determined its length, he followed the continent until he reached the great Delaware Bay, (where Hudson had anchored on his return from the Chesapeake,) two capes of which still commemorate his visit ; one, the most northward, being called after him, Cape Mey ; another, Cape Cornelis ; while the great south cape was called Hindlopen, after one of the towns in the province of Friesland.
On the return of these expeditions to Holland, the farther and more minute examination of the coast was committed to one Captain Hendrickson, who proceeded, in the small yacht
10
IV. 1614.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK which had been built by Adriaen Block, and which he had left
1614.
1. on the coast for farther use, to the Delaware, to ascertain the nature of that country, and to open a trade with the natives there.
In the mean time, intelligence of the discoveries made by Block and his associates having been transmitted to Hol- land, was received there early in the autumn of this year. The united company by whom they had been employed, lost no time in taking the steps necessary to secure to them- selves the exclusive trade of the countries thus explored, which was guarantied to them by the ordinance of the 27th of March. They sent deputies immediately to the Hague, who laid before the States General a report of their discov- eries, as required by law, with a figurative map of the newly explored countries, which now, for the first time, obtained the name of "NEW NETHERLAND." A special grant in favor of Oct. 11. the interested parties was forthwith accorded by their High Mightinesses, in the following terms :
" The States General of the United Netherlands to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting. WHEREAS Gerrit Jacob Witsen, former burgomaster of the city of Amsterdam, Jonas Witsen and Simon Morissen, owners of the ship called the Little Fox, (het vosje,) Captain Jan de Witt, master ; Hans Hongers, Paul Pelgrom, and Lambrecht van Tween- huysen, owners of the two ships called the Tiger and the For- tune, Captains Adriaen Block and Hendrick Corstiaensen, masters ; Arnoudt van Lybergen, Wessel Schenck, Hans Cla- essen, and Barent Sweetsen, owners of the ship the Nightingale, (Nochtegael,) Capt. Thuys Volckertsen, merchant in the city of Amsterdam, master; and Pieter Clementsen Brouwer, Jan Clementsen Kies, and Cornelis Volkertsen, merchants in the city of Hoorn, owners of the ship the Fortune, Capt. Cornelis Jacobsen Mey, master, have united into one company, and have shown to Us, by their petition, that after great expenses and damages, by loss of ships and other perils, during the present year, they, with the abovenamed five ships, have dis- covered certain new lands, situated in America, between New France and Virginia, being the seacoasts between 40 and 45 degrees of latitude, and now called NEW NETHERLAND :-
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NEW NETHERLAND
" And whereas, they further represent that We did, in the CHAP. month of March, publish, for the promotion and augmentation
IV. of commerce, a certain consent and grant, setting forth that 1614. whosoever should discover new havens, lands, places, or pas- sages, should be permitted exclusively to visit and navigate the same for four voyages, without permitting any other person out of the United Netherlands to visit or frequent such newly discovered places, until the said discoverers shall have per- formned the four voyages, within the space of time prescribed to them for that purpose, under the penalties therein expressed, &c., and request that We should be pleased to accord to them due testimony of the aforesaid grant in the usually prescribed form :
" WHEREFORE, the premises having been considered, and We, in our Assembly, having communication of the pertinent report of the petitioners relative to the discoveries and finding of the said new countries between the abovenamed limits and degrees, and also of their adventures, have consented and granted, and by these presents do consent and grant, to the said petitioners, now united into one company, that they shall be permitted exclusively to visit and navigate the above de- scribed lands, situate in America, between New France and Virginia, the seacoasts of which lie between the 40th and 45th degrees of latitude, and which are now named NEW NETHERLAND, as is to be seen on the figurative maps by them prepared ; and to navigate, or cause to be navigated, the same for four voyages, within the period of three years, to com- mence from the first day of January, 1615, or sooner, without it being permitted, directly or indirectly, to any one else to sail, to frequent, or navigate, out of the United Netherlands, those newly discovered lands, havens, or places, within the space of three years, as above, on penalty of the confiscation of the vessel and cargo, besides a fine of fifty thousand Neth- erlands ducats, for the benefit of said discoverers. Provided, however, that by these presents We do not intend to prejudice or diminish any of our former grants and concessions ; and it is also our intention that if any disputes or differences should arise from these our concessions, that they shall be decided by ourselves.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK I. "WE, therefore, expressly command all governors, justices, officers, magistrates, and inhabitants, of the aforesaid United 1614. Netherlands, that they allow said company peacefully and quietly to enjoy the whole benefit of this our grant, and to interpose no difficulties or obstacles to the welfare of the same. Given at the Hague, under our seal, paraph, and the signature of our Secretary, on the 11th day of October, 1614."1
Having thus obtained for themselves the exclusive right to visit and trade with the countries in America, lying between the fortieth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, of which they strangely claimed to be the first discoverers, so shortly after Hudson's visit, the above named merchants, who now assumed the name and title of "The United NEW NETHERLAND Com- pany," proceeded to make the arrangements necessary to draw from their new possessions the largest returns. On an island situated at the head of the navigation, near the west bank of the Manhattan River, now named De Riviere van den Vorst Mauritius, or Prince Maurice's River, and immediately be- low the present city of Albany, they caused a trading house to be erected, thirty-six feet long and twenty-six feet wide. Around this was raised a strong stockade, fifty feet square, which was next encircled by a moat eighteen feet wide, the whole being defended by two pieces of cannon and eleven stone guns, mounted on swivels, and garrisoned by ten or twelve men. This post was placed under the command of Jacob Jacobz Elkens, who continued here four years in the employ of this association,2 during which time he was well liked by the natives, with whose language he was thoroughly conversant. Another fort was erected, under the superintend- ence of Corstiaensen, on an elevated spot on the southern ex-
1 Hol. Doc. i., 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. Chalmers states, in his Political Annals, p. 569, that " the name of New Netherland" had not any existence at the time of the incorporation of the Dutch West India Company-that is, in 1621. The above charter shows into what an egregious error this author has fallen.
2 Al de wereldt genoegh bekent is, en hy Jacob Elkens selffs ten besten wiste, als alvoor den jaar 1614 gebruyekt synde in den dienst vandegeene die doen ter tyt octroy van U. H. Mogende hadden, om deselve revier en circumja- centen alleen te bevaren. Memorial of the xix to States Gen'l. Hol. Doc. ii., 136. Alb. Rec. xxiv., 167. The dimensions of the fort on Castle Island are given in the figurative map of 1616
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NEW NETHERLAND.
tremity of the island Manhattan,1 where an insignificant estab- CHAP. lishment had already existed in 1613, as already stated. Pos- IV. session was thus taken of the two most important points on 1615. the river, to which the powerful Mohawks, the fierce Manhat- tes, and the various other tribes in the neighborhood, brought their valuable furs to be exchanged for European trinkets and duffels. The post at the mouth of the river was, however, the traders' head-quarters. Hither annually came the ships of the New Netherland Company, and hence was annually exported whatever had been collected from the Indians, after their hunt- ing season, at the neighboring coasts and rivers ; from the distant castles of the Five Nations to the hunting-grounds of the Minquas. Considerable activity consequently prevailed among the agents and other servants of the company in push- ing trade, and exploring the adjoining coasts. Runners scoured the woods, in order to become acquainted with the habits of the Indians, their manner of dealing, and to establish friendly relations with those tribes to which the Dutch were not already known.
The " Restless" having now thoroughly examined the coast as far as 38°, and penetrated up the Delaware as far as the Schuylkill, Capt. Hendricksen returned to Holland in the 1616. summer of 1616, from his second voyage, for the purpose of laying before the managers of the company the particulars of his explorations. On being presented to the States General, Aug. he made a verbal report of his adventures, on the part of 18. his employers, who, at the same time, petitioned their High Mightinesses, setting forth that they had, at considerable ex- pense, discovered and explored certain countries, bays, and three rivers, lying in latitude from 38° to 40°, with a small yacht called the Restless, of about eight lasts burden, com- manded by Capt. Cornelis Hendricksen, Jr., of Monnichen- dam, which yacht the petitioners had built in the aforesaid country. They thereupon demanded, in conformity with the provisions of the ordinance of March, 1614, the exclusive privilege of trading thither.
Skipper Hendricksen's report, it is to be regretted, is
1 Moulton, 344. Heylen's Cosmography, B. iv.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK both meager and brief. After the detail of the preceding discoveries, he described the country as well wooded with oak, pine, and hickory, which trees, he added, were in some places covered with vines. He stated that he found in those parts, male and female deer, turkeys, and partridges, and that the climate was as temperate as that of Holland ; that he had traded for seal and sable skins, furs, and other peltries, with the Minquas, from whom he had ransomed three of the company's servants, who had left their employment among the Mohawks and Mohecans, having given, in exchange for them, beads, kettles, and other merchandise.1
Whether it was that the States General were dissatisfied with the small amount of information furnished in this report, or that other interests had by this time sprung up, which were anxious to participate in the advantages of the trade to Amer- ica, or that paramount reasons of public policy influenced their deliberations, their High Mightinesses laid this application on the table, and the exclusive grant to the New Netherland Company expired, by its own limitation, on the 1st of Janu- 1618. ary, 1618,2 in the spring of which year, the breaking up of the ice, and the accompanying freshet on the River Mauritius, or North River, did so much injury to the company's fort on Castle Island, that their servants were obliged to abandon it, and to remove a few miles south, to the banks of the Tawal- sontha Creek, now called the Norman's Kill. Here, on a hill, called by the Indians Tawassgunshee, they erected a new fortification, and concluded with the great Confederacy of the Five Nations a formal treaty of alliance and peace.3
1 Dat hij oock met inwoonderen van Minquas gehandelt, ende haer afge- kocht heeft drie seckere persoonen, wesende van den Compagnie volck, welche drie persoonen haer hadden laaten gebruycken ten dienste van de Maquas ende Mahicans, daervoor gevende ketelen, coralen, ende coopmanschappen. Hol. Doc. i., 53, 55, 59, 60, 61.
2 Hol. Doc., i., 62, 91.
' Alb. Rec., xxiv., 167. Moulton, 346. The Dutch who settled New Nether- land, now New York, in 1609, entered into an alliance with the Five Nations, which continued without any breach on either side, till the English gained this country. Colden's Hist. of the Five Nations, 33. The Norman's Kill derives its present name from Andries Bratt, who was surnamed "De Noorman," or Northman, having been a native, it is said, of Denmark.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
This celebrated Indian confederation was composed of five CHAP. tribes, namely, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and generally known by the name of the Iro- quois. They inhabited that country bounded on the east by the great River Manhattes and Lake Irocoisia, or Champlain ; on the west by Lake Erie and the River Niagara; on the north by Lake Ontario and the Great River of Canada ; and on the south by the country of the Lenni Lenape, or Dela- wares. When the Dutch arrived in America, the tribes com- posing the Five Nations were at war with the Algonquin, or Canada Indians. But the latter having formed an alliance with the French, who, some years previous to this date, had commenced the settlement of New France, as Canada was called, derived such powerful aid from the fire-arms of their European allies, that the Iroquois were defeated in almost every rencontre with their ancient enemy. Smarting under the disgrace of these unexpected repulses, the Iroquois hailed the establishment among them, now, of another European na- tion familiar with the use of those terrible instruments, which, almost without human intervention, scattered death wherever they were directed, and defied the war club and bow and ar- row as weapons of attack or defence. Though jealous by nature, and given to suspicion, the Indians exhibited none of these feelings towards the new-comers, whose numbers were too few even to protect themselves or to inflict injury on others. On the contrary, they courted their friendship, for through them they shrewdly calculated on being placed in a condition to cope with the foe, or to obtain that bloody triumph for which they thirsted. Such were the circumstances which now led to that treaty of alliance, which, as the tradition goes, was concluded on the banks of the Norman's Kill, between the Five Nations and the Dutch.
Nothing could surpass the importance the warlike inhab- itants of those ancient forests attached to the ratification of this solemn treaty. Each tribe sent its chief as its ambassa- dor to represent it on this occasion. The neighboring tribes- the Lenni Lenape and Mohegans-were invited to attend ; and there in the presence of the earth, their common mother-of the sun, which shed its genial heat on all alike-by the mur-
IV. 1618.
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HISTORY OF
1618.
BOOK murs of that romantic stream, whose waters had been made to I. flow by their common Maker from all time, was the belt of peace held fast by the Dutch and their aboriginal allies, in token of their eternal union. There was the calumet smoked, and the hatchet buried, while the Dutch traders declared that they should forthwith erect a church over that weapon of war, so that it could no more be exhumed without overturning the sacred edifice, and whoever dared do that should incur the resentment of the white men. By this treaty the Dutch se- cured for themselves the quiet possession of the Indian trade, and the Five Nations obtained the means to assert that ascend- ency which they ever after maintained over the other native tribes, and to inspire terror far and near among the other savages of North America.1.
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