USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 8
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' Moulton, 346, 347.
81
NEW NETHERLAND.
CHAPTER V.
The New Netherland Company petition for renewal of their charter-The ship Scheld sent to Manhattes-That country becomes more generally known- Attention of the Puritans directed thither-Review of the causes which drove these people to Holland-Desire to remove to America-The Rev. Mr. Robinson, their minister, intimates their wish to emigrate to New Nether- land-The managers of the Dutch Trading Company lay this application before the States General and the Prince of Orange-Memorial to his Royal Highness on this occasion-Termination of the twelve years truce-Request of the New Netherland Company on behalf of the Puritans decidedly refused- Capt. Mey returns to Holland-Petitions for exclusive right to new countries he had discovered opposed-Incorporation of the Dutch West India Com- pany.
THE charter of October, 1614, having expired, the trade CHAP. to the Manhattans was, in a manner, thrown open, and thus competition was again excited among all who were acquainted with its value. The New Netherland Company did not, how- ever, abandon the advantages which their local experience and establishments gave them. They petitioned the States Gen- Oct. 4. eral for a renewal of their charter for a few years more, or at least for permission to trade to the " Island" of New Neth- erland. Their High Mightinesses seemed unwilling to renew the grant. Hendrick Eelkins, Adriaen Jans Engel, and asso- ciates, " owners and partners in the New Netherland Com- pany," sent in a memorial, therefore, a few days after, setting Oct. 9. forth that they had already fitted a ship named the Scheld, for a voyage to the Manhattes, and requested permission to prose- cute that voyage without any opposition from any of their late partners ; this request was granted,1 and the Scheld sailed ac- cordingly.
Though the above company had lost, by the expiration of their charter, the exclusive privileges which they had before possessed, the original members of the association seemed still to have enjoyed, notwithstanding, exclusively the trade to New Netherland under special licenses obtained from year to year. Well acquainted now with the fertility of the soil,
1 Hol. Doc. i. 92.
11
V. 1618.
82
HISTORY OF
BOOK the mildness of the climate, and the other physical advantages I. of the country, many among them began to turn their attention
1618. to the colonization of those distant parts, in the hope that by the establishment of industrious settlers and well-regulated plantations, their resources might be developed ; wealthy colo- nies founded, and a permanent market finally created for the manufactures of Fatherland. The constant resort of vessels to that quarter-the favorable reports with which they re- turned-had, at the same time, made the country more gen- erally known, while causes which had been at work for half a century, brought the subject of colonizing those distant possessions so immediately before them, that those interested in New Netherland could no longer defer its considera- tion. These causes were the persecution of the Dissent- ers, or Nonconformists, by the hierarchy and government of England.
A number of these men, dissatisfied with the ritual and cere- monies of the Church of England, had renounced, in the reign of Elizabeth, all communion with the establishment, and formed themselves into a separate congregation, under the charge of one Richard Brown, an English preacher of an an- cient and honorable family, from whom they derived the name of " Brownists." 'They were finally forced, by stringent meas- ures enforced against them, to leave their native country, whence they proceeded to Holland, where they formed a church according to their own model. Though this church eventually disappeared, the seeds of separation which Brown had sowed in England took deep root ; his followers increased, as well in numbers as in zeal, in the succeeding century and reign, and again became marks for the exercise both of kingly and episcopal oppression. Many learned ministers and their followers, professing generally the puritanical principles of Brown, were obliged to leave the kingdom and retire, some to Amsterdam, some to the Hague, and others to Leyden. The congregation at the last-mentioned place was under the super- intendence of the Rev. JOHN ROBINSON, a divine who tempered the strictness of his religious principles with more liberality towards other denominations than many others of his brethren.1
1 Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, (Harpers' Ed.) 149, 242, 244.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
After residing here a number of years, many causes combined CHAP to render these people dissatisfied with the country as a perma- V. nent abode. The soil they considered too marshy, and the 1618. climate unwholesome. They felt disinclined, also, to continue under a government, where, by difference of language and hab- its, and by intermarriages, they might finally lose all love for and connection with their native land, and be swallowed up by, and disappear among, the subjects of a foreign nation. To per- petuate their race, to enlarge the British dominions, and to spread the glad tidings of the gospel, the younger portion of Mr. Robinson's congregation determined to remove beyond the seas, unto some country not already inhabited, there to enjoy freedom of conscience and civil liberty, after their own pecu- liar opinions. Moved by these considerations, they had al- ready made frequent applications to the authorities in England for permission to emigrate to some part of America bordering on Virginia, with the view of planting a new colony there. By the interference of powerful friends they obtained such a pro- mise as encouraged them to proceed in their project.1 But 1619. after a lapse of some years, fresh obstacles arose, so disheart- ening, that Mr. Robinson now caused an intimation to be conveyed to the Dutch Company engaged in trading to New Netherland, of the disposition felt by several of his flock to proceed, under certain conditions, to the last-mentioned country.
The managers of that company were too shrewd not to per- 1620. ceive at once that an opportunity for promoting the settlement of New Netherland here offered itself, which it would be un- wise not to embrace. They, therefore, took the earliest occa- sion to call the attention of the authorities of the United Pro- vinces to the subject ; and with that view addressed a memo- Feb. rial to their High Mightinesses the States General, and a most 12. respectful letter to the Prince of Orange.
Having detailed, in the latter communication, the fact that they had previously traded for several years to New Nether- land, under the charter of 1614, and that another free city pro- posed now to send two ships to that country for trading purposes
1 Hubbard's Hist. New England, (Mass. Hist. Soc. Col. vii.) 42, 44, 45, 46, 47.
84
HISTORY OF
BOOK also, they advert, in favorable terms, to the proposition which ~ they had received from the Rev. Mr. Robinson, and to the 1. 1620. necessity of colonizing the island Manhattan. "It now hap- pens," say they, " that there resides at Leyden an English clergyman, well versed in the Dutch language, who is favor- ably inclined to go and dwell there. Your petitioners are as- sured that he knows over four hundred families, who, provided they were defended and secured there by the authority of your Royal Highness, and that of the High and Mighty Lords States General, from all violence on the part of other poten- tates, would depart thither with him, from this country, and from England, to plant, forthwith, everywhere there the true and pure Christian religion ; to instruct the Indians of those countries in the true doctrine ; to bring them to the Christian belief; and, likewise, through the grace of the Lord, and for the greater honor of the rulers of this land, to people all that region under a new dispensation; all under the order and command of your Princely Highness, and of the High and Mighty Lords States General.
" Your petitioners have also learned that His Britannic Ma- jesty is inclined to people the aforesaid lands with English- men ; to destroy your petitioners' possessions and discoveries, and also to deprive this State of its right to these lands, while the ships belonging to this country which are there during the whole of the present year, will apparently and probably be surprised by the English."
The petitioners concluded by requesting a favorable consid- eration for their request ; so that, for the preservation of these lands in righteousness, the aforesaid clergyman and families might be taken under the protection of the United Provinces, and two ships-of-war be provisionally furnished for the security of those transatlantic possessions, which will, they allege, be of considerable importance, on account of the vast quanti- ty of timber fit for ship-building and other purposes which they could supply, "when the West India Company would be formed."1
The Prince of Orange and the States General were now,
1 Hol. Doc. i. 94, 95, 96, 97, 98.
85
NEW NETHERLAND.
however, absorbed in the consideration of matters of much CHAP. greater moment, and of vastly greater importance, than the V. colonization of a distant and uninhabited island, or the strug- gles for rights of conscience of a few obscure Englishmen, who, however favorably esteemed and spoken of by the magistracy and people, generally, who knew them, were looked upon in Holland with a jealous eye by the established clergy, who regarded them as a set of discontented, factious, and con- ceited men, with whom it would be safest to have no con- nection.1
The twelve years' truce which had been agreed upon be- tween the Seven United Provinces and Spain, was now about to terminate. The Archdukes, laboring under a delusion common to those who have forever lost the affections of their subjects whose confidence they have abused, sent a proposi- tion to the States General again to return to their allegiance and subjection under the Spanish crown, with an assurance that should that proposition be accepted, it would be ratified not only by the Archdukes, but, also, by the Spanish monarch. But this insulting offer was scornfully rejected, and both par- ties prepared for the renewal of hostilities.2 To aid in carry- ing out that war, offensive and defensive, by which it was proposed to prostrate a proud enemy, and to secure at the same time the permanent independence of the nation, the States General determined to concentrate the energies and capital of the various merchants who were now engaged in the Amer- ican and West Indian trade, by erecting an armed mercantile association, on the plan of the East India Company, which would be invested exclusively with the commerce and territory of the New World, with power to erect fortifications, plant settlements, prosecute trade, and assist in crushing piracy and the common enemy. They, therefore, decidedly refused to entertain the petition of the New Netherland Company, or to April grant the ships of war as requested.3 11.
Thus was changed the destination of that small band of men, who, in the midst of the rigors of a northern winter, on
1 Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, [Harpers' Ed.,] 242 ; note.
? Vaderlandsche Hist. x., 419, 420.
3 Hol. Doc. i., 103.
1620.
86
HISTORY OF
BOOK the rocky and inhospitable shores of Cape Cod, laid the foun- 1. dations, this year, of a Republic, which, in the Providence of 1620. ALMIGHTY GOD, was to serve, in after ages, as an asylum for the oppressed of every land, and to vindicate, practically and triumphantly, man's fitness for self-government, unembarrassed by privileged peers or hereditary monarchs.1
Dutch navigators were, in the mean time, actively engaged exploring the coasts and rivers of New Netherland. Among these none seem to have been more enterprising than Captain Cornelis Jacobsen Mey, of Hoorn, who returned this summer to Holland with his ship, the Glad-Tidings, [de Blyde Boods- Aug. chap,] and sent in a memorial to the States General, setting 29. forth that he had discovered new, populous, and fruitful coun- tries, and demanding a special grant to trade exclusively thither for four voyages, in accordance with the charter of March, 1614. But against this Henry Eelkins, Adriaen Jansen En- gel, and partners, made a strong remonstrance. They alleged that they had, already, discovered from latitude 35° to 50°; that the exclusive trade to those parts belonged, consequently, to them ; and they concluded by urging the rejection of Mey's petition, and that they be authorized to continue the trade.
1 Some historians represent that " the Pilgrims" were taken against their will to New Plymouth, by the treachery of the captain of the Mayflower, who, they assert, was bribed by the Dutch to land them at a distance from the Hud- son River. This has been shown, over and over again, to have been a calumny, and if any farther evidence were requisite, it is now furnished, of a most con- clusive nature, by the petition in behalf of the Rev. Mr. Robinson's congrega- tion, of Feb., 1620, and the rejection of its prayer by their High Mightinesses. That the Dutch were anxious to secure the settlement of the Pilgrims under them, is freely admitted by the latter. Gov. Bradford, in his Hist. of the Ply- month Colony, acknowledges it, and adds, that the Dutch " for that end made them large offers." Winslow corroborates this in his " Brief Narrative," and adds, that the Dutch " would have freely transported us [to Hudson River], and furnished every family with cattle," &c. Young's Chron. of the Pilg., 42, 385. The whole of this evidence satisfactorily establishes the good-will of the Dutch people towards the English; while the determination of the States General proves that there was no encouragement held out by the Dutch government to them to induce them to settle in their American possessions. On the contrary, having formally rejected their petition, they thereby secured themselves against all suspicion of dealing nnfairly by those who afterwards landed at Cape Cod. It is to be hoped, therefore, that, even for the credit of the Pilgrims, the idle tale will not be repeated.
87
NEW NETHERLAND.
The States General recommended both these parties to CHAP. meet and to arrange amicably their conflicting pretensions,
1620.
V. but, for reasons already detailed, their High Mightinesses re- fused eventually to grant the privileges which had been de- Nov. 6. manded, and afterwards supplanted all private adventurers to those parts by the incorporation, in the course of the next year, of that great armed commercial association, the DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY.1
1 Hol. Doc., i., 104, 105, 106.
BOOK II.
FROM THE INCORPORATION OF THE DUTCH WEST INDIA COM- PANY, TO THE OPENING OF THE FUR, OR INDIAN TRADE TO THE INHABITANTS OF NEW NETHERLAND. 1621-1638.
CHAPTER I.
Charter of West India Company-Its various provisions-Comparison between it and those granted to other Companies for making settlements in America -Company did not commence operations immediately-Various vessels licensed to proceed, meanwhile, to New Netherland-Excite considerable jealousy among the English interested in planting Virginia and New England, who remonstrate to King James against the Dutch-English Ambassador at the Hague urges the States General to stay the departure of the Dutch ships-Their High Mightinesses disclaim all knowledge of the enterprise-English Ambassador's explanation thereupon to King James- Dutch vessels proceed, notwithstanding, on their voyage-Several families desire to move to New Netherland-States General refer the matter to the West India Company-They approve of the design, but suggest that its execution be postponed until a Director-General be appointed.
THE charter establishing the Dutch West India Company BOOK bears date the third of June, 1621. It was modelled after 11. that granted in the beginning of the seventeenth century to the June 3. 1621. celebrated East India Company, with which body it was de- signed to co-operate in extending national commerce, in pro- moting colonization, in crushing piracy, but, above all, in hum- bling the pride and might of Spain.
The central power of this vast association was divided, for the more efficient exercise of its functions, among five branches or chambers, established in the different cities of the Nether- lands, the managers of which were styled Lords Directors. Of these, that of Amsterdam was the principal, and to this
12
90
HISTORY OF
BOOK was intrusted the management of the affairs of New Nether- II. land The general supervision and government of the com- 1621. pany were, however, lodged in a board or assembly of NINETEEN delegates ; eight (increased in 1629 to nine) of whom were from the chamber at Amsterdam ; four from Zealand; two from Meuze; and one from each of the cham- bers at Friesland, the North Department, and Groeningen. The nineteenth was appointed by their High Mightinesses the States General.
Apart from the exclusive trade of the coast of Africa, from the tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope, and of the coast of America, from the Straits of Magellan to the extreme north, this company was authorized to form alliances with the chiefs of the native Indian tribes, and obligated to advance the settlement of their possessions, encourage population, and do every thing that might promote the interests of those fertile countries, and increase trade. To protect their commerce and dependencies, they were empowered to erect forts and fortifi- cations ; to administer justice and preserve order ; maintain police and exercise the government generally of their transma- rine affairs ; declare war and make peace, with the consent of the States General; and with their approbation, appoint a governor, or director-general, and all other officers, civil, military, judicial, and executive, who were bound to swear allegiance to their High Mightinesses, as well as to the com- pany. The director-general and his council were invested with all powers, judicial, legislative, and executive, subject, some supposed, to appeal to Holland; but the will of the company, expressed in their instructions, or declared in their marine or military ordinances, was to be the law in New Netherland, excepting in cases not especially provided for, when the Roman law, the imperial statutes of Charles V., the edicts, resolutions, and customs of Fatherland, were to be received as the paramount rule of action.1
1 Droit Belgique, observé dans les dix-sept Provinces des Pays-Bas et Liége, est composé, 1, des édits, placards, ordonnances, et déclarations des souverains ; 2, des coutumes particulières des villes et territoires ; 3, des usages généraux de chaque province ; 4, du droit Romain ; 5, des statuts et réglemens politiques des villes et autres communautés séculières ; 6, des arrêts des cours souverains ;
91
NEW NETHERLAND.
The States General engaged, among other things, to secure CHAP. to the company freedom of navigation and traffic within the~ 1. prescribed limits, and to assist them with a million of guilders, 1621. equal to nearly half a million of dollars ; and in case peace should be disturbed, with sixteen vessels of war and four yachts, fully armed and equipped ; the former to be at least of three hundred, and the latter of eighty tons burden. But these vessels were to be maintained at the expense of the company, which was to furnish, unconditionally, sixteen ships and fourteen yachts, of like tonnage, for the defence of trade and purposes of war, which, with all merchant vessels, were to be commanded by an admiral appointed and instructed by their High Mightinesses.1
Though the provisions of this charter contained nothing favorable to freedom, nor to the colonists who might happen to settle at any future time in New Netherland, it must not be concluded that the authorities from which it was derived were more unfriendly to freedom than the other European powers, who were engaged at this period in establishing plantations in America. In truth, the project, as well as the company, was one purely commercial, set on foot with the view of bringing additional resources to bear against the common enemy, Spain, and no precedents existed for charters to colonial associations more favorable than the one before us. The only settlements on the North American continent by authority of any crown, were those of Florida, Canada, and Virginia ; and neither of these affords any proofs of greater liberality than that to the Dutch West India Company.
The commissions issued by France previous to, and at this
7, des sentences des juges subalternes ; 8, des avis et consultations d'avocats. Il y a plusieurs contumes particulières dans les Pays-Bas ; les unes qui sont homologuées, d'antres qui ne le sont pas. Les premières, avant leur homologa- tion, ne consistoient que dans une simple usage sujet à être contesté. Les homologations ont commencé au tems de Charles Quint. Depuis leur ho- mologation elles ont acquis force de lois .- Encyclopédie Raisonnée, verbo " DROIT."
1 For this charter, see Appendix A ; also, De Laet, Hist. ofte Jaerlyck ver- hael. Aitzema, Historie i., 62 ; Johan Thasseus' Zeepolitie ; “ een seer net ende curieus Boeck," says Aitzema ; Hazard's State Papers, i., 121. Groot Placaat Boek i., 566
92
HISTORY OF
BOOK period, authorized those to whom they were addressed to dis- II. cover and take possession of new countries ; build forts and 1621. concede lands and carry settlers thither ; and conferred on the principal adventurers, whether private individuals or compa- nies, the exclusive trade of those parts.1 Under commissions such as these, containing no principles or privileges favorable to colonists, were founded, by companies of speculators, the cities of Quebec and Montreal.
By reference to the patent granted by Queen Elizabeth, in 1578, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, it will be found that he was "authorized and empowered, from time to time, to correct, punish, pardon, and govern, and rule, according to his own good discretion, and to such statutes and ordinances as shall by him be devised," " as well in causes capital or criminal as civil," all such people as may thereafter inhabit the countries he may discover ; such laws to be, "as near as conveniently may, agreeable to the laws and policy of England." The same power was given to Sir Walter Raleigh.2 By the first Vir- ginia charter, granted in 1606, each of the colonies of Virginia and Plymouth was to be governed by a council appointed by the king, according to instructions under the sign manual, sub- ject, at the same time, to the superior direction of the compa- ny's council in England. The second charter, granted in 1609, repeated the clause of Queen Elizabeth's patent of 1578, con- ferring unlimited powers on the governors of the colony, who were to be appointed and removed, not by the sovereign, nor by the colonists, but by the London Company, which was also authorized to make "all manner of laws" necessary for the government of the same, and to abrogate them at pleasure. In cases where such laws were defective, the colonies were to be ruled " according to the good discretion of the company's governors," who had, moreover, the power to use and exercise law martial in case of rebellion and mutiny, which law, the
* Vide Commissions to the Marquis de la Roche, 12 January, 1598; to Chauvin, anno 1600; to Desmonts, 8th Nov., 1603. They may he seen in Mem. sur l'Amérique, tome iii., pp. 47, 53. See, also, Act of Incorporation of the Hundred Associates, by Richelieu, May, 1628, in Charlevoix, vol i.
2 Hazard, State Papers, i., 26, 36.
93
NEW NETHERLAND.
historian says, " continued to be the common law and custom CHAP. of the country down to 1619."]
1. 1621.
Even as far down as 1628, the provisions of English colo- nial charters were not much more liberal. The charter of Massachusetts, granted by Charles I., in March of that year, seven years subsequent to that granted by the States General to the West India Company, although it gave the company in England the privilege of electing their governor, deputy gov- ernor, and other officers, carefully excluded the colonists from all such privileges ; for it provided, that all the officers em- ployed in the plantations "may by the company be empow- ered," in the words of Queen Elizabeth's patent to Sir H. Gil- bert, granted fifty years before, "to correct, punish, pardon, and govern, and rule all subjects as may venture to the colony," according to the laws made by the association in England ; and the governor and company declare, in 1629, only one year before their departure for America, that they have thought fit to settle and establish " an absolute government" at their plan- tations in Massachusetts Bay,2 consisting of a governor and council; the latter composed of thirteen persons, two of whom, only, were to be elected "by the planters generally." All must admit this to have been a mockery of free institu- tions, or representative government.
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