USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. II > Part 32
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APPENDIX D.
mencement of native degradation, I know not. Here it was that Hudson saw some warriors of the Iroquois. Thus about the same time, Hudson introduced rum, and Champlain, gunpowder, for the destruction of the Five Nations. Descending the Hudson, and stopping occasionally, the friendly natives on all occasions gave them welcome; but the mate of the Half-moon seeing one of these poor creatures carrying off a trifle, the value or use of which was unknown to him, showed his superiour intelligence, civilization, and power, by shooting him. Panick-struck, the companions of the sufferer fled-the ship's boat was manned in pursuit-an Indian who was swimming, put his hand on the boat's gunwale, and it was struck off at a blow, by one of the Christians, and the bleeding wretch drowned. Thus it was that wherever Europeans came among the native Americans, they marked the spot with blood. On the 2d of October, the Half-moon returned to Manhattan.
Two of the unoffending natives had been against their will, seized somewhere in New York Harbour, and carried up the river by Hudson. They had escaped, and preceded the ship in her de- scent, no doubt communicating the story of their wrongs. The more recent injury and murders, doubtless had been told to the. river Indians, near Manhattan Island : and now, armed for revenge, the natives appeared in their canoes, and approached the ship. They discharged their arrows, and in return, by musketry and cannon, nine were killed, and the rest fled in dismay. Three or four days after this, Hudson put to sea.
APPENDIX D .- Vol. I., p. 34.
1606 JAMES I., by letters patent, granted to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hakluyt and others, all the territory in America lying on the sea coast, between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude : i. e. from Wilmington North Carolina to Canada : together with the Islands within 100 miles from the shore. The design was to colonize Virginia ; i. e. all the territory then so called, and, as usual to propagate Christianity, an excuse made for all the schemes of cupidity, conquest and mur- der which were adopted by the kings and people of that good old time. The patentees were divided into two companies, a south and north. The first was generally for the division since called Virginia, and the second for New England. The supreme go- vernment was vested in a council residing in England and appoint- ed by the king. A second council, likewise appointed by and
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APPENDIX D.
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directed by royal wisdom, was to reside in the colony. The colo- nists were to have all the rights and privileges of Englishmen, but (a glaring contradiction) no voice in governing themselves, the king and his council and his deputies framing all laws. The views of the patentees were gain alone, and by the shortest road. The views of James, judging by the code of laws he promulgated for the colonists, were more liberal. He made no pretence of juris- diction over the Indians, as the Spaniards had done ; and appeared to respect their personal liberties, while he gave away their country. It was in this year that Bartholomew Gosnold, Captain John Smith and George Percy embarked for Virginia : and in 1607, they and 150 others arrived in Chesapeake bay. Jamestown and James river received their names from these first Englishmen, who found- ed a permanent establishment in America. Smith was the hero of Virginia, and deserves every American's reverence. He and his associates are chargeable, however, with total neglect of the claims which the Indians had to their soil. It was taken from them unhesitatingly. The Dutch of Niew Nederlandt, and the Puritans of New England, had more enlightened views on this subject.
1609 A new charter was granted to a great company of adven- turers, and the colony in Virginia was consigned to Lord Delaware . as governour. Error, folly and tumult threatened the colony, which was again saved by Smith ; but an accidental per- sonal injury obliged him to return to England, where he died, June 21st, 1631.
1614 In this year, Captain Argall, the unprincipled scoundrel who seized Pocahontas to exact ransom from her father, was despatched by Dale, the governour of Virginia, on a piratical voyage against Port Royal. The French had in 1605, built Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy, (in Acadie.) Against this set- 1605 tlement in time of peace Argall went, plundered the place and 1614 dispersed the inhabitants ; but as he left no garrison, the French soon returned to their habitations. Argall, on his return voyage, visited Manhattan Island ; and the Dutch, (a few traders,) submitted to acknowledge theinselves tributary to Virginia ; but resumed their rights as soon as he departed. It was only in 1614 that the Dutch West India Company was licen- ced, and sent Block and Christiansee to New Netherland, where a few huts were erected for trading with the Indians. It 1615
was not until 1615 that these Dutch traders built a small fort on the island. In 1614 there was neither fort, nor
1621 governour, nor established government. In 1621, the States General granted New Netherland to the West In- dian Company ; and they sent a reinforcement to the settlers at
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APPENDIX E.
1623 New Amsterdam in 1623, by Captain May. In this year the Dutch in Manhattan built a fort on the bluff com- manding the point of the island, and probably had a chief man, captain or director, although we know of no authorized 1625 director-general, until Peter Minuit in 1625. Charles I., succeeding James, assumed arbitrary power over Virginia. Oppressed and discouraged by the tyranny of the king and his 'governour, Harvey, the colonists were attacked by the Indians, and another bloody struggle ensued. The threatened troubles 1639 in England induced Charles to relax his tyranny in Virginia, and the people regained a part of their rights, which occa- 1651 sioned the espousal of his cause by the colonists. The parliament reduced them. The celebrated Navigation Act 1652 decreed, that no production of Asia, Africa or America, should be imported into the English dominions except in vessels belonging to Englishmen, (or English colonists) the captain and majority of crew being Englishmen. Cromwell governed Virginia with wisdom, and allowed the assembly to choose, as gover- nour, Sir William Berkley. The Old Cavalier, at Cromwell's death declared for Charles II. He returned thanks to God, that there were no free schools nor printing ; "for learning has brought heresy and disobedience and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government : God keep us from both !" This was a fit king's governour of a colony.
APPENDIX E .- Vol. I., p. 38.
WITH a generous disposition, honest intentions, enthusiastick love of his profession, and much skill as a navigator, Henry Hud- son was not without faults ; and to these, as usual, his misfortunes may in part, if not altogether, be attributed. Some of these errours belonged to the time in which he lived. It was a grievous crime to seize men in New York Harbour, or any where else, and force them to accompany him and his ship, they knew not whither. Al- though he did not murder the man who had borne off some trifle from his ship in the North River, yet we do not find that he even reproved his mate, the second in command, for that act; and it was this same mate who was a principal in causing Hudson's dreadful death. When another Indian was murdered in the North River by one of the crew, we do not hear that he was even reproved for the barbarity. And we may reasonably suppose that the resent- ment of the natives who appeared hostile on the return of the Half-
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APPENDIX L'.
moon to Manhattan Island, might have been allayed by other means than in their blood. It was a fault likewise in Hudson, that he took with him, on his last voyage, any person who had been muti- nous, or otherwise guilty, during the preceding. He had in addi- tion, as it seems, refused to take with him a person chosen by his employers, and instead, placed his confidence in a youth called Henry Green, who had by his dissolute life reduced himself to beggary, and had been abandoned by his relatives and friends. Yet a forgiving disposition might have caused the one indiscretion, and a benevolent hope of rescuing Green from his evil courses might have caused the second. But that he was deceived in both, is evident. The mate who had triumphed in murder, was unfit to be trusted ; and the youth whose life had been passed in the de- baucheries of London, was more likely to deceive by his hypocrisy, and be guided by selfishness, than to be reformed by the benevo- lence of his benefactor. Thus, Green was taken on the voyage as the captain's clerk, instead of Colburn-chosen by the merchants who fitted out the expedition. But his evil habits, contracted by a life of sensuality, prevailed, to Hudson's destruction, over every good natural feeling or sense of gratitude. He had become depravedly selfish ; and the selfish man, whether a conquerour, like Napoleon Bonaparte, or a fugitive from starvation, like Green, will sacrifice the lives or happiness of others for his own gratifica- tion.
Before Hudson had passed the straits into the bay which bears his name, disseutions and mutinous conduct prevailed among his crew. Green had gained the favour of the captain, and domineered over others of the company. He had beaten the surgeon, quar- relled with some of the crew, and taken part with others, in their discontents. After Hudson, thinking that he was entering the In- dian Ocean, refused to take in victuals at Digges's Island, sought a passage by the south coast of the bay in vain ; on turning again to the north, his discontented crew, stimulated by the mate and boatswain, became so mutinous that the master displaced these officers and appointed others. This was cause of deadly enmity in the degraded officers. It is supposed that Hudson, on finding in- stead of the India passage, that he was embayed, became distracted, committed many errours, especially in resolving to winter in that deso- late region. It was now the last of October. The summer liad passed, while he was sailing to and fro, fruitlessly seeking an outlet where there was none. In November, he moored his ship in a cove, where she was frozen in, and remained until the next June. Here the carpenter with difficulty erected a shelter for the crew, and the remaining stock of provisions was shared among the men, rewards being offered for those who should by hunting, or fishing, add to the stock. For three months they subsisted on Ptarmagans and other
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APPENDIX E.
grouse. In the spring, they killed swans, wild geese, and ducks. Sickness afflicted many of the crew, and famine by degrees stared all in the face. They were reduced to feed on moss and the branch- es of shrubs. As the ice broke away, they obtained some relief, from fishing, and some from the natives of this dreary world who visited them.
- Hudson seeing the distant woods on fire, fitted out his shallop, and went in search of relief from the natives, but in vain ; he re- · turned, worse than he went. He now prepared to leave the dreary cove where they had passed seven months of misery. Hudson delivered all the bread out, which was one pound per man. And Habakuk Pricket says, that when he did so, he wept. They steered north-east, to find a passage from their icy prison-they caught a few fish-they were obstructed by ice-the discontents increased, and finally broke out in an open mutiny, headed by the infamous Green. Juett, the discarded mate, and Wilson, the reduced boat- swain, were now the friends of Green, and leaders in mutiny. The mate and boatswain thought themselves injured: but what cause had Green for hatred towards Hudson ? We are told that the gunner having died, his clothing, as is customary, was put up at auction, that the sailors might buy what they wanted, and the mo- ney resulting from the sale be kept for the heirs of the deceased. Green coveted a particular garment, but Hudson sold it to one who bid more. This is the supposed cause of the young man's enmity. But the real cause was the wicked disposition engendered by his previous evil habits while a debauched reveller in London. It is in vain that you give to the selfish : they require all; if you refuse the last thing coveted, you make an enemy by the refusal. Alexander wept because there were no more worlds to conquer- Bonaparte sacrificed millions because a part of the world rejected his sway-from the same disposition, Green doomed his benefactor to death, because he was denied possession of a garment he chose to crave.
The mutineers having determined to sacrifice Hudson, his son, his friends, and the sick men of the crew, and thus reduce the number to be fed, Green, in the latter part of June, came to Pricket in the dead of night, and disclosed the plot, wishing to save him and gain his influence with Sir Dudley Digges, when they arrived in England. Pricket endeavoured in vain to dissuade the conspi- rators from the execution of their design. Green urged that what they had sworn to do was the only means of saving the lives of a part, by sacrificing a smaller part, and Pricket, the narrator, ack- nowledges that he took an oath in conjunction with the mutineers; but it was to be true to God, his prince, and his country, in the action then in hand.
On the 22d of June, 1610, (which we may consider as the day
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APPENDIX F.
of Hudson's death,) upon his coming out of the cabin at the call of Juett, the discarded mate, two conspirators, John Thomas and Bennet Matthews, seized him by the collar, and Wilson, the boat- swain, stood ready to tie his hands behind him. He asked what they meant ? They answered, " You will know when you are in the shallop!" They drove all the sick people upon deck, and then forced them and the captain into the small boat, which they had ready to receive them. John King, the carpenter, and John Hud- son, the captain's son, who would not join the conspirators, but rather chose to share the fate of the honest and innocent, were added to the devoted crew of the boat; and thus were nine persons, assuredly the best of the ship's company, including the intelligent and honest Henry Hudson, committed in an open shallop to the merciless sea, without compass to guide, or food to sustain their strength.
The mutineers cut the fast which connected the shallop to the ship, and then set sail from the devoted victims as from their dead- liest enemies. The sufferings of these wretches were deservedly great : Green, Wilson, and some others were killed by savages at an island where they had landed. In the course of their home- ward voyage, the mutineers suffered the extremes of famine, and Juett, the mate, died of hunger. The least guilty of this crew arrived at Ireland on the 16th September 1611 ; from whence they were forwarded to the proprietors of the ship, in London.
APPENDIX F .- Vol. 1., p. 40-46.
1623 I ABSTRACT from General Jeremiah Johnson's translation, the conditions entered into and made, as I presume at this time, " between the lords, the Burgomasters, of the city of Amsterdam, and the West India Company, by the approbation of their high mightinesses, the States General of the United Netherlands," pre- sented to all who wish to go as colonists to New Netherlands, who are directed to apply to the Honourable Lord Coenrad Burgh, counsellor and ancient scheppen ; Henrick Roeters, upper com- missary of the Exchange ; Edwart Man, Isaac Van Beeck, Hector Pieteirz, and Joan Tayspel; commissioners and directors, ap- pointed by the Burgomasters, upon the authority of the council of the city, (Amsterdam) who shall hold their sittings provisionally, at the West India house, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in the after- noon at half past three o'clock.
1st .- The colonists, their families, household furniture and ne- cessaries to be found proper shipping, on the following conditions.
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APPENDIX F.
2d .- The city to make the best possible conditions with the ship owners and masters.
3rd .- The city to pay the transport money as an advance to the colonists, to be repaid as hereafter mentioned.
4th & 5th .- The city shall transport the colonists to a fruitful land, of temperate and healthful climate, on a salt water navigable river ; " For which an agreement has been made with the West India Company, and where no other persons can set up any claims."
· 6th .- The city " shall provide a suitable piece of land on the bank of a river, for a secure and proper dwelling place, provided with a trench and wall on the outer side, and the inner ground to be laid out in streets, a market and lots for the advantage of mer- chants, mechanicks, and agriculturists," the whole to be done at the cost of the city of Amsterdam.
7th & Sth .- Said city shall send to said place a capable school- master, who " shall be fore-reader of the Holy Scriptures, and a leader in psalmody." He to be paid by said city.
9th .- The colonists are to be provided with clothing and neces- saries for one year, and also with seed grains, by said city : and the city of Amsterdam, shall erect a large warehouse or magazine for the storage of clothing, and necessaries for the colonists, and keep a factor, who shall supply every colonist with clothing, house- hold necessaries and instruments of husbandry, at the same price as they bear in Holland; the toll of the company not to be charged.
10th .- Concerning the toll (commission) of the company that is to be paid according to rates annexed : and the tolls paid in the New Netherlands, shall be there expended in the erection, and support of such publick works, as shall be authorized by the city of Amsterdam and the West India Company.
11th .- The said fortified place whether it be called a city or town, " shall be governed for political justice, in the manner of succession, according to the present practice of the city of Am- sterdam."
12th .- " They shall first have a (Scout) sheriff as chief of police (Justitia) installed as is done here."
13th .- The scout shall be installed in the name of their High Mightinesses, and of the West India Company, for the deputies of Amsterdam, who for that purpose by procuration, shall give autho- rity to the directors.
14th .- There shall also be three burgomasters chosen by the common burghers, from the honestest, richest, and most capable men.
15th .- There shall be five or seven Scheppens, (magistrates) for
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APPENDIX F.
which purpose the burghers shall name, a double nuniber, from which a choice shall be made by the director, upon procuration, according to article 13th.
16th .- When the city or town shall have increased to the num- ber of two hundred families, or more, then the burghers shall elect a council of twenty persons, who shall assemble in council with the burgomasters and Scheppens, and resolve upon all subjects relating to the state of the said city. And this council, after it has been thus formed, shall have power to fill vacancies, (arising .in their number, by deaths or otherwise,) by ordering the election of other persons, by a fair majority of votes. Elections for the burgomas- ters, and for the council shall be held annually, " The said body shall also have the nomination of the double number of Scheppens from which the same shall be appointed as aforesaid."
We have seen, by Art. 14, that three burgomasters shall be cho- sen by the burghers ; and by Art. 15, that the burghers are also to nominate ten or fourteen persons, from whom the director is to choose five or seven as scheppens or magistrates. But (if I under- stand aright,) when the city has increased, then the burghers are to elect this third estate of representatives-a council of twenty- after which, this council of twenty (or that council in conjunction with the three bargomasters,) are to nominate the scheppens, instead of the mass of burghers, as at first.
17th .- The scheppens may give final judgment upon suits not exceeding one hundred guilders. For a sum above, the aggrieved party may appeal to the director and council.
1sth .- The scheppens may try criminal causes, but an appeal may be made from their decision.
19th .- The city of Amsterdam shall send a smith, a wheelwright, and a carpenter, to the new settlement.
20th .- The city of Amsterdam shall cause the new land adja- cent to the new settlement to be laid out in fields for tillage, and make roads to the same.
- 21st .-- To every person who wishes to pursue the cultivation of the earth, (or farming) there shall be granted as much cultivable land as he and his family can till, from twenty to thirty morgens or more, upon condition that all such land, within two years after it is granted, shall be brought into cultivation, upon pain of forfeiture, and of the same being granted to another.
22d .- No per centage is to be required on any land so granted for ten years from the time the land is sowed or mowed ; nor any horn-money nor salt-money. Neither shall the cultivators of sowed land be burthened at the expiration of the ten years, more, or at higher rates, than the inhabitants of neighbouring districts which are under the administration of the West India Company in the New Netherlands. They shall also be free from the tenths, for
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APPENDIX F.
twenty years from the time of the sowing or mowing as aforesaid : but on the expiration of said twenty years, a tenth shall be given to the city of Amsterdam, it being understood that half of said tenth shall be appropriated to the publick works and persons employed in the public service for repairing and preserving the same. And also, whenever any poundage or assessment is made, the same shall be employed for the erection and maintaining of the publick works as aforesaid.
23d .- The city of Amsterdam shall send ships from Holland for the produce of the colonists for their benefit, they consigning the freight to said city.
24th .- The city of Amsterdam shall provide warehouses in. Hol- land for the reception of said produce, and sell the same for the profit of the shippers, and invest and remit the proceeds to order, for a commission of two per cent., and one-tenth of the profit to reimburse said city for the money it has advanced for the transpor- tation of the persons and goods of the colonists until the advance is repaid and no longer.
25th .- The colonists may be supplied with necessaries from the city warehouse, at the set price. The accounts of such to be trans- mitted to Amsterdam.
26th .- The colonists may, for house or ship-building, and also for sale, cut any timber in the nearest woods of their district ; and any where within the jurisdiction of the West India Company in New Netherland, from land that has not been reserved or granted, " subject to the further conditions of the 2Sth Article."
27th .- " The burgomasters of Amsterdam, as founders, patrons, and having the jurisdiction, shall appoint a secretary-legate for advancing the subalterns."
2Sth .- " The hunting in the wilderness, as also the fishing in all waters and rivers which have not already been granted, shall be free to all the colonists ; subject to such regulations as shall be made under the authority of the States General."
29th .- The city of Amsterdam shall provide that all necessary implements shall be shipped for the colonists, free of all charges.
30th .- The discoverer of any mine or mineral is to possess it free from any impost for ten years ; then to pay to the company one tenth.
31st .- The city of Amsterdam shall provide a warehouse where- in goods intended for the colony may be inspected by a person appointed by the West India Company, and another appointed by the city ; which goods, after inspection, shall be marked by the marks of both, and the impost paid by the company.
32d .- The company shall oversee the shipment of the goods in vessels provided by the city.
33d and 34th .- If the city should send goods to New Amster-
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APPENDIX.
dam, they must be subject to the same regulations ; but the said goods may be sent direct to any warehouse the city of Amsterdam may have in New Netherlands, and to the agents of said city.
35th .- Provides the rates at which the produce of the colony shall be credited to the company by the city, all the charges being covered by 10 1-4 per cent. The tools used by mechanicks as well as the instruments of agriculture, were free of duty to the colonists.
" All the productions of the soil of New Netherland, including salted and dried fish, were exported free. Peltries paid from 8 to 10 per cent. In the New Netherlands, 4 per cent, in light money, . in addition, was charged upon all goods subject to any charges."
General Johnson made his translation in 1833, finishing it on the 4th July, that year. I have abridged some parts-those marked with inverted commas, are literally transcribed.
. APPENDIX G .- Vol. I., p. 47.
ALTHOUGH the first settlement on Long Island was made at the Waal Boght, (Walloon's Bay, or Wallabout,) near the United States Navy Yard, the first or earliest record of a deed for land in Brooklyn, is dated 1639, to Thomas Besker, at Gawanus. But there is a patent from Wouter Van Twiller to Andreis Hedden and Wolfert Gerritson. The first English settlement made on Long Island was made by Lyon Gardner, on Gardner's Island, considered a part of the larger island, and his first claim was confirmed by the agent of Lord Stirling, in 1639. In the reign of James I., of England, that monarch granted to Sir William Alexander a great part (or all,) of Nova Scotia, which grant was confirmed by Charles I., in 1625. Subsequently Alexander was created an Earl, by the title of Stirling; and he, to reward services done for him in Nova Scotia to further the settlement, made a per- son of the name of Etienne, and his heirs male, to all eternity Ba- ronets of New Scotland-to take precedence of all persons in said country-and the dignity to their wives and widows-and he grant- ed them certain coats of arms, and the right to wear an orange rib- bon, besides other honours and privileges equally valuable; but I do not find any gift, grant, or conveyance of land. However, in a subsequent paper from the same to the same, it is stated, that his majesty having granted all the country of New Scotland, " called by the French, Acayde," to William Alexander, in 1621, he
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