USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
Chamber of Accounts.
The " Rekenkamer," or Chamber of Accounts, which consisted of two deputies from each province, was estab- lished in 1607, to relieve the Council of State from the management of the details of the collection and disburse- ment of the revenue.
Stadthold- er.
The stadtholder was captain general, and admiral of the land and naval forces of the republic. His dignity was originally not hereditary, but elective by the provinces. During war he disposed of all military grades, and con- ducted all military operations as general in chief. The stadtholder being at the same time admiral of the naval forces of the republic, the commanders of the separate fleets were called "lieutenant admirals." The stadthold- er might at any time enter the hall of the States General to propose public measures. But he had no vote, and no right to deliberate. During his presence debate was sus- pended ; and when the object of his visit was attained, he left the Assembly. After William I., the dignity of stadt- holder was continued, by successive elections, in the fam- ily of the Prince of Orange until 1672, when William III. procured it to be made hereditary.
The Admi- ralty.
There were five colleges of the Admiralty ; the first at Rotterdam, the second at Amsterdam, the third at Hoorn, the fourth at Middleburg, and the fifth at Harlingen, in' Friesland. They watched over the defense of the coasts ; furnished convoys ; equipped the fleets ; judged in prize
451
THE PROVINCE OF HOLLAND.
cases, and in cases of fraud against the revenue; and nom- CH. XIII. inated subaltern naval officers.
Of all the provinees, Holland was the most important, by reason of its population and its wealth. Hence its name was often applied to the confederacy, and the inhabitants of all the United Provinces were frequently called " Hol- landers," by way of eminence. Being the richest and most populous of the provinces, Holland soon obtained an as- cendeney in the confederation which was not altogether unjust, since Holland, above all the others, bore most of the burden, and did most for the general service of the re- public .* By reason of this preponderance, the provincial states of Holland bore the title of " Edel, Groot, Mogende Heeren," Noble, Great, and Mighty Lords; while the states of the other provinces were addressed in the simpler style of " Edel Mogende." The provincial states of Holland Provincial were composed of deputies from the nobles, and deputies Holland. states of from the several towns. Of these, the number was indef- inite ; but the entire body of nobles had only one vote, while each of the eighteen towns had likewise a vote. The whole number of suffrages was thus nineteen, of which the nobles controled only one.
The chief magistrate of the province was at first called Grand Pen- the Advocate General, and afterward the " Grand Pension- Holland. sionary of ary." He had great influence in the states; for though he could not vote, his advice was always asked in affairs of moment. He was elected for five years by the states, but was generally continued in office during life by re- election. He propounded subjeets of discussion ; was the keeper of the great seal of Holland, and the speaker or presiding officer of the states ; and was their permanent
* By a regulation of the Council of State of the 10th of December, 1612, the fixed rata- bility of the several provinces was thus assigned :-
Holland. gl. 57 14 8
Friesland. 11 10 11
Zealand 9 1 10
Groningen. 5 15 6
Utrecht 5 15 5
Guelderland 5 11 2
3 10 8
Overyssel.
Total (including Drenthe) 100 0 0
1648. Province of Holland.
452
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIII. special representative in the assembly of the States Gen- 1648. eral. In cases of differences of opinion, he was generally engaged in overcoming the scruples of the minority ; be- ing, according to Grotius, vox publica libertatis, præit suadendo, componit dissidentes; " the voice of public lib- erty, he influences by persuasion, and reconciles the dis- senting." He was in truth the eyes, ears, and mouth of the provincial states.
The " Gecommiteerde Raden," or College of Council- Gecommit- men, was composed of ten deputies ; one from the body of nobles, and nine from the towns. It watched over the finances of the province, and decided in suits between the farmers of the revenue and the tax-payers. It also had jurisdiction over the military affairs of the province ; and two of its deputies were constantly members of the States General.
The sovereign power of the province did not, however, The sover- reside in the states of Holland, but in the constituencies eignty in the people. of the deputies. The real authorities were the college of nobles, and the municipal councils of the towns. To them each deputy was responsible for his vote, and under their instructions alone he acted. Thus the government of Hol- land, in fact, rested mainly upon its people.
Trained in a school of diversified industry, the Dutch Industrial and demo- of the Dutch. embodied in the form of their government the principles cratic spirit which ages of stern experience had implanted in the na- tional mind. The early and constant necessity for the construction of dikes gave them a habit of union and good- will, and imbued them with a propensity to reciprocal jus- tice, because, by unanimity and honesty alone could their country be saved from the sea. They were forced by na- ture to be industrious from the first. Their labor-trained energies were essential elements of their national wealth and happiness. They relied upon themselves. Their first political lessons were lessons in self-government. And thus one of the earliest schools of modern democracy was es- tablished in Holland .*
* Basnage; Davies ; Meyer, Inst. Jud., iii., 22-25; Rev. Dr. Bethune.
eerde Ra- den.
453
THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS OF HOLLAND.
The most striking feature in their political organization CH. XIIJ. was localism. Holland was an aggregate of towns, cach providing for its own defense, administering its own finan- 1648. Localism. ces, and governing itself by its own laws. The inhabit- ants of the towns were not, however, all upon an equality. To entitle a resident to every municipal franchise, the "burgher recht," or burghership, must be acquired. This Burgher- burghership was generally obtained by the payment of a ship. sum of money, and the registry of the citizen's name upon the roll of burghers. It was hereditary ; it could pass by marriage ; and it could be acquired by females as well as by males. Foreigners, also, after a year's probation, eould become burghers. The burgher right gave to the citizen freedom of trade, exemption from tolls, special privileges and favors in proseeutions, and an exclusive eligibility to municipal office. The burghers were, generally, mer- chants and tradesmen. The several trades and profes- Guilds, or sions formed themselves into separate associations called tions. associa- "guilds," or fraternities, the members of which were bound to assist each other in distress, and stand by each other in time of danger. Each guild inhabited, for the most part, a separate quarter of the town ; was organized as a mili- tary company ; fought under its own standard ; and was presided over by a " Dekken," or Dean.
The government of each town was administered by a Municipal " Wethoudersehap," or Board of Magistrates, consisting of ments. several burgomasters, and a certain number of sehepens, or aldermen. This board of wethouders provided for the public safety, attended to the police, mustered the burgh- er guard in case of danger, administered the finances, and assessed the taxes to be paid by each individual. In gen- eral, the term of office was annual. . The burgomasters Burgomas- and schepens were chosen by the eight or nine " good men" Men, and ters, Nine eleeted by the "Vroedschap," or great council of the town, schap. Vroed- which was itself composed, in most cases, of all the inhab- itants who possessed a certain property qualification. There was also another important officer, named the " schout," who, in carly times, was appointed by the schout.
454
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIII. Count, out of a triple nomination by the wethouders. The 1648. functions of the schout-whose name, according to Gro- tius, was an abbreviation of " schuld-rechter," or a judge of crimes-were somewhat analogous to those of bailiff, or county sheriff; combining, however, with them some of the duties of a prosecuting attorney .* Thus the towns themselves were aggregates of voluntary associations of burghers; and the burghers, looking upon their towns as, to a certain extent, their nation, firmly insisted, through all vicissitudes, on being governed by representatives of their own classes.
Effects of the munici- The local municipal system of the Dutch, which jeal- pål system. ous enemies continually prophesied would end in disunion, was, in truth, their salvation. Bound together by the strongest ties of reciprocal interest, the community of fam- ilies, of guilds, of towns, of provinces, became invincible. Subjugation was impossible, when each individual city, was endued with the spirit of the whole province, and each province was a fresh nation to conquer. As the only form of political liberty which the Dutch had really known was localism, so, in the organization of their general gov- ernment, they only expanded the system which was the very core of their existence. The self-relying burghers governed the towns ; the representatives of the towns and of the rural nobility governed the several provinces ; and . the several "states" of the respective provinces claimed supreme jurisdiction within their own precincts. The dep- uties which each constituent province sent to the States General were rather envoys, with limited powers, than plenipotentiary representatives. They had explicit in- structions which they dared not exceed ; and in every case of importance they were obliged to ask the directions of their Provincial Legislatures. Thus jealously did the Dutch restrain the limits of the political power they in- trusted to their representatives.
The States General was, in one sense, an aggregate as-
* Guicciardini, ii., 160-180; Grotius, Inleyding, 127 ; Meyer, Inst, Jud., iii., 160-186; Van Leeuwen's Roman Dutch Law, i., 15; Van der Linden, i., ch. ii., 6 4; Wagenaar, Besch. van Amst., iii., 141-161, 269-355 ; Davies, 1., 76-90 ; ante, p. 326, 327 ; post, p. 474.
455
SOCIAL RESULTS OF THE DUTCH SYSTEM.
sembly of the states of the provinces, cach of which might CH. XIII. send an unlimited number of deputics .* The votes, how- ever, were taken, as we have already seen, not according 1648. Provincial to the number of individual deputies, but according to the equality in the States General. number of the provinces represented ; and there were, there- fore, never more than seven. By this system, each prov- inec maintained its own duc weight and influence in the affairs of the republic. The doctrine of State Rights, Doctrine of State which forms so vital a principle in the American confed- Rights. eration, was, from the first, a distinguishing characteristic in the union of the provinces of the Netherlands.
· The results which followed this union of self-confiding Social re- communities in one firm association signally attested the Dutch po-
sults of the wisdom of the Dutch in thus making their national gov- tem. litical sys- ernment reflect the national mind. All were stimulated to a noble competition ; all felt a personal interest in the common weal and the common woe. The nobles of Hol- land had the wisdom to identify their interests with those of the people; and, in return, the nobility were permit- ted, without jealousy, to enjoy a large share of political influence and public honors. "Those families who live upon their patrimonial estates," says the courtly but can- did Temple, " are differently mannered from the traders, though like them in garb and habit.' Their youth are generally bred up at schools and universities ; and when they are rich, they travel for some years, after the course of their studies at home. The chief end of their breeding is to make them fit for the service of their country." Thus educated for the business of state, it is not surprising that the descendants of the old Dutch nobles were intrusted by a business people, who esteemed fitness above all things. with a greater proportion of important public functions than were conferred upon men of their own order.t At the same time, the constitutional government of Holland seems from the first to have recognized the principle that her great commercial interests could be adequately repre-
* Basnage, i., 14, 15. When the Twelve Years' truce with Spain was ratified at Ber- gen-op-Zoom, eight hundred members attended the meeting of the States General.
t Temple, ch. iv. ; Har. Misc., ii., 599.
456
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIII. sented only by commercial men. The success of the 1648. Dutch was attributed, by a shrewd observer, to the lead- ing circumstance that, "in their greatest councils of state and war, they have trading merchants, who have not only the theoretical knowledge, but the practical experience of trade."* This happy absence of class jealousies consoli- dated the social as well as the political constitution of the republic ; and thought, speech, enterprise, and commerce, unfettered by illiberal regulations, assured the prosperity of the wise people who so earnestly, so steadily, and so successfully vindicated their capacity to govern themselves.
Prosperity . of the Dutch.
And great, indeed, was their prosperity. It was not because Holland enjoyed great natural advantages. On the contrary, nature gave her a sandy and marshy soil. The surface of Holland is flat, like the sea in a calm, and looks as if, after a long contention, it had been divided be- tween land and water. The elements are there at con- stant variance. The fat soil is made into turf and burn- ed ; the excavated land is drained by countless wind-mills. Not a block of stone nor an ore of metal can be found within her territory. The granite with which the Dutch faced their dikes and built their palaces was brought from other lands. Their country yielded them "almost nothing out of its own bowels."t All the corn which was raised in Holland was not sufficient to feed the men employed in keeping the dikes in repair. Yet the indefatigable people who inhabited this barren region became one of the rich- est in the world. An infinity of sails crowded her endless canals. The Rhine and the Maese brought down the com- modities of Germany to the magazines of her merchants, who, in the days of her power and glory, were accustomed to "vent them by their shipping into all parts of the world where the market calls for them."# . In the year 1650, the whole population of Holland was estimated at two millions four hundred thousand souls. Of these, De Witt supposed that six hundred and fifty thousand lived by manufactur-
t De Witt, i., ch 9.
* Sir J. Child, Discovery of Trade.
# Har. Misc., ii., 597.
457
PROSPERITY OF THE DUTCH.
ing articles for exportation ; as many more were employed CH. XIII. in trades, and in contributing to the pleasure, ease, or com- fort of those who dwelt at home; four hundred and fifty 1648. thousand subsisted by the fisheries, and other callings de- pendent on them ; two hundred and fifty thousand by nav- igation and commerce; two hundred thousand by agricul- ture ; and a like number by civil and military public serv- ice, by rents of land, or interest on invested capital, and by taxes for the support of the poor .* The whole Bata- Aspect of vian territory was only a little larger than Wales. "But Holland. all that narrow space was a busy and populous hive, in which new wealth was every day created, and in which vast masses of old wealth were hoarded. The aspect of Holland, the rich cultivation, the innumerable canals, the ever-whirling mills, the endless fleets of barges, the quick succession of great towns, the ports bristling with thou- sands of masts, the large and stately mansions, the trim villas, the richly-furnished apartments, the picture galler- ies, the summer-houses, the tulip beds, produced on En- glish travellers in that age an effect similar to the effect which the first sight of England now produces on a Nor- wegian or a Canadian."+
After the sack of Antwerp, the prosperity of Amsterdam Extensive began rapidly to increase. Her merchants, finding them- commerce selves prohibited from trading to Spain, boldly sought the ends of the earth, and, in spite of all the efforts of their en- emies, their expanding commerce soon covered every sea.
" Each waxing moon supplied her watery store, To swell those tides which from the line did bear Their brimful vessels to the Belgian shore."
Their exchange presently resounded with a confused hum of all the languages spoken by civilized man. The floor of the Burghers' Hall, in the magnificent stadthuys at Amsterdam, which was begun in 1648, was inlaid with marble, so as to represent maps of all the nations of the world-" a mute but eloquent expression of the all-em- bracing enterprise of the people." And thus the Dutch
* De Witt, i., ch. 8; McCullagh, ii., 279.
t Macaulay, i., 201.
158
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIII. soon rendered themselves the chief carriers of the world, 1648. and their country the chief depository of its productions. Without mines, or vineyards, or forests, there was nowhere such an abundance of metals, wines, and timber as in Holland ; and when, in years of scarcity, France and En- gland needed supplies of corn, "they looked not to Poland or Livonia, where it grew, but to the cities of the Dutch, where they were always sure to find a ready and plentiful store."* This constant abundance among the Dutch grew out of their liberal commercial policy. "The freedom of traffic," said De Witt, "has ever been greater with them Free Trade. than among any of their neighbors."t "The low duties of these wise states," said Raleigh, "draw all traffic to them, and the great liberty allowed to strangers makes a continual mart. And although the duties be but small, yet the vast exports and imports do greatly increase their revenues, which vast commerce enables the common peo- ple not only to bear the burden of the excises and imposi- tions laid on them, but also to grow rich."#
Universal toleration.
The liberal commercial policy of Holland was accom- panied by entire freedom in matters of faith, and by a generous statesmanship which offered a secure asylum to strangers of every race and creed. This universal senti- ment of toleration among the Dutch was neither a polit- ical expedient, nor the result of any state necessity. "It was the instinct, and habit, and traditional law of right in the heart of the nation, the observance of which they could boast, with honest pride, for ages."§ However much the clergy of Holland may have been inclined toward sect- arian exclusiveness, the magistrates and the people, who made the laws, were almost universally liberal. "The great care of this state has ever been to favor no particu- lar or curious inquisition into the faith or religious princi- ples of any peaceable man who came to live under the protection of their laws, and to suffer no violence or op- pression upon any man's conscience whose opinions broke
* McCullagh, ii., 265, 266.
# Raleigh's Observations to King James.
t De Witt, i., cap. ii.
§ McCullagh, ii., 169.
459
FREEDOM OF THE DUTCH PRESS.
not out in expressions or actions of ill consequence to the CH. XIII. state."* Attracted by this magnanimous liberality, fugi- tive Walloons from the Spanish Netherlands, Lutherans 1648. Foreigners attracted. from Germany, Puritans from England, Huguenots from France, Waldenses from Piedmont, and long-persecuted Jews from Portugal, found in Holland a cordial welcome and full employment. And the liberal-minded Hollanders received a prompt and abundant reward. New branches New Man- of manufactures were introduced and established, the un- establish- ufactures rivaled exeellenee of which soon commanded the markets ed. of the world. Even English cloths, sent to Amsterdam to be dressed and dyed, were shipped thenee to foreign coun- tries, and sold "by the name of Flemish Bayes," said Ra- leigh ; " so we lose the very name of our home-bred com- modities."t For ages, the linens and the paper of Hol- land maintained the highest reputation, and found a large consumption abroad.# The printing of books early became Publication an important branch of the national industry, and men of of books. taste and learning constantly superintended the press. The names of the Elzeviers of Leyden are still cherished with the sineerest respeet by all who have seen their ad- mirable editions, which, for aeeuraey and beauty of typog- raphy, are unsurpassed by the publieations of our own day. As long as an author abstained from uttering positive li- bels, he might promulgate whatever opinions he saw fit ; and the natural consequence of the freedom of the Dutch press was the publication of a vast number of books, the exportation of which for a long time formed a luerative branch of trade. The High Court of Holland was some- Liberty of times ealled upon to interfere, in eases of gross offense ; but press. the Dutch the plans which they more than onee suggested to the states, for restrieting the liberty of the press, were invariably re- jected.§ Thus it was that the people of the Netherlands became prosperous and great.
* Har. Misc., ii., 600 ; ante, p. 102. t Observations to King James.
t While examining the documents relating to New York in the English archives at London, I observed that many of the official dispatches to and from our colonial govern- ors, from the time of Colonel Nicolls down to the period of the Revolution, were written on paper bearing the Dutch water-mark.
6 Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., xc., 218 ; Davies, iii., 402.
460
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1648. Illustrious men of Hol- land.
CH. XIII. While the Dutch, as a people, were distinguished by talents perhaps more solid than brilliant, some of the most illustrious men of modern times were natives of Holland. In politics, none are greater than Barneveldt and the De Witts ; in arms, none excel Maurice and the other princes of Orange ; in naval affairs, none surpass Heemskerk, and Heyn, and Tromp, and De Ruyter. Holland was equally remarkable for intellectual superiority. Her Universi- ties of Leyden, Utrecht, and Groningen produced scholars equal to most, and superior to many. In the schools of divinity, few have obtained higher distinction than Agric- ola, Arminius, Cocceius, Episcopius, Gomarus, Junius, or Witsius. In classical accomplishments, few scholars have ever surpassed Gronovius, Heinsius, Scaliger, or Vossius. In philosophy and science, the world has assigned the highest place to Erasmus, Grotius, Plancius, Huygens, Jansen, and Spinosa. In medicine and surgery, none have excelled Boerhaave, and Ruysch, and Tulp. Among her own sons, Holland has found worthy historians in Bor, Brandt, De Laet, Hooft, and Van Meteren. In lighter lit- erature, also, the Dutch were not deficient; and, though the propensity of the people to rhyming perhaps corrupted the national taste, the illustrious names of Cats and Von- del are quite sufficient to rescue from contempt the poet- ical reputation of their Fatherland.
Eminent artists.
The Netherlands, too, can boast of having produced some of the most eminent artists. There were born Back- huysen, Cuyp, Gerard Dow, Hobbima, Mieris, Paul Pot- ter, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Van der Huyden, Vander- velde, Wouvermans, and many others of nearly equal ce- lebrity. The visitor at Gouda can not fail to render a trib- ute of admiration to the talents of the brothers Crabeth, who painted the magnificent glass windows in the cathe- dral, perhaps among the finest specimens of the art now existing. The engravers of Holland have been among the first in the world ; and the elaborate pulpit in the New Church* at Amsterdam to this day attests the eminence
* This building, though known as the " New Church," is more than four centuries old.
461
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DUTCH.
of her carvers in wood. The invention of the highest of Cu. X111 all the arts-that of printing-is confidently claimed for Lawrence John Coster, a native of Haerlem .* 1648.
The Dutch were eminently a plain-spoken, industri- Character- istics of the
ous, frugal, charitable, well-educated, and moral people. Dutch. Straight-forward simplicity and boldness of speech were al- ways their peculiar characteristics. Their blunt frankness Franknesy constantly drew upon them the satire of the rest of Eu- rope. In the meanness of his syeophaney to an ungrate- ful king, the bitterest couplet that Dryden could write about them was
" Well may they boast themselves an ancient nation ; For they were bred ere manners were in fashion."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.