USA > New York > History of the state of New-York : including its aboriginal and colonial annals, vol. pt 1 > Part 27
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* 455, + $ 35. $ $ 36. 8:37 Nº 33, 40.
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Indians the knowledge of another evil, which, combined with the former, subsequently produced the most destructive effect among the natives. *
At the period of the memorable discovery of Henry Hud- son, to the development of which we were slowly approach- ing, we found that the great European powers claimed the ter- ritory within this State. We stated the limits of their con- flicting claims. We stated that the discovery of Henry Hud- sou took place in the administration of the celebrated Mau- rice of Holland, and that the Dutch republic (a sketch of which is given) was our first colonial parent. + We pointed out the remote canses of the glory ofthat republic, the employment of Henry Hudson by the Dutch East India Company, and the colonization of this State.\ We have shown that all those events resulted incidentally from repeat- ed attempts to explore a north passage to China,t then a great object of maritime adventure.§ In pursuit of the same object, a London company first brought to our notice the daring, skilful, and experienced Hudson, who, in their ser- vice, performed two voyages in 1607 and 8, | then proceeded to Holland ; and in the service of the Dutch East India Company, sailed in 1609 in pursuit of the supposed northern passage. Not more successful in this attempt than he had been in the two former, he formed a design of visiting the American conti- nent. He coasted it as far as the South Virginia Colony, re- trogradedT along the coast, and entered within Sandy Hook. After passing a week, he proceeded to the mouth of the river, which now perpetuates his name .** Previously to our de- scription of his exploring passage upon the river, we gave a slight topographical sketch of the islands and bays which he had now passed, and their ancient names. We also gave an account of the bay and river Indians, with whom he had in- terviews during his month's visit, together with the ancient names and courses of the river. if
₭ 441. 1 442, 44.
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if $ 50.
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Conclusion. [PART I.
We then traced Hudson's voyage to the utmost point to which his yacht sailed ; described some of the scenery as it probably then appeared to him, and mentioned some incidents which occurred with the natives .* During his visit near the spot upon which is the city of Albany, we observed his amicable reception and traffic with the natives, and described a remarkable scene, confirmed by tradition, which took place here, or at some spot in the vicinity of New-York, when Hudson first arrived .;
After designating the portions of the river to its sources and branches, which were unexplored by Hudson, and re- marking upon the undiscovered regions of the northern and western parts of this State ;f we then follow, in our descrip- tion, Hudson's return; his interviews and sea-fight with the natives ; his departure from the bay of New-York ; his arri- val in England, and his detention from Holland through the policy of King James.§
Finally, as Hudson's discovery led to the colonisation of New-York, his character and misfortunes become to its citi- zens an object of inquisitive solicitude. We have therefore succinctly narrated his fourth and last disastrous voyage.||
Having related the discoveries of our coasts and harbours, which were made under the auspices of England, France, Spain, and Holland, and stated their conflicting claims in consequence of those discoveries, we proceeded to the fourth division of the present part, and unfolded those principles of international law adopted by those powers, to test the validity of their respective claims ; which principles constitute the foundation of title to dominion over the soil of this State.
In these ante-colonial annals we have pursued a compre- hensive range of investigation, compatible perhaps with an introduction only. Some topics, however, apparently foreign, will hereafter appear to have been relevant, if not indispen-
* 8 51. + & ib. # @ ib. § § 52. 0 8 53.
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sable, to a complete History of the State. It may also, per- haps, be deemed, by some readers, that in our details we departed from the dignity of history, which, according to the prescribed rule of criticism, should not stoop to notice any thing " except what posterity, from some cause or other, would feel an interest to know." If we should follow this rule in its utmost latitude, and judge of the taste and feelings of posteri- ty by the standard that regulates those of our own times, we might record incidents of modern occurrence apparently tri- vial in their character, but which posterity would dwell upon with the same pleasure that the present generation do upon occurrences that wear the impress of antiquity, although at the time they happened, they also passed unheeded. If his- torians, therefore, should regard particularly the taste and feelings of posterity, they might sometimes offend those of the present generation. It may be perceived, therefore, that it would be difficult to limit the digni'y of history by any in- variable rule. History was once justly considered as one of the Muses, and her duty was to impart pleasure as well as instruction. Viewed in this light, we have endeavoured in the present work to engraft upon the monotony of chronologi- cal detail, some of the charms of novelty. And we do not doubt, if we could have added more antiquities, more traditions, and more incidents of the early times, we should still have presented an acceptable fund of pleasure to the cu- rious ; themes for contemplation to the philosophic ; and at the same time preserved in a visible and tangible manner the fleeting memorials of the olden time, from which the future poet and novelist will select materials to interweave with the creations of their fancies.
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[PART I.
Divisions of the History. General View of New-York.
IN the progress of our history, we shall adopt four divisions, embracing,
First : An historical sketch of the native proprietors of the soil, comprehended within our colonial limits, in their foreigo and domestic relations as a distinct and indepen- dent people; reserving, however, the details of such transactions as were connected with our colonial or state annals.
Secondly : The history of the colony of New-Netherlands, until its surrender by the Dutch to the English in 1664:
Thirdly : That of the province of New-York, including the period of its recapture and temporary repossession by the Dutch.
Fourthly : New-York, since it ceased to be a provincial part of the British dominions, and assumed its rank as an indepen- dent State.
This State has arisen to its present flourishing condition within two hundred and ten years. Its rapid transformation from a wilderness to the most populous member of a great and happy republic, is a phenomenon in the history of the pro- gress of society.
Embracing an area of about twenty-eight millions of acres,* the State contains a population, principally descended from Holland, Great Britain, France and Germany, of one million and a half. According to the ratio of its increase hith- erto, this number will amount to two millions in six years, and in thrice that period, will be equal, and in resources superior, to the English North American Colonies on the day of the declaration of their independence. If such shall appear to be the result, curiosity will be awakened to learn the causes why, during a century after its first settlement, the colony contain-
* For exact number, see Spafford's Gazetteer of N. Y. Sd ed. 1821.
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State of New-York. 321
ed only about 50,000 inhabitants,* and why, within thirty years since it became a free State, it has received an accession of one million, and will probably become, within two contu- ries and a half from its discovery by Henry Hudson, more populous, opulent, and powerful. than those thirteen colonies collectively, which, half a century ago, coped with the power of Great Britain, and constituted the original states of the na- tional confederacy.
But its prospects are not limited to that criterion. In ag- riculture, its territorial capacity may be calculated to sus- tain five or six millions of people ; but connecting the pro- ductive industry of an improved system of husbandry, with the energies of commerce and manufactures, we know not what boundaries can be fixed to the augmentation of the num- bers, power, and resources of the State. Situated in a tem- perate and healthy climate, free from the physical and politi- cal convulsions that have sometimes shaken and desolated the old world, and agitated portions of the new, it possesses at- tractions and advantages adapted to invite and cherish a dense population. Its topography displays variegated ranges of highlands, rich in minerals ; a diversified physiognomy of fertile dale and champaign ; ornamented by hundreds of lakes and streams, all naturally adapted to become the me- diums of vast systems of agriculture, manufactures, and com- merce.
How remarkably have these advantages been illustrated by the founders of the State and their descendants, since their emancipation from a feeble colonial government, and their adoption of a system, the theory of which was based upon principles of political and religious liberty, and its practice upon the purity and wisdom of the judicial legislature and executive departments. Aware of the
* 50,289 (of whom 7231 were blacks) in 1731. (Records of office of Secretary of State.)
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[PART I.
value and nature of such a system, they foresaw that its pros- perity and permanency would depend upon enlightened opin- ion and moral instruction ; consequently, we find already nearly 8000 common schools, where about 400,000 children are annually educated ; thirty-six incorporated academies, and five colleges,* where 4000 youth receive classical and scientific education. These fountains of learning have been liberally endowed, and their numbers are rapidly increasing. By the interest of a school and literature fund of two mil- lions; by an equal sum raised in school districts; by legislative and private munificence, more than one-fourth of the aggre- gate population are designed to become publicly instructed. Religion, also, being left free, its benign influence is widely perceptible. Three thousand churches and places of public worship, attest the devotion of a people, the aspirations of whose hearts are poured forth in every varied form which conscience may dictate to be acceptable to the great Bene- factor of the human family.
While the people are acknowledged as the sole fountain of political power, they hold the soil they cultivate free from entails. Untaxed to support by their toil the enormous pa- geantry of overgrown aristocracies, they reap where they sow, and gather where they reap. With a trifling deduction to support an indispensable civil list upon principles of economy, here genius and industry hoard their gains, and regulate their pursuits, without interference on the part of government. Accordingly, we find the aspect of society cheerful, intelli- gent, and diversified. The arts, sciences, learned profes- sions, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, go hand in hand, and form one harmonious system of employments, ba- lancing each other in the scale of political prosperity and social happiness. Agriculture engages the attention of three-fourths of the population, and yet six millions of acres only throughout,
* Including those of the Physicians and Surgeons.
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are under improvement. . Manufacture's and the arts are in their infancy, yet 10,000 mills, factories, and hydraulic labour-saving machines, are employed on the streams which flow through every section of the State, and which afford fa- cilities for an incalculable increase of productive industry. But commerce, availing itself of this great natural inland na- vigation, improved, as it soon will be, by the addition of more than four hundred and twenty-five miles of canal, and advan- tageously located in proximity to European markets, and central position in reference to the Atlantic states of the republic, has displayed an activity and an energy, that seem to admit of no proscribed boundaries for their future range and development. Three hundred thousand tons of ship- - ping are said to be employed. A commercial metropolis is dis- played, which, when first laid out as a city, one hundred and sixty-eight years ago, could not number more than about one hundred and twenty houses, and one thousand inhabitants, but during the present year, (1824) it exhibits about twenty-five thousand buildings, and contains nearly one-tenth of the entire population of the State, or about one hundred and fifty thou- sand inhabitants ; a city, which yields in tonnage and customs to the republic, nearly one half of its revenue ; supplies, with its various fabrics and wares, about seven hundred interior towns, twice that number of villages, four cities, and fifty-five counties, within the State ; is the great mart of exchange and emporium of commerce for the country, emphatically the London of the continent ; and from its recent indications of amazing prosperity, may, if not thrown back by any calamity, become in a century, the rival of the most populous and opu- lent commercial city on the globe .*
Where are the bounds to the prosperity of such a people ? Possessing a property, which, according to a very limited tax- able valuation, amounts to three hundred millions of dollars, and resources continually developing and improving; possess- ing a territory nearly equal in area to that of England, and
* Between 2000 and 3000 buildings are said to have been erected this year, (1824.)
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[PART I.
susceptible of as high a state of cultivation as that which dis- tinguishes the modern system of agriculture in that kingdom ; possessing civil, religious, and political priviliges which are not exceeded by those of any other people ; remote from the troubles, and aloof from the entangling policy of the transat- lantic world ; fortified at every point ; supplied with the mu- nitions of defensive war ; prepared with one hundred and fifty thousand well organized militia, to co-operate with the militia of other states, and with the national forces, if it should be- come necessary to repel any invasion of their inedpendence; where are the bounds to the prosperity of such a people ? Where is the example of a commonwealth, which in two centuries las realised a more rapid progress in all that endears and exalts the social compact? In contemplating the origin, rise, and growth of ancient empires ; in following nations in their progress from rudeness to refinement ; or in developing the resources and condition of any people, who, in so short a period, struggled through the gradations of poverty, weak- ness, and political vassalage, to the attainment of opulence, power, and freedom ; we may ask the question, whether the annals of the world afford a more illustrious instance than those of New-York, of a rapid and triumphant transition from the humiliation and debasement of the former, to the glory and prosperity of the latter ? Its first settlement was retarded by the incidental disadvantages of a location remote from the civilized world, surrounded by the terrors of a jealous, fierce, and revengeful people; its advancement will be found to have been marked by war, domestic factions, and revolution. It will appear to have been sometimes exposed to famine, sys- tematic invasion, predatory border incursion, massacre, and threatened extermination ; surrounded by these complicated impediments, the colony, notwithstanding, advanced towards maturity with the irrepressible strength of a young and healthy giant, displaying its physical and moral energies with a rapidity and an effect the most signal and astonishing. Forty-seven years ago New-York was almost exclusively in the possession of a victorious invader. The convention of armed patriots, who then adopted the Constitution of the State, were forced
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to fly from place to place, and when that sacred compact was finally settled, it was passed by a minority of about one-third of the members of the Convention, (the majority being absent on public duty,) and proclaimed almost in sound of the ene- my's cannon. When the colony, exhausted by a deso- lating war, rose to the acknowledged rank of an Independent State, its entire population was about two hundred thousand only. The State, we have seen, comprises more than seven times that number.
Since it emerged into political life, and indeed within the last ten years, a system of internal improvement has been pro- secuted, bold and comprehensive in its conception, unexpect- edly rapid in its progress, and momentous in its beneficial bearing upon the prosperity of the present and succeeding generations.
A retrospect of the causes and progress of all this prospe- rity will form the subject of our History. The character of man will appear in its variegated lights and shades, as display- ed in a savage and civilized, in a rude and refined condition.
To mark the migration, first settlements, gradual in- crease in population and resources of a people whose an- cestors might, perhaps, be traced to every nation of Europe; to delineate their manners, customs, habits, and employ- ment ; to develop their genius, and embody the spirit of the times; to trace the progress of arts, manufactures, com- merce, agriculture, literature, science, and the legal code, dur- ing their separate stages of advancement and improvement; to hold up for emulation all that has been illustrious in cha- racter and policy, and for censure, all that shall have appear- ed deserving public reprobation; to follow the vicissitudes and revolutions of the State, signalising those which have had a permanent influence upon its prosperity, and examining particularly the causes of that memorable revolution, which was the foundation of its past and future greatness; and to de- duce from the whole, an impressive moral and political lesson. salutary to the future destination of the people, are the va- rious, complicated. and interesting topics of the future pages of this History.
NOTES AND AUTHORITIES. PART I.
13" REFERENCES leading to a minute investigation of any topic, are in the body of the work : but in general, those (except manuscript communica- tions, &c.) which merely support the text, and notes not intimately con- nected with it, are placed at the end. In quoting from authors, conden- sation and brevity have been aimed at; and their language has therefore been rejected or modified, but preserved when it was best adapted to con- vey their meaning. In the future progress of this work, recourse will be had to a valuable collection of manuscripts, Besides those in the office of the Secretary of State, and the invaluable mass of original materials preserved through the liberal exertions of the New-York Historical Society, others, some of which were written by certain distinguished individuals deceased, directly upon our Colonial History, will be introduced. The materials for the present part of the History, embracing a period anterior to the existence of our written records, have been principally compiled from a great variety of publications in different languages. In so arduous an un- dertaking, precaution and vigilance, however scrutinising, could hardly gua- rantee to research an exemption from errors ; and criticism might no doubt detect many : but whatever they are, the author of the present part feels himself bound in justice to say, that they are not imputable to his associate, whose talents, in the intervals of his official duties, have been directed to a period of the history which, under the influence of his genius, will appear far more interesting than these ante-colonial annals.
(1.) As to the compass see Goguet's Hist. of Inventions. Robertson': Amer. B. I. Recs's Cyclo.
(2.) Roscoe's Sismondi, Vol. I. ch. 2.
(3.) Ib.
(4.) See Rob. Amer. B. I.
(5.) Clavigero's Hist. of Amer.
(7.) Hume's Eng. Vol. III. p. 428.
(7.) Sce a communication made to the N. Y. Hist. Soc. of a relic of an- cient days, dug up in Troy, and discovered far below the surface. In the neighbourhood of Neversink hills, New-Jersey, Maryland, &c. and near the Hudson River, evidences of human beings having existed there in ancient days, have been brought to light by excavations from 10 to 40 feet deep: Vol. I.
=
NOTES.
.
Dr. Ackerly's Geology of Hudson River, p. 18 to 22, 59, 60, 65, &c. Dr. Mitchill's Geol. of N. Amer.
(8.) Dr. Mitchill, in his Geol. of N. Amer., published in Cuvier's The- ory of the Earth, Vol. I. Archx. Amer.
(9.) Memoirs on the Antiquities of the western parts of N. Y.
(10.) Sce Atwater's Ant. in Vol. I. Arche. Amer. 1hạ
(11.) See Discourse on the benefits of Civil Hist. by H. Williamson, M.D. LL.D., Vol. II. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 23, 28. Rees' Cyclo. art. Antiquity.
(12.) Ib.
(13.) Ib.
(14.) Hunter's Manners and Customs of the castern tribes, p. 314. But the Creeks and others in their vicinity believed all nations descended from two brothers, one of whom (their ancestor) was red, the other white. Ex- tract of journal of Rev. Mr. Bolzius, one of the ministers of the transport of Saltzburgers, who emigrated to Georgia in 1733-4, under commissary Van Reck, p. 34, 38. The Caddos (or Caddoques, residing 35 miles west of the main branch of the Red River, and half a dozen other smaller nations, who claim the honor of a like descent, believe that when all the world was drowned by a flood, that inundated the whole country, the great spirit pla- ced on an eminence near their lake one family of Caddoques, who alone were saved ; from that family all the Indians originated. President's Message communicating to Congress Lewis & Clark's Discoveries 1806, p. 48.
(15.)' Anon. in Nat. Intell. and Comm. from John E. Wool, Inspector Gen. of U. S. Army, N. D.
(16.) Heckewelder in Vol. I. Phil. Hist. & Lit, Trans. p. 242-3.
(17.) The Osages universally believed that the founder of their nation . was a snail, that the heat of the sun ripened him into a man, who married a . young beaver, the daughter of an old one, who had disputed proprietary right to the Osage possessions; that from this union sprung the Wasbasha or Osages, who (until the profits of the fur trade overcame their scruples) had a pious reverence for their ancestors, and exempted the beaver from the chase, because in killing that animal, they killed a brother of the Osage. Lewis & Clarke's Travels, p. 8, 9.
(18.) J. T. Kirkland, President of Harvard University, in Vol. IV. Mass. Hist. Coll. p. 100.
(19.) McCulloh in Rescarches on America, Balt. 1817. Port Folio for June, 1816.
(20.) Mr. John D. Hunter in " Manners and Customs of several Indian tribes located west of the Mississippi," p. 315. Phila. 1823.
(21.) See Dr. Mitchill, Vol. I. Archæ. Amer. 347.
(22.) Mr. Atwater in ib. 203.
(23.) By Mr. Clifford of Kentucky, ib. 347-9.
(24.) Mr. Stoddard says (in Hist. view of Louisa.) the Yetans or Alitans in that quarter, bear a resemblance. Abont sixty visited Nachinotches in
--
.
iii
NOTES, .
1807. Their women were comparatively handsome, and the hair of many of the men was of a sandy complexion. Their customs and manners indi- rate a different origin than their neighbours.
During the present year (1824) an account appeared in the Franklin { Missouri) Intelligencer, republished in the New-York Observer, (June 2G) that a nation of Indians called the Nabijos, residing between the Spanish settlements of New-Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, were far advanced in the arts of civilized life. They reside in stone houses, cultivate agriculture, manufacture cotton, woollen, leather, and other artices, in an ingenious man- ner. The account does not mention from whom the Nabijos descended, or from whom they derived their knowledge and skill. Possibly they may be a remnant of the ancient Mexican people, who may have fled to the place of their present abode when the Spaniards invaded their country.
(25.) Stoddard's Louisiana. Vancouver's travels.
(26.) The wolf tribe of certain Indians, now called Pawnee, are said to follow the custom of immolating human victims. A boy, ten years old whom they intended to offer as a sacrifice to the Great Star, was humanely purchased by Mr. Manuel Lica, on his return from the trading posts on the Upper Missouri. They did put to death, by transfixing on a sharp pole, as an offering to the object of their adoration, the child of a Paddo woman, who, being a captive, devoted to that sanguinary and horrible death, esca- ped on horseback, leaving her new-born offspring behind. Dr. Mitchill in Vol. I. Archa. Amer. p. 348. But see Morse's Report, p. 248.
(27.) Sce Southy's Madoc, a poem. 2 vols.
(29.) Robertson, Lord Lyttleton, & Belknap.
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