USA > New York > History of the state of New-York : including its aboriginal and colonial annals, vol. pt 1 > Part 31
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The facts stated in the above extract, are incorrect in many particulars, But the author was lobouring to vindicate the English title to New Nether- land, and support the patent from King Charles to Sir Edmond Ployden, VOL. I. 44
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season, sailed to North Virginia, which he quaintly called the " Virgin's Sister," constructed a rude map of the coast from Cape Cod to Penobscot, and named the country New-Eng- land. Hle and Argall may have met Christiaanse and Blok, or their fishing party at Cape Cod, and considering them as - much intruders on this coast as the French at Fort Royal, may possibly have enforced a submission-for it is said,* that the Dutch in their northern fisheries were so much mo- lested by the English during the armistice, that repeated but ineffectual remonstrances were made by the ambassador of the United Provinces to the court of James. But if Argall compelled Christiaanse or Blok, either before or after they arrived at Manhattan, to submit to a superior force, would not Captain Smith, then in the Council of Virginia, have been apprised of the conquest ? In his account of the expedition, he is entirely silent in relation to the Dutch, and so are his contemporaries. t Admitting the story to be true, and yield-
which included Pavonia (New-Jersey) and was resisted by Governor Keift and Governor Stuyvesant, as well as by Governor Printz of New Sweden, on the Delaware. The patent is described in the history of Van Twiller's administration.
Upon this authority, thirty-four years after the supposed conquest, it seems that the story has been reiterated without contradiction, by many respectable names, of whom some however have varied the original ac- count, by saying that Argall proceeded up the Hudson river and captured the fort commanded by Christiaanse. (See Ebeling's Staats New-York. Smith's New- York. Smith's New-Jersey. Marshall's Washington, 1. 57. Chalmer's Political Annals. Holmes' Annals. Stithi's History of Vir- ginia, p. 133.)
The last writer (Stith) might have been conclusive, had he published the written submission which is said to have been deposited ; for it seems (see a letter of Mr. Jefferson in MSS of N. Y. Historical Society) he had full access to those carly records of Virginia, which were burnt in the public office at Williamsburgh.
Some of the foregoing writers say, that the year after Argall's hostile visit, a new Dutch governor arrived at Manhattan, and threw off all sub- jection to Virginia, Cc. If the whole statement be not an error, this part of it might coincide with what I conceive was the fact, that Chris- tiaanse having arrived the fall previously, did in 1615, erect a redoubt on that Island.
* De Witt.
t De Laet, who relates Blok's voyage, speaks of Christaanse, and de- scribes New Netherland in 1625, (Beschryvinghe van nieuw wereld, &c. )
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ing to it its full effect, to what does the supposed conquest amount ? The governor of Virginia, in a period of profound peace, attacked the French and Dutch, without the previous authority or subsequent sanction of the English government. Christiaanse the chief officer of the Amsterdam licensed company, acting here within the scope of privileges limited by the edict of the States-General, was forced to submit to the governor of Virginia, and promised to pay the English a duty on beavers. All this may have been true, and still the title from priority of discovery and possession would remain unimpaired, until the States-General should officially surren- der the same. But the States, it has been further affirmed, caused an application to King James for licence to erect huts for the accommodation of their fleets sailing, during this pc- riod of public tranquillity, to the West-Indies --- that the permis- sion was granted-that the name of Staten-Island, * or States- Island, arose from this incident-that the Dutch settlement was distinguished as New-Virginia, because itwas dependent on old Virginia, and that the Dutch having cunningly obtained pos- session, finally threw off' all disguise and boldly claimed the country. f. Such conduct would have betrayed the subtle strug- gles of imbecility, or the conscious want of rectitude, seeking by stratagem and duplicity the attainment of an object, which though partly conceded through favour, yet was withheld as a right; and in either case would appear quite inconsistent with that uncompromising fearlessness and acknowledged integrity, that signalized the Dutch character at this era of its history. The course which the States-General adopted, in respect to the country, will be exhibited as open and unequivocal in the year
is silent. So Purchas in 1025-Harris in his Collection of Voyages, II. 839, 851, and other early writers. Governor Bradford of New Plymouth in 1627, alludes to Argall's expedition in his correspondence with the Dutch governor, warns him to avoid the Virginia ships, but does not pre- tend to any knowledge of this supposed prior conquest over the Dutch. (See his Letter Book. Mass. Hist. Collections, III. 51, &c.)
* Staaten-Eylandt. The Indian name was Aquehonga Manacknong. Book of Patents, vol. iv. in the office of the Secretary of State of N. York. i See Holmes' Annals, I. 152, and authorities cited by him. Belbnan in (Life of Hudson) American Biography,
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1621. The question of title had not, probably, been agi- tated, either at the Hague or at London, and notwithstanding all the fabrications which the interested invented, the subject of them was, in all probability, a matter of indifference if not of ignorance, both to Prince Maurice and King James, or to : their respective cabinets. The strife, if any, existed among their subjects ; and the new world was left to the enterprise and industry of private adventurers.
The English however are entitled to the credit of having been the first to attempt to found a Colony on or near the Hudson, but failing in this design, they became distinguished as the founders of New England. The protestant non-con- formists or puritans in England, under the Reverend John Robinson, persecuted in common with other dissenters, took refuge in Holland. They first sojourned in Amsterdam, and in the year of Hudson's discovery, removed to Leyden. Here they repaid the hospitality of their adopted country by strict obedience to laws and respect for political institutions to which they had not been accustomed, and while they thereby secured those personal privileges which rendered Holland so favoured a land, they enjoyed the fruits of an exemplary pri- vate life, in the kindness and good will of the community. No dissatisfaction therefore from any limitation of privileges, from any defect of public protection, or absence of private esteem influenced the determination which they formed to cross the Atlantic. They were Englishmeu, whose national pride and prejudices -- whose attachinent to the institutions, language, customs, and manners of their native country, could not be extinguisbed because they had been driven thence by the intolerance of its hierarchy. The elder members of the church were one after another gathered to their fathers, the younger were inter-marrying with Dutch families, and all were gradually losing something of their national identity. Besides, Holland was a nation of heroes ; war had become their pas- stime -- and the interval of tranquillity which was almost ter- ininated, was a period of busy and welcome preparation for a vigorous renewal of the contest. Though the puritans were exempt from the effects of that spirit of persecution which,
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upon the retrenchment by the States-General of their system of universal toleration, attacked the Remonstrants and Ro- manists, yet they were extremely anxious to preserve the doc- trine and discipline of their church from all innovations, and the morals of the congregation from the contamination of prevalent licentiousness. As early as 1617, a por- tion of the congregation thought seriously of removing to Guiana or Virginia. The Hollanders urged them to go to the Hudson and settle under the Amsterdam trading company : where they would have been far safer in amity and alliance with the five nations, than in Virginia, exposed to the jea- lousy, or at least insecure in the doubtful and suspected friend- ship of Powhatan. They delayed their plan three years, and then concluded to go to the Hudson. But Providence, controlling and inscrutable in the mystery of its dispensa- tions, was preparing for them, even in 1617, an abode which they never contemplated. 'The devastation of one people was making way for the reception of another. A. spot in the wil- derness of the new world was, for wise and benificent pur- poses, to receive the choice population of Europe. In New England were these chosen people to display their patience- . preserve their religion, disseminate it, and found an empire of civilization and Christianity. In 1620, a part of Mr. Robin- son's church resolved to remove. They converted their pro- perty into common stock, purchased one ship, freighted ano- ther, and taking an affectionate farewell of their pastor, who held out to them the hope of soon following with the rest of the congregation, they departed from Holland, and by the way of England sailed for the IIudson river. They encountered storms, and were driven back. They resumed their voyage, and in November arrived upon the coast which Hudson had named New-Holland. They now consulted with Captain Jones who had contracted to take them to the Hudson, and ac- cordingly altered the direction of their ship. The next day they found themselves among breakers and shoals ; another violent tempest arose, the season' was considered too late and the coast too dangerous for them to persevere ; wherefore they returned to Cape Cod, and after some further search in its
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vicinity, selected a spot whereon they laid the foundation of New Plymouth, and the first effectual colonization of New England .*
* One of the earliest and impartial authorities, to support the assertion that the Pilgrims designed to proceed to Hudson river, is Thomas Dudley, duputy governor under governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, who arrived only ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims. In a letter " To the Right Honourable, my very good Lady, the Lady Bridget Countess of Lincoln," dated Boston, March 1631, and published in a small pamphlet, entitled " Massachusetts, or the first planters of New England :- the end and man- ner of their coming thither, and abode there : in several epistles. Boston in New-England. Printed 1696." Dudley informs ber ladyship, that " concerning the English that are planted here: I find that about the year 1620, certoin English set out from Leyden in Holland, intending their course for Hudson's river. These being much weather-beaten, and weari- ed with seeking the river, after a most tedious voyage, arrived at length in a' small bay lying north-east from Cape Cod; where landing about the month of December, by the favour of a calm winter, such as was never seen here since, began to build their dwellings in that place, which now is called New-Plymouth . where, after much sickness, famine, poverty, and great mortality, (through all which God, by an unwonted Providence) car- ried them) they are now grown up to a people, healthful, wealthy, politio and religious."
Nathaniel Morton, " an approved godly man, one of the first planters,' and afterwards "Secretary to the Court for the Jurisdiction of New-Ply- mouth," asserts in his " New-England Memorial, or account of the first planters," published in 1669, that after they had been driven by storms to return to England, (whither they proceeded after leaving Holland, ) they at last came to Cape Cod, when, after some deliberation with the master, they tacked southward " to find some place about Hudson's river (accord- ing to our first intentions ;" but they had not sailed that course more than half a day, when they " fell amongst perilous shoals and breakers, and be- came so entangled and the wind shrinking, we turned back and reached the Cape next day, being November 1620." But although they had put in here partly on account of a storm, yet the principal cause, says Morton, of their coming here was the fraudulent conduct of Captain Jones, " for our intention and his engagement was to Hudson's river ; but some of the Dutch having notice of our intentions, and having thoughts of erecting a plantation there likewise, fraudulently hired Jones, by delays while in Eng- land, and now under pretence of the dangers of the shoals," &c. to disap- point them in their going thither. " Of this plot betwirt the Dutch and Mr. Jones, I have had late and certain intelligence : but God out-shoots Satan oftentimes in his own bow. for Lad we gone to Hudson's river, as be-
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Their original design towards the Hudson was not to dis- turb the Dutch in their possessions : the pacific tendency of their character would render a contrary suggestion revolting and incredible. They did not intend to mingle with the
fore expressed, it had proved very dangerous to us on account of the mul- tude of pernicious savages, whereas the place where we came had been de- populated by a great mortality among the natives, two years before our ar- . rival," &c. Morton's Memorial, p. 15, 16. Sce History of the Puritans, or Protestant non-conformists, &c. by Daniel Neal, M. A. London, 1744. Sce also, Prince's New England Chronology, p. 83, 84: Hutchin- son's Massachusetts, vol. II. p. 405, 406, 407 in Appendix ; vol. I. p. 11 : Ilolines' Annals, vel. I. p. 162, 253, N. (2): Massachusetts Hist. (N. S.) Collect. III. 89. Mr. Morton published this statement, as the title of his book. imports, " for the use and benefit of present and future generations ;" yet the fact should be borne in mind, that the date of the publication was five years only after the conquest of New Netherland by the English ; and while this event, and the question of right and title between the Dutch and English, and the prior encroachments of the Plimotheuns (as Dudley calls the Pilgrims) on Connecticut river and Long Island, called forth many violent and contradictory statements. It was at least due to the Dutch character, and to the reputation of the captain who had safely brought over the pilgrims, to have given names, dates, and circumstantial proof, or at least the source of his authority, when a charge of this description was ba- zarded. It may safely be placed in rank with that class of errors originat- ing sometimes from design and sometimes from mistake, which grew out of the controversy between the English and Dutch, respecting the first disco- very and settlement and title to New Netherland, and the quarrels with the New England people as to its limits. " For admitting (as Abm. Yates says in a letter to Dr. Morse, in 1793, now in the MSS. of the New-York Historical Society) that was their serious intention, (to set up a government and make a settlement under the Virginia company on Hudson's river) will it not then follow that they intended to commence their settlement in dispute and quarrel? When there was abundant room east and south of the Dutch, and the example of Abraham and Lot staring them in the face, and that without a colour of reason to men of sense (for such they were.) They confessed that when they were in Holland they were kindly used, and that when it became public that they intended for America, the Dutch laboured to persuade them to go to ITudsou's river, and settle under their West India company. If they had accepted the offer, their civil and religious liberties would have been equally secure, at least the difference was not worth quarrelling about. The Orange family formerly were not more dangerous in Holland than the Stuarts in England. Being both Calvinists, there was no difference in their religion, other than in re --
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Dutch and reside under their government, for they left Holland to preserve their national identity, and had obtained through their agent in England, from the Plymouth Company or the English government, the promise of a patent which they re- ceived the year after the revocation of the Plymouth patent in 1620, and the grant of that which formed the civil basis of all others in New England. Their plan, as developed by one of the pilgrims, was " to find a place for their colony about Hudson's river," to become neighbours adjoining the Dutch, and therefore they had it in contemplation to locate them- selves between the Hudson and the Connecticut river, or be- tween the river of the Red Mountain, " and the Manhattan. The story related by one of the pilgrims, f of a plot contrived by the Dutch and abetted by captain Jones, to delay the de- parture of the congregation till late in the season, and then under pretence of shoals and dangers to take them a distance from the Dutch settlement, is one of those idle tales which the warmth of a controverted claim to the country, and the strength of confirmed prejudices might engender among men of cha- racter even more unexceptionable than that of the excellent fathers of New England. When they crossed the Atlantic, navigators generally were ignorant of the coast and its dan -. gers, and the rage of the elements is at all times beyond the control of the most skilful. The Dutch had now undoubt- cdly a design of planting a settlement more numerous, more
pect to human inventions, which gave rise to the reflection that the one in its operation gave too great a tone to licentiousness, and the other to super- stition. With respect further to the persecutions and emigrations, par- ticularly of the Puritans in the reigns of Elizabeth, James, Charles, &c. see Abbe Raynal's British Settlements in America, vol. I. ; Account of Eu- ropean Settlements in America, vol. II .; Wagenaar Beschryv. van Amster- dam; Lambrechtsen's Kort Beschryvinge, &c .; Robertson's America ; Ia- zard's Collections, vol. I. Extracts from Plymouth Records; Bozman's Maryland, sec. VIII. and IX. ; Lady Morgan's Salvator Rosa, vol. I. p. 353, &c.
* Housatunnuk. In l'Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom. XXI. 280-1, it is said " the Puritans who went to New England, had proposed to them- selves to choose for their plantation the land which is between Connecticut and Hudson's river, near the county of Fairfield."
+ Morton. Sce note p. 354.
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powerful, and more permanent than had hitherto been contem- plated ; but this was to be effected under auspices far too for- midable, to admit the necessity of resorting to any puny de- vice to remove from them a few inoffensive men, whom they had repeatedly urged to settle with them upon the Hudson. The Dutch were projecting the formation of one great nation- al society, which should merge into itself the Amsterdam Licensed Trading Company, and all its rights to the trade or territory of the new world ; be able by its power and resour- ces to establish fortifications and settlements on a stronger and more enlarged basis-prosecute commerce in a more com- prehensive and systematic manner --- and particularly aid the republic in protecting its interests from piracy, and in con- ducting the war against Spain with energy and effect. The two last mentioned objects involved the principal causes of the foundation of the celebrated privileged West Indian Com- pany of the United Netherlands.
Von, 1
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CHAPTER III.
1621 to 1623. The past armistice and impending war-involving the causes of the organization of the Privileged West-Indian Company. When founded. Its principal features as important to be noticed in this History. The commencement of the operations of the Company -- Its attention towards the Great river. Capt. Mey's voyage. The actual and relative condition of the settlers on Manhattan. The arrival of the first ship of the West-Indian Company. The name of New Belgium, &c. bestowed on the country-Its limits. Local names. First settlement on South river. Fort Nassau. Fort Amsterdam. Fort Orange, &c.
DURING the past twelve years truce, the confidence inspired by this interval of tranquillity, cherished the commercial ge- nius of the people, while the dismantling of ships of war multiplied the temptations to piracy by diminishing the power of protecting commerce, and throwing out of public employ a multitude of necessitous seamen. Many who had faithfully served under the banner of the republic, followed now in the same inglorious carcer which rendered the expelled Moors from Spain so formidable to commercial Europe. The United Provinces in vain exhorted England and France to co-operate in exterminating piracy. The former, more inte- rested on the seas than all other European powers, were therefore the greatest sufferers. The States-General ordered their admiralty to send out ships almost every year, from 1614 to 1621, but the mischief, nevertheless, augmented until it became insufferable .* The absolute necessity of a more concentric union of individual co-operation with na- tional strength, in order to diminish, if not entirely to sup- press this evil, was, therefore, one cause of the creation of the West-Indian Company, as is evident from the preamble to its charter. But, as appears from its principal provisions and
Such was the frequency of piracies (according to De Witt, part ?', chap. I.) that the Algerines, in 1620 and 1621, within thirteen months, captured ships of Holland alone, 113 sail : Amsterdam computed its loss a' 124 tons of gold, and the whole was estimated at 300 tons of gold! ! :
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the operations of the company, the main cause was founded in the policy of the States to secure the energetic prosecution of the impending war.
The year 1621 was the cra of the establishment of this great national society. The grant from their High Mighti- nesses the States-General, was dated the third day of June 1621,* and contained forty-five articles. The component parts of the company, the immunities secured by the charter, the general nature and specific powers of the incorporated government exerciseable within the local, as well as through- out the transatlantic sphere of its activity, were the general fea- tures in the organization of this society, which may be viewed as important to our history. From a view of these, it may be determined how far the States assumed the right or title to the country discovered by Hudson, and how far they granted, reserved, or participated in its enjoyment.
All inhabitants of the United Provinces and other countries might become members.f The States-General were not only parties to the charter, but members, and, like others, were to advance funds, participate in profit and loss, and be repre- sented in the direction ; but no members could withdraw
* Chalmers says, in his Political Annals, &c. Lond. 1780, p. 569, (he cites Corps Diplomatique, 5 v. 2d part, p. 363, and Leonard) that this fa- mous company was established in June 1620. So Ogilby's History of America 1672 ; Douglass' Summary, and Oldmixon in his British Empire in America, p. 118 -- (all, except Chalmers, very loose and doubtful autho- ritics.)
But see the grant itself, or " Octroy By de Hooge Moghende Heeren Staten Generael, verleent aen de West-Indische Compagnie, in date den Cerden Juny 1621; in the " Placaet Boek," I. 566, &c .; in " Historie ofte Jaerlyck Verhael van de verrichtinghen der geoctroyeerde West- Indische Compagnie," &c. door Joannes de Laet Bewint-hebber der selver compagnie tot Leyden, anno 1644; in " Zaken van Staet en Oorlogh In, ende omtrent de Verenigde Nederlanden Door de Heer Lieuwe van Aitzema, in 'S Graven-flaghe," 1670 ; and see a translated copy of the grant in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1. 19 !.
1 Charter. Article xxiv.
# Art. xxix. xlii. xl. xvii.
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themselves or their funds during the time of the grant,* nor any new members admitted after the period therein specified. ;
For the term of twenty-four years, " no natives or inhabi- tants of these countries, unless in the name or by permission of this United Company of these United Netherlands, should sail or traffic to or on the coast and countries of Africa, from the tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope, nor in the countries of America or the West- Indies, beginning at the south end of Terra Nova by the streights of Magellan, La Maire, or any other streights and passages thereabouts, to the streights of Anian, as well on the north sea as the south sea, nor on any islands situate on the one side or the other, or be- tween both ; nor in the western or southern countries between both the meridians, from the Cape of Good Hope, in the east, to the east end of New Guinea, in the west, inclusive ; and whoever should presume to sail or traffic in any of the places within the aforesaid limits granted to this company, should forfeit the ships and goods there found for sale, which being actually seized by the company, should be kept for their own benefit."Į
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