History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 1. Frederic Shonnard

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СКАЧАТЬ Holland province, and the States-General of the nation. In this document Usselinx proposed the formation of "a strong financial corporation, similar to that exploiting the East Indies, for the fitting out of armed vessels to attack the fleets of Spain and make conquest of her possessions in the American hemisphere." But it was deemed inexpedient to sanction such a venture at the time.

      Upon the termination of the twelve years' truce, in the spring of 1621, and the revival of the war between the two countries, the Dutch statesmen had the details of the much-cherished West Indian Company enterprise thoroughly matured, and on the 3rd of June of that year the charter of the new corporation, comprising a preamble and forty-five articles, was duly signed. The subscriptions to its stock, which was required by law to be not less than seven millions of florins ($2,800,000), were immediately forthcoming. But although the existence of the company dated from July 1, 1621, it was some two years before its charter took complete effect, various disputed points not being immediately adjustable. Twelve additional articles were subsequently incorporated, the whole instrument receiving final approval on the 21st of June, 1623.

      The Dutch West India Company, to whose care the conversion of the American wilderness into a habitation for civilized man was thus committed, and under whose auspices European institutions were first planted and organized government was erected and for many years administered here, was in its basic constitution a most notable body, partaking of the character of a civil congress so far as that is practicable for an association pursuing essential mercantile ends. It had a central directorate or executive board, officially styled the assembly of the XIX., which was composed of nineteen delegates, eighteen being elected from five local chambers, and the nineteenth being the direct representative of " their High Mightinesses, the States-General of the United Provinces." The five local chambers were subordinate bodies which met independently, embracing shareholders from Amsterdam, Zeeland, the Meuse (including the cities of Dort, Rotterdam, and Delft), the North Quarter (which comprised the cities of North Holland outside of Amsterdam), and Friesland. The controlling in fluence in the company was that of the City of Amsterdam, which at first sent eight and later nine delegates to the Assembly of the XIX. The spheres of trade marked out for and confirmed to the company, " to the exclusion of all other inhabitants or associations of merchants within the bounds of the United Provinces," comprehended both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of the two Americas, from the Straits of Magellan to the extreme north, and, in addition, the African coast from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope.

      The rights and powers vested in the corporation fell short of those of actual independent sovereignty only in the particulars that the more weighty acts of the company, as declarations of war and conclusions of peace, were subject to the approval of the Dutch government, and that the officers appointed to rule distant countries, and their underlings, should be acceptable to the States-General and should take the oath of fealty to the Netherlands republic. " To protect its commerce and dependencies, the company was empowered to erect forts and fortifications; to administer justice and preserve order; maintain police and exercise the government generally of its transmarine affairs; declare war and make peace, with the consent of the States General, and, with their approbation, appoint a governor or director general and all other officers, civil, military, judicial, and executive, who were bound to swear allegiance to their High Mightinesses, as well as to the company itself. The director-general and his council were invested with all powers, judicial, legislative, and executive, subject, some supposed, to appeal to Holland, but the will of the company, expressed in their instructions or declared in their marine or military ordinances, was to be the law of New Netherland, excepting in cases not especially provided for, when the Roman law, the imperial statutes of Charles V., the edicts, resolutions, and customs of Patria — Fatherland — were to be received as the paramount rule of action."

      One of the primary aims in the construction of this mighty corporation being to establish an efficient and aggressive Atlantic maritime power in the struggle with Spain, very precise provisions were made for that purpose. " The States-General engaged to assist them with a million of guilders, equal to nearly half a million of dollars; and in case peace should be disturbed, with sixteen vessels of war and fourteen yachts, fully armed and equipped — the former to be at least of three hundred and the latter of eighty tons' burden; but these vessels were to be maintained at the expense of the company, which was to furnish, unconditionally, sixteen ships and fourteen yachts, of like tonnage, for the defense of trade and purposes of war, which, with all merchant vessels, were to be commanded by an admiral appointed and instructed by their High Mightinesses."

      And this magnificent programme of naval aggression was no mere wordy ornamentation woven into the prosaic context of a matter-of-fact commercial agreement for flattering effect. The West India Company, with its ships of war and armed merchantmen, under brilliant commanders, scoured the Spanish Main, capturing many a richly freighted bark of the enemy, and, not content with the prizes of the high seas, it dispatched expeditions to attack the Spanish territorial possessions in the Antilles and South America, which proceeded from conquest to conquest. By its energy and prowess, in the name of the republic of the United Netherlands, was begun in the first half of the seventeenth century the work of dismemberment of the vast Spanish empire in the New World which now, at the close of the nineteenth century, has been so gloriously completed by the arms of the republic of the United States. On the South American mainland Brazil, a province of Portugal, at that time tributary to Spain, was conquered and held for several years as Dutch territory, and the country known as Dutch Guiana, where the flag of Holland still floats, also yielded itself to these merchant princes of the Netherlands. In addition numerous West India islands were taken. A celebrated episode of the company's naval operations during the war was the capture of the Spanish " Silver Fleet " ( 1628) , having the enormous value of $4,600,000 in our money. The financial concerns of the corporation prospered exceedingly as the result of these and other successes. In 1629 a dividend of fifty per cent, was declared, and in 1630 a dividend of twenty-five per cent.

      As we have seen, the status of the West India Company's organization was not exactly settled until 1623, and although it nominally enjoyed exclusive dominion and trade privileges on the shores of the Hudson from the 1st of July, 1621, no steps were taken to colonize the land in the as yet unperfected state of its affairs. Before coming to the era of formal settlement under its administration it is necessary to complete our review of what is known of the history of the ante cedent years.

      It is certain that the separate voyages undertaken hither by various adventurous men between 1610 and 1623 resulted in no settlement of the country worthy of the name. We find no record of any transportation of yeomen or families to this locality for the announced object of making it their abode and developing its resources. Although there is no doubt respecting the utilization of Manhattan Island in more or less serious trading connections at an early period, the history of the first years of European occupation is involved in a haze of tradition and myth. From the vague reports given by different voyagers, ingenious and not over-scrupulous writers constructed fanciful accounts of pretended undertakings and exploits in this quarter, which, however, being presented in sober guise, have had to be subjected to methodical investigation. All historical scholars are familiar with the famous Plantagenet or Argall myth. In 1648 a pamphlet was published in England, with the title, " A Description of New Albion," by one Beauchamp Plantagenet, Esq., which assumed to narrate that in the year 1613 the English Captain Samuel Argall, returning from Acadia to Virginia, "landed at Manhattan Isle, in Hudson's River, where they found four houses built, and a pretended Dutch governor under the West India Company of Amsterdam," and that this Dutch population and this Dutch ruler were forced to submit to the tremendous power of Great Britain. The whole story is a sheer fabrication, and so crude as to be almost vulgar. Yet such is the continuing strength of old pseudo-historical statement that we still find in compendious historical reference works of generally authentic character mention of Argall's apocryphal feat of arms — the " first conquest of New Netherland by the English," — usually accompanied, albeit, by the discreet "(?)" conscientiously employed by such faithful compilers in cases of incertitude.

      In 1619 occurred the first known visit of an English vessel to the waters of Westchester County and Manhattan Island, which СКАЧАТЬ