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

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СКАЧАТЬ the chief command and lower jurisdiction, fishing, fowling, and grinding, to the exclusion of all others, to be holden from the company as a perpetual inheritance." In case " anyone should in time prosper so much as to found one or more cities," he was to " have power and authority to establish officers and magistrates there, and to make use of the title of his colonie according to his pleasure and the quality of the persons." The patroons were directed to furnish their settlers with " proper instructions, in order that they may be ruled and governed conformably to the rule of government made or to be made by the Assembly of the XIX., as well in the political as in the judicial government." Special privileges of traffic along the whole American coast from Florida to Newfound land were bestowed upon the patroons, with the proviso that their returning ships should land at Manhattan Island, and that five per cent, of the value of the cargo should be paid to the company's officers there. It was even permitted to the patroons to traffic in New Netherland waters, although they were strictly forbidden to receive in exchange any article of peltry, " which trade the company reserve to themselves." Nevertheless they were free to engage in the coveted peltry trade at all places where the Company had no trading station, on condition that they should " bring all the peltry they can procure " either to Manhattan Island or direct to the Netherlands, and pay to the company " one guilder for each merchantable beaver and otter skin." The company engaged to exempt the colonists of the patroons from all " customs, taxes, excise, imports, or any other contributions for the space of ten years." In addition to the grants to the patroons, it was provided that private persons, not enjoying the same privileges as the patroons, who should be inclined to settle in New Netherland, should be at liberty to take up as much land as they might be able properly to improve, and to " enjoy the same in full property." The principle of recompense to the Indians for the lands, as a necessary preliminary to legal ownership, was laid down in the stipulation that " whoever shall settle any colonies outside of Manhattan Island shall be obliged to satisfy the Indians for the land they shall settle upon." The patroons and colonists were enjoined " in particular and in the speediest manner " to " endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may support a minister and schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them." With an eye to possible infringements upon the commercial monopoly of the company, the colonists were prohibited from making any woolen, linen, or cotton cloth, or weaving any other stuffs, on pain of banishment. The universal recognition in those times of the propriety and expediency of employing negro slaves in new countries found expression in Article XXX. of the instrument, as follows: " The company will use their endeavors to supply the colonists with as many blacks as they conveniently can, on the conditions hereafter to be made; in such manner, however, that they shall not be bound to do it for a longer time than they shall think proper."

      So far as this new system of " Freedoms and Exemptions " was intended to encourage proprietary enterprises in New Netherland, its purposes were at once realized. Indeed, even before the final ratification of the plan, several of the leading shareholders of the company sent agents across the water to select the choicest domains, which were duly confirmed to them as patroons soon after the charter went into effect. Thus Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blommaert, through their representatives, made purchases of land from the Indians on Delaware Bay, one hundred and twenty-eight miles long and eight miles broad, and were created patroons in consequence. The first patroonship erected within the borders of the State of New York was that of Rensselaerswyck, comprising territory on both banks of the upper Hudson, of which Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, of Amsterdam, was the founder. This great tract was subsequently changed into an English manor, and continued under the proprietorship of a single hereditary owner until near the middle of the present century. Another of the early patroons, Michael Pauw, acquired lands on the west shore of the North River, now occupied by Jersey City and Hoboken, later adding Staten Island to his possessions, and named the whole district Pavonia. Westchester County, as an inviting locality for a patroonship, did not immediately claim notice; but, as we shall see, it received in due time its share of attention in this regard, becoming the seat of one of the most noted of all the patroons, Adrian Van der Donck.

      Much discontent arose among the general membership of the West India Company on account of the land-grabbing operations of the wealthy directors, which was intensified as time passed by continuing evidences of the self-seeking and general thriftiness of the patroons. It was charged that the latter paid little or no heed to the plain spirit of the charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, which in creating the patroons had in view essentially the development of the country granted to them; and that, instead of settling the land in good faith, they sought principally the profits of trade, coming into conflict with the interests of the company. One result of the controversy was the recall of Minuit, who was supposed to have shown too much partiality for the patroons and too little zeal for the protection of the company against their personal enterprises. This happened in 1633. The next director-general was Walter Van T wilier, who remained in office until 1638, being dismissed for promiscuous irregularities of conduct, both official and personal.

      From the pages of De Laet, the historian of the West India Company, we obtain an interesting statement of the fiscal affairs of New Netherland to the close of Minuit's directorship — that is, to the end of the first term of organized government. The total exports of the Province of New Netherland from its foundation to the beginning of 1633 amounted in value to 454,127 florins. The value of the imports during the same time was 272,847 florins. Thus for the nine years the company realized a profit on trade transactions of 181,280 florins, or about $8,000 annually. This was an exceedingly trifling return on a capitalization of nearly three millions of dollars, and it is no wonder that the practical-minded merchants who controlled the company began to look in a decidedly pessimistic spirit at the whole New Netherland undertaking, and as time went by conceived a fixed indifference to the local welfare of such barren and unprofitable settlements. On the other hand, the company was earning magnificent sums in prize money from its captures of the enemy's merchant ships, and was drawing handsome revenues from the newly conquered dominions in South America and the West Indies. The contempt in which New Netherland came to be held because of its unproductive ness is strikingly illustrated by the selections of men to manage its affairs. Van Twiller, who succeeded Minuit, was a mere coarse buffoon; and Kieft, who followed Van Twiller, was a cruel and vulgar despot, who from the first regarded his position as that of sovereign lord of the country, and proceeded to rule it by his arbitrary will, dispensing with a council. It is sufficient to contrast these selections of rulers for New Netherland with the choice of Prince Maurice of Nassau for governor of the Province of Brazil, to appreciate the comparatively low and scornful estimation placed upon the North American realms in the inner councils of the West India Company after due experience in their attempted exploitation. According to an explicit " Report on the Condition of New Netherland," presented to the States-General in 1638, the company declared that up to that time it had suffered a net loss in its New Netherland enterprise; that it was utterly unable to people the country; and that " nothing now comes from New Netherland but beaver skins, minks, and other furs."

      Closely following the submission of this significant report came a new departure in policy as to colonization, which had far-reaching effects, and under which before long a tide of immigration began to roll into our section.

      Realizing at last that the splendid scheme of patroonships, or a landed aristocracy, instituted in 1629, appealed only to a limited class of ambitious and wealthy men, who could never be relied upon to perform the tedious and financially hazardous work of settling the country with a purely agricultural population, the States-General on September 2, 1638, at the instance of the company, made known to the world that henceforth the soil of New Netherland would be open to all comers, of whatever position in society, whether natives of the home country or inhabitants of other nations not at war with the Netherlands. The specific terms attached to this very radical proposition were the following:

      All and every the inhabitants of this State, or its allies and friends," were invited to take up and cultivate lands in New Nether land, and to engage in traffic with the people of that region. Persons taking advantage of the offer of traffic were required to have their goods conveyed on the ships of the West India Company, paying an export duty of ten per cent, on merchandise sent out from the ports of the Netherlands, and an import duty of fifteen СКАЧАТЬ