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A
- HISTORY
OP THE
NEW NETHERLANDS,
BY
Sir N. C. LAMBRECHTSEN,
Knight, &c.
Translated, from the original Dutch,
BY THE LATE
FRANCIS ADRIAN Van der KEMP,
Honorary Member of the N. Y. Historical Society,INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
It is with peculiar satisfaction that the following translation of
the Chevalier Lambrechtsen’s History of the New Netherlands is
submitted to the public. Locked up in a language too often
regarded as semi-barbarous, the authentic account which it
contains of the early discovery and colonization of the Hud-
son, and the noble tribute paid by its distinguished author to
the enterprising character and manly virtues of the hardy pioneers
on our soil, have been wholly lost to most readers on this side of
the water, for whom the work possesses an especial and high de-
gree of interest. A copy of it was received by the Society as
long ago as the spring of 1818, from the author himself, and a
translation was furnished, in manuscript, by Mr. Yan der Kemp the
following year; but with the exception of two or three historical
writers into whose hands the manuscript translation has passed,*
few among us, it is believed, even of those who profess an interest
in historical inquiries, have given themselves the trouble to obtain
a knowledge of the only complete history of the first European
colony on the banks of the Hudson. Under these circumstances,
the present attempt to introduce the Chevalier’s labours to an
American, and especially to a New-York public, is made, as before
remarked, with peculiar satisfaction.
The author, who is believed to be still living, is a gentleman
of considerable rank and reputation in his own country, having
been Grand Pensionary of Zealand, and connected with many
learned societies in Europe ; he is also well known to many of
our countrymen who have visited Holland. In 1816, he applied
to this Society, through a gentleman at Amsterdam, for informa-
tion concerning the early history of this city and state, when the
Corresponding Secretary was directed to forward to him a copy
of the two volumes of Collections then published. He was at the
same time elected an Honorary Member; from which circum-
stance he was probably led to dedicate his work to the Society,
together with others to which he sustained a similar relation.
* Bancroft, Moulton, and perhaps others.INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
77
The work was handsomely printed, in a volume of duodecimo
size, accompanied by a large map of the New Netherlands ; and
the copy sent to the Society, was enclosed to John Pintard, Esq.,
with the following letter :—
M. Pintard,
Middelbotjrg, 25 Juillet, 1818.
Secretaire de VAcademie Historique, a New- York :—
Monsieur,—Supposant que vous aurez regu avec ma lettre du
18 Avril dernier un exemplaire de mon Histoire abregee de la
decouverte et des evenemens de Nieuw-Nederland, ci-devant
Colonie de la Republique des Provinces Unies en Amerique, j’ai
l’honneur de vous faire passer la Carte Geographique relative a
cette piece,* dJ accepter Fun etl’autre pour vous, et de presenter a
la Societe Historique a New-York un autre exemplaire plus de-
cent, joint dans ce paquet.
Je vous prie de remettre a mon cousin Yan Polanen demeurant
dans votre ville la lettre ci-jointe, et de faire passer un autre a M.
Yan der Kemp.
II me sera agreable d’apprendre, que mon travail n’a pas ete en-
ticement inutile, et a ete bien aceueilli par votre respectable So-
ciete.
En l’assurant de mon respect, j’ai l’honneur d’ etre, Monsieur,
avec la consideration la plus distinguee,
Yotre tres humble serviteur,
N. C. Lambrechtsen,
Yan Ritthem.
TRANSLATION.
Middlebourg, [Holland,] July 25,1818.
Mr. Pintard,
Secretary of the Academy of History at New-York :—
Sir,—Supposing that you will have received with my letter of
18th April last, a copy of my brief History of the discovery and
affairs of the New Netherlands, formerly an American colony
of the Republic of the United Provinces, I have the honour to78
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
transmit a map illustrative of that work, begging you to accept
both for yourself, and to present to the Society another copy,
of a more decent exterior, enclosed in the same packet.
I pray you forward one of the accompanying letters to my
cousin, Yan Polanen, a resident of your city, and the other to Mr.
Van der Kemp.
It will afford me great pleasure to learn that my labours have not
proved entirely useless, and that the work has met with a favoura-
ble reception from your respectable Society.
With the assurance of my respect for the Society, I have the
honour to be, sir, with the most distinguished consideration,
Your very humble servant,
N. C. Lambrechtsen,
Of Ritthem.
♦
The translator, the late Francis Adrian Yan der Kemp, Esq., was
the same gentleman to whom the task of translating the records of
the Dutch Colony was committed by Gov. De Witt Clinton, in 1818,
which he is believed to have executed with great clearness and
accuracy. These documents, filling twenty-five folio volumes, de-
posited in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, form an
invaluable repository of materials for the future historian. Mr.
Yan der Kemp was originally from Holland, but resided for many
years at Oldenbarneveldt, a village about two miles from Trenton
Falls, near Utica, where, with his friend, Col. Mappa, he was among
the original proprietors of the soil. He is said by Mr. Spafford to
have been “ a fine classical scholar, and a volunteer patriot m the
cause of America while struggling for independence.
Editor.
* Gazetteer of the State of New-York, (second edit.) Article,—Trenton.A
SHORT DESCRIPTION
OP THE
DISCOVERY
AND
SUBSEQUENT HISTORY
OP THE
NEW NETHERLANDS,
A COLONY IN AMERICA,
(AT an early period,)
OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS.
By N. C. LAMBRECHTSEN,
■ Of Ritthem,
Knight of the Equestrian Older of the Netheiland Lion, President of the Zealand Society of
Sciences, Honorary Member of the New-York Historical Society, &c.
MIDDELBURG:
S. van BENTHEM, Printer of the Zealand Society of Sciences.
M DCCC XVIII.TO
THE SOCIETY OF SCIENCES IN ZEALAND ]
THE SECOND CLASS OF THE ROYAL NETHERLAND INSTITUTE J
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND BELLES LETTRES
AT BRUSSELS j
THE NETHERLAND SOCIETY AT LEYDEN j
AND
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT NEW YORK J
WITH
THE RESPECTFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OP HIS RELATION)
AND IN TESTIMONY OP HIS RESPECT,
By their Associate,
N. C. LAMBRECHTSEN,
Of Ritthem.A
SHORT DESCRIPTION, &c.
INTRODUCTION.
As often as I recall the illustrious periods of the history of
our Fatherland, and contemplate the heroic achievements of our
ancestors, I cannot avoid being enraptured by them to such a
degree that they overpower my whole soul, and keep my
curiosity and ardour for inquiry bound, as it were, by the spell
of enchantment. The great associations of the East and West
India Companies, who imported such immense treasures into
the Fatherland, were the happy results of bold and often hazard-
ous individual enterprises, which immortalized the names of
those noble Netherlanders who directed or executed them.
Money, the sinew of war, was required to resist the power-
ful forces of Philip ; and what could be better undertaken at that
period, than, following the advice of the French Admiral de
Coligny, to try their fortune at sea, and endeavour to take from
the enemy what he had acquired in distant countries, at the
risk of his life and an immense expense. This was successfully
executed by the Water geuzen, (water beggars,)* while others
preferred to assail the enemy in his foreign possessions, conquer
these and his ships on foreign coasts, and plant colonies where
thus far the name of Netherlands was unknown. Instructed in
the defence of the noble cause of liberty, so boldly and success-
fully undertaken, and longing to share in the profits with which
the transatlantic countries enriched that nation, they pursued
him into every part of the globe.
* Thus were the confederated Dutch nobles, headed by Brederode, stigma-
tized before Margaret of Parma, by the count of Barlaimont, to assuage the
fears of the Dutchess, “ ces ne sont que de Gueux.” Hooft Hist. 77.
Strada, p. 223. By drinking a nappe, (goblet,) which was with a beggar’s-bag
hung by each guest in his turn on his neck, they pledged themselves, one
to another, with these words :—
“ Par ce pain, par ce sel, et par cette besnce—
Jamais les Gueux ne changerons, pour chose que Ton fasse.”—Dutch Lyr.—Trans.
1182
lambrechtsen’s
The mariners ceased to be a band of poor fishermen, a
gang of pirates or stragglers, and became soldiers, who en-
dured perils on land and at sea, under the Boisots, the de Moors*
and other naval commanders, and were trained up by them,
eagerly fastening on spoil, with a deep inveterate hatred
against Spain and the Inquisition.
Such wrere the inhabitants of our seaports. If men of war or
privateers were to be equipped against the enemy* or fishing
vessels to be despatched, to collect the treasures of the North
Atlantic or Frozen seas ; were there required expert steersmen,
and undaunted sailors, the merchants, as well as the states,
found here always a rich supply.
It is true, many, very many perished in these perilous expedi-
tions, but their loss could not be observed in the seaports. On the
contrary, these became the refuge to other nations, who smarted
and sighed under the iron sceptre of despotism and the Inquisi-
tion, and were lured hither, partly by the advantages of commerce
and navigation, partly by their prospect of enjoying tolerance in
religion. How many reformed families arrived here from
Flanders and Hainault, forming congregations yet bearing their
name, and transporting hither with their virtues and industry,
their manufactures and commerce. How many Englishmen
sought a refuge in the tolerant Netherlands, to save themselves
from episcopalian power and insufferable domination.*
It is not my province to detail the beginning, the progress,
and struggles of the societies of commerce in our Fatherland,
particularly those of the once powerful East and West India
Companies. Several authors have recorded their glorious un-
dertakings, and preserved the memory of many brave Nether-
landers, who opened the richest springs of commerce, either by
the discovery of unknown coasts, or by the conquest of trans-
atlantic countries.
The East India Company was indeed more fortunate than
that of the West Indies. The latter made important conquests
in the Brazils, but was finally compelled to surrender the
whole again to the Portuguese, the first conquerors. They pos-
sessed in North America such an extensive country, that they
wrere justly entitled to give to it the name of New-Netherlands ;
but this the Netherlander were obliged to give up to the Eng-
lish, who established themselves there, and thus exchanged the
name of New-Netherlands for that of New-England.f
* The same remark is made by Lucy Aikin in her Memoirs of Queen Eliza-
beth, with regard to the Dutch emigrants at Norwich, where they found pro-
tection. (vol. ii. p. 53.)—Trans.
t More correctly, New-York.—Ed.NEW NETHERLANDS.
83
Discovery of New-Netherlands.
The events relative to the New-Netherland possessions in
the Brazils, and along the coast of Guiana, are recorded by
several historians in the Netherlands; but what is the reason
that we know so little of the events in New-Netherlands, in a
connected view and chronological order, although this beautiful
and extensive country was in the possession of the Netherlands
during a period of more than fifty years ? Why is there so
little, deserving any notice, preserved of it in the records of the
West India Company, at least in so far as it was in my power to
inquire ? or was it the department of Amsterdam alone* that
superintended the commerce of New-Netherland, while Zea-
land had appropriated to herself that on the Brazils ? I am in-
clined to believe this, as I discovered several proofs of the jeal-
ousy of the merchants in Holland in respect to the commerce
of those of Zealand, to which unhappy propensity, agreeably to
the observation of impartial historians, the loss of the Brazils
ought to be ascribed, since those of Holland declined to assist
that colony, notwithstanding those of Zealand [solicited it most
earnestly.!
But whatever may be the fact, I feel a pleasure in fixing my
attention on that beautiful and blessed country in North Ame-
rica, formerly named Newr-Netherlands ; and in preparing, as far
as my abilities extend, a short description of its discovery, colo-
nization, and events relative to it, till that period in which it
changed its ancient name for that of New-England.
I shall for this purpose make use of the most accredited his-
torians, and endeavour to execute my plan in a chronological
order, by comparing them carefully one with another.
I flattered myself to be much benefited by a little but rare
work, having the title of “ Description of New-Netherlands as
it now is, hy Adrian Van der Donck, who resides yet
in New-Netherlands,” with documents and a small map; the
second edition published at Amsterdam in 1656; but I was
disappointed, as it contained chiefly a description of the pro-
ducts of the soil, its climate, customs (manners) of the savages,
animals, &c.; while the reader is referred! with regard to the
right of possession of our nation in New-Netherlands to a cer-
tain “ Exposition ( Vertoog) of the Community in New-Nether-
lands,” which was published ; while the author further mentions
a small Treatise on the North river, and a Letter of Johannis
* This is made evident by the colonial Dutch records, preserved yet in the
Secretary’s office of the State of New-York.—Trans.
t Zealand and Holland are provinces of the Netherlands; but with us the
name of Holland is commonly used for the whole country, instead of Nether-
lands.—Ed.
t The work of Van der Donck is in the library of the University of Leyden.84
lambrechtsen’s
Megapolensis, junior, formerly a minister of the gospel in the
colony of Rensselaer wyck ;* but I could not obtain either of
those three pieces.!
The work of A. Van der Donck contains, nevertheless, a few
particulars, and is adorned with a small map, which deserves
attention for the Dutch names therein appearing.
The commerce to the Indies, whose rich products were thus
far imported from Portugal, originated before the end of the
16th century. The voyage was undertaken along the cape
(the Good Hope) to India, and so on to China. The first
trials were successful, but the voyages tedious by their length.
The merchants of Zealand had already attempted, before those
of Amsterdam, to discover a passage to India through the
north, or along the strait of Way-gats.
The enterprise was mbre than once rendered void. Jacob
Heemskerk, encouraged by munificent gifts, engaged in this
expedition for the third" time, in the year 1596, but was equally
unsuccessful.
Now the prospect was given up in our Fatherland of reaching
India by such a perilous course, although neither here nor in
England were they utterly deterred from attempting it.J
Henry Hudson, sent oat by the Netherlands East India Com-
pany on a voyage, discovers New-Netherlands.
A certain Henry Hudson, a bold Englishman, offered his
services to the directors of the Netherland East India Com-
pany in the year 1609, to search once more for a passage to
China by the north or northeast. Hudson was, no doubt, a most
proper person for such an enterprise. He had already under-
taken a voyage, in the year 1607, in behalf of a few English
merchants, and arrived at the Island Spitzbergen, previously
dicovered by the Hollanders. He had gained the confidence
of his masters, in so far, that they sent him again to sea the
next year (1608) with the same view.||
* Probably the treatise of Megapolensis here alluded to is the same pub-
lished in the first volume of Hazard’s State Papers, under the title of “ A
Short Account of the Maquaas (Mohawk) Indians, in New-Netherlands, &c.;
written in the year 1644, by John Megapolensis, jun., Minister there. Trans-
lated from the Dutch.”—Ed.
t Compare the interesting work of the industrious Scheltema, lately pub-
lished, Russia and the Netherlands, tom. i. p. 41, 42.
$ Compare Witzen’s ‘‘Voyage to Tartary,” d. ii.p. 899- Holland Mer-
cury, 1664, p. 155. Rymer’s Acta Publica Regum Angl., tom. vii. p. 2
p. 156. Robertson’s History of America, v. 5, p. 12.
|1 The journals of both these voyages of Hudson are from Purchas’ Pil-
grims, vol. iii. p. 567—610. London fol. ed. 1625. Inserted in the Coll, of
the New .York Hist. Soc. vol. i. p. 61—102.NfiW-NEfflERLANlJS.
85
The inclinations of the directors of the East India Company
were much at variance upon the proposals of Hudson. The
directors of Zealand opposed it; they were probably dis-
couraged by the fruitless results of former voyages, con-
cerning which they could obtain sufficient information from
their colleague Balthasar Moucheron, who long before had
traded to the north.* It was* said they, throwing money
away, and nothing else. If private merchants would run
the risk they had no objection* provided the Company was
not injured by it. The Amsterdam directors, nevertheless,
would not give up their plan* and sent Henry Hudson, in the
same year, 1609, with a yacht called the Half-Moon*f man-
ned by sixteen Englishmen and Hollanders, again to sea.
This vessel left the Texel on the 6th of April, 1609, sailing
towards the north. Prevented by the ice from reaching the
latitude of Nova Zembla, they went to New-Foundland, and
from there to Acadia or New-France, till they were driven into
a bay known only to the French, who arrived there annually to
purchase hides and furs from the savages. Hudson, unwilling
to approach these chilling shores, returned to sea, and steering
southwest discovered land, which was first considered to be an
island, but which was soon discovered to be a part of the con-
tinent, named Cape Cod.J
This industrious navigator felt (although born in England)
so sensibly his relation to the Holland East India Company,
who had employed him in discoveries, that he could not have
hesitated a moment to give the name of his adopted Father-
land to this newly discovered country. He called it New-
Holland. But not wishing to fix his permanent residence on
this spot, Hudson preferred the sea, taking a southwest course
till he discovered a flat coast in 37° 35', which he followed in
an opposite direction.
At this time he discovered a bay, in which several rivers
were emptying, which, no doubt, must have been the South
river, afterwards named Delaware. It has a projecting
point, which then, or afterwards, obtained the name of Cape
Henlopen, probably from the family name of the first dis-
coverer. Now the bay was again left, and they steered N.E.
along the coast at 40° 18', where between Barndegat and
Godinspunt, named thus afterwards in remembrance of him
who first discovered this Cape, there was a good anchorage, to
* Balthasar Moucheron was one of the first founders of the East India
Company, and one of the first trading merchants in Muscovy. His name
is perpetuated in the Moucheron’s river, on which is Archangel.
t This yacht is named in the Notulen of the Departm. of XVII., the Good
Hope.
t Robertson, t. v. p. 42.m
iambrech'tsen’s
explore the country, and to open a communication with the
inhabitants. But Hudson’s curiosity was not so easily satisfied.
He went again to sea, following the coast in the same direc-
tion, till the mouth of a large river was discovered, which then
was named by the sailors the North river, and afterwards, in
honour of the name of the first discoverer, Hudson’s river.
This river was sailed up as far as could be effected, viz. to
43°. They became acquainted writh the natives, and fully
persuaded, as far as their inquiries went, that this river and
country had never been visited by any Europeans. I dare
not, nevertheless, decide if in this they were correct. The
Rev. S. Miller, D.D., one of the ministers of the first Pres-
byterian church at New-York, and member of the Historical
Society in that city, mentioned in a discourse delivered before
that Society in 1809, that one John de Verrazzano, a Florentine,
who was in the service of the French king, Francis the First,
must have discovered, in the year 1524, in the ship Dolphin,
the American coast in the latitude of 31°, and followed it to
41° ; that he entered a large bay containing five islands, which
may be taken, with great probability, for the present Neiv-
York; that he stayed there fifteen days, conversing much with
the natives. The Rev. Mr. Miller refers to the journal of Verraz-
zano of July 8, 1524, which he borrowed from Hackluyfs
Voyages, vol. ii. 295—300, which, with the conclusions of the
Rev. Mr. Miller, is inserted in the Collections of the New-
York Historical Society, vol. i. 19—60.
Certain it is, that Van der Donck, who resided several years
in New-Netherlands, asserts, that he often heard the ancient
inhabitants, who yet recollected the arrival of the ship, the
Half-Moon, in the year 1609, saying, that before the arrival
of the Netherlanders they were entirely ignorant of the exist-
ence of any other nation besides their own, and that they looked
at the ship as a huge fish or sea monster.*
The evidences of this writer, nevertheless, as well as those
of Hudson himself, render it not improbable that Verrazzano
landed in the bay of the present New-York, but the event must
have taken place eighty-five years before, and might have
been obliterated by the departure of a whole generation.
But whatever may have been the case, the vigilant Hudson
resolved to return to Amsterdam, to communicate his report
of the voyage to the directors.
The voyage was prosperous-. But when he approached the
English coast a mutiny was stirring among the crew, among
which wrere several Englishmen. They compelled the skipper
* Van der Donck’s Description of New-Netherlands, p. 3.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
87
to enter Dartmouth, from which the rumour of his discoveries
ere long reached the capital.
Nothing was more averse from the views of King James,
than of allowing to the Netherlanders 'any advantages from
transmarine colonies, while he, in imitation of Queen Elizabeth,
desired to convert the whole to the profit of his own subjects.
Hudson was considered as a person of importance, and he was
forbidden to pursue his voyage towards Amsterdam, with the
intention, ere long, to make use of his services.
I could not discover that a voyage to the South or North
river was ever repeated by Hudson, but wrell, that he dis-
covered, in the year 1610, a narrow pass of the sea to the
North of Terra Labrador, called by him the Strait of Hudson,
and a large bay to the south of Canada, to which he gave
the name of Hudson’s bay. This was the last voyage of this
man. He was placed, with his son and five men, by a muti-
nous crew, in an open boat, a prey to the sea, and never was
heard of any more*
Account of the Discovery.
After the ship, the Half-Moon, had been detained at Dart-
mouth for some time, it was at length permitted to return to the
Fatherland, where it arrived in the beginning of the year 1610.
And now did the directors obtain such favourable reports of
the countries discovered by Hudson, that, in their opinion,
these were a full compensation for their disappointment in
their principal aim, the passage to India by the north.
De Laet, one of the Holland directors of the West India
Company, who published in the year 1624 a history of the
West Indies,! preserved a part of Hudson’s journal, and made
us further acquainted with the country of New-Netherlands,
its inhabitants, climate, and natural productions.
It-was yet, like other climates to which no Europeans had
penetrated, in a state of nature, as it was formed by the hand
of the Creator, or left by unknown events. Immeasurable
woods with numerous swamps covered the soil. The savages
lived along the rivers, and covered themselves with the skins
* Burke, Hist, des Colonies Europ£ennes dans l’Am^rique, tom. ii. p. 326.
Raynal Hist. Philos, et Polit. tom£vi. p. 289. There is an extract of the journal
of Hudson’s last voyage in the Collections of the New-York Hist. Soc. tom. i.
146—188.
f De Laet, 1. c. p. 100. Van Meteren, Ned. Hist. p. 626. The first
writer has a small map, entitled Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium, et Virginia,
(This map was not contained in the edition referred to, but in a subsequent
one.—Ed.)88
lambrechtsen’s
of wild beasts, increasing in the forests with great rapidity.
These precious: furs, so highly valued by luxurious Euro-
peans, were the first objects of trade. The same woods
supplied an inexhaustible provision for the construction of
vessels. The soil’s fruitfulness exceeded the warmest imagina-
tion, principally so along the rivers, when overflowing their
borders, they left a rich loam behind. There was found not
only Indian wheat, but grapes too, with other fruits.
The rivers were replenished with every sort of fish, and the
adjoining seas were rich in cod-fish, tunnys, and whales. In
short, New-Netherland, to make use of Hudson’s own words,
was the most beautiful country on which you could tread
with your feet. The natives were good-natured, peace-
able, and obliging ; the climate pretty near at par with ours ;
so that therefore New Netherland. was very properly adapted
for our nation, to be settled by it, as there seemed nothing
wanting but domestic cattle.
Several tribes of savages inhabited this uncultivated terri-
tory, and were in continual warfare one with another. Sus-
taining themselves by hunting, they roved along the numerous
immeasurable plains of America, to return to the borders of
rivers and bays, laden writh the furs of beavers, otters, and
other wild beasts, where the Netherland colonists and mariners
were ready to barter other articles of comfort for these furs,
then so highly valued in Europe.
Further Voyages to New-Netherlands in 1610 and 1614.
Hudson’s favourable account of the country which he visited
in America, was favourably received in our Fatherland, and
inflamed the zeal of some merchants to equip a ship thither,
which was carried into execution in the year 1610. They
addressed too the States General of the United Netherlands,
soliciting their privilege and encouragement, so that their
High Mightinesses satisfied their desires by a placard of the
17th April, 1614, granting to the discoverers of thus far unknown
countries, the exclusive right, besides other advantages, to
make four voyages towards such lands*
Hendrick Christianse and Jacob Helkens seem to have
been the first who, in virtue of this grant, undertook a voyage
to New-Netherlands, followed or assisted by Adrian Blok,
Godin, and others,t
* Gr. Placard Book i. D. f. 563,
| Hendrick Christianse and Adrian Blok gave their names to two islands
on the coast of America. The two canes on the South river are probably
taken from Jelmer Hinlopen, (Scheltema i. 53.) and Cornelis Jacob Mey—
be*ng named Cape Hinlopen and Cape May, and the west cape of the North
river Godin’s Point.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
89
They constructed, in the year 1614, a small fort on an island
on the west side of the North river, of very little significance
in itself, but fully sufficient to protect the colonists in their
trade, and keep the natives in awe.
This fort was encircled by a moat eighteen feet wide, armed
with two pieces of cannon, twelve stone-pieces, (steen-stuk-
ken*) and ten or twelve men, under the command of the
aforesaid. Hendrick Christianse, and in his absence by Jacob
Helkens.
If we may depend on De Laet,t the company must have
established itself on a special grant of the States General,
and built this fort in the year 1614, But as the West India
Company did first obtain their grant (octrooy) in the year 1621,
it is probable that it ought to be understood of a society of
merchants who traded to the West Indies, and were the cause
of the establishment of the West India Company,
Settling of the Swedes in New-Netherlands.
It cannot be well ascertained when the Swedes first visited
this country. Agreeably to Sprengel they must have settled
on both sides of the South river in the year 1631, while Raynal
asserts that it happened about the year 16364
Burke places the Swedes in the same rank with the Hol-
landers,* saying, “It is not certainly known at what time the
Swedes and Dutch made their first establishment in North
America; but it was certainly posterior to our settlement in
Virginia, and prior to that of New-England.. The Swedes,
who were no considerable naval power, had hardly fixed the
rudiments of a colony there, ere they deserted it. The inhabi-
tants, without protection or assistance, were glad to enter into
a coalition with the Dutch, who had settled there upon a better
plan, and to submit to a government of the States.”|[
The author of the British Empire in America acknow-
ledges too,§ that the first Europeans who settled in the Jerseys
were Swedes, who constructed there a few small forts, as
Christiana, Helsingburg, and Gothenburg, and that their prin-
* Steen-stuJcken, as defined by Holtrop, (Dutch and English Diet., 1824,)
means “ pedereros, or swivel guns used in ships.”—Ed.
f De Laet’s Description of the West Indies, p. 106.
t Sprengel Geschiehte der Europeers'in America, i. D. p. 93. Raynal, t. vi.
p. 362.
|| Burke’s Account of the first European Settlements in America, vol. ii. 184,
Ed. 1765.) The author quotes a French translation.—Ed.
(§ British Empire in America, 113.
1290	lambrechtsen’s
cipal possessions were situated on the borders of Pennsylvania,
opposite Helsingburg.*
If we can trust the narrative of Thomas Campanius Holm,
whose grandfather had been a minister of the first Swedish
settlers in America, the first colonization must have taken
place in the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, who, upon the favour-
able reports which he received, did give a grant on the 2d
July, 1626, to erect a West India Company, with intentions to
navigate to New Sweden, (as this author calls it.)
The first colonists, as this author says, desired to live in
peace with the natives, purchasing therefore from them the
whole country between Cape Henlopen, and the large waterfall
on the South river; while the English renounced, upon the
entreaties of the ambassador Oxenstiern to king Charles I., in
the year 1631, their claim arising from more early discoveries,
and the Swedes succeeded in pacifying the Hollanders, who
had constructed three forts in that district, but which had been
destroyed by the natives, when they purchased every claim
from the States, to which the Netherlanders, in virtue of prior
possession, were supposed to be entitled; and the aforesaid
author, T. C. Holm, appeals, in proof of these facts, to two
reports of Governor John Rising.!
Although there are several reasons to question the accuracy
of these reports, I will nevertheless believe, that the Swedes
receiving no succours, after the death of king Gustavus Adol-
phus, in the year 1632, from their government, and thus of
course, threatened with expulsion from the country by the na-
tives, were obliged to call for the aid of their Holland neigh-
bours, and at last to place themselves under their protection,
after a trial of sixteen years, as reported by Raynal.f
If the Swedes acted in this manner by necessity, it had in
the end a tendency to promote their welfare, as they now
shared with the Hollanders in the fur trade, which diminished
from time to time, and was never the most flourishing in the
vicinity of the rivers ; so that, which however happened at a
later period, they were obliged to look out for a more profitable
trade with the savages in Canada.
The want of mutual harmony between the two nations must
in the mean time have increased, and have given birth to dis-
trust and quarrels ; of which the English, no doubt, took
advantage, and at length open hostilities ensued, as will appear
in the sequel.
* This Helsingburg is misnamed in our maps Elzenburg. Some other
Swedish colonies existed on the west side of the South river, as Finland, Up-
land, Gripsholm, New Vasa, and others.
t This is borrowed from a treatise named, “ An extract from a translation of
the History of New Sweed-land, in America, written in Sweed by Thomas
Campanius Holm,” &c. in the Collections of the Historical Society of New-
York, tom. ii. p. 345, &c.
t Raynal, 1. c. tom. vi. p. 382.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
91
The Netherland West India Company engaged in voyages to
New-Netherlands.
What thus far, viz. in ten or twelve years after the discovery
of Hudson, was effected by Holland merchants or adventurers,
neither corresponded to the great hopes that had been raised
nor overcame the jealousy felt towards the more successful
English and other neighbours, to whose competition they were
exposed.
It was reserved for the West India Company, when ac-
knowledged by the States General, in the year 1621, and
authorized to send all vessels to the countries in America and
the West Indies, beginning from the south of Newfoundland,
and empowered to plant colonies and construct forts, and make
treaties with the natives, to transform New-Netherlands into a
fruitful and flourishing country.
It cannot be doubted that the great advantages which the
English received from Virginia, were contemplated in the
Fatherland with envy, as the tobacco was transported from there
in large quantities to Holland and Zealand, particularly to
Middleburg and Vlissingen, in both which cities magazines
were erected for tobacco.*
Some vessels were then equipped to the North river, not
only to make new discoveries, but to settle the country and
provide it with dwellings.
A negociation was opened with the natives for the purchase
of several tracts on the continent and islands, at a settled, and
no doubt very moderate price. In this manner were acquired
Staten and Nut islands,Pavonia, Hoboken, and the island Man-
hattan on the North river, well situated for trade, and provided
with a safe anchorage.
The West India Company made a farther purchase near
Cape Henlopen from the natives, of a large tract of land, named
Zwanendaal, (Swan-vale,) while they built on the east side of the
same river a small fort, known by the name of Fort Nassau.
Construction of New-Amsterdam and Fort Orange.
A fort was constructed on the island Manhattan, now the
property of the company, under the superintendence of the first
governor, Hendrick Christianse, which was named Fort Am-
sterdam. But commerce required very soon the enlargement
of the capital. Many houses were built, and ere long a small
city was laid out. It was secured by walls and moats, a church
* Robertson, 1. c. tom. v. p. 83r92
LAMBRECHTSEN S
was built, a prison, and a mansion for the governor, besides
several houses for individuals, chiefly merchants of Amsterdam.
It was natural that the new city obtained the name of New-
Amsterdam.*
A large tract of land to secure the fur-trade was purchased
from the natives on the west side of the North river, at a distance
of one hundred and seventy miles from the capital, where a
fort was constructed, named Fort Orange, afterwards Albany.
Here a lucrative trade was opened in Canadian furs with the
Iroquois, then at wTar with the French, with which they cheer-
fully parted for brandy and small trinkets, but chiefly for gun-
powder and fire-arms.
The honesty with which the Netherlanders traded with the
savages, was unquestionably a great cause of the profit which
they obtained from this trade. They kept their word in all
their contracts, and never tried to impose upon the ignorance of
these barbarians.
Opposite to the continent was Long Island situated; sepa-
rated from it by the East river and stretching itself to the mouth
of the North river. Its fertility was known, which induced the
company to obtain its property, partly by purchase, partly by
taking possession of the remainder, so as clearly appears by
the names of several villages, known on the maps, as New-
Utrecht, Amersfoort, Breukelen,Heemstede,Vlissingen, s’Grave-
zande, and others ; not to mention the islands along the coast,
distinguishable by their Netherland denominations.
So many fruitful districts were no doubt very important as
well as extensive. These were neverthless yet increased in the
year 1633 by the purchase of the territory of Connecticut, situ-
ated to the west of Fresh-wTater river, (the Connecticut,) twenty
to twenty-one miles from the sea-coast, being a most beautiful
and fertile tract of land.f The Governor General van Twiller
made that purchase from the Pequatos, who conquered it from
other tribes. He too constructed at a very early period a block-
house in its defence, named Fort Good Hope4
* An engraving of New-Amsterdam may be seen in Montanus, in his De-
scription of the new or unknown World, p. 124, and at the foot of the Map
in Van der Donck’s New-Netherlands. (Both of these now rare books are
contained in the library of this Society.—Ed.)
t With regard to the beauty and fertility of the Connecticut see Brissot’s
Voyage to America, t. i. p. 142.
t I have followed in my narrative chiefly the description of the borders of
New-Netherlands, joined to a memoir on the limits of its jurisdiction, being
anApp. to a Mem. of the directors of the West India Company to the States
General on the 29th Sept. 1634, to be found in Beverningk, p. 604.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
93
First form of government.
Of whatever importance to the prosperity of the Fatherland
were the conquests in the West Indies, from the Spanish, Por-
tuguese, and natives, they were not left to the arbitrary whims
of the conquerors and naval commanders ; no, the States Gene-
ral established about the year 1629, some articles of order and
government, whose prompt and faithful execution they required
in the conquered places.
They authorized the different departments of the West India
Company to appoint a Council of nine persons, who should be
entrusted with the command of the whole.* The precautions
which had been taken to secure its success, may seen from
the privileges and exemptions for patrons, masters, and private
individuals, who shall plant colonies in New-Netherlands, or
import there any cattle, &c., from the 10th of March, 1628.f
The following were the principal points :—
The West India Company should reserve to itself besides the
fur-trade, the island of Manhattan also, both to cultivate it, and to
erect there a staple place for commerce, while the colonists were
privileged to settle four miles along the coast, or along navigable
rivers, or two miles on both sides of these, provided they did sat-
isfy the natives for the lands, of which they had taken possession.
The colonists might navigate along the whole coast of Flo-
rida to Newfoundland, provided they imported their merchan-
dise to the Manhattans and paid a recognition of 5 per cent.
They were privileged to sail for fishing cod all along the
coast of New-Netherlands, provided they carried it directly to
Italy, and paid six guilders per last to the company.
Wherever they took any vessels of the enemy, within the
limits of this grant, they were holden to conduct them to the
Fatherland, enjoying then two-thirds of their value.
The colonies were farther entitled to send from each river or
island, a deputy to the council of the Director General and his
Councillors in New-Netherlands.
The States General added another restriction to these mea-
sures of the West India Company, for the encouragement of
merchants and colonists, viz., when they published in the year
1633, an order and regulation in conformity with which all armed
vessels, privateers, were permitted to sail from the United
Netherlands within the limits of the grant to the West
India Company, “ except the coast of Africa, New-Nether-
*JGreat Placard Book, t. ii. p. 1235.
t This is to be found in the Notulen of the department of XIX, in March,
1628. These too were separately published at Amsterdam, 1631.94
lambrechtsen’s
lands, and all other places whatever, to which the Company
was trading.”*
Extension of New-Netherlands,and delineation of its districts.
To form an idea of the situation and extent of New-Nether-
lands, one ought to inspect the annexed map, which, to prevent
geographical mistakes, I ordered to be drawn on the scale of the
new map of North America by Arrowsmith, adopting the Low-
Dutch names of the maps of Montanusf and Vander Donck, at
least in so far as these in my opinion might be subservient to il-
lustrate history; while the sea-coast and islands in the same
direction are given in the sea-atlas of Arend Hoogeveen.J
The country, as far as it was discovered and taken posses-
sion of by the Netherlanders, extended from 38 deg. 53 min.
to 42 deg. north, beginning on the south-west, at the South
river or Delaware, and ending on the north-east at Cape Cod,
including Long Island, Nut Island, Staten Island, Manhattan
Island, and different other islands, as well along the coast, as in
the bays and on the rivers.||
It is more difficult to determine the inland extent of New-
Netherlands. On the North river it may, at least, be calcu-
lated to extend as far as the colony Rensselaerwyck and Fort
Orange, one hundred and fifty miies from its capital New-
Amsterdam, and on the Fresh-water river, (the Connecticut,)
to Fort Good Hope. The other limits are uncertain.
No doubt it was a happy choice of the Netherlanders in lay-
ing the foundation of their possessions on the island Manhattan,
and on both sides of the North river, a charming deep stream,
navigable for sea vessels till above Fort Orange, as it opened
the most favourable prospects; but the jealousy of their English
neighbours, on either side, obscured soon these bright pros-
pects, and finally extinguished them.
The West India Company, so gloriously victorious over
the Spanish silver fleet, by their admiral Piet Hein, spared no
* Gr. Placard Book, t. i. p. 599.
+ The map of Montanus includes the country between 37° and 49° north, and
is thus much larger than the small map of Van der Donck. In the ii. t. of the
Atlas of Blauw is another map with the inscription, 44 Nova Belgicaet Anglia
Nova.”
t Arend Hoogeveen published his maps in 1675, under the title of “Brandend
veen” (Burning peat-soil); among these are Nr. 27—28—29, relative to New-
Netherlands. He obtained authority from the States General to navigate to the
Australian Sea, on which he published a treatise at Middelburg in 1676.
|| The coasts and limits of New-Netherlands would probably be better distin-
guished on the figurative map, which the directors of the West India Com-
pany presented on the 26th September, 1654, to their H. M., as Beverningk
mentions, but I could never discover it.NE W-NETHERLANDS.
95
longer any expense to secure the possession of New-Nether-
lands by the construction of forts and fortifications around the
capital. But its extensive possessions, both in America and
on the coast of Guinea, with the equipment of numerous armed
vessels, required such vast sums of money, and the warnings
of sound politics, so much prudent circumspection towards
England, that it seems they were more anxious to defend
themselves against the natives than against their neighbours ;
trusting rather on their mutual interest, and on measures of
equity and discretion. But the event proved soon that in
this they miscalculated.
England's relation to North America and its Emigrations
thither.
If Virginia, (discovered by Walter Raleigh in 1584,) was
at first scantily peopled, and at last abandoned, the English
king (James I.) soon took notice of the advantages of trans-
marine colonies. He established in the year 1606 twTo com-
panies, one in London and the other at Plymouth, of which
the one should direct the trade to Virginia, the other that on
the northern part of America, afterwards called New-England
by his son.
The Plymouth company wTas less successful than that of
London. The first ship was taken by the Spanish ; and a
small fort, constructed in the following year at Sagadahoc, a
cape at 44° north,* abandoned; the climate being so severe,
that the whole enterprise was confined to a few small vessels
to assist the fishing at Cape Cod.
The famous English sea-commander, John Smith, who visited
Cape Cod in 1607, surveyed again in 1614 the higher coast
of North America, between the bay of Penobscot and the
aforesaid Cape Cod, and made himself a map of this coast.
But however favourably his report was received in England,
it seemed they wTere not inclined there as yet to exchange
the paternal soil for the savage and bare countries of North
America.! But ere long the disputes in England about the
public exercise of religion gave it a new spur. Queen Eliza-
beth, although inclining towards the Protestant religion, would
nevertheless preserve many ceremonials of the Romish church,
nothwithstanding the contrary opinion of a large number of
* Robertson, 1. c. t. v. p. 129.
t An account of Smith’s voyage and discovery is to be met with in the
famous voyages to the East and Westlndies, Leyden, by Vander Aa, in fol. t.
ii., in which is a small map of the seacoast of North America, between Cape
Cod and Penobscot, visited by John Smith.96
lambrechtsen’s
her subjects, who preferred the simple system of Calvin, and
hence were called Puritans.
They rejected the usages and discipline of the English
church—the form of prayer—the kneeling at the Lord’s sup-
per—the prayers for the dead—the prayers and thanksgivings
in the churches—calling all these antichristian abominations*
Quarrels among the English emigrants considered as the
cause of their dispersion.
The successors of Queen Elizabeth on the throne, James I.
and Charles I., adopted imprudently these and yet more severe
measures, and this was the cause of the violent religious con-
tests, persecutions, and emigrations.
From the Puritans were distinguished the adherents of the
Brownists, or Independents, among whom were men of probity
and letters, but every one of them zealously attached to their
principles. They exceeded all the other puritans in their ob-
stinate contempt of the hierarchy, by a spirit of independence
and intolerance.
The Brownists had left their country long before the end of
the 16th century, and lead by Johnson, Ainsworth, Smith,
and Robinson, established congregations in conformity to their
tenets at Middelburg, Amsterdam, and Leyden.
Robert Brown, the chief of that sect, and formerly a minister
of the Bishoprick of Norwich, emigrated before, with some of
his sectarians, in the year 1588, to Middelburg, established
there a congregation, which was, however, soon dissolved,
partly by their natural dissensions, as by the departure of
Brown to England in the following year ; although it was
afterwards re-established by the arrival of new members, but
it adopted at last the liturgy of the Netherland churches.t
The congregation of Brownists established at Amsterdam in
the beginning of the 17th century by Johnson and Ainsworth
was of a longer duration, but was at last entirely destroyed;%
while the congregation at Leyden, established about the same
time on the principles of the Brownists, by Dr. Robinson, and
directed by him with much prudence, was already dissolved,
partly by the death of the aged members, partly through the
* Compare' about their doctrine, Neal’s Hist, of the Puritans, t. i. eh. 6;
Hume’s Hist, of Great Britain, yol. v. p. 155, &c.; Wendeborn’s State of
Sciences in Great Britain, t. ii. p. 233.
t Nomenclature of the English Congregation at Middelburg, p. 1, &c.;
Neal, t. i. 1. c. 1 div. p. 56.
t Wagenaer’s Defen. of Amsterdam, t. iii. b. ii., and sec. 15 of t. ii.p. 174,
in fol.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
97
apprehension of Robinson and other leaders, that the discovery
of the truth, as made in the Holy Scriptures, was in danger of
becoming limited, after the example of the Protestant churches,
whose doctrine, as pure, he otherwise respected.
It was then agitated to leave Holland, and transfer their
doctrine and morals to another hemisphere ; at last, in the
year 1620, after a solemn fasting and praying, it was con-
cluded upon by the younger part of the congregation to remove
to America, under the protection of the king of England. They
particularly had in contemplation that part of North America
which was already inhabited by some English families, viz.,
Massachusetts ; and now it was not a difficult task to associate
with a few English merchants, and obtain as well the consent
of the king of England as of the Virginia Company to estab-
lish themselves there, save their civil and religious liberties.
Whether any members of the congregation of that sect in
Amsterdam and Middelburg, or members of other puritanical
churches in Holland* joined the Brownists at Leyden, it has
hot been in my power to ascertain ; neither does it appear pro-
bable, as the emigrants only made use of two ships, one of sixty
and the other of one hundred and eighty tons for this voyage,
taking with them many necessaries for this new colony,
besides that their number is only calculated at one hundred
and twenty.
When every preparation was made for their departure to
North America, a fast and prayer day was celebrated, when
Robinson took his leave of the remaining members of the con-
gregation with a sermon, preserved by Neal.f He declared
that he bewailed the Protestant churches, that they would not
go further than the reformers Luther and Calvin. They had
been, indeed, burning and shining lights, but did not penetrate
the whole counsel of God; and would, were they yet alive,
cheerfully embrace a greater illumination, just as they had
showed themselves in receiving that which they first accepted.
He, therefore, admonished the congregation to leave behind
the name of Brownists, and be always ready, in conformity
with the rules of their society, to embrace every truth, which
should be communicated to them from the written word of
God; provided, that they should be always on their guard,
trying and comparing what they ought to accept as truth, &c.
* Many Puritans, abhorring the abuse of clerical power, had left England,
tegether with their ministers, and established themselves in Amsterdam, Rot-
terdam, the Hague, Leyden, Utrecht, and other places, where English
churches of the Presbyterian caste had been established, and which were
maintained by the government. Neal, 1. c. d. i. p. 2, 31, [This valuable
work, was republished by Dr. J. Toulmin ; and at Newburyport, 1816, in 5
vols. 8vo.—Trans ]
t Neal, t. i. p .2. p. 86, 87.
13NE W-NETHERLANDS.
99
concession in any disputed point about religious rituals ; men,
so highly reveling the Holy Scriptures, that they considered
themselves in duty bound to distinguish their cities and villages
by Biblical names, should so little care about their Netherland
neighbours of the same religious profession, should so little re-
spect their anterior possession.
Two ministers at Salem, a small city in Massachusetts, per-
haps unequal in talents, but both obstinate in the defence of
their principles, occasioned such excessive broils, that a sepa-
ration became unavoidable, so that the Rev. Mr. Hooker with
his followers left the city of Salem in the year 1633, retiring to
the country of Connecticut, and the plantations of the Nether-
landers, leaving the congregation at Salem under the care of his
colleague, Cotton.*
Deplorable consequences of ignorance and intolerance, so much
more pernicious, yea, so much more contemptible, in men who
had tasted by experience their bitter fruits.
The emigrants from Salem on the west shore of the great
river in Connecticut, without paying any regard to the more
early possession of the Dutch colonists, much less even to the
local grant, in behalf of the colony of Massachusetts, expelled
two English noblemen who had settled there before their
arrival, f
They built on a spot, which appeared to them convenient, a
few miles above the Netherland fort Good Hope, a small city
named Hartford, afterwards the capital of Connecticut’s colony,
and the irreconcileable enemy of the Dutch.
Encouraged by so much success, and perhaps guided by the
advices of Cromwell, who corresponded continually with the
leaders in each colony,$ they threw away their mask, declined
to acknowledge the authority of the original colony, and formed
a government for themselves. Confiding in their numbers, they
drove off their peaceable neighbours, as far as power could go.
They built a fort on the Fresh-water river, calling it Tamhert
Fort, to defend by it their colony against the east, having
stretched themselves out towards the west, to the Bay of
Greenwich, so that ere long the puritans of Salem approached
the capital of New-Netherlands, within eightmiles.il
Even Long Island, separated by the East river from the
continent, and without any question first discovered and settled
by the Netherlanders, yea, as they declare, bought from the
Indians, and adorned with several Netherland villages and forts,
was a fertile country and blessed with several good harbours.
* Robertson, p. 179. Neal, p. 176.
+ Robertson, p. 180.
X lb. p. 200.
|J About twenty-four English miles. Tamhert is probably a corruption of
Stamford, whieh is not, however, on Connecticut river, but within less than
forty miles of the city of New-York.—Ed.100
lambrechtsen’s
Such a favourable situation, so desirable for the fishery, was
alluring to the increasing English. Thus several of them set-
tled on the east of that island, building two villages there,
South Hampton and Southold, from which they afterwards
claimed the half of the island.*
It is not here the proper place to give an account of the set-
tling and progress of the English colonies in North America,
but it ought to be remembered, how the revolution in England
in the year 1642 animated the courage of the emigrants, since
they now embracing the same religious principles with the po-
pular party in both houses, might expect a firm support from
them.
Four of the principal colonies formed themselves, ere long,
into a political body ; Boston and Plymouth in Massachusetts,
and New-Haven and Hartford in Connecticut, concluding with
another in the year 1643 a Treaty of Union, similar to that of
the Union of Utrecht, with which the Brownists, during their
residence in Holland, had become acquainted.t
Behold, as was foreseen by sagacious men, the founda-
tion laid for the Republic of the United States of North Ame-
rica, which we, after a severe struggle, have seen increased in
population, respectability and prosperity, and at last, in the year
1782, acknowledged as a free and independent state; and which
we yet lately, after a short but obstinate warfare, have seen
concluding a peace with that same potent realm, which two
centuries before laid the foundation of that independence by its
religious intolerance.
If Elizabeth, and still more, if both her successors on the
throne of England, James and Charles, had followed other
politics, and been less attached to the outward solemnities of
religion and the authority of bishops, they would not have
compelled their subjects, among whom were many excellent
and learned men, to fly to the barren soil of North America ;
and the fertile lands between the Hudson and the Connecticut,
(Fresh-water river,) might have remained perhaps a part of
New-Netherlands.
But Providence had determined it otherwise—and its plans
are always wise and beneficial, however dark and injudicious
her ways and means may appear to us. If a true and increas-
ing civilization was destined to take place in the wilderness of
America, and an illustrious republic of different independent
states to be formed, it required inhabitants who carried with
them industry and religion, and who might perhaps be instru-
mental in communicating the doctrine of the gospel to the sa-
* Narrative of Beverningk, p. 607—9.
+ Robertson, p. 196.NEW-NE^HERLANDS.
101
vage tribes of that extensive country. This was promoted by
the emigrations from England, Scotland, Ireland, and many
other realms and states ; and the intolerance of the English
government, as well as the fanaticism of the emigrated puri-
tans, who, persecuting one another, spread themselves over the
country of America, and co-operated to effect what a sound
policy seemed to forbid.
Had Charles and Philip his son known the advantages of
tolerance and exercised it, as recommended by religion and
sound policy, never would the Republic of the United Nether-
lands have obtained existence and a rank among the powers of
Europe, and rescued themselves from the dominion of intoler-
ant Spain.
Had Louis XIV. consulted more his sacred duty, and the
rights of his Protestant subjects, nor listened to the insinua-
tions of his courtiers and priests, and not repealed the edict of
Nantes, our Fatherland would never have received so many
French emigrants in its bosom, who, by their industry, valour,
and scientific endowments, were, agreeably to the plan of Pro-
vidence, ordained to extend the population, promote the com-
merce and manufactures of Netherlands, and to maintain its in-
dependence ; never would European discipline, brought hither
by the French exiles, and eagerly adopted, have been intro-
duced in the armies of Peter the Great, at least not at such a
momentous period; and thus that intelligent monarch would
have been unable to support his own authority, to protect his
extensive empire, and execute his gigantic plans, so that
he could not have laid the foundation for that greatness and
power, of which France, in our days, felt all the energy, and to
which the existence of that famous Holy Alliance must be
ascribed.
Intolerance in religion finds at last its own grave in itself,
and is, in the hand of Providence, the efficacious means to pro-
duce the most glorious effects in behalf of other nations to her
glory.
But let us return from this digression to New-Netherlands—
to contemplate there the development of great events, which
English intolerance prepared against her will.
Mutual Jealousy between the Netherlanders and English.
The extension of the English colonies in North America, and
the arbitrary measures of their leaders, must have disquieted
the Directors of the West India Company, wTho received from
there continued complaints, as much as the States General;
but they were too well acquainted with the pernicious effects of
the envy and jealousy of their neighbours, on account of the in-102
lambrechtsen’s
crease and extension of the prosperity of Netherland, to expect
much good from serious representations.
Oh, had not this unhappy propensity betrayed itself on the
first discovery of this land by Henry Hudson, when, being in
England, he was prevented from making his report of his voy-
age and discovery to his masters, what influence might Nether-
land’s increasing prosperity and sound politics have had on the
commerce and manufactures of England ! If we credit respec-
table authority, the Netherlanders possessed then thrice as
many vessels as the English : their navy was equal. The
Netherlanders made use of six hundred vessels in their trade to
England, and England with no more than sixty to Holland.*
The whale fishery, thus far only in the possession of the Eng-
lish, awoke the thirst for gain in the merchants of Netherland,
and was favoured by a grant of the States, against which the
English made a fruitless opposition^ What dissensions ori-
ginated between the two nations about the trade in cloth, in
which the city of Middleburg was so highly interested ! there
the English cloth was imported. But King James, imagining
that the colouring of the cloth, as well as the wearing, ought to
be performed in his realm, it occasioned coloured cloth to be
imported from England into this country, which in the beginning
was opposed, but was yielded at length.^
If the trade in cloth caused a misunderstanding, not less did
that of the redemption of the cities Vlissengen and the Briel,
with the Fort Rammekens ; a masterpiece of politics, by
which Oldenbarneveld artfully surprised the English king,
and delivered his Fatherland from bondage.il
I pass by the establishment of the West India Company,
in 1621 ; the famous controversy about the events at Am-
boyna Tromp’s heroic attack on the Spanish fleet at the
Downs ;1F many other gallant and glorious enterprises against
the Spanish and Portuguese in Asia, on the coast of Guiana,
yea, even in Africa, which rendered the name of the Nether-
lands formidable ; but these also awoke the jealousy of the Eng-
lish, their competitors in so many places and pursuits. To
these general reasons of jealousy must be joined, particularly
with regard to North America, the displeasure of the English
government at the exportations of tobacco from that country to
Middleburg and Vlissengen, and somewhat later, the smuggling
trade between Virginia and New-Netherlands .**
* Hume’s Hist, of England, t. vi. p. 136, 7,
t Wagnaer Vadert. Hist. H. t. x. p. 67—71. Rapin Thoyras, Hist. D’An-
gletere t. z. p. 122.
t Luzac, Holland’s Riches, t. i. p. 356. Vad. Hist. t. x. p. 105.
|| Hume’s Hist, of Great Britain, t. vi. p. 25, and Vad. Hist. t. x. p. 101.
§Vad. Hist. t. xi. p.21.
IT Aitzema Trans, of State and War, t. ii. p. 529.
** Robertson, p. 83—117.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
103
I will not, however, deny that the Netherlander might, now
and then, have given a handle to strengthen such suspicions. It
must be confessed, that at first, the English controlled the com-
merce of Muscovy ; but it lasted not long, as the Hollanders
and Zealanders not only were at their side, but possessed suf-
ficient strength to press them out of the road. So that after
the death of Charles I., the English lost all the advantages of
commerce in Muscovy, while their competitors retained them.*
Netherlands compelled, not to offend England.
It would have been a wonder indeed, if the descendants of
two such nations, settled in a foreign country, so near one
another, and dissimilar in power, had lived together in an un-
interrupted peace ; not less wonderful indeed wTould it have
been, if proposals for accommodation and harmony by the
weaker had been adopted by the stronger.
In proportion as the English increased in numbers, to which
the continued emigrations of the Puritans and other mal-con-
tents very much contributed, they were obliged indeed to ex-
tend the limits of their plantations. Had now the Netherland
West India Company possessed the power to defend their
possessions with an adequate military force, and to impress
their neighbours with respect, perhaps the English colonists
might have looked out for other districts.
But how great were the advantages of the Company in the
beginning, so that even they paid fifty per cent. ! How im-
mense wras the spoil which the conquests of the Spanish silver
fleet poured into her bosom in the year 1628 ! The preserva-
tion, nevertheless, of the Netherland Brazils, New-Netherlands,
Tobago, St. Eustatius, and many other possessions and strong-
holds along the river Essequibo, and on the coasts of Guiana,
required such enormous sums of money, that it seems they
were compelled to confine themselves to the fortification of
the capital, New Amsterdam, the preservation of the forts on
the rivers, on Long Island, and Fort Nassau on the east of the
South river, Fort Orange on the North river, and more particu-
larly Fort Good Hope on the Fresh-water river, (Connec-
ticut,) confiding for the rest in measures of equity and discre-
tion as well towards the natives as English.
The States General were obliged to treat the English with
deference, as long as the war with Spain continued, more so dur-
ing the troubles between Charles I. and the parliament, while
* Scheltema, Russia and the Netherlands, t. i. p. 70. 80.168. 207. and 379.
405.104
lambrechtsen’s
the king himself, who by the compact concluded on the 17th
April 1632, at St. Germain, surrendered all the places in New-
France, Acadia and Canada to the French, was to be careful
in not displeasing his subjects by any concessions to the claims
of this state or New-Netherlands.#
After the. peace was concluded at Munster, some misunder-
standing arose with Cromwell, which soon ended in an open
war. What then remained for the West India Company,
which had work enough at hand with the defence of Brazil
against the Portuguese, but the way of negotiation, and how
little success might be promised by it ?
Disputes with the English colonists about the limits.
The most serious disputes had in the mean while arisen in
America between the director and council in New-Netherlands,
and the commissioners of the United Colonies of Boston, New-
Plymouth, New-Haven and Hartford, partly on the settling of the
limits, partly on account of mutual insults to the inhabitants,
which threatened open hostilities. The directors of the West
India Company commanded the director, Peter Stuyvesant, to
endeavour to prevent it by reasonable proposals for a provisional
division of the limits.
In consequence of this the aforesaid Director, who went to
Hartford in the year 1650, appeared before the legislature, as-
sembled for this purpose, where very courteously was negotia-
ted a provisional division of the limits between the Dutch and
English possessions.
It appears, that after the departure of Stuyvesant, this affair was
seriously considered, as three commissioners were despatched
to New-Amsterdam, to enter into a further deliberation with the
director on this subject, and endeavour to bring the division of
the limits to a final conclusion. This happened so indeed—
although with the loss of an indisputable right and previous
possession of the Netherlanders.
A line was to be drawn on the continent from the bay of
Greenwich, four miles from Stamford — towards the north,
twenty miles long, provided it remained at a distance of ten
miles from the North river.
The Netherlanders were not to build within six miles from
the division of the boundary.
The inhabitants of Greenwich were to remain as yet under
the Dutch government, and the Netherlanders to retain the land
* Conduit des Franfais par raport a la Nouvelle France, traduit de l’Ang-
lois, avec des Notes d’un Franfais. Londres 1735. p. 103.98
lambrechtsen’s
In August, 1620, they left Holland, with the view, as Rob-
ertson says,* to establish themselves on the Hudson river;
but, by an unfortunate accident, they arrived much farther to
the north, and in November, about the beginning of it, at
Cape Cod.
They unloaded their goods in an opposite bay, and began to
build a city, to which they gave the name of New-Ply-
mouth.
It was about this time that the English king (James) re-
formed the Plymouth Company, who had effected scarcely any
thing to facilitate an establishment in North America, by found-
ing the Great Council of Plymouth, granting to it the power by
letters-patent, to settle a colony in New-England, and to dis-
tribute lots among the colonists. He died in the year 1625,
but no alteration took place, by his death, in the politics of
England with respect to the Puritans. They united therefore
in larger numbers, and resolved to search for an asylum in
North America, and to solicit the favour of the Great Council
of Plymouth. This company, too, made them a gift of an
extensive tract of land to the north of the river Merrimack, and
three miles to the south of Charles river, and along the breadth
of the Atlantic to the South Sea; while King Charles I., not
less liberal than the Plymouth council, authorized them to
govern their own colony.
Increased about the year 1629 to the number of three hun-
dred persons, chiefly zealous Puritans, they left England, and
settled in America, on a spot which they called Salem, in the
bay of Massachusetts. Somewhat later the foundation was
laid of Boston, Charlestown, Dorchester, Roxborough, and
other cities ; to pass by the settlements in Providence, Rhode
Island, New-Hampshire, &c.
Thus far it seems the English emigrants settled and extended
themselves rather to the north and east of the South river,
without encroaching upon the districts, possessed by the Nether-
land West India Company, particularly not in the district of
Connecticut; but the unhappy intolerance and fanaticism of
the puritans in Massachusetts caused soon the disturbance of
this peace. It might have been expected, that they in gratitude
for the Dutch hospitality, which they had enjoyed during such
a long period, at Leyden, Amsterdam, and other cities in Hol-
land and Zealand, would have left the Netherland colonies un-
molested ; but pride and self-interest had eradicated entirely
all sentiments of discretion and gratitude from their hearts.
It can scarce be believed, that men, so conscientious, that
they considered themselves in duty bound not to make the least
* Robertson, p. 148. NeaJ, t. i. b. iv. p. 36.NE W-NETHERLANDS.
105
which they actually possessed, as far as Hartford, while all the
lands on both sides of the Fresh-water river (Connecticut,) should
belong to the English. And thus it should remain, till a final
decision should have been made between England and Holland.*
The Director Stuyvesant made his report of this agreement,
as equitable as circumstances permitted him to obtain, to the
Department of XIX, in a letter of 26th November, 1650.
During these disputes between the Netherland and English
colonies in America, the dissensions in England burst out in open
war. The parliament triumphed over the king. The unhappy
Charles lost his head on the scaffold the 9th February, 1649,
while the helm of government was entrusted to the hands of
the fanatic and obstinate Cromwell, a man whom the acknow-
ledged independence and prosperity of Netherlands so much
displeased, that it was to be foreseen that open war must
ere long be the consequence ; especially when the States Ge-
neral refused an audience to his ambassadors, and had per-
mitted the Prince of Wales, (afterwards Charles II.,) so near
allied to the house of Orange, a residence in this country.
These were the circumstances of the times in the beginning
of the year 1651, when the letter of the Director Stuyvesant
was brought before the States General.
The embassy sent to England. in the latter part of this year,
to put an end to the already begun hostilities, was authorized
also to propose to the English parliament the adjustment of the
limits in North America. But there was so little inclination to
negotiate with this Republic a treaty upon any equitable terms,
that entirely new and most unreasonable proposals were made,
which had nothing less in view than the entire annihilation of
Netherland commerce and naval power, and even looked to-
wards the dominion over the sea.
In this manner the negotiations were drawn out till the end
of May, 1652, when the well known rencontre happened be-
tween the Netherland and English Admirals Tromp and Blake,
before Dover, and the ambassadors of Holland were compelled
to depart, without having attained their object.!
After an obstinate war of two years’ duration, both parties,
weary of fighting, concluded, after Holland had resolved on the
act of seclusion, which was delivered to the English Protector, a
treaty of peace between the State and England of the 15th
April, 1654, without any express mention in the prelimi-
* Great Placard Book, t. ii. p. 1278.
t Fatherl. Hist. xv. p. 215—219 comp, the Not. of Zealand in Febr. 1652.
Their High Might, resolved, on the fourth of March, 1653, that no mandamus
of appeal should be admitted of any judgments given in New-Netherlands.
14106
lambrechtsen’s
naries of the American convention with regard to the settle-
ment of the limits.* * * §
The subject,, nevertheless, was not forgotten in our Fatherland.
The directors communicated to the States General, by a letter
of the 29th Sept., the provisional division of the limits of 1650,
with a figurative map, soliciting that this might be delivered to
the ambassadors, who in the meanwhile remained in England
to negotiate a treaty relative to navigation and the compensation
of damages, to make use of it at a proper season,! to which
their High-Mightinesses agreed, without approving the divi-
sion of the limits concluded at Hartford ; either because they
had some objections against it, or that they deemed it improper
to explain themselves upon it.
The ambassadors of the Netherlands proposed then to the
English commissioners, provided that it should be reciprocally
approved, either to sanction the aforesaid division of the limits,
or to leave it to the decision of the two governments of the colo-
nies in America, as they were better informed of this affair,
and so in their opinion would be most likely to promote their
mutual peace and welfare, but with the approbation of both Re-
publics.:); They communicated this to the States General by a
letter of 27th Nov. 1654, complaining, however, that they had
not been provided with the necessary proofs relative to the first
occupation of the Netherlanders, and the subsequent purchase
of those districts from the natives, nor with the legal evidence
of the concluded division of the limits, while the English pre-
tended to be ignorant that this state had any possession in that
district, or that any division of limits had taken place.||
I find nothing farther about this negotiation, except that the
States General on the 22dNov., 1656, approved that division,
probably with the view to promote the negotiations between the
West India Company and the city of Amsterdam, with regard
to the transfer of a part of New-Netherlands
New-Netherlands transferred to the city of Amsterdam.
The department of Amsterdam, to which it seems the govern-
ment of New-Netherlands was transferred by the department of
* Gr. Plac. Book, t. ii. p. 522. Verbal of Beverningk, p. 357.
t Verbael van Beverningk, p. 602.
t lb. p. 688.
|| lb. p. 693.
§ Gr. Plac. Book, t. ii. p. 1278. After I had written this narrative, I met
with the Coll, of the Hist. Soc. in New-York, t. i. p. 189—303, in which is a
collection of the letters and other documents, interchanged between the Nether-
land and English government in North America, taken from Ebenezer Haz-
ard’s Hist. Coll., which spread much light upon the history of that period.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
107
XIX, finding the task too difficult to provide for all the expenses
of its government, and believing that the authority of the city
of Amsterdam would obtain from the States General more effi-
cacious means to support the colony, and possess influence
enough to remove the disputes about the division of the limits,
determined to transfer a part of their possession in New-
Netherlands to the city of Amsterdam; and clearly, as it appears
to me, pointed to that part which was situated between the
South and North rivers, and which justly was possessed titulo
emptionis by the West India Company, as is evident from the
resolution of the Council of Amsterdam of 3 March, 1656.
The magistrates, acquainted with the interests of that colony,
presumed that by its cultivation all products were obtainable,
which now were imported from the eastern seas, even masts, soon
negotiated with the directors so successfully, that the purchase
was concluded in the spring of 1656, for 700,000 guilders.*
As soon as this transaction wTas approved by the States
General, six commissioners were chosen by the burgomasters,
who should direct the concerns of the colony.t The magis-
trates of Amsterdam adopted some further measures in behalf
of those who were willing to settle in that colony4
Here again religious intolerance offered its ready aid. More
than three hundred Waldenses, (inhabitants of the pays de
Vaud,) had taken refuge in Amsterdam, to avoid the perse-
cution of the Duke of Savoy. They were there provided with
necessaries, and departed, yet before the winter season, to
New-Netherlands. They were followed in the next spring by
three hundred more, and somewhat later by a respectable
number of persons of different ranks.
Troubles between the colonists in Virginia and the Swedes.
There had existed, as we have already seen, serious dis-
putes between the Netherlanders and their northern neigh-
bours ; but peace had been preserved between them and the
southern colonies in Virginia. ||
* Le Clercq Hist, of the United Netherl., t. iii. p. 129 ; the agreement itself
is inserted in the Muniment Reg. of Amsterdam, b. 1. p. 118, &c. So it is said
in Not. of the council of 12th July 1656, p. 121.
t The directors of New-Netherlands were Messrs. Conrad Burch, Coun.
cillor and late Alderman, (oud-Schepert,) in Amsterdam ; Hendrick Rosters,
first commissary of Bank of exchange ; Edward Man, Isaac Van Beek, Hec-
tor Pietersz, and John Tayspil.
X These conditions were inserted among the documents of the Description of
New-Netherlands, by A. Van der Donck, and in the Collections of the New-
York Hist. Soc., vol. i. 291
|| Van Beverningk, p. 603.108
lambrechtsen’s
Mutual interests probably co-operated in this, and perhaps
a coincidence in political principles, principally so after the
death of King Charles, whose favours they so highly valued
that they refused to acknowledge the authority of Cromwell.
And when he, in 1651, had despatched a strong fleet to keep
the Virginians in awe, the Netherland colonists did not hesi-
tate to support with their vessels the resistance of their
brethren, although it proved to be in vain *
History leaves us more in darkness with regard to the
Swedes, who settled on both sides of the South river, and in
New-Jersey, It appears, nevertheless, that they united with
the Netherlanders unwillingly,, only looking out for a favour-
able opportunity to recover their ancient rights, and defend
their independence ; that they, to obtain this end, profited of the
confusion, which, by the fall of Charles I., in the year 1649,
took place in the government of Virginia, and still more in
England ;t that they further endeavoured to hire the natives to
enter with them into a separate treaty of amity, so that they
succeeded in the year 1654 ; and lastly, that they took posses-
sion of and repaired the forts, from which the Netherlanders had
been expelled by the savages, before the arrival of the Swedes.
Fort Casimir was one of these. It was situated on the
western shore of the South river, (the Delawrare,) towards the
lower part, and opposite to Helsingburg. It wras in a state of ut-
ter decay, although for us of great importance. It was, of course,
resolved to repair it, and probably to conquer the other forts
situated on that river. I could not discover if they succeeded
in this, neither if any hostilities took place between the Nether-
land and Swedish colonists ; but I found that the Virginian
planters, (either that they were instigated by the Swedes, or
that the repair of Fort Casimir appeared to them full of dan-
ger,) headed by Colonel Nathaniel Utie, assaulted and level-
led it to the ground in the fall of 1654|.
If we can place confidence in the narrative of a Swedish
writer, || these quarrels between the Netherlanders and Swedes
would have been terminted through the intervention of the
governors, Stuyvesant and Rysing, with no further conse-
quence, had not the former, notwithstanding the treaty of peace,
renewed hostilities the following year ; and having sailed up
* Hist, de la Virginie, p. 31, Amst. 1707.
t Bachiene on Hubner’s General Geography, t. v. p. 673.
t See the documents in the city hall at Amsterdam, named the Declaration
and Manifesto to the Governor and Council of Maryland, 6th Oct., 1659 ;
and Extract from the Journal of Augustine Heerman, relative to the preten-
sions of Colonel N. Utie on the South river.
[| Thos. Camp. Holm, in vol. ii. of the Collections of the New-York Hist.
Sop., p. 357.new-netherlands.
109
the South river (the Delaware) with seven ships and six or
seven hundred men, captured all the Swedish forts, particu-
larly the fortress Christiania, after a siege of fourteen days,
taking all the military officers and the principal inhabitants
into custody, who were conveyed to New-Amsterdam, and
afterwards to Holland.
This wras unquestionably a severe measure, and perhaps
not undeserving of reproach ;* at least, the King of Sweden
complained to the States General on the capture of these forts.
It appears, nevertheless, to me highly probable that the con-
duct of our countrymen was justified by circumstances, as the
alliance between the Swedes and the Indians seems to have
been the cause of this renewed quarrel. And it is a fact, that
in the fall of 1655, Fort Casimir was assaulted by more than
five hundred Indians, instigated, as it may be presumed, by
the Swedes. It was so far off that they could compel the for-
tress to surrender,! but it was brought by its defenders into a
secure state of defence, and called New-Amstel; while the
command of it, in 1656, was given to John Alrichs, by the
directors of New-Netherlands, at Amsterdam. He, however,
arrived there only in the spring of the following year, having
been shipwrecked on Long Island.%
Situation of New-Netherlands since the war between the
Netherlander and the English.
The expenses of this colony wrere in the meanwhile far
exceeding the calculations of the magistrates at Amsterdam, pro-
bably on account of the means employed for its defence, so
that they deliberated, in the year 1660, respecting the surren-
der of New-Netherlands to the West India Company, who,
nevertheless, declined its acceptance; there were, therefore,
some sacrifices unavoidable in the hope of harvesting some
fruits.	The	affairs, indeed, of this colony	bore	ere long a
more favourable aspect, and some profits were of course ob-
tained.	The	navigation and commerce	to	this	part of the
country soon	increased so much that, if	the	war	with Great
Britain	had	not been rekindled again	in	the	year 1664,
New-Netherlands, whose riches and products could, as it was
wildly thought, be compared with the East India possessions,||
* Kalm’s Travels in North America, d. i. p. 6. 218—223, where he throws
some light on the poor situation of the first Swedish planters, their manners,
and customs.
t Not. of Holland, 24th March, 1658.
t Holland Merc., 1658, p. 43.
|| In the opinion of the directors of the West India Company. See Bever-
ningk, p. 604.110	lambrechtsen’s
might have become a gold mine for Amsterdam and the States
of the United Netherlands.*
But whatever may have been the truth, the commissioners
and directors on the South river, (the Delaware,) in New-
Netherlands, felt themselves inclined, in the year 1663, to sur-
render the half of the colony to the city* The Count d’Es-
trades wrote, in one of his letters,! to the commissioners at
Amsterdam, that it was not in the power of the States to
transfer New-Netherlands to them, of which they, above the
purchase money of seven hundred thousand guilders, had ex-
pended yet two millions, and of which the city of Amsterdam,
after a deduction of all the expenses, collected more than sixty-
three thousand guilders in rents annually.
But these splendid prospects were exactly the causes of the
loss of this colony; as already, in the beginning, this dis-
covery in the year 1609, by Henry Hudson, as well as the
settlement and extension of the country, had excited the jeal-
ousy of the English, degenerating soon, and still more since
the time of Cromwell, into a bitter hatred between the two
nations, which, though unequal in power and population, and
obliged by the mutual bonds of religion and politics to respect
one another, nevertheless eradicated these softer feelings
through envy and avarice, and the colonists eagerly imbibed
similar impressions.
The director of New-Netherlands left in the meanwhile
nothing untried to preserve the peace, maintaining the bound-
ary division of 1650, and providing by an express proclamation
against the abuses which had crept.in by the obtaining and
alienation of the soil.!
Prudence and wisdom may by such means have prevailed
here and there over open force ; but the people of Hartford
gradually became more obstinate, so that all endeavours to
bring about an amicable settlement became fruitless. It was
in vain that the director general Stuyvesant complained to the
congress of the general assembly of the four English colonies,
convened at Boston, in October, 1663, which he visited in per-
son ; it was in vain that the transactions of the people of Hart-
ford were disapproved by the deputies of Boston, New-Ply-
mouth, and New-Haven. They remained unmoved, pretending
that their disputes had no respect to the general assembly, and
related exclusively to their own colony. It was equally vain
that the deputies of the director and council in New-Nether-
* Wagenaer’s Descrip, of Amsterdam, t. p. 594, &c.
+ It is a letter of the Count d’Estrades to Lionne, of 17th Sept., 1665, See
Mem. d’Estrades, t. ii. p. 329.
t Holl. Mercurius, 1653, p. 43.NE W-NEYHERLANDS.
Ill
lands went thither, where they left nothing untried to preserve
peace and harmony. It was in vain, too, that the people of
Hartford declared that they knew no New-Netherlands, con-
sidered the possession of the West India Company unlawful,
as not supported by any grant of the king of England, and
therefore were resolved to extend their plantations as far as
they pleased, yea, to take the whole of New-Netherlands by
force, if they were opposed. A few zealots endeavoured,
during the negotiations at Boston, to stir the Dutch villages to
mutiny, while the savages of Esopus committed the grossest
cruelties, by murdering several Netherlanders in their neigh-
bourhood, hanging their heads before their huts. s’Grave-
zande and Heemstede, (Gravesend and Hempstead,) villages on
Long Island, were lured to acknowledge the king of England.
Those of the village of Vlissingen, (Flushing,) though chiefly
consisting of English, remained faithful to their ancient mas-
ters, saying, that, having always been well-protected by the
States General, they were averse to acknowledge others, and
thus sprung up in the colony the greatest discord and confusion*
What a deep sensation this misconduct of the English
caused in the colony, may be seen in a letter of the West In-
dia Company, of 21st January, 1664, as literally inserted in
the Holland Mercury of that year, and its principal contents
by Aitzema.f
Foreseeing that a similar lot threatened them as the colonists
in the Brazils, who, naked and plundered, were finally left at
the mercy of the Portuguese, they despatched a few depu-
ties to the Hague, to make the most solemn entreaties, as well
to the States General as to the directors, soliciting that they
might be soon relieved in their distresses by the arrangement
of a just division of the limits, and that efficacious measures
might be taken to stop the threatened violence.
These complaints were presented in the beginning of Janu-
ary, in the year 1664, and it was resolved to make an inquiry
by a committee, but the received accounts of the conquests of
the English Admiral Holmes soon put a stop to all further
deliberations.
But let us return to Europe and take a view of events there.
New-Netherlands conquered by the English in 1664, and
abdicated in 1667.
It might justly have been expected after King Charles II.
had ascended the throne, in 1660, that peace with this state, to
* Holl. Merc. 1663,p. 168, and that of 1664, p. 10—13.
t Aitzema, t. v. p. 64. Holl. Merc. 1664, p. 13,14. Riches of Holland, (E.
Luzac,) t. ii. p. 146.112
lambrechtsen’s
which his majesty did lay under such high obligations, would
have been perpetuated. But it appeared very soon that the
refusal to elect the young prince stadtholder displeased highly
the king, and that he reluctantly concluded the treaty between
the two states in 1662.*
The government, to protect itself against the malice of Eng-
land, and on . that account little inclined to execute the con-
cluded treaty, entered into engagements with the French king,
Louis XIV. ; but this monarch, discontented at a secret nego-
tiation between this republic and Spain, stirred in secret
Charles II. against this state.
^	1	ire commenced out of Europe. The
few vessels in the year 1663 to the coast of Africa, and was
instructed! to take Cape Cors, and afterwards New-Nether-
lands. The enterprize was successful. Several Netherland
ships and forts on the coast of Africa, were in February, 1664,
conquered by the enemy, who then steered for America. The
English fleet was respectable ; a successful resistance was ut-
terly impossible ; so that New-Amsterdam was surrendered to
the English in August, 1664, without a single blow. They con-
quered ere long all NewT-Netherlands, with the islands of To-
bago and St. Eustatius.! They called the conquered country
New-York, and gave the same name to the capital, New-
Amsterdam.
The directors of the West India Company, as soon as they
were informed of it, reported the event to the States General,
24th October, 1664. Their High Mightinesses received this
report with regret, and transmitted copies of the memorial of
the directors to the different provinces, admonishing them to
promote, hy their speedy consents, the negotiation of money to
prosecute the war, and avert further calamities, as well in as
out of Europe ; while the ambassador, Van Goch, in England,
was commanded to make the most serious representations to
the king to restore the captured colonies and prevent similar
enterprises. With deep regret, however, this loss was heard
in this country, since, as it had not been in their power to pre-
vent it, they were not prepared to re-conquer what was lost. It
seemed further that Amsterdam acquiesced in this loss, in the
prospect of gaining three times as much, as orders had been
issued to assail the possessions of the English in the East
* Vader. Hist., d. xiii. p. 47.
+ This was openly acknowledged by'the king. Letters of the Court, t. iv.
p. 387.
% Vad. Hist t. xiii. p. 118. The conditions of the capitulation in New-Neth-
erlands are inserted in the Holl. Merc., 1664, p. 153 ; and in a Short Narra-
tive of the English Wars, Amst., 1667, p. 28 and 29.
brother, had been despatched with aNEW-NETHERLANDS.
113
Indies, of which they either would retain the possession or ex-
change them again for New-Netherlands.* * * § The hope was fos-
tered, indeed, that the Republic of the United Netherlands
would, at the conclusion of the negotiations for a treaty of
peace, commenced in 1665, under the guidance of French
deputies, and at the particular entreaties of Louis XIV., be
re-established in the possession of New-Netherlands, whose
loss was yet so deeply regretted.
The king of France proposed, in the meanwhile, on his own
authority, to the states, to make a cession of New-Netherlands
to the king of Great Britain, provided he left them the posses-
sion of the island Pouleron, &c. Such proposals were unac-
ceptable in this country, more so, as the hope was fostered that
France would, at last, declare itself against England.!
This war was continued for years : they fought bravely on
both sides, and at last peace was concluded at Breda, on the
31st July, 1667, and by it stipulated that each should preserve
the places, cities, and forts, which during the war had been
taken, the one from the other, till the 20th of the preceding
May4
New-Netherlands, which had been during three years in the
possession of the English, wras now completely and finally
relinquished, and so was lost, at once, the fruit of more than
fifty years’ labour, with all the innumerable sums of money be-
stowed in the Fatherland in settling and improving this colony,
the most flattering prospects of commerce and prosperity ren-
dered vain, and numerous Netherland families reduced to
poverty, whose support depended on the preservation of the
colony.
However deeply the loss of this respectable colony was de-
plored, it was nevertheless in some respect lessened by the
capture of the English colony Surinam, in April, 1667, by a
Zealand captain, Abraham Krynzoon,|| despatched thither wTith
three vessels by the states of Zealand ; which colony of course
was brought, in virtue of the treaty of peace at Breda, under
the dominion of this state.§
As often as we reflect on Surinam, the only New-Nether-
land colony on the coast of Guiana, we remember with
gratitude the memory of its conqueror, Abraham Krynzoon,
* D’Estrades’ Mem., b. ii. p. 294.
t The king excuses himself on this point in a letter to d’Estrades, of 17th
August, 1663, saying, “ That the condition of peace had been proposed to
him by the Grand Pensionary De Witt, which his majesty desired that, with
the knowledge of De Witt, at a convenient season, should be communicated to
the States to prevent mistrust.” Oeuvr. de Louis XIV., t. iii. p. 315.
t Vad. Hist., t. xiii. p. 265.
j| See on this valiant Zealander, De la Rue Her. Zealand, p. 190,
§ Vad. Hist., p. 406. Hartzink’s Descrip, of Guiana.
15114
LAMBRECHTSENS
our Zealand countryman, who annexed it in compensation for
lost New-Netherlands to the crown of our Fatherland, which it
yet adorns.
It is, nevertheless, a difficult task to give a fair decision,
whether the loss of New-Netherlands was, in the course of
time, compensated by the conquest of Surinam This is cer-
tain, at least, that the surrender of the first named colony caused
a great joy in England; and well might it have this effect,
as by this the division wall, which prevented the union
of the southern colonies of England in Virginia with those of
the north, was removed; by this a new spring of agriculture
and commerce was opened, and a dangerous neighbouring rival
turned adrift.
The uncertainty of sublunary affairs and speculations was
made evident in these prospects. It was suspected, when the
English concluded this treaty, that it would not last long. It
was not long before a dispute arose about striking the colours,
when the war fire burned with far greater violence than even
before.
New-Netherlands recovered hy the Netherlanders and re-
stored.
The State was assaulted in the year 1672, not only by the
crowns of England and France, but by the bishops of Cologne
and Munster too.
The losses on land were immense, but at sea the honour of
our flag was maintained valiantly.
Captain Cornelius Evertsen, son of the vice-admiral of the
same name who fell in battle, being in the latter part of the
year 1672 despatched by the states and admiralty of Zealand
with a small fleet to the West Indies, steered towards the
English colony in Virginia, where he took and burned a num-
ber of vessels. Meeting at Martinique a small squadron of
four men-of-war, sent to sea by the admiralty of Amsterdam,
under the command of Commodore Jacob Binkes,* he united
with it, taking a large number of English and French vessels.
And now Evertsen and Binkes steered for New-Nether-
lands. The city of New-York was provided with forty pieces
of cannon, but the governor was absent, so that confusion took
place, and the conquest was made without great opposition.
Every seaport was taken, and ere long the whole colony, to
which, by the conqueror, the ancient name of New-Nether-
* Jacob Binkes was a bold seaman, and fell in battle 1677, in the conquest of
Tobago, by the Count d’Estrades. Vad. Hist. t. xiv. p. 376. 401. 443. Lives
of Sea Heroes, p. 438.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
115
lands was restored. This happened on the 9th August, of the
year 1673.*
It is easily to be conceived what joy this illustrious triumph
occasioned among the Netherland colonists, who had remained
there. The valiant Evertsen, anxious and solicitous for the
preservation of the colony, provided for a regular adminis-
tration, and sufficient garrisons which had been sent with him,
for the forts, the capital, and all such places as necessity
required; taking a further precaution of leaving there two
armed vessels for its greater security.
The government of conquered New-York, now named New-
Orange, on the Island Manhattan,t communicated, in a letter
of 8th November, 1673, to their High Mightinesses notice of
this important event, despatching with it Cornelis Van Ruy-
ren, Esq., who had been invested with different respectable
offices in the colony, and was thoroughly acquainted with all
its affairs ; but having been compelled by a very heavy gale,
which threatened the loss of his ship and life, to enter a har-
bour in New-England, he was despatched again with another
letter, of the 10th of January, 1674, to the Netherlands.
It was said in that letter, that it had pleased God to bless
the arms of the State in such a manner that the whole Province
of New-Netherlands, consisting of three cities and more than
thirty villages, was brought again under the obedience of their
lawful sovereign, to the great joy of the inhabitants, and that
great advantages might be foreseen from this event, especially if
some families, who by the invasion of the French were nearly
bereft of every thing, should be willing to settle in New-Neth-
erlands, and some support might be afforded them during the
first year ; that this province, which scarcely wanted anything
to promote its agriculture but settlers, would increase so much
in value that, in process of time, it might become the magazine
of grain and other necessaries for the Fatherland, which were
now carried thither from the Sound, as the district of Esopus,
consisting of three villages, produced already and delivered
about 25,000 schepels of grain; that in the meanwhile Ca-
raccas and Surinam might supply the wants of New-Nether-
lands, and trade there with their products; that New-Nether-
* Not. of Zealand, 1673, p. 176—179, and of 1674, p. 21. 24. Holl. Merc.,
1673, p. 170—263. Obs. on the Vaderl. Hist., t. xiv. p. 102.
t The magistrates called themselves the burgomasters and schepens of the
city of New-Orange, on the island Manhattan, in New-Netherlands, and were
the following persons: Anthony de Mill, Johannis de Pyster, Aegidius Luyck,
Johannis Van Brag of Burg, Michiel Beekman, Jeronimus Ebbinck, Jacob
Kip, Laurens Van de Spiegel, Guilliam Verplanck. This letter wa3 kindly com-
municated to me by Jonkheer J. C. de Jonge, Adjunct Archivarius of the Realm
of the Netherlands, whom I cordially thank for this and other communi-
cations.116
lambrechtsen’s
lands was favourably situated for vessels cruising along to the
west to bring their prizes there ; that above all, an oversight
might be exercised there on the conduct of England, which,
being once the mistress of the northern parts of America,
would be enabled to equip there men-of-war, without the
knowledge of other potentates, with which to assail our state
and her allies ; to all which ought to be added the great
advantages of the beaver and fur trade, besides other objects,
which would be communicated by Mr. Van Ruyven.
They concluded, that for the recovery and preservation of
the Province of New-Netherlands, immediate assistance and
provisions were unavoidably required, without which they re-
mained in danger of the machinations of their English and
French neighbours, by whom they were surrounded, and who
would continue to exert every nerve to take their revenge for
the triumph of their High Mightinesses in this part of the
world, by which the Netherland nation, being in that country
only 6000 to 7000 strung, could expect nothing else than utter
ruin and devastation. They therefore solicited their High
Mightinesses to interest themselves in the preservation of this
province, and to afford it all such aid,, as might be deemed re-
quisite for its safety.
Evertsen had, in the meanwhile, departed with his small
squadron towards Cadiz, where he arrived in safety in De-
cember of the same year, after he had conquered the island of
St. Eustatius.
The struggle of the allied powers had been, during this expe-
dition, very violent and bloody. No wonder then, that the
states, who had no other ally but the king of Spain, were in-
clined to peace. They made their various proposals to King
Charles II., among others, to surrender New-Netherlands with-
out any compensation.
A more flattering lure could not have been offered to the Bri-
tish prince. He accepted it without delay; and peace was
concluded under this proviso on the 19th of February, 1674, at
Westminster.*
The States General resolved on the 16th of April to surrender
New-Netherland to the English, wrhich the West India Com-
pany was authorised to perform,! while the inhabitants of the
colony were referred with their petitions to the king of Eng-
land 4 Thus New-Netherlands became once more an English
colony, and separated for ever from the Fatherland ; while the
Island of St. Eustatius, and the colony of Surinam, remaining
till this day possessed by this state, are unquestionable monu-
* Vad. Hist. t. xiv. p. 298, 299. Valckenier, t. ii. App. No. 12. p. 68.
+ Not. of T. H. M. 5. 11. 13. June, 1674.
t lb. 4 June, 1674.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
117
ments of the heroic courage and prudence of the heroes of Zea-
land* Krynsoon and Evertsen.
Among the numerous heroic achievements of the Evertsens,
this triumph deserves our gratitude. The Commodore Cornelis
Evertsen,* not degenerating from the courage and valour of his
father and uncle, who both died in battle in the same year with
glory, would have recovered New-Netherland for his Father-
land, had its preservation been possible, and this sacrifice not
been required for the restoration of peace4
Inquiry into the right of possession of New-Netherlands,
Here the concatenation of events, relative to New-Nether-
land, might be concluded, if it wTas not desirable to devote a
few moments to the claims of right, on which the Republic of
the United Netherlands defended their possession of New-
Netherlands.
Nothing, indeed, more substantial can be brought forward in
its defence, than the reasons by which the English government
controverted them.
It pretended, that King James made a grant of this land to
the Earl of Stirling by letters patent, under the great seal of
England; that the Scots, long before the arrival of the Holland-
ers, made a beginning of cultivating that colony ; that the Duke
of York purchased the right of the heirs of the Earl of Stirling,
and that of course the country calledNew-Netherlands, belonged
legally to the English ; that besides they only connived at the
settling of the Hollanders, even as when they had settled in Eng-
land or anywhere else, without acquiring by it any right of sove-
reignity for their Fatherland 4
These then are the grounds on which, as D’Estrades relates,
the chancellor of England tried to defend the rights of his
master ! Let us bring these shortly and fairly to the test.
If it was the question, whether King James had granted, at
an earlier period than the States General, among his other gifts,
the country named afterwards New-Netherland, for settling and
cultivation, then perhaps the decision might be in his favour, as
it is known, that King James, in his extravagant zeal to form
transmarine colonies, granted as early as 1606, to two different
societies of commerce, the exclusive right to trade in America,
* Cornelis Evertsen, born at Flissingen, 16th Nov. 1643, was the sixth son
of the Lt. Admiral Cornelis Evertsen. See De la Rue, Heroic Zealand
p. 154, and J. de Kanter, Phil. i.
t Oration for the repair of the tomb of the Lt. Admirals Johan and Cor-
nelis Evertsen, delivered at Middelburg, 18th April, 1818.
t Mem. D’Estrades t. ii. p. 389.118
lambrechtsen’s
which he divided into two equal parts, between 35 and 45 deg.,
and thus from Nova Scotia to the south-western shore of Caro-
lina, calling the one part, “The first colony of Virginia,” or the
Southern colony, and the other, “ The second,” or the Northern
colony.* * * § Neither can it be disputed, that King James approved
and confirmed by different letters patent, the authority and
privileges of these colonies, which he afterwards extended
or limited ;that he even in the year 1620, granted to the
Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham and other
grandees, a more extensive right, than before, incorporating
them under the title of “ The great Council of Plymouth,” to
settle a colony in New-England.f But it is not less certain,
that all the king’s endeavours were fruitless, and that the enter-
prizes of this new company remained unsuccessful; % and why
should, without a direct possession, the grant of navigation, trade
and land-holding between the 34 and 45 degrees, by King James,
even if it had been of an earlier date, be of more value and in-
terest than that of the States General of the United Netherlands,
who granted similar rights to the West India Company in the
year 1621, between the 37J degr. and 41when there existed
already at that period Dutch plantations and forts ?
Both these grants possess, in my opinion, except with an
actual possession, no more value than those of the Romish pope
Alexander VI., when he in his bull of 1493 divided all South
America between Portugal and Spain. The whole unquestion-
ably depends upon the original discovery and possession. These
are the only titles of right, which nations can bring forward, the
one against the other, to justify their permanent possession.||
For this reason I made no mention of the voyage of discovery
of John and Sebastian Cabot, who, sailing by the authority of
Henry VII., king of England, to discover a passage through the
North-west, probably did see the coasts of America, although
they did not visit them.$
As on this basis, therefore, cannot be doubted the right of
the English to the colonies of Virginia, which they first dis-
covered and took possession of, much less could that realm dis-
pute the right of the West India Company, which the Nether-
landers acquired by the discovery, settling, and cultivation of
N e w-N etherlands.
In respect to the grant by letters patent in the year 1621, to
the Earl of Stirling, secretary of state in Scotland, these were
* Robertson’s Hist, of Amei\, t. v. p. 46. Britt. Domin. in Amer., p. 172.
t Robertson, ib. p. 62. 71. 93. 152.
t Robertson, p. 156. Sprengel, Gesch. der Europ. in Amerika, p. 178.
|| Puffendorf, Droit de la Nat. et des Gent. 1. iv. cap. 6. §. 4.
§ Disc, of Dr. S. Miller in the Coll, of the N. Y. Hist. Soc., t. i. p. 22.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
119
confined to Acadia, or Nova Scotia, as it had pleased King James
to denominate that country, situated between 42 and 44 deg * * * §
This grant had been farther limited by the express clause,
“ if these lands were uninhabited or possessed by infidels.” The
author of the British Dominions in America! mentions, it is true,
that King James rewarded the Earl of Stirling with Long Island,
but observes at the same time, that it happened at a period
when the Netherlanders had already settled that colony, and that
the colonists transported by the said Earl to Long Island, were
driven away to its eastern parts by the Hollanders.
But, can it be, that the Scots, as England's chancellor pre-
tended, had made an earlier discovery of that country, and took
possession of it before the Netherlanders ? Nothing at first sight
is more improbable. The ghost of the Scottish nation, when
James ascended the throne of England, did not contemplate dis-
coveries of lands, or commercial calculations. Even the atten-
tion of the prince was more fixed on China and Japan, to which
he presumed to discover a passage by the North4 Neither could
I discover any evidence that any naval expedition was under-
taken by the Scots towards America. Before the obstinate sup-
port of the episcopal church-discipline, with the emigrations
from Scotland as well as from England, seemed to render it ne-
cessary, and at that period the Hollanders a long time had been
established in New-Netherlands.
Robertson, the accurate historian of x\.merica, acknowledges
in so many words, that the Hollanders, having discovered the
island of Manhattan, and the river Connecticut, with the districts
along its shores, acquired all the rights to these which can be
given by the first possession. ||
And Burke, who wrote a history of the English colonies in
America, does admit, that the land-possessions of the Hol-
landers and Swedes were anterior to those of New-England.§
To say, that they had only been permitted, even as foreigners,
who settle in England and elsewhere, without acquiring by it in
behalf of their Fatherland, the right of sovereignity, is ludicrous
indeed; as would it be permitted to any foreigner in any realm
to build a city, to construct fortresses, and secure them by an
armed force !
The oldest natives of New-Netherlands, who did yet remember
the arrival of the ship, the Half-Moon, in the year 1609, often
* Although I have not found the grant, not even in Rymer, it is mentioned
in the work entitled, Conduite des Fran£ais par rapport a la Nouvelle Ecosse,
p. 29 ; and by Sprengel, i. t. p. 40.
t P. 104.
t Rymer, Acta Publ., t. vii. p. 115.11G.
|j History of America, t. v. p. 180.
§ Hist, des Colonies Europeennes dans l’Am^rique, t. ii. p. 207120
LAMBRECHTSEN S
declared, as observed before, that, before the arrival of the
Netherlanders, they were utterly ignorant of the existence of
any other nation, besides their own, and that they took the ship
for a huge fish or sea-monster, while Hudson and his crew were
convinced, that never before them any Christian nation landed on
this shore.
There is no greater weight in what the author of the Bri-
tish Dominions in America* relates, that the Hollanders pur-
chased their right to New-Netherlands in 1608, of Captain Hud-
son, which purchase, as made without the consent of the king,
was always considered as null and void that the Puritans,
who settled afterwards the colony of New-Plymouth, first in-
tended to settle along the bay of New-Haven and on Long Island,
but had been steered to the north by the skipper, who, being a
Hollander, and bought by his countrymen, had compelled them
to abandon their plan ; that the Hollanders, having made a be-
ginning of settling that country, had been expelled from there
by the Knight Argal, then governor of Virginia, when they ad-
dressed themselves to King James I., and obtained liberty, to
construct some cottages along the shore, to assist their vessels,
sailing to the Brazils, with water and victuals ; of which pretext
they had made use, to settle there gradually with so much suc-
cess, that they built several cities and forts, cultivated planta-
tions, and within a short period increased to a large and popu-
lous colony. Thus far the anonymous English author. Let us
now see, what truth there is in his narrative.
Hudson sold his right to the Hollanders, and the king never
sanctioned this purchase ! But where is there a shadow of
proof of such a negotiation ? Hudson wTas despatched with a
ship of the Netherland East India Company. He wTas un-
questionably the first who discovered the North river with its
adjacent coasts, but not the first who took possession of them.
This was performed by other Netherlanders at a later period,
probably first in the year 1674, as we observed before.
That the Puritans, in their passage to North America, should
have been imposed upon by a Holland skipper, is founded upon a
tale without any proof. But even if such could be produced,
this certainly would not invalidate the occupancy of the Neth-
erlanders, which had taken place six years before.
Lastly, as it regards the expulsion of the Netherlanders from
North America by the knight Samuel Argal, Governor of Vir-
ginia, it is possible that this man in his zeal for extending the
English colonies, when he on his own authority undertook to
drive the French from Canada, permitted himself some depre-
dations upon the Netherland plantations upon the Hudson river,
* Hist, des Colonies Europ^ennes dans l’Amdrique, t. ii. p. 100.NEW-NETHERLANDS.
121
but this proves nothing against the right of the Netherlanders
to an earlier possession, as they, as well as the French, being
at peace with the English, had not deserved such violence.
Neither was the conduct of Governor Argal approved, as he
was the next year recalled to England, and removed from his
office.*
Or shall it be said that the right of possession by the Neth-
erlanders is of no value, because the country of which they
took possession was inhabited by barbarous nations ? the same
would be of force against the English. Besides that, as the
Directors of the West India Company declared in their memo-
rial of 29th September, 1654, (to be found in the Verbael of
Beverningk, page 604,) her ministers as soon as the grant was
obtained, exerted themselves to purchase from the natives sev-
eral islands and districts ; so that they then, by way of pur-
chase, became the legal proprietors of various spots along the
North river, as Pavonia, Hoboken, Staten and Nut Islands, the
Island of Manhattan, a large tract of land named Zwonendaal,
not far from Cape Henlopen, on the South river, and the
whole territory of Connecticut.
We may thus conclude with safety that the English cannot
make out any pretence of a right of possession to the countries
in North America which were occupied by the Netherland
West India Company, but rather that these countries ought to
be regarded as a Netherland colony, with the same right as
Virginia was entitled to the name of an English colony ; and
that, indeed, nothing else than jealousy with regard to com-
merce on the part of the English, and weakness and want of
power of the Netherlanders, were the causes of the loss of a
colony, which unquestionably would have become a rich
source of wealth to our fatherland, and fully compensated the
loss of the Brazils.
Conclusion.
Thus have I fulfilled the task which I took upon me, per-
suaded that it contains many defects, notwithstanding my exer-
tions. If I could have obtained the treatise or the remon-
strance of the community of New-Netherlands, mentioned by
Van der Donck ; or could I have obtained access to the ancient
records (Notelen) of the West India Company Department of
Amsterdam, I might probably with greater accuracy have de-
lineated as well the voyages to, as the increasing population,
civilization; and farther history of New-Netherlands, but in this
* British Empire in America, p. I84.
16122
lambrechtsen’s, etc.
I was disappointed. Perhaps some particulars relative to that
part of the colony which was transferred to the city of Am-
sterdam, might be discovered in the documents preserved
among the state papers of Amsterdam, in the Muniment Re-
gister, B, folio 26, and D, folios 89 and 148 ; but I do not
believe that these would be very interesting with regard to the
events in New-Netherlands.
The English authors, perhaps, to whom Robertson refers in
the fifth volume of his History of America, may throw some
light upon my narrative. But my endeavours to consult them
having proved fruitless, I was compelled to acquiesce in what
I possessed, fostering the hope that my labour may be improved
by a more expert hand.*
Postscript.
After I had written, in the years 1813 and 1815, this sketch
of the origin and history of New-Netherlands, I had the honour
of receiving in the year 1817, my election as an honorary mem-
ber of the Historical Society of New-York, while at the same
time wTas transmitted, as a present, a copy of the two published
volumes of their transactions, under the title of Collections of the
New-York Historical Society, printed at New-York, 1811 and
1814.
I discovered in this Collection several documents which
spread light over the great events on which my attention had
been fixed, and therefore made use of them either to illustrate
or extend my narrative, referring to them in the notes.
And whereas, I respectfully thank the Historical Society of
New-York for the honour bestowed upon me, so I am confident
that the Society, in consequence of its general invitation, will
accept my remarks, however defective otherwise, as well-inten-
tioned endeavours for the discovery of truth and illustration
of history ; albeit I have been unable to answer the several
questions whose investigation the Society has proposed, and
which came first to my notice after I had written this memoir.
* Fruitless, too, was my inquiry of one of the members of the family of Van
Rensselaer, resident here, whose ancestors settled a respectable colony in New-
Netherlands, named Rens-elaerwyck, to discover if any documents to illustrate
the history were yet preserved; as I was informed that all those a few years
past had been delivered to Mr. R. S. Van Rensselaer, on his return to America,
where that gentleman, as I am informed, is yet residing.CORRECTIONS.
In translating the foregoing work, Mr. Van der Kemp laboured under
the disadvantage of an imperfect knowledge of our language ; and on this
account, his sentences and phraseology are often obscure, following the
idiom of his own vernacular tongue rather than the English. Frequent
alterations were thus rendered absolutely necessary, in order to make the
sense of the author intelligible; and the Editor, in performing this duty,
has been compelled to resort constantly to the original work. In conse-
quence of these alterations, and the general obscurity of the Translator’s
handwriting, a critical eye may discover occasional errors of the press.
On page 109, there is an omission of a note by the Translator, which
in the original work is as follows :—Blijkens Papieren ten Raadhuize van
Amsterdam. Alrichs was in December, 1656, uit Texel vertrokken, en
na geleden Schipbreuk op ’t Lange-Eiland in April, 1647, met 128 Zielen
in H fort Casimir aangekomen. Correcting the misprint, 1647, it may be
translated as follows:—See Documents in the City Hall, at Amsterdam.
Alrichs left the Texel in December, 1656, and after the above-mentioned
shipwreck on Long Island, in Aprils 1657, with 128 souls, arrived at
Fort Casimir, (on the Delaware.) This note should have been inserted in
the place of the third note, on page 109; the third note should take
place of the second; and the reference to the second be placed at the
end of the ninth line on that page, after the word ‘forts? The reference
to Holland Merc, on the same page should be p. 113, instead of p. 43.
On page 120, in the note, the reference should be to the “ British Em-
pire in America.” On page 104, near the middle, instead of uncourteously,
read very courteously. This error was corrected in the greater part of
the edition.—Ed.