Copy 2 ^^^^^ '^ ^^W7 y^// W^^:,..:^ 
 
 ^^^^-.^/^>«_. 
 
 ALBANY 
 
 Its Plitt Id llii Mslory of lit niM Ms. 
 
 BERTHOLD FERNOW. 
 
" History is Past Politics; Politics Present History." — Freeman. 
 
 ALBANY 
 
 AND- 
 
 Its Place in tie History Of tie UiM Slates 
 
 »«^»« 
 
 A MEMORIAL SKETCH 
 
 WRITTEN FOR- 
 
 THE TWO-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF ITS 
 
 BIRTHDAY AS A CITY. 
 
 BY 
 
 BERTHOLD FERNOW, 
 
 Honorary and Corresponding Member of the Historical Societies of 
 
 New York, Hew Jersey. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Buffalo, 
 
 and Waterloo ; Memtoer of the American Historical 
 
 Association ; Custodian of the Historical 
 
 Records of the State. 
 
 ALBANY : 
 
 CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS. 
 
 1886. 
 
 'C/ 
 
c 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1886, 
 
 Bv BERTHOLD FERNOVV, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at W'ashington. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Gift from 
 the Estate 01 MISS Ruth Putnam 
 Oct.6,1931 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Albany Express of Friday, April 30, 1886, said : 
 
 " The Bi-centennial committee has selected Governor Hill 
 as the orator, Mr. William H. McElroy, of the New York 
 Tribune, as the poet, and Mr. Berthold Fernow, the custo- 
 dian of the colonial records of the State, as the historian, of 
 the Bi-centennial celebration of the founding of the charter 
 of the city of Albany. 
 
 " These selections are alladmirable. It is eminently proper 
 that the Governor of the State should be invited to deliver 
 the oration on an occasion that has to do so intimately with 
 the history of this noble Commonwealth. While not a 
 finished orator, Governor Hill is a strong and practical talker, 
 and he will deliver an address full of interest and valuable 
 as a study of American municipal history. 
 
 " Mr. McElroy has been regarded from the first as the only 
 person to be invited to prepare the poem for this occasion. 
 He is a native of Albany, and he loves the good old city as 
 dearly as though he had never left it. He is a born poet as 
 well as a born humorist ; and his contribution to ou^ Bi- 
 centennial literature will be as full of poetry as it is full of 
 wit, and as full of both as Albany is full of years. 
 
 " Mr. Fernow is an expert in the colonial histoiy of this 
 city and this State. He has studied more into the musty 
 records of the Dutch and English times, and written more 
 
regarding them, than any man now ahve. His history will 
 be a finishetl monograph, and the worthy permanent me- 
 morial of the Bi-centennial celebration." 
 
 Beyond a conversation with a sub-committee, this was 
 the only information which the author received of the 
 selection. 
 
 Duly appreciating the honor, although believing that it 
 should have been conferred upon a native of the city of 
 Albany, or at least upon a native of the State of New York, 
 and not upon a foreigner, the author undertook the task and 
 herewith submits the result to the public. 
 
 An attempt to try writing a history of the city from its 
 earhest settlements could only have resulted in complete 
 failure, seeing in how short a time it had to be done. This 
 sketch will contain practically nothing new, but only facts, 
 already known, considered under a new light. 
 
 The same shortness of time must be the excuse for omis- 
 sions and too sketchy treatment of the matter. The author, 
 however, has made no statement that he cannot prove by 
 " chapter and verse" from the records in his charge. 
 
 Albany, yuly, 1886. 
 
" Grea t oaks from little a corns grow, 
 Grea t streams from little fountains flow: 
 
 H 
 
 AVE we grown more irreligious than our fore- 
 fathers, or more tolerant? 
 
 In the days when the white race first invaded the 
 home of the red man, where the capital of tlie Empire 
 State now stands, people were ready to fight to the bitter 
 end for their religious beliefs and their own peculiar manner 
 of worshipping their Creator. To a conflict of this kind 
 Albany and the State of New York owe their origin. 
 
 " History," says Bacon, "makes men wise." He might 
 have added "and patriotic." The remembrance of Ther- 
 mopyte and Marathon makes a brave man of the puniest 
 Greek; the thought of ^Vaterloo fires the heart of the Eng- 
 lishman and the German, whose grandfathers stood on that 
 field fighting against the Corsican whirlwind, then disturbing 
 the peace of Europe. But history's field of usefulness ought 
 to be extended still further. ^Ve have learnt from it the right 
 of self-defense, which admits that no man shall accept pas- 
 sively the infliction of violence to his person or his family; 
 and we might learn from it the great lesson of self-respect, 
 so little heeded by us in America. Many a man is willing 
 to pass through a slough of the most abject humiliation in 
 order to obtain either political preferment or make more 
 money than his neighbor. 
 
 Political preferment was not a motive to the actions of 
 the Dutch, who planted the Colony of New Netherland, laid 
 
the " corner stone of the Empire State," and prepared the 
 cement which bound together the fabric of the United States 
 in after years. Commercial wealth had something to do with 
 the first settlement of the Dutch on the Hudson river, but 
 it was secondary to their love of liberty, political and reli- 
 gious. It were these traits which had induced the Dutch to 
 fight the Spaniards in the manner of their ancestors, the 
 Batavians, whom Tacitus immortalized by the saying, " Other 
 nations go to battle — they go to war." 
 
 Carlyle .says, the Spaniards wanted the Dutch to believe 
 in St. Ignatius and "went about with swords and guns" to 
 enforce this belief "Never made them believe in him, but 
 did succeed in breaking their own vertebral column forever 
 and raising the Dutch into a great nation." It was known 
 that Spain obtained the means to carry on her wars from the 
 fabulous gold mines of an ecjually fabulous Kldoradf) in the 
 still somewhat unknown New World. To sap this source of 
 wealth and destroy Spain's power to do harm, was the motive 
 for the first expeditions sent out by the Dutch, of which only 
 that under Henry Hudson in 1609 concerns us. 
 
 On the 4th of September, of that year, he entered with his 
 vessel of sixty tons burthen, the "Half Moon," tirough the 
 Narrows into New York bay, and on the 19th of the .same 
 month, "I landed," he .says, "in one of their boats in com- 
 pany of an old man, who was the chief there of forty men 
 and seventeen women ; we went to a house of oak bark." 
 That is the description of Albany as it api)eared to the first 
 white visitor of whom we have positive knowledge. The 
 inhal)itants dressed in garments made by themselves out of 
 the skins furnished by the chase, which was their occupation. 
 Their nourishment was " Turkish wheat," the Indian com 
 of our day. made into cakes, "very good to eat," cjuaintly 
 says De Laet. 
 
 In the simple traditional history of the Indians, this first 
 meeting is described with a little more detail. The River 
 Indians, of the Mohican tribe, said in their speech to the 
 
Commissioners of the Colonies assembled at Albany in 
 1754 : " Fathers, who sit present here, we will just give you 
 a short relation of the long friendship which has subsisted 
 between the white people of this country and us. Our fore- 
 fathers had a castle on this river ; as one of them walked 
 out he saw something on the river, but was at a loss to know 
 what it was ; he took it at first for a great fish ; he ran into 
 the castle and gave notice to the other Indians, two of our 
 forefathers went to see what it was and found it a vessel with 
 men in it ; they immediately joined hands with the people 
 in the vessel and became friends; the white people told them 
 they should not come any further up the river at that time, 
 and said to them they would return back from whence they 
 came and return in a year's time ; according to their prom- 
 ise they returned in a year's time and came as far up the 
 river as where the old fort stood; our forefathers invited 
 them ashore and said to them, ' here we will give you a place 
 to make you a town, it shall be from this place up to such a 
 stream (meaning where the Patroon's mill now stands), and 
 from the river back up to the hill.' Our forefathers told them 
 they were now a small people, they would in time multiply 
 and fill up the land they had given them. After they were 
 ashore some time, some other Indians, who had not seen 
 them before, looked fiercely at them, and our forefathers 
 observing it and seeing the white people so few in number, 
 lest they should be destroyed, took and sheltered them under 
 their arms, but it turned out that these Indians did not desire 
 to destroy them, but wished also to have the said white peo- 
 ple for their friends; at this time, which we have now s[ioken 
 of, the white peoi)le were small, but we were ver}' numerous." 
 We have no conclusive proof, that Hudson and his crew 
 were the first white discoverers of this locality, but we have 
 indications, that it had been visited by Spaniards or French. 
 After the failure of Fstebau Gomez, in 1524-5, and of the 
 I^icenciado d'Aillon and Matienzo, in 1526, a Spanish writer 
 is led to exclaim : " To the South, to the South for the great 
 
8 
 
 and exceeding riches of the Equinoctial ; they that seek gold, 
 must not go to the cold and frozen North." The part of 
 North America, now constituting some of the most powerful 
 and populous States of the Union, was of no value in the 
 eyes of the Spaniards ; they looked upon it only as a barrier 
 to the richer fields of Cathay. 
 
 The report, which Hudson made to his employers in 
 Holland, after his return, was accompanied by rich and 
 costly furs, bartered from the Indians. This awoke the 
 cupidity of the Dutch and led to a number of trading ex- 
 peditions to the newly explored territory. Our records tell 
 us, that this trading with the Indians was not quite safe, as 
 it carried the penalty of occasional capdvity of the traders, 
 at the hands of the retl people. The oldest muniment for 
 the history of the State of New York, is a map dated about 
 1614 to 1616 and found by Mr. J. Romeyn Broadhead, in 
 the Archives of the Hague.* This map was made up prob- 
 ably from information, gathered by three of these unfortunate 
 traders, while moving about with their captors. On it we 
 find mention of the first settlement ])ositively known to have 
 been made in this locality. It was called Nassouw or Fort 
 Nassau, in honor of the Prince of Nassau — Orange, then 
 Stadtholder of the United IJelgic Provinces, and had been 
 built on an island, which in 1660 was still called Castle 
 Island, now Rensselaer's Island. A few years later, in 1618,' 
 high water and ice injured the fort so much, that it was 
 th'iuglit best to remove from Casde Island to the mainland 
 at Norman's kill, where the first treaty with the Mohawks 
 was made. The map of Rensselaerswyck, made in 1630 
 and i)reserved among the records of the Van Rensselaer 
 Manor, tells us, that at a later date the fort, then called Fort 
 Orange, stood about wlicrc "Steam IJoat S(iuare" now is. 
 From the al)ove mentioned map of 161 6, we learn, that the 
 first fort was a "redoute" of fifty-eight feet square, surrounded 
 by a moat of eighteen feet width. The house in the fort 
 
 * A certified fac simile copy of it is in the State Library at Albany. 
 
was thirty-six feet long by twenty -six feet width, and the 
 garrison consisted of twelve Dutch soldiers. The armament 
 of this stronghold consisted of two cannons and eleven 
 swivel guns, throwing stones, for want of better projectiles. 
 
 We know nothing of the life led in this wilderness by 
 the first arrivals. But in 1683 an old French woman, Cate- 
 line Trico, of Paris, then in her eightieth year, deposed that 
 she had come to Fort Orange, when twenty years old, in the 
 ship " Unity," the first vessel sent out by the lately chartered 
 West India Company. After having sent part of his people 
 to Fort Hope, now Hartford, Conn., and to the Delaware, 
 the commander of the expedition, Arien Jorise, sailed up 
 the " Great River of the Prince Mauritius," and landed 
 eighteen families, the balance of the emigrants, at Nassau, 
 as it was still occasionally called, 'j'hese new arrivals could 
 not all find shelter in the fort and were, therefore, compelled 
 to build huts of bark ; probably in a manner learnt from the 
 Indians, who soon flocked to the settlement, intent to trade 
 and make a covenant of friendship with the commander. 
 
 The charter of the West India Company, given in 1621, 
 required them " to advance the peopling of those fruitful 
 and unsettled parts." Litde seems to have been done 
 towards this end until 1627-8, at which time the trade with 
 the Indians threatened to become unprofitable. The direc- 
 tors of the Company then took into consideration a plan by 
 which, through more extended colonization, they might 
 derive other benefits from their Province, than those accru- 
 ing from the fur trade alone. Their deliberations resulted 
 m a new " charter of freedoms and exem]itions," which 
 received the sanction of the States General in 1629. This 
 new charter provided for the introduction upon New York 
 soil of the feudal system of land tenure, already in vogue 
 in Canada. While the matter of this new charter was still 
 being discussed, several of the directors took advantage of 
 their position and secured for themselves a share of tlie new 
 privileges by purchasing from the Indians (as the charter 
 
required) the most conveniently located and fertile tracts of 
 land. Among these tracts was the present county of Albany. 
 The proviso of the charter, requiring the purchase of the 
 land from the Indians, is a prominent and important feature in 
 the history of the Dutch occupation. It said, " Whosoever 
 shall settle any colony * * * shall be obliged to satisfy the 
 Indians for the land they shall settle upon." How diti'erent 
 from the Massachusetts statute of 1633, which confirmed to 
 the Indians the little jjatches of land around their wigwams, 
 where they raised their corn and beans, and whiih declared 
 on the authority of chapter i, (lenesis, and "the invitation of 
 the Indians, tiie rest of the land to be the property of the 
 whites." Persecuted by Spain and France for their religious 
 convictions, the Dutch had learned to tolerate the supersti- 
 tions and even repugnant beliefs of others. Not less reli- 
 gious than the Puritans of New England, though actuated by 
 a policy based upon Christian virtue, commercial morality 
 and the true ethics of civilization, the Dutch set up no re- 
 ligious pretexts for tyranny and cruelty to the aboriginal 
 owners of the soil, such as mar the records of our Eastern 
 neighbors. They treated the Indians as a man with rights 
 of liberty, life, opinion and property like their own. The 
 strict adherence to this policy ensured to the settlers at Fort 
 Orange and Rensselaerswyck a freedom from Indian war- 
 fare not enjoyed by their English neighbors. Fort Orange 
 was in the country of the Five Nations, whom Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries, living among them, called die most enlightened, 
 but also the most intractable and ferocious of all the Indians. 
 They had first met Ihe French about the lime of Hudson's 
 arrival in these parts. Hudson introduced them to "fire- 
 water." the French, under Champlain, to " fire arms." 
 They liked the former and more insidious, destructive wea- 
 pon of civilization better than the latter, and transferred 
 their liking to the introducer. Hence they always remained 
 friends of the Dutch and enemies of the French. 
 
Fort Orange with Beverwyck. 
 
 The history of the settlements out of which Albany grew 
 diverges so much, although closely interwoven, that it is 
 necessary to devote one part of this chapter to the Com- 
 pany's settlement. Fort Orange with the village of Bever- 
 wyck growing up around it, and the other to the Patroon's 
 colony, Rensselaerswyck. 
 
 Fort Orange had, in 1623, been removed from the Nor- 
 man's kill to the place mentioned above. The dimensions 
 of this last fortification, erected by the Dutch in this local- 
 ity, have not been handed down to us. But we may sup- 
 pose that the stockade, put up for its defense, covered more 
 ground than the first. For we know that Wouter van Twil- 
 ler, while Governor or Director-General of the Province, 
 had caused to be built in the fort " a handsome large house 
 with a flat roof and trestlework, also eight small houses for 
 the soldiers." The record says, the small houses were 
 '■'■ voort Volck ;" including evidently, in the term " volck, 
 or soldiers," all the servants of the Company. 
 
 The location, close to the river, was not a favorable one. 
 Though it gave to the occupants a quick chance of escape 
 by water, if pressed by a superior force of enemies, a con- 
 sideration of moment under the circumstances, perhaps; 
 yet it also exposed the structure to the ravages of that same 
 river, as our fellow-citizens of to-day living in that vicinity 
 can testify. A freshet in 1648 having nearly carried away 
 Fort Orange, the Director-General, Stuyvesant, with his 
 Council of New Netherland, resolved that for the mainte- 
 nance of the Company's jurisdiction and territory it was 
 highly necessary to repair the injury. The West India 
 Company and its representatives on New York soil were 
 not financially able to foot the bills. So the Director and 
 Council concluded to allow " any decent inhabitant of New 
 Netherland " to build a house in the fort twelve feet high 
 and of stone, such as the former Director, Keift, had al- 
 lowed to be erected. The soil occupied by such building 
 
to remain the Company's property, and if the owner of the 
 house wished to sell the building, the Company was to have 
 the preference. 
 
 In order that to-day we should fully understand how ^ fort 
 could be destroyed by the waters of the placid Hudson it is 
 necessary to remember that Father Isaac Jocjues, a Jesuit 
 missionary among the Mohawks, saw this fort in 1643, and 
 described it as " a miserable little fort built of logs." Brant 
 von Slechtenhorst, the Manager of the Patroon's colony, 
 says of it, shorUy after the above resolution of director and 
 council, " So far as regards the renowned fort, men can go 
 in and out of it l)y night as well as by day." He continues, 
 that " he had been more than six months in the colony and 
 the nearest resident to the fort, and yet had never been able 
 to discover a single person carrying a sword, a musket or a 
 pike, nor had he heard or seen a drum beat, except when 
 the Director-Cieneral himself visited it with his .soldiers." 
 
 To the military man of to-day, es])ecially if he has served 
 in the Indian territories of the United States, such a fort 
 with such a garrison must appear ridiculous and useless. 
 Yet it has for us a wide-reaching signification. The follow- 
 ing account of the Indians, with whom he and his country- 
 men came in contact, is given us by David Pieterson de 
 Vries, " Ordnance-Master of the Most Noble Lords, the 
 Committed Council of the States of A\'est Friesland and the 
 North Quarter." He had traveled extensively in the then 
 known ])arts of the now ITnited States, and says of the 
 Mohawks: " ThoQgh they are so revengeful towards their 
 enemies, they are very friendly to us. ^\'e have no fear (.)f 
 them." 
 
 'Ihe above account of De Vries, who had been here 
 shortly after the ])urchase and beginning of Rensselaers- 
 wyck, is confirmed by the first clergyman called to preach 
 the Word to his countrymen on Albany soil, and who was, 
 if possible, to convert the Indians to Christianity. " We 
 live," he says, "among both kinds of the Indians (Mohawks 
 
13 
 
 and Mohicans), and coming to us from their country or we 
 going to them, they do us every act of friendship." Need 
 we wonder that the people of Fort Orange felt safe from 
 Indian attacks, knowing full well that they had nothing to 
 fear from the more distant French, so long as the Mohawks, 
 their neighbors, had not become the allies of the Canadians. 
 After the freshet of 1648 had so injured the fort, and 
 after the Governor had fallen upon the strange expedient of 
 having it repaired by private enterprise, he seems to have 
 changed his mind and directed that these needed repairs 
 should be made by the representative of the Company. It 
 was to be " put into a proper state of defense," and the an- 
 nual expenses of repairing were to be deminished, by build- 
 ing a stone wall around it, instead of the previous wooden 
 pallisades. The result of this order was the widening of the 
 breach between the Company and the agent of the Patroon, 
 already opened by the attempt of the latter to build a house 
 under the walls of the fort. Van Slechtenhorst, the agent, 
 forbade, " in an imperious manner," the digging of stones 
 or cutting of trees, and urged the people living in the neigh- 
 borhood not to do any carting for the Company. From 
 this time, we may suppose, that a village — Beverwyck — was 
 formed around Fort Orange, under the jurisdiction of the 
 Company, which the Director-General and Council asserted 
 to extend in a half circle at the distance of a pistol or a 
 goteling* shot, in another place it is said 1,000 rods, around 
 the fort. The name of Beverwyck is not found before 
 1652, but then we learn that it had already, in conjunction 
 with Fort Orange, an " inferior bench of justice," a court, 
 authorized to take cognizance of cases, such as would now 
 come before a court of sessions. The three judges sitting 
 on this " inferior bench," were nominated by the inhabitants 
 to the Director-General and Council, two names being se- 
 lected for each position, and from these the Governor 
 appointed the three thought to be the most fitting men. As 
 * Or paterero, from the Spanish " pedrero," a swivel-gun. 
 
14 
 
 they were people who had to earn their hving by farming, by 
 trade or by day-labor, they were authorized in May, 1654, 
 to pay to themselves out of the revenues from taxes and ex- 
 cise on beer, wine and licjuor, the munificent sum of 150 
 florins, or $60, yearly. 
 
 In the year 1654, Beverwyck is mentioned as one of 
 the places, which with money raised by the taxation of 
 land, had to assist the government of the Province in bear- 
 ing the increased expenses, caused by the then raging war 
 between Holland and England. Houses and lots granted 
 for building purposes, were to pay the hundredth penny of 
 the real value. A member of the Provincial Council and two 
 impartial i)ersons from the court of the village were to make 
 the valuation. The vacant lots were ordered to be sold, in 
 case the j^resent owners neglected or refused to erect build- 
 ings on them. The village, which was to be one of the 
 corner-stones of Albany, had evolved from the obscurity of 
 a backwoods settlement to the ])romincnce of a factor in the 
 life of the Colony. With the neighboring Rensselaerswyck, 
 the other corner-stone, it could show to have the means for 
 religious and school education : an element in their lives, 
 which the Dutch never forgot to carry, where they intended 
 to make i)ermanent settlements. This is a point, which has 
 never been thoroughly recognized. Prince John of Nassau, 
 the brother of William the Silent, the Stadholder of the 
 Netherlands, had recommended as early as 1582, that the 
 States General should establi.sh free schools, where children 
 of wealthy and of poor families, for a very small sum, could 
 be well and Christianly educated and brought up. " This," 
 he says, " would be the greatest and most useful work you 
 could ever accomplish for God and Christianity and for the 
 Netherlands themselves." There the Puritans, who settled 
 in New Pmgland, learned the ble.s.sings of popular educations, 
 which according to many a writer is the invention of New 
 England spirit. Our great historian. Motley, in a letter to 
 the St. Nicholas Society of New York, points out that the 
 
IS 
 
 New England colonists gained their educational impulses 
 more from the Netherlands than from their own country. 
 Another eminent American writer says on this point : " Edu- 
 cation came with them [the DutchJ ; the free schools, in 
 which Holland had led the van of the world, being early 
 transplanted to these shores." 
 
 Rensselaerswyck. 
 On the 13th day of August, 1630, the Director and 
 Council of New Netherland signed for Kihan van Rens- 
 selaer the deed by which the Indians transferred the land 
 on part of which Albany has been built, for and in consid- 
 eration of " certain parcels of goods." The failure to ex- 
 clude from this conveyance the territory on which Fort 
 Orange proper and the huts of previous settlers stood, led 
 to endless quarreling between the owners of Rensselaers- 
 wyck and the officers of the West India Company, who, no 
 doubt, in like manner had acquired their land from the 
 Indians by purchase. The Patroon, Kilian van Rensselaer, 
 was not the sole purchaser of this tract of land ; he repre- 
 sented one of the several a.ssociations formed under the 
 new charter, and held two shares of their common stock ; 
 De Laet, the historian, one ; Godyn, one, and Blommaert 
 with associates, the remaining fifth. By proceedings in par- 
 tition before the Court of Holland, in 1650, it was decided 
 that he or his successors should account for the rents and 
 profits, and pay to the partners or their heirs their just (^uota. 
 Under this judgment Mrs. Johanna Ebbingh, the daughter 
 of De Laet, who had come to New Netherland with her 
 first husband, Johannes de Hulter, received $2,304.00 for 
 her share, including the " Weyland " or pasture, between 
 the third or Rutten and the fourth or Fox creeks. Blom- 
 maert's share was $ i ,440.00. His land adjoined the De Laet 
 lot on the north, and reached from Fox hill (Columbia street 
 of to-day) to Patroon's creek. Godyn's share was beyond the 
 present city limits, and therefore does not concern us here. 
 
x6 
 
 These were the foundations, to which, on the 2 2(1 of 
 July, 1686 (old style), or 2U of August (new or present style), 
 Governor Dongan granted a municipal charter as a city. 
 
 Kilian van Rensselaer and his associate had purchased, 
 through their agent, the territory, afterwards known as the 
 Manor of Rensselaerswyck, on part of which our city now 
 stands. This was done on the 8th of April and 28th 
 of July, 1630. In the sanie year, but in the month of 
 February, the said agent paid to Gillis van Schendel, 
 for " one map on parchment (still preserved in the records 
 of the Manor), and four ditto on paper, of the islands and 
 other tillage grounds situate in the Colony," the sum of fifteen 
 florins, or $6.00. This map tells us that (iodyn's IJurg had 
 already been erected, in 1630, in the southern i)art of the 
 present city, near Cherry Hill. Bloemmert's Ikirg stood in 
 the northern part, above the Manor House. The popula- 
 tion of the Colony numbered at that date about tliirty to 
 forty people, sent over at tlie expense of the directors of 
 the Colony. They had early discovered that the emigra- 
 tion agents best fitted to induce others to emigrate to a for- 
 eign land, were emigrants who had gone before and done 
 well in their new home. Some of the first arrivals came as 
 paid servants or emyloyes of the directors, others to take 
 uj) land under leases. Very little objection can be made to 
 the stij)ulations of the first lea.ses on the ground of feudal 
 characteristics. Later, when English customs had come to 
 supplant the simplicity of the Dutch, we find leases which 
 had the tendency of introducing European feudalism on 
 American soil. To understand the difterence, copies of 
 some are given here : 
 
 "This day, the 7th of September, 1646, the i)residing 
 officers of the Colony of Rensselaerswyck, on one side, and 
 Thomas Chambers* on the other, have agreed and con- 
 sented about a certain parcel of land, lying o])posite the 
 bouwerie, called the Flat, on the east bank of the river, 
 * Afterwards prominent in the settlement of Kingston. 
 
17 
 
 between the two kills, which land he, Thomas Chambers, 
 shall occupy as a bouwerie for the term of five successive 
 years, commencing the 15th of November, anno 1647, on 
 the following conditions : 
 
 " Thomas Chambers shall build, free of all cost and 
 charges and without claiming a penny in return from the 
 Patroon, at his own expense, a farm house [dimensions of 
 this and other buildings given.] On condition of receiving 
 two mares and two stallions, and, moreover, two milch cows, 
 the increase being on halves, * * * the rest is also 
 half and half, except such as Indians may kill, which shall 
 be at the sole risk of the Patroon, on sufficient proof being 
 brought thereof. ***** From the summer sow- 
 ing of 1647 he shall give the tenths, and then be t|uit. The 
 last seed which he shall i)lant in the bouwerie he is at liberty 
 to thrash without payment. * * * * xhe risk of the 
 houses, barns and fences remains at the charge of Thomas 
 Chambers. * * * * And the said houses, barns and 
 fences shall be the Patroon's rent for the aforesaid five years. 
 
 " In case it should hajjpen, which God forbid, that war 
 should break out between us and the Indians, and Thomas 
 be obliged to fly from the bouwerie, the time that he shall 
 be absent shall be allowed him and his time begin again 
 
 from the date of his return. 
 
 ********* 
 
 " Tliomas Chambers shall yearly pay, as an acknowledg- 
 ment, twenty-five pounds of butter during his lease. He 
 shall make use of his pasture above and below the bouwerie 
 without let or hindrance. 
 
 " Their worships agree that he, Thomas, at the expiration 
 of the above five successive years, shall cultivate the said 
 bouwerie still three years more, provided he pay in addition 
 to the tenths five hundred guilders yearly from the produce 
 of the said bouwerie." 
 
 Another early lease reads : 
 
 " We, the guardians of Jean van Rensselaer, esq., have 
 
 2 
 
leased and farmed unto Arent van Curler,t * * * * 
 under the following conditions, the bouwerie named the 
 Flat, and the hereafter mentioned appurtenances for the term 
 of six successive years : 
 
 I. The Patroon retains for himself the tenths of all grain, 
 fruits and products which shall be raised oft' the bouwerie. 
 
 II. This bouwerie contains * * * morgens, etc. 
 
 III. Ihe lessee shall be entitled to so much pa.sture as he 
 shall re(iuire for his cattle without paying any extra rent 
 further than only one guilder for every swine ranging in the 
 wootls. 
 
 IV. For the cultivation of the .said bouwerie there shall 
 be delivered to him for his use six cows, two heifers, six mares 
 and two stallions or oxen * * * ajuj that on halves, that 
 is to say, one-half of the increase shall be for the Patroon 
 
 and the other half for the lessee. 
 
 Y ******** 
 
 VI. For the use of which bouwerie and occupancy of the 
 house, the lessee shall pay yearly to the Patroon the sum 
 of five hundred guilders, but for the first year a deduction 
 of one hundred and fifty guilders shall be made, because he 
 conveys his laborers thither at his own expense. 
 
 VII. The lessee shall be ol)liged to keep the house and 
 buildings on the bouwerie in good repairs. * * * * 
 
 VIII. The lessee is to cut oak or fir for the Patroon and 
 haul it to the river ; also everv vear give three days' services 
 to the Patroon with wngon and horses, and further deliver 
 yearly to the director of the colony two bushels of wheat, 
 twenty-five pounds of butter and two i)air of fowls. 
 
 The leases, made in Knglish times, were difierent and im- 
 posed heavy burdens on the tenants as the following shows : 
 
 This Indenturk, made the day of one 
 
 thousand between proprietor 
 
 of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, in the counties of Albany 
 
 t One of the founders of Schenectady. 
 
19 
 
 of the first part, and 
 of the second part, witnesseth, that the said 
 for and in consideration of the yearly rents, covenants and 
 conditions hereinafter contained, on the part of the said 
 part of the second part, heirs, 
 
 executors and administrators, to be paid, kept and performed, 
 hath granted, bargained, sold, remised, released and con- 
 firmed, and by these presents doth grant, bargain, sell, re- 
 mise and confirm, unto the said part of the second part, 
 and to heirs and assigns, all that farm, piece or parcel 
 
 of land, situate, lying and being in the town of 
 in the county of within the said Monor of 
 
 Rensselaerwyck 
 
 Excepted always and reserved out of this present grant, unto 
 the said , his heirs and assigns, all mines 
 
 and minerals that now are, or hereafter may be found in and 
 upon the said farm, piece or parcel of land ; and also all 
 creeks, kills, streams and runs of water in and upon the said 
 premises, together with the soil under the water ; and the 
 right, privilege and liberty of erecting upon any part of the 
 said hereby granted premises, such and so many mills and 
 milldams, and such other works and buildings, for the con- 
 venient working of the said mines, and for the use of the 
 said mills as he, the said , his heirs and 
 
 assigns, shall and may think proper : And also all such part 
 of the said land as may, by the said dams be overflowed with 
 water ; and also all such wood, fire-wood and timber as the 
 said , his heirs and assigns, may find 
 
 necessary for building, repairing and accommodating the 
 said mills, and for working and carrying on the said mines ; 
 and also free liberty to dig, trench or use the ground for 
 either of the said purposes : and also free ingress, egress and 
 regress, way and passage, with his or their horses, cattle, 
 
carriages and servants, to, from, in and out of the said hereby 
 granted premises ; together with liberty to lay out roads in 
 any part or parts thereof, for the purposes aforesaid : The 
 said - his heirs and assigns, making such 
 
 abatement for the land occupied or emi)loyed for all or any 
 of the purposes aforesaid, in and out of the rent hereinafter 
 reserved as shall be judged reasonable and proportionate to 
 the rent of the whole, by .iny two indifferent persons, (one 
 of whom to be chosen by the said , his heirs 
 
 or assigns, and the other by the said ])art of the second 
 part, heirs or assigns,) or by such third persons as the 
 said two persons in case of tlisagreement between them, shall 
 choose for umpire : To have and to hold the said farm, piece 
 or parcel of land, with all the appurtenances, (except as here- 
 inbefore excepted.) unto the said part of the second 
 })art, heirs and assigns, to the only proper use and be- 
 
 hoof of the said part of the second part, his heirs and 
 and assigns forever : Yielding and paying therefor, yearly 
 and every year, during the continuance of this grant unto 
 the said , his heirs and assigns, the yearly 
 
 rent of of good clean merchantable winter wheat, 
 
 in and u])on the day of in each 
 
 year; and the said part of the second part, for 
 
 heirs, administrators, executors and assigns, do covenant, 
 grant and agree to and with the said , his 
 
 heirs and assigns, that the said part of the second 
 
 part, heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, will 
 
 from time to time well and truly ])ay or cause to be paid 
 unto the said , his heirs and assigns, the 
 
 yearly rent above reserved, at the da}s and times and in 
 manner aforesaid ; and will also well and truly discharge and 
 pay all taxes, charges and assessments, ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary, taxed, charged or assessed, and which may be here- 
 after taxed, charged or assessed to or upon the said hereby 
 
granted premises or upon any part or parcel thereof, or upon 
 the said , his heirs, executors, administrators or 
 
 assigns, by any act of the Legislature, or by county rates or 
 otherwise howsoever, for or in respect of the said premises or 
 any part thereof, and indemnify the said , his heirs, 
 
 executors administrators and assigns, of, from and against any 
 damages, costs and charges which he or they, or any of them 
 may sustain or be put to by reason of any neglect in the due 
 and punctual discharge and payment of the said taxes, 
 charges and assessments : And the said doth hereby 
 
 further save and reserve unto himself, his heirs and assigns, 
 the one equal part of all purchase or consideration 
 
 moneys, or other things in lieu thereof, arising or that may 
 arise by or from the selling, demising, assigning, or any how 
 disposing of the premises hereby granted, or any part thereof, 
 other than dispositions by devise and last will and testament 
 by the said part of the second part, heirs, 
 
 executors, administrators or assigns ; and when and as often 
 as the same shall be sold, demised, assigned or otherwise 
 disposed of, other than dispositions by devise and last will 
 and testament as aforesaid : And the said part of the 
 
 second part, heirs, executors, administrators and 
 
 assigns, do covenant, grant and agree to and with the 
 
 said , his heirs and assigns, that he and they will 
 
 well and truly pay or deliver unto the said , his 
 
 heirs or assigns, the said one equal part of the said 
 
 moneys or other things in lieu thereof, arising or which may 
 arise by, from or out of every such sale, demise, assignment 
 or other disposition aforesaid, other than dispositions by de- 
 vise and last will and testament as aforesaid ; and further, that 
 prior to any such sale, demise, assignment or other disposition 
 aforesaid, other than dispositions by devise and last will and 
 testament as aforesaid, the said part of the second part, 
 heirs or assigns, shall and will make an ofTer in writing unto 
 the said , his heirs or assigns, of the said premises, or 
 
 of such part thereof, and for such estate therein, as the said 
 
22 
 
 part of the second part, heirs, or assigns, 
 
 shall intend to dispose of, specifying the same, and the price, 
 value or consideration which the said part of the 
 
 second part heirs or assigns, is or are willing to take 
 
 for the same ; and if the said , his heirs or assigns, 
 
 on his or their part, shall w ithin twenty-one days after such 
 offer made as aforesaid, agree to take and accept the said 
 premises, or the part thereof so offered at the price, value or 
 consideration specified in such offer, and shall within the 
 same twenty-one days pay or deliver such price, value or 
 consideration, (after deducting thereout the said one equal 
 part thereof,) and the arrears of rent (if any there be) 
 unto the said part of the second part heirs or 
 
 assigns : then and in such case the said part of the second 
 part, heirs or assigns, shall and will forthwith, after 
 
 such payment or delivery made, well and sufficiently convey 
 and assure unto the said , his heirs or assigns, the 
 
 said premises or the part thereof so oftered, and for such 
 estate therein as shall have been in that behalf specified: 
 Provided always, that if the said , his heirs or assigns, 
 
 shall not within the saitl twenty-one days for that purpose 
 limited, agree to take and accept the said premises or the 
 part thereof so oftered as aforesaid, at such price, value or 
 consideration as aforesaid, and shall not within the same 
 twenty-one days i)ay or deliver such price, value or con- 
 sideration (after such deduction thereout as aforesaid) unto 
 the said part of the scond part, heirs or assigns, 
 
 then it shall be lawful for the said part of the second 
 
 part heirs or assigns, to sell, demise, assign, or 
 
 otherwise dispose of the said premises or the part thereof so 
 offered, unto any person or persons whomsoever : Provided 
 nevertheless, and these presents are upon this express con- 
 dition, that every sale, demise, assignment or other dispo- 
 sition, other than dispositions by devise or last will and 
 testament as aforesaid, of the said premises hereby granted, 
 or any part thereof, by the said part of the second part, 
 
23 
 
 heirs or assigns, to any person or persons other 
 than to the said , his heirs or assigns, or other than 
 
 by process or compulsion of law, for the consideration of 
 money or other things in lieu thereof, shall be utterly void 
 and of no effect in law or equity, unless such offer thereof 
 shall have been made and not accepted and complied with 
 as aforesaid, and unless the said part of the second part, 
 heirs or assigns, or the person or persons to 
 whom such sale, assignment or other disposition shall have 
 been made, except dispositions by devise or last will and 
 testament as aforesaid, shall, within twenty-one days there- 
 after well and truly pay or deliver unto the said , 
 his heirs or assigns, the said one equal part of the 
 said price, value or consideration, for which the said premises, 
 or any part thereof, as the case may be, shall have been 
 offered to the said , his heirs or assigns, together 
 with all arrears of rent which may be then due : Provided 
 further, and these presents are upon this further condition, 
 that every sale of the said premises, or any part thereof, by 
 process of law against the said part of the second part, 
 heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, shall 
 also be void and of no effect, unless the purchaser or pur- 
 chasers thereof shall, within twenty-one days after such sale, 
 pay unto the said , his heirs or assigns, a sum of 
 money equal to one part of the sum for which the 
 said premises or the part thereof so sold, shall be struck off or 
 sold by virtue of such process, to the said purchaser or pur- 
 chasers. 
 
 Provided also, and these presents are upon this further 
 condition, that the said part of the second 
 
 part, heirs or assigns, shall not, at any time here- 
 
 after, erect, or permit or cause to be erected any mill or 
 mill-dam, or any other ^\•ork or building whatsoever, upon 
 any kill, creek, stream or run of water, in or upon the pre- 
 mises hereby granted ; and further, shall not, at any time 
 hereafter, commit any waste of any kind or nature whatso- 
 
24 
 
 ever : And the said part of the second part, for 
 
 heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, do 
 covenant, grant and agree, to and with the said , 
 
 his heirs and assigns, that neither the said part 
 
 of the second part, nor heirs or assigns, shall 
 
 or will give or cause to be given, any manner of let, hindrance 
 or obstruction whatsoever, to the said , his heirs 
 
 or assigns, to the prejudice of any or either of them in the 
 full enjoyment of all the rights, titles, privileges and ease- 
 ments, saved, reserved and excepted unto the said , 
 his heirs and assigns, by the savings, reservations and excep- 
 tions in these presents contained : And the said 
 for himself, his heirs and assigns, doth hereby covenant, grant 
 and agree, to and with the said ])art of the second 
 part, heirs and assigns, that he, they and each of them, 
 paying the rents aforesaid, and performing, fulfilling and 
 keeping all and singular the covenants, conditions and agree- 
 ments herein contained, on his, their and each of their 
 parts, to be i)erformed, fulfilled and kept, shall and may 
 lawfully, peaceably and (luictly have, hold, possess, occupy 
 and enjoy the jjremises hereby conveyeil, and every i)art 
 thereof, with the appurtenances, (except as before excepted) 
 unto the said part of the second part, heirs and 
 assigns, without any suit, trouble, eviction, hindrance, inter- 
 ruption or disturbance, of, by or from the said , 
 or of, by or from any person or persons wliomsoever law- 
 fully claiming or to claim, by, from or under him, the said 
 ; and that he the said , and his lieirs, 
 shall and will hereby Warrant and Defend, the said prem- 
 ises, to the said part of the second part. heirs and 
 assigns, against any person or persons lawfully claiming the 
 same. Provided always, nevertheless, that if it shall so hap- 
 pen that tiie rent above reserved, or any part thereof, shall 
 be behind and unpaid by and for the sjiace of twenty-eight 
 days next after the said days of |)ayment. that then, and in 
 every such case, it shall and may be lawful to and for the 
 
said , his heirs and assigns, or any of them, at the 
 
 option of the said , his heirs or assigns, either to 
 
 prosecute for the recovery of the same, in some court of 
 record, or in person, or by his or their servant or servants, 
 baihff or baiHffs, into the whole or any part of the premises 
 to enter, and there to distrain, and the distress so taken, to 
 lead, drive and carry away, and the same to expose to sale 
 at public vendue, and out of the moneys therefrom arising 
 to deduct the rent then due and in arrear, together with the 
 costs and charges of distress and sale, and to return the 
 overplus, if any there be, unto the said part of the second 
 part, heirs and assigns : And provided further, and 
 
 these presents and every thing herein contained are upon 
 this express condition, that if it should at any time happen, 
 that no sufficient distress can be found upon the premises, 
 to satisfy such rent due and in arrear as aforesaid, or if 
 either of the covenants and conditions herein before con- 
 tained, on the part of the said part of the second part, 
 heirs and assigns, to be performed, fulfilled and 
 kept, shall not be i)erformed, fulfiUetl and kept, or shall 
 be broken, then and in each, and every such case, 
 and from thenceforth and at all times thereafter, it shall be 
 lawful to and for the said , his heirs and assigns, or 
 
 any of them, into the whole of the hereby granted prem- 
 ises, or into any part thereof, in the name of the whole, to 
 re-enter, and the same, as in his and their former estate, to 
 have again, re-possess and enjoy ; and the said part of 
 the second part, heirs and assigns and all others, 
 
 thereout and from thence utterly to expel, i)ut out and 
 amove ; This Indenture, or any thing herein contained to 
 the contrary hereof, in any wise, notwithstanding. In wit- 
 ness whereof, the parties hereunto their hands and seals 
 have subscribed and set, the day and year first above written. 
 Sealed and delivered, \ 
 in the presence ) 
 
 L. s. 
 
26 
 
 Reservation of the Extra Rent Instead of the 
 Quarter Sales. 
 Provided always, that if the said , his 
 
 heirs or assigns, shall not within the same twenty-one days, 
 for that purpose limited, agree to take and accept the said 
 premises, or the part thereof so offered as aforesaid, at such 
 price, value or consideration, as aforesaid, and shall not 
 within the said twenty-one days, pay or deliver such price, 
 value or consideration, as aforesaid, after deducting thereout 
 as aforesaid, unto the part of the second part 
 
 heirs or assigns ; then and in that case, the said part 
 of the second part, for , heirs, ex- 
 
 ecutors, administrators and assigns, do covenant and agree, 
 to and with the said , his heirs and assigns, 
 
 that the said part of the second part 
 
 heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, or some or 
 one of tliem, sliail immediately pay or cause to be paid unto 
 the said , jiis heirs or assigns, all the arrears 
 
 of rent then due ; and also, in addition thereto, a sum of 
 money equal to the amount of one year's rent; which sum 
 of money last mentioned, shall be exclusive of and over 
 and above the yearly rent hereby reserved, and the arrears 
 of rent tlien due, and not in satisfaction of such arrears of 
 rent or any rent thereafter to become due ; and such arrears 
 of rent and sum of money Ijeing so paid, when and as often 
 as the said premises or any part thereof shall be so sold, 
 assigned or disposed of, in manner aforesaid, it shall then 
 and not before, be lawful for the said part of the 
 
 second part, heirs or assigns, to sell, demise, as- 
 
 sign, or otherwise dispose of the said premises, or the part 
 thereof so oftered, unto any person or persons whatsoever. 
 Provided, nevertheless, and these presents are ujjon this 
 express condition, that every sale, demise, assignment or 
 other disposition whatsoever, other than disi)Ositions by 
 devise or last will and testament, and other than sales or 
 dispositions by process or compulsion of law for debts con- 
 
27 
 
 tracted without intention to forego the payment of the said 
 one year's rent, of the premises hereby granted or any part 
 thereof, by the said part of the second part 
 
 heirs and assigns, to any person or persons, other than to the 
 , his heirs and assigns, or to any of them, 
 shall be utterly void and of none effect ; and the premises 
 so sold or assigned, shall revert to and become the property 
 of, and be immediately thereafter vested in the said 
 
 , his heirs or assigns, unless such ofter shall have 
 been made and not complied with as aforesaid ; and unless 
 the said part of the second part heirs, 
 
 executors, administrators or assigns, shall have paid such 
 arrears of rent and sum of moneys as aforesaid, and unless 
 also his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, or the 
 person or persons purchasing the said premises or any part 
 thereof, shall within twenty-one days after every such sale, 
 demise, assignment or other disposition, so to be made, except 
 dispositions by devise or last will and testament as aforesaid, 
 and except also sales or dispositions by process or compul- 
 sion of law as aforesaid, cause the same to be recorded in 
 the office of the said , his heirs or assigns. 
 
 With the increase of population in the Colony, the value 
 of land rose and the conditions of these leasehold-tenures 
 became so oppressive that disturbances of a serious character 
 broke out in 1757. These troubles of 1757 were the forerun- 
 ners of the anti-rent war of our times, which many a reader 
 may recollect, and in which they may have taken a part on 
 one side or the other. To the unbiassed mind the occur- 
 rences then witnessed are somewhat of a puzzle. The tenants 
 being men whom we must suppose endowed with some intel- 
 ligence, entered into the leases and knowingly took upon 
 themselves obligations which their self-respect ought to have 
 told them they must live up to under any circumstances. The 
 condition of the country re<|uired that these leases should be 
 for a long term, for had the landlords of that day endeavored 
 to let their lands for from one to ten years they could hardly 
 
28 
 
 have found tenants for the uncultivated portions. But they 
 were willing to part with it forever in consideration of a very 
 low rent, giving the land free trom any dues for the first five 
 to eight years and relieving the tenant from the care of find- 
 ing a purchaser for the produce by agreeing to take it in lieu 
 of money. If there had been an objection to these terms, 
 how is it then that the lessees came into them with eagerness 
 instead of going outside of the boundaries of the Manor 
 and settling upon wild lands purchased from the Indians ? 
 
 " In 1789, the constitution of the United States went into 
 operation ; New York being a party to its creation and con- 
 ditions. By that constitution, the State deliberately deprived 
 itself of the power to touch the covenants of these leases, 
 without conceding the power to any other government; 
 unless it might be through a change of the constitution itself. 
 As a necessary consequence, these leases, in a legal sense, 
 belong to the institutions of New York, instead of being 
 opposed to them. Not only is the spirit of the institutions 
 in harmony with these leases, but so is the latter also. Men 
 must draw a distinction between the " spirit of the institu- 
 tions" and their own " spirits; " the latter being often noth- 
 ing more than a stomach that is not easily satisfied. It would 
 be just as true to aftirm that domestic slavery is opposed to 
 the institutions of the United States, as to say the same of 
 these leases. It would be just as rational to maintain, 
 because A does not choose to make an associate of B, that 
 he is acting in opposition to the " spirit of the institutions," 
 inasmuch as the Declaration of Independence advances the 
 dogma that men are born equal, as it is to say it is opposed 
 to the same spirit for B to pay rent to A according to his 
 covenant." 
 
 So writes an actor and eyewitness of the occurrencesof 1846. 
 
 The public generally, but more especially the lawyers of the 
 country know what efiect these anti-rent troubles had upon the 
 politics of the State and of 'the United States. They might be 
 called a foretaste of the anarchism of which we suffer to-day. 
 
HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. 
 
 As already stated, the " Freedoms and Exemptions " 
 granted by the West India C'omi)any to all Patroons, Masters 
 and Private Persons who intended to plant colonies in New 
 Netherland, on the 7th of June, 1629, contained the follow- 
 ing paragraph : " Whosoever shall settle any colony out of 
 the limits of Manhattan Island, shall be obliged to satisfy the 
 Indians for the lantl they shall settle upon." 
 
 This rule was obeyed in the settlement of Albany, as in 
 all other cases, and as the Mohawks had made their first 
 treaty with the Dutch at an early date near the present site 
 of Albany, this place having been fairly purchased from 
 them, it continued to be one for which they always cherished 
 friendly feelings. We may safely assume, that the social 
 and political system, then in vogue among the first settlers, 
 attracted the Indians because of its similarity to their own. 
 An eminent American writer, whose family is now numbered 
 among the inhabitants of Albany, says in regard to this 
 point: "In all the tribes of this part of North America 
 something very like a principle of democracy was the pre- 
 dominant feature of their politics. It was not, however, that 
 bastard democracy which is coming so much in fashion 
 among ourselves, and which looks into the gutters solely for 
 the "people." * * * * 'pj-jg Indians understood, that 
 the chiefs are entitled to more respect than the loafers in 
 their villages. * * * While there was no positive her- 
 editary rank, there was much hereditary considerations, and 
 we doubt if a red man could be found who was so much of 
 a simpleton as to cite among the. qualifications of any man 
 for a situation of trust and responsibility, that he had never 
 been taught how to perform its duties." 
 
30 
 
 History informs us, how truly democratic the Dutch peo- 
 ple, like all others of the same race, had been from the 
 earliest days of their political existence. Now it proved to 
 be a bond of union between them and their red neighbors, 
 and kept the latter always well inclined to their brethren at 
 Albany, who to the Indians represented the government of 
 New Netherland. 
 
 Another bond of union may appear fanciful. W'c know, 
 thiit tlie " totem," the insignia of one family in all tlie tribes 
 of the Five Nations, was the Tortoise or Turtle. We call 
 this a sneaking and stupitl reptile, whose insignificance seems 
 to be its highest praise. 'The Indians saw in this animal "a 
 poem of silent hate," and when they discovered that their 
 new frientls, the Dutch, were animated by a similar silent 
 hate of the Latin race, and had learned (during the wars 
 with Spain) to bear injuries and burdens, hard and heavy 
 enough to crush any other organism, they likened them in 
 their minds to the Turtle, and became bound to them by an 
 unbreakable iron covenant-chain. 
 
 The men, who settled here at Fort Orange, had not come 
 from their old homes in Europe for political rea.sons; they 
 wanted to improve their small fortunes and amass wealth. 
 This led them to trade with the Indians in goods, which 
 injured the moral and bodily condition of the red race, or 
 which might have been turned against the white settler with 
 disastrous results. 'This was the trade in licjuor and in fire- 
 arms. Ex])erience had taught the authorities that an indis- 
 criminate distribution of these articles among the Indians 
 might end in the (:om|jlete destrurtif)n of the Colony. They 
 adopted, and on the 31st of March, 1639, published an 
 ordinance, forbidding " every inhabitant of New Nethedand, 
 be his state, (juality or condition what it may, to sell any 
 guns, powder or lead to the Indians, on pain of being pun- 
 ished by death." .Another ordinance, of June 18, 1643, 
 prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors to the Indians, 
 "whence serious difficulties had already arisen." 'These 
 
31 
 
 ordinances had to be repeated ; the one relating to the sale 
 of liquors was frequently re-enacted at the request of Indian 
 chiefs, who easily recognized the pernicious influences of the 
 insinuating drink. 
 
 To prohibit the sale of licjuor and fire-arms to the Indians 
 must be called an act of self-protection, as was the ordinance 
 of July I, 1656, against admitting armed Indians into the 
 villages and houses of the white settlers. But to show to 
 the Indian, that he also was entitled to the protection sug- 
 gested by law and fiiirness, an ordinance was passed, at an 
 early date (May g, 1640) of the Colony, which did not affect 
 the Mohawks as much as the Indians around Kingston, New 
 York and Long Island. This ordinance says : 
 
 " Whereas many complaints are daily made by the Indi- 
 ans, that their corn-hills are trampled under foot and up- 
 rooted by hogs and other catde, and consequently great 
 damage is done when the maize is growing, whence it will 
 follow that the maize will be dear at the time of the harvest, 
 and our good people sufiter want, the Indians be incited to 
 remove and to entertain feelings of hatred against our 
 nation. * * * * Therefore, we, the Director and Coun- 
 cil of New Netherland, hereby charge and command all our 
 inhabitants, whose lands lie contiguous to Indian plantations, 
 to take due care of their cattle and prevent them, by fences 
 or otherwise, from damaging the corn of the Indians, on 
 pain of making good the damage and of incurring the pen- 
 alty, payable to the Fiscal, according to the edict on tres- 
 pass of March 15, 1640." 
 
 One of the ordinances, relating to the intercourse with 
 the Indians, distinctly says, that its prohibitory provisions 
 should be communicated to the Indians, and it isveryHkely 
 that this was the custom in regard to all such laws. We 
 can well understand that the Indians, although uncivilized, 
 could appreciate to its fullest extent a measure intended for 
 the protection of their rights, and that in consequence their 
 friendship for their white neighbors increased. 
 
Having seen liow the friendship of the Indians had been 
 secured by the first settlers in these regions, we will endeavor 
 to disco\er the benefits arising from this friendship. 
 
 Almost at the same time when Hudson ascended in his 
 " Half Moon " the river now bearing his name, Champlain, 
 at the head of a troop of Frenchmen, Algoncjuins and 
 Hurons, met a war party of the Mohawks near Lake Cham- 
 plain, where " he taught them the terrible power of fire- 
 arms," and, by killing their chief, "the inajjpeasable detesta- 
 tion of the French race." To find the French on an 
 amicable footing with Algonijuins, Adirondacks and Hurons 
 would have been sufficient to brand them as the enemies of 
 the Mohawks, for these Northern tribes had been at war 
 with the Iroquois since time immemorial in their simple 
 annals. Added to this, the death of their chief warrior at 
 the hand of the first Frenchman whom they met was another 
 incentive to act constantly as a barrier against French at- 
 tempts to pour in and take possession of the valley of the 
 Hudson river. Actuated by this feeling of animosity against 
 the French, they made the treaty with the Dutch at Fort 
 Orange, and having some jiractical sense of the value and 
 obligation of treaties they never violated it, but exerted 
 themselves in behalf of their white allies as they would for 
 themselves. The New Englanders had, during the whole 
 period of the 17th century, to suffer from the nightmare and 
 actual presence of "French and Indians" with the conse- 
 quent midnight slaughter and conflagration, but the hand- 
 ful of Dutch, who unwittingly had taken possession of the 
 key of this great continent, w^ere protected against such 
 horrors by the treaty made at Fort Orange. For the pro- 
 tecting shield of the Mohawk treaty was interj^osed not only 
 between Fort Orange and the French in the North, but also 
 held up before the Mohicans along the Hudson river, who 
 interfered so barbarously in the settlement of Kingston and 
 Ulster county. 
 
33 
 
 Almost thirty years hatl passed since the first meeting 
 between the P>ench and the Mohawks on the banks of I.ake 
 Champlain, when it was the misfortune of the brave Jesuit 
 missionary, Joques, to fall into the hands of the implacable 
 Mohawks. He was treated with an exquisite cruelty, sub- 
 jected to tortures, compared with which the treatment 
 applied by his order and the inquisition to heretics was 
 child's play. The news of this capture were imparted to 
 Arent van Corlaer, then agent of Rensselaerswyck. He 
 tried to ransom Joques and his companions in captivity, 
 but the Mohawks told him, " We shall show you every kind- 
 ness in our power, but on this subject you must be silent. 
 Besides, you know well, how they treat our people when 
 they fall into their hands." This answer is significant of their 
 enmity to the French, for we must consider the position held 
 by Van Corlaer (Curler) in the hearts of the Indians. He 
 had been a prominent figure in the early councils of Fort 
 Orange and Rensselaerswyck, and was drowned in 1667 in 
 the Bay of Perou, Lake Champlain, while traveling towards 
 Canada. Twenty years later, in September, 1688, at a con- 
 ference between Sir Edniond Andros, then Governor of New 
 York and the Five Nations, a Mohawk Sachem addressed the 
 Governor as follows : " Corlaer, * * * for you were 
 pleased to accept the name of a man that was of good dis- 
 positions and esteemed dear among us, to wit, the Old 
 Corlaer." 
 
 " Corlaer " represented to the Indians power and strength, 
 tempered by justice, and as the expression of it was to some 
 extent the policy of the Dutch towards the red men, they 
 gave this name of an early inhabitant of Fort Orange and 
 Albany to the Governors of the Colony of New York. The 
 name of another Albany man, the first mayor of the newly 
 chartered city, replaced that of Corlaer shortly after the Leisler 
 complications. Peter Schuyler, by the Indians called Quidor 
 (Keedor), had become as staunch a friend of the Indians as 
 Corlaer had been, and the influence he had over them is best 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 described by the beginning of a speech, made by a Mohawk 
 Sachem at Albany in January, 1690 :" Brethren," he said, 
 " we must stick to our brother Quidor, and look on Ononiio 
 (the Governor of Canada) as our enemy, for he is a cheat 
 * * * * Corlaer and Kinshon [that is fish or New 
 England] ! Courage, Courage ! In the spring to Quebec, 
 take that place and you will have your feet on the necks of 
 the French and all their friends in America." The Governor 
 of New York held among the Indians the title of " Quidor" 
 almost as long as there were royal Governors in the Colony. 
 
 The English authorities comprehended, that to follow the 
 policy of the Dutch was a necessity for them. Hence they 
 endeavored by all means to preserve the friendshij) of the 
 Five Nations during the whole colonial period. The records 
 abound in the details of conferences between the governors 
 of this and other English provinces on the continent and the 
 Indians, all or nearly all, held here at Albany. 
 
 Early in September, 1664, the flag of the West India 
 Comi)any was hauled down, and an English banner hoisted 
 in its stead. This change, very naturally, was a matter of 
 profound interest to the neighboring Indians of the Five 
 Nations. ( )n the 24th of the same month representative 
 Sachems of the Mohawks and Senecas met the English com- 
 mander, Colonel George Cartwright. who had taken posses- 
 sion of Albany on behalf of the Duke of York. It was 
 agreed, that the Indians should have '■ all such wares and 
 commodities from the English for the future, as heretofore 
 they had from the Dutch." 
 
 2. That if any English, Dutch or Indian (under the jiro- 
 tection of the English) do any wrong, injury or violence to 
 any of the Indians, in any sort whatever, if they complain 
 to the Governor at New \'ork, or to the Officer-in-Chief at 
 Albany, if the person so offending can be discovered, that 
 person shall receive condign punishment, and all due satis- 
 faction shall be given ; and the like shall be clone for all 
 other English plantations. 
 
35 
 
 3- That if any Indian belonging to any of the Sachems 
 (parties to this treaty) do any wrong, injury or damage to 
 the EngUsh, Dutch or Indians under the protection of the 
 Enghsh, if complaint be made to the Sachems, and the 
 person be discovered who did the injury, then the person so 
 offending shall be punished, and all just satisfaction shall be 
 given to any of His Majesty's subjects in this Colony or 
 other Plantations in America." 
 
 Very little ever disturbed the friendly relations between 
 the English and their Indian neighbors in the Province of 
 New York, for the English of New York, having seen how 
 wise a policy it was, adopted that of the Dutch in never 
 settling upon Indian lands unless they had by treaty or deed 
 bought it tirst. 
 
 Two years after the above quoted first EngHsh-Indian 
 treaty, the French Governor of Canada entered into a cove- 
 nant of peace with the Five Nations, and within a week 
 after signing it he writes to the Commissaries or Magistrates 
 of Albany : " But as said Iroquois have always forfeited 
 their word and made use of so many extraordinary cruelties, 
 it would not be prudent to lose the opportunity of destroy- 
 ing them, when we have a considerable body of troops. 
 Every time you shall seriously reflect on their conduct, I 
 am persuaded you will be of the same opinion, since they 
 fail not, after the obligations they owe us, to exercise many 
 acts of hostility towards the people under our government." 
 
 Sir Edmond Andros, during whose term as Governor, 
 King Philip's war disturbed the Eastern Colonies, had 
 learned by this war that the Mohawks and their friends of 
 the Five Nations were a powerful factor in colonial politics ; 
 hence he instructed the commissioners sent to Pemacjuid, 
 that, if any Mohawks should come to them, they should be 
 received and used kindly, " as at Albany, giving them in- 
 telligence particularly of our friends as well as enemies." 
 The Southern Colonies of Maryland, Virginia and Carolina 
 were neither slow to recognize the important position which 
 
36 
 
 the Iroquois held on the continent. However, if the 
 Governors of these Colonies desired peace with them, they 
 had to come either in person or by deputies and negotiate 
 a treaty here at Albany. 
 
 Albany was, in 1693, a litde village of not more than 200 
 houses, even though it could boast of having a charter as a 
 city. But, notwithstanding its insignificant territorial extent, 
 the Governor of the Province had to admit that it had al- 
 ways been the ancient place of treaty, and when the Shaw- 
 anees came from their villages on the Susc}uehannah in 
 Pennsylvania to New York with the intention of making 
 peace with this Province and the Indians depending on New 
 York, he was obliged to refuse to hear them unless they 
 went to Albany, and the Iroquois, their former enemies, 
 were present at the interview. 
 
 The result of this wise Indian policy is best seen, by read- 
 ing the words, used by the speaker of the Five Nations at a 
 great meeting at Albany, on the ist of October, 1696. 
 " We have become a small people," he said, " and much 
 lessened by the war. If the people of Virginia, Maryland, 
 Pennsylvania, the Jersey.s, Connecticut and New England, 
 who have al' put their hands to the covenant-chain will join 
 with the inhabitant.: of this place, we are ready to go and 
 root the French and all our enemies out of Canada. * * * 
 The Tree of Safety and AVelfare planted here, we confirm it. 
 As the tree is planted here antl confirmed, so we make fast 
 all root? and branches of it, all the brethren of the Five 
 Nations and the brethren of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsyl- 
 vania, the Jerseys, New York, Connecticut and New Eng- 
 land." 
 
 This speech shows the esteem, which the Indians had for 
 Albany. They were then and until the end of French 
 dominion in Canada the only barrier between the French 
 and the Colonies east and south of the Connecticut river. 
 If they evei hatl made a peace with the Governors under 
 His Most ('hristian Majesty of France, as inviolable as they 
 
37 
 
 made them here in Albany with the English Governors, 
 nothing could have saved the city from the Fleur de Lys 
 banner. If the French had been able to seduce the Iroquois 
 from their allegiance to Quidor, in 1753, at the most critical 
 period for the English Colonies, and if Albany with the 
 valley of the Hudson river, had been part of the French 
 dominion in 1775, the Eastern and Southern Common- 
 wealths might have rebelled against the encroachments on 
 liberty by the British Mmistry to their hearts' content. 
 They would have been " whipped in detail," like so many 
 school-boys. 
 
 The Iroquois however never would allow them, to cut 
 down the Tree of Safety and Welfare, planted, and ex- 
 tinguish the Council Fire, lighted in the ancient city of 
 Albany, 
 
COMIN& EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE. 
 
 It is not intended to claim for the Dutch nation, the in- 
 habitants of the Low Lands at the mouth of the Rhine, 
 commonly called the Netherlands, that they were the first to 
 discover strength in the union of many weaker bodies, as 
 the Greek poet, Aesopus, had demonstrated this truism 
 centuries before in his well-known fable, but it is neverthe- 
 less significant, that of all the people of purely Teutonic 
 origin, they were the first to put this theory to the test of 
 practice. In 1581, they threw off the yoke of Philipp II, 
 the Spanish " tyrant," who had made them sufter so much, 
 and formed the Republic of the United Netherlands. 
 
 Indian war had induced the New England Colonies, in 
 1643, to join issues, with the object of "protection against 
 the encroachments of the Dutch and the French, security 
 against the tribes of savages," and to enjoy " the liberties of 
 the gospel in purity and peace." Massachusetts, Plymouth 
 Plantation, Connecticut and New Haven joined this con- 
 federation, from which they excluded Providence Planta- 
 tion and Rhode Island, because the people of these settle- 
 ments " ran a different course, both in their ministry and 
 civil administration." 
 
 The General Court of Massachusetts issued in 1690 a 
 call for a convention of colonial delegates, to decide upon 
 measures for the invasion of Canada. The invitation of 
 Jacob Leisler, the unfortunate self-appointed Lieutenant- 
 Governor of New York, to meet in the city of New York, 
 was accepted instead, and delegates from Massachusetts, 
 Plymouth and New York met without settling any thing of 
 importance. 
 
39 
 
 Peter de la Noy, a man educated in the spirit of free 
 Holland, although a Huguenot, born it the Province of 
 New York, who had taken part in the meeting of 1690, saw, 
 in 1695, that the safety of the English Colonies against the 
 encroachment of the French in Canada depended very 
 much on a federative union among them. In commenting 
 on the administration of Governor Fletcher, of New York, 
 he says : " I wish his Majesty would place a General Gov- 
 ernor over New York, New England and the Jerseys, so as 
 the Assemblys Courts of Judicature and Laws of the respec- 
 tive Colonies may remain and be kept separate. * * * * 
 But a union under one Governor would be very convenient 
 * * * * and a terrour to the French of Canada, who 
 assume a boldness purely from our divisions into separate 
 bodies and the piques that are too common amongst the 
 several Governors, of which the French don't want a con- 
 stant intelligence." 
 
 De la Noy had Hved long enough to have seen the futile 
 attempt of King James, who, in order to strengthen the 
 Colonies and his hold upon them, had united all the Northern 
 dependencies under one government. While serving as 
 member of the General Assembly for New York city and 
 county he had learned that New York Colony alone was not 
 strong enough to defend the Hudson valley against the 
 French, but needed the assistance of her eastern and south- 
 ern neighbors ; they, however, always excused themselves 
 from sending aid on the plea that they were also exposed to 
 the enemy's attacks. \Vhat was then really needed for the 
 safety of all the British colonies was a military commander 
 with power to call out, direct and station the forces levied 
 by each Colony. The English Ministers of State, to whom 
 De la Noy's letter of 1695 was probably addressed, recog- 
 nized this necessity, and in a report to the King, made in 
 1696, recommended the appointment of a Captain-General 
 over the Colonies from the Delaware to Maine, who should 
 have the power of Governor of any one of them, while he 
 
40 
 
 was present in it. Dissensions among the respective agents 
 or representatives of the Colonies, in London, defeated this 
 scheme. Massachusetts wanted that her Governor should 
 also be civil chief magistrate of New York and Xew Hamp- 
 shire, and General of all the forces in Massachusetts, Xew 
 York, Connecticut, New Hampshire. Rhode Island and the 
 Jerseys. Connecticut protested against this, as being too 
 hard on the inhabitants and contrary to their charter. New 
 Hampshire was a proprietary government, and the proprie- 
 tor, who acted also as Governor by royal appointment, 
 very naturally objected to being so summarily superseded. 
 New York, being most exposed to the dangers of a French 
 invasion, failed to see how in sending her troops to the more 
 populous Massachusetts she could protect her own frontiers. 
 
 The King solved the difficulty by appointing, on the i6th 
 of March, 1696-7, the Karl of Bellomont to be Governor 
 of the Province of New York, Ma.ssachusetts Bay and New 
 Hampshire, and to be Captain General of all the forces 
 there, and in Connecticut, Rhode Island and the Jerseys. 
 Bellomont came " out " to his government with the best in- 
 tentions, and might have succeeded in settling the distract- 
 ing iMiglish and French difficulties, if death had not called 
 him away within a few years. ^Vith his death the arbitrary, 
 pragmatical union of these heterogeneous units came to an 
 end. The New England Colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode 
 Island and Connecticut had their peculiar charter. New 
 York was a conquered Province ; New Hampshire and the 
 Jerseys were proprietary governments ; hence the internal 
 interests of all were widely divergent, while the people or 
 their representatives failed to discern the benefits of a union 
 and such concerted action of all against their common enemy 
 at the North. 
 
 For this reason we need not wonder, that Penn's plan for 
 a union of the Colonies in America elicited very little com- 
 ment. He wanted all the C^olonies, including the South as 
 far as Carolina to " be made more useful to the Crown and 
 
41 
 
 one another's peace and safety with an universal concur- 
 rence." The Colonies were to meet, by their deputies, once 
 a year during the war and once in two years in times of 
 peace, to debate and resolve such measures as are most 
 advisable for their better understanding and the "public 
 tranquillity and safety." Each Province was to send two 
 representatives and a commissioner to be appointed by the 
 Crown to preside at their deliberations. The place of meet- 
 ing to be most centrally located, it was most likely, that New 
 York would be chosen as meeting place, and therefore the 
 Governor of New York was proposed as commissioner, 
 whose powers in war times were to extend also over the 
 miUtary forces of all the Colonies. Tidings from England, 
 that a measure was pending before the House of Lords for 
 bringing all the proprietary governments, including Penn- 
 sylvania, under the Crown, led the great Quaker to return to 
 England, and his scheme was never mentioned. 
 
 We have no right to assume that Penn, who, though a 
 Quaker, was also a staunch Royalist, in devising this plan had 
 any idea of its leading to a severance of the Colonies from 
 the Crown. The threatning progress of the French among 
 the Indians, located to the west of the English settlements 
 made it sine qua non condition for the latter to meet the 
 French with a bold and unbroken front from the St. Law- 
 rence to the Ohio. Therefore we meet the matter recurring 
 at stated mtervals. Some ten to fifteen years after Penn had 
 submitted his plan, in 171 1, the Governors of the Colonies 
 from the Jerseys north and eastward, met at New London, 
 Conn. This congress acted only as a council of war, for 
 being composed of the Governors, acting under royal in- 
 structions, they could not speak as representatives of the feel- 
 ing of the settlers. This was claimed by the assemblies, 
 especially the Assembly of New York, in which Albany 
 county was then represented by Robert Livingston, Johan- 
 nes Cuyler and Colonel Johannes Schuyler. 
 
42 
 
 " A greater asserter of liberty," says Governor Hunter, of 
 New York, speaking of the political condition of his Prov- 
 ince, " one at least that understood it better that any of 
 them, has said : That as national or independent empire is 
 to be exerciscil by theni, that have the proper balance of 
 dominion in the nation, so provincial or dependent empire 
 is not to be exercised by them that have y'' balance of do- 
 minion in the Province ; because that would bring y* gov- 
 ernment from j)rovincial and dejjendent to national and in- 
 dependent. Which is a reflexion that deserves some con- 
 sideration for y*^ sake of another from y*^ same person, to- 
 wit : That y'^ Colonies were infants sucking their mother's 
 breasts, but such as, if he was not mistaken, woukl wean 
 themselves, when they came of age." 
 
 Politicians of to-day might agree as little with the fore- 
 going assertion, as the politician of 171 1 fancied, how true 
 the closing .sentiment would come during the same century. 
 
 In 1722 appeared in L(jndon "A Description of the 
 English Province of Carolana, by the Spaniards called 
 Florida, and by the French, Louisiana." The writer of it, 
 was a man, who like Penn, had proprietary interests in the 
 Colonies on the American Continent. His father, Daniel 
 Coxe, M. D., of London, was one of the proprietors, and 
 for some years Governor of West Jersey, where the son, 
 Colonel Daniel Co.xe, served as member of the Council, as 
 Speaker of the A.ssembly and as A.ssociate Ju.stice of the 
 Supreme Court of New Jersey. The book of Colonel Co.xe 
 is rather a crude performance, the lack of geographical 
 knowledge displayed in it is absolutely startling, for the 
 Mississippi river is placed within half a day's ride from the 
 Pacific Ocean. Put he may claim to have been the uncon- 
 scious inventor of the United States, although generally 
 Benjamin P>anklin is credited with originating that plan here 
 at Albany in 1754, as we shall see hereafter. 
 
 Coxe i)roposed, that for the more eftectual defense of all 
 the British Colonies against the French, they should become 
 
43 
 
 one legal, regular and firm government, under a Supreme 
 Governor, the Governors of the single Colonies remaining 
 as his subordinates. The Council and Assembly of each 
 Colony were to elect annually two deputies, nearly as 
 United States Senators are elected to-day, whom the Gov- 
 ernor-General had the power to convene, when necessary. 
 They were to consult and advise for the general good of 
 the Colonies, and to settle the quota of men and money 
 needed for the common defense, from each Colony, while 
 the Supreme Governor had the right to veto any of their 
 acts, but could not enforce any ordinance without their 
 consent. 
 
 " Let us consider," says Coxe, "the fall of our ancestors, 
 and grow wise by their misfortune. If the ancient Britons 
 had been united amongst themselves, the Romans, in all 
 probability, had never become their masters ; for as Ceesar 
 observed of tliem: ''diini si/ii^iili pngiiabaut, vnivcrsi vince- 
 bantur" whilst they fought in separate bodies, the whole 
 island was subdued. So if the English Colonies in America 
 were consolidated as one body and joined in one common 
 interest, as they are under one gracious sovereign, and with 
 united forces were ready and willing to act in concert and 
 assist each other, they would be better enabled to provide 
 for and enable themselves against any troublesome neigh- 
 bor or bold invader. For Union and Concord increase and 
 establish strength and power, whilst Division and Discord 
 have the contrary effect." In other words, "Eendraght 
 maaktmaght." 
 
 In making these recommendations, Coxe was by no means 
 actuated by disinterested motives for the welfare of the Colo- 
 nies, nor does he claim to l)e so. He declared himself to be, 
 through his father, proprietor of the Province of Carolana, 
 stretching westward from the western bounds of Carolina, 
 and covering the present States of Georgia, Alabama, Mis- 
 sissippi and part of Louisiana, in the latter of which the 
 French had begun to get a foothold and to make extensive 
 
44 
 
 settlements. The "British C'olnnies, with their miHtary con- 
 tingents united under one head, could Iiave driven the French 
 from Carolana, and this evidently was what Coxe desired. 
 
 The next move, intending, however, to checkmate any 
 attempt at a union of the Colonies, had its origin in Albany 
 matters. JohannesCuyler, Evert Banker, Wessel Ten Broeck, 
 Francis Salisbury and others, who were or had been justices 
 of the city and county of Albany, were prosecuted by tlie 
 then Attorney-General of the Province, Richard Bradley, 
 in 1723 and 1724, on the plea of not having taken sufficient 
 care of the county jail. They compromised the case by 
 paying to Bradley ^aSj though he demanded a larger 
 amount. He gave his receipt for the above sum, and then 
 continued his persecutions of the justices for insufficiency 
 had inherited from him the idea of a political union, for 
 before the appearance of Coxe's litde work, they represented 
 to the King, George I, that to put a sto[) to a great many 
 abuses and inconvei\iences, prevalent in his transatlantic 
 possessions, he ought to a])point a Lord-Lieutenant or Cap- 
 tain-Ciencral to govern them all. (ieorge the First disliked 
 the country whose crown he had been obliged to put on his 
 head, and to exi)ect from him that he should interest him- 
 self in dependencies of this country, so far across the ocean 
 as the American Colonies, was to expect too much. Hence 
 the recommendation of the Lords of Trade and Plantations 
 in 1721, and Colonel Coxe's attempt to rouse by his publica- 
 tion general public sentiment, had no immediate result. 
 
 Doctor Coxe, the father of the author, had managed to 
 interest King William and Lord Lonsdale in the Carolana 
 Colony. We have no means of telling whether he had 
 submitted the case to them under the same aspect of a con- 
 federation of the British Colonies in America, but it seems 
 that the successors of Lord Lonsdale in his official position 
 of the jail accomodations, finally driving his victims to peti- 
 tion the General Assembly for relief. The latter " found 
 by the before-mentioned receipt that it was in full for the 
 
45 
 
 Attorney-General's fees, and it being alleged that the said 
 gaol has since been well amended, it seems to them that the 
 present prosecutions proceed rather from a view to squeese 
 some more money from the petitioners than from any just 
 cause." The Assembly was, as we see, not friendly to the 
 Attorney-General, who had vainly tried to obtain from the 
 Province a fixed salary which his predecessor had enjoyed 
 in addition to the fees allowed him. 
 
 These efforts bearing no fruits, and the remembrance of 
 this rebuke and of a former one by the same Assembly, for 
 what they considered a breach of parliamentary privilege, 
 infuriated Attorney-General Bradley to such an extent that 
 he sent to the Lords of Trade and Plantation a long repre- 
 sentation against Assemblies of the Colonies, which he jjre- 
 tended must necessarily aim at independence from the 
 Crown. He finds that most of the steps taken by a de- 
 pendent Colony to render themselves independent at their 
 pleasure are taken by the Assembly of New York. He had 
 discovered that the Colonies had grown from infants at their 
 mothers' breasts to full-grown boys, who made only indif- 
 ferent use of the privileges granted to the suckling. 
 
 The increase of population in all the Colonies on the 
 Western Continent, botli Phiglish and French, showed to 
 the statesmen of England the necessity of setding by force 
 of arms the divergent claims of either, and the matter begun 
 to be discussed in print about 1 744. One of their " schemes " 
 bore the title, " Some remarks on the most rational and 
 effectual means that can be used in the present conjunction 
 for the future security of the trade of Great Britain by pro- 
 tecting and advancing her setdements on the North Con- 
 tinent of America." 
 
 It is a curious coincidence, such as we often meet in the 
 study of history, that the man, who as Royal Governor of 
 New York, then opposed the plan of uniting the Colonies, 
 belonged to the same family which gave to the Sfat(' of 
 New York its first Governor. Admiral George Clinton, 
 
46 
 
 Governor of the Province of New York from 1743 to 1753, 
 and Charles Clinton, father of General George Clinton, 
 first Governor of the independent State of New York, both 
 belonged to the family of the Earls of Lincoln, George 
 Clinton addressing Charles as cousin. 
 
 The " scheme " above referred to liad in view the ap- 
 pointment of a general officer to preside over the respective 
 governments, who was to have the supreme command over 
 the troops raised in the Colonies. The commissions of the 
 respective Governors invested them also with the command 
 of the troops of their Province. Clinton did not api)rove 
 of a i)lan l)y wliich he himself was virtually superseded and 
 reducetl to a " sypher." 
 
 The state of affairs at that date on the i:ontinent ou^ht to 
 have taught the Adniiral-Ciovcrnor the lesson, tliat. by their 
 united efforts, the Colonies could soon have relieved them- 
 selves from all anxieties caused by their neighbors, the 
 French. Tt has already been said that the increase of 
 population demanded a settlement of tlie contratlictory ter- 
 ntorial claims of both nations. The bountlaries north and 
 west had never been fixed. The English based their title 
 to the western lands upon the various cessions made by the 
 Indians, for they followed the policy inaugurated by the 
 Dutch, of first " satisfying " the Indians for the land to be 
 settled. Commissioners of Maryland and Virginia, Colo- 
 nies wliere this New V'ork, or better called Albany custom, 
 was also a law, had bought for ^400 in gold and Indian 
 goods from the Irocjuois "all the territory which is or by 
 order of His Majesty shall be within the limits of the Col- 
 ony of Virginia." The Frencli, mistrusting these proceed- 
 ings, lost no time in l)eginning hostilities. Canso. in Nova 
 Scotia, fell (]uickly into their hands; l)ut the soldiers cap- 
 tured there and allowed to go to Boston gave such reports 
 regarding the fortifications of T.ouisburg, one of the most 
 important points in the hands of the French, as to induce 
 the Assembly of Massachusetts to send an army of nearly 
 
47 
 
 4,ooo men under Sir William Pepperell against the French. 
 The great fortress was taken after a spirited attack of six 
 weeks. Preparations were then made to invade Canada ; 
 but the ministry in England withdrew the Royal forces co- 
 operating with the Provincials, as they did not desire to 
 rouse the military spirit of the Colonies to a consciousness 
 of its strength. 
 
 New York had been asked for assistance of men and 
 money, and Governor Clinton endeavored to induce the 
 Assembly to make an appropriation. In a speech to them, 
 on the i8th of July, 1744, he says, referring to his meeting at 
 Albany with commissioners from Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut : " The commissioners from the Massachusetts 
 government had full powers likewise for entering into a strict 
 union and alliance with us and all the Colonies on the main, 
 to concert and agree with them upon proper measures for 
 their joint conduct in the war against the common enemy 
 for our mutual advantage. I earnestly recommend it to you 
 to provide supplies, the better to enable me to commissionate 
 proper persons with like powers for this laudable end, that 
 thereby such measures may be engaged in touching the con- 
 duct of the war in these parts, that His Majesty's Aincrican 
 subjects may not only be safe in their possessions, but be- 
 come a terror to his enemies." 
 
 But the Assembly would not listen to these entreaties. 
 They resolved, ncm. con., " That as His Majesty has for 
 some years been engaged in a war with the King of Spain, 
 and is at present engaged in another with the French King, 
 this House will provide ways and means for putting the Col- 
 ony in such posture of defense as may on the one hand dis- 
 courage an enemy to make attempts upon it by sea or land, 
 and on the other excite our inhabitants cheerfully to exert 
 their known resolution in making a vigorous defense, in case 
 any such undertaking should be attempted." They had not 
 a word to say of helping their neighbors, but passed with- 
 out great effort bills to support the garrison at Oswego and 
 
48 
 
 to fortify the city of Albany, at an expense of ^45°- 
 This Assembly of twenty-seven members counted among 
 them fourteen of Dutch descent, of whom Philip Schuyler 
 and Peter Winne represented the city and county of Albany, 
 Johan Baptist van Rensselaer sitting for the Manor; and 
 they now repaid the sneers and assumed superiority with 
 which New England then as to-day liked to look down upon 
 New York as a Dutch Colony. 
 
 The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, ended King 
 George's war without adjusting the line of demarkation be- 
 tween French and English territories. In i749' ^^'^^ ^^io 
 Company, among whose members were Lawrence and 
 Augustin Washington, obtained from the Crown a grant of 
 500,000 acres on the Ohio. Its object was trade with 
 the Indians and cultivation of the land west of the Alle- 
 ghanies, and by that means the setUement of the country 
 by a people who acknowledged as sovereign the King of 
 Great Britain, and not His Most Christian Majesty of 
 France. In such a population the French of Canada saw 
 an always insurmountable barrier between their Canadian 
 and the Louisiana territory, and therefore this the)' were 
 not disposed to allow. Their agents had already visited the 
 valley of the Ohio, and had taken possession of it in the 
 name of their King, making friends and allies of the In- 
 dians in that region. After erecting a fort at Presqu, He, 
 whi( h we call to-day Erie, Penn., they pushed forward to 
 the Miami, susprised an English garrison there and terror- 
 ized the Indians. On behalf of the latter, belonging to the 
 tribes of Shawanoes, Delawares, Piankashaws and others, 
 the celebrated headman or Sachem, Half-King (Scarow- 
 jady*), went to remonstrate with the French commander, 
 but without success. An expedition of the French in 1753, 
 
 * In the Dinwiddie Papers (Virginia Historical Collection, Vol. Ill), 
 Half-King is called Tanacharison, a Senaca chief; while the New York 
 Colonial Documents, VII, call him a Delaware of the above given 
 name, whom the Dinwiddie Papers claim as Oneida. 
 
49 
 
 although temporarily successful, did not entirely accom- 
 plish its ends. In December, 1753, Lieutenant-Governor 
 De Lancey, then administering the government of the Col- 
 ony of New York, was informed by Lieut. Holland, com- 
 manding Fort Oswego, that the greater part of the French 
 army which had gone to Ohio during the previous summer, 
 numbering 6,000 French and 500 Indians, had repassed his 
 post ; and further, that from two deserters he had learnt the 
 fact that the French had been unable to accomplish their 
 designs beyond making a few English prisoners, though they 
 threatened next year to make a second attempt. The 
 French army had besides sutfered from sickness and had 
 lost great numbers of their men from scurvy, an illness con- 
 tracted through the badness of their provisions. The Indians 
 to the southward had not only bid defiance to them, but 
 forced from them provisions and brandy, a net result for the 
 French, being the loss of many men by illness and the gain 
 of two English j)risoners. 
 
 The French interest was further seriously compromised by 
 the capture and treatment of the two Englishmen, who were 
 sent to Canada in irons, although the Governor of Canada 
 had promised to his Indian allies not to molest the English. 
 Before De Lancey's report could reach England, he 
 received directions from the Lords of Trades and Planta- 
 tions to hold an interview with the Six Nations at Albany, 
 although this place had become obnoxious to them. They 
 reviewed the state of Indian affairs, and added that they 
 think it best for his majesty's service that he should take the 
 first opportunity of representing in the strongest terms to the 
 Council and General Assembly the great importance to the 
 Province of preserving the friend.ship and affections of the 
 Indians whom Governor Clinton had managed to estrange, 
 and the fatal consequences which must inevitably follow 
 from a neglect of their friendship. He was furthermore 
 instructed to impress upon the Assembly the necessity of 
 joining him as well as supporting him in every measure con- 
 4 
 
5° 
 
 ducive to fix Indian loyalty to British interest. A speedy 
 interview with the Indians was urijed, as their present dis- 
 position demanded and as usage and custom required. The 
 neighboring governments were to send commissioners to be 
 joined with those of New York, and the Governors of \'ir- 
 ginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hamp- 
 shire and Massachusetts were also directed by the Lords of 
 Trade to represent to their respective Assemblies the neces- 
 sity of this measure. W'iien the time and place of meeting 
 had been setded, the Governors of the Colonies not written 
 to directly were to be notified, and care was to be taken that 
 all tlie Provinces were, if practicable, comprised in one gen- 
 eral treaty, to be made in his Majesty's name. 
 
 This was the first seed sown for the Albany Congress and 
 the Albany Plan of Union. Albanians take a pride in sup- 
 posing that the schem.e, upon which the United States were 
 founded about forty years later, originated in their city, but 
 this is the age of the ikonoklasl, especially in history, under 
 whose blows our idols are crumbling to jjowder, and how- 
 ever ])ainful it may be, we must concede the ])recedence to 
 Colonel Coxe, of New Jersey, whose little book has been 
 mentioned before. 
 
 I)e Pancey, according to instructions, placed the matter 
 before the Assembly, in wliich Captain Peter Winne, and 
 Captain Petrus Douw, sat for Albany county, J. B. van 
 Rensselaer representing the Manor, and had the satisfaction 
 to receive, two days later, a resolution of the House, "That 
 as soon as the sea.son of the year will permit His Honor the 
 Lieutenant-Governor to meet the Indian Nations at Albany 
 to renew the ancient treaty with them, this House will make 
 provision for the presents usually made them on such occa- 
 sions, and also for the expenses of His Honour's voyage to 
 Albany." Thereupon. " His Honour," with the advice and 
 consent of the Council, was pleased to appoint, that the 
 interview with the Indians be held at the city of Albany, 
 on the 14th day of June following; that is, in 1754. 
 
51 
 
 This date did not suit all the Governors, to whom it had 
 been duly notified. Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, re- 
 plied by a discussion of the subject of the French encroach- 
 ments on the Ohio river, and of Major George Washing- 
 ton's fruitless interviews with the French commandant at the 
 fort on the Ohio, M. de St. Pierre. He further stated, that 
 he had ordered out for the present a detachment of the 
 militia and hoped the Assembly of Virginia would enable 
 him to take more vigorous measures ; he also requested that 
 the men, which New York was to furnish for mutual assist- 
 ance in obedience to the orders from England, should be 
 sent to Wills creek, at the head of the Potomac, early in 
 March. But the consultation at Albany, he was sorry to 
 say, came at an inconvenient time, for he had proposed to 
 meet the Six Nations and Southern Indians at Winchester 
 on the 2oth of May, and the Assembly of his Province 
 will, he thinks, be backward in sending commissioners to 
 Albany. Governor Dinwiddie had been only a little over 
 two years in the Colonies, and apparently was as yet a tyro 
 in the study of Indian politics ; for if he had been thoroughly 
 conversant with them, he would not have expected the Five 
 Nations to meet him at any other place than at Albany. 
 The following letter sent by some of the Mohawk chiefs to 
 Sir William Johnson, the New York Commissioner of Indian 
 Affairs, explains the feeling of the Five Nations on this 
 point : 
 
 Canajoharie, the 2 2d Day of March 1753. 
 Sir: 
 
 Brother Coll : William Johnson wee Let you No that 
 there has not Been any of the five Nations at Virginia to 
 Speeke with the governur, nor Never Recivid any Present 
 from the governur of Verginia Last May, nor Any time 
 after Last May. Wee Canajoharies, Onydes, taskaroras, 
 Ondages Kayockes and Sinnikes Nor none of us. l>ut Wee 
 Agreed to meet to Speeke in Albany Because Wee Would 
 Not goo to Loggstown in Virginia. Wee Would Speeke in 
 
52 
 
 Albany that our Governour Could heare it And Wee Would 
 Bee Glad to Speeke in Albany with the governur of \"ir- 
 ginia And Wee did not Receve any Present in the above 
 Neamed time from the Governur of Virginia Ass Witness 
 our hands 
 
 P. S. — Hcndrick says, that his 
 
 they all know, that five Na- Abraham + Pieters 
 
 ■' mark 
 
 tions gave you the Wamping, his 
 
 . c 1 1 1 * »i Brant -\- Urgyadekha 
 
 to Sand bak to the governur ' , 
 
 ^ mark 
 
 of Virgina, that they would his 
 
 ^ ^ ,r- • • 1^4-*. Hendrick + Pieters 
 not meet at Virginia, but att mark 
 
 Albany. ' Paulus 
 
 The Council of New York advised Governor De Lancey, 
 that to postpone the meeting with the Indians at Albany, 
 would be umvise, and repeated this advice to Governor 
 Shirley, of Massachusetts, when he also desired a postpone- 
 ment. Shirley seems to have been more of a pohtician, 
 than of a .statesman, — a man, who had the interest of his 
 political party more at heart, than that of the whole Province 
 under his government, and in this line of action we must 
 consider him somewhat of a prototype for many of our 
 modern elective officers. 
 
 He pleaded to De Lancey, that the meeting at Albany on 
 the 14th of June, would interfere with their general election 
 in Massachusetts on the 28th of May, as the commissioners, 
 if any should be sent from his government, would be some 
 of the Council and Assembly to be elected, and therefore 
 he thinks, Massachusetts would not be represented at the 
 proposed interview, unless the same was put off to July. 
 Here we see the first indication of Shirley's opposition to the 
 Albany Plan of Union, a modern historian, a Boston man, 
 notwithstanding, who accuses De Lancey of New York, as 
 defeating this plan, and says of Shirley, that he " took a 
 leading part in the congress of Governors at Albany, (where 
 Shirley did not come,) and warmly .supported the abortive 
 
53 
 
 scheme of union proposed by Franklin." Further proof 
 of his opposition will be found in Volume VI of Docu- 
 ments relating to the Colonial History of New York. 
 
 I must request the reader's indulgence for diverging here 
 into a few paragraphs of a polemic character, but the stand- 
 point from which New England historians look down upon 
 New York requires it. Being myself a beginner in the study 
 of history, I may be called presumptuous to try my hand at 
 correcting older writers, but the reasons for it are obvious. 
 The truth about New York has never been written, for the 
 writer encounters obstacles and no means to overcome them. 
 The country, compared with Europe or Asia, is new. "The 
 first settlers were too much occupied in conquering nature 
 for a Hving to find time for exercising their literary capa- 
 cities. Cosmopolitan from the very beginning of white Hfe 
 in New York, the unity of feeling, the pride of origin, which 
 ordinarily give birth to history, could not grow." Then New 
 York was first settled by Dutchmen, of whom the English 
 knew very little, and whom the Puritans of New England, 
 with characteristic English insolence, hated for the benefits 
 and protection received in the Netherlands. We can go 
 further for the dislike of New York so often expressed by 
 New England. From the eadiest beginnings of the Colo- 
 nies, the Dutch and the New Englanders were involved in 
 a boundary quarrel, which continued during the whole colo- 
 nial period. Upon reference of the differences to England, 
 New York was usually found to be in the right. But that 
 added only fuel to the bitter fire of hate and dislike. Hence 
 we see the history of New York treated with a subjective 
 feeling by the historians of to-day, which is entirely un- 
 worthy of them. 
 
 As already stated, the Council of New York objected to 
 a postponement of the meeting on Governor Dinwiddle's 
 application, and again on Shirley's. The Indians had 
 already been notified to come to Albany,- and the state 
 of their feelings at the time made delay impolitic. 
 
54 
 
 The time appointed for the meeting drew near, and Vir- 
 ginia still endeavored to have it postponed. In March, 
 Governor Dinwiddie informed De hancey that the time 
 would not admit of concerting measures with the other gov- 
 ernments, and he therefore hopetl New \'ork would do all 
 in its power to assist Virginia in driving the French from 
 the Ohio. Shirley, of Massachusetts, had seen the futility 
 of further delay, and sent word that he intended to ai)point 
 conmiissioners for the Albany meeting. It appears, how- 
 ever, from the credentials of these commissioners, that not 
 the Governor, but the Council and Representatives of Ma.s- 
 sachusetts voted on the i8th and 19th of April, 1754, "that 
 Samuel Welles, John Chandler, Thomas Hutchinson, Oliver 
 Partridge and John Worthington (any three of whom to be 
 a quorum), be and they hereby are fully authorized and 
 empowered to represent and appear for this Province at the 
 General Convention of the British Governments proposed 
 to be held at Albany in June next, and in concert with 
 Commissioners from all or any of the said governments to 
 enter into Articles of Agreement and Confederation, as well 
 offensive and defensive for their general .safety and interest, 
 and for confirming and establishing the ancient and uninter- 
 rupted Attachment of the Six Nations to his Majesty, our 
 most gracious Sovereign, and their long and constant friend- 
 ship with his Majesty's subjects on this continent." This 
 in.sured the representation of one important factor at the 
 jjroposed meeting. 
 
 In New Jersey, which did not expect to suffer from an 
 invasion by the Frencli. the Assenibl\- declined to make 
 provision for meeting the expenses of commissioners, there- 
 fore none were appointed. About the middle of May, 
 Penning Wentworth, the Ciovernor of New Hampshire, 
 wrote that the commissioners from his Province should be 
 fully instructed to join with the delegates from the other 
 governments at the intended interview concerning the erec- 
 tion of forts in the Indian country. Theodore Atkinson, 
 
55 
 
 Richard Wibird, Meshec Weare, and Henry Sherburne, 
 jun., appeared for this Colony. The other Colonies were 
 represented as follows : 
 
 Connecticut sent William Pitkin, Roger Wolcot, jun., and 
 Ehsha Wilhams; Rhode Island appeared by Stephen Hop- 
 kins and Martin Howard, jun. ; Maryland by Benj. 1 asker, 
 jun., and Abraham Barnes; Pennsylvania by John Penn, 
 one of the proprietors, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris and 
 Benjamin Franklin ; while New York was represented by 
 itc I-ieutenant-Governor, De Lancey, and Messrs. Murray, 
 Johnson, Chambers and Smith, of his Council. The ab- 
 sence of representatives of Virginia and New Jersey has 
 already been accounted for. The Carolinas felt the danger 
 of the French-Indian alliances as much as their .sister Colo- 
 nies, but political dissensions between the Governors and 
 the Assemblies seem to have prevented the necessary money 
 grants. Georgia, the baby of the Colonies, was just pass- 
 ing from the infant state of a philanthropic experiment into 
 the maturity of a crown Province and could not be ex- 
 pected to be interested in matters occurring beyond its 
 boundaries. 
 
 The city of Albany made little preparations to receive 
 this assemblage of commissioners, who were to settle ques- 
 tions of so great importance to its inhabitants and to the 
 Province generally. The Common Council passed, on the 
 9th of May, 1754, an ordinance for cleaning and repairing 
 the streets before the i8th of the same month. Cleanliness 
 was, as we all know, almost a monomania among the 
 Dutch, and they wanted their city, then the stronghold of 
 Batavianism on this contment, to appear clean to the 
 strangers. 
 
 After they had arrived and undoubtedly enjoyed for a 
 while, the private hospitality of such Albanians, as by their 
 social position could offer it, the city entertained them. The 
 same Common Council resolved on the 2d of July, "that 
 his Honour the Lieut. Governour and the gentlemen, that 
 
56 
 
 attended him from New York, also llie commissioners from 
 the neighboring governments, be asked to (Hnner at the City 
 Hall to-morrow. This lioard has agreed wiUi Robert I.ot- 
 teridge to prepare for the same at one shilling and six pence 
 for each dinner and that the Commonalty pay for y*^ dinner 
 at their own proper cost and that the liciuor be at the ex- 
 pense of the city." 
 
 The accounts show, that the wine, offered at the City Hall 
 upon arrival of the Lieut. (Governor, cost ^2.8. — , the 
 entertainment ^14.8.4. Imagine to-day a dinner, prepared 
 by a caterer for probably at least fifty honored guests, and 
 costing not more than about $40.* 
 
 Covernor De Lancey and his Council held a preliminary 
 meeting at the City Hall on the 18th of June. The Com- 
 missioners of Indian Afiiiirs, of whom Colonel Sir William 
 Johnson was the head, reported the result of their consulta- 
 tions a few days previous. They advised : The Six Nations 
 should be exhorted to dwell together in their respective 
 castles and the Mohawks to live in one only; the Onon- 
 dagas were to cause all their friends and relations, wherever 
 dispersed, to join them, particularly those who had separated 
 and lived at Swegatchie (Oswegatchie), a French settlement 
 of Indians of the Six Nations on the St. Lawrence. The 
 Senecas were desired, to make a general casde near the 
 mouth of their river, the (ien-is-he-yo-Ga-hun-da or Genesee 
 river, where they had already begun to erect a new castle. 
 The most effectual method, to retain and secure the Six 
 Nations to the British interest, the Commissioners of Indian 
 Affairs advised, would be to build two forts, one in the 
 Onondaga, the other in the Seneca country and to appoint 
 a missionary to reside in each. They further recommended, 
 that the sale of rum in the Indian country should be for- 
 bidden, and that Frenchmen be expelled and afterwards 
 kept out of the Indian casdes. 
 
 * The pound New York currency was equal to about ten shillings 
 sterling. 
 
57 
 
 The recommendation concerning the traffic in rum, with 
 the Indians, was a hint, upon which the Governor promptly 
 acted. A traveller, whose work we must consider as an 
 authority, tells us something of this pernicious trade in liquors 
 with the Indians. It is true, his nationaUty as Swede biased 
 him against the Dutch, who had so effectually squelched 
 New-Sweden on the Delaware, but we have other evidences 
 to show that he did not go beyond the truth in his statement. 
 Peter Kalm, this traveller, says of Albany and the Albanians, 
 whom he visited in 1750 : " Rum is an absolute necessity to 
 the inhabitants of Albany for their Indian trade ; they use 
 it to blind the eyes of the Indians, so that the latter will sell 
 his furs at any price, the Albany traders are willing to give." 
 The large influx of Indians to Albany, where liquor was 
 used as much as the daily bread, showed the prejudices to 
 his Majesty's service and the danger to the peace of the in- 
 habitants, resulting from indiscriminate use of liquor by these 
 Indians. De Tancey therefore issued a proclamation, 
 strictly forbidding " all persons, whatsoever, to sell or give 
 to the Indians any liquor during my residence in this place, 
 as they will answer it at their peril. And all magistrates, 
 justices of the peace, and other civil officers are hereby re- 
 quired, to see that this proclamation be strictly put in 
 execution and all offenders presented and punished with the 
 utmost severity of the law." 
 
 Upon the other points the Governor decided, with the 
 advice of his Council, to say to the commissioners of the 
 other Colonies : 
 
 " That the treaty to be made with the Indians be in his 
 Majesty's name in behalf of all the Colonies and if any of 
 the commissioners would propose matters relative to a par- 
 ticular government only, that it be made a part of the 
 general treaty. 
 
 " That it be principally insisted on in the conferences, to 
 unite all the Indian nations and their allies in the British 
 
58 
 
 interest in one common alliance and friendshii) \\ itli each 
 other and with all the Colonies on the continent. 
 
 " That two forts be built at the places mentioned by the 
 Commissioners of Indian Affairs, and a proper garrison con- 
 stantly maintainetl in them, and smiths to repair their guns, 
 in whose hands small sums of money should be put, to pro- 
 vide and give to the Indians such necessary supplies as they 
 may most stand in need of from time to time. 
 
 " And thai for tlic securing the frontiers of this and the 
 eastern Colonies, three forts be erected anil maintained with 
 sufficient gerrisons in them, one in a proper situation near 
 the Carrying Place on Hudson's river (to-day Fort Pklward), 
 one on the Lake St. Sacrement (Champlain), and the other 
 on the lower or further part of Wood creek (in Washington 
 county), the two last being the inlets, by which the French 
 and their Indians make incursions into these Colonies." 
 
 These proi)ositions having been approved by the Council, 
 Goldsborow Banyar, the Deputy Secretary of the Province 
 and Clerk of the Council, was directed to wait upon the 
 Commissioners from the other Colonies and acquaint them 
 that His Honor desired them to meet him in council in the 
 the City Hall (then at the north east corner of Hudson 
 street and Broadway) the next day, lytli of June, at eleven 
 o'clock in the morning. Kalm, quoted already above, 
 describes the City Hall of 1750 as a "handsome stone 
 (brick) building, three stories high. It has a little spire with 
 a bell, and on the top of the sjiire a gilded ball and a flag." 
 The other houses of the city he found fairly well-looking, 
 partly built of brick, usually covered witli shingles of white 
 pinewood. Tiles were little used, ])resumably only by the 
 wealthier inhabitants, for these tiles had to be im])orted from 
 Holland, as the clay found in the vicinity was considered 
 not to be fit for such uses. No mortar covered the brick- 
 walls, but the material did not seem to suffer from this ex- 
 posure to the climate. 
 
59 
 
 They met in the afternoon, and after they had organized, 
 Governor I)e Lancey suggested that they should consider the 
 points which they judged proper to be proposed to the 
 Indians at the intended conferences with them, and prepare 
 the speech to be made on tlie occasion. For this purpose, 
 the Secretary or Agent of Indian Affairs was directed to 
 attend them with the records of that office, and the Indian 
 Commissioners received orders to supply all required infor- 
 mation. 
 
 A proposition by Governor De Lancy points to disputes 
 having arisen as to precedence among the delegates. To 
 avoid further squabbles over such a trival matter, he moved 
 that the Colonies should be named in the minutes according 
 to their situation from north to south, and the Congress 
 agreed to it. 
 
 The committee, appointed to draft the speech to the In- 
 dians, handed in the same on the 21st of June, but there were 
 as yet no Indians of importance to whom it could be deliv- 
 ered. Five days more elapsed, and the Mohawks of the 
 upper castle, the Canajoharie district, were still absent. 
 " Brethren of Canajoharie," wrote De Lancey to them, " I 
 am surprised at your staying so long from this place, wOiere 
 I have been for a considerable time. I expected you here 
 among the first, as you had some complaints to make to me, 
 which I have been and still am ready to hear; and I would 
 have you come down immediately ; otherwise I and the 
 commissioners from the other governments shall be obligetl 
 to speak to the Six Nations without you." 
 
 This Castle of the Mohawks had been deeply offended at 
 a conference held with Governor Clinton at New York on 
 the I 2th of June, 1753. " It grieves us," had they said by 
 their speaker Hendrick, " to know and hear that the Coun- 
 cil and Assembly don't take care of Albany, but leave it 
 naked and defenseless, and don't care what becomes of our 
 Nation. You sit in peace and quietness here, whilst we are 
 exposed to the enemy." They had also complaints to make 
 
6o 
 
 about land matters, but received no satisfactory reply to any 
 of their pleadings, and left the conference saying : " When 
 we came here to relate our grievances * * * * ^yg 
 expected to have something done for us, and we have told 
 you that the covenant chain of our forefathers was like to be 
 broken. IJrother, you tell us that we shall be redressed at 
 Albany, but we know them so well that we will not trust to 
 them,. for they are no People but Devils, so we rather desire 
 that you'll say nothing shall be done for us. 
 
 " Brother, by and by you'll expect to have the Nations 
 down, which you shall not see, for as soon as we come home 
 we will send up a belt of wampum to our brothers, the Five 
 Nations, to accjuaint them that the covenant chain is broken 
 between you and us. So, Brother, you are not to expect to 
 hear of me any more, and we desire to hear no more of 
 you. * * * * Brother, we did not expect when we 
 came from home that all our desires would have no effect." 
 
 After such talk by one of the most influential members of 
 the Indian T-ong House, their absence from a meeting 
 called to strengthen their friendship to the British interest 
 looked ugly. For we must remember that the report of the 
 proceedings in June, 1753, had induced the Board of Trade 
 and Plantations to order this conference, hoping, as they 
 did, that the Indians might be reconciled and made useful 
 in the final struggle for supremacy on this continent between 
 t-he English and French jjowers. 
 
 On the seventh day of waiting, the 28th of June, the 
 anxiety naturally felt by all the commissioners was relieved 
 by the announcement, the u])i)er Castle of the Mohawks 
 had arrived and desired to lay some matters of im[)ortance 
 before the Governor and the Council. Hendrick, their 
 speaker, plunged into mcdias res without much of the usual 
 preliminary compliments of Indian .speech. " Brother," he 
 said, " we thought you would wonder why we of Cana- 
 johary stayed so long. We shall now give you the reason. 
 Last summer, we, of Canajohary, were down at New York 
 
6i 
 
 to make our complaints, and we then thought the covenant 
 chain was broken, because we were neglected ; and when 
 you neglect business the French take advantage of it, for 
 they are never quiet. It seemed to us that the Governor 
 had turned his back upon the five Nations, as if they were 
 no more, whereas the French were doing all in their power 
 to draw us over to them. 
 
 " We told the Governor, last summer, we blamed him for 
 the neglect of the five Nations, and at the same time we told 
 him the French were drawing the five Nations away to 
 Oswegatchie owing to that neglect, which might have been 
 prevented if proper use had been made of that warning, but 
 now we were afraid it is too late. We remember how it was 
 in former times when we are a strong and powerful people. 
 Colonel Schuyler used frequently to come among us, and by 
 this means we were kept together. 
 
 " Brother, we, the Mohawks, are in very difficult circum- 
 stances and are blamed for things behind our backs which 
 we don't deserve. Last summer when we went up with 
 Col. Johnson to Onondaga and he had made his speech to 
 the Five Nations, the Five Nations said, they liked the 
 speech very well, but that the Mohawks had made it. We 
 are looked upon by the other Nations as Col. Johnson's 
 councilors, and supposed to hear all news from him, which 
 is not the case, for Col. Johnson does not receive from nor 
 impart much news to us. This is our reason for staying 
 behind, for, if we had come first, the other Nations Avould 
 have said that we made the Governor's speech, and, there- 
 fore, tho' we had resolved to come, we intended the other 
 Nations should go before us, that they might hear the Gov- 
 ernor's speech, which we could hear after\vards. There are 
 some of our people who have large open ears, and talk a 
 little broken English and Dutch, so that they sometimes 
 hear what is said by the Christian settlers near them, and by 
 this means we came to understand that we are looked upon 
 to be a proud Nation, and therefore stayed behind. 'Tis 
 
62 
 
 true and known we are so and that we, the Mohawks, 
 are the head of all the other Nations ; here they are, and 
 they must own it. But it was not out of pride that we 
 Canajoharies stayed behind, but for the reason we have 
 already given." 
 
 The cloud, rising on the sky of Indian jjoHtics and threat- 
 ening to burst with disastrous results, was removed. Gov- 
 ernor l)e Lancey, a New Yorker born, understood the 
 Indian character well enough, and was so thoroughly trained 
 in law that he found no ditticulty in settling the lantl troubles 
 which had caused such uneasiness among the Five Nations. 
 He handled the " proud "' and irascible Mohawks, of C'ana- 
 joharie, so well that on the 5th of July they declared them- 
 selves sadsfied with his promises and returned him thanks. 
 
 Equal sadsfaction was expressed by the Mohawks of the 
 lower Casde, who, on the opening of the conference, had 
 told him by their speaker, Canadagaia : '• We are here this 
 day by God's will and \ our order, to which place you have 
 led us as it were by the hand. 'Ihis is our old meeting 
 place, where, if we ha\e any grievances, we can lay them 
 open." They, too, had complaints to make about land 
 transactions, in which the old Albany custom had been 
 observed by the white men only ])ro fcrma. Surveyors had 
 returned as sold lands from the Half Moon, " and so up 
 along Hudson's river to the third fall and thence to the 
 Cacknewaga or Canada creek, which is about four or five 
 miles above the Mohawks, which, upon inquiry among our 
 old men, we cannot find was ever sold." This was a case, 
 where ])rocrastination seemed to be the best policy, and I)e 
 Lancey took advantage of the inability of the complainants 
 to name the offenders. He told the Indians, white men's 
 justice required to hear both parties before a judgment was 
 given, and to matiifest his friendship for the Indians, he 
 would do them all the justice in his power. 
 
 The limited knowledge acquired by the red men, of the 
 workings of civilized societv, made it undoubtedlv hard for 
 
63 
 
 Governor De Lancey to satisfy these same Mohawks on 
 another point. The Rev. Henry Barclay, a native of Albany, 
 where he had been born as the son of the first Episcopal 
 minister, had made his studies at Vale College in 1734, and 
 after the absolution of his college course, gone to the Mo- 
 hawks at Fort Hunter as catechist. He went to England 
 in 1737, ibr the purpose of receiving holy orders, and after 
 ordination, in January, 1738, was sent as missionary to 
 Albany and Fort Hunter, by the Society for the Propaga 
 tion of the Gospel. He returned to his native city in the 
 beginning of April following, and continued his labors there 
 and at Fort Hunter until i 746. When he first came to live 
 with the Mohawks, at Fort Hunter, where they had one of 
 their castles, he promised to continue there till his death. 
 It speaks well for this native of Albany, grown up in Albany 
 notions regarding the red men, that upon this promise, they 
 proposed to give him a piece of ground to build a house 
 upon, with a garden and a meadow. They showed him a 
 little piece of low land, which he thought too small, and he 
 pointed out a larger one, as he was determined to live and 
 die amongst them. They transferred this larger parcel to him 
 to keep as long as he lived there, but after laboring eight years 
 among the Mohawks he left ihem, to take charge of Trinity 
 Church in New York. He died at New York in 1764, 
 superintending the publication of his translation into Mo- 
 hawk of the Book of Common Prayer. The Mohawks 
 could not understand that a man of scholarly attainments 
 should prefer living in civilized surroundings to the wilder- 
 ness of an Indian castle. Their complaints about it were 
 not attended to. Neither this nor Mr. Barclay's claim to 
 keep the land contrary to agreement, suited their imperious 
 character. They were, however, willing to act in fairnes.s, 
 and asked the Governor to pay Mr. Barclay for the house, 
 erected by him on the land, and stipulated that the land 
 should remain forever for the use of the minister stationed 
 among them. Governor De Lancey explained the reason 
 
64 
 
 why Mr. Barclay had left them, and promised redress to the 
 Indians. Another grievance on the part ot" the tribe, of a 
 similar kind, was settled as easily. They always had a very 
 great regard for Captain Butler, who formerly lived amongst 
 them, and had promised to do so always. They now saw 
 him at Albany, and understood that he would not return to 
 Fort Hunter; therefore, they begged His Honor to let him 
 go back. The Governor had to tell them that the company 
 to which Butler belonged was sent out of the Province, and 
 he could not post him again at Fort Hunter without men to 
 command. That he had also a great regard for him, and as 
 he was an old man and weak in his knees, he had gi\-en him 
 liberty to live at his house, and should be pleased, were it in 
 his power, to comply with their recjuest. 
 
 The Indians were apparently .satisfied with the answers 
 they received, for they made no further complaints. The 
 proclamation concerning the sale of licjuor to the Indians 
 does not seem to have had the desired eftect. Drunken 
 Indians may have swaggered about the .streets of Albany, 
 and terrorized timid women and children. To relieve them 
 from the agonies of a " big head," nothing more could be 
 done. But, not to destroy the satisfactory results of this 
 important Indian conference, by allowing the Indians 
 to be deprived of the presents, customary to be given on 
 such occasions, was the study of Governor and Council. 
 The most efficacious way to prevent this seemed to be a jjro- 
 clamation, which was issued on the 5th of July, prohibiting the 
 buying or receiving from the Indians the presents given by 
 the government. On the same day an Indian affair came 
 before the commissioners, which they could not settle out of 
 hand. A petition signed by six Housatannunck (Housa- 
 tonic) or Stockbridge Indians was read, setting forth that 
 they were natives of the Province of New York, and that 
 their ancestors were native owners of some of the lands on 
 and about Hudson's river to whicli tlie ])etitioners imagined 
 they had a right, as neither their fathers nor they had ever 
 
65 
 
 received any consideration whatever for a considerable 
 quantity of these lands, now occupied by white people. 
 These Stockbridge Indians were of the Mahicander or Mo- 
 hican tribe, and tradition does not seem to have been so 
 correct among them as among the Five Nations, or for 
 purposes of their own they preferred to forget, that their 
 forefathers had sold their lands during the preceding cen- 
 tury. Evert Lucasson had bought part of their territory 
 back of Kinderhook, Columbia county, in 1665 ; Gerrit 
 van Slechtenhorst acquired land near Claverack in 1678; 
 Derick Wessels ten Broeck, land on Kinderhook kil in 
 1679, and Robert Livingston settled with their approval and 
 to their satisfaction on Livingston manor in 1683. But 
 now Massachusetts people had their eyes upon the Hudson 
 valley. They attempted to purchase lands long ago settled 
 by New Yorkers, and hence the Indian complaints. 
 
 The Indians had apparently all been satisfied with the 
 replies to their speeches by Governor De Lancey, but some 
 of the commissioners from the other Provinces informed 
 him that they did not think he had allayed the Indian's un- 
 easiness about their lands altogether, and that they were of 
 opinion he should speak to them again on this subject, to 
 discover the real sentiment of the assembled Indians. The 
 commissioners founded their belief of the continued un- 
 easiness upon information that several of the Indians had 
 declared themselves not satisfied. De Lancey therefore 
 desired a committee of the commissioners should attend 
 him in council, when he would examine the Indians again. 
 A sachem of each Indian nation was sent for, and De Lan- 
 cey said to them, when assembled : '* You remember that 
 soon after I came to this i)lace, you told me you were very 
 uneasy concerning the difference which then subsisted be- 
 tween Teady Magin and some Germans respecting the 
 purchase of some of your lands [in the present county of 
 Fulton], and that this controversy has been since settled to 
 the satisfaction of all parties ; and that as to the other com- 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 j)laints which you had made at New York, as I was absent 
 at that time |June, 1753I, 1 told you that as soon as I re- 
 turned thither, I would examine into them and do you all 
 the justice in my power. Now I desire you will acquaint 
 me and the commissioners present, whether you then de- 
 clared you were satisfied with my promise and returned me 
 thanks." 
 
 To the commissioners from New Englantl, where the In- 
 dians were always considered as untrustworthy and as inca- 
 pable of understanding honest and honorable dealings, such 
 straight-forward appeal to the Indians' better feeling must 
 have been a surprise. The reply of the Indians to this allocu- 
 tion of De Lancey can neither have failed to astonish them 
 after their doubts about the Indians' satisfaction. Hendrick 
 Peters of C^anajoharie was again the spokesman who deliv- 
 ered himself as follows: "It is true we have made these 
 complaints and your Honor has told us, you were at Al- 
 bany, when we spoke of them to Governor Clinton at New 
 York ; we trust your Honor will do, as you have promised 
 us. W'e, the Canajoharies, rely upon this promise and 
 are well pleased. Your Honor is the head of all the gov- 
 ernments present and we depend on you as our own Gov- 
 ernor. But if, after a year, we do not receive satisfaction 
 as to our complaints, we shall mention them again to your 
 Honor and all the Governors, and if you find, after trial, 
 you cannot redress them, we desire you to take the assist- 
 ance of the other Governors. As we have spoken lovingly 
 and friendly together, we hope everything may conclude so, 
 more especially as the French (.some of whose Indians are 
 now in the place), if informed of any differences between 
 their brethren and them, will laugh at us and endeavor to 
 rekindle them." They then returned his Honor and the 
 commissioners thanks and withdrew. 
 
 The sagacity of the son of the forest, awakened, kept 
 alive and sharpened by his constant contact with nature had 
 discovered that the object of this meeting of commissioners 
 
67 
 
 from the English Provinces on the continent was not alone 
 for the purpose of conferring with them and brightening the 
 covenant chains. There were two other matters of impor- 
 tance to be discussed, and, if possible, to be settled. The 
 first concerned all the British Colonies ; the second only 
 New York and Massachusetts. 
 
 For a thorough understanding of the matter discussed by 
 this conference of Colonial delegates, we must cast a glance 
 at their various commissions and instructions. The Massa- 
 chusetts Commissioners were told by Governor Shirley to 
 represent and appear for the Province, and enter into articles 
 of union and confederation with the other governments for 
 the general defence of his Majesty's subjects and interests in 
 North America, as well in time of peace as war. The 
 representatives of Connecticut were " to consult proper 
 measures for the general defense and safety of his Majesty's 
 subjects." The paragraph pertaining hereto in the Mary- 
 land Commission said : " I [the Lieutenant-Governor of 
 Maryland, Horatio SharpeJ, have had information that the 
 commissioners from the neighboring Colonies will receive 
 instructions * * * jq concert measures for the better 
 securing the Indians for the future in our aUiance and pre- 
 venting their being alienated from our interests, * * # 
 as well as for the more easy defense of his Majesty's domin- 
 ions on this continent. You shall, if any propositions of 
 that nature are made, * * * let them know that this 
 Province is also disposed to contribute to the execution of 
 any general scheme to promote such desirable ends." The 
 Rhode Island Commissioners were told " to meet and join 
 with the other commissioners in consulting what methods 
 are proper to be used to preserve the friendship of the Six 
 Nations of Indians and their attachments to the British 
 interest in .\merica. Also, what else may be necessary to 
 prohibit the French and their Indian allies from encroaching 
 on the lands within the dominions of his Majesty, and in 
 general as f:ar as the abilities of this government will permit 
 
68 
 
 to act in conjunction witli the said commissioners in every- 
 thing necessary for the good of his Majesty's subjects in 
 those parts." 
 
 We see that only the Massachusetts delegates had explicit 
 instructions regarding a union and confederation of all the 
 Colonies, although a united action in the defense of the Urit- 
 ish interests on the soil of America, is implied by the word- 
 ing of the directions given to the other representatives. The 
 assembled commissioners had been in session from the 19th 
 to the 24th of June, before any mention was made of a 
 union of the Colonies. On that day, " a motion was made 
 that the commissioners deliver their opinion, whether a 
 union of all the Colonies is not at present absolutely neces- 
 sary, for their security and defense. The question was ac- 
 cordingly put, and it passed in the affirmative unanimously." 
 A committee, comprising Thomas Hutchinson, of Massa- 
 chusetts ; Theodore Atkinson, of New Hampshire ; William 
 Pitkins, of Connecticut ; Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode 
 Island ; Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, and William 
 Smith, of New York, was appointed to "prepare and receive 
 plans or schemes for the union of the Colonies, and to 
 digest them into one general plan for the inspection of the 
 board." Four days later, this committee produced short 
 hints of a scheme for the consideration of their colleagues, 
 and the matter w^as discussed until the end of the session. 
 After all the Indian business, above related, had been 
 transacted, the commissioners, on the 9th of July, agreed 
 upon a representation to the Home Authorities on the 
 state of the Colonies, which closes with the recommenda- 
 tion: "That there be a union of His Majesty's several 
 Governments on the continent, that so their councils, 
 treasure and strength may be employed in due proportion 
 against their common enemy." 
 
69 
 
 On the next day, the loth, the consideration of the plan 
 of a Union was resumed, and finally adopted as below : 
 
 Plan of a proposed Union of the several Constitution of the United States, 
 Colonies of Massachusetts Bay, New adopted on the 17th day of September, 
 Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 1787. 
 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and 
 South Carolina, for their mutual Defence 
 and Security, and for the Extending the 
 British Settlements in North America. 
 
 That humble application be made for an 
 Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, by 
 virtue of which one general government 
 may be formed in America, including all 
 the said Colonies : within and under which 
 Government, each Colony may retain its 
 present constitution, except in the partic- 
 ulars, wherein a change may be directed 
 by the said Act, as hereafter follows. 
 
 That the said General Government be Article II, section I. 
 administered by a President-General, to The executive power shall be vested in 
 be appointed and supported by the Crown; a President of the United States of 
 and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the America He shall hold his office during 
 Representatives of the people of the sev- the term of four years .... and be 
 eral Colonies, met in their respective elected. 
 Assemblies. 
 
 Thatwithin months after the passing Art. I, section I. 
 
 of such Act, the House of Representatives All legislative powers .... shall be 
 
 in the several Assemblies that happen to vested in a Congress of the U. S., which 
 
 be sitting within that time . . may shall consist of a Senate and House of 
 
 and shall chuse members for the Grand Representatives. 
 
 Council in the following proportions, that Section 3 
 
 is to say : The Senate of the U. S. shall be com- 
 
 Massachusetts Bay 7 P°'^^ °^ '^° '^"^'°''' ^'°"' ^^* ''^'^■ 
 
 New Hampshire 2 chosen by the Legislature thereof for six 
 
 Connecticut 5 ^ 
 
 Rhode Island 2 
 
 .. ,, , The House of Representatives shall be 
 
 New York 4 , 
 
 •jjj I composed of members chosen every second 
 
 r, , . /■ vear bv the people of the several states 
 
 Pennsylvania o y^'" ' ^ >^ 
 
 Maryland 4 ^-^'i"" ^- S^ 3 The number 
 
 ,,. . . of Representatives shall not exceed one for 
 
 Virginia 7 ^ 
 
 North Carolina 4 ^"""^ ^o.ooo, but each state shall at least 
 
 South Carolina 4 have one representative. . . The 
 
 State of New Hampshire sh.all be entitled 
 
 4^ to choose 3, Massachusetts 8, Rhode 
 
 Who shall meet for the first Time at the Island i, Connecticut 5, New York 6, 
 
 City of Philadelphia, being called by the New Jersey 4, Pennsylvania 8, Delaware 
 
 President-General, as soon as conveniently i, Maryland 6, Virginia 10, North Caro- 
 
 may be, after his appointment. Una 5, South Carolina 5, and Georgia 3. 
 
70 
 
 That there shall be a new Election of 
 Members for the Grand C^ouncil every 
 three years, and on the Death or Resigna- 
 tion of any member, his place shall be 
 supplyed by a new choice at the next sit- 
 ting of the Assembly of the Colony he 
 represented. 
 
 That after the first three Years, when 
 the proportion of money, arising out of 
 each Colony to the General Treasury, can 
 be be known, the number of Members to 
 be chosen for each colony, shall from time 
 to time, in all ensuing Elections be regu- 
 lated by that Proportion (yet so as thai 
 the number to be chosen by any one 
 Province be not more than seven, nor less 
 than two.) 
 
 § 4. When vacancies happen in the 
 representation from any State, the execu- 
 tive authority thereof shall issue writs of 
 election to fill such vacancies. 
 
 That the Grand Council have Power to 
 chuse their Speaker, and shall neither be 
 dissolved, prorogued, nor continue sitting 
 longer than six weeks at one Time, with- 
 out their own Consent or the special Com- 
 mand of the Crown. 
 
 § 5. The House of Representatives shall 
 choose their Speaker and other officers. 
 
 Section 3. § 4. The vice-president of 
 the U. S. shall be president of the Senate. 
 § 5. The Senate shall choose their other 
 officers and also a president pro tempore. 
 
 That the Assent of the President- 
 General be requisite to all Acts of the 
 Grand Council, and that it be his Office 
 and Duty to cause them to be carried into 
 Execution. 
 
 That the President General with the 
 Advice of the Grand Council, hold or 
 direct all Indian Treaties, in which the 
 general Interest or Welfare of the Colonies 
 may be concerned, and to make Peace or 
 declare War with Indian Nations. That 
 they make such Laws as they judge neces- 
 sary for regulating all Indian trade. 
 
 That they make all Purchases from 
 Indians for the Crown of the Lands. 
 
 That they make new Settle- 
 ments on such Purcha.ses 
 
 That they make Laws for regulating 
 and governing such new Settlements, 'fill 
 the Crown shall think fit to form them 
 into particular governments. 
 
 Art. II, Section 2. 
 
 I. -The President shall be commander- 
 in-chief of the army and navy of the U. 
 S., and of the Militia of the several States. 
 . . 2. He shall have power, by 
 and with the advice and consent of the 
 Senate to make treaties. 
 
 Art. IV, Sect. 3. 
 
 1. New States may be admitted by the 
 Congress into this Union. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to 
 dispose of, and make all needful rules and 
 regulations respecting the territory or 
 other property belonging to the U S. 
 
 That they have Power to make Laws 
 and lay and levy such general Duties, Im- 
 posts or Taxes, as to themselves appear 
 most equal and just 
 
 Art. I, Sect. 8. 
 
 The Congress shall have power: i. 
 To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts 
 and excises. 
 
71 
 
 That the laws made by them for the 
 Purposes aforesaid . . shall be 
 
 transmitted to the King in Council for 
 Approbation . . . and if not disap- 
 proved within tliree years after presenta- 
 tion, to remain in force. 
 
 That in Case of the Death of the Presi- 
 dent General, the Speaker of the Grand 
 Council for the time being shall succeed 
 and be vested with the same Power and 
 Authority and continue untill the King's 
 pleasure be known. 
 
 That all Military Commission Officers, 
 whether for Land or Sea Service, to act 
 under this General Constitution, be nomi- 
 nated by the President General, but the 
 Approbation of the Grand Council is to be 
 obtained before they receive their com- 
 missions. And all Civil Officers are to be 
 nominated by the Grand Council and to 
 receive the President-General's Approba- 
 tion before they officiate. But in Case of 
 Vacancy by Death or Removal of any 
 Officer, Civic or Military, under this Con- 
 stitution, the Governor of the Provinces, 
 in which such Vacancy happens, may ap- 
 point, 'till the Pleasure of the President 
 General and the Grand Council can be 
 known. 
 
 Art. I, Sect. 7, 2. 
 
 Every bill, which shall have passed the 
 House of Representatives and the Senate 
 shall, before it becomes a law, be pre- 
 sented to the President of the U. S. ; if 
 he approve, he shall sign it, but if not he 
 shall return it. 
 
 Art. II, Sect 6. 
 
 In case of the removal of the President, 
 etc. , the office shall devolve on the Vice- 
 President, and the Congress may by law 
 provide for the case of removal, death, 
 resignation or inability both of the Presi- 
 dent and Vice-Piesident, declaring what 
 officer shall then act as President, and 
 such officer shall act accordingly, until the 
 disability be removed or a President shall 
 be elected. 
 
 Art. II, Sect. 2. 
 
 2 and he shall nominate, 
 
 and by and with the advice of the Senate 
 appoint .... officeis ofthe U. S., 
 whose appointments are not herein other- 
 wise provided for. 
 
 The reader, after perusing the above extracts from the 
 Albany plan of union and from the Constitution of the 
 United States, will have seen in how far one resembles or 
 differs from the other. 
 
 When the Congress of the United States was at work in 
 1787 framing the Constitution, Stephen Hopkins, one ofthe 
 Rhode Island delegates at Albany, was a member of that 
 Congress, and the independent spirit of another, Benjamin 
 Franklin, pervaded the whole body. Albany may therefore 
 claim, to have witnessed how the first germ of the United 
 
States began to sprout within its walls. The other point, 
 which occupied the attention of the Congress, was of a more 
 local nature and has been settled only in modern times. 
 
 The charters or patents given to the Colonies of the 
 Massachusetts Bay and of New York, were not quite explicit 
 as to their boundaries. Hence this squabble, which the 
 Massachusetts delegates had been commissioned to treat 
 about together with the Indian conference. Massachusetts 
 claimed jurisdiction and soil to Hudson's river, which of 
 course New York denied. On the loth of July, towards 
 the end of the convention, Messrs. Murray and Smith of 
 New York reported to the Provincial Council that they had 
 proposed Connecticut river as the eastern boundary of this 
 Province, to which the Massachusetts commissioners would 
 not agree, but on their part proposed a line twelve miles 
 eastward of the Hudson. This again was rejected by the 
 New York delegates and the Council advised, to propose to 
 and agree with the gentlemen from Massachusetts, in the 
 setdement of a line, to run northerly from the north bounds 
 of Connecticut, so that it equally divided the lands between 
 the Connecticut and Hudson rivers. This line was to be the 
 boundary between the two governments. The Massachusetts 
 men would not agree to this proposition and seemed to de- 
 cline any further conference on the subject. They desired 
 to refer the whole matter of the boundaries to arbitrators. 
 The New York Council, however, was unwilling to leave the 
 matter to arbitration, but willing to make a further conces- 
 sion in order to ]:)reserve peace and pre\ent bloodshed 
 among the l)orderers. They suggested, tliat Westenhook 
 (now Housatonic) river, should be the line of demarkation be- 
 tween the two Provinces " from the north line of Connecti- 
 cut, as far as the place where the north line of Westenhook 
 patent crosses that river, being about eighteen miles, that 
 from that place on the said river a line should be run 
 northerly so as to leave Fort Massachusetts one hundred 
 
73 
 
 yard eastward of such line." This was the last transaction 
 of the Congress at Albany. 
 
 After the adoption of the plan of union, the Commis- 
 sioners were desired to lay the same before their respective 
 constituents for their consideration. Modern historians dif- 
 fer about the reception of this plan by the various Colonial 
 Assemblies. " The Colonial Assemblies," says one, " were 
 unwilling to concede any of the privileges either to a cen- 
 tral power chosen by themselves or to one appointed by the 
 Crown." Another asks us to believe that the eastern Colo- 
 nies were most ardent for the union, except Connecticut, 
 which was too jealous of the power of the President (.Gen- 
 eral. Smith, the historian of New York, who himself had 
 been one of the commissioners at Albany, calls the plan " a 
 scheme, begotten in the fright of the delegates assembled at 
 the repulse of the Virginians under Colonel Washington, on 
 the 3d of July." He forgets, however, that the idea of 
 such a union was first talked of by the delegates on the 24th 
 of June, and that the news of Washington's defeat at the 
 Meadows, near the Ohio river, on the 3rd of July, could 
 not as yet have been known at Albany, seeing that no elec- 
 tric telegraph carried then the news with the rapidity of 
 lightning. Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, who had com- 
 missioned Washington, received the news of the disaster 
 about the 24th of July, and we cannot suppose that Wash- 
 ington would have sent another report by faster runners to 
 Albany, to have reached there in time to influence the de- 
 liberations of the commissioners. The New York Council 
 Minutes say, under date of the 28th of August, 1754: His 
 Honour communicated a letter from Governor Dinwiddle, 
 of the 31st ukimo, giving an account of the defeat of the 
 Virginia forces under the command of Major Washington. 
 This settles the matter as to the influence on the delegates 
 by the report of Washington's defeat. 
 
 But let us see what the opinions about the Albany plan 
 were, as e.xpressed in the various Assemblies. Connecticut 
 
74 
 
 declared it '* would tend to subvert the liberties and privi- 
 leges of the Colonists." New Jersey thought it might be 
 prejudicial to the prerogatives and to the liberties of the 
 people. Pennsylvania expressed no opinion, although the 
 plan was discussed in the Assembly. The Assembly of New 
 York, before which the plan was laid by Governor De 
 Lancey, replied, in their address to the same: " We are of 
 opinion with your Honour, that nothing is more natural and 
 salutary than a union of the Colonies for their Defence, 
 and that it is a reciprocal Duty to be aiding and assisting to 
 each other in case of any invasion, but these principles, 
 your Honor, will not extend to any unlimited sense; there 
 maybe instances where particular Colonies invaded ought to 
 exert their strength and not too loudly call on others." In 
 Virginia, it was deemed to contain articles of an extraordi- 
 nary nature, and an objectionable feature was, that the 
 President was to be invested with large powers, almost equal 
 to a Vice-Roy. Even if the Colonial Assemblies had all 
 approved of this Albany plan, it would never have become 
 the law for the Colonies, as the Board of Trade were too 
 much astonished by this provincial plan for a general gov- 
 ernment, so complete in itself; they regarded it with dis- 
 fiivor as restricting the prerogatives of tlie King. Had the 
 affairs in the Colonies been different, they might have ap- 
 I)roved the union and urged the passage of a law for that 
 purpose. But they evidently understood, that out of good, 
 evil might grow. The southern Colonies had so many in- 
 herent causes of weakness, that they never could gather 
 strength. The climate in the Carolinas, Georgia, and even 
 Virginia, made the settlers indolent and unenteqjHsing. 
 Slavery was another weakening cause. The negroes almost 
 equaled the whites in numbers, and a man whose acres in 
 the eastern parts of the South had become sterile, would 
 emigrate to the West, and settle upon fresh and more fertile 
 lands there, to be worked by his negroes. In the Northern 
 Colonies the population consisted of people of different 
 
75 
 
 nationalities, different manners, different religions and dif- 
 ferent languages. Considerations of interest, power and 
 ascendency made them extremely jealous of each other. 
 The Puritanism of New England was only restrained by laws 
 and higher authority from persecuting the Quakers, the Dutch 
 Reformed, and other religionists. These being the condi- 
 tions of life in the Colonies, the Lords of Trade and 
 Plantations drew up a plan for the union of the American 
 Provinces, which they wanted to take the place of the 
 Albany plan. What they proposed does not concern us 
 here. The Albany plan interfered with their own, and gave 
 the people, who chose the Assemblies, the electors of the 
 Grand Council, too much power in the matter of taxation. 
 That alone was sufficient to condemn this Albany attempt 
 at self-government in the minds of the British ministry. To 
 confinn these latter in their opposition to it, there came a 
 letter from Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, who, as we 
 must remember, had instructed the delegates of that Prov- 
 ince on the point of union and confederation. He says : 
 " The reason of committing to the several Houses of Rep- 
 resentatives solely the choice of the members, which each 
 Colony is allowed to send to the Grand Council, seems to 
 be because it is proposed, that the Council should have 
 power to levy taxes upon the people, which it is thought 
 could not be exercised by any Council whatsoever in the 
 Colonies which should not be wholly chosen by the people, 
 or at least by their representatives, without raising a general 
 dissatisfaction. 
 
 " 2. On the other hand it is clear that as such Council 
 can be considered no otherwise than as the general repre- 
 sentative body of all the people of the Colonies comprized 
 in the Union, the giving to them a share in making peace 
 and war with the Indians, and concluding treaties with 
 them, in the disposal of military commissions, in the power 
 of raising troops and erecting forts, would be a great strain 
 
7^ 
 
 upon the prerogative of the Crown, and contrary to the 
 EngUsh Constitution. 
 
 " 3. The command over the mihtia, power of raising 
 them by warrant of impress, marching them upon any ser- 
 vice, at least within the limits of the several Colonies, ap- 
 pointing all military officers, erecting and demolishing of 
 forts, declaring war against the Indians, and making treaties 
 of peace with them, are vested solely in the respective gov- 
 ernors of all of them, proprietary and charter, as well as 
 those whose government is founded on his Majesty's com- 
 mission, except in the two Colonies of Connecticut and 
 Rhode Island, whose governments stand upon their old 
 charters, by which the Crown has divested itself almost of 
 the whole prerogative and transferred it to the populace, in 
 whom the several above-mentioned powers are lodged, the 
 Governors not having so much as a negative in any election 
 of officers or act of the Legislature. 
 
 " 4. The institution of these old charter governments in 
 the Colonies, during the state of their infancy, though well 
 accommodated to draw together numbers of settlers in the 
 beginning of tlie English Plantations, and for the regulation 
 of each settlement, while it consisted of but an handful! of 
 people, yet seems by no means well calculated for the gov- 
 ernment of them, when the inhabitants considerably in- 
 creased in numbers and wealth. * * * * 
 
 " The result from these observations # * * * jg 
 that if the old charter form of government, such as that 
 which is proposed in the Albany plan of union, is unfit for 
 ruling a particular Colony, it seems much more improper for 
 establishing a General Government and liiipcriiiiii over all 
 the Colonies to be comprized in the Union." 
 
 Shirley had been Governor of Massachusetts since 1741, 
 and thoroughly understood, helped l)y his legal training, the 
 bent of Colonial politics. He had done efficient services in 
 America, and his opinion of the Albany plan had its due 
 
77 
 
 weight in crushing this first attempt at autonomy made by 
 the Colonies. 
 
 The seed had been sown. Twenty-one years later it 
 began to sprout, and the blood of the thousands of Colonists 
 who fell in defense of the great Aryan principle, " No Tax- 
 ation without Representation," helped the Albany plan of 
 union to <;row into the Constitution of the United States. 
 
COMMERCE THE CHIEF ARCHITECT OF CIVILIZATION. 
 
 In 1768 Sir Henry Moore, Governor of New York, wrote 
 to the Earl of Hillsborough, then Secretary of State to King 
 George the Third : '' As one of the motives of my late tour 
 waste get the best information of those parts of the Province, 
 which were most likely to suffer in case of a rupture with the 
 Indians, that I might be better enabled to give them the 
 assistance they might require, I went up as far as the Cana- 
 joharie Falls on the Mohawk river ; here is a carrying jjlace 
 about a mile in length and all boats going up or down the 
 river, are obliged to unload and be carried over land, which 
 is a great detriment, not only on account of the delay it 
 occasions, but from the damage done to the boats and cargo ; 
 as this fall is the only obstruction to the navigation between 
 Fort Stanwix and Schenectady, my intention was to jjroject 
 a canal on the side of the falls with sluices on the same plan 
 as those built on the great canal in Languedoc." 
 
 He intended to place before the next General Assembly, 
 which was to meet a few months later, this plan for reaching 
 the more remote parts of his government by water, but for 
 some unexplained reason he failed to do so. 
 
 This is, however, not the first time a canal is mentioned 
 as planned in the annals of New York. Here again we must 
 allow precedence to the Dutch. During the last year of 
 their occupation, in 1664, inhabitants of what we now call 
 the " City of Churches" and of New Amsterdam, found it 
 inconvenient to go from Gowanus Bay to the mills, lying to 
 the westward of it on Dong Island. They proposed and 
 received permission, to turn a litde run of water in that 
 neighborhood into a passage for boats, carrying 200 bushels 
 of wheat or a load of wood, and thereby avoid going round 
 west of Red Hook, " where the water is ordinarily very low." 
 More than a liundred years later, in 1774, the General 
 Assembly of the Province passed a law, " to impower certain 
 
79 
 
 persons therein named to complete a ditch, that is partly 
 dug from Gowanes Bay to the East river." 
 
 No attention was paid to Sir Henry's recommendation. 
 Eight years later, in 1774, Governor Tryon brought the 
 matter of canalizing again before the home government. 
 He says in his report, that by a short cut across the carrying 
 place on the Mohawk branch of the Hudson into ^\'ood 
 creek, which runs into the Oneida Lake, a passage could be 
 opened through the Onondaga river into Lake Ontario. 
 "The other branch [of the Hudson] being the continuation 
 of the main river tends to P'ort Edward, to the north of 
 which it seems practicable to open a passage by locks, etc., 
 to the waters of Lake Champlain, which communicate with 
 the river St. Lawrence. Both branches are interrupted by 
 falls and rifts ; to surmount these obstructions, an expense 
 would be ret][uired too heavy for the Province at present to 
 support, but when effected would open a most extensive in- 
 land navigation, equal perhaps to any as yet known." 
 
 A glance at the map of America cannot fail to show us 
 that Governor Tryon had a correct insight into the future. 
 The Hudson river is, we see, the key to the continent for 
 all comers from the east, with Albany at the head of navi- 
 gation. " It touches the natural pass of commerce opened up 
 in the geographical configuration of this continent." The 
 Dutch had recognized the importance of the river, as well 
 as the French, and it had been their endeavor to keep 
 the peoiile of New England and of Canada from it, 
 because the one interfered with their lucrative Indian 
 trade, while the others would have taken possession of the 
 whole of Xew Xetherland. But the Dutch and French 
 dominions on this continent were doomed to short duration, 
 and England, after having spent so much blood and money, 
 to obtain undisputed possession, expected a return from the 
 Colonies. Hence these propositions to open communica- 
 tion witli the system of great lakes and the far ^^'est by 
 means which the configuration of the country offered. 
 
So 
 
 The time, when Governor Tryon made this report and 
 suggested the important work, was not propitious for such 
 undertakings. Repubhcan sentiment had become too 
 Strong in the Colonies, and the ministers of the Crown were 
 not disposed to do any thing which would increase the 
 strength of the trans-atlantic dominions. Then came the 
 war of independence, and internal improvements could not 
 be attended to. The end of the war and the opening of 
 western lands to the disbanded army, by way of bounties, 
 brought the importance of better communication with this 
 region again forcibly before the eyes of the statesmen con- 
 trolling the life of the new nation. The republican ideas, 
 which brought forth the United States, spread to Europe, 
 and caused, among other disturbances in the old world, a 
 short-lived, but disastrous, revolution in Holland. Two men 
 were engaged in this revolution on the popular side, and, 
 after defeat, they found their way to America. One of them 
 was Colonel Adam G. Mapi)a, who became the agent of 
 the Holland Land Company ; his friend and companion 
 was Adrian van der Kemp, originally a minister of the 
 gospel, and here a master in chancery and one of the assist- 
 ant justices of the Ulster County Court. Judge van der 
 Kemj) was induced to make a journey to the western part 
 of the State, and wrote, in July, 1792, to his friend Mappa : 
 " Our inland navigation, superior to that of many, e<]ual 
 already to the best watered States in the Union, contributes 
 greatly to the increase of our commerce. * * * (),^ir 
 government, I am informed, has passed a law to clear the 
 navigation from the Mohawk to the Hudson. If this is not 
 correct, then it is a prognostication wliat it shall, what it 
 ought to do at a future time. So much is certain, that it is 
 resolved to open the carrying place between the Hudson 
 and Wood Creek, and to clear the latter from many ob- 
 structions. Several thousand pounds have already been 
 consecrated by the Legislature to this salutary undertaking, 
 while sul)scriptions for the deficit have been ojjened in Al- 
 
bany and New York with such a success that they were filled 
 in a few days." ^V'e shall see to which acts of the Legisla- 
 ture the judge refers. He continues in his letter to Colonel 
 Mappa : " See here then an easy communication by water 
 carriage opened between the most distant parts of this ex- 
 tensive commonwealth ; see the markets of New York, Al- 
 bany and Schenectady glutted with the produce of the West 
 and the comforts of the South distributed with a liberal 
 hand among the agriculturers of this new country. The 
 fur trade begins already to revive, shall ere long recover 
 her former vigor, when the western Forts are surrendered ; 
 and if it remains shared, as it naturally must, by the North- 
 western Company, this seeming loss shall be fully compen- 
 sated from other branches, grafted in the wants and interests 
 of the Canadians. But this is not all. It is rather the 
 breaking out of the sunshine thro' a morning fog in a charm- 
 ing summer day. Fort Stanwix must become a staple place 
 of the commodities of the West, stored there from the fer- 
 tile lands bordering the lakes and rivers, and Old Fort 
 Schuyler, nearly the central part of intercourse between the 
 North and West, transformed into an opulent mercantile 
 city, where future Lorenzos will foster and protect arts and 
 sciences, where the tomahawk and scalping knife shall be 
 replaced by the chisel and pencil of the artist, and the wig- 
 wam by marble palaces. Do not think that I dream, sir ! 
 Fill to Si pcro, qiiando si vuolc. 
 
 " Our canals at the Falls, at Fort Stanwix, open an early 
 communication between the lakes Ontario and Oneida, 
 which is possible, and can thus be executed, and a large 
 part of the work is peracted. Go on then and dig canals 
 through the western district, and be not afraid that a single 
 hair shall be hurt on the head of its inhabitants by the 
 waves of Lake Erie. Dare only to undertake the enter- 
 prise and I warrant the success. * * * * Give me the 
 the disposal of fifty New York purses, give me only the 
 credit of that city, and I shall do what others promised in 
 6 
 
florid speeches ; or, art thou apprehensive that the spell of 
 your enchantment shall be broken. Give me the Republi- 
 can wand of Cajus ro}jilius and I will go to the water- 
 nymph P>ie and trace a beautiful canoe, thro' which her 
 ladyship shall be comi)elled to pay a part of her tribute to 
 the Ocean through the Genesee country, engaging her a 
 courteous attendance from lakes and creeks, to wait on her 
 Grace during this extorted excursion, and leaving her the 
 consolation of the Doge of Genoa at the French Court, ' to 
 admire no object but herself during her course through 
 our country to the Hudson River." 
 
 Thirty years later, Governor I)e Witt Clinton, who was 
 on intimate terms with Judge van der Kamp and called 
 him " the most learned man in America," wrote to him from 
 Albany : " Your letter to Colonel Mappa on the canal, writ- 
 ten in 1792, is reo.lly a curiosity. It gives you the original 
 invention of the PLrie route, and I shall lay it by as a subject 
 of momentous reference on some future occasion." 
 
 A few months before the date of this letter, on the 30th 
 of March, 1792, the Legislature of the State of New York 
 had enacted, and the Governor signed, " An act for estab- 
 lishing and opening lock navigations within this State." 
 This was the entering wedge which made Albany the centre 
 of the lumber trade in the eastern part of America. The 
 Legislature of that day, not dreaming of steam-power and 
 its attendants, recognized that communication by water 
 between the southern, northern and Avestern parts of the 
 State would encourage agriculture, promote commerce and 
 facilitate a general intercourse between the inhabitants. 
 Commissioners in New York and Albany were appointed 
 by this act to take subscriptions and issue stock in the 
 " Western " and in the " Northern Inland Navigation Com- 
 panies." Abraham Ten Broeck, 'John Taylor, Philipp S. 
 van Rensselaer, Cornelius Glen and John Ten Broeck were 
 the commissioners for Albany. The President of both 
 companies was an Albania,n, a man who had fought valiantly 
 
&3 
 
 during the war against England — Philipp Schuyler, and 
 among the names of the directors named by the act many 
 Albany families were represented. For Directors for the 
 Western Company were to be elected thirteen of the follow- 
 ing : Leonard Gansevoort, Jeremiah van Rensselaer, Elkanah 
 Watson, John Taylor, Jellis A. Fonda, WiUiam North, Golds- 
 brow Banyar, Daniel Hale, John Watts, Walter Livingston, 
 Dominic Lynch, James Watson, Mathew Clarkson, Ezra L. 
 Hommedieu, Melancton Smith, David Gelston, Stephen 
 Lush, Cornelius Glen, Silas Talbot, John Frey, Douw 
 Fonda, John Sanders; Nicholas I. Roosevelt, Daniel Mc- 
 Cormick, Marinus Willet, Jonathan Lawrence, Philipp van 
 Cortiandt and James Clinton. The Northern Company's 
 affairs were to be managed by thirteen of the following per- 
 sons : Abraham Ten I]roeck, John Williams, Stephen van 
 Rensselaer, Jacobus van Schoonhoven, John van Rensselaer, 
 Abraham G. Lansing, Cornelius Glen, Henry Quakenboss, 
 Robert R. Livingston, Philipp Livingston, James Duane, 
 Alexander McComb, Samuel Jones, Nicholas Lord, Dirck 
 Lefferts, William Duer, Peter van Ness, Barent Bleecker, 
 Henry Livingston, Peter Gansevoort, Peter B. Tearse, 
 Alexander Webster, George Wray, Thomas Tillotson, Ma- 
 thew Scott, Zephaniah Piatt, John Thurman, Albert Pawling 
 and Zina Hitchcock. 
 
 Operations on the Western route could hardly have 
 begun when the directors discovered that several of the 
 provisions, restrictions and limitations in the act incoqDorat- 
 ing the companies retarded greatly the progress of the 
 intended improvements, and would make it impossible to 
 complete the work within the fixed limit of five years. 
 They petitioned, therefore, the I>egislature for relief, and 
 that these improvements, whose object was extensively to 
 benefit the community, might not be impeded, an act 
 amending the former was passed in December, 1792. 
 
 The Council of Revision, composed of the Governor of 
 the State, George Clinton, Chancellor Livingston, and Jus- 
 
84 
 
 tices Hobart and Lansing, objected to this bill as " incon- 
 sistent with the spirit of the Constitution and the public 
 good." They said, the power intended to be vested in the 
 President and Directors may in its execution i)rove sub- 
 versive of the rights of private property by (li\esting the 
 jjroprietor of his land in cases not inilispensably necessary 
 for the attainment of an object of public utility ; the third 
 enacting clause of the bill not only providing for the appro- 
 priation by the company of the land, on which any canal, 
 lock, dyke or other work shall be constructed, but extending 
 such appropriation for some distance on both sides of any 
 such work, and expressly declaring, that the land so acquired 
 may be applied to such uses as the officers of the company 
 shall think proper. Thus wresting from an individual his 
 property in a manner only justifiable in cases of urgent pub- 
 lic necessity, without imposing on the company, to which 
 his right is devolved, as a duty, that it shall be sacredly ap- 
 plied only to the advancements of those interests of the 
 company in which its private emolument is inseparably con- 
 nected with the effectual promotion of the public good. 
 They further objected to this bill, because previous to 
 executing or even obtaining a writ of ad quod damnum, the 
 bill authorizes the President and J)irectors, or their agents, 
 to enter upon, dig, trench and use the land of any citizen 
 without his i)ermission, thus sanctioning a destruction of 
 timber and improvements, before projier precautions have 
 been taken to ascertain the amount of the injury sustained 
 and in many instances depriving the party affected by such 
 proceedings of the most conclusive proof of the extent of 
 that injury, arising from a relative comparison of the several 
 parts of the lands on which works are constructed, and 
 those adjoining them, and a collective view of the state of 
 the improvements rendered useless by the appropriations 
 made by the Presidents and Directors. 
 
 The Assembly voted, that, notwithstanding these objec- 
 tions, the bill should become a law of the State. Legisla- 
 
85 
 
 tures were then, as to-day, liable to be influenced by big 
 corporations, but the two Inland Lock Navigation Com- 
 panies, in whose favor this law was enacted, were not suffi- 
 ciently benefited, and had again to petition the Legislature 
 for relief, within fifteen months. Their funds had proved in- 
 adequate to the undertaking and carrying into effect a design 
 so extensive in its nature, and unavoidably attended with very 
 considerable expenses. They had found it impossible to float 
 the shares of stock, limited by the incorporating act to i,ooo; of 
 the stock of the Northern Company only 672, of the Western, 
 738 had been subscribed by 277 persons; although ^10 
 had been paid on each share by the original subscribers, yet 
 many of the 277 had since neglected or refused to pay a 
 subsequent call of additional ,-^io. By the deficiency of the 
 unsubscribed shares, the expense to complete the objects con- 
 templated by the Legislature, threatened to amount to more 
 than many could afford. The failure of many of the sub- 
 scribers to respond to the second call, had reduced the 
 number of active shares in each company to 600. The 
 committee of the Assembly, to whom this i)etition had been 
 referred, recognized, that the object for which the companies 
 had been called into life, was of very extensive national con- 
 cern and proposed that the State should become stockholder 
 to the amount of 590 shares, the defect of the stock of both 
 companies, or loan to the corporations a sum equal to these 
 shares, under proper conditions of repayment and security. 
 When the matter came before a committee of the whole 
 House, opinions differed as to the moile of relief to be 
 granted. All members seemed to be convinced, that an 
 undertaking of such importance, deserved to be aided by 
 the State. The result, liowever, would have been satisfac- 
 tory to the companies. The same day "An act relative to 
 the Western and Northern Lfland Lock Navigation " was 
 brought in and read the first time. It passed the second 
 reading two days later, on the 24th of March, 1794, but 
 shortly after, on the 27th, the House resolved, "As the 
 
86 
 
 sense of this House, that the Inland Lock Navigation is of 
 high importance to the prosperity of this State and is pro- 
 motive of the agricultural and commercial interest thereof, 
 and as such that it merits legislative aid and attention. 
 That from the advanced period of the present session, the 
 IvCgislature cannot give the subject the consideration its im- 
 portance requires, but that it be recommended to the Legis- 
 lature at their next meeting, as a proper object of their early 
 attention and support." Fearing, perhaps, that fhis recom- 
 mendation to the next Legislature might not be made or 
 overlooked by that body, the companies by their President, 
 Philipp Schuyler, laid the matter before the Assembly of 
 1795, presided over by an Albanian, William North. The 
 scheme of canalizing had in the meantime found only little 
 favor in the eyes of capitalists, the number of shares taken 
 had increased from 738 to 742 in the Western Company and 
 from 672 to 676 in the Northern. Many of them appeared 
 to have been taken from the mere motive of speculating 
 upon the probable rise in the market. Such a rise not 
 taking place and the directors having been obliged to make 
 another call for money, 233 shareholders of the Western and 
 242 of the Northern failed to respond, and forfeited their 
 stock. Notwithstanding the serious embarrassments, caused 
 hereby and others, unavoidably incident to a work so novel 
 in the young country, the business of the companies had 
 progressed so far as to demonstrate the practicabihty of 
 effecting their purposes. 
 
 The waters of \\'ood creek emptying into Oneida lake, 
 and of its namesake, which empties into Lake Champlain, 
 had been cleared from obstructions, the course of the canals 
 traced, a canal and lock were prepared for connecting Lake 
 Champlain with Wood creek, and others had been erected 
 at the falls in Herkimer county. The officers of the com- 
 panies were confident that nothing but the want of funds 
 could i)revent their being able within a reasonable period to 
 complete the inland navigation to the westward and to the 
 
87 
 
 northward, whereby a new band of union would be formed 
 between the most distant parts of the State, their mutual 
 intercourse promoted and encouraged, the value of prop- 
 erty greatly enhanced and the commerce of the whole not 
 only extended, but secured from those channels into which 
 it might otherwise be turned, to the great injury of agricul- 
 ture and commerce of this State. The Legislature was 
 asked to assist, either by directing a subscription on tlie part 
 of the State to the deficient shares in these companies or by 
 loaning to each company the annual sum of ^6,000 for five 
 years successively, to be repaid pro rata from such annual 
 dividends as might arise from tolls. On the 9th of March, a 
 law was enacted further " to amend the law relative to the 
 Inland Lock Navigation Companies," and on the 31st of the 
 same month the "Act for the more effectual prosecution of the 
 improvements commenced " by these companies, authorized 
 the Treasurer of the State to subscribe, on behalf of the 
 State, to 200 shares of stock in each company. In 1796, 
 the Legislature -again opened the purse of the State in favor 
 of the Western Company, by directing the Treasurer to 
 advance to the corporation the sum of _;^i 5,000. Even this 
 apparently unasked-for aid was not sufticient to keep the 
 ^^'estern Inland Lock Navigation on its legs. The very 
 high price of labor had prevented them from obtaining as 
 many workmen as they had contemplated to employ during 
 the open season of 1796 in order to complete the canal, 
 connecting the waters of the Mohawk river with those of 
 Wood creek. Many of the men in their employ were lured 
 away by higher wages elsewhere. Nevertheless, sufficient 
 progress had been made in excavating the canal and in other 
 works incident thereto that no doubt remained, but it could 
 be effected in a year with the requisite locks, of which one 
 had already been erected. 
 
 But nature had interposed impediments, to remove which 
 required the expenditure of more money than the company 
 could command. Surveys made of the Mohawk river 
 
88 
 
 showed that tlie rapids between Schenectady and Schoharie 
 creek, a distance of twenty miles, were so many, so shallow 
 and impeded with so many rocks, that although it could be 
 made as navigable as the act of incorporation required, yet 
 it would be a navigation so imperfect as not to afford all 
 the advantages to the community as were desirable. A 
 canal was, therefore, proposed on the south side of the 
 Mohawk, between the two places mentioned, which it was 
 estimated would cost $250,000. The company had a pros- 
 pect of obtaining this sum by a loan on reasonable terms, 
 or by a subscription of an equivalent in shares of the stock, 
 from persons resident in Holland who had purchased land 
 in this State. This Holland Land Company was willing to 
 advance the money, provided that the Legislature would 
 permit them to hold the lands so purchased as tenants in 
 common in fee-simple, subject to the condition not to sell 
 any part or parts thereof except to citizens of the State or 
 of the United States. The petition was read in the Assem- 
 bly on the 17th of February, 1797, and on the 17th of 
 March following, "An act i)roviding a means for procuring 
 a sum to the Western Liland Lock Navigation Company, 
 to enable them more effectually and speedily to prosecute 
 the improvements in the saitl navigation," was signed by the 
 Governor. At the same time the measures prayed for in 
 regard to the Holland Land Company became a law. 
 
 .\ few years ])assed, during which the \\'estern Company 
 was not in financial difficuldes. It was now the turn of the 
 Northern Company to be brought to the attention of the 
 Legi.slature. They had cut a canal through the land of in- 
 habitants of the village of Stillwater, in Saratoga county, 
 and were unable to pay for the damage done to the prop- 
 erty, and properly ascertained by competent arbitrators. 
 The State had become a .stockholder of this company, and, 
 pending its insolvency, the party aggrieved looked to the 
 Legi.slature for relief. This was a case of the nature which 
 Governor Clinton and the Council of Revision had forseen 
 
89 
 
 when they objected to the law of 1792. The Assembly of 
 1799 did not feel able to cope with this question without the 
 legal opinion of the law officer of the State. The then 
 Attorney-General, Joseph Ogden Hoffman, decided : 
 " Upon principles of law, the private property of the stock- 
 holders of this corporation cannot be held liable for the 
 debts of the company, and the State on this occasion can 
 only be considered in the situation of a stockholder to the 
 extent of the shares subscribed and taken, and its separate 
 funds are not responsible for demands upon the company. 
 # * * * gy i^iig g^(,(- Qf ^i^Q 2ist March, 1795, the 
 Treasurer is considered as a stockholder, and is directetl to 
 pay such further sums on each share to be subscribed by 
 him, as may be so recjuired. The directors of the com- 
 pany have not recently made any such requisition, and if 
 they were now to order one, there is good reason to con- 
 clude that most of the shares, held by individuals, would 
 become forfeited, and that the Treasurer, by the terms of 
 the last act, would comply with such requisition. It ought 
 not, therefore, to escape observation that, while such an 
 arrangement might enable the directors to satisfy the pres- 
 ent and all other demands against the company, yet in effect 
 such satisfaction would be made by the State. A consider- 
 ation of this circumstance, it is to be presumed, has gov- 
 erned the recent conduct of the directors in delaying any 
 new requisitions." 
 
 The extension of the settlements on the Lakes, and the 
 rapid improvement of the western part of this State, fully 
 justified the liberal views which dictated the opening a 
 navigation adapted to afford a conveyance for the ample 
 products of that fertile region, and for the necessaries and 
 conveniences of life, which the manufactories of the towns, 
 or the resources of foreign commerce, enabled the inhabit- 
 ants of the earlier settled parts of the country to supply. 
 The mode of convevance, then in use, is somewhere called 
 
9° 
 
 " commodious." To-day we would grumble and sneer at 
 the frugality of our forefathers. 
 
 Before the canal at the falls in Herkimer county had been 
 constructed, in 1795, every boat bound up or downwards, 
 with all its cargo, was taken out of the river and conveyed 
 on wagons over the carrying place, on a road as rough and 
 as rocky as could well consist with its being passable. The 
 boats thus transferred could not be large, and seldom e.x- 
 ceeded the Inirthen of a ton and a half. If any arrived 
 singly at the landing on either side of the falls, it could usu- 
 ally not be conveyed with its cargo to the other side in less 
 than lialf a day. If other boats arrived about the same 
 time, a longer period was re<}uire(l in proportion to the num- 
 ber of vessels, and frequently it happened that there was a 
 detention of two days. Hence, as every boat was navigated 
 by three men, the shortest detention involved the loss of the 
 wages of one man for one day and a half. 
 
 The unequal surface of the road, the unwieldy bulk of 
 the boats, the exposure of the cargoes to the injuries of 
 the weather, and the unloading and reloading, frequently 
 entailed great injuries and loss. Disappointments, oc- 
 casioned by loss and delay, were often very severely felt ; 
 but since the canals had been completed, a boat with its 
 cargo could pass through the canal in either direction in less 
 than an hour, and a number of boats arriving at the same 
 time could be locked through successively at intervals of 
 only eight minutes. Now, boats carrying from eight to ten 
 tons could be and were employed between Schenectady and 
 Rome, and the expense of transportation by these means 
 alone was reduced more than one-half; and after an im- 
 provement of the navigation on Wood creek had been 
 made, boats could easily and safely go to the most southern 
 parts of Cayuga lake. The transportation at the falls, 
 previous to the completion of the canal in 1795, cost four 
 shillings (50 cents) for a boat, and the like .sum for a 
 wagon-load ; but tlie road would not admit of carry- 
 
91 
 
 ing half a ton in a wagon, and as the price of all 
 kinds of labor had been considerably increased since 
 that period, in this instance probably 75 per cent, this 
 amounted to the toll charged on half a ton, not only for 
 passing the locks at the falls, but also the Burnetsfield locks, 
 in Herkimer county, at which no toll was asked. It was 
 evident that not only all the expenses resulting from deten- 
 tion, from loss of articles, from injuries to tlie boats and 
 cargoes were now saved, but the charge of transi)ortation 
 was also greatly diminished by the facility aftbrded for the 
 passage of larger boats. 
 
 Consideration of these benefits, which had accrued to the 
 State and to the public generally, induced the Legislature 
 of 1802 to enact a new law for the relief of the Western 
 Inland Lock Navigation Company. The Comptroller was 
 authorized to accept shares of the stock of the company for 
 money due to the State ; delinquent shareholders were re- 
 admitted by paying arrears and " watering " stock, a very 
 proper proceeding for a company dealing so largely in water 
 and water works, was legalized. The company received 
 permission to divide each original share into three, and the 
 new shares were to represent $120. 
 
 The Legislature then, ever attentive to the prosperity of 
 the State, readily perceived the great advantage that had 
 already accrued to the public by means of the improve- 
 ments made up to 1806, and being convinced of the hard- 
 ships and inconveniences under which the individual stock- 
 holders labored by not deriving any interest for many years 
 on the moneys already advanced, granted further relief to 
 the company by extending the time for completing the work 
 to January i, 1808. 
 
 When the year 1808 came around, the company deemed 
 it the wisest policy to surrender to the State that part of 
 their grant which allowed them to continue the canalizing 
 west of Oneida lake, and the Legislature accepted the sur- 
 render. This was virtually the end of improving the inland 
 
92 
 
 navigation of the State by private parties. The Albany 
 members of the Board of Directors had died, and the duty 
 of managing the aftairs of the companies had been trans- 
 ferred to men principally living in the city of New York, 
 who could not or would not give that necessary personal 
 attention, which alone could insure success. 
 
 To understand the action of the Legislature in the follow- 
 ing years, we must study the statistics of population in the 
 State at that period. When the first move was made in 
 1 79 1, the State was divided into twenty counties; the popu- 
 lation not warranting a division of the territory into more. 
 Two had been added in 1795, when a census of the voters 
 in the State was taken. This census of voters showed, that 
 in a total of 64,017 for the State, there were 31,393 living in 
 counties directly affected by the easier communication 
 which the canals offered. In 1801 the voting population of 
 the State had increased to 85,844, the number of counties 
 to thirty, of which only twelve were not contiguous to the 
 canals, and the voters in these thirty counties numbered 47,- 
 462. When the next census of voters was taken, in 1807, 
 we find a voting population in the State of 1 10,997, ^^ which 
 the canal counties furnished 58,345, and thirty-eight counties 
 were represented in the Legislature. Seven counties were 
 added in the years 1808 and 1809, all, with the exception of 
 twelve, more or less interested in having easy means of com- 
 munication with the markets for their produce or their 
 necessities. The .Assembly of 1 795 was composed of .seventy 
 members, twenty-eight of whom came from counties directly 
 touched or like Albany and Rensselaer counties benefited 
 by the canals. In 1801, of the 107 members .sitting in the 
 Assembly, fifty-one came from these counties, while of the 
 112 members of the .Assembly in 18 10, .seventy-four repre- 
 sented constituencies, who derived benefits from the inland 
 navigation. This Legislature of 1810 authorized the ap- 
 pointment of commissioners to explore a canal route between 
 the Hudson river and Lake Erie. It was the first scene in 
 
93 
 
 the first act of the great drama wliich ended in the final scene 
 of opening the Erie canal on the 26th of October, 1825. 
 
 Commercial statistics tell us, what significance the Erie 
 canal had in the development of the United States. The 
 returns for 1870 enumerate 28,138 vessels as belonging to 
 the various customs districts of the country. Of these the 
 State of New York had 6,977 ^^ ""^^^^ ^'"'^''' one-fourth, 
 while ports on the lakes Erie and Ontario could claim 3,439 
 as belonging there. Nearly all these lake vessels depend for 
 their trade on the craft plying on the canal and paying, in 
 1870, for tolls into the treasury of the State, the sum of 
 $3,107,138.90. A further inquiry, which, however, would 
 lead too far in explaining, would show that New York 
 furnishes over one-third of the American tonnage and of the 
 capital invested in the lake trade in consequence of the con- 
 nection of the lakes with the Hudson at Albany. The trade 
 from and to the West, just then barely opened, threatened 
 to find an outlet to Europe and other countries by way of 
 Montreal and the St. Lawrence river. This trade would have 
 enriched a foreign country and the great commercial rival of 
 the United States, and might have corrupted the morals of the 
 Americans by the opportunities it afforded for smuggling. 
 The opening of the canal further increased the revenues of 
 the State, because it brought salt from the works at Salina 
 in competition with the article imported from foreign lands. 
 
 To com])lete this sketch of the importance of the Erie 
 canal, we will see what a joint committee of the Senate and 
 Assembly of 181 7 say on the subject : " This State is favor- 
 ably situated for the encouragement of every ]iublic interest. 
 It contains inexhaustible quantities of salt, gypsum and iron 
 ores, with a great variety of other valuable materials for 
 manufacturing establishments. The thirty million acres of 
 its territory offer to agricultural industry no uncertain or 
 penurious reward. An unrivaled river navigation for more 
 than 160 miles, terminating on the sea board, at a port 
 which is healthy, capacious and easy of access ; its interior 
 
94 
 
 boundary line jjassing for more than half its length through 
 the waters of Erie, Ontario and Chaniplain, and the num- 
 erous navigable lakes included within its limits afford to its 
 citizens the most decided commercial advantages. In such 
 circumstances its prosperity is not surprising. It was to be 
 expected that under the direction of prudence and patriotism 
 its wealth, population and security would be rapidly ad- 
 vanced. And this advance, which is everywhere observable, 
 is not the less gratifying because it was natural and probable. 
 It is on that account more likely to be permanent. But 
 has it not nearly reached its maximum with respect to the 
 Southern and Middle Districts, unless some new means of 
 aiding it are speedily discovered and applied ? Consider- 
 able portions of these districts are now almost replete with 
 inhabitants,* who by their industry and enterprise have taken 
 possession and made the most of nearly all the bounties 
 which nature has spread out before them. Beyond the slow 
 progression of improvement to be produced by the invention 
 of happier methods of applying labor and the more perfect 
 division of mechanical occupations, what will enlarge the 
 borders of their cities and villages hereafter ? 
 
 " As the Eastern and Western Districtsf have increased in 
 numbers and opulence, they have loaded the Hudson with 
 their surplus produce and the merchandise for which they 
 
 * The Southern Senatorial District comprised then the counties of 
 Dutcliess, Putnam, Westchester, New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, 
 Richmond and Rockland, and had, in 1814, a population of 236,508 
 souls, including slaves. In the Middle District were the counties of 
 Columbia, Greene, Orange, Ulster, Albany, Delaware, Sullivan, Che- 
 nango, Schoharie, Otsego with 261,064 inliabitants. Albany county 
 alone had in 1880 a population of 154,890. 
 
 + The Eastern District: Clinton, Essex, F'ranklin, Herkimer, Jeffer- 
 son, Lewis, Montgomery, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Sche- 
 nectady, Warren, Washington, with a population of 295,587 in 1814. 
 Tiie Western District: .\llegany, Broome, Cayuga, Chautau(|ua, Cort- 
 land, Genesee, Mathson, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Steuben, 
 Tioga, with 243,602 inhabitants. The population of the State was 
 then a little over 1,000,000. 
 
95 
 
 have exchanged it and this trade has been the chief aUment 
 of all the increase, which has latterly been exhibited at the 
 mouth and along the banks of that river. But the remote 
 sections of these districts are contiguous to the territory of a 
 foreign power, and are washed by navigable waters, which 
 flow into the ocean through that territory. It is for the in- 
 terest, and therefore will be the policy, of that power to in- 
 vite commercial intercourse with those sections. Facilitated 
 by the course of their streams and the declivity of their 
 country, our citizens have already extensively engaged in 
 this intercourse, and if nothing is done to divert them from 
 it, it is easy to foresee that it will become permanent, and 
 soon embrace within the number of its agents all those who 
 live beyond the high lands, in which our rivers running to 
 the north originate, including the most fertile part of the 
 State, which is hastening also to become the most populous. 
 Our eastern and western districts having been settled from 
 the south and the east, roads from these points were, of 
 course, first opened. These roads were extended and im- 
 proved with the diffusion and age of the new settlements, 
 and as they were, for several years, better in proportion to 
 their proximity to the Hudson, thiscircumstance, added to the 
 ties of acquaintance, friendship and consanguinity, retained 
 the settlers for a long time and universally in a business con- 
 nection with our own cities. But these roads are now carried 
 through to the farthest borders of the State and on the 
 margin of the waters, where they terminate a dense, active 
 and intelligent population is collected. Stimulated by the 
 energetic impulse of private emolument, these people are 
 making new roads and improving the old, erecting store- 
 houses and wharves, building vessels of every description 
 calculated to facilitate transportation, and at various jilaces 
 entending into the country by artificial constructions and the 
 improvement of natural streams navigable communication 
 with the northern waters. The enterprising spirit of these 
 people is laudable. It has heretofore added to the wealth 
 
96 
 
 of the State, while it has enriched themselves, but unless it 
 is directed into new channels it will hereafter lavish the pro- 
 duction of our soil, to the amount of several millions a year, 
 upon our northern neighbors. This unwelcome result it 
 appears to your committee that the present state of things 
 is rapidly maturing, and to render it still more inauspicious 
 it will inevitably produce the eftect of sending to a perma- 
 nent foreign residence many of our most useful citizens. 
 
 " Shall we look with unconcern and see so large a portion 
 of our means, within our power, of conferring a perpetually 
 increasing strength and respectability upon our body politic 
 forever averted ? Or shall we adopt an easy, an obvious, an 
 effectual method of reclaiming for ourselves and our posterity 
 to the remotest generations all these means, amplified unto 
 their fullest proportions by a warmer patronage, than the 
 frozen outlet of the St. Lawrence can ever aftbrd ? The 
 decision of this question is now emphatically devolved upon 
 the State. It is a question in which the interests of every 
 district, county and town are deeply implicated. * * * 
 Navigable canals connecting the Hudson with Lake Erie 
 and Lake Champlain would from the moment of their com- 
 pletion make it cheaper for nearly all of our northern and 
 western citizens to find a market down these canals than in 
 any other direction, and they would certainly atiford the 
 safest possible transportation. 
 
 " But besides calling to our own markets a large amount 
 of the productions of our own soil, which are now alienated 
 from them, the con.struction of these canals would draw into 
 our limits the trade of the western parts of Vermont, of a 
 considerable region in upper Canada and of the northern 
 half of all that portion of the United States which lies west 
 of the Alleghany mountains. The future extent of this trade 
 it would be difficult to calculate. It must be immense. 
 The country south of the great lakes alone, from whi<-h it 
 will IIdw, includes as many acres as make up the territory of 
 some of the most ])owerful nations of Europe, and is the 
 
97 
 
 most fertile part of the globe. That country already con- 
 tains near a million of souls and is increasing with a rapidity 
 of population known only on this side of the Atlantic. * 
 * * * It is in our power to open to that country a 
 cheaper, safer and more expeditious road to our market 
 towns than they can possibly enjoy to any other. Shall it 
 be done ? " 
 
 The citizens of Albany know that it has been done, and 
 they have derived material benefits from it. The reader of 
 this sketch will, however, say, what had Albany to do with 
 it, as it was not an Albany enterprise. Let us turn from the 
 study of history to that of a cognate and closely allied 
 branch, to chorography, which has more to do with the 
 events of history than it receives credit for. 
 
 We learn in geography that a range of lofty mountains 
 traverses the United States from North CaroHna northward 
 to the St. Lawrence. This Appalachian range allows access 
 to the Atlantic Ocean, to various rivers, the Hudson, the 
 Delaware and the Suscpiehanna, but none of them naviga- 
 ble for boats until within a short distance from its mouth, 
 except the Hudson, which can be navigated by consider- 
 able craft as far as Albany, or 150 miles from the sea. It 
 was, therefore, necessary that when a connection of the 
 Great Lakes with the Adantic seaboard was considered, the 
 Hudson should be chosen. Another consideration was the 
 shorter distance between the settlements, then growing up in 
 the West, and the Hudson, as compared with a possible 
 Mississippi route. From Buffalo, at or near the then con- 
 templated commencement of the canal, it is al)out 300 miles 
 to Albany, from Buffalo to Montreal 350 miles, and from 
 Montreal to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, 450. From 
 Buffalo to New Orleans by the Lakes and the Illinois river, 
 2,250. The Upper Lakes, Superior, Michigan and Huron, 
 have no other outlet than into Lake Erie ; hence, the trade 
 coming to setdements on these lakes had to go eastward 
 to find a better market. The distances of towns, then in 
 7 
 
98 
 
 existence, tell their own story. Chicago is distant from 
 Albany, 1,050 miles, from New Orleans about 1,600, and 
 from the moutli of the St. Lawrence also 1,600 ; from Detroit 
 to Albany the distance is 550 miles, to the ocean, by way 
 of the St. Lawrence, 1,050; to New Orleans, by way of 
 Cleveland and down the Muskingum, 2,400. 
 
 The mountain range mentioned touches the Hudson a 
 comparatively short distance below Albany. It would have 
 been folly, and caused needless expense, if it had been at- 
 tempted to reach the navigable Hudson through this range, 
 and as the shortest way is usually the best, Albany had to be 
 chosen as the eastern terminus of the Krie Canal. 
 
 And what has the Erie Canal done for the history of the 
 United States ? It has raised the State of New York to 
 the first place in the sisterhood of Americian commonwealths, 
 and going beyond the borders of this State, the benefits de- 
 rived from this system of inland navigation have been 
 showered upon sister States. 
 
 "I am rejoiced," said Governor Tilden in a speech at 
 Utica, " that it is impossible for us to protect and develop 
 our own interests in respect to the great systems of inter- 
 communication which traverse our State without conferring 
 like benefits on the great western communities of Illinois, 
 Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri." 
 
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