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pain of being severely punished and banished from New Netherland.

The master and his laborer were to "find means for supporting a minister and a schoolmaster and a comforter of the sick." No patroon was permitted by the Company to engage in the fur trade except at certain designated trading posts; he was also to pay an export duty on all skins sent out of the colony.

58. The Van Rensselaer and other estates; how the patroons lived. Under this cumbrous system the most important points on the Delaware and Hudson (Manhattan Island excepted) were taken by the patroons. The most noted of them was Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. He obtained a grant which embraced the greater part of what are now Albany, Van Rensselaer, and Columbia counties, on the Hudson. This princely estate covered more than a thousand square miles, and extended for twenty-four miles along the river.

He and his brother capitalists on the Hudson lived in the midst of their tenants like the feudal barons in their castles on the Rhine. They collected their rents, held their courts, and at one time levied tolls on all vessels passing their estates. The Van Rensselaers, Van Cortlandts, Livingstons, Schuylers and other wealthy families built elegant mansions on Manhattan Island, or vicinity. In the summer they went to their country places, in winter they returned to their homes on the Island. Like the Virginia planters they had their retinue of black servants in livery (for negro slavery was permitted in New Netherland). With the Virginians, these wealthy Dutch proprietors constituted the chief landed aristocracy of America.

59. The Dutch on the Connecticut; New Amsterdam in 1643; free trade and cheap lands. - Not satisfied with holding the Delaware and Hudson the Dutch endeavored to establish settlements on the Connecticut. They first explored that noble river, and opened trade with the Indians on its banks; and on land which they purchased of the Pequots they built a small fort (1633) where the city of Hartford now stands.

Ten years later (1643) a French Jesuit priest visited New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. He describes the town as having a population of four or five hundred persons composed "of different sects and nations." 76 This fact shows that the germ of the great city which now stands at the mouth of the Hudson was even then assuming that many-sided, cosmopolitan character which it has ever since retained. The West India Company had been mindful of the demands of education and had established (1633) a good school in New Amsterdam. It still flourishes under the name of the "School of the Collegiate Reformed Church," and is the oldest institution of learning in the United States (§ 93).

But the colony did not grow. The patroon system kept the better class of emigrants away, and there was no freedom of trade. Most of the early governors were rapacious or inefficient, and cared nothing for the best interests of New Netherland. At length the government in Holland resolved to throw open the trade of the colony, and to grant lands on easy terms to all comers. These measures had the desired effect, and emigration to the Dutch colony on the Hudson began in earnest."

60. Peter Stuyvesant; the people demand a share in the government; the "Nine Men"; attempted reforms. A few years later (1647) Peter Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch governors, came into power. He found no small political discontent among the colonists. Most of them had come from the Dutch Republic of Holland only to find less liberty in the New World than they had enjoyed in the Old. While the English colonists east and south of them made their own local laws, the settlers on the Hudson were under the control of a commercial company, whose prime object was to pay large dividends to its stockholders. Governor Stuyvesant had no faith in democracy, but he could not resist the demands of the colonists for a share in the government. The people were accordingly permitted (1647) to elect eighteen counsellors, from whom the Governor chose "Nine Men" to assist him.

The "Nine Men" did excellent work. They protested against the heavy taxes and the enormous export duties imposed by the West India Company. They also called attention to the fact that the port charges were so exorbitant that trade was kept away. Stuyvesant answered that it was no fault of his if he had to serve greedy and tyrannical masters. Then the "Nine Men " petitioned the home Government to take the management of the colony out of the Company's hands, to take off all restrictions on trade, to send over emigrants free, to clearly define the boundaries of New Netherland, so as to avoid disputes with the English colonists, and finally to grant to the Dutch settlers a Representative Assembly such as their countrymen enjoyed in Holland. To prevent trouble the West India Company grudgingly granted a larger measure of political liberty than the colonists had yet possessed. The better class of citizens in New Amsterdam were permitted to elect a body of magistrates "as much as possible according to the customs" of the city of Amsterdam in Holland. But when the day of election arrived, the imperious Stuyvesant quietly appointed all the officers himself.

61. Religious intolerance; treatment of Quakers. — In matters of religion Stuyvesant was as arbitrary as he was in politics. He refused to permit any congregations to worship openly except those of the Dutch Reformed Church - the established Protestant Church of Holland. He ordered (1656) that any one preaching without a license should be condemned to pay a fine of one hundred pounds, while each hearer was to pay a fine of twenty-five. The Company felt that this was pushing matters too far, since private dissenting worship was tolerated in Holland. They rebuked the Governor and ordered him to grant all citizens "the free exercise of their religion within their own homes." 78

The next year (1657) one of that "Society of Friends," which the Massachusetts authorities called the "cursed sect of Quakers" (§ 96), came to New Amsterdam. The Governor

was furious. After repeated scourgings and solitary imprisonment in the dungeon of the fort, the Quaker was finally driven out of the province. Later the Governor issued a proclamation prohibiting the public exercise of any religion but that of the Dutch Reformed Church "in houses, barns, woods, ships, or fields." For a third offence against this law the offender was to be flogged.

The Company again rebuked Stuyvesant's misdirected zeal. This time the hot-headed Governor obeyed orders, and persecution ceased.

62. England claims New Netherland, takes it (1664), and re-names it New York. But the end of Stuyvesant's adminis

tration and of Dutch rule in New Netherland was at hand. England claimed the colony by virtue of Cabot's discovery (11). The English had two powerful reasons for insisting on this claim. In the first place the British Government lost about £10,000 a year in custom duties through the Dutch smugglers who secretly carried Virginia tobacco to Holland.

But the chief reason why England was determined to possess New Netherland was that the King was resolved to have a strong, united, and compact line of colonies on the Atlantic coast. This was impossible so long as the Dutch held the Hudson, since a glance at the map shows that New Netherland was a geographical wedge separating New England from the English colonies on the south.

Although England and Holland were then at peace, Charles II., assuming that the country on the Hudson was rightfully his, quietly made over the whole of it to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany. James at once sent over a fleet under Colonel Nicolls to seize the prize. the surrender of New Amsterdam. would rather be carried out dead than give up the fort." But the people were weary of the rule of the West India Company and were willing to accept the liberal terms promised by the English. The high-spirited Governor could not help himself,

Nicolls (1664) demanded
Stuyvesant replied: "I

and so sorrowfully surrendered. The Dutch flag was hauled down and the red cross of England rose triumphantly in its place. In honor of its ducal owner, New Netherland was now christened New York, Fort Orange became Albany, and New Amsterdam took the title of New York City."

63. The Duke's Laws; the Duke grants a "Charter of Liberties" (1683); repeals it (1685). Colonel Nicolls prepared a code known as the "Duke's Laws," which established: (1) equal taxation; (2) trial by jury; (3) the obligation of military duty; (4) freedom of religion to all Christians.

Later (1683) Colonel Thomas Dongan, an Irish Catholic, who was then Governor of New York, wrote to the Duke of York: "The people generally cry out for an Assembly." The Duke reluctantly granted the colony (1683) a Charter of Liberties. This provided: 1. That every freeholder should have the right to vote for representatives to an Assembly, whose laws (made by the Governor's Council and Assembly jointly) should be subject to the Duke's approval. 2. No taxes were to be levied, except by consent of the Assembly. Entire freedom of religion was guaranteed to all peaceable persons who should profess any recognized form of Christian faith.80

3.

Two years later (1685) the Duke became King of England with the title James II. It was at the time when his friend and ally, Louis XIV. of France, was creating "a world-wide religious panic" by driving all Protestants out of France. Thousands of distressed and destitute Huguenots fled to England and to the English colonies in America. Wherever they settled they roused the fear and hatred of the colonists against the French monarch. James hated free institutions ; as for legislatures, he said he "could see no use for them." He at once wrote to Governor Dongan: "Our will and pleasure is that the charter be forthwith repealed." Thus early in its career the New York Assembly found the truth of the Psalmist's advice: "Put not your trust in princes." The King's mandate

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