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1630.

meetings of the Provincial and General States, at length CHAP. VII broke down many of the rusting barriers which had separated the castle and the coronet from the counter and the loom. Gradually, the nobles began to imitate the modesty of the traders and working people in garb and in habit; and frugality and industry became as universal and as honorable among the Dutch landlords, as they were always the characteristic attributes of the operatives in the towns, and of the subordinate tenants on estates. The rewards of labor had lessened the distance between the lord Landlord and the peasant; and the rights of the humblest man in ant. Holland could not fail to be respected, when, by the ceaseless toil of man alone, the lands of Holland were preserved from the invasion of the sea. Common interests assimilate humanity; and distinctions in rank must necessarily become less marked, when all must work or drown.*

and ten

of the Dutch

Still, the lord of the manor continued to exercise a limited jurisdiction within his own domain. The inhabitants of Holland are described by Grotius as being early divided into the three classes of nobles, well-born men, and common people; but without any mention of serfs as having ever existed. When compared with the social condition of the people of the towns, that of the rural popula- Condition tion was, perhaps, less secure and happy, and was less fit- peasantry. ted to develope the self-relying spirit of the nation. Yet, if the landlord attempted oppression, the tenant had but to fly to the next town, where he would be sure to find abundant employment, shelter, and protection. Accustomed to bear arms for the common defense, the peasants of Holland had learned to use them for their own. Dutch feudalism was thus shorn of many attributes which rendered it repulsive in other lands. Though the rustic tenantry certainly enjoyed much less political influence than the inhabitants of the towns, they still possessed a large Popular measure of popular freedom. They were happy and con- ious freetented, in tilling their lands, and in freely worshiping their

* Guicciardini, i., 56; Rev. Dr. Bethune; McCullagh, ii., 177.

+ Grotius, Inleydinge, i., 14; Davies, i., 105, 106.

N

and relig

dom.

CHAP. VII. God according to their consciences. No religious persecution drove them from that Fatherland which they loved to veneration. They needed strong inducements, before they would consent to emigrate to the New World.

1630.

Charter of "Privi

leges and

Exemp

patroons in

erland.

um.

The charter of "Privileges and Exemptions," by which an armed commercial monopoly proposed to effect the pertions" for manent agricultural colonization of New Netherland, while New Neth- it naturally embodied the peculiar policy of its mercantile projectors, encouraged the transfer, across the Atlantic, of the modified feudalism of the Fatherland. Reserving to Manhattan themselves the island of Manhattan, which the company the empori- declared it was their intention to people first, they designated it as the emporium of their trade, and required that all fruits and wares "that arise on the North River, and lands lying thereabouts," should be first brought there. To private persons, disposed to settle themselves in any other part of New Netherland, the company offered the absolute property of as much land as the emigrants might be able "properly to improve." They were also to have "free liberty of hunting and fowling," according to the regulations of the Provincial director and council. Exploration was specially encouraged. Whoever should "discover any shores, bays, or other fit places for erecting fisheries, or the making of salt ponds," was promised an absolute and exclusive property in such discoveries.

But it was obvious that the rural tenantry of Holland did not possess the requisite means to sustain the expenses of emigration; and the associated directors thought that the permanent agricultural settlement of their American province could be best accomplished by the organization of separate subordinate "colonies," or manors, under large proprietaries. To tempt the ambition of such capitalists, peculiar privileges were offered to them. These privileges, nevertheless, were carefully confined to members of the West India Company. The charter provided that any such member as should, within four years, plant a colony of fifty adults, in any part of New Netherland, except the reserved island of Manhattan, should be acknowledged as

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1630.

Patroons.

"Patroon," or feudal chief of the territory he might CHAP. VII. thus colonize. The lands selected for each colony might extend sixteen miles in length, if confined to one side of a navigable river; or eight miles on each side, if both banks were occupied; but they might run as far into the country as the situation of the occupiers will permit." If a proportionate number of additional emigrants should be settled, the limits of the colonies might be proportionally enlarged. Each patroon was promised a full title by inheritance, with venia testandi, or the right to dispose of his estate by will. He was to have "the chief command and lower jurisdictions," and the exclusive privilege of fishing, fowling, and grinding, within his own domain. In case any patroon "should in time prosper so much as to found one or more cities," he was to have "power and authority to establish officers and magistrates there." The patroons were to furnish their colonies with "proper instructions, in order that they may be ruled and governed conformably to the rule of government made or to be made by the Assembly of the XIX." From all judgments in the manorial courts of the patroons, for upward of fifty guilders, an appeal might lie to the director and council in New Netherland. For the space of ten years, the colonists un- colonists der the patroons were to be entirely free from "customs, patroons. taxes, excise, imposts, or any other contributions." But none of these colonists, "either man or woman, son or daughter, man-servant or maid-servant," could be allowed to leave the service of their patroons during the period for which they might be bound to remain, except by the written consent of such patroon; and the company pledged itself to do every thing in its power to apprehend and deliver up every such colonist "as shall leave the service of his patroon and enter into the service of another, or shall, contrary to his contract, leave his service."

under the

of the pa

The patroons themselves might trade all along the coast Privileges from Florida to Newfoundland, provided the cargoes pro- troons. cured were brought to Manhattan; whence they might be sent to Holland, after paying a duty of five per cent. to

CHAP. VII. the company. The patroons were also promised the freedom of trade and traffic "all along the coast of New Neth

The peltry

served

ny.

1630. erland and places circumjacent," in every kind of mertrade re-chandise, "except beavers, otters, minks, and all sorts of the compa- peltry," which trade the company reserved to itself. The fur trade, however, was permitted to the patroons, "at such places where the company have no factories," upon condition that all peltries thus procured should be brought to Manhattan, and delivered to the director for shipment to Holland. Freedom of the fisheries was also promised: with the fish they caught, the patroons might trade to Italy and other neutral countries, paying to the company a duty of three guilders for every ton.

Reciprocal obligations

tions.

All the colonists, whether independent or under patroons, and restric. were positively forbidden "to make any woolen, linen, or cotton cloth, or weave any other stuffs there, on pain of being banished, and as perjurers to be arbitrarily punished." On the other hand, the company promised to protect and defend all the colonists, whether free or in service, "against all outlandish and inlandish wars and powers." The company likewise agreed "to finish the fort on the island of the Manhattes, and put it in a posture of defense, without delay." The company further promised to supply the colonists with "as many blacks as they conveniently could ;" but they were not to be bound to do this "for a longer time than they should think proper." The charter also distinctly provided, that "whoever shall settle any colony out of the limits of the Manhattes Island, shall be obliged to satisfy the Indians for the land they shall settle upon." The patroons and colonists were likewise enjoined to make prompt provision for the support of “a Minister and Schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool, and be neglected among them; and that they do, for the first, procure a Comforter of the Sick there." Each separate colony might appoint a deputy, to confer upon its affairs with the director and council of New Netherland; and every col ony was specially required to make an annual and exact

report of its situation, to the authorities at Manhattan, for CHAP. VII. transmission to the company at Amsterdam.*

1630.

unfavora

province.

Such were the chief features of the West India Company's famous charter of "Freedoms and Exemptions" for the agricultural colonization of its American province. The charter But the spirit of that charter was adverse to the true in- ble to the terests of the province, and its effects were blighting and unhappy. It encouraged the transfer to New Netherland of some of the most objectionable elements in the modified feudalism of the Fatherland. It offered the most attractive inducements to the ambition of stockholders of the company, in the peculiar privileges which were to be enjoyed by the patroons of separate colonies; and it sought to allure colonists to emigrate under such patroons, by promising, to them alone, a ten years' exemption from taxation. While it conferred enormous specific powers on these patroons, it carefully recognized the universal commercial monopoly of the company; and it aimed at maintaining an unquestioned political supremacy, by requiring annual reports of the condition of each subordinate colony to be made to the director and council at Manhattan. It prohibited colonial manufactures under penalty of banishment, and restrained colonial commerce by the threat of confiscation. It pledged the company to a qualified support of the slave trade.

features.

Yet, notwithstanding all the blemishes by which the Redeeming selfishness of monopoly defaced the charter, it still had many redeeming features. It solemnly recognized the rights of the aboriginal red man, and secured him satisfaction for his land. It invited the emigration of independent farmers, by promising to every one a homestead. It provided for the good government of the subordinate colonies, and for the right of appeal from the manorial courts. It promised protection and defense to all the colonists; and it encouraged religion and learning, by enjoining the support of churches and schools.

See Charter of "Privileges and Exemptions" at length, in Wassenaar, xviii., 94 Moulton, 389; O'Call., i., 112; ii., N. Y. H. S. Collections, i., 370.

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